HAPPY MOMMY'S DAY!!!

Hey all you Mommy's out there! Hope you have a really happy day with your families. I wish I could say I was going to go and spread love to the moms, but I am trapped here in my house recovering from a nasty flu with Kelly. Can't be spreading germs on Mother's day. That's no way to say thanks for taking care of all the diapers, snotty noses, skinned knees, broken hearts...you get the idea. So I'm going to go soak in a bath with a really good book now. If anyone's interested, it's an author called Diana Gabaldon. The first book in the series is called Outlander and is absolutely captivating. I could not put it down! So now I'm on the second book, which is called Dragonfly in Amber. Almost half way through now. It's so good, my bath water turning cold as ice will be the only way to get me to close my book and climb out of there. Anyway, off I go. Take care all!

two months

It's been over two months since my last post. Kelly's working at home now, so life as I knew it has changed dramatically. I do get some computer time, but not nearly what I used to, so I haven't been blogging at all. I'm still not writing it off or anything, in fact, there have been many things I've thought about posting about. It just never seems to materialize.
We had Anastasia for Spring break so we just brought her home this afternoon. She's getting so big now...11 years old. It was funny, cuz she had to build a bridge as a project for school, and it took all of my efforts to encourage Kelly to let her help him make it! It turned out spectacular...better, I'm sure, than any other 11 year old girl's in the class. LOL. Take care friends. I'll be reading blogs even if I'm not posting as much, plus I'll see you on facebook:)

harsh but true

One of my clients was telling me about a friend of hers who has cancer. The cool thing about this lady, is that she's designed silver bracelets that sell for about a hundred and fifty bucks and that fifty dollars of each sale goes toward cancer related charities. What caught my attention, though, is that these bracelets are not the average pretty pink that is generally associated with cancer. In fact, she feels that as pretty as the pink bracelets and pins are, cancer is not pretty and girly. So her bracelets allow people who have or have had cancer to express how they really feel about it. It may seem a little crass, but from what I understand, they go over huge. They truly reflect how most of us feel about this deadly disease. Check out this website if you want to see for yourself. http://www.soulflower.com/fcancer/

Happy Ho Ho!

Well, I haven't been posting much lately because I'm so stinkin' busy these days, but I couldn't let Christmas come and go without wishing you all a happy Holiday! So to all my blogging friends out there, I wish you all the very Merriest Christmas and a Happy New Year from the bottom of my heart. My life has been enriched having had the privilege if getting to know you all. To my Uncle Curtis, I hope you are feeling better and have had some well deserved R and R. I wish you lived here in my neck of the woods so that you could come and share Christmas with us! Take care, my friends:)

My alarm didn't go off!

I opened my eyes yesterday morning, let out a satisfying yawn, stretched my arms, leaned over to see the time and..."The alarm didn't go off!" I yelled as I flung the covers off and flew out of bed. It was five after nine in the morning and I had to be on the squash court by nine fifteen! I frantically grabbed at yoga pants and runners... socks and tank tops... ripping through drawers and brushing my hair... brushing my teeth and grabbing my racquet...
I ran out the door with a bottle of water tossed into my bag and hopped into the car. The court is only down the street, but I was already late and my squash partner was waiting. I wasn't even awake fully when I pulled into the rain-soaked parking lot of the community center. I flung open the door and took off running across the puddled parking lot. As I approached the automatic doors, they slid open for me and I ran by the front desk. I turned right at the fitness center and as I did, my wet runners slid out from under me! I almost flattened a beautiful woman, dressed very nicely, and her toddler. Before I hit the ground, I caught my footing, but my runners were still slick, so the foot that had found the floor also slid out from under me. Luckily my other foot found the floor as I was falling and I caught myself for another moment before, it too, slid away from me. I'm telling you, it was slippery!!! I could see the whites of the little toddler's eyes. Even at his young age, he knew I was going down. It felt like I was slipping and sliding, trying to catch my footing for about ten minutes. Finally, I had to accept the fact that I was going to fall. I must have looked so funny fumbling around trying to get my balance, so I stopped trying to save myself and landed on my but. The beautiful woman was standing over me asking if I was okay. She had a very concerned look on her face. The woman at the front desk was wearing a horrified expression, thinking I must have broken every bone in my body. The trainer, who was in the fitness center ran out to see if I was okay. The only thing injured was my pride. I felt like such a tool! I'm 36 years old, and I apparently don't know yet not to run in the halls. Especially with runners that just came out of the rain!
Well, I got to squash a few minutes late, a little shaken up, covered in sweat from the adrenaline pumping through my body as I was trying to prevent myself from falling, completely humiliated...but all in one piece.

