Jan 21, 2012 - Saturday
Jonathan would have turned 29 years old on Jan 19. I thought missing someone was supposed to get easier with each passing year. That is wrong!
My poinsettia is still alive & looking very good right outside the front door.
Alex got a flat tire while at a friend’s house a couple wks ago. He called us at about 11:45 pm to tell us. We told him to take his AAA card out & call them & they would come change his tire, but instead, he & his friend decided to change the tire themselves. He said they were reading instructions & making sure not to put body parts under the car. I asked him why he didn’t just call AAA. He said because he wanted to be able to say he changed a tire at least once in his life. Okay, so now AAA is on call.
Sparky was doing really well with her leg healing but a few days ago she jumped off the couch. Oh oh. Not supposed to do that. Since then, she’s been limping again. Then at about the same time, she got a double ear infection. I took her to the vet yesterday & they cleaned out her ears & checked her ACL. Leg is still in the “it’s okay to be limping” stages & we have 4 different meds for her ears. She’s perked up a little since yesterday. This is a very aggressive protocol for ear infections, but I want her out of pain as soon as possible. Poor baby. She seems to go from one thing to another. Right now she’s sleeping under my desk on her pillow & she looks so cute!
I borrowed a Stephen King book from the library called “Desperation.” It’s on my Nook. With books that are over 800 pages I have trouble. I have to read it within 14 days. But I think I’ll make it. This book was pretty good until about page 500, when it got sort of stupid & goofy as a lot of Stephen King books do.
Alex & I went to the dealership this morning to have his oil changed. Then we stopped for breakfast & then went to the library where I bought 2 more books. Not all of the library books are available from the library for eReaders. But most are. The new Stephen King book called “11/22/63” is not available yet. My friend, Mark told me it is excellent. If I can’t get it for my Nook soon I may just borrow the hard copy. While I was there I also saw the new “Dexter” series book. I almost got it but I have a few to read already. (Can’t wait for “Dexter” to come back on. The way it ended this season was very interesting.)
I have been going to physical therapy for carpal tunnel – both hands. The right hand is worse than the left, but they both give me a lot of trouble. Hoping that physical therapy will help enough so that I won’t need the surgery, but it’s not looking good.
Alex is out with a friend now – probably at the basketball court. Lewis & I were going to go out to eat but we don’t want to leave Sparky now. She has to take all of her medications at different times throughout the day & I don’t want to miss a dose. We’re going to dinner tomorrow anyway. We’ll go early enough so that we don’t mess up any of her med times.
I am not having my Valentine’s Day Tea again this year. This will be the third year in a row that I haven’t had it. I just don’t feel like it anymore.
Our Keurig coffee maker bit the dust after just a month & a half. The one we had before that (Keurig) lasted a few months, then I took it back to exchange it but got the same kind. Now we traded in the 2nd one for a Cuisinart coffee maker. It uses the little Keurig cups we have & it actually works. It was almost double the cost but at least we have coffee now. And it has a timer.
That same day we got new faucets for 3 bathroom sinks – the 2 sinks in Alex’s bathroom & 1 for the extra bathroom. It’s time. Now I have to call Les the plumber to install them.
It is now Feb 9 – Thurs. Sparky has been having blood in her urine for a couple of months & the vet doesn’t know why, so we took her to a specialist for an ultrasound this past Mon. Our sweet little princess has transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder – a very aggressive cancer. Lewis & I were both there & we are still in shock. The vet gave her an injection of a medication that is supposed to ease her pain. If it worked we would pick up more of it on Tues. It worked on Mon night & on Tues day she was almost back to her normal self. For 3 days prior to the ultrasound she didn’t even get up. She didn’t eat & drank only when I held my glass to her lips. She couldn’t get up; it looked like her back legs didn’t work & her 1 front leg was sore. When I touched it she yelped. My poor sweet baby. Lewis picked up the medication on Tues on the way home from work & we have been giving her that. It doesn’t work as well as the injection did on Mon, but she is certainly improved since last wk. We will keep her with us as long as we can ease her pain & provide a good quality of life for her. And we will do everything we can to keep her here with us. She is my baby girl.
Our friend had a Superbowl Party on Sun & made some awesome Italian casserole. Had lots of food. I even won some money from one of those football pools. I just pick blocks & put my initials in them. I don’t watch the game; I read & play with his little dog who is also a Westie.
Feb 6, 2012 – Mon
We are giving her various drugs to keep her from being in pain as well as something which MAY or may not help to decrease the size of the tumor or it MAY simply keep it from spreading. In any case, it will not go away. We are positively horrified that our sweet baby girl is going through this. We will do everything we can to keep her out of pain & provide a good quality of life. Right now, our family is just a train wreck. You know how we adore our sweet little girl. She has given us nothing but love & joy. This should not be happening to her!
My sisters came over on Sat to see Sparky. They brought all the comfort foods our dad used to make for us. I have the best sisters in the world! And Roxie (Cathy’s little dog) gave Sparky a nice card with some pictures in it.
I will probably not feel like writing for a while. I am spending all my time taking care of Sparky. I don’t want to do anything else & I don’t want to leave the house unless she is with me.
Please send positive thoughts our way – for Sparky.
Hugs,
Candace & family
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Happy Holidays
Alex, Candace, Lewis - on Christmas day at Cathy & Dennis's houseDec 29, 2011 - Thursday
Alex got another acceptance letter. He was accepted to San Diego State University. As my goofy & wonderful nephew, Michael put it, “San Diego is not a state.” Alex is a screenplay writer. He has done some pretty good work, & he thinks Calif is the place to be for that type of vocation, but he also knows that competition is fierce so he is majoring in business & will continue his writing. Just like his mom.
We’re still hoping he stays with ASU. We will get to see more of him that way, even though he’ll be living on campus. I’ve already started making an Excel list of everything Alex will need for his dorm.
Well, the next generation of my family is in full swing. Nephew Brandon’s wife is having another little girl in April. The twins will be 3 at that time & they are looking forward to their new baby sister.
Alex got another acceptance letter. He was accepted to San Diego State University. As my goofy & wonderful nephew, Michael put it, “San Diego is not a state.” Alex is a screenplay writer. He has done some pretty good work, & he thinks Calif is the place to be for that type of vocation, but he also knows that competition is fierce so he is majoring in business & will continue his writing. Just like his mom.
We’re still hoping he stays with ASU. We will get to see more of him that way, even though he’ll be living on campus. I’ve already started making an Excel list of everything Alex will need for his dorm.
Well, the next generation of my family is in full swing. Nephew Brandon’s wife is having another little girl in April. The twins will be 3 at that time & they are looking forward to their new baby sister.
Tarah & Brandon with the twins, Ailani & Caleb
Cathy & Dennis’s son, Adam just had a baby girl on Dec 14. She was born just 5 days before Finn’s first birthday. Finn is Cath & Dennis’s first grandchild – Chad’s son. Unfortunately for us, they live in Texas & we don’t get to see much of them.
Adam holding his new baby girl, AllarieSamantha & Michael’s little sweet princess, Riley is now 6 months old & cute as can be. This little girl smiles all the time.
Mom holding Riley on Christmas daySo now Lewis & I have 8 nephews/nieces (miss you, Jonathan!) & 5 great-nieces/-nephews with 1 on the way. Holidays & birthdays are a lot of fun! Just wish dad & Jonathan could join us!
Lewis & Alex went over to Lewis’s parents’ house this past Sat to celebrate Hanukkah. I woke up with a killer migraine so I stayed home in bed all day. Lewis called at 5:30 pm & woke me up to tell me he & Alex were going to go see a movie & would be home around 10:30 pm. I got up then, had a bowl of cereal & hot tea, took a second Imitrex for my not-yet-cured migraine, then went back to sleep until they got home & woke me, a little after 10:00.
I was feeling better the next day, so we went to Cath & Dennis’s for Christmas. Lots of fun. I got my annual mom fudge – chocolate peanut butter…….the BEST in the world. Nothing like my mom’s fudge.
Well, our Adam just graduated from NAU with a degree in business. Is he planning on going to law school now.
Lewis just finished a major controversial case that has been going on for a long time. It is in the media all over the country & online. My sweetie is famous! Just glad we aren’t in the phone book. So he took a couple of well-deserved days off after Christmas.
The Tues after Christmas we all went over to Cath’s house to meet Adam’s new daughter. She was a surprise to all of us, but she is certainly welcome to the family. She was only 14 days old when we met her. What a tiny little thing. Her name is Allarie.
My ancient computer is dragging. I keep getting this little pop-up box telling me my computer might be at risk because I don’t have enough free hard drive space. Lewis did get me a new computer for my birthday – in July. He tried to get it set up for me but something happened to it & the set-up didn’t work, so now it’s sitting there in the box. I’m wondering what we’re going to do with it. We could return it to Best Buy but we didn’t open it until way after the return policy timeframe. So now I don’t know what’s happening. I just know this computer is terribly agonizing sometimes. Sooooooo Slow.
I put all of my pictures onto flash drives & deleted them from the hard drive. This didn’t seem to do anything. That surprised me, because I had about 4 years worth of pictures on my hard drive.
Took Sparky in to the vet today for her Dasaquin injection. This will help speed up the growth of her knee tendons. She is doing very well. Her surgery was 6 wks ago & she wants to run & play, but she isn’t allowed to run just yet. Healing ACL & knee, but try explaining that to her. She’s had 6 wks of Dasaquin injections, now she only has to have one once a month for a few months.
Does anyone know anything about poinsettias? I have one that I want to plant outside, but everything I’ve read online tells me it won’t live outside in Arizona. When we lived at our last house, I planted a poinsettia outside at our front door & it lived a couple of years. It grew very tall (about 4 ft), & then for some reason, one day, Lewis tore it out. I still don’t know why that happened, but I was not consulted beforehand. It was planted in an entryway area where it didn’t get any sun. It never turned red again, but it had beautiful huge dark green leaves. I can’t figure out anyplace outside at this house where it won’t get any sun. But what I’ve been reading says it NEEDS sun. I read something on 1 site, then something different on another site. I think I’ll just set it outside by our front door in the pot it’s in & see what happens. The sun hits there a little throughout the day, but not long, because that area is also sort of an enclosed entryway. Suggestions? I really would like to keep it alive.
Can anyone recommend an editor? My bar mitzvah book is finished & ready for editing. I can find one online, but if I could get a recommendation from someone, I’d prefer that. Then get ready to buy the book of the year: “Just Whose Bar Mitzvah is it, Anyway! – or How to be a Guest at Your own Party” By Candace L. Kowal
Yeah! Finally!!!
I'll leave you with this tip:
Coffee Grounds to Deodorize Refrigerator
Green LivingOctober 29, 2010
Odors in the fridge or freezer will be gone overnight if you place a dish of used coffee grounds in a bowl and place it in the center of the refrigerator/freezer. It works better then baking soda!
