Ding Dong Ditcher!

The UPS man!! Yeah, you didn't see that one comin' did ya? :) It's true, my UPS guy ding dong ditches me when he delivers my soap supplies! The door bell rings, 5-10 seconds later I open the door and no one is there... I look out and see the UPS guy's back side as he climbs back into his truck. On a good day he yells, "thank you." Are you kidding? Since when are UPS guys ding dong ditchers? When we first moved to Hays, our UPS guy, Terry, was awesome. It probably helped that he knows my uncle, who is his co-worker, but I think this guy is just genuinely friendly. The way he delivered my boxes was much different than the new guy. Terry would pull in the drive, hop out, give Trixie a milk bone, ring the doorbell, greet me with a smile and either hand the box to me personally or ask me where I'd like him to set them down. He was always in a hurry, but always had time to make sure he was friendly and did his job to the customer's satisfaction. I really miss him!

Yesterday I received my order from one of my packaging suppliers. It was a somewhat huge order of jars. I was working in the soap shop when the doorbell rang, but I assumed with the kids upstairs they'd take care of it. When I came up into the living room I saw the box. It was about 4 cubic feet - enormous AND heavy. I said, "Oh, my jars are here" and Ciara's reply was, "yeah, and he left this box on the porch, rang the doorbell and was back in his truck by the time I got to the door which was like a few seconds after he rang the bell... I had to carry this big box in myself." Geesh. What a change. I know those guys are on a tight schedule and work long hours, but I have to say I definitely preferred the service I got from the previous guy. I'm pretty sure that my 2 uncles that work for UPS aren't ding dong ditchers, but my UPS guy is! Maybe one day I'll see him coming and stand in the door so he can't ding dong or ditch.

Yes, for real!

This morning I filled up my gas guzzling SUV for only $25.27!!

Wow... sure beats the $65 - $70 I was paying prior to the gas price plunge. I LOVE IT!! I just wanna drive my trailblazer, all day long... wherever I wanna go... until all the gas is burned out. That way I can fill it up again - for under $30. WOO HOO!!!! :)

Playin with the Democrats

Ok, so this would be some "good fun that is funny"...

I'm pretty sure it would chap their chittlins!

Here's how it goes down...

First... President Bush resigns.




















Then Dick Cheney becomes President and appoints Condoleeza Rice Vice President. Two weeks later he resigns, and...














Condoleeza Rice becomes the first BLACK, WOMAN President of the United States of America!!!!

(oh, AND she's Republican)












Whatta ya think? ha ha I think it's genious, I only wish I had thought of it myself! Muwah ha ha! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I know, cheesy. :) Seriously though... I am thankful for so many things, I'm not sure there'd be space here to list them all. We are so blessed. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Love and hugs,
jamimania

Vikings and ladybugs and bunnies... OH MY!

So... the kids had their costume dance Friday nite at school and it was pretty fun gettin' all dressed up. Once Brandon and Ciara were ready, I got Shoogie dressed and we took some photos to commemorate the fun before heading next door to Grandma's to show off our costumes. The kids were vikings:


And Shoogie was a ladybug



Trixie even got in on the fun... she was a bunny




Here are a few more fun photos from the evening











My kids have always loved to dress up... Halloween is just a good excuse to take their "getups" out in public. :) Hope you gotta kick out of the pix.

Ciara's Ponderings

My precious daughter has created a blog of her own so you can keep up on what goes on in "Ciara's world" (as she calls it). She is charming and witty and a quite talented writer that comes up with some pretty interesting stuff. If you like to laugh, you'll enjoy it.

Check it out!!

Ciara's Ponderings

Recipe for ME!

The Recipe For Jami

3 parts Superiority 2 parts Happiness 1 part Mania Splash of Panache Finish off with a little umbrella and straw

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

I came across a recipe generator for names and thought it was pretty ironic that I am 1 part "Mania", considering that my blog title is Jamimania. :)Not sure about the superiority thing (will have to do a little self-examination on that one) - but I'm usually happy and manic, so I think it's pretty accurate. You should try it and find out what your "recipe" is!

"Shoogie No-No!"

