Hello from Misery (Missouri).

A YEAR?!

2010-04-08T14:13:00.003-05:00

Wowza. I can't believe I've ignored this blog for over a year. I know I've said it over and over- I'm going to try to post more regularly. I can do it for a week or two, and then life takes over. So...here's another attempt. Here are some of my favorite recent pet pictures:

Sunday Morning Rugby

2009-03-09T22:29:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was Nick's first real rugby game of the season at Forest Park. What a blast! A guy on the opposing team broke his ankel within the first ten minutes.
We're in purple and white. You can find the schedule at www.sundaymorningrugby.com.

Ella Minnow Pea

2009-03-09T10:07:00.000-05:00

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book was really cute and I recommend it to anyone who has a love for words and literature. I feel that if I read this during a different time, I may give it another star- just wasn't in the mood for something like this when I picked it up. It's also short, so you can read it without feeling like you're making a huge commitment. The story is told through a series of letters. As the book goes on, there was a point where it became annoying to try and decipher what was being said. (You'll understand if you read it.)

View all my reviews.

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

2009-03-02T12:50:00.000-06:00

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
The majority of this book was so funny I would lay in bed laughing until I cried. This book is only for people who enjoy stupid man humor. And who are not easily offended by males speaking of females like they are mere objects put on the earth to please them. And then toss in the trash.

I think most girls would be offended by Tucker. There definetly parts were I was, but damn, he is stil funny as hell. And really...most of these girls deserved what they got.

The end of the book bothered my soul and I still can't shake the horrible feeling it gave me a day later. Prepare yourself for humor and disturbance all in one!

View all my reviews.

Captain Alatriste

2009-02-23T12:51:00.000-06:00

Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a great piece of historical fiction. I am new to reading books of this genre, but throughly enjoyed Captain Alatriste.

I was concered jumping into a book like this I would get lost and have no idea what was going on (I will admit I'm not much of a history buff). Not so, it's easy to pick up. Also, it's not a long book, so if you're scared to committ, this is a good one to start with.

The story is told by Captain Alatriste's young "apprentice" which makes for an interesting view point.

View all my reviews.

Nick's Sky Diving Adventure

2009-02-16T11:43:00.003-06:00

A few months ago I posted a video of my brother, Christopher, sky diving on his 21st Birthday (Friday, June 13, 2008) in Las Vegas at Sin City Sky Diving. Nick went along with him and here is his video. While he doesn't cus nearly as much as Christopher did, it's still exciting to watch.

I love how he didn't tell me the cords on his chute tangled until this video came in the mail.

Dolphin Cove Grand Cayman

2009-02-13T14:23:00.001-06:00

This is a video I took at Dolphin Cove in Cayman while we were there over the holidays. Such an awesome place. My brother is working here now as the marketing supervisor.

Chaz Stomps at Mouse

2009-02-12T12:30:00.003-06:00

I took this video in January to show my Mom and Brother the stomping that's been going on at our house any time Chaz sees Mouse at the bottom of the steps. Chili even makes an appearance towards the end. The stomping really gets going at about the 45 second mark.

Background: Chaz is our brown bear staring in the video. Chili is our black brindle girl who is smarter than 90% of the humans I know. Mickey, who is not pictured but mentioned, is our buff tabby cat we inherited from my Mom when she moved. Mouse, the one all the fuss is made over, is a tabby cat we inherited from Nick's mother last year unexpectedly. He's about 15 or 16 years old, about 5 lbs and very sweet to humans. He beats the crap out of Mickey, who is 7 years and 22 lbs. He also refuses to come up stairs.

An Embarrassment of Mangoes

2009-02-12T10:11:00.000-06:00

An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude by Ann Vanderhoof

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book did many things for me. It helped me pull more of my dreams into focus. It gave me inspiration and hope. It made me miss my mom and brother.

I'm sure this is one of those books that's not for everyone, but if you've ever seriously toyed with the idea of picking up and moving to an island...or you know in your heart the current life you're living just doesn't match up to what you had planned for yourself, this book is for you.

View all my reviews.

A Year In The World

2009-02-12T09:57:00.001-06:00

A Year in the World: Journeys of A Passionate Traveller by Frances Mayes

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars
I made it to page 111. I'm done. This is not a book for a vegetarian or someone interested in an exciting travel review. Every other sentence the author is talking about how she's eating pork at every meal or how fresh the fish eyes look at the market. She assumes the reader knows how to speak fluent Spanish and knows the ins and outs of each country she visits. The traveling in this book is not even done within a year but instead over many years.

I'm bothered that the travels only took place in one portion of the world, yet the book indicates the travels took her all over the world. Did she forget about the other 90% of this planet?

The writing has a tad full-of-oneself feel to it.

I rarely don't finish a book. I'm not finishing this one. There's no point to this book- no story to follow.

View all my reviews.

Not Nearly Enough Time

2009-02-03T18:29:00.002-06:00

I flew into San Francisco today for a meeting tomorrow morning. This is my second time staying in the city, but I've passed through a total of four on my way to other areas of California. I walked around for a few hours this afternoon, but was leary to walk as far as my heart wanted to for fear of wandering around on streets trying to find my way back to the hotel in the dark. Alone. I'd still be out there now exploring if I had a buddy. I'm sad there is still day light and I'm hanging out in my hotel room.

I love this city. The people are friendly in a way you don't even experience in the mid-west. It's more of a relaxed, genuine non-judgemental friendly. It's February and the weather is beautiful. Warm enough in the sun for shorts, still breezy in the shade for a light jacket. Hotels, stores and restaurants are pet and environementally friendly. I feel like I'm in my own house every where I go! I was hoping to extend this trip a few days and bring Nick along with me to see why I love it here, but the scheduling just wouldn't work out. Hopefully next time.

I'm staying at the Harbor Court Hotel. Love it. I haven't been impressed with any hotels I've stayed in lately, but this little one has been a pleasant surprise. The design is adorable, stylish and comfortable. It's a block down from the Farmers Market and just off the water. You can easily walk to the area around Union Square and beyond.

I'm flying out tomorrow right after I'm finished with a meeting, so unfortuntely it looks like my sight seeing time is over for this trip. I'll be back San Francisco.

Things I'm Thinking About On A Monday

2009-02-02T12:52:00.002-06:00

Why are some people so judgemental of others they barely know yet never take a good look at themselves?

From the words of Mr. Robert Nesta Marley- Judge Not, before you judge yourself.

Don't think for one second what you are saying about someone won't get back to them.

Lightlife Smart Chili is super easy and super good!

I am a much happier driver when my car is clean.

The dirty grey piles of snow are not pretty.

I am so thankful for everything I have.

The book I'm reading is awesome, but it does make me miss my mom and brother even more than normal. (Join me on Goodreads!)

I need a weekend for my weekend.

0

2009-01-15T12:24:00.002-06:00

It's zero degrees in St. Louis today. I woke up at a reasonable time, but had so much trouble pulling myself out of bed to face the fridged temps that I made myself considerably late for work. As I was throwing stuff in my bag to run out the door, I slipped on my trusty ballet flats. With no socks. And reasoned with myself it wouldn't be too bad since I'm going straight to my car, to the garage at work, and then to my desk. I was horribly mistaken. My car was frozen so much so the steering wheel didn't want to turn. It took my entire drive to work (30 mins) for it to warm up. There were a few water main breaks in the area, so I had to take a nice little scenic detour while helplessly watching my purse tumble over and spill everything between the passenger seat and the door. I made it to the garage at work and spent 5 more minutes fishing under the seat of my car with frozen feet trying to find my cell phone. I make it up to the office. The heat on the side where I sit IS NOT ON.

