Life From Within The Coke Bottle

Questions for ya'll if you don't mind... I wonder if there are any puppy raisers in this group. I know it's not really guide dog related and I'm sorry if it's not too relavant but... Our family has been given the opportunity to rescue a heeler lab mix who is currently 4 months old. I'm having some issues with him and what I believe might be seperation anxiety. Any suggestions that I might be able to try? He's a very quiet boy other than the time he is set to go into his crate before I leave for work. We put treats in before we go, so there seems to be no problem with him going into his crate, but the howling and barking commences shortly after... He seems to be too worked up to much on the kong with the treats inside.... Thanks in advance for any suggestions! :o)
And if there's anyone out there who might want to contact via email? Any suggestions again would be great!! Please let me know! Thanks again!!

Soooo....November is half over, and "someone" has been with us now for one month exactly.... there have been some tears, some smiles, some laughs and a whole range of emotions in between... mostly experienced by me!! They say that whatever experience that doesn't kill you, will make you stronger. So, I hope and pray to the Gods that this will indeed make me stronger, cuz sometimes man, I'll tell ya, it felt like it was gonna kill me!
Week 2 of puppy classes has been and gone and this week was pretty good actually. There was more structure and it seemed a bit more bang for my buck this time. The puppies got to experience lotsa different textures, shapes, smells and sounds in the 'ruff house'... Marshall was even a good pupil and demonstrated 'come' really well! :o) Pitty it wasn't me but the instructor working with him. Got him an x pen so we have it cliped to the sides of his crate so that if he so chooses, he may decided to go into his crate on the one side or the other 3 sides are all fenced off... can't have this arrangement much longer though.... it's been 3 days, and he's already noticed that the back end of the 'fourth wall' is lower and that if he's tall enough standing on his hind legs, that he might be able to vault ontop of the crate and jump over.... so soon I guess it's one or the other and not both for Mister Houdini.

This week was a bit rough on me...still getting over the flu (no not the H1N1) and spent 3 days home got me a bit stir crazy though. I still feel a bit rough, but today has been the first day that I've been able to breathe almost to full capacity without having to choke on some sort of bodily fluid comming from my nose or something!! Blah!! I went back to work on Friday and by the end of the day I was sounding like freddie the froggie with my croak... but Monday will be easy. A training day so a whole day off the phones... Back to work on Tuesday, half the day on Wednesday, and then full Thursday and Friday. Man, November is half over already. It just felt like it started! Wow.. soon it will be time for Kris Kringle and Co. to pay a visit. I don't even know what I want for Christmas... as long as I have my health, my husband, and the love of the family that's the most important.... yeah, a few thousand bux wouldn't go amiss either... but I won't be gettin' that. Shannon wants a Kindle reader for christmas but after looking at the price of the cheapest one...we'll hold off on that one. :o)
The only thing I know I'd like for xmas would be (so far) the 25Live GM dvd concerts. I think these were 'the final' shows from London, merely 2 months after I seen his sexy bum in Vancouver (or at least I want to say a couple months) I saw him end of june, and beginning of July, and I think the finals were sometime in August, so that'd be less than 2 months. Bah, technicalities.

Well, me my ass and Marshall's ass are gonna get to bed after one more pee break... doubt he'll have to go, but hey, if he does, bonus, that just means more time for me to sleep between his next pee break. So... good nite my friends! xoxoxox

