Another update....

That is a boring title, if I ever heard one..... I just am blank on what to say... But Dyan updated and I stole a picture from her site, and decided to update & post a picture of my granddaughter, Lilly here....

Isn't she adorable? It's amazing what technology can do these days. I wish I had something like that available when I was pregnant. Heck, I didn't even have ANY sonograms while pregnant...

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Bible study was great today. I love hearing our speaker, and I love my ladies... Today was about having faith. We were in Luke 24. We also talked about spiritual darkness and the signs of it....

I made a play date with one of the ladies in my group. Thursday is her birthday, so I'll be going over to her house that morning with a breakfast casserole, and we'll spend some good quality time together. I'm really looking forward to that. I'm trying to knock down the walls around me... little by little, I'm chiseling away. I'm learning to trust that people will love me and LIKE me, even with all that's happening in our personal lives. I've been able to share some stuff about Don, and ya know what? People still love us, and are so supportive, and so caring. I'm so thankful for my Christian friends.... I'm learning the importance of having girlfriends in my life again. It's been a long time coming.... and I'm grateful.

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Cali, the Peeing Dog. Well, we thought that since Beauty, the cat who died from feline AIDS, had made a mess of our dining room carpet, and Cali had to cover it up with her scent.... we thought that once we ripped out that carpeting and had some new stuff installed, that that would take care of the problem. WRONG. Twice this week, Cali, the Peeing Dog, has done her duty in there. Last night, she got a spanking and nose rubbed in it..... and then.......

Don, the genius in our house, decided to put the "I'm-a-Bad-Girl" wire across the dining room. Cali wears her "I'm a Bad Girl" collar all the time, since we have the back yard wired around the fence in order to keep her from escaping... well, he put that wire across the dining room, and VOILA!!! Problem solved. She tried going into the dining room several times last night, and very quickly hoofed it outta there before the shock came.... and the same thing happened this morning. So.... no more pee. But.... I have a red wire laying on my dining room carpet.

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I need to be working on choir today. I finally remembered to bring home a musical book & CD to send to my friend, Julie & her daughter.... I will get that in the mail to her tomorrow.... And so the rest of this afternoon needs to be spent doing clerical work for the musical. I need to 1) figure out where each child will stand 2) put together the Promises database 3) send out a reminder to parents that we are singing this Sunday 4) send words to "The Lost Boy" to the powerpoint person for Sunday morning 5) send out a reminder to the youth choir that we ARE rehearsing this Sunday 6) get money ready to turn in again 7) work on the script for the powerpoint 8) get the promises ready for the kids to decorate, starting tomorrow 9) put the props list together and start purchasing what I need 10) check into buying fake rocks for the set 11) design the set officially, so that the dads who will build the stage know what I want 12) design the backdrops & get them ready to paint 13) send parents information that they need, such as the fact that each child will need to have a backpack for use during the musical.... and the list goes on and on. Lots to do.

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We had a great time last weekend seeing family we hadn't seen in years. Dan & Val flew out from Hawaii, and Dan's daughters, Adrienne & Carly flew in from San Francisco... And we saw family who lives in Chicago now..... and all in all, it was a great time! This is the first time that all 7 cousins from the Plaskett side of the family have been together in years. We got lots of good pictures. As soon as Carly sends them to me, I'll post them.

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Spring is here! I plan to spend Thursday afternoon working out in the yard / garden. I need to cut down all of the ornamental grasses & bag them up. I need to put mulch around the trees. I need to hoe the garden beds and get rid of the debris from last year's garden... bag it all up & send it to recycling.... I'm anxious to get this years garden going. I plan on working in it as often as I can. I'm ready to get the tomatoes planted, along with some new herbs and perennials. Don chopped the heck out of the herbs last year, so I'm hoping that they come back. I"m sure my bulbs are all sprouting. Need to go and see. The Aristocrat Pear trees are all in bloom right now. The lilacs can't be far behind. And I need to get the deck all cleaned off and get a new umbrella for our table. Ready for having coffee outside in the mornings...... lovely!

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And that's my life so far...

The Day After....

Grabbing a diet coke.... BRB....

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Yes, it's only 11:30 in the morning, and I'm drinking a diet coke. So sue me. I'd really prefer a Starbuck's vente skinny latte, 3 pumps of white chocolate mocha, but hey.... I'm in my jammies still, and didn't wanna run over there. And my coffee making stuff in the kitchen, well, let's not go there.

