On the day I turned 33...

Or should I say weekend, or entire WEEK? The G/F treated me to HuHot on Thursday and then a movie! Friday night we spent time with J & B playing cards, Saturday night was the PARTY at J&B's! Sunday we were at J & B's for a cookout. Such a nice and relaxing time!
The party was very nice. Kate was there, Vaz & her g/f, Alissa and hers, H & J, Dana (Jamie was away), Amber, J & B, G, Rox and Amy came over for a bit! Gary & T were there too along with the boys and their girls. Rox brought me strawberry pretzel desert! Nice! Kate got me a gift card for iTunes, way more than that was expected, but love her for it dearly anyway!
I had a tiara, it said BITCH. It rocked.
Did I mention I might have had too much to drink?
I had a very nice 33rd birthday. Not many people remembered it though...Only Susie online sent me a Happy Birthday note....(all my friends here remembered because of the party), and my mom and sister called. Meg didn't, nor did Chris, or my gram...the three that usually remember. Ah well...It's still 100 times better than my 23rd birthday. - Another story for another time
(Gram, Gramp and Meg ended up calling...they didn't forget)

Baby Mama

Oh what a funny movie Baby Mama is. If you live under a rock and don't know what this movie is, it's about a woman (Tina Fey) that has put motherhood off and finally wants to have a baby. Apparently, medically, she can't. She harvests her eggs, gets some sperm and has them implanted into a surrogate (Amy Poehler), someone that appears to have less class and intelligence than that of Tina Fey's character.
Steve Martin plays a whacky-earthy-health nut - guru that lightens the mood and at one point made me feel really uncomfortable with his eye contact!
Oscar (Conrad from Weeds) gives some humor as the door man who applies the name "Baby Mama" to Tina's surrogate.
Not to mention the lisp-having birthing coach Siobhan Fallon!
I really enjoyed the movie and I'm pretty sure I snorted once or twice. I believe half way through the movie I though "I need to own this when it comes out".
I've been missing Ms. Fey on SNL, especially when she is with Amy. I was thrilled to see them back together again!
Other SNL cast members that appeared: Will Forte, Fred Armisen,

If I Only Looked at the Map...

I'd have KNOWN that the bus I should be taking lets off 2 blocks from my house rather than having to walk down to John Marshall, get a transfer, wait 20 minutes and finally get to work. I can take just ONE bus and spend just 19 minutes on the bus and walk just two blocks. AND I get to sleep in! Rather than walking 15 minutes to get the bus and catching it at 6:53 AM, I can walk 5 minutes and catch it at 7:12 AM! That's about a half hour extra sleep! Now I'm liking the bus much better than before. I can get HOME at 4:30 instead of 4:45 too... That's nice. Nice. Nice.
*Sigh* Why didn't I look at the map? (I'll tell you why, because the title of the map was non-descript and indicated it was picking up and letting off elsewhere!)
I feel like singing "I'm A MAP"

It's not EASY being green, but it can be done!

Going Green Project

Goals:
Use less water
Obtain/Create less waste
Recycle more
Reduce fossil fuel usage
Use own purchased bags at store
Educate others
Reduce energy consumption
Save the rain forest (and some will laugh when they read that sentence if they know me *REALLY* well)

How I'm/We are doing:

I suppose having grown up in an area that recycles cans for 5 cents a can I am used to the act of separating my garbage. I have now become a little more attentive to my separation lately.
I have a bag full of cans that needs to go to Watson's. I get paid for it! They pay per pound, not per can but that's alright, money is money.
We have purchased a recycling/bin station that we use in our garage so when the paper bags in our kitchen fill up we bring it to the garage, when those fill up we set it out for the recycling truck.

Using less water is something I'm still struggling with. We have started to take the water gathered by the humidifier and use that in our washing machine. While it only gathers about 1 - 2 gallons at a time, at least it's 1 - 2 gallons. We would like to start using the grey water around our house for outside watering but haven't started that yet.
I make a very conscious effort to turn off the water while brushing my teeth.
I don't ever take a bath, only a shower, so that uses significantly less water.
We try to conserve while using the toilet as well.
Washing dishes will always be a tough one for me. I can NOT put my hands in cold water that has bits of food floating around, gloves on or not. I have, however started having a pan full of water, dipping my sponge in there and getting a lot of dishes soapy then rinsing them off instead of letting the water run.
This summer I will be setting out some pails to collect water so that I can use that for washing the car or cleaning the grill or watering the plants / lawn when there is less rain.

I'm still not sure how to execute the "Obtain Less Waste" option.
I don't purchase CD's anymore, I buy all my music on iTunes and burn my own CD's when needed.
I don't bring bags home from the grocery store unless it's an unexpected stop. I try to get only paper bags for reuse in recycling, but will take plastic. I then take the plastic bags to the Dog Park where people use them to clean up after their dogs. They are always appreciative.
When asked at the store if I want them to print me out a receipt, unless I need it, I say no.
If I can carry it to the counter, I can carry it to my car.
I reuse my water bottles SEVERAL times before putting them into recycling
I burn my junk mail when having a camp fire. It's great for kindling, bad for things flying up into the air, but I use the screen and it's all good. (and no, I don't burn the plastic in the envelopes, or the glossy colored pages)

I have started taking the bus....so has the g/f (well, she hasn't yet, because her recent schedule doesn't allow for it, but will starting Monday).
Not only is this good for the environment, but for my pocketbook as well! A round trip to work twice a day (I usually went home for lunch) is 9.2 miles. That's 46 miles a week, 184 miles a month, 2208 miles a year! With gas at $3.50, I am saving about $650 a year on just taking the bus!!! Plus, ya know, the environmental factor.

