The States I've Been To...

Got this link from Charlie. I need to fill all the states in, but I've got time on my side...time, time, time..is on my side-yes it is. Good song.

It hit me last night: Pudge's breath smells like a freshly opened bag of Funyuns. Remember Funyuns? Funyuns were the "cool" thing to eat in junior high. I'm going to say that I never liked them though. No wonder I wasn't cool. Now, the smell has come back to haunt me through Pudge's mouth. Blech.

We were at G & Rich's house last night for a birthday party for Nicholas (Dad Chris is shown here). I wanted to put this picture up because Roxy had her holiday cheer on...notice the scarf :) And, Wendy had her Christmas bandana on. Dogs like to be festive too.

It's All About Me

Little Charlie challenged me to do this "7 Things List"

7 things I plan to do before I die:
1) Buy an RV
2) Travel across America in an RV
3) Have a patio cover built
4) Buy a cabin in the mountains (or on a lake) for vacations
5) Hike some small mountains/canyons in northern Arizona--Havasupi Area
6) White water raft in Idaho
7) Work to help the homeless

7 things I can do:
1) Speak in public
2) Drive a stick shift
3) Swim the basic strokes: backstroke, sidestroke, breaststroke, and front crawl (freestyle)
4) touch my nose with my tounge
5) Hit a driver over 200 yards
6) cook
7) laugh at myself

7 things I cannot do:
1) cartwheel
2) chug anything or do a shot of anything
3) enjoy opera
4) speak another language
5) watch re-runs
6) ski (either)
7) a pull-up

7 things that attract me to another:
1) nice ears
2) red hair
3) respects women
4) "nice guy"
5) can beat me at sports
6) intelligent
7) puts the toilet seat down

7 things I say most often:
1) Wow (regarding shock and awe)
2) Wrong Answer (regarding a choice of clothing by a stranger)
3) Your Mom - or any derivitave, like - your mom's house (I mostly say this to scott when he asks me things like Who was that on the phone? Or, where are my shoes?)
4) Wheels Off (anything that is, well, wheels off)
5) Excuse me (regarding my large belly in the way, or my nisty gas that offends)
6) Thank you (self explanitory)
7) Oh No She Didn't (regarding anything stupid that has been said or done or worn)

Roxy!

Emmitt!

No Kidding...I Feel Like This Could Be An Open Letter To My Students

I got this old school rant in an email, and I thought it would make a good post, especially after my post about childhood games. There are so many more topics that could be added on here, but I'll just let it stand...author unknown:

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways .. yadda, yadda, yadda.

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But...now that I'm over thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter ... with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Bearshare! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

And talk of about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had to steal it from your brother or bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! Those were your options!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation 2 or XBox 360 video games with
high-resolution 3-D graphics! ! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics sucked ass! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! ... Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!
If you didn't have cable or a remote, you were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you
spoiled little rat-******s!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up . We had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire ... imagine that!
If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid JiffyPop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

(L-R Chrisy, Chris, Bubba, Mandy, Lena, Ro, Scott) This picture is taken beside our cars. We'll spend some money on a primo parking pass. What a great Thanksgiving Day at the Dallas Cowboys game with good friends, good food, and good people watching!

Scott's manning the turkey while Chris handles that sweet macaroni and cheese that Christy whipped up.

Our Thanksgiving Day "Spread"

Thanksgiving Day Half Time Show at Texas Stadium (Sheryl Crow Performed)

HOLY CRAP!

Ok, so I'm home today and watching The View (on the Price Is Right Commercials). No one told me that Star Jones is like a different person! Man, she used to be real big. Now, she's all trying to be Oprah or something. I just kept looking at her. I don't know who they were interviewing, because my focus was all on skinny-freaky looking Star.

This is how our dog children sleep at night. We don't allow them on the bed anymore. The pugs can't get up there alone, but Roxy can. She's been really good about staying down, until this particular morning. Pudge and Roxy sleep in these baskets and Emmitt is at the end in the shadow. Roxy isn't in her basket here because she has made herself comfy on the bed (see below). I just love waking up to the three dogs sleeping...so cute!

Emmitt likes to sleep covered up with his fleece blanket since it has gotten a little colder in the house. The whole time I'm getting ready in the morning in my room and bathroom, he never moves from this position, except to periodically open his eyes. I have to actually pick him up or drag the bed out the door, so I can leave for work, since we keep the bedroom closed during the day.

My view as I get out of the shower...Roxy has decided this morning that the comforter and my pillow are just irresistible. I should have been irritated, but I thought it was too funny, so I got the camera.

