Ants - 1 Nancy - 0

Weird things tend to happen to me and I've no idea why.  Like the time I was in Costa Rica with Patty Chance and we were out looking for frogs to photograph at night.  I heard one and kept telling Patty he must be VERY close.  He's so LOUD with his croaking!!

That's when I felt the movement in my hair ... he was actually sitting on my shoulder croaking into my ear.  Not sure whether he was poisonous or not, I freaked out just before he jumped to this leaf.  Well hello little hitchhiker!!  I'm pretty sure I lost one year of my life that night.

So I shouldn't have been surprised yesterday to have an encounter with an ant.  A BIG ant.  I would show you a picture of the real thing, but he's in a million pieces on the concrete patio.

There I was, minding my own business spraying weeds, when YIKES!!  Something bit me on my middle toe.  I quickly smashed my foot with my OTHER foot.  YIKES AGAIN!!!  It bit me one more time.

That got my attention and he was immediately throttled.  As I looked around, there was a nest of them, each about a quarter inch long and all one solid reddish color.  The bite irritated me, but I kept on spraying.

In five minutes the pain became like none other.  My foot starting throbbing with horrible pain in my toes.  What the heck?  By the time I got back in the house, it was swollen, fiery red and ridiculously painful.  Visions of Harrison Ford and Raiders of the Lost Ark flashed in my head.

Maybe I'm allergic .... I took a benadryl.  Good grief it hurt .... so I put an ice pack on it to dull the pain.  It didn't help one bit.  I finally propped my foot up high on the top of the couch and remained perfectly still.

It took well over an hour for the pain to finally subside.  I don't know what the heck those ants are, but that colony won't be alive much longer.  I'm usually live and let live (except for scorpions) but these guys have got to go!!

My plan for the afternoon was to get groceries (I made up a list this time and tacos are NOT on it) and to check out some toys for the zoo critters.  I ended up doing neither because when I put my shoes on, it hurt like I couldn't believe.

How boring .... I spent the day on the couch because of a lousy little ant.  That's it for me folks .....

Ants - 1     Nancy - 0

Taco School

It was a most glorious Easter Sunday here in Central California.  The sun was shining most all day, perfect for all those kids next door screaming about the eggs they found.  It was pretty funny sitting on the patio listening to the neighborhood.  It was also nice to just sit and let my sore muscles jell again.

Here's my problem that caused said soreness.  This is the stuff that drips off the roof and down the side of the rig.  It's so frustrating to wash it all off and have it appear again three days later.  I washed the roof this time, squeegeed it from one end to the other, then rinsed the sides to be sure it didn't stick, since my plan was to wash it the next day.  It stuck anyway.  

I started on one corner with my new handy dandy scrubber, purchased at the Indio Rally.  I have to say this thing works VERY well.  It's small enough to get into most all of the spaces and the head swivels up and down to get in even smaller spaces.  If you need bugs removed from the windshield, it has a side for that too.  

To make it even better, the handle extends with the push of a button to something like 16 feet, perfect for breaking off those pesky tree branches in RV parks.  About 30 minutes into washing, the sky clouded up.  My plan was to wash half while it was in the shade.  Now I had to wash ALL of it in one sitting. 

I was exhausted by the time I got done, but she looked beautiful through my rose colored glasses.  Two hours later I went back outside with my REAL glasses to discover I hadn't done such a great job after all.  Oh well ... I'm NOT doing it again!!

For lunch I decided I would try another stab at tacos.  Since the salmon didn't turn out so well, how about ground beef.  What I DIDN'T have was tomatoes, or salsa, or onions, or anything else that resembled tacos.  How about those Korean tacos I made in Tucson?

You should be exceedingly happy you are not one of my kids, required to sit at my table and eat this $%#@$#.  No salsa or tomatoes required, but it did call for sesame oil.  Hmmm what to substitute.  How about balsamic vinegar??  That should be a suitable substitute, right?  Ah that would be no.

