Christmas

Santa was very good to Brian, Maggie and me. We got things we wanted off of our list and then some. Christmas Eve was spent here in Wilmington with Brian's family and then very, very early Christmas morning we loaded up the car and drove to Grove City to spend Christmas with my family.


Maggie did awesome with the long car ride. She sat in the back seat and just enjoyed the ride. She was spoiled by all of the attention she received while we were home. She had somebody there to play with, rub her belly and cuddle with on the couch. She pretty much made herself at home at my parents house. My parents wanted to know if we were going to leave her there.


We don't have pictures of Christmas, but we do have video of Maggie opening up her favorite Christmas present she got from Uncle Luke and Aunt Christie. It is a ChuckIt. It is awesome because now we don't have to pick up a slobbery wet tennis ball.

Christmas Party

Last night was my Christmas Party. While I was getting ready Brian got Maggie to sit infront of the Christmas Tree so that we could take a picture. We also decided to take a family picture infront of the tree, but you really can't see the tree. Oh well. Overall everyone looked pretty and good time was had by all.

Holiday baking and lights

Not only is the inside decorated for Christmas, so is the outside. Yesterday I helped Brian put icicle lights on the house. I think it looks really nice. The next door neighbors were out doing yard work and said that this is the first year that our house has ever been decorated. They were excited to see that we were decorating for the holidays.

Speaking of holidays. I've been in the baking mood. I've made chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. Its official. I can not make a chocolate chip cookie to save my life. They either turn out flat or not done. The next things I want to make are rice krispie treats and crispix mix. That will be next weekend when Brian and his dad are in Chapel Hill for the tarheels basketball game.

O Christmas Tree!

Thursday we went and got our Christmas tree and Friday we decorated it, the first time. Yes, the first time. First let me start off by saying that the tree we got, someone else was looking at and then decided that they didn't want it. So as we were leaving Home Depot they yelled out that we had their reject. I should have known then that something was going to go wrong. That night we bring it in and place in the tree stand so that we can decorate it the next night. Friday night we get out the decorations and we are getting ready to put the lights on when I find a birds nest. Oh and total time that the tree has been in the stand is about 24 hours. So the rest of the decorations went on without a problem. The presents went under the tree and now its time to relax. We go to bed around 11 and we are just starting to fall asleep when we here ornaments break. We both got out of bed to find that the tree has fallen over, water was on the carpet, tree skirt and presents and that three ornaments had broken. Come to find out, the tree wasn't in the stand all the way, so Saturday morning was spent un-decorating and re-decorating the Christmas tree.

Baby Shower

Thanksgiving was good, except for the fact that I was getting a cold. We went to Brian's parent's house for dinner. We had the usual..turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and of course pumpkin pie.

Yesterday I came home to Ohio for Christie's baby shower. Her shower was fun. It was nice to see family and friends. Oh and I also got to feel the baby move. Just a couple more months and then he'll be here.

Cape Fear Fair and Expo

Last night we went to the Cape Fear Fair and Expo. It is basically the county fair. We saw sheep, goats, bunny rabbits, turkeys and fish. Then it was off to the rides. It seems like we rode everything. Ferris Wheel, bumper cars, scrambler, tilt-a-whirl, swings. I had so much fun. Brian said he could tell because while riding the rides he says that I was giggling. I even got to get a caramel apple.

All Hallow's Eve

What a busy end of the week. Wednesday night I had to go to work at 8 pm and worked until midnight after already working a full day. Thursday we went on a haunted ghost walk. It was interesting. Didn't get much history as to why the homes are haunted but the guide was entertaining. Friday was Halloween. We decorated the house and handed out candy for the trick-or-treaters. Because the house was decorated Brian wanted to dress up. He only got to paint his face, but I must say that I did a decent job. Also I am impressed with the next generation of children. And when I say that, I mean the children that are about 10 years and younger. Almost all of them said trick-or-treat and then thank you. Last year it was a bunch of ungrateful teenagers and hardly anyone said thank you. Maggie did really well. She wasn't scared of kids and she even let a couple of them pet her.

Jack O'Lanterns

Tonight we decided to carve pumpkins. I decided to use a pattern, while Brian decided to do free hand. The one cool thing is that we got a carving drill. It made carving much easier. I think I want to get another pumpkin and do one that is free hand. I found some pumpkin seed recipes, so tomorrow I'm going to try my hand a roasting pumpkin seeds.