For Christmas I asked for those green bags you get at the grocery store. I think I got 10 or so. I also purchased some heavier canvas bags at Old World Market for some heavier items.
I always forget them in the car, but always trudge back out and get them. They are *NOT* that expensive - maybe $2.00 each! HyVee at Barlow's even gives us a 5 cent discount for every bag we use instead of theirs!! I figure that if I use my bags everytime I shop (except for those surprise trips listed above) I use 7 bags for a big trip to the store, 2 - 3 on small trips. Looking at my check book register I see that I've been to HyVee/Cub/WalMart 18 times since 3/26 (so that's approximately a month!) and gauging on the price spent I figured I used about 50 of my own bags. I got back $2.50 (if I did all my shopping at HyVee) Which clearly pays for itself. In a year all my bags will be paid for! They are super sturdy and can fit more in them than a regular bag also.
I heard that some places in California may start charging 15 cents per bag use. Using my 50 per month, you'd pay $7.50 a month just on bags. $90 a year! I wish Minnesota would start charging for bags!

I've sent out two mass emails so far - one for Earth 60 and one for Earth Day. I included some helpful tips on how to easily save energy and recycling and whatever. I hope that people read it. If not, at least I put it out into the ether.

The g/f and I got a new furnace this year. I didn't notice anything on our heating bill, but I'm hoping it beats the old beast we had before. I want to get better at replacing the filter though. That should save a bit of money and reduce energy usage.
Our dryer used to take 2 cycles to completely dry a decent sized load. We paid $75 to have a hole drilled into our house so that we could properly vent the machine and now it only takes one cycle!
I wish we lived someplace where we had a bigger yard so that we could line dry, but that's out of the question. I do, however, rack dry a lot of shirts and sweatshirts and sweaters.
We are in the process of replacing all of our light bulbs to those curly que ones. As our old light bulbs burn out, we put the new ones in.
I try to unplug things we don't use often.
I'm trying to be very conscious about shutting off lights (I do leave one on for the dog when we aren't home at night though)
I've been paying attention to shut the TV off before I leave the house! Go me lol

And saving the rain forest. LOL
I have absolutely NO idea how to save the rain forest except that I play Lil Green Patch on Facebook. I have saved 19 square feet already and in March the entire facebook community saved 13,644,308 Square Feet! Just by playing a silly online game! The sponsors of the game contribute money for our usage. It's neat. I send plants to my friends and they send them back to me. Not to hard. I can only send 20 per day, but still...it's my own little part.

So that's me, that's the green me. I'd love to hear any more ideas anyone has!

Oh and be sure to watch the Human Footprint on National Geographic channel! It's very eye opening!

Is it that I like music played on commercials or is it that the music I like is commerciable.

Fluke - Atom Bomb (Car Commercial)
Wraith Pinned to the Mist and other Games - Of Montreal (Outback Steakhouse)
Yael Naim - New Soul (New Mac Air Book)
Antje Duvekot - Merry Go Round (Bank of America)
Hem - Let Go (State Farm Commercial)
Feist - 1,2,3,4 (iPod Commercial)
Smiths - How Soon is Now (Charmed Theme)
M.I.A. - Gallang (Honda Civic)
The Weepies - All That I Want (JC Penneys)
The Weepies - Stars (Old Navy)
Brazillian Girls - Lazy Lover (Some body wash commercial)
Psapp - Hi (Disorono)
Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar (Can't remember where, but I've heard it!)

Funny thing is - I knew all of these songs before they were in commercials. Am I ahead of the curve? hmmm

So if Brianna Lane, Chris Pureka, Catie Curtis, Doria Roberts, Melissa Ferrick, Katie Sawicki, The Waifs, Be Good Tanyas, Edie Carey, Ellis, Girlyman, Pamela Means, or the like end up on a commercial - It'll be fantastic for them!!! Because you all know you just looked at those songs up there and said "oh yea, I remember that song!" (at least to a couple of them) If you don't, go look them up and you will remember them soon enough.

And while I'm on music - Wycleaf Jean took lyrics from WuTang's C.R.E.A.M. for his song "Sweetest Girls", and I'm ok with that but...I was over J&B's and no one knew the original song. I pulled out the iPod and put on WuTang's song (because of course, I must have WuTang at my finger tips?!?) and no one knew it! I'm not totally surprised about that but it made me realize that I'm old. 1993, when the song came out, was a LONG time ago to these kids, and to me it was just like yesterday.

Take me back to the Black Hills

So Doris Day just came on the iPod and serenaded my eardrum with "Take me back to the Black Hills, the Black Hills of Dakota". Two years ago the g/f & 2 other friends of ours went to the Black Hills...and it got me to thinking about how much I would love to go back! We first went to the Badlands - it was absolutely a sight that can not be described. It was an ocean bed at one time and it's the remains of that. It's breathtaking. Then we drove on into the Black Hills. South Dakota is pretty flat and then all of a sudden it's MOUNTAINS. We took our first trip up to see Mt Rushmore the day after we got there. We curved up the windy mountain road, not unlike Route 2 in Massachusetts and all of a sudden we rounded a bend and there was Abe Lincolns face! I was awe struck and speechless. All my life I had heard of the great Mt. Rushmore carved into a mountain and there it was - right infront of my face. A few more successions of curves and the entire monument came into frame. It was a grand sight and I felt like I was looking at the cover of every history book I had ever had before. We did all the tourist-y things like learn how the rocks were carved and who designed it and how long it took and did the nature walk and saw the night time lighting of the faces. Then we returned to our campsite to sleep - and return the next day for other area attractions.
As much as we did that week at Mt. Rushmore, nothing will beat the first moment I saw the rocks. I still get emotional. I'm such a freak. While I have been on many other excellent vacations before, that was the first one I've been to that had historical significance to me, gave me a sense of national being. I suggest going if you ever get the chance...your kids won't appreciate it, but you might!

