The End

It's the last day of the year.
It's my last (full) day in America.
Hmmm...what should I do??
GO TO TARGET, of course!!! Going to Target is always a good idea. I didn't even need anything particular, but shopping at Target is fun. And, it's a great way to end a great year! I hope everyone is enjoying their last day of 2010...tomorrow is another year! If you can't make it to Target, do something equally fun.

I'll let you know where I decide to go next year...

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We had a very special time...my whole family together and lots of kids and lots of presents and lots of stockings. It was great!!

the tree loaded with gifts

all the stockings, too heavy to hang

Vacation Time

Hello friends! I just wanted to say that I've worked my LAST day in 2010, I'm done! From here to the end of the year I'm on VACATION!!! And I couldn't be happier. I'm so excited to travel and see my family and spend a wonderful Christmas time with all of them. Really looking forward to it. I might miss the weather here (because it's warmer) and I will miss a few people, but I will come back next year. The one thing that I will definitely miss is our neighborhood Christmas party. Well, not so much the party, but the arrival of Santa!

In case you can't read it, it says "Santa will arrive in a helicopter". Yup, that's right, here in Panama, Santa flies around in a helicopter. And, he lands in our neighborhood soccer field to pass out presents to the kids. It's the funniest sight to see Santa waving out of a circling helicopter. I kind of wish we were going to be here to see it again, but I'll be OK since missing it means I'll be with family.

Hope you are all looking forward to a wonderful Christmas season and perhaps the arrival of Santa...whatever his transportation may be!

Sloth

We went down to the Marine Park on the coast today. Then the black clouds rolled in and rained on us! Then, we saw a sloth. It was most exciting!!

Bacon & Bags

I went grocery shopping last weekend. When I bring the groceries home, we set them all in the middle of the kitchen floor so I can sort everything and put it all away. Our cat immediately has to inspect every bag. She LOVES grocery bags (or any bags for that matter) and she carefully checks each one. Sometimes she even lays down in the middle of all the bags. It's very funny! But, it gets better...when we are finished putting the groceries away, she loves to play with the empty bags. She will chase them around the room or simply lay on them. If we throw the bags in the air, she attacks them. It's hilarious. We usually play with her and the bags for a while before putting them all away. I think she likes it when I go grocery shopping just as much as I do!!

VIDEO: Bacon playing with bags...

Photo Shoot

Yesterday we went down to the Panama Canal to take some pictures. Sort of a photo shoot for potential Christmas card pics...it was fun. Oh, and we have a beautiful dog!

Ice Cream

I got a new toy last week:

So, today I made my first batch of ice cream:
Getting started...

Almost done...
(you can see the ice cream coming out around the edges on top)

Delicious!

It melts fast, but it's tasty!!

Attacked

Our cat was viciously attacked this morning...it was horrible! As Bill was leaving to run to the store this morning, I heard a horrible cat-screaming noise. I honestly thought he had run over a neighborhood cat (sometimes they sleep on his jeep). I ran downstairs and looked out the window, but Bill had driven away and the horrendous cat screeching/screaming noise continued. I ran to the back patio because the sound was very close. (We often let our cat out on the back patio. It makes her feel like an outside cat but she can't go anywhere. There's no grass and the walls are about 10 feet high and she can't get over so it's usually harmless to let her stay out there.)

However, this morning I ran back to the patio and looked out and saw a HUGE yellow cat hissing at our poor innocent kitten. I opened the door and called for Bacon to come inside...I wasn't going out there, the yellow cat was big and mean. The yellow cat ran away when she heard me and Bacon stood against the wall and watched her leave. The yellow cat tried several times to jump up the wall and failed. She finally jumped on the window ledge and then the wall. Finally, Bacon came running in and ran upstairs as fast as possible. I ran outside and discovered that there was ANOTHER cat on the wall surrounding our patio. Who knows if both of them were in our patio or not, but I yelled at them loudly and passionately and they ran for their lives. I went upstairs to find Bacon but she was hiding. After coaxing her out with some treats, we discovered that she has some scratches on one leg, a bald spot behind her ear, and she doesn't use her front left paw. She's walking around on three legs! It's so sad! Poor kitten.

