Snow Hill 2008

So I like to golf. Or is it play golf? It can be both a verb and a noun...

Anyways, I played Snow Hill Country Club last Saturday. One of my favorite layouts I've played in the Cincinnati area (shown is hole # 14). If I lived closer, I might consider joining as a member. Great old school layout with small greens that demands accuracy off the tee. Played with Chad Stewart, who runs the OVGA Tour, the weekend charity golf league who's Web site I run. Always great playing with Chad, as it's his idea for this tour that really increased my interest in the game and has allowed me to meet a lot of great people.

Through the GCGA, I have an opportunity to play Clovernook Country Club in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to that, since it'll probably be the last time I play before June. Golf in Mexico is a possibility, but not at $260 green fees.

MLIS here I come!

Yesterday was my last day of graduate school, though it will still be a week before I officially graduate, and I am very excited but a little sad. This graduation is much different from my undergraduate graduation. First, I don't have to move to a new place. Second, I'm not walking with a bunch of people I don't know to be handed a diploma holder w/o a diploma by someone I don't know and who would butcher my new name (side note: I am glad that I did the whole ceremony thing for my Bachelor's degree but I am not, in general, a ceremony type of person). Third, I am employed and therefore feel like a contributing member of the family even if it is still only part-time and not what I want to do with the rest of my life. Despite the difference, though, there are still a lot of the same apprehensions. First, I don't have a job as a librarian and I keep hearing horror stories about graduates that can't find jobs. Ack! I haven't let myself think about this too much since I haven't technically even graduated yet. Second, I've spent so much of my life in school (counting preschool, its been about 21 years) and, while I am excited to start a new chapter in my life, I am a bit sad to be leaving school. Now I have to do actual work, but at least I will get paid instead of paying an institution of learning for the privilege of homework.

For now I am focusing on finding a job, reading as much as I want, and looking forward to our honeymoon/happy graduation vacation to Cancun. And in a week I will officially be a librarian even if I am not getting paid to be one.

The Wonders of Oakley

Saturday night Criss and I finally got around to watching one of the many volumes of the BBC production Planet Earth. We have been trying for several weeks now to view these but something always comes up. We settled on the couch in the basement, got the DVD started, and just as I got comfortable I hear Amberley start crying her new location cry (yes, I can tell different things from the way Amberley cries) which means she is up to no good and has found her way into a closet or room or some space that she is not supposed to be in. It was this cry that alerted me that she was wandering around in the crawl space under our roof that has exposed insulation and the same cry she used when she found her way into the drop ceiling in the basement. I am very wary when I hear that cry. This time it wasn't something so dramatic; she was in the room where the furnace and water heater are. Not too surprising because the door is slightly ajar to allow a tube to run from our dehumidifier to the drain by the water heater. So, I got up, shooed her out, and closed the door tightly as I could with the hose blocking the door. In other words, the door was still cracked. This is a crucial point to the next step in the story. Anyway, I settle back down to watch Planet Earth and Oakley starts crying. I am not as adept at deciphering Oakley's cries, though they are as varied as Amberley's. It sounded like she was playing, which she does a lot, but she wouldn't stop. I called for her. Criss called for her. We both called for her at the same time. Her cries would stop for a minute then start up again. This probably went on for about 10 minutes or so and I could tell Criss was getting pissed so I went to find her hoping if I gave her some pets she would shut up. I went upstairs. No Oakley. I went into the bedroom. No Oakely. I went to the second floor where she often plays. No Oakley. I'm starting to panic a little. I go back to the basement and look under the stairs. No Oakley. I run all around the house one last time before going back to the basement where I found Oakley. She was sitting behind the door to the furnace/water heater room. The door that was slightly propped open. The door that if she has simply pushed on it it would have opened for her. Instead of easily letting herself out she stood behind that door for 10 minutes and cried. Oakley is the cat that was on the streets for the first year of her life before being taken to the shelter. After I had freed Oakley and she went on her merry way, I started to wonder how she ever managed to survive a year when she couldn't even push open a door to let herself out. I am very grateful to whoever it was that took Oakley to the shelter were we found her (a wonderful place called the League for Animal Welfare) because her survival instinct sucks and I'm not sure how much longer she would have made it! I still love her, lack of instinct and all (but I can't speak for Criss ;-) ).

This is a picture of the lucky-to-be alive cat.

I warned you about my cat obsession!

Welcome

So I am way into blogging now since I started my teen reading blog (avidteenreader.blogspot.com if you are interested in checking it out) and I got to thinking, maybe Criss and I can start a blog together so we can post stuff about what's going on in our lives. Criss' response to this was, "What, so we can write about how we lay around the house and surf the internet and read?" or something close to that effect but I swear, we do stuff! Plus we have two adorable cats with whom I'm obsessed who will surely be the subject of some wonderful posts until we have children (not for years though!) on which we can endlessly post. I will more than likely be one of those mothers that chronicles every spit up if my obsession with my cats is any indication. Getting back to Criss' response. So I thought he was going to be a big stinker about this blog thing and that he would never use it but then today I get an email at 10 am (during work time) from him about how I messed up the blog link and he fixed it. In fixing it he created a whole new blog on which he now has admin rights. He goes from no interest to admin in less than 24 hours. I am not complaining because it means that he's on board with the idea (YEAH!) but I found it funny :). That's my Criss B.

Anyway, so he and I are going to keep this blog together in hopes of talking about what's going on with our small family (do two humans and two cats constitute a family -- I say yes!). And hopefully if we see a lack in fun posts it will kick our butts into doing the traveling we swear we're going to do in the next couple of years. We'll see. Enjoy (I hope)!