today's blog post is brought to you by...

the letter B.

B is for BFF. My homegrill Shayna Lou and her stud-muffin Doyle brought their motley crew up to visit us earlier this week. It's always great to see them and I love love love that our kids are BUDS and have no problemo picking up where they left off the last time they got together.

B is also for BEACH. We went to a couple of local beaches while the crew was here and the kids had a blast playing in the freezing-ass surf. I'm pretty sure they each smuggled enough sand home in their pockets (not to mention their nether regions -helleeeew??...chaffing anyone?!) to create their own personal little beaches here at home! Good times. :)

We've had absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather the past few days. I got raccoon eyes from getting BURNT at the beach while I was wearing my big ol' glasses and then yesterday, I managed to flambée myself to a complete friggin' crisp whilst I was finishing up yet another BOOK out on the front patio. *gaaah* I seem to have knack for looking like a complete dork whenever we go out in public and last night was no exception, I was practically glowing neon red when we went out to dinner to celebrate Jack's BIRTHDAY. We celebrated with some of our family who are in town early for our niece's wedding next week. Jack opened all kinds of fun gifts and cards, but the kids and I gave him his big prezzie a couple of weeks ago. We got him a new stainless BBQ -and I think we've used it almost every night since then -it's a real step up from what we had, lemme tell ya!

B is for BIRDS -the kids and I have started keeping a list of the ones we see around here. We saw BROWN Pelicans at the beach the other day so we've added them to the list and then the day before yesterday, we saw some Quail in the backyard -ordinarilly that wouldn't really be that big of a deal except that they had a whole bunch of BABIES with them -they were so stinkin cute running all over the place!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to this awesome little BIRDING shop down in Old Town Eureka and bought some new hummingbird feeders. We've had lots of different kinds but these are by far the best yet because they're so easy to clean. I'm so excited that the hummers have started to visit them pretty regularly. I got a couple of decent pics of a Rufous Hummingbird at the feeder in the BACKYARD but I really wish I could manage to take a pic of the little hummers that I've been catching in my garage window lately. For some reason they come into the garage when the big door is up and they fly to the back window and hover there trying to get out. Eventually, they exhaust themselves enough that all I have to do is go put my hand underneath them and they'll land on my fingers and I can scoop them up. The funny thing, (funny -duh! not funny haha!) is that not only is there a full size roll-up garage door wide open behind them, but there's also a regular door about 3 feet away, that's wide open too! Derrr!

And finally, B is for BLABBERMOUTH... 'nuff said.

Urban Dictionary definition o' the day

I'm not really sure which came first, the books or the website (my personal fave), but the Urban Dictionary is a filarious collection of slang words and phrases and their off the chain meanings. Granted some of the references are kinda wack but considering the fact that anyone and their dog can submit entries, they're usually good for a laughgasm or two. I get the Word of the Day sent to me so's I can stay hip with the jive lingo -I know ya'll probably thought I was just naturally fly... so now, my cover is blown but today's missive cracked me up so I figured I'd edjumacate y'all.



July 24: critical ass
adj. The stage in fat accumulation when fabric can no longer contain the enormity of one's buttocks.
Jesus, I can't zip up these jeans anymore - I've reached critical ass!
comment on this definition
Check out the new Mo' Urban Dictionary, shipping today from Amazon. The book includes:
multislacking: doing multiple slackeresque things concurrently
workahol: what workaholics are addicted to
foreploy: misrepresenting yourself on a date in hopes of getting lucky

ten years ago?? ...I can barely remember what I ate for breakfast!

Thanks for the tag, Shayna Lou. Really. Thanks. ...loads.
;) Love you. ...mean it.


Ten years ago:

10 years ago I had a 6 1/2 yo, 4 1/2 yo and a one month old baby.
10 years ago I had reeeally really short hair.
10 years ago I became a scrapbooker.
10 years ago we were opening up and building our upstairs.
10 years ago we had our nephew living with us.
10 years ago I wasn't sure I'd still be married 10 years later.


Five things on today's to-do list:

1. take Heidi to the vet
2. take Pop to the chiropractor
c. clean off the back patio
4. clean out the car
5. think of clever ways to torture Shayna for tagging me. ;)


A snack I enjoy:

fresh fruit- especially watermelon, grapes and strawberries ...mmmmm-mm!