Nine's the Lucky Number

2009-01-14T11:33:00.002-06:00

If you're close to me, you know full well the entire year of 2008 was not on my list of what I'd call "good times." Nick and I were thrown our fair share of obstacals, and when I think back on all of them it's clear to me why my mood wasn't top notch for 12 months. When week after week brought some new kind of headache, why did I even expect to want to get out of bed in the morning? Silly, silly me.

While I'm trying to forget each little tradgedy of '08, I can't deny how much I learned from every single second of the misery I endured. I would never chose to relive any of it, but I think it's going to help make 2009 that much sweeter. My new knowledge of life, how this world and people will unexpectedly let you down, the importance of family, what friendship really means, what career happiness/success will mean for me, and where I want to be as a person have been invaluable lessons 2008 taught me.

I could go on and on. I can feel it. 2009 is going to be good.

Over Optimizing Relevancy

2008-12-15T11:38:00.000-06:00

As posted October 22, 2008 on SearchFuel.com:

My topic for this post comes from a thought I had during my last blog entry, Google’s Real Time Quality Score Changes Your Query Results.

“One of the reasons search works so well is because it’s the most-efficient advertising medium available. If the search engines keep making changes like this, it is not going to stay that way and then you have to wonder – will search still be as popular or will advertisers give up on it?”

Google’s Quality Score nightmares, while the most significant, haven’t been the only changes the engines have been making in the last few months. We’ve seen Yahoo’s unannounced version of extended broad match appear as if from no where. MSN had a fun time surprising us, and themselves for that matter, with their change in display URL de-duping policy. And good old Ask has upgraded their technology to provide faster and more relevant results.

What’s with all of the unannounced system upgrades guys? Not only did we find out about the Yahoo!, MSN and Ask upgrades after the fact, but why are the big four releasing these changes that are supposed to make things more relevant all at the same time? September and October have been crazy months here in the search world.

And let’s get back to the point of these upgrades- that are “supposed” to make search results more relevant. From what I’ve seen professionally and personally the results have become less relevant. For a professional example, let’s consider the brand Orbit gum. Note- Orbit gum is not a client of mine, although this scenario has happened with real clients at our agency. There’s just a pack of it sitting on my desk, so we’ll go with it. Let’s say you searched on Google for “sugarfree gum.” Now let’s also pretend we know Orbit gum is running a paid search account in Google AdWords. You would expect the Orbit gum ad to show since sugarfree is a major selling point for Orbit. Prior to the roll-out of the Real Time Quality Score (RTQS) changes, the Orbit ad for the search phrase “sugarfree gum” had a high Quality Score (QS), a reasonable CPC, strong CTR, and showed up in the top three positions consistently. Post RTQS roll-out; this is no longer the case. Orbit cannot get their ad to show in Google on a search query where they are undoubtedly relevant with their keywords, ads and landing pages- the same search query they had such amazing results with before RTQS was rolled out. Tell me how this ad is no longer relevant?

For a personal example as your every day searcher, I went to Yahoo! and searched on the title of a book I’m reading, “Twilight.” In my screen shot below, you can see in the paid results a listing for a show called Tudors was served.

I understand there may be value for Tudors to be bidding on the term “twilight”; they may be able to capture some clicks from people like me since the audience demographics overlap between the show and the movie. I get it. Is this ad showing as part of the new extended broad match-like system Yahoo is using? That I can’t say since Tudors is not a client of mine. Maybe they are bidding on the term “twilight.”

What I don’t get is how can the search engines tell me that Orbit gum is not relevant to a search on “sugarfree gum” but the show Tudors is relevant to the book Twilight?? These are just two examples and I’m using two different engines so as not to pick on just one. I could go on and on. My point here is have we finally hit a point where the engines have over-optimized their algorithms the same way search marketers can over-optimize an account? Has their quest to better understand what searchers are looking for gone too far so they’re now at a place where they don’t understand me at all? My hunch from what I’ve seen going on lately is…quite possibly yes.

As the engines keep raising our Min CPCs, telling us we’re not relevant when we clearly are, and providing searchers with listings they are clearly not looking for, what does the future of search look like? Will the algorithms revert back to how they were a year or two ago? Will they keep making new enhancements that don’t enhance anything except their bank account?

Is it Finally Time to See the Butterfly Take Off?

2008-12-15T11:36:00.000-06:00

As posted November 20, 2008 on SearchFuel.com:

With the unknown future of Yahoo’s stability, the recent grumblings over Google’s advantageous use of their power, and the inefficient technology of Ask, has the search world finally entered the Era of MSN? This is quite the possibility when you give it some thought.

We know this has been a volatile year for the top four search engines. Google, while still mighty, has seen some backlash for some of their recent enhancement choices. While we love Ask and want them to succeed, it seems that their current company model doesn’t support the technological changes they need to make in order to gain a nice chunk of market share. The stability and sureness of Yahoo as a whole is, simply put, not there. All the while MSN’s been plugging away to make their user and advertiser experience better.

If you’ve been in the search space for the last 3 ½ years, you can probably remember the entrance of MSN into the ranks. Everyone was excited, but it didn’t take long for that excitement to change to irritation. Many of us felt adCenter was launched before Microsoft was ready to support it and back it up with the technology it needed to be successful. For example:

•The interface was cumbersome to use
•There were many simple tasks a search manager wasn’t able to do because the system wasn’t intuitive
•The adCenter service reps were unknowledgeable and over booked on accounts
•It was impossible to get one on the phone when you had a problem or needed a campaign uploaded, but it was even more impossible to then speak to someone who could actually help
Over the past year and some change, we’ve seen some smart moves on MSN’s part. They have:

•Continued to make interface and functionality upgrades to adCenter
•Re-structured their service model and added a good number of reliable reps to ensure agencies and advertisers have the help and coverage they need to be successful
•Provided pro-active account deep dives and recommendations
•Purchased Atlas
•Partnered with Facebook
•Created the Excel Ad-In keyword tool
•Created an account management desktop tool so making updates to campaigns are a breeze
•Added and improved their quality-partner content networks
And so the list goes on.

Most clients I’ve dealt with see their greatest search ROI from adCenter. The only reason they don’t put more money towards MSN Search is because the volume they need to spend the budget is not there. To begin solving this problem, MSN has started a public push to gain more searchers on Live.com and MSN.com. It’s already started this year with the introduction to Live Cashback and GetSearchPerks.com.

The service is better, the technology is better, and the user base and awareness are growing. Microsoft has what it takes to really give adCenter and Live.com the push they need to succeed. I’m excited to see that butterfly take off in 2009!

Google’s Real Time Quality Score Changes Your Query Results

2008-12-15T11:35:00.000-06:00

As posted September 26, 2008 on SearchFuel.com:

Last week, Google moved its Real Time Quality Score (RTQS) testing out of beta and launched it live for all AdWords advertisers. RTQS allows for Google’s algorithm to calculate Quality Score (QS) on the fly each time a search is conducted. Previously, the Quality Score was not calculated in Real Time, but over a period of time.

When I first heard about the rolling out of this update to the calculation of Quality Score, I was hopeful it would be beneficial to both searchers and advertisers alike. For searchers, it would allow for instant determination by Google’s system to serve up the most relevant query results. Thus, in theory, giving searchers exactly what they are looking for each and every time they search. For advertisers, I was crossing my fingers we would also see a lower cost-per-click (CPC) since our ads should be showing in higher positions when they are more relevant, with an increased QS to help boost them up there. Also, since results being served will be real-time relevant to what the searchers are looking for, that should then mean advertisers will see more qualified traffic, creating more clicks, a higher click-through rate (CTR), and a lower cost-per-acquisition (CPA).

