Our little one turned ONE

The Big Day is here

yea, presents!!!!

Cute "Hello Kitty" theme with yummy cupcakes

The cleanest first birthday face I have ever seen

Happy Birthday to Lily Noelle. My darling granddaughter has reached her first birthday. We went to celebrate with her and her family. What a darling - she had a great day and so did we. She was on top of her game and dazzled us all with her smile and her little surprises. Big sister Abby was a perfect little hostess. Here is a glimpse of some of our day.

Abby and Aunt Lissy in a serious conversation. Lily just chillin'.

Friday Night Pizza

Friday is often a traditional pizza night for a lot of people. I absolutely love pizza and consider it one of the major food groups, so I have pizza just about every opportunity I get. Anyhow, we decided to get pizza tonight. I have been hearing that Massey's pizza is one of the best pizzas in Columbus. In the 9 1/2 years that we have been in Columbus, we have never had a Masseys pizza. We could never get past Donatos pizza. We love it. Well, we decided to get a Masseys pizza tonight. Since there is not one near us, I had to go pick it up. Now, it was about 6:00 and traffic was still rush hour heavy. The pizza was to be ready in 15 minutes and it took me 5 minutes just to get out of the house and then another 15-20 to get there. Then another 20 minutes back home again. So the pizza wasn't the steamy wonderful smelling pizza that arrives at our front door when we order delivery.
Anyhow, I got it home and we got our pieces and microwaved them and sat down to eat. The verdict was that it was very good pizza, but not really any better than Donatos and I probably wouldn't drive to Westerville to get it anymore. Maybe we'll get one closer to us and then we can split our pizza purchases between Donatos and Masseys.

Hope for Haiti

I downloaded the HOPE FOR HAITI telethon performance from I tunes. The telethon was on Sunday night and some of the great talents of the past and present decades performed for the benefit of the people of Haiti, who are undergoing great pain. Their country is ravaged and we can all help. The music is wonderful, but more importantly, it reminds us of our responsibility to 'pay it forward'. We have so much!!! Let's share! It is not too late.

Walking Finn

Finn and I have been walking twice a day every day. Though I find it difficult to get out the door sometimes, I really am enjoying this time and am always glad that I managed to get it done.

First of all, the benefits for Finn are important to our peace of mind. His puppy energy is a force all of it's own and that exercise is absolutely essential to OUR sanity. It gives him a chance to run and jump and sniff and experience. Now I know that I am supposed to train him to walk beside me at a dignified, sedate rate speeding up when I do and slowing down when I do. But I just don't have the heart for that - he spends all day in a crate while we are at work and all night in a crate while we sleep. The poor little guy deserves to get a little exercise on his walks, so I let him run and jump as much as he can on his retractable leash. Maybe in a few months, I will begin some training on our walks.


Secondly , the walks are really good for me too. When I get out in that cool crisp morning air, it just gives me a better start to my day. It gives me a chance to breathe clean fresh air and when there is snow, well that is even better. But the snowy walks are my favorites when they are in the evening. When Finn and I walk at night, it is just a really different feeling. The lights from the houses give a warm feel to the neighborhood and the snow just adds to the ambience. I wanted to try and capture that feeling the other night, so I can in to grab my camera. There was no snow, so it was not quite the total feeling, but it was a start. Using the nighttime setting was my first move, but I still need to work to get better pictures. I intend to continue working on getting that ambience feeling in a photo, so stay tuned (plus, snow is coming), but for now, here is what I have.

Extra.. Extra --- read all about it!!!

It seems that things have been happening at a fast rate in our family, mostly with the girls and their families. So I decided to do a news post just to catch everyone up to what is happening in our family.

