The Walker Blog

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Holidays, Life | 9:58 PM

We survived our first Thanksgiving in North Carolina! It wasn't the same without family... and it made us sad to not have that connection during the holiday. Cathy was especially sad. This was her first Thanksgiving without her parents in 31 years.

We have had a nice week though. Last Saturday, Cathy's dad came for a visit. She was so excited to see her dad and get to show him the house and the area. He came down to Virginia to pick up an engine for the baby Beast (Steve's old Mustang). Since he was only three hours away, he came down and stayed with us from Saturday through Tuesday.

While he was here, he helped Steve build some much needed shelves in the garage. Almost all the boxes are off the floor and put up. Steve thinks he wants to build more, because there's still too much stuff to actually get the cars inside the garage. We went to see Burt's and took a tour inside, and then drove over to Cathy's school and showed her dad where she works.

Steve was off Monday and then Tuesday had to go back to work for the day. We both were off on Wednesday and Cathy met two of her fourth graders at the movies with their parents to see Enchanted. She said she really liked it. Then she went shopping at DSW and got some shoes (like she needed more right?). Anyway, she spent the remainder of the night getting some things made for Thanksgiving. She made the greenbean casserole and then the turtle pumpkin pie. She also brined the turkey...

We got up around 9am yesterday (Thanksgiving) and checked on the turkey. It was still somewhat frozen... so we went into plan B and soaked it in the sink. Fortunately, it was a smaller bird and defrosted with no problems.

We started to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade but Cathy was really upset about it. She had hoped to watch the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade, but it wasn't showing here. There were THREE channels showing the stupid Macy's parade... but not one for the Detroit parade. She ended up turning off the television and listened to music instead.

Cathy had read that oven bags can make a HUGE difference in the juicyness of a turkey, so we went to Wal-Mart to pick some up. We also got some Subway for lunch and then came home.

Our dinner was wonderful. Cathy's turkey was absolutely perfect and she was excited because it was her first turkey. Steve was very impressed ;) We had greenbean casserole, cresent rolls, stuffing, turkey and gravy, Cathy's grandma Ghrist's green salad and then turtle pumpkin pie. It was tasty and we were both pleased with how it all turned out.

Today we slept in and then cleaned up the house for Steve's dad. He arrived around 6:30 tonight. He'll be staying with us for the weekend and Steve is super excited to show his dad around. :)

Enough for now... hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.
The Walkers

Such is Life...

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Update on life | 3:37 PM

It's been about two weeks or so since we last wrote... sorry. It's not like anything really MAJOR has been going on, we just lose track of time!!

Cathy is finally tracked out! She was really nervous about tracking out of her classroom for the first time. She's got some really amazing parents though, and all she had to do was ask for some help and they came! She worked late on Wednesday and Thursday and when she came home Thursday night, her room was done! She had to take everything off the walls... and then clean the room for Katie (she's tracking in when Cathy tracks out).

On Friday the 19th (Cathy's last day), we went to Chili's for dinner and then the haunted forest with Katie and her boyfriend Judson, and then Lisa. Katie and Lisa work with Cathy and we're really glad that she has them as friends. There's nothing worse than working somewhere new and not knowing anyone. Fortunately, the two of them have very similar personalities to Cathy and the three of them get along so well.

Anyway, we went to the Silent Forest at Walnut Creek (place we saw Kenny Chesney in August) on Friday night. It was fun... rather expensive ($15 each) and they didn't take anything but cash. We laughed our way through the forest part (not very scary) and then we were led into two different haunted houses. The scariest part was at the end... there was a guy hiding in the port-o-potties!!! He scared Lisa to death!!

We debated doing something more, but the longer we stood there and talked, the later it became. We ended up just all going home. It was fun though! It was the first haunted house that we've been through together! Usually Steve hates them, but he was a big sport this year and decided that it could be fun.

Saturday we didn't do anything but sit around the house and do nothing but relax. We had plans for Saturday night... we met over at Judson's place, and then he and Katie drove us to Lisa's place for a party. Her party was fun. We played flip-cup... it was Walker vs. Walker... and of course Cathy won (wink). Neither of us drank a whole lot, but we had fun. It made us both realize how old we are... we'd rather stay home and chill out watching tv than go out!!

Hopefully we'll be able to start a family soon... and that'll help move us to that next part of our lives. We're ready to expand our family and have some kids. Our neighbors all have kids and the one neighbor, Gary, always laughs and tells us that we got it right by not having kids... he always says this when his boys are crying or fighting. It's funny.

