6 Random Things

My friend Sean tagged me with this meme. I am supposed to post 6 random things about myself.

1) I was the youngest person in my high school graduating class.
2) I was once hit on by Lemmy of Motorhead (lucky me!) at the Rainbow on Sunset Strip.
3) I have an extreme dislike for plastic baby dolls.
4) I love meatloaf sandwiches!
5) I dream of having an herb farm.
6) Before I had kids, I had 2 dogs, 2 cats, 3 ferrets, 2 rats, a snake and 2 tanks of fish all at the same time! No wonder I had a hard time studying in college!

10 Things I'm thankful for today...

1) My kids. They make me beyond crazy but I wouldn't trade a single minute of any day with them!
2) Big Daddy. 17 years together and we still kinda like each other!
3) My home. It may not be perfect, but it's mine.
4) My family. When it comes down to it, they're all you've got and I'm pretty lucky to have them!
5) My dog. He's a big, goofy, son of bitch, but I love him!
6) My friends, both near and far. Without them, life would be dull!
7) My little garden. It's not much, but it helps me feel connected to nature and keeps me grounded.
8) Fuzzy polar fleece sweatpants and woolly socks! It's chilly here and I'm oh so toasty!
9) My camera. Without which I wouldn't have 1000's of photos of beautiful children and awesome nature!
10) My blog. So I can remember all the silly, stupid things that will make me smile when I'm old!

Late Night Visitor

It was after dinner and we were all hanging out in the living room. Big Daddy and I were trying (notice I said trying) to watch Bones over the screams of obnoxious children. I thought I heard a noise, but immediately shrugged it off as something on the TV, then Monkey Man said, "Did you hear that Mom? It sounds like an owl!" We listened for a minute and we both heard it, so he and I went out back to investigate. Sure enough, there was a big, beautiful Great-Horned Owl on our chimney. We sat out on the trampoline and watched its silhouette and listened to its call. On occasion I heard another in the distance, so this may have been the same pair that landed on our chimney a couple of years ago. The owl continued to hang out, so I slowly walked across the yard and went inside to see if Big Daddy and the Piggle wanted to see it. She came with me and Big Daddy headed out to the garage to get a light. I was hoping for a mellow flashlight, but he came out with our 2 million candlepower spotlight! He shined it on the house first and slowly moved upward, trying not to flash the owl in its eyes. We were able to get a pretty good glimpse of it before it took flight. It was beautiful! It glided off the chimney almost effortlessly and soared over our neighbor's yard and off into the distance. Big Daddy kept the spotlight on it and we were able to see the gorgeous markings and the fuzzy feet! And the most amazing thing was how quiet it was when it flew! No wonder they are such effective predators! I always feel so privileged to witness an animal in the wild and I am especially fond of owls!

If you are interested in hearing what I heard last night, there is a good recording on this link. Look for Great Horned Owl (a little ways down the page) and click on "pair calling". This is a nice link for owl information in general.

http://www.owlpages.com/sounds.php

New shoes!

I just had to show off the insanely cute new sneakers I bought the Piggle! She is stylin' fer sure! SWEET!

