An Eventful-Uneventful Day...

I know... that title is a little misleading and confusing... but I had a pretty laid back day today that I filled with a lot of stuff that wasn't planned and had a blast doing...

First, I actually wore my contacts... I haven't worn them all week for fear that the last time I did, I scratched my eye, and I didn't want to aggravate it... They are monthly disposable ones (my trial pair, still) and my new contacts were supposed to be here 2 weeks ago... Well, almost 2 weeks ago... Hopefully they come soon... I can tell these ones are getting to the end of their life. It'll be nice to have ones that easily fit on my eye rather than stuck to my finger...

Then I had a much-needed coffee date with my friend. We both had pretty crappy weeks and needed to talk. With her busy/hectic/kid-filled life and my "I want you to help me with the plane" husband, we don't normally have time to talk. We found that we have to schedule time with each other with no distractions in order to have a decent conversation. It was nice to catch up. I can't wait to see her when we go on our trip next year. It has been years!

While talking to my friend for our "coffee date", I walked around our lovely craft store in the mall. Decided that I should teach myself to knit. I've done it once before, shown by a lovely girl who I worked with, to give me something to do while I worked in a call center in between calls... I haven't done it since. Crochet, yes, knit, no. So I purchased a couple of knitting needles and a book that claims will teach me to knit in a day. So far, I've learned how to start it (can't remember the terminology at the moment) and how to do a "knit" stitch. However, I didn't pay attention (or couldn't find the information in the book when I bought it due to my weirdo contacts) to the size knitting needles that I needed to "learn" how to knit. I got ones suggested in one of the patterns since I couldn't find it, and then after I got home, I discovered the correct size required. So, my sample isn't looking like it should since I am using standard yarn and the needles are too big... Oh well, it's just to learn how to do it, then I'll do a scarf with the correct size yarn. I haven't learned to "Perl" yet

I vacuumed my living room. And I went grocery shopping. It's the first of the month and I am flush with cash (at least in my mind I am...)

I discovered some unidentifiable substance on my old desk (that is acting as a second work surface in my home office) that the hubby used while he was soldering stuff a week ago... Since I don't know what it is (and I wasn't the one to make the mess) I have to leave it there for the hubby to clean when he gets back. (And I know you are reading this, so consider this your warning... I do not want to have to "nag" you to clean up your mess, but I will if I have to...) I was hoping to use that space to help me organize stuff for filing and whatnot, but now I have to use the floor since it is a mess...

Now, I am watching the dog sit in the doorway to my home office, whining, because it is "bed time." She gets vocal when she feels that I should be in bed. I know... I have a weird dog...

Iritis and Rabies and "Scra Pumple" - Oh My!

I know... I have had this blog for MONTHS now and I just tonight figured out how to get my website stats... It wasn't hard, but I just hadn't taken the time to learn about it until tonight...

Most of my search stats are iritis or rabies tider test related (with some moving to Hawaii searches in there), but what the heck is "Scra Pumple"?? I know I have blogged about my mother's Pumple Pie during the holidays, but never have I seen "Scra Pumple" before...

The things people think to look up on the internet...

Oh, and the most searched thing to end up on my blog is "Cute Culture Chick", so shout out to Nicole!

The laws of aviation marriage...

As soon as your pilot departs for sights unseen (by you), that's when all the stuff happens that you wish he was there for... Like stupid roof-avalanches...

I know I've blogged about a roof-avalanche before, but I had another one today... The morning he leaves for work... Luckily, the snow-removal guys were transplanting one pile of snow to another so they don't block off the parking spaces to my building, and there was a guy outside of the track-hoe that had a snow shovel and he helped me to clear a path to my house... That was very nice of him...

Now, it wasn't nearly as bad as the original roof-avalanche, only about half of the amount of snow, but still made it difficult to get from my car to my door at lunch time to check on the dog after the chocolate eating fiasco...

And this is the day I decided to wear my cute boots with the 3-inch heels because they look great with my boot-leg jeans that I was wearing today... Maybe my unbelievable cuteness enticed the snow-man to help a damsel in distress... But probably not...

When is Chocolate a Bad Thing?

In most respects, the answer would be "Never!"... unless your dog gets a hold of it...

I went home for lunch today to find a bag of Dark Chocolate pieces and various wrappers on the floor... The first question to mind was "Honey, did you leave this mess of chocolate wrappers?" all the while KNOWING the dog got into it...

