Day 59

When I moved into my new house Ashley's parents gave me her old piano. I'm so thankful that I have it to remember her by. There's something peaceful about sitting down and playing a piece of music; it can turn any bad or sad mood into a happy one.

Day 58

I watched my jr high girl's basketball game. (I call them my girls because I coached their volleyball team). They won first place in their league. I'm so proud of them.

Day 56, um, 57

So I have some videos from yesterday on my webcam. Apparently there's no way to grab a picture off of that. I'm sorry. I failed. So I'll give you a funny picture of my sister and I, bored in the bathroom, almost 8 years ago.

Today though, ice-cream and movie night at my house with my sister and a bunch of her friends.

Day 55

Today the dogs and I enjoyed the two hours of sunshine that we had today.

I also made chicken pot pie for dinner. It was my very first time and I kindve made up the recipe. It was really good and I'm quite proud of myself.

Day 54

Every morning, when my alarm goes off, puppy dog noses me to make sure I woke up. She looks like a gremlin.

Day 53

I moved a table into the corner of my bedroom and called it my art space. Husband likes it! The best part is, towards the end of the day, the sunlight comes through that window and makes everything bright and happy.

Day 52

We lost our state game tonight. Huge bummer. The girls played great and I'm so proud of how they played this season.

Day 51

My best friend died when I was 14. Later, when I was cleaning out my old emails I found a poem she sent to me:
Of all the friends I've ever met
You're the one I won't forget
And if I die before you do
I'll go to heaven and wait for you
I'll give the angels back their wings
And risk the loss of everything
Just to prove my friendships true
I'm so thankful to have a friend like you
Author unknown.
This summer I got the tattoo I've been wanting for years. Right begin my heart.
Ashley - you're the one I won't forget. Ever. I didn't include dates because there are many people that I will never forget, and this reminds me to make memories with those special people in my life.

Day 50

Dog has been ripping out her stitches. Husband had a great idea of putting a tshirt on her to cover her belly since we don't have a cone or muzzle. She thinks she's dying, but so far it's working.

Day 49

Bonding time with my littlest sister.

Day 48

Here is dog's favorite spot in the bedroom to sleep. He has a dog bed but I always find him curled up and tucked into this corner.

Day 47

Our team won tonight and we are going on to state playoffs! Great job girls!

Day 46

I think my puppy has forgiven me for getting her spayed yesterday.

She's so sweet and loving.

Day 45

I took my 6 month old, 59.8 pound puppy to get spayed. Since I've gone to get her from the vet she's looked at me like I'm the worst person on the planet and that I've betrayed her trust. Poor thing cowers when I come around and thinks that I did this to her. Hopefully this won't last long or else I'm going to get a complex.

Day 44

My parents gave my dogs some antlers to chew on. They love them (that's a slight understatement). Usually they can down a raw hide in 3 minutes flat. Theyve been working in these things all day and are still going strong.
Thanks mom and dad!

Day 43

I helped my mom out at the sportsman show this weekend. I love to spend time with her and consider her as one of my best friends. I hope that I can be the mom she is when I have babies. We laugh, we can be serious, we have fun. I love my mommy :)

So here's a picture of me goofing off in front of my mom. The whale looked like a lover not a killer.

Day 42

Working the sportsman show with my gorgeous mother.

Day 41

Another basketball game is keeping me out late. Here's a blurry pic of the coach giving his pre-game plans to the girls. He's a great coach and I'm very blessed to not only have had the chance to play for him but also to be his assistant coach now. Even if he keeps counting me as one of the girls then wonders why we have an extra girl.

Day 40

When I was a freshman in Highschool I decided to start playing basketball. I was horrible. I didn't know how to dribble, shoot, box out, or what a free throw was. The one thing I could do was set a screen.

Tonight our girls played against St. Paul at St. Paul. We played great but still lost. That gym was where I played my first basketball game. I'm pretty sure the first five times I touched the ball I traveled. I didn't know that if you jump to shoot the ball and someone was in your way, you can't land with the ball. You have to pass it or shoot.

Thankfully I did get better and ended up becoming a starter as a senior. My coach gave me the "Most Improved" award as a senior because when I was a freshman he said I'd never be a baller and I proved him wrong. I'll take that as a compliment...?


Also, as I was working I looked over at my animals all passed out on the floor. I was extremely jealous. I wanted to nap too.

Day 39

Thankfully my day was pretty uneventful. I would post a picture of myself but my hair is in a pony and my face is breaking out like I'm a teenager again. So instead I'll post a picture of my cat rubbing up on the dog. Dog doesn't really like it when cat gets all up in his grill, but cat does it anyways and dog puts up with it.

Day 38

Today was senior night! I feel so blessed to be a part of my sister's senior year. She is one of the best people I know. I just love her so much and am so proud of her.

