Mrs Ohtobe

Mrs. Oh versus the Dishwasher

2012-02-01T01:17:00.000-05:00

Friends - what the heck is up with me and appliances? It is like our house is the Appliance Bermuda Triangle.

Last February we bought a new dishwasher from hhGregg and I was so thrilled that we got a nice new stainless steel dishwasher to match our fridge.

Two months later? The wheels on the bottom basket kept falling off. The drawer slidey things on the top basket broke. And we had several service calls and UPS deliveries to get the thing fixed.

After Christmas we were getting an error message on the control panel and we called Samsung because the darn washer was under warranty. I was very happy that they sent out a service tech the very next day - which was a Saturday. Unheard of.

So Doogie Howser shows up and takes a look around. Gives us some cleaner tablets and said that should fix it and if not call them back. Oh it fixed it for a load or two and then the error message popped back up.

We called again - this time on a Monday with a service date of Wednesday. Wednesday arrived and around 4 p.m. the service company called and said they weren't coming out. They were ordering us a pump. And a motherboard. Now why couldn't they do that on the Monday we called in the first place?

The service folks said we would get the parts in one day. It took over a week. When the parts were to arrive we were to call and have them set up yet another service date. I wasn't all that sweet when the parts arrived and they came out the next day.

Doogie didn't come this time. His granddad did. I don't know why I like older repairmen versus younger ones but I do. The whole allure of with age comes wisdom thing I think. So Father Time works on the dishwasher and replaced the pump and motherboard. Guess what. It still didn't work and now it has a leak. He said he was going to order more parts.....

I promptly called Samsung and told them not to bother. After my last call I put them on notice that there weren't going to be any more repairs - there was going to be a replacement and hhGregg agreed.

That was last Friday and we have been dishwasherless since the beginning of the month. Yesterday Tobey and I headed over to hhGregg to get our exchange. Now the district manager called and told Tobey they would be out on Saturday with a replacement. To which I promptly called them back and said there was no way I was going to have another Samsung dishwasher in my house.

Now we bought the original in an open box special for $490. Plus $119 for delivery and installation and $119 for a 5 year warranty. When we get to hhGregg they tell us we have a $611 credit. Er. No. I should have a $780 as my receipt shows that is the total we paid last year.

Well. The same dishwasher is now on sale for $812. Maybe we should have just let them do an even swap! But again - there was no way I was going to go with another Samsung. Mp3 player sure. Dishwasher. Not so much.

So I picked out a nice little dishwasher. But it was a under the counter mount type and with our granite countertops it wouldn't work. We had to upgrade to a professional model which was side mountable. But it was about $150 over our credited amount.

And guess what friends? Go on.

The manager did an even swap. So we got a better deal, free delivery since we already paid for it on the other machine and another 5 year extended warranty. The folks at hhGregg really took care of us and went above and beyond the call of duty.

And in 7 - 10 days our new special order dishwasher will be here. And for once when it comes to customer service I couldn't be happier.

~ame

Hell's Bells

2012-01-31T21:54:00.002-05:00

So I taped the final episode of Chuck because Tobey didn't get a chance to watch the end. And when we went to watch it on the DVR it wouldn't play. Man-oh-man do I love me some Verizon.

Then I tried to find the episode online. And I downloaded iLivid to watch said video. In the end I was indeed livid as the program installed some nasty malware onto my laptop. Then came the dreaded Blue Screen of Death. First it happened once in a while. Then it happened every.single.time I booted up. Then it screwed with my internet explorer WHILE in safe mode.

Now I have a hands off policy when it comes to Tobey and my computer. He is .... the Tim the Tool Man Taylor when it comes to computers and I just like it better when he doesn't play around with my computer. This policy has saved our marriage several times over.

Last night I was so frustrated. Even in safe mode I couldn't reinstall the drivers ImaLividNow erased and I had no choice but to reformat my drive. Which also meant moving all of my files over to a terabyte drive etc. Joy canNOT express my delight and around 1:30 this morning I had my laptop up and working again. Now I have to move all my files back and reinstall all my programs. More Joy.

Anyways - that is not what this post is about. Really.

Y'all remember my blog friend Kim from Australia? The one I sent the 13 pound box of chocolate to? Kim has signed up for the Leukemia's World's Greatest Shave. You can read her post here and she is looking for 500 people to donate $10 so she can reach her goal of $5,000.

I donated my $10 - really what is $10 these days. Nothing at all. I surely won't miss it from my PayPal account and it goes to a really good cause. I am asking all my 3.6 readers to click on her post and follow her link to make your donation too. You'll get good karma points for it. I promise.

~ames

You would think I would learn....

2012-01-24T19:53:00.002-05:00

Anytime and I mean anytime I say, "Oh, I did that - it wasn't all that bad." The next time. Bam. All that bad and more.

So I found this lump a few weeks ago.

I scheduled my overdue Papshmir (name that movie) and went in to get my lump checked out and my pap shmired. The NP didn't find my lump which is good and said despite my hysterectomy that it could be a hormonal thing due to the fact that my ovaries actually still work. At least something still works. She advised I get my mammo and we will go forth from there.

I had already scheduled my mammogram and didn't give it much thought after that since the NP couldn't find my mystery lump. I told Tobey I never understood all the whoo-ha regarding mammos. I chalked it up to having what Roseanne called 'long' boobs and assumed smaller ta-tas probably would hurt when squished. Mine? I could swing em around like I was some bush woman from National Geographic and it wouldn't bother me in the least bit.

I get to my appointment and put on the dressing gown. Only it wasn't a gown. It was a shawl. Er. My naked boobs don't do the shawl very well. Anyways. Oh. Em. Gee. Apparently their machine was not made for someone approaching six feet in height so I had to contort in and out and duck and bob this way and that.

Righty was first. No problem. Squish and we're done. I could see on the digital read out the amount of pressure exerted on her. 5.7 lbs. So I am jazzed. This is easy peasy. I flop ole lefty up and contort and then squish. 17.8 lbs. I fully expected my nipple to pop off and richochet around the room.

And then I get home. Craft night and Pie and Em are over and Em works at my gyno's office. I regal my nipple popping story and she asked where I went to get the scan done. "Susan Cheek" I replied. She then informs me that Susan Cheek is strictly diagnostic so there must be something there if that is where I was sent. "Best in the Bay," she says.

You can imagine my freak out at this point.

I relayed to Em that I made the appointment at Susan Cheek prior to my gyno appointment and that I randomly picked some place close to home instead of the place I used to go to. Which is near the JoAnn Fabrics. Yeah. I pick my doctors and diagnostic places based upon their location to craft stores. Isn't that the way you do it too?

"How did you find us?" "Oh, you are near JoAnn's!"

Em and Pie and apparently all their Moms work in health care and after a few phone calls and a few Google searches Pie informs me that yes, Susan Cheek is now for all mammograms not just diagnostic.

So in celebration of my mammorgrammerie - I came home and made a german pancake topped with cinnamon apples and raisins. Yummmmm - it almost made me forget that I was a human pancake a half hour before.

~ame

Mrs. Oh and Le French Restaurant

2012-01-21T10:15:00.006-05:00

A few months ago the old French restaurant in downtown Clearwater was sold and reopened by Chef Christopher Poix as L'Auberge des Artistes. For Tobey's birthday in October we took Frodo and Buttercup out for dinner since they couldn't make the family birthday celebration due to scheduling conflicts.

At that time - the restaurant had just opened and also at that time all four of us were not impressed in the least bit. I won't get in to what went wrong the last time but for a $300 meal for four - we expected a bit more and I stated so in a comment on a restaurant review in the local paper. Now while the comments are supposed to be anonymous - meaning no one can get my email address etc - I did use 'mrsohtobe' as my signature and I had earlier 'liked' L'Auberge's Facebook page. To make a long story short - I received an email from the restaurant manager saying Chef Poix invited us back and offered a gift certificate to cover the cost.

We had been planning to return for weeks but with the holidays and GrandTobey falling into worse health we just couldn't swing it despite being 5 minutes away. That all changed on Thursday.

Tobey and I arrived for our 5:30 reservation and were greeted by Michael who took care of our.every.need. The service was impeccable. And the food? See for yourself....

The meal started with an asparagus amuse bouche. The soup was to die for delicious. I asked Tobey if he thought it was bad form to lick the bowl. No. I didn't. But folks - it was that good. Creamy with a hint of asparagus and just a wonderful way to start the meal off.

Our next course arrived as soon as our bouche was finished. I ordered the Endive Salad that came with French Artisan cheese and walnuts. Yummy. Now I am not and have never been a fan of the balsamic vinegar. I actually avoid it like the black plague. Chef Poix has made a convert of me. The play of the vinegar against the vinaigrette dressing was so spot on that I will now embrace the balsamic vinegar!

Tobey's appetizer was the Escargot Provencal with basil garlic butter cream. And no - I didn't sample a bite. Snails? Eww! But Tobey loved it!! The cream sauce was heavenly (I did sample that) and Tobey couldn't get enough.

By now the sun had set and the low light in the restaurant played off the lights from downtown and it very romantique. The restaurant is dotted with chandeliers salvaged from Belleview Biltmore and the decor is charming coupled with some low playing chanteuse singing in the background.

The entrees arrived next. I ordered the Tournedos Rossini: a fois gras topped filet served with wild mushrooms in a veal reduction and haricot vert. I shared the fois gras with Tobey as I am not a huge liver fan - did you not read my family recipe for the Liver balls? The steak was fork tender and cooked perfectly. And the mushrooms? A superb blend which included Chanterelles and some others I recognized but for the life of me now I can't recall. Also. The veal reduction. OMG. It was perfection woodsy and meaty despite my anti-veal stance. I would definitely recommend and order the filet again.

Tobey was torn between ordering the puff pastry wrapped salmon, Saumon en Croute or the red snapper, Poissun Rouge Dore. Tobey took Michael's suggestion and ordered the snapper. The champagne cream reduction was yet another cream perfection. Light and full of flavor with a hint of what I thought was lemon and the snapper was cooked perfectly. Tobey didn't leave a smidge on his plate.

After dinner we were served a palate cleanser before dessert - Raspberry Confit. Fresh raspberries topped with raspberry sorbet and candied orange peel. Cool and crisp it was the perfect way to prepare for our desserts. Tobey liked the Confit so much he wished it was on the dessert menu in a larger portion!

And here is what I came back for. The chocolate souffle with cream anglaise. Heaven my friends. Heaven in a little ramekin. Where the chocolate could have been overpowering - it wasn't. It was light and a fluffy and.... heaven!

Tobey ordered the Tarte Tatin which I love to say. Tarte Tatin. Tarte Tatin. The carmelized apple was tender and juicy and the cinnamon sauce was the perfect compliment to the apple.

Tobey was a very happy camper and didn't he look handsome!

Michael was gracious enough to offer to take our picture and by the smiles on our faces you can tell what a lovely evening we had.

When we got home Frodo asked how our dinner at "La Pantalones de Fancy" went. Fancy pants. That kid slays me and we regaled him in every morsel. Yeah. I know he was jealous.

So all in all - I would give La Pantalones de Fancy two Mrs. Oh's thumbs up. Two big thumbs up. The only downfall I can see is the pricing. Our meal wound up being about $70 a person and this in downtown Clearwater where you can get the mufaletta sandwich for lunch at Cleveland St. Cafe for about $6 or a pizza from Tony's for around $13 (Hi, Claudia!) However. L'Auberge is fine dining and one should expect to pay more. Couple that with the food and I really don't think the price is out of line at all after all: you get what you pay for friends.

So go. What are you waiting for? As for me? We will go back. I can tell you that some of the dishes haunt me. The asparagus amuse - the filet - the souffle - friends this is what dreams are made of!

~ames

Petty much?

2012-01-17T16:57:00.002-05:00

Y'all I am twerked.

I wish I could say I was surprised but I am not.

First of all I just finished removing every 'friend' on Facebook that we used to go to church with. Only one - yes one - person sent condolences to Kevin and I and she did so on Facebook and snail mailed a card as well. All the others? Those that wear their 'Christianity' on their sleeve: nothing. Those that always throw in 'I love you' when they meet someone. Nothing. And that they didn't offer up one kind word peeves me to no end.

It really is no big deal. Those people never commented on anything I posted anyways - so it is no big loss.

I won't even get into my work. But suffice it to say - the people that should have asked how I was today coming off of funeral leave....didn't. I received a nice card from the cashiers - but from anyone else? Nothing.

I know I shouldn't be keeping score. I just know I have always treated others the way I would want to be treated. I have made food, purchased and circulated cards etc. ad nauseum whenever someone has something bad happening in their world. But for me? Nothing.

This should be telling me something - and trust me - it is.

~ame

One last crafty mention

2012-01-17T01:19:00.000-05:00

The final edition of "Junk I Made For Christmas" is this take on the Alien Abduction lamp featured on Dollar Store Crafts. I made two - one for Chewie and one for Butter - and they loved them! Check out the link for a how-to!

~ame

MLK Day

2012-01-16T12:11:00.002-05:00

Last week we were talking with Frodo and Butter at lunch and I said, "For me, we are only one generation from the 'back of the bus' mentality." My parents grew up in a America that had separate water fountains and the like. And while we have come along way - we still have a long way to go. Not just for our African-American brothers and sisters but for equality for all.

~ames

Mrs. Oh and da butts

2012-01-15T01:26:00.000-05:00

Tobey's birthday Oct 2009

So here is the butt story.

The Thanksgiving after Tobey and I were married we gathered at his parents house for Turkey Bird dinner. The whole family was there - maybe around 20 or so of us. Now Tobey and I were still in the honeymoon phase of our marriage. And you have to admit there is a striking resemblence between Tobey and GrandTobey.

I walked in the kitchen and pinched Tobey's butt and was about to go on my merry way. But. It wasn't Tobey's butt that I pinched. It was GrandTobey's. Can you say 'mortified'? Thankfully - GT had a great sense of humour and my loving family has never let me live it down that I pinched GrandTobey's butt.

In hindsight though - does he look scared?

~ame

Saturday

2012-01-14T20:11:00.002-05:00

So this morning was GrandTobey's memorial service.

I really had been fine all week. I had been busy and that keeps my mind occupied so I don't actually think about things that inevitably I have to think about.

Actually my heart is so breaking for our neice. She got up and spoke at the memorial and said:
"At 15 I lost my Dad, at 16 I lost my Nana, at 17 I lost Granddaddy". No more birthdays for her - said in my best soup nazi voice over.

At the last minute I volunteered to do Dad's memorial cards due to a mixup at the church. Plus I had to finish the Powerpoint presentation for the service. I went to bed around 5 a.m. this morning only to get up at 7. Both Tobs and I are wiped out.

During the service there is a time for sharing memories. Tobey didn't know it that I had planned to speak. Chewie did a facepalm when I got up. I added a few comments about GrandTobey - how he always listened and rarely offered up advice. Unlike me who offers up advice whether you want to hear it or not. I said I needed to be more like him. I also came across this - The Proverbs 32 Man and I read it during the service. Everyone seemed to have loved it and I got a lot of hugs which was nice.

Tobey was surprised I didn't tell the "Butt Story" but I told him I figured I couldn't get away with saying 'butt' in church. Regarding the Proverbs 32 reading, Frodo said he couldn't believe I made up scripture - in a church of Christ - and I wasn't stoned.

Anyways. I do take solace in the fact that GrandTobey is with his wife and son in heaven. With his momma and daddy and brothers and sisters and his ma and pa in law. I know they are having a great time - it just sucks for the rest of us.

~ame

Whitesnake

2012-01-12T12:44:00.003-05:00

I don't know why when I read GrandTobey's obit in the paper I was reminded of Whitesnake's Here We Go Again....

EVERSOLE, Keith A. 76, of Clearwater, died Jan. 9. Survived by three children, Kenneth & Kevin Eversole, and Kelly Henry. Neptune Society

Does it not look like Tobey and his brother are married? They didn't include anything else but managed to get their name in the obit. They can't spell out January but they can slip in a ad for themselves. Where is the memorial service? When is the memorial service? Who was this man? Who loved him? I really wish I could say I was shocked. But after the obit fiasco of Mom's passing - I can't say that I am as it took THREE times to get the posting correct. Really - how hard is it?

~ames

GrandTobey

2012-01-09T23:05:00.000-05:00

Tobey's Dad passed away this morning.

More Crafty Christmas....part IV

2012-01-08T07:35:00.005-05:00

In the final installment of Junk I Made For Christmas I present you all with the woodburned boxes I made! First up (thanks to Matt for the pictures) is the Lord of the Rings box I made for my brother Matt.

Matt added the Ring which was brilliant - why didn't I think of that!

I used most of the same designs from Frodo's box I made last Christmas.

The inside view of the box.

I think Matt really liked his box and I heard Porkchop suggested a Zelda box so guess what I will be working on next!

I put together this little Slytherin box for Buttercup.

And finally Nappy's Dresdin Files box that was over a year in the making. No, it didn't take a year to acutally make - it just took me that long to get off my butt and finish it.

I thought I would mention the red crocheted table cloth from above. I thought it would be nice to use it on our table this year and boy was I surprised when I put the cloth on the table and it was soooo small it looked like a table runner! I remember that Momma would pull it out at Christmas time and wrap our old trunk in it for display purposes. I suppose I forgot how small it was but in my kid's mind it was huge. I don't have any information on it other than it has been in the family since I was a child and I do believe my Great-Gran Snape crocheted it.

Anyways - I think that is about all for the Junk I Made For Christmas segment. I am working on a ton of book purses for my Etsy store and I have a project for Frodo's 24th birthday present next month as well. Thanks to Tee's request I will also be doing a tutOHrial for River's Diary box and I am thinking about linking that up to the Instructables site.

Hope everyone has enjoyed seeing what I had been doing!

~ames

More crafty stuff

2012-01-07T01:07:00.000-05:00

If you don't know already that Buttercup is a huge Harry Potter fan - as am I. I had seen the book purses going around the netosphere and thought I would try my hand at making one.

I found the perfect fabric for the purse part at Joann's and it was so hard to keep this gift a secret. I thought it turned out great and Butter just loves it to pieces.

When Chewie's girlfriend came over during New Year's we showed her Butter's purse and she said she wanted one as well. So I made her one and this is the picture she posted on her Facebook. Strange though - she 'friended' me on Facebook and Chewie? Nope. Nappy? Nope.

Anyways - The boys had a box full of books to donate and I rescued a few I thought would make interesting purses. So I am now working on them for my Etsy store and I will post the link when I get them done.

And please keep Tobey's Dad in your prayers. He has been sick on and off for the last few years but since Mom passed away a year ago he seems to have lost his will to live. He has taken a turn for the worse and Hospice is on the scene. Dad is sleeping for the most part and told one of his grandsons at Christmas that he was ready to go to heaven and see Mom. *heartbreaking*

~ame

A crafty Christmas...

2012-01-06T01:20:00.000-05:00

So for the first installment of "What Mrs. Oh was busy doing that she didn't have time to blog."

