Merry Christmas 2007!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We did! Christmas Eve we headed down to my parents’ house after Courtney woke up from her nap. Susan and Zak had arrived mid-day. So, we all had a very nice dinner of prime rib, veggies, etc… Afterwards we each opened our traditional one gift and then we had to head for home because it was someone’s bed time. My gift I opened was a new slim digital camera. I have wanted one that will fit in my purse so that I always have a camera with me, since you just never know when it might be beneficial to have one with Courtney around. AND it’s pink!! Very exciting!

Christmas morning didn’t come too early. Courtney is still a little to young to understand the whole Santa & presents thing. So, this year, she didn’t wake us up at the crack of dawn. Now next year may be another story. We shall see!

After getting up and getting ready we ate breakfast together and then dived into the gifts. We all got some great things, thank you very much to all of you!!!

After we finished up the gifts we had under our tree, we cleaned up and then headed down to my parents’ house. Once we all got settled there, the great gift opening began! Again, wonderful stuff from everyone! Thank you!! Oh, and it snowed all day at our house, so we did have a white Christmas!

Courtney isn’t getting the unwrapping thing yet. At our house she would rip the paper off a few but that was about it. We got her to rip some paper off one gift at my mom’s house, but then she was done. We put her down for a nap and she slept a good 2 hours. That gave the rest of us time to unwrap all our gifts and clean up. So, when Courtney woke up, she came downstairs to all these new toys! One of the gifts she got is a kitchen set. She just loves it! She has all ready “made” all kinds of stuff, including smoothies in the blender which she then pretends to drink straight from the blender! It’s so cute!

We brought our dogs down with us as well. We were supposed to have Greg’s dog, Romeo, because he and his girlfriend, Tania, were flying to Vegas Christmas Day. But on Christmas Eve, their flight got cancelled, so we didn’t get Romeo until today, when they could finally get a flight out. Since Greg and Tania had planned on being out of town, they didn’t have plans for Christmas Day. So, we invited them to Christmas dinner at my parents’ house. It was fun!

We finally got all the dogs, presents and kid packed up and we hit the road around 8pm. Courtney was so exhausted she fell asleep on the way home. But the first thing she did when she got up this morning was go to her new kitchen, and talk on her new Elmo phone.

Hubby and I went and got pedicures for my Birthday treat. Then we ran one errand and headed back home. Nana was kind enough to come stay with Courtney while we did that. After Nana left, we put Courtney down for a nap and I did the same thing. I have been fighting getting a cold so some extra sleep sure didn’t hurt!

Tonight we went to Musashi for dinner. Its Japanese cuisine and they have the Tappan grill where they cook the food at your table. Gerard, my Irish cousin, likes Chinese food a lot, so we thought he would enjoy seeing the Japanese cooking style. He said he enjoyed the food, but it did have a bit of a salty taste.

After dinner we came back here for cake and gifts. I got all kinds of good stuff again, but my favorite is a new vacuum cleaner. I know, you know you are old when you ask for a vacuum for Christmas/Birthday and you get it AND you are excited about it! Anyway, it’s a Dyson so I am super stoked to try it out in the morning. I have several friends who rave about theirs!

After the crew headed out, Hubby and I sorted through all of Courtney’s toys and boxed up the ones she is now too old for or does not have interest in right now. That made lots of room for her new Christmas gifts.

My mom (Nana) discovered today that Courtney sings Twinkle Twinkle little star! Ok, it comes out more like ‘Tinkle Tinkle Star’ but she gets it! And she says ‘up high’ and raises her arms! It’s very amazing!!! She also can go down the stairs without help. She sits at the top of the stairs, turns around, and slides down feet first on her belly. One of us is right there with her, but typically we don’t have to intervene in her trip down the stairs!

It’s been a wonderful last week! New car, new camera, new vacuum! I am one lucky girl! I hope all of you got one good thing from your wish list this year! Now we only have 364 days until Christmas again!!! J

3 days till Christmas

Well, there sure have been lots of changes here recently! I apologize that it’s been so long since my last blog. You know how the holiday’s get!

Let’s see, since I last posted what has happened? Did I mention before that we adopted a family for the holidays at work? There is a program here in town, and we picked a family off their list. It was a family of 6 (mom, dad, and 4 kids). The list provided their sizes, what they need and what they wish for Christmas. 3 of us from work went to Target and spent just over $500 on the whole family. Mom needed shoes and a jacket. Dad needed a jacket. The kids needed shoes and clothes, and they wanted a few toys and books. We were able to be in contact with their family advocate to ask questions. So, in emailing with her I knew they also needed a new microwave and they did not have a DVD player. So, we got them those items as well. We got each kid a lot of clothes and 1 toy each, and a book each. We got them a few family movies to go with the DVD player as well. Since you can borrow DVD’s from the library for free, we thought that was a great idea! My friend helped me to wrap it and last Wednesday I delivered it to the program’s headquarters. A few days later in the mail we received a nice letter from the family including pictures drawn by all the kids. What a warm fuzzy feeling that gives you!

Friday turned into not such a fun day. Day care called saying Courtney had a fever of 100+. So, I had to go and pick her up. She was just not herself. She was like a big bowl of Jell-O. We came home and spent the next 24 hours just rocking. She was all ready on antibiotics from her ear infections, so the nurse told me it was probably one of the shots that were causing the fever and miserableness. I felt so bad for her; she was feeling awful you could just tell. It took her a few days to finally perk back up again!

We had our holiday party for work last Saturday. We went to Mr. Biggs family fun center. It is an indoor place that is kind of like a playground for kids and adults. They have go karts, mini golf, games, bowling, etc. They also have a kids area designed for younger kids. After we ate dinner, Courtney spent a lot of time in there. It has lots of different rooms with all different themes. She really enjoyed it a lot!

Sunday I had another craft wrapping party. I got most every gift wrapped that I had. I had a few last minute things I picked up yesterday. Kelly came over and wrapped for I think 4 solid hours! She had a few gifts! Her SUV was full to the gills to get home again!

My friend Linda also came over and she worked on finishing her Christmas cards. She hand makes all her cards. She completed those too! So, a few of us got a few things accomplished!

Thursday night we had our Annual Reunion of Friends dinner (ARF). We have a Christmas dinner every year with friends. We had it at the same restaurant as last year. It was a lot of fun! This year we collected Pajamas and books for the Pajama program. We ended up with a large box of books and pajamas. The program will then give a pair of PJ’s and a book to kids who go into foster care with nothing, right here in the Colorado Springs area.

Yesterday another snow storm moved in fast. It brought not much snow but lots of wind. Waking up this morning, you can’t tell we got another 3 inches of snow, probably because it all blew away! The wind was howling last night. We had a few friends over for dinner and a few games. We were all in comfy warm clothes, and we made chocolate chip cookies. It was a warm comfy night to be at home with friends playing games.

