Car Talk

My mom was here for Christmas and sent me this cartoon. For those of you that have ever been to my house and seen my garage...you will get this cartoon! for those of you that haven't.....let's just say that my DH is unable to part with any car we have purchased and we own a 3 car garage which is unusable for 2 cars that we drive. 'nuff said.

Happy 12th Birthday, Tessie!

 
She is pretty old, moves slowly, loves the snow-still, hears poorly, sees shortly, tolerates Clancy barely but she is still the same sweet puppy we brought home all those years ago. Happy Birthday Tessie!

Christmas dinner

  
 

I hate to say we had a "young" table and an "old" table but... we used to call it the "adult" table and the "kid" table....Where would you be seated?? The Dining room or the Kitchen? You decide.

Christmas Eve

 
I thought this was a very sweet picture of my mom and her boyfriend. They were taking a break after working hard on crossword puzzles. I wasn't sure how things were going to go when they arrived. My mom kept ringing the doorbell--without her coat on and it was 12 degrees....so she tried the door and couldn't get it open.....then had to walk around the back of the house tapping on the garage windows==which is where my husband was==trying to get someone to let her in! I was here but never heard the doorbell....I assume it was too cold to work!!!!! But once we let her in, we've had a good visit!!! Hope you have a Merry Christmas wherever you are.

Who Knew?

On some Fridays, we go out after work to the bar. We have recently been hitting "dive" bars...and let me tell you....there are a few you wouldn't believe....the American Legion, John's Bar, Jesters....all places I would NEVER enter without a friend or two ...or after dark. Last Friday we went to "Somewhere's"....allegdedly a gay bar but as far as I could tell it wasn't....but we were there in the daylight hours...anyway, on the way to the bathrooms you will find this lovely figurine....I have to tell you....not what I was expecting to see. That is what I call holiday decorating at its best! Who knew they even made such things? not I!!
 

A husband bowling

 
Yes, you saw it right here!!! He IS bowling and with his Santa hat on too!! (Notice the scores....mine says 155 and he ended up with a 134 when he rolled his final ball....)

the last laugh

 

 


My older sister (by 17 months) got Tina and me this pillow a few Christmas's ago. I love it!!! It is such a true statement. Imagine my surprise when I saw Clancy outside having a heyday throwing something up in the air and then catching it and running like a mad dog. When I called him to come in, this is how he looked before he came in. I can't figure out how he got out with it in his mouth. Could it be because I am cleaning (my mother is coming for Christmas) and I just was distracted? hmmm, something to ponder....I digress.....Apparently Clancy has a new toy/pillow now. Sorry Vicki!

Movie night

We had a movie evening on Sunday with another couple. My DH is very agreeable to what I want to see so we picked the new Disney movie, Enchanted, to go and see.
When the movie was over, he leaned over and said to the other husband we were with:
"That was THE BEST movie I have EVER seen. The only thing that would have made that movie better would have been 3 stiff drinks before I went to render me unconscious!"


*sigh* I guess I will have to let him pick the next time.

Ouch!

Apparently I can West African Dance but walking the dogs as they smell goose poop and make a beeline for it is beyond me. When we were taking our walk last night...very late as I worked a very LOONNG day.....Clancy and Simon decided to have a snack of the goose poop on the street. Unfortunately, my legs were in the way and down I went. Even though it is only my little finger I landed on, it was not designed to stop my body from falling...so.....yes it is broken.(There is a perk being married to an orthopeadic surgeon as he could tell me it was broken.....too be fair...so could I!)He does an absolutely fabulous job of taping it up though! Can I tell you how hard it is to type without your left little finger? Who knew I used it that much?

Who needs dancing with the stars?

