Ginger and Bailey

By Amy

Sorry it's been so long. Life has been nuts. Really crazy. And then when I had a moment and really felt the need to blog about something....our Internet quit. It decides not to work at any moment. I really need to call them. But I just can't muster up the strength to talk to someone on the phone for a good 45 minutes and try this and that only to find out we need a new modem. I keep thinking that if I wait long enough, husband will do it.


Our girl Ginger is five months old now. She is still a puppy but has calmed down quite a bit. As much as she loves to play with us, she craves playing with animals. She even tried to become friends with our cat. That didn't end very well and let's just say that Ginger now keeps her distance. I have introduced her to a handful of dogs and she gets so excited! She can hardly contain herself! The problem is that the dogs didn't like her and found her downright irritating. I felt so bad for her. I started to think that there was something wrong with her. Did she smell funny? Was she a dork?
Last Friday my friend came over with her dog Bailey. Bailey is a female and is around 5 months old too. When she bounded out of the car, I held my breath.

I almost burst into tears! My Ginger had found a friend!!!

I promise that no one was hurt in the above photo. They played for HOURS.

Ginger was so tired. It was glorious. I'm hoping to have another play date with her soon.

Where Did It Go?

by Ang

I was going to blog Friday night. And then I was going to blog Saturday during the day. And then Saturday night.

And now it's Sunday and I have NO time to blog today! Well, I'm blogging now, but I have no time to blog about something with substance and photos. Oh well.

This weekend has been swamped so far, and right now it's 11:00 a.m. on Sunday and we are busy from about 12:30 until 10:00 p.m. tonight.

So my 'substance' post will have to wait until Monday!

(next weekend we aren't making ANY plans!)

Beautiful People

By Amy

We were asked to move to a different congregation to help out. It's been a bittersweet move. We love our new hall.....but these friends have a special place in our hearts. This is our going away party.

(This little girl is a fire cracker. Can't you just tell by her self applied haircut? When her dad told her we were moving, she burst into tears.Sometimes she can be just to much to handle. But she loves me hard and I will miss her.)

I think my husband said it best when he said that going to Miller Park "made us better people". They taught us to love and not be afraid to show it. My heart feels full when I think of all our friends there. I hope that despite our busy lives we manage to keep in touch.

I Can't Help Myself

by Ang

My husband says I have a problem. He may be right. Because every...

time

I go

to the store

I buy

the dog

a new

toy.

He has quite the collection. He loves them so much though and he gets so excited when he sees a new one peaking out of a bag. He knows it's for him. How can I resist?

Still Here

By Amy

It seems like ever since I got back from KC I haven't had a moment to breathe. Every night we have had something going on. And this weekend was full, from morning to night. And now I have a couple of moments to myself and I just don't feel like downloading any pictures from the camera. Or thinking of anything clever to write. Maybe I'm depressed. Maybe it's this crummy weather. Or the fact that the dog has been pooping in her kennel at night. That's really fun to wake up to. Anyway I just wanted to say that I am still around and I'll be back soon.

The Bomb Diggity

By Amy

Do you know what it feels like when you have childhood friends who have grown into beautiful strong women and when you get together it's like you are still next door neighbors and time and distance just never happened? And as a bonus you can be your total immature self and say and do whatever you want with out being judged or marked as crazy. Have you ever laughed so hard your gut hurts and days later when you are in the shower you think about something that was said and you start laughing hysterically and your husband gives you that strange look. And you try to explain it to him and realize it wasn't the words that were said that were funny, it was how it was said and just the whole atmosphere around it that made it memorable. That's how my weekend was.

Me and the hostess.

The three sisters

The other girl in the group

Someone suggested that we do this annually. Yes please!!!

**WORD: Bomb Diggity

MEANING: used to describe something that is ultra cool, out of this world, help me lord i'm in paradise now. Used multiple times by one of our members but I'm not saying who.

***Ok you talked me into it. Our hostess with the mostess.

New Touches

by Ang

I've been slowly adding/replacing a few things in our home. I haven't 'girled it up' too much. But my style isn't too girly, and so far my husband has liked everything I've bought.

The first thing I did was dress up our entryway a little. I didn't really have any good place to display family photos, so I added some shelves.

