Sunday, June 29, 2008

Whirlwind Weekend


Where did the weekend go? It feels like I missed a day. Actually, I sort of did. Saturday was a colossal waste of time as we drove all over tarnation looking for my new obsession. That resulted in a lot of wasted time and gas and nothing but disappointment. I guess that is my punishment for losing my mind

But today was a great day. We wanted to pack in all kinds of activities after wasting most of Saturday. We started the day with a great bike ride. We took our one and only road biking route and this was our second attempt at it. The first time we got completely lost, came home and bought a new GPS that we can use on the bike. Today we used the GPS and had a ball.

That reminds me of a story about our new GPS. We also used it on Saturday. I went into a gas station to find a phone book to get an address to plug into the new Nuvi. We plugged it in and drove off. Right off the bat the entire bracket became dis-attached from the windshield and the GPS went crashing to the floor. I picked it up and stuck it back on the windshield. Next thing I know, nothing but garble-gook is coming out. The woman was speaking in tongues! I thought for sure the crash to the ground broke the darn thing. But no . . . while I was in the gas station Karlo changed the settings so that the instructions were spoken in Hungarian. What a riot. The timing for it to fall off the windshield couldn't have been better.

Well anyway, our bike ride was so great that we got home and decided to do it all over again with our motorcycles. Fun, fun. After that it was all work around the house and no more play. We are just now starting to accept the fact that we are throwing a party next week. I think it's time we actually start to make some plans!



Friday, June 27, 2008

Don't Pet That Dog

Several years ago Karlo and I attended a Home Show. We strolled around looking at home improvement products and little did we know the home improvement that would result was furry and four-legged. I still remember the whole scene. There was a greyhound awareness booth and I was drawn to it like a magnet. I circled it from a distant a few times. I stood and read their signage. I went back to pick up a brochure. The whole while Karlo stood across the aisle, with his arms crossed, telling me, "Paula do NOT pet those dogs!" Well, I didn't listen. I went back one more time and that time I pet the dogs. That was it. I was picking out a dog name on the drive back home.

One night, last week in Seattle, Karlo and I found ourselves with nothing to do. We just finished dinner and didn't know what to do with ourselves. We are so unaccustomed to having free time on our hands that we were just plain confused. What do we do now??? Well, in the spare 30 minutes we managed to get ourselves into mischief. "Hey, I know . . . why don't we go visit our car dealership?" Yeah, that was a great idea.

We innocently went to spy on some new cars. It started out innocent, but soon Karlo could see that same twinkle in my eye. That's when he said, "Paula, do NOT pet that car." Once again, I didn't listen to him. I pet it. I even sat in it. And now . . . I'm obsessed with it. Is this really my fault? Ok, but it is ALL my fault?

Now I'm sitting here agonizing over what to do. We are planning to go for a test drive tonight. I need my head examined. I have a perfectly great car, completely paid off, with less than 10K miles on it. It's the smart choice of a car, completely practical, but also boring. I crave a car that better reflects my personality. Oh dear, what's a girl to do? This is all Karlo's fault!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

My Heart is Still Aching

Last night could have been the perfect night. For the first time in several months I didn’t bother bringing home my laptop. I took a break from working on the book and set out to enjoy the evening. We had a gourmet meal, in a terrific atmosphere, and seats with a gorgeous view. OK, we packed some peanut butter and jelly bagels and ate them while floating in our kayak in the middle of the lake at Bigelow Hollow. But it was perfect! Couldn’t ask for a better dinner. As a matter of fact we decided to make this a routine and do this once every week. I loved it. Sorry that I didn’t take my camera and share some shots with you. And to think, this week’s Dig Our Pics theme is water. Shameful.

