The Silver Lining of Hurricane Ike (for me anyway!)

I found out last Thursday that one of my blogging buddies, Jayme, from down near Houston was evacuating to get away from Hurricane Ike. And where, oh where, do you think she and her family evacuated to? My little town, that's where! We were able to meet Friday for lunch. Here we are at Applebee's, just finishing up. And if you read my previous post, you'll remember I mentioned a shirt that I will never, ever, ever wear again because I've now seen this picture and come to realize that my honkin' arms are ginormous and probably shouldn't see the light of day again!! I mean, hel-lo! I really must speak to Randey about letting me leave the house dressed like this. He should know better (ha!). Anywho, lunch was great fun - Jayme and I seemed to be able to talk like we'd known each other for ages! Then we did some shopping together. You all know how I hate shopping, right? But...I'm a good friend so I soldiered on along through store after store in order to show an out-of-towner a good time when they're visiting our fair little hamlet. Oh the sacrifices I make for others...(heavy sigh). Here's Jayme at Ross. We found these baskets and, for some reason, we both thought they were quite funny. They're "labeled". Wonder if the basket police will come take you away if they find you've put "books" in the "stuff" basket or vice-versa? And what's with that "laundry" basket? Laundry for who? Little, bitty, tiny smurf-like people? Here's Jayme and I at On the Border the next day. Yes. We enjoyed lunch a couple of times. So sue us. I have to say, I really enjoyed lunch this day. I luvs me some Mexican food, yessir I do. I love it so much, in fact, that I really, really need to just keep clear of it or I'll undo all the good I've done with Weight Watchers these past four months. lol Cheese and onion enchiladas..... ahhhhhhhhh. Here's a picture of Jayme's daughter, Saira, playing Randey's X-Box (and that's a whole other story we'll call The X-Box Debacle. I'll tell you about that at a later time). Jayme brought Saira over to our house when she came over to use the computer. Saira is a perfectly charming little child with the most wonderful accent and speech patterns. If you could hear her in person, you'd know what I mean. I really enjoyed talking with her. She's great. I also met Jayme's husband Chad and her son Ryan (who has perfect teeth, just let me say that. I know, it's a weird thing to mention, but his teeth were that good! lol). I know that Hurricane Ike was not a happy event by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm grateful that it allowed me to meet Jayme and her family in person. That's my little "silver lining" for this particular natural disaster. By the way, her house and property sustained very little damage by all accounts, although they are still without power and water, etc. Their little town did take a huge hit and I know it'll be a long road ahead of them before they are anywhere near normal again. Keep them all in your thoughts and prayers, if you would.
Here's what else I've been up to. Last year, my daughter-in-law Jodie, decided to do a fall themed tree to celebrate Autumn. This year, I decided to do one, too. What do you think of it?
Here's a full shot of the room. As you can see, it's a small tree. Just enough to make the room glow at night. I love it. Just looking at it puts me in a better frame of mind (geez...does that mean I'm easily influenced? Yeah. Probably. That's okay, though...I can deal with that knowledge. lol).
As some of you know (and thank you so much for your kind words about it!) Friday was my birthday. My son Kaleb, got me this:
House, Season Four! Yay! I love that show. My daughter got me a pair of sandals and a kitchen clock, both of which I need to take pictures of. I liked the clock so much, I hung it up right away and then forgot to snap a photo of it when I was preparing for this post! I'll fix that soon.
Then I got this in the mail yesterday from Annie. I was so touched by her kindness. I was sort of pouting about how I didn't hear from either of my parents on my birthday and was feeling kind of down about it when Randey walked in carrying the mail. Thank you, Annie. Talk about great timing. (I should clarify that I didn't really expect to hear from my parents on my birthday. My mom and I have issues and my dad's memory isn't what it used to be so not having either of them call was not a surprise. I was just being moody about it, that's all!) Anyway, I appreciate the gift and will get good use out of the book, I'm sure.
This is what I woke up to Friday morning:
Roses, a card and a gift. I was kind of surprised because the laptop was our birthday present to each other (Randey's birthday is 6 days after mine). But oh man, aren't these flowers pretty? I love them. And the card was just wonderful, too. By the way, the card says "Happy Birthday Sissy" because everyone in my whole entire family calls me Sissy, including my husband. That's because we were introduced to each other by my sister and his brother, who are married to each other. If Randey ever called me "Kari", I wouldn't know who he was talking to. lol Just goes to show you, people...you can get used to being called darn near anything. I've been called "Sissy" for so long, it doesn't even phase me anymore. :)
Want to know what was in the package from Randey? This thing:

A Jim Shore Halloween cat. I adore this cat. It's so perfect for this time of year and just makes me happy to look at it. I discovered Jim Shore stuff last year. I don't like everything out there that's made by him, but certain things just really appeal to me, for some reason. Like some of the cats. The ones with words like "freedom", "patience", "vigilance" and "curiosity". Love them! I also have a little chihuahua (in honor of Sydney the Wonder Dog, of course!) and a Jiminy Cricket with the words "Let your conscience be your guide!", a saying I've long been fond of, across the bottom of it and a Little Red Riding Hood "Granny" figure. I get a lot of pleasure from just looking at those figures. Don't know why, so don't ask. lol Anywho, my beloved daughter-in-law Jodie, knows of my love of some things Jim Shore. So...being the great gift-giver that she is, she found this to send me (and yeah, I just know she was the one responsible...Nick would have bought me a Star Wars thing instead! ha!) by the way, I'd have loved a Star Wars thing, too! Nick does know his mother pretty well. lol :
Isn't this witch and cat adorable? And doesn't it just put you in the mood for autumn and Halloween and cooler weather??? I love it. I don't think I'd actually seen this figure before. It's totally cool and I'm so glad she picked it out. (Check out the face on the broom. Cracks me up!) But the absolute most awesomely wonderful Jim Shore item ever made is this:
I had actually seen this in a Hallmark store here in town and came so close to buying it for myself. But I didn't. I've been spending way too much money on just "me" lately so I talked myself out of it. (See? I can exercise self control occasionally!) Then I received it from Jodie and Nick. Talk about being all smiles!!! I have spent more time just staring at this beautiful cornucopia. All the little details, the colors, the workmanship. I, quite simply, love love love this thing. Click on the picture to enlarge. You'll see what I mean. It's just darn cool to look at. Thank so much Jodie, Nick and Kara. I'm totally pleased with these two things. You spent too much, of course, but well heck...I'm thrilled with them anyway. Thank you guys! And thanks also to Susan, my BFF, for the gift card. I'll let you know what I end up getting with it. Decisions, decisions.

I guess that's about it for today. I have my weigh in tomorrow at my Weight Watchers meeting. I'm tired of agonizing over it, though. I've decided to take a totally radical approach this week. I'm gonna wear jeans and a heavier shirt and I might even leave my shoes on when I hop my butt up on that dreaded, evil weight measuring device those people call "scales". I know it'll make those scales say I've gained at least 3 pounds, but just think of how virtuous I'll feel next week when I wear my normal (and not nearly as heavy!) regular clothes. Yeah, so it's cheating. I don't care. I need to shake things up a bit and this seems like a perfectly harmless way to do that. I hope to get around to some blogs again soon. I've read a few, but need to go back and leave a comment now. But first I have to cook dinner for my dearly beloved. He's headed out of town Thursday so it's looking good for dinner out tomorrow night. But tonight, it's just me, slaving away in the kitchen (another heavy sigh). See you guys tomorrow!

Howdy Strangers!

