OH YEAH! I FORGOT TO SHARE!

A couple of gals on Splitcoast Stampers have passed this site around. I share it with the warning that it is TOTALLY going to stick in your head for HOURS, if not DAYS!

Cat. I'm a Kittycat.

Same song, different day!

That's right! Nothing new going on here!

I have put up some Christmas decorations, inside and out. Still working on Christmas cards and (handmade) gifts. Haven't started shopping yet. Trying to get a decent picture of Taz for the Christmas cards. She is NOT cooperating!

Russ is still home and still commuting to Novato every day. Looks like it will be that way until the new year. The park service estimates that power and roads will be restored around Christmas. The new office at Gig Harbor is moving along. They are doing the tenant improvements now. When Russ goes back up, he will probably be in the new office until "spring thaw" up on the hill. We don't know anything for sure yet, though.

We will have Christmas Eve with Russ' extended family, as we have every year since 1992. Then on Christmas Morning, we will fly up to Portland and spend Christmas day and night with my mother, her friend, Bob, my sister and brother-in-law. We fly back down to San Jose the day after Christmas and should be home by 2PM. That's just 48 hours of cat-unattended. Hopefully she will not feel the need to retaliate like she did at Thanksgiving.... my poor throw rug!

Tomorrow is my day to be LOCKED IN MY STAMP ROOM UNTIL I AM DONE WITH CHRISTMAS! I told Russ he is on his own for food and entertainment. Sunday morning, I have a Pin Club meeting downtown at the Hard Rock. I need to go because one of my pin-pals from Illinois will be there and I have pins for her! If I'm not done stamping Christmas, I will return to the stamp room when I get home Sunday. I have GOT to get finished!!!!! My goal is to get cards OUT in the mail by Tuesday. Then, next week I can start planning the baking which I will do the 21st and 22nd probably.

That's my EXCITING little world in a nutshell!!!!

Thanks for checking in on my boring little blog!

Even the longest weekend was NOT long enough!

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Even a 4 day weekend was not enough to make a dent in my Holiday Stamping.... SIGH.... I have to do 36 cards and 18 ornaments with mini gift bags. All I got done toward that goal this weekend was 12 of the cards. I have a feeling that the next 2 designs will be a little less complex! This one has 3 layers, 2 masked images (the stamp, by DeNami has the sentiment RIGHT UNDER the snowflakes), 2 punched circles, folded then decorated with 2 silver eyelets, silver organdy ribbon and silver cord. Then, since it JUST WASN'T ENOUGH (LOL!), I added the 2 little rhinestones.

And here I thought I'd get either all the cards done or half the cards and half the gift bags. Ugh. I foresee a lot of LATE nights in the next 30 days..... I won't be able to stamp this weekend as we are going up to Portland to get Russ' car and drive it home. Looks like he may not get back up on the mountain until after Christmas now. I'm figuring the weekend of the 9th will be dedicated to cards if they aren't done by then. The weekend of the 16th is Russ' company party in the Bay Area and then the 23rd is getting a little late to do much! I'm hoping to squeak in a couple weekdays sometime between now and the 9th. I haven't started shopping or decorating yet either..... I guess I'm just not into it this year. The Holiday Spirit hits me later and later every year, it seems..... Oh well!

I'm Baaaaaack!!!!

Russ is home. He arrived around noon on the 8th. Right now he is working at the Novato office (2 hour commute each way) and will be for the foreseeable future. The power and sewer are still out at Mt Rainier above Longmire so it may be a few weeks before anyone gets back up to the jobsite for more than a few hours at a time. They DO have the local crews going up and doing necessary stuff like maintaining the roof coverings and such on a daily basis, but the work on the project is at a stand still.

SUCH FUN!

I still can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week. It was warm and sunny here today. I went to the mall and the tree is up and there were kids getting Santa pictures done, and carols were playing and it just felt TOO SOON, but Thanksgiving *IS* next week.... sigh.... guess I need to get working on cards and ornaments! EEK!

We will be celebrating Turkey Day with Russ' family in Palo Alto and then we will be headed up to the cabin at Sea Ranch with Patty (the older of his two younger sisters) Thursday night and will spend the rest of the weekend there. Unless the weather is drop-dead-gorgeous (which it has been know to be that weekend), I will spend most of the weekend in the back bedroom with my stamps doing Christmas cards. It's tradition! If the weather is really nice, I will take a few hours to go to my favorite beach and see if I can get starfish pictures at the tidepools. Love those starfish! Especially the purple ones!

So that is the update in the life of this domestic Goddess.... more fun than should be allowed by law! LOL!

Yeah, I know. I don't keep up with this thing....

