Yes, the model rocket is mine.

Why you ask, did my husband get me a model rocket for Christmas? Because he's great, that's why. You see every time we go into this one hobby shop I have flashbacks of my childhood. So I tell him the stories about how I grew up in the middle of nowhere (Alligator, MS) and we (my family) used to go to "town"(seriously! we went to Clarksdale) on Saturdays. Mom would drop us (the kids) off at Woolworth's and we could shop (with our dollar allowance) in the stores on that one city block. (It was really the only block, the main drag I guess) So I used to follow my brother Tommy (who was four years my senior and pretty much "God" to me) around. And every Saturday, Tommy would go to the hobby shop and I would follow. He loved to build model rockets so I spent alot of time watching him build his rockets and helping him shoot them off. It was great fun. So now every time we go to a hobby shop, I say to Doug, "We ought to build a model rocket." And for years he's been saying, "Yeah, we should." And now this Christmas season we will.

Ok, so that's not the only great thing he did this Christmas. He also got me a box full of gloves (my hands are always cold), the Giant Book of Origami (I wanted one of those origami calendars so I could create something new everyday...he got me the deluxe kit instead), several DVDs, a blender (we needed a new one) and lots and lots of money that he hid all over the house and gave me little clues (a treasure hunt) on where to find it. Things like that constitute greatness, to me.

Now, of course, all of that made Christmas fun, but the best part was getting to go to Church on the actual holiday. It really made it special. I think we should have church every Christmas day whether it falls on Sunday or not. I know some churches probably do, but ours never has. So, I think I'll suggest it.

If only I had known.......

I would have started model rocketry a long time ago.

Christmas ghost stories

Ok so yesterday as Doug and I were riding around in the car, a popular Christmas carol was on the radio. I do not know which one it was (and neither does Doug) but I swear it says something about telling "scary ghost stories"...... I am not kidding....... I have probably heard this song a billion times and I had never heard that line......"scary ghost stories" until Doug pointed it out. And so we both went...."What? Scary ghost stories? There are Christmas ghost stories? Hey, why haven't we heard them? All these years we've been missing out! We've been cheated.....no one has ever told us a scary Christmas ghost story! Uh, what's up with that?"

Merry Christmas

We're Baaack.......

We had to buy a new hard drive. We're having to reinstall every program we had, but we are on our way. Yay.

I get a whole month off from school and I am very excited about it! On my first couple of days off I was so happy to be alive that I decorated the whole house, inside and out. (ok Doug helped with the outside) I even bought a new wreath, put lights in all the windows, and put lights on the little tree outside. I haven't decorated that much, I think, since the girls were little.

But, in-between creating all this beauty, I was also creating some "Death and Dying" of my own. I killed five innocent little fish. It wasn't intentional, I mean how was I supposed to know that tropical fish need their water heated? (Perhaps the term "tropical" should have been a clue.)
But nowhere in my 2 gal aquarium instructions did it suggest you needed to heat the water. It mentions conditioning the water and buying a lightbulb but no heater. So anyway I go pick out the prettiest little fantail guppies and some neon tetras. And what do I do, I bring them home to the Artic to chill them to death. The tetras died over night but the guppies kept swimming furiously for a day (I think they were trying to create their own heat). By the second day, I had killed all five fish. What a shame. And I had even given them names.

On a lighter note.....Doug and I have a Secret Santa.....we don't know who it is but one of our funny friends is leaving packages on the porch with pieces of a nativity scene. Each package has come with a funny poem letting us know there are more pieces to come. The last poem was based on "We three Kings made in China we are." It was funny. So Doug and I have been leaving our Secret Santa cookies and milk in return. (we just might steal this little game and use it as our own next year.....it's quite fun)

I've hijacked Sarah's computer.....

Mine is broken.....which really hasn't bothered me that much now that finals are over. I was utterly and completely panicked when it first crashed. Why? Because I had four papers to write in about the same amount of days...ok well a couple more days but what's the difference when you don't have a computer? Needless to say, I was extremely stressed. My paper writing process usually consists of me sitting in front of the computer for hours and hours on end, lots of food and loud music, too. I really did not know if I could process a paper any other way but guess what.....I found the old fashioned just going to the library with paper and pencil in hand actually still works. I did get to use Sarah's computer for typing and some of the work but I survived without my old routine. Amazing.

I also survived my three depressing classes. For those who did not know..... I took "Death and Dying", "The Problem with Evil", and "Chemical Dependency and the Family" last term. Nothing like reading "Tuesdays with Morrie" and "The Plague" for Thanksgiving break. (it did make me more thankful though) I really liked the Chemical Dependency class. It was one of the few classes I've taken at St. Martin's that I have really enjoyed. I don't know if it was the instructor or just the relevance of the materials....but anyway it was good.