random ramblings about this that and the other....
so... Marshall, the major conversation piece around me these days, is all vaccinated w/ the h1n1... oh sorry... all this vaccination talk.... ok, he's all vaccinated against parvo distemper and raibies. No Kujo diseases for this little guy at this time. The vet TT recommended, he is really nice... very good vibes I got off of him! And so much less stress due to the fact that I would have had to find money for cab fare etc... blablabla... He did really good today, I was very proud of him, I didn't notice any accidents, and he held his water for almost 10 hours and really had to pee when we got home!! He's getting pretty good around the house, still except when I leave the room to go about my other daily stuff, he still whines, barks, howls, squeaks and whistles etc.... but I'm sure he'll get over that sooner or later. I'm very happy with how he's going along. It's just a matter of getting into a routine with stuff. Currently Shannon is playing tug with him, so I hope that this will tire him out a bit... *grin*... although he did sleep right thru from 10:30 til 5... so yay to sleep!!! :)
Ok, on a totally other topic.... V!!!!!! The new Retelling of the Visitors series from when I was a kid.... my first impression, is that it went way... too.. fast!! The hour just zoomed by!! I was clammering for more by the end and found myself just waiting for next weeks little clip thingie. Shannon is relived, since he's finally able to talk about this. He's had this on his plate since July at Comicon, but now we can all talk about it, so life is good. I don't wanna say anything for those who might not have seen it, no spoilers.. I'm just really excited to see how this turns out!! Yay V!! Let's hope this goes better than the reboot of my other childhood favourite, Knight Rider.
Puppy classes are to start soon for Marshall as soon as I find his damn proof of payment to enroll him in class... stupid... I talked to the lady who even did the adoption, she remembers me and has a copy of the signed adoption thing... but oh no, why oh why can I not enroll in the class... now I guess I gotta wait til I can get the visa statement print the damn thing off, and then go from there... sheesh... Shannon said it's in the folder of all Marshall's stuff, but I can only find 2 of the 3 recipts.... blah!
So, that's about all I know about this and that for now....
No, I haven't posted any pictures of mister Marshall yet... part of that is because, for some time, there were times in my heart where I wasn't sure if I even wanted to keep Marshall.... I was all worried and anxious and wasn't sure if I could even give him the things that he needed... worrying about if I could walk him or watch the things he might or might not be getting into... you know, the paranoid mum thing maybe a bit overbord if I must say. I have just recently started to relax and realise that he is just a puppy and he'll eventually get into things.... he'll eventually grow out of it, but I'll tell ya man, this Is one experience I don't want to do over again... this puppy raising is a bitch... I have soooooo much respect for the people that raised the puppies for future guide dogs. I was truly spoiled and got a well trained dog already.... but this way I can train him to my expectations. It may seem cruel now, but in the long run it will be worth it. He'll be a happy and well socialized dog :)
so, once things calm down a little more for me, I will eventually post some of the pictures I have. I guess in my heart I gotta except that he will truly be a member of the family....
On another note... things seem (knock on wood) to be looking up healthwise also... I'm up to my one year anaul visit for the cpap machine... and an anual visit to the foot clinic... and this shit with the window is 99 pecent overwith. All we need to do according to the city is just have the window "flashed" or something... I'm not too sure what that is in building terms.... so this will be done in the spring probably at the same time that we decide to fence the whole perimiter of our yard. Shannon wants to take out all the grass out front and make a zen garden..... let's see how much the landscaping will set us back next year.... (wondering if I shouldn't just take some of my shares and cash them in to get these renos done around here....
Another note, I can't wait til Marshall grows tall enough to *not!* go under the chairs at the table, right now he seems to be happy knawing at the chairleg, which he won't do too much dammage to since it's metal *grin*.... but I still don't like when he's under there, too close to the power cords for me... he's really into getting into google's face and one day she'll swat him one... he'll learn his lesson soon methinks...
Ok, are you bored listening to me talk about MarshallMellow yet? I'm sorry... he's just too damn cute though :0) I'll shut up and actually go watch corrie now....
Love to you all!! xoxooxxs and to those of you who are going to U2, I'm jealous!!! Have fun you loooozers!! :)

the mouth is never ending with the chewing or the eating or the mouthing! if he's not sleeping, eating or peeing, he's chewing! Yeah, i know he's a pup... I certainly don't like this side of things. I never know what he's into, and although i feel bad about having him around me all the time, at least i know or at least try to know what he's doing.
I don't feel so bad about the crate and going to work.... he has only had one accident that I know of so far in there in the past week.... and it truly sucks.... he hasn't got his last shot yet, so we can't go walking cuz we don't want mister marshall contracting parvo virus.. so it's just out in the front yard for us...
he went to see Dr. Morley yesterday.... did good at the vet, only whined a little. Was really good in the cab, didn't peep once. He seems pretty casual all except for the mouth thing! I gotta be feelin' a little sorry for the guy... you'd be all hyper too if you were locked in your crate all day and then maybe only get 4 or 5 hours out in the livingroom attached to a leash... geez!! I really must think about keeping Marshall involved in something extra cirricular once he's ok with his vaccinations like out on pack walks or socializing with other doggies and playing.... winter will be upon us soon, and I can't start safely walking him til mid november and I bet that the snow will be flying by then.... stupid winter! Sorry kids, i'm just rambling... i'm gonna go now... maybe it's the tired in me.... see ya'll later!

