So, I wish I could say that no news must be good news. Unfortunately, all is not well in the Lindell/Loveless household. Don't panic though, Ryan and I are fine. We are experiencing some of the challenges of being homeowners and being teachers.
I will start with the challenges of being a teacher. There is a chance that Ryan's district is going to be cutting 5 elementary PE teachers to help balance the budget. Unfortunately, his district makes cuts based on seniority only and he's at the bottom of the list. Apparently his district will be voting on whether to cut days or teachers on May 2oth. Until then he is applying for jobs in a different district "just in case". Thankfully my job is safe and I get a 1.75% pay raise! Really the exclamation point isn't necessary, it's like an extra $30 a month.
Now onwards to the house challenges. With the possibility of Ryan losing his job our kitchen remodel may have to be put on hold and for those of you (Mom) who has seen our house you know what a bummer that is. A much larger and more imminent problem is the leak that Mom found when visiting this weekend. There is a mystery leak in the wall, that is dripping through the floor and down a main support beam for the house. The pipe nearest to the leak leads to heaven apparently because we certainly can't figure out why a random pipe in a wall would lead up towards the ceiling. Well ok, it could be a vent pipe and is definitely a drain pipe for something. That is all we know. Tomorrow though we have a plumber coming out (for free) to diagnose the problem and hopefully we will know more sometime between 10 and 12.
On a high note we are teaching Hank a new trick I like to call "The Monkey". Since he's to big and saggy to sit "pretty" like Brisco he has to hold on to something. Well, he decided that it would be fun to hold on to my arm like a little monkey. It is so darling and cute and makes my heart overflow.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
House Pictures
So here are the pictures I have. The living room and bathrooms have all been painted and the dining room has had a hideous wallpaper mural removed. That's all so far. Ryan will have to post before pictures so you can understand how ugly the paint in the bathroom and bedrooms was.
Front of the house (we have pretty flowers everywhere now)
Front of house and side yard (the fire hydrant you can barely see is in our yard)
Backyard Angle 1
Backyard Angle 2 (the crappy dirt area at the bottom of the picture extends to the back fence fron angle 1 and is where we plan on planting a garden)
Side of the house (the fire hydrant would be on the other side of the fence to your left)
View from dining room into kitchen (the ugly railing is where the basement stairs are)
View from kitchen into transition space and dining room (there is a fireplace where you can see brick)
Living room view from entry way (we hope to one day remove the stone and the wall the TV is on will become a half wall with sitting bar and the TV will hang above the fireplace)
Messy living room and entry (entry light to be replaced soon)
Main bathroom after paint (was midnight blue ceiling to floor)
Master Bath after paint (still needs work)Oh Where, Oh Where Have We Been?
Well to answer the title question, we have been busy worker bees. Oddly enough up until Spring Break we have not been too busy with the house because we just don't have a lot of time during the week and are pooped by the end of the day. Once Spring Break hit though we hit the ground running. I attended a girl's weekend at the coast for the first few days of break, but Ryan worked his little tushy off in the basement. He moved all of the wood paneling that we had torn down out of the basement and then tore up the carpet in the main living space AND removed the wet bar sink. Yesterday Grandpa came with the truck and we hauled all the wood paneling and carpet and junk we have removed to garbage heaven. We have been storing all the junk in the garage so it is nice to have one half of the garage back :) We have also tackled the main bathroom because quite frankly we don't enjoying having to walk to the master bathroom every time we have to "go" and also it's weird having our friends go through our bedroom to use the restroom as well. So, hopefully by the end of today we will have almost completed the main bathroom. The only holdup is the toilet, which has been ordered. Once it arrives and we get it installed then the bathroom will be finished!
We recently purchased a lawn mower so our yard is looking pretty fine might I say. I have also been working hard a digging up the Lilyturf that has taken over our flowerbeds. I am digging up the whole plant, bulbs and all, so that if I want to replant them somewhere else I can. We are in the beginning stages of figuring out how big we want the garden we plan on planting to be and what we will need to do to prep for that. We are really excited to have a garden though. There's nothing like fresh veggies and fruit.
I did try to send house pictures through e-mail last week, but the e-mail was too large to go through. For some reason it went through to Aunt Heidi, but nobody else. I will post some pictures on here later though. It's easier to put pictures on when there isn't any text I find.
