I Need Help

Now, before anyone makes any snide remarks about the title, I will just get going with this post. Oldest daughter turned 29 last week. (Before you try to guess my age, I have to tell you that I gave birth to her at the age of 6. It was in all the papers! :)) Anyway, she is having an age crisis--already. I told her I will be relentless in my teasing when she turns 30. (She IS okay with this teasing.) And this is where I need help from all of you. For the 30 days leading up to her birthday, I will be sending her a little gift. Each of these gifts will be something that is connected with 'old people.' So far, I have the following items on my list:

--Depends
--glucosamine
--Ben Gay
--Preparation H
--an AARP magazine
--Polident
--support hose
--wrinkle cream

Please, give me suggestions! The more I have, the easier it will be for me to gather all of the items together. I am going to start my purchases ASAP--much easier than waiting till the last minute. Thanks!

To The Conference Finals

Detroit won tonight 2-0 against San Jose. It was beautiful. Thank goodness they didn't have to go another game--it would have been too nerve-wracking! There really was very little doubt already in the first period that the Wings would win. The Sharks just weren't playing as good as they are able. Only 8 more wins and the Wings have the Cup! But first, the conference finals start against Anaheim on Friday. Another tough series. But until then, I will be smiling!


--Dominik Hasek #39 of the Detroit Red Wings celebrates after defeating the San Jose Sharks in Game Six of the 2007 NHL Western Conference Semifinals on May 7, 2007 at the HP Pavillion in San Jose, California. The Red Wings defeated the Sharks 2-0 and won the series 4-2. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)--

Scattergories Meme

I found this at burg's blog and decided to try--it was fun.


SCATTERGORIES... Rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question... Now Go! This is a lot of fun, but harder than you might think!

Name: cmk

1. Famous singer/band: Clapton (like THAT was a surprise?)

2. 4 letter word: Crap (HAD to be a naughty word--and I wouldn’t write the OTHER ‘c’ word)

3. Street name: Cleveland (the street behind mine)

4. Color: Chartreuse (or Carnation pink--do they even HAVE that color anymore?)

5. Gifts/present: jewelry with Citrine stone/s (the November--and my--birthstone)

6. Vehicle: Cavalier (LOVED my Cavalier, until I got my Jimmy)

7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: cards (as in ‘post’)

8. Boy Name: Christopher (no reason)

9. Girl Name: Caroline (again, no reason)

10. Movie Title: Crash (not worth watching a second time--wasn't worth watching the first time)

11. Drink: Cosmopolitan (yum!--especially pomegranate ones)

12. Occupation: Carpenter (I could be one--I love power tools)

13. Flower: Clematis (very pretty)

14. Celebrity: Chevy Chase (has been funny on occasion :))

15. Magazine: Consumer Reports (haven’t subscribed for years--and don’t miss it)

16. U.S. City: Chicago (as in ‘Sweet Home’)

17. Pro Sports Teams: Vancouver Canucks (defeated by Ducks in playoffs this year) or Montreal Canadiens (didn’t even make it into the playoffs) OR Calgary Flames (beaten by Detroit in the playoffs) and I will now stop!

18. Something Found in the Kitchen: Coffeemaker

19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Car crash

20. Something you throw away: Cardboard (actually, we recycle)

21. Things You Shout: Cowabunga! (?)

22. Cartoon Character: Wiley COYOTE (I know, that’s stretching it!)

23. Animal: Cougar (or cat, same difference)

24. Favorite Thing To Do: Computer (I know, ‘computer’ isn’t an activity, but you know what I mean :))

25. Food: Cake (or cookies or chocolate or candy—but no cantaloupe!)

So, I won't tag anyone, but this is--as burg said--a good filler for when you have nothing else to write. Enjoy!

Sunday

In our town, the city workers will come by in the spring and take whatever household junk that is put curbside and haul it away. It is absolutely amazing to watch the people riding around doing 'dumpster diving.' Tomorrow our junk is supposed to be picked up and K and I will have to work at getting some stuff out to the curb. It is hell when he has been working so much--just no time to do any spring cleaning. I guess I will only get the stuff I KNOW has to go--won't be able to do any digging, so the majority of junk will stay in my house. Oh, well.

