So, this past week, we had a snowmageddon (I stole that from the Daily Show, haha). It was insane. A huge snowstorm over the weekend, followed by an even bigger blizzard the following Tuesday night into Wednesday. My office was closed Wednesday and Thursday.

I think the white stuff disoriented the cats. They were sort of crazy and were fascinated by the piles of snow outside of our door.

And then we created a monster. First of all, our cats pretty much have never expressed a desire to go outside, which is nice. I think we changed that now. Ferris seemed very curious and so we let him wander around on our back deck a little. There was no way he could get far because of the large piles of snow. He was pretty funny.

He didn’t last really long and wandered back to the door to go back inside after a couple of minutes. But now, he seems to dart over to the door when we head outside and he’s slipped out a couple of times. Ay-yi-yi. Oh well. It was fun to let him outside! Simone seemed  completely uninterested, haha.

It is still pretty blah outside. I don’t think the snow is ever going to melt and we are supposed to get plowable snow tomorrow again!! What the heck?

But, one of the best moments of my life happened this January. My niece was born! I’m very close to my brother and his wife. When my sister-in-law announced her pregnancy, I cried with happiness. I loved hearing about every aspect of her pregnancy. I loved feeling the baby move in her tummy after a competitive game of Wii bowling. And I do have to say that my sister-in-law looked amazing pregnant.

Neal and I hung out with my brother and his wife the day before she went into labor (of course we didn’t know it at the time). I got the word she went into the hospital around 1 p.m. on a Sunday and had her baby girl by 10:30 p.m. I went to visit them in the hospital the next day and fell in love. She’s beautiful and sweet and has that sweet baby smell. Neal and I have really enjoyed having a baby in the family. And I’ve never loved my brother more after seeing him with her. He’s a natural dad.

Since this is a public blog, I’m not going to post pictures of my niece’s face, and we’ll call her B. But I do have some photos to share that I took during a “photo shoot” with the new family that I can share.

I love baby feet. We put her in a little pink tutu and propped her up in the corner of their couch. She looked like an angel!

I love spending time with her, even if all she does is sleep right now, haha. She spit up on me during the Super Bowl and I didn’t even care! Her eyes are a slate blue, like my brother’s. They could still change, but I’m hoping they don’t!

This summer, we are going to the beach with my brother, his wife, my parents and B. I can’t wait! Oh, and my niece dogs are coming, too, haha. By that time she’ll be 5 months, so she should be smiling and laughing and all of that.

Anyway, to my friends, if you want more pictures of her, send me an email. She really is a gorgeous baby!

HEHE, anyway, the reason for my renewed interest in blogging is because I have to tell you about “Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane. Holy crap, this book is awesome.

I heard that a movie based on this book is coming out in February. Leonardo Dicaprio is in it, and that means Neal will want to see it (he’s got a a man crush on Leo, I think), and so I wanted to read the book first. After getting it at the store, I also realized it’s written by the same guy who wrote “Mystic River,” which is also an amazing book.

Anyway, this book rocked my socks off. I read it in two days because I couldn’t put it down. Quick summary – these two U.S. Marshalls are on this island off the New England coast which houses a hospital for the criminally insane. It’s set in the 50’s. Anyway, the U.S. Marshalls are there to investigate the breakout of a patient who drowned her three children. They start their investigation and shit gets really weird really fast. Oh man. I loved this book. I kept thinking I had the twists figured out, and then I was wrong!

I couldn’t sleep Sunday night, because I kept having these horrible thoughts that these doctors were going to drag me away to the madhouse and drill into my brain.

Anyway, here’s the trailer with Neal’s boyfriend Leo. It looks freaky, and if it’s HALF as good as the book, it’ll be awesome.

Our neighborhood is like a trick-or-treat mecca. They bus ‘em in, man. I’m serious. It was raining when trick-or-treating started at 6, but we already had two families by 6:05. The rain let up about a half hour later, and it was like a free-for-all.

