Please vote for Mom and Dad's dog:) and Christmas 'Wrap-Up'

Too cute:) Mom and Dad entered a photo of " Teddy", their dog, in a contest online at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, voting starts Dec.29 You can see the entry HERE

(UPDATE: Well, they didn't make it easy to vote,LOL......you need to register, and once you are logged in, there is a 'search' box with the dog pictures, and if you type in "Teddy" ,there are 3 pages of them and Teddy is on the top right of the 3rd page........if you lasted through all that, thanks for voting!!:)
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We had a nice,quiet Christmas. April got her Wii:) which we have been spending the last few days playing with. Kyle came over Christmas day for a few hours to play on it, and Tony got video of me boxing on it (which said video will Never see the light of day,LOL:) April said 'can we post it on YouTube?" and I said 'No way! I will not be the next 'viral video'.......'Granny boxes on the Wii",rofl.

I got Tony an excersize bike (in addition to his Redskins train set) about which he was.....less excited than I thought he was going to be,lol, considering he has been saying for so long that he Wanted one. (and 'excersize' looks wrong? I think I don't know how to Spell it?:)

Actually, the story of April and I trying to Get the bike into the car after I bought it was hysterical. Let's just say that We were laughing so hard at Ourselves that we were crying....and 2 construction guys working nearby gave up all pretense of working, and just stood and laughed their heads off while watching us. I said to April 'if these guys have a camera phone, we're going to be on YouTube",lol.

All in all, it was a pretty quiet Christmas. Hope each of you had a good holiday, and Happy New Year to all!

My Crazy Household:)

It's so much fun to have pets, especially around the holidays,don't you think? :)

Here at 'chez McClenney', there's never a dull moment. We have an artificial Christmas tree that also revolves......which of course as soon as we put up this year, we learned that it was better Not to have it revolving, as 3 cats and one dog were chasing it,lol.

so, the other night, I was sitting on the computer, and heard a ruckus behind me....the dog chasing one of the cats around the bottom of the tree,lol.....and when I turned, I was astonished to see the tree was revolving!! apparently, one of the animals had knocked the switch on while they were chasing each other:) it's difficult to go chase the animals away from the tree,while you're falling off your chair laughing.

last night, I was once again falling off the chair with laughter. the computer sits right next to this counter that connects the kitchen and the living room




and imagine my surprise, when I looked up just in time to see Ginger the cat jump up onto the counter, with the entire bag of hamburger buns in her mouth,ROFL, and then she jumped down onto the table and dropped the bag as she was trying to run away with it......at the same time, Tony is turning around saying 'what the?....does she have the whole BAG in her mouth???!!" and I am bent over laughing so hard I can't even answer...you just Never know what will happen in our house!

And it appears that we don't have the Only dog that eats the floor,lol, in a trailer for that movie Marley and Me it shows the dog chewing up the linoleum, and I was like "look, Brownie is in a movie!":)

Brownie has also eaten the cord to the Christmas tree, when left alone for a short time without being put into her crate......but Tony has already repaired the cord.
Tony is at the point where he just looks at the tree, with Piper running up the inside of it,or Tiger batting at the ornaments on it, or Brownie chasing Ginger around the bottom of it, and shakes his head and says "I think this will be the last year we have This tree." and sighs,lol.

Tony's Christmas gift this year is a train set



which we have elected NOT to set up around the bottom of the Christmas tree,lol, as we could picture the chaos that would ensue !!

Well, we're off to finish up the Christmas shopping today, just wanted to share tales from our crazy house:)

Microsoft releasing patch for IE flaw on Dec. 17

A friend sent the link to this news story
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081216/ts_afp/uschinaitinternetsoftwarecrimemicrosoft

and then also in a technical newsletter that I subscribe to, " Windows Secrets" I saw the same story....their article has links to the site to go to for the security patch
http://windowssecrets.com/2008/12/17/02-Microsoft-patches-IE-but-Firefox-is-still-safer

(and btw, I've subscribed to Windows Secrets for years, it's a very useful newsletter and website for staying up-to-date on technical news you need to know, and also has a lot of reviews of the best free software out there, check out their home page HERE and the reviews are on the right hand side.)

While the writer of the article about the urgent patch release by Microsoft likes the Firefox browser?
I've been considering using Google's Chrome browser

Any users of either of those have any comments about why you chose the browser you use?
and what you like or dislike about it?