One month

We've had Maggie a month now and things have gone very well. We no longer put her in the crate when we go to work. We assume that she sleeps on one of her two beds. One is by the front window and the other is beside my side of the bed. In fact the crate is in the garage. She loves to play with tennis balls or a Frisbee outside and loves to play with stuffed squeaky toys inside. So far her routine goes as follows, in the mornings she lays on her bed beside me in the morning until I get up, she may or may not eat breakfast in the morning, she watches me get ready for work and in the evenings her and Brian play ball in the back yard. At some point in the evening she will hang out with us on the couch. She pretty much made the pillows on the couch her own. We've concluded that they are hers now. She does not act like she is about to be seven years old. Her personality is finally starting to show through and she is starting to become comfortable around us. Its like she has always been here.

Lexington, NC

This past weekend we went to Lexington, NC to visit Brian's grandparents. I finally had Lexington Barbecue. It was pretty good. Don't ask me the difference between Lexington Barbecue and others because I don't really know. It has something to do with the sauce they use for the pork. It was nice to meet his grandparents. Brian was able to get some information from his grandparents about his family for his family tree that he is working on. After that we went to the farmers market. We didn't get much. Just a bale of hay and a pumpkin. We are trying to decorate for Halloween and Thanksgiving. It sure made for a long day, but I'm glad we did it. This weekend I'm ready to just stay around here.

Panthers and a bull

I know this is late but, Saturday Oct 4th we went to Charlotte for my first NFL game. It was the Panthers vs. the Chiefs. While in Charlotte we went up to Mooresville to see Dale Jr's race shop and stopped at DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.). Brian was most impressed with how you could see into the race shop and see the cars. That night we went to a few bars with our friend Kelly and his fiance Sarah. Sunday we went to the game and watched the Panthers dominate the Chiefs. I think the final score was 34-0. Needless to say we left the game early and headed to Dale Jr's bar Whisky River. I mean if I'm going to be in Charlotte I had to go to his bar. Its a pretty cool place. Not too many people were there. Most were from the Panthers game trying to catch up on what was happening with the race.

Maggie was good that weekend. From what I was told she was looking for me and Brian all weekend.

Maggie's first week has gone fairly smoothly. She has her favorite toys which she brings to us all the time. Today we took her to Petsmart to get a dog mat, doggie brush, a frisbee and she got some bling. She now has a shiny id tag that has her name and our phone numbers. So now when she runs around the house she jingles. We are able to take her outside without putting her on a leash and we don't have to worry about her running off. Fortunately we won't have to worry about that much longer. Today Brian and his dad put up most of the panels. I must say, it looks really nice.

Maggie Mae

Yesterday we went to look at Maggie to see if she was the one. We decided to give it a try and from the moment we walked through the door she has done nothing but play and make us laugh. It doesn't seem to matter what type of toy it is she LOVES to play with it. I think her favorites right now are the Kong and a stuffed squeaky buzzard that came with her. Speaking of what came with her...a giant crate, dog bed, a shopping bag of stuffed toys, balls and blankets, the rest of a years supply of Frontline and a new collar and leash. Basically she came with it all.

Update on the fence. The posts are up and we are waiting on the fence sections. Those are not coming in until Oct. 5th. So hopefully by mid October Maggie will be chasing tennis balls all over the yard.

Tropical Storm Hanna

I just wanted to give an update to everybody on Tropical Storm Hanna. Tropical Storm Hanna came and went pretty quickly. The only damage we received was to the garden. Our tomatos and green beans took a beaten. Other than that we woke up yesterday around 8 am and it was sunny and I had to go to work to help get our websites running. So far in my six year experience with hurricanes or tropical storms they have been very low key. They seem to be just very bad thunderstorms without the thunder and lightening.

A side note...we are going to start work on putting a fence up so that we can start the process again with trying to adopt a boxer. There are a couple of boxers that we are interested in. They are Maggie May and Gracie. This time we are going to ask more questions about them being left alone and making sure that they are crate trained.

Sad News...

I have sad news. After one week with Felix is was determined that we were not the right owners for him. He suffered from separation anxiety and was starting to hurt himself when he was destructive. So today we drove to Myrtle Beach to hand him over to a CBR foster volunteer who will be able to work with him. He will be with people who work from home and he'll have buddies to play with throughout the day.

It's a...Felix!

Yesterday we went to South of the Border to meet Felix and hopefully adopt him. Well needless to say when we saw him, it was pretty much over. We knew we would be taking him home with us. When he popped his head out of the sunroof we just knew. We met him and then he pretty much just hopped right into the jeep and said lets go.

