Charli can be returned

Charli has a health guarantee. You save your vet bills, and send her back.

Now I did find some cool houses with 4 rooms with kings. They are more expensive and some require a whole week instead of 5 nights. Check out Sunriver rental owner sleeps 16 and you'll see a few.
I just got off the phone with Jen. She doesn't know their plans and will check out the blog and reply so we can figure this out more. I'll also look at Mt. Hood rentals. If anyone has an idea of exactly where/how we should spend Christmas, let me know. We can all stay home, and that's alright. There will be tiny baby(s) and maybe it's too hard to try and get in one place at one time.

Let's communicate though.
Alright then. Goodnight.
Love,
Traci

Why? It's not that hard!

If you can find a better bed situation go for it, but don't mess around because the good places go quickly.
Let's pretend none of had any children, (just go with it) 4 married couples and one beloved Grandma. Let's see...that would be a house with at least 4-5 bedrooms and 3+ baths. We'd need a big kitchen and big livingroom. Hmmm.
It's why kids stay free. They get thrown in one room with bunks and sleeping bags.
Ti m and I were planning on staying in the room with the bunk/futon and twin bed. We can move that twin to wherever Grandma wants. They said the loft is semi-private. Perhaps she'll want to stay with 'ol CPap.
Tall people, people with bad backs, and old people should get the best beds. You fit all three Dad, so you're the grand loser with the King.
It doesn't have to be so difficult.
If Mel and Greyson and Mom and Dad want to take some off their total. Fine. I don't care. I just want to get a nice place that we can all be together, share some of the cooking and cleaing responsibilites, and perhaps even have some fun in the snow together at Christmas!!
I propose we all send $200 to Jan and Larry ASAP. Jan and Larry can email the owners, send the money, and then let us know the remaining balance. We can prorate according to age, size, bed space taken, bathroom time needed, whatever!
The dates of Fri 23- wed 29 sound good.
I will call Jen and Brian...and I thought they'd be the difficult ones to pin down on any sort of family committment. Whew, I'm tired. I should get to bed. My nice King bed.

Charlie is sweet..........when she's hurt

Dear All,
Took my Integration test and the problems were relatively easy; I have done some that take over a page and take 15-30 minutes for one problem so I was happy to do these. Did each problem twice and double checked the math so I think I should get them all right. You have to pass this test 100% to get any grade for the quarter. After writing this note I will go to the math site and see if my grade is posted yet.
Charlie's still hoping around on three legs and isn't able to play with Katia like normal. If Katia pursues her too much she comes to me and wants to be protected. She tried to control Katia's dinner and Janice and I told her no and took her back to her dish about 6-7 times; she did give up, but came back after Katia had finished and licked the bowl even cleaner. Then it was outside and "good dog" and back in before Grandma shows up for Tuesday night dinnner.
Grandma had Charlie up and held tight while she rocked the puppy. In less than a minute the "White Ninja" (another of her own names) had her eyes closed. Mom just called me to dinner, stir-fry, so ............... have a great night and a good tomorrow. Love, Larry

Christmas 2005

I know it's soon, but the early bird gets the worm. This next year it seems we will all be together for Christmas. What fun!! Now, for an equally-stressed, equally-exciting adventure, I suggest we take the plunge and get a place in Sunriver. We can sled, ski, hot-tub and have lots of room. We can share the cooking and cleaning. I propose Mom and Dad bring their fake tree. Well, we can talk about all that later.
The house I'm suggesting is the same one I wanted for this last year, and it got booked early for all the holidays. The web site is northwoods-lodge.com. We'd have a 5 night minimum stay. I think 6 days is perfect to settle in, play, celebrate, and then sleep in before saying "goodbye", and "oh how we should do this next year." The cost is $540 for each party -Sharps/Grandma - Grudds/Sharps- Porters- Deans. For five nights at a luxury house during Christmas, I think that's pretty good. That includes the cleaning fee and tax. I checked for weeks last fall and it is by far the best value. They also have an even more deluxe place- owner owned- and it goes for $650 for each party.

