Meet Annabelle Sage Ash

She will be 8 weeks old tomorrow. Born May 6th, 2009. She is a purebred yellow lab with AKC registered parents (mom was yellow; dad was chocolate). She is the exact opposite in personality of Lily. Where Lily does what you tell her, Miss Annabelle does only what she wants. We're working on potty training and keeping her out of the kitchen. All she thinks about is food. She is so hungry! And thirsty! And trust me, you do not want a un-potty-trained pup drinking tons of water. More details and pics to come.

Don't Tell Mom

I'm serious. Please don't tell her.

She is nameless. 7 weeks and 2 days old and a pure yellow lab. That's all I can say.

Lily May Be Getting A Sister

We're baby crazy. Lily is 15 months old and it's just too hot to take her out to play even in the evenings. It's 105 again today for goodness sakes. And if she had a little sister they could play and play in the living room. We have an animal friendly house. My kitty Sage is officially gone for good so we're down two just Andy and Lily.

We want another Lab because Lily has made me a lab person for life. If I move I'll take the baby and Arthur will take Lily and so it will make that process when it comes so much easier.

Charlie (now my parents little dog) woke up my parents yesterday to a huge fire coming up the back of their townhome. Without his bark, our family's stuff could've been in danger. So, I want the protection and the companionship that only a pup can bring. Wish us luck as we try to find another dog as perfect as Miss Lily Princess Blattman.

Grrrr

I just got to work after a morning ankle doctor check-up. According to my hero, Dr. Dalton, I am officially ahead of the curve in my recovery from surgery performed two months ago yesterday. However, when I got to work and checked my email I was surprised to find an email from my boss asking for a list of our responsibilities by the end of the week. Apparently budget reviews are coming soon.

All I want is to keep this job until I'm closer to finishing physical therapy (I need the insurance) and/or I get my TV job. I'm working furiously on both goals, trust me. So, yeah, why can't things just go the way I want them to go?

Done whining. For now.

I'm getting pretty good at Dr. Mario.

Craziness

So I checked Twitter this morning to find some insane tweets from my fav gossip journalist - Perez Hilton. He claims he was assaulted by Will.I.AM, the frontman of the Black Eye Peas.
Here's an article with the dets.

Here's what I saw on my Twitter:

PerezHiltonI won't be talking about this any further. It is in the hands of the authorities.about 5 hours ago from web

PerezHiltonThank u all from the bottom of my heart for ur concern. The police are investigating the assault now. I did the right thing by reporting it.about 5 hours ago from web

PerezHiltonThe Toronto police are here now. Thank you. Please stop calling them.about 6 hours ago from Sidekick

PerezHiltonI spoke to my lawyer. I really need to talk to the authorities. Please come to the SoHo Met Hotel. Have called the police. Need them here.about 6 hours ago from Sidekick

PerezHiltonStill waiting for the police. The bleeding has stopped. I need to document this. Please, can the police come to the SoHo Met Hotel.about 6 hours ago from Sidekick

PerezHiltonI was assaulted by Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas and his security guards. I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke.about 6 hours ago from Sidekick

PerezHiltonI'm in shock. I need the police ASAP. Please come to the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel now. Please.

TV Reporter for HIRE

I have now applied for 14 jobs across the state, plus, ones in Alabama, Florida and Arkansas over the past two weeks. I am not stopping there. I check every station in Texas every other day hoping to find a new opening. I hope that with my year and a half experience in the newsroom I don't have to compete with all the fresh college grads with zero experience. But there's only so many jobs out there with the economy the way it is and so many young people like who just want to be on TV reporting the news. So, who knows? But I have dedicated the next three months to getting my next on-air job - whatever it takes.

So if you know anyone in a small or smaller mid-sized market - tell them about me. Email them my resume (I'll email you a copy). Spread the word. Everyone who knows me knows I should be back where I belong - reporting and anchoring local TV news. I'll move anywhere, but I don't like cold weather much. But, hey, I'm ready for an adventure and if that means conquering my fear of cold - then, I'm willing and able!

Happy Juneteenth!
Today, marks the historic day that Texan slaves were finally freed - two and a half years late. See this article for the dets (short for details). Pretty interesting stuff and a little controversial. However, Juneteenth is a state holiday and only skeleton crews have to work. I am only in the office to make sure nothing crazy happens, and if it doesn't (and it won't) I'll be home for lunch. Plus, I get a few hours to take off whenever I want. I'll sure miss this part of working for the state.