Great, ROUND 2!

Noni got into chocolate when she was still a puppy, along the same lines... She got into it while the hubby left to get me from work. Now, usually, I leave her in her kennel when I leave the house... It keep her out of stuff and keeps her from stressing over the fact that I left... But not the man... He likes to leave her out... And this is what happens...

We (and by we, I mean "I") caught it early enough to administer "first aid"... It worked the last time, and it seemed to work today. We were told last time to pour some hydrogen peroxide down her throat. It doesn't take much, and it induces vomitting within a few minutes. Now she is on watch to see if she gets any sicker. She was only home for about 10 minutes alone, so I don't think it had enough time to do too much damage, but since it was entirely dark chocolate, you can't be too careful. Hopefully we don't have to make a trip to the vet later...

So much for a relaxing lunch break...

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

I received this quote in my email, and it is too good to share...

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater.
If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.
So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of **it."

This quote was not attributed to anyone, but I thought it hilarious!

My Word...

Your Word is "Why"

You see life as complicated and intriguing. The only thing you know for sure is that you haven't figured it all out yet. You question everything and believe very little. And whatever you believe is likely to change. You are interested in theories, philosophies, and religions... even if you don't buy into any of them. You are also fascinated by how things work. You'd like to understand as much in the world as possible.

What's Your Word?

Random Musings...

Is anybody else creeped out by those video game commercials (I can't remember which system, but I want to say x-box) where the person has this weird expression on their face, then the camera pans around their head to reveal the back of their head is missing?

I found ALF on re-runs today... Of course I had to watch it... There was nothing better on, so I got a blast from the past... I was wondering if I'd ever see anything from that weird show again. Most of the others in that time period have been on Nick at Night and TV Land and stuff, but this is the first time in decades that I have seen ALF...

There was another weird commercial I was going to comment on, but I can't remember which one it is now...

A day of shopping...

I decided to go shopping today. Normally, I will not voluntarily "go shopping", especially by myself. I hate being in crowd, and I usually get so anxious that I'll go in, grab what I need, and leave IMMEDIATELY! This habit of mine usually results in clothes that don't fit (because I either didn't try it on, or I tried it on, saw it fit, but didn't really get a good look at HOW it was fitting) and me forgetting must need items in my haste to depart. Taking a list of what I need will help to alleviate my anxiety (and my forgetfulness) but it depends on the day that I am shopping, and the time of day... I've been known to plan a very detailed shopping list (like down to which items I need, on which aisle, in the order of direction through the store) and NOT use my list in a somewhat mild panic attack.

Seeing me in a store (let alone 4 stores) in the middle of a Saturday usually gives people cause to wonder about my sanity... Like, if I'm medicated or something...

Nevertheless, I voluntarily went out in the middle of a Saturday (sans medication), with no set shopping plan in mind. I had a few things that I wanted to scope out, but nothing too terribly specific.

I walked away with 3 books (they were buy 2-get one free for paperbacks), a can opener (my "cheap" one that I bought when I moved here SUCKS and our "decent/cheap" one rusted while in storage...) and a laundry sorter. What a great shopping day!

One thing that I was trying to find, that I was quite irritated that I haven't been able to locate, is maternity clothes... No, I am not pregnant, but I have a friend who is, who is also having trouble finding maternity clothes, especially that she can wear in her profession...

So I decided to see what is available here. I went to 2 malls, the Wal-Mart and the Fred Meyer and NO ONE has "maternity" clothes. The closest I could come is the plus sizes... Do they even MAKE maternity clothes anymore? I know that they do, because you can buy them online, paying exorbitant prices, but locally? Come on...

With the amount of pregnant women here, there MUST be a store that sells maternity clothes at a decent price, but I have yet to locate it... I highly doubt that all of these women are ordering their clothes online, or jumping on a plane to "the big city" to go shopping...

I'm sick of hearing it...

If you love Taylor Swift, please take this following statement in the manner in which I intend it, and please do not take offense...

I am getting sick of hearing anything by Taylor Swift... She's a cute girl and all, her songs are relatively OK, but I am tired of hearing them... They all sound the same to me...

I signed up for internet radio to get away from her songs... My local stations here play her at least once every hour, if not 2 or 3 times... It used to be just the country station, but now she has infiltrated my "mix" station... I can only take so much...

