The Thompsonheads

My Favorite Hat Pattern

2012-01-30T18:05:00.002-05:00

I have been knitting quite a lot lately. Every year I end us spending much of January and Febraruy finishing up Christmas gifts that I didn't get done before the holiday. This is a pattern that I used for a few hats this year - I love it!! I would characterize it as "intermediate" because you have to keep up with the pattern or it won't turn out right.

It is a Four Color Tweed
Multiple of 6 sts + 2 (for the hat pictured I casted on 74 stitches)
Use four different colors (A, B, C, and D)

Foundation Row - Using A, purl

1st ROW: Using B, k1, *sl 2, k4; rep from * to last st, k1
2nd ROW: Using B, p1, k2, p2 sl2, *k2, p2, sl2; rep from * to last st, p1
3rd ROW: Using C, k3, sl2 *k4, sl 2; rep from * to last 3 st, k3
4th ROW: Using C, p3, sl2, k2, *p2, sl2, k2; rep from * to last st, p1
5th ROW: Using D, k5, sl2, * k4, sl2; rep from * to last st, k1
6th ROW: Using D, p1, * sl2, k2, p2; rep from * to last st, p1
7th and 8th ROWS: As 1st and 2nd rows, but using A instead of B
9th and 10th ROWS: As 3rd and 4th rows, but using B instead of C
11th and 12 th ROWS: As 5th and 6th rows, but using C instead of D
13th and 14th ROWS: As1st and 2nd rows, but using D instead of B
15th and 16th ROWS: As 3rd and 4th rows, but using A instead of C
17th and 18th ROWS: As 5th and 6th rows, but using B instead of D
19th and 20th ROWS: As 1st and 2nd rows, but using C instead of B
21st and 22nd ROWS: As 3rd and 4th rows, but using D instead of C
23rd and 24th ROWS: As 5th and 6th rows, but using A instead of D

Rep the last 24 rows
I simply cinched off the end.

I made this hat for our awesome dog sitter Carly!!

Best Christmas Gift EVER!

2012-01-28T14:20:00.000-05:00

Those of you that know me well know how much I love leaf blowing. Chris gave me a Husqvarna backpack leaf blower this year! I fired it up and blew some leaves around today. One word: AWESOME!! I also love my new protective eye and ear wear - safety first!

Bye Bye Brown Chair

2012-01-18T19:12:00.001-05:00

Well, we finally got rid of the overstuffed brown chair that has been in the family since our days in Boulder, CO. The dogs are still moping around trying to figure out where the heck they are supposed to sleep all day. Getting rid of that enormous chair has completely changed our entire family room! We bought a much smaller, sleeker, modern chair from IKEA the other day. We are loving the transformation of the family room! We moved a bunch of stuff around and added some curtains to the mix, and it really looks like a brand new room.

Hammy on his favorite chair

The brown beast

The new and improved family room

Retirement

2011-12-29T17:11:00.000-05:00

I mean, this is what retirement should look like! How cute are my mom and dad???

This one is for you Julie and Dick!!

Best Flash Mob Ever!!

2011-12-19T09:07:00.000-05:00

If this doesn't make you smile, you may be the Grinch! Old people are so cute.

Thanksgiving - Florida Style

2011-12-03T10:07:00.003-05:00

We had a great Thanksgiving this year filled with our wonderful families. We headed down to the Villages for a night hanging out with my parents - the dogs also got dumped off so they could hang out at the exclusive Weatherhead Dog Spa for a long weekend. They were thoroughly pampered and spoiled. We got back on the road and headed further south to spend several days with Chris' family. We were thoroughly pampered and spoiled by amazing eats the entire time. We are still stuffed!

The Thompsons

Turkey!!!!

setting the table for the bountiful feast

stuffing, green bean casserole, scalloped oysters and corn, and smashed potatoes

Chris' plate is already full - he forgot to leave room for the turkey!

serving the turkey

The Viper!

Chris took it for a spin

Enjoying some lobster

and crab

and scallops

Grandma relaxing with Hammy

Alan and Cathy


The Weatherheads


We obviously have a lot to be thankful for - Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanks for such a great Thanksgiving weekend - we loved it all!

P.S. The Packers are 11-0!!! GO PACK GO!!!

Ellijay River Vineyard (Special Emmie Edition)

2011-11-15T13:24:00.016-05:00

Emmie came up to the vineyard from Tallahassee with her folks Martha and Paul this weekend. Martha is a really, REALLY old friend of Weather's from way back in the Bozeman college days. She and her husband Paul live in Florida now, and wanted to get away for a little camping trip before the winter really kicks in. Setting up camp on the Ellijay River at the vineyard seemed like the perfect place to introduce two year-old Emmie to tent camping; with the warm, comfy escape of the barn apartment right there if we needed it... which, since the temperature dipped into the twenties, we decided we did (for Emmie's sake of course. Weather and I were perfectly warm tented up by the river, snug into our down sleeping bags.)

Emmie had a great weekend playing ball with the pups (they LOVED Emmie!) and exploring the vineyard, roasting marshmallows and kinda camping out. We ALL had a great weekend. The weather, while a little chilly at night, was crisp and autumny. Just enough to keep the fire stoked all day long.

Flipping through my pictures from the weekend, it looks like Emmie kinda stole the show. No pics of the vineyard this time! (Which is fine, because the vines are all dried out and dormant for the winter anyway.)

Martha and Weather really don't see enough of each other.

They love each other.

Emmie and Weather make pumpkin pancakes for everyone!

Emmie's a huge fan of Dr. Seuss and of Weather's story telling skillz.

She also enjoys dancing like Aunt Dana.

Always dancing like Aunt Dana.

I know. And she's not even TRYING to look cute here.

Mmmmmmmmmmac and cheese.

Paul, Emmie, and Martha stick me in the eyeball with a marshmallow.

Emmie learns about marshmallows.

And teaches us a thing or two.

Then we teach Emmie about s'mores!

Are words necessary?

Are they?

I love this picture of Emmie, taken as we were walking down from the barn to the river. But I love the next picture more...

This is a good camera face.

Weather helps Emmie set the tent up.

Emmie hollers for the dogs.

This is Emmie's "Smile for the camera" smile.

A few more pics can be seen here and here

Halloween

2011-11-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

My office tries to get away with wearing jeans once a year on Halloween. This year we dressed as different kinds of blood cells. Our boss is a pathologist so we made her guess what we each were and she totally guessed everyone - she's talented. We also made our students go to each office and guess what we were. Amazingly, they all got it too. Am I the only one that doesn't know anything about blood cells?? My boss dressed up as her boss Dean Sheila Allen (see below).

My boss dressed up as the dean.

The actual dean Sheila Allen on the left.

Let's see if you can guess what we are.... (answers in the comments)

Jenny is bilobed with red granules and has been known to fight parasites.

Laura Leigh likes to take oxygen to the different body tissues -- she is red.

Emma helps you clot.

Lakecia plays a large role in defending the body against disease (notice the antibodies all over her)

Lauren has a single nucleus that ingests foreign materials - notice her phagocytic vacuoles

Sandi has a bilobed nucleus and blue granules - she shows up in inflammation or allergic reactions

I have a multi-lobed nucleus. I am a first responder and eat bacteria.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-09T06:48:00.000-05:00

Ellijay River Vineyard (Part 6)

2011-10-28T19:45:00.008-04:00

A couple weekends ago, October 15, Marijn and Lisa threw a little celebration at the vineyard, marking six months since the planting party. A barbecue with live bluegrass music, friends, family, and just about the most beautiful bit of weather Georgia has seen in months - it was an event we just couldn't miss.

The only problem - for me - was the fact that I had to be back home to work the 12 hour night-shift Sunday night... then straight from work to an exam Monday morning, then a 12 hour clinical rotation Tuesday, then another exam Wednesday morning.

Even with all that looming, I still couldn't say no to a good ol' Thompson family vineyard party... so, against my better judgement, I didn't!

This blurry, fuzzy photo, a long night-time exposure taken with the camera resting shakily on top of a vine post, might best illustrate the conflicting notions sloshing around in my head at the time: have fun with everyone else?... or pull those textbooks out of the car that I'd packed knowing damn well I wouldn't actually pull them out of the car....

Those of you reading this who know me probably won't be terribly surprised to learn that my textbooks remained snugly nestled in the car all weekend...

...as I enjoyed, among other things, the campfire with my sister Kelley and Marijn.

...boogied down to some real, down-home bluegrass-style music.

...and hiked around with Weather, digging on the progress the vines have made in the past six months.

The vines really are looking beautiful. I can almost taste the wine!

Honestly, as much fun as we had that weekend, I really was a bit too preoccupied with the forthcoming week to have as much fun as I would have liked. And I practically ignored my camera the whole time, missing out on many great photo-ops.

For one, the barn... it is finished and the upstairs apartment is furnished. It served impressively as the hub for the party, and really deserves more coverage than I'm affording it here. That, and of course, all the great, lovely, super-cool folks we spent the weekend partying with, getting to know, and poking fun at... I'm downright ashamed that I don't have more photos to post here now.

I promise I will do a much better job with my camera the next time we are at the vineyard.

