Catching Up On Life

My posts come fewer and farther between these days! I am actually working on a new website all together that has a slightly different bent, and that has been taking most of my cyber-world time. I'll be sure to link to the new site once it's up, and may end up shutting this blog down all together after the new site is up and running.

In the meantime, here is a recap of the last few weeks in the land of the Nikkels!

Lots of summer time grilling! I think I have a new appreciation for corn on the cob this year.

Chilling out back. This is Horton's spot.

Bean. Still crazy. I was reading something about labs the other day, and came across a site that explained how labs are the "eternal puppy". I'd say that is pretty accurate so far! (No pics of Monkey outside....she gets so hot, she prefers to hang out in the a/c and watch us all through the window.)

Labs are also supposed to love water. We thought Bean would have a grand ol' time at the lake, so we made a little trip last weekend. Unfortunately, the poor dog is still scared out of his wits when he is anywhere except our house and yard! I always forget how scared he was when we first got him, but as soon as we take him out, I remember "oohhhhh yeahhh....he is still really messed up from whatever those people did to him before we had him". Needless to say, the sound of the waves gently lapping into shore was definitely cause for concern, as Bean

jumped nervously with each current. We finally got him in the water and he eventually settled. It was actually kind of funny. He was so weirded out by the feel of the water. We'd step away from him and call him, and he would just stare at us wide eyed, not moving one muscle. It was like he didn't realize that he could move despite the water all around him. He'd take one step and you could almost see his little wheels turning, trying to figure out how in the world this was all working. He was tired pup by the end of that adventure, and it's doubtful we'll be making many more lake trips with Bean. Who knows all of his past really, but I hate to see a dog whose been so mistreated that it outweighs the natural instincts of their breed. He may just need more coaching on how to swim, as I know it's a learned skill even for dogs, but he was so nervous being in a new environment that I don't know if it's worth pushing him. Maybe after we master being comfortable in other normal places, like parks with lots of people, then we can work our way up to being okay at the lake with boats and water and waves.

P.S. Sorry for the totally suck lay out of this post, but I'm not taking the time to fix it!

Random Ramble of Suck (And P.S. I'm crazy.)

If 2011 wants to go down in the books as a great year, it really needs to start shaping up.

Sigh. Right now, I just need a place to vent and drop off a load of crap. I might not make any sense at all. (So why not publish it on my blog for all to see?)

I am just back from dropping off my brother's dog at his house. Long story, but basically my brother and sister-in-law are at the hospital right now as her Dad passes. They flew back in a rush a day or two ago after news that he had stopped breathing. It has been a really rough couple days for them complete with all the situations we'd never even wish upon our worst enemy...ventilators and brain damage and hard decisions.... I feel horrible for them and wish there was something more I could do. My mom has been on duty watching their daughter (my niece) and I know she too has had a really rough week, and I wish there was something more I could do to help her out, too.

I just feel like utter suck the last few days.

And this weekend is daylight savings. Please point me toward the dude who came up with that idea because I'd like to have a few words with him. So many people I really care about need rest now more than ever and we're just going to skip right over an hour tomorrow. I wish I could just scoop everyone up and shield them from the world for a few hours while they take a long, long nap. (And then I'd like to take one myself.)

And do you know what else? I had a prank go all wrong this week and possibly jacked some things up for a friend at work and I feel horrible. (As it turns out, other people paying the consequences of my actions is way worse than having to pay for them myself.)

And do you know what is weird? Nothing is wrong with my life. I have no big drama. I have no really sad news. I have no huge challenges right now. It is so ordinary and fine. It has been for a while. And something about that seems to be making me totally and completely insane. I feel like I'm living in a math problem. It's so black and white and clear and clean and predictable. I keep telling myself I should rejoice and be thankful for that, and to a large degree, I am. But then the punk ass part of my heart is all kinds of whiney.

I have been talking with my former boss a lot this past week and it brings up so many questions for me...questions about who I am, what I am capable of, what I believe I am capable of.

