...duck!

Lucy liked her duck she got from my parents this Christmas. Here is a video of when we opened it for her.

Merry Christmas!

...see.

We saw the movie, Avatar, this afternoon. It was awesome! The CGI and live action was seamless. The story was good. I marveled over and over at the fantasy world they created. So, we are big geeks and watched it in IMAX 3D. Wa-hoo! 'Stilin' in the 3D glasses. :)

...debrief.

To debrief you all on my mission: It was a success. My hubby is now home with me for the holidays. We made it back yesterday evening. I hope all the snow melts before it is time to drive him back.

But what's up with someone stealing my parking space while I was gone?! It took hours to dig out. I had a feeling it would be gone when we got back. So, what did we do? Did we dig out a new place to park? Nope. We stole another parking space. He-he-he. I mean. Ho-ho-ho. Merry Christmas!

...finish!

I did it! How is that for military wife awesomeness?! I have dug out the car in sub-freezing temps. (It is finally 21 degrees.) So, now I will take a nice shower and drive off to get my hubby. Wish me luck for a safe trip! Here are some parting shots...

...break on thru to the other side!

I had the lyrics of a certain song running thru my head as I pushed to the street on my most recent 40 minute shift.


'Just the sides to go now. Whew! I'm getting tired. This break might be longer and involve walking the dog and lunch. Here's a shot of the pile...or is it more of a snow fort now?!

...help save Christmas!

I didn't make as much progress this half hour. On the other hand, I like to think that I helped save someone's Christmas. A FedEx truck got stuck on our street. So, two of our apartment maintenance men and I worked at digging him free. After a little effort and a lot of rocking the truck back and forth, the driver drove away. Someone's presents will now make it in time.

Now, here's what I could do. The street is getting closer--almost within reach!


Remember the vertical distance I talked about in the last post? I have to remove the snow in stages. Here is the top snow taken off. It is almost like peeling back layers of an onion...a very large, white onion!


Here's another shot of my growing pile.

...move it!

Well, I got a little carried away and did 40-50 minutes instead of the planned 30. I got caught up in the progress I have made. I am about half way to the street.


Of course, I was speaking of horizontal distance. The vertical distance is actually more--due to the lovely trucks that made a street possible. I will slowly add the pile they made to the pile I am making. Check out my pile now!


I also dug to the back of my tires. They are brand new tires on my all wheel drive SUV. However, the tire trouble is getting to the tires!

...shovel it!

My Mission: To dig myself out and pick up my husband for Christmas.

I've started the first of what I'm afraid will be several half hour shifts of shoveling snow. I will document my progress here on my breaks. Yesterday, it took nearly two hours of work total to uncover the car. Yes. I found it!


The fist task this morning, was to make a path from the car to where I am piling up all the snow. As I was shoveling, I was thinking of the military phrase "make a hole!" They yell it on subs or below deck on ships when they are coming through a passageway with people in it. Marines also yell it in building hallways.


With this much snow, it's a logistical nightmare! The truck that cleared the street also made a nice big pile behind my car. I will also make a pile in the vacant parking space beside me. Let's face it, no one will be parking there anytime soon!

...stay in.

I'm snowed in! We had a blizzard this weekend, and I am stuck in my apartment. Church is even canceled today. We got somewhere between 14 to 18 inches around here. It was fun to get out and stomp around in my "duck boots." Lucy didn't like that the snow came up to her belly in places, but she is a good sport. I'm not sure when I will be able to dig out. Hopefully the roads will be clear enough soon that I can get out and bring my husband home for Christmas.

Here are some shots of the snow:

...watch.

New Moon is getting closer, and Stephanie Meyer will be on Oprah today. :)

...go country.

As Shania Twain would sing,

"I've gone and done it!...

...I guess I fell in love."

The exchange was having a sale, and I just love the little corduroy lining! Don't you?!

...be sole sad!

Okay. I realize that I just bought new shoes on sale Friday. Then, I pulled my boots out of the back of my closet Sunday morning and saw this:


It's sole sad! Now what should I do?! Mama needs a new pair of shoes?! Or does she? Let me know what you think on my poll or comments.

