The week in review.....

Kevin and Martha learned how to use public transportation this week. Due to the snow comet that hit (see earlier post), we sunny Californians didn't feel safe driving. So we took the Max train into downtown where Kevin was able to walk to work. Martha had to take a bus to her office, and on Monday, she had to walk up the hill in the snow because the bus couldn't get up it since there were two buses broken down at the bottom. Tuesday she had to wait almost half an hour for the bus to even come. Wednesday, Kevin brought her home some snow boots!! Yay!!

Monday I took a few pictures of my cubicle it all it's Christmas finery. And do you know that I didn't get a single hippo for Christmas?!? Had to buy them all myself!! Probably a good thing I didn't get any more. Some day I will take a picture of the awesome Swatch hippo watch I found a few months ago!! So me!!

That's the lyrics for the song that are on the poster. Just in case anyone wanted to sing to me!

This hippo head is actually attached to a body, it hung so nicely over my cubicle wall though. Alas, it is on loan and will have to be returned when I take the decorations down...

On Monday, when I took these pictures, I was one of about 9 people that came in to an office that is usually filled with about 85 - 90 people. Got in about 8:45 and then got a ride home with someone who was brave enough to drive. We left about two and when I got home, I discovered that the lights were out!! The went out sometime Monday morning and were out until sometime Tuesday morning. So we took the mattress off the guest bed and slept in front of the fireplace. Here is an exciting picture of it below......

Okay, I took one with the flash on too, but it doesn't look like the lights are out in that one!!! Kevin said that it was the best night's sleep he's had in a long time!! We somehow managed to have hot water on Tuesday morning so I took a shower, but I got out of the shower and could see my breath it was so darned cold!! That's just wrong!! Plus I had to dry my hair by the heat of the fire. So I had a REALLY bad hair day!! Had several people tell me that my hair was...flat.

So, somehow we muddled through and made it to Christmas. We just had a couple of small gifts for each other as we both were going to have Friday off and planned to hit the after Christmas sales.

I got a Life Is Good shirt and some socks!! Mookie checked it out and approved. It has a dog on it so it's all good!!

As it turned out, both of us ended up having to work on Friday what with missing so much work and other people not being able to make it in. So we hit the mall on Friday night and then went out again on Saturday morning. I made quite a haul!!! Have been doing laundry ever since we got home Saturday to get all the stuff clean.

Back to work tomorrow, and then we are expecting Kevin's nephew Chris, and his wife Ashley to come up from Redding, CA on Wednesday to celebrate New Years!! I hope that they are able to get over the mountain passes and all the snow to get up here. Once they get here, there should be no problem. Believe it or not, almost all of our snow has now melted away........

It's a White Sand Christmas

We are celebrating Christmas, "Island Style" in Key West this year. When we arrived at the beach, Z ran towards the water...he should have been a fish. While he was chasing the turtles on his way to the water, he made a friend, the "Sandman" who was protecting the coast. He may not be cold, but he does have seaweed arms, a driftwood nose, and two eyes made out of shells.Then Z decided to play Godzilla with the Sandman.

Because the Sandman wouldn't play with him, Z decided that he would shout, "Off with his head!!".

We were so proud of his command of the troops, that we decided to give him a wonderful sunset to party with.

The aftermath of the ice comet!!!

Kevin holds a remnant of the comet!! Actually, we had about a quarter inch of ice form on top of the snow that fell yesterday. So when Kevin walked on it, it broke into pieces!! Mookie could walk on it just fine!! Not that he really wanted to!

This is an icicle hanging from our icicle lights!! Pretty huh? Just checked on it a bit ago and it seems to be melting, but they are saying there is possibly more freezing rain on the way tonight. We are planning on bussing/light railing it tomorrow. If we can figure out how!!!

OH NO NOT AGAIN!!!

Old man winter is at it again up here. We are barely getting over the last storm and he is wholloping us again!! They were predicting between 6 to 10 inches for the valley floor.



This is the view from our kitchen window. So beautiful and peaceful. It almost makes washing dishes fun!

Kevin decided to use a low-tech measuring tool for our weather report. It was 2" in the back yard at about 3:45pm.

And 4+ inches in the front yard at 5:30 pm!! Fun stuff. I'm already worrying about how we are going to get to work on Monday. But wait I may have scarier things to worry about....

