All Hallow's Eve

Dude, it's 9:50. Why are people still bringing their greedy little kids around for candy? Shouldn't they be in bed by now? We turned our lights off.

Kennedy and I are enjoying a delightful night in with home-made pizza and scary DVD rentals. We are currently watching Trick 'r' Treat, which doesn't look too promising at this point. Thus, I am blogging.

This is my last day of BEDIO! I'm glad. Also, I forgot to blog yesterday, but who am I kidding? I quit a long time ago.

Sick. The fat kid from Bad Santa just literally vomited his guts out. What is this movie you rented, Kennedy?

Today, I went to an antique store here in town. It was wonnnnnnnnnnnderful! There were so many things I wanted in there. I settled on some stamped tin and some old stair rails. With those items, Kennedy and I vamped up some side tables that I made last year out of old wood when we re-did our deck. So these tables are made of 100% recycled materials. Now I'm just waiting for the adhesive to dry.

Tomorrow, or maybe if I ever feel like blogging again, I will post pictures of the tables. Also, maybe I'll post picture of Kennedy dressed as Pete Sampras!

Halloween is in the air!

Each night gets scarier and scarier as Halloween quickly approaches.

Ok, not really. It's just a little colder. Also, DANGIT, I told myself I'd do laundry today and it's 10 and I still haven't done it. I need my Starbucks "outfit" washed. It smells like coffee. It's amazing how much the coffee aroma permeates clothing. It's just as bad as cigarettes, but I guess not quite as unpleasant.

I just typed out a lot of stuff on this blog, then re-read it, and it was just a lot of nothing. I don't care to write things that don't matter.

Elvis developed a new habit today. For some reason, he's really enjoying barking in my face. I'll just lay on the couch and watch, oh, I dunno, The Vampire Diaries. And then the next thing I know, he's sitting right in front of me, barking in my face. It's really very cute. I wish he would figure out how to whisper bark, because then it would almost be tolerable.

Anyway, he doesn't seem to want anything. Just feels like barking. In my face seems like a good place to direct it. So that's what he does.

Also, he's been chewing on the couch pillow corners. Not so cute.

Alright, I can't put this laundry off any longer. Also, I should probably quit putting showers off as well. It's been long enough.

Hooray!!!

I LOVE when I learn something new! Today, I learned about how to create my own blog background with Photoshop from KevinandAmanda.com. Guys, photoshop is CRAZY! You can do SO many things with it! If I wanted to, I could probably create my own alternate universe where everything goes my way. All I'd need to do was google some images that fit into my world and then arrange them in a visually pleasing way.

But that'd be kind of weird, I guess. To live inside my computer. Right?

SIGH, so here goes about Starbucks. It's OK. Everyone there is so nice, and they all seem to genuinely enjoy their jobs and each other (I'm certain it's a front for the new people.) But I just can't seem to get past the fact that I'm literally making minimum wage. It bothers me. You know what is NOT comforting to hear? "That it's just the way the economy is right now."

I KNOW what the economy is like, and I'm sure there are lots of people with my qualifications getting "real" jobs. And it's not that I necessarily want a real job anyway, but I just want my pay-rate to quit decreasing with each new job. Blaaaahhhhh.

On the good side of things, I will get to work morning shifts, so I can be done by noon or so. That will mean I don't have to leave Elvis locked up all day. He'll more than likely be locked up for a few hours at most. So...after my ridiculously low paychecks come in, I can start buying things for our house...apparantly one throw pillow at a time.

I'm going to start a petition. Kennedy keeps hinting at wanting to start a blog. I think he's nervous, or maybe thinks he doesn't have time. I'm trying to get him to start one, so he'll quit telling me "Make sure you write this on your blog today..." SO, what I need everyone who reads this to do is to leave a comment BEGGING him to start a blog. I'm certain this will work.

Oh, you know what? I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SICK OF SPORTS!

Is there ever a time when there's not a sporting event being covered? I've been waiting for it so I can dance for joy. But each year, it seems that there's only about one day that is sport-free. Usually it's like, that day between the end of basketball season and the beginning of...what comes after basketball? Maybe there is no day. Maybe I just blacked out from too much sports coverage.

All I want to do when I crawl into bed is watch HGTV, or a British comedy. Lately it's been baseball. Literally, as I type about it, I am infuriated with how annoying baseball is.

Screw throw pillows. I want to go shoe-shopping!!!

Meh.

Meh.

I'm not crazy.

Stop putting words into my mouth.

I'm not writing that.

Oh...are you still talking?

Quit being like this!

Sorry. I was just responding to Kennedy's antagonizations about my blog in the form of a blog. I'll let you fill in the blanks.

So, I was accosted by a crack-head tonight at Jimmy John's. (And by accosted, I mean definition #1 at Dictionary.com, and NOT #3.) She came in dripping wet from the rain, talking all crazy about needing a job, used the f-word in there somewhere and asked to see my wedding rings.

THEN, she held the door open for me as I left and politely offered to give me gas money to take her down the highway. I, of course, accepted.

Kidding. I told her I was in a hurry. No telling WHAT was hidden in that giant coat of hers. (I'm implying she was concealing a weapon.)

Tomorrow is the big day. I will be starting work. Booooooo!!! I don't want to work! I don't want to get dressed/shower each day! I don't want to leave Elvis. But I DO want free coffee and human interaction. Hmmm....decisions, decisions.

