My Mind Boggle

Moving on to a new blog

2010-11-16T13:09:00.001-08:00

I had lost my password for this blog and so I got irritated and quit blogging for a while. A year has past and I moved on to our new blog:

www.wheelsunderourfeet.com

We will be porting this site over to our new site sometime soon. Please join us there. Thanks!

Doughnuts and superheroes and weddings Oh MY!

2009-11-03T12:44:00.000-08:00

So Bill and I decided to officially take the plunge. We have discussed it for quite some time and it was time. We decided that we wanted something small and fun. We wanted something very unique, so as we sat one night discussing ideas Bill says, “Hey… what about Voodoo Doughnuts?” A few years ago Lex (the step-daughter) had introduced us to this bizarre hippy place. The doughnuts are tasty and often offensive which suits me just fine. From the Triple Chocolate Penetration (Chocolate Cake donut with chocolate icing and Cocoa Puffs on top) to the Dirty Old Bastard (DOB for short, A raised donut with chocolate icing, sprinkled with Oreo pieces and drizzled with peanut butter) they are known for some interesting and quite tasty items. Later we saw a special on doughnuts on the Travel channel and it mentioned that they perform wedding ceremonies. As soon as Bill mentioned it, it was on. This would be the perfect venue for our fun and funky style.

The next item would be date. It was the beginning of October and I did not want to get married too close to Christmas or Thanksgiving (or my birthday) and waiting till next year would just be annoying. I am not a bride that wants to plan my wedding for an extended period. So having the venue selected Halloween was the next obvious choice. I was concerned that they might be booked up since it is VOODOO and Halloween but I lucked out and they had an opening (considering you make reservations for very short periods of time they can perform many weddings each day, they had 5 planned for this date).

I did not want to spend much on the wedding and so I had to start looking for the perfect outfits. While looking for a T-shirt tux for Bill I stumbled across a website that has shirts with pretty much anything you would want printed on them, including a wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses. My mother is a wedding consultant (or was) and so growing up I attended so many weddings that I can’t even begin to remember half of them. I was responsible for all manner of tasks from hanging pew bows (that terms still makes me giggle) to holding up the bride’s dress so the fan could blow under and keep her from sweating off all her make-up. I digress, in the time I spent I came up with a theory. The only 2 requirements I have for a wedding (other then obviously a groom and officiant) are a veil and a bouquet. Bridesmaids are over-rated (as I discovered in my FIRST wedding) groomsman can be handy but not necessary. For the bride you have to have a veil… otherwise how do you know who the bride is and flowers… I find are always necessary. ALWAYS. I don’t generally even need a wedding as an excuse. Hey it’s Tuesday, time for flowers.

Flowers would be easy but where would I find a veil? The dress (shirt) was purchased so now I just needed the veil. While in Florida last year for my younger brother’s wedding Bill and I spent several days at Disney World. While there we saw lots of honeymooners wearing Mickey Mouse Top Hat and Minnie Mouse Wedding Veil. This was perfect for us since we were thinking of Disney World for our honeymoon. I popped online and found them and that takes care of the veil.

Now who could come? Part of the reason we planned on having the wedding in Portland (even before we figured out Voodoo Doughnuts) was because Lex lives there and this would be a difficult time of the year for her to get away from school. Now several months ago Lex had asked Bill if she could wear a Spiderman costume to our wedding (When we got married, I guess she was ready before we were) and of course we (not planning to have a wedding) said yes. Hehe. Well it’s Halloween! This is just turning out to be perfect at every turn! We have spent some good quality time with a few of Lex’s friends and so we were happy to invite them to come to the wedding and partake of doughnuts (in their superhero costumes). I also invited pretty much anyone I thought might come and a bunch of people I really didn’t expect to come but I would have been happy if they had. My older brother and his roommate (my former roommate) and my friend Tanya, who was our photographer, all drove down for the festivities.

The ceremony lasted about 5 mins. It actually might not have even been that long, but it was perfect for us. The Voodoo spirits felt that Bill and I were perfect for each other (and who could really agree with that since we were both tickled to be having our wedding at a DOUGHNUT shop. LMAO

We had doughnuts and coffee for everyone and then headed over to Old Town Pizza (a haunted pizzeria that Bill loved when he went to Reed) and cut the sugar with a little grease.

As we were finishing our meal the sun started to peek out. I was pleased and dragged Lex, Flint, and Bill to the Rhododendron Gardens across from the college and we took lots of pictures. We had a blast and got some fun shots and some really pretty trees. There is a little pond there that had several types of ducks and a big nosed goose. The golf course also had dozens of Canadian geese. I could not have asked for a better time. It was lovely and fun and tasty. It was everything we could have hoped for and doughnuts too.

Bill says that now we can have doughnuts every Halloween for our anniversary. I just love an excuse to eat doughnuts. Don’t you?

Island Adventure Pt. 2

2009-09-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

This is where I met Clint. My new love (sorry honey). Clint is a fluff-ball of a cat. I am so animal starved right now. With Bear and Shadow passing away, Pepper living with Adam and Biff off to his happy new home I have been without daily access to an animal for over a year (well unless you consider Bill… he is quite fuzzy!) I was sitting at the nice table reading my book and breathing in the fresh air, looking out over a lake in the middle of the island away from humans. I hear the pitter patter of little feet. For those of you with children this means something different or so I hear. I look over and coming up the stairs is my new friend. I immediately drop my book and sit on the deck. Clint being a B&B cat knows immediately he has found a new sucker. It’s like when a car salesman sees a woman alone carrying a $2000 purse. Heh

Clint and I spent the rest of the afternoon becoming acquainted. Bill was sweet enough to grab the camera and so I got some lovely pictures of the little beast. After my special time with the kitty Bill and I headed off to dinner. There were a couple of restaurants suggested by the owner of the B&B and so we went off to find something interesting. We ended up at this tiny little place called… (time to google) The Coho Restaurant http://www.cohorestaurant.com/ it is a tiny little 8 table place and we were lucky to get in as someone had cancelled their reservations. It is a little more expensive than we generally prefer but we were being decadent. We ordered Beghrir which is Moroccan Sourdough Crepes served with Roasted Anaheim Peppers & Feta Salad, Hummus, Mixed Olives & Spiced Honey. The spiced honey really gets your attention. It appears their menu changes frequently which would be good since they try to use mostly locally grown foods. Bill had the Beef tenderloin with a chimichurri sauce. I had never had duck before so I ordered a duck that was cooked with some type of apple/cranberry sauce. For dessert we had a Flourless Chocolate Torte for the serious chocolate lover – flourless chocolate cake veiled in a dark chocolate ganache. It was fabulous. After dinner we decided to drive down by the water and get some pictures on our way back to the B&B. Once we arrived back the other guests had already arrived and taken to their rooms so Bill and I decided it was time to splash into our private hot tub. We had been warned of “aggressive deer” by the owner but did not see any that evening. (we had seen one earlier when I was becoming acquainted with Clint.) We enjoyed the tub with a background in the trees and a cloudless sky. Once we were shriveled from water saturation we headed in. I was relaxing on the bed checking email and Bill was reading blogs on his phone when we hear a knock at the door… not the inside door but the door to the deck. Thinking we might discover some aggressive dear I hop out of bed and turn the deck light on. Outside the door looking very persistent that it was time to be loved was Faith, another resident kitty. I am of course not going to turn away a lovely kitty so I opened the door and she prances in and hops on the bed. Faith and I get to know one another but Bill is becoming annoyed because he wants to go to bed. So I put Faith back out the door and we crash.

In the morning the owner (you will notice my pathetic attempt at remembering the owners name but I can tell you all of the animals names… I am sad) tells me that Faith is not usually as forthcoming as Clint with new people and he seemed impressed. After a nice breakfast of waffles, fruit and sausage we sat around talking with the owner for a while. As we are talking there is a new furry face waiting by the door. Obadiah, is the resident dog. He is a rescue dog and is not generally friendly with guests but Obbie takes immediately to me and Bill comes over to say Hi. He can’t help it when it’s a puppy. Heh

We say good bye to the owner and all the animals and head off. Last year a new store opened in the Bellevue Mall called Pelindaba Lavender, they sell all manner of lavender goodies from lavender chocolates, lavender honey, lavender bath salts, lavender hand soap, etc. It is all grown locally at the farm on Friday Harbor so Bill and I drove out to see the farm and gift shop. It was very cool walking through the fields but would have been even better if they had been blooming. We noticed that the lavender looks a lot like rosemary. I have not discovered if they are similar species of plant but they sure do look similar.

We headed back towards the ferry dock at noon hoping to catch the 1pm ferry and thinking that an hour ahead of time should be good since 35 mins would have done it on the way over. We arrive about 10 mins till 12 and we are Stand-by number 5. UGH! I do not like how much waiting there is for ferries. Luckily we could park the jeep and walk over and have lunch while we waited. We went back to the place we had had clams and fish the day before because we needed something fairly fast. It was quite tasty again and then we headed back to the jeep. We played the game again… okay there is another mini cooper (is it the same one we saw on Saturday?) Oh no look at that Fire truck….

The final count came and they were able to not only load 5 but about 35. I guess they must have squeezed them in cracks to get them on. Bill set off with his camera again and this time being genius I brought a jacket. So I picked a nice spot on the north side of the boat which I was told is the best view. I was sitting there enjoying the air when a group came and sat next to me. We started talking and they were from eastern Washington and we struck up a conversation about everything from “Talk like a pirate day” to appliance repair (their line of work). We had a nice chat and all laughed at the Volvos owners being called to shut off their alarms. Both groups had heard the same thing on the way TO the island even though we were on separate ferries. All 3 instances were Silver Volvos. So if you own a silver Volvo remember… Don’t put your alarm on when you are on the ferry. It will just go off every time the boat rocks.

I said good bye to my new friends and Bill and I headed down to the jeep. We drove down I-5 and stopped at the RV Liquidation they were having near one of the casinos. Decided it would be a good place to have dinner and then we headed home. It was really a lovely weekend and a nice “hop in the jeep and go” times. We have been so spontaneous this summer. I do love being spontaneous but I always forget something important. LOL I swear I am going to get a bag and put all necessary items in it and hide it in the jeep so I will have backup for when I forget my toothbrush, tank top, or hair ties.

If you ever make it out to Friday Harbor stop in at the Inn to the Woods. It is absolutely beautiful and of course has lovely kitties that make the stay even better. Friday Harbor is a beautiful area. If you live in or around Seattle and are looking for a nice weekend get away, Go!

Island Adventure Pt. 1

2009-09-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

So Labor Day weekend Bill and I wanted to take a little road trip. We have been getting hitch-itch in spite of the fact we don’t have anything to hitch. Friday afternoon I started to feel ill. Just a little sore throat so I thought maybe my allergies were worse. Saturday morning about 4 am I woke up and felt like I couldn’t breath. I took 2 ibuprofen and sat there in the dark for a bit before I realized I should probably go to the doctor since it felt like someone was sliding a knife down my throat every time I swallowed. I woke Bill up and told him I needed to go to the urgent care. I hate hospitals and so after spending so much time in ERs this year I determined I would much rather go to the Urgent Care then the ER. It would also be cheaper. So we load ourselves in the jeep with Kindles and DS and go prepared to kill a few hours. Bill “knows” where the Urgent Care is and so I didn’t stop and try to get an address. He had taken Adam there years ago for some reason or another, so off we go to Issaquah. We arrive in Issaquah and where Bill now “thinks” the urgent care should be… nope not there it’s an ER. I am still not in that much pain so I am determined to go to the urgent care instead. I grab my phone and look up the address. I put the address in Cher (our jeep’s gps) and off we go a few miles back the way we came. We arrive and Bill drops me off at the door, but hmmmm it looks a little dark and there are no cars in the parking lot. I go inside and walk to the area that has signs that say Urgent Care there is a sign “We have moved” and an address. I walk back outside (did I mention it is raining?) and back to the Jeep which bill has now parked. We get back in and give Cher the new address. She then directs us back a mile in the direction we had just come from the ER. Finally we found it and find out they had moved only a week or 2 before. Luckily there is no one in the waiting room when we arrive. I check in and fill out the pages of paperwork (why don’t they just create a friggin database? SERIOUSLY) and wait for the dr. The ibuprofen has done its job and the swelling has gone down somewhat so I have less fear of suffocation. The nurse calls me back after only 20 mins and I go sit while the nurse takes my vitals and asks why I am there. Nurses really do do all the work don’t they? Shortly after the doctor comes in, looks at my throat and in my ears and gives me 2 prescriptions but I am told not to use them unless I get worse (which I did but then I got better). I am not going to die even though I still feel the imaginary knife slicing my throat open every time I swallow.

We go home and sleep till noon having decided not to bother going out so that I can stay home and rest. So basically Labor Day weekend sucked. It was rainy and blah and I was blah.

The Friday afternoon after Labor Day I was feeling much better. On our way home from work Bill asks what I want to do for the weekend. We him and haw and Bill jokingly says “Let’s go to the beach”. Unlike Labor Day weekend this particular weekend was supposed to be lovely. 70s and sunny you don’t get that much in Washington in September. I say “sure let’s go.” Bill then tries to determine if I am serious, which I am. We get home determined to go somewhere. We are thinking about going to Long Beach, Washington and so I hop on the computer and look to see if there are events there that weekend. There was a old car show and so I check the hotel room prices to see how much it will effect it. The last time we stayed in Long Beach we stayed at a nice little Super 8 only a block from the beach. It was summer time and so we did not bawk when it cost $78. I called and the best room rate was $120. EEK! This is not a ritzy area. It is a small backwoods beach on the west coast or Washington not South Beach, Florida! We decided to go home and look at other options. Once we arrived home I pulled out a few magazines I had picked up this summer about “Staycations” I really love that term and it is something my family was famous for. I can not even tell you all the little mini-vacations we went on. Just get in the car and see where you end up.

The first one I flipped through was the Sunset Magazines Great Northwest Escapes. They had a listing with lots of different islands in San Juan County. We read a little about Friday Harbor and decided that it sounded interesting. I found it fascinating that Bill had never been to the San Juans even though he has lived here over 20 years. We decided to wait and drive up in the morning on Saturday to save money on a hotel. We had planned to catch the 8:15 ferry and then we would have the whole weekend to explore the island. We headed out for dinner because we didn’t want to buy anything that would go bad while we were gone and we were feeling lazy. After dinner Bill kept saying his foot hurt. He had thought maybe he had a bug bite or something and when I had looked at it before we left the house it was a little pink and a tiny bit of swelling so we didn’t worry about it. We arrived home about 9pm and when Bill took off his shoe I gasped. It was red and swollen and looked like he had poured boiling water over it, covered in blisters and just all around ugly. So I sigh, grab my keys and back to the Urgent Care we go. After waiting about 40 mins they took him back. He had gone walking at lunch and somehow had gotten into so poison sumac. I had never heard of it. The doctor gave him a prescription for a steroid to take and one for an antihistamine. I was very glad we had not left for the island that night.

We did not get home until late and so we did not pack. Also Bill wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to go and so we decided to play it by ear. Going to bed late means getting up late, I woke up and decided to relax until Bill woke up. When he finally came to we discussed whether we wanted to go. Bill said yes and I bound out of bed throwing things into the overnight bag. I hadn’t wanted him to think I would be sorely disappointed if we stayed home but I think I would have. It was almost 8 and if we hurried we should be able to make it to the ferry place 30 minutes before which the website said would be plenty of time. They lie. LOL We arrived about 35 minutes early and I relaxed. With a 2-hour drive through Seattle you never can tell if it will turn into a 5 hour drive. We paid for our ferry ride ($63 which shocked us a little but was fine) and I was happy to discover you only pay on the way off the main land. That way if you run out of money while you are there you can still get home. J. This did make me wonder when I noticed cars for sale on the island. You could walk on for much cheaper than you could drive on so do cars that are sold on the island have to pay a ferry fee? Once we had our ticket we drove up to get in line. The woman says, “Well you are #1 for our Stand-by.” Bill and I were shocked. Will we make it to the island? If not the next ferry doesn’t leave for over 3 hours. This could put a remarkable dent in our Island Adventure. We sat there waiting for the ferry to arrive and to learn our fate. We spoke with one of the ladies that works there while we waited and she said there would be a good chance we would make it on. So we bided our time reading books we had brought with us and watching the clock. The ferry arrived and the cars unloaded. I am continuously amazed at how many cars and trucks, RVs and semis they can fit on those things. Line after line of cars began loading. We sat and played the, “how many small cars vs. big cars are there?” game. Oh Look! A mini-cooper. Oh and a Prius! Uh Oh there goes a 5er (Heavy Duty Truck pulling a 5th wheel RV). It is really not a fun game when the fate of your day lies in how many big SUVs there are in front of us.

Finally the last line starts and we watch as they get the vehicles situated on-board waiting for the call to determine if we would be driving back into Anacortes for those berries at the little Farm Stand I refused to stop at on our way through. The traffic director is standing in front of the jeep rocking the cone back and forth waiting for word. Magic to our ears we hear, “Five”. The woman smiles at us and moves the cone beckoning us forth to our fun in the sun.

Once onboard we vacated the vehicle to go up on the deck. It was a little chill and so I went inside and sat by a window, watching Bill run from bow to the stern and back taking pictures and burning up gig on the camera. The trip is quite lovely. You got a great view of Mount Baker (or apparently as the locals call it “Mount Tammy Faye Baker”) and the islands that make up San Juan County. Finally we arrived at Friday Harbor. Being nearly the last vehicle on we knew we had time. So we sat and patiently waited just happy that we weren’t still on the other side of the water. Once we knew we were moving we figured we had better find lunch. We pulled off the ferry and mad our way up the one street through the “town” and on our left saw a sign for a visitor center. Knowing we had to find somewhere to stay before the last ferry headed back to the main land in case it was sold out we found a parking space and walked over to grab some info. As soon as we had reached land we saw a nice little restaurant that had mostly outdoor seating and claimed to have “Great Seafood” Fried pretty much anything. Clams, scallops, fish, etc. and if you don’t like seafood there were hamburgers and chicken too. The place looked oddly familiar which is funny because I am 100% certain I had never been on this particular island before. So after grabbing some info we headed over. Bill ordered fried clams and I ordered the fish sandwich. It was fabulous. As I was going through the info we had picked up at the town hall area it had a little ad for the restaurant we were sitting in, it said, “As seen on Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels”. Of course this would be why some strange place looked familiar. Grin.

Bill started going through hotels and B&Bs to find us a place to stay. He called the only chain hotel on the island and they were booked except for a Master suite and we didn’t want to pay as much for a master suite at a name brand then we could at a nice B&B. I have always wanted to stay in a B&B. The only thing that really has put me off is sharing a bathroom. If I need to go in the middle of the night I don’t want to have to find clothes. So Bill looked at the list of B&Bs listed and knowing how funny I am about names he suggested the “Inn to the Woods” I giggled and he decided to give them a call. They had one room left but it was their biggest room that, dreadfully had it’s own private deck and hot tub. How horrible for us. Of course it was not much more expensive than the master suite at the brand hotel so Bill booked it. It did cost more than we had preferred to spend but we were only staying one night instead of the 3 night we would have if we had gone out on Labor Day weekend. The room would not be ready until after 3pm so we decided to go “get lost” we figured being on an island there wouldn’t be much to getting lost. We were surprised at how lost you could actually get though. Grin

We drove around about 1/3 of the island looking at the beaches (well they call them beaches but being from Florida I have to disagree) and drove through one of the County Parks. We drove a big wide circle and ended back at the B&B about 3:30. The man that owns the place showed us our room and I changed out of my shirt that had gotten a little sweaty walking around up and down a few of the hills. We went and sat on the main deck and took our books to kill time before dinner.

This would be where I would meet my new friend, Clint. More soon...

For pictures from the weekend check here: www.twotwistedlimes.smugmug.com

Retail Therapy

2009-09-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we discovered we had a gift card that had to be used by the end of the month. Lately we have been stimulating the economy (GPS, Kindle, Camera) and we really don’t NEED anything (not that we needed all of that LOL) so whenever we go to Frys Bill get’s this glazed look when he stops by the HDTV that is generally running the latest Pirates movie. The glazed look is not entirely for the buxom beauties on the screen but is also for the HD detail OF the Buxom beauties. Hehe. We had discussed purchasing a Blu-ray player before but since we do not have an HD TV it didn’t make any sense. We were determined (apparently not determined enough) to wait till our current TV set died before purchasing a new HDTV. Well we decided that it couldn’t hurt to use our gift card as part of the payment for the purchase a Blu-ray player. Since the price difference between blu-ray players and a PS3 are not much difference with the current drop in prices and the PS3 is a multi-tasker we went to Frys on Friday evening and picked on up. Now in the past my first movie in each new type of media has been Little Mermaid. It was my first DVD and it was my first Digital purchase. So I was hoping to grab it but low and behold Disney being the hording bastards they are, Little Mermaid is not currently available. So we pick up the next best thing Cars. We didn’t really know if there would be any difference with our current TV and so we also bought a live human movie just in case (Point of No Return). So we go home (it’s now after 10pm) and hook up the new player. We realize as we are reading that the PS3 does not come with a HDMI cable. So Bill goes online looking at things and discovers that the TV we have will make no difference at all with a HD player. He is very disappointed and I have to admit it did take the “cool” out of having a new toy. Grin So we went to bed that night a little disappointed.

Off topic somewhat: Bill and I listen to a morning radio show each day on the way to work and while we get ready. Several mornings each week there is an ad from a store called Video Only. The basic skit is a woman that has looked up the best TVs and now is ready to buy. She talks about how she is going to go from store to store checking prices. The guy says “Well you should go to Video Only they have the lowest prices.” Then the jingle pops on and says “Go to Video Only or You’ll be sorry.” The ad has begun to have a life of it’s own in our house. After the fourth or fifth week of hearing the same ad I groaned and said to Bill, “Why does this woman need to buy a TV again… didn’t she get one last week?” I went on saying this every time I heard the commercial. Finally Bill decides she must be buying them to family members too. Now we have a running joke going on about who the TV might be for this week. Since it runs nearly every week we have now gone on to obscure friends and very far reaching family. Grin

Back on topic: So Bill having been brain washed by the constant deluge of Video Only commercials decides to pop on their website and take a look at their ad. They say they have the best prices around and so I went through and tried matching TVs listing on their sales flier with TVs on Amazon. Unfortunately they are smart and do not post TV models in their ads so it became fairly difficult to match price points. However, We did match up 2 brands where the prices listed on the ad were less then any of the TVs made for that brand listed online so we determined they probably did have decent prices. Now remember we have a TV that works just fine but is not HD. This has not bothered us even though we have access to HD TV stations with our cable. (Apparently Bill didn’t know this or we might have given in sooner, LOL.) So Saturday we decided to go over and see what they had. Being a cost efficient person that I am but with no time to plan we stopped at the library to read up on what Consumer Reports had to say about HDTVs, while Bill looked at NADA Values on a few motorhomes we had looked at on our trip home from Friday Harbor. Then we set off. While we were on the way to the store Bill decided he had a hankering to go to the movies, this was funny to me since we were going to buy a new TV that we could play movies on but I don’t complain when he wants to go to the movies since I missed so many in past years when people I knew didn’t want to go. So we headed to the theater and caught Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (very fun flick) and then after having lunch (if you aren’t hungry going into this movie you will be when you come out) we headed over to get a TV. When I go shopping for anything over $100 I like to go prepared to deal with sales people. I really dislike pushy sales people. So When we left the house I grabbed a notebook. I had written prices and model numbers from a couple websites so I could actually do some price comparisons if they had the same models. When we had stopped at the library I complied even more information. So I went in with my notebook. For those that do not know, if you want to avoid the idiot sales people that just want to push something bigger and better and really don’t know anything about the product they are selling, take a notebook. It is like Sales person Kryptonite. LOL I walk in there geared up. Now usually when I do this I have spent months researching. When I went in looking for a new bike I had a very good idea of what I wanted. This intidates sales people. Going in to get the TV I was armed with just enough knowledge to make me dangerous. Bill and I had discussed that we did not need something 40 inches or bigger. We have nowhere to hang a TV in the family room because of a massive fireplace and more windows then should be allowed in any one room. The TV stand we have would not accommodate anything much bigger then a 36 inch. The current TV we had was a 27 inch. So we went in looking for a 26 inch or a 32 inch. It is funny to me that TVs used to have a much broader range of sizes. Nowadays you can get the 26, the 32, or the 500 (exaggerating but that’s what it looks like). When you walk into the store the first thing you see are the Massively monstrous TVs that you would have to hang on a wall because they just wouldn’t fit anywhere standing up! We looked right and looked left and finally discovered on the far wall hidden were the reasonably sized TVs. I head in that direction and there is a lovely couple being dogged by a salesman the likes of Ted Danson’s character in Made in America. I made up my mind that if THAT one decided to talk to me I would simply tell him, “I don’t like you, can I speak to someone else?”

