April 29, 2006
Toastmasters Once Again
In an hour I'm going to be headed to a Toastmaster's competition that I'm probably not competing in. It's the District competition--4 levels up from where I started. I won my club competition, the area competition, and got runner-up in the division competition. The winner from the division level competes at the district competition. If that person shows up. If not, I get to compete as the runner-up. I find it unlikely that the person would skip since this competition is attached to an all-day conference (which I did not attend). At any rate, "our guy" was really good in the division competition so I hope he wins tonight. Unless he doesn't show up, in which case I hope I win!
April 27, 2006
April 26, 2006
Cavallo
Expensive and high maintenance? Me? Nah...
I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!
You've got it all. Power, passion, precision, and style. You're sensuous, exotic, and temperamental. Sure, you're expensive and high-maintenance, but you're worth it.
"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.
Shelby: The World's Most Erratic Blogger
I fear I'm losing my faithful readership here! Well, maybe because I'm not posting! Hmmmm.
Let's see--what's going on? I had a stress echo two weeks ago. That's where you walk quickly on a treadmill until your heart gets up to a certain rate and then they flop you on the table and do an echo really fast. It started out okay, some easy walking and some chatting with the doctor and nurse. Then they kept cranking the speed and elevation up. And they tell me well it's not the speed, really, it's the elevation that gets your heart going. So I'm going along and it's getting harder and harder and finally I'm climbing Mt. Everest and begging to be taken off. Anyway, last Friday I got the results and I'm looking just peachy. No change in heart function from 6 months ago (that's a good thing). And I don't have to go back until November. Yay!
The novel continues to come along. I'm on Chapter 20 now. I'm making some real progress and I'm definitely on track for finishing it this year. I know, I know, that's what I said last year. But this year I'm REALLY going to do it!
I read a great book: Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. Sarah is a contributor to one of my favorite NPR programs, This American Life. Assassination Vacation is about the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley and Sarah's journey to visit important sites and talk about important players in each assassination. (and for some reason, I'm having an extremely difficult time typing "assassination") She's quite funny, yet educational at the same time. Did you know that Abraham Lincoln's son Robert Todd Lincoln was present at the assassinations of all 3 of those presidents? Talk about a harbinger of bad luck for presidents! Anyway, read it. You'll like it.
April 20, 2006
Congratulations Mary!
Congratulations to my former roommate Mary--she's getting married! I can't wait. I've cleared all of 2007 for her, but September really is a bad month for me.
April 18, 2006
April 17, 2006
I Won't Need to Eat for a Week!
Hope everyone had a very happy Easter! Kevin and I managed to completely eat our way through the day. We started off with a brunch at church, then later in the afternoon we headed to my Aunt Sharon's for a lovely and delicious dinner there (ham and other accoutrements including this awesome butternut squash lasagna). We also celebrated Grampa Rosiak's 93rd birthday! Then it was off to Kevin's grandparent's house for dinner #2. More ham, scalloped potatoes, the whole 9 yards. It was SO GOOD, but I don't think I'll need to eat for another week or so.
April 16, 2006
April 10, 2006
Lord of the Peeps
It's that time of year again...Peep time. What's a Peep? A Peep is nothing less than an American candy mainstay of Easter celebration. A Peep is a marshmallow chick covered in sugar. Here's the original Peep:
There are also Peep bunnies and Peep eggs (as well as various other holiday Peeps). I like my Peeps slightly stale.
Normally I would point you to Peep Research (heh, I just did) but this year I thought I would do something a little different.
This year, I give you Lord of the Peeps.
April 08, 2006
Spring Break
On Thursday I turned my fish portfolio in. It was very exciting. I think I've got some good fish in there. Then I looked over and another girl had drawn the same fish I did. We were given about 100 different pictures of fish from which to draw, so it's strange that she picked the same one, although she may have picked it for the same reason I did (it looked easier than many of the other fish). Anyway, I thought hers was better. Oh well.
Dinner guests tonight--yay! Busy cleaning and cooking. I'm going to be making french onion soup in a little bit, as soon as the kitchen floor gets mopped.
April 03, 2006
Scout's Home
Friday night we had our wine tasting at my parent's house and that was fun. We got some plastic temporary fencing and blocked off the driveway/porch so Digory couldn't get out. That was really handy because it meant he could walk around all night and had no escape route. It was nice not to have to worry about him. He was a very good dog. He flipped out for a minute when we first got there, but soon settled in and behaved himself. He was very cute and got a lot of food on the sly. Lucky dog!
Not so lucky was Scout who was still stuck at the vet's office. We picked her up Saturday and she looked kind of downtrodden with her little shaved front leg. She was lethargic and dazed both Saturday and yesterday, but she has definitely been perking up today. She's still taking steroids and pain meds and seems to be doing a little bit better every day. She has more of her personality back today, which is heartening.
Of course, Scout isn't supposed to do the stairs and there are 5 stairs down the porch to the back yard, so Kevin was picking her up and carrying her. Which wasn't much of an improvement since she hates to be carried and would struggle. So to solve the problem? A ramp! Kevin got some lumber and created a ramp. Then he covered it with astroturf to make a nice walking surface. We thought about carpet but it's been raining and we didn't want to have to drag the thing in and out all the time. We could have left it uncovered but it would have gotten slick in the rain and besides, Scout has delicate paws. In order to encourage, that is, force, Scout to use the ramp Kevin got some more plastic fencing and blocked off the stair part. Scout got the idea right away and went trotting up and down it with no problem. Digory, on the other hand, still eyes it suspiciously and is rather afraid of it. Now that the stairs have been blocked and he has no other option, he'll go up and down it, but it's not his first choice. Sometimes he's not very smart.