--------------------------
While I'm doing this 'technical' post,lol, I guess I should pass on some of the other websites I've come across that have been helpful in keeping my computer safe and running well.....I'm all 'self-taught' and these are just sites I've either seen recommended in the early version of the technical newsletter I subscribe to (back when I was subscribing to "the Langa list" before it merged with another newsletter to become Windows Secrets) or have just stumbled across.

PCPitstop is a site where you can register for free, and get a scan done on your computer to show what programs are installed on your computer and also how you can tweak your computer to optimize it's performance.

AdAware from Lavasoft is the best free anti-spyware program out there, IMHO, and I've been using it almost ever since I was first given a computer (thanks,Uncle Ken:) back in 2001...I've always installed and run it even when the ISP (Internet Service Provider) I'm using has a free anti-spyware program......"you can never be too cautious on the computer"....LOL, my kids will all tell you I preach computer safety at them all the time:)

An online virus scan program from TrendMicro
Trend Micro Housecall

is a most excellent free scan (takes a long time) to use,particularly if you think you might have a virus on your computer.

I have been horrified in years past,lol, to discover the number of college-age young people who think they Don't need to have an anti-virus program installed on their computer. If your ISP Doesn't provide an antivirus program as part of their package? I've recommended in the past
AVG Free Antivirus which is at least better than having Nothing at all on your computer....as one of my son's friends recently found out, After he had gotten a computer virus.

But....you don't have to take My word for recommendations:) if you go to CNET's Download.com
you can get reviews of free software out there, and find what you need for your computer and download it from a source that isn't going to have a lot of 'add-ons' in a download.

Well, folks, this 'technical post' is over now......don't forget to download and install your security patch from Microsoft!

My sis has pics of my brother's visit

Go on over to A Red Thread to China to check them out:)

Click here: A Red Thread to China: My brother and family's trip here - a re-cap in pictures...

Go,Dukes!:)

why are you here?
JMU is playing Montana!
http://www.jmusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14400&ATCLID=3629519

(and Kyle is working at the game:)

Go,Dukes!
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Update: well, sadly they lost!
(and I never did see Kyle on TV:(

Love this song:)

Don't know why,LOL, but it's become one of my favorite Christmas songs:)

My famous sis and brother-in-law:)

Go check out their post
China Insight

"Analyzing" my Blogs,lol

Found this on View From the 8th Floor and thought it would be cool to try.

Typealyzer

my results:

ESFP- The Performers
The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.
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I got different results on my Mail Call! Supporting the Troops blog

Try it, it was fun:)

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas:)

We spent the day decorating:)

The latest "Awww" moment:)

Piper, and Brownie,(the "killer Pit bull-Rottweiler" lol:).
Piper's getting so big, isn't she?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was sent this that I wanted to share:

A Thanksgiving Prayer

"O God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;

When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;

When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;

When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,

And remembering, help me to destroy my complacency;

Bestir my compassion,

and be concerned enough to help;

By word and deed,

those who cry out for what we take for granted.

Amen."

by Samuel Franklin Pugh
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When I Googled Samuel Franklin Pugh, I found the obituary of this amazing gentleman, who died at age 103 last year Here

and I went looking for the poem mentioned in his obituary.

For a Day of My Life by Samuel F. Pugh

This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will.

I can waste it, or use it for good, but what I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.

When tomorrow comes this day will be gone forever, leaving behind in its place something that I have traded for it.

I want it to be gain and not loss,
good and not evil,
success and not failure,

in order that I shall not regret the price that I have paid for it.
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Wishing all my friends and family a Happy Thanksgiving!

Wish I was in the 'Great White North'!

Via my sis, the bro and his family are up at Mom and Dad's
Kirby and Co. have arrived!

Charlotte's Birthday Party Video

Adam has Charlotte's birthday party video posted over at
A Red Thread to China

Enjoy! :)

Kyle Gets a Buck:)

Kyle called earlier and he just got his first buck!

Yay,Kyle!

Musings about AOL Shutdowns

So I stumbled across this last night
X-drive to go as well

(on the J-Land Central blog, which is an information blog for former users of the AOL Journals,which were shut down the end of October.)

Since the AOL blog/journal shutdown, I've had serious concerns about how long AOL itself is going to be around?

