Thank you...

I just needed to say thank you to all of my very good friends and family who have been so amazingly supportive and wonderful during the last very challenging week. My family has been amazing, spending countless hours with me, hanging out. My amazing husband who has cried with me and has done so much around the house that I have been unable to do. My terrific friends who have called, some daily to make sure I am okay. And more importantly, to make me laugh. And have brought dinner and company. Thank you, all of you. In the words of my handsome little nephew Dylan, "I love you to Pluto," all of you.

It's been a while...

...since I updated. Haven't had much to say. Well, out loud, in a post anyway. Lots going on in my head, but I think I will keep those thoughts quiet for a bit.

Went to Bauman Farms with my sis, Autumn and her kidlet, my nephew, Dylan. If you all still need pumpkins, it is worth the trip and the crowds. Lots of activities: hay rides, obstacle courses, petting zoo, corn maze and more. Oh, and of course, pumpkins. But Dylan was so tired from the obstacle course, that we didn't get to the pumpkins and they went back another day.

Got a new bed... A Select Comfort, Sleep Number Bed. We LOVE it. My sleep number is 70, Cesar's is 80. We moved up from a queen size to a king size. We are both sleeping so much better and I am falling asleep SO fast. It is awesome. And, because of the increase in the size of bed, we had to get rid of our hand-me-down nightstands. Thank god. Went with floating shelves instead on either side of the bed. Our room looks great... in my humble opinion.

5 years on Sunday...

It's been 5 years on Sunday that my dad died. For those of you who don't know, he died very suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack. He was really young and so were Autumn and I. She was 22 and I was 26. I can't believe it has been 5 years. In some ways I can hardly believe 5 years has come so quickly. But on the other hand, it's been 5 years since I have seen my dad and it feels like an eternity. I miss him every day. Here are two of my favorite pictures.

Me, Dad and Autumn, circa 1980 and yes, it's a waterbed.

Dad and me just before walking down the aisle in 2000. The insider story on this one is I had just vomited downstairs because I was so nervous. My dad is cracking joke after joke to calm my nerves. He had just offered to let me puke in his tux pocket when this picture was taken.

Weekend at the Lake...

My BFFs, Meagyn and Emily's family own a house on Lake Nahwatzel on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Every year since we graduated from PLU in 1998 except one we have gathered at the lake for a weekend in the summer. We being Meagyn, Emily, Erika, Teal and myself. There have been various combos, spouses, siblings, this year, a child, but always the same core group. Over the years at the lake, we have laughed, we have cried, we have skinny-dipped, we have often gotten drunk, and mostly just appreciated each other. These year was no exception. We did skip the skinny-dipping this year - it rained on Saturday, per usual trip to the lake, rainy on Saturday and sunny on Sunday. Here are the pics:

This is, from left to right, Teal, Soumen, Jason and Meagyn. Yeah Jason, good fishing!

Soumen, Cody and Jason trying to catch a bigger fish!

The Morse Family: Teal, Cody and Jason

Cody working hard...

Jason and Cody...with Cody sleeping hard...

The Girls (left to right) Emily, me, Meagyn, Erika and Teal

The Anderson: Christian and Erika

The soon to be Karmakar Family: Soumen and Meagyn - getting married in November

The Keys Sisters - Emily and Meagyn

Fr-Erika and Fr-Amber

Car Repairs....

Why? Why? Why? Why? Geez.... So my Wrangler has been having some rumbling in the front passenger side tire. It was also popping out of 1st and 2nd gear and reverse. So, worried that it may be something serious, I made an appointment at the dealer. Since it has less than 30k miles on it, I figured, get it in while it was still under warranty. Well, I am an idiot and forgot that it was 36,000 miles OR 3 years. And, 3 years has come and gone. So, turns out they could not, of course, replicate it popping out of gear. The rumbling was my brake pads rubbing against the shoes or something and I had to replace the front breaks. So frustrating. Oh well, it is now fixed and better... I guess.

