Louisville Trip

Here are the few pictures I got of my sweet little nephew when we went to Louisville (by "we" I mean Drew and me) over the weekend. Whirlwind trip to be sure. We left early Saturday morning in the rain, it rained the entire trip. We got to see Athan and of course his mom and dad! He is adorable. We left Sunday morning so it was a very quick trip.

Athan is 1 month old. The next time I see him he will have changed drastically since I doubt that I will be able to make another trip down there for awhile and my sister isn't coming home for a visit until June when school is out. June! That's 3 months away.

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I saw this on my friends blog and I hope she doesn't mind but I'm going to use it because oh does it fit our household! Thanks Lynne for posting this because it is true!

If I Didn’t Have a Dog...

I could walk around the yard barefoot in safety.

My house could be carpeted instead of tiled and laminated.

All flat surfaces, clothing, furniture, and cars would be free of hair.

When the doorbell rings, it wouldn't sound like a kennel.

When the doorbell rings, I could get to the door without wading through fuzzy bodies who beat me there.

I could sit on the couch and my bed the way I wanted, without taking into consideration how much space several fur bodies would need to get comfortable.

I would have money .....and no guilt to go on a real vacation.

I would not be on a first-name basis with 6 veterinarians, as I put their yet unborn grand kids through college.

The most used words in my vocabulary would not be: out, sit, down, come, no, stay, and leave him/her/it ALONE.

My house would not be cordoned off into zones with baby gates or barriers.

My house would not look like a day care center, toys everywhere.

My pockets would not contain things like poop bags, treats and an extra leash.

I would no longer have to spell the words b-a-l-l, f-r-i-s-b-e-e, w-a-l-k,

t-r-e-a-t, b-i-k-e, g-o, r-i-d-e.

I would not have as many leaves INSIDE my house as outside.

I would not look strangely at people who think having ONE dog/cat ties them down too much.

I'd look forward to spring and the rainy season instead of dreading 'mud' season.

I would not have to answer the question 'Why do you have so many animals?' from people who will never have the joy in their lives of knowing they are loved unconditionally by someone as close to an angel as they will ever get.

How Empty My Life Would Be!

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Not much else is going on with us right now. Just waiting for that first camping trip. Andrew will be doing the MAP testing after Easter break. This will be a first for him. They have standardized testing in Catholic school but I don't think it is anything like the public school does. He's very smart and I know he will do well but it's still got to be gruelling to have days of these tests.

Vote for Pedro (the band)

My friend Kristin's boyfriend plays in a local St. Louis band that I want to mention. Vote for Pedro is a good band. Bill and I really enjoyed listening to them and would love to hear them again. Here's their website: http://www.vote4pedro.net/

Furbabies

Sunday hangover

Last night we went out with some friends to a St. Patrick's day dance. Kind of weird to have a St. Paddy's day dance after St. Paddy's day but oh well. We did some dancing and drank draft beer and now today we are suffering. We are definitely too old for this! We actually got out two weekends in a row! Last weekend we went to see the band Vote 4 Pedro. Great band. The band at the dance last night was good if you like oldies (60's and 70's) but Vote 4 Pedro played songs more to my generation - the 80's and lots of old rock songs.

Despite being hungover today, I must get busy. We are redoing a room in our house and it's taking forever. Have two more walls to paint and then we will be ready for new furniture. I also have to go grocery shopping today and do the laundry. Why did I stay out so late and drink that awful beer?

Enough of my ramblings, until next time!

Books Read

On my list of books that I read in the past year (maybe year and half) they are in no particular order. I lumped them by author. I have also read all 7 Harry Potter books. I need to re-read the 7th book as it is the only book I haven't read twice. I have also read the entire Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich (1-14 and the in between the numbers books). I liked all of these books on this list, my favorites being "Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult and "The Herectic's Daughter" by Kathleen Kent. My least favorite on the list is "Mercy" by Jodi Picoult. I'm currently reading "Picture Perfect" by Jodi Picoult and I like it so far. I obviously loved the Harry Potter series and hate that it is over. The Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull compares somewhat to Harry Potter but not quite. I've read several of my son Andrew's books such as "The City of Ember" and the Leven Thump book. I like to read. I'm open to book recommendations.



I told you this was going to be a bunch of ramblings. LOL!

Athan John

This is my sweet little nephew Athan. He was born on February 23, 2009. I haven't met the little guy yet but I'm counting down to the day I do - 7 days! I'm heading down to Louisville to meet him and cuddle with him. I can't wait. My sister and her husband made a beautiful little boy. Welcome to the family Athan!

New Camper

Here is our new camper we just purchased. Our first camping trip is planned but it's still a ways out there - April 24th. Can't wait to take it out camping! We are going to one of our favorite state parks - Meramec State Park in Sullivan, Missouri. Now that we have a camper with heat and a/c our camping trips won't be restricted to just the spring and fall. We can go just about year round. This summer we will most likely stick to Missouri campgrounds but I'm hoping that next summer we can take it to Maine.