Heavy Hearts

Life at work has been difficult lately. Not the actual work, or caring for patients, but Satan has been attacking my friends and co-workers left and right. Their stories are not for me to share here, but our unit as a whole needs prayer. It has been a very hard time for everyone lately, some more than others, and makes my issues/problems feel not-quite-so-big. We're all trying to remember that God's plans are bigger than ours, and He can see down the road when we can't. I'm trusting that He's going to take care of us as a whole, and Mark and me as a family as well.

I've realized - sometimes I am a negative person. I'm not an unhappy person, and I don't stir up drama, but sometimes I don't try very hard to find the joy in things, even bad things. I want to start trying harder.

So, even though I'm stressed and things are bad and I'm worried about my friends, here is what I'm taking comfort in today:

I get to work an extra half-shift this week. I hate the reason why, but I am thankful for the money.

Work is terribly slow, but that is allowing the people who need to take off work to be off without causing the unit too much stress. Once again - God sees down the road where we can't.

While things are tight financially right now, we are being able to stick to our budget and still pay our bills. Things could be much, much worse.

A sweet, sweet puppy is sleeping in my lap right now. She is healthy, and growing, and she keeps me busy enough to keep my mind off of other things.

We are learning to manage our finances later than I wish we had, but still early in our lives. We're learning BEFORE Mark gets a job and our income increases, so we'll be better prepared to manage the extra money properly rather than wasting it. I'm very thankful for that.

We have families who help and support us when times are hard.

God has promised that He will never give us circumstances that we aren't able to stand up under. I'm trusting that His promise is true, and with His help, we will all come out of this time stronger, closer, and better for it.

What comforts you today?

Oh, today ... can you leave, and can tomorrow replace you soon?

It has been a rather long day.

We left Chattanooga early this morning instead of late last night because of some nasty weather in the tornado-form. (We are fine, my parents are fine, and their house etc. is fine. A dam in the area isn't quite as fine. It caused some major traffic problems....)

Anyway ... so today started with a three-hour car ride with a 9-week-old puppy. She did really well, but still it was tiring.

When we got back, she of course wanted to go insane, after being cooped up in the car. I had to go get the CSA and get something to eat, and Mark ended up being late for class. *sigh.*

Then I had to take Luna to the vet at what I thought was supposed to be 2. I get there, and actually my appointment is at 2:30. Load back up in the car, come home, it starts pouring. Have to leave again 15 minutes later. Of course.

So Luna goes to the vet, gets heartwormed, dewormed, and shot up, and we came home.

And now I'm trying to figure out what to make for dinner. And this whole week. And for the first time, my CSA isn't terribly helpful. And it's still raining. And I'm broke, and about to be broke-r. (Yeah, I know. Not technically a word. At least not in that context. I don't care.) And I still have to go back out to the grocery store AGAIN in the rain, and cook dinner before Mark comes home. I really just want to order pizza... but we're too broke to do that. So. Here's what I've got in the box:

-carrots
-lettuce
-cucumbers
-turnip greens
-green tomatoes
-oranges

I know the first three would make a salad, but that will only feed us for like one meal, and then we've got not much else. I figure I'll do a salad with the lettuce and the cucumbers, use the carrots for some other dish-something, possibly fry the tomatoes, and eat the oranges as snacks. But ... what the HECK do I do with turnip greens? I will not boil them. I refuse. There's got to be a better way to cook them than that...

But I don't know. I'm hot, tired, broke, about to turn INTO humidity myself because it keeps wafting through our windows and making a sticky glaze over all our possessions and ourselves, and grocery planning is the last thing on my mind. (Incidentally, it needs to be the first.)

Ideas, suggestions? Any and all would be gladly taken at this point.

Hilarious.

I know I haven't posted in forever, and I need to give a proper update, but I just thought this was funny and wanted to share it with you:

We are currently trying (only sometimes successfully) to teach Luna bite inhibition. We're yelping every time she bites (she's still teething - it's never a vicious or mean bite), and the harder she bites, the louder and higher-pitched Mark's yelps get. At one particularly hard bite, he yelped REALLY loudly, and scared her so bad that she ran away and hid under the chair. I wish I'd caught it on video...

