Will it never end??

I'm still sick. If you remember, I got sick with strep throat on Super Bowl Sunday (that was February 3). I was put on antibiotics for 10 days...FOUR times a day!! After I finished the antibiotics, I felt much better, but not 100%. And I had a cough that just wouldn't go away. Then this last Friday, February 22, I started coughing more, and got sinus congestion and was running a fever. I went to school today thinking I'd be okay, but as the day wore on, I just felt worse and worse. My kids even commented after lunch that I didn't look like I felt very good. On the down side, that's a nice way of saying you look like crap. On the upside, they were pretty well behaved!

I went back to the doctor after work, and apparently I have a head cold, a chest cold, AND an ear infection. I am not surprised about the head and chest colds, in fact I was afraid I had bronchitis. I was totally unaware of the ear infection, though.

Regardless, I am TIRED of being sick. I feel gross, and my whole body just aches from all the coughing.

I'm sitting up at 3a.m. because I already called in sick for work for Tuesday, and I don't want to bother J with my coughing. He has to go to work. Do you know how awful it is to be up at this time of night?? There's nothing to do, I can't get comfy on the couch, my head hurts so I don't want to read...

Sorry for complaining. It was either this or go wake up J, and I decided that wouldn't be fair. I just am feeling sorry for myself. The doctor swears I'll be feeling better soon. Oh, and I just went to the walk-in clinic, but I really liked the doctor! He actually LISTENED to me. I have allergies to sulfa drugs, which rules out a few antibiotics. So he told me he was going to prescribe Zithromax, and asked if I had used it before. The Z-pack is a favorite of doctors, but it just doesn't work for me. I've never been successful with just one round. I tell this to doctors, but they apparently think they have the magic prescription pen, and because THEY prescribed it, it will work. Then I go back in five days and they have to prescribe a second round. This time, the doctor listened to me, and said he was going to give me something stronger.

It's nice when they listen. Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I get over this soon. That and it'll be nice to be back to normal amounts of liquid intakes...and outtakes, if you catch my drift. It seems like all I've been doing for the last month is peeing. I have been drinking SO much water and juice!

I'm going to go curl up on the couch and feel sorry for myself again. Thanks for listening to me whine.

Did I ever tell you about my dad? Chapter 1

This is one of my favorite pictures of my dad. This is what I see in my mind when I close my eyes to picture him.

My dad is a commercial fisherman. From the time he was a kid, fishing has been in his blood. The man has lived out on the waters of Puget Sound for almost his entire life. Even now, two years after he sold the boat, I still think of him as a fisherman. It's what he is. I'm pretty sure there's saltwater running through his veins.

This is what I know of my dad's story. I'm sad to admit that I don't know that much about my dad. Well, not as much as I would like to know, anyway. I love my dad, but we've never been all that close. He and my mom split up when I was young, and I just never really got to know my dad very well.

But here's part of his story...

My grandfather, Paul Plenkovich, was born in Bol Brach, Croatia, Yugoslavia in 1901. He grew up in Croatia, but decided he wanted to come to the United States. When he was 20 years old, he decided it was time. He went to the immigration offices, filled out the paperwork, and sat back to wait. As he waited, he was watching the man who had helped him. The man was putting paperwork into two separate piles. After awhile, Grandpa asked the man what the difference was between the two stacks. The man explained that the stack on his left was for the people who would be leaving for America on the next boat out. It was likely to leave in 2-3 days. The stack on his right was for the boat after that. It was likely to leave in 2-3 weeks, maybe more.

Grandpa's papers had been placed in the stack on the right.

He was so eager to get to America, when that man took a break, Grandpa reached across the counter, grabbed his paper from the stack, and added it to the stack on the left. Not the most honest move, perhaps, but he wanted to come to America.

He entered the country in New York, and then traveled to Washington. His sister lived in Everett, and there was a large Croatian community in Seattle. A few years after he got to Washington, Grandpa bought himself a fishing boat. It was an all wood, purse seine fishing boat. (A seine is a large fishing net that hangs vertically in the water by attaching weights along the bottom edge and floats along the top. A purse seine is named that because along the bottom are a number of rings. A rope passes through all the rings, and when pulled, draws the rings close to one another, preventing the fish from swimming down to escape the net. This is similar to a traditional style purse, which has a drawstring. Grandpa began fishing for salmon.)

The boat was named Saint Nicholas. Here's a picture. Isn't she pretty? Well, as pretty as a fishing vessel can be, that is.