This could be our gifts to each other. Please check it out and let me know soon. Also Check out the owner special touches picture.

I am now in touch

I have my new laptop all hooked up for internet on the road. I will be checking the blog breifly each night and will expect something entertaining to read.

I am working at Priest Rapids dam here in central Washington. It is about an hour Northwest or the Tri-cities and we are staying in a town called Desert Aire. There is not much here and the mexican food we tried last night was terrible. We actually saw them reheating much of the food in the microwave before serving us. The job is going well. We are very happy that it warmed up, the freezing rain is not fun to work in. I should be home around Feb 3rd.

Sharp Family Blog: Carpet Cleaner Frenzy

Charlie has grown a lot but around Will she still is really, really, small and right now she is laying on her side in a coma/deep sleep on the white fur rug next to the computer and looks TINY even though she is much heavier. She is a good eater and trys hard to give Mom something to do besides work and relaxation. I figure that she is creating some kind of mess either inside or outside the house around every 45 minutes except when she takes her evening snooze.
She and Katia have a really wonderful time playing fierce fighter/bully or their ever popular baby growler vs paw flipper Katia.
Another month of growth and I will not be able to ever catch Charlie. Mom is getting tired of saying No and I find her looking at me with exaspperation when it is Charlie that is removing leaves from the plants or biting the giant Panda in the living room or peeing for the 4th time on the carpet today or biting her toes or.............you get the idea. I am NOT RESPONSIBLE only helpful.
Well, off to bed. Love, Dad

Walking the Dog(s)

I hooked Charlie's leash (hence the rodent too) to Katia's collar and took both dogs for a walk around Strawberry Loop. Then I took Charlie to Oak Heights Elementary School for two laps without leash around the wood chipped trail. Charlie has crashed on the white fur rug next to me and is trying to go to sleep. Charlie's operations will be March 29th to give her plenty of time to grow before going under gas (?) and the scalpel. We are having good success with Charlie sleeping later and the last two days Mom has left her on the bed and I have gotten more sleep after her early morning potty. Both she and Katia have a good appetite. Unfortunately, Katia does get jealous in the evenings if I play with Charlie. I am forced to put her in the garage if I want to play "fetch" with a tennis ball and the white rodent. I must read the dog book more tonight to get some tips on establishing "come" not "run away".
I accidently forgot a Cosco pie in the truck that I had purchased Tuesday for Grandma faraway's dinner with us. This morning I was hunting for my Calculus homework and there was the pie on the back seat of the truck. Hmmmmmmmmm. I had forgotten I had turned in my homework binder earlier and got desperate because our homework was due today. Got to school and the first of class our instructor Judy D passed it back and I felt like a dunce. Had stopped at Wal-Mart and bought another binder. Enjoy my class and learning more calculator/computer tricks.
The squirrel has been in the bird feeder tree three times that I have seen. I put apple slices, sunflower seeds, and almonds w/shell in the feeder to encourage him/her to return. Ran off instructions to make a squirrel house, but haven't stopped to buy the wook at Home Depot yet. They have their babies in March or April so I quess if I want permanent grey tree rodents I had better get busy. The cats are find, but now seem giant-sized since the arrival of "Charlotte".
Charlie has jumped on Will so often that he is pretty used to Charlie, but he is very quick to raise "the awesome paw/cobra striker"; Charlie backs off when the paw goes up, but he does love to jump on the cat's back when Will isn't paying enough attention.
Well, time to find the dogs and then outside for the short potty break. Hope Mom had a good day. Hope you all do too. Larry

No more remorse

As I sit here on my couch typing on my sleek black laptop, it is with great relief that I found it arrived as advertised. So I am over my buyers remorse and once again happy with my purchase. The computer is working great. I have my email and wireless internet all hooked up and have warcraft 3 loaded up to play. The picture is great and the warmth of the processor keeps my lap warm. So I am happy again with my ebay experience and would recommend it to others.

