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I came home from work yesterday to find my cat, my beloved Nikki kitty of 17 years, had passed away.  What hurts the most is that I wasn’t there to be with her. She was alone. I know her last thoughts were of me because I found her in our spare room in the basement on top of my old bed where she and I slept many nights together over the years when I was single. She was MY cat. My Nikki Kitty. Dave called me at work yesterday to say that when he checked on her yesterday morning she wasn’t doing well and that her breathing was very labored. She had been eating less and less over the past couple weeks. These last couple days she barely got up from her "spot" on Gavin’s mini-recliner in the basement. But in her final moments, she managed to get up and jump up onto my old bed. That tells me she wanted to be close to me. I know my scent had to still be on that bed. I just wish I was there to comfort her, to tell her that she’s been such a wonderful companion over the last 17 years. I have so so so many memories with her. It’s going to be hard to let go, she was my baby. Oh, Nikki, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there. I will miss you so so much.

Nikki at about 5 weeks old, taken back in May of 1989 when I was living with my mother. I was just 19 years old myself.

Here she is Dec. 1989 at about 9 months, we were living at my grandmothers.

This was taken summer of 1995 after she and I moved into our first apartment together. I was in my mid-twenties, boy the stories she could tell.

And here she is with my husbands cat, Boots in 2002. We had just moved in a month earlier and she and Boots were still getting acquainted, this was the first time they sat peacefully together.

Here she is last summer, she loved laying in the sun on the landing at the backdoor

Did you know that 85% of all Valentine’s cards that are purchased by women and that on that same token, of the 50 million roses purchased each year on Valentine’s Day, most are purchased by men.  Approximately 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year.  In order of popularity, Valentine’s Day cards are given to: teachers, children, mothers, wives, and sweethearts.  So in honor of this romantic day, I give you 14 [random] things that I love, in random order of course. Thank you Heidi for the inspiration.

1.    Lakeshore campfires
2.   My son’s laugh
3.   Maine Lobster with melted butter
4.   Extra dark, bittersweet chocolate
5.   Viewing the world through my camera lens
6.   Pink lemonade
7.   A summer thunderstorm
8.   Las Vegas
9.   Being in my own little world out on the dance floor
10.   My husbands luscious full lips
11.   That new car smell
12.   Laughing to tears with my sister and girlfriends
13.   Wearing a new pair of jeans
14.   Hayrides in the fall

Hope everyone feels loved today.  Dave paid for me to get my hair done over the weekend for Valentine’s Day.  A fresh haircut AND foil highlights.. gotta love it! More on my weekend later.

Kid Rock Saturday night was just as my subject line says… "Off The Hook!" What a kick ass concert.  We had a absolute blast Saturday night.  About 8 of us piled into a big ol’ minivan and took the treck to downtown Detroit.  Since my hubby works down there, he knows all the best ways to get down there.  We were in front of Joe Louis Arena in literally 15 minutes flat, with no traffic.  Very surprising considering all the Superbowl hoopla going on.  We walked around a little bit then headed back to "The Joe."  We were in our seats during the intermission before Kid Rock took the stage.  He literally rocked the house.  I had such a blast.  Through out the show he had a few guests join him on stage including Hank Williams, Uncle Kracker and Bob Seger.  It was my first Kid Rock show and man, what a show. He truly is an entertainer.

On a final note.. while watching Jay Leno tonight I saw a commercial that made me think of our good friend Janet.  This just released, right on time for Valentine’s Day, it’s the Pink Motorola Razr. Oh but won’t that go well with her pink graduation regalia?

Seems a lot of my blogging friends are causing me to get all nostalgic lately.  I’ve been thinking back to the days before husband, before children.  Back to when life was all about me and where my girlfriends and I were going to go for the night.  We had a club to go to every night of the week.  And we never grew tired.  I don’t know how we did it.  We were young twenty-somethings and that’s truly all that mattered.  We’d conference call each other and discuss what time we were meeting, where we were going and what we were going to wear.

All of that was suddenly amplified recently when I happen to catch what our local news calls "The Problem Solvers."  If you’ve got a problem that can’t seem to get resolved, you call The Problem Solvers and they’ll help get you results and put your story on the news, to either enhance whatever sympathy you’re hoping for or to shame the company or person who did you wrong in the first place.  Sometimes they look to viewers to offer help.  Well, some guy got the shaft on some paint job done to his car and was getting no results from the company that did it.  As a result, another auto finishing company stepped up to the plate and offered to repaint his car.  During the story, they interviewed the gentleman that owns the company who so kindly donated their services.  It took but one glance at his piercing green eyes and I was at the edge of my seat.  Turns out this was a guy I dated back in the early nineties.  Wow, what a blast from the past.  I remember being head over heals for this guy and he sort of faded out without my ever really knowing why.