I really like handing out candy. I loved trick-or-treating when I was little, so I think it’s really important to hand out candy if we are home. I also LOVE looking at kid’s costumes. There were some really great costumes this year!

Here’s Simone looking for the trick-or-treaters with a treat of her own.

Here were some of my favorite trick-or-treaters:

– A little girl dressed as Dorothy. She had the curled, pigtailed-long hair and a little basket with a stuffed dog inside. It was funny because she couldn’t fit the candy in her basket because the dog took up all the room!

– Twin boys dressed as bugs. These kids were probably not even two, and they were stinkin’ adorable. They tottered down our driveway with their bags of candy. Their parents had these monkey backpack things that had leashes attached. I think that’s kind of weird, but when the one kid tried to push his way into our house, I was glad the dad could pull him back with the leash, haha. The boy’s name was Anderson and he was trying to get to our cats.

– Princesses. Oh geez. Multiple, elaborate princesses. Makeup, updos. The whole shebang. Maybe I should start a princess-costume-making business, because it seems lucrative.

– A little boy dressed as a bear. Only his face was peeking out and he was pretty much the cutest thing ever. Neal was standing at the door and I was in the kitchen. Neal yells from the door “Hey, Megan, come here, you have to see this kid!….. Oh no!…. Oh, he just fell in the grass!…. Oh, he’s getting up now….. He’s kinda wet now……” HAHA, it was pretty funny. He was adorable. I came to the door and the fall must not have fazed him. “Hi!” he yelled. His mother, who looked exhausted, said that he kept running because he was so excited and this was not the first time he had fallen that night. HAHA!

Can ya tell I enjoyed handing out candy? We bought three large bags and only have half a bag left. It was a madhouse! The only thing that slightly peeved me was that we had some double dippers. I really didn’t care about the little kids, but there was this one scary-looking goth/witch teenager with her little sister. They came up the door and I said “Oh, hey, I remember you, but that’s OK, I’ll give you more candy.” The teenager just stared at me. I said “Don’t you remember me?” (I mean, they were seriously at my house about 20 minutes ago). The teenager said “No” and held out her bag of candy. She kind of freaked me out so I hurried up and gave her candy so she didn’t put a spell on me or something.

For dinner, I made some shrimp scampi. It was scrumptious, but I got distracted by trick-or-treaters and the top got a little burnt, haha. And sorry for the crappy picture. I was starving and just wanted to eat!

And to get in the fall mood, I made some pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing. Oh boy, are these things good! I got the recipe here.

Sorry for the crappy picture. They do not do these justice. I’m telling you, make these things NOW! So good!

Hope you all had a good Halloween!

Simone’s excited!

Well, the Eagles should have won. They were playing a terrible team, haha.

Here’s hoping the Phillies win tonight!

OK, so I have some kitty updates! I realized I haven’t post about my blog namesakes for a while. Ferris and Simone are good. We have some stray cats in our neighborhood that keep getting onto our deck and staring in our back door at our cats. I don’t like that, because it freaks our cats out, but Neal and I have tried to be vigilante at watching out for these cats. Anyone have any recommendations on something we can spray around our deck to keep out the stray cats, but that also won’t be harmful to our cats if we let our doors open? I’m really getting tired of the drama caused by these stray cats.

Neal and I have been noticing that the litter box we have is too small. I really liked it. It kind of looked like a spaceship/pod thing, but both Ferris and Simone couldn’t seem to go without sticking their heads and front legs out the front. And Ferris would literally almost lift up the lid if he stood up in it.

So we decided to get them a new box. We measured ours to make sure the one we got was bigger. We are happy with the new box we got. And we also bought a mat to try to minimize the stray litter.

The litter box has a door on it, but we wanted to get them used to the box before putting the door on.

P.S. – I realize I’m lame for posting about my cats’ litter box. But seriously, do you really expect anything else from me?