Thus I must and thus I won't.

I'm not much of a blogger, although I think about it all the time in my head. Thus comes the I must. I have too many thoughts running through my brain to keep in there lest I forget. So I must. I also have some overwhelming urge to join the gagillions of other bloggers in getting my own words out into the ether. So here they are.
This leads me to the Thus I Won't. I won't talk specifically about my job or co-workers. Not really wanting to get canned for less than pleasant words I'd like to use some days. I probably won't talk about any of my friends by name. They didn't sign up for this, I did. Doesn't mean I won't talk about them though! aaahhh hahahah. Probably won't talk much about the g/f either. She's not much of an online person anymore and probably doesn't want her airs aired in the internet air.
And thusly, I will mostly likely type about reality tv...some things entertainment, new music, my dog and her neurotic tendencies, being green, trips, my family, my friends and camping, and possibly politics and the what nots of life.
And while it's called "The Busy World Of..." sometimes I'm not all that busy. I suppose we will see if I update this or not. Poke me if I don't.

Ode to my puppy

This is for my pup's first birthday

I love my dog. I don't think I've mentioned on here yet that I do...I say it daily.
I love *just* about everything about my dog.
I love that she goes bananas when a simple bird is in the front yard - running from the chair to the door to ring her bell and back to the chair in RECORD speed only made by Murphy.
I love that after the dogpark that she gets so tuckered out that she is submissive for a bath but as soon as the bath is over she is full of the devil again.
I love that when we go to the dog park that she whines from the point she KNOWS where we are going to when we get there. Oh she knows.
I love that when I say it's time to go for a ride to pick up mommy from work that she jumps up in the truck, sits on the center arm rest and waits for me to get ready - looking straight out the entire time.
I love that when I'm driving she nudges to get under my arm so I have to cuddle her while I drive. She doesn't succeed often though
I love that at night time she will crawl under the blankets and fall asleep but gets super hot and pokes her head out and collapses at the bottom of the bed where it's chilly
I love that she is a peanut butter WHORE
I love that when we go to the dog park she takes on the big dogs. I mean she takes them on and can out run them (with Murphy short cuts, of course)
I love that when we go to the dog park she heads STRAIGHT for the mud puddle and you can hear a chorus of 10 people groaning as the beautiful white puppy is white no more!
I love that when we are done with the dog park and when we get back in the truck (on a towel of course) that she gives me a kiss on the cheek as if to say thanks mom!
I love that she runs to fetch a ball but never brings it back
I love that everyone at the dog park knows Murphy by name and her birthday is coming up and they want us to have her party there.
I love that she wiggles her butt when I pull out her sweater or jackets...she knows it's walk time or park time
I love that she runs down stairs and sits on the electric blanket looking at me or the g/f to turn it on for her
I love that I can come home from work and find my two girls cuddled in bed and I can join in the napping
I love that she can sit, lay, roll over, sit pretty, dance, up, couch, stand, wait, watch, stay
I love that cocks her head to one side and then the other
I love that the g/f and I say funny stuff as if we were Murphy saying it "What is it, Timmy in a well girl???"
I love that I come home from work and the g/f says "MOMMY'S HOME" and she goes crazy jumping all over me
I love that we have taught the nieces and nephew to hold her treats just right so she will follow commands for them (sit, stay, no bites)
I love that when I say "NO BITES" that she whines and tries to bite me without biting me
I love that she wakes me up by biting my hair
I love that she loves frozen green beans as a treat
I love that she smells so good when she comes home from her doggy retreat and spa!
I love that she is so good with kids
I love that she rings a bell to go potty outside
I love that when she is on a walk she soldier belly crawls in excitement
I love that she was born on April 19th (19th is a "special" number for me & the g/f)
I love that when I say "BED TIME" she runs as fast as her paws can go through the house and up the bed stairs and sits to wait for me to follow
I love that when I am down stairs I can hear her being naughty just by the way she walks through the house.
I love that she loves our neighbor kids so much she almost knocks them over when they come to play
I love that when she knows she is going to the dog park she jumps up at the window with the ball in her mouth
I love that after company stays overnight she runs around the house looking for everyone after they are gone
I love that when she gets super tired she crashes hard - so hard that she will flop against my ear and just stay there for the night if I let her
I love that when we go for a ride with the windows down she puts her head out the window and pulls it back in her muzzle is all crazy
I love that when she wakes up from a hard sleep she gets "bed muzzle" (like bed head LOL)
I hate that she jumps up on people with her muddy paws at the dog park - except for the ones that dress up - are they dumb or something? Who wears Ralph Lauren to a dog park?
I hate that we can't find any toys for her that she doesn't destroy in just a day and she eats it
I hate that I can come into the room after being away for 3 minutes and find something destroyed
I hate that she can't "come" - apparently there is too much fun stuff out there mom
I hate that she has chewed through about 4 leashes now and we are finally reserved to having to put the leash in a crystal vase when we come inside so she can't get it
I hate that she has chewed through 6 pairs of my shoe laces, 1 pair of my shoes, 10 of the g/f's shoe laces and 2 of her pairs of shoes
I hate that all my pants have frayed bottoms because Murphy has chewed through and pulled/ripped the rest
I hate that I have almost no socks left because she has tugged them all off my feet and they now all have holes in the toes or heels
I hate that I had to get a taller laundry basket because she could get in and get our dirty clothes and parade them around the house with company over
I hate that I say the word "Naughty" more than "GOOD GIRL"
I hate that she barks at the garbage truck or the plows or the street sweeper, but I love that she ONLY barks at those and NOT busses or trucks.
I hate that when she gets super tired she barks like a maniac...it's our cue that it's her bed time
I hate that everything I hate, I love about her!

