I spent Easter with Cinderella’s extended family and friends this year. We made cookies and colored eggs.

Here is Butterfly and Cinderella busy decorating cookies.

 And the result of our labor. This was just a small portion of the cookies.

 The Easter Bunny definitely paid a visit.

 The joy of finding Easter eggs. Especially for the first time.

 Butterfly found a bucket full of eggs.

Here is a few of the family. Guess what? There is more.

Oh yes I did!

Lucie my big, red dog hopes you had a Happy Easter!

Sometimes you have to. Take pause I mean. It is really hot here so slowing down is a good idea. The heat takes it out of me sometimes. I long to go somewhere without this piercing heat.

The weather people keep teasing us with the start of the monsoon season. We will see. The last few years have not produced many storms. Years ago the storms would roll in every afternoon. Booming thunder and electrical lightning shooting through the sky. I miss that. Something invigorating about those storms.

The rain tends to wash away the dirt. Things look clean and shiny. The air smells good.

We. Need. Rain.

Yes I am! I started last Friday and I do not go back until a week from Monday. I am just going to kick back at home, work with the dogs on training, and relax. I really was just going to take a floating holiday and have a four-day weekend but my boss convinced me to take vacation. Um, well ok.

So here I am sitting on my couch, blogging and hopefully getting geared up to do some writing next week. The job is still up in the air but I am hopeful. I also plan to scout for some more work. Spruced up my resume and write a cover letter and then start applying.

Talked to Cpl. Honda the other day. He was gearing up to weather Typhoon Songda. Apparently they made it and all were accounted for. He told me that it ripped bumpers of of cars and their beer garden (whatever that is) ended up in a different place. He said now he can say he lived through a typhoon among other things. I think I will pass on that one.

There is other news concerning Cpl. Honda. Brace yourselves. He is getting married! Yea, I know. I had to pick myself off the floor too. He is a big boy and can take care of himself. It is looking like a possible October wedding but plans are still up in the air. The wedding will be in the states but they do not have an exact location yet. I will update as I find out. I am happy for both Cpl. Honda and the future Mrs. Honda. Hey, I think I just found her bloggie name! Anyway, it is another new dress for Juliannah!

I wrote about Lucie my big, red dog, Buddy and my training on juliannah by design. Hint: Buddy will be home-schooled from now on. Let’s just say the grumpy, howling pain in the you know what dog did it to himself.

So I started my vacation on Friday by cleaning my house. Since I live in a dust bowl it was sorely needed. I decided to start crating Lucie again. She just goes nuts when I get home and is scratching the door and started chewing things again. Namely a plant which she promptly removed from the pot and flung dirt everywhere. Including on my couch. I decided I am not going to wait for her to take the couch out. She loves to unstuff things and since the couch would be like hitting a gold mine to her I am not taking that chance. Added plus is I can get in the front door without being attacked.

Lucie’s crate was pretty dirty from being in the laundry room so I decided to clean it out. Of course since she is a 63lb dog and it is a big crate. So, I had to two pretty much climb in to clean it. I found that guess what? I fit in a large dog crate. Sometimes I just have to much time on my hands. But, what I am going to say next is even more shocking than that. While I was in there my err butt was sticking out and um of course Lucie just had to stick her nose you know where! I can not believe I am telling the interwebs this. Yea, so I am trying to shake her off me while half in and half out of the damn crate. Not my proudest moment but hey, she is a dog.

So I will end it with that. I plan to spend the rest of my day watching mindless TV and eating nachos. Yum.

This weekend was a nice end to a rather crappy couple of weeks. I thought I was going to have to make a decision that I did not want to have to do. It has turned out well and last Saturday me, Lucie my big, red dog and Buddy started dog training and human training. Me being the human. I learned a lot and so did they. It was fun and I look forward to next week.

I talked to Cpl. Honda on Friday and all is well in Okinawa. Things are going well for him and he seems to think he will finally get his reenlistment bonus in a couple of weeks. Yea the one he was supposed to get when reported to his duty station in February. The paperwork was never done when he was on deployment so he had to have it done and wait.

