My Blog :: If you are looking for me to talk about sex all the time, you came to the wrong place. It may trickle in, but when I blog I talk about my everyday life. This is where you get to know me.....babble, politics and all that.....if you can handle it. =)

Last Call For Holiday Cards!
12:04AM on December 21, 2009

 Hello Everyone,

I have a few more holiday cards, if you would like one from me.

So if you would like one, just message me with your name and address and I'll get one out to you.

Peace
~Toni

Exhausted
2:12AM on December 16, 2008

Wow, where to begin......at the present, I'm having to fix my tree 4-6 times a day. I use to have a very beautifully balanced tree.....but now the branches on my 10yr old tree are all bent...ggrrr We have had kittens around xmas trees before, but NONE of them have climbed it. They would bop the lower hanging ornaments and sleep under it, but that is it. We found Drew at the very top inside of my tree just purring away until Torn grapped him out of it.

I love having my tree and having presents under it, but I can't even have presents under it. =( Some days I feel I should just put it away, but not having my tree wouldn't feel right.

Ever since I got back I have been working. I totally fell behind while at my folks. I have never fallen that far behind, but when I think about it, I have more responsibilities then I did last year. I still haven't done the books since I did the payroll, but I'll do that tomorrow. We were going to go see Bond, but schools are closed due to the weather and we don't want to try the movies unless they are in.

Which brings me to our weather. We have been having some very unusual weather there. We just had one winter storm front go through. The buses all have chains on, there have been major accidents on the interstates, and it is very cold, in the 20s not including the wind chill (with gusts up to 40mph). The issue that I'm having is that you don't know what to expect 10 miles away because of the hills and the difference in elevation. That really effects how much snow that you get. In the midwest, it is pretty flat and pretty easy to figure out...if you are closer to the Great Lakes, you have more snow.

We really don't have the much snow in our little town, but you have to be extremely careful on the roads. They don't use salt and since this is unusual, they don't have a fleet of snowplows and staff to attack every street like the they do in Indiana.

It was clear, with stunning crystal clear views of the Mt Hood everywhere, but cold as heck today. We are suppose to have to the same thing tomorrow and then we have another winter storm on the way. Good thing we just have the gym planned for this week.

That is what is going on for this week so far. I hope to have time to do a post about my trip tomorrow. That is what I was planning on doing tonight, but as you can see it turned into something else. =)

Turkey Day
8:14PM on November 27, 2008


I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving and had a great meal. We just finished ours up. Torn’s turkey was tender and juicy. I went back for 2nds (my portions are small) even though I shouldn’t have and knew I won’t be able to finish it. I was letting my taste buds overrule my better judgment…..grin..but it is turkey day, so why not?

We are just having a quiet day at home. It is Torn’s birthday. So I also made him his upside down pineapple cake that he loves along with our pumpkin pie. I got him a dvd on the Colt’s Superbowl season, a few xbox games & a drill bit set.

I’m feeling better on breathing….still not fully normal. Still going through a bit of tissue…which sucks. But I’m not using as much meds. =)

We finally got our bedroom set! Holy cow, I’m so glad that this came when I was home. I have no idea how Torn would’ve handled it on his own. It was on 2 pallets (that luckily the driver was nice enough to keep), 6 pieces with the total weight of 1500#…icks. One piece was 175#. We unloaded the semi on the driveway during some big wind gusts, brought the pieces in, while they were downstairs unpacked them….holy cow…we now have 6 bags of Styrofoam and 6 huge bundles of cardboard. Of course, it now needs to stay in the garage until next week, since it is too damn windy to put it outside, and since trash day was yesterday…..lol It took us longer to clean up after the trash then it did to put it together. But we didn’t find any damage to the set….which amazed us.

We got it together. Not many pieces and easy to figure out, just heavy. The bedroom seems empty with only 1 dresser……..lol And even though I have empty the other dressers and took things from the closet shelves, we still have some drawer room….very cool. The clothes move took me less time then I thought it would.

Holy cow, that bed is higher then I thought it would be. With the mattress, it comes to my hip, luckily the bed came with a step stool. But it nice as hell not to be sleeping on a mattress on the floor. =) It is so nice to finally have our bedroom put together.





I called and talked to my family today. I always have to pester them on the holidays………lol….even though I’m seeing them in less then a week.

I’m starting to stress…..we have work that we need to do for our business, I have work to do with my job, plus get ready for payroll that needs to be ordered Sunday/Monday, pack, balance our books, put my tree up, get the xmas cards done and my nails….icks…freak out time. I will be starting full steam ahead tomorrow. Which I need to start off with going to the gym since it has been a week…between being sick and then waiting on a delivery for 2 days…gggrrr I’m not happy about that, especially since I won’t be going to the gym the 3-14th….not good.

Trying to stay out of the office most of the day and moved my laptop to the living room. I’m going to close this and work on moving some pictures around on my hard drive. =)

Have a great Thanksgiving!

(I really need to get me a content mood icon………lol)

Sick & Icky
7:34PM on November 25, 2008

This is getting old. Supposedly our bedroom set is out for delivery.....any time after 1pm. We've gotten the bedroom ready by removing everything that we could and putting the new mattress up against the wall. I just want it get here so I can get our bedroom back together.

It was nice to be able to wake up without my back wanting to spaz out. I did actually get some sleep last night. It was still rough with the breathing issues. I'm tired of not being able to breathe correctly, I hate the upset tummy that sinus issues gives me, I hate the horrible breath I have regardless of mints and mouthwash, I hate that my ears feel plugged and the constant tireness....yes, I am bitching because I'm miserable.

We should've gone to the gym, but I don't want to go if I can't do my 30 on the treadmill without dieing. Plus, I really wanted to get things together for the delivery. I bet if we had gone to the gym, it would've gotten here earlier. =( I hope to feel much better for it tomorrow.

