I got a dog

He is pretty cute. Right now his name is Little Buddy. We have danced around the idea of changing it to something tough like Maximus, but we are a bit partial to "little buddy" since we have been calling him that since we got him.

Animals are a lot of work. Actually I am lucky. He isn't very big which means small size poo, and he doesn't need to walk for hours because his little legs are doing like quintuple speed to keep up with me. But there is extra time involved. I have to get up early, spend time with him and take care of this little fuzzy life that lives in my house. I don't mind though. He is a really good dog and a bunch of fun, so the freedom that I gave up is worth it to me. You will probably see him at Christmas TNL- so don't miss it!!!

Did you know dogs dream. I can tell Little Buddy is dreaming because he twitches and whines, even barks sometimes in his sleep. I hope he is having fun adventures chasing rabbits or something. Why do they move like that when they are sleeping? I don't think I do that but maybe I do. I shall have to videotape myself sleeping some night and see if I do funny stuff in my sleep as well:)

Christmas!!! Holy Smokes!!

Every year seems like Christmas comes up so quickly but this year seems like it is in HYPERDRIVE (or HYPERACTIVE for those who made catch this extremely subtle movie reference). I have not gotten a single gift for anyone! Not one! Some of you junior highers may be thinking, "I am in the same boat" but here is the dilema for me- I like to get people things that they asked for. And the lists from my family are starting to get pretty picked over as in other family memebers have already bought x, y, and z. So what does that leaven me with? I think I might have to buy gift cards- which aregreat, I am not knocking them by any stretch of the imagination, in fact I love getting gift cards, but to have everyone open their present and it is a gift card gets kinda boring after awhile. Because I like to see what everyone is getting, we actually go around one at a time and take turns opening so you can see what everyone gets. It is super fun:) Anyway, watching people open gift cards is about as much fun as watchigna snow globe, it's cool for like 2 minutes and then you are bored to tears. Plus they aren't very fun to wrap and I really like wrapping presents. I always buy wrapping paper and Christmas cards after Christmas, because they all go on sale, and then I save them for next year. Genius, I know.

To almost completely switch subjects, the intial blog I was going to write about had to do with Christmas but none of this other stuff. I really wanted to tell everyone that I heard on the radio this morning that Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer is on TONIGHT!!! on CBS at 8pm!!! You cannot miss the claymation-y-goodness that is in store tonight. I love the Christmas specials. I don't own this one or How the Grinch Stole Christmas- which is another one of my favorites, a very close second to Merry Christmas Charlie Brown! which is my all-time favorite Christmas special. So I have to watch them on TV. I haven't seen Rudolf in forever, for a while they kept playing it the day after Thanksgiving and I wouldn't even start looking at my Christmas TV schedule until December so I kept missing it. So I want to catch that and grinch, and Mickey's Christmas Carol, because I really like that one too. I have the Peanuts one on DVD, like I said, and Elf, and A Very Merry Muppet Christmas (also a winner)so I'll be watching those on my own schedule, but i can't wait to watch Rudolf tonight- you should watch it too!!!

Sweet video

I like skateboarding- I don't mean doing it, I am not that cool- but I like watching tricks and stunts that people do. I am always amazed at how high, how fast, and how many spins, flips, etc. they are capable of doing- all under human power, you know, no motor. (that was a huge run on sentence by the way). Anyway- I think that stuff is cool to watch. You gotta check out this video, it is not like other skateboarding videos, same tricks and stunts but the kid is in a wheelchair! Incredible stuff he does. And when he takes off his helmet, he looks like he is only 13-15, so you age, and he is super sweet. Check it out!!! and let me know what you think:)

I am back

I don't know if you know but I was out visiting family in Germany! That is right-I was in 4 different countries in the last 2 weeks, USA, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg. It is kind of sad to say but I didn't realize Luxembourg was a nation until very recently. It is very small and maybe I learned about it in school but I just don't remember studying it in school. I have to say it has a pretty interesting history, as I learned while I was there, and I absolutely loved Luxembourg City, but I don't recall it being on the big map of Europe in "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego," which was the sweetest game show for junior highers back in the day. Rockappella the singing group did all these cool little jingles and you had to know geography and histroy- so much fun. There were 3 contestants and the one with the highest score at the end got to do the final challenge where there was a big map- huge really, that you would run across. The host would say a country and you would run across the map and put a flag on the country. If it was right it would light up. You only had a certain amount of time to get all 15 countries right. Sometime you got Europe or South America- you just never knew what map you would get so really you would need to study all of them. The hardest was always the Africa map. It was so hard because there are so many different countries in Africa and you would have to label 15- you just don't know which 15 they'll pick. So maybe you know where Ivory Coast is but you mix up Narobi and Namibia and you are finished! Anyway- I don't remember Luxembourg being on the map of Europe but maybe it was:)


So I had fun- here are some pics of me in Luxembourg!

Attendance Matters!

Would you believe that the places of all the Tournament Series teams- Nascar, Cyclist, Bikers and Truckers, has COMPLETELY changed? Well it has. And it came down to one little thing I like to call attendance. That's right- today we counted up how many people came from each team and divided it by how many people came the previous week to give us the standard diferential and voila! Cyclists are no longer in first place. Every team changed places- last place team is no longer in last place. First place is now, are you ready for it?, the Truckers! That is right- Spirit Champs and First Place standings! insane!!! And that means that attendance next week may be even more important then ever before. The scores are so close that even if you win the Great Relay, you may not get Magic Mountain. Make sure you bring absolutely everyone you know- even those you don't know to Tournament Series this week!!!

Friends

Transparent relationships are so important. We need to have another person in our lives that knows us, the real us, someone we can depend on and who depends on us. We need real friends- the kind that encourages us when we are down, stands up for us when we are in trouble, and helps us when we are in need.

Eccesiastes 4:9-12 says this: Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

We need to have people like this in our lives. Here is a cool story about friendship:

Friends forever.....The orangutan was in a rescue and not doing well. This old hound wandered in absolutely emaciated and the orangutan snapped to like his buddy had arrived. He stayed with the hound night and day until he was well and in the whole scenario, found a reason to live. They are now inseparable. Isnt that sweet?

I can't believe

it is October!!! And you know what October means. . . Tournament Series!!! That is right, the whole month we will be playing it up & cheering our guts out all for a free trip to Magic Mountain.

Who do you thnk will win? I say NASCAR!!!!