Tag: pets

new things

There have been a lot of exciting things happening around here. Finally I get to share them with you!

First of all, if you’ll take a minute to click through, you’ll notice my new design. There are still a few odds and ends to clean up here and there, but it’s basically done. I absolutely love it, and I hope you do too. Thanks to my brother for doing all the leg work, and so much faster than I expected!

Now on to the other stuff…

My husband is going to a conference in New York City in April, and for my birthday my in-laws got me a plane ticket to accompany him. My parents got me the guidebook plus some cash to spend while there, and my husband pooled together with my brothers to buy us house seating to Billy Elliott on Broadway. Those tickets aren’t available to the public, and we only got them because of my brother’s theatre connections. I am SO excited.

Meet Oliver, our new puppy. Yes, puppy. He is only about seven months old and is already a hundred pounds (& growing). He has a limp, but it doesn’t seem to slow him down much. We’ve already bid a fond farewell to two pairs of shoes, a dog bed, and cleaned up several smelly presents. Thank God for the crate. Oliver’s not yet neutered, a situation that we intend to rectify as soon as possible, so we can’t leave him around our other dogs for too long because he’s way too alpha.

Despite the difficulties of wrangling three dogs around the house, one of them an enormous puppy, we love it. Oliver is soft, sweet, and one day he’ll make an excellent cuddler – when he learns that people’s arms aren’t chew toys.

On Sunday after church I dragged my husband and my mom to three different dealerships all across town before we finally found one that was open. When I told the salesman I was interested in a Prius, he immediately had me test drive a new one. I admit that I was swayed by the bells and whistles it offered, but in the end it cost $11,000 more than a used car. I found this 2005 model with only 26,000 miles and we got an amazing interest rate, free warranty, AND they’re installing an mp3 connection for free – because I HAVE to be able to plug in my iPhone.

When I was driving it home from the dealership I was so excited and preoccupied that I turned the wrong way on the Interstate and didn’t notice for about thirty minutes. I was almost to Huntsville (which is about 1.5 hours away from my home) by the time I turned around. Good thing I get great gas mileage now! Seriously though, I love this car. It makes my life a million times easier.

I’m having a great week. How about you?

February 10, 2010
A Bunch Of Only Slightly Related Things

My morning has already been quite busy, and before I get on with the rest of the day (which will mostly involve cleaning) I simply must share with you these trivial thoughts.

First of all, go on over and visit Lauren From Texas for her 6-month blogiversary! She’s having an adorable giveaway. Go ahead, go. I’ll wait. Now onto the randomness.

Our dog Eddie hurt her leg last night trying to jump up onto our insanely high bed. She’s not putting any weight on it at all. We’ve been giving her children’s aspirin and trying to get her to rest. This has happened before, and after a couple weeks the leg got back to almost-normal. Here’s hoping it will heal up again without veterinary intervention (which is not exactly in the budget right now).

Speaking of budget, David and I finally made one for ourselves and we’re starting in November. We’re getting serious about saving, people. I want to go to Scotland to visit my friend Megan, I want a new car, I want to have an emergency fund, I want to be debt free, and I want to be able to comfortably retire eventually. That means more cooking, eating leftovers, less eating out, no Starbucks, no random trips to Target, and no new furniture for awhile. I’m even getting crazy and attempting to make my own cleaning supplies, and other such things. It’ll be hard, but so worth it! Share your frugal tips or frugal living blogs, please and thank you.

I rarely buy myself anything, but with the impending doom of tight budget looming I made one little splurge. I’ve been searching for a dainty little choker for awhile now that I can wear with pretty much anything, and that I can also layer it with other necklaces. I found it at Jeneri Jewelry. It’s perfect and I love it.

This morning I forced myself to go run before it started raining. I was very impressed with myself not only that I actually went, but also because I ran the farthest that I have run in…well I can’t even remember. I have a 5k in a little over a week and I don’t want to pass out mid-stride. Also, I don’t want Maggie to leave me in the dust. When I set out this morning I told myself that the only reason I’d stop to walk is if I felt like I was going to throw up. That didn’t happen, and although I had to battle myself mentally not to take some shortcuts home, I’m calling it a success.