Now I've cooked it, I have to eat it.  That's from my mother's table.  So ... another meal of not-so-tasty tacos.  The cabbage salad went well with the meat, but obviously the flavor palate wasn't quite there.  I choked it down, knowing I had to have this again for dinner.

At least it took my mind off being stiff and sore from washing the rig.  Wasn't I happy when I checked my phone to find that the cooking school in Sonora had a class on TACOS this weekend.  I signed up immediately.  Taco School is in my near future.

Happy Happy EASTER!

Good morning!!  It's another gorgeous day in sunny California.  Really, the weather has been spectacular.  That makes it perfect for dressing up in your Sunday best and going to church.

When I was little, I got one new outfit a year.  It was an Easter dress my mom made, usually something too big.  I even made sure it had a matching purse so I could show off in Sunday school, along with my newly painted shoes.  New shoes were NOT in the budget.  A little paint worked wonders.

Sometime during the night, someone hid all the eggs we colored on Saturday.  With a broken crayon, we drew crosses on the eggs, then dunked them in the boiling water bath.  It was the best time ever since activities (other than Easter) were never a part of our growing up.

I don't remember eating many, since eggs were not on my list of approved edibles.  There was always one small bag of chocolate candy spread throughout our little baskets with fake green fluffy grass from five years prior that smelled like our musty attic.  Oh how I wanted a chocolate bunny.  One year my wish actually came true.  I ate the whole thing and got sick as a dog.  Oh the memories!

Back to the present day, this is our lovely little zoo.  Not much to look at.  In fact, if you didn't already know it was here, you would never guess.  One of these days I'll take some pictures for you.  After all, not everyone has seen the extremely rare billy goat.

Meet Josh.  He's the interim Zookeeper, since the last one broke her foot and hasn't been seen in ages.  I picked up a box of Costco ice cream bars for the volunteers, hoping he eats most of them.  He could use a little more padding.  I'm pretty sure he weighs less than me!!!

Such a nice kid, and VERY appreciative of the stuff I donated.  He especially liked the blender.  It no longer takes two people to hold it together while blending.  He was actually pretty shocked I was there.  That's my plan ... because maybe down the road he will remember and do the same for someone else.

Then he insisted he take MY picture.  I finally relented.  While shopping at Costco, it dawned on me that I needed to be careful what I bought.  If they don't show all their expenses for stuff like this, the City is likely to lower their budget even more.  We can't have that, so I asked him to write down things they could use that are not every day stuff.  Maybe a cat tree, or toys for the critters.  The monkeys love puzzle feeders .... figuring out how to get to the food inside.  

Later on today, I'll hit a couple of pet shops and see what I can find.  If anyone has ideas from things they've seen at other zoos, let me know.  Maybe we could use it here.  I'm not really sure what can enrich a goats life, but there must be something.  

The two bears love kids swimming pools, which someone just donated, and empty paper towel rolls for stuffing with tasty treats.   It's just all about giving them a good life because no one else wants them.

I actually spent all yesterday morning washing the rig.  I wish I had not done that.  I definitely need to do more exercise, since now I'm fairly stiff and sore from too much couch sitting.  Actually, I can hardly move, and I know tomorrow will be worse, because the second day is ALWAYS worse.  

I'll be on the couch ...... after I take a handful of Advil.

Sometimes You Have To Be Brave

I don't know what in the world I was thinking when I signed up for this shooting class.  It must have been sleep deprivation.  If you want adventure, sometimes you just have to be brave.

I've done some crazy things in my life, like jumping off a 60 foot tower in the jungles of Costa Rica to swing like Tarzan, but I don't think I've ever shook this bad or been this nervous before.  Obviously, that's not me in the picture.  I would NEVER wear all black in mid summer.  True, you'd never catch me in those short shorts either and there's no tattoos anywhere on this body.

We went through a four hour safety class first, with things like what would you do if you walked into a 7-11, and while standing in line, the guy ahead of you drew a weapon, pointed it at the cashier and said give me your money or you're dead!!  My response was to silently back up,  creep outside and call 911.

