Keepin' up with the

Francie's Fancies 2011

2011-10-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

Frances Newton Hall, my Grandma passed away on Halloween in 1996. Since then the Sister's Three (her three daughters) moped around on the holiday. Last year we decided we should celebrate Grandma instead of continuing to mourn her and all signed up for the Boston, Georgia 5K Halloween walk. This year we donned bright purple Halloween shirts with the celebratory name of our new group, Francie's Fancies on the back.

This was "Francie"

And we are her "Fancies"

The Sister's Three

The whole gang

No doubt that Grandma Frances Hall was smiling down on us while we celebrated her memory.

I'm a Scrapper

2011-10-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

It's time you knew the truth about the gals in my family ... we are all scrapbookers. We have scrapbook weekends and spend HOURS upon HOURS perfecting our pages. We joke about who will inherit the shelves of albums we have created and that eventually we will need to rent a storage unit just to store them all. It is a hobby that we love and while we are scrapping our memories, our all day and night crop weekends are memories in themselves. It is very special when we get all of the ladies together (and extra special when there are a couple bottles of wine). Our guys are very supportive, meaning they enjoy a weekend of freedom just as much as we do.

Here is one of my latest pages. This was Grandpa's last Christmas ...

Doppelganger

2011-09-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

We met up with one of our puppy families earlier this year. After taking Porsche (formerly Red) from our third litter they purchased a chocolate lab puppy from another breeder to be her playmate. This outsider pup looked eerily like Jake and had he not been wearing a collar, I might have sent the wrong pup home with Porsche!

(Jake is on the left)

Sneak Peak

2011-09-19T15:07:00.003-07:00

Here is a sneak peak of Room #3 ... demolition is underway

Room #2 - Renovation

2011-09-19T14:25:00.001-07:00

Room #2 is finished ... well, we still need to figure out the closet doors, but figured installing more windows was a higher priority. Here is our recipe for a room make-over.

Take before pics.

Please ignore the two colored cabinet doors on top ... I have no excuse. I think I just got bored with painting on the last time around. That was not a decorating decision.

Grab your demo tools and get to work.

Patch the ceiling and strip the woodwork.

Install windows.

Add woodwork.

Prime everything.

Paint the walls.

Paint the woodwork and stain the floors.

Polyurathane (or poly-uther-ane as Greg says it) the floors.

Install celing fan.

Build custom closet so everything has a home.

Voila! A couple of months and a lot of hard work = one brand new room!

A Thank You Letter

2011-09-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

Dear Aunt Andie and Uncle Dean,

We wanted to tell you THANK YOU for letting us swim in your pool this summer. We enjoy running around out there, but especially love diving into the crisp, cool swimming pool afterwards. Lola came up to swim with us one time too and she loves it just as much as we do. Here are some pictures for you ... but don't worry, the adults were with us the whole time, we're just cuter than they are, so we're the only ones in the pictures.

Love, Kora and Jake

We're Saving Green

2011-07-24T04:21:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I posted about our new shopping habits (well, I guess they're not so new anymore ... we've been at it for almost a year now), but thought I'd share today's savings. The grand total of these items at this week's CVS sale price is $42.15. Using coupons and CVS bucks, I paid $3.65 out of my pocket and $2.58 of that was for sales tax.

We used to spend over $100 a week at WalMart for our groceries and household products. Now we only shop at CVS, Walgreens and Publix and usually spend less than $30 a week. We have a stock of pretty much everything and laugh at ourselves because we no longer buy certain items (toothpaste, eye contact solution, and several others) unless we actually make money on them. Free (+ tax) is not good enough for a tube of toothpaste anymore.

At first we did devote quite a bit of time to preparation and shopping. Now that we've had practice it probably takes us 30 - 45 minutes to go through the adds, write up our lists and gather our coupons. We usually go to Publix on Thursday afternoon, which usually takes 30 minutes, 45 max. I go to CVS and Walgreens on Sunday, which can take up to an hour depending on the week. That is a total of 2.5 hours a week, which I think is definitely worth the savings of about $280 a month.

It really is super easy once you figure out the basics of couponing. Check out the link on the right of my blog to SoutherSavers. She taught us everything we know!

Call of the Wild

2011-07-16T03:45:00.000-07:00

Loved, Loved, Loved this book! Took all of about four or five hours to "read" (listen to my MP3 downloaded version). The readers on this one were fantastic too, which made it more enjoyable to me than if I had read it myself. When I read, I tend to read fast and miss some of the details. Listening to someone read it, throwing in different accents and tones makes me feel like a kid again.

Pride and Prejudice

2011-07-14T03:28:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have tried to add a little balance to my 'all or nothing' personality type. I tend to focus 100% on the hobby of the day/week/month and all else in my life falls by the wayside. Same goes with reading, which I love, but life requires more than curling up with a good book. I found a fantastic solution! Books on tape ... well, that's a little old fashioned ... books on MP3. Librivox.org has a huge catalog of the classics that you can download to your computer, phone, whatever for free. Masks the boredom of mundane tasks like painting or cleaning and allows me to cross a book off my reading list. Can't beat it.

Finished up Pride and Prejudice recently and I must confess that I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. The entire time I envisioned Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen and could not get the movie out of my head. Lesson learned ... read the book first!!!

I'll Fly Away

2011-07-06T17:40:00.001-07:00

April 8, 2011 started out as a normal day, but ended with our family saying goodbye to my dear Grandpa. Expected in the sense that death is expected at any time with a 92 year old, but so unexpected to me who had just chit chatted with him just a week before. It is difficult for me to walk into the cabin now and not see him snoozing in his recliner and waking up startled when I kiss him on the forehead to say hello. I will miss the hours of listening to him reminisce about his childhood and his war stories that he was so proud of.

I feel like there are so many things that I should say, but it makes me very sad to think of him right now. I'll Fly Away was a song that we sang at his funeral. I don't think I had ever heard it through all the way until then, but it cheers me up to hear it. I know my Grandpa is in a great place, which certainly helps, but my heart sure does have a big hole!

Room #1 - Rennovation

2011-06-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

We (mainly Greg, sometimes me) have been busy, busy, busy with household rennovations. We're taking it room by room and completed #1 in March this year. Looking back at the pictures, I am amazed at how much work it took to complete this one. This room was an addition to our original 1926 house and the plaster walls were covered with wood paneling. There were nine windows and two doors when we started.

BEFORE: behind the green wall on the right is the back of the fireplace.

Started to remove the green paneling and break through the plaster (covered in wood grain contact paper ... must have been lovely).

The room had nine windows total, three on each external wall.

This wall faces our neighbors house. We closed in the two outside windows.

Breaking through to the fireplace.

There were two doors leading to our living room, one of which we never used. We decided to close in the left one and add a little extra wall space in both rooms.

We decided to close off all three windows leading to the back yard. Now I wish I had left one window there ... live and learn.

All three windows gone.

With Greg's expert researching and negotiating skills, we got top of the line Anderson windows, with all of the features to keep the integrity of our old home for just over 5,000 with our tax rebate. That is for 19 windows! The downside to completing our own installation is that half of our master bedroom is full of window boxes.

Neighbor side minus one window. One to go ...

These pictures make it look a lot easier than it really is.

Next step was insullation. Our house has absolutely zero insullation in the walls and our monthly utility bill is through the roof. Greg tackled spray foam insullation. Super easy and a lot cheaper as a DIY project! We got a lot of discouragement when we shared that we would do this part ourselves (glad we didn't listen).

Topped it off with roll insullation.

We also decided to replace the ceiling, which was a first and last time project. Looks nice, but waaaaaay to much work.

To cut down on cost, Greg stripped and salvaged all of the existing woodwork.
Again, looks so much easier than it really is. Notice the door on the left is completely closed in.

I've also got to mention that Greg pays very close attention the the details. Check out the molding he put on the fireplace.

Ta Da! So pretty and I love my brick fireplace!!!

Front wall and new celing fan. For more details on front window replacement, see blog post dated Sept 30, 2011.

Neighbor wall. Oh, and we refinished the wood floor ourselves too. Don't have a picture, but it's new and shiney now ... again, an easy DIY project.

Room #2 is under way. Post with pictures coming soon (well, in a couple of months or so).

Merry Christmas!

2011-03-06T05:02:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas Day in Monticello ... just plain ol' fun, family time. The boys were especially thrilled when we found the special feature on our camera that allowed us to take several images in rapid succession.

Meridian, MS

2011-03-05T16:39:00.000-08:00

How in the world did I get so far behind on my blogging? A never-ending house renovation is a good enough reason, I suppose. Well, waaaay back in October, Mom, Grandpa and I took a road trip to Meridian, MS. During the summer months I chatted with Grandpa about his Hall relatives and he mentioned how nice it would be to go see Uncle Joe in Meridian. Mom finally convinced him (we think) that Uncle Joe had been dead for eighty plus years, but we could certainly make a trip to the graveyard if he wanted. He wanted, so we delivered. I spent weeks gathering as much information as I could about our descendents in Meridian and on October 1, 2010 we loaded up and hit the road ...

Our itinerary consisted of a fact-finding visit to the Lauderdale County Archives and the Webb Funeral Home. We also visited the Coker's Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery, found Uncle Joe and several other members of the Hall family.

In our travels around the city, we noticed brightly decorated carousel horses displayed on nearly every street corner. Before heading home, we stopped to take pictures ... this is the horse outside McDonald's.