**********

It is extremely dry here, so we are under a wildfire watch. With the dry air, dry conditions, and hard winds, if a fire starts, a whole lot of the UP could go up in flames. Last weekend--while under the same conditions/watches--the DNR (in all its intelligence) decided to do a 'controlled burn.' It 'got away' from them and managed to burn over 1100 acres before they got it under control. I am not a fan of the DNR. I wonder why?

**********

All of the teams are in place for the the conference finals (Stanley Cup semi-finals)--except for one team. And that team will be either the Red Wings or the Sharks. The Wings can put the Sharks away tomorrow night--or they can go onto a seventh game to end it all on Wednesday. I hope it ends tomorrow. If the Wings win, they will then have to play the Anaheim Ducks. Another team that has a player I JUST. CAN'T. STAND. (Chris Pronger) Sadly, Schneider broke his wrist during Saturday's game and is done for the year. He will truly be missed. Maybe Lebda will be back tomorrow night--one can only hope. The Wings only need to win 9 more games and they will have the Cup!

**********

Spoke with the youngest daughter tonight and I finally found out what all the commotion was the other night. Turns out, the cops were at the neighbor's doing a raid on a meth lab! We figured it was drugs, but didn't think it was THIS serious. She isn't sure how many people were taken by the cops, but she DOES know that some of the tenants are still in the house. For whatever reason, the house wasn't shut down and everyone wasn't hauled off to jail. Thank goodness they have a neighborhood watch and the police are on alert. The joys of living in a city--and she lives in a GOOD city!

It Was Sweet!

The announcers bad-mouthed Detroit's play at the start of the game, but I thought they came out with a lot of energy. Granted, they didn't score the first goal, but they DID win the game 4-1. They outhit and outshot the Sharks and it paid off. The Wings now need one more game and they win the series. I'm glad to see some of the Wings stepping up and hitting more than usual. If only they could get Datsyuk to do a few of the hits he is able to do--THAT would keep a few of the opposing players from hanging all over him. The element of surprise and never quite knowing what's going to happen can go a long way.



--Detroit Red Wings' Tomas Holmstrom of Sweden celebrates his goal against San Jose Sharks' during the third period of an NHL hockey playoff game on Saturday, May 5, 2007, in Detroit. The Red Wings won 4-1. (AP Photo/Jerry S. Mendoza)--

Baseball Goalie

This video had me in tears, I was laughing so hard! The last scene is classic. Hope you enjoy!

RIP

--Wally Schirra, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, died at the age of 84 on Thursday. He is the only astronaut to fly on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo flights and was the fifth American into space. The rest of the article is here.



--Actor Tom Poston died at the age of 85 on Monday. He is known for playing the 'clueless everyman' on television shows such as 'Newhart' and 'Mork and Mindy.' Poston made his Broadway debut in 1947 and had numerous roles on Broadway, in films, and on television. His more recent movie roles were in 'Christmas With the Kranks,' 'Princess Diaries 2,' and 'Beethoven's 5th.' He was married to Suzanne Pleshette, his third wife. Here is the rest of the article.

I Didn't Know This!

For those of you who own dogs, I have a question. Has your dog ever smelled like popcorn? As we all know (right?), dogs sweat from the pads on their feet--as opposed to sweating from the pits as humans do. If you find that your dog's feet smell like popcorn, that is normal. The popcorn smell is just the smell of a dog's sweat! I thought that was quite interesting. (Here is the post on mental_floss, where I got this fact from. Gotta love the site--gotta love the magazine!)

Un-freaking-believeable!!!!!

Halfway through the game tonight, I told K, 'Well, I guess it is all over, hey?' He agreed. The Wings were down 2-0 and they just weren't playing well at all. Holmstrom--playing his first game back after getting his eyelid cut during the last game with Calgary--got a power play goal just seconds before the end of the second period.

