Black Thumb, or Sabotage?

Ok, so I'm not known for my green thumb... I know it partially has to do with the fact that when I purchase plants, I usually tend to buy the saddest, most scraggly ones, because I feel sorry for them that nobody else will adopt them. However, over the last few months, Mom has started me a few herb plants that are perfectly healthy & alive when I get them, but are completely dead within a couple of weeks. I figured I wasn't watering them properly (too much or too little?), so I got some of the AquaGlobes to do that part for me. The last one she gave me, Molly the Mint, is technically still alive, but is in a pretty sorry state:



Then, the other night, I think I discovered the source of my black thumb!! I caught MAX eating the leaves!!! I haven't been able to catch him on camera, but there were a few white hairs left behind as evidence. Has he been eating all my plants, or do I really end up killing them all?

i simply cannot be a pagent mom anymore.

oops... somehow, i published this without writing anything on it... sry...

anyway.

No, I cannot be a pagent mom anymore.

Our first was the costume contest at Petsmart. I thought it was a bit dodgy to begin with, when they announced that the winners would be decided by an applause-o-meter, one guy being the meter. Now obviously, Caroline was the cutest one there, but I thought that we received applause ratings of about 2nd. The "Meter" didn't even think she was good enough to be a finalist. Later, he was patting her, and she peed on him. Good Girl.
The winners: 1) A boxer, wearing boxer shorts & boxing gloves hanging from his collar. (incredibly simple, but cute) 2) A chihuahua, wearing a tiny cowboy hat, bandana, and saddle with a cowboy riding him. (admittedly adorable- by applause, we were 2nd to him) and 3) a dragon costume from target. Cute, but same as the boxer- SO easy. We weren't the only contestant to get ripped off- a cat (!) on a leash (!!) dressed in a lobster costume (!!!) and sitting in a pot (lol).

The second contest was at the Pleasanton Public Library. Strangely, there was a little more competition here, but she was still the cutest. Caroline's category was "best homemade costume". The winner? A papillon terrier as "The Tin Man". The costume: A piece of foil wrapped around his belly. The owner: The LIBRARIAN. At a contest sponsored by the library. Did I mention she was a judge too? hmmm... RIGGED MUCH???

Grrrrr.... Oh well... I know my baby was the sweetest & cutest & most well behaved one at both events, and she had a lot of fun meeting the other doggies.

INTRODUCING:
CAROLINE, THE GYPSY GENIE BELLY DANCER!!!
(every time I put her down, she did a little shake that sent the beads on her pants twirling)

Thank you Mom for the idea & the hours of handstitching- I had fun!

You TwitFace

“In the year 3000
YouTube, Twitter & Facebook will merge
into one super time wasting website
called:
YouTwitFace.”

~Conan O'Brien

I'm afraid that's what's happened to my blog... Facebook. It's nice to not feel bad about wasting everyone's time with a little one sentence update, because EVERYONE'S wasting everyones time with one sentence updates! But, I suppose I don't ALWAYS have to post lengthy epistles... in fact, I'm sure most of you would thank me for shorter thoughts!

SO: Here's to shorter and (hopefully) more frequent blog updates from me! *clink*

Non-Transformers

Did you know that if you go to the store looking for a Transformer toy, you have to be careful & be sure to get one that actually transforms?? Most are "Fixed State/ Non-Transforming" Transformers. RIDICULOUS.

yup, I still hate tailgating...

... but this is my new favorite part:

Our little Miss Caroline was QUITE a hit... I expect she will be internet famous in no time :)

She had a ball last night and this afternoon... she is so personable, and just LOVES everyone. I was a little worried how she'd take all the action, just because she hasn't been around big crowds much before, but she did great! She posed for pictures right and left, and even got to eat some yummy ribs. :) After last night, she was so tired she slept til 10... I'm hoping for more of the same tomorrow morning.



PS: I made her dress :D

HighHeeled Hiking

I haven't forgotten the Ruidoso stories I promised I'd tell you!

