My Own "Celebrity" Playlist

Jon is all kinds of jealous because his friend Dan (whose house we're visiting, conveniently, for the Super Bowl) just got his 62" DLP TV. And Mary & Norm got a new DVR HD receiver for their digital cable. Gosh, we're so behind the times! We have a plain old 36" TV and no HD or DVR. Poor, miserable us. Obviously, we're big proponents of technology. We love it; gotta have it. Just how many computers do we have sitting around? I have two in front of me right now and Jon's sitting behind me with his laptop. And then there's the old laptop that's over on the bookshelf beside me. And we actually donated at least three the last time we went to Goodwill in State College before the move to GA. Now, I just wish I could get my Dad in on the craze. Dad, you CAN do it. Everyone... please take a moment to give my Dad props... he has an e-mail address!

Anyway, so I spent a lot of time being entertained today by the Celebrity Playlists in iTunes. Then, I thought, I wonder what I would put on my playlist if I had to limit it to a reasonable number of songs (as opposed to the 8100+ that are currently in the iPod or even the 200 on my Napster playlist). I decided to go with 21 (why 21? because 20 just wasn't enough). I know you don't care, but it was fun for me... so if you're so inclined, go ahead and skip over the playlist & go straight to the pics.

Billie Myers "Kiss the Rain" - My "turn-it-up" song. I hear the first chord, and I'm like… ahhhhhh…
Edwin McCain "Guinevere" - My driving song (and album). Love the whole album "Honor Among Thieves"
DMB "Stay" - My "watch Heidi airdrum like Rufus used to" song. Now, I've just gotta get me an orange BMW and some wooden bead taxicab seat covers. Those were great times, weren't they?!?!?!
EWF "In the Stone" - Gotta have a UNC MTH song in there… and this is by far the best (except for the whole Circus show, but you can't put ludicrous drill into your iPod)
Weird Al "You Don't Love Me Anymore" - "Our" song - you won't get it; don't even try.
Murphy Lee, Nelly & P Diddy "Shake Ya Tailfeather" - Makes me want to, well, shake my tailfeather… to the beat of the Seminole/Braves chant
Katrina & the Waves "Walkin' On Sunshine" - This is my feel-good, gotta-get-happy anthem ... and the reason sunshines are my thing.
Anything by John Mayer - Just about my favorite artist going. He knows me SO well. Pretty sure he has a hidden camera.
Alison Krauss "When You Say Nothing At All" - I could put a couple other Alison songs on the list, but this was the very first Alison song I heard… and it made me absolutely fall in love with her voice.
Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar On Me" - Can't help it. Love the '80s, and this album in particular. It's another one of my fave driving albums. Can always count on it to wake me up during a sleepy nighttime drive (mainly b/c I sing along at the top of my lungs, but you don't need to know that!).
Sting "All Four Seasons" - "Mercury Falling" is a staple (for me, at least). Love the unorthodox time signatures on several of these songs. Of course, if you know the song & you know me, it's pretty obvious why I would pick this song to put on my playlist, though.
Jann Arden "Gasoline" - I can sing along to any song on the whole "Living Under June" album. But this one has my favorite lyric (mentioned in a previous post... "hold out your heart and on it let the sun shine down").
The Jeff Healey Band "Angel Eyes" - My favorite on "From the Heart, Vol. 5"… which was a must-have in my teenage & college years. Went to sleep by this album many nights. Compilation albums are so funny... and silly!
Third Eye Blind "Narcolepsy" - I'm so tempted, just because of my memories of Chris in St. Louis, to include Semi-Charmed Life as my Third Eye Blind "pick"; but Narcolepsy is my fave from their self-titled album (which was the best, hands down). It's just so unconventional.
Van Morrison "Brown-Eyed Girl" - Umm... Because it's me.
James Taylor "Carolina In My Mind" - The MUST have for all Heels. Among other things, reminds me of CTOPS... which was pretty awful... but it's funny that I developed a crush on Jimmy there, who later became a good friend (well, good friend of a great friend) .
Bon Jovi "Livin' on a Prayer" - The ONLY choice if you're at a Karoake bar in Philly (or anywhere else, for that matter). Right, Camille?
Simon & Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" - Will always always always be one of my faves. You're never wrong.
Steven Curtis Chapman "The Mountain" - How many times can you listen to one cd before you OD on it? Haley and I pretty much wore "Heaven in the Real World" out on the way to school every morning.
Indigo Girls "Romeo & Juliet" - "Teaming" up with Cara started me on the Indigo Girls. Now, I can't stop. This is a "must have" song.
Scarlett O' "Independent Love Song" - From the soundtrack of "Bed of Roses"... of course.
Honorable Mentions: Sugarland, Trapt, Rascal Flatts, Damien Rice, Faith Hill, Maroon 5, Little Texas, Joss Stone, Sweet Little Dolly, Jeff Buckley, Conway, Incubus, and probably hundred of others that I just can't think of at the moment (which I'm sure most of you are thrilled about).