She's such a funny little puppy. Stubborn at times, and crazy at times, but so funny and cute and dear to my heart.

Coming up: Mark's birthday festivities with my family (tonight!), a trip to the vet (tomorrow), and pumpkin carving and a baby shower! Busy week ahead...

Fill-in-the-Blank Friday!

It's been about ten gazillion years since I've done a Fill-in-the-Blank Friday - I think it's high time I resumed that little weekly tradition. As always, from the lovely Lauren...

 

1.   I am       so in love with my puppy, and her sweet little beagle ears. I LOVE her ears!!!  .

2.  I wish   that people would get along. Why can't people just love each other? I want everybody to be happy, and be friends, or at least civil... .

3.  I like       being with Mark, autumn, my family, sweet things, baking, corduroys, flats, my iPhone, traveling, vegetables, and Mary Kay Satin Hands, just to name a few things :)     .

4.  I can   do all things through Christ, who strengthens me  .

5.  I hope     my butternut squash and caramelized onion galette that I'm making for dinner turns out as wonderfully delicious as it sounds...  .

6.  I think         too much, sometimes   .

7.  I was        SO excited to find a Starbucks giftcard in the letter my mom sent the other day - my mom is awesome :)    .

 

 

And now, my to-do list for today:

-Play with Luna. 

-Do laundry while Luna naps.

-Play with Luna.

-Pack for next week's travels while Luna naps.

-Play with Luna.

-Make galette dough while Luna naps.

-Pawn Luna off on Mark when he gets home, and go run some errands.

-Play with Luna.

-Make galette for dinner.

This is pretty much what most of my days look like. That baby girl takes up lots of time.

But oh, I love her so.

Oh, what a beautiful morning :)

I'm posting from outside this morning - laptops and wireless internet are so wonderful!

I feel like we've been up forever already - I got up at 5:45 with Luna, then had to get back up at like 6:30 to get ready to go to the dentist for a follow-up appointment for Mark, and to try and figure out why one of my teeth is hurting so badly when I chew (it's one where a cavity was filled - they think it's a bite issue.)

Now, I'm sitting out here in the backyard while Luna digs holes in the ground. It's her favorite game, and she's pretty darn good at it. Keeps her occupied, which keeps me happy :)

Always got something in her mouth...

Whenever she digs like this, it always makes me think of the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White singing the "Heigh Ho" song ... you know the one...

"We dig dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig in a mine the whole day through...

To dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig is what we like to do..."

She's so sweet.

In other, non-Luna-related news ... I had my first total cooking FAIL in quite a long time last night. I was trying a new recipe, which I usually enjoy doing and usually goes really well. I thought this one would be the same. Savory Broccoli Bread Pudding - sounds pretty tasty, right? I love bread pudding.

Unfortunately, I think I only love dessert bread pudding, because the "Savory" part mainly just tasted like soggy bread. It was more wet than normal bread pudding too, for some reason ... Anyway, we sort of picked the veggies out of it, and the whole dish just went straight in the garbage. So sad :( So now I've got to come up with something else to make this week, since we were planning on eating leftovers for a couple days. Oh well ... I guess you can't win 'em all :) I'm just thankful that I have way more hits than misses in my little world of cooking.

Speaking of those hits ... I'm about to post a recipe for Curried Butternut Squash Soup on my food blog in just a few minutes. It is delicious, nutritious, and you should definitely check it out and try it :)

I can't believe it's Thursday already - this month has flown by so quickly! October is almost over... I'm totally not ready for the holidays yet. I'm not even remotely in that mindset... Hopefully I'll get there soon though :) Maybe the giant box of Christmas decorations that my mom has waiting for me at her house will help!

Happy Thursday to everybody - the weekend is almost here!

I had a really great blog post last night...

...But it was interrupted by the puppy. And dinner getting ready. And then my computer died.

And needless to say, it isn't here.

So I'm posting another one instead!