Other big news is that last night we signed the paperwork for a new (to me) car! We sold my Kia Sephia and purchased a 2003 Kia Optima. My old Kia was still running great, but it didn’t have any safety features for the back seat for the car seat. The Optima has the anchors. I wouldn’t even put the car seat in my Sephia. So, the plan was to get a newer car before the end of the year. It helps that I have a good friend whose husband is a car salesman. He got us such a good deal that by the time it was all said and done, the dealership is making $150 on the car! So, we are now the proud owners of a 4 door black Optima. It has a moon roof, and power windows, locks, etc. It’s like riding in luxury! It needs my stuff in it to make it feel more like mine, which I plan to take care of today. My dog paw print car seat covers are in the dryer as we speak. I will get my rescue magnet on the back and a few more things inside and it will really feel like mine! Oh, and it has a V6 engine, so it’s got some get up and go!

My mom’s cousin arrived from Ireland on Tuesday. He is here visiting for 2 weeks for Christmas. He is a very nice, funny guy! We haven’t had the opportunity to spend much time with him yet, as work and car buying has kept us busy, but next week I look forward to spending much more time with him!

My sister and Zak hit the road today to drive our way! They should arrive some time on Christmas Eve! I look forward to having them here as well. It’s always great to have family around!

The kid amazes us every day. Her vocabulary is expanding by leaps and bounds! Today her new word is ‘gotcha’! I swear you tell her a word once and she’s got it! I can’t even tell you all the words she knows, there are too many. And now she is getting good at animals and the sounds they make! I just love her, she is so cute!!!

Speaking of which, she is over playing with her daddy, and I think I want to go and join in the fun!

Too close to home...

Well, if you don’t live in a hole, you know about all the recent events here. How close to home did it hit? WAY to close. Courtney’s day care shares a parking lot with New Life Church. The parking lot next to the day care was full of emergency equipment Sunday night. They commandeered the day care center as a command post. The FBI, ATF, fire department, and police department were all working in the day care until 4am Monday morning!

I took Courtney to daycare Monday morning. The campus police arrived shortly before me and apparently stood guard all day. That made me feel a bit better. As of Monday morning, we weren’t sure if everyone involved was caught, heck we didn’t even know who the shooter was. I was a little upset about leaving her there Monday, but everything has settled down now. The whole situation is a bit scary all together!

Back to what we have been up to, it was a super busy weekend here. Friday night, it was snowing, and 3 of our cadets came over. Saturday morning we woke up and it was still snowing. I was supposed to go to the open house at our Agility building, but I got out on the roads and they were awful. So, I turned around and went home.

That evening, Hubby went a picked up 2 more cadets! Yes, we had 5 cadets here Saturday night into Sunday. Things were feeling a bit crazy around here, but we got through. Sunday morning we had a big breakfast, and mid-day the group of 3 cadets went out and played in the snow for a while. Once they came back cold and wet, they all took hot showers and then headed back to the Academy. The group of 2 stayed through dinner, and then we took them back. After dropping them off at the Academy, we stopped at Target for a few items we needed.

Monday was a nice day, which helped some of the snow melt. But, by the time Maggie and I left for Agility Monday night around 7:30pm it was snowing again. We woke up to snow this morning, and lots of school delays. However, Courtney had a doctors appointment first thing, so there was no delay in getting on the roads for us. This appointment today was her 15 month check up. She has had a slight runny nose the last few days. We told the doctor about that. She looked in Courtney’s left ear and said, ‘well, that one’s infected’ then she looked in the right and said ‘that one’s infected too’! Ugh. But Courtney didn’t have a fever, so she was able to get her shots today. She is maintaining being in the 15^th percentile for her weight. Her height is in the 50^th percentile, and her head is in the 70^th percentile! The pediatrician thinks she has come a LONG way, but she is worried about these repeated ear infections. But with her ear infections, it is a wait and see kind of thing.

Well, I have a ton of things to do with the holiday coming up so quick!

That baby is too cute!

We sure have been having strange weather here recently. The other night it was all yellow outside. It was dusk time and for some reason, the way the sun was reflecting, everything looked yellow. It was rather odd. Then Tuesday we broke a heat record! The record high was 69 degrees set in 1989. Tuesday it reached 71 degrees!

Courtney is so dang cute! Sunday she picked up a purse I had on the floor and put it over her arm, like any woman would, except the purse was dragging on the floor. She walked over to Hubby, kissed him and said, ‘bye-bye’ and waved as she walked away. Then she came up to me, gave me a kiss, and again said ‘bye-bye’ and walked toward the door to the garage waving the whole time. It was so cute! Brian and I were just about rolling on the floor.

Yesterday we were on the way home from daycare. Every time a car would pass us, she would say ‘car’ and then ‘bye-bye’ and would wave at the car as it would pass.

Today she very clearly said ‘Hokie’ for the first time. She has a stuffed Hokie bird in her crib, and a dog we call Radford. She all ready says Radford pretty good, but this morning she told us “hokie” too.

She also calls anything Elmo that she doesn’t know the name of. And she can spot Elmo from a mile away. We have a few Elmo ornaments on our tree now, and as soon as you start walking towards the tree she starts saying ‘Elmo’ and pointing at the tree.

Supposedly at day care the other day, one of the little boys, named John, hit her on the head with a block. She started crying and then said ‘dat John’ (that John).

She is scheduled to move up to the Toddler 1 class after the first of the year. I am still not super excited about this. With the help of her old daycare teacher, I looked at a few other daycares, but with the accreditation Kay recommends, we don’t have any other options nearby. And now with me being a student at the college, we get a discount. So, I guess we will try it out, and if I am really unhappy we will do something about it then.

Tonight, Maggie and Bristol were out in the yard playing. Apparently they got a little wild in their playing. Somehow Maggie ended up with a gash on her rear right hindquarter. Thankfully it was still early enough in the day that the vet was still open. So, off we went to the Vet. He said she would need a few staples. So, we left Maggie in their care while the 3 of us went and had some dinner. When we came back to get her, she was sedated, and 4 staples heavier. She pretty much has been a bowl of Jell-O since. She has been zoned out in the dog bed since we brought her home.

The forecast is predicting snow for the next 4 days on and off. It was getting cloudy tonight.

Well, I am cold, so I am going to go and climb in bed with my heating blanket.

Quiet week

Well, I have been getting rid of things on Craig’s list! I just love that site! I have also been keeping my eye open for a few things we need. I am looking for the perfect table for my new office. I have also been looking for new lamps for our night stands, as hubby just broke the last one we had. We had 2 clip on lights and both have broken now, so I grabbed one out of another room, but it’s a bit too big for my nightstand.

Courtney continues to amaze us. She repeats words we say to her all the time. She is just so cute! Her favorite food is crackers. We get gold round crackers (like Ritz) from Whole Foods. If we let her, she would most likely eat the whole box! I keep telling her one of these days she is going to turn into a cracker! It’s the one word she says so clear, “cracker”. She will even point to the closet where they are. It’s so cute!

