New 'Do?

One of the things on my 33-list is to try a new hair-do. I have been wanted to do this for a while, but I am very scared to try it. When we were in Hot Springs, I really liked Jenn's current 'do and took some pictures in case I decide to try the same thing.....

It's much shorter than my hair is now, so I would have to cut a bunch off and forfeit the ponytail option.....That's a big step!

But I have fine hair, so I don't know if I could pull off the texture needed to do this hairdo.....But product does wonders (Jenn has hair clay in it).....

Thoughts? Ideas?

Thankful Thursday

I know I already posted about Owen this week, and I'm probably going to annoy my readers that get on my case about all of the 'cute animal pictures', but I don't care! In the last week, my home life has changed a LOT with the adoption of Owen.

I will totally admit that I had second thoughts on those first few days because he was having accidents, barking a lot and his energy was just insane (I forgot how much energy dachshund puppies have!)......but the barking has all but stopped, the potty training is getting better every day, and Maggie seems to like having a playmate.

This week, I am thankful for the simple love of a puppy! They just want to please you, love you, kiss you, be held by you and snuggle with you. I was very worried that I would get a second dog and they might be standoff-ish or distant, but Owen's personality fits perfectly with mine and Maggie's.

The unconditional love and unbridled devotion of a puppy is just unmatched in my book!

Look - even Russian Prime Minister Putin can't help but snuggle with a puppy in front of cameras!
There's just something down-to-basics and simple about snuggling with a puppy and exchanging hugs and kisses.

They may be a big responsibility, frustrating at times, a financial burden (especially in the first year), but it is SOOOO worth it. I found that out with my first dog ever - Maggie - and I am confirming my feelings about dogs with our new little boy, Owen. I'm so thankful for the love of my pups!

Shifting Gears

In the past several years since my divorce, I have been praying to God about something - my desire for kids. I would watch friends getting married and subsequently starting families. I would feel the jealousy rise in me when I got the news that another baby was on the way for someone in my life. This was just emotionally heartbreaking......

So I began praying to God NOT for children to come my way, but for His will to be done. If that meant kids in my future, then bring it on! If that didn't mean children in my future, then to please take the desire for them away so that I wouldn't be tortured. In true God fashion in my life, I didn't get an answer to my prayers right away (I think He's trying to teach me patience - something I need a LOT of, desperately).....

Well, recently - in the last year or so - I have had this increasing desire for another dog. I have always felt bad that Maggie didn't have a buddy, someone to pass the time with while I was at work or just not home. I also love Maggie so much that I knew I wanted to share more of that love with another one.

What I didn't consciously realize at the time was that God was answering my prayer - just as He was ramping up my desire for another pup, He was diminishing my desire for children. It's not that I don't want kids at all, but it's as if I'm indifferent to the idea. He 'neutralized' the desire, put it up on a shelf to be revisited at some other point. No doors were shut, but it took away the longing that I felt.

And it became clear that I now had a longing for another mushy, soft, cuddly pup - something I could realistically and reasonably handle, afford and obtain. Perfect!

I just love how God always finds a way to answer prayer. Even though I didn't see it all happening at the time, I do see it now. He found a way for me to engage my maternal instincts, share my love, provide companionship for my Maggie, and feel fulfilled. What a FANTASTIC God!!

I am very grateful for this answered prayer.

Will The REAL Christmas Letter PLEASE Stand Up??

I just talked to my friend Beth on the phone the other day and she told me a story that made me laugh really hard. One of her friends was tired of receiving & reading another sickly sweet (nauseating) family Christmas letter in the mail, so she decided to write one about her family.....but use REALITY as the basis.

Most of the Christmas letters you get tell about fantastic vacations, children's milestones, promotions at work, remodeling projects around the house, and other achievements. I suppose my blog is sort of a 'year-round Christmas letter' to all who read it, but I try to be 'real' in my blog and not sugar-coat things. When I have something sad to write about or an annoyance that I need to vent about, I don't hesitate to write about reality (just like this post!).

