Facebook

I'm addicted. I'm just going to admit it.

I resisted for so long this thing that everyone was talking about. Then one day in January I decided to join. Pete and another person were my only friends. Then I found friends from a message board. Since that time I've found cousins, friends from high school , friends from my sister, Pete's family...

And I'll admit, I play some of the games. I love the spot the difference where you try to find the differences in the pictures. It's addicting.

And I loaded it on my iPhone.

It's almost like a drug...it calls to me often throughout the day. And I give in, repeatedly!

The rollercoaster

...and we're on the downswing again.

Pete's aunt Frankie thought she had a stomach virus in January. They ruled everything out and saw a mass in her abdomen. She went in for surgery on 2/6/09. However, the mass was invasive and they just closed her abdomen back up. She started chemotherapy immediately. Only the family has reported that it's not working. So she's in hospice, being kept as comfortable as she can.

And while I've never met her, I met her husband Dickie. He was here when Pete's Dad died in April. Wonderful man. We took him around the Mall of America and out to lunch. While he was sad when he was here, he was also a wonderful spirit. Calming and generous with compliments and light-hearted teasing. I can't imagine the pain that he is going through.

So prayers for Frankie please. And keep Pete in your thoughts too. If she passes away, we'll be making the trip to see them and it's going to be a hard one without his Dad.

Driver's Training

I'm going to admit it. I'm a little freaked out. Like rapid heart rate and red face freaked out.

For Valentine's Day I got a reciept from Pete. I know. How romantic, right? Only it is. Kind of.

The receipt was for payment of the Rider's Edge Class at the Harley dealer. Which is like drivers ed for motorcycles.

Breathe in, Breathe out.

Yes, where was I? Ok, so my goal since last year has been to learn how to ride. And I want to, really I do. Only last year there was so much going on that if you told me I needed to add one more thing to it, I may have jumped off something. Or out of something.

Since that time I've sat on so many bikes and who knew that motorcycles fit a person kind of like clothes. There are different heights and widths and length of pedals and foot pegs and handlebars. But I think I found it. The one that seems to be made to fit me: Victory Vegas Low . I sat on a beautiful one at the motorcycle show and it just fit me. It was comfortable. It's definately one in the running.



Anyway, about the heart palpatations... So I got the receipt for the class and Pete's kiss and kind of forgot about it all. Then I got a call. The facilitator calling so I could pick out my day to attend. Yikes. It's uh, real, isn't it. So she rattled off dates and the first one was about a month away. Now considering that there is still snow on the ground, that one was out. And the next one wouldn't work because I had previous committments at work. So as my heart beat like a quick drum, I chose the second one in April.



Now I have about 60 days to read the book for the permit, take the test and pass it. Man I feel like I'm 15 all over again. I always wanted to feel younger, just not that young and not in the rapid heart beat kind of way.

Clicker Training

You know those clickers that dog trainers use to train the dogs? The annoying ones that almost have the double click to them? The ones that they hold behind their backs with one hand while they command to the dog? You can get them at any pet store. This one shows you what they're like. They must be pretty well liked because a lot of trainers use them.

You know that my husband has the iPhone, right? And honestly there are more applications for that thing than dollars in the deficit. He will often times pick it up and browse applications when he can't sleep and doesn't want to disturb me. He's found some cool racing and fishing applications. He had a Zippo lighter that I hold up in the car every time a 70's rock ballad comes on. He has a flashlight/strobe light that is kind of cool looking.

Anyone see where this is going?

My husband tried to clicker train me this weekend.

Let me repeat, My Husband Tried To Clicker Train Me This Weekend.

I'd be doing something that he liked: picking up, getting him something to drink, driving him around, paying for lunch, kisses...anything he liked and he tried that clicker thing on me. I kept telling him YOU CANNOT CLICKER TRAIN YOU WIFE! But it didn't seem to matter. He'd get this big smile on his face and click than dman clicker application on his phone.

My husband tried to clicker train me...and it didn't work.

Happy Pre-Valentine's Day!

Guess what? I now have 2 sucker fish. The fist one was hiding in the pump all the time. I have no doubt that he was cleaning out the pump, it's just that the rest of the tank needed it too. So Pete brought me another one. This one is HUGE. He's getting the tank really clean. Which means that I need to buy the algea tablets soon so that they have something to eat. I think the other fish are a little freaked out. Why wouldn't they be? The've had tank mates from Pete come in and die. I changed out plants. Then brought in 2 new suckers. One of them now swims at a 45 degree angle all the time, bobbing it's head up and down. I promise that this is the last thing that I'll do for now.