Coffee Grounds to Deodorize Refrigerator
Green LivingOctober 29, 2010
Odors in the fridge or freezer will be gone overnight if you place a dish of used coffee grounds in a bowl and place it in the center of the refrigerator/freezer. It works better then baking soda!
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or whatever your pleasure.
Hugs, Candace & family
Friday, November 18, 2011
Fall - - Finally - 2011
Alex, me, Lewis at Jan & Julia's house in Virginia
July 1, 2011 – Friday
Left Phx VERY early to go to Virginia to spend the next 17 days with Lewis’s brother, Jan and his family. Flight got in around 5pm so we still had some time. Went to my favorite Chinese restaurant in VA – the one we go to whenever we’re there. I always look forward to that.
July 2 – Sat
My 56th birthday. 56. Who would have ever guessed I’d be 56!?
Very nice dinner (and chocolate pie).
Spent a good portion of the wk reading, playing games. Just relaxing.
July 9, 2011 - Saturday
After a way-too-long drive on a little bit of highway and a lot of 2-lane, winding country roads, (almost 4 hrs), we arrived at the lake house. This place is 9,500 sq. ft. I will detail the house more later, but for now, I need to lie down because I almost got car sick - even sitting in the front seat.
Left Phx VERY early to go to Virginia to spend the next 17 days with Lewis’s brother, Jan and his family. Flight got in around 5pm so we still had some time. Went to my favorite Chinese restaurant in VA – the one we go to whenever we’re there. I always look forward to that.
July 2 – Sat
My 56th birthday. 56. Who would have ever guessed I’d be 56!?
Very nice dinner (and chocolate pie).
Spent a good portion of the wk reading, playing games. Just relaxing.
July 9, 2011 - Saturday
After a way-too-long drive on a little bit of highway and a lot of 2-lane, winding country roads, (almost 4 hrs), we arrived at the lake house. This place is 9,500 sq. ft. I will detail the house more later, but for now, I need to lie down because I almost got car sick - even sitting in the front seat.
Aerial view of the lakehouse.
Lewis, Jan, Alex, Jason on top deck of lakehouse
Jason & Alex on our dock
July 10, 2011 - Sunday
Lewis and Jan went to the marina and got the boat today. We'll have it for the whole wk.
Lewis on the boat
When they got back, I was still asleep (it IS my vacation, after all). Lewis came in our bedroom and laid a pair of sandals next to me that he saw me eyeing in the store yesterday. Nice surprise!
Spent some time out in the boat. The lake, surprisingly, is about as warm as the pools in Arizona. I usually don’t’ get in the water until it’s about 88 or 89 degrees.
A couple of nights we just got in the boat and cruised over to the marina for dinner. The marina is a 3-story structure of fun shops and restaurants. And, of course, an ice cream shop. Lots of cool gift shops too.
July 17, 2011 – Sun
Got back to Phx and home to our sweet little Sparky. Eric picked her up for us at her hotel so she would be home when we got home. Missed her so much! But after 17 days, it’s really nice to be home.
Spent some time out in the boat. The lake, surprisingly, is about as warm as the pools in Arizona. I usually don’t’ get in the water until it’s about 88 or 89 degrees.
A couple of nights we just got in the boat and cruised over to the marina for dinner. The marina is a 3-story structure of fun shops and restaurants. And, of course, an ice cream shop. Lots of cool gift shops too.
July 17, 2011 – Sun
Got back to Phx and home to our sweet little Sparky. Eric picked her up for us at her hotel so she would be home when we got home. Missed her so much! But after 17 days, it’s really nice to be home.
Back home to the princess.
July 18, 2011 dust storm in Phx.. Here’s the link to the news of the haboob:
http://news.yahoo.com/giant-dust-storm-moves-phoenix-area-012217327.html
(Just what the heck kind of a word is “haboob” ?)
July 22, 2011 – Fri
Early morning, Alex left for the Hotel del Coronado (CA) with a friend’s family. They will be gone until next Fri. Gorgeous, historic hotel right on the beach.
July 25 - Alex and his friend tried surfing a few times.
Our new sunscreens were installed on the house. The old ones were as old as the house (14 yrs) and they didn’t seem to function as they were supposed to anymore. It was getting hotter in the house in the summer, so new ones were in order. We got a few estimates and decided to go with this company. They are family owned and operated. I will not insert a picture of a sunscreen here. They are, after all, just sunscreens.
July 24 – Sun
Celebrated the July birthdays at Cathy and Dennis’s today. The July birthdays are Aunt Bertha, Cath, and me. Samantha, Michael, and Riley were there too. She is just too cute. Little Riley is now a month old. I love holding her. She is such a little snuggle bug.
Aunt Bertha & Riley
July 29 – Fri
Finally went to have my tires rotated. Talk about excitement! I just sat there for the 30 minutes and read my book. No time wasted.
July 31 – Sun
Lewis, Alex, and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was really good. Tied everything together.
Aug 1 – Mon
Alex had to go to school today to register. Senior year! Wow! Did the time fly! My baby starts senior yr of high school on Mon, Aug 8. Then he and some friends went to see “Cowboys and Aliens.” Don’t even know what kind of a movie that is. Don’t want to know either.
Then he came home, grabbed some stuff and went to the gym. His home away from home.
Tomorrow (8/2) we are going to have his senior portrait done. He wants to wear a tie too.
Do NOT see the movie “The American” with George Clooney.
Another hijacking. Another pirate mystery – to me, anyway. A while ago in one of my blogs I mentioned that I had recently read in a pirate hijacking article, “The attorneys for the pirates…” & I thought that was outrageous. Attorneys for pirates?
Now, this. An excerpt from an article I read today (below). The pirates apparently have a business model. I wonder if they had to submit a business plan before they could start stealing ships. This is a crazy world we live in.
Do you think the attorney for the pirates shows up in court with a parrot on his shoulder?
"The pirates are unlikely to hurt the four Americans because they won't win any ransom money if they do, said Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, the head of Dryad Maritime Intelligence.
He argued that the pirates would be wise to abandon the yacht because the hijacking threatens their business model, which relies on ransoms from large shipping and insurance companies."
Their business model? What world are we living in?
"They risk the collapse of their business model if they change their status quo and the American government deems that they pose an immediate threat to the safety of American citizens," he said.
"They've made a mistake, and it's in the Somalis' business interest to get off the yacht as soon as possible," he added.
What the f*** ????
Unfortunately, we all know the outcome of that hijacking.
Oct 2 – Sun
Lewis & Alex went to the Cardinals game today with Dennis. Dennis had 4 tickets so Allan went with them too. They are still gone, so it’s just Sparky & me now. Peaceful here. After I put the laundry in the drier I will sit down & have some lunch.
We have filet mignon & creamed spinach left over from last night. Lewis & I went to the pre-grand opening of a new steakhouse in the Scottsdale Quarter called Dominick’s Steakhouse. We sat upstairs in an open rooftop area around a pool. It was beautiful. Service was excellent, & the food was amazing. Lewis thought his steak was better than Fleming’s - - our standard for filet. I thought it was ALMOST as good as Fleming’s. We brought home leftovers – about ½ of each steak & almost all of the spinach. It was served family style in a huge dish. We have more left than we ate. Now I’m really getting hungry.
Oct 31 – Mon HAPPY HALLOWEEN
This will be the first Halloween that we have opted out. It makes me sad to have to do this. Last Halloween we only had 3 doorbell rings. The year before, 5 doorbell rings. Every year it has gotten worse as the kids in the neighborhood have grown up. This yr Alex is at a friend’s house. He will eat there & probably play Madden & spend the night.
I did not decorate this year. I have about a dozen of those huge Rubbermaid tubs of Halloween decorations in the garage. Maybe whenever we move our new neighborhood will have more kids & I will decorate again.
So now that Alex is at his friend’s for the night, Lewis & I are making cheese fondue. Alex hates cheese so we try not to make the cheese fondue when he’s home. He can’t even stand the way it smells. What kind of an Italian kid did I have!? We are also going to watch a couple of creepy Halloween movies that I recorded last wk. Sparky will probably be happy that the doorbell won’t be ringing. It’s one of the few times she actually barks.
On Sat, Lewis had to buy a new tennis racquet. The first new one in 6 years because last Sunday his racquet just cracked while he was playing. The tennis store gave him a couple to try out before he decides what to buy. Then we went to lunch.
Nov 2 – Weds
Lewis & I went to Cheesecake Factory yesterday for dinner for a mystery shop. I love these restaurant mystery shops. The oil change ones are good too because I wait until I need an oil change & then I go & do the shop. Get paid for doing it & get reimbursed for the oil change too. I’m registered with about 25 mystery shopping companies. Have been doing mystery shopping for a little over 20 years. At this point, I have such a good rating with most of them that I get contacted for the good ones first. Get paid to eat my dinner & get reimbursed for completing their online survey after the meal. Can’t beat that. By the way, if anyone is interested, I have created a list of my favorite mystery shopping companies & how to register for them. If you want me to email it to you, just let me know. You never have to pay to register. Everything is free. And you don’t have to accept any shops you don’t want. For instance, I never accept any that are farther than I would normally go for dinner. I also don’t do the bank shops or apartment shops. I don’t want to pretend I want to open an account or look for an apartment. Those types of shops pay a little more than the restaurant shops because you aren’t getting reimbursed for a meal. I almost went to the Mercedes dealer shop. I was supposed to test drive a car & report on the service. But I was afraid I'd drive out of there in a new Mercedes so I declined. One of these days . . . . . .
Nov 3 – Thursday
Tonight is the season premier of “Bones.” Lewis & I have been looking forward to this for a long time. Bones is now pregnant, which we found out during the last 20 seconds of the season finale. Booth is the father. Should be fun. Then again, I’m easily amused.
Went back to the ophthalmologist today for my cataract surgery follow-up. Eyes are doing great. Afterwards, I went to the little shop next door to look at sunglasses. Since my cataract surgery, I only need glasses for distance – driving, watching TV, movies, so my favorite Maui Jim sunglasses, which are not prescription, no longer work for driving. I checked out Maui Jims at the little shop today & found a pair I like. But when I told the lady I needed a prescription in them she checked it out for me & told me it would be $700.00. Well, after I came to & got up off the floor, I asked her to show me another style of Maui Jim. She said they all run that high. I could pick another brand for a much lower price. So I went away a little sad. I will now do some research & look on some websites to see how I can get those sunglasses cheaper than $700! Another little project for me. But since I’m partial to Maui Jims, I don’t think I can get the price too much lower.
Nov 11 – Friday ---- Wait, let’s do this right (write) 11/11/11. I’ve wanted to write that for a long time.
