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Family

The Problem Child

2:25 PM Posted In , , Edit This 0 Comments »
Ugh, so Winston has yet ANOTHER ear infection.  He has had so many in the last 2 years that I lost count a long time ago.  I figured it was because he's the runt of the litter and he's just going to be a problem child forever.  I asked a lady at work what she thought because her hubby is a vet and she said he probably has a food allergy.  I would have never thought of that!  She said some dogs have food allergies and will get lots of ear infections, skin rashes, eye infections, etc.  Winston gets all of those things all the time.  She said it may be the corn, wheat, dairy, or something else but switching his food might do the trick.  Cheap dog food (which is what he eats) is high in those crappy ingredients.  So, I picked up some expensive dog food yesterday to see if that does the trick.  If it works then great!  It sucks that it's so expensive but it will probably be cheaper than more vet bills and medications!  Let's hope that does the trick!

Vent Day!

4:46 PM Posted In , , , Edit This 1 Comment »
Don't get me wrong, I love my dogs BUT do they have to follow me everywhere?!  It gets rather annoying.  I get home and they jump all over me and whine because they are happy to see me.  I sit on the couch and guess who has to sit on my lap?  Vader.  I take a shower and guess who sits right in front of the shower waiting for me to get out?  Winston.  I get up to go to the bathroom and guess who has to follow me?  Yes, both of them.  God forbid they miss anything...  Do they do the same thing with Phil?  Nope.  They could care less if Phil leaves or goes downstairs.  They are going to have a rude awakening once Baby K comes and it's no longer all about them!!
Vader


Winston
 

My little wierdo

10:01 AM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »
So the vet called me today to tell me Winston’s test results and everything came back great! Yay! What a relief. She said we still need to watch him and video tape him if his new behavior continues but the test results were normal. She said if it continues he could have a neurological issue we need to look into but after talking to her I’m thinking it’s not neurological. She was talking about how some dogs are obsessive with lights which made me think… A week or so ago I was playing with a light on the ceiling, walls and floor with Winnie (kind of like a laser). He just loved it. She said that some dogs get obsessed with the lights or lasers and even when you’re not playing with them anymore they still try to find the lights. So she is thinking/hoping that he just got obsessed over the light and is still trying to find it. Or if he sees any other random lights (from a car driving by or something like that) he goes after those too. So, we are hoping that’s the case which would mean he’s just obsessive and wierd, but that’s ok. She said we should try to distract him with toys and bones. He gets all the bones he wants but there is a lack of toys in our house right now because he destroys everything in .2 seconds and leaves quite a mess. But it’s better to buy toys and keep the pups happy than not have any because it’s a pain to clean up!

Oh Winnie...

7:37 AM Posted In , Edit This 1 Comment »
So Winston was off to the vet again yesterday for the 6th or 7th time this year. This time he has an eye infection. The vet thinks that all of his problems over the last year are all just rare occurrences, that he’s just been very unlucky and nothing is tied together. The first few times at the vet were normal appointments – he got his checkups, shots and then he got neutered. After he got neutered his balls got infected. After his balls got better then he developed a rash around his “you know what”. Then he got an ear infection (which is common for golden retrievers). And now he has an eye infection which is not common. He’s also acting very strange for the last few days. I’m hoping it’s just because his eyes were infected and he’s seeing things but the vet took blood to run tests to make sure he doesn’t have epilepsy or is having seizures. It’s hard to explain how he’s acting and the vet asked us to video tape it so she can see exactly what he’s doing. Ever since Friday he has been obsessed with the coffee table. He won’t stop sniffing the top of it and he darts his head to the ceiling or the floor and just stares into space. Then sometimes he randomly bites the air – like there is a fly and he’s trying to catch it and he does that over and over again. And he is obsessed – sniffs coffee table, then stares into space (like he’s concentrating on something) then bites at the air. He did this almost ALL day Saturday and Sunday. He doesn’t stop to rest and he doesn’t want to pay any attention to me or Phil. Usually he’s always bugging me to play with him or bugging Vader. But now he’s way too involved with whatever he’s doing to do anything else. He won’t even sit on the couch with me anymore and he always sat on the couch with me. He doesn’t even whine to go outside potty anymore or whine around supper time because he’s hungry. Something has majorly changed and Phil and I are quite worried. We are hoping it’s just something to do with his eye infection – like he’s seeing something because there is crap in his eyes. But the vet thinks it may be epilepsy or that he’s having seizures. Not all dogs have seizures like you would picture. Some will just randomly bite the air repeatedly like they are trying to catch a fly and they will be unresponsive if you try to call them. Winston is sometimes completely unresponsive and other times he will listen but you have to raise your voice. This worries me but the vet also mentioned that it could be a new puppy thing that he’s doing and there could be nothing wrong – which is why she wants to see a video. But she was worried because it’s a dramatic change from his usual personality. I won’t hear back on the blood results until tomorrow. I’m just crossing my fingers and hoping that nothing is majorly wrong. He’s my baby!

