Beach week in a nut shell

More details and photos to come later, but what follows is a very brief synopsis of the highlights:

♥ Beach week was almost lost when we learned that the air conditioning unit in our rented house was cashed. Todd, Maria and Abby spent Friday night at 95+ degrees fahrenheit. I spent said night searching for backup houses. A substitute was found (pictured below), but Zoe was no longer invited. Thank you Caroline and David for graciously taking such wonderful care of my baby girl!


♥ Games were played. I reigned as the master of Clue. Miss Scarlet proved to most often be the criminal. She possessed murderous skills wielding several weapons.

♥ Olives must've been on hiatus. Most found were either tiny or ancient. The shell seekers were bummed.

♥ Abby lost a tooth with a bracket attached! In the words of my father the dentist, "she was an excellent patient - really she was - very good." And he was telling the truth. I was quite impressed with her myself.

♥ We made good use of a gift Abby received a couple of years ago - ladder ball. Great beach game. I acquired enough skills so as not to be completely embarrassed by my performance, but Todd was clearly the most talented player.

♥ I read a fabulous book, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. I couldn't put it down. I will provide a more detailed post on it later, but I really loved it. Todd allowed me to borrow Under the Banner of Heaven by the same author, which I plan to read after finishing my current read and the book I have on hold at the library.

♥ I learned the origin of the ridiculously annoying word "mayhaps" that my friend Jen uses quite often - the movie Up. While I loathe the use of that word, I admit watching the scene where it is spoken more than a dozen times. For those of you who have seen the movie, all that needs to be said is, "SQUIRREL!!!" Very cute movie.

♥ The name of the house we rented was "Great Expectations." While I don't think any of us had any after the rocky start to our vacation, we found ourselves in a position to realize and enjoy our great vacation expectations.

More flutterings

Had another visitor to my verbena at about 5 pm yesterday and braved the brutal heat to take some pictures. As you can see, the poor little guy has damaged wings, but he had no trouble fluttering from flower to flower. He called my attention to the verbena on the other side of my front yard, too, which has sprouted a few new blooms.

This will likely be my last post until I return from vacation, so I hope everyone enjoys next week as much as I plan to from Holden Beach!

UNC Tar Heel logo Bandz

Purchasing a package of these is on my to do list for today - per my sister-in-law's request. I loathe going to Johnny T-shirt on Franklin Street, only because parking is impossible. Perhaps today's trip will be more pleasant since school is out for the summer.

I was first introduced to these "silly bandz" by my niece, Abby, the weekend my family came to see me after Bailey died. Abby gave me a dollar sign shaped band and told me to wear it for Bailey and I did.

When my friend at work saw me wearing it she said, "oh my gosh, are you wearing a silly band?!" I had no idea what she was talking about (Abby didn't tell me what they were called, and if she did I don't remember it).

Abby subsequently gave me several more, which I wear faithfully in her honor, along with my ever-present LIVESTRONG bracelet. I'm sure I'll be sporting some of these Tar Heel Bandz soon, too.

I don't often notice them on other people, but I've heard about some really cool ones out there. Jen saw some in the shape of musical instruments and almost caved into a purchase. Seen any supercool bandz lately?

Quote of the day

"It isn't where you came from, it's where you're going that counts."

-Ella Fitzgerald

Butterfly magnet

My purple verbena flowers drew in a pair of swallowtail butterflies on Sunday. One of them buzzed out pretty quickly after I started taking photos, but the other hung around for a bit. I was on my way out, but glad I noticed them before leaving because a pretty strong thunderstorm hit soon after.

Zoe's throne

Zoe has taken over this wingback chair. It was a Craig's List purchase, so I don't really have a problem with her making it her throne.

She can spend hours here, only moving to occasionally reposition herself. Her usual position is in a ball - butt to nose with tail curled under. But you can see her in another of her favorite states of relaxation below.



Then there's the doorbell alert position.



And the mommy's in the kitchen in the food closet position. This is what she looks like when she can't decide if it's worth getting up to investigate. She's surely interested, but weighing her options.



She also used to react this way any time she heard Bailey moving around (Zoe has bat-like hearing - it's almost annoying). I know she doesn't really miss Bailey, but I'd like to think she remembers him.

Laughing Cow trivia

I adore The Laughing Cow cheese wedges and Babybel cheeses, so when I saw The Laughing Cow Gourmet Cheese Bites on sale at my local Kroger I picked up a couple of packages.

These are basically just tiny individually-wrapped "bites" of TLC wedges. Each pack contains 25 bites; 5 bites per serving. They're great when you just want a little taste of yum. But it wasn't until this evening that I realized the wrappers are lined with little snippets of trivia - so clever.