A closer look at her mischievous joy. She jumped off the bed and chased a squirrel right after I got this shot. I guess she knew her time was up.

I Love Boardgames

I grew up in a boardgame friendly house. My parents played boardgames all of the time, and Charlie and I loved games too. I remember my parents playing word games like Scrabble & Probe, and they played lots of Kismet; a cousin of Yahtzee. Then, of course, Trivial Pursuit came along in the mid-80's, and my parents loved that game. Hence, the game playing tone in my life had been set. There are so many games that I loved to play as a kid, but I'm going to try and hit the highpoints here:
Probably my two most favorite games to play as a kid were Risk (#1 favorite) and Battleship (I even had Electronic Battleship!) I loved to get my mom to play me, and sometimes she would. I would beg and beg and beg until she would finally say, "ok, set up the board and I'll come play." I would then sprint to the game and set it up as fast as I could before she would change her mind. She pretty much always beat me, but I still loved it. I would try so hard to beat her, but she wouldn't let me win. I loved competing with her.



Then, there was Grammer's house. Now, at Grammer's house there were limited indoor activities. There was plenty to do outside, but if it was raining or night time, you were pretty much going to be looking at watching Hee-Haw or playing the only game she had: Hi-Q ....anyone? Remember Hi-Q? Yeah, it was a loner, play-by-yourself game. Although, it was good when in a Texarkana boredom pickle.

Ok, now I'm going to reach a little bit. In elementary school...like 5th grade...I discovered Mastermind. I guess we had like game time sometimes. I'm sure this doesn't happen in school anymore...no fun now probably. But, back in the 80's I would always grab Mastermind. It is a two player game, and I found that I could pretty much beat people at it, so this must be why I fell in love. It is a random game. But, I can tell you that I had a love for that little strategic jem. Anyone else out there heard of Mastermind?


Now, sometimes there are games that I had to play at my friend's house, because he/she had it and I didn't. An example of this is the old school game that I loved: Perfection!! How much fun was that game?! It had the timer that made you all tense as it ticked down while you tried to jam all the different shaped pieces into the board. If time ran out, the whole board would "pop up" and the pieces would go flying. Good times.



There were so many other games that I loved to play with friends and family like, Clue, Life, Mad Magazine Game, Pente, and of course Monopoly...duh. Unfortunately, I didn't get to play one of the all time bests, Operation, very much because I didn't own it and either did my friends.

Then there were the games that I beat my mom down about until they would finally arrive under the Christmas tree. Christmas Circa 1984 : Chain Lightning! I was obsessed with getting this game and setting up all the hundreds of teeny-tiny dominoes. Then, when I finally got it, I only set it up like a handful of times because it was so labor intensive. But, I still was proud that I owned it.

Subbuteo was another game that I was determined to get for a gift. I was totally into soccer in elementary school. I loved Pele, had a hacky sack, was into Tatu of the Dallas Sidekicks, and I had Subbuteo. Now, once I actually got the game, I didn't really "play" it. It seemed to just sit there set up for me to look at. It was hard to get anyone to really play the game because not many were familiar with it; it was frustrating to go around flicking the little players trying to get them to kick it; and basically, I would just rather go out and actually play soccer in the yard or at the park or on the Atari than focus on this game. But, don't get me wrong, I thought the field, players, goals, etc were totally cool to set up and look at.

Well, there is a little insight into my old school game days. I still love games. Scott isn't really into games. It is pretty much like pulling teeth to get him to play anything. I'm always saying to Scott, "Didn't you play games at your house growing up?" Then, his answer is, "No, we played outside." I guess Arizona kids don't know the fun of rainy day competition.

And, to think it all started with Candyland and Chutes & Ladders!

Any RV Is For Me

Why am I so intrigued by "teardrop" campers such as these?? I just think they are so fun. I think it may go along with the fondness I have for midgets. Little things are fun. I guess I could pull this with my Mini Cooper, so I'd have lots of little toys.

Perfect Timing

Ok, Let me set the stage for you: I woke up this Sunday morning a little early. I thought I'd come sit in the living room with my orange juice, look out the window, and work on my Bible study. Scott and the dogs are still sleeping, so it seemed like the peaceful Folger's coffee commercial, minus the Folger's.