Other than those updates not much else has been happening. We are just really excited to get the bathroom done and will post those pictures as soon as we have the toilet installed.
Hank says hello and that he LOVES his yard and new neighbor dog friend Bear.
We recently purchased a lawn mower so our yard is looking pretty fine might I say. I have also been working hard a digging up the Lilyturf that has taken over our flowerbeds. I am digging up the whole plant, bulbs and all, so that if I want to replant them somewhere else I can. We are in the beginning stages of figuring out how big we want the garden we plan on planting to be and what we will need to do to prep for that. We are really excited to have a garden though. There's nothing like fresh veggies and fruit.
I did try to send house pictures through e-mail last week, but the e-mail was too large to go through. For some reason it went through to Aunt Heidi, but nobody else. I will post some pictures on here later though. It's easier to put pictures on when there isn't any text I find.
Other than those updates not much else has been happening. We are just really excited to get the bathroom done and will post those pictures as soon as we have the toilet installed.
Hank says hello and that he LOVES his yard and new neighbor dog friend Bear.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Update
So, just a quick update on our currently crazy lives. We have officially moved all of our stuff into the new house. On Sunday we cleaned the apartment and took a big load of stuff to Goodwill and turned in my keys. It feels so wonderful knowing that we don't have to do apartment life for a long time. Also, they already found someone to rent my apartment so I will be getting some of February's rent back and possibly get out of paying my lease break fee or at least get a discount. I hope that's the case. I would rather not pay the lease break fee and let them keep my week of rent, but I doubt they'll do that.
We did manage to get some pictures of the house before we started painting and such and will post those as soon as we get the place clean and organized. We want to give you some before and after pictures. It's amazing what some paint can do.
Hank loves his new yard and dog friends on the other side of the fence. He ran so hard playing with us yesterday that he had sore muscles last night and was being a whiney baby. Of course he waited until 2:30 this morning to "patrol" the house and realize that his muscles hurt, so he made it to the bedroom door before he stopped and whined. Needless to say, he kept me up the rest of the morning.
We climbed on the roof Saturday and cleaned out gutters and I raked the leaves out of the flower beds (well part of them, we filled the bin already). This weekend is my birthday weekend and I get to spend it at a PE Conference Friday evening and all day Saturday. WooHoo!
Promise we'll get some pics up soon. Until then!
We did manage to get some pictures of the house before we started painting and such and will post those as soon as we get the place clean and organized. We want to give you some before and after pictures. It's amazing what some paint can do.
Hank loves his new yard and dog friends on the other side of the fence. He ran so hard playing with us yesterday that he had sore muscles last night and was being a whiney baby. Of course he waited until 2:30 this morning to "patrol" the house and realize that his muscles hurt, so he made it to the bedroom door before he stopped and whined. Needless to say, he kept me up the rest of the morning.
We climbed on the roof Saturday and cleaned out gutters and I raked the leaves out of the flower beds (well part of them, we filled the bin already). This weekend is my birthday weekend and I get to spend it at a PE Conference Friday evening and all day Saturday. WooHoo!
Promise we'll get some pics up soon. Until then!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Paint Colors
The paint colors we picked out are Glidden brand paint. If you are interested in seeing them you can go to the Glidden website. If you go to Color and then Color Pallette then you can find them. The name of the blue we picked is Sea Spray, the green is Soft Sage, and the tan is Water Chestnut. We may not use Glidden paint because Ryan's uncle owns a painting business and gets a discount with Miller, but those are the colors we found and liked initially. I think we may take the samples to the Miller store and find their versions of the colors we like. Also, you would be amazed at the amount of "different" white colors. I thought white was white, but apparently it's much more complicated than that.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Life is Good
Well I made the Balsamic Glazed Chicken dish and it was only okay. It was not bad by any means, but it definitely didn't wow me. I don't plan on adding it to our regular rotation, but at least we tried something new. Also, I have realized that Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals take longer than 30 minutes. I think it only takes her 30 minutes because she knows the recipes by heart and doesn't have to keep referencing the cookbook and because she is much better at multitasking than I am. The glazed chicken took close to an hour to cook. I have made some of her recipes that take real close to 30 minutes, which is nice. I just think that I take a lot longer preparing the more complicated ones because I do have to keep looking at the recipe.