Black Friday 2010 - WAGS

2010-11-25T07:21:00.000-08:00

The Walgreens Register Rewards game is much more challenging and time consuming than CVS, but well worth it in the end! Today we started out with 5 RR (Register Rewards = WAGS Cash), charged $14.13 to our AMEX and left with 2.50 RR. Total cost for all products was $16.63. Now to me that was disappointing until I remembered that we paid $2.50 each for the Red Barron pizzas, which Greg devours. These typically run over $3 at Walmart, so he insisted we stock up at this price. If you take those out of the picture, we only paid $1.63 for all of the products below. CHA-CHING!

So, we are now addicted to saving money and cannot fathom paying a dime for items like toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, etc. The only downfall to all of this ... ever see that show "Hoarders"? ... we're going to be featured on an episode soon if we're not careful!!! Seriously, planning a garage sale in the early spring, so our house doesn't end up looking like a drug store!!!!!!!!

Black Friday 2010 - CVS

2010-11-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

I mentioned a while ago that we were diving into the deep end with coupon shopping. Since then we have been perfecting our craft and saving tons of money (while buying a bunch of crap we probably don't need ... I see a garage sale in our future).

Walgreens and CVS had some super Black Friday sales, which actually started on Thanksgiving Thursday. We started our shopping spree with $43 ECB's (Extra Care Bucks = CVS dollars) that we had earned on previous trips. We put $13.75 on the AMEX and left the stores with $55.78 ECB's. That's right baby, those fine folks at CVS charged us only $0.97 to take this merchandise off their hands. [paid 56.75 and left with 55.78 = cost of $0.97]!

A Bride Most Begrudging

2010-10-25T16:13:00.001-07:00

We have a book share deal at work and I snagged this one on my lunch break one day. Loved it! I think I pretty much love anything I read. I love to escape into another world every now and then. I'm especially a fan of historical fiction. This was one that I read in three days. I even had it on the bathroom counter and read while putting on my makeup and doing my hair ... is that normal?

Scarlet

2010-10-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

I heard negative reviews about this one, but I enjoyed reading about Scarlett growing up. Such a strong and stubborn character ... I adore her! And as always, the book is SOOO much better than the movie. I always thought the movie was a bit far fetched and soap opera-ish. I learned that there is a book called Rhett Butler's People by a third author that takes place at the same time Gone With the Wind does, but from Rhett's perspective. Of course that is top on my list to read, as soon as I can get my hands on a copy!

P.S. Sorry about the picture ... don't have Photoshop loaded on this computer, so I couldn't edit the excess background out.

New Windows

2010-09-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

Bill came up with Johanna and Lola to help Greg install the front three windows in our sunroom. The boys got started first thing Saturday morning and within thirty minutes a gaping hole exposed the entire room to the passers by. They worked until early evening when they finally nestled the beautiful new windows into their perfectly measured frames.

Johanna and I made sure there was a constant supply of fresh Gatorade and snacks available to keep the boys energized and motivated. We were also responsible for documenting the progress with pictures and entertaining the dogs. Pretty much, we sat around and talked while the boys worked their tails off.

I must also note that when Johanna first met our two dogs she was terrified of them. We usually kept them locked in their crates or guarded her of any contact with them if they were loose. Having Lola as a puppy has helped her work through her fears and check out this picture of her with Kora on her lap ... NO FEAR! We are so proud of her!!! :)

Cha Ching!

2010-08-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

Seriously, we are LOVING this coupon thing! The total Publix purchase price of the items pictured below was $37.64 ... we paid $7.99 = 79% savings!!! They actually paid us $0.05 each for the Right Guard deodorant, can't beat that.

Got all of these items from Publix for original price of $17.02 ... we paid $5.45.

It really isn't all that difficult, but probably took us an hour of pre planning before our Publix trip today. I'm hoping we can knock off some of the planning time once we get the hang of it. The big secret to using coupons is to use them when your item is already on sale. The buy one get one free promos combined with coupons (one for each item) is one of the easiest ways to get money back fast!!!

Crazy Coupon Lady

2010-08-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

I honestly think I could become one of those "crazy coupon ladies." I spent about three hours today (including my shopping time) and saved $48.28. For all of the products below I only spent $5.70!!! Woo hoooooo! Those Air Wick kits are regular $7.99 each and I got all three for $1.24 (including tax). The reem of paper, post-it notes and highlighters totaled $0.06 (including tax). I had the absolute BEST time and grinned from ear to ear as I left each store. My best secret is southernsavers.com ... I don't know where these people have the time, but they find all of the deals and post them on to one website! FABULOUS!!!!

One Hall of a Weekend

2010-07-20T17:37:00.001-07:00

This man is the reason ...
Grandpa turned 92 years old this year and we celebrated his birthday in Monticello with a weekend of family and fun. As we have made it a new tradition to celebrate family more often, we decided to come up with a name for our gatherings. Everyone put in a suggestion and we all voted ... One Hall of a Weekend was the winner. For those of you who do not know, Hall is the family name on my mom's side. Cousin David won the first event of the weekend with this entry and was awarded a medal to wear with pride around his neck.

Oh yes, there were medals for all event winners and even spirit awards! There were a varitey of events for all ages that included golf, basketball, swimming, scrapbooking, orange slice sculpturing and even WII target shooting. I think it is probably necessary to explain the significance behind some of the events.

Golf - Cousin David took after Grandpa and plays quite a mean game of golf. Due to his "professional" (in our eyes) status, he was required to wear an eye patch while playing as his handicap.

Basketball - Instead of the traditional game 21, we opted for 29, which is 92 backwards, since that is how many years young Grandpa is. Greg and Ted were the resident basketball pros, so the net was raised to the tallest height to handicap them.

Diving for Smurfs - As kids, Smurf collectible characters were the "in" thing. The cousins used to have competitions to see who could scoop up the most Smurf's from the bottom of the pool in one breath. Naturally that competition had to be on the event list!

Pool Dress with Finale Pose - Growing up, Cousin Adam used to entertain us with a short gymnastic set followed by an exaggerated, sarcastic grand finale pose. To toughen up the event, contestants were first required to jump in the deep end of the pool, dress themselves in Grandpa's clothes, swim to the shallow end, exit the pool and make a Grand Finale Pose that would impress the judges.

Orange Slice Sculpture - For Grandpa's 90th birthday we all chose small gifts that we could give to Grandpa in increments of 90. David and Diana selected orange slices. Not knowing that the kind of 'orange slices' that Grandpa loved were the sugar coated, gummy candies, Diana proceeded to cut real oranges in 90 slices. Unfortunately for her this is one of those family stories that will never die and will likely be told for years to come. In her honor we built orange slice sculptures as one of the indoor events.

Scrapbooking - Well duh, of course there had to be scrapbooking. Even the boys joined in on this event ... no way were they going to miss out on overall points by not participating in EVERY event!

Following a most scrumptious pot-luck dinner, featuring Bill's BBQ ribs, were the closing ceremonies. I will venture to say that at this point anyone who has married into our family might have entertained some flittering thoughts of "what in the world have I married in to?" There were ridiculous tropies, acceptance poses, laughter, laughter and more laughter. Please also notice the archway on the stage where we were presented our trophies.

Our family is a little crazy, what can I say? But we sure know how to have a good time!

No More Puppies

2010-06-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

After whelping three litters with 26 puppies, Kora thought it was time to call it quits and had her little doggied tubes tied on June 11. Papa Jake didn't think it was necessary to tie any tubes on his end and looks forward to calling on the ladies one day in the future. Greg and I enjoyed the puppy experience more than either of us imagined. It was truly fascinating to watch a living, breathing animal come into the world and grow to 12 or 15 pounds and develop individual personalities in just two months time.

I love this cone! We made fun of Kora constantly, watching her bang her way around the house, trying to get through door jams or jump on the bed. It was hysterical and we kept it for the future in case we're in need of a good laugh. Is that considered animal cruelty or could we just call it pay back for all the shoes, remote controls and books she has destroyed?

2010 Hall Family Reunion

2010-06-09T12:33:00.001-07:00

The first Hall Family Reunion (name to be determined at our next meeting in July) was held in Tampa on May 29, 2010, and what more can you expect when our kin folk gather together, but cheek hurting, side aching laughter. We had to explain to Johanna's sister that, yes the ear piercing shrill of laughter from the Sister's Three was quite normal and we described our childhood memories of waking up to that sound at 6am whenever the family spent the night under the same roof.

How did I not remember the competitive nature that our crew possesses? The day full of ridiculous games ('egg on a spoon' races, horseshoes, ladder ball, Guesstures and Family Feud) proved that not one person in our family backs down from a challenge! Bring It On!!!

The food was fabulous, but I must brag on the ribs that Bill grilled for us ... those were the best darn things I've ever had!

Playing Catch Up

2010-06-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

I have been so focused on keeping up with our puppy blog that I have neglected updating our family blog. We have been working on our yard again ... we're slow, but must brag that we do pretty darn good work when we get around to it!

FRONT YARD: We finally added sod to polish off our front walkway.

BACKYARD: My mom had time to maintain a backyard of beds galore, but Greg and I were not so fond of the continious yard maintenance and pulled out most of the her lovely beds. This creation of dirt, combined with our two dogs, resulted in a disaster and constant tracking of dirt into our house. Time for a change ... sod and pinestraw to the rescue!!!

Our next mission was tidying up the beds in the front yard. Armed with his gloves, a garbage bag and gatorade, Greg was ready to start the task at hand when he was confronted with a black racer snake. This bad boy was 5 feet long (according to Greg ... I estimate about 3.5 feet) and is not poisonous, but honestly, does poisonous or not poisonous really matter? It's a freaking SNAKE!

