The Walker Blog

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Update on life | 10:19 AM

We hope you all had a great Vaentine's Day! We went to Outback last night for dinner and they had a "Sweetheart Special" that included an appetizer, two salads, two 7oz filets with one side each, and two slices of cheesecake for dessert. This was all for $45. It was a SUPER deal considering that we always order the 7oz filets for dinner and the salad isn't included. Just the filets and salads come to $42. So we got the Bloomin' Onion and two slices of cheesecake for just $3 more!

Steve bought Cathy an iPhone for Valentine's Day. It's the coolest phone! She loves it and now Steve thinks he might want one too. If you haven't had a chance to ever see one or play with on-- you shouldn't try it unless you are prepared to buy one! You'll definitely want one once you play with it and see all that it can do. There are literally applications for EVERYTHING under the sun. Cathy got one for grocery shopping and we put our list on her iPhone. Very cool.

Cathy goes back to work this week. She's not looking forward to it, but Steve is. She has nine more weeks in her current classroom and then she has to move to another room (April 19th). Her Ecology Club is still going strong and she's been enjoying the time she spends with her kids.

There's not much more to report at this time. The Walker Blog is just about finished... so keep your eyes peeled for a link to view the completed site!!

:)
The Walkers

Update-- Where did January go??

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | Where does the time go?? | 9:35 AM

Hello!! Honestly, where does the time go? We need to get better about coming up more often and posting an update. Sometimes it's hard because there's nothing new to report, but then a month and a half goes by and we're shocked at all that's happened that we haven't reported! :)

As of our last posting, it was two days before Christmas. We had such a wonderful holiday this year. We actually put up a tree, and Steve decorated the outside of the house (see the pictures in the above slide-show).

We went to Cathy's friend Elizabeth's house for Christmas this year. We had ham that E made, and then Cathy made the BEST au-gratin potatoes ever from scratch, and Steve made a mean mac-n-cheese from scratch. It was a very delicious dinner and then we went to view some Christmas lights. We got back to Elizabeth's house and we played a game... "Holly Springs Trivia"-- lol and we were awful. Who cares when HS became a city?? LOL.

Cathy had a party on December 30th and she invited some friends over to sing on the Wii (American Idol Encore and Encore2). They also played Guitar Hero World Tour-- but the tour ended abruptly because the fans just didn't appreciate their efforts. LOL.

Cathy's parents arrived the next day and we were so excited to see them! We gave them their Christmas gifts right away because Cathy couldn't wait. We gave them both a gas gift card to share (help pay for gas on their drive back north), and then we gave Cathy's mom a digital photo frame. Cathy spent three days adding pictures to the card so it'd be ready for her mom. He mom received three this year for Christmas... one from Bill, one from us, and one from Dave and his family. We think next year we should communicate about gifts. LOL. We gave Cathy's dad his annual gift card to REI (he loves that store) and then Steve gave him the DVD "Shine A Light" and then Cathy put together this really cute picture frame for him. It had a picture of Scott and Cathy when they were little in Washington DC, and then there was a picture of them together in November in DC, and individual pictures of them in DC this last November waving (it's their thing). Anyway, her dad REALLY enjoyed the picture and got a little teary-eyed. Cathy was really excited to see his reaction and to see that he really loved it.

We welcomed in the New Year and then went to bed soon after. While her parents were here they played Guitar Hero World Tour. Cathy and her dad set out on a mission to play every song and finish the tour and they did! It took them the whole visit to do so, but with Cathy on the lead guitar and Bill on the bass, they made their way (some songs they played OVER AND OVER AND OVER). It was fun to watch them having so much fun together. And let's not forget the fun they had singing together. LOL. We have some incriminating audio of them singing "Living on a Prayer" and we'd love to share sometime. HA HA HA.

So that was the beginning of January-- we had our first snow fall (see pictures at top) on the 20th. It was perfect timing because it also happened to be Inauguration Day. Cathy had a snow day (who would have thought there'd be a snow day here in NC?) and was able to watch the Inauguration here at home. She had a second snow day on Wednesday the 21st. Thursday the 22nd she had school, but it was a two-hour delay. She had to make up the missed day on the 20th by going to work on Saturday (yeah... Saturday school is no fun for anyone). It was not her favorite thing to do on a Saturday, but it was only a half day and she tracked out on the 27th so it wasn't too bad. She has to make up the other snow day on April 4th.

