And It Goes Like This

I went for a jog this morning.

Why?

I have absolutely no idea. I live in California now, everyone runs, I probably should too. Even though I hate it. And since the nearest gym is about 15 minutes away, I figure it's cheaper to run in the neighborhood. On horrid concrete. Instead of the nice, easy impact elliptical.

I took the dog with me.

This is what he looks like AFTER a run:

Oh boy you are actually going to let me jog instead of walk? Really really really? BEST THING EVER! Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy! Let's go! LEAF! Ok, gotta keep running! Oh man that bush smells mighty nice. Oh you want to keep going? Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy let's go mom! SQUIRREL! SQUIRREL! Oh but I though you wanted to run? Oh... just not after squirrels? Ok, let's run! BUSH! Let's keep going! Just keep running! Oh, dog poop. That smells gross. But I'm going to sniff it for 5 minutes anyway. LET'S RUN!

You get the idea.

This is what I feel about 2 minutes INTO jogging:

Seriously. I hate running. I will probably never like it. But alas, hopefully I will keep going. But mostly because Jack will be pulling me the whole way :) 

And can I hear a yay all around? We should be getting rain on tomorrow! So that means the sun will go away. And it might actually feel like autumn. 

Giada Meals- Meatloaf

It's that time again! We're finally settled, so I can resume my cooking desires!

This week all of my recipes came of Giada de Laurentiis' cookbook, Giada at Home, where she mixes classic Itallian recipes and fresh California fare. Last night I decided to make her turkey meatloaf with feta and sundried tomatoes. It was SO GOOD. And super simple. I had to do a little chopping, but nothing hard, just sundried tomatoes, garlic, and some parsley. Mix everything in a bowl, bake, and BAM! Delicious, succulent meatloaf that needs no extra flavoring.

I also made some mashed cauliflower. I have seen it all over pinterest, and since I don't like cauliflower, I figured this would be the only way to make it where I would like it! I must say, it was fairly good! I went without a recipe, and used a blender, so it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but I know exactly how to fix that for next time. Steam one head of cauliflower. Place in a blender AFTER you drain it well. A food processor might work better, but I hate mine, so blender it is! Add whatever you like to your mashed potatoes. I used milk, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Since the garlic is raw, go easy on that! Also only add a little milk and oil at a time, I went a little overboard on accident so it came out watery.

Overall, yummy meal! And healthy, too! Who would have thought meatloaf and "mashed potatoes" would be  so good for you?!

Happy eating!

Pictures of the Casa

Ok, I reluctantly gave in to peer pressure and posted some pictures of our new house in California! Prepare to be amazed. Or not. I waited to post pictures until today because we had to go buy some furniture to fill up the living room. Matt and I haven't lived in a house with two living rooms, so it was empty. But yay for IKEA!

The family room, or the front room. That's the front door. And that's my dog Jack photo bombing my picture.

Pictures in the family room. 

How I decorated one of the many awkward cut outs in the wall. 

That's the family room to the left, the weird cut out in the picture above, the laundry room, and another cut out. I'm standing in the kitchen. 

Our little cabinet by the laundry room. That picture frame decorated with scrapbook paper is my weekly schedule/calender. One of many ideas I found on Pinterest :)

Candle decorations

The living room with really awkward spaces. That's a picture of Mt. Rainier above the fireplace. (And the hallway to the bedrooms behind the fireplace)

 The eat in dining room. I'm standing in the living room, the room with the fireplace

Our wine rack, displaying my pretty coffee mugs. And the Florida and Indianapolis mugs? You buy those at select Starbucks. I collect them now. Hint, hint. 

Matt's office. 

Purple guest bathroom. 

Master bedroom. 

This picture didn't turn out very good, but that's a tree decal on the wall. I like it, Matt doesn't. 

Our newly furnished living room, from the family room archway. Yay for IKEA! Notice how the pillows match the picture, but they are also Seahawks colors :)

The kitchen and dining room. 

\

The breakfast bar with no bar stools. 

My awesome sunflower plate. 

The kitchen! Yay for gas ranges! And granite! And giant refrigerators! But not so much stainless steel. It shows finger prints way too much. 

