Butterflies .........

No they di-int!

2009-06-04T11:01:00.000-07:00

I don't normally watch Hoda & Kathy Lee on the 4th hour of the Today Show. (Did they really need a 4th hour??) But it was on and a story caught my eye. It was a touching story about a man who looked to be about 80 who had long ago lost his wife to cancer, and has since raised their severely arthritic daughter. Although the daughter is 50-something, she still lives with him and he sees to her daily needs.

So Hoda & Kathy Lee were honoring this man for Father's Day. It was all nice and fluffy with puppies, unicorns & rainbows. And then they did it ......

They taunted, teased, and tormented these unsuspecting and undeserving sweet people by making them listen to a song by none other than .... oh, I can hardly type it .... Constantine Maroulis. (Ouch, that hurt.)

This man is just ick to the Nth degree. I hated his devilish stares into the camera during his season of American Idol. I always felt like he was glaring at ME. It drove me nuts. Plus, I don't think he can sing worth a darn.

Oh, and the title of the song? "He only had eyes for me". Sweet.

For your viewing pleasure:

First camping trip of the Summer season ...... Otherwise known as: Shock of the year - I'm actually blogging!!

2009-05-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. You're shocked to see that I've posted something. It's only been 5 months. Gimme a break!

We kicked off the summer by going on our first camping trip of the year, and boy did we get lucky with the weather. We went to a State Park called Fort Stevens on the northern tip of the Oregon coast. There is a shipwreck that has been on the beach since 1904, I think. I'm too lazy to look it up. The ship was called the Peter Iredale. Someone research it and report back.

We had a great time. The kids relaxed....

...while the grownups played. Hmmm, that's different!

The place is called Fort Stevens because it's an old military installation that was active from the late 1800's until the end of WWII. This is one of the batteries. (I didn't know what it meant either.) It's where they had huge guns that could shoot miles out into the sea. They never fired an attack, but were fired upon.

It was a great way to get the summer started. We have 3 more camping trips planned, as well as a trip to Crater Lake. I can't wait!

2008-12-24T00:38:00.000-08:00

Huge Snowstorm

2008-12-21T18:21:00.000-08:00

As with much of the country, Oregon has had lots and lots of snow lately. We've had snow, ice, and freezing rain for 9 days now. It hasn't been over the freezing temperature mark either, and has gotten as low as the teens. Yesterday, it snowed for 14 hours straight and we got 8 inches. Then came the freezing rain to coat the top of the snow with half an inch of ice. I thought I'd share some pictures and videos with you.

In this one, you can see the bird bath filled up with snow. I think it looks kind of like a pie. You can also see that the pond is frozen over. In fact, the birds were walking on it.

In this one, you can see how much snow piled up on our car. That was after scraping it off once the day before and driving to the grocery store. You can hear that there is a 1/2 inch layer of ice on the top. Oh, and it was taken through a screen. Yeah, I didn't want to go out in the 23 degree weather!

This was taken to show the colored icicles. They really did look prettier in person. It was hard to get a picture that captured what it really looked like.

Our house with 8 inches of snow.

This is a gazebo in a park in the center of town.

Icicles and Christmas decorations.

Thanksgiving with the Fam

2008-12-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

We went to Phoenix for Thanksgiving. I'm sure it was crowded at most airports, but ours was eerily calm for some reason. Our flight was at 8pm, but being that it was "the most heavily traveled day of the year", we decided to arrive at 4pm. Yes, the parking lot was very full and we had to park in the overflow economy lot, which is as far away as you can get, but there was barely a line to check our luggage, a short line through security, and we got to our gate with 3 1/2 hours to kill. Sheesh. However, I'd rather do that than to arrive 2 hours ahead and find long lines in both places and be all stressed out. So naturally we ate, then shopped, then pottied, then shopped, then sat, then walked around, then pottied, then sat. It was fine.

Had a great time with the family. It was nice going from 50 degrees and drizzle to 70 degrees and sun. I tried to soak up as much of it as I could. There were 10 of us for dinner. I have 2 brothers with wives, 2 nephews, my parents, and of course me and the Hubbs. It's hard to get us ALL together at the same time, so it was really nice. I think the last time was in Vegas in 2005. That was for my husband's and eldest brother's 50th birthdays, which are a week apart.

Ok, here's the problem. I have some pictures but not all of them. I have a 4GB memory card in my Canon digital camera, and after 2 years and over 1,000 pictures, it decided to throw a "Memory Card Error" on me -- AFTER I took a bunch of pictures over the Thanksgiving weekend. After researching, I discovered that I have to buy a card reader (which I never heard of before) to get the pictures off of it and on to my computer, but it's not guaranteed that it'll work. It depends on how bad the data was corrupted. Darn technology. I thought I liked it. Anyway, we went to Walgreens and bought another card so I could take pictures of what remained of the weekend.

Here are a few shots of our trip to Sedona. It's just beautiful. My Grandparents lived in Arizona when I was growing up, so we'd drive there from Los Angeles often, and I've always loved going to Sedona, Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon. There is a church built into the rocks that is so pretty that I'm going to make a separate post about it. (Yes, I know I'm slow at posting and I haven't even finished my Alaska cruise series yet, but bear with me!) As always, click the pictures to make them bigger. These are best viewed BIG. They are really gorgeous.

Edited to add: I had gotten a new Flip Video camera just before the trip (I LOVE IT, and will make a post about it later). I was playing with the software it comes with, and here's what I made.

My nephew the Drum Major

2008-11-09T17:09:00.000-08:00

Kyle is the Drum Major (or bandleader, if you're not familiar) for a very large high school in Southern California. He's the one in a white uniform in this video. You can see him at the beginning, then after the sign-holder girls get out of the way, you can see more of him. He spins a mace, which is longer than a baton and has a round head on the end of it. Anyway, we're proud he was selected as Drum Major for his Senior year. This particular video shows him leading the band in a competition that they ended up winning. Go Kyle! Go Apaches! Oh, and he was also elected Homecoming King this year! He rocks! And... my other nephew, Kyle's brother Spencer, is in the band also. He's a Freshman and plays trumpet. I don't see him in the video, but he's there. Ok, sorry to bore you. That's all.

File this under - WHAT?!?!?

2008-11-03T18:51:00.001-08:00

This is from katu.com, the website for the local CBS affiliate in Portland, Oregon. It was posted today, November 3rd.

Dispute over pet cat ends in murder-suicide

FLORENCE, Ore. -- A neighborhood dispute about a pet cat escalated into a murder-suicide Friday in a rural part of Lane County, investigators believe.

Teddy W. Sellers, 63, died Saturday morning at a Eugene hospital from gunshot wounds sustained Friday night in a dispute with his neighbor, 57-year-old Guy A. Frazier.

Frazier believed Sellers had injured his cat, investigators said. Frazier confronted Sellers on the street about the incident and a shot was fired, striking Sellers in the head, according to the Lane County Sheriff's Office

The two men lived alone and next door to one another. Investigators believe the two had an ongoing dispute over trespassing, pets and other neighborhood nuisance issues.

A postal carrier saw the injured Sellers and alerted authorities. Sellers was taken by air ambulance to RiverBend Hospital in Eugene, where he died the next day from his injuries.

The sheriff's office closed down Canary Road for several hours Friday night and Saturday morning while they searched for the shooting suspect. Officers executed a search warrant at 2:15 a.m. and located Frazier's body. Investigators believe Frazier took his own life before emergency crews arrived.

Ron Howard gets into character as both Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham

2008-10-23T19:42:00.001-07:00

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Oh Hail No!!

2008-10-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

We had a surprise hailstorm this evening. It was already cold, but it got even colder, then it started raining really hard for about a minute, stopped briefly, then started again in the form of huge hail stones. If you live in areas where you get golfball-sized stones, disregard the word "huge". They were huge for Oregon standards. Probably a little larger than a marble. All I know is it was LOUD! I took a video, but it was just as it was all ending. You can kind of hear the sound in the first few seconds of the video. Oh, and it was through a screen if you wondered.

Kids in the neighborhood came out to play as if it had snowed.

I hope they didn't dent the car. They were huge and were hitting really hard. It was seriously LOUD.

Alaska Cruise, Part 4

2008-10-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

I was looking through my Alaska pictures and saw some that I didn't remember posting even though they occurred before some of the pictures I have posted. After I recovered from my temporary Alzheimer's, I realized that we had done two adventures in one day. So I shall now go back and talk about the night we went to a Salmon Bake. I don't even like salmon. Neither does Mom. But it's ok because they have chicken also. We knew that ahead of time. Hubby and Dad LOVE salmon, and it sounded like fun, so we booked it. Anyway, they take you to this area just outside of town that has a creek running through it and lots of trees. They bake lots and lots of salmon and have some sort of yummy, sweet looking sauce they'll put on it if you want. As I mentioned, there's chicken too as well as corn bread, beans, salads, desserts, you name it. There was a lady playing guitar and singing folk songs, and she wasn't too bad. In between songs she'd tell stories about Alaska. It was fun. We liked it because it wasn't a rushed thing. You came on a bus at a certain time, but you could leave whenever you wanted. Busses were running back to the ships about every 20 minutes. So we took advantage of that. After we ate, we walked up the creek where there was an old abandoned mine.

