Fun Weekend!

I had a really fun weekend! My friend Kristen was here this weekend..."HI KRISTEN! I hope you made it home ok!!"

And we had a really nice time. I really miss her since she's moved away, but we still can e-mail and talk. E-mail is just a wonderful thing!

We went to a couple of bead shops yesterday. We went to my favorite, Bead Asylum. I love going there cause she has such a great selection of beads! It's so much fun seeing what she has, but I wish I could go more often! And the owner just cracks me up, she's got some funny stories, and she is so fun to listen to.

And we also ventured into Kiowa Rose. I haven't been there in so long. They were a teeny shop before, but they have grown into a bigger space with way more beads! I need to go there more often too. Like tomorrow?? LOL Now that I know what I want to make, I need to go get more findings. :)

We also went to my favorite place to eat on Saturday: Tacone Grill. When they opened I ate there almost every day! But I haven't been able to go there as often. It's more of a treat now. I think I have to go back and get another wrap next time. :)

We watched Casino Royale too! That was an awesome movie. I used to think bond movies were just ok. Not sure why I wasn't really into them. But this one was really REALLY good. Maybe it was that his awesome tools seemed more real. Loved his car! "I need to get me one of these!!" And the Spidey dude in the beginning was awesome! I gotta watch the special features now.

Oh! And Kristen, Oreo wouldn't talk to Phil for a couple of hours last night. LOL He was mad at him cause he threw off his routine. LOL

It was a fun weekend, and we need to do it again! I need to drive out there soon. :)

I Cooked!

Well, I bbq'd! I actually made these teriyaki sticks. Phil cut the meat, i put them on the sticks, marinaded them, and then I actually bbq'd! And they turned out good too!

I used to make these all the time when I was little. Ok, I was the one who put the meat on the sticks for my mom. LOL So, I actually had practice. :)

We're going to have to make these more often. And with the bottled teriyaki sauce like Yoshida sauce, that makes life so much easier!

Are you hungry now??

American idols 4/11

So, what did you all think about Haley leaving?

Well, I think she had to leave sooner rather than later. She's not a great singer, not in the caliber of Melinda and Jordin. So, her time was limited, I think. I do agree with Simon that she was there for so long because of her looks. Not that he said it in that way, but I think that is what has kept her there for so long. Cause like I said, she's not a great singer. But she's cute. LOL

I wonder how it will all go next week??

The Kids...

While at Al and Diane's house, I got to spend time with the "kids". It started out with Katzilla wanting me to pet him cause I was sitting on his chair.

Then Bender, the Great Dane, walked up to me, and wanted to be petted too. Ok, there goes the left hand.

Then Dinkie wanted to be petted. I'm thinking, um, I have run out of extremities, then realized I can use my foot. LOL

I would have been in REAL trouble if Dozer, the Rottweiler would have walked up right then. Good thing they only have 4 kids that come out when company is over. LOL And yep, they grow their kids big at their house. LOL Philip used to tell me that Oreo and Velcro were fat...Um nope! LOL

Katzilla

Go Go Katzilla! WOOoooWoooWOOoooOOOOoooo

ROFL. I LOVE Katzilla. Katzilla is Phil's nephew's cat. He's HUGE. When he sits on your lap, your legs go to sleep fast! LOL

I got to hang out with Katzilla on Saturday, that was fun. He's the coolest cat. He makes funny noises when you pet him. He lets you know when you should be petting him. I just love him!

Duct Tape Ribbon

So Al wrapped Phil's present with his normal duct tape. But instead of wrapping the entire box in duct tape, to where he can't open it. He decided to make a duct tape bow. OMG, it was so cute! Had to take a picture of it. The middle he fastened it all together with some kind of snap. he wished he would have had my crop-a-dile to put an eyelet in the middle. LOL

he could be one of those duct tape guys! i can just imagine him sitting there cutting each piece to the exact measurments. And then folding each piece so that the proportions were correct. It's totally amazing how he thinks these things up!!

