Angel Food

I have to admit that the last couple of weekends have been really relaxing. Since I haven't been volunteering at the shelter, I haven't had to plan my weekends around the hours I was taking pictures. Chad and I have spent lots of quality time together and it's been very nice. The timing really couldn't have been better since a) we're planning on being gone helping Grandma move for the next couple of weekends, and b) we're trying to get all sorts of tiny home improvement projects done on the weekends in anticipation of putting our house on the market soon.

Although being a weekend sloth has been fairly enjoyable, since it's not really in my nature, today I went to do some volunteer work. It was only a couple of hours, but Chad and I went to our church to volunteer for Angel Food Ministries. A couple of years ago our church joined Angel Food Ministries to help provide families in our community groceries at a reduced cost. Angel Food is a national organization started 15 years ago in Georgia, and it now provides food monthly for over 500,000 families in 35 states. It's a pretty neat ministry built from a very simple idea. Food is bought in bulk quantities and then sold in smaller units to families at bulk prices. All of the transportation, planning and organizing is done by volunteers. You can read the whole history of the organization on their website--it's pretty neat!

So Chad and I went and helped unload all the food from the delivery truck, organize the food into an assembly line, assemble units of groceries and carry the groceries to people's cars. I actually just stood there and handed out eggs for the most part, while Chad had the much harder job of carting out boxes of food. Normally that wouldn't be so bad except that it was snowing, windy and bitterly cold outside!

I'd been meaning to get involved with this ministry for years, but just never could fit it into my weekends (although it's only one weekend a month) because I was usually busy taking pictures at the shelter. I was glad to finally be able to help out, and the experience was certainly an eye-opening one that made us extremely thankful for what we have. Although the Angel Food groceries are available to any person at any income level, many of the people who order are clearly struggling financially. I would guess it must be humbling for them to come pick up the food, and it was certainly humbling for us to be serving them. It made us very thankful to be blessed with so much compared to so many others in our community!

Rodents of Unusual Size

Picture this: we’re getting ready to take the dogs for a walk the other night and all three of them are leashed up and waiting excitedly at the front door. Oh wait…you don’t have to picture it because I will picture it for you—it happens almost every night and it’s very easy to recreate.

As you look at this picture, take special note of a particular spot just a few feet outside the front door. I’ll zoom in to show you the exact spot that I’m talking about. That little stone edging around the front flower bed plays a big part in this story.




So we were all standing at the door, seconds away from stepping out for our evening stroll, when suddenly this creepy creature came waddling around the corner, using our edging as his own little personal sidewalk through our yard. He wandered right across our front walk towards our garage as all five of us just stood there and stared in shock. As soon as he was out of sight, the dogs went completely nuts. Celtic started baying, Hope (who was bred and possibly trained to chase down similar creatures) started bawling, and Fresco starting crying and barking while he sprinted around the house like an idiot. As you can imagine, it was complete pandemonium.

Now for the record, I generally love almost all animals. However, there's something about an opossum that completely creeps me out. They are so freaky and scary it gives me chills every time I think about them! I’m embarrassed to say that I once screamed in fear and grabbed onto an 8-year-old for support (when I was about 22) at a Raintree camp out when we encountered a possum sitting atop a trash can in our path. They completely give me the willies. I dislike them so much I don’t even feel that sad when I see one smashed in the middle of the road.

Thankfully, my husband is very brave, so he went outside to shoo the wretched creature away while I stayed inside and tried to calm down the pups and assure them that our house wasn’t being attacked by monsters. I don’t blame them for being completely bent out of shape though—that thing was WAY too close to our house and flippin’ creepy as heck! I couldn’t shake the chills up and down my spine the entire time we were out walking. We were definitely all on R.O.U.S.* alert!

*The first person to leave me a comment with the appropriate movie reference will win my utmost respect and admiration. :)

House for Sale???

Chad doesn't really want me blogging about this because he's pretty sure I will jinx it, but the other day we actually saw a house, in the perfect location, with some nice acreage, that we both really liked. It wasn't exactly our dream home, but it had the potential to become darn close. It definitely needed a little bit of work, but overall it was a lot of what we were looking for.