It sounds like the owners of the rat need to find themselves a new computer. I would definatly recommend a laptop and upgrade to broadband internet so you can go wireless. Then you can sit in bed and type on the blog or sit outside in the summer. So anyway, I like my new computer and now I can take it on my trip with me and keep in touch. I leave this Sunday and won't be back until Feb. 2nd.

Sharp Family Blog: Rodents can be Stubborn

Charlie just came in an asked to be picked up and then Katia came in and layed her head in my lap for a pet. I put Charlie down after some snuggling. Mom is pushing for me to read the dog obedience book, but have homework, these Blog responsibilities, etc.
It is getting harder to get Charlie to go "potty' recently. She is holding out for the dinette floor. She has piddled twice there to the tune of at least half a cup each time............ I was truly amazed and impressed, but actually do not enjoy cleaning up these messes. Last night or early this morning Katia left me five really neat post Christmas presents in our dark bedroom. I am learning to slide my feet forward in the dark as to not "step" on anything so that this time all that was required was some tissue and handwashing (washed my feet in the shower later).
I used some Cortisone creme from Costco and my hands were better today; I intend on putting more on tonight and checking the results. Wanted to put a little dab on a sore lick spot of Charlie's but Mom said no and reminded me that Charlie "was her dog". Her dog require a lot of "my work".
I am teaching Charlie to retreive the tennis ball, what is she teaching me?

Sharp Family Blog: The White Rodent Strikes Again.... and again ,,, and

Charlie is wearing me out ......... I was responding to Melanie's Ebay experiences and noticed out the corner of my eye........ the white rodent was viciously attacking the white fur rug in the computer room. I get very tired recently with the mid-night potty break in the freezing rain and or dry cold and then no afternoon nap. My eyes are just plain tired. Calculus is more fun not having physics hanging over my head. I can take Physics later after I finish Calculus, but think it is much harder than chemistry or math. Too much theory, poor book, and not enough time and teaching to tie it together to help you to really understand the concepts. Charlie has a good appetite and her weight is going up and her legs are stretching down further. She will by spayed in 12-14 weeks, the hernia will be repaired, and she will get another DHLP and corona shot, and her first rabie shot.
Katia is eating so much better and she and Charlie have a great time play-fighting. When Katia gets too rough Charlie makes the circuit of living room-hall-kitchen-dinning room and back to living room, sometimes she includes running behind the large sofa. She tries hard to convince Katia that her bed is "safe from attack". but recently Katia has continued to "harass" Charlie even there. When Charlie has had enough and is getting tired of being Katia's acrobatic toy she askes to be put up in our reading chairs and removed from the "killer dog"; well that is what she says.
Her little fierce bark is quite cute, but realize it could really be annoying.

Neat doggy tricks

I just thought I would throw up, I mean out, Ada's latest adventure in "things she can eat but not digest". This time she had eaten the 4 paper towels that we had used to soak up all the grease off of a bunch of sausage we had cooked. Some how she snuck it out of the garbage and swallowed it whole. It came back up with her breakfast all over the living room floor.

And then later that night (after she was fed dinner) she managed to get the dog food container open and ate her dog food all night long until she was sick and woke me up with a wimper to go outside early this morning. I did not watch to see what happened next but I am sure it was not pretty. Her stomach was quite blotted last I looked.

Dogs. They aren't very smart.

Buyers remorse

Well.... I have been surfing around Ebay for months now looking over the various things that a person like me might look at. Software, jewelry, Rhodesian Ridgeback clocks. You name it I have considered it. Anyway, I finally got up the nerve to bid on something that comes with a hefty price tag, a laptop computer that I have wanted for a long time. You ask, "why do you need ANOTHER computer?" Well, my hubby is somewhat coveting of his laptop and I cannot run my programs that I use at work at home because they need a PC. And when I am gone on all these trips that I have planned for these next few months it would be nice to be able to blog to all of you. I also hate sitting in that dark, lonely, cold room we call an office. Also, if we ever did have a baby the crib would go right where the desktop computer is right now.Have I made enough of a case yet?? I had convinced myself lastnight that I did need it.

