To all the sheep...

Dear Sheep and any other animals that contributed to my new and lovely wool coat,

I want to thank you for sacrificing your specialized skin cells. It may indeed be a cold winter for you, if you aren't part of some lonely hunters sheep stew, in which case it will be quite warm for you in that bubbling pot hanging over the open fire. In any case, I offer my gratitude for your tolerating some one's cold grip on your bare little sheep legs as they buzzed all your warmness away. They have made a fine wool coat, which I purchased at 50% off, of your skin cells which go quite nicely with my purple and pink scarves-which I am grateful for as well. You see little sheep-your wool kept me warm today thus my cup of gratitude runneth over.

I salute sheep and your furry friends as well. Your devotion to my warmth has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. May you wander the prairie's of Ireland happy as a little bunny rabbit. May you be granted a life full of specialized skin cell growth and removal. A life service, my little friend, will be a full life indeed.

Sincerely,

Your newest fan

The Day After...

My new love is still archery!

...a little while later in Sherwood Forest

It's way cooler in person...but it's bluer and bluer by the minute. It's crazy awesome and I think my arm will fall off...but it's worth it.

Bows, arrows and talking rabbits?

Once upon a time, in a forest made of foam and concrete a young maiden, okay a maiden stumbled upon a spry young lad who was leaning against a stump talking to a little rabbit and whittling a tree limb. She thought to herself, how odd to find a talking rabbit but asked the spry young lad why he was whittling the tree limb. He responded by telling the maiden he was making a bow and some arrows so that he could hunt a squirrel for himself and his rabbit friend for lunch. A bow and arrows, how interesting she thought and went on her merry way. After a fortnight, the maiden came across the spry young lad who proudly-yet humbly-showed her how, with a little time and a good knife you can turn a tree limb into a beautifully functional bow and some arrows. As anyone would have been, she was greatly impressed with such fine workmanship and skill. After much conversation about the bow, the young lad offered to show her how to use one...of course in case she ran into the Big Bad Wolf while skipping through the forest. With a bow and some arrows in hand, she commenced her lesson. After being laughed at , deservedly so, by the spry young lad for her lack of skill at hitting the target, she noticed her arm and how colorful it had become. Though in obvious discomfort she forged on with excitement coursing through her for this new acquired skill. She thought to herself, how enjoyable and fun....and maybe just maybe one day with a little practice she too could hit the target with the arrow-or at least get closer to it. The end.

The face of obvious discomfort...

Colorful arm, part 1 (about 1 1/2 later)

Colorful arm, part 2

See Papa John, I didn't even tell anyone that it's your fault I will never be able to bend my arm again. :)

oh and ps, archery is the coolest. It's great fun, great exercise and the stress that you release when letting those arrows fly across the room-priceless. I LOVED it and can't wait to do it again.

Happy Halloween!!!

Hillbillies are hot! You know you love a gurl wifout teefs. This was the BEST Halloween at work-EVER! Every one did such a fantasmo job with their costumes and decorations. And yes, apparently you can drink at work. LOL

Don't mind the undies...this was part of our decorations for Halloween. It was our trailer. We had a clothes line with a bunch of undies, socks, bras and stuff. Then we strung up tinsel and Christmas Lights down the rest of our "hall". We had shower curtains for cubbie doors and some great hick photos. It was a blast.

This is our team. Starting from the bottom - Liz, Tiffany, Stephanie, Me, Tobs, Jeremy and Becca. We looked so great. Here we are standing on our "front porch". We had stalks of corn, bails of hay, green plastic grass carpet, an old TV, an eight-track player, moonshine bottles, banjo and a ton of other cool front porch hillbilly accessories.

Hotel DL

So, there were a couple of places that I stayed and out of all of them, the Marriott in the UK was my most favorite. Here they are in order...

Vienna

Uh...see the headboards. Totally gross. Though they were toddler height beds...they were comfy.

The brown thing on the wall-looks like a vacuum was the blow dryer.

The toilet stunk so bad...at first I thought I smelled bad...but then I figured it out...that it was the toilet. And I would have rather used sand paper...I went and bought my own toilet paper.

Marriott-UK

Most comfortable bed in the WORLD. I LOVED IT.

Best bath tub I've ever used. I could lay out-without anything bent and float. SO SO SO relaxing.

London Hotel

Bed wasn't too bad at all...the floors were uneven and I feared that at any moment I'd step right into the ceiling of the room below me. LOL.

In Portugal, I stayed at an old land lady's house. I took pictures but accidentally erased them. Oops.

In Dubai, I stayed at my father and his wife's house-sorry no photos.

Paris

The bathroom and toilet room seemed really nice...until I realized they were like prefab rooms...like the material port-o-johns are made from. After that...ever time I went into the rooms it felt a little like camping. Bath tub sucked but it was a GREAT shower.

Home again

I arrived at the Paris airport around 7:30 for a flight that was to leave around 10:20. I got in the first line (15-20 minute wait), to then be directed to the second line. When I finally got up to the lady checking passports-I was like 4th in line and waited around 30 minutes-she was asking tons of questions-what were you here for, how long were you here, what do you have with you, etc. I was waiting for-do you like boys or girls, do you ever plan on having children or getting married? Did you pee this morning before leaving the hotel? I think she should have used one of those heat lamps and shined it directly into my eyes during the questioning. LOL. After her, I got 2 stickers on my luggage and one on my passport-bright orange ones. Then she directed me into line number 3. This line was the line for my boarding pass. I got up to the gentleman-who was quite nice compared with the others I had encountered. He asked me the same questions but he took my luggage and gave me a boarding pass. THEN...I walked to passport control and security. The line I was in was the green line-and it was HUGE and they were only using one security processing place. UH, HELLO. Any ways, 30 minutes or so later it was finally my turn. I walked through...and once again I got patted down. Seriously, I was getting so used to it...I wish I had someone at home to pat me down for "security reasons." Then I was done...or so I thought...but I was then selected for a random security screening and had to derobe...just kidding. I was selected for a random security screening and had to open my bags and they and myself got swabbed. Finally...I was free to go to my gate. I got to the gate about 10 minutes prior to boarding-it was harder to get out of Paris than it was to get into Paris. Got on the plane and sat by a lawyer guy that apparently thought fat people had cooties and that we were contagious. I thought it was funny how uncomfortable he was. It was a nice flight-food was good, I had a window, slept well, etc. Sadly though-knowing what was just 7 rows ahead of me in first class-ruined my economy experience. LOL.

So, I'm home. I'm happy to be back...it's time to come home but I really did enjoy my journey. Such an amazing blessing from God.