I Luv Weird Al Yankovic

This is a cropped version of a group photo that included me and my honey-man, the angel boy-O and his mommie, Wendy and her lovin'-man, all of us together with Weird Al... but I can't show ya all that, so here's me and Al, having a moment between us.

The concert on Friday was fantastic fun! We had a total blast ~ And after the concert was over we all waited over an hour in line so the angel boy-O could get his concert ticket autographed and our pic taken as a group with Al sitting on the steps of his tour bus! Al patiently, most generously remained post-concert to see everyone who had waited for him... and there were A LOT of people. After a two hours and 20 minute long performance, including multiple wardrobe changes and some pretty dang enthusiastic and energetic stage antics, he had to be utterly exhausted! I was very impressed with his calm and gracious demeanor.

Thank you for waiting it out for us, Weird Al!

And Donnie Osmund Too!

Family Bloggin' vs. Annejelynn As Is

In the last 3 weekends in a row, we've been out of state:

1st wkend: Wedding in Ogden, UT
2nd wkend: Camping in Zion over Father's Day weekend
Last wkend: Another family wedding, this one in Bear Lake, ID

The last trip cost $200 in gas!?! - - so I won't even attempt a total gasoline tally for the last 3 weeks. . . I may choke! Anyhow, we've been out of town, doin' family stuff, so any significant time devoted to blogging (if any), has been spent on our private family blog (no sharing of family pictures here, sorry!), but here's some purty non-identifying-of-family shots I can share here from our camping trip in Zion:

This deer wandered right through our campsite

These are from our first afternoon in the park from our first hike:

And these are from our 2nd day of camping, hiking the "Hidden Canyon" that morning

This is a lil' almost hidden free standing arch - - a few hikers would have missed it, had we not pointed it out to them.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 26

Because he's not at all shy about dancing in public with total abandon!

Flooding in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

This first video I've linked is from June 13th, and it eventually loops to play through for a 2nd time, but in the beginning, when they mention the search boat rescue with an aerial shot of Diary Queen and 1st avenue, my step-mum's business is off of 1st avenue in east downtown Cedar Rapids = and her business will be a total loss. FIRST VIDEO HERE = Once you click the link, on the left, select "Watch the Video" typed in red found below 'Multimedia.' And here's the 2nd video HERE, from the same news station, KCRG.

My step-mum's business is beside the more slender brownish high rise seen beside the river in the upper left corner area of this picture below.

See this building on the far left? My step-mum's business is right by that!

Although the river is within 2 blocks of my parents' home, they live on a high hill (thank goodness) in the NE quadrant of Cedar Rapids.

My lil' brother has been a part of the frantic sandbagging effort since all this began. He goes to school down in Iowa City, but right now, if he were to return to school, he'd have to take a 280 mile detour.

Camping! Thum! Summertime! Boy-O! Hooray!

We're running a lil' behind schedule, but sooner than later, we'll be out the door and off to Zion National Park to go CAMPING! YAY!

The angel boy-O has been here since Sunday and he had a great first week at his summer camp (and with us too!) The first day of summer camp, he literally RAN in right past the sign-in table and got to socializing immediately. He was totally thrilled to be there - - which was more than a lil' encouraging!

Monday night, we had a very lovely, very yummy home cooked dinner together at home, and afterward, the boys played street hockey together until it was time for bed.

Tuesday night was chores night and potstickers (the boy's favorite meal here). It was also the night of what I hope will be the one and only most serious battle we'll ever encounter against the 'Thum'... For "most serious battle," read "swearing, hitting, long suffering gnashing of teeth, wailing and tear-streaked sobbing for nearly an hour." See, the angel boy-O's mommy, Wendy and I, last weekend together in Ogden, we scored a topical oral deterrent for thumb-suckers, and the poor kiddo absolutely HATES it ("we hates it *gollum* we hates it"), but it's way overdue! Despite any protesting, however, I think the angel boy-O must know deep down it must be done and he wants it to be over, as he happens to be the one to always remind us to apply it at bedtime about 20-30 minutes before it has to happen! ...although last night, he did hide the bottle and refused to reveal it's location for about 5 minutes.

