Christmas Memories

Do you remember this photo of Jacob and "Mini-Cooper?"  Cooper was 3 months old and Jacob was 1.

And now Cooper is 3 years old and Jacob is 4.  Seems like just last year when Jeff and I were picking up that cute little puppy at the Burbank Airport.  Now Jacob is not as fond of the dogs as he's had a few times where they have bowled him over but he is in love with our cat, Kalani.  He calls Kalani, "My Kalani-Kitty."  It's hard to capture a kid and a kitty but this shows their bond even if it is a little blurry!

We are freezing cold here in SoCal.  On Sunday, Jeff and I went with Chris and Liz to a local theater production of Spamalot.  We are all big Monty Python fans and loved the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail on which this play is based.  The play got a good write-up in our local newspaper and since the tickets were only $20.00 each, I thought we should take a chance on it.  Everyone agreed it was $20.00 well-spent.  I was surprised at the quality of the actors and it was full of fun and good laughs.  Makes you wonder how many talented performers there are in little theaters everywhere that could be big stars if only they got the right break.  Next year around the holidays, they are doing "Shrek, the Musical" and I may just take the boys if I think they are ready to sit for a couple of hours.       

One Man's Treasure...

...is another man's trash!  I know I reversed that saying but that's how I felt after spending the day at the famous Rose Bowl Flea Market.

As the sign says, this flea market is held on the second Sunday of every month.  Some people never miss a month and many come from all over California to attend.  It's really huge and would take all day long to walk around and see everything.  I hadn't been in probably 5 or more years and I think it's been 30 years since Jeff came along.  He was a good sport and didn't complain but I think we both felt it was not our cup of tea.  One of the notable changes since I was there a few years back was they have completely cracked down on all the counterfeit handbags!  Aw!  You used to be able to pick up a Louis Vuitton bag for 20 bucks!  I know some people are opposed to fake handbags but me... not so much.  I think it's totally ridiculous the prices they charge for handbags... often in the thousands and even tens of thousands.  HERE's a site listing the 10 Most Expensive Handbags in the world.  

The other interesting thing is that with all the smart phones, you can easily check if you're getting a good deal on something.  I came across a booth selling Melissa & Doug Toys and I was able to quickly check and see that I could get the same thing through Amazon.com for the same price or less.  I guess you can use that as a bargaining tool but I'm not that much into haggling over prices even though it is expected there.

They have a huge section of "vintage clothing" but it made me wonder if those sellers don't scout out all the Goodwill Stores and other thrift shops and then bring that junk to this event.  I am not much on thrift shops either... they always make me feel itchy!  Maybe there's something to that name... "Flea Market!"  

Boys are both here today for Veteran's Day so Jeff and I are hoping to take them on a hike or something to enjoy our beautiful 85 degree weather!  Happy Veteran's Day! 

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.

Handy Dandy

We've been busy with the boys this summer, especially now that Ryan is out of school.  Between that and my lack of activity due to my back surgery, I've really nothing to post about.  As you know, Jacob is going to summer camp at the recreation center right down the hill from us.  He goes MWF 9 to noon.  Right next door (they share a parking lot) is a church that we can see from our windows.  This week, they have had a Bible Camp for kids 5 and up so we signed Ryan up for that.  It is from 9 to noon also but M-F.  The best part is that it is free!  They only ask for a $5.00 donation and for us to buy a blue t-shirt ($2.00 at Michael's) and iron on a camp decal.  They are having lots of fun activities and also doing nice things like making shoeboxes full of goodies to give to underprivleged kids.  Ryan tells us, "I love camp!"  So that's great!  It's very convenient how close it is and Jeff walks them down "the dangerous shortcut" each morning and back up at noon.  I have lunch ready for them and then I do summer homework with Ryan.  Jacob is rebelling against naps (he's almost 4) so he is having "quiet time" like Ryan has after he finishes his homework.  Ryan is in the upstairs bedroom with my iPad and Jacob is in a downstairs bedroom with Jeff's Kindle Fire.  They spend a good 2 hours doing that and then when they get up they either want to go in the spa or watch "The Avengers" for the umpteenth time.  Here's a photo taken from my house of Ryan's church camp down the hill from us.