OK, and we also bought them some cat grass. It’s not catnip; it’s grass that is OK for cats to eat, and is supposed to help them with digestion. They fought over this stuff and really seemed to love it.

I think it’s wheat or oat grass. Either way, it really kept them busy for a while. And there was definitely some midnight snacking.

And here is a picture of Simone trying to hide under our football table (we call it that because it has leather accents on the top that look like football laces).

And Ferris kept meowing at our hamper until I tipped it over for him. He dashed into it and it started rolling back and forth with him in it. It was pretty funny and he seemed like he was having a good time!

So anyway, that’s all for now. The Eagles have a bye week this week, so we are just watching a little bit of each game that is on. I really love Sundays. Does Monday really have to follow it?

HAHA, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” was on TV last night. I’ve said this before, but it’s my favorite movie, hence our cats’ names. I love the character “Ferris Bueller.” Don’t we all wish we could be as carefree as him? I have a problem with not living in the moment. I’m always looking at what’s next, never really just paying attention to the present. Ferris, though? He’s all about the present, consequences be damned. I love that guy.

They’ve been playing all my favorite 80s movies on TV, because of the death of director John Hughes. This guy was a genius. I love his movies.

Anyway, it made me realize I really haven’t posted pics of the cats lately. What’s that about? Who knows. I don’t have any pictures of Ferris. Because he’s all black, it’s hard to get good shots of him. Simone’s a great model.

They still haven’t given up on Lobster Claw yet. They love this thing. Jodie, can you send me another one? HAHA!

And then Simone decided to pick up the weights. You know, do a little toning.

I love that cat.

OK, I’ll make it my mission to get some good shots of Ferris. I promise!

We got a glowing review from our vet. He said they are very healthy, great coats, etc. Neal and I were very proud pet parents.

Anyway, we weighed them, also. Our little girl was 11.2 pounds. And Ferris? He’s 16.4 pounds. 16.4! That’s crazy! And the vet said that our cats probably won’t hit their top weight for another year. Can’t wait to see what he weighs next year!

We bought them a catnip lobster claw when we were buying our lobsters in Maine.  We gave it to them on Monday, and they LOVED it. It caused about three hissing spats, and they kept stealing it away from each other.

HAHA! I’m ridiculous and have tons more pics. Tuesday when I got home from work, lobster claw was all the way on our third floor in our bed. And I’m finding bits of red felt all over the house. Glad they liked our gift!

I sit them on the windowsill so they can ripen up a little bit better. And yes, that is a wishbone at the far end of the sill from a whole chicken we had. I like to let the bone dry out, then Neal and each make a wish and each pull an end. That is if Ferris doesn’t sniff it out first and chew on it like a dog.

My beefsteak tomatoes are still green, so they can’t be picked yet. But there are TONS, so I’m going to have to figure out what to do with all these tomatoes! I might have to look for a homemade tomato sauce recipe!

I made the most bangin’ chicken enchiladas Sunday night. Seriously. These were amazing. And very easy. Neal and I were both really happy with them. Tad had a bite or two of my leftovers at lunch today and agreed they were good.

I found the recipe here.

Kitties are still loving the new room. Ferris actually wouldn’t venture out from under the bed for two days. Not sure what that was about, but he’s OK now. Neal and I are hoping to start working on the trim in the room this weekend.

Think that’s all for now. I did get a photography booklet in the mail that I ordered from Amazon that focuses on my camera, the Nikon D60. I really want to get better at photography, so I’m hoping the book helps. I’ll try to post as I learn more stuff!

I instantly began hanging my clothes on the rack and getting things organized. It was so exciting! I couldn’t believe I was so excited. And then I started thinking – I have not had my own closet since I lived at my parents’ house. In college I shared closets (a tiny dorm one doesn’t count). Neal and I shared a closet in the house we lived in on the west end, and we have shared a room in this house since we moved in. That’s a long time of sharing closets!

