Truancy!

I have been neglectful in my blogosphere realm. I guess the hollydaze can do that to a person. I've been remiss in gift buying and so I've spent the better part of 2 weeks caught up in the crowded shopping malls frantically playing catch-up.

I find it increasingly difficult to really get into the spirit of the whole present exchange thingy. Why was this tradition ever started in the first place? What does Santa Claus
have to do with me feeling obligated to bestow a token gift upon someone? I dread it when someone asks me what I want for Christmas. Aside from being outlandish and asking for a Ferrari or a million dollars, what do I want that I already do not have or can't obtain myself? Likewise, trying to find gifts for family members and friends is becoming increasingly harder. My dad and his wife are in their late 60's and have everything they need/want, so I invariably end up sending the Harry & David gift basket
they have come to expect year after year.

The kiddo wants cash
which, while practical, seems out of place as a Christmas gift. The only fun I actually have in the whole gift-buying frenzy is picking out things for my two adorable nieces who are 8 and 3. I am prone to getting the toys that make the noise and in the past have somewhat annoyed my sister-in-law --- which actually is part of what makes it fun to shop for these two. And I do the same on their birthdays. I am so naughty, I know. But my brother encourages me and actually thinks some of my choices have been "outstanding"! I love him.

So, what do I want for Christmas? World Peace? The War to END? Lower Gas Prices? Food & Shelter for All Mankind? Sure I do. But mostly, I want a quiet day just spent at home with good food, family, and friends. Cheers to you and yours.

Home again, Home again, jiggity-jig

Well I made it home from Long Beach in one piece, albeit a very tired and worn out piece.

I rode back on the plane next to a guy who looked a lot like Eugene Levy and who had enough ear wax to seal window. He also had very bad dandruff and smelled vaguely of cheese. He told me he was afraid of flying and he had the death knuckle grip going on the armrests. I had the aisle seat and he got up and down to go to the bathroom 5 times.
At least he didn't puke in his seat, so I do have that to be thankful for. The flight out of LAX was delayed 3+ hours because the plane was coming down from PDX via San Fran and it was delayed because of the awful weather we've been having back home. I took full advantage of the situation though and drank myself into a uncaring state, courtesy of 3 pints of Stella.

The show itself was thankfully uneventful and if you don't know (or don't care) about who went best in show, I'll tell you.
It was the lovely Sealyham Terrier.

Best of all was getting to catch up with a dear friend whom I just don't get to see often enough.


Worst of all was coming home to the severe rainstorms, closed roads (including 20 miles of I-5!) downed trees (including 2 of my own), flooded yards, etc.

Another Year Older...

So my birthday came and went - #42. I don't feel any different. Are you supposed to feel any different when putting another notch in that getting older belt? I dunno, maybe when I hit 50 I'll feel differently. No one believes I'm older than mid-thirties, so I should take it as a good sign I'm aging well. I do miss being carded at bars, I used to get that up until I hit around 33-34. But my hair was longer and I was about 10 pounds lighter then. *sigh*

For numero 42 I spent most of the day curled up on the couch, sick to my stomach, watching the episodes of Dexter I had missed over the last couple of weeks. No birthday dinner for me, except scrambled eggs and wheat toast. Happy birthday to me.....

Gobble Gobble

Wow, here it is the day before Thanksgiving.

I can't believe the year has gone by so quickly. For the first time ever, we won't be having dinner at our house. No rising at 6 a.m. to preheat the oven, chop & dice the celery, mushrooms, onions; no melting butter, no smell of turkey permeating the house. Worse yet, no leftovers to dine on for the 2 days following so I'll actually be forced to cook.

Oh how I adore those leftover turkey sandwiches made on dinner rolls and filled with turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce. Fare thee well.

Not that going over to feast in the company of a friend's house is necessarily bad. It's just...strange.

I do have to bring a pumpkin pie, but that's it.

Something to look forward to...

So I'm counting the days until I leave for the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship in lovely Long Beach, Cali.
Blue skies. Puffy white clouds. Lots of sunshine.
It beats the heck out of our grey winter gloom here in PDX.

And yes, even though it's more travel (which by this point I have grown ever so weary of) at least I'll be doing it up luxury style. Booyah! Last year my room had the most amazing view, especially at night. Of course, it is work and I'll be putting in loooooonnnngggg hours, but the trade off is totally worth it. I need a break from what's become a tedious rut and what better place to break out of a rut than beautiful Cal-i-forn-i-A. There will be beautifully dressed people and well-groomed dogs, all out for a couple of nights on the town.
What's really great fun is seeing many of the top dogs out for their nightly stroll on a major city street. It's truly a sight to behold and a simple explanation does not do it justice. I will have to try and capture the moment digitally this year. It's really quite the weekend in the dog world, even eclipsing that bastion of shows known as Westminster.

