:- the girls of villa ridge -:

2010-04-24T20:45:00.005-05:00

Rain Rain RainIt started raining Friday evening and it's been raining ever since. We needed it bad though. The ground, this early in the spring, was already cracking because it was so dry. It's a little hard to believe since we had record setting precipitation during the winter season. Not a lot has been going on this week - well at home. The door project is complete. *yay* Grass mowing has

2010-04-16T22:16:00.008-05:00

Well today was the day for our doors! It's been a long time coming and we've anxiously awaited to see how the natural light will look in the living room. This means that we'll potentially get to leave the blinds to the deck sliding glass door turned to keep the hot sun out during the summer. This will help a bit with the cooling bills in the middle of July for sure!So here's how it went:Removing

2010-04-15T13:44:00.002-05:00

Well, the first three, almost four, months of 2010 have passed. Things at work were crazy busy for the both of us that's for sure. It seems like our work lives have been more busy, thus more stressful than usual for this time of the year. Moving into spring full throttle has helped alleviate some of that stress though. When we get to go outside, take our girls for a walk and sit out on the deck

2010-01-16T20:29:00.006-06:00

Thankfully, the arctic air has finally moved out of the Midwest. I suppose the electric bill will tell the story of just how cold it was the past few weeks. It seemed like the furnace never shut off. We keep it at 68 F here, but there were times where we were shivering, it seemed, and put it up to 70 F. I'm sure we'll pay for that.We started a punch list of what our "big" project(s) will be this

2010-01-09T21:16:00.005-06:00

A co-worker who is (was) pregnant and due 2/8 had her baby this morning. She had to go in for a C-section due to preeclampsia. Mom and baby are doing well. But it was a hot topic of phone convos and text messages this morning. She works in the same department as I do and we were sorta-kinda expecting her to be around a little longer before she went out on maternity leave. Nothing like an

2010-01-02T08:53:00.005-06:00

Brrr it's cold out! I just looked at my TWC app and it says that it's a whopping 5 F degrees out but it feels like -6 F degrees. This is the first bitter cold of the winter that we've had so far. I'm glad that it's on a weekend and we don't have to get out in it. There will be plenty of time to do that next week.Next week. You know, we've been off work since 12/24 and I have a feeling that come

2009-12-31T16:34:00.025-06:00

Well, it's December 31st - the last day of the calendar year. The last day of a decade. We reflected back earlier today about the decades that we remember. We were both born in the 70's so we really don't remember too much about that decade. (I don't know that a lot do remember...) The 80's - well, we both have a bucket-full of childhood memories (good and bad) that we remember. And the 90's -

2009-12-28T18:05:00.012-06:00

So one holiday eve and holiday down, one more to go. This time last week was when I should have been going to the doctor to get my antibiotics and then maybe I would have felt better for the actual holiday. Instead, I waited until the day we left to get meds and am just now feeling well enough to face the world again. Lesson learned. Jenn's throat started hurting last night and this morning I

2009-12-22T20:39:00.003-06:00

Tuesday - 8 days before my birthday. lolWell the work week is about to come to an early end due to the upcoming holidays. What a relief. It seems as though my body decided to let down a little of it's defenses and has caught some sort of chest cold. Evidently, my tongue scraper and Listerine that I often gag on when gargling hasn't been doing a good enough job at getting all the germs out.

2009-12-06T10:12:00.002-06:00

Nothing too new on the Villa Ridge home front as of lately. It's all of a sudden cold out. Seems like the Arctic air realized it was a little behind schedule and put the peddle to the metal to get here. We miss the 25 to 35 degree weather, but we knew the cold and windchill we're experiencing now was all but inevitable. Brrrr!We took Juney to get a second opinion regarding her evolving

2009-11-29T11:50:00.004-06:00

Well, Juney's injury and symptoms keep evolving. She's been to the vet 3x in the last 4 weeks and we're just not comfortable with the vet's answer/diagnosis.The first symptom we brought her in for was due to her right leg and shoulder were somewhat swollen. She was having a noticeably hard time looking up at you and would keep her neck at or below the line of her back. And in general, she wasn't

2009-11-15T10:25:00.003-06:00

Well, our little Junebug has hurt her right shoulder and neck pretty bad. We're not sure how she did it, but we suspect the steps down to the basement were involved. She's been to the vet twice in the last 10 days only to come home with a little bit of pain relief. We don't like giving her any medication though - she has some issues with her liver and we're always holding our breath as to what's

2009-10-17T22:07:00.005-05:00

If you don't know Brandi Carlile, you should definitely check her out. She's easily making her way to the top of my iPod play list count. Not to mention, little Allison Miller is part of the new album - Give up the Ghost. Check out the video from the song "Dreams"....

