Family Trip

Left home on Friday morning and set out for Minnesota. We stopped in Des Moines for dinner with Beth and Family. I am planning on stopping there again on my way to Miles in a few weeks. We stayed the night in Iowa, and then headed up to Rochester in the AM. Got to spend some time with Braeden, who I have not seen in person since he was about 12 months old. We had a nice shower for Jennifer, she got lots of baby stuff. Stayed up late doing Facebook stuff.

So, the VT Football game...WOW. I was so sure that I was not going to enjoy that game...but we did SO well...thanks for the rain! At least that's what seemed to have to most effect on our offense. I am now off to have a look at the Steinspring blog to see what they say about the game...

Loooongest weekend in a while

On Friday evening, we too Nora to her new home down in Oxford. I made it through an hour and a half of chit-chat, asked them to leash her and take her into the other room, then got outside before I started to cry. I am very happy with where she is, but I still felt guilty about leaving her. So I cried. Saturday morning she wasn't there to rub her nose under my shoulder to wake me up...so I cried. I cried in the shower. I think I cried a little bit before falling asleep. I do feel better today, but now I get to start worrying about how she is doing. I will not call them. If they need help or advice, they will call. I think after a solid 2 weeks of her being gone...and them not having any trouble with her, I will be very happy. Because she is on a farm, with people who stay home all the time. She is going to get more attention than she can stand! It will be a great place for her.

I'm waiting until mid-October before I pick out a new one.

My Facebook Addiction

One of my most recent posts was about a Facebook application called Farmville. In Farmville, you basically virtually run a farm (with none of the actual work involved...just a lot of waiting around for things to grow). After I started Farmville, I also decided to try Mafia Wars. Then decided to try Vampire Wars. Now I have added Restaurant City and Pirates (Pirate Wars maybe?). Each morning I crawl out of bed to the computer and set everything in motion. I use my energy points and collect my monies. I shut down before a mad dash to the car to get to work. When I come home I crawl up the stairs to my computer and start it all over again. I usually play all the way until bedtime.

I am neglecting my books...I am neglecting my TV...I did vacuum last night, so at least the house isn't falling apart due to my neglect. But hopefully this long holiday weekend will allow me to overload on these games and maybe they won't have such a bad hold on me...or maybe I'll just go as far as I can and will have to quit. Or maybe, just maybe, I can find a healthy balance that allows me to read and or watch my TV shows while stealing quick glances at the computer screen...yay laptop computers : )

SO SAD...I need rehab

The Weather

I wish I could have taken a picture of the clouds this morning, but I was driving, and then it was raining in sheets. DARK DARK clouds...some of them looked like sand dunes in the sky (in shape, not in color). Then, while we were all ogling the darkness, the rain came streaming in. It was like a storm at home. Glorious.

FarmVille

So, on the Facebook, there is this application called FarmVille. You go in, set up a character, and then you are given 6 little plots of land to till and plant seeds on. Seeds cost $$ which you earn by helping other farmers, winning the daily lottery, harvesting crops, and tending to animals.

I don't remember how much $$ (Farm Coins) I had to start with, but I was right away able to buy seeds to plant my 6 patches of field. I also received a cherry tree as a gift from Mary. Jess has sent me 2 Pomegranate trees (they take a very long time to grow). You can buy trees, but they are very expensive, so I think I will get most trees as gifts from friends. Trees can be harvested for their fruit. I also got a pig, a sheep, and a chicken as gifts. I bought my own cow.

Diana sent me a black sheep to adopt. I bought a little bit of fencing, a water trough, and a bale of hay. Someone gifted me a picnic table.

Crops that you plant actually take real time to grow. Technically 3 days is the longest amount of real time, but they don't grow right away. So I planted my crops, and now I have to wait for everything to grow. I did learn this morning that I have to plow my own new little plots of land. I thought you had to have 8 neighbors to buy some new land. So at lunch today I need to go home and figure out how to get more land. Because without more land, I will never be able to buy a barn or more animals.

I should get to 8 neighbors before too long...because we are making Angelica play...she has no choice.

I also started Mafia wars, but that's another topic for another day.

Blush

Buying pregnancy tests is just as embarrassing as buying condoms and maxi-pads. It's all about someone else knowing your very personal business.