At work we ‘adopted’ a family through a program in town. So, Friday, two co-workers and I went to Target and spent $540 for this family of 6. We got them coats, shoes, a microwave, a DVD player and each kid got several outfits and a toy. I will wrap most of it today. It fun to be able to help out a family like this (and not spend your own money!).

Speaking of which, Christmas giving for us will be a bit slimmer this year. It’s been a long year of medical bills, etc. So, please excuse the fact that this year gifts are smaller and fewer!

Today I am having the first wrapping party. The first one today will be a bit smaller, but I think next week will be bigger. I am looking forward to it!

Hubby wants me to say that yesterday we watched Virginia Tech win the ACC championship. Go Hokies!

This past week I also started Physical Therapy on my back. I had two sessions. Today my back is hurting pretty good, so I think I will have to call them tomorrow morning also.

Other than that, things are pretty quiet here. I need to go move laundry and get ready for this afternoon. Hope everyone is well!

Holiday Food

It’s a beautiful day today. We have had some snow and some very cold days the last few days. Today, the 50 degree weather feels like summer again! Ahhhhh. So, we took advantage of the nice weather to put the Christmas lights up. It was nice being outside and Courtney was having fun watching us.

We still haven’t gotten the tree up. Hopefully we will get to that soon. But it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I got in the baking mood the other day. I baked 3 different types of cookies. Problem is that Hubby only likes 1 type which is Chocolate Chip. So if I make other cookies I have to find people to give them to so I don’t eat all of them. We took the cookies over to our friends’ house that night for dinner.

But we are getting to that time of year! All the good food starts coming out! All the dishes you don’t make any other time of the year, you make now. That is one main reason I love the holidays. It is so not good for the waste line, but it sure does taste good!

I am hosting a wrapping and craft party every Sunday between now and Christmas. I stocked up on wrapping supplies when I found good deals. So, I invited all my friends to come over and wrap gifts or work on crafts they are trying to get done. It should be fun and motivate me to finish the last few craft projects I have hanging out there.

Other than that, things around here have been pretty quiet. My mom and I spent some time yesterday Christmas shopping. Other than that, we have spent the last 5 days staying inside and warm, and eating! It has been a nice little vacation from work.

Our Thanksgiving Day leftovers are almost gone. We have been eating them pretty regularly. We had some very yummy leftovers, I will be sad when they are no more.

Well, this is a short post for once, but we really haven’t been doing much. I hope all of you are also having a great start to the Holiday Season!

Happy Day after Thanksgiving!

Happy Day after Thanksgiving to everyone! We hope that whatever you did, you had a wonderful day and lots of yummy food! I know we did.

We prepped as much as possible on Wednesday. Hubby woke up at 3am to put the turkey breasts on the smoker. When we got up in the morning, we started the process for the day. We cleaned, moved furniture, set up tables, etc. Then we started cooking. We were preparing our dishes’. We made cheesy zucchini, dressing, roasted asparagus, and the turkey breasts. Our friend Glenn arrived about noon. He was frying a turkey. That process has to be done outside, so he was all bundled up, out frying a turkey for about an hour. It was in the mid-20’s!

Everyone was here by 2pm. Everyone brought several dishes. We had a delicious green bean dish someone brought; someone else brought mashed potatoes and gravy. My mom brought the sweet potatoes. There was so much food; you couldn’t fit everything on your plate! It took a few trips. Everyone seemed to be able to find something they enjoyed!

After dinner, we did some cleaning up, and starting the dishwasher. Thankfully I have lots of the glad containers. So, I pulled a bunch of them out and everyone loaded up whatever leftovers they wanted. It helped me to get rid of a lot of the food that there is no way Hubby and I could finish, and helped get rid of the accumulating containers I had!

Then we put the desserts out. Hubby and I didn’t make any desserts. Several people brought desserts. We had cookies, sweet potato and merange pie, pumpkin pie, apple cake, pecan pie, homemade whipped cream, apple pie, homemade vanilla bean ice cream… Everything was so delicious! We all had little bits of everything. Even Courtney had pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie and ice cream. And she loved it all.

People straggled out all evening, but our lasts guests left at 11pm. We left the kitchen a mess and went to bed, as we were exhausted. But it sure was a great day and the food was amazing! I look forward to doing it again next year!

Today we are waiting for the snow to start again. It’s going to be another cold day. Currently it’s 20 degrees out at 9am.

So, I guess kind of some big news is that I am going back to school. Not full time and with no real ambition of a degree in mind. But, I am planning to take a few marketing classes so I can figure out what I should be doing in my current position at work.

There are also several classes that I saw that interest me that have nothing to do with marketing. I may check into those as well.

Courtney goes to the Child Development Center at Pikes Peak Community College, Rampart Campus, which is where I will be taking classes. That means that we will get a discount on childcare as well. Of course we are in the midst of trying to decide if we want to leave her there or move her closer to home to somewhere that we are a little happier with the management staff. We need to look into it and soon. It’s going to be a tough decision!

Well, some of the leftovers in the fridge are calling me! I must go indulge again! Happy Black Friday!!!

She's growing up...

Courtney is a ‘big girl’ now. We had to buy her a new car seat. Her infant car seat was at the max! The straps would not go out any further, and putting her in her seat with a coat on, was not easy. I have been researching them for about a month now. Finally Hubby and I were together and had a chance to take her to Babies R Us to try car seats on. We finally found one we think will work. We even installed it in the parking lot. She is a little unsure of this sitting facing forward thing. I love that we can see her more now! She’s so cute to watch.

We put the car seat in the Jeep. This car seat doesn’t move back and forth as easy as the infant seat did. So, I may end up having to purchase another one for my car. That way we won’t have to worry about trying to move the big one back and forth all the time.

Grammy and Granddad were supposed to be here for Thanksgiving. But, 2 days before they were supposed to leave, Granddad was having chest pain and shortness of breath that landed him a trip to the hospital. He ended up having some blockages and having to have 2 stints put in. Needless to say, no airline travel for him for a while. We are going to miss having them at Thanksgiving, but we are so happy it wasn’t more serious! There’s always next year.

Hubby got home Thursday night from hopefully his last trip of the year. Friday we went in to work for only a few hours. Hubby had planned a ‘surprise evening’ for me. It started off with lunch at one of my favorite places. Then we went to the zoo for a few hours. I enjoyed leisurely walking around. The giraffes were hungry so they gladly ate our crackers. Just about most of the other animals were being active too, so it was fun to sit and watch them!

From there we went to the surprise. It was a bed and breakfast called the Cheyenne Canon Inn. http://www.cheyennecanoninn.com/ He got the Pamper Me package. We ended up in their small private cabin, which had a private deck and hot tub. After we got settled in our cabin, we put on our suits and sat in the hot tub for about an hour. After that we changed and headed back up to the main house, because they have a wine and h’our derves hour from 4-5pm. After a glass of wine in the great room, we went back down to our cabin where a fruit tray and cheese tray and sparkling cider awaited us. Just as we were finishing up that, our massage therapists arrived. We enjoyed an hour long massage side by side.

