The Newest Member of the Household Umbriaco

Mine eyes have seen the glory of.....60 MPG........

Yes.... after months of obsessing... over a Civic Hybrid... Erin and I took the plunge.... and purchased a Toyota Prius!

The change of heart was really quite sudden.... pretty much over the last two weeks a light shone upon my bosom, and the truth was witnessed unto me - yea, verily the Prius is more functional even if we think it looks goofy.....

8 hrs at the dealership on Saturday wasn't all that fun... but at least the sales gal was nice - she let us cruise over to the nearest Chick Fil A and had lunch with us.... which was glorious.



So there it is..... 2007 Toyota Prius... welcome to the fam.

Lists from the Bowlcut Page

1. List your 3 favorite musical artists.
Derek Webb... that's basically it. I still enjoy RBF.... other than that I'd have to break it down by genre.

2. List your 3 favorite tv shows.
Gilmore Girls
Veronica Mars
Smallville

3. List your 3 favorite books.
Life Together - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
ummm.....I like Romans a lot too.

4. On a scale of 1-10, how important is Clay Aiken when thinking of home refinancing?
Who?

5. Have you changed religion since you were a child?
Yes & No.... I was raised Christian, but not converted until 19 yrs. of age... so I'd say I was pagan until that point.

6. If money was no option would you live near the water, in the woods, in a city or on a dirigible that circled the globe on a tri-monthly basis?

Near the water in the mountains..... like Switzerland


7. List 3 of the best songs ever written.

Pop Goes the World - Men w/o Hats
Anything by Paula Abdul
The CGR Song - Jonathan Hays and Benj

8. List 3 people you’ve never met who you’d like to have lunch with.
Che Guevara, Steve Perry, Coop Cooper

9. List 3 ways the internet has changed your social interaction.
I no longer interact socially

10. List the 3 best concerts you’ve ever seen.
Page and Plant
RBF with Jonathan Hays and our womens
Aquabats at Classic Skating

Erin and I have a new addition to our family.... stay tuned for pictures.

Football is a drag....

It's looking like the Patriots are going to beat the Colts.... I'm really sick of the Patriots... I don't think I'll watch much of the Super Bowl if they're in it.....

I did watch all of USA-Denmark in their first game since the Ghana debacle.... that was a lot of fun to watch. I'm happy for Kenny Cooper (scored the final goal of their 3-1 victory) who I got to meet at Dynamo-FC Dallas game last year (he's a high school friend of my neighbor).

I'm having trouble coming to grips with the fact that Bluebell is still a pup relative to Battlecat.... she has been quite destructive lately..... here are some things she has eaten/destroyed in the past week:

1 bag of Sour Patch Watermelons
1 box of Cherry Candy Canes
1 bag of sweet tarts
1 Pineapple Chapstick
1 Book
1 thing of bubble wrap
1 padded envelope (yet another delay on sending your birthday present Mom.... Bluebell ate everything we bought to mail your present....)
Several Target sacks

Bluebell also is quite fond of cuddling.... every night when we go to sleep the dogs are in their beds and somehow when I wake up I find Bluebell in all sorts of positions on our bed... she doesn't even care about comfort.... one night I woke up and she'd draped her body perpendicular to mine over my legs..... then I woke up a little later and she was laying lengthwise in between Erin and I... Battlecat will lay on the bed, but at the first hint of movement she jumps off and lays down in her own bed....

I'm not a proponent of dogs in the bed.... it's cute when we're reading but when I'm trying to sleep I need real estate for sprawling out.... dogs inhibit said sprawl.....

Erin has one week left at Ben Taub (the public hospital) before she switches to a private hospital for her 2nd month of her medicine rotation. She's had some really long nights and she has to work at least 6 days a week so she's pretty tired. Erin wanted me to pose for general blog discussion this question:

What's your position on end-of-life issues? Would you want to be kept alive on a machine - even if there was no medical hope? Talk amongst yourselves.....

Mas picturas

More pictures from the past three weeks.... we got to hang out with quite a few folks whilst in the great state of Utah.... but for some reason our camera didn't capture all of them.... so with apologies to the Patricks, the Jenkins, the Hays', the Whiteheads, the soon-to-be Gephardts, and various family members (like Paul and Christina... and the little Sticky in the oven).... here are some more photos.

Bluebell (Full name: Kelsey Bluebell Panthor Umbriaco) is

quite excited to have a sister and a belly rub

The girls like to lay down on the couch with Erin
Battlecat was very happy to have Erin back
Jonathan and Bluebell learning to waltz
Here's a Christmas Day photo of my dad and I taking pictures of each other.
Here's JonPow and his main squeeze Christina exchanging gifts (I have pictures of Joel.... but they are all with his eyes closed.....)
Bluebell loves to cuddle which suits us fine
Allen Family Christmas

Back from Utah with a new dog

Quick Update: Erin and I got back from Utah on Wednesday after two weeks attending a wedding, and visiting family, friends, and La Puente. I now present to you: The last 3 weeks in pictures...... Juanita likes Moose.... she got one for Christmas
Bluebell meets Lynn's new puppies
Bluebell and Joshnita share a nap

Umbriaco's at Amy & Jon's wedding
Joshnita's armpit hair......
Proud parents of a beautiful bride
Here my mom is pictured attempting to perform an exorcism on Jon Pow
Erin was a bridesmaid and I got to perform the ceremony!
I'm really proud of my sister.