Blog Update

Please bear with me...I am learning more about how to upload more pictures on here. Seems I may have to purchase a package for about $2.50 per month in order to continue to post pictures on my blog since I've capped my free limit.  I want Bob to check over this first before I agree to purchase extra GB.  I want to continue my blog since I use it as kind of a diary of our life and eventually plan on printing out some of my posts and place in a scrapbook of some kind for the future.

I did post some pictures on my Facebook page if anyone wants to friend me on there and look at our Thanksgiving pictures. 

Bob and I bought some new outdoor Christmas lights at Menard's tonight and some little Christmas trees in urns to place on the front porch.  We are going to decorate the outside this weekend and also purchase a live tree for downstairs.  I have 3 trees up inside so far and they are soooo pretty!!  The tree in the living room is decorated with clear lights and tons of ornaments in silver, gold and cream, with strands of pearls, gold mesh and my favorite angel tree topper. I could just sit and stare at it for hours. 

Of course, you saw previous pictures of our wine themed tree in the kitchen that I'll continue adding wine themed ornaments over time.  I put a small tree in the guest room window with all fragile, bright colored ornaments and multi colored lights.  And, finally, the live tree will have multi colored lights and all of our whimsical ornaments including Robbie's ornaments that I've collected for him since he was born.  We put a star on top of that tree. 

I just LOVE Christmas trees and ornaments!!  I think I finally "got" how to properly put lights on a tree too. I've studied the pre-lit trees and figured out that you have to run the lights over each individual limbs, then over and under each individual branch on both side of the limbs. It takes a while but it also lights up the inside of the tree and not just the outside of the limbs.  LOVE IT!

Thanksgiving 2012

Robbie and I got back from our trip to southern Alabama this weekend.  We had a really good time...toured Pensacola Naval Base museum, shopped at the NEX, watched the sun set in Gulf Shores, had a delicious Thanksgiving meal with Mom and Tom, did some late night shopping, toured Bellingrath Gardens Christmas light display and did more shopping in Nashville.

I have lots of pictures but when I tried to post them I got a message on here stating I had used my "quota" of free space on my blog.  I've never seen that before so I need to investigate further and will get pictures up on here soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!  Hope everyone has a great day and eats lots of yummy food.  Our menu here in southern Alabama is turkey breast, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, peas, corn, homemade yeast rolls, pecan and pumpkin pie.  Photos to come later.

Love to you all and I will see you at Christmas.

Amy

Wine Cork Reindeer

Here is a craft project I found on pinterest.com that I did recently.  I put up a wine themed tree in our kitchen and plan to add wine-themed decorations over time.

I made about a dozen ornaments over a couple nights.  I used wine corks that we've saved up, tree twigs from our yard and a few little notions like ribbon, pipe cleaners and bells.  Straight pins were used for either black or Rudolph-red noses.

I made both female and male reindeer.

Banquet Photos

The senior players and two coaches

Seniors

Robbie giving a little speech

Receiving a certificate and his third bar for his soccer letter

Church lady pie!!!

Banquet room

Sad :(

If you ever look at my Facebook page you will see that I am "friends" with Sandy Sisti's photography website.  I also follow the Yellowstone Park website.  The photos posted of one of the shot and soon-to-be-dead wolves was so, so sad.  I couldn't finish looking at the photos.  Wolf packs have such an interesting way of life and they are very smart animals and demand respect in the wildlife.  I just hate to see them hunted.

Killing of wolves from Yellowstone outside park triggers outcry

By Laura Zuckerman | Reuters – 2 hrs 17 mins ago

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Seven wolves that once lived in Yellowstone National Park have been shot and killed by hunters in recent days, triggering an outcry among conservationists and businesses that depend on the park's prized wolf packs.

 The wolves, all radio-collared as part of a park research program, were legally hunted outside Yellowstone boundaries after hunting seasons opened earlier this year in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

 The deaths have no adverse effect on a park wolf population estimated at 88, said Dave Hallac, chief of resource management and science for Yellowstone.

 But the controversy that has erupted in the wake of the killing does not appear to be linked to worries about the population's survival as much as its popularity, he said.

 "There's no question these packs are a focal point for visitors and that people who come here to watch wildlife become attached to the animals," Hallac said.

 The U.S. government in the mid-1990s released fewer than 100 wolves in the park and in the wilderness near Salmon, Idaho to restore an animal that had been hunted, poisoned and trapped to near extinction.

Today, more than 1,700 wolves roam the Northern Rockies but conflict over the animals has not lessened with their growing numbers. Ranchers and outfitters complain the predators dent livestock and big-game herds while conservationists contend wolves are an integral part of the ecosystem.

