Look Out Banff Here We Come!

I'm happy to announce that our trip to Calgary/Banff is now official. I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself right now...I really need out of this town as I feel like I'm suffocating. I'm also excited to drive around Calgary so that Jim and I can get to know the town, which will help Jim and I on our decision to move there or not.

We decided to stay in Banff rather then Calgary for this trip. I hear Banff is gorgeous and I'm excited to be staying in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. Jim and I will be staying at the Fairmont Banff Springs...I got a great deal on this world class hotel. Not to mention, who wouldn't want to stay in a castle....wow! At this point, the only activity that Jim and I have planned is to go to a hockey game where we'll be watching the Calgary Flames take on the Nashville Predators. Jim seems to think this will be an exciting game and it will be my second NHL game to watch in person. Here's a picture I found on the web taken of The Fairmont. I plan on taking numerous pictures when I'm there as you can tell the place is awesome! I just thought I would tease everyone a bit.

The Fairmont Banff Springs after a recent snow storm.

Merry Christmas/Happy Boxing Day

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Well I can't believe Christmas is now past us and I'm beginning to think ahead into the new year. Jim and I had a great day yesterday...pretty quiet, but still good. I cooked dinner Christmas Eve (Mexican...yum) and then Mom, Jim, and myself drove to Los Alamos to look at some Christmas lights followed by midnight mass. We were all pretty disappointed by the Christmas lights this year...it really was a let down. Our favorite spot to drive is Los Pueblos on Barranca Mesa where all of the residents line the sidewalks and their driveways with luminaries, your suppose to drive down the road with you headlights off. This is one of the more prominent areas in Los Alamos and typically also has really good light displays. Not this year...the lights were kind of blah. We were thinking since it was pretty late then most families had already turn their lights off...or at least we can only hope. As usual we also saw our share of Griswold homes which gave each of us a nice laugh. I would swear one house in the Denver Steel area had every imaginable inflatable Christmas decoration displayed in their front yard. Keep in mind, that the lawns in the Denver Steel area are very small...which made this look very tacky (sorry I didn't take any pictures of this).

We returned home from midnight mass just after 1am and Jim and I stayed awake drinking wine in front of the fireplace for about an hour. We went to bed just after 2am and got up at 7am to start cooking breakfast. After breakfast we opened our gifts and relaxed a bit before cooking dinner. I should have started dinner much sooner because I didn't realize the turkey I was about to cook was 23lbs and would take 7 hours to cook! Needless to say, we didn't sit down to eat dinner until 8pm. It was very tasty though, and well worth the 7 hour wait. Thank god mother was here, otherwise it would have been much later. For the most part her and I cooked everything together which made the entire process less stressful. Since it was just the three of us this year I didn't need to stress out about food being ready at certain time or making sure everyone was happy and comfortable. I have to admit, this was the least stressful Christmas I've had in memory...

Anyhow, I did take some pictures during the course of the day that I'll share with everyone.

I had to embarrass Nanook and take this picture of him with the antlers on. I think he looks cute, but judging by the look on his face...he's not very happy with me.

Here's the before photo. Our family room was overrun with gifts. Yes, I still have those ugly Motel 6 curtains that I'm hoping to replace them shortly.

Here's Momma laughing about gods know what getting ready to open a gift from Stefanie.

Here's Jim opening up his gift from me...a log splitter. Can't you tell he loves it??

And finally here's Jim testing out that log splitter by making kindling for the fireplace.

Some Christmas Fun

What a wonderful day Jim and I had together. It's the weekend before Christmas and since Jim and I are done with our Christmas shopping we decided to spend the day together. Jim thought it would be nice to spend the day in Santa Fe ice skating at the Chavez Center and I've been wanting to check out the new movie theater in Santa Fe. So, we spent a few hours at the ice rink and then went and saw 'I Am Legend'...it was kind of a weird movie but since Will Smith was in it I knew it had to be good.

Here's a picture I took of Jim today at the rink...I really like this picture.

Speaking of movies, we have a new movie being filmed right here in Los Alamos. The movie is titled 'Brothers' and I have no clue what it's about, but we have some pretty big stars in town. Apparently Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire are here in Los Alamos. It's been a long time since we've had movie stars in town so it's pretty exciting.

