Friday Five! **
1. What are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day? I roll over and basically nuzzle the puppy until she stirs and licks my nose. Then I usually lay there for a few minutes petting her before I start my bathroom getting-ready routine. If Joe's home and not working (he's home 95% of the time in the morning), he takes the puppy outside to go potty. If he's working, I do.

2. What are the last things that you do at night before going to bed? Turn off the TV, make sure the puppy goes potty one more time, lock the doors, brush my teeth, set the security alarm, change my clothes and crawl into bed.

3. What daily routine have you recently added to your day? Getting something together in the morning for lunch that day. I've been trying to be good about bringing my lunch to work.

4. What routine do you wish you get rid of? Rushing off to work 10 minutes before I'm supposed to be there. I don't like having to rush, and winding up 10 minutes late to work every day, but it's become part of my schedule. I'm working on that.

5. What's the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don't do it some point within your day? Kisses for my husband and my puppy. If I don't get to see them both and tell them I love them, something is amiss. She's at puppy-daycare for the weekend, and I already feel off-kilter this morning without my fuzzy black Scottie baby. At least I have Joe. :-)
Posted 11:12 AM by Kerry O.

Clones or Bozos? ** This is a joke, right?
Posted 11:04 AM by Kerry O.

I've been through the desert on a horse with no name ** Well, it has a name. It's "Mommy's Car." I'm out of work at noon, then Joe and I get to schlep across the desert in mom's 2002 Sonata. She didn't want us driving the Metro, even though it is in great condition and used to be hers! She's pulled that mom "I want you to be safe" trump card, and we swapped cars. While I love driving this car (even if it is huge compared to my little car), I am always nervous behind its wheel. It's fully insured, and so am I, but it still makes me nervous. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and we'll be there in no time. We're coming, Jen! The puppy's at my father and step-mother's house (she went over yesterday - it was strange sleeping without her last night), and the fish is at my mom's. All the grandparents are getting early babysitting practice, even if the "grandkids" are swimming and barking. It's good for them.

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful weekend. "See" you on Monday!
Posted 9:17 AM by Kerry O.

Wah Wah Wah ** My neighbors are whining that roof rats have tarnished the Holier-than-Thou image of our neighborhood. On the upside, people are developing a more close-knit community around here than ever before. Still... Drop it. Your house is still worth a crapload more than it was when you bought it. Sheesh.
Posted 4:20 PM by Kerry O.

Well said ** Blowing yourself up does not help the Palestinian cause. To the contrary, suicide-bombing missions could well blow up the best and only hope for a Palestinian state. It's a news-surfing day, sorry.
Posted 1:42 PM by Kerry O.

The sky is falling! ** Chicken Little has 877 years to make a ruckus.
Posted 1:30 PM by Kerry O.

One more day, tra-la-la ** Just one more day until we get to go see Jen and Scott! I can't wait. I'm really getting excited now. And Jen, I can't email you from my internet addy. My home computer has been kaput since the weekend. I can't check Delphi, either. Sorry guys. Post here if you need/want to talk to me. :-)

BTW, as far as those D-Backs rings yesterday, check this out. It's even a front-page news story on azcentral. Go figure.
Posted 8:47 AM by Kerry O.

Good Grief! ** The number of rings on eBay keeps rising and look at this! The Buy It Now option is for $150?!?! Holy shimoly! For a little chunk of metal? I mean, I'm glad I got one and all, but geez!

BTW, saw a license plate a couple of weeks ago with the coolest personalization ever. It seems appropriate right now. Arizona license plate number "OMG WTF". Priceless.
Posted 11:58 AM by Kerry O.

Lemmings ** The game last night was awesome! Curt Schilling dominated, Kim got his first win, and first appearance since blowing games 4 and 5 in the World Series last year (and subsequently earning the title of "New York's Favorite Pitcher"), I got a cool tacky gold World Series replica ring, and so on. (Incidentally, eBay had 2 rings for auction as of this morning, and now they have about 10 - expect dozens by tomorrow). Of course, I appeared to have left my brain at home and I left my ticket at dinner (got it back), then dropped Chris's inside the ballpark before going back out to find him (got it back), couldn't get money because the ATM was broken (never did get money), and just generally brain-farted all night.