But, seriously, my life REALLY IS THAT BORING! However, there has been some DRAMA in the past 36 hours....... Small re-cap: Russ is living and working on a construction project on Mt Rainier in the National Park (if you are interested, google "Paradise Inn, WA"). He comes home every other weekend. It's works nicely for us. I have adjusted to my independent stamp when I want till 2 AM lifestyle and FULL CONTROL OF THE REMOTE! OK... so 7AM Monday, he calls me and says that if I call the job site and there is no answer, not to worry because they got 7" of rain overnight (I read today that is was more like TEN INCHES) and the power is going off and on and he'll keep me posted. Forward to Monday at noon.... He calls to say that the Park Service has asked that all non-essential employees please leave the mountain due to flooding roadways and they strongly urge that EVERYONE evacuate. So everyone but Russ and four other guys leave. The 5 SuperMen decide to "ride it out" because they have plenty of food and they are safe where they are. Does he listen to me when I say, "But what about WATER?" or "And how will you get out or get supplies in if the road washes out?" ? OF COURSE NOT, for they are *MEN* (insert testosterone induced chest beating) and they can handle it. He promises to keep in touch with any changes. At 9:40PM Monday night, he calls to say the power has gone out again and they are all turning in. This morning I get up and turn on the computer and check the park website and "Live Mountain Cam" is still black meaning their power is still out. Well, I get a call at 9AM saying that the Park Service is sending a "lead vehicle" (read all-terrain-snow-plow sort of thing) up for them and they WILL all follow it out of the park as they have CLOSED the Park (which I already knew because they had posted it on the Park website last night!). He says he called his boss who told him to change his flight for this weekend and just come home today. JUST DUCKY. So now all the cleaning and laundry I had until 9PM (OK, 4 PM cuz I was hoping to play in VSN on SCS) Friday to finish has to be done TODAY. Grrrrrr.... He says not to make any flight changes yet, he'll call me when they are off the mountain (note that this normally takes about 15 to 25 minutes to drive down). I start the flight of the bumblebee cleaning... I finished painting his bathroom last week and haven't put his stuff back or cleaned up everything in there, so that was my first chore while laundry load #1 was going. I didn't hear from him again until 12:30. It took almost THREE HOURS to drive out of the park. They were not able to use the regular roads off the mountain and had to use service roads, driving thru up to a foot of standing water in places (man, we're glad he got that SUV) and they came out on the south side of the park rather than the west side and due to flooding he can't get back around to go to SEATAC so he is going to follow one of the other guys and drive down to Portland and stay at my mom's tonight. So I log into his airline reservations and get him all set up with flights. He'll be home tomorrow around noon (yay! a whole day to finish cleaning!). After that, I finished the yardwork before the rain comes tonight and all I have left is to change the bed in the morning and clear off the guest bed for her Highness the cat, since Daddy will be RUDELY sleeping on the half of the bed SHE now claims. He calls back when he is close to Mom's (mostly for directions to her house) and tells me that he may be home ALL NEXT WEEK and working out of the Bay Area office. JUST SHOOT ME NOW! Now add MASSIVE grocery shopping to my list of things to do tomorrow since all we have in the house is "my food" which brings such happy comments like: "Do you actually EAT this crap?! Don't we have any tater tots? Chips? Dip? EEEEEEEEW! IS THIS LIGHT ICE CREAM????? Where's the good stuff????" BAH! MEN! All I can say is they had better either have a company truck he can use or they better get his happy arse a rental car because if he thinks I'm going to sit around here with no car for a whole week, he's LOST HIS MIND! Don't get me wrong.... I was very worried last night and even called his parents to make them aware of what was going on. But, WHEN IS THAT MAN GONNA LEARN TO LISTEN TO ME, because after these things happen, I *NEVER* have to say I TOLD YOU SO, because he *IS* actually man enough to admit that I was right without me having to say so. I'm sorry, but the person STANDING OUTSIDE THE SITUATION usually has the most logical view of it, no? OK. I feel better now. Now, where is that corkscrew????? now that I'm done with one WHINE it's time for another WINE! LOL!

OK, so my life is REALLY BORING....

I haven't blogged in two weeks because NOTHING INTERESTING has been happening! Let's see... big accomplishments in the last 2 weeks????

Painted Hall bathroom..... blew the leaves out of the front yard..... got my SS package out in the mail..... am working on a little photo book for a friend.

Yeah, that's it..... Sorry my life is not more interesting.... LOL!

I'm a bad mother.....

I realized today that I have been horribly neglect in keeping Taz's "diary" up to date. She has her own website on Catster

I updated her diary today and added Sandi to her family.

Other than that, my day has consisted of errands and laundry.

Another THRILLING day in paradise.......

Russ will be home in a few hours.... I'm waiting for him to call and tell me he's at the airport and his flight is on schedule. After that, I'll be off to the grocery store to get whatever he wants for dinner!

This weekend I gotta STAMP STAMP STAMP!!!! I need to get a minimum of 35 and a goal of about 60 swap cards done for Regionals. I leave on Thursday. In my defense, I am waiting for an order to arrive on Monday with some of the stuff I need, but I need to start cutting and stamping what I can this weekend or else I'm going to be in a total panic come Wednesday and Thursday! WISH ME LUCK!!!!!

It looks like a NEW HOUSE!

The last two days we have been having the house painted (FINALLY!). Above is what it looked like when they started tarping everything. Russ wanted to do grey again. I like a nice blue-grey or a light silver grey, but the house next door is blue-grey and the one directly behind us is silver grey. Besides, of 16 houses on our court, HALF are grey! BLEH! ENOUGH!!!!!

Here is what my front porch looks like now (they are ALMOST done):

There is one other house on the court that is a light color like this and one around the block, but at least it isn't GREY!!!! Since we will probably put the house on the market in May, I wanted something that would look neutral and clean. One of the painters said it made the house look bigger.... BONUS!

Even my gigantic peppermint-scented geranium seems happy about the whole thing. (see it growing behind the column? Yeah. A GERANIUM. This stupid plant is about 7 years old and was never bigger than a basketball until about 2 years ago when it started growing like crazy.) I was afraid we would have to chop it to move the lattice that it has taken over and grown into, but we only lost a few little branches (YAY!). It is one of two plants I'm going to be REALLY SAD to leave here when we move. The other is the big fern behind the screen door. Still trying to figure out how I can move that one.... The geranium will have cuttings started soon so at least I can take its children with me!

State law prohibits bringing in plants other than house plants in potting mix. The fern IS in potting mix, not earth soil and it TOUCHES the house, the only question is if we can PHYSICALLY move the pot.... It weighs a TON and the movers will NOT take plants of any kind, so it would have to load into one of our cars..... What FUN! It's the other plant that I have had for 5 or 6 years that never did anything, but just started growing like gangbusters the past couple years.

Something REALLY COOL I found this weekend.....