Today, 11/11/11, at exactly 11:11 a.m., Lewis, Alex, & I, & a friend of Alex’s were at ASU with a tour guide named Michael. Michael was walking us around the campus, the area of the W.P. Carey School of Business where Alex will be going in August. As we were walking from 1 area to another, Michael looked at his watch & said, “Okay, it’s time. It’s 11:11 on 11/11.” But nothing happened. The sky didn’t fall, the ground didn’t open up. We just continued to walk. Well, we have another chance. Tonight at 11:11, we’ll see. Lewis & I will probably be asleep by then.
We looked at 3 of the dorms. The 1 is right next to the business school & it seems to be the nicest - & the newest. We already put a deposit down on it. It was nice walking around though. There are so many cool things on campus.
When we were finished, we went to the Chuck Box for lunch. That place has been there since the early 70’s. Family owned & operated all these years. Quite an institution. As we drove around campus, we pointed out all the places to eat to Alex. Lewis graduated from ASU in 1976. Our son will graduate from ASU in 2016 - - - 40 yrs later. Wow! Just think about that. The dorm Lewis lived in has been torn down. New buildings all over the place. It’s really a beautiful campus.
Going out tonight with Allan & Candy, Lewis & me, & an old high school friend of Lewis’s who lives in Calif & gets to AZ on business about once a month.
On the way to ASU this morning, we dropped my car off at the dealer to have the window fixed. It won’t go up. They called us with a reasonable quote for repairs so they’ll probably have my car until late Sat or Mon.
We took Sparky to the vet a couple days ago. You may remember she had leg surgery 2 years ago for a torn ACL in her back right leg (knee). She now needs it in her left leg. Poor baby has been limping. She’s been on anti-inflammatories for over a wk & that seems to be helping her. She doesn’t hobble as much, but we have to have the surgery. It’s scheduled for next Tues.
Nov 18 – Fri
Well, the little princess had surgery on her back right leg Tues afternoon. It was almost 2 yrs ago exactly (Oct, 2009) that she had surgery on her right ACL. Now it’s the left one. Poor baby does not like being in a cast that’s almost as wide as her whole body. She has to be crated for 6 wks. We have a very large crate so she isn’t cramped. She can stand up in it & take a step or 2. But when I’m at the computer, I put her on her pillow next to my desk. She is more comfortable like that. Also, when we watch tv at night, I hold her on my lap with a pillow by my knees for her head so her cast doesn’t get squished. But I do have to keep her in the crate sometimes. When I was making breakfast this morning she was in there. It isn’t one of those plastic crates; it’s all wire so she can see us wherever we are. She was watching me cook eggs & she was having one of her little Sparky tantrums. She stomps her front paw down on the crate (or bed, or wherever we are), then she makes a noise. If no one acknowledges her, she does it again, & again. Then she starts trying to knock her food bowl over with her nose. Then she covers it with her blanket. She puts the blanket in her mouth & tries to cover the food, then she will go back to trying to knock the dish over again. I removed her water before she got a chance to knock that over too. I just let her do it & go about my business. Must make her feel better. She’s really very cute. The vet gave me samples of these Greenies things called Pill Pockets. They are amazing! We have tried so many different things over the years to get her to take pills. Sometimes what we try works, then it doesn’t. Usually, hiding her pill in peanut butter works, but she’s caught on to that now too, but the Pill Pockets are great. I highly recommend them.
Mom’s birthday was Nov 15 (She is 78 yrs old now). We had the family over to our house this time. Cath & Dennis just got back from Italy & their cruise so I thought it might be nice for them not to have to do any cleaning or preparing so soon after getting back. They always do all the work. It was nice having everyone here.That little Riley is just cute as can be. She is almost 5 months old now. She’s so beautiful. Always smiling.
Mom's birthday
Picture on left - Cath holding Sparky, Mom, & Terry
Picture on right - Alex, little Riley, & Samantha
Speaking of babies in the family, Tarah is expecting her baby in April. It will be 1 month after the twins turn 3 yrs old. Tarah got a good promotion & they moved to CA, so we won’t get to see the kids as often as we’d like. But Tarah is great about keeping her website up to date with lots of pictures.
Alex turned 18 yrs old on Oct 19. The years sure went by fast. I remember when he was a baby, people would say things to me like, “Enjoy him while he’s young because he will grow up too soon.” I couldn’t understand how they could think that. But here we are – 18 yrs later. In less than a yr, he’ll be out of the house, living in a dorm on campus. Yes, time certainly does go quickly. Too quickly. I don’t like that one bit.
Alex turned 18 yrs old on Oct 19. The years sure went by fast. I remember when he was a baby, people would say things to me like, “Enjoy him while he’s young because he will grow up too soon.” I couldn’t understand how they could think that. But here we are – 18 yrs later. In less than a yr, he’ll be out of the house, living in a dorm on campus. Yes, time certainly does go quickly. Too quickly. I don’t like that one bit.
Lewis & I went out with Eric & Patty last night. Went to a Japanese Fusion restaurant called Iron Chef. Eric & Lewis both got the all-you-can-eat sushi. Weird looking plates of colored stuff just kept coming out to both of them. I have never cared for anything raw. I had the udon noodle soup. Then we went back to their house afterwards for ice cream.
Nov 20 - Sun
Supposed to rain later tonight or tomorrow. Please please pleaseeeee. I would love to see some rain. But it didn't rain this morning so Lewis was able to play tennis - his regular wkly game. With his new racquet.
That's all the excitement for now. Keep in touch. Let me know what's going on in your world.
Hugs,
Candace
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
November - Finally getting colder !
11/10/10 – (Weds) Saw Ro for a little while yesterday after work. We went to grade school & high school together. It’s always nice getting together with her.
Went to see Jack & Jonella last wk-end.
When I got to work yesterday morning, almost as soon as I first sat down, I snagged my very long necklace on something & it ripped apart, dropping about a billion tiny seed beads all over the floor & down my dress. Yes, down my dress – the front & the back. That was a very weird feeling – like little spiders on my body. Yuck. They kept falling out of my dress all day. I scraped them up off the tile floor with 2 pieces of paper, like a dust pan, & gathered them all together, in the hopes that I can have it re-strung. Probably won’t happen. Even today, I am still stepping on some. I guess the cleaning people don’t sweep under my desk.
I thought this cartoon was really cute.
The real reason dinosaurs aren't with us.
The real reason dinosaurs aren't with us.
When I got home yesterday, as soon as I walked in the house I noticed a terrible smell. Like plastic burning. If you’re old enough to remember the fun toy of the ‘60s, Vac-U-Form, that’s what it smelled like. Very strong. I ran to the kitchen just as Alex came down the hall & said, “Something’s burning.” As soon as I entered the kitchen I saw the crockpot on the stove just as a flame leaped from the burner onto it. I immediately put the flame out, turned the burner off, unplugged the crockpot, then stood there trying to figure out what was going on. The crockpot was completely black. The knobs were burnt off of it & seared onto the glass cooktop of our new stove. Needless to say, the burner itself was a black mess. Alex said Lewis called him about 5 minutes prior to this & asked him to take the crock part out of the refrigerator, place it in the metal part, & turn it on high. So he did that & turned the burner on high. I feel this is our fault because we never taught him how to cook or how to even use a crockpot.
Opened all the windows, turned all the fans on high, lit candles. Nothing seemed to help for hours. We all 4 sat outside on the back patio for a few hours to avoid breathing the noxious fumes from the burnt plastic & metal. I could feel it in my throat & Lewis felt it in his eyes, even though we weren’t in there that long, just long enough to open everything. When it was time for Sparky’s dinner, I got her meal together & brought that & her water dish outside with us. We thought about staying in a hotel that night, but as time went on, it became bearable in the house. There are a lot of hotels in our area that allow dogs.
But this got me thinking: What if I had not gotten home when I did? What if Alex came out to the kitchen to see the flames jumping up? It was a very scary thought. I asked him this morning what he would have done. He said he would have put the fire out, probably with the fire extinguisher that is just to the left of the stove. Okay, that’s fine, but I asked him, “Do you know how to use it?” You can’t take the time to read the instructions for the first time as the flames leap higher in the kitchen. We will review “Fire Extinguisher 101” when I get home today.
Lewis doesn’t work on Thurs, so we have the washer repair guy coming & hopefully, if they can work us in, the roof repair guy. The last time the roof guy came he uncovered some insulation & the birds have been in there every day pulling out insulation. It’s all over our front entryway. We keep cleaning it up & it’s there again the next day. Finally, Alex saw a bird in there. The next day I saw a bird too. So when the roof guy came a few wks ago, he must have left it exposed. It’s in that same spot. Also, I had to arrange for the stove guy to come next wk to get a new cooktop. That will run anywhere from $600 to $800, depending on the kind we get. More money. It never ends. The stove is still on warranty, but not for this!
If you haven’t seen the pictures from our cruise to Alaska (Ro), just scroll to 1 or 2 blog posts prior to this one & you’ll see them.
11/5/10 (Fri) - Cable guy is coming tomorrow to change us out from cable to Direct TV. I will have to take pictures of all of the remotes again & draw my lines & arrows. Now I will have to incorporate the Blu Ray player into it also & re-write all my instructions. The home theatre & whatever else we have all of those remotes for. Has anyone ever heard of simply ON and OFF ?
11/1/10 (Mon) - The day after Halloween. Not an exciting Halloween last night. We only had 2 doorbell rings. The first “group” was 2 little kids with their parents; The 2nd was 3 teenagers. And that is it! So depressing. I love Halloween so much. Lewis & I recorded some Halloween movies that we watched last night. Or tried to. We first watched the original “Halloween” with a very young Jamie Leigh Curtis. We also tried to watch a couple others we recorded but they were just too stupid to continue with. “Evil Dead 2” was 1 of them. Nothing going on in that movie but a lot of screaming & running. I can’t remember the other stupid 1. We ended up watching a very old, black & white movie called “13 Ghosts” which was goofy & campy & kind of fun, starring a very young Martin Milner. “Rocky Horror Picture Show” is always a good Halloween choice. I had the DVD out but we never got a chance to watch it. Not enough movie hours in a day. Can you believe Alex has never seen “Rocky Horror” ? I don’t think he has any interest in it either.
Alex went out with a friend of his, but they didn’t go trick-or-treating, just walked around for a while.
Lewis made jambalaya from scratch yesterday. He worked on it all day & we had it for dinner. Alex & his friend even liked it. It was delicious! My husband is quite a good little cook.
Well, another discouraging fact - - It is now Nov 1, & the weather forecast for today is 86 degrees; The forecast for Weds is 96 degrees! Uuuggghhh! Will it EVER cool down?! No! I don’t believe it will. I’m so tired of this d**n heat!
10/25/10 (Mon) Lewis & I took Sparky to the park yesterday. It was such a gorgeous day! We took a blanket, some water, iPod, & speakers. Sparky really had a good time sniffing everything in site. She even made a new friend. She sure slept well last night.
