smackdown @ sandy's

yesterday was absolutely crazy. i spent much of my day in meetings and just getting small stuff done and figured out. it was one of those days where i felt like i got nothing done. but, yesterday d^2 spent the whole day outside. she didn't seem to mind, but she didn't seem to have particularly enjoyed it. it is funny - she won't come inside and just wants to spend all of her time outside while haley's puppy wrigley won't go outside unless haley and matt go outside and play with her. thank goodness i don't have that problem with d^2.

last night i went downtown for the orientation session for obedience lessons for D^2. i accidentally wen tto hte wrong spot, so i didn't get oriented and will have to wait 6 months for the next set of sessions. i am so dumb. for some reason i swear i thought she said it would be next to the city auditorium not the city pool. i didn't even know we had a city pool,


last night was also monday night football at sandy's place. she has the best place to have a party ever. she has like 20 ft ceilings in this awesome loft apartment downtown. she projects the tv onto the wall and it is just a big ole party party. i really didn't care about the score, it was just fun to go out and be sociable. of course, those in the fantasy football league cared a lot more! but, we had some yummy homeade salsa and guac! made me happy!

the m team

i'll say it again, i love directv. while my freinds and family who live in themidwest are all unable to watch illinois games, i am someow a recipient of the big ten network! this week i got to watch the illini give indiana a L. so, we are now 3-1! it is quite fun to acually get to watch the illini.

this morning daisy had a date with the m-team. christina and liz came over and with the dogs, so daisy, molson, mocha, and molly l got to play in the back yard while the mamma hung out and caught up. it was quite fun to watch them play. they are all about the same size so play time is quite fun! it is especially fun for daisy and mocha since they are almost the same age.

i've now finished removing the wallpaper from my bedrom. the walls are washed, so the painting should start next weeend. yay!!! I'm ready for it to start looking hot! i think that this small change will make such a big diffece that i will be incredibly HAPPY.

earlier this week i caught some girls next door. it was hef and holly' 5th anniversary. holl kept talkng about how what she and hef have is special, and she understands that he needds to have lots of girlfriends. they celebrated with a party with all of his other girlfriends. then at the end kendra talked about how supposedly you are supposed to give wood for the 5th anniversary and how "bet you holly got some wood". how can you not LOVE this show?

Fetch Fido Fetch

first, congratualtions to alicia and krishan on the arrival of the beautiful, blond haired blue eyed boy. at 6 lb 14 oz, 19 in. long, he arrived last tuesay. we look forward to ltos of pictures and updates!

it's been a while, so i thought i should update the blog. i've been pretty busy, but i can't say lots has been happening.

the biggest news on the homestead is that daisy got her aniversary present. we are now the owners of a large fened in back yard. it is quite beautiful if i may say so. i called and got some quotes- all were pretty reasonable, so i decided to just go for it. i knew what i wanted, so i went for it. they weren't going to start until next monday, but then they realized that they could pound it out over the wekend. that worked well for me, so we have a fence. daisy dogg is the happies little puppy. she doesn't want to come inside!!! she would be quite happy to stay outside all day long. of course, she still does the doorbel thing and lets me know whenever anything is withn 100 ft of the house. she is definitely a tired puppy when we come in at night. crazy daisy in the yard, lazy daisy in the house. this morning we played catch. she enjoys having a long ways to run for the ball instead of the 10 ft. normally found in the house (which also has breakables...).

in other yard related news, i'm having major fire ant problems. i've killed several mounds out front, and i found one out back too. i am going to do a topical treatment to the whole yard, because this is out of hand! it is not a good idea to mow the lawn with a bunch of fire ants running around. hence, a good excuse to not mow for the time being.

friday night i went over to amanda's for a girls night in with her and virginia (aka va). amanda's husband stephen is in a quartet at their church, and the quartet was competiting at the national quartet competition. in kentucky so,we had a fun girls night in. we hung, and i introduced amanda to my flavor of the week - the pear vodka and cranberry cape cod. we had fun just hanging out and gossiping lie girls. daisy maisy came with me and spent most of her time running around with allie dog and playing scared of the cats. it is cute to watch her with the cats - she tries to play with hem, and they are scared of her, so they hiss and growl. then she gets frustrated and gets down on the ground further and barks. it is great, except when you are trying to keep baby sleeping. saturday morning we had a lazy morning of letting the dogs play and i got to play with va since she was up. she is such a cute, happy baby! she is 10 months old, and happy to to play and play and play. apparently i was granted baby approval since she didn't cry at first sight of me and she used me as a jungle gym. not everyone gets this treatment!