We hit the coast near Lincoln City, Oregon. They have a program called "Finders Keepers" where they place these GORGEOUS hand made glass floats along the shore. They started doing it to increase tourism in the off season. Here is a link. We stopped at the studio that makes the floats. For $65 you can "make your own". We watched a couple people doing theirs. Basically, you pick the colors and do the turning while the artist does the heating and the blowing, but still very cool. Unfortunately, we were on a time constraint, and you have to pick them up the next day or pay an extra fee for shipping and it was just too much. Across the street from the studio is the store where the glass artists sell their stuff.... OMG.... I coulda mortgaged the HOUSE for all the stuff I wanted!!!!! I found a float that was ALMOST exactly the colors I would have used if I had done one (I would not have used the yellow). Buying it in the shop it was $45.

Then I saw it...... My heart skipped a beat..... I had NO CLUE what I would do with it, or where I would put it, but I knew I HAD TO HAVE THIS BOWL!!!!! At the end of this post is a picture. They are both on top of my entertainment center (yes, that is dust on top of my speaker. Sue me.). The float is on a PartyLite aroma scent candle stand which is a beach theme (see the little shells?), so I thought it was PERFECT!!!! The bowl looks REALLY COOL with a little tealight candle (in a small glass cup) in it!!!!!!

Yes, it's been a million hours since I last blogged....

I admit it. I am NOT a blog addict like SOMEONE I KNOW.....

In case you missed the e-mail, here is the link to the Oregon Photos.... password is PHOTOS (ooooo.... so original!!!!!)

I drove almost 1500 miles this weekend and was SOOOOOO tired when I got home last night! It was about 10PM. It was also garbage night, which meant scooping the litter boxes.... my FAVORITE CHORE.... So I go into the stamp room where the boxes are and the SMELL HIT ME..... The little darling peed OUTSIDE OF THE BOX. I'm hoping it was because she was mad at me for being gone. The alternative reason would be that she is starting to have kidney problems (she has Feline Diabetes) which would mean I would have to put her down as I refuse to keep her locked in the bathroom all the time and with the probability of putting the house on the market in the spring, I just can't take the chance of her peeing on the carpets. I know that sounds HORRIBLE, but the alternative is locking her in the kitchen or (more likely) the bathroom whenever I can't be watching her closely (pretty much ALL DAY, EVERY DAY) and that would make her MISERABLE and give her a really crappy quality of life and I refuse to do that to her.

So at 10:30 last night I was outside hosing off the mat I have under the litterboxes (which paid for itself last night saving my Pergo floor!). I wracked my brain for hours when I was getting the floor done in there since they (OK, probably not THEY, probably just Aspen because she had kidney problems that I didn't realize until it was too late to save her AND my living room carpet) had RUINED the carpet under the boxes, even thru the linoleum I had on plywood under them. I decided I needed something waterproof with a lip. Finally googled the right combo of words that brought up a familiar site.... Subaru.com..... I ALREADY HAD THE PERFECT MAT! It is the cargo liner for the back of my Forester!!!! I went to Subaru and got one in beige to match the floor. After this weekend, I can now honestly say it was worth every penny of that $60!

ANYWAY.... the trip was GREAT, but the drive was TOO LONG! I am getting too old for 10 hour driving marathons! UGH! I have also decided, after this trip, that come Spring either this year or next, I will take 4 days and do (just) the coast drive again and see some of the stuff I missed or could only see at night when it was closed.

I'll save one of the trip highlights for tomorrow's blog!

Sorry, Judy.....

THREE FREAKIN DAYS since my last BLOG!!! LOL!

I've painted over half the hall bathroom (I need someone to help me take down the 6 foot mirror on the wall ), cleaned up the mess in the backyard from our 30 MPH winds this weekend and "babysat" Justin's pooches all weekend. I have also spent several hours scanning a MESS O PHOTOS! (Me and my maternal grandparents are here, circa Christmas 1964?)

I think the only person other than Judy, Iris and Justin that reads my blog is Tammy (next time I visit ID, I will have to meet you, HomeSchool woman), so here's a link to my photobucket... the album is "old family photos" and the password is PHOTOS. There are about 20 new pics in that album.....

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v159/sandimom/Old%20Family%20Photos/

My life is categoried in three stages.... life before marriage #1, life between then (1986) and current marriage (1993) and life as I now know it! As you look at the pics, Paul was my first SERIOUS boyfriend... from High School. We dated into College and drifted. He married Trish in 1985. Their son, Michael, was born in 1991. He is the BEST KID EVER! They took me in for a while between marriages when Michael was about 18 months old. Paul and Trish split up several years back, but I still love them all. Trish, Michael and I share an addiction to Disneyland..... I am going to miss going with them after we move..... We are already scheduled to go in January 2007!

Other than that, I've done several loads of laundry and dishes... life is an absolute THRILL around here!!!!!

Yes, it's been a while since I blogged!

I am back from my trek up to Mt Rainier. It was SOOOOOO gorgeous up there!

When I arrived Friday it was SNOWING! Keep in mind it was 85 degrees at home..... Quite a change!



Saturday morning it rained off and on with a sprinkle of snow mixed in early on. I got the "hard-hat tour" of the project which was quite interesting. Freakin cold, but interesting! Here is the picture that will make Judy spew Snapple all over her computer screen...... Yeah.... that's me in my ski jacket, gloves, fleece hat, hard hat and safety vest! Scary.....











We spent most of Saturday and part of Sunday driving all over the park. I took a ton of pictures, some of which are even half decent. We didn't see any bears, cougars or bobcats, but we did see some grey fox and a HOARY MARMOT. Yes, HOARY, not hairy. It was the funniest dang thing I've ever seen. Like a big, FAT gopher and it CHIRPS LIKE A BIRD. Here is what he looked like:


Like I said, the funniest thing I've seen.... apparently they are rodents.




Russ had to work Saturday morning, which gave me time to work on some swap cards for the Reno Regionals next month. Here is the prototype:


Regionals are October 20/21 up in Reno. I'm hoping to make about 35 of these cards by then. The finished ones will have ribbon and brads on them too. The tag slides back into the punched out hole so just the star on the top of the tree shows. It's an idea I got from a swap card from another SCS member, missellee.

