Saturday, December 31, 2005

Fancy feet

In a fight to forbear declawing our ferocious felines, we are attempting to fetter their feet with fancy fittings that foil their fetish for furniture and flooring fiascos.
The current color is a captivating, chic cobalt which conceals their clever claws.
Eventually, each enthusiastic furball will entertain exotic hues as we eradicate errors in extremity etiquette.
Possible picks are purple and pink for one petulant panther-pet, and Seahawks sapphire and sage for the subsequent scamp.

Longing for luck in our latest labor of love...................

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Snowshoeing

I went snowshoeing on Mt. Rainier on Monday. Lots of fun! I don't have any pictures (left my camera in the car--there was SOOOO much snow coming down, I couldn't have used it), but we all enjoyed it. I went with Guiana, an RN from work, Louise, an ARNP from work, her partner, Susan, and a guy named Trent who I don't know how everyone else knows........
There were some initial concerns about the snow level, since it was up around 600 feet for a couple days before we went, and we were going to be at around 5000 feet, but it dropped down in time for us to miss out on any slush. The snow was coming down really hard for the first couple hours, but got much less, and much less windy later on.
Visibility was like 50 feet during the worst of it. But, oh so pretty! There was maybe 6-7 feet of snow that we were walking on, sinking in anywhere from a couple inches to a foot or so. There was so much white and wind out there, the world looked black and white. The trees were barely green and just so pretty. I must go back with my camera and take my time and get wonderful pictures. There were a couple of pretty waterfalls along the way, and a gorgeous little river. I am sure I could get some awesome pictures. Snowshoeing is definitely something I will be doing again. It was $20 to rent the snowshoes and ski poles, not too much, and it is $10 to get into the Mt Rainier National Park, but I will just end up getting the $30 annual National Parks Pass. Much better deal.
Anyway.......good time! Miserable conditions, and I was by far the person in the worst cardiovascular shape, but I hung in and did fine. We only went about 3-4 miles in total, but enjoyed the outing. I will have fun doing it alone with the camera. It is irritating to hike with someone who wants to take tons of pictures, because you end up standing and waiting, but alone I can move at my own pace and go where I want. The fun of snowshoeing is that you don't follow a trail--just go wherever you want, watching out for cliffs, etc (tee hee). There are risks involved, but not many, in the places I am interested in going and the things I want to see and photograph.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Just heard from Karin (our agent), and we are asking for $4600 for a carpet allowance and refrigerator allowance after getting a quote from a carpet guy who came out and looked and measured. For $5200, this same guy would put in hardwood floors (REAL hardwood, not Pergo, although I don't know so much if I would MIND having Pergo. It looks nice). in the living room, dining room, hallway and hall closets upstairs (not the stairs, though--those cost extra, like $75 per square foot!!). So we could do that, and just leave the downstairs as is (there is a torn/eaten corner of carpet in front of the bathroom door from the dog, and a vague/faint stain also in the sports room) We could replace that carpet some other time, or not at all. I mean, it IS the sports room. Beer will flow, at times onto the floor I am sure (during sporting events in which the home team does something very stupid or very good, of which unfortunately we see more of the former than of the latter), or who knows. I will have to look again and see. We could always just get the entire carpet redone and leave it at that, but I do love hardwood floors...........

Decisions, decisions, decisions. We will know by 9pm on Tuesday, which is when they have to respond by. The sellers flew out of town, but will be in contact with their agent at 4pm, so we MAY get an answer today, or not. They may want their own quote to go by.................I am quite sure I will update once we have news.........

AND.....