another day with Marshall... yesterday was a tad frustrating if I do say so myself. He was whinning, and barking like a loonie and after trying to calm him down, he was still whistling, whinning and barking. For a while there, he was sick, didn't hold down his afternoon meal or water, and had a few accidents.... poor guy, tattoed, neutered and in a new place and me being all frustrated and not too happy I'm sure it wasn't a good time all around... but hey....
today i slept until 6:30 ish after taking him out at around 1:30 letting him settle a bit then going back to bed. I slept straight through til the morning til I actually had to go pee... Marshall has been fed and watered and from the 2 times so far i have taken him out, he hasn't gone yet.... so in a few mins here I'll try again. Little guy hasn't gotten his last set of shots yet, so I'm a little nervous about walking off the property... this morning he seems in better spirits. He willingly walked into his own crate a couple times, brought his bone in there on his own and I did close the door and hover there for less than a minute, and he seemed ok, but now he's lying quietly at my feet under the table. I'm curious how tomorrow will go since it's work again, and a full day with both of us out of the house and he'll be crated so... we shall see.... he seems to be pretty smart so we'll take it as it goes.... now I'm gonna end for now and take him out see if he needs to pee and stuff... it's just starting to get light out, so that's a bonus for me. Later doods!

That song has been running through my head since I saw it on Flash Forward... but at the moment, it is, and i'm glad for the peace. "Marshall" (I think that's what we'll call him) is finally laying beside me under the table as I type this. He seems to be able to go for about 2-3 hours before we have to take him out. He's already ate and been watered and 'parked' for the first time today. Now it's just a matter of trying to be consistant.... but i'm oooh so tired...... ssshhh... shhh... shhh.... I do want to go down for a nap but I think i'll take Marshall out one more time to the back and see if he has to go. I was so proud of him yesterday (first full day at home)...
Went to bed around 10:30, woke up about 1:20... didn't get back to bed and sleep I'd say til around 3.... woke to my alarm at 5:40 and my day started from there. Stupidly I decided to go to work and paid for it, cuz I was oh so tired when I got home. Felt bad cuz after I parked him before leaving yesterday, he pooped in his crate, cleaned that up and then wondered how he faired all day.
Now he's with me all the time on leash. I am going to try and go down for a nap... hopefully I can sleep for a bit. It's early days yet. For the Gods sake, he's only been for for 2 days and I can't expect him to be an Augie or Samara now can i....
Later kiddies.

He's not even here yet and I'm already nervous!! I'm gonna be a mommy!.... sort of! :)
I've been wanting a dog now something fierce for the past oh... year or so I'd say... and the opportunity has come to me to get and find a beautiful little guy who will soon be a beautiful big guy. I found him at the Humane Society. His name is (currently) Sam and he's an 8 week old Red Heeler mix (i think with a lab).
I've had dogs before so that's not going to be a problem. My issue is that I don't get the luxury of having a puppy raiser to raise the dog for a year, housetrain, socialize and walk it through it's puppy phases. So many questions....
Just based on my previous experience with dogs before, I think I'll have to have the dog with me at all times so I can see what it's doing so tagging a leash along with me will be old habbit. But when I'm gone for the day... crate? Pen?, I do have someone able to take the dog out partway through the day so that should ease some problems. But now my hesitation comes with *me* actually being the leader.... I'm dead scared that I'll trip over mister puppy or whack him with my cane....
Any suggestions? Ideas? Tips you can provide? I'd sure be nice! :o)