Here are the bits of knowledge I opened up with my cheese tonight (as well as the two wrappers I plucked from the trash from last night's cheese snack):

♥ You will never see a right-handed polar bear; they are all lefties.

♥ New York City's Empire State Building has 400 windows.

♥ Beer making requires 1/10 of the 7 million tons of rice grown in the U.S. each year.

♥ It takes just 1 ostrich egg to make 11.5 omelets.

♥ The only mammal that can fly is the bat.

♥ The penny is the only U.S. coin bearing a right-facing profile.

♥ New Zealand women were the first in the world to be allowed to vote.

Did anyone already know any or all of these little facts?

Sunday night with the munchkins

I gave Robert and Kerry a well-deserved date night last night. I had so much fun with these little angels.

Let me say first that I am in love with Sydney's new cute bob haircut! Absolutely adorable, don't you agree?


Enthralled by Dora the Explorer.


Sydney's "cheese" face. Check out that belly!


On the swings. Felton is so proud that he now knows how to propel himself. Sydney still needs help, but she likes to go high just like her brother!


I loved that when Sydney got off her swing to play elsewhere and Felton was still swinging, he kept saying, "Be careful Sydney," meaning that he wanted her to stay out of his way so as not to hurt her. I LOVE these kids!

Crazy hair Sunday

The title of this post is misleading because Zoe's hair is always crazy.

I felt the need to post a Zoe pic since recent posts have necessarily focused on other pets.

Zoe is still around and taking advantage of her single-dog household status. What a stinker.

Puppy Casey

Some puppy pics of Casey taken in 2001.

Casey post from Todd

My brother sent me this by email earlier today. I asked if I could share it here and he said OK. Casey died on Tuesday.

"Thought I would do my own version of a “Bailey Week” post for Casey.  Being here in the house alone without him is terrible so I was looking through some pictures and picked out a few of my favorites.

This picture was taken on August 1, 2008 and it’s one of my favorites for several reasons.  It was taken with my phone while we were on our way to the beach.  He was sitting on my lap and was taken at an awkward angle but was perfectly centered and also captured Abby in the background watching a movie.  Casey was very cold natured and spent most of his time in the house in the coolest places: tile in the bathroom or marble in front of the fireplace.  He never liked to be covered with blankets and could only tolerate sleeping on the bed for short periods.  However, if put in a situation where he was unfamiliar and had a choice between temperature comfort and being near me or Maria and hot, he would choose the latter.  This was evident when we traveled or stayed at another house and he would sit in our laps while obviously panting even though more comfortable areas were available.

When we traveled, we would set up a “seat” for him in between the two regular seats in the back but he always preferred sitting in my lap.  I can remember driving a few times from New Bern to Winston (about five hours) with him in my lap the entire time.  It had to be warmer there just from the body heat, a more unstable surface and with a steering wheel in his face but that’s where he wanted to be.  He never liked traveling (a throw up bucket was always required and no meals were given on travel day mornings) but that’s where he felt safest.  I can just see this sentiment on his face in the picture."

Please place your vote for i found happy

A good friend and co-worker of mine is entered in a calendar photo contest for the Children's Eye Foundation. Her daughter was born with Septo-Optic Dysplasia, a condition which has left her with no vision in her left eye. The photo she entered into the contest is of her daughter and husband and it is quite cute.

You can read more about it here, including instructions on how to vote. Voting does NOT require registration or entering any personal information. Your help is appreciated!

Quote of the day

My dad sent me this card almost 10 years ago. I feel blessed that my parents have always understood my infinite love for my four-legged children.

"There are some simple truths...and the dogs know what they are."

- Joseph Duemer

Farewell Casey

It's been a hard few weeks for the Glazeners. My brother's dog, Casey, died this morning in Todd's car on the way to the vet. He would've been 9-years-old in December. He was diagnosed with kidney disease and high blood pressure a couple of years ago and he just decided it was time to let go.

The photo posted here was taken at Holden Beach last summer. Casey and Zoe have both accompanied us all on our family beach week since 2005. With beach week coming up in just a few weeks, it's hard to think of Casey not being there with us!

Casey had a personality and a half. He howled when he got lonely - even if only separated from his family by a door. He barked frantically any time someone adjusted the blinds on the windows because he learned as a puppy that this signaled visitors at his house. He obediently stopped and sat by the road whenever a car approached. Maria instilled that behavior in Casey after their first Sheltie, Bernie, was hit and killed by a car. If I happened to drop his leash while walking him, he'd stop and turn around and look at it, then me, and then sit and wait for me to pick it up before continuing on his walk. He would eat just about anything he could get his little paws or jaws on, but he had a very patient "begging face." He drank water slower than any dog I've ever seen, which usually meant Bailey would polish it off and leave Casey sitting by his bowl barking for a refill. Most of all, he was fiercely loyal to his humans, and I know they will miss him dearly, as will the rest of us who knew him well.

