"The Face"

My sister-in-law's boyfriend (Erika and Mike)

posted some pictures of me on Facebook...

and it just reminded me of this stupid face I make when I start dancing.

WHY?!

It is uncontrollable.
I really don't do it on purpose.
I basically make this face all the time, I've discovered.
The best pic is from my bff Leigh's wedding...
it's at the bottom. Sorry, Leigh.

UNDERSTAND that if I come to your wedding, I WILL make this face.
My apologizes, in advance.

DO YOU HAVE "A FACE"?

This is the face.

This is the face with an olive in it.

This is the face with my eyes closed.

The face with the booty shake...and Jim doing the "white guy dance"

I left my heart in...Des Moines?

I would have never guessed that Des Moines was so cool.

I mean NEVER.

When I think of Iowa, I can't think of one thing that stands out.

I think of corn.

However, thanks to my husband's cousin, we went to Des Moines over the holiday weekend.

We went because Tina got married to a wonderful guy named Kent!

In fact, they're enjoying their honeymoon as we speak.

Kent and Tina: great couple!

Anyway, I'll tell you why DM is so cool.

It has a real downtown. We went to the farmers' market on Saturday, and it was awesome! It was HUGE! I would bet it's about four times bigger than the tent-spread at Artsfest. Vendors from all over were there-- fruits and veggies were sold... but what impressed me was the ethnic food choices. Indian food at 9 a.m.? What about Hmong eggrolls? I bought about a pound and a half of morel mushrooms. Pretty impressive.

It seemed clean. Maybe I wasn't watching closely enough, but it certainly felt clean.

Anyway, there are probably more reasons, but honestly, we were there for the wedding... so we were devoted to that. What a great weekend!

I killed a bunny

This is what I got when I googled "bunny roadkill"--

and this is actually what it looked like.

So, I left work... on my scooter...

I saw a little tiny thing scoot across the road near St. Louis and Weller. If I had to guess, it looked like the size of a tennis ball. I thought, "Hey, that looks like a little, baby rabbit!"

Next, I see a fairly larger rabbit.

Boom!

I practically flip over my handlebars. I decide to keep going, but then about a block later, I decide... I have to turn back. What happened? Did I really just hit what I thought I hit? Perhaps the bigger bunny escaped with just a banged up leg.

I turn around.

I see something in the road. Perhaps it's trash.

Nope.

It's my bunny. And it's twitching. It's little eyes are wide open. It won't blink. It just lays there and twitches. I think... "Maybe, I should pick it up and put it out of its misery." But with what? My scooter?!

I drove home at a snail's pace. I tell Jim, and he proceeds to tell me that it's the bunny's fault for running out into the road. I respond with a, "So, the bunny should just die because it ran out in front of me? This is serious!" He says he's glad I didn't swerve and wreck. Point taken, but I'm still grieving...

I don't think I can stand to see the bunny there on my way to work tomorrow, and I'm not even sure I can drive the scooter for a while. I was just telling my co-workers that I can drive the scooter really well! And an hour afterwards, I'm a bunny-killer.

I have hit things before (chickens, birds, a cat, one dog, and one deer...) but that was in an automobile. I mean, OMG, I killed something with my scooter!!!!!! Do you know what that feels like? The bump alone is too intense. I'm surprised I didn't propel off my scooter.

This is a major tragedy. I think I killed a mama bunny.

Happy Mother's Day and Giardia

Horrible combo in the title, but I wanted to tell my mommy Happy Mother's Day!

Moving on... my daughter has giardia. What's that? Oh, it's a bacterial thing that causes you to poop like a fountain. Or better yet, explosive diarrhea. Ek!

We went to the vet, and she told us that it's a waterborne thing. She sometimes likes to drink puddle water, so I think that's the answer. Good times, good times.

Funny thing is, as much as she likes water, Minnie freaked out when we took her to Busiek Park last night. We met a couple of our friends (and their dogs) last night, and Minnie looked like a big baby. She would barely go in the water!

With my best Mommy Dearest face, I told Minnie she embarassed me. Shaming her didn't work, either.

Braces

I'm going to get braces. I am so excited!

I always wanted braces, but my parents said no. Now that my teeth have shifted again (and Jim can pay my bills--joke), it's going to happen.

Jim and I have a lot of jokes about the whole thing... but I'm so happy he's supportive.

Oh, I'm not technically getting a metal mouth. I'm using invisalign, so no one will be able to tell. I'll have my teeth fixed in a year!

Ahh!

PERTURBED

Minnie ate my camera. God love her.

She is so cute, but she's really going through this crazy phase of taking stuff off
tables and then eating them. Today, it was a Sharpie.

Then I came to work.

