HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA and Grandpa!!!
SOOO excited for this weekend. typing quick to get out soon… and do one last spiff up of house and surroundings before the fam arrives!!!
Grandpa R is celebrating 90 Great Years this weekend and all his family will be in town to join in the fun… i am SOOO excited, because family is everything to this chica!!!
i hope to have lots of pics to share after the weekend-o-fun… but i also head off on the Truck$ & Buck$ Blackshirt Truck Tour Monday – so it may be a bit before i actually am able to post…
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9 fingers and 9 toes
in preparation for all the fun family time we will have this weekend celebrating Grandpa R’s 90th Birthday, AJ and i have been feverishly prepping the 90-year-old homestead post new siding…. things are starting to come together… but leave it to klutzy KT to show up to work today with not one, but two Barbie Bandaids – one on the tip of my right index finger (a run-in with a piece of glass), and on my left third piggy – the one that had Roast Beef…. and don’t even get me started on a piggy eating roast beef… gross!… but better than Bacon, i guess! (due to a run-in with a shovel)…
c’est la vie…
Thor is so Professional!
HE’S HERE!!!
a little nervous energy to get over, but way too happy to see everyone!!! wants to play, lots!
it sure is a good thing he took care of “business” before we came inside, so that’s one less worry– for now!
working on the Petting Pups part of our therapy… and he’s not too scared of the elevator – Check, Check!
hopefully, soon, naptime (for him), and work time (for me)!
Bring your THOR To Work Day
WHOO HOO – i just got clearance to bring THOR into work with me tomorrow.
we will have our Therapy Pack ready, and i’ll probably even pack the Dirt Devil Pet Vac (just in case!)
i think this will be a great step in his therapy training – linoleum, elevators, meeting strange people, working on long-time stays without me around (all a part of the test, or real-world therapy sessions)…
i am so excited!!! Yea Forty!
Jon Minus 9
well, i guess i must blog about it- since i have already stated my love for the Gosselin 10.
i am sad for them. but its not like we couldn’t see this coming. if its the best thing for them, for their relationship and for their children, then i think this is the first adult thing they have publicly shown in awhile.
i don’t think that five years ago, when they started all of this filming business, they ever imagined the cost. hopefully they can take some time, off camera, to figure things out.
in the meantime, maybe the public should just leave them alone… (though it will remain my #1 show on my DVR!)
You’re Gorgeous
there used to be a very popular bar/restaurant/club in Lincoln called P.O. Pears – you can still find them on MySpace. they closed about a year ago, and now the Red 9 takes its place — also a fun spot, but i miss the big lips, the naughty decor, the fun live bands, and mostly – the words “You’re Gorgeous” painted in script on the back of the ladies bathroom door – placed perfectly so that every time you exited to rejoin your group, you were reminded that yes, you ARE Gorgeous!
then, i found this online: http://operationbeautiful.com
the world could use more of this!!!
worthless left shoulder
pictorial evidence that my left shoulder, once again, lets me down:
(taken with at the AAF National Conference, accepting a Silver ADDY Award on behalf of our friends, Archrival for their work with the Nebraska Book Company.) pictured with Ad Age Editor At Large, Bob Garfield.
i can’t carry a bag on it – flops right off to my elbow (at least my elbow will back me up!)
don’t even say the word luggage, because that just makes my shoulder shudder…
clothing is always sliding off at the worst times…
- such as, here, and Betsy Kaye’s wedding – where i dreaded the final decision to wear the scarfy thing as a shawl… sure enough, whilst walking down the aisle, the dang things starts a sliding… and halfway down, i see AJ glare at me from the Altar line-up as i stop, mid-promenade and pull it back up! you’ll even notice that by the end of the event, it was wearing it as a scarf, if at all.
chalk this up to: I Never Claimed to be Normal
THOR McNaughty!
Thor is supposed to be my sweet puppy. the one that likes to snuggle, suffers through a chronic yeast infection in his ear, and get’s that “no mamma, don’t make me play in the back yard with that bully, Lucy” look everytime i try to take him outside. (she beats up on him, she really does!)
for the last three weeks, or so, he has been acting out – so naughty!
it started right before my birthday- i had received a few cards in the mail, and for some reason, wanted to open them closer to the date– or at least at a time when AJ was home to share the fun! (you don’t need me to tell you i am a dork!)… and one of the days- i had a crazy schedule and wouldn’t get home until late, so AJ would be the first home to let out the pups and feed them. he thought he would be home around 5:00 but it was actually closer to 6pm. he walked in to find THOR sitting amongst piles and pieces of paper and glitter…
i received a phone call to say- “you got a gift card from betsy, that’s all that is left.” GRRRR!!
I am sure the card was lovely – and the cheapskate in me is glad that the monetary part made it through unscathed! THOR was also kind enough to only nibble on the two wedding photos Betsy included from her March Nuptials
Son of a Beezee– THOR, what is up?
we decided it was his way of punishing us for coming home later than he anticipated. (who is the master, i ask you? exactly.)… funny thing, he didn’t even touch the card from my aunt and cousins that was directly beneath Betsy’s… weirdo.
well, then a few days later, i come home to some very brown banana peels on the ground… that turkey got onto the counter and grabbed not one, but two bananas and ate them – including one of the peels… OMG!
