A musical dedication . . .

Happy 25th wedding anniversary Duke & Lisa . . May you have many more. . . .

Obsessed with . . .

How about we take it to the next level?

Great sports story out of Monmouth . .

Red hot softball Wolves win two more
April 26, 2008

In the super tight Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball race, Western Oregon held serve today with a pair of road wins over Central Washington on Saturday afternoon, 8-1 and 4-2.

The Wolves won their 10th and 11th consecutive games to improve to 15-5 in conference play and to 27-14 overall. Central Washington, who entered the doubleheader just one game back of WOU, dropped to 12-8 in the GNAC and to 17-23 overall.

Western Washington also dropped a doubleheader today (to Montana State Billings) to fall to 10-8 in conference play. Idle Seattle University is 11-5, two full games back of WOU, with a doubleheader on tap against Central Washington on Sunday.

The Wolves bashed out 10 hits in the first game in support of pitching ace Katie Fleer to cruise to the win. Fleer helped her own cause with a two-run double in the first inning, and she went 2-for-3 in the game with three RBI. The visitors scored three runs in that first stanza, before Fleer even entered the pitcher's circle.

WOU added two more runs in the third inning on a two run single by Tyler Sutherland, and tacked on more insurance in the seventh when Kristin Maglasang laced a two-run single.
Sutherland was 4-for-5 in the contest with two runs and two RBI, and Jessica Hallmark added a pair of hits. Meanwhile, Fleer scattered five hits and gave up just one run, walked one and fanned six Wildcats.

The second game was much different, dripping with drama because of the close score, but also because of an amazing act of sportsmanship.

With the score 0-0 in the top of the second, WOU's Amanda Fleer and Whitney Lee reached base via singles. Senior Sara Tucholsky then ripped a shot over the centerfield fence, for what would be her first career home run.
But Tucholsky hurt her knee as she rounded first base, crumpling to the ground. She crawled back to first base, but was in a state where she obviously could not make it home under her own power, which would take her three-run home run off the books and change it to a two-run single.
But in a totally unexpected and stunning move, two Central Washington players picked Tucholsky up and carried her around the bases until she could touch home plate, giving the Wolves the run and a 3-0 lead.

"There wasn't a dry eye anywhere in the stadium after that," said WOU head coach Pam Knox. "That was one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen in softball, and it says so much about Central Washington and the kids that they have."

The Wildcats scored two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to pull to within one digit of tying the contest, but the Wolves answered with another plate crossing in the fourth inning. Katie Fleer walked, and pinch runner Melissa Powell promptly stole second and third base, and Krystal Pennington followed with a run-scoring single.

CWU put at least one runner on second base in each of the next three innings, but couldn't get a run across. Jessica Wood recorded the win in the pitcher's circle for WOU, with help from Christina Cooke, who got the save. Cooke pitched the final 2.3 innings and did not give up a run.
Maglasang and Hallmark had two hits each in the game for WOU, while Kasey Druffel, Mallory Holtman, Holly Rossman and Logan Mohr had the same for the hosts.

Western Oregon now heads into its final week of the regular season, hosting Seattle on Thursday and Friday, and Western Washington visits on Saturday.

WOU Athletics Western Oregon University345 N. Monmouth Ave., Monmouth, OR 97361

Side Note: The senior they carried around the bases is a former FGHS Grad class of 2004! Great perseverance, if you gotta go out your senior year what a way to go. Go Wolves!

More and More and More diapers . . .

Nicole and I hosted a baby shower at the house on Sunday for Josh & Dani. In sending out the invitations we tried to motivate people to bring packages of diapers by awarding prizes if you brought them. WOW, it worked! They were able to take lots of packages home when they left. Luckily, we had great weather so folks were able to wander in and outside. Not sure what would have happened if everybody had to be inside. They were pretty overwhelmed with all the baby items they received, it was cool. Blankets, Onesies, bath stuff, Diaper bags, outfits, toys, rattles, playpen, high chair, shoes, lot's and lot's of cool stuff! The last time I saw their car that full was when they left our house to head to Denver!