Luckily he was tied up trying to convince the couple that they really wanted a 58 inch $4000 TV and not the 42 inches that would cost them a quarter that. Bill and I ignored all of the people that tried to talk to us. Meanwhile we were looking at the different options for the size we wanted. Funny how they don’t put the 720i resolutions anywhere near the 1080i resolutions so you can actually tell the difference. It was also funny to me how certain TVs had much brighter color or dimmer for ones that they might not make as much on. Ahh the fun part of advertising. Of course none of the TVs they had matched the ones I had written on my paper since they discounting models at the same frequency that McDonalds sell McNuggets. So we looked at the brands that had had better ratings and picked out a nice 32 inch that was on deep discount due to the fact that the must have updated a button or added an input and the one we were buying was now discontinued. So we spent $399 and I am fairly pleased. We figured once we sell the house if we have a place for something bigger or different in the future we can look at it then. God knows the new electronics don’t have the life spans that old electronics did. Once we made our choice I sought out the least offensive of the sales people. The nice man must have seen my notebook because he did not try to up-sell us. He simply went in the back grabbed the TV and then made sure we had the least expensive HDMI cords in the place. Ahh what a nice buying experience. We went home and plugged in our new toy to our new toy and stuck Cars in the player. We were very happy with the video quality but I think I notice it more on none animated movies and TV. Cars is just so beautiful to begin with it would be hard to make it even better.

And so we now have a 27 inch Sony non-HD TV that needs a home. Know anyone that would want it? Heh

So much for my determination. Although I think I needed a little retail therapy.

The Rest of the Vegas Story

2009-09-16T16:54:00.001-07:00

The rest of the Vegas story. I am not feeling very wordy lately and so I will give ya what I got.

The mornings Bill and I had to ourselves since the kids rolled out of bed between 12 and 3pm. When I would refer to “Morning” it was accepted I meant after people got up. Wednesday we decided Lions and Roller coasters were in order. We grabbed the train/light rail thingy down to the MGM and went over to see the Lions after a fabulous lunch at ‘Wichcraft (sandwiches) then over to the NY NY for Roller Coaster time. Jello shots on a hot afternoon sounded good to everyone so we grabbed those on the way back to change for the evening outing.

That evening we were headed off to Cirque de Soliel. After looking over all the restaurants in the area for dinner I decided the Kahunaville looked interesting. Me being the tour guide for the week I figured I would throw suggestions out and if someone had a better idea we could discuss, if not we didn’t all stand around the lobby going “Gee I don’t know, what do YOU want for dinner?”

Kahunaville was perfect. The drinks were fabulous and the atmosphere was cheesy Hawaiian style. The meals were divine. There was Pina Colada chicken, Stir-fries, and excellent salads.

The nice thing about the restaurant was it was directly across from the show room for Mystere. The show was excellent minus the child and his grandmother in the seats behind us that were talking at full volume through the whole show regardless of the shushing of everyone within 10 rows. Side note: I don’t mind children where they belong. A late evening showing of a Cirque de Soleil in Vegas is NOT where they belong. I don’t begrudge the little buggers yapping at the theater during a Pixar film but if you want to take your kid to the ballet, the theater, or Cirque teach them to keep their trap shut for at least 20 mins at a time. If it had been oohhhs or ahhs it would have been one thing but talking about stuff completely unrelated to the show in $130 per SEAT shows is a bit annoying. Thank you very much.

Back on target. The show was cool and I think everyone enjoyed it. There were a couple parts that made me go “WTF?” but I loved the trampolines and the gymnastics and the drums.

Thursday was “Ladies Day” The ladies and Harvey went to the spa and got massages. Harvey decided to skip the facial since he is fully bearded and he didn’t really feel hip on wear makeup and so while the ladies continued their treatments he wandered. We had massages, facials, and full makeup treatments. This took the majority of the day. That evening was Thunder from Down Under. We had decided to do a package deal and so the Limo picked us up at the hotel at 6. We then went to dinner at PF Changs in the Planet Hollywood hotel and then the limo carted us off to the show at the Excalibur where we had front row seats to the show.

The Boys (minus Harvey who decided it would be interesting to go with the ladies) spent the day playing in Poker tournaments. After the show the Boys met us at Excalibur to discuss plans for Friday. This is where things become funny. I had planned to a T the entertainment for the full week minus Friday. I wanted to leave cushion in case people saw something while we were there that they HAD to do. So remember what I said before about dinner? We had 7 people standing around the casino going “Well I don’t know, What do YOU want to do?” I sat back in a slot machine stool enjoying the chaos. There were a number of options. I finally piped up and said the only thing I wanted to do was go to the M&M store and get a new t-shirt. For those that know me I LOVE the M&M shirt I bought in Vegas 3 years ago. It is now a larger size then I generally wear and so I wanted to get a new one. It seemed several people wanted to go to the Aquarium at Mandalay Bay and so we set a ridiculous time to meet Friday morning of 10am. Grin…

Friday morning 4/6 of the group was ready at 10. We decided we could mosey over to the Mandalay Bay while the other 2 got ready. We took the train thingy down to MGM, wandered through the Excalibur into the Luxor. We all stood in awe of the Luxor and I realized that if I had been in the Luxor on my previous trip I would probably have paid the extra to stay there this time. Then on to Mandalay Bay. By the time we arrived at Mandalay Bay the other 2 parts of the part had taken a cab and arrived as well. We went to the Aquarium which was very nice. Not the best aquarium I have ever been to but superior to the Seattle one. They have an area where you are under water and it is built to look like you are inside a Pirate Ship complete with treasure. It was neat and Adam took lots of pictures. They had the most amazing collection of Lionfish I had ever seen and so on the way out the magnet I selected for the trip was a Lionfish.

After the aquarium our group split off as some of us wanted to go to the M&M store and others decided to go to the Pinball Museum. I wish we had had more time, I would have loved to have seen the Pinball Museum. My group wandered back through to the Luxor and we had lunch at the much anticipated Tacos and Tequilas. Since it was so early in the day they did not, in fact, have any Tequila temptresses. We did all buy different types of Margaritas (Apple, Watermelon, Original, and I forget) I decided very quickly that it is NOT tequila that I do not like it is BAD Tequila. Good Tequila is quite tasty, especially when mixed with the proper juices.

The M&M store was fun and we got to see the new 3D movie which was cute. We grabbed new shirts and the boys got boxers (I will have to get a picture of these) and we wandered through the heat (107 GACK) back to Ballys where we got on the tain thingy and returned to the hotel. The group got together that evening and did our one trip to a buffet. We went to the Gold Nugget because it is on Fremont Street and it was not nearly as good as it was 3 years ago. Bill and I were sad. The kids (including Bill) got to play with their DIY straws. This was a lot of fun and other people at tables near were very jealous.

After dinner we watched the Fremont Experience. It was 70s music in honor of Woodstock. They played American Pie and a Queen one that was several songs. We then headed back to the Bellagio to watch more fountains. We walked through the gardens at the Bellagio and enjoyed the giant frogs and ladybugs made from flowers. Then for a midnight (1am) snack at the BLT in the Mirage (we had seen them on Food Networks, Chef Vs. City).

Saturday we did not have to leave for the airport until 5pm so we wandered over to the Lions and Tigers and Dolphins (oh my!) exhibit at the Mirage. When we were at BLT Burger the night before (having luscious Roasted Marshmallow Milkshakes) we noticed a sign that said “Baby Jaguar” so of course Lex and I knew what we needed to do. We got great pictures and some fun video of the baby and the dolphins. We went back to the hotel and played some Craps. Bill had to teach us since none of us knew what to do. We lost only $40 between the 4 of us that played. Then I played some more electronic Roulette and won back more then the $20 I had lost at craps. Without the $20 I lost playing Craps I would have brought home twice what I gambled. If I was gambling much that would sound really neat but in essence I won $30. Better then losing though. We then headed back to go to the airport and head home.

It was a great trip. I think everyone had fun. I love Vegas and look forward to going back again. I just love the food and the shows and the fun.

Vegas Baby!

2009-08-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

Vegas is a fun place. There is literally something for everyone. If you like food there are hundreds of different restaurants. If you like to gamble well every hotel has a hall. If you like shows you have a variety from simple afternoon magic shows for the kids to extravagant Cirque de Soliel. There are pools for the sun bathers (some with sand). There are Aquariums full of fish and zoo like exhibits with everything from lions to dolphins. Street performers survive on Fremont Street and along the strip taking tips for their art. You can find look –a-likes for everything from Jack Sparrow to Spiderman. If you have time to venture a little off strip there are museums and pretty much everything under the sun.

About 6 years ago Bill took Lex to see a Cirque de Soliel show. After the show they talked about how cool it was and Lex says, “Yeah but the REALLY cool ones are in Las Vegas, Will you take me to Vegas for my 21^st birthday?” Of course Bill being the accommodating person he is and not thinking she would ever remember such a thing he says, “Sure” and so begins my tale. Approximately 6 months ago Lex and I sat down to discuss what types of things we could do in Vegas if we were to go for her birthday. There would have to be a Cirque de Soliel but which one? What else would we do? Where would we go? I love planning things so I latched on to this with a vengeance.

People have been known to tell me that I over-do things. I probably do but in the end as long as I can afford it, does it harm anyone? No. I cannot have children of my own and having Lex (21) and Adam (24) I missed out on a lot of birthdays. I guess this past week I was trying to make up for lost time.

I planned to have t-shirts printed but after finding out they would cost $30 each from a printer we decided to go for Iron-ons. The color of the shirt was the next question. Lex’s favorite drink is an Appletini and so when I saw the lime green shirts I was tickled… green. I also knew from my years at WizKids that this color would stand out in the sea of black and blue that too many people wear. Upon gathering Tuesday morning I made sure everyone (except apparently Adam) had a shirt. Due to a hiccup we had a slight change in accompaniments. 3 of our party were unable to attend due to various reasons and so a last minute another friend agreed to come along. The list of attendees and their association follows:

Me (Pseudo-Step-Mom and organizer)

Bill (Father and all around goof-ball)

Anne (Mother and excellent slot player)

Adam (Son and Pseudo-family-photographer)

Jolene (Adam’s special someone)

Harvey (Lex’s good friend and conservative craps player)

Alexa (a.k.a. Lex THE Birthday Girl)

We all met at the house Tuesday morning (early… way too early) and got into our own private Shuttle to the Airport. I had bought Lex a special hat for her to wear for the big day. It was a hit in the airport, on the plane, in the shuttle, walking along the strip later, but I digress. We got on the plane at a little after 10am and we had lift-off. As we read the in-flight magazine Lex made the decision she wanted to have a drink with breakfast. She decided on a Jack and Coke. This was her first legal drink. We all were excited and took lots (LOTS) of pictures. Upon arriving in Vegas we got a shuttle to our hotel (Harrah’s).

Harvey had to fly out from Portland so he arrived a few hours after we did. We tried to hide his bus ticket but were too obvious about our stealthiness that someone else stole it before Harvey arrived. He still managed to buy his own ticket and get to the hotel. We started the evening by having dinner at Toby Keith’s Bar & Grill. Instead of a special cake you got a free round of birthday shots. With alcohol in our systems we ordered dinner and Lex got to pass out some oddities I had picked out to embarrass all of us and not just THE Birthday Girl.

After dinner we decided to meander along the strip. It was a week night and so traffic was lighter than usual. We stopped at one of the drink stops along the strip and bought a few pilsners with some mixed frozen drinks and set off. We spent the evening at the Bellagio fountains in awe of their well… awesomeness. Hehe

Lex had her picture taken with a few “celebrities” and as we were walking back to the hotel everyone kept shouting Happy Birthday! This could have had something to do with the 18 inch tall bright pink birthday cake hat she was wearing or the BRIGHT green t-shirts the whole group was wearing that said “Happy 21^st Birthday, Alexa” on the back.

Don’t forget to check out our photo page for more pictures. More to come.

A day of completely unnecessary but enjoyable driving

2009-05-24T12:03:00.001-07:00

Found a Safeway (grocery store) with Wifi on the way home. Decided to stop and post yesterdays blog and Bill needs some Tylenol... he is catching my cold. :-(

So this morning started out with me having a weird dream about the mouse. LOL I dreamt that I had come out of the bedroom to use the bathroom and the mouse was trying to leave the house but my kitty Shadow was standing outside the sliding glass door, another kitty was standing outside the front door and both were trying to eat him. He then asked me for help to get out and promised not to come back in the house till after I had gone home. I did not want to see the little mouse hurt and so I distracted Shadow while he escaped. I then went to FINALLY went into the bathroom to find a nasty dirty disgusting rat waiting for me. I jumped up on the back of the toilet with my arms spread out on the walls trying not to fall while the rat snapped and jumped at me. Meanwhile Bill slept within eyesight of all the action while I screamed his name trying to get him to come and save me. I woke up with a start and discovered I REALLY had to pee. LOL

Knowing mice are nocturnal I figured it was safe to enter the living room, so after removing the blockade from in front of the door I came out of the bedroom and we have not seen the mouse again. Yet…

Bill made breakfast on the grill. I am so happy with my little Roadtrip Grill from Coleman. I bought the griddle attachment and it was perfect for making pancakes with ham and eggs. Then worked just as well for the grilled roastbeast and cheese we had for lunch. It also has a burner attachment that I could have used on the other side to heat up the soup we had with our sandwiches but why waste the stove we had in the kitchen?

Anyway, after breakfast we decided it was a little too chilly to go walk on the beach and it was a little hazy. So instead we decided to drive down to Ocean Shores to pick up a few things while we waited for the sun to burn off the haze. We went to get conditioner (since I forgot mine at the castle) and a few snack items for those times when you don’t want a meal but you need something. We drove down on the beach and then came back through the little town and went to the supermarket (not so super) and picked up our snacks and remove the roofs. On the way out of the area we watched as lines and lines of people headed in toward the ocean. We got a couple miles out when I realized…. We forgot the conditioner. We look to our handy dandy GPS and she tells us the next closest grocery store is 13 miles away. We figure we aren’t doing anything and the sky is still off and on overcast so off we go to the store. We arrive in Hoquiam and realize that the store is about the size of an average 7-11 and see that the Safeway in Aberdeen is only 2 miles off. We head off to Aberdeen, upon arriving we grab the conditioner and then decide to find a “scenic” route back to the cabins for lunch. We spend an extra 15 minutes getting back and then have lunch. By this time it is about 3pm and we still really haven’t done anything. So we decide we really want to drive in the sand with our new toy (Sunny the Jeep) so we head down to the water and discover that much of the area is blocked off to vehicles between May and September for “tourist season” (Is that when I get to shoot tourists?) so we drive down toward Ocean Shores again and drive out on the sand several miles north and mosey south on the beach area where cars are allowed. We find a little area of the dunes where 4wheelers have created a path and after bumping our way along that for a while we realized we might not be allowed to be there. Heh

Once we got back to Ocean Shores it was still fairly chilly but the sun was out full force so roofless we drove down all the back roads and found all the little nooks and crannies including the Jetty that was built to the south of the peninsula. We started getting hungry and luckily we had picked up a guide book from a shop we had been in earlier so I started perusing it to determine if there was anything that intrigued us for dinner. I discovered a place called Home Port Seafood and Steak. It looked interesting and had local flair. The specials looked interesting so I ordered a prime rib (8 oz for only $14.99) and Bill was intrigued by the Dungeness Crab Fettuccini. YUM! YUM! YUM! If you find yourselves in Ocean Shores I highly suggest you stop in. The atmosphere is similar to any family owned country style diner but the food is better than some meals I have easily paid twice as much for.

After dinner we meandered back up the beach toward the cabin. We got some great pictures of Sunny in the sunset and truly enjoyed the drive. The wind made the temperatures a bit unbearable but being able to sit in the jeep on the sand was excellent. Every day I am happy we got Sunny. She is the perfect vehicle for our adventures.

Back at the cabin I spent some time cleaning things up and packing anything we won’t need tomorrow morning. Loading all the unnecessaries into Sunny and then Bill built us a fire. We toasted some marshmallows and made smores. All in all a completely pointless day. I can’t wait to have more of them.

I am still battling this little cold I was blessed with but luckily it seems to be going through the cycles. My teeth are weird. My lower left root canal feels 100% fine. No pain or discomfort. My upper right the gums are all torn up from the dental dam they put on me and it hurts when I pucker or spit (figured this one out brushing my teeth) although it is not swollen so I am hoping it just needs some healing time. Anytime I eat something hard that hits the gum I am very aware of it. OUCH!

Tomorrow morning we head home. It will be so nice to get home and still have another day off to recoup and plan meals for the week. Monday starts a whole new push to lose weight. I am still determined to get below 200 pounds by our trip to Vegas in August. I am really going to have to crack down and work at this but I know I can do it… the shoes shops in Vegas are calling my credit card. LOL (for those that I haven’t told if I am under 200 by Vegas I get to buy myself a very nice pair of heels while I am there.) I will be planning out my meals for the week while we drive home tomorrow. If you have any ideas for healthy recipes I would love to hear them!

Into the woods…

2009-05-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

So there are times in life that I realize what a chicken I am. More on that in a moment…

So today was beautiful. We left the castle at about 9. We stopped at the Village Bakery Café and had breakfast and grabbed a chocolate croissant and a Hawaiian fudge brownie for the road. We drove all over Port Townsend (a quaint little town) and then spent most of the day discovering little back roads from Port Townsend, through Sequim (pronounced Squim, like squid) into Port Angeles and then on to Forks. Forks is quite… unremarkable. We had decided to have lunch in Forks and we had a selection of about… 3 restaurants. On top of that we were hoping to grab a few supplies for the cabin (we brought the travel grill and the cabin has a full kitchen) and there was only 1 grocery store and it looked to be about 50 years old. Sadly they had a better selection of Twilight t-shirts then they did sandwich meat but at least they had most of what we needed.
After lunch we headed down to Iron Springs Resort. Bill and his family had been here many times for family vacations and he and I have been twice before. The cabins sit right along the ocean on cliffs and it is just beautiful. We have come for a few reasons, we are not sure once we sell the house when we will be able to make it back and also because after Bear passed it was agreed by the family that Iron Springs was his favorite place and so it was time for Bear to be where he belongs. I also very much needed a break from everything and so here we are at Iron Springs.

I need to get some pictures of the cabins tomorrow then I can post them. It is just astonishingly beautiful and peaceful here. We barely get a cell signal and never manage to get a call. There is no wifi which at times is annoying but is also a relief to know I couldn’t log on if I wanted to. (We have to drive to Ocean Shores tomorrow to get conditioner since I left the one I brought at the castle LOL so I will log on at a coffee shop there to post this.) It is just Bill, me, the waves and the jeep. Well and a lot of trees. Then there is the recent addition of the mouse. Back to where I began this blog… There are some times in life I wish I had toughened up a little. In this area I seem to be painfully woman. Why can a little fuzzy creature that when in a cage or on a computer screen is so cute terrifying when it is running between the couch and the refrigerator? LOL

This evening I had a nice quiet evening to myself. I am still fighting this head cold and so once we were checked in I decided I was just gonna chill out tonight while I sent Bill off to spend his quality time with Bear. I sat on the couch and worked on a couple new play lists for our drive tomorrow and the way home as well as a nice romantic group of songs for the evening. Bill came back just before sunset because it was a tad chilly with the wind coming off the ocean with pretty good force. We sat on the couch chatting with a nice fire in the fireplace. I got up to go to the bathroom while Bill was looking for a snack and I walk back into the living area and I see a little movement near the base of the couch. At first I think it was a play of the light from the fireplace until a few seconds later I see it again… this time it very clearly has a tail. *insert hysterical woman sounds* Well Bill being my “Man” I expect him to go forth and smite the dragon… well Bill is not quite the dragon slayer I had anticipated and so here we sit with the bedroom door closed and a good amount of stuff blocking the crack under it. I don’t know how I will manage to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

We did TRY and chase it from beneath the fridge but once Bill got up enough nerve to look under it there was no sign of the bugger. We don’t know if he found some crack or crevasses or if he might be under the oven. So Bill, being the braver of the two of us, put all our food into the fridge in hopes that it can’t break through the door (LOL) and then we came to hide from the wee mouse. I guess this is payback for playing the Moushunter game on Facebook. LOL

From Bill - I need some equal time here – Leslie squeaked, I responded to the squeak. But then I quickly recovered and armed myself with the fireplace broom. I know people always arm themselves with a broom when confronting a mouse – and it was all we had. OK so it might have been a little short – but it was sturdy. I then got between the furious rodent and Leslie – to protect the incent mouse from her (or was that the other way around). I wanted to move the refrigerator out of the way to look behind it but Leslie kept saying that if I did that I would just end up chasing the mouse back towards her. I think you get the idea – I did my best to slay the dragon (mouse or whatever – but I did not want to hurt it, or me in the process).

Adventures in Memorial Day

2009-05-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

So Wednesday I had scheduled 2 root canals. I decided to take Wed-Friday off from work for a little break. I have been burnt out lately and knew I needed some time. What with all the house cleaning and trying to get everything done I have not had much time to relax. So Bill and I planned to take off Friday morning and head to the coast. We had contemplated stopping in Forks to see the area and so as I sat at home battling a little head cold and healing from my root canals I realized that I needed out of the house. Thursday Bill called on his way home and I asked him if he would want to leave that evening and make our way toward the coast.
It’s usually about a 4-5 hour drive when we go to Iron Springs Resort on Copalis Beach and I figured we could drive for a few hours and then find some cheap no-tell motel to crash in for the night. I have spent many a night in no-tell motels and as long as the sheets and bathroom are clean I have no issues. So we throw everything in the jeep hoping we are not forgetting anything (I did… sunscreen) and headed out. We stopped in Tacoma at one of our favorite BBQ joints (we are throwing caution to the wind with our diets for a couple days LOL) and discussed our options. We could drive an hour and stay in Olympia, we could drive an hour and a half and stay at one of the dozens of Casinos in Shelton or we could push a little further and stay in Port Townsend and have a very leisurely drive to Forks where we could maybe stop for lunch. Unfortunately if we pushed to Port Townsend we would be driving past much of the Hood Canal in the dark. Luckily this time of year pure dark doesn’t hit until 9:30pm or so, so we decided to push it and head to Port Townsend. Bill pulled out his phone and started looking for hotels and motels in the area and discovered an interesting one. It is called the Manresa Castle www.manresacastle.com .

Initially the castle was built by Charles Eisenbeis, he was Port Townsend’s first Mayor. It was built in the Prussian design (the man’s origins) and of course is the largest residence ever built in the area (by far). It originally had 30 rooms including a beautiful parlor area with large vaulted ceilings that is now a restaurant. In 1928 the building was bought by a group of Jesuit priests that built a large wing and used the building as a training facility. This fascinates me because if you think about 1928 how on earth would anyone find a Jesuit school in Port Townsend? I mean in today’s world it took us 4 hours to get here on our fancy dancy highway system. Port Townsend has water on several sides between the Hood Canal and several lakes not to mention we aren’t far from the ocean. Just goes to show you the power of word of mouth advertising. Heh

The building is beautiful. This morning we snagged a paper that the hotel provides for a self guided walking tour. We walked through the building. I have pictures I will post later. The differences in style between that the Eisebeis family had done versus the more simple tastes of the Jesuits is profound. The wood work on the original potion of the castle is devastatingly beautiful hand crafted and carved with intricate design. The Jesuit section is very simple and only necessary work done except for the elaborate arches in their choir loft. The rooms in the hotel are all decorated in Victorian Style. Our room has a beautiful antique bureau with a mirror attached. The rest of the furniture was not as impressive but nice. The bathroom has a nice antique style sink and my only complaint was the shower head was so low I had to limbo to wash my hair. LOL They have a small continental breakfast in the old choir room which has beautiful wood walls and was split in half with a floor to make an upstairs banquet hall that looks like it is used for weddings and events. They say the third floor is haunted but we did not have any supernatural experiences. Of course I was mixing drugs between my Nyquil and my Vicodin for my teeth so I don’t know if I would have believed anything if I had seen it anyway. LOL
Today we are off to find breakfast. As we got lost (of course) on our way last night we DID discover a very nice looking bakery. So we will be stopping in to see what goodies we can find there and then we will be driving Highway 101 out to Forks and then down to Copalis Beach and our cabin on the ocean.

Hope you are all having a fine Friday! I am so glad to take a break from real life and go off exploring.

Good friends and Good Food!

2009-05-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

I read somewhere that if you really want to get to know an area get out and walk. I am really discovering how true this is. Bill and I have spent most afternoons and evening and some of each weekend walking. When the weather is bad we walk in malls or wherever we can find shelter but with all the sun and beautiful weather we have had this spring we have been walking trails we knew were there but never really paid much attention to before. Whether it’s a trail that runs behind the local grocery store and through the town arboretum or a bike path that used to be a train track that runs miles and miles and has hidden parks and picnic areas we are learning all types of interesting things about the area. A month ago Bill showed me a path that runs along the nearby Cedar River. After a fairly short walk we discovered a bridge that was being replaced with a sign that explained King County’s plans for the path. It was quite cool. Then he showed me a path that runs behind the scenes right through the center of town and through the parks areas in Maple Valley.

Last week we were driving around and decided to check out the Green River Trail in Tukwila. We had gone down to REI to pick up a couple of Camelbaks, I have fallen in love with my Camelbak backpack and decided to take advantage of the big sale they were having to grab a few more. J I don’t know if I figured if I spent more money on hiking gear I would be more likely to do it or what… heheh

So we started along the path and about a mile or so in we discovered this cute little park practically in the middle of nowhere. The closest parking for the park we found later is about 1/5 of a mile away. So we decided we are going to look up the Green River Trail and spend the next month (or so) discovering it.

