I love me some Lorraine.. : )..

Our Backyard..

 A river runs through it.

Milo loves it.

Especially the mud puddles.

 Some people get crop circles,

our aliens have a sense of humor.

We get concrete squares.

There are two of them about four

feet apart.  Both are about the same

size and the same depth.

Not quite sure where they came from,

but this is the first year I've noticed them.

Something is missing from this picture..

I might have to get some of those

this weekend.  : )..



It's been a great day.. : )..

Even though it was just as loud as ever out there today,

I had a great day.  : )..

Woot Woot!



Itunes and iPhone Troubles Oh My..

After having our iphones for almost

two years, there was a recent downloaded

"upgrade" that Apple put out.

Instead of making my phone better,

it unleashed trouble like no other.

 

Every time that my phone connected to Itunes,

it would wipe out my contacts.

I lost my entire phone contact list,

with the exception of the people on my favorites

list.  It only wiped out there names.

Nice.  I could call and ask, "Who is this?"

Lol.  Not going to happen.

Especially since this in an ongoing issue.

 

Next step?  Called Apple.

Oooh no problem.

It's because I'm not signed in under

my own Itunes account.

Got one started.

Can't get my card info correct so I

can't get an account going in my name.

 

Their solution?

Delete it and reinstall the program.

Did that.  Hate the new format so I tried downloading

one of the older versions.

Didn't work.

Now?  I can't even get the current one

installed and open to sign back into Dutch's account either.

Aye Carumba.

 

SMH.

Another Great Pandora Find

My evening in a nutshell..

We went to our friend's for a Memorial Day BBQ.

We went without any alcohol.

Only took a 2 liter bottle of soda.

They of course, had bought some Crown Royal.

Using pics from previous posts,

this is how it went.

Lol. The food was delish.

 Then?

There are reasons why I don't get into political

conversations, or let others get into politcal

conversations with my spouse.

I needed duct tape.

Lots of duct tape.

Lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of duct tape.

The manufacturers would think that they could stop

producing and retire with the amount I could have used.

 Politics!!

Politics!!

Politics!!

 Ugh.  Lets talk about something

else.  Hey!  How about those Royals?!

"Who cares about the Royals?!

Politics!! Politics!! Politics!!"

 ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!

Politics!!

Politics!!

Politics!!

 Ugh.  : (..

Politics!!

Politics!!

Politics!!

 Ohhhh..  : (..

Politics!!

Politics!!

Politics!!

  Enough already.

Politics!!

Politics!!

Politics!!

  Dude.  You all are even killing Will Wheaton.

Politics!!

Politics!!

Politics!!

 AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!

Politics!!

Politics!!

Politics!!

 AFAFHDFAFHAH!

They even wore out the zombies.

Have zombies attacking you?

I can send some people over and it'll

drive the zombies away.

Politics!!

Politics!!

Politics!!

I needed the Crown Royal by the time

the evening was over.

Politics!!

Politics!!

Politics!!

Did I mention, this loud conversation

took place outside, late at night,

despite our repeated requests to keep voices

down?  Neighbors came outside

thinking that something was going on out

there.  They finally stopped at midnight.

 

Why can't people have normal, quiet,

calm debates about politics?

I'm all Rodney King,

"Can't we all just get along?"

O.M.G.

If I didn't love music so much,

I would have driven rusty spoons through

my ears tonight.

Sigh.

Time to call it a night.

Lindenwood receiver gets Rams’ attention

                                                                      Go Andy Go!

The St. Louis Post Dispatch covered

Andy's journey with the Rams..

He's only just begun!

The Helmick Nation is ready!

Global Corporate Challenge..

Taking part in the Global Corporate challenge at work this year.

Each group has seven members.

We are supposed to walk at least 10,000 steps each day

and we have Pulse pedometers to keep track.

Doing pretty well but since my job is stationary, I'm putting plans

into action to reach and exceed the goal.

I'll walk in place for five minutes each hour while I'm at work, 

And finish by walking the neighborhood.

The fun part?

The team names are crazy fun.

The Holy Walkamolies.

Ott2Walk.

Stuck Between a Walk and a Hard Pace.

Victorious Secret.

More Cardio Less Lardio.

Christopher Walkin.

Walkaholics.

ManChestHair United.

Scrambled Legs.

Roamin Goddesses.

Thin It To Win It.

Your Pace or Mine.

Waist Management.

I had suggested our team name

as "We Like to Moovit, Moovit"

Since Kansas City is called Cow Town but that got shot down.

Good thing because someone else used

"We Like To Move It" too.

Our teams name?

It's a mishmash from three of us.

One is a Bostonian so he wanted something for him, 

ergo Sox and Fiyah ironically.

One wanted the Walkin part. 

And then I got it all together after getting into

a fire alarm account at work.  

Our team name is:

"Our Walkin Sox Are On Fiyah!"

Let the walking begin!

Such a love-ly day.. : )..

 Kept finding hearts while I was out and about today.

Found this one early.

 And then these two little love-lies

this evening at home.

: )..

 Lol..

Had some wine to celebrate

my friend's birthday today..

And thought that this was a fitting way

to end the day.

: )..

