Monterey - September 2009

Sam was home from the East Coast for a visit so he, Keith and I escaped the valley for a day to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium! We had such a great time! These are some of the pics we took on our trip:

On our way to Monterey, we stopped at Casa De Fruita...which was Casa De (wait for it) Awesome!

It was Casa De Fun! They have so much stuff to stop for here when you are on a road trip! Like Casa De Restrooms, Casa De Coffee (to keep Sam awake because he was Casa De Sleepy), Casa De White Chocolate Covered Gummy Bears (hands down a must NOT try), Casa De Ice Cream, Casa De Lip Balm and Casa De Fruity Penguins (lol). But even though there was so much here we had to Casa De Leave to get on to our intended destination. We continued to "Casa De" everything for the rest of the day. But I will Spare you the rest of them.

When we made it to the aquarium, we saw the otters, kelp forest and other exhibits but we when we made it to the Penguins, we had to stop so we could see them being fed.

While we were waiting for the show to begin, the boys challenged each other's penguin knowledge and as it turns out they are both penguin wizards!

We had so much fun watching the show! There were all kinds of penguin facts and Sam discovered his calling as a future penguin expert.

Clearly, the penguins were shy.

Sam and I couldn't resist having our pics taking in the penguin egg!

Next we played with the stingrays, which is my favorite exhibit in the aquarium!

I love them sooooo much that this time I got a stingray stuffed animal!

We saw some really awesome things and had such a great day! I can't wait to go again!!!

My New Garden

For our anniversary this year, Keith built me a vegetable garden. We have always been super into good quality produce and knowing (when possible) where the food you are eating has come from. I was so excited when he told me his plans!

This is how it looked right after it was finished:

We have added a drip system and planted all the plants, and now we have a garden with herbs, tomatoes Anaheim peppers, leeks, spring onions, a soy bean plant and a pumpkin plant. Near the end of the summer we are going to start on onions, garlic, shallots, potatoes, turnips and parsnips.

I hope my thumb has turned green!

OCD de Jour:

I have been seriously picking apart the PG&E bill to figure what's up with me giving them so much money. I have been checking into all things electric to see where the black hole of usage is in our teeny abode. There are many little things that add up and can be managed way more efficiently, but you know what the kicker is? It's those little plug in air fresheners. If we managed to stay under baseline (not that the baseline is a reasonable number), the five we have cost $19.34 a month. And since we don't stay under baseline but regularly go into the 300% of baseline range ( which is the highest in cost) they are really costing about $70.93 a month. Whoa! Needless to say they are now using zero energy in the trash can. The funny thing is, I could only really tell they were on when I was changing the cartridges anyway. Waste!

LOST

Okay so I know all of the rest of you (almost) have given up on lost, but I can't. I'm sticking it out. The mystery has built and I need to know how it turns out.


So how the heck am I supposed to wait one whole (or probably more) week (s) to find out more about the goings of of tonight's episode?!

Dear ABC,
Thank you for the torture.
Love,
Zombified Lost-Addict

P.S. -See you tomorrow for Grey's Anatomy.

Pictures Of Dead Things

Sam sent me these photos he took at the Museum of Natural History. Ancient frogs and chameleons. I love them. Thank you Sam!

I'm Up Early; It's 12:15 PM!

So I am on vacation, of course because this week is a very important week. There is lots to do before Tuesday and my aunt and uncle are getting married this coming weekend. I'm up early because my sinuses hate me this week and sleeping is not as nice as usual. We are gonna be heading out to Brewbaker's in Visalia today to acquire the green beer for Tuesday night- the only green beer that is actually good-honestly its pretty great. But Keith is still sleeping so we haven't hit the road yet.
We also have to hit the grocery store for all the makings of our Irish family dinner. Keith will complain of the "racist" displays of cabbage and Guinness. He really has a thing about it. I will have to take and post photos of the displays. I personally find them hilarious! It seems I am not above the so-called racism as long as its funny. I threw a potato at him on facebook and
I bought him a chocolate potato at See's. If you have not yet, you must get a chocolate potato.
So, right now I am generally internetting and listening to Smodcast while waiting for Keith to get up.
I'm gonna go look at the Natalie Dee archives.

Nearly Time For Celebration

It is almost St. Pat's Friends! Those within reach should come to our house for fine Irish food, adult beverages and fun! tuesday as soon as you want to be here!

WooHoo!

Fritz ( my bissel) comes home from the fix-it shop tomorrow!

-not that I have OCD or anything.

Long Time no Blog

Well first off the bad news: I am sick. I have been sick off and on for around three weeks although more on now than off. I'm becoming resigned to the fact that my sweet kitty Jason has probably been eaten by the local coyotes as he has now been gone for a full month's time. Work has decided it is better to pay us every other Friday as opposed to the current (and very functional) 1st and 30th/31st. Of course I know that I will be continuing to make the same amount of money, however each check will have one fewer day on it meaning that I will get paid less at a time, which is way less convenient for budgeting the normal month's expenses as each check will be one full day plus ten percent less of what it is now. I'm not worried, just peeved.
On the brighter side of life Keith has finished floor repair, getting our house nearly back to normal. My tax refund has increased this past year instead of decreasing as usual. I'm pretty sure that the state of California's website confirms that I will have to wait half as long for their refund to be plunked into my bank account than for the Fed deposit.
Now that we are up to date, I'm going to sleep.

Hey! Look! Its The Canterbury Tales!