Starting with the largest family and oldest daughter, Carrie. It seems that Matt has landed a new job. We are so very proud of him and hope that he truly enjoys it and is very successful. As he ramps up his career, Carrie is taking a break in hers to take care of their two very beautiful little girls. In fact, she has officially broken her last tie with the school system and is now a full time mom with a class of 2. With all that free time (LOL), she has began to sew and has opened an ETSY shop to hopefully sell some of the things that she makes. For those unfamiliar with ETSY, it is probably the largest outlet on the internet for people to sell their handmade items. If you haven't visited there, you really should. I have bought several items and always am happy to patronize the handmade/cottage industry. The name of her shop is CarrieBirdie and you may even see an item made my MOI. Of course, Lily continues to grow and Abby is in preschool, waiting for the big school experience (not so sure about Carrie).

Our newlyweds, Lissy and Chad, are quickly approaching "old married" status. They are past their one year anniversary and heading on toward 2. With that said, they are in the process of moving from Lissy's single little condo to a house with room to grow. They have received an offer on the condo and are very close to putting an offer on a new full sized home. Exciting, but stressful times. They are taking a real hit on the condo, but hopefully will make up for it with the new home in this buyers market. They will likely be staying in Hilliard, so that Chad's commute is slightly more reasonable. He continues to fly in and out of Dayton.

And finally us. I am back at work after a medical leave and attempting to get back up to speed. Also we got a dog, well really a puppy. We have forgotten how much work a puppy can be, but he is a great little guy. He will not be little for long though. We expect him to be big, he is a collie mix.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

I read about this exercise from a blog I follow who got it from here. Try it - the instructions are on the link

FOR TODAY Sunday Night, Jan.17

Outside My Window...Fog gathers in the dark

I am thinking... that's all, just thinking

I am thankful for...my daughters

From the learning rooms...not learning anything today, it's Sunday

From the kitchen... dark and quiet

I am wearing...incrediby soft and warm pajamas

I am creating... ideas for our new Etsy shop

I am going... shopping, tomorrow

I am reading... A Christmas Promise, by Anne Perry

I am hoping...for peace, personally and in the world

I am hearing... a playful puppy

Around the house... tense

One of my favorite things... today, solitude

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Sewing, starting a baby gift, etc.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...(add your picture here)

Frosty is in trouble - the snow is melting

I absolutely loved the snow we have had over the last couple of weeks, however the temperature is rising and the snow is melting. Unfortunately, it will leave a muddy, ucky mess in it's wake. I actually prefer the snow. Finn and I walked in it every day, twice a day, morning and night. He is still full of puppy energy, so I have no choice, but really I loved it and it is good for me. When I got to sidewalks that no one shoveled, I just trudged through and figured it was good for my cardiovascular system. Hey, I'm trying here - it's just hard.

Anyhow, when coming back from our walk one morning I had to take a picture of some snow overhanging out stoop. It was several days after all the snow fell, so it may have been even more extreme earlier on, but I just noticed it this one day. I swear it looked to me, exactly like layers of batting spilling over the top of my roof. It was pretty cool!!!!

Back again!!!

Searching for Survivors

I have been on my computer a lot lately, but not blogging so much. A little break, I guess. We all need a break from time to time. But I have found that I miss it. Why would I miss it? - I think because it keeps me more involved in what I am doing, crafts, cooking, etc., if I know I will be taking pictures and blogging about it. It also gives me a chance to air my opinions, without anyone arguing back (or at least no immediate feedback). It also allows me to satisfy the inner author in me, which pops up from time to time. It documents world events, should I choose to talk about them as I am today. I have blogged on several world events over the past couple of years and I think I will continue that and perhaps increase my awareness as well.

Which leads me to the devastating Haitian tragedy that occurred this past week. It is a reminder of how fortunate we are and how quickly our luck can be changed. My heart actually aches for these poor people. Be sure to pray for them and donate as much as you are able. There are so many in need and if we were in the same position, we would hope for help from others. God would have us help one another. We really must!

