Yesterday.... All my Troubles Seemed so Far Away

Yesterday Chris was AMAZING!  He spent the morning and afternoon installing a humidifer on our heater.

When I left for work Chris left the pups outside and went to pick up some supplies to work on the gas line downstairs.  Upon his return Jason was happily wagging his tail at the top of the stairs with a large laceration on his chest.  

Chris immediately took him to the dog hospital where he had surgery performed.  They were going to try local anesthesia but Jason wasn't having it, so they had to put him under.  Chris was able to watch as they cleaned, debrieded, cut the edges of the wound, and stitched the muscle, the inside layers of skin, and the outside.  ***Please note: if you have a weak stomach or a sensitive heart, you may not want to view the following three pictures.***

While asleep, he needed some extra oxygen.

It's was a pretty deep wound.

All fixed and pretty.

And the culprit of our poor baby's pain and suffering:  five nails on the fence.  The first and last nails have a chunk of his fur and blood.  This was taken about 23 hours after the event and the other nails with bloody fur had blown away.

Even after spending a couple of hours at the vet with Jason, Chris still had the energy to finish his project.  With Andrew's help (thank you soooooooo much, especially on one of your few weekday evenings with your family and with such short notice) they were able to finish the gas line.

Jason still isn't feeling very well.  He even went to bed in the middle of the day (he only sleeps in his crate when we're gone and at night he chooses to).  Our poor baby!

Lonely

Jason would LOVE to have a little buddy to play with.  Kody (my sister's devastatingly handsome Siberian Husky) has been staying with us for about a month and a half and Jason was very sad for the few days that Kody left.  He's so happy to have his friend back!

By the way, this is the only stuffed animal Jason hasn't torn apart, and guess who it was from, Kody!

My Quirks

Way back in the day, about a month ago, a Quirks post was going around.  I figured some of you might enjoy hearing something besides the excitement in our lives.  So here we go...

My Quirks

1.  Late- Probably my worst quirk is that I'm always running behind or late.  I HATE being late!  Although I'm extremely seldom LATE for work, I'm also extremely seldom early (7 minutes or more).  I usually make it right in the nick of time.  Although this leads to other problems such as driving too fast, and not being as patient as I should be when I drive.  I recently read something about how some people who would never think about cutting in a line will go to the other lane to speed in front of other cars to get a few ahead.  Sadly, that has been me.  That statement really put things into perspective.  Chris said that leaving early for work makes his drive much more pleasurable and starts his day off great!  But I also have this thing where I always feel behind (see #3) and if I stay at home a few minutes later I can get so much more done!

To other things besides work, I'm either right on time (when I should be at least a couple of minutes early- like church) or I'm a couple of minutes late.  Which is embarrassing because I hate to be the center of attention or make a grand entrance.  It's so annoying!  I HATE being late!

The reason for this...

2.  Procrastination- To go along with that, part of the reason I'm always running late is because I procrastinate.  I'll have two days off, but wait until the morning that I work or it's due to try to get everything done.  And that leads me to run late for work.  Or right at the last minute I'll decide that I simply must do something before I can do anything else.

3.  Running Behind-  I feel like I'm always behind in life.  I'm behind on e-mails, blogs, my blog, exercising, should be working extra, or reading the Scriptures or Ensign.  It's always something.  This of course leads to feeling overwhelmed and stressed.

4.  Clutter and Tidy- I don't like clutter on the bathroom counter.  A soap dispenser, cup, and toothbrush holder would do it for me.  I also don't like things placed on the dining room table, because once one little thing is on it, it's an open invitation for everything else.  I also like our bed to be made.  It's a good thing I usually get up later than Chris!  

5.  Dishes- I don't like dishes in the sink.  (Not meaning to be rude to anyone who does this, but) seriously, how hard is it to rinse a dish or cup after you use and put it in the dishwasher?  That way: 

a.  You already have a clean sink if you have to wash something and you won't splash other chemicals or dirt or food into dishes you will later eat off of.  And there's actually room to rinse or fill a pot or dog bowl.

b.  It's much easier and faster to clean without petrified food particles on the dish, not to mention the dishwasher will be more effective and efficient 

c.  AND you don't have all kinds of disgusting, rotting food swimming and soaking in sludge.

