WOW...Did you miss me?

Okay...I cannot believe that my last post was on November 30th. I have so much to do with the Christmas season and have not gotten anything done. I haven't been on my computer at home in a long time. I come home exhausted, eat dinner, watch The Young and the Restless, play with the dogs and watch some more TV for about an hour and go to bed. I'm usually sleeping by 9:10. I think I have some kind of post-vacation funk going on. No ambition or interest in anything. No Christmas tree yet and the house is a mess. I have to make our "food day" treat for work tomorrow, but I have already warned people that if we get the snow they are predicting for us that I won't be in tomorrow. They are saying we are supposed to be getting 6-12 inches after midnight tonight with the possibility of 1-2 inches an hour. YIPPEE!!! I hate frickin' winter and I hate driving around in this frickin' snow. So there, the crabby side of my has come out on my blog. Sorry about that. It sucks driving 45 miles one way in this crap. I stopped by my friend Cindy's house on my way home last night and visited with her and her boyfriend and his Boxer for about an hour last night. Since I was late getting home to let my girls outside, I was driving a little faster than usual and hit a slick spot and almost went into the ditch on one of the country roads by my house. My asshole puckered up and my whole body got white hot instantly. So anyway, since I don't have a tree up yet, I thought I would post a picture of a Christmas tree from Christmas past. We had a tree like this for many years. Yeah baby...those are some good memories.

Back Home

I know that those of you that followed my blog about my trip to California are crazy sad that my trip is over. I know that I am crazy sad about it. This also means that I have to go back to work tomorrow. (BOO!!!) I just spent the last two hours clearing out 837 emails on my work email. It probably would have taken me all day to do it at work tomorrow. So at least I have that done. Whew!!!

I picked up my girls at the kennel last Tuesday and they look amazing. Polly must have lost 10 pounds. She looks like the model and spokesdog that she is meant to be. Mabel had some ear issues before I took her to the kennel and I changed her food a week and a half before to see if maybe she had some allergy thing going on. All the sores on her ears are gone and she even lost a few pounds. I am so glad to have my girlies home with me.

I am ready to go back to Disneyland (yes it is "the happiest place on earth"). I also thought that perhaps all y'all would like my opinion of the rides that I rode at Disneyland. Here goes:

Space Mountain--roller coaster in the dark--not as scary as I remembered it.
Autopia--cool little car ride--check out the crazy road signs
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience--great little film--good special effects (and I do mean special)
Star Trek--great ride--very fun simulator ride through space
Finding Nemo--this is an okay submarine ride--would not recommend it for tall or heavy people
Peter Pan--hands down one of the best flights I have ever had. We took this ride about 5 times.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride--not as good as Peter Pan
Spinning Teacups--HELL YES, great ride!!!
Snow White--not as good as Peter Pan. Watch for the Evil Witch to appear in the upstairs window when you are in Fantasyland.
Alice in Wonderland--not as good as Peter Pan
Storybook Land--take this enchanting ride at night
Dumbo--hell yes, another great flight
Pirates of the Caribbean--too cool--took this ride over and over again
Haunted Mansion--another cool one--took this ride over and over again too. With Christmas upon us, it was decorated in the movie theme of "The Nightmare before Christmas". I would have probably enjoyed it more if it was the regular theme.
Splash Mountain--splashy all right
Matterhorn--cool rollercoaster...think I lost my phone there
Train ride--can't miss this classic--great ride at night
Toon Town--this was a charming cartoon village. Don't miss it, especially if you want to see characters.
Monorail--classic ride around the park
Theatre and Museum on Main Street--definitely check this out. Short film with Steve Martin is great.
Indiana Jones--cool ride--kind of a roller coaster in a big old jeep
Jungle Cruise--animals are getting a little old but this is definitely a classic. Fun ride at night.
Mark Twain Steamboat ride--another classic ride. The animals are getting a little ragged on this ride too.

We also went to California Adventure. Not a place I would have to go back to except for one ride. A lot of the park looks like an old Hollywood set and that is hella cool.

Soaring over California--this is probably one of the coolest rides ever. It is a simulator that makes you feel like you are in a hang glider flying over California. Definitely a must.

Tower of Terror--okay so Cindy talked me into going on this one. You get an awesome view of Disneyland at night (if you have your eyes open). But there is a lot of up and downs on this ride. Scared the crap out of me.

Grizzly Peak Raft Ride--pretty much like a lot of raft rides but fun

Bug's Life movie--very fun and fun special effects


I know I have probably left some rides off my list but as I think of them, I will try to update you. Hope you all enjoyed my journey through Disneyland as much as I did. TTYL.

California...Last Day!!!

Yikes!!! Vacation in California is almost over!!! It seemed to take forever for the time to come and now it is almost over.