If I were a surgeon, I would begin every surgery with the phrase, "Hmmm....incisions, incisions."

I think it's about time I started work. I mean, the Lifetime channel has changed it's morning line-up and moved Reba to 7am instead of 9am, so I guess it's just a natural season change for all of us. I'm going to miss Reba. But mostly, I'm going to miss Barbara-Jean.

Ken & Sara plus 40

That's right, 40 people in our house yesterday! All of them my family, but this does not even represent 1/3 of my family. Crazy, right???

So, I forgot to blog yesterday. I didn't think it would happen and it happened. I was busy all day, cleaning the house for the party, hosting that party, cleaning up after the party, then watching Kennedy and John, then Kennedy and Patrick, then Patrick and Emily play video games. All the while, Laura and I were complaining about how boring it is to watch someone play video games. Come on, there are perfectly good reality shows on, people!

Anyway, the party was fun. To give you an idea of the crowd, here are a few pictures.

Some of the family sitting along the wall playing the newlywed game

Eating/Watching the newlyweds open gifts

Kennedy picking on small children.

*Fun fact!* Katelyn was one of the flower girls in our wedding!

The happy couple plus their baby, Heidi.

Well I just got back from a walk with Elvis. Sadly, on our walk, we discovered a deceased cat lying at the end of a neighborhood driveway. I looked closer and the cat had a collar, but that was as close as I wanted to get to it, as it had several flies already buzzing around.

I got Elvis a new harness the other day, and I feel very good about myself. Firstly, I bought a harness (at Wal-mart) on sale for $4.00. To make a long story short, I had to exchange it and ended up getting $4.12 back in return. Basically, I got it for free.

Best purchase I ever made!

How did I go so long without a harness for my poor dog? All this time, he's been choking and coughing, trying to pull on the leash. Now he can pull to his heart's content and I don't have to worry about hanging him.

Here's the new harness, (for all those on the edge of their seats?)

New harness, plus his big head and short legs. He's just so dang cute!

The view I have when walking him. Now everyone can feel like they're walking Elvis!

Sorry if this is turning into a Dog-Blog.

Here, let me make it up to you.

Ahhhh

Nothin' like the smell of swiffer wet-jet solution filling your house. It really makes you feel clean and fresh!

Elvis is lovin' it. He can't stop laying all over the floor!

Tomorrow we are hosting a little post-wedding shower for my bro, John, and his new wifey, Laura. There will be LOTS of family here. I'll try to remember to snap some pictures to put up. Kennedy and I have been cleaning like crazy all day. Where did all this dust come from? There were piles and piles of it in every nook/cranny (gross phrase by the way.)

I guess that's what happens when you live in an old house, the coils in your AC unit are dirty, and you don't have any air filters inside them. We should get on that!

Cleaning puts me in a good mood, because it doesn't feel like I'm living in such a hell-hole. I will probably look back on this time in about 5 years and think, "How did we live like that????"
Well, I hope that's what we're thinking. I hope we're not still living like this.

It's really not terrible, but there is SO MUCH I envision for this house, and it is frustrating to not be able to do those things yet.

For example, maybe I could do the floors something like this:

And then I could put up some wainscoting like this:

And I could someday get a washer/dryer like these:

Ooooooh, if I had those things, I bet I'd wash clothes that weren't even dirty! And when I ran out of clothes, I bet I would commandeer strangers and ask if I could do their laundry. Or I could just go shopping and wash NEW clothes!

I bet I'd spend all my time in that laundry room. Especially if it had this:

And this:

I can't wait!!!!

Liar liar

Guess what? I've been lying to myself all along. I don't want to fix up a house! I want it to be fixed up for me already. I want to just move in and everything is like 10x better than I could have imagined.

I don't want to paint every room and feel the satisfaction when I'm finished. I want someone else to paint it for me and I want them to say, "oh, no, don't worry about paying me."

Then I want someone on Craigslist to be giving away all brand new furniture in just my taste for free! And no one else will have emailed that person before I do.

I want to live in a fantasy land!

And I want to go shopping for new fall clothes.

And I want to be rich.

Sara M.D. Coincidence???

If I were a doctor, I'd be willing to bet that I have a slipped disc in my lower vertebrae.

Thankfully, I'm not a doctor.
Otherwise, I'd still be in school right now.
Otherwise, every time I tried to self-diagnose, I'd be right.
Otherwise, (if I was right all the time,) I'd have thyroid cancer /a blood clot in my left leg / a slipped disc in my vertebrae /kidney stones /exercise-induced asthma.

THANK GOD I'M NOT A DOCTOR WHO'S RIGHT ALL THE TIME!!!!

Ok, no lie, I literally spent 7 hours sitting at this very computer today doing "web design." There's no need to put it in quotes, I guess. So I'm redesigning my mother-in-law's webpage, and it's extensive.


She pretty much has a web empire. I hope I'm doing it right... Just kidding! I'm loving it. I get to put every single item in it's place and organize it and design it. I'm a huge fan of consistency. There has been a lot of tedious work, and I feel like I have found my higher calling. That calling being, to put things in their exact order and reference them to their proper places.

Elvis got out today.

And not like, right in front of my eyes out. But more like, we're sitting around wondering "where's Elvis?" out.