 Wolves last year were removed from the endangered species list in Idaho and Montana, states that liberally allow shooting and trapping. Wyoming wolves were removed from the list on September 30 and hunted from the next day.

 While hunting is banned in Yellowstone, wolves that cross the unmarked boundary into parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are fair game. That is not playing well among animal advocates and people whose wildlife watching at Yellowstone has brought personal and professional rewards.

 Park and state wildlife officials were flooded with telephone calls on Friday about the dead wolves.

Sandy Sisti, a photographer near Yellowstone whose images of the park's wolves are snapped up by tourists and others, said it made no economic sense to kill members of packs key to the region's tourism economy.

Conservationists said the opening next month of wolf trapping in Montana would further reduce Yellowstone wolves. They are asking state wildlife managers to create a buffer zone outside the park.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission Chairman Bob Ream said on Friday commissioners will take up the question of a buffer zone next month.

 "But at some point you have to draw a line and, theoretically, the park is the line," he said.

 (Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Todd Eastham)

TTTT (too tired to title)

I suppose sometimes I might be the straw that stirs the drink without even purposefully wanting to do so.   ha ha!!  Just sayin'.

Robbie and I are looking forward to a little road trip next week to the Mayberry of Southern Alabama. I am cooking a big ole Thanksgiving meal for Mom and Tom at their house and will hang out with them for the week.  Bob is looking forward to some quiet time at home where he will work on his wine and not worry about having to share the tv with anyone but the cats.

I will post pictures this weekend but we just had our final soccer event this evening :(  It was the end of the year soccer banquet and was so bittersweet.  I don't know how I'm going to hold it together for graduation day in May when I can barely keep myself composed watching a soccer slideshow!  It was a very nice evening complete with delicious church-lady food at one of the local fellowship halls. Can you say "homemade pie crust"?  Mmmmm.  One of our neighbors is a church-lady and made the homemade pies for our meal.  The players received their certificates and made a few short speeches.  I still cannot believe high school soccer is over for us.  So sad.

Anyhoo, besides getting things ready for our trip, I've also put up one of our Christmas trees for this year.  This one is in the kitchen and has white and purple lights and is wine themed.  I made some ornaments including reindeer made from wine corks and small twigs.  I will post pictures of those too, after I upload my camera this weekend.  They are so cute!!

For now I'm off to bed as it has been a busy few weeks here at this old house and I fear it will not let up until after the holidays.

Blue Girl

In case anyone wasn't aware (which would be nearly impossible unless you just never met me, or are a client who I am not allowed to discuss my opinions with,  ha ha)  I am Pro-Choice even though I desperately wanted another baby but had two miscarriages and my husband is adopted. I don't feel any rape is legitimate no matter what a person wears, what they say or what their occupation is. I support peace vs. war even though there are people with military backgrounds on both sides of my family.  I believe in God, I pray and read the good book sometimes, but am not perfect and have my own way of thinking that does not seem to fit into any organized religion that I've found so far in my life.  I whole-heartedly support gun control laws even though my husband loves guns.  I believe in Evolution and Carl Sagan's "organic soup" which I learned about in anthopology class in a Catholic high school (where we referred to him as "Uncle Carl").  I don't smoke pot but I think if someone is going to put anything in their body it needs to be of a high quality. I don't care what people do in the privacy of their own homes whether it's two men, two women or a mixture of both; just so long as it does not involve children, animals and it is mutual.

And I voted in last week's election but have decided I will wait to tell the story of who I voted for and why, to my first grandchild, if I ever have one.  If not, I'll take my ballot choice to the grave with me :)  Sorry Dad, I ended up not writing you in like I said I was going to do on Facebook.  ha ha!

The following was emailed to me by my very, very, very liberal friend son sent it to her this weekend:

Dear Red States:

We’re ticked off at your Neanderthal attitudes and politics and we’ve decided we’re leaving:

“Legitimate rape,” is almost reason enough!

In case you aren’t aware of whom we are, we include Hawaii, California, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, New York and the rest of the Northeast.

We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation and especially to the people of the new country of The Enlightened States of America (E.S.A.).

To sum up briefly:

You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.

We get stem cell research and the best beaches.

We get Andrew Cuomo and Elizabeth Warren.  You get Bobby Jindal and Todd Akin.

We get the Statue of Liberty.  You get Opryland.

We get Intel and Microsoft.

You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard.  You get Ole’ Miss.

We get 85 percent of America’s venture capital and entrepreneurs.