Introducing Finnegan (Finn for short)

Well, we have finally made the plunge. We got a puppy yesterday. As many of you know, we have been stalking shelters and surfing pet finder for several months. We have considered golden retrievers, labs, collies, mixes and full breeds. We wanted a larger dog (at least Leon did- it seems that he wanted a "real dog" to walk and didn't want to walk a little one- an ego thing, I think). I wanted a female in order to avoid leg hiking on my furniture. To make a really long story short, we finally found a litter of collie mix pups at the Union County Animal Shelter and decided to drive up and take a look.

This was a litter of nine puppies and they all looked pretty different from each other. There were 5 females and 3 males left when we got there. Their story goes something like this. It seems that the mother and the nine puppies were dumped in a roadside ditch. The farmer that discovered them tried to take them home and find homes for them, but it became too much for him. He contacted the shelter, who found a foster home for them until they were old enough to be adopted out. Enter Faye and Leon. The puppies were delivered to the shelter by the foster parents as we waited in the waiting room. There was one other lady there to adopt one of the females. The puppies were all absolutely adorable. They were all running around the waiting room in an absolute riot of activity. The foster father was able to provide a bit of information on each puppy. Leon fell in love with a little male fluffball named Kermit. We were told that he was a fairly docile puppy compared to some of the others. He was very cute and we decided to take him home. Of course, we changed his name and he has already had his doctors appointment and a bath. A couple of little infections can be cleared up with antibiotics. Oh, I almost forgot, he is not housebroken, so we are outside a lot these days. He is doing very well though.

Silent Night, Holy Night

Well, Sorry about the no-show for the past several weeks. To coin a phrase, I lost a bit of my mo-jo and have been feeling a bit under the weather physically and emotionally. I won't get into all of that, but I do have something that I wanted to share. The Christmas season is upon us and as the decorations come out, It is always fun to get new things. We pull out the same old decorations every year, and I really do love them. We did obtain decorations that would become part of our tradition, but it is always nice to have something new to add to the collection. I recently helped out at the Gift Fest at our church and there were probably fifty-ish raffle gifts that were donated by the vendors. Of course, I had to purchase tickets to benefit our child care center and guess what!!!!! I won.

Not only did I win, but I won the very thing that I wanted the most. There was a lady that made miniature nativity sets and I love all things miniature. I so wanted one, so when I won it in the raffle, I was super excited.

Now the next problem.....these teeny little figures are perfect to set on a table or shelf. I wanted to put it on the coffee table, but I have a cat. I just knew that Max would be batting those poor little sheep around the living room floor in no time. So I wracked my brain for a way to display them and came up with this little idea. I think its pretty cute and now I can put it on the coffee table without fear of them disappearing.

It is hand sculpted using low fire clay and painted with underglaze colors, glazed and fired in kiln.

Simple Beauty

I have been walking past this basket of peppers in my kitchen for days. I have always thought them beautiful, but tonight I took the time to really appreciate them. So, out came the camera. These beauties are the product of Leon's garden. Aren't they gorgeous!!!!!!

Thought for the day

Decisions, decisions

I am trying to decide whether it is time to get a dog again, or whether I just want to be a cat person. So I have decided to do a pros and cons list. I have been surfing the pet finder site until I almost feel like a voyeur (well, not quite). There are small decisions like big or small, male or female, mature dog or puppy, what breeds to consider, and on and on and on. It is a huge responsibility that lasts for 10-15 years. I am just so afraid that I will regret it, that I am afraid to commit. What should I do? I can't depend upon Leon to make this decision. He is way too much of a softie!!!

Pros
companionship
proven to relieve stress
more exercise and outside time for walking
fun
gives a dog a home


Cons
limits our ability to go away or travel
housetraining, letting out and how to confine to yard
cleaning up yard, dealing with hair
they are hard on carpet and furniture
cost - food, vet, etc.
will disrupt the cats

Turtles

One of the outstanding moments of our recent vacation for me was going to the Jekyll Island turtle center. It is a turtle hospital and they had approximately 6 to 7 patients when we were there. As we walked in the door, the lady that was taking tickets told us to hurry because they were doing an assessment on a new turtle that had just been brought in. So we hurried to the viewing window to watch the vet and the interns take care of this scraped up, cut up turtle. It's shell had been damaged and bleeding, although I am not sure how it happened. I didn't hear that part. I managed to get a couple of pictures as they attended to the wounds on the "carapace".






