My Dearest Amish Friendship CAKE (not bread) Starter...

Wherever you now may be right now, traveling along the putrid sewer lines of the greater Las Vegas Valley Water District, I cannot tell you how very sorry I am to have failed you after nearly 7 long years of sweetest friendship, since your creation in early 2001.

I swear to you, my only thoughts had been for your safety! I left you behind only to allow you to remain cool and comfortable while I had to move into my new home and then wait a week+ for the purchase of our new refridgerator. I was going to come back for you this very week - - I was, I swear - - but sadly, returning to you one day too late... I'm so full of the deepest regrets, that I had not come back for you sooner. I imagine you may have felt abandoned, poor thing - - I will never forgive myself!

And for you to die at the hands of one who didn't even realize you were much, much more than a merely smelly, goopy paste? And to be sent down the drain of a kitchen sink?!? Oh, the loss! All that remains is your storage container that had once housed you so securely for so long (now bursting into tears).

Please forgive me, my lost Amish Friendship CAKE! Starter... please, oh please...

I promise to create a brand new batch of starter this very week and to do so in your memory, to be dedicated to you, to honor your 7 long years' worth of delightful Amish Friendship CAKE creations, and for all those who were able to enjoy your sweet and flavorful contributions, month after month.

Once you manage to clear the LVVWD treatment center, may you rest in peace.

My "I Hit a Cow" Story: Part VII

Well, some news on my "I Hit a Cow" story: Although liability was turned over in the cow owner's favor [Meaning, I was the one found at fault for hitting the broadside of a solid black cow that was out loose on a public '65 mph limit' state highway at night - - although neither insurance co., neither mine nor his, found me guilty of driving negligence], his insurance policy is written to pay for medical bills, regardless... and so, SEVEN MONTHS LATER, I'm getting reimbursed for the medical bills I'd paid... the first check came this week! Only 6 more to go!

"Update on the Yapper" or "Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 10"

Now, I could go on and on explaining how it was real hot over the past weekend, and so the Yapper had been taken indoors and what all I thought about that... yada, yada, yada - - but come Monday and last night, the Yapper was back at it, and well, the basic gist is this: I did nothing about it; I'm a big, fat chicken!

My honey-man will be here this coming weekend with his Los Angeles-loaded moving truck and before he heads back to L.A. for his final apartment check out, he'll be the one paying the Yapper's parents a visit and he volunteered to do it (BLESS HIM!), as long as I can wait until then... Um, yeah - I'll wait! Thanks, baby!

On 'Being a Good Neighbor'

Living in a townhouse that's basically a large structure with three different, separate contained units, consequently, we're living very next to our next-door neighbors. Generally, this is all very fine with me, especially considering there's a 6-inch airspace between all our shared walls that manages to make eavesdropping virtually impossible (unless you're really tearing it up, I suppose, although I haven't yet been able to hear a single vocal peep from anyone!). In fact, so far the only thing I've been able to hear through those walls has been the guy in the 2-bedroom unit entering his interior stairs from his 1-car garage, occasionally running up those stairs like an elephant! Oh, and I think he may have dropped a rather large piece of furniture or something big and heavy last week... Otherwise, I totally forget we're sharing walls with anyone.

So where's the big 'but' here?

Well, the other unit that's located to our east with a backyard situated right next to ours, they happen to have an old, white poodle-ish lap-size doggie, whom they leave outside in their backyard, tethered beside a pet carrier kennel - - and this doggie is a yapper! I mean, he's the yapper of yappers, barking 2 and 3 times for every timed second! NO JOKE! And you better believe it, cuz yesterday, I had tried to lay down for a cat nap, and instead, I wound up timing it! Having now spent a solid 2 weeks living in my new diggs, hearing this same dog just last night, barking beyond 1 am into the 2am hour, it is officially official:

I cannot handle
the neighbor's *!@?#!* barking dog
any longer.

Facts to Note: 1) It is probably safe to assume, for the obvious reasons, that these neighbors put their dog outside because they don't want it inside... 2) However, I can't know for sure why they don't want him inside... If they put him outside because they don't like him barking indoors, I can't know that's the case, seeing we have that fabulous 6-inch airspace between all our shared interior walls, unable to hear if he's barking, if and when he's ever taken indoors! 3) Moreover, the dog does bark when outside, throughout the day and night and with little reprieve; and 4) I do know that the owners DO know this dog is yapper - -

Background Info: Their first day in their new place, all moved in, they had a small gathering of friends and family and they'd fired up their BBQ grill in the backyard. Over our shared backyard wall, I talked with them briefly and welcomed them as my new neighbors. In response to my approach, the dog, who I'd already heard barking intermittently, well, he went freakin' nuts!!! - - Two early 20-something boys, who spoke English, excused the frantic yapping with this comment: "He's just old." I then laughed, made a friendly statement directed toward the disturbed doggie, and told them their food smelled really good, and then told them I'd see them later and went back inside... and the barking continued, along with this intermittent shouting: ¡Cállate la boca! Translation: Shut your mouth.