2009-10-04T19:25:00.008-05:00

We saw Whip It this weekend and we love love loved it! Drew Berrymore did an excellent job with this film! Ellen Page plays the part beautifully. (I have yet to see a movie with her in it that I didn't like.) All the girls were truly inspiring. It was an extra treat to Drew in the movie as well. She cracked us up all over the place. They're both easy to love. This movie is a definate must see! (

2009-09-30T14:12:00.000-05:00

I finally finished The Northern Clemency. It was a doozy at 600 pages. And I can't say that it was worth it either. It was way too long, it got off to a slow start, and it took forever to be remotely interesting. About the time I would actually start to get interested in one of the characters, the story would change to a different character in a different time. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars but

2009-09-29T16:26:00.000-05:00

the *expletive* woodpeckers are back. there is nothing else that will make me shoot straight out of bed wide awake with anger at 7 am on a saturday than the sound of a giant hole being drilled into the side of my house. seriously, woodpeckers are evil feathered fiends and not to be adored or trusted or loved or admired or protected by law in any way. why?? they do nothing BUT damage!! they

2009-09-27T10:16:00.003-05:00

So we had good intentions - we did. There were so many clues.... But this is how it all played out:About 3 weeks ago, we got a postcard in the mail addressed to "Jennifer R____ and Stacey" (last name disguised). Clue #1 Please note, it's very common, unfortunately, that most people address us in this form - one person has a last name and the other one is omitted - when it comes to invites or

2009-09-22T14:55:00.001-05:00

The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant has been read... *staring at screen, thinking of what to say* i dunno, i have nothing really against the book, i just didn't feel this book was the same caliber as the others on the booker short list. i had no interest in any of the characters in the story and the plot was barely interesting. it fell completely flat with me. it probably didn't help that

2009-09-19T00:22:00.005-05:00

Our Self Drive Tour of Ireland - June 2009 Day 7 - June 30, 2009 Today was Jenn's most anticipated day. Of course, I was looking forward to it too because it was going to be the day that we got to take a boat out on the Atlantic. For Bonnie, though, I'm not sure she was excited about the day as we were - at least not at first. Let me explain - We woke up to rain. This was the first time we had

2009-09-18T22:39:00.002-05:00

I LOVED "A FRACTION OF THE WHOLE"!!! i think this might just be in my top 5 faves of all time. it's chocked full of dry humor, cynicism, and so very realistic observations of our modern day society. it questions our every day assumptions and makes you say "yeah exactly!" and you have to wonder if you always questioned these things, or just think you did after seeing it in such simple black and

2009-09-08T13:19:00.004-05:00

ok...The Sea of Poppies...*big sigh*...*groan*. ok, let me just say i struggled with this one. it is a long book at 500 pages if you count the glossary (yes i said glossary and yes we are talking about the man booker prize in FICTION), but length has never deterred me in the past. so i dove in and was ready to give up through the first 150 pages. i struggled through the weird ship language and am

2009-09-07T14:52:00.036-05:00

Our Self Drive Tour of Ireland - June 2009Day 6 - June 29, 2009 Day 6 was another day that we all had been looking forward to. On our itinerary, first up was Dungaire Castle and then on to Aillwee Cave and the Burren Birds of Prey Center. Dunguaire Castle was built in 1520 on the shore of Galway Bay. The castle takes it name from an ancient, nearby fort of Guaire, King of Connaught who died in

2009-09-06T19:22:00.033-05:00

Our Self Drive Tour of Ireland - June 2009Day 5 - June 28, 2009Before I post about another day, I wanted to share a few photos (they've become some of our favorites) we took the evening before and as we headed toward the Western Way walk:----Kylemore Abbey-----On our itinerary, we had originally wanted to drive Omey Island near Clifden that can only be reached at low tide. Bonnie was relieved to