As we moved on to view some of the displays, one of the attendants told us that they were doing "rounds" in the hospital and would be talking about each patient, so we hurried into the next building where the rounds were in session. Each turtle is in a large tank, although we did see one tank with 2 turtles -they were separated by a barrier. I learned quite a bit about turtles from that session including some of the conditions that they are brought in with. A lot of them may be injured from boats or other animals. A larger number of them, however, are brought in with the debilitated turtle syndrome. Often they are found floating, because they have lost their ability to dive down, often because of air that is caught in their shell. Sometimes they are floating "crooked" and have barnacles or leeches on them .

This was our "intern"




I took a picture of one of the turtles, along with her information and am sharing it here with you. Her name is Erika and she has this floating syndrome. You may be able make out some of the diagnosis and treatmen plan in the following photo.

and here she is
After I got home from vacation, I went to the website to check to see how she was doing, but nothing was shown for her. I got pretty gutsy and emailed the vet to see why she wasn't on the web site. I received a reply back right away that they have been very busy and unable to update the patient portion of the web site. In addition he also updated me on Erika's condition and I thought I would share it. I was very impressed with the response and wanted to let everyone know what a wonderful and worthwhile venture this is. It is probably a tax deduction for donations, too (hint)

He wrote:
"Faye, We have been so busy, I just have not had time to update everyone. Erika is still floating. We did figure out that if we aspirate air to a certain level her tube feeding goes much better and she does not regurgitate. The air in her body cavity pushes on her GI tract and makes it difficult to pass the stomach tube. We are now able to increase the frequency and volume of her tube feeding and better able to meet her nutritional needs as her lung heals. I will try to get something up on her as soon as I can. Thanks so much for your interest. Terry Norton, DVM, Director and Veterinarian, GSTC "

A really weird coincidence is that I took a book along on vacation to read and it is about a sea turtle hospital. I think this may be my calling. Next step is a beach walk to check turtle nests. Wouldn't that be fun? By the way, the book is great - it is called Swimming Lessons, by Mary
Alice Monroe and is a sequel to the Beach House by Monroe. Unfortunately I couldn't get the first one, so I will be reading them out of order.

Check out the web site for the turtle center and watch for Erika. I hope he gets her on soon.

Island Time

I am sitting on the deck of my sister's condo in St. Simons Island, GA on the 5th day of my vacation. First of all, THANKS SIS!!! This is a beautiful place and we are having an absolutely wonderful time. We both needed this time away so much! The first couple of days that we were here were a bit in the "adapting" category. Trying to figure out what to see, where to go, what to eat and where, learning the directions, the lay of the land, where to put things, how to use the laundry room, etc. I was in the mind that I needed to be doing something, seeing something all the time, although I knew that this was physically impossible and really doesn't fit the definition of vacation.

Today, I am on island time. I have relaxed. I know where to go if I want to and how to get there and although our time is limited, I do still have tomorrow. I don't feel guilty reading a book, because after I do, I ride my bike down to the pier and wade in the ocean. It is wonderful. I feel settled.

Now no vacation is complete without an "injury" and there is a certain weird sort of 'pride' in a vacation injury, assuming it is minor with no real after effects or anything to slow you down. I think this pride comes from the fact that 1.) we are on vacation, so we are out of our routine and not in the day to day and 2.) at least we are doing something. So it was our second night here and we had walked down to the DQ (thank God for Dairy Queen); anyhow I digress. By the time we walked back, it was dark. I would like to say that I was skiing, skateboarding, or some other very exciting endeavor, but no; I was walking. All of a sudden I was on the ground, after having tripped over a bump in the sidewalk. I got skinned up a bit (as you can see, 2 hands, one knee). After having scrambled up onto my feet, I 'fessed up to Leon that I was being nosy and trying to figure out where some people talking was coming from (their own deck, by the way) and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. ......Orrrr I was skateboarding through the park, jumped over a tree branch trying to land back on the skateboard and fell?!? Anyhow, very minor scrapes and not a problem, but it seems to go with vacation time, right?

