Bell, Chico & Sting

Yesterday I spent the day with the daughter, Caitlin, of some close friends of mine. I had to write a summary of the day since it was truly one of the best Saturdays on my list of "Great Saturdays". She's one of those bright, witty, talented, hard working teenagers that is going to make a great impact in this world. Just you wait and see.

The day started a little late since I stayed up all night watching movies and didn't get to bed until 5:00am the night before. I woke up around 9:30am and let her know that I would be at her house to pick her up around 11am (which is noon in Jen time). I arrived to her home, picked her up and started the day. The plan was for her to assist me with two of my pet clients this weekend. I can always use help and the company of a bright young girl is always great to have.

We started out the day driving through Mc'Ds. Yes, Mc'Ds. She said she never had a Big Mac before and I gasped! I thought, "well, it's time.", so I ordered a #1 - Big Mac Combo and she did too! We were eating in the car on the way to the client's house and as she finished her meal, I asked, "Ok, on a scale of 1 - 10, how does the Big Mac rank in comparison to other hamburgers?" She said, "I'd give it a 7." That's pretty good for the first time chowing down on a Big Mac. I still couldn't believe this 13 year old girl had never had a Big Mac! I'm going to have to talk to her parents and find out how this is even possible.

We arrived to the first client's house and the cat's loved her - they went right up to her and started purring away! She's great with animals - they really adore her. We proceeded to the 2nd client and same thing, they went right up to her and started purring loudly. So adorable.

We finished the 2 visits and we were passing a house on the corner and it had a For Sale sign in front of it. It caught my eye, so we pulled over and looked in the windows. O MY - it was the cutest house. It was only 400 - 500 square feet, and it is perfect for one person. It had a living area, bedroom, bath and kitchen. Around the side and in the back, it had this gorgeous deep brown wood deck with metal trim around it. It the back, it overlooked a creek and was surrounded by trees for shade - very peaceful.

Sometimes things just catch your eye, and this home definitely did that. It had hardwood floors, a beautiful kitchen with track lighting. The bathroom was small, but again perfect for one person. Even it was gorgeous. That was about it to the house - no den, no laundry room, that's it. But for it be "that's it", It was pretty awesome. I decided to call to see what it was priced at. I assumed 80K. When I called the gentleman was very kind and proceeded to tell me how it was completely remodeled and described the property. After talking about the home, I asked him the price. He said, it's 199,000. *Gasp*. Um, for 400 square feet home? I didn't say that of course, but boy I thought it. I said, thank you and I'll keep that in mind. He told me he would be happy to meet me to show it. I don't think I will meet him *smiles*. For 199,000K - you can build a brand new home + have it completely furnished. But geez, it was cute...

So next on our agenda was to head to another friend's house that was have a BBQ. Mmmmm, more burgers! They just bought their new home together and wanted to test out the BBQ. We decided to stop by Bark and Purr to pick up some treats for their two cats, Earl and Mooch. We picked out 2 balls, 2 bags of treats, 2 collars, and one catnip cigar toy. The gentleman at the counter said, the kitties will go crazy for it. We thought we'd bring dessert since they were providing the burgers and stopped by the local HEB. We got a cake that was this 3 layer chocolate, mousse, cream filling, strawberry topping, fudge topping thing! Perfection. That's what I call it. We arrived and got a tour of the new house - awesome house guys! We gave the kitties their new cigar. They adored it and wouldn't let it go! Too funny. It's drugs for cats!

We munched on some snacks and then tried out the burgers. They were the BEST. Thick burgers, cooked to perfection and the toppings to make it perfect. We were both so stuffed and plopped down on their sofa. It was about 7:30pm by now and next on the agenda was to head a little north to feed horses. She said I could help her. Kinda funny, she helped me with my pet clients and now I was going to help her with her pet client that had 3 horses. Ok, this my sound strange - but I have never been near a horse. Seen them along the side of the road, at the horse track, etc -- but never been more that 15 feet from one.

We got to the property where the horses resided and she explained what we would be doing. She said that we would feed them their dry food, feed them hay, groom them and spray this fly, bug, go away forever, kind of spray. We opened the gate and the three horses, Chico, Bell and Sting came right up. I wasn't sure if they were going to kick me or lick me. The did neither, just wanted to be petted. These three horses were so absolutely gorgeous. They were very intelligent - they knew it was feeding time and went into their individual stalls to get ready for dinner. As they were eating, we loaded the hay into their stalls and groomed them. It was fun brushing them - their coats were so shiny. After that - we sprayed them with the "flies go away" spray. We rinsed our hands off and then headed back to the car.

Next on the agenda was to play a poker tournament back at the BBQ Rocks House! We stopped by to pick up poker chips and headed back to the new home. We gathered around the table and started the tourney. It was almost midnight and three of us were still in it - me, Caitlin and Kristin. Caitlin's curfew was 12:30am, so we weren't able to finish the tourney. We just decided that the top two chip stacks would take the winnings. That was Kristin and Caitlin! She's a solid poker player for being 13 and in another year - she's going to be killer on the table.

I took her back home and thanked her for a great Saturday. As I was driving home I realized that we all get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life and rarely take the time to just relax and just take the day as it comes. This was one of those days - nothing set in stone, but the day was filled with great times. I didn't think about work, I didn't answer any work calls, I didn't check my email and I didn't rush anything that day. It was perfect.