Party, Party, Party - LA style

Being the party animals we are, Molly and I flew west again, less than a week after returning from Phoenix.
Destination - Burbank and LA.
Reason - To Party!

Dec 13th - First we celebrated my birthday in fine style. We met up with some friends at Mo's on Riverside. It was so nice to see some of my buddies.

Jane Marsh, Regina Leeds and Moi AND Jessica, Molly, Alana.
Two happy couples - Ailette and David AND Diana and Rene
Dec 14th - Office parties - department Pirate outing at the beach (aaarghhh matey) in the morning and LRW party in the afternoon (too much alcohol - not consumed by me but lot's of other folks...gee I'm getting old), dinner with Regina at our fav Indian restaurant.

Dec 15th - Brunch with the Campbells (thanks for the excellent housing and TLC),

Party at Ailette's house in the afternoon.












Dec 16th - Lunch with Cousin Jay, flying home (oh so sad to leave)

December in Phoenix - the best time to be there

We surprised my niece Katy with a visit to Phoenix, in honor of her being awarded the World of Community Service award from the Arizona Girl Scouts. Here she is with her proud parents and her proud aunt.

















Here is a link to their site: http://www.girlscoutsaz.org/site/c.kkI1KgMZIxF/b.3530275/k.383E/2007_Honorees.htm

It was a blast to see my family, join in the celebration, and enjoy a Hanukkah party on the Saturday. Molly and Marina enjoyed a cousinly moment together.

One of the highlights was watching Katy play basketball. For a not-so-tall kid, she is pretty darn good! Not just a smarty, but a jock too!
The trip was much too short!

Thanksgiving Family Style

Thanksgiving came to North Carolina bringing loads of relatives, great food (including the traditional chopped liver turkey),
photo opts, a trip to visit local colleges for my niece Katy (come South for college...you will love it Katy!), oodles of fun. My sister Linda and her tribe came to town - husband Dave, daughters Katy and Marina. We loved having them stay with us. Molly was in heaven having Marina around and it was so great for me to have my sister nearby.

Loads of cousins were in town - the Nadels, the Nadels, the Walshs, the Pellings. We got to meet a few we had only seen in pictures. Check out our large family photo!

We've Gone Medieval!

Molly has been studying Medieval Times at in her Social Studies class. This has been very fun. It has included a trip to the Medieval Times Restaurant in Myrtle Beach, S. Carolina (a 3 1/2 hour bus ride each way...oh yeah!) And Molly had an assignment to build a model of a castle. I'm so proud of her. She worked very hard on her model. Here are some pics of the Castle Keep in the Kingdom of Mordor.

Sadness and Joy - of the Rodent Variety

Though only a month had passed since our precious CocoHoney Guinea Pig went to GP heaven, we knew time was fleeting for our pet rat, Sammie Squeeks. Sammie had developed a very large tumor on her chest and I had to make the hard choice to have her sent to Rat heaven. She was starting to fall in her cage and looked decidedly ungainly and unhappy. So, on Friday Nov 9th, I took her to the vet and she slipped quietly away. She will be so very missed!

But as one rodent door closes, another opens...or so the saying goes. Molly and I felt that the household was too empty, so today we went to PetSmart and adopted a new being to be a new member of the household...introducing, Clara Cuddles, a new guinea pig. She is very little, very sweet, very soft and very cute. She is orange and white, with a black butt and one back black leg. What can I say...I'm a sucker for a fuzzy face!

Horsing Around

Miss Molly, the horse nut, is becoming quite a little horsewoman. She takes lessons from our new good friend Sally Weiner (who is also a quilter, so she and Susie have fun with that too!) The horse - Jet. He is just as handsome as can be and very good with Molly. Give him a carrot and he will be eating out of your hands...literally.

After riding, Molly loves to help brushing the big beast. If only she would brush her own hair as often. hahaha.

It's Only Fair - The State Fair!

It's that time of year...time to go and see horses, pigs, sheep and odd looking carnival workers at the state fair.

We joined our friends the Powells (pronounced "Powwwls" - if you are using your North Carolina accent, y'all) and went to the state fair in Raleigh. They have two adorable girls - Gwendie and Carrie - who were in summer camp with Molly. We walked for miles, saw pigs and sheep and horses and chicks and very large pumpkins and so on and so on.
The girls went on fast, rides that went round and round. We parents were too clever for that vomet-inducing madness and just stood back and watched our kids while they rode and laughed. It was worth it just for that!