I made two etched glass pieces for Frodo. The first is this Prancing Pony hurricane lamp. When Frodo opened this present up the first thing out of his mouth was something about me buying it at Disney. Anytime I make something and someone thinks I bought it makes me feel really good!

Prancing Pony Hurricane Lamp

White Tree of Gondor Mug

My first endeavor into glass etching was this Gondor mug I made for Frodo. Initially I wanted to make him a Prancing Pony mug but the graphic had to be shrunk so small it just didn't work. I also liked that I could personalize the mug and have the graphic on the 'right' side of the mug as Frodo is a leftie and usually the images on glasses are on the wrong side when he drinks.

I cannot sing the praises of my Silhouette cutting machine enough! Love, love, love that thing and I am already planning next years (opps this years) Christmas presents.

Be sure to pop in tomorrow for more crafty junk I made!

~ames

Oh and P.S.

The last few weeks I have been getting seriously spammed in my comments. Thankfully Blogger catches all of them but this one tickled me so I thought I would share:

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*giggles*

River's Diary

2012-01-05T01:09:00.000-05:00

River Song's Diary...Box with sliding drawer

I thought I would share with you, over the next few days, some of the things I completed for Christmas. Above is my version of River Song's Diary from Doctor Who. I am super happy with the way it turned out and Buttercup is all *squee* about it as well.

It was rather simple to assemble. First I painted the box Tardis blue - or there about. After I printed off my cover graphics I rubbed the back of the cover with charcoal and then I transferred all of the lines and squares to the box.

I wanted the box to have a somewhat 3-D front. So I traced the charcoal lines with my hot glue gun leaving a trail of glue behind and thus 'raising' the 'leather' cover I was about to create. After the hot glue had set up and cooled I was ready to apply the paper cover to the box.

Now I wanted something old looking and I had a few spare copies of the cover I wasn't going to use - so I crumpled up the paper a few times and flattened it out. I loved the effect and I then modge podged the wooden box - one side at a time - and pieced the paper covers to the box. Flattening and indenting the paper around the glue trails underneath as best I could.

Once the paper cover was stuck to the box, I then modge podged a few coats on the outside of the box. I then added some decorative paper to the edge of the book and on the inside of the sliding draw. Voila. Done.

Now I think I need to make one for me and maybe one of my Etsy shop. Be sure to stop back by for my next craft project involving Armour Etch and Lord of the Rings!

~ame

Happy New Year

2012-01-04T11:00:00.001-05:00

Belated Happy New Year to all!

~ames

As my Mom would say...

2011-12-21T00:41:00.003-05:00

Son of a biscuit.

Cripes the last few weeks have been horrible. Only to be topped off with sweet furry Roger over at June's.... and I can't stop crying just over every.damn.thing. And me being such a smart ass I sent June's Christmas present in Baby's Pet Crematorium gift bag as I told her I would when she said I could reuse the damn thing. Now - I feel horrible about doing so.

Anyways.

I got a call this morning from Deputy Janet. She said she wanted to give me a few days to think about whether or not I wanted to press charges. I am actually surprised that most every body is split down the middle about whether to or whether not to but all have been supportive in my decision.

I told her my reasons and that I wasn't going to press charges. I told her to let them know why and my feelings on the subject etc and I hoped they appreciate my kindness in face of the adversity they put me in.

She then said she was still going to turn this over to the State and she wants the couple checked out by Child Protective Services. Her logic is that if they made this one bad decision she wanted to make sure that at least the children were being properly cared for. To be honest - those kids are the main reason I elected not to press charges. They don't deserve being put into foster care because their parents were schmucks and because I was a dingbat.

I pray nothing further comes of this and that they are wonderful parents but it is out of my hands and they are going to have to sleep in this bed they made for themselves.

Well I got nothing left tonight. Peace out and love each other and your furries.

~ames

Ol Blue Eyes

2011-12-20T13:13:00.005-05:00

Tee - there ya go! And no - he wasn't hitting on me. Tobey just thinks he was. But then again - it has been so long since anyone hit on me I wouldn't know if it someone did! lol

Dr. K (on the far left)

So before the Great Purse Snatching of 2011 - I had an appointment with my cardiologist last Friday. Everything is fine - just my regularly scheduled check up, oil change and tire rotation.

Now we are sitting and chatting. And I said, "Oh, I don't think I ever thanked you for saving my life and all." And he just smiles and then he comes to a dead stop in his chatter and typing things into his computer.

"Your eyes cannot possibly be that blue," he says.

I say, *blush*

And he keeps staring me down.

"Your eyes are impossibly blue," he continued on and shakes his head. "Maybe it is your red hair or that black shirt...but your eyes are impossibly blue!"

I say again, *blush*

So we go on about our chatter and he got on me about somethings and of course I blamed it all off on Tobey. I said I thought Tobey was trying to kill me hardee har har.

Then the doctor says, "Isn't your husband alot older than you?"

Er. He met Tobey twice. And he remembers that?

I said that Tobey is 10 years older than me.

The doc then says, "He isn't trying to kill you. There is no way that if he did kill you that he would ever be able to snag a young thing like you again."

So I think that appointment went well, right?

I tell all of this to Tobey and he says after the blue eyes comment that Dr. K was hitting on me. I say he wasn't. Then after the comment about me being younger and all, Tobey says again he was hitting on me and that he needs to come with me to all my appointments now.

I think not! ;)

~ame

I have made a decision....kinda.

2011-12-18T17:56:00.003-05:00

So I have 5 hours now until Deputy Janet calls me back and I have to tell her whether or not I want to press charges against the legal aliens that stole my purse.

There are a few things that have led me to my decision:

First - I was stupid for leaving my purse in the cart. I should have paid more attention but I was all distracted having to pick Chewie up from his date with Chewette and I was further reeling because Nappy had a bowling date with his class Salutatorian. Go Nappy! But this whole Great Purse Debacle of 2011 begins with it being my fault.

B - The theives were stupid for taking opportunity with my stupid actions of leaving my purse in the cart. They don't have records. I am leaning towards that they were just being idiots and that they really are good people. Yeah I know. That is SO like me thinking good of my fellow man and all. Not. That is so like me being all optimistic. Not.

III - I keep going back to What Would Jesus Do if someone stole His satchel from the well He stopped to have a drink at. He would say, "Go on your way and sin no more." While I don't wear my Christianity on my sleeve - I still am a Christian and am commanded to be as Jesus-like as I can be.

And while it would be really easy to say "Book em Danno" - it isn't all that easy. If indeed these are decent people who came to this country to try to better themselves and their two young children and they just made a stupid mistake like the same mistake I made of leaving my purse in that cart - then what?

They certainly would be found guilty if I pressed charges. What would that entail for the.rest.of.their.lives? It would effect them every time they went to seek new employment that is for sure. How is that going to better their lives in the long run? Later on if they sought citizenship would this stupid act keep them from becoming Americans? Most likely so.

They came to America because this is the greatest place in the world to live. Populated by the greatest people in the world. Every one of us has made mistakes in our lives - massively so me in the past as well. Hopefully my decision will not harm them like they attempted to harm me because we should strive to be the bigger person right?

From what Deputy Janet said - I know the theives are shaking in the shoes. I know they are scared for themselves and their children. Do their children deserve to go into 'the system' because their parents piggybacked upon my stupid mistake? I think not.

And finally Four - Does the state of Florida really have nothing better to do than prosecute this case? I would have to meet with the state attorney and go to court. I would have to face these people who rocked my world one December night when I was so distracted by...everything in MY world. Does Deputy Janet have better things to do? Of course she does. Of course the state does. Of course I do and so do those who stole my purse.

So initially my reaction was to string em high. Now? Not so much. All I can do is hope and pray that my decision makes them take inventory of their actions and their goals for their lives and their childrens' lives.

And I am cutting them a Christmas break and I pray they go about their lives being productive members of our great society. I think it is the right thing to do. I think it is what Christ would do. But man-o-man - this was a very hard decision to make. Which I find kinda sad for me - being Christlike should be a lot easier.

I am just so grateful to everyone involved. From the folks at Wal-Mart and the work from Deputy Janet and the other deputies that were on the lookout for the thieves car. I am so grateful that everything was returned and the only thing I am out is my pride and a few credit card charges to replace my lost/stolen/found cards.

So now I am going to bake Christmas cookies with my daughter. I can only hope and pray that I made the right decision. I hope the thieves are appreciative of my decision but it is what Jesus would do.

~ames

My purse.....updated

2011-12-18T00:58:00.005-05:00

Y'all I am so upset at myself and at the other persons involved.

After dropping Nappy off at the bowling alley and on the way to pick up Chewie from his girlfriend's house - I had to run to the Wal-Mart to get cat food. For the feral cats out front. Because that is the kind of person I am. I feed stray cats. I give change to the homeless. I help out anyone and everyone. I like to think I am a good person and if I died today I wouldn't have an issue standing before Christ and letting him me judge me. I ain't perfect - but I do try and make a positive mark in this world.

Anyways.

I put my cat food in the trunk of the van and moved my shopping cart up towards the line of carts infront of the van. And I promptly left my purse in the child's seat of the shopping cart and drove off.

I picked up Chewie and headed home to find my purse was missing. I sped back to Wal-Mart while Tobey called them to be on the lookout for my purse.

Being Christmas time and all I had hoped someone had turned it in. I prayed and begged God the whole ride back to Wal-Mart. But they didn't. They stole it.

So all the credit card companies have been called.

My two day old brand new phone: gone.

All the pics I took of Chewie and Chewette today. Gone.

My checkbook. Gone.

Pictures of the kids. Gone.

My dead Momma's drivers license that I kept along with mine. Gone.

4 thumb drives (one brand new) containing all my Etsy artwork and God knows what else. Gone.

MP3 player. Gone.

My business cards. Gone. My Etsy business cards. Gone.

My brand new personalized business card holder. Gone.

A few bucks in quarters in the bottom of my purse. Gone.

Some old pin needles that I never threw out. Gone. Hopefully the theives won't prick themselves as they rifled through my purse.

The important paperwork on my stent with the ID number and location and size and all that info I have to show every.single.time I see a doctor. Gone.

A Valentine's Card from Chewie that he gave me when he was just a little guy. Gone.

My ID badge for work. Gone.

All my medical insurance cards. Gone.

My voters registration card. Gone.

My Smokey Bones restaurant card. Gone and I had points on that thing!

My diabetic ID bracelet. Gone.

I can't go into alot of detail as the person that has my purse has my blog address and my Etsy address but I did post some stuff on Facebook where no one can see anything unless they are on my friends list.

I am still hoping I will get my purse back. Other than the phone there wasn't anything of value in it. Keep the change - keep the phone. Give me everything else back. None of the cards had been used and they are all cancelled and all the checks have been stopped so really - what else can you do with the contents of my wallet other than laugh at my driver's license picture? I really would like to think that the person who took my purse's intention all along was to turn it in. But when we called my phone the first few times and it rang and rang.....and then after a few calls it went straight to voice mail so either they turned it off or had already pulled the SIM card out of it...well...at that point they didn't leave me much choice.

And what makes this even worse is that every card I cancelled I got charged a fee to order new cards. I will have to go to the DMV and get a new drivers license - so there is time off from work. I have to pay to get a new badge at work. Etc. Etc. Merry Christmas.

To the person that stole my purse. Yes. You stole it. It actually is against the law for you not to turn it in. Did you know that?

Oh what the heck eh. Might as well say this because this might be your only way out of the mess you got yourself into. You do realize that Wal-Mart has surveillance cameras in the parking lot. You do realize that the Sheriff has already opened an investigation. You do realize that they already tracked you down from your purchase in the store because you were wise enough to use your food stamp card prior to finding my purse in the parking lot. Did you not think of any of these things while you were doing the wrong thing of putting my purse in your vehicle instead of taking it into the store and turning it in? What did your wife or girlfriend say about it? Was she as complicit as you?

The way I see it is you only have two options.

1. You can wait until there is a knock at your door. Even if you get rid of everything including the phone. The Sheriff still has got you on film and Wal-Mart is happily making them copies. They won't care if you have ditched MY purse and stuff - again: they have you on film stealing it.

2. You can contact the Sheriff's office at 727.582.6200 and turn my purse and all of its contents back in and say you found it and wanted to do the right thing. I won't press charges if you do that. And yes, you would have to turn everything in because again: they have you on film and you can't deny that you stole it and that the contents magically disappeared.

Regardless of the outcome I forgive you for taking my purse. I don't know what your situation is but to steal from someone I can imagine it isn't fabulous. Being on foodstamps I know your money situation isn't good and you most likely have little mouthes to feed. I surely don't want you and the other person involved taken away from your family by being arrested during the holidays. Is my phone worth the bail money you and your wife/girlfriend are going to have to come up with? I don't think so but that is just my opinion. But you stole from a woman who works hard for a living. Who has 5 kids. 4 in college. I have 3 rescue dogs and 3 rescue cats. Life on my end isn't exactly easy either. So I hope you do option #2. And if you don't that is okay too. I know you have your reasons and I will pray that Jesus touches your life in a positive way.

~April

Follow up:

I didn't get to bed until around 6 a.m. this morning but wanted to fill y'all in.

When I went in to the Wal-Mart and the Customer Service Manager said they didn't find my purse and added she even walked around the parking lot looking for it - I am sure she thought that was the end of that. But. I asked if they had video of the parking lot and she called the store manager up and we spoke. I could have easily walked out of the store without even mentioning it and we wouldn't be where we are this glorious morning.

A little after 7 a.m. I hear a tap, tap, tapping from the living room. It was a different deputy at the door with my deputy on the phone. They got the bad guys and recovered my purse and ALL of its contents! Yay!

And then she asked if I wanted to press charges.

If they would have turned it in - I wouldn't have. But they didn't. The man that stole it took the deputy to a dumpster where he ditched my purse. She said they had no intentions of giving it back. She said there were two small children involved and CPS would be involved. Which broke my heart. I asked if the folks they had in handcuffs had records. She said they didn't and that she scared the beJesus out of them.

So now my deputy just dropped my purse off. Nothing is missing.

She wants to know if I want to press charges. I say yes. Whole heartedly yes. But. Forgiveness. Christmas. A four year old kid. A five year old kid. The wife/girlfriend told the guy who stole my purse to take it inside store. But then she also tossed it in the back of their Surburban once the bad guy tossed it in. I just don't know what to do or think at this point. I am out a few bucks replacing credit cards. I am out a nights sleep. I will have to go to court etc. if these yahoos don't plead out.

My deputy is calling me back at 11 p.m. when her shift starts and I will give her an answer then.

Now - I'm going to bed, happily going to bed!

~ames

Spielberg I Ain't

2011-12-12T01:10:00.002-05:00

I finally was able to upload all the videos from my phone to my laptop. Yay me! So here is the footage I took at the Bocelli concert of Andrea singing Amazing Grace. Be warned the video is horrible - but still: Bocelli.

~ame

Craft Nights

2011-12-07T01:24:00.000-05:00

Tuesdays for the past month or so have become Craft Nights at Chez Mrs. Ohtobe's place. Tonight Tobey treated us gals to some delicious pastries from the Mexican bakery down the road.

This SnowGal was the proto-type I made for my friend Gail at work. Gail wanted to make sure I shared her with you guys on the blogosphere. I think the SnowGal turned out pretty cute and I love the little silver kitchen utensils that I found at Joann Fabrics and I am so glad Gail loves her.

Here is my SnowGal on the tree I have in the kitchen. I totally love her and am sending one to Lil Martha for her kitchen tree as well.

Here is a view of the front of the china cabinet. Mom's Santa and Sleigh is on the middle shelf and I tucked in a few little Christmas things here and there as well as I tied red ribbons around my Great Grand's Danish tea set like I do every year.

My nutcrackers were relegated to the top of the china cabinet this year as Buttercup complained about all the creepy nutcrackers staring at her. Unfortunately I could only put up about half of my collection. I also moved the stockings to the cabinet as well because now all the boys are grown up - folks complained about the stockings hitting them in the head every time they had to go to the kitchen or into the spare bath. They really didn't like it as it got closer to Christmas and I started tossing Terry's Oranges into them.

Mom's elephant tree has really filled out. So much so I told Tobey I really need to get a bigger tree for all the elephant ornaments. I also made the little elephant topper which for the life of me I can't get to sit straight. I think Mom would have loved it.

Instead of putting up Mom's Christmas village - this year I put the U-Paint houses I have painted over the years up instead. It makes me feel somewhat talented when people find out that I painted all those houses myself and everyone ohhhhhs and awwwwws over them.

So that is it for now. I'll do some pictures of the tree later on in the week.

Have you got all your decorations up yet? And I won't even ask if your Christmas shopping is done!

~ame

Mrs. Oh and Andrea Bocelli

2011-12-05T17:40:00.007-05:00

Sunday night Tobey and I made our way into Tampa for a yummy dinner at Maggiano's and then we headed to the St. Pete Times Forum for the Andrea Bocelli Concerto Tour.

Why is it that Tobey just gets better lookin' with time and me? I look more and more like my Grandmother.

Tobey and I on the terrace at the Forum. I can tell you I paid the price for wearing 4 inch heels but it was a lovely evening and we (I) had a blast.

The view from our seats.

The seating was so bad on the floor that there wasn't much manuevering room. No place to put my purse, program or shoes - yes, I kicked them off after climbing the stairs a few too many times. I likened it to flying only that on a plane I actually had more leg room. And as you will see in the following pictures, apparently we sat behind a basketball team and poor Tobey didn't get to see much of the concert due to the tall dude that sat a few rows ahead of us. And I won't mention the dude with the laptop that kept lifting it up throughout the performance to snap come pictures.

The Forum will let you bring in a camera as long as it doesn't have a detachable lens. Er. My camera does. I figured I would get caught at the door and we would have to take the Canon back to the car so I didn't bring my zoom lens and it shows in the quality of pictures I could take. But still. Bocelli! *squeeee*

Andrea Bocelli and Ana Maria Martinez

Andrea singing Ave Maria and playing the flute.

I loved the pictures that played during the concert.

Andrea and Heather Headley

After hearing the guy behind us ask every.single.time Ms. Headley sang, "Who is she?" I leaned over and told him who she was. How can you come to a Bocelli concert and not know Heather was beyond me. So for those not in the know: Heather played Nala in the Lion King on Broadway and had the lead in Aida as well - she also has worked a lot with Andrea.

More Andrea

And again.

Oh. It was almost like we were at SeaWorld what with the folks walking around before the performance and during intermission hawking their wares. Okay they only hawked ice cream but still. Carvel. Get your Carvel Ice Cream here. I only wish I was kidding. Couple that with the folks walking into the auditorium with chicken fingers and french fries I was really beginning to wonder where we were at.

The final song of the night - Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turandot.

If you want to hear a version of Nessun Dorma just click play on the link below and enjoy!

What a wonderful evening of music we enjoyed. Even Tobey said in the end that Andrea 'has a good voice'. Um yeah. Good. Uh huh. And if anyone is looking for sequences for their crafty needs in Tampa Bay. Don't bother. I have never seen so many women over the age of 65 bedazzled in all my life.

