Thursday, June 18, 2009

The new guy...

We adopted Bentley from a Chihuahua rescue. I originally wanted to adopt a female and was considering a long hair, because some people say they actually shed less than the short. After a visit to make sure we were a good home, the gals from the rescue group brought over a little long haired girl for me to meet. She was a pretty girl, the same color as Harley, but not very socialized. They said once she got to know me she would be fine with me, but I wasn't too keen on someone getting bit because they tried to pet my dog. They happened to also have with them a little boy Chi, that was very friendly and came over and got right up into my lap. They said they brought him just in case, because I had told them about B's allergies, and this little guy doesn't shed. I'd pretty much already fallen for him at that point, so the fact that he doesn't shed was a huge bonus. He does have an issue that we're working on though. If he is asleep next to me, he growls if someone comes near us. I'm not liking that, so hopefully I can train him out of it.

When I look at this picture, it makes me think Harley's saying "Aw, mom, do we have to keep him?" hehehe
Bentley makes Harley look big. Harley is 11 pounds, Bentley is 6 pounds.
The vehicle names are coincidence, as Bentley was already named when we got him.
Harley turned 11 yrs. old this month. They are not sure of Bentley's age, but he is estimateted to be 3-4 yrs. old.

The rest of the St. Louis trip...

So, we hit one more auction in the morning on Friday, June 5th. B even came with us to this one. I got another chair and a few other treasures including an old hardback copy of Gone With the Wind. Then we packed up the car to head back home. About an hour after we drove away, I realized I forgot my box of treasures from the auction that morning in Mindy's car. Boo. Friday night we stayed at B's parent's house, then got back on the road. Saturday night we stayed in a hotel about 5 hours from home. When we walked into our hotel room, I was excited, because it seemed we'd gotten the luxury suite (as luxurious as you can get for a cheap hotel...lol) because the room was about as big as some apartments I've lived in. But as the night went on we realized that we were not so lucky after all. For one, we were next to the stair well, and there was group of young people staying a few rooms down that stomped up and down the stairs several times throughout the night. Then we thought someone was knocking on the door, but when B got up to look through the peep hole, he said it was coming from the other side of the room. Yep, our neighbors headboard banging against our wall repeatedly. Lovely. A little later someone did come to our door but only knocked once and left. Then there was the train that pulled it's horn as it passed us. And at the butt crack of dawn, we got more knocking at the door, which this time, was the hotel security guard at the wrong room. Needless to say we got very little sleep, complained to the guy at the front desk, got our room for free, and two cranky folk continued on home. We were gone 36 days.
It was very quiet when we got back home. But only for a day. Monday, Jeremy and Mandy arrived and stayed with us for the week while they were down visiting.


The house stuff...
Before we left for the Missouri trip, I assure you, I had no intention of going up there and looking at houses. But while we were there I got to thinking about it. It all started with that first house that I came across that was in the location that I loved. We got serious about it and even got it inspected. The inspection found a few things that worried us, so we decided against it. And then I came across another house (in a completely different town) and fell in love with it. This one's a 120 year old farm house that has been added on to. The house needs some cosmetic work like painting and a new stove (it has an old antique one). But it looks to be well maintained and the outside was great. I loved the property just as much the house. It has a little log cabin, a garden shed, a really nice barn with horse stalls, a large fenced area for horses, a garden enclosed by a picket fence, a pool enclosed by a picket fence, a creek that ran along the property, and 7 acres of slightly rolling terrain surrounded by trees for privacy. It was absolutely beautiful! The owner said he was flexible on the price since he hasn't listed it with an agent yet and that he was willing to divide the property to make the price more afordable. So, Ben and Jenn suggested buying the other half that has the barn and horse corral on it and building a house, and we loved the idea. The owner also loved this idea because that meant he wouldn't have to pay to open up the road and move utilities around, thus making him even more flexible on the price and also willing to hold the house for us while we came back home and tried to sell our house. Though, Ben and Jenn have since found another place they love and are moving ahead on that one, we are continuing to get our house ready to sell. Yesterday, they delivered the materials for our new roof and they are coming tomorrow to put it on. It was damaged from the storm last year. And since the insurance people took so long, it looks like we'll have a new roof just in time for this year's storms. lol We're figuring on still moving, even if it's not to Missouri, because we're ready for a change. This is the longest I've ever lived in one place, so I'm getting antsy. So, even if it's just 10 minutes away, I'm ready to move on down, move on down the road!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Another Auction

Today I went with Mindy and B's grandma to another auction. I can see that this could become a dangerous new hobby. I got all three of the things I bid on - a comfy chair that I want to try to recover (not sure how I'm getting it back to Texas), 2 retractable dog leashes (which I've been wanting!) along with a few other dog items, and a metal wall hanging. To a grand total of $16. There's one more auction we are going to try to do before I head back home. At this rate, I may have to rent a small trailer to get all my treasures back to my house.

