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With racey names like Foreplay, Naughty, Naked and Missionary (only among a few names) and provacative descriptions on the back of the bottle, these wines are sure to get a lot of lip service and maybe more action.. if they’re lucky!

All in all, it was a great day even with the hot sun beating down on us. I had a great time seeing all the wineries in attendance. I dont think I realized how many wineries are in Oregon, but now I am thinking I need to plan a romantic weekend wine tasting getaway.

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Since we’ve been getting all this snow and below freezing temps, the field mice have become a bit more daring, and coming into the house. I think they’re getting into the water heater room which is really nice and warm, and thats where the cats nab them. We live at the edge of town, with open fields all around us, so I do expect some if this. Although I would have never guessed we had mice except for the occasional dead mouse body that shows up from time to time. There’s no other sign of them anywhere in the house. No holes in the bottom of the dog or cat food, no droppings, nothing.

At first Wendy (my cat) would kill them and leave them at the bottom of the stairs for me to find in the morning- which for me was perfect! I got in the habit of checking the floor below the last stair so that I wouldn’t step on a mouse body. Then I would kindly call back up the stairs to the love of my life to let him know Wendy had left us a gift, and he would sweetly come and gather up the poor small limp body and dispose of him (or her) in some way. I don’t ask questions. And Wendy was very clean about it too. No blood, no half eaten body, no mess- I loved it! My boyfriend, 11 yr old son and I would joke that maybe she just cricked their little necks and left them for dead- very stealth like-quick and clean!

Well, in the last 2-3 weeks, she’s decided it’s more fun to catch the mouse and bring them up to our bedroom, spit them out and chase them through the room, into the master bath, and back through the room. It’s quite a sound to wake up to a mouse chirping first thing in the morning.. but now I know immediately what’s going on when I hear that sound in my room. So then, picture if you will, my 2 cats AND my boyfriend chasing this little brown spot around the room at 5 or 6 am. Our dog gets excited because everyone else is up and excited and he just wants to be part of the fun, but he really has no idea what’s going on here. I don’t think he even sees the mice at all. Poor thing.

I don’t know why she has started bringing the mice upstairs. She does eventually kill it.. well, between her and my other cat Mo. (And for those of you who haven’t met Mo- he’s 20-25 lbs of a whole lot of lovin’. Mo does move quite quickly when it comes to chasing the mice, although all he’d really have to do is lay the mouse for a bit and suffocate it with his massive body. He’s a lot like Jabba the Hut.)

The cats want to play with the mouse first though. I swear the other day it seemed like Wendy and the mouse were walking side by side, holding hands and skipping together out the bedroom door. She’ll even have the mouse in her mouth and I’m thinking… ok here it goes… death- she gonna put the crunch on……but she’ll just spit it out and play with it some more. I mean really! And you wouldn’t believe what these little mouse guys can do. Ok, maybe you would. The first time she brought a mouse into the room, I had to tuck in the bed skirt and pick up the oversized comforter off the floor because the mouse was halfway up the bedding before he fell back onto the floor and scurried off-and guess who was on the bed? YEP-ME! No way was I staying ON the bed until this thing was caught! I hadnt really thought about the mouse getting on the bed.. but now it was a very real possibility and I didn’t want to be trapped!

She does eventually kill it, and she’ll bring it back into the room, lay it on the floor at her feet, she’s given her praises, and then she’ll walk away.

So twice this week, this is how I’ve woken up. Monday is was at 5am, and then this morning at 6am. And the time before that is was 5 am again. I’m not sure how to get her to keep these things downstairs, and not bring them up into our bedroom, but it doesnt look like she’s interested in changing this arrangement anytime soon, and she seems to like getting everyone in the house involved- like a game for the whole family. Right now, the mouse from this morning is in under the cabinet in the master bath and Wendy is on watch,… but guess who’s not taking a shower in that bathroom until its gone? I’m not at all interested in having a mouse run across my bare feet.. ick!

I thought I would share my story of the Christmas Eve Mouse. I hope you enjoyed!

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 Arrival. After a brief overnight in Amsterdam, which was absolutely beautiful,  I arrived in Arusha Tanzania. It was evening when my plane landed, so it was dark and difficult to see everything that I’ve been waiting to see for many months- but that’s ok, because I was tired and would see it the next morning after some much needed sleep. On the way to my overnight lodge, I did get to see that Arusha seemed quite green and lush with vegitation. It was well after 9pm, and there were still people walking alongside the road. Not just 1 or 2 people here and there, but many people–all over.  Upon arrival at my lodge I found my room, showered and went to bed. I was so exhausted from my trip and the hour difference, so all I wanted to do was sleep.