unfortnately, after the hurricane last week, never got satellite back up! something is definitely wrong. so, the directv guy is supposed to come out here and fix it for me this morning, between 8 and 12. i love the 4 hour time windows... hopefully he'll come out here sooner rather than later. I'm not feeling like working particularly late, so this means taking leave. meanwhile i am going to go work on my patio furntiture some more. i was getting somewhere with it last night, and then the mosquitos came out. they had a wonderful dinner: me! note to self: next time at walmart buy lots more citronella! if i'm going to take a morning off, why not use it to my advantage? soon we will have a little paradise out back!!

quote of the day...

last night while watching the girls next door, the quote of the day was:
"thank God I was wearing underwear today"
oh to be a hot blond playboy model

'berto

it has been a hot, dry summer here in MS. immagine my surprise that the weather was really cool the last two days. in case you aren't aware, a little hurricane named humberto got himself started and came to visit the states today well, he wa a fast guy because we got a TON of rain courtesy of him. i figure it is his fault when my lawn turns to the amazon. it is also his fault DD didn't get to walk today. but i'm not complaining because of him i am enoying a nice, quiet rainy evening with DD (tv is out).

also, the fence man starts tomorrow, weather prmitting. so, it is possible that i will have a fence by the end of the weekend. how cool is that!!! now i just need to put together that patio furniture and i can throw a party-party!

our hearts will always be in a little cottage by the sea

another importnat birthdy - today is my auntie barbara's birthday. she is my mom' oldest sister and she is also my favorite aunt. we are both oldest children, so we have a lot in common. my auntie barbara is a role model for me - she has been able to raise a great family, further her education, work, and maintin her faith. if ican be anything like her a few years downt he road, i'll be quite the happy camper. aunt barbara also has the pleasure of being married to my favorite uncle, who is conicidentally my godfather and ä founding member of the e-team. my favorite thing about my auntie barbara is that she goes to the jersey shore every summer. she spends a week (or two) relaxing on the beach before the new school year starts (shes a school nurse). if that isn't a smart idea, i don't know what is. her hear will always be in a cottage by the sea, and hope that one day she is able to buy that cottage. aunt barabara also just beacame a grandma fro the first time this summer. she has been looking forward to this for years, so i am uber happy for. now she has a new baby to make quits for and to spoil as her nana can. Happy Birthday Auntie Barbara

you look like a monkey and sometimes you smell like one too

i would be speaking of my dog here. today is daisy dogg's birthday. we've been together for a year now! if you aren't aware of this, daisy dogg is my spoiled puppy. unfortunately, she knows that she has me wrapped around her little paw. she is the protector of our house an my second doorbell. daisy has tailgated with me at illini football and she is my walking companion du jour. she is good at keeping me on my toes. she loves to alk around with squeaker toys. nothing makes her happier than reminding us that she is in the room. she also enjoys running in circles, sniffing butts, and body slaming. if you haven't had the pleasure of meeting her, you oughta.

Big Time Thanks

God bless the Big Ten Network. i didn't think got it. apparently i do. thank you directv

Thursday Next, a Firs Among Sequels

no: 6

title: thursday next, a first among sequels

author: jasper fforde

Ok this book is a pure 5 stars. it is the 4th book by jasper fforde in the thursday next series. this is probably my favorite series in modern lit. it details the life of thursday next, a character in an alternate earth. she is a brit, living a modern life. only in this alternate version of our earth - people travel cross country via air ships and take gravitubes cross country. trains and planes are things that just nver took off. there is also an enormous tax on cheese in this world. it is just an absurd almost brittain that isn't quite like the brittain of today. the books are fille with references to literature. thursday is actually able to jump into books, and is a member of the policing agency within fiction, jurisfiction. this bok takes place 13 years after her first novel in which she obtained her ability to jump into books. in this book she is fced with a number of tasks- incluing geting her son friday to join the chronoguard - the time traveling policing agency whose duty is to keep time straight. she also needs to save the book orld from being taken oer by tv due to falling reading rates. all in all it was a grat read. as always fforde has put togethr a clever and entertaining novel.

amanda young is my hero

yay for amanda. she came up and helped me fix the leaky faucet at lunch. buying her lunch was the least i could do to repay her. now i can focus on that nasty wallpaper...

i heart cooking!

i really do!
i don't actually want to eat but i love cooking. well, i enjoy eating (obviously), but i get tired of eating leftoevers. tonight i made chicken spaghetti. yum. that wll feed me dinner until i get tired of it. right now i'm roasting vegetables(red bell peppers, onions, garlic, and zucchini). i am going to process them with some reduced fat cream cheese. then, that cn get spread on some bread with a few tomato slices and that will be lunch for the rest of the week. i got that idea from alton brown. he is so cool. i also cooked on monday niht. i made mini quiche cups. they have spinach, canadian bacon, green bell peppers, onion, and cheese in them. they are just quiche muffins! i froze them and then i can just pop 2 muffins in the microwave and i've got dinner on the go.
i really heart cooking. if anyone wants to eat, please tell me - i much prefer cooking for others than for me.
http://altonbrown.com/

me and miss cleo

i slept really poorly last night. i kept waking up. at one time i swore that my spoiled little dog was playing with the trash. well, no trash in my bedroom this morning. but, when i went out this morning to let her out, the dogs across the street had knocked over my garbage can and strewn it all over the front yard. a little weird. actually, a lot weird.

