Whirlwind Adventure

We had so much fun on our little getaway! I'll sit down and fill you in more fully soon, but the highlights include:

Cold Camping Nights
Gaining what feels like 10 pounds (at least)
Lots of sitting in the car
A lighthouse
An Antiques Mall
And the Waffle House.

We arrived home in the wee hours of Saturday morning, and then I had to work Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. We are just starting to get back in the groove of being at home and with a little sunshine outside we have lots of plans for the coming days!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Though really I suppose it's Happy Black Friday! I work in retail, so for me it's not all that happy. And I work for a store that got to be open on Thanksgiving, so super fun time there. While it was definitely not the best Thanksgiving I've ever had, I still have much to be thankful for.

Our three dogs drive me crazy at times, but our house would be empty without them. I have a lot of laundry to do, but it's wonderful we are able to afford clothes for ourselves, a washing machine and dryer to clean them, and this house to keep us warm. I'm grateful I have a dependable vehicle that gets me safely to and from my job, that will hopefully last for years to come.

I got to spend time with my mom and my "other" mom (my best friend's parents invited us over), and while I did not see my husband as much as I would have liked, I'm very thankful that we were able to get married while my dad was still alive and able to enjoy himself. It's been a rough year, and I'm so very grateful my husband has been so supportive through all of this.

And now it's on to Christmas! I did not venture out for any Black Friday deals this year, but I've decided Cyber Monday really appeals to me much, much more. Picking something out while in my pj's and having it shipped to my door is definitely the way to go. Although, I hope the hubs isn't home when it gets delivered!

Our First Anniversary

Hard to believe a year has gone by since our wedding!! Then again, so much has happened in the past year that it feels like forever ago. Our anniversary was yesterday, Mr. Fabulous had to work and I stayed home and looked through all of our pictures and listened to music as I made an effort to clean the house. That effort mostly failed as I spent a long time putting together his paper gift.

We attempted to go out to dinner at the restaurant where we had our first date (they also catered our rehearsal dinner), but we forgot that since it was Sunday, they were closed. Instead of going to a different restaurant, we decided to get some chicken wings at the grocery store and go home and eat them in our pj's. My mom made us a replica of our cake top, and we ate that with some champagne. All in all, it was a pretty good night!

This is us at the grocery store. He's looking at me because he thinks I'm crazy for taking our picture, yet he's the one who ends up looking crazy ;) 

Our cake! And champagne! My mom did a great job recreating her masterpiece from last year.

And finally, his gift. 52 pieces of paper with ideas for us to do in the coming year until our next anniversary! I had originally seen a similar idea as a wedding gift suggestion, and then I searched the internet for 52 date ideas and saw that some other wives had done this (or something similar) for their first anniversary. Let me tell you, 52 things is harder than it sounds. I ran out of ideas after 12, which is why I was eagerly searching the internet for 40 more. I had them all written down, but when I copied them onto the colorful paper for the jar, I threw the list away. Oops! But I'll let you know each week what he chooses! 

Of course when John opened it, he had to take a few out and see what was in there, but I wouldn't let him read all of them. I tried to keep it to things that cost little or no money, a lot of them are things we always say we're going to do, and then never do them. A few are season specific, so I hope we choose them in the right season! It's hard to built a snowman or go ice skating in the summer, but I guess part of the challenge will be making it happen no matter what. And the general idea is to get us out of our habit of having dinner and watching tv each evening. 

Here's to a year of fun and adventure! 

Just an Update

Things have been super crazy around here. The husband's thumb is finally better, after numerous doctor and hospital visits and a few different antibiotics. He's back at work and feeling much better! Thank you everyone for your concern and well wishes. The hardest part was that the rest of him was fine, and as such he was super antsy with orders to sit home and do nothing. I have to admit, the day I tried to do nothing with him, it was much harder to do than I thought it would be!

Today I am home alone and tackling many forgotten about projects. Hopefully you'll have more updates soon on those, but admittedly I tend to tackle more than I can handle and feel like quitting part way through. Hence why I have so many to finish in the first place.

I got a promotion at work! I'm super excited for the additional responsibility and new challenges I will face. I'm back to having a more variable schedule, which I'm actually really excited about. Sometimes you get stuck in a rut with the same routine all the time, so I like that some days I have time in the mornings, and some days I have time  in the evenings. It is definitely another "grass is greener" situation, as last time I switched positions I was really excited to have a set schedule and the ability to have more of a routine.

Things are going pretty well with the addition of Zoey. She still has a lot to learn, but at least she more often than not chews on dog toys versus eating my stuff. Fiona is still adjusting to being completely outnumbered by dogs, and then my rearranging the living room sure didn't help her. My dear feline hates change, and I'm sure she will be voicing her displeasure very soon. Already she seems to hate being separated from us at night and does not appreciate having the bedroom door shut. The funny thing is this is definitely not the first time we have shut her out at night as Bandit has a tendency to eat garbage, and Fiona has a tendency to try and eat my feet while I'm sleeping. I am sure everything will sort itself out soon enough, and we will all live happily ever after.

The Chickens are Home to Roost!

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Barbara and Gertrude:

We call them Babs and Gert. Though sometimes I like to call Gertrude "Trudy". They're super friendly, they eat lots of bugs, and they lay eggs. It's a total win situation for us! On top of that, they're effing adorable and totally hilarious. They are show chicken flunkies, so they are obviously the perfect chickens for us.

Like all women, they love the hubs more than they love me. It's possible I traumatized them a smidge; they had to ride in my car (including a trip to get some coffee in a drive-thru and a few stares at the chickens in my back seat from our friendly baristas).  I took my sister home and wanted to show them off to my family,  then when I tried to walk them into the house sitting in the rubbermaid bin they came in, first Gertrude flew out, and when I was catching her, I lost Barbara! They are fast, man! Luckily my brother was willing to help his sister out, brought out some fishing twine in an effort to net her, but she took off into some underbrush. Meanwhile, my sister Mary was trying to show Gertrude off to my dad, but the dog barked and she flew off again! My uncle lured her out with a slice of bread, so they were able to catch Gertrude, but Barbara was still on the lamb. Turns out her weakness is also white bread, and after my entire family came out to help, I was finally able to pick her up and get her back in the car. It was quite the adventure, and naturally include multiple members of my family. It does, however, explain a little bit why they don't want to be around me so much.

Currently their "coop" used to be Bandit's doghouse. He never actually used it, because he prefers my couch and despises being outside without me, so we added a second story and put their house up on blocks. It's how we roll. Other than purchasing the chicken wire (who knows why hubs only bought it 3' tall), the rest of their current coop was built with stuff we had lying around, I think they did a pretty good job:

We'll upgrade eventually, especially if we get more chickens. We'll see how we do with this dynamic duo first.