Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Doing My Part

to refill Lake Mead.





Something in here broke...

causing this...and this.



I live in Las Vegas. We're in the middle of a drought. I DON'T HAVE A STREAM!!



It's a good thing I don't work full time. The dog barked at a worker down the street so I openend the blinds to see what was so interesting. HOLE-EE CRAPPE!


At least I had the good sense to turn off the water and THEN grab my camera.

This is what Lake Mead looked like yesterday.


See the huge contribution I made? It's back up to the top of the pylons!

One Day Special - Revised!!

If you're just now reading this, you missed it. Sorry.

I've decided the new formats are too cluttered for my taste.
This will stay as a one day special.
Then I'm going back to something boring (and neat).


Or maybe I'm just having too much trouble adjusting to the new formatting.

Because, you see, right there. I have several page breaks in here and none of them have appeared in this post.

I'm just really not this patient.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Family resemblance

Is there a family resemblance? I'm not sure. On the left is me (Karen), center is my sister, JoAnn and our mom, Julie.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Black Stripe



Ana is fierce (and a little blurry) in her fighting gear.

















No wonder! She had to fight this giant!
















She's good at breaking boards, too.






















If only she'd stop looking at the camera and concentrate on what she is supposed to be doing.






















She's about 6 months of hard work away from being a black belt.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Animal Style


I made my annual trip to In-N-Out Burger. I only eat here once a year so I don't have that stroke all my doctors keep warning me about. I washed it down with a Diet Coke. Does that undo any of the calories? I didn't think so.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Karate Makes Your Hair Short

It would seem that karate causes haircuts.

His got short two days after the test.


Mine got short three days after.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Bonding



Mike and Ana bond over Guitar Hero.

She loves playing with her dad.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Trip to Bountiful

Actually, it was a trip to Layton, Utah,
but we drove right through Bountiful to get there.


This was our view for most of the trip north


from Las Vegas to the Salt Lake City area.

We stopped in Mesquite, Nevada. Gas was $3.79 a gallon!



This drake and his lady friend greeted us.

She was a little camera shy.









The next three photos are of the Virgin River Gorge.
Very pretty and very rugged.

Payson, Utah has the cutest Starbucks I've ever seen.



The site of the test was beautiful.


The elevation in Layton is 4356 feet.


The elevation in Henderson is 1881 feet.


I'll give you a second to do the math.


Yes, that's right. It's 2475 feet higher in elevation.


That only matters if you're physically exerting yourself.


I was.


A lot.


So were half of these people.


Some of them live there.


I think they had an advantage.


I managed to get through it.


My instructor was proud.

So was I.

The view on the ride home was the same...but foggy.

This sign was sitting next to rocks...and nothing else. Hmmm.....

They were giving away restrooms, but we couldn't fit it in the truck.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Africa

Remember this post from January?

Check out the ClustrMap now.

Whoever you are...thanks for telling Africa.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

I'm also goin' here





Tomorrow, in fact.
For my 2nd degree black belt test.
It's going to be cold.


Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

I'm goin' here



more to follow - when I have more information.
Let's just say, Mike's employer is finally recognizing how hard he works.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Menu Plan Monday

This is what tripped my trigger at the grocery store today.
Parmesan Chicken Paillards with sauteed tomatoes, Parmesan couscous
Salmon burgers on whole wheat english muffins
Nachos (no beef, ground turkey)
Shephard's pie (no beef, ground turkey)


What?
You want to know what day I'm eating each of those?
I don't know!!
I thought I was doing well coming up with four main dishes.
You're so hard to please.
It depends on my schedule and what I feel like cooking.
And you noticed it only goes until Thursday.
Look at the ticker in the corner.
I'm driving to Utah on Friday morning.


There are always two choices for dinner at our house: Eat it or don't!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

My very own enigma

or how is it that my lovely daughter, who can be such a "teenager" and all that goes with it, works tirelessy with the boy in the photo who is autistic so that he feels very successful in karate.





And that was one really LONG sentence.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Jake's Blog

As some of you know (or maybe you don't) I regularly read the blog of a United States Marine.
For the life of me I can't remember how I found him.
He posted quite often while deployed in Iraq.
Now he's headed off to Afghanistan as a Marine Sniper.
His blog mentions a list of supplies needed while deployed.
Seemed like an interesting request so I clicked the link expecting to find the usual list of things:
Beef jerky, diaper wipes, flea collars, salsa, chips, phone cards and things of that sort.
GUESS AGAIN! Look at the list of items needed! It's pretty much a foreign language to me.

Silly me. I thought the U.S. military actually provided our soldiers with the gear they need.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

The Comparison

Headed to the ball park for Opening Weekend for the Las Vegas 51's.
This is the comparison with last week.
I got a new camera.

This is last weeks best photo. It was the best I could do with 3.2 megapixels.

This week with 8 megapixels was better. I can almost tell if the batter needs a shave.

The pitcher looked pretty good, too.

We ended the evening with fireworks.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Dime Bag?

Easter candy is on clearance at Albertson's.
A bag of my favorite candy is only 10 cents!

I only bought one bag. What self control (or foolishness!).

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

NASCAR and grocery shopping

I know you THINK the two are not related, but you'd be wrong.
When the shopping cart has a bad right rear wheel, the cart wants to turn left.




I spent the entire shopping trip doing left turn, left turn, left turn, CRASH!





So I bought myself a bouquet of the same flowers I had at my wedding.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Lunch with Ana

Ana has the day off of school today.
It's testing day for the Nevada Proficiency Exams.
A student doesn't start trying to be proficient until sophomore year.
So we had lunch at Panera Bread.
They were both yummy.
But this is what she REALLY wanted;
Yellow Cake Batter Ice Cream with a Chocolate Frosting Swirl