No I'm not pregnant...that's just fine by me for now!

Movies

This weekend I watched 4 movies (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday).

Slumdog Millionaire
I had kind of been avoiding this movie. I am usually disappointed with movies that do REALLY well at the Oscars. I think it's all the hype. I also thought that it was suppose to be kind of a musical (I thought that was a trend in Bollywood. Yes I know that this was not a true Bollywood film, but it was suppose to be in that style).
What the movie WAS, was really good. It has a great soundtrack and manages to be uplifting while still telling a really heart wrenching story. All the poverty, all the strife...but still leaves you with warm fuzzies. I give it two thumbs up.

The Mist
I don't watch that many scary movies. Mostly because I don't like watching them alone...and Michael doesn't really care for them either (generally dis-interested). I mostly decided to watch this one because of the main actor Thomas Jane...hottie. So the movie did make me jump from time to time, the baddies were yucky without being nightmare disturbing (a la the Ring...never again). But the thing that got me (as I'm sure it was suppose to) was the idea that, should apocalyptic circumstances present themselves, the religious zealots might amass a bigger following. Because when people are really scared, they will turn to anything that they think makes sense.
The Zealot in this movie was a particularly hard hitting thumper. At the beginning she was referred to as being a little off her rocker. But by the end of the movie, she had convinced a majority of the people that she was God's vessel...and they basically did whatever she suggested in an attempt to appease God (aka, make the monsters from a parallel dimension go away). That plot line bothered me way more than the giant creatures! Real things usually do!

Bottle Shock
One of the previews before Slumdog was for Bottle Shock. This is basically the story of how California wines proved that they could stand side by side on the shelf with the French wines. It wasn't good enough for me to want to buy it...but very few are these days. It kept me interested for the whole movie and did make me want to visit Napa Valley. It also had Chris Pine (Captain Kirk from the new Star Trek movie). He had BAD hair, but those eyes are worth it! It also had Alan Rickman...who I love!

Watchmen
I am technically still watching this. I had to stop it last night after 2 hours of it ranging from mildly interesting, to dumb. It may have just started getting good when I stopped it, but if a movie has just started getting good at the 2 hour mark, it ISN'T good! I'll finish it today, just because I rarely leave a movie unfinished. But there is very little from this movie that I will remember fondly. So blah!

Distracting Dreams

I am so unbelievably distracted this morning. I'm skipping steps in my morning reports...I'm glazing over and drifting off into my own little world. Not a reality type world either. I think it has to do with the dream I had this morning.

I am currently reading the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series...plus the New Moon trailers are out. My brain is on Vampire/Werewolf overload. So I had a lurid dream this morning, about a pack of Werewolves (in human form of course). I think I was "meant" for their Ulfric (that's the Anita Blake part). Anyway, so I woke up not wanting to wake up. That's never a good start.

Eventually I shook off the daze. Ended up being a pretty good 1/2 day...yes, that's right...a 1/2 day. Tomorrow is one as well...YAY ME. I am currently watching Slumdog Millionaire. We'll see if it's worth all the hype.

Had to say it

Ok, so I want to talk about Michael Vick. This seems like the best place because nobody reads my blog but me.
I would like to start off by saying that I am a HOKIE. I was raised in Blacksburg, VA and I attended and graduated from Virginia Tech. Michael Vick was a real boost to our football program, and for that, I will always thank him.
I would also like to say that "saving" dogs is my hobby. I am an active member of Kansas K9 Resq in Wichita, KS. I foster dogs and try to find them new homes. I cannot grasp the concept of hurting dogs for pleasure...or even looking the other way when someone else is doing it. I don't understand not loving and wanting to care for those creatures.
Yet another opinion of mine is that once a debt is paid to society, the debt should be paid...end of story. I think the fact that a felon (once time is deemed served) has so much trouble getting a job is a bad bad thing. We should want ex-cons to be able to obtain gainful employment, and start a better life. I know there is no way to determine for sure if a person is remorseful, or if they are "rehabilitated". We don't know for sure that they will never do the crime again. But we shouldn't make life on the outside SO hard for them that welfare and maybe even crime, is the only way they can survive.
On the same note, I feel that if you screw up a second time (for the same offence), they should lock you up and throw away the key...but only if you were truly given a fighting chance to really make a better life for yourself.
I also feel, personally, that Michael Vick was used as "an example" by being given such a harsh penalty for his crime. Not because I don't think he deserved it...I think anyone that can do what he did is seriously sick and needs to be helped as well as punished. But I don't ever hear of anyone else being caught for dog fighting and winding up in jail. We have a pit bull problem in Wichita, and all I ever hear about it the dogs being removed and the person being given a fine. SEND THEM ALL TO JAIL. And make it widely known that if you are caught doing this, you WILL go to jail. No passing go, no $200.
So, down to Michael Vick playing NFL football. Just this morning, it was released that he signed a 1.something million $$ contract with the Eagles. I think this is too much money. I think he should have been given the same salary as the lowest earner on the field for the first year. In that first year he can prove (or disprove) that he is still a decent football player. If he's not, he's out or on some practice squad or Arena football or Canada...don't much care. If he proves that he is still worth something to a team, and he keeps his nose clean, then he can sign for more money next year.