PS: My Facebook friends will need to go to my actual blog site (http://28seasons.blogspot.com/) to participate in the poll.

...pay less!

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Sam, I used an awesome 50% off, Oprah coupon at Payless Shoes today. I grabbed a friend, got some goodies, and blogged it. Yes. I'm having a girly-girl moment. 'Deal with it! ;)

...leave her alone!

Today I saw a pretty, black spider cross the road. It was so perfect looking, that I though it was one of those silly, plastic, spider rings. However, this one was quickly walking away! It was jet black with a round ball of a belly. Curious, I used a leaf to half flip it over. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw the bright, red hourglass on her underside. I quickly left the black widow alone!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

...gasp!

Ok. iGoogle, what have you done to me this morning? I like seeing little news snippets on my homepage, but this morning's CNN box was just wrong. Did anyone catch how tasteless it was to have these first two headlines posted one right after the other?


I did an iGoogle gasp this morning! Maybe I am being too sensitive, but it doesn't look like anyone reads how these headlines might be read if placed together like that. And who would look? Are the headlines generated by the iGoogle gadget or listed by a CNN web person? I wonder!

...wake from a nightmare.

Decuplets!

This morning I had a very strange dream. Well, it was more like a nightmare. I was recently widowed and a new mother to 10 babies. That's right. 10! As you might imagine, there was no time for mourning the loss of my husband. I'm not even sure how he "died." Perhaps it was from the shock of having 10 babies all at once! I don't even think it's possible. My dream was crazy--lots of babies crying. Then the dream gets worse. A neighbor lady from a few buildings over takes one of my babies. When I confront her, she says, "you have 10 babies!" I took my baby back from her and yelled that this is MY baby. And I don't know how I could think that I could be a good mother to 10 babies all at once. It was just a wild dream--nightmare!

Anyone want to take a stab at what it all meant? I'm clueless. I might just chalk it up to a crazy nightmare, but I'm open to your explanations.

BTW, I ate fried chicken that I cooked in my own oven last night. So, the dream wasn't brought on by strange/bad food.

...see monster sea monsters!

We spend Saturday in Baltimore. We went to the De Vinci exhibit at the science center and walked around the harbor. Then, we saw the sea monsters! Okay, they were just paddle boats near the maritime museum. It was a fun concept, anyway.

...kill.

October is turning out to be a rather violent month.

Today, Lucy caught a large, green grasshopper.

Next, she killed it. Then, she ATE it!

...die! Die!! Die!!!

I am happy that it is October because I know the ragweed will soon die. Yep. I have seasonal allergies, but that doesn't begin to explain my loathing for this allergen. Let's put it this way: If I were a superhero, my arch nemesis would be ragweed.

I think is isn't really "ragweed." I think it is "R.A.G.WEED." That would be an acronym for Rotten, Awful, Good-for-nothing Weed! There sure seems to be a lot of it here. However, R.A.G.WEED's season is quickly coming to an end. Mwahahaha!

Die, R.A.G.WEED! DIE!

...learn more about food storage.

So, I've dabbled a little into the whole food storage thing. I've bought in bulk when things go on sale. I've participated in our regional bulk food order. But I don't think I know very much yet. I'm a baby in this big world of being prepared. So, I'm glad that I can follow others that know much more than me--like our ward's preparedness guru (she is so awesome!) and Jodi and Julie from Food Storage Made Easy. Jodi and Julie held a "7 DAY CHALLENGE" on their blog where I learned a bit more about preparedness. Here's what I learned:

Day 1: Natural Disaster -”It’s a Flood”
I learned that I don't know what I would grab from my house if I only had an hour and wasn't sure I would have a house when I got back. Sure, I need to get a 72 hour kit together--but I didn't think about how to prepare for the things I just wouldn't want to leave behind. What about the family photos? I so need to back those up as digital files!

Day 2: Pandemic -”Time for Quarantine”
Okay. This time I learned something from what happened this month in real life this month. Our stake president was quarantined over stake conference weekend. He was able to "attend" and speak to us at conference through a web cam. This made me think about my tech and how I communicate. I need to be better at keeping my phone charged so I can communicate with the outside world when I can't go outside.

