Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Merry Christmas

Hey all! I have been trying to post this since around the 23rd.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

That is all.

Love,
Jeff, Heather, and Duncan

 
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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Heather the Spider Slayer

Yes, that was a lame reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You'll never guess what I've been up to!

As we moved into this house at the end of September of last year, certain things were, erm.. um... "taken care of" by the previous owners. Loosely translated, this means that we had no idea our home would be overtaken by these nasty little critters often referred to as spiders. Sure, of course we expected some. I mean, this is a house with a dark basement, right?

However, let me share with you my experiences.

#1. When we first realized there may have been spiders, we put traps D-O-W-N. Exterminators would be impressed by the quickness in our response time. This did not comfort me when we had the water heater incident. A plumber had come to help us replace the dip tube in the water heater, and my part in this task was to turn on the hose leading from the water heater to an outflowing drain when I got home, and turn it off before bedtime. Easy enough, right? WRONG! After turning on the water, I decided to leisurely pass the time in our living room reading... Duncan came to me and began using the "Timmy-is-stuck-in-the-well" voice often reserved for emergencies. I went running downstairs and, upon hitting the linoleum, did the splits in a way that an olympic gymnast would be proud. As I was attempting to gain traction to stand up, I saw a group of dead spider bodies floating by me. This illustrates the image. I did what anyone in this situation would do: I screamed and clawed my way back up the stairs.

#2. Pulling weeds outside. I was pulling to my hearts content only to see beady eyes staring up at me. In my weed pulling gear (read: tank top, shorts, and flip flops), I did what any sane person would do: I screamed and ran away. After I halfway caught my breath, I described the spider to Jeff. He indicated it sounded like, from my description, a black widow spider that was big enough to have it's own SyFy show.

#3. I took Duncan outside to use the restroom. Little did I know, as I closed the door behind me, a spider would be waiting to eat my head. I screamed and called Jeff (who, thank goodness, was right inside the door). He quickly eliminated my problem and said I "MAY" have been over-exaggerating how big it was. Who, me?

#4. This one was in the basement. It was probably super close to being dead, but I swear to you, even in it's last throws of life, it was trying to kill me and suck all of my blood out. I screamed (to which Jeff was not amused... apparently 6:30 in the morning is a little too "early" to be frightened a spider will take my life), grabbed Jeff's shoes, and began whacking away.

***Here's a tip for all you would-be-spider-slayers. NEVER use your own shoes. What if it gets stuck, alive, to the bottom of them, and you don't know and they wake up and kill you and suck your blood out?!***

#5. I let Duncan out last week at 6:30. I noticed nothing unusual. I let him out again around 7:45 before I left. He immediately ran outside and began pulling at a spiderweb that can only be described as Charlotte's Web-worthy, except in the middle it was written: "I'm going to kill you and suck all your blood out! HAHA! With much love, but even more love after I kill you, The Nasty Ugly Spider." You can't make this stuff up. As the spider closed in on Duncan, I screamed and quickly ran to his aid. After getting Duncan out of the sticky (har har) situation, I ran inside to grab Jeff's shoe. The spider at this time had now attached itself to a top piece of wood on our deck... out of reach of the shoe. I ran inside and found the next best thing: a broom. While the shoe would not attach to the broom, I used it in poking, slashing, and finally stabbing actions when the spider fell to his doom. Jeff had a good laugh imagining what the neighbors saw.

#6. Yesterday, I found a BIG spider (Jeff even begrudgingly admitted it was big -- "not smallish" was the term he used, but any victory is a victory) on our outside patio table. I screamed and began using my MacGyver like skills to bring it to its demise. I began throwing Duncan's toys at it until 1 finally made contact. At this point, I moved in for the kill (read: about 3 feet away) and continued to throw bigger, heavier objects at it until it had to have been dead. Needless to say, when I was satisfied he was dead, the air strikes stopped. Jeff laughed as he sorted through the rubble (Duncan's toys, garden hose apparatuses, decorative stones from out back, you get the idea), but then agreed with me (at least in my head) that our lives were in danger and I had no other choice.

You know, it's hard saving the world from spiders, but someone's gotta do it. Hope all is well with you and yours. :)

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Things Duncan Has Eaten

Hello, friends. As many of you know, we absolutely love Duncan, our son/dog. He is crate-trained and spends his days while we work (and until recently, nights) in the crate. Of course, Grandma Jaye comes over and plays with him regularly (especially on our long-days), so he is not caged up all the time.