They had a few gold pans out and you could try your luck in the creek. Hubby was all over that.

There was a really pretty waterfall, and I must have looked like a professional photographer or something, because I got asked by no less than 5 couples/families to take their picture in front of it. We were all one big happy family.

Oh! And it was lightly drizzling off and on, so they had this row of umbrellas hanging at the entrance that caught my eye.

Here's a short video of the creek and waterfall. Complete with some random guy's voice.

Alaska Cruise, Part 3

2008-09-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

I may just win an honorable mention in the "World's Worst Blogger" contest. Here is Part 3 of my Alaska Cruise Review. Ok, so it's been 6 weeks since Part 2. Whatever.

The good news is we're up to the most scenic part. Tracy Arm Fjord. We entered the fjord about 6:00 am and boy, was it cold outside! Probably mid-40's. They had a place on board where you could sign out a wool blanket. Even with the blanket it was pretty dang cold the whole time we were in the fjord. But the views were spectacular as you can see from the pictures. There was a naturalist on board providing commentary which could be heard out on deck, or through your stateroom's television.

Tracy Arm is a long, narrow, dead-end fjord cut by a glacier thousands of years ago. At the end of it is Sawyer Glacier. We were there on July 23rd, and of the weekly cruises from May through September, ours was the first to make it all the way in. They go as far as the icy waters will allow. Did I mention the awesome views? I took 94 pictures and 3 videos that day alone.

We were back out into the open waters by 11:00 am and I'd tell you what we did the rest of the day, but since it's been 2 months, I can't remember. So in the meantime, just enjoy these pictures and hang on 6 more weeks to find out what we did the next day.

Remembering 9/11

2008-09-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

Now I know how Gandhi felt

2008-09-09T21:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, perhaps that's a lofty comparison, but it has to do with - doing without. No, I didn't go on a computer strike, but for 16 days I was without mine. It was sheer agony. Never have I experienced such deprivation and withdrawal. You don't realize how much you're dependent on this MACHINE until you don't have it. After the first week when we saw we weren't going to get it back soon, Hubby set up our ~~old~~ antique PC. It was NOISY, the monitor was HUGE, the screen size was all screwy, it was ..s..l..o..w.. it had (e-gad) a corded mouse and keyboard; it didn't have my bookmarks, photos or favorite software. I hated it. Well, long story short (too late?) I have my lovely modern PC back. I am once again whole.

Since I like to attach photos to all my posts, here is a cartoon progression of what my computer has gone through. Poor baby.

Acting Wacky

Diagnosed Sick

Getting Fixed...

...While we used an OLD computer

All fixed!!!

Laziness, bikes, and flowers ... OH MY!

2008-08-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

I am just plain ol' lazy when it comes to this blog. I promise I will post some more about our cruise. Someday.

Summer is sadly coming to an end. We just got back from a 9-mile bike ride on an 85 degree day. I must say, it wore my ass out. I cannot for the life of me understand how those Tour de France guys do it. Maybe it's the extra few (dozen) pounds I carry. Ya think?

Anyway, I'll be back, as Arnold once said. In the meantime, enjoy these photos from our annual Dahlia Festival in Canby, Oregon. We live less than a mile away from the country's largest producer and supplier of Dahlias, and for two weekends every year, they open their farms to visitors and have a simply GORGEOUS display of arrangements in their nice and cool basement. Maybe I should blog about that someday. Hmm... a new idea!! Click on the pictures to enlarge them. Especially the 2nd one with the bee on it.

The train! The train! Our Alaska Cruise, Part 2

2008-08-06T17:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so on Tuesday we got to Skagway. This is where we boarded the White Pass & Yukon Railway for our 3 1/2 hour tour. The scenery was gorgeous. Oh, and the train tracks come right up onto the dock. That's it in the upper right in the picture below.

Here are a few more pictures from the train ride.

After we got back, we walked through the town a little bit, then headed back to the ship.

I'm going to try posting a short video of the train trip. I haven't had much luck with videos in the past, but here goes.

Wow, it worked! Ok, it's not very good, but it worked! Ok, that's it for today. See you next time!

Alaska Cruise Review, Part 1

2008-08-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

We drove from our home near Portland, Oregon to Seattle Saturday morning, July 19, anxious to begin our Princess Cruise through Alaska's Inside Passage. We looked forward to 7 days aboard the Golden Princess, which was scheduled to return us back to Seattle the following Saturday.

Checking in was a breeze due to my parents knowing one of the supervisors who works there. Our "cruise cards" - kind of a combination onboard credit card and key - were already made out for us with a VIP sticker on them. We were escorted very quickly through the process. We felt special.

Here was the view as we departed Seattle right on time at 4 pm:

The first night was a casual night in the dining room. Actually, they call it "Smart Casual". In other words, you don't have to wear formals, but you shouldn't wear jeans or t-shirts either. We had elected for "Anytime Dining" as opposed to "Traditional Dining", which means that you get the same menu and quality of service in the same type of dining room, but you get to choose what time you go. Think of it as going to a restaurant without a reservation, whereas the Traditional diners have a reservation. Two different dining rooms, but everything is the same. I didn't think to bring menus home, but believe me, the food choices are awesome. If you are really interested in seeing menus, check out this review from a fellow Cruise Critic member, cezovski. There are menus from their cruise at the bottom of the review. Ours were almost identical.

The first full day was a day at sea. I should have kept notes because it's hard to remember what we did. I'm pretty sure Hubby and I went to play Bingo that day, and I think that's the day Mom & I went to an arts and crafts class where we learned to make crepe-paper flowers. Of course, we shopped. There are 2 floors of great stores on that ship. Before the week was over, I bought a Swarovski Crystal fish, and Hubby bought a Citizen Eco Drive watch.

The first stop was Juneau. It was only about 50 degrees, the skies were an ugly grey, and it was drizzling off and on. Not what I had hoped for, but we didn't let it stop us. While Hubby headed out for a gold panning trip (he got a few flakes), Mom, Dad & I boarded a motor coach and visited Mendenhall Glacier. It's pretty awesome in person. The pictures don't really do it justice.

After we returned from the tour, we met up with Hubby and toured the town a bit on our own.

That night was our first of 2 formal dining nights, so we got all spiffied up and went to eat dinner. Dinners are quite an event on a cruise. If you don't want to spend 90 minutes to 2 hours having your meal, then go to the buffet, the hamburger place, pizza place, or order room service. Again, I wish I had brought back a menu, but take my word for it - the food is delicious and you can eat as much of it as you want. Our waiter kept telling people that if they didn't like what he brought them, he'd bring them something else. I didn't like my dessert and he did just that.

This could take forever, so I think I'll post this for now and work on the rest in a draft. In the meantime, enjoy this picture of a bald eagle. We saw several of them.

Back to Reality

2008-07-29T13:13:00.000-07:00

We're back from our cruise to Alaska. It was wonderful and I took 500 pictures!! Wow. It'll take time to go through them all and upload the ones I want. I think I'll put them on shutterfly.com . Once I get that done, I'll post a link here. In the meantime, enjoy Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm Fjord, and a picture I snapped during a train trip. UPDATE: I have begun my cruise review. It is currently in draft form. I hope to have it up sometime next week. Please stand by.

Anniversary weekend

2008-07-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

Saturday was our 12th anniversary (oh hey.. 12th on the 12th.. just noticed that!) and we took a trip to the Oregon coast. There is an Indian casino we go to, and we had enough "points" on our player's card to get a free night in their lodge. We had never stayed there before and were very impressed by it. Here are a couple pictures of our room. I didn't get one of the bathroom, but it was nice with marble countertops and tiled floors.

Anyway, so naturally we gambled. Hubby hit a 4-spot Keno his very first game. Cha-ching - $225. I didn't know about it, because I was playing machines. I was on my last $40, which I put into a red-white-and-blue 7's dollar machine and I hit 4 white 7's. Cha-ching - $400. So I go in the Keno lounge to tell hubby, found out about his win, and sit with him while his last 3 games are played. It was down to the last 2 balls drawn on his last game, and he hit another 4-spot. Cha-ching - $225. So we decide to take some of the winnings and play machines a little bit, and I hit 3 mixed color 7's. Cha-ching - $160. When all was said and done, we went to our room with $960. Naturally, I took a picture.

After a free breakfast the next morning, we headed towards Depoe Bay. First, we stopped at the Taft district of Lincoln City. It was a beautiful morning. It was only 8:30 when we got there, so not many people were out. Here are some more pictures. I thought the fish sculpture was neat.