At any rate, it turned out to be rather exciting as we moved left and right, ducked here and there and fired at targets from as close as three feet to as far as thirty feet away.  There was a lot of thinking involved, about whether to shoot or not, not to mention listening to instructions.  I kept telling myself to be brave ... I could do this ..... and I did with pretty good results.  It was all luck!!

On the other hand, there were several others in the class who didn't fare so well.  The guy who wore sweatpants had a hard time keeping them up since his gun and holster were so heavy.  Yes, really.   One very old gentleman couldn't seem to follow instructions at all and pointed his gun at the Range Instructor.  Yikes!!  That was nothing compared to the lady who dropped her gun on the concrete, making all of us duck for cover!!  You had to be brave to be in THIS class.

It was fun, and I'm now positive there's no plaque sitting around in my arteries and veins.  My heart was pumping like crazy the entire time.  It was a fun night and rather past my bedtime when I got home at 11:00 pm.  I just might have to do that again!

You also have to be brave to eat my food.  Even "I" have to be brave in this respect, fairly often.  I had some leftover salmon, so decided to dig out the old bbq and grill up a little for salmon tacos.  I had a heck of a time getting the propane container attached.   It was a new variety with some kind of cap with a green dot I'd never seen before.  It just didn't want to come off the bottle.  

When I did finally get things going, I think I had it turned up a little too high.  The skin on the bottom was pretty dark, actually akin to black.  No problem, I'm only eating the top part.

My first piece of advice concerns the tortillas.  Flour torts and salmon do not mix well.  They should have been corn tortillas.  Since I had no salsa or taco sauce, I substituted apricot jam.  That was my second mistake.  Thirdly, olives don't exactly go with salmon.  So there you have it ... terrible tacos!!  I was lucky to get one down before cannibalizing the second for the salmon.  

Since I was on a roll, I climbed atop the rig to clean off the white gunk.  Seems there's always an adventure going on around here.  I'm now half an inch short of skin, but I'll relay that brave report tomorrow!!

The Zoo Kids

Happy Full Moon!!  

Except for that sick part, everything has been working itself out nicely.  Yesterday I received the most beautiful credit card in the world.  It even has see through sections, all silver and white.  I'd show you, but then I'd have to cancel it again.  Interestingly enough, those raised numbers are no longer raised.  At least now I can get back to charging, just in time to help the Zoo.

This is a rather small town, and having a zoo that is still in working order is pretty amazing.  When I was about 7 years old, we visited the critters that live there.  It was free way back when.  There was an old black bear, old as the hills, in a very tiny cage, that lived to be something like 30 or 40 years old.

Since then, somehow, the Zoo has survived and even allowed refurbishment and enlargement of the enclosures.  Over the years, there has never been anything really exciting living there ... goats, a few monkeys, a sheep or two and maybe some chickens.  

Lately however, they have grown in stature.  Two beautiful bobcats, rescued as babies from a fire get special treatment, along with two rescued bears.  All are critters no one else wanted, so I'm proud that this little zoo has stepped up to care for them.

The problem is of course money.  They don't have any.  The City, in their infinite wisdom, has not only cut their budget but laid off most of the paid employees.  Everything now has to be done by volunteers.  You all know how hard THEY are to find.  Maybe the city will take some of that money they are going to make off the marijuana stores they allowed to open, and do something GOOD with it.

I really can't spend much time, but I can spend a little money, helping them out with donations that the City won't find out about.  Don't tell!!  I picked up 100 pounds of dog food yesterday, along with a blender to prepare some of the food.  Their's was being held together with duck tape.  Pretty duck tape, but duck tape nonetheless.

Today I'll be off to Costco for big rolls of aluminum foil and the biggest bottles of bleach and laundry detergent I can find.  Then I'll look for critter toys ... anything for the animals that the City won't discover has been donated so they don't cut the budget even more.  I'll try to take some pictures while I'm dropping things off, since I could not find nothing acceptable on the internet.