After they left, we got dressed up and went to dinner at the Craftwood Inn: http://www.craftwood.com/ They typically have wild game on their menu. For an appetizer, we had ostridge! But for dinner I had chicken. Hubby had duck. It was very tasty, and it was a very relaxing evening!

The next morning the chef was in, and so we had an amazing breakfast. She had made this banana bread pudding with a buttermilk sauce that was amazing. Alas, we finally came back home and back to reality. Nana had stayed at our house to take care of Courtney and the dogs.

Well, I need to go and fold laundry, while I watch the last race of the season. L At least there is only a 3 month break!!!

Remember: Rescue and recycle!

Time Flies when you are busy!

Gosh, it’s been a week since my last blog! Sorry about that! This was a busy week for us. We hosted our training classes in our office this week. That means we have to provide snack and sodas, etc. It just is a little extra work when it’s right in our office. It also means no jeans L. Thankfully I recently got new dress pants for work, so I was still somewhat comfortable. But, when there are classes, its long days for me and whoever is teaching the classes. It happened to be that Hubby was the only one available to teach. So, Courtney spent a lot of time at daycare and we spent a lot of time at work.

Monday the windshield company did come replace the windshield on John’s truck. Later that afternoon, he brought my car down to my office and we swapped. Very quick and easy.

Tuesday night was back to agility in our new building!! I was worried Bristol might be a little anxious in a new place. So, we went a few minutes early to let him get a little accustomed to it. He had NO issues. All the dogs did very well in the new place except several of them, including Bristol, felt the urge to jump out the dog walk! It’s about 4 & ½ feet off the ground. It made the trainer very nervous. She was telling the dogs to stop it, as they were scaring her! So, they listened and stopped jumping off in the middle.

Thursday we had our friend over for dinner. He has been in England most of this year for work. He was in a very serious accident over there recently and pretty much just told his work that he was coming home. The project he was working on was way overdue and an end date was no where in site. And after being in the accident, he decided home was where he wanted to be. It was great seeing him again. We saw him once over the summer when he was here for a weeks ‘vacation’ from his job. It’s kind of odd when you have to take a vacation to come back to see your house/car/etc.

Friday Hubby had to go up to the Academy to videotape John’s play. This was the real play that was supposed to happen last weekend. This way John’s mom who is back home in California, and John’s dad, who is stationed in Korea, can see his play. Hubby met with some of our other cadets for dinner prior to the play.

Saturday we mostly had a ‘down’ day. Hubby had to go meet with the 2 other owners at work, as it was the only time the 3 of them could get together to discuss things because of all the work and travel schedules. He didn’t come home until 12:30-1pm ‘ish. Courtney and I spent some quality time together. We spent a while outside which is where we were when Hubby came home. About 10 minutes before he arrived, Courtney and I were sitting out on the swing and she was yelling out into the air “Dad” and “Daddy”. I think she was trying to figure out where he was. She must have been in a real daddy mood because once he got home; she wanted nothing to do with me and everything to do with him.

When Courtney went down for her nap that afternoon, Hubby and I started doing some serious cleaning of the kitchen. We emptied out several cabinets and got rid of a lot of stuff. We ended up putting 4-5 boxes of stuff in the garage sale pile! And we haven’t gotten through all the cabinets yet! We still have about 5 to go.

Saturday night we had been invited to several things. Poor Hubby was so burnt out from all the traveling and teaching and being social that he just didn’t want to do anything but veg-out. We ended up watching a movie in the basement. I thing he wanted one last quiet night at home before the holidays really hit and things start to get crazy.

Today was another cleaning day. I have been doing tons of laundry, including all sheets and towels from every bedroom and bathroom. Hubby left for the airport about 12:30pm. Nana came up to pick up Courtney about that time to. I was going to a welcome home party for our friend who just got back from England. Nana said she would like to take care of Courtney and then after the party we can all have dinner to celebrate my dad’s birthday at their house. So, she took Courtney down to her house and I went to the party.

The party was fun; it’s always fun to get together with friends, especially when you have a really good reason to celebrate. There was lots of good food and lots of good friends.

Meanwhile, Nana and Grandpa were having too much fun with Courtney. Nana put a small sandbox in her backyard. Courtney apparently is going to be a sandbox kind of girl. She loves to play in it. She also made good use of the small elephant slide Nana has.

When I arrived she was taking her afternoon nap. Shortly after she got up she made it very apparent that she was starving. So Nana made her some spaghetti. She loves to eat spaghetti and she really ‘gets into’ it. She didn’t want to be fed on a fork or spoon, and she didn’t want to use the fork or spoon her self. She wanted to shove fist fulls in her mouth. She was so cute to watch, and she was slurping the noodles in just like always. I thought for sure her nose, cheeks and chin were going to be stained orange.

Later, for dessert we had pumpkin pie. She got her first taste. She loved it. But then, why wouldn’t you love pumpkin pie?! After dessert, we came home and I gave that very dirty little girl a bath. I washed all the spaghetti and pumpkin pie from her hair and all the sand from everywhere else. She was so tired she wouldn’t even let me read her a book. She just kept saying ‘nigh-nigh’ (for night night). I tried to sing her a song and she shook her head no. So, I put her down in her crib and she didn’t make a peep. She is now very soundly sleeping.

She is growing and changing so much. She can’t communicate with us very much other than the short words she knows. But if you tell her something it’s amazing how she understands. Yesterday I was loading her laundry into the washer and she came in. We have a front loading washer, so she walked up to me to see what I was doing. I gave her a sock and told her to put it in the washer. She did! So I gave her a shirt and told her to put that in too, and she did! So, she loaded the washer for me and shut the door when we were done! It’s amazing how much she understands!

She recently cut two molars on the top row of teeth and yesterday I felt point coming through on the bottom. Teething really isn’t fun. She gets really crabby when it gets really bad. That is how I found the two coming in on the bottom. She was really grouchy the other night, so I figured it had to do with teething. Once I found the two new ones coming in I gave her some Tylenol and a teething ring. She will gladly chew on the teething ring now a days. She was never interested in the past. But I am sure that cutting all those teeth is painful!

She says new words all the time too. Today she said Bristol for the first time. Except it comes out more like “Brithol”. Her newest words besides Bristol are: apple, yummy, UP (she says that one a lot), Nagnie (for Maggie), and Happy.

It’s just so much fun to watch her! I sometimes feel like I just can’t get enough!

Well, I too have had a long day, so some sound sleeping sounds really good to me too! I am going to close with the new slogan I have come up with: Rescue and Recycle. Two things I hope we all remember to do!

Pampered Chef show

Here we are in November! I can’t believe time has flown by so fast.

Thursday night we were expecting our out of town visitors late in the evening. Well, just after dinner I started suffering from them worst stomach flu I have ever had. I spent the night hiding upstairs. Hubby was in charge of getting them in and settled. I guess that this nasty stomach flu is going around. Even my cousin in Vermont suffered from it last weekend! So far Hubby has been able to stay away from it.