I took my camera to the inspection to get a few more pictures, and got to talking with our real estate agent, Karin, about photography. Told her a small dream of mine is to do photography for money someday. She says she knows a guy who takes pictures of houses for sale, inside and outside, and charges $250-300 PER HOUSE to do it. He is just a guy with a camera and a decent eye for pictures, not a pro or anything. And he has tons of business, so much that he has his son doing it with him now. She offered to have me shoot pictures of a listing she has and pay me $150, and tell people I would do this. Money on the side! I said I wouldn't want to be paid the first time, in case my pictures just suck, but would love to get into this. I could use my first paying try to pay for a super wide angle lens ( I think that is the key--get more into the picture). It really does make a difference when you have nice photos

Thursday, December 22, 2005


Anyone need a place to live??? (sorry, Davinie....this one was computer generated)

Upstairs layout

Downstairs layout

Living room/entry area. The vase is on top of a part of the bedroom closet sticking out (sort of like a pot shelf)

Kitchen panorama. We just need to get a black or stainless steel fridge to match. The counters are granite, I will put another pic up that shows that

Smaller upper deck

Big lower deck

Dining room and kitchen (taken from living room

Living room

Sports room (tan walls and one dark funky looking Ralph Lauren wall....needs painting...)

master bedroom (sage green walls!!)

Look what we did!!!






http://www.windermere.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Listing.ListingDetail&ListingID=6474527

Not sure how long this link will work, but this is our house!! Photos by me to be added here later today, after our inspection, and I will also put on the drawing of the house layout. We are so excited!! A big kid house!! The condo was like training wheels for a bike, and we get to take off the training wheels and zoom along now like all the other big kids!!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Scary, Scary Scary!!!!!
Moving too fast!! Moving too fast!!

............but good, good, good

I will let you know when I have a clue what is going on.................

Saturday, December 17, 2005


Coast Christmas 2005

Grammabon and the grandaughters

The Fieros

The Merritts


My absolute most faborite shot from this week. Unedited version and the 'glow' version

Thursday, December 08, 2005


Because someday this may come in handy

The plan:

Okay, here it is. My plan for the next week or so.

Today: get off work and go play on photoshop CS2 (bought a new book at Barnes and Noble--damn them for being across the street from my house--it is AWESOME at teaching me wonderful tricks)
Tomorrow: Work for 8 hours, then get my eyebrows and eyelashes dyed, then buy fish and go home and play with photoshop some more (buy fish and play with photoshop?? Yes, this is my life)
Saturday: Work for 8 hours (DRIVE to work), then speed out of here to head to Southcenter to finish my Christmas gift. I just need some more parts for it.
Saturday night, we have a Sonics game at 7pm, and I am making a 7 layer dip after that
Sunday: tailgate starting arount 0930, then go to the game at 1pm, then fly south and meet Papa somewhere to pick up his gift to bring to the gathering and give him his secret santa gift. Yes, I drew Papa. And I got him an awesome gift, actually 2 awesome gifts, although I found one that is slightly more awesome and I am regretting getting one of them (but that is just MY taste, and he probably wouldn't like the one I didn't get him as much as the one I DID get him--follow?)
Monday: work 8 hours, then come home and change and go downtown for an Argosy cruise with Justin and Kim on the Christmas ship. Tons o fun
Tuesday: Make lots of potato boats in the morning, go to Costco to get a roast, pick up Ethan at 1100 and head south to the rental house
Tuesday night: make fish and reheat potato boats for a simple dinner
Wednesday: have lots of fun, possibly make pot roast
Thursday: make pot roast (if not Wednesday), have Christmas exchange (since the Merritts leave Friday morning)
Friday: have lots of fun, alas, without the Merritts
Saturday: have more fun and go home
Sunday: watch the Seahawks and win in Fantasy Football

What can I say...........