So, I'm sitting at the computer during hour 8 of my time here, and I hear him bark. But not the kind of bark where he's behind me in the back yard. It was the kind of bark where he was really close, like in front of me. Then I looked out the window and that little sucker was sitting out in the driveway, barking at the roof. Maybe a squirrel was up there, but it was raining out, so I think all the squirrels were inside of trees.

I immediately ran outside, and there he stayed. Just sitting in that spot, hangin' out. He's so freaking cute.

He was covered in huge brown leaves. How did they even stick to him that well? I called him in to eat dinner and he ran inside, but those leaves, they just kept on sticking to him.

The story I just told was very anti-climactic. I apologize.

So I lied yesterday when I said this was going to be the best blog entry of my life. But what do you expect from someone who was on the computer for 9 hours already today?

Also, I ate 5 cookies after dinner.

BOO!

Halloween is near and I'm scared in my house! My husband is growling and meowing from upstairs! SCARY!

And now, for a Halloween story:

In college, I volunteered at the Methodist Children's Home. I loved it. I spent every Wednesday night there. The kids were mostly junior high-high school age, and you know how the attitude goes there.

One Wednesday night, a group was making cards for a local nursing home as a service project. The assignment was to make Halloween cards, since that was the next holiday.

Later, while going through the cards, my friend (who was in charge of the group) found a particularly moving one.

The outside read "BOO!" with a picture of a ghost on it.

Inside, the card simply said "your old."

THE END.

Tomorrow, I think I'll blog THE BEST BLOG OF MY LIFE. It's gonna be huge. I can feel it.

Freedom, come to an end.

Web design is not necessarily new to me. When I was like 12 or 13, I started making my own webpage on tripod.com. I can't remember the address anymore, and it may have been deleted after all of these years. I just googled it and found my old blogs. That's right, this isn't my first time blogging, either. In fact, I held 2 previous blog addresses, each with hundreds of entries. I loved blogging. Mostly because I was a hermit and couldn't wait to tell about my day to the internet. Yeah, so I was a nerd too. Not that bloggers now are nerds.

I've just been reading my very first blog and laughing at how ridiculous my life was. It's fun to look back and see how much I've grown up, how different my priorities are compared to now. Well, I'm not going to link to my old blogs. They are not me anymore. I will, however, copy and paste all of the wonderful Jack Handy quotes from an old entry! I read these today, and they still make me laugh.

Jack Handey


#393: The day I met Marta was the happiest day of my life, because that was the day I screwed a friend of mine out of a bunch of money.

#157: I wish outer-space guys would conquer Earth and make people their pets, because I'd like to have one of those little basket-beds with my name on it.

#341: They were a proud people. In fact, some said they were too proud. If you asked them whey they were so proud, they'd just laugh and say, "We're not even going to answer that."

#209: You know what's probably a good thing to hang on your porch in the summertime, to keep mosquitoes away from you and your guests? Just a big bag full of blood.

#295: There's a world that we know nothing about, that we can only imagine. And that is the world of books.

#395: I remember one night I was walking past Mom and Dad's room when I heard them talking about how they might not have enough money to pay their bills that month. I knew what I had to do. I went and got my piggy bank and buried it in the backyard, where they couldn't get their mitts on it.

#298: People need to realize that every time they talk about how "fragile" our planet is, it's just like asking outer-space aliens to come invade us.

#282: If you lose your job, your marriage and your mind all in one week, try to lose your mind first, because then the other stuff won't matter that much.

#89: If you ever go temporarily insane, don't shoot somebody, like a lot of people do. Instead, try to get some weeding done, because you'd really be surprised.

#349: When I saw the old bum pushing his grocery cart down the street, at first I felt sorry for him. But then when I saw what was in his cart I thought, Well, no wonder you're a bum, look at the dumb things you bought.

#317: Instead of mousetraps, what about baby traps? Not to harm the babies, but just to hold them down until they can be removed.

#289: There is one question that probably drives just about every vampire crazy: "Oh, do you know Dracula?"

#249: It's funny that pirates were always going around searching for treasure, and they never realized that the real treasure was the fond memories they were creating.
#380: For a while there, instead of calling Grandpa "Grandpa," I started calling him "Grandpappy." But he didn't like that, and asked me to go back to Grandpa. So I did, but I changed it a little. I put an "e" in instead of an "a," so it became "Grendpa." At first he didn't notice, but then he said, "What did you call me?" "Grandpa," I said. But then I went back to calling him Grendpa. Finally he just said to go ahead and call him Grandpappy, which I did, only I changed it a little bit to "Grendpeppy."
#99: Children need encouragement. So if a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way, he develops a good, lucky feeling.

I got a job today. At Starbucks. I think it might be all ok. I'm just gonna miss Elvis.

If I feel like it, I think I might write more later tonight!

Dead

Dead tired. I can hardly keep my eyes open as I write this. Probably because Dan spiked my Pomegranate juice. Thanks, Dan!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I can't wait til October is over. This blogging every day thing might not be for me. I'm loving blogging, but not when I really have nothing to say.

It's not easy being green

Hey! How about that last blog? I know I put the whole post in the subject line, because my iPhone wouldn't let me type in the text box. Kinda fun, kinda different. I like to shake things up, I guess!

I'm sure you're all wondering who Kevin is, too. He's a french bulldog. And hilarious and I told his owner he should have his own reality show. Believe it or not, Elvis is kind of a dud at the dog park. He just walks around and sniffs the fence and follows dogs who are playing, but doesn't join in. That's right, my kid is a nerd on the playground.