Yesterday, the boy-O and zee honey-man went swimming together and the two had dinner together too, and did some grocery shopping for our camping trip, while I was at to our MS Walk final-wrap-up committee meeting - - more on that to come.

Although it's only our first week with the angel boy-O, I can honestly say that this time around, compared to last summer, I think my honey-man and I, we finally have the right line of expectations and there's not as much pressure and anxiety as last year... we're calm, collected, cool... and we're relaxed and really enjoying our time with the angel boy-O.

And now? Well, we gotta go camping!

My, What Big 'Couches' You Have

This will take some getting used to...

The kitties, however, they love it! They run back and forth from the far left, to the far right along the area behind the cushions, like it's their own private highway.

Got Rain? How 'bout Lightning too?

Since Monday, I'd been calling my parents' home to hear how they've been doing with all this crazy mid-western rainfall, but I hadn't caught anyone at home; the home phone would just ring and ring and ring... This morning on the way to work, listening to NPR, flooding in Cedar Falls, Iowa, was mentioned and that caught my attention big time = Cedar Falls is not at all that far from Cedar Rapids, where my parents live. I tried calling their home again, and once again, it just rang and rang, and I finally figured something was wrong; a pattern became evident: I wasn't even getting an answering machine pick up! [BACKGROUND INFO: Not many in my family are fans of call waiting, and my parents don't use it at all, if they even have it as a service (I don't think so). We all will usually ignore awaiting call until done with the first, and just call back the missed person.] So yeah, the whole not answering the phone is not at all that unusual, but the answering machine not coming on at all?

The short of all this would be the following: My parents' home was hit by lightening, and it has knocked out their phones and services, and all their household appliances are ruined (at least $10K worth), but their computers and printers are fine, due to hefty surge protectors.

I reached my step-mum on her cell this morning and she was on her way to clear out her downtown Cedar Rapids business office. See, the Cedar River is supposed to crest in Cedar Rapids tonight by about 3 feet and it's very likely her business will be flooded - - and there's a lot of heavy, very hefty duty, somewhat immobile, very, VERY expensive equipment that's gotta get off the floor! but how? UPDATE, 6/16/08: It's didn't flood by a mere 3 feet... it went past the height of the front entry door!

Meanwhile, my father is in Milan, Italy, totally unavailable. Of course, before I remembered this fact [SEMI-RELATED TANGENT: My father travels more often than not, and it's honestly difficult to keep up with his international travel schedule unless I write it down. END OF TANGENT], I had actually called his cell phone first and he had answered! It totally threw me off to hear his answer as to where he was, and for me to realize I'd forgotten he'd be in Italy, and then the fact that he'd actually answered my call, and THEN, it reeeeally threw me for a loop when he told me their house had been struck by lightening!? Jeepers!

I hope everything goes the best way it possibly can - - I wish I was there to help out, dammit! And I feel terrible for those having to bear the brunt of all this nasty weather our world is encountering nearly everywhere around the globe.

Hooray for Leslie & Freecycle!

Sooo, over our wedding weekend in Ogden, Wendy's lovely sister, Leslie brought up the subject of Freecycle.com and the timing could not have been better - - ever heard of Freecycle? I had before, but I'd totally forgotten about it! You can post things online via Freecycle that anyone might want (and you can ask for things too) and it's all FOR FREE; it's not just the listing you post online for free, but the actual items listed. It's basically meant for things that you don't want to bother selling for money, nor do you want them sitting in a landfill.

As I'd mentioned recently, we bought a new sectional couch set that includes a queen-size pull out sofa bed, but we gotta get rid of what we've had first, especially SOON because we found out today that the new set up will be delivered this very Wednesday!?! Only last week did it occur to me that I'd really have to figure out some way to get rid of these beauties and quick.

Here's the long one with it's couch cover...

And here's the two WITHOUT couch covers!?!

I'd bought these lovelies off of my old roomie, Helen (she was 83 at the time), for $100 when she'd announced her plans to sell her home so she could live with her sister. I was to get an apartment of my own and the two pieces were far better than nothing. [TRIVIAL SIDE NOTE: The DVD spindle seen on the smaller of the two was meant to indicate some scale for those interested.]

Well, not more than a couple hours ago, I posted these oh-so beautiful beastie couches online via Freecycle and guess what?! = They'll be gone by tomorrow afternoon!?! We are saved!

