Are these all our old trip t-shirts? No way! July 29, 2011

***Bonus points if you get the title reference.***
 

I have a LOT of t-shirts.  I have collected them over the years, on different adventures, different times of my life, etc. but slowly but surely they’ve all been relegated to boxes in my attic, probably being used as cushy little mouse beds.  My mother-in-law is a quilter.  She made me an AMAZING quilt out of my late grandfather’s old pjs that I cherish and use on our bed in the winter months.  Put two and two together and I realized, I should make a quilt out of all my old tees!  Problem is, I figured it was going to be a huge undertaking and my mother-in-law lives 3 hours away.  Crap.
 

Insert my friend Holly who HAPPENS to own a quilting shop in my town.  I mentioned my list and she said she’d be happy to help me and she even just purchased a t-shirt cutter thingamajig and hadn’t used it yet so I could be her guinea pig.  Score!  We made an appointment for today and I loaded all my old t-shirts into the washer last night and ironed them all up and got them ready for their re-purpose before I got up early this morning and eagerly went to Holly’s house for our adventure.
 

And wouldn’t you know?  I FINISHED THE QUILT TODAY!  Holy crap!  I thought I’d be lucky if I got the squares laid out and MAYBE get the top sewn.  But instead, I brought home a completely finished t-shirt quilt!
 

Here are some pics of my day along with the FINISHED (did I mention it was done?) project!

Using the new cutting thingy to make the quilt squares.

 

Laying out the tees for the best look.

 

Using a sewing machine is kind of like riding a bike… for the first time since 7th grade!

 

Not too shabby!

 

This is about where I pissed my pants with excitement.  I was ACTUALLY making a quilt.

 

Backing and batting are sewn on… ties are done… it might be finished!

 

The fabulous flannel fabric I found for the back of it.

 

Ta da!

 

The t-shirts represent a collection of things – places I’ve worked, mine and John’s respective colleges, my first concert, etc.  There’s a story behind every single one and I probably could have made a quilt twice as big with all the other tees I have… maybe I’ll just have to make another one in the future, now that I know how!!!!

 

Until then…

 

8. Make myself a quilt out of my old t-shirts

 

Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.  ~The Wonder Years

How much is this? July 28, 2011

Back in January, I decided that I couldn’t it wouldn’t be wise to give up Facebook so I changed up my list a little and vowed to go yardsaling with my best friend (and I still haven’t discovered the proper spelling of yardsaling… I should get on that).  This past Saturday, I was finally able to make the trek to Maine for some ridiculousness… and to pick up some possible white elephants.
 

First, a little back story.  Katy and I have been friends since 1998, when on a flight for a school-sponsored trip to Spain, we bonded over belly rings and the need for Bactine.  Who knew a topical ointment would form a friendship for the ages.  Life is equally unpredictable as it is full-on hilariousness whenever we are together.  Because I have many friends with the name Katy/ie (we are children of the 80′s after all), her nickname when referring her to my college friends was “Crazy Katy” and for those of you that know her, you know that’s the perfect way to describe her.  She’s fabulous, hilarious, ruthless and one of the most amazing women I have ever met.  And I am SO lucky to call her one of my bestests.
 

This trip was going to be nothing short of absurdity. 
 

Katy and her husband go to sales in people’s yards almost every weekend… I knew she planned her attack and as we prepped for this extravaganza, I received an email that looked like this:
 

What you can’t see in this pic is the way you had to scroll down three more screen lengths and through two more start times.  All the sales were broken down by 8, 9, 10 am and “no time listed.”  She was serious.

 

It was on.

 

I arrived in Portland late Friday night due to a minor crisis at home (Brody was having some severe belly issues but John said he’d stay behind and take care of him so I could go fulfill this part of my list – have I mentioned how much I love that man???) and snuck into Katy’s house as not to wake her and her husband or, more importantly, their sleeping 7 month old.  And then, I was awoken by said 7 month old at 7 am the next morning and we were out the door by quarter to 8.  As a side note, he was the best alarm clock ever… mama brought him in and plopped him down and his giggling was enough to start any day right.

 

I think in total we went to ~9 sales and I only made a fool out of myself twice, most notably when I asked “how much for the thing between my legs” referring to the floor mat I was resting between my knees while I was trying to retrieve my dollars from my purse.  Awesome.  And of course, there’s nothing like playing dress-up at a house who’s owner is not paying attention.

 

That’s sex right there.

