in·som·nia \in-ˈsäm-nē-ə\

The new guy...

2009-06-18T15:20:00.008-05:00

We adopted Bentley from a Chihuahua rescue. I originally wanted to adopt a female and was considering a long hair, because some people say they actually shed less than the short. After a visit to make sure we were a good home, the gals from the rescue group brought over a little long haired girl for me to meet. She was a pretty girl, the same color as Harley, but not very socialized. They said once she got to know me she would be fine with me, but I wasn't too keen on someone getting bit because they tried to pet my dog. They happened to also have with them a little boy Chi, that was very friendly and came over and got right up into my lap. They said they brought him just in case, because I had told them about B's allergies, and this little guy doesn't shed. I'd pretty much already fallen for him at that point, so the fact that he doesn't shed was a huge bonus. He does have an issue that we're working on though. If he is asleep next to me, he growls if someone comes near us. I'm not liking that, so hopefully I can train him out of it.

When I look at this picture, it makes me think Harley's saying "Aw, mom, do we have to keep him?" hehehe
Bentley makes Harley look big. Harley is 11 pounds, Bentley is 6 pounds.

The vehicle names are coincidence, as Bentley was already named when we got him.

Harley turned 11 yrs. old this month. They are not sure of Bentley's age, but he is estimateted to be 3-4 yrs. old.

The rest of the St. Louis trip...

2009-06-18T12:09:00.016-05:00

So, we hit one more auction in the morning on Friday, June 5th. B even came with us to this one. I got another chair and a few other treasures including an old hardback copy of Gone With the Wind. Then we packed up the car to head back home. About an hour after we drove away, I realized I forgot my box of treasures from the auction that morning in Mindy's car. Boo. Friday night we stayed at B's parent's house, then got back on the road. Saturday night we stayed in a hotel about 5 hours from home. When we walked into our hotel room, I was excited, because it seemed we'd gotten the luxury suite (as luxurious as you can get for a cheap hotel...lol) because the room was about as big as some apartments I've lived in. But as the night went on we realized that we were not so lucky after all. For one, we were next to the stair well, and there was group of young people staying a few rooms down that stomped up and down the stairs several times throughout the night. Then we thought someone was knocking on the door, but when B got up to look through the peep hole, he said it was coming from the other side of the room. Yep, our neighbors headboard banging against our wall repeatedly. Lovely. A little later someone did come to our door but only knocked once and left. Then there was the train that pulled it's horn as it passed us. And at the butt crack of dawn, we got more knocking at the door, which this time, was the hotel security guard at the wrong room. Needless to say we got very little sleep, complained to the guy at the front desk, got our room for free, and two cranky folk continued on home. We were gone 36 days.
It was very quiet when we got back home. But only for a day. Monday, Jeremy and Mandy arrived and stayed with us for the week while they were down visiting.

The house stuff...
Before we left for the Missouri trip, I assure you, I had no intention of going up there and looking at houses. But while we were there I got to thinking about it. It all started with that first house that I came across that was in the location that I loved. We got serious about it and even got it inspected. The inspection found a few things that worried us, so we decided against it. And then I came across another house (in a completely different town) and fell in love with it. This one's a 120 year old farm house that has been added on to. The house needs some cosmetic work like painting and a new stove (it has an old antique one). But it looks to be well maintained and the outside was great. I loved the property just as much the house. It has a little log cabin, a garden shed, a really nice barn with horse stalls, a large fenced area for horses, a garden enclosed by a picket fence, a pool enclosed by a picket fence, a creek that ran along the property, and 7 acres of slightly rolling terrain surrounded by trees for privacy. It was absolutely beautiful! The owner said he was flexible on the price since he hasn't listed it with an agent yet and that he was willing to divide the property to make the price more afordable. So, Ben and Jenn suggested buying the other half that has the barn and horse corral on it and building a house, and we loved the idea. The owner also loved this idea because that meant he wouldn't have to pay to open up the road and move utilities around, thus making him even more flexible on the price and also willing to hold the house for us while we came back home and tried to sell our house. Though, Ben and Jenn have since found another place they love and are moving ahead on that one, we are continuing to get our house ready to sell. Yesterday, they delivered the materials for our new roof and they are coming tomorrow to put it on. It was damaged from the storm last year. And since the insurance people took so long, it looks like we'll have a new roof just in time for this year's storms. lol We're figuring on still moving, even if it's not to Missouri, because we're ready for a change. This is the longest I've ever lived in one place, so I'm getting antsy. So, even if it's just 10 minutes away, I'm ready to move on down, move on down the road!

Another Auction

2009-05-27T23:44:00.003-05:00

Today I went with Mindy and B's grandma to another auction. I can see that this could become a dangerous new hobby. I got all three of the things I bid on - a comfy chair that I want to try to recover (not sure how I'm getting it back to Texas), 2 retractable dog leashes (which I've been wanting!) along with a few other dog items, and a metal wall hanging. To a grand total of $16. There's one more auction we are going to try to do before I head back home. At this rate, I may have to rent a small trailer to get all my treasures back to my house.

Yesterday B flew to Chicago for a business trip and comes back tomorrow.

The Month of May in Missouri...

2009-05-26T03:29:00.002-05:00

We left on April 30th and drove half way to Oklahoma City. This was the 1st road trip with Bently, so I had no idea how he'd do. He and Harley rode together in one crate and did great. In fact they were so quiet, I sometimes wondered if they were ok. Next day we drove the rest of the way to B's parents house. We spent a few days with them and then headed to St. Louis to stay with B's aunt. It's easier for us to stay with her because she's closer to B's grandparents and our friends, plus she has 3 Boxers, so she doesn't mind me bringing my dogs.
They tell me that the pollen here this season is the worse they've seen in a great many years. Lucky us! We've had sinus infections pretty much since the 1st week we got here. I've forgotten what it's like to breath out of my nose. It does seem to be improving a bit though, or we've just started getting used to it. (?)
I've gotten to spend a good bit of time with Mindy, B's aunt. We are alike in a lot of ways, so we get along great. She and I went to the Fleetwood Mac concert on May 6th. They were #1 on my concert "To Do List", so I was really excited about it. I even got my first "over priced concert t-shirt". Yep, 35 years old, and it's my first one (as far as I can recall). Just couldn't help myself this time, I was too excited, and I usually don't get all that jazzed about concerts. That Friday (the 8th) Mindy and B's grandma introduced me to my first auction. It was fun, and we came home with several goodies. Mindy also introduced me to a nearby town that I fell in love with. She's a trouble maker, that one! hehehe In fact I fell for it so much, that we darn near bought a house. Sneaky, sneaky Aunt Mindy!
Though we've stayed pretty busy, we haven't done as much as we'd like since we've been sick most of the time. But we have gotten to visit with Ben and Jenn a bit and B spent a few days helping Jeremy and Mandy move in with their parents. I got to go to the St. Louis zoo, it's one of my favs.! And this past Saturday I had a "girls day" with Mindy and Becky. I've enjoyed getting to do a bit more sight seeing this trip, which we usually don't have time for when we come up. And we have a few more things we hope to get in before we head back.
So far we've been gone 26 days.

2009-04-29T03:12:00.002-05:00

We got up bright and early Saturday morning to pick up a chair I found on our local classifieds. When we got there we noticed 2 bar stools they were also selling, and they just happened to be the exact same ones that we have. So we ended up buying them as well since I've been wanting to get 2 more. Woo hoo!
A little later I brought Bitsy back to the rescue group she's with. I was sad after I dropped her off.
Then that afternoon we went to Kate's first b-day party. Then to dinner with Glenn, Becky, Micah, and Lisa.
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On Sunday, I was surprised to find the house very quiet. Bitsy was a pretty active girl, but Harley and Bently are both pretty mellow and I'm amazed at the difference with just the 2 of them. I'm also amazed at how much she shed. I swear I could make a whole other dog from the fur she left behind. But we do miss her. Yes, I said "we".
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I have a really cute picture of her that I am going to post.

Now there are three...

2009-04-18T23:40:00.006-05:00

We have two foster dogs here now. Bitsy's still with us and now Bently came Thursday evening. He's a 6 1/2 pound male Chihuahua. He's from another rescue group. They think he's 3-4 years old.
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It turns out B and I are both allergic to Bitsy, the Chiweenie. So, we won't be able to adopt her. It's a shame too, because she looooves B. Whenever he comes into the room , she gets all excited. It's funny. Having three dogs here has been interesting. They definitely keep me busy. And I probably looked like the "crazy dog lady" walking down the street today with the three of them plus the neighbor's dog following behind us.
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I had a heck of a time trying to get a picture of all three of them together.

Easter Weekend

2009-04-13T23:36:00.009-05:00

We went to my grandma's in Louisiana for the weekend. We had our usual Easter Crawfish Boil, which I always look forward to. Afterwards was BINGO! Several of us brought prizes, so if you won you got to pick from the prize table. The prizes my grandma contributed were all in boxes or wrapped, so you couldn't tell what they were. I ended up picking a few of those, and was glad I did! Then, of course, what BINGO tournament would be complete without a Silly String fight? Which I, of couse, documented on camera. Sunday, we went all went to church, then came home and took family pictures, examined our Easter baskets (yes, we all still get them), had an egg hunt for the kids, and ate lunch, before everyone started heading back home.
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My mom stayed to visit longer with my grandma, and B and I road back home with Johnny. On our way home a car in front of us lost control, drove through the grass along side of the highway, flipped into the air across the feeder road, and landed upside down in a ditch on the other side. We pulled over right away and B jumped out and ran over to them. By the time he got to them, they were climbing out the back window, and thank God, appeared to be ok. The ditch they landed in had water in it, so the car had water in it. Had they been unconscious, they could have been trapped with their heads under water. The guy and girl in the car were college kids driving back to school.
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My Sunflower cake I made using Peeps.
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Yep, that's my sweetie peelin' crawfish
-Silly String fight.

Bitsy

2009-04-06T00:25:00.008-05:00

Thursday, April 2nd:

Bitsy came to join us. She is a one year old Chiweenie (Chihuahua and Dachshund) that I found through a local rescue group. We are fostering her and considering adoption. Her coloring is called dapple, and she has one brown eye and one blue eye, which often occurs with dapples.

Friday, April 3rd:

We were informed ahead of time that Bitsy has issues with biting. It's not mean biting, it is excited, playful biting, like with a puppy. But still unacceptable, so I've started working with her. I was also told that she won't let you touch her feet, and will bite you if you do. So, today I decided to try to teach her to "shake" (touching her paw to my hand). She totally surprised me, and learned it really fast. She gets a treat for "shaking", associates touching her paws with something good, and now doesn't bite when I touch them. Yay! She also learned to "sit" and sometimes gets "lay down"! She's a smart girl!

One of the times I was working with her today, Harley was there with us. And I was cracking up, because the whole time I was saying commands to Bitsy, Harley was doing them all and trying to get treats. It was so funny! And the best part was sometimes when I was trying to get her to lay down, Harley would do it and she would look over at him and drop to the ground as if she was saying "Oh, ok, is this what we're supposed to be doing?" Hilarious! I finally had to put Harley in his crate, so I could get her to focus on me.

So long ol' girl...

2009-03-20T19:34:00.005-05:00

...we had a good run.

Today I sold my RAV4. It was the first car I ever owned. (And the only one, until 2 years ago.) The ol' girl and I had been together for 12 years. And she's still going strong! I'll admit it, I cried as she drove away.

Wednesday

2009-03-18T14:59:00.001-05:00

I've gone back and added a bunch of posts that had never been posted cause I haven't been on here much lately. You'll have to click on "older posts" at the bottom of the page to get throught them all. They go back untill February 3rd.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

2009-03-17T01:04:00.004-05:00

The Jokes on Me!

2009-03-17T00:49:00.007-05:00

So, B has been having some trouble sleeping lately, and I was afraid that the time change two weekends ago would make it worse. So, I tried to slip it by him. Since we never watch live TV and he works from home, this wasn't too hard of a feat. I just changed the clocks. Sunday came, and we went about our day. Later that afternoon, he left the house to return something at Best Buy. Shortly after he left, he called me and asked, "Is it daylight savings today?" ...Oops...I had completely forgotten about the clock in his car! Oh, well...I tried.

Here's where the joke was on me...

Two days later, I had to drive into Houston to run an errand. It was near Ikea, so I thought I'd stop in and look around. I was in there for quite a while, then I thought I'd better head back home so I don't get caught in the after work traffic. I get in my car to go back home, and look at the clock on the dash, which I'd made sure to changed after B had called me Sunday. ...But.....eeek!....I forgot to change the time on my watch! I was using it while in the store. The actual time was 4:47pm!!!

It was a long drive home.

BTW, Jenn, I got your bedspread. :)

A hiking we will go...

2009-02-26T23:13:00.006-06:00

This afternoon B and I decided to go on a little hike around the preserve behind our house. It was quite nice. I decided to make it a family event and brought Harley with us. But the ol' guy coundn't hang. Half way through he was looking really tired, so I ended up carrying him for most of the rest of the way. And I know he had to be really tired, because at one point he even let me carry him on his back, and he usually hates that. Spoiled rotten dog!

And Jenn, I don't know how you can garry Gabe for so long, cause my arm was hurting carrying an 11 pound Chihuahua for a half an hour. Guess I need to build up my muscles. lol

Later that evening B and I went on a dinner date to a new Thai place near us. The building and sign have been there for a while and we'd been patiently awaiting it's opening. It was yummy.

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

2009-02-24T23:09:00.002-06:00

Mushy gushy love day

2009-02-14T00:20:00.003-06:00

Well, it's been a rough week for our guests. In the past few days, everyone from our trip has gotten a stomach bug, except B and I. That's 9 out of the 11 people! Even my cousin, who was only with us on the last day, got sick. I'm not sure how B and I managed to avoid it. To add to the fun, our washing machine broke. And believe me, with that many sick people in the house, we were in desperate need to do laundry. B and Ben ended up taking several loads to a laundry mat. Thankfully, we were able to get someone to come out yesterday to fix it.

Today everyone seems to be on the mend. While the guys were out shopping for our Valentines meal, the gals dipped strawberries, bananas, marshmellows, blueberries, and whatever else we could find in chocolate. The guys made dinner and we created our own little restaurant atmosphere in the dinning room while Chelsea watched the boys.

Ben and Jenn come to visit!

2009-02-10T01:49:00.007-06:00

This past Friday we rented a house in Wimberly, Texas with Ben, Jenn, and their boys, Jenn's sister Chelsea, and Micah, Lisa,and Isaiah. We had a lot of fun exploring the nearby areas. We went to Hamilton's Pool (near Austin), Natural Bridge Caverns, the outlet mall in San Marcus (I finally got to check out the Pottery Barn outlet!), the River Walk in San Antonio, and my cousin was our personal tour guide for our day in Austin. We also celebrated B's birthday yesterday.

We are now back at our house and are glad to have Ben and Jenn and their family staying with us for another week!

Happy B-Day To Me

2009-02-05T00:40:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was my birthday. B and I went to The Melting Pot with James and Shannon for dinner. He called ahead and had balloons tied to a bar of chocolate waiting on the table when we arrived and they took a picture of the 4 of us and gave it to us in a frame. We splurged and did the full 4 course feast - Cheese, Salad, Meat/Veggies, and Chocolate. It was quite a treat!

New dinning room table

2009-02-03T01:28:00.008-06:00

I found a steal of a deal on our local online classifieds for a black Pottery Barn dinning room table. It was such a great price because it was just the table, no chairs. But that's ok because I have had six dinning room chairs in my garage for quite a while now, just waiting on a table, and I plan to paint them to match. I got the chairs for free on Freecycle. I also plan to recover the seats.

