The zoo, a flood, and new stuff.. Oh my!

I can't believe I haven't posted here since Friday. Wow! I don't think I've gone that long since I got going with this blog. I am sorry to have neglected you, my Animals. Surprisingly enough, it started with our trip to the zoo with my family Saturday. We had a blast, and I'll have to share some pictures with you. I got some great ones of the animals with my new camera. Let me know what you think.

I loved the way it picked up so many colors so vividly!

It wouldn't be a zoo trip without... Lions..

Tigers...



and bears, oh my!



For some reason, this gorilla keyed in on my niece A and spotting her was the only reason he came down out of the bushes. Then he ended up charging the glass right after this photo was taken, and he slammed his hand onto the glass right in front of her face! All of the adults jumped and she ran to my sister, but she was right back there staring him down in no time. That girl has zero fear level really, although if you knew her brother and her dad you'd probably understand why. They are tough guys through and through.

As I told you last week, I had friends come in from out of town Saturday night, and they stayed for several days. We really are getting old because we didn't go do much, but I have to say that we had so much to catch up on we were simply enjoying each other's company. If I had more warning they were coming, I would have planned for us to go to the beach or something. Oh, well. We had fun at least.

After they left, I changed the sheets because I let the two of them have my bed and I slept on the couch. Aren't I a nice host? I thought so! Good thing I had the new couch, but still you can only sleep on a couch for so long, ya know? When I was putting the clean sheets on the bed, I was so tickled I would have my bed back. Then I felt it...

The bottom of the mattress and the top of the boxspring were wet! Just so you know, my bed has water tubes in it. Not really like a water bed, but these water tubes fit into a mattress and you can't find those tubes anywhere anymore. So of course, I realized the bed was leaking. Just freaking great! I had to call my neighbor across the street who frequently comes to the rescue to come help me carry these heavy-ass tubes outside to drain them. This also meant Krissy was going to be sleeping on the couch again. I was not a happy camper, but I was more worried about keeping the carpet dry than anything at this point.

Once the crisis was averted, I called Mom who told me to run the ceiling fan to dry out the boxspring because there isn't a thing wrong with it. I went yesterday and bought a new mattress, and let me tell you... I had the BEST night of sleep last night. Granted, before going to bed I was so tired that my eyes were watering, but still. I had been sleeping on the couch since Friday for God's sake!

I figured I had needed a new mattress for a while because I was always waking up sore with aches especially in my shoulders and hips. Last night I even slept on my back for part of the night, which I haven't done in FOREVER without having trouble walking the next day. I felt thoroughly FANTABULOUS this morning. I honestly cannot remember the last time I felt that good in the morning. I even woke up before my alarm and I wasn't mad. Since I was used to sleeping on water that kinda sinks in, I did wake myself up a couple of times because I almost rolled off of the fluffy mattress. But that just made me laugh and realize that I'm a good bit higher off of the ground than I was with the old one.

I was in the furniture store so long that I ended up falling in love with this bedroom suite that goes on sale today. So I am heading back after work to buy it! She said she is going to throw in some lamps because she wasn't able to give me a bigger discount on the mattress, but I was desperate to leave with a mattress last night. I'm so glad I did it now. Oh, by the way, it's a Serenity pillow-top mattress that has lower lumbar support and individually foam wrapped super coils (or some such craziness) that helps those who like to sleep in different positions get support without the pain. I'm feeling it so far!

I'll take some pics of the new furniture with my phone for ya since they probably won't be delivered until next week. I am so excited! I really didn't want to spend the extra money, but I finally found a set where the drawers aren't so shallow that they only hold two shirts, ya know? I HATE that! Why don't they make them all bigger now?

Well, I better go for now. Sleep well, everyone! I know I sure plan to for the first time in years. Bailey will probably never get me out of bed Saturday morning.

Friday foolishness and 100 followers!

Well, another week down, folks. If you are like most people I know, it was a long one. I want to welcome my new Animals to the Zodiac Zoo Crew. You all helped me get over 100, and I'm so excited about that. Thank you! You are in a pretty awesome group here, and I'm tickled to have you.