Other recent news is that Measures 66 & 67 passed. Although these measures passing has upset many people, Ryan and I are obviously very relieved with the result. With the measures passing we get to keep our jobs and get our house. So, I apologize if you feel that these measures passing is going to cause the world to end, but Ryan and I, it kept our world together.
Onto the house. We will close on the 8th of February, which is just a bit over a week away. Today we went to Home Depot and picked out some paint colors that we liked for the bathrooms and bedrooms. All of the colors are nice neutrals. The color we picked for the majority of the house is a light tan called Water Chestnut. It will cover all three bedrooms, the hallway and eventually the living room. I say eventually the living room because we are planning on knocking out a large portion of a wall in the living room, so it would be silly to paint that wall. We have two colors picked out for the bathrooms and don't know if we will do the Master bath one color and the main bath the other, or if we will do both bathrooms the same. We picked a blue color called Sea Spray, which is very soft and neutral and a green color called Soft Sage, which is a very soft, neutral green. I think we will paint the trim white, but we have also considered replacing the trim as well. I believe it is in good condition, but it's just not all that modern. We also looked at some outside doors because our entry door is hollow and could easily be kicked in. All in all, we are getting really excited to move into our own place and to have a yard for Hank.
And now to revisit a topic in a previous post. Hank turned on the TV again today while we were out. You can once again see the slobbery, nose smears all over the corner of the TV. Ryan refuses to believe that Hank is doing it, but deep down he has to know that's the only way it's happening. Our doggy is so smart. Also, Ryan had to carry Hank home on the last leg of our walk. Hank started limping and walking really slow and then not wanting to walk. We checked his paw and it appeared that he had cut his pad, not a bad one by any means, but one that annoyed him. Usually he wiggles away when you try to pick him up, but he just let Ryan do it this time. Poor guy, at least he is inside on the soft carpet now.
Other recent news is that Measures 66 & 67 passed. Although these measures passing has upset many people, Ryan and I are obviously very relieved with the result. With the measures passing we get to keep our jobs and get our house. So, I apologize if you feel that these measures passing is going to cause the world to end, but Ryan and I, it kept our world together.
Onto the house. We will close on the 8th of February, which is just a bit over a week away. Today we went to Home Depot and picked out some paint colors that we liked for the bathrooms and bedrooms. All of the colors are nice neutrals. The color we picked for the majority of the house is a light tan called Water Chestnut. It will cover all three bedrooms, the hallway and eventually the living room. I say eventually the living room because we are planning on knocking out a large portion of a wall in the living room, so it would be silly to paint that wall. We have two colors picked out for the bathrooms and don't know if we will do the Master bath one color and the main bath the other, or if we will do both bathrooms the same. We picked a blue color called Sea Spray, which is very soft and neutral and a green color called Soft Sage, which is a very soft, neutral green. I think we will paint the trim white, but we have also considered replacing the trim as well. I believe it is in good condition, but it's just not all that modern. We also looked at some outside doors because our entry door is hollow and could easily be kicked in. All in all, we are getting really excited to move into our own place and to have a yard for Hank.
And now to revisit a topic in a previous post. Hank turned on the TV again today while we were out. You can once again see the slobbery, nose smears all over the corner of the TV. Ryan refuses to believe that Hank is doing it, but deep down he has to know that's the only way it's happening. Our doggy is so smart. Also, Ryan had to carry Hank home on the last leg of our walk. Hank started limping and walking really slow and then not wanting to walk. We checked his paw and it appeared that he had cut his pad, not a bad one by any means, but one that annoyed him. Usually he wiggles away when you try to pick him up, but he just let Ryan do it this time. Poor guy, at least he is inside on the soft carpet now.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Recipes
I have been getting sick of making the same recipes over and over. Although we do have a good list of regular recipes and it's pretty long, I am still getting bored with it. So, lately I have been keeping my eye out for new recipes and going through my cookbooks. I made an enchilada casserole the other day, which was delicious. I then made a spinach, provolone and Italian sausage pizza followed the next night by a spinach, white bean, and Italian sausage casserole. Both of those recipes turned out really good as well, and Hank got a whole sausage to himself on white bean casserole night (I dropped a cooked one onto his drool covered place mat, so I let him have it).
