Smoking Hot Purse

Wil and I went out to dinner last night, and while we were waiting for our coaster to light up and buzz saying our table was ready, we sat down on a statue in front of the restaurant to wait. There were two glaringly bright lights pointed at the statue that were hurting our eyes, so I suggested Wil put my purse in front of one of them so it wouldn't be as bad. When some people started to walk by, Wil grabbed my purse to make sure no one stole it.


...That's when he noticed the smoke coming from the light. He grabbed my purse to inspect. The light was actually hot enough it had managed to burn a beautiful circle in the bottom of my purse in about two minutes.

We cracked up, and the people walking past us at the time cracked up. We continued our conversation about how we couldn't believe the light had burned a hole in my purse, laughing the entire time. Another couple walked by just as Wil was explaining how he thought to himself, "what's that smell," when he picked up the purse. The couple only heard "what's that smell," as they were walking away. The woman promptly replied, "it's not us!" It was too funny!

Bummer about my purse, but on the bright side...it gives me a GREAT excuse to buy a new one!

Puppy's First Peanut Butter Jar

Elvis received his very first peanut butter jar today. My aunt and uncle always save their peanut butter jars, after they are empty, for the dogs to lick out. We used to save our jars for their dogs, but now that we have a dog of our very own, he can have our empty peanut butter jars.

He LOVED IT!

Tag, You're It

I got tagged...the instructions were:

1. Go to your documents/pictures.
2. Go to your 6th file.
3. Go to the 6th picture.
4. Blog about it.
   
   

This is Wil's and my hands on the day we got engaged. I'm not sure who took this picture, it might have been Wil's dad. I was only half aware of what was going on around me that day - most of my attention was focused on the guy holding my hand!

Da Boys

Movie Quote Game

One of my friends posted this game on her blog, and I liked it so much, I have no qualms about stealing it. Following are quotes from 15 of Wil's and my favorite movies. As a hint, seven of the quotes are from my favorite movies, seven of the quotes are from Wil's favorite movies and one of the quotes is a line we discovered together and both love and use frequently.

Make your guesses in the comments section and we will post the answers this weekend. And no cheating! You can look up the answers after you guess, but you can't look them up before you guess...that's no fun!

1. "I like Mass better in Latin. It's nicer when you don't know what they're saying."

2. "Well, I guess the laws of physics cease to exist on top of your stove. Were those magic grits? Did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans?"

3. "Don't call me son; I'm a lawyer and an officer in the United States navy, and you're under arrest you son of a..."

4. Jenny: "Who do we know that owns a Jaguar?" Ed: "Could be a celebrity, coming to knit with you." Jenny: "Oh, shut up!"

5. "This place is a tomb. I'm going to the nut shop where it's fun."

6. "Well the way they make shows is, they make one show. That show's called a pilot. Then they show that show to the people who make shows, and on the strength of that one show they decide if they're going to make more shows. Some pilots get picked and become television programs. Some don't...become nothing. She starred in one of the ones that became nothing."

7. "This song is an excellent cure for the will to live."

8. "Listen, I'm down, I've got the 411, and you are not going out and getting jiggy with some boy, I don't care how dope his ride is!...Momma di'nt raise no fool."

9. "Russians don't take a dump, son, without a plan."

10. "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent."

11. "He's right on top of us. I wonder if he is using the same wind we are using."

12. "Miss Haynes, if you're ever under a falling building and someone offers to pick you up and carry you to safety, don't think, don't pause, don't hesitate for a moment, just spit in his eye."

13. "Yeah. Well, that sounds like a pretty good deal. But I think I may have a better one. How about, I give you the finger, [He does] and you give me my phone call."

14. "I swear I will break you to pieces with my bare hands...or vicious rhetoric!"

15. "I'm a god. I'm not *the* God...I don't think."

Andy, the Contortionist

My cousin Andy is capable of the most impressive stupid, human tricks. For instance, he can make the farting noise many people can make with their armpit with his back. He simply lays on a solid floor such as tile, linoleum or wood floor and makes the noise. It's super impressive!

He can also make his shoulder blade stick out further than I've ever seen on someone. Here is a photo...and yes, that's his shoulder blade - not his elbow!


From the side...


Ok, just one more angle so you can get the full effect of the grossness...


Andy's new trick is with his pinky. Actually, I'm not sure how new it is, but he just showed it to me this weekend.

First, you should know that he was born with a crooked pinky...see...


He's not bending it, that's how his pinky naturally is. Now, I think the average person, including me, lacks any sideways mobility at the knuckles in his or her fingers. Try it...just try grabbing your finger at the first knuckle and bending it sideways...it doesn't move.

