Saturday, December 30, 2006

Northbound, We Go-Go!

Tomorrow morning, or rather, I guess, 'later' today (it's after 1am right now, the 30th), we're leaving for Salt Lake City, where we'll connect with Wendy and the angel boy-O, to spend some time with friends and family, plus Wendy's clan too. Then we'll be off to Colorado with the angel boy-O in tow - - for his very FIRST ski trip! woo-hoo!!! We're sooooooo very excited to have him on the slopes with us and with my immediate fam from Iowa, who we'll stay with in Keystone. I'm so eager to hit the road, my hands are shaking with excitement! I'm not sure I'll get much sleep!

Our internet access may be sporadic at best, although my honey-man will be seeking a connection for his work at times ~ The point is this: I hope to post, but may not have much chance to do so.


In the meantime,
I hope EVERYONE enjoys
a
fantabulous New Year's celebration!
Cheers! to you and yours!!!

Friday, December 29, 2006

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 3

One of the reasons I love my honey-man is because
he is just as thrilled as I am about having a new Kitchen Aid Mixer, to the point that he will announce at unexpected moments,
"I'm so thrilled we have that mixer."



And he was the one who took this picture below, not me...

Hackin' Away

This was written on the 19th: I've been sick since last week... have stayed home from work for a few days now, feeling absolutely unproductive to the max, lying around, coughing my head off. Oh, but it snowed this morning! in Vegas! I was awake at 3:30-ish this morning, coughing away, and I had gotten up to get a drink ~ and discovered SNOW! I took a picture of the backyard, believing it would all be gone by 7 am... it was gone by 9 am.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Belated Most Merry Holiday Greetings!

We just got home from a flick - - on our 3rd try, we finally made it to a showing of Casino Royale. Thanks Grams!

The tree is still lit up and piney, my honey-man's in the bathroom shaving, I've got two cups of tea already steeping, with a kitty to my left side and a kitty at my right foot. And to my furthest right, a Kitchen Aid Classic Mixer, begging still to be put to action... Today was a lazy day, just trying to rest up, hoping to prevent any relapse into hacking-my-head-off-all-day status. Tomorrow though, I've got some plans brewed for tomorrow.

woo-hoo! (wink, wink)

I hope everyone's been enjoying a wonderful holiday break from the usual chaos.
All the best to you and yours!!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Romancing the Stone

I've been sick the last couple days (but I'm now wearing winter clothes, liberated from my storage unit last night ~ yahoo!!), and early yesterday, I began to develop a lovely deep and very scratchy voice... and it made me remember something from childhood:

When I was 9 years old, twice in the theater, I saw Romancing the Stone with my mum, and I just loved it! And from then on, I was in love with Kathleen Turner's voice. I wanted to grow up and have a voice like her... It didn't happen, of course.
[SIDE NOTE: I'm remembering and realizing more and more often that my parents were purty liberal with me as a child, when it came to movie ratings and allowing me to view 'more adult' themes... e.g. I'd seen both Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club when I was 10 years old - ?!?]

Back to Kathleen Turner: As a kid, I didn't know how to use the term 'sexy' to describe anyone or anything at that time, especially since I was entirely unfamiliar with the word's existence until age 11, BUT IF I HAD KNOWN, I would have described Kathleen Turner's voice as sexy. Mind you, I haven't heard her voice since she appeared as Chandler Bing's transvestite father in the TV show Friends... I'm not sure I remember what her voice was even like in Romancing the Stone, I only remember loving it as a little girl.

The voice I'm sportin' today is the closest I'll ever get to Kathleen Turner's deep and breathy voice box.
And this voice is hardly sexy.

Roses in Bloom

Taken last Saturday, near the Burbank Farmers Market... the light played some tricks on me... a kinda of fuzzy affect -




Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Intended Posts, Possibly Post-Holiday Season

I hope to have the chance to write posts about the following topics I've listed further below, but not until some other things get done first, like rummaging through my storage unit with my honey-man to locate my winter clothes and ski gear tonight! and preparing and mailing off nearly 80 xmas cards by this Saturday!!! while fitting in an evening of baby quilting with my aunt tomorrow night and packing for L.A. before leaving town this Friday, but not until I do 3 loads of laundry and choose a white elephant gift for an upcoming holiday party on Sat. in L.A., and once I'm in L.A., the rest of our ski-gear shopping for the angel boy-O and some more holiday gift shopping before attending the white elephant party, and then once back in Vegas, bucket loads of stuff to do for work before leaving town on the 20th, and 2 holiday parties and 3 luncheons, and packing everything I'll need while I'm gone from LV for 17 days, and um, um (my brain is already fried!):

1) Mah new Matrix
2) Owen's new personality development
3) Thanksgiving reflections
4) Collected Sunset pics
5) That strange Hollywood Bowl sign off I-15
6) L.A. job search progress, or lack thereof
6) My new digs
7) Chrimpus preparations
8) Babies
9) my PDA
10) Divorce

My "I Hit a Cow" Story, Part VII ~ Who's at Fault?

Alrighty folks! (drumroll puhleeeze) Just moments ago, the final words were spoken and a mega huge sigh of relief was had by me! ~ Can ya guess what it is? oh come on, you can guess! [Yeah, I know - you can see it below at a glance - I'm just a cheese ball; so deal with it!]

Conclusion in Terms of Liability: Although traveling at the time through Idaho open range territory, the cows had not broken nor did they force themselves through any fence lines... Instead, with a 10 foot wide gap left open, it was found that the rancher hadn't properly maintain his fence lines = this means the cows simply wandered free, out of pasture and out on to the road... because of HIS negligence.

The Final Word: It's not my fault that I hit that poor cow.

P.S. A friend just wrote asking what this means for me, exactly =
It means I don't have to pay the rancher for the cow, nor do I have
to pay for any of our medical bills... and it won't go on my driving
record as a negative mark!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Bless the Mechanically Minded! & Loving Family Relations!

Lots and lots to do this week (OH HELP), buhht I must stop what I'm doing to sing glorious praises to dear Cliff of Ogden, UT ~ Wendy's adorable daddy ~

Early this past Sunday night, with blankets and gobs of car munchies in order and a couple Christmas CDs on hand, we were all loaded in the car to head over to Griffith Park in L.A. to see the lovely Chrimpus lights on display, buhht there was a big problem: my - new - 2005 - Matrix - WOULD - NOT - start - !?!

Can you say "WHAT THE HELL?"