SNOW DAY!!!

I figured while we were waiting for the first Jazzy posting I would post a few pictures of today's Portland weather!! We got hit pretty good with a snow storm. We don't usually see this much snow and to actually have it stick is pretty amazing!! It was beautiful because I didn't have to go out in it!!

The picture with the trees was taken earlier in the morning and the one of the house was taken late in the afternoon. By then the area around trees was totally white! Not sure how many inches we got, but it seemed like we had at least 2" on our walk way!! Any volunteers to shovel??

Where's Waldo

I swear we did take some pictures on Thanksgiving. Alas, they are still on Natalie's camera, and I don't believe any of them involve food. Oops. For giggles here's Dieter and Shelby instead.

I'll get some actual thanksgiving pics up soon.

There's Shelby looking for a nice place to lose some weight, and Dieter wondering what's taking Shelby so long (and why he's still on a leash).

The properly dressed half of the turkey!!

It seems like in all the Hollywood movies, you go to Grandmother's house for Thanksgiving. Well, Mookie got to do that. Didn't get to see her much 'cause they don't get along, but he did get to go to her house. The rest of us had a great time at Brooke's! She cooked a terrific turkey and lots of veggies! I'm still stuffed!! Kevin got to watch a little football and unfortunately the Cowboys won! But I guess his fantasy players did well so he has something to be thankful for!! So here are a few pictures of the day. Including one of me apparently feeling Martha Stewartish!

Jazzy vs the turkey!

Kevin gets to know Mookies side of the family.

Half of the Naked Turkey from today!

So I have the beginning photos from today. Kevin/Martha have the rest that they will post at another time... they are driving still on their way home. The time spent was wonderful and all too short! Aron and his friend/coworker Rich enjoyed dinner with us. It was great time and the food was delicious..... thanks for all your help Martha. The Pumpkin Pie was DELICIOUS!!!

Happy Turkey Day!

Today is the day that we have all been waiting for. It's the one time of the year that we can guarantee people will visit with pictures and stories about their Naked Turkey experience.

Ours has a typical theme. Samantha went shopping for Thanksgiving on Monday, and saw an 11 pound turkey, and a 22 pound turkey. She thought, "If I'm gonna cook a turkey, then I may as well cook a big one; then we can eat leftovers for a month." So we have a 22 pound turkey, and we are using a new recipe that Samantha's mother found the Real Simple website; Roast Turkey with Paprika and Thyme. Lord knows that all we have is time on a day like today.

So, without further adieu, I present our 22 pound Naked Turkey that weighs 8 pounds less than Zachary.

Now here is one with the spices rubbed on top.

A little before Thanksgiving treat

Kevin's niece gave us this lovely link. Scroll down to witness a "sweet" variation of the Naked Turkey!!

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/



HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

Hoping for a Naked Turkey

We all know how much Zachary likes to sit and play in the refrigerator. Today, he discovered that there is a turkey sleeping in there. You can see that Zachary is completely turned around while looking at the turkey resting peacefully on the shelf.

For good times sake, Zachary also decided to have a seat and relax his hot bum in the fridge.

Zachary is ready to chow down and get this Naked Turkey party started right.

Single Dad

Samantha is in Houston for the weekend, so I get to be a single father for a couple of days. A one year old can certainly wear you out. We both took a nap this morning after going to the gym.

Zachary played in the childcare center while I went for a run. I thought about running outside, but the wind is a bit much today (gusting to 25 mph).

Recently Zachary decided to do some rearranging of our refrigerator, and I thought I would post this special video for only this group to see.

Life is fun

Just wanted to touch base with everyone on here since I don't always get to talk to all of you. Life has been fun here in Houston since Ike. My store has managed to turnover nearly half of the staff and half of the managers so I am in the middle of getting people hired and trained so that we don't fall on our faces during the holiday season.

So needless to say I'm going to be working a lot between now and christmas, which means I'm taking vacation in the spring. Of course I'm heading up north to visit Brooke/Rich/Jazzy...but I may extend my vacation a little and go snowboarding while we are up there.

Hope everyone is doing great! I wish I had cool pics of halloween, but I closed that night so I did nothing...haha Story of my life for all of the fun holidays!

