rebelry

Milestone

2009-09-04T04:53:43Z

For many this wouldn't be a big deal, but for me this is huge. Today I ran 5k (a little over 3 miles)- I've never done this EVER-I think I ran 2 miles in college over 20 years ago.... This is particularly sweet since I was out of commission for 6 months with a bum heel- and only started running in small amounts a month ago.

It wasn't a pretty run- in fact it was more of a jog than a run- and there were at least a half dozen times I wanted to quit, but I pushed through. just over 32 minutes- which is about 6 miles an hour. Definitely no speed records, but I can only improve.

Red letter day for me,

Reb

Thursday 7/16/09

2009-07-17T05:18:58Z

Ate well until... TYEE sabotaged me. *sigh* Seriously I ordered innocently enough- steak caesar salad.... came with FRIED onions on it! argh. Ended up eating most of them because they were yummy.

Felt sick and too full even though I didn't eat the whole thing.

I did lots of walking plus a hard workout with Christian, so I know the damage is negligible.

warm up

dumb bell swings. overhead squats, lots of stretching. push ups. 10 reps of 70# deadlift- good for form.

sore from yesterday's abdominal workout.

workout

3 rounds:

bike ride down and up the hill in back of coupeville (from gym to back of methodist church) .6 mile?
15 25# dumb bell swings
10 elevated push ups

14:49.

had me gasping at the end.

Reb

This week- June

2008-06-02T21:34:07Z

Sunday: 2 miles
Monday: 3 miles

Too busy to say much..

2007-01-17T07:08:06Z

a cartoon I had to share now that I have my scanner working:

Ranger Update

2006-12-22T05:36:51Z

Ranger is quite the athletic dog and there's nothing he likes more than running full tilt or hunting prey. Yesterday I took Ranger to one of my local beaches which is also an off leash dog park - It's called Double Bluff. Yesterday he was even more rambunctious than usual - climbing cliffs and rolling in stinky dead things.

Thank GOD for one of the newest creations (new to me anyway) - the "Dog Wash". It's kinda like a Car Wash self serve. You take your dogs in, wash and dry him yourself. And given that I needed to have him clean and smelling nice before my company arrived today, it was a life saver.

Here's a picture of one of his accomplishments yesterday:

It's actually more dramatic than it looks- he climbed up a steep slope to get to that platform he's standing on...

GH Fanfic SOS

2006-12-19T06:42:03Z

I got a request to help locate a GH fanfic - this sounds familiar but I can't place it. Is there anyone else who knows the fic?

I don't know if you can help me but I'm going to try anyway. I'm looking for a fanfic that I discovered about a month ago. I had it saved to my favorites but then my computer crashed and I lost everything. I can't remember that name of the story or the author. I remember that the story was about Lucky Spencer. It's about his life after he comes home from being kidnapped by Faison. Laura is a complete bitch who is sleeping around on Luke and abuses Lucky. She is also sleeping with Stefan and Stefan abuses Lucky until Luke kills him after discovering all that was going on. Fast forward a few years and Lucky is older and not able to deal with all that has happened to him. Luke is in jail and basically his whole family has turned against him. Lucky is living on the streets, doing drugs. Elizabeth has left him. Emily had been in another country, being a model then she comes back home. In this story, she and Lucky get together. Tony is the one that takes Lucky off the streets and gets him some help. Most of the story is about Lucky struggling with his addictions and what happened to him. In the last chapters, Faison comes back and poisons Lucky, and Lucky believes that he has killed Nik, which sends him back into the psych ward.

Back to frantically getting ready for Christmas company.

Reb

1 Litre of Tears

2006-12-14T16:45:58Z

At franwi's recommendation, I watched the first episode of 1 Litre of Tears and it was very well done, but now I'm afraid to watch the rest. Should win the Most Appropriate Title Ever.

VERY sad already...

On a positive note, I just got a note from the library to tell me the first two books in the manga Fruits Basket are waiting for me to pick up. FINALLY!

