What Holly Has Seen

Fund Raiser

2012-01-22T14:51:00.001-05:00

Dear Friends,

I am throwing an online Celebrating Home Party for my childhood friend, Kelly Myers. In July her husband Wes was admitted to the hospital in Columbia Missouri with an aortal dissection. He has had seven surgeries in total, two which were surgeries to replace his entire aorta. Unfortunately, he has developed many medical problems, including paralysis, and continues to battle infections as well as other medical issues. He was suppose to come home for the first time, yesterday, but sadly he had to go from rehab back to the hospital because of more complications.

Please join me in support of my friend and help us reach our goal. You may review the items for sale by clicking on this link http://www.celebratinghome.com/fundraiser/HollysFundriaser/participant/6663.

Remember that 50% of our profits are returned to Wes Myers Medicall Recovery Fund when you make a purchase.

Thanks in advance for your support!

I almost forgot, if you would like to donate directly to Wes and Kelly they have a set up a page here: http://www.giveforward.com/wesmedicalcarerecovery

My Boys are fashion hounds

2012-01-22T00:04:00.002-05:00

Butchlesque

2012-01-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

Please check out this link!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/279058410/butchlesque

A good friend of mine is trying to raise funds on KickStart for this fabulous butchlesque production.
anyone who wants to back this event can still do so by following this link & making a pledge of even as little as a DOLLAR! If the funding goal isn't reached, then no one's credit card gets charged.

January Now and Then

2012-01-20T20:03:00.002-05:00

1986
My Niece Mallory was born

1996
Mark,Emma, Orf and I went and saw No Fraud
Went to a surf expo in Orlando
babysat for Brandon

1999
my grandpa Dunny died
went online for the first time

2000
went to a Party at Sabrinas with Lisa
was in sanford FL for a NYE party

2009
Went to Church with my mom
went to Outback with my mom, sister and brother in law for his b'day
picked up Vic's boxes at the greyhound station
Vic left California heading to FL to live!

2010
Rushed DJ to the vet because the bigs stepped on his toes
Went and applied to work for the Census Bureau
Started Atkins Diet with Vic

2011
Went with Marcia to meet Bailey & Peyton for the first time
Saw the Color Purple at the Van Wezel
Got a new listing in Casarina
had surgery

2012
Annie passed away
Best Month Ever At Work

Stop American Censorship

2012-01-18T10:25:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T11:08:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I say this every Christmas or not, but I think this was one of the best Christmas's ever. Sure, there are sad things going on around us but as we get older I think that is just going to happen more and more. It makes us appreciate what we have (our health) so much more.

This year in following with the tradition of hope for the holidays that Vic's dear friend Sue started before she lost her battle with cancer, we helped one of my friends that I've had since grade school. Her husband has been in the hospital for the last 4 months and things have been a challenge for them. Hearing about all the people that joined us and sent her things/money/prayers was like opening a gift myself every day. Knowing that people care enough to stop what they are doing in their lives and reach out to someone else in this day and age gives me hope and not just for the holidays!

Vic and I have do not have many "traditions" for our holidays yet. The last few years we'd get something big for "us" and call it a Christmas. (D.J. was my most memorable US gift).This year there wasn't really anything we needed so we did little gifts everyday for the week prior to Christmas saving one last gift for this morning. We decided we love this tradition and will continue it because it stretches Christmas out for us! Over the week I got a tervis tumbler that I LOVE, a "my dachshund loves me" T-Shirt, a dachshund and a yellow lab ornament for the tree, bubble bath, lotto scratch offs that I won $47 on and a few more things!! Vic got some smell good stuff,a manicure set and a Kindle.

The one thing that is a tradition for us is to go to my sisters house Christmas eve and snack on food all day while playing silly games. This year it was name that tune with music from all eras. Brittany won by far. There was lots of laughing, sharing and loving.

As most years there was not a shortage of gifts under the tree. What made this year extra special was my mothers gifts to us. She gave us things from our childhood that brought back so many good memories. My sisters and I all got our silver baby cups that she had engraved when we were born. I got my grandmothers china that I had admired and commented on many times over the years. Steph got my grandmothers collection of toby mugs. We all got old cookbooks and childhood books that were passed down from grandparents, to parents and now to us, the one I got was dated back to the 40's and I think some of my nieces were from the 20's ! My brother in law and niece got several of my Grandfathers old pencil sharpeners. I remember he used to have those all over the place. You just never know when you'll need to sharpen a pencil!