I haven't taken a picture yet, but the table is similar to this one, but in black:
http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p5371/index.cfm?pkey=ctables

And once I paint the chairs, they will be similar to these in black:
http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p7803/index.cfm?pkey=cchairs

Nope! Just can't do it!

2009-01-21T00:42:00.002-06:00

I can not bring myself to read the end of "Marley and Me". I started this book last year and then stopped. Then, in anticipation of it coming out in the theaters, I started reading it again. And it still sits, almost finished, but nope. I have cried enough. I'm talking tears running down my face, falling onto my shirt kind of crying. And I know good and well the ending's gonna bring on more tears. B even wanted to take me on a date to see the movie, but I told him it's probably best that we wait for the DVD, so that I can cry in the privacy of our own home. What can I say, when it comes to dogs, I'm a sap! However, the story is not just about a dog. I have read on the internet that some parents were unhappy because they brought their child to see the movie, thinking it was a comedy about a dog.

FWI, it's not. The trailors for this movie are misleading.

Like, I said I have not seen the movie, my info comes strictly from hearing and reading peoples responses to it, but I have gotten the impression that it follows closely to the book. It's a story about a man and his dog, but it's also a story about a man and his wife, and their relationship, and their children. I don't know about the movie, and maybe these parents are over reacting, but as far as the book goes, I wouldn't place it in the children's section.

BTW, I really liked the book. And even though it was a tear jerker, there are parts that are down right funny!

I laughed, I cried, and maybe one day....I'll read the end.

Oops! Forgot to water the dog!

2009-01-16T22:47:00.005-06:00

My dog can stand a lot of things, however thirst is not one of them. If his bowl is out of water and he is thirsty, he will find a way to let me know. Usually this is done by placing his front paw into his lead crystal (yes, lead crystal) bowl and dragging the bowl across the ceramic tile floor. This makes a scraping sound that I can hear from any room in the house. Another option he sometimes chooses is to find the water on his own, thus making any glass within his reach fair game. He chose that route this evening and went for my glass sitting on the coffee table next to the couch. However this did not go as he had planned. I was in the other room when I heard the sound of glass breaking and immediately knew what had happened and why. Mother's intuition? Or predictable pup?

Pondering.....

2009-01-04T19:45:00.003-06:00

This year I hope to declutter my home.

Sad :(

2009-01-02T19:00:00.002-06:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090103/ap_en_ot/bahamas_travolta_s_son_12

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-01T23:32:00.004-06:00

More Winter Fun

2009-01-01T23:12:00.009-06:00

December 19th:
Jeremy, Mandy, and B's mom came down from Missouri and stayed with us. The first order of business was going out for Mexican food for dinner.

December 20th:
We had a party at our house, so J.B and Mandy could visit with everyone. It doesn't seem like they've been gone that long, but it's been 7 months!

December 21st:
We had B's grandma over for more visiting.

December 22nd:
B's mom and I met up with him at Kobe during his lunch break. Then she and I hit a couple of stores so I could work on finishing up my Christmas shopping. I also drove her through a really cute neighborhood that I recently discovered. She had to agree, it really is cute. I discovered this neighborhood while B was out of town when I went to pick up one of my bargain finds from our town's online classifieds. This lady was selling a white shower curtain from Restoration Hardware for $5.00! It originally cost over $70! I wanted a white curtain for one of our guest bathrooms and I love this one. Yay!

For dinner we met up with Rob and Brandon for Thai food. Then we went to Rob's house because Marlena and her mom had spent the day baking a bunch of different kinds of cookies and we felt we really needed to sample a few for them. Because that's the kind of giving friends that we are. :)

December 23rd:
After we all went out to lunch, JB, Mandy, and Connie headed back to Missouri.

December 24th:
We went to picked up a few last minute Christmas presents. Then we decided against the evenings Chistmas Eve festivities and instead spent a relaxing evening at home. I finished wrapping presents, then we watched A Christmas Story on TV.

Just before heading to bed, I decided to take a few pictures of our tree with the presents around it. With my camera, bad lighting and shakey hands don't mix, so I had my tiny camera set up on the tripod, which looks pretty funny. B walked by and started laughing and went upstairs. Then he came back down the stairs and said "If you're gonna do that, you might as well do it right." and handed me a wrapped present. My eyes grew big and, I have to admit, I got a little light headed at the though of what I thought might be in there. Then I opened it and it WAS in there! My new camera!

It was time to go to bed, but I didn't want to put it down, so I considered laying it between us as we slept....but I resisted the urge and put it on my dresser....where I could still see it. :)

December 25th:
My first Christmas morning to wake up in my own home! And it was lovely! I do hope to do it again someday. Fingers crossed for 2010!

We spent the day at my mom's with my family.

December 27th:
Party at Rob and Marlena's.

December 28th:
Nicole's baby shower.

December 31st:
New Year's Eve party at our house. Lots of food (especially cheese!) and a good time visiting and spending time with friends.

December Festivities

2008-12-15T22:40:00.013-06:00

December 3rd:
Spent the day at mom's for Johnny's Birthday and I brought over a project I wanted to work on without B seeing, cause it was a surprise. The TV nook next to our fireplace has always bothered me. The TV sat off to one side and the TIVO and DVD player, etc. sat stacked up to the other side and just looked messy to me. I've always thought that it needed doors to cover it all up or at least some shelving to organize it. And since doors are beyond my skill level, I made a shelf. It's now assembled, painted, and in the nook....and B was definitely surprised! We decided to switch the TV with the one that used to be in our bedroom since it's bigger.

This evening we put up our Christmas tree. It's tradition that I decorated my tree on the night that the old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer cartoon comes on. So this was the night. I also, have to have chocolate chip cookies and eggnog while I decorate. It's the rules!

December 6th:
Went with mom to a Ladies Tea at her church. We had lunch and everyone brought a Christmas ornament and we did a White Elephant kind of exchange.

That night we went to a Christmas party for our Church Small Group. It was a lot of fun and we laughed so much that my face started to hurt! I love when that happens!

December 7th - 12th:
B had to go out of town for work, so Harley and I had the place to ourselves. Of course as usual when B's out of town, I opened up the sofa bed and slept in the living room since it's the only bed Harley's aloud to sleep in . He must have thought he was some kind of special not having to sleep in his kennel all week. Also, this week, I started working on my Craft/Crap Room. It's really gotten ridiculous in there. I rearranged all the furniture and got some things together to donate. Baby steps. It's a work in progress.

Unfortunetly the snow referred to in the previous post occurred while B was out of town, so he missed it. That pic is the one I sent him to show him what he was missing. Of course he's seen plenty of snow, just not in Texas.

December 13th:
We had B's company Christmas Party at our house. Another good time and it was great visiting with everyone.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

2008-12-11T22:35:00.004-06:00

It's a Christmas miracle! Yesterday this strange white stuff fell from the sky.........

2008-11-24T11:51:00.001-06:00

I'm still here! Below is a post I did a few months ago, but never posted. So, I'm posting it today!

How I Spent My Summer

2008-09-09T03:43:00.021-05:00

In an attempt to catch up on my blogging, I thought I'd put out this post since it was written months ago. I never posted it because I had never gotten around to finishing it (only has June and beginning of July). But at this point, I'm too far behind to remember any more. So, here's some of the highlights (and lowlights) of my summer.

June:

One of my mom's goats, Ginger, died. She was pretty old when they rescued her, so it was not a total shocker, but sad none the less. She had stopped eating and had to be hand fed. We thought she was regaining her strength, but I guess it still wasn't enough._______________________

And now on to the fun stuff....

Micah and Lisa, brought this cute little guy into the world....

We had a crawfish boil at Mom and J's.... Eric got the crawfish from New Orleans and brought it when he came to visit....yummo!
June 28th - Went to Jim's birthday party.....(and they made me do karaoke)....here's some of the gals...
June 29th - We went over to Micah and Lisa's and made them dinner and got in some more "baby time".....
July 1st - The boys played hookie from work and came over to our house. B made sushi and we got to use some of the goodies that Rob and Marlena brought us back from their trip to Japan...

The July 4th weedend was spent at my aunt's lakehouse. We had a blast and watched a great fireworks show on the water.

The boys had matching t-shirts.....
.....the girls did not. (yay)

everybody.....

July 8th - Went to Trisha's birthday luncheon

July 9th - Girls Trip! We stopped in Boerne, TX for a bit and had lunch. It's a cute little town just north of San Antonio that I love visiting. They have a street full of cute little shops and antique stores. (I've been there a few times with B for business trips and he would drop me off and I would go to all the shops while he did his meetings. And if my memory serves me correctly, we've made a trip there with Ben and Jenn as well.)

Then we went to Hunt, Tx. We stayed at Trisha's friend's house along the river. It was really pretty out there.

We found a "mini Stonehinge"

Happy Birthday Harley!

2008-06-19T21:57:00.002-05:00

My boy is 10 years old! Oh, they grow up so fast...... (hehehe)

2008-06-13T02:49:00.006-05:00

Wednesday, June 4th (over a week ago)
So, when last I wrote, B was preparing a dinner feast. This evening Micah, Lisa, Tom, and Rob's brother, Eric came over for dinner. We had pork that had been marinated in B's special pear reduction sauce. I have to say, I usually don't eat pork, but I liked this pork. We also had sliced pears marinated in the pear sauce (it was like dessert!), asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, and zucchini and squash. I think he was trying to get in as much pork as he could while he had the opportunity, since I usually won't eat it.

Later in the week.....

I finished reading the book "Into the Wild" and then we rented the movie and watched it this past weekend. It is a true story and when I bought this book, I knew it didn't end well, but I thought that there would be some sort of inspirational story in there somewhere. But no. It really just ended up making me mad. I actually found myself getting frustrated and talking out loud to myself while I was reading it. B would think I was crazy, I'd explain what I was ticked off about, and then he would agree with me, and I'd carry on with my reading. And then I still watched the movie! However, I have to say that I actually liked the movie. Not the story line, of course, but how it was done - the cinematography and such. And the music. Eddie Vedder pretty much did all the music in the movie, so if you don't like him, I suppose your opinion might differ. If you just see the movie without reading the book, you may not be as frustrated with the story because, while the movie does a great job of following with the book, it doesn't quite paint the whole picture. I don't want to go into details, because I don't want to ruin it if anyone reading this wants to see the movie. Plus, it would take too long to write out all the many things that annoyed me. hehehe -But I would love to hear other people's opinion of it.-
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And while we're on the subject of being a lazy blogger, I'm skipping over the rest of this past weeks "journaling" because I'm being lazy and because I don't particularly want to write about this past week. But I did have another fun "girls night" on Wednesday with Mandi and Nicole!

2008-06-04T12:59:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, June 3rd
B came home from work early today, yay! He was in the mood for cooking, so we went back out to the grocery to get what we needed. Rob's brother, Eric, came over for dinner. He lives in New York, but is in town house-sitting and dog-sitting for Rob and Marlena while they are in Japan. (We offered to fold ourselves up in their luggage and go with them, but they declined.) We had stuffed mushrooms, chicken, squash, and zuchinni. Yum! However tonight was nothing compared to the feast he's preparing for tomorrow night. He's already started the two-day process for it, as Eric and I stood around getting swatted away for trying to dip our fingers into it. After, we went to get gilato. Then we returned so the boys could talk about work till the wee hours while I zoned out and played around on my computer.

2008-06-02T16:29:00.011-05:00

Wednesday, May 28th
Went to the doctor today for another shot at trying to figure out this baby makin' business. I was pretty please seeing as this doctor actually sent me on my way with a "plan of action" as opposed to all the others that just said "I don't know what to tell ya, just keep trying." Yeah, those other doctors are sooooo fired!

I already really liked this doctor because last year she got me off of what I bitterly refer to as "the fat pills". For 6 years I had been asking doctors why I couldn't stop gaining weight and why nothing I did helped me to loose it. And every time I was told that it was me. - They said I was not eating right, not exercising right, blah, blah, blah. I tried to explain to them that I really was trying, but they just kept blowing me off. I even specifically asked them if it could be my medication and they denied it. Then my pal Becky referred me to her doctor and I figured I give it a shot.

This is basically how my conversation with this doctor went:
DR. - "What are you in for?"
ME - "I can't stop gaining weight and nothing I do helps. I'm taking medications A and B."
DR. - "It's your meds. Try this instead."
ME - Ok!

That was it! In less than 5 minutes! And then I lost 20 pounds!
Let me reiterate....those other doctors......sooooooo fired!

Thursday, May 29th
Spent the day with mom. We went to a restaurant called The Pizza Shack in Willis that I had never been to and it was really yummy! Jason and Hannah had recommended it to me for the bread pudding, because I happen to be a very big fan of bread pudding. They were right, it was very good. Still doesn't top The Whistle Stop, but very good none the less. And the pasta I had for lunch was really good too. After we were sufficiently "carbed", we made the rounds to the antiques shops in the area.

Friday, May 30th
I met my friends, Mandi N. and Nicole for lunch at Kobe, and well, let me just say that the 3 of us can do some major talking! At one point Mandi went to the restroom and upon returning said "Did you realise that the restaurant is closed?" Apparently this particular restaurant closes for a while between lunch and dinner, and had done so with us in it, and we hadn't stopped talking long enough to even notice. She had run into the owner on the way back to the table and he told her we could stay....so we did....until they brought us dinner menus. At that point we had been there for a little over five hours, and decided we should give up our booth. So we walked across the parking lot to Martinis and More to have ourselves a martini. When we went pay for our drinks the waitress said that they were already paid for. The guy next to us at the bar had paid for them. Now before you go getting the wrong idea, let me say that he was with his girlfriend/date and she was in on it. They were just being nice, so we chatted with them for a bit. After about 3 hours there we called it a night since a band started up and we couldn't hear each other talking any more. After I got home B and I watched a movie.

Saturday, May 31st
Mandi and I went to the movies to see Sex and the City and we happened to run into Nicole (the other gal with us last night) and one of her friends, so the 4 of us sat together. I liked it even thought I was disappointed that my favorite character, Aiden, wasn't in it. I knew he wouldn't be, but one can always hope. I've always hated that "Mr. Big" and wanted Aiden and Carrie to end up back together in the end. Oh well, I still liked it. I've heard that some people were disappointed, but whatever! - It was just like the tv show. I won't say anymore so that I don't spoil it for anyone that may be planning on seeing it. Oh, and some people have only seen the TBS edited for tv version of the show - if the edited version is too racey for ya - might want to skip the movie. But surely that's no big surprise!

Sunday, June 1st
Today my sweetie and I did a little grocery shopping and switched out our Blockbuster movies that we have had forever. I think we are going to cancel our Blockbuster Pass since we don't rent movies enough anymore to make up for it. We're thinking we'll just do Netflicks, and if we want something right away, there's two Red Box's right by our house that we can rent from for $1. After shopping we went home and made ourselves a fancy dinner for two and watched one of our movies. It still counts as a date when you're at home, right?

Monday, June 2nd
So, my insomnia has been back in full force this past week, and I guess it finally caught up with me, cause I didn't have the energy for much of anything today. I did a little laundry, a little cleaning, had a really long IM chat with my friend in Alabama, updated blog, and played around on the internet. And I watched one episode of Top Chef that took about 5 hours because I kept stopping to do something, or read something, or write something. Basically, I did a whole lotta sitting on my tush today. But I was in good company.....

Picking up where I left off...

