Cat Whisperer Tshirt

Sparky Sweatshirt

The new Cheetah Stun taser inspired this sweatshirt - white with 'BEWARE of Mr. Sparky' in metallic letters. Click on the graphic to visit my spreadshirt shop.

Mobile Blogging

I am blogging on my wonderful Christmas present, a new laptop with wireless capability. Thanks Todd!

Mr. Sparky

I am SO EXCITED about my Christmas gift, my new Cheetah Stun taser. Who says its not safe to live in Jackson? You just gotta be smart. That reminds me I must mention that yesterday I left my office to go to lunch and in the parking lot of my office was a one-legged man in a wheelchair eating a box of popcorn. We don't get a lot of those in our private parking lot. And don't doubt my description. How could I possibly make that up? Anyway Todd gave me the taser today but I thought about it yesterday. I love this thing! To take this photo, I tested the taser and later had to peel the cat off the ceiling. Oops. And I have to mention that this thing says 'Made in China' on it and the other writing on the box includes the following amusing text, "PROTE CTIVNE," "Saftey Switch," and "Warning: Extreem Danger Keep Out of Reach of Children."

The Baking

I love baking and at Christmas especially. Last night I made this pan of homemade cinnamon rolls and froze them to have for Christmas weekend. From this photo they don't look much like cinnamon rolls...hopefully they taste like them.

The Cookies

I've caught the fever and made cookie-cutter cookies for Christmas. The Pillsbury ready-made rolled-out dough is the best invention ever. It puts the fun back into making cookies. Here are some I made last night and iced with royal icing.

Christmas Cookie Countdown

I must mention the Allrecipes.com Christmas Cookie Countdown. Each day in December they post a new cookie recipe. I'm looking forward to making the Mint Chocolate Cookies.

Might I Recommend the Wings

A word of advice; don't ever get 10 orders of wings, no matter how many people you have coming over to the house. We have been up to our armpits (ha) in leftover wings. The Golden Eagles didn't take flight during the game either, so how appropriate were these wings.

It's beginning to look...

Yeah, I am just trying to work in a shot of the Christmas tree here. Pictured are Beverly and Bobby at a recent Southern Miss get together at our house. We did not purchase a tree last year so this is the first Christmas tree we have had in this house.

Thanksgiving Memory. Period

This is the one photo of Thanksgiving 2006 that was taken before the camera battery died. Todd's dad Mike was fishing and even caught one, but threw it back. This lake is behind Todd's aunt's home, where Thanksgiving dinner was held. Thanksgiving was a great break and what other day of the year have I had an in-depth conversation with one 93-year old man (relative of Todd's) who regaled me about his boxing days, one 100-year-old woman (Todd's grandmother) whom in conversation shrugged off "a little bit of cancer" on her neck, and two 18 and 20-year old college students, who raved about Casino Royale, the new Bond movie? A balanced perspective for the day. I'm comfortably in the middle. Hopefully on the younger side of the middle, of course, but it's fun to imagine the 2070s when I'll be 100 and still on my first bionic hip!

Top 5 Tshirts

My recent interest in custom t-shirts brought me to the T-list t-shirt site, where you can create your own Top 5 list t-shirts...Top 5 movies, Top 5 directors, etc., etc. Products all made in North America. Shipping is a bit high at $12 per order no matter the quantity. But you gotta give them credit - a one of a kind t-shirt that is sure to be a conversation-starter? No brainer.

Buy the T-shirt

Check out my spreadshirt shop (click on the shirt to access) and the t-shirts I've designed. I'll try to do a weekly shirt.

Fondren At Night

It was a pleasure tonight to see so many friends out at the Fondren Unwrapped event. I had the privilege of going up on the Fondren Corner roof for the first time, and this photo was one I took without a flash while resting the camera on a rail for a steadier exposure. We were the guests of Ms. Taylor who lives in the building (in one of the 25 cute 1 and 2-bedroom apartments), who is a friend of Todd's. The view from the roof here is to the East - on the left is the Conoco station at the corner of Old Canton and Lakeland, and in the foreground is the Fondren post office.

