Funny, Sad But True Conan Video!!

You have got to see this youtube video of comedian Louis CK.

A to Z Mondays ~ The Letter G

G is for Godson Ian!! The tall fellow in these pictures is Pat's and my godson, Ian Graham. The top photo is from Jan. 2008 when he was on vacation from Harrow the boy's school in England. He has gone to school there for 4 years now and loves it. One of only a few Americans who attend. He is a real sharp cookie. (And lots of fun too!)

This is Godson Ian with his dad, grandpa and someone I don't know in the red shirt. At 16 he's the tallest one among all the oldsters!! Ian is an expert marksman and was on a national award winning skeet team when he was just 12 years old. Godson Ian is also into rowing and went to a camp in New England last summer for rowing. I was Ian's "nanny" when he was a baby and toddler, so I get great satisfaction in seeing what a fabulous young man he has become. Once I figure out how to scan pictures I'll do a post on Ian as a little fellow. He was an answer to prayers for us when he came into Patrick's and my life. We were so honored to be asked by his folks to become his godparents. One special boy. One special Godson!

Where To Get The Complimentary Cereal Bowl

For those interested in getting one of the bowls like I got for Patrick, here is the website for the Our Name Is Mud pottery company: http://www.ournameismud.com/productCatalog.cfm?categoryID=3 They have all kinds of fun pottery. Really hilarious sayings. I want to get some of their 'dog hair' plates or mugs, but I already have soooo many dishes and mugs that I just can't justify it. (Pat got me more of my beloved Boleslawiec Polish Pottery for Valentine's Day:0) I am kind of a pottery nutcase and need to enter some kind of program to keep me from buying any more. Is there something like AA for compulsive dish/pottery/china purchasers??

Patrick's Cereal Bowl

This is Patrick's Complimentary Cereal Bowl. It's extra large for those mornings I don't feel like cooking up anything fancy---I just fill the bowl up higher. I didn't actually get it for the size though. I got it for what it says. Here, take a look:

He likes his cereal bowl!

In Christ Alone

Who I Was - Who I Am

This morning I was reading some of my blog-friends ruminations and when I got over to Dawn's blog Beyond Grace I was moved to tears. She was rejoicing in her mom & dad's life together & how they have influenced her. Rather than retell her story, how about after reading my post why don't you go on over to Dawn's, if you haven't already. That was an awkward sentence, but I hope you get the gist. (Just click on her blog name above, and it'll take you over there.)

Dawn's post made me think back on how the Lord has truly blessed me.... In many ways, but in one way in particular, is how He brought godly, Christian people into my life, before I knew Him. Before I knew Him I was a real libertine. To the point of being hateful toward religion in any form, but mainly Christianity. I mean, I was a foul mouthed, dissolute, feminist who would spit the word Christian out of my mouth like it was hot vinegar. Went to a Christian wedding with my best bud, Maria, in California and her sis & I sat through the whole thing making fun of the vows. Anyway, you get the picture. I supported my children...was a "self-made" woman who wouldn't accept money from my well-to-do parents. I was P-R-O-U-D. Had been through a few really bad experiences in love. Married. Divorced. Married. Divorced. I was H-A-R-D. No man was ever going to hurt me again. I was W-I-S-E. (Not at all!! But I thought I was.) But you know what? When my 3rd (yes, 3rd) husband flew the coop in 1983 while I was working at an electric generating station in Northern Arizona I transferred back down to Phoenix to be a power plant operator (hard hat job). My 2 kids were in Pennsylvania for the summer with my parents, but when they returned I needed to find a babysitter for Jessica who was under 3 yrs. old. It "happened" that the sitter that I found close to my home advertised as Private Home Christian Childcare. The lady, Connie Calderone, was a Mexican-American and I just figured she was Catholic. She didn't scare me! She totally loved Jessica and hauled her around like she was one of her own children. My Aunt Annie came to visit from PA & since she was a Catholic I called Connie to find out where she went to church. Connie informed me that she was not a Catholic, but a born again Christian. I was shocked. She was Hispanic! Talk about stereo-typing!! Well, the next Christmas when she asked if she could take Jessica to some kind of a Christian Christmas show I told her okay, but that the first time she tried to talk to me about Jesus I would not allow any more of this Christian stuff. Connie said okay. There was no problem.