Halfway through the third period, I was positive it was all over but the crying. I even told K that I had half a mind to turn the game off and watch something else. Well, would I have been a fool if I would have done that! With 33 seconds left to the game, the Wings were down 2-1. And then Lang got the tying goal. I was totally speechless. And I had to tell K, because HE changed the channel! Amazing! (And 'my boy' got the assist, as he fed the puck to Lang--YIPPEE!!)

On to overtime. It was white-knuckle, nail-biting time through the overtime. At 16:04, with one hell of a wind-up, Mathieu Schneider let loose and scored the winning goal! The Wings won it and will play again on Saturday. With the series tied 2-2 and the Wings having home ice for two of the next three games, there is still the potential for them to win the series. I can only hope and dream.


--Detroit Red Wings left wing Henrik Zetterberg, left, of Sweden, and center Johan Franzen, also of Sweden, congratulate defenseman Mathieu Schneider (23) after he scored the winning goal to defeat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 in overtime during Game 4 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series in San Jose, Calif., Wednesday, May 2, 2007. The series is tied 2-2. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)--

Are We Spooky...Or Just Women?

While I was out shopping tonight, youngest daughter called to tell me about some drama she was witnessing. Turns out, the neighbors' house was surrounded by police cars and there were all kinds of cops in and out. One even got his dog from the vehicle to do a little sniffing of the place. She had NO idea what was going on--we figure it was drug related--and she was a bit uncomfortable because she was alone. I sure hope she finds out what happened--it could prove to be an interesting story!

Well, the reason I am mentioning this is because A said she never 'felt right' about the neighbors from the first time she saw them. (They moved in only a couple of weeks ago.) She said they never did anything that would make her feel this way. And she said she has had these kinds of feelings at other times in her life, too. So, we discussed.

If I meet a person and don't like him/her immediately, I will ALWAYS be proven right at some point in time. I have NEVER disliked a person on first meeting and then had to change my opinion of that person at some later date. A said she is the same way--and she was wondering if it is some kind of 'woman's intuition' or are we just spooky people. Believe me, we are slightly spooky people who come from spooky people. A few stories follow.

When my mother and I were close, I could pretty much read her mind. When I was growing up, we didn't have many department stores in the area where I lived. So, for Christmas, my mother would do a lot of her shopping from catalogs. In the town where we lived, we got our mail delivered to the post office and I would bring it home when I came from school. Of course, whenever a package came at that time of year, I knew it was a Christmas present. One day I brought a package home and badgered her to tell me what was in the box--in a teasing way. She wouldn't tell me--DUH!--and out of my mouth came the words, 'I know what it is! It is one of those stuffed animals with a radio in it!' I don't know how my mother kept her composure, because, as it turned out, I was right! I had NEVER said I wanted one! The only time I may have even seen one was when I looked at the catalog when it first came into our house. My mother had never mentioned one of these to me, ever. How did I know? I haven't a clue. But this is the kind of connection I always had with her.

I am able to recite a conversation--word for word--that has taken place in my mother's kitchen, even if I have not been there when it occurred. Is this because I know the participants so well, or is it because I'm spooky? My daughter's were never able to lie to me, because I always knew the truth. Of course, I couldn't PROVE they were lying, but I found out a couple of times after the fact by doing a little light 'snooping.' There just are some things that I 'know' with no explanation.

I don't know exactly how far back this spookiness goes, but I know my great-grandmother knew things, too. One day, my mother told her of an awful dream she had. In the dream, my mother was painting the walls in her house black. And she said the smell was gaggingly awful. My ggm told her the dream meant my mother was going to experience some kind of tragedy. In less than two weeks, my father was put in the hospital for a year and my mother was left with two kids--ages 4 and under 1--to raise by herself at the age of 22. (My father was diagnosed--incorrectly--with tuberculosis. The standard of treatment at the time was a hospital stay to localize the TB, followed by surgery. He DID have surgery, but it turned out that he had an ulcer on his lung, not TB.)

