Wednesday, March 30, 2011


Lola - day 3 with us (above)
Lola and Delaney in Wolves attire (below)
Lola-
I don't know how this really came about. Honest. We had tried having a dog (after our long time buddy, Babe, passed away) and Rufus just didn't work out. He was a beagle mix and chewed everything all the time. In the end, we decided he was not a good fit for our family and found him another good home. We thought we just should stick with the cats and fish and pass on having another dog. A friend of Delaney's needed to give away her Yorkie and we seriously started thinking about having a dog again. Before we decided, they had found a home for it.
But then, Delaney and I went to the animal shelter thrift shop one day. I saw on their board a Bichon and I thought it might be possible to find a better dog for us at the shelter and took a quick drive out there.
They didn't have the Bichon, but they did have some new puppies that had just come in. We looked at them, came home, talked to Steve about them and then went out the next day to see them again. We were told all of them were boys. We chose the cream colored one. I picked him up on Friday and he was such a sweetie! He loved being held and cuddled and, as I was rubbing his belly I made the discovery that he was a she! By the time I discovered that, the shelter was closed for the day and, really, I didn't mind it was a girl, in fact, I preferred it. But I was concered about the paperwork being accurate. Delaney was concerned about finding a new name since Zeus wouldn't fit. It really didn't take long for her to pick Lola and it seems to fit her.
Lola is very needy- she has to be near you at all times. She's coming along with potty training and getting used to leash walking. We discovered that she doesn't seem to mind being dressed up and so I decided I should make her a t-shirt to support Delaney during track season. So, she has her own Wolves t-shirt in the right colors. It was easy to put together, so we might end up with a whole wardrobe of outfits for this little girl.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Tyler turns 20-
We had a small family Birthday party for him with all his favorites. Corned beef and cabbage / potatoes and cherry pie. He opened gifts and then enjoyed the rest of the night with Megan.

St. Patrick's Day Parade
It seems it's a tradition that it rains on the parade, and this year was no exception, although it was a tad bit warmer than last year. It's a fun parade and reminds me of the Kumquat sashay in Orlando (just a bit.) This was the Zombies and Finer Things Club's second year in the parade, but the group has a rotating membership. Tyler chose to go with Megan to St. Louis but we added new folks. Costumes changed from last year, but still within the general theme.

Maura and her Boyfriend, Branson, enjoyed the parade.
JJ was St Patrick and you can see Maura's friends, holding the banner. Chase was very impressive with his coffin and general dirty zombie look.

We had to wait hours before the awards were given out. Generally, everyone was cold and wet and wanted to go, but eventually, the awards were handed out and the Zombies won 1'st place again in their division. When we walked out the door, it was POURING and thundering. The hearse, with everyone's stuff, was parked about 5 blocks south, my car was 3 blocks north- so we had to trudge 13 blocks in the pouring rain. All plans of going to 1984 afterward was scrapped. We went to a Walmart and so many people came up to them and said how much they enjoyed them in the parade or wanted their picture taken with them. one guy asked Maura to hold his baby for a picture. The baby didn't cry but she clearly thought something was very wrong with Maura. The girls headed for home and I took Maura and Branson for some well- needed dinner. We had soup and hot coffee at Panera. We stopped at the Borders books store and then headed back to Branson, so Branson could get his car and we headed home.
This was the first time I met Branson, so the first I heard of her having a BF, but I like him. So, their facebook status changed last night. LOL

Monday, March 14, 2011

checking in-
It's Spring break and we had a rather big rain storm last night with quite a bit of wind. I had just hung up the ST Pat's flag yesterday, so I got to hear it whipping around all night (right under my bedroom window). This morning, everything is damp and cold looking outside.
Tyler and Maura are working today and Delaney and I are planning on shopping for Tyler's 20th Birthday. He cracks me up sometimes. When I asked what he wanted, he said "I don't know" but then I find out he's been wearing heavy boots everyday because his other shoes are too small. UH- maybe you could have given me a heads up on that. He's 20 and I don't dress him anymore so I don't know what he's wearing or why. So, new shoes are on the list.. among some other things.
Delaney makes me smile- she's half way pouting because she has no grand plans for the break. She wants to do the Track practice over the break, but not today. She's sporting a sore on her arm because she got in a competition with some boy at school which was who could rub an eraser on their arm longer. Of course, such a competitor as she is, she won- but now has a nasty looking sore. OK, some days I'd like for her to look at the bigger picture. She decided to cook something yesterday, something she's failed at a few times. She neglected to read instructions (again) and things could have turned out better- but I ate it anyway. Hopefully, she will finish the buckeyes today and have a real win there. Sometimes her failure isn't entirely her fault. I have recipes I've written down and I don't write everything.. I know what I've left out- but she doesn't and she doesn't talk to me first- so things don't turn out.
My mom didn't do a lot of instructing when we learned to cook. She basically pointed us to the cookbooks, and critiqued us at dinner. Some days, it was demoralizing to hear all we did wrong, but eventually, we learned that you do put salt in the water when cooking potatoes and you don't when cooking corn (among other things).
Speaking of salt- we know it's important for our thyroids to get iodine but, with the concern about salt intake, I've been reluctant to use a lot of salt, since many half-prepared foods have salt in them. However, it crossed my mind that while I'm probably getting plenty of sodium, I may not be getting the iodine I've counted on getting from my table salt(if I'm not using table salt) so, I've made a point of not using my Jane's crazy salt as my seasoning and using a bit more plain salt instead.
The iodine has come up again connected to the recent Earthquake in Japan and the fact they are giving out "safe" iodine tablets so the people don't absorb the radioactive iodine (somehow a by product of the meltdown) and so, as prevailing winds might potentially bring radioactive fallout to the US- all personal speculation at this point- it would be good to have your body fully stocked with good iodine.
The footage coming from Japan is amazing to watch from a safe distance. Of course there's so much chaos involved with two major disasters such as the Earthquake damage compounded by the Tsunami and, potentially, compounded again by a nuclear power meltdown. If any disaster should be well documented and well orchestrated it should be this one in Japan. They have such a love for camera and video as well as a group mentality, it should be disaster relief at it's finest. We'll see.
I read a story yesterday about a young man who went to the coastal town in CA to see the Tsunami effects there and was caught by a wave and died. Tsunami watch doesn't mean you go to watch it. It reminded me of stories my friends told me of surfing in Hurricanes long after the area was evacuated. Same sort of mentality and I doubt there's any young Japanese kids waiting to see the power plants implode or wanted to surf the Tsunami. Just sayin'
Maura continues to work on her Prom dress and she definitely has enough tabs to do the dress and any accessories she might need. She has two pieces to go and then we can start sewing it.
Happily, my sister from Austin is coming next week and is excited to be part of the construction. Whoo Hoo! I've thought out the proccess as much as I could and I think it will work, but it's fabulous to know a smarter seamstress will be here to make sure it works. Our big hope is that we don't have to hand sew the entire dress. I'm happy she'll be here for the zipper too. I've only done one zipper and it was in last year's dress. Hopefully, we'll get to have some fun too while she's here.
Here's to enjoying the moments, big and small, in our lives.