Batteries Not Included

A few years ago for my birthday, I asked for an iPod Dock Portable Stereo System and my parents were wonderful to get my one. It was Logitec and it worked amazingly. The sound was quality. The system was easy to use. It was super simple to move. THEN the worst happened. I left the thing outside near the Hot Tub. It rained, got wet and did not work one bit after that. I tried what I could, but getting wet ruined it for good.

A while later, after a considerable mourning period, I decided this summer that I wanted another one. Now, most everyone knows that I am a cheapskate. I hate to pay full price and try to skim by the the best deal and sometimes that gets me into trouble with brands and quality and such. Well, as I was looking for the perfect replacement for this wonderful Logitec (if not UN-Water-Resistant) system, I was appauled at the prices to which these docks were selling. The cheap-o's were $35-$40 and then of course there was the Top-Of-The-Line… Bose for a staggering $300.

I searched all around, online, local, everywhere to find that, lo and behold the dock I wanted was the Logitec dock that I ruined previously. Well, I decided to get that exact one and looked at prices. The best price was Amazon.com of course. So, I purchased it around July.

I have been using it without issue until this afternoon. I took the thing outside to use while washing and cleaning my car. I know what you are thinking, but NO, I did not spray it and ruin yet another one. I turned it on to find out that the speakers were going in and out. I had no clue what was wrong. I had used it so many other times and it worked great. Well, after some troubleshooting, I found that I had used up the battery portion of the system and the batteries were going dead. The thing takes 6 batteries and I keep it plugged in most of the time, but it was enough to drain the thing, bummer.

So, I was happy to be able to put in new batteries and not have to call Logitec and feel like an Idiot when they say, "Have you tried changing the batteries?"

Funniest thing ever!

I just experienced the funniest thing ever.  To understand, you have to know a few things.

First off, my dog, Pixar, loves to play catch with Tennis Balls. We go out in the backyard, the front yard, and anywhere we can to play catch with the Fetch It. Pixar knows what he is supposed to do... where he is supposed to drop the ball just by a few motions. I won't go into it all, but I never knew that he understood Uno Mas. I will always judge when to stop playing catch when he does not bring the ball right back. He may just take a round about way to get back, or he may, if he is super tired, just lay down with the ball in a shady area (when its hot out) but that tells me we will do one more toss and then be done. When that trigger happens, I say Alright Pixar, Uno Mas. (One More, in Spanish)

Well, tonight I was watching a Favorite TV show on DVD and the end of one episode came about. I was/am getting kinda tired but figured I could do with one more episode so I said, Alright Uno Mas. Instantly, Pixar, of whom was sleeping on the bed, pops his head up and looks at me as if we were playing ball. I did not even say the words in a way I would while playing catch, but he just learned them.
What a smart dog.

Amazingly Worrisome And Neccesary Amount NIGHT

Yesterday, I was busy in the afternoon. It was the start of AWANA this week. That meant, as the director of my group, T&T2, I had a lot to get done. I had to get to the church a bit early to get everything together that needed to be there. I needed to pick up a small file holder at Wally World first, then straight to the church to organize and make sure I had everything. As the director, I did not realize that I had so much to take care of. Also, I was helping out last year with a lot of sound booth items and that was thrust upon me again, which made it more run-around-y for me.

Despite never being a director before, and even though I was flustered most of the time, I felt pretty good about it the night. In the coming weeks, I will get better and better about having everything I need. The part that I wish I had more time to prepare for was my Council Time talk, but it went fairly well too. I had decided this first week I just wanted to get to know the kids a bit and also use the Would You Rather book which helps the kids open up and give their opinion. I also had a PowerPoint that was trivia facts about truth.

Afterwards, I got positive feedback from my leaders (of whom have been helping with AWANA much longer than me) so that was nice to hear. It was one busy night, but it turned out well.

