1200 Miles West

While out shopping today, I bought Kali and Karmel a surprise…a new three tiered scratcher!

Now, for those of you who visited our house in Michigan (or my parents while the kitties were living there from July - Nov of last year) this new one pales in comparison to the one Mike built.  Unfortunately due to it’s size and weight the homemade version didn’t make the trip out to CO with us and has since found a new home at my cousin Derek’s house.

Kali has already started to scratch on it, so hopefully Karmel follows suit.  Although based on the fact that she already swatted him off of the second, he might be hard press to be king of the mountain with her around.

We were invited to a couple of Super Bowl parties, but we elected to stay home. Karmel, our orange and white kitty, enjoys spending time with us in the family room and as you can tell from the snap shot he’s a football fan as he picked the seat next to Mike on the couch to watch the big game.

Each time Mike yells at the TV or curses out one of the players on the Giant’s team, Karmel jumps up, almost as if he’s echoing Mike’s verbal comments.

Now, one could argue that Karmel’s reaction is due to the fact that he is startled by the loud noise and pounding motion on the couch, but if that were the case I wouldn’t have a football loving cat, now wouldI?

Everyone likes cats, right? If you like to look at funny pictures with crazy captions, you should visit I Can Has Cheezburger. The name of the site makes no sense whatsoever, but the site is fantastic.

For those of you who know my kitty Karmel, check out this post as the cat in the picture looks just like him: http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/01/29/funny-pictures-aromatherapy/

What’s funny is Mike and I had pizza for dinner tonight.

The kitties are not big on interacting with children as they are spoiled and have the run of the house 99.9% of the time, so the last week has been a hide and seek marathon for them.

These are two of the spots that they came up with.

Kali isn’t as particular as Karmel, so you can see that her spot is more revealing then his is. Some how, he figured out how to jump up on the shelf in my closet and he nestled in on top of my workout clothes.

The kids have safely returned to Sacramento and amazingly the cats are back out and social again. As we speak, Karmel is positioned directly between Mike and I on the couch. Life is back to normal for the kitties…at least until the kids visit us again this summer.

The kitties didn’t participate in the opening of the presents, however after the wrapping paper had been torn off and the boxes were sitting out on the floor, they had a field day. At one point both Kali and Karmel were inside of a box together. Who knew it was so easy to amuse a cat at Christmas?

Both Kali and Karmel did receive presents from Mom and Dad in Michigan. While they are still a little unsure of the self-warming cat cushion, Karmel took advantage of his new gift and immediately took a nap.

Overall it was a good Christmas for the kitties. They can’t wait until next year! Oh…in case you are wondering, Karmel is in more pictures then Kali because she’s a diva and doesn’t like to have her picture taken.

Mike and I have been “catless” for the last four months and I’ve forgotten how much fun it is to have a furry four legged friend around to entertain you.

Here’s a few snap shots of Karmel hanging out with us in the family room.

Karmel doesn’t know how to use a computer, but he sure does like Mike’s computer bag.

He also likes to lick our windows and drink ice water out of a glass.

Yesterday morning we left Livonia, MI and headed back to Colorado after visiting our family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday.

When we originally drove out to CO back in early August, we took our time spending the night in Council Bluffs, IA and driving the remaining 8 or so hours the following day.

This trip was different as we were driving my Liberty, we weren’t stopping to spend the night and we also had two cats with us. We figured it would take us 18 hours to get there and we weren’t sure how long the cats would cry. Here’s some of our tweets from the trip:

mgminton Leaving livonia. Cats crying. 6:32 AM
erinmquinn One hour into the trip & Karmel is still crying. 7:12 AM
mgminton Battle Creek. Cats still crying. 7:41 AM
mgminton Getting gas in Gary IN. Cats crying less. 9:28 AM
erinmquinn We are getting close to the Iowa border. 11:25 AM
mgminton Getting gas and food in Davenport, IA. 12:30 PM
mgminton Erin is driving now. The cats are also not crying so much. 12:48 PM
mgminton Meow, meow, meow… 3:25 PM
mgminton Iowa is cold and barren. 50 miles from NE. Gas and ice cream. Fish sounds good. 4:06 PM mgminton Good thing for the kitties that their owner is smoking hot else they might be Nebraska residents. 5:19 PM
mgminton Driving at night through Nebraska is good because 80 feels like 150 mph, the kitties sleep (cept for bumps and swerves), no see the emptiness 6:00 PM
erinmquinn We’ve been on the road for 12+ hours now and Mike still hasn’t stopped to let me pee! 6:58 PM
mgminton Still in NE, fueled up on cocaine and whiskey… Er.. Taco bell and diet pepsi. 8;09 PM
mgminton The kitty calmness has broken. They are now very distraught. 266 miles to go. about 24 hours ago
mgminton Welcome to Colorado! about 23 hours ago
erinmquinn A little more than an hour left to go! about 21 hours ago
mgminton E-470! about 20 hours ago

Overall the trip was good. The cats have started to adjust to their new surroundings, however we aren’t planning on taking them on any cross country trips, at least not in the next few months.

Total miles driven - 1263.6
Total time spent driving - 16:56
Total time - 17:53
Average speed - 74.6 mph

For those of you who don’t know our schedule yet, we’re flying in on the 16th arriving back in Michigan just after midnight. Thankfully Michael has agreed to pick us up from the airport.

We’ve only scheduled a few things thus far, so if you’re interested in seeing us we’ll be in Michigan through the following Saturday when we pack up my Jeep and drive 18 hours back to CO with two cats!

Yes, that’s right. Kali and Karmel have been living the Kitty Hotel (better known as Mom and Dad’s house) for the last 4+ months and it’s now time for them to make the trek to their new home in CO.

While we’ll be primarily be staying at my parents house in Livonia, we’re also planning to make stops in Grand Rapids and Mike will be heading to Alpena to hunt (aka drink beer and play video games with Scott) out at the hunting camp.

In addition, I’m looking forward to meeting baby Addison for the first time. She’s the beautiful bundle of joy that arrived shortly after I left for CO back in early Aug courtesy of Todd and Monica. Way to go you two!

And in case you were wondering (I know many of you do…) one of my priorities while I’m at home is to visit Salon XL to have Angel dye my hair. I have yet to find a hairdresser here in CO, although I’m not sure that I’ll ever find a replacement for her! If you’re in the AA area and you’re looking for someone new to do your hair, Angel comes HIGHLY recommended and not just by me!

I know everyone will be busy with family stuff during the week, but we probably won’t be back in Michigan again until the Summer of 2008, so if you have the time…we’d love to see you.

Hugs and Kisses!