Another of my ggm's stories: One day she was in her kitchen. Three butterflies flew in and dropped dead in front of her. When she told this to my mother, she said this meant that J was dead. J was fighting in Korea at the time. They found out a few days later that he died in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill.

So, I guess A gets her spookiness legitimately--we have some strange women in my family. And believe me when I tell you, I may be the strangest! :)

What Happened?

Yup, the Sharks won last night 2-1. The Wings scored first and played very well through the first period and halfway through the second. And then the Sharks scored. The Wings seemed to lose the momentum they had and, finally, lost the game when San Jose scored with less than 7 minutes to go in the game.

I can go on and on about the bad officiating--which there was some of--but why. It doesn't change the outcome and doesn't change the fact that they MUST win tomorrow night so that they can have home ice in order to win the series. I just might be watching anything but hockey next week. Pessimism follows me around like a cloud of doom-and-gloom hanging over my head. Just the way I am. :)

Heaven Help Us

According to Time magazine: 21% of people ages 18 to 29 cite The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live as regular sources of their election news.

OneDayBlogSilence.com

As I have already posted today, I will just put up a link to the OneDayBlogSilence site. This is to honor and remember the victims from Virginia Tech . Read more about it at the site. I will now go silent for the rest of the day.

Of Birthdays and Other Holidays

The month of May begins on Tuesday and that means several things for me: 1) The Mother's birthday, 2) my oldest daughter's birthday, 3) Mother's Day. I bet you can't guess where we went today!? Yes, we took a trip up-north to bring gifts.

First, we stopped at The Parent's house so that I could give The Mother her birthday and Mother's Day gifts. (I ALWAYS try to do both at once. Why make two trips when I can get away with only one?) They weren't home. Now, I don't know if that is a good or bad thing. We left the gifts at C's house for her to deliver tomorrow--which I certainly HOPE she does, because The Mother's birthday is on Tuesday--so that means I will get a phone call and have to talk to The Mother. I guess a phone conversation with her is preferable to an in-person visit. Anyway, THAT is taken care of for another year. I won't have to go back to their house till the same time next year. (I send K to bring The Father his Father's Day and birthday gifts. I'm not needed for that one.)

I was so very happy to be able to see the grandkids--they are growing so fast. I took some pictures and sure hope they turn out well. K reminded me to take the camera--as he said, 'If we wait for C to send pictures, we'll be waiting forever!'

I managed to find the perfect birthday card for C. I must tell the story behind it, first. When C was in middle school, K was walking past her room--the door was open--and he heard her singing. He looked in and there she was, in front of the mirror, singing at the top of her voice (which, by the way, is VERY good)--and she was using her HANDS as her back-up singers! NO puppets--sock or otherwise--just her hands. He laughed till he almost fell over! As C is one of the most unflappable people I have ever known--even at a young age--we have been able to tease her about this endlessly over the years. And she laughs along just as hard as the rest of us. So, the card. On the front there is a sock puppet and it says 'Happy F(bleep)ing Birthday!' And on the inside it says, 'I wanted to have my sock puppet wish you a happy birthday. I should have known better than to use a dirty sock!' I think she liked the card better than the bag of Jelly Bellys!

Red Wings 3, Sharks 2

I am about the most pessimistic person in the world--I DEFINITELY will NEVER see the glass as half-full--but I really had every reason to be that way for the first 13 minutes of today's game. The Wings played just about the worst hockey I have ever seen! And then they got their first goal--and the tide turned. From then till the end of the game, they played their little hearts out and managed to win with only 1:24 left to the game. The win today gives me hope, but it doesn't turn my pessimism to optimism: they still have to win at least one game in San Jose if they want to take the series. They have a long, hard fight on their hands!



-Detroit Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk (13), of Russia, collects the puck to shoot the go-ahead goal against San Jose Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov, of Kazakhstan, in the third period of an NHL hockey Western Conference semifinal in Detroit, Saturday, April 28, 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)-

And In Conclusion...

