I'M SO JAZZED I COULD DO THE HAPPY DANCE!!!

Can you believe it? I did it, yes, I, your most computer challenged humenoid on earth, has posted a picture on Life As We Live It. Kris would be so proud of me if he were home, but he's not. He's in San Ramon, CA, on another business trip. The poor boy had to travel from Newark to Los Angeles, then to Oakland and then drive to San Ramon. Yup, long trip, but ... but ... he gets to see Josh, Candy, Marco, Jamie, Karen and Bryan on Friday. I am green with jealousy!

Kris has an added treat this weekend. He will go with Jamie to see "So You Think You Can Dance, the Tour" on Saturday night. Awesome!

Now that I know how to put a picture on the blog, I shall teach myself to download (or is it upload) pictures from our camera and then I will show pictures of the house, the family, our amazing grandchild and so on and so on and so forth until I bore the mind out of everyone and their dog!

The end.

Here goes nothing!

With any luck when I post this, a picture of our family at Christmas of 2007 will appear. Here goes nothing!

Where was I?

20 Years ago today
I was very pregnant with Karen
We lived in Newport, Oregon
Kris was the Bishop of our ward there.

10 years ago today
I went back to school, ostensibly to get a teaching degree
I had worked for the PYLUSD for about 4 years
I was skinnier

5 years ago today
All but Karen were out of school
Josh was on mission, I think, so so was Liam
Kimi was at BYU

3 years ago today
We were in the process of selling our house in Anaheim
Kris and I had been apart since April, ... so.....
were glad that we were in New Jersey as of August 25th.

1 year ago today
We were back from Jamie and Marco's wedding,
Karen was beginning her first year at Chapman
We were anticipating the arrival of Brinkley

So far this year
I've started taking thyroid medication, but I'm not any skinnier
Granny had both her knees replaced
We have a women as a vice presidential running mate in the Republican Party

Yesterday I
Went to work, my second day there, and I feel like I've been doing this forever
Taught my Activity Day girls how to cross stitch
Fixed sausage and mash for dinner (chicken for Granny) because that's what Granbob
wanted

Today I
Went to work, as usual
Began the ironing
Talked to Kimi on the phone and heard Brinkley say "Dad dad" because he thought that was who was on the phone.

Tomorrow I
Haven't even thought that far, though I plan to continue to work on the 21 day tool the missionaries have given me.
Must send Karen a birthday card!
Pay bills :(

Us A-Z

A- Attached or Single? Attached to each other.
B-Best Friend? Yup, each other.
C-Cake or pie? Kris loves cake with my frosting. I like Marie Calendar's chocolate silk.
D-Day of choice? Ones where we get to do stuff together.
E-Essential Item?
F-Favorite color? Pink
G-Gummy bears or worms? Worms are more fun to suck on.
H-Home town? Succasunna
I-Favorite indulgence? Sleeping/reading
J-January or July? July - kid's out of school!
K-Kids? We still act like them.
L-Life isn't complete without? The Savior.
M-Marriage date? April 22, 1981
N-Number of brothers and sisters? 2 sisters and 5 brothers between us.
O-Oranges or Apples? Crisp, cold, juicy apples!
P-Phobias? Tornadoes
Q-Quote? Be still and know that I am God.
R-Reasons to smile? Our back yard!
S-Season of choice? Probably a toss up between spring and fall.
T-Tag 3 people: Bryan, Kris and Kimi
U-Unknown fact about me? You probably know everything there is. Boring!
V-Vegetable? Fresh green beans
W-Worst habit? Diet Coke

X-Xray or Ultrasound? Whatever; it depends what they're looking for.

Y-Your favorite food? Yes.
Z-Zodiac sign: Taurus, the old cow. hahahaha

DUH DUH DUH! THE ASSASSIN RETURNS

Twice in one week, yes twice, the Chipmunk Assassin, aka Lilu, struck. The first time I was home alone, well Karen was around, so that didn't count as far as clean up is concerned. It was up to me to take care of things. I actually touched the poor little guys tail, it was really soft, because I had to haul him onto the shovel. I then had to pick up entrails that had already begun to bake onto the deck. We had three days of heat hell so things baked very quickly. I poured tons of Pinesol over the site of the crime, and the shovel too, because maybe chipmunk guts produce salmonella like chicken does. Do chipmunks taste like chicken?