I'm not going to say much else about it--no pictures, no description, no nothing--because Chad is convinced that somehow the agent or owner will find my blog and see that we're interested and we'll lose some of our leveraging power. I know that sounds pretty unlikely, but stranger things have happened. The world is a tiny, tiny place sometimes.

Anyway, the point of this story is to say that we've been brainstorming all evening about all the little tiny things we need to do here and there around the house to get it ready to put on the market. Our plan is to try and sell it ourselves before listing it with a real estate agency, so we've been researching "for sale by owner" websites, and I'm currently working on an informational flier to send out to everyone we know. For those of you who haven't been to our home, here are the basic specs:

*3 bedrooms and 2 baths with finished basement
*Built in 1992 with newer
*Vaulted ceilings, fireplace, eat-in kitchen and 2-car garage
*Huge fenced yard with basketball court
*Safe and friendly Deerfield neighborhood
*Easy access for I-70 commuters


Okay, I know that sounds kind of lame on "paper," but I promise we've done tons of home improvements over the last 11 years! After we make it official we'll get a slide show of pictures put together to send out all over the Internets. Until then, if you know anyone looking for a great starter home in Lawrence, send them our way!! :)

25 Random Things

I need to come clean about something: I'm kind of a junkie. About 10 months ago I jumped on the bandwagon and started doing it because so many of my friends were doing it, and I quickly developed an addiction. I'm sort of addicted to Facebook.

Thankfully, I'm not the only one. There are many, many 30-somethings I know who are addicted to this social networking site too. Honestly, it's really hard not to get sucked in to this entertaining way to connect with old friends.

Facebook is kind of hard to explain unless you've been there, but one of the recent trends on the site is posting surveys about yourself. Those questionnaires that you normally receive via email and then forward on to everyone in your address book are now being posted and shared all over Facebook too. Kind of annoying to fill out, I know, but I always enjoy reading fun and interesting things about my friends and family members.

Anyway, tonight I finally got around to filling out my "25 Random Things" survey on Facebook. Although I'm guessing a good majority of my readers are also already my friends on Facebook and probably already saw this list, I thought for the few that aren't I would post it here as well. Because really, I don't share enough about myself on this blog already. ;)

1. I was born in Peru, Indiana and lived there for a few years as a baby/toddler. It’s the only time of my life that I didn’t live in Kansas.

2. We moved to Salina when I was about four—which was about how old I was when I got a really bad sunburn that left me with a scar on my neck and back. The scar is weird looking and people always ask me if I have a rash.

3. I got some serious road rash when I was six I was trying to climb down a “cliff” at Indian Rock Park and ended up rolling head over heels all the way to the bottom. Thankfully though, I broke no bones and needed no stitches.

4. Two years later I did need stitches when I fell on my face roller skating with Jennifer Logan. I’ve still never broken a bone.

5. My husband broke a bone in 6th grade when a fat kid fell on him playing football. That’s not really about me, but I like smooth transitions.

6. I met my husband in 7th grade English class when we were both 12, back when I was taller than he was. I never would have dreamed at that point that he would one day be such an amazing husband.

7. I think I fell in love with Chad because I find him so incredibly funny, and the way to my heart is definitely through my sense of humor.

8. My husband is without a doubt my best friend in the world.

9. I’ve often felt like I bond more easily with my guy friends than my girl friends. I guess maybe because I only have a brother I find it easier to relate to guys.

10. I consider my brother one of my closest friends. I think he’s amazingly funny and talented.

11. My brother and I always find a billion things to talk about when we’re on the phone, but I don’t generally like to talk on the phone with anyone else. I usually feel really awkward on the phone and I’m afraid I won’t know what to say.

12. When I’m not on the phone, I generally find plenty to talk about. Most of the time, I talk too much and don’t listen enough. I wish I was a better listener.

13. I also wish I was a better writer and wish I was funnier.

14. If I was funnier and a better writer I think I would quit my job and write a funny blog as my main source of income.

15. I blog a lot. I don’t get any income from any of my blogs.

16. I also take pictures a lot. I don’t aspire to make money from my pictures, but I still hope to become a better photographer someday.

17. I take a lot of pictures of my 3 dogs, who I treat very much like children.

18. We don’t have any children, nor do we have plans to. Fifteen years ago we planned to have children, but God had other plans. Now I’m very thankful for His plans, because God really knew what He was doing.

