Getting sick of my hair again

I'm at the point of not doing ANYTHING with my hair except pulling it up or braiding it. The last time my hair got down to my waist I donated it and these are a couple of pictures from a few years ago when I did it. I cut it ALL off and ended up donating 13 inches of hair.

The bottom picture if from when it had grown out a little. I just don't know what to do with it anymore. I can put mousse in it and make it a little wavy like the bottom picture, but that's about it. Then I have to wash it in the morning and again in the evening to get the product out - my hair is really oily and if I leave the product in, my face and neck will break out. I hate my hair in my face because it causes breakouts, but I'm getting close to cutting it all off again.

I've gotten a couple suggestions to cut it about 3 inches longer than the bottom picture. What do you all think??? I don't think I want to grow it to my waist again (but I just don't know what to do!); it's beyond my mid back though. It's giving me headaches at night if I sleep on it wrong. It needs to be a super easy cut, because honestly I'm just not into spending a lot of time on it before I head out to work. HAHA!!! Head out to work....HAHA no pun intended. HAHA Just cracked myself up!!

The mess I made last weekend

Okay, I was trying to CLEAN UP the mess in our backyard and ended up becoming a big mess myself. Doug wasn't home, so I was taking photos of myself to show him the mess I made and just had to share them with all of you too! I figured I'd wear a construction sweatshirt, since that was what I felt like I was doing. Here is the mess I made of my SUPER bright green Granite sweatshirt.
This is where I stepped and slid into the soupy, muddy pond. It looks like you could walk across it...uh, NOPE! My poor shoes are not so black anymore.

My black pants were more brown by the end of my day too. BUT... although I was a huge mess, our backyard is A LOT cleaner. We pulled the plastic out of the pond and had tossed it in the yard, along with sprinkler stuff, an old hose, junk we found around the yard, etc. It was just time to clean it all up. Look! It's clean! Okay, almost.

The bags of garbage as a result. I could only fit one in our trashcan, so here are the rest of them...sitting on the side of the house waiting for their demise.

And after I do stuff like this all day on Saturday, Doug gets to deal with me not being able to walk in the evenings because of my sciatic pain.

PS. I've posted the palm trees on Craigslist - we had one guy interested, but I know our trees are worth more than $50 for all 3 of them.

Please keep Doug in your thoughts...

He hasn't been able to hold food since Tuesday. I woke up this morning and thought, "Oh, he must have been feeling well enough to go to work today." Nope, he was downstairs on the couch. He had been up all night in the bathroom again.

Poor Doug!!

Global Warming

I have to post this picture because this shows Doug's global warming thoughts: that it's a bunch of hooey.

Maybe . . .
We were supposed to meet the wrong people before meeting the right one so that, when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.

Maybe . . .
When the door of happiness closes, another opens; but, often times, we look so long at the closed door that we don't even see the new one which has been opened for us.

Maybe . . .
It is true that we don't know what we have until we lose it, but it is also true that we don't know what we have been missing until it arrives.

Maybe . . .
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

Maybe . .
The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; after all, you can't go on successfully in life until you let go of your past mistakes, failures and heartaches.

Maybe . . .
You should dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you dream of, and want to do.

Maybe . . .
There are moments in life when you miss someone – a parent, a spouse, a love, a friend, a child – so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real, so that once they are around you appreciate them more.

Maybe . . .
The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.

Maybe . . .
You should always try to put yourself in others' shoes. If you feel that something could hurt you, it probably will hurt the other person, too.

Maybe . . .
you should do something nice for someone every single day, even if it is simply to leave them alone.

Maybe . . .
giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they will love you back. Don't expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart; but, if it doesn't, be content that it grew in yours.

Maybe . . .
Happiness waits for all those who cry, all those who hurt, all those who have searched, and all those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of all the people who have touched their lives.

