After two months of cat potty training...

The end result is a cat that's so comfortable with the toilet, she gets inside to take a drink.

Ah, well. That's life.

Failure

 Well world, I'm sad to announce that this week marked the official end of the cat toilet training saga. Unfortunately, our cat is still not toilet trained. Here's what went down. Be forewarned--this post talks about cat pee and poop. Get out now if you can't handle it.

Most of you probably know that since the end of August we've been in the process of toilet training Charlotte. We started slowly--moving the litter box into the bathroom, eventually raising it, transitioning it to the toilet, and finally, switching the box out with a litter bowl inside the toilet itself. 

At first things went well as Charlotte slowly but firmly grasped the concept of using a bowl inside the toilet. It felt like we were so close then...I mean our cat was practically using the toilet, right? WRONG.

 This cat makes it look WAY easier (and crazier) than it really is.

One of the most important steps in cat toilet training is teaching your cat how to position its feet on the toilet seat. That was the breaking point as far as our training went. Charlotte got the bowl concept, but for whatever reason just could not come to terms with balancing herself on the seat. Instead she stood in the bowl and squatted like she would in a box, which (sorry to be graphic) ultimately led to her feet getting covered in pee and then coated in litter. I can't tell you how many times one of us went into the bathroom to find pee/litter prints all over the toilet seat and floor. We even switched out our pretty white rug for a grubby towel after it got litter stained. Pretty gross huh?

Since we started the training almost two months ago, there have been roughly 6 what we'll call "poopsidents." I just made that word up. Most of them were accidents that happened while the bowl was being cleaned or something. Not a huge deal at first...

The situation really culminated Monday when I noticed that there hadn't been any kitty bathroom action for a while. Then, while brushing my teeth, I stepped (barefoot) in cat poop that had been 'buried' in the towel we'd been using as a bathroom rug. We're not sure what spurred this sudden aversion to the bowl, but we knew it wasn't good. Don't complain that I'm talking about poop. I told you this was graphic.

Then, Tuesday we came home from work and found that Charlotte had pooped on the floor (because her bowl was dirty and we weren't home to clean it). AKA Charlotte thinks she's a princess. Two floor poops in two days is two too much, and after talking about it for a while we decided that we're just gone too much to make this work. We also started to feel like Charlotte was uncomfortable with lots of the changes in her toilet sitch, and it made us feel guilty. 

Bottomline: there was no progress being made for such a long time that it started to defeat the purpose. We were spending more time cleaning up messes in the bathroom and cleaning the bowl out every.single.time it was used than we would have cleaning out a litter box, and the good was beginning to really out weigh the bad. No efficiency=No point!

So, we stopped. We moved back to the litter box, which found it's new home hidden behind Charlotte's favorite couch. I want to make sure and mention that I definitely don't think that toilet training your cat is impossible. It does take lots of time/work, but if it seemed like there was an end in sight, it would be worth it. I also want to commend Charlotte for being the perfect cat in lots of other ways.. She loves to cuddle, never bites or claws, puts up with/loves Jack, and can sit on command. Do you know a cooler cat? Nah!


I promised you that I'd report back with the results of this attempted training, and even though those results are disappointing, we're willing to deal with the litter box because Charlotte is worth it:] I'm happy to report that since the transition back to the litter box on Wednesday, she has been extra snuggly and frolicky. Yep, made that word up too.

I hope you all have a great weekend! We've got some fun plans in the works, so I'll be posting more (not about cat poop, I promise) super soon!

-Kinsey

Now we can say we've seen Styx.

Monday Funday!

This weekend we had lots of fun with doing stuff with my mom. The biggest highlight was definitely Saturday's Braves game/Styx concert combo. I never thought I'd be invited to a baseball game and Styx concert on the same night, but it just so happens that Mari and Holly are awesome and got us free tickets to sit in a box!

The weather was absolutely perfect, and we were in the shade the whole game. It was a great day to sit outside and watch some baseball!

Here was our view from the box.

Of course, we had to take a photo of the two of us. The picture itself wasn't great, but the photobomb made it pretty spectacular.

This was the view on the other side of the box--the pretty Atlanta skyline!

I have a confession to make: I'm a HUGE fan of people watching. I'm also not a huge fan of sports--which isn't a secret at all--but I still like to go to baseball games and such for the atmosphere (and the people watching). There just so happened to be a suuuuper drunk guy next to us, which made for some great entertainment. I couldn't resist taking a video (or 5) of him. Here's the best one.

After this lovely dance spectacular, the people behind him decided that he would be good at taking their picture. They were holding up a big sign that said something like "happy 60th grandpa" and I guess he looked like a good candidate for the job.