And for some reason right now, my mouse is not wanting to scroll down. It does that every once in a while...maybe when I've been scrolling too much? It's pretty annoying. I want a MacBook! Someone buy it for me for Christmas! Actually, what I think I'll start doing on here is keeping a Christmas list. Would anyone buy me stuff off of it? Maybe my mom would...I know she's reading this.

Ok. Guess what! I took some pictures of the green in the entry way (not that anyone is waiting around wringing their hands for these pictures, but it's been a while since I posted any before-after pictures. That's because we haven't done anything in a while!)

I'll quit blabbering and show them to you.

The day we moved in...

After I painted the risers...Notice the gaggy gray on the walls...

And the new pale green!

We love the green, but I will say it before anyone else gets the chance...it looks like the same color. Well, it's not. But, at night, when there isn't any natural light on the paint, it looks exactly the same as before. And I took this picture as the sun was going down. Also, the new paint is a flat finish, while the one before was a high-gloss. Maybe because high-gloss is easier to clean - not that they ever did any of that around here....I swear it's green!

Right now, the entry way is very unwelcoming. We have can lights in the ceiling. Literally, it looks like they made the lights out of tin cans. They're gross. Eventually, we are going to need to re-do the ceiling there and put a different lighting fixture in. Something with better lighting and a little more stylish.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE!!!

Bye.

Blogging from the car! Blogger and my iPhone aren't so compatible. On my way to a wedding, so I don't know if I'll have time to blog before midnight. Saw Kevin at the dog park today. What a cutie. Alright I'm car-sick. Gotta go!

Chillz

It was like, 75 degrees today and then the sun went down and I'm shivering in my house! We should probably turn the heat on, but we're self-punishers that way. After getting an extremely low electric bill today, I wouldn't be surprised if we went through the entire winter without turning the heat on. Daring!

Starbucks interview today. I think it went well, but we'll see. Kennedy told me to "be prepared that you might not get the job..." Thanks, Kennedy. I think I will just laugh if I don't get it. Just laugh and laugh and laugh and then never try for a real job ever again.

While I'm thinking of it, or obsessing over it really, I want to talk about a new website at which I've been spending way too much time.

The Pioneer Woman

Recipes, photography, giveaways, home and garden, a neat chronicle of a house remodel! You can find all these things and so much more here. AND. It's completely run by one woman. I loooove it! Go read it, if you haven't already found it. That's where I'll be immediately after I finish typing this blog post.

Guess what? I didn't take a picture of the green yet. And it's dark again. I was literally either asleep or web designing all day today. Most of it was web-designing (I think.)

Kennedy gave Elvis a bath yesterday (followed by almost cutting one of his paws off with the nail clipper,) so now he is very, very fluffy and fat. If I put my hand on his fur, it will literally spring back from the amount of body and volume in his hair. And he's just more confident now that he's been groomed. Just thinking about him makes me want to squeeze him until his little eyes pop out!!! (I'm obsessed with Elvis.)

I love learning! Can we please take up a collection at the end of my post so I can go back to school? I finally decided. I don't want to study social work or some science. I want to study graphic art and web design. And I want to know everything about it so I can go to nerdy web design conferences (is there such a thing? I'm sure...) and learn even more!

Right now, like 4 minutes ago, I just learned how to add texture to a photo in Photoshop.

Uh-oh. What if I start doing this to every single photo I take? Also, while I'm thinking of it, I need to start taking more photos!

And let the collection begin.

"I think so..."

Starbucks called.

I'll back-track for a second and say that a few weeks ago, I applied at Starbucks. To my surprise, they said they were probably going to be hiring soon. So, woo-hoo?

The manager called me today to set up an interview. I was caught off guard. I've been looking for a job for....almost 6 months? wow. When I started looking for a job, I really had no idea it would take this long. And so far, I have received ZERO phone calls to schedule an interview.

Anyway. Like I said, I was caught off guard. I think he said something like "Are you still interested in working at Starbucks?" In my mind, I was saying "no! no! Nooooooo!" I don't really want a job. So, me being me and finding it hard to tell a white lie, I told him, "I think so..."

He quickly rebutted with "You think so???" Ugh. WHY did I say that? I should have lied. At any rate, we got past it and set up an interview for tomorrow. Let me go on record as saying I have mixed feelings about  this. No, I don't want to work at Starbucks. I want to work from home doing something fun and playing with my dog whenever I feel like it. But I want/need a job. I want/need a paycheck. I want/need to SHOP!

Do you think Starbucks would let me bring Elvis to work with me?

I don't know how the interview will go. If I don't get offered the job, well, then, I probably have no business having any job, right? But I don't know how it would go over that I'm going to be gone for 9 days over Christmas. We'll see...

I severely need to wash my face. And do a Hydroxy-mask.

SO!!!!! Kennedy and I painted like allll day. We did the front entry/downstairs hallway/stairwell/upstairs hallway. We are just about done but gave up with only a few corners and some edges along the ceiling to do. We were both in a bad mood and tired and ready to quit and Kennedy's face was swelling by the second from allergies.

We chose a green for all of these areas that were previously the worst shade of grey you can imagine. I haven't taken pictures yet, as we are not completely finished. I'll let you just imagine what shade of green we chose and if it's nice or not. Oooooh, the suspense!

The thing about painting is, it only creates more work for yourself. Now I have to go back and re-paint all the trim white so it looks as nice as the walls. Now I need to find things to hang on the walls that coordinate with the green. Sigh. What a burden I carry.

