Storm Update & tagged...

We woke up yesterday to about 5 inches of new snow. DH decided to have breakfast first so I went out to shovel so the dog could go outside. That was pretty easy going...it was light powder snow.

Then I got started on the front. The snow on the north side of the house was kinda deep but the acutal front yard (east facing) wasn't all that bad. I took Lilly out with me for a bit. Here's her story...

Mommy let me come with her to go out in the snow. First she opened the garage door and the snow was so high that I hadded to wait for her to clear it away first. She got a little bit cleared and I just hopped through the rest acaus I really hadded to go potty! So I went over by the house and mommy was happy that I didn't go on the porch. Then I went and sniffed on the porch where I went the day afore and mommy saidded that I made that mess. Duh, I could tell acaus it smelled like me. Mommy shoveled the mess away. Then I hopped around in the snow and ated a bunch.

Then we wented to the front yard. Mommy was shoveling but I was checking out all the cool smells. Somfink smelled good in the snow but I couldn't find it. I kept pushing my head in the snow to get a better sniff and I couldn't see ovfer the big pile of snow. So mommy maded me come and she picked me up and tossed me in the big snow. It was a little bit sinky but I liked being up there. I did lots of smellin and eating snow.

Then the nice lady nexted door camed out and was playing with her very noisy toy (snow blower) and I was growling acaus I didn't like the sound of that thingy. I hopped down from the snow to go tell her to shut it off, but then I sawed some weird beans slidding down the street. I was growling at them lots acaus they weren't using their feets. Mommy tolded me that I hadded to stay and sit there. But I was still growling. Finally Mommy saidded I could go and I went after those weird beans but they were finally using their feets and going back up the street. I never did get to smelled them acaus Mommy said I hadded to COME again. Then she putted me in the house and Daddy went out wif her to do more shovelin. I don't know what else happened acaus I tooked a nap.

I'll take over from here Lilly. So DH came out and we shoveled a bunch and then our nice neighbor came with her snow blower and took care of the rest of our driveway. We just had to scrape off the ice that was under the snow. Dh didn't really want her to blow our snow off (he likes the exercise) so we decided after she went inside to go and shovel our neighbor across the street's sidewalk because it goes to the mailbox. We noticed then that the snow plows that had been out all the previous night had pushed snow and ice chunks into the path that we had dug out from the last snow. bummer

So at first we dug a path around the ice chunks and then cleared out around the mail box. But then we noticed that the ice chunks weren't all that bad and that maybe we could dig them out...and we got started on that. I dug to the short end and DH dug the longer end of the path and then when we got to the ice DH kept working on chopping them up or rolling them out of the way. The neighbor now has about 4 big ice chunks in his yard, but the path is all cleared.

While DH was working on the ice chunks, I decided to shovel the walk from that neighbor's yard to the next yard over. The plows had pushed some snow on her sidewalk too, so I didn't hold out much hope for getting all the way through, but I figured I would give it a shot. Dh finished up the ice chunks by the mailbox and came over to help from the other side. We both got right up to the ice chunks and made a path out to the street around them...then we decided to shovel out the neighbor's driveway. DH said we should tell her that the neighbors with the snowblower had done it. After we got that finished DH said he wanted to get our pick axe and get the ice chunks off the neighbor's side walk. I don't know if he did that or not because I went inside...he was still out there for a while. But he said he got the ice chunks off.

I spent the rest of the day doing laundry. I put in a roast for dinner even though we had leftover ham to warm up the house. But by dinner time my back was whining big time. After dinner I decided to try a muscle relaxer to help with my back. All it seemed to do was make me very sleepy...I'm still groggy today, but my back is okay if I don't try to stretch the muscles that are sore.

This morning there wasn't much snow out there at all. Dh shoveled it by himself and said there might have been an inch. He also shoveled the other neighbors's dives & walks. He said that the one neighbor that we weren't going to take any credit for doing asked him about who shoveled her driveway. He lied to her and told her that the other neighbors did it...but later he saw her talking to them, so he hid from her until she went inside. He's so silly.


