Thursday, January 31, 2008

Birthdays

Yesterday was the first birthday in 20 years that I didn't receive flowers. Nick's mom always sent me flowers on my birthday. I'm kind of glad no one sent me flowers since it was Nancy's thing.

Nick made my birthday really nice. He took me out to dinner, got me my favorite cake and got me an awesome present.

I got an elliptical machine for my birthday, just what I wanted. I hope to get my fat ass into shape and I hope this will help my endurance.

Yesterday also marked the 20th anniversary of Nick and I dating. I've officially been with the man half of my life. Scary.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

New Year

I really need to stop letting people get to me. I need to stop letting their condescending attitudes eat at me. It's time that I stop being so nice all the time. I am tired of being stepped on. I guess in order to stop being a doormat, you have to stand up.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Travis Update

Travis has been with us over a week now. He is fitting right in! Every time I think that Travis has ADD when he goes from toy to toy to toy, I remember that he spent the first 13 weeks alone, in a guinea pig cage with NO toys at all!
Riley FINALLY warmed up totally to him yesterday. The living room floor turned into Romper Room. Riley body slammed Travis a couple of times and Travis seemed to enjoy it!
Things are going great and I am so happy to give this precious pup a second chance at life and give Riley some companionship!
Walk time is our favorite times of day
Snow feels so good on your belly!
Trying to rip Camel's legs off!
Please, no more photos!
Nothing BUTT Golden Retriever!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Travis is here!!

Pam arrived today with Travis!!! Welcome, Little Travee, you are going to have the best home!!!!!!!!!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Skating in Florida!

I went to a local rink while I was in Florida! It had the sweetest floor! It was like this concrete floor with this coating on it that was kind of rubbery. It wasn't sport court, it was like something was poured on it. Boy was it grippy.

Sundays are primetime birthday party time at skating rinks, no matter what state you are in. Florida isn't much different. There were lots of parties that day. It's great. Kids make great obsticles to skate around. You also get mothers trying to skate that haven't been on skates in years. I witnessed one mother, do a face plant and she totally broke off all of her teeth. It was gnarly!

When they held the races, I decided to participate. I used to win the races all the time as a kid. They did it by age and i got paired up with two 40 something men, speed skaters. When the whistle blew, I ran on my toe stops, ala derby style and got it front and never looked back. I won the sweetest shirt for it!!

I had to leave early, since Nick had to be off the beach by 5. As I was leaving, I saw kids trying to run on their toe stops. Florida will never be the same!!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Ewwww that smell!

While we were in Daytona, I decided I wanted to get some skate time in. I went and watched the jetski freestyle for a bit with Nick and then I left him on the beach so that I could go skating.

I needed to stop and get socks, since I didn't pack any. Once I got them, I wondered if I had put deodorant on that morning, since I was feeling moist. I decided to go get some and use a restroom.

I pulled into a Walgreen's parking lot and saw an elderly man crossing the street. As I walked into the store, I followed another elderly man in. As the door opened, I was hit with a sewage stench. I proceeded to walk to the left, around to the back of the store, where I thought the restroom would be.

I kept smelling the smell. I was thinking, boy, they have a sewage problem. As I rounded the corner, it hit me hard in the face and I started to wonder if the guy in front of me was farting. I then look ahead and the first old man I saw was asking an employee something. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize he was asking where the bathroom was.

As he was waddling to the restroom, pieces of poop were coming out of his pant leg. What I was smelling was the perpetual trail of poop that he had left from the front door. I immediately started gagging. I decided that I didn't need to use the restroom after all. I grabbed my stuff, told the horrified cashier and left. I was pretty sure that I was parked next to the guy, so I looked in the car to see if I could see skid marks. There weren't any, but on the passenger seat, there was a spare pair of pants!!!!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Carnival Clusterf*uck

We went on our vacation January 5-15. The first 7 days, we were on a Carnival Cruise, despite my refusal to go on another Carnival Cruise, I was asked to "be a buddy" and agree to go. Against my better judgement, I did.

I can honestly say, that in 13 cruises, this was by far the WORST cruise I have ever been on. Never, never, ever again will I go on a Carnival cruise. I don't care who begs me or what they say. Never again.

It all started on our way to the port. The computerized signs that direct you to the terminal that you are porting out of said that the Carnival Triumph was at Terminal E. We pull up in a cab and are told that we are in Terminal F. On our way between the terminals, we see all these people, dragging all their luggage, in the heat between the terminals. When we get to F, I tell the cabbie to wait until I confirm that this is the correct terminal. It was.

I sent an FYI text to my friends, who would be coming two hours later to let them know about the mix up. I figured that the sign would be corrected by the time they arrived since I told no less than three Carnival employees about the mistake and people having to walk between the terminals. Two hours later, the sign is still incorrect.

We checked in, got our room keys, proceeded to our room. We immediately found a half eaten can of Cheetos and a box of Cherrios. The $65 robes from the room were missing as well. Then, we find out that our toilet doesn't work.