I Don't Know How They Can Say no dessert

I went to a movie this afternoon. It was the new "I Don't Know How She Does It" movie with miss Sex in the City. I liked it alright, but I don't think it was worth the price of going to theaters.
The movie is about a working mom who has to juggle things with the family and things with work and can't put her whole life into both. I like the narrative type of movie that sorta acts like a diary- Veronica Mars got me hooked on that entertainment type. It was very much a girly movie though, more so than I am even accustomed to. I like girly movies, but this one was along the lines of Traveling Pants, Steel Magnolias, and Thelma and Louise (as I understand them, I have not watched these ones because of the uber-girliness.)
*Spoiler Alert*
Throughout the movie you are subjected to the life of a hard-working mother of whom everyone things, "How does she do it" because she just works and works and works.
Along the way, she is introduced to a handsome, successful man with whom she works very closely with on a financial project. You assume that this is a love interest that will develop... and it does.... for him.
That is what I really appreciated about this movie- although he fell in love with her, a married woman with two children,... she did not fall back in love with him and told him flat out that she loved her husband. She worked very hard to keep the relationship professional and when she found out she could not keep doing all the things she was doing, she drew a line in the sand and told her boss (the always awesome Kelsey Grammar) that she could not do it all and would not put her family in the backseat and if that meant he had to fire her, then she would accept that, but she would not quit. It is so refreshing to see a movie that puts the value of family ahead of getting ahead in the world and does not have a lead character that has an affair or divorce.


After the movie, I decided to go to Hola. Central Oregon has a Peruvian Cuisine restaurant at the Old Mill. I had three $10 certificates for Hola from when I got my windshield fixed at Cascade Auto Glass. I have already used one and planned to get a dessert after the movie and use another. Well, I got a soda and the Churro dessert which had ice cream and drizzled with Chocolate syrup. It came out to exactly $10 (perfect right?) Well, when I went to pay, they server told me that it only worked for "Dinner."  I was annoyed because the certificate explicitly says "ANY of Hola's Delicious menu items" Dessert is a part of their menu. I really wish I was more rude and obnoxious sometime because I think I could have asked for the manager and showed him the exact phrases on the certificate and gotten him to take it. As it was, I just paid for the stupid dessert and plan to see the last two coupons. I did not get dinner because the first dinner there was not amazing. Now, I am just going to try to sell em to get some of my money for em. Hopefully I can get that dessert price back with them. Anyone wanna buy two $10 certificates for $15?

Milling about purchasing a Food.....Mill

I have learned all I know (Which really isn't that much) about Canning from my father- Not to say that my Father does not know much about canning, because he does... but I don't know all that much.
I love to go on Apple Picking Trips in the fall and then using my apples for making yummy Apple Sauce.

So, after this last year, I had to borrow my father's canning stuff including a Food Mill. I know you may be thinking about what a Food Mill might be. I know this because I looked all around Redmond for a Food Mill and when I would go to a store such as Bi-Mart (Which coincidentally does have a good selection of canning items) or Big R or Fred Meyer, I would ask if they had Food Mills and inevitably the store worker would give me a funny look and ask inquisitively... "What is a Food Mill"

Well, for those of you wondering, a Food mill is a saucepan type of kitchen utensil that has holes in the bottom, like a strainer or colander, and also has a grinding wheel that pushes the food down the colander. It is a nice thing to use when you make Apple Sauce. After my use of the food mill last year in October with all the Apples I used, I really missed it when I had to give it back to my father.

So, this year, I thought I would look around. I went all over my little city and did not find a-one. I looked online and Amazon has it, of course, but a bit more money than I wanted to pay= $30 or more. Plus Shipping.

Today, I decided to go to our Kitchen Collection outlet store to see if by off-chance they had a food mill at a good price. They amazingly did have a Food Mill, and it was a good price, with being on sale. It looks great and I decided to purchase it, so now I have my very own food mill. I am so excited for Fall Apple Sauce.

Lucky Me!

The Laundry-ness of Monk

Don't you love when a TV show impacts society. Sometime it is for good, sometime for bad, sometime for neutral- not necessarily good, not necessarily bad. Monk is one of those for me, (and others I have heard say the same). How Monk are you? Meaning how Obsessive-Compulsive are you? I love to watch Monk and see his characteristics, and sadly how much I relate to him. (I also love the other Characters of Tony Shaloub- Antonio Scarpatchi from Wings, Cars movie, ect.

