This Meme Says It...

I spent the last 2 (miserable) days in a class on designing interactive forms...the fact that I didn't get much out of it was NOT the fault of the instructor.  I'm not going to name the company, but here is a description of the class: 

...(this) software helps you easily author form and document templates that combine high-fidelity dynamic presentation with sophisticated XML data handling. (This software) lets you create form templates that can output to paper, PDF, and HTML5 without having to write scripts. Advanced layout capabilities let you preserve the appearance of imported PDF documents, while spell-check and customizable user dictionaries reduce the chance of errors.     

Hahaha...Yeah, right.

I know my limitations, and I simply DO NOT have an affinity, talent...or interest...for or in this stuff.  

But...We use a lot of forms in my department, and most are just print-them-out-and-fax-them-in.  We are trying to move into the 21st century.  In spite of the fact that am not good at this AT ALL, I'm still the person MOST qualified in our department to take on this task.  Scary, huh?  I'll still need to have our IT staff do the majority of the form design, because I don't want to wreak havoc on our website with misbehaving forms.  

We're a bit short staffed this week.  It's not my normal gig anymore, but I'm going to be out doing some inspections tomorrow.  I haven't done inspections for several years, so I'm actually looking forward to that after being cooped up in front of a computer for 2 days.  Should be fun...it will be nice to spend a day doing something I know how to do, or at least USED to know...I hope I remember what I'm supposed to be looking for! (*lol*)

BTW, do a Google image search on "computer meme."  There are some hilarious ones...  
    

Quiet Birthday Day

Today is my birthday, and so far I've done almost nothing.  I'm actually pretty tired from yesterday, so I took B to the park and now I'm watching the Olympics.  It's a rainy dreary day, so it feels good to just be cozy on the couch.   

We celebrated my birthday last night, with 3 other couples (was supposed to be 4, but one of the fourth couple woke up Saturday with a bad stomach bug).  One couple we had not seen for almost 2 years, so it was great to see them and catch up. 

We started with champagne at our house, then off to a local Chinese seafood restaurant.  We go there a lot, and we love the people who own it.

Hub had chosen the menu in advance so when we got there, our table was prepared beautifully with a lovely centerpiece and napkins folded in the shape of a crane.  We ordered drinks, and the first course came out...lobster salad, made with celery, apples, and some other fruit I couldn't identify.  Whatever was in it...it was just wonderful. 

 An amazing display...and delicious! 

The rest of the dinner was excellent...honey walnut prawns, sesame beef, fried chicken stuffed with shrimp meat, scallops in black bean sauce, stir fried string beans, and for dessert...mango pudding shaped like a fish (in China, the fish symbolizes long life and good fortune).

Hub also brought in a red velvet cake from California Pizza Kitchen.   By the time we got to the cake, everyone was stuffed from the dinner, so our friends each took their cake home.  There were 4 pieces left, which Hub offered to our wait staff.  They had never had red velvet cake before, so they were excited to try it.  I had about half my piece left, which I'm going to eat tonight.  (I'm glad the rest is gone! If it were still in the house, I'd be obsessing over it.)     

My 61st birthday celebration wonderful evening and I was made to feel very special. I'm so fortunate to have good health, a wonderful husband, a sweet dog, a nice home, and a job I love.  I'm looking forward to a great year.           

My Tiny Snowman photo...

is now a GIF.

After our snowstorm (about two weeks ago) I posted a photo of a little snowman that I took in the park...then a few days later, I got a message on my google account.

Just curious...Who does that? Do people go looking for photos to turn into GIF's or is it some automatic thing?  

Happy February!

For Valentine's Day, Hub got me a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a big red balloon, and a cute card with a dog on it that looks (kind of) like Buster.

Love the pink polka dot vase!

(Still have the Seahawks balloons from 2 weeks ago)

Last night we went to dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant...I had the burrata salad (which was spectacular) and spaghetti carbonara.  After the rich burrata, I almost didn't need anything else, so I brought most of the pasta home.  And we drank chianti.

