whats up with kristin

Breast Cancer Awareness

2011-10-09T09:45:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share a post from my Mom's cousin Nancy on her blog:

http://nancyhartleysartadventures.blogspot.com/

Our weekend trip and the garden

2010-08-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

My mom came to visit on July 7th for a few weeks. Over the first weekend, since Shannon had one weekend left of no school, we took a weekend trip. Just Shannon and I and it was not a Friday night but SAturday until Sunday night. Destination being Lassen Volcanic National Park. Neither of us had ever been there and it was a long drive from here, probably about 5-6 hours I believe. We drove to La Porte to stay at the cabin over night. That would have been a 3 1/2 hour drive since there was no traffic. However, after we left, as we were only 12 miles from home, we ran over what looked like a cardboard box that flew out of a truck in front of us. Well it was a wooden dresser drawer. So we pulled over (stop #1) to check out that and see if there was any damage. No problems we could see at the time so continue on. Stop #2 was to get gas. Stop number 3 was to get lunch. As we drove out of Vacaville we could hear something flapping under the car again so next stop was the VW dealership we had just passed (stop #4). Fortunately it was some screws missing causing the splash gaurd thing to flap, the fixed it, did not charge and off we went. Next stop (#5) was in Yuba City area to get groceries. Then once we hit La Porte, we stopped in at the general store and deli to get snacks and up to the cabin we went. This is probably the longest trip I have done to get to the cabin. I believe it took about 6 hours.
The weather was perfect up at Little Grass where the cabin is. We bbq'ed dinner and relaxed. Something we did not do last trip was relax. Between Shannon working on the deck repair the entire 4 days we were there and me running around with Katie, it was not relaxing. Next morning we drove down the La Porte Quincy road to Quincy,(saw lots of chipmunks while driving) had breakfast and then drove towards Lassen. This was a beautiful drive. Something that is not normal for me was I did not take many pictures due to camera issues.
Lassen was beautiful and interesting. Snow was still there and Highway we took, 89 I think, was just cleared a few days prior of snow and opened. Yes snow and this was July 10th weekend.
We saw so many interesting things and here are the pictures.

We could hear this stream/falls rushing from the road, it looks small but it was loud enough for me to hear, so we hiked up to find it.

This is actually a frozen lake which was cool to see!

This is where we put out the blanket and had lunch.

Yes that is a live bear and I am glad we were in the car when we saw it.

We also saw deer and what may have been a Bald Eagle.
We finished off the trip by driving home via Redding (109 degrees out) and all the way home to Dublin by about 8:30 that Sunday night. Fast trip!
It was a long drive but Shannon and I had a great little road trip get away! Hope to do it again. Thanks Mom for taking care of Katie. (pictures of Grandma Sue and Katie will be on the totsite)

Garden as of today, August 1st.
I am super excited about the garden. We have our first tomatoe,
some beautiful Dahlia's)
and sweet peas did ok and were pretty while they lasted. The other exciting thing is we have broccoli and 3 PUMPKINS!!!
As you see the broccoli is tiny but the pumpkins are so exciting to me.

Wait I forgot to mention the ooddles of tomatoes, and we dont even like them that much, maybe to make salsa or pasta sauce if we dare.

I am reading the information on what to do to keep these little pumpkins alive and growing and I will try to do a weekly picture update. Its so funny how excited I am about the pumpkins. Now I want to get a Halloween costume for Katie and do a Halloween party. (what a great idea

Garden

2010-06-15T13:42:00.000-07:00

Here are garden pictures taken on June 11th. The other is Katie giving the frog water to drink.

2010-06-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

The garden on May 30th.

The background shows the garden quickly then you can figure out the rest.

May 2010

2010-05-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

No idea who all actually is looking at this if anyone. Here are some things going on that are non- Katie related. Our garden looks great. Here is a picture when we first planted it around March 30th. There are 2 planter boxes and the darn weeds keep coming up and I keep pulling them, but I am still proud of my little garden. This is April 25, a month later and then May 5th. We have had a good amount of rain so its been watered fairly well. Too bad when I planted it, I had not realized the tree shading a portion of one of the boxes. (It had no leaves yet) My roses are doing the best they have in years! Anyway, here is the video also of the yard. So lately we have been busy. We went to Minnesota and Iowa and Shannon has been traveling for work. We celebrated Katie's 2nd birthday and my Dad came to visit for 2 weeks. Its been busy! If you want to see pictures of things, let me know. I am going to work on Katie's blog now. I had a great time with Katie's birthday and the decorations and cakes and everything. It came together so well and perfect weather. I would say my cake skills are 200% better than trying to make a sign.

More!!!!

2010-03-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

She is the Dr. Not sure where she got 36! She loves the water!!

I was trying to get her to eat dinner, but she liked the magazine

Katie Videos

2010-03-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

She loves to ride the horse and this was at the end of February so the talking is her starting to talk more.
She likes to help clean

2010-03-13T20:18:00.000-08:00

Thought I would post these here, did not have any other place to put the videos. Enjoy.

Somersaults

2010-02-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

Cool!

2010-02-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

I got a great birthday present. Well thats is the excuse we used to buy it. It is a VTECH Expandable Three Handset Cordless Phone with Cellulart Connection through Bluetooth! Love it. I used to miss cell calls in my house all the time, not any more!

Busy Month

2010-02-12T16:49:00.000-08:00

Its been a busy start to 2010. Shannon has been in School for his MBA and started back Jan 16. It was fantastic to have him off and relaxed for his break. His program is 18 months long.
Jan 9th, we looked at a home to rent. Its 3 bedrooms, so 1 more room than we had and its about 8 minutes from where we lived before. They gave us the ok, we got it if we want it on Jan 12 and we gave our 30 days notice. Jan 29th we got the keys and started moving the 30th. Shannon was in class so I started moving some things the 30th. I started packing Jan 13th and Jasper helped.
Wow, busy busy, especially with Katie being as on the move as she is. Jan 31st, Shannon moved most the big stuff and we stayed in the house that night. Shannon moved most everything himself. Mike Cousineau helped move a few heavy things, I could not help with.
(Some of them are still in garage, as I still can not help move them inside)
My 40th birthday was Feb 1, it was not too exciting but Shannon got me cake and we went to dinner. We all 3 had a cold so we were beat with everything going on.

We are now officially out of San Ramon,today, Jan 12 and carpet to be cleaned monday and return the keys. I have no idea where we got so much stuff. We have a full 2 car garage with stuff I have not unpacked. I got a desk in the office on Tuesday or Wednesday this week (feb 9 or 10)however this is what I had before that.
Katie has her own room and own play area, both are just about set up as they will be.
We still have lots to move in or move around, so lots to do. Shannon is so busy with his work and classes, so I just do what I can to get things put away and straightened out. I will post pictures of the place empty but it will make more sense when you see pictures of it furnished.
Kitchen, long and narrow, view from both sides. It has a nice counter/stove/sink.

This is the cabinet under the oven.
We have a fireplace, yippeeee! Here is that area, furnished part way.
Our bedroom has green wall and dark green drapery, but its fine. It does not have a sliding door or anything as it looks to the front yard. It does have the master bathroom right there. I will remember to try not to buy a place with an open room to an open master bath, it is nice to have a wall or something.

This picture is taken from the green wall looking at the bathroom.
It should all make more sense to see pictures of it all furnished.
Oh and here is our orange tree in the front yard.

Aunt Dorothy

2010-01-05T17:10:00.000-08:00

Play tea party with Aunt Dorothy for her 91st birthday! Katie and Aunt Dorothy have so much fun. Katie tries to take Aunt Dorothy by the hand to show her stuff at her house. Unfortunately, Aunt Dorothy does not get around so well anymore so I walk around with Katie. Aunt Dorothy loves that she does this though. I do not get Katie over to visit as often as I would like so I need to try and do better about visiting.

Christmas videos

2009-12-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

Katie and the new kitchen

Driving girl

2009-10-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

Videos!

2009-10-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

She got a burst of energy at 9pm and ran around and around our house in a circle and it was funny!

Katie just ran over and climbed up there. She is signing train, she kept hearing the train near where we were. No idea how she knew that is what the sound was.

Ireland and Scotland

2009-08-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

I will try to get this recap done and sum it up so you dont have to read too much. I have everyone asking about the trip and pictures.

We left Katie at our house and my mom stayed with her. They had fun and you can see pictures on her totsite.

Shannon and I left on July 27th. We arrived in Dublin Ireland on July 28th around 5 pm. The flight was 10 hours SFO to Heathrow then another hour or so to Dublin. Right out of the airport we got a rental car. Cute tiny red car.

Shannon did an absolutely fantastic job of driving! It was scarey to be a passenger and probably a driver also. Opposite side of the road and narrow roads and terrible signs on roads to get anywhere, it was an experience to say the least. We made it to our first hotel of our trip. The Drury court inn. It was nice enough for the first night. Unfortunately there was a bar or club across the stree so we were hearing that in the middle of the night. These are pictures from just outside our hotel at about 10 pm or so. It was so light and nice weather and beautiful.

Day 2 is July 29th. Today we are leaving Dublin and heading towards the West Coast of Ireland. Our trip today is a Driving tour. First we had to get to the starting point (3 hours away) in Newport to start the driving tour. Once we hit Newport, we drove the northern part of Mayo County. We saw the Atlantic Ocean and lots of sheep and cute little towns. <

THis is a raising bridge over the River Shannon.