My mouth hurts. I have several canker sores sprinkled throughout my gum-line. I'm a little embarrassed typing that, but what's done's done, right? It hurts! I couldn't eat tomato soup tonight, and I am wincing at the thought of brushing my teeth tonight, (not that that will stop me!)

I'm feeling restless. Wish me luck (or maybe un-luck) on my interview tomorrow!

Luckiest

I'm so lucky! I got home from Bible study, and Kennedy had cleaned the house. How is it even possible that he cleaned so much in such a short amount of time? I mean, our house wasn't trashed, but I had let the place go the past couple of days.

I still can't keep up with the dishes. Or the trash. How are we so lazy that we can't open the cabinet to put something in the trash can? We have to just set it all on the counter? Geez...It didn't seem that bad until I just typed it out loud.

At any rate, what a wonderful husband I have!

Meanwhile, Elvis just somehow figured out how to unzip the cover from his dog bed, chew on the zipper until it is no longer zippable, and begin pulling the dog bed insert out of the cover. Anyone know where I can find a chew-proof cover?

Tomorrow is gonna be a fun day! Painting, painting, painting! We've decided on green, but not sure which shade. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I'd be lying if I said this house hasn't been depressing me the past week or so. Everywhere I look, there's something that I want to fix, but don't have any of the materials to do so. OR, I don't want to really fix it because I just want to rip it out and start from scratch. The master bathroom is especially depressing.

1970s motif. Psychedelic wall paper that is peeling at every seam and corner. Overly-huge garden tub that I will never use because I'm afraid it leaks into the kitchen. Missing tile pieces on the shower stall.

I have never avoided a bathroom as much as I've avoided this one. One day, when we demolish it and remodel it, you will have to drag me out of there. I can't wait...to spend all my time in the bathroom.....huh? What?

So. Some of my favorite blogs have tons of pictures. Like, in every post. I love those kinds of blogs. I enjoy pictures. I'm a visual person. I feel as though, each time I don't add a picture to a blog post, that I have failed. That I was lazy and didn't plan ahead. The truth is, the blog has been an afterthought throughout the day. I enjoy sitting down and writing once I think about it, but it's not consuming my thoughts throughout the day. Probably a good thing. But, I like to share pictures. I think I'll just put some old ones up that are irrelevant to this blog post. It's kind of cheating, but still...better than nothing, right?

This photo was taken in Sioux Falls this past...February? It was the first time I got out and tried out the new fancy camera I got for Christmas. It is an old Orthodox Church near one of my favorite antique stores there in town. I don't know what kind of Orthodox Church it is. Sadly, the antique store burned down one day a few weeks before we moved away.

This is a cute picture of Elvis at Falls Park in Sioux Falls. I can't remember if I took this or if Kennedy did. I'll gamble and say I did.

Another Sioux Falls picture - stormy clouds. Maybe I'm feeling a little nostalgic about my time there...

Here's one of my favorite pictures. This is before my dad had any interest in Elvis. But Elvis knew. He knew they'd become best friends.

Me and Kennedy goofing off at Amy's birthday night out.

Random, but I can't stop thinking about web design. I think I'll go play with it right now.

My day in haikus

Woke up like normal,

Took a short nap on the couch.

This was before ten.

Wal-mart was not bad.

Don't check out behind old guys,

They are slow, confused.

How many high heels

Will be ruined by my dog?

I'll number the stars.

Saw a new movie,

The Invention of Lying

Big disappointment.

Long walk for Elvis.

I'm sad for those stuck indoors.

Please, Walk Your Dogs.

What do haikus use?

Periods, or not? Who knows?

I won't look it up.

P90x still sucks, ugh.

My jeans are still too tight, and

I still like dessert.

WOW! This is harder

than your average blog post.

I think I'm done now.

Family Dogs additon, vacation week, heavy rains

Before I begin, I would like to point you in the direction of a previous post, "Purple Jesus."
I have made a couple of additions to the Family Dogs line-up, that I should not have left out before. They really are worth taking a look!

Kennedy is off all week! I'm excited to spend all day and all night with him. Sure, I find ways to fill up my day when he's working, (ahem, 4 episodes of Reba, followed by some web design). But the highlight is always when he comes home and we lounge around for a while before he cracks the whip on some P90X.

Sidenote: P90x sucks.

I already have a rough draft of our to-do list for tomorrow. Don't tell Kennedy. I think he's planning on using these vacation days to "relax." Pfft. There is work to be done, here!

Ok, I have literally just stared at this screen for 5 minutes trying to decide what to write next. Nothing seemed worth mentioning. Maybe because I took a 3 hour nap today? Not much happens when you're sleeping. Thank you Kennedy for finally waking me up by screaming about how much the Cowboys suck.

Is anyone else as excited for Halloween as I am??? I think there are pumpkins on sale tomorrow at my local Ace Hardware store.  I'm going to need to look into that. If it ever stops raining here, I'll be able to carve some and put them out.

I'm pretty much done with this post. Better luck to me tomorrow. Mad Men is waiting on the DVR.

Texas, Our Texas

SNL is on!!! I'm missing it! I'm missing it! Oh, wait. I always miss it.