How To Save $45

2011-10-22T18:45:00.000-04:00

She won't be winning any dog shows, but she looks pretty stinkin' cute!

Hotel Lights

2011-09-12T19:27:00.000-04:00

Alan's band, Hotel Lights, came through Atlanta on Friday. We headed downtown and watched the show at Vinyl. It was soooo good. I really love their music and not just because my talented brother is in the band. The video is my favorite song: Dave Sharkey to the Dance Floor

You can read a little bit about their albums here.

Football Season Has Arrived!!!

2011-09-08T16:26:00.002-04:00

I am ready for some football. GO PACK GO!!!!!

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-05T17:00:00.002-04:00

We had a fun weekend with my folks. They were on their way home from a show in Cincinnati and stopped off for a few days in Athens.We had a really great visit with them. My only regret is that I didn't videotape my dad trying to set up his itunes account on his new iphone - pure comedy!!! We did play a heated game of Mexican Train, took a walk on campus, had our picture taken at the arch, stopped off at Five Guys and did some baby shopping. You can read about the baby shopping trip over on the adoption blog.

Now that they have headed home, the dogs are moping around the house going through grandparent withdrawal. They get ridiculous amounts of attention from my mom and dad. Athens is currently in a tornado watch until later tonight so we slipped Hammy some Xanax and are riding out the storm. Overall, a great labor day weekend!!

Dad trying to find a move

Hoping to get rid of that twelve

We listened to my brother's new CD while we played.

We finally took our picture at the famous UGA Arch

Look how cute my husband is - love him!!

Mmmmmmmm - burger and fries

The emergency baby stash

If you want to check out Alan's music and band Hotel Lights go here. I love their latest CD.

Class of 2015

2011-08-15T13:12:00.002-04:00

The Class of 2015 has arrived!! Here are 102 future veterinarians that I will be working with for the next 4 years. We just survived orientation and classes have begun. I think it will be a great year.

Birthday

2011-08-07T15:12:00.000-04:00

I have to say that at first I thought my birthday might be a dud this year. I am currently serving on grand jury duty. This means 13 weeks (yes, that is right) of jury duty. We report each Tuesday for our duties and committee meetings. Of course, my birthday fell on a Tuesday this year - yeah! I was at the courthouse until 3:00 and then made it in to work at 3:30. When I unlocked my office door this is what I walked into:

balloons, x-mas lights, streamers, treats, candles

All of my B& H pictures had little birthday hats on them!

It was a big surprise! All of my co-workers started singing and Lauren made me a special birthday treat that had no chocolate in it!! I blew out the candles and was once again thankful that I work in such a fun office!

Chris also had some fun cooking back home. When I got home, he sent me upstairs with a glass of wine to relax until he had everything ready. He set a cute little table for us to enjoy a delicious dinner. He made my favorite fresh tuna burgers with wasabi mayo and a cucumber/onion salad for garnish. He also made some sweet potato fries and sweet corn. Holy smokes it was amazing. Yum!!!

That was one delicious mouthful!

Retreat at the Lake House

2011-07-30T14:20:00.000-04:00

I spent a few days up in the mountains with my co-workers at the family lake house. We have been working non-stop this summer and almost didn't make time for our annual staff retreat. That would have been a big mistake. We really did need to take a break, spend some time reconnecting and breathing in some mountain air, and gaining some focus for the new school year. I put together a little workshop/discussion on MBTI type and dealing with stress. We use the MBTI as a communication tool during our new student orientation each year. We had a great discussion on stress and how we deal with it as individuals and as an office (our office is crazy busy ALL THE TIME). I think it brought some needed self and group awareness to our staff and we had a great talk about how we deal with stress, how it can effect others, what kind of situations are stressful for each type, and what helps us feel supported. We started orientation this week and we have been trying to apply what we learned! We also did an activity and created an office code stating our core values and beliefs that we need to be a healthy and functioning office/team. We also listed the things that lead to disfunction and are the things we will try and avoid.

The amazing women of the Office of Academic Affairs

Our office code

Thanks to Bobbi and Stan for letting us use the lake house. It was the perfect place to get away and have our retreat! If you know your MBTI type and want to know more about your stress preferences let me know - it was so enlightening and pretty funny (mine was so accurate). Here is an online assessment if you don't know your type.

Ellijay River Vineyards (Part 5)

2011-07-28T15:37:00.005-04:00

Monday was HOT at the vineyard! I spent the day with Marijn finishing up the last of the postholes and growtubes in the small square of the vineyard that hadn't yet been treated for weeds. The rest of the vineyard looks beautiful with the weeds finally managed - and the vines are psyched!

Progress is being made at the barn too. The exterior is done and the insulation and AC have been installed - the drywall gets hung next. Downstairs is truly a barn, it'll house the tractor, El Cabellero, mower, and all the other farming equipment. There will also be a workshop, bathroom, and hopefully some room left for a ping pong table. Upstairs is a spacious three bedroom apartment with a fireplace and giant deck looking over the vineyards.

Big Chris has been busy painting this beauty. Looking GOOD!

The vines love the Georgia sun, and look forward to that Georgia storm brewing in the background.

Checking in on vine number one.

Here comes the rain...

The heat subsided a little bit when the storms hit. And the rain felt great, so we just kept working... until the lightning began. We quickly called it a day and headed back to Atlanta to clean up and hang out with the rest of the family at the Big Birthday Bash.

En route to the party, Big Chris gets irritated at my paparazzism.

...and takes a swing at me, while saying something that seems to begin with 'F'.

...finally he decides to fight fire with fire.

I turn the camera on myself, with my cousins Amy and Ryan.

We celebrated my aunt Bobbi's, cousin Ryan's, and soon-to-be cousin-in-law Angie's birthdays together in one big party at Stan and Bobbi's house. That means THREE CAKES!!

Caramel cake for Bobbi, made (and presented here) by my aunt Lisa.

Happy Birthday, Bobbi!

Cousin Billy is sad that he doesn't have his own lemon tart (made by Lisa) like Angie does.

Happy Birthday, sleepy Angie!

Beautiful chocolate raspberry black forest cake for Ryan, made by his talented sister Amy.

Happy 21st, Little Cuz!

See (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), and (Part 4) of the vineyard posts.

Independence Day

2011-07-18T16:21:00.002-04:00

(Yes, I know. I'm a little slow...)

Weather and I recently headed up to Woodstock, Georgia, where my aunt Barbara and uncle Rick threw a little gathering for the Fourth of July. It was a multi-purposed weekend: we celebrated the anniversary of the independence of this great nation of ours, of course, as well as my beautiful cousin Shannon's engagement to the handsome love of her life, John, and the thirty-somethingth birthday of my gorgeous little sister Kelley, and, most of all, the simple fact that we were gathered together as family! We celebrated the HELL out of the weekend!!

Shannon and John are getting MARRIED!!!

My aunt Barbara commands a room.

My uncle Rick and his best bud Reilly.

My parents brought their two Jack Russell terriers, Shady and Sunny. Here's Sunny getting down with Reilly.

And here's the matriarch of the family, twenty year-old Shady.

To celebrate Kelley's birthday, she wanted to jump out of an airplane! My aunt Patty is an adventurous soul and decided to join her.

Here's Kelley just before the jump. She's comparing the shaking of her hands with Patty's.

Kelley wisely and seriously watches her jump instructor pack his chute. (She's a Thompson though, so not TOO seriously.)

Patty and Kelley, ready to rock and roll!!

Just in case, I got one last shot of Kelley with our mom and dad. They acted like they thought that joke was funny, but I don't think they really did...

All loaded up... It's apparently the same (type of) plane they used in Point Break. ROCK AND ROLL!!!

Kelley shows perfect form as she approaches.

Kelley's adrenaline is PUMPING after her 10 point, non-butt landing!

As nervous as Kelley may have been about this jump, no one was more nervous than her pop.

Kelley and Patty wax lyrical about their jump!

Patty, with Barbara wishing she had participated, explains to all from whence she came.

It was a great weekend that ended far too soon. We had an awesome time with my family and can't wait to see them again!

Happy Anniversary!

2011-06-29T00:01:00.001-04:00

I love spending some time reliving the day and looking through pictures. I have to say - our wedding was so amazing!! At the conference I recently attended we were asked as one of our group ice breakers if we could relive any day, which one would we do over? Even though I knew it would sound so corny, I had to say our wedding day. Picture a beautiful Montana day up in the mountains, surrounded by family and friends, exchanging rings with the love of your life - oh and there was a pig roast, a bluegrass band, and lots of dancing. I'm not sure it can get better than that.

Happy Anniversary Chris!! Thanks for 5 wonderful years.

Love you xoxox

Doggie Pool Time!!

2011-06-26T15:21:00.001-04:00

Ellijay River Vineyard (Part 4)

2011-06-21T13:06:00.020-04:00

Vine tags in the ERV golfcart.

The Hard Work
Now that all the vines are planted, the real hard work has begun. Marijn had to be in Holland for a couple weeks this Spring and returned to Ellijay River Vineyard (ERV, as it's affectionately being called) to find that the weeds of the North Georgia mountains are indeed some voracious and adundant adversaries. That they are, in fact, evil bitches from Hell.