Day 3: Every Day Emergency -”Dinner Guests?!?!”
Here's another real life one for me. September must really be preparedness month! I got a call text from my hubby that the mess hall was closed and we would be feeding a few Marines that night. I had enough food on hand to make 30 meatballs to go with rice and green beans. I had to use 3 different frying pans/pots to cook all the meatballs! It all worked out well enough. They Marines were fed. :)


Day 4: Economic Crisis -”Money is TIGHT!”
I learned that I don't have enough water stored. It takes 1 1/2-3 gallons of your stored water PER FLUSH! Enough said.


Day 5: Natural Disaster -”Earthquake!”
I need to back up my computer. I keep saying that I should...and those might turn into words of regret someday.

Day 6: Diet Disaster -”Healthy lifestyle”
The disaster of the day itself taught me. I didn't think about being diagnosed with a disease as a good reason for food storage/preparedness. I have had several relatives that needed to change their diets for medical reasons. Why didn't I think of that before? I guess because it wasn't me...?!


Day 7: Every Day Emergency -”Why Didn’t you Ask for this Sooner?”
My first thought for this one was: pudding. I was worried that it sounded too lame, but pudding was listed on several comments. So, I feel good about this one. Yea! I get to end on a high note. :)

So, I can do some of this now, and I know better what I need to do.

Thanks, Jodi & Julie.

...go red.

'Nothing new except the background. BTW, it is 3 months until Christmas. As soon as the months start ending in "-ber," they start celebrating in the Philippines--hanging decorations, singing carols, etc. So, Merry Christmas!

...have a doggie play date part 2!

Riley came over to play with Lucy again. Boy, has she grown! Check out her old picture from my last post "...have a doggie play date." Here is a new video of them playing. Lucy had more of a challenge this time. :)

...store.

It is harvest time, and that means there is stuff to store. My food storage order came in, so I have a lot to store right now. I was so excited to get it. Then, I wondered if it would all fit in my car to take home. Surprisingly, it did! Here are some pictures of my car packed with goodies:



Later, I had to be a little creative about storing it in our little apartment. Here is part of it under the table:


The rest fit in our storage/Lucy room:


This came at a good time. My case lot supplies have been shrinking since May.

So, how are my food storage buddies doing?

...look for buried treasure!

Lucy has this game she likes to play. Sometimes we give her a rawhide to chew when we leave her for a while. She will sometimes hide it in the apartment for us to discover. When we come home, she leads us to where it is hidden. She usually barks at us until we unearth her treasured rawhide. We live in an apartment, so her attempts to bury her rawhide can be odd. We have found rawhide treats in the couch, the laundry basket, my hubby's gear, etc. I decided to document her latest buried treasure game.

First, this is how the bed is supposed to look like.


This is what it looked like when Lucy led us in the bedroom.


Yep. Buried treasure was found here!


Lucy now eats her treat. Who says you can't play with your food?!

...count down.

Okay. Some of you know that we are waiting for some big things coming up in the next few months. But just to put everything in perspective, I've added a new countdown widget to my blog for...

...New Moon!

'Cant wait for November!!! ;)

...smile!

Okay, all you Lucy fans. I put together a Smilebox for y'all to enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

...feel small.

We have some really big trees out here. They don't normally fit in my camera shot, so a single shot won't capture how big this tree really is.


To show the size a little better, I patched a few shots together to get this panoramic.


That's pretty big, huh?!

I felt very small as I walked through the forest today.

...remember summer.

I know that it's still summer, but it is only 70 degrees right now. School is starting. Autumn is on its way. I want to savor the last of summer before it is just a memory. And if I keep this new background up all month, then it will be because I am remembering summer!

BTW,
Here
is
the
original
photo.

...make peace over the money.

This morning, I am reconciling my online bank account with my budget. Why do those two have to fight, anyway? The budget always gets blamed. Then, the account won't budge. I have to always step in an solve any differences like squabbling children! ;)

...enjoy the fruit of no labor.