So anyway, I ran to Bed, Bath and Beyond and used their cool 20% off coupons to get a shoe rack for my closet. I’ve never had a shoe rack! Ever! I’m so exited about this! Hey, it’s the simple things.

Anyway, I had to be careful, as my shoes are… well… tiny. Fortunately I managed to get a shoe rack with bars close enough bars to fit my shoes, albeit barely, haha.

YAY!

I know, I’m so ridiculous.

I got some adorable shots of Simone this weekend. She’s so stinkin’ cute.

I love her little pink nose.

Ferris was in his “defensive posture,” as we call it.

HA! That’s obviously said with sarcasm.

So, I have a closet and cute kitties, haha. I’m so lucky.

OK, sorry for yelling, but I am REALLY excited.

Want a peek?

Eeeeeeek!! I love it! Obviously, the room still needs trim and the baseboards need to be installed, which will look really cool. But for now, we have carpet!

The cats were hilarious. After about two years of pining at the closed doorway, Ferris was finally allowed to venture into the promise land. He was pretty funny. He cased the joint by walking the perimeter.

He would take a couple of steps, and then look back at the stairs, then a couple more steps, and a glance back at the stairs. Cats always need to know they have an exit.

And just as he was finished checking out the room perimeter, Simone peeked her head around the corner. She’s more timid than Ferris.

Simone was very skittish. She walked with her tail practically between her legs and always had at least one eye on the stairs, so that she could run away at a moment’s notice.

And just when I thought she was through, our little climber monkey spotted Neal’s pride and joy – the half wall.

And then Neal got home, and the cats seemed to be completely comfortable in the new room. Simone christened the room with a patented back jump.

HAHA.

So the first thing Neal and I did was take apart the bed and carry each piece upstairs. I have no pictures of this, as we were kind of preoccupied. I will tell you that the cats were NO help at all. Simone kept jumping up on the mattress and box spring while it was on its end in the hallway. Grrr.

I’ll also tell you that Neal and I claimed  MAJOR victory, as we were able to get all parts of the bed upstairs. That’s a pretty big deal, because due to the curve of the landing, it’s very hard to get large pieces of furniture to fit up there. We were not terribly optimistic, but we got it!

However, the box spring was definitely a challenge. For a couple of minutes, we weren’t sure it was going to fit. But with several very strong pulls (Neal) and one smashed finger (Megan), we were successful. For now, we’ll just have to ignore the large gashes on the wall. Ooops!

We set up the bed. Again, the cats were no help, haha.

Simone thought the box spring was the PERFECT place to give herself a bath.

And finally, we have a bedroom!

Simone made a home under the bed.

And Ferris hid under the covers. I think it’s hilarious because he had his paw poking out from under the comforter.

HAHA!

So, anyway, that’s that! Neal’s parents and brother are coming up Friday to help us move our dressers, since Neal and I are unable to do that ourselves. We still have to hang the curtain rods in the closets. But we are able to sleep up there now and enjoy the AC, so that’s pretty exciting! I love the room to pieces and am so excited it’s finished. There were times I thought it’d never be done!

I’ll post more pics of the room as we finish it up. Thanks to everyone who’s been following this home improvement project with me on the blog. I appreciate all the blog and facebook comments of encouragement. I’ve needed it!

And obviously, thanks to Neal’s parents for their blood, sweat and tears on helping us finish this room. We could NEVER have done it without them!

OK, so I had to give a shout out to Shawn, who is very, very far away, but yet took the time to leave Neal such a supportive message on my blog. And yes, I know I’m a sorry ass, haha. Thanks for reminding me.

Anyway, this weekend made me feel like a slave driver. I made plans a while ago to hang out  Saturday with Andi and some friends at her mom’s house. Neal’s parents still came up to help out with the attic. I helped do some work in the attic in the morning, which involved sanding. I left around 12:30, and could barely see Neal and his parents while saying goodbye because of the cloud of drywall dust in the room. I felt like such a schmuck. But I had been looking forward to hanging with the girls since we made the plans, and didn’t want to cancel. So I slunk out of the house. I felt like I was playing hooky, haha. I can’t thank Neal’s parents enough. Home improvement definitely doesn’t bring out the best in me, but yet they still come up every weekend to show us what to do. Amazing.