Anyway, Christmas is just around the corner and now that I'm done with my shopping I can breath a sigh of relief. Although, I still haven't done my Christmas cards so if I don't get them done and in the mail by Monday I think I'll give up. It looks like Christmas will just be Jim, Mom, and myself so it should be pretty quiet. I'll cook Mexican for Christmas Eve and I'll cook a turkey Christmas Day. As usual I'll be attending midnight mass the night before and I hope to have time to drive around Los Alamos to look at all of the Christmas lights around town. All in all I'm really looking forward to Christmas and the easy week to come.

I have a few pictures to share with everyone today. This first picture was taken earlier in the week of Sasha and Corki sleeping on our bed.

The following pictures are of Corki playing with his Christmas present from my sister. She decided to make all of the animals catnip logs and she was kind enough to send one to Corki and Sasha. Corki loves his log but Sasha isn't impressed...I'm guessing there's not enough parts to interest Sasha. Anyhow, I did manage to take a few good shots of Corki playing with his log (thanks Stef).

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well as usual my life continues to be busy. This is the first weekend in a long time that I haven't had to worry about homework. So, this post is going to be pretty lengthy as I try to catch you up (I hope I don't forget anything). First, let me tell you a little about the site. In case you haven't noticed, I've made a few subtle changes. I updated the family photo so that the site could have a holiday feel (don't get excited, that was last years photo). I've also included a site counter at the very bottom of the page, newsflash at the top of the page, a link to sign our guestbook (yes, please sign it when you get a chance), a link detailing information about "The Secret", and I've also included my favorite poem; Invictus. You should also start to see google ads somewhere on the site beginning any day now. Jim decided to add his own blog so if you want to read what's going on in his head, or read about his seemingly endless hockey stories you can do so at http://www.atomicmapleleaf.blogspot.com/. Or, you can access his site by utilizing my LibertyLinks at the right. While I was in the process of making all of these changes, I managed to lose my LibertyTracks map, which had to be cleared and reset in order to get the map back on the site. Anyway, I've gotten kind of bored with the actual page so I've been researching some other blog templates to give the site a "face lift". I'm hoping to have the entire site revamped after the first of the year...I can't wait to see the final product!

So like I said, this is the first weekend in a while that I'm not stressing out about homework. Last Monday I took my final so I'm now officially on my winter break. Classes will begin again on January 22 and I've already registered for the next semester. Apparently I'm closer to completing my degree then I thought...I just have English and Math left. I think if I bust my butt then I should be able to graduate in May 2009. After I graduate I have no idea what I plan on doing. I'm pretty positive this will be the end of accounting but I'm still really interested in reproductive research. However, I also know I can't pursue reproductive research here in Los Alamos. Which brings me to my next topic...

It's no secret that Jim and I hope to leave Los Alamos once Jimmy turns 18. We haven't officially decided where we would like to move to but we've been talking about either North Carolina or moving to Canada. For those of you that don't know, Jim is originally from Toronto and he would love to move back to Canada. Earlier this year we spent time in Toronto but I wasn't particularly impressed, then one of us mentioned Calgary. I was intrigued and quickly became interested in Calgary after doing numerous internet searches. I also immediately felt a sense of urgency to go to Calgary to check it out for myself. So, Jim and I are in the process of booking a trip to the Calgary/Banff area to take a look around. The trip is scheduled for the first weekend in March and I am beyond excited. We'll be staying in Banff but also spending time in Calgary and I think I'm more excited about Banff then anything else. Banff just seems like such a beautiful mountain town that I know I'm going to enjoy.

In other news I've been trying to get ready for Christmas. I started to get into the holiday spirit once the weather turned cold and the snow rolled in. Since then, I've been on a roll and I've gotten about half of my shopping done. I hope to finish my shopping by the end of next week. Today I wrapped what gifts I do have and I hope to bake my holiday cookies tomorrow. I still have my Christmas cards though...I haven't even started but I suspect they will not take me long.

Neither Jim or I really have any plans for Christmas day. In fact, Christmas will just consist of Jim, my Mom, and myself. This is the first year in memory that I really haven't had any plans. I normally don't even work during Christmas, but since we're not doing anything I decided to work. Honestly, I'm kind of bummed...what a boring Christmas...no traveling, no family, no nothing..ugh.

After Christmas Jim and I will be working hard on Jimmy's bedroom. We decided to switch his bedroom and with the office, which will give him a bigger room. But before we move him, we decided to do some mild remodeling...nothing major, just some paint, a ceiling fan, new blinds and a new bed. I really think it will look nice once we are done. I'll be sure to take before and after photos for your viewing pleasure.

