One Geeky Mom

Incline Village, NV

2009-06-29T10:15:00.004-06:00

Dave's family all have timeshares at a Club Tahoe and recently his sister and BIL offered us theirs for their week since they couldn't use it. We happily accepted and started making plans. We left Boise on Friday June 12th and drove to Winnemucca where we had breakfast at The Griddle which was pretty good. From there we drove straight to the condo and arrive just in time to check in. After unloading the car and getting settled, we decided on a local small place that had rotisserie meat cooking and the best burritos I've ever had. Their salsa was so good we even bought some to have back at the condo with chips I had bought. On Saturday, we drove all the way to the north end of the lake to Tahoe City and had breakfast at The Fire Sign Cafe which was excellent. From there we visited the dam and took a nice nature walk through the park. We drove back to the condo, picked up a movie for the night at the Redbox and then later went to dinner at Cal-Neva which was disappointing. Sunday we headed over to South Shore and rode the Heavenly Gondola which had incredible views of Lake Tahoe and South Shore. We sat outside, had a beer and waited to see if anyone was going to ride the zip line but there were apparenly thunderstorms in the area so it was closed. There was also an outdoor mall which had tons of great shopping. From there, we found the Rainbow Trail which was a nice walk and had a cool fish display. The weather was looking a little questionable, but I was determined to see more while we were on the South Shore so we went ahead and drove to Angora Lakes to do another hike. It was amazing. You park at the bottom of the trail and walk up about 2 miles and there are 2 goregous lakes and even cabins for rent. After that we went to the outlet mall and did some shopping. Since we were starting to get hungry, we decided to go to one of the large casinos for a buffet dinner. We decided on Harrah's and we weren't disappointed. The food was amazing, the price reasonable and the service outstanding though we did have to wait for about 45 minutes. With full bellies we drove back to the Condo and had a nice fire and watched another movie.

On Monday, we spent a lazy day in and went to dinner at La Fondue which was a lot of fun and very delicious. We also walked around the Hyatt which is right on the Lake and took a drive along Lakeshore drive where there are beautiful homes along the beach. On Tuesday, we were taking Aaron to visit his Dad who lives in Sparks and we took the long way through Carson City so I could visit the Trader Joe's. I spent over an hour there and bought lots of goodies to bring home. I was so glad we had the car so I could stock up! After we dropped off Aaron, we had lunch at a casino and then Dave let me do some shoe shopping at my favorite store DSW. We headed back to Tahoe via 431 which is a beautiful drive past Mt. Rose. Since we weren't too hungry because we ate a late lunch, we went back to T's Rottisserie for burritos for dinner. On Wednesday, we went to the breakfast buffet at Harrah's and then took a long walk along Lakeshore. For our adventure, we drove to a hiking trail and visited Chimney beach (pictured above) which was amazing.

On Thursday, we had lunch at Austin's which was recommend to us by everyone and it did not disappoint! Wonderful chicken fried chicken and chicken fried steak smothered in homemade delicious gravy and their famous garlic fries. After lunch we went back to the condo and got ready for a day at the beach. All week the weather was getting warmer and Thursday was a perfect day. Though it was only in the lower 70's it felt like it was 90. We spent the afternoon reading and relaxing and enjoying the bikes, kayakers and boarders on Lake Tahoe. For dinner, we went to a local favorite, the Wild Alaskan a surprisingly good place that had wonderful Thai Fish Soup that Dave loved.

On Friday, it was time to pack up and head home. Club Tahoe was amazing and we enjoyed it very much. The club house had a pool table which we played almost every day, a pool, spa and even a bar. The staff was very friendly and helpful and they even had a large binder of local restaurant menu's.

Full album of pictures here.

McCall Winter Carnival

2009-02-10T08:49:00.003-07:00

Last year, we went to the McCall Winter Carnival on the 2nd weekend of the festival, so this year we figured we would go when all the action was. We took off work and school on Friday, packed up all the electronics, people and dogs and were headed north by 11:30am. On the way, we stopped at McDonalds and had lunch. Normally, we NEVER eat fast food, but we were on vacation and needed a quick bite. When we got to Cascade we turned off and drove all through Tamarack, a beautiful resort and dreamed of buying a second home or property.

We arrived at the AmericInn just around check in time and right before cookies were served! We love this hotel because they are dog friendly and have a nice indoor pool and hot tub that Aaron and I use when we're not out around town. We unpacked, then went to Chapala's for dinner, then watched the Children's Parade and a spectacular fireworks show for the opening ceremonies. It was cold out, but we all had pretty good clothing, so we were mostly warm. After the fireworks, we headed back to the hotel where Aaron and I promplty put our swimsuits and headed to the pool and hot tub for a relaxing soak.

Saturday morning we all slept late and rush to catch breakfast at the hotel and then we got bundled up to head out for the parade. We found a parking spot pretty easily and walked the couple of blocks to Main street and got a great spot to watch the parade. It was terrific! The dogs got a little cold sitting in their stroller, so Dave and I held them and they kept us toasty. Aaron was running around catching candy and watching the parade up close and had fun also. After the parade, we walked around town a bit and then got some great noodles at the festival. Aaron and I shared some funnel cakes (our favorite fair/festival ritual) and we walked out on the frozen lake and let the girls run off leash. We walked around a few hours and then headed back to the hotel for a few hours of rest before our big prime rib dinner at the Mill.

Sunday morning we got up and this time took our time at the wonderful breakfast at the hotel, got packed up and then went to the craft festival. We also drove around town and looked at some of the sculptures we missed the day before when we were on foot. We headed south on a side road and admired more of the subdivisions and homes.

When we got home, we quickly unpacked and settled into our jammies to watch the Super Bowl. It was a great weekend!! Full picture album here.

Cooking with the Freezer

2009-01-08T20:02:00.008-07:00

I've had this blog post on my to do list for months but I've not had the time to just sit down and write out all my thoughts, so today, as part of my efforts to get things done, I'm doing it.

A year after I moved in with Dave, we had 3 boys (7, 11 & 15) to feed. Dave had a nice big freezer out in the garage and not much in it. As I was learning about things to cook I found a Yahoogroup about freezing. It was great. I learned you could freeze all kinds of things. Fast forward 7 years later and there is only 1 boy at home, but food prices have gone crazy and time is always limited to spend in the kitchen and shopping. So, I use my freezer for tons of stuff. I pre-make Fix, Freeze & Feast meals and I also pre-do a lot of ingredients that go into meals. Here are some of the things I freeze:

cream (1 cup batches)
homemade cream of mushroom soup (1 sandwich size bag full)
chopped onions
chopped bell peppers
cooked in the crockpot black and pinto beans
rice (brown jasmine, jasmine and long grain brown)
Spaghetti sauce (made in a 2 1/2 gallon batch)
pineapple juice
buttermilk
meat (ground beef, ground turkey, pork chops, stew meat, chicken, ham & sausage)
sliced carrots
chopped celery
butter
homemade beef broth/stock
bacon
Pre-cooked ground beef with onions
Tomato sauce & diced tomatoes (packaged in 2 cup portions from a #10 can)
Leftover soups, stews & chilli
Meatloafs - batch of 3
Mashed potatoes (make 20 lbs and flash freeze ice cream scoop portions, then bag)
Meatballs (using 8 lbs of meat)
Lasagnas (using pre-made spaghetti sauce & precooked ground beef from another day)
bread
meals made with SIL in 1 day cooking sessions (usually 20-30 meals @ <$5 each)

Having all these items handy in the freezers does a lot for me. It saves me money for sure. I'm able to buy things when they are on sale and buy larger portions (always check your prices, larger isn't always cheaper!) and re-package into smaller sizes. I only have to go to the grocery store every 2-3 weeks. This saves me time, money and stress. It also allows me a lot of flexibiltiy of what I can make at any given time. Between my freezer and pantry, I can make almost anything. If I do want to make something that requires a special item, I put it on my grocery list and get it the next time I go. I love to see how long I can last between trips to the store. I don't mind grocery shopping, but it's certainly not how I like to spend my time. I also do a lot of meal planning and recipe searching. I use MasterCook to organize all my recipes and I subscribe to quite a few cooking blogs for new ideas. I also use my crockpot at least once a week. I also keep a typed list on the front of the freezer door with the contents of each shelf listed, that way I don't forget about stuff I have in there and forget to use it before it gets freezer burned. I have a Foodsaver, but you'd be amazed how well things last in freezer zip lock bags or tupperware.

Think about what you can do to make your life easier in preparing homecooked, healthy meals for your family, it's really a lot of fun. Email me with any questions, I'd love to share recipes or tips and tricks!

Confessions of a Hoarder

2008-10-24T12:45:00.006-06:00

I've always been a little obsessive compulsive. I knew it was weird when I was a kid and I used to have a digital clock and I had to keep track of how many minutes I watch turn over each day and how many hours I watched change. I also used to write down the weather temperatures each night from the evening news. I wasn't especially tidy until I got in my 20's. When my Mom used to visit me, she used to clean and that, for some reason bothered me. Now I wish she would come and clean my house. I had too much pride to appreciate it when I was younger and just getting started with my first apartment and eventually a house. Now my friends call me "anal" and all say how clean my house is. I don't think it is as clean as I would like it to be, which probably is another indicator I have a problem.

Growing up, we always had enough. Aside from the time when we left the Bay Area and moved to the property in Garden Valley and Leo was unemployed for a while, I don't remember us ever being really poor. My step-dad was a sheet metal worker and frequently was laid off or worked less hours in the winter months. I remember my Mom always shopping and stocking up when he was working to help tide is into the non-working months. I say this is how it got started.

As I've gotten older and had more money, I find that I am still "stocking up" but so far there has only been 1 time in my life when I've needed to use this supply. Needless to say, I have much more than I can possibly use in a reasonable amount of time of lots of things. Living in Idaho where the LDS population is quite large, I find myself saying that I'm just doing "food storage" or collection for an emergency, but really, I just buy too much. I seem to not feel safe if I don't have a good supply of something and then a backup supply. Before I even run out of something, I add it to my list and frequently there is a new supply before I even run out. It is rare that we run out of something in my house.

When I first moved in with Dave and his boys, I tried to monitor the supply on what everyone used. This was crazy. I couldn't possibly keep up with 5 people's consumption and the teenagers ever changing tastes. So, as of 2 years ago, I adopted the policy of - if you use the last of something, either 1) notify me 2) leave the package out or 3) write on the list (fridge). This has worked quite well for everyone and we still rarely run out of anything. And I stress a lot less.

But here's where it gets weird. I have sooo much shampoo. I do wash my hair every day and I do have thick hair, but I must have years and years worth of shampoo. Why? I do remember when I moved out on my own that someone told me it was good to rotate the shampoo you use on your hair. So I had 3 or 4 kinds in the shower and rotated using them. Now I live in a home where the shower is a phone booth, so there is certainly not room for a selection. So all the shampoos and conditioners sit on the large garden tub, daunting me. I think I've been trying to "use up" what I have for almost 3 years. I also collect hotel soaps and shampoos. Why? I don't take them with me on trips because I'll be at another hotel that has more or staying at someone's house that has shampoo (I like to try other's people stuff!) so I never use them. I've recently started using the little soaps in place of my more favored body wash (which I also have a ton of) and still have a huge pile of soaps. I did manage to use up a lot of the little shampoo containers but then feel bad about throwing away all the plastic bottles.

I also have waaaayyy to much scrapbooking stuff (see above pic), linens (not really my fault, because we have all mine AND Dave's), tupperware (see previous reason), clothes, shoes, earrings, razors, toothpaste, mouthwash, etc.

I do think it's a good idea to have stuff stocked up, especially food. You never know when a natural disaster, illness or a lay off can happen and you'll be glad you have lots of things already paid for in your home. But I do think I need to question almost every purchase I make and be sure I need it and have a place to store it. I love having lots of stuff, but I also hate the feeling of clutter and overwhelming amounts of stuff. It's all about moderation, right?

Pepper and Chloe - Our Girls

2008-10-06T10:45:00.005-06:00

When Dave and I met in 2001, I thought we might have a child together. I had Aaron, who was then 6 and he had 2 more boys, then 10 & 14. We quickly decided that the 3 boys were going to be plenty for us! So, in 2004 we got our first baby girl, Pepper. We "met" her when she was 4 weeks old at a local Havanese breeder. She was the last one available in the litter and we immediately put down a deposit on her. I went to visit her every day and she was just a joy. I had bought a stuffed dog toy a few months prior and that became her "baby" which we put in with all the puppies and her mama so she could always have a piece of her family. When she was 6 weeks old (and still nursing!) her little collar was still too big for her and I begged the breeder to let her stay a few more weeks but he insisted she would be fine. So, excited beyond description I headed there with her baby and my cool dog carrying bag. I put her in the bag and put her on the front passenger seat and she promptly cried her little head off. I then unzipped the top of bag and she stood up and snorted like a little pig. It was so sad, she was missing her family. I tried to comfort her, but she just wailed. By the time we got home, she totally sacked out and took a big nap in the middle of her blanket. The first night, I put her in her crate beside my bed and spent most of the night with my hand through the wire door. She did very good and only cried when she needed to go out. I hung a small bell by the back door and each time I took her out, I hit it with her paw. Within a week, she was hitting it herself to go out and to this day still uses that as her signal to go out. After a few nights, Dave said she should be able to sleep on the bed with us. And today, she still does.

When Pepper was 2, she was kind of apathetic and didn't really do much and I really wondered if she was lonely. She also had almost no interest in eating and only ate her kibble every 3-4 days. Around the same time, I became involved with an online Havanese Rescue Yahoo Group. I had signed up to be a rescue contact in Idaho since there were none and so did another lady that had Havanese. Soon, I did a home visit for a third woman who had signed up and then I needed my home visit done. Heather was the one assigned to do that and we quickly became friends. It turned out she had Peppers sister from a different little and another Havanese as well as a German Shephard. She was heading to Bend, Oregon the next week to get a 3rd Havanese from Hystyle Havanese and let me know there was another puppy available in the litter. She also raw fed her dogs, something I had been looking into due to Pepper's lack of luster for her kibble.

Well, Dave and I decided we had to have this little cream Havanese, then named Q-T-Pie. Heather went and got her and her own Tootsie Pop 2 weeks later. By now, Aaron was 11 and very much wanted to be friends with Pepper, but their relationship had started off a big rocky because Aaron was too rough with her when she was little. And Pepper was never really a cuddler, or lap dog. She would sit by you, but not on you and didn't enjoy being held. From the moment Chloe came, Aaron held her and carried her around like a baby, which she still enjoys today. Pepper immediately shared her toys, her bed and her Mom and Dad like the good dog she has always been. Chloe came from a breeder who raw fed, so I switched Pepper and Chloe has never had kibble. Both my dogs LOVE to eat every day and their coats and skin are wonderful and I believe they are very healthy. Each day I feed them a raw chicken wing, a 1/4 of a sirloin patty (from Costco), some rehydrated veggies and Nupro powder. I also give them organ meat and occasionally some rice.

Like all Havanese, they like to shred and play "run like hell", espeically in the snow. They go most places with us and if they can't go, they stay with Auntie Heather and their sisters. Pepper and Chloe have brought immense joy to our blended family. To them we are Mom and Dad and all the boys are their brothers. They bridge the gap of "theirs" and "ours" and love everyone the same. Yes, having dogs are a lot of work, they require time, love, attention, money, feeding, walking, grooming, brushing and a huge commitment, but they are worth every bit of effort.

The dogs also have thier own website www.PepperandChloe.com

Trip to CA

2008-08-22T09:02:00.005-06:00

Both Dave and I are from the Bay Area and most of our family is still down there. I love to visit at least once a year so that Aaron can see his family and we can also see all the wonderful things that the beautiful state has to offer. On Friday, August 8th we set out towards Folsom, CA to attend my 20 year high school reunion. The drive was uneventful and the MDX was full of gadgets and while Dave was driving, Aaron and I had plenty of electronics to keep us busy. I mostly watched videos on my ipod touch while Aaron played the PS2 and did some web surfing on the laptop. Dave was stuck listening to music on the 80 gig video ipod.

