How Was Your Weekend?

Once again we had quite the busy weekend. After a very, very stressful day at work on Friday my Hubby agreed to take me to Chunky's to see "Angels and Demons". The movie was great. Very fast-paced, interesting and fun to watch. Going to Chunky's, however, was a mistake.

We got there 40 minutes before the show started so we could get seated and order our food before the movie started. After waiting a very long time, we found out there was ONE waitress for the whole place. Approximately 100 people fit into that room and the place was packed. A girl sitting near us told us she worked there for six years and that's how they always do it.

Idiots. I won't go there again. It's not worth the aggravation....not to mention the ordering, eating and trying to pay in the dark. In addition to the waitress standing in front of you telling you how much your bill is during the exciting finale of the movie. Next time.....regular movie house for us.

We stayed up to see the last episode of the Tonight show with Jay Leno. I remember seeing the first episode....impossibly 17 years ago. Yikes! The last show was a bit of an anti-climax. Sentimental but not sensational. I want to try to watch Conan's first episode on Monday.....just to say I did.

On Saturday afternoon we went to see my daughter Jamie play in her football game. Jamie caught a touchdown pass and kicked an extra point. We heard the announcer say her name over and over again as she made hits and tackles. She had an outstanding game, but despite her efforts they lost. This loss may have eliminated them from the playoffs.

However, we did bring my niece Laura to the game. We thought it would be great fun for her to watch her female cousin play football. She had a blast...but didn't see even ONE minute of the game! She got snacks at the snackbar, took pictures of the team mascot, the airplanes overhead and even of birds. She went up and down the bleachers about 100 times. She found some "friends" and played with them for most of the second half. I'm glad she had a wonderful time and we had fun being with her.

Finally, on Sunday, we headed up to my sister's house for a big party/cookout to celebrate her daughter's graduation from college and her son's graduation from high school. There was tons of food, tons of family and everyone had a great time.

Only two more days of work before our extra-long weekend away. We leave Wednesday morning for Bar Harbor. I can't wait.

Someone's Been Fooling Around

My brother and his wife have an adorable little dog named Doby. He is a "Puggle" (Pug and Beagle mix).

Isn't he sweet? Recently, Doby's mother gave birth to a very cute litter of 12 puppies. Another batch of Puggles. However, there were 11 puppies with the beautiful tan color you see on Doby. And one puppy that was spotted.

Yes, spotted. Now I wish I'd saved the picture my sister-in-law sent me of the pile of puppies. It was adorable with all those tan puppies and one spotted one in the middle. We discussed how odd it was that every single puppy this dog had had came out tan.......and there's one spotted puppy. The puppy is only 2 lbs. 3 oz. now at 8 weeks old. Much smaller than the other puppies.

It turns out there is another male dog in the house besides the Pug. The other dog is a Chihuahua. Do we see a resemblance?

He's called a "Cheagle".

Hitting Much Too Close to Home

I got an email from Hubby yesterday. The title line said, "Hi Hunny. Layoffs Today!" I knew Hubby would never have informed me he was laid off by email like that, so I wasn't scared that it might be him. But I was saddened by the list of people who got laid off at his company. "A bloodbath" hubby called it. He works for a very small company. Actually I guess it's a pretty big company, but his building is small. Few enough people that he could list who got laid off and then list who was left. I was actually sick to my stomach thinking of those people leaving. People I've met at company cookouts and Christmas parties. People Hubby talks about all the time. People I know who have families and mortgages and responsibilities. Hubby's company has been struggling for about a year and a half. We knew something would come, but there were no rumors......it was a complete surprise. Hubby was hoping perhaps they'd cut hours or cut pay to save people's jobs. His boss said those ideas were thrown on the table, but the mucky-mucks decided on this course of action. The only bright side......for us......is that Hubby still has his job, and can breath a little easier for the next three months or so. We're thankful the company didn't close his building completely.

