On Fire!

We went to the snow today. We go to a place that is in the middle of no where and pull off the road. We set up a sledding run, built a fire and had a yummy lunch.

At one point we were all sitting around the fire and Drew and Marty said, "eeewwww something smelly just burned in the fire." I was sitting right next to them and didn't smell anything. But I looked in their direction and saw the source of the smell.....Daisy Mae was sitting next to me and there was an ember on her shoulder. The smell was burning labrador fur! She had no idea that she was ON FIRE! I rubbed it and put snow on it and she was good to go.

All the gifts at one time

Here is Gracie wearing her new xmas jammies, xmas socks and xmas roller blades!

A very doggy xmas

The dogs made out like bandits this xmas. Ahi and I got matching clothes - mine a hat and hers a sweater. Daisy got this great rain coat!

Fernando

Last year our xmas tree was named Frasier. This year, we named it Fernando. Fernando is Frasier's brother.

We had slight problem - we couldn't find our xmas oranaments at the cabin. So we went to the second hand store in town and bought all the ornaments shown on the tree for $5! Such a deal and it looked great!

B-day

Here is a pic of us eating a yummy enchilada bday dinner and a pic of Drew's bday bike!

Word of the Week

COMPENDIUM

com-pen-di-um  
Spelled Pronunciation [kuhm-pen-dee-uhm]
noun, plural -di-ums, -di-a  

1. a brief treatment or account of a subject, esp. an extensive subject; concise treatise: a compendium of medicine.
2. a summary, epitome, or abridgment.
3. a full list or inventory: a compendium of their complaints

I had never heard this word before today. Someone metioned a report in a meeting and called it a compendium. Of course, I had to go and look it up! It is true what they say - you learn something everyday!

Accessibility

This is a great video that highlights the work being done to help folks with accessibility issue access the Internet. I have worked with both these guys and they are two amazing advocates for people with special needs. It is worth a watch to broaden your knowledge of special needs.


http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=yahoo+web+accessibility&n=21&ei=utf-8&js=1&fr=yfp-t-701&tnr=21&vid=0001835925915

Quote of the Week

"Me and my posse, "Salt and Peppa", are going out tracking in the morning."


That is what Jim told me last nite. What he meant was, he was taking the white dog (Daisy) and the black dog (Ahi) and going out for a walk on the levee to look for coyotes.

What he should have said was, "I am taking dumb and dumber out for a walk in the morning and I hope the little one doesn't get eaten by a coyote."

New Gear

We apparently don't have enough gear....so we had to go out and buy some more. This is a new snowboard rack for my truck. It fits onto the bike rack we already had. It will be nice not to have to put the boards in the truck with us.

Drew's bday is tomorrow

Stay tuned for pics of his super cool 14th bday present!!!!

What a place to work....

At work today when I was walking back from getting a tea, there were two guys playing darts in one of their offices. Apparently the group foosball, pool table and air hockey games were not enough!

Jim in Drag

I recently signed Jim up for life insurance thru work. He just got the paperwork in the mail that had all the details on it.

Imagine his surprise when I made a mistake and listed him as a female! A 6 foot 5 inch, 215 pound female.....wheeeewww....UGLY!

He had to call the company and tell them that even though it said female, he had NOT received a sex change operation and he was, in fact, male.

Giggle!

Love to eat!

My baby boy is turning 14 next week. He is 6 feet tall, weighs more than me and has a fuzzy upper lip! I can't believe it - time goes so fast.

We are having a family dinner in celebration of his birthday and when I asked him what he wanted, he told me he wanted "veggie black bean burritos". They are these black bean burritos that we make with fake meat. It made me realize that I am so lucky these kids of mine will eat anything:

* They cheer when we have roasted cauliflower
* They think everyone eats tofu at least once a week
* They beg for Indian food and Japanese food
* They are always up for any random animal Jim kills
* They love any type of seafood
* The roasted brussel sprouts are eaten before dinner even starts
* They get mad if there are no vegetables to add to their top ramen

They both come from a long line of foodies, from both sides of the family, and it shows! Lucky for them, they both have hollow legs!