I do have to mention one game we played was a hoot. It's called the poopy diaper game. You melt different kinds of candy bars in separate diapers, then number them, pass them around and have people guess what the candy bar is in the diaper. SO funny to see all of these people with their faces in diapers trying to figure out the smell!! Good one for a couples party, the guys really got into it! That baby will be ready, outfitted, diapered and monitored, etc. etc. etc.

Andy and Lucas talking man to man about baby showers (I think?)

Charlie Brown would be proud . . .

Busy weekend! Our family entered the Arbor Day Run (and walk). Nicole is sooo good to get everybody motivated to participate, except me I was a dud. Dale, Chad, Stephanie & Brian, Brian's mom, Andy, and Janelle all ran/walked the 3.5 mile course. I hung back so I could take picutres at the finish line. Since the Grove is known as Tree City USA the proceeds from the entry fees go directly towards planting what?? More beautiful trees of course! Lucas was a trouper in his jogging stroller, he looked very serious most of the time...he was probably getting mentally prepared. His stroller was the second one to cross the finish line (behind the stroller with a windshield, some major stroller competition!). Great temperatures in the mid 60's. Chad even won a gift certificate during the raffle for some bowling at Rainbow Lanes!!! woohooo!

You may now proceed to booking . . .

Yes . . . this cold weather has just put us over the top.

We have been thinking about it for awhile and today we just said, "Let's do it!". We are returning to Mazatlan, Mexico after a 22 year absence for a vacation. We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary there and enjoyed it alot. Really great accommodations, food (especially the shrimp!), the people and we learned our best Spanish there. Prices now are great and the value of the dollar is better currently than many other places. We are excited that the http://www.hotelplayamazatlan.com/index.php?home is still around and we've booked with them again. The family owned resort has no dreaded timeshare sales people ("only 90 minutes of your time sir") hovering over you as so many other resorts in Mexico do. Thanks to good ole Gee Dubya Bush our economic stimulus rebate will be helping the Mexican economy and the US airline industry. So here's to George!!!! No retirement account deposit, no savings account entry, no paying off any bills, NOPE just a foolish, unreasonable decision to spoil ourselves!! So let the final school bell ring so the Siesta's can begin!

Who will he look like? . .

His beautiful Mommy or his buff Daddy?? Not too much longer to wait!

This party is ....BUSTED . .

"Hey Mrs. C . . did you hear about the party that got busted this weekend?" "No" "Some kids had a party at their parent's house while they were gone and somehow the police found out and a bunch of kids got MIP's" "Oh, really?" "Yeah, it really sucked" "How would you know about that?" "Well, yeah, I was there and I got a ticket too, that's why I'm here I need to talk to Thomps, I guess I'm suspended from Track for 2 weeks, right?" "Yes, you need to come back after lunch for an appointment to talk to him" "OK". . . .

MIP's - the scariest kind of ticket for a high school student, worse than speeding, worse than not wearing your seatbelt, just the worse. I can remember - It was November of 1974, I was a junior and a big group of us met in town (dumb) at a friend's house who's parent's were away for the weekend. The guy had bought a keg, so of course there was going to be a kegger at his house that weekend (I don't even know if they call them that anymore?). We had been there for awhile, hanging out, listening to music playing, aaahhhh yes some kids were making out in the back rooms (just being honest), when all of a sudden somebody yells, "COPS!!!", So what do we do? We all RUN out side, some make it down the street, others just stay in the house, my boyfriend (yes, hubby now) and I hide in the bushes in the backyard (seemed the best spot at the time) UNTIL the police spotlight started shining on the yard and I thought I was going to go blind when the light hit us! So we get escorted to the police cars (there were 4), girls in separate cars from boys. All together they hauled about 35 kids to the police station that night. Girls were crying, Boys were upset, we sat in front of the police chief who gave us a lecture about drinking and proceeded to make arrangements for all of us to get rides home. THAT was the worse, THAT'S why I was crying, I really didn't want my dad to have to come and pick me up. What had I done??? He was the manager of the local JC Penney store and now I knew for sure the headlines of the local paper would be "Local Manager's Daughter Arrested at Kegger", OH GAWD!! that's why I cried. Well, my dad picked me up or signed for me as they call it. Spoke with the officer, walked me to the car and with tears streaming down my face I looked at him, and he had the funniest grin on his face. He was getting a kick out of this, he tried to be serious, but then that grin would come on his face again. "Well, you know you shouldn't have been drinking" he says "I know" "And you won't do it again, will you?", "No, I promise", Then he proceeds to tell me about the various times he got in trouble for drinking at parties and it was almost like I had made a rite of passage. And no there were no big headlines in the paper the next week.