Terror......Modern Style

What is terrifying to you? Getting in a car crash? Can't find your child? How about "Lost your DEBIT CARD!" For most of us, including me, our debit cards are our lifeline. Hubby and I rarely have cash with us anymore. We do everything by debit card. Groceries, restaurants, Wally-world. Until we lose it. Today I went to the grocery store, shopped and approached the checkout line. I spent a few moments perusing the trashy tabloids while waiting for the guy in front of me to buy $500 worth of groceries. (What does he have, a harem??) When he finally finished I stacked my groceries on the conveyor belt, moved my carriage down for the bag-boy (bag-man.....he was 80 if he was a day), and began to pull out my debit card while the cashier finished ringing up my order. It wasn't in the little pocket on the side of my purse where it belongs. Now, I'm not an anal person who has to have everything in it's place......but I usually stick it right in the front of the little pocket thing for easy access. So I don't have to dig for it. But it wasn't there, and thus I began the frantic purse-search.....I'm sure you're all familiar with it. Check all the inner pockets, un-zip the secret compartment (that never has anything in it), dig along the bottom, open all the outer pockets, check everything again....and again. Now I'm getting frantic because the cashier is almost done ringing my groceries. As I'm searching I'm muttering assurances that she probably can't hear...and doesn't care about. "I know it's here somewhere, I use it all the time." "I always keep it here in the pocket, I know I have it." In a desperate attempt for more time, I hand her a credit card I never EVER use.......she swipes it and informs me it has expired some time ago. DRAT! I ask about using a check - thank God my check book is in my purse - and she says I have to have a "check-cashing card". Can I get one? I have to go to the service desk, where they will take all my information and IF the bank approves it, they will give me a check-cashing card and let me pay for my groceries. The middle-aged cashier (at least she wasn't a snarky teenager) calls over her supervisor....who is at least 20 years younger than her and probably 30 years younger than me......who escorts me to the service desk. As if I'm going to take the carriage and run for the door with my $36.82 worth of groceries. At the service desk it took a surprisingly short time to get approved and I was out of the store 10 minutes later. Unfortunately, without the extra $10 I intended to ask for so I could get quarters to do my laundry. But I wasn't sticking around. We can wear dirty clothes for a week. Now the big question is....where is my debit card?? My head whirled on the ride home. I use ONE purse. Always. Summer and winter. No matter what outfit. Sometimes I take the card out and stick it in my jeans pocket if I don't want to carry my purse. But I'm wearing the only pair of jeans I own, and believe me....I've checked the pockets. I imagine someone must have stolen it. I have to call the bank when I get home. I have to call Hubby and tell him not to try to use his card, since they are both connected to the same account. Should I go directly to the bank on my way home? Would it be better to call?? This is going to be a giant pain in the buttocks. And then it hits me just as I'm pulling into my driveway. I went out with my boss last Wednesday night to a community event. I wanted to look nice. So for ONCE.....I brought a tiny little purse that I keep for times like that. And I had put a little cash and my debit card in it. Just in case. I dragged my grocery bags in, dumped them on the kitchen floor and headed straight to the bedroom to pull out the little purse. And there it was. Tucked in a pocket. My beautiful, beautiful bright red debit card. I wanted to kiss it.

The Rest was Better

The rest of our weekend was just wonderful. Sunday morning we slept late again! LOVE IT! Hubby made French Toast (again). Then we got our stuff together and headed up to the campground to visit Mom and Dad, Sis and Brother. Of course it started raining as we left the house and rained all the way up to the campground. But we persevered and it stopped raining about half an hour after we got there. We sat around and chatted.....ate......chatted some more.....ate some more. It was a bit melancholy because this will be the last time my parents and sister camp at this place, where they've been going for 10 or 12 years. But we had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs. My Sister made chicken stir-fry for all of us (11 people! On a camping grill!) and of course after dinner they started a campfire and we toasted hot dogs and marshmallows and made s'mores. A very relaxing and fun day. Monday - unbelievably - I had another day off! SWEET! This time I made Hubby cheesy eggs. Then we gathered our things to go canoeing. We went to Harold Parker State Park and canoed for a couple hours. We brought a picnic lunch and managed to get in and out of the canoe without tipping it. After we brought the canoe back to my brother's house (where the canoe lives because we have no way of storing it at our condo), we went to Market Bucket and got fixins for a BBQ. It was cool to "bookend" our weekend with a BBQ. It made it feel so summery! It was a wonderful "mini-vacation" for me. Now I have this week, two days next week, and on Wednesday we leave for our 5-day vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine!

So Far.....Soooooooo GOOD!