This is another post that will reference the apartment complex dumpsters. This time I did not find fish being thrown out, but it does concern a living thing. Tomatoes to be exact. Some time ago, a tomato seed found its way to the dirt just outside the dumpster. A plant grew without any human encouragement. I watched to see if fruit would appear. Soon I saw green Roma tomatoes weighting down the plant. Last night, I thought I saw one had turned red. Even though we walked right past the dumpsters, I forgot all about it on Lucy's morning walk. I was reminded of it this afternoon. So, Lucy and I headed out to see if I would be the first neighbor to see the ripening tomato. I was! I picked the half orange-half read tomato and took it home with me. It will ripen fully on my counter. I have plans to slice it up and eat it with sugar for a nice summer treat. Ahhh, the fruit of no labor!

...make pigs in a SHEET!

Many of you know that I eat some strange stuff when I am making due with what is around the house. Well, one day I wanted pigs in a blanket but only had tortillas and little time to make dough. It worked out better than I expected. The tortillas added a crisp texture. It seems to thin for a blanket, So, I call them pigs in a sheet. Here's how to make them:


Tina's Pigs in a Sheet

2 hotdogs
1 large flour tortilla
2 slices of cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Fold the tortilla in half. Then, carefully tear the tortilla in two pieces along the fold.
Place a slice of cheese in each tortilla half.
Beginning at of the thinner tortilla ends, roll a up the hotdog.
Place on cookie sheet (use cooking spray to prevent sticking).
Cook for 12 minutes or until the tortilla "sheets" are browning on the edges.

...be wrong!

Well, I went down to the gym today to test my theory. I lied to the machine by taking ten years off my age. Then, I did the same work out as before. And the "calories burned" number came out...higher! What?! This totally blows my theory of age advantage out the window. Maybe I was feeling a little more peppy today. I might not be a very scientific constant. Maybe the age doesn't matter too much in the machine calculations. Whatever the case, I did not prove my theory true. I'm not sure that I have enough data to say that the theory is disproved, but it's not looking good, folks.

What do you think? Was I just having a good day today? Could the theory still be true?

...theorize.

Yes. It's a little early in the morning to be using big words like "theorize." And I will confess that I had to look it up to make sure I spelled it right--because I really wanted to use it. Why?

I have a new theory. I think I've realized that there is an advantage to being older that I had not thought of until today. I believe that when I put my little age and weight numbers into the exercise machine, they spit out a higher "calories burned" number than my 20-something girlfriends that work just as hard as I do. I haven't tested this yet. I think I will try dropping a decade when I program the machine next time to see if this theory might be true.

What do you all think will happen? Am I on to something here? Does age have it's advantages at the gym? Am I just deluding myself--in denial? He-he.

...add a quote to the wall!

Back at Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho), my friends and I had a wall where we posted "Deep Thunks" or "Profound Thoughts of the Day." They were usually silly rather than inspiring. The best were both. It's been a little while, so I may be rusty at this. I am thinking that this is a good quote to add to the wall:

Covered in white, marshmallowy goodness, rice krispie treats are like taking time out of our plain, old serial (cereal) lives to spend time in the temple.

...go black and white.

...rise above.

I love how water lilies rise above all the muck to a glorious summer show of petals!


The water lilies are blooming here, so I get to play with some new digi pics.

...have a doggie play date!

Lucy likes to have her friend, Riley, come over to play.

Riley is just a puppy, but they still like to rough-house...or should I say, ruff-house?!

Now that Riley has left, Lucy is curled up in a ball--fast asleep!

..."go for the take down!"

Did you know that Lucy is a "combat dog?!"

...live the military wife life.

My Marine has landed!

...love Lucy anyway.

Even though Lucy loves to...

...drag me into the bushes when we are supposed to be walking a trail,

...go too far into the pond to get a drink,

...lie down on the dusty, gravel path right after getting her belly wet,

...almost swim away when I let her back in the pond to wash off,

...jump to the side of the car that doesn't have a quilt covering the seats before I can get her harnessed into the seat belt,

...rub her wet head all over me as I harness her in,

...stink up the car with wet pond dog smell all the way home,

...cower in the tub as I clean her off, (Yes. The dog that can't get enough of pond water hates baths.)

...wait until she is out of the tub to shake water on me,

...rub on me more after I've toweled her off,

...demand another treat as soon as I'm done with my shower, (She gets one after her bath...and apparently after mine.)

...I love Lucy!