Luna is making me so tired. I've got her all day today by myself (every Wednesday - Mark has class), and it's fairly exhausting. It shouldn't be, because she sleeps most of the day (she's asleep on my feet right now. I'm praying she stays asleep until I hit "Publish Post," at least...) I think the main thing is she's so little, we really can't take her anywhere. No walking (she doesn't walk on a leash yet anyway), clearly she's too small for the dog parks, and she's really not vaccinated enough to be around anyplace with other dogs. Which just about rules out everywhere except for inside, and the (tiny tiny) backyard. So I'm going a little stir-crazy.

I love the puppy stage, don't get me wrong. She naps a lot, so I can get some stuff done while she's doing that, and she's absolutely frickin' adorable, but I really, really wish we could at least go for walks during the day. I never really know what to do with her. She's fine when she's sleepy and cuddly, but when she's playful, I'm sort of at a loss. She doesn't fetch (beagles don't really retrieve intuitively), she's already mastered sit, and she comes when called most of the time, and her attention span is only so long ... So we usually just go outside and I let her dig around in the dirt.

*Sigh* anyway, enough about my puppy.

Chloe, over at My New Life as a Housewife gave me a blog award!

So sweet of her. Here are the rules:

1) Post who gave you this award.
2) State 10 things you like.
3) Give this award to 10 other bloggers.
4) Notify them with a comment.

So, ten things I like...

1) Puppy nap time.
2) The brownies calling to me from the cookie jar.
3) The $15 Starbucks giftcard that my mom sent me today!!!
4) Sweet potato ravioli. Oh, yum. I need a good occasion to make it again...
5) Puppy kisses.
6) Trips to see family (We're going next week to Chattanooga for Mark's birthday.)
7) The Avett Brothers
8) Cooking.
9) My zebra-print flats.
10) Books about food.

(I am so food-centric. It's kind of sad.)

And now, ten bloggers to tag...

1) Tamara
2) Emmy
3) Lilly
4) Jessica Renae
5) Becca
6) Kelly
7) Amy
8) Suzy
9) Kelly
10) Stephanie

Hope you lovely ladies play along!

And now, if you'll excuse me ... I have a puppy to attend to :) 

Sunday :)

What a lazy Sunday afternoon we're having! Mark, Luna, Mrs. Norris, and I all took naps - and the animals are still sleeping now :) I've never napped so much in my life, I don't think... I guess that's what having a busy busy puppy will do to you.

Mark is catching up on some reading, since he was sort of out of commission for a while. His mouth is healing well, and all looks good. He never hurt very badly, but is still taking his good pain meds every now and then, so I'm sure that's helping. I'm just glad the worst stuff is over with - there are more appointments that he has to go to, but all the extremely major stuff is over with.

I'm trying really hard to keep my mind off of the cake that's sitting on the table... I know this more belongs on the food blog, but I'm just so proud of myself. Last night, we were craving something baked, and I had a box of cake mix in the cabinet that will expire next month, so it needed to be used anyway. (Normally I don't use cake mix, but I bought it back a while ago when they were on sale, and never did use it.) Anyway, it was just a normal yellow cake, and I wanted to make chocolate buttercream. I couldn't ever find a recipe I liked much, and so I decided I would just make one up myself.

I did, and it's FANTASTIC. Sooo yummy. I was just SO pleased with myself... it's silly, but it made me happy :)

I mean, really, YUM.

Kelly spent the night with us last night, and this morning we went to Oak Mtn. State Park where her car was left with the keys locked inside :) We called a locksmith, and took cute pictures while we waited. I'll post them if I can ever get my film developed...

Hope everyone has a nice, peaceful, restful remainder of your weekend!

Today is better

After a yummy dinner and long, fun time of refreshing fellowship with my sister and Colton last night, and after a really nice morning with Luna, I'm feeling better today. Still stressed about some things, but I'm trying to put it out of my mind.

Plus, how can you be terribly stressed when you look over, and this is what you see?

I mean, let's be honest, that's about the cutest thing ever. Mark loves that puppy :)

I'm having an unusually long time off from work cause of census reasons (and I can't say really any more than that because of hospital policy), so I'm at home with my loves today. Good and bad. I'm trying to make the best of it.

Check the food blog for some new recipes!

No good, very bad day :(

I know that my last post was all uplifting and all, about how we should be thankful and how I am so blessed and how I love my life and how I shouldn't worry, etc. etc. etc.

But. I'm going to be real with you guys.