First, I apologize for the quality of these pictures...the young lady that took them was pretty exhausted and her hands were not that steady!
Yesterday I spent 10 hours in the car with my daughter. She needed a ride home from her excursion to "caving " in Lexington , KY and who but your mother will come 5 hours(one way) to get you when you need a ride? When we got back to her house on campus, I had been in the car almost 10 hours with only a few breaks. My car was VERY aromatic after being with the person who had not had a shower since Thursday. Special memories....those bonding moments between mother and daughter.....but on with the story.
When we got to her house, she suggested that I might be interested in joining her West African Dance Class so I could have some exercise and not fall asleep on my drive home. Well, to be fair, she did not have to try too hard to talk me into doing this. It did sound like fun...I mean, if Jane Seymour can do dancing with the stars why can't I do West African Dancing?
The class lasted for almost two hours and West African Dancing is EXACTLY what you think it is.....lots of drums(these musicians played for almost 2 hours non stop...I have NOTHING but respect for them)and lots of stomping and arm movements. I was the oldest person there by about...well, 20 years easy...and me with my history of dance(ummmm-- that would be NONE.) I danced the entire time....or at least tried to imitate what was being taught. The teacher was very nice to me (very glad to meet Shannon's mum)and even gave me a few one on ones.....I finally told him...you can either have the arms moving the right way OR the feet.... but not both at the same time....and that neck throwing around??? not with this old neck....I'll just keep it in one place...
Two of Shannon's roommates went with and we did have a good time. I guess it goes with out saying that Shannon is very good at this. Her one roommate has done this a lot (she is the one with the wrap skirt on ) and is very good. Her other roommate (in the green tshirt) is just a beginner....but she is waaayy better than I will ever be. I felt kinda sorry for the young lady that had me in her line. She was new and I was absolutely positively not the person to watch for form!
When it was all done and I was ready to go home....I did wonder if I might be sorry I danced straight the whole 2 hours. My mom said that maybe I should have stopped after 45 minutes and my response was heck no I should've stopped after 10 minutes!
So, When I can't move tomorrow, I will remember how much fun I had trying to do the dance steps. I will tell you this....after trying to imitate the moves and lift my feet, stomp my feet -in a rhythm- and move my arms and move my neck all at the same time...I am even MORE impressed with those Dancing with the Stars.....I can also understand how they lose weight! You are too tired to eat when you are done!
Here are a few pictures for you enjoyment...please don't laugh too hard!
Shannon getting ready to dance
 

The drummers, teacher and some of the dancers.


If you can picture me doing this then you have a better imagination than I do!
 

Here I am at the end of class.....they made me go in the middle of the circle and strut my stuff...oh yeah....I had fun.



Did I mention we did this barefoot?....and I got home after midnight?

Happy Turkey Day!

It is Thanksgiving and one of my favorite holidays. It involves cooking, cleaning, eating and visiting. No gifts and good food...how can it not be a favorite of everyone?
We had 28 at our Thanksgiving dinner. No, it was NOT at my house...that will be Christmas for me!...but we were responsible for pies. DH made pecan pies and I made pumpkin pies. They seemed to be a hit. We had visitors from Montreal (his 3rd Thanksgiving...he is really enjoying the food), Sydney, Australia (his first and man was he overwhelmed!), 2 from Busan, South Korea (my foreign exchange daughter and her mother is in for a few weeks....they are old hats at Thanksgiving and they love it as well) and the rest of us were just plain old Americans enjoying the family and food.
Hope your Thanksgiving was as nice as ours.

A great aunt and great nephew

 
Ok...let's start off with a clear understanding...I am only called "great aunt" when "my favorite" is put in front of it.

A visit to Australia

One of the things I love about the City Daily Photo Blog is I find stuff like this. You will enjoy this I'm sure!

An Observation

"A man's wife has more power over him than the state has." - Ralph Waldo Emerson (attributed)
I was visiting at one of my City Daily Photo Bloggers(Hyderabad) and he had this quote on his blog. This quote reminded me of a conversation I had with a coworker last week. I was chatting with a new fellow co worker and he was beside himself. I asked him why and he said his good friend had just gotten engaged. I thought this should be happy news....he gasped and went on a rant like no other about how boring his friend's fiance was, and how this was only his second girlfriend and what could he be thinking? etc etc. He was quite upset...AND he was annoyed he had been told in an email. Well, if you think I didn't point out to him that he better make nice with the fiance you would be wrong. I tried to tell him that this young lady will hold more power over his friend than all the ranting and raving he was doing and planning on doing. I also mentioned that if he ever wanted to see his friend he darn will better make nice with the fiance and keep his opinions about her to himself. It's not as if HE is marrying her. Somehow I don't think he believes me. He is positive he can change this friend's mind about marrying. I don't think so ....not unless my coworker has more sway over him than the person his friend is in love with (or sleeping with). I have a feeling that this friend will be a past friend because who really wants to hear how awful the person you just asked to marry you is from someone you were delighted to tell you were engaged? And if his only complaint is that He finds the friend's fiance boring...well,,,he isn't marrying her.
AHhhh to be young and stupid and sanctimoiusly right all the time....
(Did I just describe most of us as one time or another? lol)
Too bad I couldn't remember this quote then....as if he would have heard it!