looking upon the last few minutes of the 39 years that I have spent on this earth, make me realise how wonderful life is and how precious it is....
we all may bitch and moan about stuff in our 'own little worlds'.... but sometimes we may tend to forget the simple stuff.
Don't forget your families. Don't forget your friends and those around you that love you. They are what makes your life that much more magical.
If you're fighting with someone... try and remember that sometimes life is just too short. Keep things as simple as you can.
Remember when you were little and playing with your friends in the sandbox? Some of those things from back then were so simple. All the kids played together and didn't have any idea that their lives ahead would be filled with tears, peer pressure, growing pains, love, hate, good, evil, happy, sad and a whole lot of other things before 'growing up' and walking into the real world with grown up responsibilities.
Let's all remember to take some time out of our busy lives... stop and be a kid for a few minutes. Remember to laugh, and smile, and love and live... and love those you live with.
And on the day you turn 16, or 21, or 30, or 40, or any of those other milestone years.... remember that the day is all about you!!
Go eat your cake, and don't be sad about it!! Go drink that coke slurpee and savour every drop.... mmmmm.... slurpee!!!!

Take care all!!!
xoxoxo :o)

That was the song that I started with. I actually got out of the house, out off my ass and went for a walk on the bike paths. It's only a block away from the house, and then I can go tootle around on flat paved cement and not have to worry about stuff like oh... bumps in the road, curbs to trip me up, crossing streets etc. things that make me nervous. With me coming back from the rt last week and him noticing that I had lost weight gave me a bit of spark and a little bi more motivation to do what I thought I needed to try and give myself a more healthier lifestyle. I've already cut back massively on my coke intake. I drink at least 2L of water a day and I'm trying to pass up the chips and stuff...Yeah, I'll admit sometimes it's hard. But if I do baby steps I am at least starting in the right direction. I've asked Shannon to be supportive and in his own way I guess he is. I really wish he was out there with me, but I can't make him do anything until he wants to.
I walked outta the house and walked towards the bike path where I had to cross a street to get to the block to lead me to the path. A block you say.... pffftttt no big deal for most. I'll tell ya, first off, it was an uphill grade. There were rocks and dips and cracks and uneven bits in the sidewalk.... and I'll tell ya, I felt every one of them! I stopped half way in the block because I was winded already.... So, I trudge ahead, stopped once more before reaching the curb to cross 26th st and when I got to the other side, I stopped and had to catch my breath.
As I stood there huffing and puffing along with the wind that was blowing quite briskly, I was facing west towards the city skyline. While I was standing there, I noticed that off to my right, was a bench up on a hilly part off of the path. I took the gravel road there and realised that was a mistake. I must have looked like an old woman just slowly picking her way taking baby steps to get to this bench. While I was here, I thought I'd stop and take a couple piccies to mark the occasion. Kinda like, this is me now, and maybe soon, I'll take another picture here again to mark my progress again. I was going to post them up here but I don't know where the usb cable is... so at some point, you'll see the before and afters as it were.
So, there I go, off the bench, pick my babysteps way back to the main bike path and turn on the mp3 player. On comes Wham!'s "nothing looks the same in the light". Yeah... here I am over analyzing this but hey, it just struck me as kinda funny is all. I mannaged to last the whole song about 4 mintues w/o stopping. Then came Roxette's "voices" a song that seemed to still convey the mood to me. By then the song was over and some part of an audio book was on, so I stopped, switched that up and then turned back. I had gotten past the second set of condos and past the first turn in the path, past the 2nd garbage can so I figured at least that was a good mark of remberence for me. Some other song came on, which I don't remember, another portion of an audio book so I thought... oh goody, I can stop now and switch the song. That brougt me back to almost to the starting point of the walk and then George Michael's "soul free" comes on.... made me smile a bit and caused me to keep walking until I got to the street crossing. At the other side of the street, I had to stop catch my breath a minute and then slowly move on. Again, going down the down grade, feeling every bump, every rock, every driveway thing I slowed right back down but just telling myself to hang on to the curb so that I could stop there and then piddle across the street after I had caught my breath yet again. When what song comes on just as I get to the other side of the curb in front of my house? "Silver Blue" by Roxette.... one of my alltime fave rox songs. Coincidence? Probably. But I saw it as something a little bit more of an "in the stars" kinda thing. The Gods were smiling on me and telling me what I good job I did to even go out. It left me with a nice warm and fuzzy in my heart.
So I came home, all huffing and puffing, but ended it all with a pretty neat sense of accomplishment. I hope that this will continue.... Here's to baby steps. Yay me! :o) ps.... i found my usb cable so... my entry will be as complete as I can make it.