     

I had my recheck with my doctor on Monday and all is going well.  I was pleasantly surprised that he took my back brace and pulled out the hard backboard part and the bulky side supports.  I wasn't even aware that it could do that so now I have a much lighter weight and comfortable brace to wear.  He wants me to keep wearing it until my next appointment, September 5th.  Well. there went my whole summer!  After that appointment, I will probably start physical therapy just to strengthen my back and all around get back into shape!  Looking forward to that.  Don't worry about me if I don't post... I think my blogging days are soon coming to an end.  Maybe as the fall and winter holidays approach, I'll feel more like I have something to write about.

Piece of Cake

So far, this whole microdiscectomy surgery has been a piece of cake!  Far less than I had imagined.  Makes me mad that I wasted so much time (6 months) waiting for it to get better on it's own.  I haven't even needed to take any of the pain medication the doctor prescribed.  Even though I scoffed at the idea of wrapping my mid-section in saran wrap for my shower Sunday morning, I couldn't really think of a better way to keep the area dry especially since I wanted to wash my hair.  I don't know how they do it on Survivor but just waiting 2 days for a shower was about all I could take!  After my shower, Jeff was able to change the bandage on my back.  The incision is pretty small and vertical- probably 1 1/2 inches long.  It's down low on my back so if I was younger, a well-placed tramp stamp (tattoo) would cover it nicely.  Really need to go shopping and see if I can find a cute flowy sundress or loose tops to wear over my new best friend (back brace.)

Look what arrived over the weekend all the way from Jules in New York!  Isn't this a lovely, cheery bouquet?!  I have it on my console table in the living room and it smells so great every time I walk by. Thanks Jules, Michael and Shawn!

  

My New Best Friend?

Quick update:  Things went fine!  The surgery began around 7 AM and I was able to go home a little after 10 AM.  It's almost 2 PM as I write this and so far, I don't feel any pain.  When I was changing back into my street clothes, I noticed I have little marker dots on my inner calves and inner thighs on both legs... makes you wonder what goes on while you are under!  My doctor also signed his name on my back.  Can't wash off this body graffiti until Sunday when I can shower...but only getting my front wet.  If I want a complete shower they suggested wrapping my mid-section in Saran Wrap!  Don't think I'll be going that route!  Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes!  

When I had my pre-op appointment on Monday, the nurse said, "Let me introduce you to your new best friend."  It's the back brace that I have to wear for 6 weeks after my microdiscectomy Friday morning.  I have to be at the surgi-center at 5:30 AM and the surgery is scheduled for 6:30 AM.  My doctor said, "6:30 AM!?  I better have lots of coffee!"  I'm not counting on it starting on time because I've never waited less than an hour for an appointment with him and it's usually more like 2 hours.  It's supposed to take an hour to 90 minutes at the most.  Jeff will wait until it's over in the waiting room so the doctor can come in and tell him how things went.  Then I told him to go home and wait until they call and tell him I can go home.  I'm hoping that's around noon.

So back to the back brace... The doctor said that people are most likely to re-injure their back 2 to 4 weeks after the surgery because that's when you start feeling back to normal but you really aren't healed yet.  After 4 weeks, scar tissue builds up which makes it less likely for the disc to herniate again.  So for those 4 to 6 weeks, I am going to try to follow the instructions of "no BLT"- bending, lifting or twisting- by wearing the back brace like I'm supposed to.  Thankfully, I don't have to wear it at night.  When the nurse fitted me for the back brace, she came with a medium but it was too big so at least I was happy I wore a small.  Once you put it on, it has a little pulley cord to tighten it.  Reminded me of Mammy pulling on the laces of Scarlet O'Hara's corset.  Here's a photo of me modeling my new best friend.

Isn't this going to be fun to wear through all of the summer?  Like I'm going to want to walk around in public wearing this!  Maybe I can buy some big muu muu type dresses to wear over it.  I'll try and post an update Friday afternoon or maybe have Jeff do it for me if I'm too doped up.  I have two different pain medications the doctor prescribed since when he asked me my preferred pain medicine, I didn't have a clue since I've never really needed any before.

Grandpa's Lil Helper

As I mentioned in a previous post, there was cactus blocking our shortcut down the hill to Jacob's summer camp so he brought all his gear to help grandpa cut back the prickly points of the cactus.  Here he is telling you all about it.