I have the painter coming later this week or early next week to show me colors so I can hopefully have test patches on the house when Russ comes home on the 30th so we can get the house painted. It needs it SOOOOOO badly! I can't wait to have a house that is ALL ONE COLOR with just ONE trim color again! LOL! The grey stucco has white patches and lines of patch where the stucco has cracked. The trim colors are off white and blue (like SU's Not Quite Navy). The old gutters were painted in the blue to match the fascia boards. Now the new gutters are BRIGHT WHITE. My poor house looks like a patchwork quilt! Russ wanted to paint the house grey again, but I am hoping to talk him into a nice cheery yellowy-cream color. Like a rich French vanilla ice cream color. OK... now I'm HUNGRY! LOL! Ours would be the only house on the street that color. We have one blue, one green and the rest are either a shade of grey or brown. BLEH!

That's about all that's new here.......

Off to the Mountain in the morning!

This will be my last blog till at least Tuesday! My flight to Seattle leaves at 8 in the morning which means I need to leave the house around 6:30. I get in to SEA/TAC at 10 and then I get to find my rental car and start driving! It should take me about 2 1/2 hours to get up to Paradise. My flight home is Monday evening at 7:30 and I get home around 9:15.... well, to the airport anyway. By the time I get my bag, take the shuttle back to my car and get home it will be 10 or 10:30 probably.

Mt Rainier, HERE I COME!!!!!

You know your day is gonna SUCK when......

It starts with a phonecall from your husband saying, "You might want to bring your WARM JACKET this weekend". Uh....... WHY????? "We woke up this morning to 4" of snow on everything up here". LOVELY.... and I will be in a rental car of the clown variety (think ford focus 2 door hatchback) driving up into SNOW? This ought to be an adventure..... Can't blog long.... I got to make a run to REI for long underwear! Maybe more tonight if I get packed before bedtime.... my flight is at 8 AM which means I need to be at the airport around 6:30 in the morning. I'm already checked in and have my boarding pass printed. Now I just have to completely REPACK as I had packed for warmer weather.... SIGH..... WISH ME LUCK!!!!!

OK, Judy... HAPPY NOW?????

Since Miss Judy is on my case for not blogging, HERE I AM!

First of all, Monday was just too depressing for me to do anything but watch a bunch of 9/11 stuff and be weepy all day. To this day, I still can't fathom that there are human beings in this world who can have such a deep hatred for other human beings that they don't even know. People who have done nothing wrong but be born on another chunk of ground. I also still can't wrap my mind around the number of casualties that day.....

Yesterday was then spent catching up on all the stuff I should have done on Monday and still catching up from my 4 days gone on my trip to SPUD LAND!

Now I'm running around trying to get ready to go up to Washington Friday morning. I get back Monday night. No internet access, no cell phone, no TV up there. Gotta bring a stamp project!!!!!

Justin is coming over tonight..... he gets to move my firepit for me and remove the showerhead in Russ' bathroom so I can go to Lowes and get a new one. Him coming over gives me the excuse to BBQ!!!! YUM! OOO! I also need him to pull down a big box from the rafters in the garage!!!! Yes, I make him EARN HIS DINNER! LOL!

Gotta go and flip the meat (in the marinade) and prepare the corn!

OH! And Judy - today at my Raley's (grocery store) they had IDAHO SPUDS as big as my SHOE!!!!! 69¢ a pound. I'm just happy that we are starting to get Bartlett pears in season here! YUMMMMM!!!!!!

Idaho knows their SPUDS!!!!

OK... I promised Russ I would post these.... here are the finest examples of IDAHO POTATOES I saw during my visit. The first pic is a bin of "Bakers" at SuperWalMart. I put the cabbage in the bin so Russ could see that these dang things are the size of my shoe!!!! Sorry it's fuzzy... I took it with my cell phone!

The second photo is from the fair (mmmmm... food on a stick!) where we encountered something called "TORTATOES". Basically it's a spud, put on an apple peeler run by a drill motor that spins the spud into one long, curly peel. Then they toss it in the deep fryer and you end up with a big, long, curly, hot potato chip! YUMMMMMM!!!!!

Yeah, I'm on carrot sticks and salad the rest of the week......

I survived and I am HOME!!!!!

I am home! I missed my connection in Vegas and had an extra hour travel time yesterday. When I got home, the cat attached herself to me. I came in, ate, brought my bags in from the car, took out what was needed and went to bed! The cat slept on me most of the night. She was in my face at 6 this morning... ugh.... I DON'T THINK SO, KITTY! We slept in till almost 8! I went to a Pin Collector meeting at the Hard Rock today, and when I came home, the cat had welcomed me back by hurling all over my bed. NICE!

Judy's computer is self-destructing so my goal tomorrow is to "suck" the last files off my old computer's hard drive and find someone to help me prepare it for shipping to Idaho. I'm going to call the "PC Med Center" there and reinstall what she will need and *HOPEFULLY* ship it right to them. Then she can bring her poor PC in and they can transfer her files over onto the new machine. Hopefully I will get it out of here on Wednesday! Then Friday I am off to Washington to visit Russ and check out my soon-to-be-home. I have mixed feelings about all this, but as long as his company is willing to pay him big bucks, I will follow! LOL!

Judy's dog is not sure what to make of me......

Starburst isn't quite sure what to do with me. She will come up and sit NEAR me, but if I reach to pet her, she bolts. It's too funny!

God help me, I'm in IDAHO....

Well, I'm here. I have survived Judy's driving and my hearing is coming back after she SHRIEKED when she put in one of the CD's I brought her. She is now singing STYX's "Babe"......

The TSA or something opened one of my bags that showed up GAPING OPEN on the baggage carousel. GRRRRRRR...... It doesn't look like I lost anything, which is incredible considering the bag was WIDE OPEN. Sheesh. Our tax dollars at work......

That's all for now......

This will be short....

Blogger is NOT being user friendly today.... it has taken me almost 10 minutes to get in to post! GRRRRRR.....