Too much laundry...

UGHHHHHH!!!!! Cesar and I just spent 2 hours folding and hanging laundry. We have been living out of the guest room as a closet. I have had to go to the guest room every morning to find my clothing for the day. So, finally, we put it all away. It took FOREVER!!! We watched part of Cape Fear as we did the laundry, the one with Robert DeNiro. I LOVE that movie. He is so awesome/creepy in that movie. Anyway, back to the laundry, I told Cez we are never ever ever letting it get this bad again. Ha! Yeah Right.

On a side note, Lexi, the white cat who licks herself bald and has to wear tiny dog t-shirts to prevent her from doing so, went a whole month with no bald spots. But she started in again today and has a beaut on her chest. sigh.... Why do I get the freaks?!!

The pink mouse's journey to Seattle...

Cesar and I went to Seattle for our 5th anniversary in February 2005 for a long weekend. We went to the Space Needle for dinner, where we had actually had our first official date 7 years before. We stayed in a super fancy hotel in downtown Seattle and we parked the car and walked everywhere all weekend. The night we checked in, I unpacked my shoes and found that one of the cats had put "Pink Mouse" in my sneaker and "Pink Mouse" came along for our trip. So, Cesar and I, being the dorks we are took "Pink Mouse" everywhere and took pictures of her journey. Here is the photographic evidence of "Pink Mouse's" trip to Seattle.

Where we found the stow-away:

Looking out at the view from our room:

On the Monorail, going to the Seattle Center, where the Space Needle is for dinner:

On a park bench in the Seattle Center:

On the top of the trash can, in the rides area at the Seattle Center:

Gazing up at the Space Needle before dinner:

Looking out at the beautiful view from the rotating floor of the needle (You can't see "Pink Mouse" but trust me, she is sitting on the ledge - we had to take the picture quick so the waiter wouldn't see).

Goodbye Seattle. We love you...

Stopping off in Tacoma to see Christian and Erika, and of course Homer...

Random Pictures...

I haven't posted many pictures lately and thought it was time to add some. They are very random.

My sis, Autumn and I at the Christmas parade in Salem:

My very close to perfect dog, Bella:

A very cool moon pic Cez took:

Next Steps...

So, America says that the proper way to do things as an American is to graduate high school, hopefully go to college, fall in love, get married, buy a house, have babies. Well, check, check, check, check and check. The last one, not so simple. Cesar and I have known each other for 12 1/2 years, been married for 7 1/2 years, I have been in my job for over 8 years, in our house for 4. We've talked about kids on and off over the years and were ready to start trying for a baby when Cesar got laid off last year. Not very responsible to have a child when one person isn't working. So, now that he is working again, we are back in negotiations, so to speak. The thing is we both love kids and if we got pregnant we would be thrilled. Its hard though to sort out if it is us really wanting a child or if it is societal pressure - the required next step. In all honesty, I have been ready for the next phase of my life for a while now, but how do I know if that next phase is a baby or if it is something else? It's never easy, is it?

Being Late...

I hate being late. It is very stressful for me. Although, in my job, I have learned to be late as the field I work in is consistently late and for me to show up on time means I am 10-15 minutes early.

Currently, I am 1 hour and 18 minutes late to a wedding. Sigh. Well, a wedding reception. Cesar's new job is anything but predictable and so we are late to the party because he's not home yet. The new job is an adjustment for both of us. For 6 months, Cesar was ALWAYS ALWAYS home. And now, we never see each other. We have one day off in common and that's about it. Hopefully as he gets the feel for it and learns it better, his days won't be so long. He is still loving it though, and that is what matters.

1 hour and 20 minutes late... I'm sorry, Molly. :(

My LOL cat is...

If you don't know what a LOL cat is, check out the link under my fave sites for I Can Has Cheezburger. This is the LOL cat I am.

