something you don't see every day...

Headline from Fark.com (no I don't go there, my friend had this in his LJ)

"Section of Salt Lake City on lockdown after discovering suspected terrorist trumpet. Police put out APB on the angel Moroni."

The headline is better than the story (a suspicious package was noticed, police were called, a robot detonated it, then they opened it to find a trumpet). Come to think of it, that might make a really good fictional story. I'll have to think about that...

The Weekend

Well, I did get sick. But it didn't impact me too greatly. I did miss the barn dance on Saturday night, but I made the rest of the conference. And it was good.

Friday afternoon I went to the DC Stake Center early--originally I was going to attend the temple session, but I figured taking a cold to a closed room was not a good idea. I'm pretty sure I was still contagious at that point. So I hung around and offered to help but most of the stuff was already done. I went to the Visitor's Center around 7:00pm, to see if they needed me there, and I did quite a bit of running up and down the stairs in the theater room. The Knudsens from C2 were performing, and then Sis Okasaki spoke to us. She taught us three lessons using chewing gum. It was very good. Then it was back to the Stake Center for dessert and registration. I stayed and helped clean up, then followed Linda to the Seneca Stake Center to help her unload, then followed her to her house where she let me sleep on her couch. With my cold. I thought that was very nice of her.

Saturday I did sleep in a little, but not much. I got to the Seneca Stake Center about 8:00 am (breakfast was at 9:00 am) and helped as much as I could. I made copies of the choir music (I feel my one true contribution to the conference was the music, but I did try to help out where I could). I was first in line at the breakfast buffet, when it was time, but set my plate on my table and then wandered around for a few more minutes getting juice, running to get my vitamins (an essential thing when one is sick--and thanks Mendy for the offer of the Airborne, maybe next time!). While going to the chapel where I had left my purse, I saw Lon (the piano man) at the registration table. yay!! Especially since he was to play for us. I heard him periodically throughout the day in the chapel playing the piano. He's so good. He came and ate breakfast at my table, too :D

Sis Okazaki gave the keynote address, on being of good cheer. It was very good, as expected. Then it was time for the first workshop, but I'm afraid I slipped out and went to the powder room and laid on the couch for about an hour until lunchtime. Not a great loss--that particular workshop speaker is very good, but all stuff I've heard before. After lunch Bro Daines from my ward (ok, so I had two contributions to the conference) gave his workshop on "The Morning Breaks, the Shadows Flee, and the 10th Article of Faith". Really about the Second Coming. And how it's more of a series of events, instead of a single event (hey, he quoted Elder Eyring, so it's official!). Excellent, excellent talk. Bro Daines has such a unique perspective, given his work in 71 underpriviledged countries. After that was Bro Laird from Seneca Stake talking about having balance in our lives. I'm not sure exactly what I got out of that, other than a desire to figure out where I'm spending all my time and seeing if I can bring some balance to that. Then there was another workshop from the very first workshop speaker, which I again ditched, only this time to help start cleaning up the building in preparation for our departure to the barn. Chior practice was to be after the final workshop, and she went on and on and on... like I said, she's good, but perhaps we should have only given her one workshop to do. so Choir Practice didn't start until 5:30 pm, way late, and with a trip to the barn for dinner and the dance waiting for everyone. It went ok, although short. Then I went home for some much needed rest and sleep. I had boarded my dogs for the weekend, so it was very quiet.

Sunday it was up early and off to the Seneca Stake Center. I actually got there about 8:45 am, which was early. Choir practice was supposed to start at 9:15 am, so I was able to help do a few little things. Not a whole lot needed to be done, though. People came, and we practiced our two songs for the Testimony meeting we were having. It went fairly well. The meeting itself was very good--I was very happy that Pres Johnson from my stake came and said a few words along with Pres Hammond from Seneca Stake. I again was in charge of music--the choir sang one song for prelude, and one song after all the talks and before the testimonies began. I was somewhat anxious for Pres Johnson to be there for the testimonies of the single adults. I don't think he truly has a feel for the Single Adult program, and I knew this would be a good experience for him. And it was. Lots of heartfelt testimonies. Truly, this is my favorite part of Single Adult conferences.