Cathy is going home to Michigan on Thursday. It'll be the first time that she's seen her parents since June... she's super excited to see them! It'll also be the first time that Steve will be home without Cathy. He's been away on business and been without her, but he's never been the one home without her... it's always been her home without him! We're going to miss each other a whole bunch.

While Cathy is home she plans on meeting some friends for dinner and catching up and then she is going to spend the rest of the time with her parents. She is going to the cider mill with her mom and then for sure going to Mongolian BBQ with her parents. She'll be home from Thursday to Tuesday. It's supposed to be really cool here while she's gone (in the 60s).

Okay... we'll write again soon!
:)
The Walkers

It's Been A While...

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Life Update | 10:30 AM

Sorry about not posting in a long time!!! We're both doing well and wanted to give an update to how we are, for those of you who actually read this (we bet not many read it).

On Thursday, Cathy's cousin Corey and his girlfriend Heather came by for a visit. Corey is the son of Cathy's mom's sister Margie. Heather has her whole immediate family here (Greenville we think) and they drove down from Michigan to see her brother before leaving for the Navy. While they were here (in NC) they decided to come and see us and we were super excited!! They got here around 5:30 pm and came with FAYGO (three two-liters) and BBQ Better Maid!!! Cathy was SOOOOOOO excited!!!!

We went to the Bass Lake Draft House for dinner and enjoyed having the time to talk to them and hear about what they've been doing. They said that they don't plan on staying in Michigan much longer and they hope to move to NC in about a year or so (Cathy was very excited to hear that).

After dinner we drove back to our house and said our goodbyes. Cathy was so happy to finally see some family (she's been homesick since we've been here) and to know that they cared enough to not only come and see us while down here, but to bring Faygo and Better Maid for Cathy (she had blogged on myspace about all the things she missed about home and they were on the list)... really made us feel good.

On to other news... Steve is still happy with Burt's Bees. He has his days where he loves what he's doing and then there are days when he feels like he was hired to do one thing (something that he was excited about doing) but is actually being asked to do something completely different. He doesn't have the complete "team" experience that he needs to do his job well, but he was told that it takes time. So for now, he continues to give 100% and work hard, no matter what the job is that he's doing.

On Saturday, Steve had to be up at 5 am for a training that he did at 7am. He provided drinks, muffins, cookies, donuts and mini-cupcakes for everyone. Cathy thought it was really thoughtful and when she asked him how the group responded, he said they didn't say anything, but they ate everything.

Cathy had a HUGE all-day field trip on Friday. She was up at 4:45 am getting ready and then left the house by 5:30. Her parents and kids met her at school between 6:00 and 6:30 am and then their bus left for the coast. Cathy's class went with another 4th grade class (the other teacher's name is Lisa and she's one of Cathy's friends at school).

They went to the U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship in Wilmington. The kids watched a movie about the ship and then they were set "free" on the ship to explore. There were many levels and they got to go down through the stairs and see all kinds of neat things. (On Saturday, Cathy was getting some additional pictures for her slide-show and she saw that there are parts of the ship that are haunted!!!!)

After the battleship, they went to the beach at Fort Fisher to have lunch. From there they went to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. The group had a presentation on whales and dolphins and then they were allowed to look around and see all the sea life. Cathy was not too impressed with the aquarium. She said that the aquarium at the Toledo Zoo has more interesting fish than the state aquarium does. Pretty odd considering that this NC aquarium is on the ocean and the closest body of water to Toledo is Lake Erie!!!

From the aquarium they went to the beach again (same place that they ate lunch) and spent about an hour and a half playing on the beach. It started to rain... and rained from about 3:00 all the way to 7:00. The kids got soaked, but they were all told to bring a change of clothes for the ride back (smart thinking).

Cathy's group returned to her school early (they had expected to return by 8:30 and instead arrived at 7:30) and then once the kids were all gone, she and Lisa went to grab dinner and some much needed drinks.

That brings us to today. We're going to go to Outback tonight to celebrate Cathy's birthday (she turned 31 on Tuesday). You'll have to read Cathy's blog to read about her birthday at school.

We'll write again soon...
The Walkers

Bad Week...

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Pets and Life | 9:34 PM

The last time we wrote it was Labor Day weekend. That was two weekends ago...

The Sunday of Labor Day weekend we ended up taking Bob (our cat) the the 24-hour animal hospital because she was breathing really fast and had no balance. She wouldn't lay down all the way, she kinda was avoiding her stomach touching the ground. Steve noticed that there was something wrong when she tried to jump on the back of the couch and fell. It caused us to really worry, so we took her to the hospital just to be safe.

The vet at the hospital said she was fine. She didn't see anything abnormal and she said to keep an eye on her. She said it was most likely a cold, so she prescribed some medicine that we had to give her twice a day.

