Jeanne hit the nail on the head when she told me the photo would look better cropped. The original is on my Facebook and Flickr.

Here’s the cropped version:

Once upon a time, someone received a letter from Michigan’s Secretary of State saying that said person was among the worst 6% of drivers in Michigan. In that person’s defense: all of the points against her were from speeding tickets. Most of those tickets were issued when she was behind the wheel of a certain vehicle nicknamed CMT.

This morning on my way to work, I got the lights flashed at me by an oncoming cop car. I looked down at my speedo and realized I was driving 75.

It really is the car’s fault. Just ask SimonSays about how nice that car cruises at 70.

SimonSays has a nephew (that is going to turn 5 soon) that they were concerned about being able to talk. He has a speech impediment and sometimes someone (dad or siblings) has to do translation to tell us what he said. Other times, we understood perfectly clear.

Like when he says stuff like:

• Can’t skip rock, gonna put them down my underwear.
• Take my picture!
• Whut! We didn’t buy nuttin’?
• 10 days.

Stories behind the bullets:

• WingNutNephew’s brother had learned to skip rocks the last time he visited his grandfather. {I failed at skipping rocks at Bill’s place. Dammit … I was so good at that when I was a kid.} WingNutNephew tried so hard to skip rocks and even tried to fake it several times by throwing out a few rocks making us think it was a skip. Then he said “Can’t skip rock, gonna put them down my underwear”. Haven’t heard if his parents found rocks in his underwear.
• This is what earns him the moniker of WingNutNephew. He wanted us to buy that for him and when we told them was we would not, he said “Take a picture!”
  
• After visiting SimonSay’s dad, we made a couple of stops at a store for whomever needed whatever … when WingNutNephew & I were exiting the building, he says to me “Whut!? We didn’t buy nuttin’?” I tried to explain to him that every exit through checkout didn’t mean you were buying something … and I completely laughed all to hell the whole way back to home/hotel after that.
• WingNutNephew came downstairs when we are all dressed up and leaving for the wedding. He asks, “Is everyone getting married?” SimonSays asks him, “If I marry Bonnie, how long should I keep her?” WingNutNephew’s response, “10 days.”

We applied for an extension.

I decided what I am going to do to decorate my scarf. I am going to make a mini-quilt … the front side from the “Play Strong” neckerchief & the back side having the names of my friends and families beloved pets.

I was so young when I saw Patches laying on the porch after been having been hit by a car, and Mom took her to the vet to get put down. I cried the whole entire time I thought I wasn’t going to see that little mutt anymore. Patches was going to have puppies soon, but they were taken in order to save her life. Mom had a family to support, but paid for an expensive surgery and hip replacement job for Patches. Several years later, Patches died not long after Mom’s death. Heartbreak is my only answer.

Playful was always deemed as the dog “that was here before you”. It annoyed me to no end that ExH’s family considered her a barn dog. The barn was her favorite place, but I would sneak her into the basement when it was really cold. She hated that … it was like she was gonna get caught. A blanket I found in the barn became mine and Playful’s spot when the blanket was spread out on the lawn on a warm day. During the final years of my marriage and Playful’s life, it was that blanket and McDonald’s french fries that kept us happy. Playful died a long, horrible death due to Lyme disease that someone didn’t want to treat or spend the money to put down. Playful’s blanket became Annie’s wubbie and now resides at Auntie Ruth’s.

I do not like cats, but  did grieve for Susie when Oreo went missing and rejoiced when the fatty was found. I cried for Ruth when Gordon died. I am entertained when Tiger torments my dogs.

Pets are part of family.

Annie … Della … Charlie … Belle … Pino … Bidwe … Mishi … Denzel … Reggie … Sadie … Oreo … Lucky

Friends & Family … send me all of the names because they are going on the back of the neckerchief.

A series of circumstances forced me to take matters into my own hands yesterday.

I decided that I could replace my CMT’s car stereo on my own.

Once I got the old one pulled out of the dash, I stared at all the wiring and wondered WTF was on my mind to do make that decision.

It took a lot of swearing and notes and picture taking … the picture taking because if things didn’t work out at least I’d have photodocumentation of how I took it apart so I could get it back together.

The brunt of my frustration came from this:

The wiring harness. On the left you see the connection to the old stereo. On the right is the connection to my car’s system. It took me like eleventy-billion hours to get the thing out (Is it just because it’s a convertible or are they all that awful?) … and then I couldn’t figure out what I had to do with it after that.

One thing you cannot see is the harness to my new system, but at least I had a wiring diagram for that. The connection to my car’s system did not. Webbernet research was not helping because there are as many wiring harnesses as there is dog fur shedding off of Annie.

In my frustration, I took a beer and the wiring mess out on my deck to cuss it out. I barely had my beer cracked when I noticed that all of the wires on the right have labels printed on them.

HALLELUJAH!

It took me a while to figure out what each wire said because I did not have my glasses or a magnifying glass, but they are figured out.

Yes, today, I am going to pretend I am a car audio electrician.

The scarves arrived!

Design Gives Back projects help the world through creative action. Right now people are abandoning dogs and cats at an alarming rate because of home foreclosure and job loss. Can you imagine having to give up your precious little family member? Heartbreaking. Simply by decorating an Oliver Wendell “Play Strong” scarf and sending a pic of your creation on your dog–or a friend’s dog–you will earn a $10.00 donation to help these abandoned pets. So, simply by applying our creativity to making a cute scarf we can raise $2,000 for these needy friends!

We have a sponsor that will make a $2,000 donation if we decorate 150 scarves.