Maybe . . .
You shouldn't go for looks; they can deceive; don't go for wealth; even that fades away! Go for someone who makes you smile, because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile :-)

Maybe . . .
You should hope for enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, and enough hope to make you happy.

Maybe . . .
You should try to live your life to the fullest because when you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling but when you die, you can be the one who is smiling and everyone around you crying.

In memory

I learned of this accident yesterday. She is a friend of mine from high school. A really sad reminder to love with your whole heart and never let a day go by without sharing that love with friends, family and those around you.
Thad Stavn, left, and Brooke Colvin are shown in images posted to a photo-sharing Web site. They were climbing on Mount Hood Wednesday when falling ice hit them, and Colvin was killed.
Story Published: Jan 21, 2009 at 4:03 PM PST
Story Updated: Jan 21, 2009 at 7:33 PM PST
By Brian Barker and KATU.com Staff

MOUNT HOOD, Ore. - A 31-year-old Portland woman was hit by a large chunk of falling ice while climbing with her husband on Mount Hood and was killed Wednesday, authorities said.
The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office identified the woman as Brooke Colvin.
Colvin was climbing with her husband, 33-year-old Thad Stavn of Portland, in an area known as the Hogsback on the south side of the mountain when she was hit by ice sometime before 10 a.m., according to Detective Jim Strovink, a Clackamas County Sheriff's Office spokesman.
Her husband saw her fall about 400 feet after getting hit with the ice chunk, Strovink said.
Stavn apparently climbed down to his wife's location and gave her first aid for about 45 minutes to an hour before deciding she could not be revived, Strovink said. He also called 911 from a cell phone.
Authorities believe she died instantly.
The man eventually skied down to Timberline Lodge, where search and rescue crews had assembled along with an Oregon Army National Guard blackhawk helicopter. Ground crews planned to head up the mountain Wednesday afternoon to retrieve the body.
Information posted on a Web site said the couple was married in September 2007.
Strovink said there has been a considerable amount of falling ice in the area where they were climbing, which is along the main south side route to the summit.
In fact, some climbers this week have reported dodging refrigerator-sized chunks of ice as conditions on the mountain have been warmer than normal.
This was the second time in the past week that falling ice has injured a climber near the summit on Mount Hood.
On Saturday, an national guard helicopter retrieved 45-year-old Michael Leming of Portland after he broke an ankle and suffered other injuries after falling 200 feet near the summit when hit by falling ice.

More Food!!

Geez! Here's another one!

February 24, 2009 from 7am to 10pm - you get one FREE short stack - 3 pancakes.

Their details:
Known also as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras, National Pancake Day dates back several centuries to when the English prepped for fasting during Lent. Strict rules prohibited the eating of all dairy products during Lent, so pancakes were made to use up the supply of eggs, milk, butter and other dairy products…hence the name Pancake Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday.

Since beginning its National Pancake Day celebration in 2006, IHOP has raised nearly two million dollars to support charities in the communities in which it operates. With your help, we hope to raise $1,000,000 for Children’s Miracle Network in 2009!

http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/

Wheelbarrow + Accent = rope needed

Soooo...a wheelbarrow does NOT fit into the car! After trying to fit it in the back seats, front seat, and every which way you can think of, Doug almost ended up jogging home with it. I always keep rope in all my vehicles that my step-dad gave me when I first started driving. The rope is strong enough to pull a car if needed. Sure enough, it held the wheelbarrow in the trunk for a mile or so until we got home. Oh how I miss my SUV. PS the back seats WILL hold a 34 gallon trash can! Oh, it fits in the trunk too, if ya smoosh it.

Interest Rates

I was done blogging, but had to share another adventure we are about to begin. With the way our country is now, we have the opportunity to refinance our home already. It will drop our interest rate from a Conventional loan at 6.5% to an FHA loan at 5.0%. We will have to have the house reappraised and run paperwork again. Our mortgage broker will collect about $6000 from us and within 30 days, we'll get over $5000 back. After all is said and done, we'll save about $300 a month. I love our mortgage broker and would recommend him to anyone! I know he gets paid for calling us and refinancing, but he was able to get us into a position in the first place so we would be able to refinance if the option came around.