Imagine my chagrin, on trying to research some more this morning.....to find out that there were news/blog posts back in JULY, from a leaked memo, about AOL shutting down numerous services
Click here: AOL To Shutter a Slew of Products - Seeking Alpha

It sure as heck would've been nice to know this back in July, as we AOL Journal users weren't notified till several weeks before the shutdown that the Journals/Blogs were shutting down. But, why would it have occurred to me to research this back in July?

Who sits around and says to themselves "wonder how my ISP is doing?"LOL.

I came across this recent October post about the state of AOL
Click here: Deccan Herald - Yahoo closing in on AOL buy

(and I also think I don't really know the correct search terms to use, to try and discover more about the future of AOL? so any suggestions there would be much appreciated.)

btw, This blog has ended up being a good source of information
anti aol

as I came across it several times while pulling my hair out about AOL Journals shutting down, and also came across it again while checking out the X-drive shutdown
Click here: Anti-AOL - AOL closing down Xdrive, Bluestring and AOL Pictures by Dec.31st.

(since our family was Using X-drive , I was trying to research more about the shutdown.

for those who don't know, X-drive was on online storage provider for photos and videos, at least that's what we used them for, to have one central place for our family to share pics and video privately.)

I foresee the last few members of my family (including myself) that are using AOL to slowly start pulling away from using AOL altogether....which means I also need to start transferring 'favorite' links and decide on another main email service for us to use.

all of which, pardon my language, is starting to look like a giant bite in the shorts. in addition to all the troop support stuff I do online, I now have to find time to start preparing for Another major move of information, plus figure out...can I change all my sign-up email passwords on all the various services I use? in case AOL entirely kicks the bucket?and...what's going to happen to AOL Instant Messenger?

sometimes....the 'joys of the Internet" Aren't really very joyful,lol.

Catch you later!

Enjoyed a beautiful fall day today:)

We went out to take some pictures of Massanutten mountain, and then drove over to West Virginia and back to Virginia again.

My Birthday Gift from my Husband:)

I collect spoons, and recently my collection became larger than my display holder.

So, the above is what Tony made for me for my birthday:)

Pretty 'sweet',huh?

Thanks! Tony....you're an awesome husband! :)

Saturday,October 18th...It's My Day:)

Another "Awwwww" Moment :)

Brownie and Piper, the newest kitten.

Virginia Beach, and More Dork Adventures

Tony and I went to a campout at Virginia Beach this last weekend...except we chose to 'camp out' at a hotel,lol, because it had gotten colder here a few weeks ago.
So, of course, it got Warmer this past weekend, and we could have 'tented' it after all.

The campout was at First Landing State Park which was really beautiful.

We went to a sunrise devotional service on the beach on Sat morning, and Tony took some Great sun rise pictures, I thought:



and



and



This was the beach we were on




and here's another beach view



and That is all the Beach pics we got,lol, because we went back for a pancake breakfast at the campout, and then when we decided to go back and take a walk on the beach.....I FORGOT the camera, and left it in the car!

So, there will be No pictures of the seagull we saw who was trying to bust open a tennis ball.....it kept flying up in the air and dropping it, and pecking at it....Tony said "that would have made a hilarious video.....if only someone had REMEMBERED THE CAMERA!"

and there are also No pictures of the dog who was jogging with it's owner, and trying to grab Two tennis balls at once, but could only get one at a time in it's mouth (and sheesh, did a ship carrying tennis balls have a leak further out in the ocean, or what?) and we were cracking up watching the dog for about 5 minutes......another missed video chance.

and, of course...No pics of the waves rolling in, the seagulls further out who were feeding on a school of fish, the wind blowing, or us wading at the water's edge...........such is my life,LOL
"pictures I Didn't take"

We had a lovely weekend,regardless:)
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And, for further 'dork adventures'.......today, the dryer almost caught on fire! I was doing laundry in the basement, and was upstairs and heard the smoke detector going off....when we got downstairs, April's room and the laundry room were filled with smoke, and the dryer was smoking, but not yet on fire....yikes!

oh, and did I mention the dog Ate the kitchen floor??

Happy Birthday to Sweet Charlotte!

Happy 2nd Birthday on Sept 22 to my sweet niece Charlotte!

We are so Glad she is Finally in our family!

I put together a little slideshow

 

We Love you, Charlotte....hope you have a wonderful party on Sunday, and a wonderful day on your birthday!

Love from Aunt Kathi, Uncle Tony, and Cousin April!

 

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Sept.12~Happy Birthday,Mom!