Anyway, this person wrote out her family Christmas letter and included all of the topics she normally would write about in the 'traditional' letter that goes out.......except she told 'the rest of the story' (as Paul Harvey would say).

So on that dream vacation to Jamaica when normally you would write about the awesome weather, all of the fun beach activities you did and the great food there was.......she would write about how one kid had to go to an emergency room in the ghetto for stitches and the disgusting taxi driver that they had to deal with, how her husband got food poisoning and was throwing up all day, and the horribly sunburn on the tops of her feet! Hahaha. That's the 'real' story of the trip.

And for the holiday party stories in the letter, she would write about how she wanted to take her mother-in-law out the front door and put her face down in a snowbank. Stuff like that.

I freaking LOVE this cartoon!

Now, I want to point out that there are definitely reasons to be thankful and share what is going on in your lives with your loved ones, and in the interest of full disclosure, I myself have done the family Christmas letter (the first year that I was married), so I am not trying to cast judgement or be a hypocrite at all........but some of those letters really do make me want to puke. Just being honest......

Family Addition - OWEN!

About a week ago (Sunday, November 28th to be exact), I adopted a sweet baby wiener dog into our family! I ended up naming him Owen (after much agonizing over this name choice - 2nd place name was Milo) and he fits the name. He just turned one year old, and he's very much like Miss Maggie in looks and personality.

Here he is (chewing on a treat)!

He's at a great stage because he's past the puppy stage of chewing on everything and getting into everything, but he's still a pup in the sense of having big ears and paws, being super soft and kind of a mushy composition. He is somewhat potty trained and he's getting better and better every single day. He barked a lot when I first brought him home, but hardly makes a sound - unless Maggie and him are playing and then they are making weird sounds all the time!

I got him from a rescue group called Dachshund Lovers of Texas (woohoo!!) and he was being fostered up in Plano - about an hour away, but still in the DFW Metroplex. I took Maggie up there to the foster house and we introduced the dogs and they played right away. And Owen (he was named Cory at the time) jumped right up in my lap and gave me kisses (to the shock of his foster Mom). I knew right away that we would be fast friends.

He is a VERY curious little guy - just like Maggie was/is. I don't think that EVER goes away with dachshunds. He is 100% stereotypical dachshund and I love that - the good more than the bad. :)

And this is Maggie and Owen on that first afternoon - taking a nap together! They usually will sleep end-to-end, like in this picture. Even in my bed they sleep like that. In this picture, that's Maggie's 'end' and then Owen's head. So sweet! They wore themselves out!

Two hot dogs in a bun (my legs) - Owen had a lot of excitement that day - starting the day at his foster Mom's house, playing with Maggie, a long car ride, a trip to PetSmart, a bath, more playing with Maggie and then a NAP!

Like little train cars - one in front of the other. Maggie has done a fantastic job of helping me train him and teach him how we operate at our house. His potty skills are even coming from Maggie. When he first arrived, he was lifting his leg and now, a week later, he pretty much squats like Maggie to go potty. So funny!

They are avid players and they wrestle, chase each other like crazy at a million miles an hour, fight over toys, hide from each other and then POUNCE, but at the end of the day, they snuggle and take a nap together. *Perfection* That is exactly what I hoped would happen when I introduced a second dog, a buddy and companion for my Maggie-girl.

This is them hanging out with me on the 2nd or 3rd day that I had him. They just laid there next to each other and fell asleep eventually - so sweet!

They look so much alike - it's weird!!

Maggie is in the green collar and Owen is in the blue collar.

Then Owen wanted to sleep, so he shoved his face under the armrest (so uncomfortable!). Sweet!

What's in a Name?

Nicknames - I love them. They are a way to 'personalize' a friendship with someone and preserve memories that made you laugh. I never realized that I was so obsessed with nicknames until recently. But I enjoy both giving and receiving nicknames - it's almost like the friendship isn't solidified until a nickname is given/received.