The whole time we were there, James kept talking about an old fire watch station on a mountain that you could drive to. One evening, we were out driving around, and wound up there. We got out of the car, and I thought, "hmm... you can't do much looking out surrounded by trees..." This was when James informed me it was "just a short walk down a path" to the point. I happened to be wearing brand new heels, but he assured me it wasn't far. He lied. It ended up being about a half mile hike over rocky terrain, which I know isn't far, but it is when you're wearing heels. THEN, we had to climb 3 flights of stairs to get to the fire watchtower. By the time we got to the top, I was huffing & puffing, and had multiple blisters on my sore feet. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. James sweetly offered me his shoes, and said he'd walk down barefooted. Then he said, "Oh, come on... they can't be THAT bad," and put on my shoes. He took one step, fell off, and broke the strap. That brightened my mood considerably- it's hard to be grumpy when you're laughing your head off. :)

In all this, I learned a tip- If you have a pair of crocs, & the buckle thingie breaks, you can order replacement rivets from their website FOR FREE.

Name Decisions and the Renovations Begin Again!

Not only was the name "Caroline" the overwhelming favorite at the polls, but we could never remember any other name we tried calling her. Caroline it is. Here is our baby with her Aunt Jenny (Mom & Dad's dog). They are BFFs now, and Jenny even shared her bed with Caroline. She's wearing a sweater (sock with the foot & armholes cut out) because she got wet when she went outside, and she was shivering cold.

In other news, the remodeling has begun again! For some reason, we seem to wait until it is 8,000 degrees outside to do anything to the house... This time, we're doing our bedroom & bathroom. The first completed project, however, is in the kitchen.

See our old ugly acrylic sink, broken on the left corner (so that it snagged your shirt every time you got too close), and stained & cracked in both basins.



BEHOLD! our lovely shiny new stainless sink, complete with extra tall faucet with the pull out spray & built in soap dispenser. You may commence oohing & ahhing.

***and PS: James installed the new sink & faucet himself!

Meet Caroline!!!

...or maybe Meggie... or Roxie... or Madison... or Paprika she hasn't told us totally for sure yet, but she is completely adorable. She is a 7 week old pure bred miniature schnauzer, and weighs about a pound and a half.

I felt a little guilty about not getting a shelter dog, but my allergies would not be too good with just any dog, and schnauzers are hypoallergenic! Also, we didn't want to have to break the shelter habits of barking like crazy all day long, and going to the bathroom in their kennel.

As for our choices in names: Caroline is after our favorite piano bar in NYC, Sweet Caroline's. Roxie is from the first show we saw on Broadway, Chicago. Madison- Madison Avenue. Molly, Luna or Lily from Harry Potter. Paprika because she's salt-n-pepper colored. The list goes on... any thoughts?

we're really not callus...

We have decided to get a puppy. I hope it doesn't seem heartless of us, but something about losing Aspen made us want another dog. Maybe it's because we need another furry thing to project love for her towards, or to help us in grieving for her... (sorry if it sounds silly "grieving" for a dog, but... well... there you are.) Maybe I feel like I need another chance to be a better pup-parent... Aspen was always James' dog. I've never really had one... my family has had a couple over the years, but never for more than a few months (since I was old enough to remember).

Also, I have a confession... I seem to have Baby Fever lately... I know I'm not ready for a baby just yet, but I want one anyway. Now, I know most of you are saying... "Lindsey?!?! but she doesn't want kids!!" Well... I've changed my mind. We've only been married for 7 months (today!), and we aren't ready for them yet, so we've decided to sort of use this new puppy as a baby pacifier/ training program. I've only ever been totally responsible for Max, and he is about as low maintenance as a living thing can get. Puppies are a handful, but not nearly the handful a baby would be. Sounds like a logical stepping stone to me...

So tomorrow morning, we are headed to meet a prospective new little sister for Max. Will let you know & post pics soon. Wish us luck!

update (warning: slightly graphic... not much, but slightly)

Thanks for all the mental hugs, guys. We really appreciate them.

Let me just say, the state of after-life care for pets in Austin is appalling. The only way (that we could find) deceased pets can be picked up is IF YOU PUT THEM IN A BAG ON YOUR CURB AND THEY WILL TRY TO PICK THEM UP WITHIN TWO BUSINESS DAYS. Sorry for all the yelling, but... well... that made me yell a lot...

Anyway, we took her for her last ride in the back of the pickup to the vet for cremation today. The vet said that she had heartworms (we already knew that part), and that they must have spread into her lungs & caused an embolism, which would have been painless & instant.