For those of you who have been paying attention, I finally got my grades for the term I just finished in school. That slack professor actually gave me a 100 on my final research paper! Apparently, he gets to live to see another day. That's a good thing because I'm not sure they would let me blog from prison. Oh hell! I couldn't live without blogging now. You peeps have me hooked, I tell ya.

From reading his comments, I think it was because I happened to pick a topic that is important to him professionally. So go, Krissy! We all have to pat ourselves on the back every now and then. I get the joy of having him again next term, so if I can manage to finish with my 4.0 GPA still in tact after these last three classes it will be major party time! I cannot wait to graduate.

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We are supposed to be going to the Zoo tomorrow for family day through my company. Unfortunately, there is a 70% chance of rain. Wouldn't that be fun? I would be freaking the hell out about my new camera getting wet. I guess we'll find out what they can do for us if it does get rained out since tickets are already printed and paid for. It would actually work better for me to not go tomorrow since I have old friends coming in from out of town tomorrow night. I could spend tomorrow cleaning instead of tonight. Friday night is supposed to be for cocktails and sitting on my ass reading blogs, dammit! How pitiful is that? One of these years I'll get a life once someone shows me how to do that again. Being with D this weekend is going to remind me of what a life is actually like again, since I'm sure there will be a lot of old memories brought up.

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We used to be party animals. There were three of us who went through divorces around the same time, so we hit the bars pretty much every night after work. What night it was determined where we went. I really don't know how we did it, especially with the little bit of money we were all making back then. But we had a great time wherever we went, believe me. Of course, my ex-husband told everyone I was screwing the whole Air Force base, but who cares what the hell he thought? I wasn't screwing the whole base, by the way. But we had our share of fun with some GI's and they partied with us a lot. In fact, one night we met the Thunderbird pilots at the bar, and when they found out it was my birthday there was a steady stream of drinks sent to me for the rest of the night. I'll admit, I was a little worried about the air show the next day with as much as those boys put down, but they were very considerate of the clock and when it was time to get back to the base.

Ahhhh, the good old days. Man, I feel old! When the hell did that happen? Although, I feel pretty damn young when compared to the 114 year old man who just passed away. Can you freaking imagine? There are not many people still around who were born in the 1800's. Just think of all of the things he has seen in his life.

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Hey, maybe I'll use pictures of the Zoo animals to represent some of you Animals! That would be fun. I can think of a few examples that would fit some of you right off the top of my head. Ohhh, the ideas that are starting to form now. Look out, folks. I'm burning up some brain cells over here.

By the way, there is this new button over to the left that lets you enter your email address if you want this blog sent straight to you when posts are put up. Feel free to use it so you don't miss what's happening around these parts. I know you are dying to keep up with me and my exciting life. At least you know you'll get some cute animal pictures on occasion if nothing else. Hopefully, I can catch up on some of your blogs while I have a little break from school. I love reading what you guys write so much that I hate missing your posts.

Anyway, have a great weekend, everyone! I am homework free this weekend, and rain or shine there will be cocktails in my not too distant future. I'll have one (or 10) to toast you all.

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Friday foolishness and a new look!

For those who weren't around last night, I revealed in stages my new look. Go check it out here and enter the giveaway, and I might be giving you a shout-out if you play your cards right. Regardless of whether you enter, come see my site and tell me what you think.

Amy over at This House Gets Crazy at Three O'Clock did the awesome drawings on my header. She does such fabulous work that you should all go follow her blog and keep her in mind for your business needs, too! She is simply amazing! What started as a request for her to draw a picture of Bailey turned into an awesome idea to help us create my new blog.

Amber over at Amber LaShell Rants came up with the wonderful blog design and had the patience to sit through I don't know how many "ummm, I don't know what I want" conversations. This whole thing started because of her innocent Friday night Tweet asking if anyone wanted to be her guinea pig. (That statement always reminds me of the line from Dr. Doolittle where the guinea pig asks Eddie Murphy, "Why do they call me a guinea pig anyway? I'm not French and I'm not pork!" That cracks me up every time!) Anyway, I'm sure she regretted that I was the one who answered her, but I was the one with no life sitting at home Tweeting on a Friday night. Ha! I'm super grateful to her for all of her work, and rework, and she writes a couple of blogs I'm sure will catch your attention.