I have a few other topics that I thought I would update everyone on but I think I'll do it during the week. This way I don't bore you with a never ending post.

And The Winning Name Is...

Well after much debate Jim and I finally decided on a name for our new little puppy. We decided on Tundra for the call name and the AKC registered name will be El Norte Tundra del Jemez...providing my translation is correct. I'll have a friend at work check the translation for me but in English it would be, The Northern Tundra of the Jemez. I can't believe how excited we are for this puppy and he's not even born yet.

Anyway, it's Saturday night and so far Jim and I have had a wonderful weekend (we don't have Jimmy this weekend so its been really quiet). We got up early and went to Albuquerque to try and find a new bed for Jimmy. We found a great bed and I hope that Jimmy really likes it. We also went to Lowe's and I picked out some paint for his bedroom. I'm pretty sure I grabbed five different choices and slowly I'll eliminate a few of them and I might be daring enough to allow Jimmy to have the final choice. I'll be done with school December 10th and Jim and I will be spending the next several weekends getting everything cleaned up. I would like to start painting shortly after Christmas and his bed should be delivered either the second or third week of January.

I'll be going into work tomorrow morning and I hope to spend the rest of the day baking some cookies. Jim will spend most of tomorrow working on some computers (I think he has four to do). So that's pretty our weekend....

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

So I thought I would take a few minutes to give everyone a few updates. I guess I'll begin by telling everyone that I had surgery yesterday morning to try and find the source of my pain. A few months ago I met a wonderful OBGYN who thought my pain could be caused by scar tissue that formed after my appendix was removed. I decided to allow her to go inside to take a peak and remove whatever she finds. I went into this surgery anticipating the removal of this scar tissue, but what they found kind of shocked me. My OBGYN didn't find any scar tissue from my appendix, but she did find endometriosis. I was shocked because on two other occasions I've been check for endometriosis (including the day I had my appendix removed) and nothing was found. So now I'm kind of curious to know how long it has been there. I don't have any other information as to what else could have been found, but I should know more when I return to her office for my follow-up. What an odd turn of events....

In other news, Jim and I found out that the dog is pregnant. No, not our dog, but the dog that's carrying our puppy. We're still very excited and the litter should be born the third week of January, which means we hope to bring home our puppy around March 10th. And we still haven't decided on a name yet. I went looking the other day and I came across a few that I sent Jim; Thor, Conan, Zeus, and Amarok....at least we still have several weeks to decide.

We also recently decided to move Jimmy's bedroom. Jim has been wanting to switch the office and Jimmy's bedroom for quiet some time now and it looks like we'll be doing everything in a few weeks when I finish this semester. I have about a month between semesters and I really think it will be perfect timing to patch some holes, paint his new bedroom, install a few ceiling fans and clean everything out. It's not exactly a project I'm looking forward to but in the end it should be nice. I'll be sure to take pictures throughout the project, so keep an eye out for updates within the coming weeks.

I went through the camera today so I think I'll end this post by sharing some recent photos with everyone:

I'll start with a few pictures of the animals, of course I don't have a good one of Corki...

Here are some pictures that my mom took on Thanksgiving.

Mystery Diagnosis

Okay, I know it's been a while since I updated all of you on the pain that I've been getting on my right side. I've been taking birth control pills now for 5 weeks and while I haven't had any major "flare ups" I've still been getting some pain. Luckily nothing has been so intense that I've had to take pain meds, but the pain is waking me up. I'm now back to getting the pain daily at around 4am and it goes away shortly after I've gotten out of bed in the morning. I'm not scheduled to go back to see Dr. Thompson until January but he did suggest that I see an OBGYN (mainly because I haven't had a pap smear in several years) but also so we could get another opinion.

Yesterday I met with an OBGYN from Santa Fe who seems to think the pain is a result of my appendix being removed. When I had my appendix removed, I was told it was covered in scar tissue. I went a year and a half with no pain and now I'm here with the pain again. So what could have happened during this year and a half to cause this pain to return. Well, it would appear that it takes about one to two years for the body to fully heal and form scar tissue around the wound. Unfortunately, to much scar tissue can form and it will begin to contract...causing pain. Scar tissue does not appear on an ultrasound and the only way to find it is to go in and look for it.