Hope you can figure out some of these pictures. The drive had some super narrow roads and the driving was a bit stressful. We did see some castles and castle ruins. The highlight of the tour was the Bronze circle- Ce'ide Bronze age stone circle in DoonCarton. (Who knows if I have these name right anymore) Our final destination today is the Park William Hotel in Claremorris. It was fantastic, quiet and really nice.

Sorry if the video makes you driving sick!

This video was from the top of the pyramid shaped building. Obviously it was windy. 7/30 We woke up today in Claremorris and this is a sculpture in the middle of the town across from where we had breakfast. Today we are driving back to Dublin to return the car to the airport. The drive was nice and mostly on a wide road or motorway. The weather was beautiful, blue sky and puffy white clouds, occasional spurts of rain for 5 minutes here and there. After the drop off of the car, we took a bus to Dublin from the airport. The Spire in Dublin. Stored our luggage at a luggage storage place and did some sight seeing. Then we hopped on the hop on/hop off bus for almost 2 hours, did the entire tour. University in Dublin I think. Then my battery to the camera died early in the tour. I was so mad! Next stop is the train station and taking a train to Belfast. The train ride was beautiful and coastal some of the time and since the sun sets so late, we never even had a sunset. Once we got to the train station in Belfast, we took a cab to our Bed and breakfast. Once settled in, we needed to eat. It was 9pm or later so we had no idea what was nearby or open. We ended up getting kabobs at Mama's Kitchen kabob and pizza. (all the kabob places are kabob and pizza) Well we walked there, ordered and took it back to the B&B with us. Man it was good and the chili sauce was HOT. It was funny though, these were huge, no napkins or utensils (which we needed) so it was funny to see us eat this in our room. We had tummy aches the next morning from how spicy it was. The B&B itself was really nice and comfortable. We stayed 2 nights. 7/31 Today was the day to take a bus tour up to Giant's Causeway. We were happy to not be driving. The first stop of the tour was Carrickfergus Castle.

This was a quick stop so we did not tour the castle. Oh and the weather is the worst weather we have had so far, cloudy, gloomy and looks like we will get rain.
As the tour continued, we drove through small towns but the tour guide was full of lots of information, history and facts and well done. Next stop is the rope bridge. Walking out to robe bridge, view
It was a beautiful walk out to it but Shannon and I declined on crossing it.
From the rope bridge, the tour continues to the next stop, Giants Causeway. Since the weather has deteriorated and gotten really crappy, we took the shuttle bus down, its nearly a mile I think. ITs windy and rainy, or was. The rain stopped while we got out and wandered. I will spare the details on the pushing and rudeness of the tourists that were German. Crazy and rude people but thats all I will say. Here are the causeway pictures.

It was all pretty cool to see.
Next and last stop is Bushmills Distillery. We were too late for the last tour but we did enjoy whisky cheesecake and Shannon had some Irish Coffee.
The very last but super fast stop was this castle ruins. The misty rain made it just beautiful to see.

After the tour, we had a dinner in Belfast and went back to the B&B.

8/1 We took a quick trip up the road to Belfast Castle in hopes of buying some Ireland souvenirs.
They were closed still so no such luck.
Our B&B Somerton House in Belfast and I will highly recommend it!
It was a beautiful walk back to the b&b and next stop, Stena lines for the ferry.... to Scotland! So we get to the ferry docks and are waiting. I really do not know what to expect for the ferry. I sort of picture the ferry that takes you from San Francisco to Vallejo or something. Uh.... no. This was cool.
Holds probably 200 cars. A cinema, can get my nails done, a small play area for toddlers, larger one for kids, arcade, restaurants, a gift shop,a band and lots more.This is the view from the back observing area and that bit of land is Ireland

(This is everyone waiting on a bus. The ferry was late and only 1 train out of Stanraer a day so Stena lines bussed and taxi'd everyone to Ayr for the next trains they needed.
So cheap, 23GBP to go from Belfast to Stanraer then by rail to Edinburgh. This was a long travel day but pretty relaxing and beautiful scenery.
That is our first sights of Edinburgh when we arrive at 7pm.
By the time we get to Edinburgh, we have been in 1 car, 2 taxis, 2 trains, a bus and a ferry.
After arriving in Edinburgh, our hotel is just 1/2 block from the trainstation. The apex Waterloo hotel on Princes street. Wow, beautiful hotel and room. I love Edinburgh also, something that is so neat and beautiful about it.This is at the corner by our hotel.
So since its about 7:30 at night, we set out to eat. After walking all over Rose street, we settled on Indian food. Wow was that good! Really yummy.

8/2 Today we took a guided tour in a small bus to Loch Lomond, the Trossachs and Sterling castle. Us on the bus.
Boat for boat cruise is the boat picture<
When we arrived at Loch lomond we were able to take a short boat cruise out on the Loch, it was gorgeous! Here are some views from the water.

We saw so much today and it was so beautiful.
Somewhere along the way the saw the Castle Doon (from Monty Pythons The Holy Grail)
The tour was heading to Stirling castle and it was really neat to go see. The views were great.
This was the only highland cow we saw. This was the little town we ate lunch in. They had a sheep dog demonstration
Here are the Stirling Castle pictures. This is the view of the castle as you drive up to it.

This is from up top Stirling Castle.
As the travel continues in Scotland, I have my emotional times. The reason this trip happened is to go for a memorial to bury my Grandmother. We were very close and shared our Birthday on the same day. Different things have sparked memories of my grandmother since we have been in Scotland and Shannon has found me with tears a few times. The tour today has definetly been with tears. The music or just little things.
8/3 Today we were supposed to get a rental car. We had a few issues and had decided to cancel the car, then changed our mind. Unfortunatley when we tried to get a car anyway, the location was sold out. So we extended our stay in our fancy hotel. http://www.apexhotels.co.uk/hotels/edinburgh-waterloo-place/ since it was so nice, we did not mind. Plus this gave us a relaxed day and we did not have to rush around to be here or there. So what did we do? A load of laundry at a nearby Launderette. Expensive! 3gbp or about $6 to wash. Anyway, then we went to Edinburgh castle. Thankfully we did this. The Military Tattoo festival starts Friday and the crowds are already increasing. Anyway, we walked up the hill (Royal Mile) to see the castle. You see the bleachers already set up for the Tattoo. We actually bought tickets on Shannon's blackberry while we stood in line, then got out of line to get the prepaid tickets. (Buy your tickets ahead of time if you go in August) We toured the castle and it was incredible. I apparently was there in 1981 at 11 years old, but I do not remember it at all. Here are some pictures of the castle and views.

This is the crowds on Royal Mile, stopping for street preformer who were not impressive at all.
This was a relaxed night. I was going to souvenier shop but shops closed early. I still have nearly nothing to take home. Oh well. Tomorrow we go to the highlands and then end in Dundee to see Family.
Here is a piper on the street in Edinburgh, one of the only ones we saw.

8/4 Today we have a car reserved, we picked it up in the train station in Edinburgh and started out Journey to the highlands. The car rental place was busy, but very tiny. While we waited, it was amusing to watch people get their car and try to figure out how to drive it and which side of the parking lot to take. Getting out of Edinburgh for us was not nearly the task it was to leave Dublin! We headed over towards Fort Williams and drove north along Lock Ness. We stopped in a cute town, Invergarry (I think) and had lunch and continued up Lock Ness. Here are some of the pictures along the way.

Our car in Scotland All the way up Loch Ness, the drive was touristy and busy. We even had a car where the car was like in America, driver side on the left but the driver (obviously tourist) was on the wrong side of the road coming right at us. When he finally stopped he was just shrugging at us as if we were on the wrong side, which we were not. Not once did Shannon get on the other side of the road, he did great driving everywhere. Ask him about it. It was funny as there are signs all over Scotland in various languages, especially German, saying to drive on the left. So after that crazy experience, we just continued on. We actually never stopped at Urquhart Castle due to how busy the parking lot was. So we stopped further up and took a picture. See how tiny the castle is in the picture? It really is in there.We were headed up to Inverness but due to how long the drive has taken and the traffic we hit, we did not stop in Inverness. That will be for the next trip. So we continued North towards Forres and Elgin, with intentions of going to Brodie Castle.
Just as the last trip I made 7 or so years ago, we got there and it was closed! ugh! We wandered around and were able to use the restroom and go in the gift shop and then went on our way.

Our next destination is Stonehaven and Dunottar Castle. This was and has been such a beautiful drive all day, we encountered various weather but its been pleasant all day.This is Dunottar Castle behind us.We arrived after it was closed but you are still able to walk down to it. (it is ruins)

As we walked out the cliff, there was an electric fence next to us so the cows would not jump or fall off the cliff. There were also some gross big black slugs and lots of bunnies but they were too fast to get a picture. This was such a beautiful sight! Thanks Kathy for mentioning that we should check it out!
Now on we go, destination, Dundee to Mike and Sheila's house. Apparently my Dad and brother have been waiting us as they arrived this morning.

The drive down was coastal and tiny little towns along the coast, but really gorgeous to drive through. We searched high and low at each little town for places to eat. The places to eat were not on the same road we were on so we ended up here!!The menu is different and it actually was not bad. The one and only time we ate at McDonalds. Finally around 10 pm we arrived at Mike and Sheila's! We were greeted by everyone. My Dad and brother, Aunt Margaret, Mike, Sheila, Paul, Danny and not sure if I missed anyone. Finally we are there and its so nice to see family.