Russ finally brought home some pictures from Paradise. The photo here is the Guide House, which is where he is living. See the floor with one window at the end? That's the 3rd floor where he lives. Of course, he did NOT bring me any pictures of his actual living space, just the outside.... MEN! SHEESH!

I went for a quick ride this morning.... 2.63 miles, 9.9 mph average. Now it's off to get coffee and run a few errands. I have to get Russ back to the airport by 2PM and then I need to come home and do laundry and GET PACKIN' for my trip to Ida-HO! The cat already knows something is amiss..... poor kitty.....

A quiet Sunday morning

Good morning world! No blog yesterday, but I did ride my bike for about 3.5 miles yesterday morning. No bike ride today. Something I ate yesterday made me sick for most of the afternoon. Then I thought I was better so I ate dinner last night. BAD IDEA. So I was sick half the night. Bleh. I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach. Dinner was soooooo yummy though.... I have a new baked salmon recipe that I have been making... VERY TASTY! We had that with herbed rice (rice-a-roni, the San Francisco treat!) and salad. YUMMMMMM!!!! All that's on the schedule for today is taking Russ to church and doing a little shopping over in that area. I need a new pair of everyday shoes..... Unlike Miss Judy, I don't have a different pair of flip flops for every day of the summer (LOL!).... I wear the same pair of shoes every day from about March thru October and these have just about HAD IT! I have another pair I wear every day when it gets colder. They are heavy duty though and will last me 3 or 4 years before they die on me! After church and shopping I have a couple loads of laundry to do for Russ before he leaves tomorrow. I have chicken marinating in Italian tomato-basil-garlic marinade to grill for dinner with a side of whole wheat pasta and salad. Ssssshhhhhhh.... don't tell Russ the pasta is whole wheat and GOOD FOR HIM.... he won't eat it! LOL! We went to BevMo (Beverages & More) yesterday and Russ got a couple of cigars and I picked out 2 bottles of California Chardonnay to bring to Idaho. We also went over to REI and looked at hiking boots for Russ. A nice, quiet, low-key weekend for us! Russ flies out at 3:25 tomorrow afternoon and with the Holiday, we figure he will need to be at the airport by 2.

OH... *THIS* ought to be interesting..... My friend, Trish, works for the County out at the airport. She called me on Friday to ask when Russ was flying out since THE COUNTY WORKERS, INCLUDING THOSE AT THE AIRPORT ARE GOING ON STRIKE TUESDAY MORNING! Doesn't affect Russ, but *I* FLY OUT WEDNESDAY MORNING!!!! AAAAAACCCCKKKK!!!!! Let's put it this way, Trish is an upper level Auditing Manager. She has a shift directing curbside traffic on Tuesday from 10 to 2. This will affect me most if the shuttle drivers are striking..... I park in long term parking and take the shuttle in to the terminal. If there is no shuttle..... It's about a mile walk, with luggage. I think it's time to call SUPER SHUTTLE! LOL! OK... I just looked at Super Shuttle and for a 6:50 flight time, they want to pick me up at FOUR-FREAKIN-A.M.!!!!! I am a 15 to 20 minute drive from the airport. That is INSANE!!!!! UGH! Do I chance the shuttles working and drive or bite the bullet and be on my doorstep at 4 am????? Hmmmm..... That is just SO WRONG....

I'm getting lazy....

Or crazy.

I stayed up too late last night so I missed my morning bike ride. Again. SIGH. Oh well. I got my exercise today planting some plants in the front yard and changing the bed! LOL!

Russ will be home for the 3 day weekend. He gets in around 7:30 tonight and leaves at 3:45 on Monday afternoon.

My desktop chore today is to clean up the mess of files on my laptop. Ugh.....

No bike ride today.....

Well, it looks like the move to Washington is a go. I have been doing a lot of research on our new home area and all it will take to get us moved. Last night was my first official "move-related-sleep-disorder". I woke up at 1 AM and all I could think about was the fact that I had a whole new house to paint inside and NO FRIENDS THERE TO HELP!!!!! When we bought this house (1450 sq ft), we repainted the living area, kitchen and Master bedroom. Later I painted the master bath and 2 of the bedrooms. Now I am looking at an 1860 sq ft house, that will be brand new and all painted in "contractor white" and NO ONE to help me paint it! EEK! So, with that, I tossed and turned..... the last time I looked at the clock it was after 3 AM and I shut off my alarm. I didn't wake up till almost 7!

So, can anyone out there recommend a good sleep aid???? Lunesta???? Maybe a gerneral happy pill? Welbutrin????? LOL!

Another quick blog today!

I went for my ride with Luisa this morning. 3.68 miles at 7.8 miles per hour average. It's been a little colder in the mornings.....Fall is finally coming!

Gotta buy a lottery ticket today.... It's up to $58 million. Wouldn't THAT be something? Can you just IMAGINE the stamp room I would have???? LOL!

Here is what my stamp room looks like now... well, not right now as it isn't this clean! I normally don't have the laptop in there either.

Another thrilling day....

I tried to post yesterday, but blogger was not letting me publish or save my draft. I rode with Luisa yesterday morning - same ride as today. Went down to the Stamp Store in Elk Grove yesterday and then over to the scrapbook store down there too. I had a mystery shop last night at dinner and then I came home and worked on my swap that is due next week.

Went for my 3.6 mile levee ride this morning with Luisa. I was really tired this morning.... had a heck of a time getting out of bed! I need to get a couple things at JoAnn Fabrics or Michael's today and I need to get another plant for one of the barrels in the front yard. Yes, my life really is THAT exciting. I also have 12 swap cards that have to be mailed on Friday and I decided to do stuff that needs drying time. The first step that needed to dry sat overnight. Tonight I will do the glitter so that can dry overnight. I also need to dye more ribbon.... I did not do enough the first time. I've also been working on my packing list for my trip to Judy's next week. I have a couple projects I want to do with her when I'm there! It's been a long time since I stamped with anyone, other than at convention.

Yesterday was FUN!