Soooo, when it's so blantantly obvious to me that this dog is a nuisance (and sadly, neglected), and yet they don't seem to care, I haven't wanted to confront my new neighbors about their dog's incessant barking... Instead, today, I sought to contact my Home Owner's Association, hoping to let them do the dirty work. Just 15 minutes ago, I'd gotten a return call from my HOA and was told all I had to do was fax over a written complaint...

But first, I called my honey-man to tell him I was emailing some things to him regarding his new business license and "...oh, and I got a hold of the HOA to deal with the yapper... and all I have to do is..."

I knew how he'd respond: He sooo called me on it! Immediately, I grumbled and pleaded... "I don't want to try dealing with people who obviously don't care" - yada, yada, yada... I even tried throwing out this totally lame-O cop-out argument: "But they don't speak English! How can I even talk to them?"

Going through the HOA is the coward's way... I need to instead be a good neighbor and give them the chance to choose to do something about it. My honey-man totally nailed me when he asked me this: "If a neighbor has a problem with you, would you want them to just report you without talking with you first?"

* sigh *

It may take me until Sunday to muster enough courage to tactfully confront them - - Wish me luck this weekend!

Owen's New Favorite Perch

Dressin' dah Windows

Behold, our kitchen window...
(plus a 9 dollar table cloth to match!)

It's my very first window treatment installation!

My sister came over last Monday night to help me put this thing up (before then, I'd had it on tension rods and it looked okay, but this is much better), and we also worked on the master bedroom's blasted windows (to be revealed later, when I have the sheer drapes adjusted and when there isn't so much clutter in the shot, although this kitchen shot is hardly pristine... And we also looked for fabric with which I could cover the seats of our six semi-ugly (also given to us for FREE) dining table chairs we have (only 2 shown above).

Already, They're Rulers of the Roost!

My Owen (see 'Mr. Lazer-Beams' on the left?) and my Otis (the lil' meatloaf on the right) are in Vegas now, after living with my honey-man in L.A. for the past year! It is sooooo wonderful to have them back with me ~
An they're having SO MUCH FUN in in their new gy-normous pad!

The picture above was taken last Thursday: I suspect that keeping 'em outta the kitchen, off the counters and the dining table may pose as quite the challenge - - what do you think?

Otis, demonstrating his wiley ways ~

Typical Owen behavior... already!
As of tonight, they've been in their new diggs for a week.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 9

He serves as an excellent reality check ~

Whenever my mind (the irrational and insecure side) is running away with me, enlarging some incident to the brink of an unproductive meltdown, he very quickly, yet very gently, helps me back to reality and assures without patronizing that all will be well... and if I ever get defensive, he always calls me on it.

It's so nice.
Yum.

"2Nite, 2Nite! Gunna Buy Me a Fridge, 2Nite!"

After work last Wednesday night, before my honey-man was to leave for L.A. the next morning, we went shopping for my first major home appliance purchase ever - 'major' is in like, hundreds of dollars here, not some toaster oven or a mere hand mixer. Yup, I needed to buy both a fridge and a gas dryer (but I'm most thrilled about the refridgerator purchase!).

Yes, I've been in my new place for over a week now without a refrigerator, and consequently, I have a new found deep appreciation for our ability to regularly access and consume a variety of fresh foods... For the past week+, I've been living on graham crackers, peanut butter, oatmeal and apples, bananas and cans of soup. Of course, it could have been worse. If I weren't working so many extra hours at work the past 2 weeks, I'd probably have been able to get more creative than that, but anyhow, there's an upside to this: Although not surprising, I've lost weight in the last week! This may be because none of the staple foods I've been eating are the kind I'd be apt to want more and more of, nor have I had much time to even remember to eat...

I digress.

At Home Depot that night, at one point towards the end of our 'choosing this one versus that one,' I was literally jumping up and down, overly excited about my pending appliances purchase - - Funny to see how 'growing up' does strange, unexpected things to a person.

Anyhow, by tomorrow afternoon, I'll be able to buy milk and keep it cold, and I'll also be able to do a few dozen loads of laundry! YAY!

You Live Where Now?

Welcome to my new home!
This is the inward view from our front door!

And d'is mah kitchen!

And this, I just thought this was funny ~ the In-SINK-erator?!?