I am a passionate person. Seriously. Here are some things I am passionate about:

My husband, my marriage
My family
Being a nurse
Lord of the Rings
Reading
digital scrapbooking and PSCS2
Photography
anti-smoking (as of today, you can't in Washington's public spaces!!!)
tolerance and acceptance
diversity
being crafty and making pretty things
science
science fiction
Battlestar Galactica
LOST
Basketball and the Sonics and Storm
FOOTBALL!!! (Seahawks)
collecting various things
cooking seafood (odd, isn't it, since I won't eat it, but I really like finding new recipes and trying them out for Ethan. Maybe it is just that I like making food that he LOVES, and he really LOVES all seafood, except cod. I am going to Pike street tomorrow after work to get my eyebrows and eyelashes dyed, and I am gonna check out the seafood there in hopes of finding some calamari for Ethan. They just don't have it at QFC)
My kitties
learning new things

I am sure there are more things that I am passionate about, but these are the ones that come to mind right now......

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Desperately seeking.....

I really want to find someone who has read the Chronicles of Narnia. Not the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe--the WHOLE chronicles, all seven books. I finished the whole shebang a couple days ago, and the end really surprised me and I need to discuss it! I can't talk with someone who has not read the books, because the part I want to discuss is the very end, and I would give away a sort of point for the entire series. So. Anyone out there read them??

Or this one???

Which do you like better??

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Monday, December 05, 2005

Three more days!!

In only three more short days my air will be cleaner. December 8 of this year, Washington state will begin to enforce the most restrictive anti-smoking measure in the country. No smoking in ANY indoor establishment other than your own home, and no smoking within 25 feet of an entrance to any building other than a private residence. No smoking in bars, at concerts, sporting events, etc. So nice!! People have thrown small fits (the measure passed overwhelmingly, it wasn't even remotely close), saying that their civil liberties are being taken away. Well, a hundred years ago it was legal to snort cocaine and opium, and that was taken away. They are destructive to your body and the powers that be in this country decided that enough was enough, and that if you were too stupid to protect yourself from these things, they would just take them away and make it harder for you to harm yourself. Protecting the citizens. This is the same thing. I am all for smoking in public, as long as you wear a plastic bubble over your head to keep the smoke to yourself. Ridiculous. And to think of all the people that they hurt. Everyone says 'it's my body, my decision'. Yet, they get pregnant, and say, well if my baby is born premature or has issues (which smoking is KNOWN to do), that is MY problem. Wrong. That is the KID'S problem. For life. You can't take it back. No one has the right to do crap to someone else's body.
So, yippee!! No more crap in my lungs. Well, at least LESS crap in my lungs. On the 8th, I am going to symbolically cut off my red 1200 wristband (anti smoking) and leave it off. I won't need it anymore.

Sunday, December 04, 2005


My baby kitty (the other blog is not working at the moment, but I will be putting these there once it is...)

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Official

It is now official. I am excited about the Sonics again. We had a great game last night, very exciting and upbeat, winning over Lebron James and Co. So there

Nothing going on here (again). Working today, have tomorrow off, then on again Monday. Whoop-dee-do. I played around with Photoshop yesterday, still trying to find everything on there. I am finishing up a layout with the Shadow-man to complement the one with the Boo-kitty. I worked more on that one, too. I added a quote and need to do a bit more. For Shadows, there was a quote I saw in a poem on the bus (they have a poetry on the bus program where they have poems displayed on the upper walls). Anyway, the poem really fits. It reads:

. My cat licks my forehead
. and it feels like
. Absolution

It totally does! When I get down on his level and pet him and look in his pretty gold eyes, he will stretch up his neck and lick me right on the forehead. Feels like I have been forgiven for every crappy thing I have ever done to him, and I know he loves me. He is so sweet!

The current crappy thing I have planned for him is to put the Seahawks mini helmet on his head and take a picture. He won't mind THAT much, and we might win Seahawks pet of the week!

Boo NEVER licks. He bathes himself constantly, and once in a very long while he will lick/bathe Shadow, but never people. He just purrs frantically and drools everywhere, then shakes his head and flicks it everywhere. See why it is easier to love the Shadowman???

