Hurricane Henrietta

A lady I work with went to Cabo last weekend with her family. She wasn't back Tuesday. We got a call later in the day from her. They're stuck there - airport's closed, roads are blocked. They can't really leave their hotel due to torrential rains and winds outside. The eye of the hurricane was supposed to hit them last night. We haven't heard from her yet today...

Bangs

The other night Col had a nightmare that his mom cut Addie's hair and the bangs ended up way too short. Later that day, Brooke and Courtney watched Addie for us so we could go to the movies and when Courtney brought her to us she said "We cut her hair!" Col panicked. His fears subsided when he saw her. They did a really good job - she looks cute with her new haircut.
The main reason I'm posting this picture is to show you that Col chose to post a pic where she had angry face. There were plenty of ones where she's happy about her new 'do.

Mr. Fix It

I'm feeling grateful for my husband this morning. Yesterday he was able to get our Volvo through emissions even though the drive cycle hadn't reset. This is why you are nice to the guys at emissions testing. Saved us the $300+ it would've cost us to have the drive cycle reset at the dealership.

Then this story: A lady at work had told me yesterday that her air conditioning had stopped working. Her husband took a day off work to meet the A/C repair guy who showed up and said his company didn't work on that type of unit. She was on the phone most the day trying to find a company that would come out to repair it. Most said they couldn't work on that brand, others couldn't come out for a few days. She finally found someone who came out and told her it was a bad fuse. Today at work she told us how glad she was they didn't have to replace the unit, and it had only cost her $200.

Some of you may know that a few weeks ago this happened to us. Except instead of calling a repairman, Col jumped up onto the roof, went to Lowe's and bought a fuse and some kind of breaker switch something something, and one hour and $10.00 later our A/C was fixed and working fine.

So, if any of you see Col today, give him a hug for me.

Everything else and such as.

My Monday morning is going much better now that I saw this.

A bit of lunchtime bunny killing.

We've been playing Killer Bunnies at work during our lunch break. Today, an alliance was formed by Jenn and Julie who wore matching shirts and bunny ears. It is difficult to compete with that type of bunny conspiracy. No one was surprised when Jenn took us all to the cleaners. I don't mind though because it's so entertaining when she gets money and yells "Kabolla Dolla HOLLA!"
Looking at this picture, you may think we all went to a nearby wooded park to play, but no. This is the wallpaper mural in our break room. Whenever we are in there, we feel like we are in a park. We also feel like it's 1976.

It's always funny when satire is taken literally.

This gave me a good laugh today. Be sure to read the comments - most of which are written by Lithuanians who didn't quite get the joke. His response to all the comments, which is equally funny, can be found here.

An excuse to move Regina Spektor down the page.

You can see who is to blame for this here. Better on a blog than in an email forward, I always say.

4 jobs....
1. Newspaper editor
2. Accountant for land development company
3. Paralegal/Office Administrator for law firm
4. Throwing rocks off a combine tractor (spud harvest)

4 movies I can watch over and over...
1. Bottle Rocket
2. Amelie
3. Rushmore
4. Waiting for Guffman

4 Places I have lived....
1. Lewisville, Idaho
2. Scottsdale, Arizona
3. Brussels, Belgium
4. Montreal, Canada

4 T.V. shows I enjoy
1. The Office
2. Man vs. Wild
3. Top Chef
4. Project Runway

4 places I have vacationed
1. France
2. Italy
3. Greece
4. NYC

4 of my favorite foods
1. Aloo Gobi
2. Lamb curry
3. Gyros
4. Chocolate Flan cake

4 websites I visit often
1. Google
2. Gmail
3. Family Blogs
4. killerbunnies.com

4 places I would rather be right now
1. On a sailboat
2. At the beach
3. On a plane
4. Wherever Col and Addie are

Tatum, Col and David.... consider yourselves tagged.

Maybe I'm just feeling cranky...

I heard this song yesterday and I really liked it. Then today I watched the music video, and I found her really annoying. I still like the song, but I prefer listening to it without watching her sing it.

World Clock.

Interesting.

I am 92,000,384,307 milliseconds old.

I was forwarded an excel spreadsheet with formulas so that when you plug in your birthday it tells you how old you are in every time fraction imaginable, before sending your birthday and SSN to the highest bidding identity thief. It was worth it though, because it also gave me some insightful information about myself. My favorite is the last one - "Those who loves me are enemies".