Yesterday Justin and I took our bikes down to Monterey. They have an awesome bike/pedestrian trail down there. We parked the car at Fisherman's wharf and rode south, through Pacific Grove and down to Asilomar State Beach (where I took the photo) and back. It was about 5 miles each way. It was a gorgeous ride, mostly right along the coastline, past some beautiful homes and a golf course. There was a wedding going on in the park at Lovers' Point, a wedding in another park between the Aquarium and Lovers' Point and we saw 2 more bridal parties doing pictures during our visit. It was a sunny day, cool with a light breeze. Man are my legs TIRED! Keep in mind, my daily ride is almost all flat. Yesterday was up and down way more than I am used to!

I went to ride this morning and OUCH! I still managed to do about 2.5 miles this morning. Averaged a little over 10mph, which is faster than I normally ride, but again, it was all flat and paved!

Oops.... I forgot to post yesterday!

I just realized when I logged in this morning that I forgot to post yesterday! Sorry, Judy! LOL!

So I'll start with yesterday..... Rode with Luisa (my next-door-neighbor). We went faster yesterday than we have the past couple days. She showed me where the park is in the first part of our area.... Northpoint subdivision is divided into 3 sections, none of them connect "inside".... you have to go back out to the main road to get from one to the next. The section I live in is the last one that was built. The park is in the first one. So we rode over there and also saw where they have put in some new houses.... they say they have 5 and 6 bedrooms, but they are not very large.... those rooms must be TINY! After that, we rode up onto the levee at that end and then to the end by the railroad tracks and came home. 3.46 miles, 7.3 mph average, 28 minutes.

The spa service man came to the house yesterday afternoon and got the spa cleaned and running again (YAY!). I have a feeling I will be VERY happy to have that back "online" tomorrow night!

This morning Luisa and I rode up the levee, one end to the other and then once around the neighborhood. 3.91 miles (my furthest yet), 7.5 mph (our fastest), 31 minutes. It was a good ride. It's starting to get cooler in the mornings..... I need to find some long sleeved shirts and sweats that aren't too baggy to ride in... Fall is coming! At some point I know I will have to switch over to riding in the middle of the day.... it will be too cold and dark in the morning. I'm looking forward to December when they finish the bridge over the railroad tracks.... Then I can start riding toward my ultimate goal.... STARBUCKS! It is 3.6 miles each way..... There's another one closer, but I haven't checked mileage there or checked to see if they have a bike rack to lock up.

Taz just came in and yelled at me, so now she is on my lap, purring, while I try to type and pay attention to her at the same time. I'm not getting much typing done, but I can tell you that it's time to trim her claws again.... cat on lap, me in shorts. NOT a comfy mix! LOL! Crazy cat..... She has taken to liking canned food. She never used to like it.... she would just lick all the gravy off it and leave the "meat", so I stopped giving it to her. I decided to try a new kind that came out and she actually ATE THE WHOLE THING! So now when I'm home at lunch, she gets lunch too! Of course the one she likes is the MOST EXPENSIVE one you can buy! My girl has good taste!

Well, I'm off to start my day! Want to be at REI by 10, when they open.... they are expecting a crowd..... No blog tomorrow since I will be leaving EARLY for Yosemite, but I will blog on Sunday, hopefully with PICTURES!

Happy Hump-Day!

Welcome to Wednesday! Grocery shopping day! I rode with the neighbor again this morning. 3.68 miles, about 33 minutes. We rode a little faster today.... 6.5 mph average. When I got home I cleaned out the spa and filled it. I have a "spa doctor" coming tomorrow afternoon to check it out and drain, clean and refill it. It's been sitting empty and off since Russ left.... Nasty!!!!! While the spa was filling, I took advantage of the nice temperature and pruned everything in the back yard. THAT was a TASK! I filled up TWO 5 gallon buckets! PLUS a HUGE armload of long stuff! But the yard looks better. Less colorful, but better. Here's a photo:
I can't get all the plants in the picture.... there's a small shrub with little pink flowers missing on the right and a butterfly bush with white flowers on the left, but this is the best I can get without getting the BBQ and the furniture in the shot!

So that was MY morning..... Hope everyone has a great day!

Did something a little different today.....

This morning I went riding with my next door neighbor and her friend, Sara, who lives a few blocks away. We rode farther than I usually ride, but they ride at a more leisurely pace than I do. We went 3.49 miles , but it took about 35 minutes. Each time I looked at the speedometer, we were going about 5.6 mph. I usually average a little over 9mph. While it was nice to ride with someone, their pace was hard for me. I think maybe I will ride with them on Tuesdays and Thursdays and ride on my own the rest of the week. We'll see!

Another Monday!

And it started WAAAAAAY too early! Russ wanted to leave for the airport at 5:15, so I set my alarm for 4:45, but I woke up around 4:15 and never really got back to sleep (thanks, cat!). Russ shut his alarm off and didn't get out of bed until about 4:50. So much for leaving at 5:15!

When I got back, it was still too dark out to ride, so I opened up all the windows to cool off the house. I started for my ride around 6:15. It was COLD this morning! Well, not any colder than usual, but I guess the fact that it wasn't sunny out yet made it feel colder!

Reno was fun.
Russ did well at the tables, so he had a good time. We went to Johnny Carino's for dinner last night. Today I get to clean up the little messes he left around the house.... the pile of stuff in the living room to shred. The pile of mail on the coffee table. The ice cream dish on the coffee table. The ice cream scoop, not rinsed, sitting in the sink. The pile of laundry. Yep..... always good to have him home.... MEN! LOL!

Quick note.....

Judy - I'm thinking of you this morning as I know you are on a bus headed west! Safe travels to you..... Russ is home and we are RENO BOUND! Well, once he gets moving anyway! I went for another short ride today.... 1.79 miles, but it was a fast ride... my average speed today was 9.9 mph, my fastest average yet. And that was even with a slowdown to look at the info posted on a house for sale! Talk about crazy, how about 1227 square feet for $349,000? I tell ya, it's NUTS! Off to start my day! No blog tomorrow, I will be in Reno, hopefully a little richer or at least not much poorer! LOL!