I guess in many ways I feel like I'm ho-humming my life away. It's very responsible and tidy. But at the end of my life, what do I really want to look back on?

I heard someone say or read this somewhere that "life is 90% relationships", and then I think, Yea, that's so true. Why don't I just breath in my awesome husband and enjoy my time with him? And for that matter, since he's so awesome, why don't we just have some children and extend the awesome? After all, I'm almost 30...and he's already carving out the years in his third decade of life. But, then my crazy mind goes crazy. Honest to goodness, this was my thought process today at Target, as I was walking in the parking lot behind a lady carrying a toddler:

Kids are nice. Maybe we should have a kid. Why would we have a kid though? The earth can't continue to support the human population at its current growth rate. But then why are we biologically designed to want to reproduce? Will the human population smother itself out? Maybe we should adopt a kid. I'd rather adopt an older kid. We should just wait. I'm only 29. It would be weird to adopt a 13 year old and only have 16 years between our ages. We'll just have a kid when we feel like the time is right and that's not now, so this doesn't matter. Deal with it later. But I can't wait forever to have a kid. I'm pushing 30. But say I had some dream career right now, would I even want a kid? I can't use a kid as an escape because I'm not happy with my current life situation. That is horrible. Too many women lose their identity when they have kids. I don't want that to happen to me. (Open door and walk into Target.) YESSS!! Swimsuit sale!!

Is that insanity or what? Seriously, how can I go from questioning the intricacies of how the human population will sustain itself to Um, do they have this bikini in blue??

Nerd meets shallow sorority girl, much?

But the thing is, that whole thought process wasn't even about kids. I have this way of fixating on some issue that is not at all the issue. Really, I am wrestling with what kind of person I am. How much do I really care about those around me? How much am willing to inconvenience myself to make someone else's life better? How much do I live in fear? How long will I live in comfort, not tapping into the very things that fill me with passion and life? How much am I willing to speak my mind? What do the seasons of life mean?

Sigh.

So, that's all.

The Best Laid Plans...

That's a photo of my little carry-on suitcase. At my house. Not in Seattle.

Thursday night as I was packing, I was thinking about all the great photos I would have to post of my two dear friends, Erin and Amy, hanging out in a cool city like Seattle. I went to the airport Friday morning, hoping to breeze on using Jesse's passes. I knew it wasn't going to be a good day when I heard them page asking for volunteers to give up their seat. My sweet husband spent a good chunk of time behind the ticket counter looking at every possible way I could get to Seattle. We tried different cities, even different partner airlines, but it was just not in the cards for me to travel. We eventually left the airport and I went to work, feeling bummed, but telling myself it was okay, because I would just get up super early and catch the first flight out Saturday morning. That plan also failed, and I have spent my weekend thus far in Missouri.

While I was out and about today, I kept thinking, I wonder what I would be doing right now if I was in Seattle! Sigh. Hopefully there will be another girls trip planned soon...one that I actually make it to!

On the bright side, spring is finally in the air! January and February are always the hardest months of the year for me (which was another reason I was so looking forward to seeing my girlfriends...but I digress). This year in particular, I have felt like the grumpiest, worst version of myself. I think it's a combination of things, but poor Jesse...I have been a serious bump on a log lately. Anyway, just when winter was feeling the most claustrophobic and hopeless, a random, sunny, 70 degree day popped in and reminded me that life as I know it is not over. A new season is coming, not just for the weather, but for my life. And winter has served its purpose, even if only to remind me to be grateful for those things which I get used to and take for granted.

So, even though it's been a lame, disappointing 2011 so far, I am anticipating good things on the horizon.

On a totally different note, last weekend, our youngest niece turned one. I stopped by the party en route to the dog shelter.

Jada wasn't really interested in hanging out with me. Clearly, there was something much more interesting off to the side.

Like this crazy big horsie thing someone got her....

