A quick list of my life lately

So what is going on in my life lately?

1. Rental dogs will finally be separated. The Pres of the rescue has decided that the poodle/bichon mix can go stay somewhere else. That will help me tremendously. The two rental dogs together are a team to be reckoned with. Rosie, my dog, plays with Rental dog rat terrier so we'll keep her. Only, she's the hyper one.

2. I have a Daisy meeting tonight for just the adults. Daisy's are Jr. Girl Scouts. I hope they have wine. I'm a leader on paper for the 1st grade troop. I was sort of horn-swaggled into agreeing to be a leader. I suck at that stuff. I didn't attend one meeting last year. But, if I wanted my youngest child to be a Daisy someone needed to be a leader of her troop. Thankfully the cadet troop is running the program so really, all I have to do is provide forms and crap. I can sort of do that.

3. 23 employees and myself all put in $1 for the Super Lotto Plus lottery here in CA so I got 24 quick picks today. It's up to $23M. I figured since it's 09/09/09 that maybe that brings a bit of luck. If we win the entire finance group (well, not all) will be missing tomorrow. Sweet! I hope it happens.

4. My car desperately needs the brake drums turned. They grind and the car shakes at stops. It's a Honda Odyssey and every 40K miles this happens. I already had this done once. My old boss had a Honda Pilot. They use the same chassis as the Odyssey and he had the same problem. The van now has 80k plus miles. I'm stalling.

5. Shawna went to the dentist yesterday and got a clean bill of teeth. Her lower center tooth is wiggly. Her first loose tooth!!! She can't wait for it to fall out. She even requested corn on the cob. Too funny.

6. I really need to pee right now so I'm going to end this post. Have a great one!

Labor Day Weekend Camping

I know how much my regular readers (all 1 of you) enjoy my camping stories. This past weekend my family and I went to Santa Cruz to a KOA campground. For those of you non-camping folks, KOA's are campgrounds which are usually pet friendly and located all over the Unites States. They boast about clean bathrooms, pizza delivered to your campsite, activities for kids and other fun things.

This weekend we had to bring Rental Dogs with us. We have 2 foster dogs living with us besides our own dog. Rental dogs barked and whined a hell of a lot so they spent a good amount of their time crated in the trailer. Hmmmmph.

My oldest went on a mechanical bull

My youngest rock climbed. Yes in her bathing suit. What do you rock climb in??

There was some Dead Man's Diving going on at the pool area

I enjoyed many hours inside the dog corral because as my husband referred to me, I was the Dog Whisperer. They were only quiet (and then not even) if I sat in there with them. A few men came by joking, wondering if I was in a time out or was my husband going to let me out.

Paula and I also rode banana bikes together. For $5 you can rent them for 30 minutes or $8 for an hour. Thank Gawd we only rented them for 30 minutes. See her, not even sweating?! Yeah, that was NOT me. I could barely go down the stairs of the trailer after I was done. #suckstogetold

We met some fun new friends

Lastly there was Rental Dog. He's one of two. This is one happy camper. Too bad he's not going camping with us again. In two weeks when we go camping again, he and his partner in crime are going to doggy daycare for the weekend.

Def Leppard ROCKS!

Yesterday I attended a Def Leppard concert. For those of you who are either too young, too old, or just live under a rock they're an 80's rock band. A Kick ass 80's rock band.

In the mid to late 80's I was 16. I had a power blue '66 Mustang with a kick ASS stereo system and gold Enkie rims. Guys asked me if the mustang belonged to my boyfriend. HA! I loved to play Def Leppard and blast it to annoy all the cars around me. The base in their songs is hard and so awesome.

Last night I rocked OUT. There was a small bummer because the lead singer had laryngitis. You could still hear him but his voice sounded raw. I was just thrilled he didn't cancel on us.

So, too all you Def Leppard fans I say this... Gunter glieben glauten globen

Back to school shopping

Last night I ran to Walmart to tackle the 2009-2010 School Supply List I've had since June. (like any of you shopped in June for your kids school supplies. heh) My school had a pre-order your kids school supplies form before school ended. I didn't sign up. I'm sure I had a great reason at the time. Wish I knew because next June I'm signing up.

Back to Walmart. Many of the hot items are gone. Big Pink erasers. Gone. 70 sheet spiral notebooks. gone.

In addition, my kids school has teachers who prefer Prang watercolors over Crayola (what every friggin store carries!) so I called Aaron Brothers Art and Framing store and Mike (my new love) has several. I told him to put them aside and I'll be there tonight for them.