I think we should buy a BB gun...or leave out some poisoned tuna. I don't like cats! And I certainly don't like other cats bullying my cat! Oh, and just so you know, I heard last week that a neighbor's dog (a very small puppy) was killed by a large yellow cat, so I think this is a pattern of violence. If someone owns this yellow cat, and can't keep it under control, and it finds it's way into my patio again...I can't guarantee it will live!

evil cats about to fight each other!
(big yellow one on the left)

poor Bacon

poor, poor Bacon

She's Watching You

We put a chair in the window so Bacon could see what's happening in the neighborhood. Now she sits there almost all day, every day. She likes to sit up and pretend she's a meerkat.

Darkness

This is what we did tonight...we sat on the couch in the dark (almost) and watched TV, very quietly. We were hiding from the children. I'm not against trick-or-treating, but I already distributed candy at the office to all those kids and I didn't feel like doing it again (and I can't afford that much candy). So, we opted out of the neighborhood festivities by being very quiet, in the dark.

I did it! I took a picture every day for a month! I wasn't sure I would be able to keep up, and some days I posted a very pathetic picture, but at least I made it! I'm so proud of myself...I think I'll take the next few days off. I hope you enjoyed my Project 31!

Football

I was too busy to take many pictures today...I watched football all day! Watching a duck do push-ups can be very exhausting. GO DUCKS!!!

Tasty

I made Shepherd's Pie for dinner. I left it under the broiler just a little too long, but Bill likes the dark crusty-cheesy part. It was better than I expected it to be. Pretty tasty.

Mischievous

Bacon played with Bill's watch for about 10 minutes tonight (no wonder he always loses his watch).

It makes Ubi very nervous when Bacon does things she's not supposed to do. He knows when she's being mischievous. Sometimes he hides under the desk because he knows she's going to get in trouble. You can always tell when Bacon is doing something wrong because Ubi will get anxious and often go hide.

Peanuts

I've really been craving peanuts lately. Good thing I have a huge 52 oz. can of them!!!

Food

I spent a lot of time looking at recipes today, both online and in my Taste of Home holiday recipe book. We are about to enter the best cooking/baking time of the year with Thanksgiving and Christmas...I can't wait.

Patio

I'm still feeling sick...it just won't go away. So, I laid in the hammock today and read. This is the view of my patio wall from the hammock...not very thrilling, but neither was my day.

Drive

We went for a drive today with Ubi and Bacon in the car. Bacon wasn't sure how she felt about it, but she eventually settled down and found a comfy spot under the seat. Ubi enjoyed his regular spot and he was able to get out and walk around when we reached our destination (Bacon stayed under the seat).

Breakfast

Yes, this was my breakfast today! It may not be nutritious...but it was DELICIOUS!!

Dinner

Bacon always tries to eat Ubi's food. Tonight she got lucky because a few pieces fell out of his bowl! He doesn't seem to mind...he's too busy eating!

Movies

We got our Netflix today! Hooray!

Yucky

I don't feel very good today. Therefore, I didn't really think about taking a picture all day. So, I took one of Ubi. I think he feels bad for me!

Pills & Frogs

Two pictures today. I took one and Bill took one. First, some pills that I bought. I got very sick today so I bought drugs! Don't know what they are but I hope they help! Second, there was an itty bitty frog on my car when I got home. It was little and green.

pills - hope they work!

tiny frog

Happy Birthday

Today I celebrated my 31st birthday. We went out for a very nice dinner and had jumbo chocolate chocolate-chip muffins for dessert. It was a good birthday (I even left work early today so that was extra special).

Since it's my birthday again, I feel compelled to share with you the progress from my list of Birthday Goals established 1 year ago today. Looking back, I don't think I did a very good job. But, it was nice to have the goals to keep me focused on something during the times when I wasn't enjoying life as much. I tried to blog about each goal as I accomplished it so I've included a bunch of links below. If you've already read my blog posts, you don't have to read them again, but it's a nice way to capture my successes in one place. I've also included a little bit of info on the items that I failed or only partially completed. Hopefully, I've done a good job of explaining myself (a.k.a. making excuses).

BIRTHDAY GOALS:
✔1. Go on a cruise

✘2. Make donuts
(FAILED: I don't know why I didn't do this. I love donuts...I just never made time for it so it didn't get done. I'll do it next year!)

✘3. Start an herb garden (and keep it alive!)
(FAILED: I have an herb garden kit, but it's still sitting in the box. I guess I don't get points if I didn't even open the box.)