So yesterday was Bill’s birthday. We went a little overboard this weekend but you only have birthdays once a year. We spent Sunday early afternoon at the ball game. What a game Boston Red Sox V. Mariners. I am becoming conflicted as to who I want to win in these games… I think it has something to do with Griffey being back and the hope that maybe this year will be the best year in a LONG time. J I am the under-dog supporter. After the game We went out to lunch with one of my best friends in the world Amy and her sister. After a poll I had heard that one of the best places to eat here was Elliott’s on the waterfront. So we headed down and spent a couple hours walking in the sunshine and catching up. Then we had dinner. I have never had the pleasure of eating Copper River Salmon before. With the season being celebrated on the news this week I figured I was in for a treat. I had the Salmon and asparagus with wild rice. It was fabulous. Bill got the Dungeness Crab grilled in a sweet and spicy sauce. Since it was his birthday we had dessert. His choice was these chocolate truffles they roll in graham crackers and almonds and then DEEP FRY with vanilla ice cream they put in a little bowl made out of something similar to a brittle. Yum!

It was great to see Amy again after soooooooooooo many years. I have decided there is not much better in the world then good friends and good food… preferably together!

I am a bit burnt out from work and I have 2 root canals on Wednesday so I have decided to take Wed. through Friday off. I am going to relax at home and hang out while the cleaners come and do the carpets. Then we should be able to actually list the house by the end of the week. (crosses fingers). Wish us luck!

I need a vacation...

2009-05-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

Okay playing catch up. Life is hectic right now as we try and enjoy the wonderful weekend weather we have been having and make sure the house is ready to sell.

So it’s been a while I will try and catch everyone up on what has been going on. We went to Opening Day at Safeco. Seeing Griffey back with the Mariner’s was a huge treat. The energy at the ballgame was more intense then I have seen since Ichiro hit his 277 (or whatever). It was so nice seeing a crowd of people that didn’t’ just up and leave after the 7th inning stretch.

Bill and I have been walking/hiking anytime the weather is over 50 degrees and on Sunny days over 60 we have been going topless. I LOVE having the jeep when the weather is nice. Our Acura is collecting dust sadly.

Other then that, we have been cleaning the house every spare moment. Every time I think we are close to having it done Bill comes up with 200 more things we have to do and then in the mean time we make more messes in the areas we live in. UGH UGH UGH. I am used to moving out of places when I am done and doing one big clean and handing the keys over to the landlord. Another 50 reasons never to buy a stick house. ARGH! I honestly wish we could move out because then there wouldn’t be any daily mess.

It’s raining today which lately just brings me down but it will be sunny again by the weekend. At least its not too hot or too cold.

We went to REI this weekend and picked up more Camelbaks to use this summer. We are realizing they would have been a godsend to have when we were at Disney last fall.

Another reason to be happy we bought a jeep? This weekend after filling my camelbak for a walk I apparently did not reseal the GALLON jug of water tightly enough. On the way home it tipped over and Whooosh a gallon of water on the floor of the back seat. Oh well. Grab a towel and mop it up… the rugs just let it seep right out. No worries. :-D

I will try and blog more. Lately there really hasn’t been much other then cleaning (ARGH!) and more cleaning (ARGH!) and the occasional hike. Looking forward to summer. We will have lots going on this summer and that will hopefully keep us from making MORE mess in the House. We will hope.

I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

A too clean house is the sign of a wasted life. :-D
Leslie

Monday Monday dah dah da da da da dum

2009-04-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

I have been not so subtly reminded I have not blogged in a while. I have been trying to deal with some stress and failing miserably. Ok so where to begin:

Bill has been ok for 3 weeks. Shadow seems to be fine although his sleepy twitch has continued for no apparent reason. I am concerned about the dynamic that has been created between Shadow and Squishy while Shadow was sick but I have no doubt they will work it out. I think Squishy is just finally hitting the age where he thinks he should be King but Shadow has always KNOWN he is King. Shrug

So last week Lex (Bill’s daughter) came home to visit some doctors and she and I and Bill ended up in the ER again since she was in pretty bad pain. She is doing fine now (we can tell because she starts annoying her father at every opportunity). We spent Sunday geocaching in Portland and then drove back up Saturday night and enjoyed a gorgeous day on Sunday by taking a nice walk and then I pressure washed the deck while Bill cleaned the yard. It is so nice to have 70 degree days in April even if I know they won’t last.

The cherry blossoms are blooming. This makes me happy and sad at the same time. Many of you may remember that last year at this time I lost my friend Evelyn. Evelyn and I always had a special connection and I miss her greatly. She was one of the best friends I have ever had… you know the type that you can go a little without talking to but one or the other picks up the phone and makes the call and you talk for hours and you feel like you just saw each other yesterday. Sigh… Well last year when I would see the cherry blossoms I would think of her and smile. This year I see them and I think of her and want to cry. I miss her so much and wish I could hug her again and see her smile.

I have been having nightmares too about people dropping to the ground and having to be rushed to the hospital. I know it’s PTSD and I know that when Bill tells me he is warm (the first sign he is having a problem) doesn’t mean he is going to pass out again but my brain just keeps popping it back up. The other night I had a dream he had a stroke. UGH! I know it will fade with time I just wish it would fade quicker. I don’t like focusing on the negative and since January there has been a lot of negative. So I will try and relax now and have a nice quiet week (well until Lex comes home again on Thursday for another dr appointment) and I WILL enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. This afternoon we plan to go walk by the water somewhere. Catch as many rays as I can before the clouds roll back through. Hehe

I have been having some fun between ER visits, went and saw the Lion King play which was awesome and have plans for some great concerts and baseball for this summer, 8 days till Opening Day! That should be fun! :-)

Now let's see if we can make it through April without an ER visit. :-) 6 days down... only 24 to go. ;-)

Robbed the wrong gal...

2009-03-13T16:48:00.000-07:00

You know I am ready for this year to be done. It looks like not much good will come of 2009.

This morning my wallet was stolen.

Out of my purse in my own office. You wanna see someone get pissed off. Done.The jerk didn't get much. I may have had $20-30 in the wallet and I got my cards all canceled before he had any time. Notified the police and they are fairly certain it is someone they have had problems with in the past that walks into offices and takes small things he can put in his pocket.Well he isn't getting much outta me. I already called the police the banks and the credit report people and flagged all my accounts. This means I can't do anything for 90 days but I will be damned if I let this guy steal my identity.

He is gonna have to find someone else to victimize. I will NOT be his victim. Grrrrrrrr...I don't know that I have been this resolved to stop someone from doing anything in my life. I hope he enjoys the $30. I hope he needed it more then I do.

Happy Friday the 13th.
Leslie

Fear

2009-03-11T13:57:00.001-07:00

Fear:

A feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger.
A state or condition marked by this feeling: living in fear.
A feeling of disquiet or apprehension: a fear of looking foolish.
Extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power.
A reason for dread or apprehension: Being alone is my greatest fear.

Dentophobia is the fear of dentists.
What are you afraid of? Me? I have a fear of dentists. It stems from an episode when I was a kid. Today I went to the dentist for the cleaning I have needed for 15 years. Today was torment like I have not experienced in a very long time. I know I have a fear of dentists and I have managed to avoid it for a long time. After my initial consultation I was feeling much better about it. After I went to the oral surgeon and they knocked me clean out and pulled several of my teeth I was beginning to wonder what I had been afraid of for so long. So this morning after only a minor amount of stomach cramping and headaches I went in for my first cleaning. Now, I remember why I have avoided it . 2 hours of scraping and pressure washing my teeth. 6 doses of Novocain because I am wired wrong (the hygienists words). I am still numb several hours later and the parts that aren’t are still bleeding. Some might think I sound like a big baby and honestly I kind of feel like it.

What do you fear? Snakes? Spiders? Heights? Small spaces? Basically this morning would be the equivalent of someone with a fear of snakes being lied down and snakes wrapped around his neck for 2 hours. So maybe not so much a baby as a chicken. Heh

Well anyway my bottom teeth feel nice and squeaky and I am glad I did it. On Monday I get to go back and do the top half and then when I am done healing up from all the poking I will be scheduling my root canals. It will be nice to have clean teeth and no infections in my gums for the first time in as long as I can remember.

Now maybe I can try and find some other fear to face off against. LOL Any suggestions? Maybe I could go leap off the side of a mountain? How about getting locked in an elevator with too many people? Any suggestions?

Tuesday

2009-03-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

So I have actually had a quiet couple of weeks. Got through my teeth extractions and Bill has been conscious the whole week. I am really becoming grateful for the “down” times when no one ends up in the hospital or has major drama.

So I was sitting at work last Thursday and the nurse from my doctor’s office calls. The doctor wants to see me for a “review” of my last check up. The nurse wouldn’t say anything more so I scheduled my appointment for yesterday and set holding my breath. I get to the doctor and as I sit in the waiting room it dawns on me. I had my blood draw 7 days after I had my teeth pulled. I laugh and then when I go back to talk to the doctor I mention it. She had called me in because my blood had come back with high white blood count, high platelets, etc. The teeth problems explains a lot of it but she also noticed that my glucose level was far too high for me and I am back up in the pre-diabetic stage. I have not been back in this realm for a few years and so she is concerned.

This is an interesting discover because the last few months I have been overly thirsty and tired and just blah and I have had a dickens of a time losing weight. So I am pre-diabetic again. The problem with this is I also have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and IR (insulin resistance) so when my sugar is high my body is not using my insulin properly which means I don’t lose weight. She and I talked and I am going to try Metformin (a diabetic medicine) again to see if it can help stabilize me so I can drop more of the weight. Now the last time I took this I was having huge problems with my IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and I was also eating fast food about 10 times a week if not more. I was not eating healthy at all and God knows I wasn’t exercising. So I had endless problems with the medicine and after a short period of time I gave up on it. Now I am eating better (most of the time) and am much more aware of my body and how it works and what causes problems. So I am feeling better about getting myself back on track and actually seeing results. J

Emergency Rooms

2009-02-26T20:34:00.000-08:00

When you wake up in the morning do you ever anticipate that, Today I will be spending the day in the emergency room? I don’t.If my calculations are correct I have only been in a hospital about 9 or 10 times total in my life. Only 2 of those were for me the rest were for friends. This morning Bill had a dentist appointment at 7:30. Originally I was going to go with him and take the car and go have my blood drawn for my yearly check up. When I woke up I had a headache from the left over pain in my jaw from the teeth extractions so instead of having my blood drawn and then waiting in a dentist waiting room for 30 mins I decided to sleep an extra hour and Bill would come back by and pick me up. So I go back to sleep and wake up at 8 feeling much better and take a nice long shower and get ready for Bill to pick me up. He was supposed to call when he left the dentist about 8:30 to let me know he was on the way. I sat here on the couch for a few mins after 8:30 when finally he called. I pick up and he tells me that we have a problem. Apparently on his way to the dentist he had another episode. It was not as bad. He was driving and felt that he was getting ill again. Bill being the luckiest man I know was of course only a short distance from a Fire Department. He pulled into the FD’s front lot, got out knocked on the door and when they opened it proceeded to crash to the floor. This time, however, he did not lose consciousness fully. The firemen rushed around taking his vitals and contacted the paramedics that didn’t happen to be in the building and shortly thereafter (a little over an hour) he started feeling better. At which point the firemen loaded him up and hauled him down to the hospital near his personal physician (different hospital then last time). Unfortunately since it had snowed this morning Bill had taken the Jeep. After my initial freak out I made phone calls until I could find a wonderful friend (Thank you Tanya!!) to pick me up and take me to the Jeep so that I could then get to the hospital. I get to the hospital and we wait and wait. Since this time he did not pass out and stop breathing so he was not a priority. They ran a few tests before I got there and X-rayed his chest again. The new ER Doctor (Doctor Spies) was much better at communicating with us then the prior ER doctor whom I did not like the first time I saw him. This doctor was determined that “These things DON’T just happen.” After a few other tests and the results continuing to come back negative he decided Bill needed to see a Cardiologist. Bill’s cardiologist was in the building next door but he was not in today. By this time (3:30pm) they decided to send us next door to the Cardiologist that was on staff. We went next door and sat in the room for almost an hour before we got to see the doctor. The doctor reviewed all of the files, The ER documents from Bellevue, the ER documents from Renton, the doctors’ reports of all 5 of the doctors Bill has seen in the last month. He walked in the room and said that he is 95% sure it is Vasovagal Syncope. It is causes a drop in blood pressure so that your brain is not getting enough blood so your body just… stops. It is apparently very common. The blood pressure medicine he is taking apparently is known to aggravate this condition. The Cardiologist changed the medicine Bill takes and sent us home.

So we think this may be the resolution. We are still hesitant to accept something that sounds so simple and also because Bill has taken this particular Blood pressure medicine for over 10 years. I am glad that we may have an accurate diagnosis and hope that it is truly this simple. I guess at this point only time will tell. Needless to say Bill won’t be driving anytime soon. LOL So that’s the deal. Sucks to sit in the ER all day and sucks that it happened again but glad we had someone else that was more determined to get it figured out. At least tomorrow is Friday. I think I need a vacation.

Stress Level?

2009-02-20T07:13:00.000-08:00

How do you determine what your stress level is? This is something I have battled this week. In the past my stress has manifested as physical ailments. Upset stomach, headache, etc. or it has been obvious through my level of crankiness. The past week I have been upbeat and not much in the way of stomach problems. Last night I finally broke. I have not felt like I am stressed. I have been sleeping well and no more headaches then I would say is normal but knowing this morning I am going to the dentist I thought I would see more signs of stress. It turns out that over the years I have trained myself to just ignore stress. This is not something I feel is entirely healthy. I am sure it serves a purpose of getting the "job" done but is it really healthy to completely ignore your stress? This morning I am completely aware of my stress. LOL My stomach is churning, I feel like hiding in the closet and crying about it. I HATE the dentist. I am terrified about how I am going to do and what might happen. I know I have to do this. The pain I have been living with is not healthy and the infections I have had in my mouth are causing harm to the rest of me. If I am going to work hard to lose weight and become healthy I have to be healthy all over.

This morning the funniest thing is that the thing upsetting me the most is I can't drink water. They are going to put me out and I can not have anything in my stomach. I have trained myself for several years to drink water at every available oppurtunity. I usually drink about 3 liters a day and it is almost painful to be so dry like I am this morning. I don't trust myself to even stand in the kitchen or brush my teeth because I know my intinct will be to down some water. LOL I walked past a bottle of baby oil and thought how soothing that would be on my dry mouth. UGH!

Well I am leaving in 6 minutes. Wish me luck!

Leslie

Facing a fear - Dentists

2009-02-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

I have an insane fear of dentists. In the past I have had a few very disturbing experiences at the dentist. One in particular was when I was 8 years old and was kicked in the mouth with a rollerskate and lost about 8 teeth in 2 seconds (luckily baby teeth). I remember waking up on an empty roller-rink floor lying in a pool of blood with dozens of people staring at me in horror. Then I don't remember anything more until I was strapped to a dentist chair and they were doing surgery (they hadn’t given me enough NO to knock me out so I came to in the middle of the surgery).

Because of this and of course the insanity that is the COST of going to the dentist I have made excuses for over 16 years not to go. I brush my teeth and floss fairly regularly (gotta love my SonicCare). I found out this week that I have an unnatural quantity of Cavity causing bacteria in my mouth. On the good side my gums are in decent condition except for a couple small areas where bone loss has caused them to recede.

Off track: Did you know that the first person to kiss a baby transfers their MOUTH health to the baby? Unlucky for me both of my parents have a high level of cavity causing bacteria (my mom had her last few teeth pulled before she was 30 and my dad only has about 6 teeth left, dentures were a normal part of my youth). If you are pregnant or plan to be pregnant make sure they whoever in your family that has the best teeth is the first to kiss the baby. J Back on track.

With the help of my doctor I have finally been able to make an appointment to have my teeth and gums assessed. My doctor has been talking to me about it for over a year because mouth disease can affect your whole body. With me trying to (finally) do the right thing and get my body in shape I HAVE to address the infections and bacteria in my mouth or I will only be partially healthy even if I get to my goal weight. I went to the dentist yesterday (without throwing up which is HUGE) and this morning I went to an oral surgeon. I am going to have to have a few teeth pulled including my impacted wisdom teeth. This will be happening next Friday. I am terrified but I am resolved that this is something I HAVE to do. I have justified in my mind that the pain I will go through getting things back on track will be far less then the pain I have lived with almost daily for the last 15 or so years. With the loss of several fillings over the years my teeth have fallen into a serious state of disrepair. It will cost me a ton of money but I also know that I cannot wait any longer to fix this. The hygienist at my dentist is wonderful. She put me at ease very quickly and as soon as the Oral surgeon walked into the room I felt comfortable. This is so odd to me since I have spent so many years absolutely terrified to even think about making an appointment.

If you are like me and have put off going to the dentist please do me and yourself a favor and go. Even if you are not in pain there could still be infections that can cause problems.

On a funny note the hygienist was so funny. When she saw the plaque that has accumulated on my teeth she was so excited by the “challenge” LOL. I think I like her. Heh

Stay healthy and whatever you are putting off for whatever your reason… get over it. I am.

On a side note: Shadow is getting healthier everyday and will go in for a sonogram of his liver next week.

Bill is doing fine. He had his 24 hour blood pressure monitor the other day and his blood pressure is higher then it should be. They think his "incident" may have been caused by that. More tests to be run soon so I will keep you informed.

Also: Any suggestions for soft foods I can eat after the surgery? Ice Cream is NOT a good plan with my cold sensitivity. :-)

SSDD

2009-01-28T14:18:00.000-08:00

Just a note for anyone that may be concerned about Bill’s job (Microsoft laid off 1400 last week) he is still doing ok. As for his health, he got squeezed in to an early nephrologist’s appointment to look at his kidneys. They seem to be working okay but again another precaution.

I have been doing pretty well this week. We are working at getting our diet and exercise back on track and the one thing I realize is I do a darn good job of kicking my own butt. I was watching “Run Fat Boy Run” this weekend and it really made me laugh. I would suggest if you like a good comedy with some romantic under tones you should check it out.

Shadow is doing ok. He has eaten some on his own but not enough to sustain so Mike has been continuing to force feed him. His foot seems to be getting somewhat better. At least he is not dragging it behind him at this point.

All in all things are getting better. I had a by-annual check up with the doctor this morning and everything seems ok.

Nothing really new… go to work, come home, clean house, do laundry… SSDD.

Tests and no results

2009-01-15T11:51:00.001-08:00

I have reached a level of frustration with Doctors that I have not felt since my grandfather was ill. I am old enough now to know not all Doctors are idiots. Even if some days I feel that way. I also know that not all doctors are lazy and care more about their paycheck then they do the patient that they have sitting in front of them. I do however know WHY people often believe this. I am tired of tests being taken and having no results. Also why is it that Endocrinologists don't deem someone passing out and not breathing as serious enough to get an appointment without waiting 3 WEEKS?!?!

I don't know about you... but if I were a doctor with a case like this I might be willing to work late one fricking night to see the patient. Grumble Argh really trying to contain my frustration but it is just bursting at the seams.

Anyway updates. BIll had his EEG and Doppler yesterday. It really wore him out. He is still doing ok. The eating before bed has not seemed to help th way we hoped it would. We are starting to test his blood glucose levels several times a day to get a baseline on where he is currently. His morning glucose has been all over the place. As low as 120 and as high as 157. I can't find anywhere online where I can even find if this is good or bad or how good or bad. Also without knowing what his BG was the morning he passed out I don't have any idea what these numbers even mean. In many ways this week has been harder on me than last week because I just keep waiting for answers and we have gotten none.

Shadow finally had a BM last night. Gross I know but it is a positive. He seems to be improving a little each day but is still not eating on his own. I don't even know what to think about it. I am supposed to take him in for an updated CBC but I am worried the stress of going to the vet might push him back from the progress we have made so far this week. I will call the vet and discuss it with her. I also don't want to take him back and have him catch anything else. His head cold that has caused him so much sneezing and yucky he caught while he was there.

For today I want to scream and more likely I would like to scream at doctors. People say they deserve all the money they make but I am just not seeing why. When Bill and I had to go through dozens of tests and 2 full days in the hospital for them to know nothing and he and I figured out the likely culprit with some online research. Stupid Doctors. Hopefully we will find a smart one or two in the bunch when we FINALLY get to see the endocrinologist. I will attempt not to go in with an attitude. I am not happy to have to wait though. His appointment is Feb 5th.

I need a nap. Nothing seems important at work today. These are the days I really want to just go. Run away. Hide even. Why do we spend our whole lives wasted at these stupid jobs? Some people do important things. I have never had a job that was truly necessary.

I was commenting to a friend that if people weren't lazy I wouldn't have a job... this has really become a true statement in my current role and at times I just have to wonder why me?

Now I am having my own little pity party. I have a good life. I have good friends. I have Bill. I need to be happy with these things. I'll keep telling myself this today. Maybe we will go RV shopping this weekend. It is supposed to be "Not rainy" which is rare for January. :-) Maybe it is a message for us to go.

Thank you again for all your thoughts and support.

Monday again

2009-01-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

So this morning I discovered what some would call Post-traumatic stress disorder. Upon leaving for work this morning we took our usual route over highway 18. Bill wanted to go to work to try and get a few things done and I definitely needed to come in to meet the new boss and get some work done. I have left my poor co-worker Kim to fight all of my battles for a week.

As we started our commute I just felt ill in my stomach. As we reached the spot where we pulled over I felt like I would throw up. Ugh. I became emotional and really began to re-think leaving Bill in the hands of his co-workers. This is where the trust issues I have had over the years really come forth. I can not control every waking moment of Bill’s existence. I know this but I will be damned if I don’t want to try. I think after his appointments on Wednesday I will feel somewhat better and we have seen over the last week that it is only effecting him in the morning hours. The problem becomes he will be at work for 6 hours without me to watch over him. Bill thinks I am being somewhat ridiculous but I really feel paranoid that something may happen and no one in his office will notice until it is too late. The good part of it is he had warning before he passed out. He felt faint and sweaty and hot. So we are very clear that if he feels odd at all he is to go sit in an office with another person.

I want to stop worrying but I am just beside myself as to how to let go.

So in researching Diabetes and people that only have problems in the morning I ran across a few articles about something called the “Dawn Phenomenon” (sounds like a good sci-fi novel if you ask me) It turns out that many diabetics have very high blood sugar in the morning even if their sugar is lower throughout the day. The suggestion was that the person eats something with a natural carb (juice, fruit) with a fat (peanut butter) before bed. This will help regulate their sugar through the night. So last night Bill had an apple and peanut butter before bed and this morning his blood sugar was the closest to normal it has been all week. This may be a big step towards where we need to be. At least it affected something we could see.

Shadow is still not eating on his own. This is really a concern because I know what fatty liver disease does to a cat and from most of what I read if a cat goes even 24 hours without food can cause this very quickly. My brother is doing a great job of shoving food down his gullet but again I worry.

I finally broke down the other night after being with Shadow most of the day. I cried for about 2 hours and then in my state of curiosity I had to go online and research why people cry. It appears that when we cry we release all the extra hormones we have pent up in our bodies. Fascinating. I still have not found a website that covers why our noses become leaky faucets but I am guessing it is similar to the crying.

I am feeling disjointed and I guess you can probably tell by reading this. Guess that’s about it today.

It's sometimes the simple things that really matter

2009-01-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

How often have you looked at your pet while he was eating or just simply walking across the room and thought nothing of it? Well today I can say the only thing I want is for Shadow to walk normally and to eat on his own.

Bill is doing ok. We still are waiting for some test results. His doctor perscribed us a sugar monitor and his sugar has been high every morning and his blood pressure is way up as well. We had several specialists in the hospital looking at his case and Bill and I figure out the frickin diagnosis. With the help of his doctor we are fairly certain Bill went into a diabetic coma. A scary thing but something that will be fairly easily controllable with diet and exercise but for the time being is a pretty dangerous until we can get his sugar back on track. We still have appointments for his EEG and Doppler (I think it's funny that they want to check his weather ;-)

I am concerned but at least we are headed in A direction rather then simply "these things happen". I will probably not update for a day or two unless anything else happens until then we are in a holding pattern.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts!
Leslie

Update 1

2009-01-08T22:53:00.000-08:00

Went to Bill's general doctor today and he also disliked the "sometimes these things just happen" diagnosis. He is sending Bill for 2 new tests next week (EEG and Doppler) These will test to see if Bill had a seizure and also to see if his veins to his brain are clot free. We also discovered something new this morning. Shortly after breakfast Bill was not feeling well again and was clammy, thank goodness he did not pass out again. So we are thinking that it might have something to do with his blood sugar levels (also considering he has gained back much of the weight he lost) so even though we had already planned to get healthy and both of us exercising again we are really in a push for it now.

After the doctor I went up to see Shadow and he was sleeping. He did not seem any better but sometimes when he just wakes up he is groggy. I put the hot compress on his foot and massaged it like the doctor said to and then tried to get him to eat with no luck. I had to run by work and so I decided to try food again later.

I thought my week was done with drama for the most part or that it would be confined to my personal life until I went in to work this afternoon only for an hour to pick up some stuff to do from home to find out that my office is laying off 3 of the employees. 2 appraisers and my boss, the 2 appraisers I will not miss much but my boss I am upset about. She was one of the better bosses I have had and really all around a great lady. However, I do think this may be a good thing for her. I am hoping to see a great oppurtunity in her future in a job she can really be happy in.

