Closer

Hi baby.

i just heard this song and refelt such a distinct, heavy feeling in my heart of waiting for you to come visit me in chicago, when you'd fly in to see me. and of missing you. and of the gift of living with you.

So leave your taxi waiting
And turn and close my door
And sit back down where you were sitting
A little closer than before

When you look that serious
It just makes me want you more
And I've been needing to tell you

The closer you get, the better I feel
The closer you are, the more I see
Why everyone says that I look happier
When you're around
The closer you get, the better I feel
......
And there's no need to hurry
Taking time I'll still be here
And I've been needing to tell you

The closer you get, the better I feel
The closer you are, the more I see
Why everyone says that I look happier
When you're around
better I feel
The closer you get, better you see
The closer you are, more I see
Why everyone says that I look happier
When you're around
The closer you get, better I feel
Better I feel

We've been circling for time baby
We're coming down to land tonight
The wait is over and now it's easy
Everything is fine

The closer you get, better I feel
The closer you are, more I see
Why everyone says that I look happier
When you're around, better I feel
The closer you get, better you see
The closer you are, more I see
Why everyone says that I look happier
When you're around
The closer you get
Better I feel

[closer by dido]

i absolutely love living with you. i am so grateful to God that we live together and that i can be close to you everyday. i love being by your side. i miss you when i'm at work, and i remember missing you when we were miles away, and i will never take this gift for granted.

Cutest Kitten of the Year Award Goes To:

Our own, Jimmy Jackson!

and there he is playing and getting all worn out, just like a real baby, and being put down for a nap.

ooohhh, and sleeping like precious baby. on his belly, just like a real baby. with his hands tucked under him. oh, we love him, SO much.

hey! who woke me with that flash?! i'm just trying to take a nap, here. i can't help it that i'm the cutest kitten of the year and utterly irresistable! let a guy take a nap.

okay, james, just long enough so that you'll still sleep through the night, next to me, rubbing your face on mine, and not biting my toes, like you sometimes do.

Words I Learned Today

i am reading "The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor" by John Barth.

i am fascinated by pirates and sea merchants. been playing a pirate game, lately, on the computer, and i LOVE it. i am pretty sure that i used to be pirate, a very respectable one.

today, at lunch, while eating mashed potatoes and gravy, i was reading, and i learned these words (definitions from dictionary.com)


Profligacy : Recklessly wasteful; wildly extravagant


Ruinous: Causing or apt to cause ruin; destructive


and one other word, whose definition is kinda gross, so i don't want to write it down.

the word itself is not gross, and you've probably never heard of it, either, so i thought of just writing the word down, and not the definition, to keep true to reporting all the "words i learned today". but if i write it down, you will, no doubt, by human nature, just have to go look it up. it's like the "train wreck" thing, not wanting to look but feeling compelled to. no, no, it's more like being told not to think a certain thing, and then in order to not think it, you have to think about what not to think about it. actually it's not like that, really, either. it's something else. those types of things sure are funny, about the human mind, aren't they? so, to be fair, i will just say that it's on page 89 and starts with an "s". therefore, most of you will not bother to go looking for it, like you would if i just printed the word, and it'd be so easy just to go look it up. hopefully, none of you will go looking for the book, just to find this word. don't do it.

oh no! that's one of those things again, where if someone says, "don't do it" it makes you want to more. i hope that doesn't work this time.

James Jackson Comes Home

We got to bring James Jackson (JJ) home on Tuesday, August 2nd. We were so excited to welcome him.

He's completely adorable. We really love him. He likes his carrying case, and even days later, goes inside it to rest now and then. Or to hold his litttle blue teddy bear that smells like his momma.

(See our nice new floor there? Also, see the trim in the background? What do you think of it? We haven't installed it, yet, because we are trying to find trim that matches better. We are even debating staining trim ourselves, to match. Let us know what you think of that trim back there. It's hard to tell with the lighting in the photo, but we think the trim is too dark to match the floor. We know it's supposed to be a bit darker than the floor, but the trim actually has some red tones in it, that the floor does not, so we are concerned it won't look right).