I kind of like sunflowers. My mom went a little sunflower crazy when I told her that's what I want in my kitchen. But I'm not complaining, the plates and bowls she found are awesome!

Huey has claiming this ledge as his. I fear for any glass containers I may put up here in the future. 

Mom, stop taking pictures and let me go run around in MY muddy backyard!

Guest bedroom. Yup, you get to hang out with Seahawks stuff, cat pictures, and lots of stuffed animals that Matt doesn't allow on our bed :)

Master bathroom. The toilet has it's own room, and there is a walk-in closet to the right and the shower/large soaking tub in the corner

Family room through to the living room. Cat and Dog face off!

Pet Peeve

I think it's ironic that they are called "pet peeves" and this is going to be about pets.

I need to vent just a little bit.

I seem to be destined to live next to people with annoying dogs. I don't mind dogs. Clearly, or I wouldn't have then. I don't even mind if they're barking. BUT, if you leave your dog in your backyard and it barks at anything that moves outside it's fence, DON'T LEAVE YOUR DOG(S) IN THE BACKYARD UNATTENDED.

Seriously, people.

It's the most annoying thing when your neighbor dogs bark at you the entire time you're in your backyard with your dog. ESPECIALLY if your dog just runs around chewing on his stick (that's what she said). Jack very rarely barks. I feel bad that it's technically my fault the dogs are barking, since they didn't start until I let my dog out, but I'm not going to not use my backyard because 2 neighbor dogs are barking at my dog. These 2 dogs also usually set off other neighbor dogs who are also just chilling outside unattended.

I understand that other people have jobs and don't spoil their dogs nearly as much as I do. But seriously, if your dog is that annoying, don't you feel bad about it? Why can't you crate your dog, or leave him inside in the laundry room or the garage? There are pens you can buy to keep them confined, and adult dogs can hold their bladder for 8 hours. I know, because my dog did it for 9 hours once while I worked a full shift.

I know not everyone can be at home with their dog 24/7 like I am currently, but if you can't control your dog, or don't even have enough time to train or exercise him, or don't feel like you can leave him alone for the amount of time that you are gone everyday, maybe you shouldn't have a dog.

Maybe I care too much about dogs, or it's the pet retail business that has brain washed me, but I don't think it is. It is seriously the most annoying thing ever to have a dog bark at you the entire time you are outside in your own backyard and I have had to deal with this for a year and a half, and now I can't escape that. Please be considerate of your neighbors. I love dogs and can't stand them barking all day long, imagine someone who doesn't like dogs feels. I don't think it's fair that those of us who have good dogs have to fork over the money for anti bark equipment when the problem could be solved by you keeping your dog sindie.

Celebrate Good Times (Come On!)

Ok, enough with the cheesy post titles, Sara. Dude.

Lots to celebrate! So I will do what I do best: make lists. I find them easier to read (much less write) than large blocks of paragraphs.

-The movers came the day after we arrived! Whoot! We weren't expecting our stuff until November 9th!

-The house is finally getting into some semblance of order. I think the dog is excited about this. The cat, however, LOVES the chaos of boxes and packing paper lying everywhere. It's way easier to ambush someone's foot if one is hiding underneath a pile of paper.

-FURNITURE SHOPPING TIME! This is the first time Matt and I have lived in a house that has both a living room and family room. Thus, we have a gigantic open room with nothing in it but a fireplace, and the fireplace is lonely and needs some furniture friends to hang out with it. AND GUESS WHAT?! There is an IKEA about 40 minutes from here. HOW EXCITING! I think we're going to have to hold off on shopping, though, until we get reimbursed for this move. I can spend a lot of money at IKEA. Also at Ashley Furniture.

-BATHROOM SHOPPING TIME! This is the first time we have had two bathrooms, each with a shower. Time to set up a REAL guest bathroom. We need more towels. And cute bathroom accessories.

-I'm pretty sure our master suite is the same exact size of our apartment in Portland. We're definitely moving up in the world!

-Mountains. I love mountains. If there were no houses in my way, I could see the Cascade Range (YAY! It's like being home :) and the Sierra Nevadas. I'm kind of far away from them, but whatever. They're there!

-I don't have to move again if I don't want to in the next 3 years. Can I hear angels singing praises to that?! Yes. Yes I can.