I hoped and waited impatiently for our first sign of changes. And then the reports started coming in; they were not pretty.

We have a few clients who saw immediate increases to the CPCs and decreases to QS. While it wasn’t what I wanted, I can understand how it happened. There could be a few reasons. If ads that were previously showing in search query results were not as relevant as they could have been, Google is now judging them more closely, and determined that for them to show, the CPCs would need to be higher since the QS is lower. If we have more terms in our account that fall into this situation rather than falling into my ideal situation, it’s quite possible we will see the overall CPC increase.

The other possibility (do I dare say it?): Google’s Real Time Quality Score calculation has some bugs to work out. I’m going to put my money on this one. Why? Here is just a sampling of what we’ve dealt with this week:

•New accounts we launched after RTQS went live have had to set their max CPCs at upwards of $100 just to meet the “quality-based min bid.”
•The account interfaces are not giving you a warning message that your bids are too low to meet this quality-based min bid until you’ve tried to increase them. This means you can have your max bids set at $3 with no warning messages. If you try to increase your bids to $5, you’ll get a warning that says your max bids are not high enough for your ads to show.
•For some keywords, for example, that previously had a $3 bid to show on the first page, we’ve now had to bid $50 – and then find we’re only paying a $2 CPC for second position.
Typically, my recommendation when red flags such as these arise would be to focus on optimizing your accounts as best as you can. However, in this case, before trying to solve the issues on your own, advertisers and search strategists should look at every detail in their paid search accounts and take any of these issues you find as far up the Google flag pole as you can.

One of the reasons search works so well is because it’s the most-efficient advertising medium available. If the search engines keep making changes like this, it is not going to stay that way and then you have to wonder – will search still be as popular or will advertisers give up on it?

And who knows, Real Time Quality Score has only been in effect for less than two weeks. We may see some drastic differences in the next month than what has been reported here.

Have you seen more relevant ads when you’re searching on Google? As an advertiser, how have your results changed, if at all? Feel free to post your answer below or Contact Us with your thoughts.

Will Google’s Chrome Win This Round of Browser Wars?

2008-12-15T11:33:00.001-06:00

As posted September 3, 2008 on SearchFuel.com:

Many of you have received a ghastly amount emails and news posts about Google’s new beta browser, Chrome. And, if you’re like me, you thought “Here we go again.” Does the world need another browser? First, we received news about Flock, and now we hear about Chrome. What is the “piece de resistance” that will outshine the likes of Internet Explorer (IE) or Firefox? Is this site going to be a heavy contender for the latest and greatest battle of the beta browser?

I’ve never been one to partake in the legendary browser wars of the last five to ten years. To me, it’s just a BROWSER. If it works, is easy to use and is on my computer- great! Most common Internet users feel the same way. If you’re not a designer, programmer or tech-geek (and I say this with great affection), how much does your browser choice affect your life? I would dare to guess not that much.

Well, my fellow readers, I was quite surprised when I made it my default browser.

When I downloaded the open source beta Chrome, it conveniently auto added all of my bookmarks from IE. After doing a few test searches, I was able to see how the speed dial feature works. Below is a snapshot that shows some of my favorite sites that were saved to my homepage as “Most Visited:”

My first thought was, “That’s helpful,” then followed with, “Well, maybe I don’t want the person sitting next to me to see all of my business.” Many people consider their bookmarks and most recently viewed sites as personal information. However, Chrome thought of that already. Problem solved! Since Chrome is so easy to use, I was able to figure out how to customize my experience without even needing a user manual. The more time I spent using it, the more I warmed up to the idea of expanding my browser horizons.

At first glance, Chrome seems to have all of the major features users will look for- tabbed browsing, a clean look, ease of use, customizable interface, speed dial and bookmarks, password captures, and history privacy options. One of my favorite features is the integrated address and search bar.

It will be interesting to see the impact Chrome has over the next six to 12 months on the browser market share. Will you add a little Chrome to your daily routine?

Another Perspective

2008-12-01T12:21:00.003-06:00

While I've had so much going on the last few months I could have knocked out some really great posts, I honestly haven't had the time. I'll try to start catching up. However, I have something I feel needs to be posted now.

My mom lives in Grand Cayman and has experienced quite a difference in culture during her five years on the island. This is an email she sent me a few weeks ago; she was thinking about sending it to their news station for publication. We're really blessed to live in this country. Something to think about.....

"As I stand in my kitchen tonight preparing a turkey to share with my co-workers, I am struggling with two thoughts:

First, I am on a committee to help prepare a scheme to determine the top 10 employers in Cayman. One of the qualifiers is how an employer handles "diversity." I feel that this is something Cayman has not yet learned to embrace and if I dare to speculate, there may be 80% of the population here that is Cuban Caymanian, American Caymanian, Mexican Caymaian, Brazilian Caymanian, Indian Caymanian, Canadan Caymanian, Britsh Caymanian, Jamacian Caymanian and many more. I am an American but my parents descend from Austria and Hungary. I am no less an American. I embrace diversity and have seen the many facets of the world through my diverse friends, co-workers and acquaintances - it has never made me any less an American or changed the fiber of American heritage.

Second, this struggle I have been forced by order of the Board of Directors to terminate the contract of a recently hired Canadian because I was told I had hired too many "white people." This employee is exquisitely qualified, already on the island as a dependent, white, and clearly a victim of political circumstance. Doesn't matter to me what color he is; he's the best person qualified for the position. His selection was a process, just like that of president elect Barack Obama.

I am thankful at this Thanksgiving because I am from a country that has taught me we are all humans, and to be tolerant, practice acceptance and to embrace diversity. I am thankful I have grown up in a country that can elect a president to lead and not be biased by the color of their skin or nationality of orgin.

My hope for Cayman is it will learn to embrace diveristy, step forward in time and understand that Cayman can keep its heritage but not keep Cayman in the shameful dark ages of prejudice, segregation, and absoutely no understanding of how to go forward with human rights.

Inclusion is far better than exclusion. Embrace Diversity Cayman."

Let this be a lesson for the whole world. Amen!

Z1 707 J

2008-09-24T12:22:00.001-05:00

Hey you in the White Dodge 4X4 with Illinoing plates Z1 707 J going 44 West near Grand- tell your passenger to STOP THROWING HIS CIG BUTTS OUT THE WINDOW!!!

Because They Got the Right Stuff

2008-09-24T12:19:00.001-05:00

http://music.aol.com/video/step-by-step-aol-sessions/new-kids-on-the-block/2227910

The Pillars of the Earth

2008-09-05T10:56:00.000-05:00

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

My review

September 5 Update-

I'm a little over 200 pages into the book. Whoa. Whoa. I don't know what to say about it yet. This is going to be one of those I will need to finish before I decide if I like it or not. There are horrible, terrible things that happen in this story. The setting reminds me of Robin Hood times. I feel like my Dad would love this book, and my boyfriend would like it as a movie. I can handle heavy stories, but this is heavy of a different kind.

Original thoughts-

Wow, the reviews on this one are so mixed I'm not sure what to think. I plan to start the book tonight, and I must say I'm a little scared.

View all my reviews.

579 PJS

2008-09-05T10:09:00.004-05:00

One of the things that peeves me the most in this world are people who throw their cigarette butts out their car windows. For me, it's worse than seeing someone throw normal trash out because I hate cigarettes and the inconsideration most smokers have for others around them. And themselves.

Now, I do have quite a few friends who smoke and are respectful of others. I'm not bashing people who smoke. Although I wish you would quit for your own sake! If you're going to smoke, that's your own choice and I respect that. But when you toss your butt on the ground, then we have problems.