Anyway, Friday night, Neal and I primed the ceiling so that Neal’s mom could show him how to do venetian plaster. I came home from a relaxing day at the pool to find the room completely sanded and remudded, and Neal finishing up the first coat of plaster on the ceiling. It was awesome. They also put up the molding on the walls separating the slanted walls from the regular walls.

Here is the plaster. It was very hard to take a picture of.

And here are some of the sanded walls and molding, which we will prime and paint.

Woooo hooo!

So, what’s left? We need to prime the walls (two coats), finish the plaster, and then paint! Carpet goes in next, and then we’ll put up the baseboard and trim. We bought our ceiling fan today, which we’ll install once the ceiling is done. We’re almost there! I’m already plotting how I’m going to decorate it. I think I’m going to utilize some of the flower shots I’ve taken with my camera and hang those up around the room.

We had to purchase our last bit of stupid drywall today, and Simone was definitely the most excited about the purchase, haha.

HAHA! I love that cat. I do feel really bad about neglecting the cats. Neal and I and the kitties took a nap today, which was really enjoyable for everyone. The cats love naptime, and they like when we nap with them. It’s also probably my favorite thing to do as well.

I’ll have some more flower pics later this week. And I really need to start cooking again! I haven’t really been cooking dinner, because I’ve been working on the attic after work every day. Once this stinkin’ attic is done, I can get my life back! Aaahhhh!

Numerous people told me that mudding and taping was way worse than hanging drywall. This discouraged me greatly, because I pretty much LOATHED putting up drywall. Seriously, it made me angry I hated it so much. I hated measuring, taping, holding drywall, screwing in the screws on the studs… Ugh.

Well, as always, I’m a little weird and of course I liked mudding and taping 10x more than hanging drywall. To be honest, now that I’ve done it a lot, I think I’m actually quite good at it. It might be my calling.

First, I have to show you the halfwall Neal and his dad built. See, we had to build some sort of wall at the top of the stairs so we didn’t just walk off the edge and fall. I’m super impressed with the wall. It’s very sturdy and is seamless. It was definitely a lot of work. We had to take up the subfloor so they could secure it to the floorboards, which is really the only way to keep it sturdy.

So, after three trips to Home Depot, the wall was finally finished! Neal and his dad hung drywall. Here’s what it looks like coming up the stairs

And then this is what it looks like from the inside of the room.

I was tired and grumpy at the end of the day and yelled at Neal because I didn’t want this half-wall to take all day like it did. But I realized I was just being a bitch and that Neal and his dad worked very hard to make this a nice, sturdy wall. It’s level and wasn’t done half-assed, haha, so I really needed to quit my bitching. I’m really happy with it, and I know Neal’s proud, too.

Neal’s mom and I taped and mudded (is that a word) all day and it was pretty exhausting work, but we got so much done!

And then Sunday, we had contractors install our HVAC unit in the attic. It is very quiet and does a great job cooling the attic, as well as the second floor. I can’t wait until we have the place carpeted and finished so that we can leave the door open to let the cool air in the second floor!

Whew!

Of course, there’s more work to be done, but I really feel like the end is in sight now. Neal and I are so excited to have this room finished. I’m not sure what we’d do without his parents helping us and showing us what to do. Actually, I do know what we’d do -  we’d either not finish or have to pay out big bucks for a contractor. I have to say, I watch DIY shows on TV in a whole new light. Oh, and I need to amend my previous post about the carpet. We have decided to go with the lighter of the two swatches at this point.

Poor Ferris and Simone have been very neglected lately. We can’t let them in the attic when we are working. Poor kitties.