Before the weeds can be killed though, Marijn must first spray for insects (Japanese beetles, most particularly - and quickly), then finish augering and installing the trellis posts... which must be done before attaching grow tubes to each vine, which must be done before spraying to kill said weeds. The hard work begins...

If you look closely, you can get an idea of where the vines are under those clumps of weed (hint: there are 3 vines between 2 posts, left to right). Marijn wants me to stress to viewers of these photos that they are the "Before" photos, and should be viewed as a documentation of Marijn's learning process in this effort. He's going to kick these weeds' asses, he assures me, and he'll be ready for them next time...

That delicate tendril reaching like a splash toward the sun? It's a weed. An evil bitch from Hell, wrapped tightly around a grape vine, strangling.

Vines safe and sound in their grow tubes.

Warm and happy in their little grow tubes.

At the other end of the vineyard, vine number one stands neatly weeded, waiting for her grow tube.

Marijn spraying for bugs. You can see that about half of the posts are installed. What you can't see is that most of the holes for the remaining posts have been dug. We're getting there...

The shower Uncle Chris set up behind the shed. If you hook up a long section of hose that's been sitting in the sun for awhile, you might get about 6 seconds of warm shower.

Personally, I preferred a quick splash in the river over Chris's behind-the-shed-shower. Then, evening cocktails in this chair.

Uncle Chris takes a break from Ramrodding.

Did it rain here Wednesday night? Yup. Hard. Luckily, my four season Eureka Alpenlite 2XT tent kicked some serious ASS!!

Evidence that my dad was here. At the planting, relaxing by the campfire, the sole melted off his boot. This memorial is hidden well, and can be found only by those who aren't looking for it.

This half of the memorial, on the other hand, is visible to all. The thermometer is reading the first morning sun - it got lots hotter.

Another happy little vine waiting for a grow tube.

See (Part 1), (Part 2) and (Part 3) of the vineyard posts.

VLE 2011

2011-06-19T21:45:00.003-04:00

The Ross Point Camp and Conference Center in Post Falls, Idaho was my third and last stop on my trip West. I attended a conference called VLE (Veterinary Leadership Experience). I spent a week with the 18 individuals in the picture below. We are an eclectic and enthusiastic mix of people that make up the veterinary profession: vet students, faculty members, practitioners, industry veterinarians, spouses of veterinarians, CVM staff members, and executive AVMA board members. We started as strangers, but ended as amazing and close friends. I know it sounds impossible, but it isn't.

During the week we were encouraged to keep an open mind to the interactive curriculum that was presented to us. We learned about emotional intelligence, servant leadership, teamwork, and communication in a way that allowed us to experience the meaning of each lecture through different experiential learning tasks we experienced in our group and discussions on how to implement each idea into our lives back home. We also had lots and lots of fun as we stretched out comfort zones through singing, dancing, karaoke, and a wide variety of physical and emotional activities. I spent the week reflecting on who I am, my strengths, my weaknesses, and the kind of person I would like to be. In our busy lives, it was quite a gift to have the time to be reflective in such a beautiful and supportive place. I learned a tremendous amount about myself and am so grateful for my friends who provided insight, support, love, laughs, great conversation, and so much wisdom along the way.

It helps that we were at such a beautiful spot.

The UGA representatives at the confernce (l to r) John, Jenny, me, and Ann. Jenny is my co-worker and John and Ann are second year vet students.

My group built this awesome box structure that had an arm sticking out of it. Even though Betsy and Drake may not have known it, I think this activity made us storm a bit.

Drake is holding what looks like a small, simple, light, little tent pole. Little did we know that this pole was a little stick of evil!! This is a little activity called the helium stick.

Emma is smiling in this picture, but it didn't last long.

The goal of this activity was to simply, with each person keeping two fingers on the stick, move the tent pole to the ground. Sounds easy right? WRONG!!

We also built this. It may not seem like much, but a LOT of work went into this little structure. We rocked it!!

A little pre-karaoke Irish Car Bomb to calm the nerves!! John looks afraid.

Alex in all of her glory at karaoke.You were awesome girl!!!!!

Things got a little interesting with Pretty Woman.

The wise Kristi talking me and Cathy through a knotty problem

Aaron, in the blue hat, is actually from Bozeman! He was a student at Bozeman HS when I taught German and was a student at MSU when I was the Asst. Dean of Students. I love to think that at some point our paths may have crossed before. He is a good Montana boy who I am so proud and happy to know. He is currently a DVM student at Oklahoma State.

Awwww - so cute!

I am about to fall backwards into the strong, supportive arms of my group members - a trust fall. It was one of my favorite experiences of the week. It really is amazing how much I trust these peeps. For me, this is a great metaphor for the week: I was able to abandon fears, put my inhibitions to the side, and simply fall backwards with complete faith that everything would be okay.

Nachos + uncooperative bartender + pissed off Eric + the ability to choose happy = a great life lesson

I love, love, love. LOVE my new friends.

Flowers

2011-06-18T22:16:00.000-04:00

I finally made it back to my office after 4 weeks of working from home, doctor appointments, vacation days, VLE, and more doctors appointments. On my first day back one of my students Elizabeth brought me some beautiful flowers. Love them and love her.

Henry is so adorable

2011-06-16T15:48:00.001-04:00

Shingles Update

2011-06-15T18:37:00.001-04:00

My shingles rash is SO much better. From afar you can't even see it anymore. I met with my doctor again on Tuesday and she doesn't think I will have any permanent scarring - yeah! She told me to expect to have pain and discomfort for 1-2 more months. Gulp! I wasn't really expecting to hear that and I am still trying to get my head around it. One day at a time...

If you click the picture you can see the faint remains of the rash.

Hayden Lake, Idaho

2011-06-13T17:10:00.002-04:00

I recently spent three days with three of my best friends (and baby Emmett) in Lake Hayden, Idaho. You may remember these girls from previous posts here and here. Ahhhh, where to start... Well, in a nutshell, we talked a lot, we ate a lot, we cried a lot, we drank wine a lot, and we laughed a lot (repeat). There is nothing like the comfort of good friends.

Michelle recently wrote about the new dimension that our friendship has taken over the past 10 years (here). I always knew that we were really really good at being funny and making one another laugh, but I am so glad (and proud) that we are equally good at being supportive and serious and able to care for one another. The last seven months have forced us to reframe, reflect on, reform, and reconfigure many aspects of our lives and our friendship. So far, we have all survived (most importantly Michelle and Eric) and instead of slipping away, disengaging, letting fear get in the way, our friendship has been solidified and more unified than ever. After spending a weekend with these women (and little E) my soul is stronger.

Just trust me on this -- buy this stuff if you ever see it. Genious.

Brie, the goddess of baking, let us taste some of her delicious flat bread. She has started selling her baked goods at the farmers market in the Seely Lake/Missoula area. YUM.

We all got some much needed Emmett time

I was actually able to convince this busy boy to take a nap with me out on the swing.

From the dock, looking back up at the cabin

We spent a lot of time setting up the perfect self-timed picture of all of us. It was a lot of hard work.

This may be the one!!!

What a cute little boy. By the way, for my 3 other blog readers, Emmett and Henry are cousins.

Portland

2011-06-12T14:18:00.001-04:00

I landed in Portland on June 2 and was determined to pack a lot into my short 17 hour stay. I think I suceeded. After dropping my stuff off at Eric and Michelle's we headed down to the bar to meet some friends. I was exhausted, still pretty shingly, and zombieish from my pain meds so I told Michelle that I would probably only have one beer and not stay out too late. Well, it ended up being more like 12 pitchers of beer and closing the bar down. Love it <4

It was so great to see Ben (this guy). Ben and I have been friends since high school and luckily the universe has made sure that our paths keep crossing. He has some exciting stuff on the horizon and I am soooo happy for him.

This is Dana or "other Dana" (this friend). She is a friend of Michelle's that I met back in November. The only reason I could get back on a plane back then was because I knew that Michelle would be in good hands. She is wonderfully adorable and so much fun to talk with.

The one and only Mr. Eric DuBarry...

Me and Ben with flash...

Sweet DuBarry Pie

You can kind of see Ms. Megan Bulger on the end here. She is another one of Michelle's Portland friends (this one) that we love and trust. She is very observant and sees a lot of funny in the world and does a great job of sharing it with others.

I don't want to spill the beans, but Michelle and Eric bought this house!!! I instantly fell in love with it and can't wait to return and see what they have done with the place. I mean, it is perfect, right???

a cool tree in the backyard

the cutest backyard area ever (they even have a family of adorable racoons to share it with)

Although moving in/on will be a hard process, I know that they will experience so much new joy and happiness in their new abode. I cannot wait to return for a visit. Sadly, after only a few hours in Portland, we had to pack up and hit the road for Idaho.

Beano Turns 9!

2011-05-30T19:26:00.001-04:00

There is a little tribute to the Bean over on our adoption blog..
You can see it here.
We love our furry little girl.

Day 10 of the Shingles!

2011-05-29T15:03:00.000-04:00

Okay, so they still look really gross. The very good news is that those big liquidy blisters are getting smaller. They are what stand between me and my upcoming trip to Portland/Post Falls. I think I will be good to go!! I am still in some pain, but nothing that can't be managed with some meds.