It's been a bad week. Like, really bad. Like, I've had two meltdowns in the past 2 days. That hasn't happened in a while. I am stressed and I am tired and I am poor and I feel like a really awful puppy mommy.

(And I just smiled, thank God, because my amazing, funny husband with his poor swollen jowls is cutting the grass with scissors. Oh, I love him.)

I think the kicker this morning (before the REAL kicker than I'm not even going to go into) was when I was on the phone with work, discussing my schedule, while driving to my consignment appointment that I was already running late to. I got so involved and sort-of upset and a little confused that I drove right past my exit. And then drove for another SIX MILES before I realized what I'd done. And promptly started to cry.

But I am feeling better now, albeit still stressed, and tonight should be fun because Kelly and Colton are coming over, and we are eating Sweet Potato Ravioli, and I will take pictures and post them on my food blog because it is delicious and you should make it, too.

And so instead of dwelling on my stressors and issues, I'm going to play along with a quick survey that Suzy over at itwalkedonmypillow posted, and invited everyone to do. And then I'm going to go make homemade vanilla pudding for my darling swollen one.

Questions!
1. if you could take complete credit for having written any book, which book would you pick?
I think I would pick Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, except for I wish I had actually written it, because that means that I would have gotten to live a year of food life on a farm in Appalachia which honestly sounds like one of the most delightful things a person could ever do.

2. what was the last lie you told?
"I'm doing good." My answer to a Publix lady's question of "How are you today?" Because I'm not really fine.

3. if you could be someone else for a day, who would you pick to be?


This is actually a difficult question. But I think I would be Oprah - think of all the good you could do in a day, all the money you could give to worthy causes, and still go on a shopping spree wherever you wanted!

4. do you think my ears are too big?
I honestly don't know if I've seen a picture of your ears, but I'm sure they're perfectly sized :)

5. do you think your ears are too big?

I'm fine with my ears. I do sort of wish my nose looked more like my sister's, but oh well. Can't have everything. Totally not worth plastic surgery, either.


6. favorite coffee shop drink.
Oooh, another tough question! Right now, I'm craving a pumpkin spice latte in a BAD way, but just because I haven't been able to have one (we've almost completely given up eating out in any shape form or fashion - this includes coffee. So sad.) But not in the fall, I'd say an iced latte of some sort.

7. if you had the power to be invisible, would you keep it a secret? i mean, i think i would. i think people wouldn't like to be friends with a person who had the power to be invisible.
I don't know ... because then I'd feel like I was totally eavesdropping, and no one would even KNOW, and it would seem weird. I would probably tell my husband, and my best friend, and probably my family, at least.

8. do you like discussing controversial topics, or do you like to stick to the safe ones?
It depends on who I'm having the discussion with - Elissa and I discuss controversial things all the time (and we often have differing viewpoints.) Mark and I discuss controversial things, but most of the time have the same viewpoint. Unless I know the person really well and trust them, I find it best to keep my mouth shut most of the time.

Now, off to make pudding!

Exhausted at 8 AM

Mark is at the dentist. Got there at 7. Will be worked on literally until noon. My poor hubby.
Luna is being extra, extra whiny today, but she finally fell asleep beside me, and heaven knows I'm not moving right now.
I am so, so tired. I'm going to need a nap today, in a bad way.

(On a positive note: how cute are they??)


All that aside, I promised I'd do a for-real post. Here we go.

I'm a worrier. I come from a long line of worriers. I worry about money. (I worry a LOT about money.) I worry about the puppy. I worry that the cat will hate us BECAUSE of the puppy. I worry about whether Mark will find a job come his May graduation. I worry about where we will live. I worry about what to fix for dinner, what to wear. I worry about whether people will like me, accept me, love me.

I worry about a lot of things.

And sometimes I'm not very good at seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. Sometimes I'm pessimistic. Sometimes I feel like life will never be how I want it to be. I get frustrated with our situation, and sad because I don't know if it will change or not. I want too many things.

And then I watch the coverage of the Chilean mine workers being rescued from that horrible 10-week nightmare, and I feel silly. And utterly hopeful. Because sometimes, things do work out for the best when it feels like all hope is lost. And sometimes, people are good. And I am reminded how blessed I am.

