The Walker Blog

What A Weekend!!

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Bulls Game, Hollerin' Contest, Our Weekend | 9:26 PM

What a wonderful weekend!! We were so busy doing things all over this great state of ours! On Saturday we drove down to Spivey's Corner, NC to attend the 40th Annual National Hollerin' Contest. It was very interesting! Cathy got to see Tony Peacock and cheer for him. He came in 3rd place, but he did great! There were more than 12 people in the men's contest and even someone that came down from Virginia!

After the contest ended, we drove home and on the way, Steve had a bright idea to stop at a local place called "Ron's Barn." Yeah... we should have known by the name what it would be like, but in the back of our minds we kinda had hoped that we found a hidden gem. When we walked in, there was a musty smell to the place, but there were lots of people and it seemed like everyone was happy. It couldn't be that bad right?

Well... to the left was a cafeteria-style line that was rather short. In front of it, there were a few tables. We were taken immediately to our seats and our drink order was taken. Cathy ordered a Coke and Steve had a water. The waitress brought out some hush-puppies and then said, "Help yourselves." Not a good sign... we both anticipated a menu and dreaded the idea of the cafeteria-style line. There were people at the table RIGHT (yes, we were on top of another table) next to us and they got up to go get some chow.

We thought that maybe we were in for a treat when the one man raved about the food. How can you mess up apple sauce? Well, you can and they did. They even messed up Coke. It was by far the most disgusting meal that either of us has ever ingested.

Now, you're probably thinking that we learned our lesson right? Wrong. We decided to order dessert. BECAUSE the man at the table next to use was going on and on about the banana pudding. We decided to get the banana pudding and chocolate pie. Cathy thought both were absolutely GROSS but Steve kind of enjoyed the chocolate pie.

So, at the end of the night, we spent more than $20 for dinner that was disgusting. Cathy enjoyed the corn and Steve enjoyed the pie and green beans. The rest... well, that's another story.

Sunday night we went to a Durham Bulls game with Cathy's 4th graders. She's going to blog about it on her blog, so be on the look out for that if you're interested in reading about the game.

:)
The Walkers

One Year!!

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Anniversary | 8:46 PM

We've been in North Carolina for a year already!! Can you believe it? It's gone by so fast! Steve celebrated his one year anniversary with Burt's today. He didn't get any recognition at work, but Cathy sent him a congratulatory email and text that made his day. :)

Cathy has survived the EOGs for this year. She has learned a lot from giving these tests.

First... regardless of how many HOURS she spends reviewing and giving test-taking tips... it's all thrown out the window when the test is in front of their faces.
Second... for some kids, being the first one done is like a secret victory. Even if the test takes the average child 60 minutes and they've finished in 20.
Third... there are a lot of things on the EOG that Cathy didn't spend enough time teaching to her kids!! :(
Fourth... Everyone from kids to teachers stresses out about these tests!!
Fifth... sitting/wandering the room for four hours a day is excruciating. It'd be better to be taking the test than to be monitoring the test.

Cathy doens't know how her kids did yet (she's very nervous about it and scared that they all bombed it) and hopefully will know by Friday. Keep her in your prayers!!

We're excited to spend this weekend at home doing nothing. It's Father's Day and both of our father's are out of state, so we'll be chilling out together.

Next weekend we're going to the Hollerin' Festival with Katie (a girl that Cathy works with) and maybe her parents and then on Sunday we're meeting Cathy's kids and parents at the Bulls game. Should be fun!!

We'll write again soon...

The Walkers

Not Even Summer Yet...

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | | 10:33 PM

Well... it's not even summer yet but it sure is hot! This week we have had temperatures reach over 100 degrees!

On Friday, Steve attended the second annual Burt's Bees Culture Day. You might remember the post from last year that talked about it. We had just moved down here, and that Friday was his first Friday at Burt's. He got the drum and they all played the drums to find their rhythm as a company. Burt made an appearance. Well... not this year. This year, they went to Hope Crossing, (Aa"green" community) which is a Habitat for Humanity of Durham community of homes. This last week was a "Building Blitz" across the US and for the Durham area, they built ten homes in five days. To make their impact, the Burt's Bees employees went for the day and built a playground.