Our front door, just because :)

New freezer

Doug, with the help of his dad, picked up our new freezer today. Now we can buy in bulk and not worry about where in the world we are going to fit things in the freezer/refrigerator we have. I was supposed to go to Wally World at lunch and buy bags for our food sealer - to seal meats and stuff for the freezer - (among other household items), but here I am blogging.

New addition

Well we have a fish we call Fishy Smurf, so why not have a Smurf car too!! Here is the car we ended up getting on Saturday. The picture isn't that great - I was too lazy to back it out of the garage and besides it was dark outside.

It's a 2002 Hyundai Accent. It's got 4 doors and that's about it. It's a very "vanilla" car - no fancy buttons, cubbies, etc. It also has a new alignment and rebalance from Les Schwab. After about $130 they tell me all 4 struts are leaking and it will be about $500 to fix them. GREAT!! The joys of a used car begin! At least we don't have a car payment right?? Doug said, "Well we are still in the black since they gave us the car for $1500 cheaper than the value of it."

Oh, Les Schwab told me after they replace the struts they'll need to realign the vehicle. I'm thinking, "OH CUTE! Just paid for that! Thanks!!" But, he let me know if I come in for the repairs within 30 days they won't charge me for the alignment again. You know, I've always really like the customer service and services at Les Schwab. I'm not saying I don't anymore, don't get me wrong. Just a little shocked about it.

You want what for one photo?

Background:
I got to work Monday morning on January 5th and there was an email in my work email address letting me know I needed to have a professional headshot done ASAP. Our marketing department’s idea for this year’s tradeshow booths is to have one employee from each office get a headshot done. The headshots will then be printed among other stuff on the booth. The idea they are going for, as far as I can tell, is to personalize the company using employees.

Now, to my story:
I was given the information for the photo.
1. Head shot in color
2. The background color should be blue/gray
3. Need upper torso and above in the picture
4. Make sure the photographer includes your shoulders (where we see the sides of your arms)
5. Picture placed on a CD or sent via e-mail.
6. High Resolution photo - 300 dpi at the least
7. 4 X 6 dimension

Then I was given the information where to go. I called and scheduled the appointment for the next day (they needed photos in hand by Friday). Then I spent the evening finding the right suit (also part of the instructions) outfit to wear and trying to figure out what to do with my hair. I decided my hair is just too long to do anything anymore. This usually works for me since I’m in ponytails and stuff all the time anyways. So the next morning I figure mousse and scrunching will work since my hair will still hold a wave. I put my makeup on at work before the photo and head to Sacramento for the photo. My manager had already forwarded the instructions to the photographer and I spoke with the marketing director to make sure I knew what she was looking for.

I get to the studio and the gal at the counter told me she just got payment for the photo over the phone. The word “THE” caught my ear. Payment for THE photo? I asked her if she received the instructions and she says, “Yeah, we’re not doing any of that.” So then I questioned about THE photo and she said they would take 8-10 headshots and I would choose 1 to use. I told the gal she needed to speak with the marketing director because she’s under the impression that she’s getting a disk of proofs with a few poses. NOPE!! As I hear the conversation the director is asking her about prices and trying to figure out what this gal is talking about. She explains the fee of $177 will cover the sitting fee and ONE photo. Then says it would be $220 for the second photo. WHAT!?? For 2 pictures it’s going to cost $220???? After about 5 minutes on the phone, they hang up. It’s back to the original plan. ONE photo. I have to chose THE photo that will be used for the booth. While telling her they want the photo to include the torso she argues with me about that too. She says, “Well then you’ll just get an un-cropped photo!” Okay fine, whatever. The photographer says, “Its okay, we won’t crop it.” I said that’s fine because they want to be able to use the photo in the future without having to build shoulders and a torso.

