Stove

How's it look!?!? We were ecstatic! But it makes the rest of the kitchen look cruddy. :-( What am I talking about...the rest of the kitchen is cruddy! ;-)

Snippets of Christmas

Since Tim is sick in bed I thought I'd take this alone/down time to post a blog. I've been busy, but also nothing of real significance has happened in a while. Well, at least anything anyone would care about.

One event that has happened in the past few months is Briggsie made a new friend at his playcare on Saturday mornings. The two dogs had a tendency to play together every week. And the funny part is, both of the doggy parents wanted to get another dog to keep their dog tired and happy. Now neither of us have to (with play dates in the middle of the week)! And the plus side is we have become great friends with Jen and JD. Briggs and Socks are only a week apart in age too!

Christmas was eventful. My whole family got the stomach flu. We had family in from two states and most of them got it. I count 9 or 10 people in my head. Tim just acquired it last night. Its quite nasty. I'm trying at all costs to avoid it by quarantining him in the bedroom and Lysoling everything. I know some relatives got different severities of it. I hope that if I get it I get the very mild version of it. I can't really afford to be sick. Postive point of this flu is that its only a 24 hour flu....if there is a positive point to a flu bug.

For Christmas (and birthdays) my mom and dad got Tim and I a new stove! I was so excited!!! Our stove was a pre-1976ish gas stove. It had pilot lights that were on all the time and if they went out and the gas was accidentally on, you were probably in trouble. And it was also dangerous because Russ (orange cat) would sometimes get caught lying on the stove.

What a difference a day makes

Oh how true those words. Is anyone getting sick of these yet? So this was today's outcome. Not NEARLY as good. By far the worst of them all. I just wish I understood why he did it. Tim wasn't happy about this.

Kitty Cat

Today was Briggsie's 4th day of being in the kitchen. I'm always scared when I put the key into the front door what I'm going to find. I never know...and today was no exception. Hey, at least he didn't chew up anything he wasn't supposed to! Oh, and he does that because the cats do that. He thinks he is a kitty cat.

Happy Birthday Briggsie!

Today our little BREW (Beagle Rescue Education and Welfare) mutt turns 1! (Or 7 depending on how you want to look at it.) Yes, and coincidentally on Election Day. For 3 days now we have been leaving him in the kitchen during the day. (No large "Wii episodes" yet.) Of course gated and with all necessary doggie-proof precautions...or so we thought. The first time everything was fine because we were only gone a few hours. The second he got into a mirror replacing kit for Tim's car. And the third time, today, he chewed up a cruddy old runner and the dimmer switch for the light! I swear I did not yell at him. In fact, I didn't say a word to him until Tim got home at 5:30 pm (and I got home at 3 pm). This is the face that I saw when I came home. It is SO sad, weepy, and cute. Happy Birthday Briggsie my big boy!

Mi mi Mo Grammy

This weekend my mom and I 777ed (the plane we traveled on both ways) it out to Denver to visit Jackson, Lyndsey Kaye, John, ....whew...I'm just getting tired now. We went out to visit family. Friday night Lyndsey and I went to go paint pottery, something both of us had always wanted to do! Other trip highlights include 2 parties (birthday and "closet"), going to the Downtown Denver Aquarium, playing The Game of Life, and John practically beating Smooth Moves on Wii. I was so happy to get home, but I miss it already out there.

Magpie

My mom said that Maggie sleeps downstairs all day on her bed while she's upstairs working. When my mom comes down Maggie still stays lying down, but all you can hear is her tail thumping loudly. She's happy to be home. She's taking her loads of pills fine. She LOVES her chicken, but isn't particularly fond of the scrambled eggs or rice. But she'll eat it if mommy feeds her by hand! So far so good Magpie!

Not to be Debbie Downer

Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but...my mom took Maggie to the vet last night and they kept her overnight for tests. I guess she hasn't been feeling well and hasn't been eatting much in 2-3 weeks. In a nutshell, they found her spleen was enlarged and she had a low platlet count. The spleen was absorbing the platlets. My mom decided treatment would be steriods in case it was an autoimmune disease. My Maggie is a weakling...but yet at the same time she is a tough baby! She is back home tonight better than when she got to the vet. Hoarse, but fine. Happy to be going home and happy to see Mommy and Daddy...and her Chloe. She'll get a yummy chicken, scrambled egg, and rice dinner tonight. Yum! Let's hope the best for my little girl!

Anniversaries with blankets

September 15th was Tim and my first wedding anniversary. Lucky we made it! (Yes, that was very sarcastic.) Unfortunately, our anniversary fell on a Monday night, so we weren't really able to celebrate it properly. Actually, Tim had just picked up his first cold of the school year so we celebrated in style on the couch with King of Queens season 2 and some cups of tea. We pulled our cake out of the freezer and had a good laugh. My brother somehow managed to stick his entire hand in the cake before it made it to the freezer last year and the cake was possibly compromised. But...we had to take a bite at least for tradition's sake. (It wasn't very good!)

I bought the fabric a while ago, but I finally managed to make Briggs' new blankie this evening. It was killing him to stay off of it while I worked on it on the floor, but once I was done he was ALL over it (and still is at this very moment).

And just so I don't leave anyone out, I'm going to post photos of all my mammal boys!

Tim resting after taking a half day at work.

The flowers that Tim got me for our anniversary (and Bogey).

The wedding "cake" with the damage from a hand.

Tim making a sour face while eating the cake.

My beautiful Russie cleaning himself.

