Christmas x 2 = a blast

We had Christmas here at home on the 25th, I conquered Andrew's Aunt Gloria's stuffing. Everyone stayed late and we topped off the day with a 3 hour Apples to Apples marathon where Dad calmly waited for "a redhead, any redhead" to play a card.
Andrew and I both worked on the 26th so we headed east Friday at quitting time. We parked our sled in Ellicott City about 12:30 Friday night and when we awoke the next morning, it was Christmas again! We all had some yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast (I tip my hat to Missy) and I think we were all a little jealous of the fun Anna was having with plastic play food and a shopping cart that was just her size. Oooh, to be that age again!
Before all the adults crashed for the night, we managed to cram in another marathon of Apples to Apples. We learned that rain is cuddly and Andrew is dainty (riiiiight!), and Jimmie thinks telemarketers are.... ha! I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard with family! It was truly a night I will treasure. It's so much more fun than everyone watching different TV's or napping or flipping through catalogs.
So, good thing I remember all this. Even though I was smart and packed the camera AND the charger, I forgot to take it out of my bag while we were in Maryland. Oops. I was too busy having a blast.
Sunday morning, Andrew loaded the car, I hugged Meredith, we stuffed Raven in the backseat and we were off! Off to Jimmie's church service...Raven napped in his office in the chapel until after lunch and we hit the road for real.
We took the turnpike both ways, traffic was very light as we were going in the opposite direction of the majority of the travelers. And even though we have driven it about 50 times in 2 years, I am still convinced it's just a black hole or a wrinkle in time or something like that. Maybe I should look at a map.

Anna's Role Call

Dear Anna, We're sorry we could not include your two favorite kitties on our Christmas card, we simply cannot get all 5 pets to cooperate at the same time. To make up for it, I've posted 2 photos that have all our pets in them. See? Everyone's accounted for!

Sweetie and Raven:


Sonica, Wrig-Ree and Busdriver:

Firetrucks, Ambulances, and Driveway Ice Skating. Oh My.

Last night, Roo was in the kitchen during a commercial break. Our dining room shades were open and he could see a bunch of flashing red and white lights. I know what you're thinking, and no. Santa did not come early this year. Our next door neighbor fell earlier in the day and felt the need to be rushed to the hospital 8 hours later. I am told by her son and daughter in law that she does this every now and then. Thankfully, she will be just fine. I called next door to see if they needed a babysitter or anything after the EMT's left but Momma was already at home with the kids. Problem solved.
While the firetruck and ambulance were still in front of our house, a good friend across the street saw, and she thought there was something going on here. As I was clearing things up with her, another couple called. They drove by to check on their new house and saw all the excitement going on and they thought it was me in the ambulance. Whew. Did ya follow that?
A couple hours later, we were slip sliding away on our driveway trying to get in the truck. Our neighbor saw us making fools of ourselves and offered to throw some salt on our driveway while we scurried to Blockbuster to avoid late fees. We were seriously gone for 5 minutes, and upon our return we saw ice melting on our driveway AND our sidewalk! How thoughtful!
Andrew and I sat down after all that and realized we're surrounded in our neighborhood by people who genuinely care about us. It's such a change from apartment life in Columbia and condo life in Elkridge that it makes me downright giddy.

Winter has been here for about a month now. I just checked the forecast and it seems I should dig out my warm hat...Next Monday's high temp is 15...and the low is 14. I think it'll be a cold one.

Thanksgiving 2008
Roo carving the bird. It was so yummy. I'm still a little proud.


Roo and my Mom at the dining room table. What a feast we had!


Raven and her Uncle Meister being civil towards eachother. We gave thanks for this, too.

See? Random fun, as promised. Oh joy!

I took Raven to the groomer and came home with Sister Raven.


Since Sweetie has come out of her funk, she's been just as dominant as she once was. Here, she kicked Raven out of bed and claimed this one for herself. Raven stood by without protest.

I thought our sweet dog was depressed one night, so I begged Roo to give her peanut butter. Even better, put some on your nose, Honey, and let her give you kisses! I think I had the most fun here...