Next stop was Newport for lunch, then to the man-made jetty where we saw the most unusual starfish. It had 15 arms. I'd never heard of such a thing, but looked it up on the internet, and discovered that it is called a sunflower starfish. Anyway, we had a lovely trip and managed to stay away from the 100 degree heat back home. (It was 70 at the coast) Here's a picture of that starfish.

You don't look a day over 200

2008-07-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, America !!

Ok, I lied

2008-06-24T19:28:00.001-07:00

I said I'd post pictures from our trip to the Washington Coast. Truth is, I didn't take any. I wanted to. I had my camera right with me. It was the sky that did not cooperate. Over the water there was a dense fog, and overhead were some low, thick, dark clouds. It never did rain, but it was just a dull color of gray outside. The water and sky were the same color. Not very pretty. We were a little disappointed that we didn't get a sunny weekend, but hey - it was a weekend away from home as well as some quality time together, so I can't complain.

Just so it's not a total loss, here are pictures of what it should have looked like.

Feeling Guilty

2008-06-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

I know! I know! I'm a bad, bad blogger!! I have one in the hopper, but it requires a video which I can't get to load. I've been told it's too large. So sorry. We're heading out of town this weekend and I promise to post pics of the trip. We'll be visiting the Washington coast and staying overnight in Long Beach, WA. Until then....

Today, she's a my birthday too!!

2008-06-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

Forty-five years ago today my mother gave birth to a beautiful 7 lb 8oz blue-eyed baby girl. She was the apple of her father's eye and the most beautiful thing her two big brothers had ever seen. Why, she was the darling of Van Nuys, California. People came from blocks around just to be in her presence.

Ok, ok. Enough of the fairy tale stuff. It's my birthday today. Happy birthday to me! I think we're going out for Mexican food tonight. My present was the bikes we got about 3 weeks ago. In fact, that was my husband's birthday present too, and his birthday isn't until September!

By the way, the line in the title is from an episode of I Love Lucy when they are in Italy and it's little Ricky's birthday. A little Italian boy tells Lucy "Hey! What do you know? Today, she's a MY birthday too!". Congrats to anyone who got the reference before I explained it.

A Fill-In-The-Blank Meme

2008-06-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

This meme came from "the bluest butterfly". Kinda looks like fun. Leave a comment with your fill-ins, and/or post it on your blog.

1. My best friend is___________________.
my husband.

2. I love it when____________________.
the weather is beautiful on the weekend and we do something fun.

3. My favorite movie is _________because _________.
Too hard to pick just one. I like Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Forest Gump, Rebecca, Green Mile, Sixth Sense, Awakenings, Grease, just to name a few off the top of my head.

4. I can't stand it when________________________.
people are mean or rude for no reason.

5. If I could have any job in the world it would be______________.
probably a travel agent. I love to plan and take trips.

6. Most weekends I ____________________.
stay up later than normal and sleep in later than normal. I try to go somewhere.. anywhere.. at least once each weekend day, even if it's just to the grocery store. The best weekends are when I get to take a day or weekend trip.

7. _____________ tastes so good!
Things that are bad for me

8. Why does _______________________?
a child get a terminal disease

9. I have lots of _________________ around the house.
dust collectors

10. Blogging satisfies my need for ________________.
expression and communication

A lovely Saturday drive

2008-05-25T19:45:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, we decided to take a drive to the Quartzville Recreation Corridor east of Albany, Oregon near Sweet Home. It's a 50 mile-long back-country byway connecting Hwy. 20 & Hwy. 22. The first half of it follows Quartzville Creek, and that's the part we went to. The color of the creek is a gorgeous turquoise. Apparently there is plenty of gold to be found. We saw a few people trying to get their share. There is also fishing, camping, boating, swimming, hiking, you name it. It was gorgeous, and we will definitely go there again. I took way too many pictures, 6 of which are below. Enjoy.

What's in YOUR mug? (THIS IS MY 50TH POST!!!)

2008-05-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

After posting this, I realized it was my 50th post!!! So do I get a gold watch or something?

I got this from Driller's Blog and thought it was a fun idea. He got it from someone else, and so on. Go to his blog to find the original source if you are so inclined.

Describe your favorite coffee mug. Is it large or small, plain or with a design? Does it have a big man-sized handle or a tiny little teacup-sized one? Maybe you got it on vacation, maybe it has a funny saying on it, or maybe it's an insulated travel mug. And what kind of beverage do you put in it? Is it always coffee? Do you take it black or with cream, sugar, or both? Whatever the case may be, leave a comment and let us know!

I have several mugs and have included a picture of three of them. I happen to enjoy Winnie the Pooh and his friends, and they are well represented in my mug repertoire. I also have a couple of I Love Lucy mugs, as I am a Lucy lover from way back. Then there are the vacation ones; Hawaii and Las Vegas just to name a couple.

The really funny thing is that I don't drink that much coffee! If I do, it's black. I enjoy it at a restaurant for breakfast or for a fancy dinner, but I really don't drink it much at home for some reason. My husband drinks a few cups every day of his life, but I'd rather drink something cold. Every now and then in the winter I'll have some hot spiced cider. Yum. I just like coffee mugs. Nobody ever said you had to actually USE them.

So how about you? Comment here and feel free to continue this topic onto your blog. Be sure to link mine in your post.

Thanks, Uncle George!

2008-05-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

We got our "Economic Stimulus" money May 6th and decided we'd better go ahead and stimulate. We did put most of it in savings. Afterall, we have a cruise in July (which is paid for, but we'll need spending cash) and a trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving coming up. But we took a portion of it and bought ourselves bicycles. We're on a health and fitness bender right now, and these bikes will fit right in.

I was skeptical, as the last bike I had (*cough*) 20 years ago was a standard, old-fashioned 10-speed. You know the type... small seat that kills your booty, handlebars that make you bend over to reach them, and a shifting system that I could never figure out. Needless to say, I hated it. So we discovered something called a "Comfort Bike". It must be made for the middle-aged folks like us. The seat is more roomy and padded, but most importantly - you sit up straight to ride it. And the gear system is sooo easy. Just the twist of a dial next to the hand grips, and you're off and running. It has 21 gears and in the low gears, inclines are as easy as can be. Raise it to about 12th or more and peddling is a breeze. Higher than that, and you can coast down a hill without riding the brakes.

I love my bike! We've been all over our town with them. It'll be great to take them camping with us this summer. We've gotten all sorts of little extras. Flashing lights for nighttime, speedometers, cargo carriers, etc. What we probably should have gotten were knee and elbow pads and helmets!! Pictures below are off the internet, but they are the same bikes in the same colors as ours.

OMG!!! She actually blogged today!!!

2008-05-06T20:06:00.000-07:00

After 22 days, I felt it was time. I've been lazy. Sorry. I just don't know what to talk about, so I'll talk about nothing. Seinfeld... it's a show about nothing.

Let's see. I'm watching American Idol right now, even though I've heard all the performances at the best Idol blog around. My prognostication for elimination order is Jason then Syesha, making a battle of the David's with David Cook coming out on top. Of course I'm probably completely wrong. I usually am.

We got our yard all gussied up for Spring. Went to the plant show at the fairgrounds and spent $90 on flowers and baskets. It always looks so pretty with fresh new little flowers. I just keep my fingers crossed that everything lives because my thumb, she ain't so green. I'll get a picture up soon. Not of my thumb... of the yard.

Went to my niece's birthday party on Sunday. She turned 7. She's growing up way too fast. There were 10 girls there and my sister-in-law had a craft for them to do. I was there to help them, but it was so fun I wanted to do it myself!! She bought flip-flops and stuff to decorate them with. They had ribbon to put around the perimeter, beads and feathers to put on the top, and just all kinds of cuteness came out. I didn't know there was actually such a thing as "flip-flop glue".

We're going on a cruise in July and I am sooooo looking forward to it. I've been frequenting a cruise message board to get tips and ideas, and have filled one piece of notebook paper with all the things I want to remember to bring or do. The cruise is to Alaska and we're going with my parents, who paid for it (bonus!!). 74 days and counting. And you KNOW I'll blog about that when we get back! Along with pictures galore.

What else? We're still going to the gym. My husband has been a little burned out on it and has been skipping days. Sometimes I skip with him, but I have gone by myself several times. I've lost 22 pounds since mid-December, which ain't too bad. Last I heard, Hubby had lost 30, but that was before he skipped almost 2 weeks. No biggie though. We all struggle.

Ok, I think that's it. Till next time. And it may even be less than 22 days!!

Global Warming?? My Patootie!!

2008-04-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the weather we've had this Spring. We pretty much know by the end of February that we're not going to get any more snow, but not this year. This past weekend the Northwest had a freaky snowstorm pass through. This is almost the end of April. What the heck is going on?

Danny Noriega? Is that you??