I LOVE FREECYCLE!
And Thank YOU again to Leslie, for putting that Freecycle-bee in my bonnet!

Shoved Off Course

This past weekend, we went to Ogden, UT to attend the wedding luncheon and lovely reception of my honey-man's former spouse's uber cutie niece... Yes, those unfamiliar with my mega-extended family orientation, it happens to include the family of the angel boy-O's mommy too ~ They are a most delightful group that has essentially adopted me into their family, and I love them all!

BACK TO MY STORY: After a most excellent, most enjoyable wedding weekend, playing and hanging with Wendy's clan, we returned home yesterday. And after the 6-hour drive together, back to Vegas, with Wendy staying overnight until her own return drive home to LA this morning, I thought it'd be nice for us to have a lil' girlie-girl time together on the couch with my hot paraffin tub, but we needed some more paraffin pellets. With a store just around the corner, I ran off to pick some up some before the store would close at 6 pm...

With my bought paraffin pellets in a bag thrown beside me in my car's passenger seat, I was headed back home, no more than 10 minutes from the time I'd left. Having barely rolled to a complete stop at a stop sign that's clearly visible from our own bedroom window, I was violently struck from behind, hard enough that my car was shoved all the way out into the street I'd been waiting to make my turn on to. What fantastic luck, eh? Just wait... it gets better.

The driver was an unaccompanied minor driving with a permit with a vehicle she does not own, insured only by the actual owner of the car to whom she is merely making payments, and the insurance card she gave me lists the owner's insurance policy expired as of 4/8/08, and the driver has no insurance of her own. Fun stuff, indeed.

Kitty Time! For now...

...cuz I'm too preoccupied with general busy-ness, getting ready-ness, for the angel boy-O's arrival tonight, to begin his summer stay with us here in Vegas! He arrives with his dear mama, Wendy, in less than 30 minutes from now! WOO-HOO! So yeah, for now, kitty pics are all I have to offer... Did I mention already that the angel boy-O will be here?!? WOOOOO-HOO!

This lil' guy snuggled himself into my bathrobe that I'd laid on the couch, about to mend one of the belt loops...

I was looking through my pictures on my camera and saw this and was like, "Ahh, did you take this?" And my honey-man's response, in a very light, yet seemingly earnest tone: "Actually, I came into the room and Owen had the camera..." Smart ass.

"Where are the kitties?"
We have no idea why the two of them were in here.. maybe they were having a secret meeting regarding a future take over of our home?

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 25

Because my honey-man went to not one or two, but ELEVEN different restaurants last Saturday night in search of a mushroom & swiss burger or some other satisfactory meal option for me!?! See, after finishing the garage that day, we went together to go feed the kitty of a friend of ours who's been out of town, and while driving there, we realized we were super hungry... And I told him I was really jones'n for a mushroom & swiss burger, like the one we'd had at Mickey D's in LA after we'd all gone to the angel boy-O's AWESOME honor orchestra performance at UCLA. Now, I'm no big fan of McDonald's or any fast food joint (with the exception of In n' Out and a few items at Sonic), but their mushroom & swiss was delicious! Really! Anyhow, whenever I may mention actually wanting something in particular, my honey-man goes out of his way, and I mean WAY out of his way, to find a way to please me. So, yes, ELEVEN different restaurants, and NO, I DID NOT ASK THIS OF HIM - - He was absolutely insistent!

Beginning with our first stop:
1. McDonalds on Green Valley Pkwy - - no longer available
2. Great Harvest Bread - - closed their sandwich service at 6:30pm
3. McDonalds on Stephanie & Sunset - - just in case a different location might have it still
4. Dairy Queen - - no mushroom & swiss
5. Carl's Jr - - just discontinued the mushroom & swiss for some Western burger
6. Jack in the Box - - same story as Carl's Jr.
7. Quizno's - - no mushroom & swiss
8. Capriotti's on Sunset - - closed at 7pm
9. Burger King on Warm Springs - - no mushroom & swiss
10. Capriotti's on Warm Springs - - also closed at 7pm

After striking out TEN times, I told my honey-man that his fantastic effort to locate and acquire a mushroom & swiss burger for me was, well, a fantastic effort, but it was time to give up already! In the end, we wound up at one of our regular spots, Sonic Burger off Warm Springs, and settled for our usual buy one, get one free cheeseburgers coupons and we split a drink and onion rings... and we also tried the worst caloric indulgence they had available... their Macaroni & Cheese Snacks!!