And I just found out: Bocelli is playing a Valentine's Concert in Orlando.....that is if we want to fork out another $600 to see him. I'm all for it....Tobey....not so much.

~ame

Cheese and Spinach Quiche

2011-11-03T23:56:00.003-04:00

I thought I would share my recipe for the Spinach and Cheese quiche I made for Tobey's birthday breakfast.

Spinach & Cheese Quiche

1 pie crust in a 9 inch pie plate
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup Gruyere cheese - grated
Handful of french spinach - chopped
1/2 onion sauteed in a tablespoon of butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Beat the eggs and milk until smooth. Add in remaining ingredients and stir until combined. Pour into pie shell and bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

My poor little oven is on it's last legs here and I had to bake mine a bit longer. You want to make sure the pie is firm and the eggs are barely starting to brown around the edges. Also I am going to make a few pie crusts and store them in the fridge so I can easily whip this quiche up for breakfast. I am going to sub out the cheese as well as my grater and a few socks from the dryer have apparently run off together. It is always the socks I tell ya. Ya can't trust them.

Because Barbie has moved back in and has laid claim to the office off the kitchen as her 'bedroom' I was unable to get the food processor out to grate my cheese for Tobey's birthday. And since I couldn't find the manual grater ingenuity had to kick in quickly. So I took the blade from the food processor and used that to grate the cheese up. And yes: it took forever!!

Memo to me: buy a new grater this weekend.

So go on and make this quiche. It is super simple to throw together and even if you buy a frozen pie crust it will turn out great and I won't tattle on ya! Let me know if your family loves it as much as mine did.

~ames

Geez

2011-11-02T01:45:00.000-04:00

I went to put my clothes away in the closet and came across this when I opened the closet doors. Okie's big ole head poking out from the hangers. I screamed like a school girl too!

So have y'all watched Once Upon A Time and/or Grimm? Tobey and I totally loved both shows! What say you?

~ames

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T23:32:00.003-04:00

Frodo and Butter had a few friends over for Halloween:

Right before I got home Tobey had to run Max to the vet. He has an ear infection and scratched himself so bad he was seriously bleeding. Poor guy didn't even get to wear his pirate costume this year.

Me and Butter. Do I look like a Martian Paula Deen or what?

Chewie dressed up to be Buttercup - I think he is the spittin' image...

The food spread...Frodo made a 'torso' meatloaf with bread bones poking out of it...yum...

Buttercup made the um 'bones'....I can't say anymore unless we change this blog to a XXX rating

Chewie (aka Butter), Me and Nappy (aka Frodo)

And a good time was had by all. Chewie made us some Butterbeer that was so close to Universal's and I loved it! Use recipe #1 from the site linked above - I promise you won't be disappointed!

~ames

Tobey's Birthday

2011-10-30T22:51:00.004-04:00

Today was Tobey's birthday. So I started the day's festivities with this:

Gruyere and Spinach Quiche.

Then most of the gang headed out to brunch at Maggiano's.

Where Chewie was thrilled to eat the biggest meatball ever seen!

The happy birthday boy. The green nails are for Halloween....

Chewie was thrilled to have his picture taken with Mom.

And this is Tobey opening up his tablet thingie I got for him. Or this is his 'you didn't spend what I think you spent' face. Or both!

But we had a wonderful day - and once home I haven't seen Tobey one bit since he has a new toy to play with. On Tuesday since Frodo and Butter couldn't get off today we will be taking them to a new French restaurant that opened up in our downtown area.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

~ame

The Fierce Adventuresome Mrs. Oh

2011-10-26T20:23:00.005-04:00

Hello Reader(s) - I have been such a bad blog momma and I apologize for that and promise to try, try, try to do better.

Anyways.

I have been out of my perfume the last few weeks and have had to resort to wearing 'fumes that I have received as gifts for Christmases and birthdays. Not good. And then I realized for me perfume is just like anything else in my life. Oh so not adventurous. In the last twenty years I have worn two scents. Two. Both of them are 'old lady' perfumes I have been told. Whatever.

So I have been running on fumes with my beloved Chanel No. 5 and have resorted to wearing Christmas Shania Twain and folks - Coco Chanel versus Shania Twain and there is no contest in the olfactory world. None. And Frodo, Butter, Barbie, Tobey and I went to the mall so Frodo could make a Sephora purchase (don't ask).

Now I have been wanting to take a sniff of Taylor Swift's new perfume WonderWhatever ever since I saw the above ad. And yes, that is a Christian Siriano gown which bumps ole Taylor up a few notches in my book. Well the old Jacques Pen-nay carries WonderBread and I took a few squirts.

And y'all - it was fabulous. Tobey really liked it too but then again he isn't a fan of Chanel and I could slather myself in motherboards, thumb drives and ram and he would be equally as happy. I know. He isn't from this planet. Doesn't like coffee, chocolate, dogs and now Chanel.

After lamenting again (as I have been for weeks) that I was out of my Chanel we made a run for the Macy's and next thing I know I was checking out with my Chanel. And Holy Mary - that stuff is exxxxxpensive. I had no idea. Really. None.

Pete and the $115 bottle of perfume

Taylor's perfume WunderBar sells for half the price of Chanel in case you were wondering. But why didn't I branch out and buy it instead of my old stand by? For starters I really didn't want to tell people what I was wearing when they would inevitably would ask.

"Ohhhh Mrs. Oh, you smell devine - what is that?"

Mrs. Oh mumblingly replies, "Taylor Swift's Wonderstuff."

How embarrassing that a 45 35 25 year old Mom of five would wear a teeny-bopper fragrance....

Right?!

~ame

The Mossy Creek Elephants

2011-10-20T01:34:00.000-04:00

As you may recall each year I put a Christmas tree up for Mom and I load it up with elephants. Luckily I came across a few more ornaments while we were at the Mossy Creek festival this past weekend. Yes Tee: THE Mossy Creek Festival! Next year if you plan on going we need to meet up and share a funnel cake.

There was a booth full of blue and white china and I found two ornaments there. Initially I was only going to buy one....but I knew once I got home I would have kicked myself for not getting both, so I did.

An angel elephant. I almost cried when I saw it. How fitting for Momma's Elephant Tree. The lady that ran the both pour and paints all of her wares and I could have spent a mint in her booth alone.

Remember I showed y'all the painted gourds? They had little Christmas Ornament gourds and well this little guy simply had to come home with me. I am thinking of jazzing him up a bit and I want to add a Santa hat to him.

Am I the only one that cannot wait for Christmas?

~ame

Just when you thought it was safe,....

2011-10-18T22:09:00.004-04:00

Hulk: :Þ

A little attempt to cheer the June up with some doctored Worst Album covers ever - BBP Style!

Hulk's identity is finally revealed.

June: always lookin' to the good side!

Dick Whitman, Charlie, Hulk and June

Hulkie and June always exude confidence....

June and Barry - sorta like when Davy Jones showed up on the Brady Bunch....

~ame

Mrs. Oh and the Creek of Moss

2011-10-16T22:08:00.004-04:00

Hello world! I know. It has been a while...

This past weekend Tobey, I and the twins headed up north to spend the weekend visiting my little brother Matt Damon and his wife Lil Martha Stewart. On Saturday we loaded up the Shrekmobile, grabbed Martha's Pops and headed 2 hours north up to Perry, Georgia and the Mossy Creek Festival.

And we had a blast! I hope you enjoy a few of the pictures we took along the way.

Lil Martha, Pops and Matt

Tobey

Tobey and Matt loved the leather goods shop and both the guys purchased these Indiana Jones hats....I think Tobey looks so good in a hat I told him he could never take it off!

Matt and Martha

Martha, Matt, Tobes and Me

The entry way to the festival.

Matt trying on the hats with Tobey contemplating a purchase...

I totally loved the Knobits!

Only in Georgia - the fried bologna breakfast biscuit.

The blacksmith. Martha purchased some really cool hooks he created.

I loved the painted gourds.

Another Knobbit - plant hanger.

Of course no trip home would be complete without visiting with Mom. She had a new neighbor move in right next door.

Tobey and I visiting my grandparents across the way. It is hard to see but Tobey refused to wear his hat as it didn't 'go with' his outfit. So I borrowed it for a bit.

Thanks so much to Matt and Martha for being such terrific hosts as usual....despite Rosie having a case of the mole mouth ;)

~ames

Nemo: Found

2011-09-28T01:26:00.001-04:00

Our second stop on Saturday's Arts Alive free admission day was to the Pier Aquarium. I hope you enjoy the pictures - alas there were no jelly fish.

I don't know why I envisioned these two discussing their wardrobe choices. "Nice polka dots!"

And I thought this little guy just looked like he loved to gossip.

Yella Fishy and a fine example of brain coral.

Nemo squared.

Larry, Curly and Moe.

And you know how you have those pictures of yourself that your children hold over your head? Oh wait, that is me holding pictures of them over their heads....so in honour of that I thought I would share the following with a warning....

I don't advise the shark hat as it really does add 10 pounds and a few chins to ya!

~ames

Mrs. Oh and Dali

2011-09-27T01:58:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted. SO much going on.

Let's begin with something fun! This past Saturday was Arts Alive day for the Tampa Bay area museums and I am all about the free admissions. So I loaded up the kids and we headed down to the new Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg.

We waited in line for about twenty minutes and the outside of the building is simply gorgeous.

This view is from the backside of the museum where there is a garden and labyrinth path.

The Golden Rectangle and the fibonacci sequence were laid on in the courtyard.

A self portrait?

Did i mention it was hot and humid? Luckily they were passing out Dali inspired fans and for some reason the boys didn't want one. I have no idea why.

The incredible helix staircase inside the museum.

A bank of posters available in the gift shop.

The coolest chain maille curtain that separates the gift shop from the admissions area. There is no picture taking allowed in the galleries.

A view from the gallery floor.

And another shot of the staircase.

The boys were totally impressed with Dali. Not. Nappy says that he just "isn't into art." Yeah. This simply can not be a child I birthed.

Velázquez Painting the Infanta Margarita with the Lights and Shadows of His Own Glory.
1958. Oil on canvas.

Since I couldn't take any pictures - which was a major bummer - I thought I would still include my favorite Dali painting for you above. One thing about the Dali museum that I have always loved is that their docents are so knowledgeable. Maybe they had a bunch of new volunteers for the Arts Alive festivities because as we stood in front of the Infanta the docent told another visitor that he had no idea about the painting or what it meant. I about died. Let me stand infront of the thing all day long and I will enlighten folks! Which I tried to do with Nappy. He wasn't that interested but I did at least get him to comprehend and see the bullfighter in the Hallucinogenic Toreador....

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for pictures of our trip to the Pier Aquarium.

~ames

Get your geek on with me....

2011-09-14T01:42:00.003-04:00

Frodo and Butter had a blast at Dragon Con in Atlanta last weekend and it seems that some of my geek jewelry was a hit. Butter said folks kept asking where my Etsy store was at....so: I created one.

Stop by and have a look around.

And in honor of my grand opening I will be giving away one Tree of Life necklace and the drawing will be on Monday morning so no entries after midnight on Sunday. All you have to do is leave me some comment love and you are entered. For an additional chance to win - mention my new store on your Facebook and for a third chance to win: come do my laundry. Just kidding. ~~Not really.~~

~ame

Mrs. Oh, Mace Windu and the mushroom cloud

2011-09-12T20:46:00.008-04:00

I know, I know. It has been over a week since my last post. Had I realized I left you all hangin' with just the Liver Balls recipe I would have posted sooner. So to placate you until my major announcement later in the week: here are some feral kitty pictures!

For the last week or so this little guy has been hanging out at the house.

His name is Mace and he purrs like crazy when you give him some kitty love.

The stripey kitty who will walk all over my feet but won't let me pet her at all.

Rae Charles. Love her little half blind self.

More Rae.

And one more: Rae!

A picture of Dorian the Gray. Dorian has a twin sister too and they have the most beautiful green eyes - they also won't come near me despite feeding them for over a year.

More Mace.

Back in December when we did the TNR for the twelve or so kitties that were left behind in the foreclosure next door, I was unable to capture a solid black kitty. I think she is showing her face around here again. She appears pregnant and bless her soul but she has also lost an eye which totally breaks my heart.

Which makes me want to protect them even more....

So when I suggested we take in poor Mace.....

There was a few tense moments as Tobey A. Put his foot down to no more pets. And 2. Threatened to get an apartment. Finally Tobey agreed to take in Mace to protect him from getting hurt outside as long as we (I) try to find him a good home. I called the TNR lady that was able to place several of the kitties in hopes that she might know of a good home for Mace. She only suggested to call a few places and offer to pay for his complete vet care......

I personally like to think that Tobey just can't resist my feminine ways - as witnessed in the above picture!

P.S. Monday afternoon I received an e-mail from Tobey saying Mace got outside. He pushed through a space between the window shaker we are using in the bedroom because it has been so God-forsaken hot here in Florida. Luckily after I got home I spied Mace and Rae playing in the yard next door. And do you know what. I saw him. He saw me and I turned my back and walked away from him and he followed me home.

So I fed him and snatched his furry yella butt up and tossed him back in the house. Where he is happily sleeping on the bed as I type this post out. Good kitty. A total love muffin - and if you know anyone local who might need a sweetpea of a kitty: let me know!

~ame

A warning* with a recipe

2011-09-02T01:38:00.001-04:00

This recipe comes with a warning*: don't make it. Really. You were warned....now on with the post.

Today's recipe is one of my Dad's favorites. I remember when we moved back to Georgia and we stayed with my maternal Grandma for a bit after visiting my Gran in Chicago (where I got this recipe), that I made this recipe several times and I don't think I have really made it since. But just in case you want to:

Grandma W's Liver Dumplings

1 pound of liver (yum)
1 loaf of bread torn into pieces - I use white
spices of your choice (onion, garlic, salt and pepper - all to taste)
an egg
a ham bone

First you want to put your ham bone in a stock pot and cover with just enough water to cover the bone. Simmer until all the meat falls off and remove the bone. Turn the heat up to a low boil.

Now the fun part and I apologize in advance.

Place the liver in a blender and liquify. Again: yum! Hey now - no complaining as I gave you plenty of time to run for the hills*.

Put the liver 'juice' into a large bowl and add the torn bread, spices and your egg. Mix well - with your hands. What? It isn't my recipe folks - just do it.

Make balls with the bread/liver juice concotion and drop into the ham broth and let cook for about 30 minutes. Sure you can put a lid on the pot in case the smell is offputting to you but it won't help. You know the drill by now: you were warned*!

Also - don't be shy about making your liver balls. You don't want them to be tablespoon size meatballs. The way my Gran made them they were size of my fist. I suppose because everyone just loved them so much. *ahem*

Honestly though - they weren't all bad. It was an interesting flavor and if you love liver I am sure this recipe will do you right. But just in case you don't - you were warned several times*.

~ame

*My attorney wanted to make sure everyone was warned. Consider this your disclaimer*

WBW

2011-09-01T01:02:00.001-04:00

Yes I now realize today is Thursday....my bad. It has been one of those kind of weeks....

Last week Butter was watching something on the tellie about the Monterey Bay Aquarium so I thought that would be our theme this week for Way Back Wednesday.

I adored the jelly fish. These are Sea Nettles and they sting.

Spotted jellies in a cluster. They almost look like coral don't they?

A surprising find of Calla lilies (my all time favorite flower) outside Big Sur.

~ames

Mrs. Oh, the cat and the rhinoceros

2011-08-31T08:08:00.003-04:00

A few days ago....

I informed Tobey that, after spending a good portion of my afternoon at the local community college with the boys, I would really like to go back to school. Again. I can't tell you how many times I have said that.

Then life kicks in and for whatever reason I don't end up going back to school.

Or worse. I convince myself out of going back. My latest argument is the financial benefits just aren't worth it at my age. I calculate how old I am and how long it will take me to graduate. How old I will be then. How long I will have to pay back student loans and how much time I have working at a supposedly higher degree-enriched salary. And it isn't worth the difference.

But to be honest there is and has always been an underlying factor of what holds me back. And her name is Algebra - or as my high school Algebra teacher prounounced it: Alllllgaeyyyy-BRA! I give Algebra the female prounoun of 'her' because Algebra is a ~~b....~~ hard subject to conquer.

So we are outside just a swingin' and I tell all of Tobey this. The same Tobey who is really good at math. And he says:

What is 987.3X divided by the square root of a hypotenuse of a rhinoceros = 10x.

Um.

Say wha??

I could see the problem he asked me. But I can't do it in my head. As soon as I visualized it - the problem disappeared. Then I ran inside (okay, I walked) and wrote the problem down. And it still looked like: 987.3X divided by the square root of a hypotenuse of a rhinoceros = 10x. Now Tobey was still outside and Nappy was in the living room and I did not call out the problem to Nappy and try to have him solve it for me. Nor did I run into the boys bedroom and have Chewie try to solve it once Nappy, our little FBF scholarship recipient failed. Neither one could solve the problem and I felt somewhat better.

Tobey returns and sees the problem I had written out and says I can't solve for it - that he gave me a 'hard one' (ya think?) and that he just made the problem up off the top of his head but here: try to solve for this one instead he says: 18 to the power of 72.4 times 4G minus how many miles it is by bike to Washington D.C. if I went 6 mph with one hand tied behind my back = 4.

Now really folks - I don't like to think that I am an utter idiot. For 7.5 hours a day I do accountanty type work. Plussy. Minusy. Dividey. Timesy. That I can do. Take me shopping and throw me in the middle of a 38.7% off shoe sale and I will properly calculate the sale price of a pair of sling back pumps every.time.

But throw a few letters in with my math problems and I am all fahklumpt.

So I throw my hands up in the air and proclaim how stupid I am. How I can't do this. How this is why I never finished school. And why I never went back. I am a dummy! Idiot!! Stupid!!!

And what did Tobey do?

He pet the cat.

~ames

Mrs. Oh and the Po Po

2011-08-30T01:12:00.002-04:00

Chewie's scholarship is gone. I am still raising the roof about it but at least I have more answers now than questions - even if the answers are the most ludicrous things I have heard in my life. When the folks at the scholarship place tell you that taking Honors classes can penalize you would think someone needs to do something about it. So I will continue on in my quest to make sure that the word gets out about this situation.

So I am explaining all of this to Chewie and later on he says that he wants to become a police officer. A what!?

Nope.

No. Way.

You think I am overprotective now? You become a cop and I will be calling you every.day for the rest of your life to make sure you made it home okay. He wants to get a criminal justice degree - which is great. Become a probation officer - I um hear that er can be ah a very rewarding career!

Where did I go wrong? Simba says being a copper is a very honorable career and I agree. But. Especially in our area - too many of our men in blue have been gunned down and killed. I don't want my son to be the next one. My response is I would be happier if he had a less honorable job and stayed alive. A cop! Dear Lord help me. I know I took him to Dunkin' one too many times.

And I know you are dying to know Tobey's take on this right.