(Eating and drinking like this is not our normal practice, but after all this was a special occasion.)

Buster got a Valentine's present too...a little red monkey.

I really LOVE February...

Valentines Day, Presidents Day (with a LONG weekend), my anniversary with the Fire Department (26 years on Monday), and my birthday on February 23...(Many friends and relatives have birthdays in February too).  I just feel as if so many good things throughout my life have happened to me in February.

Red is my favorite color, my favorite fruit is cherries, my favorite candy is red licorice, my favorite cake is "red velvet" (and I always get that on my birthday…BTW, the best red velvet cake is from California Pizza Kitchen)...yes, I love February!

As I write this, Hub is making the leftover pasta into a frittata for breakfast...YUM! 

I hope everyone is had a nice Valentine's Day and is having a great weekend!

Wish I Could Think of Something NICE to say...

But I can't. 

No one asked the victims their opinion of this decision...oh, that's right, they're dead...

I am very angry right now.  

A "PET"-ROSPECTIVE

Do you like the name of my post?  I'm so clever!  While going through all the photos I've been scanning, I started to get a bit nostalgic...

The photos showed I have had a lot of pets.  When I was growing up, we always had a dog.

Here I am at about age 5, with our puppy Dusty.

Here I am about age 16 and Dusty is 12...Dusty lived to be almost 18.  She died when I was away at college.

When hub #1 and I were first married, we lived in an apartment in Chicago and couldn't have a dog, so we got Quincy, a Manx cat...he was a wild one!  Look at those crazy eyes...he couldn't wait to get into trouble. 

 

He would stalk my parents' dog unmercifully...that poor dog was totally intimidated.

 

 Later, we moved to Washington State the same year Mount St. Helens erupted...so when we got another cat, a beautiful Siamese kitten, we named her Ashley.

A few years later, after several severe asthma attacks, I finally figured out I was really allergic to cats so Ashley went to live with my parents.  Because my parents' dog was so fearful of Quincy, he went to live with #1's parents.

Later, we bought a house and got a Scottish terrier puppy.  We named her Tibbie which is the Scottish nickname for Isabella, my great-great-grandma's name...we discovered the name from reading a Robbie Burns poem, O Tibbie, I Hae Seen the Day.  I loved that dog with all my heart.

Tibbie had the largest head...she was so sweet, but she loved to rip stuffed toys to pieces. You can tell she feels very guilty here. 

I love this photo of Tibbie and me. 

To make a long (still very painful) story short, #1 let her outside unsupervised one day while I was gone and she was killed when she got hit by a car...I was inconsolable and really never forgave him.  (Just one reason he is my ex).  Our other dog was Emma, a white Scottish terrier.  Not too long after Tibbie died, #1 and I separated.  I moved into an apartment and Emma stayed with him.

I was lonely so got a bird, Fletcher.   She went everywhere with me (except work) and was a source of a lot of happiness for me. 

 

But I really missed Emma.  I was living over an hour away, so didn't get to see her much.  But the last time I went to visit her, she was in terrible shape, sick, fleabitten and had a horrible rash on her back...it was obvious #1 was not caring for her properly (for a grown man, he was very irresponsible).  I told #1 he didn't deserve to have a dog and I was going to find somewhere to live where I could have Emma with me. 

At the time, #1 and I were finally divorced and I had just started dating Hub.  He loved dogs, so Emma and I moved in with him almost right away (*smile*).  You can always tell the character of a man by how he treats animals. He took excellent care of her, bathed her irritated skin every day and even cooked her special non-allergenic food.  He and Emma became inseparable, and she adored him.    

Emma loved to hike!

And get dirty!

And beg!  She would eat anything, and often did, even inedible things.  Things you couldn't imagine a dog would want to eat.  She was in the doggie hospital many times having her stomach pumped. 

By the time this photo was taken, she was getting older and was almost blind, so I don't think she had any idea what was going on...Santa Who?

When she died at age 18, she was completely blind and deaf.  My husband was so heartbroken he wrote a poem about her "I Lost My Best Friend Today."