Louisiana burgers

We had Louisiana Burgers for Phil's birthday today. A Louisiana burger is named after their family. The Louisianas. LOL They decided one day to make these GIGANTIC Burgers. They used the uncut sourdough bread rounds from Colombo that are HUGE. Each patty was about 6 pounds of meat. Today we couldn't find those, so we used smaller sourdough rounds. Each burger was about 2 pounds of meat.

These are the raw burgers. made about 5 patties total. Awaiting Phil's expert bbqing!

Phil flipping the burgers with a spatula specially made for turning the burgers.

This spatula was made by Al, quite a few years ago. They made it when they made the first burger, realizing that OMG! What are they going to use to flip the darn thing with??

The finished burgers. The Double Burger, 4 pounds of meat total.

The cheddar cheese burger. And the Pastrami burger which didn't get it's picture taken.

I think it was a bit shy. LOL We put the coke can there to gauge for size.

Very yummy!!

Scrapbook Buddy strikes again...

So, my scrapbook buddy found my Crop-a-dile. LOL Did you know that it can punch through jeans? He took the crop-a-dile and started punching holes in his wife's jeans. Then took an eyelet and put those on there. LOL She rides in horsing competitions, and blings her own clothes. So, he thought the eyelets would look cool on her jeans too.

So, guess who is going to Michael's in the morning to get a crop-a-dile?? ROFL

Vineyards

On the way to Phil's sister's house, we go through the vineyards of Livermore. There are lots of wineries out there. You think Napa has a lot of wineries? Livermore has a ton out there too. And a heck of a lot closer than napa.

Livermore is pretty cool. Phil's nephew lives on a ranch out there too. I love going out there to see the horses, dogs, and various cats and barn cats. It's really neat to be out there on a ranch, but still be close to home.

I actually saw a wild turkey roaming around too. But didn't have my camera out to take a picture of it. I'll have to be quicker next time.

More Flowers

These were flowers that are on a bush in the median of a roadway I was driving on. I was stuck at a light, and saw the flowers. Thought it would make a cool picture. And they are pretty nice. I mean they're pink!! LOL

I pass by these every day, but didn't think to take a photo of them till now. The things you don't pay attention to until you want to take pictures of stuff.

This is how I like my flowers...in a picture! LOL

Phil is so lucky that he doesn't have to bring me roses for Valentine's day...chocolates are way better anyway! LOL And yep Deb, especially from See's!

Bloomin' trees!

The trees are blooming around here too! They are so very pretty. I really haven't spent a lot of time taking pics of flowers, but I thought these were pretty. When the wind blows it looks like it's snowing! not too fond of the petals I have to clean up though, but it looks cool.

A sneeze waiting to happen

A mile from my home, these lovely yellow flowers are blooming. Being that I have a black thumb, which is terrible for a daughter of a gardener. You'd think I would be able to grow things, not kill them. LOL ...but I have no idea what kind of flowers these are. I'm thinking some kind of mustard? Cause there are people there picking them when I pass by.

Anyway, I swear it's a sneeze waiting to happen. This year, allergies have been really bad, really early. Don't go there with the global warming thing. I see these fields every day of my life, so I thought I'd share them with you.

They are really pretty though!

Mythbusters...

Did I ever tell you how much I LOVE Mythbusters?? I mean LOVE it! The geek in me just comes out whenever I watch this show. It reminds me of my days at Avocet working with Jim, Dave, Marty, Paul, Erik, and Tom. LOL Jim could SO be Jaime. And David could be Adam. The logical choice for Paul would be Tory. And Erik would be Grant. LOL

I watch it every morning. And if I can't watch it, I have been known to tape it. And I know, it's been on for a bunch of years, but I've just started watching it.

At least once a day, I look over at phil and say something like, "Did you know that electric eels won't demagnitize your credit card..." Or "the one thing that may stop a guard dog would be a big steak."

