Bad Mommy.

They are going to cut WHERE?!?


This past week, I was an awful mommy. Or at least I felt like one. My precious Olivia was scheduled to go in and get spayed (a necessary evil). And the night before we took her in she was being extra precious and snuggley. But I sucked it up, and she got taken in to a strange and scary place to be sliced and diced.


We get a call within the hour. She had put under, belly shaved, and they found a spay scar that they hadn't seen in the initial exam. And yes, its much easier than her actually going through the surgery, but she went through trauma for no reason! She had a hard time walking for the rest of the day and had puffy eyes and hissed every time Myla or Nessa so much as thought about her. She didn't want to be held or pet or anything. She hated us. She also keeps licking her tummy, as if that's going to make her tummy hair grow back.


This was all last Tuesday, and she's back to being her snuggley lovey self. But still.

I'm a bad kitty mommy.

Throwback Thursday: Halloween Hopeful?

I wish I could claim this as my Halloween 2009 costume choice...but alas, they really did dress us like this in the early 90s. Sick. No really, who let me out of this house with that hair? Child abuse! But it be a hilarious costume on Saturday....

I am pretty sure this is our Girl Scout troop getting ready to go on some crazy adventure. Or some old lady's house to sell cookies for a badge....

Coulda. Shoulda. Woulda.

And man, I really shoulda.....
http://www.tracyturpenblog.com/?p=5595

Fall Fashions?

I know, how did I get so lucky to find someone with such a fashion sense ;) But its sad when I realize that this stuff was actually available for one to purchase at regular store. H&M in Minneapolis isn't as cutting edge as the one in Boston, we frequently find stuff at the MN one that was out in Boston two years prior. No joke.

But anyways, the whole fam took a journey up north this weekend. We usually go up closer to Christmas, but with UNI's schedule this year, I work every weekend between now and New Years (including Thanksgiving) so this was the weekend!

Good trip all in all, got some cute clothes, a brand new camera (finally!) and ate way too much food. But I think a good trip can be shown by what the people look like on the car ride home.....

Dad barely containing himself watching his new favorite show, Castle. Only to be interrupted by poking me and hitting me with water bottles...


Chris sleeps in the oddest positions in the car...how his neck works after this, I have no idea...

Olivia the Monster Cat

Since we got her, she has shredded every chunk of cardboard she can find....EVERY CHUNK.

Throwback Thursday: Why I Hate Guac.

When I was in 7th grade, a group of students from the other school in town for a two week trip to Temuco, Chile. We knew one of the head chaperones on the trip, so my mother and I tagged along for the exchange. It was a home stay, only we stayed in different families homes. It was a very interesting experience to say the least.

But one thing about the trip plagues me to this day. I cannot stomach guacamole still. My family felt that I shouldn't eat anything fresh (because it might make me sick?) which means no fruit or veggies. I was stuck eating weird cereal with yogurt, and coca cola. That seems like thats all I had. Except for when we went to McDonalds. I was still at a point in my life where McDonalds was ok to eat, and I got so excited to be eating "real" food for once. Only, in Chile, instead of ketchup, they put guacamole on their hamburgers. They put guacamole on EVERYTHING.

I was traumatized. I still can't eat it. Its like green mayonnaise. Yuck. And yes, I have tried it since I was 13. I have tried homemade, I have tried restaurant, I have tried a teensy bite of all kinds. Bleck!

There are many other parts of that trip that I remember, the Termas, the giant power plant at the Dam, the government offices, the family I stayed with, the school, going to another school for some sort of dance presentation, but that guacamole instance....it haunts me.

Kevin Max's Monster Mash.

For once, I wish I lived in Nashville. HARDCORE.

I actually looked into how far away it was, just so I could go to Kevin Max's Monster Mash.

He let the audience pick the cover tracks. This is what they picked:
1. David Bowie – “Let’s Dance”
2. Queen – “Another One Bites the Dust”
3. The Church – “Underneath the Milky Way”
4. Billy Idol – “White Wedding”
5. Modern English – Melt With You”
6. Duran Duran – “Hungry Like the Wolf”
7. Ozzy Osbourne – Bark at the Moon”
8. Corey Hart – “Sunglasses at Night”
9. The Smiths – Half a Person”
10. RUSH – “Limelight”
11. Echo and the Bunnymen – “The Killing Moon”
12. John Waite – “Missing You”
13. Men at Work – “Overkill”

I WANT TO TELEPORT!

So Long Warm Weather.

Warmth isn't going out without a fight. It's going down in a blaze of glory.

Prince of the Air?!

This is even better if you read out loud to the tune of the song....try to do it without having to stop due to giggles. I dare you.

Click on it to enlarge.

Throwback Thursday: A Chair for Two.

Everytime I try to sit like this nowadays, he tells me I am squishing him! Either he's calling me fat, or he's gotten more dainty like a girl. I know which one I think it is.... :)

24 Going on Ancient.

24 is not exciting enough. My birthday was last week, and every day since then has been blah and dreary, with exception to any moment celebrating said birthday :) I got the day off of work (perks of having your father as a boss) and yet, didnt even sleep in. I was up and on the treadmill at 7:10, went to my abs class, and had a pumpkin latte via Tim for lunch. The afternoon was quite a bit more chill with a massage and seeing Fame with my mother. Only to be surprised afterwards by going home and having my mom over for dinner for Christmas casserole (best birthday food ever) and one mangled, but tasty lemon cake. And then proceeded to do nothing but watch tivo for the rest of the night. I am officially old, because I was completely content with that.

