Toys

Is it completely wrong to want these?
Nick says it is and I can just imagine how he would react if he came home to find me playing with toys. But, it's not that much worse than video games is it?

3- Day Weekend

Does anyone have any Labor Day weekend plans? Here's a hint at mine.

OMG! There's Willie.

Last Friday, Nick and I got off of work early and headed down to Roanoke Rapids, NC to see Willie Nelson in concert. The venue, was nothing but a field, with a removable stage, but other than the heat it was fabulous. Willie absolutely blew me away and I wasn't the only one. The lady next to me, Joan, kept saying, "I just want to touch him." And we almost could have from our seats. The tickets said the show would start at 5:30, but Willie didn't roll in until about 7:30, so we had a lot of time to kill (drink) before the concert. The first thing that excited me was this.



That's right, all of us high rollers got our own special porta-potty section, not to be defiled by all of those regular lawn people. We had porta-sinks. I've never seen those before and neither had most of the people there apparently, there was a gentleman working at the concert that night whose sole purpose was to say, "the foot peddle, you turn on the water with the foot peddle."

The next exciting thing was free Koozies.

Then Merle Haggard came out.



The couple behind us were big Merle fans, but Joan and I were waiting for the best part.

Ohmigod! There's Willie.



There's Willie with his hand in the air.



I seriously, could have died after this concert and my life would have been complete. No one can do it like Willie can.

New Niece Picture!

Jaywalking, Litter, and Traffic Violations

Schools Back In!

How to Leash Train your Cat

I thought this article was funny and I already know that I won't be taking part. Between the most willful cat ever and the most scared cat ever, I don't think I would get too far. Once, Nick and I were looking for a little entertainment, and put one of our dog's old harnesses on our cat The Sir. Instead of trying to get it out of it, he decided that his best defense would be to play dead. He stood for a moment and then flopped on his side and refused to move. Now that's survival. Nick and were literally rolling on the floor laughing for 20 minutes. We didn't get out much that year. Another cat story. Stop reading now if you can't take anymore. When I was growing up, my parents had a cat, Noodle, who was routinely quarantined because he attacked neighborhood children and the guy living on our couch. Around that time my parents started leash training Noodle and Bon-Bon (the mother of all cats, in more ways than one). It was interesting to say the least, walking a cat on a leash, since they are notoriously skittish and we probably looked pretty strange, thinking we had a cat who could be taught dog behavior. If we had kept it up, the cats might have gotten the hang of it, but the thought that at any moment you could have a scared poo-less cat hanging from the seat of your jeans was none too appealing. They did become "line trained" or we tied them to a tree in the back yard so they could enjoy the great outdoors. That went on until a neighbor cat wandered into the back yard looking for a fight. My mom scooped Noodle up, to save him the embarrassment of being a "line trained" cat and Noodle decided to try to eat my mom's hand. She actually had to have surgery because the infection she got was so big. My parents now have a screened in porch. But walk your cat if you want to. I'll be laughing at you.

Lauren

I finally have some pictures of Lauren.

Kaitlyn's Belly

Pictures of my other niece for the time being. I still don't have pictures of the new one. Her father took her to two specialists to make sure that there was nothing growing in that belly.

Happy Birthday Nick

My Niece

I have another niece. She was born August 14, 2007 around 2:00 PM. Her name is Lauren Neve. Lauren after my father-in-law Lorin and Neve after her other grandfather Nevio. She is 6 lbs. 10 oz. I don't have any pictures yet. I can't wait to meet her.

I'm an Aunt!!!

For the second time. More news to come, hopefully.

Salad Dressing

I don't like a lot of salad dressings. I don't know what it is about them. Can you taste preservatives? Anyway, I found this recipe for Greek dressing last night and Nick and I both like it, but I must warn you, it is very lemony and I used 5 lemons, which only got me to 3/4 of a cup of lemon juice.

Seattle

So, I'm ready to post the pictures sooner than I thought. Nick and I had a wonderful first full day in Seattle. We visited Silver Lake Winery, Columbia Winery, Chateau Ste. Michelle, and Red Hook Brewery.




Then we headed off to the wedding. Megan's wedding was beautiful and fun. I wish we had a picture of their dog Kumo, he was the ring bearer.




Carolyn and I decided we should look at each other longingly in this picture.








We spent a lot of time dancing with the bride.



After the wedding I passed out and Nick and Carolyn took silly pictures of me. I have spared you the worst of them. Apparently, I deserved it for my alcohol-induced behavior.




This is Snoqualmie Falls. Gorgeous isn't it. We met up with my two aunts and my cousin and second cousin here. This is also where Travis proposed to Megan in a beautiful lodge at the top of the falls, not pictured.

On a different note

The drip pan for the air conditioner in our apartment got clogged last Sunday and filled our utility room with water, which leaked back onto our living room carpet. Maintenance fixed the leak on Monday, but ignored the two inches of water in the utility room and our complaints of soaking wet, mildewey carpet. On Tuesday, they sent maintenance back over to check how wet the carpet was and told me the carpet cleaners would pay us a visit on Wednesday or Thursday. Well, it's Monday again, still no carpet cleaners and lots more mildew. So, I think Nick and I are finally ready to buy a house again.

I'm Back

Seattle was beautiful. The wedding was beautiful and the bride was beautiful. I'll post pictures as soon as I get my life back in order.

Rare Olde Times

Melissa and I spent our first, ever Girls Night Out at Rare Olde Times, an Irish Pub not to far from our houses. Our girls night out was a success, but I think Nick was jealous and she completely forgot to tell her boyfriend. I hope he figured it out before I showed up to pick her up. The decor was exactly what I would expect from an Irish Pub and it was comfortable, but a little warm. The wait staff was friendly and helpful. They have live Irish music on Thursday nights and that was a real treat. Melissa and I were the youngest patrons there, except for a few children, until the band started. We decided to have dinner there and only one of us was dissapointed. Melissa ordered the Sheppard's Pie and loved it. I ordered the Irish Dip, which sounded delicious and would have been, if it had been made to the specifications on the menu. Unfortunately, they left off some ingredients on the sandwich and didn't give me any Au Jus dipping sauce, kind of the point of the dip. Oh well, we still had a good time.

Question

Do you let your spoons spoon in the dishwasher?

Today can only get better

See my optimistic attitude. I've been working on it. I couldn't fall asleep last night and then had one of those restless nights where I couldn't figure out if my dreams were dreams or just thinking. Then I woke up at 5 AM and couldn't stop thinking that Nick was soaking one of my baking sheets in the sink and they can't soak, cause they fill with water and explode in the oven. So, I had to go downstairs to check, and he wasn't soaking it, cause he also knows they will explode if we soak them. So much for having a little faith in him. Then I just laid in bed thinking some more. I guess I finally went to sleep because I woke up to Daisy throwing up in her bed. I cleaned her bed and got ready for work, but forgot to do half of the stuff I do to get ready for work and forgot my lunch. Once I hit the cobblestone road on my way to work I had this weird feeling that I wasn't wearing my bra, thankfully I am, I can't imagine explaining that to my boss. I am groggy and really need to concentrate, but my mind keeps wandering and mulling and thinking about stuff that I really shouldn't be mulling over. Stuff that I can't change now, a lot of it stuff that happened years ago. Anyway, so today can only get better, I hope.

Nick's B-day

What the heck do I get Nick for his birthday? I mean I know him better than I know anyone, I know all of interests, but still, I have no idea what to get him. I've been thinking I could give him a free weekend of nothing but video games and watching the history channel and drinking beer, but that's a little cheap and way too easy.