We got the old set in the other room, it is very tight, but the cats like it....more beds to sleep on. Of course that bed is now covered with sheets due to all the cat hair it will attrack...icks.

Damn....I wish they would get here. I hate waiting on others, it really messes up my plans...at least my focus.

A few days ago, one of the blogs that I read posted this article, more on the lighter (yet serious side) of women imagery :

First lady got back :http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/11/18/michelles_booty/index.html

Then on a sad note, an article on how the military still does not actually address domestic violence : Despite Army’s Assurances, Violence at Home : http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/us/23abuse.html  I remember growing up that you could always tell when it was pay day on post. People were drinking more and there were more family fights. =(

Life
1:22AM on November 21, 2008

Well, I've kind of been a funk last few days. I've been getting my daily work done, but it has been a struggle to do anything else. I need to focus, when I don't focus or get side tracked I don't get things done and then it stresses me out. That is something that I've learn in my years of management. If I'm called away from my project, I do what I need to do, then go back to work. It was and is the only way to get things done in a timely manner. I was doing good until yesterday....then it became a struggle and it isn't like I don't have things to do.

I did clean out of my flash drives, since I have a new travel hard drive. Which is great, now I don't have to worry about forgetting to put something on the flash drives before traveling. I got around to getting the xmas cards out.....need to start writing up the holiday letter. I need to get them started this weekend....especially since I leave on Dec 3 until the 12th visiting family. So I need to get my tree up on Dec 1st with payroll and then get my nails done on the 2nd and get packed....icks

We were suppose to get our new bedroom set this coming Monday, but that got changed until Dec 7th. =( That sucks. I won't be home to help, so I feel horrible. I do want get the dressers moved to the other room before I go...it will help me feel better about it.

Torn has been sick all week, so I've been going to the gym by myself. It has been weird, but I have been still improving my distance on the treadmill.

I had to call my family this week a few times. My sister has a shit load of issues which causes stress on my folks, especially since she won't take responsibility for herself, then my mother has anger issues. And, of course, she is like her father refuses to see that there is an issue and won't see a counselor. I hate that trait that she has. She use to take the kids to a counselor, but as soon as the counselor brought the focus on her and brought up her shortcomings, she hasn't been back.

Both my sister & my mother get riled up and cusses a lot and to the kids, which totally upsets my dad. Dad believes in sitting down and talking to the kids, not yell at them all the time...because the oldest is now cussing.

It doesn't help, that dad turns 60 tomorrow and is raising his 3 grandkids...not exactly where he expected to be in his life. So I really stress about how much longer the kids and I have my father. I hope we got him for at least 20 more years...but he has health issues from his tours in 'Nam and years in the Army. So that has been on my mind a lot.

A few days ago I posted a link to the story about a WWII vet talking about the slave camps of the Nazi that he was forced in as a POW. Well, his story let the brother of one the men know what actually happened to him : After 63 years, vet learns of brother's death in Nazi slave camp : http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/11/20/worldwar.two.folo/index.html?iref=werecommend

Just Sharing Thoughts
1:03AM on November 18, 2008

I got my walk in yesterday. I did a trail that was suggested by our neighbor. I had a small climb and then the rest of the trail was behind the houses of a subdivision. After a very long walk in through the subdivision, I came out 9 blocks from our place. So it was the furthest I've been around here, but I"m still exploring. I've gotten to where I will sometimes go for walk around here at night. Just seems peaceful and helps to clear my mind.

I worked on trying to get things done around the house yesterday. I got the dresser cleared off, reworked the bookcase, ordered some steaks from Omaha, got some laundry done and a few other little things. It felt good to get some things accomplished. Today I got the downstairs vacuumed, I still need to do upstairs tomorrow and clean out the litters.....the never ending battle......lol

I did very good on the treadmill today, I got 2.98mile in 30min. =) It took longer at the gym then normal.

I ended up talking to one of the ladies at the gym. She had a personal story that I found very interesting. Her husband was in the military in the 60s & 70s. They were living in the south when Hurricane Camille hit in '69 and ended up in a shelter with their 6week old daughter. While they were there another baby was crying and nothing the mother did was able to calm it. When she asked this mother if there was anything she could do, she said that the baby was hunger. Since she was nursing, she offered to breastfeed that mother's baby...which totally surprised the mother.....because the crying baby was black and the nursing mother was white. With it being the 60s and the south....that is totally unheard of. It was common for black women to be used as wet nurses to white babies, but not the other way around. But the lady insisted on helping the crying baby while the mother could not stop thanking her. She simply said, "are you a christian?" and when the mother said yes, "then that settles it, I'm a christian"

I love hearing little individual stories like that. Even through it took marches and protests to get civil rights addressed, a lot of people did things that were not reported that helped in some small way. Even though I'm agnostic, I love hearing when people actually practice the meaning of their faith instead of using it for hate and division.

Here are some articles to show that we are still moving forward on progress :

Army gets first female four-star general
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27718059/

**I love this! Not only the fact that she has broken a HUGE barrier, but the history that there has been a member of her family in every war since the Revolution and other women in her family are making strides for women. Her page : Ann E. Dunwoody : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_E._Dunwoody

Now this one kind of surprised me, but kind of didn't. It helps that a new generation is moving into the military that is more open minded, which makes it easier for some to speak up : Admirals, generals: Let gays serve openly : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27774058/

I got my Nov 5 Chicago Tribune today, still waiting on my NY Times. I just want to be able to preserve part of the history of this election. =)

Saying Hi
1:28AM on November 16, 2008

I finally got a moment to write a blog. I've been pretty busy the last few days, just getting work and payroll done. I did finally got our check books balanced, a never ending battle. Everytime I thing I'm caught up, there is another pile of receipts to enter...icks I didn't even go for my walk today. I just really wanted to get everything done, so I can spend most of tomorrow out of the office. In fact, I'm in the living room now writing this...I had to get out of there.

