Cast of characters

I went back and looked at my old blog and realize I haven't posted on it in almost three years. The ironic thing is that the last time I posted there was not long after Katrina hit and we were still looking for people (We moved from New Orleans to Phoenix four years ago) and now here we are three years later and there's another big storm about to hit that area. One of the reasons we moved was because we knew that New Orleans wasn't going to dodge the bullet forever. Actually, despite the devastation, Katrina didn't hit New Orleans. The levies failed - totally different story than a direct hit from a category four storm when you live six feet below sea level. My prayers to all of my friends still in the New Orleans area.

Anyways, what was I talking about... oh yeah, the cast of characters here at thePickles.

Well there's me... 'Dy. My full name is Wendy Jean. When I was in high school, my best friend was Wendy Ann. To simplify things, we split the name. To this day she's Wen' and I'm 'Dy. I think I got the better half! This is a pretty good, and recent, picture of me - wouldn't you know Angie would stick her finger up her nose just then?! I'm 37 and happily married to...

Lenny, my sexy husband. He's addicted to motorcycles and computer games. I'd like to think he has an addiction to me too. We've been together for seven and a half years now. I picked him up at a biker bar off Bourbon Street in New Orleans - a fun story I'll have to tell you later.

Angelina, our daughter. She's 14 months old now and really just the light of my life. She slid in on her only available window after more than two years of waiting for her to make an appearance. It is absolutely amazing to watch a personality develop, I really had no idea. You think you know what love is about, and then you have a child. Wow. I only have just over 3,000 pictures of her so far - do you think that's enough? ;)

Guinness aka Goober. He's a 11 year old mutt who's overweight and rather grumpy about...

Ginger Snap, an 8 week old chocolate lab who just joined the family. Did I mention she likes to chew? She's taken over ownership of Angie's Princess couch - probably not a good sign, eh?

We live a pretty simple life, but I'm enjoying it.

Ponds

This week I met someone who I think is pretty amazing. Did you ever meet someone and think "wow, I'd really like to be friends with this person?" Her name is Deb and she taught the CPR class I took earlier this week. I stayed to chat during the breaks and found out that she was at the World Trade Center on day two with her rescue dogs and a team of 11 others. Turns out that of the twelve, she's the only one still alive. The others died from exposure. "Exposure to what?" I asked. "Just about everything you can think of," she replied.

I have an hour's drive each way to and from work, so I often use that time to mull things over and basically solve the problems of the universe - you know, the usual. Somehow my mind settled on the image of ponds.

Obviously Deb's still here because she's not done splashing around in other people's ponds. She teaches first aid and CPR, I think it's pretty obvious how important her splashing might be.

If you just stop and think about how each of us affect those around us, it's really amazing. Sometimes it's obvious, and sometimes it's so subtle that you may not even realize it.

I chose to put ducks in my pond, and throw some in about 100 others. I'm pretty proud of that. In fact, I think I need to order some more.

These are breast cancer awareness duckies - you put them in the shower to remind you to do self exams. My lovely model is Angie, who was just two months old at the time.

If you want even more proof of my pond theory, check out any of the interesting people listed to the right. It's pretty amazing to see a community of people, in this case bloggers, most of whom never have and never will meet, rally together to support one of their own and her family in a time of need.

Happy splashing!

The word for the day is... No

If life wasn't chaotic enough, we decided to make it more so! Angie is no longer the baby in the family...

Enter.... Ginger Snap!

Ginger's birthday is just two days before Angie's, June 21st. She's 8 weeks old and an AKC registered chocolate lab. Her likes are chewing, chewing and sometimes she likes to chew.

So now we have two little ones who chew on everything, sometimes pee in places you wish they wouldn't, who wake us up in the middle of the night (sleep is overrated), who don't always listen when you say "no" and who are full of love and hugs (and the occassional nibble).

Angie played fetch with me this morning, but Ginger had no clue what was going on. There have been two small accidents and a leaky diaper.
In the realm of things that are just tooooo cute, check out Angie's first pigtails.

They didn't stay in long, but she sure did look cute.

Well bye for now...