Why, Sharks? Why?!

Andy and I like to think we're very clever. We might be. We had a brilliant plan to take Elise to a Sharks game for her birthday. So, we picked a non-school night near the big day and bought tickets. The Sharks were hosting the Chicago Blackhawks, and it was going to be a big game.

It was big alright. Whatever you do, don't try to zoom in on the scoreboard in this picture-it will just make you sad. Unless you're the mean, spiteful type that likes to see a perfectly good hockey team go down in flames.


In spite of a truly abysmal showing by the Sharks, we all had a great time. One of the fans in front of us turned around at the end of the game and told Elise that she had been the best part of the whole game. Couldn't have said it better myself!

Thanksgiving with the Whites

For a second year in a row, our good friends Dani, Brad and Rista invited us to share Thanksgiving with them. The food and the company were wonderful, and it was a Thanksgiving in the grandest sense of the word. This year was hard because Dani's mom Trudy was not with us. We missed her.

I didn't manage very many pictures as we were all busy talking and laughing and eating, but here are some good ones of the girls!


The tradition of an olive on every finger, as begun at last year's dinner:


Our hostess "Olive Fingers" Rista. Note the beautiful feathered placecards-she made those and we kept ours they're so cute.

After dinner, while the grownups talked about boring stuff, the girls played with their new Three Muscateers Barbies while mostly ignoring Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.

Hope your turkey day was as well stuffed with friends and good cheer as ours was!

Woefully Behind

It appears to be nearly a month since the last time I wrote anything here. Of course, not much happened. Like Thanksgiving, or our girl turning SIX. I blame it on the disorganization of my electronic life.

I was spending a lot of time on Facebook and then decided it was a waste. So I tried Twitter again for a little bit. That was dumb too. I like the longer format of blogs, but I don't think I've so much as looked at my reader feed in a month, so maybe I don't like blogs as much as I think I do. The long and the short of it is that the pressures of interacting with all of the different social media have proven too much. Very few emails are getting answered, phone calls returned, etc. Maybe I'm preparing to hibernate?

Regardless, there will be several entries immediately following that should bring all and sundry up to date on what we've been doing here!

Yesterday was Monday

I'm pretty glad to see the other side of that one, all things considered.

We started off well, but things devolved when I went looking for the camera so I could take a picture of the awesome note Elise wrote for her teacher. It was really cute. I have no picture to show you. Why? Oh, our new camera, our shiny new camera, has gone missing. The theory, after a day and a half of turning the house topsy-turvy, is that it fell into the bin of newspapers to be recycled, and is on its way to a sorting facility. It would be a wonderful and stunning surprise to find the thing, but I'm not holding my breath. This whole thing is making me blue enough already.

Then, to add insult to injury, I discovered a dead hummingbird on our back step. It had clearly flown into the sliding glass door at top speed and broken its neck. Its little tongue was sticking out, and it was still warm when I found it. And leaving an alarmingly large puddle of blood for such a little thing. This morning, I spent a lot of time outside with Daisy, listening for the hummingbird who has sat in the tree near the garage and scolded us from the day we moved in. It was very quiet.

So, now that I've mourned the yuck that was Monday, I'm on to Tuesday (finally, at 2pm) and ready to get back at it.


***********MAJOR UPDATE***************

Wouldn't you know it, but I did put the camera in a special place to keep it safe. Finally found that place just now, and am a happy camper. Doubly so because there is a hummingbird busily screeching away in the back yard. I usually have a real problem with Wednesdays, but today may well change my mind...

Live, Mixed Martial Arts

After a lot of roughhousing on the ice during tonight's Sharks/Blues game, Randy and Drew made the best ever announcement of an upcoming sporting event at the Pavilion.

"Live, mixed martial arts return to the HP Pavilion," said Randy.

Hahahahaa, Andy and I said to one another. We're looking forward to the next home stand. Hahahaha. Oh wait-you mean actual mixed martial arts, not hockey? Give the fans some notice, wouldja?

Oh, and if you haven't met the elements with TMBG yet, you should. We can't get that song out of our heads here. Science is real! At some point I will share the deep mathematical thinking their Here Come the 123s album inspired in Elise. Somebody remind me...

Sharks!

Elise has been desperate to get to a Sharks game this season, and I "finally" obliged for the 7th home game of the season. (Man, they've been on the road a lot!) With Andy out of town most of the week, and two days off of school in the middle of the week besides, it seemed like the thing to do.

And was it ever! I love going to the Pavilion with Elise. She really gets into the roar of the crowd, the cheering, and the junk food. Now that I think of it, maybe we'll have to cut back on the junk food part of the experience. At any rate, we had some serious fun.

We started with a little pre-game show at home. Note how Elise is standing next to her new favorite player, #41 Jed Ortmeyer:

We also got a pic of her with Brody Brazil, but that was an accident and will not be posted publicly unless the guy stops acting like such a gung-ho nitwit during the broadcasts.

Moving on...

Game-wise, the pertinent facts are these:
The Sharks played the Nashville Predators, and whumped them 4-3 in what seemed a strangely lackluster and sloppy performance from where we were sitting. It was great to see Devin Setoguchi (#16) back on the ice after an injury. We got to see Greiss between the posts, and wow does he give some confidence.


Here is one happy kiddo before the start of the game:

No, honestly, she's overjoyed but getting sick of Mom trying to get a decent pic and would like me to put the camera down already so we can get all excited and start eating hot dogs.

*****
Holy moly-I started this post a virtual lifetime ago, and now have completely lost my train of thought. Hmmmmm... I think I'll throw some pictures on this baby and call it a day. Go Sharks!

Daisy gets a second haircut

My oh my it was time for our girl to have a haircut and a thorough bathing. With all of that curly, wonderful fur on her feet, she was getting to be quite the mud sponge. Stinky, too.

I called up Nancy at Just 4 Paws, and she showed up right on time with plenty of compliments for our fuzzy puppy. I love her awesome trailer setup.


Everything went smoothly, and we now have a gorgeous, fluffy puppy. Behold!

And yes, that is the stick from a lollipop sticking out of Elise's mouth. Halloween candy will probably make her teeth fall out. Note how Elise also looks a little rummy. Slightly later bedtime on Monday, and she's feeling it by late afternoon. Luckily, she gets to go to bed early. Daisy is not so lucky. Apparently, training and grooming in one day are a lot for a dog...