Cute only gets you so far...

Graduation!!!

2009-04-07T20:21:00.005-04:00

Sean finally graduated and life is mostly back to normal here at our house. Here are some pictures from the big event.

The whole family

The whole section

Relieved and happy couple

The ladies

Proud mom

Actually receiving the diploma

Getting back to one of my true loves...

2009-02-03T10:50:00.004-05:00

The pool. I started swimming again this week. Saturday, Sean and I joined the YMCA which is 5 minutes from the house. It has a great pool, weight room, cardio room, and fitness classes. The pool is currently kicking my butt, however it feels great to be swimming again. I forgot how much I missed it and what a good workout it is. Sunday I swam for about 30 minutes and stopped counting yards since I was in massive pain. Today I swam for about 25 minutes and did 1000 yards. I can remember when I was doing 4000-5000 a workout! I guess I'll have to work up to that. I'm going to go again Thursday morning. Maybe I can do 1200 yards then.

Oh and I definately need a few new suits I think the one I have will be see thur shortly! I don't want to be flashing the old men, might have a heart attack!

A friend filled Christmas

2009-01-14T21:04:00.002-05:00

Due to Sean's thesis we stayed in Dayton again for Christmas. With no family coming to visit we invited friends from AFIT to join us for Christmas dinner. I made a beef roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes and green beans. It all came out well and was actually mostly stress free. I even managed to exercise before dinner.

Merry Doggy Christmas

2009-01-14T20:16:00.002-05:00

The dogs had a super fantastic christmas. Here are some pictures of them with their presents.

New arrangements

2009-01-14T19:51:00.005-05:00

Before Christmas I rearranged our living room to fit the Christmas tree and turned a walkway into a cozy room. I'm so happy with the new arrangement that I'm keeping it! Here are some pictures of the new arrangement and our new Christmas tree.

Without internet

2008-11-11T12:54:00.002-05:00

Sean and I have been without internet at home now for about 2 weeks. Stupid Time Warner. We are in the process of switching to AT&T. Apparently you don't have to paid for a phone line to have DSL anymore. It is amazing how much you don't realize you depend on the internet until you don't have it anymore. Granted we haven't been completely without since I have internet at work all day and Sean has internet at school.

However there have been times I wanted to write an e-mail or pay a bill or write a blog post and I can't. Then I have to take time at work to do the above thus staying later. I will be super exicited when we have the internet back.

On a side note if you are wondering why I haven't complained about my cable being out as well it is because we now have an antenna only. We have a HD antenna and I are able to get abc, nbc, cbs, fox, cw, and 5 pbs stations. I had no idea that we had so many PBS stations and that they provided such good programming. I watched an awesome program on Gaint Pandas the other day. They are so cute!!!

The daily WTF

2008-11-05T12:10:00.003-05:00

I'm starting a new series on the blog called the daily WTF. It is a place for me to post crazy things that either happen to me or that I witness. Today I have a couple so far:

1. I saw a women today wearing stiletto heels and an ankle brace! For those of you reader who are not female it takes a lot of ankle power to walk in stiletto heels. Basically you put all of your weight on the ball of your foot because that tiny weeny pencil thin heel is very hard to balance on. Perhaps there is another method I'm unaware of but still ankle brace and pencil thin heels are a bad combination!

2. Re-reviewing a document only to find correction made in the first review not implemented. I'm not talking about controversial grammar or sentence changes I'm referring to incorrect content. So I had to correct the content a second time which didn't make me very happy. On the plus side using a pomegranate to calm down works quite well. It take quite a bit of concentration to get those darn little seeds out!

Feel free to throw out your daily WTFs!

Days until Thesis is complete

2008-10-30T13:18:00.002-04:00

So according to my rough estimate there are 112 days left until the thesis is complete. Sean told me that he would be defending mid Feb so I did my calculation based on Feb 18th. We'll keep this little calculation between me and my readers, since I know Sean doesn't read my blog.

So I suppose 112 more days of doom. I say doom because this is the most stressed I have ever seen him. He isn't sleeping well and can't stop thinking about his thesis. Watching him go through this just reaffirms my plan to not ever do a thesis. I occasionaly bring work home or think about work from home, but rarily do I lose sleep over work. I hope to keep it this way!

So keep your fingers crossed that Sean can get his rough draft done before New years and defend on time!

left ya hanging

2008-10-29T10:39:00.002-04:00

No I'm no on day 57 of no power... I got busy again and never got back to the blog. Although apparently one of my very dedicated readers continued to check it and post me comments on my last post.... I won't mention any names.....

We did end up being 4 days without power. The power went off Sunday 12ish and didn't come back on until 9pm Wednesday. Flushing toilets with buckets of water and boiling water on the grill to do dishes in the dark was getting mighty old. We lost tons of food from our refrig and freezer. The only saving grace was that our USAA home owners insurance ended up giving us 250 dollars to replace our food. We didn't have to meet our deductible or file a claim or anything. I love USAA!

Things are back to normal. Sean is a crazy busy mess with his thesis and I'm still being super house wife. I'm just counting the days until he is finished! Actually perhaps I should start a real count and just not telling him so it doesn't stress him out.....

Hurricane Ike in Dayton:Day 3

2008-09-16T17:52:00.005-04:00

Sean and I have been taken back in time to when people didn't have electricity or running water. Our power has been out since Sunday at 2pm due to the hurricane category 1 winds that hit our area for about 4 hours on Sunday. We were quite lucky that the house and our trees survived which was not the case for a lot of people. Our neighborhood looked like a war zone. Tree and limbs down all over the place. A few blocks away a tree hit a house and damaged the roof. Another tree crushed a shed. I'm going to try and take some pictures this evening of the damage.

Gas stations are running out of gas and raising the price to 4.30 a gal. Luckily I have 1/4 of a tank which should last me until early next week. Tonight I need to clean out our frig and freezer. Some of the stuff we saved by taking to a friend's that has power and an extra frig. We also filled up quite a few bottles and some pitchers of water so we have fresh water to drink. If this lasts much longer I may be walking down to the creek to get buckets of water to flush the toilets.

Last night the Brinks security system, that was installed in the house by a previous owner, but we don't use, started going off at 5:00 am this morning. My guess is the battery was running out of power. We couldn't figure out how to get the cover off to begin with. It takes a square something. Luckily when I went to the garage to the socket set, I saw the control box in the laundry room. When I got the cover off I couldn't figure out how to disconnect the battery. However thanks to my Dad I knew to unscrew and pull out the wires to disconnect them from the circuit board. Now at this point you may be asking yourself why I was doing this and not Sean.....well funny story the cat knocked Sean glasses off the night stand while I was gone (in Colorado) and the dogs chewed them up. So Sean was basically blind. Anyways I'm frantically unscrewing and disconnecting wires and of course it is the last one that turns the damn alarm off! I'm of right mind to write Brinks an e-mail and state that as part of their disconnection they disconnect everything!!!! Bastards!!!

However I'm not really complaining or mad because we were very fortunate and I know the power company is doing everything they can to restore power as fast as they can. Apparently they had sent crews down to Texas to help those people who are probably worse off then we are. On the plus side this will be a story to tell for years, I'm saving money on electricity, and bonding with neighbors. On the downside work has power! oh well.

We are surviving with the grill, flash lights, and pb&j!!!

Latest garden scoop

2008-09-01T22:22:00.003-04:00

I've harvested and eaten and given away a whole bunch of tomatoes. I won't be getting as many as I had originally thought because the mites really got my plants. A couple of plants just died but the rest are hanging in there and I seem to have gotten the mites sort of under control. The cucumber plants only ended up producing a few. I think it got to hot for them. They keep wilting.

The melons (cantelope and watermelon) aren't going to produce anything edible. The cantelope kept getting eaten by the cucumber beetles and I think got a fungus as well as being crowded out by a zucchini plant. The watermelon's leaves suddenly started curling up and turning yellow and looking wilty. I think it might be bacterial wilt or something else. Either way it is quite sad since I did have a few baby watermelons. One of they appears like it might be getting bigger but it could all be in my head. The plants aren't dead yet but struggling for sure.

The green beans were and are delicious. They appear to be flowering again so I might get some more before it freezes!!! Oh and most exiciting I have corn. I unfortunately picked two of them too early, but there are still 6 or so still out there. I'll let you know how it tastes. Second most exiciting thing is my green peppers appear to be starting to turn!!! My thai hots have been turning for a little while now. In fact I need to go out there and harvest some of them. I wonder how spicy they will be.

I made salsa tonight from all my different types of tomatoes. I got a hot pepper from my CSA and decided to add some of it because Sean thought it was a little bland. It is good thing that I only chopped up half of the pepper (serrano I think) and then only put half of the chopped up portion into the salsa. Now it has a bit of a kick. I think I got a seed during one of my tasting because it burned the back of my throat. It is melding in the refridgerator until tomorrow. Hopefully it won't get too much spicier or I will have to add more tomatoes or something.

I'm going to try and make pasta sauce later in the week and maybe can some chopped tomatoes. I got quart sized canning jars from my next door neighbor. Tomorrow I'm going to look at good will for some pint sized ones. I want the smaller ones for canning jam. I've got a whole bunch of blackberries that I want to turning into jam. Apparently you can make small batches of jam in your bread machine (if it has a jam setting). We'll see how it goes!

Garden: Update

2008-08-09T08:13:00.003-04:00

So far I have harvested:
Tomatoes: 7 pear, 4 zebra
Zucchini: 1 huge one (I have no idea how that happened)

Unripe but coming:
tomatoes: a billion (way too many to count)
Zucchini: a few (however they are sneaky, so it could be more)
Cucumber: 3-4 (although I'm still trying to figure out when you harvest them)
Bell Pepper: 10-12 green ones (I'm debating whether to pick some of the green ones. Supposedly if you pick you first batch of peppers green it will cause the plant to produce more pepper overall. The problem is that Sean and I don't like them green!)
Beans: A whole bunch (It would be way to hard to count. I've got to go out and check them today to see if any are ready to harvest cause they are certainly getting bigger)

Flowering or still growing:
Corn: getting bigger but no silk yet
Watermelon: tons of flowers
Cantaloupe: tons of flowers (the cucumber beetles have been really attacking these, so we'll see what we get)

The dogs first home hair cut

2008-07-23T08:00:00.006-04:00

Sean and I decide to save money we would start grooming the boys at home. It costs around 120 each time they are both groomed and for that we could buy a nice pair of clippers. So that sealed the deal. So this past Saturday we gave it a go and let me tell you it is a whole lot harder than it looks. As my Mom put it "They look like they were attacked by the mad clippers!" I thought everyone would enjoy some pictures!

Before

"Stop the torture!"

"What are you doing to me?"

"Oh dear, some one help me!"

After

After

None of the after picture do their "Great" haircuts justice. I'll try to take some better ones.

Dayton air show

2008-07-22T10:51:00.007-04:00

This past weekend Sean and I took my parents to the air show. It was an awesome air show. By far the best I've ever seen! There were at least 5 aerobatic acts. Also we got to see the f-22 which is asolutely amazing. It really puts the f-16 and f-18 to shame.

In addition to really neat performances we were in a special section with free food and drinks as well as practically front row seating. Raytheon donates money to the Air Force Association so they give us a certain number of tickets for our people to attend the air show in style. The food was just your standard BBQ food however having access to cold bottled water the entire show was by far the best advantage. We must have gone through at least 8 bottles! It was quite hot and sunny.