Oh no, I did not panic = it was far too depressing to get all riled up about it! These days, that kind of moment has been exactly par for the course... and at the time though, I must say, it did certainly help that my honey-man didn't get upset nor mad or panicked ~ thank you, babes!

So yeah, my car wouldn't start! We popped the hood and grabbed a flashlight and performed a thorough visual inspection of every nut and bolt, casing, tube and wire for anything that looked remotely out of sorts. We then tried the engine a couple more times - - definitely not turning over...

Then the remarkable: My honey-man told me he was going to call Cliff, that he'd know what to do. So he dialed his former father-in-law and briefly explained our situation, and he held his cell phone out and over the car engine, cuing me to try the engine again... And then? A diagnosis was given
aaannnnd not only was it absolutely free of cost, turns out it was dead-on correct! THANK YOU SO MUCH, CLIFF!

The next morning, my honey-man did as he'd been instructed: He picked up a spray can of starter fluid, which he sprayed into the engine air intake to check if we had an ignition spark, which we did have, and then he gave my gas tank a good dose of fuel injection cleaning treatment and it's worked!

#1 - How absolutely awesome is that? - to have someone correctly diagnosis an engine's troubles over a freakin' cell phone connection!?!? HUH?!? - - YOU SOOOOO TOTALLY ROCK, CLIFF!

#2 - How touching is that? - for my honey-man to have his former father-in-law available for such a connection?

#3 - How wonderful is that? - to be in love with a man whose former in-laws love him enough to maintain more than just civil contact with him?

#4 - How absolutely heart-warmingly cool is that? - to have those kind of people in our lives? what fabulously yummy good people!

Ahhh, my heart!

Life is good.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

The Worst "I Hit A Cow" Stories: It's Serious

Since my car accident on Oct. 27th, I've encountered something a bit unexpected from people = A total lack of either sympathy and/or empathy...

It's been 40 days, but every week still, someone else from work hears about the now 'old' news, and they come by my office to see me, and once again, I find myself retelling my "I Hit a Cow" story... I've told my story to soooo many people, I can't possibly count! The majority of those who call or write or come by, they express their caring for me and my family and a kind of grateful disbelief, that none of us were seriously hurt, which I sincerely appreciate. In fact, I've been so surprised and so very touched by how many people have taken interest, who have gone our of their way to tell me they're glad we're all okay.

Again, for all you grateful well-wishers our there, THANK YOU ALL!

There are a few people though -just a rare few- that behave with a sort of 'You're fine -everyone was fine- so get over it already, why don'tcha?' attitude, as if I shouldn't mention a thing about any of it when asked how I am or what's new, as if I shouldn't even still be thinking about any of it ...

...even though my insurance case may remain open months from now... even though I'm still jumpy when driving at night or whenever someone rides up behind another driver... even though, with the rodeo in town and the smell of fresh livestock manure in the air, my stomach churns and I feel physically sick from the smell, so similar to that of the night of the accident... even though, just a couple weeks ago, they were still picking more glass out of Brianna's face... And even though my Grams still can't bring herself to drive at night along that 5 mile stretch of hwy 89 between her home and my aunt Brenda's, even though my Grams would happily drive slow in order to keep an eye out for wandering cattle, but the speed limit is 65 mph and she fears that she'll either anger someone or be rear-ended by an inattentive driver...

Yes, we were damn lucky. But I really don't believe some people realize just how lucky we were. They see us, and they see that we're physically fine -we walked away from it- and so, because of that, it's all blown over as if it was nuthin' - - Try that attitude with Mary Jo, a woman who wrote to me a most heartbreaking letter this last Tuesday, asking for help, having found my blog and read my posts about my own experience. She has a far greater and far more painful understanding as to what can happen when cattle wander loose on public highways.

Having been given her approval, I'll tell her story: Mary Jo lost her dear son on October 22nd, to a cattle-related semi-truck accident here in Nevada, on highway 93 in open range territory. Her 32 year old son, John, was driving a semi-truck and pulling loaded double trailers at night and had no chance to brake. The cow went beneath his truck's undercarriage, seriously compromising the steering gear. He couldn't recover control of his truck and he went off the road and he died... Yes, driving a long, large and heavy semi-truck, he hit a cow and he died.

Try telling Mary Jo that it's important to maintain state open range legislation to protect cattle ranchers from costly lawsuits and fencing maintenance, and see if that will all sound reasonable to her.

If anyone has any ideas or contributions that could help stop people from being killed needlessly by livestock allowed to roam the highways freely, please contact Mary Jo: jodybell404 at aol dot com ~ Thank you.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Thank you, Liberty Mutual! I Kiss Your Feetsies!

The remaining balance on the loan for my cow-ruined old 2003 Matrix has been paid off... Those last 4 words hold the most meaning, of course.

WOOO-HOOOOOOO!

(Now imagine me doing a choo-choo train-like celebration march.)


For now, that is all.

Monday, December 04, 2006

It's Monday, No Doubt

Why do so many of us have such a hard time taking good care of ourselves and our health, both physical and emotional? Are we gluttons for punishment? Living in denial? Don't care enough? Just don't care? Don't have the resources? or the know-how? Do we think we can get away with it?

Blak.

The consensus thus far:

It's a lack of TIME.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Lotza Double-Takes Today...

[Big run-on sentence coming]
Since I never thought I'd still be in Vegas come this time of year -this being the COLD time of year- and not yet in L.A., I'd packed ALLL of my winter clothes, now in boxes that are buried deep, deep, deep amongst a gazillion other boxes in my storage unit, and where they are in storage exactly, I have no idea cuz I never thought to take note or keep them in an accessible location, as I never thought I'd need to know, since I never thought I'd still be here, dammit!!! [For those who may be questioning me, MY DEFINITION OF 'COLD': It was 36 degrees yesterday morning = that's COLD!] And so, I have only a few long-sleeved items (3/4 sleeve, at best for most) that I've been wearing over and over again for the past several weeks now. PLUS, I have no warm winter coats - - those too are all packed, along all my scarves, gloves, and ski gear, including long underwear, all of which I'll need to locate real soon, since we'll be going to Keystone again this year, for the week of New Years.

Anyhow, seeing that the nice black, wool and cashmere blended pea coat my aunt had lent me in mid-October was ruined (see pic further below), I've only recently (today) chosen a new option from her coat closet, shown above.
And lemme' tell ya, it's certainly festive, yes? and quite warm, thankfully.