Happy Halloween

Zachary had a great time going around to the neighborhood homes to see what they had.

He figured out pretty quickly that you are supposed to go to the front door and get the homeowners attention. Unfortunately, he did that even when the homeowner was sitting on the driveway. Then Zachary discovered that banging on glass storm doors can be fun.

Zachary had so much fun that he even did a dance.

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!! I dressed up a bit for work. Wanted to be Frankenstein, but it didn't quite work out. So I was a zombie instead. Wish my eyes were as red as they look in the picture, that would have been cool!!! Didn't win the costume contest, but got third prize for my cubicle. Probably 'cause I was one of about 4 who decorated!! Right now we are passing out candy, but there aren't nearly as many as I thought. So who wants the leftovers???

For anyone else who follows the blog- ummm, well ok just for the fun of it

Well, you have already seen the photos, but I figured maybe Carol or somebody else might look at these so I will post the photos of Jazzy I got yesterday. She is pouting and grumpy from the looks of it and has adorable chubby cheeks and a little dimple on her chin from the look of it, but it is too hard to say.... it does run on Rich's side of the family, so it is possible... :) I'll post nursery photos later. It is almost done with the furniture, but not the decorations....

Are we having fun yet?

As part of our efforts to update the house a bit, we decided to have the floors redone. Several phone calls later we thought that $2500 was a bit much to pay. So we decided to do it ourselves!! Thanks Home Depot!! Took awhile....

Maybe 'cause Martha thought it could be done with a Dremel tool???

Fortunately Kevin prevailed and got a REAL sander!

See?!? He got it all sanded down just fine!



And now we have a beautiful, shiny floor!!! Probably not as nicely done as if we had paid $2500, but I think it looks just fine and Kevin did a great job!!!

I went to Philips today for another ultrasound and got some photos of Jasmine. It is exactly 2 months from today (of course it could be early or later).... It is unbelievable how fast the time has gone and now I am sure the time will go by incredibly slow!! :) I love her little nose!! (I think it looks like mine and she definitely has my lips!!) Cheeks, well those look like Richard's and the technician said she has hair on her head and eyelashes too! I am sure she'll look nothing like this when she arrives as she is filling out with the chubby-ness that newborns have, but I can't wait!

One more photo for you to see. I will send the rest in an email.

The nursery was painted this week and the furniture needs to be moved up to the room. I dread the task of putting the crib together, but once it is done it is just a matter of putting clothes in the dressers and gathering items from the 4 baby showers I am having.... I can't imagine there is enough stuff for people to purchase for Jazzy, but all the teams and work were insistant on having a shower so here we go....

Somebody wants to say HI!!!

I am at the end of my 23rd week..hard to believe! I have just under 4 months to go....CRAZY!

I had my 1st ultrasound for Philips and Jazzy made $25!! This was done in 3D imaging. Very cool!!
I had my 2nd ultrasound pictures done for Philips Technology and Jazzy has made $100 towards her future education! She is such the model! HAHA

In this picture you can see she is about to suck her thumb. This is 2D so you see more bone than facial features. This picture is of her waving HI to everyone!

We hope everyone is doing well!! I am starting to plan the nursery and get it ready so that it can be close to done with the final touches coming after the baby shower when we know whether we need to buy the baby bedding or if it is given to us as a gift.

Slowly getting back to reality

Though we wish we could have stayed in Maui forever, it just wasn't meant to be. Troubling as it is, we do have to work. I know, I know; work - schwork. We had a blast, and isn't that what vacation is all about? Enjoying your time in a location so much that you wish you could stay forever. Then when you return to "life", you realize that your ideal place to live probably has issues too. If I could live as a tourist though, Maui would be a bad spot to do it in. Y'all should try it some time.

Zachary has started waiving this weekend, and has really become quite the ham. Several times today he would throw himself on the carpet, bed; wherever he happened to be and then sigh. After a couple of seconds, he would look over at us to make sure we were paying attention. When he saw that we were laughing, he giggled. I'm sure that this is the reason why Zachary continues to perform this little act. Quite the Drama King.

Our summer trips are now over, and there are only 3 more weeks until the end of summer. :(

Here is a little picture that I thought you would enjoy.