Grandpa was working and living in the Seattle area when he met my grandma. He was 20 the first time they met, and she was 7. Weird, huh? What's even weirder, was that, according to the story I remember, Grandpa was teasing her one day, and told her, "You know, Clara, I'm going to marry you one day!" She was horrified and retorted, "I'll NEVER marry a dirty, damn old fisherman!"

How wrong she was. When she was 17 and he was 30, Clara and Paul got married. They had 5 kids: two girls and then three boys. Here is a portrait the kids had done in the early 80s as a 50th wedding anniversary present for Grandma and Grandpa. My grandparents were pretty good looking, if I do say so myself!! My cousin Joanna looks EXACTLY like my grandma, and my cousin Steve is a carbon copy of my grandpa. In a family as large as ours, though, it's not surprising that some of us look like them! (I am one of the youngest of 21 grandkids. As I write this, there are something like 22 great-grandkids. My family is HUGE!) My dad is in the blue and white shirt in the center of the boys. To the left of him is my Uncle Tommy, and to the right is my Uncle Paul (whom everyone calls "Brother" - I'm not sure why.) My Aunt Jennie is in the blue and my Aunt Pearl is in the pink.

My dad, Bob, was the second boy, and the fourth kid. All the boys worked on the boat at one time or another, but my dad is the one who really loved the St. Nick. He always wanted to work on the boat with his dad. When he was only 11 years old, he was finally able to be a crew member. He had a 1/4 share. By the time he was 13 he had a full share.

Here's a picture of my dad showing off a prized salmon. It was 1964, and he was about 13. That's my Grandpa Paul on the far left. Isn't he cute? He looks like a fisherman, doesn't he? And check out my dad's sweatshirt...he's been covered in dirt and diesel fuel since he was a kid.

Actually, diesel is a smell that I will forever associate with my dad. After he graduated high school, Dad went to South Seattle Community College and got a Diesel Mechanic certificate. He did this so that he could take care of maintenance on the St. Nick himself. And for as long as I can remember he has driven an oil truck during the winter months, filling the tanks of homes in the Seattle area that are still heated by oil. Recently, he's been doing it year round.

Dad has lived his entire life in West Seattle. He grew up in a house that you could see from the West Seattle Bridge. Their house was up high on a cliff, overlooking the Duamish River, which feeds into Puget Sound.

The family business was fishing. Grandpa was the captain of the St. Nick, Grandma Clara was the galley chef, and Dad and his brothers worked on the crew. After awhile, Grandma stopped going on fishing trips, and the guys cooked for themselves. But my dad always went on trips whenever he could. They always fished in Puget Sound, usually along the Salmon Banks.

Here is a picture of them leaving on a trip that Grandma went on. The boat is passing through the Ballard Locks. My dad is wearing blue walking on the boat, Grandma is in the apron, and my cousin Steve (the one who looks just like Grandpa Paul) is sitting on the side of the boat. If you look carefully, you can see a woman standing with a cute little girl dressed all in pink. That's a good friend of the family, Fran, and me!!

Here's an interesting side story: In the early days of WW2, Grandpa and some of his friends were fishing off Alki Beach. It was a beautiful day, and they had their boats in fairly close to shore. Because they were close enough to talk, they were yelling across the water at each other. Because they were all Croatian, it was easier to speak the "old language" than English, so that's what they were doing. A woman walking her dog along shore heard their conversation, and freaked out. She called the police who in turn called the Coast Guard. Imagine Grandpa Paul's surprise when the Coast Guard showed up because they had been told the Communists were anchored off Alki.

Here's a picture of Grandpa around that time. He was so tan! And young!




My grandpa...mistaken for a Communist. Grandpa loved Croatia, but America was his country. In fact, Grandpa was an integral part of the fishing community in Seattle. My dad has continued this tradition, and served several terms as President of the Seiner's Association. They used to be involved in the Fishermen's Festival and the Blessing of the Fleet services that the Ballard First Lutheran Church did.


Here are some photos of the 1980 Blessing of the Fleet.


The program cover:

The ceremony.



My dad and Grandpa Paul.

Grandma made it into this photo!

Some sort of flag. I'm not sure what it was, or why it's important, but it appears to be so. Perhaps it has something to do with showing that the boat and it's crew had been blessed?

Here's Dad after he hung the flag on the St. Nick.

Maybe I had more to say than I thought. More to follow in another post...

Do you have the witch in you?

I have a touch of the witch in me. Depending on who you talk to, they may or may not be surprised to find this out. You may be more surprised to find out that J also has a bit of the witch in him.