Thursday, December 01, 2005

I just bought Photoshop CS2. Yippee! It was on massive sale on eBay, and is being shipped from England as we speak. The seller had a great rating and previous sales of the exact same thing, so I am sure it will be fine. I downloaded the 30day trial from adobe.com, and will just add in the registration code once mine gets here. Which means.....I have it now. There are some awesome things on there!! I can massively fix pictures now, and there are tons of really cool options to explore. I am trying to find my old favorite features, since the layout is much different, but I am sure I will get there.

Anyway..........expect many more layouts, or at least edited photos.

It snowed today (a little bit), for the first time this year. All sorts of excitement there......but it is not sticking, so that is good. Driving really sucks with all that snow and idiot drivers out there.

AND....I have finished our Christmas stockings for this year (almost). Sadly enough, I tried embroidery for the very first time. Not that it looks bad--it is really nice. But I chose to embroider the Sonics logo to put on Ethan's Christmas stocking. That must be sad. I am doing the Seahawks logo next (but not any time soon--lots of other things to do first). I am working on my quilt again, too. Actually, I can't work any more, because I don't have any more thread. I will buy some more maybe this weekend and keep going. Maybe I will eventually finish it........

My frantic, fearful, fretful, fussy, flustered, faint-hearted fanatic, fidgety, frenzied, 'fraidy feline. We think he has OCD.
Thought I should post this here since I haven't posted on my other blog for a while, and not sure if anyone even looks there anymore.....

Friday, November 25, 2005

For Davinie

Just a quick fix.....the clone stamp copies another area of your image over the top of what you want to get rid of........since there is a lot of red, I picked some of it and cloned away. NOt perfect, but this was the 5 minute version, and more time would make it better....

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Inspired by Sabrina

Okay, I got to thinking about Sabrina's list, and I decided to do one of my own....I want to have 100, but I only can think of 50 so far......


1. go to New Zealand
2.visit Athens and Rome
3. go Scuba diving
4. ride in a hot-air balloon
5. become a good IV-putter-inner
6. take pictures that people want to pay for
7. become a charge nurse
8. give Ethan a gift that is so perfect, it makes him speechless
9. have babies (only 2)
10. watch the Seahawks win the Superbowl
11. buy a house with a big yard and plenty of space
12. cook dinner * every * night, and take leftovers to work for lunch
13. buy a teeny tiny SUV for more car room
14. keep a clean house
15. take more diversity classes at UW
16. catch something BIG at work, and help save a limb or life
17. have a photography studio set up in my garage
18. get another kitty for Shadow and Boo to play with
19. go to Hawaii
20. teach my kids to accept people for who they are
21. learn to sew clothes for my kids
22. finish my quilt!!!
23. get back a body I can be proud of
24. watch every episode of Little House on the Prairie
25. scrapbook *all * of my old pictures
26. Watch the Sonics win the NBA championship
27. take a Caribbean cruise
28. take some geography classes
29. win a photo contest
30. visit the Smithsonian with mom
31. learn to like seafood, at least SOME of it!!
32. figure out how to not be scared of people
33. inspire someone to be a nurse
34. make up a recipe so good, people pester me for it
35. raise polite, respectful kids
36. go back to Alaska to see more glaciers and icebergs
37. go on an overnight hike on Mt. Rainier
38. be a wonderful wife
39. go parasailing
40. take some history classes
41. get my annual holiday language wall made into a permanent ‘welcome’ display
42. watch all the Star Wars movies back to back
43. take a vacation somewhere warm with the entire family
44. hike all the trails in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness
45. get professionally fitted for a bra (hey—Oprah says to!)
46. buy a boat
47. go camping on Orcas Island
48. stop at an accident scene and help someone
49. be part of another study that saves lives
50. learn how to pick a lock

