Foster Parent

I've decided to get a dog in the spring. As a trial run, Carol has decided to foster a dog named Stevie. He'll only be here until Amanda and Josh get back from Maine, because then they're adopting him. But, in the meantime, he was staying at the vets office. That's no fun. So, he's staying here and getting to know Stevie (the cat) and Lydia. So far, they're not too keen on the idea. But, I think they're adjusting. It's only been about 15 minutes  and they've already stopped fluffing up. He's too cute not to love. 

Ouch

Yesterday we had to run in the pool for our lifeguard inservice. We ran 500 meters which took me almost 7 minutes in water up to my chest. 

My foot is not happy as evidenced by the huge blister on the pad of my foot. :(

I hate mice

This house has had a mouse problem since the day I moved in. I have a drawer filled w/ mouse traps. 

Our maintenance guy put some poison under the house since we can't put poison in the house because of the cats. They can't catch a mouse, but I'm sure they'd find the poison. 

Well, a mouse must have found the poison under the house and has died somewhere under my 2nd bathroom/computer area in the living room. It's disgusting. I've been home most of the day because I had the day off. I've had the bathroom fan on all day and candles burning non-stop just to cover the smell a little bit. It's so disgusting!!! I'm looking forward to getting out the house tomorrow.

Amanda and I are going to try to see The Secret Life of Bees. We went the last time we both had a day off and in the middle of the movie, the movie reel broke!! We got our money back and a free pass, so we'll give it another shot tomorrow. 

Boring stuff, but that's my life now that it's too cold to ride my Roxy...that's what I've decided to name my bike. Foxy Roxy. :)

Dream Come True

Today I made one of my dreams come true. I bought my Harley!!!! It's so pretty and feels so good when I ride. I love it!! Check it out.

I'm Ready to Ride

So, last weekend was my motorcycle class. I got my helmet on Wednesday. It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself. I got it for $31 on Ebay...that makes it even better. 

I also got some boots. I had to have "sturdy" shoes for class, so of course I had to get some Harley boots. 

I'm hoping to get a bike at the end of Oct, beginning of November. The bike I used in class was a loaner from the HD place in Cedar Rapids. It's not a Harley, it's a Suzuki. But, I figured why not get some experience on a cheap bike and then invest in a nice HD. If/when I get the bike, I'll put up a pic of it. 

The Perfect Day

Bowling Green 27 Pitt 17

East Carolina 27 Virginia Tech 22

Utah 25 Michigan 23

Iowa 26 Maine 3

West Virginia 48 Villanova 21

I love college football!!!

Yearbook Fun

Amanda discovered this website where you upload a picture and then it's puts you in yearbook pictures from various years. Here are a few of mine. Enjoy. The first couple are from Mom & Dad's day. The fro is from '78. 

For Bethany

Here's a snake picture for Bethany. This is from Underwater Adventure at the Mall of America. It's a little aquarium right at the mall. 

Summer

Things have been so busy this summer. I'm glad it's over. Well, summer camps are over anyway.

Today my back porch became the wild kingdom. Various animals took residence on/under my grill. A very large spider, wasps (who stung Carol on the leg before we realized they were there) and two frogs. The frogs looked like a mommy and kid. They looked like rocks. I don't know that I've seen frogs like that before.

The other day Stevie took a rest in one of his favorite toys...a paper bag. Lydia was jealous of Stevie's photo session, so I took some of her too. 

Summer

Well, not much has been happening I guess. I'll try to start doing better about posting stuff. But, Heather and Mandy...you guys need to step it up, too!!

Yesterday I went floating on the river with a bunch of friends. It was nice. Not nearly as crowded as 4th of July weekend. I got a little too much sun this time though :(

After everyone was here to visit, I went to the Twin Cities for the weekend. The best part was eating lunch at Bubba Gump. I love that place. It was at the Mall of America. I have no desire to go there again, unless it's for lunch at Bubba Gumps. It is exactly what it is described to be- a huge mall. For someone who's not at that fond of malls, it wasn't too exciting. 

Then we went to a Twins games. The Twins beat the Rangers 14-2. First game I've seen in a dome. That was nice since it was a bit rainy. 