He says: you do what ever makes you happy Chewie!

What!? Where is the whole united front married couple thingie? Did he not just hear me say pro-ba-tion officer? I take back every single time I ever said I just wanted my kids to be happy with their jobs. Now I want them to be probabtion officers. Heck - you have no idea how my heart jumped when he said criminal justice - I could see a lawyer in the family. But no. Po. Po.

Where did I go wrong?

~ame

Off we go to the beach....

2011-08-28T23:12:00.010-04:00

Anita over at Going A Little Coastal had a contest for a free 16X20 print from Uprinting.com and I won! Anita is a wonderful blogger I know from June's blog and I highly recommend her site - her photography alone is worth the trip!

Winning the contest led me to go through a bunch of pictures just looking for something to blow up to a 16X20 and of course I couldn't find one I liked. So I convinced Tobey to head down to the beach for a little photo fun and I hoped there would be one picture we could use to claim my prize.

Of course the beach isn't too forgiving when it comes to your hair do. And Tobey was the one that was worried about his hair! And I wore a dress that the wind was also not very forgiving. I'm sorry to all those peeps on the beach that got flashed the good china.

Initially I planned on setting the timer and tripod up (what fun) but Frodo and Butter were off work so I bribed them to a free dinner down at Frenchy's if they would help take some pictures.

After dinner and right before sunset we made our way to the beach. I really love how this picture came out - but it wasn't quite what I wanted for the picture because of the lens flare.

Neither was this one - but I really love feet photos and coupled with a gorgeous sunset you just can't go wrong!

While I like this one - it looks like I am holding Tobey in and I really didn't want random flip flops in our 16x20.

Frodo took some shots of Butter and I as well. Best daughter-in-law in the world!

Apparently Frodo liked the guy in the background in this shot because he managed to chop both Butter and I's heads off.

Of course I went a little crazy with the Photoshop because I just can't leave well enough alone. I really love the old school feel of this shot of me.

Awwww - but still not what I was looking for...can you tell I am a tad picky? And does Tobey just not take a bad picture or what!?

Getting warmer....okay - I really liked this shot but it had a few issues....

That I took care of in Photoshop. I wanted a older vibe to our picture and I think I accomplished that in the post processing. This is the winner!!

And finally here is a sunset shot. Hope you enjoyed going to the beach with us! Be sure to stop by Anita's blog and say hello!

~ames

Pete and Mrs. Van gOH

2011-08-28T01:33:00.000-04:00

Monday night I was fast asleep when Pete woke me up. By biting me. In the ear.

Usually when I sleep I am like a Mrs. Oh sandwich. Pete on my backside and Max on my front and Tobey is half an acre away on the other side of the bed. I'm the cream between those two puff dogs. If it is a really special night Yodie will be sleeping on my pillow too. And folks wonder why I get no sleep.

This particular night Max was on my pillow and Pete was so snuggled against me he laid his head on my shoulder. Somewhere along the line Max left - again, he is French, don't expect him to be a one-woman dog. When Max left, Pete scooted up my backside and commandeered more pillow.

Then Max returned. I stirred a little bit when I realized he was walking up the edge of the bed - where I was clinging for dear life. I motioned for him to scoot up and Pete went insane. He started growling and barking and crawling over me to nip at Max.

Instead - he nipped at me and my ear. So there I was: being eaten alive, trying to protect Max and my ear and get Pete off of me. My screams finally woke Tobey up as I was running into the bathroom to get a wash cloth.

I was sure my ear was gone. Chewed off because it sure felt that way. Apparently ears are like eyes - the slightest little boo-boo feels like something major.

I spent most of the rest of that night awake with a cloth pressed to my ear because of that whole 'my blood doesn't clot now' issue. Tobey asked if we needed to go to the emergency room. Again. And I declined. Because really - if I go again to the ER they are going to name a room after me.

Needless to say - Pete slept on the couch for the rest of the night.

Yeah I know. It is a picture of my boo-boo ear - but hey - I share everything with all y'alls. You really can't see how bruised my ear is or the cut on the back side of my ear that matches the front. But I can tell you this friends - that thing hurts. Like all get out.

And poor Pete. Now I don't know if Pete was sleep biting or if he really is exerting his dominance over the only other male dog in the house - but Tobey has put him on notice. Me? I just kinda shrug and agree Pete can't go eating on folks and all but really what am I going to do to the poor thing. If it were up to Tobey he would have taken him to the pound that night. What is really bad is that Tobey and Pete were actually starting to bond and now Pete has broken that trust and knowing Tobey - Pete ain't gonna get it back.

As for me? I think I am just going to take up painting again. Maybe some swirly star scenes might do us all some good.

~ame

How my high school grad who graduated with distinction will not receive the Florida Bright Futures scholarship but his brother with a lower GPA did!

2011-08-27T00:23:00.008-04:00

As you may recall Chewie and Nappy graduated on my birthday in June. Chewie graduated 'with distinction' and Nappy did not. Chewie finished high school with a weighted 3.4 GPA and Nappy with a 3.1 GPA. Pay attention to that - it will come in to play in a bit. Now you may be wondering why is Mrs. Oh regaling us with her kids' academic achievements. Well folks it is because I am going to tell you the truth that 1. Dunedin High School 2. Pinellas County Schools and 3. the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship folks don't want you to know. That it is possible and in this case fully realized that if you graduate with distinction and with a 3.4 GPA it does not guarantee that you will receive the Medallion Scholarship through Bright Futures.

If you are a regular reader here at the Half Empty Glass you know that Tobey and I have five children which includes two sets of twins. Because of this fact we knew early on that there would be no way we could afford to pay for all of those college educations. It was instilled in our children, while they were young, that school was the most important thing in their lives after God. I am very proud of each of our children and all of their accomplishments. We have had 4 Honor Graduates and I thought 5 scholarship recipients for the Florida Brights Scholarship.

On Tuesday while the boys were finishing registering for school Chewie notifies me that there is something wrong with his scholarship. His 100% scholarship to St. Petersburg College. "That must be a mistake," I thought. So I called the phone number listed on the scholarship web site where I was informed that Chewie did not qualify for the scholarship because his core GPA was a 2.8! Being the concerned Mom that I am I also checked on Nappy's scholarship and his was fine. How can this be? Chewie graduated with distinction. Chewie had a much higher GPA. Chewie took Honors classes all 4 years and Nappy didn't. There must be some mistake. Right? The scholarship representative told me to have the school re-transmit Chewie's transcript. Whew. Okay. There must be some sort of bookkeeping error or transmission error I thought to myself.

I immediately called the school and of course being the first day of school for the local high schools I was advised to send an e-mail to the records clerk I needed to speak with. I declined to do so - this is a major issue at least in our world and I wasn't going to handle this mess through e-mail. I asked to speak to the clerk and of course she didn't answer the call and my call went to voice mail. Well I am not going to handle this through voice mail either.

I packed up Chewie and Nappy and headed to the school. While we were waiting in the lobby to see said records clerk the principal Mr. H came out and greeted the boys. Chewie told him there was a mix-up in his transcript and that he was denied his scholarship. I informed him of how unhappy I was and he said they had things set up in the system to make sure this sort of thing didn't happen. Obviously that failed. However, I realize this isn't his particular fault so we waited to see the records clerk and Mr. H said he was going to expedite us getting in to see the clerk.

Finally we get called to the clerks's office and I explain to her what is going on. She pulls up Chewie's transcript and informs us that he has a 3.4 weighted GPA and a 3.1 unweighted GPA so there shouldn't be a problem. Thank God. I had her print the transcript and we ordered a sealed transcript for both boys just in case they may need them at a later date. I asked her to re-transmit Chewie's transcript to the scholarship program and she informed me that the schools don't transmit the transcripts that the County will have to do that. She called the County and got someone's voice mail box and she left a message.

You can not fathom how relieved I was.

Until the next day. The records clerk calls and informs me that she received a call from Pinellas County Schools. Seems they told her that Chewie did not qualify for the scholarship program as his core GPA was a 2.8. At this point I wanted to speak to Mr. H the principal. Now my children have the utmost respect for Mr. H and I have found him to be a very caring and learned man. So I explained to him everything I had been told. He said that he was looking at Chewie's transcript and his grades and 'this shouldn't be an issue'. He promised to look into the situation, talk with his counselor and call me back. This was at lunch time on Wednesday.

Friday morning I get a call and I don't know why I didn't hear the phone but it went to voicemail and I picked up a message from Mr. H. Gone was the caring and friendly man I had seen before and this message I received was all professional. Mr. H covered four points in his message. He informed me that Ben had met with his counselor once to review his transcript, once because his grades slipped during the play Aida (which Ben denies), once regarding his SAT and again at the Senior Seminar where Ben's Bright Futures Scholarship eligibility transcript was not picked up.

After playing phone tag I spoke with Mr. H. I informed him that I was always proud that I had all 5 of our children graduate from Dunedin High and that all 5 received the Bright Futures scholarship - opps I mean 4 out of 5. So then I asked him if he had the scholarship eligibility transcript with him. He said he did and that it said Chewie was ineligible. "Why," I asked. "Because he hadn't taken the SAT." Mr. H replied. That much I can understand - that paper was printed prior to Chewie taking the SAT so of course he would be ineligible until that was completed. I asked if it listed any other reason for ineligibility. He said it did not. I explained to Mr. H the fact that Chewie didn't pick up a paper stating what he already knew was moot and had nothing to do with our situation as Chewie DID take the SAT within the proper time frame and he scored higher than the scholarship required.

I then talked with Mr. H regarding his comment about Chewie looking at his transcript. I have his transcript too. Mr. H has his transcript. And that transcript is worthless when it comes to calculating your eligibility for the scholarship as no where does it list a 'core' GPA. I accept the responsibility for not knowing that the 'core' for Bright Futures is totally different than the 'core classes' that are required for graduation. But isn't that why we have counselors at our schools?

Mr. H replied that his counselors have been trained....and I cut him off. I told him that I can appreciate all that and I understand him sticking by his employees but someone dropped the ball here. And if I can't figure all of this out, if he looks at Chewie's transcript and says 'there shouldn't be an issue', if his clerk said he was good to go, if his counselor never mentioned this to Chewie and told him he was on track - how on earth is Chewie supposed to figure all of this out?

Mr. H said he questioned the counselor on how we can have two brothers and one received the scholarship and the other one didn't. He said the only thing they could come up with was that Nappy was more motivated to get the scholarship than Chewie. Now I have made no bones that I know that Nappy is the smartest child I own - he is also the laziest and was bored to tears at school. Nappy wasn't the one going to guidance making sure everything was good to go , Chewie was. Motivation was not the issue here and both I and Chewie are offended at the suggestion it was.

I informed Mr. H that I knew exactly why one brother qualified and the other didn't and it had to do with Honors classes. If you take an honors class and pass - it boosts your GPA. I had both boys - heck, all of our kids in fact, take Honors Classes to help solidify their chances to actually receive the scholarship. Nappy was having issues and he stopped taking them and I knew he was on the cusp of the requirements for the scholarship. Chewie continued on with the honors classes. The way I understand it to work is that an "A" is worth 4 points but if you get an "A" in a honors class you receive 5 points. B's are 3 points and so on. The bonus points your student receives for honors classes do NOT apply for the core GPA for Bright Futures because with those booster points Chewie has a 3.06 core and without the booster points he has the 2.8.

So what did I do? Being known as the "Spreadsheet Queen" at work. I put all of his info into a spreadsheet. Grades. GPAs. Core. Honors boosted grades etc. And the honors classes lifted his GPA so that on paper Chewie looks fabulous. But really it did nothing and it actually penalized him. So how did Nappy get the scholarship and Chewie didn't? Honors classes are harder of course. So for a few classes Chewie's grades were a little lower than his brothers but it didn't matter because of the +1 boost because it all equaled out right? Sure it did. Chewie has a worthless 3.4 GPA to Nappy's 3.1 and Nappy gets the scholarship and Chewie doesn't. If we would have known this - we would have let Chewie take the easier classes but as it stands he took a harder class got a lower score on paper than his brother but a higher score due to the boost and voila: no scholarship. Is it me or is there something inherently wrong with this?

And let me preface that Chewie didn't take wishy-washy classes. He took everything he was required to take. He didn't pad his classes or GPA. He was a member of chorus and drama and used those as his elective classes.

Anyways. Back to the call.

We didn't even discuss Mr. H's 3rd point about Chewie being counseled because his grades slipped during the play. Chewie denies this and really it wouldn't have mattered one way or another because according to the scholarship criteria Chewie didn't qualify anyways and why counsel someone who didn't actually qualify? Also somewhere along the line, someone and I can't recall who said that they didn't even know Chewie was going to use the Bright Futures Scholarship. IF that was the case then why are they counseling him because his grades dropped and why was there all the concern about Chewie not picking up the eligibility form from the Senior Seminar? They can't claim they didn't know he was going to use the scholarship and also claim that they were concerned he didn't qualify. This doesn't make sense and I hate to say it reeks of some serious butt-covering going on.

We also didn't discuss Chewie's meeting regarding the SAT. During the first call with Mr. H he asked if Chewie took the SAT or ACT. Considering he took it at the school I found this a little strange but since St. Pete College also did not receive notification of either of the boys SAT scores I just chalked it up to yet another snafu.

During our conversation I asked Mr. H exactly how many of his graduating seniors use the Bright Futures scholarship program. I guessed 40-50%. He didn't give me a number. I then went back to the core GPA issue with him. I asked him how a student is supposed to know what that magic number is if it isn't listed on their official transcript? If 50% need that information then why isn't it included? If the scholarship 'core' requirement is different from the Counties core - why isn't that mentioned? Aren't the schools governed by state and federal guidelines? Isn't the Florida Brights Scholarship administered by the state as well? Why aren't these two groups communicating and more over: Why aren't the guidance counselors giving students the correct information?

Of course now I find this listed on the County web site:
"Please be advised that the grade point average as shown on the high school student's report card, graduation check list and transcript may be different than the student's Florida Bright Futures GPA. Florida Bright Futures software uses a different method for calculating the weighting of the courses required to meet each of the Bright Futures scholarship criteria." With this little disclaimer as well "Keep in close touch with your school guidance counselor and with this web site for further updates as they come about." But why would I ever go to the County site to find this information out when I had confidence that my child was being properly counselled as all my other children were and when the counselor had told Chewie he was on track?

Mr. H began to end our call with a line I have used a million times on unruly customers - along the lines of there isn't anything I can say or do that is going to appease you Mrs. Oh. I hammered him again with he could answer my questions. Why isn't the core gpa information on our children's transcripts? Why wasn't Chewie ever informed his 'core' GPA was too low? Why wasn't Chewie informed that his unweighted GPA wasn't the 'core' GPA which we had assumed from the beginning. He said he was going to contact Bright Futures for more clarification for me and he would get back with me.

So now Chewie is running around trying to get a last minute loan and grants for college which has already started. Because he was getting the FBF scholarship I didn't have him apply for any other scholarships or student financing/loans as he wouldn't need them because he was going to a college where his scholarship paid 100% of his tuition. And I do not believe in getting scholarships and grants that you can't use or end up having an overage once everything is paid for because your overage means someone else who was in need isn't going to school because you were being greedy. And the far reaching ramifications of this besides the obvious is that if Chewie can't get a loan for his schooling then we can't carry him on our health insurance. So not only will he not be in school, he will not have health, dental, eye or life insurance.

Sure - Chewie wasn't motivated! How come it is so easy for the school to completely disavow any responsibility in this fiaco? For the record: Chewie was motivated and it is my opinion that it is far more likely that someone at the school didn't do their due diligence regarding counselling him correctly. So if you can explain to me how Chewie (who had a higher GPA than two of our other scholarship recipients) can be denied a scholarship that he was told he was on track for - I would appreciate it because it makes no sense to me how you can graduate with distinction and still not receive a scholarship while his twin brother who didn't graduate with distinction did receive.

~April

Hi Momma.....I noticed....

2011-08-26T01:12:00.001-04:00

This post is a little overdue. I snapped this picture during the first week of July but we had so much going on and then Baby got sick....

Those dang bromeliads. I tell you what friends - those things never bloom unless something is going on here. Like it is Mother's Day. Or like last month when upon the anniversary of Mom's passing I noticed the dang thing a bloomin'. It never blooms any other time. Ever. But let some date roll around that is significant to me because of Mom and BAM. Bloomeroni.

It is interesting to note that 1. You can't really even kill bromeliads. And c. All my other broms have died. Except for these, the one Mom bought. And it is thriving. And. To this day it is still blooming as a reminder to me of her. So yeah Momma - I saw it and I miss you.

Love,
~ames

Doomsday

2011-08-25T01:29:00.001-04:00

Do you know of my love for Dr. Who? I think Who is going to be my version of my mother's addiction to all things Star Trek. It is already starting to happen. Monday I purchased the 5 season box set from E-bay. I'm sure it will eventually wind up on a shelf next to Mom's Star Trek and StarGate box sets and no one will fight over them when I am dead - but I can tell you when it first arrives: we are havin' us a Who-athon! Oh and to Matt Smith (whom I trash talked back here) - I apologize: you rock as the Doctor.

Someone keeps deleting my Who off the DVR. I'm putting you on notice right now to stop it. So I have had to resort to watching some Who on the 'net where I came across this:

And while I am not a big fan of the Nickleback - I completely love this montage video. This song is perfect. Rose. The 9th Doctor. Rose. The 10th Doctor. Bad Wolf Bay. The Doomsday episode where the Doctor gets to sort of say good bye to Rose while he burns up a sun to do so - never to see her again as she is now in the alternate universe and dead to the real world but alive with the fake Doctor. Okay. That sounds so Harlequin romance novel. It's not. I promise.

So go on and waste the 4 minutes and take a look. If nothing else it is a good 3 minutes of David Tennant and that is never a bad thing friends.

~ame

In the red...

2011-08-24T01:18:00.001-04:00

It has been a while since we have had a Way Back Wednesday here at the Half Empty Glass.

Me and Boo Radley, 1939ish in Michigan

As you may know, the pain with being a bottled red-head is the fact that the color fades so quickly. So on Sunday it was dye day at the Tobey Ranch. Afterwards this occured:

Tobey: Maybe you should let it go back natural
Mrs. Oh: *gasp* Um. I don't know what color it is naturally any more.
Tobey: More reason to go back natural.

Now my natural hair (or the last time it was seen) has been described as being 'graham cracker brown' or ' graham cracker blonde' and that doesn't describe anything pretty in my book. Who rants over the graham cracker? In s'mores? No one raves about the graham cracker - it is always the marshmallow or the chocolate that steals the show. Cheesecake? Who raves about the crust? Being described as a graham cracker is nothing to brag about in my book.

So I tell Tobey that my natural hair color is just to 'plain'. If I were to go back to my natural color (dyed of course) I would need to choose either blonde again or brown and I do not look good as a brunette. Something about the day-glo-in-the-dark skin color I sport coupled with brown hair makes me look all Team Edward.