HEB = HELL

Why is it I always come up short of milk and eggs and bread and toilet paper during the holiday week? I HATE going to the grocery store before the holidays! I was hoping that today would be sort of mellow as there is still tomorrow for last minute shopping, but the HEB was PACKED OUT! Swerving in and out of aisle after aisle of folks who are undecided as to which stuffing to get or whether they want pull apart rolls or the whole wheat kind... holy crap, it's rolls, just pick one! It probably wouldn't be so frustrating if I didn't have kids tagging along, but trying to navigate through a sea of people while the toddler is ripping crap off the shelves or dropping things out of the basket or throwing her new shoes on the ground (thanks to Monkey Man for catching that, otherwise some little girl would have had a new pair of pink fuzzy crocs!) and then the 6 y.o. swinging on the cart, dashing out in front of people or just standing in the middle of the aisle making it impossible for other shoppers to pass, it makes we want to pull my freakin' hair out! And I don't know if anyone else has noticed this phenomenon, but people get UGLY around the holidays. I mean people in general are fairly rude and inconsiderate these days anyway, but get within a week of any major holiday and everyone gets a severe case of Asshole-itis! Nothing aggravates me more than to politely ask someone if I could scoot by only to have them stare me down and give me the eye roll with the sigh. I figured, "Please excuse me." was alot better than, "Move your fucking fat ass!!!" Maybe I was wrong? But the topper was while I was in the Kleenex aisle, I was looking for Puffs and a gentleman in one of those scooter things drove up and was waiting. Since I hadn't yet located the damn Puffs, I politely backed away so he could get by. After he pulled up, I found the Puffs, they were right behind where he parked, so I reached to get the box and he backed up, damn near ran over me, then proceeded to tell me I should have moved when I heard the "beep, beep" sound! He better be damn glad he was sitting down or he would have had a size 8 foot up his ass! Seriously, what ever happened to courteous and polite behavior?

I say, BRRRRR! It's cold in here!

A cold front moved in yesterday and boy did it come in fast! One minute it was a lovely, sunny day with a nice gentle breeze, the next minute the wind was whipping around and chilly to the bone! I HATE cold weather! I would much rather be traipsin' around in shorts, tank tops and flip-flops! Oh well, at least I'm getting some use out of those old sweaters that I've hung onto from the Oregon days. I had to take the kids out to buy some new shoes as all they had were sandals and Crocs. Time for the warmer, winter-type shoes. I found the Piggle the CUTEST little pair of pink and silver Nike's. She will be so stylin'! I also found her a pair of pink Crocs with fuzzy inserts, so she will now have warm, little tootsies!

The leaves on my maple are turning yellow (yeah, they don't turn all orange and red here like they do in OR). There are leaves all over my yard and I'm having to bring in all of my cacti. My house is too damn cold due to all the big windows that are NOT double paned! I guess it is time to start non-stop baking from now until spring. From this day forward, I will be longing for sunny days and warm weather. Someone needs to send me to Mexico already! Seriously.

God of the Interstate Billboard

I was heading out east of town to visit a friend in Coupland yesterday. I was on one of the major highways and immediately noticed some billboards. The first one I remember said this:

Is the road you're taking leading you to me?
-God

Hmmmm. Well the road I was taking would have eventually led me to Houston and unless God currently resides in Houston or one of the towns on HWY 290 on the way to Houston, it obviously wouldn't have taken me to him! So shit, I always seem to take the wrong road! But then I got to thinking, Wow! Billboards are pretty pricey, who knew God had such a big advertising budget? And then I wondered who his agency was? Is he a local client or a national client? Either way, Big Daddy's marketing firm could sure use a high falootin' account like that! So if any of you have an "in" with God, could you please get his contact info? I think it's only fair that Big Daddy's agency has a chance to make a pitch! Thanks and have a great day!

Trina's pics of the week

These are some of my favorite photos from our trip to New Mexico.

Gray sky ahead, blue sky behind


Pronghorn antelope, one of North America's most beautiful animals!


Majestic silverback, he interacted with us for quite awhile, several times using what almost looked to be sign language. Gorillas are such magnificent beings, how can we look at them and not see ourselves?


Cuddly carnivore!


Zebra's got back! I just love this shot, not sure why.

Really nice day!

I just got home from taking the kids to park day. I have happy, tired and totally filthy children, henceforth life rocks! There is nothing better than filthy dirty kids that have spent hours playing with friends and loving life! Ah, to be 6 or 2 again! I called Big Daddy on the way home to check in and he suggested going out to dinner so I don't have to stress over cleaning rugrats AND cooking dinner. I really love the shit out of that guy! So off I go, rub-a-dub-dub, funky kids in the tub!

Better late than never...