Winston's little adventure

8:32 AM Posted In , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
Winston decided to scare his mother half to death Sunday afternoon. And the story goes… Phil wanted to go over to the farm to shoot his gun (you can’t shoot a rifle where we live) and he wanted me to go with. So, I figured since we were going to the farm I’d bring Winston like I always do. Then he can play with his brother! On our way to the farm Justen said that there were already a bunch of guys out there shooting. We pulled up, got out of the car and walked about half way over to where everyone was and then the first gun shot went off – Winston was gone in an instant. Tail between his legs, scared and gone. I figured he just ran up to the house so I didn’t go searching for him immediately. About 5 minutes later after I said hello to the boys I went to go find him to put him in the shop with his brother. I could not find him anywhere. I walked the entire farm a few times and went in every shed/barn that he would be able to go into and nothing. At this point I was pretty ticked at him but I figured he wasn’t far away. So I drove over to the neighbor’s house almost right across the road and they said they hadn’t seen him but they’d help look. We then went to the other neighbor’s house and didn’t see him there either. A few minutes later we had 5 or 6 cars driving around the section looking for Winston. After about an hour I started to panic. My worst thoughts were that some weirdo saw him trotting down the road and picked him up and decided just to take him home. I had a feeling though that he wasn’t taking the roads and that he headed straight in the opposite direction of the guns. The opposite direction is a field and then about a mile up are some woods. And guess where we found him, hours later – in the woods covered in mud. Man I was happy to see him! I even let him jump on me and get me all muddy. We have come to the conclusion that even though golden retrievers are hunting dogs, Winston is not. I’m so thankful for having such great neighbors and friends to help us look for him. If it weren’t for them we would have never found him in the woods. :)

2011

8:37 AM Posted In , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
*WARNING: Long Post!* I’m slightly late on this post but better late than never! Another year has ended. 2011 brought many more positives for me than negatives and turned out to be a pretty great year. Here are my highlights and lowlights of 2011:

January
*We started the New Year off at my house with friends.

* Vader’s 3rd birthday was January 4th. Since I’m late on this post and it’s now 2012 he just turned 4 the other day! Seems like just yesterday his momma was trying to give birth to him on our bedroom floor and had to be rushed to the vet to have a c-section. I love my little Vader very much!

*I started painting the house at the farm. This was a difficult task emotionally but I think it helped me to work through some things. At first it was hard to be there but after the many many hours spent painting and working on the yard it became easier and started to be more positive - filled with lots of good memories instead of just bad ones.

*I started wedding dress shopping. I met up with my bridesmaids and we went to David’s Bridal and then went out for dinner afterwards. I didn’t end up finding “the dress” but had fun trying on tons of different styles.

February
*I had an appointment at the Wedding Shoppe on Grand and found “the dress”! This was exciting because I had 3 of my bridesmaids with me and my two aunts. After buying the dress I went out for dinner with my aunts to catch up on life.

*Winston came into my life! After Phil and I finally closed on our house I started the hunt for a golden retriever puppy. I finally found one a few hours away and I called my brother up to see if he wanted one too (since he said he wanted another one someday). To my surprise he said yes and we went together to pick out our pups. I immediately was drawn to Winston and in less than a second I said dibs! I love my Winnie Winston so much (even though he’s naughty sometimes)!

*February was also a sad month. My Grandpa’s wife, Barb, passed away after fighting cancer. She was a fantastic lady and I will forever miss her. My poor Grandpa is lonely and sad after losing his first wife about 8 years prior and now losing Barb. But he is one of the strongest people I know!

March
*I started the month off getting my wisdom teeth pulled. Not the most favorable thing but it wasn’t that bad. The worst part was eating soft food for a few days.

April
*We started our yard demolition. My brother and a buddy of my dad’s came out and re-did our entire lawn. They had to till it up, rack it, level it and seed it.