RIP Caseydog - you are loved!

The 3rd time is the charm

Or at least it was for me.

Jen and I went to see Eclipse yesterday, and while I really enjoyed it, she definitely did not. Her first comment when the credits started rolling was, "I'm not going to see the last two movies unless you pay for it."

I find myself in the minority. Eclipse currently has a 4.5 out of 10 rating on IMDB with nearly 14,000 votes. Nevertheless, just as Eclipse is my favorite Twilight Saga book, the movie is by far my favorite of the three released.

I guess I should admit that the first time I viewed New Moon (also with Jen) I thought it was absolutely awful, but when a friend asked me to watch it with her (she hadn't seen it) I hated it much less than the first time.

Jen admitted that MAYBE her lack of love for the Twilight Saga is due to the fact that she hasn't read any of the books, but who really knows. I found it interesting that we both laughed at the same parts that weren't meant to be funny (but were ridiculous or just bad acting instead), but Eclipse was the first Twilight film that left me feeling satisfied.

I reread Eclipse a few months ago, and I'm glad I did because it helped me to appreciate what a great job David Slade did in keeping the film true to Stephenie Meyer's book. Only a couple of scenes were added to the film in order to introduce and develop a key character (Riley) since Eclipse (the book) is told completely from Bella's perspective. Therefore she wasn't present to witness Riley's transformation, the forming of the newborn army or Riley and Victoria's interactions (scenes added to the film).

The make-up - especially Robert Pattinson's - was so much better than it was in the first two films. Everything was far more subtle and realistic (aside from the ridiculous sparkling, which I still find utterly moronic).

Many reviewers have bashed both Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart's acting. I found Taylor's Jacob in Eclipse far more believable than in New Moon; and I thought Kristen Stewart finally let herself go a little bit in Eclipse and was therefore able to bring a live Bella to the screen.

Jen still criticized her for the limited range of her facial expressions, etc., but for the first time I believed Kristen's acting.

In Eclipse Bella really is conflicted for almost the entire book. She is upset with herself, worried for those she loves and completely unsure how she should feel about her future. Despite her resolve in the decisions she's made, she is constantly reminded that her loved ones will be forever affected - and not in a good way - by her choices. Hence the pained expressions, furrowed brows and mostly unhappy face she sports for the larger part of the movie. I wouldn't have expected to see Bella any other way in the film-adaptation of Eclipse.

I admit that I own Twilight on dvd (solely for the commentary version). I would never buy New Moon, but I'm pretty sure I'll add Eclipse to my dvd collection eventually. I really did like it, no matter what anyone else thinks.

Happy Fourth of July!

Abby with her "patriotic flower" in Carrboro this morning. She's shading her eyes from the sun, but Maria and I said she's saluting!

Peter Jackson's non-documentary

District 9

I had no idea what this film was about and had never cared to investigate it for potential viewing until a friend of mine told me she thought it was pretty good.

What starts out as some sort of horrible joke of a film about an alien race forced to exist in a man-made slum in South Africa quickly becomes an intense, emotionally-charged depiction of many conflicted countries/races/religions today.

I found the plot to be a little like Independence Day meets 28 Days Later meets Resident Evil: Apocalypse with a touch of Transformers. Nevertheless, by the end I was affected.

I put my hand over my mouth in a gesture of awe more than once.

I truly feel the movie benefited from a cast of unknowns. Sharlto Copley played the protagonist so well. I don't think anyone else could've done it justice.

So as not to ruin/spoil the story, I'll leave it to any interested readers to investigate/rent themselves.

I began viewing this movie with a great deal of negativity and ended it with a huge helping of humble pie. Haters hate if you will, but I really liked this movie.

Patriot bears make the news

Not really. But my mom forwarded the Downtown Arts District of Winston-Salem's e-letter to me last night, which featured a picture of my little patriot bears.

So cheesy, but so cute: "Hand-crafted items are food for the soul! and we're glad you're still finding that special something with us! (See how happy we look - we can bearly stand it!)"


My mom is a member of Fiber Company. Her work can be viewed on the Carolina Designer Craftsmen web site.

Quote of the day

"There is nothing more genuine than breaking away from the chorus to learn the sound of your own voice."

-Po Branson