We arrived in Folsom and got checked into the Lake Natoma Inn, showered and headed to the Happy Hour event at Yagers. There I saw classmates that I've known since the 3rd grade but most that I haven't talked to in 20 years. It was a lot of fun!

Saturday we checked out of the hotel and headed to Dave's Mom's house in Saratoga, CA. We relaxed most of the weekend outside on the patio and Aaron played in the pool. Monday, Dave's Mom and I headed to the gym and then went out shopping. She took me to Nordstrom Rack and then a wonderful shoe haven called DSW. I loved both and bought a few things for great prices.

On Tuesday, we headed to San Francisco and spent a wonderful day in the city. I had purchased CityPass tickets for all of us ahead of time so we had a bunch to do! We took the CalTrain to SF and then rode a bus to the piers. We had lunch at Fog Harbor and walked around the various shops. We then took a cruise over to Alcatraz and visited the famous "Rock". After that, we caught a bus and raced over to the Exploratorium which closed shortly after we arrived. We then headed to Ghiradelli Square and had huge sundae's and milkshakes. We then headed back towards the wharf Dave got some crab sandwiches along the seafood row. Aaron found the Musee Mecanique and we spent some time there. We missed the Boudin sourdough tour, but we had done that before. As it started to cool and then sun went down and the tourists started to leave we headed to the aquarium which was open later than any of the other places we visited and was indoors. When we finished the aquarium, we caught a bus back to the CalTrain station and then headed back south. We arrived back at 10:30p making for a long day in the city, but it sure was a lot of fun!

On Wednesday, we headed north again, but only to Belmont where my Nanney (maternal grandmother) lives. I had finally completed her digital scrapbook after 3 years of collecting photos, scanning them and then compiling a 100 page book spanning almost 100 years. It includes her and my grandfather's acestors, their 3 children (my mom), 7 grandchildren (me), 4 great grand children (Aaron) and 1 great-great grand baby born last year. It was a beautiful work of art and I was very proud to present it to her. We headed to lunch at Mimi's and then talked and visited for a few hours. That night, we met up with one of Dave's friends, his girlfriend and her son and went to a wonderful italian place on Santana Row called Maggiano's. Huge portions, great service and spectacular food!

Thursday we headed to Apple headquarters where we visited the Company store. I heard about it from Cali Lewis of GeekBrief.TV but never realized it was literally 3 miles from where I've visited my MIL many times! Aaron and I were in heaven and bought some goodies and took pics. We then headed over Highway 17 and into Santa Cruz to visit my step-sister and Dad. My sister and her boyfriend live in a beautiful home in Aptos where they have 3 doggies, wonderful decks and great food, music and conversation. My Dad happens to be working in the area so he joined us. Him and Aaron always have great conversations about gadgets and electronics. Aaron even brought his scooter charger to have Grandpa see if he could fix. If only we had brought the volt meter!

Friday we packed up and headed towards home. We stopped in Pleasanton to visit my Aunt and Uncle and visited with them a bit before they headed out to play some golf. We then drove to Reno, where we ate at the Peppermill buffet and then spent the night.

Saturday we drove home, picked up the dogs and spent the night outside on our patio since our hardwood floors had been refinished while we were gone. The smell was horrible (it even killed all my fish) and we decided not to take any chances on us or the dogs having any ill effects from breathing the fumes. Sunday we unpacked and then Monday headed back to work. I loved our vacation, but it went by SOOO fast!! It always reminds me what a beautiful place CA is and how I love to visit, but am definitely happier in Idaho.

Full album of the pictures here.

Oregon Coast

2008-07-29T11:58:00.005-06:00

2 weeks ago, Dave and I dropped off the dogs at the Pet Lodge and headed West to the Oregon Coast. This was our 4th trip over there since 2001 when we went there on our first trip together. This was our first time driving and I hope we never fly again as driving is definitely my preferred method of travel. I love having my stuff with me and having the MDX's navigation was helpful and roomy interior was great. We got over 20 mpg which is good considering the "X" only has 2000 miles on it and is a full size SUV.

Anyway, we set out first thing in the morning from Boise and arrived at the Starfish Manor in Lincoln City in the afternoon. We toured our beautiful room which was very similar to the one we had at the Nelscott Manor last September for our wedding/honeymoon and decided to go to the Chinook Winds casino. We had terrific service as most people were at the casino portion and the restaurant we went to was in the hotel. Dave had the Captain's Platter which was a huge seafood plate of all kinds of wonderful things. I had crab cakes for the first time and they were marvelous.

The next day we drove north and stopped in Pacific City for breakfast at the Pelican Pub. There I had the best stuffed french toast and we shared beer sausage gravy and potatoes. On the beach where the restaurant is, cars can actually park and launch boats. It was quite strange to see cars and trucks driving along the beach. The beach was in front of Haystack rock which was also a beautiful site.

From Pacific City we drove further north all the way to Nehalam where there was a craft festival going on. I have to admit I was somewhat embarrassed after Dave drove as far as he did when there were only a few booths of stuff. I did buy some great home made cards and we did have a delicious strawberry shake at a local place so we counted the trip a success. We had also never driven farther north than Tillamook so all that was unchartered territory for us. We heard Canon Beach was nice, but after being in the car for 2 days we decided we'd had enough of driving. We also stopped at a winery outside of Tillamook but it was somewhat crowded and the person serving wasn't very personable, we had 2 samples, checked the interesting decorations of the place and continued our trip.

Saturday night we drove south from Lincoln City to Depoe Bay where we had dinner at a place we'd never been called Tidal Raves. Dave had the special which was a freshly caught sturgeon topped with crab. I had a wonderful crab alfredo. The view was beautiful and the service was great.

On Sunday, we went for the 3rd time to our favorite spot for brunch, Fathom's restuarant at the Spanish Head Inn. In 2001, we stayed at the Spanish Head Inn and went to brunch there and had a wonderful time. We spent hours talking and drinking mimosas after we finished eating. This time wasn't perfect as there were several small children that disrupted the environment, but the view and food was good. Dave emailed them later and they did send us a gift certificate for a free brunch for our next visit and we will be sure and go back. We then headed to the Factory Outlets and did some shopping. For dinner, we headed south again to Gracie's Sea Hag in Depoe Bay where Dave had a full crab and I had fish n chips.

Monday we decided to go to the Wild Flower Grill as it was recommended in the "journal" that was in our room. It was a terrific find. It was maybe once a house on the side of Highway 101 and overlooks somewhat of a swamp with berries growing that has been converted into a wonderful breakfast spot. They had homemade bread for toast and the slices were huge. Dave had an omelet and I had pancakes with marion berries and homemade cream.

We then drove south to Newport and walked around the various shops and watched a fishing boat prepare crab for the people who had gone out that morning. We went to eat at a local place where Dave again had a whole crab and I had a cup of chowder. For dinner, we went to J's Fish and Chips a wonderful little place in Lincoln City where the chef brought us some chowder that he had made up in the back. Dave happily "tasted" it and loved it. So the guy sent a big container home with us for later which made Dave very happy.

On Tuesday, we packed up and drove home. We got behind a truck painting lines on the road which was going very slow so we didn't stop at the Spirit Mountain Casino buffet on the way out of town like I wanted to, but we did stop and eat in Tualatin at Rose's where I again had fish and chips and Dave had some kind of weird sandwich with meat and egg salad.

It was a wonderfully relaxing trip, I got a lot of reading done and I took a nice hot bath in the big jetted tub that overlooks the beach each night. I also read the great Chesapeake Bay trilogy by Nora Roberts given to me by my Mother in Law. I just found out there is a 4th book so I'm trying to find it.

On the trip, for the first time in my life, I ate seafood. And liked it. Yesterday was my birthday and Dave took me out for fish and chips at a great place called Fresh Off The Hook here in Boise. We also went out for a nice dinner at the Cottonwood Grille with his sister and her boyfriend Saturday night. Then we went to a new comedy club (since the Funny Bone is gone) and had a great night out. In 2 weeks, we are headed to the Bay Area where I plan on seeking out more delicious seafood! I love summer!!

The full album of pictures of our Oregon Coast trip are here.

Pretzels and Oatmeal

2008-07-03T11:22:00.004-06:00

In January, I decided I was DONE carrying around the extra 20lbs I had accumulated in the past 4 years. When I came back from our family cruise to Mexico, I started hitting the gym more and watching what I ate using the Weight Watchers point method which had been successful for me in the past. It went well and I lost a few pounds. Then my employer announced they were going to start a "Biggest Loser" challenge and my SIL was going to participate with her work also and we made a side bet for the loser to buy the winner a pedicure. We divided into teams at work at weighed in on Feb 28th. I weighed in at 158.5 and I am 5'4". My goal weigh was/is 135. I really don't know if that's doable, since I seem to be hovering right around 143, but I am still trying.

For 10 weeks, I went to the gym 6 days a week, ate well and changed my lifestyle habits. I cut out coffee completely (because of my cream usage), increased my water, cut back on drinking and did all kinds of physical activity at the gym (weights, cardio, yoga, pilates).

On May 8, I weighed in at 141.7 and actually won the biggest loser competition at my work (top female) because I had lost 11% of my body weight. I was shocked that I had one, but very pleased because of all my hard work. I won a year's paid membership at the gym which was really cool because that of course saves me money every month.

I've always liked oatmeal, but became very discouraged when I found out those little packets were 3 weight watchers points each. Well, 1 never filled me up and I hated to blow 6 points every morning so I bought some instant oatmeal in the bulk, a bag of frozen blueberries and a bottle of maple syrup. For about 4 points, I now have every day a cup of 5 grain organic oatmeal, blueberries and a bit of maple syrup. It is delicious, filling and by far my favorite meal. I've had it every day at work for 6 months and look forward to it every day.

My other favorite snack is pretzels. Frequently at night, after dinner I want something. I'm not really a sweets or chips person, but I do like a little something. Needless to say, whatever I would find (granola bar, ice cream, crackers, etc) was never a very good choice or satisfying. I now keep pretzels and whatever I can fit in 1 hand is my night time snack (if needed). They are crunchy, salty and only about 118 calories (approximately 2 points). So, now I buy the pillowcase sized sack of pretzels and forget those expense 100 Calorie snacks that are good, but tiny and not very satisfying.

Anyway, I just wanted to share my journey. I'm still eating well, weighing in weekly (and documenting my weight on my calendar) and going to the gym. My goal is still 135, but I'm happy to stay where I am (in my size 8 jeans!!)

Free Money

2008-06-06T10:38:00.005-06:00

With gas and grocery prices on the rise, there has been more and more info on the web and in the news about being frugal and taking advantage of cost savings wherever possible. I've always been frugal, my parents and grandparents taught me well. I thought I would share some of the great ways I get free money or save money for my family.

401k Contributions
This has been hammered into the ground everywhere, but (especially younger) people still aren't all doing it. If your company offers ANY kind of matching on a 401k/403b plan, you MUST contribute the amount to get the matching contribution. This is FREE money. It doesn't get any better than this!

Gas
I've been riding the bus for almost a year now, but this may not be available where you are or for your circumstances. If public transportation isn't an option for you, look into ride share, park and ride or even walking/biking to work. If you just can't do it for work, look at other trips you make on your spare time and try and take the vehicle in your house with the best gas mileage, take your bike or combine trips. Always, run your errands in order around town so you are not backtracking. If you have a doctor in a certain part of town and there happens to be a store there, plan to go there when you have a doctor appointment. My friend who grooms my dogs lives near Costco, so when I go visit her, I hit Costco. My son's doctor is in Meridian so when he goes to the doctor, I go to Winco. Planning ahead is key, but the pay off is great financially and you might just save yourself some time also.

Credit Card Rewards
Now, I only recommend this if you are financially responsible. It has taken me a lot of years to get to the point where I can charge my month's worth of expenses and pay it off each month. When I was younger, I had the mindset that whatever I charged was somewhat free. The bill would come at the end of the month and I would always be surprised. These days, I use mvelopes and file my financial transactions daily, so there are no surprises. I know and plan how much my credit card bill is each month. Dave and I currently have 4 credit cards that we use. The Chase visa is for main expenditures and we get 1% cash back on any and all purchases. The American Express card is a one savings account and we use that at Costco since they do not accept MC/Visa. We get the 1% reward put into a savings account. Our Discover card is just for gas and automotive expenses and for those types of transactions we earn 5%. These rewards are able to be cashed in for credit on the account, so the rewards go back into the same debit. This comes in handy now when gas prices on are the rise. I have a monthly calendar item for each card to check the balances and redeem the rewards when it reaches a certain level. There is no benefit to earning the rewards and not using them! I was actually able to buy a $399 ipod touch earlier this year from credit card points. We even run medical expenses through the credit cards to get the rewards.

Flexy/Health Savings Account
If your employer offers a flexible spending account for medical expenses you should also participate. Figure out EVERY possible out of pocket medical expense you might have in a given year and they take that amount out over your paychecks throughout the year. You do not pay income tax on this money. This year, my 13 year old was going to get braces - a cost of $4700 if I paid in full (a 5% discount). I was planning on using the rewards Visa (to earn 1% cash back) and then getting that money from my flexy. Since he was in the hospital for 10 days, we have opted to use the $5k that I elected for 2008 medical expenses for that and are submitting all the other bills in the family to reach that amount. Next year we will plain again for the braces and I'll do the same thing. So, what might have cost $4935, actually costs $3159 if you consider the cash rewards, paying in full and the tax savings. The bottom line is that any money you contribute to the flexy, you get back when you submit a qualifying receipt and you didn't pay income taxes and it may possibly drop your income to a lower tax bracket. Most employers offer this and a daycare savings plan (which works the same way for child/elderly care expenses) to employees and often times I think the benefit isn't used because people don't understand it or see it's benefit. It really is a huge money saver.

Smarter Shopping & Freezing
Shop sales, shop in bulk, shop less often and plan your meals. I don't go to the closest grocery store to my house even though it is convenient because it is expensive. Instead, when I am across town, I choose the cheapest store in town to shop. Yes, it's a bit of a drive (5 miles) and I have to bag my own groceries but if I can combine it with another trip, the only thing I'm out is the hassle of bagging my own stuff, which I don't mind because I think I do a better job than most of them anyway. If you have the storage space, buy items in larger quantities (only if it's cheaper, bigger isn't always better!) and put into smaller containers/packages and freeze. I freeze everything. I have a 21 cu freezer and keep it full of food and frozen milk jugs so it runs more efficiently. If the power ever goes out, it also has a much longer life with the extra ice inside.

Eating/Drinking Out
I am always amazed at how expensive it is to eat out. I can feed my family of 4 (3 boys 13, 17 & Dad) and myself for around $10/meal. If we eat out, it is usually $50-$100. Even little things like not getting a soda when you're out or skipping that morning coffee can add up to huge savings at the end of the month. Recently my SIL and I made 46 meals (23 each). We figured the cost to be $5.72 for each meal. This is for the main dish only, but for each of us to feed our families for 4 for under $6 I think is a steal. And it's good food. We are using the book Fix, Freeze & Feast that I heard about in the Manic Mommies podcast. I also do things on my own like make batches of rice for the freezer on a Saturday. I also make lasagnas in big batches and brown ground beef in 6 lb batches to freeze for later use (see pic). Even making your grocery list based on the meals you plan to cook for your family will save you money because you won't be running to the store for little items the rest of the month.

Recycle/Sell
I donate all unwanted items to a local charity a get a tax write off for doing so. Once a year we have a garage sale and sell household items. I keep books, cd's and movies that we no longer want listed on half.com. Periodically, I sell things on ebay. Most of us have too much stuff and others would benefit from having some of our "extra". They get a great deal and you get a little money back on your investment.