Then it was time for lunch, eat up all the leftovers, then put away all the tables and things and say good-bye to everyone until next year. Definitely going to do this again--and definitely going to do my best to NOT BE SICK NEXT TIME!!!

Weekends and colds

I simply cannot be sick. I had a tickle in my throat last night, and today I'm blowing my nose and sneezing. But I simply don't have time to be sick. The Seneca Single Adult conference is this weekend, and I am on the committee. I am in charge of the music, I am leading the music, and I am leading the choir. I simply must be there. So, vitamins and large bottles of fruit juice, along with some cottage cheese and pineapple (and maybe some mac and cheese since that's very good comfort food) are my new diet. For now.

Last weekend went fairly well. Saturday morning was quiet, and the dogs and I just hung out. I took them to an adoption event in Arlington--the very place where I first met them, in fact. We had fun, meeting all the other dogs and the people who had come by to meet them. There were several people interested in them, but couldn't commit to adopting at this time. There's another event on July 7 that we'll go to--third time is a charm, they say. Either they'll get adopted or I'll decide to just keep them since they are doing much better and I don't have to lock them up so much. I'll be gone a lot in July, but at least I found a good place for boarding. I think I still need someone to help me with them for MDRF weekends, but that's still in the future.

Sunday--Father's Day. A holiday I don't have to dread or simply survive. Yay! Dad actually called me before I could call him, and we had a nice talk. We were able to settle more plans for the week when he comes out to visit me. I also got to talk to my oldest brother, Blaine, who was visiting Dad with his family. It was very nice. He was making noises like he and his family may come see me sometime :) That morning I allowed the dogs to roam downstairs while I got ready for church, and they pulled all the throw pillows off the couch. Then when I came downstairs to check on them, they had to tell me about it. This is the first time they've barked at me, but it was a happy sort of 'we were playing, mom!' bark. So I think it was ok. I taught in Relief Society on Sunday too, but with everything else that was going on only got about 15 minutes to teach. Which is fine--although I hope I didn't go so fast the Spirit got dizzy. Fortunately the lesson was on something I could talk about, and was able to flex my lesson so the important parts got in. I tend to be a less-structured type of teacher anyway, to allow for comments and the need to expand or contract a lesson.

So this week I need to prepare for the coming weekend, and my doggies get shipped off to the Preston Country Club for Pets (sounds pretty nice, huh? and not as expensive as you might think). They do like it there.

Where would we be if...?

Flashback Friday--a good idea.

Today I've been thinking about my friends S&C, the ones I met up with last weekend to see Pirates. I met them back in 2000, under unusual circumstances. If not for those circumstances, there's no way we'd have ever met each other--C works at the Holocaust Museum downtown DC, procuring items for the museum and other stuff I'm sure. She is an artist trained and very smart. S works for--well, I'm not really sure, but it has something to do with Homeland Security and Immigration. She deports people, as she told her neighbor from somewhere south of the border who's fixing up her house to hold far more than just the 5 people she says will live there. Very smart woman, weilds a sword--S and C took Gum-Do, Korean Sword fighting. I couldn't because both these women live in Fairfax county and that's where the school is--and I'm not about to chance the beltway on Wednesday evenings to get to VA by 7:00pm. All three of us are single, professional women, who otherwise wouldn't have met, if not for Star Wars.

All three of us were members of an online group called alt.fan.wedge (AFW), fans of Wedge Antilles, from Star Wars (the only non-main character Lucas carried through all three original films to give the audience a sense that other people do survive big battles, not just Our Heroes). My friend B introduced me to the group (I knew her from church, so not unique that I would have known her), along with a few other groups. Well, in November of 2000, K, the Prophetess of the Animist Warrior God known as Wedge Antilles, (yes, these are the things we come up with) was coming to DC for a visit with her friend Morwen (I can use her name because it's not her real name anyway). So a call was sent out to the group, a place was arranged for us to meet, and B was even willing to go just not by herself. So we went together. We took the metro to a restaurant in DC (I couldn't even tell you where it was now) and met up with about 9 others at a restaurant in DC, including S and C. We read X-Wing books and did the drinking game (water and soda only--most of them were underage and the rest of us were driving, although C may not have been). A little daring to go into DC to meet people we'd only talked to online, but B and I were together, she'd met K before, and we figured it would be fine, and it was. After this initial meeting we tried holding 'meetings' of the DC chapter of AFW, and there were about 9 of us at the largest gathering. We would try to run Role Playing Games in the Star Wars Universe, but after our numbers dwindled to just S, C, and me, we decided that wasn't really working anymore. By then we were friends, and we got together to do things. S and I went to Star Wars Celebration II, all three of us went to Star Wars Celebration III, and even now we get together to go to movies and the Renaissance Festival and other things.