Have a great day everyone :)






I see a view from a bench.... (another play on a roxette song 'view from a hill')




so.... there it is and there you have it.... tata for now kiddies!!!

Starting to notice a difference about stuff...
Had my six month followup with the r.t. at the sleep apnea clinic. Not sleeping well due to outside stress but right off the bat since Richard hasn't seen me in six months, he's noticed that my face is thinner and he asks me right off the bat if I've lost weight. Well, I did get my hair cut so that must have gotten rid of at least 20 lbs right there! lol... but after our sleepytalk, he gets me to get on the scale and boom... colour me surprised.... I ended up losing 9 lbs. Yay me!!
I will admit that I seem to have a bit more stamina and endurance about me. I feel like actually going out and doing stuff mind you that always doesn't happen. I guess that feeling like doing something and eveuntually getting out and doing stuff is a much better progression than just not feeling like 'anything'... so baby steps for me. It's a start.
I do want to go out and walk. I want to put on my headphones and tootle around, but I'm still a little nervous. My hearing will not be available to me and let's face it, what little vision I got, I don't trust me to not trip or fall or something. I guess I could go find a track or a bike path perhaps so I could get the best of both worlds.... the weather is still nice, so I could at least do what I can... maybe I should go look into mall walking. I'm sure that was something that I could do... it's flat, it's relatively obstacle free.. so i'll take a boo into that.
I go on Monday to get the excess fluid 'squished' outta my legs so that I can maybe fit into some half decent shoes and not tootle around in my crocks although I will admit they are not as tight on my toes as they used to be. Anybody want to come with? I could use the company and the support.

tired in my brain.... tired in my soul.... stressed in my work, stressed at home.... just not fun.....
i know we'll make it through this battle of 'stuff'.... but geez!! Give us a break will ya!? Half of this shit that's going on wouldn't have even be happening if our neighbour was such a nosy dink. But oh no, you just have to stick your old scragly nose in where it doesn't belong.... but I'm happy in the knowledge that one day you will die and then you won't be here to make people's lives hell.
I shouldn't wish death upon you.... but man I'm tempted... but I don't want to piss off any Karma Gods or the Godess or some other power that be so I'll be a good doobie and just try to make it through even with all my impure thoughts....
I can't even get away... I'm too damn broke!! Ugh!!!! Silver lining? where are you? I could take you to the pawn shop and get some money for you..... ;)

Check this out... this woman is fighting to keep a pet deer in her home... I personally think that everyone should leave the lady alone....the BC Government should find some real work to do. They must be like the same yahoos that work for the City of Calgary Bylaw office who all they seem to care about is people in Southview with a bay window... grr...!!

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/08/10/bc-ucluelet-deer-bimbo.html

since I think that people still suck... kinda got me to thinkin'.... scary I know. Just been thinking about wether or not I'm a fair weather friend. People never seem to come over or call unless it's all about them. They are having a crisis or they need or want something or I'm the one that you pick when nobody else will do or there just is nobody else. Is this my percepetion? GiGi came over on the weekend which I was really happy about because she just wanted to say hi. No other motive to come over or ask for a favour. We just hadn't hung out outside of work so it was a nice time to catch up.
Part of me wonders though.... what if I wanted help or needed something would someone come bail me out?
The sceptic side of me says no , but my heart of heart hopes that maybe?....even something as simple as offering a ride or lending a hand or calling me back when I call you? meh.
I'm going to bed now.