We spent Sat. with Lewis’s family to celebrate his dad’s birthday, Allan & Candy’s anniversary, & Alex’s birthday. Went to the Bamboo Club again. I do like the food, but this is the 2nd time we’ve been there & everything went wrong. 4 out of 8 of us were served cold food. (It wasn’t supposed to be cold). Other things happened that I won’t bore you with. But Lewis & I decided we aren’t going back.
Alex started the Key Club at Chaparral High School, found a teacher who was willing to be their sponsor, & completed all the forms for the Kiwanis. He felt it would look better on his resume that he initiated the Key Club at the school rather than just belonging to a club.
I’m very sluggish today. I feel like I didn’t sleep well. I’m going to munch on some cashews. That might help. I can take a nap when I get home. I did make an appointment to go back to the sleep doctor this wk.
This wk-end I entered Sparky into another cute dog contest. A catalog called Everything Dog is calling for cute dog pictures. I don’t know if she actually wins anything, but I know that the winner will get his/her picture on the inside cover of their next magazine. And we all know how adorable she is! Sometimes when I enter her into a contest & she doesn’t win, I am totally amazed. My dog really is the cutest, sweetest, prettiest little baby. How could any other dog be cuter than her? It’s just not possible.
Lewis got the new Doobie Brothers CD. It’s very good. They can still bring it! I’ll need to load some of the songs onto my iPod.
Our Sisters’ Dinner is later this wk. We all 3 really look forward to that. We just don’t get to see each other enough.
Wow. I am really tired. My eyes won’t stay open. I don’t know what that’s about.
We discovered the 3rd door of the garage is broken. Lewis & I use the double portion of the garage. That 3rd part is supposed to be for Alex’s car but it’s never uncluttered enough. So now we have to call the garage guy. We just had the roof guy out last wk. It rained & our roof was leaking in the hall by Alex’s bedroom. Now we have to find a drywall guy to fix the inside of it. It never ends.
10/21/10 (Thurs) When I woke up this morning it was pouring rain. It was wonderful! Until I went to Alex’s side of the house & noticed a roof leak & a very wet floor. I got a bucket & put it under the leak – a VERY FAST drip. Then I moved everything around it. It’s in the area of Alex’s desktop computer. He usually uses his laptop. We called the roofing co., told them it’s an emergency. They should be calling me this morning to schedule a time to come out here & fix it. So I’m home today with Sparky. I took her outside this morning & it was actually COLD. Not just cool, but cold. I’m thinking of putting on a long sleeve shirt.
Opened all the windows, turned all the fans on high, lit candles. Nothing seemed to help for hours. We all 4 sat outside on the back patio for a few hours to avoid breathing the noxious fumes from the burnt plastic & metal. I could feel it in my throat & Lewis felt it in his eyes, even though we weren’t in there that long, just long enough to open everything. When it was time for Sparky’s dinner, I got her meal together & brought that & her water dish outside with us. We thought about staying in a hotel that night, but as time went on, it became bearable in the house. There are a lot of hotels in our area that allow dogs.
But this got me thinking: What if I had not gotten home when I did? What if Alex came out to the kitchen to see the flames jumping up? It was a very scary thought. I asked him this morning what he would have done. He said he would have put the fire out, probably with the fire extinguisher that is just to the left of the stove. Okay, that’s fine, but I asked him, “Do you know how to use it?” You can’t take the time to read the instructions for the first time as the flames leap higher in the kitchen. We will review “Fire Extinguisher 101” when I get home today.
Lewis doesn’t work on Thurs, so we have the washer repair guy coming & hopefully, if they can work us in, the roof repair guy. The last time the roof guy came he uncovered some insulation & the birds have been in there every day pulling out insulation. It’s all over our front entryway. We keep cleaning it up & it’s there again the next day. Finally, Alex saw a bird in there. The next day I saw a bird too. So when the roof guy came a few wks ago, he must have left it exposed. It’s in that same spot. Also, I had to arrange for the stove guy to come next wk to get a new cooktop. That will run anywhere from $600 to $800, depending on the kind we get. More money. It never ends. The stove is still on warranty, but not for this!
If you haven’t seen the pictures from our cruise to Alaska (Ro), just scroll to 1 or 2 blog posts prior to this one & you’ll see them.
11/5/10 (Fri) - Cable guy is coming tomorrow to change us out from cable to Direct TV. I will have to take pictures of all of the remotes again & draw my lines & arrows. Now I will have to incorporate the Blu Ray player into it also & re-write all my instructions. The home theatre & whatever else we have all of those remotes for. Has anyone ever heard of simply ON and OFF ?
11/1/10 (Mon) - The day after Halloween. Not an exciting Halloween last night. We only had 2 doorbell rings. The first “group” was 2 little kids with their parents; The 2nd was 3 teenagers. And that is it! So depressing. I love Halloween so much. Lewis & I recorded some Halloween movies that we watched last night. Or tried to. We first watched the original “Halloween” with a very young Jamie Leigh Curtis. We also tried to watch a couple others we recorded but they were just too stupid to continue with. “Evil Dead 2” was 1 of them. Nothing going on in that movie but a lot of screaming & running. I can’t remember the other stupid 1. We ended up watching a very old, black & white movie called “13 Ghosts” which was goofy & campy & kind of fun, starring a very young Martin Milner. “Rocky Horror Picture Show” is always a good Halloween choice. I had the DVD out but we never got a chance to watch it. Not enough movie hours in a day. Can you believe Alex has never seen “Rocky Horror” ? I don’t think he has any interest in it either.
Alex went out with a friend of his, but they didn’t go trick-or-treating, just walked around for a while.
Lewis made jambalaya from scratch yesterday. He worked on it all day & we had it for dinner. Alex & his friend even liked it. It was delicious! My husband is quite a good little cook.
Well, another discouraging fact - - It is now Nov 1, & the weather forecast for today is 86 degrees; The forecast for Weds is 96 degrees! Uuuggghhh! Will it EVER cool down?! No! I don’t believe it will. I’m so tired of this d**n heat!
10/25/10 (Mon) Lewis & I took Sparky to the park yesterday. It was such a gorgeous day! We took a blanket, some water, iPod, & speakers. Sparky really had a good time sniffing everything in site. She even made a new friend. She sure slept well last night.
We spent Sat. with Lewis’s family to celebrate his dad’s birthday, Allan & Candy’s anniversary, & Alex’s birthday. Went to the Bamboo Club again. I do like the food, but this is the 2nd time we’ve been there & everything went wrong. 4 out of 8 of us were served cold food. (It wasn’t supposed to be cold). Other things happened that I won’t bore you with. But Lewis & I decided we aren’t going back.
Alex started the Key Club at Chaparral High School, found a teacher who was willing to be their sponsor, & completed all the forms for the Kiwanis. He felt it would look better on his resume that he initiated the Key Club at the school rather than just belonging to a club.
I’m very sluggish today. I feel like I didn’t sleep well. I’m going to munch on some cashews. That might help. I can take a nap when I get home. I did make an appointment to go back to the sleep doctor this wk.
This wk-end I entered Sparky into another cute dog contest. A catalog called Everything Dog is calling for cute dog pictures. I don’t know if she actually wins anything, but I know that the winner will get his/her picture on the inside cover of their next magazine. And we all know how adorable she is! Sometimes when I enter her into a contest & she doesn’t win, I am totally amazed. My dog really is the cutest, sweetest, prettiest little baby. How could any other dog be cuter than her? It’s just not possible.
Lewis got the new Doobie Brothers CD. It’s very good. They can still bring it! I’ll need to load some of the songs onto my iPod.
Our Sisters’ Dinner is later this wk. We all 3 really look forward to that. We just don’t get to see each other enough.
Wow. I am really tired. My eyes won’t stay open. I don’t know what that’s about.
We discovered the 3rd door of the garage is broken. Lewis & I use the double portion of the garage. That 3rd part is supposed to be for Alex’s car but it’s never uncluttered enough. So now we have to call the garage guy. We just had the roof guy out last wk. It rained & our roof was leaking in the hall by Alex’s bedroom. Now we have to find a drywall guy to fix the inside of it. It never ends.
10/21/10 (Thurs) When I woke up this morning it was pouring rain. It was wonderful! Until I went to Alex’s side of the house & noticed a roof leak & a very wet floor. I got a bucket & put it under the leak – a VERY FAST drip. Then I moved everything around it. It’s in the area of Alex’s desktop computer. He usually uses his laptop. We called the roofing co., told them it’s an emergency. They should be calling me this morning to schedule a time to come out here & fix it. So I’m home today with Sparky. I took her outside this morning & it was actually COLD. Not just cool, but cold. I’m thinking of putting on a long sleeve shirt.
Had some rice pudding for breakfast. That’s 1 of the few foods I was able to eat when I was pregnant. Holds good memories for me.
Picture of Alex on his 17th birthday.10/20/10 (Weds) Alex turned 17 yesterday. We didn’t hardly see him. At 10am yesterday he went with the DECA club to a conference in downtown Phx. (That’s a business club). Afterwards, they went to dinner & then to the Suns game. He didn’t get home until about 11:00 pm. I then took a picture of him because I always take pictures of him on his birthday & the first & last day of school. I am nuts with pictures of my baby. I also sit down with him every year on his birthday & go through the “baby book.” It is pictures of the night he was born & my baby showers, the first wk home with him, etc. He hates it & thinks I am torturing him. Every yr he says, “Why do we have to look at the baby book every yr on my birthday? My friends’ parents don’t make them do that.” But I don’t care. It’s important to me & I will bet it’s important to him, only he doesn’t know it. His birth, to me, is always reason for celebration since we almost didn’t have him. And I can never forget that. Since he wasn’t home to go through the baby book with me, I did it myself. Lewis popped in the living room once in a while to look at some pictures, but he was watching some sports on tv. I put the book at Alex’s place at the table so he could look at it when he got home last night - - like that was the first thing on his mind! He saw it last night & said, “I’ll look at it tomorrow at breakfast, ok?” Hmmmmmm.. So he actually considered it & was resigned to it. I am doing my job as a mother!
Today (10/20) would have been Jonathan’s 4-yr wedding anniversary. He has been gone 3 yrs now. I miss him every day.
Oct 19, 2010 (Tues) - Alex Kowal’s 17th birthday. My baby is now 17. And we are so proud of him. So proud of the young man he has become.
This is also the first day I was able to drive to work with the windows down in the car & no air conditioning. There was even a point in my journey this morning when I smelled fresh mown grass. Fresh mown grass in Oct. What a wonderful place this is - - as long as I’m not living in the desert.
Speaking of the desert, when I took Sparky out this morning to go potty, I noticed 5 of our purple sage bushes were in full bloom. I did notice it yesterday & the day before, but this morning, they were really FULL. Each bush was a little different shade of purple. One was extremely dark. Just gorgeous. After we came in the house, I got my camera & went outside to take a few pictures. This bloom will only last less for about a wk. They bloom about 3 times a yr but it lasts for such a short time before all the blooms start dropping. By now, these bushes are quite large – taller than me. We’ve got a few of them in the front yard too.