He recently celebrated his 1 year birthday, which for us meant it was time to take his crate-training in a new direction: free reign training. This, of course, means that we are training him to be a free reign doggy... one who is not destined to be in the crate unless by his own choosing while we are not at home. He will have access to his toys, not have to drink out of a hamster water-thingy, and, of course, can sleep on the sofa all day long (his preferred activity of the weekends).

Until recently, he had been on steroids for his allergies, and with the frequent overnight accidents, our training was delayed. We did, however, get him a doggy bed outside of the crate with the anticipation of beginning training when the sickness cleared. He has since been doing great with sleeping outside of the crate, and aside from a few bizarre incidents where I wake to find him licking my armpit from the side of the bed, he spends his time on his bed until we wake up in the morning.

Now, with free reign doggy training, we have been leaving him for short times outside of the crate, typically while doing errands such as getting the mail, running to the store, taking a tree stump out of our yard, etc.

Duncan had been doing great with all of it until recently... I am not sure which was the first to go, but here are the things we have so far noticed:

1. Puzzle pieces. This actually occurred while I was downstairs doing laundry. I have been working on a marble puzzle, which is perhaps why I did not notice it immediately. So far we estimate he has pilfered about 100 pieces.

2. A camping chair bag. We knew by little blue pieces of fabric left next to the chair, which interestingly enough, was left intact.

3. Many pieces of my... ahem... lady laundry was pulled out of the dirty clothes hamper and hidden at various locations around our house.

And here's the big one...

4. Jeff's glasses. Duncan somehow managed to get them off the middle of the table, and left us chewed up lenses (but not broken, much credit to LensCrafters and their "no-break guarantee") and a long piece of wire.

Needless to say, the free reign training has taken a few steps back. Perhaps, one day (most likely when we pay off the extra pair of glasses), we will begin again, but it is still a work in progress. Hope all is well with you and yours. :)

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Exam

Well, guys, here's something that's been keeping my time quite occupied.

My clinical supervisor asked me awhile back (read: about a month ago) to take my Clinical Licensure Exam. I immediately dived in to the intense studying, often working many hours a day and coming home to study until it was time for bed. The reason for the time crunch is that this exam was only available for me to take until the end of this month; due to changing regulations, I would need to wait until the end of my clinical supervision (around 2 years) to be eligible once again to take this exam.

Jeff, bless his heart, was patient and understanding, even though we came to a mutual decision that THIS SUCKED!

Flash forward to this morning: I set off, confident, towards the exam center. As I drove toward the testing location, I had plenty of time to mentally review key points of my studies (thank you, road construction). A pan-handler in the parking lot threw off my concentration some, but I was still determined to pass this test.

As the test began, I quickly realized the questions were MUCH harder than I had studied and prepared for. My confidence began to wane the farther I went into the exam. Per exam software, I was able to "flag" questions I was unsure of the answer to and that I wanted to go back and review. At the end of 170 questions (and 2 hours), I had flagged all but 12. As I began to go back through the questions, my confidence continued to decline and my anxiety began to increase. I had passed the practice test offered online (for a fee) and the knowledge of this is probably what helped me to stay in that room. I went through the flagged questions, and another hour had passed. I only had 1 hour left. Now the number of questions remaining flagged totaled around 20. As the timer continued to count down the minutes, sheer panic overtook me. My eyes were beginning to cross and tears were beginning to form.

Finally, with 10 minutes left (and the timer now blinking red), I sat staring at not more questions, but at a button on the screen asking me if I was sure I was finished. Was I? Did I get enough correct? The last month of intense review, hours with my family lost, and the fear of admitting failure to those dearest to me weighed on me like concrete blocks. I kept asking myself: Was it all enough???

I clicked the button, as mentally prepared as I was ever going to be. In a terrifying moment where I began to second guess my answers and wanted to go back, the screen changed. A testing location survey appeared in front of me. I laughed as tears rolled down my face. A short reprieve while I answered the survey questions. Again, I had to summon the courage to state I was finished with the survey questions and ready to see the test results. A lump formed in my throat and my body became weak as I clicked "Yes, I am ready."

So, was it enough??? Did I pass??? Stay tuned for the next episode of this crazy rollercoaster ride, same Bat time, same Bat channel!!!




























JUST KIDDING!!! I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Long Time

WOW LIFE IS CRAZY!!!