Just to let you know....Burlington Coat Factory never returned my email. But Doug finally cooled off....he never called the corporate office. I do know he will never shop there again though, so if you are on his Christmas list and you happen to get a $40.00 Burlington gift card, well you'll know why.......

(our computer should be back up next week)

Store credit only.

I was cleaning the house the other day when the phone rang. It was Doug. “Did you know Burlington Coat Factory does not give refunds?” he asked. “Uh… no, I didn’t know that,” I replied. “Well, they don’t,” he said, “They give store credit, that’s all.” Uh, oh, I recognized that tone of voice. It was the “I’m-just-faking-calm” voice and it sounded like it was just about to stop faking.

See, last week he and I went to Burlington to buy him a jacket for work; one he could wear on the flight line when it was raining. So he found this red and black jacket that he liked and I thought was ok. In the store, it made him look like a football coach. But, funny thing about trying on things in stores, half the time you get those things home and they look totally different. And so it was with this jacket. When he tried it on here, the football coach disappeared and big, white rapper guy showed up. Needless to say, we agreed, he should take that back. And now we're back to the phone call.

“Well, that’s ok,” I said about the store credit, “you can use that.” Wrong! Calm voice gone. “I don’t want store credit! I want my money back!” Now, all I was thinking was “Poor, Sarah. She’s standing there with maniac man while he tries to force the manager to change the store policy.” Well, it didn’t work, at least not yet. (Sarah told me later that she thought it was funny....she agreed it was a stupid policy) In the meantime, I did e-mail Burlington to ask why they offer a full cash refund in their online store but not their “real” stores. They sent me a nice form letter that said, “We do not offer cash refunds or credit charges to credit cards. We do however offer a store credit.” So I sent the e-mail back and said, “That was not my question. My question was……..” They never e-mailed me back. Doug is still going to call their corporate office. He insists that he’ll get his money back. But don’t be too surprised if you see a crazy guy in front of Burlington with a boycott sign.

I never get sick....

at least that's what I always say. And it's been true, up until now. I used to never get to call-in to work because well, I was never sick. The last time I had a cold was at least two years ago if not more. I mean it's been so long...I can't even remember. The girls and Doug are always "fighting off something". Me....never "fighting off" anything. But at this point I really do need the tissue attached to my head. And I'm going to blame my friend Debi. I know it's impossible to catch a cold over the phone but that's what I'm claiming. You see, Thursday morning my friend Debi called saying she didn't feel like doing anything because she had a cold. And I was like, "Wow, you keep getting all these colds. Don't you think it's because you work in a medical office." Not this time she says....she caught it from her daughter. And that was that. Well, by that evening my throat was feeling a little scratchy but I was blaming it on yelling at Billy when he chased a cat outside. The scratchiness, though, never got better. And by Friday evening I was full blown sick. What's up with that? So, I've spent two days all holed up on the couch with cough drops, tissues, my water bottle, and the remote control. I don't like being sick but..... I have to say, I do like everyone saying "Can I get you anything?" and "Is there anything you need?" and "No, it's ok, you can watch whatever you want to." Heh, heh, heh....yep...I could get used to that.

Billy's little sweater.....

was originally to keep him from messing with his stitches. It served a dual purpose though; it also made him easier to look at. Now that his stitches are all out, his sweater is serving to keep his little furless body warm. (and it makes him handsome, don't you think!)

AAAHHH!

Please know this….I love my psychology professor, Dr. B (I’ll call her that for privacy)….she is an incredibly unique and interesting woman. She has sat under some of the most renowned psychology professors in the world. She has wisdom and experience that I can not even fathom. But…….. She. Drives. Me. Crazy.!

Like today, we watched a movie in class. And that’s all we got to do, was watch. We would have liked to have listened, too....BUT...for some reason, Dr. B felt she must narrate this film…. play by play. She would say….this is the part where she’s thinking of her past….this is the part where she is younger….this is the part where she meets her friends….and in between these announcements she would give a brief discourse on why that scene was important. She did all of this WHILE the movie was still going. Then she would stop and give us just enough time to get re-interested in the movie and she would start narrating again.

The whole time I heard the constant drone of blah, blah, blah, from Dr. B in one ear and blah, blah, blah, from the actors in the other. This was the MOST frustrating experience I’ve had in a while. I would've just blocked everything out except we were told we would have to write a reaction paper at the end of the film. It turned out that Dr. B changed her mind about the paper (she does that often) and I was REALLY glad because all mine would have said was ……..AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!(I just had to get that off my chest)

Isn't life grand.