Or maybe just a cookie...
Whatever the case, I hope you had a good birthday little missy J!

A Let Down

This week's life theme? Disappointment.

Started off with Jesse's birthday on Monday when he was feeling sick and running a fever. Poor guy spent his special day laying on the couch. I thought I could avoid the funky junk if I walked around the house with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and disinfected every surface before I came within 3 feet of touching it rested and ate my veggies. By Tuesday evening, Jesse was still laid out sick and I wasn't feeling stellar, but thought I had a decent chance of avoiding the funky junk.

Enter Thursday. Jesse still sounded like a horse when he coughed, but his fever was finally gone. Apparently, that fever wanted to have a hot affair with me. When the thermometer beeped 102.1, I threw in the towel and declared myself officially sick. We watched crappy daytime tv together and laughed at the pathetic sound in our little house. Hack cough huh snort ugh.

Also, I used to think it was silly, if not downright ridiculous, that people could crack a rib coughing. Holy crap, I am being punished for my judgement. I swear to you, two days ago I coughed so ferocious, I am still sore. It hurts to touch my rib cage, like a bruise, and it hurts to do anything remotely involving my upper abs. (On the bright side, I do kind of feel like a bad ass. I imagine this is how my stomach would feel if I had just completed some killer workout and had a 6 pack.)

Anyway, today is Saturday. We are both supposed to be at WyCo Lake Park right now. Jesse should be ankle deep in mud running his first 50k trail race, and I should be walking around the park with my dog of choice waiting for him to cross the finish line and celebrate his awesomeness while simultaneously delighting that Mother Nature is finally tossing out a few signs of hope for spring.

Apparently, supposed to doesn't mean much in life. What's up with that?

I think we'll be Red Box'ing it today.

Funky junk virus.... uh-screwwww-yooooou.

1011

I was thinking I would blend into the crowd and do a "reflection on the past year + goals for the new year" post, but after seeing the (crazy ambitious) Canuck's post, I have to admit, my goals don't seem so cool anymore. Nonetheless, I'll take the plunge. (After all, I am trying to be more share-y and vulnerable in 2011.)

So, let's begin with reflection...I was thinking about doing a month-by-month highlight of 2010. Then I thought back to January 2010, and I don't remember anything about it except having to do W-2's for 175 people for the first time, with no help. Perhaps I should call this "highlight or lowlight" of the month.

January: Lowlight! See above.

February: Jesse (and Monkey) crossed the line at their first ever trail race while my brother and his wife were in the hospital giving birth to their first ever child. I got to drive from the muddy woods where I was holding my dog to the very clean hospital where I held my niece.

March: Another dog moved in with us and opted to change his name from "Dwight" to "Green Bean Nikkel"!

April: Spring sprung and I fell in love with bike riding.

May: Lowlight! Jesse was away in Canada while Bean got a butt hole rash and I had to rub ointment on it every day.

June: Visiting the WWI museum with my Grandpa and hearing more stories about his life.

July: Nothing in particular stands out; just great summer nights on the back deck, grilling fresh food from the garden and generally loving the sunshine.

August: Disney World!!!

September: Seeing my sister-in-law, Cheremi, and her family all in the same location! (They went through an incredibly long, complicated adoption process.)

October: I decided I really like Halloween, despite the horribly tacky decorations.

November: Serious garage progress and the happiest, loudest shade of yellow ever.

December: So many fun parties, so many fun gifts, so many days off work...too much goodness to choose just one!

And now, I suppose you would like to know my resolutions, new beginnings, lofty goals, and ambitions made while drunk the night before. (Just kidding on that last one...) Unlike the cut and dry Mr. Nikkel with his macho man goals, most of mine are relatively abstract. Here are the ones I can quantify.

*Push harder in making/growing as much of our food as possible. In practicality, this means things like skipping the store-bought loaf of bread and baking my own each week, sowing a fall crop instead of stopping with my spring/summer foods, and taking up canning. (The control freak in me is really digging the whole "I know exactly where my food comes from" thing.)

