Sunday, October 30, 2011

A Walk in the Woods...

So, yesterday was a beautiful day, crisp, cool but sunny. Instead of taking the pups up to the high school I thought it would be a perfect day for a walk in the woods.




Charlie and Zoe were absolutely nuts. They wanted off leash so badly but I knew if we let them they would be long gone, especially Charlie. The last time I took them through the woods at the high school Charlie got lost and I had a hard time finding him. Besides, at this park now they require you to keep them on leash at all times, bummer.

I thought this moss was really pretty.









It was a really nice walk. On the way home we stopped to pick up a pumpkin which I still haven't carved yet. Maybe tonight?

Friday night was bowling. We have an uneven number of teams on our league so that night we had a "bye". We had to bowl within 40 pins of our team average to win any points. We think we took 3 of the 4. We were also shocked to see we had risen to SECOND place!! Don't get too excited because it probably won't last too long but it's nice while we are there! I bowled pretty well, over average two games and within 3 pins the other. All in all, a good night.

The rest of the weekend has been quiet and fairly restful. I made dog food and got a lot of laundry done.

The pups went to the groomers on Friday. Poor things were there for almost 5 hours. They were pooped the rest of the afternoon.

Today Scott took them up to the high school for a little frisbee. I'd say they had a pretty good weekend, lucky dogs!




Hi Quinn!! Charlie can't wait to see you!! Slurp, slurp!!


It's hard to believe tomorrow is the last day of October. That means that Christmas is only 8 weeks away? I've already bought 2 presents! Way to go me!

Have a good week!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Happy Birthday Anon (a/k/a Andy)

Happy Birthday to Andy!!

I'm sure your day won't be quite as relaxing as the one in the picture, no boat rides or shell hunting on an island.





But at least you get to spend it with your two favorite girls!!

And no pesky in-laws!

Hope it was super happy!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Mini-Vaca Over, Fall Colors and other stuff...

So, I had a wonderful (but super fast) weekend with my little sweetie, Quinn. Hard to believe that was two weeks ago already! I arrived Thursday evening, met at the airport by the whole family and one little girl who was very happy to see her Mimi and kept looking at me and saying my name to be sure I was really there! So cute.

Mama and Dada left very early the next morning for their weekend adventure. After a quick explanation when she woke up that Mama and Dada would be back "soon" we were off on our adventures. We had fun at the park and library, did a little shopping and went on a few walks.



Here she is opening her "surprise"!

I think she was more thrilled with the little toys it came with than the actual baby


but soon she decided the baby should receive more of her attention.




Before we knew it we were off to the airport again to pick up Mama and Dada. This time we drove instead of taking the train. Quinn seemed a little confused when Mama and Dada got in the car and Mimi headed into the airport but she was happy to have her family back together.

Since I returned home the work weeks have been a blur. Not only have we had MEAP testing for two weeks (our State mandated achievement tests) but we've had conferences on top of that! When I get home at the end of the day I collapse in a chair, get up briefly to make dinner, the coffee and start the dishwasher and then upstairs to rest some more before I go to bed! The weekends haven't been any more energy filled.

Fall is in full swing.


The leaves are falling, colors changing and the weather unpredictable. We've alternately had rainy, windy, chilly days and then days like today when the sun is out all day long and you can enjoy sitting on the deck in the sun for a little while.

Most of last week the lowest temp we had during the days was mid-50's so I still haven't given up my capri pants and sandals yet. Soon though, very soon. After all, it's almost the last week in October! Some years we've had snow by now. But thankfully, not this year.

We haven't bowled in 3 weeks. We bowled a few weeks ago and then pre-bowled two days later so it will almost be a month since we've bowled when we go Friday night. My knee has been bothering me after bowling so I'm gonna have to be careful and not overdo. This old age thing is a real pain. I don't like it, not one bit.

In other news, Scott had an interview this week for a job he would really like to get. We are really keeping our fingers crossed for him. He's only working in the warehouse 3-4 days a week, depending on how much work they have for him.

We haven't heard much from Tyler lately. He's just working and trying to save money so that when his time there is up he will have a little savings to live off of until he can find another job. His girlfriend, Melanie, will be leaving Korea soon as he contract is up. She's going back to Canada for a while and then traveling so Tyler hopes it won't be too long until they can see each other again. After that, I don't know what their plans are. I'm on a "need to know" basis and I guess there's nothing I need to know right now. Tyler is planning to stay in Korea until April when his contract is up. At least that's the plan for now.

A, A & Q are taking advantage of the beautiful fall weather and visiting Fall Festivals in Virginia. Quinn and I tried that the weekend I was there but since I wasn't familiar with the area I couldn't find a place to park and wasn't sure where else I might go so we just passed up the petting zoo and headed for Target. There was plenty of parking there. Luckily there was another petting zoo a couple weeks later so Quinn got her share of animals to pet.

Apparently one little "kid" liked her so much he gifted her with a head butt, knocking her to her bottom. No harm done and she was ok and didn't even cry.

She's so funny, every afternoon she "facetimes" me and says the required "Hi, Mimi" and then quickly make a request to see her boy, Charlie. She absolutely loves that knuckle head.

Zoe had her yearly check up this week. She needed her 3 year Rabies shot and blood work for heart worm. I almost fell over when the vet tech said, "do you think she's a little thin?" I hadn't really thought so but she explained that she could feel her backbone and ribs fairly prominently and she thought she could stand to gain a couple pounds. Wow, I was really caught off guard by that one. A few years ago I had to get her to lose 10 pounds!! TEN pounds! Guess it worked. She usually puts a few pounds on over the winter anyway so I'm not too concerned about it and neither was the Vet but he agreed, gaining a couple pounds would be good for her. She won't complain about that at all. I've never seen a dog get as excited about food as she gets. She absolutely quivers.