See this?Know what it is? It's my new laptop (and somewhere in Florida, Susan just fell off her chair laughing because one of the last things I said to her before she left Texas was that I "hated to break the news to Randey, but we're NOT getting a laptop!"). See, Randey suddenly started talking about the need for a laptop during their visit. Remember I had computer problems fairly recently, but that Randey had fixed the problems? Well, apparently, Randey the Soothsayer knew more than he was letting on about the health of my computer. I, however, was blissfully ignorant so when he started talking about a laptop "just for me", I thought he'd lost his mind. I mean, sure...it was a nice thought and all, but a laptop was a luxury, not a necessity because, after all, he'd fixed my computer, right? Well here's a little lesson for all of you. Apparently your computer simply cannot withstand the ravages of having three teenagers using it for all manner of downloads to Zunes, downloads of games, myspace discussions, etc., etc., etc. And while my old computer will still turn on (eventually) and it will still allow me to do certain things, it has also developed an annoying habit of totally locking up for no particular reason. I tried using Randey's work laptop for a while, but after I'd typed out this big, long, detailed comment on someone's blog and his computer opted for the "blue screen of death" rather than actually posting said comment, I lost my temper and threatened to send our family back to the stone age as far as computer ownership goes. Then, after we'd run to Target the next night for some little something, Randey casually suggested we head next door to Best Buy. And before I knew it, I was the proud owner of a new laptop of my very own. Now I just have to figure out how to use it - it took forever and a day to figure out how to download photos to it (and took even longer to find the stupid cord. I used to download pictures via the printer). But I think I'm back on track now. I've finally been able to do the "snack tip" post (which is right beneath this one). I also have a few more recipes to post and will be writing that post over the next 2 days. Meanwhile, check out the snack tip post and check out these cute little Halloween things we found for our youngest granddaughter, Kara:
Cute, huh? The little pumpkins on the booties rattle when you shake them. (Yes, ma'am - it's almost that time of year again!!!) Kara will be wearing little noise makers on her feet - hope she finds them as entertaining as I do (the boys and Randey are probably sick of hearing me shake them. lol). Speaking of the boys...Kaleb came home from work the other night and, after a stop in the kitchen, came to ask us "what's with the George Bush spaghetti sauce sitting on the counter?". Randey and I looked at each other, wondering what on earth was he talking about. This is what he saw:
Kids today. I mean really. I'm apparently only one of about 28% of Americans who actually still like W, but even I would never compare him to Paul Newman. Geez. My first instinct was to rush out and rent a copy of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in order to educate my child on the natural wonder that is Mr. Paul Newman. And if he ever looks at Robert Redford and calls him Dick Cheney, maybe I will. LOL

Blogger Meetings and the Florida Trip

Here's some overdue business that I've been wanting to take care of...first of all, I'd like to show the sweet gifts Annie from My Life as Annie gave me when we met almost 2 weeks go in OKC. See the little red purse Christmas ornament? How cute is that? And the BELIEVE cross! I love it. Thank you so much, Annie. These are wonderful gifts (and so nicely packaged, too!!). I'll always think of you when I see them (which will be often as I'm hanging the cross in the living room and I generally put up my Christmas tree no later than November 1st. LOL). Remember I told you that I'd gotten to meet Kat from Just a Beach Kat when I went to Florida? Here's a picture of us together down at Dewey Destin's Seafood.

I've got to tell you guys, Kat is every bit as nice in person as she is on her blog. I can't say enough good things about her! She's beautiful, she's sweet natured, she's kind-hearted, she's funny...I felt like a country rube next to her. lol (I even stepped on her toe when we first met - how's that for giving a good first impression??). After having met both Annie and Kat in person, I'm kind of torn about meeting any other bloggers in real life. Don't get me wrong, it was fun and interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. But I'm going to have to require just a little bit more imperfection in my blogging buddies from here on out, okay? These two are just such all around good people - it was hard not to feel every single one of my social shortcomings after meeting them. (Note to self: You may want to sign up for that refresher course down at the local Charm School if you intend to keep meeting new people. LOL) Anyway, to Annie and Kat - thank you both for taking the time to meet with me. I certainly appreciate that! Oh, and check out the shell that Kat gave me:
It has The Lord's Prayer printed on it. I adore this. I've put it on the shelf in our living room next to the angel Randey brought me back from Italy years ago.