So when the kids come in and tell me about a party, I think back to that moment and wonder what was their ride home like that night?

And now we break for an infomercial. . .

For years I have spent hundreds of dollars on cleaning products.

All kinds of cleaning products, Dow Scrubbing Bubbles, Lysol bathroom cleaner, Lysol soap scum remover, Clorox scum fighter, X-13 (a product that burns the inside of your nose if you stay in the room too long). Anyway, my point is that although I cannot remember and name every product, I have tried many. The reason is SOAP SCUM, dreaded soap scum on our glass shower doors. Some cleaning products get most of it off, but none that I have used can completely remove it. Well, ALLELUIA!!! I HAVE FOUND SOMETHING THAT WORKS! I should have checked with the big man to begin with since he has been cleaning for as far back as I can remember. I think my mom even use to have a thing for him. So stop your search and run out and buy.....the one......the only......

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponges

IT REALLY WORKS!

Mt. Hood or Mt. Neskowin? . . .

Back from a relaxing weekend at the coast. Weather was bizarre though! Rain, Wind, Hail, Sunshine, more Hail, more rain and then we wake up this morning to this . . . Snow on the beach, very cool!

Perhaps at the baby shower . .

. . . we will play charades . . .

I know it's bad . . but it's good.

It begins in April, the sense that I need some color, some UV rays! That I am deficient in Vitamin D big time and I need some sun! I excuse it by saying, "If I get a base tan now, I won't burn in the summer". Well, it's true. If I don't "fake" tan then the first nice weekend I am out in the sun, I burn, it sucks. There happens to be a new tanning salon that has opened in town on Main Street. A very chic, boutique selling jewelry and clothing as well. The young lady that owns it is really a sweet heart. So hey, I am doing my part to help her out and the downtown economy of the Grove. When you enter the room where the tanning bed is there is soft music playing, candles burning, a piece of chocolate sits on a crystal dish sitting on the tanning bed, a warmed towel waits your exit from the bed. Now hey!! Does it get any fancier than that??
It is truly a frivolous luxury to lay in a tanning bed every other day for about a month. That's about how long it takes me to build my color (ha..sounding like a tanning professional). To lay there and feel the warmth in my bones, and to dream I am in a tropical place, smelling the coconut tanning lotion, well, it's the next best thing to being there. I hear it from the men of the family, "You are gonna get skin cancer!, just drink more milk if you need Vitamin D or B or whatever it is". I know they mean well, but I'm cautious and I'm stubborn, so tanning goes on. I think tomorrow I will drift off to Costa Rica ..mmmm.

Fire up the barbee . . .

This is a new recipe I tried out on the Grannies last night (picture is from Christmas). We usually try to have them over for dinner about once a month, so they were my test group for these steaks. They were quite yummy! So maybe you'd like to give them a try some night.

Skinny Steaks

1 pkg (about 3lbs.) of 1/4 inch cut steaks (from Costco) or anywhere

1 bottle of (15 oz.) Aloha BBQ Sauce or Huli Sauce or Kona Coast brand Island Teriyaki Marinade (I used the Kona sauce)

Marinade steaks in sauce overnight (at least, can be longer). Next day, fire up the BBQ. Throw the steaks on hot BBQ. Cook each side only about 2 - 2/1/2 minutes. They should come out at about medium/medium well. Layer in baking dish while waiting for remaining steaks to finish, lightly drizzle any remaining teriyaki sauce you might have over these steaks, cover with foil until all steaks are done and ready to serve.

These steaks are really good, great flavor, juicy and tender! And most important they passed the Grannie test!!