*Finally sign up to take one of the two classes I have wanted to take for years and years and years. (Maybe I'll tell you the class after I sign up.)

*Find some type of exercise that I enjoy as much as Jesse enjoys running. (I'm really skeptical I will attain this goal. If only I could have regular access to nice weather and a boat with a driver, I would ski or tube or wake board for my workouts.)

*Cook a new recipe once a week, and compile a cookbook by the end of the year. (I started this goal off with red-lentil-curry-chili.)

I think that's it! The rest is all deep and abstract and I don't feel like divulging right now. (Screw that share-y, vulnerable thing I mentioned at the start of this post.)

P.S. Since I posted this, a few people have pointed out to me that my post title has a typo. It says 1011 because in the past, each year I have titled my New Year's post as the two years...so in 2007 and 2008, I called it 0708 and 2009 and 2010 I called it 0910 and so on...I guess that is kind of confusing, but I'm sticking with it!

Christmas Vacation

I have 4 days left of Christmas vacation and intend to use them well! I woke up sick Christmas morning and spent the next 4 days laying around the house doing nothing but watching crappy daytime television and checking my temperature in hopes I was magically better. A couple days ago, the fever finally left, and now all I have is the residual sore throat and runny nose.

Jesse was productive during my bout of funky junk virus, doing some major cleaning and bringing me hot tea in between. He cleaned out the office (which is no longer the office, since we moved a bunch of stuff to the garage) and scrubbed the floors, which required moving a couple of the dog beds into the living room temporarily. Horton was delighted at the double stack.

I was feeling pretty stir crazy after a few days of laying around, so the instant I was feeling remotely better, I begged Jesse to go out with me for a couple hours and run a few errands. During this time, we decided we will never be cool because we can't rock the huge sunglasses look. I swear some of those lenses were the size of my head.

Personally, I think Jesse stands a better chance of pulling it off than I do.

One of the things I really wanted to do over the break was go ice skating. We finally got to last night with a few friends. There was a crowd and while I'm by no means a good skater, I can at least go around the rink without falling down. Apparently, I cannot say the same for 50% of the people on the ice. It was hilarious just looking around and at any given minute, at least one person was laid out flat on their butt. (You Canadians would have a ball mocking people down here.)

Anyway, today I suppose it's time for reflection on the past and building hope for the future. Maybe today I will finalize some resolutions that I can break a month from now. Until then...

Saturday

Today has been great! The only downside is that it always goes by too fast when the weekend rolls around.

Jesse and I went to get some zoo manoo from a friend this morning so that we could do some work on the gardens and get them all "tucked in" for winter. They keep chickens at our friend's place, so I had a lot of fun petting them and checking out their little coop. I realized today I've never held a chicken before. They are actually pretty snuggly little creatures. (Although one of them did poop all down the front of my hoodie.)

Anyway, after the chicken escapade, we came home and got the gardens layered up with poo, leaves, mulch and good stuff like that. We ate a quick lunch together at Chipotle and then Jesse headed to work. I decided to stick close to home and try to get some things done around here. I have been searching thrift stores for a chair to go in the garage at my art desk. Thanks to my mom, the search is over. She had an old chair in her classroom that she never uses, so she passed it along to me and I gave it an aqua blue facelift this afternoon. It's funny; I actually remember this chair from when I was a kid and used to walk down to her classroom after school was over. Now it's in my house! It is perfectly ideal for what I had pictured in my mind.

We are getting close on the garage. Mainly it's just details (like the chair) left. The only biggie still to do is getting epoxy down on the floor, but I think Jesse plans to do that on Monday because he's on school break next week. Hopefully that means I will have completed "after" photos to post soon!

Eating & Running

A few photos from the last couple weeks...