St. Jude

Dallas Houtz, Me, and Dori Olmos

We just got back from St. Jude, and I am so glad I went. I had no idea what a great place it is.

I actually expected it to be sad and depressing with so many sick children, but it was completely the opposite. I was told there are sad days, but overall, there are so many more happy ones. I believe it!

The place doesn't even look like a hospital once you get inside. It's very light, colorful and cheerful. And the kids there really are getting the best cancer treatment available.

If you have a chance to watch some of our stories about St. Jude, you'll see. I'm running a story this evening on St. Jude, but there will be more to come. I would tell you to go visit the campus in Memphis, but they have that place pretty secure, so I doubt it's an option. It is a cause worth supporting, that's for sure.

I'm in Memphis Right Now!

I am pleasantly surprised by Memphis. It's weird how that works.

Before I went to San Francisco, everyone told me I wouldn't want to come back. But you know, I did want to come back. I loved California, but I think my mind told me it wasn't the end-all, be-all... because other people had hyped it up for me.

Then, there's Memphis.

Memphis is such a cool, little city. Beale Street is an ecclectic mix of blues and young folk... big beers and music. The city has a lot of history, and it's just a great town to kick back.

Anyway, if you want to see some of my pictures and videos, click here. I especially like the little Asian kid running after the ducks. What a cutie.

Weekend Project

Minnie and I worked on a weekend project-- we changed the fabric of an old chair I bought at a garage sale a few years ago. I can't remember if the chair cost $1 or a couple of bucks. After I bought the paint, the fabric and the fringe, it probably cost about $10.

The latest fabric cost about $10 for a yard at FM. I still have plenty left for a pillow! Anyway, it's all done, and Miss Minnie and I feel like somewhat crafty creatures.

Our First Easter! (Excuse the Bed Head)

Wow! The Easter Bunny left us something at our door!

Jimmy and Minnie must've been good to get all of these treats. The Easter Bunny left Minnie some Dingo balls, a chew toy and some Dingo rawhides. The EB also left Jimmy chocolate eggs, Peeps, egg-shaped gum, Sweet tarts and Sprees (Jim's favorite!) How did the Easter Bunny know what we liked?

San Fran Adventures: Golden Gate Park

Jim and I went back to Golden Gate Park today. We did what Jim likes to call "relaxing"... but really, what we ended up doing was renting a bike in Haight, then biking all the way down to the ocean. (We like to call it the Oh-gin!)



Anyway, the ride down was a breeze, but the ride up was a little difficult. Okay, a lot difficult. I'm not making an excuse, but the bike I rented was more of a cruising bike, so it was heavier and not as easy to ride. Jim was super sweet and traded me. He said he could tell a difference, too.

After three and a half hours, we were finished. And hungry.

We went to a Thai place in Haight. I ordered the standard pad thai, and Jim ordered vegetable curry. Then we went to the corner of Haight and Ashbury and ate at the original Ben and Jerry's. If you ask me, it's a little overrated, since I saw our server's coin slot. No offense, but I don't want to see your butt crack before you scoop out my yogurt.

Most of our friends who know San Francisco told us to avoid Haight--they said it's long past its prime...but, truthfully, I kind of like it. The food prices are more comparable to Springfield. We ate dinner for $24, which is typically what we would spend at home. And I like the diversity there; it somewhat reminds me of something close to home as well.

What's amazing... is that Cole Street intersects with Haight, but it has a totally different feel. None of the stuff going on Haight spills over to Cole Valley, but they're only a couple of blocks from one another. It's a small community. I really enjoy it.

Our Trip to San Francisco: Meeting More Birth Family

We are in San Francisco right now, doubled over in pain, which was brought on by a massive sushi intake.

Jim is flipping through the channels and is watching TV. I'm updating stuff on the web. I won't say what else he's doing... (toot toot!)

Anyway, today was the first day I met my biological aunt, Yung. I call her IMO because that means "mother's sister" in Korean.

She is super sweet. Her partner, Stacy, is great. They've been together 30 years, I think. He is a retired Navy guy and acted as our tour guide. Together, they are so cute! We pretty much ate and drank our way through the tourist spots of San Francisco.

Here's the gist of what our day looked like:

We ate in the Sunset area. Jim had a lamb burger, Stacy had lasagna, Imo and I had a bowl of Thai style noodles.

We went to Golden Gate Park and walked through the botanical garden.

We went to the Fisherman's Wharf and drank coffee. Then we went somewhere else and drank beer.

We went to Chinatown. My aunt bought me a fanny pack. Stacy bought us a cricket.

We went to Union Square. We walked through the Westin Hotel and went up to the 32nd floor in the elevator. Nearly got sick.

We came back to Cole Valley and ate a huge plate of nigiri sushi.

Now we're in a food coma, though I told Jim I was kind of craving ice cream!

