Finally got back in, again

Hi big brother and all,

I had a heck of a time getting back into this blog... and look at at I missed. Yes, Larry, I have started dog obedience lessons and it is okay, so far. This little puppy is still fond of biting and nipping at me.. but is getting better.

Our trainer uses the method the Walt Disney studios have used to train their movie dogs, so I hope it goes as well as it did with our other golden retriever, Raleigh. But Murphy is definitely a different puppy. Or we are too old for this... no, actually it is getting better.

Mom/ Grandma Sharp had a nice breakfast brunch up the one of our nice golf courses. Michelle and Christopher were there. It was very enjoyable; and then Mom and I started looking for a new, smaller car for her.

Gotta go, as Survivor starts soon... I don't know about the rest of you, but Phil and I are hooked. And have been since the beginning.

Hi to all, Love
Chris

Happy Birthday Jenn

Just wanted to send out a quick !!!Happy Birthday!!! to Jenn.

If anyone has a complete list of family birthdays/anniversaries could they email it out to me. I just can't keep up any more. Our family just seems to keep growing and growing.....

greyson's web site

I was extremely impressed with Greyson's restaurant web page and then his whole site. My daughter was in one of his snapshots! Ada appeared there too I think.

Tim is sending out resumes and continuing working towards his doctorate. As for me, I served ham sandwiches, applesauce, and big glasses of milk for dinner. I washed 9 loads of laundry in the last 2 days since I was sick. I helped clean the kitty litter, scrub the shower, and read all of The Banks of Plum Creek to Robin, my friend at the nursing home.

I wish Mother's could get grades. I think I'd have a 92% this week.

We had a suicide at the highschool...the parking lot, so the school had a lock down and it was just sad. They'd been tracking and helping this kid, and they said they just didn't see it coming. So lots of regrets. Hard to explain to my little ones.

Lainey finally gave Christian an OSU basketball as a belated Christmas gift. She broke up with him " because she wants to focus on basketball" and we thought she'd find some other poor chum, but she's stayed single and then she calls Christian up and invites him to shoot hoops with her at her house. She's got the poor boy confused. Tim told Christian to move on, not be at her beck and call, but he said he couldn't, "he likes her." Jeez!!!

I need to write so that someday, perhaps I'll have a real life and a real job...whatever those are. Until then, I'm the designated, chaffeur, maid, nanny, etc. I used to get paid for the nanny part. Man, those were the days.

Traci

Lying Low (from Mom)

Sure haven't heard from the Porters in a long time? What happening in Prineville. Heard on the news that your town is running out of water. That could out to be pretty inconvenient.

And Stevenson apparently has hillsides with housing sloughing off. Hope that isn't Archer Mountain.

Grandma Sharp had a birthday yesterday!

Jennifer has a birthday coming up in a few days. I ordered her a book she was interested in, but , like almost all my gifts to people, it will likely be late arriving.

Haven't heard much about the new puppy in Simi Valley. Is it all trained and guarding the house?

Hope you are all well.

OXOXOXOX
Mom/Grandma

Tuesday night date

So Greyson and I did dinner and a movie last night. First I dragged him out to the mall so I could get a new pair of jeans and was actually successful at finding something within a reasonable amount of time (which is rare for me). Then we went to see Pan's Labyrinth. It was kind of a dark mystical/fantasy movie and we both liked it. Afterwards we made the mistake of going to the Red Robin located nearby. I have not been to a Red Robin for dinner since I was in college. It was a zoo. There were kids everywhere, balloons, some guy dressed up in a bird costume and it was really noisy. We were seated almost immediately but then sat for what must have been 45min waiting for our food. They must have lost or forgot our order and when our food finally came it was only luke warm like it had been sitting lost under a heat lamp for a half hour. So I dropped the whole "my food is cold but I just want to eat and get out of here" line to the waitress and the manager came over and apologized and paid for our entire meal. So that made for a $15 date night which isn't bad. I don't think I will be going back to the old RR any time soon but the paying for the meal did redeem them somewhat.

We gave Ada 4 years to get over the whole barking when the doorbell rings issue. We don't mind if she barks when someone pulls up to our house or rings the doorbell. It is nice to be alerted to someones presence. But when we tell her it is alright she needs to quit. So after 4 patient years of trying different methods, being calm and reassuring, getting stern, etc. we are going to the shock collar training method. It was the only thing that really worked for chasing cats when she was younger. We put it on the very lowest setting so I don't think it really hurts that much but I have to say I am not going to test it on myself like Brian and Dad have done.

Ada has been going for walks with me. I usually make it out on days when it is not raining. On days that I don't go out I feel like I am going to fall asleep at my desk around noon. On sunny days I can even nudge Greyson out the door to get a little fresh air with me. Still no real belly on me. Makes me worry a little that these babies aren't growing. Yes, I am going to worry the whole time and you can't stop me.

-Mel

How was everyone's weekend?

Greyson and I went over to Jenn's for Emma's 4th birthday on Saturday. Emma was quite the chatter box and said she had a good birthday. The cake with strawberry frosting, homemade by Brian and Gabe, was quite tasty. I stayed home for superbowl Sunday but only caught the halftime show.

I have been trying to schedule my work schedule for this spring. I am usually gone over half of the weeks in spring and haven't been home for my birthday since I started this job. But this year I have enough office work to keep me home for all but about 2 weeks so that should be nice.

So has everyone figured out how to get a new account???

-Mel

To add new post

So read the post below and switch over. Once you do that, to add a new posting all you need to do is click "new post" in the upper right hand corner instead of going to the orange "B" in the other corner like you used to do. That method will still work but it takes longer.

If you have any questions send me an email or give me a call.

-Mel

New Google accounts

Just when everyone was finally all settled into blogging we are going to change things up. It looks like google bought out blogger.com and are requiring everyone to switch over from the blogger account to a google account. As "owner" of the blog they required me to do this first and then will require the rest of you to switch over as well if you want to post. All you need to do is follow the instructions and enter a email and password for your new Google account and everything else should look pretty much the same. Sorry that everyone has to switch but it is out of my control.

Mel