Hopefully, we'll be able to update soon! Hope all is well with you and yours! :)

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Catching up

As with any vacation, the arduous process of re-entering the life you previously had begins with sudden force... typically occurring before you are ready and taking you by surprise. "Why, yes, of course I know it is Sunday, and here are the plans I have made to be ready for work tomorrow..." and so on and so forth. HOWEVER, I am certain that anyone can attest Sunday is a restless night, Monday morning deadlines appear out of nowhere, and you are left wondering how in the heck you dealt with all of this madness in the first place.

Now, I began this process last week. All of the pre-planning in the world could not have assisted in the transition from waking up to a mountain view to begin my day of non-planned activities to seeing clients, making phone calls to various professionals, and catching up on the world... we have also missed the news the last month or so, and it has been fascinating on learning all of the things of significance that have and have not happened.

Jeff will begin this process tomorrow. As I am typing, he is snuggled in bed preparing for the week ahead. I shudder to think of how his week of video games will transition back into the "real world."

On the plus side, we were able to have some friends over this weekend. The weather deemed it necessary to rain out our cook out, so we were reduced to inside dinner ideas. We decided to have "build your own Chipotle burrito night," complete with veggies, rice, meat, tortillas, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, and salsa. They were pretty good, if I do say so myself (and I will: They were pretty good). :) It was an excellent opportunity to catch up on the happenings of life (can you believe things have been happening to other people, too?!), see some friends, and reminisce about the old times (most of which I was not present for but enjoyed listening to anyway).

Now bed is calling, and I bid you goodnight. Know that I miss everyone and think of you often, no matter who you may be. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Vacay

Hey all! Yes, we made it the 2 month mark without blogging! WOO!... (I am writing that in the hopes that you will think our break from blogging was intentional... did it work?)

We sure have been busy (NO, NO BABIES YET). The month of March flew by as we got settled in with our new car, new furniture in main living room, cleaning out plumbing lines, and working working working! I am sure some other stuff happened, too.

April was filled with visitors, auctions (we got 1/4 of a cow!), visiting others, and working working working!

We decided to take a vacay to rest from our exhausting lives. First up was Oklahoma City (Jeff's cousin was getting married). Our arrival in OKC was certainly notable. We decided to take Duncan with us on our 10 day whirlwind tour of the midwest, and our hotel in OKC would not allow pets. We had to drop him off in Doggy Daycare... the only problem was everything had been booked online and took us by surprise when we arrived in OKC. For instance, I probably would not have selected that particular daycare knowing that windows would be barred in the neighborhood, or knowing there would be that many broken down and busted out cars would be sitting there. In any case, it was a tearful goodbye as we left him in the garage of a shady looking establishment. I spent all weekend making Jeff call them to ensure he had not been sold, had all of his teeth replaced with gold or silver, and that they were actually taking care of him.

When I finally was able to stop crying (mostly) upon arrival to the hotel, I promptly locked our only set of keys in the car. Welcome to the first day of our vacation.

As we were checking in at the hotel, me with tears still streaming and Jeff looking upset because of the car issue, Jaye mentioned we were in town for a wedding and the clerk began looking at me as if to ask if I needed assistance in escaping from a kidnapping. All too funny.

In the end, Duncan was returned to us in perfect condition. He even smelled better! And the grand total for Doggy Daycare for an entire weekend was the same as our KC Doggy Daycare fee for 1 day: $22.00. I am still grateful we were able to get him back before he was sold.

The next leg of our trip included a journey to Western Kansas. Spearville and my folks are great and it was wonderful to spend time with them. Duncan enjoyed the football field next to the house and spent much of the time chasing tennis balls and pondering the meaning of life... or something. He just seemed really happy. I also got to see some of my friends from high school, spend the afternoon in the park with my niece, and beat my Mom in Scrabble a few times. :)

Liberal, KS, aka my birthplace came next. We have been trying to get my baptismal certificate updated since August. Jeff and I decided that we would arrive at the parish of my baptism and remain until the certificate was updated. Boy were we wrong. They would not update it with the materials I had available, and I was not able to get the "necessary" items while there (did you know that a marriage license, even though signed by a priest, would not work as proof of marriage?!... and in fact, neither would the paper mailed from the Archdiocese at the time of marriage indicating that we WERE MARRIED?!). So we spent all to brief a morning there and still dead-ended on getting the certificate completed.

On to Colorado! We spent a wonderful time with Jeff's family in the Denver area, had some wonderful home cooked meals, and even got to see a movie. We met with my cousins 1 evening for dinner and saw the prettiest sunset I think I have ever been privy to.