This week I am making some recipes from my Rachel Ray cookbook. On Monday I made something called Salsa Stoup with Double Decker Baked Quesadillas. It was soooooo good! It really tasted almost like warm soupy salsa and dipping the two layer quesadillas was delicious. It was so easy to make as well. Ryan and I decided to add it to our regular recipe list it was so delicious. Tonight I am making another Rachel Ray recipe called Ginger Vegetable Chicken Noodle Bowl. It will be like an Asian noodle soup pretty much and it sounds delicious. I will have to report back and let you know how they turn out.
For Christmas I got a kitchen scale and a food processor. I use the kitchen scale a lot and it is so helpful for making sure you have the right amount of chicken or ground beef for your recipes. Tonight I am going to be using the food processor to shred the carrots, and grate the garlic and ginger. I used it the other day to try and julienne some veggies for stir fry and it went okay, but had a hard time with some of the veggies. The julienne blade is also called a french fry blade, so I think it would work best with heftier veggies. Either way, I am having a lot of fun using my new gadgets and trying new recipes.
Next recipe on the docket:
Balsamic Glazed Chicken with Smoked Mozzarella and Garlic Rice Pilaf
This week I am making some recipes from my Rachel Ray cookbook. On Monday I made something called Salsa Stoup with Double Decker Baked Quesadillas. It was soooooo good! It really tasted almost like warm soupy salsa and dipping the two layer quesadillas was delicious. It was so easy to make as well. Ryan and I decided to add it to our regular recipe list it was so delicious. Tonight I am making another Rachel Ray recipe called Ginger Vegetable Chicken Noodle Bowl. It will be like an Asian noodle soup pretty much and it sounds delicious. I will have to report back and let you know how they turn out.
For Christmas I got a kitchen scale and a food processor. I use the kitchen scale a lot and it is so helpful for making sure you have the right amount of chicken or ground beef for your recipes. Tonight I am going to be using the food processor to shred the carrots, and grate the garlic and ginger. I used it the other day to try and julienne some veggies for stir fry and it went okay, but had a hard time with some of the veggies. The julienne blade is also called a french fry blade, so I think it would work best with heftier veggies. Either way, I am having a lot of fun using my new gadgets and trying new recipes.
Next recipe on the docket:
Balsamic Glazed Chicken with Smoked Mozzarella and Garlic Rice Pilaf
Sunday, January 17, 2010
You won't even believe this
So a few weeks ago I ran out to the store to grab something real quick and when I got home the TV was on. I figured I had just forgotten to turn it off, even though I was positive I had. Well, just a few days ago Ryan and I get home from running errands and the TV is on again! That is when I realized that Hank must be turning on the TV and I told Ryan that obviously is what was happening. Ryan, of course, said that I was crazy and that we must have just left the TV on. Fast forward to tonight. We went to dinner at Aunt Kerri's house and left the house with nothing on, no lights, no TV, no computer, nothing. When we got home a few hours later the TV was on again!!!! So, I checked the TV and sure enough there are Hank slobber marks fresh and old. Our TV has touch sensor buttons and Hank has apparently learned that if he presses his nose all over the bottom corner of the TV it will turn on. I cannot believe it, but the evidence proves it is so. I suppose that maybe we need to start turning on our night light when we leave Hank home alone at night and maybe some music or something. He obviously is feeling a little lonely or scared of the dark. I just had to share that though because we thought it was hilarious. Two posts in one day, we're back in the blogging game!
Apparently we are not so good at this blogging thing.
So, it's been a few months since we've given an update. It's not even that we don't have stuff going on, I just forget to blog about it. We do have a some rather big things happening as I think all of you know about.