It's good to have friends from all walks of life. I have a very diverse group of friends.

Thunderstorms

When I lived in Iowa, that first year, we had a thunderstorm every day in the summer. About 3-3:30 pm it would cloud up, storm like there was no tomorrow ("end of the world" type weather), and then clear up and go away within the hour. I loved these storms. The air always smells better after a thunderstorm (and the scientist in me has to mention that it's the ozone created by the lightening that makes the air so fresh). Of course, this is also the best time to look for rainbows. I remember one day I had gone home to make lunch (I lived basically across the street from the building I spent most of my time in), the sky got very dark, it stormed, and then cleared up and the sun was shining again by the time I needed to return to my office in the Van Allen building.

This week in MD the weather has been much the same--cloud up, storm, then clear up. I love this kind of weather. We never had this in California, growing up. We'd get rainstorms, and the occiasional thunderstorm, but there was no regularity to it. So yes, I love thunderstorms. Especially when I can watch them from a window, safe and dry. My poor doggies hate them, though. Too loud!

Monday, monday...

Hi everyone!

Last week was fairly normal for me--work all day, have things to do all evening. I was able to be home for my dogs for three nights in a row, mostly due to one activity being at my house. Fortunately the friends that came over didn't mind the dogs being around--and the dogs were very well behaved, I must say. They just laid on the couch and watched.

Thursday night was book club--the discussion was rather circular, beginning and ending (for me at least, since I left when the subject was returned to) with potty training. Of course I had to share my one little thing, which is really Bill Cosby's routine about the monkeys in the sewers swiming around and coming up to tickle our bums, and couldn't even tell it right I was laughing so hard, but other than that, I really have not much to add to such conversations. The book discussion was about "A Woman in Berlin: Eight weeks in the conquered city" which I hadn't managed to finish, but got far enough that I could add to the discussion. When I was a teenager I read "The Hiding Place" and several other books about the Holocaust and different groups of people that were affected, but this is the first one I read that was concerned with Germans--the normal, every day people who were affected by what their leaders did. It was really good--and so well written it was hard to remember it wasn't fiction. Definitely recommend this one.

Friday night was the first meeting of Stake Conference, in the temple, on the seventh floor. It was really good. Of course you can't take notes in the temple, but I did write down what I remembered the next evening while waiting for the Saturday evening session. There were three things that stayed with me. One: to go to the temple more often (not hard in my current state of almost never going). Two: you can go to the temple to get something out of it for yourself, not just helping those that have gone on before. Three: whenever you have the chance to go to the temple, you should perform some ordinance there, not just show up and then leave without taking the opportunity to help others. That third one I took to heart that night. I knew I wouldn't be able to sit through a session without falling asleep, but I was able to do something else that helped five people. And I stayed awake :)

Saturday morning I cleaned and tried working with the dogs--that didn't work. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon managed to escape the backyard for a few mintues. Fortunately they both came back to me, and given that it was Saturday morning there were no cars and mostly no people--and they didn't make any messes anywhere. They just ran around for a couple mintues then came when I called. I may be ready to try a dog park with them.

Saturday afternoon my friends S and C came up from VA, and we met up with D from work. We had lunch, then went to see Pirates of the Carribean 3. My review: it was good, but I can't say I liked the ending. The story, the effects, the music, all was what I have come to expect from the movies, and there were multiple Jack's, which is always good. Although there was less of Will in this movie, it seemed, so I, of course, didn't care for that so much. But I didn't really like how it ended. Or how they tied 19th Century pirates into ancient Greek mythology. I will, of course, get the DVD when it comes out, because I have to have the set, and I have to watch it again for the things I missed, so maybe I'll like it better after watching it a few more times.

