Healthy Dog...

This is our dog, Josie. She is a 5 year old Dachshund.

I loved her the first time I saw her. She has adorable puppy dog eyes that just plead with you for some attention. She use to be my husband's Grandma's dog, but she could not take care of her, so we kind of "inherited" her. She had been so neglected that she needed to be house broken again. We got her during one of the worst winters on record in Logan. I remember taking her out at 4:00a.m. to go to the bathroom in several feet of snow. Boy were we glad when she was finally house broken! She has been part of our family for just over 4 years now. She is sometimes a nuisance with her loud bark (you wouldn't think that such a little dog could bark so loud!), her leaky bladder problems, and her tendancy to vomit when she eats something she shouldn't, but despite it all, we really enjoy having her. This last week Josie developed a little tick. She would walk around and shake her head funny. I checked her out and found that she had puss all over inside her ear. It was disgusting. We got her into the vet and they had to knock her out to clean out her ears, and then started her on antibiotics. Today is her last day of antibiotics. I am so excited! It is worse giving your dog medicine than it is giving it to your child. Josie usually will wolf down anything, but for some reason she didn't want anything to do with those little red pills. So we have been coating them with a little peanut butter, and then she doesn't even notice. It is nice to have our dog acting like herself again. Even though my DH thinks it wasn't worth the $133 vet visit, it is still nice to have our little dog around.

In Search...

We just picked a new schedule for our book club for next year. I had a book planned that I was going to do because it was the 100th year since its publication...well I found out right before book club that the anniversary is actually in 2008, so I will have to wait another year to choose that book. I am supposed to do book club at my house in February, and I thought it would be fun to do a classic romance...something along the lines of Pride and Prejudice, but I have no ideas. So I am asking for help. Do you know of any good "classic" romances?

Four Word Meme

I just realized that my last post was a meme too, hope you aren't tired of them yet. Lei at My Many Colored Days tagged me to do a four word meme. These are the words she gave me: Classic, Forge, Home, and Charity.

Classic. This word always reminds me of Stephanie from For Better or For Worse. It was a word that her and her husband use to use a lot when they were first married. I don't know if they still do, but it still reminds me of them. There was also a place that I went roller skating when I was a kid called Classic Rollerskating. I think the only time I really went their was for parties for school or friends birthdays. I remember once there was a father daughter party there. My friend, Angie's, dad couldn't go so my dad took her and I. We had a great time skating around with my dad.

Forge. The first thing I thought of when I heard this word was Valley Forge...I don't know why. Then I thought of the word as an action, something that I do in my own life....I am constantly forging ahead. It means to move forward steadily, and that is what I am always trying to do. And then (I hate to admit this)I thought of a few times when I was in elementary school and needed a progress report or something signed, and my parents had already gone to work, so I forged their signatures by using a receipt they had gotten from purchasing gas....oh the shame...can you forgive me mom and dad?

Home. I love my home more and more all the time. When we first moved here I didn't plan on it being my resting spot, but it has become that...at least for a long time. My husband and I have been remodeling things around our house, and every new project just makes it seem more and more like my home. I have fond memories of my home when I was a child, and I often think about the memories that my kids will take of their home when they leave it someday. Will they remember the holiday traditions and decorations, the colors of the flowers in our yard, the smells from our kitchen, the way it felt to walk in the door after school was out. I hope I am making a happy home for my kids, and that they will have happy memories of it when they get older.

Charity. The pure love of Christ. I am not sure I have much charity. I often grumble when asked to do something. This is something that I am forging ahead on. My neighbor is a great example of charity for me. She is always doing something for someone else (including me). I always think of her when I hear the word charity.

Well those are my thoughts. Now it is time to make some lunch for my kids....I am tired of lunch. What do you feed your family for lunch everyday? I am tired of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese, and macaroni and cheese.

Halloween Meme

My dear sweet sister tagged me to do this fun meme for halloween, so here goes:

1.What's the scariest movie you've ever seen? I really am not a fan of scary movies, so the scariest one I have ever seen was probably the Sixth Sense. I screamed out loud when that little girl pops up throwing up. I can't even think of another scary movie I have seen. I went to a birthday party when I was younger and they were watching Poltergeist (sp?), and I didn't want to watch it so I spent the whole evening upstairs playing Barbies by myself.