Anyway, our guests arrived safe and sound. Friday morning, they headed up to the Academy to assist with set painting and building. I stayed home from work and was miserable all day by myself. Hubby took Courtney to daycare and went to work.

Our guests came back briefly to change and head back up to the Academy. The dress rehearsal was that night, and that is the whole reason that Shelia and her son came to town. Well, they actually were coming to town to see the actual play, but they moved the dates of the play. Shelia had all ready bought the airline tickets and they were non-refundable. But the group at the Academy agreed to let them see the dress rehearsal.

Saturday was an early start for all of us as well. John, our cadet, Shelia’s son, had to get up early to go and cook at his squadron’s tailgate party. Hubby started his day by going to get a haircut. He was the first to leave the house and the first to discover that someone had thrown a flagstone at John’s windshield. The windshield didn’t break, but it was spider-cracked in a million different cracks. So, then we had to call the police, etc. They took a report and John took my car to the Academy.

Shelia is a Pampered Chef rep and we were having a Pampered Chef show that afternoon. I was feeling a whole lot better from my stomach bug, but I was pretty weak from not eating or drinking for 24 hours. Shelia and I spent the morning dealing with John’s truck.

After Hubby got home from his haircut and running a few other errands, he showered and then took Courtney to My Gym. It’s a gym that caters to kids starting at 6 months or so. Our friends take their kids there, so I wanted to check it out for Courtney. Since she is so into being upside-down and climbing, I thought it might be up her alley. She was supposed to go last weekend, but we ended up at the pediatrician’s with the double ear infection, so we rescheduled for this weekend. But due to time constraints, Hubby took her. He said it was so-so. Now I want to go check it out.

Anyway, Saturday afternoon our friends came over and we had our Pampered Chef show. I haven’t been to one or had one in so long. There are a ton of new things that I want!

That night we smoked a turkey breast and had a yummy dinner with all of us. And then Shelia and her boys went to a movie. I went to bed supper early, as I did the night before. I am still attempting to recover from this flu that wiped me out.

Sunday morning we spent quality time with Courtney. Hubby made a large breakfast for all of us. It was very yummy. Finally Shelia and her son Michael headed for the airport. John took them. After he saw them off, he came back here for a while. John and I had to trade cars for tomorrow also. The Academy won’t let his truck on base with the smashed windshield, so we kept the truck for him. Tomorrow, a windshield company is going to meet me at work and install his new windshield. Then at some point tomorrow, we will swap cars again. I feel bad that his windshield was smashed right in front of our house!

Well, I am still feeling a little wiped out. So, I am off to bed!

Halloween 2007

Happy Halloween everyone! It’s just after 8pm here. I shut off the lights at 8pm, and took in decorations that weren’t nailed down. I think we had somewhere about 75 trick or treater’s. Not a ton, but not a bad group either. It just seems slower and slower every year. A cold front moved in last night, dropping temperatures down into the 30’s by trick or treat time, so I am sure that was a de-motivating factor for kids to be outside for long. I did have one group of 4 kids who sang me a Halloween song! It was very cute.

Courtney was a giraffe, of course! We put her costume on her for the first time this afternoon when we went to go visit Nana at work. She refused to walk in it. When we put her down, she would sink into a puddle on the floor. But she was a darn cute giraffe.

This evening, Kinsey was very excited to get this ‘trick-or-treating’ show on the road. So, they started out by traveling over to our house. Once we heard they were coming over, we put Courtney back in her costume. Hailey was a Puppy (her favorite thing), Kinsey was a fairy or princess, or fairy princess, I am not sure which. The 3 kids all looked so cute together, we took pictures and will try to get them up soon.

After they left, Courtney was getting comfortable in her costume, so we left her in it. Our neighbor came over to return a book I lent her, and Courtney showed off her costume. Soon after that kids starting arriving, she loved watching the kids. Some of my favorites were 2 Harry Potter characters, and a 20 month old dressed as a clown that was pretty darn cute also. And of course the group that sang me the song won as far as I am concerned. The worst ones of the night were actually our first trick-or-treaters. It was two teenage girls, with no costumes. They came to the door and held out their pillowcases for candy. Hubby made them at least say ‘Trick-or-Treat’ for candy.

I had reserved a copy of Guitar Hero 3 for Hubby. It just came out this past weekend for the Wii. We picked it up yesterday and so far it has been a hit in our house. Hubby has put lots of miles on the guitar all ready.

My head cold went away pretty fast. For that I am very thankful. Courtney’s seem to clear up pretty quickly also. We still have some after effects, but at least her appetite has returned.

We have some out of town guests arriving tomorrow. One of our cadet’s mom and brother are coming in for the weekend. The mom is also a Pampered Chef rep, so she is hosting a party for me on Saturday. I am excited about that. Hubby has all ready picked out about $300 worth of merchandise in the catalog he wants. I need to get more orders in so that we can get some of it for free!

Last night I spent time ordering lots of gifts on line. For the past few months when I get catalogs and look through them, if I see something that will make a good gift I have been tearing out that page and saving the page. Last night I gathered all my pages and ordered everything. It is only about 7 weeks to Christmas now, you know! Of course some of the pages were also things I would like, so those went on my wish list for Christmas. Yes, I all ready have it started.

Well, I am cold from tonight, so I am going to get in my nice warm PJ’s and get in bed with my heating blanket and read! Hope everyone out there had a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Standing appointment

My week was a very long one last week. One of my uncles ended up in the hospital and we were all very worried about him. It was a lot of waiting for updates in the early part of the week. At this point, all seems to be going well.

In the later part of the week, Courtney started to come down with a cold. Wednesday she had a slight runny nose, Thursday was the same. Thursday I felt achy. Friday her nose was a little runnier, but still not too bad. Friday, I had a sore throat that burned like the dickens. Friday night at 9pm, Courtney woke up screaming. I thought to myself, ‘I know what that means!’ That means ear infection. When she gets ear infections, she doesn’t want to lie down. She is much more comfortable in a sitting position. So, I rocked her in her room for about an hour. I put her back down, and she slept about an hour that way. Then she was up again screaming. So, I brought her downstairs and we sat in the lazy-boy for a few more hours. Then, in the middle of the night, I remembered that one of the doctors had given us some drops to numb the ear when it’s infected to help with the pain. So, I found it and put drops in both her ears because I wasn’t sure which one was bothering her. This allowed both of us to get at least a good solid 4 hours of sleep.

So, the next morning as soon as our pediatrician’s office opened I called for an appointment. The joke with my friends has now become the fact that I should probably have a standing appointment on Saturdays at the pediatrician’s office. So, Courtney and I went at 10:15am and discovered that BOTH her ears were infected. So, the doctor put her on some super strong antibiotics.

That afternoon, she wasn’t interested in eating at all, and she wasn’t interested in much drinking either. I was able to get some cherry pedialite in her. It stayed down for about 15 minutes, and then it came back up all over the carpet! I now have a pink stain on my carpet and so far I haven’t had much luck getting it out.

