Dog knows not her time...

This one hits a little closer to home. While I was away at college, my parents obtained a small dog. A poodle, in fact. Not a toy poodle, not a put-my-foot-hair-in-a-bow poodle, or anything like that. Just a sweet, small dog. [I say "obtained" because I don't remember the exact circumstance, but she was a gift from a family and my parents weren't exactly soliciting for a dog at the time.]

This dog, Charlotte, had many quirks. She would "sing" whenever music played. She would "SING" when you sang "Old Macdonald Had a Farm." She would lick your arm up and down until it was sticky and you had to take a bath. Actually, she'd lick you anywhere you had open skin.

Soon, she became my grandmother's companion. Mimi was living alone, and Charlotte provided that friendship, companionship, and sense of responsibility that everyone craves. Charlotte was faithful, always obedient, and for the last few years slept at Mimi's feet.

So this quick and incomplete eulogy is all to say - after the fam (including Charlotte) returned home from visiting us over Thanksgiving, Charlotte sadly passed away. She had developed a cough/choke while at our house, and a check-up at the vet revealed nothing serious. Unfortunately, it was. Whether it could have been prevented, we don't (and will never) know. But we will miss Charlotte, her wacky ways, and her sweet love.

Yo, peeps!!

I'm always learning. It's the "college of life" as my Dad would say.

Example: Pronounce the word - bonhomie. Seriously, right now - say it out loud - bonhomie.

I would have said, "bon-home-y." Yes, laugh out loud at me. Maybe it's just my ghetto self, but I seriously would have pronounced a hard "h" and a long "o" and "e." Instead, it's supposed to be pronounced like, "bahn-uh-mee." Like bigamy (only different).

Anyway, here's the real scoop: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bonhomie

Man knows not his time...

...in a purely selfish perspective, this stinks for the Redskins.

In a purely eternal perspective, let us hope his newfound maturity included a realization of his need for a renewing of the inner man.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/27/AR2007112700538.html?hpid=topnews

God's Perfect Timing

My parents, sister, and grandmother were planning to come visit for Thanksgiving and then called Tuesday to say the trip was off. As can be expected, we were definitely bummed. Then, we got a call on Wednesday, saying the trip was back on, and they'd be driving up on Thursday.

We decided to delay our Thanksgiving dinner until Friday so we could all enjoy it 1) fresh and 2) together.

Needless to say, when the power went out on Thursday at 2:30pm (right in the middle of when we would have been cooking), we were quite grateful that my family's trip was delayed a day and we were only planning on Progresso soup and cheese toast for dinner. The power was restored around 6ish, I believe.

I feel for those in our area who missed out on being able to complete their Thanksgiving meals, and I'm grateful that ours went without a hitch on Friday. Having our family in town was the greatest thing we could have asked for, and words can't describe how happy I was that my grandmother could travel with them and see our home, our neighborhood, and especially our little girl.

Amelia was enthralled with "Aunt Abby" as usual, and she would hear the door open and say "Pa" for Grandpa coming in from outside. At night, when I'm putting her to bed, she usually says "Mama Mama Mama" and I let her know that Mama loves her and says "Goodnight." Now, Amelia would say "Mama," then "Aaaa" (for Abby), "Pa" (for Grandpa), and then start back with "Mama." She wants to make sure that everyone still loves her. Don't worry, we do.

"We didn't start the fire..."

And hopefully it will burn on and on and on.

Our oven died. Yesterday, to be exact. We cooked some salmon on broil, and then I hit "bake" and "350." Timer dings, and rolls are mushy. No fire. Hmmmmm.... Broiler works, oven doesn't.

Quick google search indicates I likely have a bad "igniter." Call to the appliance place, pick up the last one, install it (after a few frustrating minutes, realized I could take the entire burner assembly off), and BOOOM (thanks, John Madden), it's a burnin'.

I had to splice a wire (wire doesn't seem to be the right word) - and only had plastic wire nuts. Hopefully it won't melt!

Just a little bit of fun...

...with "Photo Booth"

Did you know...

...that Godiva chocolates is owned by the Campbell Soup Co. ? I thought my last truffle tasted a bit...tomatoey....

Amelia and I trekked out to the mall one day last week, partly because I had some shopping to do but mostly because it was too cold and rainy to do our routine outdoor activities, and we both needed a change of scenery!

Our first stop? The mall's indoor PLAYGROUND! Because we got there a little early (15 minutes before all the stores opened) we were the first and only ones there, so for a few minutes, Amelia had the place to herself. I took advantage of the opportunity to get some pictures. =D


Amelia LOVES cars! She spent about 15 minutes crawling around, climbing up and down, and playing on this one.



You can't really see them in this picture, but there are three big slides on this "airplane." It's definitely a favorite!

Amelia attempts to climb up one of the airplane slides -- it's no small feat in socks!


~posted by Ang

Just a few laughs

Hopes this doesn't violate any copyright laws....

Our Little Bumblebee

Our church does a "Trunk or Treat" every year on Halloween --a sort of fall festival for families. Though we don't celebrate Halloween, we enjoy participating in the Trunk or Treat and, this year, dressing Amelia up as a little bumblebee. :-) She had such a fun time (mostly because she was outside where she could really spot the airplanes!). This year there were circus swings, which Mia was very excited about! The swing looked a little big for her, but she rode in it like a champ and loved it!