Havarti in Heaven

Ok I realize this is pretty strange and borderline weird...but I'm blogging about it anyway because its been on my mind.

On Monday a little before midnight, our little pet rat Havarti passed away.

Yes, we had a pet rat. And no, we didn't catch her in our apartment and just decide to keep her, we actually wanted a rat and went to a pet store to buy her.

Havarti did not get to live her full age due to an inoperable brain tumor. Her first symptoms began during the summer and she gradually declined from there. She started spending much more time sleeping, not being able to climb and jump on things, and eventually had a hard time eating and walking. We had been giving her medicine to slow the process but after some time, it stopped working. Last Friday we realized that she was really having a hard time and debated taking her in to the vet to have her put to sleep. We decided to wait, hoping a higher dose of the medicine would help her get better. Unfortunately it didn't, but we're glad that she passed on her own rather than having to take her to the vet. Hopefully she died in as much comfort as possible. I sat with her bundled in a small towel and snuggled her on my lap for a couple hours until she went.

Now every time I walk down the hallway and pass the room with her cage in it, I have to fight the habit of peeking in to check on her or see if she's waiting for us to come greet her.

We buried her today.

Havarti Kaefer
June 2008-October 2009

p.s. my nerdiness as a crazy animal lover and pet owner is now over...for the time being.

A few things autumn

rain

delicious soups

cozy sweaters

pumpkin spice lattes


colorful leaves

bunny slippers

pumpkin pie

start of hockey season


thanksgiving dinner

season premieres of all the good shows

Friday's Phone Conversation

Matt: You should just try to come home tomorrow.
Stacie: I can't, my flight leaves Sunday.
Matt: Well didn't your brother get home today?
Stacie: Yes.
Matt: So then you should just change your flight and come home tomorrow.
Stacie: I can't just change my flight. Besides, when I was booking the flight I asked you if it would be better for me to leave and comeback on Saturday or on Sunday and you told me Sunday.
Matt: But I didn't miss you then.

Greetings from Washington

This past Sunday I ventured on my first solo plane ride to Gig Harbor, Washington. I was pretty nervous (I know, I'm a wuss). Luckily, Matthew was nice enough to go into the airport and stay with me til I was ready to pass through security. I don't know why, but I was so worried that something would go wrong with checking my bags or printing out my boarding pass. But, everything went smoothly and the two hour plane ride wasn't too bad at all.

I am here staying with my two nieces for a week while my brother and sister-in-law are out of town for work. It's been pretty laid back so far. Emma (7) and Leora (4) are pretty easy to take care of. The main battle I have is waking up in the morning to get Emma ready for school. I'm not a big fan of mornings or waking up to alarm clocks. Haha.

I've only been here for a few days, but here are some pros and cons I've noticed so far.

-Everything is green and lush
-They live right by the water, so every time I take the kids somewhere I see the pretty view.
-They have a HUGE tv and a vast array of movies. I recently got to watch "Live Free or Die Hard" which I've been wanting to see for quite a while. It didn't disappoint.
-The season premiere of Heroes on the big screen
-Their dogs
-Personal space heater in my room, since I'm always colder than most.
-Drivers here are so nice. They don't tailgate, even when I'm driving exactly the speed limit or less because I don't really know where I'm going.
-I have rekindled my love of string cheese

-Unfortunately, the more green and lush = more bugs as well
-The daddy long legs spider that sat in the ceiling corner of my room for the past two days but has now "disappeared."
-The food the dogs eat
-Sleeping by myself
-It hasn't rained

I was able to take Leora to her first day of preschool yesterday. Check out her awesome shirt complete with mini pigtails and lip gloss.

Woo hoo!

It's all we've been given
So you better start livin' right now
'Cause days go by

-Thanks so much for the advice Keith.

On September 9th I attended my very first Keith Urban concert. For those of you who know me well, you know how excited and happy I was about this. Keith is one of my all time favorites and I have wanted to attend one of his concerts for a long time. So when I found out tickets were going on sale in March, I asked my sister if she would go with me and she agreed. (Matt is not at all a country fan.)

Since I had to work all day when tickets went on sale, Emily was ready and waiting for 10:00 am to hit so that she could order them online. She must be very quick at navigating those internet pages too because we ended up with front row seats - not the ones on the floor, but still very very good. I could hardly contain myself knowing that I was actually going to a KEITH URBAN concert! But, I had some time to simmer down during the 7 months of waiting. About a week before, Matt asked me if I was excited for my concert. It had been so long that I responded by saying, "what concert?" haha. I quickly came to my senses though.

To start off our exciting evening Emily and I went to Pho Green Papaya, a Vietnamese restaurant, to try out some new cuisine. We tried quail and pho (a Vietnamese soup) and some other things. I actually liked everything we got. I'll for sure have to visit that restaurant again. After dinner we stopped to get some bubble tea for the ride over to the concert. Yum! I had every intention of taking pictures of our experience with the new food but of course I forgot. So here are a couple pictures to give you an idea.

fried quail

pho with steak

bubble tea

And now on to the real fun of the evening. Keith was just amazing. The concert was everything I expected it to be and more. He had a great compilation of songs and I was singing along to every one at the top of my lungs. Although he did not play my favorite song from his most recent cd, he did sing the main song that marks the beginning of my love for his music - and it was awesome! But, the most spiff-tasticly amazing part of the night was when he came into the crowd to sing and was only about 2 rows up from us. Pretty sure I couldn't stop screaming. The girl next to me, who seemed too overly involved in text messaging to be a true fan, probably thought I was crazy. Oh well. I had a great time and went home with a scratchy throat. Thanks Emily for coming with me, I say we do it again. Until next time, Keith.

the view from our seats

look how close!

rock on