Starting the weekend with a bang

So, it’s not actually the weekend yet, but I’m sure most of us wish it was.

 A little premature, I know.  But the city I live in put on its annual fireworks show this past Sunday.  I haven’t been to this particular show in about seven years, and had forgotten just how good a job they do.

My sister-in-law bought a house just a block from the field where they shoot them off, and she had her first annual fireworks party that night.  It was a perfect spot.

I’d never photographed fireworks before, so when I decided to try, I was a little taken back by how good they turned out. 

It did take quite a bit of tweaking during the whole show, but it was fun!

Hope everyone has a wonderful fourth of July weekend!

Beautiful Lengths

Just in case any of you didn’t know just how much of a dork I really am, I will tell you that I am sitting here patiently waiting for Derek to get home so we can go out to dinner with some friends and then head over to IMAX to see Transformers 2.

And you have no idea just how excited I am to finally see it!

So, to kill some time, I will tell you about one tuesday morning when I headed over to Kel’s to get my hair trimmed. Not expecting to have nearly enough to donate, she measured it and revealed nine inches.

So I lopped it off. Instead of reiterating what Kel has already posted, I am just going to lead you to her post about it.

Here are some other before and after pictures as well.  The weekend before we took a trip to the DIA.

And the weekend after, we went and saw the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

I am donating it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths and eventually I know I will do it again.

Once everyone, including myself, got over the shock of the drastic change, it seems to be accepted now.  But most of all, it just feels great to know that it will help a woman out there, and for that,  it’s worth it.

Is this thing on?

So, ummm…hi?  Remember me?

I didn’t actually mean to disappear from the blogging portion of my life.  It just sort of happened.  I won’t make any promises, just say that I will try not to let that happen again.

In the meantime, Keiko will be today’s feature in all his goofy, nerdy glory.  Him and I spent an evening together when Kirra stayed overnight at the vet a few weeks ago for an abscess on her…well, let’s just say it wasn’t in a very comfortable spot.

This is the essence of Keiko.  With his ears drawn back and that long tongue with nowhere to go.  Except, when he was a puppy, he was all ears and tongue. 

See?

Why did he have to go and grow up?

The three that almost came to be

A fifty five pound dog slept on my stomach most of the night.  The thirty five pound one slept on my legs.  The power went out yesterday and when I reset the alarm, I set it for pm and not am.  I woke up extremely late this morning. 

At our old house, our bedroom held enough free space for both of the dogs to have a bed of their own.  This house doesn’t.  We got rid of one, and Kirra promptly began sleeping on our bed.  Usually at the bottom, across my legs.

A few weeks ago, I got rid of the other one, because we barely had room for that one.  And almighty Keiko, after refusing to sleep near anyone for his entire three years because if that someone moved an inch, his entire day would be ruined.  Literally.  He got that upset.  Anyway, he finally moved past his issues and began sleeping on the bed.  At first, he would only take my spot on the bed once I got up each morning.  Little by little, he would come up earlier and earlier, eventually turning into the entire night.

So I now spend my nights with Keiko nestled between Derek and I, the upper half of his body resting on my stomach, and and Kirra stretching out as far as her little frame will allow across my legs.  It paints quite the cozy picture, the four of us on our little queen size bed.

And when I saw this sweet little girl, as much as I wanted to make room for her in our picture, I couldn’t.

I still don’t know how I passed up that sweet puppy breath, or that soft puppy fur.  But most of all, those pink ears and pink nose were almost the deal breaker.

I even named her.  Then I came to my senses and reality came spinning back to me.  I don’t need any more creatures that shed in our house, especially not a white one.  We don’t have time for all the training they require. 

So I walked away.  Only because it was the wrong time, not because I have a problem with getting another dog, because I really don’t.  Someday.

Cuatro

Today, Derek and I celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary.  It’s hard to believe it has been that long, and in a way, hard to believe it hasn’t been even longer.  We’ve known each other seven years now, and I can’t imagine my life without him.

Where does the time go, I ask you? 

That was the last picture taken of us together.  In January.  On North Captiva Island, Florida.  When we actually had a free moment to have our picture taken.

I’ll stop whining now and say that this is only the beginning of our lives together, and I look forward to the many wonderful years ahead.

A list of sorts

Due to time constraints, I am only listing some things I’ve been wanting to talk about, but don’t have time to expand on at the moment.  Perhaps I will get around to it in, say, a decade! 

-I’ve been ignoring our impeding poison ivy issue, in hopes that if I do ignore it, maybe it will go away.  Hey, it works with some things!

-On Mother’s Day, I had a gathering at my house for my mom, grandma, and aunt.  Everyone had a wonderful time, and I actually pulled off the party with limited phone time with my mother.

-Instead of constructing an entire vegetable and herb garden this year, I planted some things in containers.  So this summer, we should have romaine lettuce, onions, green, red and yellow peppers, along with dill, chives, basil, parsley, rosemary and sage.

-School started this week, and it’s already proving to be only the beginning of my nursing school journey.  I am taking Pharmacology and Nutrition this semester, and according to my Pharm teacher, the program doesn’t start in September, it starts now.  At that moment, I wanted to curl into a ball and hide in a cave for the next two years.

-Our neighborhood seems to be quite the party place for non-rural creatures.  Aside from our deer, I’ve seen a fox hanging out in the backyard, had to pull Keiko away from his run in with a snake that was actually quite large, and seem to find either a spider or ant in the house everyday, something we learned from our neighbor is an ongoing problem, and they’ve lived there thirty years!