2. What was your favorite Halloween Costume from childhood, and adulthood? The only one I can remember from when I was a kid was a Raggedy Ann costume. It was made of plastic and had one of those plastic masks with the elastic string that goes around your head, and it had a matted bright red wig. I dressed up like one of the 12 dancing princesses when I was in college...that was fun. Last year I dressed up as a witch, but I usually don't dress up on Halloween.

3. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your Fantasy Costume be for this Halloween? Some sort of a fancy queen/princess outfit from the victorian era I guess.

4.When was the last time you went Trick Or Treating? I took the girls out last year....this year I am making DH go instead.

5.What is your favorite Halloween treat? I love candy corn and those little pumkins that come in the holiday mix. My favorite trick-or-treating type candy would have to be the little yellow boxes of Dots. I love them...my DH even scored me a box at his work today and brought them home for me.

6. Tell us about a scary nightmare you had. When I was about five I had a dream that I was on a giant waterbed (you couldn't see the edges). There was a baby deer on the waterbed, and our mean neighbor girl was chasing it with a big butcher knife trying to kill it, and I was trying to save it. The neighbor girl kept falling and stabbing holes into the water bed and water would start squirting everywhere. I woke up screaming and my mom came in and comforted me and gave me a glass of water and a piece of sliced cheese...the weird things you remember huh?

7. What is your Supernatural Fear? My husband and I recently watched some show about ghosts and about this possessed house...it spooked me!

8. What is your Creepy-Crawlie Fear? I hate spiders! They give me the creeps even if I see them coming first. I hate killing them because I am always afraid they will get away and land on me.

9. Tell us about a time when you saw a ghost, or heard something go Bump in the night. I've never seen a ghost. I did feel something go bump in the night once. I woke one night for some reason, and rolled over, and a big heavy hand landed right on my face. I about flew out of my bed! Then I realized it was my own hand! I had fallen asleep with my arms somehow above my head, and they had fallen asleep, so I couldn't even feel that it was mine!

10. Would you ever stay in a real Haunted House overnight?
It depends on if their were large sums of money at stake. I might in that case, but I don't think I would sleep all night!

11. Are you a traditionalist (just a face) Jack O'Lantern Carver, or do you get really creative with your pumpkins? I tend to be a Traditionalist, but I have always wanted to try something different and new. I might spell B O O on some this year since we have a bunch of little ones.

12. How much do you decorate your home for Halloween? I decorate more for Fall than for Halloween. I have pumpkins and leaves in one form or another over most of my house, and I love gourds. I don't like all the spooky stuff for Halloween, so most of my Halloween stuff consists of jack-o-lanterns and scarecrows.

13. What do you want on your Tombstone? I would like to be cremated, and buried with my hubby, so we would probably end up sharing the same Tombstone, so I guess I would have something on their about our life together.

Well I am not sure who has not done this one yet, so If you are feeling up to it, take the challenge, and consider yourself tagged.

Pumpkin Pancakes with Apple Pecan Topping

This is my all time favorite Autumn breakfast. I have made it twice in the last couple of weeks! I thought I would share the recipe:

Pumpkin Pancakes
1 cup milk
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
2 Tblsp. Oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 Tblsp. sugar

Mix all dry ingredients together, set aside. Mix all wet ingredients together, then add dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour batter onto hot griddle and cook.

Apple Pecan Topping
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tblsp. Orange juice
2 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until apples are tender. Stir frequently. Serve over top of pumpkin pancakes.

YUM!!!

On the day that M was born...

Yesterday was my oldest daughters birthday. I have seen several blogs with the birth story of their child on their birthday, so I thought I would do that too. So here is the story of how M came to be:

