Happy 11th bday

I don't know why we ever do anything different for birthdays. Tonite we went to sushi for Gracie's bday and we had such a great time! It is so festive! That is a pic of Grace standing on a chair doing a "sprite bomb" and another pic of the whole crowd with us. And the best hat ever....a gift from Tina and Marty.

PNTNMMA

Just looked it up and I can get a liscense plate that says:

PNTNMMA

Which translates to: "Pontoon Mama" - the name of my boat and my blog!

Hmmmm.....I have to think about this one.

Roasted Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower, trimmed into 1 inch florets
1 medium onion, chopped or sliced into rings
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic, crushed.

Preheat oven to 450.

Mix everything together and spread on large cookie pan.

Cook 30 to 35 minutes stirring occasionally, until tender and browned.

You can top with chopped chives if you want.

YUM!

Sno Cone Success

I never posted the results of our sno-cone booth. We ended up making $443 which is an awesome haul of cash!

Budda's Story

“Pillow” was found in the sludge of a waterway. He was cleaned him up by a young man who found him, took care of him before he brought him to Iran’s Vafa Animal Shelter. (http://www.cal.ir)


As he was a very small puppy at the time, the shelter director kept him at her house and after receiving primary care and vaccinations, he was adopted to a young man. But the man's mother rejected the dog and he ended back in the shelter.


One of Vafa’s supporters in US decided to sponsor him, and pay for his way to come to US. He is now being fostered by a wonderful family, and is now ready for his forever loving home!

He earned his new name “Budda” the day he made himself at home at the meditation alter of his foster mom, who believes he is an old soul.


“Budda” is now about 4.5 months old. Weighs about 32lbs and growing!


He is very smart and learned how to use the doggie-door right away.


He is the star of his training class and learned the basic commands very quickly.


A cuddle with a panda bear must feel the same as one with Budda.


He is sweet and very sociable with kids, people, and other dogs. One of his best friends is a feral kitten!



Budda can adjust to many versatile life-styles.

He makes the perfect company for a family, or a single person.

He even has the capability to be a working dog, whether as a therapy dog or on a farm.

Tina and Marty met Budda on Thursday and loved him. Tomorrow he meets Daisy Mae and Ahi Wasabi to see how they get along. After that, the foster family and VAFA representative decide which family is best for him. (He has 4 families that are looking at him)

Stay tuned.....

The Love Story Continues....

There is just something about succulents. Here is my latest pot of them. I planted them for my office. I have a huge window that gets blasted with morning sun, so I think they will like it.

Eagle eyes

This morning while Gracie was eating breakfast, Daisy decided to get a birds-eye view of her pancakes. She layed on the stairs and eyeballed Gracie's breakfast!

Buddha

I found Tina and Marty a dog....isn't he cute?

They don't have him yet, but they are going to go check him out. He is imported....from Iran. Seriously!

Rainmaker

I have a new nickname at work:


Rainmaker


It is because I have made two employees cry in two weeks. I am really a nice person and don't try to make people cry. I just think they feel comfortable with me, so they let it all go!

Thursday Nite Dinner Club (TNDC)

We have been doing Thursday Night Dinner Club's (TNDC) for a couple months. The night starts with leftovers from Tina and Marty's job that day and then we fill in the "food holes" (food holes trademarked by Coach Cindy) with whatever else we need.

Right now our attendees are us, Coach Cindy and family and Tina and Marty. Lately we have had drop in participants - last nite it was Tracy and Nick (the goalie on Drew's soccer team) They gave Drew a ride home from soccer and heard about TNDC(which was on Weds this week) and were in the house in a flash checking out the menu.

The stayed for dinner and got a great meal:

Tri-tip
Roasted cauliflower
Corn on cob
Cheesy potato casserole
Tomato - mozzarella - basil salad
Baked beans
Croissants

The left before ollalieberry cobbler.

Day Time in No Time

Check out the small and big dogs on Yahoo!'s Day Time in No Time:

http://tv.yahoo.com/daytime/video/regis-and-kelly-rachael-ray-early-show/21710810/

Love Hate Relationship

Yesterday I went running in the morning and I had a whole conversation with myself about being DONE running.

How it hurts my feet. How I am not mentally into it anymore. How I am done with the pounding on my body.

But by the end of the run, I was telling myself - I love to run in the fall! Love the cool mornings! Love the brisk wind!