After all the drama at work took longer then I anticipated I realized I had better head home before the rain washed out all paths to my house (we have had so much snow and rain that several roads in the area are currently closed due to floods.) I came home much disappointed that I hadn't spent much time with Shadow. Later Mike (my brother) called to tell me Shadow was eating treats on his own. This is huge. Cats, at times, can forget how to eat. He had shown interest in food by sniffing but had not been eating anything that wasn't forced on him. So with him eating treats we know he can eat and now we just have to see if we can stimulate his appetite enough to get him back in the ball game.

More updates as I can. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers they seem to be helping!
Love all of you and kiss or hug a loved one. Make sure you are appreciating them because you never can tell what tomorrow will bring!
Leslie

Worst Week (tv show or my life?)

2009-01-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

What a week…

First I need to specify that Bill is ok and Shadow is doing better. Last Friday night my brother called to tell me Shadow has been lethargic that afternoon. We agreed to give it the night and see first thing in the morning what our options were. The next day he was worse and so I drove to Bellevue and picked Mike and Shadow up and went to my vet. After speaking with the nurse they decided I should go to the Emergency Pet Hospital. After a few hours in the emergency vet we went home with an antibiotic and a cat with a fever. I had a feeling there was something more but the vet just couldn’t find anything. Sunday morning I call Mike and Shadow is now limping with his back leg and barely walking at all. I rush to Bellevue and back up to Kirkland to see the vet again. A blood clot in a cat is an extremely serious matter so they admit him and do an ultrasound and a ton of blood tests. Everything is off. There is a mass on his liver that may be cancerous and is abscessed. After a few more tests they are keeping him to give IV Antibiotics. Mike and I head home hoping but not high hopes. I now have not slept well for 2 nights and am not looking forward to a good night’s sleep again.

Monday morning I wake up. The world seems to be moving slowly. I don’t know why. I am just tired and it’s snowing again. There is a huge accident on 405 and so Bill and I decide that instead of driving different cars we will just drive the Jeep so we can both make it over Tiger Mountain (Highway 18) in the snow and avoid 405. Because I am tired Bill and I decide he should drive until we get to his work and then at that point I will drive to my office so I can go see Shadow if I get a call. We head out the door and start up the highway. Bill suddenly coughs and grabs his chest and tells me he is really hot. I feel his forehead and he is burning up and sweaty. He tells me he has to pull over. I talk him into continuing about a ¼ mile or so to an area where the road goes from 2 lanes down to 1 since we can’t pull off the road due to the snow drifts about 3-4 feet tall. We get to the spot and he pulls over. I throw the car into park while I call 911. He stops responding to me and his breathing becomes very shallow. The emergency people on the phone send people to us and the woman tells me I should start CPR because Bill is not breathing right. I can’t pull him out of the car because to our right is a 3 foot snow drift and the other is a highway during Monday rush hour traffic. I push his seat back as far as it can go and mine as well. I started CPR as best I could in the situation (thank you Kindercare fo r sending me to a CPR class). Time seems to go by at a pace I can’t even begin to describe. I was terrified. I just knew I had to keep him breathing. The Fire Dept. showed up finally after what seemed forever and yet no time at all. They pulled Bill out of the car and quickly got a pulse and blood pressure. This is a good sign and I have watched enough doctor shows to know that much. While the Fire Dept. worked on him one of them took our information. I don’t remember much about this except for all of them telling me what a great job I did and me sitting there feeling like an idiot. Finally they loaded Bill into the Ambulance and after I grabbed everything out of the Jeep I thought I might need they put me in the front. Off we went to the hospital.

If you ever have to have an incident like this or similar I highly suggest doing it in King County. We have a fantastic group of Fire Dept guys and great ER staff at Overlake Hospital.

They got us to the hospital and put us in a room. After an hour or so Bill started to come to. The FD had pumped him full of valium in the ambulance when they were trying to intubate him (his tongue if too big hehe) Bill’s blood pressure dropped to 75/50 but his respiration and heart rate were ok. I called Bill’s ex and so after a bit she and his son came by. Finally after a few hours they moved him upstairs to an ICU room and he was coherent again. They ran EKG, Cat Scans, X-rayed his heart and his lungs, ran blood test after blood test. Hooked him up to every machine they had and they can’t find anything other than a high white cell count. After spending the majority of my day waiting to hear something from the doctors I went and picked Mike up and we went to the vet to visit Shadow and see if he would eat. After 2 hours we gave up. I headed back to the hospital and found Lex back from Portland. Bill was upset that they wouldn’t let him leave because he was feeling “fine”. The night nurse convinced me that Bill would sleep better if I wasn’t there so Lex and I came back to the house to sleep for a couple hours. After waking up way too early we headed back to the hospital to sit with Bill. The doctor came in and told us all his tests were negative. No heart attack enzymes, nothing of note except a high white cell count. They know it is an infection but no guess as to where and why it would have caused him to black out and have trouble breathing. They discharged him about 5 (just in time to get stuck in rush hour traffic.)

Today he has been fine from all accounts. The Vet called and told me we could pick up Shadow. We drove up to Bellevue, picked up Mike and went and picked up Shadow. He is doing ok. The blood clot in his foot may make his foot useless or it might break up and it will be fine. We have to give him 2 weeks of antibiotics and then take him back in for more blood work and an ultra sound to look at the mass on his liver. There is a potential it is benign or to determine if he will need surgery to remove it.

So that is the last 5 days or so for me… Bill goes back to his general practitioner tomorrow morning and I am probably going to ask for a second opinion or to see someone that might have a better idea of what might have happened. I am not satisfied with the “Sometimes things just happen” diagnosis.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I will post an update soon if I have any more news.

Trip to Disney

2008-12-29T20:50:00.000-08:00

Upon request here are some of the pictures from our trip to Disney World. Bill had a great first time and we did everything under the sun. :-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twotwistedlimes/

Enjoy!
Leslie

Embrace change and enjoy it.

2008-10-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

So recently I was having a conversation with someone about questions you get asked at a job interview. The one I am most inane question to me is “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” Well as most of you know I did not grow up in the kind of household where I could ever even begin to guess where I would be in 5 years. I moved 6 times before graduating from High School. I attended 11 different schools. (5 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, and 2 high schools) We were so mobile I thought I should have been raised as a gypsy and then at least I would have a legit excuse for all my moving. Generally I allow people to assume that I moved because my dad was in the military. He was in fact in the military and so it is a very easy assumption. The truth was (and is) that my parents are religious fanatics. Instead of settling down into a house and raising their 3 children they would move the whole family across the county whenever they felt the church they were attending was not quite what they wanted. (yeah I know that strange look on your face… it’s ok you don’t have to understand, I sure as hell don’t.) So when I was 12 my mother cashed out my father pension plan and packed the 5 of us up and moved us to Boston from Florida. When I was 16 they again threw all the money they had and probably maxed out a few credit cards movie the 4 of us (Mike had already moved out) back to Florida from Boston. I never was allowed a concept of “where” I wanted to be in 5 years because for half of my teen life I practically lived out of a suit case.

Back to the point. So here I am as an adult. I have never been able to figure out how to tie myself down. This has caused a number of ill effects but none I can’t live with. Once I start to feel settled I get an itch. I start looking for an out. At the majority of the jobs I have held in my life I stop learning new things about 12-18 months into the process. At which point I become bored. Me and boredom do not mix. When I become bored I become dissatisfied. When I become dissatisfied I want to move on. In the jobs with companies where I stayed longer then 18 months I was generally transferred to different depts. I was taught new things or in the case of WizKids I just was too emotionally attached to the customers to let go.

So after my conversation I sat and thought “Where DO I want to be in 5 years?” After staring blanking at the wall for a fairly extended period of time I realized I have no answer at all. After realizing this I thought to myself, “Just how hard is it to think of where I want to be in 5 years?” Then I stopped and realized. Where was I 5 years ago? So? Class? Where was I 5 years ago?

5 years ago October 2003. In October 2003 I had come to the realization that I was actually considering the un-considerable. The horrible thing I never thought would happen to me happened, Divorce. Leading off this year a few things happened. Some of you may not know that I have had 2 miscarriages. Neither pregnancy was planned. The first really was a relief. My ex and I were not making enough money to provide. Life would have been hell but I figured I would find a way to cope. Others did more with less. I lost the first one at about 6 weeks. It happened so quickly that I barely had time to become attached to the idea. The second one came at a time where our financials were better (not great) and I wanted it. (or so I thought at the time) I lost the second at 8 weeks. I had plenty of time to form things in my mind and accept that this was happening. I was devastated. My ex knowing that in discussions we had had that I did not want children because I still had so many things I wanted to do in life tried to point out the “good” things about the miscarriage. To me, at the time, I only saw how much I had accepted it and how little he wanted to have kids. He was not cruel about anything but his relief came across very badly to me as I lay knowing that I would likely never have a child and hurting because I felt broken. The one most horrifying thing any doctor ever told me was that I was not going to be able to have children. For me there were 2 responses. The immediate response was my “Rebel” that stepped up and said “You can’t tell me that I can’t do something DAMN IT!” I wanted in many ways to prove that doctor wrong. I wanted to show her. Common Sense fell back into place quickly enough that I didn’t do anything I would regret. The second response was the one I hear from so many other women in similar positions, “I am a woman… my only natural requirement in life is to procreate and I can’t do that right?” Well I thought to myself if I can’t even get pregnant, which every drunken teenager has the ability to do, well then what the hell use am I? Oy! Those were not the best times. The second miscarriage happened in the beginning of 2003. This began the downfall of my marriage. So by October several other things piled on top of the camels back and there I was watching my marriage dissipate into a cloud of gas. Within a few months I would be spending my first Christmas completely alone in a house I hated with no car to even get me out to the movies, no friends because most were happily celebrating the holidays with their families to stop and realize that Leslie was sitting at home alone contemplating how she got herself into this particular pickle.

Funny that I use that word. Pickle. For those of you that have never worked with metal I will give you a definition. This weekend I learned about a pickle. According to Wikipedia: Pickling is a treatment of metallic surfaces in order to remove impurities, stains, rust or scale with a solution called pickle liquor. So over the course of that winter I was in a pickle. It helped me remove many impurities, some left over stains and rust and helped me to work on me. Not something I have ever done before. If you had told me 5 years ago where I would be now, I would just have shaken my head and told you that you were nutty. I was hurt and lonely and wanted to be my own little island. I just wouldn’t have even begun to know what to expect from 5 years later.

So here I am 5 years later and what has changed? I am living about 3600 miles from where I was then. I have lost about 50 pounds from that time mostly due to not eating the fast food I was constantly gorging on in Florida. I am enjoying the outdoors which if you had told me 2 years ago I would be doing I would have laughed you out of the room. Now instead of Mage Knight or HeroClix I Kayak and hike. Now instead of spending the weekends staring at the TV or playing on the computer I am going to jewelry making classes and festivals, Instead of working in a dead end receptionist position at a good company, I am working in a dead end Admin position at a good company (no offense LOL.) I am, just recently, happily moved in with Bill and while we have our issues as any couple does we understand each other on a deep level. We know we don’t have to spend every moment of the day together and yet we still enjoy grocery shopping together from time to time. Heh

I could never have guessed where I wanted to be 5 years ago and really honestly I wouldn’t have wanted to try and guess. I like my “transient-like” lifestyle. I like not knowing what is around the corner and while I will never know what it is like to have kids of my own, I still have plenty of friends and their kids to spoil not to mention Bill’s 2. So as I stress this week about getting the house cleaned up for Thanksgiving and making out my menu for the big day I don’t have to worry where I will be in 5 years. I just take one day at a time and watch where it leads me. The one and only constant in life is change. Well and taxes. ;-) Embrace change and enjoy it.

A Time for Change

2008-08-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

Fair warning long post. I kinda ramble.

So the past 2 years or so I have been living in 2 houses. I share a house with a roommate and my brother and my 2 kitties and the other half of the week I have been staying with Bill. Bill is my “boyfriend”. I don’t really feel like that term really fits because I am not 16 yrs old. LOL Bill is more my “significant other” but I tend to hate that term to because “what am I insignificant?” hehe Bill is Bill. So anyway back to the point. I am officially moving into Bill’s house. Prior to now Bill was hoping to sell his house so it didn’t make a whole lot of sense for me to move into this house just to move out again. Also this is the house he raised his kids in with his ex-wife and there was a bit of an odd feeling about me living there. Well with the market where it is and time being what it is I have decided it is too much of a pain for me to continue living in 2 homes and Bill’s house has really begun to feel like home. So in the next month I am moving completely into one home.

Of course in doing this, complications occur. My 2 lovely children (cats) have grown extremely attached to my brother. My brother is a home body and spoils my children hideously. With this decision to move I realize that taking my older cat, Shadow, away from my brother is not a good plan. They are 2 of the same. Also if I am serious about taking my life on the road in an RV at some point in the future neither of my kitties would be happy living that way. This means when I officially move I am leaving them with him. This has been a very hard decision for me to make and I know it is the best thing for them. I will be able to stop by and love on them from time to time but I will not have them wake me in the morning for a belly rub or wake to find them sleeping on my head.

This month has been very emotional for me. I am happy to begin my new life with Bill but I am also sad to leave my old life behind. This has been coming out in so many ways. My old life was also very much the fat me. In moving I have begun going through my boxes to get rid of anything I do not want to keep. My prior job was with a game company. I traveled to conventions and organized fans that played our games. It was in reality my dream job. My wardrobe for this job consisted of Jeans and t-shirts. I became the proud owner of over 25 different comic t-shirts (batman, superman, and other comic book heroes and villains) I have always loved comics and so it was very fun to be able to wear these shirts as part of my work. All of these t-shirts are 2XL since that was the most comfortable fit for me at the weight I was then. Well as I have begun going through my closet and boxes of clothes that are now too big for me all of these shirts have to go. Oh the bittersweetness that comes from losing weight. So in the process of this move I am in many ways having to let go of a prior life. This is a big part of what has been holding me back this month (I have realized recently.) I am not one to dislike change. I have had a very gypsy-like life but to give up all of these t-shirts and to move and leave my kitties behind and just moving on towards a different future then I ever imagined for myself is quite scary. I never in my wildest imagination ever thought I would ever actually lose the weight and keep it off. Through journaling and talking with a close friend I have really begun to realize that mentally this is going to be the biggest move I have ever made. That is saying something since just 4 years ago I sold everything I owned and packed 15 boxes and 2 cats and flew from Florida to Seattle (I had never been west of Minnesota prior) and moved my entire life here but this is a deeply emotional move for me because I am moving into an “area” of my life that I never could have begun to imagine before now. A life where I am more important than I have ever been.

So anyway there is a little bit of where my brain is at. Sometimes in our “diets” when we get stuck we really have to stop and realize it could be things effecting us from the outside in.

Something you just gotta see

2008-08-13T11:45:00.003-07:00

Ok so I only have 2 minutes but I totally had to throw this out there for anyone that hasn't seen it yet.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

It's just too good.
Enjoy

Obsess Much?

2008-07-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

For those of you that didn't know 2 weeks ago Bill and I went to a "Life on Wheels" Conference in Lewiston, Idaho. I will have to share more about that in the future. :-) Onto the real topic:

So over the course of the past few weeks I have come to a realization (yes sometimes I can be slow…) I have become obsessed with losing weight. I am not at a point where every thought of every day is consumed with thoughts of eating right and exercising but I would say the majority of my day revolves around it. As many of you know I have been reading the Beck’s Diet Solution. The book is really good at a few things, showing you how you sabotage yourself with your thinking and how to work around it. The thing the book does that I dislike is they want you to plan every single thing that goes into your mouth. It also wants you to pre-plan every moment of your exercise. While I don’t suppose it is the intention of the author, for people like me with an OCD tendency to begin with, it can really make you obsess about the whole thing.

For an update: As of this morning I am down a few more pounds 21 pounds from my February start date but 31 total from my original start. I am actually pretty impressed that I am still going strong (even if a little too strong at times.)

My plan is to change my diet in a way that I can maintain it the rest of my life. The things I am truly beginning to discover are the following:

I don’t like fast food in general. If given a choice and money not being an option I will generally choose a healthier meal. With time and money being an issue we all have to live with it is unreasonable for me to expect that I will never have to eat on the run. This weekend I went to the movies. I ate a good health breakfast before we headed out so it was not difficult to bypass the popcorn, nachos, etc. The movie was nearly 3 hours long (The Dark Knight a.k.a. Batman) and once we were done we had to head over to the store to buy all the things we needed to make our lunches for the week. I was starving and knew it would be a mistake to go to the store that way and also knew that being 30 minutes from home that a snack wasn’t going to satisfy so we stopped at Burger King. This is very acceptable to me because I know that there will be times you just have to do it.

When I went on my trip I obsessed for weeks before planning for exercising and planning to try and make my own meals at times. Much of the obsession was completely useless and in the end just stressed me out. Now I am not saying people shouldn’t prepare but I think I took it a few steps beyond preparing and well into obsession.

Friday of last week things came to a head. I went to Costco with Bill and I went hungry. I knew it was a problem but there was nothing I could do about it. I had eaten all my back up snacks and part of the reason for the trip was to get more of those back-up snacks. Now sometimes I wonder why they set up stores the way they do… Why would you have to walk through the bakery to get to the fruits and veggies. Well now I really know. I stood there surrounded by fresh baked bread smells. With Croissants to my left, muffins to my right and bagels behind me. You ever feel like carbs are cornering you? Well there I was and I had already been PMSing that day. Bill keeps doing the usual “You don’t really want that…” I was on the verge of telling him where to go when it dawned on me that I was going to make myself crazy. I stopped and took inventory on myself and moved away from the carbs. After I left the store I realized I really did want the croissants but the rest of it I didn’t. I wish they sold the croissants in smaller packages because I can not justify buying a dozen of them. In the end I did win out by bypassing them all but I realized that I was really and truly becoming obsessed and so is Bill. We have both spent so much time convincing ourselves that we don’t want things we really do want because they are “bad” for us.

If this is going to be a lifestyle change for me I am going to have to be able to live with this, day in and day out. I am going to have to be able to have a croissant when I want one. Even if it is fairly empty calories and more fat then I really need. I am going to have to be able to take a week off from my exercise if I am feeling yucky without beating myself up for days. Last week I just felt awful most of the week. My joints were all sore and my muscles were achy. I wanted a break and I think I needed one. You can only push yourself so hard and do so much before it is time to relax. This week I am devoting to relaxing. Sometimes you just have to relax.

Enjoy Exercise? Are you crazy? Well yeah I guess so...

2008-05-12T16:43:00.001-07:00

The art of losing weight is finding activities (exercise) that you enjoy doing. Now I have heard this hundreds of times in my life and generally I tend to giggle at the person saying it but as I continue to grow as a person I discover new things about myself that I didn’t really know. I feel like I should whisper this one… kinda like a “pssst… you won’t believe this…” I like being active. Now I can hear the gasps from several of you that have known me for year and the I can feel the waves of disbelief. I never thought I would be saying this but here I am. Some people might think I have met a new guy that is an exercise fanatic… nope that’s not it… still seeing Bill. Some of you may think that maybe it’s the allergy medicine I am taking. Heh

The truth is that I have begun to discover new and interesting things I can do for exercise (no I am not talking about sex.) Last year on my vacation I really began to see my physical limitations. We went hiking in Arches National Park and I would get tired quickly. Walking through the Grand Canyon National Park was equally as exhausting and I wanted to do more then I was physically able. With the idea that I needed to be more active and build my stamina last December I bought an elliptical machine. I paid good money for a nice NordicTrack and I was determined it would not become a clothes rack. Thus far I have been doing pretty well. I have been on my elliptical machine at minimum a day or two each week some weeks three or four times. In the process of making myself do it I started thinking… this is boring so what can I do that won’t be boring?

The past few months Bill and I have been discussing the possibility of hiking this summer (if it ever gets here.) I have no excuse not to hike. I live in “The Great Northwest” after all and the mountains, hills, and countryside are beautiful. There are ample opportunities for me to hike around every corner, literally. So last month when REI sent out 25% off coupons I jumped on it and bought myself a new pair of hiking boots. My old hiking boots, which I bought to “hike” to work in the rain, were worn. This weekend we decided to go over to REI to pick up some books on hiking trails in the area so that we could be prepared. While there, they were having a dosey of a sale. I had been thinking about getting a pair of hiking poles. I have read website of people that use them and I figure with my knees anything can help. According to the website it says it takes the equivalent of 15 pounds of pressure off your joints PER STEP. I have been procrastinating buying the poles because I wanted the shock absorbing kind and they cost a pretty penny. So 20% off I thought was a great deal. I picked up the Leki Cor-Tec Anti-shock poles. I am going hiking! Heh
Oh and last but not least an update. This week I am down 4.5 pounds (woot!) that puts me at 10 pounds down and 40 to go. November here I come!!

My Sweet Evelyn I shall always remember you.

2008-04-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

Today one of the greatest people I have ever known has passed on. I began working with Evelyn when I was 20. I had gotten a job at Fidelity National Title. She was an assistant to the Attorneys in the company and I was an entry level processing employee. I sat and entered numbered data into the computer all day. Evelyn saw me and realized what a hard worker I was. I have never been a ladder climber. It is not something that concerns me, however, I was concerned about making more money in order to become more comfortable in my life and at the time I thought I might one day have children and kids are expensive. Having been raised to put in work when needed whenever Evelyn needed help I would volunteer to help. At the time I was doing pretty good at the ladder climbing thing just by doing what I had been taught to do… work hard. So Evelyn and I spent a good many nights and even some weekends doing horrible things like stuffing envelopes and binding hundreds of convention notebooks. As time went by I was transferred into another job working more closely with her. I loved her. She was witty and just good all around. She had a wonderful husband and they were perfect for each other. She had a terrific daughter who was the gleam in Evelyns eyes. Through the years Evelyn had some hard times but if ever there was a Pollyanna that woman was it. I grew and became who I am with Evelyn’s help. When I landed in a dead end reception position that truly wasted many of my talents she challenged me to Bloom where I was planted and with her help I did. I grew as a person and learned new things. The woman was amazing in every aspect. She helped me through so much in my life. She helped me plan my wedding and then helped me through my divorce. She was with me when I made the decision to move to Seattle and rooted me on towards moving forward in my life. She meant so much to me and I know that she knows that.
When I got the call a month ago that she was sick I was devistated. How is it that the good people in this world are the ones we lose? Maybe it’s because they have acomplished what they need to and it’s time for them to move on? If that’s the case then I wonder about people that live to be 90 or 100. Are they just slower? Do they not get done what needs to be done? It’s amazing how we go along in life and think we know how things work and then something like this hits and we become dumbfounded and everything we think or even know becomes wrong. Yesterday I was riding around town carefree and singing along when the radio played “only the good die young” I have heard this song hundreds of times but to me it was just an upbeat tune that I never really got. It’s just so sad.

Well today has been a rainy day which truly suited my mood. The wind is blowing and the clouds have blocked out the sun that peeked through a little earlier. Evelyn would have loved the cherry blossoms.

Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!

2008-04-01T09:18:00.001-07:00

Anyone out there that really knows me knows that in general I hold animals in higher esteem than I do humans. I came across a creature recently that I would like to bring to the attention of all my friends. It is the great northwest tree octopus. The pictures of these creatures are amazing. They are apparently very rare to the area and are on the verge of extinction. For more information on this amazing creature check out this website:

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

If you are interested in even more info there are dozens of sites dedicated to this oddity. You should google them it is quite fascinating. If you live here in the northwest keep an eye out for them. If I come across any in my future hiking excursions I will make sure to post pictures. I hope to spread the word about this amazing oddity of nature.

Enjoy!

Thanks for noticing - Eeyore

2008-03-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

So you know how often we take for granite times without stress until we are in a time that is stressful? We just don’t take the time to stop and think “Hey I have a good life.” Well today as I sat in major pain from my IBS, which is generally brought on by my stress level I realized I have not had these problems for quite some time.

Back in 2006 I had a bought of IBS problems but those were brought on by the nasty antibiotic the dentist gave me (one more reason to hate dentists… like I needed one) that killed all the good biotics in my system but overall I have not had much in the way of IBS problems since I moved here nearly 4 years ago. I attribute this to a number of factors. I am learning how to control my stress levels and I have not really had much to stress about. Many of you that know me and have helped me deal with the past 4 yrs may disagree, over 3 months out of work… hating my previous job and many of my previous coworkers, but really overall it’s not been a problem. However, this week I am having problems. I am distracted by what my friend is going through and her daughter in particular.

How hard must it be to have lost your father to Leukemia when you were 11 and now at 17 your mom is diagnosed with a brain tumor. Spending your weekends in the hospital wondering what will happen instead of carelessly cruising town with your friends. Hanging out and having your biggest concern be if some boy at school likes you. Ugh…

I have worked my way through all of the stages of grief denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The acceptance part is the worst in my opinion. I am a rebel. At times I rebel against myself. I don’t want to accept it. I don’t want it to be true and because I am so far from where she is and I can’t see what’s happening denial is much easier. So in the process of being in denial my body knows and has accepted what is true and so it conflicts with itself.