Now my internet radio is playing that stupid Romeo song of hers... It was cute and lovey-dovey the first 100 times I heard it, and thought it was nice, but enough is enough! The only saving grace I have on the internet radio is to change to a station that doesn't play Taylor Swift... I'm in the mood for something more upbeat, but I am relegated to the new age station just because I KNOW they don't play Taylor Swift on this channel...

This is not a dig at a nice girl... I am just tired of hearing her songs over and over and over again...

It reminds me of a time when I HATED the song "My Maria" by Brooks and Dunn... They overplayed that song so much back in the 90's, I am just now being able to hear it without grinding my teeth and changing the station... I'm sure there are other songs out there that I'm sick of, but these ones are in the forefront of my mind...

How stupid do you have to be?

While perusing aviation related news topics, the following story came across my eyes:

Britain: South African Airways crew arrested at Heathrow after drugsfound in bags

By Associated Press

4:15 PM CST, January 20, 2009

LONDON (AP) — Fifteen crew members of a South African Airways flight that landed in London were arrested Tuesday after a large shipment of cannabis and cocaine was found in their luggage, customs officials said.

Bob Gaiger of HM Revenue and Customs said the flight attendants and pilots on a flight from Johannesburg to London were taken into custody at Heathrow Airport as they passed through customs.

He said customs officials found 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of cannabis in three of their bags. One of the bags also contained around eight pounds (4 kilograms) of cocaine, worth around 160,000 pounds ($222,000).

Gaiger said it was not immediately clear who the bags belonged to.

South African Airways was not immediately available to comment on the arrests.

Seriously... How stupid do you have to be to try to take drugs through an airport? I'm sure that there is some missing information in this news story, but come on... Hope the idea of money from that quantity of drugs sustains you while you are in prison on drug trafficking charges!

The quickest way to a woman's heart...

...is doing something sweet and unexpected.

After spending all weekend in the hanger, and not having any energy when we returned home to clean the house, I was not looking forward to getting home from work, having to clean the kitchen, then cook dinner... I guess my attitude when I was home at lunch time tipped the hubby off to my irritation... He offered to take me to dinner :)

Instead of spending my evening cleaning, I was treated to a wonderful Stuffed Pork Chop with the best roasted "tiny" potatoes and rustic style applesauce I have ever had. Topped of with some Creme Brulee, and hubby is out of the dog house and officially on my favorite person list :)

I'm in such a good mood tonight that I don't think I have anything to complain about tomorrow when the subject of dinner comes up... Now, the cleanliness of my kitchen/bathroom sink after a "paint explosion" may lead to some frustrations, but the idea of dinner shouldn't increase my blood pressure at all!

Ugh...

Colder and crappier and muddier today. Tracked mud and pine needles all over the house. Too tired after working in the hanger today to do anything about it, but if I don't, then it won't get done. I have to gather clothes to be washed so I have stuff to wear to work this week.

I just want to go to sleep and there is just too much to be done... Ugh...

My "Project"

The task of cleaning anything that needs to be cleaned on the plane, has been given to me...

OK, I guess you could say that I volunteered for that one. A has been having "fun" doing all the cool stuff that needs to be done, so today I asked to do one "special" thing (clean/polish the seat rails) that has expanded into basically all metal bits that need to be cleaned and/or polished...

Which is just fine with me. It gives me a set project, one where I don't have to have a lot of direction on, and I can't really screw it up, so Yay Me!

The seat rails are my priority, I guess... They are the first pieces of hardware to be installed back in the plane (on top of the new carpet), so they have to be done "first" and they have to be done well... Let the anal-retentive aspect of my personality rear it's ugly head, because I am not putting dirty parts back in the airplane. Heck, if I had my way (and I knew it wouldn't damage the airplane), I'd take after the plane with some Formula 409 or some similar product and make every square inch sparkle, inside and out!

On the plus side, it was in the 50's today and sunny! We had the hanger door open for some natural light (trying to keep electricity use down, since we are now paying 30 cents/kwh. - half of what we paid right after the last avalanche, but still triple what we usually pay...) and I didn't freeze at all. At least, not until the sun went down...

Freezing my BUTT OFF

Yes, I did have to check to make sure it was still there...