I have done it

For the first time in the history of me, I have done it. I made a New Years resolution (actually ON New Years), and I kept it! I think the difference is that I didn't resolve to exercise or eat healthier or be nicer or some other abstract thing. My resolution was to get Ortho certified. There was a test in April (not nearly enough time to study for), and one on October 15. So I bought the $85 book and paid for the $220 test and studied away. Actually, I am a crappy studier, so I put it off until the date began to loom, then I crammed. I am a really good crammer. On the day of the test, which is held at only like 25 cites across the country (luckily for me, that includes Seattle), tons of people from all around the Pacific Northwest showed up, but of all of them, I was the ONLY one who was there for the Ortho certification. Most of the others were for the Med/Surg certification, and some were there for a dialysis/kidney certification. Anyway, I was the ONLY one, and I am now one of only TWO Ortho certified floor RN's at work. (out of the hundred or so that work there) Pretty cool! AND.....I get my $1 an hour raise. Yippee!!!

I thought for sure I had not passed--this was the hardest test I have ever taken!! My floor is trauma orthopedics, so I know all the trauma stuff and sports injuries, but there were a ton of things on oseoporosis and arthritis and pediatric stuff like cerebral palsy and rickets and dwarfism. Not stuff I had a clue about. But I got my results Sunday night, and the number needed to pass was 96, which is roughly 70% correct, and I had 116, which is over 1 standard deviation above the passing level, so apparantly I do have a clue. I just don't have a clue that I have a clue, if you know what I mean!!

So.....go me!!

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Okay, non-sports post coming.....

Hi!! I am still here!! I can write as well as post pictures and my personal basketball analysis.

Mexico was a blast! We had such a good time. Justin and Kim were a lot of fun. We thought we would maybe see each other once or twice a day, have meals together or something, but we ended up spending our entire trip together, for the most part. It was nice to have the last couple days to ourselves, but we would definitely do a couples-trip again. I would have to say that the worst part of the trip was the bugs, especially the bees and the dog-sized cockroach we saw on our last day. But, all the bees flying around the sweet liquor bottles don't bother you so much once you have a few shots of said liquor rolling around inside of you, so that was no problem.

The other sucky part of the trip was coming home. Apparantly, two days AFTER we left, Alaska Airlines emailed us and changed our return flight. So, we missed it. And ended up getting home at 1am. Which sucked. BUT.....I emailed them and complained, and they gave me 7,500 airline miles as a 'sorry' gift. Cool! I now have enough miles for 2 free flights anywhere in the US that Alaska airlines flies (40k)

And, now I am at work, and I am holding the aide's phone because she is helping one of my patients take a shower. It will tie her up for 10-15 minutes, and she would be totally harassed if she had the phone, so I am doing her stuff for a while. Getting ice packs and popsicles, wash up stuff, and moving a bed so far. So....gotta go, but I will update again tonight...........

Sonics rant.......

I know this will make no sense to those who read my blog, but it will make me feel a bit better by posting it..........

WHY is Johan Petro getting all these minutes!?!?? I understand letting him start, since he is 7 foot and can jump, but that is it!! Reggie led the league in rebounds per 48 minutes last season, and now he is a DNP-coaches decision?!?!! How the hell does that happen? The knock against Reggie is that he is not an offensive player, and he can't shoot freethrows. Well, the latest description of the rookie Petro is that he is not an offensive player, and can't shoot freethrows. Put Reggie in!! You get a similar game, but MORE rebounds and he is a scrapper, whereas Petro is a little scrawny and gets pushed around. I don't like the rotation AT ALL. I don't care that we won last night--Reggie should be playing, and so should Danny, for that matter. Not a ton of minutes, but these two should NOT be languishing on the bench. I'm telling you--Weiss is suspect. Too offensively focused, and we are just ignoring defense completely. I LOVE Collison and what he is bringing to the team, but there are some problems here!!!

Monday, November 14, 2005


fountain. Lots of edited photos coming up.......

fountain closeup

I know there are TONS of repeats here. These are all the retouched photos. I will add the rest as I get them done. There WILL be some new ones.........eventually.......

another repeat

Edited out a couple sitting on a bench on the walkway. Can't even tell, can you?!!


breakfast........yes, everyone is hungover

edited out a family getting their picture taken