This is also the first day I was able to drive to work with the windows down in the car & no air conditioning. There was even a point in my journey this morning when I smelled fresh mown grass. Fresh mown grass in Oct. What a wonderful place this is - - as long as I’m not living in the desert.
Speaking of the desert, when I took Sparky out this morning to go potty, I noticed 5 of our purple sage bushes were in full bloom. I did notice it yesterday & the day before, but this morning, they were really FULL. Each bush was a little different shade of purple. One was extremely dark. Just gorgeous. After we came in the house, I got my camera & went outside to take a few pictures. This bloom will only last less for about a wk. They bloom about 3 times a yr but it lasts for such a short time before all the blooms start dropping. By now, these bushes are quite large – taller than me. We’ve got a few of them in the front yard too.
Alex’s Deca Club (business club at school) is going to a convention today at the Phx Convention Center downtown for the whole day. When it’s over they are going to a Phx Suns game. We probably won’t see him until around 10:30 or 11:00 tonight. But it’s a fun way for him to spend his birthday.
10/17/10 - (Sat) Sparky just got back from the beauty shop. She is gorgeous. This is her first time at this particular beauty shop because her regular stylist retired. I like the way this person did her. She is so pretty.
Alex will be 17 yrs old in a couple of days. I just don’t know where 17 yrs went – so quickly! He took the PSATs this morning & then came home with a couple of friends.
I had a restful morning. After I dropped Sparky off I went through some more boxes in the garage. There are still way too many out there & I need to clear out that area for Alex’s car. I figure I’ll have it all cleared out & ready about the time he’s ready to leave for college.
Anyway, I sorted some kids’ books for a guy at my office who has 4 little kids; Also put a few bags of Alex’s clothes in the trunk for another person at my office. It’s nice that someone can make use of these things. It’s nicer to be able to get them out of my garage. There are still a lot of boxes that I have to take to the animal rescue thrift store too. Unfortunately, there are still a lot that we will need to keep.
I found some old photo albums in there too & started flipping through pages. Lots of memories. A couple pictures are of me & an old friend/neighbor of mine from the early 80’s when we went water skiing & snow skiing the same wk-end (New Yr’s Eve). It’s a picture of her & her ex-husband & me & an old boyfriend. That old friend of mine is remarried & has 2 daughters now. One is in Alex’s class & has been since about 5th grade. It’s funny that our kids are in school together. Now I really feel old.
That's it for now. Keep in touch.
Hugs,
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Too Hot in the Desert
It is now Oct 1, 2010. I have had no entries for a very long time. So let’s start with a not-so-pleasant story about living in this god-forsaken desert.
It was a Monday morning a couple wks ago. Lewis was leaving the house at 4:45 a.m., as usual. Yes, he leaves that early every day. He got as far as the garage, opened the garage door, then came back in the house, woke me to tell me there was a HUGE rattle snake in the driveway next to Alex’s car. Probably about 5-6 ft . long & very thick. Tail was up & it was hissing at Lewis, facing him. Lewis saw it & put the garage door down & came in the house to tell me, but in putting the double garage door down, he accidentally hit the button for the single garage door, so that 1 door went up. That is the third of the garage where we have too many boxes, where Alex’s car doesn’t fit yet until I take all of those boxes of stuff to the animal shelter thrift store. Then his car will fit in there with ours. Lewis went out to look at it again, but it was gone. He thought it may have crawled up under Alex’s car & was concerned. I said I would take Alex to school & that he should call the animal control people to come look for it & take it back out to the desert.
So Lewis called animal control, they told him to call the fire dept. The fire dept. came out within minutes. They looked around & didn’t find the snake. They checked under Alex’s car & up in the motor. No snake. But they also noticed the single garage door was open & wondered whether said snake had made its way into that area. I am thinking & hoping NO. Once Lewis put the double garage door down, the motor would have scared it away, not towards the single opened door. Hopefully. Lewis gave me the report & went to work. I was not happy that the snake might be in the garage. But what could I do then?
Still in bed and trying to get back to sleep, I kept hearing a beeping coming from the living room. What in the heck was that? Everything in our house beeps. The washer beeps when it’s finished, the drier beeps, the microwaves beep, the oven beeps, the refrigerator beeps if the doors are open too long, all doors to the house beep when they are opened or closed because of the security system. But this was a weird beep. It beeped just once. I ignored it & looked at the clock. Then I heard it again. I looked at the clock. It had been a few seconds since the last beep. I ignored it again hoping it would go away without me having to get out of bed & disturb Sparky who was soundly sleeping on the pillow next to my head. Then it beeped again. I looked at the clock. Almost a minute had passed. Okay, I was mildly curious. I got up, walked out to the hallway towards the living room only to see - - WHAT? The living room door was wide open! Not just unlocked, but OPEN. I ran to it & shut it & locked it. Then the alarm went off. The security company called to make sure we hadn’t been broken into. I told her it was fine, the door just blew open. But why wasn’t it locked? And why wasn’t it latched?
Then more beeping, this time from the kitchen. It seems Lewis must have set the timer on the stove in case he fell asleep while waiting for the fire dept. He left without shutting it off. I had to run back in the bedroom to get my glasses so I could figure out how to turn off that timer beep. Since our stove is only a few months old, I am not familiar with all of the buttons without my glasses on. I finally figured it out & shut off those beeps. Then I started hunting through the house with my baseball bat for a rattlesnake. The door was wide open – with a snake on the loose in my driveway! This morning was just getting worse. After I had combed through the entire house, backs of closets & under everything, with my baseball bat in one hand, carrying Sparky in my other arm, I finally went into the computer room, sat on the recliner section of the couch with Sparky next to me & a blanket on us. I was not going back to bed. And I certainly didn’t go back to sleep. I waited for Alex’s alarm to go off. When he came out I told him I would take him to school if he didn’t feel comfortable getting in his car, but since the fire dept guys looked all over he felt safe, so he drove himself.
Did I ever mention I hate living in the desert?
It was 108 degrees on Sept 30. That is the hottest recorded Sept temp. I remember 1 year when it was 122 in June. But 108 in Sept ? Absurd. I've come to the conclusion that summer is never going to end - - never again.
Sorry, no pictures this time. I've been taking more videos of Sparky though. I'll try to include them next time.
I read something weird a few days ago. It was regarding the situation with Somali pirates hijacking ships off the coast of East Africa.
The first few words are all you need to understand the oddity of the phrase. You will see why this is something you have probably never read or heard in your life.
“The attorney for the pirates….”
Attorney for the pirates? Whhatttt? Please tell me if that phrase doesn’t strike anyone as odd.
See, you have lived this long & never heard that phrase uttered in your entire life. (I’m guessing). Just shows - - you’re never too old to learn (or hear) new things.
Speaking of weird phrases, yesterday I head on the news that there was an accident on the 101. Something about a 4-car pile up (please use an alternate route). And I thought, What a great name for a band! 4-Car Pile Up. Tell me that’s not a good name for a rock group. Is it worse than Stone Temple Pilots? Or Def Leppard or Lynard Skynyrd or Nickelback or Red Hot Chili Peppers? Personally, I love Red Hot Chili Peppers - - the band & the band name. It’s got some color to it.
Right now I am sitting here with my iPod playing my 2,000 favorite songs. Earbuds in. I am also eating popcorn. I have to keep turning up the iPod because chomping on the popcorn is too loud inside my head. I don’t want to turn it up too much & ruin my rock-concert eardrums any further. Sometimes I put a handful of popcorn in my mouth as soon as a song ends, hoping to finish chewing it before the next song starts. That hasn’t happened. There is not much time between songs. Maybe I should just put the popcorn away. Nahhh.
My niece, Adriane is pregnant with a little boy. She & our nephew, Chad live in Texas so we probably won’t get to see the little one too often. It would be great if they lived here & we could all be together. As it is, my family gets together once a month to celebrate the birthdays of that month, & my 2 sisters & I get together once a month for dinner. Adriane & Chad are the only ones missing. I wish Dennis & Cath could convince them to move here. But I know Chad LOVES Texas. And Adriane’s twin sister is there too.
Sorry, ears, but this is a great Pet Shop Boys song (West End Girls). Have to turn it up. I will stop eating popcorn for this song. I may even sing, but I am not alone right now, so I might have to reconsider that.
Next song is “Bang your Head” by Quiet Riot. I will definitely have to turn it down, now that the Pet Shop Boys song is over. “Bang your head. Wake the dead...” Remember that song? There were sure some good songs in the 80's. When I look back on music, I think the 80s was probably my favorite music decade. The 70's had me out at the disco every night. But I was in my 20's so I was able to do that. But the music just got better in the 80's.
“Ridin’ the Storm Out” by REO Speedwagon just came on. What a great song! I never understood why so many people made fun of REO. They had some incredible songs. A little trivia for you . . . REO actually got their name from Ransom Eli Olds who was a pioneer of the American auto industry. Oldsmobile was named for him (natch). Why they chose that particular industry to name themselves after is still a mystery.
Okay, don’t make fun of me, but the Rob Thomas song “Streetcorner Symphany” is such an up, bouncy, fun song. I’m listening to it right now. It’s what I call a spring song. There are certain songs that remind me of the wonders of spring, the smell of spring. Before I got married I had a Welcome Spring party every year around the first or second wk of spring. Think of spring – of orange blossoms, of star jasmine blossoms. Yummm. I have been trying to find orange blossom candles for years. Every time I think I’ve found one, I buy it, & it turns out to be that fake orange smell. Real orange blossom, not just orange, is incredible. Finally, I found a company online that has orange blossom candles. I thought I’d order a few to see if they got it right. They did. I keep all of my scented candles in one of the kitchen cabinets above the phone. Not with any food or dishes. Every time I walk by that area of the kitchen I smell orange blossoms. Now that is ideal! And when we cook something that does not smell very nice, I just open that cabinet for a while. Don’t even have to light the candles. When Alex was younger & he drank out of plastic glasses, I kept those plastic glasses in the candle cabinet until he told me the glasses tasted funny. So I smelled them & they smelled like my candles. Even after I put them in the dishwasher, that smell stayed. Those candles can certainly permeate things.
Spring also reminds me Legend City, the old amusement park that used to be down near the zoo in Scottsdale. Legend City was such a fun place to go in the spring & summer, & it always smelled good there. This was in 1969 & the early 70's. As you wandered around Legend City you could smell everything from orange blossoms to incense from the gift shop. They also sold 45 RPM records in that store. I remember getting “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show” by Neil Diamond & “Crystal Blue Persuasion” by Tommy James & the Shondells.