So.... I found a computer that I wanted on Ebay and came up with a mental price ( you have heard of that term before, right?? it is very different from what the actual price you end up paying will be) and waited until there was about 5 minutes left on the auction and made my bid. And for about 1 minute I was the highest bidder. Then I refreshed my screen and someone had outbid me by $10. Well ok, I can go up another $50 I suppose, what would it hurt. This process continued about 2 more times until I had sold my soul for that laptop in a mere 5 minutes flat. In the end I came up as winning bidder and my heart was pounding through my chest with addrenaline. I was in a slight manic state from all the excitement when it hit me; I just bought a laptop, WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING?? I am not made of money. I already have two computers. I think it is an addiction that I have, where about every 6 months or so, I get this itching to make a purchase that must exceed $500 and until I satisfy that need I can't sleep or eat or anything.

Soon after the manic occured it quickly ran out and the depressive state set in. I feel like I was used by the whole ebay machine that somehow thrives off of my emotions. So now I await my laptop with a heavy heart. My husband assures me that as soon as I am beating him at Warcraft III on it I will change my mind. I don't know if I will ever be able to completely love it, we will just have to wait and see. However, I vow never to enter that site of lust and greed and glory they call ebay.com. We can only hope my father never sets mouse apon this site, we could lose him forever. Oh, that's right, his fear of the "used" could never be overcome.

Please keep me in your thoughts as I work through these troubling days as I wait for my laptop to arrive. (I even forked out an extra $18 for 2 day shipping!!!)

CO Poisoning

Well, we woke up to smoke throughout the house once again. I think we have finnally come to terms with the fact that the wood stove and the forced air heater are incompatible. For some reason when the heater turns on it sucks air through the woodstove and brings hefty amounts of smoke out into our livingroom. So I think after a year of fighting it we have decided to just leave our heater off and just use the woodstove in the winter.

Hopefully we haven't suffered any longterm effects. Just a few lost braincells (one's I am sure I didn't need anyway.)

We are having a light shower of snow that is sticking this morning. Ada and I ran around in it breifly before we both got cold.

The Depths

Readers wanted. Traci Christine Sharp Porter, pen name perhaps Simone Payton, would like some feedback, lots of feedback from the chapters she sent. Come on now, you can spend an hour here or there to help a struggling artist.

To Mother: The rest of the story has lots of depressing/violent scenes. It has good times too, but I thought I should prepare you since you don't like those kind of stories. Focus on the art of the writing, the voice.

Greyson? (You're brain is in the academic, analyzing mode)

Mel? (What a good way to pass time while away from your husband)

Dad? (Read to Charli. She may be able to identify with the protaganist.)

I gained 10 pounds as of New Years. Weighed 142!! That's only been topped by pregnancy weight. perhaps I'll give birth to a 10 pound fudge/chex mix/peanut brittle blob.
I'm happy to report that without all that chocolate and all those naps, I've lost 3 pounds and am back to my Tae Bo each morning.


Had a great Christmas seeing all of you. I still think we should rent a big old cabin in Bend or Sunriver and skip the gifts next year.

charli's owners

That glorified rat is missed by its breeding parents. Please take some pictures since I promised you'd keep in touch to let them know how her...snicker...growing is coming. I'll send their mailing address later if you don't have it.

Greta is getting increasingly naughty. She chewed my earphone, then ran away wildly, chewing edges of couches, shoes, ducking from me, chewing again, then caught. Oh and to the prison. Locked away. Thankfully Lindy wears her out wrestling most of the time. Greta does ask from time to time how that dwarfed little orphan is managing at those tall people's house.

Welcome to 2005

It seems that we all have survived another year. I would say that the last year appeared to end well for everyone. I know it was a good one for me and Greyson. I think we have this being married thing all worked out to a nice system.

It looks like my winter/spring is going to be very busy. I am going to be leaving for Priest Rapids Dam from Jan. 16 through Feb. 2nd and then I will be working on various other jobs in E. Washington through the end of April. I will probably be on a "gone for 2-3 weeks, home for 1 week" schedule during that time. Hopefully I can talk me hubby in to coming to visit me every now and then. Good thing he has that portable laptop.