Dogasaur came trick or treating at our house...


And so did Dr. Miller, the Tooth Fairy!

It finally happened.

My memory stick in my camera ran out of room. Guess what that means....

Coming soon, to a blog near you: 6 months of random dog and cat pictures topped off with a nice helping of the first half of Thanksgiving 2008!

So I guess I'll actually have to delete every thing on the memory stick when I upload the pictures to my computer. I hate that idea. It seems so..final. Like eating the last bit of turkey and cranberry sauce...you can't just go back for more. Oh. Wow. That makes me want a Thanksgiving leftover samich, but we're out of leftovers. Whaaaa.

I voted!

I stood in line for an hour and saw 3 of our neighbors in line ahead of me. Election day is finally here, so maybe that means the political attack ads will be replaced by the normal car/ toy/ crazy prescription drug commercials. Oh, how I have missed them!

Go vote!

Raven and Lily

A playdate from earlier this month....watch their heads move in the first few seconds...

A peek into the future.

Ahh, it'll never happen. Raven was spayed at the shelter. But if she hadn't been, I can see Andrew making this request.


And NO. I have no reason to get an ultrasound. This one frame comic was on my Yahoo page this morning and I only posted it because of the dog's name.

Grandpa's Birthday

He would have had his 84th Birthday Breakfast here with a couple handfuls of friends and then he'd make a return trip for coffee at about 2:00pm. Instead, Mom and I had lunch here and saw a friend of Grandpa's. Funny how things fall into place like that.



Back in the middle of August, Mom gave me Grandpa's calendar from the year I was born. Apparently, nothing noteworthy happened after the first week of the year, because this is all he wrote. So to honor the day Grandpa was born in 1924, I'm posting a picture of the calendar he wrote in on the day I was born in 1982.

Circleville Pumpkin Festival

Come on now, doesn't it sound like fun? It was! Pumpkin ice cream, funnel cakes, brownies, beer, and a few three-quarter-ton pumpkins to inspire us all. We went down on Saturday night, and despite the near 40 temperatures, the crowds went wild for all the pumpkin fun to be had. Fair rides and moonbounces, potato sack slides and FOOD glorious FOOD, little kid art work and all the pumpkins you could dream of.









Get it? Roundtown, instead of Circleville... We thought it was clever.

Irony

Andrew likes to tell a certain almost 4-year-old story about us. It goes a little something like this:

My Dad had come to see me in Maryland, and Andrew and I had been dating for about 5 months. Dad had never really met him, so he took the two of us out to a local folky Italian place. The food was excellent, conversation was awkward, and it was moving time for me. Back at my apartment after dinner, Dad asked Andrew to hand his dessert to me so he could help Dad carry moving boxes up to my apartment. All was well until I tripped over the curb and sent Andrew's Neapolitan Cake flying onto the sidewalk where it met a sweet and chocolaty death. This occurred in January of 2005.

Tonight, we had dinner with my parents out in Reynoldsburg to celebrate Andrew's (31st!) birthday a weee bit early. We ordered dessert and the story from above was told. Again. And we laughed at me. Again. Then we got home. I drove, Andrew got out of the passenger's side door and promptly fed his caramel pie to our sidewalk. What is it with us not being able to hang on to leftovers? I ran inside to call my parents and leave a voicemail for them. Andrew was defending himself the whole time, saying his hands were full, whaa whaa whaa.
It was funny!


Who's laughing now, Birthday Boy???

PS, I love you.

I was just reminded of something I said in March.

Arglemarf. If you google it, my info pops up. That makes me more famous then, like Britney Spears. Or something.