2008-04-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

On our weekend trip (previous post) I saw a guy who I think looks a lot like Danny Noriega, a former top 20 contestant on American Idol. What do you think? Edited to add: No, I'm not trying to say this IS danny. I know it's not. I'm only posting this for the "hmm, he kinda looks like Danny Noriega" entertainment factor.

Road Trip!!

2008-04-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

On a whim, we decided to go to the coast for the weekend. We have been having LOUSY weather all year and finally the weatherman said Friday and Saturday would be nice, even at the coast. So early Saturday morning we headed to Pacific City, Oregon. If you can even see the names on that map to the left, it's about one-fourth of the way down. Anyway, boy did we get lucky on the weather!! It was absolutely ~~gorgeous~~ GORGEOUS!! We had only talked about going for the day, but the weather was so wonderful that we ended up spending the night. (Thank goodness for that "emergency" kit we keep in the car. We've done these spur-of-the-moment trips before, so we decided to stow away a bag with toiletries and a change of undies. It came in handy!)

Pacific City has this giant sand mountain that you can climb -- if you don't have a heart attack first. It's very steep and difficult to climb. You can see the hill in the picture below. Anyway, we climbed it and were treated to a spectacular view from the back side of the hill. As you can see in the pictures, the sky and the water were a spectacular color of blue. There was not a cloud in the sky that day, and it was unseasonably warm. We loved it.

Along the shorter section of hill - the part that sticks out into the water, there are tidepools. There are lots and lots of starfish, anenomes, and sea urchins clinging to the sides of the rocks. There are also little pools containing fish. In the first picture, it looks like we're looking through an aquarium glass, but it is actually one of the little pools of water. Wow. Here are some pictures. Enjoy. You can click on any of them to make them bigger.

Your Virtual Cruise ... The Final Chapter (A Tad Bit Late)

2008-03-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, boys and girls, today (just play along) the Sapphire Princess arrived in Tauranga, New Zealand. I have no idea what the temperature was, so, what the heck... I'll say a balmy 85 degrees. (Fine. It was probably 60 degrees. Work with me here.) The shore excursion for today is called EZ Tauranga. (Wow, that's original. Wonder how they came up with that one.) This is a 4 hour tour (sing along... "a 4 hour tour"... Ok, I'll stop being silly).

We start off with a scenic drive around the bay. There are beautiful view of Mt. Maunganui and lots of Kiwifruit fields as we drive through the Te Papa Peninsula. We pass the Maori War Canoe, believed to be the world's largest with a capacity of 135.

First we visit Elms Mission Station, a restored Missionary house with impressive gardens. (Again with the gardens! Sorry, Mom & Dad!)

Next is Kiwifruit Country where we get an insight into the secrets of the furry little fruit formerly known as the Chinese Gooseberry. Here we will have morning tea. Make sure you poke your pinky finger out.

You will return to the ship at 12:45 pm. Just in time for a nap before you enter that shipboard talent contest. Later tonight, enjoy your last dinner onboard, for tomorrow we reach our destination, Auckland.

There my parents had 2 nights at the Rendezvous hotel. They were scheduled for a city tour, but by the evening of the day the ship got into port, they both had horrible colds and didn't feel like doing anything. The endured a very LONG flight back to Phoenix via Los Angeles, then collapsed for several days. Dad's cold ran it's course, but Mom had what I think was either bronchitis or walking pneumonia. (She wouldn't go to the doctor, so I don't know for sure.) It's been 3 weeks and she's just now starting to feel better. It was a glorious trip, but they've vowed to takes cruises closer to home in the future.

So there you have it. Late, but it's done.

It's beginning to look a lot like "spring" (??)

2008-03-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

Does the calendar say Spring? I thought so. Doesn't that mean green grass, daffodils and birds singing? Then what's this?

New car!!

2008-03-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

We bought a new car on Saturday.

We have a 2004 Chevy Venture minivan, which is pretty much "my" car, and my husband's ride was a 1995 Ford F-150 pickup. Well, when gas prices started going out of control 3 years ago, it wasn't practical for him to drive the pickup to work since it got 12mpg, so he started driving the van, which gets about 24mpg. Therefore, since I do childcare and can't take more than 2 kids at a time in the pickup, I was without a vehicle during the day. Most of the time it didn't bother me, but on a nice day, it would've been nice to be able to go to the park or library. So now Hubby drives the new car, which gets 31mpg, I have my van back, and we got rid of that gas-guzzling pickup.

The other issue is that Hubby builds and flies model airplanes and used the pickup to haul them to the field. In order to get a more economical vehicle, he thought about getting a small car that could tow a little trailer. You know... those little ones that U-Haul rents out. Well, then we went to a Chevy dealer and he showed us an HHR. It looks a lot like the PT-Cruiser, which is a Chrysler. Chevy's version is a little longer and a little wider. The great feature is that when you fold down the back seats, it has 5 ft of cargo space. If you fold down the front passenger seat as well, you get 8 ft (on that side, of course). So this seemed like the perfect solution to us.

At first we were looking at a used one, but GMC was offering 2.9% financing on new vehicles compared to the 6.25% loan we would have used on a used car. So for not very much more per month, we decided on the new car. I'll admit it's a little weird looking, but it grows on you. It is designed after the 1949 Suburban. Both pictures below. Hubby talked them into installing running boards on it for free. They'll be installed next week.

One neat thing about it is that a button on the remote allows you to start the car before you get in it. You could stand at your living room window, push a button to start your car, and it would be warmed up by the time you get in it. Oh, and it comes with one year of On-Star, which we're discovering is pretty cool, and 3 months of XM radio. We have Sirius in the van and love it, but XM is great too.

My camera is home

2008-03-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

I got my camera back! It was in the hospital getting a new something-or-other so it could initialize. Huh? In plain English, it wouldn't turn on. Cost me $107 to send it to Canon to be fixed. It was either that or buy a new one for $400. Anyway, I'm happy to have it back. I love my camera! Here is a description and review of it.

BOUNCE

2008-03-12T23:09:00.001-07:00

The sound you just heard was that of me dropping the ball. I sort of left this cruise saga hanging. Well, you wanted to stay on the ship an extra few days anyway, didn't you? LOL. I will finish when the mood strikes me again. My parents are back in Phoenix -- with colds.

Virtual Cruise, Part 6

2008-03-05T13:20:00.000-08:00

We're nearing the end of our trip. Today (Thursday locally) the Sapphire Princess arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand. Skies were cloudy and the temperature was a cool 49 degrees. The forecast was for a high of 59 for the day and possible showers. Bummer.

My parents were scheduled for a shore excursion called "Christchurch City Sightseeing". They like to take generic city tours that typically travel via motorcoach and take you through town pointing out various things, then go to 1 to 3 destinations. Usually a botanical garden, historic home/landmark, museum, etc. The tours usually cost between $49 and $79 per person and last anywhere from 90 minutes to 4 hours.

Today's tour starts out at a botanical garden. I couldn't decide on just one photo, so I included 3. So pretty. Reminds me of Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C.

Next is Christchurch Arts Centre (That's how they spell it - 're' instead of 'er'. Like 'harbour' yesterday, it looks odd.) Attractions there are galleries, studios, shops, cafes, a theater, and gothic style buildings. On weekends they have arts and crafts fairs and farmer's markets. Sounds like a fun gathering place with lots of activity.

After that, it's off to Mona Vale - yet another garden. (I scheduled all their tours and I'm now realizing I sent them to an awful lot of gardens! Hope they're not sick of flowers by now.) Mona Vale is a Victorian style homestead located beside a river.

There are sights that will be pointed out along the way, such as Sign of the Takahe, a stone roadhouse with magnificent views of the Canterbury Plains.

This tour is 4 hours long, so it includes refreshments. Here is what the tour description says about it:

REFRESHMENTS
A delightful morning or afternoon Devonshire Tea is included during your time at Mona Vale, which includes smoked salmon and cucumber club sandwiches, tea, coffee, plus scones with whippings of fresh cream and jam.

Yummy. Tomorrow is a full day at sea, then Tauranga, New Zealand, then to the final destination of Auckland, where my parents have a 2-night stay before flying 16 LONG hours home.

Virtual Cruise, Part 5

2008-03-04T19:42:00.000-08:00

The Sapphire Princess arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand at 9:00 am Wednesday (New Zealand time). It was noon here in the U.S. west coast. It was only 47 degrees. Burrrr!!!! It was sunny and got up to 64 by 3:00 pm, but that's still on the cool side. Especially for people from Arizona!!

Dunedin is described as the best-preserved Victorian city in the world. The tour my parents had scheduled for today is a visit to Larnach Castle, New Zealand's only castle.
It sits on a hill overlooking Otago Harbour. (That's how they spell it over there, with the "u". Looks funny!)

Along the way, they will view the interesting architecture of a few historic buildings like churches and a couple of banks.

Next stop will be Christchurch, New Zealand, then a full day at sea.

Cruise, Part 4

2008-03-03T21:13:00.000-08:00

After two full days at sea, no, we are not arriving at a port. We are cruising the Fjordland National Park at the south end of New Zealand.