Saturday evening was the evening session of Stake Conference. It was all about families and what a great responsibililty it is to be parents. Not a lot there for me, but I did manage to glean a few things out of it. Which are written in my notebook. Which is at home. Sunday morning was the main session of conference, for my ward and two others at least. I have to say it was a little odd for me. My normal Stake Conference experience is one of two things: I'm in the choir, or I'm sitting off to the side by myself. This time I wasn't in the choir (I'm about all choir'ed out for the moment, and they kept having rehearsals when I had other committments), and this time I was surrounded by friends from my ward. I got to hold two babies--not at the same time, of course--and it was really great. (ok, sappy moment alert) I just can't express how much it means to me that I have really been accepted by people in my ward. Yes, there's often not a lot of common ground (reference the potty training above), but that doesn't seem to matter. I don't think I've ever been in a place where I have felt like this, like I belong--not just allowed to participate. My poor little lonely heart is very greateful for all these freinds that are now in my life. Ok, sappy moment over. Crying at work not good.

After conference I went home, fixed one of my freezer meals (from the freezer meal group I'm a part of), read Harry Potter 1 and took a nap with the dogs, watched Farscape, and had my Home Teachers come over. The dogs didn't like them very much at first (they have never growled so much! I had to clap my hands at them to get them to stop), but they warmed up to Charlie by the end. Since I had given him treats to give the boys. We'll see if they remember him next time.

I hope everyone is happy and healthy. ttyl! (talk to you later)

My brain is fuzzy...

What a week!


Note to self: staying up late to read when you want to be up early to get to work on time the next day is NOT a good idea! I don't care if Harry *is* still stuck with the Dursleys!




Monday blew off FHE--actually not as bad as it sounds, because the family that signed up to have us come over forgot they'd signed us up, and I forgot to call and remind them a week before, and so since everyone forgot, I stayed home with my dogs. They liked that.



Tuesday some friends came over and we worked on quiet books. The dogs were funny. I tried to confine them in the kitchen, because it seemed cruel to me to lock them up downstairs, and they jumped through the barrier and joined us. Fortunately they like to lay on the couch and just *be* with us, so it was fine. My friends didn't mind, either. Silly doggies.



Wednesday I again stayed home, only this time I worked on my front yard. Heeding warnings that it was going to be hot and yucky I decided to mow, trim, cut, and sweep. The dogs were in the back yard for part of it, which makes me nervous because if they try hard enough they can get out of the gate (they've done it before). Then they were in the house, which makes me nervous because who knows what they'll get into if I'm not there to watch. But they were good, both places, and now my front yard looks like someone cares about it.



Thursday I went quickly home after work to walk and feed the dogs, and make a quick supper for myself. I had a Chiropracter appt, and I didn't want to tease the boys by coming home and then leaving again, so I went to PetSmart and spent another $70 on the dogs. I got them 'Gentle Leader' harnesses, so maybe I can break them of their pulling habit. At least when we're on walkies. I also picked up a couple more toys. Then I went to book club and read more in my car until time to go in (I'm still only about 1/2-way through the book). The book was "A woman in Berlin: 8 weeks in the conquered city". Very interesting, well-written, and tasteful description of the atrocities suffered by women in the city after the Russians conquered it in 1945. Definitely need to finish it. The discussion started out by the other women discussing potty training, then we talked about the book for a while, but when the conversation turned back to potty training I knew it was time for me to leave. Should I ever need a discussion on potty training, I'm sure there will be someone willing to discuss it with me. So I went home and let the dogs out, and they played in the back yard for a while. Obi-Wan is getting really rambunctious, while Qui-Gon has a much milder temperament.



Well, the rest of the week was filled in with work and sleep. sometimes at the same time (I fell asleep during a meeting on Tuesday--unfortunately it was a small meeting, and the guy running the meeting noticed, but he wasn't offended. He just teased me about it).



Since I've had the dogs my diet has been a bit out the window. However, I have managed not to gain any weight. I'm sure the additional exercise is helping with that.

15 mintues and too much to share...

It's been a while since I've written a 'journalistic' entry. In that time, I've managed to offend a few family members (since I have a blog I seem to feel that they should read it to find out about me), went to a Single Adult conference, had an epiphany, and met a family that might be willing to take my dogs.

