Monday, March 30, 2009

Sweet Sian

Pronounced "See-anne". She is Josh's 5 year old Dutch Shepherd. Dutch Shepherds are known as police dogs and are very closely related to the Belgian Malanois. They are VERY active and need several hours of exercise daily. I'm not kidding when I say that 30 minutes day just doesn't cut it with her. She loves her "dummy" and won't leave you alone until you toss it. I've taken several pictures of her in the past year and thought I'd dedicate this blog to her. She's the sweetest dog I've ever known and has the biggest heart. When she's upset because we aren't spending enough time with her or if she feels like someone else is getting more attention, she lets us know by tucking her head under our arms. I love this dog so much. She tugs pretty hard on my heart strings. :)




We may have had a long day but I think she loves me too...

Friday, March 27, 2009

Sheep LED art....Crazy!!!

I had to share this. I know most of you have probably seen it and I've posted enough blogs today but I couldn't stop giggling when I saw this.

Marfans syndrome



In the past 10 years I have known 3 people (all very dear to my heart) to die of Marfan's syndrome. It is not a well known disorder such as cancer or diabetes and you can always tell a person who has it simply by looking at them. They are tall, lanky, skinny and have very hollowed and chisled features.



It is a genetic disease of the connective tissue which makes it thin and frail around the heart, eyes and skeleton. It does not affect intelligence. Statistics have shown that 1 out of ever 5,000 people have Marfan's. It does not prefer one ethnicity over another and there is no cure. The reason why it is so dangerous is because it often causes aortic enlargement and thinning of the walls of the aorta which in turn can cause it to tear and leak.

It will be a year soon since Colby John died. He was like the little brother I never had. Everyone knew Colby had Marfan's, as did his uncle, grandmother, mother, aunt and sister. He is the 5th person in his family to die from Marfan's. His sister is the only living survivor in the family that still has the disease. Their brother Jake was the only child out of three to not have it. As I said, Marfan's does not affect the brain and I'm pretty sure that Colby was the happiest and most care-free person I have ever had the honor of knowing. He was full of life and so much energy!!! :)

Recent picture of Jake and Colby:

So, as the Grey's Anatomy nerd that I am I was so glad when they decided to do an episode on Marfan's in its first season. Christina and Burke are having their first "date" and while eating dinner, a man at a nearby table collapses. If you watch the video you will see that because of the man's fingers (which were elongated and skeletal) they were able to tell right away that he had Marfan's and they were able to save his life because they were able to get him to the hospital before his aorta could bleed out:



This blog is only to bring awareness to the people reading it. You never know if you may meet someone with this genetic disorder. :)

More info: http://www.marfan.org/marfan/

The coolest thing I've seen all week...HAPPY FRIDAY!



DUDE! ISN'T THIS COOL? MAYBE IT'S JUST ME. I LOOOOOOOOVE 80'S INSPIRED TACKY SHIT (I MEAN STUFF). THE TELEPHONE IS A BIT MUCH. I WOULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT.

VISIT THIS WEBSITE TO SEE MORE: http://naughtysecretaryclub.blogspot.com/

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Barnyard Humor..........love it!

I love animal comics and these are so good I just had to share with my friends. :)









Strawberry Heaven.......(i can hear the angels singing in the background) :)




Sorry, mom! I know you won't like this post too much but my favorite beer is back in season!!!!!!!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaay!!!!

Mmmm.......the freshly brewed taste of Abita Strawberry Harvest Lager. Yes folks, strawberry beer. It may not sound good right away when you think about it but it sure is heaven in a little amber bottle!!! Made in Louisiana (so you know it's good, duh!). Josh showed up at my place the other night to surprise me with a 6-pack (so sweet!) after I was rattling off about it the day before and wanted to cry after the server at Benningan's told me they didn't carry it (shame shame)! *Sigh* My liquid dreams have been answered. TRY IT!

My second favorite is their purple haze, which i know everyone has seen in stores.


Check out the webiste: http://abita.com/brews/ for more info.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Fishing with Toni (that would make a great tv show for the Outdoor Channel!)

We went to the pond yesterday (day 4 of vacation) and Josh played with his Bobcat. I got a tan and a huge ego while I was there! I caught so many fish. Not to brag. :) Bill and Alice were telling us the night before that they hadn't seen sockalait in the pond in years and guess who caught two of them? ME! One was 10 inches which I think is really nice!!! Of course I caught a few small warmouths but I caught a really nice 10 inch brim too. I think Josh was proud of the sockalait. I mean, who wouldn't be?

All the fish shown in these pictures got to live, again. :) Catch and release (and make bigger babies).



First fish of the day, I had to take a pic:


The smaller of the 2 sockalait:

The 10 inch sockalait:


The 10 inch brim:

The best kept secret at Shangri-la in Lafayette, LA!!!!



So, Monday, me and Josh go to eat at Shangri-la (one of my fav restaurants) and ordered LOTS AND LOTS of sushi. As an appetizer we got the BEST SALAD ever.......it needs a gold medal. It's a squid salad. It's on the menu. Order it. I'm not a big squid fan because it's usually so tough but the meat was flavorful and tender. I think I'll start ordering it for lunch at least once a week. Hopefully I don't get tired of it. I was so full that I almost fell asleep in the car on the way to Iowa (the town, not the state). Did anyone know that that town is full of donkeys??? What's up with that? Everyone owns one.

