Almonds, YUM!

I am a Wasabi and Soy sauce kinda girl normally, but I just discovered these. These are very yummy, and they only have 4 carbs/24(ish) almonds. They taste like Cinnamon Life cereal. Es gooood.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Do the stanky leg...

You must watch this...Do the Stanky Leg!

The Neubert Boys Update

For those of you who grew to know "my boys" from Gainesville second hand, through my pictures and stories, here are some updated pics Inga sent me of them at the pumpkin patch this year. They are huge and old! THanks for the pics, Inga!

Jack
Petey Jack-5, Petey-3

Greta Donut

The temperatures have dropped drastically in the past few days here in Atlanta, and poor naked Greta was freezing her little weimaheiney off at night. We like to keep the heat at 60ish at night to create a frosty bedroom, so the poor animals were freezing to death-more than I knew. After consulting with my sewing elders, I decided on this fleece design. Since Greta sleeps on the couch anyway, she just needed a barricade around the sides to hold in some body heat. So I cut a fleece blanket in half ($5), and sewed two 60" tubes out of it. Then stuffed the two tubes with three king sized washable pillows ($12) and cut ties in the fleece at each end of the tubes and tied them off, to create this triangular snuggle donut. $17 dollars total. Beats the $150 dollar Ginat dog beds at the store.

She found it within seconds and hasn't gotten up all night.

Amelia, the cat likes to try to cuddle, but Greta does not approve.

I think Amelia had a plan. But she did eventually get kicked out and was given the extra fleece blanket (purchased, but not used) and has been snuggled up inside since. THe poor animals were freezing to death it seems.

Wintery Drinks

I am bubbling over with fall festiveness as the weather begins to cool. though it's only a fraction of what I wish. I want to wear my booooots, and scarf, and hat. Though I am not looking forward to scraping ice off my car and sliding down hills while in my car. Anyway...I am getting my research done for that fateful day that is to come when I need to snuggle in a blanket and drink warm stuff. While in search, I came across this article about warm sugar-free drink ideas-since we must be low-carb to fit into our nice sweaters. This is the link.
Top 5 Low-carb beverages

The link above includes DaVinci syrups, of which I am well stocked in all my favorite flavors already (you can find them at World Market and often TJMaxx. However, it informed me that they also carry tea concentrates which I didn't know about.
The other thing that was cool was the Big Train Mocha No Sugar Added Blended Ice Coffee. It's a pack of 25 individually wrapped mocha blended iced coffee mix packets for $24.35 at Amazon.

Visitors!

The parents and niece and nephew came to visit:

And Caris found a friend in Greta

(she is between princess dresses at the moment)

We tried to go pet the animals at Yellow River,

but when we got there it was closed for flooding.

So, we fed the deer our crackers and carrots through the fence,

as did everyone else that showed up,

and went and played at the playground for a minute or two.

...which it appears was flooded last week.

Some parts looked better than others.

How to toilet train your cat!

Well, you can buy the Litter Kwitter system for $60

Which gives you the fancy removable rings that you take out one by one from the middle out, so that eventually you are left with just the toilet. Or you can rig it the $10 way, like I did, with a mixing bowl and a party tray. I am very non-commital when it comes to investing in cat waste, because, well, I have better things to invest in. Hense my $30 craigslist automatic cat litter box that retails for $130, which proves my point, because that thing was the biggest pain in the butt EVER. I would have been beside myself if I had actually spent that much on one. Anyway, this is the video I found.

Toilet train your cat

I went to walmart after sketching the rim of the toilet and found a mixing bowl that fit PERFECTLY. There is about a half and inch gap in the front of the toilet that I can cover. And then bought a plastic party tray for the platform to cut away. BTW this chick is trying to win an emmy for this performance I think. She is a bit ridiculous.

This is Awesome-Click the link

Break Dance

It's done some more!

Okay, so I wasn't completely happy with the haircut I got yesterday, because I was holding back a bit with the length-'cause I was chicken. So I went again today and got it chopped again! This chick didn't do as good as the girl the other day. It was great clips, though, so my hopes weren't high. I had to come home and fix it a bit. I like it much better though! Yay! And I checked for a license this time, Tina.

It's done!

So after much research and salon review, I found a place in what appeared to be Little Korea that had good reviews and didn't cost $150/haircut. She didn't speak English, but she sure could cut hair. Good thing I took a picture. Came out cute.