After my lunch with Kat, I visited mine and Randey's grandson's grave site. It's such a peaceful place. This was my first time going alone, though. I was kind of surprised at how poorly I handled this particular visit. I guess it's just easier when I'm with other people. I cleaned the grass off that was growing over the edges of his marker and straightened up the toys we've all left him over these past 2 and 3/4 years. I wish I'd thought to bring some new flowers for the flower pot his mommy had made him. I left him a picture of his sisters, though. They're wearing their super hero costumes - Maddy was dressed as Bat Girl and Kara was dressed as Spidergirl. I barely made it back out on the road when I had to call Randey for a little moral support. I think I'll be sure to have someone with me the next time I go there. I need someone to talk to during the visit. Otherwise, it's just too sad.
Here's a picture of a car we saw on our way to Florida. Randey thought it was cool so he had me take a couple of pictures. (I almost didn't want to do it. Didn't want to give Nick, Kaleb and/or Jacob any ideas!).

And here's a sign from a pest control company down in Florida. I had forgotten about this company, although I did use them once or twice when we lived there. Their slogan always makes me pause. I can't decide if it's creepy or just funny:

Here's a picture of Maddy Moose with Grandpa in front of Cracker Barrel. They love to play checkers together. I swear, Maddy loves Randey best because he truly is a great grandpa to her. I love watching them together.
Here's me holding Randey's brother's newest granddaughter. Little Brooklynn was born the week we were there. She's such a tiny little thing. Weighed in at 6 pounds 4 ounces. I love little newborns. Holding Brooklynn made me crazy thinking about holding Kara. I've missed so much of Kara's life already.
(Hey, but check out my gray hair in the picture. I'm about halfway there to having all my old colored hair grow out. Woo-hoo!)

And here' a picture of THE finest steak in the world. The peppercorn New York Strip steak from McGuire's Irish Pub. My gosh, how I love these steaks. I had two of them. One in Pensacola with my sister, her husband, my niece, her boyfriend and Randey. And then another one in Destin with Susan (my BFF) and her husbandTerry, and Randey. I did so good with them, too. I only ate about a quarter of each one, which was plenty. No morning-after guilt over failed Weight Watchers moments for me! lol Well...I did partake in 2 Raspberry Wheat beers on both nights, which wasn't too smart. But what can I say. I love McGuire's Raspberry Wheat beer. They were worth the guilt!
And finally, here's a picture of my niece, Megen and her boyfriend, Taron. They were sharing a "Wake" from McGuire's. I'm not sure what it has in it, but suffice it to say, it's potent. They both look like they're totally toasted. Which they were. I'm sure they'll thank me for posting this. LOL
Don't forget, the Brenda Photo Challenge, hosted by Sharon @ Funky Fairy Frolics is August 9th. The theme is PLAY! So get your playing photos up and going! I'll be out of town again, but I hope to come check out everyone's pictures Monday, when I return!

Childhood Reminders, More Art Attack (I'm so ashamed) and the REAL fine art in our home...