 

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Our Newest Addition

Coming home from work Thursday, I saw a tiny,bedraggled, and drenched kitten trying to cross an intersection in the rain. I couldn't stop right then, but went home and got Tony, and then as we were driving back up the road April's bus came, and she joined us.

We found the kitten Had made it across the road, and was shivering at the roadside, so we picked her up and brought her home. It occurred to me that Brownie would probably be able to Inhale her,LOL, as she was so small. But, as you can see from this video, Brownie seems to have taken to her :)

 

And so it seems we have another kitten......and Brownie has a new squeaky toy,lol :)

We named her "Piper", here's a pic of Brownie and her new buddy

 

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Moment of Zen

Driving with April to school this evening, to pay her school fees......guess what song came on the radio?

Pink Floyd "Another Brick in the Wall"

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey teacher leave them kids alone

 

Too funny :)

 

Our Very Strange pets,LOL

I know some people are nervous that Brownie has some pit bull in her....but, really, how vicious could a dog be that walks around with a squeaky toy in her mouth all the time,lol?

She reminds me of Linus and his blanket :) What's really hilarious, is when she keeps biting down and the toy is squeaking, while she's looking at you and cocking her head to the side....impossible to take seriously, a puppy who's going 'squeak,squeak' every few seconds.

And Ginger loves the faucet in our kitchen sink(and we Do have several water bowls around!)

 

 

She just prefers sitting at the faucet, I guess, to catch the drips after you use it. Very strange.

And, although I didn't get a picture of it, Tiger is not without Her quirks, either....she came down the stairs this morning with something in her mouth....Tony asked "What is that?"  I said "It's a quarter....apparently, she's putting money away somewhere? perhaps saving for something?"

LOL...never dull here!

 

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What Nixon's resignation meant to me

I posted this last year, and when I saw Aug. 8 had rolled around, decided to repost it.

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When I realized today was the anniversary of Nixon's resignation,I was awash in a flood of memories of the first (and best) time I saw the Perseid meteor shower.

The year was 1974, and I was a 14 year old on a 'primitive camping' trip with the Girl Scouts, through Camp Merrie Woode out of Plainwell,MI.

Normally I went camping At   Camp Merrie Woode  (and by the way, I found pics of how the camp currently looks   here ,which I thought was way cool :) but for 'primitive camping' we campers and two counselors went out to someone's farm, on their 'back 40',so to speak, and set up a camp from scratch.....yes, dug our own latrine, set up our tents, fire pit, and I remember lashing together a table of sticks to use for our meals. I also remember using some kind of tablets to treat our water that we got from a stream on the farm, which tasted 'ew',lol.

The folks who owned the farm drove out on Aug.8,1974 to tell us that the President was resigning and they wanted to bring us in to watch it on TV, as they thought it was an historical moment that we should not miss. The counselors agreed, so we all piled into the back of their truck and went in to their big old farmhouse to sit on the floor in their living room and watch Richard Nixon's resignation speech.

Indicative of a 14 year old mind,lol, I recall nothing of the speech and I'm not sure I understood at the time what a huge deal this was. All I have is a snapshot memory in my head of the President talking on the screen of a wood floor model TV (this Was '74,guys:)

It was what We said while we were there that led to us seeing the meteor shower. Someone mentioned the mosquitoes that were at our camp, and the folks who owned the farm in the next few days after that came out and sprayed around where we were camping to try and get rid of them. (what did they spray? no idea.)

Unfortunately, their good intentions went awry, and it seemed that they only managed to drive even More mosquitoes into our camp.So much so that, after getting bitten unmercifully all day, we decided to abandon our camp for the last night we were there, and take our sleeping bags out into the middle of a huge field that was nearby. (we were camping in the woods.)

Only we hardly slept. We just so happened to have chosen a night that the Perseid meteor shower was occurring (didn't know that was what it was Then, found out later.) We had set up our sleeping bags and were lying in them idly chatting, when we saw the first meteor shooting across the sky...and then another, and another.

34 years later (good heavens,I'm old:) all it took was me seeing the reminder of what this date was, to transport me back to a Michigan summer night when I unexpectedly saw the most beautiful celestial show I've ever seen, lying in a field and gazing up at a clear sky filled with heavenly fireworks.

I've never seen the meteor shower as clearly again, and maybe the magic of that memory was that it wasn't planned, it was just a happy accident that we decided to sleep in that field on that night.