We made plans to work on the plane this weekend, since he's home and I have a 3 day weekend. Little did I know (or I knew, and I repressed the information) that I would freeze my butt off today...

We got a late start, things didn't go according to plan (at least my plan, which really frustrates me)... I didn't put on my thermals to help keep me warm...

That led to me jumping in the shower AS SOON AS I GOT HOME to try to warm up...

Tomorrow, there is a different plan...

The best Christmas present EVER!

Well, it wasn't actually for me, it was for my dog, but as she can't use it without me, I can say it's the best one ever...

Noni's Gamma & Gampa got her the PediPaws for Christmas. She still doesn't like it, but she's getting used to it.

We have gone so long without clipping her claws (she tried to nibble/bite anyone who comes near her with clippers) that it is taking several sessions with the PediPaws to get the claws to a "normal" length.

Today, she got another nail grooming session and didn't fidget too much. I was able to do all of her claws, which is the most I've ever been able to do. I guess making sure she got a cookie after each grooming session helped her to "get over it". Now, if I could just get her to sit still for clippers...

Mild Irritations, and other tidbits of the day

My day started out with getting up (I know, what a novel idea) and getting ready for work... Shortly after I got up, A went and turned the dryer on... This prompted a "why"... Here's the back story...

The other day, an avalanche took out a tower that brings cheap electricity from the hydroelectric plant to Juneau, causing us to go on Diesel Generators for city power. This also happened back in April 08 TO THE SAME TOWER. The price of diesel was astronomically high, so our electricity went up quite a lot. Anyway, I decided that I would wash a load of laundry, combined of all my necessary items, to save electricity and to keep me from having to do a day's worth of multiple laundry loads... After the washer was done, I got up to switch it to the dryer, but A asked me not to since we were watching a movie and he didn't want it interrupted by the dryer buzzer. Ok, that's fine with me. But the downside was that I forgot about the load that needed to go into the dryer until after I had retired upstairs to go to sleep. I asked A to switch the load out, which he did... But he forgot to turn it on... This left me wearing a hideous skirt to work, complete with nylons and heels, all because my jeans were wet... (I changed into jeans when I came home for lunch, and felt much more comfortable...)

At work, I was bestowed the lovely task of researching and purchasing a replacement battery backup for our Anchorage office... Sometimes I'm not given exact directions as to what the "higher-ups" want, and today was no different. I spent the better part of my afternoon comparing/contrasting backups, researching the best way to get it there, who has the best prices, etc... It all worked out in the end, but that leaves as much work on my desk tomorrow as today, since I wasn't able to accomplish that much this afternoon...

Another trip to the hanger... This time, it was just to check the progress of what the man does with his "days off"... I'm pretty impressed at his progress now that it's in the hanger. It's almost completely stripped out. We have a "date" this weekend (3-day weekend) to both work at the hanger cleaning the interior up to prepare it for the new upholstery. Check out his blog tomorrow where he will post an update to his project.

Shanghai'd

One of the good things about my husband being home is that I get to spend time with him...

One of the bad things about my husband being home is that the time I usually get to spend with him is now at the hanger...

That's right... I got shanghai'd after work today to help him remove 3 nuts off of some screws because someone had to be inside the plane turning the screws and someone had to be outside the plane holding a socket to keep the nuts from turning... That's the whole reason... 3 NUTS!

Most of the time, I don't mind turning wrenches and stuff... I just think that next time we (and by we, I mean I) go out there, we go prepared... Like bring our camp chairs that we aren't using at the moment and maybe a table out there...

But, at least I got to spend time with him...

Awards in one fell swoop!

My lovely SIL, at Everyday Adventures as bestowed upon me and my blog, 3 awards all at once. Thanks! :)

The first one is:

The rules for this award are as follows:
1. Put the award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Add links to these blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

The next 2 awards were given to me as a pair, so that is how I will do it as well...



The rules for these 2 awards are as follows:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude.
3. Be sure to link your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you've received this award.

My picks for all of these awards are:
Cute Culture Chick
Intermittant Ruminations
Living with MS
Crazy Days of Summer
and any other blog person who reads this post, if you want these awards:)

Photo Tag

I've been tagged by Danette @ Everday Adventures for this... Pick the 4th photo in the 4th folder... Here's mine...