My mom also gave my sisters and I three of the Lladros figurines that she got when she went to Spain back in the 70's . Mine is this one :http://www.lladro.com/figurines/01014665-GIRL_WITH_BASKET/ Since she couldn't remember which one was each of our favorites she put numbers on the ribbons on the box and we picked a ribbon, inside the box she numbered the position of each figure and the one that matched our ribbon was ours. As it worked out we all got the one that was our favorite when we were growing up! Something i was treasure for always and remind me of my mom.

The tear jerker item was when my older sister Stephanie opened a box with a pair of her baby shoes and a little while purse she wore one Easter. We all commented that we remembered it having tiny white gloves with it...she opened the tiny purse and it still had the tiny white gloves! Thank you mom for keeping such precious mementos.

Chuckle of the Day

2011-12-14T12:10:00.000-05:00

Last week I had to venture into Walmart to do some Christmas shopping.

While I was shopping they came across the loud speakers announcing that if someone got the wrong cart to please return it to the cereal isle. They made that announcement maybe three times while I was shopping. Thoughts of a cart filled with somebody elses groceries came to mind. I thought to myself that I sure was glad that it wasn't my cart, I'd hate to have to shop all over again. And then the evil little girl in me thought
"what a brilliant idea it would be to just find someone elses full cart and go check out;unloading the groceries would be like Christmas when I got home because i wouldn't know what to expect!

Before I left the store I heard one more announcement. "Please check your carts, if you have someone elses teeth in your cart please return them to the cereal isle"....I left laughing , thinking only in Florida .

I could not wait to get home and tell my story on facebook. I called my sister and mother and had them rolling on the ground with my story.

It wasn't until a few days later , after she had had some time to think about it , my sister approached me and asked "Holly, do you think maybe they said KEYS and not TEETH".....

My guess is she is correct...but isn't the story much funnier my way?

Hope For The Holidays again this year!

2011-11-28T13:19:00.001-05:00

Many of you may remember last year when Vic's dear friend Sue was in the hospital fighting for her life against cancer. I blogged about it here: http://whathollyhasseen.blogspot.com/2010/12/hope-for-holidays.html and here: http://whathollyhasseen.blogspot.com/2010/12/hope-for-holidays-in-action.html and here: http://whathollyhasseen.blogspot.com/2010/12/second-visit-hope-for-holidays.html.

Well a year has gone by and Susans children continue the hope.....

Kids Hold Sleeping Bag Drive In Mother's Memory « CBS Sacramento

*an update on our local homeless people in Venice, Fl is sad...right before Thanksgiving they were kicked off the land that they were staying on and have been re-located to parts unknown as of right now. http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20111020/ARTICLE/111029960?tc=ix

Thanksgiving Crab

2011-11-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

This Thanksgiving was very different from any other that I've experienced in my 44 years. We didn't have games before dinner, we didn't have turkey, dressing , noodles or even my moms famous 7-up salad. She always told us one day we'd be sorry that we teased her about it every year and we'd miss it....yep..I missed it!!

My older sister and her family went to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with her husbands family this year. My dad moved to TN a few years ago and doesn't come back for the holidays. My younger sister spent the day with her boyfriends family. Vic was home sick in bed. So I went up to my mom and Greg's (her significant other) house. Two of their tenants joined us and we had a crab boil out by the water (which is also their front yard..so it's pretty cool) I think it was almost 80 degrees out and everyone walking by had on shorts...so it was a beautiful day to be outside saying thanks to the spirits for all that we have.

We had crab legs and shrimp, sausage, potato's,carrots and onions, chocolate sheet cake, pumpkin pie and corn on the cob (mom cut my corn off for me because ever since my days in braces I have not eaten corn on the cob....I love that she spoils me this way even at 44 years old!) Dinner was yummy, the conversation pleasant and the view ...priceless.

I left just in time to catch a beautiful sunset on the beach for my drive home...A very different Thanksgiving but one I'll always remember. I hope that your holiday was just as memorable and spent with those that mean the most.