There was a bit more celebration over the weekend. Grandparents, parents, brother and girlfriend all congregated for my newest favorite dessert. Cake balls. My mom had them at an event, and I had never heard of such delicious glory, but holy cow are they amazing. I chose strawberry. I could eat a million. Its baked cake smooshed and crumbled with cream cheese and then rolled into balls and dipped in frosting. *drool*
Touch my cake balls and die. Heh. But we also snagged the opportunity with extra people to take the picture, an actual event, and a reason to wear silly party hats to take our Nordyke October picture. We are now officially complete dorks. I blame genetics.

But all in all it was a good year last year, and this one has started off well. But someone needs to tell the weather. I am not ready for this dreary rain and snow crap yet. Ugh. The only reason I can put up with it is because of all the awesome things that come with Fall: sweaters, pumpkin stuff, cozy under blankets, Thanksgiving, and then all the build up to Christmas splendor! Yay.

Did he really smile for once?! Really? A good picture of my father? Score.


And apparently for every good picture of him, there must be one of him looking like a creepy psycho stalker killer.... :)

Blog Hop: Feelin good....

Besides the new poll to the right......(MMMmmmm breakfast!)....

Blog hop this week. "Anything that feels good." And let me tell you, it felt good to ignore that laundry as long as all three kitties weren't hissing at each other and enjoying the warmth of fresh laundry together....

Big Sisters!

With such a growing family, a celebration was needed! And to help out, Linnea got the kitties presents for the new addition! It was absolutely adorable. Non-cat people, go away now, you won't find this post amusing. But Olivia loved her new toy, and Myla and Nessa secretly loved their new wardrobes. Can't you just feel the love?

Notice that Nessa is in the middle? That's because Myla and Olivia are less than bestest buds still. But Olivia and Nessa clearly get along, they are even giving kisses!

Nessa wants to gnaw my finger off for putting that shirt on her. But I keep telling her that its keeping her warm. She disagrees. :)

Peach Treat Overload.

This weekend, I was going to make my parents breakfast, and that fell through, but the notion of baking fresh peach muffins burrowed a little hole and never left.

So Sunday afternoon, I baked a batch of fresh peach muffins. And they were delightful. Little egg, little oil, but I used Almond Meal for the first time. Expensive, but TOOOTTALLLY worth it.

I used my muffin top pan, and gooey peachy awesomeness ensued. My mother was literally moaning into them. And Tim probably would have eaten the whole batch if I had left him!

As I had been searching for the muffin recipe, I found a brown sugar peach ice cream recipe. We rarely use the ice cream maker we have, and with splenda and egg white substitutes....a tan sticky heaven graced our tastebuds last night.


Ice Cream Recipe: Brown Sugar Peach Ice Cream

Muffin Recipe: Fresh Peach Muffins

New Addition to the Family!

She is here!!! Much sooner than anticipated, but nonetheless, the newest addition to the family has arrived safe and sound. She is still nameless, but her shelter name will do until we find the perfect name for her. I want to keep it in the theme of the other two, which would mean that it should start with "O" and end with an "a". Ophelia and Olivia are the front runners, but they arent the best names ever. So maybe we will just screw the tradition and name her something else. Any ideas?


Her name at the shelter was Laney, because the story of her arriving to them was that she was thrown out of a moving car onto the lane, and someone picked her up and took her to the shelter. I almost hope that story is a fabrication, but people are evil. :( We met her when we went to visit the cat we were planning on getting, Aero, but ended up deciding not to. We picked Laney instead, and she was going to be my birthday present, but my mother brought over their baby kitty and Myla freaked out. Like, Rambo style. So we decided again, not to get another cat jsut yet.

But then last weekend, getting some catfood at Petsmart, there was Laney, still homeless. I went in and got to hold her, and we pretty much decided then and there that Myla would have to deal with it. Applied to get her, got the call, and we had wanted to wait til Friday to pick her up (so we could be around all weekend and babysit the new siblings to prevent bloody death). But they virtually refused. So tonight was the night. I woke up this morning not knowing that I would go to bed with a new little babe. But I'm glad I am!!!

They aren't getting along yet. Lots of hissing. Nessa seemed totally fine, until Laney hissed at her, and then there was quite a bit more bitterness on Nessa's end. Myla I think feels replaced. She's four years old, while Laney is only 5.5 months, but they are the same size. We'll see. I shall be giving both Nessa and Myla extra love. They don't seem mad at us, just at the new cat, so thats a plus. And Laney is such a lap cat. She purred in my lap in the car all the way home, and she is just content chilling watching some tivo.

More updates on Sibling Death Fest 2009 to follow!

Nordyke's in September!

This has got to be the best month for the Nordyke family picture. We squeezed it in at the last minute of September, but we made it! And with an actual theme! It took one practice shot, and voila! The Nordyke Work Out Masterpiece:

Throwback Thursday: Toby Mac

It was about this time five years ago, that I met my freshman year roommate, Caroline. And today's picture is of one of our first adventures. A family friend of mine is the guitarist for the musician Toby Mac. I found out that they had a show close to Boston and bought tickets. I got Caroline to go with me. Now, it was far enough out, that we had to take the Commuter line out, and then walk aways to the actual concert locale. We get there after getting lost a little bit (which is scary for two 18year old girls in a brand new state) and are invited onto the tour bus...it was fantastic. As someone who grew up listening to dctalk, meeting TobyMac was insane. The concert was great, and Rosenau came down and sat by us for the opening act. And then, after the tour, we had hired a cab (since the commuter rail was done for the night) to drive us all the way back downtown Boston. He was kind of a weird dude. And then we got dropped off right where the campus shuttle would pick us up (which I never used again for the next three years) and ended up having to walk in the rain, and getting lost. It was definitely a bonding experience right away....