Here's Jacob walking with Grandpa down to the cactus.

Jessica said this was her favorite all time photo with Jacob and Grandpa holding hands

And here they are in action.  You can see why this needed to go!

Sorry I've been MIA!  I really need to stay off the computer because sitting makes things worse.  I went to my doctor yesterday to take care of the pre-op bloodwork and chest xray.  Have a great 1st day of summer (whoo-hoo!) and wonderful weekend!

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Our dogs have it good!  One of the main reasons we decided to buy a Prius over other hybrid cars is that we realized that with the back seat down combined with the hatchback space, there would be plenty of room to take the dogs with us on short trips or even long vacations.  The only problem was that once we bought the car and came to love it, we worried about the dogs messing up the interior.  We bought a nice WeatherTech Cargo Mat but that only covered the hatchback area and it also didn't protect the sides of the interior which seemed like it could easily get dirty and scratched up.  So Jeff went to Home Depot and bought a large roll of a nice gray outdoor carpeting.  He cut it to fit the whole area with the seats down and it also goes up the sides and is held in place with existing anchors that the car has and some cut pieces of PVC.  It goes in and out easily so we will only put it down when the dogs are passengers.  We took them on a test drive and they settled in right away.  They like that they can be real close to us in the front seat.  Here's a blurry photo I took on their first ride along.

You can see what I mean about the carpeting going up the sides in this photo.  Maybe Jeff should take his invention on Shark Tank!

Jacob's first day of camp went well.  Ryan and I walked down the hill to pick him up at noon and we saw him before he saw us.  He looked a little forlorn but brightened up when he saw us.  The teachers and young camp counselors said he was a little shy but he didn't cry or anything.  As we walked up the the hill, the girls shouted good-bye to Jacob and said, "He is SO adorable!"  That he is!

School's Out for Summer!

I still love the last day of school.  I didn't dislike school as a child but I sure did look forward to summer vacation...which in those days, seemed endless!  Now it seems it's over in a blink of an eye.  I went to Ryan's school on Thursday for his last day celebrations because Jessica and Pat were both working.  They had lots of activities, games and a big pizza party.  There was a lady doing face painting and Ryan asked for Spiderman but she said that was beyond her talent so he and Jacob settled for batman masks.  Jacob loves red so his had to be red.

Weekend Plans:  on Saturday evening, we have a retirement party for a fire chief friend.  We've known Jim and Vanna since Jeff first got on the LAFD around 35 years ago!  It is being held at the beautiful Getty Museum overlooking all of Los Angeles.  Should be fun.  Also on Saturday is the annual "Touch a Truck" event in Thousand Oaks.  The boys wait all year long for this.  And then Sunday is Father's Day!  Wishing all of your dads and husbands a Happy Father's Day!

It's a Go!

Two things actually are a go:  first, I got my surgery date.  It will be at the crack of dawn on Friday, July 12th.  Geesh!  That was the first available?!?  I'll probably be healed by then!  I asked if I could have a day other than Friday because the doctor isn't available over the weekend and if you have problems they just tell you to to to an ER.  They told me he always does his "minor surgeries" on Friday.  Well, I've never had a surgery so it's not minor to me but whatever...

The second thing that's a go is Jacob's little Tiny Tots Camp!  The last time I signed him up for something it was cancelled due to low enrollment but I called and they told me this was definitely a go!  I'm really happy for him because he needs the socialization.  He is the sweetest little thing but is very shy and just needs to have some experience with groups of children.  This is for 3 to 5 year olds and he will be 4 in September so should be just right for him.  It's right down the hill from my house- a stone's throw really- and it goes from 9 to noon, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  It starts next week.  He is very excited!

So glad Annie is back and I'm beyond thrilled for her that her surgery was a success and she continues to improve with her mobility!  Yay!

Boys Will Be Boys

Bet you thought this post was going to be about Ryan and Jacob.  Nope, no matter their age, boys like fast cars and dirty things.  Jeff, Justin and Chris went racing on Sunday at the track at Ventura Fairgrounds and Liz and I cheered them on from the stands.  We didn't realize the track was going to be dirt and the stands were covered in a layer of dirt and dirt chunks.  Went really well with my pristine white blouse I was wearing.  Here's a photo of the guys suited up in their racing gear.