In other household news, Andrew started his PT jobby today. Errr, wait. His first day was Saturday. At any rate, he's working tonight and instead of being home by 6, he should be walking through the door any day now.... I said any day now... I think Raven is so used to the routine, that this hiccup in the schedule has really thrown her off. Her day is pretty basic. I found this entry in her journal:
6:00am- Dad hits snooze
6:09am- Dad hits snooze again
6:18am- Mom pushes Dad out of bed and says "Time to get up!"
6:47am- Dad walks me down to the power lines and back. He talks about how tired he is the whole time.
7:19am- Dad looks at the clock as he burns his tongue on too-hot-coffee and realizes he should have left for work 10 minutes ago.
7:20am- Dad pats me on the head and tells me to be good, (duh, what else can I be?) leaves for work, Mom and I wave from the front porch.
7:20am- 5:50pm- Wait for Dad.
5:55pm- Bark at every car door slamming in a 5 mile radius in anticipation of Dad coming home. "Is that his car? Did I hear his radio?"
6:00pm- Welcome Dad home!


So she sat by the front door at 5:45. 6:00pm rolled around and she came back up to my office. By 7:30, she was barking at me and running to the front hall as if to say, "He's not home, we should send out a search party." And while I was trying to take a bubble bath between 8:30 and 9:15, she barked and paced and jumped and growled at every bird, bug, and neighbor passing by our front door. She was so antsy.

I know what you're thinking. Can your dog write in a journal? ;D

Human Resources

Is not very resourceful to humans.
Go figure.

Disgust

Pure and utter disgust. Today did not go the way I had hoped. But in a way, I came out on top. I stood up for something I believed in and still got kicked in the knees. Ahh, at least I stood up instead of taking it like a pansy.

Discuss

If you found out you were making HALF the money that other people around you make for doing the exact same job, at comparable success rates, what would you do?

A Whirlwind

A few weekends ago, we had our Cleveland Browns fans (gasp) neighbors over to watch the Ravens take on the Browns. They also brought a buddy for Raven. Sky and Raven are BFF's, you know.
It was a good game, but it was more fun to watch our dogs play together.



Here, Raven and Sky show us how they got their Indian names "Bumps-on-a-log"


Sometime between that game and today, I flew over to Maryland to surprise a friend for her 30th birthday. I actually called her on her real birthday, the day before the party and said "Happy Birthday! See you tomorrow!" So I kinda spoiled that suprise, but I did manage to shock 3 other friends who had no idea I was in town. Alisha has a chronic case of Babyphobia and my presence prompted her to grab hold of the nearest child and hang on for dear life. Hehehe...



Andrew and Nate before some much needed Bromance at the game on Sunday. Raven stayed behind, but she was so cute on game day with her Raven's bandana, so I made everyone pose. Nate was so thrilled.


And what's a dirt pile good for? Rolling in it! Exactly 72 hours after getting a good bath, she rolled in a bunch of dirt. Ahh well, she's washable.



WHOOOOOSH went September, October arrived much faster than I'd expected.

We're sickos here

Apparently, I brought home more than just Berger Cookies. It seems a nasty bug has invaded our home in the form of... The Common Cold.

Andrew: sneezes, coughs, hacks up a lung and sleeps 23.5 hours a day.
Me: my throat is so sore, I can't swallow, fever of 101ish which is high for me, even at perfect health my temp is around 96. I'm not coughing or sneezing, but I have a feeling the best is yet to come. I'm starting to wonder if we'll even make it back to MD this weekend.

The meds: DayQuil and NyQuil for Andrew, I'm more of a Tylenol/ Advil girl myself. Hot tea, soup, humidifier, Vicks VapoRub, I even splurged and bought tissues with lotion in them. We're also big fans of those shower steamers that look like an Alka Seltzer tablet and we've re-discovered our good friend "Mr. Microwave HeatWrap" He's wonderful.

I'd post pics of this hot mess we're in, but we both look like a tractor ran over us...


So to lighten the mood, this Howard County Fair Prize Winning Photographer happens to be my father-in-law.



Pretty cool, huh?

Tag, I'm it!

Allison in Columbus tagged me, so to keep the game going, I'm participating. I think I gotta list 7 random things about me. And I like lists and numbers, so this should be a piece of Wacky Cake.

1. I've been to Europe 4 times, and the top of the Eiffel Tower twice.

2. I miss my Grandparents more than anyone would care to imagine. They were the embodiment of love and trust.

3. I LOVE BUNNIES! Everyone knows this...it's common knowledge, like how everyone knows the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and Amanda loves BUNNIES.