More importantly, what does all this really say about my honey-man?
When he came out of Carl's Jr. (our 5th stop), I was sitting in the car, watching for his return and he could see me clearly. As he approached the car, he offered a very animated, apologetic, frowning smile, bottom lip protruding in a heavy pout, while throwing his hands into the air, immediately followed by an equally animated downward swing of his right hand into an exaggerated 'ahhh, shoot' finger snap. In that moment, permagrin settling in, I thought in wonderment, "Wow. When I'm pregnant, flush with strange food cravings and mega bizarre emotional whims, he is sooo gunna kick some ass as my soon-to-be baby-daddy!"

In the Throes of Domestic Bliss

Another long and rambling post: We had people asking last week and since the weekend hit, what our plans were for the Memorial weekend. Most were surprised we were even around, expecting us to leave town, but instead, we remained home for 3 days of "domestic bliss," as my honey-man put it to whomever asked him, while I just told people we were going to stay home and clean the garage. Yup, we basically had a laundry list of things-to-do 'round the house, but our primary mission for the holiday: Organize the garage!

Before all the productive domesticity was to begin, however, Friday night was nothing but leisurely, non-productive time spent together: We went for a two-hour long walk around our neighborhood, and um, I can't remember anything else after that... we went to sleep around 1:30 am.

But yes, on Saturday, we spent 7 hours rearranging everything in our garage, well enough to not only park the Matrix back inside the garage for the first time since Christmas (Hallelujah!), but to also fill the Matrix with stuff, all of intended for Goodwill! We also determined we have three major furniture items to post for sale on Craigslist this week. Once the garage was deemed sufficiently reorganized, we cuddled on the couch with the kitties and split a delicious bottle of raspberry lambic while we watched Raiders of the Lost Ark (on laser disc!) in preparation for the new Indy Jones flick we'll see later this week.

Here's the absolutely ridiculous 'before' picture of our garage (ridiculous and embarrassing!). There's unfortunately no 'after' shot to share just yet. Yer just gunna have to believe me that it's now much improved.Owen, stretched along my legs while we watched Raiders...

On Sunday, just like Saturday, 'we' slept in as planned, although I really woke at 6 am and fought to stay asleep over the following 2 hours, waking every 20 minutes for 5-10 minutes before dozing off to only wake again, sneaking out of bed around 8 am, waiting to make breakfast until my sweetly snoring, exhausted honey-man would finally rise around 9:30 am... BACKGROUND: I have a tendency to wake real early but just remain in bed, lying there half awake, going in and out of consciousness for at least a half hour to an hour, and during these times, I may blurt my thoughts aloud in short, truncated statements or in some question form. My honey-man is ridiculously patient with me when I do this (although not quite so much when I do the very same thing at bedtime), but he warned me Friday night to NOT do this over our holiday weekend at home = Hell or high water, he was going to sleep in, dammit! Me, however, I guess I was too jazzed to stay in bed. Anticipating all we had planned, it was hard to lay there unless I could rouse my honey-man for some good spooning. I do love me some guhoood spoonage.

Anyhow, Sunday morning, we had a full breakfast together at home. Thereafter, we both dilly-dallied with strange and rare spring cleaning tasks until we left for a BBQ at 1:30pm, and there we stayed until 6pm. Upon leaving the party, we were to return home to hang some frames up the stairway walls and hang some new curtains in our front room, but we went out to see Iron Man instead. BACKGROUND: We've lived in our home for a year now and have done so without any window coverings of any kind in our front room. These 'new curtains' we were to hang, we've actually had them for 9 months now, both of us stalling/refusing to hang them because we prefer the pure, bright, but gentle light from our northern windows, although we both know we should put something up for greater privacy at night...