I was thinking today as I was folding my laundry about how Monk I am with my socks.  How many people actually think about which sock goes with which partner if they are the same type of sock, bought at the same time, ect. I do. I think about how convenient it would be to buy new sock pairs and then label them with numbers... or letters..... or symbols... or whatever.... just so I knew that this one pair is always together, and then that pair is always together. I could also do effective searching when the Number 4 pair only has one mate, I could go searching for number 4's other half.  Sad, I know.




Then, I think of how close that is to the geeky equivalent of putting a name on the underwear.

What I do instead of numbering/lettering/symboling/naming my socks is I judge as best as I can by the stains of the socks. Now, I know that might gross many of you out, but my socks do have battle scars. I do wash my socks (and everything for that matter) but maybe I don't do it right because there are inevitable small stains on certain pairs. I can use these indicators to pair the socks as much as possible. So, there ya go,... That is how Monk I am. Yes, I am THAT much Monk!

Now, I realize that this post might be totally useless to you. Some of you might have looked at the post and right off the bat saw the socks and decided that it was not a relevant post to you (which is probably true of most of you). And some might have read a tiny bit more before getting bored. I can neither confirm or deny that some of you have even read all the way to here, and may or may not relate. Some might not even think of these things, but for the small percentage of you that actually do think of such non-sense,...

You Are Not Alone! (I feel like an Air1 commercial, saying that)

Leashin' the Smart Dog

When I go on hikes with my pup, if no one is around, I let Pixar off the leash to run around and explore. I know that is illegal, so sue me (please don't, I don't have money to pay lawyers or court fees). I let him off because is is fairly well behaved and will listen (for the most part) when I call him. I have done this in the Redmond Dry Canyon quite a bit, especially because you can see people coming at quite a distance. When we are alone, I make sure Pixar is semi-close but let him explore a bit. If he gets too far, I tell him to stop and he (usually) waits for me. He knows that if he gets too far and does not listen, he goes back on the leash for a while. He and I have gotten pretty good at this. Usually, I am the one that notices people first, before he does and I call him back and he walks/runs back to me and I put the leash on while we walk past others and then when we are at a good distance, I let him off again, if the path is clear of people.

Well, I was thinking this last hike day (last Saturday) that it would be awesome if Pix had learned this and just on instinct would see others on the trail when we was off the leash and would walk back to me without me saying anything... that happened this morning.

Pixar and I were walking nice and early around the neighborhood. In the summer, we would walk down to the High School back field grass and I would let him run free because it is fenced. This morning, I was worried that there were going to be HSers walking in the field because we were walking before school. We got away from most of the students that I saw and so I let Pix off the leash to run in the grass. I was watching him and not around us and he saw a young lady walking into the field and he looked back at me and started walking back to me. Then, instantly I knew something was different, looked up to see the young lady and quickly leashed him again. I was so impressed with my pup.

Right after I had thought how cool it would be if he just knew to do that, he did it. I have a smart dog. I just hope it was not a one time thing and he'll do it again. I think he will.

Wasco Lake, You Dirty Dawg

As promised, I did indeed go on a hike today and DID (Swim) Suit Up. It was a great morning for a hike. I went to Wasco Lake. This is a great, easy hike that is about 2-2.5mi. each way. The end of the road to the Jack Lake Campground (where the trail starts) has 6 miles of terrible gravel though. A car is forced to go 20MPH or less. What  a pain. Pixar and I got up there nice and early, but just barely early enough. I had to the use the bathroom (TMI?) and as I was headed to the Porta I noticed there was a group of around 10 there that were on Llamas and they were getting ready to depart to the trail. I was worried that we would get stuck behind them so I hurried up and got outta there. I got everything ready and Pixar and I started heading out, but the problem was we were still too late, they were already on the trail. Luckily, they were super nice and let us ahead of them.

The path was somewhat narrow, but certainly wide enough for one person to hike down. The thing I did not like so much was the Dirt on the path, it was super dusty. It's just something you deal with though. Pixar and I did not encounter very many people on our trip so that was really nice. He was able to be off the leash most of the way. The bummer part of this hike is that there are so many dead trees that makes one sad.

