Phone pics

I have a cheap phone so I know these are not the best pics, but it's what I've got. These are in chronological order.

 Diesel LOVES to get up on my chest, stick his cold nose under my chin and drool on my neck. It's a good thing he's cute!

This is Earl, the 86 year old (young?) cancer survivor doing the splits at the store where I work. He and his wife are absolutely precious and my life is richer for having met them.

He says, "When I get tired I just lay down." He's 86 people! I can't do that or I'd break in two.

Sunset on the way home the other night.

Sunset on the lake Friday night.

We had a baptism/party on our property yesterday. This is a friend with Bridget. She told me that the horse kept trying to bite her. I said, "No. She's trying to lick your hand." I showed her how to keep her hand flat.

It kind of tickles.

Misty showed off by climbing in her stroller and drinking from her sippy cup. She loves her stroller.

Today was A's first day of college classes. It only took her 3 tries to get out the door. She went out once, came back in and got the paper she set down on her way out, went out again and came back in with Diesel saying there was a possum in the driveway and she didn't know if it was dead or playing dead. Just a normal morning at our house.

J said he was going to push it with a stick and see if it was dead. He put his baseball gloves on and picked up a stick and then asked, "Do dey have like a...do dey do like...a fart or someting?" I assured him it was not a skunk but he just tapped it a little and got into the car. It was still there when I returned from taking J to school so I determined that it really was dead. I let Diesel out and he had to go check it out and Trixie was right there as if to say, "Hey, I found that. You can sniff it but it belongs to me." We figure Trixie retrieved it, being as she is a retriever and all.

This evening T and I went over to visit the puppy. The 3 tri-colored pups sold over the weekend and the other 2 are spoken for. "Baby" is the smallest one.

Facing off with her sister.

She's little but she's tough!

R and JT, hide your shoes!

They ganged up on my shoe.

And that's our life in pics for the last couple of days.

The view from here

We went to the lake this afternoon/evening with some friends. A and her bf, P, tried to do some wakeboarding but they didn't really make it up. Then we parked by the waterfall and grilled some burgers on their pontoon. They are actually spending the night there by the falls. How cool is that? Anyway, when we headed out we came around a bend and this is what we saw.

So gorgeous. We are thankful.

Tomatoes, tomatoes

We've been enjoying the tomatoes from the garden as they slowly got ripe. We even had some fried green tomatoes. Then a whole bunch of them ripened at the same time. I decided to make salsa and spaghetti sauce. Usually I'm just fine with the store bought stuff but I didn't want to waste the tomatoes so I thought I'd give it a try. Everyone is pleased with the results though I think the salsa is too sweet. I used a recipe with sugar in it and next time I will reduce or omit it. I plan to make another batch without sugar and mix them and freeze it. Here is the salsa.

And here is the spaghetti sauce.

I thought it was interesting that they both have the same basic ingredients; tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers (though the salsa has considerable more peppers) and then they are tweeked with specific spices to give them their flavor. Made me think of how we are basically the same but we each have specific spices to give us flavor. Be spicy!

Lost in translation

Here are a couple recent conversations with J;

J-Is my shirt is backward?
Me-No.
J walks over to the mirror and checks himself out. He gets a very puzzled look on his face.
Me-(laughing) It looks backward in the mirror because it's a reflection.
J gives me a still puzzled and not quite believing look.
Me-Trust me. Your shirt is not backward.

J talking to Diesel-Hey cat, be careful. I don't want you to get my crouch wif your claws of deaf.
(You know, because that could seriously hurt a guy's "crouch" to get clawed. And who knew we had a cat with super powers-claws of death?)

Happy Birthday R!

Happy birthday to a sweet person I was in love with before she was born. From the moment I found out I was pregnant with you, through 2 weeks of bedrest but an otherwise uneventful pregnancy, to your rather quick entry into the world to the moment I laid eyes on you, I loved you. You are smart, willing to work for what you want, strong in your convictions and we are proud of you. Happy Birthday, Baby!

And now, in honor of the birthday girl, a pictorial "This is your life". (I apologize ahead of time for the pics of pics. We don't have a scanner. And for the sideways one-gotta love blogger.)

This was about 2 months old. Her first "take them to a studio" type picture.

18 months.

2 years old.

With her sis. They were 5 and 3.

Kindergarden and 1st grade pics.

6 or 7 years old. No front teeth. Gotta love those pics with no front teeth.

8 years old.