I had stopped at Einsteins Bagels this morning, wielding a long-had, unused gift certificate from Christmas of last year, for the purchase of a scrumptious Cheddar Omelet breakfast sandwich on a toasted Six Cheese bagel [Yes, I realize; that's CHEESE, CHEESE, CHEESE, CHEESE, CHEESE, CHEESE AND MORE CHEESE! = YUMMY!]. Upon entering, and all the whilst standing in line, oh boy - - the looks I got? I almost had to laugh. Lots of double takes! I hadn't realized it was such an eye-catcher.
Do you see its hood? It dangles down, below the top of my bum!

Here's the cow crap-ruined pea coat:

Something to Keep in Mind

I used to drive by this lil' self-serve car wash every morning, on my way to work. Having moved to a new place, as of today, I've got half of my old to-work driving route back, sending me past this place once again. I'd missed it. I had to stop and take a picture of their current board.

Have an excellent weekend, everyone!

Thursday, November 30, 2006

My "I Hit a Cow" Story, Part VI ~ The Latest re: Liability!

Well, this is an itty bitty bit premature to mention (way premature, honestly), BUHHHT (and as we all know, I got's me a big butt), I'm kinda just too excited to keep it in!

My auto insurance called me today, to tell me that right now,
despite Idaho's recently issued open range legislation, it looks as though the cattle rancher will be held liable for my accident, due to negligence on his part, for not keeping his fence lines managed AND the fact that this kind of thing has happened to his cattle several times, demonstrating a history of negligence.

The situation could all change though, of course, as to who's deemed liable. I'm keeping this in mind, for sure.

But right now? The possibility that this guy, and his inability to give a shit about the safety of highway travelers, will be held liable? I'm very pleased.

Either way, and even still, I'm riding high on the fact that we were all sooooo okay despite the severity of the accident, AND that I've got a new car!

UPDATE as of 1/22/07: THE COW OWNER, Dennis Hunzeker, HAS DENIED THERE WAS ANYTHING WRONG WITH HIS FENCING - Naturally, his insurance co. is now disputing liability.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Why I Love Mah Sweet Honey-Man ~ Reason 2

I hadn't mentioned this in my recent update, but I need to be out of my aunt's home by tomorrow night.

For today, my honey-man has pushed back his return flight to Cali, so that while I'm in my 3rd day of a Grant Writing seminar, he'll be making a couple trips loading and unloading my things, delivering them to my new place of residence...

I love him because it was his idea.


THANK YOU MY SWEETNESS!

Monday, November 27, 2006

Proposing Proposals

For now, a brief update...

I'm at a Grant Writing seminar this week (on lunch break right now), today through Wed., and it includes 'homework' each night, so that's what I'll be up to until Thursday...

Our Thanksgiving was juhhhst WONDERFUL (yes, I'm shouting!)! It was GRRREAT! For those of you who don't know yet, we combined forces this year with my honey-man's former spouse and her man, and we had a grand Thanksgiving feast, all of us together with the boy-O! More on that later, with pictures...

Beyond Turkey Day, the weekend in L.A., although challenging at times, as is the nature of L.A., was great due to LOTS of heart warming cuddle time spent with my honey-man and the angel boy-O and my two fuzzy babies... More on Owen and his new personality development, in particular, much later, with pictures...

And my 'big news' is that I'm finally driving my newly purchased wheels, and doing so legally -- ya know, as in not illegally? The title issues were quickly resolved and we're quite pleased. If there's any question, yes, I bought another Toyota Matrix. This one is a 2005 XR model (my first had been a plain jane model) in a metallic 'charcoal' [this is the color description my honey-man insists it be called - - not dark silver or slate or pewter, but 'charcoal']. More on mah new car later, with pictures, of course...

And more re: my "I Hit a Cow" story: I wrote a public thank you statement for those who helped us the night of our accident, and I submitted my statement, which was published in the 'print' edition of the Bear Lake News-Examiner, on November 22nd. My Grams will be sending me the clipping soon.

My lunch break is not yet over, but I have a L.A. job application to wrap up and send off - - Toodles!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Overwhelmed + Broke = Chocolate

It's absolutely baffling, how my entire being - every part of me, body and soul - it WANTS and DEMANDS chocolate whenever I'm found in these kinds of circumstances...

I'm afraid I'll do a lot of damage this Thanksgiving...

If and when my car title 'situation' is resolved tomorrow (please, please, please, ohhhh PUHLEEZE!), I'll have to rush home for a self-induced, very rushed baking frenzy: homemade Parkerhouse Rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie, deviled eggs, cheesecake and the ever cherished Cranberry Fluff, and it'll be a double batch of that, of course!

Happy Gobbles to ya'll!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, to you and yours!

And it Continues... My "I Hit a Cow" Story, Part V

Well, this past weekend, I found a replacement car in L.A. - For its value and pricing, it's a superb vehicle and I chose to buy it. And now, although I have it with me, come time to register the thing this morning, I find out it can't be mine, as the title I've been given isn't legal... I'll leave it at that for now, as I'm not sure how things will be resolved.

However, I'm hopeful, as the fellow involved has told me we will go tomorrow to the CA DMV together to straighten this out.

P.S.
My honey-man's awesome calming powers over me are an amazing thing. My office staff can attest to this. He's a magic wonder, he is!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

My "I Hit a Cow" Story, Part IV: The Search Continues

[Be FOREWARNED, this one's a whiner]

Well, since October 29th, I've been online, searching each day for a replacement car, which I haven't yet found. For the kind of car I want (another Matrix, thanx!), the MSRP/Kelley Blue Book value runs around $18K, but dealership prices seem to run between $15-16K. Yes, this is a great thing, but there aren't many used ones in Vegas - most are in California, which makes my purchase effort a bit tricky. We'd been hoping to score a Matrix from the local LV auctions, priced seriously below not only MSRP, but going prices at the dealership. [BACKGROUND INFO: I bought my Matrix last year for $12.1K. It'd been listed for $14K at the time, but I was able to have the price knocked down.] The auction list came out today and there's a 2004 listed, but it has 44K miles on it = higher than I want; although not too high above average mileage for a 2004 model. Problem with a 2004 is most I come across, they were purchased in 2003, so the warranty is about to expire, even if it has low miles. Anywhoo...

The rest of the update is this:

I don't have a new car yet (yeah, I probably made that clear already, I know). I hope to buy something this coming weekend.

