Cat Thursday (26)

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! Hosted by Michelle of The True Book Addict.

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I wanted to post some pics of celebrities and kitties this week. It's been awhile since I've posted Cat Thursday and that makes me sad. I won't be able to take my 3 cats to Japan when I leave in June and that also makes me terribly depressed :( So here's some pics that make me feel better!

Russell Brand

Steve Martin

Morgan Freeman

Vivian Leigh

Nick and Tesla's Robot Army Rampage: A Mystery With Hoverbots, Bristle Bots, and Other Robots You Can Build Yourself by Bob Pflugfelder

Another great addition to the Nick and Tesla series! This time their new friend's dad's store is broken into and a very valuable comic book is stolen. It's up to Nick and Tesla to find out who or what is stealing things in this town.

They build lots of mini robots along the way to help them spy and conduct their investigations! And they still show you how to build all the neat stuff that Nick and Tesla make.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

And We're Off to Japan!!!!

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My husband has accepted a position in Japan to help start up their new plant and get it going. It's only for 2 years, but it'll be an unbelievably incredible adventure for me and my family! We leave in June and we have a lot of packing, organizing, passports, house selling, etc to get done. It's pretty overwhelming but I am so excited for this amazing experience!!!!

Gabe keeps asking each day whether or not today is the day we are leaving. "Is it today, Mom?" It's also bitter sweet. I leave behind family and friends. Gabe saw that I was sad and he said: "It's OK, Mom. We'll make lots of new friends in Japan." He's so wise!

We also need to figure out what to with our sweet kitties. Do we take them with us (I want to but I hear they would be placed into quarantine for 6 months before we could bring them home with us) or do we find friends and family to care for them. It's a tough call since I can't find anyone yet for my oldest cat, who is uber grumpy. So that's one of the saddest points for me. My kittehs!

My time is now even shorter. I will try to post as I can and I hope I can still access everything I need to once we're in Japan so I can still blog to my heart's content and share all the beautiful, awesome, scary, and wonderful finds in Japan!

Needlesstosay, in my week of knowing we are headed to Japan, I have been searching online for everything Japanese. How do I learn this language? Cuz I really, really wanna! My hubby Archie speaks it pretty well. He lived there back in his early 20s for a couple of years. I know some Spanish but haven't taken a lot of Japanese other than a semester in college. So I'm pretty psyched to try and dig in and learn. But the key point to learning it will be speaking it and not worrying about making mistakes. I discovered Benny the Polyglot! He's pure awesomeness. He has given me hope and invigorated my soul!

So many things to do so little time! Wahoo!

A Reading Life (14)

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A Reading Life...hosted by Michelle at The True Book Addict, and also inspired by Lisa at Lit and Life--Life: It Goes On...is a meme where we get to talk about other stuff we're doing in our lives along with reading!


My postings have been more sporadic than I'd like. Life is pretty crazy right now and I've had to cut some of my blogging time out :( I'm hoping I can at least get 1 in a week if not more.

We headed down to Zion National Park this last weekend with friends. It was so fun and a much needed vacation for all of us.

Listening To:

I'm catching up on Freakonimics and still listening to The Universe Within by Neil Shubin.

Books Finished:

1. Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre.
2. Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil by Paul Bloom.
3. Blood Knot by Tracy Cooper-Posey.

Books I'm Reading:

1. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (just a few chapters left!)
2. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (This is a huge one and I've slowed down....)
3. A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
4. Prince of Hearts by Margaret Foxe
5. Insanity Hoax: Exposing the Myth of the Mad Genius by Judith Schlesinger

Looking Forward To:

Warmer weather and my son not being sick anymore! We are going to get some flowers to plant this weekend! I'm hoping we are done with freezing temps til Fall. A girl can hope!

I'm also planning on making a brand new curry dish this weekend. It looks relatively simple and so I'm hoping it turns out well.

Watching:

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. So amazing still. Every Monday night it's what we do as a family! Also watched Blue is the Warmest Color, a French film that was nominated for many awards. I loved it. I could listen to French all day.

Grateful For:

The Earth and Nature. We hiked Zion's all weekend and it was awe-inspiring.

Fun Times:

Zion National Park is so beautiful. I haven't been there since I was a kid with my grandparents.

I'm looking forward to more camping and hiking goodness this spring and summer!