We spent the weekend with Andy's parents in Temple, TX. It's a 45 minutes drive or so for us, so it's easy to get up there and hang out a bit, plus his folks live about 2 minutes away from this nice lake that people go to swim in and bring boats/jetskis/whatever. We also get to bring dogs there, so long as we keep them out of the designated swimming areas. So, we left Sidney at home napping because in his world, water is something you drink and it is otherwise to be avoided at all costs. But now that Belle has had the benefit of her little wading pool (see previous blogs), she is perfectly comfortable in the water; in fact she's a great swimmer. Hooray for little webbed Catahoula feet! Sid's a husky/wolf hybrid, and his feet are webbed too, for getting around in the snow supposedly, but Belle puts him to shame. She's got such webbing between her toes that you almost can't separate her middle ones.

So it's been a little bit since we brought Belle into the family, and she's grown so much! here are some updated photos. Beward the cuteness, it's toxic!

She's a little afraid of water, so we bought her a little pool and here she is... successful!

Here are a few of her favorite passtime - annoying Sid!

Whose frisbee is it?

So we've been "officially" married (in the eyes of our families anyway) for almost a month now, and what gets me is our relatives are -already- asking us if we're trying to have a kid.

What the... are you all serious? We're trying to NOT have a kid, sure! Because I'd be SUCH wonderful mom right? *smack* "Cut it the f*** out right now!"

Yeah, I can see that. All joking aside, sure, I want to try this parenting thing. I've told Hunden if he wants more than one though, he'd better arrange for 'em to all come out at once, because I can't guarantee I wanna go through the preliminaries more than one time!

For those of you playing on Moon Guard, and for anyone who feels like reading, here's a short story that outlines my character Zosh's history. I do not expect this server to become my 'main' server but I have to say I am enjoying the RP, and the chance for new ideas and new materials to write about. As always, if you enjoy my writing style and would like me to work on something for one of your characters, please contact me via PM or in game and we'll work something out!

Anyhow, here it is:

Zosh's Story

Coming of age. That's the term they use for the time during which children grow and change the most, take the biggest, last, and final steps on their way to adulthood. It is supposed to happen gradually, neatly. In some cases, with dignity and beauty. Mine was none of those things. Nor was Xua's.

Andy and I had the opportunity to spend last Saturday at Sea World with his folks - his parents, and his brother, sister-in-law, and their two kids. We weren't about to pass it up, so we got up nice and early and headed down to San Antonio with his parents in their car.

I was wondering at first if they'd take it badly if Andy and I slipped away to wander around by ourselves, but apparently not; the second we walked into the gates and the family started to debate what they wanted to see first, we slithered out of the way and headed over to the Clydesdale exhibit to see the horsies.

After that we checked out the dolphins, which you can apparently feed yourself at certain times during the day. We didn't get to, but we noted the feeding times for later. Then we headed toward the rides... because while I have a deep and abiding fear of roller coasters, I did tell Andy that if was going to try to get me on one, it had better be in the morning before lunch.

It's been a while huh? With just the occasional "yeah we're still alive" to ease people's minds, Hunden and I have finally managed to put our belongings together in some semblance of organization.

Let's see... we posted quickly about our road trip but that was over two weeks ago. Since arriving here in Austin we've managed to get into our new house (which is lovely, big, and at the moment slightly disorganized), move furniture in, and (finally, about half an hour ago) get our cable and internet installed.

So, having never really moved before (not with this much junk anyway) I can honestly say moving sucks, but is made far more tolerable when you have some wonderful helping hands (Chip, Oz, Hunden's folks down here in Austin, Tatamae). The expenses were huge, and it's going to be a bit before we can recoup our losses, but with internet comes my ability to once more contract with the Smithsonian and I should be doing that by the end of this week. With the two of us working hard, it won't take long.

So last week I got tired of hearing Hunden hack and wheeze his way through work and I realized that I could very well be in Austin, as all my junk is packed and I was kinda just sitting around taking care of my cats and waiting to move. So, with Oz being the kind soul that he is and volunteering to watch my critters for me, I booked plane tickets to Austin and flew down last Tuesday to do fun things like thump the man on the back and make yummy homemade chicken soup. And make sure he's properly drugged of course, because he has a nasty habit of not really actually taking care of himself. *spank*

Well! It seems that the baton has been passed to me. So says Hunden, who after writing a bit of his own story, told me it was now my turn to do the same. I love to write, so how could I possibly turn down the suggestion? However, my story turned out to be a good deal longer so I thought I would post it here in my blog. If you haven't had a chance I encourage you to read Hunden's story, as it is excellently written (please add more, kkthxdear). However, I also invite you to take a look at Nyalla's story as well, presented below:

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...that I withheld an inside joke from my guildies. Here they are, back by popular demand, for one last showing. They will be forver immortalized in my SCARAB blog...

