I am halfway done with another gift.  Not much else is going on around here.  Patrick isn't feeling well, so we are just hanging out relaxing.  I hope he gets better soon and I hope I don't get it.  

I'm not very inspired to write right now and I don't have much to say.  Sorry.

Here are the pictures I promised!  First, we have the delicious Thanksgiving feast Patrick and I shared.  Everything was so good.  Isn't the canned cranberry sauce wicked classy?

Next up, we have the awesome Weight Watchers pumpkin pie.  It was very tasty.  

Saffy loves cardboard tubes.  We totally don't need to buy her toys.  We just give her toilet paper rolls.  Yesterday was a very special day and Saffy got the tube out of some cling wrap.  It's extra thick and chewable. 

Last but not least, Saffy was exhausted after her crazy tube chewing and doing tricks for turkey.  Puppy hangovers are so cute!

I got tagged by Tangletale for a meme the other day and I wasn't even paying attention!  I'll even post a real entry later today once I download the pics I took from our Thanksgiving holiday.  Here it is for funsies.

The Rules:
1) Link to your tagger and list all these rules in your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs
4) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

1. I was born almost 9 months to the day after my mother's 18th birthday.
2. I love candy corn and conversation hearts.  
3. I like it when my husband sticks his nose in my eye.
4. I don't like mayo or mustard and would rather eat my sandwiches plain.
5. I don't like crafts that you have to clean up immediately after doing.  Like painting, polymer clay, anything messy like that.  Mostly because I don't like cleaning up after myself.
6. I want a French Bulldog that I will name "Fromage."
7. If someone else is driving, I will almost always fall asleep in the car.
   

I'm tagging: Nicole, Andrea, Lauria, Jennifer, Holly, Laux, and Michelle.  Have fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!  This was the sight that greeted us in our front yard two days before Thanksgiving four years ago.  That was the first time I ever saw wild turkeys and at first I had no idea what they were.  They looked like some sort of prehistoric creature.  Now they are a common feature around here.  Last November I opened the door to let Jesus out and didn't realize until it was too late that there was a group of nine turkeys in our yard standing next to our stone wall.  Jesus got out on the stoop, stopped and stared.  Without warning, he took off at top speed after the turkeys.  The all spotted him and took turns jumping the wall into the woods.  Unfortunately for the turkeys, Jesus was able to chase the turkey in the back of the group away from the rest and it was on.  The turkey turned and ran the opposite direction, her claws clicking away on the pavement.  She was flapping her wings and actually got off the ground a little in her retreat.  She eventually made it to the woods behind our house and Jesus gave up his pursuit.  Patrick and I watched this whole event unfold in hysterics.  We had no clue what Jesus thought he would do if he caught that turkey.  A four-pound Chihuahua doesn't have much of a chance versus a four foot tall wild turkey.  I only wish I had a video of the chase.  

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  I always get up in the morning and watch the Macy's Parade on TV followed by the National Dog Show.  Usually, Patrick and I spend the day alone.  Neither of us have any family nearby and all of our friends do, so they usually have plans that don't include us.  When we were in the army we used to have single soldiers from our units over for dinner.  In Seattle, we had a lot of friends like us who had family elsewhere so we would always come together at the holidays and we became each other's family.  In Wisconsin, all the family comes together and then the day after Thanksgiving, my mom, my sister and my grandma all go to Appleton for shopping and then to Green Bay to spend the night at the casino.  

Whatever your plans, I wish you a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving!

I baked my pie this afternoon.  It smells so delicious.  I can't wait until tomorrow to try it.  I have a ton of phyllo dough left so I am going to have to look for some more recipes to use the dough.  

I went to yoga this morning.  It was great.  I really have missed it and I am glad I am back at it.  I have been going Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I definitely can feel myself getting stronger.  I love how yoga ideals can be applied to your entire life.  Today the instructor was talking about finding joy even in a struggle.  I think that is something I am going to try to do.  Maybe it will help me learn to be less scared in my life.

Five more days of posting until I have completed my entire month of posts!  Yay for me.  

Thanks, Lauria!  You solved our no-heat-in-hubby's-car problem.  I suggested that my husband check the anti-freeze in his car and it was almost empty.  He filled it back up and, BOOM, heat!  You saved us like $80 which is what it would have cost if we got it looked at by a professional.  

I'm not as inspired to tell stories as I was last night.  Today was very boring.  I went to knitting in the morning, came home, ate lunch, took a nap and did some more knitting.  