Every once in awhile they show really cute short videos of the Zoo "kids" on Facebook if you "like" their page.  All of these critters get what they call enrichment.  They hide bits of food in paper tubes, boxes, wrapped up in paper .... anything they can think of so the animals have to spend some time looking for it.  It keeps them more active.  

My favorite one is the scent enrichment .... they put scents like lavender, vanilla and even catnip on things for the bobcats to roll around in.  You can tell they love it!!  Even something as simple as a cardboard box becomes a toy .... they are cats after all.

Costco will happen after I take a morning nap.  I did something rather crazy the other night ... a tactical shooting class that lasted until all hours.  I topped that off with a late night Elks lodge meeting, including installation of new members, that followed the best steak dinner I've had yet.  I'm feeling pretty beat up since I'm still not really over that cold.  

How in the world did I ever stay up till 3 and 4 in the morning when I was younger?  I'll tell you about the class at a later date.  I'm off to the Zoo!!

I HAVE TELEVISION !!

It's the little things in life that make such a big difference.  Television is one of them!!  After much frustration and calling around, talking to people who knew less than I do about this subject, it's finally fixed.  My dish network setup in the rig is up and running.  Yahoo!!

There is one thing I like about Dish.  Everyone I spoke to was in the United States.  The last guy told me about their "Outdoor" tech section.  All this time I had to explain to THEM what setup I had and how they needed to just send me a signal.  Sometimes it was hard to convince them.

NOW however, you can ask for the Outdoor Tech (who happened to be in Ohio) who will have some clue of what you need, or at least he can give you the names of people in your area who can work on these things.  Here's the info from the one I called in Turlock.  He TOTALLY knows what he's doing and has worked on motorhomes for over 20 years.  If you ever have a problem in this area, give him a call.

Here's what I learned.  I have one of the older dishes ... 8 years old to be exact.  It has three transponders which means I have THREE cables coming into the rig.  He hooked each one up to his meter gizzy and discovered one was not working.

Up on the roof he went to test those same cables at the dish itself.  Sure enough, of A, B and C, the A cable was completely dead.  No problem.  Since I only have one receiver in the rig, I had two good ones left.  He just swapped out A for B cable, and now it all works perfectly.  He said he has never had all three cables go out, so I should be good to go for the next several years.

What a relief.  On a side note, I mentioned the other local channel television antenna didn't seem to be working either, so he disconnected everything, went back up on the roof, tightened some cables and VOILA!  Now that works again too.  I just love it when things come together.

All that came to $90 since he had to drive about 35 miles to get here.  Much cheaper than I expected and the entire process took less than 45 minutes.  He said he and his wife will retire soon, with plans of buying a motorhome and taking their business on the road.  I told him to please hang out in the Tucson area, just in case.

Feeling better but still coughing and hacking, I worked on this quilt a little.  It's always funny to me how different they look in pictures compared to in person.  I'll finish this one up in between packing the rig for the next trip to Utah.

This morning I have a dentist appointment for teeth cleaning.  Big sigh ... really I would just rather fall asleep on the couch.  

Next up on my big long list .... make ANOTHER list of all the food I have to buy for this three-rally trip.  It would be four, but I'm skipping one so I'll have at least one free day in Brigham City to do nothing but watch my wonderful television .... it's baseball season you know.

No New News

I wish I could say something wonderful about yesterday.  I did NOT go to the Magic Kingdom and infect anyone ... I suppose that's good news for them.  I stayed home and sneezed more than I have up to this point.

In desperation, I snuggled up with that pink blanket you saw yesterday.  THAT was a big mistake.  After sneezing about fifteen times in a row, I discovered I'm allergic to llama, or alpaca or whatever it's made of.  When I threw it across the room, the sneezing subsided by 50%

While contemplating my fate, I happened to look at my RV schedule and realized I would have an eight hour drive on the second day.  I frantically searched for a place to spend one more night in the middle of nowhere on the road to nowhere.  Remind me to buy some CD's so Alice does not accompany me.