Now years passed and I dated like crazy. A bunch of 10's on the outside and 0's on the inside, just like me. Swore I would never marry again. When I started seeing Patrick in April 1987 it was kind of on a lark. He worked at the power plant and word had it he was a committed Christian. Aha! I would see about that. (This is a long story, so if you'd like to get yourself a cup of tea now, I'll wait.) Anyway, we had our first kiss after about 2 months of dating...that in itself was really weird for me, but I won't go into that. He took me to all of these family gatherings---no joke, about once a month. (My family all hate each other. I mean there is lots of jealousy and never a reunion, heaven forbid! Don't get me wrong. There are/were some nice & good people in my family, but not so much in my immediate family.) I noticed how he was such a different guy around his family. Most of them were also committed Christians. His mom & dad were like Ozzie & Harriet, but the poorer (in material goods) version! He had asked me to marry him quite early on in the relationship and I said yes, but really had no intention of that happening. I'd break up with him off & on if I felt like going out & cutting loose. (He never broke up with me though.) Anyway, I felt pretty much like I'd broken him down. He was smitten with me.

Well, on July 1st, 1988 Patrick was so majorly convicted by the Holy Spirit that I was not & never would be a Christian that he had to break up with me. He did not want to be unequally yoked (again---1st wife deserted him) and told me he could never put me first, that God was first in his life and I'd never understand this. I was in shock. Here this super kind guy, who wouldn't hurt a fly, was blowing me off! AND he had the nerve to tell me that I'd never understand!! At first I was bewildered. Then I was angry. Then I wanted an explanation that made sense to me. Patrick could only say that he did not like the person he was when he was with me. That the person he was when he was around his family was who he wanted to be all the time. He then said he knew I wouldn't understand. He was sorry. We were over.

The first 2 weeks I starved 20# off my already small frame & was in the low 80's. Unlike my normal behaviour, when the guys I worked with wanted to take me out to wash away my troubles, I said no. I also did not turn to any "other" substances which I had been known to partake of. I was broken hearted. I called my friend, Elaine, and asked her what was wrong with me? Is it me? Elaine was always very sincere, but rarely ever said an unkind word. She had been through some extremely rough times herself and kept a lot inside. So, when she told me the following,I listened & wrote her words down---in RED INK!!! "You are a very opinionated person,Cas. And on this religion thing, I've noticed that you are very defiant. You keep using words like 'will not','never'. I've known you for quite a while now, so I can see through the talk, but not everyone else can." I had to meditate on her words: Very opinionated. Defiant toward religion.

After that, I started to write down my thoughts and oddly, started to talk to God...if He was really who he said He was, could He please help me out here. It really wasn't that Patrick had broken up with me, it was that I obviously wasn't worthy of being loved by ANYONE. I wanted to die. Could have easily taken my own life, if not for the fact that I didn't want my children to hate me for it. I was broken. Cut off at the knees. Just where I needed to be.

This is a very long story, so the middle part about where I go to see Pastor Curt Snell, a pastor from Pat's Bible church to squeal on him; and how the pastor was so wise and kind to me, I'll skip for now. I told the pastor that Patrick said there was no hope for me and he said that God used a prostitute and even an ass to bring glory to Himself! The pastor sent me on my way after reading Jesus' genealogy to me (Matthew 1) and telling me that no one is beyond hope. Wow! He also gave me a New Testament and a referral to a Christian counseling service.

The song Amazing Grace kept ringing in my ears. I didn't know the words so pulled out an old Joan Baez record & wrote them down. I didn't know what they really meant at the time.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me....

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now, I see.

Okay, now cut to July 12/13, 1988, the day I was touched by grace. (That link tells about when I was born again.) I tried to think of anyone that would be happy that I was a new creature in Christ. I thought my friend Elaine would want to know. I called her at 5am (I knew she would be up exercising) and told her I had news for her, but needed to see her in person to tell her. Then when I got off work I went to Connie's house and when she opened the door I told her I had been touched by grace. She raised her hands & said, "Hallelujah girl! I've been praying for you for 5 years!"

God put Connie in my life to pray for me (boy would I have been mad if I knew it then!!). He put Elaine in my life to tell me the truth about myself in a gentle way. He put Patrick in my life to help give me the flat iron along side of the head that I needed to come to my knees. He put Patrick's parents in my life as an example of a godly marriage. He put Pastor Curt Snell in my life to read the Bible to me & let me know that no one is beyond hope.

Hello!! Are you still there? Anyway friends, this is a small part of my story. I thank The One who loves me more than I can imagine, for loving me & giving me a second chance at life. Amazing grace. Blessed.

Now I send you blessings. love, Cassie

A to Z on Mondays ~ The Letter F

Foot

This is the foot of the daughter. She (& her hubby) are Christians and are always planning their next mission trip. The tat is Greek (adelphe) meaning "sister". This is her beautiful foot.

