Slow and steady

Pretty much every month I find myself rushing around the last three days of the month trying to get all possible billables and bonus hours in for work. I am again doing that this month! My goal for August is to follow the advice of the tortoise and go at it slow and steady ALL MONTH LONG so that maybe next month at this time I will be cruising along rather than tearing my hair out!

But forgetting about work and remembering another great day at the zoo is so much more fun, lazy days where you just walk around and see amazing sights and animals you didn't even know existed share pens with ones you have known since childhood - a great life lesson, why can't we all just get along.

Make a Smilebox free ecard

Turtle facts:
Turtles have good eyesight and an excellent sense of smell. Hearing and sense of touch are both good and even the shell contains nerve endings.

The shell of a turtle is made up of 60 different bones all connected together.

The bony portion of the shell is covered with plates (scutes) that are derivatives of skin and offer additional strength and protection.

Turtles range in size from the 4-inch Bog Turtle to the 1500-pound Leathery Turtle.

Turtles will live in almost any climate warm enough to allow them to complete their breeding cycle.

Turtles live on every continent except Antarctica.

For more information on turtles check out:
http://www.peteducation.com

2 Parts

I have decided to start a monthly (or slightly more often) animal of the
month (maybe it should be animal of the moment). There is a two fold for
this:

1- It will help us all learn a little more about the animals

2- It will get my sorry butt to the zoo more often (and seeing as I have
a membership...)



Today Sharon and Roy are getting married;
I wish them all the wonderful things that go along with that. Being
married to Jim is one of the most wonderful things in the world - it is
having a best friend that I know won't leave because he doesn't like
something I have said or done. There is a great amount of calmness in
having him beside me "For better or worse" and the best wish I can send
to Sharon and Roy is that! Enjoy the minutes, the years fly!!!!



In honor of their wedding I thought I would pick an animal that had a
beautiful train and walked every aisle as though she owned it.
Introducing "Madame Peacock" - the day I took this picture was hot and
humid and most animals were hiding inside or laying as though dead (or
wishing they were)







Peacock information:



The Peacock is the national bird of India.



Because of human encroachment into their natural territories, peafowl
and humans have come into increasing contact. Because of their natural
beauty some are reluctant to classify the birds as pests but their
presence can be disturbing.



Peafowl are omnivorous and eat plant parts, flower petals, seed heads,
insects and other arthropods, reptiles, and amphibians. In common with
other members of the Galliformes, males possess metatarsal spurs or
"thorns" used primarily during intraspecific fights.



The male (peacock) Indian Peafowl has iridescent blue-green or green
coloured plumage. The so-called "tail" of the peacock, also termed the
"train", is not the tail quill feathers but highly elongated upper tail
coverts. The train feathers have a series of eyes that are best seen
when the tail is fanned. Both species have a crest atop the head.
****Okay so this means that "Madame Peacock" is a Monsieur Peacock but
really he is walking around with a train so I am sticking with
Madame!****





Lastly, we had the best time at the zoo... Jim was a sport (he was dying
of heat) and walked all over with me, he allowed me a million pictures
AND he made sure I didn't see even one snake. What a hero - Yup THAT'S
why I married the boy!



CONGRATS SHARON AND ROY!

Let's just forget

(all I want for Christmas...)

That I went to work after a tough Christmas and got into an office with NO computer because they "replaced" mine but forgot to give me a new one. Lets just forget that they also changed ALL my passwords so I couldn't work on anyone else's computer. Yes, lets even just forget that IT was off... Let it go... Being cranky about it just won't help :-)

So how were your holidays? Mine were interesting I guess on Wednesday all I could think of was how awful they were but now I can't even remember what wasn't perfect... So lets just forget that it was anything but perfect!

Tyler has become my favorite little subject these days (ironically at the same time I have become his favorite person). He has SO much personality and if I try to call him Tyler he stomps his little foot and tells me "You call me boy" (my pet nickname for him) and when there is more than just me around he calls me "Aunty That" because for months and months when he was saying mama, dada, nana Christy was pointing at me and saying "who is that?" and he thinks that my name is that now... He is such a little imp.


This is him and Tiki - please note my poor cat looks more than annoyed she just doesn't like babies - he was being wonderful to her and she was still mad!


And with his Christmas morning coffee???



Mom Jim and I had these great plans, we were going to make: Sugar cookies, Gingerbread men, this tree and a few other things... Well that didn't happen but we did finish this beautiful tree and we had a great family time just chatting and laughing the night away - it was wonderful



Jim and I took all the girlies to the Stone Zoo for Zoo Lights, there is something so magical about being surrounded with some of your favorite people with your breath fogging the air in front of you lights twinkling all around and animals lazily watching the world go by. It was literally like walking through a fairy tale with no words - OOOOH I think next year I will beg storytellers to go with me and have them each take a 15 minute section and have them tell me stories - ohhhhh seriously talk about life's perfection!



At the end of our fairytale walk three different random people walked up and gave each of the girls a ticket so they were able to go on a ride, it was amazing!

May your fairytale's happily ever after start right now!