My dog began furiously barking this afternoon, and obviously had seen something he considered threatening/evil outside that was going to place all of us in mortal jeopardy - most likely a rabbit or the neighbor's dog who often wanders by. Since I greatly respect his opinion (he is good at pointing out illegals cutting through our back yard, although I may not agree with his view of killer-rabbits), I opened the front door and let him out to explore/meet the danger head-on.

And I don't know why I was so surprised to find a turtle outside our door. Well, to be perfectly honest, I was surprised because I thought it was simply a ROCK at first - with the head and legs all tucked neatly in, it did look just like the rest of the rocks around the base of our house. When the little turtle-head popped out, I did a little dance of surprise and glee, and considered seriously (for just a moment) trapping it and KEEPING it until my grandchildren get here in (what) four days.

I have decided to NOT paint anymore until after Thanksgiving, when I can take advantage of my daughter's expert opinion and great eye for color. Of course, I will have to make certain that she does approve of the color mistakes - excuse me, CHOICES that have already been afflicted upon my poor rooms (hint hint hint). However, since I have to rely on her and her husband's assistance to get my hay shed roof (finally) on, I guess I may need to tread softly.

No, the heck with it, I will STOMP and HAVE MY WAY. HA, NO MATTER WHAT! Bigfoot, watch out, here I come!

#1 - First, make certain you have read the entry right before this one.

#2 - No, really, go down and read it, or this won't make any sense (admittedly, this still may NOT may any sense, but I will feel relieved of any responsibility for that).

#3 - I can now die happy. The William Shatner musical version of Julius Cesear was the close of the movie - and it was done in RAP.

Really, you can take me now, Lord.

I am watching the movie "Free Enterprise" - William Shatner as William Shatner, with a group of Star Trek freaks. Again, one of those movies, like Shakespeare In Love, that is funnier the more you have watched the original Star Trek. Very bad Captain Kirk monologues by the lead guy (who, however, is very very cute - love long hair and glasses), constant quoting from "That Episode," and William Shatner's one dream is to create, produce, and star in a musical version of "Julius Cesar."

And I'm doing this to avoid painting a ceiling!

Today I spent way too much time somewhere else. Trying to convince my 'other' daughter that she canNOT have gastric bypass surgery until she actually tries a reasonable diet for a reasonable amount of time (i.e. more than 15 minutes). Then sitting with her through a doctor's appointment where he said the exact same thing I was saying. Then waiting for a haircut rather than drive 30 minutes to turn right around and drive back 15 minutes later. And although it was a great haircut (included a head massage - alright), I just wasn't ready to spend one hour getting one, then to rush home to let out two dogs who had been crossing their doggy legs for seven plus hours.

So here is my problem - someone, quick, give me a solution - is there any way to paint a ceiling without also painting your newly shorn (it is very, very short) hair?!

I am simply having way too much fun right now. I am painting walls very odd shades of green (nothing so far is turning out to look like the color swatches I got), trying not to get discouraged by the trail of paint cans, wet brushes and drop-clothes (which the cat has taken over tunneling through as his main recreation for now), as well as odd drops hitting the carpet, piano and my hair (good thing I’m getting it cut on Friday).

I am, however, getting frustrated with the newest member of our family. Greyhounds cannot be just let ‘loose’ - they have a habit of taking off in one direction and never returning. Our previous grey, Lady, got to the point where she could be trusted, even on her own, to come back. Dehlia, our new one, so far can’t even be trusted to get from the front porch into the house sometimes, and this is severely limiting any activity with Najale, my horse. I can’t walk them together for fear that Najale will trample Dehlia to death (boy, wouldn’t that be a fun thing to tell Bill) - Dehlia freaks out a little bit just when I take her with me to feed the horse(s) some carrots. She realizes they are big and somewhat scary, but she doesn’t quite know how to get out of their way.