Our plans for Canadian Thanksgiving were up in the air until last minute, since we weren't sure what Jesse's work schedule would look like. He ended up getting the Saturday before off work, so we decided to go to Weston for the day. Jesse wanted to get in a run at the state park and I had been wanting to buy some mums at one of the little farms there for quite a while. It was a fun day that went by really fast. My parents treated us to lunch at one my favorite restaurants in town and the weather was insanely perfect.

It happened to be Irishfest while we were there, so Jesse and I decided to walk down to the festival that evening and hang out for a bit.
We didn't stay too long, as we are not much for hype. We just basically peeked in, then kept walking around town.
When the actual holiday rolled around, I had to go to work, and Jesse had to go to class. We had a quiet dinner with just the two of us that evening, and it ended up working out well. Since it was the week leading up to his marathon, I knew he wouldn't want to eat a big meal or a lot of sugary desserts, so we went with lots of veggies and no dessert - not exactly the type of meal you'd like to serve at a big party. =)

Anyway, while Jesse was preparing for the marathon with long runs and a strict diet, I was busy deciding what to wear to help support him. I decided to make a shirt especially for him. It was nice and cool the morning of the marathon (for spectators at least - I'm sure it was a touch on the warm side for the runners), then turned into wonderful weather for post-race activities.

I think most of you know, but Jesse's goal for this marathon was to qualify for Boston, which meant he needed to come in at 3:10:59 or less. I was sure he had it in the bag, as he had logged plenty of 20 milers in his training and was well suited to keep a 7:14 or less average mile. (In fact, he can actually hold a 6 something mile with relative ease.)

Race day came and Jesse left the house bright and early. I got up a bit later, took care of the dogs, then headed to the race and walked around for a while trying to find the best spot at the finish line. When the marathon clock flipped to 3 hours, I had my camera out and ready, sure I'd see Jesse pop over the hill at any second. As it crept closer to 3:10, I was so full of anticipation, ready to see him slide in right at the deadline. When it flipped past 3:10, my heart sank, as I knew Jesse was either hurt or sick. Since I had no way to contact him, I stayed where I was, watching for him, and pulled my phone out of my bag, knowing that my contact info was on his bib.

I was thrilled and relieved to see him pop over the hill at 3:20 something (clutching his stomach in pain). Even though I was happy and proud, I knew he would be crossing the line feeling frustrated and disappointed. I cheered him as he ran past, then headed down to the shoot to meet him after he got some fuel.

His splits tell the story perfectly: At mile 9.3, he was 11th in his division, averaging a 7:04 mile - well on track for a BQ. At mile 19.8, he was 9th in his division, and his average had picked up to 7:02. Between there and the finish....oof. At mile 20, he got what he described as "the worst cramp of my entire life", and ended up having to walk/run it in. I was so bummed for him, yet with a 3:28:34 finish, he still did awesome! I honestly wasn't sure if I should greet him at the finish with a huge, proud smile, or my condolences. From my view, there was nothing but pride and happiness, but I know Jesse well enough to know that he would first be crushed by not meeting his goal before he would be able to give himself credit for the incredible accomplishment.

Anyway, I met him at the end of the chute, and we walked for a bit, as he processed the race and stretched. Check out those compression socks!

I told him he needs to get a blank technical shirt so that I can make him a corresponding shirt, letting everyone know that he is, indeed, a fartlekking Canadian.
I'm sure you're not really supposed to be in the fountain, but really...who cares?
And finally, some of his other fans out to show their support!

All in all, it was a good day, even if Jesse's initial reaction involved the f bomb.

Nothing Really

I am behind on blogging, and generally behind on everything else too!

I have been working on our bedroom (again, I know...). It is finally-almost-completely-done. I have some curtain issues I need to work out, but once that is settled, we are in good shape. I'd eventually like to find an area rug for the foot of the bed, but that can wait. (The dogs like to lay there, and I feel bad if they sleep on just the hardwoods, so we've been keeping a dog bed there, but it's so big and bulky.)