19. Not having children has allowed me a lot of time to volunteer over the last 10 years. In those years I’ve volunteered over 3,000 hours at the Lawrence Humane Society.

20. During those 3,000+ hours I’ve taken pictures of over 4,000 dogs and posted them onto Petfinder.com to try and help them get adopted.

21. In case you can’t tell, I’m really passionate about homeless dogs. It literally makes me sick to my stomach when my friends and family members buy dogs from breeders instead of rescuing.

22. I have dreams of having my own dog rescue some day.

23. I’m kind of obsessive about other things besides dog rescue—blogging, KU sports, recycling, taking pictures, reading (I don’t read very often b/c I can’t book books down), jigsaw puzzles (I never do these anymore because I become completely obsessed), and checking Facebook. :)

24. I’m actually really thankful for Facebook because it’s helped me reconnect with some long lost friends!

25. I’m tagging 15 friends in addition to the 15 who tagged me, but I won’t be upset if those 15 friends don’t bother making a list—although I do love reading other people’s lists!

Okay, so #25 really doesn't apply here, but if you feel like making a list of your own you can always email it to me!

Photo Session

Although it was a little chilly today, the sun was shining brightly and the dogs went out to bask in it after our walk in the early afternoon. As they were lying around in the yard I got the urge to go out and take a few pictures. I just thought I'd share a few of my favorites from our photo session.

Old Man Celtic

Hope The Weirdo

Big Baby Fresco

This last one is entirely too posed, so it's probably pretty obvious that I had treats in my pocket! I just wanted them all to sit close enough together that I could get all three in one picture. The way they sit so far apart from each other it's like they think the other ones have cooties or something. They really do like each other in real life.

House Hunting

Several of our friends have asked about our house search since I blogged about my potential dream house last week. We went out to look at it with the real estate agent just a couple of days later, and while the property was beautiful, the inside of the house didn't turn out to be our dream home. I have to admit I was so disappointed and depressed! Despite the fact that the house is actually a couple of years newer than the house we live in now, it was remarkably dated. The layout was very odd, with a not so masterful master bedroom right off the living room--so strange. When you walked into the front door you were kind of standing right in the dining room, which we also thought was very weird. We found ourselves talking about how we could knock out walls and reconfigure the entire first floor to make it usable space for us. It made my stomach hurt just thinking about all the work that would entail.

All that work might be worth it if the location of this house were just slightly better. It's just a tad bit too close to I-70 to be worth it to me. You can actually see the Interstate from the front porch. It was oddly quiet and I think you could plant some large trees to block the view, but it's still a little less than ideal. Unfortunately, there were also some pretty trashy trailer homes also within view of the front porch, which pretty much sealed that house's fate for me. Call me a snob, but I can't have my dream house so nearby neighbors who have so much crap all over their yard!!

Anyway, we went and looked at another house on Monday, but this one made the first house look fabulous. It was on a gorgeous 20 acres with a beautiful view, and the outside of the house was quite charming. Inside, however, the builders tried to make it look like an old farmhouse, which sounds like a good idea, but it just wasn't functional space! The master bedroom upstairs was so small there's no way our furniture would have even fit!

Anyway, I won't bore everyone with all of the details, but today we went to a few open houses and scoped out a few more properties. One of the open houses we only went to because it was very near the first house we looked at, and we ended up being pleasantly surprised at the quality and layout of the home. Unfortunately, the rural subdivision it's in (only 5 acre lots) have a building covenant that would prevent us from actually housing more than a few dogs on the property! Oh well--the house gave us lots of good ideas!

We're going to check out a few more open houses tomorrow, and we've called a couple of other agents about other listings we're interested in. A few look like they might have some potential, but I'm not holding my breath--I think the house search is going to be a very long process!!

The Shelter

As I mentioned the other day, two weeks ago I had no interest in living in the country. Now, it's all I can think about. My change of heart came very abruptly and completely by accident, as a result of a seemingly unrelated event in my life last week. Here's the whole story.