-I have a fenced in backyard. Jack loves it. We don't love the neighbor dogs, though. Everyone in this neighborhood keeps their dogs outside and they bark at you when you pass by the house. Thank goodness Jack doesn't bark back or he would be barking during our entire walk.

-Speaking of yards, Matt and I are going to be practicing our landscaping skills on the backyard. We figure our landlord won't care, since the yard can't get any worse by us making it better :)

-Yay for large soaking tubs! It's not as big as most master bathtubs, but hey, anything to help with my migraines. And it's WAY better than my last house's tub.

-Hello, granite countertops and gas range stove and gigantic refrigerator. Where have you been all my life?

-Carpet, carpet, carpet! I love carpet. It makes for nice toasty feet.

-This is my 200th post to Blogger, y'all! How exciting.

-Now that we're settled in, I can begin all those Pinterest DIY crafts I have lined up. Whoot! Ah, what would us unemployed people do without Pinterest?!

Journey to California, Part 2

Day Six

Here we drove from Denver to Salt Lake City, Utah. This drive is both really interesting and REALLY boring. The drive starts in Denver, goes up through the Rockies, and ends in a desert. The mountain pass through the Rockies takes you up to 10,000 feet and through many cute little ski resort towns. The west side of the pass parallels a gorgeous river and it's canyon. GORGEOUS. Probably the prettiest section of our whole trip.

I have decided to adopt Colorado as my second state of residence. Matt and I could definitely settle down near Denver, that's for sure.

The second part of that trip, though, takes you through the the San Raphael desert in southern Utah. I would rather drive through Kansas, honestly. There are some interesting red cliffs to look at, but other than that, it's flat and full of dirt and sand. No green anywhere. I could never, ever live out there. That is the absolute perfect place for a high security prison, though. There is literally nothing out there, and if a prisoner escapes, well, he'll die of dehydration.

Anyways.

We did take a detour down to Arches National Park, the saving grace of southern Utah. It's gorgeous! And if you have a dog like we did, no worries, you can see most everything from your car, so all you have to do is drive around, look at the pretty scenery, and take lots of pictures.

Day Seven

This day was SUPPOSED to commence a drive from SLC to the happening (ehem) town of Elko, NV. But because of a rather bad habit of checking Facebook way too often, I discovered a friend was traveling from Reno to Sacramento (same road we would be on the following day), and the pass was closed due to a blizzard. In Nevada. Of all places. So for once, I was actually happy for my Facebook addiction because we did an immediate change of plans and had to leave the hotel pronto to start our new route: SLC to Las Vegas, then Las Vegas to Sacramento. Combined this detour would add 300 miles to our trip (including a 100 mile back track), but that was better than getting to the pass and not knowing if it would be closed, and what restrictions there would be if it was open.

So cheers for Facebook?

SLC to Las Vegas is not the most interesting of drives, but once the trees start it actually gets pretty. Not to mention, every town on the side of the highway in Nevada has some sort of exotic looking resort to attract those people who want to experience Vegas, but are retired.

Day Eight: The Home Stretch

Let me just say, I'm happy to be "home," but mad did I hate that drive from Vegas to Sacramento. The Nevada desert is not interesting. Plus, it was a ten hour job. That's hard on anybody, but when you're worried about the toll this long day (not to mention week) is having on your animals, it just drags on and seems worse than it is. God bless them, my fur babies are the best of travelers, but even I can't expect my cat to like being in a carrier all day for 8 days, or a very active year old Golden to be fine with just chillin' in the back of the Jeep.

But we made it! We're super excited to finally be done living on the road! Keep checking back, I will be updating in the next few days about our experience here, and a lot of people want pictures of the house.

Journey to California, Part 1

As everyone knows, we are on our way to California! Yay! Here are some updates on what has been going on thus far.

Day One

I left Columbus AFB at 11:30, after a marathon morning of finishing cleaning up the house and throwing away A LOT of food. Thankfully I have wonderful friends and neighbors who helped me clear everything out, watch Jack, and took all my cleaning supplies off my hands so I didn't have to dump them. Everything went well, we are only getting charged $14 dollars for damaged blinds (thanks, Huey).