4. When my immediate family of 2 parents, 2 sisters, 1 husband and 1 brother-in-law go out for dinner, there are 7 people at the table, and 6 have red hair.

5. Andrew tried to dump me after dating me for 2 weeks. He left my apartment and I said to myself: "That poor guy doesn't know he's gonna marry me someday." I was right, and I've been right ever since.

6. I am pretty clean around the house, except for my office, which is where art supplies and anything creative goes to die. I am very particular about who comes into my office, as the creativity graveyard must not be disturbed.

7. On more than one occasion, I've called one of my sisters at the EXACT same second they called me, giving us both a busy signal (yes, it's possible to get a busy signal even in the days of call waiting). So we'd hang up and finally get a hold of each other and figure out that we called each other at the same moment.

And one for good measure, since I am full of valuable information tonight:

8. I know how to fold a fitted sheet without making it wrinkle. It's one of the top 10 reasons Andrew married me.

9. My second toe is as long as my pinkie finger. So if I ever lose my pinky, I can have it replaced with my toe. Eeeeeewwwwww YUK!

I'm tagging you! If you read this (Dawn, Gail, Erin, Shannon, Barb, Michele, Trixie, Katie, Alisha, Missy, Meredith, and so on)
You gotta pull some random facts outta your....hat and hunker down like I did.

It was fun and I learned that I'm a strange little girl.

Things that go fast

1. Planes
2. Trains
3. Reading material

We had Ike up for a visit this weekend. He blew the Sunday paper clear down the street at 76 miles an hour. We Grove Citians are quite proud to have experienced this along with tornado warnings and a 24 hour snowfall total of 18 inches this year.

So, if you're lookin' for a real excitin' place to live, swing by GC on the SW side. Something's bound to blow our way. Or fall from the sky!

PS, there are no pics of this hurricane force wind, cause you can't see wind. Duh. For real, I was afraid to take the camera outside, I figured it would end up smooshed into our neighbor's car door!

$20 haircut, million dollar flub-up

That's right. My normal haircutter person had left the salon for the day and the only girl left to cut my hair was born in the 90's. I realized this was a bad idea when halfway through, she started talking about her prom, which I'm pretty sure was just back in May. Oy.
The bottom layer is fine, but the top layer is 2 inches shorter on one side, and it does this weird diagonal thing in the back. My plan is to call the salon and make an appointment for a time when she won't be there and have the manager fix it!


Moral of the story: If she was born in the last decade (and I mean 90's, not past 10 years) then she's too darn young to have control over my 'do.

The end, no pics for this one!

Labor Day Weekend pictures

We had a great time with my brother in law and his family. Anna looks SO tall in these photos and the big hit of the weekend was cardboard blocks. So here's Anna with her leaning tower and Colosseum. Cute kid.











And really, what would a post be without a furry kid in it? Sweetie is confused. She finally came out from under the bed, only to take over the dog bed. Raven confronted her and told her to back off because that bed does say Raven's name on it. Sweetie got all fired up and told Raven that she was only napping there with her teddy bear and planned to smoke her cigar when she woke up, she even had them lined up next to the bed...Seriously, we're those pet owners. Our kids are doomed.









In other news: Work is going swell, I will have my own desk by Friday, and I'm lovin' what I'm doin'. Roo is taking the trash out and I am going to bed because my brain is mush now. G'night!

Back again

I took the suggested dose (1,000mg's, baby) of Vicodin, and I made it a whole 30 minutes before I woke up. Yay. Why does this stuff knock Andrew out in 2 seconds and keep him knocked out all day, but it only gives me under an hour of pain-free bliss? So unfair. tsk tsk tsk.

In other back related news: My Mom is coming to visit so she can deliver a care package full of books and yummy food.
My neighbor offered to set up a spare mini-fridge in our bedroom so I wouldn't have to leave the second floor, but I do anyway. If only we had one of those outdoor doggie treadmills like Mr. and Mrs. Jetson did for Astro.