*We had our food tasting for the wedding and decided on lemon chicken and pork loin.

*I bought my Honda Pilot! I love love love this car. The only bad thing was after a few weeks of owning it I realized that the AC didn’t work so I had to go get that fixed.

May
*100 mile garage sale with the girls. I didn’t really find anything great. I just enjoyed the time I had with my lady friends.

June
*Started working on the garden at the farm. The start of many hours/days of work I put into it with the help of my aunt, friends and family. By the time the wedding came around it was beautiful and I was very proud of myself!
I never got a "done" picture but here is close to done picture of part of the garden:

*I had my first dress fitting.

*Phil’s sister and her husband came to town from Portland and we went to see them at the Tourville pig roast.

*Met with the florist and picked out the flowers for the wedding. Another check off my long wedding to-do list!

*Phil and I had our engagement pictures taken by a friend who was in our wedding.

July
*Phil and I went and saw Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon. This is on my list because Transformers is one of my favorite movies! I’d say it was my 2nd favorite out of the 3 so far.

*Went tubing down the Apple River with a bunch of friends. Good times, good times.

*Phil and I went to the Stillwater fireworks with our friends Josh and Lynsie. This is the second year in a row we did this together. We went out for dinner and then watched the show. I remember it was hot hot hot that day and we were sweating our balls off.

*Phil and I went shopping for Phil’s wedding ring. He made it easy for me and we only made one stop at the Shane Co. and within a few minutes he picked it out! Easy-peasy.

*My friend Lynsie had her bachelorette party and bridal shower. The bachelorette party was on a boat and then we went out to the bars afterwards. Good times, good times.

*Started building the deck. And it’s still not finished…

August
*My bachelorette party. We got a hotel downtown Minneapolis and walked to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and then bar hopped for the rest of the night. Good times, good times. :)

*The day before my bachelorette party I sold my Honda Civic. I was glad to get rid of the little go-cart!

*Phil and I went to the courthouse and got our marriage license. So exciting!

*Two of my very best friends, Josh and Lynsie got married on August 20th and I was so happy to be a part of it! Their wedding was perfect (except for the fact that I had bronchitis – but I still managed to have a real good time at the reception).

*I attended my bridal shower. My aunts threw it together for me and it was a small gathering at my aunt’s house in Stillwater.

*The law firm I work for puts on a summer outing for us every year and this year we went to a Saint’s game. This was my first experience at a Saints game and it was pretty fun. We had a little “tailgate” party before the game and then watched the Saints kick the other teams’ butts.

September
*Sad news first - Phil’s Grandpa Louie died after battling cancer. :(

*Back to good news - Phil had his bachelor party with his boys. I think they had a bbq at his friend, Scott’s house and then went bar hopping and then ended up at our house playing video games.

*The day before our wedding we had our rehearsal dinner at the farm. We just had a small get together of the wedding party, ran through it a few times and then had a bbq.

*Phil and I got married on September 16th! Everything was perfect (well, the weather could have been a little bit warmer but it could have been worse). Best day of my life thus far!

*Phil and I went on our honeymoon. We went to Orlando, FL and went to all the 4 main theme parks. It was hot, hot, hot down in Florida and we spent the majority of every day walking! My calves were rock solid by the time we came home! As much as I love a good vacation I also love coming home. Mostly because I missed my puppies and also wanted to eat like normal again. I was so sick of eating out.

October
*Finally got to changing my name. It was really weird leaving the Walton name behind. I still miss it from time to time and catch myself writing it down. It’s funny because most people who try to say my new last name can’t say it right. It’s kind of annoying to have to spell it for everyone. Oh well, right?

*My 26th birthday was on October 31st. We had a low key evening. Went to Applebees for some apps and then downtown for the bars. Good times.

*Coldplay came out with a new CD – Mylo Xyloto. Coldplay is by far my favorite band so I was quite excited when their new CD came out and it is awesome. However, atm I’m not too happy with Coldplay. They are only coming to about 17ish US cities in their 2012 concert tour and I can’t go to the only one nearby because I have a wedding that day. I’m totally bummed and I’m mad at them for not coming to Milwaukee!

November
*I went to see the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 with my Monday crew girls. We went out for a little dinner and then went to see the movie. This was my favorite movie thus far from the Twilight Saga. They keep getting better and better!