No news as to who's liable for the accident... I've been told this could take some time, which translates into "not until sometime next year." BUHHT, my insurance co. did finally send/mail the lien payoff amount of $9.9K, just today. And they gave me $11.8K for my car - - only $300 less than what I paid for it a year ago. Toyota sure holds it's value, although the KBB on mine, pre-accident of course, is $13K. BUHHT, after the payoff, minus my $500 deductible, that leaves me $1.2K towards the purchase of a replacement car... even though the Matrix now averages $3K more in price than it did a year ago, BUHHT somethin' is better than nothing, right?

A bit bummed, to be honest... The money I'd managed to save over the past 6 months, living with my aunt Radeane, saving for my move to California
, will all be spent and then some, in order to buy a new car. [SEMI-RELATED TANGENT: Speaking of Cali, to continue the update here... No, I still have NO IDEA when I'll finally move to CA, especially now. And no, I have ZERO hopeful California job prospects right now. END OF TANGENT.] Yeah, really bummed out about all that... BUHHT at least I have the money to buy a new car, right? And we're all ohhhkay! Rather buy a new car than pay for a funeral, right?

My Grams is finally feeling much better. Of us all, she had been having the hardest time, physically. One of her shoulders is still acting up, but her energy is finally up and her swelling has subsided.

Oh, another thing re: my insurance: They will not cover the replacement costs for Brianna's aunt's damaged portable DVD player or the cost of a new baby car seat, nor my aunt's wool-cashmere blend peacoat... "only items physically installed as part of the vehicle, itself."

Also, my living situation must change: Without going into details (absolutely nothing went wrong at all between us or anything like that), I've been staying at my aunt's for 6 months now (THANK YOU, RA!), and after Thanksgiving, I need to move out. Not wanting to get tied up in a lease, considering I'm TRYING TO LEAVE LAS VEGAS, I'll be looking for a room rental situation. Not terribly thrilled - I feel like I'm living in my early 20's again -very transient- and I do not like it at all.

Winter is just about here. We still enjoy some 70s weather, but the nights are definitely cooler and the days will only lower in temperature from here on out. Typical. Problem is this: All of my winter clothes are deeply packed away in my very packed storage unit and I don't know where.

...BUHHT, we're allll OK!

[TRANSLATION: Tryin' to stay positive, although it hurts like hell.]

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Matrix-Buyer Demographics!

HOW WEIRD! HOW UNCANNY?!? And how unremarkable, really, but REALLY, it's this funny in an odd way!?! Check it out...

Buyer Demographics published for Toyota Matrix Buyers (that'd be me), from the J.D. Power Consumer Center website:

Favorite TV Shows**:

CSI (the Las Vegas version, of course!)
Law & Order (SVU!)
Desperate Housewives (newly discovered source of laughter!)
Favorite Sports or Activities**:
Walking for Exercise (yuppers! - treadmill owner)
Gardening (indeed!)
Entertain at Home (love to!)

The only thing that could have made this any more perfect is if it had also included the TV show House, which we're now watching together every Tuesday night (which we've followed now, at best, um, for 2 episodes in a row?), and either Sewing or Furniture Refinishing (or both) in the 'Activities' listing.

Mind you, I'm not a big TV watcher, but if I were to follow any other shows than House, it'd be Law & Order: SVU (I used to occasionally catch it after I got home from a grad school night class) or CSI Las Vegas (I rarely catch this one, but when I do, me way likey). Post-car accident, my cousin Tyler's cutie-pie wife, Brianna, lent me her first season DVD set of Desperate Housewives, which it turns out, I juhhhst absolutely LOVE! Online last weekend, I watched the last four shows I'd missed... Mind you, once again, up until the Sunday night after our accident, in Brianna's home, I'd never ever even watched Desperate Housewives. . . so I've 'missed them' all, really. But back to the consumer research on Matrix owners.... how funny is that?
Anywhoo... back to car shopping!

Why I Love Mah Sweet Honey-Man ~ Reason 1

Although this may be my first reason I'll post here, it's not to be confused with the 'number one' reason why I love mah honey-man... I could never narrow down my reasons to a "number one" anyhow...

Reason 1: Unless it's a serious situation (e.g. a group photo, a pose w/ the angel boy-O or a paid photo session), OR he's being threatened by me not to do it or else (which rarely works; who am I kidding?), my honey-man almost always sticks out a little bit of his pink tongue in almost every picture I take of him.
I have countless pictures I could share to illustrate this habit of his. [BACKGROUND INFO: I just uploaded photos taken from over my last weekend in L.A., in which I found 3 such photos.] And although I scold him every time he does it? - - it totally cracks me up, how he'll pose, sans tongue, yet when I press the button to take the shot, he somehow manages to time it just right...

To be honest, I secretly love it when he pulls it off...

A New Personal Rule of Conduct - #3

I will no longer allow the automatic 'click and download purchase' capability feature on my iTunes. Never again.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Child Car Safety - Can't Take it for Granted

Ohh my guhooodness - this one makes me bawl. Considering my own recent accident, although our outcome was quite fortunate, any effort on my part now, to prevent or minimize the results of any future accident, I'm all over it... My honey-man's angel boy-O may be 8 years old, but he weighs under 55 lbs still.

On my things to do list for today: pricing for a Britax Regent car seat!


Thursday, November 09, 2006

I'd Sing 'Happy Birthday,' but I love him too much!

It's my lil' bro-bro's birthday today - he turned 18 years old...

*sigh*

Makes me feel OLD!

I've been thinking about my little 6' 8" tall brother all throughout the day, today, remembering him when he wore diapers and drooled and cooed, and when I taught him to sing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," by the Beatles (of course!) and songs by the Cure, and how he always pronounced my name with a distinct 'Z' sound... and how he would sprint down the basement hallway, as much as a 2 year old can 'sprint, giggling and shrieking with sheer delight, as I'd chase after him...

He was so cute! Still is, of course. Happy Birthday, Pizza-boy!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

A CHP's Cow Crash

Man, even in Modesto, California. . .

Read this
and/or this - both have news video links. . .

Self-Portrait Day, um, a day early ~ I Voted!

Self-Portrait Day

And yes, I'm trying to keep my eyes open in this shot...

Sunday, November 05, 2006

My "I Hit a Cow" Story, Part III: Who's Liable?

In the last week, each time I tell my "I hit a cow" story, invariably, people will ask me about my car and my insurance and who's liable for what, etc. etc.