2008-05-28T22:10:00.010-05:00

Wednesday, May 21st
I packed up me and B, then when he got home from work, me, B, Jeremy, and Mandy set out to drive to St. Louis. Since this was their official move they were driving both cars up, and we were going to be driving up anyway a few days later, we decided to go up a little early so we could save on gas and all take turns driving. This worked out well - I started out driving JB's suv w/ B in the passenger seat, and JB drove mandy's car w/ her as passenger. After about 4 hrs, we stopped for dinner and then B and I switched driving. After another 4 hours, we stopped again. B felt bad that JB hadn't had a brake yet, so they had Mandy come over to drive the suv w/ me as passenger and B drove the car w/ JB in it. I have to say that the last 4 hours of the trip flew by. It's amazing how fast a drive can go by when you have two people talking the whole time. Girls can do some talking!

Thursday, May 22nd
It was morning by the time we arrived at B's parent's house. We greeted his parents and then the 4 of us went straight to bed. Unfortunately, going to bed at this hour is not foreign to me.
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The next few days were spent visiting with B's parents and preparing for the party on Sunday.
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Goat Crossing! The neighbor's goats
This is standing in the street in front of B's parents house.

Sunday, May 25th - Family Reunion
About 60 people came out to celebrate B's Grandparent's 60th Wedding Anniversary. Other than being waaaay hotter than the nice breezy days leading up to the party, it was great.
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It's rare to have all 3 brothers and wives together, so we took the opportunity to get a family photo.

After helping clean up afterwards, we went back to JB and Mandy's new apartment for the night which is about about an hour and a half away. About 20 minutes after we left, we got a call from B's mom saying they had to go into the basement because there was a chance a tornado might be coming through! Thankfully, everything ended up ok, just some wind. They had one go through not too long ago and they've finally gotten things fixed up from that one.
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I took this from the car while we were driving. It's hard to see in this little pic, but I like the streeks of light from the passing cars.

Monday, May 26th
JB brought us to the airport at 5:30 (boo!) this morning. Nana and Harley picked us up from the airport. She dog-sat for us and said Harley was a perfect angel the whole time. (But, of course!)
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About 11:30 this evening, I was sitting up in the gameroom when I heard that memorable sound of a raccoon baby crying in our wall. Luckily for me, it happened to coming from the hole we already made in our wall! We had wood held up against the hole by a really heavy box and we left town praying a really strong raccoon didn't push it away while we were gone and destroy our house. So I moved it away and pulled out "Baby Raccoon #2", even smaller than the last one. Have I mentioned how incredibly cute baby raccoons are? Then I went to Walmart in the middle of the night to get more kitten milk replacement since I left what I bought last time with the other baby when I dropped it off. Walmart doesn't have the kind I like to use, but your options are pretty limited in the middle of the night. It didn't really matter because it wouldn't eat. Raccoon babies are hard to feed, I'm finding.

Tuesday, May 27th
"Raccoon baby #2" died today. I was sad. B buried it out behind our fence under the tree where my old turtle, Sammy, resides. I didn't even have to say anything, he just went and got the shovel and said "come on". He knows me so well.

Brace yourself! It's a long one!

2008-05-12T15:27:00.034-05:00

O.k., so it's not May 12th. It's actually May 21st. Yep, I've been a bad blogger. I've been updating this post, but hadn't put the pictures in, so I never posted it. Due to some complaints, I figured I better get crackin' and get this thing out, since I have now accumulated 3 weeks worth. Sorry, it's so lengthy. Oh, and we don't normally eat out this much!

Thursday, May 1st

After selling the house in New Orleans, my brother came back with my mom for a visit. And they brought crawfish with them! Yum! I was quite pleased seeing as I was in great need for a fix. When I got to mom's, she, my brother and Johnny were all outside boiling the crawfish. After chatting for a minute or so, I look waaay over to where their horse Maggie is grazing, and said "Wait a minute, what's that?!" They all look at me with cheese eatin' grins on their faces and say "What are you talking about? What's what?" And I said "Um, uh, hellooo, there's two of them!" They started laughing. They had gotten another horse and had kept it a secret so that I would discover it when I got there. She's only a year old and her name is Abby.

Maggie (L) and Abby (R)
Mmmm...goood!

Why do Louisiana folks read the newspaper? Table cloths for crawfish eatin'!

I had to "eat and run" to meet, B, James, and Shannon to help J.B. and Mandy pack up their apartment and load up their U-Haul to moved to St. Louis. They are moving their stuff this weekend and then will come back and stay with us for another few weeks before officially moving.

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Friday, May 2nd

Yay, I finally rented some movies that I didn't hate! - Enchanted, 27 Dresses, and Lars and the Real Girl. So, I thought "Lars and the Real Girl" was going to be totally stupid, I mean it is about a man in love with a life sized doll after all. But it totally surprised me! Now, I must say, to truely appreciate this movie, you have to be able to look past the surface level man/doll thing, which I think a lot of people might have trouble with. If you can do that, you will find that this movie was very well done, well acted, and full of symbolic elements. If you get stuck on the doll, you'll miss it all! - As I found a few nights later, when I watched it with B. lol

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Saturday, May 3rd

This evening Lisa went out to my mom's house with us for a dinner with some of the people that helped them move into their house. Before dinner, I gave her a tour of the "animal farm" on the golf cart. We really know how to show people a good time out on the farm! hehehe Oh, and the horse sneezed on me. - That's always good fun! lol

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Monday, May 5th

Started a little Spring Cleaning in my craft/crap room.
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J.B. and Mandy moved in with us for the next few weeks before they move to St. Louis.

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Tuesday, May 6th

Spent the day with mom. We went to lunch, I went with her to a dr.'s appointment, and we did some shopping.

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Thursday, May 8th

Had lunch with some friends - BTW, I have a pet peeve! - At lunch today there was 7 of us gals, and the waiter brings one check! This drives me crazy! Why don't they ask?- Then I ran some errands I needed to run, and then met up with Lisa at the movies to see Made of Honor - We went with low expectations, so we were pleased.
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Friday, May 9th
I went to a party at our neighbors house this afternoon. I left early to meet my mom and grandma at my house, but they were a bit late and didn't show up for another 3 hours. Ugh! This did however, give me plenty of time to clean my house, make a side dish, and make a dessert for the party Jeremy and Mandy are throwing at our house tomorrow. And make a gift for them. Mom and g-ma finally showed up and picked up the present for my cousin's b-day party this evening. My mom had seen a photo I had taken of my cousin and brother hanging on my wall and really liked it, so we decided to give it to my cousin for her b-day. So I framed and wrapped another one for her just like this one.

For Jenn

For JB and Mandy

I also gave them the Mother's Day cards that I made for my grandma and aunts, since they were all going to be celebrating Mother's Day on Saturday with pedicures at the spa. Then after they left, I had to make a mad dash to run my errands, the first of which had to be done by 4pm, which I just made with 5 minutes to spare. (BTW, when I spoke to my mother later and mentioned that I just barely made it in time, she actually said "Well, why did you wait so long to go?"...... I guess she forgot about that 3 hours I waited for her.) Anywaaays, after running around, I met up with B to shop for the rest of the food for their party. I have learned over the years that it is dangerous to let him go to Sam's alone, so I now try to make sure I go with him when he goes there. lol

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May 10th

I finished cleaning house and getting ready for the party. Then, I was walking by my living room window and something caught my eye.

A turtle was taking a stroll through our backyard! It was a bit camera shy!

We had a great time at the party - people started arriving at about 2:00pm and the the last of the folks left about midnight. Ten hours or food, friends, and fun! - and a little bit of "Rock Band" and "Pass the Baby"!

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May 11th - Mother's Day!

Spent the day with mom - me, B, mom, and Johnny went to lunch, went for a drive, then to a winery that mom had been wanting to go to, then drove some more and stopped at different places along the way. It was a nice relaxing day. For part of mom's Mother's Day gift, I made her a flower arrangement that was supposed to look like a Margaritta, straw and little umbrella included.

Relaxing after some wine tasting

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This is where I had stopped "journaling" and never did post it, so now I'm filling in by memory, and I can't remember much, so I'm just adding what I have written on my calendar.

Monday, May 12th

Went to the movies (What Happens in Vegas) and to my Photography club meeting.

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Tuesday, May 13th

Dinner at Chuy's with B, JB, and Mandy

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Wednesday, May 14th

Lunch with my friend Mandi N. at Mama Juanitas.

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Thursday, May 15th

Lunch at Cafe Adobe with mom, Aunt Kathy, and grandma. (Yes, it just so happens that everyone I've eaten with for the past 3 days has wanted Mexican food. - And I get fajitas every time. lol) Then we went over to the Waterway fountain and then to Market Street. This evening I followed them back to my mom's for dinner and stayed the night. Johnny was gone and it was just us 4 gals, so we watched 27 Dresses and stayed up late chatting.

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Friday, May 16th

Hung out at mom's and then when Johnny came home, he and I brought their horse, Maggie, over to the breeder's, or as we like to call it - her boyfriend's house. An ultra sound at the vet determined she didn't get pregnant the 1st time, so they are trying again. In addition to Maggie's boyfriend, Phantom, the breeder had 9 mares, 3 had new babies and one was due to have hers that day. She also had 5 Chihuahuas, and one of them had 5 puppies. When we got back to my mom's, she said "I bet you liked that place." - I did!
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Happiness is a warm puppy! (No, I didn't take it home with me.)

Phantom (Maggie's stud)

This evening B and I had dinner with JB, Mandy, Josh, and Bella at Texas Road House and then sat and chatted at Starbucks.

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Saturday, May 17th

We went to Mandy's college graduation this morning.

This evening we finally caught the second racoon in the attic (Stinky #2) and we dropped it off near where we dropped off the last one.
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Sunday, May 18th

Went to the movies this afternoon, then Market Street. Oh, and since we caught that racoon yesterday, now it's baby has been crying in the wall all day, which makes me sad. Boo. This evening me, B, JB, and Harley went for a walk. Then James came by to visit and next thing you know we are all standing around watching him cut a hole in our gameroom wall to extract a crying baby racoon. FYI - racoon babies are really cute!
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Monday, May 19th

....Soooooo, today I went to Petsmart to get some kitten milk and a bottle to feed the baby racoon until we figure out what to do with it. Man, oh man, this thing is cute! I couldn't get it to eat much.

I started out using a glove, because I didn't know if it might try to bite me.

It didn't take me too long to realize it was just a sweet little baby.

Yay! We found a vet clinic near by that takes in baby racoons and brings them to a place that takes care of them until they can be released. I'm glad it will be taken care of, but I was sad when I dropped it off. - Probably not the best idea to leave a baby animal in the care of a 34 year old woman with no kids. She might get attatched. hehehe

After I dropped off the raccoon, I was going to get B's car registered, but my car broke down instead. After having to pull over twice, the third time I finally gave up trying to get any further down the road when I realized I had pulled over in front of a transmission place. Oh, and it happened to be a transmission place that Johnny has a car at right now. Convenient, eh? B and Johnny, and mom came to meet me there. We left my car there to get checked out and we all went out for dinner.
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Tuesday, May 20th

I went to get B's car registered. Went to pick up lunch with Mandy.

Later, we went back to pick up my car from the transmission place. They couldn't find anything wrong with it, and of course couldn't get it to do what it was doing to me yesterday. So, they didn't charge us anything. Yay!

This evening we went to one last dinner at Black Walnut with Jeremy and Mandy before they move.

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Bittersweet

2008-04-30T23:01:00.011-05:00

Well folks, it's happened!
Today my mom signed the papers.
The house in New Orleans is sold!

This is a good thing, yet we are all so very sad to let go. I have moved around so much in my life that I guess when we moved there 21 years ago, that house became a constant in my life. After high school, I continued to move around, though as long as my mom and brother remained there, that was "home" to me. Even after I got married, I would catch myself saying "my house" or "our house" when referencing it. I guess other people probably do that too when speaking of their childhood home. It's hard to image that someone else will live there now.

April Shower Brought a Flower

2008-04-28T18:55:00.006-05:00

Thursday we had dinner at Genghis Grill with Jeremy and Mandy. They are preparing for their move, so B is hoping to squeeze in some time with his brother before he goes.

I have to say that B and I were very excited about this weekend. Not only because our friend's new baby was coming, but because for the first time in a very long time, we had no plans!!! Don't get me wrong, we like having things to do, but sometimes it sure is nice to have no prior arrangements, and to just make it up as we go along.

Friday brought the arrival of Becky's family's new addition. Isn't she beau-ti-ful?!

I had to let B hold her too. Boo! Hehe!
Tiny toes. Soooo cute!
Saturday we had dinner at Texas Road House with Lisa, Jeremy, Mandy, and Nana. And we ran into David and Maria while we were there.

Unfortunately, Sunday B ended up having to do something for work, but by 4pm, he'd had enough. So, we made a trip to Blockbuster and got ice cream at Marble Slab (yum!). My last three rentals, that I turned in on Sunday, were all bombs. Heartbreak Kid, Someone to Eat Cheese With (independent-about as dumb as the name), and Margot at The Wedding (depressing and I'm not sure there was ever actually a wedding, I zoned out). I sure am getting tired of bad movies. It has actually become a chore to find something worth renting these days. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised seeing as there's rarely anything worth seeing at the theater anymore. I feel like I have had this conversation on here before, if so, sorry. Guess, I'm just frustrated because I used to enjoy watching movies. I suppose, it's not only that movies have gone down hill, but also that I have gotten choosier and don't want to waste time on one I don't enjoy. Ah, well, such is life.....

Oh, and this was a big weekend for Harley. Our Spring time yard bunny has returned - and Harley does so much enjoy a good rabbit chasing.

No sleep till....

2008-04-24T03:06:00.003-05:00

Just thought I would note that it's 3am and there are 3 people and a dog in this house right now and the dog's the only one sleeping. B and Tom are up working and I'm, well, just up cause I'm me.

I'm Just a Girl...

2008-04-24T01:43:00.011-05:00

Tuesday, April 22nd
Had a nice lunch with the girls today. After, I stopped to get air in my tires. I've been needing to do it, especially because it uses more fuel when your air is low. I certainly don't want to waste good fuel, since due to the prices, I can only assume that they have started putting gold flakes into it. My mom called to say she was at a dr.'s appointment in the area and wanted to see a movie or something after. So, I stopped by the two theaters so see what was playing and the times, but there was nothing that I wanted to see. I went to Market Street to walk around a bit until she was done with her appointment, which of course, included Borders bookstore. Even though I have been on a reading hiatus lately, I picked up a discounted book. From what I gathered from the description, it's about a woman that doesn't want kids, then at 34, she changes her mind. It sounded like a book I can definitely relate to. After the book store, I met my mom and we went to Garden Ridge for a while and then we went to eat some Mexican food.

A walk through my garden

2008-04-23T13:48:00.021-05:00

Well, I've pretty much given up on planting in my yard. I'm just sticking with the few things that will grow for me. The only new thing that I planted this year were the bluebonnets two weeks ago, and so far, so good. Otherwise I have stuck to a few potted plants - my new lemon tree, my tomato bush, and an odd little plant called Fuchsia. I was very happy to see a few of my old plants return to bloom this spring.

Note: I don't mean to bore you, but I want to keep a record of my plants, so I can compare next year. So here goes.....

Indian Hawthorn - bloommed for a few weeks in March - done now

Azalia - bloomed for a few weeks in March- done now

Old Lemon tree with barely any leaves on it (R) - that I only got 2 lemons from in 3 years and am bitter about (lol) - and new lovely blooming Lemon tree (L), oh, and Harley of course!