I found the Baptist Church RV Park.  What better place to stay and pray for an end to that long drive. OH NO!!  That means the other reservation I made will require a change to one day earlier.  Lucky for me, they still had a spot on that day.  I was even able to make reservations for the return trip when they are usually packed to the gills.

More coughing ensued as this lovely malady has moved down to my chest.  This is day 6.  I'm truly hoping it leaves before I have to.

Then I got the call.  ANOTHER fraud detection notice.  I have to say I like Chase Bank's approach to "let's stop these buggers before they ring our clock!"  A total of five charges went through with a zero dollar amount.  What's up with that?  Most people would ignore it.  My bank called me immediately.

If I let those charges go, the next ones will be for high dollar amounts.  They are just testing the waters.  All this is from ordering that product and getting scammed.  We completely shut the card down and I ordered a new one.  Thank you Chase Bank for making it easy.

By late afternoon I wasn't really hungry, but figured I better eat something nutritious and leave the ice cream alone.  There's no use eating the good stuff when you can't taste a thing.

I whipped up half a chicken breast in balsamic sauce and added asparagus because it's good for you.  It was pretty good, at least as much as I could taste.

My goal this afternoon is to stay away from the satellite system repair guy so as not to pass this crud along, then take a long leisurely afternoon nap.  Oh ... and pay the bills, vacuum the house, wash some clothes and whatever else pops up.

A F P

Thank you all so much for the nice thoughts.  It helped me a lot!!  By 10:00 I turned in to an A F P ... an actual functioning person.  I think my puppies helped also.  That big bump on the left is Miss Jessie.

You know how it is when you start feeling a tad bit better ... you get on the phone to the local satellite repair guy and try to get your motorhome television functioning also.  Lucky for me, the migraine gave up after 14 hours, four Exedrin Migraine, three cups of coffee and all your good thoughts.  The relief was so great it probably made me think I was better than I really was.

By the way, in case you didn't know ... no one told ME before ... Dish Network has a separate tech department to handle all those motorhome problems.  Seven years and I never knew.  Even better, they actually know what they are talking about.  Ask for the Outdoor Tech.

At any rate, upon instructions from Donald, owner of a repair shop about 30 miles away, I unplugged the receiver (taking lots of pictures so I knew how it went back together) and plugged it in to my home satellite dish.  It worked just fine, meaning the problem is of course probably a loose connection in the wall of the motorhome.  

In turn, that means Donald will make a trip down here to check it out.  His wife says he can fix anything, so I have high hopes my television will be up and running tomorrow after  his visit.  That should give me time to get over all the H C A I've been having.  Horrible coughing attacks.  I thought I might be spared but alas, I'm doomed by the tickle in my throat.

I spent the last hours of the day sewing the binding on this lap quilt.  It has yet to find a home, but I'm thinking it might be nice for those couch-sitting-sicky days.  

I suppose this will give me time to make up at least ten sticky note lists of everything to take on my next trip.  

Oh ... and there's the Magic Kingdom!!!  I think I better pass tonight.  Yesterday I thought I would be fine, but today seems to be a  L O T C A C A  day.  That's short for lay on the couch and cough a lot!!!  It's also pretty much how I feel right now!!

Things Can Only Get Better

No blog today.

Here I am on the couch with the puppies.

It's where I spent the entire day.

Sadly, after 20 some years, this cold/flu/whatever

has triggered a migraine like no other.

I

will

be

on

the

couch!!!

Who Doesn't Love CHEESE!!

Friday was National Grilled Cheese Day.  I forgot to mention that little known fact.  Thank you goes to Patty Painter for putting a note on Facebook.  She knows I LOVE cheese.  This little jewel was for breakfast.

I wish I could say it had some amazing variety of cheese in it, but alas, it was just plain old sharp cheddar from our local Joseph Gallo Cheese Company.  What it DID have was bacon and tomato ... making for the best ever BT Cheese breakfast sandwich ever.

My euphoria didn't last long.  It seems the sneezing was NOT from the pollen.  I'm exceedingly sorry to say I have been in contact with some person who left their nasty germs hanging around.  Right after breakfast, my head plugged up, followed by a nice rolling stomach ache with the accompanying pains all over.  RATS!!