We ate BBQ and funnel cake (a first for Molly and me) and I personally marveled at all the foods you can buy that are fried - fried pickles, fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fried bologna, fried twinkies, fried onions and I'm sure they had other delicacies that I just didn't see and that's probably a good thing.

After parting with mega-bucks for the rides and the tasty treats, we left feeling like we were successful in an annual sojourn to this fall fling. Though my friend Jane Powell said that many folks in these parts are often heard saying that they would "rather eat their right leg than go to the state fair", we had a good time!

End of an Era - We'll miss you CocoHoney!

With great sadness, we have to report the passing on to the great Guinea Pig heaven of our beloved CocoHoney. Hard to believe CocoHoney was with us for nearly 5 years! She was a good guinea pig (aside from the occasional episodes of trying to bite off the ends of our fingers) and will be very missed. OK, the picture is not actually CocoHoney, but an amazing simulation. (Truth be known, I can't find a picture of the little critter.) Molly and I both shed quite a few tears over this little girl and we do miss her insistent squealing for food, even after she had just eaten. A true pig, but fuzzy and cute to the end. Bye-bye little piggy!

Sounds fishy to me!

Molly, the outdoor girl, has found a new sport...fishing! Oh yeah, just down the road from our house is a scenic small lake filled with fish, catfish, snapping turtles (watch out!), and the occasional duck or goose.

Molly and her new BFF, Alex, have discovered the joys of catching smelly fish. Yesterday Molly caught a large catfish. [It was thisssssss long.] They put it in the water on a line and continued to fish hoping to catch another catfish. Moments later...Billy Bob the Snapping Turtle came along, thanked the girls for dinner, and ate the catfish. Molly was aghast! In her own words, "that's not fair". Seems that snapping turtles in this town have no manners!

Better luck next time Molly! And hide your catch of the day from Billy Bob.

The Creatures of North Carolina

There are some pretty fun animals who have come to visit us here in NC. First visitor - and evil nemesis of our dog Max - Smokey the Cat. Smokey is very sweet and belongs to Molly's new friend Alex. Smokey also has a bit of a death-wish, as she keeps coming into our yard, up on our porch, taunting Max. Max chases Smokey. Smokey climbs the trees. Some day they will be friends...NOT.








Next up, TT the Turtle. Molly got TT from the lake near our house. TT was very cute. We did make sure she/he (who knows?) was not a snapping turtle, as they are mean critters. I was worried that TT would not last too long out of the wild. And when one of our neighbors told us that it really is illegal to keep wild turtles (though I don't think the turtle police were going to close us down any time soon), Molly agreed to send TT back to his/her friends at the lake.






Quacking up...over lake ducks. These guys came to visit us when Molly was fishing. I promised to bring them some bread on the next visit. How do they manage to stay in the water with all those mean snapping turtles?

Ribniks Move East

We left California on a lovely hot day in June, to trek across the US - straight across Highway 40.
We were lucky to have our dear friend Diana Duran driving with us. Actually, she did about 85% of the driving! Molly and Max shared the back seat, while the little critters stayed in small cages in the way back.

After 3.5 days in the car, we were all glad to stretch our legs and get out of the car and into the country!

Susie and Molly are having loads of fun....as new residents in friendly, lovely Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. [That is pronounced few-kway vah-ree-nah.]
Our new house is large, wonderful, has a big backyard, a fort with swings outside and a guest room with its own bathroom....hint, hint!

Good-bye Burbank...

The time came for the Ribniks to get ready to leave Burbank. Sad to leave so many friends, we did what any good Ribnik will do...we threw ourselves a "Goodbye/Molly's Birthday/Eat Up Our Food Party"! My sister Linda came out with my niece Katy. Cousin Jay was there to grill the burgers and dogs and then he led the kids in a putting contest! Katy led the party-goers in a trivia contest with facts about North Carolina.
If you gave a correct answer, you got a grocery item or cleaning supply (whatever I couldn't pack for a cross-country trek). If you gave an incorrect answer, you got two prizes! It was so heartening to have so many people come to our party and wish us well...and take home groceries. Terri Alff was particularly pleased to win the cooking oil.

Molly got an early birthday party with loads of her friends. We had two cakes, lots of presents, and a great big batch of fun!

Then people started to say goodbye and we had to let them leave. We tried to pack an extra kid or two to take with us to North Carolina, but their parents wouldn't leave the party without their kids. Go figure!