Cats In The Workplace??

For the past few days, we have been going crazy at work! We keep hearing this noise that sounds like a shrill "beeping" or something -- it was hard to determine where it was coming from with all the machines that run and make loud noises. We had maintenance over trying to locate the problem. They checked the defibrillator hanging on the wall -- not that. Checked the batteries in the doorbell -- not that. The only other logical explanation was that maybe some back-up generator or something on the server was going out. Upon checking around the server, maintenance found... a tiny kitten!! Nothing "logical" about that at all! After many conversations, it was determined that since the server is located next to the back door, the kitten must have gotten in when someone had the back door propped open and didn't see it come through. This kitten was a really light orange/tan/white color -- and so cute!! There is a vetinarian next door, so maintenance took the kitten over to be checked out. He came back with a clean bill of health. The vet determined that it was a boy and looked to be about 5-6 weeks old. Sara, one of the girls I work with, decided she would take the kitten home. So we had a nice home for him and all is well that ends well... right?!

The next morning, Sara and I arrive for work and as soon as we walk into the entryway we can hear kitten cries. I asked her if she brought the kitten back to work with her... no such luck. We were hearing another kitten! We searched all over the place back where we were hearing the cries, but couldn't find anything. The only other place we could think was that it had to be in the wall. Sure enough, when you place your ear up to the wall, you could hear it scratching in there. We called maintenance again and they came over. Since we have a "false" ceiling, they decided to lift one of the tiles and see if there were any openings to be able to see in the wall. Once they got into the ceiling and shined the flashlight, they came face to face with a larger cat -- presumably the mommy cat! She took off down the ceiling where there was no catching her ( mind you, we have a very large space -- lots of darkness up there for her to hide.) Maintenance called the owner of the building, who then called animal control... six men had to converge onto our department to figure out the best way to get that cat out. They finally decided to set a trap with cat food up in the ceiling and hope that the mommy goes into it. When these gentleman were setting the trap up there, they saw another tiny kitten running around up there! They kept popping up ceiling tiles all over the place until they caught it! This kitten was gray colored, and after a trip to the vet, it was determined it was a girl! Sara decided to take this kitten home also, since it was a litter mate to the other kitten from yesterday. Later in the afternoon, maintenance came back to check the trap. Mommy was in there -- with another baby! Mommy was a gray striped tabby cat and the baby was gray like the second one! A trip to the vet let us find out that Mommy was way too wild to be taken home -- she hissed and spit and clawed at anyone and anything that came close. Didn't get a picture of her! The kitten was a boy. Sara was not going to take another cat, so another girl took the kitten out to her mom's farm to live with about eleven other cats... Mommy was taken far away and dropped off by a farm by one of our maintenance men. No one would let them take them to the pound... we all know what happens to animals there! We did not hear any more noises, so we hope this problem is solved! They never were able to figure out how the mommy cat got into the ceiling in the first place, though...

Zach and Spring Baseball

I apologize for not posting more about Spring Baseball, but there really wasn't anything to post! These games were more like scrimmages and I missed most of them because they were played when Brianna had events going on at the same time...

East High had three teams for the spring league. They played two games each weekend for a total of eight games. Scores were not officially kept, so I couldn't even tell you how many wins and losses they had. Zach's final spring game was May 3rd... and he hit a home run!!! YEAH!!!! The picture posted below is his homerun hit!

Girl Scout Event

On Saturday, April 18th, Brianna and her brownie troop got to go swimming at the new YMCA! Three hours of non-stop fun!! The pool has a wading area with sprinklers and fountains and small slides. At the other end of the pool it is a little deeper (about 3 1/2 feet) and there are bigger slides. Next to this is another pool, which is called the lap pool. It is 7 foot deep and has lanes for swimming laps and at one end is a basketball hoop to play water basketball! The girls never ran out of fun things to do! The only downfall of the evening came about a half hour before the party was over -- one little girl got sick and was vomiting in the lap pool!! So everyone had to get out and spend the last 30 minutes in the other pool with the slides! Check out the pics! I apologize if some are blurry -- some were taken with my camera and the blurry ones come from my cell phone!!