But we lucked into finding a hidden line, after dodging around lines that were thousands and thousands of people long, many of whom had been standing in those lines for hours. We got in line, got inside, and got our replica rings in somewhere around 15-20 minutes. It was astounding how many people walked up to the ballpark and stopped, in a mass throng of people not remotely resembling a line, and bitched and moaned about the fact that the "line" wasn't moving. Um, leave the throng, walk to the rest of the entrances and turnstiles lining the front of the ballpark, and you might be able to get in sooner, or at least some more air to breathe and less B.O. Ember and I tried telling people this... they thought we were lying. They seriously thought we were messing with them. They demanded to see the ring as proof that we'd already been inside. Idiots! What is it going to hurt you if you leave this line to check things out a hundred feet away? You'll have to turn around and re-join the throng? Are you really losing a "place" in "line?" Whatever.

Anyway, once inside, it was a lovely evening, and a fabulous game. C'mon, D-Backs scored 7 runs in the second inning, including a big fat Grand Slam by Damian Miller. If that's not a World Champion team, I don't know what is.

Sorry for the baseball post. I am just very happy baseball is back now. Look at it on the bright side... there are only 160 games left for me to talk about. ;-)
Posted 10:39 AM by Kerry O.

Baseball ** Off to the ball game! Keep your fingers crossed for those D-Backs.
Posted 3:58 PM by Kerry O.

There is a God ** After that post below, I returned to azcentral.com to see this! Amen! News happens fast in this state.
Posted 2:00 PM by Kerry O.

Shudder to think ** This is horrifying. If you know anything about our "beloved" sheriff, you'll understand. Ick.
Posted 1:40 PM by Kerry O.

Stand by your man ** Joe has an interview today with Scottsdale Public School District for substitute teaching. I'm sure he'll get it, but I still get nervous for him. I just hope he likes subbing. He's always toyed with the idea of being a teacher, and this way he will get a little experience to help him decide. Not to mention a little extra income. That would be nice too.

My brother is getting better, I think. He has pink eye. He visited us for a little bit last night and his eyes looked a little clearer. Hi, Chris! See you at the Diamondbacks game tonight! Replica rings and r e p e a t season, here we come!
Posted 9:06 AM by Kerry O.

April Foolery ** Wil made a funny. I was actually going to make a little congratulatory comment, but boy am I glad I didn't. I'm gulley-ball lately.
Posted 8:40 AM by Kerry O.

Fun fun fun 'til Prudential takes the T-Bird away ** I would pay money not to be here today. It's been an unpleasant day all around. On the upside, I am proud of myself for handling it well. A lesser person would have cracked under the strain today.
Posted 3:53 PM by Kerry O.

Opening Day ** Alas, I will not be attending the Opening Day for the D'Backs because it is a day game, and I'm choosing not to play hooky. My friend Melissa here is taking a half-day to go, though, and I'm horribly jealous. If I had chosen to go, I could have used one of these excuses. Too funny! I'll go to tomorrow night's game, though, and not need any excuses at all!
Posted 9:08 AM by Kerry O.

No fooling ** I am not an April Fool-er, fortunately for those around me. Ever since my childhood fooling bonanzas (switched my parents' huge identical dressers around - not just the drawers, which would have been smarter and easier - no, the whole things), I haven't had much of a taste for practical joking. Hope you all have trick-free days today too.

This was a lovely weekend in sunny Arizona. Temps in the low 90's, we got much done. Friday night, we had dinner with Joe's Mormon cousins and found a great new board game. Saturday we worked very hard in the yard for several hours, then I went to Embers to color eggs and play chess with her girls. Yesterday, a beautiful church service at church, lunch with mom and Joe at Arriba, then a few hours of ceiling fan installation in every bedroom. We had no major problems installing the fans, thank God, and they look fabulous! Just in time for the heat. Tonight we're going to buy a new bed frame and get rid of our current one, and we have a list of things to do the weekend after next, when we're back from L.A. It seems we aren't doing Spring cleaning as much as Spring remodeling! We even inherited a crib and sheet set from Ember. No, no news yet. I think I'm broken. That's a story for another day.
Posted 8:39 AM by Kerry O.