I was bad Thursday and didn't go to the gym. But I had a bunch of little errands that I've been avoiding that needed to be done, including my beaten up nails.

I did go to the gym Friday and did the best I have ever done on the treadmill. 2.96 miles in 30 min....I'm getting closer to the 3mile mark...not bad, since when I started I use to only get 1.88 mile in 30min.

We still don't have our new bedroom set. =( So I had to change the date for the delivery of the matteress to this coming Tuesday. Hopefully, we'll have it by then. I'm getting better about waking up enough at night to make sure that I'm on my side/belly instead of back. Because if I don't, I really hurt in the morning and can't really move. =( It is like it wants to seize up.

I'm thinking of getting my long dresser cleared off of all the pictures and knick-knacks that I have on it. Just to get it ready when we finally do move it.

I did wake up the other morning, Drew was infront of my face on the pillow and Sakura was behind my head on my pillow. Then I also had Reggie trapping my feet........lol It was cute and loving.

Unfortunately, Torn found a flea on Alexis today. =( So all 4 of them ended up with baths. Alexis and Reggie did much better, they don't like it at all, but they handled it better then they have in the past. The other two....well Sakura was curious and even on got on the counter to see what was going on with Alexis. Normally she would be punished for going on the counter, but with us needing to give them baths we didn't want to get them any more upset they will be. Because of her noisiness, Sakura got the next bath. =) She is really a fighter and was all over the place...squirming all over. Drew has some really long limbs and got Torn a few times....lol

We didn't find but 1 other flea on Alexis and none on the others...of course that doesn't mean anything, since they are so hard to find. I'm really wondering if we should give them baths every 2 weeks (the most frequent recomended by the flea shampoo), just to make sure.

I have a few news articles that I've come across this week that I thought were interesting. This one was more of "historical" look into how the US have had periods of change, I found it on one of my friends blog : Obama and the dawn of the Fourth Republic : http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/11/07/fourth_republic/index.html


Now this one I got a kick out of, What Are Rich People Thinking? : http://www.newsweek.com/id/168333 Just by the polls, people who actually make more the$250k a year voted for Obama, voted to raises taxes on themselves. It is the people just below that amount that had an issue. What does that say about the fact that they realize that it is actually "duty" and, yes, patrotic to pay your taxes.

I normally do a post on Veterans Day, but I failed at that this year. I guess the part that bothers me, is that yes we need to have a day for vets, but they need to be acknowledged everyday...not just once a year. Then I read stories about how vets are not getting the treatment from the VA that they need, then I worry about my dad and the stuff he has to go through with them. It pisses me off, that him and other vets go through that.

Here are a few stories that I found very interesting :

Oldest WWI survivor remembers forgotten ones
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27646518/

Group finds, buries remains of forgotten vets
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27649204/

WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence: 'Let it be known
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/11/11/acevedo.pow/index.html

And you can't think of Veterans Day without thinking about our current wars :

On Veterans Day, Don't Forget About the War
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081124/glantz



This is what we get to see on our street.  =)

My Thoughts Are Scattered
2:07AM on November 11, 2008

I really don't remember when I posted last and I don't feel like looking....lol, but I know that it has been few days. I spent most of the weekend away from the pc or a least workwise, until Sunday evening.

Spent the weekend reading articles from behind the scenes of the campaigns, went for walks and going through my clothes. So far, I have 3 bags of clothes going to donation. I may drop them off tomorrow, we'll see. I wanted to start cleaning out my clothes, because we finally ordered our new bedroom set. And our new matteress.....thankfully, because in the last year my back has been hurting when I get up.

This is the bedroom set we got without the mirror : Country Oak Bookcase Storage Bed : http://www.storagebedstore.com/IVG2/N/ProductID-8593.htm

We also got it in king because when the cats want to sleep with us, we run out of room. It is amazing how much room those little buggers take up, even when it is only one of them. They are shipping it freight, which is the 1st for us. So we don't know what to expect....for them to drop it and run or help us move it upstairs. I'm anxious as heck to get it. I've had this set since '92.....just wish it wasn't so scratched up from the moves and cats. =(

Once we get it confirmed on the date of delivery, we'll be moving the other set to the spare room and just leave the mattress on the floor that that night. I also need to time the delivery of the mattress. That we brought local, it has a 100 day guarantee. We haven't brought a mattress in years and we didn't want to order one online and it hurt our backs and not able to return it.

I came across this article today : Jewish Group Wants Mormons to Stop Proxy Baptisms : http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=6222643 This really pisses me off. What gives them the right to disrepect the dead and their faiths? That is just a huge, huge insult to the people who had passed and their beliefs. They are no better then Taliban on forcing their religion on others almost worst, they are dead and have no way to fight it. I swear if anyone tries that with me, I will haunt their ass to their dieing day.

I think Drew is the 1st real lap cat we have ever had. Randi was one, to a point....she was definitely possessive of Torn. =) Sakura is just a fighter, but so damn cute....grin

I did actually get some work done today. Amazing what you can get done when there isn't a major election going on......lol It was nice to be able to just put my ipod on to some jams and work.

Election Thoughts
2:58AM on November 06, 2008

I'm kind of at a lost now. Slowing down on the news sites....some what. Still addicted...trying to get a look into what he will do cabinet wise. I really, really hope that he goes bi-partisan...like Hagel for Secretary of State, Lugar in a foreign policy position. I would be disappointed if he does not have somel republicans in his cabinet or as advisers.

I am an independent liberal, I don't make any bones about it, but I don't want the dems to run over the reps. There are many good reps and many bad dems. I want people to work together. I actually didn't want moderated GOPers to lose their sits, like Shays. If you removed the moderates you leave the extremist and those are the ones that I have issues with. I do NOT like the fact that Pelosi does not allow rep input into house bills. That is not right. Just because when the GOPers had control that they abused it, doesn't mean the dems should. I really hope that Obama keeps them from shutting the GOP out....I hope that he keeps his promise for humility.

