That's the Story

Today I sent a message to my friend Kerrie. The interaction went like this:

Fern: "so, what's the story?" (my goal was to make plans for later on in the evening)

Kerrie: "Once upon a time, there were two girls. One was old, one was getting there. They both loved many of the same things, eating, singing and dancing were among their favorites. One day the not so old girl's prince charming got a job in a far away land. The old girl thought she would just die without her not so old friend. But in time she realized, every minute with her friend was a special gift sent from God. The distance between them never tore them apart. They remained the best of friends until they were both REALLY old. And everyone lived happily ever after. The End!"

I almost fell out of my chair after reading that. And because it's funny, sweet and true, I just had to blog about it!

So there you have it, that's the story!

Go Away Already

Last weekend we were working on the yard and found all sorts of small holes throughout the flowerbeds (in the pine straw). It looked like an animal had been digging through the straw and into the dirt. Norm said it appeared to be birds... I did not believe it appeared to be birds.

So to clear up the debate, I texted a picture to my friend Kris (whose husband is a superintendent at one of the golf courses, so he knows lots and lots about mother nature). She quickly replied and said: armadillos.

Apparently armadillos only come out at night, and the only ways to get rid of them is to either a. shoot them (at night) or b. keep them away from the yard with... moth balls.

Determined that the armadillos were not going to mess up our new pine straw, we took off to go buy moth balls that same afternoon and went ahead and put them out that evening.

That was last weekend. Since, the weather has been gorgeous and we've kept the windows open... with the beautiful breeze comes in the awesome moth ball scent.

At least our flowerbeds look nice!

Do You Boil It?

This morning I went to the grocery store and among the items I purchased were plantains. I am going to put out a little disclaimer stating that I get quite annoyed when the cashier lady/bagger person comment on the items I am purchasing. I don't mind small talk about the weather, the holiday weekend or whatever, but small talk on the stuff I'm buying is something I have very little to no patience for.

With that in mind, as the cashier rings up the plantains, the bagger boy kicks off a conversation:

Boy: what do you do with those? do you boil them?
Me (puzzled): I guess you can boil them, but I fry them.
Boy: you fry bananas?
Me: well, they are not bananas, they are plantains, they are different
Boy: why don't you just eat them raw?
Me: you're not supposed to
Boy: they will make you sick?
Me (at this point, I am besides myself due to this conversation): I guess they will make you sick, besides, they are nasty if you don't cook them.

Silence as he finishes the bagging and I pay. He offers to help me take my things to the car, which I politely decline. He follows it by: Have fun frying your fruit!

Have fun frying your FRUIT? what?!?

After all that, I walk out to the parking lot and can't find my car... yes, I lost my car at the grocery store parking lot. At one point, a lady who was loading up her groceries notices me standing with my hands full of bags and I get the urge to explain: I have lost my car. She replies: I notice.

......................

I found my car - eventually - two rows over.

It's Really Not the Dog

Dog obedience training can be so challenging (as challenging as the owner drags it out to be).

For a few years now, we've been dealing with two major behavior issues with Pellet and Cali:
1. excessive barking when outside
2. being all up in people's business when we are sitting at the table, or watching TV, or sitting outside carrying on conversations.

Norm and I have finally decided to take control of these situations and correct the behaviors (which, if we would've just stuck with obedience training while they were puppies, this process would probably not require correction because it would not be existant).

The hardest part for me of obedience training is realizing and coming to terms with the fact that Norm and I have full control of our dog's behavior. We need to be disciplined. We need to keep a strong determination to make this happen. We need to be consistant day in and day out with our actions and what words we use and how we correct the dogs. And overall, we need to maintain a positive attitude and not get discouraged.

It is so much easier to tune off their barking, or pet them when they rest their sweet heads on our laps while we are eating dinner, but the truth is that this is quite annoying - specially to our dear family and friends.

So with that attitude and determination, we embark in the lovely journey of correcting bad dog behavior. We have our techniques down to correct both problems - thanks to BarkingDogs.net for straight forward fixes for correcting issue #1 and a bigger thanks to Kerrie and Eric for setting an awesome example on how to correct issue #2.

A Real Saturday?

Due to the obvious nature of our jobs and lives, we rarely get to spend the weekends like "normal" people do. Usually we have to cram our grill outs, celebrations, dinner parties and outings into Monday evenings. This past Saturday, however, all stars must have lined up to our favor, because we got to spend an awesome (whole) day with our friends Kerrie and Eric out in the big city of Atlanta. 