Steve had a great time and really felt great giving back to the community. It was a VERY hot day though. There were several groups of people that left before 10:30 am, and through it all, Steve stayed and worked hard. He was among 15 that were able to stay through the whole day and help clean up at the end. The temperature on Friday was over 100, but Steve was able to stay hydrated and able to stay cool. He was really proud of the work that he did and can't wait to volunteer in September with the Burt's group. Cathy plans on volunteering with him. The home that Burt's will be working on this fall is extra special because it will be the home given to a fellow employee at Burt's.

Cathy is getting ready for her fourth graders to take the North Carolina End of Grade exams (EOGs). She is quite nervous about it, but we're hopeful that her kids will do well on the three-day test. They'll be taking the reading test on Monday and then Tuesday and Wednesday will be spent doing math tests. She got her scores back for the state writing test (which has been discontinued for next year) and was excited about the results. Her kids did an amazing job and she was very pleased!! We hope she'll have the same results on the EOGs. She'll find out how they did on the math test this coming Friday, but won't know anything about reading until September/October.

Tomorrow we're going to see Kung Fu Panda with Cathy's fourth graders. Acutally, they're meeting her at the movies. She has about ten or eleven kids and their parents/families coming so it should be fun. The movie looks pretty good and we're sure that the kids will really enjoy it. Cathy has planned a "Meet Mrs. Walker at the Durham Bulls game" in two weeks. You might remember that she always did this in Michigan with the Tigers, and fortunately, we're close to Durham and can do the same down here. She has about fifteen families that have signed up for that event. They'll get to have their name on the big screen. We'll be sure to post pictures of the event.

We're excited to head to Spivey's Corner in two weeks. It's time for the Annual Hollerin' Contest. Cathy is excited to go and cheer for Tony Peacock. He was the writer in residence at her school this year and she was really excited to maybe get to see him compete. The contest is the third Saturday in June. He has won the contest several times!! Click this link to watch a youtube video about the contest and to see Tony Peacock!! (After the guy explains distress hollerin', Tony is the first guy and he's wearing purple.)

The warm weather appears to be sticking around for a while, so send cool thoughts our way!! We hope everyone reading this is doing well. Feel free to drop us a line and say hello!! That's what the comments are there for!! :)

Take care,
The Walkers

The New Indiana Jones Movie

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | | 11:05 PM

Today we went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Cathy had wanted to see "The Strangers" but after reading poor review after poor review, we decided to go see the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We both really enjoyed it!! It brought back so many good things from the other movies, but was really action-packed and fun.

After going to the movies we went to IHOP for dinner. Cathy had never been to an IHOP so it was a first for her. She wasn't impressed with her dinner (pot-roast, mashed potatoes and veggies) but definitely envied Steve's dinner. He had pancakes and a super cheesy ham and cheese omlette.

Tomorrow, we're going shopping and then Cathy is going to do her newsletter for school. She still has another month of school (yuck). Steve just got home (Thursday) from a trip to Chicago, where he presented sustainability information to the Clorox people (representing Burt's). He had a really nice time and enjoyed the opportunity to network and meet some of the big-wigs of Clorox.

Cathy signed us up for a Triangle Area Couples group through meetup.com. We're excited to get to attend our first event and maybe meet some new friends here in North Carolina!

That's it for now...
:)
The Walkers

Where has the time gone?

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Life Update | 6:09 PM

Sorry it's been so long since we last posted something!! Not sure where the time goes, but finally the effort is being made.

Cathy's parents came to visit from May 3rd through the 9th. We had a great visit with them and enjoyed showing them the area. Cathy's dad was here in November, but her mom had not been down yet. It was nice to have them here right before Mother's Day and be able to spend some quality time. They came while Cathy was tracked out, so she got to spend the last week of her track out with them. Steve took a few days off too and it was time well spent.