So, I've elected to have another laparoscopic surgery to pull the scar tissue out and hope it doesn't appear yet again. At this point I don't have anything scheduled, but I plan on calling the office tomorrow to see when I can be fit in. All I know is it will be on a Tuesday, since she does all of her surgeries on Tuesdays. Since it's laparoscopic it's a quick surgery with a quick recovery. In fact I only plan on taking that Tuesday and Wednesday off from work.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting relief from this annoying pain and I'll update all of you when I find out more info.

Happy Halloween!

So there comes a time in ones life where we must embarrass ourselves. Well, today was one of those days for me. I went to work this morning dressed in my normal work attire...with no plans to dress up for the festive occasion. I hadn't been at work for very long when everyone began asking me where my halloween costume was...I didn't have one. As luck would have it our loan department decided to have everyone dress up as pumpkins for a pumpkin patch theme and they had an extra costume (one employee was out today for a family emergency). And yes, they decided to have me join them in their pumpkin patch.

I felt very naked and "open" today as I walked around in my little pumpkin costume. Oh, I had to go commando for this costume, which is probably why I felt naked. You see, I stood in the mirror after putting this costume on and I realized you could see through it...and right at my black thongs I was wearing today. So, they had to come off....

Anyhow, here are two pictures that were taken today. The first picture was a group shot taken today in the loan department. The second picture is one that Jim took right after I got home...enjoy, and yes please laugh at me if you please.

Luckily, I'm now sitting here in comfy cloths just handing out candy to all of the kids that come by. No more costume..

Fall Has Arrived

I was standing outside in the driveway after I got home from work tonight talking to my mother when I was suddenly struck by the fact that the leaves are really changing colors now. The temperature has begun to change here and there are now leaves resting on our driveway. When mother left I decided to grab my camera and take a few pictures of the tree in our front yard that is in full fall colors...gorgeous actually. Anyway, I thought I would share these photos with all of you.

Puppy Update

Well, I thought I would give you a quick update on our ongoing puppy fever. It's official, we decided to go ahead and get a puppy. I found what appears to be a wonderful breeder in Ravensdale WA. I came across this breeder through terrificpets.com which is pretty much classified ads for dogs. I was struck by a simple picture that was advertising their own website. The malamute in that picture looked just like Nanook, but darker, so I had to investigate. There was something about their site that really struck me...I can't pinpoint it, I just knew these were wonderful people.

While searching their site I was able to find the dog that was pictured on terrificpets.com...his name was Champ Blaze and he was beautiful. So, I sent them an email and told them we were interested in a male puppy possibly from Champ Blaze. I also told them we weren't in any hurry and would prefer to wait until after the new year. Oh, I also included two of my favorite pictures of Nanook. Anyway, to my surprise they responded to me right away (I'm still waiting for a response from the breeder in Colorado that I came across) and I was told that Champ Blaze was set to breed with Staray any day now. Well actually Staray was suppose to be pregnant now, but I was told the timing has been off and they're hoping to have her pregnant shortly. I could hardly contain myself....

So, it looks like we found our match and I'll be sending them my deposit shortly and waiting patiently for word that Staray is pregnant. Since they reside in Washington they did tell me I could have the puppy flown to us, or we could just drive up there. Jim really wants to make the drive but I'm a little reluctant. It will probably still be winter when the puppy is ready to come home and I'm a little concerned about the weather. For some reason I'm thinking that Washington gets hit pretty hard with snow and I'm afraid of road closures. However, it seems kind of weird to have a puppy shipped to you...although we're thinking we should be able to pick him up in Albuquerque.

So, the next subject is what to name the new little guy. Both Jim and I are stuck on Odin..which is a norse god meaning god of war. However, I wouldn't mind at least considering other names. So once again I'm asking all of you to help us out, if you come up with a great name we'd love to hear it. I do want to find something that has to do with Alaska or northern gods. Oh, if anyone is wondering Nanook comes from the inuit mythology meaning master of bears.

If you would like to check out the site for Wokini Alaskan Malamutes their address is as follows:

http://www.wokini-alaskan-malamutes.com/index.html

Puppy Fever

So Jim apparently has puppy fever. We've been debating all weekend about adding another animal to the household. A good friend of ours recently got a blue healer puppy and both Jim and I fell in love with him. So, I did a little internet search and I found a malamute breeder in Colorado. I sent the breeder an email this weekend asking if they have any puppies available and they have yet to respond to me.

