Happy Holidays!

2008 is coming to a close. The holiday season - is - well here! Being Christmas Eve the question is, what is everyone doing? Hanging out with family? Eating? Watching movies? Skiing? Where ever you are and whatever you are doing I hope that you are happy, healthy and loved! Best wishes over this holiday. Here are some photos from my trip to DC.

Washington DC

I only really had 2 full days in our capital. While there I went to The Mall. Loads of museums and the zoo. I took a few photos. Although it was dumping rain most of the time I was there - so the indoor stuff was much better than the outside. The butterflies were in the butterfly room at the Natural History museum. The animals were in the zoo. Going to the zoo when it is raining a bit and 35 degrees means there are NO kids and hardly any other people as well. It was very nice. Oh - and everything is free. How cool is that??

I found that in two different cases people were beyond nice with homeless people in DC. First, there was a guy in Starbucks that the employees let warm up, use the restroom to get clean, and gave him hot coffee and yesterdays pastries. Second was at a hair cut place where they gave weekly hair styling and washing to two homeless ladies. I was overwhelmed by the kindness of these acts.

Garmin 405

As my pit betty of the year award Mike got me the Garmin 405 (GPS watch thing ... mostly for running). I decided to wear it on this trip. So, far it has been interesting. In the course of a day as using it as a watching it has 83% of its battery life left. I found out that the part of the highway between Santa Fe and Los Alamos(where you get off for the bi-pass) is 7300 feet. Which means that is why the snow was falling more there than in Los Alamos when we left the house early yesterday morning.

I plan on using the map out my route feature today while walking around Washington DC. Wish me luck with my groovy new watch!

In The Holiday Spirit.

December 5th. Just a few more weeks to Christmas and the holiday spirit is all around the house. The tree is up. The Santa glasses are filled with coffee. And I have an overwhelming urge to wrap things. The cats have been keeping their distance - but it doesn't mean I wont get one of them. Happy December All!

Weeks Worth.

This past week has been crazy. Trying to finish up as much as possible at work (being that I only have 3 days of work left before the Christmas break). Getting ready to go out to my dads this weekend (dropping of a piano). Starting to train for another half marathon. Wrapping Christmas gifes. Preparing at work to be gone (to Washington DC for a week). And of course getting a little bit of relaxing on as well.

This photo was the most emailed photo in 2008. Just thought they were cute and I wanted to share!

Information.

Yesterday this photo was sent to me. Too funny! Enjoy everyone.

Avivah asked what my middle name was - that would be Angelicque. Turns out (I had to look it up) the meaning is messanger of god and it is French. Now, if I were a messanger of god what would I have to tell people. Hmmm.
#1. Be nice to one another.
#2. Help others out.
#3. Love and be loved.
#4. Get over it.

I'll have to talk to the big guy to get more things to tell people!

Hats That Kill Me.

Lately whenever I see entertainment news there is some star with a silly hat on. In LA ... this time of year ... wearing a stocking hat. I'm not sure who started this "fashion" statement. BUT WHY? What is wrong with a baseball hat??

This Little Town.

While at work last week Brian told me something creepy about the little town I live in. He is friends with the towns sewage trap cleaner. What this entails is going out and cleaning out the catch traps when they get clogged (if you have ever seen Dirty Jobs ... you know). Anyway, he says that they have to be cleaned every day between 10-2. That is when the traps get the most clogged. I asked, "What clogs them?". Condoms. Yep. Our little town has probably a higher than normal number of stay at home moms. 10-2 (according to the trap cleaner) is the perfect affair time. Which makes me ask the question ... what makes people cheat? I'm totally going to have to do some research into this.

Thanksgiving Means ...

Deep fried turkey and a tummy full of food!!!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Ah ... Thanksgiving. One of those holidays that requires you to eat a lot of food, handle raw turkey, and defend Moab off of the turkey. Thanksgiving always makes me stop and take pause. Thinking about all the things that I have that I'm grateful for. My list this year (not unlike many years previous) would be:
1. My family
2. My friends
3. My kitties
4. My health
5. My imagination

Wishing all of you the best Thanksgiving yet!

The Hair Recipe

Courtney wanted to color her hair back to some shade of blond. We thought the recipe would be a really light shade of yellow/blond. That would be the photo of the orange and brown hair. It didn't really work out. Now we are trying something much more severe. BLOND BLOND. Platinum really. Hopefully this does the trick and her hair goes back to some light color.

Be Jealous!

While ranting about LPs the other day I pulled out David Bowie's Space Oddity ... And much to my failing memory ... I totally forgot that there was the original poster inside. I'm the luckiest girl on the planet. His hair is priceless!

white.

I broke down today. I broke down and bought the Beattle's white album. I've been listening to it on LP since forever. LOVE IT. Rocky Raccoon is one of those songs that just gets me going. I've been waiting to be able to download it. Since Yoko can't decide when to allow this - I spent the $30 freaking dollars and just bought it. Ah ... Blackbird is playing right now. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop playing the LPs any time soon ... but at least now I can have my favorite songs on my iPhone!


And ... Twilight was okay. Took 1.5 hours just for a kiss and the young actor should have just gotten naked and did some boning (as I said loudly during the movie) ... you'd love all the eye rolling from mother's sitting next to their teen daughters.

Japan.

Mike just sent me this image from Japan. Exactly what is it? Hmmm.

Trash.

