Let's End on a Positive Note, Shall We?

I really don't like putting a highly negative post on this site, it's just a downer every time I look at it. So I decided I need to write a positive post to make up for it.

It's snowing here. Not the crazy nasty storm we were suppose to get, but rather a slow, lazy snow that is kind of swirling around. It's been a very nice view out of my window at work all day today. Very conducive to sipping on tea.

Since doing my ride along w/ our police Sergeant, I'm not longer scared spitless of him. He came into dispatch today and I was actually able to hold a conversation and joke with him without shivering in my boots. I've also been much more confident in my work, which has been great.

Now that the holidays are over, I once again have the motivation to eat right and get more healthy. Thank goodness.

Both Nathan and I got several gift cards to Home Depot for Christmas, which is something we specifically asked for because our bathroom is in severe need of an overhaul. So next weekend we're hoping to head to Ontario (depending on road conditions) to pick out a new bathtub, shower surround, and sink to install. This, in turn, will force us to go work out for a while because we won't have a working shower and we'll have to use the gym showers.

We ordered Guitar Hero III for the Wii from Walmart.com the other day. It should be here between the 3rd and the 7th. Big yay there!

Our plans for New Year's keep getting better and better. Either we're going to stay in town on the 31st, go to Barley's for a bit, and head home at a reasonable hour OR we're going to see if our friends' cabin up at Anthony Lakes (the local ski area) is available and spend the night there on the 31st. Then, either way, we're going skiing/snowboarding New Year's Day. Sounds like an excellent plan to me, darn it!

I love how our blog page looks now. It makes me happy. I figured I needed to change it, since it's most definitely not Christmas anymore, but couldn't find a New Years theme that I liked. So it's a winter theme instead.

...and the more I look at that blue and tan together, the more I really want to paint a room some combination of those colors...hmmm.

Disenchanted with People

I try not to post too much negative stuff on here, but sometimes a girl just needs to unload.

What happened to caring about your friends, and thinking about how your actions are going to affect them? What's with all the drama? And why the heck are all my tried-and-true friend so far away?!

Last night, a friend of ours met Nathan and I at Barley's for dinner and some beer. It was suppose to be a girl's night, but that kind of fizzled when all the girls we know were either busy or out of town. It started out as just this friend and I, but the entire time they were complaining about how it was just the two of us, and saying that we needed to find more people. Ok, not a big deal...if this weren't the same thing this friend does EVERY time we hang out. After a while, you start to wonder if you're company just kind of sucks.

Finally I offered to call Nathan to come down until some of our other friends could show up. He got there, we played some darts, then this friend noticed that another friend of theirs was sitting at the bar. Our friend asked if we could go sit with her at the bar...cool, no big deal...until we got to the bar and noticed that there was only one free seat next to her. So instead of asking her if she would like to join us at the big table we had been at, our friend looks at us, shrugs, and accepts our "guess we'll go sit back over there" without question. So we left, which our friend didn't even notice.

Now let me say right here and now...I am not a needy person. In fact, I am incredibly independent. But if you're my friend, I do expect you to treat me with the same care and respect that I'm willing to give you. I called my friend on what they did last night, and their response was "I hope you find some friends who can give you all of their attention." Do I call every day? No. Do I try to hang out with you every day? No. Do I monopolize your time? No. All I ask is that, if we're hanging out together, you don't ditch me and make me feel like crap whenever the notion takes you. Doesn't seem like much to ask.

I'm tired of getting walked on. I've had a couple friends do the same thing to me, and I'm kind of getting the same thing at work. Well forget that. I'm done. If I work with you, I'm not letting you treat me like I'm incompetent or let you make me look bad. If you're a friend, I will stand by you and be the best friend I can as long as you hold up your end of the deal also. I understand that there are going to be times when we're not going to be at our best, I respect that and will be there if you need a shoulder or a drinking buddy, but I'm done giving people 5th and 6th chances to walk all over me.

Maybe I've been ruined by the fact that I've had some absolutely freakin' amazing friends who I would bend over backwards for and who would do the same for me. Unfortunately, those people live on the other side of the state or in completely different states. But what's the point in being friends if you aren't willing to care that much? I love my friendship with my best friend from college, Dani, because I know that she loves me enough to call me on my stupid stuff, and that she'll listen when I do the same for her. Granted, you're not going to come across a friendship like that very often, but at least I'm willing to try.

Ok, I feel a little better now.