Last Tuesday, I had on my calendar that the Lawrence animal shelter (where I've been volunteering for the last 10.5 years for anyone who doesn't know) was supposed to have a fundraiser at Vermont Street BBQ, where the restaurant would donate a percentage of their proceeds for the evening to the humane society. Since Chad and I didn't have anything at home for dinner and he was on his way back into town from a meeting in KC, I called to see if he wanted to meet me at Vermont Street directly after work. I didn't have the flier though, so I went online to see if I could download it from the shelter's website. The event wasn't listed on the website calendar, so I called the shelter to see if it was still on, thinking that Chad could pick up the flier on his way into town from KC.

So when I called, one of the staff members (who shall remain nameless) answered, and here's how the conversation went:

Me: Hi "R", this is Kim Luce. How are you doing?

"R": Oh, Kim. Petfinder.com.

Me: Uh, what about it?

"R": Sally, Clover, Lei Ah, and Lemon Pie have all been adopted...well, actually they were transferred.

Me: Actually, I know. I've changed their information, but since they are all still available for adoption elsewhere I want to leave them as adoptable so that if people are searching for those breeds they will still be picked up in a search. (Which, by the way, I already told "R" on the day that she told me they were transferred, but I didn't remind her that we'd already talked about this.)

"R": (silence)

Me: I'm not sure what you want me to say about those, since I've left them that way for a reason.

"R": Well, I just know that every time I go to look at Petfinder on Mondays when we need to talk about a dog on the radio, I look at the website and see gone, gone, gone, gone, gone all the way down the list.

Me: Well, every weekend when I'm there I find out who has gone home and who has been put down and I update it generally on Sunday night as soon as I find out.

"R": Well, this week it wasn't as bad, but--

Me: You know what "R", just forget it. (click)

For 10 years I've dedicated virtually every weekend that I was in town to taking pictures of adoptable dogs and uploading them to Petfinder and the LHS website. I've spent, on average, about 6 hours a week maintaining these two websites. Yet, the only time the staff generally bothers to mention Petfinder to me is to complain about something. Now I've certainly never expected some some grand recognition for what I do--I do it for the dogs and for the dogs alone. However, it would have been nice if the staff had at least acted as though they wanted my help.

It's not just their inconsideration that's the problem. There are loads and loads of other problems at the shelter that have frustrated me for years. Mostly, it's about the way they purposely deceive the public about the number of dogs that they euthanize there and why. The fact is that dogs are put down there every week, and yet they are constantly telling people they are a no-kill shelter. It has always made me crazy. I mean, how in the world will our community know they need to change their behaviors and attitudes towards homeless dogs if they have no idea we have a terrible overpopulation problem?

It's not that I fault the shelter for having to put dogs down in the first place--I know there are not enough homes and too many animals. However, I have major issues with the way they almost arbitrarily choose which dogs to put down. They are constantly picking perfectly adoptable dogs that the volunteers know and love and labeling them unadoptable because of "temperament." This can mean anything--barking or jumping in their kennel, nervousness around other dogs, stepping in their own poop too much--whatever. They rarely take the dogs out of their kennels to see what they might be like outside of the stressful shelter environment. They look for the worst in every dog instead of seeing each dog's wonderful potential.

I could go on and on, but basically the conversation above was just the final straw piled onto the massive heap of my long list of frustrations that's grown ridiculously large over the last 10 years. I just cannot deal with the horrible attitudes of the staff, with all the ridiculous lies, with the constant criticism of my help, with the lack of appreciation for my years of service. I've put up with all of it for all this time because I wanted to do everything I could to help those dogs that I love so much. I just don't think I can do it any more. It's so hard to turn my back on those dogs, but I just can't continue to support the organization when I disagree with so many of the decisions and all of the deception.

So last Tuesday when I came home, first I cried to Chad for a while because I just felt like my entire purpose in life had just been taken away from me. I can't imagine not doing something to help homeless animals. I can't imagine seeing all the new little faces at the shelter each week. I also can't imagine having my weekends free to relax and do yardwork and housework! I was completely distraught, and I was at a major crossroads.

So the next day I spent lots of time thinking and trying to figure out how I could continue doing what I'm the most passionate about. I researched all types of animal shelters, rescues and other facilities in the area trying to find someone who could use my services. I've emailed a few to see if I can start volunteering for them, but in the midst of my searching I noticed that the nearby Lecompton area didn't have any sort of shelter or rescue. I started pondering the possibility of actually starting a shelter in the area, which led me to look at available property, which led me to the house, which happened to have a HUGE horse barn, which would be relatively easy to convert to a dog rescue. Suddenly, all I could think of was living in the country so that I could start a rescue of my own.