Here's the west end of the living room, opposite the kitchen with lots of soft light from the northern exposure. (This part is supposed to be the dining room, but we're going to use it as a general living space).

And here's the view downward from the stairs into the east end of our living room...

Purty nyce, eh?

There's also a kitchen eating area and pantry and a laundry room and 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a backyard and a 2-car garage - yada, yada, yada - but all those areas are now absolutely buried in boxes and moving-in crap and cannot be photographed at this time! ...Well, on second thought, maybe later tonight so I can remember what we started with in terms of unpacking mayhem!

Early this morning, after spending my first night sleeping in my new place, IN THE DARK, I went through my list of utilities companies I must call to set up ASAP, to avoid any other service disconnections (whoops!)... Turns out all of them were scheduled to continue until May 8th, EXCEPT the power. Should be all good now.

Plans for tonight: Set up the master bedroom!

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 8

Simply put, he makes me laugh and a lot.

Last Wednesday night, we'd gone to RC Willey to price appliances and to generally peruse what all is out there. For over an hour, we were laughing and rolling our eyes, critiquing this and that and making all sorts of faces (and at times, even dancing) throughout our visit.
It was so much fun together!

The best was when we were trying out the mattresses, rolling together from side to side, testing how well we'd be able to do our 'rotisserie'...

P.S. That thing on his face is a round,
totally bizarre, leathery fringed pillow!

The GRAND Tally for My 2007 MS Walk

$2,714!!!
(I'm speechless)

CORRECTION:

$155 more today (4/25/07), which brings the grand total to

$2,869.51!?!

For My Lovely MS Walk Sponsors: A big, fat THANK YOU!

Although I haven't yet reached my goal... CORRECTION!!! In just 3 hours since I'd first posted this massive Thank You listing (11:09 a.m.), not only have I met my 2007 Las Vegas MS Walk fund-raising goal, we've exceeded it by $469 dollars and I am soooo very happy, I've been tearing up about every 5 minutes since I first received my email notice from the Nat'l Multiple Sclerosis Society, announcing that I'd met my fund-raising goal!!!! YAY!

Some More Drippy Honesty (since I've just admitted I'm a total cry baby sap n' a half!): I was working in my office when I received my email notice nearly an hour ago, and I screamed, shrieking loud enough for everyone on my floor to hear me, and I did so REPEATEDLY!

I gotta offer lots of gushing-ALLLL- OVER- YOU-with-truly-heartfelt-gratitude 'Thank You's' to all my most awesome MS Walk sponsors, who've helped me thus far (UPDATED on 5/11/07 to reflect all the lovelies who gave donations for my MS Walk!):

Dan Allen, Annette Amdal, Bryan Andrews, Mark & Mary Ashcraft, Leslie Baldwin, Barbara & Richard Ballingham, Andrew Bell, Mark Bennington, Jonelle Cachuela, Jackie Camp, Michelle Carro, Rolanda Chung, Daly & John Costanza, Ed Crossman, Shelan Davis, Bob Dippner, Kashmir Dixon, Robyn Donaldson, Eric Drachman, Sherri & Garrett Draper, Carla Eagleton, Samantha French & Mike Weller, Peter Garbett, Roni Glover, Melissa Halls, Lindsey Harrington, Pam Havig, Lois Heaton, Chris Heavey, Russ Hurlburt, Cliff & Dannie Johnson, Sharon Jones-Forrester, Elizabeth & Darrell Kahre, Jane & Michael Karwoski, Bob Koettel, Chris Korose, Ryan Larsen, Brian Lech, Andrew Leman, Pat Loosbroock, Liz Marave, Pascal Marcotte, Rebecca Marcotte, Aaronell Matta, Steph Morris, Duane Neillson, Mary Potter, Suzanne & Jason Poulsen, Mary Jane Powell, Carol Randall, Martina, Jennifer & Roger Rennels, Mark Schwartz, Jenna Silverman, Rachel Simmons, Southwest Auto Glass Co., Randall Stiles, Kristine Stone (Yes! a fellow blogger!), Stephanie Stowman, Susan Summers, Michael Sy, Rebecca Thomas, Don & Leslie Trottier (THREE donations between the 2 of 'em!?!), Kati Trottier (my very first sponsor, yay!), Jen Vecchio, Diane Villa, Carolina Villar-Mendez, Cortney Warren, The Gwen Weiss Family (my 2nd most generous sponsor!), and Wayne Weiten (my most generous sponsor, Hallelujah!)

YOU ALL SO ROCK! THANK YOU AGAIN!

And if you're NOT on my list?

Fear not! It's not too late!

Go visit my MS webpage right here, right now!