Andy however, has an impressive pinky knuckle...see...


He can bend his pinky to a 90 degree angle at the first knuckle. I think it's an EXTREMELY cool trick.

Jack and Jill Went up the Hill

After my grandma had Oscar put to sleep, my uncle convinced her she needed to get another dog right away. I agreed, thinking in the next month or two she should probably start looking for another dog. Little did I know, he meant THAT day!

Wil's sister Vivi had two puppies she had been thinking about selling, so she dropped them off at my grandma's house. It definitely made that night a little easier since we couldn't stop laughing at these puppies' antics.

Lynda and Uncle Arty bathed them for my grandma.

Here are the before and after shots:

This is Jill during her bath...let's take a closer look...

I can tell from the look on her face she LOVES baths!

Next comes Jack...


He's not a happy camper either, but he doesn't look nearly as upset.

And finally, the after photo:


Ahhhh, aren't they sweet?

I think my grandma felt guilty bringing two new puppies home when she had just barely put Oscar to sleep. But, I think it ended up being good for her. She still misses Oscar, but with two puppies, she doesn't have nearly as much time to think about it.

S'mores

We got to babysit Hazel and Xujey last night. We went to the park, took Elvis to the dog park, played Don't Spill the Beans (I haven't played this game since I was a little girl, and it was a blast!), ate pascetti (more commonly known as spaghetti), played Candy Land, made s'mores and watched a movie. Wil and I had tons of fun, hopefully the girls did too!

Wil, Hazel and Xujey roasting marshmallows on our s'more maker

Xujey's marshmallow on fire

Hazel and Wil

All Dogs go to Heaven

Oscar with his FAVORITE toy!

My grandma had to have Oscar put to sleep yesterday. It's funny how you forget how awful it feels to have a beloved pet put to sleep.

I've been blessed to have had a couple great dogs in my life. I can't decide if pets are sent to us to fill a specific role in our life, or if they just have an incredible ability to take on whatever role we need them to fill.

As a child, we had a cocker spaniel named Ami (short for Amiable Bear). She was a bright spot for a little girl during a very difficult time.

In junior high we got Oscar (short for Oscar Mayer Weiner). He was the runt of the litter and they weren't sure if he would survive. When he did, the breeders, one of whom worked with my grandma, gave him to my grandma because she always asked how he was. Under our love and care, he definitely overcame his runt status quickly! In fact, he weighed in at a whopping 34 pounds.

Oscar playing fetch - his favorite game - with his baby blue.

He was a pest as a puppy! He chewed EVERYTHING - and by everything, I mean everything. Presents, pictures, cupboards and one time he even chewed a hole in the carpet. There were several times my grandma was ready to turn him in to the Humane Society, but then he would do something cute and she just couldn't do it.

Oscar and my Grandma

I'm glad she was never able to do it, because Oscar's role was to take care of my grandma. He was there when I went away to college and when I got married. He was there to be my grandma's constant companion and help her adjust to living alone. He filled a very important need in my grandma's life, and for that I will always be grateful!

Dale, Dale, Dale

Yesterday was our nephew J.J.'s first birthday (I'm trying to get in the habit of using our nieces and nephews. I'm used to calling them Wil's nieces and nephews, but since we're married, they are now my nieces and nephews too).

Tita with J.J.

We went to a birthday party for him and our niece Lyzette, who's birthday also is coming up soon, at a local park.

Lyzette, checking out the goodies she collected when the pinata broke.

The birthday party was tons of fun. I LOVED pushing J.J. in the swings! He was laughing and screaming as the swing would go back and forth; it was SO cute! Lyzette had fun riding the bike she got for Christmas all over the park. And Wil and Waldo had fun doing more damage to the pinata than the kids did. They're official job was to swing the pinata around to keep it from getting hit with the stick, but while trying to keep it from the kids, they kept banging it against the tree and smashing it on the ground.

Arlene trying to hit the pinata.

Wil swinging the pinata - in his LOVELY party hat!

I've been trying to learn the words to the pinata song, so I can sing it with everyone else. The song goes like this...

Dale, dale, dale.
No pierdas el tino.
Porque si lo pierdes.
Pierdes el camino.

Ya le diste una.
Ya le diste dos.
Ya le diste tres.
Y tu tiempo se acabó.

In case you're wondering what the song is about, here is the English translation. The translation is not as good, because it doesn't rhyme as well.

Hit it, hit it, hit it.
Don’t loose your aim.
Because if you loose it.
You loose the way.

You hit it once.
You hit it twice.
You hit it three times.
And your time is up.