Once we got to the lake, we cut across to an area that seemed good, but I think if I were to go again, I would follow the trail all the way to the end, it probably has a better beach-area for the lake. We got in and it was so clear and lovely but the problem was silt at the bottom. It was very mucky at the floor of the lake which made it hard to get in and out. We still had fun. I swam for some time, and I tried to dry off as much as possible. Got a bit of lunch, but did not stay amazingly long because Pix was getting anxious to run some more, so we got on our way back.

I would recommend this hike to those wanting a fairly easy hike to a lake (that I was the only one there for most of the time I was there) and don't mind dead trees, they're all around.

Just keep in mind that this hike is a dirty/dusty one and you will get a coating of dirt/dust on your person and also on your car.

Suit Up when hiking

Last week I went hiking with my sister. We planned (Crazy to be planning with my sister who does not plan at all, and it showed) a few days earlier that we would meet in Sisters, carpool to the hike spot, bring a lunch, and swimwear--because were were hiking to a lake-- and have lunch at the lake. Well, she was running a bit late (Shocker) and did not remember to bring swimwear or lunch (another Shocker) so because it was a bit cooler than I expected and because Kel didn't bring stuff, I decided that I wasn't going in the lake either and left the swim stuff I packed in the car instead of hauling it in my backpack all the way up there. Once we go up there to Matthieu Lake, though, we both wanted to get into the inviting lake. I just waded in because I was wearing shorts, but Kelli decided that she we do Latvian style.

That trip helped me learn a lesson for future trips, even if I am thinking I might not get into the lake that I will hike to, I am going to bring the towel and junk, just in case UNLESS I am POSITIVE I will not want to take a dip. So, that is what I am doing this morning as well. I am heading out to Wasco Lake, a great trip to a clear lake. Super excited for this hike as well. I will come back this afternoon with some pictures, I hope.

Twenty-Eleven

I was certainly happy tonight when I was watching the News with Brian Williams.

Ever since the start of 2010, I have been calling the years by two numbers- Twenty-Ten. Not Two-Thousand-Ten and so on. I feel that in the nineties, we did not call the year One-Thousand-Nine-Hundred-Ninty-Nine, we called it Nineteen-Ninty-Nine, so it makes sense to continue the trend to say Twenty-Ten, Twenty-Eleven, and so on. I think my logic is sound, right? The only reason we were calling it 2000 was because we can't say Twenty-Zero, or Twenty-Oh-One. It just doesn't make sense, but now we have hit the double digits again, we should return to Twenty-Eleven and continue on from there.

I actually, was in a classroom in 2010 (Twenty-Ten) and during calendar time the teacher had already sent a precedent of saying the year the other way and because it was not my classroom, I felt I needed to respect her ideas there and did not try to change the system in that class, even when a few students would say 2010 my way.

Back to the News, Brian Williams tonight was talking about the 10 year anniversary of 9/11/01 and he was saying this year the way I say it, so hopefully it is starting to catch on (not because of me, but just because it seems logical to say it that way when looking back on the previous years.)

If you think about it, if we keep on saying the year the other way (which honestly, seems to be the norm right now) what will happen in a hundred years- granted I won't be there to witness it most likely, but still-- what happens in the year 2113- are we going to say the year is Two-Thousand-One-Hundred-Thirteen? Or are we going to say Twenty-One-Thirteen. I think it just makes sense.

That is my persuasion to you, my vast readers, follow me and Brian Williams- say Twenty-Eleven. (I know I have written about the way we say the year before, but it was on my mind and I had further backup this time)

Take me back to the Mid-Ninties

When you think of Kids movies in the mid-ninties, what do you think of? What movie? What company? I am sure, if you are smart, you MUST think like me. I think ONLY of Disney. That company WAS THE company for animated children's movies. The two movies I think of are Aladdin and The Lion King. I think it is mostly because I watched these movies OVER and OVER and OVER again. I am sure my parents got tired of me watching the same movies all the time. I got to the point of being able to quote the whole movie.