So...
Yes I feel that he as paid his debt to society...not to the dogs, but to society...so he should be allowed to play.
No matter what ends up happening to his football career, I think he should have to pay a portion (fixed %) of his earnings for the rest of his life to Pit Bull rescues...I think he owes the breed that much at least.
No I don't think that what he did is any less bad than Stallworth and his manslaughter issues
And yes, in a perfect world, we would unleash all the ghosts of his dogs upon him and they would eat him...but I long ago realized that we don't live in a perfect world.

Moon Landing

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like the Moon is ours. I don't mean ours as in belonging to man kind. I mean ours as in America's. I am use to the idea that other countries send people to space, space is filling up with satellites from many countries, and the space station is a joint venture. I don't have any problem with that. But I had to pause today while listening to NPR. They were talking about the Chinese or Japanese trying to get a mission ready to go to the moon...and it just felt weird thinking about other people on the moon. Feels very imperialistic, but our flag is there...it's ours. I don't want all sorts of countries up there messing up our foot prints. I don't want someone else to decide to start trying to colonize the moon...that's our plan...

THE MOON IS BELONG TO US!

A Storm

There is no sun right now. It is 9:00 AM and the sky is an inky black. On my way to work, I was surrounded by huge lightning strikes as the storm rolled in. It was raining a little bit as I walked from my car into the building, but shortly there after I could tell it was poring because I could hear it through the roof.

I LOVE storms like this and I would give my (something good) for an office with a window right now. This also means it probably won't be 100 degrees this afternoon.

Auto Pilot

The other day after work I got in my car and decided which route I was going to take home. I have MANY options, some faster, some avoid traffic, some go by places I need to stop...So I made my decision and started driving. Suddenly (5 minutes into the drive), I realized that I had made a different turn than I had intended. I was using my most used route, but it was not the route I had intended to use. My brain had put itself into auto pilot and had taken me where it thought we should go...unfortunately, my brain seemed to forget why I had chosen an alternate route to begin with...CONSTRUCTION. Stupid Brain.

Royals Game Weekend

This weekend Michael and I boarded the dogs, took the cat to the Nott's, and headed up to KC MO for a Royals game. Cousin Jessica and husband Derrik met us up there for the game. Cousin Jennifer also decided to come down for a visit...So it was a nice little family game. The new and improved Royal's Stadium is NICE NICE! New and clean and plenty of room...lots of concessions that made it less crowded. We also sat in club seating (special escalator entrance), which was very nice.

Even though the Royals lost the game, it was a wonderful evening. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was 78 degrees at 4pm, so by the time the sun went down it was ALMOST chilly. Fabulous weather for July. Frankly, I don't think we could have had better weather in early May!

Michael and I also spent a little time at the Oak Park Mall in Overland Park. Quite a nice mall. We went to our favorite DB Mongolian Grill...yum. We had Einstein Brother's bagels for breakfast, then came home. Sleeping in without being woken up by doggies and a kitty was wonderful.