Before we got to go in to see Body Worlds 2, we spent some time wandering around the Museum of Science and Industry. While the place was okay, if I had my druthers, we would have been at the Field Museum of Natural History. Now THAT'S a place I could get lost in for DAYS and not want to leave! I don't want too much time to go by before we go back, so that I CAN get to the Field Museum.

Anyway, our tickets for the exhibit were for 5:00pm, the time the rest of the museum closes. By the time we decided we really wanted to see certain things, they were closing--namely, the U-505 submarine and the Pioneer Zephyr (Silver Streak) train. We did walk through most of the museum and found several things that were quite interesting.

In one area of the museum, there are full-sized aircraft suspended from the ceiling. There were several planes from WW2--a German one and a Japanese one. Also, there was a United Airlines Boeing 727--which we got to walk through. It was a bit unnerving to realize you were suspended in mid-air while walking through! Here is a picture of the planes:


The other exhibit that I liked was called The Great Train Story. While I wasn't particularly interested in the trains, the miniature Chicago that the trains went past was really cool. Some of the buildings had to be 5' tall, anyway. (This display was right under the planes.)


On Sunday, we spent three hours at the Ikea store! I LOVE Ikea--such a fun place to explore. Our friends had never been in an Ikea, and we had only been in one once before, so we had a good time.

As we headed back north, we stopped at the Jelly Belly Center in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. We went on the tour--a little lame :)--and bought 'Belly Flops'--'not quite right' Jelly Bellys. It was very touristy, but fun. We got to wear paper hats and ride a 'train' around the warehouse, as we were told the story of Jelly Bellys. (Yes, there is a picture of K and me wearing paper hats. No, you cannot see it. The pic is locked away in a secret underground vault and will only see the light of day when I am skinny and beautiful--or after I am dead. Guess which one will happen first! :)) Here are a couple of pictures from there:



Final thoughts:

The thing that surprised me and flabbergasted me the most on this trip were the tollways in Illinois. You had to pay to get on a road AND you had to pay to get off! It was a little nerve-racking, considering we don't EVER have to go on toll roads. We missed paying at least two tolls--both because we found ourselves in the wrong lane! Now, I am trying to figure out how to pay these tolls--it isn't fun. When you go online to pay, they ask you all sorts of questions that I can't answer: What highway were you on? What exit/plaza did you use? What day did this occur? What time did this occur? What color was the sky at that exact moment? (I made the last one up, but they might as well ask it, cause I won't know the answer to THAT one, either!) Oh, well, I guess I will make up some kind of answers and hope they don't mind--after all, I WILL be sending them money, so why should they complain!

We got home early on Monday evening--exhausted, but happy. Now I get to start planning our next trip: the end of May we will go to see The Lion King! I can't wait!

Body Worlds 2--The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies

On Saturday afternoon, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry--mainly so that we could see the exhibition Body Worlds 2. When we were in St. Paul for the Clapton concert, the exhibit was just down the street from where we were staying--I had NO interest in it. Then, our friends asked us if we wanted to see it when it came to Chicago and I thought, "Why not." I definitely was convinced that I would not like it. I was wrong. This was one of the most amazing, incredible things I have ever seen.

Soccer Player

When we first walked into the exhibit, I was surprised by the quiet. There were MANY people, but everyone talked in hushed tones--as if we were in a funeral home. Everyone was polite and stood in line to wait their turn--even though this was an exhibit where you just 'milled about.' (Once everyone got used to the exhibit, we all kind of 'loosened up' a bit. Still, everyone acted with a certain degree of dignity and reverence.) In the first display area, there was only one body--and MANY display cases. I was afraid we made a mistake--I wasn't there to look at bones and other body parts in glass cases! Bring on the bodies! And then we saw them.

Ortho Man

A soccer player. Yoga woman. Ring man. Drawer man. A ballerina. Ortho man. Each more fascinating than the one before. There also were many more display cases. Each case held different body parts, organs. We saw diseased lungs next to healthy ones. There was a 'slice' of a breast with cancerous tumors. The entire digestive system was in another case. The entire circulatory system--veins, arteries, capillaries--of the fingers, hand, and arm were display. This last, was in the SHAPE of the arm, but without any bones, muscles, or other 'structure' holding the veins, etc, in place. It is something that has to be seen and cannot be described adequately.

