New Guy on the Block

Momoko's gerbils from school are getting a bit old. She decided to inject some new blood into their cage. Thus Kit Kat and Monmoko went gerbil shopping today. They got a new white one. I was expecting some miniature gerbil. This one is smaller than the rest, but is not a baby.

Kit Kat took all the old gerbils out of their cage. They she let the new one run in there for a while. They say the other gerbils will accept the new one if they smell her scent in their cage. Not working here. One of the old gerbils will not leave the new one alone. The new one's tail got chewed pretty bad.

Luckily Momoko also bought a second gerbil cage. So for tonight, we are goinag to let the new one stay in a separate cage. She got beat up too bad in the big cage. I think the old aggressive gerbil needs a time out myself.

Suspicious Package

I worked late today. Had to finish up a task that took a long time. After work I decided to go shopping. Little Kat and I were unable to do so on the weekend.

I loaded up the car with all my purchases. Then I tried to return the shopping cart to the place in the parking lot where you return them. It seemed this place was chock full of carts. As I inspected further, the shopping carts were jammed up by a piece of luggage in the middle of the lane.

Initially I was curious and wanted to see what was in the luggage. Maybe it was some treasure like a suitcase full of cash. I looked around and there was nobody in sight. Then I figured this was a bad idea. What if there was a bomb in there? Or even worse, what if it was full of mobster cash. In the end, I left the luggage alone. If it is there when I return next week, I will take a peek.

Winning

Today Little Kat and I went on the marathon shopping spree. It was not a fun one. We had to buy things for the house. Little Kat did score a iTunes card though.

It took us a long time to decide on a pair of saw horses that Momoko wanted. At first Little Kat recommend some light plastic horses that were very adjustable. They were also flimsy. Then Little Kat thought we should go with the industrial strength ones. They were just too darn heavy. We ended up with some lighter steel ones.

Kit Kat and Momoko put the finishing touches on our firewood holder. They painted the front white to conceal it from people on the street. On thing left to do is for me to order some firewood. On a final note, I continue to search out derivative works of the Charlie Sheen "Winning" auto tune. Look at the original from the Gregory Brothers, as well as the extended edition. Peace.

Loading up the Truck

Since I have been sick for a while, I had been skipping out on my duty to go shopping at Target/Walmart. Today I was not 100%. But I was well enough to shop at Target. Little Kat and I went out at lunch time.

They had a sale on Cokes at Target. We loaded up the car with a bunch of Cherry Coke, Sprite, and Regular Coke. Good stuff. We also got all those things we had on the list for Target.

Little Kat was happy because we had enough time at the end of shopping for him to get a iTunes card. He already bought Legend of the Guardians with his card for the computer. All in all a good day.

Jukebox Surprise

Momoko and the girls went shopping this afternoon. That left Little Kat and I to fend for ourselves at lunch. Little Kat advised me to take us to the Silver Diner. I had a coupon that expired today. Must be our destiny.

Little Kat tried to get me to approve a milkshake, bowl of soup, gourmet burger, and sundae dessert. I laughed at first, then informed he was authorized for a large water and half a salad. He was a bit dejected. However the salads there were good.

Then Little Kat wanted me to give him a quarter for the jukebox at our table. Last time we were there, Little Kat lost his quarter in the machine. So I declined. He played with the machine and chose a song. I found it strange that the song he chose played over the loudspeaker.

Maybe it was chance. Little Kat chose another song. The machine clicked and then his second choice played without the need for a quarter. Little Kat had me listen to another 30 minutes worth of songs. Finally we had to go. Little Kat said he ended up selecting $15 worth of music without putting any money in the machine. Let's hope the other customers enjoyed his selections.

Driver Fail

After work I needed to do some shopping. That's ok. There is a Walmart and Target one exit down the highway from my work. So I start driving down the highway. I must not have been concentrating. Before I knew it, I missed my exit.

It was a total fail, because after I missed my exit,
I hit a traffic jam. I thought I could just turn around at the next exit. No luck. There was a traffic jam on both sides of the highway.

After shopping I was running out of gas. I spied a gas station out of the way with 87 octane going to $2.89 a gallon. That sounded good until I started pumping the gas. The $2.89 was only valid if you bought a car wash. That's the last time I am going to that gas station.

Value Searching

Little Kat and I have the weekly duty to do the Walmart / Target shopping. This week was no different. We usually go on Sundays. I subscribe to the newspaper 7 days a week. The Sunday paper has plenty of coupons. You know I am clipping them to maximize our value.

One coupon I clipped was to save on some plastic bags. I brought Little Kat to the aisle where they were. He showed me the brand they like. I told him I had a coupon for another brand. But the coupon does not tell the whole story. We compared prices between the favorite brand and the discounted brand. Turns out the favorite brand was cheaper (most like due to a store discount). We ended up getting the brand the kids like. Using coupons is nice. But the main objective is to save money.