Today was a special day. Today was the first time Kennedy has ever been to the State Fair of Texas. Our fair is, I believe, unlike any other state fair. I cannot prove this statement, as I've never been to another state fair. So this is purely Texas pride and hear-say, but it is a unique fair. Ok, maybe it's just one of the biggest? Anyway, Kennedy had never been. Jaclyn was able to get us in for free, thanks to Don's parking pass. Cool!

Good friends, good food, fun times, mullets!

I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

The famous State Fair of Texas Ferris wheel, tallest ferris wheel in the Western Hemisphere!

Me with a rooster!

The rest of the group and Big Tex.

L-R: Leticia, Jaclyn, Ryan, Kennedy

Fun Facts about Big Tex!

HEIGHT: 52 Feet

WEIGHT: 6,000 Pounds

HAT: 75 Gallon, measuring 5 feet high

SHIRT: The Williamson-Dickie Company will cover TEX's 30 foot chest with a shirt that
 has a 100 inch neck and 181 inch long sleeves.  

BELT: 23 feet long, with a 50 pound buckle

PANTS: Size 284W x 185L. The inseam is 200 inches, the fly is 56 inches long and his pants weigh a total of 65 pounds.  

BOOTS: Size 70, measuring 7 foot 7 inches high

Here's a better picture of B.T., with the Texas flag to his right, and the ferris wheel to his left.

Jaclyn and myself on some foot massage machine.

Sic 'em Bears! Too bad we lost...

The Marine Corps Marching Band - sounded amazing!

Ryan wears a Bump-it!

This...this is what won the annual fried food contest. Does it get any more disgusting than this?

All in all, a fun day!

SO.

Last night, Kennedy and I got home from dinner. We went upstairs to change and while up there, Elvis started barking like crazy downstairs. We figured, 'what else is new?' and ignored it for a few minutes. Kennedy finally went down, thinking he just needed to go out, and shortly after, I hear Kennedy saying "Sara! Come here now!"

I ran down to see what the deal was, and there, sitting in our laundry room as Elvis barks and barks.....

....was a cat!

How did it get into our house? Who knows. This is the cat I was talking about in the previous post. I believe this cat thinks it's owners live here. Sadly, they have moved away. 

I'm worried. If a cat found its way into our house...what is next??? Oh my gosh, I hope it's not a possum. Those things are ugly!

Blah

I bet the most frequently searched subject right now is h1n1 symptoms. I have a headache right now. Kennedy freaked me out and said it might be swine flu. I typed in "h" in my google bar and it knew right away that I was searching for h1n1 symptoms.

I don't think it's swine flu. I think it's "I need a nap and then a Coke" flu. I've had both today. Now I'm starving.

Elvis needs a walk. He's growing restless. I can't handle all the barking that he does. Does anyone have Cesar Millan's phone number?

It's kind of gross looking outside. It's also chilly. I like it. I just want to lay on the couch with my soft green blanket and not move until it's time to go to bed.

Stupid cat. I used to love cats, but there's this one neighborhood one that hangs outside our house all the time. Neighbor Karen told me that the people here before us had a rotating door of pets. One of them was this cat. So I bet it's hanging around looking for it's old neglectful owners. Seriously, who buys a pet and then turns it loose on the neighborhood? Now Elvis won't stop barking at it, and it runs away if I try to give it any food or water. Ok, I haven't tried to give it food, but it never took my water. I'm insulted.

Ok. We're walking.

Oops, I did it again...

Guess what? I just typed out a gigantic long post. Then I accidentally deleted it. Then stupid blogger saved my changes right away and edit >undo didn't work.

GREAT!

Stupid blogger.

Now what do I do? I definitely don't want to try and remember every single thing I wrote down.

Lame.

  

Here's the banner I made for my "Walk Your Dog" campaign. T-shirts, anyone?

Coincidentally, I didn't walk my own dog today. But man alive, where did this heat come from? It's been rainy and cool for like the past month. Then this morning I woke up in a greenhouse. Literally, all the windows were fogged when I went downstairs. So that's my excuse for not walking Elvis today. It was too hot for him.

So about 5 minutes ago, something caught my eye so I looked down into the trash can here by the desk. Guess what I saw? A gigantic water bug. So I screamed and freaked out a little bit, and Kennedy came and killed it and threw it outside.

What I want to know is, how did it get into my trash can? And furthermore, how did it get into my house?

Last night, I saw another gecko. It was in my bathroom while I was getting ready for bed. Elvis ate it. Well, almost. Kennedy got it out of his mouth and flushed it before he could swallow.

Just a second ago, there was some other nasty bug crawling on the wall behind this computer. I smashed it with a jar.

BUGS! GO AWAY!

I feel so unsafe in my house right now. What if I wake up with a snake stretched out alongside me, sizing me up to eat me???

How many question marks are too many question marks? There's a question I'd like answered. 

Here are a couple of neat things I just realized:

• It was exactly 2 months ago today that we closed on our house and moved in.
• It was exactly 5 months ago today that Kennedy and I flew out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota to move back to TX.

So, that brings me to my next point. I have been unemployed for 5 months and 8 days. 

Dear Future Employer,

I know you're out there. I know you're searching for me, too. Take heart! Do not give up your search! Do not settle! I'm here! I'm ready to work! And I know how to do a lot of things!

Love,

Sara

Wahhh

First of all, I'd like to congratulate Stephanie for sticking with the B.E.D.I.O challenge! I've enjoyed reading her daily posts. You should go check them out, if you haven't already!