Male and Female Torso Slices

The 'Ortho Man' was really cool--they had done various orthopedic 'surgeries' on him. There was a knee replacement, hip replacement, pacemaker, artificial jaw, etc. Now, when would a person--other than medical personnel--get a chance to see this? It was neat.

Brain Slice

Some of the bodies that they 'plastinate' are sliced--as are the torsos and head in the pictures above. There was an entire body that was sliced and displayed spread out--almost like an accordion. Some of the bodies had the organs kind of 'exploding' out of the areas where they are located. The way things were displayed was imaginative, to say the least.

Ballerina

I believe the display I thought was the neatest was: there were two adult 'bodies' with a child. One of the 'bodies' was only the muscles, and the second body was the skeleton and internal organs. The adult 'bodies' were the same person, taken apart. Cool.

The only display that disturbed me at all was the prenatal one. They had unborn babies from a couple of weeks old to 30 weeks. All I could think about were my grandkids--the one who was stillborn and the rest who were premature. There also was a 5-month pregnant woman--with the unborn child in place. It was too emotional for me.

In all, we spent about two hours looking through the exhibit--and if I get a chance, I will do it again. This is something I would recommend for ANYONE to go and see--well worth the time and money. If I could get through it, anyone can.

(There is no age limit on seeing this exhibit. However, I think some children might be disturbed by it. Every parent would have to make the decision based on what they know about their own children. I saw children there from babes-in-arms all the way up. One little girl--pre-school?--had her head buried in her mother's neck. While I didn't hear what the girl said, her mother was saying, "There's nothing to be scared of--just look!" I was disgusted by the woman.)

--All of the pictures I posted were from the Body Worlds site. No pictures were allowed to be taken at the exhibit.--

San Jose 2-Detroit 0

I want to know how a team can get 34 shots on goal and NOT. SCORE. ONCE! I don't know if there is some kind of voodoo magic going on, but this has been a problem for the Wings for too long. Guess they have to pick themselves up, wipe their noses, and show the Sharks just who the dominant team is on Saturday. Go Wings!

Shedd Aquarium-Chicago

Our purpose for going to Chicago was to see the Body Worlds 2 exhibit, but the tickets we had were for 5:00pm, so we had the entire morning and early afternoon to do other things. We decided to go to the Shedd Aquarium first. We left the hotel about 9:00am and arrived in Chicago about 30-45 minutes later. I was amazed at the amount of traffic--in some places it was bumper to bumper! I never dreamed we would have any traffic problems with it being the weekend--my small-town upbringing showing it's face, I guess. :) I was in awe of the buildings--we have NOTHING to compare here in the UP. Believe me, I had the slack-jawed, wide-eyed look that anyone could read as 'tourist.'

After only ONE wrong turn, we finally found our way to the parking garage for the aquarium, Field Museum, and Soldier Field. When we walked past Soldier Field--which I was told is where the Bears play--I saw the dedications to the veterans and realized why it was called Soldier Field. That was kind of neat. As we walked up to the entrance of the aquarium, we got a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline--the first thing I took pictures of.


Quite impressive!

The aquarium was featuring their lizards and komodo dragon exhibits, so the entrance was covered by a lizard canopy.


As you can see, we were there at a good time--we just walked in and only had to stand in line for a few minutes to get tickets. When we left the aquarium at 1:30-2:00, the line to get in was all of the way down the stairs and way out in front of the lizard's head!

I, in no way, like to do anything on or in the water. You will not catch me swimming, water-skiing, surfing, boating, etc, etc. BUT, I love being around the water and love sea creatures. If I had the space and money, I would own a ginormous salt-water aquarium--so Shedd's was a fantastic adventure for me. Unfortunately, you couldn't take flash pictures in the place, so many of what I took just didn't come out. That, plus despite what I said about no crowds outside, there were enormous amounts of people inside and the opportunities to get decent pictures were few. I did get some okay ones, though.