We are still sad, but things have been much better since we got some whys & hows.

Thanks again for all the hugs.

A sad, sad night

I took this picture of Aspen today, on the way home from Pleasanton (incidentally, Max was sitting in my lap at the time). When we got back to town, I took her to the vet for some routine vaccine updates. We got home, and since she had to wait a couple of days before being groomed, we put her in the back yard. James took her some water, which she drank. Pretty soon, she laid down. It had been a pretty exciting day, so we figured she was tired. I went to the store, came home and brought her some food and some more water (with ice- it's hot out nowadays!), but she didn't seem interested. A few more times during the evening, I went out to check on her, and once her collar seemed a bit tight, so i loosened it. She still seemed ok... tired and hot, but ok. JR & Kat came over to fix our fence, & I went back out to check on her, and she had passed away. We just don't understand... she was happy & energetic just a few hours ago. I'm so sad for James... he's had her for all of her 8 years, and he just lost Denver (a 13 year old dalmation) a few weeks before we got married. We are sad tonight.

Late Night Wizarding

Last night, James and I went to see Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince. At midnight. HOLY moly was it ever packed. We arrived about 30 minutes ahead of time, and after cruising the parking lot for EVER looking for a space, decided to put Lexi's 4wheel drive to use & park on the grass. The theatre had all 10 screens showing the movie at midnight, and all ten were sold out (we bought our tickets online last week).

No, I did not dress up (James said no), but I did wear my jammies... it was midnight, after all. There were a few people there wearing pointy hats & graduation robes with stripey scarves, but the biggest crowd were the teenagers that had evidently had parties with all their BFFs to make matching puffpaint t-shirts saying things like "HP6 '09" and "I *heart* Ron". They all had smudgy eyeliner "scars" on their foreheads, too.

The movie was great, but I will give the same bits of advice I gave for Dark Knight and 007:

1) Whatever money saving magical combos they tempt you with, do not, I repeat, DO NOT give in and purchase the large drink... the movie is nearly 3 hours long.

2) Show up early enough to not have to sit in the front row, three inches from Ron's freckles. Luckily, this one didn't give me a migraine like the last one did (it was all the 3-D in the IMAX crazy that did me in last time), but it was still neck cricking, and difficult to fully appreciate all the incredible special effects.

Don't get me wrong, I really appreciated my sweet James' willingness to take me to a 3 hour long movie at midnight, but sometimes, he will do or say something that simply makes me fall in love all over again. During one part, some romantical stuff was going on, and instead of hooting like the rest of the audience, he leaned over and whispered, "aww... he's her lobster!"

He, most certainly, is my lobster :)

By the way, the theatre was not only running the movie on all 10 screens at midnight, they did it all over again at 3:20am. Now THAT'S crazy.

Sticky and Patriotic.

Boy do I have poor spatial awareness. This morning, I noticed a hummingbird hovering around our month-old feeder, so I decided to make him some fresh juice. Not much, only a half feeder full or so.... if even that. We don't want the juice spoiling in this heat before they can drink it. I made some up, and was pouring it into a jar to put into the freezer (I always do this so they don't burn their little tongues on hot juice). I realized too late that I had made about twice as much as would fit into the jar. There was a sticky red mess alllllll over me and the kitchen. *sighhh*

As of right now, the new juice is still cooling, and the hummer is getting bombed on the old and probably fermented juice outside.

As promised, I'm including a completely unrelated story from Ruidoso here.

Last year, a local casino/resort hosted a massive firework show/ cookout/ live music fandango on the Fourth of July. The place is simply not built for that large a volume of people, and they had HUGE problems with traffic. This year, they decided to hold it on the 2nd, in hopes of avoiding the additional holiday weekend crowds. James and I had heard horror stories of people having to park up to 2 miles away the previous year, so we were pretty worried. Turned out, we shouldn't have! We arrived at about 5, pulled straight into the parking garage & parked about where we usually did, walked down to the lakeside. There were lots of people there, but we picked a spot, laid out our beach towels, and went into the casino to play some cards. About 9:00, we headed outside, found our towels, and plopped down just in time for a spectacular show. It was perfect!!! Great fireworks, a light breeze blowing away from us, so I didn't have any trouble smelling the sulfur... Did I mention that it was about 60°??? Absolutely amazing. We didn't get any pics of the fireworks (too hard to enjoy the full scene through a two inch view finder), but this was the sunset at the same place a few nights later. I'm sure you can imagine the fireworks reflecting off the water and the explosions echoing through the mountains.