Bay St. Louis Artwalk

We had the pleasure of attending the Old Town Bay St Louis art walk this past weekend, and after uploading all the photos below of the hurricane's destruction I have to end on a high note by giving you this photo of life going on, or hope being born again. The artwalk is a once-a-month event in Old Town and it involves several business opening on Saturday from 4-9 with refreshments, live music and a stroll-around-and-see-what-you-find atmosphere. This eye-catching photo was of some wonderful artwork placed on the front porch of a local restaurant. I told the talented woman who painted these that her eye for placement was fantastic.

Fire Dog Saloon Site of Buffett Video

(The former) Fire Dog Saloon in beachfront Bay St. Louis, site of the recently-filmed Jimmy Buffett video for his song Bama Breeze. We took this photo this weekend on a tour of Bay St. Louis. Buffett's song is written about the Flora-Bama bar destroyed in Hurricane Ivan, but apparently Buffett found this shell of a restaurant fit the bill in representing the Flora Bama.

Bay St. Louis 'Hurricane Proof'

This photo, taken on Beach Rd. in Bay St. Louis this past weekend during our bus tour of the area, is of a "hurricane-proof" house, and I think that's enough said. Click on the photo for a better view.

Bay St Louis 'Outdoor Entertaining'

I felt a bit like a bottom feeder as we took our bus tour this past weekend in old town Bay St. Louis, listening to Hancock County historian Charles Grey detail what used to be here, and what used to be there. I don't want to bathe in anyone's misery, but everyone should realize the trials people from the Coast are going through. At first you might look at this and think "what a cute outdoor patio area these people have," but of course they are using the former concrete slab of their home for an outdoor seating area, because their nearby FEMA trailers are pretty cramped. This way, at least, they can enjoy their yard.

Bay St Louis, The Other Side

Our driving tour of Bay St. Louis this past weekend took us not only through the neighborhoods of former 'grande dame' houses, but also through the neighborhoods where regular people live. This family lost a home and they have made do with a still-standing shed, a ladder extended up to the treehouse, a pop-up tent and a motor home. Seeing this helps bring home what I have heard about the hurricane's destruction. It is hard to imagine living under these conditions.

Bay St. Louis House

This photo is part of our tour last weekend of historic Bay St. Louis. This beachfront house belongs to a well-known Coast bank chairman, and he and his family are still living there on the 2nd floor as they restore the rest of the house. You can start at the (former) beginning of the Highway 90 bridge in Bay St. Louis and drive down Beach Rd., and almost every house and business is wiped out. But there is this one stand of houses - about six in a row - that are still standing because of higher ground. The current Beach Rd. (which was put in by DOT after the storm) is about 8 feet lower than the former Beach Rd. because it was eroded so severely by the storm. So as we were driving, we were looking up at the houses and the front edges of their jagged sidewalks.

(The Former) Bay St Louis

Last weekend we took a trip to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, which is still struggling to regain its footing after Hurricane Katrina. We were lucky enough to go on a driving tour with Hancock County historian Charles Grey and he gave us a running narrative that sounded a bit like this as we drove along the beachfront: "This slab used to be..." and "This set of steps used to be..." It was sad, but there are plenty of people living there in FEMA trailers and making the best of it. Todd took this great photo out the window of the mini bus of a lonely live oak.

Pecan Tour 2006

We have been making the rounds picking up pecans this week. Last year Katrina threw everything off and it was a terrible year, and this year the trees are making up for it. This sack in particular is about 12 pounds and is really only half of our crop. Luckily the Fannin Rd. produce stand cracks pecans for you and then you shell them from there; otherwise we would have not gone to the trouble. We've already shelled at least 10 pounds and this sack is round number 2.

City of Falling Angels

I just finished listening to this book on audio, The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. I really enjoyed reading his first book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a few years ago but this book was not nearly as enthralling. That could possibly be because I was listening to an abridged version, but I had thought I would get a lot out of the author himself reading the book to me. Anyway, this is a non fiction book and centers around the 1996 fire at La Fenice opera house in Venice, Italy. Berendt inserted himself into Venice society not long afterward and wrote about the major players in the mystery surrounding arson charges, and other related Venetian scandals. I would recommend this book more as a history lesson and a description of the city of Venice rather than a whodunit. Berendt should have stuck to the States.