So, I dug into the files for a few fun photos tonight. These first few were at Jon's cousin's wedding. It had a renaissance theme (thus, the apparel). The first two were on the day of the actual event. The third is the family at the rehearsal dinner.

















And finally (sorry, no doggies tonight... I've had my fill of writing about/posting picture of them for the moment), I figure I owe you guys one of what I actually look like now (if it's been a while since we've seen each other). And although I have to cringe when I upload it (why is it that I think most pictures of myself are terrible?... oh well, I think this one's at least bearable), I'm gonna. This is me in my "office"... just before we went to eat Japanese @ Nikko's this past Friday evening. See the messy bookshelves? Anyone have any suggestions for how to organize them? Dewey Decimal to the rescue!

Gotta love those weekends

Over the weekend, we try to give the doggies a few extra hours of outside time (seeing as how we work during most of the daylight hours of weekdays). As I've mentioned before, Jon likes to take 'em down to the lake where he can take them off-leash and let them run around the long grass and lake beach. Boy, did they have fun yesterday! Sorry for making this mostly a pic-post, but they were just so funny.










It was so much fun (and just so darn tiring), Kona just had to sack out on the sofa afterward!

Okay, so I still want to learn to shoot like Wes Miller. But most of ALL, I want Ivory Latta to teach me how to do EVERYTHING. Is she SuperWoman or what??? Love those Lady Heels! Sure am enjoying the Dook/UNC game. How'd they dig themselves a double-digit hole in the 1st half??? Oh well, they sure did play a good ketchup 2nd half! C'mon Heels!!!

Have a great Sunday night... too quickly, it's over and it's back-to-the-grind Monday.

Escape!

Let me just start by saying that Kona will no longer be known by the moniker The Smart One. Last night, she forfeited her rights to that name. So, we tried to go to bed at about 11:00. And you know how I wrote yesterday about knowing better than letting them sleep in the evenings? Yes, see? I knew. I knew exactly. So, of course, Coop & Kona couldn't/wouldn't go to sleep. They were up playing, eating, running around, etc. And Kona started scratching on the door (to go outside) at about 11:30. Usually, if you ignore her and she doesn't have to go, she'll stop. But she kept up the scratching for about an hour, until I had finally had enough (Jon was snoring away, so it was up to me). Let me take a moment here to say that usually, at night (when it's dark), the dogs don't run very far at all, so we're fairly comfortable letting them out off the leash. Well, Jon is. And it was 12:30, so I thought, what the heck. It all started out well enough. She did need to go and she went immediately. But then she decided to sniff around in the lot next door. And Cooper, being the follower that he is, followed. Then, all of a sudden, I hear this commotion of barking & snarling & such.

Anyway, here's a pic of what the lot next door looks like. (The small roof at the back of their lot is the dog pen when dogs bark, growl, snarl and such.) Can you guess where they ended up?

Yep, behind the fence in our neighbors' back yard. HOW did she get back there? NOT A FREAKIN' CLUE. All of a sudden, Cooper comes running back to our yard... and I'm thinking, well, maybe they didn't get into their back yard. But there's no Kona to be found. Anywhere.

So, I started over to the last place I saw her (beside/behind the fence). I figured since I assumed she was inside the fence, I would start near their house and work my way around. So, I leaned in to see if I could catch a glimpse of what was behind the fence... and sure enough, there's my little "Smart One". I walked the whole perimeter of that fence (of course, it was dark outside, so I may have missed something), but I did not find ONE place where they could've breached the perimeter.