2009-09-01T21:44:00.002-05:00

So, finished the Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. VERY good book. This is the kind of book you read a few lines and just want to sit with it and savor those few lines. It also helped that the story took place near Mt Knocknarea near Sligo, Ireland. The infamous mountain we climbed on our trip in June. One of our more memorable days. Roseanne Clear is a 100 year old woman in an insane asylum

2009-09-01T20:25:00.019-05:00

Our Self Drive Tour of Ireland - June 2009Day 4 - June 27, 2009Day four of our trip was by far the most challenging for us. This was the day that we got lost first thing. (So much for *always* listening to the GPS.) We did finally find our way to the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery near Knocknarea Cairn. It is one of four major passage tomb cemeteries in Ireland. We walked around to each of the 30

2009-08-30T18:56:00.035-05:00

Our Self Drive Tour of Ireland - June 2009 Day 3 - June 26, 2009 We woke up rested and to the news that Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett had both died the previous day (our Ireland night, the U.S. day). We were shocked! It's all we could talk about over breakfast. In fact, we had just heard "Billie Jean" in one of the little gas stations that we had stopped in the previous day and commented

2009-08-30T13:51:00.044-05:00

Our Self Drive Tour Through Ireland - June 2009 Day 2 - June 25, 2009 We started off towards Slieve League (County Donegal). Although we did take a couple of wrong turns prior to getting there and we also took the time to follow this path that lead to basically nothing, but it did allow us to see sheep grazing by the road (which we were all enthralled with) and for Bonnie to discover her first

2009-08-30T11:08:00.013-05:00

Our Self Drive Tour Through Ireland - June 2009 Day 1 - June 24, 2009 I have thought about how to begin such an entry for an entire month now. I had it all planned out - each night when we got to our B&B for the evening, we'd type up a blog entry and when we reached internet access or home - I'd upload all the entries and all the daunting task of compiling information regarding our trip would

2009-08-27T10:03:00.003-05:00

Well, this little project of mine has gotten off to a great start. I have already finished reading my first book!! I couldn't stop reading The White Tiger. If this is a sign, I'm off to a great bit of reading. The White Tiger was the 2008 Booker prize winner. It is a very deserving book. It's about an Indian boy born into a lower caste and finds a job as a driver. He becomes a success in India,

2009-08-21T15:23:00.005-05:00

hello, jenn here. ok, so i have a new project for myself. background story first: the other day i bought the book Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I was looking at the reviews etc. on B&N.com and saw references to another book called Gravity's Rainbow. I looked up this book only to find a flurry of comments and musings. apparently this is quite a book. 800 pages of (some say) unintelligle/

2009-08-17T20:36:00.007-05:00

Okay okay... It's been way too long since our last post. We realize this. Jenn's been busy scrapping our Ireland trip and I've been... well... not blogging.Soon after our return from Ireland, we took a road trip with Autumn and Juney to Indianapolis, IN to see Tori Amos in concert. She never comes to St. Louis any more so we've been more than happy to take a road trip to see her on her terms. Of

2009-06-20T12:48:00.011-05:00

I'm in Ireland!! It was quite a trip to get here too. I left Milan this morning and the only thing I enjoyed there was the food. I was very read to go, although I wasn't sure I was going to get out. I get to the Linate airport this morning and there is one person checking everyone in for the Dublin flight and there are 75-100 people already in line in front of me. I stood for about 10-15 minutes

2009-06-18T11:09:00.004-05:00

I have some catching up to do.Here is a pretzel i ate in Germany...When I left Germany, I had to take the bullet train from Cologne to Frankfurt. We rode first class and got to be in one of those little enclosed rooms, like in Harry Potter. The room seemed way more crowded in real life though. It was about an hour long trip and had amazing scenery of the German country side. There were cute

2009-06-13T15:03:00.009-05:00

Well, one country down, four to go. I left London today and arrived in Cologne. London was interesting, kinda stuffy. It's just another big city. I was so busy with work I had no time to explore. But, I arrived in Cologne at around 6 pm tonight (saturday) and it is crazy here! I went walking around and there are parties everywhere. Definitely not like London. People are drinking beer and eating

