Over the Weekend....

Monday, March 13, 2006

Good afternoon folks! It’s just about straight up 1:00 p.m. I’m finally getting a chance to open your file in an attempt to try to bring you up to date about my busy weekend. Yep – I had a busy one!! So here goes…

Friday evening when I got home from work, I freshened up and took care of a few things, then went downstairs to wait for Bobby to swing by and pick me up. He showed up and we hightailed it over to Chad’s house. Andy and Allison had just gotten there and Andy had their grill in the back of his truck. He and Chad unloaded it and took it to the backyard and started prepping both grills that they had and got them going.

Once everyone arrived, we gathered in Chad’s living room and had our Bible study while a couple of the guys were tending the grills. I think they were in there too, they just popped out every once in a while to check on the progress. They were cooking shish-ka-bobs on the grills. Mark spoke on the topic of temptation and he shared with us about how he has an accountability partner and how it works. I have notes – but not with me - so I won’t be able to go into detail with you.

Once Mark was done, we had dinner. There were the shish-ka-bobs and corn on the cob, salad and a couple of other things. For dessert we had cookies and a chocolate cheesecake with cherries on top. I brought a cookie home with me. And – I caught a ride with the Ware gang – Greg, Brad and Tina – they’re brothers and a sister. Greg and Tina live in Forest over in Scott County and Brad lives in Brandon (here in the Metro). It was on their way home, actually, so that’s why Allison asked them to drop me at Sterling – it would’ve been a slight detour off of I-55 South; but Greg (who was driving) didn’t go that way. He took the city streets and dropped me off.

I talked with Chris when I got home about working with the newspapers on Saturday. She called me early Saturday morning – around 6:15 a.m. I think it was. I got up and got ready and we left out around 7:00 a.m. and were at the DC site by around 7:20 a.m. We got an earlier start than usual.

When we got finished, which was around 2:30 p.m. we left the DC site and headed for the Wal*Mart in Pearl. Once inside, we went shopping – first we went to the pet supply area. There we bought:

Friskies Chef’s Blend dry cat food

Cat “starter kit” – containing:

Food dish (dual)

Water bowl

Litter box

Litter waste bags

Rake for litter

Tidy Cat litter

Ball toys

Wand toy

Collar

Groceries (fill-in needs)

When we were done at Wal*Mart, we started to go to Arby’s for lunch but decided we wanted to go to Barnhill’s instead. So, we hightailed it to Sterling and dropped off the Wal*Mart purchases – since I had some frozen items in there. Then, we got back in the car and went up to Barnhill’s on County Line. They just opened a week or so ago. We got there at 4:00 p.m. and had to wait in line to get in, but were out of there about 5:00 p.m.

While in Wal*Mart we had tried to use the pet id engraving machine, but couldn’t get it to work. Well, we were going to Pet Smart to get some puppy food for Romeo, so while we were there, we used their machine and got an engraved tag for Sukiey – I put “Sukiey Alford” and my cell phone number on it. I also got a 7 pound container of Tidy Cat as Chris decided that what I bought at Wal*Mart might not be enough to last awhile. Chris got the Science Diet that Romeo eats.

We left Pet Smart and returned to Sterling; I went up with the Tidy Cat and the tag. Chris went home. I got the air cranked up – it was kind of stuffy. Then, I got busy – I did a little cleaning up that needed to be done; I got my bed’s act together – got the covers and blankets back on it properly and tucked down where Sukiey wouldn’t be able to get to the mattress. Finally, I went downstairs and Chris was in the lobby with Romeo. She had been out walking him.

Chris and I went back to her apartment with Romeo and we got Sukiey out of her hiding spot. I was able to catch her and get a hold on her. I took her to Chris to put in the carry cage, but she managed to escape and went up under Chris’ bed. Chris got her out and this time got her in the cage. She was just a squawking as we carried her up to the lobby and got in the elevator and took her up to my apartment.