So my family makes me crazy, but maybe I'm the one just going crazy because they don't do what I want them to. When they freely admit they don't read my blog because they don't have time then send me a silly 'spam' email I tend to think they're just not interested in my life and times. Why shoudl they be? I'm pretty boring, but I still manage to organize millions of ions about it.

I went to the Liberty SA conference in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, over Memorial Day weekend (instead of Star Wars Celebration IV--I guess my priorities have changed? Or maybe I just had no desire to stand in line all weekend (side joke--Celebration III was "In Line", Celebration IV was "Still in line"). Anyway, I'd been feeling like I lost my testimony of the Single Adult program, and really hoped that this conference would help me get some of that back. (The epiphany was about a week later when I realized it wasn't my testimony of the program that was suffering, it was me having to do all the work for my ward and for the stake. But that's a different story.) I went to the conference with my friend Tess, who wanted to stay an extra day and tour Philadelphia with her friend Nick, which we did. The conference was good--I've been the last three years, and it's always good. I wasn't feeling well so I didn't get what I was hoping for--in fact, I spent almost the whole time wishing I could just go home and lay on my bed. But I managed, and I also manged to get the guy I have a slight crush on to agree to come play piano for us at the Seneca Single Adult Conference so I get to see him again there :) He may think he's too old for me, but I don't think so. I think he's just right. Course, he plays the piano so wonderfully, I think that's where my crush started. Ah, but I digress. Tess and I had official Philly Cheesestakes at the same place where Sylvester Stalone filmed the movie Rocky (Nick told us we should be impressed), and we even went up the steps that he ran up in the movie and jumped in triumph. Yeah, I wasn't too impressed by that either. But there was a cool building nearby that kept changing from white to blue. Impressive, as Darth Vader would say. Oh, but the cheesestakes were everything I'd hoped they would be. YUM!

I picked up my dogs from the place where I had them boarded for the weekend on Wednesday, and they were like different dogs. Friendly and outgoing and basically cheerful. I started feeling bad that I may not be taking good enough care of them if they can go to this place over the weekend and come back so different. I seriously thought about letting the Dog Rescue place take them back to the Farm where they keep most of their dogs, but I did find out that place really isn't a good place for them. They're cared for, but there's almost no human interaction. So I still have them. I took them to an Adoption eveng on Saturday, and there was a family returning from a trip to the pool that met them. The family currently lives in the apartments above where the Adoption event was taking place, but they're having a house built, and have apparently discussed getting dogs. The girls, probably 10 and 8 or so, really loved my boys. They went right upstairs and looked them up online, and the older one started crying because the mom kept saying she had to talk to their dad first (he was away on business). I ran into the mother a little later, which is when I found this out. She was quite taken with them as well, and would like to take both of them. If I can just hold on until they can take them, I think this would be a good family for them.

Ok, I'm out of time so I can't pull out all the minute details and go through them at length, but truthfully I was quite the emotional mess last week, and this week I'm doing much better. Plus I got to hold Felicity's baby on Sunday! Yay! Baby-holding always helps!

Things that go THUMP!

One day my dogs were learning to go up and down stairs. They were getting pretty good at it, and would practice running up and down. To keep them on the same floor where I was, I shut the door at the top of the basement stairs. When it was time to go upstairs, I went up the stairs to open the door, but Qui-gon rushed ahead of me. Since it's quite dark in that particular stairway, you guessed it, THUMP!!! He turned around and ran downstairs tail between his legs. Took a few minutes (and me laughing all the time) for him to be ready to try THAT again!

Yesterday morning I decided to set up their pen around their crate to give them more room. I tied the pen to the crate, hoping they wouldn't chew through the twine I was using. I went upstairs, thinking to put my lunch together for work, listening to see if they would be ok. A few minutes went by, and then I hear this THUMP!! I go downstairs and both dogs had jumped over the 30-inch high pen, and were running around the downstairs, thinking themselves quite clever.

Dogs. Dogs definitely go THUMP!!

My life as a movie...

Complete this sentence: If my life were a movie . . .
Our heroine would be a smart, strong, capable woman who has to save the world by being smart, strong, and capable.
It would most definitley NOT be a love story
It would most likely be either sci-fi or fanstasy.

There would be dragons. Lots of dragons to fight and overcome. And everytime the heroine thinks she's getting close to her goal, turns out there are more dragons.