In other news, our car died on Saturday morning. Yep, our one and only car that you might remember from this post. We are enjoying the Memorial Day weekend at home. What's another $500 in the grand scheme of things, right??

Shingle-licous Baby!!

2011-05-26T13:00:00.000-04:00

How lucky am I that my husband is an incredibly talented nursing student and a professional photographer?? I am getting really excellent care AND some great pictures that really document the size of my liquidy blisters. The shots in the earlier post were all self portraits, but these really take it to a new level of ickiness. My doctor told me on Tuesday that this is the worst case of shingles she has ever seen. The virus is in the C4 nerve and has exanded to the C3 and C5. The good news is that it is not in the facial nerves and therefore, my eye is not in danger. The rash has also not gone down my ear canal - but you can see it is doing a number on my poor ear lobe. I started taking an anitviral pretty early on which is also important because it can shorten the attack. I just started taking Lyrica for the pain - it is also working very well.

Can't get enough of the shingles? Here is some other good info.

I am still in good spirits! I am really hoping that my blisters will start to heal up and scab over by next Thursday. I have been planning on flying to Portland to see my BFF Michelle! Then, we are roadtripping to Post Falls, ID and meeting up with our other BFFs Dana and Brie for a fun weekend of girlfriend stuff in a cabin on the lake. Why Post Falls you ask? Well, besides the obvious awesomeness of the town, I am attending a conference nearby June 6-11. Please (and I mean PAAAHHHHLEASE!) keep your fingers crossed that I can still go!!!!

Brave visitors bearing gifts

2011-05-25T12:26:00.000-04:00

Now who wouldn't feel better when these two show up at your door with a pie?!?!?! Trust me, key lime pie makes everything feel better - ahhhh Thanks so much Tonee, Sandi and the AAO. I miss you guys and love you mucho!

From my good side you can hardly tell that I am a freak show!

Birthday Boy!!!

2011-05-24T14:24:00.000-04:00

Love you
xoxoxoxoxoxox

The Shingles

2011-05-23T12:40:00.000-04:00

Spent a few hours in the ER last night. I thought I was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic I was taking for my UTI. My smart nursing student husband noticed how the outbreak didn't cross the middle line of my body and said it might be shingles. Guess who was right -- my smart nursing student husband (unfortunately). Wow, shingles really bite. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves....

The good news is that my UTI is completely gone and they gave me some pain meds to help with the shingles. I am still wondering how I will make it back to work when I can't really wear clothing -- any thoughts???

Operation Vegan Cake

2011-05-14T20:26:00.002-04:00

Our amazing student worker Tonee graduated from UGA this semester. We had a little party for her on Friday and got busy and made her a vegan cake. I thought it was hilarious that everyone just assumed that a vegan cake would taste like crap. My co-workers made faces when I said I was bringing a vegan cake -- Tonee is vegan by the way. I made a chocolate pumpkin brownie cake with vegan frosting. It was delicious. The vegan frosting didn't quite thicken up but it made a groovy design as it slowly slid off the cake.

This originally said We (heart) Tonee. The heart and Tonee slowly began to slide which just made it that much cooler. The most important thing is that Tonee liked it. Just look at how cute she is.

We even had some surprise visitors - the McKinnley family was in town for Tab's graduation at UGA. Malik came by the office to say hello (he could smell all of the free food). Malik used to be our admissions counselor. We were all so excited to see him and we couldn't believe how big Katie and little Liki are getting. When offered, Malik didn't want any vegan cake because he thought it would be gross. Oh well - more cake for us!!

Happy graduation to Tonee!!

Anxiety?? What Anxiety??

2011-05-08T15:45:00.000-04:00

We would like to introduce you to our new little Zen dog Hammy. You may have heard about the powerful storm systems that have been tearing through the South. Unfortunately, they were also tearing up Hammy's sensitive little soul. We talked with our vet and decided that it was time for Hammy to take some Xanax. It works like a charm and he can now weather even the most severe storms without a single shake. Our uptight, sensitive, tightly wound, worried, anxiety-ridden dog is now a Zen master.

The Garden is Growing

2011-05-07T15:30:00.001-04:00

We have been working on our little garden on wheels again. We have some tomatoes (cherry and roma), various greens, some spinach, a few strawberries, and lots of herbs off to a good start. I am also starting some flowers from seed to add to our various planters around the yard. The weather has been absolutely amazing over the past few weeks - really sunny and warm, but no humidity. We are eating it up until the miserable heat of the South descends upon us.

Ellijay River Vineyard (Part 3)

2011-04-18T21:55:00.026-04:00

The Planting Party
Marijn asked 100 of his closest friends and family to help plant 2100 grapevines, 40 cherry trees, and 30 rosebushes. Lisa fed them all and quenched their thirsts. The weather cooperated (after a little coercion), and a grand old time was had by all...

There are no G's in Ramrod.

The moonscaped field ready for planting. Mike (the contracted expert) makes suggestions as he and Marijn coordinate the planting.
(See them over by the river and the sun? You can click on pictures to see them bigger.)

And, this is it! THE very first vine planted at Ellijay River Vineyard (Row#1 Vine #7).
My uncle Marijn does the honors.

...but first, Mike and Marijn will discuss technique.

My wife is a beautiful farm girl.

Uncle Stan with Weather near a hole.

Aunt Bobbi cheerfully distributes vines.

Time for the second decennial family portrait-on-a-tractor. Cheese!
Thanks Jenny!

"Ramrod," also known in some circles as "Big" Chris, builds the perfect fire.

Little Sis Kelley proudly displays her muddy knees - evidence of a morning hard-worked.

Cousin Amy and her friend Anna swing by the river and giggle.

That's my Mom and Dad in the middle.

The guy sucking s'more off his finger is long-time family friend Randy.
Weather has marshmallow in her teeth.

Hostess/Aunt Lisa offers me a flaming marshmallow to the forehead.

Yes, we camped.
But no, we didn't rough it.

See (Part 1) and (Part 2) of the vineyard posts.

Family Resemblance

2011-04-13T19:41:00.000-04:00

Everyone always says that I look JUST LIKE my mom. What do you think? We actually can't see the resemblance, but know it is there because even strangers comment on it. I always take it as a compliment.

My parents were up for a quick visit this weekend. It was so great to see them and to hang out for a few days. The dogs lost their minds when they showed up and were SO excited. We had my aunt and uncle from Clayton and my great uncle and great aunt over from Jasper on Sunday for a barbeque. It was so fun to hang out with the whole family.

My Dear Old Car

2011-04-02T18:11:00.000-04:00

I bought my sweet little Subaru 16 years ago in Milwaukee. It has been the best damn car a girl could ask for ever since. It is also our only car which is making us a little nervous these days. We have racked up over 183,000 miles and are just hoping that it will keep running for at least the next year or two before we can afford to get another car. When it started making a funny noise a few months ago, Chris and I were pretty stressed. Ugh!! We finally brought it into the shop and had someone take a look. It definitely needed some work - new front brakes, new headlight plugs, new tail light, new bearings on the left wheel, new rack and pinion boots, and new CV joint boots. The final bill was over $1500 and made me want to cry. We definitely don't have the money between 1.5 pay checks, paying tuition, paying our student loans, funding an adoption, etc., etc. but we don't really have a choice since it is our only means of transportation. We bit the bullet and put it on a credit card - sigh. We had just paid that thing off last year. I really can't complain because this car has been ridiculously low maintenance over the past 16 years and will hopefully carry us through the next few years as well. We love you Subbie!!!

Ellijay River Vineyard (Part 2)

2011-03-31T16:20:00.020-04:00

I (Chris) decided to spend my spring break busting my ass in the dirt: felling trees, hogging bush, and plowing fields on my uncle Marijn's property up near Ellijay, Georgia. You remember my post from last fall? About the vineyard?

That's me out there in the tractor. I'm tilling.

Anyway, Marijn has planned a big "Planting Party" for the weekend of April 16 (the Planting Party is where he invites everyone he knows to come spend the weekend helping plant more than 2000 grape vines into the ground, while, of course, also drinking lots of wine, swimming in the river, and spending a weekend's worth of quality time with friends and family) ..and the land needs to be properly prepared to require as little work from the guests (and to allow as much funtime) as possible. Which means there's less than a month left to plow and till the soil, plot and stake out the planting rows, and auger the (2000+!) holes for the vines. Once this is done, all the guests at the party will need to do is drop the vines in and tamp the dirt down. Which they'll probably be able to do with a glass of wine in one hand...

So Marijn, my other uncle "Big" Chris, our long-time family friend Bob, and I spent last week finishing up the plowing and tilling of the first 3 acre plot (more acreage to come at a later date), and we cleared the land along the beautiful Ellijay River for good camping and hanging out spots.

We camped out on the river between days of hard work. That's Bob and Marijn.

"Big" Chris' pet project was building steps down the embankment to the river.

Marijn and his beautiful (air-conditioned!) Caterpillar tractor.

Tractor's-eye-view of a hard day's work.

Of all the cool new toys -er, tools, Marijn has had to acquire for this endeavor, the one he seems to be most proud of this...

Do NOT call it El Camino. It is El Caballero!! (The GM version of El Camino.)