Quarters

For Gracie's soccer team, we collect quarters for each goal they score thru the season. Everyone watching the game puts a quarter in our party fund jar (see pic). The great thing is everyone get so into it that we often get a dollar for each goal. At the end of the season we count it all up and use if for our pizza party. This year, we made $155 dollars!

A new kind of pet

On the way to Gracie's soccer game this morning, we saw a woman pushing another woman in a wheel chair, while walking their donkey! Honestly, a donkey in Palo Alto, walking down the street. That was the strangest thing I have seen in a long time!

Coyote Morning

We ran into a bunch of coyotes while out walking this morning. The first time, I was walking up a hill to get onto the levee. The dogs were off leash. I looked up and saw a coyote looking at us from the levee. The dogs saw it at the same time and went after it. Daisy Mae came back immediately on calling her. Dog of Little Brain (Ahi) took longer to return. Luckily, she returned.

I waited for a friend and then we continued on the levee. After about 300 yards, we saw two more coyotes on the hill looking at us. They were probably 150 feet away from us. We put the dogs on leash and went the other way! We continued our walk in the safety of the neighborhood!

Here are some interesting facts about coyotes:

One of the keys to the coyote's success is its diet. A true scavenger, the coyote will eat just about anything. Identified as a killer of sheep, poultry and deer, the coyote will also eat snakes and foxes, doughnuts and sandwiches, rodents and rabbits, fruits and vegetables, birds, frogs, grass and grasshoppers, pet cats and cat food, pet dogs and dog food, carrion, and just plain garbage.

Coyotes are active mainly during the nighttime, but they can be moving at any time during the day. Most sightings of coyotes occur during the hours close to sunrise and sunset.

Adult coyotes weigh between 20 and 45 pounds. Females are generally smaller than males and western coyotes are generally smaller than eastern coyotes.

Coyotes look like small collie dogs. They have erect pointed ears, slender muzzle, and a bushy tail. Most coyotes are brownish gray in color with a light gray to cream-colored belly. However, a coyote's color varies and may be somewhat darker or lighter depending upon the geographic region and the time of year. Most coyotes have dark or black hairs over their back and tail.

A high reproductive rate and rapid growth of offspring aid in the coyote's success. Coyotes breed in February and March and pups are born about 60 days later. An average coyote litter contains four or five pups. Pups are born in dens. In urban environments, dens can be in storm drains, under storage sheds, in holes dug in vacant lots, parks, or golf courses, or any other dark, dry place.

Pups are cared for by both parents and can eat meat and move about well by the time they are a month old. Because food requirements increase dramatically during pup rearing, this is a period when conflicts between humans and urban coyotes are common. By 6 months of age, pups have permanent teeth and are nearly fully grown. About this time, mother coyotes train their offspring to search for food so it is not unusual to observe a family group traveling through parks and golf courses. If food is deliberately or inadvertently provided by people, the youngsters quickly learn not to fear humans and will develop a dependency on easy food sources.

After this training period, usually in October and November, most young disperse and find their own breeding territory, but one or two pups may stay with the parents and become part of the family group. Although coyotes tend to travel and hunt singly or in pairs, they may form groups as population densities increase or where food is abundant such as in urbanized areas.

In areas where they are hunted or trapped, coyotes are extremely wary of human beings. However, in urban areas where they are less likely to be harmed and more likely to associate people with an easy and dependable source for food, they can become very bold. They will come up to the door of a house if food is regularly present. Coyotes have learned that small dogs and cats are easy prey. Newspapers across the country have carried stories of coyotes harassing leashed dogs on walks with their owners in and near parks and golf courses within city limits.

Hockey Gear

Gracie's getting new hockey gear for xmas. Here I am modeling the new stuff! Notice the jammies I am wearing underneath!

Quote of the Week

The quote of the week is from a friend I used to work with. She was telling me about how she had to have a bunch of major dental work done....she said....

"the dentist recommended that I get implants (teeth NOT tits)!"

I was howling with laughter!

Crashes, foul mouths and bongs!

