Still here...

...and I owe you (and by "you" I mean specifically my mother and other family members) a 9-month post with pictures. And it will come. After deadline. Which is Monday. For federal returns. Friday if you're a trust or partnership. And Tuesday if you live in Massachusetts. Ugggghhhhh.....

A Few Random Shots

Here are a few random photos I took while we were away.

1. A shot of the sunset out at Nathan's parents' place...that big metal frame you see is a GIANT (in the neighborhood of 30 feet tall) lit snowman that you can see quite easily from the highway (which is a quarter mile away). I realize this is not the greatest picture but it was the best I could do on short notice, with my phone.

2-3. Ainsley and then Abbey holding their cousin Milo - those girls LOOOOOOVE Baby Milo. All three of them (including Alivia who would have no part of sitting still for a picture) have baby dolls named...Baby Milo of course.

4. In case you wondered what it takes to get two adults, a 5 month old who wears cloth diapers, and a chihuahua-dacshund mix out of town for four nights...here it is (yes it does go all the way down the hallway on both sides, no this isn't actually everything, and yes we did a load of diapers and a load of whites in the wash while we were there - this is no small production folks):

Did I mention it was nice to get home?

Health Care "Reform"

First of all, let me say right up front that I have not read "page 16" of this bill so I don't know what it says (not that I think I'd actually understand what it said if I did read it). But, if this guy is right, I'm less happy about the path our current President is going down than I was before. Read, research, make your own judgement, but frankly this scares me.

Money Pit

Do you know what this is?

If you said "a hole NOT large enough for this dishwasher..."


...you would be correct. The above pictures are exactly what my kitchen looks like now. And some would say "why don't you just put the old one back in, it fit didn't it?" Well, that would be my answer except that the fine people from Lowe's HAULED IT OFF after finding that the new one wouldn't fit. And apparently the new dishwasher is standard size - meaning there isn't one out there (other than the one that just left our house) that will fit here. What that means is that either we have to somehow tear out the tile that's back in there and/or we have to modify the cabinets/countertops somehow and/or get all new countertops and/or cabinets. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! For crying out loud.

So, we are currently worse off than what we were in that we have no dishwasher (at least not a working one) AND we can't use the garbage disposal AND we had to relocate Kona's food and water bowls, and for those of you that know him, you'll recall that he likes change about as much as I do...here's what he thinks about the whole situation...



In other news, I took quite a fall on Saturday morning (WARNING: if you have a weak stomach, you might not want to see this). I got tangled up in my own feet (don't ask how because I don't know this time any more than I do any other time this happens). I fell over and hit my head on the corner of our house and then bounced into a pile of flagstone we have sitting on our patio and got this:

This is actually before it got worse. It's pretty much all solid black now. Really attractive. And in case you were scared about what body part that is, it's my back.

I promise, pics of the new and improved guest room coming soon. It'll be worth the wait (I hope). Now I'm off to soak in the tub and see if that will take away some of the aches and pains from the fall...getting old is not fun.

Names

So, I think I need a new name for the blog. It appears that "I was an old maid" may have caught the attention of some not so savory characters. I'm currently being followed by someone who follows some blogs that have not so nice names...the name thing is about all I can figure out. So, if you have suggestions you're certainly welcome to post them in the comments section.

In other news, we're just sitting here waiting for (as one of our friends from church has been calling it) "Snowpocalypse 2009". The weathermen here have been forecasting "record snow fall" and freely using the word "blizzard". In Oklahoma. Seriously? I suppose that, technically, what's going on in western OK could be classified as a blizzard according to the definition I found here. But seriously, they're all doom and gloom and I'm just not a believer. I guess time will tell if we're stranded in the house for the weekend but I'm betting we won't be.

So, for now, I'm going to go catch up on some TV shows and scratch the puppy's ears. Hope everyone stays warm!