I spent most of the day on the couch, with an occasional run to the sewing room when the ding ding ding notified me there was a problem.

There actually is a big problem, and that's the puckering you see going on.  Yes, these look pretty nice, but that's only because I'm NOT showing you the rest of them.  Try as I might, I just couldn't get the fabric in tight enough.  

I'm hoping lots of starch and ironing will help, otherwise it's going to be a nightmare for the quilter.  Speaking of which, I notified her yesterday that I finally found the other four quilts I finished.  There was a long silence on the phone.  I didn't hear any big crash, so I'm hoping she's still upright.  That would make seven for her to complete for me.

In between squares, I watched the Giants beat Colorado.  Their last few baseball games have been very exciting.  Defensively they are totally on a roll, making some of the most amazing plays in baseball.  Pitching has been excellent and batting at least enough to win the game.  I'm not getting my hopes up though.  It usually does not continue!!

Dinner came quicker than I wanted.  By the time I got my little pot roast in the Instant Pot, it was 5:00.  After all these years, I finally got smart.  I cut the BIG pot roast in half, wrapped it in saran and a zip lock bag and froze it.  That means I won't have to eat pot roast for the entire week trying to finish it before it spoils.  

Spurred on by friend Patsy's success with her new instant pot, I decided to give it another try.  It takes about an hour and fifteen to cook.  Dinner wasn't until 6:30, and by then I wasn't hungry, just achey and sick.  

My plans for the free steak dinner at the Elks RV Park today have gone down the tubes.  I do not wish to pass this lovely feeling of pain on to any of my cohorts.  I'll be on the couch for the duration of the day.  

Amazing New Info ..... Don't Laugh!!

After coffee and a few snuggles with the puppies, I spent the entire morning checking out my sprinklers.  I thought I heard them come on at 3 am the other morning, and I was right.  Seems my gardeners turned them back on, which is a good thing.  With all the wind we've been having, it needed it.  I hate being the only one on the block with brown grass.

I ran them through their paces, all twelve stations, and discovered they are all working perfectly.  How did THAT happen?  No sprinkler heads broken off and no geysers watering the driveway.  Unfortunately I have one VERY leaky valve in the back that needs repair.

Then it was on to medications for this little girl.  She's going on 14, almost the same age as me.  She survived the trip to the Vet, but has some interesting things going on, aside from the cancer.  Here's the weird thing.  This type of cancer is a histamine type, whatever that is.  Her left front leg gets bigger every day with a growth that is inoperable after three tries already.

The current solution?  She gets a baby benadryl once a day ... twice if it looks like it's working.  Weird, right?  My doc isn't about loads of medications, so if that causes any stomach problems, just give her half a tagamet pill ... or maybe previcid.  No pepto or tums.  Who knew?  That would have saved me $98 from the last trip to the Doc in Tucson for all those dog stomach pills.

Here's the one you are going to love.  DON'T LAUGH!!  Apparently she got bit or stung on the chest by something in Tucson.  It has caused an allergic reaction resulting in a large ugly sore.  The solution?  Not expensive DOG drugs, but Preparation H.  Who the heck ever heard of THAT one?  

My experienced old time Vet says that's one of the best remedies for any cut or bite dogs can get.  Ok, I'll try it ... and you know what?  Between that and the benadryl, it's working!!!  I could have saved a LOT of Vet bills over the years had I known this little secret.

Just a tidbit of weird information.

The other good news of the day is my tax refund.  I take lots out of my checks for taxes, since all my social security is taxable.  I noticed lately that I had been receiving more dollars due to the "tax cuts" that really weren't cuts at all.  They were giving you a little more back in your check, only to take it AWAY come tax time.  This is not the first year ... they have been doing this for eons.