Before

After

Here's what I'm thinkin...

I've only wanted to wedge my hair since I was 11, but was always too chicken to go so short-kudos to niece, Julia.I'm still too chicken.

However, I found this style that would be a happy compromise with length and cuteness. I want something shorter that will take less time in the morning to blow dry and/or style, since I will be waking up much earlier than I am accustomed. I have given it a jazzy new name for my own amusement.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Atlanta Home

We have been enjoying our little unemployment vacation since the move, and have managed to unpack most everything...though not everything has grown feet and walked to its proper place just yet. We love Ikea and have taken selveral trips already. Within two minutes of the house is downtown Decatur (which is an adorable little town), bank of America, Walmart, Aldi, Kroger, Zaxby's, movie theater. We like.

All the furballs have adjusted beautifully. They are most thankful for their giant lookout window in the living room where they can watch all the neighborhood action-country pets move to the big city and all. I start work this coming week, so I'm leaving Josh to finish up-wink wink. He still has a little while before classes start. Here are some before and after shots of what we've done so far.

Before After BeforeAfter Before
After

Before




After
Before


After



Before



After

Chimney Swifts

Amongst all our packing, we noticed Amelia,the cat, paying particular attention to the fireplace (it already being bound shut with tape to prevent her opening the doors with her paws and climbing up after the chimney swift birds that live in the...well you get it). We untaped the doors to find that four baby birds had fallen out of the nest and lay chirping in the soot. And, having packed any flashlights we owned, I stuck my head and a candle in the fireplace to see that the flew was partially opened and there was one baby bird clinging for dear life to a piece of nest hanging from the flew. I grabbed him and his siblings, and my assistant, while simultaneously keeping the cat from devouring them, handed me a plastic bowl and a paper towel, and I made them a paper nest, Josh shoved it above the flew and closed it. Since then, we have heard an abundance of chirping. Even better, early this morning, I heard a lot of motherly fluttering and excited baby chirping. So we hope all is well.

baby bird and bits of nest

egg bits

I have since investigated the chimney swifts and learned that ideally I would have nailed the bowl to the side of the chimney (fat chance), because swifts carry twigs and cement them to the side of the chimney with their saliva. Their saliva glans work double time during the nest part of the year for this reason, and it was no wonder, then, to find that falling swift nests are a common occurance. Every website I came across had a falling nest story. I cant see how an ashy wall and bird spittle would make very good foundation for a home. The bits of nest I did find, however, were surprisingly concrete. The other thing I noticed was that the babies, though they couldn't have been more than a day or two old, were stuck tight to the small piece of nest they each took with them. They have feet designed to cling to the side of chimneys and trees, and special spiney tail feathers that poke out and help them hold on to the side of the chimney. And yet, I read their actual feet are so weak they don't walk. So i wasn't surprised to find Swifts are in the Apodidae (Swift Family), a name that means "no feet". SEE COOL PICTURES HERE.

If ever you find yourself babysitting while packing...

Afternoon cuddle ritual

Is this ridiculous or what? Greta has to cuddle with Josh on the couch when he gets home every afternoon for about 30 minutes. Our poor children are going to have to be aggresive to get a spot on the couch when that day comes.

Oddities from Atlanta

While browsing through my camera at all the pictures I took during our many trips to Atlanta, I came across a couple I thought I would share.

Picture #1: This is a gas station we stopped at across from a rather extensive Cemetery. This guy apparently didn't make the cut. I would haunt them, wouldn't you!?

Picture #2 If you ever are so lucky as to find yourself homeless and house hunting,

as we were, you may come across landlords who give you the combination to a lock box. This is a padlock type contraption they hang over the front door that has a special combo that releases the key to the house. We were shocked that so many people used these, allowing us to peruse through their houses unshaparoned. But with that libery comes surprises.

Dead bird in the shower! May he rest in peace. Poor birdie. The house was cute, incidentally, just wouldn't fit any of our furniture.

Picture #3 And this is the most super fabulous church in all of Atlanta, but Josh says he doesn't want to be Episcopal.

Snake Snacks

I think the lack of scale in this picture is very flattering for Clay-She looks like a mighty python!

The miniature equivalent to Python eats small deer-Garter snake eats large toad.