Thankful Thursday...

Last week, my mom and sister, Rachel, went up north to Grand Marais for a short girls' getaway. We had a fun time. My mom and I went sailing on Lake Superior. We hiked. We browsed through stores. We ate way too much food. We relaxed and read books. We visited Grand Portage and learned about the voyageurs that traveled 1,200 miles via canoe each year for trading. We saw Canada, but could not touch it (didn't have our passports). We enjoyed sunshine and endured rain. And we laughed. I laughed so hard I couldn't talk and my stomach hurt. I had a great time bonding with my mom and sister...and can't wait to do it again. Maybe next time my other sisters can join us.

This week I'm thankful for good memories and good relationships with my family.

My mom, Rachel & I at Grand Portgage

Summer Love

The song from Grease has been in my head all day. "Summer love somethin's begun on a summer night. oh wella oh wella uhh."

Here's my summer love and I. (ok...my fall, winter and spring love too.)

Yesterday, August 23. Dave got glasses this weekend!

The good and the bad...

As I mentioned in the previous post, we went camping* last weekend. The camping trip had a lot of highlights and lowlights. Let's recap.

Camping is good when it's Cooper's first camping trip ever!

Camping is bad when Cooper eats a corn cob (yes, the actual cob) and pukes all night long in our tent.

Camping is good when we eat kabobs and poor man dinners.

Camping is bad when it rains half the time.

Camping is good when Otis accidentally jumps off the dock and has to swim.

Camping is bad when there is a BAD thunderstom while we're underneath a tall pine tree in a tent and we see lighting touch the ground nearby in the wood and the thunder makes us all jump (don't ask me how your body can go airborn when you're in horizontal positioin, but it happened).

Camping is good when there is a bean bag tournament and a scavanger hunt tournament.

Camping is bad when you lose in the bean bag tournament in the first round.

Camping is good when you're enjoying the company of friends, family and a dozen dogs (ok, 7 dogs).

*Sorry no pics! Our camera is still broken...and will be until we buy a new one. :(

Case of the Pooper(s)

I have a little mystery to solve. We went camping last weekend. The dogs could do their business whenever and wherever they please. Apparently the dogs are having trouble adjusting to the fact that our house is INDOORS and it's not ok for the to poop where ever they want anymore.

When I woke up this morning there were TWO piles of poop upstairs. ONE in the hallway and ONE in the loft.

Did TWO dogs poop ONCE? Did ONE dog poop TWICE? Did ONE dog poop ONCE and then MOVE half his pile?

I thought I'd be smart and determine which dog(s) was/were the pooper when I took them outside this morning. But they BOTH pooped outside.

Now I can't say for certain who is/are the pooper(s). But honestly, I'd rather not know and not have this incident happen again!

Thankful Thursday...

This week I'm thankful for my one-year anniversary at my current job! This year has gone by so fast. My manager even gave me flowers and a card -- if that isn't something that will make you feel appreciated, I don't know what is.

My job has given me the opportunity to broaden my marketing skills and the people I work with are awesome.

I'm truly thankful to have a gotten a new job in a rough economy and that it has panned out as well as it had. It's so true that God has a plan -- some of the jobs that I was a finalist for have gone bankrupt or have had big layoofs. I'm thankful that not only do I like my job, but company has been performing well given the business we're in.

August 11, 2009 -- a special day for our little pup

Cooper Joe turned two today! In honor of his b-day, we took a family walk. On the walk, we saw Lily, Cooper's girlfriend. She denied him today -- too busy looking for a squirrel that ran away. You all may think I'm crazy for saying my dog has a girlfriend, but Cooper was literally whimpering when Lily wouldn't come over and sniff him! But it all turned out okay, because we saw Otis' girlfriend Lexie, who was excited to see both Otis and Cooper. And we met a new puppy -- a little American Bulldog 14-week pup named Chaos.

Cooper's grown up so much from the little pup we first met almost two years ago.


The two little dots on his nose has grown in, but he still has the white front-right paw that we like to call "Reebok."

Here's Cooper chewing his birthday rawhide. Less than a minute later, Otis stole it.

Dave and I had lunch together today at Tavern on France (yum!). We discussed Cooper's personality. Here's what we think about Cooper.