In the end she does reach her goal, right before she dies. From saving the world. Again.

If my life movie had a sountrack, the songs would include (20 song maximum):
California Girls (Beach boys--this is my theme song)
Walking on sunshine (katrina and the waves)
Everybody Hurts (R.E.M.)
Shiny Happy People (R.E.M)
Here I stand and face the rain (A-Ha)
Changes (David Bowie)
Heavenly Father Loves me (no particular artist)
Wild Wild West (The Escape Club)
I'll Walk with God (from "The Student Prince")
Don't Cry Out Loud (can't remember the artist, mostly I just play this one on the piano)
I think it's going to rain today (Bette Middler, "Beaches" soundtrack)

The actors who would play the roles in my life would be:
Me: Barbara Stanwyck (from the 30's--hey, the rules don't state that they have to still be living!)
Parents: Rosalin Russel and Danny Kaye
Siblings: David Cassidy, Susan Dey, Danny Bonaduci, Greg from the Brady Bunch, Marsha from the Brady Bunch, Bobby from the Brady bunch, Cindy from the Brady Bunch, and the little girl from the Partridge Family (Tina?)--and yes, this is in order, leaving me out because I'm being played by Barbary Stanwyck.
Friends: you can be played by whoever you prefer, leave me a comment!
Love interest: Robert Urich (from Spencer for Hire, not SWAT)

Memories...

Stolen from Jann, borrowed from others (trying to locate it in the other's blogs...)

Okay, as a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you :) If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

A sad tail

I really wanted a dog.
Or dogs.
I wanted a friend to greet me when I come home from work.
I wanted someone who would encourage me to exercize and eat properly
I wanted someone to take care of.
In return for affection I would exercise, feed, and play with my new friend or friends.

So I adopted two year-old beagles.

(Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan)

I didn't really realize just how much time I spend outside of my home.
I didn't sit down and figure out that 3-4 times per week, sometimes more, I come home to eat only to leave for another couple of hours.
I expected to crate the dogs whenever I couldn't be with them.
I didn't realize this meant they were in their crate 20-22 hours per day.
When I did, it broke my heart.

So I called the woman from the rescue I've been working with, and told her my problem and concerns.
She agreed that it wasn't healthy for the dogs to be crated so much.
Better than being in a kennel, but not better than being with a family, which is what they really need.
They need a place where they can run and play.
They need a place where they are not in their crates so much of the time.
They need someone who can work with them on their chewing issues.
They need someone who can be with them more often.

So my little beagles will be moving to new families.
They'll be with me until a new family or families are found, but they will be leaving.
My poor little guys will probably not even realize why they have to go.
I hope they will be happy.

For now I will concentrate on my garden and my house.
Maybe some day I won't be gone so much.
Maybe some day I won't have to go to all the single adult activities (80% of why I'm gone so much)
Maybe next time I will get a cat.
At least a cat won't need to be crated while I'm gone.
I hope.


PS I do know this whole dilemma was created because I wasn't listening to the Spirit. I prayed about getting dogs, about getting these dogs, and I couldn't really make up my mind. I had so many doubts and concerns but I decided to go ahead with it anyway. Every day with the dogs I seemed to revisit whether or not I should keep them. The stress was undoing all the good the exercise was doing. Once I decided to give them back, all the doubts and questioning and concerns just stopped. I grew depressed thinking that I was so unfit as a mom I couldn't even take care of dogs, but then I realized that I had it backwards. If I was a bad mommy I would selfishly keep them. Or I wouldn't care that they have to be confined so much of the time. I need to give them up, and hope that they are better for the experience.

Huge sigh of relief!

I checked with PetSmart/PetsHotel and with my vet, and both were fully booked for Memorial Day. My vet gave me two references, and the first one had space for my boys! What a relief! I may end up paying an extra day to give me time to get home and settled (and because I know I won't be back in time to pick them up when the place wants me to pick them up), but I think that's ok.

Yes, I am going away Memorial Day weekend, to once again go to the Liberty Single Adult conference in New Jersey (just across the river from Philadelphia). I am so crazy. My friend Tess is coming with me, so this will be better than the last two years when I went by myself and stayed by myself but at least was able to get some sleep. This should be fun. And I don't have to worry about my dogs.

