I'll miss the 'tude the most....

Rudy Wiedel
1994 - 2008

My wonderful kitty (well, really old-man-fat-then-skinny-cat) went up to Kitty Heaven on Monday. He had been sick, not eating for quite some time, and was very weak when I saw him over Easter weekend. It was the best for him, but not so great for the rest of us. But then, Rudy never really gave a crap about what we wanted from him :)

As previously posted, Rudy was The. Coolest. Cat. there ever was, including fictional cats like Garfield or the Cheshire Cat or Puss in Boots or any LOL cat you find on the internet. Here are some reasons why he was totally awesome and we'll miss him a ton:

• When Rudy was just a kitty, he would hide behind the hutch by the back door. When we would open to the door to let our dog Alley outside, she would come running and Rudy would leap out from his hiding spot onto Alley's back and ride her all the way down the hill!!
• He constantly brought home dead or half dead animals as tokens of affection. Or he just liked seeing my siblings and I freak out when a dazed bird started flying around the house, trying to escape.
• Rudy was the King of Wherever We Happened to Live. Since he was young, he would go out for days at a time and do who knows what. We would hear cats fighting sometimes and we knew it was probably Rudy kicking ass. He's come home with all sorts of injuries (one time a chunk out of his ear) and always had a look like "You should see the other guy"
• The Rudytude that he had was unparalleled. He was like the Marlon Brando of cats. Super good-looking, a BAMF, and he didn't give a damn. He could give two craps about hanging out with us and we'd feel like royalty if he chose to allow us to pet him.
• My favorite memory of his 'Tude was, after I moved out of my parents', he took over my bed for a while. When I came home to visit once, I went to go to sleep and he was on my pillow. I got into bed. He did not move. I laid down on the pillow. He did not move. I nudged him a little. He looked me in the eyes, put his paw on my forehead, and pushed me away!! That is the essence of Rudy!
• Another great example of his Highness, was getting in and out of the house. We've got a doggy-door but he wouldn't use it. He'd stand at the back door until someone opened it (and then take his sweet ass time getting out) and then would go to the front screen door and bang it against the wall until we heard him and let him in!!
  
• He was a cross-country cat, living in two states and traveling by car through many more.
• Once he got older, he got so FAT. I loved his chunky belly almost touching the ground. He really was like Marlon Brando!! All he wanted to do was eat and he would bug you every 6 seconds to pick him up and feed him. And he would still act like we should be honored.

Rudy was everything a cat should be and he's spoiled me on all other cats. They'll never measure up, because Rudy Tooty Fresh and Fruity was The Greatest!

Nuts of fun

I'm 24!! And I celebrated with the Most. Awesome. Family. EVER! So many people came - it was so nice: my own Wiedel's, Sonny & Sally, Nana, Aunt's Cathy and Leanne, Sarah (who got her intro to the family in the most amazing way), Laurie (my cooperating teacher who I MISS SO MUCH), & the family Skelnik (Beth, Jim, Ashley, Alex), and Megan, Frankie, Ariel, & Elias.

For full disclosure, I was a cranky bitch up until 3:00 on Saturday, but once people came over & I saw all the lovely decorating my family did I perked right up. I tricked everyone into thinking this was just a normal Saturday with the added bonus of it being my birthday, until I busted out the first of many awesome things: Pin the Tail on the Squirrel. Kristina hand-made the game - it looked amazing (even if the tails were innuendo-ish) . I couldn't believe how much fun my family had! Kristina was in her element spinning people & everyone took a turn. Wonderful Uncle Jim pointed out how Aunt Leanne's ill-placed tail looked like very large squirrel genitalia, which cracked everyone up. And Sally won!!


Then, we played Guess How Many Nuts? Which would have been funnier - or grosser - if played the way Dad suggested: Guess Who's Nuts. None the less, everyone was in the competitive spirit & Aunt Beth was the closest 3 nuts off. It was enough fun & prizes to get everyone really rabid for the pinata.