This photo was taken at Dillingham Airfield, North Shore, Oahu. It is (left to right) A's Grandma, A's Mom, A's Dad and me holding Noni. It is not the photo that we picked to share with the world, but it is the one that meets the above criteria.

Now I tag...
Intermittant Ruminations
Cute Culture Chick
My Life as a Pilot
Crazy Days of Summer

Plans change...

So, I woke up this morning with the intention of finishing what I started yesterday with my office, and doing some laundry before A comes home tomorrow, you know, sheets and towels and stuff... Well, plans change...

I noticed when I let the dog out this morning that there was another butt load of snow on and around my car, similar to last week, but heavier since it is now above freezing and it is wet snow as opposed to powder... So I altered my plans to include digging the car out so I could go to work tomorrow. I worked it in before lunch, so I could work up an appetite.

I finished and came back in the house. I wasn't inside more than 15 minutes before we experienced an avalanche. Not one off a mountain, but one off my roof... Yes, my new metal roof decided to shed the snow on it... I watched it happen (far away from my windows just in case it swung over and hit the windows on the way down) and I couldn't stop laughing. I laughed hysterically, for another 15 minutes, then, took this picture:


Now you can see why I laughed hysterically. I mean, the situation was so funny at the time. I had just finished digging a pathway to my car and now I had to do it over again, with more snow, no less...

Here is the after picture... There was at least 3 feet of snow deep and 7-8 feet of snow to get through from my door to the parking lot...


I hope you all understand (this means you, honey) why I feel like I cannot finish my weekend project to the extent that I had intended... I still plan on doing laundry today, but I don't think it will be as much as I intended either...

I plan on doing more when I can feel my arms/shoulders again...

Months ago...

Months ago, I blogged about my intentions of organizing my home office. Since then, it has become a den for all things unpacked, weird, or I have no other place to put it... Until this weekend.

I took advantage of not working yesterday, and started clearing it out... I have to say, that I did a remarkable job. Today, I've been going through boxes that were in here, to determine if we need to keep the contents, or get rid of the contents. So far, several boxes of crap have been gone through and I have a pretty respectable toss pile. I have a few more boxes to go through, but I hope to finish that tomorrow. I want to have it done before the man comes home on Monday, so I can spend my time with him, cleaning the rest of the house. It's pretty common knowledge (at least in my house) that the office is my domain, and that he is not welcome to clean it. He can come in, look at the books and stuff in the bookcase, but I don't want him going through the papers on my desk, for fear that he will throw something out that I need. I know that this is pretty much insane, because the man is a pack-rat and doesn't throw anything out, but you never know. He could decide one day that the note I have sitting on my desk that is important to me because it tells me where to mail a particular payment to is garbage.

Once I am done, I will finally have the "AFTER" pictures to post...

Snow Day, Part 2

So, my neighbor is the nicest guy. He knows that A is gone at the moment, and I guess he is looking out for me. After I was called about no work today, and I put my previous post on, he came over while the plow truck was here and offered to move my car for me (since I wasn't exactly up and around enough to go play in the snow this morning) so the plow could get the majority of the snow removed from our parking spaces. Once that was done, he shoveled my front door out, since the snow plow left a burm. I might have to make him some cookies or something to thank him...

This first picture is out my front door, so you can see how much we have piled up between the snow plow and my shoveling...


This next one is a picture of the massive snow pile that they finally had to stop adding to since they don't have a bull dozer or a dump truck...


And, finally, we have a picture of the mailboxes. There was at least 3 feet of snow on the roof over the mailboxes at the time this picture was taken...


This is all supposed to turn to crap and mess once the rains start. I've heard that it is going to warm up above freezing and then turn to rain for Saturday and Sunday... It's a good thing that I don't have to go anywhere this weekend. Hopefully it won't be too bad come Monday...

Snow Day...

The alarm went off at 7 am, just like it always does. I got up, hit snooze, and went back to bed. Then, my phone started ringing... It was my boss telling me that we are having a snow day since no one can get out of their driveways...

Why is it that when I have to get up to get ready for work, I am overcome with drowsiness, but as soon as I am released from my work obligations for the day, I am wide awake? There's something not right with that...

My 200th post!

