Monday, April 28, 2008

A little update...

So, I've been sort of bad about blogging (especially with pictures) lately. Since the weather has been off and on, I haven't really gotten any pictures. So...I will just do a quick little update on what we've been up to.

*Heath and Grayson spent a couple days together this past weekend while I did some presentations for my business and while I worked my one day of the month at the vet clinic.

*Grayson and I went to downtown Olympia for Arts Walk on Saturday evening. We hung out with friends and ate yummy pizza; walked around (a lot) and checked out the music and art exhibits. It was quite a zoo down there....seemed like a lot of the people were 1/2 my age! We finally had some great weather this day....and didn't have to put on a sweater till it was getting dark.

*Sunday: Grayson and I went for a walk at the Nisqually Delta. Well, I walked...while Grayson rode on my back in the pack. Whew....he gets awfully heavy...but its a good workout. Even though it was a bit cloudy, it was still in the mid to high 60's and we did have some sun. We saw many birds and ducks, an otter, turtle, frogs, mergansers, geese and bugs. Grayson was so cute and waved at everyone who walked by. He wanted to hold my hand until he saw someone coming....then would start waving at them the moment he saw them. This cracked me up and it was so cute because it put a smile on everyone's face. Heath went on a bike ride with Greg while we were at the delta....preparing for the triathlon in June.

*Sunday evening: Heath took Grayson down to the lake to see the Hydroplane races and to check out the boats. Heath said he kept saying "skedt", "skedt".....which he finally realized meant "scared". He was trembling a little and saying this because the boats were really loud. Heath explained why these boats are loud and that it was ok, etc. He got used to it after a little bit and really enjoyed watching them race around, with water squirting up in the sky. He was still talking about all that today and kept saying his version of scared. Cute.

*I started a 7-day detox body cleanse (new Arbonne product) on Saturday. I must be pretty toxic or something because the past 2 days I've been pretty tired and a little spacey. This is just a cleanse that you drink throughout the day and basically eat normal (healthy, no alcohol, etc). I've been a little headachy and felt a little funky yesterday, but overall hasn't been too bad. Heath started his a couple days before me and hasn't really noticed much discomfort at all.

*Heath has been working on our deck again (along with my cousin, Tony) putting up the deck cover. I think the majority of it is done...we just need the actual covering now. It will be really exciting to be able to use our deck all the time regardless of the weather...and to get to use our outdoor heater. As I write this...it is completely downpouring. Hmmm....I thought today was actually turning out to be nice. Maybe it will rain really hard then be done. Heath has also done some stuff with our yard....moving some plants/shrubs and several other tasks. It is amazing how good our deck looks just with the addition of a few plants around it.

*I finally set up our composter after several years of wanting (and feeling guilty) to do so. I can't believe we didn't have this a long time ago especially because I am such an obsessive recycler! I feel really good about not throwing all those produce and food scraps, paper towels in the trash.

Well, that just about sums it up. I will hopefully have some pictures soon!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Fun times....

So, I had an interesting morning. I opened the blinds in our room and noticed that there was a "dead" possum in our yard. I use quotes because this is what he/she appeared to be. I then noticed Corbin's wet fur and knew that he had been rolling all over this possum and was sure to stink really bad. I figured I needed to "take care" of the situation, suck it up and go bag up this "dead" possum before the garbage man picked up our trash. I go out there, bag in hand....really not wanting to do this, but knowing it has to be done. Unfortunately, I've had to deal with plenty of deceased animals in my day....surely I could manage a dead possum. When I got closer I saw that his/her side was moving.....Oh S***! (Sorry, I had a few other choice words to go along with that, but I will spare you my trucker language). So, now I'm not sure what to do. I'm not one to kill anything....I freak out if I run over a frog in the spring time. However, I didn't want it to suffer either. I decided I needed to take it into the clinic to get some blue juice administered. Ok...not exactly what I had planned for our morning, but off I went to get changed...all the while I kept checking on this lovely marsupial making sure that the dogs didn't mess with it. Well, it actually got up and tried to walk, but couldn't because of its injuries....I could see it shaking also. Ok....not as dead as I thought it was!