This weekend marks the first time since I started working in September that I have a Saturday off. It's also the first time I have three days off in a row. I'm treating it like a mini-vacation. Friday night after work Hubby and I dug out the charcoal grill and our lawn chairs. We live in a condo with no patio or balcony, so we bring everything out into the backyard. No one else in the condo uses it.....we figure why not? There's grass and trees and even bunnies. There's an eight-foot stockade fence between us and the main road. Sure you can hear the traffic, but after a while you just ignore it. We had chicken drumsticks and red potatoes on the grill. Hubby brought out his ukulele and strummed while we waited for the coals and cooked the chicken. I did forget to buy the O'Doul's and wine coolers though. Next time. Saturday we got up late (9am!) and relaxed and read and watched a video and did nothing all morning. In the afternoon we went with Hubby's kids to the Sushi place to eat a late lunch/early dinner and see his paintings on the wall. We brought Hubby's daughter home and visited for a bit, then went home and watched a video and ate popcorn. Does this not sound like a wonderful, relaxing mini-vacation so far? Today we plan to go up to the campground where my mom and sister and brother are camping for the weekend and visit. And tomorrow seems like it will be a nice day so we're thinking about canoeing. I can feel my body and mind relaxing more and more and more.

Faked Out!!

I think it's hilarious that my 22 month old grand-daughter has such a sense of humor, that she played her Pepere's game and faked him out in the process. Pepere's game with Emily is "Hiding the Ball Under his Shirt". He takes the ball and stuffs it under her shirt and pretends to search around for it and she thinks it's hilarious when she finds it. Pepere was the alternate babysitter Wednesday night because I had a work thing, so he decided to take her out for a walk in the stroller. She had a tennis ball in the stroller with her (because she always has to have a ball with her) and Pepere was putting rocks and flowers on her tray to amuse her. She would periodically throw a rock or flower off the tray, but at one point she started calling, "Ball? Ball?" Pepere looked around, checked the seat of the stroller beside her, then looked behind her thinking she might have thrown the ball out of the stroller. Emily started laughing and pointed to her belly. She had hidden the ball under shirt.....and faked Pepere out! I love a kid with a sense of humor!

It's All Over

All the fun is over. My last two Reality Shows had their finales this week. Damn the May Ratings Sweeps! SURVIVOR - A fairly satisfying ending. I hadn't picked JT from the beginning...but of the three left ....JT, Stephen and Erinn.....I would have totally picked JT. I had really wanted Taj to win but the skanks blind-sided her, threw her under the bus, and voted her off early. There is no way to describe in words how happy I was that Coach didn't win. I wasn't even happy with the amount of air-time they gave him in the Reunion Show. And he has a girlfriend? AMERICAN IDOL - Again, the person I picked from the very beginning was voted off earlier and wasn't a contender in the final two. Danny Gokey should have won that competition hands down! Of the two left, Adam or Kris, I totally wanted Kris. Adam is just too weird and out-there and screams too much. He fit right in with KISS. Kris' is a CD I can see myself buying and singing along to loudly in the car (with the windows closed.....because of my singing, not his.) I was very impressed with the finale show....they had so many big stars and big bands it was astonishing. I could have totally done without Black Eyed Peas. What were those black-and-white creatures dancing around behind them? But I loved Rod Stewart. Go figure. So now we have to find some new shows to watch. I'm looking forward to America's Got Talent. But what else is there? "So You Think You Can Dance?" I dont' think so. And "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!".......NEVER!

Great Minds Think Alike

I invited my son Nick and his girlfriend Kelly over last night. Nick is my computer guru. It was running verrrrrrry. slooooooooowly. so he came over and cleaned it out and de-bugged it, etc. He also likes to visit his kitty-cat Oreo. He gets a chance to play with him, brush him, cut his nails and check his ears. After they left last night, I talked Hubby into taking me out for an ice cream cone. And I bet you can guess who we saw there..........Nick and Kelly! I guess I'm not the only one who was craving ice-cream!

How To Eat Yourself Into A Stupor

For Mother's Day and my Dad's birthday, we took them out to eat at The Old Salt, where they have a Sunday Morning breakfast buffet. Mom and Dad have been telling us about this place for a while, but we just never got around to going. My first idea was to take them out to a show. I looked all around at the local community theaters and nothing was playing......except for "Urinetown" and I just could NOT bring my parents to see a play by that name. My second idea was to take them to Newburyport, MA. They have some really nice restaurants, so we figured dinner, a walk along the boardwalk and a visit to their big antique barn. But Mom had a leg injury and was supposed to stay off it, so walking was out. What else to do but go eat??? We got there about 9:45 and we were seated at a nice table in the Garden Room. After ordering our drinks we got up for the buffet. It wasn't just a breakfast buffet.....there was lunch and dinner food as well. I opted to fill my first plate with breakfast foods. I had a little fruit filled crepe, bacon, sausage, cinnamon roll and an Eggs Benedict. For my second course I got the roast beef and turkey carved straight from the roasts. The dessert course consisted of chocolate mousse and fruit dipped under their chocolate fountain. We were so full when we left we were all moaning and groaning getting into the car. Even Hubby, who can eat anything not nailed down, admitted he was full. Of course, he wanted to go back an hour later for a few things he might have missed! The reason for going was to spend time with Mom and Dad, which we did, and we had a wonderful time. Maybe we'll have to go back for Father's Day/my Mother's Birthday.