Do I think this world would be a better place if we could eliminate everyone who thinks it's okay to toss a cigarette butt out their car window? Yes. I do. If a person has the mentality where they think that is an OK act to be doing, I don't think this earth needs them.

You don't care about your health. (And when you don't care about yourself, what do you care about????)
You don't care about the health of others around you.
You don't care about the planet or keeping it clean.
You have this preconceived notion that you may do whatever you want to this planet because you are you.

It's disgusting and pompous. I'm sick of getting mad and leaving it there, so I will now start to post and talk about people I see doing this. Here we go.

MO license plate 579 PJS, you know who you are. You flicked your cig butt out your window this morning while on Page Ave. near Schuetz Road, a few minutes before 9:00 am. Congratulations, you are my first installment of The-Big-Jerks-Who-Flick-Cigarette-Butts-Out-Their-Car-Windows.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

2008-08-25T12:35:00.002-05:00

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I highly recommend this book for anyone who feels like they are looking for something or wants to be inspired. I have no plans of running off to India and getting up at 3 am to meditate, but it did leave me questioning some things in my life, and also in the lives of people I love. Great great book. We should all be so lucky to find the balance and peace Liz found.

View all my reviews.

I needed a new pillow anyway.

2008-08-15T11:47:00.002-05:00

Two posts in one morning. It's been an eventful week.

Chaz has always had a thing for our neck pillows- the kind made out of foam and are formed to support your neck while you sleep. He destroyed Nick's awhile ago. For a few months now, when I get out of the shower in the morning, mine will be at the end of the bed with slobber on it. I guess the damn thing said something nasty to Mr. Chaz this morning.

Introducing Mouse

2008-08-15T11:37:00.003-05:00

Mouse came to live with us on Aug 4 from Nick's mother's house. I can't imagine why anyone would want to get rid of this sweet 15 year old little man, but I suppose I don't understand anything a certain someone does. So I'll stop wasting brain power on trying to figure out the inevitable.

Mouse has been hiding in a corner of the basement until two nights ago. He's never seen another cat before, so any time Mickey comes into eye sight, he would growl and scream like someone was trying to murder him. Poor Mickey just wants to be his buddy in the worst way. He's trying to be patient with Mouse and give him the time he needs to adjust, but you can see in his giant eyes he's ready for some snuggle and play.

And, yes, we now have Mickey and Mouse. Charming.

Didn't you know cotton balls taste good?

2008-08-14T12:04:00.002-05:00

In an attempt to be a little more like my favorite blogger in the whole world (Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com), I've decided it's time Chili and Chaz learn how to balance things on their heads. We started out this past weekend with something light and easy- a cotton ball. Chili picked it up quickly, as I expected she would, and decided she is now the princess of balancing cotton balls on her head:

Chaz didn't really get what we were trying to do. He just wanted to eat the cotton ball.

Mmmm...smells good.

Mmmmm....tastes good too.

Oh no Dad is trying to take my tasty cotton ball treat!

Please Dad I love my cotton ball!

After we pried the cotton ball out of his jaws of steel, we moved on to a nice squishy eye mask. This one worked!

Even if my Chaz man doesn't like to balance things on his head, he is pretty damn good at wearing shades.

Hard Work

2008-07-31T10:55:00.003-05:00

When we bought our house last summer, the house was in good shape, but the yard was another story. The woman who lived in there before it was rennovated was blind, and not that I personally have anything against blind people, but I don't think anyone ever did a thing to take care of that yard. The whole place was covered in a vine-y weed that would go underground, then come back up, go underground, then come back up, and so on. Which means, this is not your typical weed. You can't just go out and pull the thing out of the dirt.

Last year, Nick pulled out the old chain link disaster of a fence, which was covered by none other than that vine-y weed, and entagled in old little crappy dead trees. Once all of that was removed, he put in a new privacy fence. Since then, we've been doing things like trying to tame the devil weeds and grow grass, make flower beds, replace ugly bushes with new pretty ones, and so on. The larger projects this summer are rocking the side of the house (where no grass will grow since that's the dogs' running path), move the AC to the side, put in a patio, run electric to the garage, finish the privacy fence along the back, and tear out an old section of fence and a tree stump to put in a parking pad. We're finally moving along and making some nice progress.

One of the things that drove me crazy was this tree we have in the back yard. It was completly covered by the vine-y weed. It killed me someone was letting that weed bascially strangle the tree. I tried tackling that thing last year, but didn't make much progress. One of the first things I did when the weather turned nice this season was remove that vine from the tree and make a nice flower bed around it.

Here is a before picture of what the tree looked like:

Here is the after picture:

Christopher Sky Diving

2008-07-22T10:22:00.001-05:00

Christopher and Nick went sky diving for Christopher's 21st Birthday when we were in Vegas in June. June 13, Friday the 13. You can see Christopher's video on YouTube here. I'll try to get Nick's posted this week as well.

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Certain Girls

2008-07-22T09:48:00.000-05:00

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved loved this book right up until the last 75 pages or so. Not to say the ending was bad- it was just- and this might be a spoiler- INSANELY SAD. I wasn't expecting the twist in the story, so it hit me like a mac truck one night when I was casually reading before I fell asleep. I cried my eyes out into my boyfriends hair as he slept; tossed and turned all night. Overall, yes, another great book from Jennifer. You'll want to at least read Good In Bed before this one as the story picks up Cannie's story some years after from where GIB left off.

View all my reviews.

Long Weekends

2008-07-22T09:35:00.002-05:00

We went floating this past weekend with a group of friends- consisting of Nick's friends mixed with some of mine. It was quite entertaining and I think most of us had a fantastic time. There were so many akward situations I would love to dive into and say what I'm really thinking, but since I have to see these people again, I'll keep my thoughts to myself. For now.

I was off work Friday and Monday. This morning is my first day back after a nice four day weekend. I always look forward to having a longer break from work, but in the end it just makes it that much harder to come back. I'm so crabby and keep praying that person walking across the office towards me is going to take a quick right and leave me alone just for a few more minutes. Please please please just a little bit longer leave me in my coffee-sipping world of blog fun and Cake.

Say It Isn't So

2008-07-16T16:12:00.001-05:00

Last week, I did Habitat for Humanity with a group of people from work. This is the thrid year I've done it, and every year past I would have liked to meet the family moving into the houses we worked on. This year, the woman purchasing the house we were assigned to was there! She helped build all day and seemed like quite the hard worker.

At the end of the day when we were walking to our cars, she got into her new navy blue Jag with personalized plates.

Can we call it a week yet?

2008-06-25T13:23:00.002-05:00

I've had a particularly rough year, but it seemed like all of the bad luck Nick and I were running into was sticking with us. Everyone else in our lives were for the most part doing okay. In the last few days, that has changed. Since Monday morning, I've had one friend after another encounter a tradgedy. Work, grandparents, husbands, pets- you name it. I'm praying right now nothing else happens and we can all just focus on the blows dealt the first half of this week.

It's one thing to feel defeated when bad things are happening to you, but another when you have to watch your friends tread through a heaping pile of crap. Me, I can deal with. Not being able to help a friend feel better is shitty shitty shitty.

Almost time for Vegas!

