Move over, Reno!

The fame is spreading here at Netherfield! Reno was simply the first of our stock to go Hollywood! (I'm sure someone will be contacting me soon about writing a cookbook, for people who don't have kitchens.)

We received word last month, that Tucker the Wonder Dog, and his sister, Tasha the Judge-Nipper have gone global!

2012 Welsh Corgi Calendar from Brown Trout



Taken almost two years ago, my little rodents' picture made the cover! I told Handyman, we now have celebrities pooping in our yard!

I know there have been several catty comments going on around the water dish, about the "younger set" getting all the attention. But we are doing our best to keep everyone on the same pay grade.

I did make a complete fool of myself at Tractor Supply, showing the clerks my dogs. They were like, "Oh, you have corgis." I'm going, "No. These are actually my dogs."

They say, "Those are your actual dogs?"

Me: "Yes! It's so exciting."

Them: "Cool. Here's your change." They were clearly in awe.

So, since my dogs' photo is by far superior to several of the other months, I have already cut up my calendar. Using the cover shot to cover up the ridiculously bad January selection. February is a cute blue merle Cardi, so I will go with that. March is, of course, MY DOGS, so that will do. June is #1's best friend's dog, Sparky, so we will keep that one. And all the rest will probably be hidden.

I am not one bit of a stage mother. Don't think it for a second. The girls haven't minded giving up their beds for the corgis at all.

Hollywood comes to Reno

The greatest horse in the world finally got some notice...and brought in a little cash, for once!

Handyman has a side gig, other than remodeling. He does lighting for film and tv. And every now and then, he lets us be part of it. Back in the 90's, #1 got to be in a spot for the Children's Museum. I think that was the last time we got to be part of it.

All the girls wanted to meet Jim Varney, but that didn't work out. #1 wouldn't go meet Jake Lloyd, no matter how much we begged her. She did get to stand next to Peyton Manning, but Handyman didn't introduce them. #2 did get to meet Julianne Hough, her personal hero, and get her picture taken with her.

#3 doesn't get it yet.

After I bathed him and sprayed his tail with Pam spray (a quickie detangler), he was ready for his close-up:

As is usually the case, he did take after take after take, patiently and with good humor. He was a little put off by the big fuzzy mike, but kept his cool.

Meanwhile, the peanut gallery begged for handouts:


The spot turned out beautifully! click HERE

I even got to be in it! But Reno deserved much more screen time. It's the second time in my life that I have received a free, 24-year old horse that has changed my life.

Winter blues

Well, the firefighter came and plowed out our driveway for us--first time ever to have that done. And it is appreciated. The piano teacher came zooming up the driveway in her little sedan, lamenting about customers cancelling. She said this is nothin' compared to northern Illinois. We must have gotten about 8" last week. It is pretty, I'll say that. And a ton more coming in tonight.

But I'm done with it. And now the Colts have lost. And Handyman is in Connecticut, via truck, not plane. And then there's this...in my chair, in my office, this morning...and on the floor. (Okay--I took the picture on my phone to send it to Handyman and then I cleaned it up and I don't know how to send it to my computer.) IT was a mouse, in a couple of pieces on the floor next to my chair and IN my chair, was barfed up more mouse with a big wet spot and a pile of erp. Aren't you glad I don't know how to send it from my phone. I'll be happy to send it to your phone if you like...

This never happens when he's home. Either the vermin sense his missing presence and they stridently march in, or the cats are just lazy when he's here, thinking he'll cover for them. Either way--it NEVER happens during the day. And that means, mice are running around here at night!

Where's my Lysol? Where's the sun? It's 8 degrees this morning and I have the Superbowl Blues. My favorite commercial--probably the Google ad, followed by the Underwear in the Office people. The Who (who I never liked, never listened to and was shocked that they were chosen), was undoubtedly the WORST halftime show EVER. They should have gotten Garth Brooks or Tim McGraw AND Faith Hill or Billy Joel and Elton John or someone who could sing! And what's a pinball wizard? That was the only song I had even heard of.