This morning, we BOTH slept in (and it was NOT another repeat of either Saturday or Sunday morning for me - - thank goodness!), and I made fresh banana whole-grain pancakes for breakfast. [SEMI-RELATED TANGENT/RECOMMENDATION: Although delicious and uber-filling (couldn't eat more than two), it's best to let banana pancakes cool for at least five full minutes, as the bananas can reach 'molten'-like temperatures. I had somehow forgotten this until AFTER my first bite. END OF TANGENT.] While Once and Harry Potter's Order of the Phoenix each played through twice throughout the day, my honey-man ironed all his shirts and put away all of yesterday's five loads of folded laundry, and we ironed and rehung our freshly washed kitchen and bathroom curtains, and I dinked with this and that, reframed a picture or two, vacuumed the house and shook all the rugs, while my honey-man installed a ceiling fan in our bedroom. And then?

Owen, atop our 5 loads of unfolded laundry...

After a brief perusal of a few online listings, we ventured out to investigate Memorial Day furniture sales. By 8:30pm tonight, we became the proud soon-to-be owners of a custom sofa bed sectional set to be made and delivered to us in less than 3 weeks' time, and thus, we have new found incentive to put up those front room curtains, so at least our overnight guests can have THEIR privacy if and whenever they may stay in our home!!!

P.S. We'll actually have both Wendy and her lovin'-man here for a visit the last weekend of June for the Weird Al Yankovic concert, so that's our deadline for the hanging of those blasted front room curtains! We'll see how long we put it off until it absolutely has to happen!

Cats 'er Cute Manipulative Creatures, That's All

I realize that no one will really be as amused by this as I am - - but that's okay (cuz I really don't care anyhow!) ~ I juhhst love my fuzzy babies! For those who don't know, Owen is the smaller, predominantly white-tummied one and Otis is the bigger, more tan kitty.

Now this next, more specific explanation as to how one can tell the two kitties apart, it's just a simple, kooky fluke of a coinky-dink, realized months after the two had already been given their names:

OWEN is the more white kitty: "oWen" = 'W' for white.
OTIS is the more tan kitty: Again, please notice: "oTis" = 'T' for tan

Beware: More Info. Than You May Really Care to Read

So yeah, I've been busy lately. That being said, here's a Top Twenty listing of some of the latest abridged potential posts, including titles, that I've meant to share over the last couple months, many from just the last 2 weeks:

1. "Mah Flash Drive Woes & Regrets" - On May 6th, my mostest favoritest, most frequently relied upon flash drive inexplicably quit, and it was confirmed today by a reputable 3rd party recovery co. (the one and the same co. that had saved our pictures of our honeymoon in Ireland), that I have, indeed, lost 30 hrs of work-related work, and everything else that was on it. My last backup was March 30th, but apparently, that's not recent enough. The next couple weeks will now be a repeat of the last couple weeks. [insert gurgling inner rumbling noises of deep sadness]. [SEMI-RELATED TANGENT: I don't think I ever posted any pics here from our honeymoon, did I? Well dang! I should do that! END OF TANGENT.]

2. "Movie Time with Mah Honey-Man" - We have at least 4 borrowed DVDs (well, like, 8 if you count all the included discs for the extended version of Two Towers), some we've had for months now, all from the angel boy-O's mom, Wendy. In the last 2 weeks, we've been trying to make sure we watch them all by June 4th, so they can all be returned to her. Some of them, we've stayed up until 1am to get 'er done [SEMI-RELATED TANGENT: I may still be a night owl, but my honey-man, he is not]. The other night, we watched Once (I so loved it!), and have some thoughts to share on it, but I'll reduce 'em to this: I so thought this movie was a documentary! I bought the whole thing, hook line and sinker = yes, because I'm a gullible sap, I know. And now, I intend to buy the movie soundtrack!

3. "Gone With the Wind" (referring to our Vegas weather) - I finally bought some flowers for potting (half-price at Target! - which is good since about half of 'em will be dead by summer's end), and I set them out around our home's outside entry door. When planting them, the wind was so nutso-strong, I wound up with about half the potting soil up my noise, in my hair, down my shirt, and plastered in a thin, clearly visible layer over every inch of exposed skin. It's been INSANELY windy here for the last week. Oh, and we went from 105 degrees on Sunday to a balmy 74, today...