A walk down memory lane

 
I am a reader. I work in a library and I love books. This book came across my desk and I wasn't too impressed at first. Then I started to page through it just to see what kind of a book it was and my memory was jogged. I had heard this author interviewed on NPR and remembered thinking that I should write that book down as I will never remember it because it sounded very intriguing...and I didn't remember it until I saw this! If you ever read a Nancy Drew mystery or a Cherry Ames, student nurse book, you will LOVE this book. It is a parody and I couldn't put it down. It brought back so many memories of me reading as a kid and teen. I could (and still can) get lost in a good book. I could have a book blog AND a dog blog!(but where would I find the time? I find that my reading time is shared with my blogging time so I am behind in my books!) If you are looking for a quick read(this is not very long) and want a laugh.. this is the book for you. Let me know what you think!

Welcome Baby!

Another birthday to add to the calendar! It is a busy month for birthdays and now they are continuing into Nov. My husband's niece just had a baby today (her second) so now he has a new great nephew. He has a great niece and now a great nephew...he is ahead by one as I only have a great nephew so far. Congratulations on the new addition!

Happy Birthday, Darling hubby!

 
Who knew Halloween could be so special....besides the trick or treating? Hope you have a great day, darling!

Meet Simon!

 
Clancy and Tessie have a new brother, Simon.....Simon is an English pointer mix and he has come to live with us (I know, I am turning into one of THOSE kinds of people!). I have inherited Simon from a good friend's niece. He has been here before and I knew he was a good dog....I am sure Clancy will have a great time trying to "turn him to the dark side". For those of you that know Maddy....isn't this what she would look like if she were #1 a boy and #2 huge.?! My eldest son is wondering why I wanted to try and kill Clancy with Play exhaustion. These 2 play constantly together. Tessie, on the other hand, would jump for joy- if she could get her hips to move- that Clancy now has someone else to torture!
This is what they do pretty much all day long.
 

Happy 30th Birthday Tommy!

 
ok ok, I will never get around to calling you "Tom". You will always be "Tommy " to me. You are a wonderful nephew and even though you are making me feel old by turning 30, you are awesome. You had the good taste to bring Becky into our family and now the one and only great nephew who couldn't be cuter. Hope your day was happy and aren't you glad I had the good sense to have Shannon on your birthday? What better present than a girl cousin? lol

(I know I am a day late but I wanted you to have top billing on the blog as you are older)!!

Happy Birthday, Shannon!

 

Both of these pictures catch the essence of your personality. Hope you have a great day! Love from the mothership.

Happy Birthday, Jeffrey!!

Happy birthday, from your loving aunt. I remember you coming up with Papaw and not liking my cooking....too healthy for you and anxiously looking forward to your McDonald's meal with Papaw....and your brothers.....I'm glad you came to visit in spite of my cooking!!!

UFO

 

Can you see the 2 fighter planes that did a fly by at the University of Illinois and University of Michigan game last night? Nah, neither can I....guess I need to do some work on night photography....but let me be the first to tell you that they were moving pretty fast!! If you enlarge this, you can see some redlights on the right hand side next to the thing that might be a moon......the lights on the wings..... Here are some pictures of the band...which is awesome...at the start of the game..... the teams come in running with their school flags......the cheerleaders do push ups(guys) and back flips(girls) every time the team makes a touchdown...enlarge the photo to see it all.
 