In other news, we bought a new Christmas tree today. I thought we should get an imitation Douglas Fir. However Little Kat voted for an imitation pine. Momoko concurred with Little Kat. Now he wants to put up the tree really early this year. I am a bit sad that we are retiring the tree we have been faithfully using each year. But it is getting to be time.

Kit Kat's Day

Today is the weekend day when my bro usually comes over to watch movies with me. I took a small nap before he came over so that I would be fresh for the movies. When I woke up, Momoko and Kit Kat had gone out shopping.

Kit Kat came back. She and Momoko went to the Dress Barn. Kit Kat got invited to a friend's homecoming dance. I thought it was strange that Kit Kat had to pay for her own ticket. However it was her money and her decision.

My bro and I got some fast food between the movies. When we got home, the mail man had arrived. He delivered minimal letters. But he left a few packages. One of them was for Kit Kat. Her new cell phone has arrived.

Packages and Dinner

I got home from work late yesterday. Momoko and Kit Kat needed to shop for Little Kat's birthday. That left me and Little Kat to figure out our own dinner. Momoko said we could eat her leftover BBQ wings and cheesy bread. I decided we could go out to eat instead.

Little Kat was concerned about a package I received in the mail. He thought it might be a cell phone cover that I had purchased online for him. I let Little Kat tear open the package. He was right. It was his phone cover. The thing is some sort of evil skeleton. Little Kat says this is the only manly cover for his phone. The rest are too girly.

I turned Little Kat's attention back to dinner. He wanted to go to the Silver Diner. They have some awesome kicking crab soup. Later Little Kat changed his mind and we drove to Qdoba. Little Kat topped his burrito with a lot of green tabasco sauce. He reassured me that this mild jalapeno sauce was not too hot at all. I had enough heat from the hot salsa, so I skipped the tabasco on mine.

Empty Cupboards

I admit I stayed up a little too late last night. It was not my fault. I discovered a new anime on Netflix on demand. So I left work as soon as I could this afternoon. I came home, did my chores, and went to sleep. In a dream I thought I heard Kit Kat come home from school. Then I heard a knock at my bedroom doom. Kit Kat said Momoko wanted me downstairs to help figure out what to do for dinner.

That's right. Momoko did not go grocery shopping this weekend. She was too busy grading and entering grades for school progress reports. So we did not have much to prepare for dinner. Momoko asked if I had the energy to go out to dinner tonight. I was actually feeling a little bit sick. Everybody else was ready to go. So I agreed.

We headed out to the Outback Steak House. Kit Kat drove us in Momoko's car. She parked at the back of the parking lot where there were not many cars. This was unfortunate since it was raining. We got seated at this huge table. But nobody came to wait on us. I had to go talk to the hostess station guy to get some service. Once we did get a waitress, the food was nice. I tried a wedge salad as an appetizer. Almsot all of us ordered some sauteed mushrooms. We were all full by the time we left.

Kit Kat drove us to the gas station where Little Kat tried to clean the windshield. He had an inefficient technique. The water kept coming back down over the place where he wiped on the windshield. Once home, Momoko made Kit Kat back the car into the driveway. It was raining and late at night. It took a few tries. But Kit Kat got the car lined up in the driveway.

Trip to Wally World

The family has stepped up to help with yard work. So I am taking over some of the shopping work. More precisely, Little Kat and I are responsible for things purchased at Target and Walmart.

You know. We buy the things that are too expensive at the grocery store. This includes toilet paper, laundry detergent, and soft drinks. Momoko recommends that we go to Target. I choose Walmart because it is cheaper.

The local Walmart recently became a Super Walmart. I made Little Kat drive the cart around the store. That was tough because it was a crowded Saturday. With help from the staff, we found everything on my list and then some. The soda was too expensive. Instead we got the knock-off drinks. Instead of Dr. Pepper, we got some Dr. Thunder. The kids swear it tastes as good. We shall see.

Blizzard Warning

Well, we ended up getting off work/school really early today (3 hours!) I decided to do a few last minute errands. I took the kittens by the gas station and Kit topped off the gas. We went to Best Buy to pick up a few new Wii games and then to the bookstore to pick up a few new books. The kittens are reading the Percy Jackson series and needed the next few books. I was surprised how many people were out and about in the snow but hey so was I. We made it home before the snow really started cranking out. Things have been going pretty full force and we probably have 7" down now but it won't be stopping until Saturday evening. They have a Blizzard Warning posted right now and things are pretty crazy out in our neck of the woods. We are just hoping to stay warm and toasty and the electricity running. Wish us luck!

A Good Helping of Snow

Well, they say we are gonna get a lot of snow tomorrow...maybe 30 inches by the time everything is done sometime Saturday. I really am not expecting it to snow that much but I am sure we will get a good helping. I have already filled up my car and went grocery shopping (thanks to Black) so I do not have to fight the mad rush for bread, milk and toilet paper. The kittens are I are hoping for a day off tomorrow but we will probably get to go home a little early and that is just as nice.


On a sad note, our zoo's "baby" panda has grown up enough to be returned to China and he left today. We will miss him!