As if missing the pictures of the beautiful Mountain Laurel reflecting on the lake wasn’t bad enough, when we got back to shore I found the most adorable baby raccoon in the parking lot. I was really kicking myself now for not having the camera. It didn’t take too long to figure out that this little baby was crying out for help. It was so small that it could barely walk. Its legs were still wobbly and it cried and squeaked non-stop. There was no mother in site and my heart broke for this little creature. I hung around and watched it for several minutes and we bonded. It followed me all the way across the parking lot and even tried to run when it saw me getting into the car. It got so close to the car that I had to get out to help direct Karlo out of the parking spot without running it over. I desperately wanted to take it home and Karlo and I argued over it. He insisted that I shouldn’t touch it and needed to leave it alone. All the way home my heart ached. I still can’t stop thinking about it. I even named him Mickey and nearly drove back to find him. I hope to God that he’s going to make it. I still don’t understand why I couldn’t have a pet raccoon. I used to have a squirrel when I was a kid. This is all Karlo’s fault. That meanie.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Praying For a Good Hair Day

But unfortunately my prayers were not answered. I have to get my driver's license renewed today and I hate the stress of the picture taking. After all, you are stuck with it for four years. Why couldn't I at least have descent hair? Instead, my hair came out worse than usual. Drat. Too bad they don't let you Photoshop the pictures. I could use a tan too. Does the DMV allow hats in the photos? If so, I'm going to get one quickly.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Summer Solstice

We just happened to be out in WA on Summer Solstice so we really got to experience “the longest day of the year.” Did you know that it stays light until 10 PM out there? Boy did we feel like losers going to bed before dark most nights. At 9:30 it was still completely bright out. OK, before you think we are really lame, don’t forget about the jet lag. At home I can barely make it to 10 PM so out there 8 PM felt like 11 PM. I’m not sure exactly what time the sun set, but they must have at least an extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day. It’s a little depressing to think that the days are going to start to get shorter from this point. I still feel like summer didn’t even start yet. If I could just finish this book project I might be able to get out and have a life again. I need a tan for heaven’s sake!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Last Week's Pictures

Since I wasn't around on Friday and couldn't post last week's Dig Our Pics pictures, I thought I would squeeze it into this week. Our theme was Architecture and here's the link if you would like to browse and/or rate. If nothing else, it gives Tina something to do at lunch time. Enjoy.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

I Saw a Moose!


Granted it was a female, laying down, in partial captivity, but a moose none the less. I'm not quite sure if this counts enough to cross it off my Bucket List. I would really love to see a male, with a full rack, standing up in the wild. One of these days . . . But for now, I was thrilled to see what a saw. The rest of our animal safari was great. We saw every single breed of animal at the park which, we heard, was a very rare occasion.

Our last couple days in Washington were simply perfect. I truly don't know how we managed to luck out with the best weather they have had in a very long time. One straight week with no rain and the last 4 days were even sunny and warm. I actually had to buy a t-shirt because after scoping out the weather forecasts, I didn't even bother packing any short sleeves.

On Thursday we visited the Boeing Museum of Flight and that was very cool. We got to board an older US Air Force One and saw how the presidents flew in style. We also boarded a Concord and I was a bit under-whelmed by that. I expected it to be grander. Karlo sat in a few fighter planes and we also toured the original red barn where Boeing got it's start. Can you imagine that this company started in a barn?

On Friday we hiked at Mt. Rainer, some times in the snow, and I was still hot. That place is truly beautiful. Unfortunately we couldn't do the same spectacular hike we did 7 years ago because of all the snow. This time we had to hike at the base of the mountain, but it was still awesome. I love that place.

On Saturday we spent the entire day in downtown Seattle. We shopped and strolled and took a harbor cruise. We visited two glass blowing studios where we watched the artists in action. Luckily I have no desire to start up that new hobby. That art looks impossible. I really do marvel at how anybody can create those glass masterpieces. Unfortunately, Karlo was not impressed with the famous Pikes Market. Actually, he hated it. The crowds gave Karlo sensory overload so we didn't stay there too long. To remedy his ailment, we went to the REI flagship store and he was in heaven there. Thank goodness the store closed within the hour of our arrival. That place is very dangerous and could have been very expensive if we had more time. Blew the pants off of any EMS we ever visited.

All in all, we had a great time here. The Pacific Northwest has to be one of the most beautiful parts of the USA. Nice to visit, but we are happy to be home!

If you would like to see the full photo album (I'm warning you, there are tons of photos), you can visit this link.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

More Greetings From WA



I started off my last blog posting joking about the sunny day in Seattle and as it turned out, it actually did end up a nice sunny day. We spent the first part of the day working in the office, but that was the cloudy part. After lunch it turned beautiful and we headed to a gorgeous park called Point Defiance. We hiked through a non-tropical rain forest that had many overlooks to the Puget Sound. Then we visited the zoo and I had a ball seeing all the animals. As it turns out, there is a sister park to the zoo not too far away. And this other park is more of a safari where you drive through and see the animals roaming free, instead of in their jail cells (as Karlo calls the zoo accommodations). They show a moose on their brochure and there are supposedly four moose roaming free there. I asked what the chances are that I will see one and I've been told very good. So help me, if we go there and I DON'T see a moose . . . . uuuugh, I will be very disappointed. Not sure if I can take the disappointment so I'm not sure we will really go. Stay tuned for more news on that.

