Today I am thankful for . . .

Good friends, healthy kids, two jobs, a great Sunday School teacher and Dora the Explorer ! AND MUSIC ! LOTS OF LOUD MUSIC !

The Tails Continue

Well apparently, the escape route that I had chosen was ineffective. I ran and hid in the nearest spot available only to find that I was trapped INSIDE the residence. My only hope was to remain hidden the entire day, allowing no one to detect my presence. I was able to achieve this goal, however once the sun was down again and the keepers had again retired, I found myself once again - locked in. I was able to prowl around the home quietly enough to not arouse the canine. I found myself in luck ! The kitchen window was left slightly open. I could feel the cool night breeze and my freedom. The white plastic-ish coverings were in the way but I was able to work around them in order to begin my task of detaching the wiry screen to allow my passage. I am sure that I created quite a racket banging the coverings around. But my diligence was rewarded. I exposed just enough space to permit me to escape just before the keepers made their way into the kitchen to investigate my presence. I must send my apologies to the universe for the unsightly mess of muddy pawprints and black fur that I left on the clean white sink. I must also beg pardon for the unattractive hole left in the window screen !

Tails from the Curtain Rod

The day began as days usually do for a cat like me. Although I must say, the dreadful heat in this sultry town seems to be gone for a season. It is October I suppose, which is my favorite month. My coat is solid black and I am therefore an interesting participant in the traditions this time of year. While I have no belief in superstition, I find the habit of crossing paths quite entertaining, as the keepers, both young and old cannot resist averting their steps to avoid me. They are quite comical actually, but I digress. I spent the day napping, chasing that bothersome blue jay that torments me endlessly, napping some more and then searching for something to eat. My keeper feeds me well, but it is my nature to hunt, so I hunt.

As I wandered the neighborhood, it came to my attention that a certain garage door was partly open. Just enough so, that I could slink into the garage to check for, well whatever cats check for. At any rate, for whatever reason, I gave into the temptation and found my way into the garage. It looked as if it had been organized at some point but had lost its way recently. While there were no mice to chase, there was a blanket. It had seen the test of time, and proved itself worthy of my afternoon nap. As I dozed, I considered the consequences of my softened vigilance, for it is not my constitution to relax so in unfamiliar territory. However, the comfort of the blanket and the solitude of this quiet garage were simply too inviting. I napped.

Upon awakening I found myself in a most precarious situation. You see, the partially opened garage door, had, during the course of my respite, been completely closed. I considered my situation and elected to wait. The door was bound to be opened eventually and if there was anything I had, it was patience. I waited.

The house became quiet. It occurred to me that the keepers within had retired for the night and would not be opening the garage door anytime soon. I began to investigate my surroundings and found that the door leading to the house had been left ajar and was indeed passable. I entered and again began to survey the location. The setting was familiar. There appeared to be young as well as older keepers in the residence. But suddenly my eyes set upon a suspicious object. A recently filled water dish was placed neatly in the corner. I became aware that I was likely not a lone quadruped in this environment. My senses were awakened as I continued my exploration. All of a sudden, I heard it. The sound from behind one of the closed doors was clearly NOT feline. It was, in fact, canine in nature. I made haste in my attempt to abandon my surrounding, retreating in the direction that I had come. However, it was too late. The keepers, evidently curious as to their canine’s agitation had released the animal and it was obstructing my path. I turned and ran toward what appeared to be an exit. It was, however, closed and I saw nowhere to go but up. Up the curtain panel I clawed. The ascent, however effortless was futile as I was now “treed” if you will atop a most narrow rod that appeared to hold the curtain. I watched.
The commotion attracted the keepers. At first it was only an adolescent, a female. She immediately summoned another keeper, apparently named “Mom” and presently they both stood staring sleepy eyed at their captive. I was confused at their intent because as suddenly as they realized my predicament they put the canine away, imprisoned behind the door. But they followed up by waving a long armed brush in my direction. As my defenses instinctively kicked in, I growled and hissed in every direction to let them know of my desire to deliver myself from this situation on my own terms. I jumped frantically to the mantel and down to the floor, attempting once again to leave this desperate situation following the same course that I had entered it. This time it was the adolescent that blocked my path. I circled back, toward the window, and thinking that it had been opened ran full force into it. You can only imagine my embarrassment as the keepers could not contain their laughter. Upon regaining my bearings I once again climbed the curtain panel to find myself in the exact same circumstance that I had been not 2 minutes before. However in my hustle to scale the drapery, I disconnected the rod and found it to be hanging haphazardly just below my position.