From the time I was 3 years old until I was 6, we lived in Japan. My dad was in the Air Force and that's where we were stationed at that time. I don't remember much really, except the earthquakes, my first boyfriend (slobber faced Mark, whom I loved with all my kindergartner's heart) and my dad making me ride my bike without my trusty training wheels (really think he could have been a little more sympathetic to my fear on this subject and a little less snarky). I wish I had retained more of the memories from our time overseas. Even some of the things I think I remember, I'm not sure are accurate. Frustrating. But anyway, last Friday Randey and I went "antiquing". That's what we call it when we go junk shopping. lol We were at a place in Ft. Worth and had just about finished walking through there when Randey spotted this: A Pachinko machine! Talk about sweet childhood memories! We played one of these all the time - my parents even brought one home from Japan when we moved stateside (sure wish I knew what had happened to that one!). I had seen one in another antique place in Benbrook, Texas a couple of months ago and showed it to Randey. But that one was $100, had pieces missing and was no where near in working order. This one, however, was marked $40 and seems to be missing just the "leg" braces and the actual Pachinko steel balls, which you can order on e-bay. I was so excited! We snapped it up, of course. Well, "snap" might not be the perfect word to describe what we did with it because the darn thing weighs a ton! Randey hefted it up and lugged it to the front desk. There. That's more accurate. This machine even came with original paperwork that shows it to be "reconditioned from Pachinko parlor use to home use". The date says it was reconditioned in 1973 and states that the machine was no more than 2 years old at the time of reconditioning. I have no idea what on earth I'm going to do with this beast or where I'm going to put it, but I do know that seeing it has allowed me to recapture a small and fun part of my childhood memories. (*big smile*)

Oh and one other thing we found is this (spotting that Pachinko machine must have brought us good luck!):

Another piece of "art". LOL This one is tiny - probably only about 5 x 7 inches, although the frame, of course, gives it a little more bulk. Kat says I'm not supposed to say how much I pay for art, so I won't tell you what it cost. Well, except to say Randey thinks it was the best $5 he's ever spent on a painting. HA! (Sorry, Kat I couldn't help myself. Buying cheap is just such a thrill for me. lol) So I guess we're still suffering from our art attacks after all. And while we have a lot of fun finding these landscape paintings together, our real art collection comes from our children. Let me show you what I mean...

See this? Jake did this one in 2nd grade and won first place in the Okaloosa County Elementary School Art Competition. I adore this masterpiece.
Jake also writes poetry and won a contest with this poem (you can click on it to enlarge it enough to read what it says). This poem was written when Jake was 13 and was published in a book of poems.
Kaleb's done a little artwork himself. Now I'm not normally a fan of Picasso and his ilk, but I like this one. Kaleb did it I think it 5th or 6th grade. Very cool. Kaleb also did this picture - I believe when he was in 9th grade. I love the intense colors.
Des did this metal rendition of a butterfly in one of her school classes years ago. Des was never one for enjoying crafting or anything so this object is particularly special. It's probably just about the only thing of its kind that she's ever done.
Now we come to Nick's artwork. You have to understand that Nick is my oldest (he's almost 7 years older than Desiree', my second child). When Nick was very young, we moved a lot. It was just him and me and we didn't really have any roots anywhere. Seeing as how we moved so often, I (sadly) don't have a lot of his "art projects" from school. In fact, the only reason I have this piece of art is because my Aunt Ginger saved it (she adored Nick - spoiled him rotten every chance she got and treasured everything about this kid). I'm so grateful that she saved this, Nick's "turkey hands".
Nick, however, is not so grateful. He says it makes him look like he's a tad bit goofy. Here Kaleb and Jacob have their Van Goghs and Picassos and even Des has a metal work that has a certain complexity to it and then there's Nick, with his turkey hands. Listening to him gripe about how I put all their work up together and his ends up looking somewhat "lacking" is actually half the fun, to tell you the truth. Naturally, I think his turkey hands are beautiful! And so will his children some day, when they see his artwork. I display our finest art on this wall, mainly:
My children...artists, every one. That landscape picture fetish Randey and I have is just for funnies. We know the value of real art. How could we not, with examples like this in our home?