THEN – last week, i said my morning goodbyes to the pooches, walked out to my car, said goodbye to the siding guys, started the car, and realized my phone was still upstairs by the bed… shut off car, walk back into house — 27 seconds total – probably …
there’s THOR spread eagle, with a plastic baggie – quart sized – of chapsticks and leftover “liquids” packed from my flight to/from DC for the AAF National Conference… oh, i was one unhappy chica… 27 seconds! there goes the theory of being cooped up too long… 27 seconds!!
a few days later… more banana’s were devoured – with only the stems remaining as evidence.
what is going on with this dog?
i know it cannot be Lucy, because she is in a kennel all day… maybe its time to invest in a second kennel – hmmm?
if there actually are people out there that read this blog, then they know that THOR and i have been going trough the whole Domesti-PUPS thing (for good or ill)… maybe he’s acting out at being 6-years-old and suddenly being forced to act appropriately?
maybe it’s the three-week process of new siding with strange guys hammering and making all sorts of ruckus around the house, while he’s stuck inside all day… its messing up his chi…
goodness knows.
if any one out there knows anything about dog psychology… or has a leftover extra-large plastic kennel, i am all ears.
oh- and here’s the craziest – since he’s been acting up so much lately, we put him in the OUTSIDE kennel, alone, saturday night, while we went out to meet up with friends. we came home at a reasonable hour, and THOR was not at the kennel door ready to greet us, as per usual. no, he was AT THE CAR DOOR to greet us. he made three tiny THOR-sized holes to squeeze through- we still aren’t sure exactly which of the holes he successfully escaped through… ow! nor do we know how long he hung out in the side yard before we came home… though, i am attributing that escape to the recent rash of (ILLEGAL) firecracker use in our neighborhood… Poor THOR (GOD OF THUNDER) hates loud noises!
weird dog!
well, i’d better add bananas to my shopping list– don’t want the dog to go hungry.
Pink…Then Blue
HA! nope, still not anywhere near talking about baby things.
it’s our house!
you may remember this photo, where i mentioned our new TREE:
well, look closely and you see the pink (or salmon?) house… I call it “Blush & Bashful” (Steel Magnolia’s Reference)
Consider this, “BEFORE”
for the last two weeks, we have been in the process of getting new siding – here is the “IN BETWEEN” stage:
Today, it should all be about done, and, shocker of all shockers, we went with Blue & Brown!
here is a photo from about a week ago:
oh, but don’t worry. you can never just purchase new siding. once you do that, you throw in the gutters, and then request gutter guard. then all your light fixtures start to look a little drab, so you buy new ones, and then you need to paint the trim pieces, and then you decide to buy some more plants, and then you start looking at your backyard and think, if i just add a little bit here and there, and then you realize that you hate that your two pooches have completely torn up the yard, so your husband buys an electric fence kit PLUS an additional collar (because you have two dogs, you know) and then you need better storm doors, and plan on only buying two and end up with three, and while you’re at Lowe’s you find two interior lights on sale that you just have to have (you bargain shopper, you!) and that goes into the cart, and then you have to buy paint for the exterior doors, which you have to remove in order to put the proper coats on, so you are living with your house wide open for three days (thank goodness for the new, lock-able, storm doors!) and your house is a pit because you have been living in a state of flux for three weeks, and you are counting down the day (15, thanks for asking) for all of your Mom’s family to come into town to celebrate your grandfather’s 90th birthday (EEE!) so you want the place to look so nice, and you are positive that no one will even come over while they are in town, but just in case… oh, and don’t forget you have to paint the garage door – and you and your lovely hubby can’t come to an agreement on whether it should be all blue, all white, all red (i say NO to the barn door look!) or blue with white trim, or white with blue trim, or blue with brown trim, and all you know is that it CANNOT stay pink and brown for much longer….
OY VEY!
so, this is my life! Fun Times with the Beckers, indeed!
***by the way- if you are in the Lincoln-area and are in need of new Siding, Windows or Gutters — PLEASE call Nick and the guys at Capital City Exteriors… they do an impressive job! and i’m the worst kind of client, I am high-maintenance, but i think i am low-maintenance client!(When Harry Met Sally Reference)***
road ragin’ in the morning…
okay, not me. i never really awake enough to show any emotion, especially rage… but i experienced it this morning from some maladjusted woman in a red Saturn Vue. uggh.
i was at a stop light, and decided to utilize my wait time by organizing the junk bin that has become the console of my car (mostly because i am kind enough to allow my messy hubby to drive my car on weekends… i, myself, will never claim to be the tidiest person in the world, however, my car has always been the one spot that i try to keep orderly and neat.) the up-side to the tidying – i earned about 63-cents in the deal! yea me!
as i am placing the spare change in my wallet- i apparently didn’t judge my wait-time, and the light had turned green. i got myself together, and turned the corner. in my rearview i see a flash of red, but think nothing of it.
i then put the last few pennies into my change purse, and snap it shut, as the red Vue flies to my left – narrowly- and passes me… on a two-lane street– with on-coming traffic… what the…?
seriously – its a two-lane road, you’re not going to get much further ahead of me than directly ahead of me. even if you would have stayed directly behind me, we would still be sitting at the same stop light in the coming five seconds… this isn’t warp speed, people.
finally, a mile ahead, Sassy McSaturn stays in the forward lane, and i merge into the right-turn lane. i use this as my opportunity to check out this road rager. its a woman in her mid-50’s with a perma-scowl – sitting uptightly in her Vue – and she’s FLIPPING ME THE BIRD – in a nonchalant way – as if i may not notice, but it still makes her personally feel good… well, Score one for you, sweetheart!
I wanted to roll down my window and say – Classy, Friend, very classy… but then i figured that would negate my own comment. so i didn’t.
i thought i was over it, immediately after it happened, but apparently, i am not – as i am sitting her rehashing the non-incident. I guess that means you win, Miss Vue. Well played. Well played, indeed.
