The Walker Blog

Is It September Yet?

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | | 10:19 PM

It's crazy how busy we're able to get around here.

On Tuesday, Cathy's mom Cathy went into the hospital for her hip-replacement surgery. Everything went well and she's back home now and is ready for the recovery part. It reminded Steve of his mom and all the surgeries that she had. He knows first hand how stressful it is when a parent is in the hospital. We sent her a really nice bouquet of flowers and a balloon... which she absolutely loved.

Nothing of any particular interest has happened this week at BBI. Steve is still settling and if asked to do it all again he would do it in a minute. On Wednesday, Pam Z. was in town on business and we were able to meet her for dinner at Mama Mia in Cary. She used to work with Steve at FM and we always go to her birthday karaoke parties. Anyway, she was in the Durham area and we met her for dinner and it was super nice to see a familiar face and to laugh with her.

Thursday and Friday Cathy went into work... she was technically required to go in and work. She's all prepared and excited to go back on Monday. She said that she missed her kids and will be glad to get back into the routine. She thinks she's really going to like the year round schedule... having three weeks was just about perfect for her. She tracks out again in October and hopes to get to go back to Michigan for a visit.

Last night Cathy went to a coworkers house for a "sleep-over." She wasn't going to go but decided that it'd be good to socialize with people and form better friendships. She came home today and was VERY tired but said that she had a good time. They ordered pizza, drank a little, did Dancing with Darren (he apparently has a video teaching the dance moves for Britney Spears, N'Sync and a few other has-beens). They played SCENE IT on DVD and then watched SHAG (the movie that Cathy and her mom used to always watch together).

Today we went and saw the Simpsons movie. Talk about hilarious!! We laughed and laughed throughout the whole thing. It was very funny and well worth the price to see it. Tomorrow we're planning on going to see HP and the Order of the Phoenix.

Enough for now... it's bed time.
Steve and Cat

Weekend

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Our Weekend | 8:14 PM

We had such a great weekend!!

On Friday Cathy went into work to get her paycheck and ended up staying all day (and night) working on things. She had papers to grade and she did some lesson planning. She ended up coming home around 7:00 and we decided to head to Fuquay-Varina for some Mexican for dinner.

We absolutely LOVE this Mexican place. It's called El Mason and it's soooo cheap and soooo good. They have this page of combo meals and just about anything you can think of is put together into a combo for $7.25. We usually both get water so our meal with tip comes to less than $20.00. They give you free chips and salsa that's made from scratch and delicious.

After eating Mexican we have a ritual of heading over to the DQ (Dairy Queen) for some ice cream. Steve always gets a Blizzard and Cathy usually gets their chocolate covered strawberry waffle bowl sundae... but this time she decided to get a banana-split but in a cup instead of the boat. This caused a GREAT amount of confusion because they have a banana-split Blizzard... but Cathy hates Blizzards (unless it's cookies and cream) because she hates things in her ice cream (weird right).

Anyway, she didn't really get a banana-split... she got a sundae with every topping they have dumped in a cup with bananas. She kept raving about how good it was... and they put it in a 44oz cup. It was MASSIVE and only cost $3.50. Yes... we definietly made out.

On Saturday we waited around ALL DAY for the Maytag person to come with our new dryer... yes we have a dryer but we'll have to do a separate blog just about the drama with the dryer. Anyway, they NEVER came. Talk about pissing us off and wasting the entire day.

We ended up going shopping. Cathy had gone to DSW on Thursday and bought $130 worth of shoes (yes... and they were almost ALL sandals). Anyway... the one pair (cute Sketchers) gave her really bad blisters after wearing them on Friday, so we took them back to DSW on Saturday. Cathy was really good about the whole thing... and DSW refunded not only the shoes but the coupon value (she had a $30 coupon).

Then we went to Old Navy and Steve got a TON of new clothes. They had so much on sale!! He got a bunch of dressy shirts, some belts, a jacket and some shorts. He was very happy with his shopping trip!