So, trying to be a good girl, I sit down on the couch, and before I can even break out the Good Book, I see a woman out my window squatting and peeing! I'm like, wow! Am I really seeing this?! Could such fortune be mine? Sure enough, she is using the back seat door jam as her "seat", but her arse is hanging off and the water is flowing. I mean it is splashing all up on her shoes, it is rolling under her car. I think it may have even gotten into the storm drains. Yeah, she is out in the street just showing the whole world her goods. I was worried that she'd look up and see me totally staring at her through my giant window, but nope. She was too worried about the house that she was parked in front of. Pee-Woman kept looking back to see if they were on to her. I must say she was discreet because I was waiting for the whole pull 'em up part to see if she was going to just stand up for the street, but she did the lean forward, show your butt to the inside of the empty car and pull up, move.

So, while this is going on, I'm wondering, "Who is she? Is she drunk? Will she go inside this house afterwards?" Well, I got no answers, because after the piss parade, she pulled the jeans up and rolled back into the back seat, shut the door, and laid down. So, as I write this, she is still back there sleeping. Yes, I'm still watching the car. I will watch all day until I see her get out or drive away.

The irony to me is that the people that live in that house appear very discreet, if you will. It is like a mom, dad, and little girl. Their house is always perfectly maintained, and they drive "sensible" vehicles. So, I'm like who is this 40-something chick, with long black/grey hair, and early morning public pissing habits?

And, yes, I got my camera and took pictures from my living room after she rolled up in her car.

English Bulldogs Are Deep

Mornings are when Roxy takes a look at the backyard to make sure all is right with the world. Often she will bask in a ray of sunlight, but sometimes she likes to contemplate the day ahead. "Will I be walked today? When will I be fed? How many squirrels will I get to chase? Will that loud truck come down the alley? I love that truck."

What The Hell?!

I saw this on the news yesterday, and I knew it was blog worthy. Apparently, he grated his own doo doo with a cheese grater and then he did some sprinkling at Fiesta grocery store. Read on:

DALLAS (AP) - A taxi driver is on trial for allegedly tainting baked items at the grocery store by sprinkling dried feces on the food. Prosecutors have store surveillance videotapes of two alleged incidents in July.Behrouz Nahidmobarekeh, 49, is charged with two felony counts of tampering with consumer products.Customers had complained that the fresh-baked items smelled and tasted like manure.The defendant, who allegedly had a beef with the store over the way he'd been treated, faces punishment ranging from probation, to two to 20 years in prison.

Here is the after picture. Our new bedroom. We are so happy with it. The trim and closets are chocolate, you'll just have to imagine how freaking good they look.

Our bedroom got a glorious overhaul last week. You can see here from the picture that the room was a dull yellow, has been for 7 years. Good Gwynnie Poo came to the rescue and painted it blue and chocolate for us. Thanks G!

Just When You Thought It Was Safe

Well, the dog park gave me poison ivy. I hate poison ivy. I can't take any oral medication because of the internal bread baking that is going on. But, I can use some old cream, but it barely helps. Uhg. I think the dogs got in the woods and brought out the nice poison secretions to me when I pet them. Such thoughtful dogs.

Then, Emmit has been sick. He's never sick, but he's had this horrible cough that keeps us up all night. Also, the first day had some vomitting. So, I took him to the vet, and she was like, "has he been around any sick dogs?" I thought...curses...the dog park. Now, I'm not sure there were any sick dogs there, but hell, i'm not sure there was any poison ivy there either, but i'm giving all the credit to the dog park.

Emmitt just got awoken from a nap. Dry Tounge.

How Pudge spends his days...

Roxy's Fat Face Impression

I'm Devastated! He's hot and she is funny. Why does it have to end? It is a tragedy.

Me Likey Earl

Watched it. Loved it.



If you like white trash, wood paneling, nerd humor, and awesome cars like the

Renault "Le Car"


Subaru "Brat"


or even the good old El Camino, then you will love this show. Seriously. Good stuff with Earl.

Have you ever been here and been bored?

I was thinking about it today while I was at work in a stall doing my "business." So, here are my favorite ways to pass the time while in a public stall, mostly at work.

#1 Get out the cell phone and play games, look at saved photos, and if it is a long time I need to kill then, use the net browser.
#2 If I don't have my cellie on me, then I go for coin/paper money inspection. I've always loved money. When you need to keep your mind busy on the pottie, coins and bills are a good way to pass the time. I like to check out years printed, cities of origin, and even who the national treasurer was at the time of print.
#3 If times are desparate, I just have to read the manufacturers of the toilet paper dispensers on the wall and drain covers on the floor.

Well, there you have it. I wonder if others are as bored in the pottie as I am. And, I wonder if they have the same pass-the-time bag of tricks as I do. Thank you. I'm out.

