Wild Shelley Junior

See what Wild Shelley brought home:

A cotton-poo named "Shelley!"

Yes, Wild Shelley seems to like her new pup...she's falling for it, yup, she's over the moon, head over heels, tickeled pink, crazy in love

with Shelley Junior - the little cotton poo - a poodle crossed with something- -or-other-French - ooo la la! Je t'adore, Je t'aime! (I love you, I like you!)

Welcome to the fam-damily!

  Giving kisses already, such a flirty little Shelley - kinda like her owner!

Let me get my hands on her -

So's I can squeeze her reeaaal good! 

"I'm so excited that there's finally something smaller than me around here!"

says Turbo Baby.

Check-up time...do you fit the bill, Shelley?

Awww, sure do. There's just that special glow about you

 - again kinda like your owner!

Lookin' right at home.

And, as you might expect, like any new mother, Wild Shelley is already a bit possessive... protective...might even say Wild Shelley could get a bit aggressive

 - if'n you look at her dog the wrong way!

Precious pet, such a good dog.

  "I'll teach you everything I know," says Wild Shelley.

Uh- oh, this can't be good!

 Looks like we're in for a bit of craziness cuz Wild Shelley has already been giving the pup lessons! 

Look how sassy the dog is being - sticking out her tongue like that -

only place she coulda learned that is from her owner!

(click to enlarge picture)

Blaaaaaaaatttttttt!

Better be nice to Wild Shelley and her little Shelley-kins!

Or else!

KD

Anyone out there have trouble cooking good old KD?  Yes, Kraft Dinner - who, tell me who, can't get that right? Anyone? Anyone?

It's simple.  Throw it in water and add cheese, voila!

Well, not this weekend, not in this house, not in China Doll's kitchen - we had issues with lunch:

Ok, so I over cooked the spirals.

Didn't mean to...I'm real sorry...but it will improve from here won't it?

I tell ya, I had a hard time draining the water from this over cooked mushiness,

but that just means there's no need to add milk, right?

I think the cheese will make it better...should I add the cheese?

Yup - that'll make it good..

Good old powdered cheese.  Can't go wrong with KD cheese.

Such a pretty color now...

Look real close,

If you didn't know it was supposed to be KD, you'd never know it was KD!

You might think it was risotto or cream of muesli or something exotic!

A taste test proved to be disappointing...think water logged,

think bland, think glue!

We discovered that the spoon would stand up in the middle of the pot...

 all by itself!

Still standing...!

straight up in the middle of the pot of gloop.

  Look how proud Mr.Spoon is...

he's the only one who was happy!

I'm only sharing this horrifying story with you because I'm hoping that you've had disasters of some kind in your kitchen at one point or other in your life!

And so that you can feel comforted, knowing that I am a worse-err-errr disaster.

Yes, worse than you, much much worse-err-errrr

because who, tell me who, can screw up Kraft Dinner!?!?!?not even a college boy!  And college boys cook it on radiators!

Tell me about your worst kitchen disaster!  C'mon, I told you mine, now you tell me yours!!!

It's friky friky Friday!

Ahhh, the end of the week...friky friky Friday!  At last!

                           http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3201/2787311428_fbcbb9da4c.jpg -thx for this pic!


Work, work, work, til the week is done, then work some more while trying to have fun.

What'cha doing this weekend?
 
I have 2 movies that I want to watch - not sure I'll have time for either...especially since one - called Australia - is an extra long one.  The other is called P.S. I Love You - looks like a good one.

I'm anxious to see both of them, but you know as well as I do about that pile of laundry that needs a laundry-er, (I know, that's not a real word, but it sounds good!) and the empty fridge that needs a shopper,  and the homework that needs a helper, and the breakfast, lunch and suppers that need a cooker, and the blog that needs a blogger..etc!

Ahhh-it's good to be needed.
I guess.
If it has to be that way. 

Anyways, maybe you've seen those movies already - which one do you recommend that I watch first?

http://c.editingmyspace.com/files/en/days/friday/friday.gif

                                             Thanks to that myspace person for this image


If anyone knows how to make these super-cool animated gif files, please let me know! 
Have a great weekend, people!

