April's Hawaii Pics-Random Photos

April's Hawaii Pics-Diamond Head

April's Hawaii Pics-Pearl Harbor Memorial

(see,Tracy...even in Hawaii, she was thinking of her Auntie:)

April's Hawaii Pics-At the Aquarium

Ginger and Brownie

Tony got a good picture of the youngest cat,Ginger, and Brownie.

 

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"Sissy" Dog,LOL

Things we have discovered the puppy is afraid of:

1. Rain

2. Cars

3. Lawn mowers

4. Other dogs

5. Tony barking at her, and she ran and hid underneath the couch,LMAO.

 

Puppy Has a Name Now :)

Yep, I was right....she finally got named last night....meet....."Brownie" :)

 

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Our Newest Family Member

OK, so I'm Still trying to figure out how I went to work last night and ended up coming home with a puppy,LOL :)

Actually, a co-worker had taken her because someone else couldn't keep her, but then was asking around because she didn't feel she'd be able to keep her long term,either.

We had been Talking about getting a dog, at some vague future date......I called Tony to ask if he wanted to come take a look at her, and he said "just bring her home!" :)

She hasn't been named yet (ha! I'm leaving for work shortly, bet I come home to find out she has a name:) and she's Very young.  She is also Vastly outweighed by both the cats at this point,lol.

Isn't she a cutie pie,though? :)

 

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Virginia Tech Day of Remembrance

Virginia Tech Day of Remembrance

 

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Things that leave you Flummoxed....

Y'all know that I'm a "word-lover",lol, and the word "  flummox " was recently brought to my attention :)

"Flummoxed" seems like a good word for what I didn't have time last week to mention is going on in our community. (since I was so busy with my volunteer work for Soldiers Angels last week)

I can never seem to link to archived newspaper stories from our paper....don't know if this is an AOL quirk, or just a user lack of knowledge ,ha ha, but.....this article nicely summarizes what has me flummoxed, befuddled, confused......

Cost Of Investigation Unclear, Ford Says by Jenny Jones

Yes, the latest scandal in our town is allegations of drug usage and drug-selling by high school football players, at our daughter's school.

I could just weep,  that one of the Star football players has probably just tanked his entire future over this. This is a young man that I've seen play, who has gotten untold amounts of press in our sports section over the past several years, getting ready to enter his senior year with an extremely bright future and a scholarship offer from UVA.....all in jeopardy now.

In a related story also in today's paper

Two Juveniles Arrested In Robbery Case by Pete DeLea Posted 2008-04-15

Big doings going on, in the 'Burg, as we so affectionately call it....and something that I'd just as soon Not see. So many lives are going to be affected by this, so many futures wrecked. I'm naive, I know....but it just all seems such a waste. Particularly when here's a kid who Had a talent for sports, that would have potentially taken him very far.....and now he's just jeopardized everything. Sigh. In news closer to home?  same old, same old, I guess. Work,etc. Tony is just about to finish his class he's been taking on Plumbing Codes.  We Still haven't even taken April's disposable camera's in to get those pics developed.....but, this might be a genetic failing on my part,LOL......I'm still waiting for Mom to upload her 2005 pics of the trip she and Dad took to Tokyo! Spring was here...briefly....and then has left again, and why does cold always seem Twice as cold, when you had those warm days to tease you,lol. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Va Tech shootings.

 

"The 6th Man"...(well, woman:)

Well, I've been 'tagged' on a meme by  friend Robin , and she only needed to choose 5 people to tag, but she chose me as the 6th :)

Sixth Man.
A team's primary reserve, the best substitute on a team; usually the first player to come off the bench to replace a starter.

 

Ironically, one of the original 5 that she chose doesn't participate in memes.....so,LOL, that means I'm 'coming off the bench to replace a starter".

 

The basketball reference was in my head because I watched the NCAA men's finals last night.  I actually stayed at work (after I clocked out) to finish watching the end of the game....because I have a 35-40 minute drive home, so I would've missed the end...or, so I thought,LOL.....since the game went into overtime, I could've actually driven home and Still caught the last few minutes of the game...but, who knew?

 

Nothing against Memphis, but I was sort of rooting for Kansas, because those players were just a joy to watch, the way they threw themselves into playing and also the way they really play as a Team.(sigh, now I'm gonna get Memphis fans sending me 'hate mail', aren't I? :)

 

I LOVE watching basketball, always have......I've said this before (you can zone out here, if you've heard it)...but I was extremely privileged,while growing up, in that one of my best friend's Dad was a sportswriter for the Kalamazoo Gazette....and he took his daughter to all the events he covered, if she wanted to go...and she asked me along:)  While we went to plenty of football games,and track meets, and baseball games,too....basketball has just always been my first pick.  I actually played in 8th grade on the girl's team...I think like 3 minutes in one game for the whole season? (I didn't say I played Well,lol:)

 

And I can't tell you how many driveway hoops I've shot in the course of my life,lol...this was back in the '70's when I was growing up, remember....we didn't have video games like now, for pete's sake, PONG was just coming out!  who knew?that that little 'blip,blip' would lead to such a revolution?