I really think that's what our puppy thinks her name is... "Shoogie No No" because that's what she hears all the time when she's getting into something she's not suppose to. She is a pretty good little puppy, but like all puppies, she is a chewer and an explorer. You can see from the photos that she's a great help with the laundry and has a special fondness for (uh hem) underwear. Geesh, what a little creep. We have to keep the door closed on laundry day so she can't get into laundry waiting to be put in, but she loves it when those fresh baskets come out so she can snoop and see what kind of "goodies" are in there. She also likes socks and pulls them through the holes of the laundry basket when they're not reachable so that she can play with them. ha ha. It's actually pretty cute. She does lots of cute stuff, really and we are amused with her about a hundred times a day. We are annoyed with her about only 4 or 5 times a day so I guess that's pretty good statistics. *smile* Not so cute was when she chewed through the power cord for Luke's computer. (UGH - he wasn't too impressed) - but you have to watch her at all times and if you can't commit to that, then she has to stay in the exercise pen. She can be a handful, a fluffy, sweet, little handful.

The potty training is going well, though some days I think we're the ones that are trained - we have to be sure to take her out when she may have to go. But I was impressed the other day, she sat at the front door and looked at me, then looked outside, then looked at me like "are you gonna take me out or what?!" I took her out and she did need to go, so I was a proud momma. She really is a blessing to our family and we adore her, though I don't know what we'll do with her on vacation unless we find a cabin in Estes Park that will let us bring her along. My cousin said that she'd keep her, but she's in China. Go figure! :)

She is going through her adolescent stage and losing a lot of her puppy hair and trading it for lighter, thick, adult hair. She looks kinda funny, but her face is still really soft and fluffy. Seems like she will need to grow into her legs, but I hope she won't grow TOO much more as she is already 5 pounds which is the weight the breeder said she'd likely be full grown. She will have her first groom on July 3rd and will need to have her "no babies for me" surgery sometime in July as well since she will then be 5 months old and we don't want to deal with all that comes with a "coming of age" girl puppy.

So that's the latest on Shoogie No No, Shoogs, Shooger Booger, Shooger Baby, Shooger Bear, Baby, Precious... the list goes on of her names. Rarely is she called Sugar, but that's the name she was given. I guess when you have a lot of nick names that is an indicator of love? We love our little Yorkie Poo.

Happy Day!

Yesterday was a fabulous day in Hays, Kansas! 74 degrees... who can complain about that?! Trixie, our precious little Australian Shepherd/Border Collie, was long past due for a bath. She is a white dog, but had taken on a tannish gray appearance and became very sad when she pranced her cute self up to someone for some lovin' and pettin' and there were no takers due to her less than desirable dirty appearance. This is usually Luke's job, but he was out of town - so I took it on knowing how desperate the poor girl was for a bath. She was a bit apprehensive at first, but with some stern direction she came to me and let me bathe her... what a good girl! She's white again and after a washin' her collar is also clean again. The best part is when she decided to shake herself off... onto the girls who were sunbathing on the front deck! :) There was lots of screams and laughter.She then joined them in sunning herself and provided several cute photo opportunities with her "am I pretty?" expressions. She was actually "smiling" in the photo of her and her sister, Ciara just hangin' out like girlfriends. I'm afraid some of our kitties were just a little more than attentive to Ciara and Tina as well. ha ha.Trixie is always a good subject for my picture taking and always has to be right there in the middle of everything. :) She's got personality comin' out her ears and we just love her to bits. She is the best dog ever.

Actually... everyone was in a great mood yesterday due to the perfect weather and we had a lot of fun together. Brandon was at his first day of track practice and the girls and I hung out for a while then went on a Taco Bell run in Ciara's car. It was fun!I think we've all had cabin fever... seems we were all beginning to get a bit grumpy and irritable from being cooped up for such a long winter - but things are turnin' around and we gladly welcome spring and spring break - which is next week.

It was such a great day and Trixie seemed so proud of her appearance after her first spring bath, I just thought I'd share the joy! :) Have a great day yourself, it's gonna be another nice one here.

"Charlie Bit Me"

I laugh even just thinking about how cute this video is, thought you might like it too! :) Check out the British accent on this little guy, oh my goodness! Adorable!!!!