At this point, another keeper, named “Dad” entered the room. He appraised the situation briefly and then returned to his nocturnal deep breathing. I continued to grumble my displeasure as I watched the two female keepers discussing their options and finally appeared to have decided on retiring as well. But not before first leaving the door obviously open and pointing one of those cursed black boxlike devices that randomly flashes bright lights, directly at me, several times. Before I die I would like to know just what purpose those infernal things serve except to temporarily blind their subjects. I watched as the keepers left and waited until I was certain they would not return. I carefully disembarked the curtain. I escaped.

Movie Quote Monday *****

A terrible movie ~ but a hilarious quote !!

"Go ahead and clap. Mediocrity deserves applause. Why don't we go find a Ford Focus and clap around it!"

Happy Father's Day John

For Father's Day we took the day off and took our dad to one of his favorite spots - the Hof Brau in Morro Bay. (I know it's so naughty but we don't get a real vacay this summer and when our dad has a day off . . . we take it !)We had a great Day !

Movie Quote Monday ***** - and the story of my life!

Hm. Teenagers. They think they know everything. You give them an inch, they swim all over you

BYU Women's Conference '09

Okay - so here are a bunch of pics of a bunch of people that you mostly don't know and a few that you might know. My Sister was a Service commitee leader for the Crocheted Hair Flowers ( you can see us sporting these darling little things in a few of the pics !)that will be sent to hospitals and shelters. The sisters attending Women's Crocheted over 1000 of them and them me and Tiff and Kelly and Michele (Bills-Talbot, Bills-Chisolm respectively) sat up way too late sorting, tying off and gluing little gems and hair clips onto them. (There was some Dairy Queen involved) And we have the hot glue burns to show for it !!

The Conference was wonderful as usual and the weather was beautiful which is NOT the usual. We ate too much and slept too little and took the shuttle a little more than last year. Some of us even caught a couple naps (I won't mention any names like Kell"Y" !) Can't wait til next year !!

Nate-ism - Lisa I feel yor pain !

Me: (trying to teach Nate about fractions and inequalities)See this pie - it only has one out of four slices left that's 1/4(th) - this pie has three out of four slices left or 3/4(ths). So which one would is greater ? (meaning greater than or less than)

Nate: Blank stare

Me: Which one has the most - you know - which one would you want ?

Nate: I would want the 1/4 because I don't really like pie.

GOOD GRIEF !!

About an egg . . .

Okay - so I have to admit - I was not up for Easter. I was in Utah, enjoying my family, sleeping in, having my mom bring me a cinnamon roll or John bring me a toasted bagel from Einstein's for breakfast. We were eating at Cafe Rio every chance we got (and could afford) and basically just hanging out.




Then came Thursday, the day we had to leave to get home in time to prepare a YW lesson for Easter Sunday, get the house ready for Easter Sunday and make sure that the Easter Bunny had everything ready for Easter Sunday. Because I don't know about you, but our Easter Bunny requires a lot of help from Mom.

Naturally I resented Thursday. It meant the end of being a happy slug and the beginning of being a responsible human being again.


this is a happy slug - FYI


At any rate - We came home, did laundry, bought groceries, saw friends, did more laundry, searched sugardoodle for lesson materials, borrowed videos (thanks McArthurs), made A LOT of cream puffs and got rained on (which is really another post but don't you love it how when it rains other places people run for cover and when it rains in Bakersfield people (including me) go out and stand in it ?) In other words, we got to work.







these aren't my cream puffs - I stole this picture from google

Sunday morning came. Again, I don't know about your Easter bunny, but when ours gets to our house he for some reason thinks it's naptime and has to be awakened to go hide the danged eggs at 6am. The eggs were hidden.

The two big girls had no interest in hunting for eggs. They preferred to retrieve their candy and iTunes gift cards from their baskets and then go back to sleep. The two little ones however, were aching to go hunt.