Seeing as how I couldn't figure out what to do (being the helpless woman and all), I went home and woke Jon up. I thought at least he could see over the fence, and if anybody was going to be waking our neighbors up at 1:00 am, it was definitely going to be him. So, Jon went to try to retrieve the dog from Boo Radley's yard. He could peer over & see Kona; he could reach under and feel her; and she could see & feel him... and that made her extremely anxious to get out. She started scratching and digging. Meanwhile, Coop is freaking out back at home. Even though they fight constantly, he was genuinely worried about his sister!

Anyway, long story short... Jon is evidently quite adept at breaking and entering. He found a latch on the inside of a gate somewhere and was able to set her free. No more leash-free walks for The Smart One, oh no. It's over, my furry little friend. You can't handle your freedom, girl.

The Culinary Arts

Okay, so I'm not a cook. But I do try periodically. I made Mom's poppyseed chicken casserole tonight (I know, Mom, it's not really yours; but that's how I know it). It was great. So, my question is what makes it good tonight and marginal the next time I make it? Do I do something different? I don't think so... but food is so temperamental when I'm making it. How is it that Sonic's hamburger tastes the same every time, but my chicken casserole is different every time? Well, Jon says when he gets everything else done, he's going to culinary school anyway... so I can just hang up the oven mitt!

I guess I've always just assumed the poppyseed chicken casserole was a family thing. Today (after Jon asked what was for dinner & I realized, once again, that I could only offer him my 2-3 dish repertoire), I decided to spend a little time looking through the Dinner Doctor cookbook. (I love it, by the way, Mary. Sorry I haven't looked at it before now! But I'm going to try several of them next week.) And, guess what I found??? Of course, poppyseed chicken casserole!! It was the same recipe too... with one difference... hers adds some Uncle Ben's rice. Weird, huh? So, speaking of cooking... we have actually had home-cooked meals this week. (Some of Jon's colleagues at GSU asked him at some point if I was in town for a while. When he said yes, they mentioned that they bet he was happy he would get some good home cooked meals for a while. Ha!) Anyway, so, chicken cattiatore, steaks, and chicken casserole. Thank goodness tomorrow is eat-out night!

Well, I visited my favorite "Have a night" friend tonight. Same place as always. :-) But, tonight, I didn't go for dinner. Instead, I went as a favor to my sweet little husband... who is exhausted (and sacked out on the sofa) because he lets the dogs sleep too much during the evening. (He wanted a little sweet treat after dinner.) Unfortunately, I let him let them... and here I sit doing it again. But, I enjoy the quiet of "time off". Tonight, I'm using this time to watch my adopted home city of Savannah in Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil. Hadn't seen it before now, and I'm loving the Cusack & Spacey team-up. But, who knew that Jude Law was in it?!?!? Anyway, great movie. Thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks, Jon, for making me watch it. I wonder if John C. ever stops in on Lady Chablis. Maybe I could go befriend her/him and meet John!!!

And for today's picture show... I'm showing off two of my favorite of my own photos and some old family ones. The first two were on my business trip to Sunnyvale, CA (after an acquisiton during the summer of '04). The first is at Big Sur and the second at Santa Cruz (obviously). This day was just fabulous... even though I was completely by my lonesome. It was one of the weekends I had to stay over. Couldn't have asked for better weather! The next three were that same summer... on the family beach trip. And the last two... of course, couldn't go a post without some puppy pics.

Just Go To Sleep and Pretend Like Nothing Is Wrong

Oh, these young ones are sly. They know when they've done something wrong. Yesterday, as they were chewing up the rug (luckily, the cheap one from K Mart, pictured below with Kona & her shoe), I gave them a very stern NO. They know what that means... as both of them quickly rolled over onto their backs with their ears tucked way back. Of course, as soon as Kona got the opportunity, she took off running to get away. The funny part of that is that she always corners herself when she's been bad. Anyway, so tonight, both of them decided to pull a favorite "no-no" (or two). Kona grabbed a shoe to chew and Cooper jumped up on the too-expensive leather sofa that he's supposed to stay off of (after having rolled around in the mud to get the right side of his neck disgusting).

But they know just the trick. Fall asleep when you're finished being bad. The humans in our household just cannot resist the sweetness that is sleepy puppy.

