*sigh*
Reb

Fruits Basket

2006-12-06T00:49:34Z

As I wait for the long downloads for the Taiwanese drama "It started with a kiss", I decided to watch a couple episodes of the anime called "Fruits Basket". franwi made the recommendation and I have to agree it's very adorable. I'm relatively new to the anime, so what does the tear drop on the hair mean? embarrassment?
Reb

Peach Girl

2006-12-01T07:04:23Z

At franwi's urging I've started to watch Peach Girl! I just finished the first episode and I have to say that Vanness Wu is very cute in it. But so far the lead girl ?Xaio Tao? is pretty naive. I just hope she wises up soon. I'm not hooked yet, but I'm going to watch another episode.

Looong downloads though. Anyone else go to the jdramas?

Reb

Of Dogs and Dog training

2006-11-30T07:15:01Z

On the off chance that someone finds this interesting:

I've been busy this past year training my Dog Ranger. First I started with basic obedience training, positive training style, then we went for the Canine Good Citizen and passed. During the year I discovered that he sometimes feels threatened by other dogs and with my daughter doing 4-H with him, I decided to see a trainer who specializes in this so my daughter could handle him better when he looks like he might get aggressive.

To make a long story short, this new trainer specializes in Tellington Touch (T-Touch) and Clicker training (More on T-Touch another time). It's amazing to work with a trainer that uses all positive methods after years of trainers who advised the use of choke chains. Anyway, over the last few months I've become a real fan of clicker training. It's unbelievable how quickly a dog can learn a command/ task when you use clicker training. And also how excited they are to learn.

Course, it helps if your dog is a food whore. *g*

For anyone who is curious to see it in action, I found this site tonight.

http://clickertrainusa.com/index.htm

The only complaint I have about the short demonstration videos is that his dog hardly EVER makes a mistake, so he doesn't really talk about what to do when your dog goofs up or doesn't get it. The trainer I've been working with in person has helped me with that.

I'd already been working on teaching Ranger to touch an object (in hopes of teaching him the name of it) and it goes pretty fast with the clicker. I can't wait until I can get him to know what "ball" means.

Next stop, teaching him to bow.
Reb

Snow, Snow, and MORE Snow.

2006-11-29T22:54:52Z

Okay, I realize that a good number of people in the US live in places where a lot of snow falls every winter. However, I do not. I live on an island north of Seattle and We might have one snowfall a year, usually no more than a few inches and it rarely sticks around for more than a day or two. Some years we have no snow accumulation. We have icy roads, but again, it usually doesn't last more than a day or two.

But it's not even December and we've had snow 3 out of 4 days! Our normal temperature range during the winter is 40-50 degrees. Since Sunday we've had two days in the low 30s and now we're working on the second day in the 20s! The kids have already used up their snow days. My hubby, who is a teacher, has already EXCEEDED his snow days for his school.

And it's not even December. I hope this isn't a sign of what kind of winter we're going to have.

Reb

Shameless Plug

2006-11-26T01:40:45Z

If you can't use your journal to make a shameless plug for votes for your dog, then what's the point?

So, my kids noticed on Thanksgiving that there is a general dog competition and we decided to enter him:

http://contest.dogshowusa.com/portal/dog/29433.html

Course, there are lots of other cute dogs there, feel free to vote for them too. Or better yet, enter your own dog.

http://contest.dogshowusa.com

:0)

Reb

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T06:36:36Z

This has to be one of the wettest Novembers on Whidbey Island that I can ever remember. Day after day of rain and cold wind can be really wearing, and that's what I feel like - worn down and annoyed. There was about a day and a half of nice weather last week to give us a taste of how nice it could be and then it's been crummy ever since. Today I walked Ranger in the rain and got SOAKED.

BLECH.

One thing to be grateful for--- among other things - the fact that I still have power. 14 years ago I lost power during thanksgiving and had spaghetti on the wood stove.

An adventure, but not what we had in mind!

So it'll just be me and my immediate family for Thanksgiving this year. We've rented Charlie and the Chocolate factory (a movie I've yet to see) and Over the Hedge (which my hubby hasn't seen). The kids will enjoy both, so everyone's happy.

And tonight I made my first thanksgiving dish - sweet potatoes- a family tradition from my childhood

I should say that I don't like the REAL sweet potatoes, I like the Red yams. No marshmallows or sugar in my sweet potatoes. just mashed with butter and cinnamon, nutmeg and sherry. A bit messy to make, but well worth the effort because everyone loves them.

