The Reals: Ramos!

This family is so gorgeous!

The Reals: The Littles

Too much, too much.  This family is so cute they are too much!

Cheeky at Home: My Weekly Post About Working From Home

I've been trying to "reduce" lately.  That's what my husband calls it, and also I heard Betty Draper say it on Mad Men once.  It's one of the more boring topics to discuss.  I am tracking what I eat and adding up points (I like that they are called points because it gets my adrenaline going----competitive spirit, sort of).  A nice thing though, about reducing and being diligent about consuming, is just how luxurious the simple treats are.  Fancy, fabulous treats aren't worth it right now because of the sadness associated with losing soooo many points.  But, hot cocoa packets in coffee?  Wow.  I found a packet in Walter's treat bucket (a place we store the numerous treats Walter brings home from school.  The fact that it's a bucket makes him sound like a horse, but it's just one of those beach buckets).  I poured it in my afternoon coffee (only 3 points!) and magic happened!  Rainbow marshmallows!  What a delight.  I floated from that moment for the rest of the day.

The Reals: Sweet Caroline

Is there a sweeter looking girl in all the world?  Answer:  No.  I love her style.

The Reals: The Hibfoots

  I really love the picture of this family up above.  I am familiar with the kind of laugh that makes children lose control and arch their backs back like that little guy is doing.  The noise of the laugh is so touching, no one can resist smiling at it----as you can see from Mom and Dad.  The person I corresponded with for this gift for the Hibfoots was such a delight, her name is Joyce, and I wish everyone had a Joyce in her life.  She works for the organization that Mom up above is the director of: a non-profit animal welfare group.  They do something I thought was a joke at first, until I really read through and started to understand the importance and need of it:  providing oral contraception to animals.  You can read all about it here http://www.acc-d.org/ and it will make you go "Of course!", because it's such an amazing concept.  I'm including a write-up Joyce provided me about Mom and Dad up there because their lives are very cool:

Elly: Our board member. Dr. Elly Hiby is an Independent Animal Welfare Consultant and Scientific 
Coordinator to the International Companion Animal Management (ICAM) Coalition. Previously she 
worked at Dogs Trust as International Director, covering a range of dog welfare issues around the world 
but with a focus on humane dog population management. Prior to working at Dogs Trust, Dr. Hiby 
worked for the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) for eight years, including leading on 
the companion animal welfare program and advising on humane rabies control internationally. She has 
also worked as a technical expert with the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE), the World Health 
Organisation (WHO), and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on dog population management.
In 2006, while working for WSPA, Dr. Hiby and contemporaries from Royal Society for Protection of 
Animals, Humane Society International, and International Fund for Animal Welfare formed the ICAM 
Coalition. This coalition aims to improve understanding of effective population management by sharing 
experience and data from past and current non-profit projects and by combining knowledge to produce 
documents outlining best practice. In her current role with ICAM Coalition she leads the Indicators 
Project, aiming to develop guidance on monitoring and evaluation of dog population management to 
support academics, practitioners and funders to track progress, learn and subsequently improve their 
impact through the use of measurable indicators. 
Prior to joining WSPA, Dr. Hiby completed a PhD in dog welfare and behavior with a focus on improving 
the welfare of working dogs and the impact of training methods on pet behavior. However, her passion 
for animal welfare has led to work with many other species, from training horses under the guidance of 
“horse whisperer” Monty Roberts to surveying wild seal populations along the UK coastline.

Her husband Mike:   On the 23rd August, Mike and his brother Andy embarked on  a novel and eccentric challenge: to cycle Brompton folding bicycles between the British 3 peaks (Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis - in this order), wild camping en route. Then with Bromptons folded and carried on rucksack mounts, climb each peak via scrambling routes that would not be attainable whilst porting a larger-sized bike. We intend to complete our expedition in approximately 10 days: cycling for six of the days and covering on average 100 miles each day, scrambling the peaks in one day each, leaving one ‘spare’ day which is optimistically reserved for a recuperating beverage in Fort William.

The Reals

Don't you just want to know these kids?  They seem like good conversationalists.  And, the style!  I'm lovin' the mismatched socks look!  Yes! 

Cheeky at Home --- My Weekly Post About Working From Home

Coworkers.

I have to remind myself sometimes that my "career" dreams have come true.  Maybe not in the most ideal way, and definitely shy of a few Benjamins.  But, I get to be creative all the time, non stop.  I am in my element when I work with my hands, and I feel very strange when not.  One thing I do miss from being out of the more conventional work place is the coworkers.  My favorite coworkers are the kind you live with, like at summer camp.  I also love the coworkers at more entertainment type of jobs.  That could be interpreted a little oddly.  I mean, specifically, the coworkers at the second to last job I had, which was at a day program for adults with developmental disabilities.  There was a lot of "keeping the mood up" activity, and cheeriness there.  There was tons of creativity, less in the "working with the hands" arena, and more within the "how can I prevent this meltdown from happening" department. There was quite a bit of skipping and impromptu singing, and hugging.  Lots of hugging.  And, let's be honest, stress, but it was the sort of stress that is a result of trying to do good, so it was a bit more tolerable.   

When my house is quiet---when little boy is off at school, and little girl is next door with her awesome neighbor nanny, and the bearded man is off teaching, I only have one coworker.  Good ole Albert.  You can see him right there in the sunshine.  Albert has been with me for 8 years.  He was a rescue dog.  When Joseph and I adopted him from the shelter, his little bio said he wasn't to go to a home with children.  Check!  At the time, we had none, and Albert was such a sweet pup, I knew if we ever had any babies that he would treat them like gentle little lambs.  Wrong.  He treats them like ferocious, beastly lambs.  He doesn't go after them, or anything, but if they run past him with childlike glee, he'll give them an earful.  And, if they try to pet him, he'll snarl and snap.  Oh, Albert.  He's too small to do any damage, and his teeth are "elderly home teeth", so he's alright.  Sometimes they can pet him, in the mornings, maybe, if he's had a restful night of sweet dreams (which probably included a home without children).  He loves us deep down though.  We're his pack.  Also, he's my lone co-worker constant.  He loves the sunshine.  I mark my day by keeping his ottoman-top-doggie-bed into the sunshine as time passes.  Every once in awhile he'll be lying in the shade, so he sits up and looks at my with an accusatory expression and I have to inch it back in the sun.