Now THAT'S a Football Game!!

Daughter Jamie's Football game was in Portland, ME this week. That's about an hour and a half from the house. The plan was for us to leave right after I got out of work. (have I mentioned lately that I HATE working on Saturdays??) We'd go up to Portland, see the sights, enjoy being on the water and visit all the little shops and art galleries. Then we'd go to dinner and then see the game. After a few delays ...... I got out of work 20 minutes late (never fails), we had to get money out of the bank, and we had to go back for the directions.......we were finally on our way. When we left home, the sky was bright blue and the sun was brilliant. As we were getting onto the highway, it became overcast.....then starting misting. (never fails). When we got to Portland and went out on the wharf to see the ocean, it looked like this: Yep, that's fog. It was very foggy....I'm not even sure if it was misting out or if the fog was so thick it was just wet. We still managed to have a great time going around and looking in the shops. We saw some great pottery ....... I'd so love to be able to make pottery all the time.

We found the restaurant we liked from the last time we went to Portland....the Old Port. We had some Scallops wrapped in Bacon (which I think were also covered in Maple Syrup....can you get any more New England than that???) some Clam Chowdah, and Hubby had Salmon and I had Fried Scallops. MMMMMMMM!!!

I had a great time watching three 20-year-olds learning how to eat lobster for the first time. I find it so hard to believe there are people in this world who have never had a lobster!! Who have never even SEEN a lobster!

After our scrumptious meal, we went over to the field for Jamie's game. By the time we got there, it was raining and the field looked like this:

It was very foggy all night but thankfully the rain only lasted for a little while and then stopped. Usually I'm the hearty New Englander who brings more warm clothes than you could possibly need but I was fooled this time by the bright sunshine in the morning and I was decidedly under-dressed. Good thing I brought along some nice wool socks to wear with my Berkenstock sandals. (seriously)

The game was fantastic! Jamie had one of the most exciting games of her career. She was hitting people with punishing tackles on defense and had some beautiful pass receptions on offense.

And she had THE play of the game. She's the receiver for the kick-off from the other team. When they kicked the ball it bounced in front of her then over her head. It's a live ball so she has to either grab it or fall on it before the other team gets it. Even though most of the team (and Hubby) were yelling for her to fall on it, she picked it up and started running with it.

AND. SHE. RAN. ALL. THE. WAY!

88 Yards for a Touchdown!

One of the most exciting plays in the sport of football.

And then she kicked her own extra point.

The games are so much more fun when your team is winning.....which they did.....13-8.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Is there anything longer than a rainy day at work? How about a rainy day where you cannot leave and go home for lunch because you don't have a car? We stuck Hubby's car in the shop today. We knew it needed some muffler work and wanted to get it done before inspection in June. It's not that we're terribly pro-active, I just didn't want another big bill to hit us in June. We already have to register and inspect both cars. Plus it's my birthday (which is okay!) and our anniversary (also okay!) We like to go away for a weekend to celebrate. This year we're going away for five days.......lots of $$$$. Plus, this year we have 3 graduations. My niece and two of my nephews. One is a college graduation, which is extra $$$$. Add in a few other birthdays in the months of May and June, plus Mother's and Father's Day and we have a spending extravaganza. I don't mind spending the money.....I like to be generous with my family and friends. I just want to make sure I actually have some money. So yes, I did have to stay in the office for lunch today and it has made it an excruciatingly long day. Especially since I thought it was Friday when I got up this morning. AND I haven't had a customer since about 9 this morning. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

What Am I Gonna Watch?