If they can’t spell it...

Driving down the street today I passed a McDonalds as I do every day.
I read the marquee like I usually do, I like to see them notify the American's in our town that they are conducting interviews - in Espanol.
Today it was different, and I read it as my mind said it "McRib is back" but I noticed something - it was spelled M-I-C-R-I-B. MicRib.
Now seriously, they sell the item on their menu and they can't even spell it?!
I can't say I'm overly shocked, just amused

And what is that on the door knob?!?!?

Lets take a few minutes to recap the fun weekend I just had...not only was it fun it was....bizarre, disgusting, entertaining, painful, and long!

We headed out on Friday right after work (We being me, the g/f, J, & B). We went straight up to G's, Rae, Brianna, & Heidi's house. We hung for a while, caught up, had pizza, labeled some CD's and had some liquid of the refreshment nature. Brianna took the corner and she sang her new CD "Let You In" from Track 1 to Track 11 (missing St Jude because of musical instrument difficulty). It was perfect from beginning to end. She even managed to put the word KUDZU in one of the songs. Rock on! Afterwards there was more hanging out, more music played, more liquid drank and pizza snacked on. It was a great night!
Woke the next morning and headed out to the Renaissance Festival. We get maybe half way there and I thought I was going to die. Had to find a bathroom quick smart. Of course, traffic was backed up and people were laughing at me and it wasn't nice. We get back onto 169 and head down towards the festival leaving the check in of the hotel to later on that night. More backed up traffic. We get to Ren Fest and park in the year 2000 (literally) and walk down towards the show - year 1570 or something. It was a hike. We toured around, poking our heads in shops, saw people in costume (complete with a drag-wench) and sampled some food and took a trip to the Privies. We saw a jousting competition and then caught the Puke & Snot show. Spent way too much money on food so we decided to head out and catch a Perkins. We ate dinner (at one of the last establishments in Minnesota that allowed you to smoke while you eat at the table). After that we headed out to the hotel.
There are seriously not enough words to describe this place. It was seedy first of all, smelled of cat urine and that was just the lobby. We get into our rooms and first notice the bathroom - it was one BIG room with no specified tub, just a curtain and shower head, toilet and sink. The sink had RADISSON soap on it which was quite hilarious. The rest of our room was ok. I mean it was smelly and unkept but it was "ok". We go next door to J & B's room and almost vomit immediately. There was blood splatter (faded) on the ceiling, blood on the pillow (again faded but still) and on the lamp shade. Vomit on the wall and fecal matter in several different places. So we go to turn the door knob to get out of the room and there is man juice all over it. Yea, we got our money back and went to another hotel!!
After spending the entire previous day walking my poor feet were ready for a day in hot water. That wasn't going to happen. We ended up at IKEA (YAY IKEA!!!!) and then across the street to the Mall of America. So much fun!!!
Murphy had a puppy sitter this weekend and was glad to see us show up at home when we finally got there. It was a very interesting weekend. Brianna rocked, Ren Fest was...interesting, hotels were disgusting and my poor feet still haven't gotten back to fine. lol.
Hope yours was good too!

