Mad, bad dog

This was the scene I came home to Monday night.
 
Apparently, miss Lexi was not happy when Gayle left her during the afternoon. What you see destroyed all over the floor is tissue paper. Lexi found the entire package I had just purchased over the weekend and decided she needed to show us she does not like when people leave her. Let me set the situation: Drew and I had to leave really early that morning and usually he is home way before me. Well, in this instance, she was going to be left alone until I got home from work (13 hours later). So, I asked Gayle to stop by mid-day to let her out. I'm guessing that when Gayle left, Lexi was not happy. Not to mention, I/we usually give her a little treat when we leave to keep her distracted in the moment and Gayle did not. Lexi therefore declared war on the bag of black and white tissue paper. She also moved her blue and white blanket from the family room to the kitchen and tossed the kitchen hand towel under the chair.

What's funny is she knew she was in trouble as soon as I walked in the door. She layed down and lowered her head. Once I began raising my voice, she started shaking. Of course, I also sternly told her to stay while I took her picture with my phone :)

In the grand scheme of things, I am glad she destroyed tissue paper instead of furniture, going the bathroom in the house, etc. It could have been A LOT worse!

*Side note, she has been great since that night and did awesome at the vet today when she got her staples out.

What a year

As some of you know, since I already posted it on Facebook, today marks one year since Drew returned from his tour in Iraq. And boy, what a year! We have been through a lot since this time last year, and while the deployment seemed long, looking back on the last year, in some ways, seems even longer. Since this time last year:

* I got a new job
* Drew started in real estate
* Drew started helping with military funerals on a regular basis
* We took a mini trip to Atlanta
* We got married
* We took a honeymoon
* We bought a house
* We moved
* Plus all of the other goodies in between. I think we've been to a few weddings, friends have had babies, etc. Despite how busy and hectic times have been, my favorite part about looking at the list is seeing the word "we". I am glad we got to spend the last year together. Of course, it's only fitting that Drew is off doing Army things today.

Social butterflies

Oh, I have been dreading this blog, not because I don't want to write, but because I feel like I have so much to say, and don't know where to begin. Drew and I have been extremely busy over the last couple of weeks. Not only have we been fixing up the house, but we have also had a lot of social events. I think I have talked about this before that our social life seems to come in waves. We will go weeks without having anything to do and then bam! our weekend(s) are jammed packed. Sometimes it's nice because it means we can do our own thing and be productive for a while and not feel guilty for socializing all weekend. Right now it's tough because there is just so much we want to do at home and the projects aren't quick and easy. The good news, we are making progress and still having fun along the way.

Two weeks ago our neighbors had a welcome and going away party for us and the couple whose house we bought.
 
Drew and his sisters had a blast reliving the old days with the people who lived in the neighborhood when he did 15 years ago and currently still live in the neighborhood. I had fun meeting everyone and listening to the stories. Small world... my 7th grade social studies teacher lives in the neighborhood. I don't think he knows it, but he is the only teacher to give me a writing assignment for talking in class :) I recognized him right away and once he heard my full maiden name he immediately knew my face - said I haven't changed at all. 

Rothmeelers

Me and Drew with some of the neighbors. Actually, the woman on the left in the coral is the former owner of the house we bought

Over this past weekend we attended a pig roast with some friends at their neighborhood. It was our first time attending a pig roast and I have to say it tasted a lot like chicken. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera, but we met a lot of great people. Small world again... the owner's whose house was hosting the pig roast (across the street from our friends') the wife is the cousin of Drew's friend, Jack. Jack had a party back in 2008, and it was at his party that Drew and I met/ran into each other, which eventually led us to dating. Did you get all of that? Needless to say we didn't know the connection until late in the evening, but had a good laugh once we realized the connection.

This weekend is busy as well. Drew's sister is having a Tastefully Simple party tonight, and I have a wedding shower and bachelorette party to attend tomorrow. Then, of course, Sunday will be over before it starts.

And, speaking of things coming in waves, we just realized that coming up in October we have a wedding, my dad's family picnic and a picnic on Drew's side all on the same day. Sadly, it looks like we will only have time for the wedding/reception. I can bet that all of the other weekends in October are empty.

Now, it hasn't been all fun and games over the last two weeks. We have accomplished a lot at the house, but I'll save that for another post later today.

*pictures courtesy Gayle's camera

Almost a working fan

Following various complaints from me that it is "soooo hot" at night, Drew spent most of yesterday putting a ceiling fan in our bedroom. Mind you, I am almost always cold, so when I get hot, it's usually pretty hot. But, it doesn't help that I have to sleep with at least a sheet and usually a blanket or quilt as well. It's a security thing.

