Catching Up

Here are a couple of late Memorial Day pics. My sister with Ella. So cute.



It's been a long week! Since I was off Memorial Day I had to make up work hours Tuesday through Friday. Thankfully, after some long days I was off early Friday!! Richard was off too, which gave us a chance to both get things done around the house.

It was so nice not to have to work Friday night when Richard left. I put the time to good use by cleaning up around the house and taking care of things!

Saturday was far from relaxing! Richard had to get up at 4am so he could go do a side job. He woke up and went about getting ready, I stayed snug in bed...for a short while! He came in a few moments later, explaining to me that Phoenix was obviously sick. He hasn't been feeling well this week for whatever reason. Not sure what's wrong exactly. Richard walked into the hall only to discover that our poor baby had made quite the mess in the guest bathroom and it had "traveled" into the hall. I'll spare the gross details aside from that.

I do find it interesting that he went into the bathroom. I mean he's a dog, he could have done it all over my rug! In my sleepy stupor I was wishing he would have just so I could have rolled it up and thrown it outside.

Richard was finding the whole thing quite comical as he was loopy from not nearly enough sleep.

So at 4:30 on a Saturday morning I was helping Richard get all his things together and cleaning up one big mess. The lovely irony of the situation was that I had run out of paper towels the day before. What did people do before paper towels? Thank heavens, as Mom can attest to, I had lots and lots of extra rolls of toilet paper. LOL! Hey, God works ALL things together right? So after using a whole roll of TP to clean everything up, bleaching the floors, cleaning up again, mopping, and letting it dry, going outside to let him out and stop inhaling bleach fumes, and Lysoling the floors we headed back to bed at 6:30. Not exactly what I had in mind for Saturday morning but okay.

He seems to be okay now, hopefully he'll be fine because neither him nor I want to go to the vet. He HATES the vet. I'm not a huge fan either.

Well, I hope everyone elses weekend didn't go as crappy as mine. Yes that was completely intentional. Shameless I know.

I need to stick a new recipe in here. Will try to get around to that soon.

Sunday evening we got a call from Kate asking us out to dinner. So we headed on over to Cracker Barrel and had a nice dinner with them. It had been quite a good while since we'd been able to get together with anyone so the company was nice.

This week has been crazy! Richard had taken Monday off. We did billing and took care of several other things. I had noticed that the phone wasn't working, but didn't think it a big deal. Well, later we realized that our phone line wasn't working...again! This is literally like the fourth or fifth time in the almost two years that we have lived here. So Richard called and the earliest it could be fixed was Tuesday by 6pm or 7pm. So much for work!

Then that afternoon we went grocery shopping. As we were checking out at Sam's we heard loud booms of thunder! So we went running out loaded up the truck and quickly headed home. The storm was nasty! We got home just in time. A few minutes later it started pouring and hailing! I hadn't seen hail in years so it was really crazy seeing it. Naturally once I got my camera out it had stopped. I did manage to take a pic of some on the back door rug with my camera phone.

Tuesday Richard worked most of the day and I cleaned the house and this and that as I was not able to work since the phone was out. The AT&T guy finally showed up right before 6pm. He finally got a dial tone to come up, then informed us that something inside the house wasn't working. We tried all the jacks and found that the one in the office, the one I need, wasn't working! Isn't life interesting! Needless to say Richard was able to switch out jacks and now our office works and everything is back up and running...for now! Hopefully we don't have anymore problems. We were just thankful Richard was able to take care of it and we didn't have to pay AT&T!

So today I am back to work. All is quiet on the eastern front. Hopefully it stays that way for now!

Our Memorial Day Weekend

Well, we had a lovely weekend. It's hard to believe it's already over and back to the same ol same ol! Saturday was super busy. I got a hair cut and we ran errands and did shopping. Richard worked that evening and I cleaned the house and got everything ready. He didn't arrive home until early early in the morning so we didn't quite make it to church.
Dad, Mom, Amanda and Ella arrived sometime before 1pm. I had lunch almost ready for them! I took Phoenix out to meet his new cousin! I think they got along pretty well. They were interested in rough housing mostly. It was fun to watch them run around the backyard. Phoenix liked to crouch down, then zoom at Ella. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. There are a couple on my camera phone but pigs will fly before I figure out how to put them on here! Amanda took lots of pictures thank goodness!
Sunday was spent just lazing around the house mostly.
We got up Monday morning and had biscuits and gravy, then went out shopping. We had burgers, and the whole nine yards for lunch. Ella and Phoenix enjoyed a hamburger too!
The whole weekend went entirely too fast and before we knew it was time for them to head back home.
It's funny because after they left Phoenix went and laid down in the kitchen and stayed there almost the entire evening. He seemed quite depressed to have his playmate gone. Today he's been playing with the Wubba that Ella left.
Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. I know we certainly did!

Looking Forward to the Weekend!

It's always nice to get off work and know that you don't have to go back until Tuesday!!! I loveeee long weekends. Richard is even taking Monday off.
Our Memorial weekend shall be extra special, as the family is coming up. We are looking forward to having them here for a couple days and meeting Ella, the newest Husky family member.
I plan to make a good spread and grill some burgers. And the weather is even supposed to be perfect here! Could a girl ask for anything else?
So for now I'm cleaning and shopping. We've got lots of errands to run tomorrow, hair to be cut, things to pick up, a certain Husky to bathe. He's had fun playing in the dirt. Anyways, just figured I'd pop in and give an update as I probably won't be blogging until later next week.
Sorry about the weekly recipe. It's gotten lost in the hustle.

A Funny Thing Happened Today...