There were some expensive excursions available to book, but my parents chose to stay onboard the ship and listen to the continuous talk given over the P.A. system by the naturalist who boards the ship for the day. These pictures look absolutely gorgeous.

Next stop, the city of Dunedin in New Zealand.

Cruise, Part 3

2008-02-29T17:43:00.000-08:00

Today, actually Saturday local time, the Sapphire Princess arrived in Hobart, Tasmania. The skies were partly cloudy with a morning temperature of 67 degrees. It was scheduled to clear up and be 75 before the day was over.

My parents were scheduled for a 4-hour tour called Explore Hobart's History. The tour includes a visit to Runnymede House, a historic home that is now a tourist attraction. It overlooks New Town Bay. Next is the Maritime Museum of Tasmania showcasing Tasmania's maritime history. Then on to the Royal Tasmania Botanical Gardens and the Mt. Nelson Signal Station.

They will depart Tasmania at 6:00 pm Saturday local time, which is 11:00 pm Friday here in Oregon. They will have 2 full days at sea, then one day of fjord cruising during which they remain on the ship, then they will arrive at Dunedin, New Zealand.

Until then, I had to do a little research on the Tasmanian Devil. Here are pictures of the cartoon one and the real one. He's about the size of a small dog, lives mostly solitary, hunts for his food, screeches loudly, and puts out an odor when threatened. He's actually kind of cute, but definitely not something you'd want to pet. Oh, and they are marsupials, which means they carry their young in a pouch like a kangaroo. Awwww.

Cruise, Part Deux

2008-02-27T20:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, today the Sapphire Princess arrived at Melbourne, Australia at 9:00 am Thursday Australia time, or 2:00 pm Wednesday here on the U.S. West Coast. The high temperature for the day was 67 with cloudy skies. In fact, it was lightly raining in the morning when they arrived. My parents were scheduled for a 4-hour city tour. They visited the Melbourne Observation Deck with 360 degree views of the city, 64 acre Fitzroy Gardens, the Shrine of Remembrance, which is a war memorial, and other city sights including some churches with interesting architecture. They will be there until 6:00 pm Australia time. The next day is a full day at sea, then Tasmania. Wonder if they'll see the Tasmanian Devil.

Your Virtual Cruise, Part I

2008-02-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

My parents are currently 'down under' on an Australia/New Zealand cruise. (Lucky them.) I can't seem to get the cheesy Men At Work lyrics out of my head. Anyway, I thought I'd make a daily post out of their itinerary.

They actually left Phoenix late last Thursday, the 21st. They flew to San Francisco and left there at 11:30 pm for Sydney. It's a 14 hour flight. Ouch. So they finally got there at 8:15 am Sydney time on Saturday morning, which was 1:15 pm Friday here in PST. They had Saturday to themselves. My brother, a movie editor, is in Sydney working on X-Men Origins:Wolverine, so he met them at their hotel and drove them around a bit. (They sit on the wrong side of the car there and drive on the wrong side of the road, which would be hard to get used to.) On Sunday they were taken on a tour of the Blue Mountains. Kinda looks like the Grand Canyon with hair. On Monday they had a tour of Sydney, and on Tuesday, the ship left. They will arrive in Melbourne Thursday morning Australia time, which is Wednesday afternoon here.

And now, please welcome, MEN AT WORK!!

Blah, blah-blah, Blah-blah

2008-02-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry about that last post. I tried to read it today and even I got tired of it and quit midway. If anyone read it all the way through, get a life. (Just kidding.)

Observations at an airport

2008-02-19T08:50:00.000-08:00

I flew from Portland, Oregon to Phoenix, Arizona for a quick weekend trip to see my parents and to help them out with some things they needed helping out with. (They're getting old. I notice it more and more every time I see them. But that's for a different post.)

I love being in airports. You can just sit there and take in all the weirdness. But first, I get to the Economy lot Friday afternoon and it's almost completely FULL. Why? I've been there at Christmas and it wasn't that full. This was President's Day weekend. I never knew so many people traveled to celebrate George's and Abe's birthdays. Am I missing something here? I drove around for a good 5 minutes before I found a spot, and it wasn't in my usual area where I like to park. You see, there's this one place where you can park that is halfway between 2 bus shelters. You walk to the left to get on the shuttle bus at the "W" shelter, meaning it's the last one where they pick people up before heading to the terminal, but when you return after your trip, you can get off a the "B" shelter (you got it, the 2nd stop when coming into the parking lot from the terminal) and walk to your car. It's a great trick, and I'm quite sure I'm the ONLY person who has caught on to it. Yeah, right. But alas, I couldn't pull my magic this time. I had to park in "H", where you can't cheat the system. Oh well. So I got to ride the shuttle halfway through the parking lot to pick people up. There was the cute little 3 year old boy with an animal backpack who was so excited to go on his trip. He was telling everyone who would listen, "I get to fwy on da big ehpwane to Gamma's!" Then there was the lady who was headed to somewhere in Northern Alaska where it was *GULP* 45 degrees BELOW zero. She was happy that she remembered not to wear earrings this time, as apparently she had had a lobe-freezing experience last time. By the way, she said that her brother's dog sled team sleeps outside on top of their doghouses. Those are some pretty hearty huskies. But I digress. Then there was the skinny guy who had a suitcase bigger than he was and couldn't get it up onto the shelf where you're supposed to stow your luggage during the grand parking lot tour, so the female driver had to come back and hoist it up there for him. I'm quite sure everyone on our bus got a little chuckle out of that one. The guy just put his tail between his legs and sulked quietly to the back of the bus. So finally we made it to the terminal, where Alaska-lady tipped the driver. Hmmmm, I had never even given that a thought before. Now I'm going to feel guilty next time when I don't tip. Thanks, IcyLobes.

So I'm in line for security, and there's this large team of what I guessed to be 13 year olds dressed in soccer uniforms and carrying matching backpacks with embroidered names. I didn't see a whole lot of supervision and thought to myself how I'd hate to be on the same plane as them. But I didn't have too much time to ponder that thought, because I had to strip off watches, bracelets, shoes, and all my spare change and place them in a plastic bin. Isn't that fun. I'm always just a little bit scared going through the metal detector. I feel like it's going to alarm really loudly, everyone will turn to see who the terrorist is, and they'll have to strip search me right there in the security area. It never happens, but it's a fear for about 5 seconds every time I fly. So I grab a Tall-White-Chocolate-Mocha-No-Whip at Starbuck's, (You have to know the lingo or they'll ridicule you and throw you out) and proceed to my gate where, guess who's there ... the soccer team. Oh lucky me. There must have been 30 boys, and I swear I only saw 2 adults with them. But they ended up to be well behaved, so I have no complaints.

Southwest Airlines has always used the cattle stampede method of seating, although they've improved it quite a bit lately. You either get an A, B or C boarding card and they've always been numbered 1 through 60 for each group, but the numbers never meant anything. Well now they do. They have these poles with numbers on them and you have to stand relatively near your number. So instead of lining up an hour before the flight so that you can be one of the first ones on and get that coveted window seat in the exit row or whatever you like, you can now sit down until the announcement is made for you to queue up. I'm sure people cheat and stand near the 10 when they're a 40, but nobody checks so it doesn't matter. As long as you don't try to get in the A group when you're a C. If so, I'm quite sure you'd be beaten to the ground and tossed in the luggage compartment.

This post is getting too long. If you're still with me, God Bless You.

I always get to sit near the chatty Cathy. This time she was a realtor who felt the need to solicit business during the flight. Thank God I had my NotAn-iPod so she didn't hit me up, but I could still hear her talking the ear off of the guy in our row. Maybe he was in the market for a house, I don't know. They did end up exchanging numbers. Don't worry, they were both married. On second thought....

So then I get to the Phoenix airport and my Mom calls to ask what terminal I'm at. Well, I have no idea so I ask the rental car lady. I'm at Terminal 4, I tell them. Mom says they're at terminal 1, then I hear Dad say no, we're at 2. Mom says but this is the first terminal we came to! Dad gently reminds her that there IS no terminal 1. Hmmm. So finally they find me and we're off. We had a great visit during which I fixed their indoor/outdoor remote sensing thermometer, their answering machine, the ringers on their cordless phones, their squeaky faucet knobs, called their Internet Service Provider and straightened out some issues, installed a printer/copier/scanner/fax machine that they did NOT need but insisted on buying a couple weeks before I came, and used a special drill bit to drill a screw hole in the brick to hang a painting. Whew! And I was only at their house for 45 hours.

