Hank says "HI!" and "Mom needs to blog more often."

Sure, I haven't blogged over here in about six months, but it's summertime, so I have a LITTLE more time on my hands, and we've just got THIS GUY!

This is our new kitten, Hank. Those of you who know Gracie know that he is basically her mini-me. He's about 11 or 12 weeks old, and we adopted him from No More Homeless Pets KC, which is an organization that fosters kittens so that they won't be left in shelters where they might not make it.

A few things about him:

• He's cute as hell.
• He's got a TON of energy.
• He's starting to teethe, which is a little problematic.
• He, um, has a lot of gas! (This is not something I remember with Gracie when she was little.)
• He's getting braver by the day.

Gracie and Hank are at least now able to be in the same room with each other, after a little bit of hissing on Gracie's part. Hopefully, they'll be fast friends soon.

Hank was a surprise birthday present from Hubs. We went to pick him out the Saturday after my birthday, so we've had him for about three weeks now.

I've done a few other things lately that should get a little blog love, so hopefully they'll be a few more posts on here soon. For now, though, I'm tired. It's way past my bedtime.

Sports and News

Big things have been poppin' around here lately. Good ol' BV's football team just won the 5A State Football Championship over Bishop Carroll this weekend. This was great news for a couple of reasons - one, hello...STATE CHAMPS! Two...got to see my good friend Jaime Green at the game. Even though I'm not one of the "special" ones anymore (no official press pass), I managed to get down on the field to visit her for a few minutes during the game.

That, and watching the PBS special "The President's Photographer" have really made me miss the old job, even though I love the current job. I need to get out there more and make more documentary photographs.

If you haven't watched that special, go to their website to read all about it and watch online. It was so good even Gracie wanted a front row seat.

Previously Unreleased - 2008 Photos

These photos are a selection of my iPhoto library since the Great Laptop Crash of August 2008. I wasn't as religious with the blogging as I wanted to be, so a lot of these photos should have shown up throughout the year, but didn't.

Our aluminum tree.

Thanksgiving Break. (Adam pretty much does this every weekend morning, though.)

Sushi lunch in St. Louis

St. Mary's Mountain and Church, Altus, Ark. Thanksgiving Day

Helping out the neighborhood squirrel population

Adam and I breaking in Rock Band at Mom and Dad's

Adam playing the drums later that night at our house
(for some reason, I love the look on his face)

Waterfire on the Plaza.

Checking progress on a knit in the van on the way to Arkansas.

Kyle modeling (?) his new hat knitted by his mama

The line when we went to vote after school one day

My Thanksgiving dinner at St. Mary's

Kasie wins a pooping reindeer during Christmas bingo

Visit from L means a trip to the park

Jayne was all smiles, hopped up on pain meds after surgery

Why do cats always pick the clean laundry?

How'd you get up there?

Emma's lion

First big snow of the season

Friday night at Blanc Burger

The "other" cat in our lives, Betty

This is what happens when you play too much Rock Band

I love the look on Lauryn's face in this photo

Can't go wrong with a tiny shopping cart.

This post might serve as a bit of a preview for a project Betsy had an idea for. We're working to get it off the ground. I'll keep you posted on that.

All of these photos were taken either with the iPhone, or my Canon Digital Elph. Looks like the blog might be more interesting if I posted these THROUGHOUT the year, eh?

Happy New Year's Eve, everybody! Have fun and be safe.

See you in 2009.

Is she trying to take over the ChittumFiles?

(Photo by guest blogger, Adam)

Maybe Gracie is trying to tell me something?

Am I spending too much time on my computer?

I'm certainly not spending too much time blogging, lately. I think it's too much time doing work for my grad school class, lesson planning, grading, etc. Oh, and a tiny bit of Etsy last weekend. Betsy and I posted some tags, and I renewed a few items that have been on for a while but haven't sold.

Oh wait, I've been told I'm not supposed to talk about Betsy on here as much...

This photo actually reminds me a little bit of one of my favorite blogs, Crazy Aunt Purl. She's always posting photos of her cats, lying in weird places, or with funny things in the frames with them just by chance.

If you start seeing posts about the latest flavors of Cat Chow, or Whiskas, you'll know whose to blame.

REUNITED!

Well, after 11 months apart, Gracie is part of the family again. (I hope no Dunes people read this blog, since we're not paying their exhorbitant pet rent for the next three weeks. )

As always with her, she returned on her own terms, and on her own time schedule. I am not a dog person at all, but the pickup of Gracie made me wish she was a dog for just a few minutes. When you say "Come here, puppy!" dogs will usually do that.

Traumatized cats will not. She had holed herself up in between the basement floor joists and the underside of the bathtub of the house where she was staying. I brought the secret weapon - a can of tuna. She was so freaked out that even the kitty crack didn't get her out of the basement.

So, instead of bringing her home Wednesday night, I had to drive back to Derby from Newton, and wait to get a phone call that she had come out of her hidey hole so I could go back and pick her up. Yes, I was a little pissed, but, the good news is - I actually got to go to book club since it was the same night.

Of course, I hadn't brought any clothes or anything for an overnight stay, so I had to run by Target and get a clean shirt, toothbrush, etc.

Even though there's a lot of bad news swirling around the ol' Eagle these days, book club was as boisterous as ever. Jaime and Bonnie even do-see-do'ed for a few minutes. Amy hosted, and she had a great turnout, so I got to see so many people and get caught up. Sounds like the book was a bust, so I'm glad I didn't read it. I've got to get back on the e-mailing list though, so I can keep up with what the club is reading.

Of course, the one book club I actually get to come to, Kat didn't make it. So, I didn't get to see her.

•••

We're leaving this afternoon for a weekend campout/float trip. TheChittumFiles will be shuttered for a couple of days. Lack of wi-fi in Noel, Mo., and lack of a waterproof laptop will keep me from constant updates. I won't be taking the camera in the canoe (last time Dad and I canoed, we totally wiped out, so I don't trust electronics in the canoes!), but I'll have plenty of photos from the campsite, I'm sure.

•••

Camping trip also means that we'll be able to take a little break from the Extreme Home Makeover. When we come back, Monday we paint. Everything is primed and ready. They'll definitely be some new photos when all that color is added.

Because I know there are Cat People reading this: The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee

Betsy got me looking at this site - The Itty Bitty Kitty Committee.

You must check it out. It's a family who foster parents for kittens who will eventually be adopted out. They have one big cat who serves as the mama cat, basically, and then they have tons of KEY-yute kitty babies!

My favorite - who could resist this face? Meet Bernadette.

photo by Laurie, Kitty Wrangler

You must see what she looked like after her bath.

All the kitties have such grown up sounding names, like Augustine and Clementine.


Betsy doesn't even like cats and she loves these kitties!

Okay, Cat People - listen up

You must go look at Crazy Aunt Purl's blog right now. She did a cat sweater contest, and the winner photos are on her site. They are freakin' HI-larious.

A few of the winners are featured on the post, but then if you click on the gallery link, you'll see TONS of crazy photos.

It's pretty good for a laugh. The only thing I kept thinking while looking at the photos was "Gracie would scratch the fingers right off my knitting hands if I tried to cram her into one of those things." I guess other people's cats are a helluva lot more chill than mine.