Jack and Huey are wonderful travelers. I did the first leg (Columbus to St. Louis, MO, 450 miles) by myself because Matt couldn't leave Atlanta until that morning. The drive could have been more stressful if I had wanted it to be, but I just brushed all those feelings aside and charged on. I let the dog and the cat out multiple times and they did great. Thankfully the cone didn't make things any harder, I was still able to get Jack in and out of the Jeep easily.

When we finally got to St. Louis, I was reunited with Matt! Jack was SUPER excited to see his daddy! Matt immediately took the cone off, to my chagrin, but because I had cut off his bandage earlier that morning to make it less irritating, Jack did really well! He didn't even really try to go for his wound, he was much more interested in cleaning himself. So no more cone!

Day Two, Three

St. Louis, MO to Kansas City, KS. I still had to drive by myself, since Matt needed to drive the Mustang, but it was much easier knowing he was out there somewhere, and the trip was only about 250 miles, so only a few hours' drive. This drive, though, was more stressful for me because of the winds. I was getting blown around pretty good in 20 mph winds, especially since we have a cargo carrier on the Jeep for the trip. That was no fun, but I just tried to ignore how uncomfortable that was and focus on driving. We got into Kansas City around 1 and met up with our good friend Kyle. We later picked up Matt's dad and sister at the airport, handed over the Mustang to them, and waved good bye and they drove off onto the Kansas prairie.

We stayed at Kyle's house, and hung out there the next day too. Kyle and Matt went flying, I stayed at the apartment and read and walked the dog. Kyle then took us to Jack's first dog park. He had a blast! This dog park is gigantic, built into a hill with trails in the woods, a lake, and a big open field. We still kept him on a least most of the time so he wouldn't harass other owners by jumping on them, but in the trails he was able to run around ahead of us and he LOVED the lake. At first he was afraid of the slight waves, but once he realized those were just an extension of the water, he ran right in and just ran up and down the shoreline.

The next day, we headed out late morning. It was sad to say good bye to Kyle, but we had such a great time. And Kansas City is a beautiful city.

Day Four

We traveled only about 150 miles from Kansas City to Manhattan, KS where Kansas State is, and our friends Trent and Brandy! We met up with them and hung out for a little bit, then went to dinner. We left Jack in the car for all of this, but he did really well. After dinner, I walked him around the neighborhood, fed him, then left him in the car again when I went back inside. We watched the Seahawks game while playing with their adorable baby Jayson. We said good bye soon after Jayson went to sleep and headed back to our hotel.

Thanks for such a great time, Trent and Brandy!

Day Five

Yesterday we drove about 500 miles from Manhattan, KS all the way to Denver. BORING.

Eastern Kansas is really pretty, there are WAY more trees than I thought, and gentle rolling hills. Western Kansas, however, once you get past Salina, is one of the most boring drives you will ever witness in your life. Wheat field after wheat field. It's not as flat as people say it is, but it's still really boring. So is Eastern Colorado, all the way to Denver, even.

BUT I SEE MOUNTAINS FINALLY! SCORE!

Today we're driving about 300 miles from Denver to Grand Junction, CO, over the Rocky Mountains. It would normally only take about 5 hours, but it will probably take longer, since over the pass the Jeep will only be able to go about 45 mph. It really doesn't like the altitude. We're hoping there will be some snow at Vail, so we can let Jack out and he can witness his first snow.

At least today's drive will be classified as anything BUT boring. Yay for pretty mountains!

Not My Week

This is probably one of the worst weeks I have ever had. I'm not trying to be melodramatic, because seriously, I'm just barely hanging on.

Matt has been gone only for a week and a half, but man it feels like longer. And stuff like this only seems to happen when Matt is not around. Figures.

Monday at 0945, Jack had a routine check up, got two vaccines and a fecal exam, everything came back normal. Nothing to worry about.

Tuesday, movers show up at 9:30. I woke up at 5 am to run to get them food. Jack seems to be acting fine, but I did notice a bump on his hip. Didn't seem to bother him, though.

Through the whole day, I started noticing that he didn't want to sit down, or lie down, he would only stand. He was able to walk normal, though. He ate, drank, and eliminated normally. Other than the no sitting, he was acting his normal self, just more subdued, he still loved greeting the movers and did not protest to going outside for walks, but he did walk slower. Towards the even, I noticed his swelling was worse, and he was so tired but still refused to sit.