And senior pics. She may have only been 16, about to turn 17. These were done the summer before her senior year. Wowzer! She lost the glasses and had contacts. She straightened her hair and it had turned much darker than her baby/child blond. And she had front teeth.

Our beautiful girl on her wedding day. JT, love and cherish her. You two are so cute together.

And the sideways one of her whole family on her wedding day.

Love you, R!!

More "Baby It"

Warning. This post contains an over load of cuteness.

We went over to see "Baby It" again. She's grown so much and is so much more interested in life and things than she was the last time we visited. She's into toys.

And just looking cute.

And chewing on chair legs.

Something caught her and her sibling's eye.

So she had to go check it out and come running back. Sorry about the blurries in these pics. Some were with my cell phone (NOT an iphone) and my stupid camera would take a pic when it felt like it so she had usually moved by the time it clicked.

Nanny and her "great grandcritter".

We introduced her to her carrier for her flight to CO. She liked the way it tasted.

Me and my grandcritter.

She's a mover and a shaker now.

But it does tire her out and she needs a nap.

Those were all cell phone pics. Here are the camera pics.

She has 4 litter mates. 3 are still available.

Yup. She was really into the chair leg. R, you need to get some stuff called Bitter Apple.

The napping pic.

And checking out a spot on the floor.

Are you overloaded on cuteness? You were warned.

Is there a plumber in the house?

T has had a few small plumbing issues to take care of in the last couple of weeks. Diesel has been right there by his side to help him out.

Umm, let's see here. 

Yeah. I think it's this thing-a-ma-jig right there.

It must have come loose from that whatcha-ma-call-it.

Oh, you need help with the dishwasher too? Let me just get in here and check things out. Yes, I fit in here better than you do. Just let me see what's going on.

We'll have to get him some plumber pants.

Did I mention that the Dr. who read my mammogram last week and performed some ultrasound on me was one of the dad's from the adoption group we used to go to? He came in and said, "Hey, how are you? I'm (so and so) from the adoption support group. How's J?" I was shrinking back and trying to adjust my gown and shaking his hand and saying, "Oh. Yeah. Nice to see you too." He was very professional and we actually had a nice chat but can you say, awkward?

Weird week

It's been a weird week. And it's not even over yet. J is back to school but A is not. J already has a cold. The 4th day back to school and he got a cold. Sigh...it's gonna be a long year at this rate. He kept coming out of his room last night complaining about everything he could think of. And he laid on his bed and threw used kleenex on his floor. He picked them up this morning after I said something to him. He is a drama king. Big time.

T had to rebuild the thing that goes around the motor in the boat. Whoever owned it before us left it out in the elements and ruined all the plywood and vinyl. Just about all of it has been replaced now. Anyway, T just about cut the tip of his thumb off with a hand saw while working on it. I still think he needed stitches but he is using butterfly strips instead. Yuck!

The 100+ degree days we had earlier this summer were awfully hot where I work (no AC) but for some reason the 95 degrees days this week were harder on me than the 100's. I don't know why but it really bothered me this week. Weird.

Last Friday I was awakened early by some intense pain. After mammogram and ultrasound it's been determined that I have a breast full of cysts. Lucky me. I knew I had one since last Dec. but now it's full of them. There is nothing really to be done about it but just keep checking on them and stay away from caffeine. They also suggested vitamin E and evening primrose oil supplements. Anyone else with this condition have any ideas that might help? Weird. At least it's not cancerous lumps.

I'm also still having the stupid muscle spasms in my neck/shoulders. Zoiks! I wish they'd stop already! I have no idea what's causing them. Weird.

The lady we got Diesel from came in the store this week while I was there. If she's reading this, hi. Here's some more pics of Diesel for you. Toys must be attacked from the most difficult way possible. Otherwise there is not enough thrill.

I told her about him falling off the steps the other night and she said he fell out of the barn loft as a baby and that's how they found him and his 2 brothers, nearly starved to death and sickly. I guess we have a cat who has a propensity for falling off stuff. Weird! She still has the brothers and their names are Boo and Willard. I love the name Willard for a cat.

Last Saturday J dressed up in dark clothes and sunglasses and asked me where the fan was. He wanted to stand in front of the fan and for me to take pics of him like he was a super model. Weirdo. I snapped one and he said, "Now get my good side."

I told him to turn around. Bahahahaha! He didn't get it at first.

This week was T's birthday, my SIL's birthday, a good friend's birthday and some good friends' 25th anniversary. Lots of things to celebrate in one week.

But it's been a weird week.