Hope is a great thing to have, but not use to having it after 8yrs of Bush. I know that President-elect Obama is not going to do everything that I like, but I just so want the direction of this country to change. It has to be better then the last 8yrs. So I have hope.

I'm tired of our Civil Rights being trampled on, I'm tired of them twisting and changing of our fundamental laws, laws that helped make America what it is, I'm tired of how they seem to think that they are above the law (I would so love to see Bush impeached...there is the principle of the Constitution to be made), I'm tired of an administration that made our country so hated and disrespected world wide that we are no longer the beacon of hope, I'm ashamed that they have allowed the use of torture, I'm tired of feeling as if only the big cats can succeed and get anywhere in today's America.

And Obama gives me hope that this will be changed.

I also really like that fact that for the 1st time since the Fords that we actually have a couple who love each other. I really like the fact that the Obama's and the Biden's seem to actually like each other...not just for political appearance.

The election of Obama is a huge leap in the right direction for this country. We still have a very long way to go, black males make up the majority of the prison population, which leads to huge disenfranchisement of voters and effects them economically, which in turns effects the family and their education, the difference in the income between the races......this is list is huge. But I so hope that now with having a man of color be President, it will help the younger generation realize that they can do anything....give hope and dreams.

This commentary is great peek into how we are changing as a country: Commentary: My father, George Wallace, and Barack Obama : http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/03/wallace.kennedy.obama/index.html

I'm also very proud to hear that my 12yr niece took an interest in this election. She was upset that she couldn't vote for him. And her small town rural, nearly all white school voted for Obama. Reminds me of '84 when I was in 6th grade. We voted for Jesse Jackson. When I talked to my sister, she told me how my niece woke her up at 5am all happy that he won and wanted to call me........lol My sister had to explain to her that it was 2 am my time and not a good time to call me......lol

It is late here and it time to get to bed.

Our First Hiking Adventure
12:51AM on November 02, 2008

Started this Thursday.

Holy crap do I hurt. My feet, my toes (I think I have blisters starting), my knees, my back and I don't know what else. We did 12miles with a 2800ft incline in 8hrs & 12min. Boy we suck, I thought we would be done 3 & half hours earlier. We survived, even though we really did bite off more then we should've for our 1st big hike. I swear if I did not lose 1# because of this I'm going to be pissed....lol And no, I'm going to the gym Friday.

Luckily we got to the road before it got dark, because we still had over 2 miles to go. Going by our video, the first 2 miles took us 2 hours..icks! Most of our hiking during that was going up and up....we stopped a lot taking pictures and catching our breathes. Taking pictures was a great excuse to stop.....lol Yet, we did the last 3.8 miles in just over an hour.

This is the hike we took : http://www.nwhiker.com/CGNSAHike13.html

When we were almost to the highest point, it was so silent and eerie up there. It was taking us so long to get there that we thought we got the wrong path and was getting worried. I also had to make sure not to over think the fact that we had shear drops in 100s of ft. I just tried to concentrate on my feet and stay farthest from the edge. It was such a deep incline that we had to take many stops and taking pictures was a great excuse to get your breathe. So that helped in being able to enjoy the views. =)

We took a ton of pictures but we won't be getting to them until later.

***Saturday.....

I'm feeling much. I need to move around more, but I have a bunch of work that I need to do and I've done a ton today. I'm so stiff when I get up that it is hard to move. Especially going down the stairs...ouch. I have been trying to remember to get some stretches in.

We only got about 10 trick-or-treaters last night. =( But we are not exactly residential and according to the neighbor that is a lot. So now we have snickers, reeses & twixs in the house....not a good thing.

I've spent that last 2 days very stiff and sore, trying to stretch when I can and doing payroll. Doing payroll doesn't help on the stretching....lol Tomorrow I plan on doing a walk and Monday back to the gym.

Drew & Sakura already behave as if they own our laps and our attention.......grin But they got into big trouble today. They have been messing with our plants. That is not a good thing. We usually have some cat grass down, but they have torn through that. We need to get some. Alexis & Reggie doesn't let the kittens bother them that much. Don't pay them much mind as they run pass them after each other....lol

I came across 2 stories today that really is a reminder how women are still seen and tried in this world :

Designer's lawyer: 9 women lied in rape claims
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27482239/

**That is a f*** up argument.

Militants stone to death Somali rape victim, 13 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27484976/

**I'm totally flabbergasted with horror and anger at this one.

But this one I saw yesterday that had a cool ending :

Bike thief outwitted by Wash. couple, Ore. cops
http://www.katu.com/news/33660384.html

The Weekend
2:05AM on October 20, 2008

Well, Purdue lost horribly. Knew we were going to lose, but this was ugly. I couldn't even finish watching it. =( It is going to be a very ugly season for us. At least Penn St won over Michigan.....but it took almost a whole half before Penn St showed up.

We got our election ballot Saturday! Very cool. We have been wondering when it would show up. We had received all of our Oregon Voter's Guides which is something that I find very useful. So we spent a few hours researching and voting. I really like the fact that Oregon does it by mail, gives you time to research it when deciding. I dropped them off at the Post Office this evening. So we have done our part.....now we just have to wait for the results.

Torn made his vegetable beef soup that I love. I had 2 bowls of that aday and it hit the spot. =)

I was horrible this weekend and didn't go for a walk. That is not good....and even though it was chilly, it was still beautiful out.

The cats are doing much better. Reggie and Alexis are allowing the other 2 close to them without getting too close. Even got a picture of Sakura sleeping next to Reggie's back. I don't think Reggie really knew it........lol Drew is the instigator....grin He is so cute when causing trouble. We woke up this morning to the kittens right between us and Reggie was between my legs.....neither one of us could move....lol What is funny is that we never realized how large Alexis & Reggie were until we got the kittens....they are huge when next to them.

