R is for Ronnebeck!

I am one of "THOSE" Pet owners. *Sigh* don't judge me. Aquaman LOVES pumpkin, we feed it to him when he's got the #2's because it's good for doggy's bowl movements, but when I cut into my pumpkin last year we discovered how much he loves pumpkin, he just couldn't stop licking it and this year we had to keep him from eating the seeds! Yes, I bought a pumpkin or two just for him and I to carve together. Gracie, on the other hand is just plain terrified of them. She was sitting so nice on this box, and I sat her pumpkin next to her, and she jumped off so fast it threw me into a fit of laughter. And funny enough, for as much has he loves to lick them, the minute you light them up and ask him to sit near it for a photo, he's terrified of them too! Guess I just carve too spooky of pumpkins. I love that my little family humors me about Halloween. Eric even came out to take a picture with us! Happy Halloween Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 These are not my photos, so Julie and Shannon, I apologize in advance for stealing them off of Facebook, but I love them so much, I couldn't help myself. The boys are nearly as excited about Halloween as I am, and here they are carving their pumpkins!  And, I am beyond proud of this one's creativity of her costume this year. She's in 8th grade, so the run of the mill costume just isn't going to do, it had to be fabulous!  She was a Mermaid, and it's so 8th grade cute type mermaid, I love it! And the boys (and Julie) in their costumes! Carter the Ninja, Troy the Green Lantern and Kyle as Mario. These just make me happy so I thought I'd share!  Happy PRE Halloween!!!!

So, after 2 very FULL Days of Relay for Life I have a brain full of Relayness, and not a single photo to show for it, I didn't even bring my camera, I'm not sure what my deal is. Any ways, I digress.  I took Friday off so I could be at the Relay Summit. Last year I only got to attend one day, and  I wasn't as clueless going into it this year as I was last year, I knew what I signed up for and I was excited about it! Day One started off with Lunch, then a couple of looong sessions where we learned about leadership stuff, and then we had a dinner and got to meet Pat Flynn "The Mother Of Relay". She was with Dr. Gordy Klatt in his first years of developing the Relay for Life event, it was pretty exciting ... that is, if you're a Relay dork like myself.  By the end of the day, my bag was full of Relay schwag, and my brain was full of ideas. Today I showed up (albeit a little late) in time for opening session where they recognized Survivors and Caregivers whil...

Today's been... well, crazy. Work's crazy, life is crazy, and my brain feels like it's trying to escape from my skull. I think it knows I have a hot date with the library and my Series 7 study book tonight so it's trying to RUN AWAY. I got a good giggle compliments of the ACS CAN  group today that I had to share because of above circumstances listed. I got an e-mail on my first break that said "you registered as an ACS CAN member on your Relay summit information, but we don't show that you have a valid membership - sorry" or something to that effect. So I Dug out my ACS CAN membership card (yes I have a membership card) to see if my membership had expired, after having just signed up in April I was a little surprised that it had expired already! I pulled it out to see that It expires in April of 2012, a little confused as to why they didn't have my membership records showing, I took a closer look... see it? Abigail B onnebeck, Nice, No wonder...

 It's no secret that my Mom is on my mind, all the time.  She's been gone for 4 months now and I've been incorporating things in my life that have made me think about her in ways that make me smile instead of ways that make me sad. This weekend is my first Relay event without her in my life, I used to tear up at the videos they played anyways, I shudder to think about the sobbing that will be going on this weekend.  The Theme is "The Magic of Relay" and we'll be rocking Disney gear to show it.  My Western Washington Relay family asked us to bring a photo of why we Relay with us this weekend and I've been having a tough time choosing my favorite one to bring with. But in the process I've come across the photos I'm posting here and I can nearly hear her laughter through the photo. The best part of healing is helping other people heal, so heal, enjoy and laugh.

 1| I'm sorry ... I forgot. With all this couch excitement I totally spaced my Ten on Tuesday. Bad Blogger - No cookies! 2| In other news, my commute SUCKS thanks to Viadoom! I don't know what I was expecting but the first night it took me 45 minutes longer than normal, and last night I took 3 modes of transportation and got home 30 minutes faster than the night before. Success. 3| Last night I was working on my Mom's book only to find out an hour later when I closed down the program it froze, and I lost everything that I had been working on for the past hour and a half. Crap. Thank GOD it's a labor of love or I'd be pulling out my hair by now. 4| I hate this formatting... sorry. 5| This morning there was a true blue crazy lady on the bus that, thought someone was following her, and told a fellow commuter that she was not to speak to her because she was black, and crazy lady doesn't talk to people who are not caucasian. Fellow commuter was so surprised I di...

 The kids seem to be enjoying our new couches!! I can't WAIT to get home!

See? None, nothing, nada, an empty floor, an empty living room! Do you know what this means? We're making room for our NEW Couch! Hurrah!  We went from THIS to THIS which we hated. And now... You'll have to wait till Eric sends me the picture of the new one... So excited!