4. "Losing One's Great Elders of the Family" - The husband of my Grandpa Farrell's only surviving sibling, his sister, Ramona, he died of a heart attack this past weekend. He has an enormous family (a very active, prominent Mormon family with gobs of grandchildren and great grandchildren)! There's a lot to be said about this uncle's life - - what a very good life, he had. I've only focused though upon what I know my mum would have said about him: She always knew he loved her very much.

5. "No more Pink, Gone is the Orange" (referring to my hair color) - The short of this one is I'm now a dark brunette once again, despite all the positive feedback I'd received. Oh, and while we're on the subject: I haven't let a professional stylist cut my hair since my last haircut in December. I've been on my own - - however, I may soon have to give in and let a professional take over. My weekly maintenance (read here, 'obsessive') trimmings have become tedious in the last couple weeks!

6. "The Real Reality of Postpartum Depression" - I have a dear sweetheart in my family who had been struggling with untreated postpartum, and although she's on the mend finally, I'm afraid she hasn't been given the full range of empathetic understanding she deserves. I simply wanted to write here about my own understanding of such situations and the power of hormones and chemical imbalance, and how the whole "buck it up and tough it out honey" approach is the last thing a mother with postpartum needs to be given.

7. "A New Kind of Chicken Pot Pie" or "Not To Be Repeated" - Round this time of year, there's party that I have a major hand in planning every time, and this year (it was last Friday), we had resurrected an old favorite: The Iron Chef Competition. The key ingredient this year was peanuts. [SIDE NOTE: Last time we had the Iron Chef Competition, the key ingredient had been graham crackers, and the submissions that year were truly inspired.] Anyhow, I created a Thai-inspired, peanut based roue for a baked chicken pot pie. I had slow-cooked the chicken with ginger, garlic and white pepper... and the roue, well, I used peanut butter. Now, it did NOT win as an entree entry, but no one tossed their cookies either; it was remarkably good. It was, really! Nonetheless, it was also a one-time thing, not to be repeated.

8."Green Light Giv'n to Hire Me a New 'Sistant" - K, yer not supposed tah blog about work, I know - - HOWEVAH - - I was given clearance last week to hire a new assistant, and this news almost makes up for the last year's worth of daily torture!!! Hallelujah and Amen. Praise all that is good and precious.

9. "Oh Zee Folly of Youth" - There's a possibility that one of my younger cousins, my mum's own namesake, may be moving to Vegas in the fall. She was here over the weekend of my MS Walk, and I spent some time with her - - and I am admittedly envious. When I was her age, I was a mess (she'll be 20 in July). The short of it: She's so darling and super sassy, in a relaxed, down to earth, easy, confident, uber-cashe, very comfortable kind of way, I could eat her whole. I hope she moves here.

10."MS Fundraising Shortfall" - Our Nevada Chapter of the Nat'l MS Society hasn't met our minimum fund-raising target --- I helped count the final donations brought in on walk day, and we knew then that we don't have enough. This makes my stomach feel ill and knotted - - and it's hard to continue pleading for more support, but man, we need it. The minimum amount that's needed to provide minimum services to those in Nevada living with MS, we just don't have it. Consequently, although the event was May 10th, our MS Walk fund-raising deadline has been extended until June 1st. I intend to post more on this before the week's end, but I've felt too nauseous about it to do so just yet.

11. "My Final Tally for Zee 2008 MS Walk" - see #9 above... or for now, go visit HERE

12. "Gargantuan Public THANK YOU to all my MS Sponsors" - This will come soon, but also see above, #9...

13. "I Love My FURminator" - Blatant product plug for The FURminator, which I'd read about on Dooce.com and bought that very same day, no joke. Both Otis & Owen have never been fans of brushing = Despite four different cat brushes over the last 5 years, they always have hated it until now! This is from Oatie's first 5 minutes of time with the FURminator.

14. "Are you Preggers?" - This post, if written at greater length, I would offer multiple, extensive observations made in the last year regarding today's latest fashion trends for the ladies, plus the simple fact that it's no secret that I'm jones'n to be pregnant, and it's in the not-so-distant plans, but not yet in the works, but I digress. I've acquired a good handful of new tops in the last few months, and I'm absolutely certain that for any observant bystander, each one I wear begs the question... "Is she pregnant?" For future reference until further notice: No, not yet, but my wardrobe is sure ready for it, yes.