Your Score: Lion Warning Cat

51% Affectionate, 62% Excitable, 31% Hungry

You are the good Samaritan of the lolcat world. Protecting others from danger by shouting observations and guidance in cases of imminent threat, you believe in the well-being of everyone.

To see all possible results, checka dis.

Cesar is jealous because this is his LOL cat:

Your Score: 7331 Cat

50% Affectionate, 71% Excitable, 57% Hungry

Lolzergs have nothing on you. You are swift and ruthless, cutting down whatever and whomever necessary in order to obtain the foodz. As one of the first lolcat known to man, your ancient skills in location-declaration and object-verbing have been passed down several generations, keeping the spirit of felinity alive.

To see all possible results, checka dis.

31...

You know, I am beginning to realize that everything "they" say is true. I have always heard that the 30s were good for women - that's when you finally figure out who you are and what you want, even though you think you figured it out in your late 20s. The 30s brings along an air of self-confidence and independence. I wish I had listened and processed all "they" had to say, instead of just letting it go in one ear and out the other.

Viva la 30s!!!

Finally, at long last...

Finally, it has arrived. We filmed it with our Pentax Optio and I edited it with VideoShow Expressions.

Please note, no animals were harmed in the making of this video. The ScatMat delivers a static pulse, like when you drag your feet on the floor and zap your sister or husband. :) And my couches have less fur on them...

I can not resist...

this made me giggle.

New job for Cez...

I don't think I have posted this yet, but Cesar started a new job a couple of weeks ago as a cable installation tech. He is really enjoying it and it is right up his alley. So far seems to be a great fit. And he's happy, so that's what matters.

Scat Cats....

So the Scatmats have arrived.... and seem to be effective. Cesar got some video that I will eventually get around to editing and posting. We check the counter each time we come home - we had kept the setting on low - the setting for kittens. They were still getting up there several times a day so we bumped it up to medium - the setting for cats. We shall see. We're still getting a couple of hits a day, so we don't want to move it to the big couch until they consistently staying off the love seat.

Corral Fence...

I had my friend Joe's video up, but I wanted to add his web links and now I can't get the video back on here. So... Click Here to get to the You Tube address for Corral Fence. You can check Joe out at www.joeshinkle.com or at his myspace account. Go Joe!!!

So freaking excited....

We are SOOOOO fed up with cats on the couch, leaving them COVERED in cat fur. We've tried everything: water bottle to squirt them, the herbal spray that they aren't suppose to like the smell of, yelling, screaming, ignoring.... We have found the ScatMat and it should be delivered tomorrow or Monday. When the felines jump on it, it will provide a harmless static pulse, designed to scare the crap out of them.

Don't worry, we WILL be video taping and posting.... :)

Happy Birthday...

Dad! We miss you every day.

I freaking love...

Hell's Kitchen. I know, I know... blah blah reality shows suck blah blah. I enjoy escaping reality and watching Chef Gordon Ramsey yell at the potential chefs. And it doesn't hurt that he's cute. :) It is a summer time show and it's back this week. It seriously made my Monday. Hey, I will take what I can get to make Monday better.

I love...

3 day work weeks, long weekends, lazy days, warm days, the top being off of my Jeep, animals, my amazing friends and great family, music, and muscle cars.

I wish...
Dad was still here, that I would learn from my mistakes (especially financially), that I didn't use up my sick/vacation time so quickly, I could stick to an exercise program, I hated fried foods, I could stand up for myself, I didn't always have to be the peace maker, my dog didn't get car sick because I would take her everywhere with me, I knew if I wanted a child.

My dream life...
is living in my villa in Italy complete with a vineyard OR living in downtown Seattle in a loft working as a very successful MAC makeup artist.

Poor Finnie...

So, we are hamster sitting Delphinia, aka Finnie the black and white Russian Dwarf Hamster whilst the Hofers are off on their annual memorial day camping trip. Finnie was stationed on our dining room table, in her cage, a place where the cats could observe her, but do no harm to her.... or so I thought.