Here are some photos of the event! Enjoy!!

Misty Blues all women skydiving team

C17 - flys like a jet but is huge

F22 - awesome after burners

more F22 coolness

Legacy flight

us

F104 - they look like the fighter jets from star wars

more F104

Sean D Tucker - areobatics

Up close to it

Patio Updates

2008-06-30T21:57:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone, I know I'm averaging like once a month right now but I at least have some pictures to share. Here are some pictures of our completed patio.

Almost done

Grass growing

Other angle

picture of completed bed

2008-05-27T22:46:00.003-04:00

Here are some pics of the finished bed. It has tomatoes and beet and carrot seed in it already so more pictures to follow.

raised bed progress

2008-05-12T21:38:00.004-04:00

Well I still don't have my raised bed in the ground the 4x4 didn't come in time for the weekend before this last one and this one was mostly a rainy mess. However Saturday I was able to level out the ground for where the box is going to go. Tomorrow is suppose to be the day for installation so keep your fingers crossed. The weather is suppose to be nice. I've got to pick up wire mesh and landscaping fabric for the bottom. You may be thinking why mesh? Well moles are why! I don't want them tunneling up into my bed. I'm going to take some before and after pictures so be on the look out.

Oh and my tomatoes are huge (6+ ") so as soon as the bed is ready some will go in there and the rest will go in the unraised section. I have somewhere around 20+ plants all going strong so I think I will probably give a few away. Now the only problem with that scheme is I have no idea which plants are which at this point. My bad for not being more careful with the label when I transplanted them to bigger pots. So it could be a bit interesting. I started three varieties (red zebra, moonglow, and yellow pear) oh and some hybrid brush like ones that I got seed from my co-worker.

Last bit of garden news: I had 2 whiskey barrel planter out front that weren't being used. I kept thinking I would get flowers to put in there but I didn't want to spend the money on actual plants. So one has leaf lettuce and one has peas. I started the peas a little late so we'll see how they go. Oh and I had another ugly pot I inherited that I put more leaf lettuce in. It was quite a bit of work taking out most of the old soil and mixing in new top soil and compost so keep your fingers crossed.

Actually I lied.... even after I get the raised bed in I'm putting paver stones back by the fence to make a walkway. I started the trench but then filled partially back in while leveling the space for my raised bed. And I've got to get rest of the patch in shape for the rest of my veggies. I want to raise it up party as well but I'm not sure I will have time. I managed to acquired 37 8" paver stones like you would use for a tree ring (the smaller ones) from craig's list for 25$!!! Quite the steal however I'm not sure if that will be enough or I will have enough time to get them put in before I really need plant the rest of my seeds. I'll keep you guys posted. Pictures I swear will follow.

Garden progress

2008-04-30T21:47:00.002-04:00

I started my tomato and pepper plants about a month ago. They are growing like crazy. The tomatoes are at least 6 inches. The pepper are progressing a little slower but they are still doing well. It has been so fun to see how much they grow from day to day. It was a stressful when I was waiting for them to sprout. I kept checking and checking to see if anything was coming up. Finally the tomatoes sprouted and then about 4 days later peppers started coming up. I can't wait until it gets a little warmer during the day so I can start putting them outside for part of the day.

I'm about half way done with my 1st raised bed frame. My co-worker has been instrumental in this effort. Basically, I bank rolled the project and I help when I can with the construction. I "supervise" so to speak. I am however working hard to cleanup and prepare the space it is going to go. The plan is to finish assembly and put it in the ground this weekend if we get the 4X4. I had to special order untreated cedar 4x4's because they generally only carry treated ones. However treated wood can leach harmful chemical like arsenic into your soil so I steered clear of that. I can't wait to see it completed. It is going to look super fancy and nice. And hopefully grow awesome veggies!

A day in the life of Me

2008-04-30T21:34:00.002-04:00

I thought I should probably provide some insight as to why I haven't been posting lately so here is an accounting of an average day in my life.

6:30-7am - wakeup
7-8am - get tea, pickup kitchen (if still some dishes from the night before), exercise
8-9:15 - shower, get dressed, dry hair, let dog in and out and in and out, get lunch, make oatmeal, pickup house, etc.
9am-6:30pm - drive to work, work and drive home
6:30 - 8pm - change, make dinner, cleanup from dinner
8-9pm - do some housework, lately working outside (mowing lawn, cleaning up my garden, etc.)
9-10pm - start getting ready for bed and spend a little time doing whatever else I need to do (looking stuff up, checking e-mail, cat boxes)
10-10:30 - finish getting ready for bed and maybe read if I'm not to exhausted.
10:30 - 11pm - go to sleep.

So as I can see above I don't have a ton of free time right now. By the time I get to 9pm I'm usually exhausted and just want to go to bed. Unfortunately I'm one of those people who can't just go to bed. I have a routine of stuff I do before getting into bed and it generally takes at least an hour. I'm a very routine person. If I don't set my clothes out for work the next day it can take me twice as long to get ready.

Anyways there you have it a typical day in the life of me.

Today's Smile: Spoiled Puppy

2008-04-01T21:46:00.002-04:00

Oh and in case you are wondering, I didn't sleep on couch, I kicked him out of my spot a few minutes later. Little spot stealer!!!

Turkey Vulture infestion

2008-04-01T21:27:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago Sean called me on my way home from work to say I should hurry because there was a hawk in the evergreen behind our house. Well by the time I got home there were more and more and more...... I think there were in approximately 60 plus birds when they stopped appearing. Don't believe me! Here are some photos to prove it.

One tree

The other tree

Oh and there were some more in a tree farther down. Crazy huh? Oh and they weren't flying down to the ground so there wasn't something dead. So I'm not sure what they were doing. Luckily most of them were gone by the next night.

Blizzard March 08

2008-03-08T20:49:00.008-05:00

Well we experienced our first big snow storm here in ohio today and yesterday. Now I will preference this with we had several storms of similar magnitude in Boston. However people in Ohio are not prepared to deal with storms of this size. We have about 12-15 inches of snow. Esimation is difficult due to the blowing snow which caused drifting. The conditions were pretty nasty this morning and most of the day. The only ones at our house enjoying the snow are the dogs. I thought I would post a few pictures. Oh and I want to give a shout out to Amy and Jessie who made it to Columbus during a lull in the storm on Saturday early morning (2am) but have been stuck there because the roads are too bad for us to drive the 80 or so miles to pick them up. Luckily they were able to find a hotel! I really hope I can see you ladies tomorrow!!!

Nightmares about work

2008-03-05T20:53:00.002-05:00

You know that you've been working too much when you have nightmares about work. I had a demo today for work and last night I had nightmares about coding and the demo. It was down right creepy!!! One should never dream about java code...it is just wrong!

However my demo went pretty well. I get to do it again next wednesday with hopefully some additional functionality. In the mean time I need to learn about SQL and oracle. Fun stuff, let me tell you. Oh and Sean said today that I may have to help him with the coding of his thesis. When I asked him jokingly if he would pay me, he actually said yes. Then I said "and hire a maid" and he said "perhaps that could be my payment!"

So it looks like I may be interviewing for the position of maid/housekeeper. Any takers?

Single mom with a kid in college....

2008-03-04T21:59:00.002-05:00

That is how I'm feeling lately. Sean is super busy with school and I'm super busy with work. Yet I still have to cook dinner and clean the house and all the other things that keep this house running. And of course on top of that take care of Sean. Read doing his laundry, making him coffee, poking him when he falls asleep doing homework. This whole Sean being in school thing and me working full time thing is more taxing and time consuming than I thought it would be.

What little time I have gotten to myself lately has consisted of reading work books and attempting to get my craft room cleaned up. I can't wait until our trip to las vegas in a couple of weeks. I plan on relaxing and taking in the sights. More on that later.

I'm excited for Amy and Jessie's visit this weekend. I still have somethings to do before they get here but I'm getting there.

Oh and I have 3 animals that I'm considering giving away due to waking us up multiple time during the night! Any takers??? They're cute just a bit boogery.........

Seeing the lama speak

2008-02-18T21:06:00.003-05:00

This weekend I attended a talk by Garchen Rinpoche, a Dirkung Kagyu lama (aka buddhist lama). I have been interested in buddhism for sometime and last week I decided to attend a intro to buddhism and mediation class at Gar Drolma, which is a buddhist center in dayton. The lama founded this center and has a buddhist institute in arizona. He only come about once every year or year and half.

I really didn't know what to except but what happened definately wasn't quite what I had visioned. First off he didn't speak any english so he had a translator. Second off he was funny. He was joking around with some of the people and in his teachings he had some jokes. He was also an extremeley animated speaker. Eventhough I had no idea what he was saying it was fascinating to watch him and try to infer some of the meaning. He would speak for a while and the translator would take notes and then translate that chunk into english. He is definately one of the most joyous people I have ever witnessed.

All in all while I'm not sold on this buddhism thing, I'm glad that took this oppertunity to see a genuine lama speak.

Self checkout at the supermarket

2008-02-11T23:04:00.000-05:00

I love the self checkout at the super market. I can be in and out very quickly if I only have a few items at least usually....... Self checkout is not a new thing. It has been around for quite sometime. I would have thought that everyone that wanted to try it would have by now. Apparently this is not the case. Today I'm at the Krogers (Kings sooper for all you Colorado folk) and I get stuck behind the slowest people. At station 1 we have a women with produce who thinks she can scan her box of clemtines and think it does scan, so the machine is yelling "Unexpected item in the bagging area, please remove". On machine 2 we have a women who doesn't realize that the machine works off of weight so she is too quick and gets the unexpected item so she takes it out and puts it back and the cycle continues for almost every item. Station 3 we have a women with quite a few items and too small children but mobile children. Not a good combination for self checkout! And finally on Station 4 we have an elderly gentlemen who is frankly baffled by the whole process. He slowly makes it through the instructions and scans each item. He doesn't put them in the bags he just lays them on the shelf. So when he is finally finished he is trying to put the items in the bags but things are falling out and then the lady monitoring the stations notices that he has missed an item. So he starts the whole process over again. Meanwhile there are still items on the shelf. Seriously people where have you been! And for the record and not to be mean but what possessed the old man to do the self checkout anyway! Not very many people of our grandparents generation are good with new technology! I told me neighbor Herb the other day to google something and he didn't even know what google was!

Almost back to his normal self

2008-02-09T16:50:00.000-05:00

Charlie is feeling much better and is almost back to his normal self. The antibotics are doing the trick. Although he is getting feistier and fiestier about taking them. He hasn't spit one out yet so I suppose that is good. Friday morning I had to give it too him all by myself because I forgot to have Sean help me before he went to school. Let me tell you that was an entertaining ordeal. I had to go into the bathroom and shut the dogs out. I penned him between the counter and the wall and manager to pry his mouth open and shove the pill in! I'm sure it would have made and enteraining youtube video. Quincy's ears are almost all better and Toby is still healthy so will call it a good end to a stressful week.