 

But, I digress....I've been 'tagged'.  I never go on to do the 2nd part of tagging, which is pick others to do the same.....it's like when I used to have Tupperware parties,lol, no one shows up.....but I will answer the questions, Robin :)

 

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QUESTIONS:

1) What was I doing 10 yrs ago?

 

10 years ago, we lived in the town of Clifton Forge,Virginia.....me, a single mom, raising 3 kids. We rented one of the old 'railroad houses' that the railroad company had built for their employees back when railroad was king...it was brown stucco, and I think from what my kids have said since, it was everyone's favorite house we lived in while they were growing up. I was working full-time as an LPN at a long term care facility, 12 hour shifts....and that was probably one of the coolest places I ever worked,too, we were only a block from the hospital, so our 'sub-acute' patients we got from the hospital were actually still pretty acutely ill ....I learned a Whole lot while working there, and worked also with a great bunch of former ER and Peds nurses,who were wonderful mentors.

 

 

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today

 

a. wake up (I seem to have accomplished that, but let me drink another cup of coffee before I say for sure)

 

b. Do some stuff on the computer (like send out addresses for the families of some fallen soldiers, for some members of Soldiers Angels to send condolence cards to,sigh...so many fallen soldiers here lately again, there had been a lull for awhile.)

 

c. send a couple of post cards to some soldiers

 

d. do this meme:) since my friend Robin sent it (and , Robin?....there's a possibility we can meet May 3rd, when I head up to volunteer at the 2008 Face of America bike ride!:)

 

e. Go to work

 

3) Snacks I enjoy: 

 

brownies

popcorn

chocolate chip cookies

Oreo cookies

Fig Newtons

(hmmmm....this list probably explains the chunkiness,lol)

 

 

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

 

I've actually thought about this question before ........because the odds are only 1 in a gazillion that I Might win the lottery...if I played,lol.  I've actually only ever bought One lottery ticket , and it was a $10 winner:) but then, I went home and found an unexpected $10 bill in the mail. While you might call that serendipity?  I just thought it sucked, and never bought another lottery ticket again...what's the use of playing, if karma just means you get a bill in the mail after you win,lol ?

 

I've seriously come to the conclusion that I wouldn't Want to be a billionaire....you'd have to hire security, and you'd lose your privacy, and have every loony-toon in the universe coming out of the woodwork to ask for donations ("please help save the fuzzy socks")  Yes, there's a lot of good you could do with all that money (after you caught up on the bills....lol, see above, I'd probably just get an unexpected billion dollar bill!)....but I've never thought it was worth the trade-off in what you'd lose,to gain all that wealth.

 

I think I'm very happy, just being a chunky middle-aged, middle class me.

 

(all that being said? if I Did happen to win the lottery tomorrow? I'm pretty sure I'd change my mind,lol.......I'd give a revision some serious thought, while on a beach in Aruba:)

 

5) Five of my bad habits:

 

a. I smoke

b. I eat the above mentioned snacks

c. I Procrastinate

d. I too often short myself on sleep,because there's procrastinating I need to get done

e.  I have only ever Looked at the weight bench we have upstairs,lol, and only ever walked on the treadmill Once.....possibly, this ties in with the Procrastination,too?

 

6) 5 places I have lived: 

 

a. Clearwater,FL (until I was 3, does that count?)

b. Ft. Rucker,AL (because Dad was in the Army)

c. Ft. Eustis,VA (same as above)

d. Middletown,OH

e. Parchment,MI (right outside of Kalamazoo)

f. about 6 different places in Virginia

 

7) 5 jobs I have had:

 

a. my very first job was at McDonalds. (when I wasgrowing up, I think Everyone worked at McDonalds at some point.....now, it's Wal Mart,lol :)

b. an ice cream store,in high school

c. a poultry plant, cutting chicken wings (for 6 months, couldn't bring myself to eat chicken again till 3 years later,lol)

d. a convenice store clerk (it's how I met my husband,lol, which just proves that you Can find anything in a conveince store.....even though I can't Spell convenience,apparently)

e. an LPN

 

Thanks,  Robin ! This was fun, and a nice way to pass the time this morning :)

 

 

 

 

Random updates

Well, the 26 cooling ties are done :)

(My contribution,lol, is that I took the pictures :)

Now, we just have to get them boxed up and sent off.

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Our girl returned from Hawaii on Sunday afternoon, exhausted, but she had a great time!  We sent disposable cameras with her, so will have to get those developed.

Her luggage, and that of 50-some others in the group, took a side trip somewhere on the way home, so it didn't arrive until yesterday.

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Son Kyle has taken up a new hobby " flow riding ", at the Massanutten waterpark  (that I've never yet been to,lol:)

He showed me some cool videos of flow riding, here's one:

 

 

(not Kyle in the video)  Looks pretty cool....although I can't picture Myself doing it,LOL:)