As time goes on, I become a greater and greater Johnny Cash fan. I got to see the new autobiographical movie, Walk The Line at a special pre-screening. I have to say I really liked it. Joaquin as Johnny and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash was very well casted. There are so many things about Johnny Cash that captivate me. I revel in his contridictions and struggles, still admire his focus and conviction. I don't want to say he was a great man, but I do want to say he was an outstanding "common man."

Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash. Fantastic performance.

I've never liked Root Beer. I tried it a couple of times growing up, and I thought it was gross. So, all of these years I evaded root beer and turned my nose up at root beer floats. I guess since it is caffine free and I'm pregnant, I thought I'd give it another try. Oh yeah, and it makes me think I'm still having a "beer." So, I gave it a whirl, and I really liked it. Yea for root beer. Let's all rejoice in the old favorite recipe.

I just put one of these down tonight. I went to Jack in the Crack and got myself a Root Beer Float. I believe it was my first ever. All I can say is DELICIOUS. I think I could drink about 3 more. I'm sort of glad I saved such a treat for my 30's.

I found this when I googled myself....

http://www8.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda/dept19109/files/229489.html

This is from my summer internship. Scroll down to my picture/name. I didn't know this was up on the web.

Reporting From New Orleans

I've been glued to the TV ever since Sunday night when hurricane Katrina was threatening New Orleans. Scott and I had an interest in the situation as we were planning on a weekend trip to New Orleans to see ASU play LSU next weekend (9/10).

Since I was watching from the beginning, I totally got reeled into the whole tragedy. It is absolutely amazing what is going on in that city. Here are some of my opinions just splattered on this blog:

• I think it is stupid to think the stranded people were not rescued quickly because "they were black." dumb.
• I think that this whole tragedy is a result of our greedy, American need to build and "urbanize" all we can. It makes me sick that the city of New Orleans spread out over the flood plains, salt marsh land, and the other natural ecosystems. Yes, man continues to screw up the Earth.
• The pictures of pets stranded absolutely makes me the saddest.
• The governor of Louisiana is a lame leader. How did she get elected? Oh I forgot, it is Louisiana: corrupt, old money, broke, backwoods are all words that pop into my mind.
• Harry Connick Jr. is hot. And, after watching him on the Today show each morning helping people in New Orleans, he's about the hottest guy alive today.

Finally, the reason I started this post is because I have a comment about reporters in New Orleans right now. This doesn't really apply to the men, but I want to talk about their attire. Now, it is a smelly, morbid, disaster area, I have seen some women with their hair done and a "cute" top on. Yes, I take notice. What do I want you ask? Well, I want to see a pony tail and a crummy shirt. Now, tonight, Ann from the Today show was on and she had a pony tail and khaki utility-type vest on. I loved that. Good job. Way to be real. I don't want to see your hair down while you are in hip waders trudging through fecal matter water. C'mon!

What I'm Thankful For....

This week:
1) The weather has finally cooled down to the temperature where I can go outside and not want to sprint back into the house.
2) Gas is REAL high. So, thank goodness I live really close to school and drive a MINI.
3) 4 day work week.
4) I don't live in a region where I have to worry about floods or earthquakes.

I got a new dresser!! I haven't had a real dresser since I was in high school. I'm so excited to have 5 drawers all for me. My mom found this beauty at a garage sale for me, and Rich is responsible for the awesome refinish job.

If You Need A Good Book

I just started and finished The Kite Runner this weekend. Right after J-Mo gave it to me for a birthday gift, the school told us that the author will be visiting our school for a community presentation, and we have first chance at seats. So, I figured I better get it read before he visits next month. The AP kids are reading it; maybe that is why they chose our school. Apparently, it was sort of tricky getting it approved my the school book approvers. After reading it, I can see why. There are some zinger-parts in there.

Overall, I really liked it. It read so fast, because he wrote in a manner that just made you so anxious to know how the story would unfold. It is a great story about relationships, but it also is very interesting because of background and introspect of Afghanistan history.

This is an example of a hematoma you might incur if you try to hold up a falling refrigerator with one arm.

Saturday 8/13: The floor is complete! I'm not sure why Pudge gets in all of the pictures. But, he's got allergies so we let him get away with a lot.

Saturday 8/13: The New Fridge

Saturday 8/13: Appliance delivery day. Although, we had to install it all ourselves because their guys were lame and basically just dropped it off in the kitchen. But, we think it was all worth it.

Friday 8/12: Grouting commences. Scott and I have tired hammies, butts, and backs.