Changing the subject, I really dislike it when the Heels lose (shut up, JC). And I dislike it even more when I can't even watch the game. Why would BC/NC be blacked out in Statesboro, Georgia??? If anyone knows, please tell me. DirecTV can't. According to them, it's not their fault, the "Sports Association" decides which games to black out. And... which "Sports Association" would that be? Grrrr... and three phone calls later, still no one can help me. So, I missed it. And we lost. ARGH. I hate the loss the most, though. Losing puts fans in bad moods. And fans in bad moods don't say hi. Boo. Hiss.

At least there was K to chat with! Loved catching up with you tonight, girl! We'll definitely have to do it more often. I miss you so much! But, just don't sneak up to my kitchen window... that's just freaky. Come to the front door. It's always open. For all of y'all. Have I said that enough?

Oh well... guess it's time to get on to bed and try again tomorrow. Just keep singing la la la la la la la life is wonderful... Much luv and GIANT X's and O's from plain old comfortable me.

Ode to Opossum

The (Short) Story "Plight O' Possum"

Life as a dog's toy must be really hard. I mean, it starts out well enough. You get to sit around with all your friends, looking irresistable on the PetSmart shelves. And just when you think your life is about to get even better because a really pretty blond lady bought you, you get stuffed into a box and opened by two puppies who just do not know how to play with you gently.

First they open up a terrible wound in your side. The strings - even those from the suture the other nice blond lady gave you to try to assist in keeping your insides inside - just hang limply by your side as the relentless puppies (especially that darn red-headed one) continue to rip at your fur with their razor-sharp baby teeth.

They insist upon ripping out all your stuffing (they will not stop until every little bit of it is on the carpet around you) and turning your face inside out. You feel like the phantom of the opera after that stupid Emmy Rossum rips his mask off. Oh, I'm so hideous... make it stop... is this what you wanted???

Then when the pretty blond lady finally takes pity on you and leaves your insides on the outside so the rascal puppies will just STOP strewing them all around the house, the especially rascally red-headed one decides to keep looking for more of the non-existent insides by putting his cold & slimy snout inside your belly (through the afore-mentioned wound).

Finally, once you have been completely put through the ringer, you'd think the silly puppies would leave you alone. But no, they just can't give you a moment's rest, even though they're getting plenty of shut-eye. They insist on using your stuffingless body as a pillow for their mid-afternoon siesta. Life is so hard.

Why Don't You Go Outside and Kiss the Rain?

Ever have those days that go well enough, but you just can't make yourself content enough to go to bed? That's when it's time to break out the Billie. Thank goodness it IS raining outside and I can go kiss it. But I'd rather just stay up for hours, listening to good music, and catching up with the people I miss most in life. Haley, you just MUST come down here when you get the opportunity. And the rest of you... I know it's pointless to even ask.

And when the sun comes out tomorrow, I'll take Jann's advice: Hold out your heart and on it let the sun shine down. Sunshine is a wonderful thing. Makes everything feel better again. And it inspires some great songs. Katrina & the Waves are walking on it and it makes us happy when days are crappy (wait... are those made-up lyrics or the real thing?). Is anyone else sitting there singing the song now just to try to remember what the next line is?!?! Suns also make great tattoo art, in my opinion. Although, I read something (or maybe I heard it somewhere) a few weeks ago that asked what life will be like 40, 50, 60 years from now when we have all these grannies running around with tattoos on saggy, crinkledy skin. Oh well, whoever said that is probably ugly anyway.

Anyway... I spent two hours on a phone call today, hunched over my phone (which was lying on the desk, set to speaker phone) trying to make myself sound clear. I would've just held the phone up to my ear... but the drawback of a PocketPC is that it has a very sensitive touchpad that is just where your face goes. I guess my cheek is fatter than most people's because I constantly disconnect my phone calls with it. Most of the time, the speaker phone picks up my voice pretty well... but I guess the distance between here & Tijuana was just too much for it to overcome. I had to concentrate... too hard. And now I need a good masseuse to take care of this overwhelming tightness. Between the phone and the unforgiving ergonomics of my desk & chair, I'm in bad shape.

Just for the record, it's "you make me happy when skies are gray".