"Big" Chris and Bob have a break from the sun. (That's my hat on Big Chris.)

In addition to all the above mentioned soil work, Marijn also did his homework on the chemistry of this soil. He determined the pH of the dirt and added the appropriate amounts of stuff (lime, I think, but don't quote me on that) to get it where it needed to be so it was hospitable to the grapes he is planting, which are viogniers, seyval blancs, and albarinos. Now, don't presume I know what the hell I'm talking about here - Marijn wrote those grape names down for me. All I know is that they apparently make very good white wines.

Speaking of making wine, it seems that won't be happening for quite a while. Grape vines need to mature for several years before they produce grapes of the proper quality for vinting - is that a word? Probably not. But you know what I mean. Anyway, Marijn says that after two or three years he might have a crop from which he can make some wine, but it won't be wine good enough to sell commercially until after the fourth year or so. This obviously isn't a get-rich-quick scheme for Marijn. It's a labor of love.

Marijn, the fire, and my feet.

The Ellijay River. I didn't think to bring my flyrod this time. I'll be sure to bring it to the planting though...

Bob's Georgian Gothic.

Ellijay River Vineyard nightscene.

Old Faded Jeans

2011-03-27T10:28:00.000-04:00

I worked on a fun and messy project this weekend. I own one pair of nice, dark jeans. I own about 8 pair of old, faded jeans. Just for fun I thought I would see what would happend if I dyed the old, faded jeans a darker color. I bought a package of navy and a package of denim colored RIT dye and got to work. I did two separate batches (I also dyed some t-shirts and a pair of old capri pants). I mixed the two colors and set up the hot water and dunked the faded jeans.

I love how they turned out! They look so much better and I finally have a few more pairs of jeans that I can wear. I tend to want to dye everything once I get going. A few other items got a new look as welll. The two shirts were a light purple when I started and the capri pants were a light gray.

Adoption Blog

2011-03-21T10:56:00.003-04:00

Because I just can't get enough blogging in, I started an adoption blog. I thought it would be a fun way to document the adoption journey, connect with other waiting families, and, of course, network.

If you have a blog, would you mind adding us to your blog roll?
www.chrisandamythompson.blogspot.com

I joined a blogging network for open adoptions too.

You can check it out here.

There is also a link to it under "Our Adoption Websites" on the left column.

One more reason we love Martha

2011-03-20T14:11:00.000-04:00

We officially received our first baby item in the mail. Martha had been chomping on the bit to send us cute baby things for five years so it is only appropriate that our first baby gift is from her. She sent some ridiculously cute swaddling blankets made from soft silky bamboo fiber muslin.

Originally I thought it would be funny to write a post showing me trying to swaddle the dogs. Something along the lines of: Dogs Hate Swaddling. Imagine my surprise when both dogs totally let me swaddle them!! The loved it! What weirdos.

Thank you Martha!

xoxox

Thank You Brooke!

2011-03-19T12:39:00.003-04:00

My friend Brooke wrote a sweet post about us on her blog here. Brooke and I went to grad school together at Montana State. Everytime I read her blog, I miss Montana greatly.

Thanks for your support Brooke!!

If you ever want to have a true Montana experience, get in touch with them and check out their company Willow Outfitters!

Brooke and Matine enjoying a day at Bridger Bowl

NO VACANCY!!

2011-03-19T12:33:00.002-04:00

The little bird has returned to build a nest on our front porch.

I wouldn't really mind if the nest didn't come with a huge mess...

and bird poop all over the porch.

Last year we just stopped using the front door because the mama bird dive bombed us evertime we stepped foot on the porch. I may be hanging a no vacancy sign at some point today.

Marf is the best

2011-03-15T19:07:00.002-04:00

Martha is also one of my closest friends. She wrote about us on her blog here. She is holding a baby naming contest amongst my friends. They are going to pick the best baby name from the nonsensical word verification words you are required to enter when commenting on our blogs and force me to name our child that. My favorite so far is Mursla. It just has a special something. You can play too - just leave a comment and let us know if your word verification word is baby name-worthy. Our dogs also LOVE Martha for obvious reasons.

Love you Marf!!
xoxo

Thanks

2011-03-14T19:57:00.001-04:00

I just sent an email out to every single person that I know and have an email address for (except for the family and friends that are on Chris' list - he has a final on Wednesday but will send it out soon) about our adoption plans. It was really hard asking everyone to send an email out for us, but I am glad that I did it. A friend of mine that adopted her son told me that she totally wore some of her friendships out during the adoption process because she was trying so desperately to find a baby - some people just got sick of hearing about it all the time. I can totally understand that. It is hard enough to ask people to share your story on their blog, to share your website on facebook and send an email out the first time, but how about again in 6 months, and then again in a year, and again after 18 months -- we are still looking for a baby...

Just as I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed, I checked my inbox again. I had received over 30 emails back from people. Some wished us a quick good luck, and some wrote really heartfelt messages to us that made me feel warm and so happy. I can't believe how many people responded by saying that they had just sent out an email to their entire contact list. Some even included me in on the email that they sent out and had added to our "suggested email" in such a touching way. I also got a really amazing pep talk from my life coach and good friend Michelle. She has an amazing way of putting things into perspective and reminding me of the good in people. Love you Michelle!

*************************************
In case I don't have your email and you would like to help, this is the "suggested email" that we sent out to our family and friends.

Dear Family and Friends,

I am sending you this email as a way to help my friends, Chris and Amy Thompson, who are hoping to complete their family through open adoption. I am helping them network and hope you will take a moment to read about them. If you know of anyone considering an adoption plan, please forward this information to them directly.

Also, to further assist Chris and Amy, I would really appreciate it if you could please forward this email to your friends and family. They are hoping that if enough people read and forward this email, they will connect with the right person looking to make an adoption plan.

If you are on facebook you can share the link to their adoption website (http://www.chrisandamythompson.webs.com/) with your facebook friends. Simply copy the link into your status and hit return – you can even pick a picture (thumbnail) of them to run with the link.

Or visit their iheart adoption page and “like” them.
http://www.iheartadoption.org/users/chrisandamy

Chris and Amy can be contacted via email or their toll free telephone number.

Email: chrisandamythompson@gmail.com

Toll Free Number: 1-888-859-4612

Websites:
http://www.chrisandamythompson.webs.com/
http://www.iheartadoption.org/users/chrisandamy

Again, thank you for your time and for forwarding this message.

Yum

2011-03-14T19:09:00.003-04:00

In other news, sometimes all I want is a big fat tuna melt.

I Made This!!!

2011-03-09T16:55:00.006-05:00

I hosted our book club this month and made my first ever Tiramisu. It was really yummy and so pretty to look at! I also had a piece for breakfast this morning. We had a long discussion (not always on the book) about Generosity by Richard Powers. Are there any Richard Powers fans out there? Which of his books is your favorite?

As always, I am curious to hear what you are reading. Anything good? Next month we are reading Great House by Nicole Krauss. I am so excited to dig into this one.

Your Pie

2011-03-09T16:42:00.004-05:00

My co-workers and I braved a rain storm in order to have some pizza for lunch today at our favorite pizza place Your Pie. I always get the Great White. Although it may sound like the most boring pizza ever, it is soooooo good. On the way back to the office, we actually got kicked off the bus. There was an accident ahead of us and the police parked right in the way of our bus which couldn't turn into the main road. We had to walk about a mile back to work in the pouring rain because the bus couldn't go anywhere. When we got back, we were totally soaked despite our rain gear and umbrellas. It was so worth it.

Thanks Other Dana!

2011-03-08T11:37:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to send a thank you to my new friend Dana. She is a good friend of my friend Michelle out in Portland. Dana wrote a sweet little post about our desire to adopt on her blog. You can see her post here.

My group of best friends affectionately refers to Dana as "other Dana" because we also have a Dana in our circle of friends and it can get confusing. We are really original.

Her daughter Lola is also one of the cutest babies ever. Some day when I move to Portland and live next door to Michelle and Dana (other Dana), I will easily be able to fool people into believing I am her aunt. She has beautiful red hair!

And now some HENRY news...

2011-03-07T08:13:00.003-05:00

Someone got some new boots!

(Thanks for the pictures, Kirstin!)

Open Adoption

2011-03-05T09:30:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to take a minute to tell you a little bit about open adoption and why we are interested in an open adoption. Basically, what this all boils down to is that we would like to have some sort of relationship with the birthparents of our child. This does not mean that we will be co-parenting with them or living next door to them or anything like that. It simply means that we would like to know them and welcome them into our lives on some level. We will work with the birthparents to figure out what the correct level will be. For some it may mean exchanging email messages and pictures regularly, visiting a few times a year, or simply sending a Christmas card each year.

We chose the Independent Adoption Center as our agency because they have been the leading force in the movement for open adoptions in the nation.

There are many benefits to open adoption on all sides of the adoption. Here are just a few that our agency highlights:

Birthparents

Birthparents in open adoptions typically demonstrate positive self-esteem related to responsible decision making and feeling in control of their life -- making a plan for the baby, instead of abandoning him/her. Birthparents with open adoptions work through the normal feelings of grief much more quickly and easily. As a result, they exhibit better mental health than those with closed adoptions.