More unnecessary trivia - - One of Tommy James & the Shondells’ album covers was the first professional photo shoot for then-photographer Linda Eastman McCartney. By now you’re probably asking yourself, “Just what the heck is a shondell?” I know you won’t be able to sleep tonight unless you know that. Well, Tommy James named his group after Troy Shondell, a one-hit-wonder vocalist in the early 60's. Supposedly, Troy Shondell was his idol. A one-hit-wonder as an idol? This guy needs to raise the bar a little.
This is just me boring you with my wealth of worthless trivia. Gotta love that worthless trivia. Speaking of trivia, tomorrow night is trivia game night at Peggy & Al’s house. They are our across-the-street neighbors. That means we can drink to our heart’s content since no one has to drive home.
Sometimes Lewis & I read music trivia cards to each other before we go to sleep. These are the music trivia cards that no one in our game groups seems to care for. So we have decided not to take this particular set to any of the game nights & keep them for ourselves.
Anyone catch the season premier of “The Good Wife” ? What a great season opener. That is a very good show.
I found a new lipstick that I love. It is one of those all-day lasting ones. And the color is very nice & soft. The color is called 709. 709? Isn’t that a nice name for a lipstick? Nothing like Moonlight Romance or anything like that. Just 709. Kind of like having a hair color called “dirty blond.” I think I will go back & see what other lipstick colors I should have. I may stock up on the entire 700 series.
Lewis went to poker last night so Alex & I watched “Halloween 2” – the Rob Zombie version. I have seen 1 & 2 of the original ones with Jamie Leigh Curtis, but not the Rob Zombie ones. So we want to get the Rob Zombie first one. I thought we could watch 3 of them this wk-end. Kind of a gross-out marathon. It IS October, & Halloween is my favorite holiday. Alex is excited. Lewis probably won’t be. I’ll have to stop at Blockbuster to pick up those 3 (Alex owns the 1 we watched last night. He has quite a collection now – over 200 DVDs).
I will pull all of my Halloween decorations out of the garage this wk-end & do my decorating on Sun. I have tons of ghosts to put in the front tree. I need to use the really tall ladder & the shorter one too. It’s quite a project. I’ve got tons of new decorations I bought last yr, the day after Halloween. Lots of pumpkin lights this time. And a really cool giant black spider. Be afraid. Be very afraid. The sad thing is, we are the last house in the cul-de-sac & our house is kind of pushed back off the street, so if you’re just walking down the street at the end of the cul-de-sac, you may not see our house. But once the kids are in the cul-de-sac, they see it. I love it when the little ones come to the door. They are so cute.
Oct 2 (Sat) Just picked up a chocolate cake for game night.
Lewis took one of the cars in for an oil change, & Alex is still at work. At least he's working inside now & not at the pool any longer. He loves working there.
It was a Monday morning a couple wks ago. Lewis was leaving the house at 4:45 a.m., as usual. Yes, he leaves that early every day. He got as far as the garage, opened the garage door, then came back in the house, woke me to tell me there was a HUGE rattle snake in the driveway next to Alex’s car. Probably about 5-6 ft . long & very thick. Tail was up & it was hissing at Lewis, facing him. Lewis saw it & put the garage door down & came in the house to tell me, but in putting the double garage door down, he accidentally hit the button for the single garage door, so that 1 door went up. That is the third of the garage where we have too many boxes, where Alex’s car doesn’t fit yet until I take all of those boxes of stuff to the animal shelter thrift store. Then his car will fit in there with ours. Lewis went out to look at it again, but it was gone. He thought it may have crawled up under Alex’s car & was concerned. I said I would take Alex to school & that he should call the animal control people to come look for it & take it back out to the desert.
So Lewis called animal control, they told him to call the fire dept. The fire dept. came out within minutes. They looked around & didn’t find the snake. They checked under Alex’s car & up in the motor. No snake. But they also noticed the single garage door was open & wondered whether said snake had made its way into that area. I am thinking & hoping NO. Once Lewis put the double garage door down, the motor would have scared it away, not towards the single opened door. Hopefully. Lewis gave me the report & went to work. I was not happy that the snake might be in the garage. But what could I do then?
Still in bed and trying to get back to sleep, I kept hearing a beeping coming from the living room. What in the heck was that? Everything in our house beeps. The washer beeps when it’s finished, the drier beeps, the microwaves beep, the oven beeps, the refrigerator beeps if the doors are open too long, all doors to the house beep when they are opened or closed because of the security system. But this was a weird beep. It beeped just once. I ignored it & looked at the clock. Then I heard it again. I looked at the clock. It had been a few seconds since the last beep. I ignored it again hoping it would go away without me having to get out of bed & disturb Sparky who was soundly sleeping on the pillow next to my head. Then it beeped again. I looked at the clock. Almost a minute had passed. Okay, I was mildly curious. I got up, walked out to the hallway towards the living room only to see - - WHAT? The living room door was wide open! Not just unlocked, but OPEN. I ran to it & shut it & locked it. Then the alarm went off. The security company called to make sure we hadn’t been broken into. I told her it was fine, the door just blew open. But why wasn’t it locked? And why wasn’t it latched?
Then more beeping, this time from the kitchen. It seems Lewis must have set the timer on the stove in case he fell asleep while waiting for the fire dept. He left without shutting it off. I had to run back in the bedroom to get my glasses so I could figure out how to turn off that timer beep. Since our stove is only a few months old, I am not familiar with all of the buttons without my glasses on. I finally figured it out & shut off those beeps. Then I started hunting through the house with my baseball bat for a rattlesnake. The door was wide open – with a snake on the loose in my driveway! This morning was just getting worse. After I had combed through the entire house, backs of closets & under everything, with my baseball bat in one hand, carrying Sparky in my other arm, I finally went into the computer room, sat on the recliner section of the couch with Sparky next to me & a blanket on us. I was not going back to bed. And I certainly didn’t go back to sleep. I waited for Alex’s alarm to go off. When he came out I told him I would take him to school if he didn’t feel comfortable getting in his car, but since the fire dept guys looked all over he felt safe, so he drove himself.
Did I ever mention I hate living in the desert?
It was 108 degrees on Sept 30. That is the hottest recorded Sept temp. I remember 1 year when it was 122 in June. But 108 in Sept ? Absurd. I've come to the conclusion that summer is never going to end - - never again.
Sorry, no pictures this time. I've been taking more videos of Sparky though. I'll try to include them next time.
I read something weird a few days ago. It was regarding the situation with Somali pirates hijacking ships off the coast of East Africa.
The first few words are all you need to understand the oddity of the phrase. You will see why this is something you have probably never read or heard in your life.
“The attorney for the pirates….”
Attorney for the pirates? Whhatttt? Please tell me if that phrase doesn’t strike anyone as odd.
See, you have lived this long & never heard that phrase uttered in your entire life. (I’m guessing). Just shows - - you’re never too old to learn (or hear) new things.
Speaking of weird phrases, yesterday I head on the news that there was an accident on the 101. Something about a 4-car pile up (please use an alternate route). And I thought, What a great name for a band! 4-Car Pile Up. Tell me that’s not a good name for a rock group. Is it worse than Stone Temple Pilots? Or Def Leppard or Lynard Skynyrd or Nickelback or Red Hot Chili Peppers? Personally, I love Red Hot Chili Peppers - - the band & the band name. It’s got some color to it.
Right now I am sitting here with my iPod playing my 2,000 favorite songs. Earbuds in. I am also eating popcorn. I have to keep turning up the iPod because chomping on the popcorn is too loud inside my head. I don’t want to turn it up too much & ruin my rock-concert eardrums any further. Sometimes I put a handful of popcorn in my mouth as soon as a song ends, hoping to finish chewing it before the next song starts. That hasn’t happened. There is not much time between songs. Maybe I should just put the popcorn away. Nahhh.
My niece, Adriane is pregnant with a little boy. She & our nephew, Chad live in Texas so we probably won’t get to see the little one too often. It would be great if they lived here & we could all be together. As it is, my family gets together once a month to celebrate the birthdays of that month, & my 2 sisters & I get together once a month for dinner. Adriane & Chad are the only ones missing. I wish Dennis & Cath could convince them to move here. But I know Chad LOVES Texas. And Adriane’s twin sister is there too.
Sorry, ears, but this is a great Pet Shop Boys song (West End Girls). Have to turn it up. I will stop eating popcorn for this song. I may even sing, but I am not alone right now, so I might have to reconsider that.
Next song is “Bang your Head” by Quiet Riot. I will definitely have to turn it down, now that the Pet Shop Boys song is over. “Bang your head. Wake the dead...” Remember that song? There were sure some good songs in the 80's. When I look back on music, I think the 80s was probably my favorite music decade. The 70's had me out at the disco every night. But I was in my 20's so I was able to do that. But the music just got better in the 80's.
“Ridin’ the Storm Out” by REO Speedwagon just came on. What a great song! I never understood why so many people made fun of REO. They had some incredible songs. A little trivia for you . . . REO actually got their name from Ransom Eli Olds who was a pioneer of the American auto industry. Oldsmobile was named for him (natch). Why they chose that particular industry to name themselves after is still a mystery.
Okay, don’t make fun of me, but the Rob Thomas song “Streetcorner Symphany” is such an up, bouncy, fun song. I’m listening to it right now. It’s what I call a spring song. There are certain songs that remind me of the wonders of spring, the smell of spring. Before I got married I had a Welcome Spring party every year around the first or second wk of spring. Think of spring – of orange blossoms, of star jasmine blossoms. Yummm. I have been trying to find orange blossom candles for years. Every time I think I’ve found one, I buy it, & it turns out to be that fake orange smell. Real orange blossom, not just orange, is incredible. Finally, I found a company online that has orange blossom candles. I thought I’d order a few to see if they got it right. They did. I keep all of my scented candles in one of the kitchen cabinets above the phone. Not with any food or dishes. Every time I walk by that area of the kitchen I smell orange blossoms. Now that is ideal! And when we cook something that does not smell very nice, I just open that cabinet for a while. Don’t even have to light the candles. When Alex was younger & he drank out of plastic glasses, I kept those plastic glasses in the candle cabinet until he told me the glasses tasted funny. So I smelled them & they smelled like my candles. Even after I put them in the dishwasher, that smell stayed. Those candles can certainly permeate things.
Spring also reminds me Legend City, the old amusement park that used to be down near the zoo in Scottsdale. Legend City was such a fun place to go in the spring & summer, & it always smelled good there. This was in 1969 & the early 70's. As you wandered around Legend City you could smell everything from orange blossoms to incense from the gift shop. They also sold 45 RPM records in that store. I remember getting “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show” by Neil Diamond & “Crystal Blue Persuasion” by Tommy James & the Shondells.
More unnecessary trivia - - One of Tommy James & the Shondells’ album covers was the first professional photo shoot for then-photographer Linda Eastman McCartney. By now you’re probably asking yourself, “Just what the heck is a shondell?” I know you won’t be able to sleep tonight unless you know that. Well, Tommy James named his group after Troy Shondell, a one-hit-wonder vocalist in the early 60's. Supposedly, Troy Shondell was his idol. A one-hit-wonder as an idol? This guy needs to raise the bar a little.