I almost missed it, but I noticed my count while I was checking for Comments needing approval. So, there, I mentioned it :)

Today was busy, and (surprise, surprise) snowy. "They" are calling for 6-12 inches tonight and an additional 6-12 inches tomorrow of WET, HEAVY snow... Lately, it has been in the 20's, giving us our snow accumulation in dry powder, but tonight/tomorrow it is supposed to warm up to the 30's... I anticipate a power outage either tonight or sometime tomorrow from the sheer weight of the snow. It'll either weigh down branches, which then weigh down power lines, or the powerlines/poles themselves will have so much accumulated that the power will go down. Don't worry... I now have 2 flashlights (one I keep in my coat and one that hangs on the back of the front door) so I can find my way to the candles if/when it happens without feeling my way through a dark cave...

It is now time to pop out my new eyeballs and hit the hay a little early tonight. Cross my fingers that I can get them back in tomorrow morning with little to no fuss... So far this week, the contacts are winning on the battle of attachment to the eyeball... I hope to score at least one for me before my follow up visit next week!

Juneau Winter - aka: Freaking Winter Wonderland

A has been off to Bethel for a week now, and it has snowed almost every day since he's been gone, with the exception of last night/today. It was absolutely beautiful today, and he asked me to take pictures, since it probably won't be like this by the time he gets home.


This picture was taken at lunch time and looks down the parking lot from my office. It is pretty rare for Juneau to have such a bright blue sky. And I love the snow on the trees.


This is a picture of my office. You can barely see the sign, and the snow plow people have built up a pretty respectable snow pile that is almost as high as the second floor. I haven't gotten up on the roof to measure just how much snow is up there, but if I had to estimate, I'd say 16 inches.

Once again, I will put my thanks out there to what ever diety made it possible that the plane is in a hanger... With it being clear out last night and today, when I checked the temperature this afternoon, it was 6 with a wind chill of -9... Not exactly when I want to me taking care of a frozen airplane.

Contact Lenses...

I have never had contact lenses... before today...

I don't know what my hang up on them has been. The ones that I have are nice, and once my eyes get used to wearing them, they will be even more awesome!

Although, the major downside to wearing contacts, is that my eyes are no longer camoflaged behind my glasses. I can actually see the bags/wrinkles around my eyes. I guess I'm going to have to take care of all that and wear eye makeup and such... Otherwise, I'll probably look like a hag... I guess I'll have to stop ignoring the "eye-wrinkle-miracle-cream" advertisements and learn how my current eye stuff works...

It's kinda funny, but I've never been this vain before...

Here's not not looking like a hag!

Working out sucks...

But the rewards are worth it.

I have a goal of being back down to a size 10 by the time I hit 29. I know, it's a lofty goal, but I figure I need to have one...

On Sunday, I shoveled snow mid-day (a lot of it...) and in the evening, I did an aerobics workout on DVD. I had originally planned on joining a gym, but with the state of the economy, and A's hours being cut back until April, we can't afford it right now. I then remembered that I own 3 "workout" DVD's that I have accumulated. Two of which, I found in the $5 bin at WalMart.

Anyway, that left today with shoveling snow (Imagine That!), taking Noni on a short walk (there is so much snow piled up in my "front yard" that she gets confused as to where she can do her "poops and peeps"), and a pilates workout. I am already sore...

I figure that I can alternate between the short aerobics workout and the pilates workout every other day. And, on the days I don't feel like doing that, or I'm just too sore to do anything that strenuous, I'll pop in my Tai-Chi DVD. It's still a workout, but a little bit low-key, so I'm not as likely to aggrivate my back or my knees.

Oh, in case anyone is wondering, I refuse to weigh myself during this process. The only time I'll get weighed is when I return to the doctor at the end of March, to see if my new diet/exercise plan is helping to re-balance my cholesterol. Until then, I will live in ignorance, and hopefully, my "fat" pants will get baggier, and my "tight" pants will get looser. (Basically that I'll fit into everything labled with a #12 better)

Here's hoping!

Who needs a gym...

...when there is 14 inches of snow outside? Not me!

I was a hermit all weekend, not venturing outside in the snow for anything. Then, today, I saw just how much snow we got overnight and decided that I should probably clear around my car if I wanted to make it to work on time tomorrow.

One good thing is that I figured out that A's ancient military arctic boots fit perfectly outside my green sneakers and they lace clear up to my knees. Awesome! I can use them now when it snows. And they are a great fashion statement.