The Spider Who Would Not Die..

Our friends had this little doozie

outside of their apartment

the other day and it

took quite a bit

of work to kill it..

Then they debated what type it was..

 

Tonight?  I found one in our utility room..

That was about the actual size

of it, and I wasn't taking

any chances.

However, it was also the spider

who refused to die.

I moved, it moved,

I jumped, it jumped,

I jabbed the broom and it ducked..

I don't know what kind mine

was either.  I'm not going to debate it,

all I know, it was huge and it was

in my house.  Lol.

Sorry to all of the spider friends

out there who don't condone killing them.

They need to tell them not to

move into my house and

get that big.

I don't have a picture of mine either

because I was NOT going to get that close to it!

 

One of our local meteorologists

always said, you are never more than 3 feet

away from a spider at any given moment.

I'm sure that spider probably had

a big spider family and they are probably in our

house as well.  Ack!

I hope not!

Really?

Found this in one of our accounts:

"Sloan Smith"

Sloan..

Sloane..

Slon..

Salon..

Salone..

Slim..

Soan..

Floan..

Flem..

Juan..

Don..

Son..

but my favorite spelling?

"Flown".

 

Umm.

Really?

Lol.

If only I was kidding.



Out of the rubble..



Duck and Cover!

Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa had tornados,

Missouri got lucky and was spared.

Round two coming Monday night.

Spent the evening hunkered down with our furbabies

in the basement.

 

Having already had a heads up that things

could be very severe, we moved everything that

we needed downstairs for safe keeping and waited it out.

 

Hope everyone stays safe out there!

Can't wait! : )..

More Gru,

more girls and best of all,

more cousins.

Err.  Minions.  : )..

Season 12's American Idol.. Is..

Candice Glover!!!

Woop Woop!!!

That's my American Idol for sure!!!

She was great from her audition this year,

straight through to the final competition.

 

Kree was great but she had her struggles.

If it wasn't a song that she picked out for herself

that was in her range, she had some

rough spots.  I love her, and am so in awe of

how well she has done after losing both of her parents

at such a young age.  I can't even imagine

although I lost my mom several years ago.

 

Angie?  Puhlease.  She got votes because she played

the piano and sang and wore tight things.

It's not America's Top Model honey.

The only songs I liked of her's were the

Evanescence song, and her Beyonce "Halo" performance.

Nothing else impressed me.

Glad she got the boot last week.

 

Anyway!!

Candice Glover is our new American Idol!!

Congratulations Candice!!!!!!!!!!

You Are Beautiful!!



St. Louis Rams sign Andrew Helmick!!!

That's my friend and co-worker Jeanie Helmick's son..  : )..

He should hold his head high,

he never gave up on his future

and he never gave up the fight!!

Go Andy!!

Say it loud and say it proud!!

Andrew Helmick is now a St. Louis Ram!!

Kansas City Missouri just got a whole lot closer

to the other side of the state!

Congratulations and well done Andy!!!

Helmick Nation is proud of you!!!!!

A man tried to rob a bank after paying $500 to a wizard to make him invisible

A man tried to rob a bank after paying $500 to a wizard to make him invisible
This gives a whole new meaning to the question..
"Have you seen this man?"  Lol.  Great idea though!
Lemme see!  Checking the yellow pages..  Wine..
Wireless..  Women's..  Umm..  Hmm..  Wine..  Wireless..
Women's..  No wizards?!  : /..  Sigh.  Anyone know
any wizards out there?  Anyone?  Wizards?  Anyone?



Ohhhhh! Yes! Please!!! : )..

Stopped by Pinterest for a minute (ha!),

and found this!

I have wine bottles galore!

All I need is a pot..

Some rocks..

And a fountain set..

and I'm good to go!!

It came from

Funky Junk Interiors

website.  : )..

I am sooooo doing this!



Mother's Day..

Hope all the mothers out there had a great day..

However, this also marks the first Mother's Day for some

of my family and friends after the loss of their

children or Mother's..

Much peace and comfort to them,

as well as any others who have also loved and lost for

what ever reason..

May we all be reunited one day..

That being said, here's a little something to celebrate..

A momma Cairn Terrier and her babies..

Not my furbabies..

Just a happy little family that was too cute not to share.

Love this song too..

Even if she's a younger artist,

I still love this song and her music.

Not quite so hip on her ex

though.  Lol.

Stuck in a highway slowdown? No problem!

Had an early day at work,

learned yet another one of our new department's

procedures so that we can evaluate their calls.

I've got another early day tomorrow.

Got stuck on the highway because of an accident's

slowdown.  Normally people would lose

their mind.  Stuck in traffic on a Friday evening?!

Not me.

We had warm weather.

We had sunny skies.

And we had 101 the Fox supplying

some great music.

Stuck in traffic?

Nooo problemo!

The windows went down and the volume

went up.  Music is my happy pill.  : )..

Well.  That and chocolate.

Lol.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Such a great picture, I had to blow it up.

Lol!  Aww.  Buh Bye!

She was waaaaaaay too perky.

I'm not a big fan of perky.

At all.

She reminded me of a charicture drawing

with those big teeth and all that hair.