Neal got some shots of Simone when she was in her “crazy mode.” We’re still not sure what she was doing on the stairs, but I think she didn’t quite have her bearings.

Ha! She’s so weird.

I’ll have some pics later in the week of some flowers. Our yard has been severely neglected because of the work we’ve been doing in the attic, but I still have some pics

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Saturday, we stopped in at the carpet store. Turns out that was the last day for their 6 months no payment no interest deal. We really wanted that deal, so we booked a guy to come out and measure the room and we grabbed two carpet samples. We brought them home and put them on the living room floor. The cats, of course, did not fail to investigate.

And then they laid on them and wouldn’t get off.

(P.S. I don’t think these pictures are very indicative of the actual color of the carpet. We’re going to go with the darker of the two, for several reasons)

Now, the carpet squares are upstairs, but Ferris still won’t leave them alone. He keeps running around them, hiding under them, pawing at them and whining as loud as he can. It’s very annoying at 11 p.m. when I’m trying to sleep. Grrrrr. I can’t wait until we can just let the cats go upstairs in the attic. When we are working up there, all Ferris does is sit outside the attic door and cry. I feel bad!

I have some flower pics coming up later this week!

Here’s the deal. I’m not strong (wish I was, but I’m not). I try, but I’m not so good at screwing in the drywall screws. Our drill doesn’t have a whole lot of torque, so it takes some strength. I have managed to be able to cut the sheets of drywall with the knife, but I’m not as good as Neal is.

I’m debilitatingly short. I really am not tall enough to hold up sheets of drywall. I can’t reach high enough to use the drill because then I have no leverage. Basically, I’m useless. When Neal parents are here, the three of them are doing all the hard work and I’m scrambling around, fetching screws, drills, pencils and knives. I suck.

But anyway, Neal and I got a good amount accomplished on Sunday and Monday. Here are some updated pics. I’m warning ahead of time that it isn’t perfect, but I’m damn proud of what we’ve done so far.

This is a shot from the landing upstairs into the room. Basically, to access this attic room, you have to go to the end of the hallway on our second floor and go through a door. Then there’s a landing and short flight of stairs into the attic. We had to drywall the landing, stairs and the room.

And here’s a ceiling shot of the room. Two closets are framed out on either side of the window. We still need to finish the drywall in the closets.

Here’s a shot down the stairs. Neal and I did down the stairs and the landing ourselves this weekend.

Yay! Neal and I were able to use up some scrap pieces around this window.

For a little while, we had six sheets of drywall stacked in the office downstairs (now, there’s only two) and for some reason, Simone couldn’t get enough of the drywall! She started chewing on the paper, so we had to put towels over the ends, and she loved sitting on top of the sheets and walking from end to end. It was funny, because she had to grip the ends with her toes. We called her “grapple toes.”

Haha! She’s got some weird obsession with the drywall.

So anyway, that’s our update. Neal and I are going to do more work this weekend, and then his parents are coming up again next weekend. Hopefully we can start taping and mudding at that point! Whoo hoo!

Thanks for looking!

Neal somehow managed to snag some pretty neat “action” shots of a bee out on our deck. Take a gander:

He did a good shot, didn’t he?! I hope you can spot the bee in the pictures. I think they are pretty cool.

I really need to take some more pictures of the cats. They’ve been enjoying the nice weather. Here’s Ferris being lazy and sleey.

LOL. I was folding laundry, so that’s why there is a stack of clothes next to him.

All right, well I’m going to try to get updated pics of our attic to show you. And our veggies are really coming up. I’ll post pics soon!

OK, so I have no pictures for this post, but I have to tell you what Simone did. I was sitting on the couch after work today playing on my laptop. Neal wasn’t home from work yet. The cats were sitting at the front screen door looking out. Some guy came up to our front door and rapped on the screen door. I put down my laptop and walked to the door, thinking to myself that I need to buy a no solicitation sign or something. People are ALWAYS selling crap in my neighborhood.