Tomorrow I get to go back to the chiropractor to be crunched and folded and cracked some more to help the healing process. I think Andrew is somewhat skeptical, as he already set up a consultation with a surgeon. Easy for him to do....it's not his back!

Back

Aaaaand back.

Back from the chiropractor. I tore a ligement. Don't know how. But I did. Doc thinks it's re-injury from last years episode. Great. Going to take the recommended dose of pain (knock-you-out) meds and crawl into bed. I'll see you back here if I can't get comfy!


*Sorry to anyone who subscribes to this and doesn't get this added to the inbox, cause I updated/ changed yesterdays post. So sorry.

Can we talk about how good my life is?

Great hubby: got him
Safe house: check
A fur-kid family: checkeroo
Amazing friends: too many to count. I'd be out of fingers and toes.
The job I've paid my dues waiting for: Woot!
Co-workers who'll back me up and call me Babe-Ah: Got those too!


Life is Schweeeet.

Inventory.

I just got home. I tried to write a Happy Friday note to Roo cause I will not see him between now and when he'll leave for work at 7:15. I misspelled more words than I spelled correctly. My back is in knots and my brain is still wide awake. There are a few lights and stops signs on my way home from work, and I tried to pull away from a red light in 4th gear. Niiiiiiice. The poor car was chugging and moaning. It was sad until I realized I was the problem.

Such is life.

I hate inventory.

Time to putz around till my brain gets tired.

Food, Glorious food!

Today I cooked.
I made tuna mac -better than it sounds!
I made chocolate mousse- as good as it sounds!
And I made salmon. I started with a recipe, but halfway through, I got bored.* So I started doing my own thing.
Here's whatcha do:

2 salmon fillets
Some olive oil
Some minced garlic
Some salt
Some pepper
Some creativity
Some courage (that you won't screw up the $12 fish.)

Put the salmon in a glass baking dish.
Throw everything else on top of the salmon.
Bake for 35-45 minutes at 375.

And Voila.
Amanda's Random Salmon.
Magnifique. So magnifique that Andrew, an anti-salmon man, ate the WHOLE thing. Musta been pretty darn yummy. He even ate the veg too!



* In second grade, I often got in trouble for not reading directions and making up my own rules on my assignments. My teacher started calling me Shortcut Mandy. Who knew it would play out 20 years later in my kitchen?

You've got to be kidding

First, my sincere apologies to anyone still starving for Zoo pics. I will post them. Someday.

I saw two things in the past 24 hours that have made me question the logic of men. Yes, men.
1. I witnessed a young 20 something brushing his teeth while driving. Driving. Not stopped at a red light (as if that would be better!). If he has an accident, at least his breath will be minty fresh for the EMT who gives him mouth-to-mouth.
2. About an hour ago, I passed a 60 something man riding his bike, with a weed whacker on his lap. He gets a round of applause for balance and coordination, but he gets kicked of the stage for stupidity. Seriously. I have trouble moving the weed whacker in the garage without feeling like I'm going to lose a finger, this guy had the blades zig-zagging all over the sidewalk, ready to dis-member the next unlucky fellow to walk by.

And they say men are better drivers? I have my doubts.

Roo at the Zoo

Post coming soon, not tonight. Try back tomorrow.
I am tired.

Family reunion and dog park weekend

Three of the cutest sights in Beverly, Ohio on Sunday:

Grandpa's sister, my Aunt Lena (cute for wearing a sweater on an 85 degree day)


My cousin's 6 week old baby girl, Calla (cute for hardly wearing anything)


And another cousin's miniture schnauzer. The opposite of Miester. (cute for having pony-tail ears)



New hairdo preview. It's shoooooort. But you can't tell here. You'll have to wait and see it in real life.


One of the best days with Raven...ever. She swam farther than she ever has before, and she was swimming more, and ignoring the boy dogs. Good Raven.
Before the dog park:


Running into the water:


Running back to Andrew:


Dog wash at the park:


After the dog park:



Whew. I'm tired just looking at all the stuff that happened this weekend, and I bet you are too.