Patriotism...

that's the theme for this edition of Brenda Photo Challenge (hosted this time by Karen). I had some really good ideas about what to do, but then my camera and I had some issues (i.e., operator errors) that prevented me from taking some wonderful 4th of July photos that would have been perfect for this particular challenge. So I've decided to veer a little bit off the traditional Red, White & Blue color route I had intended to take. Instead, I will post these 3 photos. They truly do speak to what "patriotism" means to me, personally.
First off, here's a picture of the inside of a cabinet door from our house in Florida: This door represented a lifeline for me right after 9/11. (Ignore the icky looking stuff around the edges of the door. That's just glaze from where I had faux finished the outside of the cabinets - and was too lazy to finish the inside of them, too). On October 10, 2001, my husband Randey and my son Nicholas, both deployed together to the middle east. Randey was an Air Force Reservist serving as crew chief on C-130's at the time. He and his unit were activated immediately following 9/11. Nicholas was (and is) an active duty member of the Air Force and a loadmaster on the C-130's. Randey worked on the aircraft that Nicholas flew on. Both of their units were in Special Ops, operating from the same home base and both units sent forces overseas in response to the attacks against us here on American soil. They left on that day, October 10, 2001, after being told in an outbriefing that perhaps as many as 60% of them would not be returning. They were going to the frontlines in this war to an undisclosed location and would be in a communication blackout for an undetermined amount of time. I've never been more scared in my entire life. My husband and my oldest son...both headed to war. I thanked God everyday that at least they were together. I knew that Randey would do everything in his power to make sure that the aircraft carrying my son in and out of battle would be in as good a shape as possible. I knew that Randey would take care of Nick and I knew that Nick would take care of Randey. Knowing those two could support each other and hold each other up was the only thing that got me thru that dark and scary time. Every day, I would get up and make another mark on that cabinet door so that I could keep track of the days without them. And then something wonderful happened. On the 27th day of their deployment, Nick was allowed to call home. I cried like a baby after I talked to him. It was the first word I'd heard from either of them in almost 4 weeks. So I put a star above that day's mark to commemorate the occasion of his phone call. I did the same thing every day that he was allowed to call. Nick got to make morale calls, but Randey didn't. Not yet, anyway. But that was okay because Nick told me how Randey was doing and could pass messages to Randey for me. Finally, on the 42nd day, the phone rang, I answered and it was Randey. I cried and cried and cried. He couldn't hardly talk to me because I couldn't stop blubbering long enough to hear what he was saying. That first "hello" from him was pure heaven to me. It had been so long. It felt like it had been forever - who knew 6 weeks could feel like a lifetime? On that day, and every day thereafter that Randey was allowed to call, I circled that day's mark in red. I lived for those phone calls. I was a maniac whenever the phone would ring - scared to death I would miss one of their calls. It was a tense time in our lives (how's that for a bit of an understatement)! At long last, 64 whole days after they'd left, on December 12, 2001, they both returned home. My heroes. They had gone off to defend our country, to keep us safe and to do what needed to be done. They were part of the first wave. And they had finally come home. Sixty-four days doesn't seem that long, really. But it is when your country is suddenly thrust into war and your family members are shipped off to the frontlines of that war. Under those circumstances, 64 days can feel like an eternity. Trust me. I couldn't bring myself to paint over the inside of that cabinet door when we moved. I know the new owners of the house have probably done so, but I just could not do it. Looking at it reminded me of too much.
So... what does it look like when your heroes return home on a C-130? Just like this: The crew raises an American flag out of the aircraft as they taxi in...all the family and friends stand back behind a line, waiting for that aircraft to stop and release those that you hold so dear. It seemed like it took forever on that day in December of '01 for them to deplane and get over to us. At long last, I saw 2 of the most precious faces on the planet to me, Randey and Nicholas, safe again. I don't have a picture of that, though. I was too busy running across that line to hug them.
For my 3rd "Patriotism" picture, I kind of cheated a bit. I took a picture of a part of a scrapbook page I had done. It's regarding the movie "World Trade Center".

I think you may be able to click on the picture to enlarge. but if not, here's what it says:

On September 9, 2006, we went to see the movie "World Trade Center". It was the most profound experience I've ever had in a movie theater. This movie reminded me why our country is at war and why this war on terror is the right thing to do. I had already forgotten some of the emotion I had experienced on 9/11. The sadness, the ache, the fear, the pride, the bewilderment, the resolve - all those feelings had sort of been pushed to the back of my mind. This movie brought them all rushing back for me. I was a little ashamed that I had already forgotten so much. I was glad to be reminded. Watching this movie was a wonderful experience. It was good to feel the sadness and the resolve and all those things in between again. I'm proud to be an American. It's a blessing that I don't ever want to take for granted. I hope everyone sees this movie and I hope it touches them as it did me.