So, he started talking to me through the closed screen door, and both cats were milling around my feet. Ferris did a couple stretches on the screen, rearing up on his hind legs and sniffing through the screen at the strange man. It’s not relevant to the story, but the guy was trying to get me to use his company to replace siding on my house.

Anyway, all of a sudden, I felt a jolt on my shoulder from something furry and with claws. The guy stopped talking mid-sentence and stared at my shoulder. My eyes shifted to my left shoulder and there’s Simone, perched on my shoulder, staring at the contractor. Now I know I’m not tall, but she jumped from the floor to my shoulder. In front of a stranger. It was weird.

I kind of stumbled over my words and apologized for my crazy, monkey cat. The contractor just looked at Simone and said “Uh… wow, that was quite a jump.”

HAHAHA. I got Simone off my shoulder and played the “wife-who-would-never-think-of-doing-anything-without-her-husband” card so he would leave. Mission accomplished.

Now, Simone has jumped on our backs before, rarely shoulders, but NEVER in front of some stranger. It was really weird. Awwww, my little monkey kitty. Think they have banana-flavored cat treats?

Anyway, our bed can be completely clear of any clothes or anything (that’s almost never), but Simone will find the one lone shirt to curl up on. It’s annoying when you have clothes laid out on the bed and are trying to get dressed in the morning.

Well, when Neal was getting ready to leave for the Poconos last weekend, he was packing in our living room (I know, I was annoyed, don’t ask), so stacks of clothes were lying around. Simone managed to find one pile and cover the clothes with her fur. Never fails.

How cute is she? I can’t take it. I love how she’s using the clothes as a pillow. Adorable!

When she can’t find a random item of clothing on the ground (that’s also rare), her and Ferris are sitting at the front door enjoying the breeze.  I took these photos because Ferris was using Simone as a footrest, and it made me laugh. For some reason, she didn’t seem to care.

HAHA! They are just the cutest. Oh, and I’m a really bad Kitty-Mom. I forgot to mention that their birthday was the end of April. My little kids are TWO YEARS OLD!! I can’t believe it. I don’t know what I ever did without them. They are so a part of our life, routine, etc. I love my kitties. 

For now, I have some photos from Sunday. It was a late night Saturday, so we enjoyed sleeping in. Neal had to leave late morning for some soccer games. Once he got home, we hung around the house and played with our cats. The weather was really nice in the afternoon and the cats enjoyed the bird activity. They also enjoyed their toys, which Neal dug out from under various pieces of furniture.

And then, in about five minutes, the sky turned dark and our TV flashed with severe storm and tornado warnings. Neal and I scrambled to try to secure some our outside furniture and then watched as hail pelted down.

And do you remember I posted about how I was so excited by my tulips coming up? Well, I practically cried as I saw the hail coming down on the new frail leaves. Grrrrrr…

The storm passed very quickly and we didn’t see any tornado. However, the news reported a tornado touched down VERY close to our house, so I’ll be curious to read more about that.

The cats didn’t know what to make of the hail. They kept running to the windows, and then back upstairs under the bed. It was pretty funny.

My bosses had a get together for some of our clients at their house and had some steamed hard shell crabs left over. They brought them into work and asked us to bag what we could and take them home. So I threw some in a ziploc bag, brought them and plopped them on the kitchen table. I turned my back for a couple of minutes, and Simone decided she needed to investigate what was in the bag.

And by investigate, I mean bite, play, and gnaw on. And we got some adorable pics.

Oh my! Thank God the crabs were already dead!

Ferris wanted to see what all the fuss was about. The funniest thing is Simone got this really awful look on her face because some Old Bay seasoning got on her tongue. Hilarious!

HA! It looks like the crab is poking his claw at her.

In order to prevent some kitty indigestion, we took the crabs away from her after we took the pictures. Maybe I should bring some live ones home for her to play with sometime!