The McRib, Taylor's Birthday and The End of The World

Next week is going to be quite an exciting week!  There is so much going on, Linda is going to have to really up her protein intake and get extra sleep so she can persevere.  Of course if the Mayan calendar is correct and the World ends on the 12th, it will be a short week so she won't have to worry.  She'll be resting permanently in heaven! (Oh, I just found out it's the 21st, so it will be a hectic week after all.)

Taylor will be celebrating his birthday on the 12th too.  Linda remembers him as a little baby even though it was 24 years ago when he was born.

Also in the news, The McRib (or as spell check corrects it, the Microbe)  is coming back.  You may wonder why Linda is excited about this?  So am I.  She never has even tasted it, but for some reason, it makes her happy that so many hungry McRib lovers will line up to celebrate the return of the make-believe pork rib sandwich at McDonald's.  She even did two posts about in the past which you owe it to yourself to read if you are one of those waiting in line for your McRib.

 Yummy?

Sorry, for some reason the blogger interface won't let me shorten this link.

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=818057368189867685#editor/target=post;postID=8630911773138640483

There is one more exciting thing next week.  Linda is going to a Christmas concert with one of her TKD families.  Michael W. Smith is such a great vocalist.  Linda has a lot of his songs on her iPod shuffle.

Shy Cat and the Energizer Bunny

It was even nicer out yesterday.  I think it hit 70 degrees on December 5th.  That sounds about right for Florida, but not the DC Metro area.  It probably was the last nice day before the real December weather starts.  Chim got to spend about 5 hours outside yesterday lounging on the deck in the sunshine and playing in the yard.  He was one happy pup!

I planned on posting Tuesday night, but when Linda got home from classes she went straight to bed.  Even with 10 hours sleep, she still feels tired. People don't come to the gym to take a class from a tired instructor.  Once she gets there and the music starts, she is always fine. She just has to put on her "energizer bunny" suit and just keep going. 

and going, and going, and going,....

 Jerry took the week off work to spend time with his family.  While he is away, Linda is watching his cat, Ink.  Sometimes Ink likes when Jerry brings me over to his TH, sometimes she is grumpy with me.  Linda wasn't expecting her to come out of hiding since she is a shy cat, but Ink met her at the top of the steps meowing and purring like a motor.  She is the softest cat that Linda ever petted.  Maybe I'll go over on Friday with Linda and play with her a bit.  At least she'll get some exercise chasing me away from her food bowl.

For Once I'm The Big Dog

What?  66 degrees in December??  None of us are complaining, we even have our windows open and heat turned off.  But how weird is that?  Just a few minutes ago, Linda saw an amazing yellow butterfly fluttering around. We'll probably get snow and ice tomorrow or some ridiculous weather.

Linda had to leave extra early this morning, so she didn't feed us breakfast.  There was no way she was chancing Chimi having an accident in the house, so we had to wait until she got home from classes a few minutes ago, (10:45 a.m.)  Since the weather is amazing, we had a picnic on the deck.  Linda had to sit between us or else I would have shoved Chimi out of the way to eat his food too.  I only get 1/2 the food he does (totally not fair!) so I'm always done first.  It's because I am on a diet and he is super skinny and burns a ton of calories with his non-stop motion.  (Plus, he is more than double my size.)

I only wish this was really Chimi.  It's a friend I used to play with.  By the way, I was 3.5 pounds in this photo! The Chihuahua was full grown at 1.5 pounds! 

 

 

 

"Are you wearing anything under that dress?"

 (Whoops, Linda thought she posted this but she didn't.  It's evening now but still in the 60's.  After 4 hours of working out, Linda is trying to decided if she has the energy to walk us or if she is going to just throw the ball in the backyard for a bit.  It's only 6:15 and she is already looking forward to bed.)

Hulk Hands

Linda has an Incredible Hulk hand in this photo.

Penny didn't seem too happy when Nana picked her up from the nursery today at church.  She had a blah look on her face and wouldn't smile.  That is until she got home... then she lit up like a Christmas tree!