And Tobey says, "You could never be plain."

Yeah. I know......

He is such a good liar!

~ame

Some days..

2011-08-23T01:53:00.001-04:00

...I can't win for losing.

Sunday I made Butter a crochet hook holder thingie for Christmas. Super simple, right? 3 rectangles and sewing a bunch of straight lines. Which I couldn't do to save my life. Seems (or seams if you prefer) that all I managed to do was rip out everything I sewed.

Then when I was about 3/4th of the way finished I ruined the whole she-bang. While clipping stray threads I snipped right into the fabric and there was no way to repair the hole I created. I could have covered it with some bias tape but that would have entailed ripping (again) the entire project apart.

So I started over and completed it without further incident. It seemed like everything I did that day just went bellyup.

So yeah. I can sew a little bit. Nothing major in my opinion. But I did make this dress for Butter to wear to Dragon Con last year. You Dr. Who fans might recognize the clockwork robot outfit. I gave Butter two detachable sleeve options and the skirt is reversible as well depending on if she wanted a ruffle or not. But sew a few straight lines? Bahhhhh!

~ame

Hair Cutz

2011-08-22T01:03:00.001-04:00

"Yo, Yo Ma, I needz a hair cutz!"

Actually Max would never request a haircut. He is so like Chewie and Nappy in that aspect. He absolutely hates going to the groomer. But on Sunday a groomering he awent and if you are keeping track (like I am and as I do with ALL bad dates) it was the one month anniversary of Baby passing on to the great doggy bone in the sky.

When I called and made his appointment it went like this:

Mrs. Oh: Maxamilliondollar Von Ohtobe needs to come in tomorrow for his usual.
Groomer: Great. Will Baby Girl be coming in then too?
Mrs. Oh: *s!f#&* Um. No. Um. Baby passed away.
Groomer: Oh my gosh. I'm soooooo sorry. I I I um gosh, I'm soooooo sooooorry.
Mrs. Oh: Thanks. *$%a&t* Don't worry about it - you guys didn't know. *who forgot to call the groomer, doh*

Anyways.

On Friday night we gathered around the table to play some Blouvers or in other words: Scrabble. When I went to pull the dining room chair out I was met with resistance. Of course the first thing I did was look to see if Baby was underfoot as she loved to lay under the table. And yes: I won and no, 'blouvers' is still not a word. Tobey did throw down 'hast' for a whopping four points and we talked in Old English the rest of the night. Who am I kidding - we are still talking in the King's speak just to bug him. Er. Buggeth himeth.

So it has been a month and the time has flown by and dragged out all at the same time.

"Lookz how pur-tay I am now Mom!"

Now to top the whole groomer thing off there was Daisy. Poor Daisy. Our little sensitive old soul of a pup. I let Pete and Daisy outside whilst I put Max in the Shrekmobile to take him up to be groomed. Then I let Pete and Daisy back inside. It is so much easier that way and then the other dogs don't go crazy when they see the leash is out and they don't knock me down trying to get out the front door.

"Wherez Max, Ma? Ma needs ta vakumz."

For the rest of the morning and until Max came home Daisy moped around. She whined. She was here and there and underfoot and did I mention she whined? And friends let me tell you how guilty I felt. She didn't know where Max had gone off to - for all she knew we 'Babied' Max and I felt like I broke some puppy honesty/trust policy. Next time - I am loading her up in the van as well so she can at least see where Max has gone off to.

So how was your weekend?

~ame

Pete a.k.a The Contagion

2011-08-21T17:42:00.003-04:00

Sir Petey-Pete

The last month or so Pete has been seeing the vet every two weeks due to a wax build-up in his ears. There are four vets in our clinic and Pete has been seen by them all now. During one of his visits it was mentioned to keep an eye on Pete's many scars - which we never gave much thought to in the past. The vet was concerned that they might not actually be scars but ringworm.

I dismissed that notion considering where and how we found Petey-Pete.

Well.

You see ringworm is highly contagious. And. It can be spread from your pets....to say... your other pets or you. Or in this case: me.

I had this itchy spot that I couldn't see all that well and low and behold it is the ring of the worm. Just because I don't have enough going on I took time out of my busy schedule to get a fungus. The joy.

They say no good deed goes unpunished. And rescuing Pete certainly has become a money pit. But...

Awww...ain't his little fungi-self cute...

~ame

Cherry Pie

2011-08-16T01:15:00.000-04:00

Cherries were on sale!

So I pitted 3 pounds of cherries and made my flaky pie crust.

And while it isn't the prettiest gal at the dance - it sure was delicious!

Home made Cherry Pie

3 pounds of cherries - pitted

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of flour

1/2 cup of water

2 pie crusts - if you are using my recipe: double it

In sauce pan add sugar, flour and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add cherries. If you want a nice red sauce, add in a few drops of red food coloring. Stir and let the cherries get all nice and warm - about 15 minutes.

Roll out your pie crust dough and place in pie pan - I roll mine on a pillow case for easier rolling and super-duper easy clean up (thanks to Tobey's Mom for that little trick). Pour in your cherry/sugar mixture and top the pie with the second pie crust.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350 and bake an additional 35 minutes. I advise placing a cookie sheet underneath the pie pan just in case of spill overs.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

~ame

I smell a rat...

2011-08-15T10:43:00.004-04:00

We had a very nice, quiet and laid back weekend. I made my first home made cherry pie (more on that tomorrow) and for dinner on Sunday we had Tee's hot chicken salad and can attest to how yummy it is both hot and cold!

Friday evening the Tobes and I were sitting out back on the swing when something scurried across the walkway between the two ponds. I had just been telling him about a humongo frog I saw that morning when the scurrier scurried. And our converstation went a little like this:

Me: Hey, did you see that?
Tobey: Yeah. It was a frog.
Me: *thinking to myself*It ran across the stones and I think I saw a tail....
Me: Um....I don't think that was a frog honey.
Tobey: Yeah it was. I saw it hop.
Me: *still thinking to myself* I think it ran happily across the stones and there was nary a hop in sight*

Now for the last few months the dogs have been going whack-a-doodle around one of the ponds. They go crazy around the one pond that I refuse to even weed any more (due to the 5 ft snake skin I found this spring). Alright. It was like 15 inches but still. It was a schluffed off snake skin which meant we had a snake or something was running around naked. And I don't do snakes - clothed or otherwise. Now I also love how all the articles you can read about telling snakes apart gives you the advice of checking out the little snake's beady pupil. Something about if the pupil is round you're safe and if it is eliptical then run for the hills. I ain't never getting that close so I lump all snakes in the same catagory: run for the hills.

Anyways.

Then last night it happened.

A rat scurried from one pond to the other. Eek! And if that isn't bad enough following right behind the first rat was a second rat. Of course after the scurrying: the dogs went crazy and the rats went UP in the trees. *shudders*

Tobey and I then had the wonderful discussion all married couples look forward to on a lazy Sunday evening: how to get rid of the rats. We can't poison them because we don't want the dogs getting into the bait and trust me the dogs would get into the bait. I also didn't want to worry that the cats from next door would find the bait as well.

I think we are going to go old school and just get some mouse traps - but I want to again be sure it isn't something that is going to harm the kitties next door. And the last thing I want is for them dang rats to get into the attic like they did a few years ago. Because nothing creeps me out more then to be drifting off to sleep in my alien face mask to the sound of scratch, scratch, scratching as their tiny little ratty feet run across the attic floor/ceiling.

So if I haven't totally sceeved you out - how was your weekend!?

~ame

A survey and guess what else....crafty stuff!

2011-08-13T01:41:00.002-04:00

I have added a button on the right for the Lap of Love web site. You may recall they are the wonderful doctors that helped us and Baby. Dr. Dani has put together an online survey and she is asking that anyone who has lost a fur baby or had to deal with a pet's terminal issue in the last few years to please go and fill out this simple and quick online survey - it will greatly help her out in a presentation she is putting together. So go - please and thank you!

In addition to all the other things I have going on I wanted to make some key chains as stocking stuffers and what better way for the men in my life to get their geek on but by making Dungeons and Dragons key chains! Behold:

I added some dragon, skulls and key charms as well. And what I really love and they are hard to see is the little tiny heart charms that read: Made with Love. Since the kids and their friends play D&D every Monday night at our house I am also making some key chains for all of them too. Am I the only one that can not wait for Christmas?

I also finished up my niece's bookmark thong made from my Great Grandma's broken beaded necklace. I added a photo frame that holds a picture of her and my Great Grandpa. I hope that the little Porkchop enjoys and cherishes this redo of a family heirloom.

~ame

Hogwarts: The newspapers

2011-08-12T23:46:00.004-04:00

In addition to the mini Harry Potter book charms that I am working on I thought it would be cute to add in the Daily Prophet and The Quibbler. I folded them like newspapers and I am just so in love with how they turned out.

Also - I have started updating my blog roll so be sure to stop by and visit with Tee over at Simple and Southern. Tee posted the most excellent sounding Hot Chicken Salad recipe that I can't wait to try this weekend.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

~ame

The Anti-Iron Chef America: The Tobey Edition

2011-08-12T06:28:00.003-04:00

I came home from work to the smell of cooking chicken and found Chewie in the kitchen as he is wont to do most weekdays. I spied the big pot on the stove and asked what he was making. He informed me that Tobey told him to boil the chicken. In some stock.

Okay. Chicken and Dumplings? Yay! But then I got to thinking that we didn't actually have the ingredients to make chicken and dumplings. Now Tobey is know in his own mind for making chicken and yellow rice and I thought maybe that was going to be the end product.

But no my friends. That was not to be.

Feast your eyes on dinner:

Dinner or Scenes from an alien autopsy?

I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth. When Tobey sees that I have the camera out he tells me I can't take a picture of the chicken 'like that'. So I stand back a bit as Tobey comes running into the kitchen and by now Frodo is in the doorway of the kitchen as well.

Yes honey, just one on a plate is SO much better.

Next thing I know Tobey is pulling out a plate and I whispered to Frodo, "Oh. My. God. Is he plating that?" Yeah, plating. We watch way too much Food Network. It seemed Tobey added some crushed canned tomatoes to the stock when he had Chewie boil the chicken hence the um beauty spot on the chicken breast.

Frodo always the Guinea Pig...

Now I know you are wondering how it tasted. See the little grimace on Frodo's face above? Frodo's critique was that he didn't know it was possible to boil something dry.

And Frodo 'washing' it all down because Tanqueray makes everything better - even if he hates gin.

I think (and it probably has been done) we need a FoodFail blog. And on the bright side: I didn't cook this mess. So in end I can't be blamed:

WINNING!

~ame

Birthday Gal

2011-08-10T14:12:00.003-04:00

Stop by the Red Door Kitchen where today it is my wonderful sis-in-law's (better known around these parts as Lil Martha Stewart) birthday!

Happy Birthday Lil Martha - have my brother take you out some place nice for dinner tonight! Oh and Lil Martha: you can thank me for not posting a Rue McClanahan picture of you from back in the day. Consider it my gift to you!

~ame

$15 Adoptions

2011-08-08T03:43:00.000-04:00

Since I have been busy cleaning and crafting all weekend and not necessarily in that order: I don't have a post for today! So how about a Public Service Announcement instead?

Pinellas County Animal Services is offfering $15 pet adoptions for the month of August! You may recall we adopted both Baby and Max from the PCAS and they were/have been the most wonderful little furries. If your local why not get a new addition to your family and if you aren't local you can check out your local shelters and Humane Society.

Yours truly,
The Crazy Cat Lady
~ame

And more crafty...

2011-08-07T01:33:00.000-04:00

Inspired by the Harry Potter mini book charms I saw here, I thought they shouldn't be too hard to make. Initially I thought I could simply wrap scrabble tiles with the book 'covers' but on second thought scrabble tiles are square and books are not.

So I went on Ebay and found some dollhouse miniture books instead.

I think they turned out great and again these are for Butter who is temporarily no longer a reader of this blog. The only problem I am having is actually keeping all my crafy makings a surprise from her as I am a terrible crafty secret keeper. I plan on making additional Potter books like the Hogwarts book I showed you a few days ago. Only in minitature. And the ideas don't end there - you really could do this with any book or series. So get your craft on for the book lover in your life!

So what do you think? Aren't they just the cutest things ever? If you are interested in making some for yourself - drop me a comment and I will happily e-mail you the graphics I made which is taking all the work out of it for you.

~ame

My bedroom dupioni silk curtains

2011-08-06T01:39:00.002-04:00

The curtains I fell in love with despite them being tres expensive. The same curtains that I waited for months to go on sale at Bed, Bath and Beyond. The same curtains that I got for 75% off plus a 20% off coupon and still they were expensive.

First Yodie shredded them when she was a kit and was learning to climb. Then I came home for lunch and found the above. Tobey fixed the curtains and we went out for dinner only to come home and find them exactly the same way. It has almost been a week and they are still exactly the same - I might be starting a new trend...

Curtains 0
Yodie 9 8 lives remaining

~ame

Shhhh....

2011-08-05T01:40:00.001-04:00

Remember when I asked if you were getting your craft on? After making Frodo and Butter those woodburned boxes last Christmas I am going to make it a point to give everyone something homemade for Christmas in addition to all the other junk we get them. Now I have so many projects in the works for Christmas that it isn't even funny. So to be able to share all that I am doing I have banned Buttercup from the blog until after Christmas and here is the first reason why:

I found this link from the instructables.com where gingerpete made a set of books mentioned in the Harry Potter series. I thought this idea was so far beyond brilliant that I had to try it out myself and I think my Howarts, A History turned out pretty well and the picture just doesn't do it justice.

The hardest part was actually finding a book that looked old and destroyed enough to play the part of a wizard's handbook. I finally scored a few at an antique bookstore near our house. I explained to the owner what I was doing and what I needed and she seemed really excited about it and sold me two books for a song. I made sure that the books were worthless first as I didn't want to hack up a million dollar first edition!

In the end I transformed this Emerson book, which is copyrighted 1883, into a book that can pass for something Hermione checked out at the Hogwarts library yesterday. Best of all Butter is so going to get her Harry Potter geek on over this one! And will you look at those pages! How much do you love the edges on this book? So I plan on making Butter a couple more for Christmas as I have enough gold leaf leftover and then I scored copper leaf on clearance at Michael's this weekend for only $1.99.

I hope to get the rest finished up this weekend so I can start my next project which equally excites me and I can't wait to share it with you. So I ask y'all again: have you got your craft on?

~ame

Who has lost that lovin' feelin'....

2011-08-04T01:04:00.002-04:00

In the continuing quest of doctors trying to figure out why at 45 I had two heart attacks - may I present to you the Sleep Study part two. The initial test results showed that I had one little episode of apnea and about 500 episodes of movement disorder but one apnea is all you need apparently.

So I was scheduled for a second appointment with 'C-PaP titration'. Try saying that five times fast.

I can't tell you how excited I was to reenter the hospital for my testing. Being A-type personalities - they were ready for me. I bet the folks that work here get stuck unstringing the Christmas lights at home.

Here is a nice shot of all the goo and spackle they put on me. But it was a painless if not long process of getting me all hooked up.

Here were my three choices of 'masks'. Cripes. I. Am. Old. And the thought of sleeping with something strapped to my face made me feel a little like this:

And about now I am rethinking the whole leopard print jammies. I feel like Pebbles. Soon I am going to feel like Pebbles in an alien face mask.

One thing I can guarantee you is that there are less wires behind our entertainment center than there were hanging from my neck. Do you like my Cyndi Lauper inspired toe nail polish color? Do you notice I am trying to distract you?

Okay.

So that's it.

Thanks for reading me.

Aren't you gone yet? Go read June. Really.

Drats - you are still here? Fine. But don't say I didn't give you a chance to run for the hills.....

Here I am all trussed up. I think the red pen marks on my forehead add a little something that my normal make-up regime just doesn't do.

And finally: I will never be having sex again. Ever. Ever, ever.

Holy. Mary. Mother. Of. God.

And the worst, worst part of all this horror? The machine is hooked up to a humidifier and the mask retains some of the moisture. So just when you get to sleep. DRIP I get splashed in the face by an ice cold droplet which woke me right up and doesn't that sorta/kinda defeat the purpose of wearing the mask/birth control device?

So the moral of the story boys and girls is don't have a heart attack let alone two heart attacks and if you do make sure there is a reason for your heart attacks. Have you some high blood pressure or high cholesterol because if you don't some doctor is going to try and 'solve' you. Oh - and don't get that sleep apnea stuff because no one will ever look at you with a glint in their eye again. Ever.

Ever, ever again. Did I mention ever?

~ame

Boredumb...

2011-08-03T15:23:00.005-04:00

I am working on a post for Thursday that you aren't going to want to miss. Set your clocks! Be there or be square. In the mean time since I had my camera at work today I thought I would share with you where I spend way too much time. ~~My office.~~ ~~Er my desk.~~ Um, my cubbie. Where all the magic happens...or where I drone away the day as a ~~busy~~ government worker.

The left side

Apparently a 12 year old works here by the looks of all the stuffed animals. 2 brownie points for the first commenter that can tell me what my desktop wallpaper is and don't all shout it out at once.

The right side

Yes that is a talking Captain Jack Sparrow in the corner. And as I look around I have four collections of things going on in my little space. Can you see them all?

My motivational wall from despair.com - hey, I need all the demotivation I can get these days.

~ame

My playlist*:

2011-08-02T12:38:00.005-04:00

*thanks to Blogger for the screwy spacing and despite being able to code the html I still can't get it right!*

At work I listen to a ton of music and I thought I would share what has been in my ear the last few weeks.

Adele. What can I say about Adele that hasn't been said before. I love her. I love her angst and emotion. You just can't get much better than:

On my workout MP3 player (the one I take to the Y) I only have it loaded up with Adele and Duffy. I highly recommend Adele's 21 album as I never get tired of listening to it and it pumps me up and tears me down all at the same time. If I had to pick one word to describe Adele it would be: Powerful.

Next up is Amy. Yes, the Amy. Winehouse. I know, I know. Er no, no, no. I was never a fan of hers prior to her death and honestly the only reason I gave her a second listen was because of the nod Adele gave her when she died saying that Amy paved Adele's way.

I absolutely love Tears Dry On Their Own and highly recommend the Back to Black album. There is no denying that when she was sober and on top of her game that she was a force to be reckoned with. Her death (despite the causes) while not a shock, now makes me feel sad and I wish I was a fan before.

For a little fun I recommend some Jake Owen - a Florida boy who had made it big and isn't too hard on the eyes either.

"Whoa, never gonna grow up, never gonna slow down..." Yeah baby. This one just makes me smile. It is corny as all get out - but still...it makes me smile.

And this one might be a big surprise for you....or not!

In preparation for the December 4th concert: My Andrea. Yes. He is mine. There is no music on this planet that calms me and recenters me like Bocelli does. Sure it is in Italian but if you know any Spanish you can figure it out and if not you can always Google the lyrics. Tobey asked if I was going to be disappointed at the concert if My Andrea didn't sing the songs I know. I replied, "No way, I don't care what he sings, just as long as he sings."