Earlier this week, I was commiserating with a coworker about the drama of raising teenagers. And boy was I not ready for his response....

He is a southern guy, who is very well dressed, educated and prim and proper. He has a 17 year old son. He reported that his son has been in 5 car accidents since he got his license a year ago and has been kicked out of school for telling the principal to "f off"! But the best was when he told me that his son made and posted a youtube video where he demonstrated how to smoke pot out of a bong! Apparently he was smart enough not so show his face on the video....but my friends living room was clear in the background!

Made me feel much better about my troubles with trying to get Drew caught up with school work after being sick this semester!

A little scare

Over Thanksgiving, I found a tumor on Daisy Mae's side. It is near her ribs, close to her belly and is about 2 cm. Normally I don't worry about such things because dogs get tumors. But this felt a little different then the fatty tumors our other dogs have had. So I took her into the vet yesterday. The diagnosis is fatty tumor! So we just have to keep an eye on it. The reason it feels different is that it is attached to her body cavity instead of free floating between her skin and her fat. Other than that, she looks great.

The chiweenie....that's another story. She is fat! She weighs 15 pounds and I think she should be about 12. We have to stop giving her snacks! And she tried to bite the vet in the chin. Embarassing!

O-

Gave blood today. That means I got to eat snacks and have a "hearty meal" afterwards! That's the best reason for giving blood!

Hiking Boondoggle

We went hiking yesterday to two different fire lookout towers: Pilot Peak and Smith Peak. And in between, we drove around in the middle of nowhere on forest roads.

The pic here is of Pilot Peak and it had an amazing 360 degree view. You could see Yosemite off to one side and the central valley to the other. The only issue was the 50 mph winds! The poor chiweenie was freaking out!

A Gross Adventure

After we dropped off our pine needles for recycling, Jim took us to see the dead deer pit. It is a pit where they throw dead animals found in the community. The road to the pit was closed, so we actually got out and hiked to it! Along the way we found a dead fox (see pic) a HUGE, fresh pile of bear scat (see pic) and TONS of bones.

Once we got to the pit and looked in, there were not very many dead deer in it(see pic) but there were bones all over the place. It was clear that something was going into the pit and dragging the deer out. And there was also goose feathers everywhere. So they must have dumped dead geese in their and those got dragged out too.

All in all, it was a totally nasty hike.....but it made for great pics on my blog!

Cabin Clean Up

We spent part of Thanksgiving and part of today raking up pine needles. This is the first year that we did not burn them but brought them to the recycle place. It was a fun adventure and good clean fun. Stay tuned for the pics of what we did after dumping off the pine needles.

Happy Day of Thanks!

What a wonderful thanksgiving....we went out to the club, so no one had to do any work. The only thing that would have made it better was if Drew didn't have the swine drew and could join us and if Brian, Diana, Sam, Jack and Mimi were there. Jim's Aunt Ginny and Uncle Glen joined us which was a nice addition. Their kids were busy doing other things so they came up on their way to their cabin in Yosemite.

Swine Drew

I think we finally have H1N1. Drew has a 101.4 fever and feels like crap. I am going down to get some tamiflu.

New pet

I loved Gracie's beta fish so much that I got one for my office at work! It is blue like Gracie's and is really active. He has a little castle that he swims in an out of. I named him Bodie and I spend a good part of the day talking to him. I will post pics as soon as I have my camera at work.

Sicky Poo

Ahi was sick at the end of last week and thru Saturday. She would not eat and was very lethargic. We were worried that we may need to buy another $400 chiweenie enema! We kept a close eye on her and she did not seem constipated like last time. She just seemed sick. The biggest worry was she was not drinking. So I got her to drink out of my hand and added some beef broth to her bowl and that did the trick. Tonite she ate a normal meal and seems on the mend.

Stupid chiweenies are just not as hardy as labradors. How did I get myself into being a mother of a chiweenie????

Tis the Season

Tis the season for crab and winter squash! This was our dinner tonite. Crab and a new recipe for butternut squash soup. The soup was delicious but what made it outstanding was the crostini with melted swiss cheese and chives on top. Jim added his fresh crab catch of the day to the menu.