Adoptive Parents

Contact with birthparents provides adoptive parents with a real image of the birthparents. Trust and understanding of one another is allowed to develop. Fear and insecurity (typical for adoptive parents in closed adoption) dissolve as birthparents consistently confirm that the adoptive parents are the parents of the child. Adoptive parents also have access to ongoing information, such as medical information, which will aid them in parenting their child.

Adoptees

Open adoption provides immediate answers to the adoptee's questions, as well as accurate information -- answers to basic questions that all adoptees wonder about, such as "who do I look like?" and "why was I given up?" The adoptive parents can communicate facts, instead of half-truths or unknowns. There is also an opportunity for ongoing access to information. For example, when the child asks a question that his/her parents cannot answer, they can turn to the birthparents for the answers.

In closed adoption, the adoptee has no access to his/her genetic and medical history. This is a major frustration to adoptees and also presents serious medical implications because of this lack of information. In open adoption the adoptee's history, as well as access to family medical information, is available to her/him even as it is updated over time.

Through open adoption, the adoptee knows he/she was placed for adoption out of love. He/she is aware, on an ongoing basis, of his/her birthparents' love. As a result, the adoptee is able to feel good not only about where he/she is, but also where he/she came from. He/she is freed from the frustrations of the unknowns and feelings of rejection that are inherent in closed adoption.

Young children have difficulty understanding abstract concepts. In closed adoption, the words "birthmother" and "adoption" are difficult for children to understand because there is nothing concrete to attach to these words. In open adoption, the child has concrete information, and the birthmother is a concrete reality in his life. Therefore, it is much easier for children of open adoption to understand their adoption.

Extended Family Model

Open adoption recognizes the birthfamily as extended family members because they are related to the child. If adoptive parents can accept the birthparents into their life as relatives, they can accept and feel comfortable with open adoption. Just as individuals gain new extended family members through marriage, they also gain new family members through adoption.

Complexities

All families face issues and complexities. However, in our experience, the problems in open adoptions are no different than those in other families. Sometimes there are relationship issues, as there are in all families, and the individuals work them out.

As always, if you are interested in helping us, please click here to find out how.

Ben and the Late Hat

2011-03-05T08:49:00.000-05:00

Ben finally got his hat! Michelle and Eric, this is my wonderfully amazing friend Ben. If you see him around Portland wearing this hat, you will now know who he is!! I love this guy.

He also owns a business in Portland called Portland Painting and Restoration. Who wouldn't want him to paint their house??

I've Found My True Calling

2011-03-04T19:15:00.000-05:00

I love leaf blowing!! My neighbor Marc let me borrow his heavy duty leaf blower in an attempt to take back our yard. I love that thing!! I was happy to see that we have some nice healthy ivy underneath all the leaves. We will encourage it to spread for now. A woman in our neighborhood owns a chipper and said that we could borrow it to make a mulch from all the twigs, branches, and leaves that we have. In the meantime, I am having so much fun blowing the leaves around. I could do this for hours (and have). This was the before. Stay tuned for the after!

Ready to Roll!

2011-03-01T19:38:00.000-05:00

We are so excited to tell you that we are officially approved by our adoption agency. This means that we are now on their website and our Dear Birthmother letter will go into circulation to birthmothers that match our profile. Yeah!

We now need your help to get the word out! Many adoptions happen just through networking. We have been reminded over and over that you just never know how or when you will meet your birthmother. So, here is how you can help us:

1. Share the link to our website on your facebook page. Our personal adoption website is: www.chrisandamythompson.webs.com You can see it here. Let people know that we are your friends/family and that we are hoping to adopt a baby.

2. Encourage your friends and families to share our website on their facebook page.

3. Let us know if you would be willing to share our birthmother letter or our adoption card with your OB/GYN, doctor, pastor, friends, family members, neighbor that is a social worker/teacher/counselor/university staff member, niece/friend/student that is faced with an unexpected pregnancy, etc. You may know someone who works with pregnant women or may know someone who knows someone etc. You can email us at: chrisandamythompson@gmail.com if you want us to mail you some materials to share.

4. We will be emailing our inner circle of friends and family soon with information to share. Email us (chrisandamythompson@gmail.com) if you would be willing to send out an email to your friends and families about us and our desire to adopt. We will make it easy for you and draft the email to send out!

5. You can visit our iheart adoption page and "like" us. We're not sure if this actually helps us, but at least we will look like we are popular!! Ha Ha! We are working with the Independent Adoption Agency.

6. If you have a blog or website, would you consider writing a post about us or sharing our contact information? This helps get the word out and helps our website move higher up in search engines. Some of you have already done this: Thanks Gina and Robin (and Michelle)! We are happy to provide information, pictures, etc to help you.

7. We totally understand if you aren't comfortable with any of the above. If nothing else, send us some love! We would sooooooo appreciate your well wishes and prayers. Our road to parenthood has been really hard and feeling the support and love from our friends and family has meant so much to us.

8. If you are interested in receiving updates, please follow our blog. We will be using our blog as a means to communicate with family and friends as we navigate the world of adoption.

Thanks so much!
xoxoxox

Twinkies

2011-02-28T13:59:00.000-05:00

Do you ever show up to work and your co-worker has on the exact same outfit? This actually happens a lot around our office and it always makes us laugh. Sandi and I were apparently on the same wave length this morning.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2011-02-27T15:49:00.000-05:00

We have had an amazing weather weekend! Two perfect sunny warm days in a row. There are little reminders all around us that spring really is on the way. I love this time of year!!

I Never Know What Will Come Out of His Mouth

2011-02-13T20:00:00.001-05:00

Today is the first Sunday after the Super Bowl. I honestly didn't know what to do with myself. Chris works the night shift on the weekends so he typically sleeps most of the day. He woke up at around 2 and I told him that I would make him whatever he wanted for dinner tonight - anything - anything at all. He ordered hotdogs with sauerkraut and sweet potato fries. Not exactly what I was expecting, but off to the store I went for some all beef franks, sauerkraut, and sweet potatoes. The final product:

He's so weird! I do love me some sweet potato fries though! This is how I make them. Peel and cut up a sweet potato or two. Try to keep them a uniform size for even cooking. In a large bowl mix some olive oil and whatever spices sound good to you. I like to use cumin, corriander, oregano, a little garlic powder, and a little curry. Throw the fries in and coat with oil and spices. Line a baking tray with tin foil and lay the fries out -- I like to put them in nice rows because it makes flipping them easier (and I like order). Preheat the oven to 425. Put the fries in for 20 minutes - do not open the oven door!! After 20 minutes, flip them and bake for another 15-20 minutes. At this point I test them to see if they are crispy. Usually I flip again and bake for 5 more minutes and then repeat until I get the crispy texture I like. They are soooooo good. I am not exaggerating when I say your house will smell incredible after they have been in the oven for 2 minutes. Yum!!

Although it was a strange request, it was a fun dinner that definitely hit the spot.

Adoption Update

2011-02-10T09:35:00.001-05:00

We just heard from our agency that our file review is now complete and our Dear Birthmother Letter has been approved. We just submitted an order to the printer for 250 letters. 100 of the letters will go to the national agency office to go into circulation to potential birthmothers. Some will go to our agency in Atlanta in case someone local walks in to the office and wants to see some profiles. The rest we plan to send out locally to doctors, adoption attorneys, programs that work with pregnant women, etc. We will also send some to our friends that may have some connections and are willing to help us network.

Once the national agency receives our letters, our profile will go live on the agency's website and our iheartadoption site will also go live. (Our personal website is also live.) Our agency tells all potential adoptive parents that once we go live, the average time to be connected with your child is 6-18 months. At some point we will probably go all out on facebook to let our facebook friends know that we are adopting and they can help us by sharing our iheartadoption link on their profiles.

We have also printed a bunch of business cards that we have been handing out to friends and co-workers. It has our picture on it and all of our adoption contact information. The idea is that everyone just carries the card in their wallet or purse and has it in case they meet someone that is considering adoption or someone that might know someone that is considering adoption, etc. The State of Georgia does not allow adoptive parents to advertise in any type of public forum (newspapers, radio, television, bulletin boards) but does allow the exchange of information through private means (letters, cards, telephone).

That is all for now - we will continue to post updates!

Our "business" card.

Feeling Some More LOVE

2011-02-09T08:57:00.002-05:00

My friend Robin wrote a nice post about us on her blog today. I adore this woman and will always have a special spot in my heart for my kindred spirit Robin! You can check out her blog here.

Thanks Robin - we love you xoxoxo.

Super Bowl Sunday

2011-02-06T08:23:00.000-05:00

I love Aaron Rodgers. I am feeling confident.

Bring on the CHEESE!

2011-02-05T19:33:00.000-05:00

I take the Super Bowl seriously - especially when my team is playing. I am so excited! I spent the day preparing for the big game.

I made some cheesy potatoes -- this is the best recipe. Just boil some potatoes and mash them with some cream cheese, sour cream, butter, and milk and put them in a casserole dish. Then cover the top in cheese, bacon, and green onions. You can make them ahead of time which is always nice. When you need them, just pop them in the oven until everything is heated through and the cheese is melted. YUM!!