And finally some Pat Green just because.

~ame

The Belly Button Cake

2011-08-01T00:52:00.003-04:00

A little while ago I made Chewie's girlfriend our famous Sunshine on the Mountain cake. She loved it so much that Chewie wanted to make her one for the next time she came over. This is how his cake turned out:

And we haven't let him live it down since.

~ame

Limoncello Sunday

2011-07-31T01:32:00.000-04:00

Buttercup loves the Limoncello Bread Pudding from Carrabba's and I do too. She asked Frodo to make her some so I pulled up a recipe from the Orlando Sentinel and we went to work. I always use croissants when I make any bread pudding and Frodo decided to use both croissants and french bread.

And this was yumdillicious! The only thing I would change is that I don't think it was as lemony as Carrabba's, so I would add in some lemon zest next time we make it. Be sure to try this one out - it is fairly simple to put together and worth the purchase of a bottle of limoncello.

Limoncello Bread Pudding

3/4 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup limoncello

7 large eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 quarts cubed stale bread

1/4 cup each: granulated sugar and limoncello or lemon juice

1. Put bread in 9-by-9-by-2-inch pan or a 2-quart baking dish. Whisk cream, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and limoncello. Pour over bread. Let sit 20 minutes.

2. Heat oven to 350F. Cover pudding with foil. Bake 40-50 minutes or until pudding is set.

3. For simple syrup, combine limoncello and sugar in a small pan. Bring to boil, stirring, to dissolve sugar. Drizzle over bread pudding.

Recipe note: Can be served warm or cold with or without ice cream.

Enjoy!

~ame

Oh and thank you guys for all your kind comments the last few weeks. You rock and I appreciate y'all so much!

Really??

2011-07-30T01:50:00.003-04:00

I promise this is the last one...I think.

But I have to warn you. This might get to be a little...I don't know what...angry? Upset? I don't know really. Some of this in tongue-in-cheek but for the most part....I ache. You've been warned.

On Wednesday morning I get a call from someone named Josh who told me that Baby Girl's 'remains' were just delivered to our vet. Okay. Er. We were told it would take two weeks. It hasn't even been a week yet. This is still too damn fresh. I am NOT ready. *sigh*

Anyways. Now Pete has a vet appointment on Friday and Tobey could have picked Baby up the next day but I couldn't just leave Baby there overnight. Why did they use the word 'remains'. Yes, I know that is what it is - but it seemed so....morbid. He could have said Baby was ready to be picked up and I would have known what he meant. Needless to say I burst out in tears after I disconnected the call.

So after work I went to pick her up. I pepped myself up on the ride over to the clinic, planning on giving them the what-for about the Rimadyl and the wording on their sympathy card they sent. But when I got there all I could eek out was that I was there to pick up my dog. Baby Girl. I couldn't say 'remains'. I couldn't say much of anything.

The girl at the counter asks for my last name. Really? I thought to myself because our daughter worked at this clinic for almost 3 years - and you don't know my last name? That makes me oh so comforted by the sympathy card that arrived in the mail today. It had a hand written sentiment on the inside about how they will miss Baby and how she was a 'great pet' - bastards. She wasn't a pet. She was a member of our family! How dare they down grade her importance by just labeling her as a pet. Pets are gold fish. Pets are geckos. Pets aren't puppy dogs that used to sleep in your bed with you.

Then clerk brings this out to me:

Which reminds me of this bag since they are made of the same material:

Now. What the heck am I supposed to do with that blue bag? The one stamped with the Pet Crematorium Funeral Service logo. Do I tote my wine home in it from the grocery store? I was so not expecting a tote bag/gift bag. Heck. Tobey's brother sits inside a cardboard box. I'm sure he is in a nice box or urn inside that box but the delivery tool was a cardboard box and that is what I expected as well. Buttercup said I could give the bag to her and she could use it at Christmas...but who wants a present delivered in a pet funerial bag?

What really gets me was the tissue paper they put on the top of her 'remains' box. Boxy urn thing. Tissue paper. Like I was going to be all surprised when I lifted the tissue out to find Baby there. Oh, you shouldn't have - I always wanted one of these ______! Hey, wait a second! This isn't a pressie!

Once I got my gift bag to the car I sat there a good 15 minutes bawling my eyes out. In.Con.Sol.Able.

And if it couldn't get any better there was an envelope. With a nice Rainbow Bridge poem with Baby's name and date of death. Have I mentioned that I hate the Rainbow Bridge. Unlike Tobey I saw All Dogs Go To Heaven one too many times and I think our pets do go to Heaven and they aren't stuck outside the Pearly Gates waiting for our demise. So right now Baby is with Momma and if you think otherwise: shuttup. Buttercup brought up a good question about the Rainbow Bridge: what about pet fish? The bridge poem doesn't mention fish bowls - just meadows and hills. So what about pet fish?

And finally there was this. The Certificate of Private Cremation. Did I really need this? I think I know I paid for a private cremation already. I don't need a embossed raised sealed certificate (from the Congress of Pet Lives) telling me so. I don't need something telling me that they cremated her with respect and dignity. I sure as hell hope they did. And I most certainly didn't need anything telling me the exact day that they cremated her. Because like June from BBP stated on Facebook: April Obsess. So now I have added that cremation date to the rolodex of bad dates in my life. Thanks Pet Cremation People. Am I supposed to frame this certificate? I have no idea but I think if people have to spell out things (with respect and dignity) it means that they really weren't acting that way to begin with but here is this little piece of paper we typed up to make you think so.

They also included a web site address saying Baby was added to their online pet obituary. So I go there and the last updated obit was in 2008. Ohhhh, I am batting a thousand here.

Damn. I thought I could handle that picture.

And finally, finally: I am a puppy kisser. I kiss my pups, I let them kiss me back. Yeah I know they lick their butts - I don't care. Tobey is not a kisser nor a receiver of the puppy kiss. It is a wonder why we ever got married considering how much we have in common. So when one of the dogs licks something I say they are kissing it. Yeah. I know they are just trying to eat it but...

I put Baby's box down to take a picture of it and like all the other pictures Max wouldn't get out of the shot. He is so like Lindsey Lohan when it comes to things like this. And the moment I put the box down Max gave it a few kisses and it about slayed me. Does he know that is where his friend is at? Or does he know she is waiting for all of us at the ding dang Rainbow Bridge?

P.S. I had to go to Joann's after stopping at the vet. Since you can't leave your dog in your car in the hot Florida sun, I carried Baby in my purse. I sat my purse on the floor while I looked at patterns and then I realized even in death my Baby was still underfoot. So I have become the crazy pet woman carrying her dead dog around in her purse while she was out shopping. Oh. And some woman really bumped into me hard on the bead aisle and I dang near told her she just hit my dog - but I didn't think she would understand. ;)

~ame

Guess who is guest bloggin'

2011-07-29T01:24:00.001-04:00

Stop by the Red Door Kitchen where I am guest posting my chicken tettrazini recipe! A special thanks goes out to my sister-in-law Lil Martha Stewart for asking me to participate. Lil Martha has been married to my youngest brother, Matt Damon, since 1989 and I can't tell you all the times we have had the privilege to nosh on her munchies and dinners she has hosted. She rocks.

~ame

It has been a week...

2011-07-28T01:07:00.000-04:00

~ame

How to make Tobey happy....

2011-07-27T01:35:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago:

I moved the love seat in the office into the living room and moved the sewing cabinet into the office. Well I didn't, Chewie and Nappy moved it because it is heavy! Did I mention Tobey wasn't home and I didn't enlighten him to my dastardly deeds?

I made a quick run to Target and picked up two bookshelves and voila. Instant sewing, crafty, Mrs. Oh area!

And about the paint job for the sewing cabinet....I still plan on painting everything white eventually but it wouldn't look right in the office. So I am happy to wait for the time being. Don't you love the new handles I scored at Hobby Lobby for half off?

Oh, and do you think Tobey was beyond thrilled to share his office with me? Do ya?

~ame

Dos Gatos

2011-07-26T01:14:00.003-04:00

Tee asked how the kitties were doing and a picture is worth a thousand words. So here is an essay:

Okie (Pink collar) and Yodie (Green collar)

Nom, nom, nom.

Yodie jumping down for snacks

Thanks for the snacks Mom!

Okie and Yodie: snack time!

Yodie is loving her new collar. Not.

Yodie in her favorite nappin' spot.

Okie just cattin' around the office.

And finally my ghost writer is exposed!

~ame

Mrs. Oh and the puggle

2011-07-25T04:23:00.002-04:00

Don't you just love the word puggle. For me it conjurs up all things Harry Potter and if muggles were to have dogs I think they should all be generalized as puggles.

So a few weeks ago Tobey and I were coming home from church - driving separate cars. I stopped off at the Wendy's to bring the boys some burgers and fries. When it happened. I was about a block from the house and on the sidewalk there was a puggle heading down the street. I could see she had on a collar and I wondered where her owner was. I watched her in my side mirror as she veered off the sidewalk into the path of an SUV. The SUV swerved and I lost sight of the puggle. I about died.

I pulled into our street and jumped out of the van and I looked for the puggle. Which I didn't see any more. I then pulled into the drive and ran into the house to get a leash. I jumped back in the van and headed out to look for the little lost dog. I headed down the side streets and finally found her sitting in someone's front yard.

I got out of the car armed with the boys' Wendy fries and I coaxed her over to me with them. She nipped at me a little when I put the leash on her but soon lost interest in eatting me and went back to the fries. Once she was done and happy I easily lead her into the van and gave her more fries while I tried to take a look at her collar.

Luckily her parents put a tag on her with her name, Miss Piggy, and their mom and dad phone numbers. I called the mom. No answer, so I left a message. I called the dad and he answered. I told him I had Miss Piggy and he gave me his address to drop her off. But he gave me the wrong address - as he just moved to the area, so I can understand that happening. Miss Piggy did have her address on her tag and despite the house not being numbered I was able to find her home.

Well come to find out I had bribed her with fries in her own front yard! After the scare with the SUV she went straight home only to be abducted by some French Fry waving fat woman! Anyways. Apparently her mom was sleeping in the house and that is why she didn't notice Miss Piggy was gone. She thanked me profusely, said they apparently have a hole in their fence and oh by the way: Miss Piggy is preggers. Do you want a dog?

When I got home I told Tobey what had happened and he said, "You know you can't save every animal in the world?" To which I replied, "No, I can.'t But I can save every one I see."

The end :)

~ame

From Steel Magnolias to Weeping Willows

2011-07-24T01:54:00.004-04:00

You know that scene at the end of Steel Magnolias? Where Darryl Hannah took time off from hugging trees to play Annelle and in one scene Annelle asks M'Lynn if it was okay if she named her baby after the newly departed Shelby. And M'lynn, who's daughter died only 6 months prior, is all okay with it and says something about life going on. I hate M'lynn's sunshine and puppy attitude.

Well.

Baby and Max, Christmas 2007

On Friday when I got home, I sat in the truck a few extra seconds preparing myself to enter in the house without being greeted by Baby and without a bark to acknowledge my home coming. I really hoped Max would bark. But no. No one barked and it broke my heart. All the dogs do actually bark - but Baby would always start it off. Our little guard dog. It really has been so silent since...

Baby saying how happy she is Max came to live with us. Or not so much...

Daisy seems lost. Depressed maybe. She keeps walking around the house looking lost. I have to keep an eye on her because she is one of those kind of dogs: the kind that prefers to drink from the potty rather than the water bowl. And I really hate for her to be walking around with a Tidy Bowl blue mustache. Then I spied her in the bathroom and assumed she was going for a drink and I was about to scold her when I saw she wasn't in front of the pot. She was inside the shower. I can only assume since she hasn't done this before that she was looking for Baby.

I didn't think that Daisy paid enough attention to what was going on Thursday night. She came briefly into the kitchen but didn't really pay any mind to what was going on. Dr. B said that she saw Baby and that was enough and she even commented she was surprised that Max stayed in the kitchen as long as he did. The French - always sticking around during the most inoportune times.

After the initial shock of the no-bark I was also pleasantly surprised when I came in the door. Butter and Frodo were sitting in the living room and there on the chaise were Daisy and Petey-Pete. Pete wasn't hiding in the bedroom where he has been since we brought him home in February. He was out with the family and he stayed out there for hours on end. In the past he has been deathly afraid of the boys and would cower and run away from them. Friday night he let Frodo pet on him and even pawed on Frodo several times when he stopped paying him any attention. Once Frodo got up from the couch - Pete stole his seat and wouldn't move.

There was no way to crop out those size 13 feet...

I am so proud of Pete. I have been telling the family and especially Tobey that it is going to take time for him to feel safe and trusting. I have to wonder how intimidated he was by Baby because the timing seems a little too coincidental. So life is moving on. Pete is out of the bedroom and this is monumental!

And finally there is this bit. We had planned on burying Baby under one of the walk way stones in the back yard. Actually under the stone she most laid upon when we were out back. We figured she would be safe there and no one or thing could disturb her there. I planned on painting a memorial on the stone and setting her doggy tag into etc. But I can't. I just can't do it. Tobey and I already discussed not keeping her little wooden box in the house but I just can't let go of her yet. She'll be back home in two weeks time and when we have to pick her up from the vet I am sure it is going to make the loss brand new all over again. Maybe some day I can bury her ashes but not anytime soon.

Be sure to check back tomorrow. I promise I have a good doggy story that doesn't involve any of my pets!

~ame

The Baby Story

2011-07-23T00:28:00.001-04:00

Baby on June 18th after her hair cut.

Back in January of 2004 we lost our Springer Spaniel named Minnie. Mom had let her out to go potty and she never returned. Minnie had been with us for 17 years and I think she left so I wouldn't have to make any hard decisions like we have had to make recently. Some people say that someone had to pick Minnie up since she was such a friendly dog. But there was only one way into out little cul-de-sac and I find it hard to believe Minnie could have gone far enough for someone to drive up and snatch her away.

I looked for her for weeks. I handed out fliers in surrounding neighborhoods, vet clinics and local stores. I walked every inch of our neighborhood and climbed barbed wire fences to look for her. I checked the pound daily and we never found her. After 17 years - she was gone and I was distraught and just knew I could never love another dog again as much as I loved her.

My last picture taken with Baby, June 29th preparing for June's Birthday Pictures. I didn't send the picture in because I thought I looked terrible. Now. I cherish this picture.

In July of 2004 we decided to get a new pup because it just didn't seem like home without having furry paw prints in the house. So we headed to the Humane Society. They have a spot set up for bonding and after we picked out a cute little dog and bonded with him - we find out someone just adopted him out from under us. Heartbroken we went home only to return and have the same thing happen a few more times.

Tobey suggested we check out the SPCA and we loaded up the family and went looking for a new member of our family. Frodo spied a dog and called me over to see him. The dog got so excited it put its paws on the cage and the poor thing stood taller than my six foot self. And it was a pit bull. Needless to say - Frodo was not to happy I nixed the breed and the height of that dog. We needed a smallish pet for our smallish house and huge family.

Some how I missed seeing Baby. Tobey found me and told me he saw a dog that I had to take a look at and that she looked so much like Minnie. And there she was. Sitting quietly in the front of her cage...scheduled to be euthanized the next day...and she was on clearance for $35. Tobey got her leash out and she more than willingly followed him out of the cage. As she stood up she seemed to grow before our very eyes. Her nickname from then on was Ottoman as she really looked like a furry ottoman. Flat back. Big body. Little legs stickin' out.

But (at that time) her sweet demeanor won us over and we decided to adopt her. The lady at the adoption desk mentioned that it looked like she needed to go on a few walks. Then she told us that someone had found Baby walking loose after hurricane Charley came through. It was obvious to us that Baby was well fed and with that we felt she must have been well loved. But her owner never claimed her or just never knew where to look for her. I feel sorry for what they lost out on.

So Baby comes home with us and rules the roost for a few years before ze annoyin' French Swiffer Max comes on scene in December 2008. Followed by Daisy and then Pete. Baby was never a 'in your face' kinda dog. She was elderly and portly and she seemed to always stay on the sidelines. While she enjoyed going to the dog park, on a walk or just playing in the back yard but she was never the type to fetch a ball or anything of the like. But make no mistake - she was the alpha dog of our pack and everyone furry or otherwise knew it.

When Baby's hips were better she would love to climb up on the couch and sit perched on the top of the couch cushions, looking out the front window, ready to bark at every.single.person that walked by. The last few days of her life - when I came home from work there was no barking and that slayed me and just gave us more evidence that Baby was not feeling like herself any more.

*sigh*

I'm going to try hard and not focus on those last hours of her life. Her behaviors told us that we had made the right decision. She barely lifted her head when Dr. B came in. And Allen from across the street popped in and Baby didn't acknowledge him with her usual growl until the sedation medication had been administered. It was her last act of defiance and Allen told Dr. B that they have always had a love/hate relationship. She laid her sweet head down and yawned and that was it she was asleep. No pain. No stress. Us laying on the kitchen floor, petting her, trying our best not to cry and weep so we wouldn't upset her. We then told Dr. B we were ready. And Baby drifted off peacefully. Surrounded by love.

The hours before Dr. B arrived I laid on the kitchen floor with her. Telling her what a good puppy she had been and how much we loved her. Max laid with us and Daisy on occassion would as well. I think Baby knew and I think she looked to us to help her out of her pain. Since she couldn't eat or keep anything down for the last week we resorted to all sorts of food options. Her favorite was the fillet mignon from Carrabba's and who could blame her. Tobey gave her a little dish and she went out potty for the last time. That little bit so exhausted her she laid by her water dish and that is where she went to sleep. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

Afterwards we brought Daisy and Max in to say their goodbyes as well. I have no doubt that Daisy is our most intelligent dog now and it seems she is moping around the house. I have told everyone to pay her lots of attention and give her lots of love as she is grieving too. Max? He's French. Enough said. Dr. B gave us time to say our goodbyes and brought in a little stretcher with blankie embroidered with 'love and dignity' on it then Tobey and I carried her out to Dr. B's car.

And while I still feel the sting of guilt in that decision - I tell myself it was the right thing to do. She couldn't get around, she couldn't eat or keep down what she did eat. I think that cancer in her ear spread throughout her body. I think the Rimadyl didn't help her situation at all. So I keep telling myself it was the right thing to do...and I'll keep telling myself that...over and over until this pain goes away. I just hope she knows how much we loved her.

~ame

Heaven bound

2011-07-21T20:12:00.002-04:00

Baby, Christmas Eve 2010

Our sweet girl drifted off to sleep surrounded by her family holding and loving on her. A special thanks to Dr. B with lapoflove.com for her compassion and kindness. Baby passed in the comfort of her own home without any stress. She will always be our little Baby Girl.

April

Updates

2011-07-17T22:51:00.002-04:00

Max and Baby

We took Baby and Pete to the vet on Friday. One day earlier in the week Baby literally laid down and wouldn't even lift her head and couple that with the newly found lump on her side we thought it was time to get her in to the vet. Between the time I made the appointment and the time the appointment had rolled around things got a little better and then a little worse.

