Happy Day After Thanksgiving!

I was self-tagged by Lori , so if you're reading this consider yourself tagged as well: (if it's green I've done it)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child - kind of
    
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice -does the hotel in Vegas count?
    
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David-the fake one in Atlantic City
    
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp, kind of-the Holocaust museum in WA,DC
    
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own.

Now consider yourself tagged and post on your blog!

Suck it!

Dear husband and I went to see Kathy Griffin last night at the Paramount. She was HILARIOUS! And it was a much needed night out, even if all we did was see the show and stop at Jack in the Box on the way home. It was out, it was fun and we were without kids.

Better late than never

These are photos taken in the same spot as the ones below, the very next day. The river went over it's banks but had receded by morning.

My girls went to school, thank God. I hate missing school because that takes a day away from summer vacation.
All is warm, well kind of, and dry here - for now!

It's raining, it's pouring...

I know it's kind of spotty but it's pouring outside. This is the Puyallup river, not too far from my house. At 3 pm I drove past this spot and noticed the river was really high and running really fast. At 4:30 we drove down to take a peek, it's over it's bank and doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. Voluntary evacuations are being conducted but I suspect they will be mandatory before long. The rain isn't supposed to let up until tomorrow sometime-if they're right about the weather (which they usually aren't). I'm glad I live above all this on a big hill!

Tell me again why I love dogs?

I can put up with just about anything my two furbabies throw at me. They ate my good shoes the other day (my fault I left them out), they dig holes (my fault they're bored), the new one Roxy has accidents (I just don't know her queue's yet), they bark at everyone and everything (not sure if this is my fault or not but since everything else is why not)
But I cannot tolerate being whined awake at 6am on a Saturday morning! Seriously, it makes me want to do horrible things I can't type here for fear of being reported to some agency or something. I stayed up late last night too, well late for me, watching Comedy Central, only because I thought I could sleep in.
What the CRAP! As my daughter would say.
Anyone want a dog?

The Sensitive One

She is my sensitive daughter, she loves to write, is always thinking. Needs to work on her spelling but gets her point across.

No thank you!

Last night was an historic night and the end of an error. On January 20, 2009 George W. Bush will be gone and we will have elected a president from my generation. Oh, and the first black president. I had a bit more hope this morning when I woke up, I was a little happier. My young children watched all of the election returns and were excited to see Barack Obama become president number 44. They don't quite understand what this means but one day, maybe when they want to run for president, it will all come back to them.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

"In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." MLK

The birthday party

We survived the birthday party/Halloween party! She had a blast and the decorations were a hit. We trick or treated all over our neighborhood after the party, walked more than a mile. Then came back home for candy and a "scary" movie.
Here is a slideshow of the kids having a great time!