Annual NFL Wacky Name Call-Out

I have blogged about this previously, but in honor of the Superbowl coming up, I will revisit the amazing variety of wacky NFL names...this year, we in the name-appreciation field pay homage to the NFL's missing: Plaxico Burress (currently serving time in federal prison for shooting himself in the leg with an unlicensed handgun, at a nightclub.)

Let's begin with the AFC East:

The Buffalo Bills have: Gibran Hamdan, Justise Hairston, Marshawn Lynch, Richie Incognito, Kawika Mitchell, Jairus Byrd, Drayton Florence, Leodis McKelvin and Ashton Youboty!

The Boring Old Patriots are the least represented in the Name-Bowl with: BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Tully Banta-Cain and Adalius Thomas.

The Dolphins have: Lousaka Polite (sounds like a greek restaurant entree), Ikaika Alama-Francis, Akin Ayodele, Channing Crowder, Vontae Davis, Yeremiah Bell, and Gibril Wilson.

And the Jets--who I will not disparage here, even though their coach tried to trash-talk the Colts before he was handed his season-ender...but I digress. The Jets have: Jerricho Cotchery, the infamous D'Brickashaw Ferguson (whose mother liked the movie the Thorn Birds, so much that she butchered a character's name and gave it to her son), Ropati Pitoitua, Sione Pouha, Lito Shepherd, Kenwin Cummings, James Ihedigbo, 2 Marques and 1 Marquice.

The NFC East Cowboys (how they got in the "East" is beyond me), have: Tashard Choice, Martellus Bennett, Montrae Holland, Flozell Adams, Igor Olshansky, Junior Siavii (which reminds me of Junior Seau of the Patriots, whom I didn't even mention because it seemed boring in comparison to all the others), DeMarcus Ware, Cletis Gordon, Orlando Scandrick and Shaun Suisham. Those last two have pretty ordinary first names, but combined with their last names, I felt the rhythm of the two names together warranted mention. Just my own personal choices, of course.

The New York Giants are a veritable gold mine for name aficionados like me: Rhett Bomar (wonder what movie his mom liked?), Gartrell Johnson (need a standout first name when your last name is Johnson), Madison Hedgecock, Ramses Barden (might as well go for early history ruling figure, all-powerful Pharaoh considered a god by his people), Domenik Hixon, Sincorice Moss, Hakeem Nicks, Darcy Johnson (an Austen fan, like me, I'm sure), Bear Pascoe (really?), Guy Whimper, Sha'reff Rashad, Mathias Kiwanuka and Osi Umenyiora. Wow.

The Philadelphia Eagles are no slouches with: Eldra Buckley, King Dunlap, Fenuki Tupou, Juqua Parker, Brodrick Bunkley, Moise Fokou, Omar Gaither, Chris Gocong, Joselio Hanson, Macho Harris, Asante Samuel (although I have heard this name so often during games, it seems very "normal" to me), Quintin Demps AND Quintin Mikell (what are the odds of that?) and Sav Rocca.

I'll wrap up today with the Washington Redskins: Colt Brennan, Ladell Betts, Rock Cartwright (must be Hoss' cousin), Quinton Ganther, Santana Moss (mom loved the guitarist, I bet), Brian Orakpo, Kedric Golston, London Fletcher, LaRon Landry, Graham Gano and my personal favorite, Antwaan Randle El!!

The highlight of my Christmas this year was an Antwaan Randle El bobblehead, in his IU uniform. (Only I thought it was going to be a Droid phone). I love Randle El trick plays--and I probably have three of the only girls in the US who could tell you who Antwaan Randle El is!

I'd love to go on and on with the NFL Name Bowl--we haven't even mentioned OchoCinco yet, but chickens need let out. Handyman is home from his Superbowl Tour and has a great picture of himself with the Lombardi trophy. But I don't think I can post it--he might get in trouble or something.

Happy Superbowl Week!

"Thanksgiving" a few excerpts by Dave Barry

"The only way to be sure you've killed all the bacteria in your Thanksgiving turkey is to cook it until a meat thermometer inserted into the breast melts, indicating that the turkey has attained the same internal temperature as the sun. 'Basically,' advises the surgeon general, 'you want to be serving your family a sixteen-pound charcoal briquette.' Even then you should keep a flamethrower handy."