My friend Jessica came over, and noticed that if you lifted his tail he absolutely shrieked. On to the vet we go at 11 pm. The emergency vet is about 35 miles away. I didn't get there for an hour because I got pulled over by security forces (apparently I rolled through a stop sign, I don't even remember that part of the drive, to be honest). They were super nice, though, only gave me a warning. In fact, I didn't mention I was running him to the emergency vet until after they brought my license back. They even said "Ma'am, why didn't you tell us that first?!" Well, because coasting through a stop sign is still not ok no matter what the excuse is. It's actually kind of a good thing they pulled me over, it was a reminder of "Sara! You can't get Jack safely to the vet if you are driving distracted."

Of course, I also had no gas, so I had to quickly stop for some. Naturally.

Then I got lost. The emergency vet is on the college campuses, and no campus I know of is straight forward to drive on. Also, the street was not in my GPS. Naturally. So I had to call the vet again and be talked in, because the directions my friend gave me from Google didn't work, either.

After two hours in the waiting room, I was told they discovered the abscess and it had burst on their table. It was well hidden, too, because they didn't even notice it until they shaved him about an hour or so into the examination. So I feel a little less guilty knowing that they didn't automatically find it. All the preliminary tests, though, were fine and he had no blockages in this digestive tract they could find, and the only other thing is that he had a fever.

I had to leave him over night because they wanted a surgeon to look through all the infected tissue and if they found any dead tissue, they would need to remove it. He also needed some heavy duty antibiotics. When I called at around 11 (since nobody there had called me), they told me he hadn't had his surgery yet, but they don't expect any complications from it. They are basically going to do a heavy duty cleaning of the abscess and go from there. Depending on how early they can get to him, and how badly the wound is, they might need to keep him overnight again.

Of course, I didn't sleep well, only about 4 hours. After being up for 22 hours, that's not a lot. I'm exhausted and distracted, so naturally when I went into PetSmart this morning to get hugs from my former co-workers (who are great friends), I locked my keys in the Jeep. Yup. It's been an expensive 48 hours, so hopefully they don't need to keep him over night.

We are about to spend a lot on our move, and this vet bill just last night was $775 (a 75% deposit of the estimated cost for the medication and the morning procedure). Hopefully I don't have to shell out too much more. The move itself will cost around $2000 moving out there, and we won't get reimbursed for that until after. We also have to pay our first months rent and a security deposit once we get out there. We are quickly becoming very poor. Just within 48 hours.

Life sucks sometimes. It really does. But God won't give me anything I can't handle. I know I can, it just doesn't feel like it right now. I'm determined, though, to make the most of this situation. I have somehow managed to stay calm at times when I needed to the most (driving, talking to the vet, getting directions, even when I got pulled over I didn't cry), but let me tell you I've lost it a few times. But everything will be ok, I just need to remember that.

I wish I could take a nap, though, but I'm terrified of missing the call from the vet. Oh, well. At least this is an excuse to just sit back on the couch and watch Big Bang Theory and do nothing productive.

UGH

Sorry. Another venting post. But this one I can't really control, so I have every right too, right?

Moving with the Air Force is so inconvenient. It's like they make a list of all the different possibilities they can throw your way while moving, and they pick the most inconvenient one. Here's why.

Matt is currently in training right now in Atlanta. It ends on the 14th. We are scheduled to start our move (the Air Force gives you certain days to travel in) the 15th. Easy, right? NOPE. Matt has his final SIM on the 14th... at  8:30 pm. Atlanta is 5 hours from Columbus. So either he arrives here at 2:30 am and drives another 5 hours the next day, or we just hang out for another day in Columbus and leave the following day. But that would mess up all our hotel reservations. Also, we check out of our house on 15th, so what are we going to do for night? UGH.

Another option is for me to leave from Columbus on the 15th, while he leaves from Atlanta the same day, and we meet in St. Louis. Problem. If you know me at all, you know I hate driving. I also hate driving by myself in new places, on the highway. I really don't want to have to drive to St. Louis by myself, especially with a dog and a cat. It's still hot here (82 degrees), so I can't leave them in the car by themselves while I grab Subway or something. Oh. And my air conditioning has decided to completely stop working. But do we want to afford the $600 that's going to cost to fix? Not really right now.