2009-06-07T18:06:00.002-05:00

Well, Jenn leaves for Europe in two days. We've done our best to adjust her sleep schedule so that the jet lag won't sucker punch her this trip. Remember the trip to Paris in February? *Oi Vey* it was a tough one for her. So hopefully, with adjusting her schedule and eating a little bit better before she leaves, it will be 10x better. She starts out in in London, the is on to Germany, then Spain

2009-05-31T21:02:00.005-05:00

Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation's few providers of late-term abortions, was shot and killed Sunday in church.What sad news. I don’t even really know what to say about it. When living in Wichita, I thought that he was a very courageous man to stand firm in his beliefs- providing a *choice* to women that only women could understand. Put aside the arguments of right or wrong of abortion– the

2009-04-25T18:02:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite Golden Girls passed away today.I don't like logging on to the computer only to bring up the home page which reads:"Golden Girls star Bea Arthur dies at 86". She was one of my favorite TV actresses - she knew how to deliver a line or a facial expression at just the right moment. There's not a day that goes by that I don't wish that I can watch the Golden Girls in the morning

2009-04-20T20:06:00.003-05:00

Looky at what we found while walking the dogs:We only found one - but we had a couple different pictures of it. Funny thing is, were we just talking about how people at work were out hunting for them. I think Jenn is going to fill you in more tomorrow...

2009-04-18T14:47:00.003-05:00

I could tell you that the last 3 week days were sunny and 68 degrees but why would that matter at this point? Because, for the last, too many to count weekends, the weekend weather has been rainy and/or cloudy and chilly. I’ve given slight thought to begin working on the weekends so that I could at least enjoy a bit of sunshine at some point during the week.So, with the rainy weather at hand, we

2009-04-16T21:16:00.003-05:00

We had some new trees planted within the past couple of weeks. And, I think spring has finally arrived, as we've officially cut the grass two times now in order to keep up with it's current growing rate. I say we, but I mean Jenn. Jenn has mowed the grass twice now. I have done other productive things inside instead. Here's a pic of the Maple w/ Autumn in the back ground:Here's of the Dogwood w/

2009-04-09T07:17:00.002-05:00

Monday night was a great music night. It was too cold to be the 6th of April but I'm already past that. We went to a book signing/reading by Harlan Corben and a concert with Missy Higgins at the Mad Art Gallery near AB in St. Louis.We had such a good time. Hearing Missy in venue that only held about 150 was *so much better* than seeing her at The Pageant. (I'd see her any place though...) It

2009-03-22T19:06:00.005-05:00

Spring is here. I have to say I welcome the new green that's beginning to show itself. There hasn't been too much going on since Jenn's quick trip to Paris. She rebounded pretty well once she was able to get a good weekend of rest under her belt. We've since then, started researching the pitfalls of jet lag and what can be done to help minimize it's effect on her for her trip to Europe in June.My

2009-02-24T03:29:00.006-06:00

Bonjour from Paris!I finally have some time and a little bit of energy to blog about my travels.The trip definitely did not start out well. We were on our way to the airport Saturday and I realized I forgot to pack my suit! I had dress shirts and socks and shoes, but no pants and jacket. I only realized it thanks to stacey asking me. I don't know what I would do without her!After that, the trip

2009-02-21T15:33:00.003-06:00

Well, Jenn is on her way to Paris via Dallas, TX. I dropped her off at the airport this morning with luggage and a quick guide to French tourist words (with phonetic spellings) to help her on her way. She's going for business but will have a day or so to go around the city and take in what she can. Jealous, thy name is Stacey. I think she plans on telling you about her near *OMG I'm gonna throw

2009-02-05T19:54:00.005-06:00

OMG! Jenn and I thought, "yeah this is so cute- look at him drinking and playing with his paw". But then we saw him sitting in the bowl like a little kid and almost squealed. He’s so CUTE! We want him!Anyway, I wanna move to help set up a "koala pool and spa" in our yard. I can totally see myself setting up all these little feed/water buckets during the summer time in my retirement. Koalas in the

2009-01-20T09:58:00.006-06:00

Change is here. Finally. Barack Obama's inauguration. Finally. A collective sigh of relief should be felt around the world. To know that George Bush is finally out of the White House brings a new hope kind of hope to my mind and heart.I believe that his feet will be held to many fires. And I am not naive to think that he can and will do all that he promised. I do believe, though, that he will TRY

2009-01-01T10:04:00.005-06:00

Happy New Year! Here are some of our favorite moments from that last week of the year. We hope you and your family have a very positive and prosperous 2009. Happy New Year!