And then I couldn't wait to wak up up today and run again! I literally started waking up at 4 am and wanting to get out of bed!

Being a runner is an illness!

Gentle Giant

Took Drew to get his sports physical yesterday and and he is 6 feet 2 1/4 inches tall. And as usual the nurse didn't think he was only 14! He has always hovered around 98 percentile in height - but now he is off the charts!

One of his friend's mom referred to him the other day as a gentle giant...he is definelty a lover and not a fighter!

Overuse!

Over the weekend, Drew played in 3 soccer games and played just about every position in the game: goalie, sweeper and forward! But come last nite, his muscles were not happy with him. He got a terrible muscle cramp in his thigh that lasted a long time! All I could think, was....have that go on a other 8 or 10 hours and that's what labor feels like!

U15?

Drew's soccer team is U15, which means you have to be under 15 by Aug 1 in order to play on the team. This weekend, we played a team in Salinas which is known for being a club that does not like to follow rules. They play really dirty and their refs are totally biased. Which is exactly as it was on Saturday. But there were two clinchers:

1. The Salinas team purposely tried to take out our goalie, and when they finally did, their team appluaded (for about 5 minutes) that our goalie was down! Where is the sportsmanship??? I was disgusted!

2. After the game, one of the kids from the other team, got in a car and drove away....HE was driving! That can not be someone who is under 15!!! He is either cheating on the soccer field or cheating the driving laws!

You can't compete with a team like that. There is no way it is fair competition.

Wile E Coyote

Yesterday we went for a quick hike before the craziness of our weekend. Right before we got to the parking lot at the park, we saw a pup coyote. It was probably about 3 to 4 months old and its mama was no where around. It was acting a little weird - walking slow, stopping on the street and scratching, etc. So we think something might have been wrong with it.

Project Sno-Cone

Gracie's soccer team raised $443 today selling sno-cones! Great fundraiser!

Out of the Wild

In case you are waiting to hear, there is no news from "Out of the Wild".

Physical Therapy

I have been seeing a physical therapist for 7 weeks now for my shoulder. We are doing this treatment of shooting anti inflammatory drugs into my shoulder with electrical stimulation. We are trying it because last time I had surgery on my other shoulder, it was the thing that finally stopped the pain.

We have done 6 treatments so far and the maximum allowed is 8. So far....NO change in my shoulder.

I am also resting it, icing, taking meds and doing exercises. I have cut back my activity involving my shoulder by about 95% and it is making me CRAZY! I promised my physical therapist that I would not do any spinning for 3 weeks and would not do other activity that aggravated it.

Yesterday when I went in to see her, she was not happy with my hiking over the weekend - I had to do a lot of scrambling over rocks. I was telling her about it because I could really feel the pain while trying to steady myself using that shoulder. Then she almost threw me out of the office when I told her I was jet skiing. I had to explain that I rode the jet ski like an old lady taking a Sunday stroll!

I am just about done with this plan of action. Two more weeks of treatments and then....surgery seems like it will be the best option.

Flash Dance

Drew was asked to a Sadie Hawkins dance and is going! There is one BIG issue: it's the weekend of our family reunion and we are suppose to be out of town. But how can I tell him that he can't go when I know it was HUGE for the girl to ask him. So we are currently exploring our options!


Here is a little trivia regarding Sadie Hawkins: In Li'l Abner, Sadie Hawkins was the daughter of one of Dogpatch's earliest settlers, Hekzebiah Hawkins. The "homeliest gal in all them hills", she grew frantic waiting for suitors to come a-courtin'. When she reached the age of 35, still a spinster, her father was even more frantic—about Sadie living at home for the rest of his life. In desperation, he called together all the unmarried men of Dogpatch and declared it "Sadie Hawkins Day". Specifically, a foot race was decreed, with Sadie in hot pursuit of the town's eligible bachelors—and matrimony as the consequence.

URGHHHH!

I have spent the last 6 weeks with computer issues. It got to the point that my computer was so unstable that they gave me a new one. That was Friday.

Since Friday, I have continued to have issues with internet explorer, sending emails outside of work and random errors occuring.

BUT today is the worst! NOW I can not even get to my email in intranet at work! Try to work without email and intranet. It's like trying to work without your head being attached to your body.

I am ultra irritated!