To Everything (turn, turn, turn)

There is a season (turn, turn, turn)...

I can't believe it is almost the end of another year already. I doesn't seem like it's been 8 years since my hubby proposed to me at midnight on Y2K. Remember what a big deal Y2K was? A lot of people thought the world as we know it was going to end because computers couldn't figure out the year "00".

This year has brought about a lot of changes in my life, most all of them positive this time! With me, every year brings change. I am very rarely in the same circumstances at the end of any given year as I was at the beginning. Whether this be job, place of residence, in trouble, out of trouble, family situation, financial status...you name it. Life is truly never boring.

In 2007, I have undergone a drastic improvement in financial status, started (yet another) new job, and moved into a new house. I wonder what will change between now and the end of 2008? This is one of the rare times when I actually hope that nothing changes too much - I like where I am right now. But, you never know! And it's funny, but even unwelcome changes seem to be for the best in hindsight.

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We are looking forward to seeing Jimmy Buffett in concert next weekend. This will be my third time to see him, and hubby's second. Buffett concerts are always fun. It's more like a huge party than a show.

I love concerts. You may ask, "Why pay exorbitant amounts of money to see a band play live (probably from the back of the auditorium) when you can buy the CD for $20 and listen to it whenever you want?" It's a whole different exzperience to actually be there, see the band in person, breathe the same air, etc. And you're sitting with hundreds of other people who are excited for the same reasons. It's a huge energy, and I just love it.

I was lying in bed this morning wishing I could go back to sleep. I hate getting up early when I don't have to. Anyway, no such luck. So I lay there reminiscing about concerts I have been to. Let's see...Steve Miller (twice), The Doobie Brothers, Poison, Jimmy Buffett (twice so far), KISS, Aerosmith, Neil Young, John Prine, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones (twice), The Who, The Police, The Eagles...there may be more, that's all I can think of right now.

There are some people, like my mom, who don't enjoy loud noise and high energy crowds. These folks would not appreciate a good concert. That's OK - if we all liked the same things, the world would get boring.

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A Scotsman moves to Canada and attends his first baseball game.

The first batter approaches the batters' box, takes a few swings and then hits a double.

Everyone is on their feet screaming 'Run!!!'

The next batter hits a single. The Scotsman listens as the crowd again Cheers 'RUN!! RUN!!'

The next batter also hits a single.The Scotsman listens as the crowd roars as a run scores, and cheers 'RUN!! RUN!!'

The Scotsman is enjoying the game and begins screaming with the fans.

The fourth batter comes up and four balls go by.The Umpire calls: 'Walk.'

The batter starts his slow trot to first base.The Scot stands up and screams, 'Run ye lazy basta*d - rrrun!'

The people around him begin laughing. Embarrassed, the Scot sits backDown.

A friendly fan notes the man's embarrassment, leans over and explains, 'HeCan't run -- he has four balls.'

The Scot stands up and screams: 'Walk with pride, Laddie!'

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Have a good day, everyone!

Special Day

Today is the birthday of a very spectacular lady, whom some of you may know through blogging. Her name is Olive Riley and she turns 108 years old today. Check out her blog - just click the link "The Life of Riley" on my blogroll.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OLLIE!!!!

Home Improvement

I guess.

We had some friends staying with us a couple weekends ago. We asked one of them to stay on a bit longer and offered to pay him to help with some work we wanted to do. Specifically, some miscellaneous stuff on the motor home, and building a new cage for our iguanas.

We have 2 iguanas, each measuring between 4 1/2 and 5 feet long, including tail. We had a pretty decent cage for them, but they were just getting too big for it. They were in and enclosure about 7 feet long, 2 1/2 feet wide and about 5 feet high. They now have 8 feet long by 5 1/2 feet wide by about 6 1/2 feet high.

I was quite pleased with the final outcome of the cage. It is very spacious and much better suited for our iguanas. I still have to put some finishing touches on it, though.

New Story:

Last night I put Trevor in the bathtub. (Trevor is 2 1/2 if you didn't know). I have had issues before with him "making a mess" in the bathroom while in the bath. (read: flooding the bathroom floor). He has been reprimanded and punished and is now generally very good. The one thing I do have problems with is that he loves to flush the toilet, which he can reach from the tub.

After Trevor flushing a couple times and being scolded, I decided to put an end to the whole nonsense. I took the cover off the toilet tank and unhooked the rubber thingy from the arm attached to the flush handle. I looked at Trevor and said, "Ha! Now you can flip that handle all you want and nothing will happen. I win!"

I went in the living room and a few minutes later hubby says, "why do I still hear water running?" I said, "I dunno" and went to check on Trevor. When I walked into the bathroom the entire floor was completely flooded with water. I immediately scream, "TREVOR!!! What did you dooooooooo?!?"

Trevor looks at me innocently and I hear gushing water, but don't immediately see the source. Did I mention that I have one of those cabinet things over my toilet tank? It is one that you buy and put together and it sits right over the toilet - there is a shelf, then a cabinet with doors, then another shelf - one of those practical plus decorative type things. Anyway it initially appeared that the water was spewing out of that thing.

I knew water couldn't spew from a piece of furniture, so my first thought was that the pipes in the wall had burst, and I imagined the worst. I yelled for hubby to "Get in here NOOOWWWW!" Hubby, having sprained his ankle the day before, came hobbling in, Asking, "what's wrong? what happened?"

Me: "I DON'T KNOW!"

Hubby: "Where is it coming from"?

Me: "I DON"T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!"

Hubby: "I DON'T EITHER!"

Me: "WHAT DO I DO?"

Hubby: "I DON'T KNOW!"

After about 3-4 seconds of this, I realized that water was coming from the toilet. I had left the top off the tank, and pipe where the water comes in to fill the tank was spewing water like there was no tomorrow. Think Old Faithful.

So I covered the spewing pipe with my hand while hubby started yelling, "Turn off the water to the toilet!" I reached down for the knob, but it was stuck and wouldn't turn. Hubby managed to make his way in with the sprained ankle and an inch of water on the floor and got it turned off.

Meanwhile, Trevor is sitting the bathtub laughing his butt off.

After work today I stopped by the hardware store, picked up the parts, and learned all about the inside of toilet tanks.

What will tomorrow bring?

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