I'm pretty sure that my dog doesn't even know her given name because I have so many nicknames for her! While there's nothing wrong with calling someone by their given name or already-established nickname, it's just so much more fun to have that inside joke with each person that caused them to get the nickname that they have.

One rule about nicknames that I like to stick to - I generally don't like to call people by a weird nickname unless I was there or was a part of giving that name. Otherwise, it's kind of like I don't have the right to use that name! I feel the use of a personalized nickname is an indication of the closeness of a friendship, so when I feel close to someone, I have this need to call them by some other name that is representative of our friendship.

What are your thoughts about nicknames??

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for.....restlessness! I am definitely a creature of routine, organization and established patterns. I do things methodically and I tend to get in ruts very easily - most of the time without even being conscious of it.

But every once in a while, I start to get restless......and I am agitated easily......and distracted easily.....and that usually means that somewhere deep inside my brain, a little switch was flipped that made me want to break out of the routine for a while!

Well, that is happening right now and I feel some big things are in store for me in 2011. I just adopted another wiener dog, I just bought a sewing machine last weekend (and I'm going to learn!), I have some small travel plans already, etc.

It's been about 2 1/2 years since I moved to Texas and I think the first 1-2 years were dedicated to getting settled, making my house the way I wanted it, meeting new friends, learning a new job, exploring, and just becoming comfortable with my new world.....But now that I have established friendships, my house is generally the way I want it, and I'm comfortable in my job........now I need more of a challenge!

I'm so glad that I made my 33-list in August. I refer to it often and I have now completed a bunch of items on the list and I have plans to finish the list by August 2nd of 2011. I even switched a few things out that really weren't things that I was dying to do and replaced them with things that were more of a priority. Really, the goal of the list is to entertain me, stretch me, challenge me, strengthen me, and push me....and it's doing its job! I am so thankful for this restlessness - it gets me moving toward things that I want to do instead of living a life of complacency!

Hot Springs - UNCUT

Well, with any trip, there are always some weird, random pics that are taken and this trip to Hot Springs didn't disappoint! Jenn was taking a ton of random 'candid' shots and here are some of them - we laughed a LOT on this trip!

Here's Lauren by the lake....

Not sure what we were laughing about - maybe how Lauren was posing (above)? lol

And here's Jenn in the woods....

Me, April & Lauren on our way to the Mountain Tower....

April just barely made it up the MILLION steps! The beginning of the hike was totally vertical - crazy!

We were probably laughing at April heaving and swearing!

This is Lauren praying to the unleaded gas gods. We were out in the middle of rural Arkansas at 10pm and running on fumes. We couldn't find any town that had an open gas station! SCARY!

Here's me - and I'm OK! Haha - This is actually me at the "Welcome to Oklahoma" sign. My first time in the state!

Here's Jenn at Garvan Woodland Gardens....

This one is April & Lauren, doing a super cheesy Olan Mills-type pose - we laughed SO HARD at this one. Throughout the trip, I wanted them to do the cheesy 80's pose of putting their hand in the other person's back pocket, but they wouldn't do it. Too funny!

Done with picture - the sun was setting.....

April & Jenn - cheesin' for the camera....

Me, April & Lauren.....

Apparently Lauren was horrified that April and I wanted to get a cleavage shot....heehee!

I love this one.....

All smiles.....

More laughing - we did a LOT LOT LOT of that. I really needed this trip - laughing is good for your body AND soul and I don't do enough of it. I got a REALLY big dose of it in those 3 days!

This one makes me laugh because of the look on April's face - not sure what we were talking about right at that moment, but I'm sure it was wildly inappropriate!

OK, everyone's behaving in this one......

Here's the 4 of us in a rare picture all together. This was just after our trail ride. That's my horse, Desperado, in the background.

And another rare photo all together - we were using Jenn's timer on her camera with this one.