Sisters are the friends God gives you :)

Day 37

Today was the day I was supposed to take my German shepherd to get fixed. When I rushed out to the truck to warm it up a few minutes before I was supposed to leave I jolted to a stop.

My tire was flat.

I can swap out an electrical switch no problem, but I can't lift a truck and change a heavy dirty tire. Besides the fact that I don't have a jack to help me lift the thing, I just don't know what to do.

I had to call and cancel the appointment. And stomp around with everywhere to go and no way to get there.

A little rid bit of fact: Les Schwab will send someone to your house and change your tire for free if A) it's one of their tires and B) you are in the city limits. It was my lucky day!!

I may not be handy, but I am resourceful.

Side note: husband was the one with the bright idea to call Les Schwab, as much as I'd like to, I just can't take credit for it. He also was at work and couldn't change the tire for me until he got home which was much too late for my schedule.

Puppy dog has a new appointment on Valentine's Day. Hopefully nothing will prevent it from happening then...

Day 36

Today our garbage disposal stopped working. Husband was not happy. I decided that we should go to home depot and get a new switch and see if this was just the third switch to stop working since we've bought our house.

After our trip to home depot for a $2 switch that cost us $70 because I saw a mirror that I loved and remembered that we needed a replacement water filter for our fridge.

I pushed husband aside and replaced the switch myself. He didn't like that and ended up finishing the job only after I got all the wires connected to the new switch.

It worked. I feel like my problem solving skills just moved to a new level.

And I can now justify buying that pretty mirror since I saved us $$ on an electrician.

Day 35

We have been best friends for 14 years.

Day 34

Day 33

I have to start my post today with a short story.

About a year after husband and I first got married I was asked to play in a summer league basketball game because the team was short a girl. I was more than happy to help out and was extremely excited to play.

As a post there are certain things that you have to accept. One being that it can get pretty physical. I'm fine with that and love throwing elbows when the ref isn't looking. Another thing I have accepted is that my feet will get stepped on, they were a size 11 at the time (and thankfully have since shrunk to size 9 and 1/2s).

During said summer league game I was thoroughly enjoying battling in the post position. The other girl kept stepping on my right foot. Over and over and over. I paid her back with a few elbows and knees but played through it. Toward the very end of the game I noticed that I was starting to limp a little and that my right big toe was hurting really bad, but I kept playing, and she kept stomping on my toe. After the game when I took my socks and shoes off I realized that my right big toe nail was so bruised that it looked like I had dark purple nail polish on.

I promptly painted my toenails so I didn't have to look at the ugly thing. I was going to be in a wedding in four months and wanted my feet to look somewhat ok since I was going to be wearing strappy black heels.

A month before the wedding I was on my knees digging through my shoes in the closet. I found the pair I wanted and when I scooted back my toe nail got hooked on the carpet and completely separated from my toe, barely hanging from the base of the nail.

I regret to say I reacted very poorly. Some would say I became hysterical and irrational. It didn't hurt, which made me even sadder because that meant it was supposed to fall off.

As I sat there on the floor in front of my closet cradling my big toe while sobbing about how no one can be sexy without a toe nail husband tried his best to console me by saying "we can just glue it back on". I clung to that phrase like a drowning person clings to a life raft. Then to my despair we found that we had no more super glue. I sobbed even harder. Husband, desperately wanting me to stop acting hysterical, offered to drive to the store really quick. He was back in record time only to find that I was still crumpled on the floor holding my toe sobbing about being ugly and unsexy.

We glued the toenail on.

It fell off two weeks later. There was much less crying involved as I accepted this fate.

Hint: the beauty salon can glue a fake nail on that looks exactly like it was real. Just in time for weddings too. You don't even have to cry, just ask.

Yesterday, in my fit of rage at seeing my water pipe had been savagely chewed threw, I somehow bruised my fingernail. It hurts pretty bad. I really hope this one doesn't fall off. Husband won't know what to do if we have a repeat of the toenail episode.

Also, I was telling this story to my friend. She immediately stubbed her toe and lost her big toenail. She handled it much better than I did. She didn't even cry.

All that to introduce my picture of the day which is of my bruised fingernail. I'll keep you updated on whether I keep this nail or not.

Day 32

I left dog 1 and dog 2 in the garage tonight for an hour and a half while I ran an errand. In that hour and a half they chewed through the water line in the garage and there was water everywhere. When people ask me why I don't have children they obviously don't know how poorly I react to this sort of thing. Dog 1 and dog 2 have been in their kennel for the past few hours due to the fact that they lost every privilege they had and they haven't made a sound because they know how mad I am.

My picture of the day is of the leaking water line spraying all over my drywall and I'm also including an old picture of the little monsters.

Update: I traumatized my smelly dogs by giving them a bath. They feel better about themselves now that they've apologized and are now curled up on their beds.