I got tagged by Island Girl. She wants me to list 5 things about me that you don’t already know. Hmmm . . . I have to really think about this one.

I've hidden the tag behind the *****s so click there if you want to read it. Oh and I didn't tag anyone in return.

1. I was born at an Air Force base in LA (the state!) at 12:22am. The doctor didn't much appreciate that hour and wanted to just knock my mom out so he could pull me out quickly and go home. At the time knocking the mother out was customary and among the papers they give you to sign when you come in is a waiver giving them permission to do this. So the Doc thought he had the right to do this...but my mother said that NO, she hadn't signed the form. The Doc was so ticked off by this that he tried to give her the drug anyway and she knocked the needle out of his hand. He says "Okay b!t@#, we'll do this the hard way!" I was born fairly quickly after that w/o any drugs.

2. At one time in my life I thought that I wanted to be a Lawyer. I joined Law Explorers (part of the Boy Scouts) and learned all sorts of cool things about being a lawyer. The thing that sticks out most about that time is that we used to go to the police department's court room for our meetings and in the hall way they had pictures and wanted posters for some famous criminals that are long gone, Like Bonnie & Clyde.

3. following the Bonnie & Clyde theme...as a kid on my way to Girl Scout camp one year we stopped by the place where Bonnie & Clyde were gunned down near Sailes, Louisiana. There isn't much to see there anymore...just a sign.

4. many years later I went to Las Vegas to see DH (db at the time) and to meet his parents. DH had been there for a class and his parents drove out to see him. The plan was for us to spend a few days in Vegas and then drive to their home in CA. On the way to CA we stopped off at a hotel on the border of NV & CA...there they had the actual car that Bonnie & Clyde had died in. It's all shot up and you can see the yellowed stains from their blood. I think that it's pretty odd that I've been exposed to that much of their story...none of it on purpose.

5. I lived with my Aunt & Uncle for part of the year that I was in the 3rd grade. My mom tells the story that my Aunt was all whiney about not having a girl so she let her take me so she could see that girls weren't all that special. But many years later I found out that at one point my parents tried to talk my Uncle (other side of the family) into taking my oldest brother. They didn't do it because they didn't want to have him and then have my parents decide to take him back. And once my oldest brother did live with another Aunt & Uncle for about a year. I need to talk to my mom about this, but I promised my Uncle that I wouldn't tell my parents that he told me about it.

No tagging...enjoy!

Here we go again!...

Metro area could get a foot of snow by Friday morning. More expected in foothills.

It started again about 10:30am here...nice big fluffy flakes.

I had intended to get up early and run to the grocery store because I had put it off from yesterday...but I didn't get up early and so we headed to the store at about 11am. I tried to make a list, but since I had no clue what the store actually had...I didn't know what to put on the list.

My first clue that things weren't going to be easy came when I couldn't find a parking spot at the store in the row where I normally park. I circled the lot a few times and found a spot clear on the other side and we walked a long distance to get into the store...my second clue...no shopping carts. But an employee was pushing in two carts behind me and gave me one.
I went to the bank and there was only one teller who was busy with some commercial customer...so we waited.

Then we began shopping. The produce department looked much better than it did last Friday. I grabbed a bag of salad (the last one of that particular mix) and thought that some potato soup sounded good...No potatoes. Scratch that one!

The meat department was very well stocked. I was able to find everything that I wanted there. The bread eisle was well stocked too and there was two racks of bread off to the side just waiting for us to use if we needed too. I also found my favorite rolls again...funny, I can't find these when it's not an emergency, but when it is they have them! Perhaps the lady who buys up all these rolls normally wasn't able to make it into the store. Yay for me!

We got everything on our list except for Milk. The milk case was empty. I overheard one lady say that the milk delivery was expected at 2pm...AND I heard another lady say that WalGreens carries milk and hardly anyone remembers that...so I made a note to go there next.