Quesadilla Casserole

We tried this new recipe last nite and it was really good.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup chopped onion (I used shallots)
1 can black beans (29 ounces), drained, 1/2 cup liquid reserved
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley (I did not use this but added one can of chopped green chilies instead)
5 10-inch flour tortillas
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (Go heavy on the cheese!)
1 cup store-bought green enchilada sauce (I added about 2 Tablespoons of enchilada source to each layer in the casserole.

Preparation
Pre-heat the oven to 400˚F.

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add half of the beans and mash into a chunky paste. Stir in the reserved liquid.

Grease a heavy, ovenproof skillet. In a bowl, combine the corn, parsley and remaining black beans. Place a tortilla in the skillet and spread with 1/3 cup of the mashed black bean mixture. Top with 2/3 cup corn-bean mixture and 1/2 cup cheese. Press to compress the layers. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, mashed black beans, corn-bean mixture and cheese.

Bake until the cheese is melted and the casserole is heated through, about 30 minutes. Transfer to the broiler and cook for 1 minute. Serve with the enchilada sauce

Note: This is a Rachel Ray recipe that I modified a little.

Mom Update

My mom had surgery last nite to remove a piece of metal from her shoulder that became dislodged when she fell and broke her shoulder. The metal was there to serve as an anchor for the sutures from her previous shoulder surgery. Surgery went well and she is home recovering. This recovery should be easier than the last one.

Feed the Hungry

It is that time of year. Look up the website for your local food pantry and give them some money to help feed the folks that don't have enough food. Even $20 goes a long way to help out others.

Do it now! And then do it again before Christmas.

I am thankful that I have enough food to eat.

One Less Gallbladder in the World

My brother has spent the last 4 days in the hospital with a bad gallbladder. He had it removed yesterday and should be on the mend shortly. It was scary because he had this gallbladder attack at the same age my dad was when he had his first heart attack. So we all freaked out a little until they narrowed the problem down to his gallbladder.

Thankful Thought

I am so thankful medical and dental insurance: my brother needs surgery to have his gallbladder removed, my mom needs shoulder surgery and I need a root canal.

Thankful Thought

I am so very thankful for apple cranberry pie!

The Good News and the Bad News

The good news is my mom's shoulder break is healing nicely. The bad news is that in the fall, a piece of metal that had been pounded into the bone to repair the rotator cuff has come loose. And it is floating around in her shoulder. There is risk that it could get into the joint and cause damage....so.....back to surgery for her! It is not an emergency but the sooner the better because they are not really sure what might happen since this is a rare occurrence.

Thankful Thought

I am so thankful that my mom is healing from her broken shoulder.

Thankful Thoughts

I am very thankful for my new vacuum cleaner!

Our vacuum cleaner was slowly dieing (although we didn't really realize it at first). We tried a bunch of different things to fix it but it just wouldn't suck up the massive amounts of dog hair that my yellow dog produces!

So I made an emergency trip to Costco yesterday at lunch. Last nite we vacuumed the family room and WOOOOO WEEEEE was it nice!

Abraham Replacement

Gracie got a new fish this weekend. It is a beautiful blue beta who is named: "Redfin" or Bluefin" or "Blue Bob"...depending on the minute. I will try to post a pic soon. He is so cool that I want one for my desk at work.

Thankful Thought

I am very thankful that I was born and raised in the US. Not just because the US is safe and full of opportunties but because of the diversity.

Many mornings that I walk the dogs, I walk by a house where an old, tradtional, middle eastern man lives. His bedroom is in the front and it is clear that he has a morning routine which includes praying and chanting. Everytime I pass his house, I wonder about his story. What type of life has he led? What is the path that brought him here? Who does he love? What has he seen in his life? I would love to hear him talk about his life.

The diversity of my town brings richness to my life and I am thankful for that.

Thankful Thought

Full moons. (The variety in the sky - not the one you get when dropping your pants!)