2008-06-11T10:44:00.003-05:00

After being in Seattle last week, I needed some rest, but my weekend was just not having it. We started off Friday with a couple's wedding shower for Jon and Caroline (fun!), Saturday went to the Dave concernt- 4th row with Sondra, and Sunday was packed with Volunteering for the Buddy Walk to support the Down Syndrom Association, then my cousin had her graduation party that afternoon. Monday evening, I became really sick and was up all night long. I stayed home Tuesday and my doctor called in some meds that have really helped. Today I'm back at work, although not 100%. We leave for Vegas tomorrow!!!! I'm so behind. I don't know how I'll get it all done. I have a feeling when I see that stip, none of my incompleted taskes will matter....at least not for a week ;)

SMX Seattle

2008-06-05T01:20:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Jack's Birthday

2008-06-04T17:47:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Back In Business

2008-06-04T15:56:00.003-05:00

I haven't touched this thing in a good five months. Many times I've thought, OH I should blog about this! Or, OH I haven't posted in so long but I have so much to say. I really have no major excuse of why it's been five months. Yes, I've been busy. There has been quite a big going on, however that makes for the best stories.

I contemplated doing one large post summing up all of the major events in the first half of this year. Instead I think I am just going to move forward, and if I'm having a slow day or week, I'll go back and tell one of the insane stories.

So...moving on. I'm in Seattle this week at SMX Advanced, a search marketing focused conference. This is my first time in Seattle, and while I've only seen about five blocks of the city so far, I do like what I've encountered. Yes, it's been gray and rainy since I landing on Monday, but still something about the place is intriguing.

My flight here was a little strange...was there a full moon Monday? People in the airports were crrrraaaaaabbbbY! Whoo. In Lambert before I left STL, one woman screamed at the Starbuck's people because they didn't have something she wanted in her drink- HOW DARE YOU NOT HAVE THIS, YOU ARE STARBUCKS. She stormed off after that little outburst, I'm sure to make her way down the terminal to scream at the next Starbuck's stand. I've been taking two Dramamine before my flights lately since my motion sickness has gotten worse- why? Needless to say, my flight from STL to SFO where I was connecting was delightful. In SFO, my American trip changed to Alaska Airlines, which I was not aware of since my ticket only said American. I had a short fifteen minutes of panic when I couldn't find my connection listed anywhere on the screens. I used one of the service phones to call American and that's when they told me I need Alaska Airlines. Okay, no problem. I only had an hour to connect, minus the 25 minutes I've now wasted, and Alaska was in a terminal about 20 minutes of walking away. I fly down there as fast as my short little legs would carry me, go through security again with an Asian man looking over my ID for so long I felt like I was breaking the law. I get to my gate and oh my goodness. The people in line to get on this plane smell. Bad. I'm leaving it at that and not going any further.

Boarding this flight, there was a woman in front of me with the window seat. Very cute little blonde woman, reminded me of my mom with her pink hat and shirt. A middle aged man with his mom were sitting in her row. This man started to scream at the pink lady that she needs to give up her seat to his mom because she can't move very well and would be more comfortable. At first, pink lady explained to him that she gets sick on planes and therefore needs to sit in her window seat, which she was assigned. He obviously didn't like not getting his way and continued to yell and berate her about how horrible she was that she wouldn't move for his mom. He was dumb. The dude couldn't think of any nasty names to call her except "skinny little thing." Whew, yes, that hurts a woman's feelings, let me tell you. I kind of wanted to pick a fight with him to get called skinny so I would feel better for the rest of the day. Pink lady finally got sick of this jerk and yelled back at him that she paid for this seat, she's sitting there because she gets sick flying. Good for pink lady!

We had to sit on the runway for an hour waiting in line to take off. The wind was so bad in San Fran that they closed two of the runways. The flight into Seattle was bumpy and by this time my Dramamine was wearing off. I stood at the baggage terminal for another hour to find out my luggage was left in SFO, it would be delivered on the next flight in (about an hour later) and delivered to my hotel.

Let me note here I left St. Louis at 10:30 that morning, and by this time it was 5:30in SEA, 7:30 in STL. I only had yogurt parfait for breakfast and some nuts on the plane. I made it to my hotel, which is a whole other story for another time, and caught my co-workers who arrived early for dinner. My luggage didn't show up until midnight SEA, 2:00 am STL time.

Talk about a long day.

It's Pouring

2008-01-08T14:37:00.000-06:00

Litterally, right now, pouring rain. That's all I got.

I can't really say what exactly has kept me from writing for so long. It could have been the busy holiday season, that I've been tied up enjoying all of the fun things I got for Christmas, how about the horrific events that occured during the "most wonderful time of the year." Possibly because everything I want to write about would be inappropriate for most co-workers or family memebers to read?? Maybe it's because writing about anything doesn't seem possible when I'm bogged down with the reality I have to deal with this disgusting weather for three more months.

Instead of analyzing and complaining, how about some cute pictures?!

This one is of darling little Chaz snuggling up to my Dad when he fell asleep watching a movie -

This one is perfect example of how Chili poses for the camera-

And this one is me with my two beautiful cousins, Shannon and Ashley-

P.S. You can see all of these and many more by clicking on my Photobucket link to the right.

Cyber Monday Blues

2007-11-26T13:37:00.000-06:00

So today is the first day back at work after the Thanksgiving holiday break.

And it's nasty rainy outside.

And cold.

I feel like if I'm forced to do actual work today my arms will fall off.

On another note, I was looking for a photo site that would let me post as many pictures as I wanted for free since Flickr keeps kicking off my oldest pics which hurts considering the hours of my life I've lost posting them. I've started using Photobucket and so far have no complaints.

You can see my new pictures posted here- http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc138/erikanimals/

The sub albums are listed on the left hand side. It's nice to have the organization.

Do you use another free, no-limit photo posting site you like? I'm open to try others if better ones exist. Photobucket is nice because you can bulk upload a folder instead of only doing five at a time.

Ahhhh, 5 mins down, 3 hours and 15 mins to go.

Warm House

2007-10-19T23:40:00.000-05:00

Warm House

2007-10-19T23:36:00.000-05:00

Warm House

2007-10-19T23:29:00.001-05:00

These three were ready for bed....

Warm House

2007-10-19T23:24:00.000-05:00

Warm House

2007-10-19T23:20:00.000-05:00

Warm House

2007-10-19T23:11:00.000-05:00

Warm House

2007-10-19T23:06:00.000-05:00

Warm House

2007-10-19T22:53:00.000-05:00

Warm House

2007-10-19T22:47:00.000-05:00

Our World Back to Normal

2007-10-19T22:23:00.001-05:00

When their Daddy came home

Animal Loving Fashion

2007-10-04T12:14:00.000-05:00

Just a few things to note here-

For the most amazing animal-product-free handbags I've seen, check out www.mattandnat.com. I now have two and have fallen in love. Amazing quality, amazing style.

Tom's products, which in the past I was a fan of, sold out to Colgate, which tests on animals. I'm not buying Tom's anymore, I hope you do the same.

Anything in the brand line of Stella McCartney is animal-product free/no animal testing, including shoes, bags, perfumes, skin care....and so on. Stella, you're awesome!!!! Her site is www.stellamccartney.com. You can find her products online or at places like Sephora and Nordstrom.

Happy, compassionate shopping!

We Miss Daddy....5 More Days.

2007-09-23T23:20:00.000-05:00

Congrats Dr. Jason!

2007-09-23T23:11:00.000-05:00

Jason, my awesome friend from high school, graduated from Pharmacy school! Congrats, Jase! It's been a long time coming!

Missing their Daddy and the visit to Tulsa

2007-09-23T23:01:00.001-05:00

During September, Nick has been in Tulsa for three weeks (entering week 3 right now) for training for his new job. Chili and Chaz miss him so much. These are snuggle pictures from the first week he was gone-

I packed up the pups after the first week he was there and we drove down to Tulsa to spend a few days with him. Chili took to laying in the kennel in the hotel room and Chaz was confused why she was in his house.

This one is of Chaz watching me load and unload stuff from my car. He almost got that giant head stuck!