What on earth am I talking about you may ask??

Well, it's simple: water witching.

It's also called divining or dowsing. If you haven't heard of water witching, here's what dictionary.com says about it: –verb (used without object) 1. to search for underground supplies of water, metal, etc., by the use of a divining rod.

Basically, dowsing is when someone detects hidden or buried water (or minerals) without the use of scientific apperatus. A dowser uses some sort of divining rod. It can be made from wood or copper or other materials, depending on the preference of the dowser. He or she will walk around a piece of property, and when he nears an underground water source, the divining rod will move in some fashion, indicating the presence of water. This is useful especially when you are looking to dig a well on property. Oh, and also as entertainment for the skeptical.

I have to admit that I have always been curious about how this works, and more than a little skeptical. I mean, come on, finding water by walking around holding a stick? Like that could ever be possible. Because he is a scientist both by nature and profession, J was even more skeptical than I was.

We were skeptical, that is, until we went to Colville to visit with my friend Tracy's parents. Apparently Roger, her dad, has a long history of water witching in his family. There was even a big article written about Roger's dad in a Minnesota newspaper. His dad was a very successful dowser. He could not only pinpoint the location of water, he could tell you how deep it was, and how many gallons per minute it would produce. Yeah, right. I'll believe it when I see it. According to Tracy, Roger is almost as good as his dad, and even "witched" his own property in Colville successfully.

This doesn't sound too amazing or impressive at first. Any idiot can walk around a property with a stick and pick a place where they think water would be. Anybody is bound to hit water eventually, right?

Imagine how skeptical the well drilling company was when Roger called them out, showed them exactly where to drill, and told them that the water was deep. Several hundred feet deep, to be more precise. He didn't need them to survey his land, he was confident he knew what he was talking about.

He was right. The drilling company wanted to stop drilling long before they hit water. They thought he was going to a lot of expense unnecessarily, and that they would be better off trying a new spot. Then they hit water, right when and where he told them they would.

We thought this was a great story, but were still a bit skeptical. So Roger got out his divining rods, and took me and J outside to prove it to us.

He demonstrated how to hold the divining rods (his were made from copper), and what to do.




Then he told us the rods would move and form a cross when we came across water if we "had the witch" in us.




Imagine our surprise when J was walking down the driveway and out of nowhere, the rods started moving...all by themselves. See, that's the crazy thing about water witching. You are merely resting the rods in your hand. When you come across water, they move and form a cross all by themselves, with no movement of your hands. (That's J and my friend Tracy.)




They formed a cross (it's more like an "x marks the spot" sort of cross). After J tried it, I gave it a whirl. I was successful, too!

See the goofy smile on my face?? I'm a bit in shock. Those rods moved all on their own...while I was holding them! It's the most bizarre experience I've had in a LONG time!

Then Roger showed us how to figure out how deep the water was. If you hold one of the rods parallel to the ground it will bounce. You count the bounces and that number is how many feet deep the water is. Again, you just hold them and they move on their own.

Then you hold the rod perpendicular to the ground, and it will make circles. Count the circles, and it will tell you how many gallons per minute the water will flow.




We followed his directions. Only after J and I had both done this did Roger tell us what he knew about that particular spot and ask us what our results were.



We were within a few feet of his, and a gallon or two of how fast the water was. Needless to say, we're now believers!

Happy Valentine's Day!

To be 100% honest, I don't typically enjoy holiday's like Valentine's Day that fall in the middle of a school week. The main reason I don't like it is that I feel bad for some of the kids. High school is not like elementary school - not all of the kids get Valentine's. And some get tons. While I'm happy for those who do get them, it makes me sad to see the other kids walking around empty handed. Some of the kids don't seem to care, but others really do.

Last year, I even had a girl send herself flowers at school and claim they were from her boyfriend. The only thing is, she had never mentioned a boyfriend before. It was a lot like that episode of the Brady Bunch when Jan claims to be dating a boy named George Glass who didn't even really exist. Do you remember that? It was uncomfortable to see her lie, just to fit in.

And, on top of the kids feeling bad, there's ALWAYS drama about fights and date plans, etc. Then there is the class disruptions. Office aides delivering stuff, clubs who sold things delivering, call slips for kids being delivered so they can go to the office to pick stuff up. It's crazy.

Oh, and don't forget the sugar. That's all they eat, all day long. Even big kids are affected by that much sugar. Some it makes sweeter...most turn into little Tazmanian Devils.