Last night, I was upstairs watching Music & Lyrics when I suddenly heard a huge crash. I instantly knew what it was: the damn cats had pushed Finnie's cage off of the table. I raced downstairs to find the cage scattered all over the floor and Finnie, miraculously, still sitting in the bottom tray portion of her cage. I scooped her up, checked her out - that hamster is a TROOPER, and yelled at the cats. Cesar who was right on my heels, helped me to clean up and super-glue and duct tape the cage back together.

Finnie has been relocated to the Den and got a new cage and my cats all got squirted with the water bottle. I won't ever be able to prove "who dun it" and Finnie wasn't much help in the police line up, but I have my suspicions...

Don't they just LOOK guilty?

One for Cesar...

can... not... help... myself...

Been a while...

It's been a while since I posted. Sorry, life has been too crazy. Cesar got laid off in December and it's been slow going on the job front, which has been really frustrating for both of us. Anyone see anything interesting out there send it our way. :)

We just got out of the Birthday run, when we have several birthdays every month and lots of get-togethers.


I have got a new favorite website: I Can Has Cheezburger? It is so funny. You have to get use to the lingo, but it is definitely worth it. Here's my fave pic:

Music...

I LOVE NAPSTER!!! I signed up for Napster to go which means I can download unlimited songs to my MP3 player. I LOVE MUSIC!!! All kinds.

Happy Day before my Birthday!

Listening to: Do Me Baby by Bell Biv DeVoe

What a steal...

Oh my god... I can not... still... believe the AWESOME deal Cesar and I got on his new desk. We got it at Office Max, check it out. We got the 60 inch desk, the 48 inch desk, the desktop hutch and the corner connector. Retail price is $729.92. Guess what we got it for.... $145.00!!! Unbelievable. It was a floor model and has a couple of little nicks, but easily fixed. They were so nice there, helped us disassemble and load. Very, very cool. Will be going to Office Max for any of my office needs.

Anniversary and home improvement...

What a strange combination. Cesar and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on Monday, February 19th. It was a great day. We actually spent the weekend emptying our spare room and office, ripping up the carpet and installing the rest of the Pergo floors that we have had sitting in the garage for a year. Tim was awesome, kicking ass and taking names getting that floor down. Marc and Mom came over and replaced our downstairs toilet, which had a cracked tank and was leaking all over the floor.

On Monday, Cesar and I spent the day designing, buying and installing my new craft desk in the closet in the office. It is a built in closet with 2 kitchen cabinets as the base, with 3 drawers each and a counter top. I still want to install cabinets above the desk but that's for later on. The desk looks like it's always been there. Now, Cesar and I have to find the perfect office desk for him and we will be good to go. God I love to organize! I'm weird like that.

Happy Anniversary Baby! I love you.

Monster Jam 2007

Last night, we went to Monster Jam 2007 with some good friends. It was pretty fun, but I must say, the monster trucks at the Sublimity Harvest Festival were better. If it wasn't for Grave Digger at the very end, it probably would have been kind of lame. I remember watching Grave Digger as a little kid, with my Dad, on TV. He always was my favorite monster truck.

Here are some pictures from last night. Cesar was our photographer and he did a great job with the pics.

What's Playing...

So, I have decided, because music is such a HUGE part of my life that when I blog, I will put in a line that says what I am listening to now. My Space does this on their blog and I think it is really cool.

So, along this line, one of my quirky things I like to know about my friends - please post comments with your responses:

If you were permanently stranded on an island and you got to take one artist's entire body or work, which artist would it be and why? Me, I am listening to my choice. They are such a varied band with a HUGE body of work and well, I just love em.

Now Playing: Your Time is Going to Come by Led Zeppelin

Home Repairs...

So, for some reason we have various problems in all 3 bathrooms. The downstairs toilet was leaking from the tank, the upstairs guest bathroom kept running, and in our master bath, the caulking along the floor and shower needed replacing. Lets start there...