Jim and Jimmy are up for a puppy. However, neither one of them has ever dealt with a puppy, and neither one fully understands how hard it will be. Jim says the ball is in my court and the decision is now entirely up to me....ugh. Of course all weekend I've been trying to figure out if a puppy would be right for us and I've made the mistake of viewing malamute puppies on the web most of the weekend. So, how would it impact the house? Let's take a look...

1) Housebreaking a puppy sucks and its very time consuming! I can clearly remember housebreaking other puppies and its no fun at all.

2) Can our furniture hold up to a puppy? Puppies chew...and I still have images of some of our old dogs chewing on the legs of furniture (because they were teething and I'm guessing their gums liked splitters).

3) How would our other animals react? I'm sure Nanook would be happy as hell. I feel bad that he doesn't have a daily playmate and I would swear he looks depressed on some days. Sasha...I think she'll adjust after a few days. Although she will not be happy during those first few days and I'm sure she will not allow any of us to touch her during this period. Corki...I'm afraid another dog will throw him over the edge. He barely tolerates Nanook and he already has mental issues when it comes to him not getting enough attention. The good news here...he'll be bald in about a week and that's less cat hair to vacuum up.

4) More fur....I already vacuum about three times a week so I don't think the extra fur will be a problem.

5) More poop....I know it's gross, but it's also the truth. Jim currently cleans up after Nanook so the extra "yard cookies" will be his responsibility.

6) Two dogs instead of one dag to walk. Unfortunately, I don't walk Nanook nearly as often as I would like...with a puppy I would really have to go walking more often.

7) More sleepless nights. This will be entirely me, I always seem to be the only one that gets up in the middle of the night with Nanook.

8) Two large dogs to feed. Nanook isn't very expensive, but he really doesn't eat a lot. Hell, some days he doesn't even eat at all. Don't get me wrong, there is always food in his bowl, he just chooses not to eat it everyday.

Alright, so that's how it would impact all of us. I must say though...puppies are so damn adorable! Not to mention Nanook really does need a little friend. So, what would you do? Is this the right time to get a puppy? Please help me decide....I'm stuck.

Here We Go A-GAIN

I think most of you remember when I got my appendix removed last summer (July 2006). I was getting persistent pain on my right side on and off for about six months. I made several trips to the ER as a result of the pain and no one could figure out why I was getting this pain. I spoke to one surgeon whom thought it could be a chronic appendicitis which they are just now starting to talk about in medical school. Its pretty rare, but we thought it might be the cause of the pain. So I decided to have my appendix removed and I hoped for the best that we found the source of my pain at last.

When I had my appendix removed I started calling it my miracle surgery. As it turned out my appendix was covered in scar tissue and it did need to be removed. However, only time would tell if the pain on my right side had been stopped. Six months after the surgery I was feeling great and finally confident that I was cured. Having my appendix removed also cured a few other oddities that I suffered from for several years (not realizing it was my appendix). One year post surgery and things were still great!

Four weeks ago I began waking up at about 4am with a dull pain on my right side (centered around my ovary) all the way through to my back. I didn't think anything of it...especially since after I got up, showered, and got ready for the day the pain would stop. On Sunday I started my period and oddly I didn't have any pain on that right ovary. At this point I started to think, okay, it must have something to do with my period. On Monday the pain returned, but this time it was all day and it was more of a throbbing pain rather then a dull ache. On Tuesday I started to panic and I started to entertain the notion that this was in fact the same pain I was getting last summer. Jim urged me to see a doctor and after debating for a while I started calling OBGYN's yesterday morning. I didn't know where to begin since I really don't have an OB. However, I did feel like I needed to be seen that day. Eventually I was able to get an appointment with my former infertility doctor at 3:30. I left work at 1pm, in pain but at least it was bearable. By the time I made it to Santa Fe the pain was no longer tolerable, it was constant, and my feet and hands were going numb. I knew I would never make it to Albuquerque on my own, so I called Jim and asked him to drive me (it was very difficult holding the gas pedal down with a numb foot). 15 minutes later I picked Jim up and instead of going to Albuquerque we went straight to St. Vincents Hospital in Santa Fe.

While at St. Vincents they did an ultrasound, an internal exam, and lots of blood work. And as usual, they found absolutely nothing wrong with me (oh, my feet and hands were going numb because I was hyperventilating). I left the hospital with painkillers and I was told that I suffered from"ovary pain"...kind of sounds like a bullshit excuse in my opinion. So, here I am back to square one on the quest to find the source of this pain so that I may prevent it. I can't help but ask, why did it take over one year for this pain to resurface? What took place during the surgery that placed this pain at bay for over a year?