I have been waiting around for the final results from the election, but it seems as though Missouri may never be called! So I just wanted to post the predictions that Big Daddy and the Monkey Man made and compare with the actual results. They really did pretty well, only one state off as far as I can tell (depending on what Missouri does). I tried to upload the map, but blogger isn't recognizing the format, so I'll just post the electoral votes they predicted vs. the actual.

Prediction was: 353-Obama, 185-McCain
Actual (at this time): 364-Obama, 162-McCain

The boys had given Indiana to John McCain and Missouri too. And I still think Missouri will eventually be called for McCain and if that's the case, the results will be: Obama-364, McCain-173, so they weren't too far off! I still just think it was cool as hell watching my son take in this process! Get him informed and excited while he's young so hopefully he'll fully understand and appreciate his right to vote in the 2020 Presidential Election!

Have you ever seen something you just have to have?

Sitting here, watching Rachael Ray and BAM! there it is! The most beautiful blender I have ever seen in my life! It makes me feel all giddy and silly inside thinking of the crazy smoothies I could make with this bad boy! OH YEAH! And did I mention milkshakes? Strawberry for me and the Piggle, peanut butter for Big Daddy and Hot Fudge for the Monkey Man! Ooooo! And what about margaritas and pina coladas?? OK, here goes... banana strawberry smoothies for breakfast, milkshakes for lunch and margaritas for dinner! Who's with me?

Holy crap!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Oh wait... holy crap, it's RAIN! Wow! I was beginning to think that rain was just a figment of my imagination! This is the first real rain we've had in months, my tomatoes are rejoicing! If they had feet they would be dancing with their heads upturned, reveling in the life-giving gift of Mother Nature!

If I'm lucky, there will be some puddles for the kids to splash in when it calms a bit. They seriously need some little rain boots! Maybe I'll wait to take my shower until later so I can splash too!

The thunder just woke up the Piggle, she's crying and scared, but I just explained to her where thunder comes from (well, at least how a sweet little fairy tale explains it). I feel a haiku coming on...

little clouds floating
you bang your heads and yell out
OW, OW, OW! that hurts!

The newest member of the family!

Yesterday we went to Petsmart to get some food for the Otie Potie. While there we passed all the bowls of sad little bettas and of course the Monkey Man thought we should adopt one. So, we looked at many, many little fish before he settled on one. While we were getting in the car, I told him he had to think of a decent name for this one as he was NOT going to be Rainbow Fish III. He was pretty quiet on the way home then said, "A-ha! I'll name him Albert!" So, welcome to Albert, the newest member of our family! He's a beaut, ain't he?

What do you do when your Play-Doh dries out?

You make it your damn self! The Monkey Man was really wanting to show his baby sister what Play-Doh was all about. Unfortunately, all of our Play-Doh was dried out and sad. Thank goodness for the internet! I got online, found a do-able recipe and poof, half an hour later we have home-made, non-toxic, non-smelling play dough! We made five different colors and the materials I used probably cost less than $1, what a deal! For any of you interested in trying this, here is the recipe:

Play Dough

2 c. flour
2 c. warm water
1 c. salt
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tbsp. cream of tartar
food coloring

I heated the water in a pan until it was warm, not boiling, then I added the oil. I mixed all the dry ingredients then added them to the water. It immediately started thickening and I stirred and stirred until it got very doughy (past the point of looking liked mashed potatoes, where the dough was starting to peel off the edges and stick to itself). I turned the dough out on a cutting board and let it cool for a few minutes until I was able to handle it. I kneaded it until I got my desired consistency and separated it into 5 tennis ball sized balls. To add the color, I poked a hole in the middle and poured in the coloring and kneaded the dough until dispersed. If there is anything you learn from me, take the time to actually go get some gloves on or you'll have blue hands! Once the dye is incorporated into the dough, it no longer stains, it's just when it is still liquidy. After you have desired colors (granted, these are nowhere near as vibrant as commercial dough, but why do kids need neon colors to be happy?) then it's playtime! Enjoy and then store in airtight containers. If it starts to dry out, you can wrap the individual balls in a damp paper towel overnight to rehydrate, but at some point, they will get too hard and you will just start over! Luckily this is so stinkin' easy!