One-hundred scarves have been sent out. Fifty more needed to get sent out, decorated, and the picture posted by July 6th.

Read more here.

1st post of decorated scarves.

I was so excited to see that the design is going to fit within the template I have for my fitted dog neckerchiefs:

Now I just have to a) figure out what I am going to do to decorate them, and b) get a sewing machine.

This is where the negotiation comes in … a certain brother-in-law of mine needs to use my truck this weekend and he has a sewing machine.

*cue 1978 here* I was angry that I had to be at Mom’s boat landing. It was a hot summer day so I was seeking shade and found a little stream of water at the bottom of a hill to sit by and settle down my pre-tween angst. As I laid there cooling off, I wondered what life would be like if Dad didn’t die. Tears started flooding my eyes. It was the first time since I was told my father was not going to live. I couldn’t understand where they were coming from because I didn’t shed a tear at his funeral or burial. After the tears stopped and I opened my eyes, I looked up the hill and saw an overwhelming bunch of pretty pink blooms that looked like hearts. *end cue*

I was well into adulthood when I saw those blooms again and learned the name of them is “Bleeding Heart”. How appropriate.

They are growing in my yard now not knowing I received them during the perennial flower hijacking/recycling that happened a year ago.

I ran into TileGuy at TheStore (aka the new Menards) and he asked how I was liking my tiles.

“Fine,” I said, “except it doesn’t matter how much I clean them there is still water spots on them.”

He replied, “Rubbing alcohol. And I bet the water spots on those chrome fixtures are bothering you. It works there too.”

My dogs are my kids … and I will never put them in any danger than I would not put myself in.

Having said that, I received a copy of the newsletter that my county’s animal shelter has started publishing. An article in it caught my attention:

Local Laws
Summer is here. Think of your pet’s safety and don’t put dogs in the back of pick-up trucks or allow them to hang out open car windows. Also don’t leave them in unattended vehicles, even for a few minutes.

The following county ordinances are in place to protect animals and the public:

• “No person shall park, transport or carry on any public highway or roadway, any animal in a vehicle, unless the animal is safely enclosed within the vehicle. If traveling in an unenclosed or partially enclosed vehicle (including, but not limited to convertibles, pick-ups, trailers, and flat-bed trucks) the animal shall be confined by a container, case, or other devices that will prevent the animal from falling from, or jumping from the motor vehicle.”
• “No person shall leave any animal in any standing or parked vehicle in such a way as to endanger the animals health, safety, or welfare.”.

Violation.
Violation.
Violation & $247 out of pocket.
Violation.

And that’s only what I’ve documented.

Annie on the lookout for a Harley.

Della’s ears flappin’ in the wind

For the record, I’ve seen two of the four vets in the practice I use riding around with their unrestrained dog hanging out the window. That office is a major contributor to the animal shelter. I wonder if they are aware of the law and/or they read the newsletter.

To: Mother Nature
From: Bonnie
Re: why does your timing always suck

It never fails then when I need a foundation to go in the ground, you dump non-conducive weather on us for days on end and thus throwing a huge monkey wrench into the plans.

Please give me a break for a week. I have three houses that have to be built by October 1.

This song has been sitting on my desktop for months.

Someone sent it to me to make a ringtone for them … that I never got around to doing … and doubt that they still want since I haven’t heard back. However, whenever I’m in a funky mood I will press play. Music is therapy.

A lot of people don’t believe me when I tell them my dog is a lot like me.

Annie’s favorite veggies: peas, corn, broccoli, and carrots.

She also likes popcorn a lot. Oh … and don’t put a banana in front of her … or strawberries.

I took this video of her this week of her eating a piece of corn on the cob. She la-uvs corn on the cob.  If I give her a full piece, she has a paw on each end holding it from rolling away from her. When she was a puppy, she would eat the cob and that would make her upchuck. She knows now to not eat cob. When watching the video, you will see her spit out some corn. That corn has cob stuck to it.

Della is more of a potato chip dog (and why she is on a diet). She pretends to like corn, but hasn’t quite figured out a good fake. She licks the corn and it rolls away because she is not holding it down. Then she takes a little bite and I can tell she is trying not to upchuck. I would take a video of that, but I don’t want to torture MissDell.

And, yes, I let my dog eat corn on the carpet. They are getting cleaned this weekend.

I had one of the scariest moments of my life yesterday. I seriously thought I was gonna be dead.

I pulled into the “turn only” center lane and that’s when I saw a car headed straight towards me. There was nothing I could do but hit the brakes and then sit and wait for the impact.

The blue-haired opposing driver ran the red light then swerved to miss me then carried on his way.

I couldn’t move. The driver in the lane to my right saw it all happen.  He jumped out of his SUV then made me drive to the parking lot. He sat with me in my car until he was sure I was okay. Then he went and got his SUV that he left parked on the road and followed me home to make sure I made it safely.

The man in the beige SUV is an angel. I wish I would have caught his name.

Donna, my cousin and childhood best bud, is getting deployed to Iraq on June 9. There was a family picnic held in her honor this past weekend at the park close to where we all grew up.

Her overseas address was handed out on mailing labels so that we could all send her care packages. Donna’s only requests were: Trenary Toast and Purell.

Back Row: brother Chip
Middle Row: cousin Kitti, sister Pauline, cousin Beth, Auntie La, cousin Donna
Front Row: me, sister Jeanne, sister Jennie
missing from photo: cousin Rick (busy cooking), cousin Tony (camera shy), cousin Jack (not available), sister Sharon (not available)