The game was pretty short--the Braves won, by the way--and after the game, this guy came out to mow the field before Styx could be wheeled out (no pun intended. They're pretty old). My dad joked that he was some random guy who snuck onto the field with his own mower, just to get some clippings.

We posed for some pictures while we waited.

After a few minutes of field prep, it was time for the show. Styx was literally wheeled out (on a stage duh) and the show began.

My favorite member, Tommy Shaw, was recently on the show Flipping Out.

 

The box we were in was kind of behind where the stage was positioned, so we moved down to the lower level so we could hear better. 

I actually recorded an entire song for my dad, so take a listen if you're into that sort of thing.

This character, wearing a shirt that said "Get Drunk or Die," was also fun to people-watch.

Styx played for about an hour, and the whole show was great!

We had lots of other adventures over the week that my mom was here, but I'm waiting to post about them all later in the week!

I know you've been wondering where we stand on the cat toilet training front, and I have good and bad news. We were on track slowly decreasing the amount of litter in the bowl, and we got down to just a handful of litter (that's the good). We decided to move on to the next step, which was adding a little water to the bowl, and Charlotte rebelled (that's the bad). I wish I didn't have to tell you this, but I swore I'd be honest about the whole process. Charlotte pooped in our magazine holder. So that sucks bad. Thankfully, there were magazines in the holder to catch said poop. It was a sad defeat, but we just backed up a couple of steps and put some litter back in the bowl to get her comfortable again.

The main area we're having trouble with is getting her to keep her feet on the seat while she uses the toilet, instead of down in the bowl. She was thrown of by the water in the bowl because she's used to being able to stand in the litter, which is definitely a problem. Some people say you should be in the bathroom while the cat goes and manually remove their feet from the bowl and place them on the seat while they're still going to the bathroom. Yeah, I bet you can imagine how that works out. Not super well, although I have done it a few times (DEDICATION).

So we've gone another route and will be using a piece of cardboard with a hole cut in the center to teach her slowly how to position her feet. We just so happened to have cardboard leftover from our crock pot box, so onto the toilet it went.

 We'll slowly cut away the cardboard to enlarge the circle, so ultimately she'll train herself to stand on the seat (hopefully). This process has been grueling at times, but it will save us money, time and stink in the end!

-T, K, J, & C

Jobs are cool. Especially when you might get one.

Hey there,

It is SUCH a pretty day in Georgia! I'm loving the fall-esque weather and can't wait for it to get even cooler! I imagine our neighborhood looking like this.

Ahh. So pretty.

Today was a big day for me. I'm keeping most of the details under wraps for now since nothing is for sure at all, but I had a job interview this morning and it went really well! I'll be going in for a second interview, which will happen sometime next week (probably while my mom is here). I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but this job would be great for me and I'm very excited about the possibility. I paused to snap a few photos before heading off to my interview.

After the interview, Thomas and I headed out for a celebratory lunch. We went to another Scoutmob place, Little Szechuan. I was kind of hesitant because I'm really picky about Asian food, but I was pleasantly surprised by this place! We got all these things for around $12.

 No caption necessary.

Delicious vegetable soup. It would be perfect for a cold rainy day!

I had the beef fried rice. It was obviously a huge serving, and Thomas will be eating the remainder for dinner.

Thomas had his favorite, General Tso's Chicken. It was SO good. I stole lots of bites (which is saying a lot for me). There were even leftovers (which is saying a lot for Thomas). They will be my dinner!

These were our respective fortunes. Mine is the top one; Thomas' is the bottom. 

After lunch I begged politely asked Thomas to take me to Ulta to spend my giftcard! At first I was unimpressed with this particular Ulta's selection of OPI, but I ended up discovering little displays of it throughout the store. I'm obviously really into fall colors right now, and I noticed after checking out that all 3 of the polishes I bought have gold undertones (yes I spent my entire giftcard on nail polish--it's the only beauty product I care about!) Gold is really popular right now, and perfect for fall and winter...so I'm ok with it. For all my nail polish girls out there, here's what I got. FYI, the middle color is actually a deep golden brown, even though it photographs kind of purple:

I have to brag on my man real quick. He accompanies me to places like Ulta somewhat regularly, and every time we go I'm impressed by his helpfulness and willing opinions. He knows lots of the names of colors I own, and he helps me remember them so I don't buy the same ones twice (this could easily happen)! That's a pretty top notch husband trait right there...even if he is just being helpful so he can get out of Ulta quicker;]

We finished up the day with Jack at the dog park; since it's so super nice out we couldn't resist. Unfortunately our good time was hampered by another boy dog who was fixated with Jack's cuteness. He literally humped (or otherwise molested) him the whole time he was there. Jack couldn't even get a drink of water! But we still enjoyed being outside, and even saw a movie being filmed at Piedmont. Not that we need any more movies in our lives...