He loves to give kisses. I got a bath on the ride home. The whole 2 hour trip. Last night was a little rough. Him not knowing his surroundings and us not really sure what he would do. He does whine a lot right now. We think it is because his foster mom had other dogs and a doggie door that he could go in and out whenever he pleases. We do not have either of those. But today he seems pretty chill. As I type he is laying on the floor behind me. We need to train him on basic commands and also teach him how to play. He did try to play a little bit this morning on his own with a stuffed squeaky toy. That lasted about 20 seconds. Once he gets used to us and us with him things should hopefully get better.

Kenny Chesney

On Friday Brian and me went to see Kenny Chesney with Leann Rimes. This was my birthday present from him. I had a blast and even though Brian is not a Kenny fan, let alone a country fan, I think he did really well. The best part is is we were able to leave the parking lot and had no trouble at all getting out. It was not at all like our experience when we went to Darlington.

Happy 30th!

30 years ago on August 10th at 6:19pm I was born. Happy Birthday to me! We celebrated my birthday with a small party. We had my parents, Brian's parents, Brian's sister, brother-in-law and nephew, and my friend Christine and her son Jackson. My parents were able came into town to help celebrate. We went to the beach and the zoo. I was also finally able to have my chocolate cake and seven minute icing for the first time in about 5 years. Overall it was fun and I'm glad my parents were able to come down. I miss them already. So far 30 isn't so bad.

Felix Update

So we have everything, now we just need the dog. Here is the update with Felix. We talked to the woman who is fostering him and they are located in South Carolina. She was able to answer all of our questions before we had the chance to ask them. This is what she had to say about Felix:

• he is house trained
• playful with other dogs
• passive
• doesn't like loud noises
• hand shy (probably been abused)
• doesn't jump (fences or people)
• good on leash
• doesn't know how to play with toys by himself (nobody probably played with him)
• no aggression
• knows sit and down

He goes to the vet this week, he gets neutered next week and if everything goes okay with the vet, then she will bring him to Wilmington in three weeks for us to have over the weekend. Overall she said he is a really good dog that likes to lay on the couch and be petted and loved.

Carolina Boxer Rescue

I have good news. We've been approved to adopt a boxer from Carolina Boxer Rescue. I figured it would take a couple of weeks for them to check references, but in 4 days we were approved. Now we just have to decide which one we think would be a good fit for us. We have decided that we like Felix the best, but of course that all depends on if he is still available and if CBR feels that we are compatible. I would like to thank Christine, Josh and Kelly for giving Brian and me a good reference. I'll post pictures as soon as we have one.

Happy 4th of July

Our 4th of July was spent the same as last weekend. At the beach. Last weekend it was about building sand castles and playing bocci ball and the 4th was about kayaking. The key to going to the beach is early. You miss the crowds and you are able to find good parking spots. With us going to the beach almost every weekend, I'm starting to get a pretty good tan. Thanks to Brian for making sure I put sunscreen on before we leave the house, I'm no longer getting burnt.

Bye Bye Green!

The bathroom is no longer green. It is now a nice shade of blue. I say Carolina Blue, but Brian says it is not dark enough. That is pretty much what we worked on last weekend. It is not finished. We still have to put up towel racks and I want to put decorative aka girly things up.

Before and After

Now that the roommates are gone we are trying to get the house the way we want it. We've already painted one bedroom and have made that into a spare bedroom. The other bedroom we just finished, well mostly finished, this weekend. We've made it into an office. We have a couple of things on the wall, but we want to get another one. We are looking at getting some type of Johnny Cash painting. The next project will be painting the neon green bathroom. Other than that nothing really to exciting is going on. Just counting down the days till I can take another vacation.

Grove City

Last week Brian and I went home to Grove City, Ohio. It was a packed week. We went to the new water park at the Columbus Zoo called Zoombezi Bay Waterpark. I took Brian downtown to see the replica of the Santa Maria and then took a small tour through OSU campus. He got to see The Horseshoe, St. John Arena and Schottenstein Center. In the middle of the week we went to Commercial Point's Homecoming. We got to have their famous fish sandwich (well famous to me), ride rides, ate cotton candy and an elephant ear. Our last day we went to the shooting range. That has become one of the things I like to do when I go home. As always the week went by fast and I can't wait to go back. But I'm not worried, I'll get to see Mommy and Daddy again soon. They will be coming down in August for my birthday.

Oh I almost forgot...I'm going to be an aunt! The little bundle of joy will be here sometime around the beginning of February.