There's lots of things people can do to save money. Obviously the biggest financial lesson is if you don't have enough money you have to either spend less or make more. Sometimes you can't make more and sometimes you can't spend less, but you can almost always do SOMETHING to save somewhere.

Gadgets I Can't Live Without

2008-05-12T12:37:00.004-06:00

Inspired by Philoking's post on Gadgets He Can't Live Without, here are my favorite gadgets:

Blackberry Pearl 8100 - Since this delivers my work email and it is my telephone, I never leave home without the Blackberry. Purchased when it first came out, the Pearl has great typing using SureType, email, web access, my calendar and contacts. With EDGE, I can browse the internet but it's not very speedy. The 8120 is out, but my plan isn't ready for an upgrade yet. I have added a 1 gig MicroSD card for picture and MP3 storage but since I mostly listen to podcasts on my Ipods (see below), I actually don't use it for a music player. The camera is only 1 megapixel, so I only use it in a picture taking emergency. It is a great device and I can hardly wait to get the 8120 which has wi-fi for making phone calls when out of service areas (my parents live where there is no T-Mobile), the SD card is on the side and the camera has been upgraded to a 2 megapixel model.

Ipod - I use the term loosely, as I have 5 ipods. I have an old 512 shuffle that is supposedly Dave's but I manage it for him. When I recently got a newer 1 gig shuffle, I said that was his, but I still use that one also. The 512 is on the treadmill for works and the 1 gig shuffle I use at night for listening to hypnosis audio books. I mostly use the 32 gig Ipod Touch as it does video and audio. It also has wi-fi which is handy except there doesn't seem to be wi-fi when I'm not at home or work and in both of those places, I typically don't need it because I have PC's. I also have a 4 gig Nano that I use when I don't need video or want something small and lightweight that I don't have to worry about breaking if I'm biking or working out. It also has GREAT battery life which the Ipod touch does NOT. I have a 5G video that I used to carry with me everywhere but the Ipod Touch has kind of replaced it because of the bigger video screen. So the 5G is now my "car" ipod since I have the Denison Ice ipod integration in my Honda Accord. I basically don't go anywhere without at least 1 Ipod and I'm almost always wearing or listening to one.

Laptop - If I were traveling, I would definitely take my laptop though now that I have the Ipod touch which does Google Reader, Twitter, Gmail and Facebook I may not need it. Though, if I needed to access my home or work PC the only way to do it would be through my laptop or using someone else's PC. I'm sure I will continue to travel with it. I would also need it to offload pictures from my camera SD card (though I have 2 and have never filled them both except when we got married). I currently have a 3 year old HP 15" laptop that I have upgraded the RAM and hard drive. We also use the HP laptop for our podcast and it works great when traveling.

Camera - My blackberry has a built it camera, but like I mentioned before it is only a 1 megapixel so it's not very good for pictures. I am a picture taking fool and also the dedicated family scrapbooker so I am always taking pictures at gatherings. I currently have an HP Photosmart R927 which I like a lot. It does take video and I wish it were better quality, but it has everything I need in a cheap point and shoot.

Car - I have a 2005 Honda Accord EX with V6, leather interior, sunroof, spoiler and bra that I couldn't get far without. I do ride the bus to and from work, but the Honda is a GREAT car that gets about 25 mpg in the city and up to 35ish on long trips. I bought it brand new and am about a week away from making the last payment!!

I also occasionally use my son's PSP and have a ton of other gadgets, but these are my favs!!

Geocaching

2008-04-21T13:29:00.003-06:00

I recently found a former co-worker on FaceBook which led me to her blog which I've been reading and really enjoying. THAT'S what made me think I should blog more. I think in my last post I thought I should blog more, but didn't know why. Yeah, so that's why.

A few years ago, I remember my co-worker Dan talking about geocaching and how he had his GPS and would go looking for things out in the boonies. I thought it sounded strange and didn't really give it much thought. Two summers ago when Aaron and I went to CA and visited my Dad, we somehow traded my radar detector for his new Mustang for a Garmix etrex navigator. At the time, I thought I could use it for directions but Aaron and I plugged in into the car on the way home, thought it was cool and then I never used it again.

Well, last month Aaron was grounded and looking for something to do and had heard about geocaching on the internet and decided he wanted to do it. I agreed and said I would drive him around but he needed to do all the research and find out where they were and give me directions. So we've been out a few times around Boise and it's a lot of fun. We found interesting items in the little cans and containers and left some things we had and even met a lady who was out on Easter that lived in Oregon. I think Aaron keeps in touch with her online at the geocache site.

What you do is go to the website and find cache's to hunt for that are near you. We print off the GPS coordinates, the description on the cache (including any hints!) and then driving directions that get us close. We put all the ones that we want to find in order and head out. We park the car, then grab the Garmin and walk around until we get close. The GPS that we have gets us within 10-30 feet of the item and then it's just figuring out the clever hiding place that the person used. We even went out once on our bikes and down to the greenbelt. Bike caching! LOL
Anyway, it's a lot of fun and I hope to do it when I travel and hope that Aaron's interest in it stays around!

Places I'd Like to Visit

2008-04-19T16:25:00.003-06:00

I've been thinking I'd like to blog more. I'm not sure why, but since I spend most of my free time reading other people's blogs and other various feeds in my Google Reader, maybe I have something interesting to share. I do have a great interest in a bunch of different areas and a lot of people think I know some stuff, so why not blog more?

So I was watching something on TV last night and they were talking about a destination and I was like "Wow, I want to go there!" and then I realized there a few places I want to visit, so maybe I should write them down. So why not blog them?

So, here's my list. What's your list?

Hawaii - I've always wanted to go to Hawaii, I don't even know why. I think there is some dream of beaches and beauty and I know I want to visit somewhere where there is clear water, so maybe that is the attraction. My hope is that if I visit some place with beautiful clear waters, my fear of swimming in deep or open water will subside. I would also like to try snorkeling, again, I don't like water or being under water, but something about clear water interests me because I am ok in swimming pools (but there's nothing to look at!) Years ago I had a saltwater aquarium and I just think it would be so cool to see these fish in the wild. I don't think they live in Hawaii, so that may need to be a different destination.

Grand Canyon - This isn't even that far from where I live (Boise, Idaho) and since I grew up in CA, I can't believe I've never been, but I haven't. I saw that glass walkway thing on the internet when it was finished and don't think I would like that because I am afraid of heights, but maybe a hike down it or a flight over it would be fun. I think Hoover dam is near there, I'd like to see that too as I've only seen in on TV. I also think Aaron should visit the Grand Canyon.

New York - I'd love to someday visit New York, but I know I'd be afraid. Recently a girl at work visited there with some of her girlfriends and they did a lot of fun stuff. My Uncle and his family also visited there and I just love looking at their pictures and the fun they had. A lot of TV shows I watch are filmed there so maybe that is part of my fascination.

Palm Springs - This is what caused me to write this post, I just remembered. I called my grandmother yesterday and she was telling me how she visited there on the way to Tucson, AZ for spring break (yes, my grandmother had a better spring break than I). Dave's sister and husband have mentioned it as a nice place to visit also. If it's very hot, I'd have to go in late Spring or early Fall so I didn't roast. Not sure what I'd do there, I guess just lay out in the sun.

I guess that's about it. Kind of a boring list.

Riding The Bus

2008-04-10T10:10:00.003-06:00

Growing up on 10 acres, the only way to get anywhere was to have a car. When I moved to the Bay Area, I had a car and never rode public transportation. I never thought I needed to and certainly didn't *want* to. I've lived in Idaho since 1993 and again, have always had a car. When I first moved here, I did carpool for a while because my husband worked at a job near mine and at the time, they were widening I-84 from 2 to 3 lanes so traffic was bad. After that, I went back to commuting alone. I've always lived in Meridian or West Boise and have worked downtown for 13 of the 15 years I've been here, so my commute has usually been between 10-15 miles each way. Not far by comparison in most towns, but far enough that the cost and wear and tear on the vehicle is noticeable.

In the summer of 2007, I started noticing a bunch of people standing on the corner outside my subdivision and then I would frequently get behind the bus going down Chinden. I then noticed that when the bus got here, it actually stopped the building where I worked and I had to park 2 blocks away. I knew my employer offered some sort of bus pass, but didn't know anything about it. So, I checked with them and found that if I rode the bus and gave up my monthly parking pass, I would not only save money but be able to park in the fancy garage below the building (meaning never step foot outside when arriving at work or leaving) 10 times per month!! This is quite the deal. I called Valley Ride and found out what time the bus stopped outside my subdivision and have been riding every day since last July. I do drive about once a month, usually if I have an errand to run that is near work, but most things I need to come home anyway (usually to get Aaron) so I just ride the bus and then grab the car and go.

The first day I rode, a young man fell asleep on my shoulder as we rode. This was a little disconcerting, but as a Mom, I let him sleep until his friend laughed and woke up him. My husband was appalled and had been questioning why I was riding the bus anyway.

When I visited CA in October, I told my family I was riding the bus and they all looked at me like I was crazy. I've found this to be common. People wonder why someone with a perfectly good car would ride the bus. I'll tell you why. I save money yes, but more importantly, I don't have to worry about a thing driving to work. In fact, I get to read, visit with someone, listen to my ipod or just stare off into space. I don't get upset about traffic, worried about icy roads or pissed off at other drivers.

Since I've become more comfortable with public transportation, we actually rode the bus in San Diego to go shopping after our cruise and even rode it up in McCall so we didn't have to find a parking place in town. Also, when I visit the Bay Area now, I am much more likely to ride BART or the bus system there because I have an idea how it works.

I love riding the bus and recommend anyone who has it available give it a try!! Most people that ride the bus are very nice and helpful and welcome new riders and will help you out. All the drivers are a kick, and I've enjoyed getting to know them as well.

McCall Winter Carnival

2008-02-14T09:39:00.004-07:00

Dave, Aaron and I (plus 2 Havanese) headed to McCall for the 2nd weekend of the annual Winter Carnival in McCall, Idaho. Full pictures here. Since Dave and I met, we have spent president's day weekend in McCall with all the kids. We used to ski but as the kids grew and their interest waned, we stopped going. Last year, Dave and I (plus doggies) drove up for the day on the actual carnival weekend. We stopped for breakfast in Cascade which took 2 hours and caused us to get behind a huge accident that had happened right in town as the parade was starting. Needless to say, we missed the parade, but walked around town with the girls in their stroller and had a nice day anyway. This year we decided to stay over, and to go the next weekend so there would be less people. Well, I didn't realize that they had moved the harmonica festival to McCall and on that weekend, so it was still crowded but not nearly as bad as it was the weekend before.

It was the first trip for the new Acura MDX that Dave bought last Fall. Aaron was excited and of course immediately hooked up the PS2 and wireless headphones and started gaming. I had my ipod and was listening to podcasts as I read RSS feeds from offline google reader. Poor Dave was left to listen to XM all alone on the wonderful 10 speaker dolby surround system.

The drive up was a bit slow since the roads were snow covered, but not bad at all. We all got off work and school early and headed out about 2pm. We arrived in McCall after about 4:30p and stayed at the AmericInn which was excellent. They had an indoor hot tub and pool and a great breakfast each morning. They of course allowed dogs and I always enjoy staying with other dog people as they are usually friendly.

Friday night, I had made reservations for The Mill which is Dave and Aaron's favorite place to get prime rib. Dave had the "enormous" size which was something like 44 oz and Aaron had the "medium" which was still a huge 36 oz. They both did really well and managed to eat almost all of it. I was stuffed with my measly 12 oz New York steak.

Saturday it was snowing, but fairly nice out as we headed into town to look at the sculptures and go to a little Craft festival. We even rode the bus into town so we could leave the MDX safe in the hotel parking lot. We took pictures of most of the sculptures and even found Aaron a new pair of snow pants in the local thrift store since we found out after we arrived that he didn't have his anymore. He was also fascinated by the huge icicles hanging around various buildings. He had some fun with those. We came back to the hotel in the afternoon and Aaron and I headed to the pool. Aaron met some kids his age and had a great time playing pool games. I sat with my laptop and ipod and was of course happy to have time to do that. The girls were really well behaved and did well in the crates in the hotel while we were out and of course enjoyed the longs walks in the deep snow. There was a storage facility near the hotel that I walked them around and I let them off leash a few times and they ran crazy.

Saturday night we headed out to Mexican. We decided to walk since it was close by and it was a nice evening. It was snowing pretty heavily by dark and on the way back from dinner, we saw the fireworks that launched over the lake. I had never seen fireworks in the snow before, it was pretty cool.

Sunday we had breakfast and then headed home as it was Superbowl Sunday and Dave wanted to see the game. We unpacked and had a nice relaxing, quiet, Superbowl in our jammies and ordered chinese food for dinner.

Cruise to Mexico

2008-01-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

I believe it was this summer that Dave's youngest sister suggested that all of the siblings and Dave's Mom go on a cruise together to celebrate some monumental birthdays with spouses and no kids. She found a great price on a 5 day trip to Mexico that was a few weeks ago. 10 of us went in all, Myrna's 4 kids, Dave being the oldest and only boy, along with his 3 younger sisters.

We left on Monday, waking up to fresh snow in Boise. Dave and I drove to the airport to meet the others and luckily our flight was only delayed about a half an hour. We landed in San Diego where we met Myrna and Art who flew from the Bay Area and then together took cabs to the port where we boarded the ship.

We sailed on Carnival cruise line and the ship was the Elation. It was a 10 year old ship, 12 decks high and very nice. We got on board and by that night all of us were sea sick. I have gone on a cruise 20 years before, a 7 day to Mexico and never got sick. Everyone else who usually didn't get sick wasn't feeling well either. We talked to some of the crew on board and they said it was the first it had been in 2 years. There was a storm the weekend before we left that brought high winds and heavy rains to the west coast. It certainly left the Pacific Ocean a bit tumultuous.

The next day was much better and by Wednesday we were in Cabo San Lucas for the day. We all got off the ship and split into 3 groups. Several went on a zip line tour, Dave and I went on a Cabo by Land and Sea tour that he had won and 4 others went shopping. We all met up at Cabo Wabo, Sammy Hagar's bar at the end of the day and had a bite to eat and then headed back to the ship.

Friday we were in Ensenada where we all went shopping. I also had my hair put into corn rows. It was a fun day that we topped off by eating an authentic Mexican lunch at a small open cafe. Dave even had a cuban cigar.

The meals were great, the company good and the weather nice. We were so busy I never so much as cracked a book open or even listened to an ipod. For me, that was amazing. I also did not take my laptop but I did have email through my Blackberry which had service the entire time so I even Twittere'd a few times.

When we arrived back in San Diego on Saturday morning, we had a few hours before our flights left so us girls and Dave took the city bus into town and visited the mall. It was fun to see a bit of the city and I was glad I was an experienced bus rider and was comfortable trying public trans portion away from home.

It was a nice, fun filled vacation with great company. I really enjoyed spending time with Dave's family and it actually turned out to be a lot of fun traveling in a large group because there was always someone to do stuff with :)

Looking Forward to 2008

2008-01-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

I actually meant to cover my goals for 2008 in the last post, but 2007 turned out to be full enough to justify it's own post. So I've been following all the talk and blog posts about resolutions, goals, etc for 2008 and thought I would document mine merely for the reason of measurement for next year. So here we go:

Personal
* be patient with the kids and choose my battles
* be a good spouse and give my marriage 110% each day
* continue to train the dogs and walk them at least 3x week
* maintain good walking habits (3.5 miles/day) and attending yoga at least 1/week
* eat fresh fruits and vegetables each day (at least 2 servings)
* continue resolution to not smoke (began 1/1/06)
* learn more about investing and monitor personal finances (in moderation)
* read more (self-help, learning and enriching titles instead of junk)
* make time for family and friends
* finish scanning all the family pictures and create my grandmother's scrapbook by her bday in October
* begin work on a scrapbook for my Mom of "S&K Ranch" history (critters, cars, buildings, etc)
* make DVD's of scanned pictures for family members to deliver in March with original pics
* complete house inventory for insurance purposes (software is installed)
* watch less mindless TV
* drink less alcohol
* drink more water

Professional
* maintain a positive attitude about my work, job and co-workers
* figure out what I want to do with myself (school, different career path, own business?)
* attend some kind of training to learn some new skills

2007: The Year in Review

2008-01-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

As I begin the new year I tend to look back and review what happened this year. I started out this year living apart from Dave and Aaron living with his Dad in Reno until the end of July. I was very happy to move back in with Dave in March after our few months apart. Dave even re-proposed and gave me my ring back after I moved back in and we recommitted ourselves to each other.