I found it an interesting article this morning in the Dog Fancy magazine that I borrowed from the school library. Every few months Dog Fancy has a double issue, one regular issue and then in the back section it's called Natural Dog and is all about more natural things for dogs. The article was about these two men out in Cali who have started a business that makes home cooked food for dogs. Imagine! I told H, looks like I was 5 years ahead of my time with this whole cooking for dogs idea. Only in Cali would a business like that thrive. People here look at me like I'm crazy when I say I cook for my dogs. Yea, who's crazy now!!???!!

Friday I came home at noontime for lunch and when I looked out the kitchen window my fabulous $100 squirrel-proof bird feeder was.....GONE! MISSING! DISAPPEARED! I had an idea where it might have gone but didn't have time to change my shoes and traipse through the backyard looking for it. When I got home after school I changed into my oldest, beat up tennis shoes and started the hunt. Since I had a pretty good idea who the thief was (I knew it wasn't the squirrels, after all, it is squirrel proof) I headed toward the pond. Sure enough, through the brambles, and they were vicious, including some with 2 inch long thorns, there was my very expensive bird feeder lying in the mud!


After a struggle where I thought I was either going to sink like I was standing in quick sand or lose my shoe, I emerged the victor, $100 squirrel-proof bird feeder in hand! Right away I started thinking. What fool proof contraption could we come up with to prevent this from happening again because, really, I was lucky to get this expensive gadget back in one piece! I don't want this happening again. H and I discussed it this morning and after ruling out several designs, this is the one we thought most RACCOON proof!

They are smart, I give them that, but let's see them figure this one out! Short of bringing their little axes and chopping down the tree, I don't think they will get far the next time! Dirty rotten thieves! Hopefully this hillbilly security system will do the job!

Time will tell. I'll keep you updated!

I'm enjoying the last flowers of summer. H was trimming back the roses last weekend and brought these beauties into the kitchen.


They filled up the whole kitchen with their beautiful aroma. Love them! And I will miss them, until next summer...


Today H and I spent an hour or so out at the garden putting it to bed for the winter. We cleaned out both plots though I've decided if I'm allowed to get a plot for next year I will only be getting one.





I'll be calling tomorrow to see if they "allow" me to work one next year. They may decide I'm not worthy since I wasn't able to put in my full 20 hours of volunteer time. We'll see.

We found a really big bonus carrot

and some broccoli that was still going to town. There were a couple cabbage heads, some parsley and I dug up my rosemary and put it in a pot hoping to overwinter it in the basement.

It's looking really healthy right now so maybe it will make it. Manure is supposed to be delivered out there in a week or two so I will be spreading some of that and planting some garlic.

So, the weekend is almost over. It's been a good one. We got a few things accomplished and got a fair amount of rest and I'm so happy to say I have a 3 day weekend because I don't have school tomorrow! Teacher's worked conferences two nights so they get Monday off in exchange. Not a bad deal on the whole except I won't be getting paid for it. Oh well, right now it seems worth it. I may change my mind come pay day but it will be nice not to have to get up at 5:00 tomorrow.

Have a good week!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Flying

September flew by. So did last week. Though I have to admit, when I got to Wednesday I was already wishing Friday to hurry up! It was a busy week at work. I spent time with students trying to get the final tweaks into my schedule. You never really know if things are going to work out in real life like you have them on paper and sure enough, there were a few glitches. By the end of the week I think I had things worked out pretty well, as long as no one else changes their schedules.

Wednesday was H's and my 37th wedding anniversary and Tuesday night he surprised me by bringing home 37 gorgeous red roses and 1 white rose for the coming year. They were absolutely beautiful. I only took a picture of them with my iPad which didn't do them justice but today I did take this picture but it doesn't really capture their beauty as they are getting a little wilty now.

To celebrate we went to Outback for dinner and had a perfect dinner together, close to home, good food and not too expensive.

Friday night was bowling. We bowled a team that had two bowlers absent which really worked in our favor, especially when we found out that we were in 12th place out of 13 teams! Yikes!!! Taking all 4 points will really help us.

It's been a crisp week too with quite a bit of rain. I was still wearing capris and sandals on Friday but by that afternoon, with the rain and the wind, I had to change to jeans and finally put on socks. It was just too cold. Putting on socks for the first time after all those months of warm weather feels so strange. This weekend has been sunny but very breezy and cool.


Very fall like with lots of leaves swirling down from the trees.



Scott was nice enough to take the pups up to the high school field today. They really enjoyed it. They came back panting and ready for a nap.


Zoe loves laying out on the deck when I'm out there.


Charlie, not so much. He gets scared, thinks he's hearing gun shots even when they aren't shooting.

We are leaving in a bit to go pre-bowl for next time. Bill and Judy have a wedding to go to when we bowl next and we don't want to lose any more points, We could bowl next weekend but I won't be here. I'm flying off for a special visit with a special little someone I can't wait to see for a girls weekend. We are going to paint our nails, order pizza, eat popcorn and watch Elmo all weekend!! I leave Thursday straight from school and come back Sunday night. A&A have to go south for a wedding so that's why it will be just a girls weekend.

Guess that's all the excitement around here for this week. Next Sunday Ill have more to say but I'll probably be too tired to write about it. Maybe I can get a jump start while Miss Q is napping, which hopefully she will though I might have to take one too when she does.

Have a good week!