Ryan decided that since the first time home buyer credit was extended that he should really pursue buying a house. We started looking at the end of November and were having a really hard time finding a house in SW Portland that we liked and could afford. We really wanted to be in this area because it is a halfway point between our schools. To give you a point of reference the house on 54th is in SW Portland. In December we did find a house that we really liked AND it was pretty close to the area we wanted, but unfortunately we decided to not put an offer on it due to the budget issues in Oregon right now. To summarize, if Measures 66 and 67 don't pass there is a good chance that Ryan and I could lose our jobs, therefore we didn't want to be jobless with a mortgage. Only a few days after Christmas I saw online that the house had liked, went pending. Ryan was very sad and convinced that we wouldn't find a house he liked as much as that one, but he told me to see what was out there. After some searching I found some houses in Milwaukie (where Ryan's school is) that looked like they had potential. We went out that weekend and drove past them and peeked in windows and decided that we didn't like them. On our way home we saw a for sale sign and decided to follow it. We picked up a flyer and saw that it plenty big enough and reasonably priced and immediately scheduled a showing. After walking through the house we realized we really liked it, a lot. It was older and needed to TLC, but overall it was a great house. After talking to our realtor he said we could put an offer in and do a 45 day closing and that would give us time to find out if we will have jobs or not before closing. If the measures don't pass, then we can walk away with no penalty and if they do pass then we will close on February 15th. So, now we play the waiting game. We are still negotiating what we would like them to fix from the inspection, but really the only thing keeping us from getting excited is the unknown result of the measures. The last day to turn in ballots is the 26th, so we only have about a week left of waiting. It is really hard to get excited about this though, which sucks because this should be an exciting process. It sucks even more knowing that we may lose our jobs or suffer pay cuts due to lost school days. Either way, we are going through the motions and just holding our breath that everything will work out. I believe everything happens for a reason and if this doesn't end how we want it, it's because there's something else planned for us that we don't know yet.
Other than buying a house my computer died. Derek's over the phone diagnosis is that the motherboard went six feet under. Thankfully, Ryan has an old laptop that I can use. After we find out what happens with the house we will look into buying a new computer, but for now the laptop works.
We have also enrolled in an Advanced Reactive Rover class. You may remember that this summer we did a Reactive Rover class with Hank to help him be less reactive to other dogs. The class was great and Hank has made a lot of progress. I saw that they were offering this new class, which is pretty much a continuation of the summer class. This class will focus on actually getting our dogs to great others and learning recognize when they have reached their limits and need to exit the situation. In this class all the dogs have muzzles, so that when we work on sniffing and greeting other dogs we can do it safely. Our first class went really well and like this summer, Hank was the top student. They used him to demonstrate all the activities because he's so awesome. He did really well sniffing the neutral dog and only barked twice at her. I think he has a bit of a crush on her ;) A lot of the other dogs showed avoidance behavior, which means that they pretty much want nothing to do with the other dog and there is no hope for them to have dog friends. We were so pleased to see Hank show interest and demonstrate positive greeting behavior. Next week we are going to be walking next to a neutral dog, which Hank will do great with because we did that this summer and he rocked it.
Ryan and I are also realizing that as grownups it is a lot harder to make new friends! I am developing some friendships at work and will be starting softball again in a few months. I have considered joining a volleyball team, but all the games are played in NE or East Portland in the evenings. I am not sure if I want to make that drive yet, since I already am one day a week for Hanks class. Ryan signed up for a bowling league, but has yet to be placed on a team. He is hoping to hear something soon though. One of my friends at work is going to a house warming party for her friends on the 30th, and it is also an everyone invite everyone they know so we can all make new friends party. Ryan and I plan on both attending that in hopes of meeting new people and having a good time with new people.
