More Meme Madness....

There’s no question that I love meme’s!! First of all, they give me something to write about when I’m stumped – or when I’m feeling lazy and don’t want to think hard enough to come up with a reasonably clever topic. Also, I like reading them when they’re posted by my blog buddies because they help me get to know you a little better. I stole this one from Miscellanea (thanks Kathy). It was particularly hard for me though – really made me use my noodle. You try coming up with the right answers when they have to start with Z. People with names like Ann have it easy.

Ann and Andy are archeologists and wear apricot aprons while allowing apple martinis to be abandoned in the abbey.

The object is to answer each question, The catch is the answer must start with the same letter as your name. So here goes:

1. What is your name? Zan
2. A four-letter word: zany
3. A boy's name: Zeus
4. A girl's name: Zena
5. An occupation: zeppelin pilot or zookeeper
6. A color: zebra striped (OK I’m stretching it – you think of a z color)
7. Something you wear: zinnias - you know –flowers in your hair
8. A food: zucchini
9. Something found in the bathroom: zinc oxide
10. A place: Zululand
11. A reason for being late: zipped past your street
12. Something you shout: Zounds!
13. A movie title: “Z”
14. Something you drink: Zinfandel
15. A musical group: ZZ Top
16. An animal: zebra (OK I cheated and used zebra twice - you think of another animal that starts with a z)
17. A street name: Zephyr Way
18. A type of car: Zimmer
19. The title of a song: Zipity Do Dah
20. A verb: zoom

If you read this, and feel like continuing to spread this particular meme virus, have at it!

Memory Maelstorm.....

I was tagged by the Greytblackdog to post the 6^th picture in my 6^th picture folder and explain it. Since I was already tagged with that meme a while back, I won’t repeat myself, but the tag did get me started looking back at old pictures. Not too long ago, Wheeler’s English teacher gave them what I thought was a kind of interesting homework assignment. They had to find an old picture of themselves and write about what they were thinking and feeling when the photo was taken. Since the pictures that they had to choose from were very old, I don’t think any of them could really remember what they were feeling. In fact, Wheeler said it was more like writing about a complete stranger.

I decided that this exercise might make an interesting blog post, or at least might be fun for me. Of course, I’ve never been one to follow rules – and besides, since I’m almost always the one who pulls out the camera, there are very, very few photos with me actually in the pictures. I decided to make my own rules, pick one of my favorites, and write about what I was feeling when I took it.

During the summer of 2007, we took our first ever long vacation – a two and a half week road trip up the Pacific coast. We started in San Francisco and ended up in Seattle. To add to the excitement, in addition to Wheeler, two of my nieces, Amanda and Alexandra, came along.

This picture was taken while sailing on a catamaran in San Francisco Bay our first day there. We’d gotten up at the crack of dawn and taken an 8AM flight and were sailing by that afternoon. What could be better? We were all excited about our trip – on the first day it felt like we had all the time in the world. Everyone was tired, but very pumped. I guess if I had to write a caption for the photo, it might be “Anticipation!”

I really tried to choose only one pic from that trip (see I can’t even follow my own rules,) but I couldn’t resist including this shot of the kids acting like total tourists and hanging off a cable car. Goofy and touristy – absolutely – but we were just having so much fun!! The picture was taken the day after the silliness on the sailboat. That trip shaped up to be more fun that we ever expected and I wish we could go on just such an odyssey every year!

I had so much fun taking a trip down memory lane, I think I’ll pull out old pics and subject you to them from time to time.

Rain Drops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens, These Are A Few of My Favorite Things.....Memed Again...

Alex at Hope and Greyz posted this meme on her blog and tagged anyone interested to respond and pass the meme along. I love this sort of thing; it sort of lets me get to know myself better while I’m learning about my fellow bloggers. So here goes:

1) LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATRE? Sadly, I can’t remember. We watch tons of movies on DVD though. We’ve been on an old (or old to Wheeler) war movie jag lately and watched Platoon last Friday. We try to watch a movie as a family once a week when we can and try to appeal to teen boy tastes. He complains about having to hang out with us, but usually ends up enjoying the flick if I’ve picked well. Platoon had just enough explosive stuff to keep him interested.

2) WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? At the moment Marley and Me is accompanying me to wrestling matches to fill in the copious waiting time between matches. I’m also reading Harvesting the Heart, and a travel guide for Washington, DC.

3) FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Monopoly or Risk

4) FAVORITE MAGAZINE? Hmmm, I guess ”Whole Dog Journal.” Does that count?

5) FAVORITE SMELLS? Freshly cut grass, the air after a spring rain, popcorn, campfires, puppy breath

6) FAVORITE SOUNDS? Waves crashing on the beach, gulls calling, rain falling on a tin roof

7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD? That punch in the gut feeling you get when you see you child hurt

8 ) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK WHEN YOU FIRST WAKE UP? Is it morning already? Can I hit snooze at least once and still get Wheeler to school on time?

9) FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE? Willy’s

10) FUTURE CHILD’S NAME? Too late for more now!!

11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT—IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D....give more to charity.

12) DO YOU DRIVE FAST? Probably

13) DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? No, but one of my dogs sleeps on the foot of the bed. Does that count?

14) STORMS–COOL OR SCARY? Cool- I love watching thunderstorms over the ocean.

15) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? A ‘66 Chevrolet Impala in a stunning aqua color

16) FAVORITE DRINK? Dirty Martini, Woodford Reserve (bourbon) straight up, hot chocolate

17) FINISH THIS STATEMENT - IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD...be way more organized

18 ) DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI? Yes

19) IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE? Ummm, I do color my hair and I guess I do dye it the color I want.

20) NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN? My list is very boring and quite short. Atlanta, GA and Nashville, TN(only if college counts)

21) FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Gymnastics, diving, and baseball if I’m at the game

22) ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Greyhound lover, great mom, and sculptor extraordinaire!!

23) WHATS UNDER YOUR BED? Dog and cat hair – and the pump for my air bed (which I love)

24) WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN? Sure, why not. Who else could I be?

25) MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL? Night owl – definitely!!

26) OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP? Neither – omelet please

27) FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX? My big leather chair with ottoman in my family room

28 ) FAVORITE PIE? Are there any I don’t like?

29) FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Mint chocolate chip

If you’re still with me and want to participate, consider yourself tagged. If you get a chance, leave me a comment telling me that you got the tag and responded. I don’t want to miss your answers!!

This post is About Nothing.......

I’ve been very quiet lately. It’s amazing how much time blogging takes up…and that’s without ever actually posting anything. I am working on a real post, but I keep getting sidetracked playing with my blog. I know it sounds crazy, but I wanted more words and less blank space on the page. I also wanted a signature. Once I added to the wish list a snazzy banner (still haven’t figured out how to achieve that goal to my satisfaction) I managed to burn up a whole lot of time accomplishing a whole lot of nothing. Actually I’ve had fun playing around with the html code, but I still have a lot to learn. I guess it’s the modern version of tinkering around under the hood of a car except you get to keep your hands clean.

Meanwhile, I’ll bore you with a couple of kitty Christmas pictures, just because I think they’re cute. Zach is the orange tabby and Harry is the flame point siamesish kitty.

See, I warned you that this post is about nothing....

I'm an Airhead and a Spendthrift......

I feel like a complete idiot. Why you ask am I making such a broad self depreciating statement? Well stick around a minute and I’ll tell you, but first I need to fill you in on a little background.

Last night Wheeler came home from wrestling practice and headed upstairs for his usual long teenager shower. Those of you with teen know what I mean. When he finished we ate dinner and then I washed the dishes. OK nothing unusual yet. I found that no matter how long I let the water run, it never warmed up. At the time, I thought Wheels had used all the hot water and chalked dishes washed in cold water up to living in the house with a teen aged boy.