We didn't see any improvement on Monday... or Tuesday... or Wednesday... or for the rest of the week. In fact, she seemed to just get progressively worse. We both had a lot going on and neither of us could take her to the vet until Friday.

Cathy had her first field trip to the North Carolina Legislative Building and the Capitol building in Raleigh on Thursday. She had fun and enjoyed seeing both places, but couldn't take off work.

Steve had important meetings and was not able to get out of work either. The soonest that we could get her in was Friday (the 7th). Steve took her in after work.

At this point, she was not able to even stand up and had NO balance. She was anti-social (very much the opposite of how she normally is) and she wasn't really able to chew. She could lick her food, but not actually chew. We knew there was something REALLY wrong when she refused to eat turkey... which is her all-time favorite thing to eat.

Bob was very weak and not even able to meow. She could still purr, but not meow... she was moaning all the time.

The vet told Steve that he couldn't diagnose anything without blood work, but it was most-likely a Potassium deficiency. He said that with medicine and special food, she'd be able to come through and live a healthy life.

We both kinda assumed that that was the problem. Never in a million years would we have imagined that she had something much worse.

On Monday, the vet called Steve to tell him that the blood work came back and it wasn't good. Instead of being a curable Potassium problem, she had an incurable disease... FIV which is basically the feline form of AIDS. He said that he'd support anything we decided to do, but we really needed to think about Bob's quality of life. Steve sent Cathy an email at work telling her the bad news... and then asked her what she wanted to do. She called him right away (her kids went to lunch)... and together we made the decision to put her down.

Cathy had a conference scheduled for 4:00 that she rescheduled, and came home right after school. We had the vet appointment for 5:00... and as soon as Cathy got home (4:20)... she went to find Bob. Bob was on the floor in our bathroom and was laying in the doorway. She was on her side... and Cathy layed down on the floor and cried and cried and cried. She pet Bobby and listened to her purr. Bob couldn't really move... she was somewhat paralyzed and confined to that spot. Cathy had about thirty minutes alone with Bob and she cried a lot and asked Bob to go on her own. She asked God to take Bob out of her misery and let her die on her own, rather than from something we did to her. Cathy couldn't imagine having to actually be there when the vet put her to sleep forever.

Steve called Cathy at 4:50 to tell her that he was running late and asked her to meet him at the vet. She gathered Bobby one last time and carried her limp body downstairs to her cat carrier. Cathy drove to the vet through tears... and when she got to the vet, Steve was just pulling in. Cathy opened the back door to the Escape and saw Bob's back leg bent (which was weird because she had been so stiff)... and it looked like she was trying to itch a spot on her neck. Cathy scratched the spot for her and Bob's eyes got really big... and then her whole body relaxed and she kinda moved positions.

Steve came to the car and took Bob. We went inside... and the tears started to flow even harder. Neither of us were ready to say goodbye to her. They let us have a minute with her, and as we opened the cat carried to get her out, Steve noticed that she didn't appear to be breathing. Her eyes were still big... but she wasn't breathing. The vet technician checked and said that she couldn't officially confirm anything, but she didn't appear to have a heart-beat. The vet came in and checked, and confirmed that she had in fact passed on.

It was so very sad... but Cathy was releived that she was able to go on her own. She was a great cat... the greatest that Cathy has ever known. Bob was her 21st birthday present and Cathy hand picked her from her litter. She drove home with her and Bob was snuggled up on her chest... and from that moment on they've been inseperable. When Cathy went through her divorce, her ex had all the animals for about a month. It was pure torture for Cathy to be going through the divorce, and not to have her cats. She was able to bring Bob and Haid to her apartment (Cu was her dog that her ex "had to have" and then later got rid of). Bob has been such a sweet kitty... and her life was cut short by a terrible disease. If you ever had the pleasure of meeting Bob... you know how cute she was and what a great personality she had. Cathy and Bob had a very special bond... they would have conversations together (weird right)... and Bob was always by Cathy's side. She would sleep on Cathy's head... right next to her pillow, and occasionally was known to actually eat Cathy's hair. Bob liked to beg for food while Cathy was eating... and Steve would get so mad whenever Cathy gave in. Bob was one of a kind... and missed so much more than words can express. There's a hole in our hearts that can't be filled.

To make things worse, the vet told us that FIV is transferrable through saliva. Our cats all share a feeder and water... and he was very concerned about the other five cats. We immediately began to worry about their lives. It was awful to lose Bob, but there's no way we could stand to lose all six of them.

Steve took Toebe and Tommy on Wednesday to be tested and we got a call Wednesday night saying that they both tested negative. On Friday, Steve took Mindy, Hurmin and Eddie in, and again, all three tested negative.