Toothy Grin

A few weeks ago Hippie Chick and her kids came over.

I met 'em all at the door...
with a great big happy smile...

and with my big front tooth all blackened out!

Now, don't get the wrong idea here, there were no accidents like tripping up the stairs, falling into the car, walking into walls, tripping on smooth pavement or slipping on a banana peel...those are my usual kinds of clumsinesses, but not this time...

nothing like that at all.

It was simply a thick black felt pen - a washable one mind you -
that I used to color in my big front tooth!

I heard them pull in the driveway, so I hurried to blacken my tooth, and then had to smile with my lips real high so that I wouldn't erase the felt -until they got to the door.  Here's pictures of their reactions:

I'm just happy to be here...I don't care what you look like!

Uh...it's not Halloween just yet is it?

Something funny is going on 'round here.

What the hay-ell is wrong with you?!

Hey, at least I didn't meet 'em at the door with a two by four!

Lights

Cool song - Kam likes this one because of the neat art in the video -  and because of the tune too, of course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_PE_00KNCk

I like it because it makes me look hip - simply because I know about it!  Now you can all be hip too!  (Is hip the right word nowadays?!  I think not!)

But I do like the name of the band...Lights...neat!

Whip it

Here's a neat quick dessert you should try:

Yes, try it, whip some yummy cream to mix with canned, peeled mandrin oranges...it's tasty...but here's the thing...

You have to whip the cream in a special way.
A very special way...

You have to wear your pjamas and sit up on the counter, like this!!

(I could hardly believe my eyes when I looked in and saw this happening!)

Go on, try it, I dare you!
And I promise that if you try this method, the cream will taste so much better - just be sure that you're alone!

Spaz

Yup, yup, Yupperoonies - this is me, a swatting spaz....swatting no see'ems!

Haven't heard that word in a while have ya? - "spaz"...must be from the 80's.

"You're such a spaz, man."
"Did ya see her spazzin' out over there!"
"Quit havin' a spaz, dude."

All those expressions could apply to me over the last few weeks - our house seems to have been full of these dang tiny flies - like fruit flies, no see'ems, I guess, but they are like, everywhere, man.  Totally.

There.  Right on my picture. See it sitting there.  It's not dirt...it's a bug. 

It landed.

I snapped it.  It's proof.

Every night as I sit here I get swarmed by these beasts.

They are beasts I tell you.

Make you go crazy.

Here's how it looks while I'm sitting here blogging...

Girl sits at computer.
Girl types.
Girl frowns.
Girl continues to type.
Girl does a small head toss.
Girl still tries to type.

Girl shakes her head more vigourously in annoyance.
Girl swiftly reaches one hand in the air and grabs viciously.
Girl slowly opens her palm and closely examines it.
Girl sighs.  No dead bug.

Girl types, girl shakes her head, girl frowns, girl blows air, then...suddenly -
Girl errupts from her chair violently and begins to fling herself around the room.
Girl whips both arms up and down...
grabbing frantically at the air, clutching and squeezing, with both of her hands.

Her arms are rotating around her head faster than helicopter rotors while her hands continue to open and close faster than a goldfish's mouth.

Girl is havin' a spazz alright.
A swatting spaz.

And she can't even catch one bug!

No one else can see the bugs!  That's why they're called no see'ems.  (This picture is an enlarged version - thanks to google images - so you can see'em!)

Actually when I was in college, we had to do experiments with these guys - but we called them drosophelia - more scientific you know!  We had to make them reproduce - what on earth were we thinking???

Yup, yup, yuperoonies - spazzin' out about drosophelia - that's me.
Just so you know...I'm real glad you can't actually see me doing this!

Pulled the plug

Over the last several weeks, Tough Guy and I have seriously considered doing something risky, exciting, scary, adventurous, expensive and challenging...any guesses?

No?  So, I'll tell you - we seriously considered buying a business.  You can read the next bit while remembering that I wrote this last week and just never got around to pushing the publish button, something held me back...intuition maybe?!

So remember...this was last week:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm so excited...Tough Guy and I are - to quote Bruce Springsteen's awesome song..."Working on a Dream" and we are slowly, but surely, ticking off the list of things to accomplish before we can find out if it's really going to be possible.