8/5 Today we are in Dundee at Mike and Sheila's. Vicki came out and we got to meet Jude also. Jude is 6 weeks older than Katie. So very cute! Well around noon we finally got out of the house and took the caravan of people to tour the Discovery sailing ship and the Jute mill. Since my Grandmother started working in the Jute mill on her 14th birthday, we all wanted to go tour it. Aunt Margaret, Shannon and I, Bobby and my Dad and Mike and Paul. As it turns out, I learned, Mike also worked at one of the Jute mills and my dad worked for a company that made the machines and my Grandmothers sisters also worked at the Jute mill.

(working at the mill is most likely what caused the lung fibrosis my grandmother died of. Dundee had many Jute mills, this was not the one that Grandma actually worked at. The tour was well done and fun given the group of characters with us.
Everyone having lunch in the square before going to the Discovery ship.
This is the builing where my Dad's cousin Tommy McDonald was Lord Provost of Dundee.
Lots of fun pictures from the Discovery ship.

This is Mike and Sheila's front of the house. These are the windmills just out their yard!! Huge! My Uncle Ian and his wife Sharon arrived today. Their luggage did not but they did.

8/5 Today is the day we have the service for my grandmother.
Margaret and I are ready early so waiting on the others. We are signing cheese like Katie does. Vicki and Jude at the cemtary.
Here is the cemetary and the headstone where grandma is. Hers is the one in the right corner with peach roses.
Here is my Dad at the cemetary with his Auntie Nellie, one of grandmas sisters.
We had a small lunch with family here.

People in our family showed up that I had no idea would be there and it was a wonderful surprise for me.

Jean McDonald and Auntie Nellie.
Paul and young Tommy (my family has 2 of each in the family or more. Tommy, Sheila, Bobby, Frankie.... who else?)
Dad's cousin Danny and I.
These last pictures were at Danny's house. Everyone went over there starting at 5. However, since everyone in the family seems to be late, they were arriving at6. Unfortunately, we had a plane to catch in Edinburgh so as people came in, we were leaving.
Vicki and her brother Paul and Jude!
So off we were to Edinburgh to catch a plane to Dublin. The last picture I took on our trip, at the airport. We went to Dublin, got up early the 7th and flew home to SFO. It was a long day of traveling. What a fantastic trip.

1 more video

2009-07-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

Helping load Aunt Carole's dishwasher

Videos

2009-07-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Here is the new car we bought. Hope it does not take forever to upload these.
This is me feeding myself I like to play with water!! An hour later I am still waiting for the second video to be finished,ugh. Nothing else will upload so I am going to publish this for now and then edit it. second video still wont upload. I will try a new post and see if it works, gggrrr.

Drive up to Eureka

2009-06-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

Well we can also call this "Shannon wants to drive the new car". So off we went on a weekend short trip. We drove up North with our destination being Loleta where we had a hotel room reserved. (I think thats where it was)
It was a beautiful drive. We drove Avenue of the Redwoods for part of it rather than 101.
You can see videos under Rocks in the River, some is from our trip.

Even saw many plants and poison oak

She did fairly well with the drive. We stopped a lot. Katie slept in the porta crib the hotel had and we were pleasantly surprised she slept.

We also went to the Sequoia Zoo. It was really small but nice. Katie liked some of it. She could care less about the petting zoo.
It was a quick but long trip. What a beautiful drive.

Katie exploring

2009-06-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

here are some of Katie's latest things. Playing on the chair or looking under her legs or playing outside on her bike.

Rocks in the river

2009-06-09T18:44:00.000-07:00

This was on the drive up to Eureka, driving through the Avenue of the Giants. Beautiful stop

The best !!

Katie and stuff

2009-05-03T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is Katie's new shopping cart. She loves it.

More to come when I can get it to upload.
Here are her birthday cakes I made.

Just a sweet note

2009-04-24T08:18:00.001-07:00

Two Choices
What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch
line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have
made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with
learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a
speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After
extolling the school and its
Dedicated staff, he offered a question:

'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature
does, is done with perfection.

Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot
understand things as other children do.

Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was
mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity
to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way
other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing
baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that
most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as
a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it
would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to
be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting
much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said,
'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess
he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth
inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on
a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my
heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but
was still behind by three.

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the
right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously
ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning f rom ear to
ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was
on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win
the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all
but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat
properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the
Plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning
aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the
ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly
towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball
right back to the pitcher.

The game would now be over.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown
the ball to the first baseman.

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's
head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to
first!

Run to first!'

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first
base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled..

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and
struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the
ball . The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to
be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he
understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the
ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him
circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him
by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to
third!

Shay, run to third!'

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators,
were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!'

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who
hit the grand slam and won the game for his team

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his
face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and
humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having
never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home
and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:

We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second
thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices,
people hesitate.

The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace,
but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our
schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that
you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't
the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message Well, the person
who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference.

We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize
the 'natural order of things.'

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us
with a choice:

Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up
those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the
process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's
least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:

1. Delete

2. Forward

May your day, be a Shay Day.

Kristin

2009-04-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

So, I have been busy, of course. As you see from several postings on the blog or totsite or facebook, I am busy with Katie. We go to playdates, have them here, go to birthday party, Truckee, and lots of stuff. I am taking a cake decorating class with Michael's.
Its fun and gets me out of the house.
I also went to a MNI (moms night in) and we painted.
Hah, ugh, yes this is what I did and I will frame it. I of course meet with clients here and there. Oh and I spend some time with my husband, always with Katie. We will do a date night when my mom is here. Hmmm what else? I guess thats about all I have been doing

Truckee trip

2009-04-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

We went to Truckee for the weekend. Left Saturday around 10 am and came home uh... Sunday evening. It was a nice drive there, not much snow at all, very little actually in Truckee. Ground was dry. However there was a storm expected Saturday. We stayed at Vince and Vicki's place. I can not really call it a cabin as it is a 3 story house. Beautiful place. Here is a picture again for last summer. Kitchen, well part of it.

We enjoyed our visit, stayed inside a lot. Made dinner at their place and played with Katie. It was nice.

It began to snow around 5pm. Here it is when it first started.

This is after about 30 minutes.
Here is Katie eating her spaghetti baby food.

The snow started around 5 so it was fun to watch, as you can tell I get very excited about it.
Sunday was great to see the snow in the morning! It was beautiful.

Shannon had not been to Truckee with snow, only in the summer, which is why I wanted to go. We checked it out outside. Shannon cleared the driveway.

(yes with a snow blower)
Katie touched the snow but did not think to much of it so I did not bother putting much of the snow clothes on her.

We eventually packed up and left around noon or so. Well........given the storm, there were chain requirements from Truckee to uh... some other place. So we went to get on the freeway and Shannon says "that does not look like a good idea". It was a parking lot of trucks and cars and all trying to put on chains and stuff. So we went to the grocery store, we had lunch, drove around to Tahoe city and Kings Beach and Incline Village. What a beautiful drive. Then we went back to the Salvo's place. We thought we might just stay one more night. Mommy and Katie took a nap together.

Then around 6:30 we tried to leave again and this time it was not a problem. Storm had passed and off we went, after packing a second time. Either way, it was gorgeous and fun.

Katie showed us what she can do

2009-03-31T08:39:00.000-07:00

Katie just up and pushed the laundry basket around!!

Born 1920-1979

2009-03-04T15:25:00.000-08:00

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and did n't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright color ed lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts, or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle andNO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread,and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because,
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not hav e Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes. No video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer! No Internet or chat rooms......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.
Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them...
CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives
for our own good .

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

Updates lately

2009-02-19T22:11:00.000-08:00

Katie is keeping me busy but you probably read about that on her blog. Other things: I have a new client. They are getting married in October. They are both employees of San Quentin, yep the prison. They have been there over 15 years and actually live at a home on the grounds. Anyway, that is keeping me busy. Along with some other clients. We have also had a lot of rain but for some reason the deer came out. Here they are in our back yard. For Valentines day, we did nothing. Well except baby sit. A few days before that Jodie brought over Logan. Here he is at 6 weeks. Here are some videos, I uploaded short ones here and longer ones on Facebook.

2009-02-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

have fun, more to come. Maybe and I will try to do the updates more like 1 time a week.

Crawler- Our little water bug

2009-01-29T16:56:00.000-08:00

More to come, just thought I would post what is uploaded here so far.

Little Crawler

2009-01-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

Yes, she is crawling! These are from the very first attempts to crawl. More to come. She is getting better.

Cold toilet seats

2008-12-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

My friend in San Diego says she is freezing. Its 58!!! It was not 58 here in the sunny day time today. Then we have 38 here right now at 11pm. (San Ramon ca) Then I look and its 69 in Mississippi at my mothers!! Dad has 30something. Well Anne tops it and is at -9 in Minnesota. Ha, no thanks for that. I will take 38 with no problem. I need to correct myself. ITs 35 feels like 27 in Tennessee. In Texas where my aunt, uncle and cousin are, it is 37 feels like 28. Ok I read MN wrong, its -9 feels like -31. Thats just wrong. Then Mississippi is 69. I told Anne and Dan they should go there for winter. My mom would love to have them visit. Plus it is way warmer!!! Ugh, I dont like cold weather, it means cold toilet seats.

Julian is so cute!!

