ALS "Lou Gehrig's Disease"

This weekend in Portland, Oregon there was a walk to help raise awareness for the disease and my husband and I participated.

It was a dreary day in Portland, Oregon. Dark gray clouds rolled in early in the morning and then, without much warning, they burst open. Like an angry child throwing a fit, the clouds dumped their anger out on us, in one huge down pour. We were caught - without umbrellas or hats or even rain jackets. . . but then it was over. The sun peeked out and warmed us. We dried out.

It was just too bad the rain couldn't wait until after our walk for ALS. But that didn't put too much of a damper on the occasion. Portlanders are people who can deal with a little--or even a lot--of rain.

They came out dressed as the Flintstones, trees and even octopus creatures.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. It's also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Every 90 minutes someone is diagnosed with ALS and every ninety minutes someone dies from ALS.

So, helping raise a little money for research was a nice way to spend a rainy day.

Movie Review Monday - The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a fantastic movie. It's definitely not my usual thing. No vampires, zombies or werewolfs at all. And, when my husband and I talked about going to a weekend movie, I'd suggested Contagion , Bridesmaids or The Help. I'd heard about the book from friends and had planned on reading it but never got around to it so I thought why not? And my husband didn't want to go to another zombie wanna-be movie so Contagion was nixed from the start.

He also said he didn't want to go to some predictable comedy. He voted for The Help and we were off to the movies.

I don't know what I expected but this was a very sad movie in so many ways. It was also the story of friendship and adversity and how the first helps you get through the second plus it taught a few lessons about what really matters in life.

I thought the acting was great.

The story tugged some tears and gave a few giggles too. It was filled with emotion and drama.

I only wish it would have shown a few more "good" people in the movie. It seemed that so many depictions were of evil people. My hope is always that there are a lot more good people than bad.

This is a definite "RECOMMENDED BY KIM" movie. If you see/saw it, let me know what you thought.

Earth-Friendly Friday

I've never been big on fashion. I grew up a Tomboy wearing my Dad's old jackets, ties and sweaters - before anything like that was in style. Dad said I dressed like a clown. And, for the times, I did. But even I know you don't have to be a fashionista to find wonderful clothing you can wear and feel good about.

Just look at this coat. It's made out of recycled materials. So you can look good, be comfortable and protect the planet all at the same time.

Hope you all have a warm wonderful weekend.

Dogs Can Laugh too

He's laughing at us...

I know he is

Just Horsin' Around

I've always loved to ride. My brother and sister had horses when I was growing up. And then we went to the Grand Canyon one summer, I wanted my kids to learn how to ride before we rode the mules down the steep pathways. But once my daughter took lessons, she was hooked.

Finally, we got two horses of our own. Mine was Robin and hers was Lesa. We spent many hours riding together out on the trails.


She enjoyed it so much she wanted to do a couple horse shows. So, she did.


But we couldn't afford the fancy show clothes or silver for our horse gear. So we did the best we could. We color coordinated her clothes. She wore a baseball cap and a bright yellow vest and boots.
People loved to go riding with her and she even taught a couple of her friends to ride.


Even her little cousin learned to ride on Robin


Then Kara went to high school and varsity basketball took over her life for the next eight years. We couldn't go riding every other day and the horses were lonely. So, we tried to find them both a good home.

Sometimes I really missing riding out in the woods and feeling the wind blow through my hair. Those were the "good old days".

Depressed...

We got her at the pound. There were four adoptions ahead of us. Everyone wanted her because she was an adorable bundle of red fur. They told us she was a Sheba Inu but not show quality. Someone else told us she might have been part chow. The pound said Sheba Inus were dogs meant to hunt bears in packs. But she was an adorable little puppy.

And, 18 years is a long time for any relationship to last. But when they come to an end it's soooooo sad.

Kit had come home with us when all the other adoptions fell through. It was just meant to be. The kids wanted her so badly that I can't imagine what would have happened if one of those other people had been lucky enough to get her.

Kara used to put her in her doll stroller and take her around the neighborhood - just like a little baby.

We took her on hikes up to the mountains and she was always so excited when winter rolled around and we headed off to go cut down our Christmas Trees.

She loved to be outside with the kids.

If there was a noise outside, she would jump up to go see what it was.

And she would sit and guard the house from the front porch

And Kit loved Kats - she was kind of a Kit Kat herself

She slept at the foot of the bed until she couldn't jump up there any more then she laid down on the floor right at the edge of the bed.

We used to go for runs until she couldn't any more then we went for long walks to Starbucks. We'd sit and have a cup of coffee while she recuperated and then we'd head back.

When she was twelve the vet warned us that she probably wouldn't live much longer - maybe two more years, if we were lucky. So when she hit fourteen we started thinking about getting another dog. We got Sasha. She was a rambunctious Siberian Husky who drove Kit crazy - some of the time. So, we had to have a little sanctuary where Kit could escape from that crazy puppy who was jumping all over her. We never let Sasha go in our bedroom. That was Kit's place to go when she needed a break.

But she loved Sasha too.

Finally, she started having real problems. She couldn't see any more, and she couldn't hear but she could still smell. And, when her arthritis got too bad I took her to the vet to get a steroid shot. She was better for a while. But then she started falling down. And, one day she went out on the deck and almost fell off it.

I started worrying about her falling off and getting hurt. She could lay there in pain. I didn't want her life to end that way. So, finally I called a vet to come to the house.

We were all home with her when she went to sleep. She was calm and peaceful. But it was so horribly sad to have to say goodbye to her. She was such a good dog.

Fashion Fail or Fashion Forward

I bought some new ankle warmers this weekend. I know very 80's but a little less so than leg warmers. I just didn't want to cover up my Shrek colored toes. It's such a pretty OPI polish that I didn't want to hide it.


My husband didn't think it was so pretty. First, he said the color made me look a bit like a troll. I can live with that.

But, when he said they were the stupidest thing he'd ever seen, I thought that was going a little far. Rude-Dude!

So, we got into a bit of a spat over that. I don't care - I'm still going to wear them - take that!