Feet

My feet joined Jessica's Christmas time 2007. She treated me to a mother/daughter pedicure. It was my first (and last!).

And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things." Romans 10:15 NAS

For more A to Z Mondays go visit Jen's blog.

Valentine's Day Celebrations in Prescott, Arizona

My Sweetie had our Valentine's weekend all planned out. Drive to Prescott on Friday with the 2 pooches and check in to the hotel where he had made reservations. He made the rez. well in advance since he wanted to make sure the dogs could stay with us. Also, he made a 6pm reservation for one of our favorite restaurants, Murphy's, for Friday night. After getting settled in we walked the dogs around the hotel grounds and they had fun romping in the snow. It was really cold due to the wind chill, but the dogs didn't mind. We kenneled Hootie up and let Baby Rocket Dog loose in the room & we took off for Murphy's.

Here Patrick and I are waiting to be seated for our 6pm reservation at Murphy's. It's a lovely old building (est. 1890) with lots of interesting features. Since we had to stand around for awhile we took time to admire the beveled glass windows separating the dining area from the bar. We got to admire one another too!! Prescott is home to many cowboys, so even though Murphy's is an upscale establishment, the dress is quite loose there. We brought dress clothes with us, but opted to go casual instead.

The manager of Murphy's asked if we minded eating in the upstairs dining room & we said that was fine. (We had already waited 15 minutes to be seated and the place was very busy.) As he led us to our table I quipped, "Complimentary cocktails?" To which he responded,"Why not?!" Here's the nice manager:

Here is my complimentary house Chardonnay :

Patrick chose the prime rib, which is one of his favorite meals. I took a bit longer on my decision, finally choosing the asiago encrusted halibut. Both very tasty indeed.

We were both so full when we got back to the hotel it was a chore to walk the dogs! The little stinkers were up about 4 times during the night and Pat and I took turns going out & freezing our butts off!

Today, actual Valentine's Day, we walked around downtown Prescott with the dogs. There were lots of folks doing the same thing. The Courthouse Square is a very popular place for dog walking and everyone chit-chats with each other. Of course the dogs loved the attention. These 2 photos were taken by fellow dog lovers. The second one looks like Hootie was ready to go potty, but he really wasn't. I thought it was a funny picture!

This is Prescott's famous Whiskey Row. It once was a rollicking street with lots of bars and the brawls that go with drunken cowpokes. It is now mostly tourist shops...a few bars still remain. The museum has some interesting items and that's where we got our old time photo taken on our 15th anniversary. I also got to play a few hand of poker with Doc Holiday and some other old time gambler (5 years ago).

We stopped into Quiznos and each got a hot sandwich, and the young man behind the counter, Kyle Kellogg, was from farrrrr North Idaho too!! His grama runs the duty free shop just a few miles north of us...small world. After eating and walking with the dogs some more, we stopped into the museum and picked up 3 horse blankets for up at the cabin in Idaho. While Patrick was paying for them I ran over to the Sun West Gallery and looked at wool rugs. They were having a sale with some screamin' deals, so I coaxed Patrick into the shop and he took these photos of me oooing and ahhhing over the rugs. Well, he bought me 2 rugs too. Really nice ones. The little 3x5 green one I'm kneeling near is one of them. I can hardly wait to use them!

I feel like I made out like a bandit for Valentine's Day...I guess a little of that wild west mojo struck me! he he. I hope you all have a great weekend and make sure to tell someone how much they mean to you. God bless everyone who wanders over to this blog. love, Cassie

Our Evening Stroll In Phoenix & Other Odds 'n Ends

Well, the Give Away over on Baby Rocket Dog & Hootie's blog is over now. After Patrick drew the winners names we took the dogs for a nice long walk along the canal banks, through a local neighborhood and back along the canal again. It rained here Sunday & Monday off and on and again Tuesday for a little bit, so the dog parks are all pretty wet. The pups were getting quite rambunctious being cooped up for that long, so we thought a nice, long walk was in order. These are a few pictures from our evening stroll. (More pics can be seen on the dog's blog .)

I was so excited today when some beautiful, bone china mugs I purchased online a week or so ago arrived in the mail. I was on the website for Finni, a gorgeous Aireboy from the UK when I read about this artist, Annie Curran and her art. If anyone is interested in checking out her website it is: Here are the 2 mugs I purchased. The detail is fabulous. See the little guy inside? The handles are the backs of Airedales! I am so pleased with them.

