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A few more photos/videos here.
We hung out in the back yard last night making soccer videos. Someone---err, somedog---was really happy about that.
Note the dead and dying grass. Our temps have been quite high lately! We're only allowed to water 2x a week on designated days. I cheated and watered a day early because the trees were looking a little worse for wear.
J was so tired last night. We'd make a video, he'd insist on watching it and then he'd laugh, and laugh and laugh so hard he was red in the face. We had fun!
Oh no, not at all.
The collar? Meh. It's itchy but that's about it.
But the leash? Oh, my heavens, the leash. It was and will be a power struggle for a long time, I think. She hates it. She fell asleep resisting it, get that one. I have no idea how she did it.
From here on out, it is going to be a lesson in the pack hierarchy for Sprocket. Sprocket of the soft laps and front-and-center of the alpha male's desk. It's hard because I want to play with her and to puppies, that means "we're even" and not at all "you're in charge." It probably didn't help that she saw me cleaning up her poop, yet another hierarchy issue. The sight of that kind of startled her, I think.
I have to get hubby to help me remember how we trained our first dog together. After all, that one set up a dog run on her own, could fetch a toy from several when we named it and was class valedictorian of the doggy training class.
Last Saturday, the kids and I went out to Emma Long Park, a local camping/hiking/lake swimming park for the birthdays of folks from church.
Hubby had to stay home because he was working on a church project that had a drop-dead deadline of Sunday afternoon since he had to fly to CA for a meeting today. QQ
Anyway, the boys had a blast. I actually went into the water. Waist-deep, but it still counted. J didn't want to go in unless I was there. Later on, after we ate, he wanted to go back in and I told him he was ok on his own because his brother was also there and I was watching. He did go in and I felt better about it that time because he didn't go so far out from shore. When I was in the water, he was getting past neck-deep, enjoying his new-found swimming skills, and that made me nervous because there was definitely a current in the river. I think he will be a surfer if he ever gets the chance to learn. J would dive under the waves like my hubby told me you were supposed to do. Honestly, I had no idea. The beaches we went to when I was little are probably the ones that gave the Pacific its name.
NM played with his friend KR from church for the most part. They were having a blast together, of course, since someone had the forethought to bring a football. "Foosball, mom. That's what they call it in Germany and the rest of the world." :)
I met someone new from church who I don't see at all. Of course, I forgot her name. But we chatted a good long while because she was starting to learn how to knit and would ask me a bunch of questions about fixing things and why her stitches looked the way they did, etc. I gave her my email addy so she can contact me (I would have lost hers) and we can start a knitting circle or something. I have a couch and a coffee maker! All I need is better lighting if even that, and voila! Perfect environment as long as the puppy leaves the yarn alone.
In honor of the upcoming Olympics, what could you win a gold medal in?
Submitted by TheFiercestCalm.Most consistently spacey brain. It's hard work, but I forget I how I do it.
The Duchess Kitty crochet pattern is finally finished. You know how sometimes a project drags on and you just can't seem to complete it? That's what happened with Duchess. Anyway, she's finally finished, and the crochet pattern is available in my Etsy shop for $3.00. If it is sold out, just send me a message and I will relist it for you.
Here she is:
John and I have been playing poker (Texas Hold'em specifically) for a few months now and have really gotten into it. John has even made a poker table with a nice railing. We have a set of 500 8.5 gram clay & plastic chips (not the super expensive ones, but we put together a whole set including 2 decks of plastic cards from KEM and a leather case for about $75). We put together our own set because we wanted nicer chips than the ones that come in most sets, and the cards, well, they are like butta. Perfect for Texas Hold'em because you handle the cards a lot. If you used a regular deck you'd be buying a new one for each game.
Anyway, we've really gotten into the strategy behind playing, pot odds, game odds, etc. A few people we've played with haven't enjoyed playing, and I think it's because Texas Hold'em requires a bit more thinking and strategy than other games, so if you want to win you have to know a little bit about what you're doing. I think they might have a better time if they learned some of these things. I think the next time we play we'll play a mixed game with different kinds of poker so everyone can be happy.
It just so happens, that I won the tournament last night. Yeah, I know, nothing like tooting your own horn and all, but I really felt like I played very well. In the other games we've played I've done pretty well. I've gotten 2nd or 3rd place a few times, and including last night I've gotten first place twice. Now, if you put me in a table with the guys from the World Series of Poker they'd probably send me home crying, but nevertheless. I tried and stuck with a new strategy that really worked well for me. Usually, after winning one or two huge pots I get a little careless with my chips and take more risks. This, sometimes, works out to my advantage but more often than not, I find my chip stack dwindling and another player rises to the top. Last night I played very conservatively, and only played higher hands. Basically, I would fold anything that wasn't a high pair (9's up) suited connector (5, 6 of spades) or having at least one high card (9's up). If I was at a table with more experienced players, I would be even more strict, but I have found that beginners are liable to play any hand, so I'll take a chance with my queen four off suit. If nothing comes up on the flop, I'm likely to fold. I even got comments from other players that I was sitting out on a lot of hands. I just smiled and said, "In Texas Hold'em you gotta know when to Fold'em." Sure, it's cheesy, but it's true. Everyone who played every hand eventually got eliminated, even after rebuying one or two times.