A month or two ago, we got a lot of the stuff needed to finish off the garage, but it's just been sitting because we haven't found the time yet. Nothing too major in there....just putting down an epoxy floor (anxious to see how that works out), finish out the drywall, maybe paint it if we're feeling ambitious, and adding some shelving. It has basically become a gym area and we pretty much never park either vehicle in there. We have a hand me down treadmill out there that gets great use, and a couple other gym-ey kind of things. I think the epoxy floor and fresh walls will make it that much nicer to work out, and I can use all the motivation I can get! We ax'ed plans to do anything more fancy than that (were previously considering a full on conversion complete with another bathroom), but given the housing market, and our neighborhood in general, we don't really want to put too much more money into this house.

Anyway, after working on the bedroom, it was yardwork time. Mowing, weed eating, picking up a bazillion sticks that Bean has carried around, yelling at Horton for digging... (Yes, Horton the "good dog"...we've had this pup for years and he never once so much as lifted a paw to the earth, but now suddenly, he's discovered a new hobby and thinks he's pretty cool. He is a total copy cat dog, so I think he saw Bean do it once when we first got him, and now I guess he thinks he should keep it up. Awesome.) Earlier this week I got my tomatoes and peppers planted, but am now second guessing myself. It may have been too wet to plant. A couple of the tomatoes were looking pretty sad today. I need to do a garden savings update...another post!

Anyway, beyond house stuff, it's vegan health mania around here! Jesse is training for a half marathon in Calgary at the end of May, with his full marathon this fall in KC. He is hoping that race will qualify him for Boston, though KC is known as a pretty rigorous course because it has so many hills. Either way, I am already super impressed with him! I am having trouble keeping up with him these days. Beyond his normal training, he's taken to riding his bike pretty much everywhere. Between foot and bike, I think he is often logging 50 plus miles a week. Crap. I am logging about 6.

On that note, I still need to get in a run today before Jesse gets home from work. Now if I only I enjoyed it as much as he does...

Snowy Adventures With the Pups

Yesterday the melting snow in our front yard unearthed Jesse's lost cell phone. Amazingly, it still works! I thought I'd post some photos from the day we lost it, as well as a few more we took today while we were out and about.

Jesse and Monkey taking a break from their cross-country skiing:

Always have to get at least one self-photo:

Horton and I were running behind Jesse and Monkey while they were skiing, and let me tell you, running in three feet of snow is much harder than running on a clear path! I was so tuckered out by the end, I flopped down in the snow, and my little snuggle bug Horton was quick to join me. He was being so snuggly, it was hard to get up and leave:

Monkey was more interested in skiing. I had to headlock her to get her to be in a photo with me. She is not really the snuggly type; more so the nibble-on-your-fingers-squirm-all-over-you-until-you-throw-my-ball-and-play-with-me type.

Today we were both off work and the weather was a little warmer, so we decided to go hiking with the dogs. It was fun, but very wet and muddy. Since everything was still covered in snow, it was impossible to know where (or what) you were stepping into. On a few occasions, Jesse and I discovered small creeks by stepping right into them. Very squishy, cold, socks by the end of our little adventure!

Notice here Monkey is sporting her new backpack! She carried most of our stuff for us today.

Yep, another self-photo. What family day would be complete without it?

My boys and the crazy girl:

Too bad every day can't be a "hiking with the dogs" day. Tomorrow it's back to business as usual.

Birthday Fun

Jesse has the entire week off work. He had originally scheduled his vacation week for April, which is when he ended up having hernia surgery. That meant he was on medical leave the same week as his vacation week, so his union rep told him he could pick a new vacation week, and this week is it. Since he had so much time off, I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off so that we could have some time together. (Plus, it was nice to have the day off on my birthday.)

I am smack in the middle of an audit at work, so I guess it was good to get some time away from that as well. I'm not sure. Part of me just wants to get it over with, but I am sure the time away has given me some perspective, which I am really awesome at losing.

