The Minkz

Lovey, lovey, Laker

Well its about time Laker got some press around here!  Lake's turned 9 months over the weekend and in no way resembles the 16lb puppy we picked up in San Rafael but rather a 70lb beast. He drops all of his weight on the nearest body whether it be me, Alex or Noah.  He's always got to be touching somebody.  He has maintained his easy going personality and mellowness that has been evident since day 1.  I've traveled with ease to and from Portland a handful of times with him, took him with me to California back in October and we'll head to Seattle next month.  He's my willing movie date never complaining about the cheesy chick flick.  Plus he's a cheaper date than Alex, as the floor suits him just fine!  

  

Juiced

The Chairman got juiced for the new year last week with another dose of stem cells ala Vet Stem.  The improvements he's made over the last 8 months is unbelievable.  He can run, not just trot but really run and when he does we cannot help but smile.  

Mad Skillz Minkiewicz

One of my new endevours since coming to Bend has been learning to nordic ski.   After last season's broken tailbone I shocked the hell out of Alex when I went out and bought myself a complete set up of gear.  But due to a defective ski I was not able to get out on my own skis at all last season.  So I am making up for lost time, have only fallen once and can go downhill without having a complete meltdown.  I am having a blast!

Moving forward

We don't set new year's resolutions here at Chez Minkz but we do like to set goals for the coming year so while the list is short it's not without it's significance so here goes.

Megan 

1. Run my 2009 half marathon faster than my 2008.

2. Raise $20,000 for the SF AIDS foundation though my AIDS LifeCycle fundraising.  

Alex 

1. Be a better fisherman

Noah

1. Stop eating goose poop

Laker

1.  Graduate

Happy New Year!

Sadly the only holiday photos are below

Aside from the fact we had a rockin' tree that we hauled out of the woods ourselves, sweet Charlie Brown lights and of course the Menorah these are the only photos I managed to take.  

 

Missing is the night hike we took on Christmas Eve complete with four labradors, snowball fights and no need for flashlights, the awesome cracked crab & champagne we had just prior to said hike, the stuffed beef tenderloin from Christmas day, the Dreidel games I taught the neighbor kids, and of course the snow...

New Leaf

I am going to get back on Minkz blogging ticket...no really I swear I am going to.  I am sure I can find some funny stories up  my sleeve but to start I just hope everyone is having a happy holiday season and I for one am so very much looking forward to 2009!

A (true) Tail

A few months back we were woken in the middle of the night to the sound of Laker peeing on our bedroom floor.  Seriously I bolted out of bed grabbed him and raced outside where he appeared to be fine so we went back inside where all hell broke lose.  I turned on the light to clean up the mess to find poor little Laker was trying to wake us up and the peeing was his last resort.   He was clearly sick and had pooped all over our bedroom.  So at 3am I am cleaning pee and poop off the bedroom carpet and Alex heads upstairs to sleep in one of the guest rooms.  After 30 minutes of Nature's Miracle and complete exhaustion setting in I was back in bed where I realized I would probably be better to sleep on the floor between Noah & Laker's beds in case one of them needed assistance finding the exit to the yard.  I promptly fell asleep and 40 minutes later woke up when Noah puked in my hair.  Needless to say I could not fall back asleep after cleaning up that mess and taking a shower.    Talk about taking one for the team, I am pretty sure Alex's owes me big time and instead he'll occasionally point to me in the presence of company and say Megan tell that story about Noah's puking in your hair.

A funny thing happened on the way to the mailbox...

While my sister was visiting for Thanksgiving we took a walk to get the mail.  Along the way we passed a spec house that has been vacant & for sale since we moved here so we decided to go check it out.  The house over looks the river canyon so we walked around the back and noticed there was furniture inside and appeared to be staged for an open house, since the for sale sign and flyers were still out from....until we noticed someone asleep in the bed!  

Would you rather?

Remember that game from your 7th grade boy-girl parties?  I figured in light of the recent election and some still very fresh wounds this would be a perfect game to play with regards to the passing of Prop 8.  While I respect others views and beliefs on this issue I am still in awe that same sex marriage is such a hot political button.  I for one am much more concerned about the economy, environment, war in Iraq and oh say what the hell is happening with my retirement and whether or not there will be any social security left for me.   I mean really would you rather have a crack whore and pimp living next to you or a same sex couple?  I'll take same sex couple.  Would you rather your tax dollars be spent keeping school programs going or keeping same sex couples from getting married?  I'll take school programs and I don't even have kids!  Would you rather..oh I could go on and on and really this if fun but seriously it is fucked up.  

Alex and I were on the fence about getting married for years, we figured if we were not having kids (which we aren't) why bother?  Then after about 7 years together and approaching our 30s we started thinking about the what ifs...terminal illness, power of attorney, wills, financial planning, retirement and so on.  I realize it's not very glamorous but it came down to that for us.  Without a marriage certificate our families could challenge our choices and decisions regardless of the commitment we'd made to each other publicly or privately to share a life together.  I realize there are any number of ways to interpret marriage, but frankly that whole Bible thing is getting a little old and well Columbus thought the world was flat so it we'd listened to him all these years the entire human population would be crammed into 1/2 of the earth and how sucktastic would that be?   Gays & lesbians are contributing members of society;  they are teachers, doctors, bankers, lawyers, civil servants, people just like everyone else and deserve the same rights. 

Sucktastic Blogger

There are 101 things I should write about and now that the cold weather is upon us and that I can freely talk of such things....I will.  But first and foremost according to Alex I must share a story of sheer wife awesomeness.  

In 2005 when we still lived in California for some reason Alex wanted a "puffy coat"  insert down jacket here.  Since weather did not dictate the need for such jacket and knowing Alex would never get it himself I found the Mountain Hardware SubZero  for him at REI and decided that would be a perfect Christmakah gift.  So three years later we find ourselves living in Bend and the puffy coat is a wardrobe staple now.  Alex is not one who is known to be gentle with items that are not living breathing creatures and as a result he's tough on gear, clothes etc so it was no surprise to me that the puffy coat was starting to wear and finally recently the puffy coat started to tear and lose some stuffing.  Poor Alex was heartbroken and would not wear is coat until we figured out how to fix it and well here's where my awesomeness comes in.  

Said puffy coat was purchased at REI, so I called the local REI last night as we were heading out to walk the dogs told them the deal; jacket was at least 2 years old, didn't have a receipt, and that was losing down though a number of little micro holes.  Do you have any idea what they told me?   Bring in the jacket and we'll replace it, that REI 100% satisfaction policy.  Alex was convinced this was a ploy.  Yet after a 10 minutes visit  (5 minutes of which Alex was trying on jackets in the women's department and trying to figure out why none of them fit right...duh the sign above your head say WOMENS!) to REI and $22.80 guess who's got a new puffy coat and thinks his wife walks on water?