I can't tell you more right now, but I promise that as soon as I know anything for sure, I'll be posting about it right away...
I'm just all jazzy inside and feel about to pop but I have to keep calm and try to appear sensible.


My thoughts are jumping around a bit as I try to make sense of things...this song lifts us to the possibilities that just might be reachable...with hard work and a good attitude...

Keep your fingers crossed for us!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, back to the present day...Sept. 19th.
'P-o-P!'  Bubble is burst.

Things have changed.
All that excitement, adrenaline, jazzy feelin'...it's gone, yep, gone...all down the drain.
Why, you ask?
Well, we pulled the plug!
We popped the bubble!!

We've looked in deep detail at the books - we put on our big ol' ugly ol' black glasses that make us feel smarter and we pretended we were wise old owls...

BUT,
The numbers are ugly.
Hate numbers, always have hated numbers...who, who, whoooo likes numbers?
(Remember we were being owls right! - who, whooo!  get it?)

So the idea is cancelled.  All the work we put towards it...cancelled. 

But guess what...that jazzy feeling I had...it's cancelled too!  No more rockin' the boat, things can stay stable, just the way we like 'em! C'est la vie, eh?

And the best part is....who, whooo, whooooooo knows what might come along next!

Cool down position

Summer is over, sadly...all over, but there are still occasions where we get really heated up, eh? 
Like after scaling up a rock face,
doing a fifty meter dash,
or shimmeying up a coconut tree.

Of course, I wouldn't really know much about that sort of thing.

All I know is that I usually get all heated up after simply climbing 8 stairs...you know how it is - you get to the little landing in between the next set of stairs and you want to sit down and cry...because you're only half way up...
or else you realize that you really need to "go"...exercise of any kind does this to you...so you must immediately head back down them dang stairs and find a washroom - quick!
After the second attempt - you're really heated up -and by the time you get to the upper level, you just want to collapse on the ground...
like this:

Belly down, arms out, chin on the floor, and with the tongue lolling out...sounds about right after all that climbing.
But of course, this is not generally acceptable behaviour for human society these days...would be kind of embarassing.
Other people would stare.


We can all learn something from dogs.
...they just are who they are...they do what they do...if they feel the need, they do the deed...they go with the flow, the laws of nature rule...
...no need to be embarrassed, the cool down position works for him.

Do you ever wish you were a dog?!?!

Blink

Do you know how hard it is to capture a photo of a perfectly closed, eyes shut blink?

Like I mean completely shut eyes, but on a wide awake and happy baby!!!???!!??  We're talkin' about timing, man.  Split second timing.  Milli-second timing!

It's hard, let me tell you...

but look...seee!  See!

 

The Blink! 
Perfectly executed by the baby and miraculously captured by la photogeek.
Got to wonder how good luck, baby nature, and shutter pressing at the exact moment mangaged to co-ordinate all at once...
to get such an awesome blink.

Some would call it a fluke.  I call it skills, man.
But you can call it how you see it...
An eye takes 300 to 400 hundred milliseconds to do one blink.

Local Talent

"Hey" to all you lovely people!
I'm back at work and not finding the time to blog much, but I just couldn't wait to tell you all about this girl...she's local (to me - that is!  What does "local" really mean in the big wide wonderful world of the web?!  Guess "It's a Small Word After All" tells us how connected we really are eh? eh?)...but I digress!

Back to Tianda, the girl I am so excited to tell you about!
 - this girl can sing like nobody's business!

- and she rocks, and she's nice, too!

We were lucky enough to hear her today at school in the lunch room.

If a person can sound this good with just an electric guitar and a microphone, just imagine how she'd sound with a full band behind her!

And get this...she's like - practically, I mean really - famous! - and only 15 - she's on YTV's show called The Next Star and man, do I hope she wins it.  Contest finale is Sept. 27 and then we'll know...you can check her out at ytv.com and look for a tab at the top called shows and movies...you'll see Next Star and then you'll scroll down to find

the one,

the only,

the awesomest,

Tianda --- got to Love her voice!

Seriously, this girl can sing.  Go on and vote for her to help keep her ratings up...she's currently NUMBER ONE, numbre un (is that French?! it's lookin' kind of spanish to me at the moment...?!) and numbero one-o or whatever-o!