With hurricane/rainy season here we quickly concluded that the next project on the list was more important than the front yard cosmetics anyway. (And yes, one of us has no desire to pretend that she is not deathly afraid of snakes). Our 1920 chimney leaks when it rains and is in desparate need of repair. The initial thought: we'll remove the first couple of brick layers and rebuild the tip-top of the chimney. Why do things never go as planned? Each brick that Greg removed revealed another layer of unsecure brick and mortar. By the end of the evening we were left with a puny excuse for a chimney, a pile of bricks in our front yard, and a much bigger project than we anticipated. Not to mention that the weekend forcast called for rain, rain and more rain.

Fortunately we have survived the weekend thunder storms with no interior leaking. If the weather is kind to us this week, we can begin our work as brick layers ... didn't we vow to never deal with laying brick after our fence building project?!?!

Shutter Island

2010-04-10T05:32:00.000-07:00

I figured out part of the mystery, but this author had me guessing and questioning my theory throughout the entire book. I couldn't put it down ... read while I was getting ready in the morning, when I walked to work and even as I was fixing breakfast for the dogs. It was a very fast read and well worth it. Can't wait to see the movie!

Puppies Are Here

2010-03-29T06:32:00.001-07:00

Our third and final litter has arrived, a little sooner than we had planned, but we're excited all the same! Keep an eye on the Puppy Playground website for updates and pictures ...

Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl

2010-03-27T04:52:00.000-07:00

I was about 100 pages into this book when I decided to watch the movie "Freedom Writers." How kind of them to share the fate of young Anne Frank just as I was beginning to know her. I love to read true stories and by the time I was finished reading about Anne, I felt like I knew her and her fellow hideaways. It was interesting to read about the tragedies of war from the perspective of a teenager.

The Shack

2010-02-24T01:29:00.000-08:00

Finished reading this one in three days. I heard mixed reviews before I read it, but I have got go with the "loved it" side. It was a little overwhelming and confusing at times as it holds a lot of information or rather, clarification. It makes a lot of sense out of familiar phrases you've heard in sermons or passages you've read in the Bible that you kind of just take as head knowledge, but never fully understand. I won't say much more about it because I don't want to give the story away, but it's definitely worth the read.

Bialystok, Poland

2010-02-21T06:57:00.000-08:00

Greg and I spent just about two weeks in Bialystok when we visited Poland this time. We stayed at the Hostel Spark, which for us (probably not for everyone), provided all that we needed. For an extended trip, however, we would have to admit that the beds are a little uncomfortable, something we did not notice at first. We also got a little tired of the repetitive breakfast each morning, which again, was perfect at first but after day 10, it was a little old. For the price, however, the beds and breakfasts were bearable and we would certainly stay here again in the future if necessary.

As far as food, at first we found a small mall or "galeria" as they are called and settled on the ol' familiar KFC. We tried several bars of Polish food, but neither of us were really satisified ... until we found Bar Sloneczny. These aren't alcohol bars, but food bars and are frequently located about town and provide a large variety of homemade Polish food for a reasonable price.

As you can see below, the menu was absolutely useless to me, but the food is in a glass covered bar and you simply tell them what you want (or Greg tells them for you). My favorite was a cabbage and pork patty with tomato sauce slathered all over it. When that wasn't an option, I filled up with Golabki or stuffed cabbage (literal translation is Pigeon, but come on, you know I wouldn't eat pigeon!). The Pierogi were pretty fantastic too. We ate here pretty much every day after we found it ... no more KFC!

We visited the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit, the largest Orthodox church in Poland. Naturally it was closed (because whenever I want to go into something it is either closed or costs a fortune), so we could only admire it from the outside.

By this time the snow had started to melt to just the right temperature that Greg could make snow balls and nail me with them as I walked ahead. Fun and games until the snow ball gets into your coat, then it is not so fun. I learned from a previous trip to Poland that I could NEVER beat Greg at a snow ball fight, so I submitted, letting him hit me over and over in the back until he got bored. Last time I ended up soaking wet from head to toe and was miserably uncomfortable ... I vowed then that he was and always would be the King of Snow Ball fights.

One of the days we took a short road trip to Klejniki (proncounced Clay-nee-kee), the village that Greg's mother grew up in. We were pleasently surprised that the trip only took about an hour as we feared some of the snow covered roads might be impassable. We got to see most everything we wanted, including the cemetery, but of course the knee deep snow prevented us from locating his Osipiuk relatives there.

Here's an interesting tidbit: in Poland when you leave a city there is a sign with the city name and a red line crossing through it. When you enter the city, obviuosly there isn't a red line.

Back in Bialystok, there was also a State Archive, which houses 100+ year old information from the Eastern region of Poland (birth, death and marriage records, etc). We attempted to research some of Greg's relatives, but soon realized that we were not armed with enough information. Next time I come to Poland, I will hopefully be able to come back to this place and dig further.

Just outside the State Archives is a small plaza and Greg enjoyed seeing just how close he could get to the pigeons before they flew away. Cheap entertainment, what can I say?

Gone With the Wind

2010-02-20T10:01:00.001-08:00

Book number one from my list was Gone With the Wind and I finished it today. Had I known what I was missing, I would have read it years ago! As I mentioned in an earlier post, the movie is my all time favorite, but I cannot even begin to explain how much I loved the book. I have never been a fan of re-reading books, but I have a feeling that this is one will make it back on my list in the future.

Trip to Poland

2010-02-11T22:38:00.000-08:00

Greg and I are in Poland for a month and let me tell you, for a native Floridian, the weather has been quite an adjustment. Honestly it is not soooo bad if you are equipped with the appropriate attire. The one thing I lack is good pair of winter boots. I have hiking boots, but they are far from warm enough for strolling around in the snow for an extended period of time.

We spent our first week in Warsaw with Greg's family and I finally got to meet my precious little niece, Zosia (Sophia in English). She is a little pistol and I am not sure she quite understands why I cannot understand anything she says to me. I tried to read her a children's book in Polish and sounded like I was a two year old, sounding out each and every syllable. She got this look on her face like "What is wrong with this girl?"

We are now in Bialystok and will probably stay here through the weekend and maybe through the beginning of next week. We have done a little site seeing and attempted to find a relatives grave at and Orthodox cemetery. As you can see, it is a little challenging with all the snow.

Some of you might be more interested in our "vacation" to Poland ... please send me an e-mail and I will be happy to update you. Not ready to discuss it all on the blog yet.

Memory Lane

2010-01-20T17:11:00.001-08:00

Winding through the Georgia mountains listening to the twang playing from the guitar, as Kenny is singing of a bar in Toledo. In the back seat, the kids (Bill, Adam and I) sing along ... "on a barstool, she took of her ring." We repeat every word of each verse ... "he had a strange look on his face," eagerly awaiting the chorus, so we could show off our moves.

"With four hungry children and a crop in the field. I've had some bad times, lived through some sad times. This time the hurtin' won't heal. You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille."

You remember "the moves" ... I know you do :)

I have so many fond memories of visiting "Up Yonder." This picture is where we visited a trout farm.

We went horseback riding too.

White water rafting and tubing.

I also remember walking down to the dock in the morning with a loaf of bread to feed the fish and taking evening walks through the woods. We had some great times Up Yonder.

Bucket List

2010-01-12T02:53:00.000-08:00

I keep thinking of things for my "bucket list" but I haven't written any of them down yet, which I guess means I technically just have a "bucket"? Number one on my official bucket list ... READ BOOKS! By this I don't mean, find an author that I like and read all of his/her books, but I want to read the classics. Being an accountant, I obviously need a measurable goal, so I made another list (one can never have too many lists in life). My list is titled:

100 Books That I Want to Read.

http://karen.kasjaniuk.googlepages.com/booklist.pdf

I am not opposed to tweaking my list if anyone has any addition or deletion suggestions, so feel free to share your opinions!

Gone With the Wind is my first book of choice for a few reasons:
1. It is my all time favorite movie and I hear the book is even better.
2. It was my grandmother's favorite book and I've been thinking a lot about her lately.
3. I already have the book at home, so I don't have to go outside in the cold to sign up for a library card.

I begin my journey with a barbeque at Twelve Oaks and talks of War ...

Sweet Willie (a.k.a. Grandpa)

2010-01-05T14:08:00.001-08:00

William Andrews Hall is my Grandpa and I will join the Sister's Three (Mom, Aunt Andie and Aunt Mim) in their mission to spend as much time loving on him as possible.

I will always remember his subtle scent of Old Spice as a kid, sitting on his lap. We always asked about the small, pinhole indention in his forehead and he replied with his story of how he got shot in the head when he was in the war. A tall tale, I now know, but that story always filled me with pride when I thought about how brave and strong my Grandpa was.

About 8 or 9 years ago, I took a photography class at TCC and I talked Grandpa into letting me take his picture ... he was such a sport. I made him change his shirt, put on a cowboy hat and ride around in the Mule to find the horses. He spent at least an hour putting up with me, bored out of his mind, no doubt, but he didn't complain once. I've always loved this picture of him and Big Red.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-03T06:15:00.000-08:00

Greg and I drove out to Monticello with the dogs on Christmas to spend the day with Grandpa and Mom. Grandpa hit the jackpot, stocking up a stash of Christmas candy that should last him until Valentine's Day. We spent some time feeding and petting the horses and Wooly, the donkey. Fortunately there was a fence, or I'm afraid Kora would have received a well deserved kick from Wooly. Jake and Wooly, however, were very interested in being buds.