*Black Friday – one of my favorite times of the year! This year we started at midnight and went until 8 a.m. and I’d do it again!

December
*December started off with an office Christmas party at Luna Rosa. It has only snowed a few times so far this winter and Mother Nature decided to pour on the snow that night. Oh well, we made it to Stillwater and back alive.

*The Monday crew decided to do a “Thanksmas”. It’s a little get together between Thanksviging and Christmas – just eat a good dinner, hang out and play games.

*Winston’s 1st birthday was on Christmas Eve. What a great birthday!

*This year I decided to go to Brainerd to spend Christmas with my mom’s side of the family. The last two years I stayed home. The reason being is that it’s a 3 hour drive there and that usually means that I have to skip Christmas with my dad’s side and Christmas with Phil’s side.

*To celebrate x-mas with my Monday crew we decided to do something different this year. We usually make dinner or go out to eat and do Secret Santa. But this year we decided to go to Acme Comedy Club for dinner and a show. It was a lot of fun and my face hurt from laughing by the time we left.

Plans, hopes and dreams for 2012:
*I am hoping to have a baby sometime in 2012 or at least be pregnant.

*Phil and I are thinking about going to Arizona in March (at the same time as my brother & girlfriend) to visit my grandpa and get out of the cold for a few days.

*I’m looking forward to having at least two more nieces or nephews (hopefully more).

*Phil’s sister is getting married this summer (not sure on the date yet) but we will be going to Portland at some point this summer! We are actually thinking about a road trip out there... :)

Random Topic Day

12:53 PM Posted In , , , , , , , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
Last night I was sitting on the couch watching Bones (trying to catch up on the episodes I’ve missed) and I see a hole on the corner of the couch and the corner is soaked with slobber. It’s only about the size of a quarter but it’s a hole with stuffing about to come out. I was just pissed. This is the second hole in our couch in the last week and Winston is on my shit list. We got these couches about 5 years ago but they are still really nice couches and I don’t want any more holes. So from now on Winston is no longer trusted outside his kennel without anybody home or even if we aren’t in the room. He goes in his kennel when we are sleeping, when I’m showering and getting ready for work, when we are downstairs (since he isn’t allowed downstairs) or when we aren’t home. Hopefully he will learn his lesson darn fast. I’m so sick and tired of him being a puppy. I can take the holes in the yard from his digging. I can take the stuffing all over the house from when he rips apart his dog bed or a toy. I can take him getting into the toilet and garbages. What I can’t take is him ripping apart our couch. I love that dog but he is sure testing my patience.

Next topic. I’d love to get Vader fully potty trained. When I’m home he knows he needs to pee outside and he is a good boy and always lets me know that he wants out. When I’m not home it’s a different story. Apparently he can’t hold his bladder the 8 hours a day nobody is home – or he just doesn’t care. He also goes on the carpet sometimes at night. I know that the best way to fix this is to crate train him while we aren’t home and while we sleep but Phil says he won’t allow it. Things will need to change! I’m sick of cleaning up the house when I get home every day. Ugh, I’m so sick and tired of cleaning up after 4 animals!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next topic. Black Friday is this weekend. I’m more excited for Black Friday than I am for Thanksgiving. I’ve been more excited for BF over Thanksgiving for the last few years. Thanksgiving is no longer the same. I don’t really want to go into my reasons because it is just depressing and who wants to get depressed during the holidays. BF will be different this year. All the stores are opening up at midnight instead of 5 or 6 a.m. This kind of sucks but we are still going to do it! We (Jewells, Loin and I) are starting at midnight and will go until about 7-7:30 a.m. We are going to be dead tired by morning! I’m the lucky one I guess because I can go home and take a nap. Jewells has to go home to a baby and Loin has to work. But it will be worth it. Hopefully we will get some good stuff at good prices! I’m sure I’ll blog about it at a later date and let you know what kind of goods I find.

Next topic. I’ve been sick for a week now. Started out with a horrible sore throat and a pounding headache and now I’ve got a runny nose and keep getting stuffed up. Not fair. I’ve been sick more in the last 2 years then in the last 10 years put together! I was even sick 2 ½ months ago with bronchitis and now I’ve got a stupid cold?! WTF my body hates me. My body has also decided to be a jerk and instead of my periods lasting 6-7 days like they did on birth control, they now last 9-10 days. Too much information, I know but I just had to say it because it sucks.