I hope you have a great weekend - Don't forget to call daddy on Sunday for Father's Day. You should've sent a card!!! I sent my daddy the book He's Just Not That Into You because that's what he wanted. I asked if he was joking and he said, "nope". So, that's what he'll be getting in the mail. And I sent him a really sweet daughter/father card. He does so much for me. He deserves his own blog entry devoted to his dedication. That was some awesome aliteration, right?

Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I love you!!! Now, please get one of your colleagues to hire me, OK?

New Toys

I've decided why waiting to have kids until your 30s is absolutely the smartest thing you can do: New Toys. I grew up one of four kids (all three and half years apart) and I always wanted new toys. My parent are upper-middle class, but four kids and a stay-at-home mom (Bless you, Lalah) keeps you forever wanting. My mom was my age when she got pregnant with me and for the next few years kept poppin' out. My claim to fame is that I was the only planned pregnancy.

Well, last night Arthur brought home Wii Active. We have been talking about getting it and Wii Fit since he got the Wii about a month ago. However, I decided to wait until I could actually use it (ankle surgery). But he decided to get it. He starts playing it while I watched and we realized how awesome it is. It's like a real personal trainer - BUT SO MUCH CHEAPER. Arthur creates his physical profile and completes his first work-out. We're both blown away by the awesomeness of it. Right away he says he have to get Wii Fit now. You can use the Fit board with the Active.

He leaves, comes back and here is our new Wii Fit. The profile part is even better (it weighs you and gives you your BMI and stuff). I told him when I set mine up he has to leave the apartment and I teased about password protecting it since it tells you if your overweight or obese. Turns out YOU CAN password protect your weight and stuff. NICE. Anyway, as it turns out the Wii Fit is mostly about balance and stuff which is exactly what I'm doing in Physical Therapy. So I am so excited about doing more PT exersizes at home and maybe speed up my two more months of recovery. This is awesome, right???

So back to why it's truly smart to wait and have kids - if Arthur or I had kids we would be buying them kid toys and not enjoying our money ourselves. It really is such a short period that you make enough money (well, Arthur, not me, makes enough) that you can actually buy things you want - whenever you want. When you're a kid you depend on your parents and they ain't driving to Best Buy on a whim to buy Wii toys and when you become a parent you have so many real responsibilities.

So I am going to really enjoy these years without worries, responsibilities (oh, I know I have bills and shit) and appreciate them. I have plenty of good child-bearing years ahead of me.

Now let's play with our big girl and big boy toys!!!

My Grandma Died & I Heart SIMS 3

I didn't write last week because I was outta town for most of it. My grandma Lerie died overnight a week and three days ago. My mama, daddy and brother Ryan and I drove out to West Texas Midland on Sunday (a week from yesterday). Emily flew from Fresno, CA and Elliott flew in from his internship in Washington D.C. the next day.

A visitation at the funeral home was held Tuesday evening. As soon as I walked in the place my anxiety level was through the roof. Tears came quickly. I am not good with death. It's official. I could not make it the same room with the open casket. I finally got the guts to see her from a few feet away. I just don't like dead bodies - that's not the image of the deceased I want to keep forever. Ya know? I will be cremated - cool?

The next morning, Wednesday, June 10 at 10 AM, a graveside service was performed by the minister from her last church in Midland (she's been living with my aunt/assisted living in Houston and Alabama for the past three years). My mom and Aunt Berta, both spoke about the family's favorite memories of Grandma Lerie. I hope someone does this for me at my funeral. But I also want my fav music played.

Grandma Lerie was the only grandma I knew. My daddy's mom, Grandma Jo, died after cancer when I was 8. Grandma Lerie called me "Margon" and my siblings and Ryan Rawlings loved to tease me about that. She watched soap operas every single day. Books, the Astros and "her programs" were her life. This will sound bad, but my mom and I learned something important from her: Do not let TV rule your life - be loving, up-for-anything and a fun grandma. That's something Grandma Lerie wasn't. But we miss her. I only have one grandparent now - Pa.

This past weekend I didn't have much to do for a change. I took care of some car business that needed to be done for months. Oil change, cleaned out Xmas wrapping from 6 months ago and a car wash. My car is so clean and it feels great. Can I only keep it that way for more than a few days? I'll really try. Yesterday, I played the SIMS 3 game until 4 PM. Seriously, I never do that anymore. I've decided I love this game. The opportunities, wishes and community places are my favorite changes to the game. You'll just have to play it to understand. My Sim had two baby boys yesterday, but I couldn't figure out to get the baby daddy to marry her. So sad and she became an 'elder' before her youngest made it out of toddlerhood. So I gave her a makeover to make her look younger. Sims 3 is radical.