Later in the week, we loaded up the car and headed to Bainbridge to see Duchess (first litter, purple) and Luke (second litter, garnet). Isn't Luke a handsome fellow? We had such a good time visiting with their owners and Kora and Jake always have fun visiting their kiddos.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

We were short a couple of cousins and their families, but the rest of us met up at Barnaby's for the traditional gathering. This of course does not have to be marked by any sort of holiday or event, but can initiate simply from a craving or out of town guest. We polished off at least five pizzas and enjoyed some long overdue family time.

This morning we met up in Monticello and celebrated by helping out at the annual community Thanksgiving dinner. What a fantastic way to spend time together, keep a clean kitchen at home and help feed some very appreciative folks.

I also had my very first bite of Pumpkin Pie today ... eh ... I think I'll stick with Apple.

Puppy Withdrawal

2009-11-18T15:26:00.000-08:00

The last little critter from Litter #2 left our house today and I am officially in mourning. I was fine when the first seven left on November 8, but we held on to Luke for another ten days and he's on his way to Miami right now. I don't think wine is going to help this time, I'm going to have to cry it out. I guess I still haven't toughened up enough to be a breeder.

This is my little heart-breaker, Luke ...

Let me introduce you to the eight adorable pups that Kora and Jake produced this time around. Their whelp date was September 14, my mom's birthday. Four yellow, four black and two males and females of each color, a perfect mix. All were sold by week six thanks to our center-of-town location ... we even had a waiting list! This has been a ton of fun, but we are going to give Kora (and me) a break for a while. Our next project ... two legged babies ... I'll keep you posted.

Peru

2009-09-19T17:19:00.001-07:00

I'm getting way too behind in my blogging! Mom and I went to visit Bill and Johanna in Peru last month. We had a fantastic time, toured like maniacs and reflected on how fast 14 years of Spanish flew out the door. I find I can do okay one on one, but when there are two or more people talking, I'm lost. Bill, however, is quite the pro! I was very impressed with how much he had learned over the past several months.

We saw it all and learned a ton about South American history ... did we learn this stuff in school? I remember South American geography, but nothing about the history. The churches were enormous, ornate and breath-taking. The church to the left is the San Francisco church where there were hundreds of pigeons in the courtyard.

We took an evening bus tour of the city and thank goodness Senora Calderon brought some extra winter gear. We were grateful for the ear flaps, regardless of how ridiculous we looked!

One of the stops on the tour was the water park. At least 20 different water fountains, one mimicking the Bellagio at Vegas. It was definitely worth seeing.

Many thanks to our hosts, we had a WONDERFUL time and can't wait to see you both again soon!!!

Cemetery in Peru

2009-09-12T05:58:00.001-07:00

I have to admit that since I started reseraching my family history, I have become somewhat fascinated with cemeteries. We added a trip to the oldest cemetery in Peru, Museo Presbitero Maestro and I think we were all glad we did. This was the most beautiful cemetery I have ever seen! There were walls holding about 250 each, scattered with underground family tombs and the most amazing sculptures decorating loved ones resting place.

I am adding cemeteries to my tourist list when I travel now ... especially in Europe!

We visited a newer cemetery while we were there too and as soon as we got out of the car we could smell the flowers. There were beautiful, fresh bouquets of flowers on nearly every gravesite, purchased at the street vendor right outside the cemetery for a couple of bucks. The water buckets seemed like such a great idea too ... haven't seen that in the States.

Shopping in Peru

2009-08-21T18:23:00.001-07:00

The tourist shopping in Peru was fantastic, but a little overwhelming. The biggest that we found were the Indian Market and the Inka Market. Mom and I were alone on our first trip to these markets and the maze of cubbies, neatly presented with identical items from floor to ceiling, had us lost in a few minutes. Our cab driver suggested we start at the Indian Market because the prices were cheaper. There were ceramics galore and I fell in love with a Noah's Ark piece and paid s/25 (that's 25 soles = approximately $7.50). It was bundled neatly with newspaper and packing tape and my only mission was to get it to the U.S. without breaking it. Well, I made it out of the store and SPLAT! Needless to say there was no point lugging all of Noah's animals home 2 by 2, so we moved on.

The part we were not to fond of was the insistent store owners rambling in Spanish, 'we have beautiful things,' 'don't pass us by,' 'come look at this.' By about stall thirty three it was apparent that we needed to master the art of ignoring. And so you know, claiming to not speak Spanish is not always a smart option either ... sometimes they'll shoot back to you in English, and then you're stuck. It's best just to keep moving.

The Inka Market turned out to be our favorite and we didn't notice the prices being much higher, if at all. We gathered all kinds of goodies: magnets, nativities, Christmas ornaments, blankets, scarves, mugs, etc.

Now Serving #78

2009-08-10T15:25:00.000-07:00

It was a bright, sunshiney day and that is exactly how my attitude began when I started my shopping spree. As the hours passed however, scrambling to gather ideas and supplies to decorate for a wedding shower at the last minute changed my mood from excited and creative to panic and frustration. My last stop before heading home to begin hours of assembly was the fabric store. To my pleasant surprise, there were huge sales on most of the fabric, so I quickly grabbed my selection and headed to the cutting counter. While waiting for my turn I glanced around, grateful that there were only a handful of customers in the store, so my wait to check out would be quick. As my mind started to priortize the duties that lay ahead of me, I realized that there are two ladies behind the cutting counter, Curly and Brilliant, and one customer ahead of me. Of course the customer needed numerous yards of upholstry fabric, so I knew my wait would be a little bit longer, but surely the other lady behind the counter would help me soon. Apparently her job description could fit on a post-it note and included rambling about how curly her hair was and winding yarn around a spool. She obviously didn't realize that I didn't have time to idle at the cutting counter. Finally the customer and Curly left me with the employee who had been trained ... because cutting fabric is not just something anyone can do ... Curly obviously hadn't taken the week long training and was why she couldn't help me.

I had already completed the calculations in my head, anticipating the question ... "how many yards?" Nope, Brilliant asks me "what number are you?" Seriously, by this time I was about finished with the stupidness. I look around to make sure I had not cut in front of a line ... just me. I'm sure my eyes were pouring with sarcasm as I reached to grab a number. "Number 78" I say cheerfully (I don't think she picked on the severe sarcasm at all). She glanced up to the ceiling at the Now Serving box where 77 was illuminated in red. She reached over to the phone and announced over the intercom, "now serving, number 77." By this time I am looking for hidden cameras. She smiled at me as she waited for a response from one of the six customers in the entire store. We wait. She then told me, "I guess I forgot to change the number over" and clicks to number 78. I smiled as politely as I could, confused a little when she said, "excuse me" while reaching for the phone again.

Brilliant turns on the intercom and says "now serving number 78."

I scanned the store again waiting for the camera crews to jump out at me. I'm telling you, I was the only person even close to the cutting counter. She flashed her "I'm hear to serve you smile" and to follow along with the charade I say, "that's me."

"How many yards to you need?"

AL, MS, LA

2009-07-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

Greg and I took a quick trip to Biloxi a couple of weeks ago and stopped on the way at Battleship Memorial Park. It was scorching hot, but we saw it all ... interesting, but definitely a boy tour. We started by touring the USS Alabama Battleship, then headed into the room full of different airplanes, helicopters, etc. Greg's absolute favorite was the Blackbird, some huge black plane that went real fast or something, I think it was a spy plane. Next we went to tour the USS Drum, a submarine. I cannot imagine living on that thing for an extended period of time ... I was claustrophobic in the ten short minutes we were in there! After that we moved to the outdoor exhibits, but let's not forget that neither the battleship or submarine had air conditioning, so by this time I had nearly melted into a puddle. Anyway, we saw more planes and finally a row of tanks. Fortunately Greg was nearing heat exhaustion by this point as well, so the outdoor excursion was quick. I probably would have really enjoyed this experience if it were a tad bit cooler than 300 degrees.

See, it's a boy thing ...

We made it to Biloxi and donated most of our money to stimulate the Mississippi economy. We headed for New Orleans for a day trip. You would have thought we had learned our lesson ... don't take outdoor day trips when the heat index is three digits!!! We toured the French Quarter on foot, ended up having a nice meal and headed back to donate some more of our money to the state of Mississippi. Overall, it actually was a nice, relaxing trip ... no alarm clocks and a lot of those little casino drinks ... how could you not have fun?

Photoshop CS2

2009-06-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

My darling husband got me a newer version of Photoshop and I love it! I have SO much to learn and am completely overwhelmed, but it is AWESOME!!!

Kora ... smelling(?) the flowers

Puppy Reunion

2009-06-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

I'm so behind. I must start catching up by sharing about our puppy reunion. Yup, that's right, we invited all of the little ones to one location for an afternoon of fun in the sun. Five of the nine pups showed up and it was great to see them all together. Kora definitely has the dominant genes ... we could have had a look-alike contest and had two first place winners.

Duchess (Purple)

Beau (Green)

Ajax (Yellow)

Abbie (Brown)

Vivian (Lavendar)

I Think We Did It

2009-05-23T05:45:00.000-07:00

I think we have FINALLY exterminated the MF population in our house! For a couple of weeks now, we have heard no scurrying in the walls, seen no holes chewed in our bag of dog food, and smelled no more of the nasty stench that these suckers leave behind. Seriously, this was a horrible, gross, unsanitary issue to deal with, but it kept us in a constant state of laughter. Check out Greg in this picture. This particular night we cornered a big MF behind the hutch in our kitchen. I was sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen with my feet tucked tightly on the seat of the chair. The other side of the hutch was barricaded ... we thought pretty well, leaving MF no chance for escape. "We've got your cornered now, MF." POW! Greg fires a shot with his new toy, a BB gun. Here is when I make my award winning, blood-curdling scream again as MF JUMPS, yes LEAPS over the barricade, and flies in the air toward me. As he is airborne, I freeze. I was terrified to put my feet on the ground, but even more so that MF might land in my lap. He hit the ground and scurried away, but I think the whole evening caused some serious damage to my heart. Just typing this post makes my heart start to race again. It was hysterical and terrifying.

