Suzy Q Homemaker

Jamie brought Koko home to live with us when Corey was tiny.  This was back when he worked at Hell on Earth Animal Control.  She was picked up in a neighborhood where she was found frolicking with the children on the streets.  No collar, no missing posters, no one claimed her!  The Akita rescue was full and Jamie knew that I loved Akitas (though I’d never had one myself).

She sure was a sweet girl, despite her shenanigans.  I say “shenanigans” but the truth was she was a renowned cat killer and our neighbor with the 12+ barn cats absolutely hated her.  Koko couldn’t help it, though.  Instincts, you know?  Our attempts to keep her in the yard were futile, even with an electric underground fence with a shock collar.  Once the power went out, she was gone!  It’s actually no wonder she was found without a collar: she was good at slipping out of it if we had her on a leash (hence the harness that she wore 24/7).  Still, she was so good with the kids and we loved her so much.

Koko died peacefully while I was in North Carolina last weekend.  It was sucky news to come home to, but I’m glad that she wasn’t ill or suffering.  We’ll miss you Koko!

My trips were all fun but I’m so glad to be back home!  The weekend was spent at Lake Logan in N.C. and then I went with my older sister to San Francisco.

Highlights:

• Eating a huge sundae from the Ghirardelli shop
• Eating a whole crab for dinner on my birthday!
• Watching the sea lions fight over ideal napping spots
• Doing touristy things like riding a cable car all over S.F.
• Bringing home sourdough bread bowls and clam chowder
• Seeing the Full House house

Leave it to a pregnant woman to highlight the events of the trip that involved food.  Even the sandwich I ate on the plane was good.  Seriously: Boar’s Head turkey on tomato foccaccia?  Who wouldn’t love it?

I really am glad to be home, though.  I’ve done an insane amount of walking over the past week and my hamstrings have had enough.

Now, though, I must get back to reality.  There are knitting customs to do, messes to clean up (Simon is into something right now and I’m afraid to see what it is…he’s been busy for at least five minutes), and resting to be done.

Hope everyone had a great week!

I have a lot to do!  Last week, I was inundated with practices, appointments, and Croptoberfest.  Thankfully, I didn’t have much on my calendar this week, which is GREAT, but since Jamie’s Jeep died yesterday, we’ve had to plan things a bit carefully.  I was able to go rescue him in town and let him use the van to go to class last night.

Unfortunately, because we have one vehicle, I couldn’t go to LLL this morning!  Gah!  I swear I’m going to go to a meetings again before this baby is born.

So things I need to do:

• Photograph and mail a pair of longies
• Finish swatching for another pair of longies
• Knit said longies and mail them to Canada!
• Sew birthday capes for my 3-year-old nephews
• EAT!

I began the arduous task of keeping track of my diet this week.  Sunday was a Bad Day because I slept most of the afternoon and took away three hours of Eating Time.  Yesterday, I almost filled in my entire chart.  The only item I didn’t get was my Vitamin A.  Jamie went to the grocery store to get milk and I called him to see if he could pick up some apricots for me.  He had already left, though.

My favorite food in the Protein category is potato + cheese.  So simple and delicious.  I may just bake the rest of the bag of taters to eat later.  I don’t know how much longer they’ll last.

And since no post is complete without a photo, here is another picture of Sraps!

From the FieldReport FAQ:

FieldReport is a web site—a content ranking system and publishing model driven by the Web’s richest writing contest. The contest is based on personal true-life stories called FieldReports—reports from the field of your life. FieldReport’s contest motivates members to submit polished work and to spend time reviewing other work on the site, while a patent-pending blind review process pushes the best submissions quickly to the top, where they can win substantial cash prizes. FieldReport is reality entertainment and the start of a new marketplace for written content on the Web. 

Signing up for FieldReport was easy and quick.  After signing up, I set upon doing some reviews.  I like that the site gives you some choices.  I was given two categories to choose from for my first two reports, and I could have changed them if I wanted to.

I like the ranking system for reports.  It utilizes a slider with descriptions based on the slider’s position.  The process for reviewing is painless, and your review is anonymous (another bonus).  Writing constructive criticism is not required, but it is an option.

This website would be good for anyone who enjoys writing (or reading!).  I can see how it would be a useful tool for writers who need a sounding board for their new story or book ideas. And the fact that these are true-life stories make them even more interesting.  I love memoirs, so this is kind of like reading a bunch of mini-memoirs.


I foresee spending a lot of time on this site.  Not really to do writing (though I may do some if I get brave), but to do some reading during those times when I just don’t feel like sitting down with a book.