Then we got into line for the check out. The line snaked through the store over to the Soda eisle, but it moved fairly quickly and the others in line were nice and chatty.

After we checked out (the credit card readers were going slow with all the extra work they were doing) we noticed a note that said due to the weather to please leave the buggies at the front of the store. Well, I had bought too much to do that...but I could bring the buggy back and I did.

Since we were parked on the other side of the lot and since I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible...I decided to take the back road that leads to the Rec center soccer fields. I knew this road wouldn't be plowed and we might have to turn around, but I was willing to risk it. And my plan paid off, I was able to get out of there very quickly. WalGreens did have milk (wrong brand and whole milk, not 2%...but who cares!)

We then headed to the Library to pick up a hold and check out some stuff to keep us busy. We actually had two holds and Darly picked up a book too. I found out that the Library was going to close at 3pm and not be open tomorrow. Glad that we got there in time.

When we got home I noticed that the trash had been picked up...because they left my can in the middle of my driveway! I had to get out of the car to move it so I could pull in. But since I didn't have a "running start" at the driveway, my car didn't want to turn. So I hit the 4x4 button and we got in no problems.

So I began to shovel while Darly put away the groceries. As I was shoveling, the snow kept falling and I could barely tell where I had shoveled. I cleared the drive 3 times before giving up and as I went to close the garage door, DH was trying to open the door so he could pull in. He couldn't tell where I shoveled.

At about 6pm we heard the city plows out...they were trying to clear out the snow from last week so that this week's snow had someplace to go. it's now after 10pm and I think they are finally done out there. They sure drove Lilly crazy.

I had better go to sleep...I've got a big day of shoveling tomorrow.

Christmas wrap-up

first




So I should pick up at Christmas Eve...
The plan was to go to our Church in the morning, then got to MIL's for dinner/church & presents...

Here's what really happened...
We got up and went to Church at 10:30. Good service but it was supposed to be a Children's service and the surmon bored me so I can't imagine that the kids got anything out of it.
Went home and decided that since we were going back to Church we would keep our church clothes on...get loaded up and drive over to MIL's house. Well she's been on the phone all morning and dinner won't be done for a while.
Dh goes out in his good church suit to shovel her driveway and sidewalk! Both MIL & I were upset with that.
MIL let me help her make a snack to hold us over until the dinner would get done...and MIL says that she isn't all that interested in going back to Church because the service would be exactally the same as she had already been to that morning because of the storm they weren't able to prepare two different services... great, my Church managed. Oh well...
So we get the dinner done and have a nice dinner...well she put too much salt in the potatoes by accident, but it wasn't too bad.
We open the gifts...which I didn't bring anything from our tree for me to open because I was expecting there to be plenty under MIL's tree. She didn't get to go shopping due to the storm so all that was under there for me was a gift from SIL...get sent us a Gum Drop tree & gum drops. Anyone need a gum drop tree?
By the time we get done with the gifts DH & DD decide that they don't want to go to Church...so we didn't get a candle light service.
BIL called earlier that day to say he had a layover in our city and asked if we could come spend Christmas eve with him for a while. So after leaving MIL's we went to BIL's hotel. It was nice but the hotel hadn't shoveled their parking lot, so DH dropped us off at the door. We probably stayed with BIL for about 2 hours before heading home.
On the way home we see folks driving into our Church for the 11pm service. I was too tired at that point for Church...so we just went home.
DH & DD were both still wired, and I was ready to crash...so I was cranky.
We went to bed. I was out like a light.

Santa came at 5:30...I heard him!

Darly comes into our room to wake us up at 7:58am. This almost NEVER happens. She didn't get up this morning until almost 10am...which is closer to normal. So we get up. I remembered that I forgot to bring in my digital camera and it's in the car...so I go get it. It's frozen and refuses to work. So I grab our film camera and start snapping away. Dh hollers that I'm wasting film...hello? What am I going to take pictures of with film to use up the rest of this roll???