happy home

today i got my first housewarming gift. lucy and elizabeth decidd to get me something. they were unsure of what to get since they haven't seen the house yet. so, they went with a very "unique" gift - a "matched pair" of candle holders/vases. they are glass, painted sort of silver. how generous of them. they don't reallyu go with my style, but it was sweet of them to do it. unfortunatley, one of them broke when the bag tipped over in my office. literally, fell 6 inches from vertical to horizontal, and broke. still, isn't it "nifty" how one direction up they are candle holders and the other direction up they are vases... notice my nice, normal, silver hurricanes in the background.

the home warranty people have called a new plumber. let's hope it will happen - after all, every time i use the hall shower it turns off less.

by the way, here is a picutre of the painted laundry room. i don't think i posted one yet. next step my room!!!

daisy dogg is doing pretty well. she has found her spot on the couch. you wouldn't even know that the the couch had been moved half way accross the country!!! of course, currently, she is barkign her head off to let me know about some threat... she is also going to town with her new duck. i think he has been killed. many times over.

sunday - not all sunny

well, yesterday ws uber productive. today, not so much. i started pulling down border. it is a little slow going - good thing it is just border to remove. of course, it would be less slow going if i actully did it. mid-day i had to take a break to go let my friend's dog out. they called me this moning to ask if i would mind coming by their house to let out the dog because they were out kayking and didn't want to leave him in the hosue for 12-14 hours. well, i did it because i'm nice - even though it is a 30 minute drive from my house up north to their house down south. of course i brought daisy and the two dogs ran around the yard and body slammed one another. it was fun for her. not so fun for sarah - no labor day cookouts for me - just hard work.

i'm still without my new lawn furniture :(

more importnatly, the bathroom/plumber crisis is getting worse. it started out with the fact that i noticed that the plumbing in the master bath was making weid noises - air bubbles appearing in the toilet when the shower was running. so, i called the home warranty compay and the plumber was supposed to come out. meanwhile i started using the hall bathroom instead. the plumber called back and was supposed to come out tuesday. they never did. on thursday afternoon i called the home warranty company after giving the plumbers time in case i wasn't paying great attention when we talked. the home warranty people left a message with them and the plumbers called me back. they said they hadt he wrong phone number for me and we agreed that they would call friday afternoon and we would do the house thing then. no, they never calledand they never showed up. meanwhile, the hall bathroom shower is starting to drip and it won't turn off all of the way, no matter how much i turn. ugh to home ownership ;-(.

in other, beter news - just removing the border in my bedroom makes it look better. i can't wait to see what it looks like with decent paint. i'm tempted to put in a new ceiling fan too - but that might be a bit much for right now. the big prioritiy is the fence. now that the back yard has furnitue an the sunroom is useable i want to be able to put daisy dukes out there and eat or read.

daisy dogg is lying on the couch next to me passed out - apparently half an hour of playing with a boy and a 1.5 mile walk will do it to you...

other good news - it rained. the plants are thanking the Lord.

house work home improvement - whats the diff?

well, it is an "exciting" labor day weekend in beautiful vicksurg, ms. thus far i have spent my saturday cleaning and at the home depot. doesn't sound very fun? it is exactly what i planned to do!!! i made a list of things to do an i've been rip roaring down it. i'm not allowed to do home improvements until after getting the house clean. i'm pretty much at home improvement stage. i'm working on cleaning/finishing unpacking my room. once stuff gets cleaned up in there i'll start attempting to pull down the beautiful border. my goal for the weekend: pull down border, wash walls, spackle walls, paint ceiling. it is a rather lofty goal, but i've got two more days to do it!

i did go into town this afternoon to home depot. i went with the intention of buying one thing - an extetion ladder. did i buy it? you bet ya not. but, i did buy some bigger pots to repot some plants for my sunroom. in the cleaning frenzy this afternoon i finally moved the boxes out of the sunroom into the garage. i put daisy's old, little cage out there. we are going to try giving her the sunroom to play in during the day. if she has cage, food, and water she ought to be pretty good. but, back to home depot and the sunroom. i had fallen in love with some furntiure for the sunroom at home depot,but being a tightwad i hadn't bought it yet. i was waiting for it to go down to 75% off. too late. it is still 50% off and it is gone. so, instead i bought a glider and a bar set for the sunroom/patio. it is on hold until see a man about a truck.. actually, i'm going to see a woman, but the difference i irelevant. i'll have to post a picture or two once things get looking nice!