Sick kitty

2008-02-06T21:49:00.000-05:00

Charlie was acting funny when we got home from work last night. He didn't meet me at the door and wasn't begging for his dinner. He was just laying on the guest bed sleeping. At the time I thought perhaps he was just extra tired. Well by the time bed time rolled around he still hadn't moved so I picked him up and put him in front of his food dish. Still didn't want to eat. He seem kind of out of it as well. He didn't sleep with us last night and this morning I found him curled up in our closet. He wouldn't come out for breakfast and hadn't eaten all night. This is when I became very concerned. I call the vet as soon as they were open and was able to get him and appointment for 9:15am.

At 9am I got his carrier and loaded him in the car. He peed in his carrier while we were in the car. I didn't notice this until we got to the vet. His whole back end was wet! The vet saved some the urine for a sample and clean out my kennel. He was running a fever and had blood in his urine. Oh and he had some feas again. Sean and I had forgotten to give him his frontline and gave it too him last night. The vet thinks it is probably just a parasite from the feas or possibly a kidney infection. So hopefully it is one of those and not something worse. They took some blood and gave me antibotics.

When I got home from work he seemed about the same. However he seems to have perked up a little since then. I don't think he has eaten anything yet, but hopefully he will over night. He just seems a little more comfrontable then earlier. He is sleeping under my papason chair right now. He even purred for me a little.

I was really worried about him all day and when I got home from work. I hope that the worst is behind us now! All keep you all posted.

Toby is the only healthy animal in the house right now. Quincy had/has an ear infection. He gets to go to the vet tomorrow to have it rechecked. So keep your fingers crossed that Toby is not next!

Best superbowl ever!!!!

2008-02-04T09:48:00.000-05:00

I have watched a number of super bowls over the years but almost always for the commercials. How ever this year's game was actually pretty intense and exciting. I was of course pulling for the Giant's given our family hatred of the Patriots. I also wanted to see Eli have a good game since he is always in the shadow of his brother. Also who else was highly amusing by the clips they keep showing of Peyton. It was just entertaining to watch his reactions. Plus seriously does the man have any friends! Oh and way to leave that women hanging at the end when they won. She was totally looking for a victory hug!

Oh and what was with the announcer's hair. Serious colic going on in the back the every time they showed him on TV. Honestly you think someone would have motioned to let him know. It was distracting!

Oh what was everyone's favorite ad? I personally liked the e-trader baby with the clown, the hank Budweiser, and planters uni-brow. There were quite a few good ones. You can watch them all here. Oh and who wants to see the new pixier Disney Wall-E movie!!!! See a trailer here.

The answers...Finally

2008-02-04T09:44:00.001-05:00

I know you, my loyal reader were waiting in rapture for the answers to the "name the vegetable" quiz. Well the wait is finally over. Drum roll please.....

1. Arkansas traveler - Tomato
2. Small shining light - Watermelon
3. Ram's Horn- String Bean
4. Cosmic Purple - Carrot

Oh and the winner is Jenn, with the highest score of 1!!!! Your prize will arrive in 6-8 weeks..........perhaps longer.....knowing how mailing goes in our family!

The joys of home ownership....

2008-01-31T11:26:00.000-05:00

Last night our furnance stopped working. It simply wouldn't come on. Of course we had to realize this at 9pm. It ws 65 in the house and the thermostat was set to 70. We tried turning it up, nothing happened. We tried turning it to EM Heat nothing happened. We check the circuit breaker in the garage. Nothing was tripped. So we put an extra blanket on the bed and went to sleep. We woke up at 6am and still no heat. The house was down to 57 degrees. Sean went to PT and I called the company that installed and maintained the system for the owner before the last one. I was surprised to actually get someone but since it wasn't an emergency and I didn't want to pay the extra for them to come during off hours I agreed that they could call after 8am. Now of course I had to be at the Vet at 8am so I gave them my cell phone number too. Quincy has an ear infection and the vet was sympathetic when I explained that my heat wasn't working and they might call while I was in with him. Of course they did call in the middle of the appointment. How embrassing but everyone was understanding. So after I returned home the house was at 55 degrees. Darn cold!!! My coworker suggested that I reset all the breakers associated with the heat. I went out to garage and did all the ones marked furnance, heat pump, and heater. Nothing happend. I then went back in the house and open up the closet with the furnance. I noticed that there were two breakers on the bottom. I reset the first one nothing, however when I reset the second one the air magically came back on!!! Yah!!!! However Sean and I decided to keep our appointment to have everything checked out anyways since we don't know why the breaker got tripped in the first place. The heat went on back on at 9:30 when it was 55 degrees. It is now 11:30am and it is only up to 59! I'm hoping that the last 10 degrees back up to 70 will go quickier since it is warming up outside. It was around 16 degrees this morning. The sun has come out and it is suppose to get into the 30s today. We have a heat pump and they don't work very well in super cold weather. We have a auxillary heater to supplement when it is very cold.

Well hopefully the repair person will come soon and nothing major will be wrong. Sean is coming home soon to relieve me so I can go into work. At least it is finally starting to feel a little less frigid in the house!!! I wish that I had fur like the animals. They didn't seem to be in the least bit bothered by the cold.

finally they started coming....

2008-01-29T22:04:00.000-05:00

What am I talking about? My seed catalogs!!! I requested at least 5 or 6 and had until this week only received 2. First I got the Burpee catalog. Plenty of pretty picture but they mainly carry hybrid and non open pollinated varieties. While I haven't completely made up my mind about hybrids I'm not sure I like the idea of messing with plant genetics. I sort of feel like we should let evolution run it course to make heartier, healthier, and better varieties.

Second catalog I received was seed savers. Seriously an awesome catalog with tons of information and pictures. Each variety has a short informative description about origin and characteristics. Never I have a seen some many types of tomatoes or melon or other veggies. So cool. I highly recommend requesting this one or at least browsing it online.

This week I have gotten 3 more catalogs. First Totally tomatoes, second seymour's selected seeds, and last baker creek heirloom seeds. Totally Tomatoes is basically all tomatoes and pepper. So awesome for a tomato lover like me....except eventually I will have to chose a few varieties. Seymour's is a flower seed catalog with beautiful flowers. Baker Creek is a smaller seed company out of Missouri that is family owned. They have an extremely thick catalog with tons of different types of heirloom plants.

Also I should note that seed catalogs can be quite amusing. The types often have crazy names like: mammoth melting sugar (sweet pea), sweet chocolate (brown sweet pepper), green zebra (tomato), mortgage lifter (tomato), and many many more.

For fun here are a few guess what type of veggie they are:

1. Arkansas traveler
2. Small shining light
3. Ram's Horn (Just for you Chris!)
4. Cosmic Purple

No cheating by looking them up on the internet. Oh and a hint is they are all common summer produce. Nothing weird like parsnips or rutabaga. Have fun!

Garden: Initial thoughts and rambling

2008-01-21T21:14:00.000-05:00

I'm determined to have a vegetable garden this year. Last year started out with herbs and tomatoes in pots. They did pretty well while in my care. I gave them to Shari and a neighbor when we moved. I inherited a wild mess of tomatoes once we arrived. I can't remember if I posted on them before but it was a vining crazy super producing mess. Needless to say I really didn't do anything to keep them alive they just grew.

So with both of those facts combined I think there is hope that I might be somewhat successful. Also I think some of Sean's research maddess has rubbed off. I have requested at least 5 different seed catalogs from various source, bought one book, and checked out two from the library. I would have checkout more but there is a 2 book limit when you get your card and then they mail it too you. (side note: I think that is the strangest library policy I have come across yet. The only thing I can figure is that they had trouble with people putting down wrong addresses and loosing books.) I plan on checking out more book once I received my card in the mail. (hopefully it will come tomorrow)

I have received two seed catalogs so far. One from Burpee and one from Seed Savers. The Burpee one had plenty of pretty pictures but not as much information as I was looking for and also I'm not sure I want to grow any hybrid plants and non open pollinated plants. The Seed savers catalog is awesome. Tons of helpful information about favor and quality, plus all of their seeds are heirloom varieties. I also like the idea of supporting their cause of saving seeds to make sure certain varieties don't die out.

Anyways I think I have rambled enough for today! Any one else have any garden plans or resources they want to share?

Sunrise alarm clock: take 3

2008-01-21T21:02:00.000-05:00

I didn't use my alarm clock over the weekend so I could sleep in and wake up naturally. Luckily we had sun shine over the weekend even though it was freezing outside (12 was the high on sunday.) So last night I switch it to do the sunrise over 15 minutes instead of 30. Well the puppies didn't wake me up and I made it until the soft beeping but I felt groggier than I did on the 30 minutes. In fact I ended up staying in bed an extra 5 minutes with the light on until Quincy and Toby got persistent. So I wish there was a setting between 15 and 30 minutes. I'm going to give 15 minutes another try tomorrow. I will still say that even with being less awake on the 15 cycle it was still a more pleasant way to wake up than loud beeping.

The alarm clock also has another nice feature which I have been experimenting with, it is sunset. The idea is the same only the light gets dimmer instead of brighter. The time can be set to either 15,30,45, or 60 minutes depending on what you want. I haven't sat and read as it gets darker which I'm going to try tonight. I have just been turning it to sunset as I'm getting ready for bed...and I haven't really gotten the full effect since other lights have been on.

Overall I'm still happy with the clock. I'll keep you posted on next couple of days.

Today's Smile: Comedian lives in IKEA store

2008-01-21T09:49:00.000-05:00

I know we all love IKEA but do any of us love it enough to live there for an entire week? Well apparently comedian Mark Malkoff does! His New York city apartment is being fumigated so he decide to move into IKEA and film it for the week. He of course has a blog all about it with video clips. Enjoy!

Operation organize craft room

2008-01-17T22:02:00.000-05:00

In our new house I have my own room just for me. I painted it a serene blue and put all of my Degas dancers on the walls. I have my papazon chair for curling up and reading as well as my own book case for all of my books. Sean banished my books for sharing any shelf with mine. Apparently his was embarrassed by the trashy romances and other girly books. In addition I have two desks. One is at the regular level and has a pull out drawer that folds down to form a keyboard tray for my ergonomic keyboard and track ball mouse (which doesn't roll as well as it use to thanks to puppy teeth marks.) The other is at counter height so I can stand and cut paper or do other crafts while standing. I also have bar height stool so I can sit at it as well. All of this is fabulous and should be very functional but it is generally a disaster. I need more storage space for all of my craft supplies as well as some other organization for all of my ongoing projects.

To get the ball rolling and add some more storage space, I had Sean take the doors off the closet. I don't use the closet for clothes and decided it would be a lot more function for storage if it was open. It looks good without the doors, minus the ugly beige which still needs to be painted. So this weekend I'm going to scout out a shelf of some kind to put in there. I'm also going to start watching target ads to get some more clear plastic bins with lids. I need more file folders to hold my paper and scraps. I discovered that one of my plastic drawer things has a big drawer that will hold vertical files so I doubled my storage. Hopefully all of that and more will help the space become more productive and less messy.

I have so many craft projects that I want to complete or start or try that I must get this problem under control!!!