The gifts are opened. Some really good stuff, some really bad stuff for me. I'm trying to white elephant the bad stuff. I'll let you know if my local friends don't want it.

I start making dinner. It was very nice, a little over cooked though...tempermental food. Last time I made this, it was too rare...so I cooked it longer and this time it was over. Probably because it was smaller...need to keep notes on this stuff.

My cheesecake came out perfect! Perfect size and perfect everything. Darly came back asking for more...so I gave her the rest of my slice.

Lilly loves her new dog bed that I made for her.
Darly is very happy with all her Christmas loot.
DH is happy with almost everything...didn't understand why I bought him new slippers since he got a pair last year...but he doesn't want to return them.
And I'm mostly happy with what I got.

I had a talk with DH after the gift opening asking why he decided to get me Popcorn seasoning. He says it's because I like popcorn. I say plain popcorn. Next year my list is going to say NO FOOD!

even more shoveling!

after all that shoveling yesterday and finally getting our cars out on the roads, the city sent the snow plows out again and they plowed us in again. So this morning we had to shovel again. What a pain! But at least it wasn't as bad for us as it was for our neighbors behind us.

They live in a cul-de-sac that is more like a bump on the side of the street. In fact it looks a lot like a p only it continues up after the top of the p as well. Anyway.

These folks had spent all day shoveling and snow blowing themselves out of their cul-de-sac and had finally been able to get out yesterday...when the snow plows came. And those idiots plowed all the snow that they had pushed up the street into the cul-de-sac and left it there...blocking in everyone!

Needless to say the neighbors were ticked and called up the city office and made them come back out and plow them back out. But still the stress of it all. I know that one family has two police officers so they HAD to be able to leave...that might have been the reason the plows came back so easily.

Dh went out today to look at dishwashers. But he's totally confused. The lady at the store told him that the manufacturers are not going to make any appliances in almond/bisque anymore and that he should just get all new appliances in a different color. YEAH RIGHT LADY! I don't think so! So it looks like I should be making MIL a certificate that says her kids are getting her a dishwasher of her choice.

Happy Holidays everyone... doubt I'll be back until at least Tuesday.

Still shoveling...

Here's a run-down of how my day went today... (okay, you're reading this tomorrow as it's almost midnight here now.)

DH too my car (since it has 4x4) to work this am...he made it fine, but doesn't think I should take his car out at all.
I got up to the whirr of snowblowers going.
I check outside to see my neighbors trying to dig their DIL's car out.
I bundle up, grab my shovel and head over.
We get the car dug out but it won't start.
The DIL had to go to a Dentist appt, so we then dig from the neighbor's driveway out to the path in the street made by the other cars that made it out.
Since I was mostly in the way and I figured that the neighbor across the street might want out too...and that having her way out would help get this car out too (directly across the street) I went and dug that neighbor out...soon I was joined by the first neighbor's husband...his wife is still working the snowblower on her drive.
Soon both drives are connected to the path.
The neighbor takes her DIL to the appointment.
I begin working on getting my driveway connected to the path...on my own as the neighbor & her DIL go to the appt and the husband is watching the grandchild.
I get my driveway dug out.
Second neighbor takes her dogs for a walk and sees her driveway is cleared.
both neighbors return and we try to get the DIL's car dug out and started. Once the car is completely dug out it starts! Wow! In the meantime crazy teenager down the street decides to take his tiny KIA out for a joy ride in the snow. He gets stuck right in the middle of the street and we have to push him back up the street.
Another neighbor was trying to get back into his driveway and came close to hitting cars parked along the street (see most annoying post below...hee hee hee!)
So I go back to digging out my driveway...it looks pretty good.
Then we get asked to help dig a path to the mailbox. The neighbor's snowblower makes quick work of it...but then the snow plows come through and the path we made for the mail carrier is covered.