2008-12-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

My friends Jay and Chas, yes you guys know Jay. Anyway their son is 1 year and a few weeks and he has the cutest picture. Not only is he super cute but this picture is just so them!! Love it. Just had to share this with everyone.

Logan William Gerhardt

2008-12-20T11:42:00.001-08:00

Jodie and Mark welcome the arrival of their new baby boy. Born on 12/19/09 at 8:54 am by c section. He weighs 7 lbs 5 onces and is 19.5 inches long. He has brown hair. This is all I know and no pictures posted yet. Welcome Logan

2008-12-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

Enjoy, after 3 hours of uploading.
She wants to bang on the keyboard
/she is so happy on Daddy's lap

Holiday stuff.... only 8 days left

2008-12-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

Well I got my christmas cards mailed out. Many of you got them crazy fast. I put them in the post box on Sunday at the post office. What is crazy is that people got them Monday!! Well glad you got them and enjoy the picture. I am glad I got most of them sent out. (only have received 1 so far though) Now I need to finish the holiday shopping and wrapping and mail out the packages. Thankfully I have only 2 packages to send. Yay. It drives me nuts that I am not ready and have not sent this stuff out yet. (Yet here I am typing on the blog and totsite) Go figure. Well the temperatures are cold (for California) Apparently enough to make the news in Tennessee. My brother called saying Mt. Diablo was on the news due to the snow on the mountain. We had hail as you see. That was exciting to me. Shannon just laughed at me outside excited about it. He laughed at the news reporting about the hail here also. Hey, give us a break, we don't get this much in California. Sorry you people in MN and MS and TN and other places are so cold. 40's in the day is cold enough for me. Ok I have some videos to post so enjoy. Katie is 7 1/2 months old now. (Videos take forever to upload so it might be a while)
Due to the amount of time it takes for the videos to complete the upload, I am starting to upload them on youtube and will put links here and the totsite. Assuming I can figure out how to put links here. Keep watching for some updates. I have some suprise pictures that will post hopefully christmas.
Dalmation Dog outfit

New Things and more

2008-12-16T16:30:00.000-08:00

Well here are the new things around here.
Shannon got a new desk for home and has it all set up. I think it is all set up, but he may be waiting to do something to it or add to it. I never know. I do know he was so excited to get it and put it together and add things to it and such. It has a computer keyboard that drops down and I actually don't know what else. Here it is!

Shannon and I also got a new tempurpedic mattress. It is Queen so now there is more room and it is nice. It is actually new to us and someone else had it and then after they got it the wife was diagnosed with some back problem and needed a firm mattress so we benefit from it. No pictures of it. Jasper likes it also, he sleeps between Shannon and I, right between our heads. Well he did at first but then he moved back to his kitty bed at the end of our bed. He barely fits in it he is so big but he sleeps there often.
We also got an early christmas present. Some people are contributing to it for Christmas as our gift so that is nice. It is a new barbeque. Shannon figured out which one he wanted and we went to order it. I figured since it said about 2 weeks for delivery, that would be perfect for Christmas. We ordered it on November 30th so figured that was due around December 14th, or right around now. No, it showed up on December 1st. I was shocked. So no bow on the box. I figured I would not be able to hide it until christmas. Heck it was so heavy I could not move it. So Shannon got to put it together and use it even. We still need a cover for it, maybe it will be a christmas gift from someone so I will wait to buy one. Here it is!

Not sure what else is new here.
Today is the day Shannon proposed to me in 2005.
Aren't we cute. This was just at Christmas eve that year. I am so happy he decided to move to California to meet me. (could not find a picture of the Broadway Plaza christmas tree he proposed under)
I dont have much else to post at the moment, well I do but its going on the totsite. Go there to see what else is up.

Turkeys

2008-12-12T15:21:00.001-08:00

Wow its getting closer

2008-12-09T12:32:00.000-08:00

Can you believe there are 22 days left in the year!!! Wow.
Ok and I paid $1.73 a gallon for gas and milk went down about $1 or so.
Today we are trying a recipe from the crockpot link on the right of my blog. We are doing the Salsa Chicken black bean soup recipe. HOpefully it comes out good. ITs been chilly in the evenings so lets hope so. When I say chilly its chilly for here, I suppose if I look up Mn or MS or TN it will be colder. This is cool enough for me.
Have you finished your shopping for the holiday? Have you sent out christmas cards? Have you recieved any cards? I have not finished or sent out gifts. I have not received or sent a card and I hope to by the end of the week. I need to get it together. Wish me luck.
I have to go get dressed and do things while the munchkin is sleeping. Tell me if you have had cards in the mail, its so strange to still not have any and it is Dec 9 already. Well I did not get the mail yet today. Gotta do that also before she wakes up.
Dont forget to check my moms blog under Sue's blog on my links, she has pictures up from her visit and from Katie in her new bath.

Fighting to upload videos

2008-12-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

New stuff from Grandma Anne

Just FYI and more

2008-12-05T22:04:00.000-08:00

Just so everyone knows. You can click on the button on the right and it will let you subscribe to my blog so you get emails sent to you when I update it. Then you dont have to check it each day.

My Mom has gone home

2008-12-05T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well gas is at $1.81 here in San Ramon and lower is some places nearby I have driven.
My mom has gone back to Diamond head Ms. She was here about 2 or 3 weeks and it was great to have her here. She and Katie enjoyed eachother. Thanks to flylady.com I have been keeping my house cleaner and my mom commented on it and she even told other people. We are not super clean and tidy but making progress with small steps to create habits. I am trying.
So my mom will laugh at this. While she was here, we went to Safeway one day and ordered sandwiches. You go up to the machine and pick the sandwich you want. You can change the meat or bread or condiments or whatever you want. You put in your order and pay and then they call your name when it is done. Well we got this lady that should not have been working in the sandwich place. I got frustrated, partly with good reason. About 20 minutes later I asked if our sandwiches were done. (Yes it took 20 mintues to make 2 sandwiches) However the lady had screwed up and put onions on mine or screwed up my sandwich and someone elses, I dont know. Either way I said give it to me anyway I will take them off. Ugh, I can not even explain to you how frustrating it was. So we took our lunch back to my house and ate. I have only been there once and like the sandwich but after this said I was not going back.
Well I went back. I can hear my mom laughing now. Yep I got the same lady. After I ordered I noticed the lady and so I walked around the store. About 27 minutes later they finally finished my darn sandwich. Unbelievable it can take that long. I can not believe I went back.
Ok another thing to remember when mom was here. She stayed at Aunt Dorothys. So one day we all met for lunch at Wendys, Aunt Dorothy likes Wendys. Then we went back to her house and I was going to leave Katie with mom and Aunt Dorothy and go run errands for me and my mom. I took Katie inside and sat her on the floor. (she is sitting up well now on her own) I went to the kitchen with my mom and when we came back in the room, there is my 90 year old great Aunt on the floor playing with Katie. It was the cutest thing to see her on the floor with her.

We got to go out on 2 dates while mom was here. We went to movies and dinner. That was nice. I did not get to some of the things I wanted to but that is ok, we had a good time.

We went to see my old babysitter Georgia. We had a nice visit with her.
We got a Christmas tree and got it put up. Katie played with the branch, she loved her first Christmas tree. (Just don't tell Jasper it is Katies first tree not his)
What else? Not sure, lets hope my mom post some other things on her blog. Its on the right under Sue's Blog. She has pictures also. I will post more Katie things on the totsite. There are a ton and its all working now I guess so I can post the pictures and videos. Keep in mind I have 300 pictures to go through so be patient.

2008-12-04T07:36:00.000-08:00

Here is a cute video
She was sitting on the changing table being busy.

Happy Turkey Day!!!

2008-11-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's' mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder. John, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and sc reamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep, was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arm and said "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, when the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

Stores closing

2008-11-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

Hi,
I copied this from a Mommy group's message board, but I wanted to pass it on to you all.

Stores that informed the Security Exchange of closing plans between October 2008 and January 2009.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

Circuit City stores... most recent (? how many )

Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide are to be shut down

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug and Catherine's to close 150 store nationwide

Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January

Cache will close all stores

Talbots closing down ALL stores

J. Jill closing all stores

GAP closing 85 stores

Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January

Wickes Furniture closing down

Levitz closing down remaining stores

Bombay closing remaining stores

Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January.

Whitehall closing all stores

Piercing Pagoda closing all stores

Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.

Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ (New Brunswick)

Macys to close 9 stores after January

Linens and Things closing all stores

Movie Galley Closing all stores

Pacific Sunware closing stores

Pep Boys Closing 33 stores

Sprint/ Nextel closing 133 stores

JC Penney closing a number of stores after January

Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.

Wilson Leather closing down all stores

Sharper Image closing down all stores

K B Toys closing 356 stores

Loews to close down some stores

Dillard's to close some stores.

Wow~~~

2008-11-25T17:09:00.000-08:00

$1.97 for Gas!!!!

Crockpot

2008-11-24T17:08:00.000-08:00

Check out the crockpot link i have on the right. She did a 9.5 lb turkey in her crockpot. I copied more recipes to try. I also tried the one anne commented on my blog and it was yum!

Yay we did it

2008-11-24T16:49:00.000-08:00

We had a date night. We went to see a movie. We saw Bolt. It was cute and pretty good. We both laughed and enjoyed it. Love the California pigeons or the NY ones. I really want a toy hamster in a ball. Not a real one, then I would have to take care of it so a toy would be fine.
We went to dinner after. Went to Izzys steak house near our house. We would not take Katie there so it was a good choice and was pretty good.
Then we went to yogurt shack and had frozen yogurt. You pick a flavor out of 6 flavors and put as much as you want in a cup and then what ever toppings you want. (they have lots) The catch is they charge by weight. It was good so who cares.
When we got home, Katie cried when I tried to take her from Grandma Sue. Here they are when I came home.

