Remembering

As I sit watching Miss America 2010 I have many thoughts passing through my head. Unfortunately, most of them are not about the paper on phonics that I am editing. Hopefully that comes out okay...

I am reminded of the first time I hung out with Jeremy's family. Mostly his mom, sister and I watched Miss America 2006 while I held 5 week old Olivia. Wow has time flown! I never would have guessed at the time that I would now be part of the family, and aunty to 4 year old Olivia.

I also thought about the girls up on that stage. I'm obviously not the pageant type. Something about grace and walking in heels. But I do have to admit it takes some guts to get up in front of that many people that are all judging you on how you take care of yourself and everything that comes out of your mouth. As hard as I try to be a good person, I think I would not fair well if I was being judged on everything that came out of my mouth.

Finally, and mostly, I thought of the strange juxtaposition of watching this contest of beauty while thinking of the people in Haiti that just suffered such tragedy. I was sitting alone on Saturday watching Miss America because of that tragedy. I am greatly missing Jeremy, but I am glad that he is doing good work flying in and out of Haiti. I guess it is the definition of the phrase "the show must go on". I am glad that as a country we can step up and provide so much aid in a time of need. I hope that as we do begin to move on that we don't forget these people and the support they will need to rebuild any semblance of a normal life. I hope that I can a balance between dwelling and forgetting, for the people of Haiti and for so many more around the world dealing with tragedy I can barely begin to imagine.

Why I should have been a dog

This is how I spend a good portion of my day

And this is how the dog spends a good portion of hers....

Enough said.

A new low to share a laugh

I don't know how many of you will find this as funny as I do, and it is definitely taking our blog to a new low. So here goes! In the military particularly, but I assume it applies to most business, people say "Poop (censored for wide viewing) rolls (flows, runs, as applies) downhill." Today I observed a "concrete example", as we would say in the "education" field, of this. As we were out for our morning walk, and I was pondering where Bald Eagles sleep, since they are not in the tree where they perch all day if we walk too early or too late. I came to an abrupt stop at the end of the leash to realize that Annie had perched herself on the side of a snowbank to do her business, looked quite precarious not sure why she chose that over the flat ground at the bottom, but that is when I realized that poop does indeed roll downhill. Since I am apparently the recipient of poop in this relationship I discovered there is no dignity to dog owning as I scurried around the bottom of the snowbank collecting the evidence of her hard work. Hopefully you are finding this amusing and not totally disgusting, oh and hope you are not trying to eat right now... Sorry if I ruined your meal!

Attitude Adjustment

I don't know who reads this blog, but I'm sure this will speak to any ladies. Yesterday, I pulled things together, along with studying I shaved my legs and blow dried my hair. I found, what I thought was, a pretty cute outfit and proudly entered "hot pink" on my facebook status line. Thanks ladies for all my fun treasures at girls night! After more studying I made my husband a nice dinner of Pad Thai, okay I cheated and it was a kit, but I made it. As we sat down to eat with our glasses of wine I was feeling pretty proud of myself. However, about half way through dinner I managed to lodge a piece of shrimp tail, from my "ready to cook, peeled and deveined" shrimp on my tonsil. I proceeded to cough and choke until I threw up. In front of my husband. If I was smart I would have removed my oh so cute they have to put the tag there because there is no where else to put it underwear, put on some granny panties and flannel pjs and headed to bed. But I for some reason waited three hours. This morning I crawled out of bed at 7:15 with a residual bad attitude, compounded by the fact it was 7:15 and I was up because tomorrow at that time I will be arriving to take a miserable test that I'm not prepared for. Who schedules tests at 7:30 Saturday morning? And why are they all the same weekend as drill forcing me to PAY to go up to Eielson? And how unfair is it that I had to pay $75 extra because I read the schedule wrong and missed the sign up deadline? Digression. Okay, the attitude part. After my other morning tasks I dressed to take our dog for her morning physical therapy walk. She had knee surgery and is now missing fur in several places (shaved, not stress) and is ever more high maintenance than before, but oh so adorable. And once I got out of the house I found that it was a beautiful sunny, though chilly, day. As we walked our two blocks I was looking at the Bald Eagles that have lived in a tree in our neighborhood since I was in high school. Something about it all struck me. Have these Eagles really been married for 10 + years? Kidding! I am so lucky to live in a place where, in the heart of the city, Eagles live in my neighborhood. Where everything is so beautiful covered in snow, and there are mountain views from everywhere. I think I need to take more time to appreciate the beauty around me. And perhaps I should feel thankful that the Eagles haven't prayed on my splotchy, limping pup. So that is the beginning of my attitude adjustment. The beginning!

Bad picture, but there are two Eagles in that tree. The one you can make out looks like a dark blob sitting on a branch in the middle of the picture. I'll try for better pictures when the dog isn't annoyed I'm interrupting her walk.