Sometime during all of the digging my neighbors & I find out that we both need to go to the same grocery store and they offer to take me since they have a 4x4. The store is very busy and the parking lot is full of packed snow...but suprisingly everyone is in a decent mood. Oh and the store is out of lots of stuff, but I managed to get everything on my list except for Orange Juice...which we can live without. Getting our carts out to the car was funny as they kept getting stuck in the snow.

We get home and get our groceries all unloaded.

I ache like crazy. I hope some heat and pain killer help.

I might get back on the Eliptical Trainer in a day or so.

OH yeah, my BIL calls tonight. After fixing MIL's dishwasher for the umteenth time, he thinks that all the kids should chip in for a new dishwasher and since DH lives in the same town as MIL he got volunteered to buy it and get it installed. So now with all the shopping that DH needs to catch up on from the storm we also have to get the dishwasher. He wants to just tell MIL that they'll pay for it when she picks one out. I'm inclined to think the same way. I love MIL, but BIL should have come up with this plan a month ago. We already have a gift for MIL and she'll get that too. I don't mind that either. It's the shopping for a dishwasher at the last minute thing.

I need to rest.

switching gears...

I'm still


But today instead of hopping on my eliptical trainer, I opted to digg myself and family out of the Holiday Blizzard of 2006!



My back yard. The fence is 6ft.



What my driveway looked like to begin with!



That only took about 90 minutes!



Looking back at the progress!





And don't forget the front walk...just in case someone wants to visit!



I did get help...lots actually!



Look how high we got the snow piled up!

In all I say we were out there shoveling for about 4 hours. My back and arms are killing me. I know two people who really really really need a massage...that's if we can stay awake long enough.

Gee, thanks for ALL your support...

So I've started this...




thing and I have to say, I'm overwhelmed by your tremendous support... Too overwhelmed.

Bone asks:How do we know you're really doing it? Are we on the honor system? Well Bone... Have I ever lied to you before? :D hee hee... Yup! I'm pretty much on the honor system for how long I really exercise.

But let me say this...
Yesterday, before the official kick off, I stayed on for 8 minutes. YAY me!

And today I did:
10 minutes then took a break
5 minutes then took another break
6 minutes then DH came home so I took a break there
and finally 10 more minutes...then I took a much needed shower!

My breaks were 3 to 5 minutes long. So according to what I read a long time ago about exercising that was pretty good...kinda like keeping my heart rate up the entire time. right?

Oh well, whatever! I did 30 minutes today and will roll the extra 2 minutes below onto tomorrow.
Make that 4 minutes (thanks Barbara!)
To anyone who tries to give me grief... "how many minutes did you exercise today?" ;o)

Giving in to peer pressure.

I've decided to join the band waggon and



I'm not doing this because I need to loose any pounds. I'm doing this because I'm getting very out of shape and climbing the stairs can make me winded.

So starting today, I will exercise for one minute per comment on my eliptical trainer.

Now I must warn you. I live at high altitude and it takes me a while to work my way up to doing serious time on the ET. So if I do not get to all the minutes required, they will get rolled over to the next day. I know this sounds wimpy, but there have been days where I've only been able to do 2 minutes.

So say I get 10 comments and I can only do 5 minutes? those extra 5 minutes will go to the next day and I will try harder to get all the comment minutes done. I'm hoping that I get up to 30 minutes by Jan 6th. Oh, and I reserve the right to break up the time as well...you know, 10 min in the morning and 10 at night, etc... Hey, it's my body!

Letter rip folks! I'll keep you posted on how many minutes I actually do.

Most annoying

I stole this one from Denise. This one was a little challenging since I have WAY more than 7 things that annoy me. I’m not tagging anyone, but feel free to steal it. Enjoy!



7 Things That Annoy Me

1. People who are RUDE. I don't care what kind of crappy day you're having, that's no reason to take it out on me. Misdirected anger leads to more stress anyway. Take it up with the person who got you mad in the first place. Now if you want to RANT about your anger to me...go right ahead. I've got very good ears for that.