Dave and I visited his Dad and step-Mom in Yachats, OR at the beginning of February for a wonderful long weekend of relaxation and eating great food. We also made a day trip drive up to McCall for the Winter Carnival. We took the dogs and had a fun day despite a long delay at breakfast and an even longer delay because of a traffic accident that caused us to miss the parade.

At the beginning of March I took a few days and went to Sun Valley with Chloe to swap out some computers for work at our Ketchum office. A few weeks later, I went to see Aaron and spend some time with family. I picked Aaron up in NV and then we went onto my Dad's where my 2 step-sisters met us. We had a nice long weekend there and then went on to Sacramento for a few days. I ended up returning Aaron a day early and heading home from that trip and wondering how things were going to go in the future with Aaron as he actually seemed worse.

Shortly after that, Aaron started talking about wanting to come home. I told him he had made a 6 months commitment to his Dad's and he needed to stay. This was probably the best decision I made. By the end of his 7 month stay, he was very appreciative to come home and has been on good behavior for the most part since. He is also off his medication, something we had been wanting to move towards but I was not brave enough to do it during the school year, so I was glad he did it at his Dad's. Aaron will be 13 in March and I think we are only beginning the challenges we will have with him during his teen years. But, I am hopeful that he will continue to do well, being respectful, minding adults and doing well in school. My goal is to remain patient, consistent and strong.

At the end of May, Dave and I traveled to AZ to stay again with his Dad and step-mom this time at their home in Green Valley, AZ. We had another nice, long weekend of relaxing, sun and good eats. On June 1st, Dave and I celebrated being together for 6 years. Shortly after that, we decided to get married before Fall and begin planning the Oregon Coast wedding for Labor Day weekend.

At the end of June, my good friend Wendy got married and I flew up to Seattle to join her and her son Kyler on their special day. I have know them for almost 10 years now and it was great to meet her husband and catch up with her Dad.

July was VERY busy at work as we completed a huge project that required all the computers to be reimaged and everyone trained on a new system in a 2 week span. This was why Aaron stayed another month at his Dad's. I was very happy for the project to be completed and for him to be home by the end of July (also my birthday).

In August, Dave took Matt and a truck full of stuff up to Moscow for his Junior year at U of I. Since he moved out of the dorms and into an apartment, he was finally able to take some furniture and more kitchen stuff. Aaron and I took our annual trip to CA to visit family and had a nice time catching up with family and friends.

In September, Dave and I traveled to Lincoln City where we got married at the Yachats Light House on September 1st. We had a wonderful, romantic, long weekend of beautiful weather and great food on the coast. Then it was back to school for everyone and the beginning of Fall.

At the beginning of October, I reduced my work week to 30 hours, so working 6 hours a day so that I could be home after school with Aaron. This has been a great change for the house but the lesser paycheck is taking some getting used to. The extra 2 hours a day allows me to get more done and definitely be more relaxed before the dinner/evening rush. Also in October Aaron and I made a quick trip to CA to attend my great-Uncle's funeral.

In November, I tackled the downstairs bathroom, removing wallpaper, texturing and painting. It was a big project for such a little room. Our Thanksgiving was nice, Matt was down from school and joined us at my friend Heather's for a wonderful meal. December was busy and full of the holidays with decorating, gift buying and lots of cooking.

Aaron is visiting his Dad for 2 weeks in Sparks, NV as Dave and I are headed on a 6 day cruise to Mexico with his 3 sisters and their spouses and his Mom and step-Dad next week. I can hardly wait!!

In February, we are taking the new MDX to McCall for a weekend to enjoy the Winter Carnival. We also hope to visit the Oregon coast in the summer or early Fall to celebrate our 1 year anniversary.

All in all, 2007 was a year of change, growth and acceptance. I am looking forward to the new growth and knowledge 2008 will bring.

Peace in the Holidays

2007-12-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

When we are little, all we can think about is what we're going to ask everyone for and what we will get. At some point, when you grow up you are expected to do for everyone else and think about THEIR needs. When you have a family of your own, you now have to worry about your kids, your spouse, their siblings and kids and your own extended family. As I get older I feel more and more responsibility and pressure to get gifts for everyone I know. And not just a gift, the RIGHT gift, the best gift, the most thoughtful gift. This gets harder and harder as most people get older, they have more money and are able to get the things they want themselves. Myself included. So really have a short list of things I want for Christmas (most of them needs that I would have bought myself had it not been the season) and my list for others is even shorter. Last year I bought ornaments that were actually a receipt for the purchase of a tree planted in that person's name. This year, I'm trying to find people's favorite restaurants and get everyone gift certs to eat out. Eating out has always been a luxury for me, more by choice than anything else. I know I can cook a meal for our family of 3-5 for around $10. There is no way we can eat out for anything under $50. So it just doesn't make sense. Same with going to the movies. Because of my frugalness, practicalness or just being insane - we don't eat out or go to the movies a lot. But it is fun and I am more likely to do so if given as a gift. So, that said, that's what most of the people I'm buying for this year are getting.

Aaron and I got out all the Xmas stuff 2 weeks ago and we even put lights up on the outside of the house, something I've always wanted to do. Growing up, we lived on 10 acres so it was silly (according to my Mom) to put lights on the outside of the house that we couldn't enjoy. But now that I live in a subdivision, I enjoy seeing everyone's lights and feel compelled to do my part and hang some. So we did. The tree went up that day and stood bare until last weekend when Dave put the lights on. Monday night, we each chose ornaments that were special and put them on the tree. Over the years, the kids ornaments have grown and there is quite the selection to choose from. Dave's Mom also purchases ornaments for everyone each year, so those are always fun to get out. I write on them each year so someday when the kids are ready for their own tree, they can take all their ornaments and we'll actually remember who's is who's and what year they were given.

In October, when I went to CA for my great Uncle's funeral, I was given all of my grandmother's pictures to scan for a scrapbook I am working on for her. This included pictures of her and my grandfather when they were younger and of course pictures of all 3 of their kids and the 6 grandkids and 3 great grand-kids. 3 days after I finished scanning all those pictures, my Mom sent to boxes (about 40 lbs) of all of her pictures. It was been a lot of fun going through the pictures seeing some that I never knew were even taken. Mom has always had really good intentions and has loved to take pictures, but when it came to sharing them, she sometimes fell short, but I have them all now. Along with that are pictures of my step-dad Leo who passed away in Nov of 2003. It has been very sad looking at pictures of him, always happy, always working and building something. The fact that my he and my Mom met in the Bay Area in 1973 and bought property and moved away from everything and built a house and started a farm is even more amazing to me as an adult than it was living it as a kid. I thought they were crazy then, I think they were amazing, brave, creative and strong now. I miss Leo very much and feel bad that I don't think he knew how much he impacted who I am today. We never had a very good relationship and I feel like I never gave him the credit he deserved. I never appreciated the role as a step-parent until I become one myself a few years ago. It's the toughest job I've ever had, even harder than being a single parent, alone. Leo did the best he could and I was always giving him a hard time - which he didn't deserve. He was amazing with my son and that is probably what I am saddened most by - Aaron will never learn from him and know him the way that I did. One of the pictures was of me changing my oil in my first car. Leo believed that if you were going to drive, you should know how to take care of your car. So there I am, 16 years old, hair done, makeup on wearing a "zumie" suit that he must have brought home from working at Rancho Seco and changing the oil. And there must have been Mom taking a picture. Had it not been for that picture, I wouldn't have remembered doing it, or remembered that it must have been fun. I have in fact, complained about the fact that he made me change my own oil. But how many women know how? Shoot, how many men know how? It's a life skill I will always have (if I need it!). You never know, I may move away from the city someday and start a farm. Happy Holidays and God bless.

Adventures of Aaron

2007-10-31T08:26:00.000-06:00

For the last 6 months, Aaron has been fascinated more than ever with electronics and making things and taking things apart. For as long as I can remember, he was always the kid who took apart the toys instead of playing with them. I was so happy when HE finally figured out how to put things back together and make them work again. My Dad is an engineer and our last 2 visits to him have taught Aaron a lot of new, fun things including learning to solder. We've added a "work table" to his room and he has all kinds of parts, tools and supplies. He even made me a great ipod video stand for watching video podcasts at work. He also recently put together an auto door opener/closer for his room. Too funny.

Another new venture of his is starting his own blog. It's at PopularGadgetBlog.com I am really excited that he is taking an interesting in technology and a blog is a GREAT way for anyone to express themselves about whatever they are passionate about. And at 12 years old, it's not too early to get started! He is interested in making money and we've put some Google Ad Sense ads on there and he's also going to start doing more videos. There is one on there where he demonstrates how to take apart a 9volt battery to get to the AA like ones inside. If you listen to what the SAYS, it's hilarious.

Recently, one of our favorite podcasters Dawn and Drew started a video contest where you film yourselves finding someone or something dead. This is a for Halloween of course and as soon as I heard about it, I knew Aaron and I had to do one. Watch the video here. I did finally also get our wedding video up, it's here.

Wedding

2007-10-10T10:56:00.000-06:00

I realized I couldn't blog until I posted the promised update about the wedding. So, I'm going to buckle down on this cloudy almost rainy day and "just do it". First, all the pics are here.

We picked the Oregon Coast for our wedding spot because it was the first place we ever went to together and neither of us had been before. We had a great weekend in 2001 and an even better one in 2007 for our wedding over Labor Day.

We arranged for Aaron to fly to his Dad's for the long weekend and Jeff went to Aunt Paula's since his Mom was going to McCall. Dave and I flew out of Boise Friday morning at 7am and landed in Portland where we rented a Volvo SUV with navigation. It was great, we got to test out the system and see what we liked, didn't like and things to look for on the one that comes with the MDX that Dave wants to buy.

We found Nelscott Manor in Lincoln City and got checked in and found our room very lovely with silk rose petals scattered around the jetted tub (with huge window to the beach) and the bed which also included two nice fluffy robes.

Saturday morning we set out to get ready for the wedding. First we picked up Dave's pressed clothes, then the flowers and then down to Newport where I got my hair done. Then onto the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse where Mary Crook met us with her nephew who we had arranged ahead of time to take pictures for us. I had also borrowed another camera and a nice girl that was working at the lighthouse did the video for us. I brought the items for the sand ceremony which we did. The sand looked cool when we put it in, but unfortunately by the time we got home, it was all mixed up. I guess it's just a metaphor for our lives being now so integrated there's no separation.

After the wedding and taking some pictures on the beach we went to the drug store where we took a picture off the camera and printed copies to mail with our announcements. I mailed them on Saturday the 1st but they didn't make it to anyone's mailboxes until Thursday of the next week, but it was still fun to send from there.

For our wedding night dinner, I had made reservations at The Bay House which is a lovely restaurant in Lincoln City famous for it's extensive wine collection. It was the most expensive dinner I've ever had, but a wonderful 2 hour long experience. We had a great table with decorations and a corner window view. For dessert, they brought a special "double" creme brulee with port which is my favorite.

On Sunday we went back to the Spanish Head Inn where we stayed the first time and had a wonderful buffet brunch in the restaurant on the top floor where the view is breathtaking. We didn't drink as much or stay as long as we did the first time (that was quite the story) but we did eat a lot of great food. That night we went to a restaurant that we remembered being wonderful in 2001 but had horrible service and ended up leaving. So we drove south to Depoe Bay and ended up eating in the noisy but wonderful Sea Hag. Dave had a huge crab and was quite happy.

After we checked out, we headed north to Tillamook where we went to the cheese factory and sampled cheese and had their delicious (Dave's favorite) ice cream. Then we used the navigation to find the nearest Fry's where we checked out TV's and home theater stuff and then onto the Portland airport and then home.

Everyone has asked to see my ring, but we didn't change it, it's the same as it was. Dave did get a cool ring made of titanium with a ring of Mokume. Here are our rings.

We had a great weekend of eating out, site seeing and just relaxing. It was wonderful and I am so happy to be Mrs. Dave Williams :)

Trip to CA

2007-09-09T18:43:00.000-06:00

I see another month has gone by since I last posted. I've thought about it quite a few times but there never seems to be a "good" time. I guess a good time is when I expect to sit down and not be interrupted. Not too many of those opportunities at home or work.

Trip to CA photo album on Webshots

So, shortly after Aaron got back from his 7 month stay in Reno with his Dad, we headed to CA for our annual family/friends visiting vacation. We spent 12 days amongst the various places and it was definitely nicer to only stay at 4 places instead of 6 or 7. I did miss opportunities to share a meal with 2 long time friends, but with the traffic so bad between Sacramento and the Bay Area, changing towns during the day is imperative.

We headed out the day after Dave and Matt left for U of I for Matt's junior year. This year he moved out of the dorms and into an apartment so we had a truck full of stuff to send up so Dave took the truck up on Friday. Aaron and I left Saturday morning and first stopped in Reno to assess how much stuff Aaron had to bring back so I would know how much room to leave in the car. Since we were a bit ahead of schedule, we took the opportunity to sort through and pack all the crap he had in his room and closet. There was quite a bit of stuff, so we set off to our first destination which was my Mom's. We stayed there until Tuesday and spent days helping her pack and sort through items as she will be selling her place later this year and moving into a smaller place. We did get to see Dad for breakfast on Sunday and I played some dice and had a drink with him on Monday.

On Tuesday we left Mom's and went to Rayleen's. I called as I decided to travel during the day and not wait in Sacramento to have dinner with Jen as I was afraid of the traffic and very anxious to have a shower after being at Mom's for 4 days. She was able to get a hold of Thomas and he was there when we arrived. Rayleen ended up being able to take off work for our stay and it was Thomas' birthday on Thursday so we ended our stay with a great breakfast at a Crepe place in Santa Cruz.

From Rayleen's we headed to Dave's Mom's in Saratoga. This was Thursday. Dave flew down and met us early Friday morning. His truck had given him problems on the trip north, so he was interested in looking at the Acura MDX in the Bay Area since there is much more selection of nicer vehicles than here in Boise. We ate wonderful meals and sat on the covered patio day and night and just relaxed and read. Aaron spent his days in the pool. The Sunday before Dave flew and Aaron and I drove back to Idaho, we drove up to Belmont and had lunch with Nanney. Randy and Nancy met us there and it was great to see them! Because my trip was cut short because of work, I didn't get to go to their houses and stay because of the timing of Dave being in the Bay Area over the weekend.

Dave flew out of San Jose on Monday night and we headed up to Dad's. I was supposed to meet Tricia at this point in the trip for dinner, but again, if I would have left later, the traffic from the Bay Area to Sac would have been gross. So, we went straight to Dad's and spent the night. Aaron and Dad got heavy into some electronics stuff which went over my head after the first few minutes.

Early Tuesday we left Dad's and headed back to Sparks to get Aaron's things. At this point, the car was dragging ass. I had taken a bunch of stuff from Mom's as well as all the stuff we had for 12 days worth of travel. The electronics alone was staggering :) We only went to 3 Fry's during the vacation, LOL Dave brought empty suitcases so I sent him back with a bunch of stuff, but the car was still full. At Aaron's Dad's we were able to get everything but a few clothes and some things he said he didn't need or was going to leave there. We even managed to get the dreaded electric scooter. The car was packed to the roof. This pic is Aaron trying to get something from the back and he's sitting atop all the boxes and his back is parallel with the roof of the car. He was a bit upset with me for taking the pic and demonstrating his Reno behavior. It was funny.