We'd sell the Jeep, but there's NO WAY we can move the two of us and Jack and Huey in the Mustang. Jack HATES getting in that car, and it's just not big enough for him to relax, especially with the cat carrier taking up some of the room. And there's no way we're selling the Mustang :) That's a horrible idea.

It would be so much easier if we could ship a car. But do they do that? Nope. Oh, technically they do, but they will only repay you for how much it would cost in gas, then the rest is up to you. It would cost about $1000 to ship a car from Atlanta to San Francisco. We can't afford that. Especially since this move is already going to cost us about $2500 up front, not to mention the $1700 rent/deposit check we have to write as soon as we get there. The Air Force doesn't pay you back until AFTER you move, and sometimes it can take months.

I will also be living in my house for about 6 days without anything but an air mattress and my carpet bag with knitting and books. Sure, I'll have my laptop, but no internet. But I will have nothing to cook with. For 6 days. Matt will already have spent 2 weeks eating out, putting that on the debit card. I will have to get creative with what I eat and how much I spend.

Being in the military is a great experience. I get to see places I otherwise wouldn't, and how many people can say they have driving across the country (or most of it, anyway) not once, but twice? And we technically get reimbursed for it (although it doesn't seem like that at the time). And best of all, I'm moving to a part of the country I will like better. But the way they do things is SO inconvenient, and we have to do everything by ourselves. We don't have our family nearby to help us, and I will spend a week driving 6+ hours a day, something I do not enjoy at all.

So please, pray for us. I'm going to accept it, and make the best of the situation, and just think about California and being close to family yet again the whole time, but it's definitely not going to be easy and I need to summon all the strength I can. Thank goodness our rental house has a gigantic soaking tub in it. That's the first thing I'm going to be doing when we get to our new home.

A Gardening Tip

I am SUPER excited to start gardening next year. I have been spoiled in our military assignments in regards to growing plants... vegetables in Mississippi grow awfully fast and from about March to November. I'm sure with the northern California sun I will get similar results.

Here in Mississippi we don't have an issue with slugs. THANK GOODNESS. Those are awful creatures. I don't know if they are a problem in California, but I KNOW they're a problem in Seattle. I was skimming Pinterest today and came across an article about keeping slugs at bay... and a light clicked on! I did a science fair project about this very same thing in 4th grade, and I should totally have been using this! So be prepared to be wowed if you plan to start a garden and need some tips to keep those pesky pests away.

So the science fair project. My goal was to find a material that slugs will not cross over. We cut up some 2 by 4's, placed beer on top (because slugs are attracted to beer), and wrapped the 2 by 4's in various materials. The only material I discovered that they do not cross is copper. I have no idea why, but not a single slug went past it (and I have about 80 slugs in that container, UGH).

What can we take away with this?

1. Slugs will drink the beer, but it does kill them.

2. Slugs will not cross over copper.

My garden next year will use both of these. The article on Pinterest I saw mentioned burying beer cans into the garden. So here's what I will do:

1. Buy cheap beer, say PBR. That way it's cheap and you won't feel guilty dumping some of it down the sink, since you have to empty about 2/3 of the can. If you want more expensive beer, fine, but realize you do need to leave some in the can.

2. Around the perimeter of your garden, bury the cans, leaving just a little of the top exposed. You can go all around the garden, or just in the trouble areas.

3. Switch out the cans as needed! How easy is that? And it's way better than using pesticides in your garden, especially if you have dogs or kids who could potentially dig in it.

4. Around really precious plants, place a ring of copper. I would suggest leaving it above ground, I don't know if burying it will help.

Also, I have been told that marigolds keep bugs away from vegetables. So for a pop of color in my vegetable garden, I'm going to plant marigolds around it. I LOVE marigolds, they always grow really fell for me. They don't smell all that great, though.

Happy gardening!

Washington vs. Mississippi vs. California

This is a post to keep me entertained, since Matt left yesterday and it's been raining ever since and it's rather depressing.