I proved myself in every hand I played that I knew what I was doing by throwing down an ace high flush, a full house with aces, nut straights, etc. I had some really GOOD hands, and made a killing because everyone would call... and some would raise, and then I would raise, then they would re-raise... and I'd call, my heart beating wildly because I knew that I had the best possible hand on the board. I think that I really proved myself as a force to be reckoned with, and I feel pretty good about that. Not to mention, I took home $46 of winnings. Not bad for only 1 rebuy. John didn't do bad himself, and got second place. We actually didn't finish playing until everybody but one player busted, so at the point we stopped, there was still plenty of game left to decide who would really win, but it was late so we decided to end it. I hope one of these days we can start a little earlier so we can actually FINISH the tournament.
Of course, if John and I ended up heads up he'd probably win. We play heads up all the time at home and he usually always takes me. I can be a bit of a bad sport about it, but even when I was losing and busted out at the beginning of the game yesterday, I tried to be a good sport when I lost a big pot and congratulated the winning player sincerely. I'm not going to change overnight, but I know I tend to take it a little too personal if I lose. I finally figured out why I get so bent out of shape recently. I believe that I equate winning a game with my intelligence, wit, and self-worth, and therefore, if I loose, then I'm dumb, stupid, etc. I'm a bit hard on myself, don't you think? I do too, so now that I realize I was doing that I'm trying to let it go... and just have a good time, not trying to prove to everybody that I'm smart. After all, I radiate intelligence anyway, so what do I have to prove? Just kidding... I guess I'm absorbing some of John's confidence through osmosis or something. Truthfully though, I really am hard on myself in a lot of different ways and have a tendency to take out disappointment in myself on others, and that's just not cool.
So, now that I've shared with you all my love of Poker and given you a brutally honest insight on one of my flaws, I'm going to relax a bit before I head out to church by playing on my new Nintendo DS, which I will talk more about later, as I am sure those of you have known me for any length of time may be thinking, "but I thought you already had one." And I did, but either someone stole it or I just flat out lost it. I suspect that maybe I accidently stuck it in a bag going to the Goodwill, which I could not even begin to contemplate how that could have happened, but none-the-less... I am back with my beloved handheld and enjoying it thoroughly!
I've been thinking about this for awhile. I have a book stapler and today sat down for about 20 minutes to figure out how I could print a booklet on my computer as easily as possible. I love to cook and bake, so I thought maybe I would put together a book with some of my own tried and true recipes. I often take a few different recipes for inspiration and then put my own turn on them to create something that is "my own." I'm not sure if I'd sell the book, but I suppose I can put it up in my Etsy shop and see if it piques any interest.
Today I saw some pans from Todd English on HSN.I was very impressed with the demonstration, and I'm pretty skeptical about that sort of thing. I did some brief research on Google and there were mostly rave reviews. Some negative ones, but I have a feeling they probably didn't follow the directions. Some had shipping issues where the product arrived dinged up from transport, but they reported that HSN remedied it by sending replacements. The special ends today, and they keep warning that they are going to sell out... I would like to buy them because they have an option to pay over 5 months without interest, but John is out and I don't feel good about buying anything without talking to him about it.
Of course, he'll probably say NO even though we could use some better pans, he's very practical that way and bless him for it (he keeps me in check). The ones we have are so hard to clean and are a little frustrating to work with. I love the idea of having the square grill pan too with the press -- we're not allowed to have a grill at our apartment, so this would be perfect for doing steaks, grilled chicken, ribs, kebabs, grilled veggies... plus you don't have to use a lot or any oil or butter if the pans are seasoned like they should be -- so I can cut out some fat which is good because I'd like to only have to use oil or butter for flavor, rather than adding it in just so my pans don't turn completely black. AND... considering the fact that if you were going to buy a nice skillet anyway, you'd be spending at least $60 to $70 anyway. So to get 4 high quality things for $160 is a pretty good deal. Ahh, I'm all excited about it. We'll see, if they aren't sold out tonight when he gets back we can talk about it.
There are lots of crochet patterns for toys out there, but is there a pattern you wish someone would write? Is there an animal or object you would like to see in crochet? It can be anything at all.
How do you travel to and from work - personal vehicle, bus, subway/train, pedal power? What does it cost you per week in gas or fares?
Submitted by Jan.I have to make the grueling trek from my bed to the kitchen. To the computer upstairs. Downstairs to make breakfast. Outside to bring the dog inside.
No gas used. Such is the WAHM life!
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