So, hhhanyway. Back to James Jackson.

Isn't he a doll ?!?!

He's just like having a little baby running around. He jumps, climbs, and flips around. He is so playful.

Then he wears himself out playing, and becomes sleepy and just as sweet as ever.

Here's a picture so you can get an idea of how small he is. (see our nice new floor again?) Sorry about the catpan, but the up close pictures don't give you a good idea of just how small he is. We took him for a vet check-up Saturday. He's good and healthy and weighs 3 pounds.

Here he is just yesterday, in the middle of one of his funny antics. He climbed into our laundry bag, and napped amongst the clothes. I guess it was a smart, and very safe place to hide from the big cat, who sometimes gets real annoyed at him and throws a fist.

He's so cute. I was laughing and having a hard time taking a picture of him in here, because he moves so quickly. Everytime I'd snap the shot, he'd have already moved. The shutter speed just wasn't fast enough to catch him looking up, so cute. But I like the pictures cuz they show the quick trail of his movement.



He's so cute.
Here's Haley, the big cat :) She's been handling him okay. Actually very well, considering they were able to be in the same room, after just 3 days. I think it generally takes a week. And considering she hasn't eaten him. She seems happier in many ways, to have the little fellow around. A friend. Someone whom she can speak to in "cat" (apparently, thanks Jackson), and she really seems interested in watching him play. I think she thought he was a little rat at first, cuz he's some small and runs around so much. She watches him a lot. And it's cute. She doesn't meow in the morning anymore - she used to wake us up every morning with constant crying and scratching at the bed, but that hasn't happened one day since he's been here. She also hasn't cried when we come home form work, anymore. We think that is because she does not feel lonely anymore. She has someone to play with and talk to. Some good company, now, while we are sleeping or away. And we are so happy about that. But we are keeping an eye on her, because she also seems very tired, and sometimes irritated with him. He likes to poke at her, like a little brother. Chase her tail, chase her, and it's cute, but I don't think she's been getting as much rest and has seemed real quiet lately. But I think as she gets more used to him, she'll be much more comfortable. I think this is just the initial adjustment period. So with that, it's going great.

This is Haley drinking water from a cup left on the coffee table. She's not supposed to do that, but it looked so cute and funny, I had to snap a photo before I scolded her and told her to get down. This is an older photo, from earlier this year, but I included it here cuz it's cute, and I like it. I thought you'd like to see it :)

Ikea Shelving in Guest Bedroom

We built and installed shevling in the guest bedroom this weekend :) We really like the shelves we got from Ikea. We figure the open box-type shelf on the right, gives us the option of having things in there on display or in containers (if we had gotton cabinets, we wouldn't get to display our things, and we have some things we miss and want to have out, since a lot has been packed for awhile).

Jackson is getting to have her nerfuls, that I got her for Christmas, out, so she can see them. She missed them since childhood, and now she can look at them everyday. They make her real happy and bring back fond memories. They are fun little guys that roll like nerf balls and slide around on slides and ride in cars. Who wouldn't love them?!

See the smiling Buddha on the 2nd shelf? I also like the red and blue boxes.

Now we have a spot for our Teddy Bears. Those poor guys had to stay in containers for awhile.

And see the picture on the right side? It's hard to see, but it says, "You have permission. You hold the key," and it was given to me by someone very special. Thank you. It so nice having a nice place to display special things. And the red paint in her artwork is accented in this room.

It is so nice to have shelves up in that room, now. It really helps a lot with storage space, and was fun to do. Though the shelves were heavy and can be hard to line up to hang them. But we did good. And we are really happy with the outcome. We plan to put touch lamps or some other type of pretty lighting under the botton shelves, so you can read bed and for ambiance. The shelves being above the bed make the bed seem to be in a cozy little cove and do a lot for the room.

We hope our guests will like it when they come to visit :)