 

Overall, we had a great haul and I have to say, there’s nothing like watching Katy walk up to a seller with her arms FULL of randomness and say “how much do you want for all of this?”  The look on the seller’s face is priceless and there were things in her arms that I’m sure were worth more than what she paid for the whole lot.  I think they were frightened of her.  Also fantastic?  The fact that there are yard sale “friends” that they see regularly, some even have nicknames. 

 

This post wouldn’t be complete without showing off what I bought so, here’s my loot:

 

The doormats I paid $1 for… and the cause of my embarrassment.

 

Said doormats in use at my house.

 

Thule rack attachments – can be used for a variety of things and I couldn’t NOT buy them for $8.

 

Horrifically tacky yet fabulous advent calendar that I got at the church sale for $2.

 

Tray I got from Katy’s basement leftover yard sale items.

 

A planter that Katy restrung with twine for me.  I think we paid $2 for that before I took spider plant babies from my mom for free.

 

There was one more (and probably the best) purchase but I don’t want to say what it is because I might be making it into a gift… I’m still up in the air on that.  Bill and Katy got some seriously rockin’ stuff too, for far less than anyone should actually pay for something.  All around?  AWESOME morning.  Plus, we got to finish the day with a cooler full of microbrews, a lake party and time with great friends.  And it doesn’t get much better than that.

 

And cuddles from Katy’s scrumptious little boy…

 

My experience yardsaling was so successful that I think I might even try it out in my own town on Saturday.  But it won’t be nearly as much fun.

 

Thank you so much for my epic adventure with you C family!

 

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. ~Old Proverb

Go ahead, call me out… because I’m calling HER out! July 25, 2011

Dear Mother on Delta Flight GFYS (not really the flight number, but major points if you can tell me what it stands for),
 

We were on a flight together last Monday evening from Atlanta to Hartford.  Notoriously I have bad luck with Delta and the combination of this airline and the ATL airport usually puts me in high anxiety mode (more than is my usual) but I had a stellar travel experience… no delays and I was making my connection.  Then you got on my flight, single mom with your two adorable children (I’m thinking they were ~3 and 5, right?).  Can you tell me why you didn’t realize that your seats were all in subsequent rows and not actually all together?  Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m SURE I’m that person that looks at a mom in a situation and thinks that I could come up with 52 better ways that it could be done and then years from now, if we have children, I will be eating a GIANT slab of crow steak so I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt.  I am sure it’s really tough traveling with two kids by yourself.  Even though I don’t personally have children (although it seems EVERYONE in my life now does), it turns out I’m not a completely heartless bitch and have total sympathy for how you must have felt in that moment.  So you know what?  A beautiful thing happened -I gave up my seat and went a row back to sit with two HUGE guys so the couple sitting in front of me could take my original seat and the one next to me that was going to be occupied by your adorable son all so you could have the whole row for you and your two cherubs.  We even got a round of applause and the woman behind me (in my new seat) said she was amazed at how we all just worked together to make that happen for your beautiful family…
 

And then you know what you did?  Pretty much gave us the equivalent of the middle finger when you would not contain your children for the 3 hour flight.  Before the plane even took off, your son was standing in his seat (unbuckled, for the record), pressing lights on and off and calling the poor flight attendant who I think started plotting how to ram the beverage cart straight up your ass.  Inside voices should be used, well… inside.  And an airplane is DEFINITELY inside!  Also, when the flight attendant says everyone needs to be wearing a seat belt and return the trays to the locked position, I don’t think your kids are exempt from that… in fact, I think it’s MOST important that they are safely confined to their seats.  And the best part?  I just LOVED the seizure inducing music screaming from your child’s game console that I’m SURE had a plug for earphones, a common courtesy to all of us WHO JUST GAVE UP OUR SEATS FOR YOU.  Yet you were unphased by any of this.
 

Although, I guess I wouldn’t have wanted to sit next to your children anyways.
 

But please, in the future, be a more courteous passenger…  I highly doubt you’ll ever get such accommodating passengers and should learn from the little experience.  I’m just trying to help.
 

Love,
 

Caring, compassionate and annoyed passenger, Darcie
 

So, am I totally out of line and will I be ordering a side of crow’s feet in a few years?  Or is it just common courtesy that moms should try their best?  I mean, I totally understand that you can’t control everything.  But honestly, I think SHE was the one playing the damn video game.
 

You can learn many things from children.  How much patience you have, for instance.  ~Franklin P. Jones 

I’m Dancing in the Rain! July 22, 2011

 

OhMyGodIt’sSoF-ingHot!
 