BREAKING NEWS: There has been more cat potty action! I discovered some 'CP' in the bowl this morning, and it was a big moment for us. I have to say, I think I'm more excited about Charlotte using the toilet than I would be if she was a (real) kid. Maybe that's because kids are absolutely expected to eventually use the toilet, whereas cats are expected to poop in a box for their whole lives? I don't know. It's probably really just because I don't have a kid yet:D

 THE cat potty culprit, sleeping.

I hope you all have a great weekend! If it's not too late, you should sign up for a free Chick-Fil-A breakfast. Thomas and I will be going to fetch our FREE sandwiches tomorrow morning between 9:30 and 10:30! Love that free stuff. Try this link if you're interested.

-T, K, J, & C

ONE step forward, TWO steps back.

Today I finally finished the loooong process of registering my car in the lovely state of Georgia. Of course, things didn't go seamlessly at the Tax Assesors office, but I'm registered, I'm alive, and I'm so DONE. I even got to sit next to this character.

 Stripes AND printed pajama pants!

Plus, check out my new plate:

 BUZ. I've always wanted a license plate that spelled something! Buz probably isn't a real word, but I'm counting it.

So with that done, I headed home to do some chores. Yesterday I mentioned that we had switched out Charlotte's litter box for a litter bowl. I was worried today that she still hadn't used it, almost 24 hours after the switch. I decided to take matters into my own hands and took Charlotte into the bathroom, closed the door, and put her in the bowl. I then forced her to pee in the bowl while praising her and telling her she was awesome. So we had a breakthrough! It was kind of messy, and far from perfect technique wise--but surely it was a good sign (foreshadowing).

Not even 10 minutes later, I was texting Thomas about our bathroom success, proudly bragging about making Charlotte pee on the toilet. Then I smelled poop. I jumped up and quickly looked behind the couch, where I saw Charlotte "number two-ing" on the rug while Jack worriedly looked on (he knows better). Of course, I screamed something like "NOOOOO" and chased her off. I cleaned up the mess and took her back into the bathroom to see if she would finish her bid-naz, but to no avail. I knew this process wouldn't be easy, and this has been the only hitch so far. I plan to continue the training, and hopefully things work themselves out. When I texted Thomas about the series of events, he responded "one step forward, two steps back." Get it?! Pee success/poop failure. I thought this was the perfect pun, so I stole it for my post title.

I made Charlotte this poster to help her understand.

Here's a video of the kitty sitting and being smart. She even does a cute little stand up trick that reminds me of a monkey. (I promise I'm wearing pants in the video. They're just covered by the shirt. Cut me some slack, it was bedtime!)

Between doing chores and cleaning up cat poo, I went outside quite a few times. I've mentioned before that we have some kind of crazy neighbors who have a bunch of kids. By my count, there are at least 8 in their gaggle. A while back, we learned from the previous tenants that they claim to home school the bunch. I say claim because I'm pretty sure it's heavy on the home, light on the school. I think it's more like unschooling (which is totally a real thing, there are even groups in Georgia where it's apparently a big deal).

My suspicious were confirmed this afternoon. Every single time I went outside, a bunch of the boys were playing air soft--with extremely real looking guns I might add--decked out in all black, with terrorist masks and everything. I mean, I know that one of the benefits to home schooling your kids is having the freedom to set your own schedule, but these kids are playing all day every day. What kid wouldn't like that school? To each his own I guess...but it is a little unsettling to see gun carrying, suited up teenager swinging from a tree outside your living room window.

Wouldn't it freak you out to see this charmer lurking outside your house? (disclaimer, that's not the real kid)

That picture seems like a good Thursday wrap up to me! Happy almost Friday.

-T, K, J, & C

I am officially a crazy cat lady.

Today was a much better version of yesterday. I went to get my Georgia drivers license, which I'm pleased to report was a complete success! More on that in a minute. Then I did some miscellaneous chores, and finally went to get my car re-emissions tested because the light had gone off. Sally Mae passed! Thank goodness. Now tomorrow I complete the final step in the process--renewing my registration.

Over Labor Day, Thomas and I saw a great Scoutmob deal for 100% off coupon at a place called The Brickery. 100% off? That sounds like free to me! Well, it was just a free hamburger, but that's still a great deal. So we headed over in the rain to enjoy a fun date night out.