For more pictures from yesterday's travels, please click here.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Another Sunny Day in Washington

Ok, the truth is that the locals say, "If it's not raining, it's sunny!" So, no rain today and I'm calling it 'sunny.' I think this is as good as it gets around here. I lucked out yesterday and did manage to see some sun. I spent some time strolling around Tacoma. I visited the glass museum and walked around the University of Washington campus. My coworker (that happens to live in WA) showed me around, took me to lunch and treated us to a spectacular boat ride in Gig Harbor. The sun was out and the weather was perfect. I had a blast. The picture above is my favorite. It's the harbor from the dog's (Sully) perspective. This dog belongs to my co-workers daughter and if we didn't have to fly home, I would have stolen him. Here are some other pictures from my day yesterday.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Update From Seattle

The weather has been warm and sunny for the past two days. Unfortunately we spent most of Sunday in the air and all of yesterday in an office. sigh. We took a nice drive around the block last night and found this beautiful site of Mt. Rainer. Just about everybody around this place has an amazing view of the mountain. Well, when the weather is clear enough to actually see it. This area would easily steal my heart if the climate was better. I'm pretty sure I would pack up and move out here if it wasn't so cold, wet and dreary. Oh well, I guess that's a good thing because I'm not all that eager to move again anytime soon.

This afternoon I'm off to Gig Harbor. I think there is a glass museum, boutique shopping and a boat ride in my future. Thank goodness I packed my fleece.

More to follow.

Monday, June 16, 2008

The Joys of Travel

We made it to Seattle - barely. What a long day. We left our house at 6:30 am for our hour drive to the airport. We checked in to find out that our flight would be delayed by an hour. This would make our connection in Chicago VERY tight, but it was still doable. With a little luck, all would work out. We boarded the plane just when United said we would, but then we sat in the plane for another hour. Not good. Needless to say, we missed our connection in Chicago.

That's when the fun started. We were told to go to the Customer Service line to rebook our flight. No joke, there were at least 400 other sorry souls standing in this line with only 3 customer services reps working. After moving about 20 paces in line in one hour we did the math and determined that was not going to work out. We abandoned the line and managed to find an agent at the gate where the next flight to Seattle would leave. Unfortunately, that flight was already booked and 25% over sold. The next available flight with open seats was the next day, due to arrive Monday EVENING. Karlo's big Boeing presentation was scheduled for 9 AM Monday morning.

Neither of us wanted to make that call to the guy that arranged the presentation. Considering Karlo got stuck in Germany last year and never made it to Seattle for this very same presentation, this bad news seemed even worse. Making the call wasn't a problem because we couldn't find his phone number. So now, not only where we not making it for the presentation, but we we going to leave him hanging at the airport.

Enter our hero Lisa who saved the day by emailing a message to the guy we needed to contact. It took us another hour to come up with this solution, after calling every coworker in my address book and reaching nobody. Luckily all of this airport stress made our 3 hour wait period in Chicago fly by. Now the stress of whether or not we would make it on the next flight as stand-by passengers. If not, we needed to find a hotel. We waited and crossed our fingers. What were the chances we would get on? And what were the chances that we would not only get on, but score ourselves First Class seats? Well, we did and it was bliss. We had super comfy seats and gourmet food. I even liked the movie (Fools Gold). So the disaster of a day turned out just fine. Our contact was waiting for us when we landed. Thanks again Lisa! The weather is even nice for the first time in 6 months. We apparently brought the much missed sunshine with us.

More later . . .

Saturday, June 14, 2008

My Debut as a Line Dancer

Look out Carrie Underwood . . . Paula is breaking into the country music world. I have to admit, it was fun! I think I'll be taking line dancing next year too. Maybe I can even twist Karlo's arm to join me. Although that might be kind or hard, considering his job this year was to be the Good Humor Man. I have no idea how many ice creams he bought and ate during my 20 minutes of fame.