Lucy

This was my Lucy when she was 8 weeks old. This was the 1st or 2nd day that we had her. We decided to get a dog after we moved into our house. I started looking to adopt. I wanted to adopt a dog from an organization that fostered dogs so that I could have some idea of the dog's personality before we got it. I applied to adopt a few dogs from a certain rescue group...that will remain nameless...and was whole heartedly DENIED DENIED DENIED. I didn't have a personal vet reference for a dog (because my parents had owned all of the dogs we had). I didn't even get to the part where MY DAD IS A VET. Needless to say I was pissed that they assumed I couldn't handle owning a dog. So in retaliation...I bought a puppy. Looking back, I suppose it was shameless, and not necessarily the way I would recommend others going...but we got lucky...very lucky.

I wanted a dog...like yesterday. Michael wasn't so sure. So we compromised. We got a dog, but he got to pick the breed. He wanted a border collie...I talked him down to a Rough Coat Collie. The border collie would have been too active for us. I found a breeder 2 hours away from Wichita and picked out the sable puppy. We went to get her on June 1st 2007. She was much smaller than I thought she would be...and my heart melted instantly. Our house isn't well designed for house training a puppy...so that took a little longer than it should. But other than that, we have had such an easy time with her. She doesn't chew stuff...she never had really. She has such a sweet disposition, she just loves everyone. She is even excited to see the vet. The long hair is something I could live without, but it is pretty.

Lucy, Lucifer, Lucy Loo, Fuzzy Bunny

the Noranator

This...is Nora. She is my 5th foster dog with Kansas K-9 Resq. She is a purebred German Shepherd who came to us from a breeder who was having "economic trouble". We are pretty sure that the trouble was that Nora wouldn't have puppies. Nora took some time to settle into our household. For the first week she always had a look on her face that said "I'm sure you're very nice people...but I would like to go home now". It took her a VERY long time to get comfortable with Michael...and just about as much time to learn to tolerate Lucy.

Lucy's story will come next.

Nora is completely obsessed with her KONG ball. She is so obsessed that we had to run out to the store to get a replacement the moment we lost the 1st one because she wouldn't stop looking for it. As luck would have it, a few days after losing the 1st one, it magically appeared back in our yard. So now we have two...and play with two at a time to maximize the amount of running time and minimize the amount of trying to get the ball away from Nora time.

Our recent most favorite thing to do is pack up the dogs and take them down the road to a Middle School that is surrounded by open fields. As it is summer, the school is deserted most of the time. This allows us to let the dogs out, off leash, to run around in the fields. We throw the red balls as far as we can and Nora and Lucy run to get them and bring them back. Lucy is actually chasing Nora, not the ball, because Nora never lets Lucy get to the ball first. Even if there are two balls. Nora is very good at returning to us when called. Lucy sometimes stops and thinks about it...asking "where's my motivation" before she decides to come back to us.

We like the open fields better than the backyard for ball play because Nora doesn't stop running until she catches the ball. Sometimes, in the back yard, she doesn't stop until she hits the fence. I don't always think that is very good for her.

Nora is not suppose to be a member of our family, but we have had her for 8 months now and it is hard to not think of her as ours. She has a little bit of separation anxiety and is pretty needy. She "needs" to play ball more often than we think she needs to. She also can't be crated (she breaks out of them by prying the bars with her teeth). These issues are daunting to many perspective adopters...so we've had trouble placing her.

4th of July

Our 4th of July weekend was pretty tame. I took off early on Thursday (very early), and we both had Friday and Saturday off. We bought steak and fish to grill at different times over the weekend. We made sure we had corn to eat (the local stands are selling it like crazy right now). It "Kansas Gold" is not as good as Iowa/S. Wisconsin corn. The Peaches and Cream that I use to get from Cuba City (WI) on my way to visit Grandma and Grandpa Breese was such good corn. And Grandma and Grandpa Wilcke won't eat corn that isn't PERFECT...so I've had really good corn.

On Friday I went to the YMCA Outdoor Pool for the first time. I mostly sat around in the sun and then went in the water to cool off. On Saturday both Michael and I went to the pool. It was take a guest for free week, so Michael got in for free. We were afraid that the pool would be packed on the holiday, but we were only the 3rd or 4th family there. We stayed for about 2 hours and it really didn't fill up too much more than than. It was great. The YMCA that I go to has a wave pool outside. Not good for laps, but great for floating around on an inner tube. They also have a pretty good slide and a very nice kiddie area.