On the other hand I know some of my stress comes from my impending greeting of my parents. I have not seen my family since I moved here. I have thought about going to see them a number of times but each year something came up. We can just go ahead and call this avoidance. I have had enough therapy to know I avoid my parents. The reasons are too many to even begin to express but I will say that my mother and I have rarely seen eye to eye and my father has a tendency to do what my mother tells him. I can not blame him for this because well… he has to live with her. If you have read my posts recently you will know that I was already anticipating a trip “home” for my brother’s wedding in November. My blood pressure was higher two weeks ago (before I heard about my friend) then it has been in longer then my Dr. has on file. When I see my mother we fight. It is not something that happens every time we see each other but often enough for me to expect it to happen. Since I am there only 49 hours I am hoping we can manage not to fight. I really don’t want to fight. Life is far too short. In spite of it all I love my parents. We had good times but the bad times stick with a person longer.

So here I am a big ball of stress trying to release my tension through bubble baths and jasmine tea. I need to keep reminding myself to breath. I want to be past all this and be my happy go-lucky person again. I miss that person. I am not a big fan of this droopy dumpy version of myself. For those who know me this is not me. I have always been more T-i-double g-rrrrrr then Eeyore but here I sit with the cloud over my head.

Hope for a Second Chance

2008-03-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

When I am placed in a situation were I do not know what to think or how to feel my brain goes into “learning” mode. I want to learn everything there is to know or feel about the situation. I really do not know why I react this way but I can say bless and curse the internet in regards to the information available. I found out this morning that a friend of mine has an inoperable brain tumor. My response initial response was “why?” then I moved on to “now what?” and so off I went to the internet to find out all I could about brain tumors.

When I was 15 years old and a part of my mother’s church, there was a period of time when several women that I had become close to (either through babysitting their children or friends of the family) in the church got pregnant and miscarried their babies. I very clearly remember 3 of them but I believe there were a total of 5 women over a couple years that miscarried. One day I asked a friend in the church “Why would god let this happen?” I was young and confused and wanted an answer for these horrifying tragedies. The person said that maybe God (in his almighty wisdom) was preparing me for something I would have to deal with in the future. I was MORTIFIED. This person truly believed that this “God” would allow all this pain and suffering for my sake. The day I miscarried my second child I was in a fit of anger I suddenly remembered what the person had said to me. That was the day I truly decided that “God” or whatever out there was allowing this to happen was telling me I didn’t need to have children.

Back to the point… Since that fateful day every time someone around me has had trauma I have tried to learn what I can about it so that if I am faced with it again in my future I will know as much as possible. If any of these bad things that happen are so that I can learn something from it then I will be damned if I am not going to learn it. So over the past many years when nasty things happen I delve into books on the subject and read websites and forums.

Now this woman that I know that has a tumor is probably the single most amazing person I have ever met. I met Evelyn at my job at Fidelity National Title. She is an assistant to the attorneys in the office and I worked very closely with her for several years. After our jobs within the company became more distant she would always stop by my desk and chat on her breaks. She is very much the reason I was able to pack up and move the Seattle. She is a Pollyanna. Anytime there is something negative going on she would be the person to find a positive in it. I learned a great deal of patience in dealing with things and people from this woman. She also helped me through both of the aforementioned miscarriages and my divorce with a bright shining disposition through the toughest of times. Several years ago her husband had Leukemia. He was in remission after many months of treatment and suddenly with no warning he was sick again and he passed away. Through this Evelyn was the strong one. Instead of being the receiver she continued to be the giver. Always giving. Always. From everything I have read there is no good side to a Grade IV Inoperable Brain Tumor. I will continue to hope and pray that there is a miracle. If anyone on this earth deserves one it would be this woman.

I have seen miracles happen. My uncle was given 3 days to live and that was 20 years ago. He is still around and enjoying his grandkids. I believe it can happen. I want to see it happen again and to someone who could not be more deserving of this second chance.

Week 1 diet recap

2008-03-04T16:39:00.000-08:00

Week 1 started really well. I have become better about pre-planning my lunches and I am working on finding recipes to keep it interesting. Last week I made Rachael Ray's Chicken Caccitore Stoup. I slightly modified it by removing some of the oil 1 of the potatoes and added more pepper, onion, mushroom and chicken (the good stuff). It turned out FANTASTIC! I made a big batch and then portioned them out into serving size containers so I just nuke it and have lunch.

I did 20 minutes a day on my elliptical (building up to more) and 10 minutes a day of arm work outs with my weights. This worked well Monday - Wednesday. Thursday I woke up with a migraine. It has been about 2 years since I have had a migraine so first off let me say I am happy to have been free of them for 2 years. I fought my way through work Thursday but Friday morning I woke up and just couldn't take it so I called in. The problem with calling in is I had not prepared to have food in my house. So I did not eat as well Friday. Saturday I woke up feeling much better and exerted myself cleaning my house for a few hours. Sunday I went to the mall (needed new shoes for work) and walked the mall.

Overall I feel last week went well. This week I have planned Chicken Caesar Wraps with light dressing and stir fry for lunch. Now that I have my breakfast and lunch in order I really need to start working on dinners...

Well that will be my goal for week 3. *grin*

Week 1 - 2 pounds lost, 48 to go.

Changes they can be good for you!

2008-03-03T16:43:00.000-08:00

Today is a bit of a rambler… I apologize if I bore you I just am feeling grateful and wanted to share. *grin*

So Last May I lost my job at WizKids games. I am not going to go into the how or why but I will say it was a very beneficial situation for me. LOL For those of you out there that do not know much about WK (not many but a few) here is a little background. I became involved in their games about 8 months into the companies existence. I fell in love with their fantasy based table top game. It was fun and new and it was helping me get out and meet new people. I had formerly played Magic the Gathering and really had come to enjoy the friendly atmosphere at my local venues. I began to disagree with some of the companies decisions and so I quit playing MtG and not long after picked up Mage Knight from WizKids. Now don’t bother going out and googling the game because the brilliant folks at WK killed it and it is buried (or should be).

So after going to conventions and getting to know some of the staff and also seeing the atrocious state of their Customer Service and Envoy (Volunteer) program I knew I could help (or at least try). I packed up and moved from Orlando, Florida to Seattle, Washington in hopes of landing a job with them. I knew it wouldn’t be all fun and games but I thought it would be a different atmosphere from the Title Insurance Company I was working with. I got the call that I had a job about a month before I had planned to move. Since I had already given notice at my job and my landlord it was increasingly easy for me to move the date forward and I moved out here with 12 days notice.

Upon arrival I started my job and really liked it. I was traveling about 12 weeks a year which I loved and I really enjoyed working with the volunteers, many of which I had become friends with over the years of being a volunteer for the company. Some of the people I would call my best friends today are people I met though volunteering or working with the company. Sadly though after 9 months of being at WK the management decided to totally shift the way the business worked and in essence, for a few months, dissolved my position. I foresaw this happening and snatched up a reception position as soon as it became available. When I was working in the envoy program I would say I was a bit overworked. The weeks I traveled I averaged about 70-80 hours of work, on the weeks I didn’t travel I worked a minimum of 55 to 60. I was on salary so the money coming in really did not cover the work I was putting out. When I transferred to the reception position and started working hourly at 40 hours a week and getting paid the same as I was being paid for 70… I began to realize how little the position agreed with me. Also in the process of traveling and pushing my body to extremes by not eating properly I became borderline diabetic. So when the position in the volunteer group became active again I realized I had to choose my job or my health. I chose my health. In the beginning of last year the company was put up for purchase and 34% of the office was laid off. After 2.5 years in a reception position that totally wasted my talents I finally surrendered and as I mentioned early I left. (Personal thank you to all involved.)

Upon leaving I was very conflicted. Should I attempt to get a job with another game company? Well seeing the industry decreasing with every breath I decided not to. After I took a few months off, to enjoy the summer in Seattle and just sleep, I looked for a new job. I found the one here at Allen Brackett Shedd (Real Estate Appraisers, mostly commercial and government properties) and I couldn’t be happier. I adore several of my coworkers and the ones I don’t I can tolerate without hassle. We are a company of 18 people of which I would say 10 have been with the company more then a decade. The company is about 30 years old and doesn’t show any signs of wear. Heck for Christmas last year I got the biggest bonus I have ever received, not to mention after meeting with me and seeing my experience level they hired me on for MORE money then I had asked for. *grin* The company really appreciates its employees and for me that is a very pleasant change. In the past I have had bosses that at times appreciated me but not really whole companies. I had my 6 month review not to long ago and it was fantastic. It really is nice to have people appreciate the hard work you do.

So I am rambling now and I will get to the point. Today I got news that WizKids laid off 9 more employees last week. Sometimes it takes things like that to remind you just how lucky you are. If any of you out there are people that were laid off, you have my congratulations and if you want it my sympathy. I personally think it is more of congratulations though. Good luck in your futures and I hope you find a new company to work with, one that I know will appreciate you more then WizKids could begin to. If you are reading this and you are still with WizKids you also have my sympathies. I hope things are going better then it sounds like they are going and good luck. I hope in a year you can look back and say that you are in a better place because of this… I know leaving WizKids is the best thing that has happened to me since I took the job nearly 4 years ago.

Oh and I lost 2 pounds last week even though a migraine took me out for 2 days! Woot!

Day 3

2008-02-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

Well it's been an interesting couple of days. I have done fairly well on eatting and very good on exercise. For those of you that do not know I bought myself an Elliptical machine for Christmas. I have not used it enough so I am going to be working on that. Monday I exercised for 20 minutes on one of the trainer settings. Trust me... 20 minutes is tough. LOL Especially when 5 of it is on the 5th level resistance.

Tuesday I walked 2.5 miles home from work. To walk all the way home from work is going to take some time to build up to because the 1 mile I didn't walk yesterday is almost completely straight up and down several hills. I am hoping by July I will be in full form to do it.

Thank you all for your support. I am really looking forward to making this happen. Woot! :-)

Hey! It's me!

2008-02-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

So you know when life stops and gives you a good kick in the pants?

Well here I am. This weekend I found out that my wee little brother (all of 28 yrs old) is getting married in November. Well for the past yr and a half or so I have been trying to change my eating habits and start losing some weight. In 2006 I lost 30 pounds but then I went on my lovely road trip and gained 20 back over the next few months. I have maintained the last 10 pounds and many of my eating habits but I am not getting the exercise I need to in order to lose this extra weight. Well it is going to be tough going home and losing some weight would be awesome. So here goes nothing…

I am going to lose 50 pounds by October 25. (This is the weekend before my little bros wedding.) My current weight is 242. So WHEN I succeed I will be at 192 or less. It has been about 16 years since I have been on the under side of the 200 pound mark.

What do I need to do to reach this goal? You. How can you help? Well that’s the easy part. Just encourage me to lose it.

If you would like to be a part of my weight loss goal and helping me reach it just post a little note. I will be trying to keep a journal here more regularly and I will post pictures and share recipes.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions on things that would help please feel free to share.

Hey if any of you out there want to lose weight too come on with me on my journey. We could all stand to be a little healthier. Heh

Love ya,
Leslie

Linked In

2007-09-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

Howdy all,

I have signed up on Linked In.

If you have not already signed up it seems to be a very useful site to keep track of contacts. :-)

Check it out!
Leslie

Doing the Happy Dance!

2007-08-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

I got a job! GOT A JOB! Ok so the first couple of months after I left WK was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed my summer but over the past month life has been dress up interviews in uncomfortable shoes. So anyway Monday this week my recruiter calls me and says "I have the perfect job for you!" I sigh because I have heard this before, I want to believe it is true but I am tired. So Tuesday morning I go into the recruiters office to meet with Christa. I like her immediately. She is very personable and I just feel like we clicked. I knew she had 4 interviews lined up so I leave the interview with hope but feeling like this is another job that I will be passed over for. I get a call later in the afternoon and the recruiter wants to meet with me Wed. and I am scheduled for a 2nd interview on Thursday to meet some of the people in the office. I am now EXCITED! I have not even been called back by half the people I have interviewed with (If you are reading this and you set up an interview with someone for a job PLEASE have the courtesy to call them back even if it's with bad news.)

I go into to meet with the recruiter Wednesday and she tells me Christa narrowed it down to 2 of us. We talk a bit more and I am stoked. So this morning (I know I am rambling and that this post is not cohesive) I go in to interview again. I leave with a skip in my step. I barely walk in the door to my apt and the call comes that I have the job. I am still waiting for some of the details but they offered me MORE money then I had intitially agreed to. LMAO... what kind of a company pays you MORE then you ask? Well I know WizKids wouldn't.... no raises in well over a year.... benefits cut beyond recognition. It is sad that with all the benefits cut in the last year I was there I actually made LESS then I did when I started 3 years before.

Well I am excited. So the company is a Real Estate Appraisers office. I have meet with Appraisers before at Fidelity and they are very similar kinds of people to title exaiminers. The company has been around since 1982 but is very small. 18 people total. I am very much looking forward to diving into this new challenge. Meeting new people and just being able to work again.

Thank you everyone for your support over the past few months. *happy dancing around my house!*

What Have I Been Up To????

2007-08-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I have been away for a while spending time figuring out what I want to do and who I am. It's quite a thing having time to be. I am now spending time looking for a job. I want a place where it will be right for me so it is taking more time then I anticipated. In the mean time Bill and I went by Uncle's games to pick up a puzzle. There sitting in the window is THE WORLDS LARGEST PUZZLE. http://www.worldslargestpuzzle.com/ This thing is 24,000 pieces, prior to it's release in March 2007 the largest puzzle was 18,000 pieces. So Bill and I agree we must attempt this thing. The puzzle comes in 4 sections. Section 1 is Hot air balloons and lots and lots of fish. LOL

So on Sunday, August 19, 2007 we went down to the store and picked it up. Lex was home from school for the weekend so we started sorting the first section. I will keep you updating as we go through it. It's been great so far. :-) Although Bill thinks I am crazy for wanting to do it. :-)

More soon.

Leslie

Hilarious Harry Potter Song NO SPOILERS

2007-07-25T11:51:00.001-07:00

Annoyed that you don't have your copy yet? Scared of what might happen? Sad that the whole thing is ending? Want to laugh at the pleas of a desperate Harry Potter nerd? Then this is the song for you!

read more | digg story

It's Official! We Saved Jericho!

2007-06-07T10:08:00.001-07:00

Fans of the show rejoice as CBS has officially announced Jericho's return for 7 episodes during midseason 07-08. Apparently, sending 25 tons of nuts to CBS HQ is a pretty effective message!

read more | digg story

Jericho Fans Go Nuts Online | WebProNews

2007-05-21T17:14:00.001-07:00

Fans of CBS's Jericho are waging a grassroots campaign against the network for cancelling their favorite Wednesday night drama. They're shipping nuts - by the thousands of pounds - to CBS network execs. Scrappy Internet firm NutsOnline.com is turning the outrage into a group campaign by offering couch potato activists a way to pool their funds.

read more | digg story

Nuts For Jericho

2007-05-21T17:11:00.001-07:00

NUTS! Save Jericho! Jericho fans unite. In addition to sending individual orders to CBS programming executives, as a Jericho fan you can now contribute money to massive shipments of nuts. NutsOnline will do our part by pooling monies and supplying nuts at a steep discount! At the end of each day we will tally dollars collected and ship out huge qua

read more | digg story

Jericho lives on... maybe?

2007-05-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

Ok so it is rare that I feel passionate enough about a TV show to make sure I am home to watch it each week. I have DVR so I honestly couldn't even tell you what time half the shows I watch are on or even some of them what channel. Jericho was a rare show. So I signed up for details on the www.jericholives.com website to find out about any future plans CBS might have for the show in hopes that they might finish it off with a mini-series or something. What I have seen in the last week is a very organized group of very determined (and sometimes a little scary) people. LOL

Take this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5ImUmrOSw0

for example. This is so funny I sat and laughed for a good half an hour. (yes I can be easily entertained) If you search you tube there is an entire movement to save this show. Not to mention the NUTS campaign where they are suggesting people send nuts to the CBS Mailroom to show support for the show. People have ordered SO many nuts from nutsonline.com that they have put up a blurb on their home page about the Save Jericho NUTS Campaign.

I read on the site that to date there have been over 1200 nuts shipped off to the CBS staff... boy I sure hope no one onsight is allergic. LOL to support Jericho go to the website and sign off on the petition. It's a great show and really deserves an additional season in spite of the low ratings it might have received (those couldn't have anything to do with it being put up against Dancing with the Stars and American Idol could it?!?!?)

Enjoy!

Does CBS actually have their heads up their asses?! Oh why yes they do.

2007-05-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

Does CBS actually have their heads up their asses?! Oh why yes they do.

Over the past year I have found myself leaning more and more away from live TV. I have signed up for a NetFlix account and am renting DVDs of TV shows that are now off the air that I didn’t have time (or the channel) to catch when it was on. Six Feet Under and Dead Like Me are my 2 recent obsessions. This past season was one of the best seasons on TV that I have seen in years.

Between Jericho, Heroes & Men in Trees I finally regained hope that the networks were not completely useless. As I watched Jericho and Heroes and had these gynormous pauses between 6 and 8 weeks with no re-runs or new episodes I became annoyed… then early this year ABC plays 1 episode of Men in Trees and then NOTHING… no updates on their website… no information to say the show was ever coming back. So this past week was the season finale of Jericho. I was so excited at the end because I thought for SURE with this excellent writing the show would have to be back. Now I find out that CBS decision makers are complete and udder idiots. They have cancelled this well choreographed show and what will they put in its place? Probably some POS reality show.

On a good note Heroes and Men in Trees have been renewed for next season and in the case of Men in Trees they will be adding the END of this season on to next season. Whew…. At least there is some small hope. All this has made me start to think… why do I bother watching these shows live when I can simply rent the season DVDs a few months after the show is over and AFTER I know if it will have a new season? I mean if I had known Jericho would have been cancelled I think I would have trashed the show earlier if I had bothered watching it at all.
It’s nice to have the water cooler shows… you know the ones that people get excited about and you have to discuss over lunch the next day but when it comes to the end of the season and there is a great cliff hanger and no resolution… I just feel like a woman with a quick-draw boyfriend…. Not something I am accustomed to feeling. LOL

Hiro Speaks

2007-05-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

So the Seattle Times did an interview with the actor that plays Hiro from the TV show Heroes. I read this quote as the last thing he said in the interview and it kinda hit the nail on the head of what I think being a geek is.

Being a geek is a great thing. I think we're all geeks. Being a geek means you're passionate about something and that defines your uniqueness. I would rather be passionate about something than be apathetic about everything.

Tag in the Seam

2007-05-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Are you a geek? Do you date a geek? Are you a female geek? I know we are pretty rare. I recently had a reference from a good friend to listen to this podcast, Tag in the Seam. I decided to give it a shot since my favorite morning radio guy had been off the air for more than a week and I desperately needed something fun to listen to on my way in to the office. So I cranked it up on my iPod and downloaded a couple early episodes. The one that caught my eye was “Survival Guide to dating a Geek” I popped this little hour long episode onto my iPod and turned it on while I waited for the bus to take me to work. By the time I got onto the bus I was giggling. As more and more people piled on to the bus at each stop I began chuckling out loud much to my bus companions’ amusement. Before I exited the bus I was laughing out loud and had tears streaming down my face. Tag in the Seam is a podcast done by this woman in Atlanta. She is a geek and she dates a geek and as she speaks I find myself nodding my head in agreement with nearly everything she has to say. She has a fantastic sense of humor and I think the best parts of her show have been when she has randomly recorded times she is sitting around talking with friends. She is very real and in this day in age that is so common. Please take a few minutes out of your day and go check her out. If you have iTunes and you listen to podcasts right on there without having to even own an iPod.

Go on! Check it out! I promise you won’t regret it! Here is the tag:
This is a show by real women about real woman for real women.
Everything from breast cancer to skin care.
DynamicOutspokenSeriousPlayfulControversial…
The first podcast ever for real women.
http://tagintheseam.mat9.com/

And honestly I think men may very well enjoy her more then we women do. LOL

Star Wars Pocketmodels

2007-04-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

I entered into geekdom at a fairly young age. My older brother is probably much to blame but so was my monster crush on Han Solo. I grew up in the early 80s with all the Star Wars loving geeks. I collected the figures and played with them. We had one of the giant storage Vader’s to put all the figures in. We had lunch boxes and Tie Fighters.

So when I accepted a job with a game company I had hopes in the back of my mind that maybe someday I could possibly work with Lucasarts and be a small part of Star Wars. When a competitor got the license for the miniature game I was sad and realized it would be unlikely I would be able to be involved with the company and so my hopes were put on the back burner… that is until the middle of last year.

I work for WizKids, Inc. makers of HeroClix and Pirates of the Spanish Main games. We are a small company and we have had our ups and downs but things are majorly on the way UP!
We recently announced that in June of this year we will be releasing our Star Wars Pocketmodels game. I have played it and am very very very very very excited. Here is a link to see a little about the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUXCVOUU8DY

If you are interested in the game (and if you are still reading I am REALLY hoping you are) keep an eye on our website: http://www.wizkidsgames.com/ as we will be announcing more cool stuff to come!
*~*Leslie’s Doing the happy dance!*~*

Why Offset With NativeEnergy

2007-04-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

So I was reading an article about how traveling causes harm to the places we travel to due to the emissions from the car. This is something I was aware of but I was NOT aware that there are programs that can help each of us off set the pollutants we produce.

Some people feel the offset programs are just a way for people to try and justify their over abundant use of our environment. My perspective as with most things is “If what they are doing is helping why do we have to pay so much attention to their motives?” If a person decides to give a $1000 to a charity because they feel guilty about something they did what harm is it? *sigh* The people the charity is there for still benefit. Maybe that person shouldn’t have done the “bad” thing he/she did but regardless the donation helps.

Anyway, So I found this website:

http://www.nativeenergy.com/why_offset.html

I am going to look into the benefits these programs provide and I am considering trying to do my part to heal the polution I am responsible for.

Final Magnet Count

2007-04-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Ok so it took me over a week to make sure I had all the magnets together and even then I missed one. LOL

Total Magnet Count: 58.

Once I have them up on the fridge I will take a few individual shots. Any magnet you want to see closer up? let me know. :-) I am very pleases with the collection.

This was fun...

2007-04-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

So I was surfing around and found this cute little survey. I think it has me pegged. LOL

Your Travel Personality Is: The Adventurer

For you, travel is how you learn about the world. And you like to learn the stuff that's not in guidebooks.You truly have wanderlust. When you're not traveling, you're dreaming about where you'll go next.And your travels are truly legendary - they leave you with stories you'll be telling for the rest of your life!

What's" Your Travel Personality?

Home Again Home Again Jiggedity Jig

2007-04-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

So I am home again. Here is the final count 11 States, 6 National Parks/Forests and a ton of fun. I am a little sad that the Utah sign did not turn out as well as the rest.

Utah:

Back to work and home to my kitties. They seem to have missed me and I will bring them some fish from Sushiland when I get back from dinner.

Hope you enjoyed following along on the trip. *smile* I had fun blogging it for everyone.

Hmm maybe I will try and keep up with my blog now that I am used to posting... hehe we will see...

Saturday to Portland

2007-04-08T09:30:00.001-07:00

It's Saturday and while we are going to be glad to be home we are both not looking forward to Monday Morning. We head out from our hotel room later then planned and have breakfast at this nice little bakery in town, than hit the road headed up the coast. It is very overcast today and as the forecasters said, it is raining and cold. The coast is covered in fog and so I was not able to get much in the way of pictures. I was able to add a couple more magnets to my collection for the Oregon portion of the trip.

We will be driving most of the day and so we put on more of the music we have on the iPod. I have about 20 songs about "Home" that I put on. (I don’t think I mentioned that I had songs loaded for each state we passed through and tried to play them when we were in the area. My favorite selection was Brad Paisley's "Celebrity" when we drove through Beverly Hills which actually I hadn't planned but just kinda happened. LOL)

I am a little tired today but I think it's mostly because of the dreary weather. Oh and I bought a California Lotto ticket when we passed through so wish me good luck! Hehe

The weather starts to clear as we get further from the coast. It's about 4 pm and it looks like we will make Portland before 6. That will make it an easy 3 hours of driving tomorrow to make it home.

Leaving California!

2007-04-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

Last night we stayed in Fortuna. (wasn't that the name of the town in Pirates of the Caribbean where all the pirates lived?) It was a lucky thing since there happened to be a Safeway there and we needed more water and wanted to grab stuff to make lunch for a little picnic in the Redwoods.

Well if you are planning to go to the Redwoods National Park you should know something. If you want to drive the "Avenue of the Giants" Its not actually in the National Park but on another property about an hour and a half SOUTH. We had already passed it and decided to give up on it and just hike the trails in the National Park. We spend a few hours hiking around (and eating our Sports Jelly Bellies which I personally do not like but Bill liked them and finished them off) and taking lots of pictures. It was an amazing time.

I sat for a bit on a bench in the woods and just listen. It is amazing the sounds of the different parks. Arches was deafeningly quiet. There are no birds, no bugs, no trees for wind to blow through. The painted desert was quiet but not the deafeningly quiet due to the rolling hills. The Grand Canyon is full of people noise and some birds. I much prefer the Redwoods. Full of noises and yet absent at the same time. There was no airplanes or cars or radios booming with bad music. There were birds and buzzing insects and wind rustling through leaves. There was a small creek on one of our hikes that bubbled and splashed. I could sit here for hours and just listen to the sounds. A man walks by oblivious to the wonder around him while he talks on his cell phone about work his young daughter jogs along beside him desperate to keep up but she looks disappointed that she can't stop and look around. Why do people like this bother to come to this beautiful place? He doesn't seem to comprehend the beauty around him just wants to check something off some imaginary list of things to do. Redwood National Park is not a thing to do. It is a place to experience. I feel so at home in forests. Arches, Painted Desert, Petroglyphs, Grand Canyons are all amazing and terrific things to experience but forests call me. I believe in a former life I must have been a squirrel or some other woodland creature. I love the sights, sounds and peace that forests bring. The sign says that Redwoods thrive in High Humidity and Moderate Temperatures… I think I have a lot in common with these trees.