We had our Fake Thanksgiving dinner last night. Both of Tom's kids, John and Jenna and Jenna's boyfriend, Cory, were here and Cindy's son, Cody, came down from Sacramento with a buddy of his. Cindy put on this massive feast that was yummy good. Today is Tom's 52nd birthday and Jenna will be coming back for dinner tonight. Poor Johnny got the flu that we have been dragging all over California with us last night. Poor kid. I think he was up most of the night and we had his electric heater in our room. I gave Tom hell for not waking us up and getting it for him. I think we need to buy him a case of beer or something for letting us hog the heater the last few days. California can be really chilly at night and a lot of the houses are on slabs so they don't install furnaces in the homes like we do. They really don't work very efficiently. Their furnace people and contractors really need to come to Michigan and see how it is done right.

We started packing yesterday and I think we are going to be able to get everything in our suitcases without a problem. Although Dianne seemed to pack way more than she needed. We have decided to check a second bag on the way back just so we have one less to deal with on the plane. I guess it is only a $25 charge because we bought the plane tickets in March.

I guess we are going to hit a few places today. Then we are going to have a birthday dinner for Tom and then heading back to the airport for our trip home. Dianne and I are anxious to see our pups and give them hugs and kisses.

So anyway, that is the rest of our trip. Hope you enjoyed the journey with me. I'll still be doing my crazy blog with my usual ramblings and musing so feel free to follow along if you like. Bye, bye for now.

Napa, Alcatraz, Etc!!!

On Tuesday we headed up to Napa. This was about an 8 hour trip so we got to see a lot of scenery. The hills are a beautiful golden brown and I never get tired of looking at them. It was a gorgeous ride.

Tom and Cindy belong to the Shell Vacation Club and they had booked us at a gorgeous resort call Vino Bello. We had a suite. Dianne and I had a cozy room with a king size bed, a kitchenette, sofa, a huge bathroom, and a washer and dryer and a LCD TV. Tom and Cindy had a full kitchen, dining room, living room, a huge, huge bathroom, and a master bedroom. It was beautiful. We just ordered pizza (yummy) and had it delivered to the room. So while we ate, we watched an great Disney video explaining about building the park. We just were not ready to let go of Disney yet.

Wednesday morning, we got up and us girls went to the spa for a passion fruit scrub, a cave mud wrap, followed by an hour massage. It was awesome. Part of the package included a cheese and fruit plate with a glass of wine. It was a great way to relax and it felt very decadent.

After the spa, we headed to the vineyards for some wine tasting. We stopped at V. Sattui Winery first and tasted 8 different wines and I decided that I like Port. I never knew this before, but Port is part wine and part brandy. The guy pouring the wine also clarified the term of wino and I decided I am not a wino. He said that the only thing a wino worries about is running out of wine. I guess that is not me after all. We did send some wine home from this winery as they only sell their wine at the winery. After getting a buzz on there we headed over to Sutter Home Vineyards as Dianne works with a guy whose wife works for Sutter Home in the Chicago area. She got us in for free wine tasting and the employee discount for anything we bought. At Sutter Home we learned something else...Port wine is great with pretzels and chocolate. YUM-O!!!

We decided we would just eat back at the room so we stopped at the grocery store to get something to eat and the fixings for Zippy Dip. Tom and Cindy were anxious to try "crack in a jar." So we ate at the room and played Disney Trivia. The wine took it's toll on Dianne and I and we had to crash fairly early.

Unfortunately, Dianne got a touch of the flu or something and was up most of the night. As we were leaving in the morning, Tom and I got everything loaded in the car and waited until the last minute to leave. We loaded Dianne up in the car and headed for Tom and Cindy's house which just happens to be my Uncle Jake's house. They are renting it from our cousin Nan's son. They had to have it almost gutted and redone and now it is gorgeous. Anyway, we put Dianne to bed and Cindy and I went off to the Disney outlet. We found some great bargains and we got back, we waited until Tom's son, Johnny, got home and then we headed off to the Pie Hole (Baker's Square) for dinner. After I went to bed I ended up getting the touch of the flu too. I was up most of the night with rocket powered butt pee. Because Dianne and I had been sick we totally screwed up our day at San Francisco. Tom and Cindy had a whole day planned but we only ended up going to our tour of Alcatraz at night.

If any of you have been to Alcatraz, you have not experienced until you go at night. It was awesome!!! They give you a personal audio system to wear and former guards and inmates narrate your journey through the prison. There is an area where you can walk outside and just take in the lights of San Francisco at night. It was breath taking. I highly recommend the night tour. On the way back to Tom's we stopped at the recording studio his band practices at. He played us some tunes. It was pretty cool. A brand new experience for me. He also gave us some band CDs, T-shirts and a poster. The band is called "3 in the Same". Their website is www.3inthesame.com. Check it out.

Saturday, Tom, Cindy and I went shopping for our Fake Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. So we ripped through Wal-mart and Safeway and headed home so we could go to our cousin Nancy's for dinner. We got to Nancy's about 3 p.m. She lives in Livermore which is kind of out in a valley and we took the scenic route through the hills. She cooked a very healthy dinner and I filled up on the yummy veggies. I know that is hard to believe, but everything was so good. So we sat around and yakked for a while and then came back to Tom's house.