Then he will come back saying, "well, you know a good guard dog wouldn't even go for the steak, cause it would be trained not to eat anything other than what is given to him by his trainer."

Yes, we do have conversations like that. And Oh boy! Don't get Phil, Al, and I together talking about Mythbusters. LOL It's really funny.

I think it's mainly a reminder of some really fun memories at Avocet. Like taking David's new bicycle hostage until he sang, "I'm too sexy for my bicycle.."

Or locking David up in the shower, and then his thinking how he's going to McGyver himself out of there using the shower grate...

Or the classic one, Paul coming back from vacation after like 3 weeks of vacation. And marty and I clearing out all our stuff in our cubicles to make him think that we found other jobs, but we were really hiding in the conference room. LOL

OH! And coming to work on my birthday, and Phil and Al decorating my office so bad that I couldn't even walk into my office. And then we had a visit that day from the main office across the bay, felt like the parent trap there! LOL

I got a million of 'em! I really should scrapbook those memories before I forget them!!

My New Scrapbook Buddy

Yesterday we spent the day with Phil's sister and her husband. We went to costco, then we got back and I was showing her how to use her new cricut machine. And while we were cutting different letters and things, her son, Al and his wife, Diane come over for dinner.

Al is very interested in everything mechanical. But sometimes he gets too into things, and well, he's known to have accidents. My cricut machine was in a box everytime he came over, cause, well, I didn't want him to break it. LOL

Anyway, he saw us using the machine, and got the great idea to make a sign for their Paintball team...Team JOLT. So, he starts cutting letters, shadowing them, and even draws and cuts out a lightning bolt for the logo.

And of course, we're fighting over the one bottle of glue and exacto knife.

All the time we're there, he's giving Jackie a hard time about being the only one not scrapbooking with her scrapbooking tools. He and I are the only ones using her tools. She's having me cut letters for her, and glue them. LOL

So, he finishes his sign, and it looks pretty cool. I should have taken a picture cause that would have been a cool layout.

And as we're leaving, he says to me, "Bye Scrapbook Buddy!"

We all started ROFL! OMG, it was classic!!

We get home, and Philip was telling Phil he should have gone to play paintball with him. And I told Philip, "Well, you lost 2 paintball players today, but I gained a scrapbook buddy!"

Cleaning..

Why is it that whenever you are cleaning, it always looks worse before it can get better?? I Have piles and piles around sorting stuff off my desk. Craft stuff, earrings, beads, stamps, etc. Boy, did I have a bunch of stuff piled up. Even finding stuff that I was supposed to mail out to my e-friends.

This is just going to be phase one. Got to get to the craft room at some point this century. LOL And going to start cleaning the rugs tomorrow. Just stuff that I haven't even gotten to lately, and I really need to spend some time doing that.

At least the garage is super clean!!

Cricut

OMG! Today I finally took that Cricut machine out of the box. And I could kick myself because I hadn't done it sooner.

OMG! How fun is it to make different letters, words, shapes, and stuff?? I should have been playing with that before.

And just to let you know, the cricut tools that cost $29.99 at Michael's is a rip-off!! You can buy dental tools at the gun show for $1 each and they are the same tip! maybe the handle is different. Ok, they aren't the cool purply or green one. But I can do so much with the $28.99 that I'm going to save by NOT Buying those. I could even buy 2 cutting blades for it and have enough left to buy some paper. I couldn't believe that.

So, I've been having fun playing with it today. I am going to totally do more playing with it tomorrow. And now I want more cartridges. :D WOO HOO!

Warm days in Union City....

It was really warm yesterday. We're pretty much in summer mode. It's a nice break from the cooler temps and the rain too. But I think Jabba wasn't ready for the warm weather. He/she was running along the fence, then PLOP! LOL

I think Jabba's pretty cute. LOL Here is Jabba looking at us while we're trying to take a picture. Not too worried about us trying to get a photo I guess. Or maybe he was too warm to move?? LOL I didn't get a chance to see Jabba today, so I hope that he's doing ok. I guess we should start leaving a bit of water out for him when it's this warm.

