Lock the Door

I don't know about anyone else, but being from Erwin has always allowed me to be a little more relaxed about leaving my car unlocked or house unlocked. We are also really bad about leaving our keys in the trucks when they are in the driveway. It is not uncommon for someone to call and say that they have something to give back to us or to drop off and we just say, "Lay it on the washer, the door is unlocked." Well, it finally caught up to us. Usually when Seth mows his yards and ours, he does it over a few days. He will just leave the mower in the back of his truck or in the carport instead of putting it back in the garage. That is okay except he sometimes leaves the garage unlocked. The other day, I asked him if he would go put air in our tires so we could ride our bikes down at the trail. I was worried that they had dry-rotted(is that a word?) and we would have to get new tires but he assured me that they just needed air. He went out to get them while I was getting ready but then came back in and just had this look on his face. I said, "They were dry-rotted weren't they? I knew we should have checked them." He just shook his head and said, "They're gone."

Excuse me? Come again please.

Yes, someone had gone into our garage and stolen our bikes. We have no idea who it was but we were very fortunate that they dodn't take anything else. We had some tools and hunting stuff in there that was a little more expensive than 2 bikes from Wal-Mart. I filed a police report Wednesday but I doubt we will get them back. Oh well, I guess we are lucky it was just our bikes and not something very valuable. I suppose we would be smart to start locking the doors, taking the keys out of the trucks and just practicing better security.

BTW, if anyone does happen to see them, Seth's is a 26" red Mongoose mountain bike and mine is an adult (I don't know how tall) greenish teal and purple(it was bought in the 90's people, give me a break) with black handlebars. Be on the lookout! :)

Third Shift

The second week of June, I went back to third shift at work so that is whyI haven't done much "blogging". It took me quite a bit longer this time to get on the schedule. When I first went to third back in March, I slipped right into a routine. I never had any trouble sleeping or anything. This time is a different story. This week marked my third week of being back on third and I just now started sleeping for a full 6 hours before I wake up. Last week, I was up and down every hour or two. Anyway, I think part of the problem has been the new routine of not going to sleep until later. I used to go to bed as soon as I got home but Seth and I have been meeting at the YMCA everyday when I get off work at 7am. We will walk for 30 minutes and then go to the weightroom for 30-45 minutes. This is all part of our new lifestyle. We have actually started to enjoy that time together. We decided this week though that on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I will just come home and go to bed and we will walk when I get up. We only lift 3 times a week so T and TH are just cardio with some ab workouts. We can do that at home. We have been doing very well so far. I lost almost 5 pounds in 2 weeks and Seth has lost 4. We had thought about adding in a few days of riding our bikes to the mix but that didn't work out. See the next post for more on that story!

Birthday Numero TRES! Pictures

Here are pictures from our family birthday party.

Seth and Me

Making dinner

Amy's birthday present from us

The kids...Hannah, Benjamin, Kalin, Aiden and Dylan

Our yummy cookie cake!

Knoxville Zoo

Yesterday we took a family trip to the zoo. Seth and I took our nephew, Kristian; Amy and her 2 boys went and Seth's cousin Chassidy came with her little boy. It was such a good day to go. It was hot but not sweltering. We packed lunches in a cooler so we wouldn't spend a million dollars jsut eating. We walked around until about 2:30 and then Amy had to leave. We walked out to our car and unpacked our lunches and ate in the parking lot. About 3, we went back in because Kristian wanted to go back and see some things we had rushed through. We walked all the way through again and saw some things we completely missed the first time. We went to the Wee Play Zoo and that was neat. They had kid-sized enclosures with animals like naked mole rats, brightly colored frogs, hamsters and a HUGE rabbit! We bought a shirt, some cups and a few Christmas ornaments (they match our colors). We stayed until 5:30 and as soon as we closed our car doors it started raining. It was a long day but we had such a good time. We decided the aquarium is our next trip. I will post some pictures as soon as I get them on the computer.

Baby Bird

One day last week, Seth came home and saw a little bird in the carport. I guess he scared it because it tried to fly and only made it to the bottom of the grill. We figured it was still too small to fly very far or very fast so we tried to be careful about letting Nattie out when the bird was around. Well, a few days passed and we didn't see it and then last night, he was mowing and I was out at the garden talking to my dad when he came over and told me the little bird was back and over by the bird feeder. I look and there it was, sitting there chirping like crazy. I thought that it couldn't get up to the feeder so I went inside and got a piece of bread. By then it had flown over to a rock by the sidewalk so I tossed some bread over there. Nattie was completely oblivious. The bird chirped and chirped and finally got down and ate some of the bread. Nattie went over that way and finally saw it and started to run after it. Surprise! The baby can fly! It came back a little later and sat in the tree next to our kitchen window and chirped. Who knows where it came from or how long it will stay. I took this picture yesterday when we were feeding it. It's not very good but it's the best I could do without scaring it away.

Birthday Numero TRES!

Parties, parties, parties! I love PARTIES! Tonight we had a Whitson side party. We celebrated mine and Amy's birthdays. Mine was last week and hers is next week so we met in the middle. We had everybody come over to our house and we grilled. It was so tasty! Pam brought potato salad, Amy made baked beans, Chassidy bought a cookie cake, and I made a fruit pudding salad...YUM! Good thing I remembered the buns 20 minutes before we were supposed to eat! I can't believe I forgot them. Today was such a perfect day and we were able to sit outside and visit and eat cookie cake. The kids were able to watch a movie, run our track (our house is just one big circle), play with Nattie, and catch lightning bugs. They were so funny. Amy even got a Farm Town tshirt! The funny part was, everyone had to leave to put kids in bed and then one hour later, we were all on Facebook chatting. Anyway, I will post pictures later as soon as Amy sends them to me.

The Cat Whisperer

Not even three weeks after I bring home an adorable white kitten, take care of her and find a home for her, another one appears...word travels fast. I was getting ready to get into the shower the other night when I heard meowing outside the window. I grabbed a flashlight and ran outside. There she was, right underneath the bathroom window just crying for all she was worth. I tried to talk to her to see if she would come to me but she ran back under the house. She had found a small opening that goes down to the cellar and could barely fit her fat little belly through it. She is a little older than the last one but her momma isn't around anymore. She won't have anything to do with me so I have been putting some food and milk out for her. She has no problem with it :) Unfortunately, it is right in the side if the house and it has been very rainy. The food goes under the eave but when the wind blows it's hopeless. In order to keep her food dry, I put two short 2x10 against the house like a little lean-to. It keeps her and the food dry and Nattie can't fit under it to steal :) She is gray with little white socks and is probably about 7 weeks old. If anyone is interested, I'm sure we can get her out for you. That little belly isn't going to fit under there for much longer. Until then, she will continue to pig out every night in her lean-to. Just let me know.