2008-12-29T20:07:00.006-06:00

Gift giving for the Christmas holiday has been here and gone. I'm very happy with the gifts that I received. I can't really choose a favorite - they all are. One thing that I'm really excited about is the box that I finally got to unveil in the garage. Jenn put it in there about three weeks ago and told me that it was one of my presents and to stay away until we opened gifts. Well, I got to open

2008-12-13T19:40:00.012-06:00

Happy Holidays!Well it's that time of year again. Jenn, Autumn and Juney have been busy helping each other wrap gifts for the upcoming gift exchanges. I think we're ahead of schedule this year with our gift buying. Of course, we've gone light this year because it seems like the right, economical thing to do.Autumn's intrigued with the glow worm and wants it for herself.... We'll be spending

2008-11-30T10:16:00.008-06:00

autumn and juney here finally! we had a HUGE weekend. we went to grandma's for thanksgiving but all we got to eat were her biscuits and gravy. not that we're complaining...we got to meet our cousins from Maryland too. that was lots of fun, but we did have some issues. we'll get to that in a second. but first, here they are. first is buddy. we tried to play with him but he spent a lot of time in

2008-11-17T18:29:00.011-06:00

We're back! Well the big day has come and gone. I had full intentions of blogging before and during our trip to Las Vegas, however, it just didn't happen. For those of you that didn't quite know that we were even headed anywhere - well, we were and we did! =)We had tickets to go see Bette Midler at Caesar's Palace. Her show was totally awesome. She sang many of our favorite songs too. There's a

2008-10-26T20:42:00.004-05:00

hi momma in Vegas, it's Juney. i have 1 question - where's my bunny? i see that i still have some bidness to take care of...the other momma said you'd know where to find him...

2008-10-26T19:28:00.006-05:00

Well, Jenn left for Vegas this afternoon. She'll be out there for a week learning all the new bells and whistles of the tax software she uses at work. The girls and I are here, relaxing in the basement, just chillin'. We actually got a lot done today - after I got home from the airport, I did 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the bathrooms, gave the girls a bath and then took them for another walk.

2008-10-24T12:56:00.005-05:00

finished The Florist's Daughter yesterday. eh. i didn't like it much. it skipped around too much on stuff that wasn't even interesting. it did have an interesting sentence here and there tho. the best part was when the main character asked her dad what he did when he found out something that made him mad and upset. his response was that he made a fist in his pocket. in this pic, i'm making a fist

2008-10-22T13:14:00.005-05:00

juney has been going on SEVERAL outings without me recently. i don't know what's happening. she leaves all day friday and comes home with several cuts and stitches all over her body. she kept telling me to leave her alone while she slept. then she left for another hour or so monday, and AGAIN for a few hours yesterday. i have NO idea where she's going but she comes back smelling different every

2008-10-17T22:35:00.004-05:00

Last night we had the privilege to hear Missy Higgins in concert. She was awesome. I know that most people were there to see Ben Folds, but we specifically went for Missy. We were lucky to arrive in time to enter The Pageant a little bit before general admission did and we had great seats. One regret though - that we weren't able to see her when she was opening for the Indigo Girls earlier in

2008-10-16T13:11:00.009-05:00

well, tomorrow is my big day. i go in for a surgery to remove my fatty tumors. they have grown quite large. there are 2 in my smooth warm belly, one on the outside of my back leg and one in my front armpit. and one of the mommas (i'll leave her unnamed) wants the wart on my face removed as well. here's me running the other day ...i'm a little scared. i don't like to be drugged, plus autumn will

2008-10-12T15:33:00.003-05:00

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm watching Bullet Ants on the Discovery Channel. I'd have to say, I have not desire to run into one of these into the jungles of the Amazon. And too, when watching these kind of programs in HD, it causes me to not really want to watch them in HD....So the weekend has been nice. The weather is beautiful. We've mainly completed standard yard maintenance and house chores.