9/11 Remembered

Each generation has a tragedy to "call their own". Just like the Kennedy Assassination and the Challenger Explosion, our generation will have "Where were you on 9/11". Not what were you doing when you found out, or where were you when the planes hit, that part is just assumed. The question still posed as "Where were you on 9/11".
I am ashamed to say that I was sleeping, but I was. The windows were open and the curtains flapped like birds against the wall. The sunlight had been pouring in for hours and by all practical purposes it was a beautiful early fall day in the Berkshires. That day on 9/11. The phone rang, Amy reached for it. I heard her with a groggy hello greet the caller. Suddenly I was jabbed in the ribs and was demanded to release the remote. I gave it to her, still unaware of the tragedy the rest of the nation was coming to realize. Quickly slumber bliss turned into dark horror. I rolled over and joined Amy sitting up in bed, mouths agape.
Sadly at this time we still did not know of the anguish that would befall the nation. All that had happened was a plane flew into one of the twin towers. It could have been an accident. It had to be, Who would fly a plane into the twin towers on purpose? Then as we watched, Amy already having hung up, a second plane hit the other tower. The heartbreak could be heard in the news caster voices as they tried to maintain a certain level of professionalism. The plane flew in and all that came out the other side was putrid black smoke and blazing orange flames. When I look back I can still envision the sight in my minds eye. Quickly we switched from the local stations, away from Ed Dauge and Lydia Kulbida, to CNN. Maybe they could tell us what others couldn't. Claims of terror, hopes for accidents, reports from the officials...say where is the president? Sitting in a classroom reading books to children later to be condemned for that choice, I still agree with. No need to alarm young children just yet.
More reports trickled in after knowing that the twin towers were hit. A third plane flew into the pentagon and yet ANOTHER plane was somewhere over Pennsylvania making a bee-line towards the capital. Anxiously we all awaited what would happen. Then nothing. Several brave people knowing what had transpired earlier took some of the sting out of the gushing wound. Flight 93 crashed in an empty field. Later we were to find out that another plane that was scheduled for LA was grounded contained bags filled with manuals for this.
I called into work that day, so did Amy. There wasn't going to be any way to concentrate. We sat glued to our television set, moving between the bedroom and living room and occasionally surfing the web to find out all the details we could. As we learned more about this al queda and some guy named Osama Bin Ladin who has a different spelling of his name depending on what news station you are on. We heard of gas price increases, nuclear reactors are in danger, poisons in our subways, watch our mail. Panic has grasped our country and we have no one to turn to but each other. Just when we thought the tragedy was enough and nothing more could possibly happen, it did. Reports were coming in that the structural damage to the towers was so great that they could fall over. As we watched the news for more details breaking news came from New York City. As people came pouring out of the towers they collapsed upon themselves. Down went one and then the other. A hole in the New York City sky line slightly smaller than the hole growing in our hearts for the people still inside the towers and for the family members watching this unfold.
Feats of heroism, pleas for help, frantic searches for loved ones, friends, and co workers started. All the rest of the nation could do was sit and watch, helpless, scared, and sad. Desperate to reach other family members or anyone they just might have known living in NYC or Washington DC.
Personal stories started to be heard as cluttered phone lines began to free up. So-and-So's co-worker's daughter works at the Pentagon and if she wasn't out picking up her dry cleaning that morning she would have perished in the attack. A friend of a friend lives in NYC and could see the planes fly into the towers. Personal stories that made us sure that we weren't dreaming, this was real, and we did have to deal with it.
I had been to those towers just once before in my life. I was about twelve and on a Girl Scout field trip, my mom the leader. I vaguely remember going up into the towers. I remember seeing lots of flags and getting into elevators and off of elevators just to keep going up - the elevators were staggered so that they could reach the top. We got off on the observation deck and got to put our feet on the railings and foreheads on the glass, peer down at all the little cars, busses, people below. I had been in one of those towers, though I don't remember which one or any other significant fact about it. I had been there. I somehow felt attached to it at this point.
As the days wore on and gas prices did not increase, no more survivors found, reports complied, families coming to the realization that their mother, father, brother, sister, husband, child would not be coming home, the nation mourned. We all felt the impact of 9/11. Television networks cancelled their shows so that their families could be with their loved ones and we would do something OTHER than watch some dumb cooking show when everyone else is doing family things. We all went to our local grocery stores and big box stores to gather supplies and send them to New York. We donated our money. We went to church, we prayed, we bought little trinkets that reminded us of that day. We put up our American flags, we wrote and sang songs about the tragedy, about the nation. We were putting on our reds, our whites, and our blues and showing the world that we would not be destroyed. We would not let the lives of over 3,000 innocent Americans and foreign countrymen be forgotten. We pledged our faith and hearts to finding who did this and making sure it never happened again. We cried REBUILD! Rebuild.
Just six months after 9/11 I went back to the towers. This time there would be no country flags, no rides in the elevator, no foreheads on the glass in a gift shop. We first went to ground zero and were told to come back - you can't get any closer without a ticket (mind you , I still have the ticket). So we got our tickets and our viewing wasn't for quite some time so we did other things around the city. We walked towards the harbor on Wall Street and passed a small fire house. We stopped to look at their display case that listed the names of their fallen brethren. We realized that if we could walk from Ground Zero to there then they must have been one of the first on the scene. Our heroes that day. We were on the Staten Island Ferry (quite by accident...you certainly can't get to the Statue of Liberty on it.) and on the way back into the city you could just see the hole, the vast empty space that once was two of the tallest buildings in the world, a symbol of economic prosperity, and quite phallic. We departed the ferry and made our way back to the site. We recognized the streets from the news. The same streets that thousands of people ran down, screaming and crying we were walking the other direction. We paused briefly at a small church adjacent the site, not one scratch to it, not one window blown out. We craned our neck to look at a hole in the ground. Not just any hole - THE HOLE. All the debris had been removed, safety nets still hung on touching buildings that were in danger losing windows still fragile from the blasts and falling of the towers. We stood for what seemed an eternity with other people there making their own personal pilgrimage. Each one of us there for different reasons and for all the same reasons. We had to see for ourselves the cowardice, the sadness, to be close to a national symbol that was no more. We left the site and passed the famous wall of pictures - pictures of people still missing or of people that perished in the attack. Our hearts heavy, we left the site and went to Time Square. We had to move on.
Six years later there is still a hole there - people debating what to do. Rebuild, make a park, leave a hole, we still have nothing but a hole. We have gotten no closer to finding Osama or made any significant advancements in defusing al queda. But one thing rings true. We haven't forgotten. We can't ever forget.

Murphy Update at 2 Months!

We just entered the second month of having Murphy!
We had our 4 month check up yesterday (she will be 4 months on the 19th) and she weighs an entire 8.6 lbs. (She was 6.2 last month) which means she isn't quite 10 lbs yet so she can't get her rabies and distemper shot at the same time. Have to go back on Wednesday for the rabies shot.
She has been enrolled in Puppy Kindergarten and starts on Sept 10th. Since last month we have not only mastered the sit & lay, we have mastered roll over AND shake. The other night the g/f and Murph were working on fetch with a tennis ball. She does alright with it! We are working on fetch, stay, sit pretty, loose leash walk, and play dead. She loves her Charlee Bears and will do whatever we ask for 'em. I'm sure you've all seen my default picture - she gets very excited when she sees us and wiggles! That was a picture of just that. She is growing like a weed and you may see a bit of apricot on her, her spine, top of her head, front of legs and parts of her ears are changing. Her white fluffy puppy fur is making way for her adult hair.
The vet said that she has excellent muscle tone. I can't imagine why (sarcasm) she chases other dogs like a champion! We went camping in Wisconsin with a few other big dogs and Murphy chased the big dogs into submission. She keeps right up at the dog park and even jumps in the creek with them! When she isn't at the dog park she can be found in my front yard running full throttle in circles.
We have been camping a couple more times since last update and Miss Houdini has figured out how to get out of the tent so we had to ziptie one end of the tent while creating a loud barrier for the other side incase she gets up in the middle of the night.
She is able to go through out the night without having to potty. When I get up at night I leave the gate open and let her follow me if she has to potty but a lot of the times she will look up and then go back to sleep. We are doing "ok" with the potty training. She does most of her business outside but we still have accidents. She doesn't bark at the door to let us know she is sitting at the door waiting. The bell system didn't work when we first tried it - she was scared of the bell. We are going to try again, she thinks the bells are toys now. So again, we try the training.
Last night was a sad marker for us - she slept on the floor and on her doggie bed for the first time, which is good for her, but it means she wasn't sleeping in the bed with us :( She needs her space and I understand but I miss her. I love when she wakes me up in the middle of the night by chewing my hair so we can play and cuddle for a few minutes. (and it means it's time to potty)
She has gotten out of the biting phase with the kids up the street and new people she meets. She only bites us when we are rough playing and we still discourage it. She will be losing her pointy teeth in the next few months!!! yay! Her 6 upper and lower adult teeth will be coming in anytime now - they start around 4 months.
She has been enjoying her rawhides more and more, and we got her a bigger kennel for during the day. She still squeals when we put her in and shrieks like a banshee. But at least it is open to the room and she can look around and enjoy the fan and tv.
She loves to watch the Animal Planet and barks at the dogs that "bark at her". We have also discovered that we hate & bark at the following: lawn mower, microwave when it dings, vacuum cleaner, swifer vacuum, dehumidifier when it starts up, the washing machine, and - the printer! Anything really that starts suddenly with some loud or obnoxious noise.
She is still bringing rocks and sticks into the house and we are still throwing them back into the yard.
She is still as adorable as can be, cuddly as can be, and smart as can be. We will keep her heheheh