The Birthday Boy

Thirty-seven years ago today my husband came into this world. Each and every day I thank God for blessing me with such an amazing best friend. I honestly don't know what I would do without him. Especially during this time of change and uncertainty in our world, he is my absolutely solid rock. I can be stressed or sad or angry or frustrated, but my wonderful husband is always completely unflappable. He is always loving, always supportive, always helpful, always practical, always encouraging. He is always everything I need him to be.

This morning I sent Chad an email birthday card from Jib Jab, and it was so freakin' funny I couldn't resist posting it here as well. This absolutely brought tears to my eyes I was laughing so hard!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Is Chad looking hot in those disco pants or what?? I also especially like the way my head kept popping off my shoulders!!

I had so much fun making the first video I couldn't resist making a second, even though I'm guessing I'm going to pay for this one later. It's so funny I thought I was going to hyperventilate the first time I watched it. D and Bill are probably going to strangle me, but it was just too perfect to ignore. How about we just not tell Chad's buddies that they're featured on the blog today, okay? Okay.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

I could seriously watch these all day long. What a way to honor my husband on his b-day, huh? Happy birthday, best friend!

And More Change

Up until four days ago, I had absolutely no interest whatsoever in living out in the country. None. Zilch. Nada. I never wanted to have to commute to work (who would let the dogs out at lunch?) and I never wanted to have to drive 20 minutes when I forgot just one thing at the store. I like living in town because it's much easier to get involved in community activities and much easier to stay involved in the lives of our friends. There wasn't much about country living that appealed to me except for the idea of taking beautiful pictures of the sunrise and sunset on the open horizon.

But that was last week. This week a lot of changes have taken place in our life. First of all, Chad and I have been contemplating a major change with regard to my employment situation. After 3+ years of dealing with back pain (pain that's the worst when sitting) and trying everything under the sun to get some relief, we've been talking the last couple of weeks about me only working part time. We came to the realization that this might be the only way to improve my quality of life after meeting with a neurosurgeon last week who basically said he couldn't help me. It's certainly not ideal since I really like my job, but at this point we've sort of run out of options.

As we pondered this possible change in circumstances, it honestly didn't dawn on me that working part time would make living in the country a lot more feasible. I mean, if I was only gone 4-5 hours a day, I wouldn't feel obligated to go home and let the dogs out at all. That's really been my major hangup all this time--all this time that Chad would have loved to live outside of town!

Thinking about potential part-time employment wasn't actually what started me thinking about country living though. It was a completely separate event on Tuesday that led me to dream about the house in the country we looked at today. An event that needs a blog post all to itself tomorrow!

Change

It's been a crazily stressful week for us, and I just have to say that I'm super thankful that it's over. We've been contemplating some major life changes for ourselves and for our family recently, and at least one of our issues seems to have been resolved as of late this week. After taking Chad's Grandma to the emergency room last Sunday when we were in Salina (her second visit in an 8 day period), our family made the decision to move Grandma to an assisted living facility. Although she has been increasingly unable to care for herself in the last several months, Grandma didn't feel she was ready to move, so it was an agonizing decision for everyone. We spent a lot of time this week talking with other family members, researching facilities, talking with people at those facilities, and trying to figure out our own finances in case we need to assist Grandma in paying for her new accommodations.

While the financial details haven't yet been figured out, we are very relieved that the location has been settled on. Even more comforting is the fact that Grandma really likes it! She went to visit with Chad's parents yesterday and sounded very pleased about her new future home when Chad spoke with her last night. It's such a huge relief and big blessing that she seems to be on board with the new arrangements! We'll get her moved next month. I can't tell you what a weight has been lifted off our shoulders just knowing that the arrangements are made!

Speaking of moving, that's one of the other major changes that we've been contemplating. We haven't been looking seriously at buying a new house, but for the last several months we've casually been looking for our dream home online and around town. So far it's seemed like a very futile search, since our goal is to move into a better quality home and not necessarily a bigger home. There just aren't very many solidly built homes in Lawrence that don't also have tons of bedrooms. We really don't need 5 bedrooms for just the two of us! The homes we have found that we like are often on tiny little lots with very small yards, which just isn't an option for us. We've been able to find very few homes that really fit us and our dogs and our life! We started thinking the only way we'll ever have a home perfect for us is if we actually build a home perfect for us.

