The Walker Blog: July 2007

Another week has passed...

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | | 9:51 AM

Well we've survived another week in North Carolina. This week the weather was pretty hot. Everyone keeps telling us to get through July and August and we'll LOVE the temps here. It's a matter of getting through these two EXTREMELY hot months.

There's not a whole lot to report right now. Steve had a good week. He got some free swag on Thursday after a meeting with the CEO and a bunch of other big-wigs. He brought it all home in a Burt's Bees bag and now we've enjoying using the freebies. Cathy especially likes the deep-therapy hair mask... good stuff!!

We cleaned the house yesterday. More drama with the washer and dryer people. They finally came yesterday (after more than a month and a haldf) to stack them and then they didn't have the right equipment to finish the job. Not only have we been patiently been waiting since June... but now they un-sealed the line and we can't use the washer or dryer until they get the right guys to come out and fix it. Steve was so PISSED!!! It was pretty ugly. So now we have to wait for someone to come out and stack them and fix the gas line. They said tomorrow they're going to send someone out, but neither of us will be home. So we don't know when it's going to get done.

Last night Craig and Christine came over for dinner. We had cheeseburgers, cheese dip and chips, potato salad and pasta salad. It was yummy!! They stayed pretty late but it was great to have people to sit outside and laugh with.

That's the latest from us... more to come later!

:)
The Walkers

What Have We Been Doing???

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Life | 5:03 PM

Well... it's been a few days or so since we last posted anything on our blog so we figured we better get back on top of it before it becomes too late!!

It's so much easier to blog when you do it regularly, instead of going a week or two and then trying to remember what has happened since the last blog!!

Steve has started car-pooling with two women at work. The one drives a HUGE SUV and wants to save gas and hopefully stop getting so many "odd" looks from the other people at Burt's. They are an environmentally friendly company... so it doesn't exactly look great to have employees driving HUGE gas guzzlers. Steve's not exactly out of the woods either... he drives the Beast and it's not exactly saving the Earth either. So anyway, he is car-pooling. Last week was the first week and it went well. He was a little worried about being constrained with time and each of them having different schedules, but it all worked out.

Steve is REALLY happy at Burt's Bees. When he first started working there in June he took this personality profile thing (very similar to the Meyer's Briggs) and then this last week he got the results. He was very interested to see that the profile pretty much nailed him! Everything it said was right on target. Steve gave Cathy the test to take and hopefully we'll get the results soon. The man that created the test said that it's great to give to your spouse because it'll help relationships and give insight as to parenting. We'll see...

Cathy had her Open House on Thursday. She has been sick since last week, so she wasn't exactly looking forward to staying late to talk to parents while she was sick. She got home on Thursday around 8:15pm. Put in well over 12 hours at work and felt awful. She said it went well though, and she had several parents show.

Cathy enjoys her job so far. Her class is very chatty but very sweet. She likes everyone that she's working with and gets along with everyone. There was one small issue last week with one of the CCR (Cross-Categorical Resource) teachers trying to change her schedule, but Cathy handleded it very well and was able to work it all out.

On Thursday while Cathy was at her Open House, Steve was able to go to Home Depot with a friend that he made down here (his name is Greg and his wife is a friend of Monica-- the person that hired Steve). Greg and Steve went and got a grill and it's AWESOME!!! We're finally able to grill!!! It's been awful having to use our little indoor grill each time we want to have grilled chicken or pork.

We went grocery shopping yesterday and then watched Night at the Museum last night. It was pretty good. Steve spent all morning washing our cars (it was in the low 80s) and exhausted himself (as usual). We spent the remainder of the evening watching television.

This morning we got up and made a yummy breakfast. We had eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast and juice. It was great. Then Steve went outside and mowed (it's in the low 80s again today). Cathy has spent the day writing lesson plans and getting her weekly newsletter written.

So... now you know what we've been up to for the last few weeks. We're going to have some dinner... from the grill of course... and then watch tv and head for bed! One more week for Cathy and then she's tracked out!!

:)
The Walkers

Happy Anniversary to Us!!

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Anniversary | 1:31 PM

Song: "Satellite" by Dave Matthews Band

Mood: Blissfully Happy & loved more than ever before!

So we made it to our first anniversary!! Not that either of us had any doubts, but it is so wonderful to be married for a year and be as in love (if not more) than we were a year ago today!

We went to Outback for dinner yesterday to celebrate. We had not been there since before leaving Michigan. We had a great evening and decided to go to Target and see what we could buy for the house. We got some things for the bathroom (shelves and stuff) and then came home.

While Steve put together two different shelving things, Cathy decided to take off her acrylic nails. She's had them for more than two years (about two and a half actually) and she LOVES having them, but hates the way people do nails down here. She's had two bad experiences so far. We don't mind paying for them when they're nice and she's had a good experience, but we have a major problem paying money for nails that look awful. So she took them off... and it took like three hours or so.

She had a mild allergic reaction to the remover (store-bought) and her fingers and thumb swelled up. Her hands hurt and are pretty much burned from the acid that was in the remover. Her nailbeds are ruined and look AWFUL and her nails are super sensitive and they hurt. We bought some nail hardener and hopefully it'll work.

This morning we got up and watched some television. We talked about how much change a year can bring. It's amazing because a year ago we would have NEVER believed anyone that said that in a year we'd be in North Carolina leading a new chapter of our life together. Which made us think about what changes will come this year! Who knows what the future brings, but we're certain that a year from now we'll be saying the same thing!!

We're both so happy to have found each other. Last night we talked about how different this 1st Anniversary is compared to the 1st Anniversaries that we both had with our starter marriages. Cathy's first anniversary was spent in Grand Rapids realizing that her marriage was dissolving fast and she could do nothing about it. Her ex had been seeing someone else and it was while they were driving back to town from their weekend away that he told her he had doubts before saying "I do." Not something you want to hear on your first anniversary!! The first anniversary for Cathy was spent crying and feeling helpless.

For Steve, he couldn't really remember what he and Voldemort had done for their anniversary, but he knew it wasn't good. He had been living in Michigan ALONE and was desperate to feel connected to the one person he loved more than anything, and she wasn't there (as usual) for him. He spent his first anniversary questioning himself, her love and their whole situation. His first anniversary was spent feeling helpless and crying about the missing piece of his life and what he do to make things better.

We both have said it from the beginning, but both coming from a divorce has made us stronger partners for each other. We both understand and appreciate where we have both come from. We both know how it feels to give freely of yourself to someone that does nothing with that love. We know the pain of losing love and feeling like we'll be spending the rest of our lives alone. We both know how great it is to have someone love you back and care as deeply about you and you care for them.

Our love is a miracle and a blessing that we both cherish and value more than anything else. We would not be complete without each other in our lives. Today is a day that we remember the love and joy and feeling of relief at knowing that we will never again be alone. We will never again be without love and we will never again be without someone who values what we have to offer.

We'll write again soon! Cathy starts school tomorrow and we're sure she'll have lots and lots to share about that!! We're going to close this post with some pictures from our wedding day a year ago! Enjoy!

Steve and Cathy Walker