Back from Ecstasy

2011-11-21T20:46:00.000-05:00

We are back from our cruise!

I am so thankful that Vic did so much research before we left. I have been on several cruises before but learned a lot from doing a little homework before taking off! We saved a lot of money by parking at the Radisson and taking a shuttle over to the ship. ($5.95 per day vs $15 a day)

Getting on the boat was a breeze. We were in our rooms by 1:30 and ready to go explore the boat. We had the early dining with eight other people. It was nice to meet fellow cruisers and we ran into them all over the ship! Several of us had a common interest in the Casino!

The food was not impressive but we did not go on the boat for the food. I was just thrilled that we could have someone else decide what was for dinner for so many meals! No cooking, no clean up, sounds good to me!

I was very impressed that everyone called us by name. It was even more impressive because I didn't do much of the ordering, Vic did...yet they knew my name and remembered it every time they saw us! Not sure how they managed this, but I liked it.

Our ports of call were Nassau and Freeport. We found a nice man named Albert to show us around Nassau. We did the tour and then stopped in a few of the shops for the items we wanted to buy. It was very busy and we were tired from the late night before so we headed back to the boat after a few hours.

Freeport: We paid for an excursion prior to taking the cruise. It was a boat ride over to the shopping district (Lucaya) The boat ride was a bit rough but we really enjoyed it! (Light rain and all) We saw dolphins, nice houses, we watched our guide do a killer limbo! Go to my youtube page for videos of that (the link is at the top of my blog). We ate breakfast at a little place and I enjoyed some coconut french toast.

We heard from several people that they were offered drugs when they got off the boat in Freeport...this wasn't our experience though.

We had a great time at the shows, in the casino and just walking around the boat. I won a ship on a stick by participated in a Family Feud style game show. It really is true that the more you get involved the more fun you have! Some of our best times were watching Karaoke, there were some GREAT voices among our sailing mates.

We are planning our next cruise now..can't wait to go again! It was so sad to leave this morning.

More photos from our trip:

Dogs in Hats!

2011-11-06T15:42:00.000-05:00

Scout in his Birthday Hat

Dog at the Doxie Derby in his colts visor

Scout in his sun visor

Scout in his Boston ball cap

Posted because we saw this adorable blog:

http://fourleggedviews.blogspot.com/2011/11/hat-challenge-and-contest.html

Come Sail Away

2011-11-01T17:38:00.000-04:00

We sail in 15 days!!!
We've gotten our passports, inspected our luggage, ordered a few items from amazon.com that we think will come in handy. We've downloaded and printed a packing list we found on http://www.cruisecritic.com/ , watched every youtube video out there that has our ship in it. Made arrangements for the furchildren. We've been shopping for clothes, shoes, watches, etc. Now all that is left is the wait...

This will be my fifth or so cruise and Vics first. We are going to the Bahamas....where have you gone and what helpful hints do you have for us?

One of the most helpful videos I've found is right here:

October 2011 in Photos

2011-10-30T10:03:00.000-04:00

Spent time with my best friend since 4th grade 10-1-11 and many other childhood friends at our 25th class reunion.

Sarasota Pride with Friends 10-22-11

25th Class Reunion Oct 1,2011

8 foot tall Lego Man washed ashore on Siesta Key Beach

New Nail Color For Oct. Man of LaMancha

New Pink Purse

Sarasota Pride Fest 10-22-11

Dakotas 6th Birthday 10-19-11

Dexters 3rd birthday 10-30-11

DJ's 2nd birthday Oct 16,2011

Cards win World Series for 11th time!!! 10-21-11 (beating the Texas Rangers)

Revenge

2011-10-24T13:43:00.000-04:00

I have a new Favorite TV show!! Have you watched Revenge yet? If not you should find all of the episodes so far and catch up because it's that good. I am never ready for the hour to end. It's on ABC on Wednesday nights. I still watch all my reality shows but it's nice to take a break now and then and since All My Children is off the air now I needed a new soap type filler...this is it only better ! :)

How did they do it??