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Last night was our big family dinner over at Dyan's. I got to her house, groceries & kitchen tools in tow, at about 2 PM. Started cooking right about then.... What did I make? Well, I had 2 big cookie sheets with about 20 filets of mahi mahi on them. And I made 3 types of salsa / sauces to go with them. The first one I made was the black bean salsa. It was so yummy... and easy, schmeazy to make. It sat on the counter for several hours for all of the flavors to blend. Next I made the salsa verde. It was more complicated, and I was going by memory from how we made it while in Mazatlan. And I kinda changed it up a bit. And the results were phenomenal. First I prepped all of the veggies ~ sliced the onion, prepared the serrano peppers & big green pepper, pablano, I think, and I prepared about 10 tomatillas... oh, and the garlic was in the oven roasting... talk about smelling good! I used my le cruset cooktop grill and grilled the onions first in some olive oil. After that, I set the onions aside and grilled the peppers until they were soft and smushy and nicely grilled. Took them off and on went the tomatillas. They really smoked up Dyan's house. I was afraid that the smoke alarms were going to go off and wake Christian up from his nap. I had on every fan I could find to dissipate the smoke..... but it sure smelled good! I took the garlic out from the oven, and popped about 6 cloves into the food processor. I mushed it for about 2 seconds. Then I added the onions, blended it up, then the peppers, blended them up, and finally the tomatillas. It's really smelling & looking good. I added salt, cilantro and about 3 avocados along with the juice from about 6 limes. Whipped it all up and oy.... yummy. Put it in the fridge to let the flavors "blend".

Next I made the corn & crab salsa.... That was also easy and so delicious! Chopped up an onion, added some salt & juice from about 4 limes. Stirred it up and let it sit for 15 minutes. Meanwhile I cooked a bag of frozen corn in the microwave. After the 15 minutes, I added the corn to the onions, along with 6 ounces of lump crab meat and some cilantro, and an avocado, diced up. Stirred it up and popped it into the fridge.

Then I marinated half of the fish, and left the rest to be grilled plain. I also cooked scallopped potatoes, steamed asparagus, and a big tossed salad. We had some really good bread with olive oil... and the whole dinner was scrumptious!

It was fun having the family all over. It was the first time in years that Don & his brother & sisters have all been together. Fun times were had last night. There was lots of laughter, and that was great! Everyone is in town for our nephew's wedding this coming weekend. We'll get together again on Thursday night, and then Friday & Saturday.

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Don can no longer eat mahi mahi. When we came home, he spent about 4 hours straight, in the bathroom throwing everything up out of his tummy..... Poor guy. I don't remember when I've ever seen him that sick. The first two times he ate some of his catch, he got sick, and we thought it was a fluke. First was in Cabo after we ate some of the fish at Soloman's Landing. Thought it was just perhaps the way they cleaned & cooked it. Then when we had some fish after coming home, same thing. And then again, last night. So, girls, you'll get the rest of the frozen fish. Half to Dyan, half to Meg... Enjoy!

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So, yeah, I didn't sleep well last night..... Don was sooooo sick, and I kept waking up worrying about him..... So, yeah.... I'm rather "foggy" today.

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Choir day..... yup, lots to do. I really need to get busy and get my shower done & start working on the computer, doing planning for choir. I have the promises to get listed and sent out to parents, I have lesson plans to prepare, I have monies to organize for turning in today, I have musical production planning to do, props to list, kids to organize onto the risers, and the list goes on and on. Oh, and I HAVE to order the orchestrations today and get the orchestra rehearsal schedule out to the coordinator. Sheesh, should have done that 3 weeks ago.

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My perfectly clean kitchen now looks like a tornado swept through it again. The counters are all covered with the tools I took to Dyan's yesterday. Including all of my coffee stuff.... all in the basket waiting to be put away. I really need to get busy.

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And that's my life so far...

Okay, so my mouth is too big.

Yeah, sometimes I get so excited about stuff that I share things that are not supposed to be shared with the entire cyberworld. So....yeah. That's just me. So sorry..... didn't mean to.

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Today, Monday. Blech..... I am overwhelmed with the amount of work to be done at my house. So I end up playing Word Twist instead. Not good. Procrastination gets nothing accomplished. Laundry is in the machine right now... and I have several loads to fold & put away. How can 2 people generate SO MUCH laundry? Oy....

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Okay, so the entire family is coming to KC this week for a wedding. My nephew, Hyler Cooper will be marrying Katie Rowe this weekend. Dan & Val are flying in from Hawaii tonight. Don has to pick them up at midnight tonight. He took the little yellow car over to his mom's house for them to use this week. Dan's daughters are flying in this weekend from San Francisco. This will be the first time in YEARS that all of the cousins on the Plaskett side of the family will be together. Lots of picture taking opportunities, I'm sure.