A Busy Day

I had a bunch of meeting this afternoon at work. When they were done, I bolted out of there. Got home in time for a little daylight. So I decided to rake some of the leaves.

When I came in, the family was discussing the plans to watch the movie New Moon. Momoko and I watched some anime during dinner. However Momoko fell asleep.

That was no good because Momoko was supposed to go grocery shopping tonight (for Enchilada soup ingredients). Kit Kat and I ended up going instead. After shopping we hit the library. But none of the books we wanted were in.

Momoko woke up and tried to print some color copies on her printer. No dice. The cyan color ran out. That meant Momoko and I made a late night run to Target. They did not have the color cartridges. Walmart was across the street, and had all we need. Now it is time to study for my college class. Ta ta.

Arrival of Fish

We had Momoko's fish at home for the summer. But she went back to work last month. The fish went with her. She asked me whether we could keep a tank at home. At first I was hesitant. Then I thought what the heck.

For a while we had an empty fish tank. Momoko has been too busy to go fish shopping. Today that ended. She went to the local pet store with Kit Kat and Little Kat. They picked up a few fish.

I had some company over today. When my guests left, I saw some fish in a bag on the counter. What the heck? I thought those were just for transporting the fish. Apparently they were bought and forgot about. They still looked alive. Come on kids. Give these fish a fighting chance to live.

Late Arrival

Kit Kat planned to go shopping with her friends this weekend. Normally Momoko drives Kit Kat to the mall. But Momoko felt like she was getting sick. She went to the clinic. Thus I had to drive Kit Kat.

Momoko warned me that Kit Kat's friends arrive fashionably late sometimes. We did not want to be the first one's at the mall. So I planned our departure so that we would arrive "10 minutes late".

On the ride over, Kit Kat got a phone call from her friends. They were wondering where she was. She said she was running late but was on the way. As we pulled up, I saw all of Kit Kat's friends there. I guess they were anxious to get their shop on. Maybe arriving late is just for parties. Timing is hard to figure out with these high school cats.

Brunch and Paint

Last night Momoko and I stayed up very late. Momoko was working on Little Kat's room. I was playing video games. We had a goal to wake up this morning and do some shopping.

When we woke up, we were very hungry. That was an easy problem to solve. We got brunch at the Silver Diner. Momoko had coupons.

Then we headed to Lowe's. I personally do not like the store. But Momoko prefers them to Home Depot. She especially like their paint department. We had them mix up some blue to paint the trim in Little Kat's room. Momoko and I also chose a shade of green for the new color of Little Kat's room.

Now the real hard work begins. Momoko has to clean Little Kat's room to prep it for painting. And I am going to let her do the actual painting itself. My job is to move the heavy items around.

Weekend Activities

This weekend was nice. I was able to do some shopping on Saturday. Nothing too elaborate just some basics. I went to Wally World during my spree and I was surprised to find a fence blocking my favorite parking area. I am not sure why it was there but they fenced off most of the left side, maybe they will be expanding.

On Sunday, I had started my wardrobe spring cleaning. I cleaned out my dresser. I saved a couple of things for Kit and I put the others in bags. I am hoping my sister might be able to use some of the things I am getting rid of. If not, I will donate the clothes.

Later, Black took me to a movie and a late lunch. When I got home, I was sleepy so I took a nap. Black was finishing up his work and when he completed it we split the leftovers from lunch for dinner and watched an independent movie, Blindness.

Snip Snip

Today I took the kittens on a few errands. We started our adventure by going to the library. Kit and Little got a bunch of books.

We knew it would be a long time until dinner so we decided to stop by our favorite place for a quick snack. I remembered a store next door was having a good sale on shirts. We stopped in but did not see anything good. Kit did see a friend she had not seen in awhile. Little and I split a meal and Kit decided to be all grown up and buy her own. I like it when she goes all adult on me.

Next, we went to get our hair trimmed. We ended up spending two hours in the salon because it was really busy. Kit told the stylist that she wanted to dye her hair blue and she told us where to go to get the supplies she would need to help Kit. I am not sure if Kit is going to really dye her hair blue but time will tell. Kit did get a new hairstyle which is a big step for her and it looks cute on her.

After the hair place, we went to the grocery store to pick up a few new items for the week. The kittens have planned menus. We go back late and found Black starving to death. I fix him up with some canned food. It was enough to hold him over until Kit finished dinner. We ended our night watching movies. It was a nice family day.

Is There Life Out There?

Today I took Kit shopping while the boys stay at home doing various tasks. I needed to pick out a dress for a fancy party Black is taking me to in a few weeks. Kit needed some items as well. I was surprised to see the roads a little empty. I guess people did all their traveling early. I found two dresses I liked and ended up getting both of them. I even picked up a new outfit for Kit. After clothes shopping, Kit and I went to Wally World. It was kinda dead there too so we were able to get in and out in lightning speed. Well, Kit is going to the movies with her friends later and Little and I are gonna hang out. Wait...I just saw him sneak out in a swimming suit, super-soaker water gun filled with ice. Looks like Little might have something planned with his friends. Sounds like a great beginning to a long weekend.