A few years later, we decided it was time for another dog.  So Buster, a Norwich terrier, entered our lives.

Have you ever seen a more pissed off look on a dog's face?  He definitely was not amused by the reindeer antlers and having to sit with Santa.

But...he loves squeaky toys...

...turtles...

...chewies...

...going to the beach...especially with Mom...

And with his friends Kermit and Olive...

 My handsome boy...

 So there you have it...a "PET"-ROSPECTIVE...

Snow!

Hub and I went to church last night and as we headed out to dinner afterwards, we noticed it was starting to snow a bit.  We honestly didn't think it would amount to much, but by the time we finished dinner and went to our car, everything was blanketed in white. 

This was our first snow of the season, I'm guessing we got about 2 inches (maybe 3), not much when compared to the rest of the country.  But for us weather wimps in the PNW, it's plenty.   It looks like it will get to 43 degrees today, and might rain too, so the snow will likely be gone by tomorrow. 

This morning when I let Buster out, there were a lot of (what looked like) ducks on the neighbors' lawn.  But when they flew away, they made a cheeping noise, not quacking.  So now I'm not sure about what they are...

Cheeping ducks?

 
They really do look like ducks, but I can still hear them out on the lake cheep cheep cheeping away.  

Anyway, B and I will go to the park today as usual (in spite of the fact that he does not like the snow). Then I'll do a few chores around the house (I've been sticking to my "at least one productive thing a day" resolution); after that, grocery shopping.  (We always grocery shop on Sundays).

Then back to work tomorrow.  I can't believe this weekend is over so quickly!    

On a positive note, the uniform pants I bought a few weeks ago continue to get baggier, and the material is getting all bunchy under the belt, so I think I'll have to go into the downstairs storage room today and see if I can find some other pants.  (I have black pants in a variety of sizes and styles from 10 to 14...it's always an adventure to see what's hiding down there.)

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Update:  B and I went to the park, and I think he did have a good time.  The park was full of people having fun on sleds and building snow forts and snowmen. Someone built this little snowman, which I thought was adorable.

It reminds me a bit of Mr. Bill from the old Saturday Night Live show.

Tiny snowman (or...with the red bow...maybe it's a snow woman)

Oh Noooo...Mr. Bill

A quick update...

For whatever reason, I seem to be going the right direction weight wise.  This morning I put on my uniform (last time I wore it was last Thursday) and needed to put the belt on the 3rd hole, and the size 14 pants I bought a few weeks ago are getting baggy.  (Last week I was on the 1st/2nd hole and the pants fit fine.)

As I said "for whatever reason," I'm not sure why I've lost any weight, because I've not been exercising due to a very stiff neck.

This is how my neck feels...(I saw this weird sculpture for sale at a flea market in Miami Beach)

It's true, I've been "pretty" careful about what I've been eating (with the exception of Super Bowl Sunday), but still, I usually don't lose weight unless I exercise and eat "very" carefully...the bottom line is I'm grateful that the upward trend seems to have stopped. Yay!

After the game on Sunday, my friend and I impetuously agreed that I would take the day off from work and we would attend the big celebratory Seahawks parade tomorrow in Seattle.  But today, as I started to research how to get over there by bus (we live on the Eastside, across Lake Washington from Seattle), it started to get more complicated.  They are expecting 500,000 people to attend the parade!  Holy Crap, Batman!  And that doesn't include actually getting into CenturyLink Field at the end of the parade.   

This will be be the largest gathering in the City's history.  Some schools are closing to let the kids attend, the buses will be packed, the temperatures are going to be freezing, and...well, let's just say I'm getting too old to deal with chaos, crowds, and cold. So I asked my friend if she would be too disappointed if we didn't go.  She said no, and I think she was relieved that I suggested foregoing the whole event.  We can watch it on TV.

Well, I went to the chiropractor today and my neck is feeling better, but the muscles feel tired.  So I think it's time to take 2 ibuprofen and go to bed.   

Yes, We are Happy

That's me on the right...