So, you see, I'm not really a grinch about the holiday. I'm not. It's just not my favorite day.

I usually try to buy Valentine's pencils or erasers or something for kids. That way I can make sure that everyone gets something. But this year time just slipped away from me and I didn't get around to it.

I got a few Valentine's from kids. My favorite, though, came from two of my cutie-pie freshmen. Amanda and Logan were in Spanish class together, and they were making Valentine's. They made one for me.

Here it is:

J was really cute, though. He stopped at the store and bought me flowers, a card, and chocolates. He also got the fixin's for shrimp jambalaya (he's half-Cajun), crab legs, garlic bread and my favorite cherry cheesecake for dessert. It was sweet! I just felt bad that I couldn't eat any of it...I finished taking my antibiotics from Strep throat on Wednesday. On Thursday my throat was sore again. Today, it's terrible. I'm going to go back to the Urgent Care in an hour when they open. Cross your fingers, and hope it's not strep hanging on.

Hocking Household Memos

Dear Husband,

FYI, dirty socks belong in the hamper, not on the floor. The same goes for dirty jeans, t-shirts, and underwear. Oh, and newspapers, magazines, and wrappers belong in the trash can, not on the floor. This is not the first time we have talked about this young man. Don’t pretend you don’t understand. I know you speak English.

Love,
The Woman Who is Tired of Sounding Like Your Mother

P.S. Don’t roll your eyes when you think I’m not looking. I have eyes in the back of my head. I can see you.



Dear Husband,

Late breaking news: I am the WIFE. That means that I am your partner. I am not the maid, I am not the secretary. You don’t pay enough for me to accept those jobs. It is only fair for you to pick up after yourself, and help me go through the junk mail tower on the mail table. We are equal in all things. Except bug killing. That’s all you.

Love,
The Woman Who is About to Put All the Dirty Dishes in Your Pretty New Truck, and Set Fire to the Mail Table So We Can Start Over



Dear Zoe and Sid,

When I put your toys away in the toy box, that’s where I want them to stay. You may take them out one at a time and play with them, but then you must return them to the box when you are finished. Contrary to popular belief, they do not belong placed carefully around the house on the floor so I can trip on them in the middle of the night.

Love,
The Woman Who Controls Both the Food and the Treats So You Better Do What I Say



Dear Husband,

The pantry cupboard is for storing food, not empty boxes that used to contain food. That’s what the recycling bin is for. When I look through the cupboards in the morning on my way out the door, there is nothing more frustrating than pulling out an empty box of granola bars. Seriously. It makes me want to hurt you. You can tell when a box is empty, right? So why on earth would you put it back in the cupboard?

Love,
The Woman Who Cannot Believe a Grown Man Could Let His Wife Starve on Her Way to Work

P.S. DO NOT say anything about the size of my behind. I DO TOO need a granola bar in the mornings, or else I will waste away and you will be sorry.

Letter to myself at 17

I just turned 30. Where on earth has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was a senior in high school, looking forward to the rest of my life. If only I could have known then what I know now. Life has been good for me, but there are things I would have done differently. If I could write a letter to myself at 17, this is what I’d say:

1. Don’t worry about being popular. It doesn’t matter in the real world. You are who you are, and you should be proud of yourself. Have fun, enjoy your friends, and don’t worry about what anybody else thinks. You think that the things you do now are important, and they are, but honestly? You’ll forget the vast majority of them in the fairly near future. Unfortunately, you’ll not only forget the bad things, you’ll forget a lot of the good things, too.

2. Keep a journal. The older you get, the more you forget. It would be fun to have a record of what’s happened. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T GO BACK AND READ THE JOURNAL UNTIL YOU’VE GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL!! I guarantee you’ll think what you wrote was dumb and throw it away. Don’t. Give yourself some time and space before you go back and reminisce.

3. Don’t fight it – WSU is the best place for you. Don’t waste time looking at other schools, dreaming about other places. WSU will feel like home, and it will be some of the best years of your life.

4. When you get to WSU, find an advisor. The one they assign you is NOT helpful. Go to the English Department Chair, and get her help. Don’t let time slip by, and don’t take classes you don’t need…you’ll regret it later.

5. Embrace the breasticles...You have big boobs. Deal with it. They are going to be yours from now until forever. Don't wear big, baggy clothing trying to hide them. You aren't fooling anyone, and you just look heavier than you are. When you're 30, you'll be wishing you were still as "fat" as you were in high school, and that your boobs were as perky. (How horribly cliche is that? Sad, but it's true!)