This wasn't really for the game, but Chris really wanted meatloaf for dinner so I made some. I put cheese in it just in case the football gods were watching. I also put my special sauce on the top - ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, nutmeg, and a little Worcester sauce. Mmmmmmmmm!

I got the Johnsonvilles out to thaw. Tomorrow these will be boiled in beer (Wisconsin beer - the cheaper the better) and then grilled to perfection.

I also practiced my nacho skills and found just the right cheese melting technique and cheese blend. Delish!

GO PACK GO!!!

Paperwork

2011-01-30T18:00:00.000-05:00

I just organized the crap out of our life. I thought I would start getting all of our tax information together this afternoon and totally got detoured! I realized that Chris and I have never really taken the time to come up with a good system for our paperwork as a married couple. We had a file cabinet full of manilla folders that made no real sense. Organization doesn't come to Chris naturally, but he does work really hard at it. He tends to let things pile up and then when he does go in to sort things out he gets a little carried away - I like to call it microfiling. I just went through our entire file cabinet and there were 18 files that had one piece of paper in them. There were 5 files on the dogs alone. I did a bit of file editing and used our hanging files to form some general categories (Home, Medical/Dental, Car, Student Loans, etc) which make sense to me. Hopefully, they will make sense to Chris too. I also realized that Chris doesn't like to open any mail that comes from a financial institution, has anything to do with student loans, or says IMPORTANT TAX DOCUMENTS ENCLOSED on the envelope. I totally found his stash of bank statements (all unopened) from 2004-2007 - busted!!

There is something really theraputic about shredding all of your old and outdated paperwork. My spirit was completely lifted once I hit the bottom of that pile. We are now organized and ready for 2011.

Walk the Walk

2011-01-28T18:40:00.001-05:00

My boss is a fashionista. She always looks like a million bucks. She is famous around the vet school for her shoe collection - she wears funky fun colorful high heeled shoes every single day. A whole entire blog could be dedicated to her shoes alone. Although we don't quite agree on style (I wear my Dansko clogs every day), we do share a nasty little habit - we NEVER take a lunch break. The lunch hour around our office is a crazy mess. We are bombarded by students that just have one quick question. Which as everyone knows is never true. I usually eat my lunch as I talk with students, sit in meetings, or work on my next project at my desk. My boss scolded me at our last staff meeting and told me that I have to make a better effort to get out of the office for a break. Everyday for the last two weeks I have taken my book down to the lobby and tried to read late in the afternoon when the students are back in class or lab. It is a great way to break up the afternoon, and I must admit, it is really nice to take a break! I noticed, however, that my boss wasn't listening to her own advice and continued to sit behind her computer all day long. We decided that we would try to take a walk around the long block whenever we could. I told her to bring some tennis shoes the next day and we would try to walk. She looked at me with a huge grin on her face and told me that she didn't have any tennis shoes. She was serious. We wear the same size so I told her she could borrow a pair of my shoes. She could not get over how comfortable my shoes were! She said that she was going to go out and buy a pair this weekend because she loves them so much. So, for the first time in a long, long while we BOTH took a break, enjoyed the beautiful day, and took a nice long walk.

Super Bowl Bound Baby!!

2011-01-23T20:23:00.002-05:00

The Green Bay Packers are the NFC champs and are on the way to the Super Bowl!! It was an amazing season and I am so excited for my team - yeah!

We love Aaron Rodgers!!!!

It is always fun when the big guy gets an interception and runs it in for a touchdown!

Somebody pouted the whole game. It was a rough one for Cutler.

The last time the Packers won the Super Bowl I was living in Germany. I watched the game in the middle of the night at a movie theater with a bunch of people that knew nothing about American football. All of the commentary was in German and I think I might have been the only person actually watching the game. I had a blast!

Boring Update

2011-01-20T18:47:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I feel bad because I can't think of anything to write about on the blog, but I am trying to be better about keeping up with it this year. That means that sometimes there are going to be some boring posts -- like the one you are about to read. If I were to be really honest, our blog is probably a pretty boring blog especially if you don't really like our dogs.

I finished 710 pages of George Eliot's Daniel Deronda. I really enjoyed our book club discussion this month and hope to read some more of George Eliot's work and maybe reread Silas Marner. Next month we are reading The God of Small Things. I think I have read it three times and am so excited to read it once again. I really love this book. Has anyone else read it? What did you think?

Ben's hat is coming along. Hopefully I can pull together a little care package for him over the weekend and send it off.

I got a new pair of felted wool slippers for Christmas. We hung out with Chris' aunt and uncle this weekend in Atlanta. They had belated Christmas presents waiting for us. I LOVE these little slippers - they are so warm and cute!

Chris' Uncle Marijn just bought this car (or should I say coupe utility vehicle) to help around the vineyard that he is building. We can't wait to help him plant the grapes in April!

I told you this would be boring. I'll try harder next time!!

Thank You

2011-01-20T17:51:00.031-05:00

My friend Michelle wrote a really sweet post on her blog about me and Chris and our hopes of adopting a baby today. It meant so much to us, and yes, it made me cry.

Michelle is one of my best friends and is an old roommate from Bozeman. She has been such a good friend and especially supportive over the past few years as we have tried to start a family. She wrote us an amazing letter of recommendation for our home study process and has continued to be there to offer support, help, a listening ear, a party on my facebook wall, and/or comic relief as needed. She rocks.

Thanks Michelle!!

Happy Birthday Hammy

2011-01-16T12:21:00.000-05:00

Sweet little Hammy is 5 years old today!!

That was AWESOME!!

2011-01-16T12:07:00.001-05:00

Wow! The Packers beat the Atlanta Falcons 48-21 last night in the divisional playoffs. I felt pretty confident that we could win, but I was not expecting a blowout!! Aaron Rodgers (#12) was on fire last night. He completed 31 of 36 passes and threw for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Oh yeah, he also ran one in for a touchdown. Tramon Williams (#38) had two amazingly wonderful interceptions - one in the end zone and one that he ran in for a touchdown on the last play of the first half. What a treat to watch - it was just one of those games that you will never forget.

I like to think that I have helped the Packers this season by following a few simple rules:

I always wear my Green Bay Packers t-shirt with a green shirt underneath it.
I always wear green socks.
I always insist that my husband wears green and/or gold on game day.
The dogs wear their green collars on game day.
The opposing team's colors are just not allowed ANYWHERE on game day. (This week it meant no ketchup!!)
I always eat brats when the Packers play (yesterday we even kept the color palate green and gold!)

THANK YOU PACKERS FOR AN AWESOME GAME!!!

Feeling the love from The Daily B!

2011-01-12T11:45:00.001-05:00

Our good friend Gina wrote up a sweet little post about our efforts to adopt. It made both of us cry. Gina was a co-worker of Chris' when we lived in Boulder. I still remember how excited I was when she was interviewing with the magazine. I went out to dinner with them all during the process and felt like we instantly clicked. My first impression was so right - I love this woman and we became friends on day one. You can read her post here.

Thanks so much Gina! We love you xoxox

Beano must be reading the blog again...

2011-01-12T11:35:00.000-05:00

Realizing that her hiding spot had been compromised, Beano finds a new spot behind the curtains.

The Hiding Spot

2011-01-11T17:27:00.000-05:00

Beano loves to hide things - balls, stuffed animals, treats, etc. It is a common sight around our house to see her walking with a ball in her mouth looking for just the right spot. Many times as I crawl into bed, I am greeted by a chewed up stuffed animal skin under the covers or a little dog bone under my pillow. Once, I found a shriveled up carrot between the cushions of the couch (she also loves carrots as a treat). Today, I spotted her latest hiding spot. What a cute little dog!

First Snow of 2011

2011-01-10T19:34:00.000-05:00

Well, the storm finally hit Athens and dumped 8 inches of the white stuff on us. Chris and I both got to enjoy a snow day! Being from Montana and all we don't really believe in snow days but we laughed at all of the crazy news coverage of the WINTER STORM WARNING. It is very dramatic and hilarious. We got out and enjoyed this rare treat! UGA has already canceled classes again tomorrow so I have another day off from work. Yippeeeee!

Did you say soccer? The dogs found their balls of choice immediately.

Hammy performs his snow dance.

My little snow angel

The Bean takes it all in

A little romping around

Sophisticasual snowball making

Warming up by fire and sharing some kisses

Lazy day - the calm before the storm?

2011-01-08T18:52:00.000-05:00

OMG! the State of Georgia is freaking out right now! Why? Because there is a possibility that it might snow Sunday night. OMG!!! It is the only thing that has been on the news all week. They are predicting anything from flurries to 10 inches. The last time we had a "big" snow storm (3 inches) it knocked out our power for 3 days. We are just a bunch of wimps down here. Being avid campers, we were very prepared and basically camped out in our living room by the fire in our -85 degree down sleeping bags. Just to be safe and to practice a bit, I made a fire today.We are all set for the snow!

I also read a little bit more of my 710 page book for my book club on Tuesday. I'm over half way finished!

When I was in Portland, I managed to loose one of my favorite hats and to loose my friend Ben's hat that I borrowed after loosing mine. I am in the process of knitting him a new one. I hope he likes it. He also will get a nice little care package for being such a good friend to me during my stay. I was a wreck and he took very good care of me - picking me up at the airport, giving me a place to stay, feeding me, giving me his car, giving me lots of hugs and support, orienting me to Portland so I could be of some use when my friends arrived, and pointing out the bakery that sold bacon muffins so I could forever earn my place in the Tokarski family's heart.