Two of my four Reality Shows had their finales Sunday night. They were showing against each other so of course we had to tape one (yes....I said TAPE. Remember those? We don't have DVR). I chose to watch Celebrity Apprentice since it was a three hour finale. Amazing Race was only an hour. How in the world did Joan Rivers win???? I absolutely can't stand her. I never could. I thought she was an awful comedienne, with her stuttering, hesitant way of delivering a joke. But that's not the reason I thought she shouldn't win. She is a *itch!!! A double *itch! But it was extremely apparent that The Donald favored her. I totally believed Annie when she said that the party planner quit because of Joan's rudeness. I know the "celebrity" Apprentice is really there to garner as much money as possible for their charity. But....the whole premise of the show is that the winner could be an Apprentice in The Donald's companies. Who in the world would want to work for Joan Rivers? When she is so obnoxious and rude? Not me....thank you very much!! As much as Annie annoyed me with her "me, me, me" attitude, I'd rather she won. At least she had some decorum and professionalism. Joan was nothing but a shrew. We watched the finale of Amazing Race last night. The brother and sister, Victor and Tammy, won. They did deserve to win. They were smart and innovative and, after a period of adjustment, they worked well together. I did think they had an unfair advantage in that they could speak Chinese and they spent an unusually long time in China. But that's where the chips fell and they lucked out. I didn't particularly care that Cara and Jamie lost. They were nasty little ladies and not very bright. I'm surprised they made it to the final three. But I was very sad that Margie and Luke didn't win. They really deserved it. They had so much tenacity. Margie was amazing for a woman her age in that she just kept going and going and going. I was proud of Luke that he worked so hard on the final challenge and didn't fall into his crybaby ways. It was just bad luck that he couldn't find the final piece of the puzzle. So now I have Survivor and American Idol left, both of which will be over this week or next. So now what will I watch?

A Different Kind of Football Game

Jamie had a football game at home this week. It was against the same team they played.....and lost to......last week. As you can imagine, the desire for revenge was great. They couldn't wait to sink their teeth into this team.

Sadly, Jamie called me Saturday morning to let me know she wouldn't be playing. She had been up all night vomiting.....and doing other sickly things.......and was too sick and weak to play. She was very upset as can be expected. They work hard for months at practices to play an 8-game season. It's difficult to pass up the chance to play in each and every game. I know she must have been on her deathbed feeling pretty lousy to not play in a game.

So she spent most of her game like this:

On the other hand, son Nick had emailed the team offering to help with the scoreboard but they didn't need any help in that area. This did need help, however, on the "chain gang". So he spent the whole game like this: (Nick is in the green t-shirt).

And like this:

And like this:

It was nice to see the brother and sister together. Jamie was feeling better by the end of the day and even had a little something to eat. Nick said he wouldn't mind doing the chain gang again for the next home game.

Hurray! She's Home!!

Yep.....Mom's been in the hospital for the past four days. And the story goes: Dad and my BIL Lloyd are building a new shed for my parents. Mom and Dad went to pick up some plywood, and they decided they should carry it from the driveway to the side yard. (They are both 70 years old - they've already been chastised by everyone in the family). They actually did okay carrying the plywood. It was putting it down that caused the problem. When they let it down onto the ground, it "bounced" and hit my Mom right on her shin. She honestly thought her leg was broken. Dad took her to the ER, where the X-ray showed no break, just a very nasty bruise. And very nasty it was. Black and blue from knee to ankle, swollen, and with a big scrape on the front of her shin. The scrape became infected. And thus the hospital stay. I won't gross you out with the gory details.....suffice to say she needed to be put under anesthesia to have the leg 'debrided" and then she needed Vicodin every time they changed the bandage. The "overnight" stay turned into three nights because they had to culture the infection to determine what kind of antibiotic to give. In the meantime, Mom was attached to an IV, sitting in a hospital room with nothing to do. She didn't feel sick......her leg didn't hurt too much.......she just sat and waited for doctors to come in and do their thing. My Dad, God Bless Him, was with her all day every day, keeping her company. Her family visited......but what a loooooooooong few days it was for my Mom. She accepted it with equanimity, as she does everything that happens to her. "You play the cards you're dealt". And once again she has my admiration. I'm so happy that she got to go home today. She practically did a jig in her hospital bed when the doctor confirmed that indeed she was going home. My Dad was packing before the doctor left the room. She'll get to enjoy Mother's Day in her own house. Speaking of Mother's Day, Doug and Kara have figured out how to visit everyone and still have time to relax. They'll be spreading it out over the two weekend days. Doug will take Emily to visit his two grandmothers while Kara stays home and relaxes, and Kara will take Emily to visit her mother and her grandmother while Doug stays home and relaxes. I'm proud of them for working out such a great compromise.