Cesar removed the old caulking to discover that there was 1/4 inch gap between the linoleum and sub-floor and the shower. sigh... so, after some time at Home Depot, we decided to fill in the space with silicone caulking and then put regular caulking over it and then use a tub/floor transition strip. We're only at the silicone caulking stage. It takes a while to dry. So, this project is my job.

Cesar has been replacing the innards of the downstairs and guest toilets. Its a pain in the ass. He's done with downstairs and is now working on upstairs. I told him he was going to have to pull his pants down a bit though to make it authentic.

Currently listening to: The Denial Twist by the White Stripes

After 4 1/2 years...

You would think that it would get easier. You think that I could talk about Dad without crying. You would think I could just talk about him. But, it's like it was yesterday. Still. I remember every god damn minute of that god damn day - I don't remember every minute of anything else, just that day. The worse day of my entire life, seared into my brain, causing pain and tears with just the slightest memory of it.

Dad would be very proud of Aut and I today. He would love Dylan, love the fact that he was all-boy with his love of cars and trucks and tease him for not ever wanting to get dirty. It sucks to think about having kids without my Dad to be around. It sucks. Everything about it sucks.

Currently Listening To: Carry on by Tim McGraw

Movies...Updated...Again

So, it's been a while since I rented movies. I had to pay $11.00 in late fees just to get some movies, but hey, that's the way Cesar and I roll. So, here's what I got:

1) The Devil Wears Prada - cute, funny
2) John Tucker Must Die - good fun high school flick
3) The Break Up - didn't like it so much.... wasn't as funny as I thought it would/should be
4) The Lady in the Water - This was a really good movie. Mystical and attention-grabbing. You really need to watch it when you can devote your full attention to the movie. I highly recommend it.
5) Employee of the Month - funny. I like it. probably my fave of the group.

Obviously, going with a theme - Cesar's got class tonight and so I get to watch silly and dumb movies. I love it.

The irony gets better...

Here's what google said when I typed in "Cesar needs"

"But Cesar needs care, special schools, several kinds of doctors and treatments due to complications, for children with Down Syndrome have a depressed ..."

freaking hilarious.

Isn't it ironic...

So, my friend Deana sent me a myspace bulletin that instructed me to go to Google and type my first name followed by needs... so, Amber needs and copy down the first web page description that comes up. Mine was:

"Amber needs to go and, as the toilet is locked, she pees a lake on the garage floor ... Amber needs two-to-three hours of therapy a day to overcome autism."

I just about fell out of my chair laughing. For those of you who don't know, I work with people with Developmental Disabilities, many of whom have autism.

Try it... let me know what yours says. It's interesting.

Life is full of synchronicity, isn't it?

Day...12? I think.

So, I think I am going to lose my fingernail. This is a first for me. I have never lost a fingernail before, but have heard from those that have that it doesn't hurt if you just allow it to fall off naturally. Jeez... I am ready for this whole broken finger thing to be done. Every time I hit the tip of my finger on something, it sends a twinge, like a shock down my finger. Annoying.

Hey, on a much happier note, I was awarded Employee of the Year at our December holiday banquet for the database I've been working on. It was quite exciting and I got a plaque and a hundred bucks.

And, my find of the century... at Target, a desk lamp with built in speakers and connector for my MP3 player! Don't be deceived by the price online... it was on clearance for $7.48. Awesome!

Broken finger...Day 2

Okay, so Day 2 of my broken finger actually hurt more than it did mid day yesterday. Sadly, I knew this was coming. It's now not the actually cut that hurts so much, but instead a deep down hurt in the bone pain. ...sigh... I gave in and picked up the Tylenol 3 prescription. I though I could make due with the Advil, but, yeah, not happening. Hopefully I can sleep a little better tonight with it.

CSI Crime Scene...