I'm getting tired of typing so I'll make the return trip shorter. (Ok, I heard you all applauding)

So I get in line for security in what appears to be the shortest line. Yeah, that never works. The x-ray machine lady was as slow as molasses in, well, February. People in the longer lines got through much faster than I did. Isn't that always the way. But I had gotten there plenty early, so I just went with it. At my gate, they had a high table, like a bar, where you could sit and plug in your electronic items as well as your computer into a USB port. So I decided to take advantage of that service and charge my cell phone. There weren't a whole lot of chairs so I sat at one right next to this bar thingy. Well, a guy comes by a few minutes later, digs out his laptop, and he's eyeing the bar, eyeing me, looking back and forth and I'm wondering what the heck. Then he asks me if I would mind moving so that he can plug in his laptop and sit in the chair instead of a barstool because he has a bad back. What?? That takes nerve. So the lady next to me was nice enough to move over one (nobody asked her to) so that I could move over one and the ballsy guy could sit down and compute in comfort. He gets everything all plugged in, and I said "I wonder how many people are going to trip over that cord." Because the cord was laying across the floor right where people enter the gate area. He politely chuckles, then lays his laptop on the chair while he goes to throw something away, and sure enough, a couple walks by and I watch her stilletto heal catch the cord and nearly pull the laptop to the floor. I was nice enough to grab it before it fell, although part of me wanted to see it go flying across the room. The guy then says, "Yeah, maybe you're right" (Ya think?!?) and moves to the bar area where he shoulda been in the first place. I moved back to my original seat so as to be closer to my cell phone. Later I sneaked a peek to see what was so damn important. It was a friggin' GAME! He caused a near-miss stilletto vs. laptop fatality so he could play a GAME. It takes all kinds.

This was cute. On the plane I sat next to a lady and her 5 year old daughter. I was in the aisle seat and the daughter was in the middle, so I talked to her quite a bit. (I'd rather talk to her than the realtor lady!) The flight was fairly late at night, so the girl ended up falling asleep with her head in Mom's lap. Not long after, her legs ended up being draped over my legs. I just smiled at the mom and mouthed it's ok. I thought it was cute.

I walked in my house at 12:15 am and had to get up at 6:00 am. I thought I'd be tireder (is that a word?) but I wasn't. And I still went to the gym that night! Yay for me!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

How will you or how did you celebrate Valentine's Day this year?

My husband brought me roses on Monday because on Friday, I will be flying to Phoenix to visit my parents from Friday to Monday, so if he brought them Thursday, I'd only get to enjoy them for one day. Smart thinkin' hubby! We don't always do something for Valentine's Day. I think in the 15+ years that we've been together we've only gone out for a Valentine's dinner maybe twice. He doesn't always give me flowers, which is fine with me. One year he gave me one of those GIANT cards. I still have it. It's probably 30 inches high by 18 inches wide. Some years we just kiss and say happy Valentine's Day, honey. That's fine with me too.

What about you?

Pictures

2008-02-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

I thought it would add more interest if I stuck some pictures in my posts. I've added some to a few of my past posts. Scroll down to see them. Some of them were already there, but I did add a few.

Superbowl XLII

2008-02-03T19:14:00.000-08:00

Congrats to the New York Giants. I'm not a football fan, and I never watch it during the season. However, there's just something about the SUPER BOWL that makes you have to watch. My typical pattern is that I watch about the first 15-20 min, then I'm bored and have to go somewhere. But I do come back for the end, hoping for some excitement. And that's exactly how this year's game went. A little excitement at the beginning, then boring, boring, boring, and an exciting 4th quarter. There were a few good commercials. I liked the Coke and Bud ones. I think my favorite was the Coke one with the Macy's balloons. But... it's all over until next year. Now bring on Big Brother and the American Idol final 12.

Help! My pants are falling down!

2008-01-24T09:38:00.001-08:00

Well, they're not actually falling down, but they're loose. I've lost 8 pounds since the first of the year. Woo Hooooooo!!!!!!!! Not that it's been easy, but I'm proud of how I've stuck to it. I've tried soooo many times before. It really helps that my husband is doing it with me. We don't like the same foods so we make separate meals, but we make them together. And we go to the gym together. We've gone 5 times per week without fail, and we're there for an hour. Maybe a little more. I just hope we can keep it up. I'm going to Arizona to visit my parents in February, he's going to Reno with his Dad and brothers in April, and we are both going on a cruise in July. Those will be the challenges. More so for me due to the diabetes. I have to eat small meals at 6 specific times each day and have to count carbohydrate servings. He can stray a little bit more than I can. But I'm really confident this time around and that helps a lot.

Bucket List

2008-01-20T11:53:00.000-08:00

Wow. You gotta go see Bucket List with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. Well, not WITH them. Go with your spouse, or a friend or something. Actually, if you can get Morgan or Jack to go with you, then take them up on it. You'll have the bragging rights for the rest of your life. Anyway, this is a great movie and I highly recommend it. It has sad undertones, but the two of them are really funny together.

Hubby and I saw it Saturday night when we had a "date". We had a gift card for Claim Jumper restaurant, so we went there first. It was fantastic. I don't know if you have one near you, but if you do, you should try it.

I didn't mean to sound like an infomercial LOL.

Flatulent Floor

2008-01-18T15:58:00.001-08:00

8 year old boy: "Joyce, when you bought your house did it come with the farting floors?" LOL.

Our floors creak something awful. I've been wanting them fixed for quite some time, but hubby refuses to crawl under the house (spiders, dontcha know), and we don't really want to pay and arm and a leg to hire someone. So in the meantime, our floors will fart.

Diets suck

2008-01-10T15:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, I said it. Diets suck. Because they do. Or I wouldn't have said it. But they work. And so does exercising.

You have to realize the above is coming from a card-carrying Slug. Couch potato. Lazy Ass. Sloth. (Insert similar words here.) So for me to actually get into diet and exercise is saying a lot.

But a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes will do that to you. Or so you'd think. I went four years with just minimal control of it. I was in denial. But with my husband's help I'm finally taking control. Not only are we exercising, which is a miracle recognizable by the Pope Himself, but we are eating right. It took having my doctor put me on insulin, but I'm doing it.

To have good blood sugar control, I need to eat six small meals a day. So at 7:00 am I eat breakfast. I am NOT a morning eater. I'm not hungry and it's all I can do to force down half an english muffin (whole wheat, of course) topped with cheese or peanut butter. I'm supposed to eat more, but that's all I can handle that early. At 10:00 am I'm ready for a snack. Lunch comes at 1:00 pm and there's no problem being willing to eat this time! So I have about three ounces of some kind of protein, three carb servings, and I make sure there's a little bit of fat such as butter, mayo, peanuts, etc. Gotta have the fat to help absorption of certain vitamins. Another snack at 4:30ish. I wait till 4:30 because I go exercise at about 5:15 and I want to have something in me. Dinner, which is similar to lunch except for maybe a little less protein, is at 7:00 pm. Then comes a snack at bedtime. While that sounds completely wrong to some dieters, it isn't for a diabetic. I need something to sustain my blood sugar levels during the night.

The exercise, as I've mentioned in other blog posts, comes in the form of going to a gym. I just talked about that the other day so I won't go into detail, but it's going really well. I definitely have more energy, and I feel so much better about myself. I didn't know it then, but I think I was on the verge of depression in some ways. I mean, when I compare how I feel now, mentally speaking, to then, there's a definite difference.

So that is my great accomplishment for the year so far. This time around, I have confidence that I'll keep it up. You have no idea how many times I've started a diet and not kept going. I'm proud of myself. :) And not afraid to say it!

Huffing and Puffing all the Way ... AKA ... I Think I Can, I Think I Can

2008-01-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the gym thing. I said I'd update you on how it's going. Well, it's going. I'll admit, it's actually going pretty well. What helps is we're doing it together.

Hubby calls it "quality time", which cracks me up because there are so many better way to spend quality time than in a gym for heaven's sake. But he's right, because when we get home, we don't like the same tv shows, so we go in separate rooms. So I guess I see his point.

We start out on the treadmill, or as I like to call it, the windmill (because you get winded on it. Get it? Nevermind.) I do about 3 minutes at 2mph just to get warmed up, then I do 27 minutes at 3mph, then 5 minutes back at 2mph, 5 at 1.5, and 5 at 1mph. I'm breathing hard through the majority of it. Thank God for the tv's on the wall with the remote control and the closed captioning. Will & Grace and The Simpsons have gotten me through it every time! Hubby tries to be the macho man. He uses one of the pre-set programs that makes you walk uphill part of the time. I'll pass, thank you.

Next we use the machines. I've discovered my arms are very wussy. With the leg machines I can set it on 40-50 lbs., but for arms all I can manage is 15-20. And THAT kills me. Feeeel the burn!!! No pain no gain?? Whatever.

But it's going pretty good. We both need it, so that's what counts. I've lost 5 pounds since the first of the year. Hubby doesn't want to weigh until a month has passed. Men lose weight faster than women, so he's probably going to have some outrageous number like 25 pounds. I'll let you know.