Side note: we are leaving tomorrow for Seattle for a week. Unfortunately, I will NOT have internet access most of the time. I will try my best to find some wi-fi spots. Too bad I don't drink coffee because I think Starbucks offers free internet and Lord knows there are enough Starbucks in Seattle. I'll do my best to blog as much as I can.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Friday Funnies

I have to thank Penni for the following "Things to Make you Smile." I got a few good chuckles this morning so I thought I would share . . .

Things to Make You Smile
  • I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
  • Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.
  • I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
  • Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.
  • Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
  • God must love stupid people; He made so many.
  • Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
  • Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it!
  • Wrinkled was not one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up.
  • They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.
  • He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.
  • A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
  • Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends! Life is too short and friends are too few!

Also for your Friday entertainment, here's the link to this week's photos. The theme for the week was Objects. Enjoy. http://www.digourpics.com/category.php?c=10

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Living in a Small Town

I'm still adjusting to life in a small town and it never ceases to amaze me. Yes, I know I moved from one small town to another, but for some reason Eastford seems much 'smaller' than Andover - despite the fact that it's physically much bigger. I never had such small town dealings living in Andover. Here are some examples of what life is like now . . .

Last summer I made a call to the town tax accessor. Boy did I dread making that call as I knew nothing good could come of it. Well, I had the pleasure of talking to the most delightful lady, who not only felt sorry for me, but did her very best to help out. Six months later she remembered me and when the new mill rate was announced, she made a personal call to me just to give me the good news about our personal property tax bill. Talk about personalized service.

This past weekend I visited the library for the first time. I walked in the door and found the librarian sitting at the desk. I announced, "This is my first visit to the Eastford library" and the librarian said, "I know." Can you imagine that she recognizes every single person that comes in? We had a pleasant little chat and when I wanted to check out a book, only to realize that it will be due when we'll be away, she said, "No problem, I'll just make a note that you will be late returning the book." Imagine the Hartford Public LIbrary 'making a note' that you will be late? What a riot.

Now it gets even better. While I was at the library, Karlo was across the street at the hardware store. Since we were going 'downtown' we decided to kill more than one bird with one stone. Karlo was buying some lumber and the salesman wanted to know how he was going to get it home. Karlo pointed to the VW and said he would tie the wood to the roof. The last time we were there to get wood we had my car and the trailer. Now mind you, we've only been to the hardware store a half a dozen times in the last year. The guy says, "Oh is this car your work horse and the Saab your every day car?" The guy REMEMBERED the make of Karlo's other car? You have got to be kidding me. Next time we should drive the bike just to confuse him.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Where's Paula?

Click on the image above to 'find me.'

I'm here! But as usual, I'm BUSY as can be. I had full intentions of giving my weekend report yesterday, but it just didn't happen. Work is out of control these days and I fear it will only get worse. I'm off next week for vacation (oh, did I ever mention that? More on that later) and I'll never catch up on work that needs to be done before I go - not to mention the pile that I'll come home to. Sometimes it's just not worth it to take the vacation in the first place.

Now, looking back at my weekend, there really wasn't all that much to report on. Nothing particularly interesting happened. I didn't take any pictures. It was all around much more work than play and that's no fun to do, let alone talk about. So forget the weekend.

Last night was much more interesting. Rick and Nancy came over for dinner. Wait, back up 5 minutes. I was rushing around preparing dinner and I dropped some sauce on my skirt. As I was feverishly trying to clean it before the doorbell rang, the phone rang instead. The call went something like this, "Paula, I know this is insane to even ask, but do you think you can design an ad tonight?" I had visitors coming over, but I did bring my laptop home. And the reason I brought my laptop home? Because I have 170 pages of edits to make on the book. One of our reviewers gave us her edited copy yesterday afternoon and there wasn't one single page with no edits. The work is just piling up both at work and at home. I can't escape it. And I'm sure you all know that I did make that ad in the last hour last night after company left. I'm so used to being so overwhelmed that nothing phases me anymore.

But back to our visit with Rick and Nancy. We had a great time. We walked around the yard and Rick & Nancy reminisced about all the plants they planted. The dogs met for the first time and got along just fine. The pack ran around together - Mack desperately trying to keep up with his new long-legged friends. We talked about our upcoming visit to VA and even made some plans to take a drive down to NC with them. Oh what fun! I needed that nice break.