As I was driving home today I was shocked by what people do. Okay, not shocked. But, I guess impressed with the idiocy by which people live their lives. It seems that the "go green" is something that some people think of - maybe more than in the past (which I do appreciate). But, what is it with people and their trucks.

I know ... they guzzle gas. And that isn't so cool for work commuting ... but that isn't my real problem. My real problem is the trash they toss in the back and then wait for the wind to pick up and blow out. It would be the same as me strapping a box to the top of my Subaru and putting all my fast food bags and beer cans in it (not that I have fast food bags or beers cans ... but if I did that would be where I'd store them). Is there a reason for this? Laziness to find a trash can? A wish for the planet to be covered in beer cans? What is it??

I'm taking Methow to her last vet appointment today. Her eye is looking fantastic. Then I fully plan to go see Twilight. Sammy says it is pretty good. I hope that they haven't screwed my pictures of the characters (you know when you read a book and imagine the characters ... hate it when they totally screw with them).

No One Can See Her.

Moab has found my knitting bag ... and no one can see her!

Motorcycle Guys

During the past Moab 24 hour mountain bike race a few of the AMA motorcycle road racers dressed up for the race (and came in 3rd). I wonder if they finished so well because of the outfits? Impressive how great they look though.

Salmon Fried Rice

Here is a new recipe that is taken part from Brian and part is mine. It is fantastic and you could put anything you want into it.

Ingredients
--------------
3 cups of cooked rice
1 small can of black olives
1 can of black beans (rinsed)
1 can or pouch of salmon
1 lemon (juiced)
1/2 a yellow onion (diced)
1 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
1/2 cup of green chili
salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions
--------------
Heat some olive oil in a pan. Saute garlic and onion. Once they are soft mix in rice, beans, olives, salmon, lemon juice, green chili and seasonings. Cook until everything is heated. Top with Parmesan if you like.

sunday - sunday - sunday

There are times when I hate Sundays. They represent the end of the weekend, the start of the work week, and the store is always filled with people after church (which just irritates the crap out of me). Today on the other hand, has been pretty fantastic. Methow is doing infinitely better. Her stomach isn't bothering her and her eye looks great. My Christmas cactus is blooming - which just puts me in the spirit of wanting holiday cookies. And I'm relaxing in a clean house. Could there be anything better??

Obsessied?

I know that there are some people out there that call me OCC (obsessive compulsive Christina). And today is one of those days that just shines for me. I haven't gotten to cleaning the house in a week or so - and with Methow being sick and an explosion of curry butternut squash soup the other night - let's just say that the house has been messier than I normally like it to be. The boy scouts were picking up food for a food drive this morning ...

With these two things aligned ... I went ape shit. Cleaned out the cupboards, scrubbed the floors, made a snack for tonight's party, treated the wood cabinets, started a fire, and went for a 5 mile run (by the way ... I'm testing out Chi Running which seems to be working pretty well. It requires less energy.)

I have two parties to go to tonight (Avivah's house and Bracken's). I'm kind of excited to get my party face on!

November Weekends

Seems like just yesterday it was full summer - hot weather - and the holidays were 1/2 a year away. Now it appears as if the holidays are just around the corner and that summer is no where in sight! Don't get me wrong. I love the cold weather. But, where is the year going?

For those who are interested - Methow is healing. The medication they put her on gave her a bleeding ulcer so we had to take her back to the vet today to get more medication (now meds that you have to inject into her neck). Hopefully this helps her to stop vomiting.

We spent the weekend in the RV in Deming and then relaxing at home. I actually got a lot of random stuff done around the house (getting ready for the season and all). The photo is of Bend getting is traveling groove on. He loves the RV.

On a side note ... what is up with people who actually answer the question "what's up" or "how are you doing" when you are walking down the hall? There is a guy at work that will actually tell you about family members dying, his dating life and such. I always thought these were almost like a hello - not a real question. Am I wrong on this??

Healing

Methow appears to be healing. She is letting us put ice on her eye and is taking her medication well. Bend is still sleeping in her bed. I'm wondering if he is ever going to leave it?

Hunter's 7th and Ty's 5th Birthday

The boys were having a Star Wars themed birthday. Here is the finished birthday cake - and some photos of Mike's parents and sister. Young kids with things to hit each other with ... talk about fun to watch!

All the pictures can be seen at the smugmug page.

Strange.

Methow is resting. She had a rough night (the lamp shade doesn't make it very easy to sleep). Her eye is pretty red today and looks painful. But, when I rubbed her cream on it - she was purring. So, maybe it feels good for someone to rub. We bought her a new fluffy bed for sleeping in front of the fire - Bend took it.

The monkey product was at a motorcycle store in ABQ yesterday, Mike is holding these large heavy bike chains (who would really carry these around to lock your bike?), and the toys are for Hunter and Ty's birthday cake. Why is that light saber pointed at that guys ding ding?? What are they trying to tell children? The photo of Methow was from the drive home yesterday.

Happy Halloween.

Methow is finally home from her eye removal surgery. It was a painful day for all of us. I was really worried that things wouldn't go well - and then waiting for the phone call is nerve racking.

The photos are of Methow right after we got her and took her into the car. Bend in his Halloween costume and then Methow at home (asleep hard on the bed). We took her little lamp shade off to let her rest more. We'll have to put it back on once we go to bed.

Thanks for the support everyone! It really has made this whole process less painful.