Sunrise alarm clock: take 1

2008-01-17T21:41:00.000-05:00

I received my new sunrise alarm clock yesterday! I read through all the instructions (5 pages) and set it up last night. I tossed and turned and woke up several times during the night. Charlie woke me up at 5am because he wanted me to put him in front of his food bowl and rub his belly (this is a nightly occurence so not out the ordinary) I woke up again a little while later thinking it isn't time to get up yet but I didn't really go back to sleep. I rolled over and there was light in my face. Once Quincy heard me moving around he came and put his paws on the bed and his wet nose in my face. I tried to tell him it wasn't time yet but his was very insistent. I then looked at the clock and it was 5 minutes before when I set the alarm. So I'm not certain if it was light that woke me or something else. I think the light woke Quincy. I could probably shut off the backup beep since it would appear that I have a backup puppy instead!!!

I will say that even after not the best night of sleep I didn't feel to groggy. Stay tuned for trial 2 tomorrow morning.....

A new year a new resolution

2008-01-16T09:04:00.000-05:00

Last year my New Year's resolution was to watch less TV. Thanks to my DVR and cutting many worthless shows (Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill, and a few more) I was able to do a pretty good job accomplishing this goal. This year my resolution is to tone up and be more fit. In order to accomplish this goal I decided the most important thing was to develop a routine. In the past I have tried to exercise after work or in the evening. I would always come up with excuses or need to get home to make dinner. I also don't really like to shower more than once a day because I have dry skin. So I decided that I should start exercising in the morning before work. Of course this means getting up a little earlier and being more consistent about my wake up time. However I find that I do better when I have a routine so this hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. It also helps that most people I work with don't get to work until 9am or a little later.

So far so good. I get up at 7am, exercising by 7:15am, and in the shower by 8am. It is still a little dark in the morning to go walking or running so I've mostly been following workouts on the TV. Our cable has Exercise on Demand. They have a variety of classes at different exercise levels. I'll keep you all posted as to how it is going!

Anyone else want to share their resolutions?

Needed to vent

2008-01-14T21:45:00.000-05:00

Tonight I was at book club enjoying the discussion of the book which lead to talk of other books and then movies made from books. One of the women brought up the Golden Compass. She was talking about some of the books her son was reading or was going to read the Golden Compass being one of them. As soon as she mentioned the book one the other women immediately said "You know the author is an atheist right?" She said it such condescending tone. The other women simply said that she was aware and the topic was dropped after a slightly uncomfortable pause. I was completely flabbergasted. It is one thing to object to the content of the book but totally different to object or discriminate against the author. If the woman had said "You know the author is catholic right" Everyone would have been shocked and appalled. That simply would not be an appropriate thing to say. Even worse if she had said "You know the author is black or Hispanic or Asian or the list goes on and on. However no one challenged her and in her mind what she said was completely reasonable and fine.

Now to make matters worse in my mind this women not five minutes earlier was talking about how appalled she was about the stereo types her kids (she is a counselor) believed in. In my mind discriminating against someone because they don't believe the same way you do is just as bad as her kids buying to stereo types. Both are forms are discrimination, why is intolerance of non-religion or religion more accepted?

What do you think about the issue?

A random book review

2008-01-13T21:25:00.000-05:00

I have never done this before and may never do it again but I'm going to review a book. I just finished "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" today for my book club. It is the story of two girls who are best friends during their lives. It takes place in ancient China during the time of foot binding and arranged marriages. The book follows Lily and Snow Flower as their lives unfold. One girl has great success and happiness while the other has poverty and sadness. It is beautiful book and one that will have special meaning to anyone who has had or has a very close friend. I highly recommend the book even though I balled my eyes out at the end. Toby even came and sat on my lap to comfort me because I making such horrible noises. It is amazing to me that they have that much perception.

Anyways the book moved me and I will probably read it again someday. So pickup it up if you haven't already read it!

your demands answered!

2008-01-13T21:08:00.000-05:00

At least the two of you who apparently still check my blog! Guys I seriously just read your 23 comments today at 9:09 pm. I felt so love and needed, oh and laughed my butt off....I mean who knew I had such dedicated reader that they would post me a comment everyday.

Now on to a more serious topic. Part of the reason I have not been posting is that I have SAD (seasonal affective disorder) Some days it was hard to motivate myself to do much of anything besides go to work. However the good news is that I'm getting help and treatment. I can't wait for my new sunrise alarm clock to come and I'm in the process of ordering a light visor.

To fill those of you in that aren't familar with SAD, it is a sub category of depression. Doctors believe that is has to do with not getting enough sunshine because is usually affects people in the winter. Although apparently there are some cases of people having depression in the summer. For the past three winters I've been down in the dumps. Last winter I went on a low dose of anti-depressants. At the time I didn't realize it was SAD. I just thought it had to with the prospect of moving again. However this winter when I was still on the anti-depressants and feeling crappy still I began to wonder. I was so happy all spring, summer, and fall and there is nothing wrong in my life. My job is good and furry babies are good, sean and I are good, so seriously what gives!

I blame it on all the Colorado sunshine. I mean its cold and it snows but it hardly ever stays gray for more than a day or two. This is definately not the case in Dayton and wasn't the case in Boston either.

So for now I will continue the meds, light therapy, and exercise. I'm also starting to plan my garden for the summer. Stay posted for reviews on the new alarm clock and garden plans.

The first snow of the season here in Dayton

2007-12-05T10:30:00.001-05:00

This morning we woke up to 3 or so inches of snow and it was still coming down. The dogs had a great time playing in it. They were racing all over the yard. They didn't seem to mind the cold. When they came in they had quite a bit of snow stuck in their fur. I got some of it off but didn't worry about the rest because it is just water. However apparently that wasn't good enough for Toby who proceed to lick all the clumps off and eat them! Silly dog. Quincy on the other hand could have cared less. The two of them just crack me up.

The road weren't bad yet they still canceled school for all of the local districts. I miss snow days! There were some kids out playing when I went to work around 9am. I think the last snow day I had was in college when we got several feet of very wet snow. I can remember walking home the day it started down folsom hill in 6-12 inches of very slushy snow. I was wet up to my thighs and freezing when I got home. The next day I can remember tying plastic bags over my shoes and walking to Sean's house. I didn't have any boots at the time. He thought I looked really silly but it mostly kept my feet dry. I have boots now! I had to buy some when we lived in Mass.

Any one having any other entertaining snow day stories they want to share?

Today's Smile: Funny story

2007-11-26T11:37:00.001-05:00

A co-worker sent this to me and I got a laugh so enjoy!

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner. I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, "If I give you this money, will you buy wine with it instead of dinner?" "No, I had to stop drinking years ago", the homeless woman told me. "Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?" I asked. "No, I don't waste time shopping," the homeless woman said. "I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive." "Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?" I asked. "Are you NUTS !" replied the homeless woman. " I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!" "Well, " I said, "I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight." The homeless Woman was shocked. "Won't your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting." I said, "That's okay. It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and wine."

A Texas Thanksgiving

2007-11-26T10:05:00.000-05:00

Sean and I had a really nice Thanksgiving in Texas at Sean's grandma and grandpa's house. I feel like all I did while I was there was eat. I must have gained at least a few pounds. Although Sean and I tried to exercise. We ran on Thursday and walked on Friday. So it probably could have been more pounds....

Sean's grandma fussed over us the entire time and it was nice to just sit and relax. I also finally got to meet Sean's Aunt and Uncle and their kids. Everyone was super nice and we had a great food fulled time. I love Thanksgiving, it is my favorite holiday!!!

How was everyone else's Thanksgivings?

de-flea-ing the house

2007-11-16T08:46:00.000-05:00

So Charlie definately has/had fleas. The boys also seemed to have a few on them. So they all got Frontlined! That was an expensive trip to the vet!!! Then after the 24 hr waiting period I 've been washing and vacuuming the house like a mad women. Our bed being the first thing to be stripped and washed. I did the puppy beds last night. I have tons more clean/vaccuming to do this weekend. Plus lots and lots of raking! I can't see any grass in my front yard just leaves! More on that later.

I hope to not have to use any chemicals to get rid of the fleas. So keep your fingers crossed.

The cat has fleas

2007-11-13T09:04:00.000-05:00

I'm almost positive that Charlie has fleas. I'm taking him to the vet today. I feel awful that I didn't realize it sooner. He hasn't been scratching more than usual I don't think but he is shedding little black worming looking things which are apparently flea dirt. He was due for his annual check up any way but he is not going to be happy! We'll see how it goes.

A fun football weekend!

2007-11-05T08:49:00.000-05:00

Sean and I had an awesome weekend! Saturday we got up bright and early and drove to Indianapolis to meet up with Scott, Megan, and some of Megan's family to head up to South Bend for the Notre Dame, Navy game. The car ride up was pretty uneventful however we did see some deer. Once we got there we took a tour of the campus. It is a beautiful campus! We got to see where Scott and Megan got engaged (the particular bench is in question.... :-) ), were married, and had their reception. All beautiful spots!

We ate some brats from student run stands before the game and did some tailgating. It was Scott's birthday and almost Megan's sister's boyfriend Adam's birthday, so we had a cake and sang. Then we headed to the game. Since tickets can be hard to come by we all split up to watch the game. Sean and I were at one of the end zones and luckily in the sun pretty much the whole game. Thanks to Megan's mom for getting us tickets!!! The game was quite exciting and the fans and band were really into it, so it made it more fun. I had forgotten how much fun college games can be! Unfortunately after 3 overtimes ND lost to Navy. However it was hard to be too upset about it since it was the first time Navy had beaten Notre Dame in 43 years!!!

We ended the night with a birthday dinner for Scott and Adam at Texas Road House. Thank to Marilyn (Megan's Mom) for dinner!!!! Once we returned to Indianapolis we basically all crashed. We headed back to Ohio fairly early Sunday morning since Sean has 4 exams this week.

I may have to add Notre Dame to my list of teams I cheer for! Go Buffs and Go Irish!

A cold tuesday morning

2007-10-30T10:13:00.000-04:00

Not only was it 35 degrees this morning but I locked myself out of my house at 8:30am. Sean and I recently installed a keyed lock on the door from the house to the garage. Well I went out into the garage right before I was about to leave to throw an empty bag of dog food in the trash. I shut the door behind me so Charlie wouldn't sneak into the garage. When I went to open the door and go back in the house it was locked! At first I was in shock like this can't be for real! Yeah, so I had locked the backdoor after letting the dogs in and of course the front door was locked. There is a lock box on the back door from our buyers agent still. I thought I remembered the code, but no luck. Also I'm not actually sure there is still a key in there anyways.

So I had to walk next door to my neighbors house and ring the door bell. I wait a good 2-3 minutes and she answers the door in her house coat and PJs. It is obvious that she has just gotten up which makes me feel awful. Anyways she let me use her phone and thank goddess Sean answers his cell. He rarely answers! So he had to come home and let me in. I spent the next 20-25 minutes in my quite cold garage organizing. I'm still cold!!! Probably will be all day! At least I had real clothes and shoes on, instead of PJs or something.

So lesson learned: Hiding a key in the garage and possibly outside.

House Guest

2007-10-24T09:10:00.000-04:00

My Mom is visiting this week from Colorado. So far we haven't done anything too exciting. Saturday, we took her disc golfing because the weather was beautiful. She enjoyed it and is even talking about getting some discs of her own! Sunday, Mom helped us with yard work. She picked up all the apples while I hacked down my tomato plants. Monday, we went to trivia at a local restaurant. It was a lot of fun plus good beer. Today she is helping me paint my bedroom while I'm at work. I plan on helping her after work today and tomorrow. Hopefully we can get it finished so I longer have to live with the ugly brownish, pinkish, beigey purple color.