So yesterday, I found myself digging through some boxes.  Boxes containing over twenty years of memories.  Going through old pictures, love letters, even the occassional dried flower that must have meant something, but now years later I can’t remember what or whom.  I came across a picture I just had to share.  Yep, this is me back in April of 1989.  I waited over 3 hours in line to meet and have my picture taken with…  yes folks, that’s Kip Winger from the hairband days.

Yeah, so I know I’ve been neglectful here lately.  The occassional blogging rut can be expected, right?  You think I’ve been neglectful here; shit, it’s been since Thanksgiving that I updated Gavin’s blog. 

So what’s been going on.  Well I finally got my computer back up and running at home.  The new harddrive makes a world of difference.  It’s kind of refreshing to know that I’ve got an untainted drive, no secret spyware or corrupt files.  It’s all brand spankin’ new.  I spent the first few days reloading all my software like messengers, easy cd creator, photo editing, printer drives and stuff like that.  I’m so glad to be back up and running again.  With my boss wanting more help, I offered to pick up the occassional extra day until I can find something more permanent with regards to child care.  So I’ve been a little extra busy at work to help prove that he doesn’t need another assistant, that I can be just plenty.

I saved the best thing to share for last, and that is… I’M GOING TO KID ROCK!! My dear dear husband called me up and asked if I wanted to go on the Saturday before Superbowl.  I’m like "are you kidding?"  He said we can head downtown early, go to dinner, rock out at the show then hang out downtown to take in all the Superbowl festivities.  You have to know my husband to understand my excitement in all of this.  He is very anti-crowds, whereas I love crowds.  He didn’t even want to go downtown during the Auto Show.  I’ve felt so couped up lately that I’m absolutely thrilled he’s taking me.  Then Sunday, we’re going to a Superbowl party to watch the game.  Babysitters are all set, and I’m looking forward to this weekend.  WooHoo!

First things first; bought my new hard drive yesterday.  I had to wait until pay day.  I know $100 doesn’t seem like much but when you’re on a budget, $100 can cause quite a shift.  We’re taking my computer over to hubby’s friends this weekend.  He’s a computer tech and said that he has all the capabilities there at home to retreive most of my data from the crashed drive.  So that’s good news.  I’m going crazy at home.  It’s been 11 days since the darn thing crashed and I’ll probably have to go another 3 or 4, depending on how long it takes for Dave’s friend to get it back to me once we take it over there this weekend.

All in all, a pretty normal week.  My boss announced to me today that he really needs more help.  I’m here 3 days a week and it’s not enough.  So he said he wants to hire someone to come in and help on the 2 days that I’m not here.  I managed to save face, but inside it was like hearing a guy tell you "I want to date other people".  Weird huh?  I have a system here, and my boss and I have a strong boss/employee relationship.  I don’t want someone else to come in and mess that up.  My boss assures me that there’s no way he’d find anyone as good as me.  Plus I’d have to share my cubicle with this person.  Someone else would sit here at my desk when I’m not here.  Who know’s what they’d get in to.  This is MY space.  I don’t want to share my space, my computer, my radio, and especially not my boss.  So now I’ve got to figure out a way to be able to come in at least one more day.  Dave’s mom already watches Gavin the 3 days I work.  She has a job of her own, though she works from home as a realtor, she still needs a couple business days free, so there’s no way I could ask her to take Gavin another day.  I’m hoping I can convince my mom.  She’s a tough one though; and I say that meaning that she’s all about having her time to herself these days.  Don’t get me wrong, she adores her grandchildren.  She’s the most loving and giving mom anyone could ask for.   She’s just been rather independent lately and enjoys her freedom.  I really hope she’ll agree to it.  Maybe I can offer her some sort of compensation for taking Gavin one day a week.  Gavin will probably start preschool for 3 yr olds this fall so that’ll create some freedom.

Have a great weekend!

Saw this in the news last night.  Today I googled the little one eyed creature and quite a few hits came up.  The most popular being that it’s the most emailed photo on yahoo, per this link.  What do you think? So far I haven’t been able to find it on Snopes or Urban Legends.  In my google search, I did come across another photo of a cyclops kitten, this one being a black kitten.  I find it hard to believe, myself.  The mastery these days with photo editing software makes it so hard to tell real from fake.  I’m on the fence with this one.