But it still remains one of my most treasured memories,so I thought I'd share it,again :)

The Bro Creates a new term...too cool :)

Reason number 1007 I think my brother is cool.......he created a new term not long ago while being interviewed on CNBC

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=800926653&play=1

 

 

My family knows I Love words,lol.

 Mom says I overuse the word ' snarky ',(but how can you Not use such a great word? to paraphrase Barbara Mandrell "I used Snarky...when Snarky wasn't cool")

 

 and she was skeptical  that ' w00t ' was a word when I first used it in an email to her.(nice of Merriam-Webster to pick it as the 'word of the year' the very next day:)

 

And now my brother is listed on CNBC's website as coining a new term...."Fally".....that's a rally based on fallacy which, according to Kirby Daley, Strategist, Newedge Group, is pure folly.

 

Way to go,Kirby!

 

 

It Was a Tornado!

As per our newspaper this morning  HERE

 

After the Storm

The first 6 pictures are of the tree that would have hit Tony's truck, the next 4 are of the tree that hit another man's truck, and the last one is of the tree that fell behind the house they were working on.

 

A Close Call

Well, Tony had a close call on Saturday.

He was working in Elkton, and a major storm....possibly a tornado...hit

You can see the Daily News Record article about it  Here

Tony was working on a house out that way, and when the wind started up, he decided to leave and try and beat the storm home. It's a blessing that he Did move....because 3 minutes after he left, a Huge tree fell right where his truck had been parked....if he had stayed there and tried to sit the storm out in his truck, he probably would have been killed.

We went out to look at the damage later that evening, and both got cold chills when we realized how close it Could have been.

He actually only made it to the end of the long drive where they were working, and then the rain and hail were coming down so hard that he just had to sit, because he couldn't even see the major road to turn onto in front of him, only a few feet away. He said the wind wasn't just rocking the truck, it felt like it was picking the truck up and dropping it...he thought that the wind was going to flip him over in the truck for a few minutes.

Downtown Elkton looked a mess, which the picture in the paper gives no idea of how bad main street there looked, with multiple trees down all over the place.

Whether it was a tornado, or just straight line winds or whatever they decide.....we're very grateful that what Could have happened.....Didn't!

He's taking the camera today, to take some pictures of the area where they were, before they start the clean-up work.

 

A Brownie Video! :)

Even better than pictures, here's a video of Brownie playing with one of her toys.

 

 

July 23rd..3 Family Birthdays! :)

Happy Birthday to .........Sister Sue

 

and Happy Birthday to....Ben! :)

 

And Happy Birthday to... Dustin!:)

Hope you each have a wonderful day!

 

 

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Time for Another Brownie pic :)

She's getting Huge, isn't she? LOL.

and here's a picture of Tony and I from  our visit to Arlington National Cemetary  , I think it turned out really well

Tony is camping this weekend, and I'm off today, so April and I are taking Brownie out later to hang out with Tony at the campsite (my weekend to work,sigh, so I just have today.)

Expect more pics later! :)

 

Another episode of 'Dorks R Us'

Thursday morning I got home from work and took Brownie for a walk. When I got home, I realized that I had locked myself out of the house!

Tony was gone to work, and April was sound asleep. After ringing the doorbell and calling the house phone (I had my cell).......I said 'oh, darn, I'm not not going to wake April up!"

Decided to put Brownie over the fence (our gates are locked from the inside) to see if She could wake April up. Our fence is about a foot higher than my head. Fortunately, there was a chair that I'd asked Tony to take to the dump, that was still out by the trashcans.

So, I climb on the chair and lean way over the fence and drop Brownie to the ground.....where she just stands and looks at me with a 'what in the world are you doing?' expression on her face.

I'm saying "Brownie....go get April!" (kind of like "Lassie...get Timmy!" huh? :)

Brownie continues to look at me.

Finally, I say "aw, heck....I'm gonna have to climb the fence,aren't I?" (this is the part of the story where, when I told Tony about it afterwards, he was shouting with laughter and saying "I'd sure have liked to have seen That!"

I climb over the fence, managing to knock off one of the tops of a fence post while doing so, and Then Brownie starts running around to the back door! Figures :)

and that's the latest in the 'dork family adventures' :)   

Our dog might think she's a cat :)

Both the cats spend a lot of time perched on the top of the love seats or the couch (particularly since we got Brownie,lol) and so, Brownie thinks it's the place for her to lie down to take a nap,too.....even though she's getting bigger every day.

I'm waiting for the day she falls off,lol.