I was able to get her antibiotics in her and put her down for a nap. She slept about 2 & ½ hours. That helped a bit, but when she woke up she still didn’t want to eat. She also wasn’t real interested in drinking either. Hubby’s plane was delayed, but he finally made it home about 6:30pm. So, he was able to see Courtney before she went to bed. She slept through the night no problem. Sunday she slept a lot as well.

Meanwhile my sore throat turned into head congestion. But, it’s not too bad, I have had worse!

Hubby and I went to see our new agility building yesterday. It gave Courtney and me a chance to get out and get some fresh air. I am excited to start having classes there! It looks like it will work great for us!

Today, Hubby and I went and got our flu shots. The nurse was really good at giving the shot, so I didn’t feel a thing! I prepared by taking Tylenol, but I haven’t had any after effects!

Well, I need to go and try to catch up on laundry and cleaning. After vacation, and Hubby being gone and all that has been going on, my house really is a disaster! Hope everyone is well!

Home

Ahh, it is nice to be home.

It is a bit weird to spend 22 hours traveling, then when you get home you still have over 6 hours left in the day. I left the hotel on saturday at Noon. I got home on Saturday around 7 pm. Somehow Noon to 7pm came to 22 hours... The international dateline plays havoc with your day.

One observation I made while in Tokyo is the quiet. Tokyo is very like most BIG cities. The one big difference is lake of horns. In 7 days I heard one horn, and that was on the bus from the airport, a car was drifting into our lane while going about 100 km/h (approx 60 mph). I only heard emergency sirens a few times. Every other big city has a lot more noise.

One big difference with Tokyo might be that most people use public transportation. The train station next to the hotel (Shinjuku Station) services over 3 million people per day and has 2 subway companies and one train company that ferry all of these people. Not only do you have to know what train to take you have to have the correct fare card for the company the line belongs to. A bit confusing but not tooo bad.

Looking back, it was a good trip. Made some business contacts and saw a new country and different culture. Selling security in Japan is a tough job. Their culture follows the principal that when we hire you, you become part of the family and are trusted. There has been very little press on employees causing harm. Most of the people I talked with think most of the incidents are covered up, it would be hard for someone to public admit "I messed up and hired a bad person."

Where in the World is Hubby?

The past 4 weeks have gone by fast and been very busy. At some points I wasn't sure where I was and my body still really has no clue what timezone it is in.

The first week was in Okinawa, Japan. I did not realize how far south this chain of islands is compared to the main islands of Japan. I spent most of the time on the US Marine base Camp Courtney. The Marines I was training are not allowed stop anywhere off base when in uniform. As I had to rely on them for vehicle travel I was limited to locations in walking distance. The best place I ate at was literally a shack on the side of the road. Well actually 3 shacks with about 10 picnic tables. Very Very yummy fresh raman (not the junk you get in the states 5 for a dollar).

As wifey stated in her post we spent the next week in Virginia and North Carolina pretending to be rednecks.

I then was in Vienna Virginia for a week. I love going to this location. The food is awesome and cheap. I rotate between Japanese, Thai, Korean, and Lebanese. Usually there is one student who has not tried at least one of these ethnic foods. It is fun taking people to new foods. I did take one night to eat American and went to a Fleming's steakhouse. That was an awesome steak and for desert I had a molten lava chocolate cake. You know the desert is going to be good when they require a 20 minute notice to make it.

This week I am in Tokyo, Japan. Yes, two separate trips to Japan in less than 30 days. I am here for the BlackHat Japan conference. I taught on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Yesterday, Thursday, I spent a few minutes at the conference then went to Akihabara. As a geek this was awesome. The amount of technology available to buy was staggering. Imagine 10-20 square blocks of New York City being nothing but technology stores. There was one section (under the train track) that had 50+ vendors crammed into a little place (I had to duck the entire time I was in there) selling pieces parts so you could build just about anything you need computer related.

Being in Tokyo sure makes me feel huge. Walking around with the crowds was not an issue, I could see over most of them. When on the train it was a bit of a squeeze as my shoulders are wider than most of them. I do stand out here, not just because of size. I have been wearing shirts with color. Most of the men here seem to like to wear blue or black suits with white shirts. They seem to want to blend in and thus very little color even in ties.

Speaking of color. Today, Friday, it is cloudy and a bit rainy. Most umbrellas are black. There are more clear umbrellas than ones with color.

I am hoping to see the Imperial Palace today. The cloudy weather might diminish the viewing.

So far the food has been awesome. I have only eaten in the Hotel when the meal was paid for by others (breakfast and lunch) The breakfast I have been doing the western buffets, for lunch it has been order by picture. For dinner I've been going out to the street and hitting different restaurants and ordering by picture. There have only been a few bites and one drink I regret.

First Snow!

Let’s see, last I told you all about our vacation, and the Air Force Game. We ended up with 4 cadets that night for a period, but the two freshmen left in the middle of the night to go elsewhere. They had borrowed a car so they had freedom to go places.

The next morning Hubby left early. It was snowing when he left. It snowed most of the day. At our house we ended up with about 3-4 inches on the grass. But it had been so warm the day before that nothing stuck to the sidewalks or roads, which was very nice.

Here it is Wednesday and I think the last of the snow just finished melting. The last few days have been nice.

Which is nice, except that we had our last agility class in the barn, and the snow how been melting for 2 days. So, everything was mud. That was not fun. But starting in 2 weeks we will be in a brand new building. NO dirt, dust, mud! And we will have heat! It will be so nice!

Courtney painted in day care today! They gave her, and all the other little ones in her room, finger paint and a large piece of paper. They made a lovely piece of artwork that they hung in the hall for all the other kids and parents to enjoy. Apparently she enjoyed it so much, she had it everywhere. There were still remnants on her clothes when I picked her up. She even tried to eat the paint. Apparently it doesn’t taste very good, because they told me she made a face!

So, I got BOO’ed the other day! What is that you ask? I came home and on my porch was a pumpkin basket with candy, and some Halloween decorations in it! With a cute sign that says:

This Halloween there’s something new, a sweet surprise that’s call a “Boo”! Secret Friends have left it here, to bring your family some ghostly cheer! You’ve been boo’ed and it’s your turn to share, with friends or neighbors, anyone you dare! Put together two goody bags, spooky and fun leave them at the doors and just run! Enclose this poem and one thing more, an “I’ve been booed” sign for the front door! It’s the latest and greatest thing to do, spreading Halloween cheer with just a little “boo!”

And included was also an “I’ve been Boo’ed” sign to hang on your door. It’s neat! I have NO IDEA who boo’ed us! I put together two more treat bags like it asked, and I plan to deliver them tomorrow. Unfortunately, one of the people that will be Boo’ed reads this blog, so she will know who it came from. But the other family should have no idea! They are neighbors across the street I have met once. I love the idea! How fun!