The track is at the beach, hence the palm trees in the background.  I took a video of each of the guys racing around the track but they decided it looked way too slow to show anyone.  While speeding around the track, each of them thought they were surely breaking track records for speed.  I guess the sensation of actually being in the car seems a lot faster than it appears from the spectator point of view.  Here's a shot of Chris in the red car going around the track.

They all agreed it was a fun time and we capped it off with a trip to an Irish pub- Dargan's Pub- on Main Street in Ventura for lunch and a few brews and an exchange of war stories about their racing adventure.  Liz and I insisted on a nice lunch to reward us for sitting in those dirty bleachers!

Ergonomic!

Jeff suggested that my desk chair may not be as ergonomic as it could be and that perhaps a better chair would make sitting at the computer more comfortable.  So I googled ergonomic office chairs and teased Jeff that I found the perfect chair for me!  What do ya think?

How hilarious would this be?!

Actually I did get a new chair at Staples that was on sale for only $99.00.  I figured it can't hurt and it has a way more padded seat than my current leather chair.  They also sell these really nice cushions at Costco and at Bed, Bath & Beyond so I may get one of those, too.

The boys are enjoying the spa and they love their "swimming uniforms!"  That's what Ryan calls them.  Here they are in the spa together.

  

Weekend Plans:  Justin and Sarah are coming this weekend.  Jeff, Justin and Chris are going to go race cars.  They bought a Groupon for this a while ago so they finally found a time to schedule it.  It's the Cory Kruseman Sprint Car and Midget Driving School in Ventura.  I guess they get lessons first and then they take 15 laps around the course.  Not sure if the girls will be cheering them on or just shopping and lunching in Ventura.  Have a great weekend!

Back

Yes, I'm back but just to write about my back.  I'm going to have microdiscectomy surgery for my herniated disc.  It'll probably be at least a couple of weeks before I have it because they have to get pre-approval from my insurance company and I also have to have medical clearance from my regular doctor.  The surgery will be done at an outpatient surgi-center... the same place where I had the epidural cortisone shot.  It takes about 60-90 minutes and must be done under general anesthesia because they don't want you to move around since it's your spine.  They will give me Michael Jackson's milk- propofol- to put me under.  Not happy about a general anesthesia because I've never had one but not much I can do about it.  For 2 to 6 weeks after surgery, I have to wear a back brace and no B, L, T:  bending, lifting or twisting.  The good news about the surgery is that it has a success rate of @ 95%.  I'm sorry it had to come to this but it's been 5 long months of 24/7 pain and I'm ready to get it over with!  I may post from time to time but I'm trying to stay off the computer as much as possible as sitting is not comfortable.   Will let you know when I have a date for the surgery.

Fashion Nonsense

Boys!  They have no fashion sense.  Everything they wear has to have superheroes or Disney characters on them.  Tried to convince Jacob to get these cute swimsuits with matching rash guards and hats...there were friendly sharks, VW surf wagons and starfish, but no!  He had to have Disney Cars.  Here he is proudly modeling his new outfit.

He loves to browse Toys R Us catalogs and tell me what he "needs."  So I was teasing him by showing him Disney princess toys, Hello Kitty and My Little Pony.  He wouldn't hear of it!  We are going to take him this week to the little local waterpark so now he's all set.  We are having a big warm up with temperatures in the 100's by the weekend.

Sorry for my lack of posting and visits.  Sitting still really bothers me.  I see my doctor this Monday so I'm pretty sure I'll get the microdiscectomy surgery since it's been 5 long months with no improvement at all.  I gave it the old college try with physical therapy so at least I feel like I didn't just give in to the surgery without giving other things a shot.

Mom

Kim has started a weekly meme called Wednesday Chatter and this weeks topic is Mom since Mother's Day (in the US) is this Sunday.  Typical for us, we are celebrating Mother's Day on Saturday.  Justin is driving Sarah to the airport for a business trip and since LAX is half way here from his house, he asked if we could celebrate on Saturday.  Jeff will fix us dinner and we have 4 moms coming:  me, Jessica, Jeff's mom and Jeff's aunt.  George and Robin will be here, too.  Jessica requested taco salad so we'll have that along with a BBQ of something... not sure yet.  And for dessert, Costco's tiramisu cake!  We only have dessert on special occasions.