I WISH there was rain to be dancing in.  Right. Now.  But there’s not… unless you count the copious amounts of sweat pouring off my body and the ungodly amount of drool being produced by both of my beasts as they huddle in the darkest, coolest spot of our basement that’s still hotter than the surface of the sun.
 

Yes, I’m whining.  But I’m not alone.  My friend Molly at These Little Moments?  She’s hot too…   As is the rest of the Northeast.  However, I read a great status on Facebook (that I’m sure the rest of you saw as well) that said:
 

I was going to complain about how hot it is… then I realized that at least: 1.) it isn’t 109 degrees; 2.) I’m not 5,700 miles from home; 3.) I’m not dressed in a full BDU uniform and helmet and carrying 70+ lbs.; and 4.) there is very little chance that anyone will shoot at me or that I might drive over a bomb in the road today! Thanks to all who serve !!! Re-Post if you agree !!!!
 

Certainly puts things in perspective… and I’m so happy that my cousin is currently en route home from said 109 degree, backpack-wearing, gun-slinging country.  And he will HOPEFULLY be playing golf with me in a couple of weeks.
 

Also, thanks to the fact that getting pregnant before I turn 30 was NOT on my list, I don’t have much to complain about on that front.  Because I would NOT want to be 9 months pregnant in this weather.
 

But, alas, this post isn’t about the heat (yeah, tell that to the first 5 paragraphs).  However, the heat is facilitating this post by giving me very few options other than cowering in the basement and catching up on posts (did you see I went sailing too?).
 

And guess what else I did?
 

I danced in the rain.
 

Bimini is one of my favorite places on earth (other than my home with my husband and beasts and the wonderful little life we’ve created here but that home could be in any location… as long as it’s with them).  Bimini is hot, sunny, and beautiful 95% of the time.  Sure there’s the occasional passing shower (oh yeah, and those pesky tropical storms and hurricanes) but there are few days that are total washouts.  My last evening on the island was Sunday night the 17th of July… right ahead of Tropical Storm Brett and he was kicking up a little residue in the area.  As a thank you for letting me take over stay at their house, I wanted to take Kel and Al out to dinner (we even “dressed up” which means cotton dresses and our fancier flip flops).  We beat the gray skies on the golf cart and grabbed a table right near the deck, yet still inside (we knew all the people who were currently sitting outside would be fleeing soon) and had a GREAT view of the storm that took over the island for the majority of the evening.  We dined on conch chowder, fish dip and cocktails and listened to the thunder, marveled at the lightening and enjoyed each other’s company.  It was kind of like a romantic comedy focused around the cast of Three’s Company.  I’m smarter than Chrissy though, and I could spot an opportunity a mile away.
 

Yeah, this could be us…

 

The rain didn’t seem like it was going to be subsiding any time soon so when it was time to go home, we made a break for it and we were rushing to the golf cart when I realized, what am I running for?  EMBRACE it!
 

Awesome.

 

And embrace it I did.  The rain was perfect, Kel and Al laughed at me (but took the obligatory photo) and then I jumped on the cart, soaking wet and we raced home, more because of the enticement from the hot tub and not because we were worried about getting wet at this point.  Perfection.
 

When was the last time YOU danced in the rain?  I feel like it’s something we don’t do often enough.  Who cares if we get wet?  All I know is I plan on capturing my inner child regularly throughout the summer… and maybe even beg John to do the same.
 

Until then?
 

30. Dance in the rain with no umbrella
 

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about dancing in the rain. ~Anonymous

Jump, jibe and jib! July 22, 2011

I’m a water girl… always have been and always will be.  I grew up living near a lake and going to the ocean in Maine and I spent a lot of time on a boat (including the summer when I had chicken pox in second grade and my 8 year old crush spent time with me on our boat at the beach because he had already had them too, natch).  One thing that has always fascinated me is sailing.  I’ve been on sail boats, sure, and I know the difference between port and starboard, but I had never played in integral role in hoisting sails and I had no idea what a jib was or what the difference was between jibe and tacking.  However, when I booked my trip for Bimini, my friend Kat immediately offered to teach me what sailing is like on her very own sail boat.  Fantastic.
 

After our epic ravioli making night, we packed up the next morning and headed to her house… I mean, boat… and headed off on our adventure!
 

So here’s the rundown of our ALL FEMALE crew that day.
 