I've been wanting to blog about some work experiences for some time now. I had such funny calls today that I thought I would go ahead and start blogging about them.
For those who don't know, I work out of my home office as a teleservices agent. Just for the sake of privacy of everyone involved that's as far as I'll go. Basically I answer the phone all day for different companies.
I had a Spanish gentleman call today. It was a wrong number. He was only one number off. What struck me as funny was that he said "Oh, it looked like a 5...I'm sitting in the dark." I don't know why but it struck me as funny.
Another man called for a diabetic kit. He was elderly and hard of hearing. I asked him for his phone number, and he replied "Are boiled peanuts good for you?" That gave me the giggles. It's hard to maintain composure sometimes!! We talked about that for a few moments and then he was on his merry little way.
Not all callers are fun and polite. I get so many nasty people. One lady called in today for a free item. I asked for her address and she got pretty nasty with me and wanted to know why on earth I needed all this information! Well, if you want it sent to you I need your address. Hello??? It's not like I'm asking for your social security number and your mother's maiden name!
This call happened a long time ago when I first started working. An elderly man called a number for country music CD's. He didn't want the CD's he just wanted a songbook. He informed me that he was 92 years old and he just wanted to yodel. We went around and around. He just couldn't understand why I couldn't send him a songbook so he could yodel! After all he was 92 years old and he just wants to yodel! You would have thought it was the end of the world.
That's all I've got for now. I'm supposed to be cooking dinner anyways!

Phoenix's Short Lived Adventure

After Phoenix's little escapade yesterday, it dawned on me that I haven't been blogging for him. Maybe that will come to pass sometime soon...I make no promises.
As some of you know, our backyard is fenced in with your typical 4 foot chain link fence. Behind the fence is a large ditch. It runs the entire length of the street. It's basically city property, used for run off water I believe.
I had taken Phoenix outside to run and play, and Richard was inside taking a nap. He was running about and suddenly spied a cat sitting in that ditch. He got so excited and started running back and forth. Suddenly he ran to the corner and jumped right over the fence. I about died! He had a collar and info on him, but he's such a nomad I knew he would run like the wind. I went tearing over the fence after him yelling at him to stop. Thankfully the kitty got away, but so did Phoenix. The whole length of ditch is fenced in and ends on both sides at a street. I was so afraid he was going to come tearing out of that ditch and run in front of a car.
The ditch is overgrown with weeds and as he is running all I can see is his fluffy white tail bobbing away. It was quite comical and I wish I had video of it.
I had the sense to run in the house and grab his treats. I also ran into the bedroom to grab Richard. That was even funnier. I have to give him kudos for responding so quick. I yelled his name and he immediately sat straight up in bed and yelled "What, what what?" I think he flew out of bed and got out the door faster than me!
I don't know why, but Phoenix listens to him! We hopped over the fence and he yelled for Phoenix and a running he came! I'm so glad Richard was home. I would have been running down that ditch shaking his treat bag, yelling the whole way!! The neighbors would have thought I'd lost it.
So that was Phoenix's big adventure for the day. He is now confined to the tie out when he goes outside. He isn't pleased.

Happy Mother's Day!

A Mother's Love

A Mother's love is something that no on can explain,

It is made of deep devotion and of sacrifice and pain,

It is endless and unselfish and enduring come what may

For nothing can destroy it or take that love away . . .

It is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking,

And it never fails or falters even though the heart is breaking . . .

It believes beyond believing when the world around condemns,

And it glows with all the beauty of the rarest, brightest gems . . .

It is far beyond defining, it defies all explanation,

And it still remains a secret like the mysteries of creation . . .

A many splendoured miracle man cannot understand

And another wondrous evidence of God's tender guiding hand.

Helen Steiner Rice

Happy Mother's Day Mom, we love you!

Richard & Emily

Recipe

Hey All. This week is a recipe I recently came across. We've had it several times already because it's just so good! It's a great pork chop recipe with a yummy sauce.

First put a large skillet over medium heat. Pour a little extra virgin olive oil in and let that heat up. Take your pork chops, how ever many you want, and season them generously with salt and pepper. Cook them to your preference. Meanwhile, whip up this Apricot Mustard sauce.

1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
2 tbsp apricot jam

Stir all ingredients together until well blended. This can be served with either pork or chicken. Also, I usually less Dijon to make it a bit creamier. It's all up to you though. Enjoy!

Busy!

It's kind of hard to keep up around here! We've been pretty busy. The weekend could have been a lot better but oh well!! On Saturday we got up early, after not nearly enough sleep. We had an appointment for the truck at 9am, and we were dropping it off and going to head over to the mall which is right across the street. We got there and Richard headed in. I think there were three people in front of him. I was sitting in the truck reading a magazine and I could see him standing in front of the door. I think about 15 minutes had passed and he had not moved one bit! He called and let me know that there was only one employee and the man at the counter was arguing with the employee. I ended up coming in to wait with him. We waited over 30 minutes just to get up to the desk and then were informed that regardless of our appointment they could not take us!! Tak about frustrating. They had obviously overscheduled and we weren't getting anywhere.
So we ended up going around to garage sales for a bit, then heading home. We chilled for a while then decided to go get something to eat. We ended up at the University Diner. It's just down the street from our house and we've been there a few times. I got a chicken wrap, something I had before, and decided to try their sweet potato fries. That was obviously a big mistake! A couple of hours later I was in a world of hurt!! I don't know what disagreed with me, but it made me so sick! So that was how the rest of my weekend went!
Monday we ended up going grocery shopping and getting that all taken care of. I don't know why but I actually enjoy going grocery shopping.
Anyhow, certain family members...(ahem, you know who you are!)...need to get on here and blog. If I can do it you can! I feel all alone in the world!