Directly above it, I added this canvas print:

I love the saying on it, and I love that it's an eye chart. I'm legally blind without my contacts or glasses, so I have seen plenty of these in my lifetime.

Directly across it is another small table:

And today, I replaced one of our side tables in the living room. Our old one was....old. It had served it's purpose for quite a while, but it was time to get a new one.

Here's the old one:

And the new:

My favorite feature though is the new remote holder I got. I didn't want to get the traditional flat basket to hold them (we have four). I wanted something with some height. So I found this cast iron utensil holder at Target. It works perfect to hold our remotes!

I love playing house!

This Ones For The Girls

By Amy

This picture was taken a million years ago. Ok more like 30. It's fuzzy and has some sort of damage on the top. But I love it. Can you pick me out? My sister? I have the red shirt on and Ang is right in front of me just trying to figure out a way to snatch that pinwheel from that poor little boy.

It takes me back to when my biggest decision for the day was to play with my doll Annie or my doll Candy. And yes, I did name her Candy. Or was it Christine? Maybe it was Candy Christine. Anyway, when I look at all our faces I see the uncomplicated joy of childhood. And you know what else is so great about this picture? I still know these girls. I still call them my friends. We have lost two of them along the way. But I am so grateful for the rest of the group that is still around. There has been alot of sadness and loss through the years between all of us. But for the most part, we are all enjoying life, trying to get through this world in one piece.

This Friday I'm leaving here with two of the girls, plus one not shown (I guess you weren't cool enough M! Ha ha). We are going to go see the girl with the super awesome suspenders. I totally remember wanting those. It's the first time I've been with all of them since....maybe my wedding 16 years ago? I have seen them since but not spent any real time with them. I can't wait to catch up and share some memories. It will be fun to relax and not think about all the drama that life brings us. Maybe I will have something in common with that blond girl in the red shirt. The most complicated decision I will have to make this weekend will be if I want my drinks to be shaken or stirred. Life will be good.

"Oh, There is No Place Like Nebraska"

By Amy

"Dear Old Nebraska U"

"Where the Girls are the fairest....

"The Boys are the squarest.....

"Of Any Old Place that I Knew!"

"There is no place Like Nebraska"

"Where they're all True Blue"

"We'll all Stick Together....

"In All Kinds of Weather......

"For Dear Old Nebraska U!"

GO BIG RED!!!!

Nebraska: 49 Western Kentucky: 10

**Skybox tickets courtesy of "the boss."

Closet Woes

by Ang

I share a closet with my husband. It's fairly decent sized, but it's still a challenge to keep everything organized, as seen in Exhibit A:

What a mess! I keep all of my clothes in my closet, except my jeans, t-shirts and exercise clothes. And I keep ALL seasons of clothing together. Sweaters on one side, short sleeves on the other, etc. I also keep shoes and accessories in there too. So I'm dealing with a lot of clothes, shoes, undergarments, purses and jewelry in a very small space.

Here's my semi-creepy cat that I use as a bracelet holder:

It's creepy, but I love it!

Anyways, back to the closet. The first thing I did was go through my green drawers (as shown in the picture above). Cleaned them out, refolded everything, etc. It made a big difference.

I also hung up a hook that I had lying around. I used it for my belts.

Next it was my shoes. I tried to pare down, but I only ended up getting rid of one pair. Oh well. I tried!

Next up was my purses. I pulled them all down from that top shelf and went through them. I found two that I could part with.

I then put the little ones inside the big ones. It look so much better!

Now the hard part....the clothes. I basically went through everything piece by piece. If I haven't worn it in the past year, it went in the Goodwill pile. I ended up with one VERY full bag for the Goodwill. I pulled out all of the extra hangers, and put things in order.

After all of this, I was able to put my jewelry all together on top of my shoe rack. I have my creepy cat of course, along with my earrings (which I keep in one of those plastic containers with little dividers).

I hang my necklaces on a hanger that's supposed to be for ties:

After that, I was done! Let's look at the before picture again:

And now the wonderful after!

Sooooo much better! I have room! I can hang things! I don't have to duck when I reach for a purse, fearing that they will all come tumbling down on me! (that has happened many times).

So there's my improved closet. The sick thing is, I actually had a lot of fun doing it!