✔4. Send homemade Christmas cards

✘5. Learn all the U.S. Presidents, in order
(FAILED: I started this one by listening to a song about 10 months ago...but then I never listened to it again so I can only name the first 6 presidents and the last 5.)

✔6. Go to the dentist

½ 7. Read the entire Bible (chronologically)
(PARTIAL: I started off strong with the reading and then slowly stopped. I do get points for getting about 33% thru. I think I'll start this one again next year!)

✔8. Watch all the Lord of the Rings movies in one day

½ 9. Cook thru an entire cookbook
(PARTIAL: I started the cookbook, and I was doing really well... for a while. Then I just got tired of the pressure and the weird ingredients in the cookbook. I was also tired of always having to use recipes from the book instead of other things that sounded good at the time. So, I stopped...therefore I only get partial credit.)

✔10. Buy an exercise bike (and use it!)

✘11. Go whitewater rafting
(FAILED: I really wanted to do this, but I just could get it planned. There is a place in Panama to go rafting and we talked about it in Costa Rica, but never followed through.)

✘12. Read “The Path Between the Seas” by David McCullough
(FAILED: The book is really big. Have you seen it? I just don't have time for huge books...maybe I'll start it slowly next year!)

✔13. Go to Costa Rica
(DONE: We went to Costa Rica in February. I have wonderful great pictures and even stories about the wonderful restaurant at our hotel. But, I realized that I've never written about it or shared the photos or stories. I'm so sorry! I'll try to write about it sometime soon, just to prove we did it!)

✔14. Volunteer for something at church
(DONE: I'm going to take credit for this one. The reason I added it to the list originally was to get more involved in church and meet more people. So, even though I didn't exactly volunteer for something, I did join a Bible Study. And, now I'm more involved and I'm meeting more people...so I'd say I accomplished the purpose of the goal.)

✔15. Get a second pet
(DONE: I never really wrote about this event either...I didn't keep up very well with my blog posts, huh? We got a new kitten for Bill's birthday in June. I've mentioned her, but never properly blogged about her arrival. The link above shows a recent post of the cat and her friend gekko.)

½ 16. Watch the entire Gilmore Girls series with my husband
(PARTIAL: We started watching Gilmore Girls...and we would have finished but we started too many other series at the same time. Bill was actually willing to watch Gilmore Girls with me, but we were too busy enjoying Stargate SG1, The Office, Arrested Development, and others. So, I get partial credit and we intend to finish the series eventually!)

✔17. Cross-stitch something

½ 18. Write a letter once a month
(PARTIAL: I think I wrote a total of 6 letters. One a month for the first 6 months...then I got lazy. I really wish I had kept up with this one, I wanted to get better at sending thoughtful letters and notes to friends and family. Maybe I'll continue to work on it.)

✔19. Learn how to make pesto

✘20. Paint a picture (paint-by-numbers is good enough!)
(FAILED: I have the picture! It's a cute paint-by-number picture of a dog. I've had it for a while and I really intended to get it painted...but again, laziness got the better of me. If I ever finish it, I'll let you know.)

✘21. Make a will
(FAILED: We just never got around to it. Bill and I talked about it several times, but we don't really have anything worthy of putting in a will. I guess the animals could be added to a will...we'll try to work on that next year.)

✔22. Participate in “Flavor of the Month” on my blog
(DONE: I participated in a fellow blogger's monthly theme for a while, then she cancelled the whole thing. But, I get credit for participating as long as it lasted. You can read the posts here, here, here, and here.)

½ 23. Exercise twice a week (at least)
(PARTIAL: I'm taking half credit for this one too. I may not exercise enough, but I definitely exercise more than I used to. More than I did before I made this list of goals. So, the purpose has been accomplished. Right now, I am exercising at least twice a week with water aerobics and exercise videos. So, although I can't say I did this every week, I'm doing better!)

✔24. Go camping on Anderson Island
(DONE: Another one that I've accomplished and failed to blog about. Last May, when we visited my family, we went camping. I had a lot of video footage so I planned to make a video clip. It ended up being 10 minutes long and I knew that my blogging friends would get BORED so I didn't post it. I had intended to write something about our wonderful time on Anderson Island and share some pictures, but I guess I forgot. I'll work on getting that posted.)

½ 25. Save enough for a down-payment to buy a house
(PARTIAL: Technically, I could say this one is done. We have enough money for a down-payment on some house...but not enough for a down-payment on the kind of house we want to buy. But, we're doing an excellent job of saving our money right now so I know that we will have a good amount saved when it's time to finally buy our first house!)