TGIF!

Well, it's FINALLY Friday! I went for a short ride this morning.... not feeling 100%, so I didn't want to really push myself, but I still wanted to get out and take at least a leisurely pedal around the neighborhood, which is what I did. 1.58 miles, 10 minutes.

In case you are wondering how I know, I have a little "bike computer". It was only $20.... there are models going up to almost $200! I think there was one cheaper than mine.... about $18, but it didn't have a clock, which I really like. Anyway, there is a sensor on one of my spokes and a receiver on the front fork that sends the revolutions per minute to the little stopwatch-sized computer which calculates the speed and distance . This crazy little thing will tell me my average speed, max speed, time riding and distance traveled. It also keeps a lifetime (or at least till I change the battery) odometer and ride time. The odometer will be nice since, like a car, you are supposed to service your bike every so many miles.

See? You learn something new every day!

Well, it's going to be a busy day, so I'm off! Everyone have a great day!

Big day of errands!

Russ will be home tomorrow night so today I will be running errands so that tomorrow I can stay in and do laundry and all that fun stuff that has been piling up! I have stuff to return today at REI, WalMart and Target. I also need to go and look at a bike rack. I am planning to take the bike to Yosemite next Saturday and go riding with Justin. Hopefully I can keep up with him! If not, I'll be happy just to set a meeting time and place and go pedal around, taking pictures on my own!

Russ and I will be taking a tour of the new Mormon Temple in Rancho Cordova on Saturday morning before we head up to Reno. We will be staying in Reno overnight Saturday night to celebrate Russ' birthday, which is Sunday. Sunday night we will either go out to dinner or I will BBQ (depending on how badly we eat at brunch Sunday morning!).

And for those keeping track, yes, I did ride my bike this morning! 2.02 miles to be exact. I stayed in the subdivision today.... did 2 "tours" thru, including all the courts (5). I wanted to count how many houses are for sale right now.... there are EIGHT! FOUR on one court alone! None on our court, I am happy to say! 2 are on the street that runs perpendicular to us, one on the parallel street behind us, on on the parallel street on the other side and then four on that one court up by the main road.

Off to start my day!

Yay! It's Wednesday!

Wednesdays are good for 2 reasons.... #1 - the week is half over. #2 - It's the night my friend Justin comes over for dinner. Tonight he gets to put the thorn-proof liners in my bike tires. I make him earn his dinner! This is also the day each week that I actually get completely caught up on cleaning the kitchen. Tonight for dinner we are having baked salmon and broccoli with ice cream for dessert.

Taz just came in and screamed at me. I picked her up and put her on my lap and now she is purring (and drooling....eeeew!) while I type. This is a new behavior for her lately.... she usually does not like being held or sitting on my lap.

This morning's bike ride was a little over 2 miles. About 2/10 of a mile shorter than yesterday, but 2 minutes faster than yesterday too.

Off to do laundry and clean my kitchen!

Is it Friday yet?????

I'm ready for the weekend. Time just seems to be moving VERY S*L*O*W*L*Y this week.

I had lunch with Iris today, which was fun! I love her new long hair! It looks fantastic..... I'm so jealous!

Last night Mom called for some Tech Support. I got her computer back running again and hopefully have her friend, Bob, pointed in the right direction to get back into his e-mail account. Tried to help Judy today..... we think her hard drive may be on its way out, so she got some floppies to back up her stuff. I was walking her thru the process and she got an error message saying the disk could not be formatted.... UGH! Stupid computers!

I have been riding my bike every morning. Today was about 2.5 miles. Yesterday was only 1.5 since I couldn't get up onto the levee trail..... I just did three tours around the subdivision. My short term goal is to ride to Starbucks and back.... about 4 miles each way. The major "fear" holding me back from trying is the BIG BRIDGE that goes up over the drainage canal and Railroad tracks..... It's a STEEP CLIMB. I just hate the thought of looking like a loser weenie, walking my bike up the hill...... I can barely make it up the little hill to the top of the levee trail (maybe 7' up from the road). Yeah, I'm a wimp.....

Russ gets home Friday night and then we are off to Reno on Saturday to celebrate his birthday with a trip to the El Dorado Casino so he can play some Texas Hold 'Em with REAL LIVE PEOPLE! LOL! I will be playing slots and maybe looking to see if they have a spa up there where I can get a massage!

Bought a bike today!

I know. I have surely lost my mind! I have good intentions....
Here is what the local bike shop's website says....

" Pedal Off The Pounds
Cycling is excellent for burning calories and losing weight, too. For example, a 160-pound person burns about 870 calories pedaling seventeen miles in an hour. That's pretty close to what the same person would burn running, and a lot more than the amount burned playing golf. If you maintain a regular ride schedule, avoid overeating and fatty foods, there's an excellent chance that biking will strip away excess weight.

After about six weeks, you should feel a noticeable difference in your legs and lungs and see the difference on your computer. You can gradually increase the mileage and intensity, if you wish. Or, simply keep riding for fun and enjoyment."

Let's hope they're right! Tomorrow I'll pop on over to REI and try on some bike shorts (EEK!) and get spare tubes. I already have most of the accessories I need, I just need to make sure the allen wrench set I have now will fit the adjustments on this bike. This sucker only weighs about 31 pounds.... my last bike weighed in around 40.

Judy is going crazy.....

The trip to Hollywood is making her HOLLY-WIERD! LOL! Here is a post from her blog today:

I want Michael to take me to the KODAK THEATRE where the finale of AMERICAN IDOL was done this past May. Maybe if I put my ear to the side of the building, I'll be able to hear CLAY AIKEN singing. :)

I tell ya.... she's going coo-coo for cocoa puffs here! ROFL!

Tonight I'm going to go hang out with my friend Michelle and hopefully do a little stamping.... she has some new CTMH sets I want to play with!