Right as Cathy tracked out, she came down with a severe sore throat. She went to the Minute Clinic and they did two strep tests and said they were negative. The nurse practitioner told Cathy to rinse with warm salt water and see a doctor if it got worse. She was in so much pain the rest of the day and the whole next day. She finally went to the doctor, they did a test for Mono and the flu and both were negative. The doctor gave her medication to knock out strep-- when Cathy got home, the nurse at the Minute Clinic had called-- her lab results had come back positive for strep. So she did have it! Steve started meds too just to make sure he didn't get it-- and after a few days she was better.

So that puts us into February. Cathy is tracked out (her favorite place to be) and working on the finishing touches of the new and improved Walker Website. As soon as it's done we'll let you know so you can check it out and bookmark it! It looks amazing-- we're sure you'll absolutely love it as much as we do!!

:)
We'll write again soon!

The Walkers

Washington DC, Thanksgiving, Burt's Holiday Party

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Burt's Holiday Party, Thanksgiving, Vacation | 2:59 PM

It's been a while-- sorry about how much time has passed since the last post! We've been very busy!

Working backwards to present, we will begin with our trip to Washington D.C. to meet up with Cathy's twin brother Scott and his fiance Christie and her son Alex. We met them November 21st-23rd and had a fantastic time. We arrived late on Friday the 21st and stayed at the Hotel George. We had a fantastic room and were super close to Union Station.

We spent the whole day on Saturday sight-seeing. There's so much to see and do. We did the Old Town Trolley tour and were taken all over D.C. for one fee. We could get off at any stop and reboard at any time during the day. It was definitely worth the money. We met with Scott, Christie and Alex at the WWII Memorial. We went to the Korean Memorial and then they went to the Lincoln while we went to Arlington. We were there to see Kennedy's grave on his death anniversary. We were able to meet up with them at the National Archives and then we had dinner together at the Austin Grill. We took the Metro back to Union Station and walked back to our hotel.

Sunday the 23rd started with us taking the Metro to the Portrait Gallery. However, it wasn't open yet, so we walked around for a bit. We wanted to see Ford's Theater, so we headed over to see it. We turned around and there were a bunch of people in line at a house, and we realized that it was the house that Lincoln had died inside of. So we got in line and went inside (it was free). It was very cool to stand in the room that Lincoln passed away inside of.

Our last thing that we all did together was the Portrait Gallery. It was pretty cool. We said our goodbyes and drove back to NC. We were home before 4pm, which was nice since Cathy had to work the next day.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Steve's dad and his wife Sue Ann came down from Indiana and then some of Cathy's friends from work came over. They're all from out of state too and it was nice to share our home with them. Everyone had a nice time watching "the band" on the Wii. The guys played Guitar Hero World Tour, while the girls cooked. Then after dinner, the guys cleaned while the girls sang karaoke with American Idol Encore 2. It was a lot of fun!

The last BIG thing that's happened took place last weekend. We went to Fearington Village, NC for the annual Burt's Bees Holiday Party. It was Sunday, December 14th from 12:00-4:00. They had traditional southern BBQ for lunch (which was absolutely delicious) and then cake and cobbler for dessert.

The highlight of the party is the awards presentation. There are three awards that Burt's gives out each year. One is for Social Responsibility, one is the Roxanne Quimby award and then there's the Burt Shavitz Environmental Steward Award. Last year, Steve was nominated for the Burt Shavitz award, but didn't win anything more than a $25 gift card to Harris Teeter. This year, not only was he nominated (by several of his collegues), but he won! It was amazing to see him be recognized by his peers and the CEO. He was given a wood caving (Wood Spirit) and a certificate. He was also given $2,500 for himself and Burt's matched $2,500 towards any charity that Steve would like to donate. It was awesome!

So... that's about it from here. We're excited for Christmas and the week after because Cathy's parents are coming for a visit. It'll be nice to see some family during this first holiday away from friends and family in Michigan. We're going to Cathy's friend Elizabeth's house for dinner on Christmas. We'll post again soon!