My husband and I had been married for a year when we decided it was time to start adding to our family. Little did we know, that it would take us a year and a half, lots of prayers, fasting, tears, and some fertility meds to finally get pregnant. We were so excited when I finally got pregnant (and stayed pregnant, after we had already had one miscarriage). I was extremely tired my first trimester because I was working full-time, but I wasn't very sick. I don't get that terribly sick when I am pregnant...at least not throwing up sick, just tired, nauseous, and gaggy. We ended up moving when I was 5 months pregnant. It wasn't a bad move since I wasn't that big yet. We moved into an apartment that had no air conditioning, so it was a very long, hot, and uncomfortable summer. We moved again when I was 8 months pregnant, but just across town. I was having some serious Braxton-Hicks contractions, but everything was okay. I went in for my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment 3 days before my due date. I had been having problems the last couple of weeks with my blood pressure being too high. My blood pressure had gone up again, so the doctor and I decided it was time to get the baby out. He told me to come back to the hospital that night to induce me. I walked home crying. I was excited, scared, nervous, happy, terrified all at the same time. I tried to rest that day, but of course I was to emotional to get any rest. That night my husband and I went to the hospital. The doctor used cervidil to induce me since I was already starting to dialate on my own. My husband and I spent a lot of time wandering the halls and watching the little monitors they had me attached to. In the early hours of the next morning my water broke and things started happening. I don't really have painful contractions until my water breaks, so this felt like the beginning of my labor for me. I spent the next several hours trying to breathe through contractions (luckily I had a wonderful nurse who really helped me focus). Those birthing books make it seem so easy to relax, but that is SO not the case. I spent a lot of time holding on to the bed screaming. Finally I got to the point where I could start pushing. I was so excited because I had heard that pushing is the best part of labor where you can really take an active role in your delivery. I HATED PUSHING!!! It was horrible. My nurse kept counting and telling me to push, and I just couldn't catch my breath inbetween. I spent two hours pushing, with not a whole lot happening. My babies heart beat started dropping, and the doctor said we needed to get her out. So out came the forcepts...this was an absolutely horrifying sight since I was doing this all naturally. The doctor pulled, and I pushed, and my baby was born. I was so relieved! After 14 hours of labor my baby was finally here. I hear a lot of people talk about how their birthing experience was so spiritual. Mine really wasn't. I think if I had not been so tired and worn out it might have been. It was amazing though!
So that is the quick version of M's birth (minus all the gross details). I cannot believe I have been a mother for 6 years now. It has been an amazing journey. I never knew being a mother could be so hard and so wonderful all at the same time. I never realized how much your children are a part of you. M is truly my daughter. She loves the same things I do, she thinks the same way I do. If she is sad, I just KNOW why. I understand her, I get her. It is so fun to be her mother.

Flower Fairy Birthday Party

This last weekend we had a flower fairy birthday party for my soon to be 6 year old daughter. It was a lot of fun.

Here is the invitation:


We played two games at the party. One was pin the fairy on the flower, and the other was musical flowers (where I put large paper flowers on the floor that the girls had to hurry and stand on when the music stopped). We also watched some stories and songs off of a fairy movie I got from the library.



I made all of the little girls that attended little fairy costumes that they got to take home with them. I made little green tu-tus, magic flower wands, and flower crowns.



We served cup cakes with paper flower toothpicks in them and punch for dessert. The party was going really well until a girl spilt half a pitcher full of punch all over my dining room. My daughter got lots of fun new things, and everyone seemed to have a fabulous time.

Red fire buckets...

Okay, this is the picture of the buckets that should be in the post below. Picasa and blogger are not liking me today.

A few new projects....

I haven't been whipping out projects lately like I normally do, but here are a few things I have done lately.

These are some buckets I made for my nephew's room. I originally made one, but his parent's requested 3 more. They have decorated his room with fire trucks. They hung the buckets on a ladder attached to the wall to put his toys in.

I made these with my activity day girls a couple of weeks ago. The large PRAY lettering glows in the dark. This is one I made for my girl's room.

I just finished this one yesterday. It is going to go on my entry way table as soon as I remove the holiday decor.

Book Review: An Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

Our Book Club book for the month was An Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. This wasn't my favorite book, but it was definately interesting. The book compiles random thoughts and stories from the author's life into encyclopedia form. It totally reminded me of blogging. Blogs just don't happen to be in alphabetical order. She is a humorous writer, and some of her entries were very amusing. Some of my favorites were Busy, Humbling, Nothing, and Distraction. I think it would be fun to write a book in this style...starting at the letter A and writing about anything that catches my fancy all the way through Z. So if you are interested in a lightly humorous random book that reminds you of blogging this would be the book for you.