LL Bean

One life goal down, a few more to go. I've always wanted to go to L.L. Bean and I finally made it. It was awesome. It's not just a store. It's a whole complex. It was wonderful. I had a really hard time making decisions. I wanted the backpack, but didn't think I'd be able to carry it on. :(

Also, a pic of Heidi and Ryan. The real reason for the whole trip. The wedding was beautiful. The reception was fun. And it was really cool to see them get married. They met at camp my first summer there back in 2001. This wedding was a long time coming.

Maine

Here are a few pics from Maine. The first three are from Acadia National Park. Frenchman Bay. Me and Amanda w/ some seaweed. Some scenery. Me at LL Bean. And me disappointed that there were no whales to be seen on the whale watch. :(

Boredom

It was a boring night so I decided to try to get a picture of one of the hummingbirds that have been hanging out in the backyard. They didn't turn out very clear, but oh well. 

CR Flood

These are pics from Cedar Rapids. The daytime ones are from Friday and tonight as we drove through I tried to get some more. It is very, very sad. The water has begun to go down and you can just see all sorts of garbage and damage. The bottom two are right downtown. 1st avenue and city hall. The water is just back under the bridge, but it was over all of the bridges except the interstate bridge, but it was right up to the bottom of it on Friday.

Zoo

Here are a couple pics from the Omaha Zoo. I love that place. There's a pic for Heather and one for baseball fans...

Like Mother Like Daughter

Last night I went out on the porch to read a book in the cool air. Lydia decided she wanted to go outside and play. She ran out the door before i could stop her. She was out in the yard meowing up a storm, which was unusual. Typically she'll just go in the woods and play. I kept trying to see what she was yipping about, but couldn't tell. Later, I saw her flip something up in the air and I thought she must have caught a mouse. I got closer and realized it was a snake! It was a small one, but a snake nonetheless. I kept trying to get her to go in the house, but she'd just run away. I figured out that she wanted me to come see the snake or something because she finally carried the snake up on the porch, dropped it and layed beside it. I told Carol to come see the snake and Lydia walked right in the house when she opened the door. What a proud kitty she was. 

This morning i got up at 8am, on my day off mind you, because I wanted to get the grass mowed before it got hot. Then, I decided to use an ant spray that I got at Home Depot last night. You just spray it all around the house and it's supposed to kill ants and other bugs. As I was spraying, I saw a snake. It was in my flower bed, where I saw one a lot last year. I got a shovel and debated, "do I just give it Grandma's shovel treatment or try to catch it?" I almost killed it like Grandma would when it started trying to strike me, but decided instead to grab a bucket out of the garage and catch it. It's now in the bucket waiting for Thom, the nature guy, to come see if he wants it. If not, he'll release it somewhere else. Hopefully it won't come back. 

Flood 2008

Iowa is flooding. All over the state rivers are rising. This is the river down the hill from camp. The sign that you can barely see is taller than I am and about 40 yards or so from the river bank. Crazy. I think it might have gone down some today because it wasn't as bad in town as it was yesterday. But, when I was down there last night, I could see the water creeping up the road. 

I No Feel So Good

Well, I'm on the verge of pneumonia and it's no fun. The medicine I'm taking is giving me a splitting head ache. :( I not happy. 

REBA

Thanks to Heather who told me Reba and Kelly Clarkson are going to be in Moline. I can't go to that concert, but I bought tickets today to see just Reba in Council Bluffs in June!! I haven't seen Reba since, well, since Dad took me and Heather to see her and Brooks and Dunn. When was that? Then, I will probably get tickets to Reba and Kelly in Little Rock in November...probably. We'll see what gas prices are like by then.

I have a new HD channel...Music HD (MHD). The other night they replayed that CMT Giants: Reba. I recorded it so we can watch it when you all come visit this summer. It's awesome!

Happy Hunting

Tonight I went morel hunting for the first time. You know I don't like mushrooms, so I gave them all to my friend John who had the idea in the first place. 

Score: Shannon 8, John 0, Jen 0. 

Mom & Dad

Aren't they cute? 

What a Burger!

You know the arcade game "The Claw"? The one with all the prizes and you position the claw over what you want and drop it, then it grabs it, pulls it up a little and then drops it and breaks your heart? Yeah, it took me three tries to get this hamburger, but I did it!! I've decided to call him Mike. I'm not going to eat him, I wuv him. :)