I was just tired earlier.

Linda went with her friends to lunch today.  She couldn't stay long because she actually had to go to a work meeting.  Since leaf blowing didn't happen yesterday, she was going to do it when she got home and before evening church, but somehow she ended up taking a nap.  Tomorrow is supposed to be 60 degrees, it will be a good day to clean up the yard. 

Away in a Manger

Linda broke her record of time spent at the annual Christmas party.  Last year it was 15 minutes.  This year, she stayed 55 minutes! The only reason she was able to stay that long was because Laura was holding her hand.  Readers know that she has a very outgoing type of job.  She stands in front of 100's of people a week teaching classes.  When a new member joins the gym, so goes out of her way to make sure they feel welcome and important.  She can conduct large TKD testings where she is totally in charge.  In her old job, she would make marketing presentations to CEO's of companies and their directors.  But inside, she is super shy and does not like mingling in crowds of people.  If she had to give a presentation to the crowd, she would be fine.... but stand next to someone at a buffet table and make idle chit-chat, she freezes up.

The party had amazing food and desserts.  Laura took a photo of the Nativity scene using the panoramic feature of her camera.  It's a little blurry, but you get the idea.  Each piece is hand painted by a famous artist whose name Linda forgot.  It's really beautiful and the detail amazing.  We don't put up any Christmas decorations at our house, but if we did.. it would be this (high, high up where Chimi could not chew a shepherd or olive tree.)

Feed Me

How can you say "NO" to this face?

I'm making Linda crazy with my constant begging.  I had breakfast and dinner (chicken and rice for the win!) but I want more.  Chim will stop begging when she tells him to, but I keep going and going until she finally has enough and puts me outside on the deck.  Because my weight isn't exactly wear it should be (5 pounds, not 6.2) the vet says no snacks between meals.  I'm good for about 20 minutes when she lets me back inside, but then I start whining again.  She knows I'm not hungry, it's just that I LOVE eating so much!

In a few minutes, Linda is meeting her friend Laura to go to a Christmas party. She is the same person Linda went the Praise and Worship service with last night. This was from Laura's ?? Birthday Party.  (It was a major one!)  She'll try and get a photo of the two of them tonight and post it later. 

Back in the Day

Now that Chim is free, free, free! and no longer confined to the bathroom, Linda doesn't feel nearly as guilty when she leaves the house for any extended period of time.  The worse was when she had to go from work, straight to something else and he had to be confined for 6 hours during the day.  (I know, some of you are laughing at her.  Dogs with owners who work sometimes sleep in a crate for 10 hours without a break.) Linda has always been sensitive about leaving us too long. Plus, Chimi is sleeping on the Big Bed at night with us now, so he only goes into his den when he wants to (or the vacuum & Swiffer mop are out.) She thinks he just lays around sleeping when shes gone, but I'll never tell on him what he is really doing!

Chim needs this camera collar.  It snaps photos automatically throughout the day.

 

Linda went to her friend Laura's church last night for a time of Praise and Worship.  It was some of the same songs her church sings, so she knew all the words.  The saxophone and the harp were nice additions to the band and the worship leader had a wonderful voice.  Linda couldn't stay for the fellowship after since Taylor was playing in a basketball game at the Rec Center and she wanted to watch. 

MVP of the Tournament.  (With his friend Brook)

Back in the day, Taylor played some pretty good B-Ball.  He was on a few (maybe 3) National championship winning teams.  His 3 on 3 team actually won the regional DC Hoop-it-Up tournament and went on to Orlando to win first place in the 18-24 year old division. 

After classes today, we are going to take our walk (Jerry is at his parents this weekend) and then Linda is going to try to learn how to use a leaf blower.  I wish someone could be taking a video of that!  I'm sure the leaves will be blowing back up into her face and hair.  She'll have to quickly shower and get ready for the annual party that Nancy (YMCA-TKD) hosts.  Last year Linda only stayed 15 minutes, she's going to try and stay at least double that this year.  (Crowded group events are not Linda's favorite things, even if she knows some of the people there.)