RATS! Literally.

The Monkey Man and I were out in the garden yesterday, harvesting tomatoes. I have been noticing recently that alot of my Golden Boys have had big, chewed-out sections. At first I thought it was another tomato worm, but there was no telltale poop and all of the tomatoes that were chewed were close to being ripe and close to the ground. Tomato worms usually attack green fruit closer to the top. Anyway, a minute or two into harvesting we heard this big rustling and I caught a glimpse of something racing out of my bed and through the hole in the fence! Eeeeek! I did not actually witness what it was but Monkey Man said it was some sort of rodent. He said it was pretty big, but then he's never really seen a rat and a mouse together to compare size. He is convinced it's a Harvest Mouse, since logically, it has been harvesting our tomatoes, but from the size description, I'm thinkin' it's a rat. When I looked through the fence, I didn't see it, but did notice that my neighbor has a shed that doesn't sit flush on the ground and there is a whole bunch of wood rot and straw under the shed (what a nice, warm little home for a family of ratties). We also had several folks at our BBQ awhile back state that they saw a portly rat cruising along the top of the fence. So there you have it. But what do I do about it, they seem to be living in my neighbors yard and they are renters that could give a hairy rat's ass (no pun intended) about maintenance and upkeep of the property. And I certainly don't want to lay any traps in my yard, for a couple of reasons. I don't want the dog to get caught up in it, don't want the kids to get snapped and as stupid as it may sound, I've had rats as pets and I just couldn't kill one to save my life! But at least now I know what gets the dog all worked up after dark! Time to patch the holes in the fence. I know that won't take care of the problem 100%, but maybe it would make it more difficult for said rat to raid my garden!

Toilet-side eulogy

Rainbow Fish II
You were so bright and blue
You were born in a cup,
but with us you moved up... to a bowl.

You ate little pellets
And made bubble nests
You were cool, you were sweet
You were the best of the best!

Oh Rainbow Fish II
We will really miss you
We hope that you find
That school in the sky... or a shoal.


The Monkey Man is mourning the loss of his 2nd betta, Rainbow Fish II. RB II had a good, long life, almost as long as his predecessor, Rainbow Fish I, who survived over 3 years! He will be greatly missed by a tender-hearted 6 y.o.

And so history is made...

On November 4, 2008 Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. This was an historic moment in many ways, the most obvious being that he will be the first African-American President. I was sitting around yesterday thinking about what this means for our country and the world when it struck me that the first President my son (and other children his age) will remember will be Barack Obama. That barrier of color is now broken and seeing a black man in the highest office won't be anything new or strange, it won't be necessarily historic to his generation, it will just BE.

Somewhere around 136.6 million Americans voted in this election! That's pretty historic too! A 64.1% turnout, which would make it the highest voter turnout since 1908! Something about this election inspired people. Several women in my circle of friends were discussing the election yesterday and everyone of us agreed that this was the first election in our lifetimes that we really cared about. Everyone I have spoken to, whether Democrat, Republican or Independent all agree, this was a monumental election. I just think it's cool as shit that so many people got out there, stood in lines, voted early, sent in absentee ballots, whatever they needed to do to make their voices heard! Democracy at work, woo-hoo!

Although this event had historical significance for our country and our world, it also had significance for a skinny, little white girl in Central Texas! This honestly was the first election in my life that really meant something to me. The first time in my life that a candidate actually "spoke" to me. I wanted to be involved, I wanted to educate myself, I WANTED to vote! Many people may think I'm a sap, but watching Barack's victory speech gave me chills, made me cry and inspired me, not only to work harder in my own home with my own family, but to figure out a way to work harder for my community, my country and my world. Simply... it gave me hope. I'm not so naive to think that Barack Obama is going to solve all the world's ills, no President could, but I do believe that he will at least try to do his very best for our country. I don't envy him, the whole world is watching with baited breath to see if he will rise to the occasion or fall flat on his face. He has the hopes and dreams of many Americans riding on his shoulders, not a position I would want to be in! But he WILL be our next President and I, for one, am excited to see what the next four years will bring!

