Did some catching up on TV shows on my night off!!

Had Monday night off from work!!  Yahoo!!  So what did I do?! . . .

Spent the day catching up on sleep after working all weekend (nights) long!  Then headed up to Willits for dinner with the girls at 'Lumberjack's' and to watch 'Dancing with the Stars'. 

Then I did some catching up of TV shows!!  All up-to-date now with 'Bones',  'Body of Proof' and 'Game of Thrones'. 

 

I ran out of time cause I needed to head back to bed to get some rest before heading back to work tonight, but plan on catching up on 'House' too!!!  Maybe tonight, if I get put on-call or Thursday night -- my first night off of my long stretch off!!

I gave up watching 'House' on mondays for the time being so I could watch 'Dancing with the Stars' with friends!!  No big deal as I can just go to Hulu.com and watch it there once the show has aired.  Although I don't think I've seen any of 'House' since DWTS's startedt his season.  But I will!!!

DWTS Week 6 Elimination

Had to work tonight, but did check in on who was eliminated this week.

It was a toss up as to who was going to get bumped -- Ralph or Chris -- at least in my opinion.  Which normally doesn't mean much.

So it looks like Chris was the one to go  -- too bad as I saw such potential in him.  One of the few males stars that actually had a stronger dance frame.  Probably he just had an off week, but thats all it takes and off you go!! 

I thought his dance from week 4 was one of his best dances! 

So long Chris I hope you keep up the dancing skills you learned in your few weeks on Dancing With the Stars!!

DWTS This week - week 6!!

Wow!  What a surprise!!  Some of my favorites up till now fell on my list this week and others moved up!!

My top 4 dancers this week are. . . . yes there are some changes from last week.   Hoping that a few of them just got lucky and some just had an off week!!

Romeo takes the top of my list this week!!  He has come along so well!!  I LOVED his performacne this week!!!  Didn't see any of that 'hip hop' swagger, but did see the prospect of a great classic dancer.  His acting abilities were shining through loud and clear!!  What an accomplishment that must be for him --- so young and having had his father do so badly!!!  I guess there is no surprise in that, I have thought that Romeo has been doing a great job in DWTS this season.

My second, surprisingly, will have to go to Kendra this week.  I have so not wanted to like her, but the music and the dance was just so right for her!!  I thought that she did a wonderful job.  I just wish that I could move my hips and boobs like that!!  It probably didn't hurt that she did a table dance for the judges either!!  Here's to seeing if she can maintain this momentum!!

Third on my list -- another surprise that I had wanted not to like was Chelsea!!  Not sure why, but this girl has been rubbing my the wrong way!!  But I must say I did like her performance this week, liked it enough to put it in my top 4!!!  Was yellow a theme this week!????  And her partner dancing with a twisted ankle!!  thought she looked a bit like Gigi from the movies!

Fourth on my list was Kirstie and Maks!!  Loved the Samba rolls!!  I know this picture was from last weeks dancing, but couldn't find anything quick that was posted from this week!!  Plus I just like to look at Maks body!!  I think they would have had a higher score if Maks had ripped off the shirt again!!  LOL!!  But his open shirt almost made up for it!!

Was disappointed in both Ralph's and Chris's performances.  Although Ralph did well in continuing on with the dance after his partner fell!!  Not sure what was going on with Chris though. Maybe a little 'over thinking' the dance and not having enough fun with it!!!

So my prediction for who will be eliminated this week is . . . . . hmmmm!!  Guess we will have to find out who acually is eliminated!  I can't choose anyone to cut!!

Hopland Passport Weekend - Next weekend!!

Hey you all!! I am definately going to this - went online last night to buy my ticket!! All those going with me be sure to get your tickets before this coming thursday or else they are $10.00 more at the door!! Hint, hint, hint to Trish, Alycia and Danielle!!!!

Hopland Passport Weekend - Travel <<< check this out for more information!!

Next book!!!

Finished reading 'Dangerous Liaisons' by Choderlos de Laclos.  Hmmm interesting ending, not what I had anticipated!!  Now to find some time to watch the movies I found on Netflix.com  Maybe tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday!!

I was pleasantly surprised to find how entertaining reading a series of letters could be.  I did find myself picturing  Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil as John Malkovich and Glenn Close after I found out that's who play them in the 1988 movie by the same title.

Now onto the next book!! 

Decided to have a change of pace and started reading 'Dragon Bones' by Lisa See. 

National Public Radio named Dragon Bones as one of the top ten books of the summer for 2003.

Dragon Bones was also on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list.

When ancient myths clash with modern technology, the results can be murder.

In Lisa See’s first novel, Flower Net, she introduced one of her most popular and fascinating characters, Liu Hulan. Flower Net was a national bestseller, a New York Times Notable Book of 1997, a Los Angeles Times bestseller, an Edgar Award nominated novel and Amazon’s #1 thriller of the year.  (Guess this will have to be my next read) 

Now, in her latest novel DRAGON BONES (Random House 2003), Liu Hulan, an agent for China’s Ministry of Public Security, and her American husband, attorney David Stark, return to investigate murder and archaeological theft at the Three Gorges Dam, one of the most beautiful and unique places on earth. And also one of the most controversial. When completed, the Three Gorges Dam will be the most powerful dam ever built and the biggest project China has undertaken since the building of the Great Wall. Yet, the reservoir formed by the dam will inundate over 2,000 archaeological sites and displace over 2 million people.

The story of DRAGON BONES unfurls like an ancient Chinese landscape scroll. When the body of an American archaeologist is found floating in the Yangtze River, Hulan and Stark are sent to Site 518 for two very different reasons: Hulan to investigate the death, David to uncover who is stealing artifacts from the site. As Hulan searches for the murderer, a parallel search begins for a missing artifact that can prove to the world that the Chinese civilization dates back 5,000 years. Everyone -- from the Chinese government, to a religious cult, to an unscrupulous American art collector -- wants this relic and will kill to get it. At stake are who will have control of China and maintained stability between China and the United States.


Combining ancient myth and contemporary fears of religious fanaticism and terrorism, DRAGON BONES is a story of love, betrayal, greed, and murder.

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

Oops!!  Looks like I blew it!!  Guess I should have looked at it a little closer and not just pull it off the shelf!!  This is the 3rd book in a series. . .   and I hate to read things out of order!!   And, believe it or not, I have the other 2 as well!!  Oh well!!!  Guess I'll make an exception this time as I have made good progress into the book already and it is not worth stopping to read the other two and then finish this one.

Another 'Pot Luck' Saturday night at work!!

Well, here it is the weekend and it's my weekend to work --- that's why I couldn't head over to see mom when she flew in Friday night or spend Easter Sunday with them.

Decided to make some good ole' potato salad and deviled eggs for the potluck!!!  Forgot to get a picture before we dug in, but this looks pretty close to what I made!!

Also made some 'deviled eggs'  hmmmmm, hmmmm good!! 

Brenda and Melissa went in together and brought/bought a bucket and all the trimmings of KFC!!

Sally brought a Strawberry Chocolate Cream Pie!!  Agaian forgot to get the picture before we did this cake/pie justice.  Looked like this with chocolate cake instead of white!!

The end of mom's 'Around the World Cruise'

So my mother started an around world cruise this past January.  I must say that I was excited for her, but a little apprehensive too.  It seems that most every time I would go to visit mom she had some minor injury, her foot, her knee, her elbow, hand. . . and when asked what happened she would say 'oh, I fell'. 

You see mom had a stroke quite a few years back while undergoing brain surgery to remove a benign tumor.  She did well once the swelling went down and even was getting around pretty good.  The age factor though seemed to start catching up with her, even though she is more active than most people her age esp with her disabilities, but she has started having more trouble getting around without aids.  Those 'skooters' are great!!


So my biggest fear was that she wouldn't be able to get through this cruise without falling and hurting herself and what then?

I was starting to breathe easier as the time for the end of the cruise started getting closer when I understand my brother got that dreaded call. . . . . Mom had fallen and cracked some ribs, then her lungs started to fill up with fluid.  The cruise lines finally took her to a mainland hospital in Naples where she earned herself a 7 day stay in the hospital!  Guess she had told the cruise lines that she didn't want her family bothered, so we didn't get notified till the day before she was going to be discharged from the hospital.  What a mess that became.  Long story short ---- she just wanted to come ASAP.  Guess she got home last night and us doing OK, just a wee bit tired. 

Just so glad that she is home safe. 

Moral of this story --- Yes!!!  Take that around the world cruise, but take it before you body starts to betray you!!!!

DWTS week #5 eliminations

Not sure if I agree with the elimination of Petra this week, but she was the one that was eliminated this.  She had a hard undertaking in doing dancing with the stars.  She did have a couple disadvantages going into it- her being so tall and having had her pelvis crushed -- I am sure she was in pain most of the time trying to do all the 'hip' movement that is expected in a lot of the dances.

And she did it all with such a smile on her face!!

I think she lasted longer that anyone expected!  She is a beautiful woman!! 

DWTS's Week #5

I must say that they all did wonderful tonight!!

But. . .

My top two favorites this week are. . .

Chris Jericho - I thought that he gave a very good performance, and am nicely surprised at how well he is doing in this competition!!  Strong frame and some good moves.

Tried to find a pictures of them dancing this evening, but I guess it was too soon.  Found plenty from last week though.




Second favorite this week was. . .

Romeo!!  Oh what a performance he gave.  He is coming right along in learning to lose that 'Hip Hop' swagger and pick up some real classy dance moves!!  Almost reminded me of a very young Sammy Davis Jr. 







Coming in close for 3rd and 4th were Hines Ward and Kirstie Alley.  What a surprise --- no mishaps and Maks is so fine!!  He can rip his shirt off for me anytime!!



Nowo all this is just in my humnble opinion you know!!  It is sucha hard choice!!

So who will continue on and who will be eliminated tomorrow night?!!

OMG!! Found another adaptation of "Dangerous Liasons'

I can't believe it!!  I found another movie adaptation of 'Dangerous Liaisons' called 'Valmont' with Colin Firth and Annette Bening in it !!!  filmed in 1989!! And it's on instant view too!!  Whoopee!!  I have two movies I can watch and see how close to the book they are!!  Too bad the 1959 film is unavailable at this time - even via DVD. 

No Sunday Girly get-together today.

Looks like there is no Girly get-together later today as Trish is still on her way home from visiting family!!

Guess that leaves me more time to catch up on reading!!  LOL!

Started reading 'Dangerous Liaisons' by Choderlos de Laclos.  Yep another book on my list of '1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die'.  It is a collections of letters that make up the story.  "For the Marquise and Vicomte de Valmont seduction is a game. . .Depicting decadence and moral corruption in pre-revolutionary France, Dangerous Liaisons (1782) is one of the most scandalous and controversial novels in European literature."

So far it is easy to read.  I was a little worried that reading a collection of letters would be boring, but not so far!!

When looking for a picture for the book I found that a movie had been made of this book back in 1988 with John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfieffer and Uma Thurman, so I did a search on netflix.com and found that I can watch it on instant play!!  Hmmmm I will have to take some time to watch the movie after I finish reading the book!!  won't even have to place it on the top of my list!!

On another thought I might head to Hopland with a friend later in the afternoon, we'll see!!

Books!!

Finished 'Water for Elephants' by Sara Gruen. I really liked it!!  I think I will have to check out the movie when it comes out!!

Didn't have any plans for the weekend so I stayed home, mostly in bed and read.  Started and finished 'Slow Man' by J. M.  Coetzee.   It was a interesting read.  A different perspective I must say.  It was one of the books that I have collected intending to read sooner or later from the list '1001 Books You Must read Before You Die' by Peter Boxall.  When I went to cross it off my list I found out that they have updated the list and a few of the books that I have read already have been deleted, including this one!!!  Wow!!  The only reason I read this book is becasue it was on that list!!  LOL!!  Oh well!! 

After doing a bit of research I found out that there have been three books published, also found a list of all the books included in the three publishings for a total of 1294 books.  I guess with each new publshing they have deleted some books to add more newer books.  Not sure how they decide which books to add and which to delete!!  I think I will stick to full list!(makesmy list not look so bad).   So here is the total list with the ones that I have read marked: updated list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (all included).  May never get to read them all, but will have fun trying!! 

Update on books I am reading!!

Yes!!  I have been reading, just forgetting to blog what I've been reading!!

I finished reading both book 2 and 3 of 'The Book of Swords' by Fred Saberhagen.  Just before I left for a little vacation to see the kids and grandchildren. Very interesting if you like the fantasy sci-fi type.  Kept my interest, although they were each fairly long books!! 

Needed a break from that type of fantasy, and since I was traveling I decided to read a book of short stories about time travel -- 'Veils of Time', which included 4 short stories.  'And the Groom Wore Tulle' by Lynn Kurland, 'The Con and the Crusader' by Maggie Shayne, 'A Bride Most Common' by Angie Ray and 'Conyn's Bride' by Ingrid Weaver.  All very entertaining and mindless, just perfect for long plane rides.






I noticed that 'Water for Elephants' the movie will be coming out in the next few weeks.  I have had that book for a couple of years and hadn't read it.  I just hate to watch a movie that was made from a book before I read the book.  Mostly because the book is so much more than the movie. 

So I sat down and started reading 'Water for Elephants' by Sara Gruen.  Almost finished with it!!  Excellent book!!  I hope the movie can do it justice.  Don't hate me for saying that I am not that great a fan of Robert Pattinson though.

My two favorites from last weeks DWTS's

So I went to ABC.com and watched last weeks performances and elimination round.  I must say they all did a wonderful job, such improvement in such a short time.  I think we tend to forget that they all are amatuers and not professionals, but expect a professional dancers performance from them.  Some people are natural dancers and others just can't dance!!

Can't believe that Kirstie's shoe came off, but what the . . .

From the Dances for last week my two favorites were . . . drum roll please!!

Hines Ward and Chris Jericho with Ralph Machio and Romeo close behind.  But, I feel, that Hines and Chris gave very strong performances last week.  Did you see their strong leading frames?!!  And I just love Hines's smile!!  We'll see what happens this week!!








Saturday Nite Live at SIP!!

Who wants to go with me Saturday night to SIP!!

SIP! Mendocino Saturday Nite Live

Saturday Nite Live will be a monthly program featuring one winegrower or winery. The winemaker or grower will be “live” in person and talk about the wines, vineyards, history, and winemaking philosophy of the brand. A selection of tasty appetizers will be provided to enjoy with the wines.

Cover charge is $20 for non-wine club members and no cover charge for one person per each SIP! Mendocino wine club membership.

Saturday Nite Live April 16th - CORO MENDOCINO

Coro Mendocino is a collaborative effort by Mendocino winemakers to create a class of distinctive wines that showcase the heritage varietal of Mendocino County - Zinfandel. Each Coro Mendocino wine must contain between 40% -70% Zinfandel, and adhere to strict production protocol set by the Consortium Mendocino. The 2007 vintage has 10 different Coro producers: Graziano, McDowell, McFadden, Fetzer, Golden, Dunnewood, Brutocao, Philo Ridge, Parducci and McNab Ridge. Join the fun as the Coro winemakers host this fabulous evening and special chance to taste all 11 Coro Mendocino wines. Delicious food will be served to complement these big bold wines.

DWTS's Elimination week #4

What a disappointment this week's DWTS's turned out to be.  Wasn't able to see the dancing as I had to work both Monday and Tuesday night, but checked on the results tonight and saw that Sugar Ray was eliminated last night.  Hoping to find a site with the videos tomorrow so that I can watch them.

I feel he made an excellent effort, but someone had to go!!  To bad it was him. . .

Definately plan to watch next week -- not scheduled to work either night!! 

Hey!!  TRish you need to get back home so we can all watch it together!! 

4/5 Caching on the way to Colorado Springs - #290

I found out that tuesday was the only day during the week while I was out visiting that my older son, Chris, had off. 

So I drove into Colorado Springs to spend some quality time with him. 

But just had to get out and do a bit of caching along the way.  Candace and I have found most of the caches along Highway 25 so I took a side road that looked like it had a few caches along it and drove the frontage road most of the way there.  Well, at least, to Fountain.

'Old Homestead'

A quick cache and dash, even though I had to run accross the road and back, good thing there was very little traffic.  Signed the log, took a plastic gold coin and left a Travel Bug 'Mrs Micro is Homesick' a travel bug trying to travel to Colorado!!!  What luck!! 

4/4 Geocaching in Colorado - #289

'Tweens



We were heading to get this cache, but when we got to ground zero a gardener was practically working on top of the geocache.  We decided that it would be best to come back a little later.  We other business to attend to nearby later anyway!!

So we found a few other caches then came back.  Sondra jumped out and went around one side of the bushes while I went the other way.  Almost immediately Sondra yelled out 'I found it'!!  Sure enough there it was.  She was so sure that the gardener would find it and  destroy it!!  Not this time around.

We signed the log, took a poker chip and left an angel pin.

Looks like this was going to be it for our day of geocaching.  Had a couple other things to do and then be back to the house in time for Alexis to get home from school.

 

All in all not a bad day - we looked for 8 caches and we found 8 caches  with 3 of them being previous DNF's.  I'm pretty sure that Sondra had a good time too!

4/4 Geocaching in Colorado - #288

'Wildhorse Creek'



Another cache that I have looked for in past visits to Colorado.  This one I looked for back in October with my daughter.  Looked all over that darn bridge to no avail.  Was sure that it was another MIA.  On this visit as I pulled up caches to look for, this one came up again with recent finds.  So it was NOT a MIA cache.   I just needed to look a little harder.

Sondra and I looked all over that bridge, was pretty sure that it was a magnetic cache too! We even walked across the street to the other side, but GPS freaked out and told us we were going away from it.  So back to the original site.  Even had the GPSco-ordinates downto 3 feet. 

I was sure that we had looked in every cuby hole at every post.  I climbed over the railing and started to sit down on the cedment siding for the bridge.  As I sat down Iwas saying to Sondra 'Sometimes these caches are too easy and are right in front of your face"  Looked up and low and behold there it was.  I am sosure that we looked there more than once. 

Signed the log and Sondra fit one of my flower masgnets into the container too.

4/4 Geocaching in Colorado - # 287

Colorado Spirit Quest #202 - Pioneer Cemetery

The Colorado Spirit Quest is a series of Caches placed by many individuals, near cemeteries and historic sites in hopes of paying respect to the many pioneer ancestors that have 'walked' before us.

During previous visits to Colorado I have found a few others in this series!!

This particular cache I have searched for before with my grand daughter on a previous visit with no luck.  I knew it was a small cache container, but so many branches to look through.

Sondra and I were about to give up, in fact, Sondra had wondered over and was looking at some of the nearby headstones,  she probably gets that from her dad as he is the avid geneologist in the family and has been known to visit graveyards during his vacations to find more 'buried family'.

I perservered and out of the blue looked up and there it was.   Probably had my hands on it more than once.

The log was full, so we replaced the log - I posted a note to the cache owner that I would be more than happy to send the old log to them if they wanted - and signed it.  Then hung it back in its place!!

Glad to get this one off my list!!!



4/4 Geocaching in Colorado - #286

'Bullseye'

Premium cache

Premium caches aren't necesarily better than other caches, they are just caches that are available for cachers who pay for a premium membership.  I have found a few of them in the past.  This next cache was one of them.

GPS led us to the parking lot of a Target store.  After parking as close to ground zero as possible we looked around and saw a small 'Target' sign with the distinctive 'Bullseye' logo, and knew that it had to be there.  After checking out the sign and realizing that it couldn't because it was an all wood sign, and the 'hint' clearly stated 'magnetic'. 

We then looked around for something nearby that you could put a magnetic cache in/on.  Walked a little ways into the parking lot to check out the cart return area -- it was all metal, but soon realized that it was taking us away from ground zero.  Turned around and looked again for something metal!!

Aha!!  The curbside drain was edged with metal.  Could that be something near the edge??  Sure enough!! What a clever hide.  The first time I have found one in this kind of place!!!

Signed the log and Sondra was able to fit an angel pin into the container too!!