Next topic. My brother shot a deer a sent me a picture of him with the deer. The picture is the exact replica of a picture I have of my dad taken a few years ago. They are both holding the deer’s head up in the box of the truck with the same shit grin on their face and the same unshaven face. The only difference in the pictures are that Justen’s hair is blonde and my dad’s was black and Justen doesn’t have a beer gut like my dad did. Other than that, he is his father’s son through and through. I wish I had the pictures to show you how exactly the same they are. Breaks my heart.

Weird Question

9:22 AM Posted In , , Edit This 0 Comments »
Do dogs act out just like children when they don’t get what they want?

This morning I noticed the corner of the pillow was chewed up. I initially blamed the cat since it was such a small hole and she likes to chew on the edge of things. It irked me but I blew it off and went to take a shower. After I got out of the shower I opened the bedroom door and let the dogs come in and hang with me while I got ready (like I do every morning). I was in the bathroom doing my routine and looked into the bedroom to find this:


What a naughty dog! At first I couldn’t’ tell what it was but then I realized it was Winston’s bed and he is totally excited and chewing it to shreds. He hasn’t done this in a long, long time. We were even thinking that he has outgrown all of this bad behavior and were going to wean him off his kennel (he goes in his kennel while we are at work and at night). Guess not yet.

After walking out to the kitchen for breakfast I found an even bigger mess of fluff:


So, why do I ask if he is acting out? Well, he went to the vet on Monday for his rash and they told us that he is overweight. So, we have to start feeding him only 3 cups of food a day. I’m pretty sure we were feeding him twice that amount. So the poor little guy thinks he is starving. Another reason why I think he is acting out is because he has to be on antibiotics for three weeks. He gets two pills in the morning and two at night. We have tried everything to make him eat his pills w/out spitting them out. We’ve put them in his food, put peanut butter on them, bread, sandwich meat, etc. He eats the good stuff and then spits the pills back out. So I literally have to open his mouth and cram them down his throat until he is gagging and then hold his mouth shut until he swallows. So anyways, I think he is mad at us for withholding his food and shoving pills down his throat and that’s why he is acting out. This naughty stage better end quickly!

Wedding and poop

8:21 AM Posted In , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
I just got an email notifying me that my new Excel bill is ready and the due date is after the wedding! That’s just crazy. I can’t believe we only have two weeks left. Which also means that summer is basically over. This Friday is our last ½ day Friday at work. I’m going to take advantage of this and run a bunch of errands after work. I want to get as much errands out of the way as I can so I’m not running around like a madman the day before the wedding. There are a bunch of small things that I need to buy for the wedding and a few “thank-you” gifts. Other than these small details I’m am pretty much ready for the wedding! The only thing that is really stressing me out at the moment is the weather, fitting into my dress and getting everyone’s rsvp cards back – we are still missing about 35 people. Not bad since my last update was 49 people missing. So, I can’t do anything about the weather except hope for a nice sunny day. I started up my 30-day shred again so hopefully that will help me fit into my dress and I’m trying to eat better until the wedding is over. That means more chicken and veggies and no more ice cream! I gave a list of people for Rita to call since most of the missing people are from her side of the family and I’ve only got a few people that I need to call. Other than that, we are practically ready! We should get our marriage license in the mail tomorrow or Friday and then I can send that in along with our ceremony to the officiant. Then I’m meeting with the photographer next week, getting my hair cut and dyed next week and having the hair trial the week of the wedding. The next two weeks will be busy!

Off wedding talk – I came home after work yesterday and I didn’t realize that I would need a hazmat suit… Phil usually gets home before me but he went to the hospital instead to visit his grandpa. I bet he is glad he did because poor Winston had an accident in his kennel. Let’s just say he needed a very good scrub and his bed and his large bone were not able to be saved. Poor Winnie. I wonder how long he had to lie in his own poop, his own very large, very smelly poop. :`(