Ok so last night I had a two hour meeting at the church. Because the meeting started at 5:00, I left the house around 4:30. And because this was too early to eat dinner, I decided to wait. Someone else in the church (not in the meeting) did not have to wait, so for two hours I got to smell the delicious aroma of their dinner coming from the kitchen. This made me very hungry. When I got home, I greeted Doug with, “I’m hungry, what did you have for dinner?”(not very nice, huh?) Well, never mind that, because Doug being the super-duper guy that he is, just smiled and pulled a brown paper Po-Boy’s BBQ bag from the fridge. Yay!! Po-Boy’s only has the best BBQ EVER! It’s this scary little diner on Meridian that has all of its original 1970’s fixtures and (I'm sure) some of its original dirt. I, personally, would have never, ever gone in that place. (something about old, rundown places… I avoid) But, Doug, who doesn’t have obsessions like I do, was pulled off the streets one day by its aroma. He liked it so much, he brought me home a sandwich and we’ve been addicted ever since.

So, after I ate my sandwich last night, without too many bites or too many breaths (I paid for that later) I settled in on the couch with my blanket. Ahhhh. While Doug was busy conquering the world via his computer game, I had sole possession of the remote control. I flipped through the channels to my hearts content. At first my mind kept saying, “You ought to do your homework.” Then my mind would say, “No, this is fun, do this.” So, I did that. I spent the rest of the night flipping between the food channel (I have a fascination with the Iron Chef….both American and Japanese….I don’t know why…..the food they fix is not really edible is it?....but anyway) and a figure skating competition. And so, I said, "What more could you want?" Being warm, full and entertained, I marveled, "Isn't life grand!"

My passion fruit.

While Doug and I were out shopping last night, we were in the produce department when I discovered this ugly little fruit. I had probably seen them before but because of their unappealing exterior I most likely walked on by. For some reason last night, though I was feeling a little risky and said, "Hey, I wonder what this strange little fruit is all about?" Doug wasn't interested at all.....until I told him it was a passion fruit. Then he decided, "Sure, we can get one of those." Neither of us looked at the price and were a little astonished when we got to the register with it. $3.00! It cost three whole dollars! Wow! I had no idea it could cost that much. I've bought whole melons for less than that! Well, we bought it anyway and today I decided to try it. I was in for another surprise when I cut the thing open. "What is that?" I wondered as I gazed at the oozing innards. Doug thought it looked rotten. It didn't smell bad, it was just gooey and strange on the inside.

Since Ashly used to work in the Safeway produce department, I called her up to see what she knew about passion fruit. She said their Safeway was much too small and unsophisticated to carry passion fruit. She suggested I ask the store where I bought it. I looked online instead. And yes, that's what a passion fruit should look like on the inside and well, all those seeds are edible. Most people, they say, just sieve them and use the juice. In Hawaii they eat them with bananas. And in Doug and Joye's house, they will skip eating passion fruit. They will eat apples, and oranges and melons, instead.

A fish tale...

Ok, it's less of a tale and more of an epiphany (I think you can call it that). Did you realize (I'm sure most of you did, but it has just occurred to me) that these fish are called "smelt". Now, please, I wonder how they came up with that name! Hmmm.....I personally believe that when they were sitting around saying, "Man, that thing smelt!" ... they should have been more specific and said "Man, that thing smelt bad!" And don't you think all fish could qualify as 'smelt'. I do.

(Ok, I'm betting this post is an epiphany to some of you who have just realized that I am completely weird. )

I know it's wrong.......

But I have an unhealthy desire to hurt Tom Cruise. He wants Katie Holmes to push that baby out of her body without screaming, talking, crying or medication; I can't help but hope he gets to experience passing something really, really painful out of his......(I know...... it's wrong)

On a lighter note, did you realize that airline ticketing agents ask: "Has anyone put anything into your bags without your knowledge?" hmmmm...How exactly are you supposed to answer that?......."I don't know, maybe we should look?"

First fruits (or are these vegetables?)

These are the first pumpkins from my "surprise-you-accidently-grew-a-pumpkin-patch" garden......I think I should have fertilized.

It's Alive!

Or, rather He's alive. Yes, Billy survived the second surgery but he came out looking like something Dr. Frankenstein assembled. I decided not to include a photo because quite frankly.... he's gross. Sarah, won't even look at him. She talks to him with her back turned which is kind of confusing to him...but, at least his still alive.

That's something to blog about.

Ok this is how bad my “blogger-logged” brain has become. Last night when Doug and I were taking out the trash together there was a small slug on the sidewalk. When Doug’s foot was just hovering over it I said, “Be careful, don’t step on that blog.” It’s true. Of course we both laughed about it but then I thought, “Hey, slugs are something to blog about. After all, if you haven’t been to the Great Northwest, have you really experienced a slug?”