I don't want to do anymore dishes!!!! How can two people accumulate so many dirty dishes each day??? I've tried keeping our kitchen clean lately. And the living room as well. I've made it my nightly ritual to tidy up before I go to bed each night. But it never fails. There are ALWAYS more dishes to be washed. I don't know what yet, but there's got to be some kind of solution for this...

I LOVE GLEE! I want to BE Glee. I want to go back to high school and join the "Swingers." That's what our high school glee club was called, I think? I don't know. Holly R., if you read this and I'm wrong, you can correct me.

Every week, when Kennedy and I watch Glee, this is what I say: "I hope they release an album every season!" Every week. I bet it gets annoying that I say it over and over. Finally, I remembered to look on the Glee website, and I found that they are putting the songs from each episode on iTunes. Duh! In the back of my mind, I guess I already knew that. Now I just need to get iTunes set up on my iPhone....

I've been forming a bad habit of waiting until later in the evening to blog. Then in the morning I have nothing new to share. SO, apologies, but this post will be kept short. I'm going to save something for tomorrow, so I can get back on a regular mid-day blogging schedule.

"Purple Jesus"

Listening to ESPN in the background - not by choice, but it just happens to be what Kennedy is watching in the other room. For those of you who want to know what "Purple Jesus" is... it's Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings. See? Who says I don't know anything about football?

I just got back from taking Elvis on a walk. It's been cloudy here all day - it's looked like it was 7pm since about 8am. Depressing! I have to take advantage and get him out before it starts raining each day.

So, while I was on a walk, I had a great idea.

Before I say what it was, I will just pause to mention a few things.

1. I used to HATE walking the dog. Especially in high school, with the family dogs. It wasn't that I didn't love them, but it was that I didn't appreciate them. How sad. I lost many valuable years of dog love due to my selfish teenage attitude. Even after getting Elvis, I didn't really enjoy walking him at first. Maybe because it was usually just so cold (in SD) that I didn't want to be outside? At any rate, Elvis didn't really get regular walks until we moved back to DFW and moved in with my parents. Then, my mom would walk Elvis every morning before she went to work, and every evening when she got home. He got spoiled.

2. Elvis is very hyper, and I've found that taking him on a long walks really calms him down once back in the house. Emphasis on long, because a short walk will just get him all hyped up.

3. Through watching The Dog Whisperer, I have learned that exercise is vital to the health of a dog.

So, walking through my neighborhood, I noticed that almost every single house has at least one dog. Have I ever seen these dogs? No. I could simply hear them barking from behind a fence.

This brings me to my idea!!! I have decided to start a "Walk Your Dog" campaign. I felt so sad for the dogs we walked past. They were just dying to get out and run around. A lot of these dogs are large, and cooped up in a small backyard.

Why do people have dogs? Why do people get dogs and then leave them outside and only see them when they are giving them food and water? This is no better than a dog living out its years in an animal shelter or a cage. I wish I could go door-to-door and offer to walk everyone's dogs, but I simply do not have enough arms.

For now, my "Walk Your Dog" campaign will be confined to the internet. I will encourage people who read this and have dogs to make a "dog walking" commitment. Once a week? Three times? Every morning? Make a commitment and stick with it! Your dog will thank you.

Not literally, but maybe it will jump up and lick your nose or something.

If you read this, and don't have a dog, encourage friends and family with dogs to give their pets the necessary exercise to keep them healthy!

Family Dogs

Kobie

Wylie

"Hell-vis"

Me (yuck!), Elvis and my dog-niece, Heidi having a cuddle last Christmas.

Cute Heidi should have a photo by herself...

"Yucky" Lucky, our dog-cousin!

Beautiful Chloe Pederson, who has taken it upon herself to become Elvis's mother.

Schmook Graham. I've only met him once but he's still family.

My feet are FREEZING!

Not much to blog about, unless anyone wants to hear about today's to-do list. Anyone? I didn't think so...


I thought I'd post a recipe today. I've been keeping a few on reserve for those "nothing going on" days.


This is an easy, no-cook recipe. (Ok, it's a salad...) But it's one of Kennedy's favorites that I made up one day with a few of my favorite ingredients. It's a perfect side dish to almost any meal!

Pear Salad for 2

1 D'Anjou pear, chopped or cubed

2-3 cups baby spinach or regular spinach

3 oz. feta cheese (or 1/2 of a 6 oz. container)

1/3-1/2 cup chopped pecans

Raspberry Walnut vinaigrette

The beauty of this recipe is that you can make it your own! Change out the fruit (I've tried strawberries), the cheese (goat cheese is delicious!), the nuts, etc. You can also change the quantity of each ingredient depending on your tastes.

Enjoy!

Day of Rest

I love lists. I usually accomplish nothing in a day unless I write out a to-do list the night before. Sometimes, if I do something during the day that isn't on my list, I will write the item on my to-do list for the day, then check it off. I've been writing them in my planner (also a personal obsession, even though I really have nothing to plan for at the moment) so I can go back and look at what I have done and haven't done.

So in the spirit of my to-do lists, I will make a list of what I have done today, and then mentally check everything off.

• Shower (trust me, a huge accomplishment in itself)
• Go to church
• Take a nap
• Host an informal Cowboys/Broncos watching party (Nice win, Cowboys!)
• Watch Dexter
• Watch Mad Men
• Make a to-do list for tomorrow
• Make a grocery list for tomorrow

Ok, I realize how boring it is for ANYONE beside myself to read this, but I encourage you to make a to-do list of your own, if you aren't already the type who does this. It's fun to document small accomplishments.