Why do I need a license to breed a dog, but any IDIOT can raise a human being????

Today was another THRILLING day.... I had a McDonald's shop today out by IKEA. So I got to do a little shopping there, which is *USUALLY* fun. Unfortunately, today the place was full of moms with LITTLE KIDS, many of whom were being allowed to run amok! There was one playing with GLASS VASES.... Knocked one over.... mom says "what did I tell you about touching?".... he replied "not to", and walks down the aisle a bit and picks up another one! No comment, no reprimand, nothing. There were 2 little girls holding hands, blocking an aisle. I approached, said, "Excuse me, may I get by?", to which I was told I needed the password. I asked where their mother was. Apparently that was not the password as they refused to let me pass. I glared at the mother (on the next aisle) who just giggled and said, "aren't they cute?". I replied, "not at the moment they aren't" and she glared at me. Didn't tell the little brats to move, just started muttering under her breath..... another one was chasing his little brother around and around a square display full of frames (big poster frames) and the little one took the corner too quick and went down, smacking his head on the corner of the square display (no bleeding, just a lot of toddler SHRIEKING). The mother started screaming at an employee about irresponsibility.... "how could you use SQUARE displays???? Don't you know CHILDREN ARE RUNNING AROUND IN HERE????!" The poor employee looked like she was gonna have a stroke. Uhhhh.... dumbass...... this is a store full of BREAKABLES...... you walk in the main entrance and there is a HUGE CHILD PLAY AREA.... you check them in, they get to play. BIG HONKIN SIGN at the front entrance states VERY CLEARLY that much of the store is NOT CHILD FRIENDLY and to keep your little ones close. She was in the freakin candle/art/vase area. What makes her think for a second they could POSSIBLY make that area child-safe? There were at least a dozen children under the age of 8 running about in the candle area. I got so frustrated, I just left. In my kingdom people would be required to pass a parenting class before being allowed to raise a child. No common sense? NO BREEDING! No common courtesy? NO BREEDING!

Absolutely beautiful!

Today I got the opportunity to tour the new Sacramento Mormon Temple. For the month of August, the public can take a tour that goes INSIDE the Holy Temple. A look not many non-LDS folks get! The architecture, the artwork, the decor, everything about it was absolutely STUNNING! I am glad I went!

A great big day full of NOTHING....

At least the weather is nice.... I think it's about 85 out. All I've done is laundry and errands all day.

How crazy is this picture? I took it last night with my new digital camera looking out into the back yard at 8:30PM. That is how well this crazy thing focuses in the dark! I was blown away that I could get ANYTHING, let alone DETAIL of my poor, baked plants! As you can see, we have a few casualties from the heat wave a couple weeks ago..... What really bites is that the totally dead one in the pot there was doing SOOOOOO well just before the heat! It was blooming and gorgeous! That's the second one of those I've killed.... Guess I'll try something different next year.... Oh well!

Gonna spend my evening doing some stamping.... I have a secret sister package to get out!

That was SOOOOO much FUN!!!!

So, Saturday was the SCS SF Bay Area Rubber Rendezvous in Livermore. I decided to spend the night (SO glad I made that plan!). I left yesterday morning around 9:30, made a stop in Danville at Stampers Warehouse (woo hoo!), and got into Livermore around noon. I stopped to see if the hotel would let me check in early, and they had a room ready so I got to drop off my bag before heading over to the Community Center for the party!

There were about 20 of us there. We swapped cards, and Artist Trading Cards, and stamped and ate and socialized until we had to vacate the room at 6PM. From there, a group of 8 of us went to Mountain Mikes for pizza and MORE chatting! There were still 6 of us there close to 10PM when they were closing up!

This morning I slept in, got up and had breakfast at the hotel and checked out around 10:30 in search of the local Starbucks! From there I went down to Wente Estates Tasting room and tried a couple wines. Got a nice bottle of Pinot Noir that I'll save for hubby's birthday in 2 weeks. I left there and headed back up the road toward the freeway, stopping at Tesla Vineyards tasting room. They are a co-op that represents about half a dozen wineries. I got 2 bottles there and some cute little souvenirs which I can't mention cuz one of them is for Judy! Heh heh heh...... I stopped in Stockton and had KFC for lunch on the way home. I got back here around 2:15 or so.

It was a fun weekend!

Killing Time.... thought I'd blog!

OK. I am all packed for my little road trip tomorrow. I'm off to Livermore in the morning for the SCS Bay Area Rubber Rendezvous! WOO HOO! I decided to splurge and spend the night down there so I can check out a couple of wineries too. Now I'm just sitting waiting for my camera and laptop batteries to charge up. Can you imagine attending an SCS event without a fully charged camera battery??? HORRORS! The hotel I'm staying at has free wireless internet so I figured I might post here tomorrow too. We'll see.... the hotel also has an indoor whirlpool in the fitness center.... I may just go and soak instead!

Taz is all upset because I packed my little overnight bag. Keep in mind the last time I took a trip was convention and I was gone 5 days and she had to go stay at the "kitty Hotel"! It has cooled off really nicely here so I have all the doors and windows open to cool the house down. She is laying in front of the front screen enjoying the fresh air! In this photo she is "nesting"... hiding under the blanket at the foot of the bed!

Well, the camera battery is done. I think I'm going to give up waiting for the laptop and just leave it charge overnight. I am hoping to leave here by 10AM so that I have plenty of time to stop for Starbucks on the way out as well as once I get to Livermore! Plus I'll want to get some lunch. If I get a good head start and get out of here around 9:30, I'll allow myself a stop at Stampers Warehouse in San Ramon!

That's all for now - I'll be back either tomorrow or Sunday evening!

Well, Judy, you talked me into it!

After helping Judy get her blog all set up, I figured I should probably get one going too..... Yeah, that's me. I think it was taken 2 years ago.

Prepare for a great big dose of ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, reading about my THRILLING life and adventures!