Wildfires

Not much scares me...like really really scares me. Drowning is one, and fire is another. When we go camping and we have a campfire, I'm up all night in a panic that it is going to flame up and catch on fire the tree limb that is draped dangerous close over the top of the pit. Why do they do that? They put the fire pits right underneath a tree. I have seen many a campsite tree with scorched limbs. Freaks me out. Christmas Trees. I don't sleep well towards the end of their time in my house, which sometime is until April. Not really. We're actually talking February. March maybe. ** just kidding** **or am i????** These wildfires in California are so scary. I just don't understand why people live in those mountains down there. I understand not wanting to live in LA, or in one of the many surrounding cities. But I would pick that over living right in the middle of a fire hazard. Actually I wouldn't. I would never live down there to begin with. I would have to be in the film/tv industry for me to ever be down there. There is no other reason for me to ever live there. And since I will never be in that industry, I can pretty much bet you every dime I ever make the rest of my life that I will never....ever...live in the greater LA area.
My thoughts go out to everyone down there who are dealing with these horrible fires. Be safe everyone......

Halloween Cards

I was productive today. I made 16 Halloween cards. I was going to upload a couple photos, but I think I will wait until October after I mail them. I feel so good that those are done. I need to work on my July campout books now. And then I will start on Christmas cards. Right now I'm running virus stuff on the main computer. For some reason the Norton is not coming on. That worries me. I will be pissed if a virus disabled the Norton. Why the hell pay for Norton if there is crap out there that will turn it off????
I hope HOPE its fine......
but I don't think it is......

I.....ummmm....spent money today.....
It's OK....I will use it....
See how I justify the purchase :-)
If you want a Halloween Card let me know!!!!

theres never enough money.....

Why is it that every time I'm saving money for a trip I find a buttload of things I want to spend money on? I have been saving money for our Hawaii trip next month and I keep finding things to spend money on. Things that I need....and many things that I don't need. Like the Lia Sophia jewelry that I am going to order. Don't need it....but I want it! I have a hard time passing up great deals. And let me tell you...this is a great deal! So I am spending money on that. This weekend I want to go to Michaels and buy some card stock. They are having a great sale on paper. Do I need paper? Probably not. Will I use it??? Hell ya! The ad was showing some really cool colors. Gawd....I'm a sucker for scrapbook/card paper. We are also taking orders for our fund raiser cookbooks at work. They are $10 to get them from the printer. We get $5 off of each book to donate to the organization that we picked. And the corporate foundation will match some of the funds that we raise. So far we are looking at between $5000-$6000 dollars that we will be donating! Pretty awesome. So I ordered 10 books. There is another $100 that I'm spending before Hawaii. But that is for a good cause. So I'm cool with that money being spent. Besides....I keep telling hubby that I just want to lay around the pool/ocean/cute shirtless tanned Hawaiian guys. That won't cost much :-)

Silly Kittehs......

**snort**

**hmmmmm...wondering who Hank is????? I think we could have at least tried to work things out**

Two Icons Passed Today....will there be a third????

I was not surprised to hear that Ted Kennedy passed today. I was actually surprised that he lived as long as he did after the brain cancer diagnosis. But I gasped when I just found out that Dominick Dunne died today. Cancer also took him, bladder cancer. I have felt a kind of kinship with Dominick Dunne since my brothers murder. It was so horrible the way his own daughter, Dominique, was murdered by her boyfriend. It was sickening how the murderer spent so little time in jail. I still do not understand how the judge allowed that to happen. Last I heard, that man was a chef in Portland. I hope he is long gone from here. Dominick spent so many years after that trying to bring justice to the families of murder victims. Here is a quote from him.....

"I am openly pro-prosecution and make no bones about it," he told the San Francisco Chronicle that year. "I don't think there are enough people out there sticking up for victims."

I could not agree more......

lazy day

Had a massage this morning. It always wipes me out and makes me completely worthless the rest of the day. I did manage to take a nap though. I love me a nap. Curled up under my soft blankie and Alyeska curled up at my feet and we slept for a couple hours. So nice. When I woke up I was good and emptied the dishwasher. That was all I got accomplished today. **pats self on back**
I also got in a walk tonight. Kinda defeated the purpose of the massage though. My feet are killing me again. It seems to be taking me longer to get used to walking this time. Could be that it is still so hot out. I'm sure my weight has nothing to do with it **wink wink** It's cooler today, but after about 20 minutes I'm all sweaty. I know you wanted to hear that! It will get better. I hope soon. We are walking again tomorrow. My neighborhood. We switch every other day from hers to mine. It's good to change up the scenery! When we got back to her house tonight we went out to look at her garden. I love her garden. I begged for some flowers. She has the hugest dinner plate dahlias. She cut me some of those and some sunflowers. Very pretty!
That is all......
**snicker**