Now, bring it on back to the future. Last night as I was skimming my Facebook update stati, I came across a news feed (KTVZ- the best local station) about the local Library having free music downloads. I was very interested to say the least. I read the story and immediately proceeded to the website to see for myself. Sure enough, Three (3) free downloads per week. All I have to have is a Library card (Which I have had since I was probably about 8 years old) and I am good to go. I went searching through their 2.5 million songs and came across something I had never heard anything about. It was Stellar Kart- a great band I have enjoyed for about 8 years- and it was a new EP. This is where it ties in to the start of the posting- The name of the EP was A Whole New World. You guessed it, this EP was Disney Songs. I knew right away these were going to be my three downloads for this week and boy was I happy to find them.

A Whole New World
Can You Feel The Love Tonight
Kiss The Girl

(There is also Be Our Guest on the EP, but I did not download it- Three per week, ya know)


So, needless to say, I was very happy to have three free downloads and a new find in Stellar Kart.

The Prelude to a Back to School

For millions, today is the day to remember. Today is a day that gives a fresh start. Today is the Day You have made... wait, good song, but not what Im talking about. Today is the start of a new school year for students. I always LOVED going back to school because of the preliminary events. 

For many years, my family would head to "The Valley" (AKA Portland) to go shopping- because obviously there was no good shopping over on our side of the mountain, go figure!? We would plan a trip to Portland to visit my grandparents and make a day of the shopping trip. We would leave in the morning, drive all the way to Portland, go to Clackamas Town Center and the parents would give some amount of money, perhaps $150 or $200 and turn us loose in the mall for two hours or around there. (I think the first year they did this was when I was in 4th or 5th grade perhaps) I loved this because I felt grown up and independent. I wasn't shopping for underwear and socks with my mommy, but on my own, free to make my choices for my school clothing. I would methodically tour the mall, going from store to store, walking past ones that would obviously not have what I would want, and quickly looking for my items in the stores that might have something in 'em. The Town Center is a great place to be methodical because it WAS just a big, long, two-story mall that did not have any nooks and crannies or multiple wings to it to get lost in. I would start at one end of the mall, and get to the other end and head up the stairs to the second story and go back the other way. It was great organization. Usually, I found my Back to School clothing at a big store, rather than a small independent shop. It usually was a place like Sears or something like that. It usually was on the clearance rack, it was the best deal, and I am always way behind in fashion. I usually found my items and toured the whole mall in about 30 minutes and then had an hour and a half left before we had to be back at the car. 

After this big mall trip, we (My sisters and I) would all pull out what we got for how much money and see who was the most economical, it was usually me. Then it was off to Olive Garden for lunch (Because over in Central Oregon, we did not have such restaurants, so it was a treat) with the grandparents. After that, it was home again. 

Not only the Back to School shopping, but there were other great reasons to want to go back to school. For one, by August, I got bored of not having anything to do. At the start of the summer, you get to sleep in and watch tv all the time and hang out with friends, and then the middle is when the vacations happen, but by late August, I am just itching to do something. School is a great something to do.

Then there is getting to meet your teacher. I was always nervous to meet new teachers to see if they were nice or super mean. I was also excited about getting to see who was in my classes, and getting back to school supplies (Though we stayed local for the supplies). 

Back to School time was always a fun time with fond family memories.

Say What? You're Prego?

The first year, it was bra colors- girls everywhere on Facebook were putting down colors- black, pink, green, all over. Then last year, it was I like it... It had to do with their purses. I like it on the table. Meant they liked putting their purses on the table. These were ploys to "share?" Breast Cancer awareness. Now, if you ask me it did not help to spread the idea of Breast Cancer Awareness for many of us. For me, it did because I googled the topic and came up with a hit that explained it, but for most people, I think it probably just enforced dirty minds. I don't like that idea of spreading dirty mind ideas. I am all for increasing Breast Cancer Awareness, but not they way they are doing it via FB. 

