I always forget about my blog....

Hello! I just remembered that I haven't updated my blog in about two months. That's pretty lame. Although my blog, itself, is pretty lame.

We are doing well and staying busy. Spring in Ohio has been so beautiful and so warm! We are loving it. Brian is really enjoying his job at Walden Ponds and doing a fantastic job (in my opinion). He has been working longer days and getting up earlier every morning. I, on the other hand, have a varying schedule and tend to stay up late like right now.

I have been busy with work and school and planning my sister's baby shower. It will be this Saturday, and I am so excited about it! I have been planning it for a long time. We will have 28 in attendance and it will be held at the beautiful Simon Kenton Inn in Springfield. Gorgeous!! I think Katie will be very pleased with her shower.

The dogs are doing well, and living the good life. Stinky had some illness this past week, but is doing much better now. Pepper is always the same. :)

We have had a lot of problems with our apartment. :( Boo! Here is a list of what has happened. We have only been here for 3 months.
- Excessively loud neighbor upstairs. She has a domestic dispute every Friday night/Saturday morning with her boyfriend. It's like clockwork.
- Same neighbor had a puppy that used to stay on the balcony all day long. It would urinate and defecate on the balcony. Ignorant neighbor would throw a 10-gallon bucket of water on the balcony to "wash" it off, thus draining down to our patio.
- Found one single cockroach. Never have seen any others. Never had seen one in person.
- Sewage pipe cracked in the living room. Carpet was soaked in a small area.
- Stayed in the "corporate suite" apartment next door for 1 week while the office repaired the pipe.
- Office wanted us to move back in without replacing carpet.
- We refused to move back in and they finally relented, and replaced the carpet.
- While the floor and wall were open and nothing was being repaired, a mouse came into our apartment and made a HUGE mess in our pantry.
- Brian caught the mouse.
- After having the new carpet for less than 2 weeks, Stinky had to get sick in the night and we have had a heck of a time cleaning up his mess. :(

Time for some normal, boring everyday blah for us, right???

Happy & Releasing Toxins.....

Hello, to anyone that reads my nerdy blog! Just a quick update in our life....

• Brian loves his new job! He has a great mechanic and just hired an awesome assistant superintendent.



• The snow in Ohio has been tremendous! Brian has stayed home many days for snow, and can't stand that. :)



• Emily loves her new job, but unfortunately, wants to buy everything in the store. Hmmm.....



• Emily is on day 5 of a 21-day purification program through Standard Process and feeling great! Here is a link for anyone interested: http://www.standardprocess.com/display/psppurification.spi



• Pepper is going to be training (again) to be a golf course doggie with Brian. Her job is to chase the Canadian geese off the Walden Ponds course. Today was her first day (a half day), and she did wonderful! She smells bad though....



• Stinky has a new love in his life (besides his mama).... Our new electric blanket! He is enjoying sleeping in bed all day (as usual), with a warm, snug blanket. He is a little angel...



• Also, the dogs are behaving much better than they used to. We have been working on their excessive barking issue with "bark collars," a.k.a. "shock collars" and positive reinforcement. They are doing a great job and seem very happy and adjusted here.



• We are looking forward to having dinner with Aunt Sharon & Uncle Dave tonight. They just got back from Florida! It will be wonderful to have them so close by.



• Brian & Emily both feel happier than ever here in Ohio!

25

So happy to be "25" as of yesterday.... I am looking forward to another beautiful year of life! Here are some photos of the beautiful cream tulips my husband gave me for my birthday yesterday. (He also gave me a super generous and thoughtful gift of massage therapy on my birthday and a lovely card.)

Also the sweet little blue bud vase on my glass door is from my dear friend, Karen. Isn't that cool?! Had a great birthday and appreciate all of the birthday wishes and hugs from the people I love.

Love to all....

Hired!

I am so happy to say that I have accepted a wonderful job at the lovely Crate & Barrel at the Kenwood Towne Centre! I interviewed with a very sweet and interesting lady yesterday and she offered the job to me. I am very excited about this opportunity! I will be working in Housewares, which is my specialty. :)

I start next Wednesday!

P.S. The photo of the store is the actual store I will be working in.

Love to all......

Our sweet doggies.....