Then the photographer took me to have the photos taken. We did photos with hair on one shoulder, both shoulders, to the left and to the right. Then I was taken to another room to look at them and chose the ONE. They have the photos on a laptop, so they are stretched a little. To solve this issue the project them onto a screen. The gal showed me all of them and we began to take out the photos that were not going to be chosen. She put 2 photos side by side and I mentioned I looked fine on the left side and really sick on the right side. Her comment was, “Oh that’s the screen.” Oh, okay so now I’m choosing a photo on a crappy screen. Well, doesn’t that make it less stressful!?? I finally choose a photo and go about my day, stressed out I chose the wrong one or it was going to look goofy.

To end my story, my company will NOT be using that photography company anymore. I should have walked out and stopped by Sear's or something (but it was already paid for).
And, here is the photo that was chosen.

Check out this blog

http://www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

I have a friend who has been watching this blog and was so excited today because NieNie returned to write her own blog page.

NieNie is Stephanie Nielson, her and her husband were involved in an airplane crash in August of 2008 and have been recovering from the critical burns. She returned home today! The picture of her and her husband holding hands is so touching! Her family has been reposting her archived blogs.

This is from the blog on August 17th, 2008

Hey Nie Readers,
c jane (Nie's sister) here, as some of you might have heard, Stephanie (Nie) and Christian were in a private airplane crash on Saturday evening. They are both being in treated for serious injuries locally. The doctors told us that we are in for months of recovery.On behalf of Nie's and Christian's family, we'd request your prayers. You can find updates on my personal blog:
http://blog.cjanerun.com/
Thank you for thinking of Nie and Christian's family at this time. As you know, Stephanie's faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ is strong. We know that he has a plan for each one of us, and loves us and will bless Stephanie, Christian and their family in the months to come.
Much love,c jane

What fountain and pond?

Yeah, you can still see the structure of it, but at least the hole is filled (rain water just wouldn't drain out of it even after we pulled the plastic liner out) and the fountain is gone. Now, to get rid of the pesky palm trees! They are in the middle of the yard and we can't do a whole lot until we figure out what we are going to do and get rid of the trees. I'd like to at least get the area leveled so we have a clean slate to work with.

I know Lisa would LOVE to take the palm trees!! They are ALL YOURS!! (she hates palm trees).

This is what it looked like before. They really put a lot of work into it and it's taking a lot of work to get rid of it.

Buying a car

Doug and I were out car shopping the other day. We are trying to find the best car in the world for $5000. It's going to be a challenge, but we'll see. Our mission: to buy a $5000 car that will have some trade in value down the road, save up our money to buy Doug the Tundra he wants and then save up enough money again to buy the car I want. We don't want car payments.

So, we're out looking at cars and the man that's helping us at Toyota says they have a girl they are trying to help that's wanting to trade in a 2008 Bugatti - that's the car in the picture above. If you aren't aware the car starts at $1million!! The model in the picture above is more like $1.5-2million YEAH!! What's she going to trade it in for? The dealership? I think I should have offered her $5000.

California issues

How about working for a whole year and expecting your state tax refund and getting an IOU??!! That’s what we are waiting to hear about. Lawmakers have until February 1st to figure out what to do regarding our tax refunds. I don’t know how they think it’s going to help the situation because the people will be earning interest on the money and then the state will owe more money and won’t be able to pay it again. Should be interesting since California hasn’t hit a deadline in years!