As a recent anonymous commenter wrote, I was, indeed, driving in "open range" territory. [SIDE NOTE for 'Anonymous' from Colorado: Yes, lucky we were! I'd heard too about the very unfortunate older couple who had hit a cow, driving their Harley, and how terribly awful their experience was. I also heard there was another cow struck last week, before I hit mine, and that it happened on that very same road I was on, involving the same rancher's cattle, although I don't know the details with certainty. In dealing with the Sherriff's office after my accident, however, at no point did anyone warn nor tell me that I'd be liable for the cow. In fact, I was told more conflicting information, that because both sides of that hwy road are fenced, and that particular area may also be a 'herd district,' the owner of the cow is potentially liable because he had not maintained his fence line - ?!? - Either way, anyone would have to agree it's irrefutable that had the damn [other explitives removed] fence line been closed properly, there would never have been any cows on the road to hit. Am I liable for killing the cow? or anything at all? If I'm not liable, what about the rancher for not maintaining his fence? I dunno. Indeed, interesting points to ponder... END OF NOTE]

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the meaning of "open range," here's the
Idaho state provision for your reading pleasure:



TITLE 25 ANIMALS, CHAPTER 21 ANIMALS RUNNING AT LARGE,
25-2118: ANIMALS ON OPEN RANGE -
- NO DUTY TO KEEP FROM HIGHWAY.
No person owning, or controlling the possession of, any domestic animal running on open range, shall have the duty to keep such animal off any highway on such range, and shall not be liable for damage to any vehicle or for injury to any person riding therein, caused by a collision between the vehicle and the animal. "Open range" means all uninclosed lands outside of cities, villages and herd districts, upon which cattle by custom, license, lease, or permit, are grazedor permitted to roam.


So yeah, how about that? Given free license to let 'em roam anywhere...
There are many issues of debate when it comes to no-duty open range laws.


Taken from a newspaper article published in 2003 in the Billings Gazette:
..."I guess the question for the 21st century is, should a black
cow at midnight have more right to a highway than a person?"
asked Andy Kerr, director of the National Public Lands
Grazing Campaign,which is trying to get Congress to pay
ranchers to give up federal grazing permits.

"These laws have been on the books since before Henry Ford
invented the automobile. How fast could you go in a horse
and buggy? The law hasn't kept up with reality.
Open-range laws may have made sense in the 1800s,
but they don't make a lot of sense today," said Kerr.


Why should drivers be punished for lawful travel on a public road?
What do you think?
If you're possibly interested in knowing more, the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign website is uber loaded with info right here. And here's an article from High Country News.

My "I Hit a Cow" Story, Part II: Spontaneous Tears

Yesterday, I was at a baby shower for someone in my office - a very 'the cutest' preggers someone, who has lots and lots of friends and family, who all love and adore her. [Note to Self: Do not attend any more baby showers for the next year. My ovaries just can't handle it.] At some point near the shower's end, I overheard someone say to someone else, "She's the one who hit the cow," and once again, there I was with a group of people gathering around and looking at me, asking to hear my story. And so again, there I was, telling my story, and again, trying hard not to cry...

The word spread around my office rather quickly once my boss, at our dept. meeting held on Wednesday, made an opening announcement, stating that he wanted everyone to know and be thankful that I was still here, going on to briefly explain the 'highlight' of my Nevada Day-weekend vacation in Bear Lake Idaho. As people turned around in their chairs to look at me, my eyes welled up and my chin began to tremble as it hit me again: We could have been seriously injured - - we could have been killed.

After the baby shower last night, I went to the store to buy some things. Having wandered the store for nearly 45 minutes, not wanting to go home yet, I meandered over to the 'Personal Care' section to find my facial scrub of choice and go home. Having found it, I looked at the price and realized that it wasn't a matter of this store vs. another store - -over the last couple months, the price has gone up by $1.50, regardless of where I shop. For a moment, this bummed me out for an itty bit, just thinking about the sad subject of money in general - and then? I was struck absolutely dumb and I began to bawl in the middle of the aisle, clutching my stupid tube of facial goop, feeling overwhelmed by my idiocy, feeling so fortunate to even be there buying my ridiculous facial scrub.


I've had a lot of moments like that throughout the past week. On Thursday, alone, I think I burst into tears about 5 different times throughout the day. My general state could simply be described as 'teary.'

At any point, whenever I begin to feel sad or angry about my car and all the expenses I'm about to incur (about $4,500 = no joke), I think this: Better to be spending some money I do have, than to be planning a funeral.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Drivin' Again, Post-Cow Crash

Yesterday morning, my aunt Radeane offered her extra vehicle for my driving, seeing I'm without a car now. Until yesterday, I'd been bumming rides to and from work, so back behind the wheel again, once I made it to work, I was pleased with the morning's drive. It was technically fine = I made it to work. However, I was a bit paranoid throughout the entire drive, worrying that I'd either run over anyone in my blind spot or rear end someone, driving my aunt's big Ford Exploder SUV - - whoops, I mean Ford Explorer.

Driving home in the dark last night, I had NPR on the radio as I made my entrance onto the freeway. As I merged left from the on ramp to join the existing traffic, my heart began to race a bit. Telling myself that everything was juhhhst fine, trying to focus on the NPR after-work broadcast, nonetheless, I began to sweat. I knew what was happening and told myself, "There are no cows in Vegas, you silly. Relax." Regardless of sound reasoning and solid logic, my hands began to shake, and so I moved from the center hwy lane, back into the far right lane. I glanced down at the speedometer and saw that I was driving only 55 mph in a 65 zone - - and with that, I burst into tears and didn't stop crying until I was 'home,' standing in my aunt's kitchen.

This morning's drive was much better than yesterday's... wish me steady hands and dry eyes for tonight's drive home.
And everybody, HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! I'll be out and about, shopping for a car! ~ Wish me luck for that too!

And lastly, but not least, THANK YOU SO MUCH to EVERYONE for their sweet well wishes and their caring interest in my safe condition. As things did turn out okay
- thank our lucky stars and all that is good in this world - in that no one was seriously hurt (with the exception of the poor cow, of course), I guess from now on, I'll always have a fantastic "I hit a cow" story to tell.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

UPDATED: Holy COW Crash - the night of

First of all, EVERYONE is okay. Yes, despite how awful my car looks, remarkably, we're all juhhst fine. My Gma Rae was sitting in the front passenger seat and and my cousin Tyler's wife, Brianna, was in the backseat with their 2 yr old strapped in a childseat behind me. My Grams had to be taken in for x-ray that night and watched over at home. Her entire chest is deeply bruised from the airbag's deployment and she's still terribly sore, but she doesn't have a single scratch. In fact, she'd been doing well enough that she was sure and able to see the hairdresser the very next day for a new shampoo set.

