UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I've finally decided to start this blog up again, but it will be awhile before I really start writing in it. Check back soon....

Yes, I have moved to Nigeria.

No, not really. But I'm not really updating anymore right now. Maybe I will start again soon....not that anyone even reads this blog.

No I haven't died or moved to Nigeria

It's true. I have let my blog rot. After you forget write in it for a few days, it's hard to get back into the habit. I'd like to begin writing on here again... but I don't know where to start. It's like reading a novel, getting to the middle of it, loosing it for a while, then trying to read it again from where you left off. So... this blog may be getting a major rewrite if you know what I mean. I just feel so guilty for not writing here... I'm a writer so that can happen. You feel guilty if you don't write everyday.

Spotlight on: Montie

I love this picture of Montie that Garrett took. It reveals her personality perfectly. We've had Montie around five years and she's probably the worst cat you can ever imagine having. But let me start at the beginning.
Way back when we lived in Florida my brother found a little gray kitten at my dad's tractor shop. She was very sick, crawling with fleas, and so, so tiny. The vet said she probably wouldn't survive. But we didn't give up. We bottle fed her and treated her fleas and did pretty much all we could to keep her alive. We named her Montana, after the brand of tractors my dad sold and decided to call her "Montie" for short.
After having Montie awhile me and Colton surmised that she was an alien cat sent to spy on us. And one could almost believe it, she is very, very strange.
For one thing her absolute most favorite pastime of all is drinking water from the sink. She hop right up to it, look you in the eye and make a weird purring that sounds almost like she's asking a question:
"Brrrrrr?"
Then when you turn the sink on she'll drink from it for a long while. Then when she's done she'll just stare at the water until you turn it off.
Another odd thing she does when she's really comfy and being all snuggly (which is rare) is sucking on a blanket while kneading her paws into it. Sometimes her tongue flicks in and out of her mouth like a snake while she stares dreamily up at you if you disturb her. Freaky.
But most of the time Montie doesn't act like that. She is the grumpiest, gloomiest, growliest cat you'd ever hope to meet. You pick her up and she instantly starts growling. She reminds me of a gargoyle, especially when she's on top of the tv or computer, just staring down at you.
Montie had lived in three different homes, two in Florida and her current one here in Iowa. When we were moving, we had to put her in a cat carrier. Man, she did not like that. She was litteraly flipping around in side of it, hissing and growling like crazy. I remember one thing about that move in particular. We were driving through St. Louis and Montie was out of her cage, staring out the window at all the tall buildings. I wonder what she thought when she saw all that. Okay, yes, I know, she's a cat. But still it was an unusual moment.
So that's Montie's story. She's a terrible cat and pretty much every hates her now except me and my mom (the main reason for this is that she tends to barf on the floor and she's had "accidents" in Julia's closet quite a few times) she also has this weird skin condition were she gets all scabby and starts loosing her fur.
I've grown fond of Montie throughout the years and I only hope that with old age she'll become nicer (yeah, right.)

Montie
Description: Gray, short-hair, with greenish-yellow eyes.
Favorite activities: Drinking water from the sink, looking out the window, sleeping, drinking more water from the sink, being grumpy.
Favorite food: Puppy chow (makes her extremely obese)
Best friend: She hates pretty much every cat except, oddly enough, Remi. She plays with him at times.
Least favorite things: Being held, being bothered, seeing another cat.

Valentines day and other such matters

Well, today is Valentine's Day and its snowing like there's no tomorrow outside. Everyone stayed home from church except Julia and Alicia who had to walk there because we don't have a car. We have Colton's Colt but its not working. And my dad took the Oldsmobile to work and Colton took the Suburban. So, we are left without a vehicle for now.

In other news, the Beem family is gearing up for a big Walt Disney World vacation! We're taking our grandpa's camper down and hooking it up at Fort Wilderness. Hopefully, everything's going to work out alright. I seriously can't wait to go back to Disney. I've been there so many times... if you've never gone then make it a goal in your life to go at least once. Its awesome beyond reason.

After sitting in a chair for a while and writhing in pain while being tortured, I finally have all my teeth. I finally (and I say that with much emphasis) had a bridge on the left-lower side of my mouth put on. So now when I sweep my tongue across my bottom teeth there is no gap. Huzzah!

iPod

Wondering what the orange print is for???

I bought a new nano iPod today. It's my second one actually. The first one I had went through the wash, though I could still listen to music on it, the screen quit working. Then finally the whole thing turned into a smoldering hunk of junk. But now, at last, I earned enough money to buy a new one. Its ooh so shiny and orange! Plus it has a camera, and you can listen to the radio, and--and WOW! It's totally RAD!

Okay, just kidding. I'm not that obsessed with it. But I'm glad I finally have something to listen to music with (my sister, Julia, also has an iPod, but oh, whaddya know, hers went through the wash too. It still works, but is very, very sensitive.)

The rest of my family (except for the little ones) are diving into a brand new series of Lost. I've never been that interested in the show and from what I hear them talking about (Bob traveled back in time into a parallel universe..... or whatever) I'm not so sure I want to.

Also: stay tuned for more stories...

Oh, mama mia!

A while back I posted about the puppet ministry my youth group was doing. Well, a tragedy has struck. Our puppets have been... stolen! Okay, maybe not literally. You see, Choya, our Sunday school teacher, wants us to really focus on this series of videos were watching featuring Ken Ham. In order to get the most out of it, we've got to start before the normal time for Sunday school. So? No puppets. We've handed them over to the younger kids for now. And I don't mean to be brag-ish or anything, but the younger kids aren't exactly up to par with us youth group guys. I mean they do a pretty good job, but some of the people voicing the puppets...well. Anyway, I can't wait to get them back. Hopefully we'll finish up our Ken Ham thing soon and start up on the puppets once more.