Take Care,

The Walkers

November Fun

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | Election '08, Halloween, Life Update | 10:24 AM

Well Halloween has come and gone and yes, we had a ton of fun this year! We believe in all things easy and stress-free, and Halloween is no exception. We decided to put up a few decorations on Thursday and then on Friday we set up the strobe light and got the music ready. We of course, had the best house on the block (we might be a little biased though).

While we were getting ready for the trick-or-treaters, Cathy was wearing her costume (Green Bay Packers fan-- cheese head and jersey). She went into the garage, and our neighbor (Gary) was outside getting ready too. His little boy (probably 6 or 7) said to him, "Dad, did you see that Steve's daughter had cheese on her head?" At that, Gary laughed and said, "That's not Steve's daughter, that's his wife, Cathy." AH HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Cathy loved it!! (Steve didn't think it was quite as funny.)

Saturday we drove an hour to Clayton, NC for their Fear Farm. Stacy (works with Cathy) came over and we went together for their corn maze. We had a great time! When we first arrived (8:30pm) they said we couldn't get tickets for the corn maze because they stopped selling tickets at 8:00. Steve flipped out... got a manager and explained that we drove an hour... and their website said they stopped selling tickets at 10pm. They ended up letting us in and it was all good.

Cathy worked the polls yesterday for the election (see her blog for more information). We're both very excited for the change that will come our way under an Obama administration. The US as we know it will never be again.

Steve has oral surgery tomorrow. He's going to have his implant put into his gum (ouch). He'll be off work tomorrow and Friday to recover. Cathy has to go in Friday after 4:00 to set up her new classroom. We're both dreading it because it takes a lot of work to get her room ready.

That's it from here... we hope you're all doing well and are as excited and happy about this election as we are! YES WE CAN!!!

:)
The Walkers

Obama Rally

Posted by Cat's Litterbox | Barack Obama | 10:47 AM

We attended our first policital rally together this past Sunday! Barack Obama was appearing in Fayetteville, NC and we decided to head down and see him.

Let us first say that whenever you have 10,000+ people gather for an event, you should have a meeting before the event to talk about procedures and brainstorm ideas to make the event run as smoothly as possible. Apparently this idea was lost on the fine people in Fayetteville.

We arrived at 11:00 (when the gates were supposed to open). There were no signs as to where to get into the line... and looking at the mass of people, you couldn't see a beginning of the line or the end of the line. There were people all over who were volunteers for the event, but none of them said anything about where to go to get in line. So we just kinda followed everyone else and as they moved, we moved. We were given tickets so we were pretty sure we'd get in, we just didn't know when or where.

We stood outside in a hodgepodge of people for about 45 minutes. The crowd was mild and no one was getting upset or causing any problems. UNTIL we got to the barriers that they had put down. Apparently there WAS a line and we weren't even in it. We were on the outside of it and everyone that was on the other side of this barrier was allowed in and they told us to go get in line like everyone else. That was a BAD idea... people started getting really upset and the next thing we knew... the line pushed ahead and moved the barrier out of the way and everyone stormed forward. We had no other choice but to "ride the wave of people" and keep moving.

Had we not been in that spot, it's possible that we wouldn't have been able to get inside. They had more than 2,000 people outside that couldn't get inside. We got past the barrier and it was open and no lines for about a minute. Then we had to get in line again for the doors and metal dectector. Once again, there was no order, rhyme or reason to the lines. Instead of having everyone merge into one line for the ONE metal dectector per group of two doors, we had stayed in two separate lines and then had to fight it out at the door. We stayed in that line for about 20 minutes or so.

Once inside, we found some seats (two people that were in line with us were next to us) and then we went to use the bathroom. Steve asked them if they would save our seats and they did. THANKFULLY!

We headed to the bathrooms. You'd think that in a stadium, there'd be bathrooms all over, but not this place. There were ONE set of bathrooms. Of course there was a line for the women's but that was nothing compared to the line for food. We waited in line for food for more than 45 minutes. It was crazy.

We got back to our seats and had time to eat before Barack Obama came out. It was really awesome to hear the roar of the crowd when he came out. He sounded exactly like he does on television and because we have been watching the debates and some of his speeches, we weren't as wowed as others. It was a great speech though and when he announced that General Colin Powell gave him his endorsement... the place went crazy.