Anyways.

I'm going to compare Washington, Mississippi, and California based on coolness factor. This is purely unscientific, of my own opinion, and uses Wikipedia, so probably not even accurate. Whatever. What am I comparing them on? Their state animals and plants! Whoot! Let's begin. Also, please note, the scale is made up, so it should keep this interesting.

State Mammal
So, all 3 of these states have 2 (one land, one water), so we get double points, yay!

CA: California grizzly bear, gray whale. Bears awesome, gray whales cool, but rather boring.
MS: White tailed deer, bottlenosed dolphin, red fox. Deer? Really? Snore. They are yummy to eat, though. Dolphin: Wow, Mississippi did something right! Red fox: STOP CHEATING, MS! :)
WA: Olympic marmot, orca. Marmots are cute! Orcas, AWESOME (I'm biased, but no matter).

Land Mammal Rating (in order of increasing coolness): MS (1 pt), WA (2), CA (3)
Marine Mammal Rating: CA, MS, WA

Score thus far: CA 4, MS 3, WA, 5

State Amphibian

CA: Doesn't have one. LAME
MS: Also doesn't have one. SUPER LAME
WA: Pacific Tree Frog. Bonus point to Washington for having one (Yes, I can do this.)

So, rating, CA and MS each only get 1 point, for tying for last place. Washington gets 4 points, 3 for winning and 1 bonus point.

Score thus far: CA 5, MS 4, WA 9

State Bird

CA: California Quail. These things are so cute with their little feather on top. And I've heard they're yummy.
MS: Northern Mockingbird, Wood Duck. Ok, MS, you can't add an extra bird because you realized your first bird is the MOST ANNOYING BIRD EVER. EPIC FAIL. Wood duck gets thrown out, since it's technically the state waterfowl.
WA: American Goldfinch. So pretty. Still biased, but I say this wins because the goldfinch actually comes out and you can see it. Quail hide. Also, goldfinches completely win on the bird call.

Rating: MS, CA, WA

Score thus far: CA 7, MS 5, WA 12

State Fish

CA: Golden trout (fresh water), Garibaldi (salt water). Throwing out the Garibaldi, since the other states only have fresh water fish.
MS: Largemouth bass. At least you didn't pick the catfish. Well played, MS, well played.
WA: Steelhead trout

Rating: MS comes in last again, since I've never eaten bass, so 1 point for being last (again). CA and WA tie, since both the Golden trout and the Steelhead are classified as subspecies of the species Onorhynchus mykiss. Plus, being members of the salmon family, they are delicious. 3 points each.

Score thus far: CA 10, MS 6, WA 15

State Reptile

CA: Desert tortoise
MS: American alligator
WA: Apparently doesn't have one. EPIC FAIL WASHINGTON! I did see that someone said it's the gecko, but looking at my Peterson Field Guide, there is no gecko indigenous to Washington, so that would be a big fat no.

Rating: Well, clearly WA comes in last. I'd say CA and MS both win, since alligators are just awesome and tortoises live basically forever.

Score thus far: CA 13, MS 9, WA 15

State Flower

CA: California poppy
MS: Magnolia
WA: Coast Rhododendron

Rating: Clearly, WA wins, because Rhododendrons come in every color imaginable and grow basically into gigantic trees full of color. CA comes in last because the poppy I would assume does not flower all year long, at least with a magnolia you still have the tree to look at.

Score thus far: CA 14, MS 11, WA 15

State Tree

CA: California redwood
MS: Magnolia
WA: Western hemlock

Rating: Well, California wins since redwoods get the biggest. MS loses because they cheated and used the same flower and tree. That seems fair.

Score thus far: CA 17, MS 12, WA 17

And, finally,

State Insect

CA: California dogface butterfly
MS: Honeybee
WA: Green Darner dragonfly. WASHINGTON WHY DID YOU NOT PICK A BUTTERFLY?

Rating: MS actually wins. Honeybees are extremely important to the environment. WA loses, because butterflies are just more awesome than dragonflies.

SO THE FINAL SCORE IS:

Winner: California, with 19 points
Runner-up: Washington, with 18 points.
Loser: Mississippi, with 15 points.

I was definitely not biased. But California still won. Darn it.