I ♥ Me some M&M's

Yesterday I saw at the store ANOTHER new flavor of M&M's. Coconut. I have been snacking on them today.Quite yummy! So I went to the M&M site to see exactly how many flavors they do have. I didn't get very far. As soon as I logged I saw that you could go to a Live Cam and watch Yellow, as in the big yellow peanut M&M character, stranded on a desert island! So funny! Go here to watch
http://www.mms.com/us/coconut/

I have tried many M&M flavors. Most recently before the coconut was the peanut butter/strawberry ones. I liked those! I can't seem to find a list of all the different flavors they have had....but I do know I have tried plain, peanut, almond, milk, dark, dark w/peanuts, mint, peanut butter, peanut butter strawberry, coconut. I love the dark w/peanuts. According to Wikipedia there was even an M&M with a rice crispy type center. I don't remember that one at all. They are only available in Europe now. Another one I have never heard of is the carmel filled Dulce de Leche. Apparantly those were only available in the Southern Cali areas. I would have tried those for sure!
This was also Wikipedia......
In 2006, Mars offered eight new flavors of M&M's via online sales, as well as at M&M's World locations. The flavors are "All That Razz"; "Eat, Drink, & Be Cherry"; "A Day at the Peach"; "Orange-U-Glad"; "Mint Condition"; "AlmonDeeLicious"; "Nut What You Think" and "Cookie Minster". The first five have a white chocolate and milk chocolate center with a flavored shell. The two nut flavors have an almond or peanut center with white chocolate and candy shell. "Cookie Minster" has a crispy center with dark chocolate and a mint flavored shell. The company also released a "Crispy Mint" variety in Australia. Also in July 2006, Dark Chocolate M&M's reappeared in a purple package with the green female M&M as the mascot. In 2006, the company also piloted White Chocolate M&M's as a tie-in with their Pirates of the Caribbean promotion.
In 2007, M&M's introduced a new raspberry flavor chocolate candy that looks like the plain, but is fuchsia and slightly larger, called "M&M's Razzberry Chocolate Candies."
During the 2008 Valentine's Day season Mars introduced bags of all-green M&M's. This was due to common urban folklore that holds green M&M's to be an aphrodisiac.[22] They were brought back for Valentine's Day 2009 alongside the "Ms. Green Heats Up Valentine's Day" contest.
In 2008, two new varieties of the candy were introduced — "Wildly Cherry" M&M's, and as a marketing tie-in with the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, "Mint Crisp" M&M's.
M&M's also introduced another new product called "M&M's Premiums" in 2008. They come in five flavors — chocolate almond, mint chocolate, mocha, raspberry almond and triple chocolate (milk, dark, and white chocolate), which are sold in small upright cartons with a plastic bag inside. M&M's Premiums do not have a candy shell, but are coated with carnauba wax and color.
During summer of 2008, My M&M's launched 'Faces,' which allows consumers to print the faces of loved ones on M&M's chocolate candies.
In January 2009, 3 new colors were added to the list of custom printable colors: they are called the "Shimmer" collection. The colors in this collection have a pearlized finish, giving them a sparkling appearance.
In February 2009, M&M's launched "M&M’S Color Break-Up" Promotion where colors were sold in separate packs (one for each color): the packs included a code to win prizes.[23]
In Summer 2009, M&M's launched "Strawberried Peanut Butter" to tie in with the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen In addition, M&M's launced a limited edition "Coconut M&M", as announced at the All Candy Expo 2009 in Chicago.

Oh my.....what a lot of M&M's there are!

**ok....i know i have done hyper links before and most of the time it NEVER f'n works!!!!!**

So much fun

View of the Columbia River Gorge from Crown Point. It was a little cloudy in the morning.

Multnomah Falls.

The view of Mt Hood from the Hood River Fruit Loop area. This area is full of fruit orchards were you can go and buy fruit fresh at the stands or even u-pick at some orchards. We ended up not stopping at any of the orchards.

Mt Hood. I don't think I have ever seen the mountain with so little snow.

We stopped at a stream to take pictures.

Timberline Lodge. If you have ever seen The Shining this should look familiar!

View of the summit from Timberline.

On our way up the mountain!

Die Hard skiers and snowboarders!

The view of Timberline Lodge from up the mountain.

A die hard boarder. Crazy boy.

And a crazy summer skier.

Our view back down the mountain.