2. My nextdoor neighbor's cars. They're actually extreemly nice people. But it annoys me to no end that they live in a house with a two car garage and they own 10 cars! I guess the most annoying part is that they continue to park at least one of their cars in front of my house all the time...yeah, that's the most annoying part! Not only does it trash up my house but it blocks the very front part of my yard from being viewed from the street...which means there is absolutely no point to putting up Christmas lights in my yard. So I just decorate the house. Oh and it gets even more annoying when they park one of the cars on the other side of the street from my driveway. it makes it tricky for getting into and out of my driveway.

3. My same nextdoor neighbor's dogs. They have 4 currently (I'll get back to that in a sec.) and 3 of them are full time outdoor dogs. The 4th dog, a Lab mix stays inside and barks at everything. So when the Lab is outside in the yard, he barks at anything else outside. Which means he barks at my dog. He also eats through the wood privacy fence and comes into my yard when he gets to barking at my dog. He has also taught the other 3 dogs to bark at everything outside the fence too...so they bark at us and our dog as well...but at least they don't eat the fence.

4. Part 2 of annoying thing #3, our homeowner's covenants say that we are only allowed a combinded total of 3 animals. You may have noticed that neighbor has 4 dogs. He also has 1 cat and I don't know how many birds. The cat isn't a problem as it's indoors. But in the summer you can hear the birds through the windows. The one screams out my neighbor's name (must be copying the wife) all day long. The wife told me once that in their old house a neighbor called the cops because she though the birds were a domestic fight.

5. People who have trainded their kids to throw a fit (because they give in) and then choose to not give in when the fit happens in a public place. We were in Target the other day and there was a little girl screaming her head off throwing a fit. She was kicking her legs and throwing items off the shelves. Mom was walking around and shopping, acting like it wasn't her kid. This went on for a good 20 minutes before the kid was loaded up on a shopping cart (still crying) and moved to another location in the store. I later heard one of the employees talking to a customer about the screamer...he said that his dad would have beat him (which I don't agree with at all) but that he was totally mad because he had to go and pick up all the merchandise the kid was allowed to toss all over the place.
I agree with ignoring a fit...but you have to ALWAYS ignore a fit so that they NEVER work and the kid learns that this is not an effective way of getting something.

6. I'm not sure if it's lack of training or lack of caring on the employee's fault, but it really annoys me when I order fast food and the employee starts to gather the items I've ordered and one item isn't done yet...so all of my food sits there getting cold while we wait for the one item. (Yes, I have asked for a warm meal before and I get the sigh.) It's simple really...either wait for all the food to be done and keep the done food under the heat lamps or give me the done food and bring out the last item when it's done.

7. The paper person tossing our paper in the gutter. First, we don't subscribe to this paper. It is given to all residents free...although the do put a bill in it every year in hopes that someone will pay for it. Second, we don't read the paper...so it goes right in the recycling. but to toss it in the gutter where it gets all wet and then freezes is just wrong.

8. My mom sending my Christmas gifts wrapped in Christmas paper...and my birthday gifts not wrapped at all! *sigh* I'm glad that she sent me separate birthday gifts and I'm really thrilled with what she got me...two new foam pillows for my bed!, a quilted purse (don't know what to do with it) and the Woolite gentle garment washing bag set. But I'm not thrilled that they weren't wrapped. I told Darly that I'm going to start using my birthday gifts and then wait to open my Christmas gifts until my birthday. hee hee


see that's 8 and I haven't scratched the surface. LOL!

Update to Darly's post

Dad did take Darly shopping today. I don't know where they went or what they got. I do know that DH mentioned that I almost ended up with nothing because Darly was frustrating him with her shopping.

See if it's Darly's idea then she can shop forever (which drives a man crazy. It's against the "get in there and get out quick" code.) but if it's not her idea (or you want to shop yourself) she's like all done and ready to leave.

But apparently they did accomplish the mission because I would have heard about it from Darly if they hadn't...and I saw them come downstairs with wrapped gifts.

Perhaps I need to teach Darly how to shop online...but that could be dangerous too. LOL!