One of the people working at the visitor center suggested we stop by the Klamath River Overlook. We head out to the overlook and when we arrive it is beautiful. There are a handful of picnic tables so we stop and have our lunch and get some excellent coast pictures. We finish up our day and drive up into Oregon. We decide to make it a light day since we are ahead of schedule and stop in Brookings, Oregon just North of the border. We notice immediately that gas prices has not gone up dramatically but that California really does suck (average price for gas was $3.39 per gallon.) Now Bill is out running along the surf on a very nice (but very cold) beach. The sun is setting in the next 45 minutes but it is a little overcast so we are not sure we will see much. The seagulls are swooping (mine… mine see Finding Nemo for reference) and the waves are crashing. There are dozens of people out in long pants and jackets.

I think Bill feels at home at the Ocean the way I feel in the forest. I think he could wander the coastline for days, weeks or years and never tire of it. I enjoy the ocean myself, the birds and splashing waves but I think Bill enjoys it on a deeper level then I ever can, maybe he was a sea otter or a dolphin in his prior life. Hehe Well Bill has disappeared from sight and sunset is only a short time off. I will go hunt him down and see if we can find a hotel and dinner.

I set off to find Bill and we take pictures of the tide rolling in and the waves crashing over the rocky beach. The sunset goes by unnoticed behind a layer of clouds when I begin to hear music. At first I thought it must be in my head. I can't imagine hearing music with the waves crashing on the rocks. Then suddenly I realize several hundred feet up on a ledge there is a man standing playing a trumpet out over the cove. At first I do not recognize the song he is playing but I hear beats of music between crashing waves. It is an amazing sound. The music dances among the waves and echoes through the cove. It begins to get dark so I walk back to the car on the cliff above and the further from the water I get the more I am able to understand. He finishes the song he was playing and begins playing "Life goes on" Obladee obladaa life goes on…ohh….. I sit on of the steps leading up the cliff side and listen the music mingle with the waves. The last song he plays is Moon River.

Shortly after he stops playing Bill comes up the cliff ready to find a hotel. We head back toward town and remember seeing a motel with an Ocean View and so we stop and find the prices reasonable. We plan to drive to Portland tomorrow which should only be about 330 miles. Then home on Sunday after a visit to Bill's daughter.

JELLY BELLIES!!!

2007-04-05T22:27:00.000-07:00

Thursday and today is Jelly Belly day!!!! We grab a quick breakfast and head over to the factory. It's Thursday and April so we figure it will be quiet at the Jelly Belly Factory… WRONG! We wait about 40 mins in line for the tour and end up be the first couple in one of the groups. They give you a cute little paper hats to wear (safety and cleanliness reasons I am sure but probably also to see people wear silly hats.)

As we are waiting for our turn, we talk to the employee at the front of the line and find out he is an executive for the company and today being the Thursday before EASTER it is the second busiest day of the year. LOL Only Bill and I can pick a random day on our roadtrip and have it be the second busiest day of the year… duh… So we take the tour through the factory and its very neat. They really have a brilliant set up with viewing area for almost every step of the way with video from the Modern Marvels episode about Jelly Beans. Did you know Jelly Belly makes Candy corn? Gummi Bears? Sunkist fruit gems? Well I didn't. They also have a whole line of chocolates called JBZs… basically M&Ms with flavored shells (Bill's coments - actually much better than plain old M&M's). Apparently their owner was one of the first to ever make candy corn. I am shocked! I never knew!

What is a Belly Flop? This was something I learned about as well. When Jelly Bellies are made they have this totally cool machine that sorts all the beans out. First if tumbles through and pulls out all the beans too small. Than it tumbles out all the perfect beans, once this has been completed the machine filters out all the too big beans. The imperfect beans are then mixed and bagged and sold as Belly Flops. At Christmas we got a box of Jelly Beans in the office and everyone seemed to enjoy them so when I saw the Belly Flops I bought a case (24 pounds) to bring back. Bill and I are going to split it up and make sure everyone that wants any Belly Flops can have some. So just drop by my desk next week and I will make sure I have a flavor menu so you won't grab a roasted garlic or jalapeno unless you really want one. Although… roasted garlic is quite surprisingly yummy.

Once you leave the tour they give you free samples of the Jelly Bellys and JBZs to take (this tour is free… and they still give you goodies!) there is also a sample "bar" basically you get to go up to the bar and taste any of the flavors they have available. I grabbed a roasted garlic and, while skeptical, I popped it in my mouth… I am utterly shocked that I like it. I also grab up a "Unconventionally" HOT Cinnamon gummi bear. YUMMO! Oh yes and then there was pomegranate. Ohhh yummo!

So Bill and I head over to the wall of Beans. We know we are bringing back the Belly Flops for friends but we must have beans to munch on the way home! We buy too many and then head out. Oh and for those Jelly Belly fanatics out there, they have a little diner in the visitors center that sells Jelly Belly shaped pizza, hamburgers etc.

On the way in we noticed signs for an Olive Oil tasting place. When I realized (months ago) that we would be driving through Northern CA I had hoped we could find some places that make Olive Oil. So when we saw the sign we made sure and stopped by. We tasted several types of oils and vinegar. There was a video on how they press the olives to make the oil that was fascinating. They have infused vinegars and oils that are fabulous and made locally by monks. The best ones there were the tangerine and pomegranate balsamic so we grab up 2 bottles and a bottle of a nice Tuscan Olive Oil to mix for salads.

We now have quite the collection of food stuffs. A jar of green chili made in Santa Fe, Olive oil and vinegars made in CA and marinated garlic and garlic spread also from CA. Not to mention about 27 pounds of Jelly Bellies straight from the factory. LOL

This morning we researched and discovered there are only a couple more Sonic Drive Ins left on our path home (although now we know there is one near Portland which I can get to more often then once every 3 years.) so we drive a little off our intended route for lunch. Bill is now thoroughly addicted and is a bit bummed that there are no Sonics in Seattle. Hey anyone out there want to start a restaurant? I hear Sonics do good business. Hehe

After lunch we hit the road and are headed up to the Redwoods. We will be stopping before we hit there this evening and then spend most of tomorrow among the giants. The weather said cloudy and 60s but its only a little cloudy and it is definitely above 70. So we are happy with our weather today. I hear there is a major cold front headed through much of the country and we are just glad it is not raining. Although the 10 day forcast says we will see rain all week once we are back home… Ahh Seattle, I have missed my kitties but I really have not missed the rain… when will it end? Ah well at least I got a break from it. Summer is just around the corner.

Streets and Trips has sent us off on another questionable but beautiful path. State Road 36 across the Klamath Mountains from Sacramento to Eureka, CA. I have a feeling in hunting season the road is chalk full of people but this time of year it is silent. We drive up and down mountains the road curving with the earth and dipping frequently. The view is incredible and so are my nerves… I seem to do well with the cliff sides for several hours each time but then I become concerned with whether we will ever find out way out of the forests. Going from highways with a 75 mile an hour speed limit to areas where it is not safe to drive more then 25-30 tends to make time slow to a crawl. Dozen of times along the road we stop to watch the deer as they meander across the road and graze on the hill side. Animals in this area seem to respect cars and steer clear of them but do not seem afraid of humans but are wary.

When we saw the sign that said "9% Grade next 2 miles" Bill and I agreed that neither of us had ever seen a 9% grade. So when we saw this: we became a little concerned. We have driven more then 5000 miles on our trip and we have never seen a grade like this for this extended length of road not to mention it is overwhelmed with hairpin turns:

I was fine until I could smell the brakes burning. We pulled over and gave them a chance to cool down. Then made the rest of the way down the hill. After we got to 101 we decided to stop at a little Brew Pub for dinner. The food was excellent and the locals were cute. Lots of cowboys in jeans and hats. hehe

Well we decided to crash here at the local generic chain motel. Tomorrow I walk among the giants... Night.

Scenic Highway 1

2007-04-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ahh it's Wednesday. The sky is slightly overcast and we are a little sad but really can not complain since nearly every day of the past 3 weeks has been gorgeous. We set out from San Luis Obispo to drive the scenic highway 1 stretch from Morro Bay to Monterey on our way into San Francisco. Even though the sky is overcast and a little smoggy the birds are out enjoying the wind. There are a small family of squirrels running around one of the view points we pull into. I also snap a few pictures of the happy cows that come from California, compared to the ones we saw in the desert I would have to agree that these look happier. We then stop at a seal protection and viewing area. There are hundreds of seals napping in the sand. I film them for a few minutes and randomly gawk and oohhh and ahhh. I just love animals… but I guess you wouldn't have guessed that. Heh

After hours of beautiful scenic driving we arrived in Monterey. We decide to grab a late lunch/early dinner and head over to the coast and find an excellent little seafood place. I have an AMAZING Dungeness Crab Alfredo pasta and Bill has Stuffed Shrimp over pasta with Portobello, tomato and a garlicy olive oil sauce. We sit out on the al fresco dining area and watch the kids play in the sand. Then we shop for a bit. I get a new hoody jacket and Bill gets a few goodies. We jump back in the car and head to Frisco. We arrive later then we had planned but the time was well spent in Monterey (I really like Monterey… it reminds me of coastal pictures I have seen of Italy.) We grab a few pictures of the Frisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge. One of the top priorities on our journey home was to stop and tour the Jelly Belly Factory. We decided to head up to Fairfield, CA tonight to see the factory first thing tomorrow, at which point we can decide if there is anything in San Francisco that is calling to us or if we want to bypass it in favor of more time along the coast and at the Redwoods. This would allow for a more leasurely last 2 days as we would not be trying to drive the full 550 (or so) miles from Redwoods to Maple Valley.

Long Beach to San Luis Obispo

2007-04-03T22:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday, This morning we found out there was a Chik'fil'a in Long Beach and so we headed a little out of the way to have breakfast there. Yum… We drive down to Long Beach and they are setting up for the Grand Prix so we skip going down to the beach and head back up into LA via Highway 1. We drive along the coast for a while and it's beautiful Basically a lot like West FL but with more waves and the water is nasty cold. No swimming for me.

My allergies are going bonkers. There are hundreds of blooming plants and trees and no way to figure out what is causing it but I luckily brought my medicine. I am hoping once we reach further North they will give me a break. I am actually surprised I have not had any problems through the entire trip until California. Maybe I am allergic to this state?!?!? Heh…

For lunch we know exactly where we want to be. 970 La Brea Avenue a.k.a. Pink's Hot Dog Stand. This has been a suggestion from friends, family and Food TV as well as several of our books so we figure we can not bypass it. We grab a few dogs and a Spicy Polish Sausage and have lunch then drive down Hollywood Blvd for a couple pictures… I am discovering I really don't care much about celebrities. *shrug* so we head over to Malibu for the afternoon and to avoid LA rush hour traffic.

So while I was in Vegas I neglected to post about my jewelry making class. On Friday I took a class about wire wrapping jewelry. I will post a picture of the necklace I made. It was very cool and I learned a ton of useful tips and tricks to help me become more skilled at it. I am glad we decided to take this trip.

While driving along 1 and 101 we decide to cut across from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo via a "short cut" now frequently our short cuts have been more like long cuts (see 10,000 Feet up OMG) this cut turns out to be similar and equally as beautiful. We drive along through the Los Padres National Forest and right past the Cachuma Lake Area. It is like paradise and as I mention this we drive past a sign for Paradise Road. Hehe apparently great minds think alike. We are planning to stop in San Luis Obispo tonight in order to make San Francisco by early afternoon tomorrow. The sun is beginning to set and I will see if I can get some nice pictures tonight. I need to remember to post last nights sunset. It was beautiful.

We found it… I should explain. Many many many months ago Bill and I discussed this hotel called the Madonna Inn. http://www.madonnainn.com/ he had found a link on some website and thought it looked very cool. We daydreamed a bit about flying down and staying in one of their very interesting rooms. Well time passed and we didn’t think about it much again until… As we were driving from LA to San Luis Obispo Bill says… where was that hotel we saw on the internet that one time? I immediately remember exactly what he was talking about… well guess where it is? San Luis Obispo… We remembered that they tend to fill up and that they generally require reservations so we do not get our hopes up as we travel along the road. We arrive and in Bright Pink Neon it says VACANCY! I squeak my pleasure and we rush to the registration desk. This is not your average everyday hotel. The owner is a bit eclectic and so every room is completely different… when I say "different" I mean REALLY different. When you walk into the registration area they have a wall lined with postcards of each room with their name and number on them. You receive a list of rooms that are available for the night and prices and you get to choose your room from the wall. (I am glad I saved so much for this trip LOL.)

We got the Cabin Still room. Here is what the website has to say about the room "Conversation pieces everywhere you look in this room! We have built a replica of an old-fashioned still in the bath, but no “moonshining.” The bathroom has a chain that comes down from the ceiling that you flush with… the nightstands are rocks coming out of the wall. The walls, floors and part of the ceiling are all rocks. The lights above the bed are lanterns. The whole room is traditional still. I feel like I am living in Uncle Jessie's bathroom (for reference see Dukes of Hazzard.) So it seems California may have some redeeming factors. Check flickr for more pictures of the weird room. Heh

This is definitely turning out to be the most unusual and likely unforgettable vacation I have ever taken.

California or Bust

2007-04-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

Mileage 198341

Monday morning and I don't have to go to work… I am really beginning to like this concept. Today we are driving Barstow to Santa Monica… our final day on Route 66. *sigh* We found the signs painted on the road and were able to take a few pictures. I am pleased. We grab breakfast at this little place called the Palms Café. In honor of it being my last breakfast on Route 66 I have the biscuits and gravy. I shall miss it. The land here is again pretty desolate. I was reading one of my Route 66 books and they talked about how disheartened many of the people that were traveling out here during the dust bowl must have been when they crossed the Colorado River into California and discovered, not the land of milk and honey they had been told about, but hundreds of more miles of desert. There is so much history in these little patches of pavement. So many people with so many dreams travelled along this route. That is the one main theme in all of the Route 66 materials I have read. People with dreams of settling in CA to make a home or dreams of vacations or dreams of just a better place then where they were coming from.

We have finally arrived in the LA area. We drive down Route 66 and it is pretty updated. There is less Kitsch but it is nice to see what Route 66 would look like if it were built today. The car is telling us we need to change the oil so we stop for a quick oil change and then continue our path. I noticed that along our route lies San Dimas. Now for you Bill and Ted fans out there this is a little geekfest for me. I beg Bill to drive us down by the High School so that I can get a picture of the sign. When we get there guess what… There is NO sign. Now knowing that there are a lot of Keanu Reeve haters out there it disappoints me but does not surprise me. So I take a picture of the building and sadly move on. Goodbye San Dimas, thanks for the memories.

So far I am not impressed with California. I have been to California for conventions and have never much liked the people or places I have seen. It's too expensive and for the same things I can get at home. Only time will tell if California can win me over.

Check Flickr for more pictures... off to see if I can find a Chik'fil'a breakfast. LOL

2007-04-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Packed up this morning and am sad to leave. We are on our way to California and back on Route 66. We tried to head over to Oatman and discovered that the road is unpaved. While we would love to see the burrows we decided it would be better for us to have a car in one piece on the way home. So we bypass Oatman and head to Barstow. We are staying at another Route 66 Motel tonight the name of this one? "Route 66 Motel" Hehehe the parking lot is full of old cars and there is a center area that has an old water wheel… which personally I think is hysterical since we are still in the middle of the DESERT! The hotel looks well kept and so we will have another new place to call home for the night and has round beds!Then off to find dinner but I MUST stay away from the Mexican… how do they eat that all the time? I LOVE it but it just kills me.

I forgot to mention my wire wrapping class but I will add that in later. My head is spinning from all the fun in Vegas. It will take me a bit to catch up.

Tonight we sleep in the Dunes Motel Sunset of Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, CA... It is quite a bit different then Hollywood, FL. heh I will add more tomorrow once I have a good nights sleep.

Phantom of Vegas...

2007-04-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

Vegas was more fun than I could ever have imagined. Not being a gambler I had thought the most of what is Vegas is gambling. When I realized I was going to be in Vegas I began doing research. I found out that Vegas is basically a second New York in it's Quality shows. I researched for months trying to decide which shows to see. I have seen cirque de sole shows when I lived in FL and I have seen a few different Broadway shows in various parts of the country but there was a show I had never been able to see, Phantom of the Opera. I love the story and so when I found out the show is running in Vegas I was excited. I contemplated a number of other shows but kept coming back to this one. Part of the reason is Bill also very much likes the story and has already seen the play and the movie and has the soundtracks. So we both agreed to go. When we will researching ticket prices we saw that the best seats in the house were available. We had 7 rows back center stage. The cost was a bit higher but I have saved and saved for this trip and figured I may only be in Vegas once so I might as well get the best experience. So when Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to bring Phantom to Vegas they decided to build an entire 1800s style opera house for the audience to sit in. The opera house was fantastic and we sat for several minutes before the show and gawked at it. Unfortunately they will not let people take pictures so if you want to see it check out the Venetian hotel in Vegas' website and you can see them. The lights go down and the show keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. There are a few scenes that have been shortened to make the show more "Vegas Style" and while die hards may find this repulsive I did not miss them much (Bill agreed.) The woman that Plays Christine is very good… a little less innocent looking then I think should be for the part but in Vegas… innocence is probably hard to come by. The man that plays Raoul is FANTASTIC. (of course the fact that he looks similar to Colin Firth didn't hurt him…LOL) When I saw the movie version I was routing for the Phantom because I absolutely hated the guy that played Raoul but in this version he absolutely and completely won me over. The man that played the Phantom was quite good as well but the men that played Raoul really stole the show for me.

After the show we walked around the Venetian. We had talked about doing a Gondola ride but when we found out the wait was an hour and a half we grabbed a cappuccino gelato and walked out onto Las Vegas Blvd. We headed towards Treasure Island and got there just too late to catch the show there so we head down to Margaritaville and have dinner. Bill wanted a souvenir cup and I was not apposed to the idea so we headed to the bar and grabbed drinks… Bill got a MONDO margarita in this very cool MASSIVE glass. Unfortunately they refused to sell me a Daiquiri in the glass so I got one of the pilsners with a strawberry daiquiri. We got into the restaurant and had dinner by which time Bill had finished the margarita. LOL I was still sipping away on my daiquiri for an hour or more. After we left we walked down through the Bellagio. We went into the gardens and saw their butterfly house (very cool) and then headed out to watch the fountains. We watched them for a while and then headed back to the hotel.

Vegas is so relaxing...

2007-04-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

So I spent 80 minutes today with a Shiatsu Therapist and I have to tell you I feel Marv-elous! I could melt into this chair and just stay for days. After the massage I spent some quality time in the sauna trying to recoup some moisture in my lungs. I could learn to like this. I also found out this afternoon that the spa facilities are available to guests each day for a minimal fee. I am now beginning to contemplate whether I will ever actually leave the hotel. Only time will tell.

We were able to catch up with Dan & Mindy for dinner. The steak was very good but the Hollandaise Sauce on the grilled asparagus stole the show. I tell ya, Vegas is beginning to make me feel like a Queen. LOL I am so NOT gonna want to leave.

Photo Link Updated

2007-03-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Howdy all,

I was finally able to sit down and post a lot of pictures up on my flickr account. Here is the link again in case you need it.

http://flickr.com/photos/ghgoddess/

Hope everyone is enjoying the blog. I really miss my kitties... can't say I miss work much but I am sure I will be ready for some stability in another week or so... or maybe not. LOL

Enjoy!
Leslie

2007-03-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

I spent many months saving for this trip and was able to save more then I expected. When Bill and I realized we would be in Vegas a day early we contemplated staying at a strip hotel or on Fremont St. I had heard so much about Fremont Street and after comparing a few prices and options we agreed that Fremont Street would be a blast. Part of the money I have saved for this trip was to spend spoiling myself at some of the spas here in Vegas in order to help relax and wash away my stress. When we found out there was a beautiful Spa Room available at the Golden Nugget hotel I was so excited. We grabbed up the opportunity to stay there. We get into our special elevator to go up to the special Spa Tower of the hotel. There are only about 5 floors of these suites with 5 suites (or so) per floor. The suite is 2 floors, the bottom floor is a living and dining area with a bathroom and a full bar area (no alcohol provided.) The top floor is the King size bedroom and the bathroom… the bathroom is ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… jetted tub with a view out the wall of windows (more on that in a minute), sauna shower… ahhhhhhhhhhhhh… It was so nice. Then you have to take in the view, mountains and sky and a few casino lights. Then there is the bed… The pillow top was a good 3 inches thick alone… You climb in and it envelopes you. Sucking you into cloudy wonderfulness. I have to say in my extensive use of hotel rooms between my job and vacations I have never experienced anything like this. It's soft and yet firm. It was perfect. Why can't I take a bed home as a souvenir?

We spend the early part of the evening on the street experiencing the Fremont Street Experience. Every hour on the hour they play a video across this enormous screen. It was pretty cool. There are a number of street acts that catch our attention. Over all an incredible first night in Vegas. During the day we move down to the South Point hotel & casino where the Expo will be. Bill has a class this afternoon so I wander the casino and enjoy a little quiet time. Hehe

Tomorrow will be fun. I get to have dinner with Dan & Mindy and have a nice Shiatsu massage. I am going to hate leaving Vegas!

2007-03-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day on Route 66 until we leave Vegas. We have almost completed our portion of the Mother Road. It has been an experience. Today we are driving on the bypassed portion of Route 66 through the back country of Arizona. Most of the small towns are nonexistent. We drive through areas where movies like Easy Rider were filmed. The hills in the background are beautiful and the sun and clouds roll across them enhancing the colors. We have really had amazing weather this trip. This section of Route 66 is the longest paved un-touched portion of the route that is left. From here to California you can completely bypass interstates (or so the book says.) We picked up a couple box sets of old 50s and 60s music and have had that playing as our personal soundtrack while we drive these back roads. I can close my eyes and picture myself in a poodle skirt and scarf wrapped pony tail riding in an old Bel Air or early model mustang with the top down and the wind whipping, stopping at the local diners or soda shops for a phosphate. I do believe at times I was born in the wrong era. Maybe that is my Dad's influence.

This morning we left early so that we can reach Vegas tonight instead of tomorrow. We made reservations at the Golden Nugget down on Fremont. I really was hoping to be able to spend a night down in Old Vegas. So many people that go to Vegas want to stay in the newest coolest Strip hotels and they miss the history of the area. So we will experience Fremont Street tonight and then move on to the Expo hotel. What's the Expo? Well it is the entire reason this trip came into being. Bill and I will be attending the Glass & Bead Expo at the South Point Hotel & Casino. (Yes that is the hotel that about a dozen of my co-workers were at just a few days ago for Games Expo.) I have heard that the hotel has a fantastic Steak house.

Added by Bill - Today while on Route 66 something really incredible happened - Leslie went into a gift shop, walked around looking at things - - and actually left the store without purchasing a magnet.

Flagstaff to Williams, AZ via Grand Canyon

2007-03-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

We got up early this morning to hit the road to the Grand Canyon. I am amazed at how many people are here considering all the other National and State parks we have been to were quiet. We hear more languages then we can even identify. We decide to take one of the shuttles out to the West points along the path and take a ton of pictures. The day is a little hazy but it keeps it from getting too hot. Overall it was a beautiful day to be out. Bill and I both get a little sunburned. I think Bill began to really grasp his fear of heights today (Bill's comment - I knew I had a fear of heights - but it does take a good few thousand foot cliff to really make one truly appreciate it). hehehe

The Grand Canyon is amazing. Bill and I both agree that our amazement with it is somewhat diminished due to the other fantastical things we have seen in the past week (Arches, petrified trees, painted deserts) but is still a must see. The vastness surprises me. I have seen pictures of the Grand Canyon and even saw an IMAX show about it but I never could (and still really don't) grasp how amazingly huge it is.

Bill and I visit one of the gift shops when we enter the park. As soon as I walk in the door I see a book that I must have. "Over The Edge: Death In Grand Canyon". The day Bill and I walked through Arches I stopped at one point after reading an informational sign that didn't tell me much of anything I wants to know and said "Where are the signs that tell how many people get bit by Rattlesnakes each year?" Bill laughed at me. (Bill's Comment - actually before we even got into the gift shop there was a FAQ sign that answered the question of how many people fell off the rim of the canyon - that is where I laughed at her.) So when I saw this book I knew it was written for me. I grab a few magnets to add to my collection and off we go discovering. On our shuttle back from one of our hikes, the bus is full of people so much that I can not see anything interesting… I knew it would be about 25 minutes to our parking area (or so the driver said) and so I pick up the book. It is fascinating. Stories about people that made it and other stories about people that did not. It is very respectful of the people and is supposed to be a guide to help people that are visiting the parks be more self aware. I am learning not to walk on the guard walls and not to take that one more step back for a picture… not to mention the people that die being just plain dumb. This father who was a known prankster wanted to scare his young daughter… so he stood on a wall where there was a small ledge behind it and then flailing his arms "Fell" backwards… his daughter not thinking it was funny walked back to the car to meet with the rest of the group. Hours later they found him at the bottom… *rolls eyes* Poor girl is fatherless and all because Dad wanted to joke around on a ledge with a 400 foot drop behind it… anyway I will be continuing to read the book along our path to make sure Bill and I learn more self awareness… heh.