Mistletoe Door Decorations

It's pretty late at night and I do have to be at work in the morning, but I am wired after working at the MIstletoe Marketplace Preview Party, which was a lot of fun. It would have been more fun had I not had to work the entire party at the Silent Auction, so I'll have to go again when not working. But anyway, there were a couple of amazing things I saw. (1) The decorations were incredible this year as evidenced by the photo of the doors you see here, leading to some exhibits. (2) Some people were slap-faced drunk at this event and they had hired limousines to drive them around. I saw two stretch limos outside the event. (3) The buffet for the event was incredible and very impressive. (4) The crowd was huge. I will say that in preparation for the event, at about 2 p.m. on Wednesday, there was a huge windy rainstorm, and it caused a lot of water to leak inside the event tent, and knocked over a bunch of things displayed at our silent auction, and got a lot of people (including me) completely soaking wet, and I totally wondered if the event would even happen, but it did, and I think those present would agree it was a success.

Mistletoe Buffet

Tonight was the Mistletoe Preview Party in Jackson, and this is a photo of the buffet - dessert section. The decorations and setup for the caterers for this Preview Party event was nothing short of Martha-Stewart-esque. The only setup I've ever seen that was more elaborate was a midnight buffet on a Carnival cruise. The decorations were everywhere. Crazy Cat bakers is the caterer who did the baking, and Cambi gets credit for chairing the Mistletoe decorations committee.

Mistletoe Silent Auction

Tonight was the Mistletoe Marketplace Preview Party which included the Silent Auction. As one of the co chairs of the silent auction, I have been consumed with the event for the past week. The event went great and I hope it raised a lot of money. This photo was a display of the Savannah Bee company and some luggage from Buy Me Gifts. Both are merchants at Mistletoe Marketplace. My congrats go out to Dorothy my other co chair and Helen our wonderful chairman. Both of them did a terrific job.

White & Nerdy Video - Weird Al

White & Nerdy Video

I am the only nerd I know who has seen this Weird Al Yankovic video more than once, since I DVR the VH1 top 20 countdown each weekend. This video is just flat out funny! It helps if you have ever heard 'Ridin' by Chamillionaire, but that's not a requirement.

Doyle Drama

I'm reading this biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and my interest in him stems from my interest in his creation Sherlock Holmes. During the summers of 2004 and 2005, I read the complete 2-volume Sherlock Holmes Collection - every tale Doyle wrote about Sherlock. This book delves into the diverse ways the English viewed Doyle. On one hand, he was revered for his Holmes fiction, but he was widely regarded as a kook when it came to his later writings on 'spiritualism,' aka believing in ghosts. To flip the coin, Doyle himself believed until the end of his life that his Holmes work was sub-par, and his best writing was that on the subject of spiritualism.
Baker Street Blog - A Great Blog About the World of Holmes & Watson

Destination

I took this photo in Destin this past weekend during our Girls Trip. I shook the camera during this shot, but pictured are Laura, Jennifer, Barbara, Kami & Stacey.

Destin Beach Shot

Me, Laura and Stacey on the beach in Destin this past weekend with our rolled up jeans.

Busters in Destin

Taken this past weekend during the Girls Trip in Destin, Fla. Laura, Diane, Stacey, me, Barbara and Kami at Buster's in Destin. Jennifer took the photo. We were lucky enough to be present during the Alabama/Tennessee game and there were orange-clad and maroon-clad fans making themselves known. It was nuts.

Destin Sunset

This past weekend was Girls Trip 2006 and 7 of us visited Destin, Fla. (One other who lives in Destin also spent time with us.) The weather was terrific and we were even able to lay out on the beach. This sunset photo was taken Saturday night and I thought it would be perfect because there were so many clouds to reflect the light. The sun never did emerge for its moment of glory, but I thought this pastel photo was the best.

Mistletoe Marketplace

I had to mention the upcoming Christmas shopping event, Mistletoe Marketplace. Tickets are still available to many of the events, which will take place November 1-4 at the Mississippi Trademart in Jackson.