✘26. Make shrimp or scallops for my husband
(FAILED: I guess since I don't like shrimp or scallops I was never very enthusiastic about this one. I did want to learn an easy shrimp recipe so Bill could enjoy them from time to time, but I never made it a priority. Maybe next year...maybe.)

✘27. Go snorkeling in the Atlantic Ocean
(FAILED: I thought I was going to get this one. We were supposed to go snorkeling on our cruise [see #1 above] but that didn't work out. We made it to the Atlantic [Caribbean] one other time but I didn't get to snorkel. Oh well, someday I'll snorkel again.)

✔28. Go snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean
(DONE: I technically snorkeled. I didn't see anything, but I put the mask on and swam around for a while. There was nothing to see except sand and water, but I was there and I made the effort so it counts!)

✘29. Host a Murder Mystery Dinner
(FAILED: I tried, I really did. I had the guests all picked out...but no one could make it fit in their busy schedules. So, I picked different guests and had the same problem. We've tentatively scheduled it for November, which doesn't count for this list, but I'll let you know when/if it finally happens.)

✘30. Make an address list in Access (a really good one)
(FAILED: I have been very unorganized lately so creating something in Access hasn't sounded fun. Usually, I'm so organized that I would jump at the opportunity, but I've been in a funk for a while and never got it done. I guess it's not a priority since my little address book is so well maintained, but someday I hope to make a good list.)

TOTAL: So, if I add up a point for each one I accomplished, and subtract a point for each one I failed, and add in the half points for each partial, I get a grand total of...5. Can you believe that? Not very good! I guess it's better than failing completely, but I really thought I would do a better job in the 30th year of my life. Maybe I need to wait until I'm 40 and make another list. Oh well, I'm done now. Hope you enjoyed the ride!

High Five

First, I want to thank Bill for my new banner. I thought it was about time that the pictures in the banner reflected Panama, since we've been here for over a year. So, I included a picture of us inside the Panama Canal Locks to represent "travel". And, a picture of Pumpkin Biscuits for "taste" since they are so delicious and it's now pumpkin season!

We are trying to teach Bacon some commands and tricks. It's hard since cats aren't cooperative, but we're having success with "high five". It works mostly because she tries to attack our hand...really, she bites Bill most of the time. It's very hard to get a picture because she moves so quickly, but I tried.

high five

laying down high five
blurry, but cute...she often has her tongue sticking out
unfortunately she usually resorts to biting

Lunch

Today we went to Pan & Canela for lunch. It was delicious!

Muffins

Today I made the JUMBO chocolate chocolate-chip muffins I mentioned yesterday. They are probably my favorite dessert, along with chocolate pound cake and brownies, of course! They were delicious! They are also huge, the picture below doesn't show how big they really are. Anyway, very yummy and we have leftovers for tomorrow and the next day and the next day...

Pudding

I had chocolate pudding today. It was delicious! I'm also using pudding to make jumbo chocolate chocolate-chip muffins to celebrate my birthday. Can't wait!

More Boxes

I got another box in the mail today. Could it be birthday presents?!?!?! I think so...

Lord of the Rings

Last Saturday, Bill and I had a movie marathon. But not just any movies...we watched all three Lord of the Rings movies. If you'll recall, this was something I wanted to do and I included it on my list of goals. So, it was a good time (1 week before my birthday) to finally cross #8 off my list. Also, Bill is on a small fall break from school so a long day of watching movies didn't interfere with his homework. I really enjoyed watching these movies again - they are probably my favorite movies ever and they are definitely my favorite books! We did have a slight problem finishing the last movie because the copy I have was a cheap bootleg version and it didn't include the whole movie. We actually watched the last 45 minutes on Sunday, but I say it still counts. We were ready and willing to watch the whole thing...we just didn't have the real DVD! I think we might have to watch the movies again next year, but next time we'll borrow the extended version and enjoy 12 hours of hobbits and elves and wizards and rings!

Casco Viejo

Today we went to Casco Viejo...the old, old part of Panama City. It was fun to walk around and see the old buildings and narrow streets, even the presidential palace is down there. We had lunch at a nice little restaurant and we enjoyed some tasty gelato. We'll probably go back sometime because it was an interesting afternoon.

we could see the Panama City skyline

lots of old churches
and gelato!