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:

invest
do lots of traveling with the family
finish/remodel our house


Places I have lived:

W.Sacramento, CA
Elk Grove, CA
Sacramento, CA
Eureka, CA
Cutten, CA
Loleta, CA



Peeps I am tagging:

Slush
Caffee

nothing too exciting

Just thought I'd let ya'll know, I'm still going strong with my little projects. I'm in the process of attacking my office and some other little things upstairs. Other than that we've been having a great summer so far, even if the weather hasn't been so great. We've had lots of dreary gray days lately, but I guess that's par for the course up here on the north coast, *sigh* -I suppose it just serves to make us more grateful for the nice days we do get.
I've been doing lots of reading lately, as you can see by my growing book list over on the left. I really need to get back into my routine of going to the library because I've been spending a small fortune, but I've been loving the bookmarked books at Target -seriously, some good stuff there! I'm reading The Faraday Girls right now and after a bit of a slow start, I'm finding myself picking it up every chance I get. It's been years since I've been such a voracious reader and I gotta say it's a nice change from having me arse planted in front of my 'puter for hours on end.
Oh well, duty calls... I'm off to town with Pop for an exciting afternoon of grocery shopping and probably a stop at the Mexican restraunt for lunch. :)

the cat, the visit and some much needed down time

In addition to all the hustle and bustle that was already going on around here, we had a bit of trauma last Monday night with Pop's cat, Tom. First, a little background info: In a nut shell (so to speak), Tom is... 'special' -the last vet we took him to told us he thought Tom was psychotic (after said vet was forced to don elbow length leather gloves and a long handled net in order to capture Tom, who was in hyper freak-out mode, darting around an exam room that was roughly the size of a bedroom closet, hissing, growling and ready to eat the face off of anyone who got too close) anyhow, he's always been a bit neurotic, constantly licking and scratching himself (fleas and flea allergies have been ruled out) but Monday night we noticed that his scratching had gotten so severe, his head and shoulders were virtually one giant scab, he also had open sores that were bleeding -the poor dude was a mess.
Obviously Tom needed to go to the vet but considering that the last vet had said it "might be more humane to euthanize Tom than put him thru another visit to the vet", I was worried about trying to take him back there. I decided to stop by the vet's office the next morning and explain the situation and asked if they'd see him, the receptionist remembered Tom from the last visit (I'm telling you, it was AWFUL!) but said they had an extra doc on duty and they could see him that afternoon. The receptionist mentioned that they might need to tranquilize him and would that be okay?! Uhm... yes, by all means, and while you're at it how about a little sumpin'-sumpin' for me too?! Ugh, great -my aunt and uncle were coming that afternoon... and I need to pick Matt up from summer school... oh well, we'd make it work.
Came home to get ready to load up the psycho cat but could only find 1/2 of the cat carrier... wth!? I'm already a nervous wreck and now I have to figure out how I'm going to get our feline Cujo from point A to point B without being confined?! ...I don't think so. After a few frantic calls to my hubs, where I may have threatened to set his boat on fire, the rest of the carrier was found and Andrew was able to drop Tom into the carrier. Okay, the mere fact that Tom was able to be dropped into the carrier rather than stuffed, crammed or otherwise violently inserted was proof that he wasn't feeling well.
Arriving at the vet's office, I learned that the doc we'd be seeing was new there... in fact, it was her first day. I couldn't help thinking that after this experience, it might very well be her last day as well... I sincerely hoped that she wouldn't be traumatized forever. When she came into the exam room, I nervously explained Tom's history of going ape-shit once being released and I warned her that once the genie was out of the bottle, so to speak, it might not be so easy to put him back (without the help of a tranqilizer dart).
I have to hand it to this chick, she might have been a little leery at first but she was always in control. She opened that carrier and calmly grabbed Tom and then with the help of a tech she was able to take his temprature (which earned her some well deserved growls and hisses) then she looked at his teef and examined his owies... and then gave him a couple of shots -a steroid to stop the itching and an antibiotic to stop any infections and she applied a topical treatment for parasites. Amazingly, when it was all said and done, there was no bloodshed and she still had all ten fingers! Hmmm... can you guess who we're going to ask for should the need arise for another visit to the vet?! Doc Renner is my hero! :)