Briggsie and his new blankie!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend Tim and I spent with the Mike and Liz. Tim went to high school with Mike and has been friends with him since. We started at New Glarus Brewing Company. They brew beers like Spotted Cow, Fat Squirrel, Uff Da Bock, and Wisconsin Belgian Red. We took a tour of the brewery and learned of its beginnings and ended with a tasting. Yes, I actually tasted. Anyone else surprised? I just can't figure out why I do not like beer. Everyone says its an acquired taste. I guess I don't feel so bad because my mom doesn't like it either. Maybe it really is a genetic thing. Then with free drink coupons we headed into New Glarus downtown to a small bar. It was a typical small town bar and it frightened me a bit. It was so odd to see smoking in an indoor area, even though it hasn't been that long since the ban went into effect. That is one law that I am SO happy for. Next we headed into Monroe to go to Baumgartner's. They are a cheese shop, bar, and restaurant. Tim is craving the chili again and me the turtle cheesecake. Finally, after getting lost for a brief moment, we headed on over to Sky Vu Drive In and watched Wall-E and Batman for.....get this, $7!! It was awesome. We of course headed to Walmart to get snacks, even though its prohibited there. After the movie we stayed at Tim's parents house in Pecatonica. It was a really, really great weekend.

The automated tour at the brewery.

I believe that's the Uff Da Bock that Mike is drinking.

At Baumgartner's...yum, turtle cheesecake.

A game I like to play with the nieces and nephews...what Tim would look like with long hair.

This and That

There's not really a point to this point, I just have some pictures to share from the past week.

For my birthday, I got some roses from Tim. I love flowers. The confetti colored ones actually smelled.



Also for my birthday we went to LegoLand in The Streets of Woodfield. Interesting, but definitely an attraction for kids. Here was a lego-sized version of Chicago, which was my favorite part.
Tim visiting with Harry Potter.

Would you like some Cheerios with that hair?

Briggsie got two playtimes this weekend. One was a new thing we were trying called "Yappy Hour" at a nearby doggie day care. 2 hours of open play for $10. And to our (and his) surprise his buddy was there. Her name is Sis and she's a Burmese Mountain Dog. They play so well together. And that's her owner sitting behind the two. And he also got to play with her on Sunday when we went to the dog park. Fun weekend for Briggsie!

Would you like some Coke with your hair? :-) He just loves boxes...the goofball.

Exciting changes and visits with doggie friends

This past weekend Tim and I went into visit his family in Pecatonica. Well, about 2/3 of his family. And Briggsie finally got to meet Riley, Tim's sister's (my sister in law) dog. Riley acted exactly the same as Briggsie when she was a puppy, if not more rambunctious. They got along well....until she got annoyed with Briggs constantly aggravating her. I know how you feel Riley! But they did very well and I was proud of him.

And the exciting change...and I'm VERY excited about this and didn't want to say anything until it was definite. (No....not that kind of big change.) But, we have two new members to our "condo-hold". A friend of mine had gotten sick and was unable to keep his reptiles. He asked if I would take them and I said yes. We planned on taking just the snake, Max, however I talked Tim into taking the gecko also, Bosco. Bosco reminds me so much of our Giles in every way. For those of you who don't know...Giles was our very first leopard gecko. She was such a sweetheart. Bosco has the same temperment, personality, and looks.

Above was Giles (left) and Berklee (right). We still have Berklee, but Giles passed away a while ago. Bosco reminds me so much of her.

Blake

Last night Tim and I went to the Boone County Fair and saw Blake Shelton perform. It was so much fun! It was my second live music performance ever. (The first being Reba in the early 90s at the Metro Center.) He's great live, funny, and a great performer.

New Orleans 2008

So, upon request I am posting a bit about New Orleans. Tim and I went there on June 16-20th. This is actually our second trip there. Our first visit was actually our honeymoon. Tim didn't want to take a honeymoon right away due to taking time off of work, so he said we'll take one later. We planned on going to Galena for a few days. My mom surprised me (Tim knew) with a trip to New Orleans because she wanted us to have some place special.

The first time we visited New Orleans (September 2007) it was pretty much back at full functionality, despite a few small shops that weren't able to open back up due to financial constraints and a few musuems still working the kinks out. I guess the biggest problem was getting people back in the city to get workers and businesses back to normal. On this last visit, everything was back in full swing. You wouldn't even know anything happened. We had never visited before the Katrina, so I wouldn't have known any better anyway. But it was actually very busy down there....and hot. With heat index I believe it was about 105. On this trip we saw things that we didn't get to see last time like the Cabildo (Louisana State Musuem), Audobon Zoo, lots of restaurants, karoke bars that we hadn't been to before. And I forgot to mention the bad part about this visit, I acquired a HORRIBLE cold upon arrival. Sore throat, no appetitie, sinus problems, nausea, chills, achey body...it was terrible. That kind of curbed our activities for two days. But, I'd be happy to answer any questions. Here are a few highlights in photos/video.

The stairs at the Cabildo. Built in 1795, location of the signing of the Louisana Purchase.

A lock of Andrew Jackson's hair.

The room (and original furniture) in which the Louisana Purchase was signed.

The pen (or quill) that signed the Louisana Purchase.

A view into the French Quarter from atop our hotel.

They were filming Mardi Gras while we were here. Its Carmen Electra!

Flamingos at the Audobon Zoo.

Asian Elephants at the Audobon Zoo.

Tim at I at Audobon Zoo. It was SO hot that day.

A scarf that belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte.

And I just thought this was cool. While walking back to the hotel about 9-10pm at night we stumbled upon "street performers". They were playing this New Orleans jazz music and it was amazing. They even had these women dancing. Actually, I think the women were doing it for fun. But while we were watching them, another group was marching by. I saw them coming from a distance and I was thinking, 'Uh oh, this can't be good'. I guess I have a Northern's mentality, because what I was predicting just is not New Orleans' style. The sitting group (in the video) stopped playing for the marching group, waved, and waited for them to pass. The marching group also waved. It was an awesome display of what New Orleans is and what they are about.