Saturday I am going to take Courtney to a place here called ‘My Gym’. It has classes for kids from, I think, 6 months and up. Since she loves to play on mats, slide and be upside-down so much, we are going to go try it out. We get to try a class for free to see if it is something that we both are interested in. When they are young (I think under age 3) parents participate with the kids. I am excited. I loved gymnastics growing up, so it’s probably in her genes!

Well, off to bed for me!

Back from Vacation

Well, what an amazing trip! We flew out Saturday Oct 6, Courtney did pretty well. She struggled a bit on the plane with the fact that she could not get up and walk around, but it wasn't too bad.

Saturday night, some long time friends of Grammy and Granddad came over to play cards and eat dinner with us. They have known Brian his entire life, and after Grammy and Granddad moved to VA, this family went as well. And they both work at Radford Univ.

Sunday Courtney and I went with Grammy and Granddad (Hubby's parents) to an ALS walk. We walked a mile and ate hot dogs. I really enjoyed it. It was a beautiful day, and we were in the shade most of the time.

Monday Grammy had the day off from work because of Columbus Day. So, we all went to Blacksburg and drove around Virginia Tech. We also stopped at an off campus VT store and stocked up on new Virginia Tech stuff.

After that we went over to Radford and went to Radford University. Hubby graduated from RU, and Grammy used to work there before she recently went to VT, and Granddad currently works there. So, we took a nice walk around the campus, stopped at the bookstore, stocked up on RU stuff. We met Granddad for lunch, as well as Dave, one of the long time friends. After lunch we went and took a tour of the building that Granddad works in.

Tuesday Grammy had to go back to work, but we went and met her for lunch. Then Hubby dropped me at home, and he went to RU to talk to some computer security students and to donate 3 books to their library.

Wednesday morning, Courtney, Hubby and I drove down to Charlotte. On the way into town we stopped at 2 garages. First stop was Raceworld USA, which is Michael Waltrip’s garage. I must say, that was probably not the best place to stop first. He has really designed his garage to be fan friendly. You can see so much of the employees actually working on cars! And you get to take a tour around the grounds and everything. You really get to see a lot! Apparently we missed Mikey by a few minutes on the way in, as well as on the way out. Bummer.

Next stop was Hendrick Motorsports, which is the home to our favorite driver, Jeff Gordon. I must say, after Raceworld USA, it was a little disappointing. You didn’t get to see much of the actual garage. They of course had a museum with lots of cars and trophies and such. But it was fun to see the action! But at least now I can say I have been there!

Then it was off to find out hotel which was right in downtown Charlotte. After getting settled in our room, the 3 of us headed out on a walk to find some dinner. We found a nice Thai restaurant and had a yummy (but expensive) dinner.

The next day was the first day of Hubby’s class. So, we dropped him off early. Later in the morning, Courtney and I headed up to DEI (Dale Earnhart Inc.) It too was a little disappointing, but it was neat to see all of Dale’s old fire suits that he actually wore! One had been in a fiery wreck and had some parts melting off!

After that, I was looking for a bookstore. After trying several different exits off the highway, I stumbled upon a beautiful outdoor mall. It had a lot of high end stores, and it was all outdoors! They had a Barnes & Noble too, so I was able to get the books I was looking for. Courtney and I walked around a little bit, and I made a few purchases in Ann Taylor Loft.

We went back to the hotel, and when Hubby was done with his class, he walked back to meet us at the hotel. And then we left again on foot to find some dinner. We found an Uno’s. Hubby really likes Uno’s, but we don’t have them out here. So, we usually stop at one if we see one while traveling.

The next day, we dropped Hubby off again at his class and we headed to the Lazy 5 Ranch. It was the neatest place! It is a privately owned exotic animal drive through park. If you don’t want to drive through you can take a wagon ride through. I thought that would be best so that both Courtney and I could enjoy it.

It was so much fun! You can purchase a feed bucket, and off you go on the wagon. They have over 750 animals from 6 different continents. The wagon stops every now and then and the animals come up and each right from your hand. There were buffalo, yaks, llamas, pigs, deer, antelope, zebras, giraffes, goats, and many more!!! It was the neatest thing! If you are ever in the Charlotte area, I HIGHLY recommend it.

From there we went on to Discovery Place right in downtown Charlotte. It’s a kid’s museum. They had an area for 3 and under. Courtney played in there for about 2 hours! We had to wait for Hubby to finish teaching his class. We finally caught up with Hubby and we headed back up to Grammy and Granddad’s house.

The next morning, Hubby and I got up EARLY and drove back down to the Charlotte area to go to the race! We arrived at the track about 9:30am so we had a ton of time to walk around and enjoy all the stuff there was to see and do. Between us, we acquired 14 sharpies! And lots of other free stuff. Plus, we purchased stuff.

The race was a night race; it started at 7pm-ish. It was a fantastic race! Lots of action and the most important thing is that Jeff Gordon won! It’s sooo great to be there in person! I love it!

We had thankfully booked a hotel about 2 & ½ miles from the track. The race ended at midnight, and we crawled into be at just about 2am. We got up early the next morning, had some breakfast and hit the road. Back up to Virginia we went. Hubby’s sister and her family were there, they had spent the weekend with Courtney and Grammy and Granddad. Courtney got to meet her cousin Jackson for the first time. They apparently got along famously. They all went to a Pumpkin patch and had a ton of fun picking out pumpkins. Courtney kept finding ones her size and picking them up.

Once Hubby and I got back up to Grammy and Granddad’s house, we all sat down to a nice lunch together. I hadn’t seen Brian’s sister, nephew and brother-in-law since the wedding! Jackson sure is different from 3 years ago!

In the afternoon they left to go back home. Hubby and I spent some time getting a nap in because we were wiped out! After that we had to pack everything up! That took a while. I ended up taking one of Hubby’s suitcases back for him. The plan was to get his logo shirts for work to the dry cleaners and back before he got home.

Monday, Courtney and I flew home. The first plane ride was pretty good. It was pretty empty, so we were able to have the 2 seats to ourselves which makes things easy! The next flight wasn’t that way. It was full, no empty seats at all. Courtney did okay, but the last 20 minutes, she had decided she was pretty much done. She just wanted to get up and walk. Of course we were on our final decent so that wasn’t possible. I was very thankful when we got on the ground!

Tuesday was back to work for me and back to daycare for Courtney. But she was moved up to the Infant 2 room. So, she is in the room next door to where she was prior. It is a good thing. They had several new small babies start over in Infant 1, and Infant 2 is really designed more for kids Courtney’s age and ability. The only bad thing is that Ms. Kay isn’t in infant 2. The 2 rooms share a kitchen, a diaper changing area, and an outside play area, so it’s not like Kay doesn’t see her, it just that Kay isn’t her main caretaker any more. I am very saddened by this. I just love Kay. She is really good at her job. When she told us it was time to move Courtney up, she got tears in her eyes. Courtney really likes Kay as well, but she has adjusted into her new room very nicely. She had all ready visited over there a few times, so it wasn’t unfamiliar territory. I think Kay and myself are having a harder time with the change then Courtney!