Murphy Update at 1 Month!

It's been close to a month now, a few days shy and Murphy has gotten bigger as in longer AND heavier. Of course she was only 3.9 lbs to start off with when we brought her home. The g/f has been working hard with her to learn new things - so far we have seemed to master Sit, Lay Down, and is learning Roll Over right now. Murphy doesn't pay attention well when other people are around though.

The neighborhood kids have taken a keen interest in Murphy and take her for mini-walks up and down the cul-de-sac. Murphy prances around like a bunny knowing she isn't on an official walk, but is out for a good time. (Official walks mean business - exercise and potty time).
We have mastered walking down stairs now. She will run down the stairs into the family room full throttle and try to stop but will slide a good 4 to 5 feet on the wood before she hits the sofa.
She is kenneled during the day while we are work, only 2 - 3 days per week. It makes it hard to get her into her kennel at night time and she usually ends up at the bottom of our bed because we are too tired to listen to her whine all night. Yeah yeah, starting bad sleeping habits but it's not like she's a Great Dane - she's a mini-dog. This morning I woke and looked at the end of the bed and she wasn't there, during the night she had crawled up and was sleeping right between our heads on a special pillow. Spoiled baby is what she is!
We have taken a camping trip and she enjoyed it a lot! She loved taking the long walk to the potty's and loves to run around with sticks in her mouth.
While she is a very good dog, she can also be the red-headed step-child. She is still biting, but more puppy biting and is starting to break that! She grabs ahold of pant legs and growls at it, shaking her head, body, and the pant leg all together. She will also do this when you wear shorts, she doesn't discriminate, she leaps up, grabs, and shakes, hanging every so cutely off your short leg. She has gotten into the toilet paper and dragged it around the house and just yesterday she was left outside on her leash and was being awfully quiet so when I checked on her I was greeted with a black muzzle Murphy - she had dug through our flower box by our front stoop.
We have been to the dog park a couple of times and both times she's been very submissive to the other dogs. The first trip she got her butt kicked, the second she just laid under the picnic table watching everything and was learning the ropes. Of course, she has such long hair (which isn't really *that* long) she had to have a bath the instant she got home!
Murphy is also an attention whore. She whines and whines when no one is paying attention to her - and it's not to just us, strangers. If they don't stop to pet her or admire her in some way she whines and sometimes barks. That is going to be annoying some day!
Yesterday she pee'd on our neighbor. While she got a "Murphy! No!" right away - when we got inside, she got a high five and a special treat. I'm pretty sure Murphy was already going potty when the neighbor picked her up.
We (me) call her everyname in the book though - Murph, Smurfy, Murphinator, Smufette, Smuphinator, Murphy Smurfy. I've decided that she is going to be smurfette for halloween. It'll be the only day I will probably ever dress her up!
The g/f attempted the first nail cutting and it went ok! She slept through the entire thing, even that one time we got to close to the quick and she bled just a little :(
Anyway - we have met a lot of new friends, humans as well as animals, and are meeting new people every day! We are going camping again next weekend and the weekend after so she is going to turn into the camping pro pretty soon! We have a vet trip coming up soon, so a weight and health update should be coming shortly. She will be getting her rabies shot and licensed!

My Family Came to Minnesota

Everyone arrived safely with no delays on Saturday at 3pm. The g/f and I had just gotten to short term parking when mom called to say they were on the ground and what carousel to meet them at. Logan and Hailey ran up to meet us and it was fantastic to see everyone again.
We got to the Hotel and checked in - got the luggage upstairs and then Logan, the g/f, David, and


I took off to the Metrodome to see the Red Sox lose (sorry) to the Minnesota Twins. David was on the big screen at one point behind some chick adjusting her hair. That was great! I gave Logan my old digital camera for the game.Yes, so unfortunately, the Sox lost 2 - 1. I know Susie watched the game, we texted during the game! How fun!