So about my mom.  She was the quintessential mom of the 50's... a real June Cleaver!  On Wednesday, the Harris Poll announced that once again, June Cleaver (Leave it to Beaver) was number 1 on the Top 10 list of Best TV moms.  Just like June, my mom was a stay-at-home mom who always wore a pretty dress even while doing housework.  She was calm, nurturing and never raised her voice.  The only concern I had growing up about my mom was that she was an older mom.  While most of my friends had moms who were in their 20's and 30's, my mom was almost 40 when she had me.  I always worried that she was going to die and leave me but boy was I wrong!  She lived to be 90 and saw both her grandchildren grow up and graduate from college.  They loved Nana and she was every bit as good as a grandmother as she was a mother.  No one could ask for a better mom and role model.  I should scan a photo but I do have this one on my computer that looks to be from the 1930's.  She would've been too young for it to be the Roaring 20's!

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  Happy Mother's Day!

Roller Coaster Ride

Yesterday was a "bad back day!"  I am getting so frustrated with my herniated disk problem.  I've been going to physical therapy 3 mornings a week for 4 weeks now and I still have good days and bad days.  When I feel good I get encouraged and think I'm getting better and then I'll have a bad day, like yesterday, and I feel like there's been no progress at all.  It's such a roller coaster ride.  I do know what is bad for me and what makes things worse and that is sitting.  In fact, I think a lot of my problem may be all the time I spend at the computer sitting.  So I'm trying to limit my computer time.  There's times I think I should take a blog break but it's really not that time consuming to write a quick post and make a few visits so I'll hang in there a while longer.  I'm giving myself until June (when I see the doctor again) and if there's still no major improvement, I'll probably have to have the back surgery.  It's not that big of a deal- it's a 90 minute microsurgery procedure with little downtime so we'll see.  At least I'll know I tried my best to help it through physical therapy first.  Waiting any longer than 6 months would be bad as I could have permanent nerve damage.

Thought I'd post a quick photo of Jacob.  Jessica was at the store the other day and Jacob saw a little plastic watering can in the shape of a duck!  He just HAD to have it.  It was only 99 cents so Jessica bought it for him,  She should enjoy these days when he will be happy with such a simple little toy!  He loves helping me water, too.

Devil Winds

Some people call our Santa Ana winds, "Devil Winds."  My Facebook friends saw this video that I posted yesterday.  I took a video off our bedroom balcony to show you how strong these warm winds are.  I like them because they make the beach so warm but the downside is the brush fires they often bring.  Sure enough, as I pan the camera to the west, you will see a major brush fire that began at the Camarillo Grade about 10 miles from us.  Fortunately, much of the area that burned is in the rugged hillsides but there are many residential areas that the firemen were able to protect with water-dropping helicopters.  They had to evacuate Cal State Channel Islands and quite a few RVs were destroyed in a RV storage area.

Today we are going to Ryan's school.  The kindergarten classes are performing songs and Ryan is being presented the "Student of the Month" award.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and since I won't be here on Saturday or Sunday to say it, I'll add these wishes here...

For Saturday

May the Fourth Be With You!

and for Sunday

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Thanks to Sadie for the MoodGirls!

Joy Ride

Jeff was feeling better so we took a joy ride through Hidden Valley.  We are so lucky to live where we do. In just a few minutes, we are out of civilization and in horse country surrounded by mountains.  This is a gorgeous area and always fun to visit in the spring when there are foals and calves.  They film so many car commercials here.  If you ever see cars driving through a winding road surrounded by hills and white fences, it's most likely Hidden Valley.  Lots of movie stars have homes here... Tom Selleck, Sophia Loren, Jamie Foxx, Ellen Degeneres.  If you saw the movie, "It's Complicated," Meryl Streep's home was also in Hidden Valley.  It can be yours for a mere 10 million dollars!  Here are a few photos of Hidden Valley.

We really love the new Prius!  While on our drive, we were learning all about the navigation system and other cool features of the car.  It's so quiet and we enjoyed a beautiful sunny day with the sun roof open and listening to the music from my iPhone streaming wirelessly through the speakers.  You don't even have to plug it in... it was in my purse (along with the car keys you don't need) and the music just started playing!