2011-10-18T13:56:00.000-04:00

Do you ever wonder how our mothers did it all? My mom had three daughters, we had at least one dog at all times, my parents owned their own business and us girls were always going somewhere. We had dinners as a family at the dining room table, went to church on Sundays, our clothes were washed,ironed and often put away for us (or at least put on the stairs for us to take up to our rooms). Each holiday our house was decked out with decorations ..be it halloween, Easter or Christmas...

In comparssion my dining room table holds a pile of clothes instead of home cooked meals. I can tell you the last time we ate at that table because it's only happened once! It is rare for us to decorate for Christmas let alone any other season. We rarely make it to church. Iron? What the heck is an iron?

The difference must be the dogs....I have four dogs and a cat..yeah lets blame it on them!

Ahhhh the good ole days!

Happy Birthday D.J.!

2011-10-16T16:35:00.002-04:00

This free ecard generated with Smilebox

25 years

2011-10-06T11:57:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was my 25th class reunion. It was funny to me that people either changed so much that I would not have been able to pick them out of a lineup or they were almost exactly the same as they looked in high school.

Since graduation there have been marriages, babies, divorces, boob jobs, affairs, cancer, moves, new careers,bankruptcies,foreclosures,new homes, life changes....yet thru it all we remain the same tight knit group that hung out back in the 80's! Some may be more medicated now, others less. and some that need to be!

I found myself on the side lines more now than I used to be. Getting out and dancing, humping, groping could not have felt more uncomfortable to me. I don't know where I lost that carefree girl from the 80's but one thing was for sure..she is gone. OMG does that mean I grew up? Nahhhhhhhhhhh must be something else..lol

Some of the high lights or low lights depending on how you see them:

Changing clothes in the street
The limo ride
Underwear being put up the school flag pole
Finding out some classmates "wax" (and not just the girls)
Explaining lesbian sex to a group of drunk straight girls
Having your best friend get in trouble for dry humping the bands speakers
Drinking more beers in one night than I've had in four years combined

25th Class Reunion!

2011-09-27T10:51:00.000-04:00

Holy cow!! How can it be that I graduated high school 25 years ago?? I still ~~feel~~ act 25 on most days! (or younger)

I'll be back next week with plenty of stories and pictures...This will be the first reunion I've made it back for, should be interesting! :)

Did you go to your class reunions? Do tell!

Dogs Playing 9/24/11

2011-09-24T10:22:00.000-04:00

Adele - Someone Like You (Live in Her Home)

2011-09-10T09:16:00.000-04:00

I like her even more now that I see all the doxies in her video! What an amazing voice, and can't say enough about the lyrics...WOW

The Help (Movie Review)

2011-08-12T20:12:00.000-04:00

A while back I was watching Oprah and heard her talking about a book called "The Help". I knew that it was a book I would want to read and a must see movie!

Today , Vic and I looked up the movies that we want to see (The Help, Final Destination 5 and Planet of the Apes) to see which ones would work with our work schedule so we could catch one early enough after work to get home to the fur children at an early hour. The Help was playing at 4pm and that was just about perfect timing for us. We finished up work and headed over to the mall. We go to a lot of movies but only have been to a few that have been "full", in most cases we are close to the only ones there but today we were surprised when we walked in to a 4pm movie and it was packed!

The movie was wonderful and I highly suggest it to everyone. If we don't remember where we came from we could easily make the same mistakes again. I just can't believe that this story takes place in my lifetime. :(
As the movie ended everyone just stayed in their seats. I dare say that I was NOT the only one sitting there with tears streaming down my cheeks. It was such a beautifully acted movie and I would put bets on many awards coming to the cast of this movie. I was not all that familiar with Emma Stone before I met her as Skeeter, the main character, but I am an instant fan now.

I am going to go buy the book and the soundtrack this week...it is just that good!

Funny Cat

2011-08-09T21:46:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a visit to my dads house. He left me a warning about his cat (T.T.) so I would not leave anything out that could get carried off. When I walked into the guest room I cracked up when I saw T.T. sitting there reading the note!

Camp Bow Wow!