Fast forward to bed time. As I ran the water to warm it up so I could wash my face, I discovered, yep you guessed it, still no hot water. A trip to the basement revealed the pilot light was out. OK, no biggy, I can light a pilot light. I’ve done so before, although not on this particular appliance. In fact, in my younger days I lived in a apartment with only a gas space heater and a stick to control the temperature. If I’d waited for the maintenance guy to light the pilot light in the fall, I’d have frozen to death. But I digress; back to the story at hand. It was late, I was tired, and apparently uncoordinated. After some cussing, I decided that something was in fact really wrong with my 4 year old hot water heater as the stupid thing wouldn’t light and stay lit.

Fast forward to this morning. Yep, you guessed right again, I just paid a plumber $175 to light my hot water heater's pilot light. I still don’t know why it went out. The plumber was a nice guy and tried to make me feel less like a dumb ass. Why it wouldn’t light for me I'll never know and I could kick myself for not trying again after a good night sleep. So now can you see why I feel like a complete idiot?!?

Back to Normal

The holidays are over for another year – thank god ! The decorations are down and safely packed away except for the wreath hanging on the garage that requires two people and the ladder to take down. I’m going to tackle it by myself anyway if I can’t enlist aid before the week-end. It’s driving me nuts!! I thought the holidays had left me with lots of blog fodder, but every time a start a post I end up deleting it as it sounds whiny or stupid or something. Oops!! See I’m starting to sound whiny – sorry :-)!!

It’s been wet and rainy here, between that and holiday obligations, the hounds and I've sort of gotten off schedule with our daily walks. Today the rain has finally given way to a semi sunny blustery day, so we set out for a good long tromp in the park. Rosie was, as usual, overly exuberant for about the first mile, then settled down once the excitement of being out walking and smelling the smells wore off. Blustery days are always fun. My guys are not only interested in the stray squirrels, but blowing leaves are also fodder for a second or third look.

It’s always interesting to watch people walking in the park. Most folks are just trying to get some exercise in a place where they don’t have to constantly worry about being hit by a speeding car. You pretty much see the same people every day. There are the friendly people who obliviously consider their daily walk a social event. We’ve made friends with several of them over the years. One older couple doesn’t have any pups of their own anymore. They travel a lot and have moved into a small condo, but always carry dogs treats and love seeing and loving on friendly pups. It’s amazing how much you learn about people after years of quick park conversations. I’ve come to expect seeing these folks, and miss them when they aren’t around.

There are also the people who walk on the wrong side of the trail. Instead of keeping right, they keep left. I never know quite which side to pass them on. Are they refugees from the UK and just haven’t noticed that the convention here is to keep right? Not that it really matters where they walk, it just sometimes make for confusing meetings – kind of an I go right, you go left, – oops sorry, do- si- do dance. I guess you could call them the rebels of the trail ;-)!

There’s lots of interesting wildlife also and our park by the river attracts birdwatchers. I don’t know a finch from a sparrow, but most of the hard core bird watchers are willing to tell you what they’ve seen and when. I met a guy last fall who made it all sound so interesting I resolved to get a book and do some bird spying. I haven’t actually done it, but he convinced me that someday I might like IDing some birds myself.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this little essay. I guess the point is reflected in the title of this post. Holidays are always fun. I get to go to several parties and catch up with folks I only see once a year. I feel popular because my mailbox fills up with greeting cards and the house feels all festive decked out in Christmas colors. But at the end of it all, it’s really nice when everything gets back to normal and I have time to walk in the park with my pups. See how happy they look all tuckered out after their outing!!

Edited because I posted the wrong picture of Nick

Photo Tag - I'm It!!

I was tagged by Hiking Hounds to post the 6th picture in my 6th photo folder, explain it, and tag six other bloggers to do the same - so here goes. This is a picture of Rosie sitting in what she likes to think is "her" chair.

I tag the following:

Hope and Greyz
Confessions of a Trophy Wife
Halfway Home Hounds
In Patti's Place
Whirred Up
Hillbilly Heaven