Looking For A Newer Model...

I am looking for another CJ just like the one I already have, but in a newer model... does anyone know where I can find one?? The one I have seems to be falling apart on me!!


Most everyone knows about his ulcer troubles last fall... I posted about it in the blog. Well, that seems to be doing fine, but his knee decides to give him some trouble over Easter weekend. He got up Easter morning and his knee was sore. CJ does tend to get some fluid build-up around the knee every once in a while (due to basketball injury when he was younger) so when this happens he usually wears a knee brace and stays off of it and the next day it feels better. So, Easter was spent at Mom's house and he wore the knee brace and sat around a lot, staying off the knee as much as possible. The next morning when he got up for work, it was still sore, so he wore the knee brace to work. By the time he got home from work in the afternoon, his knee hurt so bad that he could hardly walk! He kept me up most of that night because he was in pain and nothing he was taking was working. Tuesday was my day off, so CJ stayed home from work and I took him to the doctor. His doctor wanted to take some x-rays and said he probably tore his ligament around his knee -- just great. However, when the doctor came back with the x-rays, he showed CJ what the problem was. Apparently, at some point in CJ's life, he must have smacked his knee into something really hard and chipped a piece of bone off the fibula (the bone in your leg below the knee) and it is floating around in the knee area. This little piece of bone fragment is now currently lodged in CJ's joint between his fibula and tibia (bone in the leg above the knee). This is what is causing all the pain and swelling on his knee! The doctor then made an appointment with an orthopedic specialist to determine what course of action should be taken. The appointment with the specialist wasn't for another two weeks, so CJ came home and kept his leg propped up and hoped and prayed for that bone chip to move!! He missed work on Wednesday, but the knee was starting to feel better by Thursday, so he went to work then. When it came time for the appointment with the specialist, his knee was feeling just fine. The specialist took more of his own x-rays and told CJ that if his knee was feeling fine now, he couldn't just say that he needed surgery to remove it. Since this is the first time it actually hurt like this, he wants CJ to wait and see... if it starts happening more frequently or hurting worse, then he needs to consider surgery to have that bone chip removed. I am hoping we can put it off as long as possible... guess we'll see.

Two days after the specialist appointment, CJ started to complain about his right elbow... I told him he has met his "quota" of doctor visits for the year! See why I need a newer model?!

Happy Easter!!

We hope all our friends and family reading this blog had a very enjoyable Easter!

Brianna especially enjoyed this holiday because she got something from the Easter Bunny that she has been wanting for almost two years!! A HAMSTER!!!! (I'm gonna need to have a talk with that Easter Bunny...)

Our Easter started out like it always does every year -- the Easter Bunny hides Easter eggs all over inside and out (weather permitting) and the kids have to find them. Inside each egg is a clue that leads them to the next egg, then finally to their gift!! After about a half hour of running up and down stairs, inside and outside, etc. the kids got a clue that led them to the shower. Imagine Brianna's shocked face when she pulled the shower curtain back expecting to see another Easter egg and clue, but instead their was a hamster cage -- with a hamster already in it!! Let me tell you... she was the happiest girl in the universe!! (after she got over the initial shock!) Immediately, she named him Max and wanted to go to PetSmart to buy him toys and treats! Zach's Easter present was in the shower too -- an XBox 360 game that just came out that he had been wanting. He was pretty happy too! Maybe not as happy as Brianna, but pretty close!

Once we could pry Brianna away from Max and his cage, we headed out to Laurens for Easter dinner at Mom's. My sister and her family were also there, along with Aunt Barb and her family and Uncle Bill. Dinner was fantastic as always and the day went by way too quickly. The kids didn't have school the next day, but CJ and I had to work so we headed home after supper. It is always great to see family during holidays!!

Here are some pics of Brianna's hamster:

OMG!!! Zach Had A... DATE!!!!!

East High has an annual tradition called "Twirp". It is essentially our version of the Sadie Hawkins Dance, where the girl asks the boy to go to the dance. And you guessed it, a girl asked Zach to go with her!!!