Okay, those of you who were there or have heard the story will probably get a chuckle out of seeing the pic of Jon & me at my high school reunion. Thanks, Donna! If you look closely, you can see the mashed potatoes in the martini glass I was telling you about... who does that?!?!?

And I just happened across this one, my FAVORITE (pic & spot) from our honeymoon in Hawaii... and the origin of Kona (the dog)'s name. This particular spot is the Place of Refuge (it is officially Pu'uhonua o Honaunau). This is where I lost the keys to the car that I just had to have. Luckily, I was already here at the place of refuge, where (if you get here before they catch you) the slate is wiped clean, sins are forgiven, and you can go back to your life without punishment for your wrongdoings.

Finally, Coop & Kona just trying to get a little shut-eye while I worked. Too cute. They found the one tiny little sliver of sunlight that streams into the office about 4:00 each afternoon. I swear I remember more sunlight in the summer. Maybe I just make up the sunshine in my mind.

Here's to sunshine, mashed potatoes (no martini glass necessary), forgiveness, & sleepy puppy smell.

Sydney Adelaide

You know, I've been feeling today like I have completely neglected my favorite niece. She hasn't really even been mentioned here yet... and she holds such a special place in my heart. Before Cooper & Kona, there was Sydney... sweet, precious little Sydney.


While she stayed with me (extended stay one summer for "vacation"), I took tons of pics of her. I think she's just so photogenic. This was one of my faves. Before there was Opossum or Squirrel, there was Kitty. And Kitty, unfortunatley, suffered a similar fate as Opossum and Squirrel. Although... Syd is a little gentler, so I bet Kitty still has some of her stuffing. Syd loved Kitty very much. Sometimes she would just sit with Kitty and ponder the meaning of life.

So, most of you know that I travel quite a bit, right? I'm gone an average of one week (+/- a few days) a month... either for work or visiting NC. On this particular trip to Mom & Dad's, Syd showed how much she missed her Aunt Heidi by begging to come along on my trip. I guess she thought if she was really still & didn't make a sound, she could come along in my suitcase & I would never be the wiser. She's a very smart dog... and kinda looks like a sweater I have. This is my room at Mom & Dad's, by the way. Ahh... such great memories. Dad, I'm really glad you didn't pull the phone cord out of the wall that time I woke you up in the middle of the night b/c I was still talking to EH. That silly Mr. Yates.

Another fun fact about Sydney is that she likes to sit like a hen. How can it be natural for her to keep one leg underneath her and the other extended?? Sometimes, she keeps both legs curled under... and when she does that, sometimes she kicks her back legs out like a frog. Funny little non-dog that she is sometimes.


Finally, one that shows off Mom's talent for photography. Of course, Syd's penchant for posing sure helps! Once again, Syd took the opportunity to do her best thinking with her noggin pressed up against that of a stuffed animal. Interesting... I'm gonna have to go try that myself. I'm getting Tigger off the shelf. He & I always had the best conversations anyway. Plus, he sometimes wrote notes for me. Maybe I could even get him to type a blog entry for me sometime.

Hope you all had a great weekend. I enjoyed every bit of it except for the Panthers game. What a bummer that they decided not to show up today when they could've made it a perfect three for three for me (Pitt, Heels, Panthers). And WHY did the Heels have to play at the same time as the Panthers? Made it extremely difficult for me to fully get into both games... well, the dueling starting times AND Jon asking me to help him decrypt/copy video clips for his interview presentation tomorrow. I'm really glad to see the Heels come out with a W again (even if it was by the skin of their teeth). I hope someday Wes Miller will teach me to shoot like him.

Once the games were over, I spent some time looking through some old pics from college. (Basically brought on by the quick but fun conversation with J tonight. We've got to catch up more often, girl. And I've got to post some of those too-funny (and probably more than a little embarassing) pics on the blog.) Also had a quickie conversation with JC... long enough for him to tell me he was rooting for the Seminoles. Well, that was enough of that. At least my team didn't lose to the Hoyas this weekend! Ha! Stinkin' Dukie.