In other news.

Yesterday, Kennedy and I went to my parents house to drop off a "lawn vacuum" we had borrowed. I know, my parents are sooo extravagant. Anyway, while there, my mom loaded up the back of my car with a bunch of stuff she didn't want that I did want...(i.e. some magazines, potting soil, a bunch of ceramic pots to plant things in, a magazine rack!) She also gave me a bag of small pumpkins that she got at the grocery store. How exciting! I often talk myself out of buying things like this, especially since I don't have a job right now. I feel that there are better things to spend our money on at the moment....

Long story short, with this bag of pumpkins, I was able to make a fun fall centerpiece out of things I had around the house. Thanks to Courtney for inspiring me to get in the fall spirit!

Here are a couple of photos of my work.

At first, I just put it on a placemat.

Then, I pulled out this old 7-up crate that Kennedy had...gives it some nice height.

Ok....time to go check Dexter off my list.

Must....keep....blogging....

WOW! I almost forgot about my commitment to blog every day. That only took about 2 days. I thought it'd  be easier than this.

Today we took Elvis to Barktoberfest at Fort Woof.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring in my camera, so I didn't get any cute pictures of Elvis. So I'll have to post a "mental picture."

Elvis. Black t-shirt with a skull and the word "BOO" underneath it. 5 million other dogs and my scaredy-cat dog clinging for dear life to Kennedy's leg.

I stayed up until midnight last night working on a costume for him, and then decided that it looked TOTALLY crappy and threw it away. So instead he wore a dog t-shirt from Wal-Mart (that technically, was never paid for....but that's another, totally innocent story.)

Speaking of Wal-Mart, I bought a clearance wasp killer there the other day!
While trimming the bushes in the backyard a couple of weeks ago, I was unsuccessfully attacked by a swarm of wasps. There was a gigantic nest in a bush right next to the patio. I decided that I needed to do something - I needed to protect my family!

For some reason, I really felt the need to stay "green". I didn't want to spray harmful CFCs into the environment, and a part of me even felt bad about killing the wasps. I mean, I disturbed their nest, and they flew out at me, but I wasn't stung. It seemed like a sign of good faith on their part.

However, I didn't feel bad enough to not buy this thing.

Basically, there's an attractant in there so the wasps fly in, but can't get out. They die "naturally." I waited two weeks (during which time it was raining...do wasps come out when it's raining?) but the thing was empty.

Well, luckily, I bought back-up. An aerosol can full of wasp killer. I had Kennedy spray it because I'm afraid of wasps. Duh!

Then miraculously, 3 days later, I looked inside and found not one or two, but FIVE dead wasps. Victory was mine!

Here's a close-up of the damage.

If wasps were cuter, no one would want to kill them.

Shhhhh....

He's finally sleeping.


Elvis has been a complete MONSTER all morning. He woke me up by biting my face, then chewed through his new collar from Dan and Millie. That's right, I said chewed through. THEN, I was cleaning out my car, and he ran off with a bag I had put my XM radio/accessories in (by the way, anyone want a FREE XM radio?) I had to chase him around the driveway and finally bribe him with a coke bottle. 


I have a theory.


Elvis is not half-bichon/half-shih tzu as we originally thought. 


He is actually a hybrid animal. I believe there was a lab on a farm in Hurley, SD that successfully bred a dog, cat, rabbit, goat, and snake ALL AT ONCE. Then, they advertised these cute little "puppies" on some online yellow page ad and now here we are.


The other day, I let Elvis into the backyard (as usual.) Then, about 30 minutes later, I'm wondering where he is. Elvis usually stays out for no longer than 5 minutes, then can't stand being away from us. Something wasn't right...


I went out to check on him, make sure everything was alright and he was nowhere to be found. So I walked around the side of the house and there he was, laying in the driveway.


In the middle of a pile of garbage.


I'd left the garage door open, with a bag of trash in there. Elvis dragged a tall kitchen bag full of trash out into the driveway, opened it at the drawstrings (seriously, not one hole torn in the bag) and pulled out every single thing in there.


Foil, paper plates, plastic forks, a container of spaghetti.


I quickly picked all the trash up while he snapped at my hands, trying to get me to leave it.


Then, I finally looked down at him, and this is what I saw.

Spaghetti face.

It's bloggin' time!

This...

...is what we found on our back patio on Kennedy's birthday. We were about to walk out the door to my doctor's appointment, when Kennedy noticed that our patio ceiling had collapsed. Woohoo! MORE work on this house? Could we be so lucky?!

I have actually enjoyed putting work into this house; making it our own. The possibilities are endless, which can be overwhelming at times. But overall it's exciting to put in the work and come out with a sense of accomplishment.

BUT...this list just keeps growing. Luckily, my parents gave Kennedy a new miter saw for his birthday. So this past weekend, Kennedy and my dad, then Kennedy and I worked to cover this dead-rat-wasp-nest-mice-skull-infested ceiling. It went faster and easier than we'd anticipated, thankfully!

Here...

...is our progress! The boards are up, it looks great, and all we have left is to paint it white!

Yesterday, while sitting in the office (which is at the front of the house), I heard squirrels running back and forth in between the gutters and the soffits...

...Oh, I think I have plenty to blog about every day in October.