On a more positive note, Christmas was good, if a little exhausting. But the time we started opening presents on Christmas night (not eve), I was ready to collapse. It was great to have my parents here and I'm hoping that maybe next year I'll have a little more time with them since I shouldn't be working Christmas Eve or Christmas day. The bed we bought is absolutely lovely, so incredibly comfortable. Nathan also got me a digital video camera (now I just need to learn how to edit and create DVD's) and a DVD player which is also a karaoke machine. Nathan and I stayed up until midnight on Wednesday playing with it.

For New Year's, Nathan and I were planning on hosting a party at our place, but we decided to cancel it. There's just too much drama going on in our group of friends, which we really don't want to deal with. So instead, we're probably going to just go down to Barley's for their New Year's party, and anyone who wants to can join us there.

I'm looking forward to 2008...hopefully it will be a much better year than 2007 was.

Merry Christmas Eve!

It honestly doesn't really feel like Christmas right now, simply because I'm sitting at work and it's technically a business today today. So the front Sheriff's Office is open and my boss is here, which they won't be tomorrow. My parents are at my house right now, and tonight we're going to the Christmas Eve service at church, then having Chicken Fettuccine for dinner. Christmas morning we'll get up early, open our Santa presents, open stockings, having some breakfast, then I'm off to work again. After I get off work we'll having Christmas dinner and open the rest of our presents.

Our time in Portland was absolutely wonderful. We're very glad we drove over on Thursday night, it was so great to have the chance to spend two full days there with family and friends. We went directly to Nathan's mom's house on Thursday (we got in around midnight) and had breakfast with her on Friday morning. Then Nathan and Jan ran some errands while I finished up some work on the throw I made for Jan. Once that was done, we went into downtown Hillsboro to pick up some homebrew supplies for Nathan and my dad, picked out some beads for a necklace I'm going to make for Jan, and stopped to say hello to Jan's personal trainer Bruce. When we got back to Jan's house, she and I started on the ham dinner, while Nathan busied himself with playing some classic Nintendo games. Kate and Eliot showed up around 5 or so, we all had dinner together, opened some presents, and then Nathan and I picked up Johnny and Laura for a night on the town.

Our first stop was the Horse Brass, the closest thing you're going to get to a British Pup this side of the Rockies. I literally felt like I was back in London (besides not hearing any great British accents). We threw some darts, had some great beer (they had 24 taps from around the world), and enjoyed the chance to just sit and talk. At around 11:00, Laura and I decided we needed to move the party to Duke's Country Bar & Grill, because I always promised Laura I'd take her there when she turned 21. So we headed out that way, did some line dancing, and didn't get back to Hillsboro until around 3 am.

After sleeping in fairly late on Saturday, Nathan and Eliot went to Panera Bread for bagels for breakfast, then we all trooped out to Ger's house to do our Christmas thing with him. Once again, it was great to have that much time together. Ger, Nathan, Eliot and I sampled some fun beer while Ger and Kate worked on the prime rib dinner. About an hour before dinner was ready, Ger's surrogate daugher Katie showed up and we got to hang out before dinner was ready. After eating dinner, Katie and Nathan did dishes while Kate and I set up the family electric train set underneath the tree. And might I add that we were very impressed with out engineering skills! By the time we got done with that and opening presents, it was about 11 pm when Kate and Eliot hit the road back to Eugene. The rest of us stayed up for another hour or so having pie and visiting before I finally went to bed. The next morning, we got up early and hit the road back to Baker, thankfully arriving without incident.

The other big piece of new is that Nathan and I decided to put all of our Christmas gift money towards a new bed. The one we've been sleeping on is an old queen size we traded one of my friends for, since the full size we were using was just too small for us. Unfortunately, it was broken down and you had to have an egg crate AND a feather cushion in order to pad against the springs. So we've been sleeping horribly for about a year now. While we were in Portland, Nathan decided that we needed to bite the bullet, so my dad went down to the local furnature store here in Baker, did some haggling, and talked them down $70 from their "lowest price" for a queen size Beautyrest Plush Top, including delivery and pick up of our old mattress in the price. The delivery should actually be done by now. The mattress is one of those that has the individual pockets for each spring...it's the mattress in that commercial where the "scientist" drops a bowling ball right next to the bowling pins and never disturbs them...hope that works when Nathan does his usual violent turning in the middle of the night!

Later today, Nathan and my dad will be heading up to my parent's place on Pine Creek to pick up our 4 poster bed frame. In order to fit the large frame (we were using one of those shaky metal frames) in our tiny bedroom, Mom and I had to do some rearranging. I didn't think we'd like it as much the way it is now, but it actually makes the room feel bigger. We'll see how it looks after the guys get the big frame in there!