• Cooper's pretty laid back at home where he feels secure. He doesn't mind when Otis hoards the toys. He loves his home best and loves just lounging around and sleeping.
• While he likes to lounge around most of the time, he's always up for play time. Just glance his way and quickly dodge your shoulders and he'll wag his tail and play chase.
  
• He's protective of his house and family. This is partly because he's just a big scardy-dog and acts tough to try and scare people/things he doesn't know.
• He's so lovable. Cooper's loved by everyone in our family. Gracie the cat enjoys playing with Cooper so much more than she does with Otis. Cooper likes to give love too with lots and lots and lots of kisses.
  
• Cooper looks up to his big brother Otis and follows Otis' lead. Just like the "My Buddy" jingle from the 80's, -- "Wherever he goes, I'm gonna go."
  
• Treats are the key to Cooper's heart. And "intruder" just needs to give Cooper a treat, and they'll be great friends. He loves ice cream too and licks it so politely.
  
• He doesn't realize how cute he is. He doesn't realize that strangers stop their car to tell me he looks so happy. He doesn't realize that strangers are always saying he's so beautiful. He doesn't realize that he melts my heart everyday with his cuteness (and that's probably a good thing, because he doesn't realize how much he could get away with!!)

I love you, Cooper Joe! Happy Birthday, baby!

Getting an early start to my weekend...

Today we had a softball tournament at work. Supposedly. (I was working it...not playing).

It was pouring all morning. Hard. We were all completely soaked.

When the thunder started, we had to call off the tournament. Everyone cheered.

So I got to come home early. Very nice.

Tomorrow my mother-in-law is coming back to our house for the last two nights of her trip to Minnesota. She's been down in Rochester most of the week figuring things out with her siblings about their mom's estate. I'm looking forward to our day together on Sunday.

Otis and Cooper and Gracie are all taking naps in this room while I type on the computer. I think I might have to follow their example!

Thankful Thursday...

I can't believe it's already Thursday. It's already August. Summer is going by way too fast.

Anyway, this week I'm thankful for photos. My husband has started emailing or sending me every couple of days when I'm at work. Sometimes they're a little disturbing (i.e. photos of my dogs pooping). But most of the time, they're cute. Like this one I got today. I love knowing that I'm being thought of and these pics just make me excited to get home to my family. I don't like missing out on cuddle time!!


Our real camera broke this week. :( So I won't be posting photos much on my blog until we get a new one. Not that I post photos often, but now that we lack a camera I feel like I'm going to be missing a lot of photo opportunities. *tear

The finished product

Here's a pic of the finished dresser -- now complete with knobs! The pic is from Dave's phone....our camera doesn't seem to be working tonight. :(

My first pet

Me and Aussie.

My first real pet. Aussie. A beautiful cockatiel. She's the first pet I had besides fish (which generally only lived a couple of hours at my house). She passed away today. She was 15. She always chirped when people came home or when the phone rang. She did this cute little dance in her cage, moving her head from side to side. Her biggest accomplishments were the couple of eggs she laid.

In my parents' old house, there was a 2-story living room. She didn't really like to come out of her cage. You'd have to grab her and put her on top of it. Sometimes she would fly up to the upstairs. She'd always chirp when after she landed -- as if surprised at what she could do. My bird's no longer confined to her little cage. She can sore now.

My Grandma's Dresser

One of the things I've been wanting to do for a LONG time is refinish my grandma's old dresser. It's number 66 on my 101 in 1,001 list. It was one of the only things that has been passed down to me from my mom's side of the family, so I treasure it. Even if it's a beat up old dresser. The varnish that was on it had gotten old and bubbly, I guess, the way that varnish gets when it's old. There are lots of dents and dings on its sides, water stains on the top. Anyway, in April, Dave and I finally got started on this project. It's finally done. Well, almost. It still needs some new knobs. But it's back in Gracie's bedroom...and I'm really excited about how it turned out...so I wanted to post some pics quickly.

Before! (FYI. Gracie liked to hide in the dresser, but we didn't force her to be there. I just thought it was funny, so I took the pic. Good thing I took it....because it is the only before pic of the whole dresser! It's a really old pic from our first apartment.)

Ok. I guess you can see Dave really did most of this himself. Who am I kidding? lol.

After! The finished dresser!

And Otis and Cooper trying to steal Gracie's room. Cooper's licking his chops. They're so cute!