Oh, Darly will be back for more guest posts. Just not today. We both felt that too many of you might be bugging her to tell her what she got for me. So she'll post again on a totally different topic...perhaps my birthday gift. hee hee

Guest Blogger Darly: Dad needs to take me shopping!

You're probably wondering why Mom has a guest blogger here today. Well, I've been bugging Mom for quite some time about having my own blog. She thinks that I'm still too young and that I need to learn how to spell better first. But she decided that she would let me post here today. So here it goes...

YIKES! There is only 11 days to Christmas and Dad still has not taken me to the mall to buy Mom's Christmas present and with 11 days to Christmas and all I am runing out of time!!!
P.S. comments will be shown to mom and me.

Look out, cranky lady!

PMS

Stressed about Christmas package mailing and one item that still has not arrived (was supposed to be here yesterday! now probably won't be here until Friday.)

DH is out of town

We have no plans to keep busy this week (getting out of the house stuff)

And I've got someone griping to me about a form they want that they have NEVER said when it was due.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm guessing the PMS is pretty self explanatory. You know the usual, bloating, pain, etc...

I got most of my Christmas cards done and mailed already. I need to sit down and finish the cards to Darly's godparents and to my grandmother. I also need to mail out a few packages...but I would like to do it in one visit and there's the hold up of one item that isn't here yet. And if I send out the rest of the package w/o the item it leaves a huge empty space in my box... I think that I may just mail it anyway so that it gets there on time. Too bad I tossed out that card from the postoffice telling me the cut off dates.

DH is teaching a class in Vegas this week...Lucky him! He's staying at a very nice hotel and eating food that I didn't have to cook all week. Darly & I should be eating out this week so that when he comes back and wants a home cooked meal I won't feel all ready to eat out...that's the ticket!

We had no plans scheduled for this week. That is so totally odd. I mean usually we have a ton of stuff on the calendar with some days having as many as 3 activities planned. But this week...NADA! Okay, I have to admit that Monday I did go answer phones at Church...and today if it wasn't so cold and everyone else wasn't sick I could go to the park (but since so far no one else is coming, we won't do that) and Friday we do have Girl Scouts...so I should plan for that. And a friend DID invite us to go swimming tomorrow. But yesterday we went NO WHERE and I didn't even get dressed or showered...EWWWWEEEE! I know, TMI!

And finally there's the form. And hey if you're reading this, you might see why I'm ticked about it. First she sends out the form and says please MAIL this back to me ASAP...but she doesn't ever say "I need it by this date". Previously, we've been able to fill these forms out in person and just hand them in...but no. She wants them all MAILED in...and DON'T give them to her at the two times you'll see her in person because she won't be thinking about that topic and will loose them.

OKAY FINE. But like I mentioned before, she never said when she NEEDED the form, just ASAP and don't give them to her in person. So yesterday she sends this email that says I'm sorry for being cranky and send the form NOW OR DO THE JOB YOURSELF! WHOA! Where the heck did that come from?
So I write back that Yes, her email was cranky and the form was in the mail.
She writes back that being nice didn't work.
I write back again with a copy of the first email that she didn't say when she wanted the form back.
She writes back "gimme a break."

Okay, I'll concede that she did say ASAP. But when you say that during the holidays and nothing is supposed to be due on this for another 4 weeks...at least you could put a due date. And I'll also concede that she picked the absolute WORST time in the world to get all cranky about this.

And here's the kicker... I'm letting this get to me. Why can't I just drop it? I guess I really really really want to fight about it. Ya know, if she had sent the email out next week...I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it...

NOPE! I would have, because the DO THE JOB YOURSELF crap was really uncalled for.

So I guess I should hurry up and run that package to the postoffice...hopefully before the rest of the world wakes up and figures out that they need to be at the PO too.

cuz I'm a sucker for a good meme

I picked this baby up over at Denise's place.
Click on the ****s to read it.

I've done the bold, wish I'd done the red, stuff I don't wanna do is in BLUE...