I had such a good day with Mary from Mich yesterday. She is a very sweet lady. And her niece....so adorable! What a pretty young lady. So nice, and so well spoken. I love how the kid of her generation are not afraid to do things, such as travel abroad. I never knew anyone my age who took off and traveled Europe at such a young age. And yet she has, my nephew has and my son has been to Japan three times. The only person I can think of who did that is Glynis. But I didn't know Glynis then, and she was also from the East Coast. Maybe it's an East Coast thing. Maybe because we are so much farther away being over here that it just was not something people around here did. I know a ton of people who took off for Mexico and Hawaii. Not me....at least not until I was OLDer......

Yesterday I took Mary and her niece up to Mt Hood. I took the long way around and started out stopping at Crown Point to look out over the Columbia River Gorge. What a gorgeous view. Then we stopped at Multnomah Falls. I love that place. A must see if you are ever in Portland. After that we drove to Hood River and then around the back side of Mt Hood and up to Timberline Lodge. If you have ever seen the movie The Shining, this is the hotel that is shown in all exterior shots. Really cool old hotel. I pointed out that the ski lift was running and not only were there skiers and snow boarders enjoying a very tiny spot of snow up the moutain, but people could also take a ride up the ski lift and walk around. I love doing stuff like that, and I could tell that Mary's niece wanted to go up too. So after walking around a bit, I manevered them over by the lift area and then suggested that we go down and see how much the ride was. Mary was a little hesitant, but when she saw that both her niece and I were up for it, she agreed to go. We got on the lift and we were about half way up the mountain when a man coming down passed us and said "Ladies....you can lower your bar!" Oh man.....thanks! Mary and I were a little freaked because we were just sitting on the lift chair hanging on to the sides for dear life but not wanting the others to know that we were freaked out about falling! Her niece had said something about there being a lap bar, but when we got on the lift the woman only said "Your bar is up there." Yah...so....She should have reached up and pulled the bar down to show us. It was funny. We felt to much better after we had the bar down on our laps! It was a much nicer ride back down.....with the lap bar pulled down the whole way!

I am not going to upload pics of Mary or her niece here. Too public. So I will upload those to Facebook where only friends can see them. Check them out there!!

Blog Buddy Meet & Greet

Crown Point in the Columbia River Gorge
Multnomah Falls in Columbia River Gorge

The town of Hood River, OR
There is an Apple Festival this weekend so all of the farms on the loop to Mt Hood should be open with a lot going on!

View of Mt Hood from Hood River, OR

I will be spending the day today with Mary from Mich and her niece. I'm so excited! Mary is quite the traveler and I can't wait to talk to her about all of the places she has been. And why she decided to come to Portland of all places!
I am going to pick them up and start out with a drive through the Columbia River Gorge. I'm going to take the scenic route and stop off at places such as Crown Point and Multnomah Falls.
Then I will head to Hood River, OR and depending on the time we may just stop there for lunch , walk through town a little, or just head off on the Fruit Loop. This is HWY 35 that takes you from Hood River to Mt Hood. There are tons of farms and orchards that you can stop at to buy fruit and vegis. This weekend is the Gravenstein Apple Celebration. Mary may be loading her bags up with apples and shipping her clothes home!
I plan on finishing our day with a stop at Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood. It's suppose to be partly cloudy this morning and then clear up. So we should have some gorgeous views when we are up on the mountain.
I will tell you all about it tomorrow! With pics!

Frekken Frakkin Frantic Friday & Mary from Mich!

Well....OK...so it was not that bad. I was just busy today. I was here earlier today to blog and then got sidetracked. I know....I do not have to blog everyday, but I want too. I can at least put something on here.
I just spoke to a blog buddy for the first time on the phone. Mary from Mich. She is in town and we are going to get together tomorrow! I'm so excited! I am going to pick up her and her niece and take them for a scenic drive through the Columbia River Gorge to Hood River and then around the East side of Mt Hood up to Timberline Lodge and then back to Portland. I gave them a choice of either going to Mt Hood, Mt St Helen's or to the Oregon Coast. Mary's niece wanted to go to the highest mountain...so Mt Hood it is! I hope they think the area is as beautiful as we think it is!
How could they not????!!!!!