Fishing (2nd day of vaca!)








Well, I promised pics of Josh's fish from Sunday, March 15. So here they are! There were a few really small warmouths and one nice big brim!!! Of course, the crab was posing so I take to take a pic of it. It's a freshwater pond but since Hurricane Rita and Ike the salt water filled it and it's now got saltwater inhabitants along with freshwater ones. Very cool! And yes, we let all of them live.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Rain Rain Go Away!!!!



So, technically today is my 3rd day of vacation out of 9 and it's been raining since I got off work Friday. 4 days of rain. I can't remember the last time we got so water-logged! They are promising for sunny skies later today. :)

On my first day of vacation (Saturday) I read a few magazines and learned how to operate a Bobcat (not the cat):



Pretty neat! I felt like i was the heart of a robot and i was knocking down trees like there was no tomorrow!

Anyway, that was day #2, it ended with yummy artichioso (add chicken) pizza from Amore and a movie called Vacancy.




Let me just some this craziness up for you. A husband and wife (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) break down on the highway (doesn't that always happen in a scary movie?) and walk 2 miles to a motel where NOBODY is staying there but them (clue #1 that somethings not right). As soon as they get into their "suite" someone starts banging on the adjoining room door and their outside door but when they open both doors nobody is there (clue #2 to get the poo out of there!). The husband goes complain to the manager who again states "nobody is staying here but you guys" and tells him he'll check on it. Yeah Right!!! Then, as they try to go to sleep, the husband finds these video tapes on the tv and puts one in the VCR. What does he find??? A movie of people being murdered aka a "snuff" film, except the movie has been shot in their motel room. He realizes the similarities in the movie and the room they are staying in and then puts in another video tape, only to find the same scenario but with different people being tortured in it (clue #3 to get going people!). He realizes the angles the video has been shot from and finds hidden video cameras in the vents (clue #4, need i go on??). I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone so I'll leave it at that. I'm all for scary movies but just not stupid ones. i gave this one 3 out of 5 stars.

Ok, so I slept really bad Saturday night because of that stupid movie. Regardless, Sunday was a new day (with rain in the forecast) but we went to Wal-Mart (yay!) and since they are getting rid of the majority of their arts and crafts and sewing department (sigh!) some of their stuff is clearanced, whoo hooo! So, I bought more beads and connectors and thought Josh was going to die looking at all the colorful small pieces of glass and plastic. He was super happy though when we walked over to the gardening department and he threw about 10 packs of seeds in the basket along with a mini-greenhouse and looked at me and said "now, grow these!" I guess he's more happy about the little veggie garden out at his place than I figured. Awesome!!! I'll grow anything from seed (if it stops raining).

So, I won't write about yesterday afternoon since I have pictures for it and they're stuck in my truck. And yes, it's raining again and I'm tired of looking like Diana Ross so the pictures can wait. I'll post later since we are going pick up Bobcat implements (again, not the cat) in Iowa (not the state, just the town). Tootles!!!!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Mini-Me's!!! gotta love em.........animal lovers you have to see this! :)

So, during the whole "Battle for the Cattle" about a month ago, me and Anna-Vaughn walked around by the neighbor's yard and took lots of pics of these cutsie calves and this adorable mini-horse...............*sigh* i was instantly in love!!!! We even got to pet one of the little calves. The little mini-horse had such a big attitude. He would snort and run around like he just knew he was the cutest thing in the history of ponies. This just melts my heart.




Thursday, March 12, 2009

David at the Dentist...

Maybe I just think this is funny because I work for a dentist but I had to share anyway! It's blog-worthy. :)


Oh Deer!!!











From our many trips to Cabela's in Gonzales, I took pictures but never got to put them up anywhere so here they are! They have a crazy museum with "stuffed" record whitetail and mule deer (among other crazy things!). Everyone should try and go. It's a really cool place.

I know these pics aren't the greatest (took them with the crackberry).

Pichichi....say that 5 times fast!!!!









These 6 ducks had occupied the pond at Big Woods for a few days about a month ago and then went on their merry way..... :( They were so pretty to look at swimming in the pond and it was even cooler to see them fly and make their whistling calls to each other. I had never seen these before!!! Aren't they neato???? I sure wish they'd come back!

Pichichi is what they call them in Latin America. :)




Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tea Time with Fuzzy



I found this painting online yesterday. It is sooooooooooo me!!!! I love Michael Leu. You can find more online: http://www.michaelleu.com/

The garden 2009

Well, last year's garden was at my mom and dad's. It did ok...only a few tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers.

This year's garden was planted 2 weeks ago at Josh's property. I planted corn, okra, spinach, sunflowers and carrots from seeds. I also had to add in some fun stuff like rosemary, black-eyed susans and dutch iris bulbs. Josh started making these really neat flowerbeds last night and I'll post pictures of them after they're finished. I'm soooooo excited though!!! In a little over 2 weeks, everything has started to sprout! I know, I know, i'm a huge nerd!!! :)