My sister-in-law emailed me this morning to let me know she's been following my weight-loss adventures on this blog and started to document her own.  Her blog is Working Class Mother and I recommend you check it out.  Andrea is a great writer and an awesome person.  Probably the best thing to happen to my brother besides his three kids.  You go, girl!

Back in 1996 I was lucky enough to have one of those "what would you do if. . ." experiences everyone asks themselves about.  You know, the kind that you really can't say unless you've experienced it.  I was backpacking in Europe for two and a half weeks during my Easter break.  I had spent about four days by myself in Paris and Nice and was set to meet my friend Jenny in front of a youth hostel in Rome.  We were supposed to meet around 4pm.  There I was, standing on the street with all my bags, just waiting.  I had been in Rome all day and hadn't been able to find an ATM or anywhere to exchange the Francs I had left from France.  I was tired and hungry and Jenny was running almost an hour late.  Standing there, I finally dropped my bags and left them sitting next to my feet.  A minute later, a guy came up to me and started speaking to me in Italian.  I had no idea what he was saying and was just trying to get rid of him when suddenly he just up and left.  I saw him walk to the end of the block and turn the corner.  That's when I looked down and saw that one of my bags was gone.  The bag that was taken was the one with my passport, train tickets, plane tickets, money, and camera.  At that point, instinct totally kicked in and I was running at top speed after the guy who had spoken to me.  Around the corner, I spotted the guy and his accomplice and started screaming at the top of my lungs.  At that point, the guy with my bag dropped it and took off running.  I picked up my bag and started bawling.  I headed back to the street I was supposed to be waiting on and Jenny eventually arrived with her own story to tell.  Her flight had been delayed at Heathrow due to the royal family landing.  I guess they ground all the planes when that happens.  The one thing I learned from the whole experience is that I won't hesitate to act in that type of situation.  It makes me feel safer and more confident.  

I've been watching Band of Brothers with Patrick and wondering how I would act or react in war.  I had all the training and know what I would need to do, but it seems to me that it's one of those situations where you can't know until you are in the thick of it.  

I spent most of the day today knitting.  I am about a quarter of the way through another gift.  Yay!

This afternoon I was bored so I convinced Patrick that we should go Candlepin Bowling so I could kick his butt (which I did).  It's so fun and so very New England-y.  It's like regular bowling, except the pins are smaller, the balls are smaller, you get three balls a frame and they don't clear the knocked down pins between balls.  I think it is actually harder than regular bowling.  We always make sure we bring our out-of-town visitors to try it out.  We took our nephews a couple of years back and my nephew, Michael, who was four years old at the time, had a huge temper tantrum because he didn't want to give the shoes back.  

I promised pictures so here is a picture of our downstairs powder room before (yes, Virginia, there is a Mr. Hankey):

And in progress:

Yay!  I finished another gift today!  That brings the total up to three finished Christmas gifts.

We also did our Thanksgiving grocery shopping today.  We are all ready for Thursday.  It is going to be just me and Patrick.  I plan on making a pumpkin pie I found the recipe for on the Weight Watchers website.  It uses phyllo dough for crust instead of the traditional crust.  It only has 3 points a slice as opposed to the 15 points a slice the cheesecake that I usually make has.  Hopefully it will be good!

It has been getting very cold here in New Hampshire.  Yesterday I put my VW Beetle convertible in the garage for the winter.  This morning I left for yoga and decided to take my husband's car because my truck is really low on gas and I hate stopping to get gas and avoid it at all costs.  It was about 20 degrees this morning when I headed out and Patrick neglected to tell me that heat in his car wasn't working.  It's about a 20 minute drive to the yoga studio and I couldn't believe how cold it was and how the car wasn't warming up.  I was counting the seconds until I arrived because the yoga I do is in a heated room--usually around 85-90 degrees.  In spite of the warmth, it still took me about 10 minutes to warm up when I got there.  My poor sweetie drove four hours in that car yesterday.  

I spent the rest of the day knitting and playing with the puppy.  I've taken a break from the crocheting for a little while.

I am glad it's the weekend and I get to spend time with my honeybunches.  We are planning on seeing the new James Bond movie and working on the house.  Hopefully I will have some pictures to post soon.

Yay!  Patrick surprised me by coming home a day early.  I was feeling kind of down this morning after getting pulled over for speeding.  Luckily I didn't get a ticket.  I also had my first weigh-in at Weight Watchers and I lost 2 pounds in my first week.  I was hoping for more, but you gotta start somewhere, right?  By the way (does anyone actually type out those three words anymore?), I just wanted to thank everyone for all the support and kind comments you have been leaving for me.