She's great!  If you vote, don't forget to press "submit!"

Then watch the show - next one is on Sept. 18th and then finale on Sept. 27th.

See - what good things you learn at school!

Din-din with the Fam-fam

Tough Guy doesn't want to tell anyone, but he is one year oollllllddddeeerrrr now...so we celebrated with the family.

As always, it was a fun night together.

But, see - Tough Guy - he reeeaaalllly doesn't want to admit that he's getting up there - he's trying to hide behind his hand, you know like "put your head in the sand and there's nobody there" kind of thing...!!!  

Too bad, suckahhhrrrr, we can still see you!!!

"Can I really be that many candles?" he asks.
Just multiply by three and add five and you'll be right on!

You've got my total respect if you can do that much math!
It's a stretch for me -and I'm telling the truth!!!!Math and I just don't like each other, we don't "get" each other and thankfully...we don't have to spend much time together either!!

Here's the crew - farthest away in the picture is Frostbite - oh, and soon he's gonna be farthest away in real life on an adventure - far, far away, like half way 'round the gol dang globe...and we are going to miss him very much.

Come to think of it---Frostbite might just want to stay away for the whole winter too...get it?!?!  Like don't-stay-out-in-the-cold-too-long or you'll get frostbite and Frostbite (the person here) - he really is going to stay away til spring!  I think that's funny - well, fine - maybe not to you, but it was to me!

Then in the middle we've got Darth Vadir - I had to be sure to spell his name just his special way, or else he might sic somethin' on me!!!!  He sounds dangerous, doesn't he!  Maybe we've got him in the middle on purpose - so we can squeeze the "darth" right out of him cuz he's just so darn cute!

And you already know Bubbles...dear, dear Momma Bubbles... I just want to wrap her up and snuggle her all up...she's hurtin' right now with that blasted ol' knee.
If it doesn't get better soon, I might just have to change her name to Hobbles, or Crutch, or Limpy.  Maybe Limpette would be better cuz that sounds more feminine.
I wrote a quick song for her: (sing to the tune of Three Blind Mice!)
           Dear Momma Bee, Dear Momma Bee,
             we're sendin' warm fuzzies,
             we're sendin' warm fuzzies,
             to wrap aro-ow-und your ever lovin' knee...
             we want ya back ta bein' all buzzy...
             we want all-hl your achin' pain to flee...
             so heal real soon, so heal real soon.

You'd best get better quick, don't think the world can take many more of my healing tunes!  Wouldn't take much to be better'n this one, now would it!?!?!

In case you didn't know -she brings sunshine and happiness with her - where ever she goes - even when she's not feeling too good. What a special lady she is. 

Picture is temorarily unavailable.

And here is Boots and Bruiser!  Can you figure out which is which? who is who?? him is her???  her is him???

Sure would hate to meet a couple of thugs with names like this in a dark, back alley....imagine the beating, yikes!  Boots. Bruiser.

Runnnnnnnnnnnnn!

But these two are the bestest ever people - they don't believe in beatings, I promise you!

So, who was this party really for?  A Tough Guy?  Or a Baby?  I'll leave that for you to decide!!!  Or here's a thought....maybe....it's a bit of a two in one package...you know....a combo...buy the old wise-guy, get the baby for free!!!  Happy B-day T.G.!

Dirty little secret

Ok, now that I've got you all excited with that title...
here's the thing...
my dirty little secret...

---is all cleaned up!!!
I can't show you the "before" pictures-
-because I didn't actually take any-
and because that would just be really gross...
but, take a minute to imagine the cupboard UNDER the SINK...and picture it in all it's disgusting glory...
then let me tell you - that mine was worse!
                        
Five years worth of old glass vases, various cleaners and solvents, detergents and grime removers...
-that have never been used to clean under the sink, mind you!
...add to that, the gunk on the floor under the garbage can...
...which was so...mottled...brown...thick...gooey...OK,That's Enough!  STOP!

I was inspired by another blogger to make a change that didn't cost much... and didn't take a huge effort, so this felt good.
(Actually, it didn't cost anything except elbow grease and my elbows were feeling all lubed up!!!squirt, squirt!  want some?)