Toby is growing on her although he is at the bottom of the totem pole still because he kept getting his feet muddy every time he went outside yesterday in the rain. He just had to keep checking on his hole that he dug! Although he knows he will never be number one since that spot is firmly held by Max (Mom's only human grandson) he is at least hoping to tie Quincy!

Weekend Madness!!!

2007-10-16T11:18:00.000-04:00

Sean and I returned to Boston this weekend for Dan and Shari's wedding. We arrived Friday around 7pm. I dropped Sean off downtown for Dan's bachelor party and headed To Robyn's for a girls night sleepover. Saturday was jammed packed with wedding prep stuff all day. I've got pink nails and toes to prove it!. Saturday was the Rehearsal dinner at Vinny T's. The food was delicious and it was nice to finally start putting some faces with names of various family members.

Sunday started bright and early for me with my hair at 6am. I swear my hair didn't change from 6am to 9pm. I got my makeup done around 11am and then pictures began. The ceremony started at 1pm and was beautiful. I had never attend a Jewish ceremony and it was a really neat and meaningful ceremony. The weather was just perfect. It was a little cool around 60 degrees but the sun was shiny. I would be lying if I said I didn't shred a tear. Thank goddess for waterproof mascara. The rest of the day was food and more food followed by lots of dancing. It was a super happy occasion as all wedding should be and the Bride was radiant as was the Groom. I can't wait to see the pictures.

I did bring my camera but I didn't actually take too many photos. If any of the ones I took come out I'll be sure to post one.

I'm happy to be home after an exhausting and wonderful weekend!

So many projects and so little time

2007-10-03T14:15:00.000-04:00

I have so many projects I want to accomplish before Christmas. Most of them present related. I think I'm going to have to develop a plan of action if I want to accomplish all of them. So on my project list so far I have:

1. Christmas cards
2. Costume for ball in November (more info on that later)
3. Curtain/window treatments for living room, dining room, craft room, our bedroom, guest room, and Sean's office. So really I should have just said the whole house.
4. Paint our bedroom
5. Get new duvet cover for our bed
6. Paint closets
7. Other secret projects.

There are definitely days I wished that I didn't work full time. But even then I'm not sure if I could get everything I want done done.

Anyone got any projects they want to share? I'm also considering starting a second blog about my artsy/crafty project. What do you guys think?

My new nephews!

2007-10-02T08:49:00.000-04:00

My new nephews were born yesterday very early in the morning. One is Jacob and the other is Christopher. Don't ask which is which yet! Aren't they adorable!!!

How can it be October?

2007-10-01T09:46:00.001-04:00

This year has really flew by. I can't believe that it is October. Sean and I have now lived in Ohio for over a month. Sean starts his classes today for his masters degree. So the next year and half will be totally different from the last 3 years we have been married. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Shari's wedding is only a couple of weeks away. I can't wait to be back in Boston and see everyone and witness this super special moment in two of my closest friends lives. I may have to stuff some Kleenex down the front of my dress and invest in water proof mascara.

October means fall, my second favorite season but it also means winter is coming. So far fall in Ohio has been warmer than usual and not very rainy. Some of the leaves have started to turn. I know it won't be an picturesque has it is back east but hopefully there will be some good color. Perhaps I will have to look up and see if there is an ideal place to view the colors here in Ohio. We have been talking about camping in the red river gorge this coming weekend so will see if there is any color there yet.

It is hard to believe that winter is upon us....it feel like just last week summer was starting and moving to Ohio was months away. Winter is my least favorite season. I plan on keeping myself as busy as possible so I forget is cold and gray. It probably won't be that hard since most of the housework will fall to me with Sean doing school. It is a good thing that my new washer and drier Rock!

Letting my dorkiness shine!

2007-09-24T09:36:00.000-04:00

On Saturday Sean and I played Muggle Quidditch! Yes the game from Harry Potter modified for us Muggles. It was a lot of fun and I'm still sore. The way we played was as follows: 3 Chasers, 2 Beaters, 1 Keeper, and 1 Seeker. The chasers are played like ultimate frisbee. You throw a ball between one another, once caught you can only pivot and pass the ball to you next teammate. The object is to get the ball into one of the 3 hoops. The hoops were made from PBC pipe and insect nets. The beaters used hockey sticks and kickballs to try and take out the other teams chasers and beaters. If bludgeoned/hit with the bludger you had to take a knee for 10 seconds. Since it was a small field this really did effect play. The keep tried to catch the snitch which consisted of those spinning helicopter blades that you release from a launcher.

There is some information on wikipedia about different ways to play.

Words of wisdom

2007-09-24T09:31:00.000-04:00

Here are some words of wisdom from my favorite online comic Questionable Content. Don't let the name scare you away, it is safe to open at work!

"Maturity is knowing you were an idiot in the past.
Wisdom is knowing you'll be an idiot in the future.
Common sense is knowing that you should try not to be and idiot NOW!"

~J. Jacques

A space of my own

2007-09-18T08:37:00.000-04:00

Last night with some help from Sean I got my furniture all arranged in my craft room and started putting my stuff away. I'm very happy with how the color blue I picked out looks on the walls. I'm also really excited about my new desk! I can't wait to finish organizing the room so I can start back in on my projects. It will also be nice to have a place to set my laptop up. Charlie was happy because I put one of my desks under the window so he can look out. Toby was happy because I set up the papasan chair so he can curl up on it while I'm working or sit on my lap while I'm sitting in it. Tonight I plan on putting up some of my posters and getting the rest of my stuff where it belongs.

So now when Sean is watching Football which happens pretty much everyday. The only game free days are tues, wed, and thurs however that doesn't stop him from watching shows about football. I don't mind football games and can tune it out for the most part but I can't stand the hours and hours of analysis and speculation about football. So now I can just go in my craft room and blast my dance techno and do whatever I want! Yah!

still alive.....sorta

2007-09-17T09:16:00.000-04:00

No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth or something. Just been darn busy. Working is going well. I'm learning Java, XML, XSLT's, ANT, and more. Java isn't as evil as I once thought. Actually I never thought it was evil I just liked C++ better. Now I can see that plus and minuses of both languages in a more fair and even light. I will say though that I won't miss Jovial. No offense anyone I worked with before. It had its place on our program but it is not nearly as powerful as Java or C++.

The boys are good...all three of them. Charlie and Toby love to play and chase each other around the house. Quincy is starting to adjust to having a little brother. They even played some yesterday, which is a first. However the bed issue is still causing problems. Toby has decided that Quincy's bed is now his bed and Quincy should kick him off doesn't. So basically Quincy doesn't have a good place to sleep. We ordered a new bed for Quincy however they sent a medium instead of a large so we are now waiting for them to send the right size. Hopefully that will come soon!

Sean helped me get my craft room painted this weekend. It took two coats which sucked! So I'm going to spend all my extra time in the evening getting that room organized. The only rooms in the house that haven't been painted at this point are: both bathrooms, our bedroom, and the guest room. They is no point in painting either bathroom since both are in need of some remodeling. I'm waiting to paint our bedroom until my Mom visits in October. It is a big room and I'm sick of painting. I have the color picked out and the paint bought so it shouldn't be an issue it is just going to take some time.

Sean is still doing review classes. Real classes don't start for another week or so. We had all the people he is doing review classes over on Saturday for a BBQ. There was tons of food and plenty of football. It was a nice to meet everyone and at least be able to put a name with a face when Sean talks about people.

My babies

2007-09-05T08:22:00.000-04:00

I thought it was time to post some picture of all of my babies. So the top one is obviously Charlie and the bottom one is Quincy and Toby. I think it is fairly easy to tell the two of them apart but that could be because I see them everyday. So any guesses as to which one is which?

Toby

2007-09-04T08:23:00.000-04:00

Above are some picture of our new baby Toby. We pick up Toby at Sean's cousin, Bob's house on Friday night. Sean's Aunt Tammy and Uncle Bob gave him a ride out since they were driving out to visit their son, Bob and his wife Jessica. Toby is integrating into the family fairly well. Toby and Quincy mostly get along except when bones and toys are involved. Quincy is pretty jealous so hopefully he will get over it. Toby is a big love. He follows me around the house and wants attention all the time. The only time he doesn't follow me or Sean around is when he is following Charlie around. He is absolutely fascinated by the cat. I know he has gotten a claw to the nose at least once since he came yelping down the hallway. Charlie has mostly adjusted and basically rules the house again.

Toby's training is sadly lacking. Sean and I are pretty sure he walked all over Michael and April. Every time you tell him to do something he doesn't want to do we just lays down and rolls over. Like I'm so cute rub my belly....I'm innocence I swear....I didn't do anything wrong what are you talking about? He is also a bit of a "chunky monkey!" He was getting to free feed and not getting a ton of exercise. So now he only gets fed twice a day and he has been walking and running with Sean and I. He still hasn't completely gotten this whole we only eat twice a day thing and has gone partially hungry a couple of mornings. But don't feel sorry for him. He is at least 2 inches shorter than Quincy and has smaller paws yet weighs at least as much as Quincy if not more.

So the picture above are "Before" pictures. He has now gotten a trim so he is not so shaggy so after he loses some of his flab I'll post some "After" pictures.

He is really a sweet dog and I think will be a good addition to our family. It is just going to take some time to adjust!

Still in ahh of the big tv

2007-08-31T09:36:00.000-04:00

Sean and I went to circuit city last night and picked up an up-converting DVD player. We then proceeded to start watching Hot Fuzz with some amazing picture quality. It was really quite nice. Side note everyone should see Hot Fuzz! It is a seriously hilarious movie. You will especially enjoy it if you like Shaun of the Dead which is directed and written by the same two guys. Needless to say another night of distractions lead to no pictures.

Distracted

2007-08-30T08:45:00.000-04:00

Sean's new TV came yesterday......that is my only excuse as to why there are no pictures. He wasn't home when FedEx came so we had to drive down and get it from their warehouse after 7pm last night. Once we get it in the house and out of the box his response was "Maybe it is too big!" I didn't think it was possible for a man to think a TV was too big. Keep in mind we got the 46 inch so it could be bigger. Granted we upgraded from like a 28 inch or something. So comparatively it is huge. So once we got it setup and working with the cable we were both mesmerized. I managed to unhook myself by 10:30 and go to bed Sean however stay up until I don't know when watching it. Hopefully that won't be a trend or this school thing might not go so well for him. Now I just have to figure out how this DVR thing works on the new remote and with Time Warner and we'll be all set!

Finally have internet

2007-08-29T09:37:00.000-04:00

We finally got our internet and cable TV setup last night. However by the time we got all the routers setup and working it was time to head to bed so I'll post some pictures tonight. We also got the fence done yesterday. Quincy loves his new yard! He was sprinting around last night will his ball. We couldn't be happy either since now all we have to do is open the door and let him out. Which is especially good since he has some sort of infection right now where he is drinking tons of water and needing to go out every couple of hours. I promise to post some pics tonight!