Ciao

Trip to Northwest

Sorry that i haven't posted anything on here since I have gotten back from my vacation. I have yet to have a day off and have been working a ton of hours every day.

I had a blast on my 9 days off, really enjoyed both Oregon and Washington. I couldn't have planned anything any better. I really had a great time not having anything in particular to do. I got to see a little of Portland, and absolutely loved the area and the weather. The 30 degree weather change may have had something to do with that, plus the lack of humidity definitely helped. I was able to also start running again which was great with the cool mornings.

While I was in Seattle I got to get out and see some things in Washington that I didn't know existed. Rich took me out to Saquamie (spelling?) Falls which is quite impressive. We were out there walking the trails and trying to find the most difficult and shortest distance to scale the rocks and boardwalk. It was a lot of fun, and a good change from the mundane days that I normally have outdoors. It's a little tough to do anything in Houston outdoors when it's 100 degrees and humid...We also had some great food while I was out in Seattle, in addition to the great places that Martha mentioned in her post. We even got a chance to bbq on the Sunday before I left which just topped off the vacation perfectly.

Thanks again Martha/Kevin and Brooke/Rich for putting up with me in your homes for a while. I really had a great time spending time with everyone. i can only hope that soon I will get an opportunity to end up out there permanently.

Voodoo Doughnuts

Oops! Forgot to put the link for Voodoo Doughnuts in here so you could see the size of the "Tex-Ass"

http://voodoodoughnut.com/

Kyle comes to town

Kyle arrived in Portland right on time Sunday evening. We took him out for dinner at one of Porland's many brew pubs. This one was McTarnahan's, part of the Pyramid brewery family. After that we headed home taking the scenic route over the hills of west Portland. Mookie barked at him a bit, and then remembered that he rather liked Kyle the last time he saw him and decided that he could sit on his lap!

On Monday, Kyle went for his first run in a while and was able to make it back to the house without calling for help!! So I let him take a shower and then he and I headed downtown on the TriMet Max train. Stopped in Pioneer Square, otherwise known as Portland's Livingroom, and started a little walking tour from there. Headed off to the Niketown for a little comparison shopping. Kevin met us there and we went down the river where Kevin took our picture with a view of the Hawthorne bridge behind us. Then we headed off to Voodoo Doughnuts!!! They are a quirky little Portland landmark that we have been to just a couple of times now. I am really wanting to try their maple bar with bacon, but they haven't had it when I went in. I guess you need to get there early for that!! But Kyle decided to try the biggest doughnut they had, appropriately called the "Tex-Ass". Little did we know he would soon be the center of attention. They have a little contest when they sell that big ol' doughnut. If you can finish it in a minute and 20 seconds, it is free plus you get a pin that says you won the "Tex-Ass" challenge. Well, who could resist that!!! Kyle did his best, but left a bite on the plate before time was up. Better luck next time......

We went to lunch at another Portland hot spot, Kell's Irish pub. Had a good lunch, but not beer. Came home and took Mookie for a walk, then to the vet. On the way back, I drove Kyle around the Nike campus and then went in search of the Nike Employee store. Once we figured out where it was, we went back home and exchanged Mookie for Kevin and went back out! We made quite the killing there!!! Thanks Kyle!!! We had just gotten our IRS Stimulus check so we did our bit to stimulate the economy. At least Nike's part of it anyway!!

So after all that shopping we worked up an appetite and went to another area brew pub (seeing a pattern here yet?), McMenamins. They have brew pubs & wineries all over Oregon and parts of Washington, some with hotels, movie theaters, concert halls and other such fun stuff. Plus they make a pretty good selection of beers!! We go there pretty frequently for dinner, not having beer every time though. Last night I had a Ruby Red ale, which has a slight hint of raspberry to it. More like soda then a beer!!

Today we headed out to the Woodburn factory outlets. Why? Why not?!?! Had to do some more comparison shopping. Kyle wasn't that impressed. But I managed to find another shirt at Nike and then a shirt and pants at the Columbia outlet. So I had fun anyway.

Currently Kyle is schmoozing at Nike. He got invited to a softball game after they show him around, so I'm not sure when he'll be back. Hopefully he will make some good contacts here at Nike corporate. It would be cool if he ended up moving here!! But he, like the rest of you is ALWAYS welcome to come visit!!!