Then the other day, I saw this house on Realtor.com:


Now I had always been opposed to living in the country for a number of reasons, but at least on the outside, this looks like my dream house. The two things that I've been looking for during this search are a big front porch and a side entrance garage! Since Chad has always wanted to live in the country, and since this house is smack in between Lawrence and Topeka, we're going to at least go check it out over the weekend.

We still don't really have serious thoughts about buying this house yet (selling our house right now would certainly be an issue), but it's still kind of fun to dream. Maybe if we absolutely love the inside too and the location is good and the view is nice and the stars align just perfectly, we'll know it was meant to be. :)

Weekend Wedding

I was totally having writer's block with regard to this post because I could not think of a creative or clever title pertaining to the wedding we went to last weekend. I'm such a geek--I don't know why I'm so hung up on that! I'm still not super happy with the title, but I guess it will just have to do because it's all I can come up with!

The wedding last Saturday was in the booming metropolis we often refer to as Saliva, otherwise known as our hometown of Salina, Kansas. My cousin Justin, who actually grew up mostly in nearby Chapman, got married over the weekend to a Salina girl. It was a lovely, unique ceremony with a great minister and their own special music. The highlight was definitely Jessica's walk down the aisle, which was accompanied with this theme (minus the beeps at the beginning and the lion's roar at the end!). So cute! It was a simple and sweet ceremony with just family members and a few friends, and we were so thankful to be there.

Up until my uncle's funeral a few months ago, I hadn't talked to Justin for years. I grew up playing with him and his two brothers, but after my Uncle Tracy and their mom divorced sometime in the early 90s, we sort of lost touch with all of them. As we were leaving the church on Saturday, my cousin Darren (Justin's half-brother) said it perfectly: "I kind of think that if Dad hadn't died we all might not be here together." It just goes to show that God does have a plan and a purpose in our difficult circumstances. Sometimes it just takes some time to see the blessings that come out of a tragedy. It has been so wonderful reconnecting with Justin, his mom, and his brothers Jim and Jesse.

I mentioned that the ceremony was very simple; the reception was a completely different story. It was held at my cousin Jim's home, which I was so excited to see in person because I'd heard it was fabulous. Jim owns his own construction/renovation company, and he built this amazing home for himself just outside of Salina that looks like a Cabela's store, inside and out. Jim's house is so beautiful and was so perfect for an event of this sort! Best of all, the weather was unseasonably gorgeous (I was wearing short sleeves on February 11!), and the front doors remained wide open all night, with Jim's dogs Cowboy and Buddy running in and out of the house throughout the evening. I think they enjoyed the party as much as everyone else did!

The wedding and reception were perfect in almost every way--the only thing missing was my Uncle Tracy. As Justin put it, "I just wish Dad could have been here to see it."



Okay, maybe there was one other thing missing--my good camera! I was so bummed I didn't bring it along!! I could have gotten much, much better pictures!

Well I'm Sure That Means Somethin'

I've been pretty lazy about the blogging lately, and although I still have our weekend to write about, I'm going to continue my laziness for one more night. Today one of my friends posted a video to Facebook that made me laugh so hard. It's a little long, but so funny! Ellen cracks me up, and this little old lady named Gladys she has on the phone is just hysterical too! As you might guess from the title, my favorite line of the whole clip comes at about 3:21!

Amazingly Creepy

Our friend James sent me this video the other day and I found it so flipping fascinating. It's incredibly creepy and bizarre and yet also incredibly amazing. I've never been especially intrigued by magicians, but this Kevin James guy is pretty freakin' good! I do not understand how this illusion is done!



How did he do that? Anyone? Bueller?