People are so cruel and only think of themselves, not the consequence of what they do may just effect someone else.... Shannon's 3 wheel bike was stolen out of our yard... but not the other 2 bikes, not the bbq or the lawn furniture. Why???... People suck :( I'm sorry your bike's gone honey....that really does suck :(

We're finally home from "gritty waffle" and I'll tell ya, I'm glad to be back. It sure is nice to go on vacation, but it is also nice to come home too. Let's see.... to recap in 25 words or less or maybe a few more....
We went to Outback's steakhouse in (I think) Oceanside on Tuesday night. Had a nice dinner... oh... before that, we had to meet Andi at Encinitas at her Target store where she works. She unfortunately didn't get the time off to leave to let us in her house so we waited the hour or so until she was done her shift. So we packed our suitcases in the back of her car and went inside the target and picked up a few things. Y'know.. sun screen, lotion, a swimsuit for me, some Cherry Coke Zero (yum!!) some regular cherry coke... more yum!, The U.S. Candy we couldn't get here like payday bars and dark chocolate peanut m&m's for Shannon. Just the day before I bought some truffles and ghiradelli chocolate at Chocolate Heaven on Pier 39 which unfortunately has become a tad deformed due to it's stay in the car :( The majority of it was eddible however the lindor truffles were a bag of moosh and some of my truffles aren't quite so round anymore but they still taste good!! :)
So yeah, back to what I was saying about Tuesday nite... Outbacks was a pretty good dinner and we got the steak we wanted along with that yummy salad they make with the yummy crutons!! I'm almost wishing I got that blue cheese wedge since that looked just yummy!!
We went back to Carlsbad (all these cities(?) are so close to one another... Blink once or cross the street and you're over into the next town. So we go back to Carlsbad and spend an evening in Andi and Howard's living room just doing the small talk thing until Howard decideds that he's tired and goes up to bed.
Wednesday was spent taking Shannon to the Encinitas train station so he can go to ComicCon and geek out! He can tell you all about the comic connie goodness so go to his facebook or livejournal page and he can blab all about that. :) So after we went to the train, Andi and I spent the day at SeaWorld... Yes I can say that I've been and will probably never ever go again as it was like 60 bux per person to go in!!??!!... So you had better have made the day last and look at all the fishies your money can give you. Once I find a usb cable I'll put pictures up... but until then know that it was hot sunny and full of dolphins, whales, sea lions, flamingos, sharks, dorrie fishies, clown fishies and a lot of other fishies that I couldn't see in the tank cuz it was too damn dark anyway...but this is the shark tube that you can walk through and see those fishies....



this next shot shows almost the same view I had at Shamu stadium except i might have been a teeny bit higher up and it looks as though to me that the shot is (maybe zoomed)... but what does the blind lady know! I was holding my camera up to my nose, looking through the viewfinder with the zoom on hoping to catch a glimpse of something.... this is not my shot....



the dolphin show was cooler only because the trainers narrated the thins that they were getting the dolphins to do like jumping over the rope which you will see here.... again, not my shot, but again, close to the same view I had except again I was higher up (actually at the top of the stadium)... hmmm... didn't know the rope was yellow... the whale show "believe" wasn't as fun because all they did was play some sappy inspirational "my heart will go on and on and on" crap while the whales tootled around in the pool... blah!




I did take some video of the dolphins and the whales... but if I post it who knows, maybe it's just glimpses of blue water :) All in all though, the day was pretty good even though a tad over priced. Y'know those spray bottles you use for your glass cleaner with the squeezie nosel? Well, they fashioned one of those filled with ice cold water and a spinning fan on the end of the nosel that they were selling for 15 bux... and people were buying them!!! Hell, Andi was even going to buy one but the only eason she didn't is cuz she did't have enough money... wow... so she ended up buying a little sea world branded fan that spins and looks like a dolphin so I have that to add to my little plastic do dahs and toys.
Even with 100 spf factor sunscreen ( didn't know they made it that strong... we still got burned!) It was a really hot day and I'm sure California saw me commin' and said 'fresh meat let's cook it!!' :)

Thursday I spent the day with Ryan in Vista with his family after eating a sandwich at a place called which wich. Neat concept where you go in, pick a bag and basically pick and check off the items you want on your sub and they call your name when it's done. I got a turkey sub with veggies and sub sauce and mushrooms and the like. It was pretty good. Too bad they didn't have cherry coke.. that was the only pop i drank if I had the chance. Only have 2 more cans left before my supply is gone though.

