Christmases long, long ago . . .

I've been scanning old family pictures, and found this one of my mom and Mark. I love it-they both look great.

Sariah Ria Bo Bia!

Could she be any cuter?!? Sariah is crawling now, and standing while holding on to things. She's such a sweetheart.

Ashley's Dora Trike Part 2

Ashley has a fondness for sticks of all sizes. She was overjoyed to be able to store her find in the basket on her trike.

Ashley's Dora Trike

My mom got Ashley a Dora the Explorer Tricycle, and right before she got here, we opened the box and found out it came in lots of pieces. Mark was nice enough to put it together for his niece.









Ashley loved it and wanted to play on it all day. Her legs aren't quite long enough to reach the pedals, even on the closest seat setting, but she's content to just scoot along with her feet.

Happy Birthday Brett!

Last week was Brett's birthday, so Amber and I decorated his cubicle. It was great fun.

Yes, I know I'm a slacker

Wendy tagged me almost two weeks ago and I still haven't done it yet. Here goes . . .

here are the "rules":
a. each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
b. at the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. A couple of weeks ago I attended a food storage class on beans. Tonight I made turkey veggie soup for dinner and discovered that while cooking, the lentils I put in sprouted. This, as I learned in my bean class, makes them less gaseous. I was excited to kind of a pathetic degree about the sprouting and had to make each member of my family look at it.

2. I just got a cool booklet that has a schedule for reading the four Standard Works in a year. I started last night and the amount you have to read each day isn't as bad as I thought.

3. I'm planning on going back to school next year, but I'm scared to death I won't get in.

4. I have started using anti-wrinkle cream around my eyes because I feel like I'm getting old and wrinkly.

5. I like to own books that look impressive on my shelf, but I never actually read them. I really am going to try to from now on though.

6. I'm not looking forward to Christmas this year. My brother and his family will be in California with his wife's family. My aunt and uncle will only come out here if Matthew and his family are coming, so they're staying home and my Grandma is going to stay with them in Maryland. Plus we only get the 25th off at work, so I have to work Christmas Eve, which isn't much fun. Oh well, I guess it would be worse if everyone was out here and I had to work instead of spending time with them.

I think Wendy might be the only person who reads this and actually has a blog, so I'm not tagging anyone.

I've been tagged

. . . but I can't think of six facts/habits that people don't really know. I'm going to have to think on this one and get back to you, Wendy. I also don't think there are six people who actually read my blog. Yeah, so I'll get back to you on this one.

More pics of the nieces

For Halloween Ashley was a cat and Sariah was a mouse. Look how excited Sariah is!

Ewwwww!!!!!

These are pictures of what was left in the bathtub after I gave the dogs a bath. The pile of brown nastiness in the corner is hair I had to keep scooping out of the drain so the water would go down. I just thought you would all like to share in the fun! :)

This is why I love being an aunt

Being an aunt is great because I get to enjoy Ashley's antics and shenanigans, but I don't have to clean up the mess. She recently got hold of a black marker, and hilarity (for me, at least) ensued . . .

November 1

Today, November 1, is the 305th day of the year, which would seem to indicate that there are 60 days left of 2007.

These important and random things happened on this day in history:

1512-The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is exhibited to the public for the first time.
1604-Shakespeare's "Othello" is presented for the first time.
1755-Lisbon, Portugal is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing 60-90,000.
1848-The first medical school for women opens in Boston.
1896-The first pair of naked breasts is shown in "National Geographic."
1998-The European Court of Human rights is instituted.
2007-Hackers find a way to unlock extra violence in a video game. (most viewed news story on Yahoo today)

Happy Halloween!

Here are some pics from our Halloween party.


Brett, Connie and Jim. Brett won Funniest Costume.


Tina is a fabulous Dorothy.


Ryan as I'm not sure what, but he tied for Scariest Costume.


Amber, who borrowed my idea for Goth Raggedy Ann.


Cathy, who for the first time ever, didn't dress up as something dark and scary. Yay for you!

Move over, Martha Stewart!

We had a Halloween party at work today and I made sugar cookies. But these weren't just any sugar cookies, they were works of art. Check 'em out!







Are you impressed? I am-I didn't know I had such skills!

Video of my family

I'm adding this to my Christmas list

I want this. I love to read while I eat, and this holds your book up and open for you. Is that lazy? I can't even expend the energy to hold my book while I read it. Whatever. It's still cool.

Cathy-I found you a costume!!!

It's Goth Raggedy Ann and Andy!!! How great is that!

What happens in Wendover stays in Wendover.

One of my co-workers decided that a bunch of us should get together and catch the "Fun Bus" to Wendover last Friday. Here are the high/low points of the evening.

-Apparently not all buses to Wendover are "Fun Buses." Ours was the "Geriatric Hispanic Couples Bus" mixed with a little "Crap, It's the End of the Month and I spent the Rent Money on Crack, Better go to Wendover Bus."

-Buffets in Wendover are not equal to the buffets in Vegas. This one did have a chocolate fountain, though, which I have yet to see in Vegas. It got major points for that one feature.

-Whenever you are supposed to be somewhere to be on a bus at a certain time, expect half of your party to not get there on time and therefore miss the bus. Four of our people ended up driving to Wendover and missed playing Bingo with our 75 year old tour guide type person.

-The Munsters nickel slot game rules! It plays cool music and has sweet bonus games.

-A virgin pina colada in a casino in Wendover is not the same as a virgin pina colada at Chili's. I guess the rum is supposed to be the dominant flavor, so when you take that away, you just have water with a little pineapple and coconut flavoring. Oh well, it was free I can't complain too much.

-We found really comfy purple chairs to sit in in one of the lounge areas. They were great. I want one.

-Co-workers who are pretty darn cool at work, are sooooooo much cooler outside of work!

-I kinda suck at video poker, but it entertained me for a long time, so it's all good.

-Don't take your shoes off on the bus if you have really stinky feet. I didn't do it-some unknown person did on the way home and everyone almost died on the way home.

What an unfortunate name

Fun shopping website

You have to check out She's Got It All. They sell all sorts of cool crafty-ish stuff. I love their Seasonal and Holiday Decor.

Really? With all that money???

What do you see that's kinda retarded in this picture? Wow, far too many answers for that question! Is it just me, or is that Body Fantasies body spray next to the Marlboro Menthol Lights? I can't believe that with all the money she has, Britney Spears uses that. Isn't that stuff like three bucks at ShopKo? I guess she has been spotted at Rite Aid quite a bit lately. She must've picked it up there. I guess if you're snorting and/or smoking and/or drinking away all your money, Body Fantasies just has to do sometimes. Let this be a lesson, children. Don't do drugs or you'll have to buy drug store perfume instead of Hanae Mori.