I finally got some work done today....I feel like it is a little more under control. But that will change tomorrow. I really need to sign us up for insurance tomorrow. That will be my goal. I just don't look forward to all the info that I'm going to have to fill out.

My dad finally got a myspace account. I've been wanting to set him up on that for the instant message system that they use. I use that one for friends & family only.

We love the fact that Colin Powell endorsed Obama! That is huge! And the timing is excellent.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/19/colin.powell/index.html

New Family Members
1:15AM on October 17, 2008

If you've read Torn's post we now have 2 new members to our family. In case you didn't see his post, here are the pictures that he took, including our oldest 2.

http://www.tornrose.com/Odds_n_Ends/2008_1015_cats/Alexis.jpg

14 + years/female

http://www.tornrose.com/Odds_n_Ends/2008_1015_cats/Reggie_Miller.jpg

13+ years/male

http://www.tornrose.com/Odds_n_Ends/2008_1015_cats/Sakura.jpg

4 months/female

http://www.tornrose.com/Odds_n_Ends/2008_1015_cats/Drew_Brees.jpg

4 months/male

The kittens haven't really slowed down enough when a camera has been in reach. They are fast little buggers! \

Torn so totally surprise me. I've been pestering him since Aurora passed saying that I wanted another kitten, a feisty one like Randi & Aurora were. Reggie & Alexis are totally different from those 2. And when we lost Aurora, it made me mourn Randi's passing from 2 yrs before all over again. So I wanted another cat as ornery as they were.

Well, my husband is a softy when it comes to animals, especially kittens.....grin And he just fell for them, even though he was only going to get one.

Yes, I'm the one who named Drew........grin It just seemed obvious to me. =) It is weird as hell to have two feisty kittens in the house again....it is has been 13yrs. They have no fear. It doesn't bother them when they are hissed or growled at by Reggie & Alexis, they just stare at them and back away. They don't know the work NO yet.....lol And correcting them doesn't faze them in the lest.

Drew has seemed to have become my baby, while Sakura has become Torn's. Which works, she seems possessive of him and reminds me of his late cat Randi's orneriness and carries herself like she use to. She is the trouble child, that is for sure.....grin...but we are loving it. Drew loves to follow me and sleep in my lap a lot. They play hard and fast, but they also chill out good and crash hard.

Alexis & Reggie are slowly getting back into their normal behaviors. They aren't growling & hissing as much. But we have been trying to give them as much love as they let us. Reggie has yet to cuddle on Torn like normal, but you can see he wants it....but is too annoyed at him to do so. I will say, there is nothing like having kittens (even 4 month old ones) to make your older cats look huge in comparsion. It kind of weird.

We have an appointment for Drew & Sakura next week. The shelter said that they needed follow ups to their surgeries within 10days. We are taking them to the vet that Torn really liked when he took Reggie. What is cool is that they honor that visit as part of the shelter program, even though they weren't on the list. The shelter has it arranged with certain vets that your 1st visit to them is free. So we get to establish their primiary care physian with the one we like, even though we were going to take them there regardless.

Our kittens came with those shoulder chips in case they get lost. So all I need to do is to register them this weekend. We just need to remember to bring pictures of them to the shelter in a few months, they asked to see how they are doing.

With having Drew & Sakura around, if they aren't on our laps or playing (where we can hear them), I get worried on what they are up to....lol For the 1st time in 2yrs I had to get a 3rd litter box going.......at least it isn't 5......lol I had to do that when we had Randi, Aurora, Reggie & Alexis because Aurora was picky as hell even though you kept it clean.

They have totally distracted me from work and I am behind.....icks. I got some of caught up and I really need to write this, it has been awhile. I really need to balance our books after this so I know what is going on. I have a few errands tomorrow, but I really need to work around that and apply for health insurance.

Nothing Much & Getting Thoughts Out
2:06AM on October 06, 2008

I've kind of been in a funk the last 2 days. I have no idea why, but just haven't felt like doing anything....couldn't even force myself. It was kind of annoying.

I finally got down to it, grudgingly, today. Got about 95% of my work caught up. We did watch Purdue lose to Penn....which we knew was going to happen, but it won't have been so bad if our kicker would've at least made some of the field goals. Indy won thankfully. Hopefully Brees & the Saints do good tomorrow night.

I've just been news surfing and given into my politics addiction. I have been disturbed by the VP debates. It has been rolling around in my head since Thursday.

Palin didn't have any substance, gave no solutions or plans, talked in circles, didn't answer questions and played it "cutesy-woosy". ( The Palin Problem :  http://www.newsweek.com/id/162396/page/1 ) She is a disgrace to being a woman going for one of the highest offices in the land. She is acting like it is a beauty contest and if she smiles just right, she'll win. She seems so artifical and fake and it annoys me. If Clinton tried any of that, she would've been roasted by everyone. But unlike Palin, Clinton actually knows policy and issues. I want a policy geek, someone who knows the issues in office, not a beauty contestant that doesn't have a clue.

Biden did really well, came off extremely knowledgeably, kind and presidential. You could see him holding back just so he didn't get accused of beating up on a woman. Which is BS since she was able to do the attacks and he couldn't truly fight back like he should. If it was against Clinton, she would've been treated like any other office seeker, like it should be.

Then the McBush camp wants to treat us voters like we are idiots. Trying to distract us with innuendos and lies about Obama's associations : Will Palin's Obama-Terrorist Speech Backfire?
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1847376,00.html

Which has some racial overtones. But of course that isn't going to stop them lying. Most people don't do their research, they don't have time or access to it for the facts : Fact Check: Is Obama 'palling around with terrorists'?
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/05/fact-check-is-obama-palling-around-with-terrorists/

I really do like the fact that Obama has called the McBush camp on the lies and even used their advisers words against them since it proved it : Obama in Asheville to Hit McCain for Adviser's "Turning a Page on This Financial Crisis" Remark : 
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/obama-in-ashevi.html

What very disturbing is an article that we came across : Will Dress Code Affect Your Right To Vote? :http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/04/politics/main4501531.shtml

Wearing campaign buttons and shirts while voting has always been part of American Politics. So this really annoys me and worries me on what the slimmy operatives will do to stop people from voting. It is disgusting.