**************************************

"Not everybody is comfortable with the idea of eating turkeys, which are, let's face it, living organisms, like dogs or celery. You may wonder: Is there a more humanitarian option that you can serve for Thanksgiving dinner? There certainly is: It's tofu, a semi-foodlike substance secreted by soybeans as a defense mechanism. Tofu can be used as a high-protein meat substitute, as well as a denture adhesive or tile grout. In its natural state, tofu is tasteless and odorless, but if you form it into a turkey-shaped lump, season it well, add gravy, and bake it for two hours in a shallow pan at 350 degrees, you can also use it for minor driveway repairs."

****************************************

"Thanksgiving is not merely a time of eating until we are big, fat, bloated carbohydrate balloons lying motionless on the sofa watching the Detroit Lions while actual gravy oozes from our pores. Thanksgiving is also a time of giving thanks--as the Pilgrims did so many centuries ago--for the fact that the malls are open on Friday. Otherwise we'd have to spend another day cooped up with our loved ones, not to mention toxic levels of leftovers, and the number of domestic drumstick assaults would be even higher than it is."

****************************************

"In closing, let's have a big group hug and join together in singing this traditional Thanksgiving song that we vaguely remember from childhood: "Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go! The horse is reluctant, and we can relate, because Grandmother's house has that weird smell."

Politics, again...

I am struggling along, trying to keep the boat afloat with dignity and respect undertowed by fear and loathing.

Here's an interesting blog, highlighting some of President-Elect Obama's future plans:

And of course, one of my favorites, although irreverant and bold--the irrepressible Ann Coulter:

For my birthday, my dad gave me Bill O'Reilly's newest book: A Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity. We read it aloud all the way to and from the funeral on Wednesday and it is very entertaining. I wish I had the opportunity to see him more often, but perhaps knowing him from writing is better...

Well, I better start planning for my "community service hours"...Yah, Comrade.

Celebrity Sighting

Usually it's Handyman who sees celebrities...and I mean lots of 'em. He's been there, done that with more than i can remember. We play "Six Degrees of Separation" with Handyman and usually get it done in 3. Debbie Reynolds, yep. Liam Neeson, yep. Faye Dunaway, you-have-no-idea. John Mellencamp, almost had coffee in his kitchen. Courtney Cox, yep. Cloris Leachman, yep. Jennifer Anniston, yep. Angelina Jolie, thank-the-heavens-resounding NO.

Anyway, this week it's my turn. We have tickets to see Sarah Palin on Friday, in our own county! Wooohooo! Somehow, I don't think it will be up close and personal like Handyman gets. But, it'll be a glimpse of history for #1 and me.

I just finished reading John McCain's biography. It was very interesting. I learned a lot of military history. I enjoyed reading it. I wish he were more conservative, but I am just glad he's not a socialist. I am frightened for our country now.

Do I think John McCain is a great candidate? No. But he's not a socialist. He understands the importance of military strength and Palin understands small business and how to stimulate growth in small-town America. They should be banging away harder at Obama's associations/influences and his complete lack of experience. But they're being "nice".

My concern is that we've become a nation of whiners who want the government to solve and manipulate everything to make life easy for us. I see many people who look no farther than Entertainment Tonight for their information and couldn't define socialism if they were asked. More people can name Angelina Jolie's kids than can name their congressman. What's up with that? Bigger government is not the answer, and never has been. Quit waiting for someone to come along and make your life better.

If you're that unhappy with how things are here, feel free to move elsewhere; France could use some more people and they have "great benefits".

BTW, check out my uncle's new political blog at http://itcanbefixed.blogspot.com . Leave him a comment--he'll love it!

Anyway, we'll be seeing the gal from Alaska on Friday. My kin-folk are rolling in this weekend to help with my exciting week next week. Thank God for kin-folk. I'll be kind of busy next week, but hope to post by the end of the week.

Horses are enjoying the cooler weather since Reno is already fuzzy-like-bear.

Here she is...