Cathy's Barack Paper Scissors shirt was very popular. She had a lot of people ask where she got it and a lot laughed when they saw it. It was neat to see all the Obama shirts that people were wearing. The crowd was predominately black, but there were some white people and a very small number of hispanics. We didn't see any Native Americans, Asians, or other minorities present. Steve said it's because of the area.

After the speech was over, we got up to leave and headed to the right... back the way we entered. The entrance area was blocked and the people at that door said, "You can't get out this way... you have to go back to other way." At this point, there was a huge crowd forming behind us trying to get out. For us to turn around and go the other way... NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. So once again, someone pushed forward and everyone else followed and rushed past the workers. The odd thing, once we were past that section, there were volunteers from Obama's campaign asking people to go vote early and passing out flyers. If we weren't supposed to go out that way, why were there volunteers waiting to give flyers?

We got to the car in record time and beat the crowd. It only took 5 minutes in a line to get to the road that took us back home. So let's see... we were there from 11:00-3:00. In that time, we spent two hours of it waiting in a line. Crazy!!!

The Walkers

Our Trip to the Mitten and Indiana...

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Vacation | 6:00 PM

Well... we're back! We left on Saturday, September 6th and drove and drove and drove to Ohio. We stopped to see Kevin, Greta, Ben and Ayden (Greta is one of Steve's oldest friends). We went to a nice dinner with them and had time to relax and forget about the remaining three hours ahead of us. We arrived at our hotel around 11:30 pm, quickly unpacked some things and crashed.

Sunday (9/7/08) we were up early and had breakfast, then headed over to Cathy's parent's house. We said our hellos to her parents and then we headed back to the car for an hour and a half drive to Frankenmuth. We met Cathy's cousin Terry, her husband Chuck and their daughter Natalie, as well as Terry's son Nicholas, his wife Natalie, her son Alex and their son Jack. Cathy's brother Scott also met us there and so did her brother Dave, his wife Heather, and their three children Eamon, Aine and Benton (they drove to Michigan from Arizona). We had lunch at Zender's restaurant and then did some shopping. After shopping, Scott, Dave and his family and Terry and Chuck and Natalie left, but Nick and his family stayed and we enjoyed a car show. We enjoyed seeing all the different cars and they had a German polka band! We even ran into Fr. Terry (small world). It was the only time that we were able to see him, so we were glad to run into him.

On our way home from Frankenmuth, we stopped at Cathy's Aunt Margie's house. Cathy was excited to see her aunt, uncle, and cousin Derek (he's leaving for France). Dave and the kids showed up and we stayed for pizza and had a nice time catching up. They have goats and sheep, so we had some fun outside with Eamon and Aine feeding the animals.

After dropping off Cathy's parents, we headed back to the hotel for bed. Monday we had breakfast and headed over to the house to figure out what we were doing for the day. We all went to Mongolian BBQ (our favorite place) for lunch. Then we drove to Plymouth Orchards for cider and donuts. Cathy's mom had to work, so she left, but we stayed a while and the kids enjoyed looking at the horses.

We headed off to Freedom Park in Canton, and stayed there with the kids for a while before heading over to Matt and Aimee's house. It started to rain and we had some time before going to Matt and Aimee's, so we went to the new Target (right behind our old house). We bought Mario Cart for the Wii and also the American Idol Encore karaoke revolution game. We took both to Matt and Aimee's and hoped to maybe play one of them.

We went to a nice Italian restaurant called Dolce Vita and had dinner together. It was still early when we were done, so we went back to their place and played the American idol karaoke game. It was so much fun!!! They decided that they wanted to buy it because it was so much fun.

On our way home from their place we stopped at White Castle for some gut-burgers. We headed home and crashed.

Tuesday Dave and Heather were leaving to go to Ohio for a visit with Heather's sister. We went to Big Boy's for lunch and then they left. We went back to Cathy's parent's house and spent time with the kids while Dave and Heather packed up their van. They left around 4:30 and we stayed and talked with Cathy's dad (he had come home from work early). We went to dinner with him (Texas Roadhouse) and then went to Dairy Dan's for dessert.

