Kitty Concerto

Things are still mighty cold here in the Great Lakes State.

But it is quite warm next to the fireplace.

Here at Mr. Cat’s household tradition, when you are either born or married into the family, you get the official “Kitty” stocking.  How adorable is that tradition???

So here is after Santa stops on by…

We even got to visit with Santa when he dropped by to the family Christmas eve celebration.  Honestly, what is more cute than seeing two grown adults sitting on a bourbon nosed, rotund without extra padding, and sometimes ill humored Santa???  Not very, but we did have a grand time watching him pass out presents to all the little ones in attendance.  Seriously, THAT was cute.

Next post….. How all most of the presents in Mr. Cat’s stocking eluded to the fact that he is in fact OLD.  Poor guy.  But funny.

Posting will be completely random if at best.  Its been a whirlwind of activities and next up is a week at my grandparents place to which they have no wi-fi.  Bummer.

I’m still here and I’m alive!

But barely.

Mr. Cat and I traveled back to the bitter cold of Minnesota.  I’m a native Southern California girl….  What’s up with all the white stuff???

When we landed from our uneventful flight (my favorite way to fly), it was -11 degrees!!!  How do humans survive this kind of weather?  Holy Moley!

Besides the hellacious frost, Mr. Cat and I were bone tired.  We literally only got an hour of sleep before our deranged extremely kind  friends volunteered to pick us up at 3:45 am to take us to the airport.   We had a great time hanging with Mr. Cat’s parents, sister and her family for the day.

We returned to the in-laws house to discover that we got put in the master suite!  For Christmas, all the siblings and their families will be staying overnight here and we got placed in the best room!  I wonder how much Mr. Cat slipped to the bell man….

Looking forward to chilling out thawing out and spending time with the extended family.

Hope your holiday gear up is going great.

Yesterday was a very long day.  But it was all worth it in the end!

Mr. Cat and I bought a car.

Wait, scratch that.

We bought 2 new cars!!!

Neither one of us have ever bought a brand new car.  So this was a very big deal.

We just happen to have the world’s biggest Ford Dealership practically in our backyard, so we headed over there to see what kind of deals they may have on two cars that we had talked about for months.  Turns out, we went at the exact right time!  They were having amazing deals.  They were offering employee discounts as well as rebates for particular vehicles, and wouldn’t you know, the type of truck we had our heart set on had the biggest rebate!  The Lord was smiling down upon us!

After a very long day, and many changes on the specific vehicle we wanted to take home (it wasn’t just me who had color issues), and eight hours later, Mr. Cat and I were able to drive home my black pearl 2009 Ford Escape Limited! I originally was hoping for the Hybrid version, but looking at the costs and the incentives for the regular Escapes, we decided it would be cost effective to not go with the Hybrid.  And surprise!  The resale value is not very good for the Hybrid versions.  Mostly because technology is advancing so rapidly and those that are looking for the Hybrids, are the same folks that are going to buy the next coolest car that has 100 mpg.   (hey, I’m looking for that car!)  This car will be the one that I drive mostly, and it has all the whistles and bells.  It has a navigator (which might just save our marriage.  you should have heard us trying to find our way around San Francisco during our first honeymoon), bluetooth (which means I don’t have to dial or have a headset, all I have to do is say your name and call you!  Wicked cool!), leather interior, heated seats, and random cool stuff like lighted cup holders that can change with my mood.

We had to leave Mr. Cat’s dark blue 2008 Ford F-150 Supercrew 4×4.  It needed to have base runner steps put on and a bed liner put in, so we had to leave it at the dealership.  That truck is pretty massive, and I’m not that big, so this is an important feature to have for me.  Another cool feature is that the gas/brake pedals are adjustable.  Sweet!  Again, this really works out in my favor, because I’m pretty darn short.

So either later today or tomorrow we will be picking up our second brand new vehicle!

Now before you go all crazy on me…..   Let me explain why we needed two automobiles.

First, let me explain the dire situation Mr. Cat has been dealing with for the past year.  He has been driving a 1997 Honda Accord, and believe me when I say that that car has seen better days.  To start, he has to water it daily.  No joke.  Every morning that he has to go to work, he has to bring out the watering can and open up the hood, with a broken latch, so he has to use pliers to pop the hood, and pour water into the ever broken radiator.  I can’t tell you how many times that thing has been taken in to get repaired.  It’s awful.

And let us not forget the fun fact that it reeks of cat urine because of a nightly visit from a stray cat that likes to taunt not only our little gang of kitties, but apparently our automobiles as well.  The smell could wake you up if you were unconscious.  There’s also the newest problem that takes this car into white trash victory.  The antenna broke, so Mr. Cat has to hold it out the window the entire time he is driving. When he drives to work, the average commute is a little under an hour.  Can we say g-h-e-t-t-o?!?!

So my dear sweet husband absolutely needed a new car.  Ever since the economy has taken a huge hit, dealerships have practically given away trucks, so this definitely peaked our interest.  We have both always wanted a truck, but never had the means to get one.  So we saw this as our big opportunity.  However, trucks don’t have the kind of gas mileage that is ideal for a commuter car, so we decided that he would use my just newly paid off 2002 Toyota Rav 4 and use the truck for around town, home depot purchases, and off roading.

And before you all think that we are just rollin’ in the dough, let me tell you that we are not.  We have saved up nearly an entire year to buy these cars.  We also live in a house where we still have mismatched bedroom furniture, still no dining room table, broken crappy window blinds, and a living room filled with random crap and non of it is living room furniture.

Just thought I’d clear that up.

Tomorrow…. pictures of our new cars!