Yellow Balls

6:41 AM Posted In Edit This 3 Comments »
Yesterday morning when I woke up I looked at Winston’s “special area” to make sure everything was looking okay and his balls looked yellow and they sure didn’t look like that the night before! I instantly knew that that wasn’t normal. I took a picture of it but I’ll save you from having to see it – it’s pretty gross. He was also acting weird – all depressed and mopy, didn’t want to do anything but sit or lay down and he panicked when he had to pee or poop. So I called the vet right away and the technician said it sounded like he had an infection and he should probably come in but she would have the vet who did the surgery call me back and tell me what to do. So I went to work and a little while later she called and said she wants to see him and that she is sure he has an infection. So, we made an appointment for that afternoon. The vet was surprised to see how bad it was and gave us two different antibiotics, more pain pills and a topical spray to spray on his balls. She said that she is glad we didn’t wait any longer to bring him in because they would have had to do surgery again to get the puss out of there, etc. They also gave us a different thing to put around his neck to protect him from licking, which looked like a life jacket because he kept scraping his balls with his cone. I asked if he would be able to still lick his balls with the life jacket looking thing and she said she would be very surprised if he could. While at the vet, he didn’t try to lick them but right when we get home, lo and behold, he could reach his balls… dammit. So we had to put the cone back on and tape the edges so they weren’t so rough in case he decided to scrap his balls again while trying to get to them. I feel so bad for my Winnie Winston! He has to take these meds and wear his cone for 7-10 days. I can’t wait for him to be back to his normal self. It breaks my heart to hear him cry.

My Cone Head

6:46 AM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »
Last night I was driving to New Richmond after work to go pick up Winston. It was 101 degrees outside and the same inside my car since I have no air conditioning. I made it to Roberts and then decided that if I could barely handle the heat - how is Winston going to handle the heat after he had just had surgery? So, I called Phil and asked him to meet me at the vet so we could bring Winston home in the Civic w/air conditioning. My poor baby looked so tired but he was happy to see us! He had an allergic reaction to the stuff they used to wash his surgical area and now his balls are bright red. Poor Winston. He gets to wear a cone on his head for a whole week because he is a licker. Even with the cone on his head he still tries to lick his balls. Silly boy. I felt like a horrible mother leaving him to go to work today. He is only happy when Phil or I am petting him or talking to him. Otherwise he starts to whine. :( My little cone head…

My Winston

8:15 AM Posted In , Edit This 0 Comments »
My Winny Winston is at the vet today to get his manhood chopped off! When I left this morning, I said goodbye to him and I started tearing up. I know, I know… it is just a dog. But he is my baby!! I’m worried about how he is going to do and I’m going to miss him. It will be weird going home and not having him there and then waking up tomorrow morning and not having him there… :( I can’t wait until Tuesday at 5:00 when I get to go pick him up!! Phil just got him to the vet and he is weighing in at 58 lbs! My big boy. :-)

Let's get shit done!

8:29 AM Posted In , , , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
I’ve been in a “get shit done” mode for the last few weeks and it has really been paying off. I’m exhausted because there has been little relaxation involved, but things are getting done and are making me feel less stressed about everything going on. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very stressed out and I don’t see how everything can get done before the end of summer & before the wedding – but the more I check off my list the easier it gets.

This weekend started off with painting the dining room at the farm. I’m kind of jealous because it turned out really good and I love love love the color! After I finished painting I did a little bit of weeding and planning with the garden. I’m excited to really get started on it! While I was there, Justen and Ashley were cleaning up the farm (getting rid of scrap metal, trimming around the trees, etc). Apparently he has big plans for the farm before the wedding. He wants to turn the office into a bathroom, take down a few trees and he wants to tear down two buildings and bury them. Hopefully he can get that all done before September! After spending half the day at the farm I went home and spent a few hours cleaning the house and cutting out fabric flowers for the wedding.

Saturday I spent the majority of the day cleaning/organizing and running the dogs to and from the groomer. I took a little break when Phil got home from work and then we left to go to Josh & Loin’s house for a bonfire for Joshua’s birthday. It was a good time! It felt good to get out and have a few drinks with my friends. :-)

The next day Phil and I slowly woke up (since we were up til 3 a.m. the night before) and finished the underground fence for the dog. We got it all done and went to grab the collar to test it out to make sure everything was working before completely burring the wire and we couldn’t find the collar. Cool…. Phil misplaces EVERYTHING and now it’s lost. :-( So, we can’t start training Winston quite yet but it’s done. If we can’t find the collar Phil gets to buy a new one. After that we decided we needed a break so we went out for dinner at Chipotle (my favorite!), then had a little desert at Mc D’s and then went to see the Hangover II. The movie was funny, however, it was an exact replica of the first one so it was obvious what was going to happen.

Then Monday came (the last day of vaca!!) and we spent the day running errands. I bought my first tree for our yard!!! I’m overly excited about it. It’s just a tree… but it’s our first tree in our new house! It’s so cute! So after running errands we got home, planted our new tree and Phil started power washing the front of our house/deck while I cleaned and did laundry. All-in-all - very busy weekend.