Yesterday B flew to Chicago for a business trip and comes back tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Month of May in Missouri...

We left on April 30th and drove half way to Oklahoma City. This was the 1st road trip with Bently, so I had no idea how he'd do. He and Harley rode together in one crate and did great. In fact they were so quiet, I sometimes wondered if they were ok. Next day we drove the rest of the way to B's parents house. We spent a few days with them and then headed to St. Louis to stay with B's aunt. It's easier for us to stay with her because she's closer to B's grandparents and our friends, plus she has 3 Boxers, so she doesn't mind me bringing my dogs.
They tell me that the pollen here this season is the worse they've seen in a great many years. Lucky us! We've had sinus infections pretty much since the 1st week we got here. I've forgotten what it's like to breath out of my nose. It does seem to be improving a bit though, or we've just started getting used to it. (?)
I've gotten to spend a good bit of time with Mindy, B's aunt. We are alike in a lot of ways, so we get along great. She and I went to the Fleetwood Mac concert on May 6th. They were #1 on my concert "To Do List", so I was really excited about it. I even got my first "over priced concert t-shirt". Yep, 35 years old, and it's my first one (as far as I can recall). Just couldn't help myself this time, I was too excited, and I usually don't get all that jazzed about concerts. That Friday (the 8th) Mindy and B's grandma introduced me to my first auction. It was fun, and we came home with several goodies. Mindy also introduced me to a nearby town that I fell in love with. She's a trouble maker, that one! hehehe In fact I fell for it so much, that we darn near bought a house. Sneaky, sneaky Aunt Mindy!
Though we've stayed pretty busy, we haven't done as much as we'd like since we've been sick most of the time. But we have gotten to visit with Ben and Jenn a bit and B spent a few days helping Jeremy and Mandy move in with their parents. I got to go to the St. Louis zoo, it's one of my favs.! And this past Saturday I had a "girls day" with Mindy and Becky. I've enjoyed getting to do a bit more sight seeing this trip, which we usually don't have time for when we come up. And we have a few more things we hope to get in before we head back.
So far we've been gone 26 days.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

We got up bright and early Saturday morning to pick up a chair I found on our local classifieds. When we got there we noticed 2 bar stools they were also selling, and they just happened to be the exact same ones that we have. So we ended up buying them as well since I've been wanting to get 2 more. Woo hoo!
A little later I brought Bitsy back to the rescue group she's with. I was sad after I dropped her off.
Then that afternoon we went to Kate's first b-day party. Then to dinner with Glenn, Becky, Micah, and Lisa.
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On Sunday, I was surprised to find the house very quiet. Bitsy was a pretty active girl, but Harley and Bently are both pretty mellow and I'm amazed at the difference with just the 2 of them. I'm also amazed at how much she shed. I swear I could make a whole other dog from the fur she left behind. But we do miss her. Yes, I said "we".
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I have a really cute picture of her that I am going to post.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Now there are three...

We have two foster dogs here now. Bitsy's still with us and now Bently came Thursday evening. He's a 6 1/2 pound male Chihuahua. He's from another rescue group. They think he's 3-4 years old.
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It turns out B and I are both allergic to Bitsy, the Chiweenie. So, we won't be able to adopt her. It's a shame too, because she looooves B. Whenever he comes into the room , she gets all excited. It's funny. Having three dogs here has been interesting. They definitely keep me busy. And I probably looked like the "crazy dog lady" walking down the street today with the three of them plus the neighbor's dog following behind us.
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I had a heck of a time trying to get a picture of all three of them together.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter Weekend

We went to my grandma's in Louisiana for the weekend. We had our usual Easter Crawfish Boil, which I always look forward to. Afterwards was BINGO! Several of us brought prizes, so if you won you got to pick from the prize table. The prizes my grandma contributed were all in boxes or wrapped, so you couldn't tell what they were. I ended up picking a few of those, and was glad I did! Then, of course, what BINGO tournament would be complete without a Silly String fight? Which I, of couse, documented on camera. Sunday, we went all went to church, then came home and took family pictures, examined our Easter baskets (yes, we all still get them), had an egg hunt for the kids, and ate lunch, before everyone started heading back home.
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My mom stayed to visit longer with my grandma, and B and I road back home with Johnny. On our way home a car in front of us lost control, drove through the grass along side of the highway, flipped into the air across the feeder road, and landed upside down in a ditch on the other side. We pulled over right away and B jumped out and ran over to them. By the time he got to them, they were climbing out the back window, and thank God, appeared to be ok. The ditch they landed in had water in it, so the car had water in it. Had they been unconscious, they could have been trapped with their heads under water. The guy and girl in the car were college kids driving back to school.
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My Sunflower cake I made using Peeps.
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Yep, that's my sweetie peelin' crawfish
-Silly String fight.