I've enjoyed about all the nature I can stand...

Not that I'm complaining... it's truly been amazing. I am on my way back to reality from spending 3 weeks in Ruidoso. We set out to spend about 10 days to two weeks, but after hearing all about the 110° weather at home, we just couldn't bear to leave our 70° haven.

During our first week, Mom & Dad came up to visit, and instantly fell in love with the peace & nature of the cabin & quaint little town (not to mention the lures of the nearby casino for Dad).



One night, on the way back to the cabin from town, we found a mama bear digging for some dinner for her cubbies! We didn't have the camera with us, so we hurried to pick it up & drop off mom. When we got back to the same dumpster, she was nowhere in sight. I rolled down my window, made a noise like we'd heard her make earlier, and she answered! In a few seconds, here she came! She was making a pretty big racket, and we think she was telling her out-of-sight cubs to not come out while she was posing for the weirdos in the big car taking her picture. Unfortunately, the only shots we got were pretty dark, and lightening them on the computer just kills the photo quality.


We had lots of other flora & fauna to entertain us, including deer, raccoons, a pair of orioles, some unidentified yellow birds, and woodpeckers, but the hummingbirds were the stars!!! Tons of them zoomed and flirted everywhere! They drank 3 large feeders full every day, and probably would have had twice that much if we had been obliging. A couple of times, one actually came inside, looking for another feeder. In the mornings, if we were lazy in getting up and getting their breakfast (who, us???), they would come up to the windows tell us all about it, and sometimes, they'd get so vehement about it, they'd get their beaks stuck in the screen for a minute!

James monkeyed with the camera, and figured out how to get some incredible shots. Once, one landed on his hand while he was snapping pics. In the first picture, a mama hummer came inside and got her beak stuck trying to get out, poor thing. James eventually put the feeder in the doorway to lead her out.










We are so blessed- we got to spend our six monthaversary such a peaceful place. I learned that my hubby can make a killer omelet! Sometime around the end of the second week, I sort of had a nervy ditherspaz breakdown about the spiders, so James was a darling & set off a couple of bug bombs, and things were much better after that. Even though he told me he thinks I need therapy about the spiders.



To say that Max had fun would be the understatement of the century. (In this picture, he was hanging out about 15 feet up the tree.) His favorite thing to do outside is to roll in dirt, so when it came time to leave today, he was beyond filthy. We decided to give him a quick bath before we got in the car. He has been pouting ever since. As soon as we got in the car, he crawled under and between the suitcases, and hasn't shown his face in hours.



In the intrest of keeping this blog readable, I'll post a few other more detailed blogs about things like Smokey the Bear, the 4th of July, & hiking in high heels.

VBS mission trip?

James and I like to frequent a neighborhood karaoke bar. Neither of us has ever participated, but it's fun watching people perform, and usually plays pretty good music. And they serve popcorn & chex mix for free. The other night, we were there with a couple of friends, and one of them decided to sing, so we were perusing the book. (Am so proud of her! I don't think I could do it.) I, of course, was looking to see what children's/ Disney type songs they had, and was amazed... They had a WHOLE CATEGORY of kids church songs!!! I threatened to get up and sing B-I-B-L-E or Who Did Swallow Jonah, but James said no. :) They even had "An Austrian Went Yodeling"!!!! (which, I may or may not have thought was called "An OSTRIDGE Went Yodeling" until my senior year of high school...)

Anyone up for hosting VBS in a bar?

Prayer Request

Hello everyone...

Just got an email from one of our tailgating friends... His wife (I've met her a few times, but James knows her fairly well) fell at her gym last night, and is now in the hospital with several broken vertebrates and is paralyzed from the arms down. The email we got was understandably pretty sketchy, from a frightened and devastated husband, but as best as I could tell, she was in surgery this morning to try to stop some internal bleeding and repair some of the vertebrates. They have a 4 year old daughter.