Spank me now

2008-01-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

Put your eyes back in your head, it's nothing salacious. I'm referring to the fact that I haven't blogged since New Year's Eve. I have no excuses, other than I just can't come up with topics. Ok, I haven't really tried, but still... I just don't think I have anything interesting to say. So maybe I'll start posting things that I think are un-interesting (like this one). Somebody is bound to be riveted by it, right? OK, maybe not. So then I'll just bore you with random ramblings. How's that? I still say there needs to be a website with the "Blog Topic of the Day" that everyone checks first thing in the morning, then blogs about that topic. Take care of that for me, ok?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2007-12-31T16:06:00.000-08:00

I know that not very many people read this, but to those who do, I'd like to wish you a very happy new year to you and your family. Whether 2007 was good or bad to you, I hope 2008 is better. I wish everyone health, happiness and prosperity, and that you be surrounded by friends and family.

HAPPY 2008!!!

We had a White Christmas!!

2007-12-25T19:45:00.000-08:00

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas this year and that Santa was good to you. Mine was very nice. Spent it with my husband's family at his sister's house. There were 21 for dinner.

As the title above states, we had SNOW!! It does snow in the Portland area, but not often does it snow on Christmas. The news reports said that the last time we had flakes on Christmas day was 1990, and it didn't really stick. This year it was maybe only an inch, but that counts as a White Christmas!

You have to try these cookies

2007-12-17T10:08:00.000-08:00

I'm totally stealing this from my friend Lisa. But that's ok because she stole it from Pioneer Woman.

These are sugar cookies, but they're not just your ordinary sugar cookies. You take egg yolks and dye them different colors (red & green for Christmas, pastels for Easter, pink & red for Valentine's, etc.) and then paint the cookies before you bake them. After they've cooled, you pipe in some frosting to define the shapes, and you can add sprinkles and other embellishments too. But also, the recipe itself sounds so darn delicious it makes my mouth water just to read it. This would be a great kid activity.

I won't post the entire recipe. Go to this site to get it. She's a bit wordy, but that's a good thing. Lots of pictures showing each step of the process. The actual recipe is at the end of her post.

The first picture below is from Pioneer Woman's site, and the second one is a batch Lisa made with her husband and three kids. (The poor gingerbread man on top reflects her husband's sense of humor. Gotta love him!) Let me know in a comment if you tried these.

Ve are going to PUMP ..... you UP !!

2007-12-14T15:18:00.000-08:00

We've decided to join a gym. I hate exercise. Hate thinking about it, let alone actually doing it. But, we decided we have to. I have high blood sugar, and my husband has high cholesterol. Exercise will greatly benefit both of us. I've actually been a member of Curves and I did lose a few pounds, but I just lack motivation. I think my husband is doing this more for me than for him, because he knows that if we go together we'll motivate each other. What a guy.

The gym we're joining is new to town, but I'm not sure if it is a national chain or not. It's called Snap Fitness. What we like about it is that you don't have to sign a contract. It's just month to month. And we can get a family rate of $49.95, which is great. Also, they're open 24 hours. So now we have something to do all those mornings at 3:00 am when we used to sit around saying, "I'm bored. There's nothing to do." (Yeah right. Like that ever happened!)

We'll probably start next week because hubby has a bad cold right now. I'll blog about it once we get going. I'm really dreading it. Anyone have words of encouragement or advice?

How was YOUR Monday?

2007-12-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, here's how my day went. I hear a very loud noise at 9:00 am. I'm thinking earthquake, a four-year old boy at my house is thinking "really big truck". So for the next 10 min I'm watching the local tv channels to see if they say anything about an earthquake. They didn't, so I went with "really big truck". Five minutes later a cop is banging on the side of my house telling me that a car drove through the house directly behind me, (see picture below) broke a gas line, and that we need to evacuate NOW. Well, I've got two little kids here and it's cold outside. They needed to get their shoes and coats on, I needed to forward my home phone to my cell phone, I grabbed a couple snacks and some juice boxes, a book and toy for each of the kids, and we left. Hubby has the van, and I don't have carseats. So we pile in the pickup and drive to where they tell us to park. 15 minutes later they walk up to my truck and I'm thinking, oh good, we can go home. Nope, they're telling me there's some problem getting the gas line shut off, and I should go to the catholic church a block away. Well, there I sat from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm trying to entertain two kids. I spent a lot of time on the phone calling five sets of parents to let them know what's going on, then they'd call me back to get updates and talk about whether they should come pick up their kids. Then I start to worry about the bigger kids coming on the bus after school, so I call two different schools to find out if they can be dropped off at this church if it looks like I won't be home at 3:30 - you know, planning ahead. Luckily I was home by 1:45, so that wasn't an issue. To top it all off, I had an eye doctor appointment at 5:45 which I totally forgot about. (With the day I had, can you blame me?) They called me about 5:55 and I did end up going. Now my eyes are dilated and I can hardly see what I'm typing.

Wow, what a day. Must be Monday.

O Tannenbaum

2007-12-09T19:52:00.000-08:00

We bagged and tagged our Christmas tree on Saturday. It's a Nordman Fir, and it smells wonderful! I love how that evergreen smell fills the house. We (ok, my husband) cut it down. Trees are very reasonably priced in Oregon. We payed $25 for a 7-foot tree.

I look forward to digging out my lights and ornaments every year. I have lots of Hallmark ornaments, but I also have some hand-made ones, and others that have special memories attached. It's fun to open the boxes and see each one as if for the first time.

Number 1 or Number 2 ??

2007-12-06T20:21:00.000-08:00

Why do they insist on interviewing people on Survivor while they are squatting in the bushes looking like they're answering nature's call?

Go Elf Yourself

2007-12-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

There is a hilarious website (well, I found it hilarious anyway) where you can take digital photos of your friends' and family's faces, upload them to the site, and they become dancing elves. I about pee'd myself laughing the first time I saw my husband, brother-in-law, and two nieces dancing to a jazzy version of Jingle Bells!

The pictures don't have to be great ones. They don't have to be large, either. If you don't have a closeup of someone's face, don't worry. After you upload it, you can zoom in to just the right size. It is very user-friendly. You can have anywhere from one to four "dancers". Once you get it just right, you can e-mail it to anyone you want. Make one of an unsuspecting family and send it to them.

The website is at elfyourself.com Have fun, and leave a comment if you tried this. If you want, you can link us to your creation. I made several, one of which can be found here.

Rain, rain, go away.....

2007-12-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

It started with a snowstorm, then it warmed up and turned to rain. It is raining something terrible here in Oregon. We have flooding galore. If I wanted to get to the Oregon coast or up to Seattle, I couldn't. Well, without taking a ridiculously looong way around. Lots of highway closures. Interstate 5, the freeway that goes from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, is closed in Southwest Washington until at least next week. What usually takes 3 hours now takes 7 due to the detour.

This picture is of I-5 in the area where it is closed. The little green sign way at the bottom is an exit sign, and the bridge in the middle is a freeway overpass.

And the wind... wow. Hurricane force, they say. 125 mph at the coast. Poor birds were flying, but not going anywhere. Ok, it was kind of funny. But in a sad way.

It's over!

2007-11-30T18:43:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to all the successful NaBloPoMo'ers. You did it! I don't know how you made it, but you did. Obviously, I didn't even try. Well, I actually started my blog after we were already into November, but I don't think I'd have done it anyway.

I just can't think of anything to talk about. Anything interesting, I should say. I could type out my grocery list, talk about all the numerous things that need to get done around the house but aren't getting done, or discuss any other mundane, routine things. But that wouldn't be much fun.

I think someone needs to start a website where you can go to get topics. It could be like Mike Meyers doing the Coffee Talk lady. When he got verklempt (sp?), he'd give a topic then say "discuss". The site could be called BlogTopicOfTheDay.com. Maybe there could be separate lists -- one for the brainy people who like to discuss politics and other high-brow topics, and one for us "regular" folk. Yeah, I like that idea. Someone get started on that right away.

Way to go Helio!! (Hey, that rhymes)

2007-11-27T19:58:00.000-08:00

For the second year in a row, my girl crush, Julianne Hough, won Dancing With The Stars!! Helio, her partner this year, is kinda cute. I'm kind of surprised, though. I thought for sure Mel B. would get it. Congrats Julianne & Helio!

What the H. E. Double Hockey Sticks?

2007-11-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

Marie Osmond's "living doll" dance on DWTS was .... I have no words. Just odd.

Life goes on

2007-11-26T11:48:00.000-08:00

I'm a little bit melancholy. Five years ago today we lost my Grandma. She's the one I talked about on the sidebar. The one who had a thing for butterflies. Grandparents are great, aren't they? Love you, Grandma! (They have the internet in heaven, right? Ok then.)

On a lighter note, I'm even closer to being finished with my Christmas shopping. I only have 5 more people to buy for. Even better, I wrapped all the gifts for the other 29 people over the weekend. We won't get our tree till the 8th, but I can't wait to put them all under it! For now, they're sitting in the corner where the tree will go. And hubby got our Christmas lights put up too. Christmas. Bring it on.