I thought this was a very good article and example of Obama being able to be friends and work with people with different ways of thinking : Obama’s Other Pastor ( http://www.newsweek.com/id/162405  )This is the man that married Bush's daughter.

But here is a bit of history on the word Maverick and the family where it came from : Who You Callin’ a Maverick?  : http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/weekinreview/05schwartz.html?ref=politics

Today Was A Bust
3:02AM on October 02, 2008

Today was a complete bust on working out for me. I had only gotten 5hrs of sleep so it really sucked the life out of me. So I planned on only 15min on the treadmill and then weights. But we encountered our 1st asshole at the gym and left early. I did get some of my abs in. I normally do some more abs in before my shower, but I could barely do them....just felt like crap.

I did some work but I couldn't get my mind to work, so we laid down for about hour. I felt so much better afterwards. I finally got my work done this evening, that was tough....not motivated as much.

I found this interesting article from last President child that actually served in combat, while his dad was in office : Presidential Children Don’t Belong in Battle 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/opinion/28eisenhower.html?ref=opinion

I read this article the other day and I have been disturbed by it ever since : McCain and the POW Cover-up
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/schanberg

This man has been responsible for lost of 100s of men by covering it up and treating the families of MIA/POWs like crap. I can never look at McCain the same again. What little respect I had left for him has been trambled on.

Watching The Daily Show tonight and Stewart brought up a point that has been bothering me for while...just because some one lives in the city or big town does not mean that they are any less American then someone in a small town in Midwest or Alaska. I'm getting sick and tired of them saying that they are the "true Americans" BULLSHIT! I've lived in small towns, big towns, army posts, and on the outskirts of a city.......we are all True Americans. Living in small towns doesn't mean you are any better then the rest of us or our experience is any less American, because that is bullshit. Hello, it was the "city dwellers" of Boston that helped to stand up to the British....New York was the our nation's capital before DC, the Declaration was written in Philly. All cities, large for thier time. It was the ideals of the Enlightment that was started in the cities of Europe that helped to give our founding fathers their ideals and the determination to do what was right.

Small towns have the same issues as cities, just smaller since most people know each other so it is easier to control. The problem that I have with really small towns, is that unless they have diversity, that you come across a lot more racism. Is that a True American?

Productive Day
2:49AM on September 30, 2008

Today has been a productive day. We both had really good workouts at the gym, though maybe I need to push myself more on the weights when working the arms. It looks as if I've lost #1-1.5 this past week. Lets see if it looks like that tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed for me and for Torn to have a good workout tomorrow.

We came home, showered and headed back out.

We have been wanting to get a new dinner room set for awhile now. Our old one we've had for over 11yrs and we got it when we were young and broke, so not of the highest quality but it did very well through the years. We also need a chair for the living room, all we had was a couch and that is not enough for entertaining. We had been looking online, we knew what we wanted but wanted the best bang for our buck. But to make sure what we wanted, we headed to the local furniture store, since we knew they had it and checked it out. Hell, they had it for just a little more than online without the shipping cost! Not only that they delivered it today and we didn't have to put anything together. Then we found chair for living room on top of that! All it came to the price of ordering the dining room set online with shipping! Not only did we do great on this purchase, we got to spend our money locally. We are believers in trying to do that....even if we order online a lot.

After the furniture store, we headed over to the home depot. We really needed a cat door, there is no way am I having the litters in the bathrooms anymore and I'm tired of leaving the garage down open for them to get to it. So we got one of those and picked up some birdseed, a hanger for the feeder, and some blinds for the office. That sun really hits Torn and blinds the crap out of him. But I couldn't find door stoppers, to keep the doors open in the house when the wind comes through....gggrrr If I can't find it at lowe's tomorrow, I'm just going to order it online....sometimes I wonder why I bother at the stores, except that I don't want to wait for it to be delivered.

We live at the beginning of the Colombian Gouge and some of our neighbors gave us a heads up that it will get windy here. Well, they weren't kidding, it got windy as hell. Normally we would be able to sleep through it, but have 3 years in Florida and hurricanes we are sensitive to it. Hell, when we looked outside and saw all the leaves and some branches down, it felt like hurricane to us. Once we get use to the wind without thinking of hurricanes, we'll be good. =)

Well, we got back in mid afternoon and I haven't done any of the work that I need to get done...icks. But I still couldn't get to it until have dinner. I helped Torn with little things when he did the cat door, hung up a coat rack, sweep the back deck, cleaned out the litters, and vacuumed the dining room area for the new stuff. So by the time we got done with that, it was time for dinner and I was starving.

I've spent this evening playing catch up with support tickets, store orders, emails, balance the books and work on our check books and bills.

I feel good about today because our place is coming together nicely. It has taken us several years to get things the way we want and this house has been a big help.

Our next big goal in a bedroom set. Just not sure what we fully want. The bed room set we have is 16-17yrs old. It is still good, but needs some work because we have had 2 cats that have learned out to open the drawers and have scratched it up and all the moving we have done.....it hasn't help. Once we get a new set, ideally, I would like to find someone to rework the pieces for me. Our bedroom set is considered an early american style, dark pine and I love it....but it needs work now. =(

Observations & Everyday Stuff
2:01AM on September 28, 2008

I usually enjoy watching Real Time with Bill Maher, but last night was very lacking. For one he had Nader on there and he keep grandstanding...and commentator Lisa Schiffren really didn't add a thing. So it wasn't the great. But what really bother me is Maher's comments about Palin.

Now I can't stand her....she is totally against all the things that I stand for, totally the opposite of women issues. She doesn't have the knowledge to be a heart beat away from the presidency. She has never expanded her thoughts and experiences outside of her little corner of the world. She is in over her head, with no thanks to McCain, so is horrible and ignorant sounding in interviews, because she is.