One thing I really liked was that on my KLM flight to Arusha, they passed out these hot moist hand towels that had this really nice scent on them. They would pass these out shortly after boarding the flight, after a meal and before landing. I’m not sure where they got these little things, but a girl could get used to it! I think they were lemon, or eucalyptus or something. I need to find these for home- they were absolutely wonderful!

Day 2- When I woke up, I went to the window, and peered outside. It was drizzly. Not at all what I pictured Tanzania to be like. I was a little surprised, but I was still very excited to get showered and get outside. Walking to the main lodge I saw that everything was so very green and there was so much lushness. Before, when I thought of Africa and Tanzania I always thought of the Serengeti. Most everything on TV about wildlife and Africa always seems to have the golden grasses of the Serengeti, so I thought all of Africa was Serengeti like. Not true!

After a buffet breakfast, my guide picked me up and we went to visit a few other hotels in and around Arusha. Now, these are places that we would normally have our clients stay on their first night in town, or their last night before heading home. I was surprised at how busy downtown Arusha was. There is absolutely no organization to the driving in town. Everyone was driving every which way- pulling out infront of you, and there would be people just running inbetween the cars trying to get across the street. Arusha was not only much larger than what I imagined, but it was also pretty dirty. I’m sure is was clena compared to other places around the world,  but for me, who has never been anywhere but a few places in the US, it was a big eye opener for me.

My day ended with dinner at my lodge, and a quick check of my e-mail. Yes, they do have internet, but it is much slower, and hit and miss, especially is the hotel loses power like mine kept doing. Even out phones went out my second night at my lodge.

Day 3- I was awaken by my personal wake up call.. our phones were still out. Today we were headed to Tarangire National Park. It’s a few hours drive from Arusha, but since there was so much to see along the way ,  the time seeemed to fly by. The drive reminded me alot of the high desert.. especially when you’re on that stretch from Terrebonne to Madras.. that flat dry area.

After a quick stop at the entrance at Tarangire NP to use the restroom, and pay the park entrance fees, I was on my way. Almost immediately I started seeing the animals. First were the zebra…followed by many elephants and giraffe. At first, I have to say it seemed very Wildlife Safari like, but after a few minutes of getting up close and personal with the elephants, I realized this was nothing like Wildlife Safari. I was amazed at the vast numbers of animals. Just everywhere, there are animals. I even had the opportunity to see a pride of lions down along the river.

After a long day of driving all over the park and visiting other lodges and camps where we would have clients stay, we finally ended up aout over night lodge.. Tarangire River Camp. River Camp is beautiful open lodge with the dining room on one side, and a sitting room/lounge on the other side. Most all accomodations/tents are lifted on a platform about 7 or 8 feet off the ground, so you do have to climb some stairs to get there, but it’s totally worth it. My room had 2 beds and it’s own bathroom with hot shower and electricity. The rooms also have side walls that cam be zipped open to just reveal a screen. I found this out, after I was awaken in the middle of the night to all of this rustling noise. Now remember you’re sleeping in the National Park, so animlas are all over the place so you don’t want to just go outside to investigate.  So I inzipped the wall portion of my tent, leaving the screen entact (don’t want bugs inside) and I was amazed to see that all the noise I was hearing was from Giraffe eating from the tree tops right outside my tent. There was a full moon, so getting to see them was totally amazing, and they were so close and beautiful. it was an amazing experience! I went back to my bed and laid there watching them eat, and I eventually fell back to sleep.

The next few days was spent driving through Lake Manyara, and Ngorongoro Crater National Parks. I was still amazed at the lush jungle when you first drive into Lake Manyara. It seemed something out of Jurrasic Park.. I kept wating for the T-Rex to come crashing through the trees… but thankfully it didn’t happen!

Tanzania is so beautiful, and so rich in culture. As you drive through the small villages you would see these small roadside markets where people would sell their vegetable that they would grow in their gardens. The soil is so rich, that almost everyone even with the smallest lot or house have some sort of a garden. And what surprised me is that tanzania grows a TON of corn! Corn is everywhere! It’s like you took a wrong turn and ended up in Kansas or someplace in the mid-west. Corn is the main staple in Tanzania.

The best part of my trip was the Serengeti. It was so warm, and so beautiful there. The grasses were so golden, and you could see for miles in all directions! My days in the serengeti were always sunny and warm.. but it never got too warm. The night skies were so clear and bright. We never needed your flashlight to get to your tent at night. At night the wildlife seemed to come alive.