Now I feel human again...
not like some fiendish old miser hoarding foggy old bottles of questionable liquid,
while waiting for the layers on the floor to get thick enough so it could be packaged into chewing gum!  Mmmmm - imagine the flavour!!!

This is better...shiny, white floor, organized cleaners, and notice the little storage box that I turned on it's side to make a nifty little shelf...oooo...it's good to be clean!  There's no more speckles on the wall from flying potato peels either!

It's your turn!
Find a quick, easy, cheap, fix-it-up, I've-been-meaning-to-do-it-forever project that you can tell us about.  I can't wait to see what you come up with...organize your shoes, sew a curtain, clean your fridge...whatever...DO IT, then tell us about it. 
It will make you feel good, I promise!!!

Oh and by the way, never accept chewing gum from me...you never know where I might have gotten it from!!

Ewwww!

Shine on

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go...
got to get myself ready - today's the day...and here's a quote that I am loving these days...written by Marianne Williamson (in black) with little side comments by me in blue!!

—Marianne Williamson
Our Greatest Fear  (Yes, I do have some fears)

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  (what? oh really, I seem to think I'm pretty inadequate a lot of the time...so you're saying this might call for a change in thinking...)

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  (me, powerful? uhhh...not consciously thinking so...but you're saying maybe deeply, subconsciously...hmmm, interesting idea to consider...)

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.  (I'm afraid of my light? Do I even have a light?  I thought I was afraid of the darkness!)

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,  (Yes, this is when the inadequacies come out again...I do ask myself this... maybe more often than a person should...who am I, who am I to be important, who am I to be brilliant, who am I to be gorgeous...)

talented and fabulous?  (who am I to be talented, who am I to be fabulous...)

Actually, who are you not to be?  (oh, I feel stopped in my tracks now...who am I not to be important, brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?   Good question, why would I not be deserving any more or any less than the next person?)

You are a child of God.  (yes, that's right)

Your playing small does not serve the world.  (right again)

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you.   (eeps, I do shrink, as in hold myself back, restrain myself, worry about everyone else's opinions...a lot of the time...oops!)

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us (definately)

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.  (others are great, yes...yes,)

And as we let our own light shine,  (ahhhh, I do have a light too, don't I?  I need to let it shine brighter, not hide it under excuses - like shyness, or thoughts like "what will they think!")

we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. (I give you permission! You go for it, you shine on, baby!)

As we are liberated from our own fear,  (I do want my fears and insecurities to go away...)

our presence automatically liberates others.  (so I might be able to help someone else feel loved, cared for, appreciated, valued, and as a result, feel free enough and inspired enought to be their own great, brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous selves!) 
—Marianne Williamson

Isn't that a beautiful poem?

Here's hoping that everyone of you can be everything you want to be...and remember, you are already great in my eyes!  Let your beautiful self shine!
I'll try too!  We can do this, if we stick together and encourage each other!

Take a Look

Would you take a good long look at this...it's a nasty, disgusting, rotten, tenacious, thorny weed...(can you feel my annoyance?  my angst?)...that I can't get rid of!

But, on the bright side, just about everything looks good in the light of the setting sun - even this despicable thing...especially after you remember to turn the flash off your camera!
In this first picture, I didn't think to do that because I was so full of rage and irritation, but I calmed down and the flash is off for the rest of them!  The last one is my favorite of this batch.

Look at the size (above) of that fuzzy seed.  It's going to proliferate, as in rapidly reproduce, multiply, propagate and grow abundantly...all over my yard.

Nasty bad thistle.

How dare you raise your big hairy head in my yard?

The only place we otta see that downy fluff is in our pillows!  You're bad, bad, bad!  This pretty summer glow is the only thing that's savin' your butt!  Well, that, and I don't have any gloves at the moment!

Ahhh...much better!  Gives you a peaceful, easy feeling.

Grasses are so lovely...I want more of them...please spread your seed, far and wide, over every hill and vale, mountain and molehill, summit and valley...but, hey, not too distant, no, don't go too far, stay very near to my house...here...right where I can see you!
You can help me choke out the thistles!