Even with the 'chewing', it's fun to have a puppy around the house. And, we're getting more Exercise,lol........Brownie and I woke up this morning and went for a walk even before the newspapers were delivered! (and when I say 'walk', I mean Brownie Runs, and I walk Very Fast, to keep up :)

Off to the dentist this morning, to see if I can get this terrible toothache I've had for the past week + taken care of. Then off to work.....about 9 more days left at the old job, and then I start the new job July 7th.

Was sad to see George Carlin passed away. When I was growing up, I was the babysitter for my younger siblings, and I watched a lot of late night TV in the 70's. Used to always watch Johny Carson, and it was on there that I caught one of George Carlin's appearances and my favorite line from his routine was "Have you ever thought about what people would look like, if their molars were in the Front of their mouth?" (or something like that) anyway, I remember cracking up, at the mental pictures that brought to mind :) and ever after, when I'd see George Carlin's name, I thought of that line, and smiled.

(I know, he was famous for so much more......but we all have our memories:)

Watching TV the other night, I saw that Monty Python's Flying Circus was on....I asked April, 'have you ever seen one of their shows?' She didn't think so, so we turned to it......serendipitously, it was the show with the famous 'Parrot" skit ....."he's not dead, he's just resting..."

April's familiar with that skit, we cracked up. What I was Really hoping to see, and didn't on that particular show, was one of the 'Battle Reenactment' skits they used to have......like 'the ladies of the Dorcester Garden Club re-enact the Battle of Waterloo'.....and then they'd have the Monty Python players, men dressed as elderly ladies, run at each other in a field and beat each other over the head with their pocketbooks. Always reduced me to helpless laughter :)

I watched a lot of Monty Python's Flying Circus 'back in the day' when I was 'the babysitter'. I was telling April, I think I watched late night TV during the 'golden years' of comedy.....I remember when Saturday Night Live Started (April said 'gosh, you Are OLD",lol) and I also used to catch a lot of Second City TV comedy shows

Click here: Second City Television - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

nowadays, the tradition of searching for comedy continues, with April frequently checking out comics on YouTube. I guess we're all just a bunch of 'goofs', in my family :)We just like to laugh.

 

For other family news, niece Charlotte is now 21 months old  

Click here: A Red Thread to China: Chutes and Ladders fun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The dog ate my postcard...

Brownie continues to chew,lol.....Mom and Dad are sending postcards from their trip in Alaska. The first one they sent was of Anchorage.

The second one, which April never got to see, was of Mt. McKinley. I had brought it in when I worked 3-11 shift and got home and realized it was in the mailbox.....and then during the night, the cats....in yet another nefarious plot to get the dog in trouble....knocked it to the floor, and the postcard was history.

Brownie has also chewed one of my flip flops. I Told April to put my flip flops on the dining room table,lol, but no....she left them on the floor.  (and how often do you hear someone say 'leave my shoes on the Table', anyway? only in my house:)

Why did I want a puppy again? LOL :)

In other news...I Got the Job! that is daylight shift and close to home. Hurray!!!

 

Happy Father's Day!

 

To all the Dads in the family.........

 

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Congratulations,Bryan!!

Cousin Bryan graduated from high school yesterday, Congratulations,Bryan!

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Tuesday Tidbits

Mom and Dad are off today on their Alaskan cruise....have fun,guys!!! :)

Sister Tracy blogged the 'trip from H. E. Double toothpicks (well, not once she got there, just the 'getting there' part was horrible)   here

and also blogged the 'brother we are inordinately proud of" on CNN  here

Cousin Eric's story was Not one of the five finalists in the Golf Channel Father's Day Contest , I went back and checked. But, thank you to all those who left comments! (which my Mom told me about....for some reason, I could never get the comments to appear when I clicked on the page)

School ends this week for daughter April....don't know they're ending the school year so Late?  I got home from work the other night around 11:15 p.m. and it was So HOT out, I felt like some ice cream......felt like a commercial,lol, but I said 'hey, Wendy's drive-thru is open till 2 am....let's go get one of those new milkshakes" (April and I like them)

Let Her drive.....first time she's driven late at night, she said she Hates night driving,lol.

Son Kyle was in a chain-reaction fender bender on Saturday......some guy hit a car from behind at a stoplight, and Kyle was in one of the cars in the line that got hit. He's fine, and said that actually, he had More damage done when he got hit in my driveway a few months ago!