I won’t tell you how many of these MF’s we actually ended up catching, but let’s just say, we past the teens. And you might think poorly of us for shooting MF (we got a couple that way), and I felt a little guilty at first, but when you're afraid to put your feet on the floor at night because MF has taken over, you would totally understand why we had to take any and every approach to exterminate!!! NO MERCY!

So, we are proud to say that we have mastered the extermination of fleas and rats, but are a little anxious about what is next. Hopefully we will be able to live in peace for a little while … I think we’ve earned it!

Wakulla Springs 5K

2009-05-16T06:51:00.000-07:00

Race number two under my belt now ... the Wakulla Springs 5K was a nice little trail through the woods. I started my pace out a little faster this time, but have to admit that I did walk a teeny bit, no more than a tenth of a mile. Even so, I beat my time from the last race ... 34:46 YEAH ME!

Tails and Trails

2009-05-02T06:43:00.000-07:00

Tails and Trails is an annual fundraiser for the local animal shelter, and this year I participated by running a 5K. The last run I did was a 10K in March 2007 (I can't believe it has been that long). Anyway, I had no expectations, figuring I'd walk / run and just do the best I could. When I arrived though there were 100's of runners and I got pumped up. I paced myself from the start, and after about a quarter of a mile I decided, "I'm running the whole thing." I cranked up my music and kept up my pace, which I must admit, was a pretty pathetic pace, and I should probably quit using the term "running" so loosly, it was more like a slow jog.

The trail was not an easy one ... through the woods, some sand pits, roots everywhere, and crowded. To finish it up, we're running down a paved hill and I hear the crowd cheering at the finish line. "Oh yeah baby, I'm going to do it." We round a corner and there it is. Did you know that the Smoky Mountain range extends into North Florida? It sure does and that was almost my moment of defeat. Everyone started walking. I could see the finish line though and everyone was cheering so loud, "I have to do this!" I had run the entire way, I was not about to quit now. Of course my pace slowed a bit, but I was NOT walking. I DID IT!

35 minutes and 13 seconds ... I know, I have some work to do, but that's not terrible for someone who hasn't run in two years!

He's Back

2009-05-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

Absence really DOES make the heart grow fonder! It's difficult when Greg goes to Poland, but I swear it's great for our relationship. I feel like we're 'dating' again!

His trip was great, visiting family and friends. One very sad moment was when their eight year old dog, Kora, passed away. Yes, we named our pup after her. I know Greg took it pretty hard, but we're just glad it happened while he was there and after he had a chance to play with and love on her again!

Easter in the Country

2009-04-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

We spent a peaceful Easter out in Monticello with Vivian and her mom. The pups had a blast playing together and running wild with no restrictions, while we enjoyed the sunshine and long walks on the Lazy J.

Vivian brought toys, which Kora immediately took posession of

Jake spent the entire day trying to make puppies with Vivian

We had a hard time telling Kora and Vivian apart most of the time

Looks like both girls have a little Diva in them (or maybe they just have crazy mothers).

The Holidays

2009-04-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

The past couple of years have been discouraging on the baby front and I have become quite the pessimist concerning the topic. During the holidays though, my hope sneaks up on me. I am so eager to start a family and to create and enjoy holiday traditions together. I have found myself, this past year especially, buying holiday decorations here and there, longing for the day we can enjoy decorating with our kids. I frankly wish the holidays would quit creeping in because not only does it allow the frustration and sadness to swallow me, but it also reminds me that another year has past us by with no bambinos.

My spontaneous project for the day was when I decided that the Easter Bunny can come and visit even if there aren't any kiddos around. And we certainly should have some Easter baskets ready, when he does. I know Greg will LOVE the idea of having his very own Easter basket ... wouldn't any guy?

By the way, Honey ... WE MISS YOU!

Not Much Goin' On

2009-04-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

Greg is in Poland visiting his family and friends, so the pups and I are taking it easy. We've been enjoying the weather, taking long walks and working out in the yard some. That's about it ...

Really, I just wanted to add Cake to my song list and felt guilty for not writing SOMETHING :)

(crank it up little bro, I know you're going to sing along!)

We Have Got To Move!

2009-03-27T18:42:00.001-07:00

Seriously, the MF situation is getting worse! Jake and I were relaxing on the couch and I turn to look in the kitchen ... One ... Two ... THREE MF's. I just sat there and watched them scurry back and forth, knowing there was nothing I could do and that there was no way I would put my feet on the ground after my last face to face encounter with those nasty little creeps. And these aren't your little snack size mice, these are full grown MF's with tails the size of a shoe lace.

We filled the holes with that hardening foam, which was a joke. The next morning it was in shreds and a new hole was in our bag of dog food. The pest guy won't g .... AHHHHHHHHHHHH, another one just ran into the closet.

That's it, I'm going to a hotel.

New Project

2009-03-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

We have done it again ... we have begun another never-ending project. I must give props to my brother who spent days putting insulation under the house. Greg has mentioned to me numerous times that he is very impressed with Bill's work. Unfortunately, over the years it had started falling down and when we realized that it was providing a cozy environment for MF's, so we decided it is time to go. Of course it makes it a lot easier and faster if Greg and I both crawl under the house and drag this nastiness out to the street. It really is not a pleasent experience, and I unsuccessfully tried to explain to Greg that it was a boy's job.

Now we are painting the lattice and bricks to finish it all up. Greg and I argued about painting the lattice "brick" color, but it is actually turning out quite nicely.

Photoshop Trick

2009-03-01T16:31:00.000-08:00

Check out my new Photoshop trick ...

BEFORE

AFTER

Highlights

2009-02-28T05:50:00.000-08:00

The past couple of weeks have been non-stop for us. Traveling, house projects, visiting pups ... here are the highlights:

We went to visit Buffett and Stella (didn't get any pictures of Stella)

We said goodbye to the Toyota and shipped it off to Poland

Mom and I made one last trip to Tampa to say goodbye to Bill and Johanna before they headed off on their Peruvian adventure.

We went to the park to play with Ajax ... he's HUGE!
We also patched some holes to deter MF (and his entire extended family) from sharing our living space. Apparently MF is smarter than we are and just creates or finds new holes. BUT we caught 7 MF's on 3 sticky traps!!! Those things work pretty good afterall.

Greg repaired the dishwasher ... I haven't had a working dish washer since college ... what a luxury.

We cheered on the Noles in their victory against Clemson yesterday (thank you Aunt Andy and Uncle Dean).

Where's MF?

2009-02-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

At 10:03pm last night, I was abruptly awakened by a loud thud and bright light as Greg slammed open the bedroom door. “You have to get up NOW! We have to catch this mother f-er … he’s in the living room.” Please excuse the harsh language in this blog, but ‘mother f-er’ (or MF as we will refer to him in our post) is how we refer to the unwanted, unacceptable house guest that we have been living with for the past several months. MF is a rat. Actually our endearing nick-name should be plural! And so you do not think we have just been graciously sharing our living quarters, we would like to share that we have caught three MF’s over the past six months in ‘sticky traps.’

Anyway, he has been spotted in the master bedroom, kitchen and laundry room. Last night that brave little MF ventured into the living room, and Greg was convinced that we were going to catch him. “How, exactly are we going to do that,” I asked, my tone laced with extreme sarcasm. The brilliant plan was to corner him … “Corner him? Like he is going to sit still while we knock him over the head with a shoe?” This unproductive banter continued until he finally talked me into going to the living room … I guess we were going to chase him back to the laundry room, so he could get out of the house?? We never really formulated our action plan, but whatever our goal was, it back-fired.

Here is the scene, and understand that this event happened in about 5 seconds: Every light in the entire house is on, Kora is nowhere to be found and Jake is half asleep and has stumbled into the office. Greg is in the living room on the other side of the couch, and as I begin to follow him from the hallway he screams. Within less than a second, MF corners the couch and is heading straight for me! I screamed like I was auditioning for a horror movie starring Johnny Depp and quickly turned to run back to the master bedroom. I turned a little too quickly and busted on the floor of the hallway. As I was falling I watched as MF scurried frantically into the office, inches from Jake, who stood there calmly, his sleepy eyes following as MF races away. No emotion, no barking, just la-dee-da, watching a rat … and where the hell is Kora?!?! In the meantime, my heart has beaten out of my chest onto the floor, and as if the rat were going to do a 360 and return to the hallway, I claw my way to my feet, sprint, then complete a five-foot, long jump onto the bed. Greg is seconds behind me, racing on his tip-toes then leaps to the bed, followed by Jake who, without a care in the world, strolls in to join us. We now have to decide on our next plan of action because we have a serious problem.

The office … this is where Greg completes his nightly rituals of watching basketball and using the computer. It is essential that we chase the rat out of there. I ineffectively try to reason with him, explaining that MF has by now had a heart attack and will require a valium before he ever reappears into the broad light of day. His persistence overturns logic, and we now stand on the bed in the office after another Olympic sprint and long jump. Our 90 pound ‘protector’ strolls back in to accompany his irrational parents … and where the hell is Kora?!?!