Mother's Day Conundrum

What do you do when there are just too many people to visit on Mother's Day? Sincerely, it's a huge blessing to have so many people who are loved and who love you. But....it makes it quite difficult to make every special day really "special" for those people.

I'm talking about the problem my son, Doug and his wife, Kara, have at almost every holiday. Too many places to go.....to many people to see.

Doug and Kara are the parents of my grandbaby Emily. So Kara is a Mom, right? And she deserves to have a nice Mother's Day. But the list of people they should visit it staggering:

1. Kara's own mother.

2. Doug's mother (me)

3. Kara's grandmother (who's in a nursing home).

4. Doug's grandmother (my mother who is right now in the hospital.......a long story for another blog)

5. Doug's other grandmother - my ex's mother - who just lost her husband.

How can two people and a baby who needs a nap in the middle of the afternoon get to visit 5 mothers/grandmothers in one day? They can't.

And I told Doug that. He just can't. And I really don't mind. I'm not one to demand my kids come visit me with flowers and candy on special days. (although candy is acceptable at any time!) I know they love me. They know I love them. I see them often. I invite them for dinner and babysit for them and see them on other special occasions. It would sincerely make me happier to know they got to stay home and enjoy their baby and that Kara gets to enjoy her Mother's Day.

How do you all feel about that? Do you expect your children to come visit on the special day? Does your mom/mother-in-law/grandmother expect you to visit? And how do you handle visiting so many in one day?

Swine Flu Rant

Okay...this whole post isn't about the Swine Flu......so calm down people. It's about co-workers who come to work sick. WHY? Why do you do that? Especially right now when this whole Swine Flu thing is happening and the President himself said that if you're ill.....STAY HOME!! One wouldn't think that people should have to be told that.......but they do. Yes, my co-worker came in today sick as a dog. She works in a different office on Mondays, and left that office yesterday after she spread her germs to all those people at noontime when she didn't feel good. She actually went to the doctor for a blood test to test for Swine Flu. The doctor thought she probably has a Viral infection. Which I do believe is highly contagious!! She came in today even though she did not have the results of those tests. And our office is a trailer......so you can imagine how closely we are in proximity with each other. Now I am not a germaphobe by any stretch of the imagination. You cannot be a child care worker for 25 years and be afraid of germs. But I do try to keep myself safe from people or places that evoke great waves of illness. I guess what makes me the most angry is that she came in because she's selfish. She's used all her sick days already - most of them not for illness - and she didn't want to take a day off without pay. But by coming in she may have spread her illness - which would force me to use up all the sick days I've been carefully hording. I would desperately like to use my days in June for my vacation and and get paid for them. We disinfected her office after she left......opened the windows.....and I've been bathing in hand sanitizer. Oh I so hope it helps!

We Canoodled!!

We picked up our canoe this morning!! It was so very exciting. We had to drive to my brother's friend's house in Woburn to get it. That's about a 1/2 hour away. Our first order of business was getting the canoe secured to the top of the car. I had gone to EMS and bought the kit they had there. It supposedly came with everything we needed. I say "supposedly" because it didn't. Since Hubby and I are neophytes at owning a canoe, we read the package directions. Attach the spongy things to the canoe so when you flip it upside down you don't scratch the roof of your car. Check. Use one of the belts with the buckle to put around the middle of the canoe and through the windows (after carefully opening the doors so you can get into the car after putting the strap on). Check. Use the hooks.........wait a minute....hooks? What hooks? There are supposed to be hooks that connect to the other straps to hold down the front and back of the canoe. No hooks. We checked the package. It was supposed to include hooks. Luckily, Steve, the guy we were buying it from, had some rope and another strap we could use and we got it attached to the car. Doesn't it look great? I was nervous driving down the highway with it on the car, but it was solid as a rock. Now the big problem was....where to take it? It was an overcast day and threatening rain, so we didnt' want to go too far. We decided to take it to where I used to work at Summer Camp and launch it off their beach. We didn't want to take the digital camera on the water with us in case we dumped it, so we took this picture on the ground at the camp. ( Just disregard the sign behind us........no one took notice).

We had a wonderful time canoeing around the pond. It was so small we went around twice.....once clockwise, and once counter-clockwise.....for good luck.

We have to store the canoe at my brother's house since we live and a condo and we have nowhere to put it. Thank goodness my brother is a good guy and said he'd do it for being able to use the canoe sometimes and maybe some babysitting thrown in.

And yes, we are naming her "Canoodle". There's a story involved in that, which I am too shy to share...but I'm thinking you get the drift by the name.