01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game two superbowls and one game I actually watched.
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg okay, it was fake…Tropicanna in Vegas.
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales how about wild dolphins? Off the beach in FL
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced but ended a 4 year relationship once.
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo although fake tatoos are fun!
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date doesn’t everyone these days?
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children not done yet
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost 100 pounds (close to it)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplanesimulator
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistoland I’m a good shot, so watch out!
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eatingFish counts, right?
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream - but I'm happy where I am.
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Merry Christmas

Well I had intended to post our Christmas collage here... but both blogger and photobucket wouldn't accept my powerpoint. So instead you get to see just the official family picture.

If you know how I can make my powerpoint collage get on here...feel free to tell me how to do it... my scanner is acting up right now and short of posting each picture separately (which would suck big time) I don't know how else to do it.

For those of you looking for the dog... I put this picture of us in the Christmas cards.

I need some help please...and I got tagged for a meme

first the help.

Can anyone tell me how to make my pictures smaller on the post below. Blogger was being cranky yesterday when I was creating the post, so I just cut & pasted the tag from Photobucket and it worked great...except the pixs are so big that my sidebar is at the bottom.

and now the meme. Since I know a lot of you aren't interested in memes, I've hidden it. Click the ****** if you really really want to read more about meme. i am: tired & busy…or is that busy & tired. I can never remember…or type today either!
i want: happily ever after!
i have: all I could ever need.
i wish: a better world for Darly
i hate: bills addressed to me
i miss: my old dog
i hear: the TV set
i wonder: what DH will give me for Christmas as my list is pretty tough.
i regret: nothing
i am not: a morning person.
i dance: whenever I hear a great song…even in the grocery store!
i sing: whenever I want to. I don’t care one bit that I’m not any good. Look out world!
i cry: when I watch sad movies
i am not always: a great homemaker.
i make with my hands: great food
i journal: I don’t journal.
i confuse: Darly’s name with the Lilly’s when I’m frustrated
i need: new video card for this computer or a new computer.
i should: clean the rabbit’s cage.
i start: too many projects.
i finish: not nearly enough of them.
i will tag: YOU! If you wanna be tagged. You don't have to. Let me know if you participate so I can come and visit!

Thanks to Denise for helping get my pictures to a normal size. She's an awesome blog designer if you need a new template.

Trying to get the perfect family photo...

Island girl was lamenting about trying to get a picture of her girls for this year's Christmas card. So I thought I would share with you my struggles.

See after spending forever at Church taking photos for our Church Directory with the option of buying copies for our Christmas cards and none of them coming out to our liking, we decided to just take our pictures at home. (boy that was a run on sentence! LOL!) I think they must have taken close to 20 pictures and it wasn't until the last 6 that he actually had us posed together. Before that he had us spread out too far.

So we got home and set up the camera and took another 20 photos or so to get our family picture. But then, we decided to also try to get a picture with the dog.

Since we knew there would be some issues, we decided to first change into comfortable clothes… that was very smart.

I set up the camera. I had to use the lowest settings on my tripod. We set the scene. We decided that we should put Lilly on her couch. (yes, my spoiled dog has her own couch. But before you go too far…know that the couch originally belonged to our first dog Misty and then it was Darly’s couch to play on…I had a new cover made for it for Darly. And then after Darly grew too big for it, it became Lilly’s couch. She loves it and can be found snoozing on it whenever I’m in the family room…because if I’m in here on the computer, you’ll find Lilly curled up at my feet for me to trip on when I get up.) Oh, back to the pictures…

So Lilly was on her couch and we were to sit behind her couch, with our loveseat as the background. Darly would pose behind the couch and then I would set the timer and try to get into the picture too.

Here you can see that Lilly was distracted by her bone.

This is the one we put in our Christmas cards.


DH only participated a few times.






As you can tell, almost every time I tried to get into the picture Lilly would take notice of the quick movement (she has a high prey drive) and would try to lick someone.

Finally I gave up trying to get into the picture.