For side dish ideas I served this with fried rice, stir fried carrots, broccoli and asparagus, along with fruit salad (fresh strawberries & pineapple). Enjoy!

Never too early to make time for fun . . .

We had so much fun pouring last year we signed up again! and they actually want us!? So mark your calendars for Saturday, July 19th 3:15 - 6:45pm, stop by our booth and we will pour you a cold one! http://www.portland-beerfest.com/

Not much longer. . .

We are sticking around town Memorial Day weekend this year, just in case we get the call. That's around the time our next grandbaby (grandson) is due to appear. Baby showers are in the planning stages for the next few weeks and Mom and baby are doing great! Dani & Josh have gone to their birthing classes so they are ready, I guess as ready as you ever are for the big day. The parents to be are going to be moving into their new home in the next week or so and that's very exciting! They have chosen a very cute Safari theme for the baby's room, and they look forward to decorating it once they get settled. I am getting so excited to be a Grama...AGAIN =)

VW obsessed . . . .

I told the boys today, between my 72 VW bug, Chad's VW camper bus and square back and now Andy's square back we could have our own VW car show right in our driveway. Project cars we like to call them, continual works in progress. I think at our car show we will charge admission and sell big posters of Bob Marley, tie dye tshirts, incense, hemp bracelets, PEACE stickers, it would be cool.

Wonder if our neighbors would mind . . oh who cares!

Family night at the Blazer game . . .

Not very often are we all able to get together for an evening out. Well, this Saturday night we all headed into Portland for a family night at the Blazer game as they took on the Dallas Mavericks. Yes, we had nosebleed seats, but we didn't care, we were just glad to hangout and cheer the Blazers onto a victory. Even Lucas came, his first Blazer game and his mom and dad weren't sure they would stay all night but he was a true fan until the end! He was completely facinated with the crowd, music, lights, drums at halftime, and all the yelling and screaming after each basket. His mom even slipped him a couple little pieces of cotton candy which he thought was great. It was amazing to see the Rose Garden sold out for the game. Brandon Roy and Jarrett Jack had some GREAT shots and rebounds which helped them pull out the win. Even though they aren't in any playoff spot, you would not have known that if you attended the game. The crowd was outrageous, it was alot of fun. Plus for scoring over 100 points that night everyone received coupons for FREE CHALUPAS!!! You have never heard sooo many people chanting CHALUPAS! CHALUPAS! CHALUPAS!...as the 100 point shot hit the basket..it was crazy! Andy-the college kid got lots of extra coupons as all of us feel sorry for him that he doesn't get enough to eat at school. .ha! Good times!

Ching . . .Ching . . .

How appropriate that this year, this weekend the prom is being held at the Oregon Zoo. A fine place for a large group of well dressed teenagers to be hanging out. Wasn't it a drunk teenager in Texas that jumped the railing of a tigers area only to have that tiger jump out and kill him?? Nice . . . Well, apparently they have a very nice and big conference center there and zoo security keeps a sharp eye that they all stay inside..

Here's the buzz from the kids stopping by the office about what the expenses are running this year . . .Yikes!

Prom Tickets - 2 @ $50.00

Prom Dress - $50 - $150.00

Accessories (necklace, bracelets, earrings) - $30 - $60

Shoes that match the dress - $30 - $75.00

Tuxedo Rental - $110.00

Corsage/bootuneer - $15 - $25

Tanning a month before Prom- $45.00

Nails (hands & feet)- $50.00

Teeth bleaching - $50.00

Hair - $35.00 - $65.00

Dinner prior to Prom - $25 - $65 (per person)

Transportation to Prom (from MAX to a LIMO) $6.00 - $150/hr.

Formal pictures at the Prom - $30 - $90 packages

Stopping to eat again after prom (ie. Shari's, IHOP, etc) $6 - $13

(Rumored undocumented expenses: birth control, liquor, chewing tobacco, pot)

For a grand total of Parents & Kids paying way too much $$$! thinking it will create a better memory for them, PS. it doesn't.

Whatever happened to sewing your own dress? eating uptown? and dancing at the student union building at Pacific University? Oh I forgot, that was in

"the old days".