Still waiting...

I had promised that I would post Big Daddy and the Monkey Man's results from the election, but unfortunately as of this morning, we are still waiting to hear about North Carolina and Missouri. As soon as those results are posted, we'll be able to see how close the boys were.

Election Day

Today is the day Americans are hitting their polling places to cast their votes! How exciting! I have to admit, this is the first election in my life that has really made an impact on me. Of course I've voted for years, but no race has ever been quite so exciting. I don't know if it's the candidates, the state of affairs, or the fact that I'm introducing all of this to my child, maybe it's just a combination of it all, who knows? Big Daddy has the whole evening planned with the Monkey Man. A few days ago, the two of them sat down with a map of the US and made predictions as to which state would vote for which candidate, they saved that map and this evening they will print a new map and fill it out according to what the actual tally is and then see how close they got! It's been a really great exercise in introducing the electoral college to the Monkey Man. It's nice to have Daddy pitching in with schooling on occasion, especially when it's something he is really interested in! With their permission, once all of the polls are closed and everything is tallied, I will reveal their predictions and the actual totals, so we can all see if they were on target or not so much. Should be fun to see! And, if you haven't been out to vote yet, get a move on!

Heaven forbid a Muslim in the White House!

This has been something that his tickled me for weeks now. I have had several people recently ask me, "Aren't you worried about the possibility of having a Muslim in the White House?" Usually my first response is, "Huh?", as I hadn't realized that John McCain was Muslim! Who knew? But seriously, I am always floored at this question for several reasons. One, it is completely unsubstantiated. Two, I thought our country had a separation of church and state within the government, so who gives a rat's ass about a candidate's spiritual beliefs? And third, I have yet to find anything in the Constitution that states ONLY white, Christian, Protestant males are allowed to be President. I mean I wasn't around yet, but I seem to remember people even having issue with JFK being Catholic, which is weird, cause isn't Catholicism still a form of Christianity?

I just find it odd that this country toots it's own horn, stating that it is the "melting pot" where people can come and pursue their dreams without fear of persecution! We send the message to our school children, which are from all different and diverse cultures and backgrounds, that they can aspire to be anything, even PRESIDENT! What a bunch of bogus crap! What we really mean is, "You can aspire to be anything, even PRESIDENT (IF you're male, white, Protestant, come from a background of wealth and prominence, have been in the armed forces and are 100% heterosexual)". All of you kids of Latin, Asian, Middle-Eastern, African-American, or NATIVE American background, we are totally just blowing smoke up your asses! And if you're Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Athiest, Agnostic or any other deviant form of religion, you're freakin' high! OK, it's sad, but it's true.

At some point we are going to have to realize that we are not a nation solely of white, Christians anymore. Thanks to our beautiful Statue of Liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.", we have one of the most diverse populations on the planet! It's like we have a little bit of every part of the world in one country, isn't that so cool? But now we need to put our money where our mouth is. Are we really that giant melting pot? Are we truly the land of opportunity? Someday, a woman with Asian ancestry who practices Buddhism is going to throw her name in the hat, will we be able to see past her personal, spiritual choices and her ethnicity and be able to judge her strictly based on her policies and what she could offer our country? I certainly hope so.

One woodland fairy, one screamin' cheetah weelie!

Well folks here they are, dressed up in all their glory! Finally, all that hard work comes to fruition! We had a great night, the Monkey Man is of course old hat at this trick-or-treating stuff, and he taught his baby sister well. After a few houses she was yelling "trick-or-treat" with the best of them! And now they have enough candy to last us until next Halloween!

My monkey becomes a cheetah!


Tail end of a cheetah


Fairy kisses for Mommy!


Mommy's little woodland fairy


Winged wonder!