Okay, so without any prior experience putting in a ceiling fan Drew felt he could tackle it himself. On my way to work he said his goals were not to 1. Fall through the roof and 2. Get electrocuted. I, of course, told him to wait until I got home to help him. I don't know what I would have been able to do other than hold a tool or something for him, but at least if something happened I would be there to call 911. He went ahead anyway - thankfully not falling through the ceiling - although he said he did get a tiny shock at one point. He went into detail about it, but I don't know enough to explain. I am proud of him, because by the time I got home this was the view of the ceiling...

 Unfortunately, it didn't have power. Again, I'm not quite sure the details. Drew explained it to me quite a few different times, but I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to handiwork, much less electrical work. All I took away from his explanation was the fan and light worked when he wired it to another room, but there are so many wires coming from the outlet he wants to wire it to that it was creating a lot of confusion, and ultimately no power.. Here's the wire mess...

which is where he ultimately had to stop. He was pretty disappointed that he couldn't figure it out after trying so many times, but he did get help from his uncle this morning and our fan should be working by the time I get home. Another project down, and many more to go, but we are learning and having fun in the process - okay, fun might not be the word Drew would use here, but with every project we are settling in a little bit more.

Poor miss Lexi

This is not Lexi's month. The poor dog has been a victim of dog park biting not once, but twice! Yes, sweet miss Lexi was bit again this weekend. Drew and I were both at the park with her this time and he actually saw it happen. Apparently, it was a collie that snipped at her. It's so bizarre because we have never had problems before, at dog parks or day care. And, this dog park is not a free neighborhood one. Owners have to pay a small fee to bring their dog inside and the dogs go through temperament testing before being allowed inside. I don't know if it is Lexi's size that intimidates the dogs, or her deep bark, but for some reason she's getting bit. Now, I can see how this sounds... it could be Lexi's fault as she is the common denominator. That is true, but the strange thing is that in both instances, there was no barking, no growling or fighting. The first time Drew found out because Lexi came prancing back to him with a huge gash in her side. The most recent event Drew saw. The interesting thing from both instances was that the dog park employees knew/assumed exactly which dog bit her... which to me seems a bit strange. That tells me that the dog is causing obvious trouble in the park. Needless to say, what was suppose to be a fun hour at the park turned into another 3 hour, pricey visit to the vet.

Lexi was great during everything. She winced a little when the park employees cleaned out the wound, but Drew said she was great at the vet. She just laid on the cold tile and waited patiently. Once they got home we put a t-shirt on her to keep her from licking and or scratching at the staples (she needed three staples again). Then we gave her lots of treats for being so good.

We then threw one of the treats up in the air, which I realize wasn't the best idea since her wound could stretch, but I did get a pretty good picture of her rising up to catch it, on my phone...she's a "little" person in her shirt.

 

Just Us for Now

The other day I was gathering the garbage from the cans throughout the house when I remembered how I use to have to do this as a chore each week. It was always my job to collect the garbage and recycling and set it outside the night before garbage pick-up. I immediately thought of how nice it will be to have kids do this for us. Then reality set in... first we have to have kids... then it's not like they will immediately be able to collect garbage. In that case, I have at least another 10 years of collecting garbage, so I need to get use to it. :) Unless... maybe I can teach Lexi...

House Project 2 and 3

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the master bedroom was our first house projects, and since I don't have the curtains up yet, I am waiting to post before and after pictures. The good news is we finished painting the dining room and hutch. We still have to put the finishing touches on the hutch (new knobs, screw on the doors and add the glass) at least you can get an idea of what we have been up to for the last couple of days.
Hutch and dining room before and after (sorry my lens must be dirty - the pictures look blurry and foggy):

 The hutch belonged to Drew's mom. It didn't turn out exactly as we had hoped, but we think it will do for now. We keep joking that the gold/yellow color we painted over will be back in style in a couple years. I am really happy with how the blue turned out on the walls. I don't think these pictures give it justice. Our china, which also belonged to Drew's mom, has spots of blue on it which I think will go great with the walls. We of course still need to get everything inside the hutch and get a table, but I think it's a major improvement from the burnt orange color. Not to mention it is extremely satisfying to have this project nearly complete! I warned Drew we will need to take a week or two off from painting as it is wearing me out!

*Update: The hutch actually belonged to Drew's great grandma GG, so it has been around for a LONG time. Thank you Lori for the details!!