I think Mack has a crush on Peanut.

The mountain laurel is starting to bloom.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Nature Pictures

Today completes the Nature theme in our photoblog club. The link below will take you to a page that displays thumbnails of all the pictures submitted. If you would like to enlarge a picture and/or vote on one, just click on the thumbnail and the page will load. The voting star system appears at the bottom of the picture. Have fun looking at some beautiful pictures on a rainy Friday. Here's the link.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Photo Fun

Remember when I told you that I started a Photo Blog? Well, since then Jamie, Lisa and I have collaborated on quite a fun little project. Actually, Jamie is doing all the work building our new site and he's done a great job so far. Let me explain.

It was Lisa that found the new photo blog theme and suggested I start a new blog. Then Jamie saw it and instantly made his own. He suggested that we pick themes each week and each add photos to our individual blogs to match that theme. But then we got the idea of making a new site that displays both of our pictures in one place. From there we invited Lisa to join us (since the whole thing was her fault to begin with). So now we have our own little photo club - or maybe Jamie wants to call it a photo competition (being the competitive guy he is). Each week we will pick a different theme and the three of us will add our pictures. You can view all the pictures and even vote on them with a star system.

Our new web site is www.digourpics.com. I'm planning to post a link (on this blog) every Friday that goes directly to that week's theme. If you are bored on a Friday and would like to rate some of the pictures, that would be cool. If you would like to join us in our little party, please let me know. The more the merrier - more people for Jamie to beat ;-)

This week's theme is Nature and would you believe an enormous turtle was walking down our street this morning and I did NOT get out of the car to take a picture? Shameful. Now Jamie . . . he would have gotten out in the rain for the shot!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Boys Just Don’t Understand

Yesterday, Karlo and I went to pick up my birthday present. Yes, I know . . . it’s still a month away and yes, I know that I shouldn’t be meddling with my own gift. But I didn’t trust Karlo to get this one all on his own. Some ‘Paula interaction’ was a definite necessity. I was so excited – like a kid in a toy store. I couldn’t wait to see it. When I saw it, it brought me pure joy. I held my breathe in disbelief. What a good gift buyer I am ;-)

Karlo decided that he’s taking possession and I’m not to see it again until my birthday. That is torture, but I guess he’s right. After all, I do need something to look forward to, rather than just getting a stinkin’ year older.

I was allowed to slip it on for a brief minute. What a rush. I swear it was like getting engaged all over again. I tried to explain to Karlo how it makes me feel. What IS it about sparkly jewelry that attracts the females of the world? I can’t explain it and Karlo just doesn’t understand. He truly wanted to know what it feels like. I think maybe it’s like trying to explain love to somebody that’s never been in love. You just can’t explain it. And I guess boys will never know the rush that beautiful jewelry can give a woman. I couldn’t come up with one single similar example to use . . . Imagine a brand new . . . power tool . . . No, that didn’t work. How about a new pair of steel toe boots? No, that doesn’t work either. There just isn’t anything in the male world that can compare. Sorry guys.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Summer Cleaning

I completely missed "Spring cleaning" so it was definitely time for Summer cleaning. We spent all morning on Sunday cleaning the house (well, half the house - the half that the dogs occupy). Gosh those buggers are dirty. I couldn't take it anymore. If the house was going to get clean, so were the hounds.

Bentley in our 'bathtub.'

The drowned rat after her bath.

Drying off in the sun.

After all the cleaning, I walked around the yard and marveled at how all the things I planted were actually growing. How exciting. Now if I can just keep Karlo from mowing them all down, I'll be happy. I couldn't resist taking a picture of this little addition to the yard.

Next, it was time for a break. We sat down on the deck and the doorbell rang. Unexpected visitors are very rare for us. And don't you know . . . OF COURSE I was unshowered and without makeup. This is the second time this has happened to me. uuuugh. I never learn. Good thing JoAnne and Joe didn't seem to mind. We had a great little surprise visit.

Then it was time for a bike ride. Karlo had to put on his special biking socks. I once explained to Lisa that he doesn't wear biking socks to 'look cool' but instead to 'be cool' (keep his feet cool). But after taking a closer look, maybe he does 'look cool,' Not sure. You decide.