One Dog Night

Neither of us have had a house dog before but our dog Rico has evolved into one this winter. Usually our dogs live outside but with the neighbors little dog "Sir Barksalot" and Rico barking back & forth at each other in the wee morning hours, I had hubbie start bringing Rico into his kennel in the house when he left for work. Then came one of many cold snaps of the winter and before we knew it, Rico was a house dog.

He is such a joy to have around and I've discovered the bonus of having a German Shepherd sized furnace laying next to me in bed in the winter. Hubbie doesn't like it though because Rico tends to push at him with his paws. I think he's trying to kick hubbie out of our bed. Rico is now banned to the floor, at least until they come up with a bed bigger than a king size. Maybe our next dog will have to be a cross between a German Shepherd and a Corgi - big dog, short legs.

The Luckiest by Ben Folds

No, I'm the luckiest. :P
For my honey...

Lyrics: The Luckiest by Ben Folds

I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I'd been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

Happy Valentine's Day

Celebrate...

The Guessing Game

I got an email today from hubbie. I knew I was in for it when I saw the word in the subject of the email, "surprise." The email read, "I've got a surprise for you in my car. I hope you like it. If not I'll take it back. P.S. it's red!" He does this to torture me, I know it. I could almost hear his evil laugh as he hit the send key. OK, I wasn't that busy so let the guessing game begin.

Having been married to each other for 19 years and 126 days, you get to know each other pretty good. Sometimes we know each other so good it's practically at the level of ESP. We frequently will find ourselves saying "you read my mind" or "get out of my brain." This skill has helped me advance my guessing game skills, at least with him anyways.

I hit reply to the email and started thinking of the questions I needed to ask. I came up with:
Does it float?
Is it fun?
Is it dull?
Does it involve work?
Is it bigger than a breadbox?
He replied, "Put it a boat and it will float. Fun factor from a one to a ten, I'll give it a 2. It is dull, I think you'd have a hard time cutting yourself. I would say it's going to be more relaxing than work and we can both use it at the same time! And for your last question, yep."

It was my turn for the evil laugh. I knew what it was almost right away. I replied, "Is it from Nancy?" I don't think it was 30 seconds after I hit send that my phone started blaring out the song "Love Shack" (his ringtone). I answered the phone with "Am I good or what?"

A couple of years ago he brought home a beautiful set of bedding for our king size bed (comforter, skirt and pillow shams.) Nancy, the department secretary was redecorating and was getting rid of it. It was in perfect shape and a much nicer quality set than I would ever purchase. I think we sent some ESP waves to Nancy because about 3 weeks ago we were changing the bedding and I said, "Isn't it about time for Nancy to redecorate again?" I wonder if at that instant she decided she was tired of the red set?

The Hawaii Chair

Well it's about darn time someone made this working out thing easy. I'm ready to jump on the Hawaii Chair craze. What is this you ask? Just watch...




Even Ellen Degeneres is jumping on board...





They say laughing burns lots of calories.

2008 Hudson Hot Air Affair

Hubbie & I have been volunteers for the Hudson Hot Air Affair for the past 7 years. The balloons took off on Saturday morning but the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning flights were called due to poor visibility. Hubbie flew two school teachers from the Hudson area schools and had a good landing in someone's back yard. Saturday night a handful of balloons inflated for the moon glow. It was a bit on the breezy side as Hubbie's sister and I soon discovered while trying to hold on to a flopping 7 story balloon by a rope connected to the top of the balloon (crown line). It took two of us skiing across the snow covered field more than once. A fun weekend!

Here's a short video taken by Roger Bindl of HEM Productions. I met him this weekend.




Some great photos taken by Dave Parker here.

You Know It's Cold When...

...the salt you threw on the sheet of ice by the door just sits there...mockingly...on top of the ice...not melting the ice...for two days.

...the first inhale through your nose instantly freezes up the nose hairs and feels like something is pinching your nose. I think if my nose hairs could talk they would be screaming "Holy crap...make a run for the brain! It's warm in there!"

...the dog is VERY quick about doing his business outdoors. No dilly-dallying around looking for the perfect spot.

...gloves don't cut it - must have wooly mittens.

...the scarf and stocking cap stay on once inside the house. (Especially when your house was built in 1896.)

...the hairdryer is shoved into a little hole in the floor to thaw out the water lines to the bathroom sink.

...the house makes strange, cracking noises in the late night. Then you see the crack...in the bathroom wall...in the middle of a piece of sheetrock. (Especially when your house was built in 1896.)

...you haven't seen a bird fly by all day. How those little bird legs don't freeze up and shatter like glass is beyond me.

...you can't stop thinking about the winter you went to Florida from frigid temps and mittens in the morning to an evening sitting in the pool looking at the full moon through the palm trees.

January is done...February's a short month...end of March will bring relief. C'mon spring!

The Onion - Ninja Parade

I love The Onion...


Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again

Practically Hibernating

The hubbie's parents gave us an electric blanket for Christmas this year. We finally got it assembled and put on the bed Saturday night. It has individual controllers and we turned it on and snuggled in for a cozy sleep. Typical Sunday, we slept in. Later I mentioned to hubbie that I noticed the blanket had shut off on it's own sometime during the night. He said he noticed too and had read something about an automatic shut-off on the packaging. I went upstairs to read the book and found out "after 10 hours, the power to the electric blanket will turn off." Oops, guess we're not supposed to sleep more than 10 hours. Come on folks, it's the dead of winter. We're practically hibernating up here in the great white north! Well, at least on the weekends anyway. Next weekend we'll have to set the alarm clock for 10 hours after we go to bed, wake up, turn the alarm clock off, turn the blanket back on and go back to sleep. Boy, being lazy is sure hard work!

Bad Passenger

I am a total paranoid freakazoid when riding as a passenger in a vehicle. After a 45 mile ride home tonight with a friend, I will try to be the driver on our excursions from now on. She had me grabbing the dashboard more than once while gabbing away and crossing the line on to the shoulder of the road. I am probably a bit over the top with my paranoia but it's something I can't seem to control. Just ask the hubbie. He swears he could drive with his eyes closed and just wait for my gasps of air before opening his eyes to make a correction. It's like an automatic reaction, like a knee jerking at the tap of a doctors mallet.

I can pinpoint at what point this disorder began. It wasn't the first car accident. In that one I came over a blind hill on a freeway only to discover a line up of stopped cars. I was able to slam on the brakes and stop in time but, unfortunately, the guy behind me wasn't able to stop before hitting my rear end. Nope, that wasn't the turning point. It was the next one. I was driving along one summer day with the windows open and a small plastic bag started moving around so I reached to grab it. In that split second of moving my attention from the road, I kept driving straight but the road was curving. I hit the gravel on the shoulder of the road, reacted by over-correcting the turn and landed head-on into a guard rail on the other side of the road. I wasn't hurt but the car was buggered up pretty good. That was the turning point. A great big dose of realization of my own mortality and how things can go bad in a blink of an eye, or the grab of a flying bag. It turned on an unhealthy switch of fear in me. It was reinforced a few years later when trying to get home on the icy freeway, and did a 360 degree spin in the middle of the road with my young nephew in the car beside me. Of course he thought it was cool but I was mortified until he was safely home.

I wish I could ride with someone without watching the road more than they do. Most times I feel I might as well be driving as much as I'm working at it as a passenger. I wish I could ride with my hubbie without barking at him when he does something unsafe. Of course my unsafe and his unsafe are two different stories. You'd think I could trust his driving prowess after he's done the 100-mile-a-day commute for the past 20-something years with only one icy road slide into the ditch. I'm sure he wishes the same thing.