* Thinks far with vision
* Easily influenced by kindness
* Polite and soft-spoken
* Having lots of ideas
* Sensitive
* Active mind
* Hesitating
* Tends to delay
* Choosy and always wants the best
* Temperamental
* Funny and humorous
* Loves to joke
* Good debating skills
* Talkative
* Daydreamer
* Friendly
* Knows how to make friends
* Abiding
* Able to show character
* Easily hurt
* Prone to getting colds
* Loves to dress up
* Takes time to recover when hurt
* Brand conscious
* Executive
* Stubborn
* Those who loves me are enemies

The Rocker

I'm pretty excited about this.

Another reason to boycott Polly Pocket.

I found out about this because a lady at work had this magnet toy that was recalled - evidently if your child swallows the magnets, they will fuse to each other and surgery has been required in order to extract them.

I was amazed by the amount of Polly Pocket toys that have been recalled over the years. You can see a list here.

So if ever any of you are considering buying Addie any Polly Pocket paraphernalia, maybe get her something else instead. Like a Killer Bunnies booster pack. She loves those.

Comments heard at local fine art gallery.

Tonight was the Thursday night art walk in south Scottsdale, and I covered for my dad at his gallery since he had a meeting he couldn't miss. Most of these things were said by people when they hadn't seen me yet, which made me wonder how much of it he hears all day.


"Look at that! That ruins the WHOLE painting."

"That one wouldn't match our couch very well."

"I hate those colors."

"Look how thick that paint is! I bet it's not dry."

Q: "Which of these do you like best, honey?"
A: "Um.... none."

"Can I touch this painting?"

"I'm tired of art. Let's go to a bar."

Killer Bunnies

I have a new favorite game. And it is Killer Bunnies. It took me some time to decipher the instructions, mostly because Troy and Col reading Redbook articles out loud was very distracting. I would suggest you learn how to play from someone who already knows rather than try to understand that instruction booklet. It is the reason this game wasted away in the Hills' closet for over two years. The game's creators were marketing geniuses, as no one will be able to stop at owning just the game. There are scores of booster decks and Troy has already bought a fancy collector's card on ebay which I highly doubt will be the last. The good news is they can combine the Kinder Bunnies Troy got talked into buying with Killer Bunnies.

Col, how's about we get this game for your birthday?

Kiss Cam

This morning a girl at work came up to me and said "Was I imagining things, or did I see you on the Kiss Cam last night at the Diamondbacks game?"

Yes indeed. Nate and Courtney actually were on the Kiss Cam first and we were just starting to make jokes about them getting picked instead of us, when they put Col and I on. I panicked and threw my arms around his head and kissed him. At least I didn't pull a Courtney, giving a quick kiss and then flailing my arms and screaming "I'M ON TV!!!"

This would look like a picture of a video game screen, if not for the heads in the foreground. The zoom on Col's camera leaves much to be desired.

Courtney and I cowering under a pop fly. I love the patronizing look on Nate's face in the background.

The other reason we can't get her pigtails to stay in.

Note the look of concentration on her face as she tries to wear her bloomers as a hat. It is the same look she has when she violently pulls her pigtails out. Both are excellent strategies.

We'll put it to a vote.

We found some new little toys for Addie today. They don't look it, but they're bouncy balls. Col and I cannot agree over whether they are chickens or ducks. So we need you to vote. I'm willing to concede the point if more people agree with Col than with me.

VOTE COUNT:

Ducks: 3

Chickens: 3

*Addie's vote doesn't count because she was coerced.

A scam of the accidental variety.

I'm switching service from my phone to Col's old phone because he has a shiny new one now. So in order to do this, I have to give them some information on the account, including the last 4 of my dad's SSN. So I call him up and the following is our conversation:

"Hi dad."

"Hi, how are you?"

"I'm great. How's your day going?"

"Alright. What about you?"

"Fine. I'm switching service on my phone so I need the last 4 of your social."

"What?"

"I'm switching service from my phone to Col's old phone so I need the last 4 numbers of your SSN."

"Wait. Who is this?"

"Aubrey."

At this point, I look at the phone to see what number I'd dialed. Wrong number. I'd messed up the number by one digit. I panicked and hung up. I'm sure the guy thought I was some scam artist trying to get his social security number.

What's crazy is how he sounded enough like my dad that we chatted a bit... evidently I sound like his daughter as well.

I'm still laughing.

Swimming

I swear she smiled later on... once she got used to the water.

"Finally!" was never more appropriate.

Bubbles!

The Pinata

Tres Leches

Blowing out the candle.

That's a whole strawberry she's putting in her mouth.

Opening presents.

New shoes!

Happy First Birthday Adeline!