We then loaded up the car and prepared for a LO-O-O-O-O-O-O-ONG trip home. Overall, I calculated we spent 30 hours in the car simply driving from KC to OKC to Spearville to Liberal to Denver and back to KC. I can't imagine what the total would be if we were to add in all the driving we did while in these locations to go to the wedding, sightsee, and visiting friends and family. I am sure it would probably double!

***Rant alert*** On a connected note, I do believe that when we travel Jeff and I will start holding visiting hours at a public location. For instance, if we are in town from Sunday night to Wednesday, we will be at a restaurant on Monday from 4-8 and Tuesday from 9-2 (maybe not even the 2nd day). Anyone who wants to see us can stop by, and if they are not able to make it we will be happy to see them next time. I became pretty frustrated with the amount of driving to see others. People who lived out of town and drove through where we were could not be bothered to stop, but we were expected to then drive out of town to see them, tacking on an hour in additional travel time (and time away from our family). Yep, I do believe we will be letting people come to us in the future. We spent waaaaaay too much time traveling during our travels to spend time away from our families for people who would not take the time to stop and see us (other mama in dodge: this is not about you).

In any case, we love all of you, am glad to be back from vacation, and can't wait to see what the future holds. Hope all is well with you and yours. :)

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

DMV-tastic

As with buying a new car, there comes the wonderful trip to the DMV to change over tags, register the vehicle, etc. I thought I would share with you experience #1 at the DMV (as I did NOT stay today and will need to go back at a later date).

I was almost hit in the parking lot, both while driving and then while walking. I do believe this could be one of the most dangerous places EVER!

Now, I want to preface all of this by stating that I have intentionally done some annoying things to speed up the line in the past (a rousing few rounds of the song "BINGO," anyone?). However, even my tricks could not have held up against what I faced before me.

I stood in the "check in/information" line for several minutes. I declined going to the 2 open kiosks for checking in because I had a few questions for the DMV Lady (as it has been several years since my last car purchase... DMV Lady will re-appear later in the story, so keep your eyes peeled). When it was finally my turn, I began asking my questions. As I am talking (and I am not even exaggerating or kidding in the slightest here), an arm REACHES around me to begin typing on the kiosk. I quickly survey the empty space surrounding the other 2 kiosks before I turn to confront the reach-around-er. "Seriously? You couldn't have gone to the other one? Do you mind backing up a little bit?" Because I turned slightly to confront the other woman, this apparently opened up an unidentifiable but pre-requisite amount of space at the counter telling the woman I was finished. She began asking questions over my head (because I was still standing there, after all). The DMV Lady began to answer them over my head! After this example, several people followed in suit doing the same thing. It was as if I was not standing there, and was booted to the back of the line even though I was at the front.

When I finally grew tired of waiting in the middle of conversations, it was time to wait the hour for my turn to register my vehicle. During the five minutes I actually waited, I was asked by three separate people where the restroom was located ("Do I LOOK like I work here?!" I wanted to ask, but politely answered "Further down that way, I believe.") I'd had enough. I went back to the DMV Lady to ensure I had the proper materials and that my waiting would not be in vain (my previous question that had been abandoned).

I noticed there was nobody standing in the 6 foot deep area allotted between the information check in kiosks and the back wall, so I took my chance. As I was standing asking my questions, I felt something jostle against my back. In turning, I saw a middle aged woman who obviously felt the clothing on us was an appropriate amount of space to stand and wait in line. I requested she ALSO scoot back. I got a sweet smile and no movement. I handed my ticket to the DMV Lady (who also saw nothing wrong with this scenario) and told her I would try again another time. She also just smiled sweetly.

Ah, the DMV. Another world that makes my mental health training go into overdrive and want to do social skills with anyone available.

Hope all is well with you and yours!

Monday, March 1, 2010

RIP Gracie Lou

Well, as you may have guessed by the title, Gracie Lou is not of our world anymore. She's definitely a part of SOMEBODY'S world, and I'm fairly certain that somebody is cursing our existence right now... tee hee. We'll get to that.

First, as many people know, Jeff likes to research cars on the internet. As he's been driving Gracie Lou for the past month or so, he's been on research OVERDRIVE. We've talked to people in California, Minnesota, and the eastern coast discussing the finer parts of different vehicles. Finally, he found one at a nearby CarMax that he wanted to take for a drive.

Let me preface by telling you the first time we looked at our now-car, it was way past my bedtime. Jeff got a phone call as I was falling asleep on the couch, and he helped me put on my shoes as he loaded my sleepy butt into the car. The saleslady was not impressed when I told her I wanted to drive it during the day so I could tell if my view was truly blocked or if it was the "goofy $^%#" they put all over the windows.