Tiny little lemons on the new one - we'll see if they grow into anything, seeing as this is the wrong season for them to be popping up. I've been keeping an eye on the big one on the right and it's grown a little. Not much happening with the rest.

Strange thing that grows out of my aloe vera plants every year. It appears that I have 2 different kinds of aloe plants and only one kind gets this thing. It grows several feet tall, then eventually dies and I pull it off. Very strange!
Poison Ivy! - We get lots of this! - Aren't we lucky? - Don't be jealous!
My funny little Fuchsia plant I got 2 weeks ago is currently blooming on my porch. I spotted this in the Walmart plant area and it struck my fancy. I thought I'd give it a try.
. I like the little flowers on it.

Bluebonnets - I've had bluebonnets in this spot the past 2 years, but last year I planted some strange hybrid that made red bluebonnets. Lisa says I can't call them bluebonnets, if they are red - she takes her Texas State Flower very seriously! (lol) So, awhile after I planted them, I found out that you can't put the blues and reds together because they kill each other out. I guess because of the hybrid thing. And sure enough, this year neither came back. So, I'm started over this year and will now be staying away from those red ones - should have listened to Lisa!
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Two weeks ago - still blooming!

Society Garlic - bought late last year, because as I mentioned in a post last year, the yard guy cut all mine down awhile back. The new ones started blooming a few weeks ago - still going strong!
My beloved Walking Iris! - These are my favorite of my garden flowers. I started them from some plants that I pulled from my mom's garden in New Orleans. They multiply pretty easily and my hope is that they will one day fill a large portion of my side garden.

This was last week - I got a cute little bud!
And this is today! So lovely! I think it looks like a cross between an Iris and an Orchid.

And last, but not least....my new tomato bush. I've had it about 4 weeks now, I believe and it is doing very well so far.

The progression of my maters!
March 31st

A few weeks ago

One week ago

Today! - Looky, looky what I got! I pulled the left one Monday and the right one today. I was so worried a bird or something would get to them this weekend while we were out of town, so I brought the bush inside. I put it back outside today so more would ripen.

So pretty! It's ashame I'm gonna hafta eat cha!
Back to work little tomato bush - momma wants a tasty salad!

Weekend #16 - Johnny's Family Reunion

2008-04-20T23:58:00.022-05:00

Friday, April 18th

I do some grocery shopping (twice), make brownies, and pack up the car for the weekend. Then we head out to my mom's to await the arrival of Johnny's son, wife, and 3 kids from New Orleans. They have a one year old and 3 year old twins. We spend the night there.

Three car seats!

Saturday, April 19th

We all head out bright and early for Milano for Johnny's family's reunion. There's still some wild flowers in bloom, so the ride was nice. We had a good time visiting with everyone.

We did some......

Eatin'Fishin' Ridin' - A happy grandpa!
More ridin' - Johnny loves that tractor!Boatin'
Reflectin'
Marshmellowin'
Full Moonin'
Sunday, April 20th

Clean up and pack up to come back home. We stopped by Johnny's cousins house on the way out so the kids could see the cows, but they were in another pasture so we visited with his horses, Joe and Blaze.

Feeding Joe

An Erin sighting - very rare on my camera!
Driving down the road, Johnny spotted some people he knew going by in this mule drawn carriage, so we stopped to chat with them. That thing has a bathroom inside and a bbq pit that hangs off the back that they can fire up as they go down the road when they do trail rides. Then when they stop they can pull down the sides and sleep in it. Now, that's the way to do a trail ride!

2008-04-17T00:22:00.012-05:00

Monday, April 14th - Tuesday, April 15th
I went with my mom and Johnny to Milano, Tx. Johnny and his sister have 50 acres there that had belonged to their parents. This weekend we will be having a family reunion there with Johnny's family, so we went to fix up, clean up, and get ready. Over time, Johnny and I have been working on replacing the flooring in his trailor, so we did a few more sections. He claims he can't cut a straight line, so I do most of the cutting. This is fun for me, because I do so much enjoy using power tools! Plus, it's good father/daughter bonding time! Since it's been a while since anyone has been up there, we had a lot of cleaning to do! Between the cleaning and washing my hands a million times, my hands got so dry I thought they might bleed. Booo! I have since, lotioned them up and they are doing much better now. Yay! And here's a fun little story.......Monday evening I was walking from the kitchen to the living room in the trailer and I see something move across the floor. Now my first thought is very large roach and it's no secret that I have a very large fear of roaches. But it took only a moment to realize that this was no roach. It was a mouse! Eeeek! This is were I start yelling "Mouse! Mouse!" and mom and Johnny come running. I would have loved to have gotten a photo of the little fella, but that would have required me to come down from the furniture my mother and I were standing on top of. After running around a bit, it climbed up inside of a chair. We stood there watching the chair to see what was going to happen, then all of a sudden, it popped up from between the cushion and was sitting on top the seat, which we had to admit was pretty funny. Then it went back inside the chair and would not come out. Soooo, what do you do when you can't get a mouse out of your chair? Well, you roll that chair right out the front door, that's what you do! And now there's one less chair in the trailer.
Here's one of the sections of floor that we pulled up. I forgot to get an "after" photo.

Just sitting on the dock of the pond, wasting time....
Enjoying the reflections on the pond
Gradient of blue from the reflection of the sky

Which way is up? - I posted this picture sideways because if you tilt your head either direction the picture is nearly the same!

Babies, babies everywhere!

2008-04-16T14:29:00.020-05:00

Friday, April 4th
Lisa and I finished getting everything together for Becky's baby shower and went over to Becky's mom's house to set up. And....well....when there's a dog around, I tend to get distracted....and played around with the pup using our cowgirl shower decor. That look of quiet despiration...

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Saturday, April 5th - Becky's shower!

Today we hosted Becky's Baby shower at her mom's house. Lisa and I picked up the cake and went to finish setting up. Everything was coming along quite nicely until we realized that I forgot the punch bowl and had to go back home to get it. Oops! I missed the first few minutes of the party, but we had punch!

cake topper

Becky, her mom (R), and her mother-in-law (L)
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Thursday, April 10th

This week I have been getting my house straightened up for Lisa's shower on Saturday. Today I finished up the cleaning and framed a drawing I did for Lisa.

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Friday, April 11th

Becky, her mom, sisters, and Kelsey came over to my house with a bunch of cupcakes for the party and we put icing on them. There were a lot of cupcakes! Then we finished setting everything up. We're ready to go!

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Saturday, April 12th - Lisa's Shower!

Becky, Kelsey, and I hosted Lisa's baby shower at my house this afternoon.
The cake Kelsey made! Lisa

Ok, so you've heard of the movie "Three Men and a Baby", well I call this picture "Three pregos and an Erin" hehehe Later this evening while B was still at his brother's house (where he was hiding out while the women filled our house) I met Micah, Lisa, Glenn, Becky, Chris, and Kelsey at the park for a dinner picnic.

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Sunday, April 13th

After church, we met my mom and Johnny for lunch. Then my mom and I went the the Woodlands Art Festival. It is one of the four yearly Woodlands events that I really look forward to. The others being Mutt Strutt and the 2 big Woodlands garage sales in the Spring and Fall. I've missed the past 2 garage sales because the one last month was when we were at the Round Top Antique Show and the one this past Fall happened to fall on the same day as Mutt Strutt.

Doin' some whittlin'

The brightly colored streamers on this tent caught my eye
Here's a closer look

9999

2008-04-07T16:56:00.003-05:00

So, after we got back from Round Top, we sat down to look at the pictures I had taken. When I opened up the file I was confused because the pictures from the second day were before most of the pictures from the first day. "Huh? That's strange!", I said. Then I realized what had happened. My camera keeps a running number every time I take a picture and once it reaches 9999, it starts over at 0001. So, I've had this camera for 15 months and I've taken over ten thousand pictures! Ummm.....I guess that's a lot....ummm....I think....I kinda like to take pictures.....

Now I'm on 0450.

I have to say that I often will take several pics of one thing using different modes and keep the one I like best and delete the rest, so I don't actually have nearly as many pictures as I have taken.

Weekend in Round Top, Tx

2008-04-06T23:19:00.018-05:00

Friday, March 28th

B's grandma, and his aunts Mindy and Becky flew in from St. Louis.

Saturday, March 29th

Me, B, his grandma, and his aunts drove to Round Top for their huge antique show. It was fun! And a bit overwhelming because there's so much to see. It would take all week to see most of it. Talk about sensory overload! So many cool things to take pictures of. Here's a few from day 1.

And the Best Sign Award goes to........."Dead People's Stuff"!

And the Creepy Award goes to.......Table Full of Old Doll Heads!

We spotted this place while driving. It was really cute!

We spent the night at a Bed and Breakfast with a beautiful field of bluebonnets in front of it.

Shhhh....Don't tell Harley that another dog got in our family pic. The B & B owner's dog jumped in.
Sunday, March 30th
We headed out for some more shopping.

When we were driving home I had B pull over cause I spotted a bridge I wanted to take a picture of. And we also got in a group photo. We put the camera on the hood of the car and took one with me in it as well, but I like this one better.

I like the reflection of the bridge in the water.

Easter was early, but this post is late....

2008-03-28T14:13:00.023-05:00

Here's a bunch of pictures I've taken over the past few weeks.

Thursday, March 13th, 2008
Pics in the Park - A few of the Easter pics I took of Kelsey and Clara - I had very photogenic subjects!

Saturday March 15th, 2008 - Ten years in Texas!

We had people over this evening to celebrate my tenth year in Texas. It's hard to believe I've been here this long. It was a rough start, but I stuck it out, and - what do you know! - The darn place grew on me! All I had to do was get out of Houston, hehehe. The gals

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

My Somebunny Special

"Uh, not a fan of the ears." "Take that!""That's much better!"
"Aaahhh, sweet victory!" "And now I shall look at the camera!"

Friday, March 21st, 2008

Did a lttle shopping with Lisa and then later I found another park for pics.

Friday, March 21st, 2008

Hangin' with my Peeps

Biker Chick
Odd Chick

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 - Easter
I made carrot cake cupcakes.
Our baskets o'goodies. The 3 matching ones in the front are ours - Mine (pink): a humming bird feeder, Pez, minty gum, Dark Chocolate covered pomagranet, and a stuffed Chi that looks like the pics I took of Harley - B's (blue): Sixlets (his fav!), Pez, Jelly Belly's, and Japanese snack crackers - Harley (green): Snacks, food, and stuffed squirrel (all of which he already owned, I just put in the basket for fun. lol)
Easter bunnies from grandma

Bunnies like beer. No, really, they do!

My lil' brother

Jennifer taking a ride on MaggieThe End

Free to Be Me

2008-03-25T14:56:00.003-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSNwxeY09bE
The above video is a little inspiration for anyone who has had people try to change the way they are. It's a pretty silly (and old) video, but the point is the message. We are all free to be our own individuals and "yay!" to that, because wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same?
On Easter, my family and I were sitting around the table when my grandmother decided to inform me that she doesn't like the way I dress because I wear dark colors. With the help of the others this went on for quite a while. Apparently, I am too young to wear black (whatever that means), and it makes me look bad (thanks!), and I should be wearing white (which I hate to do) and bright colors (ugh!). So, basically - Change to please them? - Well....sorry....not gonna happen! Other people wear bright colors and I think they look great in them. It's just not my personal taste. I'm an earth tone kind of gal. Different colors appeal to different people. Hello!....That's why there are so many choices. Anyway, the point of this rambling is not color choices. The point is to be your own person and don't aspire to let other people's negativity influence you.

A sad day on the farm

2008-03-20T22:08:00.005-05:00

My mom and Johnny's donkey, Sugar, passed away today. She's the one we have been hoping was pregnant. She was so sweet and loved to be near them and follow them around. Sometimes when Johnny would be working on something she liked to stand beside him leaning up against him. My mom has never had pets before "the farm", other than whatever my brother and I brought home, so this is really her first experience with the loss of a pet. It was a freak and unexpected accident and I think it caught her off guard at how attatched we can become to our pets. Having never been an "animal person ", she says she is really starting to understand this now. Sugar was buried today in the woods on their property.

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Pals - Sugar and Maggie

Sugar and Jethro playing chase

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

2008-03-17T21:11:00.005-05:00

I wore my green today. Did you?

A little Wikipedia for ya:
"Erin is a Hiberno-English derivative of Irish Gaelic Éirinn, the dative case - and also locative case - of Éire, the Irish word for "Ireland".[1] Poets and also nineteenth-century Irish nationalists also used Erin in English as a romantic name for Ireland, as shown in the catchphrase (when speaking of Ireland's experiences with Britain), "Let Erin Remember". Erin has also been used as a poetic name for peace and love."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin

"Erin Go Bragh (also sometimes: Erin Go Braugh) is the Anglicization of a Gaelic phrase used to express allegiance to Ireland. It is most often translated as "Ireland Forever...."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Go_Bragh

Slacker

2008-03-14T16:59:00.011-05:00

Well, I really have been quite the blogger slacker these days. I guess I lost that bloggin' feeling. I'll try to do better (I make no promises, lol). Let's see......B went out of town for 5 days (Austin), so you know what that means......snuggle fest with Harley!...... Since he's not allowed in our room because of B's allergies, I pull out the sofa bed and sleep with the dog while B's away. Yes, I know, small pleasures in life.....it's good stuff! I also rented several movies, that I know B won't watch with me. I got Becoming Jane (he'd watch this one), some other movie that I forget the name of, but it doesn't matter, Knocked Up, and Factory Girl. I enjoyed Becoming Jane (Jane Austen) although I was sad at the end, (way too remenicient of a Nicholas Sparks book, lol), but, then, I knew what was coming. The other movie had Mandy Moore in it, and as I said, not worth discusing. Knocked Up......well we all know going into this one that it's vulgar.....that's what everyone says after watching it. And while I would certainly agree, and thus would very much like to have done away with a good portion of the movie, unfortunately there were several things I liked about it. Sadly, I would imagine that the vulgarity in this movie is probably normal in some peoples lives, but not mine. I totally agree with the comments Jenn made in her post about the movie, so I won't repeat it all. Ideally, it would have been great to take all the positive stuff from the movie and make a whole new movie. Moving on to Factory Girl, B wouldn't have liked it because it revolves around that whole 60's culture, and all that that implies, but for some reason I happen to be quite interested in that era. (Hence, my love for the movie "Across the Universe".) Maybe it's because I look at it in terms of art and music and creativity, I don't know. Anyway, the movie is based on the life of Edie Sedgwick and her relationship with Andy Warhol and their life at "The Factory". This one won't appeal to some, but I enjoy movies and books about "the life of ___", so I was intertained. On that subject, I am currently reading a biography of Marie Antionette that I am finding interesting.

While we are on the subject of the 60's, this week on American Idol I was pleased to find them doing Paul McCartney/John Lennon songs. And, man, that Chekezie guy totally surprised me, I really liked him. I also enjoyed David Cook (Eleanor Rigby), Brooke (Let it Be), and Carly (Come Together). Michael (Across the Universe) was ok, but I give him extra points cause I like the song. Everyone else bored me. *Spoiler alert* I haven't watched the results show for this week yet, but you can't turn your computer on without finding out what happens on these shows, so I saw that David Hernandez was eliminate this week. Can't say I'm disappointed about that one. I guess America's not too fond of strippers seeing as they eliminated him and let David Archuleta slide for forgetting the words to his song. BTW, there's too many Davids on that show.