Thanks to being tagged by Terri and TJ here are my "four things":

Four jobs I’ve had in my life:
1. model
2. bartender
3. used car salesman
4. event programmer

Four movies I could watch over and over:
1. Night at the Roxbury
2. The Abyss
3. Almost Famous
4. Princess Bride

Four places I’ve lived:
1. Canton, MI
2. Livonia, MI
3. Las Vegas, NV
4. Dearborn, MI

Four websites I visit daily:
1. Yahoo Groups, I’m in a handful of local parenting/playgroups with Gavin.
2. Got Breastmilk?, I’m a moderator here. Member since ’03 and even though Gavin no longer nurses, these women have become my friends.
3. Typepad, for obvious reasons.
4. Google, I’m always googling something.

Four of my favorite foods:
1. seafood
2. mexican food
3. junk food
4. dark chocolate

Four places I’d rather be:
1. at a Depeche Mode concert
2. anywhere warm and sunny
3. at home playing with Gavin
4. cruisin’ down Rodeo Drive in a convertable

Four albums I can’t live without:
1. Fumbling Toward Ecstasy, Sarah McLachlan
2. Surfacing, Sarah McLachlan
3. The Singles 86-98, Depeche Mode
4. Wild Birds 1985-1995: The Best of the Beggars Banquet Years, Peter Murphy

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Survivor
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Grey’s Anatomy
4. Medium

Four places I’ve been on vacation:
1. New Orleans, LA
2. Tampa, FL
3. Southern Caribbean Islands
4. Mackinaw Island, MI

Four people I’m tagging if they want to be caught:
1. Mr. Honeydew
2. Kim
3. Rachael
4. Heidi

What am I going to do now? The other day my husband comes up from the basement and says.. "Your hard drive is making some weird noises"  I think nothing of it and said I’d check on it later.  I go down, it’s making these clicking noises I’ve never heard before.  Nothing is working, the keyboard, the mouse.. all frozen, so I shut it down.  Come back an hour later, thinking it just needed some rest.  I turn it on and that noise returns, only this time I get a boot screen telling me that the component is missing or damaged.  That’s right folks.. my hard drive crashed!!

I’m not concerned with too much data lost.  The most important thing to me is pictures, those are irreplacable.  Luckily for me, I was quite consistant with burning new pics to a disc.  Another lucky for me is that the last picture upload to my computer, I hadn’t erased off my camera yet.. so even though I hadn’t burned them to a data disc yet, they are still on my camera.. whew!  There were a few pictures that are gone, those that folks emailed me.  And I had quite a collection of web design graphics that are now gone, including ones that I created like my blog banner you see at the top.  Shit!! I just realized all my favorites are gone too!! I had them all catagorized too, dammit!  The more I talk about this, the more upsetting it’s going to get as I realize more and more stuff I’ve lost.  Just thank God I hadn’t erased the Christmas pictures off my camera yet!

So now I’m on the market for a new hard drive.  Looking at this one, I’ll have to wait till pay day next week though.  So, in the meantime, I cannot access the internet at home.  What am I going to do with myself late at night after hubby and child are in bed? That’s my "me" time to surf.  UGH!!

Well, have a great weekend everyone! I’m off work until Tuesday.  All this time with no internet at home is going to be a true test of my sanity!

Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas.  I really had a fun filled day.  I’m super excited that my sister is in town for the whole week. Unfortunately I do have to work my 3 days this week, but I’m just glad she’s here.  Christmas Eve was spent at my friend Amy’s parents place.  Dave ended up staying home with Gavin and I went alone.  I’ve gone every year for so many years now.  That’s the night for some drunken holiday cheer.  Amy’s mom got so hammered, we were laughing our ass’s off.  I got home at about 2am to wake up Dave so that we could play Santa.  He bought Gavin his huge activity table that about swallows up our entire living room.  We were up till after 3am wrapping his stocking stuffers.

Went to my IL’s for Christmas dinner at around 4pm.  My MIL makes a delicious juicy prime rib roast every year.  I just love going over there to graze on all the hor d’orves and munchies.  I was almost full before even sitting down for dinner.  We exchanged gifts there then around 7:30pm we headed to my grandma’s where dinner was just wrapping up.  This Christmas was the first Christmas without my grandma, and although my mom is now living in her house, it’ll still always be grandma’s house.  Everyone came over, as usual.  There was still a sense of something missing though.  Right before we opened gifts, my mom says that her sister in Wyoming said to play this song for everyone.  Half way through it, most of us were in tears.  But it was still a nice moment for the family to reflect and remember my grandma, especially at Christmas.

Tradition the past couple years has been that Gavin and I spend the night there with my sister and her daughters and Dave goes to a buddy’s house for a Christmas nightcap with his friends.  My sister took Gavin and I home Monday afternoon.  It’s going to be a fun week with my sister here.  She and her husband along with Dave and I will probably do something fun for New Years Eve.

More soon… stay safe and have a wonderful New Years Eve!!