Over the next few days Phil and I have plans to finish power washing the front of the house, clean/organize the garage, seed/fertilize our yard and take on the big job of shoveling up all the pebble rock from the front walk-way and put it in the back of the house where the deck is going and then re-do the entire front walk-way. Ugh… now that is going to be quite a large job and will take a few days… not looking forward to the work but it will be nice once it’s done.

That is all.

This & That

7:40 AM Posted In , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
Lots of random tidbits….

I brought Winston over to the farm last night to play with his brother, Mister. Mister is h.u.g.e! I weighed Winston the other day because I was curious to see how much of a lard ass he is and he is 35 pounds and is only 15 weeks old! Mister is probably 40-45 pounds and he plays rough. I think I need to bring him over more often because Winston needs to man up! He is used to playing with a 6 lb yorkie and a small cat. Maybe Winston needs a brother his size in the house … Right Phil? ;) ;) haha, jk... kinda.

Wedding planning… well, I haven’t done much lately. I should be finishing up the guest list and finding someone to marry us rather soon. Both are on my list to get done by the end of next weekend. Crossing my fingers that I actually do it by the end of next weekend but instead I will probably put it off again. I hate the guest list part. We also need to figure out our times for the ceremony, drinks & dinner and then do the food tasting soon so Rachel (Phil’s sis) can get started on the wedding invites and RSVP cards. Since she is screen-printing them all herself it is going to take time and she wants them done by June when she comes to town.

I just checked on my dress yesterday (via email). The lady told me she has been working on it in between projects and that it probably won’t be done until the beginning of June since she has a whole wedding party she is sewing for in May. Waiting until June is no biggie. I’m just getting a little anxious to see how it looks when it actually fits me! I hope I still love it as much as I did when I tried it on at the Wedding Shoppe!

There are lots of projects that are going to be going on at our house this summer. My brother and his buddy are putting in our deck sometime in May/June (whenever they have time basically). I can’t wait to be able to walk out our patio door and sit out on the deck w/a beer and enjoy the summer! Unfortunately, we are also tearing up our entire yard within the next month or two as well. Our front yard is horrible. It is bumpy and does not consist of real grass, just field grass. We also have a gopher problem so there is probably 15-20 mounds of fresh dirt in our front yard, which Justen said his buddy could take care of for us. I’m kinda embarrassed about it so we are going to fix it. One of my dad’s good friends is going to come check it out and tell me how much it will cost. Justen said he would do a lot of the work so that will cut down on the cost. I’m just really not looking forward to having dirt/mud as a front yard until the grass grows. Once the yard is dug up we are going to put in an underground fence for Winston. Then he can roam the yard and I don’t have to worry about him running away or getting hit by a car. He loves to be outside and he doesn’t always like to listen. In fact, he likes to play the “come get me game”. He will run up to me and once he gets about 2 feet from me he darts in the other direction with a big smile on his face and expects me to run after him.

Wanda turned over to 111,111 miles last night on my drive home from work. She is getting so old! Phil and I are going car shopping at the end of the month and if I’m lucky I’ll be driving home my new (used) Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander! I can’t stinkin wait to get my new car.



Well, that's all for now. Until next time.

Dear Winston

11:13 AM Posted In Edit This 0 Comments »


Dear Winston:

I would appreciate it if you would let me sleep in until at least 6:15 a.m. during the week and until at least 7:30 a.m. on the weekends. Waking me up at 5:45 on the dot every morning makes your mother very crabby. I don’t feel like I’m asking for much. I don’t mind getting up a ½ hour early to play with you each morning but an hour… come on. If you’re a good boy then maybe I’ll take you for a walk/jog in the morning once it gets nice outside. :)

Love,

Mom.

Best buds

11:36 AM Posted In , Edit This 2 Comments »


Alright, I know that all I blog about lately is Winston - but who couldn't! He is just too damn cute for his own good. I have had Winston's brother, Mister, over at our house since Monday. They have basically been inseparable since Mister came over. Mister is the bigger pup and as the older, larger sibling I think that Mister thinks that he needs to teach Winston how to get into trouble. Since he has come to stay he has taught Winston new places in the yard to go (out of my sight of course) and new things to chew on (like the bushes). I'm not very happy about him chewing on the bushes since we only have a few. The few bushes are the ONLY living things in our yard - we have no trees. So, I would like to keep what we have! Mister has also taught Winston to go under the bed to play. This will be bad some day in the near future when he gets stuck because he is just too big to go under there. I'm not quite sure how he fits now! All-in-all it has been fun having Mister stay with us. The only problem is having to clean up after two puppies instead of just one. Winston and I will sure miss Mister when he leaves this weekend! But Phil, Asterix, Vader and Precious will all be happier once he is gone.