Cardinals Game with Yahoo

2007-09-23T22:52:00.001-05:00

Labor Day Weekend

2007-09-23T22:17:00.000-05:00

To wallow in the end of summer, Kaylyn, Gabe, Nick and I spent Labor Day weekend drunk at Raging Rivers, and then wrapped up the night at Fast Eddies. The original plan was to drive to Branson and spend the weekend drunk at White Water (best water park in the world), but instead this worked out just fine.

Labor Day Weekend

2007-09-23T21:55:00.000-05:00

Labor Day Weekend

2007-09-23T21:29:00.001-05:00

Labor Day Weekend

2007-09-23T21:22:00.000-05:00

Too Cute for Words!

2007-09-23T21:14:00.000-05:00

Chili being a snuggle bunny

This is the cone they gave us when Chaz was neutered. Crazy, right? He would just step on the front and pull his head out. So, we went to Petsmart and got thim the kine that goes up around their head like a satellite. He somehow managed to get it off in his kennel and chewed it into little bitty pieces.

The one he ate-

Cards Game with Yahoo Continued

2007-09-23T21:10:00.000-05:00

San Jose

2007-09-23T20:57:00.000-05:00

From the Google Dance-

May and Lola at the Dart Party-

San Jose

2007-09-23T20:45:00.000-05:00

From the Google Dance-

San Jose

2007-09-23T20:35:00.000-05:00

Doesn't the name of this store look like my last name?

These are pictures from the Google Dance-

Float Trip August 18, 2007

2007-08-19T19:43:00.000-05:00

I'm always asked what we do in Missouri for fun. People just don't know what they're missing.

Float Trip August 18, 2007

2007-08-19T19:37:00.000-05:00

Float Trip August 18, 2007

2007-08-19T19:32:00.001-05:00

Venice Cafe in August

2007-08-19T19:12:00.001-05:00

Venice Cafe in August

2007-08-19T18:51:00.001-05:00

Teddy Bear Stickers for All!

2007-08-19T18:45:00.000-05:00

Chaz likes to show his off. Chili was just annoyed.

A New House and Manners Are Forgotten?

2007-06-26T17:51:00.000-05:00

My 25 Birthday

2007-06-26T17:44:00.000-05:00

My 25 Birthday

2007-06-26T17:41:00.000-05:00

My 25 Birthday

2007-06-26T17:28:00.000-05:00

Our New House- Before Pictures

2007-06-26T17:25:00.000-05:00

These are the Before pics of our new house. When we finish unpacking, I'll post After pics. It already looks so different!

Our New House- Before Pictures

2007-06-26T17:18:00.001-05:00

These are the Before pics of our new house. When we finish unpacking, I'll post After pics. It already looks so different!

Our New House- Before Pictures

2007-06-26T17:05:00.000-05:00

These are the Before pics of our new house. When we finish unpacking, I'll post After pics. It already looks so different!

Really Cute Chili and Chaz Pics in Nick's Hat. Go Cards!

2007-06-26T16:46:00.000-05:00

Really Cute Chili and Chaz Pics

2007-06-26T16:41:00.000-05:00

These were taken sometime in May...damn they are cute. I know, they are almost the exact same shot. But this is my Blog, I'm obsessed with my dogs, so deal with it ;)

Pictures from Nick's Graduation Party

2007-06-26T16:38:00.000-05:00

Pictures from Nick's Graduation Party

2007-06-26T16:34:00.000-05:00

Nick's Graduation and Pary

2007-06-26T16:30:00.000-05:00

Nick graduated from SLU on May 19. It was a great day with a fun party after. Too bad he had a splitting headache. Here are some pics..

In The Mean Time...

2007-06-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to get my sh** straight to post new pictures and stories from the last couple of months. I pulled the pictures off my camera, so the next step is to find a few minutes to start posting. Until then, enjoy this adorable video. Yes, I know, so vicious and mean. I tremble in my boots everytime I go home. Chaz and Chili would totally be like this....

She Leaves Friday.

2007-06-20T13:59:00.000-05:00

Countdown To Kaylyn Coming Home!

Quick Break for Some Good News

2007-05-08T15:18:00.000-05:00

If I haven't told you cautiously yet, Nick and I had an offer accepted on a house in Dog Town this past Saturday. We are both very leary to even discuss it in detail with anyone yet because of what happend with that other peice of dump on Utah. Our inspections are scheduled for tomorrow morning, and we will get the final results of them Friday. If everything goes well, we plan to close on May 21, which makes next week and the few weeks after very busy for us.

Nick has his LAST CLASS tonight. He starts his new job Friday. He graduates on May 19, and we (plan to) close on a house on May 21. That's a whole lotta new all at one time.

If the inspections turn out okay, then I'll start gushing all over the place with details, but right now it just feels better to play it on the safe side.

I posted new pictures of the crew on Flickr. Here's one that makes me want to drop everything and fly home-

Not So Fast.

2007-04-30T19:18:00.000-05:00

Our deal on 4016 Utah died at midnight last night. We couldn't come to any agreement with the sellers over what our inspection revealed. The house had some major issues when it came to the plumbing, electrical, termite damage and roofing. We were willing to take on much of the work ourselves, but in the end the sellers didn't want to fix anything and only take pennies off the price of the house. We were looking at around $15K worth of repairs.

Am I hurt? Yes, of course. This house had most everything we were looking for...minus the electrical safety hazards and sewage spilling out of the stack in the basement at any second. I was so ready to be done with the hunting, back to having my weekends and free time to live life. I guess the part that pisses me off the most is we offered over list price to make sure our offer would be chosen, and then the sellers didn't think they should fix anything that was wrong. I am completly offended on a business level. And, in the negotiation process, we gave up so much just to try to get the damn house. Their agent wouldn't even call our agent back to let us know if they were going to accept the last offer or let the deal die. On top of it all, I'm out the $500 for inspection costs. However, in the long run the $500 doesn't compare to the THOUSANDS we would have needed just to make the place liveable.

The trick now is by law the sellers have to disclose everything they found out from our inpection to any other potential buyers. I do not feel these people are honest to begin with, so I'm trying to figure out how I can make sure they are going to disclose all of these things. Maybe I shouldn't even waste my time caring and move on with our search, but part of me can't let this one go yet. If they don't disclose all of it, that is fraud, and last I checked you go to jail for fraud. On the other hand, if someone is willing to buy that house either knowing what is wrong with it or moving forward without an inspection of their own, then maybe they're asking for the trouble they're walking into.

I would rather not get screwed.

Looking Forward To The Weekend

2007-04-20T12:57:00.000-05:00

So it's Friday. And this is the first Friday in a very long time where I am not dreading the upcoming weekend of house hunting after house hunting -sigh- after house hunting. BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE TO HOUSE HUNT THIS WEEKEND. I plan on spending this weekend doing two main things- 1) being at home with the dogs, cleaning and packing and/or 2) taking the dogs to the park to enjoy the weather. I feel as though they have suffered the most through this whole finding a house process, so it does needs to bees made up to dems.

We had the house inspection done yesterday morning, four hours of my life I will never get back. The final report was posted, and lets just say the current owners have quite a few items that fall under "HAZARDOUS", Safety Concern and Major Repair. Naturally, this means we will be requesting to have these items fixed. And rightfully they should...since no human being should be living with their house in this state, nor expect buyers to accept it for themselves. I'm shocked at how the same person who takes so much care in ensuring their house is decorated just so will also live with life threatening electrical, gas and plumbing conditions in their home. I have this funny feeling that since they never fixed these things for themselves, they won't see a reason to fix them now. And then there will be an all out WAR.