Well I know this has been kind of lengthy but I feel really, really bad about not keeping up on my blog like I promised. Har, har, har (pirate laugh). I have to go now as we are getting ready for Fake Thanksgiving dinner. TTYS.

Disney Day 3

Okay so on day 3 we could not get into Disney until 9 a.m. so we kind of slept in a little later than usual and then went to PoFolks restaurant for breakfast. It was tons of food for the price and very good. It was kind of like a Cracker Barrel. So we ate and headed back to Disney. Because we didn't get there until about 10 we parked in the Chip and Dale parking area and took the tram to the park. We headed right over to California Adventure. This is a part of the Disney park that is okay but not something you need to go to. We did go on a few great rides but all the time I was thinking "it's not Disneyland."

The first ride we hit was Soaring over California which was friggin' awesome. It is almost like you are hang gliding over the best parts of the state of California. The Golden Gate Bridge, Napa Valley, Pacific Ocean, golf courses, and you end your trip at Disneyland. We got off the ride and went immediately to get a Fastpass ticket to ride it again without standing in line again. From there we went over to Grizzly Peak and rode the river rapids ride. We checked our gear in a locker and put on our ponchos and rode the rapids. It was hella fun, but as soon as we changed we went back and Soared over California again. In my opinion, this is the best ride over at California Adventure. We walked through the rest of the park and went to the Bug's Life Theatre which was really cool and in 3D. As we were walking around High School Musical 3 was doing a street performance which was pretty good. We had a giant corndog for lunch and headed back over to Disneyland. On the way over we checked again on my cell phone. I told the girl at lost and found that I lost it on the Matterhorn and she said very little is recovered from the Matterhorn. Good thing I only have 6 weeks left on my contract. LOL!!!

So back at Disney we headed over to Toontown. It was really cool because all the Toon houses looked like they came out of a cartoon. We were walking around and who do we see again but Minnie Mouse. I was hella excited because I had just fallen in love with her the night before. So Tom and I had our picture taken together with Minnie. She was really in awe of Tom's tallness. She was so cute. I just love her. It was great to feel like I was 12 again. From there we went to her house and Mickey's house and we went past Goofy's gas station. When we left Toontown we rode Peter Pan again and Tom and I rode the Teacups again and he did the spinning. The colors around us were blurring we were going so fast. Dianne said she didn't think we were going all that fast, but I think we were. When we came out of Peter Pan's ride, Cindy looked up and saw the Evil Witch in the upstairs window of Snow White's castle. So we caught a glimpse of her but only for a moment before she left the window. It was cool as we had read that she sometimes appears in that window.

Since A Small World was closed we didn't get to ride that but we did hit the Monorail ride, and hit Pirates and the Haunted Mansion again. By this time, the park was getting ready to close as the park closes at 8 on Mondays. There were a couple of shops we wanted to check out before we left, because there was just an awesome photo album that I decided I had to have. It is stinkin' cute. It is a 12x12 scrapbook with Tinkerbell on the cover and when you open it, you hear Tink's wand noise. It is frickin' cuter than shit. So we hit a few more shops in the park and then headed to the gate as we were planning on hitting Downtown Disney for dinner and more shopping. So we loaded up on the tram and headed back to the Chip and Dale parking lot to get the van and head back to Downtown Disney.

When we got to Downtown Disney we went in search for something for dinner. We stopped at the Jazz Kitchen and Tom and Cindy got gumbo and jambalaya and some popcorn chicken. Dianne and I opted for beinets (little donuts) and coffee. Then off to the Disney store. It seemed like we were there for hours but I guess we weren't. Tom, bless his heart, found Disney Crocs in my size. However, that is also Cindy's size and we both wanted a pair because they were 40% off. I told Tom that if they didn't fit Cindy I would buy them. They didn't so now I have Disney Crocs. So Dianne and I decided we were tired of shopping and went to get in line to check out. Here's the thing, Disney is great at moving people until it gets to the cashiers at Downtown Disney. The cashiers there were slower than shit. There were a couple of Japanese girls in line ahead of us that were taking forever.

I don't know if any of you have plumbing trouble when you travel, but I seem to. And while I was shopping I started getting cramps and knew I would have to find a restroom soon. Dianne was in line ahead of me when we were checking out. I asked if I could take cuts, which I did, and pinched my cheeks as best I could. Luckily Dianne noticed a restroom to the left of the cashier. So I paid for my stuff and left a toxic cloud of gas as I fled to the toilets. I feared the dreaded rocket powered butt pee but I was lucky.

After that we all dragged our tired asses back to the van and back to the room we went. Dianne was out shortly after hitting the bed, but Tom and Cindy and I stayed up talking. Before we knew it was 2 a.m.

Well I have probably bored the crap out of you if you read this far. Tomorrow I will fill you in our trip to Napa. Bye

California Adventures

Greetings from California!!!

Well here I was telling everyone that I was going to update this blog on a daily basis and then I didn't. That is just too bad because I have so much to tell everyone.