Who are still in their crate most of the time. I tried letting them out and they chewed up my couch in the basement. I think they may be ready for some more freedom, though. I'll be borrowing a baby gate from a friend and see how they do in the kitchen with food and water and a place to snuggle. If they're really good I'll only take them down to be in the crate for night time.

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks! I hope they forgive me for putting them in a kennel next weekend!

Another Mother's Day survived

I have a really hard time with Mother's Day. I used to be somewhat ok with it, but ever since my Mom passed away I just can't seem to deal with it appropriately. Some years I avoid church altogether, one year I went to my sister's for the weekend, a couple of years I had responsibilities so I went but tried to avoid the treat the women get handed--sometimes successfully, sometimes not. It seems to be the little gift we get that tips me overboard, not sure why that's such an issue for me. Probably didn't help that we sang funereal hymns in Sacrament Meeting, either.

This year I thought i would be ok--I have my doggies, I have more friends than I have had in the past, and I was substituting in Primary, so I thought I'd be distracted enough I'd be ok. Alas, I still found myself out in my car sobbing. It's not Christmas, it's not Thanksgiving, it's not even on her birthday or the day she died, but it's Mother's Day that I miss my mom the very most.

I'm thinking next year I go back to hiding under my covers until the day is over. I really don't enjoy being honored for something I'm not, and reminded of something I no longer have. Both on the same day is just too much.

So I went home after church, carried my dogs upstairs (they are scared of stairs), and we watched a sappy girl movie (In Her Shoes). My dogs will bark at other dogs, even if they're on the TV. Silly dogs, can't tell a real dog from a pretend dog. Or maybe it confuses them that they see a dog but can't smell one?

Alas! Poor FUSE, I knew it well...

I got some saddening news today. Some of you may remember that I used to work on the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) program. FUSE had a hard life, losing three of four reaction wheels, failing gyros, and torquer rods that weren't built to do the job of three reaction wheels. It was managing, when I left, but it was hard, and stressful for the systems engineers. And the planners. And the RT controllers. You know, everyone who was needed to make it work. The science was still very good, though.

Today I found out that it's fourth and final reaction wheel got stuck on Tuesday. They're not throwing in the towel, they're going to do everything they can to save the satellite, but quite honestly, the 8-year old spacecraft may have reached the end of its life. NASA already put an end date on its funding (Sept '08), although they were trying to appeal that decision. However, with this new development, NASA may decide to pull funding now--a few people will be needed to clean up and turn off the lights, but after that the bird is target practice (re: satellite folklore where the Air Force took out a science satellite they thought wasn't being used anymore).

It's sad to think FUSE might be ending--after all, XTE, my first mission, is still going, not strong, but functional. I'm also quite glad I no longer work there. It's a shame for the guys they just hired out of school, though. I don't know what will happen with them, they haven't been there long enough to even be trained properly.

In other news, my dogs have decided they like the taste of my futon in the basement. So they don't get to be on it while I'm not home anymore. They knew I wasn't happy, although I didn't yell or even say anything. I just cleaned up the mess, and they hid in their crate. If they're bad today I'll move them back into the laundry room. I would love to give them free reign of the house, but I just can't. Not yet. Too much too soon makes doggies think they're in charge. I'm just glad they know not to potty in the house.

I still feel bad about being gone so much, though. I've had something every night this week, including tonight. Tomorrow I want to try to take them to the pet store to find some better chew toys (they don't seem to like the ones I already bought them), and maybe car harnesses so I don't have to take the crate everywhere we go, but we'll see. Maybe we should just stay home and try grooming (they've been shedding a lot!).

I'm a mommy!

Well, I did it. I'm not too sure about this still, but I have a brace of beagles. They're not too happy yet, having lived most of their lives in a kennel (they're only a year old), but I'm hoping they warm up to me soon. Pictures, you ask? Why, yes!

go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/julia0925/

I also have pics of my house in winter and early spring. I need to take another picture before all the flowers on my tree fall off.

Wish me luck! (with the dogs)

Huzzah!!

I'm going to get my doggies this weekend!!! I'm getting a brace of beagles, and I'm naming them Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. We are going to have so much fun! It's still a little scarey, when I think of how much my life is going to change, but all the changes are good ones. It will be good for me to take care of something other than myself all the time, and it will be good for me to excersize more.