We went to Wilmington for the day while they were here. We went to lunch and then spent some time at the battleship (USS North Carolina). After the battleship, we drove to Wrightsville Beach and spent some time at the ocean. We had a really nice dinner at a place called The Oceanic. We were able to eat outside (on their pier) and enjoy the surf and sun.

Cathy tracked back into her room on Friday, May 9th... and spent the majority of the night getting her room ready for Monday when her kids came back. She really wasn't excited to go bcak. I guess she was feeling like the year is basically over (in her traditional-calendar mind) but really, she has another month and a half before the year is over. Far from being over. LOL.

Steve is getting ready to go to a conference in Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday of this next week. He'll be presenting information about Burt's Bees to people of Clorox (to let them know why buying Burt's was such a great investment). :) He's excited. It's been quite some time since he's had to travel for work, so as much as Cathy hates that he's leaving, she's grateful that it's not an all-the-time thing.

This weekeng we're just chillin at home. It's pretty dead around here. Everyone and their brother goes to the beach for the major holidays, which means that the restaurants and shops around here are empty. We went to Carrabbas for dinner last night (a Saturday night) at 6:30 and we were seated immediately. That NEVER happens.

We'll write again soon... hope you and yours are doing well!!

:)
The Walkers

What A Weekend!

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | Earth Day, meeting up with friends | 11:00 AM

We had a fantastic weekend!

It started with Friday, and Cathy had her last day of school before her track out. She had to move out of her classroom this time, so the room was totally empty. She showed a movie to her kids (Babe) and they loved it! Most of them had never seen the movie (it's older than they are), but they liked it so much that they clapped at the end of the movie (always a great sign of enjoyment). One her her parents brought in movie theater popcorn for everyone and then another parent sent in bottled water and flavored waters for everyone to enjoy.

After her movie, they had their "Fun Run" and the whole school participated. The kids just ran around the track and they set up an off-track course as well. They ran the course twice and then when they crossed the finish line, they had bottled water, fruit and some crackers.

Her class had their lunch and then recess and then they had their "Track Out Ceremony." Each teacher selects some students to get awards. There are awards for math, language arts, technology, best effort, responsibility, music, art, P.E., and Spanish. The parents come to watch their child get their award and then everyone celebrates.

When her class came back to her room, it was time for their guest speaker to arrive. This year, she's tracked out during Earth Day, so she asked Steve to come in and speak to her class as a guest speaker. He did a fantastic job! During his visit he even had the chance to enjoy a fire drill (lol). Cathy's class asked some terrific questions and Steve was able to share his passion for his job and got to tell the kids about the great things happening at Burt's Bees.

Speaking of Burt's Bees, Saturday we spent the afternoon downtown Raleigh volunteering at the first annual Earth Day Raleigh event. It was so much fun! There were vendors from all over the Raleigh area that deal with the Earth in some way. They had people selling Earth-friendly items, and then some various agencies were present to pass our literature and share their information with the public. There were a TON of people that came down and it was a huge success!!

We were about to go through the "Bee-utify your life with Burt's Bees" mobile tour, when the Junk Man (that's what he's called) came over and asked if we'd help with the trash parade. It was the weirdest thing that either of us had ever participated in, but it was fun. We marched in a big group through the mall and around the Capitol building playing trash and making a ton of noise.

There were two big highlights of the day. The first was that we got to see Burt, and even better, have our pictures taken with him. Cathy had told Steve that she wanted a picture taken with Burt and Steve said, "Yeah, so does everyone else."

The other highlight was seeing the Beemones play live! We'd only seen them play on youtube, but they had their "final" concert at the Earth Day Raleigh event. They were awesome!

Our job at the event was called "Roving Ambassadors of Burt's Bees." We didn't really have to do anything but walk around and answer questions if people had them. So basically, we got free shirts and got to enjoy the day. Our shift ended at 4:30, so by 5:00 we were on our way home just as it was starting to rain. Perfect timing!

We came home and quickly showered and changed, and then headed back downtown to a restaurant called The Pit. We met Joe and Monica Lang for dinner. They went to UD with Steve and live in Philly, PA. Joe is one of Steve's fraternity brothers, and Monica and Joe have been together since freshman year of college. Steve has always told Cathy so much about them, so it was awesome for everyone to finally get together! We were out until 11:00 at the restaurant!!