And last, but not least, my pal Jenn tagged me! I'm supposed to post pics about 5 facts about me and then tag someone else. Sooooo........

My Photo Meme

1.) When something says this...

I simply must do this.....

2.) I enjoy cajun and zydeco music and it's fun to dance to.

In college my boyfriend and I use to go out dancing nearly every weekend. We did country, ballroom, and cajun, but cajun was always the most fun. Sometimes we would go to this cajun restaraunt/bar in town that had bands come and they would film the bands and people dancing. Kind of like Soul Train, but local and cajun, hehehe. People would tell us that they'd seen us on tv dancing, but I never watch it.

3.) Orchids amaze me because they're so beautiful.

4.) I love to fly.

I use to quite often fly in my dreams, but for some reason I haven't done it in a long time.

One thing I miss about working for Continental is being able to travel and hop on a plane when ever I wanted. It's addictive and I sometimes crave it.

5.) Sometimes when I'm in a store and I see a card or a craft or something that I like, I will take a picture of it, so I can try to make it myself.

Now I shall tag......Kelsey and Becky.

2008-03-05T01:31:00.013-06:00

Friday, February 29th
We had dinner with Micah, Lisa, Glenn, Becky, L, Chris, Kelsey, and C. Then we got ice cream and walked over to Market Street.

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Saturday, March 1st
I was going to go to the Conroe Airport to see the WWII airplanes with the photography club, but I thought it would be more fun to go with Johnny. So he and my mom and I went. I love taking pictures of airplanes, so I had so much fun and took a bunch of pics. If you had some money burning a hole in your pocket, for $250-$400 you could buy yourself a ride on one of the planes. It sounds like a lot of money, but supposedly it takes like $3600 per plane an hour for fuel and maintenance on those suckers. And they were coming and going the whole time, so there was a lot of people willing.

Cool story #1: There was this lady there who's dad was a WWII pilot, so she surprised him by bringing him there and they both went up together in one of the planes. When they returned the cute little ol' guy climbed out of the plane and all his grand-children were lined up waiting and all together yelled out "Happy birthday grandpa!" It was so cool my mom and I both got tears in our eyes (grandpa stuff gets to us).A little issue of lighting, lol

This is the one I sooo wish I could have flown inThe back end

Then we met my grandma for lunch and then went to the fair grounds to check out some barrel racing. I was kind of bored with the barrel racing, but as luck would have it we sat behind some ladies that had 4 dogs with them and 3 were Chihuahuas. So, I was entertained by them.

Cool story #2: We started talking to one of the ladies and she said that the Chihuahuas belonged to her friend that was competing in the show. She said that they travel around to these competitions and the dogs patiently sit there all day (they each had their own seat with little beds so they could sleep). Then she told us that one of the dogs is 13 and nearly deaf, but somehow he knows when his owner is up racing and will bark the whole time she's up. Then when she's done he stops. A little later that lady came to sit with them and all the dogs were all excited to see her. She started talking to that dog saying "I heard you barking for me!" Yep, I teared up again!

The dog/human bond is so amazing!

I thought this little boy was really cute

Cowgirl up!

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Sunday, February 2nd
Went to church and then to lunch with Rob, Marlena, and K. Then we all walked around Market Street.

My Big Fat American Idol Review

2008-02-28T17:51:00.001-06:00

I don't really have one distinct favorite yet and I can't remember their names yet. I thought the guys did better overall this particular week. Though I didn't think he did as well this week, I've liked the Australian guy ever since he did Bohemian Rapsody. I thought for sure he was doomed as soon as he said he was about to sing that song, but I actually thought it was the best version I've ever heard. This week, I also liked the brown haired guy that sang "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" and the guy with the rock voice that played guitar. I think they are both named David. Chekezie Eze, did alright, and I really love saying his name. I sometimes find myself saying it when I'm walking around the house (yes, sad, but true). The young guy is is good, but we'll see what happens when his voice finishes changing, lol. Right now, the girl I like best is the blond that played guitar and sang Carly Simon's "You're So Vain". Though the judges weren't as thrilled, I also liked the one that did "Me and Mr. Jones". And, because I'm a Heart fan, I liked the Irish girl's "Crazy on You". But was very sad, when the other blond girl butchered one of my favs, "Magic Man" by Heart. That's all I can remember....

Our own Internet Cafe

2008-02-24T20:42:00.010-06:00

It's a sad state of affairs when three people are in a room together and they are all on their own laptops. lol
Me, B, and Jeremy this evening

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Friday, February 22
We were feeling pretty indecisive this evening. We were not going to go out to eat, then we were, then we didn't. We were going to see if the neighbors wanted to get some dessert, then not. We wanted to exchange our Blockbuster movies, then not really, then we did. Then we picked up some Marble Slab and brought it over to Micah and Lisa's and visited for a little while. So, the evening turned out nice.

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Saturday, February 23

I ended up going to the Photography Club outing. They teased me because they were all trecking through the park with bags of cameras and part and tripods and asked me if I wanted to carry anything. I said "No thanks, I'm good with my pocket camera." lol Everyone was nice, I was the youngest in the group by a good 15 years. One of the guys really tried to help me out by suggesting shots for me to take, but my camera was so not capable of doing what he was suggesting. Since my macro broke on my newer camera, I brought my older one as well, but it didn't work either. I was pretty dissapointed when I came home and looked at all the shots on my computer cause I didn't like any of them. Oh, well.

On my way home, I stopped at a garage sale on the side of the road that appeared to be run by a Harley Davidson biker group. It struck me as interesting (and kind of humerous) so I had to stop and purchase something. There was also some people selling puppies, which caught my eye. They let me take a few pictures, which turned out to be the one picture I like from the day, cause it is so darn cute.
In the evening we went to my aunt's house to celebrate my cousins birthday. She and her friends had gone to Libby Lu and gotten their hair and make-up done. They all looked so cute!

The girls watching High School Musical. I had never seen this movie, so I stood around for a few minutes to check it out. OMG, I left pretty quick!

A party ain't a party til someone "busts a move"!

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Sunday, February 25th

Went to church, and to lunch, and strolled around market street, and went to some of the shops. Then we went for a "Sunday drive" and ended up checking out some model homes and pretending we were looking for a new house (we're not!). Then we went over to B's grandma's for dinner. Later, Jeremy came to stay the night at our house because he was downtown all day and has to be back in the morning.
Watching a performance of "Oliver" at Market Street.

2008-02-21T19:57:00.003-06:00

When I get on the internet, I never know where I'm going to end up. One link leads to another, and so on, and so on. ........ I recently came across the site of a local forum group. People in "my town" get on there and discuss general topics, local issues, local restaraunts, etc. Sometimes, some of them meet up for lunch, so when I saw that they were meeting today at a restaraunt near my house, I decided to join them. Now this is really out of my usual comfort zone, but sometimes I make myself do things for just that reason. Like the time I made myself try out for a play. Unfortunately, I hadn't prepared myself for the fact that I might actually get a part in the play, which I did, but after a few weeks of rehearsals nearly everyday, I got bored and quit. Yep, I'm a quitter. Anywaaaay, I met the ladies for lunch today and quite enjoyed myself. They were all very nice and I even met another gal my age who's a "housewife w/o kids".

Now, the next thing I am trying to talk myself into is this Saturday. My photography club is having a field trip to take pictures at a park (the same one where we recently went camping). I signed up to go, but now I'm embarassed to show up there with my little "point and click" camera. These people are serious, and they've got serious cameras, with fancy lenses, and everything else that goes along. The club is for all skill levels, but I've seen slideshows of their field trip photos and they aren't messin' around. Their photo taking requires bags of stuff and "set up". Mine requires taking my camera out of my pocket! hehehe So, I'm trying to make myself suck it up and go. But, I'm NOT carpooling with them in case I need to made a mad dash out of there. lol

In my random internet surfings I came across this site. I thought it might be of interest to my pals Jenn and Kelsey. http://greenmomfinds.com/ It looks like it links to some other interesting sites as well......and so on, and so on.....lol.....

And since I don't like to blog w/o putting up a photo, and I haven't taken any in the last few days, I will instead leave you with one of my "altered" old photos for your viewing pleasure. I don't have photoshop (nor do I know how to use it), but my laptop came with this tool that lets me change the coloring and contrasting somewhat so I've been having fun playing around with it on some of my photos.

Before

AfterI like the new version so much better! I love how the colors came out , especially at the top of the photo, so I couldn't bear to crop them out. And the subject's pretty cute too, huh?!

2008-02-18T11:12:00.013-06:00

Saturday, February 16th
Cleaned house, visited Becky at the hospital, went grocery shopping for the party.
This evening, we had friends over for a fondu party. It was yummy and fun! And we're really glad Becky busted out of the hospital and joined us.
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Sunday, February 17th

I found another park to take pictures in, then went to an antique shop.

This evening B and I went to another park and had dinner with Micah and Lisa. Then Micah, Lisa, and I went to the movies to see "Fool's Gold". We went with low expectations, but it was actually better than we thought it would be.

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Love and Lays

Mom and daughter fishing

Doesn't this picture looks like we are standing in front of a fake background?

This week

2008-02-15T19:41:00.018-06:00

Monday, February 11th
After my Photography Club meeting I was motivated to go to Market Street to take some night shots. My camera doesn't do too well with night shots, but here's a few that I liked.

Reflection in the puddle

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Tuesday, February 12th

Dropped B off at the airport at 7:30am. Then I went over to the park to take some more pictures. I am sad because my macro no longer works on my camera, so no more close ups.....boo! I came across some ducks that were willing to pose for me and one of the park maintenance guys showed me a duck hiding in the grass sitting on her eggs. I had dinner this evening at our new neighbors house.

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Thursday, February 14th - Valentine's Day

Here's a picture of the Valentine's frenzy at the grocery store.

Today I made chocolate covered strawberries, bannanas and blueberries for my Valentine.
Here's my "tuxedo" strawberries. I was quite proud of myself.
After seeing mine, my neighbor decided to make some as well. My Valentine gave me roses, chocolate, and the "Across the Universe" DVD. Then we had dinner at my mom's.

Here's my other Valentine with his gift from me.

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Friday, February 15th - Our 5th Anniversary!

B took the day off so we could spend the day together for our anniversary.

2008-02-11T13:26:00.000-06:00

For those with kiddos
I stumbled across this today while browsing the internet and thought I'd pass it along incase those with kiddos didn't already know about it.
.http://www.thewoodlandskidseatfree.com/index.asp

2008-02-10T17:05:00.001-06:00

Friday - February 8th
Friday evening we joined Glenn, Becky, Micah, Lisa, Chris, Kelsey, and the whole Quinn family who were camping at a park not far from our house. I'm not sure what our human count was, somewhere around 20 I think, but between all of us we had six dogs with us. We went out there until everyone went to bed and then we drove back home. That's almost like camping, right? hehe

Glenn relaxing by the fire

"We men. We play with fire."

Saturday - February 9th - Brandon's Birthday

We went to lunch with Jeremy and Mandy at Genghis Grill. Yeah, we really like that place.

Later in the afternoon we headed back out to the campsite. After dinner I had a cookie cake for B's b-day. Rich hung a sheet from the pavillion and set up a projector and we all sat around the camp fire and watched a movie. We stayed all night this time, but since our tent is a hassle to put up, we laid down the seats in B's car and slept on our blow up mattress in the car. Since the weather was really good, it was actually quite nice in there.

Having fun

Happy Campers!

Birthday cake

Sunday - February 10th

Today we had breakfast, cleaned up, packed up, and headed home around lunch time. Sleeping in the car made our pack up really easy. We loaded up our dishes, dog, and camp chairs, and we were ready to go.

Good morning!

Breakfast

A mighty fine tent

Harley the Camping Chihuahua - looking dapper as always

(or wawa as Clara would say)

Taking a little rest

Team work

Hey! What's going on over here?

Random Ramblings

2008-02-08T10:05:00.000-06:00

Tuesday - Happy Mardi Gras!
Went grocery shopping with Lisa. We picked up some stuff for camping this weekend and did some general grocery shopping as well. After, I went to swap out our Blockbuster movies and for the first time in a while there was actually some movies I wanted to see. I got some shoot 'em up, beat 'em up guy flick for B, and got Feast of Love and The Jane Austen Book Club for me, because I have recently read both of those books and now I am required by "Erin's Law" to watch the movies. This didn't work out so well with Atonement, I didn't like the book or the movie. I didn't like The Jane Austen Book Club book, but the movie was ok. I haven't watched the other one yet. While B and I were out going to pick up my lap top, it started hailing. We went to wait it out under the covering at the bank, which apparently was a popular idea, as it was lined with other cars of people doing the same.

Wednesday
Went to dinner with Jim and Berni. We went to Genghis Grill again, and I got to use my birthday coupon for a free meal. Can't beat that!

Friday (today)
I would here by like to announce that I, Erin, have slept for the past 4 nights! (Applaud here)
I don't know what happened. Monday night, for no apparent reason, I got in bed at 10pm and went to sleep. And didn't wake up til 7am the next day! (more applause) I mean, even on a good day, I don't go to sleep at 10pm. And get this......Wednesday night it was 9pm!!! I actually got a bit concerned after that. I thought maybe I was coming down with the flu or mono or something, because the only time I ever go to bed before 10pm is when I'm sick. So, here's hoping this lasts, and I'm not sick. Well, I do have a cold, but that doesn't count, that's going around to everyone right now. This crazy weather makes sure of that.

My Birthday - Monday, February 4th

2008-02-06T09:30:00.000-06:00

Monday I had lunch with the girls at The Whistle Stop Cafe for my birthday. Bread Pudding is my favorite dessert, and Whistle Stop has my most favorite bread pudding. So, I have gone there several times for my birthday.

Guess what my sweetie did?
Since we had a big group, Whistle Stop put a couple tables together for us. When we sat down, in the middle of the table was a little cake made out of flowers with balloons tied to it. B had it delivered so it would be there when I got there! It was so cool!

Here's some of us.
The tasty goodness.
Me likey cake!

Me likey presents!My mom slippin' L some make-up
After lunch, we walked around to some of the cute little shops.

Monday Evening

B took me to my favorite Sushi place, Uni. And afterwards, we decided we would make a new addition to our family.....................

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The New Addition

Here's my new little Brownie........it's sooooo pretty!

And it's my favorite color.

Harley checking out the new family member.

Don't worry Harley, you're still my baby.

Glenn's Birthday - Sunday, February 3rd

2008-02-04T06:22:00.000-06:00

For lunch we went to Jananese Habachi for Glenn's birthday.

Not too fond of the fire. I drew Batman for Glenn and made it into a card.Sunday evening we gathered to celebrate again.
A rousing game of Hungry Hungry Hippo
Icing the cupcakes

Glennapalooza 2008 - a.k.a. Playing Rock Band - a.k.a. Yay, we're not watching the Super Bowl!