We had an amazing time at Disney!!! It truly is "the happiest place on earth." Tom and Cindy are natives so they have been to Disneyland numerous times and know all the ins and outs of navigating around the park. On day 2 we were able to take advantage of the one early entry that we had on our 3 day park hopper pass. So we got up early and got to the park and rented the carts and rode some rides (Teacups and Peter Pan, of course) and then had breakfast at Riverbelle Terrace. From there we hit one of my favorite places...Frontierland. We took the Mark Twain riverboat cruise and soaked up the atmosphere of the old west. Tom and Cindy rode on Thunder Mountain and Dianne and I did a little shopping. We just kind of bummed around on day two until about 2pm and then headed back to the room to rest up and get ready to eat at Medieval Times.

We had a 5pm reservation at the restaurant and we were able to walk right in and enjoy a drink at the bar. When we were seated for dinner we were in the blue knight's section which was directly across from the knight's entrance into the arena. For those of you that have not been to Medieval Times,it is a dinner theatre with horses and knights, jousting and sword fighting. The only food you are served is food you don't need utensils for as you don't get any knives or forks. We had garlic bread, 1/2 a roasted chicken, a beef rib, and half a roasted potato. We were also served tomato bisque soup but I passed on that as I just don't like tomato soup. But back to the show. The blue and yellow knights really knew how to play to the crowd. These guys have to be really athletic as they are falling off their horses and sword fighting and those swords are heavy. The horses were gorgeous and there was even a little horse show where they showed some battle moves that they used to teach the horses. Kind of like a mini Lipizzaner Stallion show. We all agreed that the show was excellent but the food sucked. If you go, don't plan on getting a great meal but the show is definitely worth it. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this...one of Tom's friends hooked us up with 2 for 1 tickets to the show. That made it even better!!!)

After dinner we headed back over to Disney. We thought that they were going to have a parade and fireworks and one of the cast members lied to me and told me that the Christmas lights were supposed to be turned on at 5pm. The lights were not on and there was not a parade scheduled and because of the winds and wildfires in the area, the fireworks show was cancelled too. The fireworks were not cancelled until right at 9:30 so we had waited around for a while waiting for them. The closer the time got, the more crowded Mainstreet became. Dianne and Cindy were sitting in their carts and I was sitting on the fence behind them. There was a couple with a little girl right next to us. I wasn't paying particular attention to them, until the mom used the phrase that sends me into orbit whenever I hear it. I'll try to set up the scene for you as best I can. So where we were seated, we could kind of see a little bit of the fireworks that were going off from the Fantasmic show on the Rivers of America where the Mark Twain is docked. These fireworks do not go up very high, but you can catch a glimpses of them in other parts of the park because there is not any wasted space at Disneyland. So anyway, the little girl got super excited because she saw a couple of fireworks through the tree limbs and thought they were standing in the wrong place for the show. Her mom bends down and says to her "Honey, we are not waiting for THOSE ONES, we are going to see THESE ONES." Then she kind of made a motion towards the castle. I was like in shock because I often don't get a double whammy on poor grammar in one sentence. Dianne looked up at me immediately because she knew I was going to have some kind of a reaction. She was not disappointed. We laughed our asses off and I made some comment about the mom making sure her daughter grew up with bad grammar. For those of you that know me, you know that this was like a nails on the chalkboard moment for me.

After the fireworks were cancelled, we decided to make our way back to the entrance of the park and head back to the room. We did take our time and Tom and I kind of strolled back while Dianne and Cindy went ahead on their motorized transportation. When we got up to the town square, Dianne was very excited. She said "Look Bev, it's Mickey." Mickey had come out to mingle with the crowd but was posing with kids to have take pictures. I had to have my picture taken with Mickey!!! But while we were waiting out comes Minnie. OMG!!! She is gorgeous!!! Dianne saw her first and said she stuck her shoe out of the door and kind of waved before she came out. She said it was hella cute. So anyway, Dianne and I got to have our picture taken with Mickey and Minnie. And now we have become huge Minnie fans too. She is so nice!!! Both of them blew little kisses to us. It was great being 12 again for a few minutes. After the highlight of my night, we dragged our asses back to the room and got ready for bed so we could do it all again on Monday.

So anyway, I know this is a lot of reading so I will sign off for now. Dianne, Cindy and I have to get ready for our spa treatment this morning. (We got into Napa last night and we are staying at the most amazing place. But I will tell you about that later.) Bye for now.

Short Update

OMG...we are having so much fun I haven't even had time to update my blog about Disney. Disney has been amazing the last two days. We dragged ourselves back to the room last night about 11 p.m. after a full day at the park. But now we are ready to leave for Napa where we should have some great internet service, so I will update this crazy adventure blog when we get there this evening. Bye for now...

Disney - Day 1

Boy did we spend a fun filled day at Disneyland yesterday. We got up early and had breakfast at the motel before we took off and we were waiting at the gate at 8 a.m. for it to open. When we got up to the gate, we were pleasantly suprised because the whole park had been decorated for Christmas. They didn't turn all the lights on last night but at least we got to see it decorated. When we got to the park at 8 a.m. it was beautiful sunny day and about 80 degrees. I got some awesome pictures with the Matterhorn and the castle with a beautiful blue sky behind it. At some point (I think it was about 11 a.m.) we started noticing a smokey smell and ash and soot falling from the sky from the wildfires that are in the area. The sky was getting darker and a strange shade of brown as the wind blew the ash clouds closer to Anaheim. It certainly was different. Because of the winds they cancelled the fireworks show last night.