Only 26 hours until . . . .

Season Four of THE OFFICE starts !!!!

Great find! . . .

Fire and Ice . . . . .

What's with men and fire???

We arrived at Lake Billy Chinook on Saturday to temperatures in the upper 40's. So we immediately unpacked and started a fire inside the cabin, trying to warm up the place so we could at least remove a layer or two of coats & sweatshirts we were wearing. The fire starts burning really good and I grab my Enquirer magazine (traditional reading when I go to the cabin) and curl up in front of the fire, I begin to read about how the Olsen twins are not getting along and may have to split their billion $$ business....oh worries me!! Hubby starts messing around outside like he always does when we are there and before too long he say's, "HEY, come look what I made!"...OK...so I bundle up go back outside...and there it is..

A fire taller than him! He loves building fires but we can never have one in the summer because it's way too dry. Right now it's very wet there, even snow on the ground in some places, so he was in 7th heaven burning cut tree limbs, odd's and ends, garbage like old Enquirer magazines..haaha..and whatever he could find to burn. In a man's eye the bigger the fire the better. Of course I am freaking out, saying girl stuff like, "It's too big! a spark could catch a tree on fire! we don't have the pump going!" everything that is responsible to be said I said it.....and he had the fire anyway. hummppfff...Well, there is nothing laying around now that needed to get burned that didn't get burned, so I guess that's a good thing.

On our way home we made the scheduled potty break at Government Camp. This little guy was on the side of the hill greeting the ladies as they entered the restroom.

Going to our zen place for some relaxation . . .

Counting sheep or whatever . . . .

I've never had a problem with falling asleep and staying asleep all night. I can just put my head on the pillow and within about 15 minutes I'm out. Hubby on the other hand cannot do that, he always asks me, "How do you do that?", "I don't know it's easy". For as long as I can remember he has had sleeping problems. Initially we would chalk it up to all the different shift work he's had over the years, days, swing, graveyard, then back to days, then swing, then days. But he can't use that as an excuse anymore, he's been on dayshift for over 15 years now. He falls asleep then wakes up about 4 hours later, wide awake, not able to go back to sleep until early AM just before his alarm goes off for work. He has tried most every remedy out there to promote sleep naturally, like no alcohol after certain time, no late dinners, melatonin tablets, benadryl (hypes him up instead of knocking him out), warm milk . . .you name it, he's tried it. So after much suggestion I said, "Just go to the doctor and see if they can give you a mild sleeping pill to try", he says, "I don't want to get started on any sleeping pills", I say, "You better try something because lack of sleep is making you a bit irritable (understatement) and then you fall dead asleep in the chair waiting for dinner at 5:30 in the evening and I can't wake you up, you need to do something!". So he finally calls the doctor's office and they write him a prescription for Ambien. He brings home the prescription bottle and says, "YOU need to read this!"...."What? Why? alright."..So I read the things he should know about taking Ambien and I quote from the label:

"After taking Ambien you may get out of bed while not being fully awake and do an activity that you do not know you are doing. The next morning, you may not remember that you did anything during the night". Interesting.

"Reported activities include: driving a car (sleep driving), making and eating food, talking on the phone, sleep walking and having sex (ha!)" "Call your doctor right away if you find out that you have done any of the above activities after taking Ambien"...Now that's funny...don't they just tell you that you are not going to remember doing these things?? At least the activities list did not include: Robbing a bank, Peeing in the corner of the bedroom, Coveting thy neighbor's wife ( I guess it did mention sex, just not with who!).

Other side effects include but are not limited to: more aggressive behavior than normal, confusion, agitation, hallucinations, depression, memory loss, anxiety, severe allergic reaction, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, and trouble breathing. Well isn't this just wonderful???? After reading all this I look at hubby and he says, "Kinda scary huh?", and I say, "Yeah, I think you just need to leave this in the cabinet and I can put up with irritable some days and you falling asleep in the chair at 5:30pm and the sound of the TV at 2:30am in the other room, if you can?". If anybody ever needs a sleeping aid, we have a full bottle of Ambien in our medicine cabinet. Be our guest.