**crossing fingers for clear skies and fantastic views**

Happy 26th Anniversary

Today is Mr Barb_WA and my 26th Anniversary. The day has started with a beautiful card that he had one of his peeps make. On the inside is one of our wedding pictures and the words to Journey's song After All These Years. I love it. He also left me $5 to get a mocha! Sweet! HAHAHAHA! Yep....I can be bought for only $4.99....+ a penny. Right now he is starting his day off in a golf tournament. I think this one benefits Junior Achievement. Then he will get to relax the rest of the day. I was suppose to get to relax for the entire day, but I have to work. Argh......It's OK.....extra money for Hawaii next month. Tonight we are celebrating with an Italian dinner downtown. Really good little local place. We are NOT exchanging gifts because of Hawaii, so I have not bought him anything and he better not have bought me something. But if he did....well....I'm not gonna turn it down :-)

Amazing Disney Similarities

I found this online today. Disney movies have always looked the same to me. Like I was just watching the smae movie over and over and over....
Now I know why!


it only took me 40 years!

i needz a nappy

i'm pooped. i was suppose to have a massage today.....she didn't show.....kinda like what i have done to her a couple times. although the last time i forgot i still paid her. i do kinda remember her saying that there may be a conflict with the date....but i thought she was going to call and reschedule if there was. oh well.....totally bummed though because i really needed it. my feet are killing me from the walking...and so is my back. its just stiff.....so a massage would have really helped. last night when i was walking with terri and missy, all of a sudden it felt like i was stung by a bee on my back. i asked terri to check down my shirt to see if there was a bee. nope. it hurt....but not for long. guess i'm just old......that friggen sucks man.......




and im still sleepy......

Sooooo busy.....

I was super busy at work today. So glad I have the day off tomorrow.....and a massage! I need it. I started walking again last week. My feet are killing me and my lower back is sore. What a wimp. It's all good. I need to walk. I should have never stopped. I had lost so much weight when I was walking and when I stopped I put it all back on. Now mind you....I do not make bad food choices all the time. But if I don't work out, then whatever I eat turns to fat. I know I'm not eating a ton of calories every day. Yes we all splurge and have something yummy. But seriously, I have been eating maybe 250 calories for lunch for a super long time. We don't eat a lot for dinner. So yeh.....I need to work out. And it sucks. So I will do it. And it will be good for me.
But I don't have to like it......

(taking title off this post because people are coming here from weird ass places**

**took off photos**
So I got sucked into playing another FB game. FrmVlle. I only started on Friday. Some of my other games have become boring and tedious. This one is fun...so far! I want to earn enough of the coins and money to buy one of the really nice farm houses. Yep......already addicted!
**edited because I keep getting people from weird places coming here from google searches**

I would forget my head if it was not attached.....

I came here this morning to blog...got sidetracked....and then forgot. Like anyone cares...but still I'm sorry.
Spent the day with my mom. Picked her up at 10 and we went to the Fair. I was kinda hoping to get something yummy there to eat, but mom just wanted to go through the craft building and then leave. So we left at 12:30ish and went to lunch at her favorite place and then went to a movie. We saw The Time Travelers Wife. Definitely a chick flick. It was OK. Mom fell asleep a little though, so it was a kinda slow in parts. I didn't tear up until the very end. That was sad. Weird movie. Nothing was really explained though about how he could time travel other than it was genetic, but they never fixed it or taught him how to control it. Could have been better.
**Big Brother Spoiler**
Chima was kicked out of the house last night! Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out! What a bitch. She was probably the biggest baby ever on this show. Last night when I was watching Big Brother After Dark on Showtime, they kept telling her to put on her mic. She had been in bed and then around 10pm she got up because Kevin told her that there was a practice game outside and that she should come out and practice for the POV. So she got up but did not put her mic on, which is a big no-no. For an hour and half the production staff kept coming on the overhead speakers telling her to put in her mic. If you have never watched the Showtime after hours, they have recordings that tell the house guests what to do. So last night you kept hearing...."Chima....Please put on your microphone." or "Chima...Please exchange your microphone in the storage room." Other times they will say "House guests...You are not allowed to talk about your diary room with other house guests." or "House guests...You are not allowed to talk about production." My favorite is "Jeff....Please stop singing." They are not allowed to sing! Cracks me up. Anyway.....for 1-1/2 hours they kept asking Chima to put on her mic. She refused. She flipped off the cameras. When Kevin went and got her mic, she threw it in the hot tub. I told hubby that she was going to get in trouble for not putting her mic on. I said that they will give her a penalty, something like she would not be allowed to participate in the POV even though she was nominated by HOH Michelle. So last night after the Showtime live feed ended at midnight, the producer showed up and told Chima that she was going to have to pay for the mic because they sign a contract saying they will not destroy BB property. It was going to cost her $3000-$5000. She threw a huge fit and they kicked her off the show.
See ya!

time to make a change

I want to change my design on the blog. Tired of it. I may do that tonight....maybe this weekend. Not sure. I'm being lazy. So there.....
I started a Farm Ville today on FB. So many of my friends are playing that game. Thought I would try it. Hatchlings has gotten boring, and 101 eggs has not released a new set in a long time. They have the daily sets, but that doesn't take long at all. I got bored with Fairy Land because I could never find anything. Some of my friends find all kinds of birds and cute little critters...nope, can't find them. I think I found some snails and slugs. WOOOO!!!! So I will try Farm Ville.
I have been playing a new game today. Yacht. Which is basically Yahtzee, but just a little different. Fun.
That is all.....
What???
Did you actually expect something interesting today?
Fooled you!