 

We started off with this basket of onion rings. They were awesome! Our waitress learned early on that I liked sauces (especially honey mustard) so she brought us their home made HM and BBQ sauce to try with these. Both were amazing.

I got an old favorite, chicken tenders, off the appetizer menu. All chicken tenders really are to me is a vessel for more HONEY MUSTARD. I'm obsessed.

This was the star of the show (and also the free part), the Caesar Burger. A burger covered in Caesar dressing and shredded sharp cheddar sounded kind of weird, but it was unbelievably savory and tasty. 

We've decided this place is a must visit during my mom's trip here next week. I'm super excited! We have another Scoutmob on Thomas' phone, so looks like another free burger for us:] After everything was said and done, the meal only cost around $15 with tip. 

As I mentioned earlier, I went to get my new license today. I got my last one in Texas in a rush right after the wedding because I wanted it to have my updated name before we moved here, and the picture was so bad. I've felt good about previous DL photos, but this one made me look 50 pounds heavier than I am. Which is a lot. The state of Texas requires the pictures to be a certain size, and I guess I stood too far away from the camera, so they just stretched and distorted it, resulting in something like this:

Ok, so it wasn't that bad, but it was embarrassingly close.

After that drama, I had big goals of taking a great picture today. I even tried out a new hairstyle I saw on my new favorite YouTube channel The Lipstick Diaries. I love the girl who runs this channel because she has a cool accent, she's super cute, and we have the same texture and length of hair. This is important because my hair texture (curly, frizzy, slightly coarse) is pretty rare. Most of the tutorials I come across are of girls with short, fine, or straight hair...so they don't work for me. I watched this video of her curling her hair without heat, and I knew I had to try it for my DL photo!

This method is said to work for people of all hair types. Here was my attempt.

This is the before. I let my hair air dry and used some Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Hair Serum for muh frizz.

Here is the during, just after I wrapped my hair up before bed.

And here is the back. It obviously doesn't have to be perfect. I've got some scragglers going on.

And here is the after, on the way to the DL place. I was making a dumb face, so I covered it with...a dumb face.

Surprisingly I only waited for a few minutes at the DPS before having my number called. I'm pretty pleased with my picture--it could be better, but could be way worse (see above). Here it is on my temporary license.

Don't worry mom, I blurred out all the good stuff (plus my weight DUH).

Another bright spot today was receiving Charlotte's new training bowl in the mail. Why yes I did order a metal bowl off Amazon specifically for my cat to use the toilet in! I never thought I'd be to this point either (who am I kidding, yes I did), but we are well on our way to toilet trained! We're so happy to finally have the litter box and its accompanying boxes out of our bathroom.

I don't think I mentioned before that we had officially moved Charlotte's litter box on top of the toilet as part of the process. Since we had a covered box, the sides were pretty deep. We didn't feel like it was a good idea to force her to jump into the box from the floor, so we left the stacked boxes next to it as sort of a trail of steps:

We left the box that way for around 3 days while waiting for the bowl to get here. For this part of the process, you lift the lid of the toilet and measure the inside rim at its widest point. Then you get a bowl of that diameter (ours was 11.5 inches). [Yes, I could've bought said bowl at a regular store, but I found it on Amazon for $11 and I get free shipping because of my Amazon Prime student membership].

So today we I got the bowl and put it into the toilet,

 And filled it with a few inches of litter.

From here on out, we'll be gradually reducing the amount of litter in the bowl until it's a token couple of teaspoons. I'll keep you all updated on the next steps too.

Charlotte has already eagerly explored her new bowl, but hasn't used it just yet. (Be warned, this is a 54 second video of Charlotte walking around on the toilet. I just filmed her butt instead of getting closer to avoid scaring her. Never scare a cat on a toilet!)

Charlotte really is a smart cat. I've been teaching her to sit on command over this last week, and there will be a video soon!

Not to be outdone, Jack was looking adorable today and begged to have his picture taken.

 

And Thomas and I woke up from a nap today to this record cuteness.

They were literally wrapped in each others arms! I mean, there are siblings out there who don't like each other this much. Probably quite a few actually.

Ok, I'll stop raving about my pets now. Enjoy your day people!

-T, K, J, & C

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake for Breakfast? YES

Happy Labor Day!

We originally had plans to go to the lake today, but it's rainy here in Atlanta which doesn't mesh well with being on a boat. Instead we're having a nice relaxing day at home, watching Dexter and reading (some of us are also playing video games--you know who you are). 