Despite Greg’s desperate attempts to scare MF out of hiding, while we laugh hysterically at ourselves, we never saw MF again. Today I will be making a phone call to our pest control company. No more sticky traps, we want the good stuff!

Another Visit

2009-02-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

We went to visit Abbie (brown) yesterday. She is the spitting image of Kora and definitely has her energy. The funny thing is all of the yellow pups have darkened up quite a bit ... a reddish color, very pretty. And one of our puppy owners pointed out to us that her puppy (Vivian - lavender) has "angel wings." I never noticed that Kora had two light spots right on her shoulder blades that look like angel wings. Abbie had them too. I'll try to get some pictures when my camera battery is charged.

I Can Do It

2009-02-02T16:22:00.000-08:00

I have been somewhat consistent with my working out the past couple of weeks, so where are the results? This "gaining muscle" nonsense can only be an acceptable excuse for so long. It is not easy getting back into working out ... not because I can't handle the work out, but because I know I used to be so much stronger. Now I feel like an old lady with my 5 pound weights. I'll get there though. OH, and spin class ROCKS! What a work out!!! I took it easy the first day for fear that I would fall down the stairs when leaving the gym. The next time I pushed a little harder and will continue to do so until I can keep up with the instructor. The music makes a HUGE difference! And I must say thanks to my friends who are holding me accountable and meeting me at the gym. I am certain that if I didn't have standing appointments, I would not succeed at this.

Team Kasjaniuk

2009-01-24T04:06:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this post by explaining that I grew up in a family where do-it-yourself projects were part of our daily lives. I was brought up to be very self sufficient and was never really intimidated to tackle small projects around the house. Then Greg came along. He has added some pretty hefty tasks to our project list, goals that I never would have imagined we could accomplish. This week, we purchased and hung two ceiling fans in our master and office. I know, you’re wondering why in the heck we are worried about ceiling fans when in my last post I cried about the cold weather. Well the two we had were either not working or practically smoking when we turned on the lights, so it was time for an upgrade.

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I’m not bragging that we hung two ceiling fans, although we did congratulate each other with high-fives when we were successfully finished. I was just thinking last night how well we work together as a team. Then I started thinking back to the projects that we have completed that I never would have attempted without Greg’s reassurance to me that we were capable.

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Here is a recap of what we have accomplished so far, and I can’t wait to look back in a couple of years to see what else we can do.

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We built a fence around the back yard

We built two brick posts to dress up the gate to our back yard

We chopped up an oak tree that covered every inch of our entire front yard

We tore out and built a brand new sidewalk

And now, I can add ‘hanging ceiling fans’ to the Team Kasjaniuk resume.

It's Freeeeezing!!!

2009-01-18T05:10:00.001-08:00

I am all for a little change in the seasons, but this is ridiculous. F-L-O-R-I-D-A ... I live here for a reason! It is pathetic that I whine about it because I have friends in Chicago where it has been below zero. I think I just need to go fix myself a nice big pot of coffee.

Yesterday, we went to visit the Duchess of Bainbridge (that would be "Purple" for the blog followers). She is growing fast but is definitely the smallest of the bunch. We were quite impressed with how calm and well behaved she was, and her owners are fabulous people.

The last thing on my mind this morning ... I am going to put it out there for accountability ... I have GOT to get in shape! I did pretty good last week with my eating and exercise, but I always do good on week 1. It's maintaining the exercise program where I seem to lose my focus. I have dragged some friends on board to meet me at various classes at the gym (if I know someone else is going, then I feel like I can't let them down by bailing). Today I'm taking a spin class at 3pm.

After my last spin class, I swore I would never take it again. My legs began deteriorating into a state of paralysis in rebellion for the torture I was putting them through. The instructor had the lights turned off and wanted us to visualize a beautiful mountain that we were climbing. He continued to describe the streams we were seeing off to the left and the snow caps in the distance. At one point I was a bit concerned that my self-control button would get stuck and I would tell Mr. Biker Man where he could put his 'magnificant snow capped mountain' and 'lovely stream.'

For this kind of work out, I need loud, pump-me-up music! Not this prissy, fa-la-la nonsense. I need an instructor yelling at me, telling me his 80 year old grandmother could do a better job than me ... now that's motivation. Wish me luck!

Lesson 2

2009-01-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

As you can see, I am playing around a bit with my blog header. I figure I'll update it as I learn and add my new techniques. I realized today that I do not have the latest and greatest version of Adobe Photoshop, so I cannot use the fancy schmancy brush tools that my class offers. Hmmmm ... adding a software upgrade to my birthday wish list. Here is my completed assignment from Lesson 2.

I Love My Christmas Present

2009-01-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, Greg gave me an online digital scrapbooking class that I have been dying to try. I must admit that I am a little overwhelmed with the options that the computer world provides, and I am not sure I will be able to give up the cut and paste aspect of hands-on scrapping. However, this class is through photoshop and with just one session, I have already learned so many new tricks ... probably basic, but as a newbie, I need all the help I can get. Anyway, here is my lesson one homework assignment for you to oooh and aaah over :)

Dog Park Reunion

2009-01-05T13:09:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, the Kasjaniuk crew met Vivian (aka lavendar) and her new mommy at the dog park to play. All the pups were on their best behavior and played their little hearts out. The best was when we headed to the lake for a little swim (I was terified, of course, but all turned out well). Mom, Pop and little Viv love the water and considered it a team sport to dive out and race to retrieve the ball.

It's Almost 2009!!!

2008-12-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

2009 ?!?! Remember when we were partying like it was 1999? Where has the time gone?

Here are some of the highlights of 2008

Adam and Lori brought home their new little girl Ellie from Russia

Grandpa celebrated his 90th birthday!

We spent two months raising nine precious lab pups
We celebrated cousin David's wedding
Looking back ... I'd say we had a pretty good year.

Lesson learned this year ... Don't Blink. Enjoy each day because they go by so fast.

Looking forward ... my only real resolution for 2009 is to have a baby (maybe two or three)!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-29T03:41:00.000-08:00

As is tradition in our family, we celebrate Christmas Day on the day that everyone can get together. This year it was on Saturday, December 27. Bill and Johanna arrived to Tally late Friday night and mom, Aunt Andy, Uncle Dean and Grandpa joined us on Saturday. We celebrated with a semi-traditional, Polish meal, which I must say came together quite nicely. We didn't have the usual twelve dishes that is customary in Poland, I think we ended up with about eight. Greg did a terrific job in explaining the different holiday traditions and then everyone chowed down, and I think actually enjoyed the meal. I believe I have finally made up for the unintentional Charcoal Soup that I had served everyone at my last dinner party.

After a yummy meal and some fabulous deserts (those little cheesecakes from Sam's are the BEST), we settled down for a game of Taboo. This brought about that kind of laughter that results in sore muscles the next day ... which is definitely helpful if you had a few more of those cheesecakes than you should have.

And of course we all gathered to snap a group shot (minus two pups).

We're Still Here

2008-12-23T15:26:00.001-08:00

What can I say? We have been busy, but not doing much that is blog-worthy.

I thought I would at least add a different song for you to enjoy and I stumbled on this ... "On Eagles Wings." I went to Catholic school in elementry and middle and we went to mass every Wednesday. My favorite part was the music, lead by the librarian on her acoustic guitar. This song was my absolute favorite! I haven't heard it since middle school ... I remember being so excited when she played the first couple of notes and then I belted it out like I was a music star.

From Our Family To Yours

Merry Christmas!!!

Lookin' Like Christmas

2008-12-10T14:32:00.001-08:00

We finished putting up our outside lights and have been pretty busy tidying up the rest of the front yard too. That's right, look closely at that picture ... sidewalk COMPLETE!!! Now we're working on the cosmetic aspects and by Springtime our yard will be lovely (didn't I say that last year?).

GO NOLES!!!

2008-12-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

Finally, WE WON!!! Last weekend the Noles got clobbered and we got drenched at the FSU vs UF football game. Tonight we cheered our basketball team to a victory against the Gators! Neither team was all that impressive, but the game was down to the last second ... I love those kind of games ... well, when we walk out with the win at least. Always feels good to go home with a smile after a Gator game. GOOOOOOOOOOOOO SEMINOLES!!!

Thanks Aunt Andy and Uncle Dean for the tix! I know you were probably thrilled to miss the rainy football game, but I'm sorry you had to miss the excitement of the basketball game!!! We cheered extra loud for you :)

Scroll Down and Pause the Music!!!

2008-12-04T16:48:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

We're Ready!

2008-12-02T02:54:00.000-08:00

* Christmas tree – check
* House decorations – check
* Buy and wrap presents – check

That’s right folks, with the exception of our outside lights, we’re ready for Christmas. We kick back in the evenings with our hot chocolate and enjoy our white, twinkly lights. One thing I look forward to is when we can actually put our wrapped presents under the tree. Kora and Jake are not trustworthy enough yet for us to leave them exposed to such temptations. For the same reason that we pile our gifts on a table, we have no ornaments on the low branches of our Christmas tree. I just thank goodness they don’t chew up the branches or lights!!!

We do have one project that we want to complete before year end and that is “project walkway.” We have ONE section left, so if the rain will stay away, we’ll actually be able to meet our goal (well our extended goal … from Spring 2008).

Nothin' But Trouble

2008-11-19T15:17:00.001-08:00

We shake our heads in wonder when we walk into a situation like this. What more can I say?