And what's my favorite breed of dog, you might be asking? Well, there are so many to choose from and some I've had and really loved. Our Labrador Retriever, Sadie, was the fourth family member for 14 years. To us, she was the epitome of man's best friend. However, traveling so much has precluded having a dog at this time so I get all the fun of playing with dogs at the shows and none of the mess to pick up afterward! If and when it's time to have a dog enter my heart, I am torn between a couple of breeds but these are my top three:

Bedlington Terrier

Tibetan Terrier (a very dear friend has a great breeding program)

Scottish Terrier
and of course, another Lab.

It's Like Chain Mail, Only Blog-style

You know how you get those emails telling you to include your answers and then forward it on to 5 of your friends? Yeah, this is like that only I'm not forwarding it on. Aren't you glad?

Things about me that you may/may not know:


4 places I've lived
1. Oklahoma City, OK
2. Tuttle, OK
3. La Puente, CA
4. Naples, Italy



4 tv shows I watch
1. Dexter
2. CSI (the original, NOT NY or Miami)
3. Survivor
4. Mad Men


4 movies I've seen more than one time
1. Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan
2. Rear Window
3. Anchor Man
4. Live & Let Die

4 jobs I've had
1. Carhop @ Sonic
2. Accountant
3. Secretary
4. Dog Show Superintendent

4 places I've been
1. Hollywood, CA
2. Rome, Italy
3. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
4. Dennisport, MA

4 people who email me
1. Laurie
2. Patti
3. Dee
4. Bill

4 fave foods
1. Spaghetti Carbonara
2. Peel-n-eat shrimp
3. Fuji apples
4. Lamb chops

4 places I'd rather be
1. A sunny, tropical locale
2. Camping just about anywhere
3. the gym
4. Getting a massage

4 things to look forward to
1. Work bonus
2. Thanksgiving dinner spent w/family & friends
3. Christmas in Hawaii
4. Losing those last 7 pounds!

4 things I'm thankful for
1. My health
2. My mother ('cause the good lord knows he broke the mold when He made her!)
3. My brother safely home from Iraq
4. My son's continued progress against depression

Just a Geoduck in the Muck

Lately I've been feeling discontent. In my personal life. In my professional life. A general malaise lingers, despite my best efforts to shake it.

So many things going through my mind right now.

The kiddo.

Finances (the husband is especially fond of this subject).

Work (I can't stand going and have to force myself out of bed every morning).

Let's start with the kiddo. He probably bothers me most and I believe he is the source of most of my tension. He now wants to switch colleges yet again, this time headed for a very liberal school where the curriculum is...how shall I say it - suspect? He says that for someone with depression and his emotional/physical makeup, it will be the perfect school. Nevermind the fact he's already spent his entire college fund bouncing from out of state school to out of state school. All of it is gone, we're robbing from Peter to pay Paul just to ensure he can have that all-important piece of paper. Now he has the brainstorm to get a $30,000.00 student loan (which we have to cosign)and shack up in a 3 bedroom house (at the cost of $1,400.00 per month, plus utilities) with 2 "friends" (unknown to us) starting in December.

Then there's the finances. The hubby is always trying to find a better way to infuse our monthly budget with additional $. This isn't a bad thing, so don't get me wrong. But when he talks of refinancing, changing insurance agencies, etc. all of a sudden and all simultaneously, I want to

I don't even know that I want to discuss work. *sigh* I didn't want the job to begin with, but it was the right move to make at the time (or so I continue to tell myself) for the husband's sake (basically it was something like, he took this job & I came too or else he had no job). I was a happily content government employee with almost 14 years time in grade.
I was truly happy!!! I worked for a wonderful person, had great coworkers, good hours, lots of holidays, seldom worked overtime, hardly traveled. Now I'm gone 29 weekends out of the year and I've lost track of the total number of days spent on the road. I hate going to the office, it's the same repetitive schtick over and over again. I'm tired of dealing with people. I'm tired of playing boss. I've started applying for other jobs that seem interesting, like one that caught my eye in yesterday's classified section seeking a personal assistant (but an individual, not a company) and I've signed up for a website which sends email notices of jobs fitting my description. I just don't know what I'm worth any more, if my current salary isn't overinflated for the market.

So here I am, stuck. Mired in indecision.

Happy Halloween!

OK, so it's not an official holiday but it should be the way the stores hock all the crap for it. Don't get me wrong - I decorate the house (albeit a lot less than when our son was little) and we pass out treats (until the big kids start coming, then it's lights out). But there's just something strange about how it's so hyped. Of course, the stores simultaneously put out Halloween decorations & Christmas decorations, so what do I know.