I can't wait. I love Thanksgiving. I even have two built in slaves to help with the dishes.

Reb

Beware! - New Version of the Nigerian Scam

2006-11-23T06:23:38Z

URGENT ASSISTANCE - FROM USA

IMMEDIATE ATTENTION NEEDED : HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL

FROM: GEORGE WALKER BUSH
202.456.1414 / 202.456.1111
FAX: 202.456.2461

Dear Sir / Madam,

I am GEORGE WALKER BUSH, son of the former president of the United States of America George Herbert Walker Bush, and currently serving as President of the United States of America. This letter might surprise you because we have not met neither in person nor by correspondence. I came to know of you in my search for a reliable and reputable person to handle a very confidential business transaction, which involves the transfer of a huge sum of money to an account requiring maximum confidence.

I am writing you in absolute confidence primarily to seek your assistance in acquiring oil funds that are presently trapped in the republic of Iraq. My partners and I solicit your assistance in completing a transaction begun by my father, who has long been actively engaged in the extraction of petroleum in the United States of America, and bravely served his country as director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency.

In the decade of the nineteen-eighties, my father, then vice-president of the United States of America, sought to work with the good offices of the President of the Republic of Iraq to regain lost oil revenue sources in the neighboring Islamic republic of Iran. This unsuccessful venture was soon followed by a falling-out with his Iraqi partner, who sought to acquire additional oil revenue sources in the neighboring emirate of Kuwait, a wholly-owned U.S.-British subsidiary.

My father re-secured the petroleum assets of Kuwait in 1991 at a cost of sixty-one billion u.s. dollars ($61,000,000,000). Out of that cost, thirty-six billion dollars ($36,000,000,000) were supplied by his partners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other persian gulf monarchies, and sixteen billion dollars ($16,000,000,000) by German and Japanese partners. But my father's former Iraqi business partner remained in control of the republic of Iraq and its petroleum reserves.

My family is calling for your urgent assistance in funding the removal of the President of the Republic of Iraq and acquiring the petroleum assets of his country, as compensation for the costs of removing him from power. Unfortunately, our partners from 1991 are not willing to shoulder the burden of this new venture, which in its upcoming phase may cost the sum of 100 billion to 200 billion dollars ($100,000,000,000 - $200,000,000,000), both in the initial acquisition and in long-term management.

Without the funds from our 1991 partners, we would not be able to acquire the oil revenue trapped within Iraq. That is why my family and our colleagues are urgently seeking your gracious assistance. Our distinguished colleagues in this business transaction include the sitting vice-president of the United States of America, Richard Cheney, who is an original partner in the Iraq venture and former head of the Halliburton oil company, and Condoleeza Rice, whose professional dedication to the venture was demonstrated in the naming of a Chevron oil tanker after her.

I would beseech you to transfer a sum equaling ten to twenty-five percent (10-25 %) of your yearly income to our account to aid in this important venture. The internal revenue service of the United States of America will function as our trusted intermediary. I propose that you make this transfer before the fifteenth (15th) of the month of April.

I know that a transaction of this magnitude would make anyone apprehensive and worried. But I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day. A bold step taken shall not be regretted, I assure you. Please do be informed that this business transaction is 100% legal. If you do not wish to co-operate in this transaction, please contact our intermediary representatives to further discuss the matter.

I pray that you understand our plight. My family and our colleagues will be forever grateful. Please reply in strict confidence to the contact numbers below.

Sincerely with warm regards,

George Walker Bush

The Source: http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/jokes/bljokebushbizproposal.htm

Okay, so it's more of a parody ..... :)

Reb

My Letter To Santa

2006-11-17T22:27:12Z

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

This year I've been busy!

In October I set franwi's puppy on fire (-66 points). In January dreamylyfe and I robbed a bank (-50 points). In April I gave ulkis a Dutch Oven (-10 points). In August I gave ficklemuse a wet willie, then I took it back (-5 points). Last Wednesday I helped ficklemuse hide a body (-173 points).

Overall, I've been naughty (-304 points). For Christmas I deserve a moldy sandwich!

Sincerely,
Rebelry

Demoglad.... finally a medication ad that I can enjoy

2006-11-16T17:00:43Z

http://www.markfiore.com/animation/glad.html

A must see for any democrat :)

By the way, whoever sent me nice weather last night, thank you! It's now sunny and almost warm outside. Can't wait to take Ranger for his outting.

Reb

Dust in the Wind....

2006-11-16T06:38:47Z

I don't know why this song came to mind, maybe because it's STILL windy here and it's the intimidating kind. You end up feeling pretty insignificant when a wind gust nearly knocks you down. Excuse this rather disjointed rant, I'm working on about 3.5 hours sleep.

It should be noted that I am NOT a morning person. If I had my druthers I'd sleep until 9am every day. With a daughter going to middle school, I have to get up at 6:45. Course, if you knew my hubby's schedule you'd tell me to stop complaining and be grateful....

Today's storm was 50-60 mile per hour kind of wind storm. It's a swirly and whiny kind of wind that makes you antsy and anxious when you are awake, and is loud enough to wake you up if you're asleep. It slams into my house, not only making it shudder but making quite a sound when it does it. I live on Whidbey Island,(Washington State)- just a block up from the water, so the wind whips off the water and slams into the front of my house with absolutely no vegetation slowing it down.

That's because the wind has killed all the trees by knocking them down.

I kid you not.

Today was a truly bizarre day. I woke up at 4:30am when hubby came in to tell me that the power was out (probably due to a tree fall). This isn't an uncommon occurrence (wind storms = power outages), but having had trouble getting to sleep that night, I wasn't able to even pretend to be coherent. Still he was trying to be sweet because he knew I was going to have trouble getting up without my alarm and he has the only battery operated alarm clock.

5:30 am Katie (my eldest) comes to my room to tell me that the power is out and that Ranger had gotten out but Dad had found him and brought him back. Turns out the WIND blew open the back door, allowing our dog (who sleeps in the room by the back door), to get out into the backyard.

Ranger, aka charming devil, is a wanderer and an escape artist. We've been dealing with this off and on since we got him, and I thought we'd got it fixed, so I was really upset to find out that he'd gotten out. This means that our fenced yard is breachable. My stomach was in knots imagining him outside all night in the wind. It turns out it was even more frightening than I thought.

At 6:30 am (after my kids gave me an anxiety attack taking Ranger out in the backyard in the DARK to do his business), I gave up trying to get 5 minutes more sleep and got out of bed. The power's still out, so out come the candles and flashlights. The kids cheer when i get the radio working and they find out that school is canceled. (I groan - I love my kids but they can be exhausting oftentimes and today isn't my best day)

I decide to call hubby at work to find out what happened with Ranger - Turns out that Ranger found HIM on the way to work. He thought Ranger was a deer by the side of the road and slowed down. When I think what could have happened, my stomach just drops. Hubby says Ranger was EXTREMELY happy to be found. Can you imagine how scary it must be for an house pet to be out in a wind storm all night? I'm just so grateful that he was returned before I even realized he was gone because if I had woken up at my usual time to find him gone I think I would have freaked even more. It's doubly frustrating because for the past 3 months I have been trying to train him to stay in the yard (a dog trainer has been providing me with instruction on this) and whenever I think I'm making progress something happens to thwart it.

Turns out the garage doors blew open in the wind. We live in this 100 year old two story house where the doors don't all line up and close securely. This is how I think Ranger got out of the yard-through the garage. Even after I take care to bolt both doors, they somehow got loose again not even an hour later!

So Ranger's at home, not much worse for wear, except that he now stinks like the sea. Seems he decided to take a midnight wade into the ocean. *sigh* DOGS! Needless to say Ranger has spent the entire day today SLEEPING after a very busy night carousing....

It's a good thing I adore him or I might send him back to the pound!

Power was out alllll day, and didn't come back on until 7:30pm. Even that's a blessing because much of Whidbey Island is still out of power.

I'm just glad to have my power back and my dog safe. Tonight I am securing the door to his crate so he's SAFE and I can sleep without worrying about him.

Anyone out there with good weather? Send me some- all I see in our forecast for the next week is rain and wind.

Even with all the complaints, I'd still take this over snow and ice....
Reb

Of Churches and Dogs....

2006-11-13T01:31:44Z

Today was an unusual Sunday... For the first time our family went to church (for something other than a special event).

I do not come from a religious background. In fact, my family of origin's belief system is somewhere between agnostic and atheist. My husband hasn't really ever gone to church either, and until about a year and a half ago, I never considered him someone who believed in God. He has three sisters who are varying degrees of religious- from Lutheran to Fundamentalist. Turns out he does believe, just extremely quietly.

My oldest daughter, Katie (age 11), has had a lot of curiosity and interest in God and religion over the last 5 years, beginning when she attended the baptism of her youngest cousin. Then 2 years ago she became friends with a very nice girl who is a Southern Baptist. Lots of questions began then because her friend was attempting to get her interested in the Bible, and actually one year gave our family a Bible for Christmas (I thought it an odd but sweet gift).

Anyway, a little over a year ago my husband and I decided to explore going to a church, both for the benefits that a church can provide the kids (moral guidance, a sense of belonging) and so we could in essence guide our kids to making their own decisions on their beliefs about God rather than relying on friends. We explored both the Episcopal Church (which we have attended once before for a special occasion and liked) and the Unitarian Church, which is what I attended very briefly when I was very young. My husband expressed more interest in the Episcopal Church, and more resistance to the Unitarian. (For anyone who doesn't know, Unitarian Church studies other religions -Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc-and accepts all religious beliefs, including those that don't believe at all - a bit of a simplification, but close enough).

So after a year of avoidance on his part (he's a bit ambivalent), today we went for the first time. It's a pretty church in a beautiful wooded setting, without being overly ostentatious. I liked the singing, the sermon was actually very nice for it's moral lesson - on hypocrisy (ie Ted Haggard) and sacrifice. It's a pretty tolerant parish, so I think I'll feel comfortable there, even though I'm mostly skeptic/agnostic. :)

The girls liked it quite well so we'll probably go back and try this on for a bit. If it seems to fit well with us, we'll probably join the church.

On a secular note, My dog Ranger got his first big knuckle bone today and ran whimpering around the house with it in his mouth! I think he was trying to find a place to hide or chew it up, but given that it's kinda gross at this point, I'm relegating him to the tile/wood floors to keep the grossness off my carpet.

Reb

Worth seeing at least once...

2006-11-11T00:37:27Z

Maybe everyone else knows about this, but today is the first time I found this:

Ebay Song on Google Video

Reb

And onto the ODD

2006-11-09T19:22:19Z

Check out this site on Sand sculptures. Brings Sand Castles to a whole new level:

http://www.greatervancouverparks.com/HARRISONSandCastles01.html

the site is picture heavy.

Reb

Welcome to My Journal!

2006-11-07T21:18:54Z

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to say hello! I don't write particularly entertaining prose, so I'm going to try to keep this short.

I hope to use this journal for things that are of interest to me at the moment - politics, doggie antics and stuff, TV Programs, Movies, Parenting stuff, general life angst and excitement.

Just a little background on me.

I'm happily married with two daughters and work one day a week out of the home. I have a beautiful (yes, I'm biased) dog named Ranger who I spend WAAAAY too much time on. He is a wonderful companion and a kick in the head most days though definitely a handful. I also have two cats who hate his guts (it's not his fault that they don't want to play chase!). In my free time I read, follow the news online, play sudoku online and off, web surf, watch TV and Movies, walk avidly, and play with my dog. Though I haven't written recently, I am an author of several fanfiction stories for General Hospital - my favorite topic is/was the Cassadines, but I lost momentum when they were eviscerated on the show so I stopped watching and writing. I still read some fanfiction and hope one day that I'll regain my interest.

My current TV show interests are Battle Star Galactica (BSG) and The Shield. I'm in the middle of watching season 2.5 of BSG, so I'm not current yet but I really am enjoying the series. Besides those two, my good friend dreamylyfe got me entranced with an odd genre - Taiwanese Idol Drama. The two I love the best are based on mangas. I highly recommend both "Devil Beside You" (Google Video/You Tube) and "Meteor Garden" (You Tube). I can't believe how much I love these shows, even subtitled. The wonderful thing about both is that they complete, so you don't have to wait for another episode to come out.

That's it for now.
Reb