Duchess update

2008-11-16T16:53:00.000-08:00

Meagan, this one's for you. We went to visit Duchess (purple) tonight, and let's just say that the name suits her. She lives in a 5,600 square foot house with at least two acres of land for her to roam. She has a blinged out purple collar and her owners love her like she was their child. What a wonderful feeling to know that she is so loved and well taken care of!

History Lesson

2008-11-14T03:08:00.000-08:00

This past weekend my mom and I attended the equestrian segment of the Special Olympics. An unexpected delay in the events had us searching for extra curricular activities. As there was not much going on in Perry, Georgia, we were told that Andersonville was about 30 miles away. Of course mom knew all about it and the sad part is, when I called to tell Greg, HE immediately said “oh yeah, the prison camp.” Geez … I need to brush up on my history!

Anyway, Andersonville, or Camp Sumter as it was officially known, was the most populated prison camp during the Civil War. Built for 6,000 prisoners, the 15 foot fences surrounded 26.5 acres of open land, which in a 14 month period held more than 45,000 soldiers. Shelter consisted of man made tents with whatever blankets, tarps and wood they could find. On either side, the land sloped inward to the small creek situated in the center. The swamp like landscape that was created by an accumulation of rain made the living conditions even worse. Some 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding or exposure.

I never really paid much attention in my history classes, but as I get older, I seem to be fascinated by what went on before me. I guess it is the genealogy research that is sparking the desire to research and learn more.

Good Eats

2008-11-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

The cool fall weather had me gearing up to start running again ... I had researched the local races I was going to train for and starting to get excited to get back to it. Figured I better call my nurse first just to make sure there were no limitations on exercise with the infertility treatments we are doing. Kick a girl while she's down, I tell ya. Not a good idea to run or overheat your body and walking is okay, but she laughed when I asked if I could walk four miles. "Maybe a mile." What good is a mile going to do me? I might as well sit down with a tub of Ben and Jerry's and watch a movie.

On another note, Greg had to go to Jacksonville yesterday to have his fingerprints taken ... AGAIN ... as if the first eight sets are not enough for our government. While he was there he scouted out a European Deli in search for "real food." Amazing that a human being can get so excited over a loaf of bread and pickles. Imagine my surprise when he excitedly shared the fish he purchased.

I Feel Blue

2008-10-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today I am officially in mourning. Last night we gave away Purple, now known as Duchess. Today we sold and gave away Lime, our last little one. It all happened so fast, but we know that he went to a good home. A dad purchased him for his little boy’s 5th birthday. We were able to join his birthday party and watch his excitement when his new puppy jumped out of a box with a big red bow. Lime was immediately surrounded by about ten children screaming with excitement. His little tail was wagging the whole time and then he started chasing them around the park. And that was it. We hung out for a little bit, desperately wanting to give him one last hug and kiss, but there was no chance as he was constantly surrounded by overjoyed children. So we left our baby with his new family and I cried all the way home.

OH, and I am NOT pregnant … AGAIN … I’m going to get me a bottle of wine!

I Have Been Tagged ... Again

2008-10-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

I would like to start with a special shout out to Lori for tagging me ... AGAIN. This too will be my last game of tag, so enjoy.

8 Shows I love to watch on TV:
CSI
Everybody Loves Raymond
Whose Wedding is it Anyway
The Hills (yes, this is my guilty pleasure in life)
Lifetime Movies (I'll swipe this one from Lori ... I watch them even if I've seen them three times before, it's a sad thing)
Animal Cops
Jon and Kate Plus 8
CNN in the morning (so I can have some sort of clue what is going on outside my little world)

8 Things that happened yesterday:
I picked up the poop of six puppies, fed them and mopped
I washed 3 loads of laundry
I gave away our brown (Abbie), yellow (Ajax), green (Trigger) and lavendar (Vivian) puppies
I cried
I cuddled with our remaining two puppies
I went shopping to ease some of the pain
I went to work for 1.5 hours
I cuddled the puppies some more

8 Things on my Wish List:
A magic wand to make my yard complete and beautiful
A loving home for Lime (whom I have now named Romeo)
A plan to retire early (say in five years)
Twins (can I count that as two?)
A working fire place to be cozy in the winter time
A trip to Ireland
To learn Polish
A genie in a bottle to grant me three more wishes

8 Things I am looking forward to:
Seeing our puppies all grown up
The day that we take a pregnancy test and it is POSITIVE!
Going to visit Greg's family in Poland again (it's been over two years)
Celebrating grandpa's 91st birthday (and then 92nd, 93rd ... )
Having more puppies
Decorating for Christmas (is it too early to start?)
Audit being over at work
Finishing this post with the knowledge that this is the last game of 'tag' I will be playing

8 Favorite Places to Eat:
My mother-in-law's house is #1
Barnaby's Pizza
Seinyard (seafood)
Anyone's house for Thanksgiving dinner
McDonald's Vanilla Iced Coffee (well, sometimes that my breakfast)
Melting Pot
Cajun Cafe
Cracker Barrell

And the winner of the 'tag' is ...
Meagan

Empty Nest

2008-10-25T05:53:00.000-07:00

We have waved goodbye to seven of our puppies and watched them leave to their new families. Purple remains with us until tomorrow night, and we still have not sold lime yet (although there might be a pretty cool opportunity that we're looking into). It is so easy with just two little ones, but so lonely without all the chaos and we desparately miss the 'I'm so glad to see you' wagging tails and the 'pick me up, I need some lovin' jumps for joy. I feel like we got to know their little personalities and sure are going to miss them. Our new owners have assured us that they would send pictures as their baby grows up and we will certainly stay in touch and try to visit.

We can't wait to do this again!

A Whirlwind of Craziness

2008-10-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have been going non stop for two solid weeks. The pups are so much more work now that they are old enough to snoop around. I have been forced to neglect our family blog because it has been hard enough to keep up the puppy playground blog, which by the way, has been an awesome selling point for us ... our puppy owners especially love it. We have had people over to our house daily and on the weekends there are always numerous visits. Next Saturday is the big day. We will be giving baths to each pup for the first time in preparation for them to go home with their new owners. So far we have sold eight out of our nine pups. Poor little lime doesn't have a home yet. Of all of them though, he is the one that I don't mind holding on to for a little while longer ... he is such a sweetie!

These are just some random cute pictures that I've managed to capture of the wild ones.

Four Weeks

2008-09-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

Green and blue, our two black males, found future homes today. It kind of makes me sad to think that they will be leaving!

Here is the four week line up ... who's your favorite???

The Ladies
Orange

Red

Purple

Lavendar

Brown

The Gents
Lime

Blue

Yellow

Green

Chow Time

2008-09-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

At week three we started adding in 'real' puppy food ... all mushed up of course. The process of waking up the pups, going potty, cleaning up, preparing breakfast and starting chow time takes about 45 minutes. It's complete chaos in the mornings!!!

chow time starts out neat and organized ...

the pups then become one with their breakfast, squishing it between their little toes ...

and then all of the nibbling sounds die down and one by one, they begin to zonk out ...

.
with absolutely no concern that they are smearing puppy food all over their fur ...

and it is moments like these, that make the chaos and mess worth the effort.

The Lineup at Three Weeks

2008-09-20T17:16:00.001-07:00

The pups are so cute now!!! They aren't just sleeping little furballs anymore ... they are each starting to get their own personality. We refer to them as the ribbon color tied around their neck. Seriously, NINE is a lot to keep track of!!

The Ladies
Orange
Red
Purple
Lavendar
Brown

The Gents

Lime

Blue

Yellow

Green

Random Songs

2008-09-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

There are some songs that are always going to be life long favorites. This is one for me and I may just start adding random songs to my blog, so I can crank up the sound and sing like I am a super star. Come on, you know you all do it.

Oh My Goodness!

2008-09-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

Pictures made possible by standard two week, vet administered medication.

Who Does Your Nails?

2008-09-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

162 itty bitty toe nails are trimmed, which we read was important in order to protect Kora while the little ones nurse. It wasn't as bad as I thought and actually went pretty quickly. Our little princess has decided that she wants to start taking care of her nails too. Take a look at her pedicure process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5SeklaHNN0

And check out the bottom of this little guys feet ... they're turning black, along with some feature on his face. Maybe they'll have black noses after all.

Precious Pix

2008-08-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

There's Another One!!!

2008-08-30T09:46:00.001-07:00

Our brave Kora welped ten puppies last night (one of which was still born) in less than three hours and hardly showed a struggle. This meant that we had no warning that another one was coming and all of a sudden ... another precious little creature appeared. We understood from what we had read that we would probably have up to an hour in between pups, but that girl popped them out in sets of two within 15 minutes of each other!

And let me tell you that the thing I was least prepared to see was the MESS!!! There was no time to tidy up in between pups obviously, so I was very happy that our layers of shower curtain liners, paper, towels and sheets were enough to keep the floors safe.

If you read the Puppy Playground blog you know that our x-ray indicated that we would for sure have four pups, but the vet was certain there were more that he could not see. Once we reached four we had no idea what to expect. Each time I tried to run to the kitchen to get Kora some more vanilla ice-cream (for the calcium) I hear "THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!!!" After a while Greg had to pull out the ribbon box to select new colors because they kept coming, which by the way turned out to be the best idea in the whole world to tie different colored ribbons right after they were born. My perfectly organized journal of times, colors, sexes, etc. became a book of chicken scratch and frantic notes. Without labeling them as they came we never could have kept them straight!

What an adrenaline rush. This is not something I could do every day... it was totally exhausting and stressful, but worth every minute!