We're here and sorta moved in

2007-08-27T17:08:00.000-04:00

We don't have any internet yet so hence the lack of communication. We should be getting it tomorrow so expect massive posts tomorrow night with pictures and the whole works. Things are going well, just busy. Today was my first day of work and it went fine. Mostly getting all of my stuff setup. The house is partially painted....so more painting will be happening this week and weekend. I'll write more tomorrow for now I'm heading home to do some more unpacking....yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (that was sarcasm in case you missed it!)

Unhappy babies....

2007-08-15T11:16:00.000-04:00

Quincy and Charlie are kind of freaking out about the move. All of this morning from like 4am on Charlie was wondering around the house crying. I'm not sure if he was trying to voice his displeasure and confusion or what. It made me wish that I spoke fluent cat. He was extremely lovey to me and even Quincy. He rubbed up against Quincy like almost to say don't let them leave me or I love you or your mine I won't let them forget you. Quincy is just as confused, just not as vocal about it. He just seems kind of on edge. I think they are really confused about the lack of stuff. Charlie doesn't have any good places to hide and Quincy can't lay on his couch.

I have to say that is it kinda of weirding me out as well. When I got home last night I want to set my stuff down somewhere and my choices were the floor or the kitchen counter. I'm really looking forward to leaving this empty house and arriving at my new empty house. The good news is though that the truck with all of our stuff in in will arrive on Saturday as well so we won't really have to be stuff less for very long. I'm really looking forward to sitting in my new recliner. Oh and sleeping in my bed again. The air mattress wasn't too bad last night but whenever one of us moves the whole bed moves because the air shifts. I think it was weirding the dog out since he didn't sleep with us very long last night.

boxes here, boxes there, boxes everywhere!

2007-08-14T08:42:00.000-04:00

I came home last night from work to a house full of boxes. The packer came yesterday morning and made quick work of all of our stuff. It is a little strange to have a house full of boxes. The animals are seriously confused. The cat hid the whole time they were packing. Quincy has been very clinging and mopey. Any guesses on how many boxes it took to pack all or our stuff?

Today the movers are loading up the truck. I just talked with Sean and they are apparently making pretty quick work of everything. Charlie is locked in my bathroom so hopefully that will help his nerves. So today I will come home to an empty house. It is going to be pretty weird. Although it looks like our stuff will get delivered Sunday Aug 19th. So we should only beat it there by a day. So I guess that means I'll only be stuff less for 5 days. Which isn't too bad.

Now I just need to figure out how to fit the large pile of stuff that we are moving ourselves into the Beetle and Passat. Luckily I have my secret weapon (aka, my Mom) arriving Thursday morning. She is amazing at packing cars so I have confidence that we'll be able to fit all of it.

Time flies when you're having fun!

2007-08-10T10:32:00.001-04:00

Tues was Sean and I's 3 year anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been married that long. On the same note sometime it feels like it was just yesterday when we got married. Sometimes people have a hard time believing that I'm married or that I've been married this long. To me it was just natural, the next progression. That is not to say that being married has been easy. I think being married and staying married it a lot of work however it is worth the work to have someone you love and can depend on.

Sean and I had a very low key anniversary. We went down Monday night to the North end and had dinner at Artu. The food was pretty good but the service was a bit lacking. We then headed over to Cafe Vittoria for tiramisu and lattes to go. I really hope that we can have dinner down in the north end one more time before we move because it our favorite place in Boston. We love the atmosphere and all the good food. So for us to go there to celebrate our anniversary was just perfect.

Expecting a new addition to our family...

2007-08-07T14:19:00.001-04:00

Sean and I are expecting a new FURRY addition to our family. Sean and I will be taking in Sean's brother Michael's Brittany Spaniel Toby. Toby has become too much for them to handle so he is going to become a part of our family. Sean and I have been considering getting a second dog for sometime now so it was an easy decision.

Toby is a very sweet dog who is in some serious need of some training and more exercise. I imagine he will be a pill to deal with some of the time but hopefully having Quincy around will help. Sean and I will also have to adjust our habits again so we aren't leaving things around the house that puppies might want to chew on. We have gotten lazy now that Quincy knows what he is and isn't allow to chew on.

Toby is close to a year old so is still very much a puppy with a lot of energy. I think Toby will be arriving in early September. I will need to step up my efforts to locate a good dog walker and perhaps a daycare for a couple of times a week so the boys get plenty of exercise.

At this rate I think I'm either doomed to have all boys or all my children will be girls! Because I'm already out numbered 3 to 1 and now it will be 4 to 1. Good thing the furry ones don't get a vote. Oh and everyone should keep their fingers crossed that Quincy learns to share! Cause all the barking will definitely get old.

Not turbo charged!

2007-08-07T08:06:00.000-04:00

For the last 9 months my turbo has been having some problems. Back before Christmas I had it checked and they replaced the waste control value. That seemed to fix the problem initially but then it came back. So for the last 6 months or so my check engine light comes on when the turbo is not working and goes off when it is working. Sometimes it will work for a solid week and then stop, other times it doesn't work for a couple of days.

Annoying but not really effecting my gas mileage I've been ignoring the problem because I knew it was going to cost money to have it fixed since it is no longer under VW warranty. Well I recent decided that perhaps I should have it checked out before I drive half way across the country!

So I took it to the VW dealership in Bedford which I have been taking it to for all of my services and what not. The mechanic says I have to replace the entire Turbo for a grand total of $1900. So I proceed to ask him tons of questions about what the problem is and he tells me nothing other than there is a problem and isn't enough pressure. He doesn't know what exactly the problem is! So I called my Dad and talk with him about it. My Dad is extremely handy and has worked on turbos before. Basically my Dad thinks I should get a second opinion and estimate because the guy wouldn't tell me or doesn't know exactly what was wrong with it.

So this morning I take my car to the Midas auto service in Nashua at Scott and Megan's recommendation. So we'll see what they have to say! Keep you fingers crossed that if it does need to be replaced they at least give me a lower estimate! I'm sure I gave the mechanics a laugh this morning because I wrote my information on the drop box form in purple ink and wrote about a page on the problem! I had to write cont on back!

I'll keep you all posted on the problem! Oh and for more information on how turbo work see here.

Its been a while.....

2007-08-07T07:54:00.000-04:00

I know it has been a while since my last post. Things have been a little crazy. The move is less than 2 weeks away and we have tons and tons of stuff left to do before hand. Also we have social engagements almost every single day until we leave. In fact if anyone else wants to see me before I head out that doesn't already have an arranged time speak now or forever hold you peace! J/K you may just have to come and visit us in Ohio. Just to give everyone a better picture let me break it down for you:

Days left of work: 8
Days left in Mass: 11
Packers come: Aug 13
Movers come: Aug 14
Mom comes: Aug 16 (early)
We leave at lunch on Aug 17.
Arrive in Ohio: Aug 18

I just can't believe how quickly this came up on me. I have lists and lists of things to do. I have had great intentions of being more prepared, yet I can't seem to make myself do many of the things on the list. I have a scary feeling that I may be up all night before the packers come....so keep your fingers crossed that is not the case.

Also it seems like the list of things we are moving our selves keeps getting bigger instead of smaller! I just don't want things I can't replace to get lost or broken. It is good thing we have a wagon!

Today's smile: Attack of the Post-it-note!

2007-08-01T09:05:00.001-04:00

I know it has been a while since a posted a smile so I'm going to recount a funny story about our cat Charlie.

One morning last week Charlie was sitting on the dining room table and was attacked by a sticky note! And by attacked I mean he sat his tail on one which was sticky side up. So try to picture a blue post-it stuck to Charlie's tail, flapping around. Needless to say Charlie was not happy and a little freaked out and kept spinning in circles trying to catch the sticky. Meanwhile the sticky is just flapping around. Well, I tried to catch him to get it off and he kept moving farther down the hallway clearly upset and thought he was being attacked. I finally caught him and remove it. At which point he look very indignant. Like how dare that THING attach to MY tail!!!

I really wish I could have video taped the incident because I think it would have done quite well on youtube. I could have been famous! Anyways hopefully you can get a small laugh or at least smile out of the narrative.

Officially home owners

2007-07-31T11:29:00.000-04:00

We closed on our house today!!! I just received a call from my buyer's agent that he has the keys. So we are officially home owners. Sean and I are quite excited about the house. On one hand we can't wait to move, on the other we will dearly miss all of our friends and the area. I never imagined that I would come to like this area as much as I do. Or that I would make the close friends I have!!! I'm completely torn and not quite really to say goodbye.

On another note stay tuned for future house updates including wall color choices, floor options, bathroom tile colors, etc.

Possible projects:
1. Paint walls
2. New flooring in kitchen, living room, and entry way.
3. New linoleum tiles in storage room.
4. New vanity in guest bath
5. Re-glaze tiles in both baths (hopefully so we won't have to re-tile)
6. Put in a bigger patio in the backyard
7. Raised beds for my garden next year.
8. New light fixtures
- Entry
- Dining
- Hallway
- bedrooms?
9. Window treatments. (currently super ugly drapes)
- shades
- curtains - maybe
10. Replace back door with french doors or sliding glass door

I'm sure I will come up with more later! So exciting!

A fabulous fried birthday

2007-07-31T10:45:00.000-04:00

Sunday was Sean's 25th birthday! I told him that I would make him whatever he wanted for the entire day, food wise that is. So for breakfast he wanted to go to our local greasy spoon diner. They have fairly good and fairly cheap food. Sean had an egg, cheese, and sausage breakfast sandwich. I had the french toast. We course had ice coffee since they have excellent iced coffee!

For lunch we just had leftover from our dinner and Chili's the night before. Still tasty however. Now for dinner we went all out. Sean wanted Chicken fried steak with mash potatoes and cream gravy. I was absolutely terrified of messing this meal up so I did plenty of research and Sean even spoke with his mom about how she usually prepared it. Well with my recipes in hand and some help from Sean picking out the seasoning he wanted I jumped right in. Now keep in mind that I like to follow recipes to the T. I don't like to improvise and modify and I had never fried anything. Well even with my numerous handicaps the meal came out well! Sean thought it was pretty good so I'll consider it a success. I now feel more able to cook new things.

Below is the approximate recipe

Chicken Fried Steak
1 1/2 lbs Cube Steak (I didn't want to do the pounding)
2 eggs
1/2 Cup milk
2ish Cups Flour
Salt (~1/2 tsp)
Pepper (~ 3/4 tsp)
Cayenne Pepper (~ 1/2 tsp)
Garlic Salt (~1/2 tsp)
Paprika (~1/4 - 1/2 tsp)
Oil (enough for 1/4 - 1/2 inches in the bottom of pan)

In a shallow pie pan beat eggs and milk together. In another pie pan or bowl mix flour and seasonings. The amount of seasoning is up to you. Sean likes a lot of seasoning on things so I used quite a bit. Now sprinkle seasoning on each side of the steak. Again the amount and what is seasoning is up to you. Now one at a time dip the steak in the egg mixture allowing excess to drip off and put in flour mixture. Coat each side liberally with flour. For a thicker crispier outside repeat the egg and then flour steps. Meanwhile or in advance start heating the oil in the pan to fry. Be careful to get the oil hot enough but not so hot that is smokes. It should be popping a little but not smoking. On my stove I had the skillet a touch above medium. I think to get the best crust you should flour right before sticking it in the oil. I would also recommend only one piece at a time unless you're using a larger electric skillet. They need about 3-4 minutes per side. To keep warm while making the gravy I put them in the oven heated to 200 degrees on a broiler pan.

