Lots of new things

Let's see - there have been a few new things that have been going on around here, so I'm going to do them in high quality bullet fashion because it's my blog and I can :)

• My husband's younger brother got married two weeks ago and it was a blast! We traveled about 2 hours away to the town where his wife was raised. They had a gorgeous ceremony and a fantastic reception. We were able to see some of Caleb's family, including his grandparents and great-aunt and uncle. This may not seem like a big feat; however, Caleb's father is one of 11 children. That's 11 aunts/uncles plus spouses, children, THEIR spouses and children....it's a lot of Scotts! The first time I ever met Caleb's extended family (his immediate family is good sized, too! 2 brothers, each with a wife and one has 3 children, a younger sister and parents!), it was Thanksgiving 2006 and they were having it at the local Boy Scout's hall because it was the biggest area that we could all fit in. At his grandfather's birthday celebration last week, there was 75 + of us and that wasn't everyone! We counted once, and came up with nearly 100 people...

• At said wedding, my 2-almost 3 year old nephew found my camera absolutely fascinating. He was taking pictures all over the place at the reception and wedding. He was trying to take a picture of Grandma and Bumpa (Grandpa) Scott...instead, he got lovely side view of my chest. Oh yes, it's hilarious. Oh no, it won't be posted :) My sister-in-law (his mom) and my other sister-in-law's boyfriend couldn't stop laughing. It was rather humorous.

• I posted about Ebony's haircut...or at least, I tried. But blogger ate it. Hardcore, complete with burps. Riiiight, but that's how I imagined it. And hey, I have a good imagination. Anyway, Ebony got a haircut. Twice in two days. The first time, the lady cut her hair much shorter than I had anticipated. (Thank goodness it's summer and hot!) It wasn't that her haircut was bad, just very short. Ebony is a flat-coated retriever and has extremely long hair, similiar to a golden retriever. So she has the long hair *feathering* on her legs and tail.
  Or at least she did.
  After her first hair cut, she resembled a black lab - VERY short hair. Except for her tail. Her tail still had the feathering and she looked.....ridiculous.

• So I took her back the next day and asked the woman if she could please shave her tail, too. The lady looked at Ebony and said, "You want her to have a rat tail?" Yes, please. At least her entire body will have short hair! That was almost a month and a half ago, so it's starting to grow out but I'm pretty sure that the dogs we met on our nightly walks snickered at her as we sauntered by. I didn't mean to give her a complex!

• Piper and Ebony have been worn out by many-a-small-child over the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, one of my former students and her younger sister came over and spent the night at "Miss Amanda and Mr. Caleb's" house. Their parents just got divorced about 6 months ago and I feel like sometimes the mom (with whom I've become very close to) and the girls just need some fun, alone time. So, the girls came here and mom got to relax. Ebony and Piper, however, did not get to relax. The girls, L and I, were insistent upon continually throwing Ebony's toys to her and playing with the laser pointer. They were all exhausted and slept well the first night :)

• This past weekend, my best friend Emily and her family came to visit. Emily and her husband, Matt came with their two children, Grace and Elijah *Eli*. Eli LOVED the dog and cat and crawled his fastest to get to them to squeal in their faces and make a break for trying to get a fistful of hair before an adult could stop it. He was in heaven! And I have to say that the furry ones did an AMAZING job with a baby in the house (He just turned 1). He was also enamored with the fish.

• His 2-almost 3 year old sister was NOT in heaven when it came to the dog. She screamed bloody murder and literally jumped into the arms of whomever was closest to her when the dog started to trot towards her. She was constantly looking around to see where Ebbie was and how much distance was between her and the dog. IF the dog was blocked off (either by a baby gate or if the dog was in her kennel), then she was okay. She would gingerly put a finger or two to pet the dog on the head and then quickly retract her arm. The "TITTY TAT" however, was a hit. Grace was constantly chasing Piper around, playing with her and only got upset once when Piper batted at her (with her no-claws front paw) because Grace petted her stomach (Piper will NOT stand for ANYONE to touch her fatty belly!).

• Other than the animals and kids, the day went well. Matt's dad and brothers own a deck care business in Holland, MI, so Matt offered to bring his power washer to clean off our deck. It looks amazing now and we hope that we can afford to sandpaper it and stain it -maybe this weekend!
  

• This is how Ebony and Piper relaxed after two weekends filled with kids:

• On the job front: I am going to be teaching Pre-School at the daycare where I taught Kindergarten for the last two years. I am also going to find out if I can go back to school to get my Early Childhood Endorsement and look at my options for my masters. I did have an interview for a "real" teaching job at a local Catholic elementary school but I didn't get it. So after some quick praying, crying and thinking, I decided to go back to the daycare. I considered just subbing; however, the pay isn't guaranteed and right now, that's something that we can't have.
  