Our friends arrive and we call all day for them to open our balconies up. We get rooms in a row, just so we can open then up and have a large balcony to socialize on. We call and call. They say they can't do it. We say why not, we've always done it. Finally, in the morning they do it.

Our toilet never did work. Every three flushes, it died. Every morning I had to call and complain. Every morning I was given a speech about not putting things in the toilet that don't belong. I finally showed the maintenance guy that we weren't even putting toilet tissue in.

Two days into the cruise, I tried to open an internet account. I was denied. Upon going to the Pursor's desk, we were told we never checke in. WTF???? We have been going into and out of our room for two days. We've been charging drinks to our room for two days. We both got on and off the ship twice, by punching our cards and our pictures showed up. The guy still insisted that we never checked in. Well check us in, buddy.

Our waiter was a rude jackass. We went to dinner two nights. On the second night, I ordered a sirloin burger from the alternative menu. He did not ask me how I wanted it done, so I told him that I would like it well done. He told me I had a choice of rare or medium rare. I explained that I wanted NO pink. He again told me I could pick rare or medium rare. I tried once again to tell him I wanted NO pink. Finally, one of the guys yelled at him. I did get my burger with no pink, but geez, why argue???

Now let's talk about arriving in St. Thomas. Carnival must have really pissed off the officials there. I've travelled many times since September 11 and NEVER experienced something like this. We were told, due to Homeland Security, in St. Thomas, everyone must go through immigration whether you are getting off the boat or not at 9:00am. We are made to get into a line. 3700 people going through a line with 2 agents. Let me tell you, I saw every inch of the casino. We were in a line that snaked for two hours and 45 minutes.

Once we got off the boat, we wanted to go to town, which is about two miles away to catch the ferry to go to St. John for the day. These taxi commission people start barking at us and we are pretty much told that it will be $10 each. Ah, no, we are not paying $60 to go 2 miles. I am told by the taxi commission people that I am cheap and to go ahead and try to find a ride for less. Guess what? We walked about a block and found a ride for $1 each. We paid $6 instead of $60.

On the fourth day of our toilet not working, at 7 am. I call and freak out. I pretty much tell them that I am going to ask for a refund. I am told that they would have someone fix it, but didn't know how long it would take, possibly noon, possibly longer. This is a day at sea. I ask what are we to do if we need to use the bathroom, I am told to feel free to use any public restroom. At this point I went balistic.

They finally did fix the toilet that day......UNTIL the last day, when it didn't work in the morning again. Of course, there was no one to be found. I can honestly say, we left it filled to the hilt. We talked about leaving a note for the poor sucker that would be checking into the room that night. We felt certain that the people before us had the same problem and the people after us will too.

Moral of the story......................Carnival Cruise Line SUCKS!

Friday, January 4, 2008

Riley is gettin a little brother!

On New Year's Eve, a friend, that lives in Lancaster, PA, went to an Amish farm with her father to sell the farmer horse feed. In the barn, she found a 10 week old Golden Retriever puppy in a guinea pig cage. She was horrified.

The farmer, of course, wanted to sell the puppy. She left and posted on a forum that we all frequent, asking what she should do? We all suggested that she find out how much the puppy is and get some information on how he aquired the puppy and it's history.

Turns out, the puppy was born on the farm. He was in a litter of nine and the only survivor. It seems as though his mother couldn't produce enough milk. It is pretty much assumed that they allowed the other eight pups to starve to death.

We all imediately told her that we would send money and for her to get the puppy out of there. We would then work on finding it a home. During this time, Nick and I talked about adopting him. We've been taking about getting another dog for some time now and I've always wanted to do a rescue.

Nick and I decided to adopt the pup if Pam could foster him until we got back from vacation and could get him. We immediately sent the rest of the money to pay for the entire amount of the pup. We wanted the donated money to be used for a future rescue.

We then needed to decide on a name so that Pam could work with him until we got him. We named him Travis Patton Kibuk! Travis is for our favorite motocross freestyle rider Travis Pastranna and Patton for Pam, his angel, since that is her last name.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Riley's Holiday Adventures

Riley had a jammed, packed holiday week. It started on Christmas Eve. Riley went with us to visit my Mom in the nursing home. This was his first visit to this home. He was a perfect gentleman, despite trying to jump on Mom's bed and steal the little old lady that shares her rooms' baby doll. It is so great so see the joy on my Mom's face!
He then spent the evening at home doing the Hootchie Cootchie on the floor, much to our delight. He always does the HC with a toy!
Christmas morning arrives! Riley checks out all the presents under the tree with Daddy and tries to read which ones are his!
He opens all his packages by himself. He also doesn't touch anything that isn't his! No wonder Santa was so good to him this year!
His favorite gift is a 20" grunting gorilla. He immediately thrashed it about and made it make all the noises it's capable of. After awhile, poor gorilla was violated! Riley always "LOVES" his toys too much! LOL
New Year's Eve I couldn't stand it any longer, I just HAD to give him his Valentine's gift early! Yes, he violated the pink caterpillar as well. The holidays are tiring, so Riley does something else he always does, uses his favorite toy as a pillow!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!