The feelings I felt on 9/11 and the days following were the purest form of patriotism I've ever experienced. The way our country pulled together - it was awe-inspiring to live it, to breathe it, to be a part of it. It pains me now to watch politicians tear America apart with their decisive rhetoric. It's one thing to question the war, to question our leaders, to question our mission...it's something else entirely to do it strictly in the interest of gaining power. When America goes to the polls this November, I hope we don't just vote. I hope we think first. And then vote.

From Beast (aka: the Truck) to Beauty (aka: the Car)

I mentioned in my last post that Randey had gotten a wild hair and decided that we needed a new car. I didn't post a picture of it, though, because geez, people...it's just a car. Who cares what it looks like, right? Well, apparently, Nicholas cares what it looks like and since he's deployed to parts unknown but will hopefully have occasional access to the blog world, I'm going to post 2 pictures of our new car just for him. First, though, I have to show Randey and his truck...ah, parting is such sweet sorrow, eh? Randey actually kind of wanted to trade in our other car, the Vibe, for a new one. But the Vibe gets great gas mileage so that just wasn't going to work for me. So the deal was, if he really, really, really felt like a new car was in order, then his truck was going to be the vehicle that had to go. As it turns out, I guess he really did want a new car because he agreed. Go figure. Anyway, I darn near had to wipe his tears away after he cleaned the Dodge out at the dealership. Me? I was kind of glad to see it go. Randey had that stupid, loud, immature and annoying Flowmaster muffler system on the beast so everytime you started it up, it sounded like you were at the drag races. Hated it. But, bless his little heart, he loved it and bid it farewell with only a hint of the heartache I'm sure he was suffering (blah, blah, blah, blah). And here's what he traded it for. It's a Honda Accord. It's okay - nothing fancy, pretty good gas mileage, though, and I can plug my IPod into it and hear it thru the car speakers. What more could you ask for in a car? lol

So there, Nick - how do you like the car? Can't wait for you to come home at Christmas and drive it. By the way, it comes with some little adapter thingy in the backseat for installing children's carseats. (That's so Kara can go shopping with Granny when she visits! I can put her carseat in securely without resorting to a tech manual - like the kind I needed with Maddy's car seat! Cool, huh?lol)

Way Over My Head

Last summer, I fussed and fussed about wanting a nicer camera. I wanted to be able to take pictures like a pro. My little point and shoot camera just wasn't up to the task. Actually, in retrospect, I think the operator of my little point and shoot camera wasn't up to the task but hindsight ain't helping me now. 'Cause now, thanks to my big mouth, I have a much bigger problem. Almost a year ago - yes! One. Whole. Year. Ago. - Randey bought me this: Isn't it something? A Nikon D80 - a truly magnificent piece of machinery. And that's not all. He also bought me this:
Lenses and gadgets galore. Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, Randey forgot that he's married to a technologically challenged individual who can't even program a microwave or TiVo with any degree of accuracy. I've had this entire set up all this time and I still don't know how to use this darn camera. I was overjoyed when I saw that our local community education office was offering a 6 week digital photography class for beginners. And then I found out that the class starts the week we leave for vacation. Ugh! However, my wonderful neighbor, Brian, loaned me a few books on photography so all is not lost. Sure, he loaned them to me months ago, but my procastination has prevented me from taking advantage of them until now (so it's not my fault, see?). But now the time has come. Our vacation is fast approaching so I can't put this off any longer...I'm going to have to break down and crack open those books. And hope Kaleb's around to interpret the tech-y stuff for me. (You don't suppose it's possible to actually electrocute yourself with a honkin' camera like this, do 'ya?)