We made it to the dog park

Pictures will be up Monday along with video. (yes, I love my dog, and this is my blog so I can post what I want.) It's after midnight here and tomorrow is a long day full of a family reunion and a floorset at work that might keep me there till sunrise. Our little red car is still in the shop, so I'll be home Monday, recovering from tomorrow night. So that is why I'm saving pictures for Monday.

¿comprende?

Peace out.
And love. Lots of love.

The Flower Fairy. Like the Tooth Fairy, only better.

A few weeks ago, Roo, Raven and I walked to a street in the neighborhood that we rarely make it to on our walks. We saw an amazing purple garden in someone's front yard. The owner was out pulling weeds, so we chatted for a while about how long we've lived here, where we moved from, etc. Then we said goodbye. But I stopped in my tracks because the purple garden around their mailbox put our entire yard to shame. I wanted to learn the name of a certain purple plant so I could add it to our collection. The owner found his wife and she was so tickled that someone liked her purple garden, she invited us to tour their whole yard! We got to the back yard and she said "This Siberian Iris is just too big and we were about to divide it. How about you take a clump?" Sure! So we dug it up and brought it home, Roo planted it a couple nights later. It will have purple blooms next year.

Fast forward about a month.

Yesterday morning, I was taking the last sips of my Caramel Cafe flavored coffee drink...and I sneezed. Since I was on the front porch, I had a witness. The woman walking across the street was Susie, The Great Gardener from a few weeks ago. She blessed my sneeze and then realized who I was...
So she came closer to the house and I walked her through our yard so she could see that her contribution to our garden had a good home. We chatted some more about yard work and plants, then we went our separate ways.

This morning, not even an hour ago, I had my usual cup of coffee on the porch again. I ate my bagel and washed it down with the last sips of caramel yumminess. I got up, turned around to go back inside, and there it was next to the door... A grocery bag filled with Russian Sage (I think I have the name right). I am sure it has to be from Susie. We have another gardener across the street, but I don't think she has this plant in her yard. Since it is purple, it must be from Susie. But there is no note, and I want to know who to thank for it!

The car...

It's been 9 weeks since the accident and we're still dealing with things breaking on the car. The Repair Du Jour: A broken CV boot and CV joint. Cost? A good thousand buckeroos and about that many more phone calls back and forth to the VW dealer, insurance company, and to Roo. Insurance says it's normal wear and tear on the car and they won't cover it. But the dealer says it's from the accident and a third party (Rice Body Shop) also believes it is accident related. In Miller/ Schwartz car history, the car is just a wee babe with about 85K miles. My folks are driving an 8 year old car with over 200K miles on it....And I don't recall any CV joint or boot ever being replaced.
Me thinks our insurance company is tired of dealing with us.

:(

Massillon visit

Last weekend, Roo and I drove up to my Dad's hometown to celebrate my cousin's 40th birthday. I have exactly 2 pictures of actual random party people, but I thought this car would be a big hit here. Start your engines...

Uncle Gary and the dinosaur:


I do believe that car belonged to my dad's parents. It's a family heirloom now.



The land yacht again...




Who are these wacky people? Good thing I'm not related! Oh. Wait just a minute. It's Bree and Todd!

Furkids and Fosters

Wrigley, Buster and Sonica watching for birdies.


Raven...or Raven's Shadow?


Raven's Shadow...or Raven?


Princess, the neighbor's kitten. He, yes HE moved to a farm last weekend.


A 3 month air filter lasts 2 months in this house. The fur is worth all the love.



Alrighty. I've got some 'splainin' to do.
The 2 dog pictures: The first one is temporarily living at a shelter here in Columbus. Andrew and I dropped off a bag of puppy food and she looked depressed cause her brother was getting adopted. Roo and I took her for a walk cause she looks SO much like Raven (and acts like her too) I hope someone can see that in her and not ignore her because she's jet black. Big black dogs spend more than twice as much time in shelters because potential owners think all big black dogs are aggressive and mean. So not the case here, this pup was putty in my paws.
The second dog picture is the same foster pup. I just couldn't get over how much she looked like Raven...right down to the "Baltimore Raven's purple collar".