We grilled some of our food on Friday and some of it on Saturday. The fireworks started in earnest on Friday night. The dogs weren't too happy with the situation. Nora was scared for my safety and Lucy kept trying to bark at the noises. Saturday's fireworks started early with a very loud boom. I happened to be napping at the time and there was a loud boom in my dream (napping very hard). Next thing I know there is a German Shepherd in my bed whining. After dark we decided we wanted to go out into the park and watch the fireworks. I didn't want to leave Nora in the house alone freaking out about the fireworks. So I decided that we would take the dogs with us out to the park. I walked them across the street and sat down to wait for Michael and the chairs. Lucy would not stop shaking. She was terrified of the rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air. So we took her back inside and locked her up (she was truly grateful). We kept Nora with us. We planted the chairs on the sidewalk in the park and sat down to watch. Nora got as close as she possibly could to me and as long as I was petting her, she was fine. I don't think she particularly liked being out there, but she did very well.

Then on Sunday I had to go to work and the fun of the weekend was over. But it was a nice long weekend, so that made going back to work a little easier. I very rarely think that any weekend is long enough!

A Book Discussion

I am currently reading the Janet Evanovich "number" series. "One for the Money", "Two for the Dough", etc. I'm actually on "Ten Big Ones" so I am closer to being finished. I enjoy the books. They are a quick read and don't take a lot of energy or leave me emotionally drained. Great Summer reading.

I had a question about what was going to happen "next" (a few books ago). So I got on the Internet and googled the answer. This took me to a site that had some reader comments. I have to laugh at the comments. One person couldn't stand how bad the main character was at her job. She said it was a stupid book and that if it were real life, the main character would never make it...well Duh. That is at least part of the reason why it's a funny read.

So the main character, Stephanie Plum, blackmails her Uncle into giving her a job as a Bond Enforcement Agent, or Bounty Hunter. She is given a few easy cases and isn't expected to last very long. Well, miraculously, she is able to bring in the people she is suppose to be bringing in. It isn't always pretty (most of the time it's down right ugly), but she always manages to get the job done. Her skills do not increase much over the books, but through luck or divine intervention, she continues with the job.

If she actually got a lot better during the series and became a hard core bounty hunter that everyone took seriously, the book wouldn't be funny anymore. So she has to bumble, stumble, and mud wrestle her way through! She is COMIC RELIEF...so get over it and enjoy the fun.

One other comment from that website was about Stephanie's love interests. She is Seeing/Dating/On again off again with this cop named Joe. She grew up with Joe and they have a history. But they drive each other crazy, so their love life does not go smoothly. This not so smooth love life leaves room for Ranger. Ranger is another Bounty Hunter that works for Stephanie's cousin. But Ranger is good...really good. He goes after the serial killers and other guys who would eat Stephanie for lunch. So she is attracted to Ranger, and over several books Ranger shows his interest in her...helped on by some "Off again" time with Joe.

The person who made the comment (same person who thought Stephanie was an idiot who should have been killed in the line of duty long ago) complains about Stephanie's "Ho-ness". She wonders how Stephanie can keep going back and forth from one guy to the other. How can she have feelings for both guys, and why would either of these men like this idiot?

All I have to say is...show me one high school or college girl who hasn't had feelings for two men and the same time! It's not that hard to be attracted to more than one person at once. And from the descriptions of these two leading men, I would be right there in Stephanie's emotional shoes...And how can both of those guys like Stephanie "the idiot"? Guys are not always known for there best judgement when it comes to women...that's all I've got to say about that!

Love the books, will be sad when I read the most recently published one and have to wait for the next one. I hate waiting.

Business Trips

Michael's job takes him out of town quite a bit. Most of the time he is only gone two or three days a week. Every once in a while he has to be gone for an entire week.

The week starts out with me enjoying our king size bed...all to myself. I also enjoy our garage...all to myself (unless he rents a car, then there is no extra room...like this week). I make myself a list of things to do. I keep the bed made all week, keep the sink empty and dishes cleaned all week. I vacuum and make sure the bathroom gets a good cleaning. I start off the week thoroughly enjoying my house to myself...

And then, after about 2 seconds, I remember that I am not alone. I have two dogs that need exercise...there is no Michael to take them out. I have to come home from work at lunch every day to let them out. He's not there to feed them dinner or to put them to bed at night. I also have a tiny little loud-mouth kitty yelling at me all week because there is no Michael to pay attention to her.