Me and his girlfriend have been talking quite a bit. We both love Dancing with the Stars and a lot of other reality shows so I think we will get on just fine. Hmm, I have to come up with a bloggie name for her. Going to have to think on that one for awhile. Considering I have not met here face to face yet it might take awhile.

Weekend after next is Butterfly’s tenth birthday and I will head up to her home to attend a swim party. So far all my grandkids were born in summer months except D.D. He just had to be special and come on Christmas Eve. I do not think he will have too many swim parties, but maybe Santa will visit. You know instead of a clown.

So looking forward to the long weekend for Memorial Day. I really have an itch to throw the dogs in the car and go somewhere. I need to find a camping buddy. Preferably someone with a boat, that likes dogs. A girl can only dream.

I went and bought some flowers a couple of weeks ago. I like pretty things. They make me feel good. Rough week, but moving on.

Sweet little flowers.

Nice succulent.

Like the red.

I usually edit the photos and make rounded corners. Today I am leaving the rough edges. Sometimes you have to handle the rough edges even when you get cut.

Still. Pretty.

I think I will pass today. I ate a burrito last night and I do not think it agreed with me. In fact I am sure it did not agree with me. So I feel a little better this afternoon.
I spent the day on the couch watching The Hills reruns. Sorry, can not help my reality show obsession. Talked to my son, Cpl Honda’s, girlfriend and found out she likes many of the same shows I watch. This could be a good thing, especially during long deployments.
I also watched the Royal Wedding. Hope the best for those two, William and Kate. Sorry for Charles and Diana, especially Diana. I watched her wedding and funeral when I was a young girl and was glad to hear my daughter and granddaughter were watching the events on Friday. We are all females and romantics. Every little girl wants to be a princess…
Anyway, I am off to watch some more mindless TV and take some more pink pills. Work tomorrow. Yea!!!

Almost forgot the winner of the FRESCHETTA® Pizza by the Slice giveaway is Grandma M! Congratulations to you! Hope you enjoy your pizza and six piece storage set.

I wrote about my weekend at juliannah by design. I can not rehash it here. I did speak to Cinderella and Butterfly this weekend. I also talked to Hippie Guy. I was hoping to speak to Cpl Honda but did not get a call. He is training in another country so it is possible that he worked through the weekend.

I am glad that our stupid congress got their @*$& together this weekend. I just want to know why it has to come to this? People are depending on the government doing business as usual. Especially the military. People, they are giving their lives for us so now do their families back home have to possibly choose from paying rent or eating! Not acceptable.

And that is all I have to say about that.

This is the first day in awhile that I did not have to write. I got busy yesterday and finished my articles. It is nice to have a day but I really do not know what to do with myself. I got up and used a new floor cleaner and put a nice shine on my tile. Then I threw some pinto beans in the crock pot and made refried beans. Yummy if do say so myself.

I also broke down on Friday and bought my dogs a couple of new beds. Probably should not have considering what Lucie, my big, red dog has been doing the last couple of weeks. But I felt sorry for them. At least for Buddy.

On Saturday, Buddy went in for a butch haircut. I must say he made new friends as soon as he got there. I took him to an independant groomer this time instead of chain pet store. The groomer has a long-haired chihuahua too. She told me she shaves hers too. They just look so darn cute when they are shaved.

Here is before.

Here is after. Ahh, much better. He is in his new bed.

Here is Lucie looking at Buddy in her bed. Don’t know how this will end.

Umm. Yes I do.

I like to get up on Sunday mornings and watch CBS News Sunday Morning. I find the stories interesting and I learn about people and things that I might not have thought about if I did not watch. This Sunday, there was many segments that caught my attention.

One was about John Lennon and his sons Julian and Sean. On October 9th, he would have been 70 years old had he not have been shot to death on December 8th, 1980. That date is one that you remember exactly what you were doing when you heard the news. Much like when President Kennedy was shot and killed. I remember that too, even though I was only four years old. What do I remember about that? My parents’ reaction. I remember them staring at the TV in disbelief.