Now I didn't have too many bizarre things happen this week for my Friday foolishness. But I found this laying behind my desk yesterday.

It's no pot of gold, but it brought a smile to my face on St. Patrick's Day. I'm easy, I know.

The pollen is falling like crazy in our southern state. The hood of my Jeep looks like this every day when I go to leave work.

I'm waiting for the urge to claw my face off to start any day now. I'm surprised it hasn't already. When the hell did this sinus problem start anyway? I never had problems growing up around here. Stupid wildlife!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I took Bailey to the river the other night with a friend of mine to introduce her to the water for the first time since the park near my house was packed with teenagers. She walked on the edges of it at first, then she stepped in a deep hole that took her all the way under. She came up with her eyes as big as saucers and it was ON! She was all over that river after that. I was splattered with mud of course, and with my work clothes on no less, but she had an absolute blast. I told Steph we should have brought my iPod to film it. We'll have to do that next time so you all can see her antics. It was hilarious. She's such a water dog that I knew she'd enjoy it. I can't wait to see her reaction to the ocean now. I'll have to do that this summer.

A friend of mine told me the next day to be careful of gators at the river if I go too close to sunset. What the...?? That crap never even crossed my mind! I would be freaking out if Bailey was innocently playing away and a gator snatched her happy ass.

Well, at least it's Friday, folks! This has been a hectic but productive week, for the most part. Have a great weekend, and go enter my giveaway now. I said GO.. What are you waiting for? You're still reading this, aren't you?

Not really a book review.. more of a gripe session..

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Have you ever read a book and wondered, "Why the hell did I just waste those hours of my life? I'll never get those back, dammit!" Well, I bought this book because.. Hello! It has dogs in it, right? Most people who write about animals in their books (from my experience) have a sense of humor and they are fun reads.

NOT this book, and for the love of everything that is my great followers, DO NOT click on the source and buy the damn thing. I'll mail you my copy if you want it that bad. I don't want to give that author any more cha-ching. I didn't want to put the source on there, but I didn't want the copyright police all over me someday.

Anyway.. To begin with, this author obviously has a word-of-the-day calendar on her freaking desk! I read this in paper form before my Kindle so I couldn't look up all the big damn words she decided to put on pretty much every page. I mean you wouldn't believe some of the things she would stick in odd places. I consider myself a pretty well-educated person so I don't normally need to look things up. If nothing else, I can usually figure out what a word means from the context. With her, it was like she just wanted to challenge herself to see how many of these off-the-wall words she could put in there.

My next problem was the storyline. It is supposed to be about a group of people who hang out at the dog park and one of them goes missing. So the others decide to try to find out what happened to her. I thought it was be humorous. NOT! These people were just plain strange, and not in a quirky, fun kinda way either. I wanted them ALL to be missing by the end of the book. And I won't even BEGIN to tell you how freaking stupid the ending of the book was!

In closing on that topic, do not waste your time on this book. A friend at work heard me bitching about it one day so she picked on me like crazy every time she saw me with it after that. I just had to give the author the benefit of the doubt and finish the damn thing. Yeah, I'm that kinda stupid. I just wanted to warn you all since I knew many of you love to read and are animal lovers. Oh, and if you are a writer, this might be a tool of how NOT to write a novel. (I'll feel really bad if the author stumbles onto this post, but maybe she'll change some things in her next novels.)

While we are talking about dumb things, wanna see the wonderfully stupid thing my town did?

Beautiful entrance to an industrial park, right?

Do you know what this expensive little project leads to? Absolutely NOTHING! It is simply an entrance and turnaround to what they hope will someday, maybe, if we pray really hard, industrial park. We have companies leaving our little town, but this is where we'll put our Obama incentive money, by God! Heaven forbid we fix the stinking highway that runs right through the town so I'm not hitting a million holes on the way home every day. I'm so proud that this is where my tax dollars went. Aren't you?

Okay, I'm done with my rants for the day. I have two article critiques to do by tonight, so I better get crackin'.

My world has gone to the birds

This morning as I was waiting for Bailey to do her business, I noticed there was a flock of birds flying north the entire time I was standing outside. This was about 10 minutes, or longer. I might have nodded off. I'm not much of a morning person so I'm not very alert after climbing out of bed. Anyway...

