So sad Stinky

Tinkerbell (a.k.a. Stinky) is a Himalayan Persian. Her fur is long and soft and beautiful. Unfortunately, it also mats very easily and her skin is super pink and tender. We do not do a good job of combing her out and therefore she gets mats, sometimes lots of mats. Periodically we take her to the groomers so they can comb/shave out her mats. I have never let them shave her because I thought she would be embarrassed (if cats get embarrassed) and cold. I mean, she is used to wearing a beautiful white fur coat.

Our regular groomers went out of business about a year ago. I have been searching for a decent groomers during that time as Stinky really needs to go in about every three months. Once we had a traveling groomer come to the house and groom "Stinky" and give Kelsey a bath. I didn't really care for that service. Then I took her to another groomer relatively close to our office and when I went to pick her up, they couldn't find her for 20 minutes. They were like, yeah, we don't do cats very often? Then, I got her home to find out she still had mats. So, I worked those mats out myself and she hasn't been to a groomer since.

About a week ago, Michael was so frustrated with her mats that he tried to work on some of them himself. He got out the scissors and started cutting at one of them. I usually try not to use the scissors because I am so afraid I am going to cut her. Well, the next night after Michael had cut out an unusually large mat on her neck, I was petting Stinky and took a look at her neck and it had a big slice in it. Obviously it wasn't bothering her, but it looked horrible. Michael was mortified and so took it upon himself to find Stinky a proper groomer. He found one, clear on the other side of town and he took her there himself. I forgot to tell him that I didn't want her shaved (they call it a lion cut) because of the before mentioned concerns (embarrassment and cold). Well... I am sorry to say, they did perform the lion cut on Tinkerbell.

I feel so sorry for her. She shivers, a lot--it is winter after all and since our gas bill has been sky-high I have been keeping the thermostat low. She spends most of her time in her carrying case where there is a little lamb's wool liner. Here is a picture of Stinky when she did venture out of her case this morning. Poor sad Stinky.

I wonder how long it will be before her beautiful fur grows back to this:

Update: Stinky shivering while reading her own blog... I think she is embarrassed :-(

"I was gonna take you girls to a fancy restaurant... "

I'm having a blast lately exploring the internet. It surprises me that I am the person sitting in front of a computer screen, mesmerized, blogging, chatting, posting or just relaxing with a game of Triple Yahtzee, but, alas, it is me... and I am--mesmerized, that is.

This post is inspired by two recent events. Last month a childhood friend found me on Facebook. Considering I have not seen her in over 20 years and I have not "known" her since I was 13 years old, I was thrilled at the prospects. Her recall is phenomenal and sharing stories from the few short, yet memorable, years that we lived right across the street from each other on NE Royal Court in Laurelhurst has been, well, great. Memories are amazing. The other inspiration is a new blog Joey introduced me to that I am excited to read. Even though the author is only two entries in, her pictures are beautiful and her stories compelling. I am inspired to add stories back to my blog. Every day's a new day has gotten a little picture heavy of late and I have lots of memories to spill so, here goes.

"I was gonna take you girls to a fancy restaurant... "

It was going to be a beautiful day. Early on this July morning in 1973 it was still comfortably cool, but promised to be a scorcher. The weather had finally turned warm in Portland and that's why Grandpa wanted to get an early start. Me and Kelly were thrilled. We jumped into the back of Grandpa's Mustang hardtop. I was ten, Kelly was a month shy of that. We were going strawberry picking. We weren't sure what to expect, but we were game for anything. The drive out to the strawberry farm in Hillsboro seemed to take forever. One of my Grandpa's sisters owned the farm with the strawberry patch, so before the picking could begin, there was some socializing amongst the adults. When we finally reached the patch, we each started with a large empty container. Grandpa was a strawberry-picking maniac. He was frantically picking berries as if his life depended on it. Grandpa quickly picked his way down the row of delicious strawberries and we were left to fend for ourselves. Kelly and I stood wondering what we were supposed to do now. Eventually we took Grandpa's lead, bent down and started picking big, red, ripe, juicy berries. There was just no way we could pick these berries without eating at least a few... quite a few actually. Kelly and I quickly realized berry picking is really boring and it was getting hot. Grandpa was no where in sight.

I'm not sure who threw the first berry, but throwing berries was pretty fun and soon it was an all out berry fight. Berries don't really hurt much, especially thrown by young girls, but they do stain, a lot. We really got into our berry fight and didn't even notice Grandpa approach. We were throwing and giggling and squealing and then there was Grandpa with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face. He had filled multiple containers with the delicious berries and probably hadn't eaten but a couple and certainly he hadn't thrown any and he was upset. He acted terribly disappointed that we hadn't done our share by filling our containers. I'm sure when he was 10 years old he worked very hard, every day and was not allowed such silly indiscretions as a strawberry fight. He looked at our messy strawberry stained clothes and with great consternation said "I was gonna take you girls to a fancy restaurant, but now we will just have to go to Burgerville". Woo hoo! Burgerville... awesome. We excitedly helped Grandpa carry the berries to the car and load them into the trunk where they would bake to extra delicious sweetness on the drive home. And as we headed back into Beaverton I thought who needs a fancy restaurant when you've got Burgerville (Burgerville, USA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). We went inside and ate at the Burgerville on Canyon Road which is still there, in all its original glory. With no drive through and a bathroom out and around the back, it is the coolest burger joint I have ever had the pleasure of patronizing and we still go there, quite often, especially on the drive home from the boys' school.

Well, now I am hungry for strawberries and Burgerville.... see ya....

Oh Yeah, She Loved It!

Of course I'm talking about Lily and her first trip to the beach. Here's a handful of my favorite pics... the rest are on my Facebook.

It's Done

We have decided to take a Mediterranean Cruise on the Celebrity Solstice for our 20 year wedding anniversary. We will visit two of the countries on my wish list: Italy & Greece and one that wasn't even on my list: Turkey.

The last time we were on a Celebrity Cruise we had a fantastic time.

We will start and finish in Rome, so we will spend a few extra days there, then we are off to: Sicily, Athens, Mykonos, Ephesus, Rhodes, Santorini and Naples.

I can't wait!

Cake

Joey loves to bake. Today he baked a wonderful Yellow Layer Cake and frosted it with two whipped cream layers then chocolate buttercream in the middle and all the way around (all from scratch). Even though Andy and Lindsay were gone by the time his cake was done, we are dedicating the cake to Lindsay since her wedding cake tasting and lots of talk of cakes and desserts during her visit inspired the whole thing. We are also thanking Chris and Akiko for the really cool squirrel frosting tool they got me for Christmas. It matches our kitchen perfectly and frosts a mean cake. Oh, and the cake was delicious too!