We decided to do another test drive on Friday while the sun was still up. Well, as typically happens in our lives, we ended up having plans on Friday that we had forgotten prior to driving the car. We arrived immediately before closing (and very close to the point in time where the saleslady went into stalker overdrive trying to get the sale). We test drove it again and decided it couldn't hurt to have Gracie Lou appraised.

Well, Jeff and I have come the agreement that it was dark, near the end of the evening, and the worker did not feel like appraising Gracie Lou thoroughly (or even possibly at all).

Let me back up and tell you about Gracie Lou's recent rapid descent out of our lives. First, I'm fairly certain everyone knows about the cosmetic damages from when I ran into a pole in the parking garage, and the cracks in the window from passing dump trucks... oh, and the smell. What was that smell, really?! However, I'm not sure everyone knew of the leaking coolant (even after spending hundreds of dollars to repair it), heater gone out in the dead of winter, and the check engine light which would come on at least once a month that typically meant more hundreds of dollars down the drain. In addition, Jeff hit a pothole that led to bubbling of the tires.

The appraisal process were supposed to have been very thorough. He was supposed to have driven the car, taken it to a well lit garage, and checked it over. We have reason to believe he did none of these, because the appraisal came in WAAAAAY over what we expected and took less time than it usually takes to start Gracie Lou. Needless to say, when we saw the numbers we quickly signed anything put in front of us and giggled to ourselves on how upset CarMax would be come daylight.

We hadn't planned on it, but we ended up driving a white 2005 GMC Envoy Denali home that evening (actually, around 11 that night). So far it has treated us wonderfully. Best of all, no check engine light on and the heater works. :)

Hope all is well with you and yours. :)

Monday, February 22, 2010

Something to remember...

Something to remember, as this next round of weather hits: No matter WHAT you think about how this time will be different, it won't. NEVER try to cut your hair yourself. I just have to keep telling myself I won't look like a Muppet for long...

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Surprise to James

This past weekend we went to Wichita to kick off the year's first of many surprise parties. We had a feeling James was clueless: this had been in the works for many weeks already. The plan? To show up at James and Melissa's doorstep Friday evening, go to a melodrama Saturday evening, and as a side, give James the best birthday EVER. It went like this...

Friday evening James began texting Jeff to see if they could meet online to game. Jeff, as usual, indicated we had something planned with my friends but would be happy to meet up later. As usual, my friends "can't shut up" and Jeff was stuck away from the XBOX throughout our drive.

A very unimpressed James met us at the door asking why we ended up getting to Wichita so late. I think he may have guessed at some point that we were headed that way.

Little Duncan, who is no longer THAT little at a whopping 63 lbs, had a great weekend playing with Boomer and Baxter, and we suspect cried the entire first night because he was not ready to stop playing and go to bed at bedtime.


The melodrama was amazing. We went to Mosley Street Melodrama Dinner Theatre and watched The Legend of Molly Malone, followed by an Irish Musical Review. It was a fun evening of dinner, theatre, comedy, and laughter with friends we always miss oh so much.


Also, James had the spotlight on him several times, as Melissa phoned in early and James was constantly called upon during the sketches. It was an excellent time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!!! :)



Hope all is well with you and yours. :)

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Guide to Parenting

Jeff swears when we have kids, this guide will be our saving grace. Click on the image to enlarge. :)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Homeowners

Jeff and I have learned ALL about the definitions and responsibilities of being homeowners over the past 4 months, but nothing has beat the information acquired in the past week.

Here are a few of the things I have learned:

1. If a garage door goes up, it will not necessarily go back down. The opposite is also true.

2. If a garage door experiences difficulty, for Heaven's sake move your car out of the garage before fiddling with it!

3. Muscles you do not realize you have will be sore for days after manually lifting and closing garage doors.

4. Garage door openers cost a lot of money.

5. Areas on the carpet that have been saturated in dog vomit will need to be gone over several times with a steam cleaner to get rid of the smell.

5. Steam cleaners cost a lot of money.

7. Dried chunks of dog vomit ruin vacuums.

8. Vacuums that don't suck cost a lot of money (well, more than I'm willing to pay 'cause I'm kind of cheap).

9. Gracie Lou will catch on to other things not working and decide to give us problems.

10. Fact: New cars cost a lot of money. Fact: Gracie Lou is just being temperamental and we will drive her until she falls apart.