Thanks grandma Sue for watching her. Katie was good for grandma. She ate some peas and carrots and apples and played.

Elf on a Shelf

2008-11-23T21:03:00.001-08:00

This is so cute. Now I just need and elf for next year and can start this tradition with Katie. She won't understand it for a while but its so cute.
http://www.elfontheshelf.com/#/home

Its on our wishlist

Hello

2008-11-21T21:57:00.000-08:00

yay, gas is getting lower here. It is 50% less than in summer. $2.09 today. I am busy so not updating much, other things have priority. I guess there are people checking the totsite all the time as it says 105 visits in the last 24 hours!! Wow. Hope everyone is doing xmas shopping. I will but have note gotten much done. Sorry not posting much but will put more pictures up soon. Videos and Katies 6 month pictures I got taken last month and have not sent out. She is 7 months in the 26th. Drop me a message and say hello

Links

2008-11-12T22:54:00.000-08:00

So with my not sleeping so well the last few nights, (darn full moon) I have been catching up on reading on the computer. Reading other peoples blogs and sites. Tonight I am reading one that I have on a link on the right of my blog. A year of crock potting. She has some great recipes on there and I can get these done easier it seems then cooking later in the day. So take a look at the link. I have gone way back to older posts from I dont know what month but I like it. Now I am tired enough to try to sleep. (wish me luck)
Let me know if you try an of these recipes or have one of your own.

2008-11-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

This is one of the videos while Grandma Anne was here. It was warm so we had lunch outside one day. Nice weather while Grandma Anne and grandpa Dan were here!!!

Last night I started making this noise. Neat huh!

Wow, finally

2008-11-07T15:51:00.001-08:00

Yes the little things get me excited. Gas is at $2.53 a gallon here, yay

Halloween

2008-11-06T23:39:00.000-08:00

More to come but probably on the totsite.

October and holidays approaching

2008-10-30T03:27:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can not believe it is October already. No wait, its Halloween in 1 day (note to self to pay rent) and its November and only 56 days or something til Christmas. This end of the year is creeping up fast. We have been busy with Katies Grandparents visiting and Grandma Sue coming in almost 3 weeks and moms group stuff and whatever else passes the day. I just had Katie's 6 month pictures taken. They came out cute so watch for those on the tot site (link is on right of my blog under Katie Madsen). Halloween pictures will get posted obviously after halloween. We went to the pumpkin patch also and I used my SLR 35mm camera so film is being processed. If you want pictures mailed to you, yes real 4x6 type paper photos, just let me know and I will send anything, I have lots. You can read all about Katie on the tot site and videos will be uploaded soon. Its 3 am and I need to hear them before I upload and I dont want to wake Shannon or Katie with it. (sound travels through the baby monitor)
I am updating the wish lists on amazon.com. I set one up for Katie and I also have one. Remember, it is just an idea for gifts since some of you ask about what we want for Christmas. This does not mean you have to purchase through amazon. I posted a toy box for Katie. We are not particular, maybe someone is handy with wood and can make a nice one or has one or has seen one, just wanted to put it on the list so someone knows. Our bbq has also died, we know we would like something more than the basic gas bbq but not the expensive $300 bbq. If you are considering this, just ask me or Shannon as we know sort of what we want.

Ok enough on gifts and that. What else is going on? We just bought a tempur-pedic bed over the weekend. A wedding/christmas gift to ourselves. It was a great deal and less than 1/2 the normal price for them so thats even better. Hmmm why am I not asleep on it right now?? Not sure. We will get new bedroom furniture of some sort when we move sometime next year, there is not enough room for it here right now.

I am working on trying to build my business again for 2009. I have many requests for events but nothing booked right now. It always seems to be this way at this time of year. I also have a portion of my calendar blocked right now. We will be taking a trip to Ireland and Scotland in July or August and I dont know the dates until January sometime so I have to keep it blocked for now. That will be a great trip. My dad, aunt and uncle are to go together to bury my grandmothers ashes in Scotland, so we are all going. Since I did not make it to Texas when she passed away, I want to make this trip. Anyway, so until I know dates for that, my calendar is blocked off right now. I also only have 1 more wedding left this year. Obviously was not too busy this year due to pregnancy and economy.

Not sure what else I can tell you so I think I will try to sleep and continue soon to tell you more on whats going on

Hmm "Eye on the Bay"

2008-10-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight we watched Eye on the Bay, King Walnut from the Walnut Festival was on it. We it turns out they did this thing that was getting from point A to point B. Point A was "Blackhawk" and point B was "Brentwood". I learned a bit of information on the East Bay. We saw my cousins boyfriend Mike who works for Blackhawk homeowners, yay Mike. Then the show stopped in Walnut Creek on its travel out to Blackhawk and "King Walnut" was on it. I also learned about the creek and where it travels in Walnut Creek and where it meets up, which I had no idea about. Next was Pleasant Hill. I had no clue that Tom Hanks had a childhood home in Pleasant Hill. Next was Pittsburg and its various names and history before being named Pittsburg. OH wait I forgot the cool part, Concord. I was born in Concord and they talked about the hospital, now know as John Muir .... something or another. It was called Mt. Diablo community hospital when I was born there. Well Luke Skywalker, whatever his real name is, he was born there also, how cool. Then they traveled to Pittsburg and then to Brentwood. The only thing I found interesting in Brentwood, besides how much it grew, is that they have fruit stands and you go pick the fruit/vegetables yourself. I might actually check that out since i am due to head out that way soon. Not sure what is in season but may check it out anyway.
Ok thats my non baby related post. I thought it was an interesting segment of the show. I never watch it so maybe I will now on occasion.

Videos of little things

2008-10-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

She cant get this thing t her mouth...

This one is just her being cute

This ball is insane. It starts making noise by itself or when you walk by and its just crazy.

Hunting

2008-10-03T18:43:00.001-07:00

Can you find what I have recently added to my blog?

Katie Dancing video

2008-10-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

I just found out that Tami posted a video of Katie dancing at Pancho's wedding. You have to click on her blog on the right to view it. Its says crochetami. Enjoy and thanks tami

Diabetes Walk

2008-10-01T18:25:00.001-07:00

Katie and I are participating in the diabetes walk along with our team. Help us reach our goals and sponsor us.

As many of you know or do not know, I am diabetic and had a hard time at the end of my pregnancy due to diabetes and pre-eclampsia. I was hospitalized for several days at 32 weeks and then Katie was born 1 month early.
I am trying to get it together and train to do the 10k walk. Last year this would have been much easier to do. This year I have to get in shape and have until October 12 to do it. I would love to have others join me and walk or just donate to a great cause. I have a team together, Spontaneous is on it and we would like more to join us. (help us figure out a name also) The Date is Oct 12.

About the Walk:
Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes is a fund-raising walk, benefiting the ADA's mission: to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. Please support me by donating to my campaign.

I appreciate your support and I'll keep you posted on my progress. Thank you very much!

Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/StepOut/StepOut557058010?px=4436251&pg=personal&fr_id=5374&s_tafId=181947

Click here to view the team page for Kristin's team
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/StepOut/StepOut557058010?team_id=326878&pg=team&fr_id=5374&s_tafId=181947

Katies page:
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/StepOut/StepOut557058010?px=4436251&pg=personal&fr_id=5374&s_tafId=181947

Kristin

2008-09-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Here are a few videos. Katie is finding her voice and she found her toes. Enjoy.

Hurricane Ike and Tina

2008-09-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

I talked to Tina today. She is in Spring Texas, about 70-80 miles away from Gavelston. I have not looked on a map yet but will. Here is what she said. "Everyone is freaking out, we got a bunch of ice and I did a emergency kit about 2 months ago. We are not boarding up anything and we didn't get a generator.
We did get a bunch of beer so we should be good.
I'll let you know." So now I am watching the news 7 hours after talking to her. I hope they ride it out ok. Will keep you posted if I hear anything.

Margaret Brodie 9/10/2008

2008-09-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the pictures I have of my grandmother. My grandmother passed away this morning, she was 86 or 87 (I have to confirm which). She had been having a rough time with the lung fibrosis and was just miserable. I know she is in a better place now and not suffering or miserable anymore. It makes me so sad. I was born on her birthday and her first grandchild. We shared a special bond and I have missed her since she moved to Texas. I really do not have the words to say or describe how i feel or what I can say right now. We named Katie "Katharine Margaret" using Margaret in honor of my grandmother and I can not say how glad I am that I did that. Katie never got to meet her great grandma. My grandmother was the only remaining of my grandparents. Coincidentally, my Grandpa Brown passed in September and my Grandpa Brodie and a few others. (my mom told me who, but I forget who was September) She has a great Grandfather on Shannon's side and I hope we make a trip to see him. Katie also has a Great Great Aunt, my great aunt Dorothy. She is 90. We have been to see her and its so nice to visit with her. She apparently has a Great great uncle also, on Shannon's side. (I think)
Anyhow I did get to see my grandmother last November for Thanksgiving and I am so grateful for that. (For whatever reason, we did not take a single picture) I also spoke with her yesterday (she was in the hospital)and am forever going to remember that and I thank my Aunt dearly for putting her on the phone. There will not really be much done for her. A small family rosary and then a small mass in Texas. Sometime my dad and Uncle and Aunt will take her ashes to Scotland so we will maybe all go for that.
Please go to www.mem.com and look under Margaret Brodie and you will enjoy the pictures and please sign the guestbook.
Not sure what else I can say on this.