Brianna had some glass picked from her face, and just last Sunday night, a tiny sliver more was removed from her right ear. She was scratched the worst of us, with a good pair of 2-inch long, thin scratches on the right side of her cheek, up near her ear. Right before we'd hit the cow, she'd taken off her seat belt to comfort her baby who was crying - ?!? - I know, I know...we were really lucky that Brianna wasn't seriously injured. Not having her seat belt on, however, allowed her to shield her son and to also keep hold of her fluffy Chihuahua, Issy. The baby had only a few tiny scratches at his neckline and some light bruising about his clavicle area, caused by the strain of his child seat restraints. And Brianna's little Issy, although desperately in need of a bath later on, not unlike the rest of us, was totally unharmed.


On Saturday, the day after the accident, I went in to see the hospital for a spinal x-ray to be sure I was fracture-free, and then I was treated for very mild whiplash and general muscle strain. I have a lot of muscle soreness and neck pain, but nothing too terrible. Both of my knees are deeply bruised, as both my feet had lost contact with the floor upon impact, both legs folding upward, hitting the underside of the steering wheel. Other than that, I have 4 itty bitty, extremely minor cuts on my face - - that alone is amazing because the windshield was resting on my face, laying over my hands and arms when the car stopped!!! Even so, I have only a few scratches on my left hand from shoving the windshield off of me.

What happened is this: Last Friday on the 27th at 7:45 p.m., I was driving on a small 5 mile-long stretch of rural highway between two small towns in southeast Idaho in Bear Lake County. On either side of the road, there's pasture, but both sides are supposed to be fenced. At the beginning of a rather straight stretch of the hwy road, an oncoming car passed me without time to give any kind of flashing brights to warn me of anything. Once the car passed and my eyes had barely readjusted, immediately thereafter, there was barely enough time for me to see a big black cow standing straight ahead. I didn't even see its head or its feet or legs - - just a big, very broad and very black cow side, and we slammed into her at 70mph, before I could ever touch the breaks. It was so fast, my Gma Rae never saw it coming, nor did Brianna.

So immediately after the passing of that oncoming car, my eyes saw the cow for a mere split second. The only reason I recognized it to be a cow is the fact that I already knew we were in cattle country, and I'd seen before what the side of a deer looks like in headlights, and this thing was black and 3 times larger than any deer I'd ever seen = thus, it was a cow. It happened so fast, I don't remember even having a chance to scream. I do know though exactly how fast I was driving, as just a couple minutes before the accident, my Grams had complained I was driving too fast [SIDE NOTE: Frankly, any speed over 45 mph is too fast for her. It's true Grams and you know it!], and I assured her I was driving just 5 over the 65 mph speed limit, having set my cruise control. So yeah, driving 70 mph, I hit that damn cow without a chance scream or to even hit the brakes.

As the photos indicate: All in split second time, the cow ripped off the entire front side of the driver's fender and bent that same side of the front axle, rendering that front tire almost useless. The cow then went up over the hood of the car, and shattered and caved in the windshield, and then the cow broke through my side of the windshield, and then moved further upward, falling off from the side of my car's front roof, denting inward and partially collapsing the car's rooftop, also tearing off the driver's side mirror.

What the photos clearly show, but can't exactly explain: On impact, the cow's side split and exploded open, and once she'd slammed upward onto the hood and into the windshield, the windshield collapsed and a trap-like door-like opening was created in the windshield on my side, allowing very wet, hot and very heavy and super smelly cow shit and cow stomach contents to funnel into the car, in a manner reminiscent of a salad shooter - - I had about 60 lbs of it on my lap alone. In fact, once the car had stopped moving, the wet heaviness and the steaming heat of all that crap on my lap, coupled with the firm resistance of my airbag, I thought I had a cow's head in my lap, and it was in that first moment when we'd stopped moving, not knowing what was on me, I nearly lost my cool - - although it was a no-brainer, determining what I had in my mouth. I think I spit and screamed for no more than 5 seconds, something along the lines of "I dunno what this is, I gotta get this off me, get me outta here," buhht quickly realized my screaming wouldn't help anyone.


Instead, I had to shove the windshield off me, and then I fumbled for the car's hazard lights and set the emergency brake. By that time, my Grams was able to crack her door open, engaging the car's interior light. We all began to frantically yell at one another, asking each other if everyone was okay - - any broken bones? any heavy bleeding? We all had cow shit in our hair and in our mouths, but that was really the very worst of it. Brianna called my aunt Brenda on her cell, who I'd spoken to only 2 minutes earlier, as later verified on her caller ID log, and Brianna told her we'd been in a car accident and to come quick. At the time, Brianna didn't tell Brenda how it had happened, but made it clear that we were all well enough that no ambulance was needed. Thereafter, all stuck in the car together, although I'm sure we were all in shock and a bit deliriously so, we actually began to joke around:

Me: Grandma, you got shit in your hair. You're gunna have to get a new shampoo set. [All of us then laughing together, knowing how particular she is about her hair, seeing her with the equivalent of a cow pie on the side of her head.]

Brianna: Well, now you can get your gray interior, Ang. [Referring to an earlier convo we'd had in the car while driving that night, about my Matrix and how much I liked it, and how if I had to do it over again, I'd change nothing except its black interior; that I'd prefer gray or beige.]

Me: The shit has really hit the ceiling. [Note the obvious photos included further below]

Grams: I dunno if I shit my pants or peed them! [My Grams is so small, she had lifted up and forward in her seat, enough so, the cow crap had landed behind her, so that she wound up sitting in it.]

The laughter wore off quickly though, as our surroundings sank in. We had to get out of that car. My Grams, with a 2nd adrenaline rush kicking in, bailed out her door, falling down into the bar pit. She had to crawl up and out from it, around to the back of the car. At the very same time, we realized 2 different cars of people had stopped to help us, including the car that had passed us just before the crash. Later on, once I had been pulled from the car, they told me how they had actually heard us hit the cow immediately after they had passed me, and that they had not seen that cow themselves until they were actually passing it, one second before I hit it head on. And another fellow and his family who had stopped to help, who actually got me out of the car, all said they'd seen the cows long before I hit one, but had returned to help move the cattle off the road, not realizing one had been hit until they drove up to it, lying dead in the middle of the road.