HAPPY MAY!

  

First World Problems

Jeff has been a little sick this past weekend...started with a sore throat and now a bit of a cough so we didn't get out for a nice long drive in the new car like we had planned.  It's a bit of a Southern California tradition when you get a new car to take a drive up the coast to Santa Barbara for lunch.  That will have to wait for a few days.  I was looking forward to playing around with the navigation system while on the road.  Instead, I read the manuals but not sure how much sunk in... it's so much better to "learn by doing" as I learned when I was teaching.  I had a bit of a panic moment over what could've been a catastrophe!  I plugged in my iPhone (via it's lightning cable) to the USB port that's down inside the center console.  The port is real deep down so it's hard to see if you're plugging it in correctly.  All was fine as I was setting up the bluetooth until I tried to remove the cable from the USB port.  It was stuck!  I wasn't about to pull it hard and wreck the USB port in our brand new car so I called Jeff to come take a look.  He couldn't get it out either but questioned me if I was sure I put it in correctly.  Well, usually they only go in one way so I thought I had but it's too far down to really see what you're doing.  We decided we better not try to force it out and take it into the Toyota dealer the next day.  In the meantime, I googled, "My iPhone 5 lightning cable got stuck in the USB port of my brand new Prius" and sure enough I came up with a lot of links.  Apparently, the iPhone 5 lightning cable has issues with getting stuck in all sorts of USB ports- laptops, computers, cars, etc...  HERE's the link that helped me:  How to Unstick your Stuck Lightning Cable from a USB Port complete with a video.  The solution involved using a stay (the little thin plastic tabs) that the dry cleaners put in collars of dress shirts to help dislodge the cable.  I told Jeff what to do, we had a little white collar stay and the tip worked like a charm!  Bad Apple!  This is a known problem and they've done nothing to correct it.  We had to go buy a new lightning cable made by another company that will easily go in and out of the USB port.

I posted about this on Facebook and gave the link to the site that helped me which is called Wonder HowTo.   It's a cool site and as they say a, "Wonderland for Your Inner Nerd!"  My post said, "Thanks to this site for helping me unstick my iPhone 5 cable from our brand new Prius USB port to which Justin commented. "First world problems..."  If you haven't seen the First World Problems site, it's pretty hilarious. It's a site with a collection of people whining about the most trivial things that you'd only hear in non-third world countries.  Here's one of my favorites:  My iPad 3 doesn't warm my lap as much as my MacBook Pro."  I submitted my first world problem:  "My iPhone 5 cable got stuck in the USB port of my brand new Prius!"    Waaaah!

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

That has to be one of the most annoying songs ever!  I thought of it because Jeff bought a 6 pack of Budweiser Platinum beer that came in the prettiest blue bottles.  The labels come off quite easily and I knew there would be some good ideas on the internet on how to reuse/ repurpose the bottles.  I googled "Budweiser Platinum bird feeders" and came up with this idea.

  A Hummingbird Feeder!

Amazon has a pack of 12 of the tubes with little red tips but I'm going to check around a few bird supply stores to see if I can find a smaller quantity.  I'm going to get copper wire to wind around it like in the photo and to make a hanger.  So, in addition to buying a Prius, I'm going to recycle beer bottles (with Jeff's help) in honor of Monday's Earth Day.  I also found on Etsy and Ebay where people are making drinking glasses out of the bottles.  They cut off the narrow part and must have a way of grinding down the glass so it's safe.  

This all reminds me of this funny experience Jeff and I had in Las Vegas one time.  I have these cactus stemmed Margarita glasses that I bought in Mexico and while in Vegas, we went to a Mexican restaurant and I noticed a bottle of tequila that had the same cactus decoration inside the bottle.  Here's a photo of my glasses.

We were having lunch and as we were first seated they asked if we wanted anything to drink.  We don't drink early in the day so declined.  Then I spotted the tequila bottle with the little cactus inside.  Jeff went up to the bartender and asked if they had any empty bottles that we could have/buy?  The bartender said only this one bottle (not cheap!) which was close to empty... maybe 4 shots of tequila left in it.  He said if we wanted to buy shots and empty the bottle, we could have the bottle.  So there we are at noon, swilling down tequila so I could get that bottle!  What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!  Ole!