That's about it for now! Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Things I'm Thankful For...

...because I need to remember.



1) Tonight Nathan and I get to leave all the work and drama behind to head to Portland for the weekend to see my inlaws and have our Christmas time with them. We haven't seen them in a while, so it's going to be great to be able to spend some quality time together.

2) Also on our trip to Portland, we're going to see our friends Johnny and Laura. Johnny has been Nathan's best friend since grade school, and Laura is his fiancee. I haven't gotten to see them since...wow, it's been a REALLY long time, and I miss them like crazy.

3) My parents are getting to our house tonight, just a few hours after we leave. This means that we don't have to pay to put two dogs in the kennel at the vet for 4 days!

4) Even with how crappy of a day it was at work yesterday, the night ended well. After going to my work Christmas party for all of half an hour, Nathan and I met Brandie at Barley's, we had some fries and beer, got to talk with Tyler (the owner) for quite a while about his brew styles, and played darts. It was a good way to end a bad day.

5) I'm getting off work tonight at 6:00 instead of 7:00, which means we can get on the road earlier.

6) Even though my work situation kind of sucks right now and I have to do a ride along with the scariest Sgt we have, he had the decency to come into dispatch last night because he knew how stressed out I was about this ride along. Basically the purpose of this ride along is for him to tell me the concerns he and other officers have about my work. But he told me last night to relax, he isn't going to be mean, we're just going to go talk through some things, and he expect me to be as honest with him as he is going to be with me. It's actually kind of a relief to know that SOMEONE is going to give me some honest and specific feedback, for the first time since I started this job a year ago. Hopefully I can get through this 4 hours without crying.

7) My amazing husband...he's just the best.

8) It's snowing. Not so great for our trip tonight, but it makes me happy.

9) The stress about making Christmas gifts is over. I just have some little detail work to do, then it's into a gift bag and under the tree.

10) My house is clean. Not spotless, but definitely tidy. Having a messy house majorly contributes to me being highly stressed out. So that's one less stresser in my life right now.

11) As soon as we get to Portland, I'm done worrying about stuff. It's my mini vacation and I refuse to let myself dwell on things that I have no control over while I'm there! Actually, as soon as I leave work tonight, I'll be leaving all that behind, but there will still be the slight worry about getting to Portland in one piece. But Nathan's an excellent driver, so I'm not really worried.

12) I just found out that during the first weekend in February, I get to take 4 amazing Young Life girls to Campaigner's Camp at Wildhorse Canyon (the YL camp, not the casino). Two of the girls are definitely going and the other two are about 98% sure they're going. So far, there isn't a guy leader who can take any boys, so it's going to be just us girls. I'm so incredibly excited to spend the weekend getting closer to these girls. Campaigner's camp is different from normal YL camps in that it's all about going deeper in your relationship with God, while summer and fall camps are mostly about introducing kids to the idea of God. Three of the four girls went to summer camp at Malibu, Canada with me in June, so it's a big treat to get to take them to this camp. Plus, I get to go back to Wildhorse for the first time in about 3 years (geeze, has it really been that long?!). I spent a month working there for two summers in a row, plus the time I spent taking kids to camp there, so the place became like a home away from home and I've missed it terribly. I haven't been there since the new club house was built, or since they remodeled the "mall" to be housing for the monthly work staff. You can check out the camp website at www.wildhorse.younglife.org .

13) It's not snowing anymore...now we have some blue skies. But stay tuned, it may be snowing again in another half an hour. ;)

14) Our doggies continue to love playing with each other and Heidi is getting over her fear of people...she's even learning to play with toys, something she's never done before. Last night, she played fetch with Nathan!

15) It's snowing again...AND it's blue skies...as in, snow, coming out of a sky that really has no clouds in it. We have some freaky weather. I love it.

What is Christmas All About, Anyway?

It's such a slow day at work today that I went onto the To-Do List blog to see what updates the author has put up in the past week. Her latest, "On Christmas Lists", put into words a lot of the mixed feelings and thoughts I've been having about giving gifts and what Christmas is really all about. She basically asked how her adult readers feel about making out Christmas lists for their parents, grandparents, etc. It's a very thought-provoking post, I recommend reading it. The link to the blog is on the left side of our blog page.