11. Water heaters built within a certain number of years and installed in every house are missing a type of chemical in their pipes. This chemical prevents calcification and back up of plastics in the lines, which lead to low water pressure. Fact: our water heater was obviously built during this time, and no, it is not covered under any home policy we have.

12. Water heater issues cost a lot of money.

13. It appears we only had 1 mouse.

Finally, to sum up (and I'm fairly certain if I asked my wonderful husband he would remind me of a few more issues in our recent homeowner history), the last few weeks have been pretty stressful. Funny, but stressful. Hope all is well with you and yours. :)

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The Hunt

Oh, it's on.

For those of you who have somehow missed the weather channel entirely (something that I believe is impossible to do... I mean, with great programs such as "Local on the 8's," "Storm Watch," and "Wake Up with Al," what's not to love???), Kansas City has had plenty of below freezing temperatures. This is wonderful for those of us who love the winter and cold (like me) and bad for those who HATE the winter and cold (like Jeff). This has also been very bad for us as a new family with a new house. Why? Because we have had another family move in with us... a 4 legged, furry family seeking warmth and nibbles of our wooden kitchen spoons.

It began like this:
"Um, Jeff, I think we have a mouse; the toilet paper has been shredded in the laundry room and there are droppings in the - "
"WHAT?! WE NEED TO GO BUY TRAPS RIGHT NOW!"

Cut forward an hour, and our home looked about the same except for the 24 (not even kidding you) traps now being assembled military style in the kitchen and placed at various locations around the house. We were not messing around.

We searched carefully for other evidence of mice throughout the house and found none. Feeling somewhat secure they were safely contained in the basement area, we went to sleep and work the next day feeling somewhat normal (although there is now a smell of peanut butter mouse catching glue strips permeating our house... and interestingly enough, those traps are the ONE thing Duncan has shown absolutely no interest in and actively avoids).

The next evening I was cooking dinner and reached in a drawer for a wooden spoon, which had very neatly been nibbled on all along the edges. By the next hour, much of our kitchenware was running through the dishwasher and I was hand washing plastic containers to put clean utensils in. Needless to say, we knew we were outnumbered and called our handy exterminator. He found the entry point of the mice and quickly sealed our home from other intruders. In addition, he laid out traps that are guaranteed to rid our home from pests. They have their marching orders and should be gone within 24-48 hours. Jeff will be handling the ridding, as I reminded him if it were up to me, I would probably get rid of the carcasses and call someone to cleanse our home from the blood shed (you may see we have differing styles of approach).

Duncan, of course, has not appeared to be bothered by these creatures in front of us, other than a heightened fear of dark places (which he was already afraid of) and excess fur shed around his crate (we feel as though they are probably messing with him when we are not home). We also believe if given the chance, Duncan would probably try to make very good friends with them. He's just such a loving doggy.

Hope all is well with you and yours, and hopefully I will be posting next from a home with Duncan as our only 4 legged furry friend. :)

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Snow Day

For those of you unaware, KC has really taken a pounding this year in terms of winter weather. I myself saw 2 cars slide off the road on my commute home (1 was airborn before hitting the ditch... scared me to death). All of my meetings and appointments were canceled for today, and I thought I would share with you what snow days are all about:

Things NOT to do on a snow day:
Work
Clean
Eat healthy
Be responsible
Anything productive

Things to do on a snow day:
Talk on the phone
Play a gaming system or 2
Watch movies
Watch trash tv
Love on a puppy
Write a blog
Ensure all posts and statuses on facebook are updated and commented on

I jest. I have actually been alternating both lists and completing almost everything on here. Please stay safe and enjoy whatever you are doing. Hope all is well with you and yours. :)

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Decade-tastic

Hey all! As many of you know (hopefully), not only did we usher in the beginning to a new year recently, we also ushered in the beginning of a decade. Therefore, my typical "yearly review" took the opportunity to expand.

In the last decade I: graduated high school, graduated college, successfully held my first post-college job, met the love of my life, completed my masters, became licensed for practicing social work, bought a house, got a dog, and got married. WOW.

Now let's take a look at just this past year: Masters, licensed, house, dog, married.

I think after reviewing this, I believe my New Year's resolution is definitely to slow down!!! I also have taken up James' challenge of no fast food for 6 months and no fried food at restaurants (excluding some of the fried sushi). We shall see how this goes. :)

Duncan is now reminding me that it's time for him to eat, so I need to wrap this up.

Hope all is well with you and yours, and may this year be better than your last. :)

Peace and Love,
Jeff and Heather