My buddy, Sister Maria, sent me the following yesterday and I found it quite intriguing. "This is a photo from the 2009 Inauguration, In which you can see IN FOCUS the face of each individual in the crowd !!! You can scan and zoom to any section of the crowd. . . wait a few seconds. . . and the focus adjusts. The picture was taken with a robotic camera at 1,474 megapixel. (295 times the standard5 megapixel camera). Makes you wonder who's watching us right now !!!!!!!!" http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=033ef14483ee899496648c2b4b06233c

Well, I guess that about wraps it up for me. Another sleepless night. Maybe I'll catch a few winks now. God bless all who reads this. love, Cassie

A to Z on Mondays ~ The Letter E

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Elephant Foot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~~!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*YIPPEE! THIS IS MY 100th POST!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!~~

**************Now go see Jen for more A to Z Monday Bloggers.**************

An Easy, Tasty Snack

Yesterday morning Patrick had off work, so I made a quick and easy breakfast treat for us. It only took 4 ingredients: 2 bananas, nonfat vanilla yogurt, dry roasted pecan pieces and ground cinnamon. I wrapped each banana (still in its skin) in aluminum foil and baked them in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. They POP right out of the skins after baking! Once out of the oven I let them cool to the touch, then mashed them up in a medium bowl. Next I added a hand full of pecans, and about 16 ounces of yogurt. Then I sprinkled the top (heavily) with the cinnamon and stirred it all up. You don't need to use as much yogurt if you desire a thicker texture. I spooned it into custard cups and we had a healthy and yummy breakfast.

We both had a doctors appt. after that and all our numbers (from the blood tests) were good. I told Dr.Ungar that Pat was eating about a pound of dark chocolate a week and that Pat said Doc Ungar said it was okay. Well, Patrick is still a little high on his glucose (he is diabetic) but the doc was very pleased with how good everything was over all & said "a little" dark chocolate wasn't going to hurt him. I guess Hootie & I are both tattletales!

I hope you all have a good weekend. I'm going to start my taxes. Blessings on each of your heads. love, Cassie

A ~ Z Monday:The Letter D for DOG:The Coolest Airedale Video!

D is for DOG. I am totally cheating here, as I had posted this a bit early, and am just retooling it for A ~ Z Monday. Had to do this and I'll explain why after I tell you about the video. Oh also, for a list of others participating in A-Z Monday go on over to Jen's blog.

This Airedale, Ludwig, from Poland is amazing. I first saw this video on a Rubydale Times post and had to pass it on to you. While you're at it, why not go over and give Ruby (from Sydney, Australia) a G'day! She is in agility training herself. I'd love to find a place here where Baby & Hootie could get involved in that. And that my friends was a lot of DOG talk!

Now the rest of the DOG story. I never went to sleep last night. Up all night long (pain) so I decided to start a blog just for Baby Rocket Dog & Hootie, since they take up so much of this blog. I am going to try to sign them up with BFD (blogs for dogs) since the new blog will be from their point of view. That'll cut down on what I post here, but this way I won't be boring folks who are sick of hearing me go on about my "kids"! I'll try to keep this blog more about our log cabin and all things not dog. We'll see how that works out. The dog's new blog can be found at http://www.hootieandbabyrocketdog.blogspot.com/ and there is one meager post so far. I had a heck of a time setting it up. First I had it as Baby & Hootie but found my "About Me" transferred from this blog to that and I wanted it to be about their interests. So, I erased all the Cassie stuff and did a write up on the dogs & golly if it didn't then transfer over to here and make me sound like a dog! So I had to separate the two completely and by canceling out the 1st new blog I opened I ended up loosing the name I chose. What a mess. Anyway, there was probably a much easier way to do it but I'm still such a dunce about these things. Oh well. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it! May the Lord of the Universe & beyond smile on your Monday and the week ahead. love, Cassie

It's Baby's Birthday!

Hey Mom, Get up!! Today is a VERY special day. February 1st. It's my birthday! I'm a big girl now! (Please note my feet are still on the floor!)Okay, I'll lay my head down next to brother here. Since it's my birthday can I put my whole body on your bed? No huh? All righty,at least 2/3 of my body will be comfy.

Wow, my own frozen, carrot cup cake. You shouldn't have. Oh yes, you should have. Where did you put the icing Mom? Mom? Hmmmm, thought so.

As I slowly ingest my birthday cake, Hootie is singing in that weird Welshie key, "Happy Birthday dear Baaaa-bbbbeeee" and reminding me to finish up or I might have to share.

Yes, today is my (Baby Rocket Dog's) 2nd Birthday and Daddy is getting ready to take the kids to the dog park for a romp. See the gleam of excitement in my eye? Happy Birthday to ME!!

Note from Cassie: This post was taken over by one of the rulers of the roost today.