When John Lennon was shot, I was a young, stay-at-home mom with a fifteen month old son and a two month old daughter. I grew up listening to the Beatles and I remember watching them for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show at a young age. I am not really sure how old I was then, but I was aware of them and I remember thinking that how cool it would it be to run off and become a Hippie. Needless to say, I did not because by the time I was old enough to consider such a thing, the Hippies were a thing of the past and I remember a friend of my mom’s that had a child that became a Hippie and I remember this friend’s mom making a certain comment to my mom at the time. The friend told her soon to be Hippie daughter that she should be sure to at least take a clean change of underwear. That comment in my child mind probably was the single most reason that deterred me from pursuing my Hippie dreams.

There was also an interesting piece about adults that make art using Legos. They make some very interesting pieces of art out the those little bricks that many of a child has played with over the years. I did not as a child, but my children and grandchildren have. In fact, I have a bucket of the lego bricks in my toys that I keep for my grandkids to play with when they visit. Here is just a couple that I found particularly interesting. More can be found here.

Wow, is all I can say about this!

This one looks so surreal.

I also rediscovered the library in the past couple of weeks. So what am I reading? Nothing to deep. I am reading a biography about Madonna, written by her brother Christhoper Ciccone. Why? Because I am inherently nosy. I do plan to seek out some more well written novels in the future. I was an avid reader in the past and I have found that I miss books and I want to go back to having some reading time in my days.

I also have another ulterior motives for rediscovering the library. They now have DVDs from many of my favorite TV shows and movies! Viola! Netflicks for FREE! I am currently watching the third season of Big Love and loving it! Years ago they only carried National Geographic shows and PBS episodes. Nothing wrong with that, but hey, I need more mindless entertainment in my life.

Well, that is about it except did you know that the Flintstones are 50? Now I really feel old.

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://lifeslikeaboxofchocolates.com/2010/10/03/sunday-brunch-sunday-mornings/feed/ 1 http://lifeslikeaboxofchocolates.com/2010/09/12/sunday-brunch-passages/ http://lifeslikeaboxofchocolates.com/2010/09/12/sunday-brunch-passages/#comments Sun, 12 Sep 2010 19:45:53 +0000 juliannah http://lifeslikeaboxofchocolates.com/?p=1949

This past Monday we went to visit our twins, Fuzzy and Wuzzy. Normally, they are in good spirits. Not that day. Wuzzy was not feeling well and broke out with the prickly heat. Then Fuzzy fell on the TV stand and busted his gum open, so early that day consisted of an ER run. Turns out Wuzzy had a virus and Fuzzy had a split gum that just had to heal.

They are walking now, more like stumbling around, but they are giving it their best effort.

I caught this shot as Wuzzy was lunging towards my camera.

Here is Fuzzy holding his tongue on his injury.

Even with illness and injury, they managed to tackle Grandma. Heaven forbid when they are six feet tall.

Wuzzy is not the only one battling an illness. I ended up at the doctor’s office on Friday with an infection that I will decline to discuss here. Let’s just say it was not pretty. I feel better today and totally understand why Wuzzy chose to fuss. Unfortunately, fussing was not an option for me.

I found out this week that Uncle G won his battle with cancer and went to heaven. His family and friends are sad, but glad that he is now without pain and suffering. On Friday, I watched Stand Up To Cancer. The one thing that I took away is almost everyone has either been affected or knows someone that has battled cancer. My granddaughter, Butterfly has been cancer free for a few years now. I thought about writing about this experience many times, but at this time, I do not think I want to revisit it. I am just thankful she is here.

My Dad, Grandpa DingDon also battled cancer and thankfully he is still here to enjoy his kids, grandkids and great grandkids.

The only other thing that happened this week is I think I almost poisoned my big, red dog Lucie. I cleaned out my refrigerator and maybe gave her a tad to much table food. Last night she started making those upchuck nosies. I rushed her outside just in time for her to deposit the stuff that probably should have went down the garbage and not in her stomach.

The next few hours were spent eating grass. Her not me. Wish I could eat grass to fix my illness. Would have been cheaper.