The rest of the week went as normal, agility, work, day care. Courtney also got a flu shot. That made for a long night that night. She was up screaming at 2am. I had to go in and give her some Tylenol and rock her back to sleep. She also woke up screaming at 4:30am, but she was able to settle herself back down again without me having to go into her room.

Friday, our cadet who is now a Junior, and one of his friends came over. They set up and Xbox in the basement to play Halo3. Hubby arrived home around 10:15pm. He got the cadets set up with internet access so they got on line and played Halo3 apparently until 2:30am.

We all had to get up early today. It’s AFA game day. Our cadet does the cooking for his squadron’s tailgate party. And we had to head out to take Courtney to Nana’s house for the weekend.

We had our usual tailgating crowd. It was fun! We had a ton of food, and we ate and ate and ate. Finally at noon we headed over to the stadium. It was a pretty exciting game this year. The one we went to last year was awful because it was very lopsided, so it wasn’t even fun to watch. Today’s game was interesting right down to the last 3 minutes, and Air Force won!

After the game was over, we meandered back to our tailgating spot, cooked some more food, ate lots more and sat around while we waited for traffic to die down. Finally about 4:30pm, we packed it up and hit the road. Hubby had to pick up a few essentials before leaving again tomorrow morning.

Yes, I said leaving again. He leaves for Tokyo tomorrow. He will be gone just over a week. Then he will be home for a whole 2 weeks before leaving again. Ah, life is busy as ever. In fact we are looking at 4 cadets here tonight! So, I better go make beds.

Hope everyone is well!

Suppprt Rescue!

Hubby is currently on his way home from Japan! He should be in the springs about 5pm. It should be interesting to see exactly how jet lag will affect him. He has 2 days to get himself back together before we leave again! Courtney and I will be gone 10 days, while Hubby will be gone 14 days. Then he is home for 1 day before he leaves for Japan again. Yes, JAPAN again, Tokyo this time. He will be there about 7 days.

Maggie started agility Monday. It was the first night so it really wasn’t very exciting. She just got on the wobble board. She was a little timid of it, but she did okay. She will miss the next two weeks so we will have a lot of make up when we get back!

Bristol had agility last night. He did so well! We are working on sequencing now. So, putting jumps/tunnels/weave poles in a line and running them. Every time he messes up it’s because of something I did. The last thing of the night that we did was about 7-8 jumps in a large circle. The instructor wanted us to just all out run it and if the dog misses a jump, keep going. Well, the first pass through, Bristol missed about 5 of them. The second run through he hit every one! It was awesome! We are starting to click!

In our class we have a Chinese Crested. Most of you know these dogs as the ugly naked dogs with the tuft of hair on their head. But they also have furry ones. Token is a white furry Chinese Crested who is about 9 months old. He has never been super fast, and his owner spends most of her time walking and coaxing him on. Last night we did 3 jumps that led into a tunnel. As the dog is exiting the tunnel, you are to throw their favorite toy about 10 feet out in front of them. Well, Token jumped over the last jump and his owner gave the tunnel command. Token TOOK OFF through the tunnel. The owner threw his toy out the other end, and Token came charging out, grabs the toy and starts zooming all around the barn (we call that having the Zoomies). We were all laughing so hard. First, Token seemed to be doing a few victory laps, he was prancing all over. Second, it’s not like Token to run at all! He was a ball of white flowing fur. Even the owner was laughing so hard it took awhile to call him. It has to be one of the cutest things I have ever seen in person!

So, yesterday, after I picked up Courtney from daycare, I decided to stop at Target on the way home. We have a new Super Target that I love. It’s kind of like no one else has discovered it yet. So, anytime you go, you get great parking and there are no lines to check out!

Anyway, I pulled into the parking lot and a van pulled in right behind me. I got out and went to get Courtney out when a man and his two kids got out of the van and came over to me. He was holding an Italian Greyhound puppy. He said ‘excuse me, but I saw your sticker that says support rescue on your car. And I see that you have a beagle (I have an ‘I love my Beagle’ sticker). My wife and I run a rescue for puppy mill dogs’. He continued by saying ‘when the puppy mills are going to close down, we go in and buy the parents for a very low price. Then we find them new homes.’ He wrote down the name of the site for me and asked me to pass it on to others.

However, I will not pass it on. Paying for the dogs, cheap or not, still promotes puppy mills! Of course they say they are closing down. Most likely the puppy mills do this to get rid of the over bread parents. Then they ‘re-open’ with new parents and start all over again. Its awful what goes on!

People are always so afraid of getting a rescue dog because you never know what kind of mental or physical issues you may end up dealing with. Guess what? It’s just the same as puppy mill dogs! It makes me so mad that there are still pet stores in malls that sell dogs. It makes me mad that people do not get educated as to breeds and where to get dogs. So, please, encourage everyone you know to rescue, and to make sure that the rescue was not a cheap dog from a puppy mill! Hopefully one day we can get everyone to see the horrible side of the puppy mills and demand will drop, therefore causing puppy mills to close down permanently. There are so many wonderful dogs out there in rescue, waiting for a good home! Please help stop Puppy Mills!!! Support Rescue!

Grill cleaner?

What a wonderful fall day we are having! It’s in the mid 60’s and you can just feel fall in the air. I LOVE IT! I could handle weather like this all the time!

I picked up one of our freshman cadets this morning. Courtney and I headed up to the Academy. I was unclear as to just where we were going to meet our cadet, and I arrived about 15 minutes prior to our meeting time. So, Courtney and I got our and walked around. She insisted on walking herself once we were on the Terrazzo. The funny thing is that terrazzo is made of a marble grid, and between the marble is pebbles cemented in. Courtney kept trying to pick up the pebbles and she was getting frustrated because she couldn’t get them to come up. It was very cute. She tried and tried and tried.

We walked over towards the Chapel since I thought that might have been one place we were supposed to meet. Church was just getting out and suddenly our cadet who’s a Junior was right in front of me! So, we had a nice little chat before he headed off.

I finally caught up with the cadet I was supposed to, and off we went. I told him that since Hubby is out of town, there isn’t much good food in the house. So, we stopped at Jason’s Deli for lunch. Courtney and I shared a meatball sub and Toby had a tune melt.

We came home after lunch, and Toby headed for the basement, and I put Courtney down for a nap. Then I went outside to start cleaning the grill. Yuck. Since we now have the smoker, we put our grill in the garage and we have decided to sell it. But, it was pretty gross, so I spent about an hour and a half scrubbing it. I still have some of the pieces I took off it to scrub, but I needed a break. I am waiting for my ice tea to finish brewing.

I think our cadet is probably sleeping. I just walked past the stairs to the basement and there is NO noise down there.

I know, I have been blogging every day! This keeps Hubby up on what’s happening here too.

Courtney’s new thing is “UP” when she wants up. But when she wants down she says “UP” too. Usually you know what she means though as she is trying to get down.

Well, I need to go research how to get all this grime off a grill. If anyone has any good advice, let me know!!!