Here was the comment I posted with my thoughts and responses:

"The older I get, the more uncomfortable I become with writing out Christmas list. It seems so materialistic. To me, Christmas is more about bringing joy to the people you love rather than buying them a fancy gift. Because of that belief, I've started making gifts for family members rather than buying them. Not knicknacky stuff, but things I really work hard on that I think they'll actually use.

If I do shopping at all, it's either for my husband (we try to figure out things for each other that we would both enjoy having) or fun smaller things that I see which someone has mentioned really wanting/liking but weren't on their "gift lists". Some of the most fun gifts are the ones that come out of the blue but show that the person really considered what fits your personality.

Like a lot of other people, the hardest people for me to shop for are the family members that I don't like or talk to. How am I suppose to know what they would really enjoy if I don't even talk to them? And why are we obligated to get gifts for these people just by virtue of them being from the same bloodline?

As for gift cards...I've decided that I'm swearing off of them for Christmas and Birthdays (weddings are ok, I loved getting gift cards for our wedding presents). What's the point? A gift card doesn't say "I thought long and hard about something that would make you feel cared for." And if you have NO idea what the person would like, why are you getting them a gift?

Thanks for this post, it put into words the half-formed ideas surrounding gift giving that have been bothering me this season!"

This year, I think I bought (didn't make) gifts for all of 3 family members. And all of those gifts were things that I know they will enjoy. The older I get, the less I worry about what I am getting and the more I thoroughly enjoy putting a ton of thought into the gifts I'm giving my loved ones...and the less I'm willing to do gifts for extended family that I simply have no contact with. Why break the bank for people you don't talk to during the rest of the year, simply because you were born into the same family?

I've started feeling like we're looking at Christmas only as an opportunity to rake in all that stuff that we can't afford to get ourselves. That's not the point of Christmas! I really hope this didn't come across as self-rightous or anything, this all just got me thinking. Maybe I should swear off making Christmas lists. Or is it unfair to assume that just because I pay attention through the year to what other people mention they want/need, that they're going to do the same for me? Well tough, I'm tired of feeling like I'm contributing to Christmas being a primarily consumer holiday.

I'm done. Thoughout the year, I'll be asking family members if there are things that they would like, or will be listening for clues. I don't have a problem with putting in the extra effort to come up with something you would like without resorting to asking you for a predictable list that will take the fun and surprise out of it. If you don't want to put in the similar effort, that's ok. Seriously, it's ok.

I don't know where Nathan stands on this, so please don't lump him in with how I feel. He can come up with his own opinion on the matter.

Whew, I feel better now that I've made a decision on that. :) I really hope no one was offended or hurt, that wasn't my intention, I was simply writing down thoughts and clearing my head.

Getting in the Spirit

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both. It just depends on the size, shape, and wrappability (is that a word?) of the gift.

2. Real tree or artificial? Real. I have never had and will never have a fake tree. The only way I will ever get a fake tree is if by some chance our child ends up having a freaky allergy to Christmas tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually sometime right around December 1st.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually right after New Years.

5. Do you like eggnog? Eeeew, nasty. Just the thought of drinking something with the word "egg" in it gives me the willies.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I would have to say probably when I got my first pair of really nice skiis.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yeah, my mom got me a really amazing nativity scene made by Willow Tree. I absolutely love their figurines, so I was super excited when I got home last Christmas from work and saw this set up in my living room...

8. Hardest person to buy for? Probably my mom's parents.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Nathan, because he is always very vocal about things that he wants. ;)

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I once got stationary with a big blue 'L' on it from some family members...that was kind of lame.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Crap, I need to finish that! Definitely mail.

12. Favorite Christmas Movies: White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, The Santa Claus Movie (the old one, not the one with Tim Taylor in it).

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually the beginning of December, but I always have my eyes open for great gifts...then I just have to remember that I bought them!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can remember. But I probably would if I got two of something neat.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Oh gosh...I think I pretty much like to repeat Thanksgiving dinner because it's so yummy. But Christmas cookies are good too. ;)

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Both...actually, we have a strand of multicolored, and a strand of blue lights on our tree, because that's just what we happened to have.

17. Five Favorite Christmas songs? 1) Baby It's Cold Outside 2) Away In A Manger 3) Carol of the Bells 4) Silent Night 5) Little Drummer Boy

18. Most Annoying Christmas song? Either 12 Days of Christmas or It's Christmas All Over the World...that's pretty presumptious if you ask me. By no means does the entire world celebrate Christmas. That just annoys me for some reason.

19. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home since I have to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I wish we could have our entire family over for Christmas but most of them aren't willing to make the drive over here.

20. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. Oh, and Rudolph, of course. Can't get very far on foggy nights without him! ;)

21. Angel or Star on top of the tree? I grew up with an angel, but Nathan and I found a cool 50's style topper that we both like, that is neither star nor angel. It's like this one, only ours is blue and white.

22. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One present on Christmas Eve, then usually the stockings, Santa present, and the rest of the presents on Christmas morning. But I have to work this year, so we're going to do stockings and santa presents in the morning before I got to work and then the rest of the presents after I get off work and we have dinner.

23. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Stupid people. Oh wait, that's all year long...it just gets more apparent during the holidays.

24. Favorite Christmas Apparel? I don't really DO Christmas Apparel.

25. What I love most about Christmas? Planning fun gifts and surprises for people. The older I get, the more I enjoy giving gifts rather than receiving them. And I love the time we get to spend with our family.

Relish ,Fudge, and the Christmas Rush

Every once in a while I get a craving for a burger from our In & Out (not part of the Cali chain, they got sued, funny story). So today for lunch, I ordered one. Now, those close to me know that I am a ridiculously picky eater. Part of that is that I don't like anything on my hamburger except cheese, ketchup, lettuce, and pink sauce if available. Well, today I forgot to put "ketchup only" on my order slip because we were busy. Completely forgetting this, I bit in to my hamburger and gagged...pickles, onions, relish, mustard, and tomato....NASTY! I hate relish.

Also in food news, one of our officers (who is pregnant and nesting, I believe) decided to make a basket of homemade goodies for the dispatch center and sheriff's office. So we now have a HUGE basket...platter....thing full of chocolate fudge, white chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, cookies, and rice crispy treats. Heaven help us.

And lastly, I am happy to report that I have ALL of our Christmas shopping done...except maybe one or two little things for stockings. Mom and I took a great trip to Boise this weekend and braved the Christmas Rush. It wasn't too bad because we avoided the mall until the very end of our last day. We spent two nights there in a lovely bed and breakfast set in a old Victorian house. We were in the Governor's Suite, which had a large room with a queen size bed and a small enclosed porch area attached to the room where you could watch tv in the evening (or play cribbage while sipping on Lindemans Framboise Raspberry Lambic, which is what we did). The only complaint was that the bed was rock hard. And by rock hard, I mean, it kinda felt like sleeping on the floor. Oh well, we had a great time.

The first night we went out to a great Thai restaurant called Mai Thai in downtown Boise. I hadn't realized how much Boise has changed. Downtown now has an amazing night life, with a lot of great restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. The second night we had dinner at a small Italian restaurant. We had a lot of laughs and it was wonderful to get to spend that time with Mom, just the two of us.

Other than that, Heidi is starting to really settle in, I think she and Bandit are starting to realize that she isn't going away and no, they don't have to get ALL of their playing done in just a few hours. I'm frantically trying to get some of my hand-made Christmas gifts finished before it's too late, and my next mission is to write our yearly "What the Labunski's Are Up To" Christmas letter that will go out with a family Christmas photo we took, unfortunately before we got Heidi. Oh well, life goes on, she'll be in next year's.

In the Spirit of the Coming New Year

Things I Want to Do Before I Die (in no particular order):

*Visit every continent, including Antarctica. (3 down, 4 to go)
*Swim with dolphins...in the wild.
*Travel to Italy.
*Travel to Denmark and visit where my ancestors came from.
*Travel to Lithuania and visit where Nathan's ancestors came from.
*Own a vineyard, even if it's just a small one.
*Live somewhere other than the lower 49 states for a year.
*Get my masters in either teaching or theatre.
*Become a police officer.
*Build our dream house.
*Have at least one child.
*Go to a 2 week cooking school in Italy with my mom (requires a 2nd trip, of course).
*Adopt.
*Direct a play for a theatre company.
*Teach theatre to high schoolers.
*Work at a Young Life camp for a year.
*Participate in a fundraising marathon for cancer.
*Learn to build log furnature, and build a log bed.
*Perform as Eponine in Les Mis.
*Spend a week by myself in a cottage by the ocean, just reading and walking the beach. Repeat at least once every 2 years.
*Visit all 50 states (18 down, 32 to go).
*Go on a cruise.
*Win a photography contest.
*Go to an NFL game.
*Complete my family tree.
*Complete Nathan's family tree.
*Get my motorcycle endorsement and buy a Harley.
*Start or become involved in an Ovarian Cancer awareness group in honor of Marla.
*Open a wine shop like what Bella's use to be before it became snobby.
*Have a room/outbuilding where Young Life kids can come hang out whenever they want, complete with a rockin' home theatre.