The opening actThe main eventGroupies

Shake what yo mama gave ya

The next act

The final performance of the night

Gotta watch out for the paparazzi

Racoon Ranglers

2008-02-03T00:29:00.000-06:00

Thats right folks, the critter living in our walls and attic was a RACOON!
It all started last year when we heard somthing in our outside wall of our gameroom. We hoped it would go away (so naive), but instead it decided to have babies in there. We could hear them crying. Ew! So, we called around and had someone come out, but they wanted to charge us like $800 to put traps up there. Uh, no! I can put a trap up there myself, thank you. So I bought one, but before I got it up there, it apparently had moved out. (Must have heard I was coming for it. hehe) Well, as I posted in my January 18th blog, it came back. But this time it was moving around in all of the gameroom walls and all over the attic. Ick! And from the sound of it moving around, it was sounding way bigger than a squirrel, which was what we orriginally thought it was. So, I got to thinking that the trap I had bought last year wasn't nearly big enough to catch what was up there. Yay for Lowe's, because they took the old one back (it had never been opened) without a receipt, and I payed the difference for the BIG trap. Yesterday, we finally put it in the attic, and a few hours later, we had us a coon! But then we didn't know what to do with it. Hmmm....... Now everyone knows I am a huge animal lover, but this thing has been making me crazy, and my sympathy for it was pretty much gone. So, when B was putting the trap in the attic and he turned to me and said, "You know I'm going to have to shoot this thing when we catch it?", I actually said "Good!". I know! I even shocked myself when I said that! But after we caught it, we realized that firing a gun in our backyard would probably not go over too well with the neighbors. What to do, what to do......? Well, the only thing we could think to do......and I should say we were getting panicky, because at this point we had the stinky thing in a cage, inside of a box, in the middle of our living room, and those things are crafty, and we could see that it was trying to devise an ecsape plan, and it was looking like it might suceed......was to drive it away somewhere and let it go......and hope it didn't find it's way back, which I image is highly likely. So, we loaded it into B's car, rolled down the windows, stuck our heads out (that thing was really smelly), and drove away. Stinky is now in Porter, Texas.
But, wait! This business is not over because, I forgot to mention, Stinky wasn't living in our attic alone. There's at least one more we have to catch.
Here's Stinky trying to look all cute......almost worked.......
The release
So long Stinky!

Please don't come back!

The Crafty Insomniac

2008-02-02T10:00:00.000-06:00

I made this cute little notebook this morning when I couldn't sleep. It's 4.5 x 4.5 inches. Everything was stuff I already had. I cut graph paper for the pages. The ribbon wraps around and tucks in to hold it closed. I should redo these pics cause I guess I didn't have the flash on which made them a bit blurry, but, eh, I don't feel like it. hehe

Happy Groundhogs Day!

2008-02-02T08:41:00.001-06:00

Phil Says Six More Weeks of Winter!
http://www.groundhog.org/prediction/

Tasty

2008-02-02T07:56:00.001-06:00

B, Tom, and I tried out Genghis Grill - the new Mongolian stir fry place last night and it was good. I usually get a little overwhelmed at Mongolian places, because since I don't cook, I'm not sure what to mix together. But this place was pretty easy. Of course it helped that B was there helping me along. I just signed us up for their b-day program, so we should get "free bowl" coupons for this month.

[UPDATE: Got our coupons already. That was fast!]

----------------------------------------------

Just finished watching The Usual Suspects. I never tire of the end of that movie. It's one of my favorite movie endings. Plus, Benicio Del Toro's character cracks me up.

Bad Hair Day

2008-02-02T06:55:00.000-06:00

A few years ago I found a hair spray that I really liked called Thermasilk and I have been faithful to it ever since. So, last week upon noticing that I was almost out, I went to Walmart to get some more. But it wasn't there. And even after scanning the shelves 3 times, it still didn't appear. A few days later, while out and about I checked another location, and again not there. Yesterday, I realized I was becoming dangerously close to my final drops, so while I was out I checked Walgreens, Target, and Ulta and struck out with all three.

Huh? What's going on here?

Now, if it was some special hair spray, I could see, but really it's just your average, run of the mill, sold everywhere hair spray. But it's the one I love. It wasn't stiff, it had a nice flexible hold. And it didn't have a really strong scent like a lot of them do. When I got home last night, I, of course, had to get on the internet and find out what the heck the deal was. And what I found was.........my Thermasilk is no more.........boo.......

http://lindseysnow.com/2007/04/oh-thermasilk-whered-you-go.html

Ugh! Now I have to find a new one. Which means trial and error, because I'm picky. No fun! The funny thing is that the above link was from April of last year. So, that goes to show how often I use and buy hairspray. It's been gone for nearly a year, and I hadn't noticed. Had I been warned, I would have stocked up. And now I can't even find it on ebay any more. hehehe

So long, old chum.....

Breathing is nice.

2008-01-31T01:40:00.000-06:00

Wednesday
Today I find myself to be the reluctant owner of my very own cold. My cold has come fully equipped with runny nose, stuffy nose, slight cough, and general achiness.
What's it like to breath out of your nose?
Is it all that I remember it to be?
It seems like just yesterday that I could.....

-------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes if there is a book version of a movie that is out, I like to read the book and then see the movie. So, by the hardest, I read Atonement over the Christmas holiday, and then ventured out to see it today with Lisa. Though I didn't care for the book, I still held out hopes for the movie since it has gotten good reviews and all those award nominations. But, nope, didn't like the movie either, and found Keira Knightly as excruciating as usual.

Afterwards, I thought I would take advantage of the fact that the weather was actually nice today. It was a nice change to what we've been having lately. So, I strolled around Market Street, and had some fun playing around with my camera. I like to take pictures on what I call "good cloud days" and today was pretty decent as far as GCD's go. Here's a bunch of my pictures I took.....

Girls Night Out

2008-01-29T07:08:00.000-06:00

Monday
I finally got to go to The Melting Pot!
The melting Pot started having Girls Night Out on Mondays. Cheese fondu, salad, and chocolate fondo for $15! So a group of us got together and went. It was a lot of fun and really yummy! There was 15 of us at 3 tables. FYI, I was the only one at my table not pregnant. So, it was a toss up as to whether I wanted to get my own fondu pot so as to not catch it, or rub their bellies for luck.

After dinner I went to Walmart for "one thing". Two hours later.....I left with a basket full of groceries and such. I ran into Christi (who was also at the Melting Pot) while there and we walked around for a bit, then of course I had to hit the "crafts section", which is never wise. oh, and that "one thing" I went for, they didn't have it. So, now I'm gonna have to go to Walgreens, which is another place I've been known to waste a lot of time at, wondering around aimlessly. My how time flies while shopping. : )

Birthday Marathon 2008

2008-01-28T01:30:00.000-06:00

Friday, January 25th
B went to Austin for the day for work. I went to dinner with James and Shannon. Then we went back to our house to meet up with B after he arrived back home from his trip.

Saturday, January 26th
My insomnia is still in full force, so I'm up all night and sleep for a little while in the morning. Somewhere around 10 am I guess I fell asleep and I'm bummed cause I didn't set my alarm and over slept (if you can call 4 hours of sleep oversleeping). David Pelzer was in town speaking at a local function and I really wanted to go. I've read a few of his books and it would have been nice to hear him speak. Oh, well!

This evening Jeremy and Mandy came over for a little while and then we went to Bri's house for her b-day party. Which was cool because we hadn't seen her in a while. Then we went to Rob and Marlena's house for a gathering for Marlena's b-day. We watched some of the video from Jim and Berni's trip to China and the Philippenes.

Sunday, January 27th

So, last night I got a whopping one hour of sleep. Which brings me to a total of 5 hours since whatever time I woke up on Friday. Today we went with Micah, Lisa, Chris, Kelsey, and C for lunch at the Hobbit Cafe to celebrate Lisa's birthday. Then Micah and Lisa came back to our house for a little while. A little while after they left, I sat down to read my book and I apparently fell asleep because about an hour later B was waking me up to see if I wanted to go to the movies. I said sure, got up, brushed my teeth, put on my shoes, and stumbled out the door with my eyes still barely open. On route to the movies, plans changed and we had dinner with Micah, Lisa, Glenn, Becky, and L. We got to celebrate Lisa's birthday again and hear about G and B's cruise that they got back from today. Afterwards we went to Chocolata with Micah and Lisa for dessert, which makes 3 meals with them today.

I had pretty high expectations that I was going to get some sleep tonight, but so far, it's not looking too promising.

Excuse me madam, but there appears to be something on your head.

Lunch

Dinner

Dessert

2008-01-24T00:48:00.001-06:00

I didn't get a chance to post these the other day, so here goes.

Ready for surgery Passing time while I wait..... After..... Heading home....

Tuesday Part 2

2008-01-22T22:50:00.000-06:00

Went to dinner and the movies with my mom this evening. She wanted to see Juno and I was happy to see it again, so we did, and she liked it. The whole time we were eating the tv at the restaurant was talking about Heath Ledger's death. I feel sad for his little girl, she's so young she'll barely know him or be able to remember him when she gets older. I wasn't a big fan of his, but it's still sad. It reminded me of when River Pheonix died. It's always so shocking when famous people die because for some reason they seem so invinsible. I guess after turning on the tv or popping in a movie and having them there, we feel like they always will be. And I guess in a way they always will. Anyway, that's just my ponderings on the subject. Later!

Tuesday Part 1

2008-01-22T14:53:00.000-06:00

Spent yesterday at the hospital, B had his knee surgery, all went well. They had to trim off part of his meniscus that was torn. He's able to get around with a limp and actually went to work today. He has to go to Austin for work Thursday and his laptop is dead, so he had to go in and get another one ready to go. Ugh! The guy can't get a break.
Funny story:
This morning he decides he has to go in, I say "Do you really have to?", he says "yes", I offer to help him get ready, he says "no go back to sleep" (We were excited that I was actually sleeping. First night in 2 weeks! Woo hoo!) he proceeds to get ready, I can't go back to sleep cause I'm worried he's gonna hurt himself, I hear him him struggling, I go help him with his socks and shoes, and then it hit me.....
I said, "How do you think you are getting to work?"
Then it hits him.....
He laughs and says, "I guess I hadn't thought that far."
[Note: surgery was on his right knee]
I offer to bring him, he says never mind and we get back in bed. Yay!
A few hours later, he changes his mind, and I bring him to work. Boo!

Enter Sandman

2008-01-18T05:15:00.000-06:00

5:15am -
Well, my insomnia has reached an all time high this past week. It seems my body no longer desires to sleep at night and has instead limited my sleep to the 7am to noon hours. And if by chance I do fall asleep before 7am, it only lasts for about 30 minutes and then I'm awake again. I'd been avoiding the Tylenol PM, because I don't like the way I feel the next day after I take it, but I finally broke down and took it last night. I took it at about 7pm and at about 10:30 it started kicking. Then, I finally fell asleep about midnight. Yes! Sweet...sweet... sleep!

30 minutes later I was awake again......

$%&!@#!!!

I'm still awake.

---------------------------------------------------
7:30am -
To add to my insanity,
there is a creature living inside the walls of our gameroom.
It sounds large.
I have aquired a cage.
I shall attempt to capture it.
I hope the cage is big enough.
It sounds large.

---------------------------------------------------
9:15am -
We rented "The Waitress" the other day. It was so stupid, we almost turned it off. You know how you keep watching a movie, hoping it's gonna get better? It didn't.
While we're on the subject of bad movies, I also rented "Georgia Rule" recently. If you value your time, I'd also advise against this one.
We went to rent something last night, and it was a pretty sad state of affairs. There wasn't anything we wanted to see. I haven't been having much luck with books lately, either. On the plus side, thanks to our music service we have for our Zunes, I have found some new music that I am enjoying. Along with some old stuff, as well.

I hate wearing socks and here's why...

2008-01-15T00:30:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm normally a flip flop kind of girl, but due to the weather I've been forced to wear real shoes. And this requires the wearing of socks. So, this past Friday night, after getting our house guests settled into their sleeping arrangements, we headed down the stairs to retire for the evening. This is when it became quite clear to me that socks and stairs can make for a very dangerous combination. Yes, you quessed it! My socked foot slipped off a step and I made my way down the rest of the steps by way of my ass. When I finally reached the bottom of the stairs, I sat there for a moment stunned and trying to determine if I might cry. My butt was in a good bit of pain and I nearly pulled my arm out of the socket trying to catch myself by grabbing the railing. B, who was coming down the stairs behind me at the time, was stunned as well, and rushed to my side to see if I was alright. After wimpering for a few moments, I got up, assured him I was fine, and we continued off to bed. About 5 minute later, I was in the bathroom washing my face for bed, and I started cracking up laughing. Now that the pain was starting to wear off, I was picturing the fall in my head and was finding it quite hilarious and, frankly, I was sorry I didn't get to see it happen myself.

2008-01-13T15:16:00.000-06:00

Friday, January 11th
Friends from Missouri, Jennifer and her dad Ray, came to stay with us for the weekend. They are in town to run in the Houston Marathon on Sunday. We went to dinner at a greek restaurant called The Olive Oil. Then went for gelato afterwards.
Yum!

Saturday, January 12th
Today we had lunch at our house and gathered together the Missouri folks to visit with Ray and Jennifer. So, in our house we had 6 Missourians, 2.5 Texans, and 1 Louisiana girl.

Mandy, Jeremy, Ray, Lynn, Eddie, Megan, C, and Jennifer Later this evening, while Ray and Jen attended a banquet for the Houston Marathon, we had dinner with Jeremy, Mandy, Wes, and Cindy at a new Italian place near our house.

2008-01-09T22:54:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I went with mom, grandma, Trisha, and Mary Ann to Brookshire, Texas. There is a community there called Brookwood which is a "educational, residential, and entrepreneurial community for adults with functional disabilities". We ate at the cafe that they run and went to their gift shop and greenhouse. It was a really nice place. Then, last night we visited with some family friends that were in town.

Shopping

The kids

Doing a cheer!

"I said a stop, look, a listen, cause we're from New Orleans!"

My grandma is renting a corporate apartment in Houston for 2 months, so she can spend some time here visiting, so my mom and I spent the night there last night. Then today Mary Ann joined us again and we went to lunch and to Harwin for some shopping.

So many purses!

This evening B and I had dinner with Jeremy, Mandy, Jason, and Hannah. Then we all met up with James and Shannon at Starbucks.

My eyes! My eyes!

2008-01-08T09:10:00.000-06:00

I would like to here by lodge an official complaint against one of my favorite stores! As always, I was filled with glee yesterday when I checked my mail and discovered my Pottery Barn catalog had arrived. This is always a special moment for me, and I do not wish for it to be ruined. But, alas, as I quickly flipped it over to gaze upon its front cover, my eyes were assulted with brightly colored objects! I gasped and cried out, "What is this?!" I don't understand. It is still winter. I should still have another two good months before having to see yellows, oranges, and lime greens! This just isn't right. I'm still holding on to fall. Winter is still in progress. I'm not ready for Spring yet! I'm not ready for the bright colors! I love fall colors! I love earth tones! My favorite color is BROWN!!!

Anyway......once I got past the whole color issue, I was able to sit down and enjoy my catalog.

Restored faith in MANkind!

2008-01-08T02:10:00.000-06:00

Monday, January 7th, 2008
Today I ran some errands and shopped around for a gym. No, this is not a part of a New year's resolution, I don't do resolutions. I started this process a few months ago, but didn't want to sign the dotted line yet since I was gonna be out of town so much. I do not enjoy this shopping around process, because I always hate dealing with sales people. I can't stand the way they talk to you like you are a complete idiot as if you can't see right through the smoke their trying to blow up your rear. Anyway, I won't go into the whole story of this one place I went, cause it would take too long, but their sales guy ticked me off. So, I ended up going with 24 Hour Fitness cause I got a really good deal, and I've used them before and liked it, and 2 months ago I used a free 2 week pass at this location and got to check it out, and because they don't make you sign a contract (they're month to month). This one place wanted me to sign a 3 year contract. I laughed at them and went on my way.