Okay, the little ones are waiting (none too patiently) for me to let them go to bed. I don't understand how they can sleep all day and still be so sleepy at night! Well, I guess it is getting late... hopefully we can talk soon(er). I wish you were here (sweetness that is Incubus). Much luv... biggie

The screen can't take Kona

Three Minutes

The movie starts in three minutes... well, actually, it's starting now (because Blogger took forever to get to this "new post" screen); so I won't have much to say. We definitely found the best restaurant in town tonight. Never mind when I said we would take you to The French Quarter; we're going to Blue Moon Cafe. Egggscellent.

So, we're watching Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Darn that Angelina. So beautiful... but why did she have to go & break up the prettiest couple ever? If Brad & Jen can't make it, how will the rest of us? Plus, they got married just around the same time Jon & I did; so they were our kindred spirits... well, not anymore, I guess.

Jon gave the dogs a pig ear apiece tonight. You were right, Dad; they've found their absolute new favorite thing in the world. So, we took your advice on that... but I'm going against something else you told me right now. We went to Wal Mart tonight & they had all the Valentine's Day candy out. I cannot resist the pure sugar in SweetTarts. Still one of my faves. I know... it'll rot my teeth. But I cannot stop. I'm a weak, weak girl.

OK, I"m going to watch Brangelina. Hope y'all are having as good of a Friday night as I am! :-)

Doughnuts Six Times a Day

Dang it, Heels. When are y'all going to start winning again? I miss the W's. And with no transition whatsoever (my J School profs would be very disappointed in my writing skills)... "I ate 6 meals a day at one time… but it was all doughnuts." Mike Patrick is a funny guy. Who knew? (I'm with you, Mike, doughnuts six times a day sounds fabulous.)

And then those funny girls from Beauty & The Geek... Why does the White House freakin’ need an address? It’s the White House! And I say, exactly Tristin. Why DOES the White House freakin' need an address?

I wish I could pick up on (and remember) more of the funny quotes I hear in a day. But I bet there's a daily e-mail newsletter for that too. There's a daily e-mail newsletter for everything. In addition to my daily newsbytes, I also already receive daily Bible readings (see? I can be "that" girl too), daily uplifting quotes (although some days I need more Stuart Smalley, these are usually Mothere Theresa... spiritually focused), and daily CNET news. Obviously, I need some better e-mail to read... (talking about the CNET news, not the DBR or spiritual quotes - but I do work in the tech industry... although don't ask me what the company does... actually, go ahead... I can b.s. with the best of 'em).

Okay, so how many of you are there out there? If I were to guess, I'd say about ten. (Of course, that is only 10% of the number of cards that we sent out. Doesn't that seem low??? Eh, 10% is better than 9%.) But I've been wrong before. There are probably only 2: Mom & Dad... thanks M&D, I luv u much. And Haley probably checks in periodically... and Uncle Ken... seeing as he's the only one with the "gumption" (that's a Dad word for those of you who don't know it... that and "chum" - don't look it up, it's not in the dictionary) to write a message to me in my comments section. Okay, I get it. I wouldn't want to put a comment up there in front of everyone either (of course, if there are only ten of you, then you're just being silly), but you could at least write me an e-mail/ IM me/ call me & say... geez, you write too much on that blog of yours. And I'd say... sorry, man. What can I say? I'm a vain (and lazy - not sure how that fits in here, but evidently I've got to get it in somehow) person who likes to re-read her own ramblings.

What is it with me and the parenthetical statements??? Oh, and what the heck... I'll go ahead and admit that I'm an ellipsis addict. Some of you already know that (WELL) about me. They're just so pretty. I did offer to substitute my ... recently with a "dot, dot, dot"; but that gets really hard to type. Not nearly as quick & fun as my ... And don't expect there to be more after the ...; sometimes it's just a nice way (in my head) to end a thought... because of course there's more to say... but why ruin the "dot, dot, dot"?

Dang... it just dawned on me that I forgot to listen to our conference call this morning. Usually, I remember late; but this morning (or any other part of today), not at all. Didn't even cross my mind. And didn't I just send out the press release for it? Was that today or yesterday? Why do the days run together so much???

Okay, for those of you who just read this for the doggie pictures, here you go. Thanks for bearing with me for that brief (or long, if you're a slow reader) soliloquy.