Alright, that was a lot of typing. I don't have any pictures to put up because they are all on my broken computer, so look at Alicia's blog for those. I sure do have a cute niece and nephew :)
Ryan decided that since the first time home buyer credit was extended that he should really pursue buying a house. We started looking at the end of November and were having a really hard time finding a house in SW Portland that we liked and could afford. We really wanted to be in this area because it is a halfway point between our schools. To give you a point of reference the house on 54th is in SW Portland. In December we did find a house that we really liked AND it was pretty close to the area we wanted, but unfortunately we decided to not put an offer on it due to the budget issues in Oregon right now. To summarize, if Measures 66 and 67 don't pass there is a good chance that Ryan and I could lose our jobs, therefore we didn't want to be jobless with a mortgage. Only a few days after Christmas I saw online that the house had liked, went pending. Ryan was very sad and convinced that we wouldn't find a house he liked as much as that one, but he told me to see what was out there. After some searching I found some houses in Milwaukie (where Ryan's school is) that looked like they had potential. We went out that weekend and drove past them and peeked in windows and decided that we didn't like them. On our way home we saw a for sale sign and decided to follow it. We picked up a flyer and saw that it plenty big enough and reasonably priced and immediately scheduled a showing. After walking through the house we realized we really liked it, a lot. It was older and needed to TLC, but overall it was a great house. After talking to our realtor he said we could put an offer in and do a 45 day closing and that would give us time to find out if we will have jobs or not before closing. If the measures don't pass, then we can walk away with no penalty and if they do pass then we will close on February 15th. So, now we play the waiting game. We are still negotiating what we would like them to fix from the inspection, but really the only thing keeping us from getting excited is the unknown result of the measures. The last day to turn in ballots is the 26th, so we only have about a week left of waiting. It is really hard to get excited about this though, which sucks because this should be an exciting process. It sucks even more knowing that we may lose our jobs or suffer pay cuts due to lost school days. Either way, we are going through the motions and just holding our breath that everything will work out. I believe everything happens for a reason and if this doesn't end how we want it, it's because there's something else planned for us that we don't know yet.
Other than buying a house my computer died. Derek's over the phone diagnosis is that the motherboard went six feet under. Thankfully, Ryan has an old laptop that I can use. After we find out what happens with the house we will look into buying a new computer, but for now the laptop works.
We have also enrolled in an Advanced Reactive Rover class. You may remember that this summer we did a Reactive Rover class with Hank to help him be less reactive to other dogs. The class was great and Hank has made a lot of progress. I saw that they were offering this new class, which is pretty much a continuation of the summer class. This class will focus on actually getting our dogs to great others and learning recognize when they have reached their limits and need to exit the situation. In this class all the dogs have muzzles, so that when we work on sniffing and greeting other dogs we can do it safely. Our first class went really well and like this summer, Hank was the top student. They used him to demonstrate all the activities because he's so awesome. He did really well sniffing the neutral dog and only barked twice at her. I think he has a bit of a crush on her ;) A lot of the other dogs showed avoidance behavior, which means that they pretty much want nothing to do with the other dog and there is no hope for them to have dog friends. We were so pleased to see Hank show interest and demonstrate positive greeting behavior. Next week we are going to be walking next to a neutral dog, which Hank will do great with because we did that this summer and he rocked it.
Ryan and I are also realizing that as grownups it is a lot harder to make new friends! I am developing some friendships at work and will be starting softball again in a few months. I have considered joining a volleyball team, but all the games are played in NE or East Portland in the evenings. I am not sure if I want to make that drive yet, since I already am one day a week for Hanks class. Ryan signed up for a bowling league, but has yet to be placed on a team. He is hoping to hear something soon though. One of my friends at work is going to a house warming party for her friends on the 30th, and it is also an everyone invite everyone they know so we can all make new friends party. Ryan and I plan on both attending that in hopes of meeting new people and having a good time with new people.
Alright, that was a lot of typing. I don't have any pictures to put up because they are all on my broken computer, so look at Alicia's blog for those. I sure do have a cute niece and nephew :)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
We're Baaaaccckkk
Hello All! It seems that we took a little vacation from blogging, but we are now back. We wanted to share some of our pictures from the beginning of Fall. We know it's Fall here in Oregon because the rain is back, the leaves are falling and Swine Flu is knocking our students and fellow teachers out left and right. Somehow we have both avoided getting sick so far (knock on wood). I've had the sniffles for a few days and Ryan had them at the beginning of the year, but thankfully that's the worst we've had. We also know that it's Fall because my skin is dry and so is Hanks. The poor dude is a little itchy, but he is current with his flea medicine and we haven't changed his food, so I think it's either Fall allergies (which he does have allergy problems) or just the weather making him a little dry. He is surviving though and really the itching isn't bad at all and he's not licking or chewing at himself which is great.
We attended a Harvest party that Ryan's aunt threw last weekend. Part of the festivities was a pumpkin carving contest. Ryan took first place in the adult men category! I should have won, but got second place instead. I think people didn't vote for me just to spite my pumpkin...either way, here pictures of our pumpkins and us carving.