So, I was in one of my favorite areas in town today. It's a lovely little place where one can see Pottery Barn and Barnes and Noble (my 2 favorite "Barns") within one swift glance. I got hungry, so I stepped inside the mall for some food court Chinese and that's when I saw it! I sat down at my table, and I looked over at the table in front of me, and I saw before me something that my eyes could hardly believe. I thought, "This can not be! This does not exist!" I rubbed my eyes in disbelief, but it was still there! Sitting before me was a man eating dinner in the mall food court with his five children! And he was completely calm and collected. There was no sweat. There was no panic. There was no look of desperation. He was perfectly fine. The kids were all moving about, saying "daddy this" and "daddy that", and one threw a noodle at another one, and one was playing in a potted plant, and one was wearing no shoes, and still, he remained calm. And when they were done they picked up their noodle off the floor, they all picked up their trash and threw it away, and as they walked away, one of the children even turned around and pushed in all of their chairs. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. As they disappeared into the distance, I thought of all the times that I have been with women who after an hour or two of being away, have had to rush home because their husbands were alone with their one child. Now, I realise that I have no children, and that I may be missing something here, and that if one is nursing, that's a whole other story. But I gotta tell ya, the thought of this becoming my own fate, I admit, has often worried me.

So, I just couldn't help thinking to myself....

"Thank you Mr. John Doe Father, for proving that a man is capable of watching his own children. Thank you, ever so much! For you have restored my faith in MANkind!"

This evening I told B about what I saw. This is a topic that we have discusses several times, and each time he swears that he can't understand why a guy cannot be expected to take care of his own children. And if we ever have children, I assure you, these are words I shall not forget.

.......Oh, yeah, you know I wasn't missin' this photo op.

Four girls and one boy (he's the one playing with the tree)!

2008-01-05T18:52:00.000-06:00

Friday, January 4th, 2008
Today we decided to do a double feature at the movies. But, we didn't want to see the same movies. So we didn't. I saw Juno, which I really liked (and I had to download some songs from the soundtrack on my Zune). And I saw P.S. I love You, which I didn't really like cause it was way too sappy. As a reference, I would compare it to reading a Nicholas Sparks book. There's some good parts, but over all too much sap. Also, I find that I have a hard time with Hillary Swank when she tries to play a girlie character. She's too masculine, I like her better when she's playing a boy or a boxer or something. But that's just my opinion. Oh, and I didn't know Harry Connick Jr. was going to be in the movie, that's always a pleasant surprise for me, as I happen to be a big fan of lookin' at his face. (hehe) B saw I Am Legend, which he didn't like (he was warned). And he saw National Treasure II, which he thought was ok. Then we went to HEB Central Market and Sam's for groceries since we had no food from being gone so long. Then we went to a surprise b-day party for James at James and Shannon's house.

Saturday, January 5th 2008

Well, I woke up feeling yucky today. I'm sick of being sick. I'll have a day of being fine and then the next day it's back. Ugh! We had a late (3pm) lunch with mom, Johnny, and grandma at the Chinese place by our house. Then came home and watched a movie with my sweetie. We watched Stardust, which I thought was pretty cute, what I saw of it anyway, I fell asleep in the middle.

For Jenn N....

I discovered a new tasty treat yesterday, Dark Chocolate Covered Cranberries. Not as good as the Dark Choc. Covered Soybeans from Trader Joe's (that came home with me, hehe), but I can't get those here. Boo!

St. Louis Trip December 19th 2007 - January 3rd 2008

2008-01-03T21:10:00.000-06:00

Wednesday 12/19/07

We're on our way.......

Passing time in the airport....
Ben picked us up from the airport - and let us stop at Steak and Shake along the way.

Ben and Jenn's

The strange white stuff

Thursday 12/20/07

I was surprised by Krispy Kremes this morning!

B and the boys

City Museum

Aquarium in the City Museum

Tunnel we crawled through that went through the water. Fish and sharks swam by as we crawled through.

Me - being silly - nothing new

Sea urchin - An example of what B stepped on when we were in Cabo, spike stuck in his foot.

L - reflection and puffer fish Shells on top of a light - looks cool!

This slide started on the 4th floor and ended on the 1st.

B going down the slide
Lunch break

Looks like a pile of metal, but it's a giant jungle gym called Monstrocity. It was really cold, but we had a blast climbing around on it like big kids.

B - all smiles!

L climbing through a tree trunk.

There were also, tunnels and caves all throughout the building that we explored.

Afterwards, we drove through down town looking at the Christmas lights. As we drove past "The St. Louis Arch", I snapped this picture. It was dark and foggy, but in all the trips we've made to St. Louis, this is actually the closest I've been to seeing the Arch.

Friday 12/21/07
Shopping and dinner with Ben and Jenn. Then they dropped us off at B's grandparents for the night.

Saturday 12/22/07

Christmas #2 - Went with B's grandparents to his parents house (2 hour drive) for our second Christmas - his parents, Grandparents, Nana, Jeremy, and Mandy

Don't worry, he's not working while we open presents. I think he was pulling up pictures or something.

The boys playing video games - very intense - hehehe.

B's parent's house.

Sunday 12/23/07
Christmas #3 - Went to B's great-aunt's house (2 hour drive). Visited with lots more of his family (his mom's side). I forgot my camera, so no pictures - boooo. Then back to his parent's house (2 more hours, hehe).

Monday 12/24/07

Spent the day hanging out at B's parent's house.

Tuesday 12/25/07 - Christmas Day!

Christmas #4 - Went to B's grandparents house (2 hours). (By the way, everyone around here seems to live like 2 hours away from each other, so we have been doing a lot of traveling back and forth.)

One of the kids knocked some of the pies over, B saved this one - see the big hand print from catching it, hehehe. Still edible! Grandma and Grandpa

A long time ago this old log cabin was going to be torn down, so B's grandpa saved it as a gift for his grandma. He took it apart and reassembled it piece by piece in their back yard.
Oh, on another side note - you may note from these pictures that apparently everyone we know in Missouri, only conceives boys.....
wednesday 12/26/07

Penguin feeding - it was so cute. (Wouldn't it be funny if the one on the rock behind the guy jumped on him to get the food? hehehe)

Today I received my surprise Christmas gift from B. We went to the zoo, and he had pre-arranged for us to go on a private tour behind the scenes at the reptile house to feed the big tortoises. As most of you know, I am a huge fan of turtles and tortoises, so I was thrilled! It was a good surprise!

And then I hugged a bronze gorilla.....

And we rode the carousel with B's aunt and cousin.

B's aunt was interviewed when we left the zoo (I stepped away to snap some pictures) and it ended up being on the news that evening. We dropped them off and headed to our next stop - Travis and Sheri's. Went to P.F. Chang's for dinnerwith them and their 3 boys.

B and the boys.

Thursday 12/27/07

Woke up feeling bad. I went back to B's grandparent's house while B went to visit with some friends. I slept most of the day.

Friday 12/28/07

Woke up at 5:30 am really sick! Threw up and slept all day - ugh - no fun! Still at his grandparent's house.

saturday 12/29/07

Still sick - slept most the day - suck! B left me at his grandparents and he went with his parents to his brother, Matt's, house (2 hours). Then he went back to his parent's house (4 hours).

Sunday 12/30/07

Jeremy and Mandy picked me up from grandparent's house and we headed over to B's parent's house (2 hour drive). Holly is back from India and she came over to visit with us. We got to catch up on what she's been up to!

Then we went back into the city (oh, yes, you guessed it, 2 hours!, hehehe) to Mike and Beth's to visit with our friends who were in the process of attending the annual "Multi-Day New Year's Extravaganza". Slept at Scott and Tanya's.

Monday 12/31/07 - New Year's Eve!

Lunch with the gang...

Then Ben and Jenn picked us up and we headed to Trader Joe's to get some munchies for the evening and then back to their house.

G in the basket with the groceries, hehehe.

The stroke of midnight - it was some kind of cold outside!!!

Tuesday 1/1/08 - New Year's Day!

Slept late, did some running around town, then ......

.......B and E go to White Castle!

B's not so sure about this idea. hehehe

Then we headed back to Ben and Jenn's with a big sack of burgers.

Wednesday 12/2/08
I didn't get to go to Body Worlds when it was in Houston, so I was happy to find that it was at the St. Louis Museum while we were here. So, we went with Ben, Jenn, L, and G to check it out.

And then walked aroungd the rest of the museum.

History of Flight

B and L - I took this pic, cause I have one just like it from a few years ago during our Memphis trip with Ben and Jenn. I'll have to dig it up to compare how much L has grown.

We're so glad we got to spend several days with Ben and Jenn. Especially since we didn't get our yearly visit from them this fall (yeah, I had to mention it again, hehehe).

They introduced us to a new place for ice cream. Yes, it was the coldest day since we've been here (16 degrees this evening!), but we didn't care! It was good!

So, the trick with G is to take a preliminary picture, making the flash go off, which as a result makes him smile, then you can take the real picture. I figured out your game mister!

Thursday 1/3/08

Well, as much as we hated to leave, I was worn out and really wanted to finish recouping from being sick. So, we cut our trip short by three days, and headed back home. Sorry B!

G quarding our suitcases

I hate saying goodbye! Boo!

We're so glad we got to visit with everyone, family and friends. It stinks that we don't get to come up more often. Thanks to all for hanging with us and letting us crash at your homes!

Wherever we may roam....

2007-12-21T20:23:00.000-06:00

So, we had another fun day with Ben and Jenn and their boy's. Jenn made us a yummy fancy breakfast before we headed out to do some running around town. One of our stops was Barnes and Noble. B and I both had gift certificates for there, plus I had a coupon. So, I suggested to him that this might be a great opportunity for him to get something he's wanted for a while now, the Calvin and Hobb's collector's set. It's 3 hard bound books with all the C & H's cartoons. He's a big fan, but it was just too expensive to get in the past. So, after combining our gift certificates, using my coupon, and (much to our surprise) receiving an additional discount because we have a membership card, we hardly paid anything for it. And he was a happy fellow!
We hated to leave Ben and Jenn, but it came time to continue on our journey as "Roaming Gnomes". This evening Ben & Jenn dropped us off at our next stop, B's grandparents house.

As you can see, I'm not able to upload my own pictures yet, so I'm improvising, hehehe.

The journey begins....

2007-12-20T22:37:00.000-06:00

Wednesday:
We arrived at Ben and Jen's house and discovered this strange cold white stuff that they call "snow". Apparently you can form it into balls and place them on top of each other. This they call a "snowman". It fascinating stuff!
We are verry excited to be visiting with them, especially since they skipped out on us this fall, hehehe.

Thursday:
So, this morning B, after being up for a while, came into the room to wake me up and I growled at him (not a morning person). Then he informed me that there were Krispy Kremes on the table. I shot out of that bed pretty quickly after that. You see, last night I casually mentioned that I wanted to get some Krispy Kremes on this trip, since I can't get them at home. Then this morning, my good friend, Ben, granted my wish. Yeah Ben!
The 6 of us spent the day at The City Museum, which probably sounds boring, but it was soooo much fun! I'd have to say the most fun I've had at a museum. I took a bunch of pictures, that I will post later.

Christmas #1

2007-12-17T19:18:00.000-06:00

So this year we are having Christmas 4 times. Sunday was Christmas at my house with my mom and Johnny.

Mom came with a wagon loaded up with gifts.

Busted! - sneakin' some ham

Christmas pup

Harley and his grandpa Family...

My gifts:

From B:

Zune (we each got one, we got them a few weeks ago, but we rewrapped them since they were supposed to be Christmas presents), Zune case and car charger

Pride and Predjudice DVD (collectors set that I've been wanting for a reaaaally long time!)

Shrek the Third DVD

See Sally Kick Ass (book -a woman's guide to personal safety)

Diamond earrings

From the folks:

A black pea coat (that I picked out)

2 cuff watches

Jammie pants (a Christmas tradition, we always get jammies from mom)

a silver necklace

pilates video

a pretty oriental box

And even though grandma had already given us our Christmas gifts, they brought 2 more from her - a Christmas pillow and a pewter ladle

And My spoiled rotten pup got 5 new toys - 1 from me (reindeer w/rope legs) and 4 from his grandma.

Another Christmas Party

2007-12-15T13:32:00.000-06:00

NTB/Global Force TV had their annual party last night. We spent the afternoon helping set up - I did the decorating, B help with the sound.

How to amuse yourself when speakers get long winded:

I've spotted a rare species of North American human and I'm going in. With camera place inconspicuously on back of chair I take my shot. Oh no! I've been spotted! With camera casually perched on knee, Shannon shoots back! (Note B in background with hands on hips, giving me the "pay attention" look.....busted again!)

....The human surveys her shot.

And later that evening, after the party.....

You give me "the look"! - I sick the dogs on you! Muuuaahhhaha!

O.k., that's enough playing around for now, gotta go get ready for the next Christmas celebration. Later!

2007-12-13T23:17:00.000-06:00

O.k., so this may not be as funny to you as it was to me.......

I'm sitting here just now at my desk playing around on my computer and B is reclining in the recliner with his lap top, working, meanwhile we are catching up on some Tivo. So, I'm sitting here and I hear him going, "Bean down! Bean down!" I look over at him wondering what the heck is going on, and he's looking around, and then he looks at me and says in a sad little voice, "I dropped my jelly bean." I don't know if it was the way he said it, or the fact that it's late at night, or both, but it cracked me up!

And then I thought....."Dude! Quit holding out on me and pass me some beans!"

Mmmmm......Jelly Bellies!

Zip line pics came in the mail today!

2007-12-13T21:21:00.000-06:00

Puerto Vallarta - First we rode mules up the mountain

The view from above
Then the zip lines - 200 ft high, 1000 ft long

Repelled down a waterfall, this is when it started getting dark

At the top Almost at the bottom

Then zip lines in the dark. The only light was from the camera flash.

When we were done we hiked back to base in the dark with lights on our heads.

More funny NOLA stuff

2007-12-13T15:56:00.000-06:00

ONLY IF YOU FROM LOUISIANA:
* THE FOUR SEASONS OF YOUR YEAR ARE: CRAWFISH, CRAB, SHRIMP AND KING CAKE
* WHEN SOMEONE ASKS DIRECTIONS: YOU USE UPTOWN, DOWNTOWN, WESTBANK & LAKESIDE
* YOU CALL IT A NEUTRAL GROUND INSTEAD OF A MEDIAN
* YOU CAN PRONOUNCE TCHOUPITOULAS
* YOU TAKE A "RIGHT HAND TURN" INSTEAD OF A RIGHT TURN
* YOU CALL ALL INTERSECTIONS "RED LIGHTS"
* YOU KNOW THE DEFINITION OF "DRESSED"
* YOU KNOW A PO-BOY IS NOT A GUY WITH NO MONEY
* YOU JUDGE A PO-BOY BY THE NUMBER OF NAPKINS USED
* YOU "MAKE" GROCERIES
* YOU KNOW WHAT K&B, SCHWEGMANN'S, AND MCKENZIE'S IS
* YOU LIKE YOUR RICE AND POLITICS DIRTY
* YOU KNOW THAT THOSE BIG ROACHES CAN FLY
* YOU CONSIDER A BLOODY MARY A LIGHT BREAKFAST
* NO MATTER WHERE ELSE YOU GO IN THE WORLD, YOU ARE ALWAYS DISAPPOINTED IN THE FOOD
* WIN OR LOSE....YOU HAVE AND WILL ALWAYS BE A SAINTS FAN
* YOU DON'T LEARN UNTIL HIGH SCHOOL THAT MARDI GRAS IS NOT A NATIONAL HOLIDAY (I actually didn't realize this until college!)
* YOU BRING EMPTY GROCERY BAGS TO PARADES
* YOU REFER TO DIFFERENT HIGH SCHOOLS AS "PRIVATE" OR "PUBLIC"
* YOU PUT TONY'S ON EVERYTHING!! (yeah you right!)
* RAIN, SLEET OR HAIL WILL NEVER KEEP YOU FROM JAZZ FEST
* YOUR ATTIC OR GARAGE IS FILLED WITH MARDI GRAS BEADS
* YOU WASTE MORE TIME NAVIGATING BACKSTREETS THEN SITTING IN TRAFFIC
* YOU SAVE NEWSPAPER. NOT TO RECYCLE BUT FOR A TABLECLOTH AT YOUR NEXT CRAWFISH BOIL
* YOUR FIRST QUESTION IN ANY TELEPHONE CALL IS "WHERE Y'AT?"
* YOU'RE NOT SCARED IF SOMEONE WANTS TO "AX YOU SOMETHING"
* YOU'VE GREETED SOMEONE WITH "HOW'S YA MAMA AN 'EM?" (many times!)
* YOU READ THIS AND LAUGHED THROUGH THE WHOLE THING SAYING "YEAH U RIGHT!!" (haha, I did!)

