Winter Wonderland

Just checking here...I still live in the land of the Okies, right? Here's why I'm asking....

We're lousy with snow over here! I'm just sayin', we're not supposed to have weather like this. It's supposed to be warm. Well, maybe not Florida warm, but certainly warmer than 15 for the high! We started with thunderstorms at 35 degrees on Wednesday, and it went downhill from there! Freezing rain, then sleet, then snow, then sleet again (and what exactly is the difference between sleet and freezing rain? One freezes in the couds and the other on the way down? Either way, I'm not a fan).We've got a bunch of snow over a layer of ice. Yuck! I'm not sure what the official tally is, but we're looking at about 6 inches around our house with drifts of 2 ft.! Once again, this is OK, we're not prepared for such nonsense! The whole city shut down yesterday and today. Chris and I needed some food last night, so we ventured out to Target, and it was us and like 4 other people. Holy Cow! Chris has been working from home, and my classes were postponed 'til next week. They even closed the Airport and the freeways. When you only have 15 snowplows for a city this size...you're in trouble!

The puppies adore the snow! They hate the freezing rain (Scoob wouldn't go outside in it), but they love the snow once it's on the ground. They always end up with white faces from plowing it. Chris let them out this morning and kinda forgot they were out there (he's working downstairs, I'm working upstairs). Forty-five minutes later, I hear this, "Uh-oh." When I investigated, what did I find, but two little babies with snoballs in their skirts. Darn Scottie cuts! So, off we went for a warm bath. Silly puppies! They're already dying to go play in it again.

Don't get me wrong, I *love* the snow, but I'm totally getting cabin fever over here. I'm just dying to get out and go do something. And that darned Chris is actually working. Sheesh!

Perfection

We (or more aptly, I) have experienced some serious moments of perfection over the last few days. In a nutshell, they are:

• the puppies



• the Library



• mashed potatoes



• Christmas

When we got home from San Diego, the puppies were waiting for us at home. Bob went to the kennel, picked them up, and brought them to our house. I thought that was super nice of her. We missed them so much. In the evenings, the little girl just doesn't stop cuddling us, even when we go to bed, so it was weird hanging out and not having them. Scooby gave Chris a serious what-for when we got home. It was just adorable. Since we've been home, I have a new 1.5 feet tall shadow. Scooby follows me everywhere. Guess he wants to make sure we're not leaving him again. Although, they got some serious doggie play-time at the kennel. He seriously enjoys being the alpha!

While we were still gone, I mandated that we were getting library cards. I'd had one before, but kept misplacing it, plus it was under my maiden name. And chris hadn't ever had one. Crazy, huh? So, one of our we're-back-in-town-and-running-around errands was to the library. I hadn't been to the new one before. Holy cow! It's awesome. Chris was totally impressed. He wasn't impressed the the selection of DVDs or CDs, though. I told him, "What did you expect? It's not like it's Blockbuster!" I found that highly amusing. I was seriosly blissful in the library. Surrounded by all of these books....that are free!! I've been feeling guilty about all of the reading material I buy lately, and not only did this relieve some of that guilt, but I love the library! All that opportunity to learn and expand! Yay!! I don't think Chris checked anything out, but I did! here's the list:

• The Death of Che Guevara (it's fiction) by Jay Cantor



• White Sister by Stephen J. Cannell



• Photoshop Elementxs 3 for dummies



• Careers for Travel Buffs & Other Restless Types by Paul Plawin

I can't wait to finish these and get more!

We had Thanksgiving with my mom on Sunday. I was the official maker of the mashed potatoes, and if I do say so myself, they were simply perfection! I made a full 10 lbs. for the 3 of us so we'd have plenty of leftovers. We've been eating them constantly. It's fabulous! To go along with our potatoes, of course we had gravy. Our Target sells Boston Market gravy that has actual pan drippings in it, and it is sooooooooooo good. I'm never making gravy again!

Christmas has hit! And I am overly excited about it! We have 2 trees up, and I'm probably putting up a third. We're putting up the outside lights in stages, and we're getting presents together to send to family. And I'm loving every minute of it. Last night we sat and watched tv with only the Christmas tree on. Pure bliss.

So like my t-shirt says....Life Is Good!

right here.....

in San Diego! Well...on our way home, actually. We spent Thanksgiving on Coronado Island. It was awesome! We spent part of 3 different days at the beach! We got tan over Turkey day and didn't go to Mexico! We could've gone today too, if we'd planned better. So, we settled for a beach-side lunch. Not bad for the day after Thanksgiving! Actually, we had T-day dinner somewhat beach-side. We went to Sheerwater at the Hotel Del. It was fabulous! Just a few feet from the ocean and eating outside! Can't get much better! we also went to Point Loma/Cabrillo National Monument, the Midway Aircraft carrier, the Maritime Museum, Seaport Village, Horton Plaza, and of course.......Sea World and the world famous San Diego Zoo (plus various and sundry things on the island like At in the Park). We just had the best time! I'l definitely share pictures soo. I think I'll have some editing to do, as there was a spot on my camera I couldn't get rid of!