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How does one repair a broken key on the keyboard? My (') key keeps flopping off of the computer every time I push the shift button. I can't get it to stay. Oh wait, maybe I fixed it! So far, so good.

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Tomorrow is the Family Fish Dinner at Dyan's house. I told her that if we could have the dinner at her house, I'd provide all the food. Who will be there? Don & me, Dyan & Jory & Christian, Meg & Drew, Mom, Pat & Brandi, Pam, Dan & Val, and possibly the bride, Katie. Fourteen people to eat fish. We will be having the mahi-mahi that Don caught in Cabo this year. To go with it, I will make a marvelously large tossed salad, and some sort of carb dish, like scallopped potatoes or corn casserole. I will also make several sauses / relishes to use with the fish. I'll make a green sauce, using the recipe we learned while in Mazatlan, and I'll make a corn / black bean salsa, and some sort of red salsa. We'll also have some sort of artisan type of bread. Yum. Dyan will provide drinks and dessert. Fun times. So, tomorrow, I'm hitting the grocery store early, and taking everything over to Dyan's. Everything includes my food processor, large AND small, my fancy salad spinner, and my casserole dishes. Busy day...

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I have a whole buncha work to do for the musical. I need to send out a list of promises from God's word to the choir parents and have their child pick one to claim as their own. Then I need to get the big promise sheets ready for the kids to decorate. And I need to figure out who will be standing where, so I can figure out what color of t-shirts to order for whom. And I need to organize the monies that have been collected and turn them into the church office to be credited to the KCC account. This is just for starters this week. Wednesday needs to be a "get up early" day..... ugh. I do not like getting up early. I'd rather stay up late. It's a bone of contention between Don & me. He's a get up early kinda guy..... and I'm a stay up late kinda chick.

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And that's my life so far....

The Much Anticipated Update - FINALLY ;-P

Yup, it's been a while. So sorry to have neglected you, Ms. Blog.... I shall try to remedy that right now.... but before getting started with the typing, I really need to go potty & grab some OJ & Fig Newtons.... it's gonna be a long one. BRB

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Okay... all set. Let's begin..... Let's see, the last time I blogged, I think it was when I was in Cabo.... or just after getting home. Yup, we had a great time. It was very peaceful and relaxing, which was nice for a change. The past several years, we've had family members or friends with us, and it's just not as relaxing as otherwise, when we are alone. But that's okay... We did have a wonderful time this year, and I did spend a day swimming with the dolphins, the highlight of the week for me. Don went deep sea fishing and caught 5 dorado (aka dolphin fish, aka mahi-mahi) and had it fileted and we sliced it up and put it into individual ziplock baggies and froze them. Brought them all home in a cooler, about 50 filets. We plan to have a fish dinner at Dyan's next week, when family members are all in town for a wedding next weekend. Anyway.... Cabo was fun. I was hoping to have downloaded more pictures by now, but haven't gotten around to it. Soon...

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It's Spring Musical Time. This year's selection is "Camp Wallaballa", published by Lillenas Kids, part of the Lillenas Publishing Company, and of which I'm on an advisory board for. We preview music submitted by composers / arrangers, and critique them and either send them back for revisions, or send them on to be published. This musical is one of those. And it's written by one of the ladies I serve on this council with. Pamela Vanderwalker is her name. The musical is darling... it's all about relying on God's promises to help you make it through life. Julie, I'm going to send you a copy of the musical book & the CD. I think Chloe would really like the music and the story. So, at any rate, we had auditions for the special cast parts, and now we're underway with 2 rehearsals a week. Wednesdays are the music rehearsals, and Saturdays are the drama rehearsals. Tomorrow (the 14th) will be our 2nd drama rehearsal. We will tackle Scenes 3 & 4 tomorrow. The following week, we'll review scenes 1 - 4. We have 2 rehearsals a week until performance time. Busy times.... but I love it. And good news!!! Today, I completed the plans for the choreography! Woot Woot! Easy schmeazy.... The set for the play will be really cool.... a main stage, flanked by two smaller sub-sets... with a wooden bridge connecting them all. The scenes all take place in a rural setting, after their bus breaks down on the way to camp. Very simple scenery... and this year, I think I'll paint murals for the backdrops. Fun times ahead... I haven't done mural painting since leaving California. The last 6 musicals have had very simple sets. So, time to have more fun, eh?