Here are a couple of my favorite pics of the dogs at our home in Colorado. Aren't they sweet little babies? They are really starting to feel at home here in Ohio. They are doing very well and adjusting to apartment living quicker than we expected. The last photo is of Stinky snuggling with a stuffed moose that my friend Kim gave me two years ago. He loves it, but doesn't get it very often. (He wants to eat it, and I want to have it forever....)

Love to all......

We Made It!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it to Ohio on Saturday evening. We stayed at my parents' home in Urbana that night, then drove down Sunday at noon to our new place in Hamilton. We are currently getting settled.... it's amazing how time-consuming unpacking can be.... especially when you are an organizational freak like I am! :)

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!

Love to all.....

Moving Update!

Due to weather issues, we will be leaving on Friday January 22nd instead of Sunday. This means we will move into our new place on Sunday January 24th! Can't hardly wait.......

Love to all.......

Other Addictions......

........ Besides Starbucks................


- Golden Girl re-runs on the Hallmark Channel (God, I love those women. It was like the Sex and the City of the 1980s.)

- Packing for our move and making endless lists and diagrams

- Green Giant brand steamed green beans (Add a little chopped onion and it's heaven!)

- Singing to Stinky when he is in bed

- Reading our new dog cookbook

- Browsing handmade pretties on Etsy.com!!!

Addictions.....

I am suddenly addicted to a specific drink at Starbucks..... and it's not even coffee. Usually, I will order a latte or cappucino. The past week I can't get enough of their chai tea latte. Yum! It is just so delicious and I swear it tastes like Christmas. If Christmas had a taste this would be it!!

How stupid is it that having a cup of coffee or a chai from Starbucks actually makes me feel like a better person?! I swear I actually feel like conquering tasks that I normally put off, doing my cardio, and working on our books. Haha!! It makes me feel like anything is possible. Is that just the caffiene? If so, maybe I can come up with a cheaper way to get my fix. :)

This is such a good chai.... I think I could cry over it. WOW. I am so pathetic.

Love to all......

Inspiration for bebe

I am hosting a baby shower for my sister Katie. She is expecting her first baby July 28th! Since we are moving back to Ohio in a week it will be easy to have a party for her. Since I have been thinking about Katie's baby shower since she got married, I have a lot of things planned. I don't want to reveal too much because she checks my blog almost daily, but I can't keep in the surprise!

The theme is "Feather her Nest." I am going to use a bird's nest with eggs theme. Here are a few things that inspired me to make this decision....

Hope you like it, Mama Bird!

Love to all.....

Toothless Dog

Stinky has lost 16 teeth since May 2008. Poor little baby.... He just lost three last week. He seems to be doing okay, but I have noticed it is becoming increasingly difficult for him to chew.

I always feed the dogs soft food (rice & hamburger) for the first 48-72 hours after dental surgery. Brian and I have decided to continue this trend.... Is that crazy to make homemade dog food? It sounds kind of Amish. I think it is the best thing to do though. Poor little boy has so much trouble with food. He is very finnicky with commercial dog food, so i think this is a smart choice.

Today I bought a dog cookbook for him. I was surprised to see how many cookbooks are available to freaks like me that pamper their poochies. This should actually be a savings for us. We spend $80/month on prescripton dog food now. Can you believe it????

MOVING ON!!!

I haven't updated this blog in what seems like an eternity.... probably because we haven't had a lot going on for awhile. :) I am pleased to announce that we are moving to Ohio for Brian's new job!! He interviewed and accepted an amazing job on December 10th, and will start on February 1st. He will be working for his old company, EAGLE Golf at the lovely Walden Ponds Golf Club in Hamilton, Ohio. This is just a dream come true for us! We can't wait to start this new chapter of our life, and I am so happy to be close to family again. :)

We are in the process of packing, and we are nearing the end of the mess. I have been working on it diligently since we got back from Christmas. We will be leaving in less than two weeks - Sunday, January 24th to be exact.

We will be driving across the country in a giant moving truck hauling the Jeep and I will be driving the Expedition with the dogs. :) We should arrive in Ohio the evening of the 26th if all goes well, and we will move into our new place on the 27th. (By the way, we will be living in an apartment for a year or so.)

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we make this big trip! We hope we have great weather for traveling.

Love to all.....