I thought to myself, I look forward to the day that my kids have outgrown all this stuff. (I know - sad) But, I did think it and I do admit it. I mean, they've been finding the same eggs in the same spots for their whole lives. At any rate, they grabbed their baskets and their shoes (stickers in the backyard) and went after it.

Soon I heard it . . .
"I found one!",
"Look over there Nathan!"
"Daddy, why did the Easter Bunny put that one so high - doesn't he know how short we are ?" "Here's one!"
"I saw that one first!"
"This one has a dollar in it !"

I hoped that my neighbors (retired on both sides) were up and enjoying this. Is it possible that they could be having this much fun finding cheap plastic eggs filled with cheap (well not that cheap - I have holiday candy standards) candy and one dollar bills ?

They proceeded to come inside and dump the eggs, baskets and paper grass ( a lesson learned after many years of "Easter Bunnying - vacuum cleaners like paper grass better than plastic) all over the living room floor. They were honestly having a great time.

I guess it's all worth it . . . go figure.

The Joneses at the Conference Center

We were lucky enough to get 6 tickets to the closing session of General Conference. They were way up in the balcony but we were thrilled to be there. Of course a the last minute my sister (who knows "people") got tickets on the plaza (ground floor) and sat 9 rows from the pulpit. Go figure -

At any rate - it was a wonderful day even when we had to explain to the kids what all the protesters were doing outside the temple. Seriously - do these people really have nothing better to do ? And many of the members line the sidewalk outside the temple and sing hymns. I guess they figure they mights as well take up the sidewalk space with something worthwhile and uplifting.

The weather was beautiful and of course love being with our cousins !

Movie Quote Monday

"WHERE - IS - MY - SUPER - SUIT ?"

FFF

This is how I feel today ! "Do I have to come out from under the covers ?"

YEA !! Nate has a tooth !!

Nate came home with great news today ! -

Let me preface this by explaining that my teeth are/were a disaster - As a kid I had missing permanent teeth, incisors in my palate and other bazaar anomalies. One of the teeth that I didn't have was my upper right lateral incisor or #7 (the one just to the right of your middle two teeth - be impressed - I worked in dentistry for 6+ years) Consequently I had to have teeth extracted, surgically wired to my braces, moved around and bonded with vaneers to get what I now call my smile. It's not perfect but I guess it was worth it because it's better than gaps or half formed teeth. I digress.

Nate lost his "baby" upper right lateral incisor (I think D - but we didn't see a lot of kids in perio so I never learned to count baby teeth !) over a year ago and alas - no permanent tooth. I forgot to ask for a full mouth set of x-rays before his last dental visit (it doesn't show on the little bite wings that they take) so it was scheduled for next time. I've been so worried that genetics would doom the poor kid to endure all the ortho and various other "treatments" that I had to fix this.

But - Great News! - a tender mercy has allowed for a permanent tooth ! YEA!!! It's just barely breaking through but appears to be normal ( I had one that wasn't fully formed - PRETTY !) So one more dentistry bullet dodged ! I'll post a pic when it comes in all the way. (because I know your dying to see it !)

Movie Quote Monday *****

"What if that had been poop? "

It's Monday - How about a movie quote ?

"Rick 'em, rack 'em, rock 'em, rake. Stick that sword into that snake! "

We spent Wednesday in Cozumel, Mexico. Thanks Jason for hooking us up with a great excursion to a quiet little beach. The snorkeling was great. The food was yummy. And the shopping was - well . . . Mexico. FUN !

Tuesday was spent at the Grand Cayman Island - It was warm and beautiful. We snorkeled and enjoyed the great beach and good friends !

Monday was at sea and it was a blast - Here are a few highlights !

We spent day three in Key West, FL. The weather was beautiful and we saw lots of cool shops and ate Key Lime Pie. Nate spent the day with the Farnsworths and Mom, Nat and Erin got Henna tatoos. All four girls were custom fitted with toe rings and Dad got a muscle shirt at "Sloppy Joes" - It was a great Day !

Day 2 - All aboard - it was a little bit of work getting all of us aboard but it was soooo much fun once we were there . . . Welcome - THE JONES FAMILY

Our first day of travel was a little mostly spent on the plane. Everyone did great and even got some homework done !