That's Life

2008-08-25T15:47:00.001-07:00

Okay so I have had no motivation to blog lately. We are beginning to get rather depressed concerning the baby front. It seems like bad news is all the doctor has for us, of course with a positive and optimistic attitude, but it has been hitting us hard the past couple of months. I know, I know ... "Don't think about it and it will happen." "Take a vacation and it will happen." Not always the case folks ... sometimes there is more to it than that.

I have been keeping my mind baby free this past weekend hoping with all my might that Kora would have her pups. I know it will be any day now and that once those little ones are around, we will be 100% absorbed in all things PUPPY. I can't wait!!!

Change Your Password

2008-08-16T05:04:00.000-07:00

I learned the hard way yesterday that it is time to change my passwords! I have always tried to change them every six months or so, but unfortunately I had not made the change in over a year. The result for my slacking ... someone hacked into my PayPal account and racked up over $4,000 in charges. Fortunately PayPal recognized the unusual activity and froze the account, and they are hopeful that they caught it soon enough so no money is actually withdrawn from my bank or credit card, but it is still a hassle to deal with. Now we are on the war-path, tracking down those little thievin' bastards, as grandpa would call them :)

So friends, waste no more time, put it off no more ... get to work on changing those passwords!!!

Puppy Condo

2008-08-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

A whelping box ... that's where it started ... now our future puppies are going to be featured on MTV's "Cribs." A three room condo (bedroom/playroom, dinette and bathroom) is where these little cuties will spend their first two months. We're almost finished, just a few more touches to the interior wall and brace. Next we've got to figure out the flooring because yes, those are my beautiful hardwood floors exposed and in desparate need puppy protection! You think I'm crazy, I know, but seriously this is how we've read to do it. That it's important to teach them right from the start that there is a place to potty and it's not where you sleep or eat!

P.S. Crank up the volume and start singing along ... you know the words :)

We're Expecting

2008-07-27T05:58:00.000-07:00

Puppies, that is ... HA! I know some of you do not think that is funny, but we have got to keep our sense of humor about this, right? We planned on breeding Kora and Jake this time around, so we are super excited about welcoming puppies into the world!

When we got back from Biloxi and picked up the pups from the kennel, we learned that we might be expecting puppies in the near future. The love action in the next couple of days pretty much confirmed that it was time to start getting prepared. After doing some research we learned that we would not be able to tell if Kora was pregnant until about day 20. This knowledge did not help my instant gratification compulsion, however when I learned that pregnancy only lasts 63 days instead of nine months (how was I supposed to know?) I was thrilled!

Today is day 28 and we are fairly certain that our little girl is going to be a mommy soon. She has been extra sweet and staying close to our side for a couple of weeks and her body is starting to show the tell-tale signs of a mommy-to-be.

2 years X 7 = teenager!

2008-07-26T05:57:00.000-07:00

I had to ShaZAM my pix or I would have written this earlier, but our little girl turned two years old on June 21. I remember as a kid that it was very important to do the math and inform all your friends how many dog years that was ... 14 = teenager!!! And quite the teenage personality she has, complete with diva, sassy and superior characteristics coupled with that "you have GOT to be kidding me" attitude! She looks the part, doesn't she?

ShaZAM !

2008-07-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

Forget camera manuals and photography tricks ... Adobe Photoshop is what I need to learn! I learned how to ShaZAM my pictures from this wonderful lady who shares her photoshop tips.

http://spraguelab.squarespace.com/blog/2008/7/11/photoshop-friday-photo-shazam.html

It was super easy and what a difference it makes!!!

Before

ShaZAM!

Before

ShaZAM!

A Whole Bunch of Nothin'

2008-07-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

I sat down several times this week, attempting to write a blog post, but simply have nothing to say. Looking back on the past two weeks I wonder what the heck we have been doing. Cleaning out and organizing rooms in our house, re-building our computer, buying a new air conditioner, trying to do better at cooking healthy meals, filling out MORE government paperwork for Greg (as if they don’t already have ten copies of his fingerprints on file) … nothing picture taking or blog writing worthy.

I have just finished a pretty good book … one that Oprah convinced me was worth my time. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It is set in the 1100’s and is about building a cathedral, which probably doesn’t sound all that intriguing, but this guy is quite a character builder. I must say that this almost 900+page book has caused a little sleep depravation, but it has been worth it.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

2008-07-10T13:36:00.001-07:00

Have you ever experienced a Florida summer without an air conditioner? For three days and two miserable nights, we have lived without A/C in our home. It was so bad last night that I seriously considered pulling out a sleeping bag and spending the night under the stars, which the dogs actually did. It was cooler outside than it was in our house. I guess I should mention that because our house is so old the windows are sealed shut ... isn't that special?

Now we have a shiny, brand new heating and air unit and our plan for the evening ... dust off the scarves and golves, break out the hot chocolate and get ready to snuggle. We're setting this bad boy so low tonight that we're expecting snow!

New Orleans

2008-07-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

After the weekend birthday bash for grandpa in Biloxi, Bill, Johanna, Greg and I made the 1.5 hour drive to New Orleans for a quick visit. Bill had prepared a short walking tour and shared his tour guide knowledge as we passed by different sights. We started at the statue of Andrew Jackson with a beautiful backdrop of St Nicholas Cathedral. Right out in front of the cathedral we noticed some street vendors and when we got closer we learned that they were selling tarot card and palm readings. Miss Lena offered to pose for a picture and of course wanted to give us a life reading for only $50, which we declined. Next we hit Decatur and Bourbon Streets. The atmosphere was wonderful! Small stores and restaurants were squeezed together tightly on the famous narrow streets, offering tourist nick-nacks, voodoo accessories and wonderful N’awlins cuisine. Three story buildings with balconies were covered in ferns, ivy and Mardi Gras beads and the sounds of New Orleans jazz blasting from the bars and stores provided a truly unforgettable experience in the old French Quarter.

90 Years Young

2008-06-30T14:45:00.001-07:00

Today is Grandpa's 90th Birthday!

This past weekend we celebrated in Biloxi, where we all added our contribution to help boost the economy in Mississippi by losing our cash at their casinos. Actually, between the new family favorite slot machine, Wizard of Oz, and the Black Jack, Mississippi Stud and Roulette tables, I don't think we did all that bad.

Sitting at grandpa's birthday party and watching him open his gifts and blow out his candles, I just watched him in awe ... 90 years. Amazing. How lucky we are to have him here and still scooting around and putting smiles on our faces.

Unfortunately the complete group shot that was on taken on my camera is pretty fuzzy, so I anxiously await for others to send me their pics from the weekend. Here is the cousin / spouse shot (I am sure that one day Lori will magically appear in this and other pictures).

All Things Blue

2008-06-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is a continuation of my previous blog (which I added a few pictures to) expanding a bit on my theory of decoration. I figure it is time to cater to my personality with my decorations. I get bored easily, so in an effort to keep up with my constantly changing taste, my brilliant idea is to have rotating decorations. (I am nuts ... this is not news to those who know me). I have used neutral colors for my wall color, furniture, rug, etc. Obviously I cannot change my furniture regularly, but I CAN change my nick-nacks in order to keep up with my love of the latest and greatest decorating trends. We decorate for Christmas, who says I can't do it all year round? My color of choice for this season is blue. I am still in the collecting phase, but it is coming together quite nicely.

He's Back!

2008-06-17T04:39:00.000-07:00

The washer and dryer are at full capacity again, the grocery list is written, the gas tank is full, the house is clean (somewhat) because guess what folks ... Greg is back in the states!!! He arrived safe and sound on Monday night right at 7:30pm with lots of stories to tell of his time with family and friends. It will take a bit for him to adjust to American life again, as it always does after a trip home, but I think it gets easier each time.

And what I couldn't share before because it was a surprise for him was that I was fixing up our living/dining room while he was gone. Paint, furniture, rug, precious little throw pillows, nick-nacks, plants, the works. Of course the dogs were first priority when he arrived and were so excited to see him, but after a while I wondered if he'd even notice the changes. Then he started taking inventory and admiring. Whew ... I hate making big decisions (like changing a whole room in our house) without his input. Next came the 'how much did you spend' questions. Silly, silly Greg. SURPRISES and SCRAPBOOKING... those are two topics in which we never discuss dollars and cents :) That's why we wait to complete projects like this for times we can call them "surprises."

Princess Kora

2008-06-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

She certainly knows better than to get up on the couch, but what a lovely setting for such a regal portrait. Kora is our little princess and her irritated barks constantly remind us of her status when she does not get what she wants. Okay, so I am bored, what can I say? I miss my husband and my dogs pay the price. I am tired of household chores and work is just blah lately. Actually work is fine, my attitude is blah.

Anyway, Greg will be home in less than a week and I am sure we will get on each other's nerves as we get used to sharing our space again, but I look forward to it. My favorite part of his going to Poland is seeing his face when he rounds the corner at our hometown airport.

I have been asked about our walkway by a couple of folks. As Greg is in Poland, we have put it off until he gets home. We are almost to the half way mark, and I dread having to face the summer heat and humidity to finish it off. I am sure we will find plenty of excuses to procrastinate a bit, but we will definitely finish it ... one day.

Favorite Feature

2008-06-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

I should have read that camera manual a long time ago!!! Am I the only one who didn't know how much the plain ol' hand held digital camera could do?

I am closer to figuring out the action shots too. ISO 1600 captures flopping ears and lightening fast tongues, but it tends to make the pictures grainy. Still some work to do, but I am so excited about this!