You Don't See That Every Day

The last few days it's been really cold here, but last Saturday it was absolutely gorgeous outside. Chad and I took the 3 mutts for our regular 1.5 mile walk, after which I took Fresco for another 3.5 miles so that he and I could get a little extra exercise and enjoy the unseasonably warm temperatures. For him to walk 5 miles didn't seem like a big deal since a) he's only 2, and b) when we first started fostering him back in 2007 he walked 9 miles with me in one day. I guess he's pretty out of shape right now though, because with just over a half mile left in our walk he about yanked my arm off when he came to an abrupt stop. I turned around to find him collapsing in a heap in a tiny spot of shade he'd found on the sidewalk! He was pooped! I let him rest for a few minutes and then made him move on to a more appropriate resting spot under a tree (that wasn't in front of someone's house) where we enjoyed about a 5 minute break. It seemed strange that he would get overheated when it was only like 55 degrees out, but he was certainly wiped out!

The other funny thing that happened on our walk was so odd that I really wish I had a picture to prove it actually happened. For someone who has so many darned cameras, I never seem to have one at the right moment! As we were walking along, we saw a girl turn onto the street a few blocks in front of us, and she was clearly not out for exercise as she was wearing jeans and carrying a purse. We followed behind her at a slightly quicker pace, so we began to gain ground after a while, and a few minutes later I realized she wasn't just carrying a purse--she also had a large iguana draped around the back of her neck. He was so big that his (or her) tail was hanging all the way down the girl's back. Where in the world do you walk to with an iguana sitting on your shoulder? I guess maybe your friend's house? It was just strange because the girl was clearly old enough to drive, which would seem like a safer method of transportation for Mr. Iguana!

I tried really hard to catch up with her so I could ask her about her lizard friend, but she quickened her pace as she glanced back and saw us approaching. It probably wouldn't have been a good idea for us to pass her, since Fresco was certainly tall enough to reach out and grab that tail had he noticed it was there. She was probably smart to peel off onto a side street just before we reached her, and yet it left me so curious! You just don't see people out walking their iguanas every day!

Jello Brain

Usually when we watch the Super Bowl I'm totally into the new commercials, probably because normally I'm not totally engaged with the game itself. This year, I was so focused on the actual gridiron action I ended up not really noticing many of the commercials! Our neighbors J and Julie came over to watch the game with us, so I ended up chatting with them during most of the breaks and only catching a few of the new ads here and there.

One of the commercials we did actually see was the Hulu.com commercial with Alec Baldwin. I thought it was flipping hilarious. Alec Baldwin is a comedic genius and I happen to love Hulu as well. In case you missed the commercial, you can check it out below. You can also check out all the rest of the Super Bowl commercials here!

The funny thing about this commercial is that it totally applies to my life right now. Normally, I'm not much of a TV watcher. Over the last several years the only thing I've watched consistently is The Office. I was kind of proud to say that it was the only show on my Tivo season pass schedule. However, in the last couple of weeks I've started watching new episodes of Burn Notice with Chad, old episodes of Chuck after purchasing the first season DVD, and embarrassingly, the new season of 24, which I'd actually managed to avoid for the last several seasons! I'm turning into a TV junkie and my brain is turning to jello!

Even aside from my rotting brain, I really don't like to watch TV that much. It makes me feel so unproductive that I don't find it relaxing. Generally speaking, if I'm watching TV at all I have to be doing something else at the same time to make up for my laziness. So in my defense, while watching these shows I've almost always been exercising, eating lunch/dinner, editing/uploading dog pics, blogging or snuggling with my husband. Yes, snuggling with my husband is an important productive activity that I'm hoping will help to counteract my mushy TV brain!

Broccoli Kitten

Although I'm not a huge cat person I most certainly love kittens. My mom sent me this video over the weekend and it is just too adorable! I thought I'd better post it for all of my cat-loving friends. Hopefully not everyone in the world has already seen it!



How cute is that little guy!?

Wow

What can I even say about the Super Bowl? That was one amazing football game. That final catch by Santonio Holmes was such an amazing thing of beauty it honestly brought tears to my eyes.

As you can imagine, I have an incredibly happy husband at home this evening. I had to take just a couple of shots to capture his expressions after the game.

Immediately following the game he was clearly very exhausted. The stress of that final comeback drive really took it out of him.

A few minutes later the happiness began to set in!

Super Bowl number SIX!!

My contribution to the game--showing my support by sporting my Hines Ward jersey!

What a terrific Super Bowl! The winning streak of our favorite teams continues! :)