This is just me boring you with my wealth of worthless trivia. Gotta love that worthless trivia. Speaking of trivia, tomorrow night is trivia game night at Peggy & Al’s house. They are our across-the-street neighbors. That means we can drink to our heart’s content since no one has to drive home.
Sometimes Lewis & I read music trivia cards to each other before we go to sleep. These are the music trivia cards that no one in our game groups seems to care for. So we have decided not to take this particular set to any of the game nights & keep them for ourselves.
Anyone catch the season premier of “The Good Wife” ? What a great season opener. That is a very good show.
I found a new lipstick that I love. It is one of those all-day lasting ones. And the color is very nice & soft. The color is called 709. 709? Isn’t that a nice name for a lipstick? Nothing like Moonlight Romance or anything like that. Just 709. Kind of like having a hair color called “dirty blond.” I think I will go back & see what other lipstick colors I should have. I may stock up on the entire 700 series.
Lewis went to poker last night so Alex & I watched “Halloween 2” – the Rob Zombie version. I have seen 1 & 2 of the original ones with Jamie Leigh Curtis, but not the Rob Zombie ones. So we want to get the Rob Zombie first one. I thought we could watch 3 of them this wk-end. Kind of a gross-out marathon. It IS October, & Halloween is my favorite holiday. Alex is excited. Lewis probably won’t be. I’ll have to stop at Blockbuster to pick up those 3 (Alex owns the 1 we watched last night. He has quite a collection now – over 200 DVDs).
I will pull all of my Halloween decorations out of the garage this wk-end & do my decorating on Sun. I have tons of ghosts to put in the front tree. I need to use the really tall ladder & the shorter one too. It’s quite a project. I’ve got tons of new decorations I bought last yr, the day after Halloween. Lots of pumpkin lights this time. And a really cool giant black spider. Be afraid. Be very afraid. The sad thing is, we are the last house in the cul-de-sac & our house is kind of pushed back off the street, so if you’re just walking down the street at the end of the cul-de-sac, you may not see our house. But once the kids are in the cul-de-sac, they see it. I love it when the little ones come to the door. They are so cute.
Oct 2 (Sat) Just picked up a chocolate cake for game night.
Lewis took one of the cars in for an oil change, & Alex is still at work. At least he's working inside now & not at the pool any longer. He loves working there.
Alex will be 17 in a couple wks. I can't believe how fast this 17 yrs have gone. And I don't like it.
Just noticed I didn't say much about Sparky in this entry. Well, you know she's just as cute as ever. I'll make sure to add pictures of her next time.
Okay, that's about it for now. I'll put some pictures in next time. I really don't have anything new yet.
Hugs,
Candace
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Vacation 2010
July 11, 2010 (Sun)
It’s been a long time since I’ve updated my blog. By now, you’ve probably forgotten all about me & my boring little adventures. But we can’t have that, can we ?!
I don’t remember if I told you about Sparky’s surgery. She had to have her ACL replaced. She was in a doggie cast for a while & was not too happy about that. Aside from keeping her from hopping & jumping, she went through it pretty well. And now she is back to normal, prancing & jumping all over the place.
We returned from our 7-day Alaskan cruise this past Friday night. That picture of the 3 of us was taken on the whale watching boat.
It’s been a long time since I’ve updated my blog. By now, you’ve probably forgotten all about me & my boring little adventures. But we can’t have that, can we ?!
I don’t remember if I told you about Sparky’s surgery. She had to have her ACL replaced. She was in a doggie cast for a while & was not too happy about that. Aside from keeping her from hopping & jumping, she went through it pretty well. And now she is back to normal, prancing & jumping all over the place.
We returned from our 7-day Alaskan cruise this past Friday night. That picture of the 3 of us was taken on the whale watching boat.
Here's some pretty cool scenery of when we were out whale watching.
Couldn’t wait to get home & see our little Sparky. Eric picked her up at her hotel & brought her home for us so we wouldn’t have to wait another day to see her. It was so nice sleeping in my own bed with my own dog.
The cruise was nice. We flew into Seattle a day earlier than necessary because no one likes to rush. The entire Kowal family went on this trip - - 12 of us in all, ranging in age from 10 yrs to 84 yrs old. Yes, Lewis’s parents were there too.
We went on a whale watching excursion. It was pouring rain & very cold, but there I was standing on the front deck of a whale watching boat in the middle of the ocean somewhere in Alaska & it was just incredible. And we DID see some whales jumping & spouting. So many incredible feelings on this trip - - like the morning we cruised through a fjord, staring at a mile-long glacier. There were chunks of blue ice in the water. It was beautiful. That whole glacier thing may have been the most breathtaking sight of my life.
The next day was river rafting in Skagway. Two rafts for all 12 of us. The water was sort of an opaque grey. Sounds ugly doesn’t it? It wasn’t. It was actually shimmery. Quite beautiful. It was run-off water from the glacier & was 36 degrees. My boots didn’t show up on the tour so I was the only one on this wet raft wearing tennis shoes. Surprisingly, I wasn’t cold, even though my shoes were soaked. It was never really as cold as we expected it to be anyplace we went. We all packed tons of warm clothes that we didn’t need to use. So I ended up wearing the same things over & over because I did not expect it to be so warm there. Maybe it was because the sun stayed up for 20-21 hours a day. The only other clothes I packed were for the formal nights. And lots of shoes. I don’t know why I took so many shoes. This was not my best packing effort. But I did fine with Alex’s clothes. He had more shirts & pants & shorts than he could wear.
Alex ended up playing basketball on the top deck most days. Sometimes his cousins would join him. I think they may have played a few games of ping pong too.
This is a picture of Lewis & Alex at Bouchard Gardens in Victoria, Canada.
The cruise was nice. We flew into Seattle a day earlier than necessary because no one likes to rush. The entire Kowal family went on this trip - - 12 of us in all, ranging in age from 10 yrs to 84 yrs old. Yes, Lewis’s parents were there too.
We went on a whale watching excursion. It was pouring rain & very cold, but there I was standing on the front deck of a whale watching boat in the middle of the ocean somewhere in Alaska & it was just incredible. And we DID see some whales jumping & spouting. So many incredible feelings on this trip - - like the morning we cruised through a fjord, staring at a mile-long glacier. There were chunks of blue ice in the water. It was beautiful. That whole glacier thing may have been the most breathtaking sight of my life.
The next day was river rafting in Skagway. Two rafts for all 12 of us. The water was sort of an opaque grey. Sounds ugly doesn’t it? It wasn’t. It was actually shimmery. Quite beautiful. It was run-off water from the glacier & was 36 degrees. My boots didn’t show up on the tour so I was the only one on this wet raft wearing tennis shoes. Surprisingly, I wasn’t cold, even though my shoes were soaked. It was never really as cold as we expected it to be anyplace we went. We all packed tons of warm clothes that we didn’t need to use. So I ended up wearing the same things over & over because I did not expect it to be so warm there. Maybe it was because the sun stayed up for 20-21 hours a day. The only other clothes I packed were for the formal nights. And lots of shoes. I don’t know why I took so many shoes. This was not my best packing effort. But I did fine with Alex’s clothes. He had more shirts & pants & shorts than he could wear.
Alex ended up playing basketball on the top deck most days. Sometimes his cousins would join him. I think they may have played a few games of ping pong too.
This is a picture of Lewis & Alex at Bouchard Gardens in Victoria, Canada.
The best part of the cruise (just kidding) was winning the “Name That Tune” trivia contest & being awarded the coveted Celebrity Cruise Lines t-shirts. I don’t wear t-shirts. Lewis & Alex got them. We came in second place twice & first place once. The only time I got killed in trivia challenges was when they were of the general nature, such as geography, history, etc. But give me music trivia & everything comes together. Lewis & I both love music trivia. Too bad it was only 3 times. Well, only 3 times that we could play because we were off the ship on excursions during some of the games.
We met some nice people too. Too bad we didn’t exchange information. We had a lot of fun with them.
There was also a 70’s / Disco night one night. First there was a show in the theatre comprised of 70’s music & dancing. Then we went to the lounge after the show was over to hear more of that wonderful disco music that everyone I know besides Rosalie hates. Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, Boz Skaggs. Just really great dance music. But Lewis & I only danced to a few songs when all of our body parts started aching. I just laughed & said, “Can we possibly be this old?” We went back to the room & put Ben-Gay on each other.
This is the second time I actually got on the ship on my birthday. For my 50th birthday, we boarded the Disney ship. On my 55th birthday, we boarded the Celebrity Infinity. Usually we are out of town on my birthday because it’s a convenient time when Alex is out of school. I think I’ve been home (in Scottsdale) about 2-3 times in the past 15 years on the actual date of my birthday.
My family is going to celebrate the July birthdays on the 18th. That will be Cath, Aunt Bertha, & me.
Lewis & I went to lunch today at Flo’s Asian Bistro. Seems we haven’t eaten enough lately. Only 6 times a day !
Candy (Allan’s wife) & I went to this detox seminar & had our metabolism & body mass measured. All that creepy stuff. Mine is horrible. But I knew it would be. We have some information & the title of a book to get working on. Apparently, I have a lot of toxins in my body that need to be removed before I will be able to lose any weight. I’m just so sick of being fat.
I still haven’t been able to find my REAL glasses. I keep using the readers, but my real glasses are tri-focals. It would be nice to have them back.
We met some nice people too. Too bad we didn’t exchange information. We had a lot of fun with them.
There was also a 70’s / Disco night one night. First there was a show in the theatre comprised of 70’s music & dancing. Then we went to the lounge after the show was over to hear more of that wonderful disco music that everyone I know besides Rosalie hates. Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, Boz Skaggs. Just really great dance music. But Lewis & I only danced to a few songs when all of our body parts started aching. I just laughed & said, “Can we possibly be this old?” We went back to the room & put Ben-Gay on each other.
This is the second time I actually got on the ship on my birthday. For my 50th birthday, we boarded the Disney ship. On my 55th birthday, we boarded the Celebrity Infinity. Usually we are out of town on my birthday because it’s a convenient time when Alex is out of school. I think I’ve been home (in Scottsdale) about 2-3 times in the past 15 years on the actual date of my birthday.
My family is going to celebrate the July birthdays on the 18th. That will be Cath, Aunt Bertha, & me.
Lewis & I went to lunch today at Flo’s Asian Bistro. Seems we haven’t eaten enough lately. Only 6 times a day !
Candy (Allan’s wife) & I went to this detox seminar & had our metabolism & body mass measured. All that creepy stuff. Mine is horrible. But I knew it would be. We have some information & the title of a book to get working on. Apparently, I have a lot of toxins in my body that need to be removed before I will be able to lose any weight. I’m just so sick of being fat.
I still haven’t been able to find my REAL glasses. I keep using the readers, but my real glasses are tri-focals. It would be nice to have them back.