6.  Not-So-Bargain Shopper- Although I consider myself a bargain shopper, there are a few items that I have to splurge on: paper towels, lotion, and Cheerios.  Chris will not go with me to pick out paper towels or lotion.  It's not quite as much the functionality of paper towels, but the design.  It has to be cute and preferably seasonal.  I will also stand in Wal-Mart or Target for probably over ten minutes smelling each brand and scent of lotion if I need to get a new kind.  Usually I like yummy-smelling Bed, Bath, and Body Works lotion for my hands.  Any brand besides Cheerios (including the wonderful Trader Joe's brand) is gross!

7.  Part-time Perfectionist-  I'm a bit of a perfectionist about SOME things, which leads me to be SLOW.  For instance, it takes me at least 15 minutes to clean my bathroom because there can't be one spot on the sink, counter, or mirror when I'm done, and the faucet has to be sparkling.  There also can't be one little dog hair on the bathroom floor, which is almost impossible and that in itself almost takes 15 minutes.

8.  Okay, one more.  Pillow Princess- Chris says I'm like the princess and the pea.  If my pillow is a little thicker than a few millimeters, then I can't sleep and the next day I require intensive massage therapy.  (Which is interesting because Chris doesn't like giving massages anymore-only for SUPER SPECIAL occasions, and I've never had a professional massage, although I'm sure Chris' are as good if not better.  :o)  )  I really should just remember to pack a pillow when I'm not home.

Here are the rules:
Mention rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag fellow bloggers to do the same

I Tag: Anyone who wants to tag themselves also!  :o)

Florida Revisited

Our trip to Florida was wonderful!  It was so nice just be with each other and not be working.  Some of you may remember, we were just in Florida for the first time in April.  Well, we had another set of free airline tickets and wanted to go to the warmest, tropical place in the contiguous United States.  So we chose to re-visit sunny Florida.  Although Florida gets an A+ for its tropical beauty, we would've been better off staying in Colorado for sun.  Several days were warmer in Colorado.  Locals said they never get this kind of weather in October, maybe January.  One or two days broke records for the coolest days at this time of year since 1944.  Don't get me wrong, there were two nice, sunny, super windy days.  The nicest and warmest weather and most fun we had was for about an hour on the second to last day there.  It had been raining all day long.  But the sun came out at about 2pm and stayed for an hour.  We went down to the beach and played in the "hurricane-like" waves during that time!  It was so much fun!

Florida is so beautiful with all of it's canals and waterways.  This trail was along of them and close to our hotel.

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed when we first got to our hotel.  This was a very low budget trip since we had seen many of the sights the last time we were there, so I had my heart set on spending all of my time at the beach.  We made sure our hotel was right next to the ocean, so I just assumed we would have an ocean view.  Not the case.  Our room was one of the six without a view of the ocean, and we were overlooking the ugly parking lot and loud, busy street.

The first night we were awakened by loud motorcycles revving their engines and in the morning were awakened by construction much too early.  I was in the shower that evening and Chris said that he has a surprise for me.  Naturally, I was thrilled!  I quickly finished and he took me to our new room several doors down and on the ocean side!  We were sooooooo excited!!!! 

The view from our new room! 

Our fifth day was nice because it was sunny, but it was a bit chilly and super windy.  So we drove around checking the area out, got pumpkin pie flavoried Cold Stone ice cream to celebrate Halloween the following day, and found a beautiful free state park at the beach, where we froze eating our ice cream.  But it was beautiful and we were the only ones there besides a couple of walkers.

Afterwards we went to the Loggerhead Turtle Conservatory.  It was really neat!  When turtles are found hurt, they bring them here.  This tub was full of baby turtles that didn't make it back out to the weed line four miles out from shore.  I guess as soon as they hatch the little guys pop into the ocean and instinctively start swimming for the line.  These newborns didn't quite make it so they keep them until they're a little older and then drop them off at the weed line.  I would have LOVED to dive at the weed line, but we didn't bring our gear.

There were two types of turtles,  Loggerheads and Green turtles.  They were sooooo cute!  I just wanted to pack one up and take it home with me!  It was so funny, they like their space.  If another baby turtle invades  his space, they will snap at each other.

I'm camouflaged!

Florida is just amazing!  They have the coolest trees where the branches grow down and become roots.

And this ends our lovely vacation in Palm Beach Shores!