Happy Birthday Sophia!!!

These are the big chocolate eyes and gorgeous smile I've been looking at for the last couple of weeks. My brother and sister in law brought my beautiful niece to spend her first Birthday with us. The funny thing is, this is always how the babies look when they are rested and refreshed...







then, after a long visit with gushing relatives, just when you want them to give you their biggest smile...

They look more like this...LOL Hm. Not impressed. Not at all.



It was great having them here and to see little Sophia almost walking on her own. She is right there where she holds one of your fingers for security, but doesn't really rely on it that much for balance and strength. She'll be walking on her own within days, I know it.

Alicia decorated this cake with Sophia's favorite character. Dora the Explorer. For those of you that aren't familiar with her, this is quite an impressive likeness.
Then it was party time, and the de Konings know how to par-tay!
























But wait...the Smith's know how to party too!






LOL! I love my goofy family.
Here's Mom trying to cut her way into a package of blocks. Not the easiest task.
Loads of prezzies...
And lots of beautiful smiles:)

I can't wait until January when I get to visit with them again. By then, I may have some luck in getting the little one to say, "Aun-tie Sha-ron." Believe me, I have been drilling it in hard. LOL But it's not easy, cuz I have so much competition!!!

He's a lover...Not a fighter

Well, by now, if you read my blog, you know I have a little furry poodle named Frisky. This little guy has been part of our family since he was only ten weeks old. Alicia got him for her sixth Birthday. Now Frisky is twelve and Alicia is turning eighteen! Hard to believe...

Anyway, a couple of months ago, we drove into Maple Ridge to visit Kelly's parents and his Aunt and Uncle. In Kelly's family, they always take the dogs with them when they visit, so we decided to take Frisky along. When we got to Kelly's Uncle's house, where we were all meeting for a visit, the dogs (Frisky and Angel) frolicked in the yard sniffing each other's bums and peeing on things. Tails were wagging and all was well. When we went into the house, everything went to hell in a hand-basket!

We went into the side door, which happens to go right into the kitchen. The dogs both pranced into the kitchen and around the island where i couldn't see them, when suddenly, there was a screaming sound coming from behind the island. This wasn't just a little yip, it was serious animal in distress sounds. So I ran around the island to see Kelly's Uncle's dog (a four year old boarder collie) biting Frisky in the throat, and pinning him to the floor. Feeling particularly territorial, I guess, she happily bit and stomped on Frisky until she was pulled off of him by Kelly's Dad. It's a good thing he was there first, cuz otherwise, I couldn't be held responsible for tackling Angel (don't let the name fool ya.)

Poor little Frisky was beat up pretty good. He shook like a chihuahua for hours. His ear was bloody where she bit him, and he was badly bruised. You couldn't touch him on the neck where she was biting him or he would let out a scream, and even petting him anywhere else hurt him. Usually this dog drives me nuts following me around and demanding affection, but for the next week, he didn't want to be touched. It was heartbreaking. I would just pet him lightly on the top of his head and he would slink away and go lay somewhere else. Thank goodness he recovered within the week and is back to his normal self again. He's no spring chicken, so you never know how these things could go. Also, we didn't know the extent of the injury to his neck.

Anyway, I couldn't bloody wait to get out of there that night. I can barely remember anything we talked about because I was so worried and preoccupied with my puppy. I'm not one of those people who equates pets with children, but I have raised this dog for twelve years and feel very affectionate and protective of him. I love the little guy. Angel, however...well, not so much.

Kelly's parents were so great with him that night, spoiling him and such. His Mom tended his ear while he sat on my lap and his Dad fed him ice cream from a plastic spoon. Awe. His Uncle was sweet too. That made me feel good that they cared because, the weird think is, not one of Angel's owners said, "Angel, NO!" If my dog attacked another dog like that I would smack him and say "NO" That's how they learn. His aunt was like, "Oh, Angel doesn't know what she did wrong." Where I'm of the opinion that she doesn't know because she's never been scolded. I later found out that she has been involved in similar attacks on other dogs...Kelly's sister's dog included. Anyway, he's fine now and I just know not to bring him back there. You should have seen the way Frisky was looking at me that night...like I betrayed him!