6. Don’t stop taking Spanish. You’ll wish you were fluent later on in life.

7. Your dad loves you. He may not show it in a way that makes sense to you now, but he does. Don’t waste time being angry. You can’t change him, and you won’t be happy until you realize that. You’ll really regret the time you missed out with him.




You and Dad on your wedding day. He cried EVERY time he got close enough to talk to you. That's why he's got dark glasses on.

The crying started when he first saw you in your dress. He realized his baby wasn't a baby anymore.
8. Stop in and see Grandma and Grandpa whenever you can. Ask them questions about “the old country” and pay attention when they answer. You don’t have much time left with Grandpa. When he’s gone, you won’t regret the time you spent with him, but you’ll regret the time you could have spent with him and didn’t. Grandpa’s one of the nicest men you’ll ever know, with one of the coolest accents. And, you know, they named you after him. Grandpa's the Captain of the boat, your intials spell KAP...coincidence? Not according to Dad. And when you're 30, it won't annoy you when he calls you Kap. It will be endearing, and it will remind you of how much you miss the best grandpa ever.

Cap, Kap, and Dad.

9. Your sisters are not as horrible as you think they are. You will miss them terribly once you leave for college. You don't realize it now, but high school the last time you'll live within 200 miles of them. (When you're 30, you still don't live close enough to them.) Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, and your sisters turn out to be two of the best friends a girl can have. Don't let them get under your skin now. And believe her when Mom says "There will come a day when you girls will wish you were closer!" As much as I hate to admit it, she's right.

K, T, L - circa 1982.


L, K, T - August 3, 2003



10. Don’t worry about whether or not you’ll have a boyfriend in college. You will. Have a little faith. You’ll recognize him when he has to duck to get through the doorway. His Southern drawl will fade (and that’s going to bother him more than it’s going to bother you) , but his love will stay strong. You’ll make each other laugh, even when times are hard. And remember, even if he doesn’t understand how you are feeling (and that’s going to happen…a LOT), he loves you. A strong friendship is the basis of a strong relationship.



J at 17.

J on your wedding day.
11. These are nowhere near the best years of your life. The best is still to come. Even at 30 (which, by the way, is really not that old), there’s more just around the corner.


That’s just the beginning of what I would say if I could write a letter to me.

Do you have a PostSecret?

Yesterday one of my more creative (and to be honest - flaky) students came to me and asked me if I had ever seen a PostSecret. She thought it would be a great project for English class, and wanted to know if we could do it. I hadn't ever heard of it before, so I asked her to explain what it was.

Basically, it's a website that people can post anonymous secrets to. You decide on a secret that you want to tell, create a postcard, incorporate your secret on the picture side, and mail it to the address on the website. The blog creator chooses some of the postcards and posts them on his site once a week. It all started as a community art project, and has evolved into a way for people to unburden themselves anonymously with their deepest secrets.

It's intriguing. I got online to check it out myself this morning. Some of the secrets were entirely disturbing. Some of them are endearing. Some of them are heartbreaking. There's no way to go back and view past postcards. It's truly a way to unburden yourself and then move on.

Here are a few of the post secrets from this week. I'm sure I'll be checking it out tomorrow to see what's new.

Do you have a post secret?

I ROCK!!!

Okay, so I am usually way more modest than that. But today, I have to confess, I kick ass. J and I just ordered a new computer. Our old one was dying a little more each day, and it was getting to the point it was stressing me out. I use the computer EVERY day between school work and just for fun. We check the internet about a million times a day. The few times I've been without a computer, I've felt weird. Sort of like when you wear a watch every day for a year, and then the battery dies, so you don't wear it. That kind of weird. You know what I mean?

Anyway, while I was home from school yesterday (because I was sick and trying not to die - well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but strep throat bites!) the new computer was delivered. We didn't get it set up last night because we just didn't feel up to it. Plus, we opted to save $354 and NOT buy MS Office from Dell because I can get a student / educator version from my school district for $20. I had not purchased it as of yesterday, so we didn't really see the point of getting it all put together if we couldn't use it.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I ROCK!! When I got home, I took some pain medication, and sat down in front of the television. I don't know what possessed me to wander over to the new computer boxes, but I did. I think it's perhaps because J laughed at me yesterday when I told him I could put the new computer together. He apparently thinks I am an idiot.

