Angels and Demons

Yesterday, we had moments of sun that the dogs enjoyed by basking on the front porch. Awwww, how cute...

Do you see the dirt near them? That's from when they dug up my grape starter and played tug-of-war with it THE DAY AFTER I PLANTED IT! Oh yeah, they dug up the two raspberry plants that day, too. We have almost a half-acre of yard, sticks and toys all over the place, and they go for the three plants we had just barely gotten in the ground...Actually, they weren't even in the ground, they were in planters.

Then, there's today. It's been kind of muddy lately with light snowfall and all that. When I called them in this morning, they were playing in one of our unplanted garden plots. Thursday looked like this:
Trillian was just as filthy, but because of her black coat, it didn't show up as well. You can't really see it, but Thursday's back was matted with mud, too. I took this photo in the bathroom as the bathwater was running. That's why she is cowering by the door and looking terrified.
I think evolution has ensured that all puppies are cute for a reason...

A Fabulous New Place for the Dogs to Sleep...

Here is the first part of our new bedroom set. When we found this set, part of it was a long, short chest of drawers with a mirror on it (is that what a bureau is?). Our room is small, so that wasn't going to work. We opted to go for two dressers instead.

As you can see, the queen-size bed takes up most of the room. It's also quite tall, once we'd put the memory foam topper on it.

We have nightstands on backorder and we'll be hanging the Indian cross stitches over the bed once we get the right kind of nails.

We're pretty excited about the bedroom set, even if it does take up the entire bedroom. I think my favorite part is the foam topper. It's super-comfy and WARM. With the old bed, I had to have an electric blanket on high and a down comforter to stay warm in our basement bedroom. But the memory foam absorbs and holds on to body heat, so if we have the electric blanket even on its lowest setting, we're sweating from the heat. If I had known what a difference it would make, I would have bought a memory foam topper for our old bed a long time ago!

A Big Day for Birthdays!

Not only is it a beautiful spring-y Friday, today is also the birthday of my dad and Al's sister, Abby.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy Birthday, Abby!

Silliness at IHOP

Al and I went to IHOP on Friday night after going shopping for a new bedroom set. Actually, I should say a bedroom set because we actually don't have an old bedroom set to be replacing with a new bedroom set. Unless a box spring and mattress on a frame with two folding TV trays on either side qualifies as a bedroom set...

Anyhow, it was Friday night, we were starving, and we didn't feel like cooking or waiting at a busy place, so we slummed it at IHOP. Al ordered the Mayor's Breakfast, a limited time thing in honor of Horton Hears a Who. It has green eggs (eggs florentine) and ham, and some sort of Who-ville themed pancakes. It was all actually very good, but the presentation is the best part. We got such a laugh when they came out to the table!

Purse Tag

So apparently, the rules are: Show your purse as-is, no cleaning out beforehand, then tag five others.

I know four people on BlogSpot. One of them (thanks, Ash) tagged me and Jill, so I'll be tagging Jen and Patty. Sorry I can't meet the quintupletag responsibility...

My Purse:
Tinkerbell seemed like a good choice when it came time for a new purse a few months ago. The one I traded in had been in use for about three years.

I guess I'll start at the top left:

• My camera case (usually the camera is in it, but I was using it to take the picture.
• A baggie of vitamin C tablets. I'm around hundreds of people every day and I can't afford to get sick.
• Lip stuff: two carmex, two chapstick, a MAC lipglass, and a Mary Kay lipstick.
• A powder compact and a mirror compact.
• A "matchbook" of nail files. I hate it when I get a snag. I obsess over it until I pull the whole tip of the nail off.

Back to the left hand side:

• My Nintendo DS, currently with Final Fantasy III inside. I also am carrying Super Princess Peach, Cooking Mama, Nintendogs, and Animal Crossing.
• Ipod Nano that needs to be charged. I play it on my speakers at school or through my stereo in my car, thus the absence of headphones.
• Wallet
• Hairbrush, two hairclips, hairband
• Receipt for the bedroom set Al and I bought from John Parras Furniture on Friday night. It will be delivered on Tuesday!
• My writer's notebook and two pens with purple ink.

Drop down below the notebook and work your way back towards the left:

• Trident gum, for when I just want to eat but I'm not actually hungry.
• My work keys, ID badge and FlashDrive on the Chili's lanyard, which is also carrying a bunch of Chili's pins (or "flare")
• My concealer compact is hiding beneath the ID badge
• Small bottle of Exedrin Migraine that I keep refilling from a larger bottle in the bathroom
• Neutrogena Norwegian Formula hand cream.
• You Don't Know Me by David Klass, the book I'm currently reading.

And heading back to the right:

• My coin purse for Diet Coke emergencies at school
• My Dumbledore's Army necklace and Fossil watch
• Splenda packets for when I'm in need of sweetener and Splenda is not an option
• My car and house keys
• My cell phone

Proof that I'm a Little Old Lady at Heart

I finished both of these cross stitch pieces a while back: the one on the right I finished in 2003 and the one on the left in 2006. I finally dished out the money to get them framed at the most amazing framing place ever. It's called Artist Touch and they feature hand-carved decoration in the mats. On top of that, as far as framing prices go, they are extremely reasonable. To illustrate, I once went to Joann's with a 70% off coupon. It was a smaller piece with two cardboard mats. Their primary price was over $400. At Artist Touch, I get suede and leather mats with UV glass and hand carving for much bigger pieces for an average of $250-$310.

So even though they're reasonable, it's still quite an investment. I saved my birthday money this year and Al agreed to use our Christmas money for this, since I've been wanting to get these framed for a couple of years.

Here are the results! It's hard to see some of them because I couldn't use a flash, but if you double click the images to get the full-size picture, you can see much better.

Needless to say, I'm in love. I just have to figure out where to hang them!

Dig Dog

As spring begins to show itself, the dogs are spending a lot more time outside. They love it!
Thursday is turning out to be quite the digger. Yesterday, she came in with mud on her paws and nose!

It doesn't show up that great, but she was pretty darn messy. She got a nice spraying in the bathtub before being allowed to walk in the house again!

Next Stop: Starbucks!

At Christmas, Al and I took our cappuccino machine to Mom and Dad's to make steamers. Apparently, they were a hit because Dad bought one for them.
After Ashley's birthday dinner at Tepanyaki, we went over to give Mom some barrista training.

Before long, she was on her own! Yummy!

Say It Ain't So

Jer and Jill managed to get a day and half layover in Salt Lake City while on their way to Hawaii. The mini-reunion deserved some time on Rock Band! We filmed this at Jeff's house. He really gets into it...But then again, he is the only professional in the room.

We're Making Progress!

My Name is Earl...I Mean Al

For Al's vacation, he decided to grow a beard. He ended up liking it so much, it stayed about a week longer than the originally-agreed-upon ten days.

Kenzie and Madi started calling him "Scary Beard." That's either his Indian name or his pirate name, I'm not sure.

When it came time to shave...finally...Al decided to do the "power chops." He thinks they're AWESOME. I had other things to day.He had the power chops from about midnight on Saturday night until 9am Sunday morning. I refused to go out in public with him like that.

In the end, I got normal, clean-shaven Al back.