A ride in the park

Yesterday was so nice that we had to take advantage of it. We packed up the bikes and went to Forest Park for a bike ride. I'm not exactly an expert cyclist like my husband. I don't even own bike shorts (unfortunately for my bum). We had to park a little ways(downhill) away from the entrance to the park and I was dying by the time we made it to the entrance. Then, Matt told me that I had my bike in the most difficult gear...OH...that helped. We did 6 miles and only got passed by one jogger (it was when I was trying to figure out the gear thing and he was going pretty fast :-) It was a beautiful day. So nice to get out and enjoy it.

sick kitty :-(

We had to take Olive to the vet this morning because she hasn't been eating much. The lab results won't come back until Monday. If you think of it say a little prayer for our kitty.

UPDATE: We took Olive into the "hospital" this morning(Tuesday). She has "reduced kidney function" and the vet isn't sure why. They are going to put her on an IV and push fluids through to see if they can get her blood levels back to normal. They are also going to do an ultrasound to check for kidney cancer. She will be in for at least 3 days. We can go visit her though. Hopefully this treatment will help her feel better. We should know more in a few days.

This has been really tough. We realized that we had been saying she is 9 or 10 years old for several years and then we finally calculated it out and she has to be at least 13 or 14. We decided that was because we didn't want to face the fact that she is getting older. Matt has had her since she was less than a year old. She has been with him through some tough times in his life. And she has been a part of our (Matt & me) relationship since our first date when Matt made me blueberry pancakes in preparation for our hike and Olive tried to nibble on my pancakes as I ate them. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. We'll keep you posted.

2/27/08 UPDATE: We went to visit Olive last night. Her belly is shaved and she has this pink bandage on one paw where the IV goes in. Poor kitty. She seemed happy to see us and while we were there they fed her dinner and she ate more than she has been eating with us. All good signs. The good news is that they confirmed that she doesn't have kidney cancer. They now think it may have just been a kidney stone that caused her kidneys not to function very well. She has passed the stone. There is hope that with the treatment she may regain some kidney function and with a special diet she may be fine. They are doing blood work again this afternoon to see how she is responding to the treatment. We'll keep you updated.

2/28/08 UPDATE: Olive's blood levels moved more towards normal so that is a good sign. She is continuing the IV treatment to keep bringing the blood levels down. We were very glad for this good news. She is also eating alot and talking alot to anyone who will listen.

3/1/08 UPDATE: They took Olive's blood again yesterday and her levels are continuing to get closer to normal. We thought we might get to bring her home but they wanted to keep her on the treatment for the weekend to see if they can get the levels down some more. Our clinic isn't open on Sunday so we have to take her to one that is open for Sunday and then bring her back. Hope she handles that ok. She seems like she is getting used to being there and the routine of it. They will take her blood again on Monday and see where she's at. We hope to bring her home then.

Good finds...

I had another Naked Lady Party(clothing exchange) last night. A little lighter turn out than normal but everyone still left with at least a few items. I didn't find my camera until this morning so I took a picture of some of my great finds. I think I am ready for another cruise or some hot dates...or both:-) I really like the red rain hat too. It was fun just hanging out with the girls. Hope everyone had fun and got some good items. Feel free to comment about your favorite item or report back about a great opportunity to wear the item (camo tank top).

Food, cake, gifts, and baby talk....

I must say I learned a thing or two...as I always do...at this baby shower. We discussed deep issues like the ploys marketers pull on expectant, unsuspecting parents; how to properly put your child to sleep; and how exactly do you use that thing that looks like it came out of a clown's nose (sorry, its past my bedtime and i'm not feeling very creative here-I'm referring to an aspirator-I always thought it was just a snot sucker). Anyway, it was great to host the shower for my dear friend Tracy. Her and BJ are going to be wonderful parents. Alot of people think they can predict the gender of the baby based on how the mother carries it. Do you think it will be a boy or girl??

Flowers are always a good thing...

My sweetie gave me these lovely roses on Valentines Day. There was also chocolate -yum!(See's Candy) and we had a lovely dinner Saturday night at Il Piatto. Very cute place, romantic and not rushed at all. What a great husband I have.

I know people have mixed feelings on this Hallmark holiday...(and I agree it is a hallmark holiday) but I think another opportunity to tell those you love -how much you care about them is a good thing. But for the record, when I was single and in college, my girlfriends back home and I used this holiday to play pranks on the dumb guys that would never ask us out....That was fun too...different fun...but fun.

I've been published....

...ok not really but Matt's dad (Rob) used a picture I took when we visited him over Thanksgiving on the Whidbey Audobon Society web page. It is rather small on the web pages so I also posted it below. I'm sure this is my big break into the world of photography don't you think? :-)

Crispy Ginger-and-Garlic Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps

In case you're looking for a new recipe...I made these lettuce wraps on Monday night after we went grocery shopping-why do I procrastinate? Anyway, they were yummy. Matt said they were just as good as PF Changs-quite a review. The recipe was pretty easy-the most difficult part was finding hoisin sauce at Safeway. Oh, and my lettuce "cups" weren't quite as perfect as at the restaurant-how do they do that?

mmm Focaccia Bread

I have never made bread before-well I've made banana bread and monkey bread but those don't really count. I mean the kind where you use yeast and stuff. So I came across this focaccia bread mix at Williams Sonoma (on clearance, Abby) and thought this was a good way to start. It came with yeast and the seasoning was already mixed into the flour. You had to let it rise 3 different times for a total of 2.5 hours. After much anticipation and a delicious aroma wafting through the house…I think it was a success. We made some delicious Panini sandwiches in what I call our poor man’s Panini grill (the george foreman:-). So can I say that I've made bread now or does it not count since it was a mix?