Yesterday I felt overwhelmed with how much work is ahead of us. Today I feel overwhelmed with the excitement of having our own place. I guess it will be an up-and-down like this for awhile? New home owners, opinions?

Finally It's Happend To Me Right In Front Of My Face....

2007-04-17T12:43:00.000-05:00

Instead of calling every single one of you, walking around to each desk, or individual emails, I thought this might be a better approach......
Nick and I can say that now because we are! We just received a call that an offer we put on 4016 Utah (In Tower Grove South) late last evening has been accepted. This is such a relief to us, I cannot begin to put my excitement in words. Nor how stressful/time consuming/draining this whole process has been. (I'm going on two nights of no sleep!) The house went on the market yesterday, had multiple showings last night, followed by offer after offer. That situation, on top of us seeing almost 50 houses this past weekend, and losing out on two offers we made for houses that were equally incredible as OUR NEW ONE, Nick and I had many doubts we would ever land this one.

I owe a huge THANK YOU to every one who has been so patient with me not being able to do things on the weekends, week days, lunch hours, and really every second of my "spare" time in the last four months. Chili, Chaz, Pete and Mickey deserve huge apologies for spending countless weekends and evenings stuck in the house by themselves. Since we're looking at a three week closing, I can guarantee Nick and I will be insanely busy until we are moved in and settled, so please be patient and don't give me too much hell. Kaylyn, it will be back to normal soon and we will indeed have that poor girl wine party. :) Sondra, maybe your koi and our koi can be friends.

The plan is to close on May 7, and move in the weekend of May 12 and 13. Here's a forewarning we will be asking for help, so if you're free that weekend, we would 100% appreciate any time you would have to place my amazing table in our new house. Along with all of that other stuff we have.

I just uploaded pictures of the house to Flickr. You can get there by the "My Picutres on Flickr" link to the right of the page. Please say a little prayer for us everything goes smoothly with the inspection and financing process.

Have a fabulous day!

The Cruelest Show On Earth

2007-04-13T16:28:00.000-05:00

I just have to post this to raise awareness. As a child, one of my most favorite things was when the circus came to town because I loved the animals so much....if I only knew then what they were going through. I know it's hard to accept disappointing news like this, especially when it proves what you've believed your whole life is just not so, but I hope you read it with an open heart, and open mind, and face what the reality is.....

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is just beginning its 2007 tour across North America. The circus's cruelty to animals is indisputable.

Two PETA investigators tracked Ringling at every stop of its 2006 tour. Out of public view, they documented on videotape that Ringling employees were viciously hitting elephants and striking them with bullhooks until the animals bled and cried out—in addition to many other acts of cruelty.

According to eyewitness accounts, Ringling's head elephant trainer savagely beat an elephant with a bullhook behind her ear, on her leg, and on her back. The trainer swung the bullhook with such force that its point was embedded inside the elephant's ear canal.

The abuses that PETA has uncovered have led to multiple open investigations of Ringling by the U.S. government and have cost the circus a national tour sponsor. PETA's work has left "the greatest show on Earth" with dwindling attendance numbers.

But Ringling still refuses to retire its abusive animal acts. I am writing to you today to ask for your help pressuring Ringling and all companies that use animals for "entertainment" to stop their abusive practices.

For animals, another Ringling tour means another year of beatings and long days chained or confined to cramped, poorly ventilated boxcars.

If we work together, we can hold Ringling accountable for its cruelty to animals. But we need your support. Please make a donation today to support our campaign to get live animals out of circuses and all other forms of entertainment. There is nothing entertaining about animal abuse!

Can I count on your support to help stop Ringling's abuse in the name of family entertainment? I sincerely hope that the answer is yes. You and I are the only hope that these animals have.

For all animals,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

As you can see, this is an email I received from PETA. I know many of you have this "vision" of PETA being over the top and "crazy", but they are only trying to make people aware of cruelty towards animals. I'm a member, so if you think they are crazy, then you must think I am crazy too. :) Which is fine by me, at least I'm standing up for what I believe in. What do you believe in, and what are you doing about it???????

Stay warm!

Why are you talking to me about these things?!

2007-04-10T14:29:00.000-05:00

It's amazing how angry I can get when I'm at work and someone actually wants to talk to me about work. Silly, I know. I would say that it could be from having my tail bone reset this morning, but since I felt the same way yesterday, guess it can't be that.

Am I the only one who has this problem? Do you cringe at the site of certain people coming toward your desk? Because you know whatever problem they are having is going to royally piss you off?

Maybe it's just me :)

Frozen

2007-04-09T11:47:00.000-05:00

To all of the people out there who have ever bought a house on some type of deadline and budget while trying to get as many of the things you need, I feel your hell. We are now entering the fourth month of our intense search for a home, and that does not include the searching last fall we did on our own. We're on our third realtor, who by the way has been MIA for over two weeks now, and running out of time and patience.

This weekened also lent us some wonderful family drama to deal with on top of it all. I'd share, but this is public, you know.

I was hoping we'd be in a house and settled before Nick's graduation on May 19. Since today is April 9, we're running short on the time aspect. I wish I could say I know where the party will be (Mark your calendars!), but first I need to know where we will be.

This past Friday night, Bryan and Sondra brough Ginger over to play with her new boyfriend, Chaz, and to get evil glares from Chili. Ginger and Chaz love each other so much I feel like I should carve their names into a tree with a little heart. I think Chili will come around and decide she loves her, too.

Guess what Nick and I got for Easter! A dead baby bunny in our back yard. I'm pretty sure that's a bad omen of some sort.....

Rude, anyone?

2007-04-03T13:08:00.000-05:00

How selfish and pompous do you have to be to inturrupt an employee eating at their desk, as they are putting food in their mouth, (and did I mention that it's already bad enough they are eating at their desk?), to tell them they must come into your office right NOW- this cannot wait- just to tell them something that is not time sensitive nor an emergency by any means? Something so miniscule that could have waited, oh say ten minutes, but they just HAD to make you get up THAT SECOND, even after you asked "Right now?", because they simply cannot function if they are not in control.

Why why why why why why why do people have no manners?

As Promised

2007-03-29T22:08:00.000-05:00

I skipped the gym tonight and conjured up a second wind to get my new pictures of the ever-growing Chaz posted on my Flickr site. And what do you know, it's only about 10:30, so maybe I'll get to bed before midnight? Don't count on it. Here's a super cute one I took that just melts my heart. Make sure you check them all out HERE.

Falling Behind

2007-03-29T12:19:00.000-05:00

I have so many new pictures of Chaz to post. So many cute ones of him snuggling with Chili. When will I get around to it....hmmmm....maybe soon. Our days have just been filled with constant movement. Dooce, a blog I read written by Heather Armstrong, just annouced they too are in the process of moving. The upside they have to us is they actually already found a house. Heather described the process as like trying to juggle a set of steak knives. I can't really find a better way to describe it. Between work, N*** inter******* for new ****, house hunting for our first home, cleaning up my mom's house, taking care of a new puppy as well as the other dog and two cats we have, trying to attend family functions, finding time to go to the gym and care for our health, puppy classes, pretending we do have time to see friends, and what am I forgetting.....oh yeah, eating and, what's the word again....sleep...yes, sleeping; between all of that, steak knives sound about right.

My master plan was to be in a new houses before Nick's graduation on May 19 so we could have the big party for him at our new place. It being the end of March makes me nervous we may not make that goal. But, we will keep trying. We found an amazing house we both love. It's in a "developing" neighborhood and has no garage. We're going through the motions of trying to decide if we can live with pulling our cars into a privacy fenced yard (which we'll have to finish) until we are able to build a garage. Any one have $10K they want to loan me? We are going to see a few others this coming weekend that just came on the market. Maybe one of them will be just as amazing to us, but with the luck we've had, I doubt it. I am totally appalled by the conditions of 95% of the homes we've seen. I cannot believe there are people out there willing to live in actual dumps and make mortgage payments on them. Amazing.