There's a neat website, Ghosts, Critters, & Sacred Places of Oregon & Washington just perfect for perusing today.

OK, what's in my candy cauldron?? There's butterfinger, kitkat, reese's peanut butter cups, almond joy (my fave), snickers, mounds, baby ruth, peppermint patties, some licorice (red, not black), and gummy eyeballs. Hey, naming all these candy bars made me remember this old thing:


Sex & Candy

It was another Payday, and I was tired of being a Mr.Goodbar. So I saw Miss Hershey standing behind the Powerhouse on the corner of Clark and Fifth Avenue, and I whipped out my Whopper and whispered, "Hey Sweetart, how'd you like to Krunch on my Big Hunk for a Hundred Thousand Dollar Bar?"

Well, she immediately went down on my Tootsie Roll, and, Uno, it was like pure Almond Joy. I couldn't help but grab her delicious Mounds 'cause it was easy to see this little Twix had the Red Hots. It was all I could do to hold back a Snicker and a Krackle as my Butterfinger went up her tight little Kit Kat and she started to scream: "Oh Henry, Oh Henry!"

Soon she was fondling my Peter Paul and Zagnuts and I knew it wouldn't be long before I blew my Milkduds clear to Mars and gave her a taste of the old Milky Way.

She asked if I was into M&M but I said, "Hey Chicklet, no kinky stuff"-- and then I said, "Look, you little Reese's Pieces! Don't be a Zero, be a Lifesaver. Why don't you just take my Whatchamacallit and slip it up your Bit O'Honey?" (and oh, boy, what a piece of Juicyfruit she was, too).

She screamed, "Oh, Crackerjack, you're better than the Three Musketeers!" as I rammed my Ding Dong up her Rocky Road and into her Peanut Butter Cup.

Well, I was givin' it to her Good 'n' Plenty when,all of a sudden ... my Starburst. As luck would have it, she started to grow a bit Chunky and complained of a Wrigley in her stomach.

Sure enough, nine months later,

out popped a Baby Ruth.



And with that, safe & happy trick-or-treating.

Up on a soapbox

Life can be hard at times, so why do we put ourselves out there to endure more strife?

I'm talking about extending through the portal of the web and putting our lives online, via messageboards.

It can be cathartic.

It can be liberating.

It can be fun.

You begin to feel as though you are a part of something, you have reached out and in the process made contact with people you'd never meet in your every day life. They have like interests. You begin to share things you're used to talking about with your best friend over a cup of coffee. You open up and sometimes put your heart out there because you've come to trust most of these "friends".

But then, like real life, they start dumping on you. Maybe someone doesn't like your turn of phrase or they misinterpreted your post. Maybe they are the ones having a bad day and decide that with the anonymity the board provides, they have the power to spew hate & discontent. Perhaps, like the schoolyard bullies of old, there are just people who get their kicks from being meanies.

So why continue to post? For me, I think it's out of boredom. I'm usually traveling a lot for work and can't get online during most of those trips. On the days when I'm in the office and there's not much going on, I'll hop online to see what's shaking the boards. Sometimes there's happy news - the birth of a child, a promotion. Other times there's sadness. It's just like life, only we don't actually hug each other when we're happy or sympathizing. There truly are friendships built there. And destroyed.

The choice is up to each of us, as in real life.

Home, Sweet Home

YES!!! It is SO GOOD to be back home. Most of the travel days are over with and the next show will be 2 exits up the interstate, so NO PACKING.

The shows in Roseville, CA were uneventful and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I didn't have time for any shopping this year, but I did enjoy eating every night at Claim Jumper.

From sunny California it was on to Boise, ID (via Reno, NV) for 6 days. This year, for the one night in Reno, we decided to try the Grand Sierra instead of our usual Peppermill. Bad choice. There was nothing Grand about the Grand Sierra and we were very disappointed.

We came home from the long sojourn to find our 20 yr old son has decided, for some still unexplained reason (other than "just because"), to sport a septum ring. Yes, a nose ring. I just couldn't believe it. This from the kid who said, "I'll never smoke." (Not only does he smoke, he smokes cigarettes, cigars, pipes, hooka -- he works at a smoke shop). "I'll never get a tattoo." (He has 3 --- well, that I know of --- including one that extends the entire length of his inner forearm). "I'll never pierce my ears." (He has). I know kids evolve and go through changes & stages, but I honestly feel like I no longer know him. He's a stranger among us, who only lives with us and is no longer a part of us. He has become so cynical it's hard to be around him with all the negativity he continually spouts. Yep, dinner time at my house is a real blast. If it weren't for Jeopardy! there would be dead silence.