Our first night in camp in the Serengeti I guess there were lions either in camp, or right outside of camp, and everyone but me heard them roar, and make thier sounds for most of the night. Apparently even 1/2 an Ambien was too much for this first night because I slept through the night and heard asolutely nothing!  The next few nights we were visited by hippos, and hyenas. They didn’t bother us or our tents, although the hyenas did try to get into the kitchen tent for food and the camp staff hap to keep a close eye on the tents for a few nights.

I was amazed at the lodges we went to visit while on this trip. They were much more luxurious that I ever imagined a lodge to be in the middle of no where. They sometimes even had internet service, which was a real treat since I needed to check my e-mail while I was in Tanzania.

After my return from the Serengeti to Arusha, I stayed in the Aursha Hotel in downtown Arusha for a few extra days. I have to say that the food I ate in camp in the Serengeti seemed better than the food I got at the hotel.  They had a large variety of food to chose from for all meals, but I usually kept to the soups and lunch and dinner and fruit with toast for breakfast.

My last few days in Arusha Themmy, my guide, and I went to visit a couple of secondary schools, Simon Mtuy, and an orphanage. I was amazed at how many young children run away from home at the age of 5 or 6, and live on the rough streets of Moshi and Arusha.  The numbers seemed so unbelieveable, if I hadn’t seen all these children at the schools and homes myself. I can’t imagine imagine children being on the streets, to survive on their own at such young ages.

My flight home was good and seemed longer than my flight over. I was anxious to get home- I missed my family.. I missed my animals, and the planes just couldnt go fast enough for me. I tried to sleep and watch some movies as I did on the way over, but it just wasn’t the same. Once I was home Bend seemed so different. It was the same I was sure, but it was like I was seeing it with new eyes. Everything here was just so clean. There were no dirt streets, no piles of garbage on the streets. Although I had experienced so much in my time in Tanzania, and I can’t wait to go back, I was glad to be home.

You can see my video on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmbbPT7f06s

and I’ve put some pictures on www.Choroa.com. If you go to the gallery and look at the Laura/FAM pics from July 2008.

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Anywho, My last stop was Macy’s. Now, I have a Macy’s card and all, but their prices are so out of my price range that I never ever shop there. Unless I find something on sale rack, and even then, it’s usually more that I really wanted to pay. Hey- I was scoffing at the price of the $14.99 pair of super cute jeans I got from Ross. When it comes down to it, I really hate to shop, and I really don’t like spending money….. but mostly… I hate shopping.

Again, everything ‘dressy’ at Macy’s had black in it. I know black goes with everything, but it just doesnt seem very summery or anything. I was just about to give up when a sales lady came to ask me if I was finding everything ok. I told her what I was looking for.. something with color…. and so she and this other sales gal started showing me clothes to try on… and they started me a room. Now, the shirts they were bringing me did still have black in them, and some of them even though they had color, they were darker colors, but some of the shirts they brought me were cute. Except for this one silky yellow, black and white shirt… made me look like a big fat bumble bee with ruffles. Cute I guess, just not the look I was going for.

So after they brought me all the shirts I thought were in the store, there had to be a million shirts in my dressing room. So, I tried on shirt after shirt, capri pant after capri pant. and after all of that I think I bought only 5 shirts. But it’s more than I started out with. All the shirts that I bought, I can wear to work, and a couple of them are more casual. But most of all, even though there is a black and white shirt, all the others are bright, and have lots of color. And, they’re super cute too!

I found that most every shirt out there is made the same way. V-neck with the panel or elastic that sits right below the girls…. you know what I’m talking about ladies… the babydoll type shirts. The ones that make you look pregnant when you’re the furthest thing from it. Now,  I get that we’re an overweight nation, and maybe this is a style that hides all those extra pounds really well, but I just dont like them. I’m a girl of 5′7″, and my weight is proportionate to my height, with no extra pounds to spare… but I do not care for a shirt that makes me look fat, or pregnant. This seemed to be the only style out there… what’s that about? Where’s the variety? What ever happened to the simple women’s dress shirt? Are they hiding them somewhere?

So after my shopping experience I called my boyfriend, and told him we would never need to worry about me shopping and spending all of our money, cause I hated shopping! Now, don’t get me wrong, I do love shopping for clothes for my son. And that’s good, because he’s 11, and doesnt have the whole style thing yet. I had to explain to him just yesterdat that when a man wears a button up shirt, he must always wear am under shirt. He’s sooo cute!

And I do have to say that over the last few years I have found a love for shoes. Precious, Precious shoes… and expensive shoes. I don’t buy these shoes, because I can’t afford them. I take that back. I CAN afford them, but I won’t spend that kind of money on something I wear on my feet. But I love to look at them… covet them… and dream about them. Now, if i ever get over spending money, then we’re in trouble, but until then… I’ll just keep saving my money… and not putting myself through the shopping nightmares.

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