2008-10-07T19:14:00.004-05:00

Dear Senator Obama,I am writing to you in hopes that it may calm some of the anxiety that I feel on a daily basis regarding the upcoming election. Please do all you can to win in November & I'll do all I can to help.I may be a democrat by mainstream's definition, but I don't find the need to stick myself with a label. I don't vote with my heart, but instead, I do my citizen's best to cast my vote

The Great Schlep

2008-10-07T16:05:00.001-05:00

2008-10-06T12:45:00.003-05:00

the mommas left us at home alone saturday afternoon so they could go see the bill maher movie Religulous. they told me all about it. it sounded awesome. it has always annoyed me that people are so certain of what comes after death. no one knows. and yet to acknowledge that out loud would be a disgrace to their religion and uproot it. it seems so anyway. there is no room for doubt in their faith.

2008-10-05T18:18:00.008-05:00

The first day of autumn has come and gone. The trees are beginning to drop leaves, albeit randomly, and the heat pump/ac has not run in more than 3 weeks. This makes it nice in more ways than one, but especially in the smaller hit on the pocketbook. When the rains and wind came through from Hurricane Ike three weekends ago, we had some wind damage to the trees next to the road.We we're going to

Perfect III

2008-10-05T12:07:00.001-05:00

Perfect II

2008-09-28T11:29:00.001-05:00

2008-09-26T11:11:00.003-05:00

sorry for my true video post juney...signed~autumn

2008-09-24T20:38:00.010-05:00

Headline:Bernanke: Approve bailout or risk recessionReally? Really?? I guess I was really surprised & dumbfounded to hear that Bernanke would give us such a headline. (Ben - I don't know what America you live in, but we've been in a recession long before you've told us we might risk falling into one. Get with the program.) Geez - "it don't take a weatherman to look around and see the weather".And

2008-09-23T13:43:00.006-05:00

june here. i'm just real real tired today. i stayed up late reading a book under the sheets with a flash light. i finished Away by Amy Bloom. i enjoyed the book lots. the writing style was very different and did not necessarily make it an easy read for me. and the ending was a bit frustrating. i'm not even sure what happened in the ending. i'll say no more so as not to ruin it for others out

2008-09-22T10:34:00.017-05:00

let me just start out by saying there was NO outing or adventures this weekend. the mommas are a bunch of liars. they said it was too wet or cloudy or rainy or muddy but like we would care about that. jeez. juney might care about the rain but she has a rain coat.see?proof ...but anyway, in response to june's last comment about the snoring...lies. that's my only comment. along with this tape of

Perfect

2008-09-19T22:01:00.001-05:00

2008-09-19T14:21:00.004-05:00

juney here. i'm looking forward to this weekend!! exploring with the mommas outside. i just killed 2 gnats. i made the snap decision my lack of irritants was more important than their gnatty lives. that wasn't very buddha like of me.i'll work on this.i'm just chillin on this friday, waiting on my fave momma to get home and feed me. maybe she'll take us to the quick mart again tonight to get sugar

2008-09-13T19:42:00.006-05:00

Well we made it through the week and are full blown into the weekend. It was a long, slow week for me and a regular, fast week for Jenn. You see, I had no deadlines to work up against, but she on the other hand, had a tax deadline of 9/15 she trying to meet. Well, she met her deadline with a day to spare and is even taking off on Monday to celebrate. I wish I could celebrate with her. Instead, I

2008-09-05T19:33:00.001-05:00

Well, the Republican and Democratic national conventions have come to an end. They were both so very different! I often wonder if I am so aware of the energy difference between the two parties is because, over the past 5 years or so, the politics of our country and my community have become much more important to me. Perhaps I'll attribute it to one of those "with age come wisdom" phases. Sarah

2008-08-31T21:57:00.000-05:00

Happy 9th Birthday Miss Autumn Bautumn!