So this is my blog about slugs. The first time Doug and I saw a slug here we thought it was something the dog did. I’m not kidding, but then it moved….and we were like, “Hey, that thing’s alive!” Seriously, the slugs here are HUGE, like four inches long.








So is there anything worse than stepping on a slug….barefoot?........Yes! Squishing (or rather, popping) one in the garage door and having guts fly into your face and hair.................much worse. Doug had a similar “up close and personal” experience when he chopped one up with the weed-eater. Pretty gross.

When we first moved here, though, I was pretty much at peace with the slugs, they just didn’t bother me. Then, I bought some flowers....and then my flowers started to disappear. Of, course, slugs, being stupid little creatures, they leave trails of evidence every where they go...and so the war was on.

Someone told me beer was the solution. I was told to pour it in a saucer; the slugs would come along, try to drink the beer, fall in and die, right? Wrong. My slugs just came along, drank the beer, ate my flowers and were grateful for the party.

Doug devised his own plan to get rid of them. He had a little "chamber of death" on the front porch. He just picked up slugs, threw them into an empty coffee can, put the lid on and left them there to die. They all melded into one big slug and that was way too gross for me.

After losing one too many plants, I decided to buy some slug bait. Poison, I say, Poison. It’s disguised as tasty little morsels and slugs love it. When niece Allie was here she became the "Great Northwest Slug Hunter". She tracked them down all over the yard and hand fed them slug bait. It was great fun. Now, I do that, too. With box in hand, I go out saying, “It’s time to feed my slugs!” Heh heh heh…..

Billy's Harrowing Tale

I don’t usually write long, sappy stories but this one I had to tell. You see, I had completely forgotten how much I love my little dog Billy until a few days ago. For probably ten years my family accused me of loving the dog more than them and well, I guess it appeared that way. But over the last couple of years, like my friend Ruth and her dog, me and Billy had grown apart. With all of his increasing needs and little accidents in the house, I was getting rather tired of him. He had also been producing an odor that made him believe his new name was “Billy You Stink”. I really believed it was time for Billy to pass on. But the other day changed my mind. It was about mid-day and Mom let him out in the back yard to “do his business”. She didn’t know the gate was open but Billy knew it and he decided to take himself for a walk. What happened when he was walking himself we will never know, but it was something bad. When he came home a few hours later I knew he was acting strange but I did not know exactly why. When I finally checked him over thoroughly for wounds, I found a three inch long gash in his side along with other small wounds. I cried. It was then that I realized I was a long way off from wanting Billy to leave my side. When I took him to the vet, she was concerned with his wounds but she was even more concerned with his teeth. It turned out that his teeth were in such bad condition, she had to pull many of them. Poor Billy, he went in with one wound and came out with no teeth. Now he has a big, bald spot on his side, seven stitches, bald spots on his front legs, and snaggled teeth. But all in all, he came out smelling a whole lot better and regaining a lot of love. Awwwww……

I'm completely addicted.

Ok, I admit it, I am completely addicted to reading blogs. (no thanks to that little "next blog" button at the top of the page). I keep finding myself sucked into this perpetual cycle of "next blog" read a little, "next blog" read a little ,"next blog" and on and on. It's crazy! I have found some great pages, though. I'm also completely jealous of some of the really "cool" sites. There are tools out there that I don't have! Someday, I'll link some of those sites, if I can stop reading long enough to figure out how to add links!!

It Bears Repeating.

Because this was the funniest/craziest thing I had heard all year...... (except when the mail lady thought Doug said his name was Stud)...... I decided to repost it in this new blog. Above you will see part of the instructions for my new "Vidal Sasoon Professional 1875" model blowdryer. If you'll note: #7 says to never use while sleeping. While this is understandable, my original dilemma was that I wasn't sure how I would know that I was using my blowdryer when I was asleep. That made it hard to comply with instruction #7. My new thoughts are....."How much trouble do you think I would be in if I did break rule #7? You see, if I could blow dry my hair while I was asleep, do you know that would knock off a whole 20 mins. of getting ready time AND I could add that to my sleep time.....now that would be worth it. Hmmm.....I just wonder...."

Some things I learned as a kid.

I learned that.....

Dry dog food tastes great but adults flip out if they catch you eating it.

Cats do not like to be thrown up in the air and if you happen to catch one as its coming down, you'll be sorry.

Batman slippers do not protect your feet from rusty nails and tetanus shots hurt.

You should never trust your brother when he says, "You go first" after he suggested you both jump off the water tank.

When you jump off a really high structure, like a water tank, it hurts your ankles really bad if you don't know how to land right.

You should never run into a room crying "I lost my marbles" even if it is true.