Thankful Thoughts

I am going to use the month of Thanksgiving to try every day to take a minute and think of something I am thankful for in my life. Even more than just thinking about it, I want to consider why that particular thing is important to me and what I can do to pass forward that thankful feeling I get each day.

This might sound corny but in my very busy life, I often miss the little things, which are often so meaningful, because I am rushing from one task to another.

I am warming up today and have already thought of my first "Thankful Thought" -- I am so very thankful that every day when I get home from work, at least one of my kids meets me in the drive way with both of my dogs! They all welcome me home and help me carry in my stuff! No one ever asked them to to this. They do it because they are happy to see me. I have always sort of just taken this for granted. And it struck me on Wednesday that I am very lucky to have such a fantastic welcoming committee!

Losing Abraham

Last Friday nite after a loooooooong week, we were getting ready for bed when I heard a scream and Gracie yelling, “mommy, come quick, something is wrong with Abraham”! Abraham is a black gold fish that Gracie got for her 10th birthday about two weeks ago.


I run (ok I really just walked – I was beat from the week) into her room and see that Abraham is swimming on his side. Not good!


Gracie is usually a pretty tough and realistic kid, so I was not expecting any drama. Boy was I wrong!


She had just finished with a rough week and losing Abraham was the last straw.


She proceeded to sob and wails like a Southern Baptist woman who had just lost her whole family! She reached her hand in Abraham’s tank and tried to move him back and forth to get oxygen in his gills. She had seen us do this with our catch and release trout. She lay over her dresser and cried while watching him slowly get worse and worse. She would reach her hand in the tank and hold him upright hoping it would help.


I mustered all the empathy I could muster while trying to stifle an occasional giggle.


Finally, I got my Jim involved. Being a hunter and fisherman, he is the expert in the family. He came in and declared Abraham was dieing and there was nothing we could do. More wailing!


Finally after about 45 minutes, Gracie decides she has to sleep in our room with us because she is too distraught to sleep in the room where Abraham died. So she goes into my bedroom and lies across my bed, doing some more sobbing!


After a few minutes, she is ready to take the next necessary steps and instructs me to instruct Jim that she wants Abraham buried in the back yard but she doesn’t want to be there for the burial. BUT she needs to know where it is so she can add a memorial rock. And she wants Daddy to remove the tank from her room and clean it out really good for the next fish! So I pass on the instructions and go sit with Gracie for some quiet time. We both spend a little time reading and every few minutes she does those deep breaths that come with sobbing. After awhile she goes to sleep, completely spent from the drama of losing Abraham.


While all this was going on, she reported to me that there was no way she was going to play in her soccer tournament the next day – she just couldn’t do it!


So the next morning when she wakes up I am ready for more drama and have a strategy for talking her into playing soccer. The first thing she does is sit up in bed and say, “good morning mommy, I am feeling much better about Abraham today. Where is he?”


Whoa, whoa, whoa. I was not ready for calm and reasonableness. I didn’t quite no where to go with this or how to respond. So I quickly decide to do what I always do…..tell the truth.


So I say, “Daddy put him in a Ziploc bag and he is in the fridge in the garage awaiting burial”. And then I prepare myself for sobbing.... Nope. Nothing. She just says, “Oh ok.”


Then she heads downstairs and meets Jim in the garage and says to him, “Where’s Abraham?” He had not had the opportunity to see her complete 180 in attitude from the night before, so he was still thinking tears and drama and he wasn’t sure how to respond. While he was stalling and trying to think of what to say, she says, “I know he is in the fridge, but where in the fridge?” At this point, I walk in and see the total confusion on his face because he can not believe she is so reasonable! So my Jim points out where Abraham is being kept until his burial. And while he is doing so, Drew walks in and says, “Dad, did you filet him?”....


You will be happy to know that 5 days later, Abraham is still in the fridge in a Ziploc bag. We have not had time to bury the poor little guy. And last nite at dinner, Gracie reported, “Mom, did you see Abraham? The bag he is in is all cloudy.” And then she did a little pretend gag like she was throwing up!


I guess she is over it!