So, my dear, concentrate on the things you ARE able to do, not the few select things you canNOT do. "Be content with such things as ye have" Hebrews 13:5 (and don’t be too impressed with me quoting scripture - I only remembered it because I read it a couple of days ago) (and it’s right after one of my FAVORITE scriptures - "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers" - I just get this little image of me in a straw hat and tap shoes doing a soft-shoe routine for some complete foreigner in middle-eastern garb, eating popcorn out of one of those huge movie pails and applauding - it just makes me smile).

Wait a minute, where was I? And does it really matter?! And no, I have taken any drugs... at least not today... that I know of....

Tomorrow I get my first ‘digital’ mammogram. I’m not nervous, just a little uneasy - my mom had breast cancer, and my best friend, Annette, has/had it (the cancer was removed, but she’s still undergoing radiation treatment). And if I come down (come up? go sideways?) with cancer, I don’t think I’d want to treat it (i.e. cure it, get rid of it, carve it out, etc.). It always seem so futile to undergo cancer treatment to get a few more years of life.
However, if I get the news, the basic human survival instinct will probably just kick in, and I’ll do whatever the doctor recommends. I don’t think I’m suicidal, but I’m not afraid of dying (if you are going straight to hell, why put it off any longer?!) (Joke there, friend).

Wow, how do I get from paint colors to cancer survival in the same blog?! I think you are rambling just a little too much tonight, my friend.

Say 'Good Night', Gracie!

I'm painting the front room of my house, and trying not to wince about the shades of green I selected. The first wall was horrible - too flat (the paint, as opposed to semi-gloss that I thought it was - yes, I know, walls are supposed to be flat) - but after I removed the blindingly-blue painters tape and put back up all my wall junk (chalkboard, bulletin board, coat hangers, etc), it wasn't too bad. I am keeping my fingers crossed about wall #2, but I am also stopping to let it settle in a bit more before I tackle any more.

I am certain a nap will make almost everything all better. Only I do have a new problem child at home - Dehlia, a three-year-old retired racer, who sleeps like the proverbial log except when I am trying to sleep. Then she paces back and forth, with her two I.D. tags clanging together like cymbals, comes up to my feet, sniffs at my toes, and the sighs as loudly as she can. She's sound asleep on her back right now, so I may try to sneak off without waking her.

Wish me luck.

Should there be a limit on certain things? Can you really take too many photographs of cute, smiling babies in the bathtub? Should we move for congressional limitations on bars of soap?

The things I do think should have a limit:
- Number of baby showers given for one person/baby
- Sneezes
- Amount of time taken for one person in testimony meetings
- Runs in a pair of nylons before you have to throw them out (I just keep wearing 'em with longer skirts)
- Number of candidates in a single presidential debate
- Asparagus


Things I think you simply cannot have enough of:
- Sticky kisses from children you love
- Chocolate
- Warm fluffy towels right from the dryer
- Cool breeze coming down from the mountains the instant the sun sets
- Reruns of "The Office"

I think I just had a spiritual vision.

I grew up with a lot of Catholic influence (my dad taught music in Catholic private schools, and my best friend in elementary school was Catholic), and all the faith-prompting tales about the Shroud of L-something, visions of deceased nuns in Mexico, Christ's image on an old tuna fish sandwich bun, etc. (sorry, this is sounding just a little bit more flippant than it should - well, actually, I do mean it to be slightly frivolous, I just am pretending to be concerned about offending someone... when I really don't care).

And today I (finally) received a connecting cord so I can download images from my digital camera (a wonderful gift from my daughter but one that I haven't used as much.... because I haven't had a cord so I can download anything) that have been clinging for about the last 18 months to whatever little digital chip hangs on to them....

Where was I? Oh, yeah, downloading. I just plugged in the cord this afternoon, and I swear, on the little monitor/view/lens on the camera, there appeared (GASH!) a photograph of JIM HALPERT. Honestly! It was just THERE. I think I fainted... but when I came back to consciousness a short while later, the image was STILL THERE.

Then I remembered that I had snapped a photo off the television the last episode I saw of "The Office" just for fun.

Oh, well. Things that happen to Mormons don't get canonized or put in the Deseret News or anything like that. Maybe you could just mention it around your local play group; let's see if we can get it posted on the Internet.... wait a minute, I just did that, didn't I? ;-)