RFK

I checked this book out of the library this week, prompted by seeing a trailer of the Christmas movie starring everyone and their mama,'Bobby,' which is scheduled for a Decemer release and is getting Oscar buzz. Everyone learned in school about JFK so I'm curious about the life and death of his little brother. I am only on chapter one of this book, which is by David Heymann, but at 600 pages, I may just hit the highlights.

Veronica Mars

I've managed to go several months on this blog without mentioning my absolute favorite show on TV, Veronica Mars. Season 3 began this past week and I've been lurking on the boards at Television Without Pity. Basically I love the show because Veronica is who I aspire to be. She doesn't care what others think of her, she's a total smart-ass and is smarter than everyone in town. :-)

La Cazuela

I didn' take pictures, but Pete, Nicole, Gail, Jarrod and I had a good time tonight after work at La Cazuela in Jackson. With the state fair nearby, the restaurant was hopping and we had good service as well as food/drinks. I've never had a bad experience at La Cazuela, so it's to be expected.

Razorlight

I just got the new CD Razorlight by the Britpop band of the same name. I have only been exposed to them on the XM radio station U-Pop which plays a lot of British and a litle bit of 'world' music, but I like their sound. I also like the Britpop band Hard Fi, but Razorlight is my favorite of the moment.
Razorlight's Home Page Also I should mention that the same night we bought Razorlight we also picked up Justin Timberlake's new CD and we give it a meh - it's not as good as Justified, but we do like a couple of tracks.

Undefeated Champions

Our "Nosehounds" team won at trivia at Sportsmans Lodge tonight without really trying. We had planned to meet Rebekah and Carl there to play trivia tonight, and it so happened the Southern Miss game was on, so we got to watch the game, see them and play trivia. Anyway, our prize was $50 off our tab, so we ate and drank for cheap, too. The only sad part is the bar is discontinuing trivia on Tuesday nights, so we will retire undefeated champions! Hal & Mal's, here we come. =Edit: Now that I've posted this entry, it looks remarkably similar to last night's post just below. I guess it's life imitating art, which is imitating life.

One of our Fave TV Shows

...is called 'How I Met Your Mother' on CBS on Mondays. The cool part is, you know the ending in advance. Ted starts out telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. Yet the girls he is pursuing on the show he refers to as "Aunt So and So" so you know he doesn't 'end up' with them in the end. So it makes it that much more fun to watch. Check it out - How I Met Your Mother TV Show.

Mississippi State Fair

The Mississippi State Fair begins Wednesday just a couple of blocks from my office. We have already made plans at my office to go there and eat 'fair food' this Friday. And I hope to go with friends sometime before it closes on Oct. 15. My favorite things to do at the fair are the nerdy things - seeing the animals, visiting the antique car show, the plant competition, the art competition and eating junk food. My favorite rides are the cable cars going over the fair and the slides. The real rides are not my thing. As a kid, my brother and I would go each year to the South Mississippi fair in Laurel, and I was always so afraid of the 'headless woman' atttraction. It gave me nightmares.
Miss. State Fair Schedule.

CAbi

My friend Laura is selling this clothing line and the things I have ordered have been of high quality and cute.
CAbi Clothing Online.

Attic View

This is a view out the attic of a new house we're remodeling. The brick house was built in the 1940s and we have found lots of neat things inside it - in the attic is a large wood chest that something was shipped in, and it was shipped to the address of the house - the address is still visible on the side of the crate. Also, the tenant who recently moved left behind some neat knick-knacks. If you've seen decorations in our house, you've seen knick knacks from every tenant who ever left something behind. Todd calls our decorating style "eclectic," but I call it "leftovers!"

The best things that were ever left behind by people moving out have been a collection of DVD movies, a set of bunk beds, an old set of Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society going back generations, and a laminated map of the world. The worst things ever left behind by a mover include: a pound of raw hamburger meat on the counter, dozens of old moldy mattresses, and a voluminous set of 33 record albums (33 record type, not quantity) from the 'folk' and 'world' genres.