We again come to a point in the day where we have scheduled to leave but decided to stay for a little while longer. We hike out on a few of the small paths to the photograph points and take more pictures. Then have lunch at one of the little places inside the park. We head out just before 6 pm (instead of the 3-4 pm we had planned.) As we look at the road ahead we are still ahead of schedule and decide that we will stay in Williams, AZ tonight and catch the strip of Route 66 between Williams and Kingman in the daylight.

2007-03-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

More painted desert above

Winslow is just on this side of being a ghost town. The hot spot in town is a corner with a statue of the Eagle's lead singer (I think) and a sign "Standing on the Corner", cleverly painted on the wall behind the statue is a painting of "It's a girl my lord in a flat bed Ford slowing down to take a look at me". We take it easy in Winslow for the night and then hit the road early. The time change has thrown us off a tad but not in a bad way. We grab breakfast at Sonic… mmmm… Sonic… and then head off to the Meteor Crater! This is totally cool. Now this is how people should learn about things… instead of in a dusky old classroom. We take a tour of the crater and in the 1 hour Rim Tour I learn more about physics then I did in 9 months of torment in High School. The crater is 550 feet deep. Initially scientists believed it was a volcano cone but then discovered it was what it is… a crater from a meteor. The meteor hit with a pressure comparable to a 20,000 ton dynamite blast. Now that's something. We are now on our way down to Phoenix to hang out with my friend Jon for dinner.

Depending on our mood we will either be staying in Flagstaff or at the Grand Canyon tonight. More later. Lunch with Jon was a blast. We gabbed and gabbed and for anyone that knows me and Jon you know we can both gab. LOL

Well on the way back North Bill and I realized that we are about a half a day early on our schedule so we decided to stop in Flagstaff for the night. Nothing special hotel but it was inexpensive. Since today was kinda slow I will keep it short for Eric's sake. LOL More pictures to come.

Gallup, NM to Winslow, AZ

2007-03-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

Above: Lightning Tree from the Ice Caves

Happy Saturday!

New Mexico has been an experience I shall not forget for a long time. When I came out of the hotel to load the car this morning I see that Bill has killed and mounted a tumbleweed onto the hood of the car… ok so actually it looks like we just hit one along the road but I thought it was funny so I took a picture. There is an Ortega Aztec store in the hotel and as I wander through I spy a gorgeous pair of heart shaped earrings that are turquoise and coral and a few other colors. I decide I must have these so I bought them. I am hoping to find something more at a few of the other Indian stores.

Mmmmmmm fry bread.

I was able to pick up another pair of earrings from one of the stores that is owned by Navajo. The store I decide to spend my money at only sells handmade items by local people. Many of the other stores are very tourist trappy and I know from living in Florida which stores are the best to support.

The Petrified Forest and the Painted desert are amazing. I can barely begin to describe the beauty and colors. Between these sights and the Arches I am more amazed at the beauty that nature creates. The pictures we take do not show the true vast variety of colors. Today is a perfecdt day to be here due to the sun and light cloud cover. The clouds move over the land casting shadows across the desert and enhancing and dulling colors. It is fascinating to stand and just watch the colors change.

We end up spending more time in the Desert and the Forest then we had planned and will be staying in Winslow tonight. No internet at our hotel and we are too tired to bother with it.

Day 6 Albuquerque, NM to Gallup, New Mexico

2007-03-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

This morning we realize that green chilies are a great evil and decide to try a breakfast without. We drive along Central Avenue (Route 66) in old town Albuquerque and run across a bakery just down the street from the university. The name is "Chocolate Café & Bakery". Sounds like my kinda place. We look at the menu and see lots of green chili options but we are determined to say no for at least one meal. I am not as strong at denying myself so I don't even tempt myself with the option and order the chocolate pancakes. When the sign says they serve "Breakfast, Lunch and Chocolate" they are not kidding. The pancakes are made with cocoa powder and chips AND they serve it with chocolate syrup… and not some Hershey's chocolate… this stuff is homemade. This is likely the richest thing I have ever eaten. I share Bill's Omelet with swiss cheese and spinach and so I don't think I will die just yet… lol… I can definitely see how death by chocolate is an option though… (Bill's comments - the chocolate pancakes were very good and really rich to the point where Leslie did not want to stop at Dunkin Doughnuts when we passed them down the street).

Petroglyph National Monument is a site. You can do a few hikes around the area (and when I mean hikes I mean climbing rocks and hoping there are no rattlers around.) We got some great exercise and some very cool pictures. They believe the first petroglyphs in this area were made as early as 1000 BC.

Well we somehow ripped part of the GPS cord and have to find an electronics store to get it replaced. Remarkably we have been around half of downtown Alb… and haven't found a single Best Buy or Circuit City. We are driving around a bit and finally find a mall area. We find the Best Buy and what is next door? Chik'fil'a. We go there for lunch… I am pleased. (Bill's comments - I am not sure that really describes it - - I do believe that she squealed she was so excited). We finally head out of town towards Gallup. We have decided to take the scenic route off Route 66 and down through the mesas. It's been cloudy off and on which has been nice to cool off. We have had scattered thunder and lightning but it hasn't hurt our trip. I do miss the good thunder storms.

We decide to do the bypass and come across one of the "attractions" we had discussed seeing the Fire & Ice: Ice Caves and Volcano tour. We find this way back in BFE. Basically on this backward piece of land there was a volcano that erupted 10,000 years ago. The land is still covered with dried Lava (not sure if there is a technical term for it) and a cave down in the ground that is full of ice. You basically get a map of the area with numbers on it and the numbers coincide with little logs set along the path. You read the pamphlet to tell you what you are seeing. It was absolutely fascinating. The first stop on the way to the Volcano (there are 2 paths… 1 for the volcano and 1 for the cave) is a tree that has been struck by lightning. Apparently because of the makeup of the lava and the ground around the area trees in the area are more susceptible to being struck. Now I am from Florida… namely Tampa Bay which from what I understand is a lightning strike capital of the US and I have never seen so many trees in such a small area that have been struck. The lightning strikes are so obvious running the full length of the trees. I took tons of pictures and will add them to my flickr page. We continue along the path and it gets pretty steep. I start breathing really hard and feeling like I am having an asthma attack so I stop and just stand there breathing as deep as I can. I begin to realize I am getting altitude sickness (again.) I slow down and take the mountain at a slower rate and get to the top. At the top is a look down into the cone of the volcano. As we read the little pamphlet it explains that we are at 8059 feet. So this is the second time in a week I have been well over a mile over sea level. As we descend I can actually begin to feel the drop in pressure. It was quite an experience. So we walk down to the path for the Ice Cave and head down the path. We round a corner and there is this staircase descending into darkness. We start to walk down (me clutching the railing) and as I look down into the cave I begin to realize just how claustrophobic I can get. LOL I think the prior altitude sickness did not help matters. There are 3 platforms on the path down. I stop at the first and sit on a small bench. Bill descends into the cave and takes pictures to bring back to me. I am kicking myself now for not going in but at the time I was not quite right in my head. Hehe not to say I am normally…

After the ice caves we continue on to Gallup, NM. As I read my Route 66 book I remember seeing a segment on my Route 66 DVD series about the El Rancho Hotel & Motel. This is the site where a ton of old 40s, 50s and 60s movies were filmed and where several of the top actors and actresses of the day stayed during the filming of many other westerns and other movies. When you enter the lobby there are literally hundreds of pictures of actors and actresses signed to the El Rancho Hotel. Each of the rooms in the Hotel portion of the property are named for these people. Some of the names are John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Jane Fonda, Ronald Reagan, Allan Ladd, etc. So Bill and I agree we must stay here for the evening. The ambiance is rustic lodge and the restaurant has inviting scents of Mexican mixed with BBQ. Our room is the Rite Hayworth room. I will post pictures on the flickr page tomorrow. Tonight I am exhausted from my trip up the volcano. Hope everyone if enjoying… Thank you all for the comments. I will respond as I am able. Night!

Day 6 - Tucumcari, NM to Albuqurque (of however you spell it), NM

2007-03-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

This morning we wake to rain. It's a nice break from the heat of yesterday. According to the locals this is a hard rain. It only rains for a few hours and stops before we hit the road. Bill, the Blue Swallow Motel, suggests we have breakfast burritos down at Rubee's Diner. I tend to trust locals when it comes to food so we head on down for some AMAZING breakfast burritos and biscuits and gravy (ohmy!). Our last stop out of town is the Tee Pee Curios Shop. The shop is immaculate. Not your typical cluttered shop. The owner is awesome and so is Maya his pet rat terrier. I grab up 3 more magnets for my collection even thought there are easily 10 I would love to buy. As I turn the corner I am shocked to see they have home made bags from fanny packs up to duffle bags. There is a small satchel type bag that catches my eye. The material is Route 66. I am gaga. I go to look at the price tag expecting it to easily cost $20.. But No! it's $6.98! I am so pleased I giggle and grab one of the bags to take as my own. It is fairly small but easily holds my wallet and the camera. It will hold a few other items but I don't want to stuff too much in there now.

I am quite pleased with my collection of magnets to date. I have 2 from Arches, one of which is a 3D arch… very cool. I also have one from the Hole in the Rock. I picked up 4 in Amarillo 1 is a Texas Route 66, 1 for the Big Texan and the 3rd is Cadillac Ranch and the 4th is a Mother Road Route 66 3D magnet with old 50s Cadillacs pictured. At the Tee Pee I pick up a Tucumcari Tonight magnet, a Blue Swallow Magnet and a New Mexico Route 66. My fridge is not gonna know what hit it. LOL

This morning we are listening to the Cars CD from the movie. It's a great driving CD. I really hope more people will become interested in driving Route 66 from all the new movies out regarding it. For those that haven't seen it… Wild Hogs is a fantastic movie. On that note if you haven't seen Cars my first question would be "Where have you BEEN?!?!" then I would highly suggest you pick it up on DVD. It's one of Pixars best movies yet.

So with every meal for the past few days there is something the waiter will ask every time… "Would you like Green chili on that?" and every time they ask I have to say yes. I keep trying to resist. I even went to a Diner hoping to get a simple cheeseburger but then he said, "would you like green chili on that?" and of course I said… yes… So they bring me this burger it's the bottom bun with the hamburger on top smothered in a delectable queso and chopped chilies on top. So much cheese that the burger is actually surrounded by a small pool of the stuff. It may kill me but it was amazing….

Bill and I have agreed to TRY again to avoid it tomorrow but I fear they may offer to put it on my pancakes and I will have to say… yes please!

We reached Albuquerque OH LOOK! I actually spelled it right myself this time! We are staying at the Monterey NON-SMOKING Motel… It's actually yhe name LOL. Sounds like a place made for me. The first thing the manager asked in a gruff Ukrainian accent when we asked for a room was "Do You Smoke?" We promptly say no and he becomes more friendly. We seem to be having issues with our wifi tonight so I am hoping to get this posted. More tomorrow.

Day 5 Amarillo, TX to Tucumcari, NM

2007-03-22T20:41:00.001-07:00

Route 66 starting Mileage 196245

We finally reached Route 66 - The Mother Road. We got up and had buffet breakfast at the Big Texan, yum, then headed off to find Route 66. We have directions through part of Amarillo but decide to take a short off route to see the Big Cowboy. He is a 47 feet tall. He is definitely Route 66 kitschy. We then head over to the Amarillo Historic Route 66 path. We drive along and see so many buildings in disrepair. It is sad. I hope that with all the movies about the area people will consider taking more trips along the route to help rejuvenate this American Legacy. We drive from Amarillo through Vega and Adrian both towns claim to be the midpoint of Route 66 but no one knows which is actually due to the constant changes to the road. Unfortunately due to renovations the Midpoint Café is closed. We do drop by Dot's Museum. It is a sight.

Bill's comments - Unfortunately the Midpoint Café is closed - I would say it is more than unfortunate - all I heard about for miles is how good the pie will be and then we could not get any.

Along our way we reach Tucumcari, New Mexico. Tucumcari is known as the town of 2000 hotel rooms. This was the boast on signs in the 50s and 60s and it became common to here "Tucumcari Tonight" which was a popular song about the common rest area for thousands of Americans on their way to or from the West Coast. Nowadays the town is known for it's restored hotels and it's bright NEON signs. As we arrive we realize that we have not arrived at the best time to see these signs (3 pm) and decided to consider staying over. We have lunch at Del's Restaurant and decide to stay over in the infamous Blue Swallow Motel. In the movie Cars you will see a sign "100% Refrigerated Air" that is the copywrited sign for the Blue Swallow. This is THE place to stay on Route 66 so we figured what the hay? I am so glad we are here. The owner of the Motel is a fantastic guy. He is very chatty and loves to talk about Route 66, the history and the future. Bill and I both pick up T-shirts with the Blue Swallow Motel on them. It is exciting to be in a place with so much American history. We find a map of the town in our room that has a map with a list of all the Murals that are painted around town. We take off and take pictures of the majority of the murals then head back to have our picture taken in front of the sign.

This is Bill again - As Leslie is sitting in a large nice wooden porch chair outside the room of the Blue Swallow I am outside talking to Bill who purchased the motel a few years back and is working to truly restore it to its one time glory. He is a very friendly guy and offers all of his guests the opportunity for him to take their picture in front of the sign. The time is near to take the pictures and we wonder over to the front sign where he is waiting for just the right time. He strikes up conversation and is asking us where we work and what we do - Leslie tries to explain about the games that WizKids makes and then he asks me where I work - when I say a small software company that he might have heard of at (Microsoft) - he goes into the "Oh so you know about computers, I know you are on vacation but if you have a few minutes before you leave can you help with something." He is such a nice friendly guy that after he takes the pictures - I say "lets take a look at what you need." Well he has a beautiful picture of the Blue Swallow sign in the sunset and wants to get some postcards made from a place on line - but can not figure out what all the stuff on the site is telling him to do or how to get the graphics to the right size. Leslie and I get my laptop (which just happens to have a graphics program on it) we take care of his picture and help him navigate his way thru the site and he has 1000 postcards on order now. He has promised to send a postcard as thank you once they are complete.

And back to Leslie - It is so cool to meet people that are so friendly and down to earth. Not to mention it's a heck of a thing for us to have helped him with this project and to always know that we helped get those postcards printed that will be sent around the world and enjoyed by so many people.

One of the websites I read up on mentioned that someone that had travelled Route 66 had asked many of the people along the way to sign a book they had bought that had pictures in it of the places. While researching our trip Bill and I picked up a number of cool books. The one I think really grabs the essence of Route 66 is called "Route 66 Lost & Found Ruins and Relics" This book includes pictures of each place from early in it's heyday and then another picture of it today. The Blue Swallow is there and we ask if they will sign it. Terri (the owners wife) was happy to sign it. We will see how many people we can get to sign the book along the way.

Tonight we will sleep wrapped in the arms of the Mother Road.

Update Day 4

2007-03-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

I promised a pic or 2 of the Arches and I have another picture for you. The above is a picture of Bill standing in the North Window Arch. He is the small speck that looks like a dirt spot on the camera.... hehe The following is a basic picture of our path. It is missing a small segment down through Utah and a bit of our Colorado and New Mexico path but there is enough to see our basic progress. 4 days... Seattle to Amarillo, TX.

Day 4 Pagosa Springs to Amarillo, TX

2007-03-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

Day 4 begins in a crisp cool 54 degrees. We are definitely higher altitude. Pagosa Springs turned out to be a more accommodating town then I had thought. Even though we had to eat out of the cooler for dinner morning seems to be the time to be in Pagosa Springs. The area is well known for it's hot springs. Bill and I agree to get an early start so we decide to forgo the hot springs (my newly acquired sun burn thanks me). We are both a little anxious to get breakfast and hit the road!

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I really believe this. Now I should mention that I am a Sonic Fanatic.. For those of you in Seattle I am NOT talking about the basketball team. I am talking about the restaurant that you may have seen obscure commercials for on some of your cable channels. I am convinced they run these commercials to taunt me since I moved from an area where Sonics were frequent to Seattle where they are non-existent. (There are a few other restaurants I miss, Chic'fil'a, Cracker Barrel, CC's Pizza but I will get to those later.) So as I look at "Find Restaurants" feature on Streets & Trips what do I behold?!?!??! Sonic! We stopped in Idaho and got just a Cherry Limeade… one of the yummy drink concoctions they are known for and one of my very favorites. In Utah we got a watermelon slush… oh yum… even better after hiking and chili cheese tator tots.

As we leave Pagosa Springs this morning Bill wants to try one of the breakfast items I have been bragging is "one of the best breakfasts I have ever experienced. It's a breakfast burrito. Contents include Egg, sausage, tomato, jalapeno peppers, cheese, tator tots and onion. Yummmo! I also grab a fresh Vanilla Coke… not like the yucky ones in a can… but a real soda-jerk style vanilla coke…. Heaven. So we stop at Sonic and grab breakfast and head out of Pagosa Springs. (next sonic stop will have to be the ultimate in milkshakes… the Chocolate Cream Pie Milkshake… with graham cracker crumbs and all

Note: Sonic Claims (on their cup) to have 168,894 different drink combinations.

Leaving Pagosa Springs there is still snow on the ground in many places. Also this is the first area where we have seen a high population of trees since crossing the Snoqualmie Pass. Now Entering New Mexico. We got a very early start this morning so we will be driving for a while. More later.

10,000 FEET?!??! So we decided to take this little state highway through Northern New Mexico. As we left Colorado we were already up to 7000 elevation. (Streets and Trips GPS gives you your elevation… something we have kind of made into a game. I ask Bill to guess the current elevation… sometimes he has been close but other times he was quite shocked.) So as we go along I realize that we are going up at a fairly regular rate. I look down at the Streets and Trips and see us around 8900 feet… but we are still climbing! Our highest point was 10,554. I guess it wasn't a problem that we bypassed Pike's Peak. LOL

As we drive along this unknown road we come across a canyon… Reading the signs it turns out to be the Rio Grande Gorge. It's amazing and we get a number of pictures at the rest stop. If you ever happen to be running down highway 64 in NM stop at this rest stop. The view is amazing and the bathrooms are awesome! Tiled in a rich natural orange and the walls made out of local stone. Not to mention the cleanest rest stop I have ever encountered. There are also covered picnic tables for public use.

Ok we are back down to earth… well partially. Current Altitude is 6300 feet. As we drive along the back roads of New Mexico we run through a small town full of adobe buildings. I play the tourist taking tons of pictures while the natives laugh at me. We drive through the Carson National Forest which I believe is named after Kit Carson the Female gunslinger. I will have to check my reference book to clarify. We go from massive hills and frozen lakes down to plains with roaming Buffalo… or are they Bison???? Maybe Beefalo? As we drive we have 2 deer dart across the road a few yards in front of the car than shortly down the road there are antelope playing… I figure I have now had the full SW experience… I should just head home… or not.

Out here there is next to nothing. Towns consist of a Bar or Liquor store, gas station and a grocery store. We can see for miles. The sky is clear except for a few tufty clouds and dozens of shades of blue depending on which direction you look. There is dry grass for miles around on our road from Cimarron to Raton, New Mexico.

The dry air is taking a toll on my hands and feet. I had to stop and buy a large bottle of lotion. I can tell I am a Florida girl because I seem to need at least 50% humidity. My breathing has been hard when walking very far but I have faith that my system will adjust to the drier air in the next day or so. I am amazed that we have been able to keep up with our 2+ liters of water per day without having to stop every 5 minutes.

We stop in Raton, NM for lunch at a little steakhouse. It's pretty good. The road from Raton to Clayton is sparse of anything… other then maybe rattlesnakes. Not to mention it is under construction to widen it which neither of us understand as we have only seen about 10 cars headed in each direction. With the construction we are stuck in a 45 mile per hour zone with double fine threats ever few hundred feet. So we creep along in nowhereland hoping this road will end soon. Our first several hours in NM were far more interesting. Thank goodness the rest of the time we have in this state will be on Route 66 which has enough interesting things to keep us distracted from the repetitive and monotone landscape.

According to the First National Bank of New Mexico it is now 6:17pm and 75 degrees. Gotta love this weather! We have discussed it and it looks like we may continue on until we hit Amarillo, tonight. This would save us quite a bit of driving tomorrow and we would have time to visit the Palo Duro Canyon or some of the more… interesting… areas of Amarillo, TX.

Amarillo it is. We are hoping to stay at the Big Texan Hotel that is attached to the Big Texan Steak House, best known for their 72 ounce steak that if you eat it all in under 1 hour it's free. Neither of us has ANY intention of even trying it but we hope to have a reasonable sized steak for lunch tomorrow and hope to see someone attempt the monstrosity.

We made it. 4 days to Amarillo. We are staying at the Big Texan Motel and you gotta see this! I will post pictures in the morning since you won't be able to see much in the dark. Picture an old John Wayne movie that clashed into a bad 70s flick. Oh MY! We are sitting in the Big Texan Steak House as I post this. The restaurant provides free Wi Fi for guests. The restaurant looks like the inside of any classic movie tavern but with the added touch of about 100 stuffed animal heads… we aren't talking teddy bears here. It is complete with a full balcony around the entire restaurant area with seating. The motif is just stunningly tacky Texas and I love it. I am beginning to realize that many people reading this will know more about me and my bizarre sense of fun by the time I am back home in Seattle. Maybe I can even make a few new friends from this experience.

P.S. We can't find Bill's phone. We aren't sure if we might have left it in Colorado… Hope to find it soon… Time to eat!

Day 3 - Arches National Park to Pagosa Springs, CO

2007-03-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

Day 3 is as beautiful as the first 2. The weather is in the 70s and sunny. Unusual for it to be this warm this time of the year here from what people say. Last night we began to realize we were over ambitious for our first few days. Day 1 was over 600 miles of driving and Day 2 was 500. I planned well for the time on Route 66 where we will be driving no more then 250 miles each day. So we decided this morning to remove a portion of our trip through Colorado. I figure my brother will take me to Colorado at some point and I will be able to tour around with him.

We decided to sleep in a bit and rolled out of bed around 8:30. Went down to the local Pancake Haus for breakfast. Full of carbs and ready to hike we drive up to Arches. About a half a mile In…

Taking a moment to say… this type of thing happens to me commonly and apparently is common for Bill, with the 2 of us together we aughta have a heck of a time…

We realize we do not have enough gas to drive the full length of the park. We laugh about it… turn around go back to town… fill up… then go BACK to Arches to continue our tour. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever experienced. The color of the Red Rocks contrast with the particular shade of blue sky in just such a way to be absolutely perfect. The natural arch formations are quite fantastic and are a site I think most people should experience.

Another reason we decided to go South instead of West on our way out of Moab was an article in a magazine left in our hotel room about the "Hole in the Rock" it is a kitschy kind of stop. Basically back in the 50s the guy was given a piece of land out here in Utah. At the time there wasn't much going on out here except for mining but thanks to someone finding a Uranium mine just down the road the man decided to set up a diner. Although… he did not "Build" his diner. Being a miner by trade he decided to take this massive piece of rock his father had given him and dynamite out a house. The man had quite a talent for engineering and actually chiseled and blasted out a Diner and a home for his wife and family out of the rock. This rock is hard sandstone that you see quite frequently in this area. So Bill and I agreed after several hours of hiking and photo taking of the Arches that we would head out of Moab and stop in Hole in the Rock.

The Hole in the Rock was quite an experience. It provided us with exactly the appropriate amount of Kitsch that we were looking for. I am a type of gal that would enjoy seeing things like "The Largest Ball of Twine" so this was a perfect fit. Unfortunately they do not allow photos to be taken inside the house. I did get some great pictures of the outside. The things that was amazing is when the tour guide turned off the artificial lights to show us what it looked like before the power was added. The engineering of where the support beams were left was absolutely perfect to capture all of the natural lighting from the sun. The sun poured through the windows in such a way that it lit up the entire 5000 square feet except for a few small corners. Quite a feat I imagine. Also the tour guide said that because the entire ceiling was made of the sandstone the inside of the house stays at about 65 degrees year round.

After we leave Hole in the Rock we head South along 191. We are contemplating stopping at the 4 Corners monument that brings together Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah but are undecided whether we will.

While driving we have decided to skip the 4 Corners. We re-routed our map so that we stay on state roads through Southern Colorado and then take a Southerly turn through a corner of Oklahoma (which adds 1 more state I have not seen to Bill and my list.) Then on down to Amarillo. We agreed when initially planning that Route 66 would be the focus of our time on the trip to Vegas so we agreed not to shorten that portion at all. Southern Colorado is not the Colorado you see in pictures. It is quite flat. The altitude here is 6800 feet. I find this remarkable because it's so flat! I am guessing this would be considered a plateau. The houses out here are far apart. After living in Seattle for a few years I got used to the idea of people living on top of one another. This is the other extreme. Today seeing a town like Moab that is hundreds of miles from anything that even resembles a city makes me realize that small town USA still exists. It reminds me significantly of a small town in West Virginia that I had the pleasure to break down in on the way home from Origins 2003. Cows, Horses and barns are frequent. There are more trees here than we have seen in a few days but they are in winter mode.