Our phone works again

The phone guy was supposed to be here anytime between 10 and 12. I came home from dropping Andrew off at the dentist, and a magic white van was sitting in the driveway. At 9:30. Oh well. My mid morning nap can wait. (insomnia struck again last night). He was here for 2.2 seconds and showed me how a wire was unplugged and plugged back in to the wrong spot. I wonder who could have done that? Surely not the only other living thing in this house with opposable thumbs! It was either Sweetie, Buster, Wrigley, Raven, Sonica or the Little Dude.
I may have forgotten (my own new word) to tell you, we're stashing our neighbors kitten here while he gets big and fat enough for some, ahem..surgery. The 3 year old next door is still learning how to hold him gently and her Momma thought it was best to separate the 2 until he is healed from, ahem..surgery. So she calls him Princess, and I call him Little Dude, or LD, or maybe he spells it Eldy?

Anywhoosie..call the casa, telephone is up and running again.

HOLD the phone!
My home office just called me for an interview on Friday!
So it was fate that the phone repair guy showed up waaaaay early. Otherwise I would have missed that call!

More stuff is breaking

The phone will be back in order by tomorrow evening at the earliest.
In the meantime, our niece Anna should not come here for PT, as we are now a 2 bathroom household. One is out of commission because it sounds like a jackhammer. More on that later, I can tell you're dying to know why it sounds like a jackhammer.

I'm stuck here today...no phone, trying not to drive anywhere because of gas prices, so I'll work on my flower pots until it gets too hot outside.

Oh, one more thing...I'm about to call the sherriff if Mr. Motorcross doesn't take a break from his little dirt bike over yonder. It's really half a mile away, but it sounds like a weedwhacker is in my house. All my windows are closed too...so no one can hear me complain!

Attention friends, family, and other loved ones:

Our house phone line has been down since Saturday night thanks to a MAJOR storm that came through. If you need to reach us, use email or the cell phones till I get on the horn with the phone company.

Think of this...when the phone went dead before cell phones, how did we call the phone company? Hmmm, it's nice to have neighbors to ask!


More news: I tried to call the phone company from my cell phone and my call got dropped twice. Nice!

My art.

So if you read/ talk to me at all, you may know how I have this thing in my head that I want to put on paper...er...canvas. Progress was made in my office over the last 2 days and now I have room to mess it all up again and start a new project.
brushes- check
palette- check
watercolor paper and canvas- checkity check
The Master Plan- check
watercolors and acrylics (duh!)- check
palette knives- check
courage to 'destroy' a beautiful plain white canvas- lacking

I always get scared when I begin a new piece of art. I feel like I have one shot, and if it doesn't turn out like I'd hoped, than I feel like I've failed.

Harumph.

I guess I should sketch it out like I did in high school...it's not like this is for a grade and I have a deadline. YIKES!

I'll post pics of the finished product, maybe even some 'during' pics before it's done. Oh, but that's such an artist's faux pas! ;D

Roo's Parents came to see us

And we put them to work doing things like installing a storm door and holding Miester's leash while Raven walked by. It was a great visit here in Grove City. We saw fireworks behind city hall and Raven joined us for that celebration. But before they set off East bound again, we made a 24 hour stop-over in the tiny town of Stockport, Ohio. It's 10 minutes from my Mom and Dad, so we all had a big dinner at the local (read: only) restaurant and then made S'mores over the firepit back at my parent's house. Good times. Better stories.

J&A storm door installation crew:

Rarely spotted Sonica and her new love, Buster (with their headlights on)

New door bell, door and hardware. Exciting!

Raven being a good pupster at Beulah Park fireworks: (That's HER cup.) I brought a jug of water for her, and nothing for the rest of us.


After dinner in Stockport:


Camp-fire in my parents backyard. Just add shooting stars and mosquitoes.



Oh, before I forget, I got new glasses so now I can see road signs at night!
Yours Truly: