Who-Who, Who-Who!

Saturday we went down to Justin's to the Orange County Fair and the Roger Daltry (The Who) benefit concert for Teens with Cancer.  I've never been to the OC Fair before but it seemed much bigger then the Ventura County Fair that we took the boys to last summer.  That was my first ever County Fair.  Before the fair, we met Justin and Sarah at Justin's house and went out to dinner at The Triangle.  There are lots of restaurants to choose from and we decided on the Saddle Ranch Chop House.  They have outdoor seating and fire pits where you can make your own s'mores.  Coincidentally, it was National S'mores Day!  The site I just linked to has an ongoing list of what "National (or International) Day" every day is.  For example, today, August 12th, is International Youth Day.

We had never been to the Pacific Amphitheater inside the fairgrounds but thought it was a really great concert venue.  It's outside and like a mini-version of the Hollywood Bowl so even the seats in the last row (unlike the Hollywood Bowl) are decent seats.  We were right about in the middle of the amphitheater.  They also serve beer and wine inside the venue which probably explains the off-key chorus of who-who, who-who's you'll hear in the short video below.

Rattled!

Cooper and Kanan attended the Rattlesnake Aversion Clinic on Friday afternoon and I took a short video to show you what it was like. There were 4 stations. The first was encountering a baby rattlesnake on a dirt path. You probably know that baby rattlesnakes are just as venomous as adults so it's important for dogs to know that something this small can be deadly.  When our dogs finally noticed the baby rattlesnake, they were given a pretty good electrical shock from a collar they were wearing.  Cooper's reaction was much more dramatic than Kanan's which you will see in the video.  The second station was the scent of a rattlesnake and the third was the sound of the rattle.  These are good for them to know so they don't accidentally encounter one in tall grass or areas where they might be hidden.  Finally, they encounter a good-sized rattlesnake about 3 feet long.  By the time, they got to the last station, they had already learned to steer clear and wouldn't go anywhere near that big snake.  When they walked Kanan back to where we were standing, he was so cautious it looked like he was walking through a mine field!  Here's Cooper's encounter with the baby rattlesnake on the path.

Cooper Rattled from Darylynn Mills on Vimeo.

I know it might be upsetting to see Cooper yelp like that (it was for us) but it's far better than having him die from a rattlesnake bite.  They suggest coming back yearly for a couple of years to reinforce the training but I think we may see if their fear seems to still be in effect on our own since we do encounter snakes on trails every now and then.

Last night was The Game of Thrones Season 3 premier.  As you may remember, Justin and Sarah visited Dubrovnik where the King's Landing scenes are filmed.  We had to buy a special limited edition beer that was made for Game of Thrones.  Here's a photo.

There will be three more limited editions of Game of Thrones beers released throughout the year.  I want to collect all four and save the bottles for our bar.  We found ours at Whole Foods (it's 750 ml and has a nice cork and wire top like champagne bottles) but Justin could only find one bottle in all of Orange County.  He said we should buy it up and sell on ebay as they will be collector items.

Happy April Fool'sDay!  Be on your toes today and don't get fooled!

Rainy Day Daze

Writing this as the rain is coming down on Tuesday afternoon but won't post until midnight so it shows up on Wednesday.  I was happy to have a visit from Jacob because he cheered me up after some not so great news.  I saw the Physician Assistant (of my orthopedic doctor) Tuesday morning and he took xrays of my back and I have various things going on that could be causing my sciatica pain.  I will go in Friday for an MRI and then see the doctor next Thursday.  I may need a cat scan as well.  Bottom line, it doesn't look like a simple fix to make this pain go away.  It's really not very painful- more of a dull ache- but I worry that it could get worse.  I've had it 24/7 since the beginning of January and finally had to admit that it wasn't going away on it's own.  I still do my exercise DVD 2 or 3 times a week so it's not bad enough to make me want to stop doing the things I normally do.  I am not used to having any health problems or physical limitations so it's frustrating for me.  Jacob will be back today and we'll go to storytime at the library.  I think our rain will be gone by then.

 Chris posted this on Facebook and I thought it was funny.  I don't know about in the UK but Downton Abbey is shown on PBS (Public Broadcasting System) in the US.  They depend a lot on pledges from viewers for support so that's the story behind this cartoon.  Not mentioning what characters they are referring to because I know some of my friends are just watching Season 1 and/or Season 2.  Our Season 3 just ended Sunday night.

    

Survivor!

I have watched every episode of Survivor since it first premiered in 1997!  For me, it's "must see TV!"  It makes Wednesdays a day I look forward to all week!  This season, the 26th, Survivor is fans vs favorites where ultimate fans take on favorites from past seasons.  Although I'm a fan, I could never be on Survivor.  Could you?  I could not stand being outdoors in those rainy, cold, bug-biting elements for 40 days!  No way!  Not even for a million dollars.  I would do okay with the lack of food but not having nice bathroom facilities would be a game-ender for me!  But I do enjoy watching the social dynamics of the show.  I'm a people-watcher so I find it interesting.  This season takes place in Caramoan which is an island area of the Philippines.  I'm looking forward to everything but Phillip in his pink underwear!

I'm writing this as I watch TV Tuesday night looking at the cabin burning that has the murder suspect, a former LAPD policeman, inside that you've probably heard about on the news.  He has really terrorized the Southern California area.  The area where he was apparently hiding out was in a cabin near a ski area- Bear Mountain- that we've been to many times.  I hope this brings this all to an end.  I wasn't even sure if we'd get to see the State of the Union address but they are beginning it after mentioning that they will break in with any news what's going on here in SoCal.

Caught up with Downton Abbey last night since we missed it Sunday night because of the Grammys.  It was a 2 hour episode that we enjoyed quite a lot but was so surprised when they said next week was the season finale!  What?!?  It just began!  What kind of season is that?  Not happy!    

Sno Pants

Didn't mean to disappear on you.  I've been having some computer issues.  I'm know it's my graphics card by the error message I've been getting.  I tried updating my graphics card driver but that didn't seem to help. I updated everything else I could think of.  One suggestion I read was that it could be caused by your computer overheating so I had Jeff vacuum out the inside of my computer, make sure everything was seated well and I'm starting to turn off my computer instead of leaving it on 24/7.  We'll see if it helps but so far (knock wood) the problem hasn't returned.

It's been so cold here in LA, actually freezing over night.  I've been gathering together everything that the boys need for our trip to the snow.  They have jackets, glove and mittens, hats and snow boots but they were missing one thing.  Excuse the blurry photo from Jessica's cellphone but can you guess what they're missing?

  Yep, sno-pants!

I found some nice snow overalls at Target.com for only @ $14.00.  Perfect.  Don't want to spend too much on things they'll outgrow by the next time we go to the snow.

Writing this before Sunday night's Golden Globes award show.  I enjoy this show because it's for both TV and movies and it's more fun than the Oscars.  Everyone sits at round tables eating and drinking so it gets quite loose.  This year's hosts are Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.  They have suggested a drinking game which could also be used at the Academy Awards.  You could make up your own version but here's theirs.

Tina Fey's and Amy Poehler's Golden Globes Drinking game:

• Drink any time an actress cries during her speech
• Drink any time you see a person actively not listening to someone onstage
• Drink any time someone says, “I didn’t prepare anything!”
• Eat a meatball sub any time someone thanks Harvey Weinstein
• Take off an article of clothing anytime they show Judi Dench
• Take off an article of clothing [for] anything Maggie Smith wins

Going Downton

Jeff and I have been on a marathon of Downton Abbey.  We've heard so much about it but didn't have room for it in our busy TV schedules but thanks to the "winter break" absence of our favorite shows and our new Amazon Prime Instant Videos, we were able to watch the whole first season over the past few days.  We are really enjoying it and the 3rd season began last night on PBS so we are recording that and will finish up Season 2 on Amazon Prime.  The best part is, it's all free.  I have missed a good soap opera type show since the cancellation of All My Children so this kind of fits the bill.  So who else watches it?  Amazon Prime is working out to be a really good deal for us.  In addition to all the free shipping we got over the holidays, we were able to cancel Jeff's $9.95 per month X-Box Live subscription which we were really only using to watch movies.  We don't need Netflix either so between Amazon Prime and Redbox, we have access to all the TV and movies we need.   We can also watch everything from Amazon on my iPad and Jeff's Kindle.  Pretty cool!

The Happiest Place

We had a fun time, as always, at Disneyland.  The boys are still so young that they are afraid of most of the rides... they don't like anything in the dark or roller coaster type rides so that eliminated so many things.  We had to make do with things like Autopia (where you drive little cars,) Dumbo, the Mark Twain Steamship and the Merry-Go-Round.  Here's a photo of Jacob loving the Merry-Go-Round.

Jacob was also afraid of all the Disney characters.  His favorite is Jessie from Toy Story so I was so happy to find her in the park but Jacob wouldn't go near her.  Jeff had to roll the boys up in their stroller to get a photo.

You can see how thrilled Jacob is to be that close to the animated character come to life.  Here's a photo of Ryan with Mickey.  Also not that thrilled but he did love the Buzz Lightyear souvenir toy that he's holding.  You squeeze the legs and it lights up in many colors and spins

They did have fun at the little petting zoo.

We stayed for the holiday parade which the boys really loved.  It was nice being at Disneyland all decorated for Christmas.  It's really beautiful.  After the parade, we went to Downtown Disney to have dinner.  We thought the boys would love The Rainforest Cafe so that's where we went.  Here's a photo of the boys waiting for our table.

I guess I should add a new category called "the squeaky wheel gets greased" because they tried to seat us in a boring part of the restaurant and I protested.  It was right near the stairway and elevators and away from all the exciting animated animals.  They moved us to a new table right below a huge aquarium and by the animated elephants.  It was probably one of the best seats in the house.  I wanted Ryan and Jacob to have a great experience for their first time at The Rainforest Cafe.  As we left the restaurant, the fireworks were going off at Disneyland so we were able to see them, too!  Ryan said he had a great day and he wuved Disneyland!  All these photos were just ones I quickly took on my iPhone and I haven't looked at the photos on Jeff's camera yet so maybe he'll have better ones that I can add later.

Arts & Craps

Jeff and I went to an Arts & Crafts Festival over the weekend. He's not really very interested in them (hence the title arts & craps) but tags along because he knows I return the favor by going to car shows and motorcycle races that I have little interest in.  Just as we were about to leave for the festival, Pat and Jessica drove up with the boys.  Ryan was insisting he wanted to go to Nani's house.  So we took Ryan and Jacob along with us so Jessica and Pat could do a little shopping without the boys.  Jane Seymour is a local resident and she was there displaying her artwork.  My friend, Wynne, is the biggest Jane Seymour/ Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman fan so I grabbed my cellphone to take a quick photo.  The set of Dr. Quinn is just a few minutes away from where we live as is the set of MASH.  I once went and took many photos of the Dr. Quinn set for Wynne and she made a webpage for them.  Anyway, here's the photo of Jane Seymour.

  

She is still very beautiful and managed to look cool despite 100 degree temperatures.  It was so hot that we left after an hour or so and took the boys to Golden Spoon.  It's a frozen yogurt shop where you can pick one or several flavors and also choose toppings.  I had vanilla yogurt with fresh strawberries and Ryan had gummi bears for a topping and Jacob had dinosaur sprinkles.  Jeff chose a toffee topping.  It hit the spot on a hot day and the boys enjoyed the afternoon with Nani and Grandpa.  

Our new iPhones are scheduled to be delivered today!  I'm just as excited about that as Ryan was when I bought The Avengers for him yesterday!  I sent him home with the DVD, while I kept the BluRay and put the digital copy on my iPad.  

Writing this before the results show of Dancing with the Stars but it HAS to be Pamela Anderson!  I'm rooting for Giles and Peta!  Anyone have a favorite?

Gold Medal

Gold medal to Great Britain for a fantastic Olympics!  The settings were just beautiful!  I loved how the runners and bikers in the longer races passed by all the beautiful, historic landmarks and it was nice ending the marathons in the streets rather than the stadium.  Of course it was an amazing Olympics for the United States and especially for the US women.  I heard that if you counted the US women medal count alone, they would've been the 3rd highest country!  Go women!  (Thanks Title IX!)  There are always so many inspirational stories so even if you aren't interested in sports, it's hard not to get caught up in all the emotion.  Have you seen the "McKayla is not impressed Tumblr meme?"  So funny!  I love how things like that just take off.  My favorites were the Sistene Chapel and the Moon Landing

Not Impressed!

She was a good sport about it tweeting her own McKayla is not impressed photos.  Making fun of yourself is always a good way to defuse things.

A Fair to Remember

We had a fun time at the Ventura County Fair.  The boys were mostly interested in the kiddie rides so we bought $20.00 worth of tickets.  They picked pretty tame rides for the most part like this little animal train.

Ryan has issues with loud noises so he was plugging his ears so Jacob had to follow suit.  They thought the big ferris wheel was too scary so they went on a little helicopter and some swings that went around in circles.  We headed for lunch and tried to find food that wasn't too gross...like chocolate-covered bacon- or too expensive... like a $9.00 hot dog.  We found a hot dog on a stick for Ryan but he didn't want the corn breading part so had to peel that off.  Jeff struck gold by finding a big cup of French fries for only a dollar.  I brought Capri-suns, bananas and pita chips so they filled in with that.  Jeff had never tried a frozen banana- chocolate covered and dipped in nuts- so I made him try that so he can scratch that off his bucket list.  He loved it!  Then we went on to all the agricultural displays and livestock areas.  The boys got to see goats, sheep, cows, bulls and lots and lots of pigs,

What they really wanted was more rides so we took them back to the kiddie ride area to use up the last of their tickets.  They wanted to go on these race cars so I made them watch it first because it really picked up speed at each turn.  They insisted they wanted to go on it so here's the result.

Are we having fun yet?

While we were at the fair, Cooper was at Camp Bow Wow.  He came home with a big folder detailing his day complete with a report card with his picture on it.  It says he had a great time playing with Fargo, Gibbs, Mookie and Sutter. His overall camp experience was 5 tail wags and the personal note said:  Cooper is so adorable!  He was such a joy to have at camp today.  We all can't wait to see Cooper again.

While Cooper was at Camp Bow Wow, Kanan was at The Barkley.  When I picked him up, the trainer came out to ask me who had trained Kanan.  She raved about how calm and well-behaved he was.  Told her we really can't take any credit as that's just the way he is.  They sent us an email while he was there :  Hi Dad!  I am having a great first day at camp! So much to do! Guess what! I got caught by the pawparazzi! Check it out! Hugs & Woofs, Kanan.  Here's the photo from the email

Here's a photo of the outside of The Barkley

Only in LA!

  

      

Dueling Doggy Day Care

We are taking Ryan and Jacob to the Ventura County Fair today.  People are surprised to hear that I've never been to a County Fair.  I know they are huge in other parts of the US but not so much in Southern California.  We do have the OC Fair (Orange County) and the LA County Fair but I've never been to either of them.  They run a series of commercials for the LA County Fair that makes fun of ditzy California girls that are clueless about farm animals and such.  Since we are having a triple digit heat wave, it'll be nice to go to the Ventura County Fair which is right on the ocean.  We are taking advantage of the "free evaluations" for doggy day care so the dogs will have a place to be while we are gone for the day.  Cooper will go to Camp Bow Wow since he's never been there before and we need him evaluated before we board the dogs later this month.  Since Kanan has already stayed at Camp Bow Wow, he will be styling today at The Barkley.

Got a clean bill of health on my colonoscopy.  I was not awake at all during the procedure so it must be a heavy dose of Demerol they give you... more than what they give for pain relief.    

Salsa!

We had a nice weekend.  We really enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics.  My favorite parts were David Beckham bringing the torch in a speedboat up the Thames, the Queen and James Bond (Daniel Craig) parachuting into the stadium and the cool way the torch was lit.  The fireworks were spectacular, too.  Well done London!  On Sunday, Jeff and I went down to Chris and Liz's and we all went to the Oxnard Salsa Festival.  Besides a lot of arts and crafts type booths, they have a big tent with many local restaurants offering their salsas.  You pay $5.00 and they give you a bag of chips and a bunch of tickets to sample the salsas.  There was also guacamole and interesting things like strawberry salsa.  There was music and dancing, too.  Speaking of dancing, did you hear about the new cast for the All-Star version of Dancing with the Stars?  The contestants are:   Kirstie Alley, Pamela Anderson, Helio Castroneves, Joey Fatone, Shawn Johnson, Drew Lachey, Gilles Marini, Kelly Monaco, Apolo Anton Ohno, Bristol Palin, Melissa Rycroft and Emmitt Smith.  One more contestant will be voted by the viewers.  You choose between Carson Kressley, Sabrina Bryan and Kyle Massey.  I'm happiest about Gille Marini!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day- the unofficial kick off to summer!  And we are spending it the way I like to:  a day at Fiesta Hermosa.  Hermosa Beach is a beach I used to go to a lot when I was growing up on the westside.  We've had some unseasonably cool weather but Monday is back up into the mid-80's here and should be nice- in the 70's- at the beach.

Remember our Desperate Housewives homework assignment where we wrote about household tips?  I have a really unique method for cleaning soap scum off of glass shower doors.  Granted, our doors are never that soap scummy because we always use a squeegee (California Water Blade) on our shower glass after every shower.  Jeff and I have a routine where we ask if the other person is going to shower next so the last to shower can do the squeegee.  Anyway, I googled "how to get soap scum off glass shower doors" and came up with lots of suggestions.  Many used commercial products, some used homemade methods like vinegar or baking soda but the tip I liked the sound of best was to use dryer sheets!  I liked the idea because it didn't use harsh chemicals and I figured it was a cheap and safe method to try.  Guess what?  It worked!  All I did was take a dryer sheet, get it a little wet and rub the areas that had soap scum.  I used a total of six sheets for the three glass panels of our shower.  After I rubbed with the dryer sheets, I rinsed with water and then squeegeed.  I dried with one of those yellow cloths guys use when they wash their cars.  Jeff was really impressed and he applied a coat of Rain-X which repels water and helps make water droplets bead up so they are easy to wipe away.  Another suggestion I didn't try was to use my favorite standby- the Magic Eraser!  As you know, I'm a huge fan of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.  It's great for getting marks and dirty fingerprints off walls and doors.  A preventative suggestion that I read about several times was to not use bar soap, especially Dial which leaves a lot of soap scum.  If you must use bar soap, instead of a liquid, then use Dove.  Our shower is probably 4 or 5 years old now and looks like new!  I just took this photo.  Next up is the downstairs shower which has a total frameless glass door.

Ohhh Yeah!

Out of the blue, Jacob has started to say, "Ohhh Yeah!"  You know... like in that song from Ferris Bueller's Day Off?  Cracked me up when he said it so now, of course, he's saying it over and over.  He even improvised when I asked him if he wanted to eat something he didn't want and he said, "Ohhh, No!"  He is just about the sweetest thing ever.  So good!  He always cheerfully goes down for a nap and when he wakes up, he doesn't make a sound.  Just happily plays in his playpen until I come get him and then he's always ready with a big smile.  "Did you have a good nap?"  "Ohhh Yeah!"

 

No Comment

I've had several people tell me that they cannot leave a comment on my blog.  Kia had to resort to sending me a message through my WordPress blog.  I'm not sure what to do about it.  Is there anyway to add a tagboard?  I could try changing the format of the comments- for example- so there's a pop-up box rather than the comment area appearing below my post but not sure if that will help.  And Sadie answered my question about where my photos are going when I upload them here... to Picasa Web Album.  I didn't know I had one... guess I do now.  How do I find that?

Anyone watching American Idol?  It will be interesting to see who the final 13 will be.  They are taking the top 5 girl and top 5 guy vote getters and then each of the 3 judges will have a save.  The quality of the singers sure has improved.  There's no more Sanjaya's!  We also have Survivor on Wednesday night so we watch that at 8 PM while we record Idol.  Then we can buzz through the commercials and see Idol before we go to bed.

Dancing with the Pros

It's gotten to the point on Dancing with the Stars that I look more forward to the returning pros than the "stars." I usually hang in with shows till the bitter end but even I am doubting this season.  Here's the cast and their partners:

1.  Jack Wagner, soap actor from “General Hospital” and “Melrose Place” with Anna Trebunskaya

2.  Melissa Gilbert, played Laura Ingalls on “Little House on the  Prairie” with Maksim Chmerkovskiy

3.  Donald Driver, receiver for the Green Bay Packers with Peta Murgatroyd

4.  William Levy, telenova star apparently known as the “Brad Pitt of  Mexico” with Cheryl Burke

5.  Sherri Shepherd, co-host of “The View” with Val Chmerkovskiy, Maks' brother

6.  Katherine Jenkins, opera star with Mark Ballas

7.  Gavin DeGraw, pop singer known for penning the “One Tree Hill” theme song with Karina Smirnoff

8.  Martina Navratilova, tennis pro with Tony Dovolani

9.  Roshon Fegan, star of Disney Channel’s “Shake It Up” and hip hop producer with Chelsie Hightower

10.  Maria Menounos, co-host of “Extra” with Derek Hough

11.  Jaleel White, best known Steve Urkel in “Family Matters” with Kym Johnson

12.  Gladys Knight, singer or “empress of soul” with Tristan MacManus

Jeff's happy to see the return of Peta and Chelsie so maybe that will hold his interest for a few weeks.  I'm happy to have Mark and Derek back since I enjoy their choreography and Maks... for Maks.

After I posted the photo of Hunter yesterday, Dru thought he looked almost as big as her Billy Elliot.  I weighed Hunter and he's 18.4 lbs so I think quite a bit less than Billy Elliot.  He's very fluffy so looks bigger than he is but he still is overweight.  Kalani only weighs 6 pounds so Hunter is 3 times as big!  Hayley is in the middle at 12 1/2 lbs.

Happy Leap Year!

Daily Dog Park Outings

Since I wanted to get my post done Sunday afternoon before I plopped in front of the TV for the red carpet arrivals and Academy Awards show, I thought I'd post a video of Cooper and Kanan at the dog park.  I took this Sunday morning.  Although the weather forecast was for a cloudy day, it was clear, sunny and beautiful.  There's a lot of butt-sniffing going on in this video which Cooper is not a fan of!

Here's a link to the Red Carpet Arrivals.  The first photo shows Brad and Angelina and the exact pose she struck on stage.  I'll bet she is going to get a lot of flack for that!   

Tomorrow morning on Good Morning America, they are announcing the new cast of Dancing with the Stars.  A few rumors are Melissa Gilbert of Little House on the Prairie fame, actor and former Melrose Place star Jack Wagner and comedienne and The View co-host Sherri Shepherd.  Another rumor is Maria Menounos who co-host Extra with former DWTS contestant Mario Lopez.   Three others have been mentioned but are less certain:  Singer Gavin DeGraw, Pee-Wee Herman and Suzanne Somers.

Oscar, Oscar

We who live in the LA area are way more obsessed with the Academy Awards than the rest of the US.  Well, some of us anyway.  I know I never miss them and get all ready to watch the early red carpet arrivals on Sunday afternoon.  I'm looking forward to the return of Billy Crystal as host.  His opening bits where he's inserted into the nominated movies is usually hilarious.  Jeff and I have done a good job of seeing most of the nominated movies and performances.  I'm pulling for The Artist as Best Picture and it's a toss up for me for Best Actor. I'd be happy with either George Clooney or Jean Dujardin.  I'm pretty sure Viola Davis from The Help will win as well as Octavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress from the same movie.  Tonight we have The Beginners to watch starring Christopher Plummer who is the front-runner for Best Supporting Actor.  Next week we can dish on the gowns.  It's not as fun as it used to be before the actresses all had stylists.  We don't have the swan dresses to look forward to anymore.  Have a great weekend!