We also went to Bed Bath & Beyond and bought some things there. On our trip we also hit Target where we bought more things for the house and some other odds and ends.

Because it was getting late, we went to one of our other favorite places to eat, the Bass Lake Draft House. They have pretty good food... it's sometimes over-priced (depending on what you get). We don't eat there very often, but it was pretty good. After dinner we walked to the coffee place and got some ice-cream.

We came home and watched The Brothers Grimm. It was very interesting... nothing like we had expected. It was good... very graphic and violent, but it was entertaining. Not something that we'd need to see again, but it wasn't bad.

Today we slept in. Steve went outside this morning and watered the lawn and talked to our neighbors. After noon we went to Lowe's for grocery shopping. That's about it for today.

We're both hoping that Cathy's mom's hip-replacement surgery goes well this week. She's going into the hospital on Tuesday and then coming home after Friday. We're praying that it's as smooth as possible and her recovery is speedy. We both wish we were home to help her and make her as comfortable as possible... but we're not able to get back. If you're reading this and you do live close to her... PLEASE stop over and see how she's doing.

Keep her in your prayers please!
Signing off..

The Walkers

Pictures from the Kenny Concert

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Concert Pictures | 5:24 PM

These are some of our favorite pictures taken at the Kenny Chesney concert on Friday night! Enjoy!

Us before the concert started!

Pat Green (in gray)

Sugarland

Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland (she's awesome)

Kenny's banner

Kenny Chesney

More Kenny

The end of the concert...

"Cackalacky"

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | | 5:38 PM

"Cackalacky" refers to only North Carolina. NORTH Carolina. North. The Carolina north of South Carolina.

Person1: "Yo dawg, Souf Cackalacky is da SHIT!"
Person2: "I'm sorry, but I am unfamiliar with that which you are speaking, because Cackalacky refers exclusively to the Carolina that borders Virginia."
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We went to the Kenny Chesney concert last night. Pat Green opened and then Sugarland played before Kenny came out. Cathy wore "irresponsible" shoes (flip-flops) that gave her a blister as we were walking from the parking lot. BAD MOVE. The place that the concert was held was VERY similar to DTE Energy Center in Michigan. We had really good seats, we paid more to not sit on the lawn. It was super hot and we were both REALLY thirsty, but we couldn't bring ourselves to pay $4.00 for water or $6.00 for soda.

We used the above word "Cackalacky" because when Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland came out to start their set, she said, "It's good to be here in Raleigh, North Cackalacky." Cathy didn't notice it until Steve played back the video he took of the opening, but Steve definitely noticed it.

The concert was excellent... it's the last bit of entertainment that we're going to have for quite some time. With two house payments and only two more pay checks from MI (Cathy is paid from Lincoln until Septembet)... the time is ticking away to where we're going to be living check to check. Especially since Cathy took quite a pay cut to come teach in NC.

Steve has been enjoying the carpooling. He only drove the Beast to work ONE day last week. In typical Steve fashion, he has an Excel spreadsheet of the data so everyone is driving the same amount and everyone is paying the same for gas. Anyway, he's happy and enjoying the ride into work and back with Christy and Beth.

We have both realized that we're not young anymore, but we're okay with that. We'd rather stay home and watch television or read a book than go out and drink. Last night we didn't get home until after midnight and we were both DEAD. We joked about how tired we were. Cathy commented about how so many at the concert were going to be going to the bar after, and she just can't picture it anymore. There was a time in her past when she probably would have been up for going out... midnight was still early to her! Not anymore... we're done with that and glad!!

We didn't do much today (Saturday)... Steve took a nap earlier in the day, which only made him crankier. He's AWFUL when he takes a nap. If you think he's cranky before a nap, you should see him after a nap. The sleep cycle makes him VERY moody and he's oh-so-pleasant to be around (lol). Cathy has her moments too, but for the most part, she just wakes up disoriented. She isn't cranky and bitchy like Steve is (yes... this is Cathy writing this). HAHAHA.

Well... enough for now. We're sure there will be something more to write this week... or not...

:)
Steve and Cat

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