Before we got word that the lake trip was cancelled, I had put a Chocolate Chip Pound Cake in the oven. For a second I freaked out and worried that we'd have a whooole cake to ourselves, but the day was saved! It worked out perfectly because we finally caught up on True Blood yesterday and were able to attend our first True Blood Party at Mari & Holly's house, so the cake was obviously welcomed with open arms mouths. We had lots of fun drinking, eating, and watching vampires do vampire stuff. Now we're looking forward to the finale next week!

It was hard for me to decide whether or not to blog about this recipe, because it's one of my favorite and most requested birthday/party items. I kind of feel like if I tell you all my secrets, no one will invite me anywhere because they have no use for me anymore...but then I realize that I live half a country away from most of you and the likelihood of me bringing baked goods to your parties is slim to none anyway. So I decided to share this amazingly delicious recipe with you, trusting that you will still want to hang out with me even if you know all my baking secrets.

The only real secret about this cake is that its base is a butter cake mix (meaning that it's easy). Even though I was the baker at a cupcake shop that truly does make everything from scratch, and I've been baking for my whole life...sometimes a cake mix (or brownie mix) really does the trick. One of the worst things in the world is a pretentious cook or baker, and I have no qualms about admitting that quite a few of my favorite recipes have a box base. I don't think it means you're a bad baker if you sometimes a mix. Really, it's ok.

I usually bake this cake in a decorative bundt pan like this one. Since the move, we have markedly less storage in our kitchen, and there are still quite a few boxes holding specialty pans and other kitchen gadgets in our sunroom. I looked for my decorative bundt pan, but sadly could only find my angel food cake pan, which is much less attractive. The good part is, the cake still tasted super yums and no one thought twice about eating it. 

Here's what you'll need:

First, I add the cake mix and the chocolate pudding to a bowl.

And I whir it up a little to get the initial chunks out.

Next, add the water,

And the oil. Then beat the mixture on low for a few seconds until mostly incorporated.

Next add the eggs. I do add them directly to the bowl, because I've cracked a lot of eggs and I trust myself, and because I'm a rebel. Beat them in.

Next, add the sour cream. I realize this may look and sound a bit unappetizing to some, but sour cream makes cakes (and donuts) unbelievably moist and tasty. You'll see.

The sour cream will really lighten the batter and make it fluffy and creamy. Beat everything until incorporated, leaving out only the chocolate chips. Scrape the sides of the bowl well.

Finally, fold in the chocolate chips just until incorporated.

Your batter will look like this.

Now pour the batter into a greased and floured bundt pan (as I mentioned, mine is an angel food cake pan with an attached bottom--NOT the removable bottom kind). Turn the pan while you're pouring to evenly distribute the batter.

Smooth the batter out with your spatula, then pick up & drop the pan a couple of times (from a foot or so off the counter) to get any air bubbles out. This will be loud, and your dog and cat will probably be scared. Do it anyway.

Bake the cake at 350F for around an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. It will come out looking like this.

Let it finish cooking in the pan for around 15 minutes, then invert it onto your cake plate. 

Allow the cake to cool completely before cutting OR covering. It can be served with chocolate syrup and/or a sprinkling of powdered sugar if you want to get crazy.

This cake is unbelievably moist and delicious. Everyone loves it, and I've been guilty of eating it for breakfast regularly. Judge me, it is amazing.

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Ingredients:
1 Box Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 8 oz. sour cream
1 small box fudge instant pudding
6 oz. milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips chips. Mix well. When batter is mixed, fold in chocolate chips. Pour into a greased & floured bundt pan and bake at 325F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

So there you have it. Not including the hour this cake takes to bake, I'd say prep time is less than 20 minutes. It's a really impressive cake, and I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like it. As Thomas put it, "it's good for people who like chocolate or cake." Pretty sure that covers everyone.

Earlier in the week I mentioned that we were extras in a movie. We went back to work on the same movie again Friday, and this time the day was longer and much more tiring. We did meet some fun people though, and we got paid...so I think it evens out. Hopefully I'll be able to give you more details about what we actually did pretty soon.

When we came home from a long day of work (7:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m), we went to check on the litter box situation in the bathroom. Progress has been made! We discovered a strange, cat poop (from now on CP because it's less gross) like substance in the toilet! Since then we've seen the same substance 3 times--so we're hoping that's a good thing. We haven't even gotten to that point in the training--right now we're still getting Charlotte used to walking around on the open toilet seat, and using it to jump into the box--but we'll take what we can get.

The litter box has continued to get higher, and the next step is moving the box directly over the toilet. We'll be doing that early this week, and of course I'll keep you updated. We've now met/heard of at least two people who have really done this, so there is hope for us!

 Jack always brushes his teeth after eating cake!

-T, K, J, & C