So, I get Grayson in the car and go prepare for possum capturing....with my leather gloves, plastic bin with towel and shovel (for scooping, not bonking). Ok....its gone! Then I noticed it had made it another part of the yard....most likely compliments of the dogs (since they were coming from that direction). I decided the shovel was going to be my best bet since he/she started moving more when I touched it....these guys have some pretty serious teeth too! Once I got it in the bin I brought it through the house to go to the car. Ahhh...it started moving more...but I did make it outside onto the front porch. I said a couple choice words, sprinted to the garage to grab the lid. Phew! While we drove to the clinic I noticed that it was standing up somewhat and looking around.

We arrive at the clinic....everyone is so pumped that I brought them a possum! They got it sedated and waited several minutes before getting it out of the bin. When the time had come, Brenda grabbed it and set it on the table, moved it to its side then yelled "its got babies!" Oh no!! There we were all freaking out because there were all these babies moving around in her pouch. Now I felt really bad. Can you imagine if I hadn't noticed the momma possum until later....there might have been all sorts of baby possums strewn about my yard. Yikes! So, they pulled them out and placed them into a box----counting 8 total. Holy cow! A few of the girls all said that they would divide them up and raise them. Remember people...this is a vet hospital....we save everything! The babies are really darn cute though. Oh, and momma was in pretty bad shape, so she had to be put down.

Anyway, despite my lack of coffee until post-adventure....I ran on enough adrenaline to get me through the morning. I will have to get some pictures of these lovely little creatures and keep a possum diary. Ok, maybe not....but I probably will a little.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

My brother's website

I keep forgetting to add Justin's glass website...but here it is. I will also keep it in my family and friends links. It isn't totally finished and he needs to update it, but it will give you an idea of the stuff he does. However, most of the stuff he does now is way bigger. He is currently in Maui working at the Maui Glass Blowing Factory. He is loving everything about it there....he has a house in the jungle that has lemon trees, avocado trees, orange trees, and many other fruit trees. He really wants me to come visit soon....which I would love as well. Dad is there now and is telling me that he is going to stay another 2 weeks (he is kidding though).

http://www.justinwbrown.com

Monday, April 14, 2008

I'm Back!

Well, I'm back from a terrific conference in Atlanta! We had an eventful time full of inspiration, motivation and fun. Tim McGraw played on our last night. Even though I'm not his biggest fan, it was still really good and was great to see how he and the band took in all the screaming ladies! I'm not 100%, but I think there were somewhere around 14,000 people. I got in yesterday....and my bags got in today. Apparently they went to Chicago....I think this is because we were trying to get bumped; almost got bumped; then at the last minute they didn't need us to, but my bags went there anyway.

Its good to be back and get into a normal routine. Whatever normal means. It was great to see Heath and Grayson again....they did really well while I was gone. Grayson was totally being a devil today and has tested my every last nerve. He has been doing this for awhile with hitting, kicking (during diaper changes), throwing toys, and being completely obstinant. However, today was 10 fold! He didn't want to take a nap and it took several attempts until I could get him to settle down and go to sleep. I sure hope that tomorrow will be better. I know he is doing this for attention and he thinks its funny (which he likes to let me know by saying "funny").

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

I'm off

Well, tomorrow I am headed to Atlanta for our Arbonne National Training Conference. I am really looking forward to it and know there will be lots of fun in store. Tim McGraw will be performing for us on Saturday for our awards banquet....this should be fun. Even though I'm not a big fan it still should be a pretty good time.....plus we get to get all gussied up too!

Today, Grayson and I got to visit with new baby Rell Nicole Norquist who was born on Sunday. She is so tiny and is most adorable! Grayson kind of held her and touched her head. Anyway, we really enjoyed our time there and look forward to spending more time with baby and her folks!

Hopefully I will have some new pictures soon! I think the weather is supposed to get better once I get back, so I intend to have some nice outdoor photos. We got lucky with 2 days of nice weather last week....but then our rainy weather returned.

Stay tuned!