Governor Schwarzenegger recommends that in the future, he said, lawmakers and the governor should not receive their salaries or per diem payments -- daily expense money -- for each day they miss the constitutional June 15 deadline for producing a budget. He said, "If the people's work is not getting done, the people's representatives should not get paid either. That is common sense in the real world," he said. (KCRA.com)

Getting Free (or cheap) Food Tips

I get asked how I run across the deals I find. So, here are some tips I can think of that are really easy to do. Find the website for your favorite restaurant, like Red Robin or Black Angus, and sign up to receive coupons. Most of the time they’ll send you a free birthday meal: Red Robin will send you a coupon for a free birthday burger and Black Angus will send you a coupon for a free steak. I just signed us up for Red Lobster, so I’m not sure what they send for birthdays, but just signing up we get a free appetizer or dessert. For places like Jamba Juice, you can sign up and they’ll send updates. You won’t get too many coupons, but when they introduce a new flavor they usually have buy one get one free or even give away that flavor for free for a day. Also, looking through coupons you can learn a lot too. How about a Mountain Mikes pizza for 50% off…well they run that special on Mondays and Tuesdays – coupons are usually in the weekend paper or the junk mail that comes during the week. Or if you are still in the mood for pizza, get a free 2 liter just for picking up your order at Pizza Guys; they run specials on their website also – we recently ordered a special they had and it came with a free 2 liter and we got another 2 liter for picking up our order. And to wrap up my tips: we eat Panda Express often and the back of the coupon has a survey to take and it will get you a free entrée. So with your next order you can get a 3 entrée plate for the price of a 2 entrée plate – you have to get the 2 entrée plate to get the 3rd free. But it works for us since Doug can eat a 3 entrée plate or have leftovers for another meal, or if I’m not really hungry we’ll buy one 3 entrée plate and I’ll eat the 3rd entrée – and I can make steamed rice at home and save from buying a second meal.

I love saving money!! I hope these tips can help you too!

P.S. We went for our 40% off at the Spaghetti Factory on Monday evening and it was yummy!! Our bill was about $12.50 for the both of us!

Macy's giving away free cosmetics!

Macy’s, Dillard’s and Saks Fifth Avenue, among other chains, will be giving away free cosmetics, skin care and perfumes on Jan. 20, as part of a five-year-old settlement involving price fixing on beauty products.

The giveaway stems from a February 2004 class action settlement filed on behalf of consumers who purchased cosmetics between May 1994 and July 2003, according to a the settlement’s Web site (www.cosmeticssettlement.com). Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus and Target also were named on the suit. The retailers have claimed no wrong doing.

As part of the settlement, $175 million in cosmetics will be given away, one per person in a first-come, first serve basis. Consumers will be able to choose one item per person until supplies last. Brands include Estée Lauder, Clinique, Lancome, Clarins, Guerlain, Givenchy, Chanel, Boucheron, Cody, Calvin Klein, L’Oréal and Christian Dior.

The products involve mascara, skin care, moisturizers and fragrances, said Macy’s spokeswoman Sharon Bateman. “None of the product comes from the store’s regular inventory,” she said. “I think these products were created specifically for this give away.”

The offer will last until all of the products in a particular store are distributed.

Consumers are not required to show proof of purchase at Macy’s stores, though its customers will have to sign a certification sheet acknowledging they purchased the products.

-article from the Business Journal

More Goodies!

For those of you in the Sacramento area:

You can dine downtown for a lower price! Man, I'm going to be eating A LOT in January. Hee hee.

http://www.downtownsac.org/DSPAPP/V/promo/dine-downtown.html

Free book download!

I'm a big fan of Suze Orman. We received one of her books as a wedding gift and once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down! Last night while channel surfing I ran across her on Oprah. I was watching and they mentioned you can download Suze Orman's newest book 2009 Action Plan.

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081119_tows_bookdownload

The download is available for a week.

There's also a live webcast on January 15th where she will be taking questions and talking about a 2009 plan for finances. I've registered Doug and I. I hope you do the same. We can all use ALL the help we can get right now.

Just a reminder

Our PO Box was closed in October when we bought our house. Please use our home address.

MMMmmmm Pasta!!