I think that's it :) We have been busy busy and it will only get busier over the next week. I have 4 days to get in to my room and get it ready for my kids. I'm going over tomorrow to see if I can get a class list so I can get some things done. Today? Doing dishes, calling the places I was going to sub at, call the former pre-school teacher to see if we can meet and a few other things.

Happy Monday!

Fish and dogs

I tried to do a *huge* post about Ebony's new hair-do but blogger ate it.

I'll try again another day.

In other animal news, Ebony and Piper both went to the vet and are doing well. Ebony got her second Lymes booster and Piper had her weigh-in. Piper, back in January, was obese. A chunky-monkey (her new nickname)10.9 pound not-quite-year-old kitten! We switched her to indoor adult formula, which has helped a lot. She's now at 9.3 and could stand to loose another pound. We're trying to exercise her with a laser pointer, which she LOVES!! So does Ebony and provides entertainment for us as well. There was a mass amount of owners and animals at check-out and I just realized that I never got the information as to when Eb is supposed to go back for her last shot in the Lymes booster series...Hrm....

Our tadpole, Clyde, is still a tadpole; however his face/head region is starting to look thinner and pointy, which is what Bonnie's face did. We'll have to see. One-eyed Melvin is now "No-Eyed Melvin". My sister was over for dinner the other night and was mentioning how Melvin eats better/looks for food better than Howie the Owie and Melvin has (had) only 1 eye. As we are talking and whatnot, this is what transpired:

Me: Melvin has Sirius to help him forage for food but even still..Howie is just wimpy.
S: Melvin does so much better with only one eye!
*As she is saying this, she went over to the tank to look*
S: Amanda, Melvin's eye is gone!
Me: What?!
S: Yeah, there's nothing there.

True enough, Melvin's eye is gone and he's now No-Eyed Melvin. We're not sure if he is blind or not; he comes up to the surface when I turn on the light to feed and sucks up rocks to find food...

We've got quite the crew!

Death and Life

God has been trying to show me something lately, but I'm not sure what exactly.

Yesterday, I found out that a college acquaintance lost her husband to a nasty (but reverently fought) battle with pneumonia and complications from that. He was, I believe, the same age as us. They have a little guy, Andersen who was born in December and just lost his daddy. I know that his mommy will do everything in her power to make sure that he knows who his dad was and what a strong man he was, fighting to stay alive.

"Not feeling his heartbeat under my head is the worst pain I have ever felt"
I can't even begin to imagine the pain and anguish she and the families are feelings

Why, Lord, must You take away? Alan was such a great man, loving husband and father. Why did you have take the babies away from us and all the other families that have had to trudge through the pain and heart-wrenching feeling of losing your child?

Then He does an amazing act of love and gives Alaina, Colby and Breslin (and family and friends) a new and wonderful healthy baby girl, Dhalia.

I'm so incredibly happy for the Sharp family but in the back of my mind, I think,

: why not us?:

Is that greedy or unloving to think that? I don't know but I know that my husband and I are aching for a baby. And answers as to why we lost the first two pregnancies. We did everything right, followed doctor's orders, only to hear, "I'm sorry, but the baby didn't make it".

Ijust.don't.get.it.

Jiminy Cricket!

Bonnie and Clyde (and my camera strap)

So, I'm a sucker for animals. That's how I ultimately got Ebony *although really, it was my doctor who told me a dog would do me some good while I underwent chemo....* and Piper *Caleb wanted to leaver her outside in the rain! Thankfully, our neighbors kept her until I could convince Caleb that he really wanted a cute kitten*.

Now, I've acquired 3 fish (I bought them and they're great fun and entertainment for Piper) and 2 frogs. Yes, frogs. Rib-bit. Our preschool teacher had purchased 2 tadpoles as part of her life cycle unit (which fit nicely into the Kindergarten frog and butterfly life cycle units....). At the end of the school year, she asked me if I wanted to take them home. She was going to leave them at the center, but decided to ask me first. When I came home with the tadpoles, Caleb was thrilled, let.me.tell.you.what!
After having the tadpoles in our house for about a week, the larger of the two began to grow her back legs and thus, she became a frog-let. The manual said the larger one is a girl and the smaller one, a boy. It assures the owner that reproduction cannot occur under the environment that the frogs are in; however, knowing my luck... I named them Bonnie and Clyde. Why? Because I can. :)

Anyway, I digress. So I had a frog-let and a tadpole. At this point, the froglet doesn't eat anything as it absorbs it's tail and uses that for nutrients. The tadpole, however, receives a tiny bit of a "tadpole food pellet", something that resembles fish food sticks but much bigger and stinkier. So I feed the tadpole and keep an eye on the frog-let. Within a week, I had a full grown leopard frog and a tadpole. At this point, I panic. I read the manual that said the frog now eats 2-3 small LIVE crickets every two days. I cringed - I hate bugs and insects and spiders. All types and variety except for lighting bugs and ladybugs. That's it.