Yeah, so the doggies... they can go from full-on brawl - K.I.L.L.; H.A.T.E.; A.C.R.I.M.O.N.Y; R.A.N.C.O.R (I found an amusing little podcast (we are the podpeople) from the Princeton Review that teaches me new words in a little ditty; yesterday's words were new ways to say you're angry... I already forgot the 3rd word... acrimony, rancor... shoot, it's gone. And it's late. And I can't find that darn podcast to re-download. Oh well.) . Anyway, the dogs ... from brawl to peacefulness, peacity, peaceoxen (hopefully, there will be a pax-ish Princeton Review ditty soon)... in mere moments.

For those of you who care, it was warmer today... and less windy. The trash strewn across the back yard is back to being normal construction guys' fast food wrappers. The really sad part of that is... it just makes me hungry. Thank goodness tomorrow (well, today) is Friday. I love the going-out-to-dinner nights! (No, Mom, I do not need for you to remind about Sonic, Zaxby's, or Heavenly Ham... or for that matter, Moe's today for lunch!)

Even Colder

Okay, seriously... I did not sign up for this. It was 49 when I looked at the thermometer today, it's 39 right now, and it says the low has been 31.5!!! And the wind makes it feel even colder. And these silly dogs want to go out all the time... especially with the wind blowing like it is. The wind knocked over our trash can yesterday and lots of little things spilled out (and have since been blowing across our yard... which isn't as big of a deal as it could be since the construction going on around us keeps trash in our yard and the lots next to us constantly). Anyway, so the doggies LOVE the things blowing across the yard. They sit on the porch and bark at them. Then, when they do finally get to go out, they chase anything and everything anywhere it leads them. Grr.

Jon got home early today and took the kids for a walk. They went to the long grass. Jon thinks it's hilarious when Cooper bounds through the long grass. (It is quite funny... worth the trip down here for any of you who are thinking of visiting... ever.) So, they were around the long grass, which is also next to a lake; and Jon actually let them "wade" in the lake. They took a couple steps in and forgot to check whether or not there was still a bottom that they could touch. So, in the freezing weather, they both took a swim. Hope they don't get sick. Do dogs get sick when they're wet in the cold? Is there such a thing as canine pneumonia? Anyway, they loved it; but they smell like lake water now. Meant to bathe them after that happened... but I'm lazy. Have I mentioned that today?

I had a fun conversation last night with an old friend. Thanks for letting me reminisce, JC. Keep in mind... I'm mostly just trying to be funny. :-)

So, when are the rest of you going to get your own blogs up & running? You steal a little piece of me every time you read my ramblings... and I don't even get to peep into your thoughts. It's just not fair. I know, Dad, life's not fair.

Watch the Heels with me tomorrow night. Hopefully a better outcome than the last one.

Much luv... hi de hi de hi de hi de hooooo (sorry... was ripping more of the cd collection today & got the Blood, Sweat & Tears Greatest Hits album stuck in my head... some of those songs... mmm)

Have a Night

Yes, for those of you who doubted me. I did go to Sonic last night. And I loved every second of it. Also... I'm going to get fast food again tonight. Don't judge me. It's not nice.

Anyway, so the guy at the Sonic drive-thru window... he's funny. First of all, I think he's there all the time. I don't go at the same time every time, and he's always the one there serving me. He has this really funny habit of trying to say "have a good night" as you pull away. But it always comes out as "have a night". There's not even a "g" in there (as in T-I-double g-ER). He just skips right over it. Every time!

Also, on my adventure last night, I thought I would go ahead and tell on myself. Shoot, you already know I went to Sonic... what else could there be? Well, my mind was wandering as I was driving. First of all, I was driving the Sentra. Some of you know it as "the hot car". And when I drive it, I have to devote at least a part of my concentration to driving... as it is a straight... and I'm just not that good at straights. Anyway, so I'm going down the road, part of my concentration is on driving the hot car. The other part is on "gosh... why can't I come up with more interesting things to write about on my blog?!?!?" And so I'm thinking through things I can write about. I paused momentarily on "what do I want to be when I grow up" and that got me all confused... and then ... oops, there went the Sonic. Passed right by it. But in my defense (and for those of you who have never visited the great metropolis of Statesboro), the Sonic is hidden by the KFC, and I knew I didn't want chicken. I wanted a #1 combo. And that's not what I get at KFC. Anyway, so I had to actually turn around in the Krystal parking lot and head back to Sonic. However, I would not be deterred. Nothing would stand between me and my #1.