Our heat wave is supposed to end tonight....thank goodness! April and I took to the pool yesterday, even though the water felt  like Bathwater,it was relaxing to float around....except we need new floats, lol, they all have developed small holes and are in the process of slowly deflating :)

Cousin Bryan graduates this coming Saturday,yay! Bryan!

The dog ate my razor.....

Hey all, life has been crazy- busy lately....my work schedule last week got totally rearranged at the last minute.  I'm off in a few minutes to work a double shift (16 hours) so I thought I'd better pop in to let y'all know I'm still alive :)

My email inbox is dreadful...I log in and say 'OMG" and am only able to read about a third of them.....I should be able to catch up on reading emails by...oh,2009????

Having a new puppy is still so interesting:) this past week, she snatched my disposable razor from the bathroom at some point while I was sleeping.....when I discovered it, I was quite concerned that she would have chewed up the razor part of it, and cut her mouth.  I spent the next two days looking all over the house for parts of the razor....Finally found the actual razor part....inside one of my shoes, which she had also nicely chewed up part of the shoe! 

Relieved that she hadn't eaten the razor itself, it then occurred to me to wonder why I hadn't found Other pieces of the razor? I came home from work one night and finally remembered to tell Tony that she had gotten my razor (early onset 'senior moments', I just kept forgetting to mention it). He lifted up all the couches, we looked all over.....No other razor parts.

In an impeccable piece of timing on Brownie's part, 20 minutes later, she regurgitated all the undigested plastic parts of the pink disposable razor......question answered. EWWWWWW!

Just a little tidbit from our lives here, that y'all probably could have done withOut knowing,huh? LOL :)

I'm off,catch ya later!

Thank You!

Tony and I would like to say a heartfelt THANK YOU, to anyone who has supported Dustin by sending cards, letters, and/or care packages thus far in his deployment!

We know there are many of you out there that we probably don't even know about? and we just wanted you to know how grateful we are, for folks like you who are supporting him.

 

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A Son's Love, and a Father's Day contest

Although I'm not a golfer, my Dad plays, and my brother plays.....and many of my Dad's brothers and nephews play golf.

My father's nephew, Bill, was recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

 His son,Eric, is a golfer who got his love of the game from his Dad, and has entered this contest on the Golf Channel in tribute and honor of his father.

The Golf Channel-Father's Day-The Contest

You can see Eric's Father's Day story      HERE

Eric has written a moving and heartfelt tribute to his Dad. While the 5 finalists in the contest won't be announced until June 9th (and voting won't start until the 5 finalists are announced) you can leave comments on Eric's story.

So,please, won't you take a moment to stop by  Eric's story , and perhaps leave a comment? and please spread the word to your friends and family.

Keeping our fingers crossed that Eric and his Dad,Bill, become finalists.

And keeping them all in our prayers daily.

It's been many years since I've seen my 'Ohio cousins'.....but my main memory of Eric's Dad, Bill, is his smile.

With much love to Eric, Bill, and all the family, from your 'Virginia cousin'.

Not a good day for Tony

Tony had a wreck today in the truck. He was driving  up an embankment at work and the truck slid down the embankment and into a tree. Tony's OK, the truck? not so good.

 

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Time for more Puppy Pictures :)

Brownie sure is growing! This was when we first got her:

and this is Brownie today:

Here's "The Three Amigo's " (Tiger, Brownie, and Ginger)

(had to snap That one quick,lol, Tiger and Brownie don't really have too much to do with each other....and since Brownie thinks Ginger is a 'squeaky chew toy'.....a second after I snapped this, they had all Dispersed :)

We Finally succeeded last night in persuading Brownie out of the yard on her leash....up to this point, we've been unable to take her for walks.

She's a big hit with all the kids in the neighborhood:)  When you take her outside, the block resounds with calls of "Brownie,Brownie,Brownie!" and kids come running to see her. She Loves it :)  This afternoon, had about 5 little boys in the front yard running around with her, April had her on the leash.  One little first grader told me "You know what I call this? Today is a 'Brownie Day!' " :)

Here's one of Brownie playing with Ginger

and here's Tiger and Ginger snoozing together (sock provided courtesy of 'the puppy who drags around any loose socks she finds' :)

 

 

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For the Mom's in my Family :)

None of us would be here, without Grandma.....still missing you, Grandma!

And Happy Mother's Day! to my Mom

Sister Sue

Sister Tracy

and my sister-in-law,Takaho!

 

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