I love GSN

I never really understood the point of GSN....until now. I mean, really, who wants to watch re-runs of people screaming, "No Whammies"? But, I've finally realized the beauty of GSN. On July 11, they started airing The Amazing Race, from the VERY beginning. The first episode of Season 1. And they're showing all of them....in a row! It's awesome! One episode per night. Chris and I are in heaven. They had a casting call here, and he refused to go with me. Stinker. Says he likes watching it. I'm DYING to be on it. Mark my word.....one day. But for now, I'll be content watching reruns...a new one every night. Rockin'! Thank goodness for Tivo!!!

By the way, do you think Phil's had work done? Not that it really matters, 'cuz, why not? But what do you think? Check out his eyes. His lids seemed heavier in the early seasons. Chris totally disagreed with me at first, but tonight, out of nowhere, he said he thought maybe Phil's eyes looked lighter.

My Son, the Genius

Remember, our children are of the four-legged variety. Nevertheless, my son, Scooby The Magnificent, is a genius! I’ve been taking cough syrup to help me recover from my bout with bronchitis. This cough syrup just so happens to be a narcotic. Cracks me up! Yes, I’m taking narcotics. Who knew a little Codeine tastes so darn bad? Well it does. Ick. I even questioned taking it, it is so bad. Thank goodness for Chris. He comes up with the craziest little tidbits. Who knew a peanut butter chaser would do the trick? Chris did!! His grandmother was a nurse, and when he was little, she would have him eat peanut butter after taking cough syrup to get rid of the taste. I never would have though of this on my own, but boy did it do the trick!

Enter the brilliant Scooby. I had some extra PB on my spoon one night, and thought I’d be a good mom and share. The puppies love PB, so this was a win-win, right? Nope, not for Scooby. Like me, Scooby has allergy problems, and he has to take Benadryl. Instead of using one of those handy-dandy puppy shoot-it-in-their-mouth thingies, he uses a regular spoon. When Scoob caught sight of my spoon with the PB on it, he said, “No Way!” turned around and hightailed it into the other room. Only after he peeked back and saw Mimi going to town did he come back and check it out. It took another couple of times of me sharing my PB spoon with them before he was totally comfy with licking it. I love my genius Scooby!

If you’re ever in the market for a dog, I highly recommend a Scottie. They’re geniuses!!

A special kind of souvenir

I came home from Ukraine with bronchitis. I can't believe it! I've never had bronchitis before, but here I am. I got a little tickle in my throat my last couple of days in Kiev. I was in this internet cafe for a couple of hours my last two nights, and it was like 300 years old with NO ventilation, lots of mustiness/mildew, cig. smoke, and stinky non-deoderant using boys.

By the time I got off the shuttle from JFK into Manhattan (I had to spend the night there and then fly out of Newark the next afternoon...needless to say, I did a little shopping), I was losing my voice. Two days later, it was gone completely. I finally started getting better, but not fast enough, and my chest really hurt.

So, Tuesday night we went to the urgent care place. I told Chris that I wouldn't wait if there were more than 2 people in the waiting room. There wasn't a soul! So, a half an hour later, I've been diagnosed with bronchitis and am sent on my merry way with perscriptions for antibiotics and a cough syrup that's a narcotic. I'm only allowed to take it when I'm at home. Funny, huh? It's amazing how this is taking the energy out of me. I've been lying on the couch for days now and get dizzy if I'm up for too long. The marathon training has had to take a back seat. Thank goodness I have puppies who like to cuddle and a mom and husband who will bring me lunch!!  I've started a new love affair with Panera Bread's (I still call it St. Louis Bread) chicken noodle soup. Mmmmm...yum.

greetings from Ukraine

t nSo, I'm in Ukraine right now, and it's just crazy! I love it! I'd come back in a heartbeat. My mom's friend, Sam, is adopting a child, so I came to help. We spent a couple of days in Kiev, but now we are in a smaller town called Zhytomyr (about 300,000 Kiev is about 7 million...who knew?) where the child is in an orphanage (they call it a baby house...the children stay there until they are three). Kiev is wonderful and I'll be glad to go back there to see some more things and take some more pictures, but I'm really glad we came to Zhytomyr. In Kiev, you see all of the fabulous things of Ukraine, but in Zhtyomyr you see how the people really live. Boy, do you see.

Back in the Saddle

Well, so to speak. I went to a crop Friday night and actually did something! Now, I use the term something lightly. In six hours, I managed to accomplish this two page spread. Mind you, each page is 5x7, so we're not even talking a full 12x12 here!! I'm not sure what takes me so darn long, but boy does it! Oh, and I didn't even finish  the pages! These are for my Circle Journal I'm participating in, and I actually did a matching tag for the sign-in page as well. If I continue to scrap like this, I'll never get any pages done!!!

Saturday, Mom hosted a reception/party celebrating her friends Eric and Brenda who eloped a few weeks ago after dating for years. I am so happy for them! I even made an Orange Chiffon cake, recipe compliments of Rachel. It turned out great! I'd never baked a cake like that before, and I was so darn proud of myself! To celebrate them, I put my scrapbooking skills (and vast supply of SB goodies) to work and made them a sort of collage inside of a 16x20 (or something) frame. It turned out awesome! I was really impressed with myself. I'll post a pic as soon as I can get them off of my mom's camera.

How Do You Spell Relief?

I spell it V-I-S-A. Yep, that's right! I got my package. The building I was scheduled to teach in lost power last night in another one of our famous Okie thunder storms, and they sent me home before I even made it into the building! So, I was able to go with my mom to get the package. I opened it up and took my passport out, and a hand written receipt fell out. Odd. I flipped to the visa pages, and there it was in all it's glory......my visa! I'm so excited and relieved and blessed. A big "Thank you, God," was heard by everyone entering the Post Office as I left. This was a answer to prayers. Oh, and just after that huge thank you, my mom said, "Well........." Um, well what? "Well, was it signed?" Oh, duh! The cause of all my worries. The answer.....nope. No signature whatsoever. Guess they didn't care so very much, huh? Doesn't matter, I'm thrilled! I'm actually going. What a blessing!!!!

Pins, Needles, Baited Breath

Waiting, waiting, waiting. The waiting game continues. Except, the ante has officially been upped. Chris checked the mail yesterday, and what to our wonderous eyes should appear, but a package slip from our friendly postman. Who, I should add, waited until as close to 5:00 as possible to deliver our mail today and ensuring that I could in no way humanly possible make it to the post office to pick it up and therefore would have to wait until today to get it. AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! I know this is the package I am so anxiously awaiting because it says in the sender section, "Consulate." Why, oh why couldn't I mark the "no signature required" box on the return slip? Oh the humanity!

And, the worst part of it is, I have a class today so, it'll be a stretch for me to pick it up. It says on the slip it'll be ready after 9:00, so Mom's going over there to check the situation out and see if she can't pick it up (I signed the slip). If she can, she's calling me IMMEDIATELY to tell me what it all says. I may go stark raving mad if she doesn't! It doesn't matter if we're right in the middle of class, I'm answering the phone. I don't know how I managed to sleep at all last night, but I was actually asleep before 10:00! It's weird, I've been a ball of nerves, but am not really feeling it now when I expect I would.

Updates to follow