As Valentine’s Day wraps up, many of us are lingering over the chocolates and other sweets our loves have adorned us with. The break of dawn will yeild a new day and a new sale, only this one will be almost too good to resist. Half priced chocolate.

That’s right, ladies, not just the chocolate we all crave, not just the nugat, the caramel, the truffles that come in delightful heart shaped boxes, but all of this at a reduced price! What’s worse, is the fact that the longer you hold out, the lower the price. Granted as each day passes, the variety slims, (wish I could say the same about my waistline, but then if I could, I wouldn’t be signing up for the SELF Challenge then, would I?) but hey, chocolate is chocolate, right?

So to all of you women participating in the Challenge who, like I, feed your love, I salute you as we stand shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip, sweating, grunting, yet able to look ourselves in the mirror and honestly say, ‘I look damn good today.’

http://www.self.com/challenge

Has anyone caught the new cover of Vanity Fair? Yahoo! Sure as hell did and my first thought was, oh great, now what’s the issue? More Photoshopping? What, are the models or actresses too fat? Taking a closer look at the cover, I, too, noticed the familiarity of the pale skin, just waiting to be scorched by a fleck of sun and noticed, too, that each of the four actresses that grace the cover are all have less body fat than South American stick insects. But what honestly caught my attention was their similarities, as in the lack of variety.

January 19, 2010 certainly did prove to be a day of enlightenment for 204 of the 135 million people celebrating the Russian Orthodox day of Epiphany. In Irkutsk, Siberia, home to Valentin Rasputin (author of To Live and Remember), many gathered to worship and to become illuminated from within by the grace of God.

It is a well known fact that Russia’s tap water is not fit for consumption, be it man or even man’s best friend, and the countries wells support the public, usually without issue. Wells sitting outside cathedrals are blessed by Priests and offered to the congregation in times of Communion or religious holidays, such as Epiphany. However, on this typically frigid day of Epiphany, after drinking from the just blessed well outside of the Epiphany Cathedral in the center of Irkutsk, many manifested not the word of God, but rather something as equally powerful – the symptoms of E-coli, Cryptosporidium partum, or any other unforgiving bacteria living within the well water.

The word ‘cancer’ can strike fear into even the fearless of hearts. At my last routine physical, on a typical Thursday, my doctor discovered something not so routine. Gowned in an open backed, blue and white, unflattering garment that even Kate Hudson couldn‘t pull off, I sat there on the papered exam table, desperately trying to focus on the words my doctor had just spoken.

This mole will have to be removed; it looks to be basal cell carcinoma.

There are times when it’s hard to help yourself, let alone others. Saturday was one of those days where everything seemed to go wrong, all at once. Needless to say, the thought of volunteering didn’t inspire me. My husband’s an Animal Control Officer (ACO) and we only have his son every other weekend; as luck would have it, he works Saturday’s. I promised him I’d bring his down so he could work alongside his dad and learn some responsibility. Donning our bright blue volunteer shirts, we made our way down to the Kent animal shelter.

There are various opportunities to be had while volunteering at the animal shelter. Among them are walking dogs; cuddling/playing with cats and kittens; assisting potential adopters with selecting the right dog or cat for their lifestyle; helping officers feed, water and medicate animals; cleaning pet dishes, litter pans; and folding towels and blankets for cat and dog kennels. Dish and laundry duty certainly isn’t exciting, but, truthfully, it is one of the most appreciated jobs. Towels and blankets are given to the hundreds of scared animals, offering a bit of comfort in a completely foreign world. Each dish and litter pan is scrubbed and sanitized to help reduce the risk of infection. Without the volunteers, each officer would easily work an 18 hour day and still wouldn’t be able to accomplish their tasks. Standing at the sink in the feed room, they frequently pass by, offering their gratitude many times a day. I guess that’s why I don’t mind helping out, regardless of my day. The thanks I receive is plentiful and as I walk past all the furry faces, I can see it in their eyes, too.

ACO’s are responsible for obtaining the owner surrendered animal or stray, evaluating it to see if it needs medical attention or has been abused or neglected. Then, once in a kennel, maintaining the cleanliness of that kennel, as well as monitoring its behavior (making sure it isn’t kenneled with an aggressive dog, maintaining its health). In addition to caring for up to 13,000 animals a year, they routinely assist people looking for their lost cat or dog, wash dishes, fold laundry, unload supplies, assist the medical staff, maintain livestock, and work on cruelty cases. This is a very simplified list of duties they perform daily. It comes as no surprise then as to why they put in so much overtime, sacrificing time with their husbands or wives, children and families.

Driving through the back gates, we noticed the livestock pen was being prepared. For what, we weren’t sure, but just as curiosity killed the cat, we aimed to find out.

Out of the woods and into the clearing is where I find myself. Occasionally due to school vacations, my stepson Henry (not his real name), comes to stay with my husband and I for a length of time. During one of our visits, he came to stay with us for a little over a week; which per the parenting plan, was from the Friday school got out until the Sunday evening just prior to the beginning of school. For those of you who are parents, raising children can be challenging, at best. And for those of you who are step parents, you know all too well the trials and tribulations that can occur.

Volcano Evacuation Route

In Washington State, there is a plethora of warning signs everywhere you look. Volcano Evacuation Routes are posted for our safety from the impending eruption of Mt. Rainier, and the ever active Mt. St. Helens. Tsunami Evacuation is posted along our coast line in lieu of the Ring of Fire’s growing activity and now a Flood Evacuation has been put in place for when the Howard Hanson Dam bursts, thus creating a new lake in the valley. But now we have a new one posted in the friendly town of Enumclaw – Zombie Evacuation. Apparently the residents of Enumclaw now have more to worry about than just the mountain blowing. Perhaps the Zombies are simply the King County Council Members looming about their quiet community. Let’s take a look.

Our Fallen Heros courtesy of King 5 News

Today we sit as your caskets roll by, flags draped across, and remember how you gave your lives to protect us from people like Maurice Clemmons. So many times we have relied upon you in our darkest hour of need and without hesitation, without prejudice, you came to us offering assistance; and when the issue had been resolved, you remained to offer comfort or advice. Today we stand beside you and your families, in their darkest hour.

This Sunday morning greeted both Cougar and I with a glint of grey light filtering through our curtains and the loud, obnoxious, incessant cry of our youngest, only six weeks old. I am, of course, referring to our foster kitten, Frejya (pronounce ‘frey-ya), that we brought home from our local animal shelter. Despite being an adorable kitten with bright blue eyes, she displayed a small amount of aggression that indicted she was from a feral mom, and thus herself being feral. In order for her to be truly adoptable, she’d need time in a loving environment to become social.

Buried treauser awaits!

Skulking about the wilds, you see them, whacking bushes and blazing a trail, clearly on the hunt of where the proverbial ‘X’ marks the spot and the buried treasure lies just beneath. No, it’s not Long John Silver or Johnny Depp and his crew of pirates from the Caribbean, nor are they Indiana Jones or Lara Croft preparing to raid tombs. These are merely geo cachers on the trail of buried treasure, left behind from other adventurers in a never ending game of hide and seek.