I have a husband who loves me and takes care of me. We're a really, really good team. I have a family who I adore. I have friends in lots and lots of places who might as well be family. I am sitting beside a seriously adorable puppy who loves to cuddle with me. There is food in my pantry and fridge, and there is money in my bank account (even though I sometimes freak out about how little there is...) I've never been unsure of where my rent is coming from, or my next meal. We are healthy. (Mark's teeth are getting healthy as we speak.) We are young, and we have ample time to make our situation and ourselves better.

I am tired. I am imperfect. (So, so imperfect.) I get impatient. But life is good, and I am thankful for it.

7 weeks!

My sweet baby is 7 weeks old today! How fast (and yet how slowly) this week has flown by! It's really amazing how much they grow and mature in just a week (just like a human baby, especially preemies). I'm so proud of her - she's gone three nights straight without crying in her crate, we're decreasing on the amount of accidents in the house, and she's typically going to the door when she has to poop. (We're still working on peeing outside rather than on the floor...)

Oh, how I love this puppy!

I do need to get some things done though today, which means that I'm going to have to leave her :( She did well yesterday when we went to lunch though, and I was SO proud of her! She wasn't even crying when Mark got home :)

I promise that soon, I'll do a real post and not be so obsessed with my puppy - I love her, but I don't know that you all want to hear about everything she does every single day :)

Lazy afternoon

This is what my afternoon is shaping up to be:

Mark is reading in his chair for his classes on Wednesday.

My Luna baby is sleeping beside me on the couch

And we're all listening to the rain come down outside.

I love fall.

Other things I'm loving:
Mark's mom made an impromptu trip to visit and meet the puppy yesterday evening, and it was really fun, and great to see her :)
My sister is coming to visit on Wednesday, and I'm making sweet potato ravioli (aka best food EVER) for dinner. I promise, I'll do a food blog about it, because you. want. that. recipe.
My puppy might just be the cutest puppy in the world. I am totally in love with her.
I had some really really yummy pumpkin pecan cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch today. Oh, delicious.
Also, Whitney over at Glamorous Life of a Housewife is having a giveaway!! You should go check it out here :)


Things I'm not loving quite so much:
We had to take Luna to the vet today, and found that she has coccidosis (a common intestinal parasite that is common in small puppies) and roundworms (also common in puppies.) She got some medicine and also another vaccine for parvo and distemper. My poor puppy's tummy!
I'm taking Mark on Thursday morning for the first of five very intensive dental appointments - this is the most intense of them all. He gets his wisdom teeth removed, and some other pretty major (and expensive) work done. It's not going to be very fun. And I'll be making a lot of soup later this week.


Also, can I just say that I love my little puppy more than I ever thought I would? I was really excited about getting her, but I didn't realize that she would become like my child so quickly. I guess I just like having something to take care of... but the attachment came faster than I expected. I'm trying my hardest to be a good puppy mommy, but it's also harder than I expected ... there's so much that I don't know about puppies, and so much to watch out for, and so much that she still has to learn. I hardly even know where to begin with training her... But I'm quite sure that as she grows, she'll become a completely vital part of our little family :)

And speaking of our little darling ... she's begging to play right now, and I think if I don't play with her, she might chew up the entire house.

Hope everybody has a great week :)

Life with a Puppy

We are officially exhausted. I had no idea how similar 6-week-old puppies and babies are... We've been getting up every two hours at night to take Luna out. She's not quite used to her crate yet ... but it's getting better. Last night was the best night yet, actually.

Poor Mark had a rather long weekend, as I was at work both Saturday and Sunday all day long. He's not much of a morning person ... but Luna is the ultimate morning puppy, so that was a little bit hard. Naps are good.

What IS going well, though, is potty training ... the last couple days, she's gone to the door when she needs to go out. Not consistently, but I think she's learning what to do, and it's a really encouraging start.

Right now, she's napping beside me, and what am I doing? I'm blogging. I should be running around, cleaning like mad before she wakes up. You know that chore list that was going so well, and our house was staying so clean? HA. That kind of got thrown out the window ... we're working on it, and the house isn't a total disaster by any means, but it's hard to vacuum, and it's really just hard to get a few minutes to clean much of anything. Oh well ... work in progress, I guess.

