Get It Together

I know, I seem to start every post lately with "I'm such a bad blogger for not writing in so long".  This last gap was particularly long and I'm sorry.  I had midterms followed by Spring Break in California followed by a not so fun knee injury.  Let's start with midterms- they are over.  End of story.  Spring Break was awesome.  I spent ten days with my parents in Cali and got to enjoy some fantastic weather.  I left the cold snowy Northeast and arrived in the Napa Valley to sun and 70 degree weather.  Finally, a couple of weeks ago I dislocated my left knee cap.  Yeah, it sounds worse than it is.  It hurts like a bitch but I had an MRI and there is nothing torn in there so I don't have to have surgery on it again.  (I had surgery on that knee in the 8th grade after a track and field injury).  I have to wear a brace for a while which prompts people to ask me what happened.  I wish I had a better story.  All that I did was kneel down for too long and when I stood up the knee popped out.  It has dislocated before so I knew immediately what had happened.  The cause of the repeated dislocation is actually something that I have called Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome.  It makes me very, well, bendy.  So there you have it, one of my many freaky qualities.

Sorry this post is such a random mashup of information but my brain is a bit tired.  Here's a little treat though: A family portrait I took when I was in California using my awesome tripod.

Put On Your Depends And Prepare To Laugh

I found a website recently and couldn't wait to share it with y'all.  It's from the people who brought us Damn You Auto Correct, and is called Parents Shouldn't Text.  Unlike DYAC, these texts aren't necessarily spelling mistakes and stuff.  They are the insane things that happen when our parents decide that they can text.  Here are a few gems. (Parent side of the conversation is in the gray bubbles.)

I must now use Molexted and Sweet Charlie Sheen at least once a day.  

My Irish Roots

This hat is a belated birthday gift from my grandma.  It is a hat straight from Ireland and I adore it.  What do you think?

Eighty Years

This video was my gift to my Grandma on her 80th birthday in July.  I told everyone I would share it with them, so here it is.

Pals

My Grandma recently came for a visit to celebrate her 80th birthday.  She and Arrow get along like peas and carrots and I love how this picture captures that.  

Quite A Few Years Ago Today

My Daddy-O was born.  Happy Birthday Popsicle!

Tar Balls And Dropped Vowels

After the oil spill in the Gulf some 80+ days ago, I began thinking of my own childhood summers at Texas beaches.  Then, just a week or so ago, reports started coming in about tar balls showing up on Texas shores.  Suddenly, like a slap upside the head, I remembered tar on the beaches when I was little.  We always spent part of the summer at "The Coast" during my 17 years in Texas.  "The Coast" in this case being one of the barrier islands off the side of Texas like Port Aransas.  And after not thinking of it for years, I suddenly rushed back in time and remembered using tar wipes at the beach showers.  These wipes were just there, waiting by the showers to get tar off big and little feet alike.  I never thought much of it.  The beach came with seaweed and jellyfish and tar.  These problems can be taken care of with screaming like a dying seal when it brushes against you, meat tenderizer, and tar wipes respectively.  It never occurred to me that the oil rigs we could see way off on the horizon were responsible for the tar on our toes.  I suppose when something has always been there we don't ask questions.  Or at least I don't.  Like how when I was little I thought every city had a Sea World. 

Anyway, when talking about the oil spill recently I mentioned the tar phenomenon and people don't believe me.  Like this is what I would choose to lie about.  Look, I live with my parents, I have bigger lies to keep up with.  So I need the help of my fellow Texans to convince The Internet that this is real.  Just leave a comment saing how lovely and right I am.  I will bribe you with some cute photos of me at the beach when I was little.

{As a side note, I hope that we don't let drilling go so far that every beach has rigs in the distance and every child washes tar off their tiny hot feet.  Can we agree it isn't healthy for anyone?

Oh, and yes, like a good Southerner pronounce "oil" as "ol", one syllable no "i".  This drives my Midwestern mother crazy.  Just like when I pronounce "milk" as "melk".  Are you reading mom?  Melk, melk melk...Ol, Ol, Ol}

Put Some Windex

Remember in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the father thinks that Windex will cure everything from zits to broken bones?

Well, my parents each have their own "windex".

My mom's is blood sugar.  Have a bad day? Get your blood sugar up.  Having a baby? Eat something, your blood sugar is low!

My father's "windex" is loratadine.  It is sold under the brand name Claritin.  Any problem can be explained by the fact that you didn't take loratadine that day.  

These are the people who gave me their DNA.  And I think that explains a lot.  

Tahoe Trip - Part Three: Morons On Ice

On Friday we celebrated the New Year with some serious relaxing at home.  We did a little playing in the snow, but mostly stayed in.  The next day we decided to take a trip around the lake.  The last time the M family came to Tahoe with us we were in complete white out conditions and got 4 feet of snow.  The roads were closed around the lake so they never really got a good look.

The weather cooperated wonderfully this time and we all had a good time looking at the pure blue water of the massive lake.  We also planned on having lunch out so we got all dressed up and took some photos for family and friends.