The day after she was laying around she seemed fine. Frisky even. And that just reminded me of when Mom was sick and you get warned that right before death people get a last wind about them. I figured this might be Baby's last wind.

She was having issues getting up because her feet were slipping on the hard wood floors. We went out and purchased a few rubber-backed runners and laid out slip resistant bath mats all over the floor. There isn't much floor left that isn't covered but she still manages to find that little bit of slippery real estate. The poor pup would exhaust herself trying to get up to slip over and over again. The same thing happened at the vet's office. She couldn't get traction from the terratzo tile and wore herself out.

The vet said that there isn't anything that he really could tell us. He said the lump was a something-er-other and probably not anything at all. We told him she stopped eatting so we switched her to a canned food which gave her the poopy butt. We then switched her to a moist morsel type dog food. Which she ate for a few days but now won't touch at all. I am putting her pain meds, arthritis med and hip/joint meds in cat food in order for her to eat it.

But then that stopped too. Yesterday she wouldn't take the cat food. Wouldn't take any of the variety of her foods and won't take the 'old peanut butter pill on the finger' trick either. Barbie came over and you may recall Barbie is a kennel technician. Baby bit her. Not enough to break the skin but it scared and upset Barbie to no end. It was Baby's way of telling her she was not in the mood for another examination.

The vet also said that he couldn't tell us if it was her time or not but that if we were thinking it was - it probably is. He said there wasn't anything he could point at to say 'this is the problem'. He said there are tests and x-rays they can do - but she is 15. He kept saying that, "She is 15."

Baby at the dog park!

So Frodo and Butter are taking Chew and Nap to Fort Wilderness for the next few days as a graduation trip gift and I already told them that Baby may not be here when they get back. Tobey didn't want to call the Doggy Hospice people this weekend - he said he would do it in a few weeks. I asked him to call them tomorrow so we can at least know what the process is and their availability. If something happens at 3 a.m. I want to know we can help her and not have her suffer.

Yeah. This sucks. Thanks for the sweet comments from the eclair post.

~ame

Butterbeer Type Eclair things

2011-07-16T10:04:00.005-04:00

To celebrate losing nine pounds I decided to make some eclairs using my choux pastry recipe from years gone by. My little puffs looked so lovely in the oven but for some reason they fell a little flat after I took them out.

Not to be outdone by a little flat dough I decided to spread some Whoopie Pie cream between two pastries and top it off with some leftover Butterbeer icing from Amy Bites Butterbeer Cupcake recipe . To. Die. For.

Here is the Whoopie Pie filling recipe that I saw in last week's Parade magazine. Barbie had stopped by and wasn't all that impressed with the ingredients but it pretty much is a frosting recipe with fluff and sometimes you just can't count calories. This is one of those times.

Whoopie Pie Filling

1 1/2 cups of Marshmallow Fluff
1 1/2 cups of solid vegetable shortening
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Beat the fluff and shortening together then add in sugar and vanilla. Beat until it appreciates you or until fluffy. I didn't get out the Kitchen Aid for this one and just beat it by hand and it turned out just fine with less clean up!

Enjoy!

~ame

P.S. Baby went to the vet yesterday. I can't talk about it right now. She is old and nearing her time. Probably in the next few weeks or so. There is a Animal Hospice group that can come to your home to euthanize them which is what we will do. I want her feeling safe and stress free. Done. Crying. Out.

Updates

2011-07-14T09:08:00.002-04:00

Hello Reader!

Just a quickie to let you know I am going to be updating my blog reader thingiemapoo on the left side of my blog. I will be removing some links and adding in new ones. So if you springboard from here to someone else's blog - ya might want to add it to your favorites because I can't guarantee your favorite link will be here when I get all done revamping.

~ame

Bookmarks galore!

2011-07-12T01:44:00.001-04:00

A big thanks goes out to Cheri over at I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar for her tutorial on a stretchy bookmarks. I thought it was a brilliant idea and would be great stocking stuffers that I could personalize for everyone on my list this year. Yes. I am thinking of Christmas already. I blame the fact that Hobby Lobby has their Christmas stuff out. It isn't my fault! Oh. And if you even remotely think you are on my Christmas list - look away now. Go visit Cheri or Pioneer Woman or something.

Here are two of the 15 or so bookmarks I made this weekend. The one on the left is for my niece who was in Paris at the time I was making her bookmark. Not that I am jealous of her at all! Now the problem I am having is cooking up some thoughts for the boys on the list. Black beads only go so far - so gimme some dude bookmark ideas because I am at a loss.

Mom at her sister's wedding during the late 1950's.

One of the items I inherited from Mom was the necklace she wore in the above picture. I have no idea what it is other than a stone and it is so not my style. I also had a very old necklace my Mom's sister gave me when I graduated high school that belonged to my Great Grandmother. The beads on the necklace were strung on a rope and it broke years ago. But I saved those beads for the last twenty-something years with the intention of doing something with them.

So I made a bookmark thong! The small and medium amber type beads are from my Great-Grandma and you can see how I used the stone. I thought this was a great way to actually make use of these items that are so sentimental to me. I am just thrilled with the way it turned out. And I have about half of Great Grandma's necklace leftover, so I am going to make something similar for my neice.

I can't wait for Christmas! Have you started getting your craft on?

~ame

Busy as a bee...

2011-07-11T01:30:00.000-04:00

I've been fairly crafty this past weekend and it feels good to be doing something fun. In addition to the family tree necklaces, I have been doing a few Scrabble tile necklaces.

Which made me purchase glass tiles and I thought I would give them a whirl. I printed up one of my favorite pictures of Mom, applied a thin coat of Modge Podge to the glass tile and pressed the picture into the glue. Rumor has it that Modge Podge will smear ink jet prints (and it does) but this method of putting the glue on the tile first and pressing the picture into it seems to work out great with NO smearing. I then added a few layers of MP to the back of the picture to seal it all together and added a bail. I can't wait to wear it!

And I thought I would share this no brainer with you. I used to grab a paint brush for my MP and wash it out and inevitably I wouldn't do a great job and the brush would get all crusty and unusable. My then I usually put my brush back in with the rest of my brushes and I wouldn't know which was a good brush and which was a bad brush.

So now I have dedicated one brush to the Modge Podge and I wrapped a rubber band around the jug and slipped my brush in once I cleaned it really, really well. Now I will only have one dedicated MP brush and it will always be with the bottle of MP. How easy is that?

What did you do this weekend?

~ame

Knowledge

2011-07-08T01:37:00.000-04:00

7 years ago today I had no idea what rhabdomyosarcoma was.

Mom and Chewie - Fair 2004

6 years ago today I knew what rhabdomysarcoma was all too well.

Miss you Mom.

Love,

April

Mrs. Oh's 87th trip to the E.R.

2011-07-07T01:35:00.000-04:00

So here is the dreaded 'foot' story:

Two weeks ago while coming back from lunch I twisted one ankle and sprained the other. I was wearing flat shoes so there really was no excuse for this to have happened. Unless you note that I didn't cross from the parking garage at work to our building at the cross walk.

Now a few days prior to this incident my ankle slipped a bit while wearing high heels when I stepped out of the Shrekmobile and I think that fact had me a bit scared and caused me to over correct when my ankle twisted that fateful day.

So it was like 8 million degrees outside and while carrying my drink and purse I stepped off the curb to 'twist'. My left ankle gave way while I was stepping off and I stealthy and most ballerina like made up for it by quickly putting my right foot down. And I completely rolled my ankle. Did I mention I was wearing a dress, a sleeveless dress?

There I was splayed out in the bike lane of the road and a nearby motorist asked if I was okay and I really thought I was. It hurt like all get-out but I thought it would quickly pass. It didn't. And I couldn't move either foot. So I laid there. In the bike lane. On the black, hot asphalt. One of our co-workers came upon me a moment or two later and she notified a police officer who just parked his car (I work next to the police department and next to that is the fire station).

By this time my friend Dustin Hoffman comes running across the road and I tell him I can't stand or move. I was laying my head on the curb and can you believe I didn't spill the contents of my purse and my drink was intact as well. Remember I did say ballerina like. *ahem* Dustin was concerned about me laying on the ground and kept trying to convince me to use him like a pillow to which I kept replying I was too fat to lay on him! I am always thinking of others.

I managed to pull myself to sit up upon the curb as my biscuits were blistering on that black top. And then the firemen arrived and they got me on my twisted ankle and I hopped over to the only seating near our building. Which reminds me: thank you City for removing all the seating in the parking garage due to the homeless factor. Anyways. And the whole time I had my arms around these firedudes what was I thinking?

"God, I haven't shaved my arm pits in a week!"

Then the ambulance arrives. There was talk since I hit my back, shoulders and bonked my head on the curb that they needed to get me on a back board. Oh yeah there was just no way I was going out on a back board and this was after they hopped me to the chairs. I declined the back board and felt awful so many people were coming to my aid when there were others folks that probably really needed their services.

But Tobey was working in Tampa that day and no one was volunteering to drive my putzy self to the hospital. The EMTs said I really didn't have a choice about going by ambulance since I couldn't stand at all without help and if the insurance company denies my ride I am going to tell them just that. Once at the hospital (again) I was x-rayed, diagnosed with a sprain and given some pain pills, a soft split thingie and a pair of crutches. Joy. Fat girl on crutches is not a pretty sight. Fat girl on crutches in a sleeveless dress worrying she is doing a Madonna impression? Even more so.

It took over a week for my foot to start to show the bruises and yesterday was the first day I could put a shoe on due to the swelling. Tomorrow though I will be shoeless again as my foot just swelled inside my shoe and was really puffy when I got home.

So yeah. Am I having a year or what? Are they going to name a wing in the E.R. after me for being their most repeat customer? Either that or I am just going to change my name to my childhood moniker of "Grace".

~ame

Tobey and the floating books

2011-07-06T01:04:00.004-04:00

Have you seen those floating books around the blogs? I just love them and Chewie has overflowed his bookshelves so I thought we would give them a whirl.

Tobey and I ran to the hardware store and picked up a bunch of L-brackets for $2.77 each. Tobey then screwed them into the wall with those plastic screw holder domajickies. And voila!

Chewie now has little stacks of floating books! Now on most of the tutorials I read online they destroyed the first book on the stack by drilling into it or gluing it to keep the bottom flap closed on the book. Well. We are book lovers here and I could never destroy a book. I placed a rubber band around the book and slid it on to the bracket.

Here is the finished product. And the best thing about this besides the fact that I didn't have to do a thing and Tobey did it all: is that I didn't have to tell Chewie twice to fill up his 'shelves' and he has requested more than the five we hung.

I hope you enjoyed my not-so-tutOHrial on how to hang an L-bracket and make it into a floating bookshelf! It is so easy it ranks up there with the tutorial I read on someone's blog not to long ago about how to peel a banana. I only wish I was joking on that one.

~ame

Mrs. Oh and Kirstie Alley: The Dog Edition

2011-07-04T22:53:00.004-04:00

Max and Baby went to the groomer's a few weekends ago and oh my goodness what a bath and a pair of clippers can do! Of course we get the call to pick them up and were told to hurry as they bathed Max three times because he kept piddling all over himself. He's French what can I say.

Baby's hair cut made her look like Kirstie Alley when she got done with Dancing with the Stars. We have never had Baby shaved so close before but after finding that cancerous growth in her ear we felt it was a necessity. Baby has always sported long Farrah Fawcett-like locks and it is amazing the transformation that took place. I know she must be a lot cooler now and the amount of dog hair has certainly decreased in the house.

On the bad side - I noticed a fifty cent size lump on her left side. It doesn't seem to be bothering her and she does seem to get around a bit better being 80 pounds lighter and all...but still...it is something we are going to have to get checked out and me being the eternal *ahem* optimist....

I'm sorry that I have been a horrible blogger of late and to all my three readers I apologize. I am writing a few posts tonight and will have them set to post this week. I have had so much going on of late and I keep taking pictures and all with the intent of 'that will make a great blog post' and yet...not post in almost a month.

Thanks for sticking with me!

~ame

Graduation and Birthday Celebrations

2011-06-10T12:50:00.003-04:00

I posted a few pictures on Facebook so these might be a repeat for some of you....

Frodo, Chewie and Nappy

I took this picture the morning the twins and Frodo headed off to catch the bus for their first day of kindergarten.

Frodo, Chewie and Nappy

And I captured this one on the morning of the twins' graduation. I love the school bus in the way background. *sigh*

Nappy, Mr. D and Chewie - after graduation.

Chewie, Boo, Nappy and Joni

Chewie, Me and Nappy

So I had to stand on a block to be just as tall a them despite the four inch heels! I think if Chewie wasn't pointing out that I was standing on the block no one would have ever noticed.

Chewie, Tobey and Nappy - my boys!

We had such a wonderful day. After the graduation ceremony we lunched at O'Keefe's at the request of the boys. We went home then to celebrate my 23rd birthday complete with chocolate cake and yes....I ate some! Tobey presented me with a lovely card and a recycled gift of my Bocelli tickets. I had to remind him that despite me saying the concert could be my birthday, Mother's day, anniversary and Christmas presents for the next five years......I really didn't mean it!

So all in all we had a delightful time. All five kids are now high school graduates and like their siblings the boys are going on to college in the fall with (and thank God) their scholarships intact.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

~ame

How to lower your A1c in 86 easy steps....

2011-06-03T12:52:00.002-04:00

Or not.

Tee asked how I lowered my A1c and for those that don't know what an A1c is I'll tell ya. It is a blood test that measures or averages out your blood sugar level for the last three months. When I started this journey I had so many issues with my medication (Actos) because it wasn't doing squat for my sugar levels and my A1c was literally off the chart. I think it was a 12.4. Yeah, I know. Don't judge.

After my heart attacks I sought out an Endocrinologist, yay Dr. Leonard - love you!, and he changed around my medications and added an injectible (Byetta) to my drug regime. While it isn't insulin it still does a really good job of keeping my levels in line and has a bonus appetite surpressant. The first few weeks of taking it though were total hell. I was SO sick and dizzy but he said I needed to try to get through the initial shock of it all and after a few weeks I was just fine.

I have also started seeing a dietician doctor and within the first three days of my new eating plan I had lost two pounds. The diet has been a challenge but I am really doing my best not to cheat at all but it is really tough. The diet breaks down into 4 categories.

A list of foods I can eat until I burst: salad stuff, most vegetables, sugar free jello and any and all meats, eggs and fish. I am not a big meat, eggs or fish eater - at all.

Foods I can have twice a day: 1 slice of specific breads, apples and certain fruits.

Foods I can not have at all even if the rapture is coming: potatoes, rice, flour, noodles, sugar, flour, cereal, oatmeal and the like.

Foods I can again have twice a day: sugar free chocolate popsicles, Atkins type protein bars and certain ice cream bars that I haven't been able to find.

Make no mistake I did ask why Twinkies weren't on the diet but I think the doctor doesn't have much of a sense of humor. Couple all of the above with the fact that we rejoined the YMCA and have been going 4-5 times a week to play racquetball and me additionally hitting the treadmill for 20 minutes.

I have been hyper-vigilante while exercising to monitor my heart rate and keep it in the range the doctor advised me to be at. My biggest fear is that I am going to have another MI at the Y, or at home, or at work, or heck just about any where.

So that is about it - it hasn't been an easy thing to do but then again it really hasn't been all that difficult either. The hardest part was getting over my death-like fear of needles - I didn't think I would ever be able to give myself an injection. It used to take me 20 minutes to prick my finger to take my sugar level, now it is a piece of cake as long as I don't over think things through and just DO them.

And if you were wondering, the other night my BS was a whopping 84. Eighty-four. Yay, me! I then promptly went out and had a Twinkie. Just kidding. Man what I would give for a Twinkie though.....

~ame

Tres Fabric Swatches-O

2011-06-02T01:29:00.001-04:00

My last trip to Joann's I ran across a little sale where I picked up a yard of each of the three knit fabrics above. I love the brown retro flowery fabric on the left. And at half price, who could complain about the price.

I have to wonder though, when did knitwear become so popular a term. I suppose since I bought the fabric it is considered knitwear but if Mom would have come home with it I would have called it polyesther.

So what do you think I am going to make with those lovelies? I will give you a hint: it shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes to whip up my little projects.

~ame

Kitchens 'n Republicans

2011-06-01T01:19:00.001-04:00

You may remember my sis-in-law Little Martha Stewart had a blog a while back and after saying she was going to simplify her blog, she deleted it which she said was the epitome of simplicity and I for one have missed her. Well, miss no more because she has started a new blog The Red Door Kitchen and I know this one will be just as good as her last - so stop by and send her some love.

I don't know if I ever shared my memorial tattoo with all y'alls before but here it is:

About a month after Mom died I got it in honor of her. Elephants. On my fluffy body. Whodathunkit. This from the gal who wouldn't buy a cute rain coat once because the inside lining had a whale design on it and I didn't want any smart comments about the whale wearing a whale. Hardee Har Har. Not.

So I went to see my Endocrinologist last week. And guess who has a 6.9 A1c? That's right. ME! Y'all can snoopy dance with me! Opps, I digressed which is so unlike me. Ahem. The doctor has me hop up on the table and he pulls the leg rest out and notices my tattoo:

Dr: Are you a Republican?
Mrs. Oh: Huh....ohhhhhh, heck no. *finally realizing he is looking at my tattoo* That's for my Mom....who was neither a Republican nor an Elephant
Dr: *looks at me funny* Then why the elephants?
Mrs. Oh: Because Mom loved elephants.

I'm sure he thinks I am insane now. Like he didn't before. But it was pretty cool to have my elderly doctor give me a high-five because I slashed my A1c in half. Yes half. Don't judge.

~ame

Baby and the Brain

2011-05-31T01:51:00.001-04:00

You are going to thank me for not posting pictures on this topic....you'll see....

A few weeks ago whilst petting our eldest...dog that is...not kiddo... I noticed her ear was a little dirty. So I went a spelunking to further investigate just how dirty her ear was. Now I did this because I had recently bathed Max and Pete and Tobey was supposed to have bathed Baby. Life got in the way and Baby never got her bath, so I was going to say something to Tobey about that because her ears were dirty.

But when I lifted up her ear I noticed a thing sticking out ear flap area-ish. And yes that is the name of that spot - look it up. Any who, I. Freaked. Out. at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday I ran inside and called our vet and got her an appointment for the next morning.

Then. You guessed it. Then I Googled the heck out of 'canine', 'ear', 'growth' and the like. Take my word for it friends: never, ever Google those words. Ever. And if you do never select the Image only option so you can scan all the growths to see which one matches up to the one sprouting out of your dog. The poor gal at the vet clinic must have thought I was insane because words escaped me when I tried to describe what was wrong with Baby. I think I came up with, "She was a bloody looking cauliflower type thing sprouting out from her under ear flap area." And that is exactly what it looked like.

