Beach Times.

Sorry, no nice pictures yet. It's hard to get a nice picture when the ocean washes off any makeup concealing sunburnt noses. Plus I've been waking up in an evil mood most every day. Today, the fresh coffee was gone and I could not wrap my brain around making more. I turned around and the kitchen that was clean before I went to bed (it was my turn to make supper) had trash on every flat surface. Every. flat. surface. I could not deal, so I left and went to coffee shop. By myself. Where it was clean. 

Thanks to Olga for a mind diversion book meme. 

1) One book that made you laugh: All Creatures Great and Small, by James Harriot.

2) One book that made you cry: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells.

3) ---------you have read more than once: Rainbow Valley (anne of green gables #7), by L.M. Montgomery, and Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Actually most of my books.

4) ---------you have loved but were embarrassed to admit it: hmmmm, not sure. not ready to fess up.

5)----------you have hated: Anything I had to read in a literature class. I read for entertainment, not to think....The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood comes to mind, although I think it was a quick read, I seem to remember staying up all night reading it. I don't think I possessed the maturity at the time to appreciate it. 

6)---------one book you have loved as a child: The Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

7)--------one that has scared you: House, by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti

8)--------that has bored you: Anything I had to read for an Anthropology Class I took as an undergrad. Gotta love those classes that make you a well rounded person. 

9)-----that has made you happy: Dog Stories, by James Harriot.

10)--------that has made you miserable: 1984 by George Orwell

11)----that you were not brave enough to read: try not to read scary books, murder mysteries scare me!

12)-----book character you have fallen in love with: John Clark of the Jack Ryan novels, my fave is Without Remorse by Tom Clancy.

13) last book you have read: i'm finishing The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy, it's a reread.

14: next book you hope to read: Probably move on to Debt of Honor, it's a Tom Clancy summer. 

leaving on a jet plane....

Well, not exactly on a jet plane, more like the family suv, but we are leaving for Oak Island, NC.


Oak Island Vacation from a couple of years ago (2006)

Hoping to capture some beautiful pics.

The littlest one, only 2 yrs old, splashing in the surf. (2006)

Looking forward to some R&R.

Daddy and Emmy (2006)

Will probably spend more on gas than we did for the house. oh well....

Oak Island Gas (2006). What a Hoot!

will definitely miss my kitties :-( 

Hopefully no unfortunate accidents will happen to them. The fish from a few years ago didn't fare so well.

Picture Emmy made at preschool this past year. Was surprised she remembered her fish. They were her first pets: Jonah and Nemo. Died of the Ick. 

I included some pics from a couple years ago at Oak Island. Hopefully I can get someone to take some decent pictures of me this year. 

My Mud Skippers

I simply couldn't resist posting these.

This is the latest spa treatment at our house.

We Call It "Mud on the Moon"

My Kitties (With Killer Instincts) Warning: Disturbing Images To Follow

Kitten Princess Dora


We own 2 cats. Our first was a sweet rescued kitty christened Princess Dora. She was only a tiny kitty when someone found her on the road wet, muddy and sick. We took her in and brought her back to health. She has retained her sweet disposition to this day. She's my hubby's favorite cat. 

What a cute little bundle of fur!

Awwww! Little fuzz ball.

Princey' all grown up.

That's right Princess, roll in the dirt and get all dirty (disgusting).

Whaaat! Who? Me?!

It's just a little bit of dirt Mom!

Our other cat, Cinnamon, came from someone DH works with. The fiancee was allergic to cats, so Cinnamon had to find a good home. We offered to take her. When DH brought her home, Emmy and I were so shocked at Cinnamon's biggie meal size. My first comment was, "you're going on a diet; you feel like a tub of lard." And thus Cinnamon became know as "Tubby." 

Tubby doing what we thought she liked to do best.

At first blush Tubby/Cinnamon seemed like such a harmless cat. She's claw less, friendly, loves laps, and enjoys getting her fat rolls massaged. She'll jump into any stranger's lap. Her two obvious drawbacks are her shedding and her slobbering, a lethal combination. The more you pet her, the more she rubs her slobbery mouth all over your hand and the more she sheds. You feel like you've grown a new coat after a few minutes. Emmy described it best when she said, "Tubby used my hand for a napkin."

Tubby's always the first to lay with us when we're not feeling well. 

We should have gotten our first clue when Emmy said, "Mom, Cinnamon's eyes look angry." And so she's right. Cinnamon does look pissed off most of the time. I told Emmy, "it's just her kitty features." Our second clue was the comment Cinnamon's former owner made when she said Cinnamon likes to go outside sometimes. And so we'd let her out, along with Princess. They'd always return for breakfast. Months went by without incident. 