If you're super lucky, you have enough deductions to make that come out even in the end.  I'm not lucky.  I have to pay most of that back.  There is always some kind of flip flop going on ... like instead of raising the tax to pay for welfare payments in California (making all the REAL taxpayers mad), they decided to raise the fees on your vehicle licenses, then funneled that money back to the State with a return trip to the County to replenish the welfare pot.  You thought it was for the roads, or maybe the bullet train to nowhere, right?  

By the way, you will now be able to ride the bullet train from lovely downtown Merced all the way to Bakersfield.  I bet that trip has been on your bucket list for YEARS!!!  The cost?  Only 20 billion, or something crazy like that.  Who do you think is going to be able to afford THOSE tickets?  I digress.

SO ... I'm getting a nice State Tax return and a less than expected Federal Return.  Almost enough to pay for that RV cover I need in Tucson.  ANY refund is better than NO refund.

I think I'll spend most of today planning my route to Utah for the big railroad celebration.  Linda Sand is quite correct.  If you're not a railroad fan, you might just steer clear of Utah.  Although they originally didn't think it was much of a big deal at all, it has turned into a nightmare for them with over 200,000 people expected to roll into their little city.  Train people can be a little nuts.  We call them foamers .... as they stand with cameras ready beside the tracks, foaming at the mouth as the oldest of old engines roar by.

Worse Picture In History

Sometimes all the ghosties and bad elements line up against you.  I try not to mark those days on the calendar in the hopes they will never return.

I went online and filled out the paperwork to renew my passport.  It wasn't hard really, but with so many instructions, it took me awhile to get through it.  Make one little mistake and you have to start all over again.  The answer is YES.  I started over again three times.

Now for that awful passport picture.  The wind has been blowing here so hard every day that it even knocked over my ladder standing next to the rig.  Luckily, nothing was damaged except my hair.  No glasses it said, but jewelry was okay.  Smile "slightly".

When I arrived at Walgreens, the wind was still blowing fiercely, making me look like I stuck my finger in a light socket.  The "photo" girl was in a terrible mood, having to give up her chair in the office and actually DO something.  She insisted I take my earrings off and push my hair behind my ears.  "Didn't you read the instructions????"  Why yes I did, and it didn't mention anything about that.  

WORST PICTURE EVER ... I mean in my entire history on this earth.  Even worse than when I spray painted myself green for the wicked witch of the west Halloween costume.  

I asked her to take one more, but she said it would cost me another $16.  At least the only people that will see it are the border patrol guards.  I'm pretty sure they won't recognize me at all.  

I decided to make marshmallows to sooth my bruised ego.  Nothing makes me feel better than a huge dose of sugar!!  While doing that, I contemplated my vehicle license problem.  Yes I can register both the rig and my Jeep in Arizona.  That also requires an Arizona drivers license.  The Po Po don't appreciate it when the license differs from the vehicle tags.  It's called a Ticket.

That drivers license also means I've changed my residency, causing a problem with my Arizona vacation rental property when I do my taxes in Arizona instead of California.  Yes, I can then rent my California property, except that big house will require much more rent, meaning much more income, meaning much more taxes.  See my dilemma?  I guess we can't have it all.

While I waited for the marshmallows to set up, I played with Cooper.  Here's his choice for the day.  Do you think he would play with the pretty brand new green ball?  Heck no .... he insisted on the ratty torn up blue one.  It doesn't even roll .... it meanders across the carpet, changing directions three times before coming to a stop 18 inches away.  

The good news is it never rolls UNDER anything because it can't go that far!!

To improve upon my sugar high, I added chocolate.  I'm sure there is a right way to do this, but I prefer the wrong way.  I'll admit, I did TRY the right way, but the frozen chocolate chips didn't meld well with the warmer milk in the microwave.  It melted quite nicely, then seized up like my mouth sucking on a lemon.  

I eliminated the milk on the second try and just used the chips, making it exceedingly difficult to dip. It's even worse when they are covered in powdered sugar which doesn't stick well to chocolate.  

The kitchen was quite the mess when I finished dipping, but well worth the effort.  They keep perfectly in the freezer for a sweet treat on bad days ... like getting your passport picture taken.