Me and My Honkers

Gosh darn it. They're so cute! Go on... give 'em a squeeze. They really honk!

After I left work today I ran a couple errands. One was to PetSmRt (tm) for kitty food so my adorable kitty won't starve (yes, it is possible for a cat to starve even when his bowl is completely full. Mine does it on a regular basis if supplements in his favorite flavors are not provided).

The line at the registers was really long, at least 8 people in it for the one cashier. So of course everyone was on one line. Finally, they call someone up and open a second register and people start funnelling over, but the line doesn't really split. We just all sorta stayed in one line and whoever was next went to whichever cashier was available.

Okay, so as a few of us were feeling rather puncht last night, we decided to have a Christmas parade in IF. We transformed into gnomes, hopped on reindeer mounts, and made our way through the city in single file, picking up folks as we went. Soon we had a good 10-15 person train going and we all had a fun time giggling and playing with screenshots.

We repeated it in Stormwind, and here we started singing Christmas carols along... and in the spirit of the holidays I decided I'd put some of them up for entertainment value, as well as if we ever decide to get a nice BIG parade going (*nudge nudge*). Anyhow, here's the first:

Okay, so I've been asked by one or two people to post some of the easy gamer-friendly recipes I (and others) enjoy! I try to keep things simple for folks who aren't exactly graduates of the Betty Crocker School for the Gifted, and this one seems to be a favorite lately. It's a Taco Casserole and it can be pretty yummy.

What you need in your kitchen:
A large pan for sauteeing/simmering
Measuring cups/spoons
Knives
Cutting Board
A 2-inch deep casserole dish

Ingredients:
1 package ground chicken or turkey
1 packet taco seasoning (old el paso or mccormick are both good)

Whee. In the aftermath of the whole "walking off the curb at Starbucks" thing from a couple months ago, my ankle is still nasty rotten and sore. So I went to an orthopedist to see if they could confirm what I thought, and sure enough they did, and then some. I have a torn tendon in my ankle, just like my other ankle, and a torn ligament as well. I'm having surgery, most likely on November 3rd, to repair the torn tendon and hopefully make it so I can stop being in constant pain.

My folks are coming to stay with us for the first few days after, and then a friend of mine as well. But it's going to be about 7-10 days of near-immobility and then another 2-3 weeks before I can get around well again.

Because my day couldn't possibly go downhill right after getting out of bed, right? Well right. It didn't.

It all started about 2 weeks ago, with a gift card to Starbucks from Jonas, who rarely gets me anything 'just because' so I thought that was awfully sweet. I work from home most of the time, but 1-2 days a week I have to go out to the Smithsonian's support center in Suitland and pet my rocks. That was supposed to be today. I thought "Cool, I'll stop at Starbucks!"

So off I go all happy, buy myself a mocha frappathingamajigger, and a really yummy looking muffin. On my way out of the store I step off the curb, right into the storm drain that Maryland's government, in its infinite wisdom, does not cover with anything like a grate but instead leaves open as a pit to dump your garbage and/or small children in. Having torn tendons in both my ankles... or one torn, the other badly surgified, I am immediately concerned when I hear a snap followed by the realization that I can no longer bear weight in my right leg.

So this past march I decided to start volunteering for the Smithsonian, if they'd have me (you need a resume and an interview just to volunteer). My degree is in Anthropology, my concentration Archaeology, and my minor Geology.

I took a volunteer spot in the minerology department, division of rocks and ores. It's been a lot of fun, learning how to manage a collection and working with all kinds of cool rocks and volcanic ash and stuff.

Two weeks ago, my supervisor asked me to interview for a contract position working both with her, and with the folks in meteorites.

Today they offered me the position.

My parents recently came down to MD for a visit, and they've been telling me about these pictures they have, old pics of my grandmother (my mom's mom). They keep saying how alike we look, and I've got to see these pictures.

Now, my family tree is pretty cut and dry. My mom's side is all Italian. Tough to tell when you look at me, huh? *snicker* My dad's side is a German, Native American, and French mix. Yeah. I blend.

I got the Italian genes all the way. hanging out with my mom and her sisters, as the oldest in my generation, I look like I could just be tagged onto the end of theirs, we all look that much alike.