After running I hurriedly showered and dressed and set out to meet my sister-in-law Vanessa and my nephew Lucas for their Kindermusik class. I’m not used to any kind of mommy or baby activities so it was a little strange for me, but Lucas (and the other kids, but mainly Lucas) was sooooo adorable and he obviously enjoys it. I love that little boy so much.

Finally, I’ve decided to take on NaBloPoMo this November. The only requirements are to sign up, and then post every single day for a month. This is one of my 101 goals, so might as well get it over with. It seems I usually post 2-3 times a week, so this will definitely be a challenge. Let me know if you’re doing it too, because I could use the encouragement and solidarity. I’m going to try not to fill it up with cop-out posts, but I guarantee there will be some of those mixed in. I’m making a little theme for myself though, which will hopefully yield some direction for me and some semi-quality writing for you. I’ll tell you all about it on Sunday, when the challenge starts.

So that’s what’s on my mind, how about you?

October 29, 2009
Rainy Day

Today has looked like this:

Hard to capture in a photo how grey and rainy it is, but it is.

So I took off my running shoes and spent the morning reading blogs. Then I made some Christmas cards:

And when I finished with that I unabashedly read for a few hours, switching off chapters between these two books:

And spent some time cuddling with these girls:

And that’s about all the day was good for, which is okay by me.

Tonight David and I are going over to Scott & Vanessa’s house (David’s brother and his wife) for the first of our dinner exchanges. We decided to formalize these since we had pretty much been doing it anyway. On Thursday they will come over and I’ll cook for the four of us.

How was your Monday?

October 26, 2009
On Being A Wife

My husband and I have been married almost a year. Although I’m not planning on trading in my scrubs and stethoscope anytime soon, I have this crazy idea that I can be both a full-time, successful nurse and a fantastic, domestic wife. In my mind that means everything from keeping the house clean, doing chores, cooking frequent meals, budgeting and saving money, decorating the house, entertaining, and gardening to birthing babies and keeping my husband happy.

In some of those areas I am quite deficient, which bothers me if I’m honest with myself. So yesterday, my day off, I resolved to be the perfect housewife.

First there were the four piles of dog vomit that needed to be cleaned. Step One: pick up the bulk and throw it away. Step Two: vacuum the dry pieces left behind. Step Three: spray with pet stain remover and forget about it for hours on end. Step Four: drizzle with water and scrub. Step Five: blot dry. I’m sure you have all been dying to know that information your whole life.

Then there was dinner to prepare for. I found this recipe for spicy meatballs in creamy beef broth and was bound and determined to make it happen. I spent an hour or so on the prep and then they were in the Crockpot cooking away. Later on I cleaned the house, paid some bills, and was just settling down to read when David came home. After some last minute preparations we ate dinner together (success) and I asked him how his day at work was. Then he took a nap and I read.

But the crucial part of the day came when I went to see Julie & Julia with my mom. It was a great movie that we both loved, and it affected me on several levels. Most obviously, it encouraged me to cook more. It also made me want to continue to be devoted to my blog while adhering to personal boundaries. I could write an entire post about either of those subjects.

But one thing that especially stood out to me in the movie was how these two women had amazing husbands. I kept expecting something to go very wrong with their relationships like it usually does in movies, but it never did. This movie made me want to be a great wife, and I don’t mean by cooking elaborate meals.

I’ve been married for almost eleven months, and I am trying to learn how to cook, decorate my house, live on a budget, and hopefully even birth some babies along the way while balancing my vocation as a nurse. This blog is in large part a record of those things. But most importantly, I just want to love my husband. I want to love him better all the time. Lucky for me, he’s quite lovable.

August 22, 2009
Power Outage

We had a storm roll through tonight, and our power has been going on and off all evening, with the majority of it off. Our nervous dog Eddie has been beside herself. This is how I spent most of my time tonight:

It wasn’t enough for her to be near me, she had to be ON TOP of me. The pictures, taken with my computer which was on my lap, are blurry because she was shaking.

I think things have finally calmed down, and I’ll be back with you tomorrow with my thoughts on being a wife after seeing Julie & Julia. But right now I must get myself to sleep, since I have to work in the morning. Happy weekend to everyone else!

August 21, 2009