I've been knitting with my Harmony dpns and I have to say that I LOVE them!  They are so smooth and slick.  They also feel so sturdy compared to the Pony rosewood and the bamboo dpns I have been using.  They also don't have chewed up ends like my bamboo needles do!  Saffy is not allowed near my new needles.  

Tomorrow is my first weigh-in for Weight Watchers.  I thought I would post a picture of myself from last month as a "before."  It's amazing how you can't see what you really look like until you see yourself in a photo.  Ironically enough, I didn't even eat any ice cream that day.  I just enjoyed the juxtaposition of the tiny puppy and the giant ice cream cone.  

I'm still working on my big crochet project.  I also cast on for another one of my gifts that is easier that I can take with me to the meeting tomorrow.  The other gift I have on the needles is the kind of project that requires my full attention.  It isn't that difficult, but for some reason it is very easy for me to get lost.

Class number four for Saffy was today.  We learned "come" and started with "stay."  We still need a lot of work on "sit" and "down" before we can really get into "stay."  She did great with "come!"  The other dogs were so cute.  Lulu, the Lab/Corgi mix and Winston the Yorkie really like each other.  When Lulu and her mom were working on "come," everytime the instructor let go of her leash, she made a bee-line to Winston instead of her mom and the treat.  Winston always seemed to try to run to Saffy.  Saffy spent the majority of the class standing on her hind legs and waving her front paws in the air (so CUTE!).  All the dogs were full of beans today.  We couldn't figure it out.  Maybe Sirius the Dog Star is in retrograde or something.  Who knows.

Not feeling that great this evening.  I have a killer headache.  My exciting news is that I got the 6" DPN Set I ordered from Knitpicks in the mail today.  They are so pretty.  I will definitely keep them away from Saffy.  I have been going through so many sock needles because of her, I had to find a less expensive solution to replacing them.  I feel a little guilty about not getting them at my LYS, but I just can't afford to keep buying new sock needles at $15 a pop.  Sorry Beverly.

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately what with the Weight Watchers and all.  I have to say I have discovered one of the best inventions EVER!  It's the Ziplock Steamer Bag.  I can perfectly steam a large portion of fresh veggies in the microwave in approximately 3 minutes.  I love steamed veggies, but I always have a tendency to over cook them in my stove-top steamer.  This takes all the guesswork out of steaming as it has all the cooking times printed on the side.  I highly recommend trying one out!

In craft news, I have been working really hard on my largest gift.  It's tons of small pieces that will require lots of finishing.  Luckily it's crochet so at least that part is going quickly.  I am just over halfway finished with the pieces.  I also laid a whole bunch of tile today.  Saffy wasn't happy about it.  She has been driving me nuts all day.  She has been very nippy and demanding of attention.  Tomorrow, I have knitting at my LYS so I will be taking a break from this tedious crochet project and crazy Chihuahua.  She's lucky I love her so much!

This weekend has been pretty nice.  Yesterday was rainy and icky outside, so Patrick and I had pajama day.  We watched TV and I worked on gifts.  Patrick also got some tile measured which he cut today so I will be laying tile this week (yay!).  I told Patrick that for Christmas, all I want is the floor downstairs and the downstairs bathroom to be completely finished.  Of course, this means a ton of work for me, but since I am not allowed to use the tile saw, I depend on Patrick to cut the tile for me so I can lay it and grout.  In case you are wondering, I am not allowed to use the tile saw because I am a klutz and I most recently almost glued my pants and underwear to my butt.  A wet saw with flying shards of ceramic is just tempting fate.

Weight Watchers is going OK.  I am finally getting used to it.  The good thing is that I haven't been hungry.  I pretty much can eat whatever I want provided I watch my points.  I've made it almost into a game to see how I can eat tons of food with the least amount of points.  The key is fruits and veggies.  I don't know why I can't do this not in a program, but hey, whatever works, right?

About my previous post, I know it wasn't very well written or cohesive.  I just want to reiterate how AWESOME my grandma is.  She really is incredible and even the most eloquently written praise of her could not convey the awesomeness which is my grandma.  

Two days ago, my grandma celebrated her 70th birthday.  She is one awesome lady.  She grew up on an Indian reservation in northern Wisconsin and ended up a single mother with six kids when she met my grandfather.  He said that she came into the garage that he was working in as a mechanic and all six kids were so well-groomed and well-behaved that he knew she was something special and fell in love with her right then.  Grandma has always been the kind of woman who will bend over backwards for her family.  If she can't be found at home, she is out driving someone around or playing bingo in Green Bay.  When she cooks one of her specialty meals (chicken and rice with fry bread is a favorite) an APB goes out all over Sheboygan and everyone shows up for dinner.  She is notorious for leaving her purse at my parents' house.  So much so that we once hid her purse from her and she didn't even notice she didn't have it when she left the house.  