When we got in the gate, Dianne and Cindy both rented motorized carts to zip around in. One thing about Disneyland is that it was built before handicapped accessable was really an issue so if you have a wheelchair or a cart or a handicap card, you can go into the exits and avoid the long lines. Tom rented the cart for Cindy and while they were getting the carts, Cindy and I made a mad dash for Space Mountain and got on right away. I was a little apprehensive about it because I had ridden on it before and it scared the crap out of me then. But it was much more enjoyable this time although I did a lot of screaming and felt a sore throat coming on after that. We pretty much knocked out the rides in Tomorrowland in a couple of hours and headed out to ride the Spinning Teacups. It was hella fun and Dianne and I thought we were spinning really, really fast. Tom said we weren't. Just normal fast. We took in most of the rides around Storybookland after that and then headed out in search of lunch. We went to a pretty nice restaurant called the "Blue Bayou". It was pricey but good. You know what I'm talking about when I say pricey...limited menu and poor lighting so you can't read it. The food was good and Tom and Cindy said that is very hard to just walk up and get into this restaurant. Actually this restaurant is visible from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which we took in after we ate. So we did some more rides like the Haunted Mansion, Matterhorn, and Splash Mountain. Some where in there, I lost my phone. What a dumbass...what did I need it for anyway. About 2 p.m. we decided to come back to the room to rest to go back at night. We went back about 7:30 and spent the rest of the night there. We were lucky that we got to see the Fantasmic show at 10:30 because they had cancelled the previous shows due to the high winds.

Okay, so the carts really made the park so much more enjoyable. We are all pretty much sick, lame, or lazy, and we did take turns driving the carts around. The strange thing was that I felt a lot like my mom driving that thing around so I was glad my sister had rented it and she had control of it. Although, I gotta say, she reminded me of my mom a lot in that thing. LMAO!!! Tom is really too tall to be comfortable in one of these carts so we mostly followed the cart drivers to wherever we were going. But it was awesome to be apart of the "handicapped" party to get into the rides quicker. We probably rode on 20-25 rides and it was really not very crowded until we came back at night. Then it was a frickin' madhouse for our cart people. Actually it was kind of madhouse for us walkers too. Oh yeah, here is the other great thing about renting the cart. It is yours for the day. If you are leaving and coming back later, you just park it and take the key with you. You come back and it is there for you. Frickin' Awesome!!!

So anyway, come back tomorrow for Disney - Day 2 if I din't bore the crap out of you on day one. Har, har, har!!! (Pirate laugh). Bye for now.

California...We're Here!!!

Greetings from California!!! It is officially our first full day in California. It is before 7am and we are eating breakfast at our hotel waiting for "the Happiest Place on Earth" to open. We don't have long to wait now!!! So after flying into San Francisco and Tom and Cindy picking us up at the airport, we began the journey to Anaheim. It took us about 7 hours to get down here with a beautiful drive down Mickey's favorite highway...HWY 5. We were planning on going to Downtown Disney last night but Dianne and I kind of pooped out early from all the traveling. Actually it wasn't that early for us. It was about 2 am est.

It is sunny and hot here already today. There is a huge fire going on in the L.A. area that we were watching on the news last night. The news told us not to panic and it appears that Disney is safe. So we are set to go and cannot wait. Tom and Cindy surprised us with some friggin awesome t-shirts that a friend of theirs airbrushed. Dianne got a shirt with Pirate Mickey on it. My shirt has Goofy, Tom's is Grumpy and Cindy's is Tink. We are all wearing them today and we are going to be the talk of the place, let me tell you. I hope to have a picture of us taken today wearing them so I can download it tomorrow.

So anyway...bye bye for now. I will report back later with a Disney update.

CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME!!!

So as you can probably figure out I am up early updating this crazy blog one more time before I leave for California.

My sister and I took the girls to the kennel last night and it was very hard leaving them there but I think we are leaving them in good hands as we have heard that the owner of the kennel is a "whisperer." Jake, the young kid that took them in,was super nice and seemed to know all the questions to ask and genuinely loves dogs.

We also talked to our cousin, Tom, (Mr. Massive from yesterday's blog)a couple of times and he is super geeked about us coming out there. Tom and Cindy have thought of everything and have gotten super-duper deals on just about everything too. He wants it to be our "best trip ever" to California.

So for now, I am signing off as I have to get ready to be "leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again." (For you younger folks...that was a big, big song from the 70's.)

California Countdown

My California countdown continues....we are down to the last day before we are "leaving on a jet plane, don't know when we'll be back again." YIPPEE, YEE-HAW, WOO-HOO!!! My sister and I are super excited because tomorrow we will be hooking up with family and having the time of our lives at the "Happiest Place on Earth." So for all of you that are interested in this trip I'm taking, follow along on this super-duper blog or Mr.Massive will be coming for you!!! LOL!!!