So that leads us to today. We're going to take it slow today and try to get the house picked up a little. We've got to go grocery shopping and then that's about all that we have planned. Cathy's parents are coming down to visit in two weeks (May 3rd-9th) and we're super excited to see them and show them our area!!

We'll write again soon!!

We Sold Our House!!!!

Posted by Steve and Cat Walker | | 9:26 AM

Last Friday we closed on our house in Michigan (finally)!!! YAY!!! The buyers made an offer back in January (before Steve's birthday) but their offer was too low for us to accept. We weren't in the position that we HAD to sell the house, so we were content with waiting for another offer that would be more around our range. The same couple that made the first offer played a little game with us (that we didn't like or appreciate) and tried to really put the pressure on us. Again, since we didn't HAVE to sell, we didn't play and it ended up in our favor.

Basically, they made the offer and then put all these contingencies on it. They HAD to hear back from us by noon the next day or they were moving on... bla bla bla. Steve was having oral surgery the following day, and we just didn't have it as a top priority to "jump" simply because they said so.

We ended up deciding to just wait until the next offer came in. We had several showings and all had positive reviews. We just didn't get any offers. The market in Michigan is awful (it's bad everywhere, but really bad in Michigan). About three weeks later, the same couple makes another offer. Again, they were too low and we couldn't afford their offer. It wasn't that we were not interested, we just couldn't go as low as they were offering.

After a bunch of back and forth negotiations, we were able to reach a compromise and they bought it. Cathy's Dad went and signed for us at the closing (thankfully!! It would have cost $200 to have an outside person do it for us). So... we're enjoying having ONE house now!!

In other news, we got a Wii. It's the most amazing thing ever. If you've never seen one or had the pleasure and delight of playing one, you're missing out! We got Guitar Hero III and Backyard Football. We also have the Sports pack and another series of games called WiiPlay. So far we've only played the sports (tennis, bowling, baseball, golf and boxing) and then Guitar Hero III.

Cathy is a natural on Guitar Hero III. Steve started to play it and wasn't very good, so he passed the guitar to Cathy and she killed it. She has started her own band (C@strophy) and she's played a ton of different gigs. She's even had to battle Tom Morello and Slash and she's won! She was most excited when she got to play "EvenFlow" by Pearl Jam. She was definitely in the zone. Steve has been calling her "Nancy" from Heart because she kicks butt on the guitar!!

What's even cooler about the Wii is that it's a Nintendo system. There are these "points" that you can buy (a penny a point) and with the points you can buy classic Nintendo games. We're not kidding!! We bought Excitebike for Cathy (she LOVED this game as a kid back in '85), as well as Kid Icarus for her. She played it all night and couldn't get past the Grim Reaper guy. LOL. We got Zelda for Steve and then Super Mario Brothers 3 for us both to play. Steve thinks it's brilliant for Nintendo to offer these classic games for like $5.00 a game (500 points). It's a great way to make additional money on really old games. However, for people in our age group, these games bring back wonderful memories and put HUGE smiles on our faces!! (Cathy remembered going to Children's Palace (a toy store that was WAY bigger and better than Toys 'R Us) with her allowance and buying Nintendo games).

This weekend is Easter and we're just hanging out for the holiday. Cathy didn't have school yesterday, so she drove up to Burt's and met Steve for lunch. Today we're going to Wii and then maybe go to the new Chinese World Buffet for dinner (lol). Tomorrow we're going to make a ham and then have baked beans, potato salad, rolls and then something yummy for dessert.

Cathy went to the store and bought a TON of candy for an Easter basket for Steve. She hid it in the house and he had to search for it. He's not allowed to eat anything until Sunday.

Enough from us for now... we are thoroughly enjoying having 74 degrees today while Michigan is getting 5-8 inches of snow. It's not too late for everyone that we love in Michigan to move to North Carolina!!! The weather is a hell of a lot better!!!

:)
The Walkers