I did learn one thing about my wonderful hubby.  He doesn't like the beach.  It's nice to look at from a distance or drive by, but it's not fun to just sit there for more than ten minutes or walk on for more than an hour.  That's one thing we majorly differ on.  I could spend all day and all night there!  And I think I had planned to do this on this trip.  Lesson from trip:  we'll wait for our next vacation until we have enough money saved up to do and see fun things or at least dive.  But we just couldn't let two free plane tickets go to waste!  And it was definitely wonderful to spend time together and not work!!!

Awesome Deal

Anyone looking for an amazing deal on a house in the mountains?  Evergreen is a smallish town in the mountains, but it still has a Wal-Mart, Home Depot, grocery stores, tons of restaurants, etc.  The town is great for everything; beautiful scenery, biking, hiking, fishing, and anything else you can think of!  It is only 26 miles or 38 minutes to downtown Denver.  For you skiers/boarders the closest major resort (Loveland) is only 41 miles or 47 minutes.  Not to mention, Evergreen has it's own terrain park, Echo Mountain.  The closest major shopping area and movie theaters are in Golden which is a quick 16 miles or 24 minutes.  As you can tell, you simply can't go wrong!  

The facts:  This 1,122 sq. ft. beauty built in 1981 on 0.11 acres has two bedrooms and two baths.  It's already been on the market for 15 days and at the astounding price of $129,900, it won't last long!

Check it out for yourself at: http://www.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?lid=1104127461

With some simple updating and paint, this mountain cabin could be yours for cheap!  :o)

I'll be honest, I was a little bummed when I saw this.  When we were looking for houses over two years ago I would have LOVED one in Evergreen.  But the very few we found for under $200,000 were way up in the mountains off tons of dirt roads.  This house is in the perfect location because it's not too close or far from I-70.  The listing says it's a fixer upper, but it doesn't look too bad to me.  The major disadvantage I see is that it doesn't have a garage.  It looks like a great deal to me!  And if we didn't have our more expensive and bigger house, I would buy this in a heartbeat!

. . . Too good to be true.  My mom just informed me that it's a duplex.  No wonder.  But still not a bad deal.

We're Off!

We're headed to Palm Beach Shores, FL for the next eight days!  I'm super excited!  I just hope it's not too windy or rainy to go to the beach everyday since that's about all we have planned!  

Now that I'm caught up hopefully I'm not too excited to sleep since we leave in a few hours!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Autumn Hike at Walker Ranch

Although it's a little late in the season, the leaves were still beautiful during our hike!  We went about 45 minutes from our house, near Boulder.  There were nine people and six dogs.  It was awesome!

Chris and Todd (Mariana's Husband)

Friday, October 17, 2008

Brrrrr....

During the coldest week of fall so far we didn't have hot water or heat for four days.  Our gas line was putting out too much pressure so the gas wasn't working.  My 24 Hour Fitness gym membership finally came in handy, for showering (okay, sometimes I go to yoga or pilates there too).  Just imagine how hard it would have been back in the day before they had all the luxuries we have now.  We used our fun wood burning stove for warmth and some of the branches we trimmed off the trees back in spring.  (Yup unfortunately they're still out there.)  Although the wood burning stove is fabulous every now and then, it's quite a bit of work.  I'm even more impressed with my mom for doing it for at least eight years when we were little.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Date Day

We finally got to try out Chris' new motorcycle together!  We went to Mount Falcon.  Some of you may remember the pictures from our wedding reception.  This motorcycle is so much more comfortable!

After our ride we went to Wal-Mart to get my poor Sweetheart some $7 reading glasses that apparently work great!  And then we were off to our biweekly Civil Air Patrol meeting.  We bundled up and took the motorcycle again.  But this time it wasn't so smooth.  Chris thought it was idling wrong, so did some adjustments before we left.  Well, it was too much, because then it was idling so low that we would stall at every stop we made, and it's about a 35 minute drive to our meeting.  It was quite funny!

Very romantic date day!  :o)

Friday, October 10th, 2008

Not Fair...

Today was the start of a cold front.  But even until now, it's fall, and it's been chilly.  It's NOT FAIR how anyone's yard can look this nice.  And let me tell you, this is not the only one.  I'd say at least half of the yards still have flowers.  I can't even keep flowers alive in the spring and summer when they're supposed to be there!

Here are the pups before the walk.  They get so excited they can barely contain themselves.  And to think I don't take them for a walk every day and deprive them of the greatest joy of their day.  I hope I'll be a better mom to kids.

This was just a cool picture Chris took from the computer room window.