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.