The Price of Pimping

So I've already bragged about the new furniture, but there was a slight problem. The cats and the leather did not peacefully co-exist. After even a few hours we noticed some small scratches in the leather. Since we plan on keeping these couches for quite a while and want to keep them looking nice, we decided that it was time to get rid of Chas and Stormy.
Just Kidding!! I could never do that, I'm much more attached to those darn cats then I am to any possession. The solution we came up with was to have them declawed. Now I know there are a lot of mixed feelings about declawing, and I've heard the pros and cons, so please don't come at me and tell me how horrible I am for doing it.

Stormy's now declawed paw

Chas post showing off the battle wound

I took them in to the Utah Pet Center (formerly the Fun Dome and the 49th Street Galleria) on Monday morning for their procedure. The people were super friendly and seemed to be very thorough. They even kept the kitties overnight for observations. It was a lonely, but quiet night here on Monday.

Tuesday afternoon I went to pick them up, and boy were they happy to see me! Okay, actually I think they were happy to go home, but pissed at me that they had their surgery! Chas yelled (meowed) at me most of the afternoon, and Stormy ran under the bed and was not seen until the next morning.

Stormy hiding under the bed

Antibiotic and pain reliever for the patients

The cats are making a great recovery. I have to give them their medicine twice a day, but overall they are feeling much better now, and getting to be more active again. After days of constant attention and treat overload I think the cats have forgiven us. We're looking forward to being able to play fight with them and not get the crap clawed out of our hand! And we just hope their back claws won't destroy our new furniture...but we refuse to remove all 4 claws, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed!!

Stormy's feeling better

Pimping Out The Pad

I don't want to sound ungrateful to those who gave me the furniture I did have in my apartment (Mom and Dad, John and Jenn), but it was about time to stop living like a college student and get some more comfortable furniture, that actually matched!
Last Saturday I spent the majority of the morning cleaning the living room, moving the old furniture, and waiting for Ashley Furniture truck to make their delivery! We spent a few last precious moments with the old furniture. Afterall, we had many good memories on the furniture!

Matt and the Lazy Boy

Me with the couch and chair

We put the furniture by the dumpster in hopes that someone else could get some good use out of the furniture. And sure enough, a couple of hours later it was gone! Now it was just a waiting game for the new furniture!
I usually hate waiting for deliveries because they always give you a 4 hour window that they'll come within, but after waiting, scared to leave the house even for a few minutes, they end up showing up 15 minutes before being considered late.
Not the case this time. The nice folks at Ashley told me the furniture would come between 12 and 4. Well it wasn't later than 12:20 and those nice delivery men were knocking at the door with the furniture! Yippee!!

Me and the new sofa (2 seats recline)

Our new Recliner

The new living room set-up

We are totally loving our new stuff! It is soooo comfortable, looks sooooo much better, and it gives it more of a feeling of home! Plus, we had to have a comfortable place to watch the new t.v.

I know I've posted a pic of the t.v. already,
but we got a new stand

So now everyone can feel free to come visit because we can now seat more than just 3 people!

Since when did I become a movie critic?

While millions and millions of people are going to be flocking to theatres to see"The Black Night" movie, I joined the other millions of people (largely women and men dragging their feet) and saw "Mama Mia". I was skeptical about this movie for a couple of reasons.
First, I'm always skeptical when they turn a t.v. show into a movie, or in this case, a Broadway play into a movie, it just never seems to translate as well.
Secondly, I had downloaded some of the tracks off the soundtrack and at first I was very disappointed. Since I've had the Broadway Mama Mia soundtrack on my Ipod for the last year my expectations were high and weren't met.
All this being said, I loved the movie! All my skepticism went right out the window! Some could argue the movie is a better medium to see Mama Mia because you don't have to have front row seats to see what is going on and to get the facial cues and body language that you miss sitting in the nosebleed section of Capital Theatre. I think one reviewer put it best when he said that since it's on the big screen they had to get people who were actors first, and singers second...but you hardly notice or care because it's so darned entertaining. And after seeing the movie I already like the soundtrack more because now I know the story and emotion behind the song.
All the actors really held their own with the singing...except for Pierce Brosnan. I like him as an actor, but I found myself laughing every time he started to sing. In my own humble opinion it wasn't very good, and he had odd facial expressions as he sang. But hey, he's 007 and is pretty dang sexy for a man his age, so I don't think he has anything to worry about!
If I were a real critic I would give this movie 3 1/2 stars, but mostly because I'm a sucker for chick flicks and musicals! But I really do recommend it, but you might want to leave the boyfriend or husband at home, unless of course he's in the dog house and you want him to suffer!!

Yee-haw!

Matt had never been to a rodeo, so I had to make sure that we went to at least one this summer. I thought about going to the Day's of 47 Rodeo, but it just didn't feel authentic enough. So, I heard the Ute Stampede Rodeo was coming up, and best of all, it was in Nephi, UT. Not to be disrespectful to the people of Nephi, but I was picturing a lot of mullets, cowboy hats, and Wranglers. Sounded perfect to me!!

