This past weekend we went to the Birmingham Feline Fancier’s Cat Show and it was very interesting. We went to see Anya’s tiger painting that she did in her preschool art class at the Zoo. I have to say seeing her painting was the best part! Cat shows are very different from dog shows, although the principals are the same it seems. The cats are all in cages and you can walk through and look at them but you are not allowed to touch any of them. There was one lady with her cat out on a table and I asked her if we could pet her and she told me no because that’s how her cat gets sick and that she had to spend $5000 on a vet bill once because someone touched her cat and got it sick. Okay. Strange.
Travis was even less impressed with the show than I was. And Arwen could have cared less as well. She was happy to have a lollipop but otherwise she was just excited to be out in her stroller as she was to be a cat show. Anya did enjoy looking at the cats and she took lots of pictures with her camera that she got for Christmas.
Her tiger painting is on the top row. I took a photo of her standing with all the paintings and then just one of her painting. I think its very good for a 5 year old! She loves to paint.
In other news, Arwen is walking. She’s taking about 10 steps at a time, but she still seems to think its faster to crawl, but she’ll get there in time. And she’s getting 4 new teeth all at the same time. Two on bottom, and two on top. No wonder she’s been a bit grouchy the past 2 weeks. I think all but one has broke completely through the skin though so there may be a light at the end of the tunnel, at least until the next set. I wonder why my girls have to get so many teeth at once. Anya and Arwen both get at least two at a time. I guess it might be better that way, but I’ve never experienced it where they just get one tooth at a time so I can’t really say if its better or not.
And finally my all time favorite TV show has returned and I’m loving it! LOST is back and even though its the final season I am thoroughly enjoying this show still. I even love all the characters, its hard to pick a favorite, but my top 3 favorite characters are probably Sawyer, Juliet, and Sayid. The interesting news I found out is that the blu ray complete DVD set of the entire series is tentatively scheduled for release on my birthday this summer! I guess Travis knows what he’s getting me now!
Here’s one shot from the cat show that I thought was cute…this was the owner of the cat, one of the few men there to show cats, and his Siamese cat named Simba…

And here’s the shots of Anya and her beautiful Tiger Painting…

Excellent movie! Made me want to rush out and buy Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” book! A simple movie but fun to watch and very well done, flashbacks are done well and the acting is quite entertaining. It has to be somewhat hard to make a movie essentially about cooking, but Nora Ephron pulled it off splendidly, and I adore both Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Meryl Streep has impressed me ever since I first saw “Sophie’s Choice” and Amy Adams, she’s just so cute and fun to watch who wouldn’t like her? I first noticed her in “Enchanted” which remains to this day to be one of my favorite movies to watch with Anya. Speaking of who, Anya watched “Anastasia” for the first time today and she really liked it. I think she was most impressed with the fact that her name was in the movie too.
Arwen’s new favorite thing to watch is the Baby Einstein DVD called Baby’s First Sounds. I’m continually impressed with the educational value of most of the Baby Einstein DVDs. Although I don’t agree with the concept of Baby’s First Signs, so I won’t be purchasing that one.
Travis and I are going to watch Bruce Willis in “Surrogates” tonight and it looks interesting.
As far as reading goes, I don’t really recommend Dan Brown’s latest book “The Lost Symbol”. In one word, boring. I love the Robert Langdon character but this book was simply a replay of “Angels and Demons” and “The DaVinci Code” both of which were far superior to “The Lost Symbol”. I was very disappointed because the book which revolves around the Masons and the “secret” Masonic code intrigued me as I am the granddaughter of a Mason. However, I could hardly get through the first five chapters, I kept putting it off until I just had to force myself to finish it. Again, not impressed. So, I have reverted back to one of Dean Koontz’s old books “Sole Survivor” so far its much better!
I really recommend for everyone to watch “Julie and Julia” though, it was really entertaining!

Here are some new photos…also included photos of the new Gorilla at the Birmingham Zoo. His name is Hasani and he moved here back in December from the Bronx Zoo. And Arwen loves the white tiger! Yes, she is quite the spitfire, she gets into the toilet paper and fridge regularly!

Anya had a class at the Zoo today and she painted a black and orange tiger. The picture will be displayed at the BJCC on the weekend of January 30th at the Cat Show. Yes, its just like a Dog Show, but this one is all cats! I’m hoping we won’t come home with a kitten! Anya’s really been wanting a cat, but Chance wouldn’t like that very much I don’t think!
I’m excited to see her picture displayed though and I know she’ll be excited too!
Arwen took 2 steps today between the sofa and her jumperoo, but they were steps so they count, so I’m sure she’ll be turning loose and walking all over the place before we know it!
Stay tuned for some new photos in a day or two!

I read a lot of books in 2009, 23 to be accurate. I discovered the best time to read is while I get a bath, so every night I had a little 30 minute escape to get my bath and read. I’m hoping I’ll get to read 25 books this year. I finished my first one last night…Dean Koontz’s “Your Heart Belongs To Me”. Not my favorite, I wouldn’t recommend this one. I read a lot of Dean Koontz books though and the ones I would recommend include “The Husband”, “Odd Thomas”, “The Darkest Evening of the Year”, and my favorite one “Watchers”.
I want to read “Breathless” but after that I may take a break from Koontz for a while. Other ones I read that I would recommend include “The Lucky One” by Nicholas Sparks and “The Time Travelers Wife” by Audrey Niffeneggar.
My next one is “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown. Travis just finished it. He reads much faster than me and he likes Sci Fi books. I’m not sure if I have a genre I really like yet, but I do enjoy mysteries it seems.
In other Almand Family news…Arwen’s still not quite walking yet by herself, but she’s talking a lot more now. Her vocabulary include dog, ya-ya (for Anya), bye bye, ma ma, hi, and her favorite…Da da!
Anya is going back to gymnastics this week and I’m going to have to push her to work on the bars more. She’s still not wanting to do skin the cat, which is a basic flip on the bars, so she’s been banned from having lollipops until she starts! I didn’t want to go those measures but I also want her to be able to conquer her fears. So, until she does an actual skin the cat by herself, no more lollipops. She gets to go to see 101 Dalmatians the Musical tomorrow night with her buddy Acacia and Acacia’s Mommy and me. It should be fun.
And Travis and I are counting the days to our 10 year Anniversary!