Kitties are funny!

If I ever get a kitten again....most likely not since I have them already....OK....they are 2 now...but IF or IF I ever have a friend who gets kittens, I'm totally getting them one of these!!!

Cuppy Cake Crave

Do you every crave something and just can't get it out of your head? I have been wanting cupcakes. And not just a regular old cupcake that I would make. Nope. I want something like this.....

Or maybe like this......

These are from a shop in Portland that specializes in cupcakes. Unfortunately I would never drive over to Portland for cupcakes. Even when they look like this....

mmmmmm.....chocolate w/peanut butter frosting...

and this..... But in all honesty....this is the one that I really want!!!!

LOL! I love this one. I found it online and have no idea who made it. Doesn't look to hard to make. Just need to figure out how to make those eyes! There were some really pretty "Martha Stewart" ones that were also available in Portland, but the pictures would not load. I will never buy those ones. They sell for $36 a dozen with a minimum order of 8 dozen. Yeh....I don't need $288 worth of cupcakes!

Unless someone wants to go in on it with me.....

Brooke White.....and....baby needs to be changed....

Today was the day that Brooke White was going to perform some of her new CD at hubby's office. He just emailed some pictures. He said she was awesome and that he has an autographed CD for me! Squeeeeee!!!! I really liked Brooke when she as on Idol. I loved her Carly Simon sound. Can not wait to listen to her new stuff. He said he took a ton of pictures, but I will have to wait until he gets home to look at all of them.
On another note....
On FB today, Stacy Kaiser uploaded an article that she was going to be talking about on a show today. It was about a guy who put an ad on Craigslist looking for someone to take care of his invalid brother. They would be paid $600 a week to change his diapers and feed him by bottle. A woman took the job. But after I think several weeks started to feel like something was amok. Turns out it was just the guy who placed the ad getting jollies by having a woman treat him like a baby.
Aren't there hookers for that????

all is calm....

Not much going on in my little world today. Been waiting to hear from Bryan about when his surgery will be. Need to be able to tell work when I will be going up to Seattle to take care of him. Have I said what he is having done? Apparently he broke his clavicle and separated his shoulder years ago during football. But the wonderful doctors at Vancouver Clinic never took an x-ray or anything to check it out. All they did was give him a shot of cortisone and called it good. That made the pain go away for a few months, but it healed all wrong and now they have to remove the end of his collar bone so that it stops from rubbing on the joint and tendons....or something like that.....OK...there are some weird girls up on the front porch here at work goofing off or taking pictures or something. Hey chickies...this is an office and I'm blogging here! OK, I think they just left.....nope they just moved to a different spot. I have no idea why they would want to use our porch. The grass is all dead because of the roofing job going on, so I would think the background of the shot would not look the greatest. Move along ladies.....
Anyway...not much happening.

True Blood

I've been watching almost all of season 2 of True Blood with Bryan today. It's OK. I think the acting is really bad though. Some of the special effects kinda suck too. But I'm interested. The next episode is tonight, so I think I will watch just to see what is going on. I'm not sure why people are so addicted to it though. If you compare the acting and writing of Dexter to this...well Dexter is waaaaay better. HAHA! Kinda like my writing! Just kidding. I'm tired so I can't think. And it's super hot in here. Think I will go get some cold ice water....I know boring blog. Bite me....

Off with the Fam......oh and Charlie

I took the first 3 pictures. Hubby took the rest. Otter

Cougar

Grey Wolf

Bald Eagle

Barn Owls

Snowy Owl

Grey Wolf

Fisher

Wolverine

Roosevelt Elk

Black Tail Deer

Bison

Moose

Big Horn Sheep Ram

Mountain Goat

Female and Baby Big Horn Sheep

Today we are headed to Northwest Trek. An online buddie went there not too long ago and took some pictures. I showed the Fam and we all wanted to go. Bryan came down from Seattle by train Thursday night, Katie & Tim are on the way. and Charlie is asleep still on the couch. Someone better go wake his ass up or he will be left behind!
Will update later!
Check out the website if you have time.....
http://www.nwtrek.org/

I messed up and saved hubby's thumbnails instead of the bigger pictures. Sorry.