Fall Colors

 

I wish I had thought to have the husband put in some fall colors like this at our house.....now....almost too late....winter will be here pretty soon.....this was taken at the Morten Arboretum. I have this posted here as well...

Blog Action Day

Think globally, shop locally

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

Blog Action Day is about MASS participation. That means we need you! Here are 3 ways to participate:

* Post on your blog relating to the environment on Blog Action Day
* Donate your day’s earnings to an environmental charity
* Promote Blog Action Day around the web

Lots of our stuff ends up in landfills. While we were out on Saturday, we saw the above sign, made by some girl scouts. I think this qualifies as an environmental issue. I would love for everyone to be on board environmentally. This is what the girl scouts made out of their old stuff.
 

College visit

My Motherinlaw is an amazing woman. Besides having had 10 children and keeping good tabs on all of them...she has 22 grandchildren that she really keeps up with. She also drives everywhere she can....She is 87 and is in full, complete possession of her mind and body---well, she is a bit deaf(don't laugh, in laws, I KNOW she is more than a BIT deaf) but she refuses to wear hearing aids. When asked why? she says she doesn't want to look old. When you get your laughter under control, feel assured that I asked her that if you aren't old at 87 when are you old? and she responded.....anyone 10 years older than I am is old. Ok, having said that, she was driving back from Arkansas and she decided to stop and visit one of her granddaughter's(my daughter) at college as she was driving back to Chicago. She arrived at my daughter's house at 10:45 PM where they fixed her something to eat(she lives in a Vegetarian co-op), showed her around the place (13 people live there), made sure her car was parked in an area it wouldn't get towed(you know how police in college towns are), visited with the granddaughter and her roommates and then drove 3 hours home. Not only were her roommates impressed that she came for a visit, they couldn't believe she was going to drive 3 hours home at such a late time of the night....Like I said....she is an amazing woman.

Two girl cousins

 
It is always so great to see 2 of the girl cousins together. These 2 love to get together but it doesn't happen very often as one of them lives in Hong Kong....The one in flip flops is mine and the other is my (husband's) niece...

Why I should never leave home

My husband and I have this "thing"...ok ...not a rule but an agreement.....
I take care of the inside of the house and he takes care of the outside....
not as clear cut as that..there are exceptions....for instance...
he plants the garden and I weed. I plant the flowers...I weed. I want a room painted inside...his job...I need something repaired inside(garbage disposal, leaking faucet.) his job.
So.....yesterday I went to see a University of Illinois football game with a friend who had an extra ticket...I only do this in order to see my daughter and take her to dinner....not a big fan of ANY sport but it is fun to go with my friend and we enjoy the ride down and back....as I come into the kitchen, I notice it looks strange out of my window.
Apparently when asked "how I like that crab apple tree with the diseased leaves" and I responded.."I really like it...just spray it to get rid of the disease" translated to my darling husband as
CUT IT DOWN

I guess I can't leave home again.....until we are REALLY clear on whose job is whose and what I REALLY meant.

Happy Birthday, Clancy!!!

 

It's Clancy's first birthday and he has a LOT to celebrate. He passed his CGC class!!!!!(Translation......Canine Good Citizen class). This means he did 10 things he was supposed to do....sit when a stranger comes up to you, sit while a stranger pets him, grooms him....walks on a leash without pulling, doesn't sniff other dogs when we pass them in the street(without permission), sits and stays, down and stay, comes when called(ok --I thought he would flunk right about here...but he THRIVES on working in the classroom), can be left with a stranger for 5 minutes without barking, pulling, jumping or being a nuisance and plays well with other dogs....this is the first step in his becoming a therapy dog. They(dog trainers in my most recent classes with him) think that with his exuberant personality he is a good dog to go to visit in nursing homes (no fear of wheelchairs or so they think)....I'm still on the fence about that but so far so good!
He received a scarf(shown) and he had a birthday hat and a new stuffed, squeaky toy. All in all, a good day for him!

A nice Italian lunch

 
I went to visit my daughter at college and her friend from grade school was visiting as well. While the football team (Illini) won against a ranked team (Penn State), we were enjoying a bottle of wine and good food and company.