Cat Condos R Us

This is a no traveling week for the kids and I. Not Mike tho. He has to work in San Francisco.

Wish we could go with him, but that is too far... Bummer!

Some of you may be wondering why Mike and our family gets to travel so much.

Most of his work sites are in remote places all over Florida. We live in Orlando because it is central Florida, and he can easily get to all of his sites. He only has 2 sites in Orlando! Which means that most of the time, he has to drive 100+ miles each way.

Mikes company has no problem with him staying over night. A lot of the time a part that is put in is done after hours, or when they are not using the camera, so until the next day you might not know if it is working properly. So Mike either drives back home, to possibly come back the next day (and put in ANOTHER tank of gas), or stay the night, and be right there first thing in the morning. His boss is the one that says to stay (quicker customer service), and if he wants,

is welcome to bring family. Food is paid up to 50$ a day. If we go over (we do) we pay for the overage. He is approved for up to 150$ a night in a hotel. If we go over (rarely) we pay the difference. His company never pays over a set amount whether Mike goes alone, or we go with him.

This is a small, family run company. The owners children and wife works in the office with him. He encourages this lifestyle for his employees. Mikes several coworkers take their families with them also. In fact, Aug 7- 8, we are meeting his coworker and family in Miami. Mike and him will work Aug 8, and then we will stay till Sunday, and go to the Keys. We have a Marriott Rewards Card (we almost exclusively stay at Marriott's). We are racking up the reward points and have several nights free already! (will be used at the Keys)

His boss also suggested that since he wanted Mike to work in San Francisco Thurs, that he would pay to fly Mike to Seattle to see his family, and then fly him home Monday. How cool is that?!!Plus, since he is working in San Fran, he gets to see Leonard, Michelle and Elektra. He will stay with them as well. Lucky!!

Its a great company, and we feel so blessed to be able to travel and see this beautiful state as much as we do! And that we both get to spend so much time with the kids.

With 3 kittens in the house, and 2 older cats with claws, we seriously needed a scratching post for them. We went to PetSmart and checked out their Cat Condos. Although neat looking, they were expensive. Of course the ones we liked ranged from 150 - 200$. So we decided to build our own. Went to Home Depot bought boards, posts, carpet, etc for under $100. Then got to work.It didn't take too long. not really.

Unless 12 hours is long to you.

Forget those wimpy 5 ft PetSmart Condos!

Ours is 7ft and 4 stories!It is strong enough to hold the boys, but don't tell them that! The kitties love it! I put Nascat on it, and all he did was hiss. Yes he is still mad.

The little ones love it, but won't go to the top level yet. They cry when we put them up there.

This is the coolest cat box we have ever had! Look at the stairs going up and to the inside of it! No matter how much they kick the litter around, it doesn't come out!!!

Lately we have had a flock of ducks in and around our yard.

Good way to use up old potato chips!

We FINALLY got our license plate for our Durango.

Can't tell what sport we are fans of can you? Oops, I see we have Ford of North Scottsdale still. Gotta get a checkered flag holder.Florida has more license plate choices than any other state I have ever seen. They have at least 40 choices of plates.

With Mike being gone over the weekend, I don't have much planned for the kids. Zachary is having his friend Avery sleep over, so that will be a noisy night. I just hope it doesn't rain too much, so I can send them outside!