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Dyan is getting bigger by the MINUTE.... Lilly is growing and growing. I cannot wait to hold that sweet baby girl. Dyan is having a very good pregnancy. So far, she's only gained 2 lbs... Crazy, eh? She has lost weight over her whole body, but gained in the belly! She's looking so good.... and I'm glad for her. She is getting ready to paint the baby's room and get it all decorated. Her wall color will be sort of a dusty purple, light color... and there will be butterfly accents all around. I think her friend, Emily, will be painting big pictures on the walls... flowers maybe? Butterflies? We'll see. However it turns out, I'm sure it will be precious.

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Christian.... one of the lights of my life! The other day, when we were babysitting him, and his Papa came home, Christian jumped up, reached up for his Grandpa, and said, "Hey Big Guy!!!" I tell you what, Don & I about died laughing!!! It was the CUTEST thing I've ever heard him say. I just adore Christian.... and I love being with him. He is just adorable... He's 2 1/2 and inquisitive, and into EVERYTHING..... and is starting to use the power of reason. His language has really developed, and his personality is quirky and funny! Love that boy....

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My house. It's a disorganized mess right now. I can't stand it. So today, I tackled the kitchen. I had stuff under my kitchen sink that had to have been there since we moved in, way back in 1997!!!! OMGosh..... yuck! I pulled out stuff in search of my Magic Eraser. Never did find that.... but found lots of other junk... all to be tossed away.

My dining room still has the tablecloth on the table from our Super Bowl party, back at the beginning of February! And the punch bowl. And the serving dishes. And the buffet still has all the liquor bottles on it from our party. Noone really drank, but we had stuff out just in case. They're still there. And, the limes were still there too, but Christian found them last week and hid them all over the house. I found a lime in the couch the other day. All hard. Limes just get hard. LOL Oh, and the table is still pulled over to the side of the room, in front of the window. Oy..... I need to get it all put back in order. I feel more peaceful when my house is in order.

My closet. I purged clothes from it last week. I tossed the give away clothes all over my bed, from both my side of the closet & Don's. And then, I made a pile of clothes to be washed and put it on the floor at the end of my bed. It looks like my bedroom threw up clothes! But the bad thing is this: Monday afternoon, after I'd tossed the clothes everywhere, I left to go to my piano lesson. Well, while I was gone, Jory & one of the other workers brought a piece of drywall to our house, and in order to help Don out, they decided to carry it up to my bathroom. To get to my bathroom, you must pass through my bedroom. When I realized that someone passed by my room-barfed-up clothes, I was mortified. Oh well.... whatcha gonna do???

My office. Oh, where to start??? My craft table is completely covered up with piles of this and piles of that. Magazines. Music. Musical books. Pictures. Music. More music. And my desk has papers all over it. I am overwhelmed with medical papers, of which I don't know if I need to keep the insurance "weekly reports" or not.... and they are overrunning my desk. Sheesh. I just need to get a file drawer just for all of the stuff from United Healthcare. I will feel so much better when my desktop is clean. And I will feel so much better when my craft table is cleaned off. I love my office and I love my artsy fartsy furniture... and I want to enjoy my room again.

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The bathroom remodel is coming along! The 12 inch rain showerhead came in the mail today. It is sooooooooo freakin' cool! Don will be working in the shower tomorrow, finishing the lining for making it waterproof... Tonight we went to the Tile Store and bought samples of the tiles that will go in the floor of the shower, as well as 2 of the travertine tiles that will go on the shower walls & a piece of the trim tile. It's so cool. The tiles for the shower floor are the same colors as the floor of the bathroom that Don installed forever ago... but they're little 1 inch mosaic tiles. So cool. The travertine tiles are beige and the trim piece looks like little gothic churches, in the same color mosaic tiles as the floors are. And with the glass blocks on the outside of the shower wall, it will be one rockin' shower! The end is getting more in sight. I will take updated pictures soon.

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I like my hair. It's getting long. I've never had long hair before. And I've never been without bangs since I was an infant! I kinda like it. But, I'll like it a whole lot better when I can get this weight off. My doctor said that the weight will come off once I go off of Tamixofen. The tamixofen caused me to gain the weight and so when I go off of it in 2 1/2 years, I'll be able to lose it again. Ugh.... I hate being overweight. But the alternative is to risk a recurrance of my cancer. Don't want that either. I guess I should just pray more often for the Lord to help me stay away from carbs! That would probably help too... And I need to get back to the gym. Got out of the habit since our vacations.

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And that's my life so far....