Zach's date's name was Ciara. Zach and Ciara have known each other since Kindergarten and been attending the same schools, sometimes even sharing the same teachers over the years! Of course, I was promptly told by my son that she was nothing more than a friend!!

As the weeks went on and the dance was drawing near, I learned A LOT about the difference between attending a "small town" school versus attending school in the "city" -- the first thing being about proper dance attire... where I come from, we had high school dances -- lots of them. There were fall dances, Homecoming dances, Valentine's Day dances, Spring dances, and who could forget about Prom?!! Most dances, the girls might have worn a jean skirt or nice slacks with a sweater or blouse, while the boys wore jeans and a shirt, maybe even a t-shirt. Prom was the one time of the year that everyone went all out and dressed to the hilt! Not here in Sioux City!!! You can't tell the difference between Prom and Homecoming here in the city! Girls are dressed in expensive dresses, getting their hair and nails done, boys in tuxes, renting limos... and this happens twice in one school year!?! When I asked Zach about the dress code for this Twirp dance, he told me it was "casual"... (Thank God!!!) Well, Zach and all the other boys basically wore polo shirts with a colored t-shirt underneath that matched the girl's dress, then complemented the rest of the look with their khaki colored cargo shorts and tennis shoes or sandals! The girls... just one (maybe two!) steps down from Prom!!! They still went out and bought dresses, the one rule being they couldn't be long dresses. Some even still went and got their hair and nails done.... I so do not look forward to when Brianna gets into High School... this being one of the very reasons!!!!

With that being said, let's get on to the details of the evening! Twenty kids (10 couples) decided they were going together... GREAT!!! All of them, along with their parents and even some younger siblings, congregated at one house for the "picture-taking ceremony"!! This took over and hour!!! Pictures were taken of groups and individuals... the boys tired of it right away. I think the girls would have been content to keep snapping the pics all evening long!! Once the pictures were done and everyone was satisfied that they got a picture of what they wanted, the kids left with designated drivers and headed to Carlos O'Kellys to eat before the dance. Since the girls asked the boys on this date, the meal was the girl's treat! After the meal, they still had time before the dance, so of course, they all headed to the mall (who would have thought??!!) to show off before the dance. The dance was from 8PM - 11PM, where more pictures were taken... this time by a professional photographer offering packages. Each of the couples ordered a package... the boy's treat! After the dance, the kids went to a small gathering at one's house. Zach was picked up and home by midnight. He says he had a great time! Here are some pictures from the evening!:

Lock-In Survivors

This past Saturday night, the Girl Scout Council held an event at the mall in Sioux City. This event was an overnight lock-in!! Girl Scouts from all over Sioux City showed up at the mall right after it closed to the public (9:30pm) and spent the night locked in until their parents came to pick them up at 6:00am the next morning!

Since I am one of the registered troop volunteers, I also got to spend the night with all these girls! There is one catch... there would be no sleeping!! I was a little nervous about how the evening would go, since I had to work early Saturday morning, then Brianna had the dance clinic and the dance show that evening, then we would head out to the mall. I thought for sure we would not be able to stay awake for the entire event! We did manage to squeeze in a two hour nap in the afternoon between activities, though, and I think this really helped!

Upon arriving at the mall, girls were to gather as a troop and check in. After checking in and getting the schedule for the night, we had to find a spot in the mall where all our girls could "congregate" between activities. This was not easy, since there were over 500 girls in attendance! The evening went really fast! The Council had events scheduled all throughout the evening to keep the girls busy... they didn't even have time to think about being tired!! We had dance performances from the Morningside College dance squad, a baton twirling event from a South Dakota pageant queen (she is also a registered Girl Scout!), pizza, movie, karaoke, Wii, drawing for prizes, etc. Before we knew it, it was 5:00am and time for breakfast and clean up before the parents arrived! Everyone had so much fun! I'm sure I won't hesitate to sign up again next year!! Check out the photo below-- notice the time on the clock! 3:30AM!!!