Kerri sent me a text last week that said "Pumpkin carving party on the 23rd 4 o'Clock BYOP." It made me giggle, and I was more happy to find my P and bring it to be carved! There were a lot more people than I anticipated, but the more the merrier and we had so much fun! We carved 13 pumpkins total, and when they were all lit up they looked great! Thanks for the fantastic day Santo family! Kevin & Angela's Family carving. The whole table... Lots of us! The aftermath... Wow did we have a lot of guts! I had never seen so many piles of pumpkin guts! Here's everyone with their pumpkins! (mins a few!) From Left to Right : Eric, Me & Cassiday L to R : Mine, Eric's Mine. Lots of Spooks! Tim and Katherine and Their masterpieces! Here's the whole lot of them! Yay for Pumpkin Carving! Here's ours at home, on our deck!

I will get more photos up from our pumpkin carving night, but here's OUR pumpkins that we've done this season! The two on the ends are mine, and the one in the middle is Eric's. We'll be carving a dog and cat pumpkin for the furry kids this week. I ♥ pumpkin carving!

It's been a wonderful weekend! I'm off to carve pumpkins with friends, but I wanted to leave you with this photo - Happy EARLY Birthday Megan Slater! We really enjoyed hanging out with everyone, and your Momma is a five star chef! Mmmmh Good Home cookin!

I was on my way to work this morning, after having stopped at Starbucks with my nice Venti Soy Vanilla Latte when she caught my eye. A young girl (18 or so) slumped against the Nordstrom building, shivering from the cold wet morning, I loaned her a shy smile as I walked by her with my venti coffee, new coat and warm scarf. I always feel kind of ridiculous when I see someone shivering and I’m carrying a HUGE cup of coffee that cost me $5.   She was crying, and not in a way that was over dramatic or attention grabbing, but in the way that makes you wonder what’s wrong. I stopped and asked if she was okay. She said that she had run away from home and she was cold, hungry and scared. She said she was mostly scared of going back home even though she was cold and hungry. I asked why she was scared to go home thinking maybe she had an abusive home, or even a home that had kicked her out. But she said because she was pretty sure her Mom would be angry with her and she wasn’t looking ...

1| This is my 801'st post for this here humble blog. YAY! Thanks for hanging in there with me! 2| Today my Husband is going to south center to buy our NEW Dania Couch! I'm so excited! I'm not sure when we'll get it delivered but I can't wait! 3| A big thank you to Dawn & Ivan for taking our old couch off our hands! 4| I got two free ride tickets from Metro in the mail which was a mailing basically asking us to ride the bus. Big miss Metro, you should have sent them to me because I'm such a dedicated rider - it's okay, I'll still use them, but KNOW your audience! 5| I was seriously excited about our pumpkins that we got at Bo's. I want to go back for more! Though my husband keeps reminding me that I don't NEED more... who said carving pumpkins was about NEED anyways? 6| Speaking of Metro - I'd like to take the time to say to the City of Seattle THANK YOU for screwing up my commute by hacking at the Via Duct. I'm looking forwa...

Working in the mail room last week I stumbled upon this stamp. Eric had told me there was a stamp out there with Wall-E on it, but I had yet to see it in person. Then this little guy turned up and melted my heart, he's just so darn cute! It brings a smile to my face... hope it brings one to yours too! Happy Monday!

After our Saturday ritual of getting coffee we went to Bo's to get pumpkins!!! They were closed last night, and I was sad, but I quickly forgave them when I heard Bo's familiar voice of excitement upon our arrival. Bo normally puts up a fruit and veggie stand every summer and pumpkins in the fall, and then tree's in the winter. This year he didn't have fruit and veggies, and we missed him!  We bought two big pumpkins and two little ones, then Bo gave us one for free because it has a rotten spot on it. We plan to make seeds and pie once we cut that rotten spot off of it! Here's Aquaman with our Loot! The ones we chose this year are bigger than him!  Sometimes I think he's my only kindred spirit when it comes to Halloween. But Mostly, I think he just likes to go for a ride... DID SOMEONE SAY RIDE???!?!?!  My handsome dog... Love him Any ways... here's our annual shot at Bo's - click the links below to see the previous years of pumpkin patchin! 2010 2009 ...

See these sad faces?  Well, Aquaman looks kind of crazy, I look sad. This was after we showed up to get our pumpkins at Bo's to find it was CLOSED.  Who closes a pumpkin patch at 6 on a Friday night??????????? SAAAAAD!!! Oh well, maybe tomorrow :)

Last weekend I bought this sticker for my water bottle. I love Washington. I do. I truly do. It feels like home and I couldn't be more thrilled to live in a place that feels like home through and through. I thought back to what made me choose Washington as my new home, and I think it was just the "feel" of it. The summer of 2003 was magical for me, and Washington swept me off my feet. And then when the summer of 2005 came around the corner life happened; and eventually a 6'5" handsome man swept me off my feet once again and in 2006 I made Washington my home; that's the short of it. The long of it however, is I just needed a change of pace. I needed to make it on my own to prove it to myself and to find my place in life.  Last night I sat down across the table from another young girl named Abby. She is 19 (nearly 20) and is on the brink of making a change in her life to find her place. She has chosen Texas. I see that same glimmer of scared, excited and hope...