Thank heavens the young woman who was with #2, during the meeting with Julianne, did actually send the pictures she took!!! Here's #2, meeting the celebrity of her choice.

She said Julianne was as nice as she could be, but was "taken away" by her handlers. More things to do, I'm sure. Her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was impressive, although like everyone these days, all over the map from the original. Still, it was hard to believe that such a voice comes out of such a tiny girl. Must be those tight jeans...

It works!

Hey! The laundry soap works great! I made a dry version--got the recipe from my blog buddy Melissa, and it is doing great so far. I washed Handyman's winter carhart overhauls (ewwwww), some bathroom rugs, sheets, regular clothes, etc. No issues yet. I love the fresh smell of the Naptha--sort of zippy. Of course there are no suds, which is a mental hurdle for most of us. But my new washer ($175 on clearance at Lowes)does this funky, slinky little agitation, VERY quietly, that stops whenever you lift the lid. Soooooo, I've learned that I can't watch it anyway, so I just don't think about the no-suds thing. Everything's clean so far.

This is a big weekend in our neck of the woods--large auto race in the neighborhood. The great part for us is that the flyover jets cruise over our house 4-5 times every time they perform. Last year, I swear they changed their course to buzz our house, after they saw me and the dudettes wearing black and white and waving wildly in the field. They went over today several times for their practice and they went over last weekend for the qualifications weekend or the Vietnam Vet commemoration, not sure which. Anyway, tomorrow, we'll be out there, waving again.

Today was the big parade downtown and Handyman had a big role in shooting it. I remembered that several years #1 has gone with him and gotten to watch firsthand. So, this year, he took #2, since #1 was at a special Jane Austen themed sleepover. Well, if it wasn't the bees knees! They left the house sometime around 4:30 am to head to their position downtown. #2 got to sleep some in the truck (with the butt warmers on) while Handyman set up. Several of his close friends were working the broadcast booth all day and I had heard that Julianne Hough from Dancing With the Stars was going to be making an appearance in the booth. I asked one of our friends to try, please try, to get two autographs from her, for #1 and #2.

Now we watch Dancing With the Stars. Other than NFL, some NASCAR and the late news, that's all the tv we see. And the only tv that receives any signal is in our bedroom. This was our second season to watch it. We watch movies of our choosing, but not even that, frequently. So, we're pretty conservative with the tv, and how we got started watching DWTS is all my fault. Somehow, I can make the leap that it's still worth watching.

There is plenty about Dancing with the Stars that I do not like. We talk a lot about the skimpy outfits, and Handyman and I have them close their eyes/ears for most of the commercials (the Bachelor, Lost, Desperate Housewives, etc.). There are some dance moves that are pretty objectionable and we talk about those too--"yikes! That sure isn't pretty! What do they think they're doing?!"

But we like watching people work at it and improve (or not) and be critiqued and be motivated. And we like watching the pros and the live tv angle is pretty cool too! (We saw Marie Osmond faint!) Even Handyman watches, although he tries to pretend that it's because he wants to go to bed and we are all there in his way. My kids know who Jason Taylor plays for now and that the NFL theme song is a Paso Doble. #2 asked me about a particular star and who was she, really...when I answered "Elvis' wife", she was shocked. "I didn't know he was even married!" ;)

Anyway, all this to say, that #2 got to meet someone she greatly admires--Julianne Hough, the 2-time season champion of Dancing with the Stars--last year with Helio Castroneves (race car driver) and the previous season (which we didn't watch) with Apolo Anton Ono. Julianne did come to the booth and spoke graciously to #2 and we are anxiously awaiting the photo to be emailed to us (since I did not get up at 4am to locate my camera--loser Mom!)

#2 was VERY thrilled. I think this is her first celebrity. I'm glad it was someone so nice. Handyman meets and works with LOTS of celebrities. He refuses to be impressed, for lots of reasons. Mostly because a lot of them aren't impressive. Secondly, because it is unprofessional to be in awe, I guess. I still haven't forgiven him for not introducing #1 to Peyton Manning last year on a shoot. They were right there, together!

I'm sure she'll be wanting to work with him again soon!