Pancho Got Married, yippeee!!!

2008-09-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

Jodie and I with the groom before the ceremony.

Jodie and Katie. (Jodie is actually pregnant(5months I think), due in December on Christmas! Cant tell can you?

The day finally arrived for Pancho and Laura to get married. It was such a fun ceremony and reception. The ceremony was so cute and not too sappy but just enough to make tears.
We took Katie and she did pretty good. Shannon was able to keep her quiet during the ceremony. Only noise she was making was the sucking on the pacifier noise she did, loudly.
On our way to the location, I called Tami and asked her to come join us. I had been trying to figure out a way to have her join us and then Mark was sick and stayed home so it worked out great. She missed the ceremony but enjoyed the reception with us. It was nice to see so many people I had not seen since I worked at Eloan in 1998. Unfortunately Tina did not get to come out from Texas but we have been sending pictures. I will post pictures I have and hopefully will get some from Jodie and Tami and the photographer. I am attaching the slideshow the photographer did and then my own pictures I have.
http://www.lensaproductions.com/album/LauraAndPancho/

I dont know if it will work to click or if you have to copy and paste. Someone will show me how to fix it.

I think this was the get away car or something.
Tami was fixing the cake I think.

Jumperoo

2008-08-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

We put Katie in the Jumperoo and as you can see, she loves it.

Katie giggles (14-15 weeks)

2008-08-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is so cute but when I hold a camera at Katie, she tends to just stare at it. I will have Shannon video tape it and I will get her laughing, its so cute.

Katie videos again

2008-08-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

July has been busy

2008-07-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy month. Katie is growing and learning and meeting lots of people and family. She will be laughing soon, she is working on it. We have had visits with Janene and her family and Stacey and Amy came to visit. Bobby and Maleah came out from Tennessee to visit and we have had a great time. We went to the cabin and it was a great trip. We went to the Dewings yesterday for a wonderful dinner. Finally getting to see the finished kitchen, so here are pictures. Its a major remodeling of the kitchen. It looks fantastic.

I will post more pictures on my totsite. Most are Katie not much to put here. Here are a few to enjoy anyway.

2008-07-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

Videos of lots of stuff

2008-07-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

We went to the cabin for 4th of july. Now I guess we usually did this as kids but I never knew they did much in La Porte for the 4th. (population 26) THis year they had a dog show and a parade and a ice cream social. The parade is the "Worlds only 1 block parade". And we thought danville had a corny 4th of july parade, well this tops it) Pretty much I have no idea who was in the parade except and old fire engine and a new one. The participants in the parade just circled around the block and came through again. Mildly entertaining.

Muir Woods

2008-07-08T15:48:00.000-07:00

I had never been to Muir Woods. We took a drive on Sunday June 29th out towards the coast. It was beautiful. Katie loved looking at the trees. It wore her out and she fell asleep. IT was an adventure to drive and take Katie. Took us longer than it should have due to stopping to feed her but it was a nice drive with all of us together

Katie videos

2008-06-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

If you click on the link on the right of my blog that says Anne Madsen, she uploaded the rest of the videos they did while they were here. Enjoy!

Gramma Anne and Grandpa Dan took some videos

2008-06-28T22:14:00.000-07:00

Katie is here- testing some videos

2008-06-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

This is a video Shannon did just after Katie was born. ( I think) I dont know exactly when it was done, within the first 3 days.

Spring is here!

2008-03-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, I have not posted anything in nearly a month. Shows how exciting my life is. Lets see what I can tell you about. For pregnancy stuff you have to go to the little madsen site (there is a link on the right of this blog)
Well we are doing ok in out little world of wildlife. We had a skunk again but I think we got him out from under out place and got it blocked up. Have not smelled him so lets hope so. We did have lots of hummingbirds but they are gone to where ever they go. I put a different finch feeder out and it is not much success so I need to move it and replace/refill the sock. If nothing else it is amusing to watch the cat inside go crazy after them.
Our latest and newest addition has been ducks. The little creek you cross to get in to where we live has had 2 ducks and they hang around a little. Not all the time. I like to see them so I hope they continue for a while.
Flowers (and weeds ) are in bloom and the weather is nice so its nice to get outside more.
This morning (Easter) we had four deer outside to sit and watch. One was a baby and one had little antlers growing and not sure on the other 2. The one with the antlers starting was only using 3 legs and hurt its back leg. I could not watch long it made me have tears. Shannon and jasper watched them for a while. Could not take a picture either as my camera is in the car i think. Oh well.
Well it finally happened and shannon felt an earthquake. It was only 3.2 and really really quick. We had a swarm of them on Thursday were centered about 2 miles from here. So we were sitting here and one hit so he finally felt a very small and fast one.
That is about it for now. Whats up with you guys?

Easily Amused

2008-02-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

So my cousin Amy and I had lunch today. As many of you know, I have not been working so I have been home a lot. It was so beautiful outside today!!! We sat outside at this little cafe in Pleasant Hill, (Fishermans Wharf) and had a crab melt, Yummmm!! So we are sitting there and this little old lady with a cane (probably 0 to 80 years old) she asked us if we could watch her cart. She was going in to get her lunch and she left her shopping cart outside with a grocery bag and pizza in it. I think my comment back was "sure no problem. If anyone touches it we will beat them up" or something. Amy can add ad comment to correct me. So this little old lady comments back, "I have a gun in my purse...... " not sure what else she said, I was stuck on that. So glad neither Amy or myself were drinking anything as it would have gone everywhere, we just sort of choked!! Did not expect that. Oh my.

OH and Amy got to sort of feel the baby kick around. After we had lunch baby started moving around, which happens after I eat. I dont know if she felt big ones but little ones. I did not want to freak her out or anything but she seemed to like the idea of feeling baby move. Lucky for her, because I dont seem to let most people touch my belly. Its not something I am super comfortable with.

So other things to just mention. So is anyone noticing the things going on in Oakland? Oak runs out of money for gun buybacks???? http://cbs5.com/local/Oakland.gun.buyback.2.663591.html So they are trying to buy back guns and then they run out of money to do it? Great, but this is even better...
Oaksterdam University.... just what they need in Oakland or anywhere for that matter.
http://cbs5.com/local/oakland.school.marijuana.2.662257.html

The other things that seem to be amusing to me. Well I bought this little finch feeder sock that hangs for the little birdies. Oh my the finches love it. I think I am totally teasing the cat also, he is so entertained watching it. I can sit there just about as long as the cat and watch them. I think we had 9 finches on the thing at one time. However, those little finches are pigs and ate the entire thing in about 2-3 days tops.

Now, as you can see, I dont know how to do the links like Tami does on her blogs. I guess I need to learn how. I guess since nobody responded to the post I did a few posts ago, nothing is going on with anyone. I would love it if you people reading this would leave comments or stories or something.

Dog Diary vs Cat Diary

2008-02-27T15:10:00.000-08:00

Dog Diary vs Cat Diary

For all my animal loving friends............
DOG DIARY
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

CAT DIARY
Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre
little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other
inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my
contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something
in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my
dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the
carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I
had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly
demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending
comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. Bastards!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed
in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could
hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due
to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use
it to my advantage.

This morning? I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of
my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this
again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The
dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be
more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to
be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am
certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective
custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe.

For now...
Cat

February

2008-02-19T10:55:00.000-08:00

I dont have anything exciting to post. I am keeping busy meeting with clients for later in the year. I also had a wedding last weekend to do. I have been keeping the baby website up to date with information and pictures. I also added to my links, a baby pool to see what people are guessing for the gender and size and birthday of the baby.
As for my grandmother, she is not doing well at all. She is now living at my Aunts house and they are taking care of her and helping her.
Not much else to report. I am just keeping busy with things and thats about it. So tell me whats going on with all of you?

Things going on

2008-01-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Well we are into the new year. I have not done much to report that is exciting. We went to the Walnut Festival Crab Feed. It was fun to do. We saw some people we had not seen for a while and then some we had not seen in a week. It was fun. I have been keeping busy a little on the weekends meeting with clients I have for April and for August. This past weekend was busy, Saturday especially. I had a client meet me at 10 here. Then I left at noon to drive to Tracy for a baby shower for a childhood friend.
She is due March 1. It was good to see her and her mom and some people at the shower and it was fun.
Then I drove back from Tracy so Shannon and I could get back in the car and head to Concord for his glider club Banquet. That was fun too. Shannon did great this last year and had many #1 slots including Pilot of the Year in his category. Yay, go Shannon.
It seemed there were just 2 people in a lot of #1 slots, Shannon and another guy, Ramy. I told Shannon to beat him this year. However, with a baby on the way, it may have put a damper on some of Shannon's flying and priorities this year. I am sure he will get out and fly though.
Upcoming things we have going on? mmmm My birthday. Nothing exciting on my calendar, I just checked.
Anyway, all these pictures are from Saturday. Do I look 23 weeks pregnant?