Well, he's WRONG. I took apart the old computer, and even put things in plastic baggies to keep cords neat and organized. I unpacked the new computer, and got it all put together. This is my very first blog entry on my brand new computer. It's so pretty! Windows Vista pretty much sucks so far, but I've been pretty impressed with the rest of it! Unfortunately, my trusty printer that I've had for a million years won't work with the new computer, but don't worry...J gave me a new printer a year ago for Christmas, and that one does work. I liked keeping the old one around for large printing jobs because the new one blows through ink like nobody's business. But I'll just have to be more organized and do that kind of stuff at school.

But just for today, I ROCK. J hasn't come home yet. I'm guessing he's out drinking beer with his buddies. But I don't care. Because I didn't need a single bit of help from him. I even got the internet hooked back up, obviously!!

Wish me luck with iTunes...that's my next project! I just wanted to take a break and let you all know that women can do whatever they want if they put their minds to it. Even when their husbands think they are dumb(ish).

Now I'll be a better photographer!

For my 30th birthday, J was going to give me one of the really cool picture frames we got for his mom for Christmas. It's digital!! You put a memory stick in it, and it will play a slide show of the pictures. It will also play music. I have wanted one for a long time, and we finally did the research around Christmas because we thought it would be a great gift for his mom. She's a professional artist, and we thought it would be super cool if she took the picture frame with her to art shows and just had a slide show playing of all her prints. She takes her portfolio with her, but that can be kind of bulky, and you have to get people interested enough to stop and look through it anyway. We thought the picture frame slideshow may catch peoples attention, and then they may look through her portfolio. Great idea, huh!

Anyway, the frame we bought for her is the one that Consumer Reports said is the best for the price range we were shopping in. It's the best quality and the most bang for the buck. Unfortunately, a lot of people must read Consumer Reports because it's sold out. We were lucky at Christmas, but J was unlucky last week.

On the other hand, my second choice of gifts was a new digital camera. I love the one we have, but it is four years old. That's ancient in technology terms. And it's very bulky, so I just don't take it places very often. I thought if I had a smaller camera, I would take it more places, and record more events. I did some research, and we went to three different stores before we settled on the Sony. I LOVE IT!! It was a bit more expensive than we had hoped, but my dad and step-mom had sent me some money for my birthday, and we threw that in our "budget" and we were good to go. I am SO excited!

The only thing that stresses me out a bit, is that it's got a touch screen, and it didn't come with a camera case. I got online to look for one, and the one I want is backordered for two months. Figures, huh? But I will find something, because I won't be throwing it in my pocket or my purse until it is protected!

Isn't it pretty? It comes in black and red, too, but for some odd reason, silver was the only color on sale at Circuit City. Go figure. I obviously got these photos off the internet. I couldn't find a good picture that shows the touch screen in action, though. But instead of turning dials and knobs, you just touch the screen! The camera case I want to get has a stylus included, which I think will help prolong the life of the screen. Keep your fingers crossed!

It's little, but it's powerful. The memory stick was on sale, too...it's a 2GB memory stick that cost the same as a 1GB stick. And, are you ready for this?? With the pictures set at the highest quality setting, it will hold 636 photos!!!

I can't wait to quit being sick so I can go out and get a camera case and start playing with my new camera! Hopefully I'll be a better photographer with more practice, and a better camera. This camera even has a "smile detector" in it! When you focus in on someone's face, when they smile the camera will take the picture automatically...no more missed smiles! In theory, anyway. I'll let you know how it works out! I hope J is ready to be my subject, because I don't think Sid and Zoe really smile all that much.

I'd like to thank all the people who made this possible...

I won an award!! I never win anything, but I won an award!! Leah recently bestowed upon me the fabulous "E for Excellent" blog award!! She said the prize money is in the mail... Ha! Just kidding. But what I wouldn't give for some prize money!

Anyway, I'm very flattered and very honored that she chose me to give this award to. And she even made it public on her blog!! You can read all about it here.

Thanks, Leah, for the award, but are you sure it wasn't an early birthday gift?

So wrong, but so funny

I am SO sick today. J took me to the emergency room this morning. Turns out I have strep throat for the first time in about a million years. So far, being thirty sucks. (My birthday was on Friday...) Anway, I was sleeping through the SuperBowl, so I missed my favorite part: the half-time commercials. So, now that the vicodin has kicked in a bit, I thought I would see if I could find the commercials on YouTube yet. Turns out I can't. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorow. However, I did go to Budweiser.com to see what their commercials were, and I came across this one. I don't know if this actually aired or not, but if it did, I am horrified! Talk about innuendo...

It did make me think of my sisters, though....but that may be for another post!