The next morning we went to the vet and I started crying in the lobby because I just knew this was a cancerous growth as Dr. Google had told me in the pictures he displayed for me. Thankfully I never attended vet school and we pay big bucks to our vets to keep our pets in good shape. Our doctor calmly looked her over and said that the growth was a wart and it really needed to be removed because it would just give Baby problems (leaking and the like: ewww). Baby also had a little spot on the back of her head that he said was another wart and he would remove that as well.

Now there was a serious concern about Baby undergoing surgery. Her age, her health and her portly little self namely. There was a good possibility she wouldn't wake up. Worried would have been an understatement for sure.

We made an appointment for the following Monday morning and Tobey dropped Baby off to be picked up late that afternoon. The clinic said they would call when she was out of surgery. Lunch time rolled around and we hadn't heard a thing until our lunch was almost done and Tobey's phone rang. He gave clipped answers, yes, yes, okay, no, whatever you think is best.

And what comes on the speakers of the restaurant? Mmmmmmbop. If you recall I used Hanson's Mmmmmbop in Tobey's brothers' funeral pictorial because who can be sad listening to that song. Well now every time I hear Mmmmmbop I think of Kirk, which makes me think someone has died. And what are the odds we get a call from the vet and that song plays? So I am again freaking out and Tobey is giving me 'she's fine' routine while listening to the doctor. After he gets off the phone he explained there were further complications with her blood work and they would have to adjust the medication they were using to put her out for the surgery.

I then pointed out the song playing and Tobey said he would have freaked out if he heard that playing while he was on the phone. I said, "Hence my freaking out while you were on the phone"

So Baby made it through her surgery just fine and after a few days the pathology report came back. The growth was cancer but the doctor assures us he got it all and that Baby will be just fine and she is back to her ornery jealous self. I plan on keeping a good eye-ball on her because that growth popped up so suddenly and grew exponentially.

Well that is my "Baby and the Brain" story. Now: don't you go and Google canine ear tumors. I warned ya!

~ame

Memorial Day

2011-05-30T09:24:00.002-04:00

Grandpa Joseph Wagner, KIA WWII, November 24, 1944

The ship suffered the loss of 346 men killed, 43 missing, and 264 wounded including my Gran's brother Gunnar.

Uncle Gunnar Abildgaard and daughter Bobbie. Gunnar was killed when the U.S.S. Bunker Hill was struck by two kamikaze suicide planes. May 11, 1945. Sadly Bobbie passed away before her third birthday.

Remember those that gave the ultimate sacrfice for our freedoms.

~ame

*reposted from 5/24/2009

Pets n Nests

2011-05-29T13:47:00.004-04:00

Since I had a ton of leftovers from the Tree necklaces I decided to try my hand at making a bird's nest necklace too. There are tons of tutorials out there but this is the one I used from Can't Stop Making Things. My wire work is a tad messy but I am really happy with the way it turned out - and I won't be making any en mass as it took me forever to weave.

And since it has been a while since I posted any pictures of the creatures:

Yokie in the background with the pink nose and Okie in the foreground.

A perturbed Yodie?

Okie and Pete: these two snuggle every chance they get.

Okie and Yodie - will Okie ever get stripey?

And Daisy. She is such an old soul of a dog. Love. Her.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

~ame

Mom's Tree of Life

2011-05-21T20:15:00.004-04:00

I fell in love with a necklace that PW showcased on her site a few weeks ago. There was one small problem though - I didn't have the $199 to purchase a necklace...what with those millions of our dollars going to hospital bills and the like.

So what ever is a crafty gal to do? I headed down to Michael's and decided to create my own and I loved it so much I made a few more to send out to friends and family. Heads up Martha: yours will be in the mail this coming up week.

The trees are like family trees and you add your childrens birthstones to the branches. Love. It. For Martha's tree and since they only have Porkchop, I thought the tree would look a little bare with just one stone so I added Martha and Matt's birthstones on the bottom branches and then added Porkchops to the top. I really am pleased with the way it turned out considering I spent less than $30 and I have enough leftovers to make several more!

What do you think?

~ame

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T07:36:00.003-04:00

Just a bunch of pictures.

Mom, Yeti and Dad

Mom, me and Yeti

Momma

Woohoo! Mom and Yeti - Jacksonville Beach

Mom, Dopey and Yeti

Yeti, me and Mom preggers with Matt

Yeti and Mom

Happy Mother's Day Mom - you were the best.

~ame

Yes, you may take three giant steps off my butt....

2011-05-05T13:13:00.002-04:00

I had my post heart attackial 'echogram' today. That is what Tobey calls it. Echo. Gram. *ahem* And all went well. I had to wonder about the little female technician though and how many times a day she had to ask patients to 'lift up' their left breast so she could stick that echodohickey all around. I wonder if the majority of breasts need a lifting? I hope so.

After I was poked and prodded I was sent to the check-out area where I was told I was good to go. Without making a co-payment. But then...oh...I need to see someone from billing. Apparently my account has been 'flagged'. So I wait. And a few minutes later I get pulled to one of the tables in the waiting room - seriously, don't they have an office for this kind of thing? - and the billing rep is telling me how they have payment plans, how they take Visa and Mastercard etc.

Then she hands me a print out of my bill. $5,500. With a remaining balance of $1,500 after the insurance has paid out. Now I already asked if they had both of my insurances since the hospital long since screwed up the insurance situation. I was told they had both. And yet....only one has paid so far. Well I am not about to pay them and wait to be reimbursed. I think the billing gal felt a little silly and she said she would give me a call when she finds out what the situation with my dual insurance is. You can imagine how much I am looking forward to that conversation.

I then went to the lab to fill the three different doctors requests for blood tests. Now I am still IN the hospital. I hand over all of my paperwork from doctors that work within this hospital system and I get told that the hospital lab doesn't accept any of my insurances. They don't take Cigna or Blue Cross - two of the biggest insurance companies available.....

I was then told that I could still get my blood drawn there but I would have to sign a waiver and then they would bill me for the procedures and tests. I hope I looked at them like they were idiots when I told them no thanks because that is exactly why I have insurance: so I don't have to pay for anything. They kept insisiting and I kept resisting and finally I snatched back my lab paperwork and told them I would go to my normal lab. And they wanted to know where that was at and which lab I was going to. Like that is their business. But I told them and then they asked if I needed directions - er no - I already told you I would take it to the place I normally go to.

Idiots.

I arrived at the lab only to find them in the midst of what appeared to be going out of business. The once nicely decorated and welcoming lab was stark and the floors were filthy. The bathroom was dreadful and the floors in the drawing room looked like they hadn't been swept in months. There are illegal abortion clinics that are cleaner than this place.

But fine. The gal that was working was the one that usually draws my blood without a problem. Today though - she couldn't hit a vein to save her life. And remember how I said I had three doctors wanting blood work? 3 cbcs, 3 lipids, 3 A1cs. I assumed they would draw for one test and CC the rest of the doctors the results. Nope. They aren't allowed to do that any more for insurance puposes. Because why pay just once for a test when you can charge three times for the same thing. So there we were, not able to hit a vein and 9 tubes just waiting to get filled. And then she butterflied me - which takes for flippin' ever....

Yeah.

I need a vacation.

And a bottle of Jack.

~ame

The cactus

2011-04-25T20:29:00.002-04:00

I have no idea why every time I work in the garden I get all sentimental for my Mom. Sure I see plants she bought me that are thriving. I see garden doo-dads she bought that sit in the same spot where she last saw them. But. It wasn't like my Mom had a green thumb or anything.

I remember once my brother bought her a Christmas cactus and someone told her she needed to keep it in a dark place to force it to bloom. So she did just that. She stuck it under the kitchen cabinet and never thought of it again. Until my brother came to visit. She pulled the withered and crackled plant out from under the cabinet and then promptly went to the store to purchase a new one so he wouldn't know she killed his plant. Me though, I have a Christmas cactus out in the garden and that thing blooms several times a year. Go figure. Any way.

So it isn't like the garden should be a big memory inducing trigger for me regarding my Mom. But it is. I need to get over it because it is really hindering my enjoyment of working in the garden. But it has been almost six years and I haven't gotten there yet - maybe tomorrow.

What makes it worse is Mother's Day is approaching. And for the first time in my life I don't have a mother to buy for. It doesn't help that Tobey called his Dad on Easter and the phone went to voice mail where Tobey then had to listen to his Mom say they weren't available and please call back. It was hard seeing him get all teary-eyed.

Being motherless sucks.

~ame

Happy Birthday Dad

2011-04-18T01:47:00.000-04:00

Today is my Dad's 73rd birthday!

Dad and Joanie, Clearwater Beach October 2010

We all hope you have a wonderful birthday Dad!

~ame

We have a winner!

2011-04-17T01:32:00.002-04:00

Thanks to Tobey a.k.a Sir Spamalot I had to make some minor adjustments for the contest because he jokingly spammed the comments with pseudonames all voting NOT to paint the cabinet.

I complied a list of the folks who commented in order of when they commented as follows:
1 Kim
2 Kathy
3 Shelley
4 Gail
5 Lisa
6 Steve
7 Erin
8 Misty
9 PJ
10 Anita
11 Miss Pam
12 Dieter
13 Sadie
14 Tee
15 Crizzy

Then I ran the numbers through a random number generator and the winner is number 4: Gail! Congrats to Gail and thanks everyone for your opinions - I'm going to paint her (the cabinet that is, not Gail).

~ame

O.M.G - I won

2011-04-14T14:58:00.003-04:00

I won! I can hardly believe it! Me. Woohooo!! I won a canorganizer.com give-a-way over at Someday Crafts! Someday Crafts is a wonderful little blog I recently discovered a few weeks ago and I just love their tag line of "crafty projects and ideas to make when you get the time....someday" - can I get an Amen on that one!

I tell you what my friends - I have tickets to see Andrea Bocelli AND I won some really great kitchen organizational tools - life is good!

~ame

My bucket list...

2011-04-12T12:26:00.004-04:00

I have so many items on my proverbial bucket list that I know I will never get to do. And I am okay with that - sometimes just the thought is enough. However, one item on my list got ticked off today. Last night Tobey asked me how much I would pay to see Andrea Bocelli in concert. My reply was an immediate, "$8,000." Because going to Lajatico and seeing him perform there ranks right up there with climbing the Eiffel Tower for me and I figure 8k would get me there and back and put me up in a nice Italian hotel.

I hope Andrea wasn't driving that little Vespa....

Needless to say Tobey thinks I am insane which is a running theme in our marriage. He then informed me that Andrea (and yes Andrea and I are on a first name basis) will be having a concert in Tampa. "Er. No he isn't," I argued back. "Andrea is playing Central Park in the fall and he isn't coming anywhere near here," I countered with. Not like when he played Orlanda two years ago and no one loved me enough to cough up the $500 per ticket I needed to go see him then. Nope. He isn't coming here!

I know this because I subscribe to his newsletter and am a Facebook fan of his page and no one told ME that he is coming HERE. *gasp* I just knew Tobey was pulling my leg. So first thing this morning I checked his website and he IS coming here on December 4th. At 7:30 p.m. and tickets went on sale yesterday. Yesterday folks! What if they already sold out?! Now while I am let down that Andrea and I have had a failure to communicate - I am thrilled my husband pays attention and he knew before I did about the concert. And purchased tickets. On the main floor. Just so I could tick on more item off my bucket list.

I say I am a pretty lucky girl with a wonderful husband who is going to sit through a concert he isn't going to enjoy or understand (because it will be in Italian) just because he loves me. Lucky is an understatement.

~ame

Sir Spamalot

2011-04-09T10:52:00.002-04:00

I was so excited Friday by the little turn out I had for my give-a-way celebrating my 500th blog post. I was also surprised by the amount of men that kept leaving comments as I didn't think I had a huge 'man' following. But I had posted a link on a few blog link parties and I thought that might have been driving a few testosterone laden readers my way.

I then was discouraged to read that Chris, Keith, Ben, Chuck et al. all agreed to leave the poor sewing cabinet in all of it's woody gloriousness. Until...

Later that night Tobey and I are getting ready for bed and he asked who won the contest. I told him that no one won yet as it runs until the 15th of the month. His response? Are you ready for this? He replied with, "I can't keep this up all week long!"

"Keep what up honey...?" I responded.

Then it dawned on me.

He had spammed the blog and the contest! The fact that he wasn't even all original with the names he used should have been the first tip off for me but it wasn't. Keith is his father. Ben is our son. Chris is our friend. Chuck is a show he loves. And here I was reposting to the original post about people leaving me email or blog links because Chrischuckkeithben hadn't. How am I? And he thinks all of this is hysterical. Me? I want to kill him.

But no worried my friends. 'Cuz regardless of the outcome of the little contest: I am painting that sewing cabinet!! Go me!

~ame

In Celebration...

2011-04-07T02:46:00.013-04:00

of 500 posts and the world taking a notice! Okay. Not really. But I have rolled over my 500th post and despite not blogging as much as I used to: I wanted to celebrate my little milestone with a give-a-way! But don't think I am going to let you off that easy.... A few weeks ago I purchased this gorgeous sewing cabinet. It is in two pieces. The top opens up with spool holders on the inside of the doors and it also has three shelves inside. The bottom slides out and has some sort of lift mechanism thingie that raises and lowers my sewing machine. Or it will very soon. And a big thanks to Tobey for fixing the lift dohickey that I didn't even know about when I purchased the unit.

Anywho.

I have huge plans for this little house of ours once all the kids grow up and move out. In one of the bedrooms I plan on putting up board and batten siding and making that little room my crafty coastal room. And this little sewing cabinet will fit in perfectly - except when I first saw it at the store I immediatetly saw it in white. Not wood.

Of course Tobey thinks it is a sacrilege to paint all that beautiful wood and since he fixed the electrical who'sit I figured he has a say so. Thankfully so do you!

So here is the deal. To celebrate my 500th post and my purchase of this beautiful cabinet I will be giving away a $25 gift card to your choice of Lowe's, Michael's or JoAnn's. All you have to do is leave me a comment and tell me if you would paint the cabinet or not and which store you would like your gift card to be from. I was really hoping to do a bigger prize for all of my readers who have stuck by me the last two years but hey, don't forget I still have 3.8 million dollars in hospital bills to pay for ;) This contest will run until midnight April 15th. Be sure when you comment to leave a link to your blog or e-mail address so that I can contact you if you are the winner! I will announce the winner on April 16th, so be sure to check back.

~ame

Anita has asked for a few more pictures:

The label on the back: Parsons, Osceola, Arkansas. Since 1948 The top of the cabinet. The shelves are fixed and while I thought it was two separate pieces someone threw together themselves - I don't think that any more because 1. Parsons made sewing cabinets and the label is on the top piece not the bottom. The bottom of the cabinet with the lift mechanism. The plastic holders on the inside of the doors mimic the ones I removed from the top. I had to take them down to remove the hardware which I plan on replacing. Unfortunately the width of the hardware is a weird length and very hard to find so far.

And so far it seems pretty evenly split. The men say leave her alone and the women say paint her! Just a reminder to leave me a way to contact you if you win. While I will announce the winner here, what if you guys forget to check back? Then I will have to start going down a list and what fun is that going to be!

April

I take it all back...almost

2011-04-01T21:48:00.003-04:00

I am sure you remember all of my trash talking of the Kenmore brand.... would you believe last week that we had another issue with our refrigerator! That is 3 problems this year alone - not counting one last December and one last August too. The technician that fixed our fridge informed us that the problem we are having is a design flaw and we will continue to have issues as long as we own the fridge. Oh the joy. I then looked at the invoice that we would have had to have paid if we didn't have their Master Protection Plan. The total was close to $300. And the kicker here is that this is the exact same thing they just fixed a few months ago. So this time next year when our Plan runs out we can look forward to spending $300 every few months to fix this problem.

I think not.

So I called Sears again and this time I spoke with their 'Lemon' appliance folks. Who knew they have a special department just for defective items. I was planning on yelling and raising the roof over this stupid refrigerator situation but no, I got some elderly, great, great-grandma sounding type on the phone and I didn't have it in me to yell at her. But I didn't have to either! The technician updated our records to show that we qualified to have the appliance replaced.

Yipee!

Grandma Hazel - remember that show Hazel? With the Baxters? Anywho - she said someone would call us on Monday. And can you believe someone actually did. Now comes the good part my friends. The last fridge cost us a little over $2,800 four years ago. That included tax, tag and title...or tax and the Master Plan thingie. Sears authorized us to replace the fridge at $2,900. So we made a little money on the deal, I suppose that was for our troubles.

This past Tuesday we picked out this little beauty and we noticed all the problem areas on our old fridge were taken care of on the new one. And the remainder of our MPP transfers over to our new fridge - I am hoping we won't need it. I figured I would give Sears the benefit of the doubt and I am praying we won't have any issues with this one. If we do: I am calling Grandma Hazel.

~ame

Mrs Ohtobe

Mrs. Oh versus the Dishwasher

Hell's Bells

You would think I would learn....

Mrs. Oh and Le French Restaurant

Petty much?

One last crafty mention

MLK Day

Mrs. Oh and da butts

Saturday

Whitesnake

GrandTobey

More Crafty Christmas....part IV

More crafty stuff

A crafty Christmas...

River's Diary

Happy New Year

As my Mom would say...

Ol Blue Eyes

I have made a decision....kinda.

My purse.....*updated*

Spielberg I Ain't

Craft Nights

Mrs. Oh and Andrea Bocelli

Cheese and Spinach Quiche

Geez

Happy Halloween!

Tobey's Birthday

The Fierce Adventuresome Mrs. Oh

The Mossy Creek Elephants

Just when you thought it was safe,....

Mrs. Oh and the Creek of Moss

Nemo: Found

Mrs. Oh and Dali

Get your geek on with me....

Mrs. Oh, Mace Windu and the mushroom cloud

A warning* with a recipe

WBW

Mrs. Oh, the cat and the rhinoceros

Mrs. Oh and the Po Po

Off we go to the beach....

Pete and Mrs. Van gOH

How my high school grad who graduated with distinction will not receive the Florida Bright Futures scholarship but his brother with a lower GPA did!

Hi Momma.....I noticed....

Doomsday

In the red...

Some days..

Hair Cutz

Pete a.k.a The Contagion

Cherry Pie

I smell a rat...

A survey and guess what else....crafty stuff!

Hogwarts: The newspapers

The Anti-Iron Chef America: The Tobey Edition

Birthday Gal

$15 Adoptions

And more crafty...

My bedroom dupioni silk curtains

Shhhh....

Who has lost that lovin' feelin'....

Boredumb...

My playlist*:

The Belly Button Cake

Limoncello Sunday

Really??

Guess who is guest bloggin'

It has been a week...

How to make Tobey happy....

Dos Gatos

Mrs. Oh and the puggle

From Steel Magnolias to Weeping Willows

The Baby Story

Heaven bound

Updates

Butterbeer Type Eclair things

Updates

Bookmarks galore!

Busy as a bee...

Knowledge

Mrs. Oh's 87th trip to the E.R.

My purse.....updated