The only other pictures I have to share are of Hank in his raincoat. I couldn't remember if we posted any of these last year, so if we did here they are again.
We attended a Harvest party that Ryan's aunt threw last weekend. Part of the festivities was a pumpkin carving contest. Ryan took first place in the adult men category! I should have won, but got second place instead. I think people didn't vote for me just to spite my pumpkin...either way, here pictures of our pumpkins and us carving.
The only other pictures I have to share are of Hank in his raincoat. I couldn't remember if we posted any of these last year, so if we did here they are again.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
One Last Blast
Today was our last day of freedom before we have to go back to work tomorrow. Fortunately, it was a fantastic, fun filled day! We slept in, of course, and then we got ready to meet Steve, mom, Timmy, and Brandon at Oaks Park for Steve's company picnic. Since it was a company event we got free food AND free rides! We went on a good number of rides and were all thankful mom was there for the added entertainment of her screeching/laughing. The last ride I went on the day, which was after lunch, was the Spider. It spun and tilted up and down and the seat we were in spun as well, so my stomach was definitly done after that one. Ryan attempted to take some pictures of mom and I on that ride, but we kept spinning right as we got by him. I will post the before picture and his attempts of action pictures.
After Oaks Park, we went home a rested for a little bit before meeting up with some friends for mini-golf. I guess coming from Beaver Falls mini golf in Corvallis I am spoiled, but this place was awful. Most of the obstacles were bricks placed on the ground. Either way though, we had fun. Ryan's friend Darrin was the only person to get a hole in one, but all of us got the max of 8 strokes on at least one hole. After golf was done our friends took us out to dinner at a place called Salvador Molly's. It has a very unique menu with a combo of food froms different cultures. Ryan and I both enjoyed our meals, and the free peanuts before the food arrived.
Now I am home. Ryan is going to a friends house to watch Entourage, an HBO show. I ate too much so I am going to lay low and move the least amount possible until bed. Tomorrow I will not sleep in. In fact I may need to get some morning coffee to help me wake up, but alas, I am glad to start the grind of school again.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Cornhole
Apparently we never got around to sharing with our family that Ryan finished his Cornhole boards. We played with them a few days ago and they work and look beautiful!
Hank the Hunter
I have always said that Hank does not dig unless he has a reason. He's not a "bored" digger, he digs with purpose everytime. We noticed that when we moved in he loved digging around the perimeter of the backyard, and specifically where there were mole mounds. We also know that Hank loves to chase critters. Being part bloodhound, it's in his blood to locate critters and in his case also chase them. One other thing I have always said is that I don't care if Hank goes on squirrel patrol because he could never catch one (they are fast and sneaky). Well, that last statement may be true, he has yet to catch a squirrel, but the first statement is 100% true.
Today, Hank was digging near the apple tree. I went to see what he was up to and you could see this dog staring at the ground, ears forward with intensity, and he seemed to be "following" something with his eyes. I could see nothing, so naturally I assumed he's crazy or that he could smell or hear a mole under the ground. I gave him a pat on the back and told him to "get it", and then went back to the patio to read my book. Not long after that I hear him digging again, so I look up to see where his nose and ears have led him this time. I can see him near the path, by a different apple tree. His tail wagging like crazy and his face buried in the brambles as he digs. The next thing I know his head pops up and he has something in his mouth! I immediatlely jump up and ask him what he has, in a voice no quieter than a yell. At first I though he had a dirt mound and some vines in his mouth, but as I get near he drops it near my feet. My immediate reaction is "Oh my god!" I thought he had just caught the largest rat I had ever seen. After looking closer I realize that it is in fact the largest MOLE I have ever seen! He was so proud of himself and I think he may have wanted to eat it. I quickly ushered him inside, so that he could not eat it (could have diseases, etc.) and fetched the camera. He had dropped it on it's back (you can see a puncture wound on his belly) so I made sure to take a picture of that and then I got a stick and rolled it over. I then had the brilliant idea of putting a ruler next to it so you all could see how big this thing was. He, the mole, was 7 inches long and about 2 1/2 inches wide. I know it was a he because you can see his wee-wee. After showing Ryan, we put the mole into a plastic bag and then threw it in the trash. Hank continued to search for it for about a half hour afterwards. At least we know Hank isn't destroying the backyard for no reason!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
More of Nothing
Not too much has happened since the last blog, but I had some pictures I wanted to share. First we shall play a game. The game is called Can You Spot the Differences? Some of the differences may be more obvious than others, so use your keenest difference spotting abilities. There are no penalties for wrong guesses and no prize for correct guesses. Good Luck!