So I woke up this morning thinking that it was going to be long day. I got in my Wrangler and the CD said ERR...meaning error of course. It would not eject my CD. As I am driving to work, I realize I have no idea where my garage door opener is and as there have been several burglaries involving garage door remotes, I think to myself, "Self, you should drive home and make sure it is there." But Self was running late and just continued to drive to work.

Once I got there, in my rush to get into the building, slammed my right hand ring finger in the door. Yup....Blood splattered everywhere, like it was a damn CSI crime scene. All over my cream sweater, all over my jeep, on the car next to me. So, as I race in the building carrying my purse and laptop, and clutching my finger with my other hand, trying to open the doors with my left pinkie finger and not drip blood (blood borne pathogens and all), I make it to the bathroom and rinsed off the gallons of blood. I am in such excruciating pain that I a) almost passed out on the bathroom floor and b) almost puked. I get the bleeding stopped and go back to my car, leave my boss a teary voicemail as I drive home to change. I come home, sit down with my head between my knees as I am about to faint again, then proceed to change and drive back to work, following my boss, who at this point, just thinks I am late.

Get BACK to Dallas, showed my co-workers, saw the blood still splattered all over my jeep door and proceed to deal with a crisis of the day, work related. Meanwhile, my finger is getting more and more swollen and I call Kaiser Permanente. I could use this time to rant about the screening process of KP, but instead will just say when they called me back 1 1/2 hours later, they said I should come right in as it might be broken. sigh...

I race from Dallas to South Salem and proceed to sit and wait for 30 minutes to see the doc. Saw the nurse who was being all nice, which of course made me cry and she said it didn't feel broken but lets do some x-rays. Go up to x-rays and waited 30 more minutes and got my finger x-rayed. Went back downstairs and gave them the pics and the doc called me back in 5 minutes. Meanwhile the nurse told him I was in a hurry and he was quite the joker, thank god and was being all silly, which if you know me at all, is the best way to handle such a situation.

So, he comes in a says "Well, you broke your finger" to which I said "Shut up, I did not."

He said, "yeah ya did, look at the pics" and he pointed out the break.

I said "Well, at least its broken and you don't have to drain it" to which he said "Um, yeah, yeah I do...trust me it will feel so much better."

I said, "will it hurt?"

him: "do you want me to lie or tell the truth?"

me: "lie please" him: " no, it'll feel great"

me: "okay then, lets drain it."

He puts ice on it and gets out this soldering iron type tool to burn a hole in my nail and comes over and as I close my eyes and ask "how long will it take?" I open my eyes and he has backed up with his hands in the air, as if he were under arrest. I look down at my finger, which, for the 2nd time today, is GUSHING blood. He had already done it and it didn't hurt at all. I proceed to tell him so and he said, "Wow, it usually really hurts."

Anyhow, he proceeds to tell me that because its a break, it'll probably hurt for 6 weeks, he put me in a splint and here I am now. I really must see if the doc was taking new patients. He was AWESOME!!!! Put me totally at ease in a not good at all situation and made my finger feel, well, less throbbing?

Please people, listen to (or read) what I say... do not, ever, under any circumstances, slam your finger in your car door. Especially when your finger is sideways, as in perpendicular and not parallel to the door. It is the worse pain I have ever been in...and I have done some crazy things. Learn from me... please.... I have pictures.... I will post them later. :)

Happy New Year!

2007 has arrived. 2006 was a little rough and I am hoping 2007 is much nicer. I have made a couple of resolutions, as I would not be a good citizen if I hadn't. Here there are... in no particular order.

1) Eat less fast food.

2) Be more conservative with my pesos.

3) Walk more often.

4) Get rid of some junk - specifically from my closet.

5) Craft more with what I already have.

6) Spend more time with friends, hanging out, having a beer or coffee or tea.

So, that's what I got. I will let you know how I do. Hopefully, by publishing them here, I will keep to them better.

On a more important note, to Beto - I love you and Elvia and my thoughts are with you even if I can't be. I couldn't ask for better family ever.