Thanks in advance for your prayers.

A Beautiful Bride

Something Old:
Her (great ?) grandmother's butterfly brooch, pinned to her boquet.

Something New:
A fantastic dress.

Something Borrowed:
My veil.

Something Blue:
wouldn't YOU like to know?!

for all the pics, click here.

Again with the random sleeping habits...

I woke up a little before six today. I never do that. Unless...


That's right, we've been to Vegas. again. oops. We may have a problem. :)


This time, just Dad came with us, and we stayed downtown. No convertible this time, but we did get to cruise around in a 2010 Infinity that had some serious zippy under the hood and NO KEYS! (Pushbutton start is so weird to me...)


No poker luck this trip... I made 3 final tables, but never cashed... that is FRUSTRATING, let me tell you. I still love blackjack, and I actually 1/2% understood what was going on when I played craps with dad.


We got to see each extreme of Vegas... Arrived on Tuesday to a practically empty town because it was in the morning on a week day. Left on Saturday night from MGM, an hour or so before the big UFC fight started... even Dad said he didn't think he'd ever seen that many people there.


Tuesday night, we went to The House of Blues to see Ben Folds- he was GREAT. I think Dad really enjoyed it. He is an impressive musician. Unfortunately, it was standing room only. They had a few tables around, but on top of the regular ticket price, it was a minimum $250 bar tab just to sit down. Needless to say, we stood for nearly 4 hours through the opening act & the concert. The opening act was incredibly bizarre. One thing that always strikes me about Vegas is the amount of unrecognized talent. There are TONS of street performers & players in little dives that are great, but just not quite good enough to make it in a town full of world class acts. This makes even the cheap shows and opening acts enjoyable. Usually. This opening act, however... they were three girls and a guy that were from the northeast UK, and sang only solo funeral dirges. Seriously! One was about a whole town being killed when a mine collapsed, and another was about a women who had several babies, but they all died. On top of that, while one girl was singing, the others just kinda stood around looking bored. It was very weird... anyway, it was ok, because Ben Folds more than made up for it.


Wednesday night, we saw Terry Fator. Absolutely fantastic. If you're not familiar, he's the ventriliquist/ impressionist that won two seasons ago of America's Got Talent. He is now (deservingly) the most successful reality show contestant... after he won the million $ & one year at The LV Hilton, the Mirage picked him up for a mere 5 year- $100 million contract. Anyway, sry if you knew all that. But he was GREAT. If you get the chance, go see him.


As always, some great food was involved, and it was an all around great trip. But then, will I ever go to vegas and NOT say it was wonderful?



***Update: i've left my wallet in the room safe, and my purse & phone in pleasanton. *sighhh*

Super Excited!!!

James & I start Ballroom dancing lessons tomorrow!!! I'm soooooo pumped. He will be Gilles & I will be Lacey (from Dancing With The Stars). Wheeee!!!!

Ow. I tell you what, Ow.

So earlier today, I gouged my hand with a pair of scissors. I was trying to cut the packaging off our new can opener (YAY- gnawing is no longer the most effective method to open canned goods!!!), the scissors slipped, and of course, since they were open, cut my hand in two separate places.

I just thought that hurt...

Later, I was boiling some water in my tea kettle. Usually, the handle is heatsafe, so you can pick it up without mitts, even when the water is boiling. Not so today. It was super hot, so I tried to quickly set the kettle back down, and when I did, some water sloshed out on my hand. That sent the kettle flying, pouring almost the whole kettlefull directly on me. Or rather, directly on my right boob. HOLYPOO.

So now my right chestybits are covered in bandages & an inch thick layer of burn cream. The doc said usually second degree burns arent that bad, but since they're on such a *ahem* sensitive area, they're having me come in for the next few days to clean & have the bandages professionally changed. I got a tetnaus shot (I didn't even tell them about the scissors fiasco), a pain shot, and some vicodin. I'm totally looped right now, and very happily itching like mad, because I'm no longer in much pain. I already slept for a few hours, and I woke up a couple of times with my face held in very theatrical positions... like... a big giant "hmmmm...", an "eeeeeew" crinkled nose, and a very skeptical "uh, yah right". So g'night! I'm off to have some incredibly bizarre dreams...