On the trip, I gave MyMileMarker a try. Usually Dave wants to know my gas mileage and I hate figuring it out so I setup this site before I left and emailed him my info so he could check it. I don't think he has looked at it to this day, but at least I didn't have to do any math. I just wish I could figure out how to send it the fillup info from Twitter. Just not sure of the format.

So we got back from the trip to CA and had one weekend before we left for the Oregon Coast for the wedding. To be continued...

Aaron's Back!

2007-08-03T10:18:00.000-06:00

Well, I wondered how long it had been since I had posted and alas, my last past says "Happy Father's Day" so I guess it's been a while! Well, I may work backwards here because the biggest thing that's happened lately is that Aaron came back home last Thursday the 26th. It is wonderful to have him home. He's been at his Dad's for 7 month's and since July was such a busy month, I held off on having him come back until my big project at work was done and then I had a week after. So he got home last week and we went to the dentist and then spent the afternoon at Roaring Springs, which was a lot of fun. We also got him a haircut, which he desperately needed!

Since June, we had our big garage sale which was a huge hit. We sold tons of stuff and made close to $500. The rest of the stuff we donated. As soon as Dave leaves with all the stuff I have for Matt next week and heads back up to U of I, our garage will almost be livable again!

Since the end of April when my gym closed, I've been wanting to go somewhere else and since Aaron was interested in the Y we signed up on Monday and I went for our first workout last night. I went to a Yoga class while Aaron did the machines. It was a great teacher, small class and a good workout. Next week, Aaron is signed up for a 2 hour a day training which will teach him how to safely use weights and all the gym equipment, then he'll be able to do whatever he wants there. It should be fun and I'm so glad I can bike there like I did with the old gym to even further enhance my workout.

The other big news is our upcoming wedding! Dave finally decided to set a date and I said, let's make it happen! So we are headed to the Oregon Coast where we took our first vacation together in August of 2001. We are staying in Lincoln City and getting married at the Yaquina Bay lighthouse in Newport. I've been busy shopping for a dress and getting together all the little details. It's a destination wedding, no guests or even kids and we'll be sending announcements from there. I can hardly wait!!

Happy Father's Day!

2007-06-17T10:19:00.000-06:00

Today is Father's Day, so happy Father's Day to Dave, My Dad and all the other Dad's out there! Since we are all going to PF Changs for lunch today, I actually made Dave a Father's Day breakfast yesterday. Recently on America's Test Kitchen they made this wonderful "family" omelet which is what I made for Dave and I yesterday. It was delicious! The key to making it great was to cook all the ingredients (I used tomatoes, broccoli-slaw, bacon and a red pepper) first to get all the liquid out. Then after the eggs have set up, add the ingredients, top with cheese, lower the heat and cover. The eggs were cooked perfectly and the ingredients were integrated into the omelet wonderfully. We also went to dinner out at the Caldwell Elks Club as a Middleton High School fund raiser for a fire they experienced earlier this year. My friend Michelle's daughters go there and Traci was selling tickets so I bought them for us and Heather and Randy. Heather was out of town at a dog show and I'm not sure why Michelle and Gregg weren't there, but it was fun to go out and have dinner for a good cause. Tammy was there working so there was at least one familiar face. After dinner, we came home and watched Comic Relief 2006 and Dane Cook's Viscous Circle that we had on the Tivo.

Last week I finally braved the bus for the first time. I live close enough (5 minutes) to a stop and with the price of gas, my driving record (4 tickets/3 years) and trying to save on the environment I finally gave it a try. It was kinda fun and I hope to ride on any day that I don't need my car for other things. I got to work in only about 10 minutes longer and I was able to watch my video podcasts so that was cool.

Things are really gearing up at work for the reimaging and changeover next month and I'm doing everything I can to be prepared and organized so things go smoothly. I can just hardly wait until it's over. As a bonus, as soon as it is, Aaron will be flying home and spending the month of August with us. I'm also hoping we will take a 2 week trip to CA to visit friends and family and maybe spend another day in the city like we have 2 times before. Dave may even fly down to his Mom's and meet us there for a long weekend.

This week, my friend Wendy emailed me and asked me if I could fly up to WA in two weeks for an "appointment". I explained to her how crazy work was and asked her what was up. Well, she's getting married of all things! Of course, I'm going to do my best to be there for her on her special day.

This last Monday I was getting ready for work and my neck suddenly seized up leaving me with limited movement and a lot of pain. I went to work, but only for a few hours. I headed straight to the chiro and then home to bed where I watched so much TV I thought my brain would fall out. I stayed home Tuesday and well and got a massage which I think definitely helped. It's a bit better each day and I am definitely committed to walking the dogs each day and doing the 15 minute yoga show in the morning. I've also changed out my desk chair at home to use the stability ball which really helps with the posture. I'm also being very conscious of how much time I spend on the PC and taking frequent breaks. It's a hassle, but I think with the damage that has already been done, I'd better get a hold on this now before anything worse happens.

About a week ago, Adam Curry on the DSC announced he had done an interview on Bloomberg TV's Night Talk show. I immediately tried to figure out what channel Bloomberg was for us with DirectTV and since I couldn't remember the name of the show, looked around until I found the show and then picked up a season pass. Well, it aired late last week and Dave and I watched it. It was great, he talked about podcasting and explained himself very well. I then emailed Adam and asked him if he wanted me to pull the video off our Tivo and upload it somewhere. He suggested Podshow and Friday night I pulled the show off the Tivo and tried to upload it. Of course, the .TY format isn't accepted on hardly anything so I wasn't surprised that it didn't like that format. I changed it to MPEG and waited 4 hours for it to upload, only to find it failed because it couldn't be converted to flash. I then asked Dave to help me edit the file so I would be working with a smaller file. We cut out the commercials and the 2nd half the show that Adam wasn't on and then I spent Saturday trying different formats and uploading again and again. I even emailed Tom Wiles of the Trucker Tom and Finding America podcast for suggestions. I finally got it converted and uploaded this morning. Check it out here.

Vacation in AZ

2007-06-08T08:43:00.001-06:00

Over the long Memorial Day weekend Dave and I traveled to Tucson, AZ where we vacationed for 6 days with his Dad and Barbara. They live in Green Valley, which is about a half hour drive south from Tucson and only about 20 miles north of the Mexico border. I had no idea what the town was like and had printed off some information on area shopping off the internet. I was a bit disappointed to see how dinky the town was and in fact the advertised "mall" was just a shopping strip. It's a retirement community town and VERY quiet. We relaxed, read a lot, ate, sat in the sun and did some site-seeing. We arrived on Thursday morning and Barbara took us to Trader Joe's which I absolutely love, especially since we don't have any in Idaho. We filled up on groceries and then headed to a wonderful bakery where we had delicious sandwiches for lunch.

Dave and his Dad played golf twice and even took me out to the driving range (which is in their back yard!) for a lesson. I was also able to get 2 massages while I was there and attend 1 yoga class. Dave even read 2 books and I read 3. It was great. We visited Rex Ranch for a wonderful dinner where we had to drive the car through a river. It was a very cool place with great scenery. Barbara and I drove into Tubac one day and did some shopping. Mike is a recent member to the Elk's club so on our last night there we attended a buffet dinner with a "spanish" theme with some of the ladies from the neighborhood. It was a lot of fun. Mike and Barbara's house is a really nice dual master suite home perfect for vacationing. They even rent it during the summer. I helped Barbara update the webpage, so I was able to get a tiny "online" fix during the week.

We learned during our trip to OR that Dave's Dad makes a great latte. As soon as you get up in the morning, he makes it to order. Ahhhh. Another favorite thing of mine when visiting them is their dog Jazz and cat Gigi. Jazz has a lot of character and I always enjoy taking him for walks. With their great location on the golf course, we walked along the greens every night and saw lots of bunnies, birds and other animals. We even had a scare where Jazz got into some rat "cakes" that had been left out and then moved by the creatures in the night. Luckily we were able to get most of it out of his both before too much was ingested to make him sick. The vet said those things are really powerful and can easily kill even large dogs like Jazz.

I did manage to eat pretty well while on vacation and after many days of being in skimpy summer clothes and sunbathing I came home and decided to get back to good eating and trying to exercise. This week I've walked the dogs 4 times and have ate really well. I still need to start getting up early and doing some Yoga or something but I've just been really tired this week. Maybe this weekend I can get started. I am taking golf lessons for the next 3 weeks, so I hope to get out a practice and I think that counts towards exercise also ;)

The dogs stayed with Heather and Randy and of course had a wonderful time there. They always come home obedient and well groomed, which of course, neither lasts long at our house.

Matt is home from school for the summer and is working full time which is great. Jeff is working but apparently doesn't like the job and will either be soon quitting for the summer or looking for something else. Last weekend we attended Kim's graduation party and it's hard to imagine in 2 years Jeff will be graduating and only 3 years after that it will be Aaron's turn. Aaron finished school yesterday and we are still in talks about where he will live for next year. He makes a good point that the schools are better here. For now, he will spend the next 2 months at his Dad's and then the month of August with us. After that, who knows. Hopefully, we will be able to take a nice long vacation visiting family and friends in CA in August.

Work is crazy busy. We are gearing up for everyone to be reimaged during a 2 week changeover to new document management system. It's going to be crazy. PC's and laptops everywhere and users complaining about every icon in a different place. I'm trying to stay calm and realize there is only so much I can do and it will be what it is regardless of my stress level.

The day before we left on vacation I went to my laptop in the morning to sync my ipod as I always do (to get a refill of podcasts for the day) only to find my Itunes library was wiped out. Gone. Nothing there. I had a backup from a few months ago, but what a mess putting all that back together. While I was on vacation the podcasts really built up and I made a decision to really wack down what I was subscribed to so I'm just now getting caught up on my "favs" and am now on the long list of 2nd priority podcasts I listen to and I imagine I will need to do some pruning there also.

Mother's Day!

2007-05-14T08:19:00.000-06:00

The last few weeks have been really hectic. This weekend was Mother's Day and on Saturday, Dave's Mom flew in from the Bay Area for a month long visit. Then she's staying into June for Kim's graduation from Eagle High School. We all got together over at Michele's & Martin's house on Sunday for Mother's Day brunch. It was a beautiful day so we were able to sit outside and visit.

The last time Myrna was in town she used my fleece blanket to cover herself while on the couch and so I had the idea to make her one to use in Idaho when she comes to visit all her kids. So, on Friday, Deanna and I went to Hancocks over the lunch hour and I found some nice orange baseball print fleece for one side and some dark colored Aztec kind of print for the other side. I washed it, sewed 2 sides together and then cut fringe at each end and tied off the other 2 sides. She liked it so much, she even said she would take it home. I also gave her that and a TSA lock that I found online that is great for frequent travelers.

Matt also arrived back in town, down from U of I for the summer. We saw him at the brunch and then he ended up coming over yesterday to stay with us. He has a new pet, a bearded dragon he calls it, I say yucky lizard. But he says it's soft and cute and friendly, but I am reluctant to find out. Matt's girlfriend Sandy is staying home for the summer because she is working. What a bummer, but I am proud of them for making work a priority when they are not in school.

After last weekends Scrapbooking Fiesta I decided I really needed to get going on Nanney's scrapbook. I printed pictures and sorted and have emailed family members to gather what I was missing and my goal is to have it finished by her birthday in October.

My friend Heather found her dream house and made an offer last week and found out on Friday it was accepted. I am thrilled for her other than the fact it's further away from me then where she lives now.

Next week is our week long vacation to AZ to spend time with Dave's Dad and his wife. I can hardly wait! I've never been to AZ and am looking forward to relaxing in the sun, getting some reading done and trying to unplug from the laptop and blackberry. I'm sure I'll have my IPOD going, but am hoping to cut down on the screen time.

I've been talking to Aaron more and more over the past few weeks and last weekend he called me and said he had made the decision that he wants to move back with us. Since then, he's talked to his Dad and I've discussed it with Dave and I am very excited at the thought of him coming home. It's still being discussed as I think his Dad wants him to stay there, but I really believe he would be happier with us. This brings up the issue with me working full time. For a while now, I've thought if Aaron came back, that I really need to reduce my work hours. This idea couldn't come at a worse time with huge conversions going on until the end of July. Plus, without Dave and I being married, I have no health insurance for myself and Aaron unless I work full time. Hopefully God will answer my prayers and something will work out and come to light as a solution.

Rainy Weekend

2007-04-22T09:30:00.000-06:00

The furniture that Dave and I picked out and ordered finally arrived yesterday. So we woke up and started cleaning the living room and moving everything out of the way. Part of what needed to happen was the furniture that was in our living room was being moved to the (kids) front room. We took the opportunity to finish spring cleaning and got everything all situated. The new furniture is nice, but it is different. Dave does not really like change, but I'm sure he'll come to love it. The best part is that his old, favorite couch is still in the house and he can go sit on it anytime he wants. In fact, he's been spending more time in that room anyways, listening to his "cans" plugged into the Deep Tracks channel on XM. Then, I can have the other room to myself to either listen to podcasts or watch all my TV shows that he hates. It's perfect. Since we have a Tivo in each room, everyone can have their own shows and watch them wherever they want.

Pepper and Chloe seem to like the new furniture as well. They're very happy with the new location of the old sofa since it allows them to see outside the window and bark at more stuff. Last night there were 2 cats outside and they were going crazy. I finally closed the blinds.

Jeff was up early this morning headed to some video store to get the Pokeman Diamond for his DS. He came home thrilled with his purchase and I doubt we'll see him the rest of the day.

This next week at work is going to be crazy. I start it all off on Monday by leaving early for a haircut. That should make everything else run smoothly as my hair has been driving me absolutely crazy since my bangs are so long and the rest is just overgrown and out of control.

Aaron got his internet working again and is still trying to decide on a phone upgrade. Now he wants to take bake the bike I bought him over Spring Break and get a trick bike instead of the 21 speed mountain bike he picked a month ago. I've got to dig out the receipt and see what Target's policy on such returns is. He also got suspended from school last week, for something stupid (doing something stupid, it wasn't stupid that he got suspended) and I was amazed that he wasn't in worse trouble from his Dad. He called me during the school day that he was home and apparently he had full privileges. I guess I can't expect Bob to know everything I've come to learn in 10 years of single parenting but it seems obvious if you don't punish a child, how do you expect him to be motivated to not do it again? I guess all the more reason he's with his Dad. I miss him like crazy, but I don't miss the trouble, the suspensions, the stress and the worry of the next call from the school or a distressed parent.

In addition to my usual addiction to Podcasts and now Twitter, I've added Stumbling to my list of things to occupy my time online. You install a toolbar into Firefox and when you are ready for a site (you setup categories) you click "Stumble!" and are taken to a random site that someone else has submitted. You then can give it a thumbs up or down. You can also submit sites that you find that might of interest to others. It's a lot of fun and definitely more broad than what I pick up in my Reader and I've found some really interesting stuff.

This last week Adam Curry from the Daily Source Code (on of my oldest and my favorite podcasts) was on vacation and had Mark from PCH filling in for him. It was hilarious! I don't listen to PCH because I think it's a little over the top, but the way that Mark made fun of Adam and pretending like he was tied up in the next room and he was using his laptop and interacting with his fans was priceless. Good times.

Hot and Cold

2007-04-16T12:25:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we "decorated" the newly planted tree in the front yard. I even put some flowers around it. Hopefully they make it through the freezing mornings we've had.

Though Spring has sprung, it's really been a variety of weather these days. We had some warm days, followed by wind and then freezing nights again. I hate this time of year because no matter how you're dressed if it's windy, you're going to freeze and be miserable. I'm typically on the cool side so I like to dress warm but then if I go out and do any walking during the day, I roast and sweat. Oh well.