2007-12-10T03:18:00.000-06:00

Saturday - We went to C's b-day party. She turned two.
The b-day girl

As you can see here, the theme was puppies. Aren't they cute with their dog ears?

Meanwhile, these 3 were very interested in something over here

Afterwards, B and Micah went off and did guy stuff (burping and scratching and such) and I went shopping with Becky and Lisa. After shopping we met up with our husbands (and L) for dinner.

--------------------------------------------------

And now for the latest news from the "Wild Kingdom".......

On Sunday my mother called to let me know that today Sugar (their donkey) may have become impregnated by Jethro (their other donkey). We're all very proud...... hopefully it worked and we'll have a baby donkey a year from now. See previous post (Dec 4th) for photo of their prior flirtations. Oh, and mom said that afterwards, Jethro didn't want to have anything to do with Sugar. When she walked up to him he just backed away from her. What an ass! (hehehe, get it, ass, donkey, haha, funny....but seriously, what an ass!, poor Sugar)

2007-12-07T22:37:00.000-06:00

My neighborhood - You can't tell in this pic, but the leaves were falling, and it was really pretty.
A little "Sepia" action
Today - Helped mom decorate for the Ladies Tea at her church, ran some errands, found a car charger for my Zune, picked up b-day present for C, went to the mall, avoided pet store in mall, picked up several items in Victoria's Secret, put back picked up items at Victoria's Secret and left empty handed, had dinner in mall, gazed longingly while walking past Pottery Barn, went to Michael's, saw lots of stuff I wanted at Michael's, left Michael's with minimal damage to pocket book, went to Starbuck's for yummy treat, went home, attended to husband and dog, wrapped present, got on computer.... FYI....Starbucks.....Peppermint Mocha......yum!

This is for Kelsey, cause she had a dress similar to this and she has a pic of C wearing it on her blog. Me and Raggedy Ann (I still have the doll)

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

2007-12-07T00:16:00.000-06:00

-Tormented the dog some more, by taking pictures of him in his new Christmas outfit. Then told him to forget he saw it cause it's his Christmas present.

-Had fun hanging out with Kelsey and helping her get ready for C's b-day party.

-Did a little more Christmas shopping. And picked up a gift for my mom to give to me. It's just easier that way. : )

-Had dinner with B, Megan, Eddie, and C.B. at a yummy Sushi restaurant. Made C.B. cry, cause I'm not mommy, hehehe.

-Picked up some more Peppermint Hershey Kisses, cause we're addicted. And apparently since I gave every one at B's work goodie bags with them in them, they are all addicted too.

Is that cute, or what?
Pretty ladies
All smiles!

You know U are from New Orleans if:

2007-12-07T00:10:00.000-06:00

-Your sunglasses fog up when you step outside, even in December.
-You reinforce your attic to store Mardi Gras beads
-You don't look twice when you see pink flamingos in yards of nice subdivisions during Mardi Gras.
-You save newspapers, not for recycling but for tablecloths at crawfishboils.
-Your ancestors are buried above the ground .
-You drink Community Coffee, have tried Starbucks, but don't see what all the fuss is about.
-You take a bite of five-alarm chili and reach for the Tabasco.
-Every once in a while, you have water front property .
-You sit down to eat boiled crawfish and your host says, 'Don't eat the dead ones,' and you know what he means.
-You don't learn until high school that Mardi Gras is not a national holiday.
-You push little old ladies out of the way to catch Mardi Gras beads.
-Little old ladies push YOU out of the way to catch Mardi Gras beads .
-You believe that purple, green, and gold look good together.
-Your last name isn't pronounced the way it's spelled.
-You know what a nutria is but you still pick it to represent your baseball team.
-Your town is low on the education chart, high on the obesity chart and you don't care because you're No. 1 on the party chart.
-You know that Tchoupitoulas is a street and not a disease.
-Your grandparents are called 'Mam-Maw' and 'Paw-Paw.'
-Your Santa Claus rides an alligator and your favorite Saint is a football player.
-You cringe every time you hear an actor with a Southern or Cajun accent in a 'New Orleans-based' movie or TV show.
-You have to reset your clocks after every thunderstorm.
-You're walking in the French Quarter with a plastic cup of beer.
-When it starts to rain, you cover your beer instead of your head.
-You've eaten at one or more of these restaurants, AND know how to pronounce them: Prejeans, Tu Jac's, Gallatoire's, Ralph & Kacoo's, Brunet's, or Mulatte's.
-You eat dinner out and spend the entire meal talking about all the other good places you've eaten.
-You call home just to find out what your momma'nem are having for supper tonight.
-You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Louisiana

How to annoy your dog in 3 easy steps:

2007-12-04T13:52:00.000-06:00

1.)

2.)

3.)

No Chihuahua was harmed in the making of these photos. Well, not physically, anyway......pride is another story.....but many treats were given to make up for it.......plus, it's the only way to get him to look at the camera.....

Happy Birthday!

2007-12-04T13:32:00.000-06:00

Sunday - Christmas shopping at the mall

-----------------------------

Monday - Johnny's birthday

Monday was my step-dad's b-day, so I went to their house and hung out with them and all the animals and we went on a hike in their woods. I still can't get over the fact that my city slicker mother lives in the woods. hehehe B joined us for dinner and since it was chilly, we got to chat around the fire.

Maggie checkin' out the balloons

Jethro gettin' fresh with Sugar

2007-12-02T02:00:00.000-06:00

Saturday, December 1st, 2007

Started out by going to a festival at the Alden Bridge shopping center because I wanted to visit the Recycle Boutique booth. All the items they sell are made from recycled products. I picked up 2 Christmas gifts there. At another booth I signed up for the raffle and ended up winning one of the prizes which was 50 free digital prints from the Walgreens. That will come in handy because that's where I always get my pictures printed from.

B's company Christmas party was tonight. When I got home from the festival, I put together 25 goodie bags, nothing big, just fun to have a little something to pass out to everyone (and B helped). Then put together the gifts for the White Elephant game, and wrapped the gifts we got for B's 2 partners. One of our White Elephant gifts we brought was the gift we brought home last year. We were very happy to pass it on to some other sucker, hehehe! (I actually liked what we brought home this year.) Also, B and his partners received gifts from the company - a Barnes and Noble gift certificate (which I begrudgingly let him keep, boo) and a silver ornament and gift certificate from Pottery Barn (which he ain't gettin' his hands on, hehehe!).

The group gets biger every year! Yeah!

Me and my sweetieThe JuddsB's partners

Bad decision.....

2007-11-30T12:26:00.000-06:00

......I decided to go to Garden Ridge yesterday. I walked through the Christmas isles and it was like bumper cars with shopping carts. Not fun! I wore my head phones to drown out the sounds of the screaming children, which helped. Then, I'm standing in this one isle trying to decide which "lighted mechanical reindeer" to purchase, when I became witness to a real live "Mexican standoff". I'm standing there, and these two women, who looked to be in their 60's, come head to head with their baskets and actually begin to argue over which one was there first and which one should back up so the other can pass. There was a big long dolly next to them blocking the other lane, so they couldn't get through until one backed up, and apparently neither was willing. This is when I made the decision for them. I went around, moved the dolly to the end of the isle and moved their baskets around each other. Of course they were still spouting off to each other as they passed by, but I did get a "thank you" from another woman that had been patiently waiting to get through behind them. Then I grabbed my reindeer and headed for the aproximately 30 person long checkout line. Though, it's not as bad as it seems, they form one line and a guy at the front directs you to one of 10 available registers. It actually goes pretty quick. The director guy says, "Register 4 is clear! Go, go, go!". Then you run! The cashier starts scanning your stuff before your cart wheels even stop spinning. And by the time you come to a stop, your stuff is already bagged for the door, and she's got her hand out for your money. It's all quite impressive!

Then I went next door to Walmart, cause I hadn't been tortured enough.

Later in the evening, after watching my favorite character get royally screwed off of Survivor (the only reason I watched this season was because he is from Lafayette, where I went to college), I put up my new Christmas tree that I bought after Christmas last year. Yep, no more Charlie Brown tree for us, this one's taller than B! I haven't unearthed all the decorations yet, but here it is so far.

Outdoor Adventure Video

2007-11-28T15:15:00.001-06:00

This video shows a good bit of what we did on the zip lines.....

http://www.puertovallartatours.net/videos/outdooradventure.htm

Date Night

2007-11-28T01:40:00.000-06:00

Went on a date with my honey last night. Went to the movies and saw "August Rush" and then to dinner.

Back from vacation

2007-11-27T21:30:00.000-06:00

Well, I took hundreds of pictures on this trip, and have weeded through them all and posted some of my favorites........

Saturday, November 17th - San Diego, California

Me, B, and 7 family members flew to San Diego and boarded the ms Oosterdam for a 7 day cruise. We settled in and met up with the rest of my family, 19 of us in all.

Public Service Announcement: Always practice safe drinking! (especially during a lifeboat drill) Sunday, November 18th - At sea

Black and white

Um....there's 7 people missing from this photo Monday, Movember 19th - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

I started out the day by crossing off a very important item from my list of "Things To Do Before I Die". It was so amazing, I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time!

Then we went kayaking and snorkeling
Lover's Beach

This is right before that wave wipes me out and sends me sailing across the beach, hehe. Fun!B jumping off "Neptune's Finger"
Me and my friend the starfish
Our cruise ship in the distance
The kayaks
Land's End

The Arch Another amazing sunset

Tuesday, November 20th - Mazatlan, Mexico

With Wanda, the iguana

B and the mermaid

Wednesday, November 21st - Puerto Vallarta

Today me, B, Eric (my brother), and Jenn (my cousin) booked an excersion called the "Outdoor Adventure", and boy was it! First we got on this boat that went really fast and we kept coming up off our seats when we would hit waves, it was fun! Then we geared up......aren't we cute?

[Note: I'm really bummed cause something happened to our water cameras, so I don't have photos for the next part of the trip. But, there was a photographer that went with us and took pictures and they will be arriving by mail soon (I hope). I'll post when they come in, until then, I have added some pics from their web site.]

Then we got on some mules that took us up a mountain, where the fun really began......

We soured over the trees and valleys on seven different zip lines, one of which dropped us into a pool of water at the bottom of a water fall. And then we repelled down a water fall. This was an all day event, so by this time it was getting dark and the last two zip lines we did in the dark, which was really cool. At the end we had to hike the rest of the way down the mountain back to post in the dark with little lights on our head. We followed a trail that had us treking through streams. I'm pretty clumsy and had almost made it throught the day without falling until I slipped on a wet rock and fell down in one of the streams, at least I had a soft landing, hehe. Our trip ran so late we were worried we weren't gonna get back on the cruise, but luckily there was another group that was also running late, and they waited for all of us to get back before leaving port. Close one!Heading back to the ship

Thursday, November 22nd - At sea - Thanksgiving!

Relaxed, had a photographer take a group photo of all of us, had Thanksgiving dinner, saw some shows......... .......and then it was time for the "Late Night Chocolate Buffet"....whooo hoooo!Too! Much! Chocolate! Friday, November 23rd - At sea

We finally get some lobster up in this joint....Happy cruisers!

Saturday, November 23rd - San Diego, California

We get off the boat, check into our hotel, and head to the San Diego ZooMy favorite sights at the zoo? The meercats...
...and of course, the 150 year old turtle named "Speedy"

One last sunset ....

Then we all headed to "Little Italy" for dinner at Zagarella's

Cheers to a great trip!

Sunday, November 25th - San Diego, California

Breakfast at the hotel, then everyone heads out for home.

Thanks grandma! We had a blast!

2007-11-14T03:40:00.000-06:00

O.k., this is late, but B and I went to see Martian Child about a week and a half ago and really enjoyed it. I tell ya, we've been to some movies lately. We went so long without seeing anything, I guess mainly because there wasn't really much we were interested in seeing. But, I've actually been impressed with the ones we've seen. Martian Child has a really good story and John and Joan Cusack, can't go wrong there, right?

A word of advice

2007-11-13T21:14:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to mention that if by chance any of you are lucky enough to be a contestant on the Price Is Right and the person before you bids $600 for an item, it is probably not the best idea to then bid $599. I'm just saying...... Some poor lady got confused.

Four more days til our vacation! Yeah! Good thing, too, cause I was starting to have withdrawals from not being on an airplane for too long.

I'm ticked at Harley's usual vet clinic, again. I just found out yesterday that they have jacked up their bording charges by $5 a day. That makes it nearly $18 a day to board a Chihuahua, I'd hate to see what they charge for a big dog. And since next week is a holiday week, all the other clinics are full (I called, a lot), so we're stuck there. This makes reason #2 for finding a new place for him. Reason #1? He 's been on Rx food for 8 years, Science Diet I/D (for sensitive stomach), cause he has IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome, lovely isn't it, hehehe). So, he was out of food, and I went there to buy a bag, and they wouldn't sell me a bag cause he was due for an exam and one of his shots. So, I refused to do it because they ticked me off. Neither having the exam or the shot has anything to do his food or his sensitive stomach. It's not like they can test for that during the exam. Which is why I was so glad to win the free exam and shots from that other clinic. And now he has new food that I don't have to get from a vet and he hasn't had any problems with the switch.

When life hands you lemons......

2007-11-07T21:16:00.001-06:00

I'm a total junkie! I went to see "Across the Universe" again. I'd been listening to the soundtrack that I bought, and it made me want to see it again. B went with me this time, and he actually liked it (I think he was surprised too). Well, he liked all but the part in the middle, which he described as a "bad acid trip". I said you can't really have a movie about the 60's without that, and he couldn't really disagree with that logic. hehe

When I was at the Mutt Strutt, I signed up for a drawing for a goodie basket from a local Vet Clinic. They called me and told me I won! I was really surprised, cause I NEVER win anything! I went to pick it up today and was really surprised when I got home and opened it up. It contained a bunch of goodies for Harley and a certificate for a free exam, shots, heartworm test, and 6 month supply of heartworm preventative! The certificate alone is worth $235! Score!!! The funny part is that Harley is due for his shots and I had been calling around trying to find a new place to take him. Guess I found one!

As you may have read in a prior post, I got one little lemon on my lemon tree this year. Well, after about 6 months, it finally ripened and I got to make some lemon aid. So, at this rate, it looks like this tree is going to yield me one glass of lemon aid a year. I think I may need to add another tree.