Whew! Tom was all fixed up and loaded back into the car, I remembered to gather up Matt from summer school and just as we were racing home, Andrew called to let me know that Aunt Ruby and Uncle Bob had arrived... the day hadn't gone as I'd planned but in the end it all worked out just fine, although I'm not sure Tom would agree.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time with my aunt and uncle -they were here Tuesday thru Friday and we had a nice, relaxing visit. We did some sightseeing in Ferndale and around old town Eureka and of course, lots of chatting and catching up. I hadn't seen them since my mom died last year... hard to believe it was a year July 5th... *sigh* Anyway, it was great to see them and I'm already looking forward to them coming back next summer -they're good peeps.

Jack took the kids up to the lake on Thursday for the long holiday weekend, and I was going to drive up late Friday or early Saturday but I was exhausted. I ended up staying home which gave me a couple of days to regroup and get things back to 'normal' around here. The peace and quiet was just what I needed. I read an awesome book (Driving Sideways by Jess Riley... omg, I laughed out loud so many times... LOVE her style!) and *insert happy dance here* I got to sleep in for the first time in a loooong time... and it was grrrreat! Pop and I went out to lunch on Saturday and spent part of the afternoon playing with his new power chair -now he's literally 'hell on wheels'! :) Today I dragged him with me to Costco just to get him out of the house for a bit -I'm so glad to have him here, we really do have fun together.

The family got home late this evening and it sounds like they had a great time too. Tomorrow it's back to the grindstone for some of us -back to work for Jack, summer school for Matt, which means I'll be draggin me arse out of bed early too... but it's all good! :) I'm happy to report that Tom is doing 100% better which has done wonders for his disposition -he really is a great kitty... as long as you don't piss him off!

Been a busy bee these past few weeks...

Nothing like finding out company is on their way, to get me offa my ass and kicked into high gear -lol! I found out my aunt and uncle are making the long trek from East Tennessee, driving all the way out here to Cali to attend a wedding, visiting friends and family along the way, and they're going to be in my neck o' the woods early next week. I'm completely stoked but when I realized they'd be staying with us for a few days, I freaked a little (okay, a lot) because we've never really had house guests -well, aside from my mom or Shayna and her brood -but that doesn't really count because they already knew we were slobs and chose to come anyway, my aunt and uncle on the other hand, don't really know what they're getting into...

Anyway, I've had several projects in the works over the past few months, many of which were close to completion but not quite to the point where I could cross them off my to-do list... my tendancy to get distracted and move on to other things has been out of control lately... SO, I've been rushing around like a crazy chick (don't be alarmed, I've had plenty of practice with this) dotting my t's and crossing my i's... tending to odds and ends and trying to make the house look like a family lives here instead of a pack of transient college kids. I've been a whirling dervish, RE-re-painting my front door (the red just wasn't workin for me, so it's back to green!), finishing up my interior painting, re-arranging and re-hanging pictures and artwork, doing a mini make over in my downstairs bathroom -installing one of those curved shower curtain rods and hanging my new shower curtain (it's WAY cute!), cleaning out kitchen cupboards to accomodate my new dishes (loooove them!), re-organizing kitchen drawers so I can convert 3 drawers into one slide out cabinet that will contain my trash and recycle bins so I can finally (after 13 years) get rid of the trash can that's been parked in front of my kitchen sink.... oh, and I've been doing LOTS of gardening.

Like I said ...a whirling dervish, but I have to say, that as busy and tired as I've been lately, I'm SO pleased with the changes around here. So many things I've said I'd get to "someday" have finally been done. I can't believe how rewarding it is at the end of the day, to fall into a heap on the couch and look around at all the changes taking place and realize that our house has fianlly gone from homely to homey. LOL!

I love you ba-ay-beeee...

I know it's been around awhile but o.m.g. -I swear I laugh me arse off each time this commercial comes on tv -the family even yells "HURRY! HURRY!! -your commercial's on!!" so I won't miss it! The 30 second version is pretty stinkin funny but I found the extended version on YouTube -it's got to be one of my all time faves! Oh, and bonus... this little ditty is practically guaranteed to be tattooed on your brain so, go ahead, give in and sing along... you know you wanna!