(She's tolerating Bibi fairly well.)

But then, these little presents began showing up on our porch: a vole, an occasional field mouse, a vole with it's head chewed off, a dead rabbit... We figured it was Princess, who'd now grown to adulthood and still has her claws. Though I had my doubts because the only things I'd ever seen Princess catch (and eat) were houseflies. "It couldn't be Tubby," we said, "Tubby works up a sweat just watching Princess play." (Tubby would never play kitty games with us, only Princess. And if she would, on rare occasions, bat at a shoe lace, I'd say, "Oh look at Tubby, she's acting like a real cat!)

Cinnamon and Princess, drawn by Emmy (5)

Then entered the fateful day this past spring. I was enjoying the afternoon on my front porch when I heard an unusual squeaking sound. I looked up and there was Tubby running toward the front porch with something large and brown in her mouth. It was a baby bunny, a live squeaking baby bunny! I began shrieking , "DH! DH! DH!" 

"What?!" He's all disgusted, standing in front door with door wide open.

"Look at Tubby!" Tubby drops her bundle, still very much alive by hubby's feet. 

Hubby stares dumbfounded while baby bunny takes off- inside the house.

"Aaaiiee!!! Catch it! Catch it!" DH, Emmy (5), Bibi(4) and myself stumble over each other trying to catch BB who's terrified and tearing around the house. I had visions of rabbit pellets shooting from it's bottom on my clean carpets, like something from a James Bond car. 

Finally we corner the poor little thing and released it in a wooded part of our yard. We could not believe that Tubby Cat was such a hit man. Since then we've had a steady stream of "presents" on our porch, most of them voles, and all of them dead. There has been an occasional rabbit, one particular gristly specimen missing it's head and ears, but they have not been left on my porch, thank goodness. 

Another "present". 

At least Tubby had the decency to carry it off the porch to do what she's about to do...

Cute little brown thing, isn't it...

Stupid me, I thought she was just going to sniff it.

Tantalizing to the kitty senses...

Mmm, mmm,...yessss...

Ewww, Tubby's gross with her rodents.

Crunch, Crunch, Crunch 

Snack, Snack, Snack

How sweet, Tubby's eating her supper when we are.

So I don't know about Tubby, perhaps it's pent up aggression, maybe it's some sort of therapeutic outlet...I don't know. But she has killer instincts. 

I was Brutalized, by a Dental Hygienist

Some dental hygienist are gentle...and gentle rhymes with dental. And others? They are the Ungentle Dental Hy-Hellions.

Yesterday I went to get my teeth cleaned. My dental hygienist decided she didn't like people who only get their teeth cleaned when they feel like it.

"So it's been a few years since you got your teeth cleaned last?" Scrape, scrape, pick...

"Do you floss regularly, no?" Sccraape...CHIP! Puuuullllll...CHIP!

"It's nice of you to come in on such a nice day." Pulling at...gums. oy, they won't give...

"My other patients didn't show up today." (No wonder.) Wipes at bleeding gums...

"Wow, you're really good. Other people keep jerking around when I try to clean.."

[Dentist]"You're teeth aren't that bad. You have pretty teeth...not straight teeth, but pretty teeth...." Thanks. I'm well aware of the alignment of my teeth. Even more so now.

"So, let's schedule you again for...."

[me]"Ummm, let me coordinate schedules with my husband. I'll call you." 

I flew out of there like....a bat outta hell.

icecream quiz

Hubby's laughing at the "always busy" part. Hey, naps can be counted as part of my busy schedule, right?

facebook

I have discovered facebook which is a fun time sucking site. Unfortunately, the unread blogs on my google reader have been piling up. Anyone else do facebook because I'm sure I need to squander away more time writing on walls; just curious. 

In other news, it was a cold rainy 4th of July. We went to a picnic with an older generation. We heard talk about ailments, and hemorrhoid surgery, and all sorts of other interesting things....the future to look forward to. The girls wanted to swim. It was cold! At least the pool wasn't crowded. 

The girls are taking swimming lessons, yes, their daddy's idea. That pool is warm. We have to get in with them. Emmy's doing a good job learning how to blow bubbles with her face in the water and kicking her feet. Bibi gets so excited in the water, her feet start paddling and they don't quit. She does fairly well kicking and moving her arms, it's just hard for her to process all of the information at once. 

That's all the news that isn't. Have a great weekend everyone. 

results of race

Hubby did well. He raced the Olympic race which is a 1500m swim, 40k bike, and 6.55 mi run. He completed the race in 2 hours and 48 minutes. He placed 5th in his age group, and 35th overall out of two hundred and some competitors. He's happy. Each race he gets faster. The next triathlon he'll compete in is less than 2 weeks away. He is a machine.