Winston

11:49 AM Posted In , Edit This 0 Comments »
I know, I know… I haven’t blogged in a LONG time…. I’ve been stuck in a “down in the dumps” rut and I’m ready to get out of it. So, I’ll start by blogging about the new member of our family. Last Friday my brother and I drove to Kenyon, MN to pick up our new babies! Meet Winston :)







I love, love, love him! I think he is the sweetest, most adorable thing on the planet! He is such a good boy too! He loves to be outside and play in the snow so it’s a good thing we got him when it started to de-thaw outside! Precious isn't too fond of him but I think Vader likes him. He just doesn't like the fact that he doesn't get all the attention anymore. Winston loves Asterix, but she doesn't love him back quite yet. I think she facinates him. So, like I was saying before I started rambling on about how cute my puppy is, my brother got a new pup too. His name is Mister. How cute is that! He named the dog for my dad. My dad would ALWAYS call everyone mister or misty. When one of his buddies would walk in the shop, the first thing he would say was “Hey misterrrr!!” Guess you would have to know my dad to see the humor in it. Anyways, Winston and Mister will have many play dates so they remember each other. They had their first play date on Wednesday. Justen and I had to go to a funeral and so I brought Winston with me on my way to pick up Justen. They got to play together all morning. :) Then on Monday I’m going to pick Mister up and he is going to stay at our house for 5 or 6 days (shh, I haven’t told Phil yet :-/). Justen is going to AZ to help my grandpa out so I said I’d watch his baby. Our house will be a zoo and I love it. :)

Winston

8:28 AM Posted In , Edit This 1 Comment »
Well, now that we have finally closed on the house I get to start looking for “Winston”!! I’m so stinkin excited! I’m going to slowly start my search and then hard core search once we hit spring if I haven’t found him by then. It is tempting to wait until spring to get him just because it would be much easier potty training him when it’s not so freezing outside. But I also want him now!!! My future Winston:


Aren't they just the cutest things you have ever seen!!!!


Still waiting

9:47 AM Posted In , , , , Edit This 0 Comments »
Well we were supposed to hear back about the house by Wednesday and we have not. I wasn’t horribly disappointed that we didn’t hear back by Wednesday because I know that since it is a short sale, the process takes much longer than usual (sometimes up to 6 months!). We were forewarned that even though we asked for the acceptance date to be a week after our offer was submitted, we probably wouldn’t hear back by then. We do however know that things are moving forward. We know that the owner of the house has accepted our offer. The bank has also forwarded us more documents to sign as well that protect them. So right now we just wait.

It has been very hard to wait! I need to call my landlord about us moving out but I don’t know for sure when that will be so I’m delaying in calling him. However, they need to know at least 30 days in advance so I need to call them soon but I don’t have any sort of answer yet! I guess I just need to hope that they will be open about the move-out time.

There are a ton of things that we need to do and we can’t until we know we are for sure getting the house. We need to buy a lot of expensive things that are necessary for the house. The house doesn’t have a washer and dryer, we need a lawn mower and we just found out the other day that the current owner’s brother took the fridge. Those are probably the only things that we will need right when we move in but those are four very expensive items!

Another thing that has made it very hard to wait is that I want to start packing! I love moving!!! I get to go through all of my stuff and throw away things that I don’t use/need any more. Unpacking all your stuff in a new house is an amazing feeling! You get to start fresh!

A few of the things I am most looking forward to: (1) getting Winston (golden retriever puppy), (2) getting a porch swing; (3) getting a decent grill and being able to grill out during the summer, (4) being able to paint the walls, (5) being able to have both of us park in a garage so I don’t have to park in the street anymore; and (6) going home to something that is mine!

Birthday wishes...

10:45 AM Posted In , Edit This 3 Comments »
Oh Winston, how I long for you.... Don't worry, someday I'll have you. Maybe for my birthday ;)
;) ;) And daddy will grow to love you, I know he will!
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