Valentine's Day

What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are. -- Epicletus

Happy Belated Valentine's Day...

While our Valentine's Day was uneventful for the most part, it was quite enjoyable. I came home to bouquets of flowers and the smell of dinner cooking in the kitchen. Frank bought us crab legs and they were so big, you

could hardly fit them on the plate. They were super yummy. Desert was the best though. We had chocolate fondue. Our neighbor Viginia came over and shared dessert with us. Since she is alone we thought that she would want some company. She took us up on our offer and stayed for awile sharing stories of her and her late husband. What stories she has. The girls sat right by her and asked lots of questions about their travels in the military.





My dad stopped by to give us a family present ~ a box of puzzles. We had fun doing the one he gave us for Christmas that he gave a whole bunch to work on. Thanks Dad.

The king holds court...

Zeak has done well in our house. He seems to be allowed on the furniture while the "girls" are not allowed. We call Jazz and Osa the "evil step sisters" because they are mean to him. He looks very neglected here, doesnt' he?

Attitude

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.

Kahlil Gibran

The Week in Review

I am glad this week is over… When the Patriots lost on Sunday, I knew the week was going to be challenging. While Monday started out good, it did not end good. Every Monday I play indoor women’s soccer with a bunch of friends. For some reason I had a bad feeling about the game. I don’t normally get butterflies, but that night I did. I even told Frank on the way to the game I just didn’t feel right. Well, during the second half of the game when I went for the ball (did I mention I play goalie), the other player chasing the ball didn’t stop and her knee made contact with my left side of my head. BOOM… I was out for the count. I am glad Frank was there. He called the paramedics and I got hauled in since I was unconscious for about 2 minutes. The CAT scan came back all negative (thank goodness), but I do have a concussion. Needless to say, I have had a lingering headache for 4 days.

During my two days off of work, Frank decides to bring another vehicle home. Are 6 cars not enough for him? He assured me that the truck he brought home will replace the ghetto Chevy. I just hope someone wants the ghetto Chevy.

The dog Frank brought home is still not potty trained so I am continually cleaning messes. Frank and the girls just love him. According to Mack, he is her dog and his name is Zeak. He won’t go up the stairs so Mack carries him up to her room and tucks him in her bed.

Bailey had some kind of flu this week. She has been vomiting every once in awhile. She made sure she went to school on Thursday for pictures though. She called Frank and told him to come pick her up at 11:30 because pictures will be done by then. He made her stay at school…

Frank didn’t close the gate on the side of the house last night because he had his new truck and trailer parked on the side. So when he went to let the dogs out this morning he assumed they would stay in the yard. Needless to say, when he went to let them back in (1 hour later), they were gone. So here we are at 6:00am looking for the 2 dogs. He started driving around the neighborhood while I walked and listened for their barks. Sure enough I heard them across the busy street terrorizing who knows who. I found Frank driving around and sent him off towards the noise. Ten minutes later he comes in with Dumb and Dumber happy as could be. Meanwhile I had to deal with panicked girls because their “poor dogs were out in the cold without food”. My headache started early today.

Battle of Vacuums

I have been wanting a new vacuum for awhile now. I felt a new vacuum was now justified since we have 3 dogs. We vacuum almost everyday and need something with more power. I have been looking at the Dyson vacuums and Frank keeps saying “we are not paying $500 for a vacuum”. Being the clearance shopper that I am, I found a Dyson at Target for the low price of $280. Frank said that sounds good, and we brought it home. I was elated that I could now throw away the homely looking vacuum that we have been using for years. But leave it to Frank to want to do “Battle of the Vacuums”. So we had a vacuum off… I took my pretty new Dyson and cleaned the playroom. I sucked up the usual dog hair and dirt and was pleased with my pile of ick. Frank took his homely vacuum and re-vacuumed the playroom after me. We were stunned to find that our old vacuum sucked up more ick after I had already vacuumed with the pretty Dyson.

I told him we didn’t assemble the Dyson correctly and made him take it apart and put it back together. We did ‘Battle of Vacuums” with another room and got the same results. I was devastated… Frank packed up my pretty Dyson and took it back to Target. So I am still stuck with the Dirt Devil that has dog teeth marks from Osa attacking it. Anybody have any good suggestions for a good vacuum?

Another New Pet?????///

I thought I was doing good with 2 BIG dogs and a tarantula. As much as I love my husband, I have to admit he drives me crazy sometimes. Here is the latest pet he has brought home. Apparently, this little guy was standing at the fence by the fire station just looking at Frank with sad eyes. So what does Frank do...he brings him home. He looks to be a Border Collie. He can't be more than 6 month old because he still has his puppy teeth. Needless to say, Jazz and Osa, were not very happy dad brought home a dog, muchless a boy dog. Frank really likes him, maybe because it is another male in the house? Well, we need your help. Vote at the top of the page to wage in wheather we keep him or not. He IS very cute.

A Night at the Rodeo

Our first rodeo of 2008. There were 8 of us total in our group... My dad came with us along with Matt, Raina and Mack's friend Sam. The State Fair Queen came and sat with the girls for about 30 minutes. They had fun asking about her horse and how do get to be a State Fair Queen. The night was Breast Cancer awareness night and you were to wear pink. Well, the girls had no problem wearing pink. Even Frank and my dad wore a pink shirt, but, sorry to say Matt was a sissy and just wore a girly bandana around his arm.

As always cowboys are fun to look at.

Horseback Riding

MacKenzie started horseback riding lessons in Corrales and completely loves it. I think we finally found something she wants to do. She has learned great responsibility as they make her groom, saddle and muck the stalls. We hope her confidence will continue and she excels at this.

New Pet ~ Tara Tula the Tarantula

After a couple of months of Bailey begging for a tarantula, I finally caved in. I am not sure where her fancination of spiders is coming from, but it is not my favorite choice for a pet. She loves "Tara Tula". She has her own baby blanket for it and gives it rides in her doll stroller. There are a couple of rules to the spider though. She can not come out of her house unless Frank is home. I am not picking it up. And, the dogs have to be outside if it comes out too. If Frank is woking, it will sleep in the bath tub. I do not need it crawling around. I get the creeps just thinking that I have a "BIG" spider living in my house.

Bailey and her friend Sophie show Tara off. Both girls are collecting all kinds of spiders. They have made houses for them and are storing food for the different varieties they find (dead ladybugsm, etc.) Tara eats crickets. Bailey likes feeding her with a pair of tweezers. MacKenzie and I watch from a distance.