Originally we were going to drive down and back the same evening. However we decided to get a room instead so that we wouldn't be driving 80 miles back to Salt Lake at 11 p.m. We ended up getting a room at the luxurious Super 8 motel. Oh yea, we're living the high life!! Our room was adequate, but it was lousy with grasshoppers. They were EVERYWHERE, but at least they weren't in our room and not one grasshopper sight at the rodeo!
The rodeo was fantastic! It started with a parachuter entering the arena with a huge American Flag attached to him. He had a perfect landing and the National Guard was quick to pick up the flag and display it. We had great seats right over the chutes, so we got a great view of the bareback and saddle bronc, and the bull riding. (Unfortunately we our camera batteries died by this point...so no pics!)
The "host" and clown were pretty entertaining but when of the highlights of the night was the "One Armed Bandit", and it wasn't just a clever name! He really only had one arm, and yet rode his horse while cracking his whip in the air. And remember, he only had one arm, so if it was cracking the whip...that meant he wasn't holding on to the horse at all! He was able to take his horse on top of his trailer, and round up 2 HUGE Bison onto the top of the trailer as well. It was pretty cool!
I had an awesome time but the important thing was that Matt had fun at his first rodeo. I'm sure we'll definitely be going to more rodeos in the future! Yee-haw...giddy up!

Greatest Show EVER!

If you're an animal lover you have to start watching "The Greatest American Dog" on CBS. I was actually surprised that the show was as entertaining as it was. The premier episode was last night and I've already picked my favorites.

Travis and Pressly


Laura and Preston


David and Elvis

They've put the contestants up in a lavish mansion, complete with a super dog suite! It has a golden bone key, a huge bone shaped door, toys galore...it's great! But it's sad when I see dogs living better than me! :)
You've heard that dogs and their owners sometimes look alike...well some of these teams prove it! Take for example...

Beth Joy and Bella Scarlet

So, Thursday nights 7pm Channel 2....check it out, you'll love it!!

Scooter For Sale

I'm sad to be doing this, but I'm selling my scooter. It is 2005 PGO My Bubu 50cc scooter. It gets awesome gas mileage (80-100 mpg) and gets up to 50 mph. It is so much fun to cruise around on a nice summer day, and can even fit 2 people! I'll miss Boo, but I would be happy to know she went to a nice home, so if any of you out there are interested let me know. I'm selling it for $1200 and it comes with some extras. Here's the link to the KSL ad in case you want more information.

I love reality tv!

Monday night was the finale of "The Batchelorette". It was bittersweet. I was so excited to find out who won, but I was sad to see it end! I know, it's kind of pathetic, but what might be more pathetic is that I cried at the end.
I tend to get really involved in these kind of shows, and always have. Back in college Jenn, Diana, Jesse, Becki, and I used to watch "The Batchelor" religiously! It was an event every Monday night and we always had lots of fun bashing on the contestants together. It's not quite the event that watching a reality show used to be, but I still enjoy them. And since the invention of the DVR, I don't even have arrange my schedule around the t.v show, it's fantastic!
I won't spoil the ending of "The Batchelorette" just in case you, like me, recorded it and are waiting for a few spare hours. However, if you 8 minutes to spare then you can watch the exciting conclusion here! I loved it, and you will too!!

The Mystery Is Solved

All this time I was blaming my cats for the disappearance of my Ipod. I had thoughts of them jamming out to the music and then holding it for ransom (more treats, a different kind of food, etc). Given what really happened, I would have preferred the ransom, it would have at least made a better story!
But it turns out that it was all Matt's bosses fault! Here's my reasoning: Matt was supposed to work on Thursday, and if he had then we would have found the Ipod on Friday morning. But NOOO...since he had a 4-day weekend we didn't find it until this morning, when Matt was putting his work shoes on! And there it was, staring up at him like it was mocking us!! Of course I had already gone out and bought a new Mp3 player since Matt swore up and down it was not anywhere in the bedroom! Just my luck that my Ipod had fallen from the bed and perfectly landed in his shoe! What are the odds? My new Mp3 player is much superior as far as storage and the bonus of having a FM tuner, but who needs 2 Mp3 players? I guess now I'll have a back up in case the cats ever do mutiny against me!

You know it's depressing when...

...the cat gets mail, and you don't!! No joking! Stormy got a birthday card from Petsmart, and she even gets a free treat or toy. I wish I got mail that good! All I ever get is bills or credit card applications. I guess Petsmart knows who really runs this house!

The Cats are Rebelling!!

Sure, they might look cute, but don't be fooled! They are tricky little devils! I'm under the assumption that one or more of my cats has stolen my ipod. I had it yesterday as I was laying in bed, but when I was just about to run out the door to the gym...it was gone! Vanished!! The only possible place it could have been was the bedroom, and it isn't there! Matt and I have checked everywhere, and since it's not a very big room, there's only so many places it can hide. Since I would NEVER misplace anything, I know it must be them! But those darn cats aren't saying a word! We even tried playing good cop, bad cop with them for hours, and still nothing. We'll continue the investigation, but in this case, I'm assuming guilt until proven innocent!