Andy, the Basketball Star

Wil and I got to go to one of Andy's school basketball games Saturday. It was fun to watch Andy play basketball; he's impressive on the court and is great at getting around the defensive players to shoot the ball. Side note: Please notice my cute shirt. The Cardinals are playing for the NFC championship today with a chance to go to the Super Bowl (I think pigs are flying somewhere!). E.B. Lane does the advertising for the Cardinals and came up with their current slogan "We do this together." Hence the Cardinals shirt that says We Do This Together and has the E.B. Lane logo on it. Hooray, my very first Cardinals shirt. Yes I am a fair weather fan, and no I don't see anything wrong with that!

Following are some shots of Andy playing. They lost the game, but Andy was by far one of the best players on the team!

I think Andy just shot the ball that's up by the basket. He's number 21 under the basket. He was one of the top scorers of the game!

Elvis's New Tricks

Elvis learned how to play catch this week. He quite enjoys it, and was cracking me up Friday night when he was running to get the toy and bringing it back. He already runs kind of goofy and with the socks duct taped to his feet, he looked like he was prancing!

Elvis's other new trick is how to sit. I was so excited when he sat for me one morning last week. He perfected his trick this week, and now sits anytime you say sit...and sometimes when you don't say sit, but he's hoping for a treat.

What Do Duct Tape and Socks Have in Common?

Elvis had his stitches removed Thursday. We were thrilled because we thought we could finally let him live without his cone hat. The vet told us to duct tape socks on Elvis's legs so he wouldn't lick the wounds that weren't quite healed yet. He was NOT a happy camper when we did that!

So he got his stitches out and he's wearing the socks, why did he still need his cone hat?

He started chewing through the duct tape, so we had to put the cone hat back on to protect his feet. You have never seen a dog so happy as when he finally did work around his cone hat enough to chew through the duct tape and remove the socks yesterday.

The Fruits (and vegetables) of Our Labors

Let me preface this post by saying, we bought the COOLEST house in the ENTIRE world! When we first looked at the house last January - it's hard to believe it's been an entire year - we fell in love with the backyard. It's not huge, but it came equipped with an extended patio with a built-in grill, counter and sink.

In addition to the great grilling area, there was a tree in the backyard that was growing two, TWO, different kinds of fruit...on the same tree! WOW! When recounting this story to my family, they explained that this type of tree is called a cocktail tree and is actually a fairly normal occurrence - apparently they graft branches of one type of tree into another type of tree and it grows more than one fruit (who knew?).

Our cocktail tree grows grapefruit and tangerines. The tangerines aren't ripe yet, but we've been consuming grapefruit for the past month or two. I've never cracked up over grapefruit, but there's something about wanting a piece of fruit, going to my backyard to pick said piece of fruit and then walking inside to eat it. I now LOVE grapefruit! There was more grapefruit than we could possibly eat before it went bad, so we picked it all off of the tree yesterday and gave it away to family.

Grapefruit on our cocktail tree

We also have what we lovingly refer to as our lemon bush (because it looks more like a bush than a tree) that has yet to grow any fruit - hopefully we will have lemons next year - and a plum tree that has fruit in the summer.

I know you're asking yourself right now, "you mean their house has an extended patio, built-in grilling area, cocktail tree that grows TWO kinds of fruit, lemon bush and plum tree...how could it get any better?"

But wait, it can...There is also a built in planter box along the back fence, with shade already attached! Now, Wil and I are not gardeners by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, if you ask my family and friends, my thumb is not only not green, it is actually a shade of brownish-black. Aside from one plant I've had since my freshman year of college (yes Dani, I still have the cute little tree-plant you gave me for Christmas that year), I tend to kill just about any plant that finds its way into my care. However, we saw this lovely little garden box as a challenge and an experiment waiting to happen.

Our garden box - with shade!

In September, we mixed some potting soil stuff from Home Depot in with our garden box dirt and planted rows of seeds...we planted carrot seeds, pea seeds, spinach seeds, lettuce seeds and other seeds that I can't seem to remember. We were really smart when we did this, so we put a rock in the box at the beginning of each row of seeds, because we wanted to remember where we planted them. The only thing we didn't think of (duh!) was to figure out a way to show what we planted in each row. We currently have plants growing in our garden box, but we're not sure what they all are...also, we're not sure how we will know when the vegetables are ripe and ready to be picked (for instance, how do you know when carrotts that grow in the ground are ready, if you can't see them)...any suggestions?

We think this one is peas because the flowers seem to be turning into this...

Which sort of looks like a peapod...maybe?

I'm almost positive the plant on the right is lettuce...I have no idea what the plant on the left is...maybe green onions?

I'm thinking this is either spinach or carrots?