Now, not only was my Captain named Kat, but her First Mate’s name is also Kat, a mutual friend of all of ours (I might really confuse everyone if I try and explain so you’ll just have to trust me on this one) but I’ll call her Katherine for the sake of this post.  Kat and I met while doing research together back in ’04 and she has been a SCUBA nomad ever since, working on boats and islands throughout the Caribbean and culminating with purchasing her own sailboat that she has been living on for the past year.  Katherine is from Maine and worked on sailboats for years so the two of them together made for the best teaching team I could imagine so by nature, Katherine clearly qualified as First Mate.  I was, for all intents and purposes, crew.  But let’s be honest… probably more of a wench.  And then Kel… well, she was our Goddess, helping us out as needed but ultimately enjoying a day off on the boat vicariously through my list.
 

I had an amazing time and although I won’t be able to remember ALL the terms and idiosyncrasies of the sailing world, I wouldn’t be completely useless if I find myself on a sailboat again.  All in all, perhaps I shouldn’t have listed this as “Learn to Sail” but more like, “Go Sailing and Play and Integral Role” which, I think at least, I certainly did.
 

Captain Kat.

 

First Mate Katherine.

 

Your faithful crew… Me!

 

And Goddess Kel… not to be confused with Charlie Sheen’s Goddesses.

 

Rigging up the sails.

 

Learning how quickly real sailors must acquire blisters.

 

This is where I wished I had a wench – I mean winch – of my own.

 

Checking out our point of sail.

 

Beautiful day with great winds.

 

My amazing (and patient) teachers and their ‘not so green anymore’ student.

 

I can not thank Kat enough for offering up her boat for a silly little list like mine and for her and Katherine for taking the time to teach me the ropes… pun intended.  And Kel, thanks for looking beautiful while we were underway.

 

1. Learn to sail

 

I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.  ~Louisa May Alcott

Ravioli… get your ravioli heah! July 14, 2011

Ok, so maybe they don’t shout THAT at baseball games but the point being is… #20 is DONE!
 

I arrived on Bimini Monday afternoon (after a little hiccup with Delta… but that’s for another post) and was greeted by my Bimini family and told that we’d be making dinner that night.  My friend Kat had told me when I was booking my trip that she would love to help me with this project (and sailing – read tomorrow).  She had with her a little plastic bag containing ingredients that I didn’t even know you could get on Bimini (think goat cheese and prosciutto – when the hell did these things start getting here) and our ravioli chaos ensued.  Well, perhaps the chaos ensued because of the box of wine that we were putting a heavy dent in while we were rolling dough across the floor counter. Whatever.
 

If you’re interested in the recipe, you can read it on Kat’s blog here.
 

And away we go…
 

I was so happy… on many fronts.

 

Flour, eggs and olive oil…

 

Smush!

 

Rolling the dough.

 

Wine break while the dough sets.

 

Getting ready to roll it out.

 

If you’re going to cook on Bimini, sometimes to you have to be inventive.

 

Pretty little ravs.

 

Am I really using a Pam can?  This is fantastic.

 

The deliciousness going inside the ravs.

 

The finished product before boiling.

 

Our random sauce… it was so tasty.

 

And voila!

 

There you have it!  Fun, easy (for the most part) and so so SO tasty… Kat, thank you so much for hosting my cooking class!

 

20. Make homemade pasta

 

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.  ~Voltaire

Home July 10, 2011

There’s a little island in the stream, called Bimini, that I like to call my second home.  And I’m going there tomorrow.  For a week.  I can not even tell you how happy I am about it.
 

This was the view from my apartment’s front door the last summer I lived there.

 

What I’m not happy about?  I’m missing John’s birthday.  We were both going to go to Bimini but then we looked at #28 on my list and we decided that it would be better if he stayed home.  Plus, we’re working on another purchase that puts us both in the “more financially responsible” and “more financially strapped” categories simultaneously (more on that later).

 

But, in less than 24 hours, I will be sitting on my favorite beach with my toes in the sand and a Kalik in my hand…

 

And I will be in heaven.
 

Don’t grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach. ~Michelle Held

 

 

Happy Half Birthday To Me! July 7, 2011

Well, it’s July 7th.  That’s 6 months after my 29th birthday and 6 months before my 30th birthday.  My Half Birthday, if you will.
 

There’s a valid reason that I realized it’s my half birthday… I’m not THAT self-absorbed.