We got up early - funny how getting up early to do something fun does not even compare to getting up early to go to work - and we headed to Your Dekalb Farmers Market (it's not "the", it is "your"). That was a mini paradise for Norm and Eric, although Kerrie and I enjoyed it too - I did not enjoy the part where they had the live fish and lobsters...

We followed that by an awesome lunch - best one in a while - at The Vortex:

Lunch involved Atlanta's Original Nacho Tots:

It also involved lots of laughter and exploring new beers. We discovered Innis & Gun - Oak Aged Beer...  

It also involved (we were there for a little bit) massive burgers all around. This was Norm's burger, also known as "Hell Burger" of course it involved habanero relish, pepper jack cheese, roasted jalapeno peppers:

Due to the pictures and details described above, we were beyond full, so a walk through Piedmont Park hit the spot.

We came across a group of people who were doing some sort of Brazilian martial arts. It was quite amazing.

From there (I think this day must have had at least 30 hours in it instead of 24) we went to:

Have you ever been part of a conversation, or witnessed a conversation, where one party has been to IKEA and the other party has not? Usually they go like this:

Person who has previously visited IKEA: I got this (insert whatever household item here: plate, vase, bed, comforter, cutting board, desk, lamp, shower curtain) at IKEA.
Person who has not previously visited IKEA: I've never been there
Person who has previously visited IKEA: WHAT?!?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'VE NEVER BEEN TO IKEA????? YOU ARE MISSING OUT. BIG TIME.
Person who has not previously visited IKEA: ........................................... (in their head they are thinking: I don't get what's the big deal).

Well, if you haven't been to IKEA, you are missing out. Big time. This was Norm's and my first trip to IKEA. I can only describe it in one word: overwhelming. The store is a world contained by the four exterior walls. You can buy food there (they have a cafeteria and just in case you really love their food, like my brother Pablo, you can buy it frozen and take it home and eat it in the comfort of your own home). That's all I'm going to say, because I don't want to bore the non-IKEA visited readers. Just go, you'll get it when you go.

To give you an idea, this is the hallway that leads to the restrooms (of the first floor). You can buy that couch. And those pictures on the wall. And the mirrors next to Eric.

This was our first (but not last) IKEA purchase!

We followed IKEA with dinner at the Graveyard Tavern which allowed for more beer tasting and great people watching. Sorry, no pictures of that, I was too tired by then.

All in all, our super packed day was a total blast! I don't know if we will ever get to relive something like that with our friends, so I am cherishing every memory and moment in the meantime!

Retirement Song? Why Not!

This morning Norm tells me: Love, yesterday I heard a song that is going to be our retirement song. Obviously I was confused, so I replied: what do you mean? He tells me: pull up Knee Deep by Zac Brown Band featuring Jimmy Buffett. So being the good wife I am, I pulled it up and found this song (there is no official video (that I can find), then again, I am internet-searching challenged so the official video can very well be out there and I'm just not searching properly, so just listen to the tunes. Also, the first few lines, don't particularly apply to our retirement, FYI. And yes, yes it is a country song) :

Favorite lines:
* Got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair
* Only worry in the world: is the tide going to reach my chair?
* My mind on a permanent vacation; the ocean is my only medication; wishing my condition ain't ever gonna go away
*This champagne shore washing over me; it's a sweet sweet life living by the salty sea

So what does Fernanda do best when she finds a song she likes? She plays it over and over and over and over and over - so that's what I did this afternoon! I almost know the whole song by heart! I love it!

My Food Went Missing

I guess there's a first time for everything... today was the first time that I've had food (that I was going to eat) go missing from the work refrigerator... It's one thing to have your food disappear because it's been sitting in the work fridge for a week and someone cleans it out... It's totally different to get up to grab your snack (that you just put in the refrigerator at 3 hours ago) and it's gone. Which is exactly what happened today.

The only thing I can imagine that happened (besides someone being totally clueless and oblivious to their surroundings as they removed food that they did not recognize) is that someone grabbed my food by accident. HOWEVER, I do have to include the fact that:

The top shelf of the fridge had a Publix Deli bag with deli turkey (laying flat, like a normal-looking deli baggie with deli meat in it).

The middle shelf of the fridge had my snack which consisted of: a zip lock baggie with two deli chicken, spinach and balsamic vinegar roll ups. Obviously the two deli chicken roll ups were not flat (like the turkey), they were cylindrical looking - with green centers and vinegar all about them.

HOW you get those two items confused and grab the wrong one by accident? [refer to first sentence of second paragraph above]. The only thing in common is that 1. they are both in a baggie and 2. the food in it is deli meat.

Regardless of whatever happened (that I'll never know), I was an upset (and eventually hungry) person right around 3:30pm this afternoon...