Moving right along... it's kinda cold here today! I have thoroughly enjoyed the Southeastern Georgia weather thus far. Even cold is short-sleeve weather. But over the weekend, a storm moved through and brought some chilly (think State College in May) air. And the wind is something to actually fear. It has blown so hard... since about noon today. (And Russell, the fence guy, tells me it's going to blow again tomorrow.) Hopefully, we'll get back to our 70 degrees and beautiful sun soon!

Okay, so as not to make this an extremely long post (I know some of you need to get to work - if you're reading in the morning instead of tonight)... I'll close with a few new pics from last night.

I've actually taken to making up the bed (I know, get back up off the floor). I typically spread the old blue comforter on top of our white one so the dogs can be dirty and it doesn't freak me out that they're on my good duvet cover. Anyway, so, last night, Jon was on the phone in our room and the dogs wanted to go to bed. Instead of spreading out the blue comforter, he just let them go wherever they wanted. Coop found that the pillows were very comfy.

Then he looked like he was a little perturbed at me for taking the pic and waking him up. So I moved on to Kona (aka Legs, aka The Smart One).

She knew that she was supposed to be on the blue comforter. She's very good (except for when we're outside and she runs AWAY from me when I'm calling her - it's our little game, I think)... but LOOK at how LOOOOONG her freakin' legs are! She is definitely the longest dog I know.

Especially in this last pic. Good Lord... those stems are, like, a mile long! How funny is this?!?!?

On the Lookout for New & Interesting

How many times can I say absolutely nothing in slightly different ways? Gosh... I really need to get out there & talk to people more often. Maybe then I would have some new and interesting things to write about.

Oh well... instead of boring you with more of nothing today, I'll give you pics. I'm finally posting from my desktop, so there are lots to choose from.

Let's see, I could give you a taste of Christmas. This is the one of the grandkids with Granny. (Since Haley already showed you the one of our immediate fam... if you missed it, it's still on the front page of her blog at unckisses.blogspot.com.) Hannah, Haley, me; Jonathan, Granny, Joey; Callie. Mom hosted Christmas for the Yates & Brown families this year at our house. In addition to the holiday, we were celebrating Callie & Jason's engagement! :-) Congrats again, cuz!


Or some fun times at Carolina Beach. This was in June, I think. It was just after my 10-year high school reunion. Jon & I were still in State College (well, obviously not in this pic), wondering where we were going to land. It was while we were at the beach that Jon got the call from Georgia Southern asking him to come on down and interview. We had to hurry back from this trip so he could leave to come to Statesboro for his interview. Jon, me, Haley, Mom

Or one of the cute ones from Homecoming '05. I just can't even tell you how much fun it was to see everyone at Homecoming this year (well, technically, last year). We hung out at He's Not after the game (which is where this pic of me, Rufus (don't hate it when I call you that, Jason) & Jay was snapped). Notice how proper we are, keeping our blue cups out of the frame! It's a skill... definitely. Can't wait for next year (I mean, this year).

How about one of my faves from Amsterdam? This tram station was my "home base" for getting into the city and seeing the sites (just down the street from my hotel). I just loved the fact that there were hundreds of bikes there all the time! Day or night. At first, I thought maybe people rode in & parked there while they took the tram to work. But, they were there at night and over the weekend. So, Bao and I figured maybe some of them were for rent??? Anyway, it struck me as amusing on all of my solitary walks through the neighborhood (and even the ones with Bao). Would've loved some company in Amsterdam! Maybe next time, right?

And here's a touch of Haley's creativity... of course, with Dad's photogenic-ness. Haley & I tried to be photographers at the farm one day. She has tried (and succeeded) before. This was just one time when I made her go out with me. She had some beautiful shots (besides just this one). I'll have to post some others of them sometime.




And finally, I'll leave you with my ever-vigilant watchdogs making sure that no one sneaks up on us during the workdays. I was actually trying to get an angle on Kona here so you could see the mohawk she gets going when she is agitated. I'm going to spraypaint it purple some day & make her a punk rocker.

Forget it, I'm going to Sonic. See you on the other side of my tater tots!