You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue.  You get to make the Red States pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition’s, we get a bunch of happy families.  You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that the E.S.A. will be pro-choice and anti-war and we’re going to want all our citizens back from Afghanistan at once.  If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals.  They have kids they’re apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose and they don’t care if you don’t show pictures of their children’s caskets coming home. We wish you success in Afghanistan, and possibly Iran as well, but we’re not willing to spend our resources in these sorts of pursuits.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of:

80% of the country’s fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation’s fresh fruit,

95% of America’s quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners), 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, most of the US low sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, you will have to cope with:

88% of all obese Americans and their projected health care costs, nearly 100% of the tornadoes,

90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We also get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

38% of those in the Red States believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we’re discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy B*%#*%#s believe you are people with higher morals than we lefties.

We’re taking the good weed too.  You can have the crap they grow in Mexico.

Sincerely,

Citizens of The Enlightened States of America

 

So...

"My name is Fluffy and I've been really stressed out, especially today,"

We've noticed in the past few months that Miss Fluff has lost some weight AND I noticed last week that she has started losing hair on one of her front legs. This week the hair loss started spreading down her chest and the other front leg.  We decided she probably needed to be seen by the vet.

Bob took her to the vet today and when I went outside to meet up with him I noticed a smirk on his face and figured out what he was probably going to say.  Fluffy has anxiety and is stressed out!  All the labs they did turned out just fine...no diabetes, no thyroid issues, good kidney function, etc. etc. etc.  She has lost 1.5 lbs but is otherwise fine.  Bob got to experience what he described as "Stephen King kitty" when he took her out today.  LOL   Normally Fluffy seems so meek and babyish but when she gets pissed off another personality comes out and she will hiss and channels Linda Blair from "The Exorcist" personality that will scare even a full sized human.  He said they had to put her out just to get some blood from her.  I've taken her to the vet; I know what he is talking about.  She is scary when she gets like that.

"My name is Sheba and I'm small but I can take on cats twice my size.  I'm also very sneaky."

After they got home she was still hissing and even scaring Lucas.  He's been walking around with his tail down all day which is not normal for him.  Sheba, who normally engages in terroristic threatening,  has even tip-toed around Fluffy today.  I got the first dose of prozac in her and she is still coming out of the anesthesia and her pupils are still dilated. She is not acting like herself from all of today's trauma. We are being patient with her and haven't even forced her into the litterbox today.  In addition to the prozac we  now have this feline pheramone plug-in thing which is supposed to put off some kind of cat-only detected scent which will make "everyone" feel happy and good, like they are smoking some good ghanga at Woodstock or something.  ha ha!!

"My name is Lucas and I'm the golden child except when I eat too much then vomit all over the carpet.  Why can't we call just get along?"

Only here at this old house.

Weekend

I nearly forgot to post a picture of the bat cupcakes I took to the Halloween party last weekend.  I got the idea from Gigi's Cupcakes on Facebook.  The bats are made out of Oreo cookies and turned out so cute!!

We've had a good weekend so far.  I made a pre-Thanksgiving meal today for me and Bob and we will have leftovers for a couple more days:)  I bought a honey-glazed ham and made sweet potato casserole, homemade turkey-n-dumplings and we had rolls, cranberry sauce and pie.  I'm going to roast asparagus to have with our leftovers tomorrow when Robbie is home, because he loves roasted asparagus.

I've been living vicariously through our friends who are out in the Teton-Yellowstone area this past week. They've posted all kind of photos everyday and looks like they are having a great time.  There was about a foot of snow in some areas and the park roads officially close to private vehicle traffic this Monday.  I have also "friended" a photographer's website and FB page who lives out that way and is in the park several times a week taking photos so have been able to keep up with what is going on through her site too. 

We still have some things to do in our downstairs before I can say we are finished.  I'm having a hard time getting motivated to look for valance fabric, etc.  I'm having some problems with my foot again due to plantar fascitis and it is not comfortable to do a lot of walking even in my good shoes and orthotics.  I have decided I just need to return to the orthopaedic doc and ask for a cortisone injection.  I just hate thinking of the pain; even though it only lasts a few seconds, it is NO FUN. My pain is not on the bottom of my heel but about an inch or two beneath my ankle bone on the inside part of my heel.  If I stand for a long time or do a lot of walking (ie grocery shopping) the pain then radiates up my leg.  I need to ice and do more stretches, I know.  In addition to cortisone I am considering massage therapy. The lady I go to is also certified in orthopaedic massage and might be able to help me...just insurance will not pay.

Besides that, we are all doing good. We are looking forward Robbie getting to vote for the first time in a few days, going to a concert later next week, the opening of  "Skyfall" next Friday night, and a college campus tour next weekend.  Robbie and I are excited about travelling to see Mom and Tom over Thanksgiving for a short autumn vacation.  Busy, busy, busy.