2008-08-30T20:02:00.000-05:00

It seems as though so much has happened since my last post in April. Let's take a look at the past 4 months. - - - - -We decided to finish the basement. It was actually considered Walter's (the cat) bachelor pad, but since his passing we decided that we'd try to do something with the space. Essentially, we had to move the furnace from the middle of the basement over to the crawl space. Of course,

2008-04-19T08:52:00.001-05:00

Rest in Peace Walter Wayne1992 - 2008

2008-04-19T08:46:00.000-05:00

Now, in most cases, because we live in the middle of the United States (practically) it is not the norm to wake up this morning by feeling the house shake. Too many things go through one's mind when you are in a middle of a dream and something in the real world is attempting to override your dream state - are the dogs doing something that is causing everything to move? Jenn thought that one of

2008-01-01T18:52:00.000-06:00

The hecticness of the holidays are seemingly over. January is officially here and it came in a cold one. Today's high was 27 and the windchill was 9. Needless to day, we did not leave the house. The gifts of the season were pleasantly surprising! and iPod and an Xbox 360! So while I'm emersed in my 360 world, Jenn has been busy organizing every mp3 we have. Indeed, we concluded that we are

2007-12-15T19:59:00.000-06:00

So today was the day we went to see Wicked.One word - incredible.I haven't read the book yet, but I'm going to start it tomorrow, especially since we're snowed in. Jenn read it about a year ago and I had hoped to read it before we went to see it, but I'm kinda glad that I didn't. There were several surprises, that had I read the book, wouldn't have been so surprising!Go see it!

2007-10-18T09:18:00.000-05:00

so it looks like fall is swiftly approaching. leaves are falling by the fistfulls and we're using every part of our weekends to complete our paving/cobble stone pathway. here are some promised pictures to show the progress we've made and what we have left to accomplish. (click on the images for larger pics) Juney the Supervisor we have many more pictures, obviously, that represent our sweat and

2007-09-24T09:42:00.000-05:00

Well, we took Juney in to be re-tested after she had finished her 30 days of antibiotics. Unfortunately, it's not good news- her liver enzymes were higher than before. So now, the vet would like to treat her for "sludge in her bile duct". We start that later this week. On a good note though, she shows no sign of something being terribly wrong with her. We understand the importance of keeping an

2007-09-04T09:54:00.000-05:00

i debated for many moments this morning whether or not to get out of bed to go into work or to send a quick email to tell my boss that i'd be using a vacation day. i decided to go to work, knowing that tomorrow morning would be just as hard as today was to get out of bed and be motivated to go in. we couldn't have asked for better labor day weather. we spent it doing whatever we pleased - going

2007-08-27T14:01:00.000-05:00

the weekend turned out to be quite nice. the combination of rain and cloudiness made the water conditions for saturday a bit chilly, but still swimmable. and of course, when it was time to actually put some finishing touches on the pool, the sun came out full blast. thankfully, the concrete touch up work is done! it is one more thing that we can cross off our "to do list". sunday was beautiful.

2007-08-22T15:45:00.000-05:00

well, the news of the last few days can simply be summed up in one word - HOT. although you can definately tell that the sun is shifting because the nights are getting shorter, kids are going back to school (making traffic suck) and the heat of the day feels different than the heat of the day in July. all is well though - the cooler nights, or the beginning of shorter days, allows our pool

2007-08-15T09:11:00.000-05:00

it looks as though both of our girls (Junebug and Autumn) will be going on antibiotics this week.Autumn started hers on monday for some moderate to severe dermatitus on her back. and although Juney tested negative for Cushing's disease (YAY!), the vet wants to put her on antibiotics to combat a potential infection of her bile duct. we can't wait until it cools down finally. the girls are totally

2007-08-14T13:10:00.000-05:00

unfortunately, it seems as though this has turned into a yearly update instead of a daily, weekly or monthly one. well, in lite of this realization, here's to a new year. we're gonna try, our best, to update, upload and respond faster than in the past. how about that for a change?! =)so what's happened in a year? well, there's been a few concerts, a vacation to Baja and an inground pool added to

2006-08-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

i know- it's been even longer than long since my last post. things happen- time flies- work calls... things like that.unfortunately, not a lot has gone on in the past 9 months or so. christmas was fun. winter was cold. spring was too short and the summer has been very hot. and at the present moment, i think fall is movin' in.i did get a 16 inch crack in my windshield. that's always a joy.