California Countdown

So here is my entry for my five day countdown to California. We received the five day countdown from the Countdown Guru in California this morning. Every 10 days or so, my cousin, Tom, becomes the "Countdown Guru" and his wife, Cindy, becomes the "Countdown Fairy". They sent us just an awesome countdown today. They always include pictures and fun facts about Disneyland. In five days the four of us will be experiencing the "Happiest Place on Earth" together. Tom and Cindy have been to Disneyland numerous times and they know the ins and outs of the place. Tom said in his email today (and I quote) "WELL WELL WELL 5 DAYS LEFT. GET CRACKIN AND START PACKIN!" I started packing last night. I am so excited. If I was a dog, my tail would be wagging so hard that my butt would not be able to keep up with it.

In the countdown pictures today, Tom included a Disney blast from the past about Bear Valley Jamboree. That was one of my favorite attractions the last time I went to Disneyland when I was 17. According to his email, the attraction was run out of town by some other bear named Pooh. What a crock... But I guess Bear Valley Jamboree can still be seen at Disneyworld. You know what this means??? The four of us will have to plan a trip to Florida. YAY!!!

Now for the picture on today's post...this was my folks, my sister, and me. We stopped at the neighbor's house before we left for California on June 6, 1962. I am standing in front of my Dad and my sister is standing next to me. I told her that I particularily liked the look of the skirt and ankle socks pulled up half way up to her knees. (Doesn't she look stunning??? Kind of bigger version of my Mom.) I wanted her to recreate the look 46 years later but she said she would only do it if I would join her with the same fashion statement. I think Tom replied that he would pretend not to know us at the airport and leave us there. LOL!!!

OZ

So anyway, I am fixated with OZ. I don't know when this happened. Maybe it is because my girls (The Pointer Sisters) came from a rescue organization called Pointers from OZ. Another thing I am wondering is if Oz is in Afghanistan. Poppies are a huge crop in Afghanistan to produce heroin. Dorothy fell asleep in the poppy field so that is kind of why I think Oz may be in Afghanistan. Plus have you seen the commercial for US Goverment website. When Dorothy tells the Wizard she wants to go back to Kansas, he types in "passport." So it just goes to show that Oz cannot be in the US if she needs a passport to get back to Kansas. Just some ramblings for you to think about. Sometimes when I tell people what I am really thinking about it, they find it disturbing and they look at me like "WTH???" If you agree with them or with me, let me know. I would love to hear your views. I know I am a little off bubble, but I would like to know really how much off bubble I am. LMAO!!!


I know you are all probably as disappointed as I am that Mr. Obama will not be appearing in the next season of Dancing with the Stars (see the picture on the October 17th posting.) He probably won't be appearing in the remake of The Wizard of Oz either, but at least Palin and McCain will have good parts in the show. LOL. Maybe after they star in The Wizard of Oz they will do a remake of the Maverick movie. I just love it that Sarah and John are so mavericky!!! LMAO...I cracked myself up again.

California Countdown

So it is 12 days and counting until we jet off to California. But who's counting? I AM!!! Of course!!!

Yesterday some friends from work came over for a bonfire. We had good fun, laughs around the fire and just a really good time. Not too many people came but that was fine with me because it was a nice small group. Steve came over and helped me find wood for the fire and got the fire started before everyone showed up. Cindy and Joe came over first. I had called and asked her to pick up pretzels for the Zippy Dip. I couldn't really tell if she was glad or mad that I made Zippy. I think glad because she asked for it immediately when she came in. LOL. Zippy is like cocaine in a dip. It is awesome. The more you eat, the more you want. Just when I had given up hope that anyone else would come, Rachel and her husband, Marc, and her sister, Sandy, and their friend named Sam showed up. We saw them turn around in the neighbor's driveway so we knew someone else was coming. Then just when I thought everyone that was going to show had showed up, another car pulls up and it was Julie and Todd. It was really great sharing a couple drinks around the fire with my friends from work. When it got too cold everyone decided to head for home. I had the kitchen cleaned up and the dishwasher running before midnight. We had a good time. So thanks, friends, for coming to my "last official bonfire party" at my home in Sparta.

Another Goofy Picture

So those of you that know and love me, know that I love dogs. Especially hunting dogs. This is one classic picture. A shout out to Rock for sending it to me and giving me the idea that it is a perfect blog picture. At least it is the perfect picture for my blog. LOL!!!




Here is a picture of my girls. The Pointer Sisters, Polly & Mabel. Polly is in the front and Mabel is behind her. They are the reason I go home every night. Mabel gives the best hugs and Pol Pol is just a goof. They are both rescues from the south where Pointers are just "huntin' dawgs" and if they don't hunt there is no sense keeping them. Polly came from Georgia with her back legs broken and Mabel came from Tennessee and had non contagious mange. They are happy and healthy now and are the best girls ever. We all share the love of country music. Especially Mabel since she came from the Nashville area. Hahahaha...I crack myself up!!!