That's as much of an update I can do for now. My part-time job gives me a lot of time to take naps.
Hugs,
Candace
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thanksgiving with the Kowals - 2009
10/27/09 Sparky is at the vet now. She is having the ACL surgery. They have to replace her ligament with an artificial one. She will have to stay overnight. Once she’s home we will have to keep her crated (but it is a large crate) for several wks. Then I will have to do physical therapy on her 2-3 times a day for several more wks. After about 3 months she should be able to play again. My poor, sweet baby.
10/30 (Fri) Poor, sweet Sparky girl. Her surgery went well. They replaced the ligament in her knee with a titanium piece. So Sparky & her brother both have titanium in them! Lewis got her a cage – pretty big. She can walk around in it but not much. She is sitting in there crying her little heart out. It drove me crazy for the first day, but I’m kind of used to it now. When we are in bed, we take her cage in the bedroom & she sleeps on the floor next to me. I have her pillows & blankets & her dinosaur in there with some water. In the day, the cage is in the computer room with me. When we watch tv I just put her on my lap as usual & hold her. We aren’t ignoring her; It’s just that she isn’t supposed to move that leg around too much. You should see the cast. It’s on the entire leg & is about as wide as her whole body. I was thinking about how miserable she is in there so I put a pink sheet up on 1 side of the cage. Pink is supposed to be a soothing color. I think it’s working too. Here's a picture of her a few days after her surgery.
10/30 (Fri) Poor, sweet Sparky girl. Her surgery went well. They replaced the ligament in her knee with a titanium piece. So Sparky & her brother both have titanium in them! Lewis got her a cage – pretty big. She can walk around in it but not much. She is sitting in there crying her little heart out. It drove me crazy for the first day, but I’m kind of used to it now. When we are in bed, we take her cage in the bedroom & she sleeps on the floor next to me. I have her pillows & blankets & her dinosaur in there with some water. In the day, the cage is in the computer room with me. When we watch tv I just put her on my lap as usual & hold her. We aren’t ignoring her; It’s just that she isn’t supposed to move that leg around too much. You should see the cast. It’s on the entire leg & is about as wide as her whole body. I was thinking about how miserable she is in there so I put a pink sheet up on 1 side of the cage. Pink is supposed to be a soothing color. I think it’s working too. Here's a picture of her a few days after her surgery.
Just finished making dinner. It’s in the fridge. Don’t need to heat it up for about an hr.
Game night tomorrow night! Then on Sun, Cath, Dennis & Natalie are coming over for lunch. I’m making chicken piccata. Haven’t tried this recipe before but it sounds really good. Another busy wk-end.
11/4/09 (Weds) Went to the orthodontist yesterday. Alex got his braces off. His teeth look really nice. And they’re very white. We thought he might need to have them whitened but I guess not.
Sparky is not happy. Her back leg is in a full cast. From hip to foot. It looks like a teddy bear leg. I will take Sparks back in 2 wks for her follow-up. She seems to be doing well, except she doesn’t understand why I carry her from room to room when she isn’t in her new (huge) cage. She only sleeps in there at night. We put it next to our bed. I put her pillows & blankets in there with 2 of her favorite chewing toys. Also a dish of water. But in the day I don’t like to keep her caged up. Since she isn’t supposed to walk much, I just carry her wherever I go in the house. I am building up arm muscles I didn’t know I had. She is only 19 pounds, but I’m a weakling.
Have to get Alex to physical therapy soon so I should go see why he isn’t out of bed yet.
11/5/09 (Thurs)
As Lewis was perusing some grocery ads that came in the mail yesterday, he asked me if I would eat buffalo meat. I said no. He said yes, I would. I said no, I wouldn’t. He then proceeded to tell me how healthy it is. I don’t care. I told him I am not eating buffalo. I have a feeling he’s going to buy it anyway. I will not eat it anyway.
I made my Sturniolo meatloaf last night. Also some scalloped potatoes and a medley of fresh vegetables. I bought fresh broccoli, zucchini, grape tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, & pearl onions. Threw it all together in a pan of butter & then simmered it on low for about 2 hrs. I also made Waldorf salad that I found a recipe for a couple days ago. It was delicious. More like a dessert. I just had some now for breakfast.
We all 3 got our flu shots last night. Now we have to wait for the H1N1 shots.
11/6/09 (Fri) Had dinner last night with Kim. We met in PSI (Professional Secretaries International) in 1990 & have been friends ever since. I was telling Lewis last night that Kim’s son is a yr older than Alex & that she loaned me a lot of her maternity dresses when I was pregnant. She helped pull together my surprise baby shower which was planned for the PSI meeting the night I had Alex. I remember calling Kim at 8:00 that morning when Alex was just 4 hrs old. I told her I wouldn’t be able to come to the meeting that night. (I was the editor of the newsletter). She said, “Oh no!” And she seemed really bothered so I said, “Don’t worry. I can have Lewis drop the newsletters off.” She said it wasn’t about the newsletters; It was because that night was my “surprise” baby shower. Then I told her “Oh well. Just had the baby a couple hrs ago.” I guess I forgot to mention that earlier. So they still ate my cake at the meeting. The next day Kim brought all of the gifts & the leftover cake to the hospital for me. That was 16 yrs ago.
Alex & I had a productive day today. I did a mystery shop this morning at 5 & Diner at Paradise Valley Mall. When we were leaving we noticed a Blockbuster going out of business. Had to stop. But they didn’t open until 11:00 a.m., so we went to Costco to pick up a few things we needed (like Excedrin – my favorite drug of all time). Then I took him to physical therapy. At noon, when he was finished, we went back to that Blockbuster & spent WAY too much time (& $$$ ) there. Called Lewis a couple of times to let him know what games they had. He didn’t want any of them, but Alex & I got several movies, some kettle corn & some other candy. Stuff we didn’t need but had to have. They are still going to be open until Jan 3, so we will stop back every now & then & see if the prices go down much. Went home & had lunch. Now I have to complete my mystery shop form online & scan in the receipt.
It’s weird-looking outside. Looks like it might rain but still feels very hot out. Way too hot for Nov.
Tomorrow is the McDowell Mountain Ranch yard sales. They are held twice a yr – in the fall & the spring. Deb & Nancy are coming over at 7:00 a.m. & then we’re gone until they are over (11:00 a.m.). Then we will go someplace for lunch.
Went to Armitage (wine bar) for lunch & to Temple Bar & Grill for dessert & drinks. Since I was the driver, everyone had drinks except me. Me & my lemon water.
11/14 – Scott’s bar mitzvah at the Marriott. Great music. The filet was fabulous.
I had my usual bourbon, neat, when we arrived at 6:30pm. Since it was my turn to be the designated driver, that would be it for me for the night. From then on I had only non-alcoholic drinks. 4 hrs later, after an hr of appetizers & a huge meal of filet mignon, vegetables, potatoes, salad, flatbread, more water, a virgin bloody mary, & a few Cokes, it is time to drive the 4 miles back to our home. In the parking lot, Alex was refusing to get in the car with us because we had been drinking. We tried explaining the rate of alcohol consumption in a 4-hr period, my body weight, the amount of food I had eaten, & the amount of water I had in me, but he was not buying it. Eventually, he did get in the car with his seat belt tighter than usual. If we had been thinking, we would have had him bring his permit so he could have driven home. That way, my one 4-hr old drink would not have mattered to him so much. We thought of that when we got home. Wonder what kind of an example we set? The next time, he’s taking his permit. Actually, he passed the driver’s test. All we have to do is take him to the DMV to have his eye test & pay the fee & he’ll have his license.
11/15/09 Javalina in the yard across the street from us. About 12 of them, adults & babies. It was dark outside so Lewis & I got in the car & drove as close as we could. I stood up in the sun roof to take pictures. But even with the headlights on them, the pictures aren’t clear. They are cool to watch, though.
11/16 – First evening it was actually cold. When I took Sparky out after dinner it was cold. Yet still way too hot in the day.
11/17/09
Took Alex to Blockbuster for more sales, went to the clothes donation box to drop off some of my too-small clothes, returned a shirt. Productive day.
11/20 Took Alex to get his driver’s license. He is now a registered driver in the state of Arizona. Another milestone. Then I took him to physical therapy. While he was doing his workout, I called the insurance company to add him on. Then I called AAA to add him on to that also. His card should come in a few days.
Look how cute my 16-yr old baby boy is in his car!
Got my hair cut & died back to my natural color (black – or charcoal). Isn’t that a sexy-sounding hair color - - Charcoal ? Yuck! Cut about 12 inches off of it. I’m sending it to this organization to donate.
Thanksgiving was fairly quiet. We had the Kowals over here. Lewis cooked an incredible turkey & made homemade stuffing this year that was the best I've ever had.
12/5 (Sat) My cousin, Denny died on Fri. Lung infection. He was 65. Lived in Pittsburgh.
Lewis & Alex are going to a hockey game tonight with Eric, so I will watch a movie I have that neither of them wants to see, “House Bunny.” I know, it’s probably stupid, but I’m in the mood for something sophomoric tonight.
Lewis has been cooking a roast in the crockpot since last night. It smells wonderful in this house.
It was really cold this morning. I think it was 40 as the low overnight. We stayed in bed for a while to get warm. Lewis got up early & went out – shopping again. I didn’t wake up until he got back, around 10am. Then Sparky & I snuggled in bed for about another half hr. Got up for breakfast. Lewis made us waffles & bacon. He also brought us donuts from Dunkin Donuts. Last night he bought these cute little oranges we love. They are Clementines & are only available a couple months a yr. They’re small. They are so good & sweet.
Alex has been driving himself to physical therapy twice a wk. Yesterday we had some errands to run so he drove. I can’t believe my baby grew up so quickly.
Lewis & Alex went to the Kiss concert a couple nights ago. I was supposed to go too but I wasn’t feeling well. Headache, stomach acting up. So I missed it. They said it was very good.
We recorded the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary special a few nights ago & have been watching bits & pieces of it each night, time permitting. Bruce Springsteen recently turned 60. Paul Stanley (Kiss) has had 2 hip replacements. Phil Collins can no longer play the drums due to injuries to his spine, & Bill Wyman (Rollilng Stones) has quit the band claiming he is tired of the touring life. If I didn’t feel old before, I certainly do now!
12/9/2009 (Weds) My dad would have been 80 today. Alex & I are going to the cemetery after his teacher leaves.
House Bunny. The movie. Just made my list of worst movies of all time. Not just on the list, but at the very top of the list. Never, never, ever watch it. It was so unfunny. I could only get through a little bit of it & had to turn it off. Gag.
If I don't see or hear from you before Christmas or Hanukkah, have a nice, restful holiday.
Hugs,
Candace
If I don't see or hear from you before Christmas or Hanukkah, have a nice, restful holiday.
Hugs,
Candace
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