On vacation - St. Simons Island, GA

More to come!!! ------ having too much fun to write much!!!

New Floor, yahoo!!!

Getting ready to work:

Starting in the laundry room:



Our floor has been rapidly deteriorating for the past year or so. It was put into our home as the standard vinyl flooring, when our home was built 8 years ago. It was a very nice floor for a few years, but lately it has just been a pain. We couldn't get it clean or keep it clean. I guess the color and quality conspired against us, plus the little microscopic cuts just caused real problems.

Fast forward to a week ago. We have been watching for a sale on wood laminate to replace our vinyl and sure enough, we got some at The Andersons for $1 per square foot. So Leon started on Sunday and just finished with the final touches today.

IT IS PERTY!!!!

Thought I would share the transition with you

Here is the work force, a lot of work went into it:
And here is the finished floor

I love how the sunshine looks when it is shining on the wood.


It is beautiful. I love it!!!!

I think some cute little round rugs in front of the stove and sink would just look perfect.

Julie, Julia

I have been wanting to see the movie Julie, Julia and we finally got an opportunity to go on Saturday afternoon. It was absolutely delightful - just a feel good movie. It was about a young lady, Julie, who blogs her way through the Julia Child cookbook. But in addition, it showed the story of Julia Child herself. I was absolutely enchanted by her and what a cool lady she was. And her husband, the love of her life, was such a strong force in her life and cheered her on to her success. Kudos to Meryl Streep!!

And I absolutely loved Julie, played by Amy Adams. She was fresh and funny and made me want to blog through the very same cookbook. I give this movie four stars of five.


Speaking of blogging; as I was thinking of this blog and what I wanted to say, I thought it might be fun to think of books that I might like to "blog my way through" and what sorts of books might that entail? Suppose, I were to blog my way through the phone book - Oh the people I could talk to. How about books of hairstyles, fashion, diets (I think I did that!?!?), and how-to books. I could blog through the pattern books at the fabric store, the seed catalogs and the road atlas. I am reminded of the old saying - the places I would go and the things I would do. What books would you like to blog your way through. Let me know and I will post it. Who will be the first to say the Joy of Sex (guess I just did!)

Take me out to the ball game

Take me out to the park.... Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks..... great song!! ... Great American institution.... "Baseball, mom and apple pie"

We had an opportunity to go to a baseball game yesterday. We have been to a couple of games here in Columbus, since we have been here, but had not been to the brand new ball park that opened last year. Leon was lucky enough to win some tickets, that allowed us to watch the game from a box suite at the ball park. I had never been in a suite at the ball park and it was pretty nice. When I first heard that he won the tickets and that they were for the box suite, I thought it was cool, but wondered if I would miss being down with the people in the 'stands'. I thought that it might feel very strange and that the atmosphere would not seem true and original. However, it was actually pretty neat and I could watch the game without peering in between heads and being squished into a seat, shoulder to shoulder with a smelly beer guzzler or a teenage giggling bunch of girls, or any number of other annoying people that may be there. ( I hope I don't sound too prissy). Anyhow, the suite was very nice with a couch, table, counter with space for all manner of eatery (although we didn't have any) small bar with stools, and seats in front for viewing the game.

The new ball park is very nice and if you get a chance to go there, you should take the opportunity to do so. I forgot to take my camera, so I am showing some pictures I found on Flickr.

Oh, I almost forgot. Columbus got stomped, in fact, it was so bad that we left after the 6th inning (it was 4 to 14 when we left). Worse.... We played Indianapolis.