I tried to get a picture of them flying overhead, but oddly enough my cell phone doesn't take good pictures of birds in flight. What is wrong with technology nowadays? But I did manage to get this picture of a shit ton of them in the tree behind my house... if you can see them.

The funny thing is that it's been in the 70's during the day for several days now, but these birds waited until the coldest morning we've had to fly north? Did they just get the memo that it's getting warmer or what? I just found it very strange that they picked this morning. Obviously their mail service uses snail mail and not air mail. Yes, I had to go there.

This reminded me of a story I've been meaning to tell you all. Have you ever watched a baby woodpecker try to learn how to peck? My mother and I had this humorous view once when I was visiting. She noticed a baby woodpecker on the wooden post they have planted in the back yard that holds the bug light. It was a beautiful bird that looked something like this.

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Momma bird was nowhere in sight, so we assumed he had decided he was ready to branch out into the world. Unfortunately, I think he had a bit of brain damage from the way he was pecking this piece of wood. Ya know how normally it's a steady sounding "peck, peck, peck, peck, peck, peck, peck" when a woodpecker is at work? Well, this was more of a "peck, peck, bang!"  After every two pecks, he would slam his head into the post. "Peck, peck, bang! Peck, peck, bang!" It was really pitiful. I don't think he was the brightest student in his class, but I imagine after the 30 minutes we watched him trying to get it right, he probably felt a bit like this. 

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It was a bit like watching a drunk trying to do something that requires precision and not being able to figure out why he can't do it right, yet going back for more even though it was painful because he forgot what happened just seconds before. 

I'm Irresistible! .. Wait, is she laughing at me?

Lyndylou over at The Giggle Fest gave me an award this week which totally brought my New Year in with a bang! Since she likes to giggle, I'm thinking she was being ironic by giving me this award?

But I guess I just make her laugh with my mom stories, and she loved my Then and Now post last week. Isn't the award yummy?! I forgive her for giving me sweets since she didn't know I was trying to be healthy before she gave me this award, but hey, it has strawberries. So it can't be too bad for me, right? RIGHT? I thought so, and I'm sure Dr. Oz would agree. I'll have that dessert with my wine and it will be even healthier. Thank you so much, lyndylou! I love it.

So I guess there are a couple of rules to this award. I have to tell you of 5 guilty pleasures and pass it on to 3 bloggers. Now you know with my new healthy living thing, this is going to make me think of things I really shouldn't have, but it's not all about food! I'm sure there are other guilty pleasures I have. I just have to think of them. Surely they'll come to me... Right?.. Here goes...

Guilty Pleasures
1. The sweetest sound in the world is a baby's laugh. As most of you know, I'm single with no children of my own (except the furry kind) so I live through all of my nieces and nephews. Hearing any one of the babies laugh just brings a joy to me that I can never explain. I can even be in a grocery store or something and hear a baby laugh, and no matter what kind of mood I'm in it will make me smile.

2. Watching sports is another love of mine. Watching my Steelers or Penguins (especially those two, though I have other loves) win a Championship is one of the greatest feelings in my life. Luckily, they've given me a lot to celebrate in my lifetime. Now if I can just get the Pirates to sell to Mark Cuban, maybe we can get them to win again!

3. Puppy breath! What is it about puppy breath? I just want to eat them up and hug them to pieces. I am seriously thinking about getting another puppy since the cat thing didn't work out with Bailey. I'm still trying to decide.

4. Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate! You knew I had to throw a food in there, and chocolate is the bestest food ever! I usually limit myself to chocolate ice cream being in the house when I have a craving, but I could pretty much hurt myself on anything that involves chocolate.

Okay, this lady has to be on crack!

5. Reading has to be in my top 5. Curling up on the couch in cozy pajamas, under a blanket, on a rainy day is one of the best ways to spend time. With my Kindle now, it's even nicer because I don't even have to have a free hand to hold the book or turn pages. All I have to have is a free finger to hit the button. Heaven!

 Image from here.

So now who do I pass this gem off to? 