My favorite thing to do with my grandma is to just talk and laugh.  Once her laugh gets started, everyone has to join in.  I lover her and miss her so much!  I really wish I could have been with her on her big day.  

I'm kinda tired tonight, so this will be a short post.  Last week I wrote about how I gave up soda and how I needed another goal.  Well, yesterday I joined Weight Watchers.  I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and was told that I am obese.  Not a nice thing to hear.  I basically decided to join on Wednesday and found a meeting in town on Thursday.  The nice thing was I ran into a woman that used to work at my LYS.  It was good to see a familiar face.  

I must admit that I don't like that I have to do this, but I really don't know what else is going to work for me.  It's hard, but I can do it.  The hardest part is that I am so impatient I want to see results RIGHT NOW!  Patrick has offered to surprise me with a (non-food) treat after every ten pounds lost.  Hopefully that will help!

Wish me luck!

This is my gratuitous, I'm too lazy to write a real post, Saffy post. Enjoy.


A while back I sent a card to Saffy's breeder along with her certificate of spay.  I wanted the breeder to know that Saffy was doing well, so I gave the card to Saffy and she chewed it all up and I mailed it like that.  Much easier than the stamp pad/paw print signature.  For some reason, I thought it would be really funny if I made Saffy her own business card and then let her chew on it.  Saffy is an accomplished paper shredder.  Our living room looks like the aftermath of a ticker tape parade.  I love my silly silly puppy!

 
 

BTW, her business card says "Blueboys Saffron Fuzzypants -Chihuahua Extraordinaire"

That's her actual registered AKC name.

I started another Christmas gift so that means I now have:

2 complete

3 in progress

4 not yet started

The one I started today is pretty big, so I will have to put in some extra woman-hours on it.  I am going to have to work almost non-stop between now and Christmas to get this all done.  It's crazy.  I just have to keep reminding myself how much money we are saving by me doing this. We are really planning on only buying gifts for the nieces and nephews.  All our saved money is going to our 10th anniversary gift to Sandals in the Bahamas.  I can't wait!

Saffy and I had class today and the trainer worked extra with her on "sit."  Today we worked on "down" and discovered that Saffy thinks the hand sign for "sit" actually is "down."  So we are switching for her and now I just need to find a new hand sign that works for her with "sit."  We also worked on "leave it" and "take it."  Next week is "come," which will come in handy.  Saffy can be fast! 

My husband and I met in July of 1998 when we were both in the Army.  We were stationed at Fort Lewis, WA.  I was in the 14th Combat Engineering Battalion and he was in the 9th Finance Division.  Our barracks were across from each other with Patrick's unit being a tenant unit in our barracks.  Thanks to First Sergeant Mabini, I was on on duty in Patrick's barracks on a Friday in late July.  Barracks CQ duty was a 24 hour shift from 9am-9am.  During non-working hours we were allowed to bring our TV to the desk and watch videos.  The week prior to this fateful night I had taken a trip to Las Vegas and won over $300 with which I bought the entire series of Blackadder videos.  I popped the first one in after dinner when all residents in the barracks were coming in to pick up their mail.  A guy with gray hair and glasses came up to me and started asking me about my videos and actually seemed to be familiar with Blackadder.  I didn't really think much about it.  Being in a unit with about 500 men and 30 women, I got used to random men coming up and talking to me or asking me out on dates.  Most of the night passed as normal, watching TV and writing letters to friends.  About midnight, the gray haired guy came back.  This time he was wearing THE most obnoxious shirt I have ever seen.  It was a short sleeved silk shirt with swirls of hot pink, purple and all the other colors you would imagine make up entrails.  We started chatting and he started telling me about his two ex-wives and all manor of things you don't tell someone you just met.  About 5am he actually got up the guts to ask me out and against all my reservations, I accepted, as a meal outside the dining hall paid for someone other than me was too good a deal to pass up.  I really didn't want to date anyone and wasn't sure about this guy at all.  I thought he was some sort of weird serial marry-er or something.  However, he eventually won me over.  This coming March, we will be married for 10 years

I find it quite amazing that we had been living across from each other eight months and our paths had never crossed.  About a month before that night I had been dating someone else and Patrick had been previously married to someone else.  Thanks to fate, the US Army and First Sergeant Mabini, I met my soulmate.

Happy Veteran's Day.

Me and Patrick, Christmas 2001