It's cold enough here to be Christmas. It got to 27 overnight, and as of noon today, it hasn't even reached 32 yet. Brrrrr........

Links

2007-11-19T13:13:00.000-08:00

On my sidebar, I've added links to sites and blogs I frequent. I'll add more as I think of them. Also, if you'd like yours added, let me know in a comment. If I link you, I'd appreciate the same in return. :)

Whaddya want for Christmas?

2007-11-18T22:06:00.000-08:00

I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping. For some people this might seem early, but I feel like I'm a little late this year. I try -- emphasis on TRY -- to get it done before Thanksgiving to avoid the crowds.

The crowds! Maybe I've become an old fuddy-duddy, but my gawd, people. First there are the large groups who decide to have a caucus right in the middle of the walkway, and seem to have no earthly idea that there are actually other people in the mall trying to get by. Then there are the couples with children running freely, going where they please without a care. Now don't get me wrong, I do like kids. And that's why I don't want to trip over yours as he's zig-zagging back and forth down the aisles. That brings me to the screaming, sometimes screeching, kids. Ok, I know.... kids sometimes have meltdowns. I get that. I realize it can't be helped. But that doesn't make it less annoying. And last, but certainly not least, there are the ~~old farts~~ senior citizens. God bless 'em, but they have no clue sometimes. I'd hate to bump one while trying to get by and and cause a broken hip.

Oh, there are other categories. The teenagers, the people with strollers... Not to mention the help in some of those stores. Don't even get me started.

I have 29 names on my Christmas list. If that's not enough, I have 5 birthday gifts to buy between Nov 26th and Dec 28th, bringing my count up to 34. I end up spending over $1,000 each year. That's why I like to start early!

Come for dinner!

2007-11-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted for awhile. Ran out of ideas, I guess. How do you bloggers come up with your ideas? Tell me, please.

Actually, here's one reason I haven't posted. Last time I tried, I typed this big, long, several paragraph thing (can't even remember the topic), and somehow I lost it. Didn't save it or some stupid thing, who knows. But it pissed me off enough to stay away for a few days. (Is that bad? LOL. Do I need counseling?)

I made soup today. I get in moods where I love soup. Must be the change of weather and all the RAIN. Anyway, last night we had one of those roasted chickens you buy at the store. I'm sure you all have them in your grocery stores. They roast them and they're still hot when you buy them. They cost about 6 or 7 bucks. I made mashed taters, stuffing, veggies & rolls to go with it. Delish. So today, with the carcass (that sounds disgusting, doesn't it? Like I found a dead chicken along the side of the road.), I made soup. Can I just say... YUMMY! I had some fettuccine noodles, so I threw those in too. Wow. Wish you all could've been here. But then, there wouldn't have been enough, and some of you would've gone without, and I'd feel bad, and then I'd really need counseling, so nevermind.

If you had to....

2007-11-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

I found this at quibblo.com

If you had to, would you rather:

1. Be blind or deaf?

2. Lose an arm or a leg?

3. Become uglier or stupider?

4. Be more rich or more attractive?

5. Be blonde or brunette?

6. Have a 3rd eye on your forehead or a horn on top of your head?

7. Have it be Winter forever or Summer forever?

8. Eat only sweet things the rest of your life or salty things the rest of your life?

9. Live as an ocean animal or land animal the rest of your life?

10. Have the super power of being able to fly or move objects?

And why?

Snip, snip. Glug, glug

2007-11-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

I have an appointment to have my hair cut tonight. I hate getting my hair cut. First, it's so hard to describe to them how I want it, so I usually end up saying, "just trim it up." Then they do, and I don't like it. First of all, they don't style it the way I do. Didn't they look at my hair when I walked in the door? I like it a little fluffy with the ends flipped up a little, they do it flat and straight. Yes, I know I could say something, but I usually get it cut in the evening, and I'm just gonna wash and re-do it in the morning, so why bother. And then when I get it all done in the morning, I see sections that are uneven, not enough layering, bangs could've been shorter, etc. Frustrating.

Filling up my car with gas is another task I could do without. Here in Oregon, we're not allowed to fill it up ourselves. You'd think that would make it better, but it just makes it boring. I have to sit in the car and wait till the kid decides to come over. Invariably, he ends up helping someone before me who drove in after me. Then I'm at his mercy again when the pump clicks off. I realize it's only 5 or 10 minutes out of my life, but for some reason it seems like an hour. My solution? Leave it near empty and hope my husband fills it up.

If only he could get my hair cut for me.....

Wildlife Sanctuary

2007-11-07T13:36:00.000-08:00

We thought we lived alone, my husband and I. One look outside would quickly tell you how wrong I was. Apparently all it takes is to put out a handful of birdseed or a peanut, and you've got a virtual zoo in your front yard.

It first started with Ferg. (See how I did that? Switching the letters around? Clever, huh?) We have a small pond and he just showed up one day. He had a girlfriend, but after they hibernated the first winter, only he reappeared. We're not quite sure what happened there. Anyway, he's been here 3 summers now.

Next were the birds. Oh my... do we have birds! Hubby put out a little bird seed one time, and several came by to eat it. (Hey, free meal. I wouldn't pass it up either!) Some of them were large Blue Jays and he heard they like peanuts, so he put some of those out. Well, that attracted a squirrel.

Then we got bird feeders and a couple birdhouses. The lady at the store said it would take awhile to get the human scent out. Nope. A couple weeks later we had a little bird family living in it. Wildlife likes us, what can I say. Every day we have, no exaggeration, 30-40 little birds at a time eating from the feeders, a dozen or so Jays trying to get to the feeders (if the little ones let them), and recently, four Woodpeckers have shown up. (Remember Woody Woodpecker? Yep, the males look just like him!) Ferg has burrowed away already, but the birds and squirrel still show up for their three squares a day. Then there are the multitudes of cats that come by...

Throw in an elephant and a couple of lions, and we could start charging admission!

Storm Large in Cabaret

2007-11-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

Did you watch RockStar SuperNova? If you did, you'll remember Storm Large. I think she came in 3rd place. Anyway, she's from Portland, Oregon (where I'm from), and she was cast in the lead of the Broadway musical, Cabaret, playing here at the Gerding Theater.

I went to see it on Saturday with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law. Can I just say ... OUTSTANDING! She was incredible in the role. There was one solo where she pretty much knocked our socks off. The whole musical was good. All I knew about it was that they spend much of it in lingerie, and that they sing that Cabaret song. You know... "Life is a cabaret, old chum. Come to the cabaret." So I didn't know what to expect, but I loved it. Our same trio had gone to see Molly Ringwald in Sweet Charity a few months ago, and -- eh, not so much. But Cabaret ROCKED!

Oh, and we were in the 3rd row!! Woo Hoo!!

Second Blog Post - Ever

2007-11-05T08:53:00.001-08:00

No, I won't be enumerating all my blog posts! LOL.

Ok, I tweeked it a little bit, and what you see is what you get. It looks like a ginormous butterfly landed on your monitor. I've come to realize that the people who have the cool, pretty graphics have purchased software. Me? I'm a cheapskate. This is it.

I still don't know if anyone reads these. I mean, I can send emails to people I know and tell them to come here, but does anyone just find someone's blog randomly?

I read three other people's blogs. Heart And Thistle , Ficken Chingers and Idol Blog Live .

The first one is mostly about food. (One of my favorite topics!) It is written by a very dear friend of mine, Lisa, with whom I spent Kindergarten through 9th grade in Southern California. She's an awesome cook and generously shares her wonderful recipes.

The second one is also written by a friend, but one I've never met in person. She's a blog friend I "met" through the third blog I mentioned above. (I'll get to that one in a minute.) Her name is Angie, and she writes about whatever is on her mind that day. She's funny and has a unique way of looking at things. She's very much an open book when it comes to her family and her daily life. A fun read.

The third one is, well, a blog about American Idol. It's written by a guy we call Slim who lives in New York. His blog is THE place to go for anything American Idol. He posts pretty much every day, but the best time to visit is during the East Coast broadcast of the show. We all discuss our opinions of not only the singing, but what the contestants are wearing, how they did their hair, and whether they have "star" potential. Ok, so the girls on the blog discuss that stuff. The guys could care less. Correction... if a contestant is "hot", expect Slim to post her picture a thousand different times. Overall, it's just a fun community to be involved in.

Hey, this is kinda fun! Well, until next time...

First Blog Post - EVER

2007-11-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, I've never done this before. I really have no idea what I'm doing as far as the template and setting this whole thing up. I guess I'll figure it out as I go along.

I'm not sure yet if this will be a regular thing for me. Everybody seems to have a blog these days and I just kinda felt left out. I thought I'd give it a go and see how it feels. If I like it, I'll be back! I have no clue what I'll post about, but I'll try.

Do people really read these things? How do they find them? Leave me a comment so that at least I know someone has read this! And please feel free to give me suggestions.