15. "White & Nerdy" - Because I do so love and ahhdore our delightful angel boy-O (plus I'm a relatively decent, semi-cool step-mommie), I got us tickets to see Weird Al Yankovic in June. Yup, and since the purchase of these aforementioned tickets, all four of us devoted parents will now be escorting the boy-O, all of us together - - and I fully intend to learn all the lyrics to "White & Nerdy" by then, among other Weird Al favorites... Various random lines from "Eat It" have plagued a number of private moments in our home as of late...

16. "Summahtime Plans" - For the first month of summer with the angel boy-O here in Vegas (yay!!!), we have two out-of-state weddings to attend, plans to camp in Zion Nat'l Park over Father's Day, and Weird Al that last weekend of June... and for the month of July? The summer hasn't even begun, I know, but I fear it may be over in no time! We've got LOADS of stuff planned already. The short of it: For the last month, I've been trying to mentally prepare myself, to savor this time we'll have with the angel boy-O, and not think about how soon he'll be gone. [CLARIFICATION: Although we've reached 3-digit temps already, summer doesn't officially begin for me until after the Memorial Day weekend.]

17. "My Heathen State" - This is something I've long wanted to address, but haven't ever... and this will certainly be nothing more than a touch 'n go, oversimplified treatment of the subject: A dear college friend of mine from my days at Ricks College (blak!), now known as BYU Idaho, she gave me a surprise phone call. It'd been a while since we last talked and I was so flippin' excited to simply hear and instantly recognize her voice, I was squealing and giggling for the call's duration... and once I got off the phone, and my honey-man and I had sat down outside for dinner together, he asked me what the...? and I promptly burst into tears. See, I'm a heathen... Not many of my college friends from my days at either Ricks or BYU [double 'blak' - involuntary gagging - - Choking now! - - Pardon me, clearing my throat... No offense is meant by this, but ewww! (hee, hee = I do this to aggravate the very person I'm about to name)] have kept up with me for this fact. Of course, as Mikie stated later -but in my own words- "Screw 'em!" Anyhow... Mikie has always been a friend I can trust, and I have always had such profound respect for her. I hadn't realized until this most recent call from her, that I had begun over the last couple years to unconsciously fear she would soon decide like others had, that I was too lost by Mormon standards to warrant any continued contact with me. But I know better than this... I love you, Mikal!

18. "Happy 5th to Mah Fuzzy Babies" - Their actual birth date is an unknown, however, when I'd adopted these two lil' bros, the vet said they'd been born around end of April, early May, so we celebrate their birthdays on May Day, the 1st.

19. "How 'Bout a New Rotation?" - I've had the same CDs stashed in my car's sun visor's CD holder for the last two years with the exception of two additions over last summer: 1) Wicked, the Soundtrack, after I'd seen the real thing in London (and don't you dare dis Wicked, cuz I'm a enormous sap and I shamelessly love it, and I KNOW ALL OF THE WORDS), and the other [deep inhalation], 2) Fergie, The Dutchess (or whatever it's called). Yes, Fergie - - and I am so ashamed. It was sent to me via an unwanted BMG auto-mailing! I both emailed and called BMG to complain, and I supplied the proof of my online-submitted decline for that month's Featured Selection! The unwanted charges were credited back to my bank account... but I was told to keep the CD - - and not only did I do so, it's been in rotation for nearly a year now. *sniff, sniff* I need serious help, I do. I know. Oh, so what's been in the rotation, you ask? 1) Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits, 2) Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man," [SIDE NOTE: To the angel boy-O's dear mommy's horror, I got the angel boy-O into "Uptown Girl" a few years ago, and he and I sing it in the car together, so it will stay in rotation until the day he tires of it.], 3) the red one is Fergie, 4) the orange is the Garden State Soundtrack, then 5) Putumayo's Brazillian Lounge compilation CD, 6) John Mayer's Continuum, 7) Ferry Corsten's L.E.F. and lastly, 8) "French Behind the Wheel," Disc #6... oh, and I'm certain that Wicked was in the car CD player at the time this photo was taken.