Anyway, for my birthday, I received the very cool composter that I blogged about a few weeks back. I'm pretty impressed with it. Only a couple days into it, and I can't even recognize what I put into it, which means it's all breaking down super fast. The irony of using electric resources to compost is not lost on me, and I do admit, it's a pretty luxurious way to go about the whole thing. But, in my defense, it uses extremely minimal power, and allows me to compost more food scraps than my traditional outdoor bin allowed me to. I like the idea of self-sufficiency in terms of food, and I like that I can follow much of what we eat the entire way through - from table to trash to turning it back into the soil.

Gardening is also good for my problematic loss of perspective syndrome. Seeds remind me how miraculous and ironic life is. One thing, that I can hold on the tip of my finger can feed my family all year. If I didn't know about gardening and someone told me that, I would laugh at them and tell them it was impossible. But, somehow, year after year, I put these tiny little specs in the ground, and suddenly, I have more food than I can eat. That is really stinking amazing. And it always makes me wonder, if this little itty bit thing can make so much, how can we have people starving? Obviously I know the answer is much more complicated than seeds, but still - something so simple and powerful that fits on my finger tip can literally sustain life...and for lack of it people die. Guess it's part of that cruel irony that the world is so wonderful at.

Though I'm about two seconds away from going all "circle of life" on you, I'm going to stop. I shall save the virtue of worms and respect for all life forms lecture for another day - perhaps this spring when I am inspecting my freshly composted gardens and clapping each time I find an earth worm.

Anyway, I also received some other very cool items, one of which was a homemade vegan birthday cake from my mom! And, since it came complete with candles, Jesse did the honors and sang the happy birthday song for me.



The cake was super yum, and unfortunately also came complete with 2 flavors of vegan ice cream that were also super yum...and we ate dinner out Friday night which was super yum, and Saturday night which was super yum, and Monday lunch which was super yum...oy. My tummy has had too much super yum!

Other than eating, which is apparently 90% of what we did over the weekend, we shopped a bit and rented a couple movies. I also got birthday snuggles from my "other favorite boy". All in all, I cannot complain!

I have spent the morning touching up the paint on our walls and painting our dresser. I'm in between coats, and what better way to pass a few minutes than to blog?

Before Jesse left for work we put up a couple more of the ceiling panels. (The project that was started last spring... the hernia surgery and Abe's ordeal kind of threw us for a loop and house projects have generally been on the slow track ever since.) Anyway, anyone who has visited our little house will recall the ghetto popcorn ceiling in the office and bedrooms. It is no more (or at least will be no more by the end of the day), though we still need to get the moulding up around the edges.



Another project I finally finished a month or two ago is doing a painting for the bathroom. (The reddish orange border isn't really part of the painting, but I was apparently holding the camera crooked, so I couldn't crop out the wall. Whatever, you get the idea.)


It's good to finally catch up on some projects. I've been trying to stick around the house this weekend anyway to keep an eye on Horton. He tore his ACL, and is supposed to be kept as immobile as possible for 30 days. Depending on how he heals, he may or may not need surgery. I am really hoping for the not. I don't want to put him through that. It is a really major surgery, where they have to cut his tibia and everything to attach a metal plate. Very bad deal. Monkey doesn't fully understand why her buddy can't play anymore, so Jesse has been taking her with him on some longer runs to try to drain her energy. (Energy which has been put toward digging holes in the yard, annoying us, and trying to nibble Horton's ear off.)

Anyway, last weekend, besides making some trips to the emergency vet, we went to a wedding, and did our usual routine...Jesse to work...me to the shelter. Here's a shot from the wedding.



Otherwise, I guess I have nothing to say. I am going to see if my paint is dry yet!

Our Weekend

The weather has been insanely wonderful the last few days and we have done our best to take full advantage of it. Yesterday before Jesse headed to work, we gave the dogs a much needed bath in the backyard. Horton always loves it and Monkey always hates it.