MS Update!

Okay ~ it's my last full day to receive donations for tomorrow MS Walk, and I'm happy to say that I'm much closer to my fundraising goal than I was just yesterday, for sure, but we're still not there yet!

I still need help! I need YOUR help!
Puhleeeeeeze?

Help me out and in turn, you'll be helping my dearest gal pal, Poppy Johnston, and helping everyone else who must deal with the uncertainty MS causes in so many lives... You're donation will do some good, guaranteed! It'd be something you can absolutely feel good about, 100% ~ and I promise, you'll have some fabulous karma comin' atcha! Pronto!

I have only $365 left to go

to make my goal of $2,000,

but I absolutely cannot do it without your help!

Please? ~ Visit my MS webpage and make an online donation right now, easy as pie! It'd be a great start to your weekend!

And thank you to all those who've pledged
their donations thus far!

I cannot express how touched and pleased I am with all those listed amongst my sponsorship! THANK YOU!

The Fundraising Countdown is on...the MS WALK is this Saturday!?!

Alrighty, between now and this next early Saturday morning, by 7:30 a.m. [SEMI-RELATED TANGENT: Speaking of 'early,' working as a member of the MS Walk Committee, I gotta spend this Friday night doing preliminary set up for the walk from 6pm until midnight!?! and then, Saturday morning, I have to be there by 5 AM for final set up. No one can say I don't love my Popstar! END OF TANGENT], I've got to drum up $520 to meet my $2,000 fundraising goal for this year's MS Walk - - and I am soooooo close, but not quite there with little time left!

Soooo, if you haven't done so already, be an absolute dearie and pledge a donation, and in turn, there will be some uber good karma comin' atcha for it! And, of course, I'll be forever grateful to you for your help and support! REMEMBER: Every single dollar counts! NO amount is too little, not ever!

To donate online, use my MS webpage!
You can also use this link:
http://tinyurl.com/35nnxm

~ And here's the entire webpage address in case:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/
plus the next line...
TR?px=1989971&pg=personal&fr_id=2980

And if you don't want to use your personal email contact info., please, please, please use mine and I'll happily email your donation receipt to you, if you'll be sure to email me and let me know yours:

annejelynn at yahoo dot com
OR
annejelynn at gmail dot com

ANNNND
If you don't want to submit your donation online (although it's very secure), but ya do wanna give, you can either send me an email or look via the NMSS Nevada Chapter's Home Page for instructions as to how you can mail in a donation! Just let me know ~

For a more personal glimpse into the life story of someone who's dealt with MS her entire life, see my adorable friend, Melissa's own MS webpage right here.

Walking Through the Motions

Not all too long ago, we had had NO idea what the hell we were gunna do... and in a matter of one month's time, our direction has been entirely rerouted in the opposite direction of this last two years' worth of hopes, quite literally speaking, like, directionally speaking.

Wait, so what does that mean?

IT MEANS THIS: I won't be moving to Los Angeles, after all. Instead, so that my honey-man can continue his much loved work in Vegas, minus his weekly 10-12 hour commute from L.A. to Vegas and back again, by Memorial Day weekend, he will move from L.A. to Las Vegas.

Yup, a TOTAL switch from our original plans - - from south on I-15, to northbound.

Of course, there's a great number of seriously deep and complicated issues to deal with surrounding this decision - - Geesh, what a gagging understatement that is! Moreover, for now, I will not go into all those issues, because right now I'm feeling something very real, something very new, something legitimate, and rather intense...

Today, I had my first "walk-through"... By April 30th, I may have a new address, and today, I got to walk through it, scrutinize it and lay some claim to it, and today, in my heart and my mind's eye, I got to see us all in it, all of us together, and it made me happy.

Yes, I had my very first walk-through this morning at 11AM. It took 2 and a half hours, and today, I am now, officially, excited about our decision.

From New York to Paris

I stole this from Random & Odd (Kristine!) ~ and it's too good! ~ Just check it out!

–Go to Google.com

–Click on Maps

–Click the "Get Directions" tab

–And Type in from New York, New York

–To Paris, France

–Then Click the "Get Directions" button...

–And read line # 23.

An Excellent Point: Media Controls our Perspective re: Working Moms in the U.S.

Anyone who shares my concern (and my anger) about the dreadful lack of support encountered by working mothers in the U.S., you should read this tight lil' piece written by Alice Bradley from AlphaMom.com:

"It's time for a cease fire"

Hoppy Eastour Bonny!

Happy Easter to all!

and Here's how I spent my morning...

Fuzzy to mah Left, Fuzzy to mah Right

Otis on my left...

...and Owen on my right