20. "Health Matters: An Update" - Long since the imaginary femoral hernia and the supposed spastic colon, plus a multitude of ridiculous, worthless prescriptions, followed by my personal favorite, the colonoscopy scare, the latest and ahhlmost final verdict is this: I've just got nothing but bad ovarian cyst issues. I do have another scan scheduled on May 28th to rule out one last theory, but we're pretty sure I just have a dreadful cycle is all. I've been charting all sorts of things on the calendar in our bathroom (and we'll leave it at 'all sorts of things'), and I've determined that on average each month, I have about 5 pain-free days is all. Yup. And the proposed solution to this? Either get back on The Pill or get pregnant. So unless we discover something new next week, that's where we are.

P.S. There are more than twenty other potential posts, yet to be posted, but twenty is a nice, clean number for now.

"Kitty in the Bag (Again)" or "Obvious Stalling Attempt b/c I Don't Have Time for More"

Call me 'Itchy Itcherson'

I made the brilliant decision to trim my hair this morning while wearing a pair of overalls... leaning far over the bathroom sink helped, but not entirely.

As I walked out the door for work, I knew I should have just bagged 'em and chosen something else for the day's wear.

It's been less than an hour, but I think already that I might have to change into my gym clothes for the rest of today!

P.S. It's now 9:15 pm and I made it through the day without a wardrobe change, despite some minor itchies here and there

"walk MS" Update Comin' atcha!

Real soon, I'll be posting a final 'report' for last weekend's MS Walk ~ In the meantime, if anyone happens to want to visit my personal MS webpage to help me hit the $3,000 mark, it's not too late!

VISIT NOW ~ right HERE!

Soooo Close, BUT Not Close Enough Just Yet!

MASSIVE 'THANK YOU's
to the latest, glorious additions
to my fabulous list of MS sponsors!

Annette Amdal, Jackie Camp, Mike Chiafulio, Eric Drachman, Kristene Fisher, Seth & Karena Hamilton, Erin Hannon & Joel Snyder, Chris Heavey, Kim & Charles Huot, Jeff & Deb Kinney, Glen McBride, Duane Neillson, Amanda Pasinski, Laurel Pritchard, Janeen Reza, Adrianna Wechsler

If you haven't done so already, please visit my personal MS webpage!
(LINKED HERE)
Go RIGHT NOW and sponsor tomorrow's Las Vegas MS Walk!

Wouldn't it be awesome if I can announce as the event's own emcee that I'd met my fund-raising goal of $4,000?!?

We've reached $2,850 already!
But I STILL NEED YOUR HELP!
PUHLEEZE!

P.S. And those names of donors written in BOLD TYPE (who gave $50 0r more), are eligible for the drawing exclusive to my MS sponsors for TWO BLUE MAN TICKETS, ANY NIGHT, at The Venetian in Las Vegas (link here)!

My Awesome MS Sponsors, Thus Far!

Those who've pledged their MS donation in just the last 24 hours: Daniel Allen, Barbara & Richard Ballingham, Jonelle Cachuela, Coreen Carter, Rolanda Chung, Mikal Davids, Anna Huddleston, Lessel Hutchins, Elizabeth & Darrell Kahre, Jane & Michael Karwoski, Ryan Larsen, Andrew Leman, Michael Noh, Laurel Pritchard, Roger, Jennifer, Martina & Dylan Rennels, Jim Rohrig, Andrea Schoen, Rhea Watson

And those who ran first to the donation plate! ~ Michelle Carro, Gillian Chapman, John & Daly Costanza, Lindsey Harrington, Lois Heaton, Robert Koettel, Pascal Marcotte, Anne Mong, Jason & Suzanne Poulsen, Mary Jane Powell, Carol Randall, Jenna Silverman, Rebecca Thomas, Susan Thompson, Don Trottier & Leslie Trottier, Sangeeta Ullal, Diane Villa, Wayne Weiten

BRAVO, PEOPLE! BRAVO!!!

And my sincerest gratitude to you all!

P.S. And those names of donors written in BOLD TYPE (who gave $50 0r more), are eligible for the drawing exclusive to my MS sponsors for TWO BLUE MAN TICKETS, ANY NIGHT, at The Venetian in Las Vegas (link here)!