Cream gravy
~1/4 Cup grease from cooking steaks. (Keep as many bits as possible)
4-6 Tbsp flour mixture (leftover from steaks)
Milk (~1-2 cups)

Reheat oil on medium to medium low. Once oil is hot add flour. Mix well with whisk. Cook for 1-2 minutes to cook out flour favor. The flour is a thickening agent. So the consistency of the flour oil mixture should be a thick liquid. Pour in milk slowly stirring the entire time to avoid clumps. The amount of milk depends on the consistency you want. Cook 2-4 minutes to thicken. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Serve Steak with Gravy over top. Mashed potatoes are also good with this meal. :-)

Oh and no I won't make it for you. It will be at least several months before I make this again. To much effort and fat! Although quite tasty!

Fun at IKEA

2007-07-24T10:20:00.000-04:00

On Saturday Dan, Shari, Sean and I met at Barnes and Noble to pick up our Harry Potter books and then headed down to Ikea. Sean and I wanted to look for bookcases and entertainment stands. Shari and Dan were looking for some organization stuff for their new apartment. We had fun wandering around the store and looking at all the crazy stuff they have. I found a new table for my craft room. See image above. The table height is adjustable. So I can make it counter height so I can stand to do certain things. I also got a barstool to go with it so I can sit if I want. The best part in it has a glass top and there is a 1 inch gap between the glass and the table so I can slide my pattern and my sketches in there so I can see them without cluttering up the top. Plus the legs have some store space. I'm super excited about it. Since we are in the process of moving I won't get to set it up until after we move. Also I got the barstool for 60% off since it was the last one in black since they were discontinuing that color.

Sean was a little annoyed that I got a desk and we didn't get anything that we were looking for. None of the bookcase were quite what we were looking for. Neither were the entertainment tables. I also picked up some glass containers for sugar and flour as well as a magnetic metal strip for knives. I want to hang it on the side of a cabinet by the sink. Knife blocks just take up too much space and seem a little unsanitary.

They are actually going to open an Ikea on the north side of Cincinnati in the fall so I should be able to go back for more home stuff after we get settled in our new house. Also Libby was telling me that there is a Pottery Barn outlet near Beavercreek that often has good stuff. It will be nice to have some extra cabinet space so I can get more dishes for entertaining and stuff. I just love kitchen stuff!

Going back to my childhood

2007-07-23T16:13:00.000-04:00

Last night to celebrate Sean and Dan birthday's we met some friends for dinner at The Border Cafe and then saw Transformers. It was great to see everyone and catch-up and the food was pretty good. Although not the best Mexican I've had, it took care of my craving for the moment. Plus no meal can be truly bad with a margaritas and guacamole.

Then most of us headed to the movie theater. Let me preference this review with, I hadn't seen any previews for Transformers and had no expectation about it. Also I'll add that I generally like movies based on comic books, with the exception of the Spiderman movies....the actor who plays Peter really annoys me. Well anyways I LOVED IT! I thought it was absolutely hilarious and entertaining. I will grant you that it had some disjointed parts but overall I thought the plot was good and the corniness was at the right level. I think the movie transported me back to watching cartoons as a child. It almost felt like a kids cartoon the way it was slightly over the top and the dialog was corny. At one point during the movie I leaned over to Sean and said "They are so shiny." Anyways I was extremely entertained and amused! It could have been my mood last night or the lack of sleep or perhaps the fat overload from mexican but I was the only one who really like it! Mostly everyone else thought it was pretty good but could have been better. Dan has a nice review on his blog.

Fun with Purses

2007-07-20T10:56:00.000-04:00

For my birthday Shari and Robyn got my a gift certificate to 1154 Lill which is a store that you can build custom purses. Last night we went down there to create the purse! We had tons of fun picking out fabrics and putting them together to build the perfect purse. I swear I was in purse heaven and it was so hard to narrow things down to the final purse (shown above). I really think I could have designed at 3-4 more purses from all the different fabrics I liked.
Unfortunately it will take until Aug 18th to get the purse so it is being shipped to the new house. So I promised to take and send photos of it when it arrives. I also promised to bring when I return to the Boston area for Shari's wedding in October. I seriously can't wait to get the purse. I feel quite inspired to open my own create your custom purse shop some day.

Well after designing and purchasing the awesome purse we heading over to The Upper Crust for some delicious pizza and of course more girl talk! We topped the evening off with ice cream from J.P. Licks in Davis square. I got some excellent cookie dough ice cream. I forgot how much I love cookie dough. It really might be my next food kick.....of course that might not be ideal for my waist line. It is a good thing that Edy's make a double churned light with the dough!

I will of course post some more picture of the PURSE when it comes! I'm so excited!!!

a few more house updates

2007-07-16T13:38:00.000-04:00

I heard from my buyer's agent Bob today and things are still going smoothly. They are treating and retesting the well to clear up the bacteria problem. The air conditioner will be serviced this week. The only other thing we asked them to fix was the radon issue. The level was 4.3 which is only .3 above the tolerance. We asked the seller to install a system to reduce the level. They had a previous test which was below the tolerance. They got another quote for the system installation. So we'll see what happens with that. Sean and I weren't that concerned about that so if won't install it, it won't be a deal breaker. So all it all things are looking good to close at the end of July.

One other interesting note.....The large 6.6 acre property behind us is owned by the chief of police! I guess we won't be having any wild and crazy parties! We can't actually see his house from our yard......so maybe only quiet wild parties.

Things are coming together

2007-07-16T10:17:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to give everyone an update on how things are going for the move. I heard from the guy in Ohio and they are going to offer me a job. So I'll get to stay with my current company and just transfer. This is excellent news and exactly what I was hoping for!!!

On the house front, things are still going as planned. There were only a few minor issues that we are asking to be fixed before we close. I haven't heard the sellers response yet but I'm figuring no new is probably good news. I'm going to call my buyer's agent today and get an update.

We discovered that we already paid our last month's rent so we are pretty much all set with our current house. We are solving the fence issue by throwing a fence removal bbq in a couple of weeks. Thank goodness for good friends who are willing to help in exchange for beer and food.

We still have a lot of stuff to accomplish before the movers come and a lot of people to spend some time with some I imagine this time will fly by way to quickly!

More fence rental fun!

2007-07-12T10:16:00.000-04:00

This morning I woke up grumpy. My allergies are driving me nuts so I couldn't breathe I didn't get enough sleep and I really didn't have time to walk Quincy. I decided however that for my sanity it would be better to be late to work and walk Quincy anyway. So we are walking along and he decides he needs to poop. I of course forgot a sack. So I try and stop him but he digs his heels in. Of course the spot he picks is in someones yard and on a busier street in my neighborhood. So Not only do I not have a sack 3 cars go by. Quite embarrassing! After we return home I get a sack and get into my car and drive back to the scene of the crime to pick it up. Of course this had to happen just down the street from my landlord's house. Who is taking out his trash at the time. So finish and turn the car around thinking this is a good time to try and reason with him about the fence. Why I thought this was a good idea I don't know but anyway..... I pull up and explain what I was doing which he sort of gives me a weird look and laughs. I then proceed to ask him about putting a top bar on the fence, since I understood that that was his concern. Well apparently what he is concerned about is someone suing him if they get hurt on the fence. Apparently he talked to him insurance guy about it. So I then ask him if he could just get him tenets to sign a release form or put it in the lease. He doesn't want to mess with it. The only way he would have been okay with us leaving the fence was if we had found a tenet to rent the place that had dogs and wanted the fence.

So basically I think he is mad that we didn't help him find a tenet, because now he has to find one himself! He tried to give us any incentive by putting in our lease renewal that he would knock money off our last month's rent if we found a new tenet. I'm sorry it is not our job to find a new renter. He got quite grumpy with me during this conversation. I could just tell by his facial expression and movements that he was mad. I then made him more mad I think by asking for a copy of our lease since Sean and I miss placed our copy. Part of me really want to say screw you about the fence if it isn't in our lease agreement. However Sean I think is to honest for that.

I'm just so angry about having to take an improvement to the property down! What do you think are the chance of someone suing him because they hurt themselves on the fence. I mean couldn't someone just as easily slip and fall in the bath tub and sue him for that. If fact that probably more likely since the tub doesn't have any preventive mat or stickers for more traction. I've whacked my head on the pedestal sink sweeping up cat litter in our half bath, perhaps I should sue him for that!

I think I'm done ranting, at least for the moment!

A wonderful wedding

2007-07-09T21:24:00.000-04:00

I'm finally posting a few photos from John and Megan's wedding! Aren't they cute! Next photo is John surrounded by Meg's sorority sisters. Last one is their beautiful cake.

Tomato Tomado

2007-07-09T20:53:00.000-04:00

I love tomatos!!! So this year I planted 3 different varietes of tomato plants in big pots. I wasn't sure how well they would do but they are growing gang busters. They are huge! The cherry tomato plant already has some little green guys on it! I'm so excited I can't wait for them to rippen. So this year tomatos, next year maybe lots of other veggies....or maybe just tons of tomatos!

Fun with Bleach!

2007-07-09T16:05:00.000-04:00

So we hit a small snag with the well for the house. The water sample tested positive for Coliform (Various types of bacteria). So to disinfect the well it has to be bleached. The procedure itself is fairly simple but sort of a pain. We are going to ask the current home owners to do this and then we will have the water retested. Honestly I would think they would want to do this because currently they are drinking and using infected water. Chances are that the bacteria isn't enough to make them or anyone sick but if it increased it would. Hopefully this treatment will fix the problem and we won't have to do anything else. Otherwise all the other inspections so far have shown no major problems just some minor stuff. I'll keep everyone posted but so far it looks like we are still a go for closing on July 31st!

rental fun....

2007-07-06T08:48:00.000-04:00

So apparently we agreed to take down the fence when we moved out if that is what the landlord wanted. I don't recall to agreeing to this....I may try and look it up in our lease..... Anyways he apparently want us to take the fence down. We made an improvement to the property and he wants us to remove it! What a pain in the butt!!! I can't possibly see why the fence would be a bad thing or a turnoff to potential renters. Especially if those renters also have dogs. I mean I know it isn't the pretty fence and it doesn't have a top bar on the chain link but still, it does its job. It keeps Quincy in and would definitely keep small children in. What more could you want from a rental. He is apparently concerned about the lack of top bar and the look. You don't rent a place because everything is perfect and beautiful you rent a place because it fits your needs. He could install a top bar if he wanted to! But no we have to remove the fence.

Sean thinks the man that installed will be willing to come back and remove it for free if he can keep the materials. I have my doubts that he will do it for free since it will be several hours of labor to take the fence down. Plus I think some of the posts are stuck in with concrete. I'm just really annoyed that we have to remove the fence! It just seems pointless and dumb to me. I would think most renters would like the idea of the fence. Although New Englanders don't seem to be quite and into fences and people in the west. Sorry I just needed to rant!

Now I feel more motivate to help find a renter that has a dog so I won't have to take the fence down! So know anyone looking to rent a 3 bedroom house in MA?

Getting closer to being home owners

2007-07-05T11:06:00.000-04:00

The inspection went really well on the house. Only some small minor problems. Like some nails on the roof, and GSI outlets should be installed in the kitchen and bathrooms (the ones with the red and black buttons). He recommended insulation under the floor in the crawl space. Some all really minor stuff, which is really good. We still have the well inspector and termite guy. It is looking good. I'm so excted!