But despite all of that, and all the crying and the waking up at night and the exhaustion ... we love her. She's become our baby, and she's adorable, so how can we really get mad at her?

Here's some new pictures for you all to enjoy :)

Mommy is tired today :(

After Life with Luna, Night 2, this puppy mommy is pretty exhausted.

I feel like I'm starting to understand how new moms feel, just a little bit... And, to all the moms in blogland, by no means am I saying "oh my gosh, this is as hard as a new baby!" No way. I wouldn't even begin to imagine how exhausted mommy-hood is... (well, I might be able to imagine, but I'm sort of glad I'm not there yet.)

Luna did fairly well in her crate last night... she actually got in it and went to sleep without a lot of fuss (aside from the fact that the first time I tried to put her to bed, she was instantly ready to PLAY!), but then she woke up really often, and accidentally peed in her crate on my t-shirt that was in there, and she cried for a while after I took her out at 3:30 this morning. She was ready to play then, too, but Mommy was having none of it.

Today, we've had a couple of accidents, and we're having a bit of trouble adjusting to the crate still. I'm trying my hardest to make it comfy and happy and den-like - she has chew toys and a soft blanket or t-shirt at all times that I either wear or sleep with so it smells like me. We have a blanket over the crate, too, so it stays dark, or at least a little dim. But she's just not used to being by herself, and she definitely doesn't like being enclosed when she's awake. I guess it's a work in progress.

Making matters worse, yesterday morning, when I was taking her out to use the bathroom, I tripped and scraped about half the skin off by big toe. It's still a bit red, a bit swollen, draining like crazy, and hurting really really badly. The more I walk, the more it oozes and hurts (and you can imagine how much time I'm spending with my foot propped up - this, in fact, is the first time today.)

Graphic picture warning ... if you get squeamish when you see hurt places or nasty cuts, don't scroll down. (It really doesn't look that bad in the picture, honestly, I just like to warn people because I'm not normal, and don't have any type of gross-filter at all.)

Owwie :( it hurts a lot worse than it looks ... I sound like a big baby, but it really is more red than the picture looks like.

No pictures of the baby yet today ... I've been too busy avoiding accidents and trying to get clothes and dishes washed, and soup in the crockpot to take any thus far. I'm sure there will be some new ones this afternoon after Daddy gets home!

Patience, Pies, and Puppies

My good friend Melanie did a blog post a few weeks ago about the merits of patience, and how it relates to cooking. Prime example: pie crust. You can read her take on things here: Harvest of Grace. (I really love her blog, by the way. And her in general.)

Anyway, I'd been wanting to learn to make homemade pie crust for some time now. I'm a pretty decent cook and baker if I do say so myself, but I hadn't ever ventured into this difficult and time-consuming territory before, partly because I'd never been able to find a pie crust recipe without shortening, which I do not believe in. Then I read her blog. And then I got a whole bunch of apples in my CSA. And ... I gave in.

I had a moment of sheer panic a few minutes ago, because when I tried to roll out the dough (which you have to keep putting back in the fridge/freezer like ALL DAY while you make the stuff), I could clearly see little pieces of butter floating around in the dough, and I hadn't used enough flour for the counter, and it was sticking, and sticky, and a general mess. So I called Mel. And she reassured me that yes, indeed, you are supposed to be able to see the butter, and just use more flour and put it BACK in the fridge longer, and it would be okay. Thanks, Mel :)

All this to say... I still don't know how the pie will turn out. But I think that God is trying to teach me some patience.

I'm not a very patient person by nature. When I want something done, I want it done NOW. (Or, in some cases, yesterday.) And done my way. I'm spoiled, I guess. But here lately, during the "lets be adults" movement going on at our house, there have been countless situations where either God has been saying "Be patient, not yet" or Satan has thrown roadblocks into my adult-plan-making and made things happen that try my patience. Sometimes it's hard to discern which. And then we got Luna, who requires a lot of patience in general. (I mean, really, you can't just MAKE a dog pee, even if you take it outside. There's sometimes some standing around and waiting involved.) But it's good, and I can feel myself growing through all of it. I'll be the first to admit ... Luna is a tiny bit of a financial burden on us. But we talked and talked and talked it through before coming to a decision, and decided that she would bring lots of joy to our lives, and help us to become better. So far, even with a crying puppy that I PRAY didn't keep the neighbors up, that's proven to be correct.