Today I'm still in some pain, but not nearly as bad as it was yesterday. I've called Dr. Thompson's office already and I'm waiting for a nurse to call me back. Is it possible to suffer from "ovary pain", or is it just an excuse. Anyway, I'll keep all of you updated on this quest as information becomes available.

Midwest Nationals

I wanted to go ahead and make a quick post about our weekend. I spent the weekend with my softball team in Dallas attending the Midwest National Tournament that we qualified for while Jim and Jimmy spent the weekend in Omaha NE. I had a wonderful time in Dallas and our team placed 7th at the tournament. Our defense did really good but unfortunately our batting was not as good as it normally is. Our team consists of several batters that are really good and always get really good hits, but for some reason our bats were not alive this weekend and our consistent batters struggled (very unusual). I think one of the biggest obstacles was the fact that our team is not use to playing in that kind of humidity and as odd as it seems the ball doesn't carry as far in the humidity and that elevation.

As for myself, I wasn't hitting well at all and I never even made it to second base. Since I started playing golf this year I've picked up a very annoying "golf swing" when I'm at the plate. And unfortunately that causes me to pop the ball straight up in the infield...which I did on numerous occasions.

Since we didn't really have a lot of teams compete they ended up mixing both the D division and C divisions together and combined the tournament into one day. The one day tournament worked out great and left us with another day to sight see. So on Sunday most of us got together and did the Dallas World Aquarium, The Sixth Floor Museum, and The Palace of Wax Museum. Of course I took several pictures during the weekend so I plan on sharing those with everyone (except for The Sixth Floor Museum that doesn't allow photography).

I'm not sure which adventure I enjoyed the most but The Sixth Floor Museum was very interesting. That museum had footage, facts, and chronicled the events of the day that JFK was killed...very interesting and very moving. Here are some photos for your enjoyment.

Here's a team photo taken right after we were cooked for the day.

Here's a group photo of all of us before we entered the aquarium. We were lucky enough to get a group discount since there was so many of us.

I had problems with my camera in the aquarium, so I have very few photos that turned out decent.

The following pictures were all taken at the Palace of Wax Museum.

So Julie would kill me if she knew I published the following photos....shhh, don't tell her.

Here are a few pictures I took of Ica...she wont kill me for doing this.

Here's me with Opera.

And finally I can't leave everyone without including pictures of Julie, Ica, and myself testing our love factor.

So Julie's love factor is boring....

My love factor came up as lovable...

And finally we have Ica, whom came up as a teaser. I love the look on her face here.

Just Stuff

Instead of making my final post about San Francisco I think I'll talk about something that happened while I was gone. Just before I left for San Francisco my four year old washing machine broke yet again. In April of last year I replaced the motor and apparently the motor went out again. I remember when I bought that washer and dryer, I used the last of my tip money from when I was a waitress at Peppers to pay for them. They were suppose to be a top of the line washer and dryer, so needless to say I wasn't happy when the motor first went out last year. So when the second motor went our two weeks ago I decided they needed to become paperweights at the local dump.

I went shopping for a new washer and dryer the day before I left for San Francisco and I finally decided on the Frigidaire front loader. I know it sounds stupid but I was so excited about the new washer and dryer...I could hardly contain myself. Although I'm not sure if my excitement was for the new machines or for the fact that I wouldn't have to go to the laundromat anymore to do laundry. They were delivered while I was gone so Jim was the first to play with them and so far so good. I've only done two loads at this point and I'm amazed at how quiet they are. You have to be standing right next to them to know they are even running. I would highly recommend these.Today I think I'll also go ahead and include this picture I took of Sasha yesterday. Apparently she wanted to help me load the dishwasher.

The City of San Francisco Part 2

Okay everyone here is the second half of last nights post. This time I will be posting pictures of the expensive housing district that the trolley car took us through as well as pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Here's a picture of Sharon Stone's house.

Here's a picture of Robin Williams' house.

I think this is the house that Mrs. Doubtfire was filmed in. That is if I understood the trolley driver correctly, otherwise this house is owned by the mayor.
Here's the house that Party of Five was filmed in (I use to love that show).

And finally if you're in the market to buy a house then the following house could be the one for you. For just a mere $55 million you could own this lovely house in San Francisco. I think I'll write the check tonight...