2005-12-04T22:27:00.000-06:00

alright, alright... so it's been a couple of weeks since i last updated. so much has gone on since then that it's taken me until now to finally get some time to write it all down.one thing that has kept me away is a much needed vacation. our destination? florida. we hit orlando first, jacksonville second, miami third and key west west in between. all in a matter of four whole days. i will say

2005-11-14T02:01:00.000-06:00

untitlednov1105srl---thoughts are bundledenslavedwrapped up tighttorn and fleetingwaiting for releasebegging for the stringto be cutso they can roam again,soon,along paths of sweet smells and gigglesand where fairies dance in the moonlight

2005-11-11T16:35:00.000-06:00

two beauties that make life a bit more comforting..... autumn---------------------------------- juney have a good weekend.

2005-11-09T17:28:00.000-06:00

as i was driving home from work last night, i realized how much i truly miss ani's live performances. i guess it's because i have gotten spoiled with being able to hear her at least once a year perform at a local venue.i'll continue to send positive folk vibes to the little folksinger. "i'm just trying to evolve.... "

2005-10-28T11:37:00.000-05:00

smoke breaks. well, of course, i don't take them because i'm not a smoker. but i let something bother me for a few moments this morning concerning smoke breaks. employee 1, gets here at approximately 8:20 a.m. and is asked by employee 2 if it's time for a smoke break yet, after all, employee 2 was here at 7:50 a.m., you know, cuz that's such a LONG DAY SO FAR. so, at approximately 8:25, after

2005-10-25T18:30:00.000-05:00

this product concerns me in more ways than one- especially "Traci, cat owner"a little hint: if your house smells like "one big litter box", maybe you have bigger issues than just trying to get the odor to go away and stay away. and the fact that one bottle would be enough to "clean your entire home", again... bigger issues.

2005-10-17T14:26:00.000-05:00

the weekend was full of sun and fun times. we attended, for the 2nd year now, the Deutsch Country Days. i'm not sure that we'll be attending this event next year, as it had nothing new and was actually missing a few vendors. all was good though. we were able to pick up our favorite summer sausage, freshly made apple butter, kettle popcorn and a loaf of white bread.the leaves on the trees are

2005-10-11T15:31:00.000-05:00

nervous energy - i'm not sure why it comes when it does, but i notice that it makes me want to pace, have slight hand tremors and to become very shut off from the rest of the world.so the local office rumor is "something big is going to happen and it won't be good for any of us".nice.i am assuming the big badness of people getting laid off. been there. done that. in a job situation, i'm not quite

2005-10-07T14:50:00.000-05:00

sometimes i want cable tv real real bad.i think about all the Discovery Channel or National Geographic shows we could watch. all the Designing Women episodes we'd find ourselves watching after we had noticed it was on while vacuuming. not to mention the Golden Girls. i mean, even though i have the first two seasons on DVD, it would be a pleasant, almost like the gods were smiling down on me, to

2005-09-26T17:46:00.000-05:00

there have been times during my "normal" work day that i can see myself going to lunch with couple of people in the office. i mean, when we have group lunches, it seems as though i'm well liked and can hold my conversation with people. today was and instance where i felt like asking a person to go to lunch with me that i converse well with on a weekly basis and during those group lunches. but i

2005-09-26T15:24:00.000-05:00

a response/comeback to saturday's article by Bob CescaGod's speed indeed.

2005-09-24T13:15:00.000-05:00

i read a story today on yahoo news. I'm not quite sure how to put in to words my thoughts about it.i guess in general, i think of it as a step back in our progressive, forward thinking society. Or maybe it reminds me that, perhaps, i'm only one in a few that actually thinks we are a progressive, forward thinking society. the thing is, i admit that both sides of the story have points. i don't

2005-09-23T17:53:00.000-05:00

some sweetness for the weekend:

2005-09-23T12:30:00.000-05:00

i've decided that waiting for a contractor to show up at our house is equal to going to the dmv and thinking that you're going to get them to smile at you. frustrated is too soft of a word at this point. like it matters- once he can finish the "final touches", he won't be returning to any work in our house any time within the next few decades.anyway, it's friday. *yay* we're attending a chili