Unfortunately, the worst was still to come. With about 10 minutes left in the game I had the ball and went to pass it to a teammate. When my right leg was fully extended a guy came in full speed to try and kick the ball away. Well, he missed and got my leg. We wear shin guards, so that was no big deal, but with my leg fully extended and the force he hit me with my knee too the brunt of it. I thought immediately I had blown out my knee because the pain was excruciating and I couldn't move my leg, BUT once I was helped off the field and iced it for a little bit I could move it again and with just minor pain. So, I AM FINE. My knee is sore, but intact. It definitely could have been worse, but I'm pretty sure it just got a little hyperextended. I have been able to walk on it fine, and like I said it's just a little sore when I put weight on it in certain positions. The man who hit me was very apologetic and felt bad. I am just glad that I don't have start the new school year teaching on crutches!
After studying those pictures for hours, as I am sure you did, you should have noticed that Hank got a new collar! We got a bright orange one, for obvious reasons, with reflective paw prints on it. I had originally found an orange polka dot collar online, but it was like $20 not including shipping and well I'm frugal so I passed. When I was at Target the next day I saw this one and thought it was a good second option(and under $10). Hank seems to like it and wears it proudly and now he can't hide in the dark backyard from us when it's bedtime because his reflective paw prints will give him away. Here are a few close ups of the new collar:
We also had an indoor soccer game on Monday. The game was fun and we blew out the other team, but I did take a beating. I play defense, and am not too bad at it might I add. Late in the first half someone on the other team took a shot on goal and well, I stopped it with the right side of my face. Fortunately for me it missed my nose and didn't really hurt much, so no big deal. Well, in the second half a man was winding up for a shot and I managed to cross my left leg in front of him right as he shot and he shot the ball (as hard as he could) into my leg. Specifically, the ball hit me just below the left butt cheek on the upper thigh, which stung like hell. I have had red soccer ball lines imprinted on my leg ever since, it happened Monday and it is now Wednesday.
Unfortunately, the worst was still to come. With about 10 minutes left in the game I had the ball and went to pass it to a teammate. When my right leg was fully extended a guy came in full speed to try and kick the ball away. Well, he missed and got my leg. We wear shin guards, so that was no big deal, but with my leg fully extended and the force he hit me with my knee too the brunt of it. I thought immediately I had blown out my knee because the pain was excruciating and I couldn't move my leg, BUT once I was helped off the field and iced it for a little bit I could move it again and with just minor pain. So, I AM FINE. My knee is sore, but intact. It definitely could have been worse, but I'm pretty sure it just got a little hyperextended. I have been able to walk on it fine, and like I said it's just a little sore when I put weight on it in certain positions. The man who hit me was very apologetic and felt bad. I am just glad that I don't have start the new school year teaching on crutches!
Oh, Hank also completed his doggy classes. We had to miss the last class because I had a softball tournament and Ryan had squash, but we had learned everything by then and were just practicing. He has come a long way, but as the trainers said, the class won't "fix" your dog. Your dog is who he is, but you can learn ways to keep him from reacting. And we did. We learned a few ways to get Hank to focus on us and work for treats when he sees other dogs, so that he A) learns to associate focusing on us when he sees other dogs and B) he gets yummy things when he does it. Part B will hopefully be phased out eventually and he will just be conditioned to focus on us when he sees other dogs, but that is probably a long ways off. Other dogs definitely cause Hank some anxiety and stress, so it will take a while to help him realize that other dogs aren't evil. He will probably never be able to play off leash with other dogs due to his unpredictable reactions, he can be nice one minute and aggressive the next, but we are just happy to help him enjoy his walks and keep them stress free when on his leash. More than anything we are glad he LOVES people, especially us (he gets a little jealous if we pet other dogs).
Toodles for now. Enjoy the warm weather!
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