Friday we went to Fullerton to pick up Alex (andi's daughter) so she could spend the weekend with her mum and howard. It was just prior to her 12th bday so we had a nice dinner... Saturday, we went to SanDiego's version of Herritage Park which they call "old town" except that there was a little bit of a mexican flare in the shops where you can buy a lot of mexican type clothes, dishes, souvineers. I did buy a nice blue and purple scarf as an accent piece. There was a lot of walking that day, spent about 3 hours on my feet on another stinkin hot day.... here was the resteraunt we went to to have mexican food. Pretty good, and not very spicy either!




Sunday the girls and I went to see "up" at their local movie theater. Good movie! Go see it if you haven't allready and the nerds candy was pretty good!
Monday was my last full day in SD so basically, I did laundry before we went to pick up Shannon from the train station. Winding down from our trip to leave on Tuesday. Only thing we didn't do was go to the beach. Really, it was too hot and we're wimps!! But I did see a lot of it. Ah well... I've been sprayed by the waters of the pacific ocean already this trip, just not from SD. However, now it's time to get back to reality, and time for bed. I have work in the morning and even though I'm not very tired I must try to sleep. Take care my friends..... thanks for reading this! Love, kisses and dolphins for you all!!

we're on vacation finally... it seemed a long time coming but here we are finally in oakland california. This is only leg 1 of our trip... shannon is off to comic con next week, so I won't be seeing much of him at all!! I'm glad he's gonna get the chance to geek out!! I can sit and do much of nothing while we're away.
As far as things go so far.... we've been to sf proper yesterday. Going again on Monday to do the tourist thing on the bay and buy some gifts for friends, family etc... and then I can take my bay cruises and look at the bridge again. It's been sunny every day we've been here so far... and we expect to have sun til we leave on tuesday. Saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at the Lowes Metreon on Market street.... it was good however I found it a tad dragging in parts... so much so that in one part where Harry and Dumbledoor go to search for the Horcrux on the boat, I drifted off to which Shannon gave me a poke and it was all ok. But hey what do you expect sheesh!! It was dark, and quiet, and there wasn't too much happening, so I started to zed off!! Went to the Apple store also yesterday.... it was all nice and shiny and apple-ish... watched a presentation on Itunes, looked at ipods but in the end didn't buy, since I figure that I'll wait and buy when I get home. Besides, that gives me a chance to see our apple store and give them my canadian money instead. :) Tomorrow is a day on the square here at Jack London in Oakland... The Local SPCA is having an adaoptathon thingie so.... what fun will that be to go look at cute puppies and kittens right by the waters of the bay on a beautiful sunday.









the 2nd picture is a more accurate view of the squre we're on. Our hotel is right behind that blue and white hotel on the left hand side of the picture. It's a nice little hole in the wall place. Allthough we are right on the amtrack line, and it can get a tad noisy for the price to lay your head, it's okay by me. We're literally steps away from the bay and a ferry into san fran, alameda or sausalito should we want to go and tootle around.




there's is a picture of our happy little hacienda while we're in oakland. :)

This week was a tough one for people dying. First off, let me talk about the one of course that effected the whole world with it's suddenness. (is that a word?)...
I remember when I was maybe 13 or 14, and my mom's friend Dominic made me a tape of Off The Wall and Thriller. I'd listen to those for hours. I would take that tape with me to school, listen to it in the lunchroom and the supervisor would always tell me to "shut off that noise!"... I'd play 'wanna be startin' somethin' and would sing at the top of my lungs "mama say mama sa mama ma ku sah!" and the lunch lady would tell me to shut it... *grin*.... He was never really someone that I went googoo over like Wham! or George Michael or Roxette.... but I've always loved his music. The world will have his wonderful music to remember him by. He left a great legacy behind so the life he did lead was a good one. Even though there may have been some not so nice things that he may or may have not done.... that doesn't matter anymore. What's important now is that we remember his good stuff. His charity work. Where were you when you heard the news? I was on my way home from work. Now that he's gone, his record sales are going nuts. Good thing too.... his Estate will need the financial injection of cash. How much in debt was he? Like Shannon just said, it's like an artist after they die. Their work goes up in value. You don't know what you got until it's gone. Good bye Michael Jackson. You were the King of Pop. I'll miss you. But I'll always have your music, so that's a comfort.