It was amazing how many people stopped to help. The first man at the scene, Jerry, who helped me get out, he gave jackets to Brianna and my Grams, and a woman, Katie (you can see the back of her blonde head in a couple shots), she gave us blankets from her car to keep us warm and helped to unload our things from my car. She even dug in the backseat to help find my cow-crap-laden purse.


The police were awesome and showed up 2 minutes after they'd been called. Also, my uncle Trent's boys, Tanner and Thayne, who could see from their home the lights of my flashers and the stopped cars on the hwy road, guessed right that someone had hit a cow (the second one that week), and they drove up the road from their house to check, showing up right after the 2 other cars that had stopped first. As Thayne and Tanner pulled alongside my car, I turned around and Tanner saw me first - - I think his eyes about popped out of his head, realizing it was his Las Vegas cousin who'd hit the cow they'd seen lying in the road, who's car was smashed, who had blood and shit smeared all over her face and in her hair. And shortly after the boys came, my aunt Brenda and uncle Kevin arrived in separate cars within 10 minutes... they'd been delayed some; my aunt Brenda was pulled over by the police for driving too fast through town, on her way to see us. It was then that she found out we'd hit a cow, as the policeman who'd pulled her over said he'd heard the report.

Just how lucky were we? - A very seasoned sheriff's deputy told us that night that if I'd seen the cow any earlier and had I tried to brake or swerve first, we would have probably lost our straight arrow trajectory, and would have gone right off the road, flying off into the deep bar pit, and we would have rolled at least twice - and we probably would have hit the cow anyhow... and we probably wouldn't have been able to walk away from an accident like that. But who knows...


What we do know is that I'd stopped the car just 4-6 inches from losing the car's balance and going off the road = any further and we would have had only one tire in contact with the road, which would have caused us to roll down into the bar pit. Also, past the point of impact, we could see where I hit the brakes, and that it took several feet before we came to a stop. Having not been able to brake before impact, and having lost contact with the foot pedals post-impact, I had hard time trying to secure my foot to the brake with all the shit piling in over my feet and the car floor. As for my steering, I tried as hard as I could to maintain a solid grip on the steering wheel, remembering the road was straight, trying hard to keep the steering wheel straight against the rightside pull created by the braking of my one good front tire. And couldn't see a thing!!! Nothing! My hair was plastered across my face with all the crap in it and in my mouth, and the airbag was up and the windshield was pushed in on my hands and arms, its bottom edge resting on the upper bridge of my nose! Once I stopped, the back driver's tire was clear off the ground by nearly 2 inches and the car was high centered, the front end tilted down towards the bar pit. The pictures totally fail to show just how slanted the car was and how deep the bar pit is... Anyone who tried to come around to that side of the car wound up standing only one-head above the base of the car door's frame.

And that poor damn cow: Once I was pulled out of the car and checked over by a policeman, I was coherent enough to not only take a gazillion photos of the scene, but to first locate flashlights in my car trunk and run off with Jerry down the road, in an effort to prevent others from hitting the cow I'd killed or any of the other cows out loose on the highway. We do know the owner of the cow was Dennis Hunzeker, by checking the ear tag, and we had several witnesses give their info. to the police. People who'd stopped and one of the sherriff's deputies helped haul the cow from the middle to the side of the road. We were later told that night and several times since then that it wasn't the first time the Hunzekers have failed to keep up their fence lines. The next morning, driving over to the accident site, in fact, one of the Hunzeker boys was out repairing the 10 ft wide gap they'd deliberately left open in their fence line. Yes, deliberately.

More details to follow... here and Part II here, Part III here, and here,
here and Part IV here , Part V here and Part VI here,
here and HERE and Part VII, the NOT so final word re: liability right here ...

This is my poor Matrix ~ pictures taken the day after the accident.

Holy CAR Crash! - the day after

I'll give the story later (right here), but for now, these speak for themselves...
This is my Matrix, pictures taken yesterday.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

6 lbs of Preciousness

I'm in Utah right now - - enjoying my friend Suzanne's latest addition to the family. . .

Do you hear that?

Do you hear that sound?

It's me - it's my ovaries, screaming.

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be leaving SLC for family time in Bear Lake and more babies. . . I apologize for the noise...

I won't be back to Vegas until Halloween night ~

Thursday, October 19, 2006

I Can Hear Him Laughing

My parents were visiting not too long ago - - My father often comes to Vegas for work, but now that my sister is also here, my step-mum plans to come along from here on out. Anyhow, they were both here for 5 days, sans my lil' not-so-little-6'8"-tall brother (he's too cool now - want to stay home and hang with his homies and go to the home football games and the like, lil' stinker!), amounting to lots of endless shopping and lots of eating out and more eating out. [SEMI-RELATED TANGENT: I am SOOOO not a shopper = take me shopping, and you'll find me waiting it out with the men; ya know, sitting and waiting in those lounge chairs found in the dept. stores, specifically placed for men who've been dragged there by their wives or girlfriends? Yeah, that's me on a shopping trip (unless it's IKEA - I could roam IKEA for days, as long as I don't go more frequently than 4 times a year, however!); you can always find me wherever those chairs are located in the store. With me, if I go shopping, I know exactly what I'm looking for, I find it, I buy it, and I go home! END OF TANGENT]

Anyhow, we all had lunch together at a seafood joint one day, and I took these drink napkins home with me... For fun (or cuz I'm ridiculously silly -I think both are true), I'm going to mail them to the angel boy-O. I can hear him laughing right now...


I like the sushi one best, myself.

Farewell, my fellow, I mean, ex-blogger, dear ClosetMetro

Okay, until I checked my Bloglines account (why I did not do this first thing, I dunno), I was thinking this:

"Where'd Dave go? I know I've been an absent visitor in the blogosphere for a couple weeks, but man, I can't find C.M. - ??? I clicked his link in my blogroll, I checked Google... and I got nothing but "Hooter Jokes" - Hooter jokes?!? What the hell? Where's DAVE!?!"

Sadly, I've discovered that Dave aka 'ClosetMetro' has retired from blogging, but for good reasons! Good luck to you! And your lil' Dizzle!

Self-Portrait Day!

Today's my 'Friday' - - I should be in L.A. sometime late tomorrow. But today? I'm scrambling to get as much stuff done as I can before I leave town... I call this look my 'squirrely' face.
And see!? I DO have eyes!