Saturday I went to the Fun Match at Ann Morrison Park and met Heather who showed both Tootsie Pop (Chloe's sister) and Tico. The weather started out nice, but as the clouds built up and the wind picked up it definitely cooled down. By the time we left, I was glad I was headed back indoors.

Saturday night Dave's friend Rick got married. It was a nice, simple ceremony and there were some of Dave's work friends there so I mostly visited with their wives. It was nice to get out and dress up, though I didn't wear anything fancy because the party was originally suppose to be outside I was (again) afraid of being cold.

Sunday I really just lounged around and even took a long nap. I spent a good part of the day up in the guest room with the computer, the Tivo, a stack of magazines and my heater blanket. I sewed up some of the girls' toys that had been ripped open and also straightened up the desk a bit more.

The last few weeks, I've really been struggling with depression and missing Aaron. It seems to get harder as time goes on and not easier like I thought it would. Combine that with being crazy busy and stressed at work and trying to workout and diet to lose weight for summer clothes and it's just overwhelming. The first phase in the work changes will happen on the 28th. We will be changing from GroupWise to Outlook for our email. This is going to be a MAJOR change for people and I'm really nervous about how it's going to go. Also at the end of the month, my gym that I've come to enjoy so much is closing. The owner has it for sale, but I doubt that someone would buy it and keep it open for business in such short time. I've been walking the dogs in addition to biking to the gym and working out so I'll just have to start taking longer walks. I've looked into joining the YMCA and may do that just so I have somewhere to go for Yoga/Pillates. I do enjoy that.

I really thought that once Aaron got his computer that I took him over Spring Break, I would hear from him more. I've emailed him more and still never hear from him. He calls when something isn't working right or he has question. I sent him money to get new pants since he apparently ripped his new pair that I bought him last month. I also sent him money for Easter since I had no idea what to get him or send him. I talked to him yesterday and it seems as though the one unsecured access point he was using at the apartment complex him and his Dad live in got locked down so now he has no internet :( I reminded him that his Dad said he would get him internet if he had a computer, so we'll see what happens next.

With the whole Twitter / Jaiku debacle (Leo leaving Twitter) I'm glad to see most like me, have stayed with Twitter and just signed up for Jaiku and put the feed in. I think that's an excellent solution. Twitter is fun, I enjoy seeing what others are up to, especially the ones I listen to their podcasts.

Spring Cleaning

2007-04-02T08:18:00.000-06:00

Almost another month has flown by. After our trips, having company and both of us working a ton, we've started Spring Cleaning. This is mostly finishing moving in for me, but Dave is working on the yard and outside. After two weeks, it looks really nice. I finally got the linens put away this weekend and boy am I glad to have that done! I literally had 6 yard size trash bags full of linens to incorporate back into Dave's already full linen closet. It was all in there before, so I knew it was possible, but it was definitely like building the Flintstones closet.

I've still been going to the gym 4 times a week and have even been riding my bike to and from (1 mile each direction). I don't think I've lost any weight, but my clothes are fitting better. I didn't walk the dogs this past week because Madison has been over and a few days it was windy and I just didn't feel like it. So, I need to get back into that this week.

Another project I did this week was to swap out the "storage" pc to a faster one. The storage PC has all my music and audio books and I also sync it to the video ipod so it has my video podcast subscriptions. The old storage PC is going to become a true network storage for our home network and I'm going to try to use FreeNAS that I heard about on Dl.TV. Yes, all this because I watched a video podcast on home storage and thought it would be cool.

I've only talked to Aaron a few times when he's needed tech support on either using the Slingbox remotely or having me give his Dad the password to the ComputerTime program running on his PC.

Jeff was on spring break this past week and has recently gotten a job at Albertson's as a courtesy clerk. He seems to like it ok and I think at his age, it's definitely a good idea to work and if he's ever going to drive, he'll want the money.

As far as websites and podcasts, nothing really new, still Twittering and Folding and keeping up with all my favorite shows. I did sign up for Virb from Cali's recommendation and have been looking for old friends on MySpace.

Whirlwind March

2007-03-23T15:40:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted. But then I think about how much stuff has been going on and I'm not surprised. I think I last wrote when I was in Ketchum and that started the craziness.

After I came back from Ketchum I left for Nevada on Friday, March 9th to pick up Aaron. The weather was good and I made good time to Sparks. Aaron and I unloaded the car with all the stuff I brought him and then went on to my Dad's in Georgetown, CA. There we met up with my 2 step-sisters Rayleen and Alecia. Alecia's daughter Neira was cuter than I could have ever imaged. She's almost 3 and super smart. Her and Aaron seemed to get along well. I was proud of Aaron for how he was with her. We spent 2 nights there and then went onto Sacramento. We went by Alecia's place and then while Rayleen went home, Aaron and I went to see Jen. This is my friend since the 3rd grade and she grew up in Garden Valley and went through the same schools as I. We used to get kicked out of everything we did together because we could never stop laughing. It was great to see her and her cute apartment. She is blond and cute as a button and looks like Sarah Jessica Parker who I am a big fan of. I unfortunately did not get to meet her daughter as she was with her Dad. From the pictures, she's a mini-me of Jen.

In Sacramento, we also saw my friend Tricia who I met when she was pregnant with her son Sean, who just turned 15. She is a great woman who is done an excellent job at being a single mother. We spent the night with them and then went onto Auburn. After we got checked into a hotel, we took a drive up to ForestHill across the big scary bridge I don't think I've ever been on, but you see each time you go through the canyon from Auburn to Mom / Dad's in Georgetown/Garden Valley. We stopped at Lake Clementine and looked at the dam close up.

The next morning, I drove Aaron back home and we did some shopping in Sparks. We got him a bike for his Dad's, a desk for his computer, some food and his birthday present which was a hydro rocket. His 12th birthday is tomorrow and I am very sad that I won't be spending it with him. Even though I saw him and bought him presents and sent him a card this week, it's just not the same as being around him for the day and celebrating.

I ended up coming back a day early sine we didn't go to the Bay Area, I didn't want to pay for another night's hotel so I just came home. Aaron was happy because he got to spend a day at home with his computer, scooter and new bike before him and his Dad left for their trip to AZ to see his other grandparents.

When I got back, Dave was still gone on his trip to WI for management training for his new job. He was supposed to be home the next night, but ended up getting stuck in Chicago due to flight delays. I spent 3 nights at home without him and missed him terribly. When you're away from home, it's a lot easier to be without the people you usually see. Heather watched the girls while we were both gone and when I picked them up, we had a nice visit. Dave got home Friday and the next day his Mom came to visit. She flew home Tuesday so this weekend we are looking forward to sleeping in and finally having some down time and relaxing. I still have a lot of unpacking and organizing to do, but I've realized it's not going anywhere and if it's been boxed up this long and I haven't needed it, it's probably not the end of the world if I don't get to every last box anytime soon. I would like to get the garage organized enough so Dave can park inside again, but it is nice having the extra room all to myself :)

Packing in the Snow Part Deaux

2007-03-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

So, I have learned a very valuable lesson when blogging. Apparently you can't "recover post" unless you've at some point done a "save as draft" at least with Blogger.com. I spent over 2 hours working on a long post Wednesday and when the power went off at the office, I lost everything. It's funny since I do user support for a living and always tell users to "save, save and then save again" and I hadn't saved myself. Ooops.

Last weekend we continued moving stuff out of my rental house over to Dave's as I am moving back in and need to be out of the rental by the end of March. Sunday we went furniture shopping again and actually found a sofa and snuggle chair that we ordered. It will takes 10 weeks for them to come, but now that frees me up to sell my loveseat. I've had my loveseat and entertainment center since 1989 when I lived in the Bay Area, renting a small room at my Aunt & Uncle's house in Redwood City. I've sure moved them around a lot and am happy that I won't have to move them again. I still need to get them listed on craigs list.

Sunday after Dave and I went furniture shopping we stopped by Cobby's on the way home and had some delicious sandwiches, soup and a pitcher of beer. It started snowing out and it was a nice afternoon. When we got home, Dave re-proposed, so I've got my ring back! Yeah!

Thursday (yesterday, seems to long ago) I headed to Sun Valley to come to the Ketchum branch of HTEH to do RAM upgrades, personality captures and swap out some PC's and bring back a bunch of old equipment. The Subaru I rented is now loaded up with pc's and monitor's to go back to Boise later today.

I recorded episode 10 of the Mind and Body Cast last night and announced the show will be going on a temporary hiatus until June when school gets out and Aaron comes to visit for the summer. I was listening to Tee Morris on Podcasting for Dummies and had read another blog post that Adam shared and agree that if you're going to take a break, just let your listeners know. So that's what I decided to do. We may do a Bonus Episode over Spring Break when I see him. Also, I'll be taking him his computer and his Dad said he would get him internet, so maybe when he has a PC, we can do recordings together remotely. It's just too weird for me to do the show by myself.

After I get Aaron from his Dad's in Sparks, NV, we will head to Dad's and stay over for the weekend. My step-sister Rayleen is coming up from the Bay Area and then we're going to see her sister Alecia in Sacramento on Sunday. I haven't seen her in probably almost 10 years, since Rayleen's wedding. She has a little girl and I believe is expecting again so it will be fun to catch up with her.

This week I broke down and bought another Ipod. I have a 5G video and love it, but since I've been working out, it's too big for that so I've been using Dave's shuffle. Well, since I listen to podcasts and not music, it doesn't work very well for that, so I went ahead and ordered a 4gig pink Nano. I love it!!! So now I sync the Nano with my laptop which has podcasts and then the video will sync with my PC at work here I have music and now the video podcasts that I watch. For those interested, since I had to make a list and re-subscribe to them all, here are the shows I watch (all searchable in Itunes):

Rumor girls
ABC News 20/20
ABC News Medical
Amanda on ABC
Cesar Milan
Command N
Cranky Geeks
D & D TV
DL.TV
DogBlog
Geek Brief
Hound TV
Joel Osteen
Joyce Meyer
Labrats
Mobuzz
Pet Trends
Rabbit Bites
Starring Amanda
Daily 10's Hollywood Rap Up
Masthead
VideoVoom
YaZooMa

For this week's new technical sites and things, I've just been updating Twitter and started listening to Tom Merrit's Real Deal podcast. It's really good. I've listened to Tom for a while with Molly and Veronica on Buzz Out Loud, but I'm really enjoying Tom on his own. His podcasts are brief, concise and very helpful, even for a nerd like me :)

Packing in the Snow

2007-02-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

I spent over 2 hours working on this post and was almost finished with links and then lost power. I'm frustrated and not going to re-write it today.

Crazy Busy

2007-02-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a 3 day weekend for President's Day and Dave and I painted the former Matt/Aaron room to make into a "guest" room or my "office/scrap/MK/media" room when not otherwise occupied. Yes, I am moving back in with Dave and that fun began last weekend also. After 6 months of living apart, we decided we can't go another day without each other. Or, living in a rental a mile a away is more of a hassle than its worth since I started staying over there all the time after Aaron went to live with his Dad.

So we painted, shopped and moved stuff over the weekend. Sunday, I met Heather for lunch and the movies. We saw Because I Said So which was a total chic flick, but fun to see with a girlfriend. Dave stayed home and finally swapped out Jeff's door that we had to buy like 6 times because Lowe's kept drilling the hinge places wrong. Well, I guess this last time it was still wrong so he had to hand dig out the spots for the hinges. When I found that out, I was glad I was gone! That door has been a nightmare since Aaron kicked a hole in it 3 years ago when him and Jeff were home alone and having some sort of disagreement.

Work has been crazy busy also with a huge migration project getting started which will involve changing all the desktop pc's out in a time period of 2 weeks. Typically this takes 6 months to do, so it will be interesting. On top of this daunting project is the fact that my wonderful assistant who has been with us almost a year, put in his notice on Tuesday. I'm very happy that he's found a job more suited to what he's learning in school, but I'm totally bummed that he's leaving and even more stressed about the timing.

I've been following the Free Trinity google group that Adam Curry started which is the project to get his biodiesel station wagon driven across the country to visit podcasters and deliver the Mercedes to it's new owners which live on the East coast. It's very exciting project. I was disappointed that Barbara, the Project Manager said Trinity probably wouldn't come through Idaho because it's too cold here :( Bummer. But I'm on the list so we'll see!

I've still been using Twitter and having fun making badges for my various sites and even did one for this blog. My blog is becoming a real catch all for all my stuff and I even put links to the podcast on the sidebar. Speaking of the podcast, I am overdue for a show and have one all prepped, just need to find 30 minutes to sit down and record. Hopefully, I can get to it before I go visit Aaron in March so the next show will be the two of us again. I hate doing it without him, it seems odd to sit and talk alone. It was always the plan that we would sit and chat about whatever topic we were covering and that made it a lot more fun. I still enjoy it, but it's just not the same.

Happy Valentines!

2007-02-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine is going through a breakup with a man she's been involved with for over 3 years. It's such a difficult thing, I think it gets harder as you get older to move on to something new and let go of the old. But sometimes it is for the best and must be done.

For new sites this week, MightyFoodBlog.com is a food blog that looks interesting and Wellsphere.com is a social networking site of the health/fitness variety with a local emphasis on SF.

A new blackberry was released yesterday, the 8800. I've got the 8100 which is the Pearl. The 8700 is nice, it's a bit bigger and what I recommend for people who want a full keyboard. The pearl is nice and small, but a lot of people don't like the tiny keyboard and SureType typing. Once you use it a while I think it's very intuitive.

I've been listening to Trucker Tom and his adventures in Vista and am considering buying a copy for the old hard drive for my laptop. It would be fun to try. When I swapped out the hard drive it took 6 hours to reinstall windows and set up everything the way I had it. Not bad considering how much stuff I have and use, but that was ideal and had lots of prep and planning behind it. So not sure I want to invest that amount of time into it at this point.

With the return of 24, we've been enjoying pretty exciting TV. It's also fun to see our Chloe's namesake back on the screen saving Jack time after time. This season's addition of her ex-husband has been interesting.

I can hardly wait for my trip to NV to get Aaron and take him to CA for half of his Spring Break. We will see my Dad and Mom and then head to Sacramento and then possibly the Bay Area. Not sure how far we will go because we only have from Friday to Wednesday. So, looking forward to that!

Yesterday at the gym, they did my 1 month measurements and weigh in. I'm down 2.6 lbs and 10.5 inches. However, my body fat increased. I don't think that's right because I've been eating salad and veggie stir fry everyday and haven't even so much as had a fry or chip since January 2nd. Oh well, maybe next month it will be even better.

Back in Action

2007-02-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

So we got back from the Oregon Coast Sunday, around half time of the Superbowl. Dave was able to see the kickoff and part of the first quarter at the Portland airport and then we finished watching it off the Tivo at home. I picked up the girls from Heather's Monday after work. They did great and had an amazing time. She of course had them all groomed up, exercised and even not barking. I really think Cesar's onto something with the exercise thing. I'm planning on taking them and Dave for a walk on the days that I don't workout.

So yesterday I went back to the doctor for a followup visit. Unfortunately, they show me UP 5 pounds from when I first started going there in November. So that wasn't good news. But she said to keep working out and it will eventually come off. I really thought working out would make the weight come off faster, but so far, it's seems to have the opposite effect. I'm showing a loss of 3.2 pounds since January, so I think I must have gained during the holidays. Big shock there.

So we had a wonderful time on vacation. We didn't do much, just hung out with Mike and Barbara and ate a lot of crab and did some reading, site seeing and lots of beach walks. It's amazing to me how far away you can feel when you're gone but how quickly when you come back it seems as though you never left.

We are hoping to take our next trip to AZ to visit them at their home in Green Valley. I've never been to AZ and my cousin Jennifer is going to the U of A, so maybe we can even see her if we go. It's nice to know Heather is willing to watch the doggies for us because we miss them terribly and worry about them when they're not with us. We've only left them twice and this time was much easier knowing they were with her and not at the doggie hotel.