(The Q of H, The Mad Hatter, Me)

(The Q of H, Me, Rich, G Bags, and Rick)

(The Q of H, Me, The Mad Hatter, My Grandma)

We stopped once for photos at a scenic overlook, but the snow had become so icy that we didn't get very many pictures.  It was like a hockey rink but without the sides to protect us.  I feared for the young life of the Nikon around my neck.

We did get some good pictures when we stopped for lunch at a very yummy restaurant right on the lake. Snow had completely covered the sandy beach next to the pier and the shores of the lake were iced over.  For some reason this called to Rich and he dragged me with him to take pictures on the snow covered beach.

Then that moron took off his shoes and stuck his feet in the freezing lake.  I told him that if his feet fell off I would not be pushing his wheelchair for the rest of my life.

 

Even Arrow was like "dude, WTF are you doing?" After drying off we headed back up to the car, and I snapped a few shots on the way.

(A very cold duck must have left these tracks)

It was the perfect last full day of a wonderful vacation.

Tahoe Trip - Part Two: Bringing Up The Rear

After a nice long sleep on Wednesday night we woke up Thursday ready for an adventure.  The adventure that day? Snowmobiling! Only four of us decided to go: Me, The Queen of Hearts, G Bags (the M family matriarch) and Rich M.  After getting all kitted out in our snow attire we were ready for a nice run.  The weather was perfect and we had an amazing time.  I decided to be the last in the pack because I like to go faster and have done it enough that I don't need to be babysat.

Here are some pictures from our adventure.

(G Bags and Rich)

(Me, photo by The Queen of Hearts)

(The Q of H, Rich, Me, G Bags. Photo by our guide Doug)

(Me, photo by the Q of H)

This is our guide Doug from Lake Tahoe Adventures.  He was awesome.  He let us go a speed we were all comfortable with (fast for me!) and also showed us all around the area.  We have gone on several snowmobiling tours with this company and one 4 wheeler tour of the Rubicon trail with them.  I cannot say enough wonderful things about them.  If you are thinking about an adventure when you are in Tahoe, definitely take a look at LTA and ask for Doug!

I couldn't get enough pictures of the scenery.  I was brave and brought my Nikon and was glad I did.  The pictures I was able to capture just blew me away.

I would snowmobile every day if I could.

When we got home we sent those who didn't come with us out for Lake Tahoe Pizza.  This is damn good pizza.  We relaxed and did a little more, you guessed it, hot tubbing.  We also played some cards, shot some pool and chatted into the wee hours.

Tahoe Trip - Part One: Crackpots In The Snow

On Tuesday, December 29th we packed up our things, loaded up all three cars, and headed out to Sacramento to pick up the M family and my Grandma at the airport.  From there we were on our way to Lake Tahoe.  The snow was amazing when we arrived.  The base was a several feet thick and the top powder was as fine as powdered sugar.  Arrow went nuts, as usual, when we pulled onto our street in Tahoe.  He knows exactly what is coming when we make the final turn.

We took a few minutes to unpack, figure out all the new features of the house (steam showers, heated floors, gas fireplace, chef's kitchen) before snapping some pictures.

This is the view off of the top deck.

Darkness came not long after we arrived on Tuesday and we spent some time in the hot tub before retiring for the night.

Wednesday morning was just as beautiful and I promised Arrow that we would spend some time out in the snow.  Here is how Arrow spent about 5 hours on Wednesday.

Arrow has not played with his frisbee or ring for several months due to his polyarthritis.  But since he is now in remission, we let him play as much as he wanted.  He was rather sore the next day, but recovered quickly.  For a dog that has grown up seeing snow only once or twice a year, he is absolutely at home in the snow.

While Arrow had frisbee fun, Rick and Rich (the M guys) and I went sledding.  Well, Rick refuses to acknowledge that what we did was sledding because he couldn't find an American Flyer sled anywhere, just the plastic ones.  The house is built into the side of a hill with the garage at street level, the first floor below that, and the lower floor below that but still above ground level.  As you can see, this made for a wonderful sled run.  Rick and I put on snowshoes and crunched down a line of snow for the "sled" to follow.

The walk back up the hill was exhausting.  As you can see here, Rich took his jacket off after trudging the hill a couple of times.

For dinner we enjoyed spending a long time together in the kitchen making a gourmet salad and steaming the tamales that the M family brought with them from Texas. It was great to see all of these people I love in the kitchen together.

After dinner we jumped in the hot tub with some brandy and then went to bed, eager to head out the next day for a snowmobiling adventure.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving here at Adventures in Wonderland was pretty nice.  The Cheshire Cat, The White Rabbit, and The Caterpillar joined us for a feast that could have fed 80 people.

But before we could dig into the turkey and fixins I took The Cheshire Cat and The Caterpillar out into the vineyard for a photo shoot.  The pictures are going to be a gift for The White Rabbit for Christmas and since he doesn't read the blog I can show you some of the shots from the day.

Those two are pretty photogenic, dontcha think?

Then we dove head first into our dinner.

All in all it was a wonderful day full of friends, family, and photography.

I hope your Thanksgiving was just as wonderful!