I'm just sayin'.....

I just love this picture! Last night, we went to the Oklahoma Aquarium for an EDS reception. I guess it was to say "howdy" to the new employees and a thanks for working so hard during the transition. They even brought roses for a couple of guys' wives. Apparantly, most of the people in their group left, and the two of them have been working 100+ hour weeks. Sure glad that's not us! That's one dozen roses I could do without!

The reception was nice. I'm trying not to be a Frasier about it. See, there's this one episode of Frasier where he takes his girlfriend to Belize for the weekend and Niles and Martin find out about it and go along. Frasier ends up having the worst time, but it's more because he's a grumpy-bear and looks at everything totally negatively. So, if you ever hear me say, "I'm trying not to be a Frasier about it," that's what I'm referring to. Anyway, if I were going to be a Frasier about it, here's what I'd say:

• the food was OK. It was supposed to be barbecue, but the only thing I really liked were the sausages. Holy yum!



• speaking of the food....my dessert had grill marks on it. I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be a cobbler of some sort, but the grill marks and the taste kept me away from it.



• there was an open bar for the first hour...except if you wanted an import beer. Then it was $4. How is that an open bar? And, how is Shiner, which (if I'm not mistaken is a TEXAS beer) an import? So, we drank Bud Light. But hey...it was free, so who's complaining?



• So-and-So the Magnificent performed after dinner. It was bandied about that he should be called So-and-So the Mediocre 'cuz he wouldn't entertain a group of 4th graders. I think he just tried too hard. So-and-So necessitated another beer (with 3 minutes to go in that first hour)



• The glasses of water they served had a decidedly fishy taste to them. It was the worst water I've ever tasted. I felt like a European of the middle ages - drinking beer 'cuz the water would kill you!



• it was like 9,000 degrees in the place. Chris' boss wondered if she was having her own personal summer. I told her that if she was, then our parents' quest for grandkids was in serious trouble, as I was having my own too!



• We were told we could stay at the aquarium 'til 9:30, but most people got out of there as fast as possible and they started shutting the exhibit lights off (I mean all of them) at 9:00. What the heck?



• We tried to go to one of our fave restaurants for some chips and salsa afterwards (it's basically next door), and they close at 9 Mon-Thurs. What? Are you kidding me? We just wanted sit at the bar, share a mango margarita (anoyone contemplating visiting us, that alone is worth the visit to Tulsa) and snack on some of the best chips and salsa in town and they were closed! Seriously. I didn't know we lived in the sticks! (but that doesn't really have anything to do with the reception!)

Like I said, though, I wouldn't want to be a Frasier about it. Really, though, we had a nice time sitting with Chris' boss and co-workers. And free entry to the aquarium was a definite bonus. It usually costs us like $30 to go! And, apparantly I shoot much better photographs after 3 beers. Who knew? I'll leave with a couple more pics.
 

It's been awhile

I think this is the longest I've gone without posting anything. I've just been kind of bored with myself. Actually, I've logged on several times to start a post, but every time, I get side-tracked and don't end up posting. I got an email the other day admonishing me for my blog slacking, so here I am (this is all because of you Dee)!

So, what have we been up to in the last bajillion years? Lots! We've been doing tons of stuff around the house, with lots of decorating being done this week. Bob and Mary came over and helped me whip this place into shape. Man, it's amazing the things you see when you look at them through a fresh pair of eyes! I think the last time I posted was about a month ago here's what we've been up to since then:

• decorated the house for Halloween/Fall



• I got a new BIG client



• Bob & I went to Dallas - well, not Dallas so much as Ikea in Frisco



• Chris put together a ton of furniture



• Tulsa's Oktoberfest



• we decided on a whim to go to San Diego for Thanksgiving



• the puppies dressed up for Halloween & helped pass out candy (they hated every minute of it)



• Chris turned 29 (Nov. 2)



• Chris got a 65 in. tv for his birthday (and it was too big for the living room, so he exchanged it for a top of the line 57 in.)



• I got a new haza-gaza wide-format printer and LOVE it!

If anyone's interested, I've been making a scrapbook of Oct. I took a picture every day of the month and then making a 6x8 scrapbook of it. You can see it at 2 Peas in a Bucket. Click on the thumbnails to see larger pics and read the journaling.