I talked with Aaron last night, he's doing well. They are moving into a 2 bedroom apartment this weekend so that will be good for them both to have some of their own space. He is doing a fund raiser at school selling candy bars and had called me last week to ask me to buy some and he would ship it to me. I laughed and told him that 1) I didn't NEED candy bars since I was dieting and 2) it would really eat into his profits to ship it to me. So he's going to hang onto them there with his Dad and if there's any leftover when I get him in March, we'll take them to CA with us.

This weeks time consuming site is Change.org - it's a social networking site for good causes. Pretty cool. My friend Donna also just put me in touch with the Voices or Martyrs at Persecution.com where you can buy bags for $5 to fill with clothing and personal items and send that they send to people that need assistance. So I'm trying to figure out how many of what bags to send where to get and fill. How fun.

Blogging Unplugged

2007-02-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday, February 3, 2007

This is our last full day at the Oregon coast. We are staying at a beautiful rental home owned by Dave’s Uncle Don in Yachats, OR. They even have their dog Jazz and cat Gigi here so I’ve been able to get my dog fix while I’m away from my puppies. If I walk on the beach I can get service on my phone but so far I haven’t hooked up the computer down there. When we drive into town, it also comes on. So far, doesn’t look like I’m missing anything interesting being unplugged. We’ve been spending lazy days with the slider open and hearing the ocean sounds while we eat fresh crab and homemade goodness. I even found Vitamin Water so I’ve been drinking that. I finished my book this morning and need to start another. We visited the library, which was surprisingly nice for such a small town.

We scored a Mustang for our rental car, so Dave’s been having some fun driving that around. I apparently left a long skid mark leaving the house’s driveway the one time I took it for a short spin. The cool thing is that it has an auxillary input and once we stopped at Target for the 3.5 mm male/male jack, I can listen to the ipod in the Mustang.

View all the pictures from the trip here.

Fun Places

2007-01-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, we drove up to McCall for the annual Winter Carnival. We took the girls and stopped in Cascade for breakfast. Our order got behind a large parties, and it ended up taking over an hour to get our meal so when we arrived in McCall we were stopped on Highway 55 near a church, for quite some time. We parked and were waiting and then noticed emergency vehicles just ahead of us. Then people in front of us started turning around. We waited until we were at the front of what was the line, only to find a major accident. We saw them put someone (I found out later it was a little boy) in an ambulance. As we turned around to take the detour past the Activity Barn, we saw the St. Al's life flight heading to Boise. As we drove past the tubing place, we remembered going sledding there years before with Aaron and Matt. I rode the little dish down a hill and got the wind knocked out me so hard I couldn't breathe. Both Matt and Dave came running and we've all laughed about my daredevil stunt since.

We read in the paper Sunday on that there were no casualties in what looked to be a very bad multi-car accident. We ended up getting to the carnival much later than we had hoped, but grateful we were not involved in the accident as we were only a few seconds behind it and that would have really messed up our day, and possibly our lives.

We had a nice day walking around with the girls in their stroller, with most passerby's oohing and aahing and wondering why a big guy like Dave would be pushing a pink stroller. They only had to look a little closer to see our beautiful doggies and realize why he was so proud.

We walked out onto the lake and I ran the girls in the snow. It took a lot of energy and by the time we walked back to the truck, they both slept soundly the entire way home and even all night Saturday without their usual waking to go outside several times in the night.

Tomorrow we leave for the Oregon coast and can hardly wait. Strangely, there is no cell service which means I won't have internet, email or phone. That's not necessarily a bad thing for me, just different. I am typically glued to the internet and blackberry 24/7.

This past week, I've been catching up on podcasts which is fun, but always leads me to more time consuming things. I've discovered Twitter, Geni, Normal Room and Joost (still waiting for in invite!). I've been keeping up with all these as well as my usual visits to MySpace, FaceBook, Google Reader and recording the latest episode of the Mind and Body Cast on Tea.

I'll be unplugged the rest of this week, but back online, absorbing info like crazy next week! I leave you with the thoughts of being grateful for getting delayed, because you may be glad you missed something else.

Results

2007-01-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

So, I am starting my 4th week of "commitments" and really expecting to see some results. So far, I've been sore, hungry, tired and have only lost 2 pounds :( I remember from doing the WW thing before that it does take a while to see results, but I was at least dropping weight each week. This time I've added the fitness component and thought for sure it would be coming off quicker. I still want to eat bad things, want to eat way more than I should and think I'm starving in the night when I get up to let the dogs out.

This weekend is the McCall Winter Carnival and we are planning on going up for the day. There's lots to see with all the ice sculptures and other things going on around town, but I just really want to take a drive and get away from the house for a day. We'll take the girls and eat out and it should be a lot of fun.

On the 31st, we leave for the Oregon Coast. I wish the trip was longer, but it's all we could both spare from work. I've been watching the weather for Newport, which is the closest large town to where we are staying. So far, it looks about as cold there as it has been here :(

I finally got a new coat, it was a present to myself for quitting smoking. My other coat was old and stank like smoke. I had ordered one from Victoria's Secret, but of course it didn't fit. I used to order from them all the time and loved their clothes. Now that I'm obese and in my 30's I guess their stuff just doesn't fit anymore. Out of $400 worth of stuff I bought (all of clearance, so that was a LOT of stuff) I was only able to keep the underwear and 2 shirts. One other shirt was ok, but the color was gross. So, the coat went back and off to Burlington Coat Factory I went this weekend. I actually got 2 coats for less than I paid for the 1 from VS. I got a nice pink wool coast for my work coat replacement and also got a very cute leather jacket. I've never had one before and this was too cute to pass up. It was also kind of a reward for my hard work so far. Hopefully I will actually accomplish something worth rewarding!

I've been keeping at my points each day, staying away from soda, caffeine and cigarettes and working out 4 times a week and taking all my supplements, so I'm doing everything I should be, just anxious for results.

I just finished reading Sharon Osbourne's autobiography Extreme and it was sure good! I've always been an Ozzy fan and sure enjoyed when the Osbourne's reality show was on and even watched Sharon's talk show when it was on, but the book was an amazing insight to her life and her story.

CES

2007-01-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

I knew I'd forget something when I posted the other day and it was the BIGGEST thing going on this week. CES is the annual Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas. It's geek heaven. So, I've been glued to the RSS Feeds and Podcasts even more than usual, if that's possible. All the latest gadgets and toys are being released. It makes you want to get rid of everything you have and buy all new. Too bad a working girls salary can't afford that :(

So a big thanks to the following Podcasters for doing such great coverage for those of us who can't be there:

Cali from Geekbrief.tv
Molly, Veronica and Tom from Buzz Out Loud
Andy & Sean from Labrats.tv
Patrick & Robert from DL.TV
Engadget

To always keep track of what I'm reading and interested in, check out my "Google Reader Starred Items" web page. Each day I read through hundreds of articles on the Google Reader from RSS feeds that I've subscribed to. The ones I "star" are extra cool :)

I also wanted to explain more about the Youngevity products and why I'm taking them. I realized I listed what I was taking, but didn't share what I was trying to fix. So here goes. For as long as I can remember, I've had heavy painful periods. So, I've always been on the pill, even though I don't need to be for birth control reasons. So here I am last year at 35 and realizing I should get off the pill. I tried and it was unbearable. I went to see my OB/GYN and she just recommended a different form of chemicals in my body to help ease my discomfort. So, I sought out a more natural doctor that my friend Bobbi recommended. I really liked her and she got me on some supplements and after my 2nd visit to her I decided to stop taking the anti-depressants that I'd been on for 5+ years also. She explained to me, I was most likely suffering from Adrenal Fatigue / Estrogen Dominance from years of running at full blast and being stressed out. The fact that I'd taken bc pills for 20 years wasn't helping my liver be able to make the right mixture of hormones either. The fact that I'd been drinking almost daily for the past 4 years certainly didn't help my liver either.

So, in the Fall of 2006, I went off the pill, started taking Rosemary and Raspberry oil, some new vitamins and Progesterone cream. By October, I went off the Zoloft. It was a bad month. I was tired, irritable, having night sweats, headaches and was gaining weight like crazy. She had also tested my thyroid and it was borderline which I had always suspected and my regular doctor hadn't listened to. So I also started taking Iodide to help that. November was a much better month and I continue to feel better.

One of the major down sides of being on the Zoloft is that it killed my libido. I've been taking Maca Root for almost 3 months now and just started the Nuo cream from Youngevity in an effort to return things to normal.

So, the Youngevity products are just adding to what I'm already doing but I'm hoping having all the right vitamins and minerals will allow me to finally drop all this extra weight I've put on over the past few years and help control the carb cravings that I typically have when I diet. I really like the Weight Watchers program and lost 20 pounds in late 2005 when I followed it.

I'm up to 3.5 lbs lost the first week and need to weigh in again today. The yoga class Monday night kicked my butt and the circuit training Tuesday that I did with the instructor was equally as vigorous and left me sore. So I took Wednesday off and am going back today all charged and rested up to work again. Hopefully, the worst of the having sore muscles is over.

I finally heard from Aaron late Tuesday night. He had been in school for 2 days and said it was "so-so". Not much news, but at least he did call. I called him yesterday after school but he didn't have much to say. I sure do miss him and want to see him face to face and really catch up. Hopefully, over spring break.

I also, FINALLY had my last cigarette this morning. I've been down to 3 a day (not at work) since New Year's and vowed to quit when I finished my last pack which was this morning. The hardest habit was smoking at work and I've already beaten that, so the rest should come easier. I've quit several times and it seems that I got about 6 months and start again. If I really am committed to being healthy (and not stinky) I need to quit for good.

A Week Later

2007-01-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, I just realized another week has gone by. I've meant to post almost every day since the last and either I ran out of time or just thought I would keep saving my thoughts for a longer post. Now watch, I won't remember half of what I was thinking I wanted to mention.

First, Aaron started school yesterday. I called him and left a message on his cell phone before school and then his Dad called me to let me know he had dropped him off and everything was a go. Still waiting to here how things are going as I've not talked to him since last Friday. And then he was at a clinic waiting to get a Hep B shot that the state of NV requires for entrance into the school system. I sure do miss him and wish he was calling. I'm trying to give him some time to adjust but it sure is hard to not know what is going on with him from day to day after being so wrapped up in his world for all these years.

Second, I'm up to 3.5 lbs lost now and am doing well. I came in at or under points each day last week and went to the gym all the days it was open. Last night I went to the Yoga / Pilates class and really enjoyed it. Tonight is the circuit training class that is also on Thursday nights. I had originally intended to workout in the mornings, but if I can do the 3 classes after work and not struggle to get to work on time, I'll do it.

Lastly, I finally ordered and received the Youngevity products I ordered. I've been listening to the Dead Doctor's Don't Lie podcast by Dr. Joel Wallach since I heard Trucker Tom mention the show months ago. Since then, I've been making notes on the different products I'd be interested in and I thought would help me with my various issues. With started the weight loss program after the first, I knew it was time to order. I really needed help losing the carbs and getting rid of the cravings. I'm happy to say, that less than a week into taking the products, I'm almost having to force myself to eat as I'm not hungry and definitely not craving anything. I'm actually hungry when I eat.

Here's what I ordered:

Feret Fat Pak
Women's FX
Slender FX
Women's Hormonal
Nuo

So, I'm taking all that plus all the other vitamins and minerals and things that I normally take. I sure take a lot of stuff, but it's all natural and I feel good.

The girls are doing well despite missing Aaron and I'm thrilled that Heather is going to be able to watch them while Dave and I are in Oregon. If only I can get them all groomed and in good behavior before they go visit :)

Progress

2007-01-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

It's the 3rd so I figured I'd better update with my progress on my New Year's Commitments. So far so good. I got signed up at the gym last night and went for my first workout this morning. I'm planning on trying out the Hydro Massage table tonight after work.

I technically didn't start WW until the 2nd since the 1st was a holiday and I was home grooming the dogs, watching TV and eating whatever I wanted. So I guess I've only been going a day, but I feel like I'm off to a good start. I was under points yesterday and went grocery shopping today at lunch to be sure my house and work are stocked with good food.

I even checked in with my commitment "buddy" Deanna today with what I did yesterday. I'm hoping having to be accountable to someone will really help.

Dave and I are headed to the Oregon Coast at the end of the month and I'm really looking forward to the trip. We'll be staying at his Dad's brothers' place and from the website, it looks really nice. The only thing I'm skeptical about is the internet/blackberry coverage. What would I possibly do without connection to the internet world for 4 days? I'm not sure, but I guess I wouldn't die as long as I had my Ipod :)

I talked with Aaron yesterday, he's still on Christmas break and his Dad was back at work so he's hanging out at the apartment by himself during the day. He sounded down, but assured me he was fine. I guess they are going to move into a 2 bedroom apartment and get Aaron his own bed, dresser and TV.

Another slow day at work. People are here, but I guess they're computers are running well, because they're not calling. Which is a good thing :)

Packed and Gone

2006-12-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday and Aaron left yesterday for his Dad's. Thursday night we got him all packed up. Surprisingly, we got everything he wanted to take packed in his 2 suitcases, the biggest box the airline would allow and his 2 carry ons and wearing all of his coats. He was able to take all his clothes, toys and sports things he wanted. Even the cool new skateboard he got from Dave for Christmas. On Friday, I took off work early and we went to the movies and saw The Night at the Museum which was really good. Then we went to his favorite place for dinner, the Golden Corral. It's a buffet and he just eats and eats and always leaves happy. Then we went to Pojo's which is a local kids place with games and bumper cars and a beautiful carousel.

Bright and early Saturday, I took Aaron to the airport and he flew out on time and arrived safely in Reno, Nevada where his Dad picked him up. While we were at the airport and for the days before he left, we were catching up on episodes of our favorite podcast to listen to together, the Dawn and Drew show. I will miss sharing that with him.

Since then, I've heard from him often and he seems to be having fun with his Dad. It's bittersweet for me, I wish the best for him, but I've really never been away from him and it's hard having him so far away. We were able to record an episode of the Mind and Body cast, which is our podcast before he left so that was fun. I'm hoping to continue the show with him remotely either using his cell phone to call into Skype or Talkshoe to record us together.

I cleaned and organized like a madwoman on Saturday after Aaron left and moved his desk into his room and got his bedding all washed so his room is ready whenever he or a guest might need to use it. Cleaning always makes me feel better. I'm sure it's about the control of the environment and having everything in it's place when I'm an emotional wreck. Whatever th case, the house looks awesome!

Tonight, Dave and I are headed to Michelle and Gregg's for their annual New Year's Eve Party/Gregg's birthday party.

New Year's Commitments

2006-12-28T12:53:00.000-07:00

This year, I've decided to do some New Year's Commitments instead of resolutions. What's the difference? I have no idea. I just feel like all the things I want to do, I know I need to do and they're nothing new. I just need to commit to them and DO them.

So here goes:

Health & Body
* take all vitamins and supplements DAILY
* limit caffeine
* limit alcohol
* limit carbs/grains/sugars
* stay away from soda
* eat fresh fruits and vegetables EVERY day
* quit smoking for GOOD
* workout at least 3x a week
* follow the WW plan and count points every day
* weigh myself regularly
* ensure my dogs are fit and well trained (walks & regular training sessions)

Personally
* take time to spend with God and in His word each day
* read more
* use electronics less (laptop, blackberry, PC) - relax!
* watch less TV (cable goes off in Feb)
* podcast more
* blog regularly
* spend more time with friends
* keep in better touch with family
* be financially secure and investing wisely while giving generously
* continue to refine my parenting skills and be a terrific Mom

Professionally
* spend more time at the office so I don't feel guilty about not working when I'm away
* be more committed to projects and taking responsibility for things maybe out of my "ownership"
* learn things that are challenging and perceived as "difficult" (cross-training)

Why am I Here?