I was able to get a great picture of the komodo dragon. He was rather beautiful, in a reptily sort of way. I didn't realize just exactly how green they are--and he was very big. He weighed over 100 pounds. A piece of info: komodo's have saliva that will cause infections in whatever they bite. Their saliva, also, has one bad stench--possibly the worst in the animal kingdom. They also are quite cranky--the handlers won't go anywhere near him when he is eating, as he could attack at any time.


We watched the dolphin show--nothing too great. No pictures of the dolphins--they moved too fast! I was surprised to see at least 13 trainers during the show. Now THAT would be a fun job. We also got to see the Beluga whales--there was a baby born not too long ago. Penguins, Pacific otters, sharks--they all were there. I was in heaven!

In one spot, there was a display in the floor. The display was covered by a clear piece of plastic and you could watch the rays swimming right under your feet. Very neat.


I was very disappointed that the pictures I took of the sea horses and sea dragons didn't come out! I didn't even know there was such a creature as a sea dragon! They really aren't all that big--just 6" or less--but they are quite impressive. Here is a pic I found online:


More pictures I took--a moray eel, some starfish, sea anemones, coral, and various other underwater creatures.

This is just one of many varieties of eels that were there--some of them were quite impressive in size! I wasn't aware of the many different colors and patterns they come in. This one is one of the prettier ones:



Starfish are so neat--and who would have known that they come in various colors? Of course, if you look closely, you can see the sea urchins, too.



This was most impressive , as it just waved in the flow of the water. A camera can't capture the true beauty of the colors, though.



Coral is just so awesome--to think a living creature is behind all of that beauty! The aquarium even grows their own!



Salt-water fish are the most colorful there are. Again, a camera can't show the real beauty of the colors.



If you look closely those are--for real!--two fish in the middle of the picture! Most of the pictures I took were of the pretty sea life, but these two guys were just way too interesting to pass up!



We stayed at the aquarium for about four hours and I could have stayed there for four DAYS! A most impressive place. I can't wait to get back there again.

Getting Beautiful Isn't Pretty

I have to thank Yoopergirl for sending me this--it is one funny story!

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix dinner, play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours: "Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet."

So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom. It was one of those "cold wax" kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off.

No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK!?!)

So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees.

("Cold wax," yeah...right!) I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. It works!

OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire.

With my next wax strip I move north. After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet.

Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my hoo-ha and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek! (It was a long strip.)

I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRIIIPPP!!!!

I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!....OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!

Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the strip. CRAP! Another deep breath and RIPP! Everything is spinning and spotted.

I think I may pass out...must stay conscious...must stay conscious.

Do I hear crashing drums??? Breathe, breathe...OK, back to normal.

I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip!

There's no hair on it.

Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX???

Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The hair that should be on the strip...it's not! I touch. I am touching wax.

I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair. Then I make the next BIG mistake...remember my foot is still propped upon the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down. Sealed shut! My butt is sealed shut. Sealed shut!

I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself "Please don't let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off!" What can I do to melt the wax?

Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!! I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right???

*WRONG!!!!!!!*

I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit.

Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together, is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub...in scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.

So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cemented myself to the porcelain!! God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!!

I call my friend, thinking, surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter "So, my butt and hoo-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!"

There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, "Are we talking cheeks or hole or hoo- ha?"

She's laughing out loud by now...I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box.

YEAH!!!!! Right!! I should be the joke of someone else's night, while we go through various solutions. I resort to trying to scrape the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better than to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!! By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event.

My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax.

What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on and OH MY GOD!!!!!!! The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend. It's sooo painful, but I really don't care. "IT WORKS!! It works!!" I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up. I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair....THE HAIR IS STILL THERE.......ALL OF IT!

So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now. Nothing hurts.

I could have amputated my own leg at this point.

Next week I'm going to try hair color......