Anyway, my bio aunt is so neat. She has this really high-pitched voice and is so cute. She is also very generous. Stacy is such a storyteller. He is really entertaining...

Jim and I had a long day. We had planned on going up to wine country, but now I'm not so sure. I can only think and write in simple sentences right now.

Minnie vs. Bella

This was taken of Minnie a few weeks ago. She's so much smaller! Anyway, she takes a big launch at her cousin, Bella. We love it! My future sister-in-law, Tiffany, owns Bella...

This was a trip we made up to St. Louis to visit Jim's family. Jim's mom will get her new puppy soon! It's not a rottie, but a border collie. We can't wait to get all the girls together.

Wait about 32 seconds in.

New pictures of Miss Minnie

Miss Minnie is now about 40 pounds, so I figure she's about half the size of her adult body. She has lost a lot of her baby teeth, but she still has her fangs!

She can sit, stay, rollover, lay down, and speak. As you can tell, I'm a proud mama...

Does it Work? The Shamwow!

The Shamwow guy got arrested for beating up a prostitute (and surprisingly NOT for shamming people with the above product.) Click here to read.

In the meantime, we tested the Shamwow on KSPR. A big thanks to the Girdner brothers for helping me out!

Changes Coming to KSPR

If you've been reading my Facebook page, I've been talking about changes! The two biggest ones right now--

1) I am going to anchor the 10 p.m. news permanently, starting March 31st.

2) I am leaving the library (boo!) It is basically because of reason #1.

For the last two months, I've been working at the library in the mornings and at KSPR at night. It started getting really hard a couple of weeks ago. Now that my KSPR sked is permanent, I have to adjust accordingly.

Let me just say, I am really going to miss working at the Park Central Library! I have worked there for more than a year now! It is such an awesome place that's staffed by even cooler people. In fact, if I didn't like my job at KSPR so much, I would consider working in the library district. I tell everyone to utilize the library... and perhaps, look there for job opportunities! I will really miss Aleah, Alan, Grace, Greg, Jordan and Cory... but I hope this means we will hang out more during our free time. (I will even miss some of our crazy library experiences-- and with the summer coming, there will be many...Dang!)

As for the KSPR side, Christine will come back and anchor the early evening shows with Joe--that means 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. The station has yet to officially announce the Saturday evening anchor.

I will continue anchoring Sunday through Thursday evenings. Chief meteorologist Kevin Lighty and I have the same schedule. I really like working Sunday nights, so I am glad I can still continue to do that.

Anyway, I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity, though Jim always says we make our own luck. However, I hope it will work out for the best, and that people won't be too harsh on me. Christine and Joe are great together on air... they should be, since they're married (!)... but I obviously, can't replicate that. (insert joke, here.)

Our news director, Brad Belote, took some pictures of us while we were shooting our news opens yesterday... they're not really great of me, but for historical purposes, they'll do. :)

Check out the cinderblock! The cinderblock rocks!

Click here to follow me on Twitter!

Korean BBQ

I'm having a Korean BBQ this week. And I'm so excited about what we're serving... I think I'm going to try to make mung beans on Friday, too. These are so delicious! My favorite thing to order when I go to Soo's!

The Steam Cleaner is a Scream!

Thanks to Grace for her help. She was awesome! The story is a scream!

Click here to see the story!

Minnie, the shoe eater

It is my fault, but Minnie has now destroyed at least five pairs of my shoes. The latest casualty is my favorite pair of Merrells...that I wear at least once a day.

Jim basically found them half-eaten on the kitchen floor yesterday. I left them there because I came home from a board meeting, showered and got ready for my day at KSPR, and then rushed out the door. In all of the chaos, I left my dear, sweet Merrells in the kitchen, where Miss Minnie stays when we're at work. (Her kennel is in there, but this way she can run around a bit.)

Jim gets home earlier than I do. He found them and called me to essentially "tell me so."

ARGH.

By the way, I'm wearing the shoes today, and I don't care. Yeah, I'm WT. Wait, AT.

KSPR Streams Live!

I am so excited about this.

KSPR is the only station in the Ozarks that streams its newscasts live.

If we're on the air, we'll be streamling live on the web.

I think it's especially important during severe weather-- let's say you're at the library, and you have to take shelter in the back hallway... the staffers can turn on the laptop and watch it LIVE.

I was at Borders during bad weather... they didn't have a TV. They had to use the internet... they were tracking another station, and all they had up was a still shot of the radar. This is so much better!

When it's not streaming live, our channel will show the radar with the National Weather Service updates... you can also watch Storm Stories and other KSPR related material.

If we have bad weather, I'll try to put up the channel on the blog. I wanted to embed it here permanently, but I felt it weighted down the site. Maybe I'll try again another day.