So I have reasons for being against her and the McCain ticket, but what I really hate is the fact that people use her gender to argue against. Show how she doesn't have the knowledge but do not call her a bimbo! I don't' tell me that can apply to a man...that is a cop out and bullshit. The pop culture definition applies it to women and that is sexist.

Bimbo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bimbo

Bimbo is a term that emerged in popular English language usage in the early 20th Century to describe an often attractive, yet unintelligent woman. The usage of this term began in the United States as early as 1919. The 1929 silent film Desert Nights describes a cheap female crook as a bimbo. This word derives from the Italian bimbo, a word deriving from "bambino" (=child) a masculine term gender that means (male) baby or very young (male) child (its feminine equivalent is bimba). The 50's song "Bimbo", about a toddler, was one of the early hits for the popular American singer Jim Reeves. Its first usage in English was for stupid men; it now is understood to mean a woman unless modified as male bimbo, himbo or mimbo. Some still prefer the explicitly female variant bimbette, which has also entered The American Heritage Dictionary. Others use bimbette for a younger bimbo, because the suffix "-ette" signifies a smaller version as in French or Spanish "-ito/-ita" suffix.

An older comedy archetype of perhaps more direct resemblance to the bimbo is the dumb blonde —for example, the giggling, naïveMarilyn Monroe or, as she appeared on characters portrayed by such sultry actresses as Laugh-In, Goldie Hawn.

Do not refer to the fact that she has 5 kids...or say that she "shoots them out". That is sexist. You don't find the media making an issue out of the fact that male politicians have kids. So what if she has 5 kids.....the only issue I have is that she doesn't believe in teaching conception and her daughter is pregnant....sounds like she should've talked to her about it. Otherwise who cares that her daughter is pregnant, this has been going on for centuries.

Another thing that really bothered me is how he talked about Alaska....as if they were stupid. Yes, they have her as governor....but like all politicians she lied and mispresented herself....what else is new? And they thought she would fight corruption not add to it.

Yes, Alaska has issues...what state doesn't? But what people don't fully get is that Alaska is still somewhat like the wild-west. It is sparsely popluated and can be very hard living. Most folks just want to be left alone, so it can be easy for the wrong people to advance..........but that is like so many states. So don't diss Alaskans based on Palin.

Like I said, I normally enjoy Bill Maher's comments and observations, but he really crossed the line for me last night.

Torn says that the problem with Palin is that she is female and that you can't attack her without being accused of being sexist. But that is not true, you can attack her....attack her on her issues, her lack of knowledge, her horrible interviews....it is not until you use gendered basis attacks that you are being sexist. Using bimbo was sexist. But she is a politican, I don't care that she is female, she needs to be examined and questioned like every other politican.

Well, Purdue lost. =( Penn St won....we are so dead next week, Penn St is great.

We were talking about what seems to be missing the last few years. And it is Drew Brees...not his skill, but his heart. Purdue doesn't seem to have heart and everything we have read, Brees has the heart for winning. That seems to fit, because when you look at Penn St, hell Joe Pa has probably more heart then his whole team and that has a huge effect on them even during bad years.

If you haven't already heard, we lost another great actor and philanthopist, Paul Newman =(
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=5590812&page=1


Here is an article I read in my Time that I got today : 'Real' Journalists Could Learn from The View 
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1844557,00.html

I thought it had some very intersting observations. Mainsteam journalist could learn something from it.

Working Out & Politics
1:06AM on September 25, 2008

I've been doing good on the treadmill, just need to stick around long on the weights. Hard to motivate on those after 30min on the treadmill...but I need to. I need to get that burn. I am getting a burn in my abs. I've increased the weight that I do on the ab machine. When we get home, I do abs in the bedroom on my mat. But I need to get the burning in my legs and my arms. I worked somewhat on my arms today. So tomorrow I'm going to go after my legs and try to get them burn. May need to add incline back into the treadmill again, I haven't been doing them as much been working on adding more distance within 30mins.

I've been getting work done, no where as much as I need to. I really need to add more to the store. But I'm a political news junky and with what has been going on I have a hard time staying away from news sites even if they haven't updated. That and I haven't been motivated after all I did this past weekend.

This bailout.....I don't know. I don't think they deserve the bail outs.....all this "descision makers" who have played it fast and loose....screw them. BUT I worry about the rambations that will hit the rest of us if it doesn't go through. More about people like our parents....my dad has always been careful with their money and invested it safely....so I worry about that. I worry about my in-laws pensions hoping that they aren't at risk.

Then McCain pulling a political stunt....what an ass. He is not putting "country first", he must think that we are stupid. He also doesn't want to admit that Palin isn't ready for the debate.http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/24/mccain-camp-to-propose-postponing-vp-debate/

I really like this commentary : Commentary: Sexist treatment of Palin must end
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/24/campbell.brown.palin/index.html

They point out that she facing sexism, not from the media but from McCain's campaign. They are doing the "manly" thing and protecting her from the "big-bad media". How much more sexist is that? She is a poliation and she needs to be treated like every other person running for office. I'm sick and tired of the special treatment she gets...no questions from the reporters...trying to use the media to show her in a foreign policy environment yet refuse to allow them to be there more then 30secs? What the hell?

It is so frustrating to read the news sometimes, but I have to know what is going on. It doesn't help that I'm addictated to political magazines...The Nation, American Spector, MS, and Bitch and they sometimes highlight the injustices in the world that you know we shouldn't have.

I need to put away the laundry....I have a huge pile of it....icks.

A Blah Kind Of Day
2:24AM on September 21, 2008

Today was started with a house "inspection". The owner wants to refinance her mortgage for lower interest rates, so instead of giving the property manager a heads up so she could in turn tell us.....she just schedules it. Which was pretty rude with the short notice. So at 10am we had some guy here with our property manager measuring the rooms. Fun.....not. The property manager is really nice and you could tell she wasn't happy about the short notice and the inconvenience to both of us. But she is fun to talk to and that helped to past the time.