Ghost Cookies

Aren't these cute? The tournament this weekend was the Halloween Classic, so I made these for the girls to have after their 3rd game!

Winners

This is what a team full of girls who played their hearts out looks like! They came in second place in their first tournament ever. And they lost the last game 3 to 2....so it was close! I was so proud of all of them. I was especially proud of Grace when she made a save in the third game while in the goal. The save kept the score at zero - zero. No one could believe she made the save. But she did it because it was a hockey save and she used her leg! Truly impressive!

What a weekend!

Sitting back at my desk on Monday morning, I can not believe what a whirlwind the weekend was.

It all started early Friday afternoon when Jim called and reported he truck had broken down. Jim had afternoon duty with the kids. With the most critical item being the need to get Drew a haircut or he was going to be thrown out of school! So I leaped from my desk and went running out to take over while Jim tried to get his truck towed to Palo Alto by 5:30.

The towing part should have been easy....but it wasn't. The first guy got his truck halfway up on his flatbed and then declared that it was too heavy. He back in off and left Jim there to call another tow truck. By the time the second tow truck got there, it was 5:30 and the shop was closed. So it got towed to our house. Then, on Sunday morning it got towed to the shop where his "worth his weight in gold" friend, Pablo met him and helped replace his fuel filter and do a 100 thousand mile service.

While Jim was doing the truck stuff, I managed to get the kids to their haircut appt.

Saturday morning started at the crack of dawn to get the dogs out and exercised before the Halloween Classic Soccer Tournament started. We left for soccer at 7:45 loaded up with chairs, coolers and team gear! We didn't get home til 4:30 pm. Sunday was the same way!

I guess I will put it in a nutshell. This weekend we managed to:

* Get the kids haircuts
* Fix the broken down truck
* Watch/play 7 soccer games
* Win second place in the tournament for the girls - YEA!
* Make ghost shaped cookies with the girls jersey numbers on them
* Take the dogs for 2 walks
* Get groceries
* Order a new washer and a new dryer

Oh, and we managed the death of Abraham, Gracie's gold fish! Friday nite, she let out a cry for help when she saw poor Abraham swimming sideways. We called our local animal coroner to help....that would be Jim! There was about 1 hour of sobbing before she calmed down.

And you wonder why I love to work! My office is calm and quiet and my desk hold a nice warm cup of tea. I need a day of work after that crazy weekend!

Crab Factory

Jim is getting ready for crab season. He has been spending endless hours on the side of the house in his crab pot factory. He has manufactured 30 crab pots and is now painting the buoys. The buoys are color coded depending on where they go in the line of the pots. Remember, this is the same guy who can't remember to get everything on the list at the grocery store!

Road Work?

Gracie and I came home from ed therapy this morning and our street was closed. As the day went on, it became apparent why we couldn't drive down it and park in our driveway! The dogs had a great time barking at the whole event....for a little while....but then it was nap time!

Lima Beans!

Remember Gracie's science experiment involving lima bean sprouting? Well the lima beans sprouted in 4 days (not the 36 she thought it would take!) and are now growing in the back yard.

Time for some competition

Last nite while driving home from work, I decided it was time for a wii bowling tournament! After dinner the competition began. First Jim and I played and the winner played against who won between Drew and Grace. I beat Jim by one point! Then Drew beat Gracie. So Drew and I went head to head. Yea.....right! I didn't have a chance!

Drew was the big winner!

Happy Halloween

This link is a halloween video of my brother and his family. It is super cute and worth a look:

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/WrM39MC3QbalLrOU

Soccer Pics

Here are a couple recent soccer pics of Drew. Feels good to be in first place!

Napoleon Grace

We went hiking this weekend and Gracie found a rock fort. This is her posing at the fort, looking like Napoleon. And what do you think about that outfit??? To get the full picture, I have to point out that the shorts are mine and are stained with old paint. The socks are her Sharks socks that she normally wears while playing hockey. The bandana is from our trip to Arizona and is the Arizona flag! And underneath the red fleece shirt is a Chico State t-shirt! She is nuts!