Spaghetti Factory has another anniversary dinner, but this time it's all locations and every Monday and Tuesday in January, from 5pm - closing. You can go to www.osf.com also. I'm so bummed, the prices were even cheaper last night, but I figured it was only downtown Sacramento again. Oh well, I'll be eating lots of pasta this month!! WOO HOO PASTA!!

Note to self...

Don't touch the heating coil inside the oven. It's hot! This burn didn't blister, but the skin is icky now and pretty tender. I went out shopping with my mom and grandma on Friday and I thought, "Oh, I'll show my mom my burn." I saw her arm and my burn is nothing compared to hers. She hit the oven rack on her forearm. It's about as wide as a pencil and I think about 2-3 inches long. Again, I remind you - the oven is HOT when it's on. Hee hee.

Bathtub drama

We haven't used our whirlpool tub yet. The water was turned on during the inspection and the jets were run, but it didn't make this nasty mess. I've filled, run the jets, emptied and cleaned this dang bathtub about 12 times. I have to clean it after each attempt because the nasty black and tan junk sticks to it. I've been at this for a few days now. This morning I filled the tub and ran the jets and got a much smaller amount of crap out. I think it's almost gone! The problem will be when I'm finished I'll be so sick of the tub, I won't even care to use it and start this cycle all over again in a few months. HAHA Wouldn't that be great!?? So, I'm going to make sure to use it more often to make sure this doesn't happen again. I'm sure there are many volunteers out there that would gladly use our jetted tub to help me out!

Doug took a picture of me waiting, yet again, for the water to drain. He says the picture is blurry because my pajamas are so loud the camera couldn't handle it. My mom gave me these pajamas a few years ago for Christmas while we were in Connecticut visiting my older brother and his family; everyone needed to be in Christmas pajamas for Christmas morning. They are lobsters dressed as "Santa Claws". I'm sure my mom is laughing if she sees this photo. She probably thinks I threw them away.

Largest return day of the year

So we all know that the day after Christmas is the largest return day of the year. You'll also find a ton of people hunting for after Christmas sales. Well, I chose returning; my Rav4 went back to Toyota the 26th. I met the gentleman at the dealership at 9am (a third party company picks up the cars, looks them over, and finishes the paperwork). He even measured the tread in the tires. I was told how much tread needed to be on my tires and I guess I shouldn't have been surprised it was measured. He then looked through the car to make sure there was no damage or items left by me. He checked to make sure there was a spare tire, the jack and the tool kit.

Then we went inside to fill out the final paperwork. I filled out things like an odometer reading statement and release of liability form. It took about 45 minutes all together. He was glad I replaced the windshield. He's had to be the bad guy in many situations. He was telling me about a woman who had to pay to have the original tires and rims put back on the vehicle she was returning and she ended up putting the wrong tires back on; they should have been the run-flat tires (tires that won't go flat). She went back to the company were she got the tires and they wouldn't even exchange them or give her a credit. I told him I would have cried, he said she did.

Then I was car-less and waited for a ride home.

I almost forgot

Christmas eve was an interesting day at work. First we found out that because we were the only office without the new phone system, we were the only office with working phones. Nice, new system huh?? So our IT had all calls routed to our office and it was crazy! Luckily the calls died down after lunch. We were hoping people were only working a half day since it was Christmas eve and it pretty much worked out that way.

I had to leave Becky in the middle of the phone call craziness because I was having the windshield in the Rav4 replaced so the dealership wouldn't charge me for the rock chip in it. They said any window damaged would be charged at replacement cost, so I tried to fix the chip. No luck fixing it, so I had to replace the windshield. But, aftermarket glass was going to be A LOT cheaper than factory glass charged through the dealership. I just kept my fingers crossed for no rock chips for a couple days. Aftermarket glass is crappy and a small chip will crack just about every time.
Oh! I had to take my car to the gas station across the street because it was raining and the guy needed cover to replace the windshield. It took about 45 minutes and I met some really nice people while waiting. I ended up giving directions to people, chatting about why I was changing the windshield and one elderly gentleman walked by a couple times and just before he left he walked back over to me and said, "Since you're having such a bad day, here is a calendar with some pretty pictures of trains." It's the 2009 calendar for the OSH store and I think he's the artist. There's a small picture on the inside and it looks a lot like this gentleman. I really think people are crazy most of the time, but that was a great boost of what wonderful people are really out there. I just might have to hang out at the gas station more often :)