Purdue won over Central Michigan, in normal nail biting Purdue fashion...yuck. But we won. It was nice to see Florida St lose. =)

I set up my laptop downstairs since I'm tired of being in the office. But didn't get to work as soon as I should've....got the case of the sleepies.

But then I haven't felt too great since I got up this morning. My sinuses have made me feel icky. And I think I just needed on day of not having to do anything major errand wise, other then a quick bank run. It has also gotten chilly and overcast out so we have been turning on the fireplace, that doesn't help with motivation. So no tanning or walking today.

My butt hurts from sitting on the dinner room chairs all day, but I think I'm going to stay down here tomorrow, since I'll be in the office the rest of the week. ...I don't know...we'll see.

I did finally get about 100 new items added to the online store that I manage. I need to add about 100 or so more tommorrow. I've pretty much have been so busy with other work that it has gotten left behind. Doesn't help that adding things is tedious work and not the tedious work that I like....like accounting.

I'm going to try and be more activate tomorrow...tanning, walking, laundry and such. Then try and get more things added. I'll just need to start earlier tomorrow instead of late afternoon.

Nothing Much & Politics
2:35AM on September 17, 2008

I should be adding things to the store, which is what I was hoping to do today. But I had a ton of support things coming through and a few other things that I've neglected and really, really needed to get to. So fingers crossed, that I get to adding more product. There is a lot that I need to do on that. I'm not looking forward to it, because I'm tired of sitting in the office....but it has the best set up. Maybe I'll set up on the patio tomorrow.

We finally watched Knocked Up that we've had on dvr for awhile. It was much funnier and better then we thought it would be.

I did do good on the tread mill today. But I need to do more on weights tomorrow.

I'm just totally unmotivated right now, I worked hard on focusing today. Other then payroll, I really haven't focused on things like I really need todo. I just haven't had it the last few weeks. ......actually more like a month. Between moving and the vacation, I haven't been able to focus like I've needed to. That has got to change, especially when it comes to the store.

It hasn't help that it an election year and I'm addicted to surfing for more news. And with settling in and all the maintenance and pest issues, it really has put a wench into me actually getting things done like I need to do.

Alaska Women Cool to Palin
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080929/goldberg

Carol Thompson, a primary school teacher in Sarah Palin's hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, has been galled by the mainstream media's infatuation with the governor's rugged yet glamorous Danielle Boone persona. "What amazes me is the fascination with her back story, when Alaska is filled with women who have much more interesting stories than she does," she said. "She's one of hundreds of thousands of very fascinating Alaskan women who hunt and fish and ski and build their own houses. I was living in a tent when I had my child!"

Thompson pointed to the woman next to her, who lives in Palmer, a town about thirteen miles from Wasilla. "Bridgette was hiking on a glacier two days before she had her child, and picking blueberries a week after she had her baby. And that does not qualify us for being Vice President."

**It is great to see that some of the media reports that not everyone in Alaska loves her and some of it is very reveling.

A Weekend Summary
1:43AM on September 16, 2008

Wow, my brain is a little fried. Finally got all of my work caught up. Been working hard since yesterday afternoon on it.....stayed up late to get all the payroll processed.

This weekend started off a little rough, in that our jeep got hit while parked Thursday night, but didn't know until Friday morning. Found out while loading it up with the cats so the pest control guy could treat our carpets for the fleas we ended up with from the owner's cats...icks. Luckly, the folks that hit us left a note. Which total took care of the anger we had at it, but now we have to deal with the insurance crap so we can get it fixed.....which isn't going to be soon enough. =(

We did some site seeing and went up to Larch Mountain. Which is where Multnomah Falls are. We got a site we didn't plan on and it was stunning. I'm hoping to get all our pictures edited tomorrow and maybe get some posted...if my work isn't overwhelming. I still have to edit Friday's outing, when D & family visited and our Curacao pics. I really want to get them up for our families this weekend.

Here is a just one of the pictures, Mt Adams :



Mt Adams - Larch Mountain

Now how could we ever move from this? We finally live in a state that we are happy in and it is stunning.

The good news is that we didn't have to be out of the house as long as we thought and our replacement room divider was delivered....that was sweet. We didn't expect that until Monday. Now we can have privacy in our bedroom from our patio doors.

Saturday was our college football day and Purdue could've won if they made the field goal and a few other things. Like hubby saids, Oregon did everything to lose it and Purdue did everything not to win......ggggrrrr I think we may have startled the neighbors with us yelling at the tv.

Sunday was NFL, of course, with comcast and being on the West Coast we don't get crap in games. All the good games we wanted to see, we couldn't.....ggrrrr That so pisses us off. We are planning on going to Direct TV with verizon....at least we can get the NFL ticket, because Comcast royally sucks when it comes to sports.....even on pay-per-view. At least the Colts won, even though the Saints lost. =(

Today it was the gym and then we had to head over to insurance claims....yuck. Still waiting on the other insurance company to verify the liabilty even their clients filed the claim.....ID theft protections. Then after dealing with all the crap, then it was on to trying to finish my work.

Of course, reading the news on the political campaigns just drives me nuts.

Here are some articles about the Sarah Palin and how she "governed" To use that term loosely.....the more that is found out about her, the more worst she sounds. Even worst then Cheney.....more petty and vindictive.

Palin's Town Billed Rape Victims to Get Evidence
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=5784496

**That is disgusting.

Working Mothers Against 'Supermom' Palin
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/12/opinion/main4444069.shtml

**Unlike most working moms, she has a support system that they would kill for.

Palin cut own duties as mayor of Wasilla
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26695078/

In office, Palin hired friends and hit critics
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26691018/

**She sounds even worst then Bush.