I know what you're thinking, where the heck have I been, right?  Well, mostly I've been over at scene_again , but in looking through my journal, I realized it has been forever since I posted here. 

I've set myself a rather daunting pre-NaNoWriMo goal and it's been a bit all consuming.  Not to mention that my stupid arm & neck have been playing up.  Before NaNoWriMo started, I vowed to finish up my 'current' fan fiction story so I can be done with it.  Frankly, I am so sick and tired of these characters, I haven't written a word in months and months.  This story has been languishing for almost two years, but I've had a few epiphanies about it and completely believe I can finish it today!  (Editing and such will make a nice break from the NaNo-ing).  Soooooo, that being my major focus lately, I hadn't really thought about the fact I have no idea what the subject of all the NaNo-ing would be.  Oops.  So this morning I asked Mr. Mav if he had any ideas.  At first he just looked at me as if I am completely cracked, starting NaNo (tomorrow) with no clue what I was doing seemed a bit much.  Well, he thought about if for 15 minutes and then called me into the kitchen (I was watching last night's Mavericks game on TIVO, they TROUNCED the Lakers, btw) and he started reeling off this elaborate idea which is perfect!  So, YAY I have a starting point for my NaNo!!!!!  WooHoo!!!!!

My life is just scintillating, isn't it?

At the request of edith_jones , I'm putting a few Fergus photos under the cut.

( Puppy piccies... )

I'm a bit late in the day, but Happy Birthday to pearltook1 !

I am definitely going to get up to date with my communities, comments and flist tomorrow!!!

Having been, for the most part, absent from LJ lately, some explanation was due.  I've seen a marked increase in the pain from my neck (so the medical torture endured in March  wore off much sooner than anticipated) as well as my chronically bad elbow.  I suppose these things just wanted to remind me there IS a reason I'm medically retired.  Adding insult to injury is the fact that I've been fighting a bit of a migraine for the last three days.

I doubt I'll ever truly get caught up, if something MAJOR happened in your life, please let me know.  I've been feeling guilty about not keeping up with my LJ, and I miss all my funny, smart friends here.  I'm sure I'll be feeling better soon.

Happy Birthday to the most excellent edith_jones</span> !  I hope your day is as special as you are!

The classic American anti pollution commercial.

I stole this from kiwiria  over at book_memes .

( Under a cut for length and possible spoilers for those who haven't read all 7 books... )

Thanks to a the great agentxpndble  over at scene_again , yesterday I was introduced to the most glorious site, LibraryThing.com.  I'm sure I'm the last person on the planet to know of this site, I usually am, but I've become enamored with it.  The hubby has, over the years, made databases for our collections and he was a bit hurt when he saw me entering some books at LibraryThing.com, until I showed him I only had to enter an ISBN or Library of Congress number and all the information for the book appeared as if it were magic.  I love this, it's the best thing ever!!!!!

If you are so inclined, you can find me on LibraryThing here!  At least I hope the link works!!

Just a quick ranty type thing.  I'm sort of in charge of tag maintenance over at 100_snapshots  and thanks to trishtrash , I now know how to delete the tags which are entered by users which are no longer valid, or when two words or more get strung together. 

Anyway, I was catching up this morning and saw a tag which I just had to (out of pure spite) delete.  A little over a year ago the stepson came to visit, well, mostly he was dumping the car we cosigned for when he was in this country, before he fled back to Italy.  While he was here, he does what he always does when he is with us.  He is so charming that we (mostly just me) believe him when he says he'll keep in touch, or finish out a project.  He seemed to be really interested in the 100_snapshots  community, so while he was here he signed up and posted an entry over there.  It was, of course, the only entry he ever made there.  See the entry here.  So, as I was going through the tags, I noticed his user id tag, and I deleted it.  It made me very happy, is that wrong???  And besides, he didn't even take the picture, I did.

Okay, I'm done.

Hello people!  I've just now realized that I've been doing almost all of my posting over at scene_again  and that I do have friends who aren't  members of that community, so they've been missing out on what's been going on in my scintillating, action packed life.  Oh, alright, I'll admit, my life is neither of those things, but I like it.  I recently decided that this mess of a house could no longer be tolerated and it was time to get to work on the serious Spring cleaning / top to bottom organization I've been promising I would do for, um, we moved here six years ago, so for six years. 

I decided I would do something each and everyday, and some days the tasks are very small and the results aren't really appreciable to anyone but me.  Anyway, the big behemoth task was the kitchen.  The amount of reorganizing and deep, serious scrubbing in this room required the help of Mr. Mav.  He did a great job helping me and over the course of two weeks, we got it finished!!!  Almost all of the rest of the house I can do by myself while he is at work. 

Speaking of which starting this week and for the next four weeks he is on an absolutely horrid schedule.  He keeps talking about the "Operation" at the office and I really shouldn't know anything about what's going on and, technically I don't.  All I really know is that he now is working from 4:00 until midnight.  Fergus and I are really not used to him being here so late before going to work (he usually works noon to ten pm), and it is messing with our schedule.  As a result, the only thing I've 'accomplished' this week is sorting and filing my photos, which although satisfying, doesn't have the same aesthetic benefits to the house as say, vacuuming and dusting.  Last night, about 11pm, the phone rang and it was the hubs (he was obviously unhappy) calling to tell me that even with all these extra people working, they don't have anyone to come in and handle a simple bail out.  At least that is what my sound asleep mind heard, but I had no trouble understanding the result was, he had to work all night.  So, he left for work at 3:30 in the afternoon yesterday and got home at 7:30 this morning.  He's going to be a right ray of sunshine when he wakes up. 