Anyways, back to my story...it was a crazy morning and lead into a crazy afternoon. Just before 2pm we feel the building shake and I noticed the windows flexing. We all start calling out, "What in the world was that?!" We start wondering if an elevator fell down a few floors or if someone ran their car into the building. We called downstairs to our marketing department and Andrew couldn't see anything on his side of the building either. Becky and I start pulling up websites to try and find out what it was. Becky came across a report that said it was a house explosion on the other side of the freeway from our building. Becky said, "meth lab". A bunch of people I talked to about it before we knew what happened thought it was a meth lab too. It turned out to be a natural gas leak that ignited. The reports said there were flames 40 feet high and it lifted the house off the ground and just leveled it. We found a video feed from the helicopter overhead and we couldn't believe what we saw! There was debris over the west bound lanes of the freeway and you couldn't even tell there was a house there. Residents including the owner of the home complained about a gas leak the day before. The explosion killed the owner of the home and a mother and daughter are still in the hospital with 3rd degree burns. The daughter will remain there for a couple more weeks and is scheduled to have surgery on her arms and hands soon. The mother is still listed as critical but stable condition. Anyone can help these families; accounts were set up at Bank of America: a memorial fund for Wilbert Paana and another fund was set up for the mother and daughter, Kim and Sunny Dickson, to help with medical bills.

This is the photo from KCRA.com.

Our New Year Celebration

I'd like to say it was fun, but it wasn't. Doug fell asleep on the couch and I was watching the New Year's celebrations on TV. Doug woke up at about 12:30am and kissed me on the head and got up from the couch and went upstairs to bed.

I did get a laugh watching Fox40 because they were the only news station in downtown Sacramento during the first ball drop like New York on the west coast. Well, it came to count down time and it went something like this...." 5...4...3...2..." then a black screen for about 30 seconds. OOOPS!!! I was telling Doug another news station was teasing about it and someone emailed in, "If the ball drops in Sacramento and no one sees it, does is still become a new year?" HAHA

Our Christmas

We started Christmas the weekend before with my grandma, aunt, cousin and her family, and my mom and step-dad.

Grandma Joyce and Aunt Linda

Scott and Cecily

Step-dad Glenn, you'll remember him from riding on the Harley at the wedding.
Stacy and my mom.

Cecily liked to watch herself in the screen in my camera while I took photos. I took a picture of these wooden candy canes because I thought they were really cool; little did I know it was a gift for us!
Then on Christmas day we headed to my parent's house. We ended up with a white Christmas.

Dinner at my parent's house was very interesting, to say the least. There was a woman there who asked where items were purchased as well as what the expiration dates were and if the bacon my mom used in her twice backed potatoes was fake or not. Her and her husband are nice people, but I was pretty shocked how this woman was knocking down my mom's Christmas dinner after she had been cooking all morning. Once my uncle mentioned something about this woman making a boxed lasagna that came out horribly, I couldn't help but say something back to her. She complained about the additives and preservatives that were in the fake bacon bits, so I asked her what she thought was in the lasagna she tried to make. I told her my mom's cooking is great and it's kept me alive for over 30 years now and to stop bagging on my mom's cooking when she couldn't make a boxed lasagna. It was a little uncomfortable at the beginning of dinner, but it became really funny. My mom had already filled me in on how this couple is when they go out in public. When Doug first saw the husband he said, "Custard's last stand?" because the man has a long, white handlebar mustache. Doug told me I needed a picture of him, but I didn't get one. I told my mom she has weird friends :)