Oh yeah...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Black Friday

So anyway, today was "Black Friday" at work today. They announced that they were cutting the hourly personnel down to 35 hours a week. Even though I transferred to a department that is salaried, my boss kept me hourly so I wouldn't have to pay towards my health insurance. (It's only about $10 per week. Much cheaper than losing five hours pay every week.) So I was kind of concerned because the rumors were flying about the hourly people having their hours cut. My boss called us all into the conference room and he started out by saying "We are all salaried here blah, blah, blah." And I asked, "even me". He told us that he had made me salaried a couple of weeks ago because he knew this was coming and he didn't want my hours cut. I asked him why I had still been getting time cards and turning them in and he said "I've just been throwing them away because I couldn't tell you yet." For some reason that struck me really funny. I try to look for the funny stuff in almost anything because right now there is not too much fun in my life. It will be fun in 21 days when I leave for California and Disneyland (The Happiest Place on Earth).

Spinning Teacup ride here I come!!!

California Countdown--24 Days

So I know that everyone is as crazy excited as I am about me going to California. LMAO. It is only 24 days away. Not long at all. Soon I will be at the "Happiest Place on Earth" riding in the spinning teacups. For all of you out there that have not ridden in the spinning teacups it is a blast. There is a wheel in the middle of the teacups that you turn to go faster and faster making the teacup spin faster and faster until everything is a big blur. (Sometimes you are so dizzy you can hardly stand it and then you throw up.) So my cousin, Tom, was telling me that the way to successfully ride the teacups is to lock eyes with the person sitting across from you. That way you are not focusing on the spinning scenery racing by your face. I thought that was pretty neat and you would want to know that. You know what??? I feel like I am 17 again...the last time I went to Disneyland. A picture of the teacup ride is in my October 14th posting. I really cannot wait.

This Just In...

Wanted all my friends out there to see who will be on the next season of Dancing With The Stars.

Vote for Palin...She's Pretty!!!

California Countdown Continued...

So we are down to 28 days before we leave for California. I have so much to do before I go and it is like I am paralyzed when I get home and absolutely nothing gets done. I am really starting to get on my own nerves. Plus, I am worried about not having enough money to do everything I want to do out there. So I think I will open my "never-ending" garage sale again tomorrow and see if I can make a few dollars to throw towards the trip. I go downstairs or out to the garage or barn and see all the stuff I have and then when I turn out the lights the crap starts breeding and when I go back again it seems that there is twice as much stuff. I worry about not being able to downsize my stuff to fit in an apartment. It is really frustrating to be a pack rat. I so need a vacation!!!

Countdown to California

Okay...so I am down to 29 days before I fly out to California. I am crazy excited to see my cousin, Tom, and meet his wife, Cindy. My sister, Dianne, is going with me and we are going to have such a blast. Tom and Cindy are picking us up at the San Francisco airport and whisking us away to Anaheim to Disneyland (The Happiest Place on Earth)for 3 days, then back north to Napa for 2 days. After that, we are going to go back to their house and hit San Francisco for a day and go to Alcatraz. Plus we are going to do a "fake" Thanksgiving and celebrate Tom's birthday before we leave to come back home. I CANNOT WAIT!!!

OMG...It spins and I'm a retard...

So for the squeamish, I suggest you look away and stop reading now. I have to tell you something...I have a good friend here at work that totally gets what a goofball I am. She sent me this picture and we both buffalo growled and did lots of scream laughing at it. So this is a shout out to Cindy for making me laugh like an idiot today. Here is her take on this picture:

New Years Eve party hat = $1.50
New Years Eve dinner party = $75.00
Taxi Cab home = $15.00
Discovering your party favor noise maker spins...PRICELESS!!!

At another time I will elaborate on my adventures with Cindy. I heart her!!!

Wild Adventures

I don't know if any of you have noticed that my adventures are not really adventures or wild up to this date. I had to give my blog some snazzy title and I figured I would have some wild adventures when I go to California and Disneyland. Well at least I will have an adventure. LOL.

So some of you may not know how my mind really works. I am a little off bubble some times and think of things differently that others do. So here is one of my ramblings...

There is a neat little way to remember which side of a boat is the port and which is starboard. Here's the way to remember...the words "left" and "port" both have four letters in them. So if you think "port is on my left" it is an easy way to remember.

So I was talking to one of my friends over the phone and he said he could never remember whether Disneyland or Disneyworld is in California. So anyway I started to explain the "port and left" thing to him. Well then I started rambling about Disneyland being in the west and Disneyworld being in Florida which is south. He totally thought I was an idiot but we came across a better way to explain it. "West and Land" both have four letters in them. California is west. "World and South" both have five letters in them and Florida is in the south. Thank goodness Rock helped me figure this out so that I could say what I meant. Thanks for your help Rock.

So anyway, now that you have wasted a lot of time reading this, I hope you all learned something. LOL...

Spinning Teacup Ride here I come!!!