As Michael pointed out later, who knew my family was so competitive? Frankie had it right, they are vultures! They were all really whacking it hard - My dad knocked down mom's wind charms! - and Uncle Jim & Aunt Leanne had a hilarious tusstle for the best candy-grabbing position. And after getting AS MUCH CANDY AS POSSIBLE, the toys Michael got for the pinata (disk shooters & squirt guns) started crazy rivalries between pretty much everyone.


We had pizza, ice cream cake (I finally got a Harry Potter one: the Hogwarts Express, my mom rocks), presents, Eli blowing and subsequently popping milk bubbles, and a brief period where Ariel took over my life & started offering me up for slave services.


Everyone got me really lovely things, especially since it was such short notice & I gave no indication of what I wanted.
Michael gave me some beautiful earrings & a picture
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Mom & Dad (beyond the awesome party) got me hair pins & two purses.

Krissy took me to the mall and got me a shirt (which I put on immediately).

Zach gave me $20 of mom & dad's money. Nana got me a beautiful necklace. Aunt Leanne & the Skelniks gave me $$ to Oreganos (any Flagstaff people want to go?). Aunt Cathy gave me a message in a bottle. Sonny & Sally gave me BEAUTIFUL roses. The Lanham's gave me a great card and some spending cash, plus I got a birthday post from Caton & a late-night text from my Flagstaff friends.

Thank you everyone for making me feel so special - I love you all as much as you love me! Which should be a lot! Stay tuned for more about the other things I did this weekend besides rocking out on my birthday.

Fancy Feasts

As promised, I'm dedicating this post to making you drool with envy from all the yummy tasties Michael & I have been eating these last few weeks. I tell you, if anyone gets the chance to have their significant other/husband stay home all day and create extravagantly delicious meals you should totally go for it! I can home the other day to the smell of dinner cooking, a clean house, and beautiful bouquet of flowers (which are still blooming reminders of how awesome Michael is)

So far, these past few weeks, we've had homemade chicken pot pie, tin-foil salmon with mashed potatoes, buffalo burgers, tuna steak with homemade french fries & carrot crisps, that Dobos torte cake, and an Irish corn beef, cabbage, potato, and Irish soda bread feast. Proudly, I made three of those dishes.






In additional, non-food related news, I've been having a fabulous Spring Break. Except for the part where I've had to do homework & the slight freak out I had about whether or not I'd get a full time job next year, I have relished in this perfect week. Could the educational forefathers ever conceived of a better week?!

This weekend I'm celebrating my 24th birthday in style --- squirrel style. Check back soon to find out exactly what that means....

Hola Mis Amis

Wooooo! Updates! Wooooooo!!! I know that's what you're all thinking....

Yesterday was Michael's birthday!! He's a big boy now! It's been 17 years since he stopped breast-feeding. I know you all do wonderful posts about how much you love your husbands and how great they are and have lots of pictures and schmoopy stuff, but I am not going to do that. Michael is great and wonderful and I love him, but I'll dedicate time for all that husband-birthday-jazz when he's actually my husband.

Moving along, I did make Michael his last Dobos Torte cake for his bachelor lifetime. If you are not familiar it is frickin DELICIOUS . Ask anyone who has ever taken a bite of it's 10-to-12 layers of spongy, homemade-chocolate-frosting-y goodness. There are many ways to eat the Dobos of course, but my preferred method is the peel-apart, layer by layer. Here is a picture of what you're all missing:

We ate cake for breakfast on Sunday and opened his presents. He was really excited and surprised. I actually was able to keep what I got him a secret this year! I'm so proud. I even individually wrapped each portion so if he found the hiding place he couldn't unwrap it all. I got him 1/2 a homebrewer's kit (he bought himself the rest yesterday and brewed up a wheat beer today)

Look at that happy face

He let me open one of my presents and it was this really pretty ponytail holder I've been coveting from Etsy.com, which is full of amazing handmade items.

Check back soon for tales of how much yummy food we've been eating. Peace.