New Shampoo

Last week, I ran out of shampoo in my gym bag so went out and bought some new shampoo and conditioner and threw the new shampoo in my bag. On Weds I used it for the first time at the gym. I was surprised at how soft my hair was and wondered if they changed the formula of the shampoo.

On Friday I did the same routine, workout, shower, wash hair, etc. Imagine my surprise when I realized I had TWO bottles of conditioner in my bag and NO shampoo! So on Weds I had conditioned my hair twice - no wonder it was so soft!

Duh!

A man needs meat

Last nite, we had what Jim calls "a man's meal" for dinner. It was a giant pot roast in the crock pot. The amount of meat eaten was horrifying! I made a brown rice casserole for me...but they managed to mow thru that too!

Ready??? I got a tattoo!

It is on my hand! Can you believe it?

OK - Here is the truth....it is a henna tattoo and will only last 10 days.

Two Big Wins!

Gracie's team won today - 3 to zero. Drew's team won 4 to 1.

pig comment

Who cares about swine flu, isn't anyone worried about the pig getting principal flu?

Book Club

After I was done locating a pig last nite, it was time to go to book club (I live a very rich and full life!). Our book club is very loose...out of 7 of us, only 3 had read the book! I read half of it but disliked it so much I stopped. It was called "Love the One You're With". I don't recommend it. But if you are interested in checking it out here is the authors website: http://www.emilygiffin.com/lovetheone.html

The book is described as a powerful story about one woman at the crossroads of true love and real life. I describe it as a story about an indecisive woman who has the "grass in greener on the other side of the road" mentality.

More pig comments....

i am surprised no one offered their spouses yet :) for a day at the school.
tied to a trailer and all :) :) sounds so tempting!

was it because of the principal kiss?

More pig comments...

Have you tried eHarmony?


Sorry – I know it was terrible… I just couldn’t let it slide…



*Disclaimer - The above comment was completely in jest. No offense intended to any who have used or will use eHarmony. I didn’t even write the above statement, it was written by some random passerby who held a gun to my head while they typed it. Any similarity between my post and any persons, living or dead, is unintentional and purely coincidental. The views expressed by this email are not shared nor endorsed by my comapny, any of its management, staff, or users. The above message is rude, crude, and unnecessary, and should not be read by anyone.

Pig Response

I put my pig request on an alias at work that is know for its quirkiness and here is a response I got:


I have a problem with the pig needing to be willing to kiss the school principal.

Is that ethical? Can the pig first meet the principal and decide then weather to kiss them?

Will the principal first talk nice to the pig or just go at it

And if this does happen be sure to get pictures …

Pig anyone?

I have a friend who is looking for a pig. Here are the requirements:

* A pig of any size or type
* Must be alive (dead or stuffed animal pigs will not work)
* Needs to be at an elementary school in Mt View, CA for a few hours for one day at the end of the month
* Pig must be willing to be kissed by a school principal
* The persons needing the pig have a tow hitch and are willing to haul the pig, if necessary
* It is for a public school event, so a free or very low cost pig is best

If you have any leads on a pig, let me know and I can hook you up with my friend who needs the pig.

PS - I think the best part of this story is that this friend actually thought I might be able to find a lead on a pig. What, about me, makes him think that I can find a pig?

Time to go out....

When I left for work this morning, I wanted to take the dogs pillow and out it in the garage because it is wet outside. I wanted them to have a nice dry spot to lay down. Everytime I would go to pick it up, they would both run over and lay on it!

They must have known what I was doing and that they would be going outside. I would then shoo them off and try to pick up the pillow only to have them jump back on again. It was a total crack up.

I took a pic of them acting like they didn't know what I was trying to do.

It's Raining; It's Pouring

Yesterday's rainstorm was a big one. We live close to a drainage canal and when it over flows, our streets flood. This is what it looked like in front of our house, but some places were worse. The kids went out and rode their bikes around thru the water. Jim and I went out a drove around a bit. And we drove by the kids really fast and drenched them with a wave!

We saw lots of downed trees and even saw a lady kayaking down the middle of the street. Luckily it subsided pretty fast.

It was all a huge adventure!