Then we headed back to the house and we all played American Idol. Scott came home from class and he joined in and then Cathy's mom came home and she played too. We had so much fun doing the tournament. The judges give you feedback and then they eliminate contestants. Cathy ended up being named the American Idol. LOL.

Wednesday we went shopping and then headed to Federal-Mogul (where Steve used to work) to pick up Cindy. We went to lunch with her at our favorite Thai place in Southfield. Then we headed over to Cathy's parents. The plan was to maybe go see a movie, but we didn't all get to the house in time, so instead we just hung out and visited. We had to leave around 4:30 to get to Mitch and Jess's place on time.

We said our goodbyes and headed off to Albion. As much as it gets easier each time we leave (because we know we'll see them again). it was really hard on Cathy this time. She cried a bit and then was able to settle down, but it was difficult to say goodbye to her parents, Scott and then even when she said bye to Dave, she got a little choked up.

Out visit with Mitch and Jess was good. They're expecting a baby girl in December, so we got to watch their ultrasound and see the baby. We went into Albion and had dinner at a cute Italian place called Cascarelli's. We had a great dinner and then went to an ice cream place for dessert. Our visit was short, but it was nice seeing them. The next time we see them, they'll have a baby!! CRAZY!!

We headed to Connorsville, Indiana on Thursday. We arrived around 1:00ish and Steve's dad was in the barn working on a rocking horse that he's making to sell. He made it out of wood and is planning on taking some to different craft fairs. They look really neat!!

We visited with his dad for a bit and then Sue Ann came home. We had dinner with them and their friend. After dinner, we headed outside for a fire but it started to rain, so we called it a night.

Friday we got up super early (for being on a vacation) and headed to a place called Lumpy's. Steve's dad eats there a lot and is President of the "Lumpy's Liars Club." We had a great time meeting their friends and then we went back to the house. We ended up taking a nap and then Sue Ann's niece Cathy had a baby that morning, so we drove to Indianapolis to see her and the baby. We were absolutely SHOCKED by the room that she was in. It was a suite and she had the baby in that room. It even came complete with a man cave!! :)

After our visit with them, we went to Italian Gardens restaurant for dinner. Yes, it was Italian. We were soooooo in the mood for Olive Garden (where had planned to go with Matt and Aimee) so this was the third time we wanted Olive Garden, but had other Italian instead. It was okay, because we like Italian, but we thought it was kinda funny.

We ended up getting home late and went straight to bed. Saturday we had lunch at Macaboo's Steakhouse and then went to the Kenny Chesney concert. It was a fantastic concert!! We saw Luke Owen, Leann Rimes, Keith Urban, and Gary Allen. It was an amazing night-- and the last stop on his tour so he played for almost three hours!!! It was fantastic!

We didn't get home until 2am and then had to turn around and drive home at 7am. We got home around 6:30 and had time to unpack the car and then relax a bit before heading to bed.

We'll post pictures soon...

:)
The Walkers

Bla...

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Pets and Life | 9:04 PM

Well, we went to an official pig-pickin' this weekend. A guy that Steve works with had his 40th birthday party Saturday night up in Wake Forest and he had a pig. It was really tasty!! A little gross to look at, but it was very delicious to eat.

We sat outside tonight for a little and enjoyed the luxury of a screened porch. It was 85ish but not too uncomfortable. We had fun watching Toebe bark at birds and try to get bugs outside the porch. We also watched Finding Nemo tonight. We forgot what a great movie that is!!! "Just keep swimming... just keep swimming..."

We're excited because Toebe has discovered his voice and purr! He hasn't been vocal at all since we've had him and just recently he's started to meow. It doesn't help that we've left him on the porch overnight and he's meowed so loud that it wakes us up. He's never purred before either. Just not a cuddler or lover, but today Cathy heard his purr! She was so excited to tell Steve when he got home from work and then he was able to hear it too!

I guess that's what we have to talk about--lol. No kids to talk about their great accompishments. We have cats to talk about. Sad isn't it? It's not like we're not trying to get pregnant... we are. Just taking a little longer than we had hoped. We're still young though (right?) and have time on our sides still. Until we have kids to talk about... we'll continue to bore you with details about our fur kids. LOL.

Ned is going to the groomer tomorrow. He is SO hairy! He is in desperate need of a shave! He'll be a new pup tomorrow!!

Later--
The Walkers