She played the piano and sang and the judges

thought she was better than sliced bread.

I don't know how many times I heard

Dutch say she would win this year

because she's "skinny and the total package".

Tonight? He actually said,

"The skinny, talented one will have a bigger

career than the big girl."

: /..

Really?

Really..

really.

K.

Sooooo.

If anyone is looking for my spouse and they

can't find him?  They might find him

duct taped, stuffed in a closet,

with ear buds in his ears

and Nicki Minaj's greatest hits

looping on his iphone.

But!

Back to the matter at hand!

 

There are only two left.

Kree.

And my Candice!

Go Candice!!

 

A parting video for us to enjoy?

It's Angie at her best.

Lol.

Smokey Robinson's

"You Better Shop Around"

BUH BYE!



Guy Fieri's Pork Chile Verde..

Sorry that my phone kept causing a shadow..

Dutch decided that he wanted to make

Guy's Pork Chile Verde

from Guy's Big Bites show..

Glad that he did,

it was deeelishus!

 

Get the recipe here..



If you don't know Jack..

Then you are missing out my friends.

Jack Johnson..

One of the best..

Go On

Love it.

The Short, Green Grass of Home..

Aha!

Finally!

 Emmy says she misses the soft grass..

 Fergus says he can find his tennis balls better..

Milo says..  Well..  Nuttin..

He's too busy playing soccer..

Phase One of cutting the grass is done..

We'll do another round here in a couple more days..



You Reap What You Sow.. : )..

I like my job, but sometimes the continual loud, unwarranted

noise that co-workers make tends to make me irritable, cranky

and stressed out.  I don't know what it is about having a job at

an alarm company's call center makes people think

it's ok to stand around talking as loud as they

can across pods to their friends non-stop,

but by gosh, that's my life 40 hours

a week.  It's enough to drive

me absolutely

insane.

Sigh.

 

But!

There are times like this that make up for the stress

and irritation that my co-workers rudely create.

 

I helped one of my favorite local wineries

harvest their first grapes last year.

They called it their "First Harvest" and it

was the first time that I had ever

done anything like that!

 

It was....  Awesome..

I called it "Grape Therapy!"

It was soooo peaceful,

walking around snipping grape clusters,

listening to the music playing

on their outside speakers.

 

Ahhh.

I loved it so much that I also helped

another winery with three of their grape harvests,

and I plan to do them all again this year.

 

Yesterday?

I ventured out with my mother-in-law and

friends to Ladoga Ridge in Smithville.

They were the first winery that

I helped.

 

What did I see?

This.

Ladoga Vignoles "First Harvest".

Squee!

I helped pick those grapes!

Ooooh.

You know that I had to buy a

bottle of that!

Not only was it delishus!!

It was suhweet just knowing that

it was part of my

Grape Therapy.

Ahhh.

Nice.

Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv, Luv it..

: )..

I got to enjoy that memory with

every sweet sip of wine.

Awesome.

It was great back then,

and it was super great last night.

Can't wait for this year's harvests!!

Ooooh yeah.

: )..

Ahhhhhhhhh.

Best.Therapy.Ever.



For Bobby..

...

Still my favorite to win.. : )..

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems..

 Such a great day for a Royal's baseball game..

 So nice and sunny..  : )..

 Oooh..  Wait..  I think we'll go another night..

 No shoes? Brr! No shirt? No way!

Biiiiiiig problem!

Lol.

The pups love it though.

And there is a positive side to not mowing the grass.

If it snows enough to hide the grass,

no one will ever know.

Or if it doesn't,

we can still say it's only a dusting

because you can see the grass poking through.

Brr.

Those flakes are HUGE.

Spider size.

Big spider size.

Maybe this will kill a few bugs.

Brr.

It's supposed to be in the 70's and 80's by Monday.

I'm sure this won't be the last snow we get

before we are done.  Sigh.

'Nuff already.

Happy May Day! Ding Dong! Whoosh!

 A blast from the past while thinking about past May Days..

I always enjoyed dropping a bouquet on my neighbor's

step, ringing the doorbell according to tradition

and splitting as fast as I could..

This is my old hometown's Court Street back in the day..

And we think cars look alike these days!

Kind of interesting seeing this picture,

in my day, Court Street was a one way street going away from the camera..

My old home was about a mile and a half straight ahead.

Good times, good times, good times.

 Such pretty springy colors, that website did a great job with this pic!

 Makes me want to sit out on this person's porch.

Crazy!  They were selling these items for $100.

Oooh if I had a place to put it that is as nice as that spot.  : )..

 I would sit and enjoy the leaves on the trees and the pretty sky..

Before..

this happens..

I heard "snowy mix".

In May.

Now?

Oh my gosh.

no.

no.

noooooooooooo.

What is that?

What did that say?

no.

I can't look.

Tell it to go away.

Although..

My friend's daughter is finally back in the states

after several months volunteering to teach

Dominican Republic kids to read.

She's excited and hoping to see snow.

Alright.

Ok.

Just for her.

sigh

I can respect that.

: ).

Not sure if I like it.

but..

for her..

It.can.snow.

a little.

Just.for.her.

sigh