Bengals

We've had a lot of people ask about our cats lately...how they can look so different and be littermates, and about their amazing personalities, so here are a couple of links so you can see for yourselves.

for some information about the breed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_cat

A page about the various color patterns
http://www.encorebengals.com/colorspatterns.htm

And for those of you who still don't believe that they can be from the same litter, here is a picture I found where the mom is very light colored, but she has brown marbled and spotted babies.














We adopted ours from a lady who was getting divorced and couldn't keep them anymore, and instantly fell in love with their beauty and personalities. If anyone is thinking about getting a cat that is both playful and cuddly, and so unique and beautiful, a bengal is definitely the way to go. As much as I'm a believer in adopting cats that need homes, I really think I'm sold on bengals.

What's for dinner?

You're still checking my recipe blog, right? There is a link to it on the right side of this page. We've been making some yummy meals!

More easy charity

Aunt Chris reminded me of another great site where just clicking can help a lot.

Clicking Sites

There are 6 sites in one on this link, you can see them in tabs at the top. By clicking the button on:
The Hunger Site, you donate 1.1 cups of food to the hungry
The Breast Cancer Site, you help a woman in need get a free mammogram
The Child Health Site, you help a child in need get health care
The Literacy Site, you help a child in need attain literacy
The Rainforest Site, you help preserve 11.4 square feet of rainforest
The Animal Rescue Site, you donate .6 bowls of food to rescued animals.

Besides all of the easy clicking, there are a bunch of other ways to help. They have a store, (its the same store in each tab, but depending on the tab you are in, the money will go to different things) where you can buy cute gifts and stuff, and part of the money goes to the charity. There are even things you can buy that were actually made by people in specific countries. I especially like these Bazura Bags, which are reusable grocery bags (good for the earth) that are made of recycled juice boxes (also good for the earth) by women in the Philippines to send their children to school (good for the kids). There are also things like fair trade coffee, and my favorite, Gifts That Give More. On this page, there are different needs from around the world with set dollar amounts, from $14.00 for a pair of school shoes for a girl in rural Africa, to $100 to heat a school in Afghanistan for the winter.

We did it for a couple of Christmas gifts last year, and it was great. You get a certificate that you can print out that explains where the money went that you can give to someone.

You could really spend hours on this site looking around, but I tried to put some good shortcuts into this entry. Check it out!

learn words, earn rice!

http://www.freerice.com/

I guess they use advertising on the web page to pay for grains of rice. For every word you correctly define, you earn 10 grains of rice to feed the hungry through the United Nations. Here is a quote from the FAQ page

"The rice is distributed by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The World Food Program is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good. Wherever possible, the World Food Program buys food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. We encourage you to visit the United Nations World Food Program to learn more about their successful approach to ending hunger."

Seems like a good plan, right? Well here's the thing. I counted 10 grains of cooked rice out, its like reaching into the bowl and taking a pinch...a small pinch. Thats 10 grains. I googled it, and apparently a cup of uncooked long grain rice has about 7250 grains. 1 cup of uncooked rice makes about 2 cups of cooked rice, but still, thats a lot of words to define!

Its actually really fun though, there are a few I don't know, and some that you can guess based on the root word. Try it out.

Happy Hundredth Post!

Everyone keeps asking when we're going to post about the honeymoon...I'm working on it! Eric wants to help too, and its really hard to get a decent amount of time with both of us together right now.

I work in the morning, and he works from noon until 8:30 so we usually miss each other during the day. He tries to come home a couple of times a week on his lunch break (which is at 4 so its more of a dinner break) but by the time he drives home and eats, its almost time to drive back. And by the time he comes home its almost time for me to go to bed since I have to get up early.

I had a miscarriage a couple of weeks ago. I was only 4 weeks along, and it wasn't really planned. We're doing okay though. We spent a loooong day in the hospital and then I was on bed rest for a couple of days but I'm feeling much better now.

We went and got our first marital pumpkins from Long's, they're so orange and round! I think tonight we're going to carve them. I don't know if we'll get many trick or treaters. Eric has to work but I'll hang out for a while and see if we get anyone, and if not I'll go to Adam and Amy's, they always have lots of cute trick or treaters. Fall is such a pretty season at our house!

This is the view from the sliding door

We've gotten a lot of decorating done in the house, all of the art is up now, it really looks like a nice little house. We discovered yesterday though that our red slip cover has dyed the wall behind the couch and the carpet beneath it red...thats no good. I don't know what exactly we're going to do about that but I'm thinking we may need to replace our 4th generation couch. Underneath the pretty red is a very ugly white leather couch that has previously belonged to my grandparents, then my uncle, and then my parents before coming to us. Its a very comfy couch but the white leather just doesn't cut it. So we'll see what happens with that.

Yesterday we had our very first big family gathering. We did September, October, and December birthdays with my dad's side of the family, which is my mom, Aunt Laura, Uncle Rick, and my dad. I made my Great-Grandma Rose's meatball recipe and steamed veggies. Aunt Karen brought a veggie tray, my dad brought cranberry relish, and Grandma Susan brought a fruit salad. My mom and I made the birthday cakes. It was fun. We had some trouble with the rice cooker (it overflowed and we called the help hot line, it was a big mess) But overall, it was a success. I think everyone had fun.

Today was David's Halloween party at school. It was so cute! I got the kids in their costumes, dropped Ninja Turtle David and Darth Vader Thomas off at school, and Cheerleader Kaylee and I went to Panera for coffee and a blueberry bagel. I'm really enjoying the one on one time I get with her while David is in school, she's at such a fun age. We went back to the school in time for the party. The kids sang some cute songs, then did some games and crafts. It was so funny to see them eating the marshmallows and donut holes hanging from strings without using their hands.


We have another cat show to go to with my dad next weekend. Its supposed to be a big one so hopefully we'll sell a lot. We've done well at the other shows we've been to, and we're starting to get people that come to the show just to buy more of our stuff.

This morning was the first frost, it was pretty, but I never look forward to winter, at least driving in the winter. I did just get a new winter coat that is really warm from Land's End, so I was excited to wear it to work today!


I think thats all for now, I'll try to keep up!

Our little buddies

a tiny update

Just thought I'd post a picture of the cutest little boy in the world! Camden is 4 months old already! I get to hang out with him a lot these days while Sam goes to school and work, he's so fun!