1. Barb over at This and That (As I Bounce Thru' Life) because she is such a sweet person and always has a kind word to say in comments to people. She is also a fellow South Carolinian (well, she lives here anyway) which is what first caught my attention about her. I love her so go check her out! I'm sure she's probably gotten this award before, but she came to mind first.

2. The Tame One over at Thoughts of an Oxymoron because she makes me laugh and I can't resist her blog. The things she says on her blog and in comments makes me feel like I've found a kindred spirit. I hope that doesn't scare the bejeezus out of her. She will make you laugh even if you aren't as crazy as we are.

3. Jimmy over at Jimmy's Opinion because he is such a family man and always has encouraging words to say to everyone. He'll warm your heart and always makes you feel like there's someone out there who cares about what you have to say.

Okay, enough mushiness. I love the award, lyndylou! Those guilty pleasures used up all of my brain power for the day. I wonder if that burned calories? I lost 3 pounds, by the way. Yay, me! Not bad in two days...   

Reindeer games for Mom

I've decided to have some guest bloggers, and I figured that getting funny stories that involve our parents would be a great topic. I happen to have a bunch of stories that are hilarious about my parents, especially my wonderful Mom. She will not be happy to have these out there for all the world to see, but then I don't have THAT many followers, right? Ha! She's a good sport, so I'm sure she'll say, "Thanks a lot, BRAT!" And she'll press on with life.

One time when I was in high school many years ago... Wait, it wasn't THAT many years ago.. Okay, it was a good many years ago... Anyway! I was walking home from the bus stop and I noticed that pretty much all of the neighborhood kids were surrounding my back yard. What the ...? I walk in the house to find my mother pacing and freaking out! There was something terrifying in the back yard apparently, but it sure didn't seem to scare all of the neighborhood kids.

Now my parents intentionally bought the house they live in because all that was behind it was a golf course. So they figured no one could ever build behind them, right? Makes sense. But through the years, they have had some interesting creatures wander into their yard because that's the bonus of living near nature. Nature normally loves my mother because she won't let us harm any of God's creatures. (You never know where she has bird's nests around that place.)  This was going to be a first for her though.

Apparently, this scary creature.. or one like it... (And I know I could have gone to Mom's and dug out the picture of the real one, but still!) was inside the fenced-in back yard.

What the hell is everyone looking at?

You have to understand that my mother was all about her yard, and always has been. She had walked into the back yard to find this deer. Her first thought is that the deer is probably thirsty, so I'll go get a bucket of water. Seriously? That was your first thought when seeing a freaking deer in the back yard? I don't know about you all, but that wouldn't have been my first thought. Maybe, "How the hell do I get the deer out of the yard?" Or even, "What the hell?" 

She comes back with her bucket of water for the deer, and apparently the deer decided this lady was loony tunes and needed to get some exercise. He starts chasing her around the yard. 

Not the expression I picture my mom having on her face...

Now, I never knew that deer had a predatory side to them, but she swears it happened. We had an above-ground pool at the time, so here is the deer chasing my poor mother around and around the pool. Have the visual yet? For some reason I have always pictured her running with the bucket of water, too! Ya know, getting soaked and hollering at the deer the whole time, "I was just trying to be nice and give you some water! I'm good with nature. Didn't the others tell you?"

At some point she makes a break for it and runs into the house. I assume she's soaked at this point, because like I said, in my mind she was running with a bucket full of water. 

Somehow word gets around, though I'm not sure there were any actual witnesses to the running escapade. She calls the game warden to come get the deer out of the yard, so we all watch this deer walk around the back yard like he has every right to be there. 

The game warden arrives and wants to put the deer down right in the back yard. What the hell? There are children around, morons! Do you really want to kill Bambi right in front of their innocent little eyes? Of course, we talk them into just tranquilizing the deer so we can tell all the kids that the deer is just taking a nap. When they are able to get close to the deer, they find it had cut itself on its chest probably from the cross ties on the top of the fence when it jumped in. So when Mom moseyed out into the yard, he just got spooked because he didn't want to battle that treacherous fence to get back out. 

Needless to say, we have tormented Mom for many years about her bond with nature and all of the creatures she comes into contact with. Do you have a funny story about your parents you'd like to guest blog about? Let me know! Jumble Mash is coming up with something for me now, and I think Mynx is going to give it a whirl, too.