Cranefest

Well, I went to Cranefest on Saturday and it was amazing. There are approximately 1000 acres that are in a nature preserve just north of Battle Creek called Baker Sanctuary. They created a huge marsh to keep the Sand Hill Cranes coming back. There were probably 5000 or more coming into the marsh around sunset. They have the coolest little call. If I could spell it, I would, but I can't. We learned a lot of tidbits about the cranes. They are approximately 5 feet tall and only weigh 12#. They don't have any nerve endings in their legs so they don't feel the cold water and they have been carbon dated to 60 million years ago. Fascinating creatures. There was also a "Birds of Prey" exhibit, a huge tortoise and we got to touch a baby Black Rat snake. Anyway, it was quite a drive but well worth it. We left the DeGraff Nature Center in Holland at 1 p.m. and got back to Holland about 9 p.m. Cranefest also has an art festival for 2 days in October at the Kiwanis Club that adjoins Baker Sanctuary. The rest of the month of October you can come and enjoy the cranes without the crowds. Sorry, I did not get any pictures but they were just too far away. We did go on a mile long nature hike that was very interesting but it was also very hot and I was a hot mess.

Now for the disturbing part of the trip...there were a lot of "granola heads" at Cranefest. For a few moments it almost seemed like we were at a "Freakfest". The temps were up in the 80's and there was a young fashionista there that had on a "sweaterdress", tights, and UGG boots that was trying to keep a toddler in line. I was hot just looking at her. There was also a lot of dogs there. There was one rather portly fellow that had a Miniature Pinscher that barked continually. I know that this particular breed is known for barking, but why would you bring a barker to one of these events? The portly fellow seemed oblivious to the whole thing. I am sure he hears so much barking on a regular basis that it is totally tuned out. However, I could not tune it out. And then there was a brother and sister couple that were kind of weird. Poor Pierre...you could read through his t-shirt and he never shut up about anything. His sister, Wanda, had just huge boobs and they sagged down to her waist. It was frightening. I just hope that someone will mention to me when I need a new bra to give some support to the girls. LOL.

Well I guess that is enough for now.

Cranes!!!

So today I am off to Battle Creek with Margaret. Margaret is a long lost cousin I never knew I had until I started working with her a couple of years ago. We have become big buds and she invited me (actually I kind of invited myself) to go on a field trip with DeGraff Nature Center in Holland. The Sand Hill Cranes are migrating and there are supposed to be 5000 of them in Battle Creek this weekend. So if they are there and I get any good pictures, I will try to figure out how to post a picture to my blog tomorrow. I have seen a couple of Sand Hills here at home in the spring and they are huge. I cannot imagine what 5000 of them will look like. It is going to be awesome. So anyway, I was telling my sister about the cranes and she wanted to know how they knew to be in Battle Creek today. We decided that they must have made reservations. LOL!!!

GRRRR

So while trying to figure this posting thing out, I posted the same thing twice. Nice. Sorry you have to read such dribble twice.

GRRRR

Another Day

So anyway, today I will try to amuse you with my day yesterday. I fired my realtor because she is a stupid jerk, she did nothing to try and sell my house and stood me up on two consecutive appointments. I fired her through the magic of email and she just went off on me. She said that she wanted out of the contract the second week she was in it, that I was hard to work with, and she only listed my house as favor to her husband. GET OUT!!! I thought it was for the potential of a $25,000 paycheck.

Anyway, I had to bum drugs off a co-worker to simmer me down yesterday and then I went home and stamped like a maniac. I stamped three months worth of my 2009 calendar and almost completely colored a fourth month. Let me tell you, stamping and coloring are great therapy. I stayed up until 10 p.m. coloring and watching the first show of the new season of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. He is much hotter than McCain and Obama so I was glad I missed the debate. LOL.

So anyway, another chapter in my life. Pretty pitiful, huh?

Another Day in the Life of Bev

Okay, so today I will amuse you with the trials and tribulations of trying to sell a nice house on 10 acres in this economy. It just does not work. So I fired my realtor yesterday just because she is a stupid jerk and she didn't do anything for me and stood me up on two consecutive appointments. Anyway, I fired her through the magic of email and she just went off on me and made it sound like the reason the house didn't sell was all my fault and she wanted out of the contract the second week but she had listed my house as a favor to her husband. GET OUT!!! She called me and solicited me for my business. Why in the world would she being doing this as a favor to her husband when it could result in a $25,000 paycheck.

Anyway, I was so upset the rest of the day that I went home and stamped like a maniac on my 2009 calendars. I got three months stamped and a fourth month almost completely colored. Let me tell you, coloring and stamping is great therapy. I felt so much better after that. I colored until Dirty Jobs was over at 10 p.m. After all it is the new season of Dirty Jobs and Mike Rowe is such a hotty, I couldn't go to bed before that.

So there you have it...another day in the life of Bev. Pitiful isn't it? LOL!!!

I am not exactly computer savvy, so this may be the crappiest blog you will ever read. But bear with me. I am going to California in 39 days and I know you will want to be there with me for every thrilling moment.

Bev's Wild Adventures

I'm a Pointer Mom, stamper, scrapbooker and history buff. My dogs are my great joy.