2008

2008-01-07T08:42:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone. Please share in the comments, what you did New Years or for the holidays or anything interesting or not interesting or just leave a comment.
This year I was determined not to stay home again new years. So Jim, Shannon, Tami and I all went out. We stayed out this way to keeps costs down. We ended up at Skipolini's in Walnut Creek for pizza dinner. It was good. I think I was the only one that had been there. We were just attempting to not pay $20 or more a person for dinner, so kept it casual and such. Worked out well, everyone seemed to enjoy it. Next we went to Dan's. We got there early and got a table to sit at. The band, I had not seen before, was doing sound check and was awful and way too loud. Then when they started it got worse. We left and went over to Meenars in Danville. The private partiers were there. It was better and we had a good time. The drunk people got annoying so Shannon and I left just after midnight. Jim showed up at our place after he left and crashed at our place. It was not a super eventful night. Tami has the only pictures and she has one posted on her blog.
Other than that, my brother got engaged on New Years. He is pretty happy on that. Its now the 7th.
All evidence of Christmas is gone. I took the tree down and decorations. I had a break in rain to get to the storage bins so I did it. I have a new wedding to do in Feb. Should be easy and good an gives me something to do. I do have a few little things coming up here and there to occupy time. The gym or excercise is on my list. I guess one of the exciting things would be that I finally made a decision on a new cell phone and got one. I had to get one with speakerphone since the new handsfree law is approaching. So good bye to my little alien I liked on my phone. This one has nothing special I know of yet.
We are at 21 weeks of pregnancy now. Check out the little madsen website. I got all excited and sad when I was in Target as the bedding I picked out is going on clearance. So I will have to find out if mom is buying it or what or just buy it ourselves. Good thing is it is cheaper and it does not show the clearance prices online on the registry. OH well.
Thats about it for now.
Tell us about your holidays!!

Jasper likes Christmas

2007-12-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

We had a nice Christmas this year. Jasper loves it and thinks the christmas tree is for him. After we first brought it in, he just sits under it, sort of like he is protecting it. Here is our Big tree this year. Sorry I dont know how to make it rotate
On Christmas Eve day, we had this box delivered. So we got a present and got to open it. We were sort of afraid after seeing the damage of the box.

For Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt Carole and Uncle Toms house. It was them, My cousin James and his girlfriend Sarah, Mike and Cindy

and Shannon and I.
(So here is my current belly status) Oh and Billett.

It was a nice night and we had a nice dinner.

Christmas morning we got up and opened the gifts for Baby Madsen and stockings. Jasper was all over the idea of helping with this and being part of it.
You see his tail and head here and there.
Then we went to the Dewings and do Christmas morning there.

Here is the toy airplane Shannon and the baby got.
Tom got a frog.

Next it was back to our house to finish opening presents. Shannon put together my present that came in the box. His parents sent us the glider on our baby registry. Its great. This is our place after opening presents. We had fun and made a mess.
Shannon went outside (it was sunny) and he got to fly his flying dragonfly.

It was really nice Christmas. So tell us about yours.

Holidays, end of year and not much to report

2007-12-18T16:43:00.000-08:00

Wow the holidays came on fast. I have never been so late in doing my shopping. I am still not done and its Dec 18th. I am usually done by Thanksgiving. We do have a tree but I did not do my normal decorating. I started so late, I could not see going through all the work and taking in down in two weeks. I really miss having the family traditions of going to relatives houses or just visiting with people.
Other things going on:
Pregnancy is going fine and you can click on the little madsen link to go to the baby website.
Still not working and it is harder to look and find something at this time of year. Maybe after the holidays I will get that busy time where I book up clients. I have July and September through the rest of the year very open. I of course have January through March also available. Thats normal though to be slow at that time.
Not sure that there is much else to report. The outdoor cat left a yucky dead and partly eaten rat on the front door step. YUCK!!! Shannon will clean it up.
Last week Shannon had a business trip to San Diego and I went with him. That was fun. Saw Angel and Nina. IT was nice to visit, have a change of scenery and it was a fast trip. Nice weather the first day though.
Oh and I almost forgot, I finally finished my Europe trip album. Next I can start on 2006 album. I have discovered the scrapbooking thing is a bit more time consuming than I care to do.
Not much else. Christmas is coming up. Will probably go to my Aunt and Uncles christmas morning, maybe for Christmas eve also. That is about it for the plans for Christmas. New years we will venture out, probably locally. NOt up to big plans or expensive things this year. Not working is making me no spend money.
So what are your HOliday plans?

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-11-24T10:36:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year, Shannon and I went to Copperas Cove Texas. (My Aunt and Uncle, cousin and her son and my Grandmother live there) In case you want to know where that is, its next to Killeen about 1.5 hours from Austin. We flew in to Austin. The flights were fine. On the way, we stopped in Vegas for about an hour. So rather than put money in the slots, we ate food. There was a lot of children on this flight. The little boy in front of us was a character, probably about 3 years old. Right after the fasten seat belt sign when on as we are approaching landing, he says "Mom, I have to pee". It was so funny how he said it and then the carry on that came next. He kept telling Mom, no I wont hold it and stuff. The flight attendant said he could not get up and go to the rest room, had to wait. It was amusing. However then after he started with it, I had to go too. I told him I would race him to the bathroom at the airport. The next flight was not too exciting. We arrived at the Austin airport and met my dad at baggage claim.(Dad flew in from Nashville for Thanksgiving also) We waited for luggage. For the first time in my life, the airline lost my luggage. I have never ever lost luggage before. So we waited and went through that little carry on so when they find it they will bring it to us. (Not sure they realize how far Copperas Cove is) Anyway, after that, we got the rental car and off towards Copperas Cove we went. Took forever it seemed like to drive, since by the time we stopped and ate and arrived at my Aunts, it was 9pm. (Flight landed about 5:40)
So the next day, since grandma was not feeling that great, we hung around my Aunts. Shannon tried to do work. I just got to visit with everyone which was fine with me. We eventually went by grandma's and she was feeling much better so she came back with us to my Aunts to visit. Bob (my uncle) made a fabulous dinner that night. Wednesday, Shannon and I decided to go explore Austin. Unfortunately it was about 12:30 before we left the house. We also went through Killeen and then I-35 which was the long way or more traffic way or something. By the time we actually were anywher in Austin, it was 4:15. We did not do much as it was day before Thanksgiving and things were closing at 5. We went to the state capital, wandered around there and I chased squirels. We drove around more in Austin and then eventually had dinner. We got back to Copperas Cove by around 9. These last couple days in Texas it has been 80 in the day and 60 at night, however it is getting chilly for the cold front coming through.

Thanksgiving day was CHHILLY! I never even bothered going outside. Hung around, sort of helped with my aunt, sort of visit with my dad and the others, watched a little Football and such. It was a nice day, nothing significant or out of the ordinary to report. My friend Jay from one of the bands sent me a text. His wife had given birth on Wednesday to a baby boy and the message said that he came out to "Back in BLack" by AC/DC on the ipod. That was just classic to hear. We did have a nice turkey dinner and visiting with my grandmother and family.
Friday we headed home early. Left Copperas Cove around 7 am to head to Austin for a flight. Got back to California around 3 and came home to see the cat!
Hope everyone had a Wonderful Thanksgiving.

Here is the latest news

2007-11-05T17:38:00.000-08:00

We have exciting news that I have been wanting to tell everyone for weeks! Today we are letting you know that there will be a little Kristin or Shannon running around as of May 2008. Yes I am pregnant and we are excited. The due date for the baby is May 21, 2008. We are not planning on finding out if it is a boy or girl. Since so many family and friends are spread out everywhere, I have set up a website to check in and see pictures, information, progress and anything else. Please sign the guest book and pass on the comments and such so we know that people have seen out announcement. http://www.totsites.com/tot/ksmadsen

I am soooo Jealous of this woman!!

2007-10-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

I can not tell you how much I wish I was this woman!!!

Woman fined for hammering Comcast office
Her fury with cable company led to attacks on keyboard, monitor, phone

Updated: 10:29 a.m. PT Oct 19, 2007
BRISTOW, Virginia - She was fined and got a suspended jail sentence, but Mona Shaw says she has no regrets about using a hammer to vent her frustration at a cable company.

"I stand by my actions even more so after getting all these telephone calls and hearing other people's complaints," she told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.

Shaw, 75, and her husband, Don, say they had an appointment in August for a Comcast technician to come to their Bristow home to install the company's heavily advertised Triple Play phone, Internet and cable service.
The Shaws say no one came all day, and the technician who showed up two days later left without finishing the setup. Two days after that, Comcast cut off all their service.

At the Comcast office in Manassas later that day, they waited for a manager for two hours before being told the manager had left for the day, the Shaws say.

Shaw, a churchgoing secretary of the local AARP branch, returned the next Monday _ with a hammer.

"I smashed a keyboard, knocked over a monitor ... and I went to hit the telephone," Shaw said. "I figured, 'Hey, my telephone is screwed up, so is yours.'"

Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company, disputes Shaw's version of its customer service record and calls Shaw's hammer fit on Aug. 20 an "inappropriate situation."

"Nothing justifies this sort of dangerous behavior," Comcast spokeswoman Beth Bacha said.

Police arrested Shaw for disorderly conduct. She received a three-month suspended sentence, was fined $345 and and is barred from going near the Comcast offices for a year.

The Shaws did eventually get phone and television service _ with Verizon and DirecTV.

She said many people have called her a hero. "But no, I'm just an old lady who got mad. I had a hissy fit," she said.