-As bummed as I am about all my favorite shows ending for this season, it’s nice to not have to make time to watch them.  Bones, which I’ve watched since it started a few years ago, will be missed the most. 

-Most of the gardens around my house are already complete.  I haven’t done much, other than moving some things around and planting a few new things.  They just need to be cleaned up and mulched, which my dad is picking up on his way home from up north this weekend.  Nothing beats that fresh cedar mulch scent.

-My mother and I made our annual trip to Block’s, an enormous nursery in Romulus, which is totally worth the trip, and both escaped with minimal damage to our bank accounts.  I only bought some coleus and other things for some planters.

-This Sunday, my mother and I are going to Florida to pick up my grandparents.  We should be home by Monday evening.  Talk about a quick trip!

-I finished The Kite Runner over a week ago, and let me just throw in a quick WOW!  I just haven’t had time to begin reading something new yet, that’s why it’s still up there.  Hopefully soon!

I do think I could go on and on, but I’ve got stuff to do.  Perhaps an exam covering FIVE! chapters after only one class session is enough of an excuse.  I’ll be back soon.

You’d think I know what to look for…but I really don’t

We’ve been battling poison ivy for the past week in our household.  I knew that it was in the woods, and was very careful, just as I always am.  I’ve been very unlucky over the years when it comes to poison ivy, and have learned my lesson many times over.  My husband, however, was certain that he was immune to it.  That very well may be the case, but it seems that he came into contact with it at the same time he got a nice cut on his leg.  He is covered in it.

Anyway, being the way it happened, I ended up with a few patches of it on my legs as well.  Go figure. 

So, now the hard part comes along.  The whole issue of trying to rid our property of the pain in our you-know-what’s.  I know it won’t be easy.  I don’t expect it to be.  But the fact that I cannot for the life of me, seem to identify the plant, isn’t going to play well on that end.

This is identical to the plants I doused in poison ivy killer the other day.  Green stems, some were four or five feet tall, and they were everywhere.

Here is one of those that is already wilting from the killer.

Derek pointed out these as I was taking pictures.

That little guy in the middle threw me for a loop.

And this.  Let’s just say that the chance of this being poison ivy is unlikely.  Otherwise, we’ve got a twenty-some foot poison ivy tree in our backyard.

I am pretty sure this one isn’t.  You can’t really see, but the stems are prickly and kind of furry looking.

I’ve found plenty of pictures, and none of them seem to have helped my vision of what is should look like.  Can anyone help?!

An underdog who got the gold

Who needs a two million dollar horse when one that costs less than ten thousand can get the job done?

I am not much of a sports fanatic.  In fact, I would rather do most things that plop down in front of the television to watch a game of any sort.  I’ve gone to Red Wings and Piston’s games in the past, and with Derek sitting next to me, putting everything in an understandable language, I do have fun.  But there are those days every year where I have to watch Thoroughbred’s race to the finish line.

And how could you not enjoy it.  Especially with a story like today’s underdog.  That is the type of horse I would have bet on.  If I was actually interested in betting, which I doubt I ever will be.  I can just see the look on Derek’s face when I told him I wanted to bet on the horse with the highest odds, simply because nobody cared about him, except his trainer, who trailered him all the way to Kentucky in his own truck and trailer.  I wouldn’t have cared if he won, but I sure would have been happy about it when he did.

The shock was apparent, even moreso was that the “favorite” among the crowd ended up placing 18th out of 19.  Just goes to show you that sometimes money and fame aren’t the only things that make this world go round.

Around the 1:30 mark, you can see him just fly up the rail, squeeze through to first and still finish almost seven lengths ahead.  A beautiful moment.

A decoration of the mind

People are always asking me what I am currently reading.  In order to ease some of those questions, I’ve put a picture and link on the sidebar to the book I am currently reading.

I hope I can keep this up, and I’ll admit, I’ve also done it in order to force myself to read the unread books lingering on my shelves.  I need to get to a point where I can stop saying, ‘I have that book, I just haven’t read it yet’, because I often get strange looks when I say that a number of times to someone I am comparing titles to.

I always try to have a book with me, but sometimes I just don’t.  Point in case.  The book that is up there now, Good In Bed, by Jennifer Weiner, and has been for many days, was finished the day after I put it up there.  I just haven’t gotten around to starting a new one yet.

So, hopefully I stop re-reading my favorite books for a while, and get caught up somewhat on the others.  But hey, even if I do re-read something, I suppose I should put it up there anyway.

A few lists of eight

Kel did this last week, and I just needed a post to pass the time. Enjoy! 

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

1. Being a Nurse

2. Being a mother

3. My husband becoming a Paramedic

4. Our next vacation, because who knows when that’ll be!

5. Warm weather

6. Living a long life

7. Growing a vegetable garden

8.  Learning new things all the time

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY

1. Worked

2. Went to class (The last one for this semester!!)

3. Went to the Doctor’s office

4. Took a drug screen

5. Studied

6. Went to the grocery store

7. Went to the library

8. Read a book

8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO

1. Talk to people as easily as I write

2. Not have to think about things for approximately ten years before acting

3. Not have trouble getting pregnant

4. Make friends more easily

5. Be more independent

6. Be less impatient, and have less of a temper

7. Not stress out over things that aren’t worth stressing out over

8. Give better advice

8 SHOWS I WATCH

1. Bones

2. Gray’s Anatomy

3. Heroes

4. Private Practice 

5. House

6. Samantha Who

7. Jon & Kate Plus 8

8. Law & Order: SVU