No one said it would be easy ....

Okay, I know what you are all thinking, she's going to quote that obnoxious one about "but it would be worth it", well I'm not, well not entirely and certainly not in the vein that one would think.

So I'm in the process of figuring how to type one totally cool blog with pictures inserted appropriately etcetera etcetera, but Methuselah is giving us fits. Methuselah, for those not in the know, is our ancient laptop. He's decided to fritz and by that I mean send up all kinds of warnings, alerts, deny any connection to something called the Internet and basically act like an old fart. Pardon the expression.

All this precedes what I'm trying to tell you all about. I haven't posted anything more since my amazing discovery of how to put pictures on the blog because all the pictures we have, and that I finally learned how to download onto the laptop, are ONLY on Methuselah and not on this here desktop. I have to figure out how to put same pictures onto this here yet-to-be-named desktop. There are so many inlets, outlets and whatsits that I don't know what goes where and my eyesight is so nearly fifty years old that I can't see the tiny little pictures next to the openings where things get plugged into. (Is that a dangling participle?)

Dangling whatsits (and participles) aside, I am working on creating a work of art. Well it will be in my humble estimation. I'm having fun doing this whilst listening to my Pandora selection. I LIKE this stuff, it's fun. Now if I could just figure out how to make the blog as amazing as Brinkley's and Liam and Kimberly's. But, like I said, no one said it would be easy .... !

Blogging for reals .... I think

We really like our home here in New Jersey. It’s been an adjustment, there’s no doubt about that, but we think in good ways. That ‘we’, by the way, is Kris and me, the three other adults who made the journey from West to East I cannot speak for.

♥ We have four seasons which means –
• Allergies in the Spring


Our back yard

• Mowing lawns in the Summer



• Raking leaves in the Fall



Okay, not our back yard, but close enough. It's the Del Water Gap in fall. Beautimous, don't you think?

• Shoveling snow in the Winter




♥ Those aren’t necessarily bad things. Because of them we have –

• New buds and blossoms and never before seen shades of green

• Lightning bugs, squirrels, chipmunks, deer and blue jays
• Amazing shades of red, yellow, orange and brown
• Cardinals, fields of white, icicles, and warm coats



Josh and Candy Christmas of 2007

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.