That's what I have so far, I'm sure more will be added later.

Easier Said Than Done

I admit it, I had forgotten how exhausting it is to introduce a new dog into your home. And whoever says that having a puppy is harder than adopting an older dog has never adopted an untrained 7 month old dog. At least with a puppy, you can scoop them up in your arms while they're still learning. With a full-grown dog, you are lucky if you can grab their collar and hang on in time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly glad we adopted Heidi and I think she's going to be a great addition to the family. It's just going to take a lot of love and patience to get her trained and comfortable, not to mention to get us and Bandit comfortable with having another dog.

It just breaks my heart to see the evidence of Heidi's abuse...this morning, as I was leaving for work, I put one hand under her chin and one on the top of her head to pet her goodbye, and she instantly started cowering. It took me petting her for a while before she realized that she wasn't in trouble and wasn't going to get hit. If nothing else, that just makes me more glad that we took her in and gave her a loving home. Thankfully my friend Arly has two German Shepherds, so she's a wealth of knowledge when it comes to a breed that I have never personally owned.

Ok, first funny Heidi story:

Shortly after bringing Heidi home, she discovered my slippers by the front door and grabbed one to bring to me. I gently scolded her, because I don't want her to think she can chew on them. Then yesterday evening, while Nathan and I ran errands for about half an hour, Heidi was in the back landing with the baby gates closed and Bandit was in his crate. When we got home, Heidi was on the other side of the baby gate, roaming the house. Wake up call, we have a bigger dog now! Thankfully, all she did was knock over the garbage can...she didn't even get into the garbage, because the lid was still closed and nothing was strewn around the kitchen. Then, while we were getting ready for bed, Nathan asked me, "Weren't your slippers in the living room?" Yeah, why? "Because they're now sitting here next to my side of the bed." Are they intact? "Yes". Oh good.

The only thing we can figure is that Heidi was bored and decided to relocate my slippers to a more convenient place...right beside the bed. Now she just needs to learn which side of the bed is mine!

The New Addition

Ok, so I'm going to preface this with...Nathan and I did not wake up this morning and think to ourselves, "We need to be a two dog family!"

But now we are.

Introducing Heidi Labunski!




She's a 7 month old German Shepherd mix. Nathan had to go to the local Animal Clinic today to take pictures of the 3 dogs up for adoption, because the newspaper puts an ad in about once a week with pictures of the animals up for adoption. Well, he called me before hand and asked if I wanted to go along...heck yes!

So we go in the back of the clinic and meet a pitbull mix, a border collie, and Heidi (then named Chyna, pronounced China, not a big fan). The pitbull was completely unmanageable, the border collie was completely afraid of people, and Heidi was just such a sweetie that we both fell in love with her. So we brought her home. Tomorrow she goes back in to get spayed, and she is completely up to date on her shots.

Unfortunately, she hasn't had much training (if any) and we think she may have been abused by a man because she is more nervous around Nathan and is afraid of swinging things. But it's not too bad, and nothing some TLC can't fix since she's still so young. She and Bandit absolutely love each other and they've been playing non-stop since we brought her home this afternoon. I think they're just now starting to slow down...they're sure going to sleep well tonight! At this moment, they're both standing next to each other panting their faces off and not really moving...ha ha ha!

It's going to take a lot of patience on our end to get Heidi as trained as Bandit is, since we were able to start training Bandit at 5 weeks old and we're starting so late with Heidi. But it is worth it to know that Heidi is now going to have a loving home and Bandit is going to have a sister to play with. Heidi is such a sweet heart and absolutely loves to cuddle and give kisses. Not only that, but she seems to learn really fast...she's only been with us a few hours and she's already learned her new name. I think she'll be a great addition to the family. So wish us luck!

Go Beavs!!!

Yeah, that's right, the Beavs won the Civil War game tonight in double overtime!!!

You know the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words"?

Yeah...this is one of those pictures...HA HA HA!

This would be the picture of OSU trampling U of O...literally.

O...S...U...Oregon State FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

Happy December!

Now we can be unabashedly filled with the Christmas spirit, without needing to show ANY remorse!!!

The decorating of the house still isn't complete, but I have all day Monday off, so I'm planning on finishing it then. I promise I'll post pictures when I get done!

Merry Christmas everyone!