The second occasion was yesterday right before the barbecue-assembler guy showed up. We bought a new barbecue from Sears and it was supposed to be assembled. I went and picked it up, like the good wife that I am, but didn't think it weird that it fit inside a huge box. Note to self and others. If the box doesn't look like the assembled object, pretty good chance it isn't said object. But I digress. There was Lilu, sprawled on the deck with the headless body of the chipmunk laying next to her, the head to the side and some nameless body part a few inches from that. Gross! Granbob was home, though, so he took care of business for me except he used the household broom and dustpan! I made him wash both thoroughly before I'd let them back into the house. It's the chicken/chipmunk salmonella thing again. Granbob threatened to wash the broom and dustpan in the sink, for Pete's sake! Who even thinks of doing that? Anywho, we now have a lovely new barbecue, fully assembled, on our deck. We will have the inauguration of the grill tomorrow when the Grillone and McAlmont families come over.

It's almost Saturday morning, June 7th, and here I am blogging when I could be sleeping. I took a nap this afternoon, though, and my tired button isn't all the way compressed. Nothing too exciting to write about, just little bits of fun during the day.

Karen and I picked up lunch for Kris's AIG workmates from the Greek Orthodox church in Randolph today. Mmmmmm, who doesn't love a good spanokopita or souvlaki! It was fun to journey to AIG with amazing smells permeating the car's interior. Delish!

Whilst at lunch we received a call from Kimi announcing Brinkley's first honest-to-goodness hug. We all oohed and aahed appropriately. Brinkley also has his very first double ear infection. Poor baby!

We saw geese and goslings, swans and cygnets, the usual squirrels and cute little robin red-breasts too. Karen still argues about the lack of the number and variety of flora in New Jersey, all the while saying the fauna is 'too green' and 'too much of it'. I said we have way more trees here, to which she replied that California has palm trees. I said they were just posing as trees, they are really just living umbrellas.

WATCH YOUR MOUTH!

Not much in the way of excitement happens in the life of an of almost-fifty year old couple. It's the simple things that make us happy; family, friends and fun.Kris had an unfortunate event on Wednesday whilst munching on a piece of chocolate. He said, "I think I just lost a piece of a tooth." Sure enough a big chunk of a molar was missing. He got an appointment at the dentist and had the fun experience of being debrided, a result of avoiding dental appointments since the stone ages. Very sensitive gums will tend to make one shy away from having them poked and prodded. Of course now he has two more appointments set for the crowning of the molar.

Our other mouth incidents are all to do with the visit this past week of Jeremy, Kimi and Brinkley. Brinkley has decorated all of us at one point or another with something that has exited his mouth. My personal favorites were the green bean lava and the watermelon laced milk. Combine that with allergy secretions and we have had some amazing reproductions of food and drink from Brinkley.

The reason for the Davenport Visit was that Jeremy had a series of seminars to attend for DFAS in Orlando, Florida. Kimi and Brinkley got to 'hang' with us whilst Jeremy hung out in boring classes and by the swimming pool. We enjoyed beautiful weather here; thunderstorms some days, sunny and warm most and then the little surprise of the 50 degree day that had California-wimpy Karen and thin-blooded Kimi wearing sweatshirts and begging for the heat to be turned on.

The rhododendrons are in full bloom everywhere, purple mostly, but vivid pinks and white abound too. We've had some fairly strong winds of late too, and these are usually punctuated with profusions of dandelion fur flying all around, somewhat resembling a snow flurry. Naturally with that fur comes the allergies and all of us were hit rather hard by them, despite the regular downing of antihistamines.

One of the fun things we got to do this week was have lunch with Shari, Cory and us girls, oh, and of course our darling baby Brinkley. Nothing better than fun food, tons of conversation, Diet Coke and each other. We love our friends!

The highlight of the week generally is on the Sabbath and today was no exception. Being the first Sunday in the month it was fast weekend and sacrament meeting was fast and testimony. Our sweet Margaret, such a special member of our ward, told her Sunday School teacher, Kay, "You have brought a new level into my life." Margaret is forty years old with the intelligence of perhaps a six year old. The simple testimony delivered with pure love and gratitude still bring tears to my eyes as I think of it.

A happy way to end the Sabbath, for Karen and me at least, is hanging out on the couch, typing on our laptops and watching the Food Network. Life is simple but sweet! Kris is zonked in bed. His Sabbath days are long and demanding but he does it all with love and concern and serves willingly. Good man.