Valentine's Day means love, candy, romantic. So guess where we're headed? The motorcycle show. Really. Nothing says romantic like a convention hall full of cycles, accessories, bikers and stuff. I mean where else would bikers spend the love day?

It's a guy thing...

We have an interesting neighborhood. Across the little alley is a kid (and I call him that only because he's in his 20's and I am approaching 40) who revs up his unmufflered car every morning, just to piss off the rest of us. It's to the point that he calls the association on every little thing that he thinks people are doing wrong to try and get them in trouble. The rest of us, or many of us, have all taken our turns calling in on him and his car. The association I'm sure is getting tired of the calls, but the kid is asking for it and frankly a pain in the ass.

The neighbor 2 houses down is really cool. Pete talks to him a lot and they do favors for each other. He is a truck driver so Pete will take the guy's garbage can in and out of our garage if needed. This only happens because the kid calls if garbage cans are left out past the garbage date. In return the guy has done this for our garbage when we've been gone. The guy parks in the driveway next to us, that Pete has permission to park in because the realtor knows.

Anyway, yesterday Pete told me that when he went to take the car in to have the tansmission checked, the neighbor was there. They swaped car stories and the guy offered Pete a ride today if he needed it for the car and gave him his number.

Why am I telling you all of this?

PETE HAS NO IDEA WHAT THE GUY'S NAME IS.

Each time he talks to the guy I ask him what his name is. Pete always replies that he doesn't know. I laugh and again ask the next time. Pete keeps explaining that it's a guy thing. That they don't need to know names to be friendly. They just call each other "Bud" when they talk.

Is this really a guy thing? I'm thinking that both of them have been talking to each other for so long that neither of them wants to admit that they don't know the other's name.

Guy thing? Or Embarassed thing?

Sometimes....just sometimes...

So Pete calls me today at work. Or maybe I called him. It's afternoon now and I don't remember.

Anyway, I ask him how he is and he says that he needs to walk and then has errands to run. I ask what the errands are and he says, "I need to get you a present because of how mad you are."

*puzzled*

I ask him again what he needs to do and he again tells me that he needs to get me a present because of how mad I am at him. And I tell him that I'm not mad at him. We did have a discussion the other night, but I was never mad at him. And I thought it was a productive discussion.

So then he says, "I need to get you a present to deflect how mad your going to be with me."

*puzzled*

Then I ask him why I'd be mad at him. And even before I can finish the sentence, I know what he's talking about. He has the Harley in storage wating for some work on it. Not only work, but additions that he wants to make. And it's not so much that I'd be mad about spending the money. It's that he wants to do everything on it NOW. While I keep pointing out that if he does everything on it now, there is nothing for gifts, or for other winters in storage or whatever.

Then he laughs and tells me that he actually needs to get me my Valentine's present.

What a sucker.

Time Managment

How do you fit it all in? There seems to be a mountain of things that I'd like to get done. Mountain. And yet, when I get home at night all I can think about is hanging out on the couch watching TV with Pete. I want to get some cleaning done each night. I want to get to the gym. I want to crochet and relax. I want to get some organizing done. I'm not sure if it's a case of too much overwhelms me or no energy to do it.

So I'm making a promise to myself. A promise to take 30 minutes each night and do something. Organize, clean, crochet, read...something that makes me feel productive. And another 30 minutes exercising. I feel so much better when I'm exercising, so it's hard for me to figure out why I don't do it.

And because it makes me feel better about the whole thing, I'm making a list of things to do tonight. A list of things that I can do in 30 minutes. When I get them done, I can cross it off my list and see the things that I have accomplished.

Texas

Pete and I went to Texas last week to see a friend of his that he hasn't seen in years. It was an adventure. We left the day after an ice storm that effected the middle of the county.

As you can see, not everyone knows how to drive in ice. We were in Oklahoma and northern Texas during the worst part. Cars would fly by us and about 3 miles down the road we'd see the vehicle in the ditch. This semi was on the road when we went down and when we came back 5 days later it was still there. The storm and the attempts to get rid of the ice were futile. In MN the roads would have been prepped for ice and plows would have been out during the storm and afterwards. Down there, the trucks were called off because the ice was too bad for the number of trucks.

When we got there, we took a few hours to tour The Lexington. It's an airship from the military. It was pretty cool seeing all that up close.

On Friday and Saturday we rented a Harley. Nothing better than telling people we rode bike in January. I think we put about 400 miles on between the two days. Enough for me to look like a racoon with my red face and white sunglasses eyes.

The beach was...insteresting. Granted, we were riding, but we were all dressed in jeans and sweatshirts. There were pepole there in shorts and bikinis!

On the way home we stopped at The Alamo. I need to read up more about this because it was interesting to me.