San Diego trip Angel's Wedding

2007-10-18T09:14:00.001-07:00

We went downt to San Diego to attend Angel and Dave's wedding. We arrived Thursday night and stayed up North in Poway. As we checked into the hotel, the hotel clerk asked if we were here for the Air Show. Shannon's face lit up and we knew what we would do on Friday. There was an air show over at Mirmar air base. IT was a Friday so not that many people there. I had never been to an airshow so it was pretty neat. We could walk in some of the planes and watched the Thunderbirds preform and the Patriots who are based out of Byron where Shannon flies the glider. We only took a few pictures but they are neat to see.

Saturday we spent the day shopping and just wasting time. We woke up to rain and it had rained all night. I had brought a sundress to wear to the wedding and silly me did not bring a back up outfit so we went out to find one. I figured there must be a plan B for the wedding since it was outside. As you see, they tented the area and it worked out great.

I did not take a lot of pictures but I have one of the happy couple and one of Angels mom and myself.

I also attempted to take one of the cake cutting.

Sunday we had no idea what to do with ourselves. We took a drive North on 15 towards Temecula and San Diego Wine country. The landscaping in San Diego is dry shrubery, not the hills with grass like in Northern California. The drive was not to exciting, not too much to see. The highlight was the damn we saw near Fallbrook (forgot the name of it). IT was huge and very impressive. No pictures, we left the camera in the car. We went back towards the beach area to eat and relax and then caught our 7 pm flight. It was a nice weekend and very nice wedding.

I spoke to Angel after they returned from their honeymoon. (They went on a cruz to the Mexican Riviera, I think) She had mentioned that they were expecting a full house. Daves family lives up north in the area where the fires were approaching, I am not too sure were exactly. I do know they were planning to evacuate but I hope it worked out they did not have to.

For Tami

2007-10-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

So this is the new tie my mother in law gave to Jasper and he just did not really care. We put it on and he went about his normal like he did not notice.

Then this one is for Tami, we put the orange hair on jasper. He did not go with this much. Wanted it off. Could not get a good picture of him.

This is Jaspers new Krinkle Cave and he loves it, he sits in and and barely fits. He likes the crinkle noise is makes as he moves.

2007-10-03T14:09:00.001-07:00

I can post anything here. Nobody reads it. Cool

The latest as of now

2007-10-02T14:04:00.001-07:00

I have not put much up here lately. Basically because I have not done much to talk about. September I once again became unemployed but that is just as well as I would not have been wanting to work there permanent. The place was so behind in times and lacking any structure. Anyway.....Whats been going on? Hmmm celebrated Tami's birthday with you. You can read about that in her blog. I had a wedding on September 15th. Oh thats right, I spent from Monday Sept 17 until Sunday the 23rd doing Walnut Festival stuff. Helped in set up and then did volunteer work in the fishing clinic, kids section, the wine booth and stuff. The fishing clinic was great. Friday we planted 250 pounds of catfish in the lake out at heather farms, which was interesting and fun. Overall, the festival went well this year and hopefully better next year. The Smoking J's got to play, unfortunately it was a really slow slot but fun. I kept busy with whatever and was glad as it occupied what would have been a boring week. Unfortunately I wont be at the meeting next week to see the results and how we actually did. After that week, I went to apply at a temp place by recommendation of my cousin. I am willing to do temp jobs day to day or week to week or whatever. I did book a wedding in April and we still do not have a location so that is a bit of a challenge for me right now. My brother came into town on Friday the 28th. He and his girlfriend stayed with us Friday night and then headed out to SF and Mendocino and further north for the rest of the week. She has never been to California and she was in love with it here in 4 hours. She is from Tennessee. Thats about all thats been going on. My mother comes to visit the 10th for 10 days. We go to San Deigo for Angel's wedding on the 11th so that will be great to visit down there. I have a wedding to occupy my time this weekend in Napa and should be kinda fun as Tami is helping me and we are staying in Napa Friday night. I am racking my brain trying to think of something else interesting to post about. Dang it, I have not been doing anything. Thats what happens in the fall and winter. Once I have no weddings, I am on down time and do not know what to do with myself. I do plan to finish the scrap books, I am up to Sept 2005 so its getting close. Well, until next week or something..............email me with your excitement.

Labor Day Weekend 2007

2007-09-14T13:11:00.001-07:00

Labor day weekend this year was fun. My mom's cousin Nancy and her husband Brian, Shannon and I and Mike and then Jim and his dad and dad's girlfriend, we all went to the Highland game in Pleasanton. I apparently was the only one who had been. We had fun and fortunately it was not tooo hot as it had been during the week. It was great to see the grand finale with over 800 pipers out there to preform together. That is my favorite part. We also watched the sheep dog trials which was intersting and saw the highland cows. OH thats right, Shannon's favorite part might have been the Birds of prey exhibit. That was pretty cool to see the huge birds and tiny little owl. I enjoyed watching the caber toss and we did not watch some of the other heavy weight events but I usually enjoy seeing them.
That night we met up with Jodie, Mark and Cooper for a casual dinner.
Sunday I had a wedding in the city. (Yes the bay bridge was closed labor day weekend. The traffic was easier then a normal Saturday all year) The wedding was at a hotel I had not been to before, The Clift hotel. It was a really different and beautiful location. I do not have a picture from this but thinking I may need to start an Events by Kristin blog. Seems people like to see and read about their own wedding and such.
Monday we went to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek. Actually, we went and did several things. We went to the PLayground I had helped with back in April. I had not seen it done yet. We then went to the Museum. I had not been in at least 15 years and it is in a new building now. It was neat to see the Mountain Lion and the birds. The Bald Eagle was cooling off in his pool as you can see.

The next part of the day drove around. We went to see the house I lived in from when I was 1 until I was 9. It looks so different than I remember.

After that, we somehow ended up just driving around looking at houses for Sale. We did
that until about 7 or so that night. We saw some great neighborhoods and crazy priced areas also. I guess it was not a very exciting weekend but we had a lot of fun.

Anniversary Weekend

2007-09-13T12:02:00.001-07:00

We celebrated our Anniversary weekend by going up to Mendocino/Fort Bragg. We stopped at a few places on the drive up. One place was the Redwood forest. (Had I written this sooner, I would remember the name) So here is a picture from there. It was so beautiful and significant since we were married in a redwood grove. We saw a small deer family but they ran too quick to get a picture.

These pictures were all taken from out room or a walk down the path from our room. The place was a great location. We did have a hot tub in the room. Neat idea but I don't recommend it. It did not get over 97 degrees so was just barely like a warm bath. Then at about 5 am it starts running again, every 10 minutes it runs. UGh.

We had a nice dinner in Fort Bragg. Actually our room was in Fort Bragg also. We went to the handmade ice cream place after and then went to the beach and drove around.

Sunday was fun. Shannon actually got to look at the beautiful setting because we went on the skunk train. It was fun and excellent weather for this.

These are all pictures from the Skunk train. We had lunch and headed home. We missed the Botanical garden that was on our list so we will have to go back. We had a wonderful weekend!!

Have you known me since 1984?

2007-09-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

If you knew me in 1984-1987 maybe. You know I babysat for the lady next door, Robyn. They had a huge old english sheepdog and then in 1984 Lauren was born. I babysat her a lot. Took her everywhere and to Baskin Robbins. I think Robyn probably practically paid for my first car since I earned money from then. Well here is some pictures and Robyn is on the end, then Lauren (now 22) and me and our neighbor Lynn Caldwell. Just sharing the picture of people I knew then.

Reunion of Cry Wolf - A few will enjoy this

2007-08-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

Michael/Kelly Larsen and Mike - remember he had red hair and is tall!

Kristin Steve Jenkins and Tami

Me, Michael Larsen, Sona and Michaels wife. (I recoginize her but just dont remember)

Brad Braden, Scott Zimmerman and Brian Braden (I think is his name) Old neighbors

Obviously me and for those of you that know him, that is Kelly Larsen Michael Larsen, it you all recall he switched names.

This is the singer from Cry Wolf

This is Sean McKeon, Brian Braden, Scott Zimmerman, John Link (drummer # 2 for Cry Wolf and drummer from Murder Bay) and Steve Jenkins.

So for those of you that have known me long enough or hung out with me in the late 80's early 90's, you will get a kick out of this. Saturday night was the reunion show of Cry Wolf. (www.crywolftheband.com) I still can not believe I went to this or how strange it was.
This may not be all that interesting to anyone unless they were in the scene or knew me or some of these people.
Tami went with me to this place called Vinnies in Concord. The place was full of musicians. It was an odd collection of people for me. I not only saw people I hung out with in the day of the bands but I also saw ones that I knew and were not really people I expected to see there. Such as the guy on the board of directors for the Walnut festival. Or Scott zimmerman, my neighbor from when I was 9-16. I will label people. If I can find the old pictures from the bands, I will post them. Then there was also Sona and Rob Teed (darn it, no picture) and Brie and others. It was really very interesting. We definetly felt young in the bar. I was 18 or 19 when I had started to hang out in this scene. At the time, the guys in the bands all had long hair. Now it is short, shaved or completely different. I saw a lot of people that I recognized the faces but had to ask who people were. Apparently everyone was doing that. It is hard to put into words what we saw that night, it was an experience. Tami will add to this I am sure. I can also lead those of you interested to another place to see more. Here is one location to see more. Michael Larsen's myspace (http://www.myspace.com/boardmadd)