I went to our local pet food store and purchased 25-30 small crickets in a box. Let me tell you what, who ever decides the size of a small versus medium/large needs to check their size requirements. I got home and shook the box empty into a large Ziploc bag. Out of the 30ish crickets, at least 10 were large sized and ultimately no good for the frog - some could have eaten the frog! I then frantically closed the bag shut except for one tiny corner so that I could then shake 2 -3 of them in the tank. This worked well until I ran out of crickets (except for the huge ones, which I let outside in our backyard). I had to take Ebony to the groomers (I'll post about this adventure soon), which happens to be at the same place as I buy my insects.
I purchased another box of crickets, picked up the dog and went home. I popped open a little hole at one end of the box and shook 2 crickets into the tank. I quickly shut the box in a large bag again and put it next to the tank, which intrigues the cat to no end.
Today, I went to feed the frog and tadpole. I'm starting to be concerned about the tadpole because I've had him nearly 2 months and still no metamorphosis. But there's not a whole lot I can do about it - no vet I know of looks at leopard frogs. Anyway, I opened the box and started to shake 3 tiny crickets into the tank when Mr. Jiminy Cricket jumped out of the box, catapulted himself off of the wall (where he had hit after he jumped) and hid behind the bookshelf. I immediately screamed out loud and dropped the box back into the bag, closing it quickly. I then moved the bookshelf to try to find the cricket. He was there, in the corner, jumping all over the place. I tried to get a cup over it, but it jumped and I couldn't find it after that. I was running late for my appointment, so I left the cat out (she's usually put up in the room where her litter box is so that she doesn't antagonize the dog while she's crated) and prayed that the cat would find the thing and eat it or something. She eats flies, spiders, and other random bugs in our house, so what's a cricket?

Since I've been home from my appointment, I've heard a cricket twice. Very tiny voice (they're only 2-3 weeks old by the look of their size) but very obviously a cricket. I closed all the windows and doors to make sure it wasn't coming from outside and still, I heard it.

JIMINY CRICKET!

So now, we have a random cricket roaming our house, to add to the spiders and flies. Oh the joys of living in an old drafty house. One day when we have more money, we'll fix that.
Until then, the cricket and I will have a stare down. And hopefully, Piper will find it and take care of it.

I swear, we have wild kingdom in our house on a daily basis.

Prayers

One of my close high school friends just had a baby. Unfortunately, the baby (a girl) was born 6 weeks early weighing a mere 3 pounds and is having breathing issues. The baby wasn't due until the early part of September, but they were going to take her early (August 25th, I believe). Now, they're praying, hoping and waiting as this little girl fights for her life.

This, on the heels of losing their first child in November. He was born with complications and had severe brain damage. He was born in September and hung on like a trooper until the middle of November. He died at home with his mommy and daddy.

The pain they experienced/are experiencing is too much for my mind to grasp around. They were elated when they found out she was pregnant again and we all prayed that this baby would be healthy and strong. From what her dad said, she's a fighter and as long as she continues the way she's going, she should clear this on her own and she won't have to be air flighted to U of M. She's got her big brother looking over her, but if you think about it, could you say an extra prayer/thought/good vibe to this family? They've been through enough.

Beef - A - Roo

Sunset behind the Tam O' Shanter Lodge in Cornucopia, WI.

Last week (on Thursday), Caleb and I embarked on a long journey up to the Upper Penninsula and Wisconsin so that I could be a part of one of my best friend's wedding. We left Thursday around 2 pm and got into Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan around 8 pm. We then left early Friday morning (around 7:45am) and got into Cornucopia, Wisconsin around 3:30pm. We had rehearsal around 5 and hung around the lodge afterwards.
The next day, my loving dear husband and I helped to decorate, arrange, rearrange, clean up and numerous other things before the wedding.

And then came the storm :( The wedding was outside on a beautiful beach; however being that we were on Lake Superior and Michigan/Wisconsin weather is what it is, it rained. And it was cold. And incredibly windy. And we were in summery halter dresses and flip-flops. And we shivered. And we laughed and cried. We threw rocks in the lake as a sign of our love and dedication to them. The bride's mother wrote a beautiful poem to go along with it. It was amazing to watch and I hope the photographer got a great picture of it.

And my best friend got married.Jeremy and Leah's Wedding - 7.19.08
The arbor they got married under? Her brother made that as a gift! They have a wooden porch swing that will hang under the arbor at their new house.

Then, we headed indoors for pictures because the flash wasn't working and honestly? I was truly thankful. When we got the formal pictures finished, one of the groomsmen had bought the groom a pack of 7 (one for each day of the week!) fake adhesive mustaches. The groom and his guys put on the attire and it.was.hilarious. So then the bride decided that we couldn't be denied any fun either, so....