See, I told you my life is so scintillating and action packed!  Filled with house cleaning and weird schedules. 

Picture heavy!  In which I finally finish boring you all with the pictures from my trip, well over a month after getting back home.
( The last trip post. )

I've been internet-less for a day and a half!  I'm going to try and catch up with what's been going on, but you guys have been busy!!

Happy 4th of July!

And a belated:

Happy Canada Day!

Hey, I can hear you groaning out there! :-)

From here on out, there are not many people pictures.  The day after the wedding, a Sunday, I drove to my friend's house to spend the rest of my trip there.  She's been my dearest friend for over a decade, and I adore her and her place.  It is, to blatantly steal a term from java_fiend , my Shangri-La.  It was a four hour drive from my brother's house to my friends.  AND if my brain had been working properly, I could have saved myself the trip I took on the first full day, to check my belongings in storage, since I had to drive through that town on my way.  *headdesk*
( To the country... )

These are the words which were chosen by purdypiedad  for the 'words meme.'

Newfies: As is commonly known, we have a Newfie (Newfoundland Dog) as our canine companion. He is our second Newf, and we still miss the late Rochester very much. I grew up with a German Shepard Dog as our family pet, and Mr. Mav didn't have dogs, his family are devout cat people (we do have 4 cats here, by the way). When Mr. Mav and I were first married, I had a Great Dane, but the two of them didn't really bond. After we lost her, it was years before I broached the subject of getting a dog. When we lived in San Diego, we had a small yard on a busy street and didn't feel it was the right place for a dog. When we were preparing for our move up here, and had found our house, and it's three acres, I thought it was time to bring a dog back into our family. Mr. Mav knew I really wanted a big dog, I have nothing against small dogs, I just like big dogs. In order for him to feel part of the process, I asked if there was any breed he was really enthusiastic to have. He didn't have to think long, when he was younger a friend's family had a Newfie and he thought it was a great dog. So, mission accomplished, we were getting a dog, and a big one at that. Yes, our dog is spoiled, he goes to doggy day care, he accompanies us whenever he can. The one thing that always makes the hubs and I smile is that every single time we go anywhere with Fergus in tow, someone will always say, "That's a big dog." Really, we hadn't noticed.

Dance: Like many girls, I took ballet lessons. Unlike most, I continued classes until I was well into high school. I wasn't very good, but I really enjoyed it and it instilled a life long love of dance. I, naturally, prefer ballet, but I have a deep and abiding respect for dance of all types. Being not very good myself, I think, makes me really appreciate someone who is a good dancer. I absolutely love a show called So You Think You Can Dance, it's introduced me to styles of dance I wasn't familiar with before, mainly hip hop and ballroom styles. I love this show, I watch it every week and vote for my favorite dancers. I'm always thrilled when my favorites do well and I am pretty good at picking the best dancers. Each season (so far) my favorites have been on the final show, even though they don't win.

Photography: I have always been fascinated by photography and have always had a camera. I didn't really start taking it seriously until I joined the fabulous 100_snapshots   community. I've often wondered how many of the 'regulars' over there have upgraded their cameras as a result of taking on the challenge. I am always in awe of some of the photos I see there and aspire to eventually be able to take photos as lovely as those I see there.

Star Trek: That's right, I'm a Trekkie. I wirite really bad ST Fan Fiction (which I have neglected horribly lately).  We own DVDs of all the series and movies and watch them almost constantly. We've only ever been to one convention and that's probably all we'll ever attend. It was fun but more than a little overwhelming.

Sonic: What more can I say, I'm addicted. Mainly I go to Sonic drive ins to fill up on lime slushes. I will occasionallyl have a burger, but mostly it's all about the beverages.When we lived in the very small Texas town (before we moved to San Diego) I never really gave Sonic a second thought. However, when something that is a huge part of your normal routine is suddenly just gone, you realize how much it is missed. I am still thrilled that we now have a Sonic in the area.                                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                               

I nicked this one fromedith_jones .  As I understand it, I'm to post the photo which is my current desktop and write 5 sentences about it.


1. This is my current desktop photo, I tend to change my desktop fairly frequently.
2. The photo was taken with my 35mm Canon AE-1 Camera with the macro lens.
3.  Taken in my SIL's wonderful back yard, it's sitting on the table.
4.  The rock used to sit on my mother's dressing table, and my SIL once again shows her consideration by having this small reminder of my mom in her yard.
5. I'm the most boring person on the planet, taking a picture of a rock and using it as my desktop

I am still waaaaayyyy behind on my LJ-ing, but it's getting a bit better. 
When last we left off, the wedding had concluded, now it was time for the reception!!!

( Yep, more boring photos... )

This post is dedicated to my adorable niece who was the flower girl at my other niece's wedding.

( Awwww...proud aunt blah, blah, blah )

Among the things I found in the brother & sister in laws stash of stuff from my Grandma's house were some old framed photos from Egypt.  Since I plan to redecorate our bedroom and change the art in there with photography, I snagged them!  I went to the local post office to send them home, along with some snapshots which were my Moms.  So I was out and about that morning.

( Wedding morning... )