2011-07-26T17:56:00.000-04:00

Today we took the littles (Dj and Dexter, our two miniature dachshunds) to Camp Bow Wow for the day.
We are planning a few long weekends away this summer and just have not been comfortable with the idea of leaving them with friends or having them home alone while someone came over to check on them. There are too many things to worry about (them escaping between someones legs when they come in the door, the lawn guy not shutting the fence all the way and the dogs running out into the busy street, the bigs stepping on the littles, and the list goes on and on)

We asked a few of our friends for suggestions and the name Camp Bow Wow came up a few times so we checked them out. They have locations all over so check your area for one near you ...I promise you'll love them just as much as we did! The nearest one to us was in Sarasota (about a 40 minute drive from home according to mapquest) Since we work in Sarasota this was fine. Today we filled out all the camp applications and got copies of our vet records and headed up for the day.

First impressions were awesome. The place smelled so good and looked so neat and tidy. The girl at the front desk was very patient with DJ as he sat and barked at her while she tried to take his picture. For their first time you have to leave them a minimum of 3 hours so they can observe them with the other dogs. We dropped them off and rushed right to the office so we could watch them on the camper cam and see how they were doing. Vic paid close attention to their tails and if they were smiling. After about an hour we saw them running outside together and looking very happy.

Camp Bow Wow separates the dogs by size. They have a small area, a medium area and large dog area. I felt sorry for the big dog today because he was all alone with no one else to play with. The little area and medium dogs were very full of "campers" (that is what they call the dogs in day camp).

We lasted almost four hours before we just had to go pick them back up and see for ourselves that they were not traumatized or anything. When we got there we had the camp counselor show us the "cabins" the dogs will be staying in when they stay over night. Dj and Dexter will share a cabin that is about 4' x 8' , it looked very comfy and I think they will like it almost as much as our king size bed! (and we will actually get some leg room with no worries of rolling over on them)

Within minutes of the drive home both dogs were crashed ! They are very excited about going back to camp next week!

Silence!

2011-07-05T08:40:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago a neighbor that is trying to sell his house came over and told me that our dogs (mainly the dachshunds) were hindering the sale of his house. His realtor told him that at least three times she had shown the house and the constant barking made the people turn away. He was very nice but also pretty direct in that he would like for us to do something.

Of course this was upsetting to us. It's one thing to be annoyed when we are home and they bark at the neighbors or the lawn guy, or each other. But to know that they do it when we are not home made it even worse. We had become "those" neighbors and were not too happy about it at all!.

We had some friends tell us about shock collars but neither one of us wanted to do that because we just don't think it is the most humane way to train and after googling reviews it just took one story about a little dog that had it's neck get burnt that sealed the deal for us, we would NOT be going that route.

I took the dogs to my friend Tracys one evening and her sister kept saying "you need bark off" but never really explained what it was or what it did. I wasn't even aware that it was a product until I came home and looked it up online. I loved what I was reading, if it worked it was just what we were looking for.

Bark Off is an ultrasonic training aid that is portable, inaudible to humans, and is safe and humane! It says so right on the packaging! lol

So I ordered one online for $10 but wait there was a special buy one get one free offer...only I messed it up and didn't realize if I clicked one more time it would add another device...oops I ordered three...and then the doubting Debbie that I am ordered two more because I wasn't sure my first order really went thru...yes stuff like this happens to me a lot...following directions isn't my strong point (must have gotten that from dad!)

So about a week and a half later two boxes arrived at our door! We went out and bought some 9volt batteries and gave them a whirl. And what a perfect time to experiment, 4th of July!!

The dogs still start to bark but quickly stop after one or two barks! Dexter is a little screamer when it comes to letting the dogs out, he has to be the leader and he has to be loud. We have tried water bottles and scolding him and picking him up...nothing worked..until Bark Off!!!

Today I am going to leave the ustream feed up so I can watch from work and see if the babies continue to behave while we are not home but so far so great with this little gadget!!!

(I have not been paid for this review, in fact I paid much more than I should have by miss-ordering!)

Happy 4th Of July!

2011-07-04T14:11:00.000-04:00

I hope that you all are enjoying a relaxing 4th of July doing exactly what you want to do!

We have had a very laid back weekend doing not much of anything around here. I've been glued to the TV watching the Cassie Anthony Trial. Now that the jury has gone off we are going to watch as many of the Harry Potter movies as we can. Vic has never seen them , it's always fun to share beloved movies with someone that has not seen them before in hopes they will enjoy them as much as me!