Anyway, I put on the green boots to go clear snow. I had to do two shifts, the first one starting at my door and carving a path to my car and clearing about half of the left side of the car. I chose to do this AFTER the snow plow came, which was good and bad. Good that the snow plow truck got the majority of the snow off the parking lot, but bad that in the process, ended up piling more snow around my car. The second round of shoveling was just to clear the car. The back end of my car had snow halfway up the trunk! I think I was out there for 2 hours, just shoveling. At least I got the car un-buried. Hopefully we don't get dumped on again tonight.

So now, the whole body feels like I just did time at the gym. It's nice that Mother Nature is providing me with a way to work out that doesn't cost money.

Battle Scars!

We had originally decided that I would un-decorate our tree while A was gone the first part on January, but that I would wait until he returned home to disassemble it for storage. While removing the ornaments, I saw just how easy it would be to disassemble, so that's what I did... But I'll start with the first battle scar...

When A's grandfather passed away, we aquired a lot of artwork that we LOVE! The last batch of framed artwork arrived a little before Christmas, but we hadn't hung it yet. Mostly, we were trying to figure out the best location for the specific paintings. We decided that one of them would replace a "Tuscan" scene that we had purchased while we lived in Utah, since our first floor is more of a "southwestern" themed area. The painting we decided would fit better is a watercolor painting of an adobe church, painted by A's grandfather.

At some point in time from pulling the old painting off the wall and putting up the new one, I received a series of scratches on my forearm. Pretty deep scratches. That would be battle scar #1.

The rest (and let me tell you, there are too many to count at this point), happened wrestling the tree back into the box. I ended up having to tie up the branches to make it fit, and my arms are not too happy with me at the moment. I remember getting scratches like these once when I was holding our first cat (an un-neutered male) and A sic'd the dog on him and he freaked out. Never before and only now since, have I been so scratched up.

So, after I finish this post, I intend to go soak in my tub for a while and let all the scratches get clean. There are some that I didn't see until now, which means they didn't get clean when I was washing up earlier...

I'll have A take some pictures of the artwork that we have downstairs. We are so glad that we have those little pieces of A's grandpa.

The Mysterious Noni Box...

We were informed, shortly before Christmas, that A's parents were us a box that had stuff in it for Noni. OK... Then, while talking to my FIL, he let slip that we (A and I) would probably get more enjoyment out of the contents than Noni would. OK...

The Mysterious Noni Box arrived today. I opened it at work, and I laughed my butt off, then immediately thought... "Poor Noni..." LOL...

When I got home, I could see that what they got her would not fit, so I modified it. Here is Noni in her new Party Dress!







Doesn't this last one SCREAM "Why did you do this to me?" LOL... Thanks to the in-laws! Maybe she'll grow to love it!

Day 1 of 2009

So my first day of 2009 started with being woke up by Wile E. Coyote chasing Roadrunner. That means that I fell asleep with the TV on, watching the crap on Adult Swim last night and woke up to Looney Toons... A much better program than what I was watching last night. Cartoon Network was doing a Looney Toon marathon today, but I got burned out on Bugs by 4 PM. Although, I did get to see one of my favorite Merrie Melodies that they made, that gives props to the Armed Services. It is the one with "Super Rabbit" where Bugs eats some pretty freaky carrots some mad scientist made for him and then he could fly. In the process of fighting the bad guy and his horse, he lost his carrots, lost his powers, the bad guys got his carrots and got his powers and were fixin' to kick some bunny butt... Then Bugs said "This looks like a job for a REAL superman!" and then went into a phone booth to change (you know... Like superheroes do...) and came out dressed like a soldier! The two bad guys stopped and saluted Bugs as he marched on to Berlin and Tokyo. Too bad we don't have cartoons like that any more. This one was made in 1943.

Here is the cartoon if you wish to see it. Thank goodness for YouTube!


It's also a treat to watch Foghorn Leghorn rile up that old dog. I remember laughing and laughing when ever I saw a Foghorn Leghorn cartoon with the dog. It's nice to see it hasn't changed.

Yesterday, I got frustrated by our local cable company. I was watching movies on Lifetime and was treated to the Pay-Per-View advertisement of two men beating each other in the face. Is nothing sacred anymore? Don't they realize that the people who watch Lifetime don't want to see two guys pounding on each other? Like with blood and everything? It was gross... It's nice to see that they aren't showing that commercial on the "kids" channels, so I guess I'm safe today.