 

And this fabulous Half Birthday cake was not waiting for me when I got home…

 

I’m now officially on the downward slide.  Holy shit.
 

So I finally took a beach day today (for those that keep asking me what it’s like to have summer vacation, I can NOW tell you (a month into it) that it’s fabulous.  But I’m also an over achiever and am involved in way too many things so this is the first day I’ve really plopped my butt on the beach).  I had my newest copy of Glamour magazine, $20 for parking (what?) and not enough sunscreen (as is evident by my FABULOUS burn) and I soaked up some sun and splashed in the waves, all the while dreaming about being on the beach in Bimini next week.  But I digress.  The point is, I opened up Glamour and there is an article all about turning 30 and bloggers who are writing about this tragic birthday.  For the record, carharttsandcoachbags was not quoted.  Shame.  But they did have a random sentence in there that has to do with January 7th and I realized it was July 7th and voi la… my Half Birthday.  Don’t worry, I haven’t had a countdown to this day or anything.
 

Glamour’s 3 tips for embracing 30?  Realize the following things:
 

1.  30 is different for everyone.  Obviously. 

 

2.  Anyway, we should all keep acting 20.  There was discussion of whether or not that includes taking shots.  I didn’t know there was an age cut-off for small glasses of alcohol.  Perhaps I should start putting them on the rocks and THEN it would be sophisticated and adult-like.
 

3.   30 can be kind of sad, but that’s OK too.  Thanks for the reassurance.

 

All in all, the article was pretty good and it looks like I’m “combating the 30 freak-out” well… but I guess I AM still 6 months away.
 

One thing they pointed out that made me feel a lot better was how many Hollywood hotties are my age!  Want to know some other fabulous women who have just turned or are going to be turning 30 this year?
 

Jessica Simpson turned 30 in July 2010

 

Beyonce will be 30 in September.

 

Jessica Alba turned 30 in April.

 

Christina Aguilera turned 30 in December 2010.

 

Britney is the closest to my age… she’s actually only a month older and will turn the big 3-0 in December.

 

And lastly, Kim Kardashian AND her famous ass, turned 30 in October 2010.

 

And I would like to point out that it’s a 50/50 split on women who are not moms… in case you were wondering.  It is funny to think that I would have been in high school and even graduated with any one of these women.  Could you imagine?

 

So, there you have it.  I’m in damn good company.  Now, if only I could look as good as all of them!  I tried on last summer’s shorts for my Bimini trip today.  Apparently I’m going shopping tomorrow.

 

Statistics prove, prove that you’ve one birthday,
one birthday ev’ry year.
But there are three hundred and sixty four
unbirthdays.
That is why we’re gathered here to cheer.
A very merry unbirthday to you, to you.
A very merry unbirthday to you,
It’s great to drink to someone and I guess that you will do.
A very merry unbirthday to you

~Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland

Empty Nest July 5, 2011

Two weeks ago, I came home from a week-long work trip to an (almost) 31 year old man greeting me at the door, giddily saying “I want to show you something” and he asked me to come into the spare bedroom.
 

(Get your mind out of the gutter…)
 

He quickly took the screen out of the window and whispered “look in the bush – there are baby birds!”  And sure enough, there were 4 tiny, kind of ugly (if I’m being honest) baby robins and they (and my husband) were just.so.cute.
 

Aren’t they adorable?

 

We’ve checked in on our babies every day, often scaring away mom in the process.  Why is that anyway?  Isn’t she supposed to stay and protect her babies?  She’d take off faster than – insert inappropriate joke here – and squawk at us from the tree 3 miles away… or 300 feet.  Whatever.  But still… did she not care about her babies?  What is is, Casey A.?  Oooh… too soon?  Maybe.

 

Fast forward to yesterday.  It’s 4th of July, and John and I spent an awesome day at the lake, followed by a walk on the beach and lobsters at a local dock… absolute perfection.

 

Perfect day with my perfect husband.

 

As soon as we got home, we let the beasts out – John had Jersey on a leash and Capone and Brody were eating grass while I was watering my tomatoes (I have to get those veggies growing) and all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed John walking behind the bushes to check on our bird babies and before I could scream “what the f are you doing” (which I did still get past my lips), our 4 baby birds leaped out of their perfect little nest and scattered across the backyard.  Brody noticed.  Later, John said he thinks Brody just wanted to sniff that adorable little birdie… I think he saw him as an appetizer to dinner (for the record, no baby birds were harmed). Either way, I scrambled all of the dogs inside as soon as I could before I fuh-reaked out that John had just scared the babies and now mama was getting ready to peck our eyes out and she had commandeered her friends too… seriously, there were like 3 new robins in our yard in a matter of seconds.