This one didn't turn out quite like planned, but I had to post it anyway because Horton was so cute in his little towel when I was drying him. The Groomers: We grilled out for lunch and then I spent the afternoon cleaning. Maybe it was all the sunshine putting me in the mood for "spring cleaning". It was nice to have all the doors and windows open.

Anyway, this morning we loaded up the pups and headed to one of our favorite trails along the river. We took a slow 2.5 mile walk, during which Monkey did her very best to undo everything we had done yesterday during her bath. Note the doggie headlocks. They were not at all interested in stopping for photos, but the weather and everything was so nice, I wanted at least one of our little family. Shortly I am headed to the dog shelter. I was very excited when I saw the adoption list this week. One of the "regulars" got adopted out. There is a core group of dogs who are there week in, week out. In this case, the dog who got adopted has been at the shelter for 14 months....finally a happy family for her!! She deserves it, though I will miss seeing her around each week. Anyway, I will leave you with this video of our crazy one from earlier today -

Boulder or Bust

Back in January when they were bidding vacation days, Jesse randomly booked a weekend in July off, which happened to be this weekend. We have both been feeling slightly bored with day to day life recently and decided it would be good for us to have a little change of pace. So, Saturday morning we hopped on the early flight to Denver and then drove out to Boulder for the day with no major plans. We didn't actually take that many photos, and the ones we did take aren't that great, but here are some none the less.

It was hazy when we landed, so you could only see the base of the foothills from the airport. Here we are waiting for the shuttle to go get our rental car.

The drive into Boulder. Skies had cleared, so we had a great view driving in.

Just hanging out...

We went down to Pearl Street Mall (a pretty well known Boulder landmark). They were having an art fair this weekend, so we strolled through that for a bit and then browsed a few shops. We split a yummy lunch of tomato/basil panini and summer berry salad. Of course, Jesse opted to take a photo of me just seconds after I had stuffed my mouth with salad...thus the odd smile.

After Pearl Street Mall, we were both super thirsty and craving smoothies, so we searched for a smoothie shop to no avail, and finally ended up at a little coffee shop. We have tried smoothies at a few different coffee shops, and should know by now...they are always gross or artificial tasting. These were unfortunately no exception and left both of us feeling a bit queasy. Ironically, as we were leaving we noticed a smoothie shop just a few doors down....

Our final stop was at the Boulder Running Company. Jesse found lots of stuff to pine for, but ultimately came away empty-handed. (I got lots of good Christmas and birthday ideas for him though.)

One thing we both loved about the culture in Fort Collins/Loveland was the dog-friendliness of the city. Every third or fourth car would have a dog along for the ride, and nearly every other car had a dog gate installed in it. The store Jesse worked at let dogs come in with their owners, and sometimes they would be running around my work as well, and you would for sure see lots of them laying beneath cafe tables as their owners had lunch or coffee on the weekends. Boulder was no different. We spotted dogs all over the place and logos letting people know their pups can come along for the shopping errands.
Perhaps the only thing that could have made the day better is if we had Horton and Monkey along for the ride. =)

One last mountain pic before it was time to say good bye to Colorado again...

Weekend Happenings

I had started a post over the weekend and never finished it up....so I'll just post some photos and give a quick recap. Jesse and I had an entire day off together on Friday! (Rare with our work schedules.) We went out for lunch and then took the pups for a 3 mile walk/jog which they thoroughly enjoyed. (So did we.) Saturday I walked in a parade for the shelter. (My mom has recently joined me in volunteering there, so she walked in it as well.) Jesse and I skipped fireworks that evening. They are nice, but really, you've seen one show, you've seen them all. Anyway, then came Sunday, where good news was had - one of the dogs who has been at the shelter for about 3 years got adopted! There is a rag tag core group of dogs that are there week in and week out, so it is always so sweet to see one of the "regulars" find a home. In any case, that is the short version of my original intentioned post!