Soon to be home owners!

2007-07-03T08:30:00.000-04:00

We have the house under contract! We were able to workout a deal with the sellers after several back and fourths. So baring any problems with the inspections and appraisal....We are HOME OWNERS!

Sean and I are super excited! I'll keep you all post about that and my job. I should find out whether they are going to give me an offer next week. It seemed very promising after my interview yesterday so keep your fingers crossed (mentally of course....cause that could get painful otherwise)

Big developments in Kateland

2007-07-01T23:07:00.000-04:00

Sean and I put an offer on a house today! We have already received a counter offer which we are mauling over tonight. We are super exicited about the house! It is a brick ranch with 2000 sq ft. So plenty big for our little family of 4. Above are a few pictures of the house. First is the front of the house, second part of the kitchen plus Bob our buyer's agent, and third the family room. I'll keep everyone posted on what happens.

Also tomorrow is my interview with the Dayton office of my current company. So wish me luck! I really want this to workout because job hunting sucks and I'm really exicited about the position.

Whirlwind of activity

2007-06-28T11:07:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. June has been a whirlwind of activity. I was home in Colorado for 10 days for a wedding and to visit family. I had a great visit minus some yucky stomach bug! The wedding was absolutely wonderful, the best I've been to in a long time! I'll try and post some pictures later.

I saw Max, Jenn, and Tim. All are doing well. Max is talking up a storm of mostly understandable english. Tim became his favorite uncle however "Uncle Tim" sounds a lot like "all done" so it was a bit confusing! I really wished they lived closer so I could see him more often.

Once I returned home I launched head long into preparing for our house hunting trip this weekend. I've spent hours and hours this week going through listing and prioritizing them. I gave the Realtor a list of our top 25 house yesterday morning. Lucky he deals with this sort of thing all the time due to the base. Last night I was up past 1am getting all of our stuff ready to go and printing stuff for the mortgage lady. This was really a bad time for Sean to have a business trip. He flies back in at 2pm today and we leave again for Ohio at 9:30pm. Lucky him! I've have my laptop while in OH so I'll try and post how things are going.

Keeping Tally

2007-06-13T10:22:00.001-04:00

I feel like I should be keeping a daily tally of how many head hunters call me a day. I get 1 - 5 calls a day for jobs in MA. I have to keep telling people that I'm relocating or I just don't bother to call or e-mail back. However they can be quite persistent. Some will just keep calling or e-mailing until you give them a response. Last week I put in Bold letters at the top of resume that I was relocating to Dayton, but it is like they can't read or don't read it. Quite annoying! So I guess if you any of you out there is looking for a job in the Boston area there appear to be plenty!

Comfort Movies

2007-06-12T08:47:00.000-04:00

I had a horrid day yesterday. I won't bore everyone with all the details it was just a lot of little things that built up. However I cheered myself up last night with watching one of my favorite movies, Pride and Prejudice (BBC production...not the new one which is awful in my opinion). I'm not sure what it is about this movie but I always feel better after I watch some or all of it. I watched most of part 1 last night as it is a 6 hour movie. I've watched it so many times that I can almost recite all of the lines. My other comfort movie is 10 Things I Hate About You. Both are excellent movies that I would recommend highly to all my female friends....as they are mostly chick flicks. Although Sean will halfway watch while he is doing something else. Anyone have any comfort movies they would like to share? I'm not sure if this is just a chick thing or not.....

Oh and bonus...Colin Firth is super hot in this movie (especially in the scene above)

Wine and Cheese birthday extravaganza

2007-06-11T22:28:00.000-04:00

I had an excellent birthday party! All the wines and cheeses were so yummy. Above are some picture from the festive events. Thanks everyone for coming and a special thanks to Sean, Shari, Robyn, and Natalie for all your planning and hard work!

Top picture: Me and my two cakes
2nd: The spread
3rd: Me and Sean
Last: Amy, Me, and Jessie

The Big 25!

2007-06-08T13:52:00.000-04:00

Today is my 25th birthday! It is a little strange to think about being 25. On one hand it is just another day but then on the other I'm half way to 30. So far my birthday is turning out to be excellent! I may have a lead on a job possibility with my current company in Dayton Oh. I talk with the manager out there today and I'm going to meet up and talk with him when we are out there for our house hunting trip. My co-workers took me out for Indian! I love Indian and the food was excellent today. We even got my boss to come and try Indian. I think he liked it alright.

Tonight Shari and Sean are throwing me a surprise-ish birthday party with help from Natalie and Robyn. I know it is happening and I know who is coming but that is about all I know. I'm sure it will be fantastic! I'll post some pictures later. I even bought a new top to wear to the party!

One other highlight was my brother calling and singing me happy birthday! It was too cute!

A different view on African Aid

2007-06-07T12:53:00.000-04:00

I read this interview today with a Kenyan economic expert. The expert stated that all the aide that western countries are giving to Africa is really doing more damage than good. When I started the article I was thinking how could this be? Wouldn't Africa starve without our aid? After finishing the article I think the expert has some very good points and makes perfect since. I think in the future I will think twice before I donate money to an African cause. I highly recommend you give this article a quick read.

I found another article that I wanted to include.
BBC news - Why aid doesn't work

Thanks

2007-06-07T07:48:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to thank everyone for being so encouraging yesterday! I will keep you'll posted about the job progress.

Now back to the goats. I have strange fascination with farm animals, always have I guess. So while I think most of you thought I was kidding about the goats...I wasn't entirely. I did some research and here and the highlights:

1. To get the cashmere you can just comb your goats not shear.
2. The goats are profitable in 3 ways: cashmere, meat, and weed control
People actually rent their goats out to eat down fields of weeds. Can you imagine having your lawn maintained by a bunch of goats!
3. There are consultants that you can pay to help you set up a cashmere goat business.
4. An extremely sturdy fence is required to keep the goats contained.

While I'm still for the goat plan, I had no luck convincing Sean. He told me that only if I made 30,000 more a year than I do now. Because he thinks it would cost that much to get it up and running. I told him that the idea was to not work anymore, just raise goats. He also pointed out that we wouldn't be living there long enough to make the business viable and how would be move the goats....while I'm not giving up, I think the goats will have to wait!

Job search

2007-06-06T14:13:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling a little discouraged by my job search. I imagine my expectation are too high. I've sent out at least 5 resumes over the last couple of weeks and haven't heard anything back. Waiting is the tough part. I guess I thought it would quicker or easier or something. If I was staying around here or willing to move somewhere else I think things would be looking at lot better. I get at 2-3 phone calls from head hunters everyday for jobs in the Boston area. Yesterday I got a call from a Woman at Amazon in Seattle wanting to talk to me.

I'm beginning to think now might be a good time for me to start my own business....or something. I wonder if I would be any good at retail! Or perhaps, it a good time to start raising cashmere goats. I wonder how much land you would need to raise goats....

Visions of the future

2007-06-05T13:55:00.000-04:00

I came into the bedroom last night to get ready for bed and Sean and Quincy were cuddling together on the bed. Quincy was making himself quite comfortable in my spot. He is allowed on the bed but only when we invite him up and there is sheet covering the comforter and pillows. They looked so cute and content (except Quincy was giving me the don't make me get down yet...this is my spot eyeball) I suddenly had visions of a King sized bed full of animals and children. Sean has been talking about upgrading to a King bed for sometime....I'm not sold on the idea since I'm not sure I want Quincy sleeping with us nightly. Besides a bigger bed just seems like an invitation for other people and animals to join in. Although the image looks cozy....I think my sleep would suffer. Charlie already wakes me up at least once a night!

Today's Smile: Puggles

2007-06-04T16:33:00.001-04:00

A Puggle is a mix between a Pug and a Beagle. They are so cute. They get closer to a Beagle in size. They are suppose to have the good qualities of each breed. I met one the other day on Newbury St. and it was the cutest thing. I was going to tell Sean about it and before I could he says to me "I was thinking that our next dog might be a puggle" and I said "OMG I saw one the other day and it was so cute and nice. It was a little crazy...perhaps it is a sign. To see more picture of the little guy click here.

Reunion of Bestfriends

2007-06-04T14:19:00.000-04:00

My best friend of 23 years, Natalie, is visiting right now from Colorado for the week. I'm super excited to have her here right now! She is staying through my birthday on Friday. I can't take any time off from work so she will be doing some site seeing on her own in Boston this week. Today she was going to go to the aquarium! Hopefully she is staying dry in this yucky weather today. Hopefully the rest of the week will be nicer for her! We don't have any big plan for this week other than to talk talk and talk some more about everything that has been going on in our lives. Also she is helping Sean and I with our Tennis skills since she is coaching Tennis this year. She actually said that we weren't horrible. I wonder if she needs to have her eyes checked!

Pics of puerto Rico

2007-06-03T23:14:00.001-04:00

Enjoy! Top one, the beach and light house at the Punta Tuna. Second one, Sean and I at the Bacardi factory. Last one, flower in El Yunque Rain Forest.

losing my mind lately

2007-06-01T11:43:00.000-04:00

I think I may be losing my mind lately. I keep having this problem where I type an e-mail or blog post or something of that nature and I substitute different words in. I have to go back and read all things very carefully because the word I typed is usually not even close to what I meant. Like I mean to type have and type not. Those words are not even close. They don't start with the same letter! and don't mean any where close to the same thing. Do you think my body is trying to tell me something...like get more sleep, or stop taking tons of allergy medicine, or take more allergy medicine, or something else that is unknown to me.

I have a hug pile of Kleenex on my desk and I'm waiting for a call back from my doctor about getting a stronger Rx for my allergies. I can't seem to focus on anything. I'm being waiting to hear back all week about the resumes I submitted last week to Raytheon and Ball. But nothing! I mean I don't think I should worry too much since this week was a holiday week but I was really hoping to hear something. I guess I will submit some more resumes this weekend. Job searching totally sucks and is probably contributing to my total basket case behavior!

Today's Smile: Lego Art

2007-05-31T14:24:00.000-04:00

I found this interesting article on CNN today about a man who stop being a lawyer to do Lego art. I was thinking what is Lego art. I was thinking giant statues of Harry Potter however it was so much cooler. You can find out more information and see some of him pieces at his website. The pieces are very cool and really do look like art. He currently has an exhibit at a museum. Can you imagine Lego's in a museum. Legos are now "high brow" The whole concept just makes me giggle. I love Legos and used to play with them all the time as a kid. So it is almost like part of childhood is in a museum. However the sculptures are so much cooler than something I would make. Definitely check it out!

New favorite website: Pandora

2007-05-31T10:55:00.000-04:00

I've updated my current obsession website to be Pandora. Pandora is radio from the "Music Genome Project." So basically you can create stations based on an artist or song and then it will find other music that is similar. Than you can rate the music thumbs up- play more like this or thumbs down-don't play this anymore. The more you rate the better your station gets. It is so awesome. You can also share stations with friends. I'm currently listening to my Nickelback station. I also have a Anna Nalick station and well as a Pon de Replay station (when I need some upbeat dance type music). Check it out! Or if you already have some stations I would love to hear them so send me them in e-mail!