I start getting tired of eating dinner for one. I also start to realize that I talk to the dogs way more than normal. By about Wednesday I am tired of being the only human in the house. I need a break from the demands of the "fur kids". Michael is my break...but he is not here.

By the time he gets home on Friday, not only am I very glad to see him, but I make sure he knows that he is "Never to do that again".

Today is Tuesday, tomorrow I will hit the pet demand wall, Thursday I will be exhausted...

Summer Storms

Yesterday I got home from work and went outside to do a little yard work. First I picked up dog doo (I have to do this frequently because Nora eats a lot). Then I moved a pile of tree branches and sticks from the patio (unsightly) to a spot next to the shed. These pieces of wood are being saved to use in our little fire pit...unfortunately we only start a fire a few times a year, and the sticks are never used up. I am re-claiming my patio for use as a patio. I shall sit on a chair on the patio and read a book, or suntan, or both.

As I was cleaning, the skies began to darken. I knew storms were suppose to come later in the evening, so the clouds did not surprise me. I played ball with the dogs to get the energy out before we were cooped up in the house due to storms. When we were finished, we came back in for dinner. I sat down and turned on the TV. The local channels were all on "Continuous Weather Coverage" because there were many storms traveling across the state. We even had a few tornado warning already in place.

While I was watching, a storm spotter in El Dorado (20 minutes North East of us) called in with a tornado sighting. Apparently the storm spotters were having to call in because the Radar system was down at the news station. We were having to use Topeka and Dodge City Radars to see all the weather. Over the next 5 minutes 2 funnel clouds were spotted in El Dorado. I called Michael to make sure that he was watching the weather. He was not watching the weather (he is out of town on business this week).

The next weather highlight was a set of storms moving in from the west toward the general Wichita area. When they were about an hour out of town, we started getting reports of 80+ mile an hour wind gusts in Hutch with blinding rain and golf ball sized hail. So I went out to the deck and gathered all of my tomato plants and brought them inside. I didn't want them to blow off of the deck. I also went around to make sure all of the tools were out of the yard and that everything was anchored down as much as possible.

So this was a lot of build up for these storms. I think I watched that "Continual Coverage" for about 3 hours preparing for the storms. Apparently I didn't really need to worry about it. The big winds storm went north of us by about 20 miles. The heavy rain and hail came up through Wichita from the South and headed out of town without giving us more than a nice little rain shower. Most people would say that we were lucky everything completely missed us. I think it was a lot of build up for nothing. I didn't even get a cool storm out of it. What a let down! Plus I had to move my tomatoes back out this morning and water them.

First Blog Post Ever

Ok, so we just got back from River City Brewery and I was "Bunk"...somewhere between buzzed and drunk. So I decided to do my first Post ever, bunk. I know I know...I learned long ago that you should never do anything drunk that other people will EVER see or hear (or remind you about later), like texting, Instant Messaging, dialing, etc. So here's the funny part...I am no longer "bunk". I am barely buzzed, because it took me SO LONG to figure out how to work this darn thing.

This all started when I googled my own name. In addition to the things that I knew would come up, my name showed up on my cousin's Beth's Neipert Narrative. I thought it was way cool and I decided I wanted to have one too. So I signed up for "The Cutest Blog on the Block". That was at least 2 months ago. I have spent 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there, trying to figure out how to use the blog. I would follow the directions under "get started" and I would pick out a back ground. That's all the farther I could get because it had a set of instructions that came with the background. It said "log into blogger" and "that will take you to your dashboard". I was logged in (to the Cutest Blog on the Block), so I thought i was logged into blogger. No where...no where anywhere...could I find ANYTHING that said dashboard. I couldn't find anything that said I even had a blog. What that lovely sight failed to tell me was that "blogger" is A WHOLE OTHER WEBSITE...SHEESH.

So now, after 2 whole months of feeling like an inadequate idiot, I have finally figured out at least how to post on my blog. And I no long have a buzz...

Just a note on the River City Brewery, it was a nice place...decent food and a few good beers. I don't understand why it is called River City Brewery. The river in Wichita leaves much to be desired as rivers go.