Just one of those days

Today should be a Monday for me. It's been rainy and gloomy and Seattle-like all day and I've been fighting a headache all day and I've wanted to climb in bed and cuddle a puppy all day. Mimi's been sick. Today is the third day with several times today. Dog up-chuck is gross and quite often yellow. But, the good news is it hasn't been chunky! I have her a Pepto, (the pill variety, just try to imagine what a mess giving the liquid to a dog would be. blech!)and now she's alternating between curling up in her bed and my lap. Poor little baby.

I got the Frommer's newsletter today and got all excited because the had all of these Thanksgiving travel deals and we wanted to take a trip over the day of the Turkeys. Only, we live in the middle of nowhere, and the You-Live-In-The-Middle-Of-Nowhere-And-Have-To-Pay-Extra add-ons are making the trips not so cheap. Bummer. I let myself get excited about adding a new country to my list this year.

The past few days have been great, though. Chris and I are getting a lot done around the house, and that feels good. Less and less boxes every week makes Jamie a happy girl. And Chris too. Well, a happy boy, anyway. It's hard when you're not home much, and we haven't really been lately. The last 3 Saturdays I've been gone all day! Anyway, we got a ton done this weekend (even with me being gone). We worked on my scrapbook room during Monday Night Football, and we've gotten it to the point where I actually know where stuff is (the stuff I've found, anyway). So, I'm happy to report I've started working on my Layout A Days. It's a challenge @ 2Peas (my scrapbooking mecca) where you make some sort of a layout every single day. Just a fun thing to challenge yourself.I haven't done very well since the move, but I'm starting to get back into it, and I'm doing a monthly album where I take a pic every day and scrap it. The one up above I did today, and the pumpkin one I did yesterday.

Saturday, mom and I cropped at Scraphappy's all day. It was their Crop for the Cure event and we  had a blast! Mom won a Brighton Breast Cancer Awareness bracelet that I love, and I won a free massage. Way to keep the prize winning in the family, huh? My dear friend from high school, Tara, was up for an event and came by the store when she was done and hung out. Then she came over to my house for a while and finally went over to Bob's to spend the night (we don't have the guest bed up yet and she wasn't loving the prospect of our couch, LOL!).

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Rachel and her baby, Alyssa. Afterwards, we headed over to the Pumpkin Town pumpkin patch, and I took like 300 pictures of them (mostly of Alyssa, but I got some good ones of mom and baby too). That was a wonderful feeling. I'd been wanting to go to the PP for pics for a long time, but knew the puppies wouldn't cooperate. And, I'd been disappointed with many of my "photo shoot" pics of Alyssa thus far. But this time, I came away totally happy. I can't wait for Rachel to see all of them! Tonight's a Pampered Chef party at her house. Shhhh......don't tell Chris.

Mimi! Don't Kill Turtles!

So, we're settling into everyday life in the new house. We're still missing some everyday items, but we're settling. This morning, I had to dig through a box to find the thermometer, as Chris thought he was running a fever. He wasn't, he was sleeping in his robe under the sheet and two blankets, so he was hot. The puppies LOVE the backyard. Yesterday, I was looking out the window and saw Mimi pawing at the ground ferociously. When she looked up, she had something yellow in her mouth. I decided investigation was necessary. When she saw me coming, she dropped it and ran. Turns out it was a turtle. Eeeeeeewwww!!! Later, I noticed she had turtle guts in her beard. Once again....eeeewwwwww!!! But, the turtle was gone when I went back outside later. Guess it wasn't dead after all. Nevertheless, she was sternly admonished, "Mimi! Don't kill turtles!" Kinda cracked me up when I did it.

Chris had oral surgery on Friday. He had an impacted wisdom tooth removed. It was actually at an angle, so it was pressing up against the tooth next to it. It mostly didn't hurt, but it was a good thing to get it out of there! So, we went Fri. morning to his appointment. We were early. The doctor was not. We waited for like 30-45 minutes before they called him in. Then, I'd barely gotten started reading my book when I got a text message from Chris. He was done already. About 15 minutes, that's it! They didn't let me come back to get him for another 10 or so, but still, that was quick. Plus, they let him keep the tooth. That was the first question I asked. Yes, even before I asked how he was. But, yeah, they let him keep it. But the gory part is, they didn't even clean it up at all. I mean AT ALL! There's still gum attached to it, and they just wrapped it up in a paper towel, so when he opened it up to show me, there was all this wet blood around it. I don't usually have a queasy tummy, but that came out of my husband, so yuck! Chris hasn't been the best patient in the world. He's making me crazy. He's not doing all of the mouth rinsing (salt water...blech, but still) and teeth brushing that he's supposed to, and he went to an Alice in Chains concert Saturday night. Not the smartest move ever. (Let's not discuss whose idea the concert was. But, in my defense, there was no mouth surgery yet when I suggested it, and then I didn't know until after the mouth surgery was scheduled that the tickets had been purchased) Don't even think I went. He went with one of his friends. I'll be glad when he gets back to 100%.