In the meantime, I've been on my diet for three weeks and I've lost FOUR POUNDS. Yay for me!!!

And I'm totally--what's the word?--jonesing about Faire. I've started planning out what I want to do and who I want to do it with. Which is really crazy since they don't even have the schedule up on the MDRF website yet!!! Me and two friends are going to VARF in June, though, so that should help. Too bad I can't bring my dogs, though. I've been reading up on beagles, and apparently Queen Elizabeth had beagles (or at least small hunting dogs with melodious voices), so they're 'period' :D

Happy day to all of you!

MDRF: Maryland Renaissance Festival (see link ->)
VARF: Virginia Renaissance Faire

running with scissors...

A friend sent me this (I'm going to have to figure out colors, it was much prettier in the email). While I could make snarky coments about some of these things, I can totally relate to most of them!

Those Born 1930-1979
READ TO THE BOTTOM FOR QUOTE OF THE MONTH BY JAY LENO. IF YOU DON'T READ ANYTHING ELSE---VERY WELL STATED

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shar ed one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because,
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine th at!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them...CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good .
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

My tree bloomed!

I was afraid my tree wasn't going to bloom, with it trying to bud before winter was completely finished, but I looked out today and there are white blossoms everywhere! I will have to take a picture :D

Last night I spent about an hour or so outside, mowing my lawn and attemting to chop down the weeds. I got a little clipper, thinking that since my yard was so small I really didn't need a full-size trimmer. Turns out I ought to have bought a machete. The clipper kept jamming. Oh well. I'll take out my Pampered Chef kitchen shears next time and just cut all the grasses and weeds down. My clipper should be able to handle it from there.

I went last Saturday to meet the Beagle Brothers, Lenny and Lloyd. They're younger than I had thought, only about 1 year old. They were overstimulated at first but then quieted down and we had some time just sitting. They're both handsome little guys, both white and tan, one being lighter than the other. I'm not sure which is which, and I intend to give them new names if they come to live with me, but the lighter one is more adventurous and comfortable with new situations. The darker one is more shy, so may have the tendency to act out a little more. Neither are housetrained at the moment, so that will be something I need to work on. The rescue group is sending someone to do a home visit this Saturday, and I'm thinking I may have to go shopping and get some doggy supplies. I have a pen I ordered from PetSmart coming either today or tomorrow (depending on when UPS deliveres it), but I need to get a crate, bowls, leashes, toys, brushes... time to dig into the portion of my tax refund I've been saving just for this occaision!!

I'll be picking up my dogs on May 5, which should be interesting given that I have about three other things to do that day. After I get them home, though, they'll have to go right into the crate for a while. Or maybe out in the back yard to play. Since I'm having company, either one would work. I don't want them overwhelmed by too many people, so they'll be downstairs while I teach my quiet book class upstairs. If all goes according to plan and I can get my dogs. So exciting!!

My perspective on this weeks events

Several of my friends have posted regarding the horrible happenings at Virginia Tech this week. I was sitting in a meeting with my boss and our other team member when he got a CNN update talking about the shootings. I was amazed the rest of the day when everytime I logged on to AOL they had a higher number of people who had died. I couldn't believe how the number kept rising.

I did check with my friend who had gone there, and she said just to pray for the families there. I don't think she had any friends attending there at this time, so that's something.

I had a friends of diverging desires at our Monday FHE this week--one that wanted only to talk about what had happened, and one that hadn't really processed it yet so didn't want to talk about it.

As for me, I blanked it out. Sounds bad, doesn't it? I was at the University of Iowa when the exact same thing happened, only less people died. People I knew, three of my professors, were shot and killed, one twice (just to make sure). One of my fellow grad-students was killed, and another was the one doing the shooting. An administrator was shot, and her secretary wounded, made a parapalegic for life. Yeah, I know all about college shootings. Took me years before I could even think about it without feeling devastated. I was on the sixth floor, the shootings happened on the second and third floors. So maybe a little callous of me not to pay attention to all the news reports, but I know that these people need the world to stop invading their privacy and allow them to mourn. Pray for them, send them financial assistance, but let them find peace in their own way. There are plenty of people there to help.

I pray that peace will be restored to the earth someday soon.