Once we got inside, Chris opened the door of the cage and Sukiey ran out like she had been shot out of a cannon. J J She ran and found a spot to hide. Chris fixed the cage for her and the stool that she likes to sleep on. We put the toys out too. I had opened the kit and fixed the litter box and put food and water down for her. Chris gave me some cans of 9 Lives for her to eat in addition to the Friskies Chef’s Blend.

Chris left and I laid down on the couch and was perusing the magazines I had gotten – I was more or less ignoring Sukiey on purpose to see how she would act. Finally, she came out from her “hidey-hole” as Chris and I call it. She came to me and would let me pet her and would lick and nibble at my fingers. When I finally went to bed, I opened the door and left it open – I had closed it when I went down. Then, about ½ an hour later, I felt a thump and looked and Sukiey was in the bed with me. She didn’t stay, though; she went back to her “hidey-hole”.

Sunday morning I got up and fixed Sukiey some of her canned cat food – put it down for her. I had breakfast as well. I closed the bedroom door and kept it closed while I was having breakfast and then taking a shower and getting ready for Church. I came out and shut it behind me. I told Sukiey that I was heading to Church and would be back later. One thing I did was leave the TV on – tuned to Animal Planet – on low volume.

At Church we had a nice service. Mark preached and brought a good message. Then, after a “pit stop”, I went up to Sunday school. We had our first lesson in Hebrews and David taught it. Debbie will teach next week. I didn’t go out with the group for lunch – I wanted to get home and check on Sukiey.

When I got home, I went and changed clothes and then went and laid on the couch for a little while to watch the Arena Football game. Sukiey came out and got up on the couch and laid down on top of me briefly. She was purring. Then, she got up and went back to her “hidey-hole” and I got up and got my stuff together and went down to do laundry. I made a few trips up and down – and finally got it done.

When I was able to stay put, I laid down on the couch and watched the rest of the NASCAR race and believe it or not, Sukiey came back up and laid down on top of me for a while. She was licking me and nibbling my fingers. Chris called and I gave her an update on Sukiey’s bonding progress. Last night I curled up on the couch and she got up there and laid down by me. I was finally able to figure out how to use the camera in my phone and I took a picture of Sukiey – actually I took several pictures of her before I finally got a good one of her. Then, I went down to see Chris and while down there, I used the camera and took a couple of pictures of Romeo – took a couple of attempts to get a good one of him.

I went to bed and left the door open and she came and got in the bed with me a little later. She seems to be spooked by the waterbed, though. She seems not to like the waves. And, she seems to be spooked as well by the elevator noises. But, she’ll eventually get used to that. I felt the same way at first and I adjusted.

This morning – oops! There was a miscommunication and somehow I failed to remember that I was supposed to come in to work for 7:00 a.m. I knew Bob is out – on vacation this week, but I forgot that they wanted me to start working on shift this week. So – I got in for 8:00 a.m. and they weren’t too upset – once I explained about my confusion. They understood.

Well – I’ve been moved – over to the Operator workstations. I couldn’t log in at first, so I had to use my regular one. I put in a ticket to have the team copy my id over. Jeremy and McKinley finally got over here and did that – now I’m using the same one Bob uses – since I’m working in his place this week. I’m also able to log on to the one Allan uses. I’ll have to share again– I’m not real happy about that, but…

Vicki, Laura and I went to the Women’s Luncheon and Mark spoke today. That makes 3 events in the past 4 days that I’ve heard him speak at. It was a good one too – he used some of the material from Friday and Sunday – combined it sort of. I took notes.

Around 3:00 p.m. I plan to go over to to Sterling – to do 3 things: pick up my mail, get my meds for this evening and check on Sukiey. Since I didn’t realize I would be working till 7:00 p.m., I didn’t bring my meds with me and I hadn’t thought I would need to check on Sukiey, although I made sure she had plenty of food and water when I left this morning.

Oh yes, this morning Michele S. came over and brought me a bag with some “cat stuff” in it – toys and catnip. I’ll take it home with me later tonight.

I’ll pause here for now and have more later…