I will try to get those new pictures of Chaz and company posted tonight, but no promises. Last Thursday he weighed 31 lbs. Yesterday he weighed 33.6. I'm not going to be able to pick him up much longer!

It's a PLANT!

2007-03-14T14:53:00.000-05:00

Take a look at THIS.

I could rant and rave about this for hours, but I'll keep it short. A PLANT, a natural occuring green plant. The government will not let termanally ill people use a NATURAL GREEN PLANT for medicinal purposes. BUT!!!!! They will let food companies pump everything we eat full of chemicals that are harmful to each inch of our bodies.

I love priorities and common sense.

Sharing- Shampoo and Conditioner

2007-03-06T14:02:00.000-06:00

Shampoo and conditioner are tricky because some will say "not tested on animals" on the back, when they are however owned by a company that does in fact test products on animals. It's important to look at what company actually makes the product, and then to find out if that company is morally and economically responsible or not.

A brand I (and Nick) have come to LOVE is Jason. Their shampoo and conditioner is organic, not filled with chemicals that do more damage than good, and is, of course, not tested on animals. Our hair feels totally different since we've started using it. If you don't believe me that natural organic ingredients make a huge difference, try it yourself and let me know what you think. I'm sure my hair is thanking me for not torturing it anymore with chemical based products.

I bought mine at Whole Foods, but I have also seen some of the Jason line in the "healthy" isle at Shop 'N Save (I know!), or you can order it online through their site. In addition to shampoo and conditioner, they also carry body lotions, body wash, deodorant, face lotion, etc.

I have used the Natural Jojoba Shampoo,Natural Jojoba Conditioner,and the Natural Sea Kelp Conditioner. I can't wait to try more of their products!

Proud Sister

2007-02-20T13:24:00.000-06:00

This is a video of some car races at a new track in Grand Cayman called Breakers Speedway. My brother is the one in the gold Camaro. On this particular race day, he won the trophy and money prize for his class. He runs a few different times, so make sure you watch them all! Congrats Christopher! I love you!

Sharing- Laundry Detergent, Fabric Softner, and Cleaning Products

2007-02-15T11:14:00.000-06:00

I know, I'm starting out with all of the fun animal-friendly products to share- toothpaste, deodorant, laundry detergent, cleaning products.... I promise, I have some good ones coming soon. I know that these are some of the products I had the hardest time finding, so I figured it would make more sense to share these things first.

As far as laundry detergent goes, I've been using the Trader Joe's liquid brand. It works and smells nice. You can find it at any local Trader Joe's store, and it's about if not less than the same price as Tide or any other main-stream-not-animal-friendly laundry detergent.

Now, with the current fabric softner you use, there is a little secret you probably don't know about. Most main stream fabric softners contain animal bi-products or fat. Nice, right? You wash your clothes to make them clean, and then cover them in animal fat. For fabric softner, I've moved to using the brand Method. I buy my Method from Target, you may have seen it already since they make many other products as well. It's a great brand and does not use animal bi-products nor test on them. I have not yet tried their brand of laundry detergent, mainly because Trader Joe's brand is cheaper. But, if you give it a try and like it, let me know. The fabric softner and other products they make are more check book friendly.

For cleaning products, I've been using a combination of Trader Joe's house brand and also Method. When I say cleaning products, that includes things like all purpose cleaner, shower/tile/bathroom cleaner, dishwashing liquid for both hand washing and dishwasher soap, hand soap, etc. Both brands are great so far, so experiment and see which ones you like better. Naturally, most of you probably find going to Target more convenient, and that's what I love about Method. It's right there in the store I already need to go to. It might be a dollar or two more than the product you normally buy, but just think about the animal's life you saved by spending that extra buck. To me, the life is worth much more than a few extra dollars.

Have you tried other animal-friendly products that fit into this category? Let me know if you have and what you think about these when you try them. Happy animal-friendly shopping!!

Introducing Chaz

2007-02-12T13:45:00.000-06:00

Saturday we made the trek up to KC to pick up our new little boy, Chaz, from Mid America Bully Breed Rescue. God answered my begging, pleading, deal-making prayers that Chili would accept him. They love each other and I couldn't be happier!

Chili was perfect the whole trip, and Chaz slept on the way home. He's about 11-12 weeks right now, with paws bigger than hers already.

Sharing- Toothpaste and Deodorant

2007-02-06T12:18:00.000-06:00

Since Nick and I have started to switch to all products that do not test on animals or use animal by-products, I have run across some really great things. And, since I posted that list of what products are animal friendly and which ones are not, I've had a few friends interested in knowing what is good and where they can find it...easily (which is the key). I'm going to start posting periodically some info about a product we've tried, where you can find it, and if we liked it or not. I figured I could share the research we've done so that you won't have to do all of it yourselves. And, if you're ready to replace something you've run out of at home and want a suggestion, just let me know. We have found an animal friendly replacement for everything, and you'll see it's much easier than you expected.

If you want an easily readable copy of the animal friendly product list, and also the not-so-animal friendly list, you can get both of them Here. I recommend printing them out so you have them handy. You'll know the good ones by heart in no time.

Two products I was worried about finding replacements for were toothpaste and deodorant. I had just never seen, or should say paid attention to, what the options were other than the normal mega brands...which do all test on animals. A great brand we found that makes both toothpaste and deodorant products is Tom's of Maine. This one is an easy find. I have seen this brand at Target, Shop N Save, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. I'm sure other major stores carry it as well. It's normally on the top shelf or the bottom. You can see pictures of the packaging on their site so you know what you're looking for.

The deodorant works great, and get this, is totally clear. So you never have the white marks! I've had some main stream deodorants that were supposed to be clear but still rubbed off white. This one doesn't do it at all. Also, there's no aluminum in it like all other main stream deodorants have as the number one ingredient. There have been some studies done around the issue of aluminum in deodorant contributing to breast cancer.

The toothpaste is awesome, too. Just don't expect it to taste like anything you are used to. The ingredients are natural, so you will get real peppermint, fluoride and baking soda flavor. Once you use it a few times, you'll love it. They also make mouth wash, but we haven't tried that yet. If you have, let me know!

In addition to Tom's toothpaste, we've also tried the Trader Joe's brand. I love love love it as well. This, of course, you have to actually get at Trader Joe's stores. The peppermint is my favorite. There is a flavor that has purple packaging and is called "antiplaque toothpaste". Only get this one if you are a fan of black licorice...because that's what it tastes like.

Chili's The Head of the Class

2007-02-06T12:02:00.000-06:00

I have to brag about my girl, because you know anyone with a human child would do the same. We're going to training class on Sundays with Chili. This past Sunday was our second class where the trainer had a competition to see who learned the trick they were assigned the previous week the best. The command we were supposed to work on was "Watch Me", where the dog makes eye contact with you and doesn't break it. We needed to have them do it for at least 5 seconds. And, guess who won??!!! That's right, my Bean. I actually broke it before she did because I was so excited I felt I had to give her the treat right then.

For some dogs, this might not seem to be such a big accomplishment. However, when you take into consideration we were in the middle of a busy pet store with numerous other dogs around making noise, this was a milestone for her.

This week we are working on a relaxed down. She can already lay down when we tell her to, but this one is a little different where she has to kick her hips to the side so she's not in a position to easily jump up. We'll see how this goes.