 

They were bigger but not THAT much bigger.

 

Soon, mama was swooping around the yard, probably giving little birdie pep talks to all of her babies while I stood on the back porch, tears streaming down my cheeks, so distraught that my husband had just totally disrupted this adorable little family living in my shrubbery.  John kept insisting that they’d be fine and that he saw one fly up to the neighbors shed.  All I could think about was this little mommy bird with her 4 perfect children that she had worked so hard to raise, feed and teach and that they couldn’t have possibly been ready to leave the nest yet.  They were just learning to fly and the equivalent of the Big Bad Wolf just came and FORCED them out of their nest!  I was beside myself.
 

Then, 20 minutes later, John walked into our bedroom (where I was still sulking thinking about the poor mama bird) and nonchalantly said, “by the way, the mom just flew over to me and thanked me for getting the babies out of the nest… she said she’s been trying to do it for over a week but they just wouldn’t leave.”
 

And I just about lost it.  I was laughing SO hard.  Clearly our parenting style might be JUST a little different.
 

I haven’t seen the birds today.  I’m going to look on the bright side and say, they just needed that little push to leave home.
 

And they’re going to be just fine.
 

I’ve often said that the most important thing you can give your children is wings. Because, you’re not gonna always be able to bring food to the nest. You’re… sometimes… they’re gonna have to be able to fly by themselves.  ~Elizabeth Edwards

Happy Independence Day! July 3, 2011

Well, it’s that time of the year where we all fully acknowledge that summer is officially here!
 

Yeah, I haven’t seen any fireworks like these.

 

Usually the 4th involves BBQs, beer, family and friends.  But this year, it involved me, three hairy beasts and a marathon of the Twilight Saga on Showtime (I think I’m on viewing number 3.  Stop judging).
 

When we took Jersey in 3 weeks ago, it was on a complete whim knowing that I was saving her life with a simple phone call.  I didn’t really plan ahead to the fact that there are a lot of things going on in the summer and I’m missing out on said BBQs this weekend.
 

But that’s what rescue is all about.  Making a few sacrifices for the benefit of an animal who has known nothing of love in her first years of life.  And she’s paying me back.  Two fold. Besides, you make sacrifices when you have kids and LOTS of people do that.
 

Jersey was spayed on Thursday and because of her age (my vet estimates her at 4-5) and the fact that she was apparently just coming into heat, it wasn’t a routine surgery.  She bled.  A lot.  But she didn’t let the pain distract her from giving me kisses when I picked her up from the vet.  Because of this, I didn’t want to load her AND the boys into my SUV and haul them (plus two kennels) to Maine.  Besides, John’s been dying to bring the dune buggy up to show his family so we figured this would be a good opportunity.  So, he left Friday night and I’ve been home for the weekend, cleaning, working out (yep!), reading, watching Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse and soaking up the love from my three crazy dogs.
 

Things I learned this weekend:
 

* Jersey doesn’t want me to work too hard while I’m working out.  On one of my sit “ups,” she rolled her little piggy body underneath my head so I could use her as a pillow.  So thoughtful.
 

* She’s a snorer.  Today was rainy and lazy and she’s been snoring for most of it.  She gives the boys a run for their money!
 

* Brody is such a good sharer… you’d think he’d learn that if he rolls his ball towards her, she’s going to take it and play with it.  But he doesn’t get mad when she does.
 

* She’s 3 days post surgery and all she wants to do is PLAY!  I’m having a hard time keeping her from jumping, playing and causing an all around raucous.  Silly pup.
 

* Brody’s patient but he does have a limit.  If she continues to leap onto his face when he’s not wishing to play, he will tell her to back off… and she won’t necessarily listen the first time.  Brody appreciates it when I step in.  He doesn’t like yelling at her.
 

* There are a LOT of discrepancies in the Twilight Saga – but that’s for another post.  However, the fact that I’ve watched them back to back 3 times this weekend (relax, I was doing other things at the same time – like writing this blog) means those stupid things clearly haven’t changed my devotion to the series.
 

So, that’s how I spent my weekend!  John’s on his way home now so we can spend the actual 4th together.
 

It’s supposed to rain.  Perhaps there will be dancing.
 

Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence.  He was a means to an end.  ~Walt Disney