While we were at the game Laurie and Hailey swam in the pool and had pizza for dinner and got to relax a bit!
The next day we went to the Children's Museum and the kids had a great time exploring and playing. Logan loved to explore the "Earth World" and be an ant, climb trees, and play in the water while Hailey loved playing in the sandbox outside and then she discovered the hand dryers so we spent a good half hour watching her wet her hands very briefly and then run to the air-dryer to dry them off, shriek, and then do it again.
The next day, Monday, we did some shopping and hung out at home, a nice relaxing day!
Tuesday we went swimming at the YMCA! Logan was very apprehensive to get in but managed it well with two noodles and a fish that squirted everyone (and when I say everyone, I am including the old lady that was doing her swim-aerobics). Hailey jumped right in and liked to go in circles. J&B came over for a fire and smores and dinner
Wednesday we went to Silver Lake to feed the geese. Sadly most of the geese have gone back home but there were some there, including a family of geese! We ventured on to Silver Creek playground where the kids played for a little bit until we realized the kids were getting over heated and I forgot the sunblock. The g/f took her final and then we went out to eat at Fazoli's and then off to Dairy Queen!
Thursday we stayed home and made cupcakes for the birthday party later on. We gave the kids their birthday presents - Logan got a SPIDERMAN Digital Camera and Hailey got a DORA sprinkler. We played in the sprinkler for a while until Logan got pissed at the g/f and then the fun was over - or was it? They made up and kept playing. We then went out to Buffalo Wild Wings where The TFM (and a couple non-TFM'ers) showed up to celebrate my birthday the week before. Then it was bed time...
Friday we went back to the YMCA, went to the Silver Creek Park, AND Dairy Queen. Then it was time to pack everything back up for the trip back up to the cities to drop the family off the next morning :(
We had a great time playing with the kids and I *might* have a short slide show up of it soon. :)

Carbon Monoxide Detectors! Get your happy ass one.

This is from my friend Jenn - please make sure you have yourself a good CO Detector!
****************************************************************************

Ok, so whether you rent or have your own home, GET CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTORS!!! Our maintenance guy told us to get one when we moved here and I did thinking, ok what the hell.

Well last night Luke and I were laying in bed and ours went off registering 117. We didn't know if we should call or not so we had the fire department come out and they called the gas company to get here. Each time our furnace kicked in the number would climb higher and we had to go sit outside in the fire guy's truck. It was a little scary! When the gas guy got there he said if we had just gone to bed and the furnace kept running, we wouldn't have woken up this morning had we not have that alarm. So..........I'm putting it out there now, spend the money on these detectors! They work and they saved our lives last night!!!

Jennifer

Magic Garden

This is basically for my friends in the Capital District

Anyone rememeber the show "Magic Garden"? There is a a clip of the story box on my page, go watch. I got a happy tear watching it. caroleandpaula.com has some more

~There are no locks on storybox!~

Plumbing Woes, Shovels & Icy Roads, Overnight Lows, and another Computer Goes (pssshhh-lunk)

