An alternative news site....

Heard about this Happy News website on NPR on our drive back from Madison. Sounds like a great website to lock into your favorites and check on a daily basis. They only report happy news, or as the spokes person said...they report the more positive side of news stories. I like the article title..."one-eyed dog watches TV". I think I will go read that one now... Have a great day!

It's about time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is where my good friends Bryn and John got married this past weekend....they've only been together for 10 years. Dr. Evermore's. It is a site to be seen and surprisingly they were not the FIRST couple to get married here!!! But probably the first to do so where they gave their friends and family only 2 weeks notice! They really pulled it off, though, so may just have set a new wedding trend..... 

Google

I want to work for Google. Not only do they serve really good food for lunch, but it is free for the employees. The theory goes that if you serve good food on-site, fewer people will leave work for lunch=higher productivity. And they get to work on cool things like the moon map. How can you NOT want to work for this company?

Dog Photo

I took this picture of this little guy waiting patiently for his owner outside a coffee shop in San Diego. I think he's saying something like: "Excuse me, I could use a shot of espresso." This photo is in honor of the San Fran Dog Blog...which is totally hilarious. 

I GIVE UP!!!!!!!!

I know, I know....you are all going to fall over in your chairs when you learn that I finally caved in and turned on the air conditioner. The weather here has mostly been over 90 degrees since we moved here and I've only had the AC on 2 times previously. See...we have one of those big attic fans that makes life tolerable at night. I do really like warm humid weather and I've been away from it for three years. The poor husband has been tolerant until recently when he's been complaining that the sheets feel wet when he climbs into bed. See, we've also been getting a lot of afternoon thunderstorms. This does not make it cooler outside it just makes it sticky and damp inside. And the bath towels never dry. So, I finally caved in...not because of the heat, but because of the dampness inside. I hope this will dry things up a bit. I still only set the thermostat to 80 degrees. I'm heading out to buy a dehumidifier, too.....

Photo Fun!

Just goofing around with photos in Picasa...my new favorite photo editing program. This is a shot of my niece at her school performance in May. She's on the far right in the green shirt. They are singing....C and I listened to all of the performances in order hear her sing..the last performance of the program! I think I win some aunty points for that one!!! 

Hot weather cooking

Last night was SO humid and we had frisbee practice/pick-up. So, needless to say it was not a night for a hot dinner. So, I made this great Avocado Gazpacho. Try it out!

3 avocados---diced
2 cups peeled, seeded, and diced cucumbers
3/4 cup diced tomato
1/2 cup chopped
14.5 ounce vegetable or chicken broth
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
1.5 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Throw 1/2 ingredients into blender and blend. Place in bowl. Blend rest of ingredients and serve! It is good with some crusty bread or chips!

Local Events

Saw an article in the S. Bend tribune today about a new cafe that is going to open up in town soon. It's called "Sit and Knit". Just like it sounds, it's a knitting cafe...with knitting supplies for sale and knitting classes all in a cafe atmosphere. Sounds like I should sign up for a class!

Also there is an open house at JFNew Native Plant nursery on Friday that I'm going to go check out. This company and nursery seem like an awesome place. Had I known that the husband and I were going to end up back in the midwest/prairie country and that this place was so close I may not have ditched my ecology career. Hmmmm....perhaps there is a compromise in here somewhere. Half the week as an NP and half the week as an ecologist/native plant person??????

Well, my mother tells me that there are two types of people she likes. Gardeners and knitters. So looks like I'm headed in the right direction to finding some compatible people?

You might be wondering how I'm doing on the job front....not so good....I have a few leads and am waiting to hear back. Trying to find other leads. I'm trying to study for the boards, but summertime is proving to be quite a distraction!

Off to take the Maggs for a long walk.....she looks far to comfortable sleeping on her doggie bed under the desk.

My own yoga studio...

Feels like my own yoga studio. It's been much more fun doing yoga here than in the old place. Maybe we should reconsider getting furniture in this room???? 

Roast beef sandwiches and Bacon

Drove the 5 hours back and forth to KY this weekend to see my father-in-law (step-father-in-law?). He was in the hospital after undergoing a CABG on Friday. CABG=coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Apparently he had ordered a roast beef sandwich for lunch at the office where they were doing his cardiac cath that morning (pre-op cardiac clearance for a GI surgery). The nurse said: "Uh oh..." They said: "What?" She then told them about her unscientific survey...all of the patients who ordered the roast beef sandwich before their cardiac cath ended up needing intervention. Because of the location of the blockage they couldn't just do a balloon and stent, they had to do the CABG. Yes, this surgery involves "cracking open the chest" and leaves quite an impressive scar. In the ambulance ride over to the hospital for intervention the nurse said: "I told you so". Makes you want to skip over the roast beef sandwich next time you're ordering lunch!

Bought the husband some potato salad on the drive back (he stayed in the car with the pup while I ran into the grocery store for lunch fixins). He made a strange face after the first bite..."it's different". I could see that it had shredded orange cheese in it...so I took a bite. I knew I recognized the taste, but it took me awhile to identify it. "Hmmm.....it must be smoked chedder in there". The husband took another bite and thought awhile...."No, that's bacon"! Yikes! You can't expect a vegetarian to be able to identify bacon taste after all these years!!!

The cat would like to thank Pergo flooring....

The cat has become very brave. I guess she REALLY wants to be around us (we left her for two days). She's been venturing into the kitchen (under the gate) to sit up on the kitchen table. Normally I do not let her sit up on tables and counters, but since there are few places for her to get up away from Maggs right now I let her. Today when she jumped off the table she startled Maggie, who was sleeping in the family room. Maggs tore off into the kitchen before I knew what was happening. Mao would like to now thank Pergo flooring because the only thing saving her from whatever it is Maggie wants to do to her is that Pergo kitchen floor. As soon as Maggs hits that floor running she starts slipping and sliding...even crashing into the garbage can on a few occassions...and she can't quite make the 90 degree turn past the fridge to catch the cat before she squeezes under the gate back to the dining room. It reminded me of crash I saw on the Tour de France today...Did I mention the clicking and clacking noise Maggs makes when she's trying to catch her footing in the kitchen? Needless to say, it is quite a loud scene.

Biege Blues

Recently, I've been feeling that my life has become very beige. Shades of beige....beige walls, beige dog, and now a new beige car. In order to remedy that blandness I convinced my dear friend Prof. H that we needed to paint her family room. She has a lovely pumpkin peachy orange living room and a bright sunny yellow dining room. The drab white family room just didn't fit and I took it on as my mission to change that! Prof H was a little hesitant as she had painted her bedroom alone and the 10 ft ceilings meant that there was a lot of surface area and the wide molding around the windows and along the floor created lots of fun edging challenges. The day before we went down to her place she said to me on the phone: "I'm not sure I'm fully committed to this". I said that I WAS and that was that. Well, it WAS a lot of work, but as you see in the following before and after pictures I think you'll agree that it was worth it! All the fine food and drink provided by Prof. H. was much appreciated and made the job much easier to tackle! Thanks Prof!

BEFORE 

AFTER 

Quote of the week

"If you find yourself headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns" -somewhere between Logansport and S. Bend along Hwy 31

I found this one particularly appealing as I'm really starting to miss the California liberal stoplight and 4-way stop U-turn lanes.