The past few days for me have been weird ones because I have seen a few friends, ones of whom I am fairly certain are not Prego, putting __ weeks and craving_____... Again, I feel it is not increasing awareness of Breast Cancer, but instead just giving doubts about abstinence. 

The first friend I read the post on, I thought, wow, she's married so that makes sense, that is so cool. Then the next friend, a good friend of mine of whom I believe to be an outstanding Christian with awesome morals talking about being so many weeks and craving something and I was very saddened because she was not married and I assumed that she had given into temptation. I didn't like that feeling. I was thinking, man, all my friends are having babies. Then, another friend of whom I felt the exact same, just posted the same sort of thing. That was when I realize it must be another one of those stupid FB things. Again, I don't like the fact that they are trying to "Promote" Breast Cancer awareness when they do not talk of it and just put dirty and unclean thoughts in minds. I am happy now to know that my "Good Girl" friends are not knocked up out of wedlock, but annoyed with the idea of Promoting something when most people don't actually look it up. I feel it would do more to ask the ladies to post a story about Breast Cancer in their status rather than add to unclean thoughts on Facebook (Aren't there already enough of those on there already?)

An impressive Captain

I went to a free movie tonight. Yes, a free movie. That's what I love about Regal. They have that awesome Crown Club Card that I get points towards things like free soda, popcorn, and even movies.

Just this summer, I went to many movies. Loads of blockbusters came out- Kung Fu Panda, Cars 2, X-Men, the last Harry Potter... Many of these I had coupons for, some I just had to actually pay to go see, but each one of em helped me earn points. I got enough to make it to the Free Movie Ticket level.

After all that, I had a ticket that I was not sure what movie to use it on. There were a few that looked alright- ones I wouldn't pay for, but since it was free-...so I looked around for one I would like. I was unsure of it, but eventually decided on attending Captain America. I was pleasantly surprised.

 Not that it was not good, it was. I just did not think it would be my type of movie and as good as it was.
As it was, I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed this testosterone-filled, guy movie. I like Marvel Comics movies, and most all I have seen recently are really well done. I was amazed at how they could make the same dude a scrawny 90lb weakling and a muscle-ripped, tall he-man. That's the magic of the movies I guess. I really appreciated that this movie was not curse-ridden and also not gory. It was certainly an action-packed movie with lots of violence, but not Kill Bill/Gladiator violence, it was easy to take violence. I like that.

I would recommend Captain America: First Avenger to anyone who is into the Marvel movies- XMen, Spider Man, ect. .. One last thought as I am thinking about it... Where did the creativity go? As I was waiting for the movie to start there was a preview for Spiderman. Yes, there has already been a Spiderman movie fairly recently and new they are redoing the thing. Not that happy about that. I don't really wanna see it because of the fact that the movie was already created from that starting point just a few years ago. I do wanna see it because I have a thing for Emma Stone (Supposedly not as much as Jim Carrey, but...) but I am not sure if I will actually see it... Maybe Redbox for a buck.

Friend Like That

Labor Day Weekend. That definitely means SCHOOL!
I am reminded of the feelings I had when I first graduated high school and saw friends leave. I have been listening to a recent graduate and his bummer-ness for seeing all of his friends leaving for school. It is certainly a hard time in life when high school is over and everyone goes their separate ways.

I remember hearing those around me (When I graduated in 02) saying that I won't see many of those high school peers again. I was kinda doubtful about that because Redmond community is semi-small, but I found out they were right. Sure, I have seen some peers around, people working around town and what not, but I certainly don't keep up with any of my peers except for Facebook and my Best friend since 1st grade, Ryan.

I am reminded of my grade school days, hanging out with my friend hours upon end. We would rotate a number of fun activities- go to the school playground, pay with legos, play with cars, pool if it was warm enough, and of course act out like we were buying real cars and get in our parked cars at home and drive for miles and miles. Can't forget about riding bikes around town. Those were the days. What good times we had.
I also remember how we would always act like we were upset and not friends anymore, and then two minutes later we were best of friends again. I could never stay upset with my Best Friend, nor he me.

Our relationship has changed and matured now that we have changed and matured, but we still try to make time to meet up once in a while and catch up with lives.