What else couldn't I find? Well, since you asked, I couldn't find flash cards. Paula needs division and multiplication flash cards this year for 3rd grade.

Going out again tonight with all the other last minute shoppers. It's like Christmas Eve out there right now. School isles are packed. It's ugly. Don't go out there if you can help it.

homemade tampons

I have a friend who is very Martha Stuart-y. She pickles and jars food. She sews stuff. To me that is very MS-y since I don't do any of that. Her latest craze is sewing handmade reusable menstrual pads. They're really nice actually. She's got all sorts of fabric with different patterns. She has a wildlife theme, french country and even a chamo one.

Aren't these cute?? Okay, maybe not cute, but you get what I'm saying. (just nod and agree with me)

What kinda gives me the heeeby jeebies is something else she found on Etsy.com that she may embark on. Reusable washable tampons.

Swear to Gawd.

Look here Cotton and bamboo tampons and even here washable tampons if you don't believe me.

Now, I did cloth diapers for my kids (part-time) and had to wash out poop and pee myself (okay, the washing machine did it but I had to put it in there) I'm also concerned about the environment too, so I can appreciate someones desire to make something environmentally friendly, however, inserting fabric into my hoohaa and leaving it there for a few hours doesn't sit well with me.

Am I weird?? Is it just me??

Would you or do you use one of these??

I Heard a herd of cows

Today the rancher, who owns the cows on our hills, decide to move the cows to a new location. Normally the cows are very quiet. You'll hear an occasional Moo of course, but today those cows wanted to be heard! It was non-stop mooing for a full hour at least as they made their way across the hill.

There was one time several years ago that a cow behind our house became stuck. He must have fallen into a ravine and literally couldn't get unstuck. He was so noisy. Finally a helicopter actually came to get him out.

When we moved into our house in 2004, there was a house across our street that I refer to as the "Ugly Brown House". A year or more ago she finally put some money into a new roof and removed the horrible brown siding. She also has a pool that I'm told the city brought her fish that eat mosquito's because she refused to properly care for the pool. We've joked that a bull or cow is drowned in her pool and you'll never know it because of how nasty it is.

Her backyard opens up to one of the hills where the cows roam. (I have hills on 3 sides of me.) Next to her house lives our other neighbor who I'll call House is Never Done. House is Never Done has spent a fortune for the past several years to turn his plain house into a french cottage. I must admit, it's very nice, inside and out. I certainly appreciate the work he's had contractors put into it, but it seems as if he's never satisfied and it may never be finished.

Well, one day several years ago, Todd was at House is Never Done's house with Paula when they realized there was a cow in the Ugly Brown House backyard. Todd lifted Paula up over the fence and she was staring straight into the face of a black Angus bull. Holy Cow! (pun intended!) Ugly Brown House may have closed in her fence by now. She's an odd duck that one.

I'll leave you with the below joke I found online.

A lady from the city and her traveling companion were riding the train through Vermont when she noticed some cows.
"What a cute bunch of cows!" she remarked.
"Not a bunch, herd", her friend replied.
"Heard of what?"
"Herd of cows."
"Of course I've heard of cows."
"No, a cow herd."
"What do I care what a cow heard. I have no secrets to keep from a cow!"

Ace Ventura lives at my house

My husband has an uncanny ability to find what I consider unwanted critters. I realize that I live in the hills and am therefore, closer to God's creatures. That doesn't mean I have to like it. I don't mind the cows, deer or wild turkeys that frequent my neighborhood. I can even live with the skunks if they stay upwind. It's the creepier creatures that bother me. Thank goodness it's rarely me who comes across them.

We have a gopher snake named Snake. Snake was in my backyard near our BBQ when my husband saw him. Todd grew up with snakes so you can imagine his joy. We feed the snake, house the snake in a glass aquarium and pay electricity for Snake so he can be snuggly warm. (rolling eyes)

Many years ago my husband came across a tarantula in our backyard. It was a big one too. He put it in a nice show and tell container (one of my favorite Tupperware!) and Paula brought him to preschool the next day for their science table. We have an abundance of Black Widows in my backyard too.

We have raccoons that come frequent our backyard at night scavenging for food. Last night, Todd turned on our BBQ to cook chicken and out flew a scorched rat! That's a first and I hope a last.

Here are a just few pictures I have so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.

A moth Todd got to land on his shorts.

Snake

Our industrial strength bug zapper. It goes off non-stop.

the cows on our hills across the street from my house

Turkeys behind our house on the hill in February 2009

THE tarantula in our backyard

This snake Todd did not bring home and was further down our hill.



Two ducks who want inside my house for some reason