Mike's Retirement

Todd's dad Mike retired after 34 years with his company on Thursday. This is a photo of his retirement party. They had every type of food imaginable and lots of decorations in honor of Mike's interests. He also got a very nice retirement gift from the office. The next day, he was out fishing all afternoon. He has been looking forward to retiring for a long time and I hope he enjoys it.

Mike's House - Touch of Spring

Todd's dad Mike retired Thursday after 34 years with his company. Since Mike lives in a different town than us, Todd went to visit him for the retirement party and took this photo of MIke at his front door. Todd was admiring the pristine floral arrangment Mike put together in his front yard.

Mama Loves Cats

I had to put this photo in of Mama (Todd's maternal grandmother) with one of her birthday gifts, a drawing of two cats. Mama *loves* cats and talks all the time about her cat Socks that she had to give up when she moved into the nursing home. This was her favorite birthday gift out of all of them - she couldn't wait to put it up on her wall at the nursing home.

Pan Asia

Friday night, for our friend Vanessa's birthday, we ate at my favorite restaurant, Pan Asia, in Ridgeland. The stir fry bar rocks - I recommend the tofu. Julie rates their martinis incredibly high. Vanessa had the fish, and Todd the chicken. Pan Asia's web site is www.pan-asia.com. Now that I've posted this, I see the graphic looks like absolutely nothing. I am unable to capture any graphic from their site.

Tallpine Wreck

The house I grew up in, as it stood the Saturday after Hurricane Katrina. That day, the workers were there removing the pine trees from the roof and yard.

Tallpine Redeaux

This is the house where I grew up as it looks today. It has risen not literally from the ashes, but from an actual pile of crap following Hurricane Katrina. Although Hattiesburg is 90 miles from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the winds were still strong when they passed through Hattiesburg on Aug. 29, 2005, causing 8 pine trees to fall on the house. My mother, who was in the house, survived. Luckily she did not lose absolutely everything, as so many people on the Coast and in New Orleans did. However, the roof was breached in many places and everything in the attic came down. Also, every piece of sheetrock and insulation was wet and strewn about everywhere. Anyway, she sold the house in April and it has been remodeled with a new roof, new fence and no telling what on the inside since I haven't seen that part. My mother is most dismayed because her 30 years of landscaping was actually scraped clean with a Bobcat. That doesn't explain entirely why the yard looks so bad...the uprooted pine trees caused a lot of the bald patches you see. So my final comment is, I hate the front door, but otherwise the house looks all right.

S-O-U-T-H-E-R-N

The past two weekends, we have traveled to Hattiesburg to see the home football games at Southern Miss. This is one of the campus street signs. Both games have been victories and worth the trip. Also on the trip, I have been able to visit with my mother, which has been good.

Downtown Chimney Rock

My brother Breck, his wife Jen, and Todd exploring downtown Chimney Rock, N.C.

Chimney Rock Gorge

We got this great view of the mountains from within the Chimney Rock Gorge in N.C. Since it was a Saturday, there was a small festival in the gorge, with people selling homemade goods. I bought some organic cat snacks, which my cats promptly decided were quite beneath them, thank you very much. That was $4 wasted.

Chimney Rock N.C.

Over Labor Day Weekend, we traveled to North Carolina, visited with my father, and got this view of the amazing Chimney Rock. Those of us who share my genetics were too seasick to navigate the winding roads which lead to the rock, so we didn't actually go there. Also I should mention that this area of North Carolina is near Lake Lure, which is where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed.

We Have Access

For the past few weeks, we have had never ending trouble with our cable internet access to this computer, so that explains the long time between posts. We're back online now. We have given up on 'wireless' and have decided that 'wired' is the way to go!

Night Trippers

The crew who is driving Melissa to Connecticut includes her brother Chris (in back on right), friend Hunter (back left), and Jake (front right). Chris and Hunter will begin driving Melissa's car all night tonight to make it to Dollywood tomorrow. Melissa and Jake will begin driving the moving truck tomorrow morning and try to make it most of the way to Connecticut. Cosmo is not a dependable driver, so Melissa says he will be sedated for the trip.