Farrah Fawcett... I'm really sorry. Your life ended with you fighting. I'm sorry you had to battle cancer, and I'm sorry that you lost that battle. "once upon a time..." I remember watching Charlie's Angels when I was young. My mom got me an 8X11 black and white photo of Farrah and I put it on my desk like it was an important document... I was really sad when I spilled milk on it, and I cried, so my mom bought me a big poster of Farrah playing tennis... she was a strong wonderful woman whom unfortunately I didn't follow after Charlie's Angels. What I'm sorry about is that... yes of course her death comes as a shock to those who remember her and love her from her previous work.... but her death was overshaddowed by the death of MJ. I guess maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Maybe because her death wasn't "thee" headline in the news, perhaps this will give Farrah's family the time, and peace and quiet they need to mourn and grieve. Goodbye Farrah, looks like you're a true Angel now... forever.




And finally..... Ed McMahon. Tonight Show's co-host. You lived a good long life. I don't know what your cause of death was. I hear it may have been medical complications... but now you and Johnny can greet everyone that comes through the pearly gates and have a nice chat. Rest in Peace Ed.....




Good Bye And God Bless... You'll all be missed....

This made me cry.... I really enjoyed this entry, have the kleenex ready....

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pixar-up-movie-2468059-home-show

aaaah, the sound of the birds, the ever lightening sky... the thought of waking to a warm summers day.... and then *squish!* the feeling of cat puke under your toes!!! EEEEWWWWW!!!! Not gonna go into much more details except that brown carpet and brown squishies do not a good combination make for blind lady walking on the rug!!!! eewewewewewewewwwwww!!!
Ok.... so now that that's outta the way... I'm up cuz my ear hurts, and I had to pee anyway, and I suspect that all things downstairs may not be as happy as they could be. I can hear Brit every once in a while squeaking down there, so I dunno if it's a good thing, or a bad thing... time will tell I guess.
Off to work in a couple hours, but until then, I'm off to see if Liam Connor gets it today or not. Carla's getting married today and Liam is being a total idiot as boys often are when they can't keep their peepee in their pants. But she apparently loves him too, and I was a bad girl and read ahead (and am now watching ahead thanks to my hubby) so Liam's demise may be very soon methinks.
Anyway, before I go back to the street, I must wash my foot!! :P~
Oh, and I must mention, that me and Shannon saw Pixar's "UP!" yesterday on a sunny afternoon of which we had the day off. I really enjoyed it. It borought me back to the memories of my childhood when everything was simple and happy and carefree. I really found myself getting into the story, being involved with the characters, and got a kick outta the fact that the old man was named "Fredricksson" hee hee :) The movie left me feeling that there is still good out there, and that my passion for life is still held in a balloon happily floating in the summer sun. It also made me realise that I have a wonderful man with which I am going to spend the rest of my life with, and we're gonna be (hopefully just as happy as Ellie and Carl were). I laughed, and cried with this one... so, on my recommendation, go see this one. And when you come home, see if you can find your happy balloon place in your life, and go out and live your life with all the wonderful colours that happy dream balloons can bring you!.... Now go and enjoy your day my friends. Love to you all.

so, it's the middle of the night again, and I'm up... feeing... ansy? weird?... restless?. Not too sure. Woke up out of a dead sleep having to pee like a racehorse... (wow, the birds are chirping...) and that was over an hour ago. Went back to bed and laid there hot, restless, itchy on my left foot (which seems to have stopped for now (?) and feeling well, again, I don't know. Two hours before the alarm goes off and my head and common sense tell me that I should go back to bed, but I don't want to lay there feeling this way. What's up with me?.... I know that my dream prior to me waking up was me yelling down the phone at some lady. I told her that I lost my effing credit card and she was saying something like 'Oh, now I've gone ahead and processed your order for blablablah. So I blew up at her saying all sorts of nice things I'm sure but I remember that I mentioned that I did this for a living too, and don't expect me to be nice and happy with you, cuz I have to do that all day so watch out lady! (or something!) Then I woke up and that was an hour ago or so.... and he we are now. *sigh*.... Not feeling as desperate or panicked or whatever the last entry was... but I don't feel... 'right' if you know what I mean. By the time I work myself back down to calm or whatever, I'm afraid that it'll be time to get up anyway... so I think I'll just go plop in front of the tv and watch more corrie....