We had a great time and are extremely happy for Leah and Jeremy. We love them both very much and are so blessed to have them as friends.

However, we were also elated when we returned home. There's nothing better than sleeping in our bed and using our own pillows, our own shower and relaxing together.
We figured out last night that we:

• Spent nearly 400 dollars in gas,
  
• drove 12 hours up and 13 driving back,
  
• put 690 miles driving up and 653 driving back down on the Escape- It drove like a dream!
  
• Listened to every CD we brought (25 or so) at least twice,
  
• drank coffee, pop and water until I swear my eyes were floating,
  
• munched on dried apples that smelled WEIRD, Pringles, wheat things, beef sticks, and cheese sticks. Which reminds me:
• On our trip back from Wisconsin, we head east into the UP but went a bit of a different way to get to the bridge, bypassing the Sault and cutting off nearly 45 minutes of our trip. So, on our way, we pass by two large establishments with large signs that read, "Beef - A - Roo". Before I can say anything, Caleb quickly pipes up and says, "Beef -A-Roo? I think no.". Maybe it was because I was exhausted or maybe it was that my brain had started to meltdown but I started laughing and couldn't stop. Anybody want to go out to Beef-A-Roo? Who knows? - Maybe it's really good beef.
  
• sang and laughed together.

I wouldn't have had it any other way. :)

And while my husband was taking pictures of the wedding, we got a shot of the flower girl sporting her own mustache during the toast/prayer :

I'm a geek but I love my new car!

So, we have a new car :) My husband says I'm a dork; however, this is the first car that I have picked out, paid for (okay, so the credit union owns it until the loan is paid off...but still!) and taken complete care of from start to finish. When I explained to him that I've never had the privilege of owning a car that I picked out and bought, he ease up a little. Here's a bit of car history for your enjoyment:

When going through high school, I drove an ultra-cool grocery getter (Taurus Station Wagon) that could hold 10 color guard girls. This was also the car that my mom drove while we were younger to many Girl Scout meetings, school functions and band concerts, CCD classes and carried large amounts of groceries to feed us.
Then, while up at college, I drove nothing for the first three years. However, when I moved off campus, I got to take my parent's blue min-van. It was old, but served it's purpose...right up until it died on E. Easterday Avenue in Sault Sainte Marie. It was revived, but only to make it back to Jackson. When I returned to the Sault to do my year-long student teaching, I took the "Beast" - the Dodge Durango. It got through snow and ice...except for once when the school intervention specialist and the custodian (I worked at a small school..in a small town...where everyone knows everyone else) had to rock it off the snow bank.
When I moved back home, I continued to drive the Durango until we got married. Then, my parents decided to give us the 1989 Mercury Sable - it used to be my sisters that they drove during high school (they both drove it a year and then combined drove it for two) and before that? It was my grandmother's car until her Alzheimer's disease proved to be too strong for her and she had to be placed in assisted living.
The Sable did it's job and we've had it 2 years and probably even longer had it not decided to develop transmission issues. So, a month after I found out that I wasn't going to be working for the day care anymore, we were faced with the issue of finding a new car that fit our needs but was cheap enough so that we could afford payments. Here's what I discovered during this process:

• No matter what, salesmen are ultimately trying to sell you something. Some are better at it than others. We really enjoyed working with the 3 at their respective places: Ford Seymour, Extreme Dodge/Hyundai and Art Moehn Chevrolet/Honda.
• The guy at Ford Seymour knew his stuff about Fords but not-so-much about the PT Cruisers. We found a PT that we liked but I felt like my butt was dragging on the ground and it had enough room but it wasn't exactly what I *and Caleb* needed. We looked at a Ford Escape (one that we were interested in) but they didn't have any used and well..we can't afford anything new right now.
  
• Art Moehn Chevrolet/Honda guy didn't know quite as much, but held his own. He showed us a Honda Element (what we originally wanted) and we test-drove it. Nice car, lots of room in the back if you put the seats down but my husband is, evidently, too tall for it and his knees were jammed into the glove box. No go.
  

• On our last try, we went to Extreme Dodge/Hyundai. My mother-in-law and both sister-in-law & brother-in-law got their cars from the Hyundai line and love them. We looked at at Sante Fe (our #1 car to look at) but they didn't have any used and once we got up close and personal, it didn't have as much room as we needed in the back for Ebony's kennel. However, the dealer that we worked with DID have two Escapes - a yellow and a black one. Both in good condition - we decided to get the black one because
• it was newer
• better kept up
  
• it does have 124,000 miles- we believe that they are mostly highway miles (the old registration in the car says the guy lived in Detroit, so it makes sense)

So, we now have a car. And it's one that I picked out (with the help of my loving husband), sort-of-paid for and love :)