His Majesty Cheshire "Star" Johnson July 4, 2006 - May 23, 2008

One of the most amazing, loving, playful cats lost his life today. I'm finding it extremely difficult to type this reality through my flood of tears.

Cheshire had many fans. He was well known for his regal ways and command of the house. Even those who didn't like cats loved Chesh. He would have been two years young this July. He was a prime example of a British Shorthair and he used to greet us at the door when we came home. There's no one to love on us now.

Why he decided to cross the street is beyond us. Three days earlier, we saw him sitting at the top of our front lawn, looking Westward. The very next day, Wednesday, we got him a new reflective collar and an updated tag. We've never seen him do this before. Cheshie is an indoor cat, but at times he begged to play with our other cat, Caley, and roll around in the grass with her.

It was extremely hot that week, so we had a few windows open to cool off the house. We did this regularly, but Chester never seemed interested in jumping out the window. He was a real home-body. He loved to be loved and to be with us in the house. He would sit for hours on the sill of an open window, basking in the sun.

I don't know if we'll ever know why he decided to cross the street on Thursday, but he did. A neighbor called us to let us know she saw him. Dave and I walked over to make sure it was him. He'd been missing all night, so we didn't really doubt it, but we sure hoped it wasn't him. It was.

Dave picked him up while I looked toward the ocean. I didn't want this scene to linger in my mind for years to come. I had too many incredible moments with him and I wanted those memories in my vision, not this.

We drove Cheshire's body to the vet where he lived for two weeks while we fixed up our house before moving in. Everyone there loved Cheshie. While he was with them, they let him roam free and love on everyone. He even cuddled with a litter of kittens who'd lost their mommy. He was awesome. They gently took him from Dave's arms.

Now, we need to tell our kids, his previous owner, and his daughter . . .

First Showing of Prince Caspian!

Dave, Larry, and I saw Prince Caspian at the El Capitan Theatre for the first public showing at midnight! It was totally awesome and unreal to see Dave's work on the big screen. Very impressive for his first film! After the film, we took several unknown roads to find our way home (lots of road work goes on at 3am). We finally got home around 4am for a quick 2 hour nap before we left again with our family at 7am to meet up with our morning group.
At 10am the next morning, we met up with his family (Glen, Julie, and Sue), co-workers (John, Pat, and William), and friends (Gene, William's family, and Karen, Pat's honey).
Dave counted fourteen shots of his in Prince Caspian. : ) How cool is that?!? We've both searched the internet for shots of his tree, but nothing yet. It appears toward the end of the film and is the main focus for the return to England. You can't miss it!
More later, gotta keep unpacking...

Dave's Tree!

We saw Dave's tree on a Prince Caspian trailer just now! Keep your eyes open ~ when you see a large tree twisting to create an opening in its center, that's Dave's tree! It's how one gets from Narnia back to England.

Attitude is Altitude

I'd like to share an inspirational story of a baby born without arms or legs. His name is Nick Vujicic and he's now a grown man. LIsten to his story and be inspired!

So may pics - no way to see them

I have so many pics, but no way to get them from my camera to iPhoto. We have yet to find our cords in the midst of our unpacking. We have yet to find a lot of things!

I'm missing the simpler life we led in our sweet little neighborhood in London. I'm missing it a lot. I got thrown into making lots of time critical decisions as soon as I woke up our first morning back. Making so many important decisions with Dave still in London made it even more challenging. Spending our first three weeks with Glen and Julie was truly a gift!

Buried somewhere under all the challenges, trials, and confusion is my dream day of simply sitting on the sand enjoying the ocean's breeze and warmth of the sun ~ after lathering sunblock all over my face of course. : )

I'm encouraged knowing God has allowed this crud to enter my life to polish me and make me a better person for Him. I just hope I can put a smile on His face.

I miss being with my kids too. My time is not my own these days, so they're all along for the ride whilst I fulfill my job of getting our house in order so we can finish moving in. We're all looking forward to waking up peacefully tomorrow morning, knowing our workers aren't hanging out in our driveway waiting for the clock to strike 7am. I think the first thing I'll do is wake up and stay in my pj's whilst I have a private breakfast with my kids. : ) We may even get to enjoy a cuppa tea!

I wonder where our teapot is...

Cancer free!

Edie's dear sweet Daddy is cancer free!
Go here to read about the exciting news.

House repairs and improvements

In addition to the needed work on our house, we decided to take care of a few other things that make sense to accomplish before we move in.

Week 1, Monday - Saturday: We repaired, patched, and painted the interior (minus the kitchen). Everything is yummy, but now the tile in the larger bathroom doesn't coordinate with the new color on the walls ~ hmmm, what to do? My favorite new things are the beams in the dining area. I asked the guys to grind them down so we could see the wood ~ something I've wanted to do since we moved in five years ago. They did an awesome job and now they look like the white paint was painted on, then rubbed off the surface ~ gorgeous! I love seeing wood grain.

Week 2, Monday - Saturday: Two days later, we had the floors repaired, sanded, and refinished in a gorgeous new color. Junior, our floor guy, placed twelve samples of stain on the floors so we could choose which one we liked best. Both Dave and I agreed that the floor liked only one stain the best, so we went with it. Good decision ~ the floors are gorgeous!

Weeks 3 & 4, Monday - Friday and Monday - Friday: Wow! Our house was in bad shape. The prep guys did an awesome job preparing our house for paint. I realized we couldn't move in yet with all the fumes from the primer, so we stayed two more days at Glen and Julie's. In the meantime, I submitted my color choices to the Art Jury for approval. I got an over-the-counter approval for the trim and stucco, but the beams and door needed further consultation. I miss Redondo for this reason, and so many others. Redondo encourages freedom of expression and would never think of giving permission for a color. Alas, we no longer live in Redondo. God has placed us here and His reasons are good ~ whatever they are!

Week 5, Monday: Finishing touches on the interior and we should be done with paint. Next, the yard. I don't even know where to begin on the yard. Oh, yes. The fence literally fell down while we were gone, so we need to take care of that too. Did I mention the pond in our driveway? We need to repair the driveway too. Too bad we don't live in the country! All of this wouldn't matter and we could go on with our happy, casual lives. : )

Today, we've begun the cleaning, sanding, and sealing process of our wood furniture so we can bring it in the house. We haven't gotten through to everything yet, so we don't know the condition of what's placed deep inside. So far, mold is only on the pieces that were moved, in our absence, to lay flat on the garage floor ~ not a good idea.

That's all I have time for. Back to work...

We have internet!

De ja vu ~ Whilst in London, we went without internet for quite a while and now we've experienced it again. As of today, we have internet again and can access the world outside the walls of our house. I can't wait to get back in touch with everyone. We have a new phone number too, so email me for it. (NO! I'm not going to post it for the entire world.)

So, my dear sweet friend agreed with my "cutie pie" comment of Jon Bon Jovi, but added "maybe only to those who grew up in the 80s." Hey! I'm not that old ~ Am I?

Speaking of comments on my blog, anyone have any thoughts on what the song "Hallelujah" means? I researched it and found all kinds of interpretations. I've always liked the song, but never known the lyric/s until recently. Now, I'm questioning it...