2006-12-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well, the post Christmas depression set in last night. I'm not sure if it's just a sugar low but I sure felt bad. Aaron leaves in 4 days and I can't believe it. He's been with me emotionally for years before I got pregnant and from the moment I conceived with me physically. He'll be 12 in March, so that's a good long time. A lot of those years it was just him and I. His Dad hasn't spent more than a few days with him in over 10 years and I can't imagine how different his life is going to be after Saturday.

So last night I took a bath and tried to cheer myself up by doing some retail therapy and buying some stuff with Christmas checks. Then I talked with my girlfriend Wendy on the phone for quite some time. All the while, Aaron was at friends house playing a new video game that was received for Christmas. I guess I don't blame him for wanting to have fun and not be bothered by stupid things like chores around our house, I just thought he might want to spend some time with me before he left. I also usually forget he's a child and doesn't have adult emotions. Darn.

After I got off the phone and Aaron got home, I read and listened to a podcast for a bit. One of the things I heard was we are all here for a purpose. God has plans for each and every one of us. Well, what's my purpose? I always thought it was to be a mother. I suck at relationships and haven't been a very good daughter and I'm too closed off to be anyone's good friend, so what else is there? When I started podcasting, I thought, ah, this is it. This is my "purpose". But the newness wore off and it became frustrating as I tried to do more complicated things. I still enjoy it, but with Aaron moving away, it takes away a lot of the enjoyment out of it as it was something we did together. I'm still hoping to have him call in and us record using TalkShoe, but that involves a whole other level of technicality. Our most recent episode, I used a single headphone and the volume was so quiet, I had to enlist the help of one of my favorite podcasters Trucker Tom to help me figure out how to get the volume up. I've got all kinds of content, but the technical stuff stumps me. And that's what I do for a living! So what the heck am I here for? What good to I provide the world? I recycle and try to be friendly to the environment but that's about it. I attend church sporadically and don't have enough backbone to speak my mind about my religious beliefs to other people who believe differently or not at all.

So, I don't know. What's your purpose?

Posting Shayna.Minti.com in my blog so this can be feed to their site.

Santa Was Very Good to Me!

2006-12-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

Here it is, Christmas day afternoon. The kids have all disappeared with their goodies and Dave is watching football. I turn to electronics as I sip a Fat Tire and prepare taco meat for Dave's birthday dinner.

Santa brought me 3 GREAT gifts from my Froogle wish list. Very cool. I got the memory card for the Blackberry Pearl that I bought myself for Christmas a few weeks ago. Now I can put MP3's and more pictures and video than I can stand on there. Also, it allows me to take 200+ pictures with the built in camera, instead of the 77 the 20mg on board card allows. I can also use it like a thumb drive for moving data around as I do with my ipod. Now I just need the cool Bluetooth headphones Dan sent me on Friday that will allow the Pearl's headset jack to be stereo on nice wireless headphones that you can talk on the phone with also. No more pausing the Ipod to answer the phone if it's all in one. I also got a heating blanket that's low wattage and supposedly not bad for you. Also, the coolest bedrest with a light, heater and massager and cup holder. Sweeet! Dave's mom got me the cutest doggie purse, I can hardly wait to take it to work tomorrow, it looks so real! Bobbi got me a beautiful pink columbia jacket. I wear the dark pink vest she got me almost constantly, but sometimes a girl needs arms :) Dan got me a leatherman, so I don't have to borrow his and Dave's all the time. Aaron promptly read the directions and quizzed me on how to use it. I guess without him around I should learn to fend for myself mechanically :( My friend Heather also got me a cool Fiskar's cutting system for scrapbooking and some cool toys for the girls.

Aaron got a skateboard, some games, a cool tool set and cash. Matt got money, Jeff got all Wii and DS stuff, Dave got a lot of food and gift certs and some wine and the girls got some new toys and treats and a new toy box.

The festivities started on Friday when the girls and I exchanged gifts at work. That was fun. Then the Mad Dogs in the afternoon. Saturday I was pretty sick and just stayed in my jammies and tried to rest up for the next two days. Sunday we all went to brunch at Dave's sisters and ate and talked. Sunday night we went to Bobbi's for an excellent lamb dinner, fancy stuffing and rice and a really good salad. I topped it off with too much toffee cuz boy did I have a stomach ache after all that! Today we did the stockings, waited for Matt to get up and come over and then opened gifts. It's been a nice quiet day.

I'm dreading going back to work tomorrow. I originally had the day off as Aaron was supposed to leave for his Dad's but now that's been postponed until Saturday the 30th.

My friend Cheryl's cute little Bentley is doing much better after his scare earlier this week where he had to be rushed to the vets because of low blood sugar. Chloe is still not eating as usual, but today she is off the 2nd pain med and is definitely acting more lively and not whining nearly as much. Now it's just been she's being a baby or wants something, not for pain, LOL

To all a Happy Holiday!

Snow Advisory

2006-12-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it's finally started snowing. I've been watching the radar and waiting since 11a today. I had to drive back to the vet's last night to get some additional pain killer for Chloe as she was just miserable. I really think she overdid running around in the yard with the first batch of snow we got on Friday. She is doing much better today and I took this picture of her earlier today. Chloe in the snow filled flower pot

Switch-A-Roo

2006-12-22T19:07:00.002-07:00

So, I've switched my 3 day old blog over to google. I liked the Podshow page, but when I went back and revisited the header image and still couldn't get it to look right, I was frustrated. It just so happened Google released their blogger site out of beta and since I'm totally in bed with Google with gmail, google talk, google pages, google reader, orkut, browser sync, video, documents and searching, I figured what the heck. I love the template options and picked one that I think suits me. So, here I am.

I just realized that my first 3 posts came up backwards even though I changed their dates. Oh well, it'll be right going forward :)

I took Chloe back to the vet today to get more pain meds. She continued to cry and be uncomfortable all day and I just don't think she should have to suffer like that. So, she had her first dose and seems to be sleeping peacefully now. Thank Goodness. Now, if I could just get rid of this darned cold :(

Can't Get Past the Header Image

2006-12-22T19:07:00.001-07:00

So here I am, trying to setup a blog on my favorite site - Podshow. I have a MySpace and Facebook and a personal website, but I love how Podshow makes everything simple. Except for how to make the header image look right. They give dimensions and I've gotten close to it and my image still looks scrunched. So instead of obsessing on that the rest of the afternoon, I thought I'd go ahead and post and get on with what I set out to do.

Growing up on 10 acres, when we finally got electricity I ask for a Commodore 64 for a gift. Who knows what started my geekiness, but even back then, I wanted a computer. For each holiday after I got the computer, I asked for different components. I was so excited when I got the 5.25" floppy drive so I could save my work. By 10 years old, I was keeping an electronic diary. I always hated writing because my mind goes so fast, that only my fingers on the keyboard come close to keeping up. I wish I still had that old media so I could read what I was thinking, but at some point over the moves in early adulthood, they are gone.
Today, I have a podcast with my 11 year old son Aaron. We started it this summer and though we only have 9 episodes out to date, it's been a lot of fun. I started listening to podcasts in the summer of 2005 and for Christmas that year, I got a video Ipod which I don't think has ever left my side since. I don't do much on the forums, I occasionally email a few podcasters and I've gotten on TalkShoe a few times but I really would like some way to communicate with others who are interested in knowing what's going on with me besides the mass emails that I do when I have big news.

For those who know me, know I hate to use the phone. I've had heavy phone usage jobs for the past 20 years and I think I've just burned out. I love email for communication, so I figure this blog is just the next step. There is a lot going on right now in my life so this is a perfect time to start sharing :) Happy Holidays everyone.

Christmas 2006

2006-12-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

This year, Christmas is going down a little differently than years past. Aaron doesn't have a list. He doesn't even want or need anything. So sad that he's so spoiled, but I guess it makes it easier to me. He's getting a plane ticket to his Dad's and some money on his pre-paid spending card for things he decides he wants later. My dogs are getting a new toy box, some toys and treats. They're easy. They love everything, even wrapping paper, ribbons and anything else that makes a nice noise when drug around the house or shredded.

This year, I've tried to focus more on giving to those who are truly less fortunate and being "green". If I have a gift in a brown box, it's getting a pretty ribbon and a name tag. No wrapping paper. The kids will enjoy tearing thru packing tape just as much as flimsy paper and scotch tape I'm quite sure. I've also sponsed a child thru Compassion.com I chose a little girl that share's Aaron's birthday but is 5 years younger. Her name is Nancy and she lives in Mexico. How fun it will be to correspond with someone from another country and I hope to be able to send her gifts in addition to my monthly contribution to her family. I also gave greener gifts. The National Wildlife Org has cool ornaments that when you buy, a tree is planted. The Greater Good Network has several different sites to which your purchases benefit different causes. My favorite is the animal rescue site because they not only have purple paws on most of the products, but they buy food for needy dogs. As I know my animals are the quite possibly the most spoiled in the world, I know they don't mind sharing some of their good life for other doggies in need.

On the personal side, Aaron is going to live with his Dad after Christmas. I've had full custody of him since he was about a year and a half old and this will be quite the change for both of us. He's had a very difficult year and despite all my efforts, his BiPolar and ADHD continue to be more of a challenge than I can handle each day. His Dad is confident he can manage him and perhaps having a male role model / authority figure in his life will be the thing that he's been missing. We've always been together and really close since I've been a single mom most of his life so I'm not quite sure how it's going to be after he goes. My family is not being supportive of my decision, but they are hundreds of miles away and don't know how rough this year has been. I know they mean the best, but it is very hurtful when people that you love and hope to hear supportive things from are only criticial. But, it is what it is.

Since moving out of Dave's house in September, this Christmas has been more of a challenge logistically. I ended up with a tree from Nevada that my friend's boyfriend intended for his daughter but she ended up not needing. It is nice to have a real tree is that is what I grew up having and it's been odd at Dave's for the past 5 years having an artificial. Getting it in the stand was challenging, but it's finally up and has some lights and ornaments on it, so I guess it's good. It will be very sad to put away all the decorations and colorful lights in my newly empier, quiet house after Aaron leaves. My mom always used to leave Christmas stuff up for months afterward and now I understand why. There is just something cheerful and nice about the lights and decorations. I have thought that I may keep the lights up in my bedroom as they work really well as a night light and keep me comforted. Dave's oldest son Matt is home from U of I and his new girlfriend Sandy flies in from her hometown on the 30th. I think they are staying at Dave's so it will be nice to spend some time with her and get to know her a bit. I do know she has dogs, so that's a plus in my book :) Jeff has been vacant since hitting teenagedom last year and hopefully he'll have the Wii out for the families entertainment. I'll take pictures, make more food than anyone can possibly eat and probably overinduldge on goodies.

My heart goes out to the Kim family who recently lost James Kim in Oregon during a drive to visit family over Thanksgiving. The technology community has had an incredible outpouring towards his family and I am saddened each time I think of the story and wonder how a young mother with two small children will get thru this first holiday season with her husband and her kid's father. When my step-dad died 3 years ago, that first holiday was very melancholy and each year around the time of his passing, I am saddened by the thought that he is no longer "there". This is also my grandmother's 2nd Christmas without my grandfather. My Papa was a wonderful man and always had a blow up Santa that he would love to play with us grandkids each year. I love to look at pictures and remember all the good times. I have tons of video tapes that I need to transfer to digital so I can share them with other family members and that is on my things to do this Winter after Aaron leaves. I also hope to take a class at George Fox University. And maybe even join the Liberty Fitness center which is nearly in my front yard. They have a cool massage table that I think might motivate me to go use :)

My Little Chloe

2006-12-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Chloe is my 2nd female Havanese who turned a year old on December 12th of this year. Since she came into heat in November, it was time to get her spayed this month. I took her in yesterday to Intermountain Vet and dropped her off first thing in the morning. Chloe is a very cuddly, loving dog, but kind of shy. She was excited to see the people in the vet's office, but didn't like them to get too close. When I passed her off to the Nurse, she gave me her patented "stink eye". Unlike Pepper, who loves everyone and would go home with anyone who gave her the time of day Chloe is a mommies girl. She has a particular disklike of men, but seemed to be ok with the vet who she had met before when she came in for shots.

I waited anxiously for the Vet to call yesterday and they did when she got out of surgery. She did great and her blood work came back good, so that will be handy for the future if she has any problems that require a comparison. It started snowing late in the afternoon, so I left work early and it took over an hour to get to Meridian, which is normally a 20 minute drive. When I picked her up, she was still drowsy but gave me some nose kisses and a low tail wag so I knew all was well. In the car ride home, she sat quietly in the back seat, looking around for her sister who is always with us during car rides but Pepper was waiting at home.

Dave came over to visit Chloe and held her in his lap while we watched a movie. She slept peacefully and went out to go potty, but didn't eat her dinner. She left ok, but whimpered periodically. Last night it snowed about 2 more inches and her and Pepper went and played outside and since then, Chloe has been whimpering despite the fact that I finally got her pain pill down her after several attempts and her promptly spitting it out. My cold also came back with a vengance yesterday afternoon so when I woke up to snow and my cold and a wimpering dog, I decided not to go to work. Well, my friends all have my gifts here and there is the annual Mad Dogs awards today so I didn't want to miss that, so I emailed Bobbi who lives only 2 miles from me. I drove to her house after the roads were somewhat clear and she gave me a ride to work.

Michelle, Deanna, Jamie and I all exchanged gifts which was a lot of fun. I'll post the pictures this weekend up on my Webshots. I'm feeling better now and glad I came in to join the festivities. Aaron has called several times saying Chloe is whimpering so he's been wrapping her in her favorite blanky and holding her to help comfort her. He just called and said he's going outside to play in the snow with his friend, so I told him to put her on my bed where I've left the heating blanket on for her. Mad Dogs doesn't last long and I should be home in a few short hours to comfort her and keep her warm.

Chloe has been a wonderful addition to the family and I also made a new friend because of her. Last year, I responded to a post of someone needing a Home Visit in Idaho for them to be able to adopt a rescue. I responded and went to visit a family. In doing that, I volunteered to become an Idaho contact person for the Havanese Rescue. Little did I know, another woman in town had volunteered to do the home visit on the family I did, so when I signed up, the contact in WA sent Heather to visit my home. We immediately bonded and found out our dogs were sisters from different litters. Her Kaera and my Pepper are a year apart and one looks like Mom and one like Dad. Heather and I are nearly the same age, are both neat and tidy (ok, anal) and love to talk. We've been great friends ever since and I see her whenever I can. So, thru Heather, I got Chloe. Heather, who is friends with Tonisha of Hystyle Havanese in Oregon, was going to pick up her Tootsie Pop the following weekend from when we met. She mentioned there was another girl available in the same litter and Dave and I talked about it and immediately requested pictures. We fell in love with her sweet face and Heather brought her home to us on her own birthday, Feb 28. Pepper immediately fell in love with Chloe just as we did and took wonderful care of her and shared everything and played gently with her. She even taught her to ring the bell to go out and how to properly shred and destroy anything left around the house suitable for dogs.

Before I got Chloe, I had been listening and reading about raw feeding and when I found out Chloe was coming from a breeder who raw fed and after talking with Heather about it, immediately switched Pepper over and have been feeding them raw ever since. I am continuially amazed at the difference in thier coats and their excitement over mealtime. When Pepper ate kibble, she would frequently go 3-4 days without eating and only out of desperation eat her kibble. Now, every meal is exciting and they love to eat. And I know the food I am giving them is best suited for them and healthy and not a bunch of corn and grain filer which brings the dog no nutritious value. So, Heather has Tootsie Pop and I have Chloe who are sisters as well as our Pepper and her Kaera. Heather also has Tico, a a male Havanese and Taeya a beautiful german shephard. We get the dogs together for play dates and grooming sessions (Heather has been teaching me to groom them myself since I got the 2nd dog so I can save costs) and she even babysat them and Aaron during the HTEH company Christmas party this year. It's nice to have a great friend to share our doggies with :)