I cannot believe...

That I'm going to have to wait until APRIL 23rd for a new episode of HEROES!!! OMG! And of course, they left you hanging... well, poor Suresh is hanging...LOL

There are so many twists and turns. WHO KNEW that Peter Petrelli's mom KNEW who Claire was! And where is Claire's mom?? Did they off her? Here I was thinking that she had some powers, but it was the shape shifter new girl.

I'm glad Ando didn't go back to Japan. He and Hiro are my favorite characters!!

Now I have more questions, and I have to wait a month and a half!

Well, at least for awhile there is the Black Donnellys. I really love that show! Joey Ice Cream is my favorite character, cause he's just too dang funny! It really is a fun show. I know there is some blood in it, but OMG, there are moments in it that really crack me up!! Mainly cause it's a serious situation, and they bring a lot of levity to it.

Makes you wonder what you'd do if your brothers kept getting into trouble like that, and would you go to help them? I would have left my brother in jail too. LOL

Rome was really good this week too, and next week it is going to be even better. They are trying to follow the true storyline a bit. Octavia did marry Marc Antony. Next week Cleopatra comes back. I wonder how many more episodes there are going to be? I Love that show too.

Tomorrow is Idol...YAY! And of course SVU. Wednesday it's Idol again! And we love watching Medium. That would really suck to have to listen to dead people, especially seeing how they died or stuff like that.

More TV updates soon!

Heroes...

I don't know who is watching Heroes, but wasn't tonight's show an awesome show?!? OMG, we're starting to find out more about how they became heroes, what Claire's father does, and it was so cool to see Hiro as a little kid. AND OMG, his DAD has something to do with what is all going on!! OMG! I can't wait for next week's show!!

And I watched the Black Donnelly's after too. I really like that show too. I had my mind set on not liking the show at all. But to my surprise, it was really good. I hope that next week's show will be just as good.

Keeping the small stores in business...

Went to Stamper's Warehouse today. There was an ownership change, and a location changed. So, I went to their grand re-opening. The store looks really nice. I'm glad that they moved, cause it's always great to have a new beginning. The store seems a little smaller than the old store, but it's still filled with a lot of new things. Reminds me of their original store on Alcosta!

I'm just glad that Therese bought it when Phyllis decided to retire, cause what a big shock to the system that would have been to know that all the other local stores like Scrapbook Dreams closed, and have SW close too?? It would be too sad!

So, I've decided that I'm going to frequent the local stores more, cause I don't want them to close! And when Tina's store was closing, all I could think was, "If you had visited the store more often, maybe you'd know it was closing" Or "Maybe that's why she has to close, cause there wasn't that much business." Then I realized, if I kept going to the big chain stores, I wasn't giving the smaller businesses a chance. I know they can't buy in quantity like the bigger stores do, therefore they can't give you the best prices.

BUT they have the best service sometimes. And if you love the store, you need to keep them in business by buying! :) So, that's what I'm going to do.

I mean if I'm on this crusade where I'm not going to use fast track to cross the bridge, cause that will put toll takers out of business. Or if I don't use the self serve checkers in the grocery stores too, cause I don't want to put a checker out of work. I might as well not always go to the big chain stores too. LOL

Like the other day at Albertson's. I went to buy somethings in the morning, and all the regular lanes were closed. NO live checkers. All they had were the self-serve checkers. So, I waited for a couple of minutes, and no one came to help me. So, I put all my stuff back and went to Safeway. Yep, I feel that strongly about it.

When I get on my soapbox, I am determined to follow through!

I know I'm a techie, and I should really love using all this high tech equipment. BUT I just think of how many people this technology is displacing, and I do get upset. I mean I definitely do NOT want to go back to horse and buggy days. But there is a line that must be drawn before we end up like I Robot! LOL

Ok, getting off my soapbox now....