So we decided to stop at Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Can't say much about the town sadly because EVERYTHING closes at 9 pm and guess when we arrived? 9:02 pm. Even the McDonalds and Subway! Shouldn't surprise me in a town with population 1,700 (according to the AAA book).

Gonna relax and get some sleep… oh and try to enjoy my cheese and crackers… We will have to make sure we have a good breakfast tomorrow to make up for it. Heh

P.S. I don't have the camera card reader in the room and I am going to be lazy and not bother to go get it. I will add some pictures of Arches and Hole in the Rock tomorrow. Night.

Day 2 Twin Falls, Idaho to Moab, Utah

2007-03-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday!
The El Rancho Motel will be memorable. Heh… while the beds were very comfortable, the shower was something to behold. The pressure alone coated the entire bathroom with a nice layer of water. I wasn't actually able to stay in there long enough to soap up but I am sure the pressure washer effect of the shower got most of my skin off. LOL I guess now I know how they keep their bathrooms so clean.

Gonna make breakfast and hit the road. Mileage 194885 Salt Lake is an odd place. Everywhere you look the houses are very similar but in general much larger then what you would see in an average neighborhood anywhere I have been. We stopped at the Visitor center just North of Ogden and picked up some state visitors guides. The pictures are devastatingly beautiful. One gave a thousands of years history of the area. The entire are used to be one giant lake. Between Volcanoes and earthquakes the lake drained down to what is now the Great Salt Lake. Apparently the salt Lake has the second most sodium content only to the Dead Sea. The reason given is because the small rivers and creeks that empty into the lake have no outlet so as the water evaporates the content of the lake increases. As we drive through Salt Lake City we are in a valley of sorts with mountain ranges all around. I marvel at knowing we are already 4700 feet above sea level and yet I look around and am still surrounded but snow capped mountains. It is currently 75 degrees according to the sign we just past. This seems to be much better weather then is average for this area for this time of year. I hope my Vacation weather karma holds out!

So as we are driving I begin to notice that in almost every house grouping you see roof… roof… roof… Church Steeple! The first few I kind of ignore but take note of then I realize nearly every single house grouping has a steeple and they all tend to be the same shape and all painted white. Just odd.

We are out of the Salt Lake area, as we drive we start to realize the road we are on runs smack between 2 mountains. It's amazing looking up on both sides and all you can see is the mountain side.

Well we just passed the high point on this road at 7500 feet. I can't remember the Altitude of Paradise on Mount Rainier but I don't think it was this high, some snow still on the ground here and some of the first signs of the Red Rocks.

We reached Arches National Park. Unfortunately the Streets and Maps program we were using for guidance sent us off on a jeep path. LOL We got about half a mile when a stopped a passing truck and asked if we were on the right road. He kind of giggled at us and said the road DOES go there but *he looks up and the down the car* you aren't going to get there in THAT! We find an area to attempt a turn around and get stuck in the sand. I get out and push with all my womanly strength and we manage to get out and back onto the road… unfortunately not with enough time to get to the visitor center before it closed. We are planning to head out early tomorrow and do the hike in the morning. We did however find Moab (the town nearest Arches) to be very friendly. We stopped and got a nice hotel room at the Inca Inn. The lady at the front desk suggested the Moab Brewery and so we stopped for dinner then headed out and got some terrific photos of the area in the fading sunlight. It's been 2 long days of driving. We have much shorter drives coming over the next week but right now we are pretty tired. Funny thing… I don't have to go to work tomorrow… and yet… I will be awake before the sun rises. LOL

Oh! I am also downloading lots of pictures to my flickr account. If you want to see some of the fun we have had check them out here http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghgoddess/

Oregon to Twin Falls, Idaho

2007-03-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

As we drive up and down the “hills” of Oregon we are reminded every few miles that we are driving along the Oregon Trail. To think that hundreds of years ago, more than 50,000 people threw their families into covered wagons and began a road trip of a different sort. There would be no roads for them to traverse but they would make their mark on the world. We stop at the Deadman’s Pass Rest Area and there are signs with part of the story of these adventurers that set out to find a new home. I bet at the time they did not consider themselves pioneers but they truly pioneered their way across the country. The sign says there are still wheel ruts permanently carved into the countryside near where we stand. I am disappointed that we won’t be able to go hike this area to see these marks left by our ancestors but we have more mileage we need to cover before we lose the sun if we hope to catch sunset in the Arches. I will definitely add this to my list of places I need to learn more about.

5:25 we move into the Mountain Time Zone. We are unhappy to lose the hour today… but will be very happy to have the extra hour on Route 66. J

As we were getting closer to dinner I checked the “Find Nearby Places” feature on the Streets & Trips program. I found out that Boise, Idaho has a Cracker Barrel. This is an old favorite from when I lived in the South. I was quite excited. So we stopped in for dinner. The Roast Beef with mashed potatoes was excellent. Bill had the Hickory Smoked Ham and veggies. I know it’s not really “authentic road food” but it was yummy and a taste of home… and I did have the potatoes!!! Heh

Back into the car, night has fallen and we are going to make it at least a couple more hours. We were really hoping to stay in Burley but may “crash” (maybe I shouldn’t use that term…) in Twin Falls.

We have reached Bliss. Well at least this small town named Bliss. Heh I love the names of these places.

Yup Twin Falls it is. We looked in our trusty GO Roadtripping USA! Book and found the El Rancho Motel that has microwaves and FRIDGE!! In the rooms. So we are going to stop there for the evening.

Day 1- Maple Valley to Oregon

2007-03-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

Ok it is now 10:50 am and according to the Mount Rainier National Bank it is 51 degrees… We have finally hit the road. Vegas here we come. The current plan is Highway 18 to I-90 through Kittitas to I-82 in to Oregon and finally onto I-84 through Oregon and into Idaho. Our current goal is to stay in Burley, Idaho which would put us about six hours out from Arches National Park. We will see how it goes. J

As we pass over Snoqualmie summit the sun comes out. IT’s so nice to see the sun after the long rainy winter we have had. The snow still covers the ground here, which I am sure pleases the skiers, and the sun reflects brightly. I have now traveled further East in Washington then I have been before. The mountains are beautiful and I love all the little waterfalls of melting snow that run down near the side of the road. Having grown up in Florida and on the East coast the mountains are still a marvel to me. We are driving past a lake that is frozen over. According to the map we are driving through the Wenatchee National Forest.

We have lost the radio stations at this point and so we turned on the iPod. Our first musical selection is the Minstrels of Mayhem. It’s a folky comedy type of music I discovered years ago at my favorite Renaissance Fest. If you have not heard them check out their website http://www.minstrelsofmayhem.com/.

Stopped at a view spot to take a few pictures… Mountains are amazing things. It’s amazing how different things look on this side of the Cascades. There are no trees at all, lots of bush and little to no snow. It’s also very dry. The sky a very light shade of blue with hundreds of whispy clouds floating lightly on the breeze.

We see 2 large mountains one to the right and one a bit closer to the left. As we try to figure out which is which we see a sign. The mountain to the right is Rainier and the one to the left is Adams. We decided to take a break at the next rest stop. There was a beautiful bridge and a sign that explained the mountainscape.

Hehe so as we drive through Yakima there is a sign that says “Yakima the “Palm Springs” of Washington. *smile*

We have now entered Wine Country. I have never seen grape vines before. Unfortunately it is not the right season and they are all cut off waiting to re-bloom. It reminds me of strawberry fields in Florida.

As we began planning this trip we decided to pick up the program “Streets & Trips” with the GPS tracker. So we went through and added all of our stops and then let the program calculate the path. As we drove down I-82 it sent us off onto a small state road 221 through East Washington near Paterson. So we decided to trust the program and drove through the detour. This is the flattest land I have seen since I moved west. It’s so amazing that just a few hours ago we were surrounded by mountains and now I can see for miles. Here and there are farm houses surrounded by trees in a huge open field. Many of the fields are untended at this time of year so you see brown for miles and then further off in the distance patches of green. The funny thing on the little detour is that all the truckers seem to take this route. I would say that I will continue to trust the program for a while. *smile* There goes tumbleweed! That’s just crazy!

Day 1 - Maple Valley, Washington

2007-03-17T10:47:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning: Well things did not go as smoothly as I had hoped but we are off. The car is packed… bladders are empty… tank is full. Mileage is at 194264 and the clock says 10:32 am. (We initially left the house at 9:59 but had a few stops in town before hitting the road.) The cherry blossom trees are all in bloom and I am sure all the blooms will be long gone before we return. Bill is in a bit of a state. He is having trouble with the fact that we don’t have hotel reservations for each stop. Today is a bit cloudy and not very clear. I was hoping to get a picture of Mount Rainier for the first shot of the trip but it doesn’t look like that will be an option this morning. Looks like it will be a nice warm day though…

Well Bill has forgotten his inhaler… so we are now headed back to the house… I promise we will get to this soon.

2 days 15 hours and 44 minutes

2007-03-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

But who's counting???

So we have our bags partially packed... I am running around crazy like a chicken with my head cut off.

Oh yeah.. I was gonna give ya'll the plan. Well here is the basic plan. We are not committed (commitment is an evil word) to any particular schedule. Our only MUSTS are we MUST be in Las Vegas on March 28th through April 1st.

Day 1: Driving down through Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
Day 2: Drive to Arches National Park, enjoy the park
Day 3 Driving from Arches to Garden of the Gods, CO
Day 4-5: Texas
Day 5-7: New Mexico
Day 8-10: Arizona
Day 11-16: Las Vegas
Day 17-22: California
Day 22-23: Oregon and Washington (Home)

Possible sites along the way:
Arches National Park, UT
Black Canyon, CO
Sand Dunes, CO
Garden of the Gods, CO
Route 66 and all it’s kitschiness, TX, NM, AZ, CA
Palo Duro Canyon, TX
Petroglyph National Monument, NM
Meteor Crater, AZ
Petrified Forest, AZ
Painted Desert, AZ
Grand Canyon, AZ
Star Trek Experience, NV
Every rollercoaster in Vegas…
Channel Islands, CA
La Brea Tar Pits, CA

Anyone else have suggestions for cool things we shouldn’t miss? Largest ball of yarn?

A 3 Week Road Trip? How did this happen?!?!?

2007-03-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

So late last year I was sitting around completely exhausted and trying to figure out why I was so burnt out when I realized... for the first year in over a decade I didn't take a single vacation all year.

My family is a family of road trippers. All my life we drove wherever we went. Some of this was because it is so much cheaper to travel with a family of 5 in a car then on a plane but it was something I always loved. I have spent months of my life in a car riding around the country. Thus far I have visited 31 states and for the past many years this has been seriously lacking.

Route 66 (the mother road) has always been a dream of mine to travel. Having been born and raised in Florida the majority of my travel was done on the East coast. Up until I turned 28 I had never been West of the Mississippi. In the past 3 years that obviously changed with me moving to Bellevue, Washington (near Seattle) and traveling with my company but I still do not feel I have experienced the West. After seeing the movie “Cars” together last year, my boyfriend (Bill) and I, discovered that it had been a dream of his to drive Route 66 as well.

Bill and I had been discussing a trip he was planning to take for the Glass Craft & Bead Expo (http://www.glasscraftexpo.com/) in Las Vegas. I was looking through the flier for it and thought it would be a lot of fun. So we discussed it and decided I was going to go. Well once that was decided we started talking about making it a Road trip and seeing at least half of Route 66.

Now mind you we started talking about this… November 19, 2006. The day I didn’t get my Wii…

Now here we are 4 months later (still no Wii) and come this Friday I will be taking the longest coolest vacation I have ever had the luxury to plan (makes up for the lack of Wii). 3 weeks, 5000 miles, at least 4 national parks… Lots of Mexican food and Las Vegas Baby!

Here we come!

So it's been a few months...

2007-03-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't been on here for a few months... life got busy and you know how it goes...

So the past few months I have been planning and planning and planning this absolutely amazing Road Trip. I am so excited that I can barely sit still. I leave on Saturday this week. I am going with my boyfriend. (I know... wierd to have a boyfriend at this point in my life but there really is no appropriate term for older people who "date". )

I will get my information together and post our current plan. I am hoping to be able to blog about the trip while I am on it. I figure riding in a car for 5,000 miles will give me time to type my thoughts and happenings. :-)

Hope you will enjoy.

Oh and for an update. I have lost 32 pounds... of which I fully expect to gain at least 5 back on this trip. LOL I will be jumping back on the wagon upon my return. :-)

Leslie

Hi, My Name is Leslie and I am on a Diet!

2006-08-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

So generally when I go on a diet I don’t tell anyone because I feel it is a waste of time since I don’t want to be embarrassed when I gain the weight back. Well here I am to break my trend.

Hi, I am Leslie and I am on a Diet. I have lost 20 pounds as of last night and plan to lose another 60 before I go into my maintenance phase.

To say I am not a fan of Diets is most likely the understatement of the century. Back in April I was over a friend’s house that I frequent and hopped onto his bathroom scale. I then quickly jumped off the scale appalled to see it register in at 252 pounds. Years ago I was up to290 pounds and knew I had to do something. I started going to the gym and in the process dropped 70 pounds down to 220. Over the past few years I have gradually gained back 32 of those pounds. Now I know how unhappy I can be when I gain weight and I knew I had been eating badly. You see up to January 2006 I had been gradually losing since I moved to Seattle. It was VERY gradual as I had only lost 12 pounds over the course of 18 months but hey I wasn’t gaining weight, right? Well in December of 2005 my older brother moved in with me. This has been a wonderful thing as we are best friends and had not seen each other in several years. Well in the process of him moving in I started to eat foods that he was eating. So here I was regaining all the weight I had worked to keep off.

That day back in April I made a decision, I had to stop eating the bad foods and do something. I started using my crock pot more frequently and eating more the way I like to. Veggies and meat with some rice and pasta on occasion, it was working ok. My jeans were beginning to feel less tight. As I started losing weight I started to think that maybe I should really do something. Over the years I have made many excuses about not dieting and exercising. One of my main excuses was my knees. I scheduled an appointment with an Orthopedist and finally went in to have my knees examined. In spite of being told years ago that I would need surgery this new doctor sent me to a physical therapist. 6 weeks later and I am now done with my therapy and I feel great. With that excuse out of the way and not really any other legitimate excuse I started investigating dieting websites. While doing this I asked around to people that have lost weight. After examining plans and websites I logged onto diet.com. Their theory is a little different from most. You don’t crash diet only eating grapefruit and bacon. You aren’t required to give up any particular foods. This is my #1 issue with diets. I am a rebellious spirit at heart and if you tell me I am not allowed to do or eat something I will fight you regardless if I didn’t really care about the thing, simply because I was told not to. Now this is something I know about myself and work to change but it is a part of who I am.

Diet.com is a few years old from what I can tell. Once you join the site you have access to a Doctor, Registered Dietitian and a forum full of supportive members that are where you are or have been there. Once on the site you take a little test that helps determine your personality. There are 3 parts: your eating personality, your exercise personality and your coping personality. Depending on your answers it determines what your personality type is.

I am a:

Eating Personality: Swing Eater
Exercise Personality: All or Nothing
Coping Personality: Doubtful Dieter

Let’s look at what this means.

Swing Eater

I am either doing REALLY good or REALLY bad. I eat well most of the time but on occasion I binge. Think of it as a pendulum.

All or Nothing:

When it comes to my exercise program I do all of it or nothing. If I can’t hire the personal trainer and torment my body several hours a week I give up and sit at my computer for days on end only moving to get something to eat or go to the bathroom.

Doubtful Dieter:

This is the most accurate description I have ever heard. Boy Howdy am I a doubtful dieter. I step on the scale and even if I have lost 3 pounds I can not believe it. Not to mention I am at a 20 pound loss now (about ¼ of what I hope to lose) and I am beginning to go through the “Well now I am actually losing it but I could never actually maintain this the rest of my life.” Why do I doubt? Well let’s see. When I was 11 yrs old I went on my first diet. Since then I have been on dozens of different diets. Not to mention my Aunt and Mother and Cousins and their dieting lack of success. I have watched several members of my family struggle with weight loss for decades. 20 years later and I am still struggling with mine. How on EARTH could anyone actually lose the weight they need to lose and keep it off? Well that’s a doubtful dieter. I am working every moment of every day to change this thought process.

Once I get home I will post some before pictures. I plan to take a new picture about every other week. Hopefully we will see some progress. 20 pounds down 60 to go.

Coupling

2006-05-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

I can not believe I haven't posted about this on my blog. Coupling is the funniest TV show I have ever had the pleasure to view.

Here is a review posted on TV.com that I find extrememly accurate:

Two's company, three's a crowd... so what do you do with six? On average, men and women think about sex every six seconds. Shorten that to every second, and you've got Coupling. It's more than just a one night stand!When a couple gets together, it's never just the two of them - they also bring baggage - and Susan (Sarah Alexander) and Steve (Jack Davenport) are no exception. Their baggage is a crowd of best friends and exes who talk about all aspects of sex and relationships on their never-ending quest to find true love. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...

If you have BBC America I suggest you catch it. If you don't find it on DVD. It is worth every second. :-)

What is Perplex City?

2006-05-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

After my last post you may be saying "what is Perplex City?" or you may not care if you do not care feel free to surf on to your next stop. :-)

A World of Puzzles, Mystery and Intrigue
www.perplexcity.com

Wired.com says "It sounds like the back story for a cheesy Keanu Reeves vehicle: The Receda Cube has been stolen from the Perplex City Academy and secreted away from the unnamed planet to Earth."

This is a new form of game called a alternate-reality game basically you buy booster packs of cards (6 cards to a booster) and each card is a game, some are math some are logic some are just weird. For a sample card click below:

Once you have the cards you can go online and enter the results and see how you rank compared to thousands of other players but rank is not the important part... the important part is finding the Cube. Somewhere on earth there they have hidden the Cube. If you find it you win $200,000. Do I really think I will win? Nah but the puzzles are quite cool and I need something new to waste brain cells on. :-)

Damn you Eric! Welcome to Perplex City!

2006-05-02T16:10:00.000-07:00

haiku's Personal Assessment

You'll be fine. Don't close your eyes. Staring into infinity can only lead to a sense of inadequacy and ultimately insanity. Get yourself a decent pair of shoes. Smart footwear is a key component in developing self-esteem.

Your responses to the inkblot test suggest that you have antisocial tendencies if not a criminal record. If the authorities are not currently informed of your whereabouts call your local station immediately and give them your address.

TimesDispatch.com | AP Entertainment

2006-04-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

TimesDispatch.com AP Entertainment

When I am having a bad day in the office nothing cheers me up quite like people being stupid. I sit all day and deal with questions from people who don't even give me thier name. They will send things like "Hi I can't log in to your site... fix it" with nothing more... so when I become frustrated by all this I like to know that I am not the only person who has to deal with these people at my job.

You would think if you were going to steal a big screen TV... you would have figured out your get away a little more thoughtfully.

The Kingdom of Loathing

2006-04-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Kingdom of Loathing

Damn Joe... and Dan... and Eric for infecting me with this site. This is a great way to waste a few mins each day. It is a stick person game full of punny things reminesent of Monty Python. If you are bored it's worth a few minutes of your time. :-)

Movie Review

2006-04-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

I got to see a Sneak Preview showing of the newest British Comedy "Kinky Boots"http://www.thefilmfactory.co.uk/kinkyboots/index_flash.html

The characters were well developed and quite loveable. The story was well put together and well I can't wait to find out how to get my hands on a few pairs of the boots I saw.

Favorite Quote: Folks we aren't making shoes... we are making Two and One-Half Feet of Irresistible, Tubular, Sex

If you liked the Full Monty and/or Calendar Girls you will love this one! I sure did!!

Age of Empires III

2006-04-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

I went to the store a few weeks ago to find a game to help pass the time. A friend suggested AOE 3 in hopes that I would be his game guinea pig. The game is quite an improvement on past versions. The gathering of resources is a little less annoying on most stages. Also it is easier to gather as your peons do not have to run back and forth to your town hall when they are full. I haven't finished it quite yet but would rank it 4 out of 5 stars. A good game with a nice story line.

Dr. Phil says "To relieve stress finish things..."

2006-04-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

You, too can find inner peace...

I am posting this because it definitely worked for me and we could all use more calm in our lives.

By following the simple advice I heard on a recent Dr. Phil show, I have finally found inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed the way to achieve inner peace is to simply finish all the things you have started in life.

So I looked around my house to see things I started and hadn't finished; and, before leaving the house this morning I finished off a bottle of Captain Morgan Rum, a bottle of Baileys, a bottle of Midori, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my Percocet prescription, the rest of a Cheesecake, some Saltines and a box of Chocolates.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel.

Ok Did it again- Song "The Bride"

2006-04-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

You know how you hear just the perfect song for your mood. Something you NEEDED to hear? It may be a song you have heard over and over again or a new song you have never heard before. Well this is a brand new song that popped up on my Pandora Country station. Here are the lyrics:

Artist/Band: Trick Pony

Lyrics for Song: The Bride

Lyrics for Album: R.I.D.E.

The day's finally here,

There's flowers everywhere.

The guests are waitin' with sweet anticipation.

As I look down the aisle,

The preacher stops an' smiles.

Church bells are ringin' an' the organ is playin'.

I'm so overcome that I could cry.

I'm so happy I'm not the bride.

She's such a pretty thing,

She don't know anythin':

Ain't gonna tell her that she's outta her mind.

The preacher asks the question:

No, I got no objection.I do, I do;

I want him out of my life.

Throw the rice an' let those white doves fly:

Oh, happy day: I'm not the bride.

Eat some more cake,

Throw the bouquet,

Pass the champagne,

it's time to celebrate.

I'm gonna dance this night away,

Whoa, whoa, yeah.

The groom is gettin' loud,

His new wife starts to shout.

Oh, this is perfect, it can only get better.

They're fightin' in the car, off to a real good start.

His momma's cryin'.

Aren't they lovely together?

They're drivin' away, we're wavin' goodbye.

Close call, relax, Amen, Hallelujah,

By the grace of God go I: I'm not the bride.

Well, I'm not the bride.

I'm free, I'm free, I'm free.

I'm not the bride.

Thank God!

Goodbye now.

Good luck girl.

You're gonna need it.

Ha, ha, ha.

Ta-ta.

Song I Love

2006-04-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite songs and each time I have a break up (husband... boyfriend...) It becomes more and more true to me:

Sometimes I feel I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
From the pain that you drive into the heart of me
The love we share
Seems to go nowhere
And I've lost my light
For I toss and turn I can't sleep at night

(chorus)
Once I ran to you (I ran)
Now I'll run from you
This tainted love you've given
I give you all a boy could give you
Take my tears and that's not nearly all
Oh...tainted love
Tainted love

Now I know I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
You don't really want IT any more from me
To make things right
You need someone to hold you tight
And you'LL think love is to pray
But I'm sorry I don't pray that way

(chorus...)
Don't touch me please
I cannot stand the way you tease
I love you though you hurt me so
Now I'm going to pack my things and go
Tainted love, tainted love .
Tainted love, tainted love
Touch me baby, tainted love
Touch me baby, tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love

New Discovery: Flickr.com

2006-04-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

So this morning I was reading an article on the "re-birth" of the web. In the article it talks about a picture sharing website.

http://www.flickr.com

It's like a high class webshots without the screensaver. If you like photography you should really check this out. The pictures are quite amazing. :-) Maybe add some of your own. I plan to.

Running Crazy

2006-03-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

So this week has been kinda nice at work. I am very busy and so the time is actually movig fairly quickly. I took a break this morning (boss says in my review that I need to take more breaks... not something I am willing to disagree with). So on this break I started searching for "Squishy Cat" just wanted to see what I might find.

So I run across this:

http://www.boomspeed.com/hai_ku/cat-carrier.jpg

Enjoy!

What is your Superhero name?

2006-03-15T15:36:00.000-08:00

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Caped Zombie

Your Superpower is Divine intervention

Your Weakness is Cowboys

Your Weapon is Your Foam Catapult

Your Mode of Transportation is Vortex

What's your Superhero Name?

All Flesh Must Be Eaten

2006-03-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

So last year a coworker of mine opened up an RPG night using a Zombie RPG called "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" it was a riot we had a blast. Well I recently picked up a copy and since I am in Zombie Movie mode it seemed like a good idea to get the group together and run a campaign. I have forgotten how much goes into being a DM or in this case a ZM (Zombie Master) hehe. We will see how it works out.

Pandora Music

2006-03-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

So thanks to a friend I found this new website:

www.pandora.com

This is an interactive site where you can choose what kind of music you listen to. Simply set up a station and type in a Singer or song you like. The program will do the rest. If you type in "Madonna" for example it will play pop/rock, lots of 80s, etc.

The more info you give it the smarter it gets. If you don't like a cong it plays simply tell it and it will minimize how often the type of song is played. I have been using Yahoo Launchcast which is similar, but this is a different system. This will play songs that may not have been a top 40 song. I have really enjoyed this program.

When you are listening to a song you can ask it "Why did you play this song?" This is what it told me about Toby Keith's "As Good As I Once Was"

Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features country roots, acoustic rhythm piano, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, major key tonality and many other similatiries identified in the music genome project.

So based on this it will play songs that have country roots, acoustic rythym piano... etc.

Very cool.