Self-Portrait Day

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

"Sleepy Kitty Making Biscuits"



This one's great too!

"Sweet Tired Cat"


The best part happens near the end of the video...

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Even MORE Trivial Stuff About Me

1. Name someone with the same birthday as you. -My Gpa Billy, Francisco, Haldan and Keith

2. Where was your first kiss? -In Billings, MT, behind Shannon Jeppson's house, on the 3rd upper garden terrace.

3. Have you ever seriously vandalized someone else's property? -Yes; it's a naughty story and most wouldn't believe it.

4. Have you ever hit someone of the opposite sex? -Yes.

5. Have you ever sung in front of a large number of people? -Yuppers.

6. What's the first thing you notice about the preferred sex? -Smile and hands.

7. What do you order at the Coffee Bean? -I don't, I prefer Starbucks, but rarely indulge in the purchase of any4 dollar drink, unless I've got a stash of gift certificate cards from work. Usually, I'm a "water's fine for me, thanks" kind of girl.

8. What is your biggest mistake? -Geesh, I don't think I could name just one mistake as the all time biggest one.

9. Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose? -Oh yes, a glutton for self-punishment, I am.

10. Say something totally random about yourself. -I used to collect Pez dispensers.

11. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity? -Not exactly celebrity status, but more than a couple times (when my hair was shorter and more curly), I've been told I look like "Tia," the snotty niece in the movie Uncle Buck.

12. Do you still watch kiddy movies or tv shows? -I absolutely love Pixar films and other similar productions!

13. Did you have braces? -No, but I went through 3 different retainers and headgear to avoid them.

14. Are you comfortable with your height? -Juhsst fine with it, although I find it funny that I'm the shortest in my father's fam, yet the tallest woman on my mum's side, after my mum, who was 5'8" - All her sisters, plus one sis-in-law and my Grams, they're all shrimps = 5'2" or less.

15. What is the most romantic thing someone of the opposite sex has done for you? -No comment.

16. When do you know it's love? -If anyone can ever find anyone who can answer this question, let me know.

17. Do you speak any other languages? -Speak? Um not really, but kinda understand, yes - - Spanish, German and I'm working on my French for my honey-man and his angel boy-O.

18. Have you ever been to a tanning salon? -Yes and if I could fall asleep in one without the fear of frying (and if I ever stayed longer than 10 minutes), tanning could double as naptime (although I have managed to conk out in less than 10 minutes of tan time). [SIDENOTE: In college, I was famous for going outside to study in the grass and for falling asleep in the sun, for a mid-study break = nasty sunburns on the back of my legs!] I haven't gone tanning in a couple years - - used to twice a week, 10 minutes at a time, prescribed by my doctor, for A, B and D vitamins 'activation' -?

19. What magazines do you read? -Smart Money and Time

20. Have you ever ridden in a limo? -Yes, a few times; highly overrated each time.

21. Has anyone you were really close to passed away? -My mother, in 1987.

22. Do you watch MTV? -Used to live and breathe MTV, but haven't watched it with any kind of regularity in years (oh, I feel old).

23. What's something that really annoys you? -When people don't return their shopping carts to the designated stow-it-here spot.

24. What's something you really like? -CAMPING!

25. Do you like Michael Jackson? -When he was black and a man, yes I did. Now, not so much.

26. Can you dance? Depends - I love dancing, but that doesn't mean I do it well.

27. What's the latest you have ever stayed up? -46 hours straight.

28. Have you ever been rushed by an ambulance into the emergency room? -No, not that I remember...

29. What's your favorite jelly bean flavor? -Pear made by Jelly Belly.

30. Do you actually read these when other people fill them out? -Of course.

Monday, October 16, 2006

A New Kitty

Since I've been without seeing my fuzzy babies for 3 weeks now, a friend of mine gave me a new kitty here to substitute for a while, but although a cute concept, this lil' guy just won't cut it...

my pet!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

"You Poohed Your Pants!?!?"

Yesterday, I had lunch with my so dear, uber adorable friend, Ryan, after which, he knew full well why I've been feeling so in the dumps. So, knowing my state of general neediness, he offered me an evening of homemade quiche if I'd come over to his place after work, but I declined the offer, thinking I had too much to do. [SIDE NOTE: Ryan is The Quiche King. I love him only for his quiche (j/k, Ry Ry!).] Just before he'd be leaving work at 5pm, I called him back, asking if I was too late for quiche...

So last night as the kitchen timer ticked down to quiche-time, we sat on the couch together watching something I cannot remember right now - Seinfeld? Friends? I dunno. Anyhow, we were on the couch, both of us chuckling at the appropriate times, occasionally spacing out and/or blurting out any observations and personal thoughts unrelated to the TV show we were watching. At times, these various spontaneous declarations to one another would totally throw the other off, so that one would miss the words and meaning of declaration altogether.

The best declaration began like this: I'm spacing out and Ryan blurts something I first perceive as completely unintelligible, but instead of first asking him "Wha'd you say?", I take a guess and say to him what I think I heard (I do this kind of thing a lot, not hearing spoken words right).

Me: You pooed your pants?!?!

Ryan: "No, ...." [and he repeats whatever it was he'd said]
Me: Ohh. You pruned your pants? [I then glance down at the hem of his shorts and sat forward to give them a closer inspection]
Me: Did you trim the fray off the hem? [He grins at me and then stares at me in disbelief for a brief moment]

Ryan: "No, I prunned my.... " [He places vocal emphasis on the very last word, which now doesn't exactly sound like "pants," but I totally miss it, again. I give him a pained 'I-still-didn't-catch-that' look]

Ryan: "Plants." [I give him the same look again]
Ryan: "Plants. I pruned my PLANTS." [vocal emphasis given for each 'T']

Me: OHHHH! [I'm now choking up with laughter]
Me: I knew I had it wrooong... [Laughing still, I then begin to ramble on, amid spurts of our shared laughter, explaining how I had thought about our breakfast together last weekend, and how he had been wearing a pre-worn, yet brand new pair of shorts then, complaining about the already frayed hem... and Ryan then interrupts me]

Ryan: "Yeah. I guess 'you pruned your pants' makes a lot more sense, doesn't it?"
Revisiting that moment from last night has had me in stitches again today, at least 4 different times.
I love you, Ryan! You're a wonderful friend! Thanks so much for last night.