Last year the g/f and I ripped out a lot of carpeting in our family room. Lots of carpet. We replaced it with flooring...pretty nice flooring. Her dad and she laid it themselves and it looks marvelous! Later that same year we spent a lot of time refacing our bar and varnishing and staining and measuring and cutting and had a marvelous incident with having to go to the bathroom while having oil based paint on your hands (oh lord now that was fun).
Early this year maybe or late last year we had the humidifier running and it over flowed because someone (me) didn't put the pan back in properly so it didn't read "full" when it was full. We had water everywhere. On the new floor and all and it was seeping under the bar and it was a mess. I got that cleaned up and PHEW that was great and I got it cleaned up all by myself because the g/f was working 12 hour overnights.
This past weekend while the g/f was working 12 hour overnights (hence the Overnight Lows) I went downstairs to watch TV on Friday night. Monk was on ya know and I was excited to watch the season finale. I turned into the back part of the room from the doorway to get my popsicle from the freezer and my socked foot immediately was thrust into cold water. I whipped on the light and saw, to my utter disdain, water everywhere. Not only water but it looked like there was a backup so there was food pieces intermixed. I was so out of my element that I could have thrown up a little in my mouth if I ever threw up at all. I got it all up, the water that was. I grabbed all 10 towels in my house and ran back downstairs (after having broken a beautiful picture frame because I didn't balance it properly) and soaked up all the water, put out a fan and the dehumidifier, moved the bar and sopped up the water underneath it and kept some towels down so I could keep stepping on the floor and it would come up on the sides. I figured I had done what I could do and would keep checking on it during the night. I was done for now, the rest of the bits stuck to the counter would have to wait to the morning as I was thoroughly disgusted as it was.
Saturday was uneventful, finished up getting the ice off of the driveway - had about 2.5 feet of snow this past week, week and a half period. I have had enough snow this year already.
The g/f - still on overnights - slept Saturday and was up at 5 to go back to work, leaving at 6:00.
Sunday comes and with the g/f sleeping, I clean up the rest of the downstairs, washed and dried all the towels and got things looking normal again and prepared for a plumber to come out and look at this crap. I finished up all the laundry and what not and went up to do the dishes and then wash out the oven. After about half hour of dishes washing (I should mention that when the sink went shitty it got all our bar glasses and plates all yucky, hence the half hour of washing, I normally only have a few plates in the sink). I shut off the water and heard a tinkling noise - thinking it was the washing machine went down to check on it since it should have stopped long before and walked into round 2 of a sopping wet floor that was three times worse than Friday night. I ran to the laundry room and grabbed all the towels I had just washed and dried and that wasn't nearly enough. I got blankets and sheets and ran upstairs to tell the g/f. It was about 4pm so it was close to when she was going to get up anyway and she came down and she found the shop vac that I forgot about! (I forgot to empty it out the last time I had used it and that bit of information will come into play later) Gallons and gallons of sucked up water later, four fans on the floor with a dehumidifier I went into the laundry room to start ANOTHER load of towels while the g/f sucked up the last bits of water that we could get at the time I see that the slop sink is backed up from dumping in all the gallons of water from the other room...when it so clearly comes to me that I never emptied it from when we ripped the ceiling down MONTHS and MONTHS ago. Again, would have thrown up a bit in my mouth if I ever cared to throw up. I have no gloves and wasn't about to stick my hands in that, no way no how. I decided to let it stand for a bit and pick up some gloves after I brought the g/f to work again (poor girl) Oh, and I didn't get to finish cleaning out the oven because I couldn't run the water in the sink so I wiped it down with paper towels to at least get the cleaner out of the oven, so that left us with no way to eat dinner. Fine, screw it, let's go out. We stop at Kwik Trip on the way to her work for her coffee's and soda's and mini-whoppers. I looked for rubber gloves. They didn't have any. I picked up some paper towels because I'm, at this point, out and desperate since I'm out of towels and paper towels. Genius struck me and I went over to the food station and found the employees gloves for food handling and took about thirty of them. Put them in my pocket and walked out (after paying for the rest of my stuff).
I get home and put my hand down the slop sink, all food-handling-plastic-gloved up and there is nothing blocking the drain. What the hell? This is the most disgusting thing I have ever done and since these aren't RUBBER GLOVES they are prone to leaking. This results in some dry-heaving at this point. I was so frustrated. I did another pass with the vacuum around the floor edges and get some more water up and sit down to watch some TV. Amazing Race, Family Guy, Brothers & Sisters, The L Word. In between I did some vacuum's, and the flooding sink has gone down to 2/3rd's what it was before, and the blocked sink is still as it was.
I went upstairs at 11:30 deciding I was done. I can't handle any more anything. I just want to go to bed.
Then the phone rang. The g/f called and asked about the status and I filled her in. Since I didn't know what to use on the sink (the clogged one) I told her I was leaving it as is because Mommie Dearest here (me) got rid of all the wire hangers! She said to unscrew some stuff and have the buckets ready to capture the crap coming out and I was like - ugh, it's 11:45 and I wanna sleep. So I went down stairs again and got down on the floor and decided that 1 - there was no unscrewing anything and 2 - the bucket wouldn't fit under the big pipe. I then remembered I had an old closet in the other room that might - just might- have a wire hanger. It did, so I got some of the water going down it but didn't want more gunk going down the drain so, with my food-handler plastic gloves on, started scooping up the grosses gross of all gross stuff ever and dry heaving and heavy gagging again, ensued. It wasn't going down nearly enough, the angle of the pipe going down didn't allow for a wire hanger and since I already ruled out unscrewing....I was dying. and tired. and WAY out of my element. I don't do crap like this lol.
Finally all the gunk is out of the sink, the water is down the drain and I rinsed out the sink. I check on the floor again, give it another vacuum up and head back upstairs. I looked at myself in the mirror. I had dirty fingernails, smudges on me from trying to wipe out an oven with paper towels, hair all yucky, feet are more than likely the grossest thing ever and decided that I just could NOT get into bed in this condition. I had to shower. So I climbed in and showered and halfway through looked at the empty towel rack and just shook my head. Now the fuck what. No towels in the house were clean at this point, it's 12:45 in the morning and I'm in no mood to air dry. Jumped out of the shower and ran to the bedroom and thankfully found my bathrobe that doubled as a terry cloth towel for me last night. Now, at 1am I can go to sleep. I'm so damn tired.
I get up early this morning so I can pick up the g/f, bring her home, and then get myself to work. I went up to the computer room to refresh all my podcasts I listen too and plugged in the iPod and went down stairs to finish prepping for work. I go back upstairs and the refresh had stopped and the iPod wasn't showing up as a device. wtf now. I shut down iTunes but it wouldn't open back up. I restarted the computer and got through the booting up and then it was plain black screen. Then I got the HP screen then I got the black screen again upon third boot. I mean seriously. Now what?!?!
The g/f has been working overnights the past three nights, right now she is exhausted and the plumber just arrived at 9:00 this morning and all she wants to do is go to bed. - Oh and she just called to say that the plumber can't get through the clog. I guess I'm glad taxes just came in.

Give me a Cello anyday bozo.

Not that this is the biggest news ever - because it's not but I now have a firm grasp on *THE* underlying trend I find in my favorite songs.

They are all heavy strings - cello and/or violin.

I have always know I liked the strings but good lord - I didn't realize how MANY of my favorites have such influences.

I can trace this trend back years to Beatles songs (Eleanor Rigby) and my most recent loves (some Chris Pureka and Jane Siberry)

This might also be why I have always wanted a string quartet at my wedding ceremony and reception. I don't care if you can't dance to it, it's what I want and it's my wedding. Besides, who dances during dinner??

The End.

New England Patriots v. Minnesota Vikings

Ok peeps - been getting some flack that it's a shame on me for not having the Pats as my #1 team. While I am a Pats fan by birth, I am a Vikings fan by choice...I hated football until Amy came around. I learned about football with the Vikings and they wedged a spot in my life, I "grew" into them. Besides, I must watch them every week and I LIVE in Minnesota (and otherwise would be killed if I was a Packers fan). I will always cheer for the Pats, don't you worry. I'm proud as punch for them when they win the Super Bowl but those damn Vikings - just have to love 'em! (I'm still not the biggest football fan, but now that I understand the game, I can appreciate a good game)

Bon Anniversarie

Happy anniversary to me - 2 years today I quit smoking.
That is approximately 14,607 cigarettes not smoked and $2,191.05 saved.
My pockets don't feel any heavier but then again, neither do my lungs.
I'm pleased with myself but it's still a constant battle, I still want one sometimes and sometimes I even find myself getting ready to get up and go have one...then I realize "oh dumbass, you don't smoke anymore". Ah well.
2 years down, many more to go. YAY me!