As you can see, there are also sevearl spots where we planted seeds that vegetables are not growing...either we haven't taken care of those seeds the way we should have, they were dud seeds and didn't grow or we thought they were a weed and accidentally picked them - oops!

Sundays

Can you believe it's 10:15 a.m. and I am finished preparing my Sunday School lesson already? Wil's at his mom's house installing flooring - it's amazing what I can get done in an hour when the house is quiet and there aren't any distractions.

Now, I'm moving on to my next task for the day, which is catching up on my blog. Generally, I prefer to spread out the entries and not post a ton of entries on one day. However, I'm super behind and have a lot I want to post, and considering that the real reason I'm keeping a blog is so I can print it out at the end of the year and have a book of memories, I will be posting several entries today. You are under no obligation to read them all...I just want to make sure I get them written.

Editor's Note: I'm a primary teacher at church - primary is the children's group for ages 3-11. I teach the 10 turning 11 year old girls and I'm loving it. Last year I taught younger kids, who were fun, too. But, it's really exciting to have older kids who bring scriptures with them to class and know how to read! It makes coming up with activities for the lesson SO much easier!

Elvis is in the Building

We brought Elvis home Monday. The vet gave him his booster shot, neutered him and removed his dewclaws all at once. Ever since, he's had to wear this lovely surgery collar/cone hat.


We didn't really think the whole neutering him before we brought him home plan through because he is absolutely hating life at our house with this cone hat (the real logic was that if we got his booster shot when we got him neutered, we wouldn't have to pay for an office visit at the vet). I'm pretty sure he would much rather live at the lady's house with the mean dog (my grandma and Oscar) or the house with the big yard and lots of playmates (my aunt and uncle's).

I took Elvis for a walk last night and tonight to try to bribe him into liking our house (don't worry, I didn't make him wear the collar on his walk; the neighbor dogs might make fun of him). We're even letting him lay on the couch and every once in a while we let him sleep on the bed for a bit... I'm not sure what's going to happen when we decide he's better and it's time to enforce the rules.

On another Elvis side note...I taught him how to sit this morning. I said sit and he sat, three or four times. I tried to get him to sit when I got home tonight...not so much. Maybe he'll be in the mood again tomorrow morning! :)

Walking Elvis, sort of

After we (and by we, I mean Wil...although I still maintain I'm the best assistant he's ever had) finished installing my grandma's microwave on New Year's Day, we decided to take Elvis for a hike. Unfortunately it was starting to get dark by the time we picked him up, so we took him for a short nature walk instead.


I use the term walk loosely...as you can tell from these photos, most of our walk consisted of Elvis sniffing around and us trying to get him to walk. We still had fun, though.

Elvis is quickly becoming a much better walker - although sometimes his nose still gets the best of him!

My Husband, the Maytag Repairman

Our New Year's was uneventful...but the time off of work was wonderful! While we spent our days off for Christmas busy playing and enjoying time with family, we spent our time off for New Year's working hard. Luckily, we still got to play at night and ended up feeling like we had accomplished a lot, had fun and almost ready to go back to work...almost!

My grandma got new appliances on New Year's Eve. She is extremely proud of her new dishwasher, flat-top stove, microwave and refrigerator! A local resort was remodeling their casitas and sold the appliances that were barely used for $25 a piece...which means my grandma got a whole new kitchen, in white (she used to have creme) for a grand total of $100. I'll bet if you ask her, she will tell you it's the best $100 she's ever spent!

Wil installed the fridge, stove and dishwasher on New Years Eve.

My grandma and Wil with her newly installed appliances!

When he told us the dishwasher was leaking, I thought he meant he didn't connect it right. Nope, turns out someone at the hotel had put dish soap in the spot where you usually put Jet Dry.


We weren't sure what to do or how to get the dish soap out of the Jet Dry area, so we put a towel down (well, after I snapped this picture of course!) and let it bubble. It bubbled and foamed for three or four rinse cycles. It was kind of fun...I've heard about dishwashers doing that before, but I'd never actually seen it!

Wil installed the microwave on New Year's Day, and it took almost as much time as the other three appliances combined! But, if you ever need to know how to install an above the stove microwave - Wil is now an expert!

Balancing Act

Elvis is living at my aunt and uncle's house until Monday - when were are taking him to be neutered and get his second round of shots. We can't wait to bring him home; he's SO cute!

I mentioned before how well he balances on his back two legs. Here's a video of him doing just that with my cousin Andy. He's after a piece of dog food Andy has in his hand.

You will have to turn your head to the side...I thought I could take the video tall ways and make it look right on the computer, but apparently you're only supposed to take video normally on my camera.