So the good news is that all five are okay... but we still lost our Bobby. We had her cremated, and Steve was able to bring her home on Friday. It's been an exhausting week of tears for both of us. Just been a really bad week.

Keep us in your prayers...
The Walkers

This is a slide show in memory of Bob... she was the best cat ever.

Labor Day Weekend

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Labor Day Weekend 2007 | 7:56 PM

We are excited to have made it to Labor Day weekend. Hopefully the weather here will start to cool off now that we're in September.

Can you believe that we've been here almost 3 months already?

Cathy had her first parent-teacher conferences this last week. She has to schedule them herself on her own time (yes... very crappy), so she had some on Thursday. She didn't get home until after 7pm. I'm telling you... she's going to work herself to death. She's been going in at 7am and coming home at 7pm... she comes home, we eat and then we go to bed. It's starting to kill her. When she goes back on Tuesday she has more conferences on Tuesday (after her Homework Club that she does voluntairly) and then Wednesday and Thursday. She's a hard worker.

Things are going well at Burt's. Steve is happy still and taking each day as it comes. Like any job, he's realizing who to trust and who not to trust and he's learning the in's and out's of the job. He's happy to be there and have a challenge, but it's stressful when he can't completely do his job. He depends on others being on the same team as him when it comes to completing tasks... and for many "teammates" Steve's needs don't come as a priority. With time it'll all get worked out... but for now he gets to bang his head on the wall daily.

We went to a new place Friday night for dinner. There's a hole-in-the-wall place called Andy's (not Cathy's favorite name) that we went to in Holly Springs. They have a 50s diner theme and the best burgers and cheesesteaks! http://www.andyscheesesteaks.com/. After eating dinner there we came home and watched some television.

This is the first Labor Day weekend that Cathy hasn't gone to St. Ignace/Mackinac Island in 20 years. Since she was 10 she and her family went up north to camp. She hasn't missed a year in 20 years... even when her parents drove her twin to Montana for college... she went up north for Labor Day weekend.

So to say she's depressed and sad, is a HUGE understatement. We decided that next year we're going to go up there no matter what we're doing here. So instead of spending this weekend going to the various sites in the UP and going to the Antler's, Soo Locks, Mackinac Island and camping... we're here doing nothing.

HEAVY SIGH....

We'll write again soon.
The Walkers

Another Week Goes By...

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

This week Cathy went back to work and we were both excited to see her find something to occupy her time! She was glad to get back into her normal routine. It's not good when she has too much time to sit and "think" about all that's going on with moving and whatnot.

Steve is still enjoying his job but has started to realize that there's a LOT for him to do, and only so many hours in the day to complete everything. He's a very driven and motivated person, so when he sees a task to be completed, he works until it's done. He's getting a little frustrated at BBI because he isn't able to find one or two small tasks to be done, he's finding HUGE projects on top of HUGE projects on top of HUGE projects. He's experienced a little bit of overwhelmingness this week.

Cathy had the best day teaching 4th grade this last week. She has really been able to connect with her class and will tell you that there isn't one child in her class that is a behavior problem. They all work well together and she really enjoys going into work each day. She has made some friends at school and it's made going to work each day delightful. She is MUCH happier at Oak Grove than she was at Childs. Even though she did have some great friends at Childs and Lincoln, she just didn't like how her principal ran things... (or didn't run things) and she really did not appreciate the things that some of her teammates did while being paid to teach. As Cathy says, "They wouldn't last ONE DAY down here."

On Friday Cathy got home and we headed into Fuquay for our cheap Mexican... delicious as always. Then we went to DQ for our dessert... we came home and watched some tv, but we were both so tired that we were in bed by 9:45. Yes... we're definitely getting old... Friday night and we're in bed before 10pm.

Today the dryer guys came AGAIN... and AGAIN there was a problem. It's becoming comical how this whole thing is going down. Steve finally called Five On Your Side (the news station's problem-solvers) and we're anxious to see if they contact us and do a story about our Home Despot problems... September will be 3 months since we've been here... and it's taken that long for Home Depot to bring us our dryer.... our NEW dryer that we spent a LOT of money for...

We're going to go to Outback for dinner tonight because Cathy was talking about it with Katie (her coworker) and it got her all hot and bothered... and now we have to do something about it. We've got a 6:30 reservation and she's as happy as could be.

Cathy's mom had surgery last week and she's home and doing well. There's a physical therapist coming in to work with her on mobility and moving around and even though it's painful, she's giving it her all and doing very well! Thanks for all the prayers!!

We're going down under... be back later!
:)
Steve and Cat

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