Quote of the Day

"I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn’t have anything to regret for the rest of their life."

Lance Armstrong in Dodgeball.


Hmmm.....the going is tough right now. Only a few days until my black belt test. I'm nervous and excited all at once. I can't wait to get out there and do my thing. My black pants and black-trimmed jacket are washed and ready to go for Saturday. All I need now is the black belt to complete the outfit.

Ana's karate test

Last night Ana tested in karate for rank advancement. She has been promoted to Green with a stripe. After all the hard work of forms, basics, one-steps, jump kicks and fighting, she got to the fun stuff: breaking boards. She broke one board easily. This is a photo of her breaking two boards at once. A little tougher but she did it!! Great job, Ana.

A Slow Day at the Massage School

It was a slow day at the massage school today. Ana and I arrived at 7:30am with our "2-for-1" coupon in hand. Normally, a one-hour massage costs $32.00, which I find to be a completely reasonable price to pay. With our coupon, we get a one hour massage for $16.00 each. This counts as an even better deal and I am absolutely willing to pay it. The drawback is that on a normal weekend (the only time massages are offered) the line is usually quite long. We can end up waiting an hour or more. The wait is not too bad because we sit and chat. It's nice to have my teenager without an escape route for an hour! This Sunday, the wait was only about 1o minutes. How nice! We both had what we classified as "the best massage I've ever had here" massages. On our way out, one of the supervisors asked us if we would like another massage for free. Free? Did you say free? Yes, she said free! We got back in line (behind only two other people) and filled out our paperwork, went to the waiting area, and before we had walked down the hall, our massage therapists were ready for us. Apparently, there were more students needing to massage than there were clients, so they were taking anyone who was willing to have a second massage.

Now, if you've been doing the math in your head as you read, you've figured out that we paid $8.00 each for one-hour massages. They way I figure it, I saved $96.00 today so I'm going to the mall!

Karen's Birthday

For my 40th birthday, my good friends, Debbie, Denise and Di took me out to dinner at the Melting Pot. It's not just dinner...it's a dining experience. We sat for several hours at our table and talked of many things, including the fondue parties of our youth which always included orange fondue pots with cans of Sterno underneath. After dinner we went to another of my favorite places, Starbucks, and gabbed at each other some more. It's the kind of gabbing that only takes place when all 8 of our children are SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!

A big thank you to my friends for such a fun-filled evening. It was worth the 7 month wait!!




Okay, so my pictures are a little out of proportion. A can of Sterno this size would engulf the fondue pot in an incendiary light show. I didn't have my camera with me so I had to rely on the internet and this is what I came up with!

Harbinger of Spring

I looked out my window this afternoon and saw these two beautiful robins. I have not seen a robin since I was a child. Where have they all been hiding? They weren't very happy about me being as close as I was and kept turning their backs!

Not Very Subtle

I very often tease Mike about trying to kill me by way of heart attack because he likes to grill things like ribs and chicken wings on the weekend. Because I am at higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol and stroke (to name a few) I'm supposed to eat lean meats. I thought the electrical appliances in the bathtub were not very subtle.

If anyone wants to know WHY they are in the bathtub, you'll have to leave a comment!

The Boys

This is what the boys in our house do with a three day weekend. Mike has been spending time creating things with a 3-D animator. It recommened taking pictures of your puppy and uploading them to work with. He thought a Lego figure would stand still better than our chihuahua, Gizmo.

And, so, Sam got out the camera and began taking photos of his Bionicles.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Sam and his friends at Sky Mania for his 10th birthday party.

The presents!

For those astute observers among you, you'll realize that Sam's birthday was a little more than 3 months ago. It has taken me this long to get around to doing his party. He told me it was worth the wait. He had a great time! Whew!

By Request

By special request...

The grandparents really did visit. For some reason, the camera spent much of its time put away and not snapping photos. These photos were taken at dinner by Sam.

First Tuesday

Last night I took the kids to First Tuesday. The first Tuesday of each month, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department opens all of their substations for a community event. Last night we got to climb aboard the big truck with all the cool chemical, biological and other anti-terrorist "toys" in it. Very cool! I was hoping they'd blow stuff up, but no such luck! Maybe when they get the bomb squad is there. Hmmmm........