So here's hoping that my pie ends up being flaky and delicious, and that I learn to practice the patience that God is trying to give me.

And, because I just can't help myself ... more pictures of Luna :)

And, if you've made it this far ... a video for your troubles! (Sorry about that last part - it's hard to video and play and watch the puppy all at the same time...)

Blogworld, meet Luna :) (Picture-heavy!)

Our sweet puppy is home!!

She's napping right now, which is why I'm able to update ... puppies are busy little balls of fur!! Luna has been home now for a little over 2 hours, and so far that 2 hours has included eating, peeing on the floor once, pooping in the crate once, a wardrobe change and some laundry for Mommy, 3 naps, playtime outside x2, and right now she must be dreaming, cause she keeps making these sweet little noises in her sleep.

We take a lot of pictures of our pets....

Giving Daddy kisses when we got home

 Asplorin' Daddy's lap :)

After the failed crate introduction, we had a bit of a mess on our hands. Mommy had to go do laundry, but Luna wasn't done napping...

 Eatin' my lunch

Hi, Mom!

I got tired, and fell asleep on Mom's boot

And then on mom's lap

Sweet thing

Adorable puppy paw!

Cutest face ever :)

We are in love :)

D-Day!

Stands for Doggie Day! We'll go pick up our little Luna in a couple of hours ... we're so excited! Mark even woke up for a second, looked at me, and said "Arooo!" like a little beagle puppy howl :) Check back for pictures later.

And, if you want the recipe I made last night for the Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup, click on my Basil and Buttercream link on my sidebar. It's delicious!

A Day at the Dentist

"Ouch," says my mouth.

"OUCH!" says my wallet.

It was a long, hard, painful joint dentist appointment today for Mark and me.

Luckily, the sweet potato and sausage soup that's currently cooking in the kitchen and making my mouth water seems to be just the thing to heal, if not both wounds, at least one of them :)

(And, I'm finally taking pictures of food again, so it's sure to be a blog post!)

Long Weekend

When most people think "long weekend" it is a happy thing - an extra day off.

When I say long weekend, I mean just that. It was a long weekend.

But it's Tuesday now, one of my very happy days :) I get my CSA today. Hooray! (Note: Grow Alabama is even MORE awesome now because they expanded their bronze plan - ours - to include 6 different fruits and veggies instead of just 4. Win!)

Unfortunately, I also have to go to the dentist to get my cavities filled. And we have to see what Mark's teeth need to have done to them too... Boo :(

On a more positive note: Happy things!

-My aforementioned CSA! Some things on the menu this week: sausage and sweet potato soup (sounds weird, but Epicurious has rave reviews posted, AND Deb at SmittenKitchen made it and liked it, so it can't be bad...), curry, and apple pie. Oh, fall. I love you.
-Fall has finally come to Birmingham, AL (for a little while, at least.) I think I'm going to debut the boots today. Maybe it will make my dentist appointment less depressing, knowing I'm wearing something cute... (yep. that's a stretch.)
-Tomorrow morning, at 9:30 am, we pick up our sweet puppy. I have SO MUCH TO DO before she comes home still... Anticipate pictures. I'm breaking out the old digital camera for the occasion so you can at least see some of the adorable-ness immediately :)
-I know I've said it before, but my husband is awesome. He is so patient. So, so patient. Thank you for being patient with me, my darling.

It's early early, but I need to get moving moving. Lots of things on the to-do list today!

Ugghhh

It's a little after 5:30, and I'm supposed to be just now getting up for work.

Instead, I've been awake for about 3 hours now...

Awesome.

There.

I think I've finally gotten it right :)

New Blog Layout...

I can't decide if I like it or not.

Opinions? Suggestions?

Please Pardon My Progress

We're making some changes in our life as of late.
We're trying to be more like grown-ups.

I feel like this blog might need a bit of a change as well.

Please bear with me.