The dogs spent the day sun bathing in the backyard.

I am 99% sure that I won't have to go to work on Monday and possibly Tuesday because of the snow and ice that is coming. I wish I could celebrate and be happy, but I am the person that has to reschedule any classes that our students miss and it is a royal pain. Ugh! I'll try not to think about it until I have to return to work.

How cute is my grandma?

2011-01-06T07:24:00.017-05:00

My grandma is 95 years old. I know she loves me and Chris and looks forward to our visits. However, what she really wants is to see the dogs. She is smitten with Hammy and vice versa (she loves Beano too). In fact, Hammy loves her so much that he even sat on her lap in her wheelchair. An impressive feat for a neurotic little dog that is terrified of most things that make noise and move. Beano jumped right up, of course!

All of this excitement over some German gingerbread cookies!

The dogs also ventured to the nursing home where my grandma is living. Hammy is completely freaking out - the nursing floor has tile floors (the horror!) and it is filled with moving wheelchairs, and machines that beep. He panted and looked pathetic the whole time. Beano LOVES the nursing home. She stuck her head into every room, greeted every person she saw, and jumped right up into Grandma's bed. Grandma was thrilled to see them and to have furry visitors!!

New Tool

2011-01-05T13:58:00.009-05:00

My folks sent us this sweet high-tech propane grill for Christmas. In addition to propane grilling it uses infrared heat somehow to superheat the grill for searing meat and veggies. My Dad said he did his research and this grill is the bomb, except for just one complaint - that it's a real pain in the ass to assemble. Well...

8:55pm (Char-Broil's estimated assembly time: 30 minutes.)

10:50pm

Alright now, let's grill some MEAT!

Home Study Approved!

2011-01-04T20:02:00.003-05:00

We just heard from our agency that our home study has been approved. Yeah! We are in the process of getting a print proof of our DBL (Dear Birthmother Letter). The proof along with our home study and our file will be reviewed by the agency before we get the final go ahead.

There are two levels of approval working here. Now that our home study is approved we are actually legit and if we connected with a baby today we could actually legally adopt. Wow! The other level is getting officially set up with the agency. Once we get the final approval from the agency, our DBL will go into circulation to potential birthmothers, we will be listed as a potential family on their website, etc.

We have also been working more on our website and our iheartadoption page. They will be listed on the agency's website eventually. Please let us know if you see any typos or if the colors don't work etc. We have been looking at these pages for so long, we aren't very objective anymore. Also, if you are a facebook user you can "like" our iheartadoption page when you view it.

We are getting closer....

Go Pack Go!

2011-01-03T09:11:00.004-05:00

In case you didn't hear the news -- the Packers made the playoffs!!!

The Present Police

2011-01-03T08:43:00.000-05:00

Christmas is definitely the dogs' favorite holiday. As the family opens their gifts, Beano and Hammy have to inspect each one. Beano has also been known to open a few by herself. It always makes us laugh.

We also get a gift each year that is geared toward dog hair. This year we got a little velcro ball that you put in the dryer that will catch all the dog hair and a must have sticky roller. I think my mom may be trying to tell us something. Having tri-color dogs is awesome because no matter what you wear, their hair shows up on it.

Weather vs. The thing living under the house - Round Three

2011-01-02T13:30:00.003-05:00

Okay, this is really starting to get annoying. We returned from a week in Florida to find that the trap was once again empty with the trap door closed and half of the kitty food gone! How is this critter doing it? My friend Sally offered up some advice so we are trying it out. We added a piece of foam core over the spring plate to add a bit of leverage. We are also upgrading the bait food from cat food to herring. On a positive note, wiring the little box holding the bait to the cage did seem to work - the can remained in the back of the trap - perhaps the added foam core will do just the trick. The critter will have to put its weight on the spring plate to get the food - none of this stepping over the spring plate stuff anymore! Stay tuned....

Follow Me

2011-01-02T12:08:00.003-05:00

As John Denver would say, follow me where I go what I do who I know. I added a little follow gadget to our left navigation bar. You can click the FOLLOW button and become one of our followers. If you use google reader this is an easy way to follow all of your favorite blogs. It is also a way to show that you love us ( ahem Martha). From the follow button you sign in with your gmail, twitter, aim, or yahoo account and you are good to go. You can also start a google account. Does anyone else love google reader? It is one of my weekend indulgences. Another plus, once you have an account you can leave us comments- something that all bloggers love.

More Henry Love

2011-01-01T10:10:00.003-05:00

I cannot get enough of this kid. I wish I could give him a big hug.

happy new year aunt weather! just doin some art!

Mmmmmmmmm Sushi!

2010-12-30T15:05:00.004-05:00

We love sushi!

Let's Bowl!

2010-12-29T15:10:00.001-05:00

Some of you may not know this, but I am actually a decent bowler. When I was little I was in a bowling league with my friends. We would bowl every Saturday morning at Tri City Lanes under the tutelage of our crazy (and usually drunk) bowling coach named Vern. He always told us to shake hands with the head pin (or keep your arm nice and straight as you release the ball). These are words to live by on the bowling alley - they have served me well over the years.

The fearsome foursome.

Since the beginning of time, my dad has had a comb over. He finally cut it all off the other day!! I hardly recognized him without his little wispy pieces flying in the air. He looks great and his new shiny head kind of reminds me of something......

Lambeau Leap Baby!!

2010-12-26T14:31:00.000-05:00

I can't quite describe how much I loved watching the Packers trounce the Giants. I have been watching the highlights over and over and over on Sports Center and it never gets old - it is also fun to antagonize my dad who just so happens to be a Vikings fan. Go Pack Go!!!!!

I heart Aaron Rodgers

Road Trip!

2010-12-25T12:30:00.000-05:00

We didn't have big plans for Christmas this year. Chris was scheduled to work Christmas Eve and Christmas evening. The hospital was very slow so he was called off on Christmas. We decided to spend Christmas driving down to Florida to visit my family. We rented a car and started packing. Beano has a sixth sense when it comes to traveling. She immediately hopped in the van and stayed there the entire time we packed. She is no dummy and knows what it takes not to be left behind.

Chris was coming off the night shift so he unrolled his sleeping bag and slept the entire ride! Beano was happy to snuggle up with him and sleep the entire trip as well.

Hammy hates long trips in the car. We have to drug him up just so he doesn't shake and pant the whole time. Poor little guy. Despite all the drugs, he refuses to sleep. He will lie down in the car but he won't sleep. Usually we crate him during the drive, but we let him ride freely since Chris was sleeping in the back. He just stared up at me in the rearview mirror the whole trip.

I cranked up the satellite radio and sang loudly to the 80s station. We were there in no time.

Next Steps

2010-12-23T21:25:00.006-05:00

By now some of you have received our Christmas card and have heard that we have started the process to adopt a child. We are very excited! Before we can be out there completely, we have to have our home study officially approved and our file reviewed by our agency. This will not happen until early next year, so we have a little more waiting to do. As we wait, we are making the last few edits on our "Dear Birthmother Letter" or DBL. This is a 4 page brochure about us that will eventually be shared with potential birthmothers. We are also in the process of setting up two websites, our own adoption website and an iheartadoption page which is linked directly to our agency's website - again the hope is that potential birthmothers will see our pages and want to get to know us a little better. Although the sites are up and running, they aren't really finished yet. Maybe you can look them over, catch any typos, and tell us if we look stupid in any of the pictures?? We are open to any feedback.

Once we are legit and ready to roll we will let everyone know!

Happy Holidays!

Henry

2010-12-20T09:28:00.002-05:00

Just when I was thinking about little Henry, look what popped up in my phone. I wish I could squeeze this little bundle of cuteness everyday. Love you Henry.

Merry christmas aunt weather!

Not for the Slight of Stomach

2010-12-19T09:44:00.010-05:00

About ten minutes after coming home from work Wednesday evening, I knew something wasn't right. My stomach was doing weird things that I hadn't felt in many years. I have always prided myself in the fact that I just don't puke. I could probably recount every time in my life that I have puked because there are so few incidents. I've known lots of people in my life that seem to puke at the first hint of an illness: Aaron V. puked more in the halls of Elmwood Elementary than anyone I know, Matt C. called me many many times to report that he had just puked, my cousins always puked when they were little, I had a student back in the day that puked about 12 times in my classroom (the janitor finally just left packages of that gross sawdust puke cover up stuff in my classroom closet), and I also know two cats named Brie and Trace that puke on a daily basis. All of it was just kind of foreign to me because I don't get sick like that. Well, at least I didn't until a few days ago. It started with a churning stomach and abdominal cramps. I woke up at some point in the night feeling sweaty and miserable and then it happened - my mouth started to salivate in that way that could only mean one thing.

Now, normally I wouldn't really talk about puke on my blog, but I recently had a crazy bonding moment with my best friends that involved a lot of puke. Dealing with my own puke over the past few days has allowed me to reflect on my friends and their awesomeness (I have talked about them here in an earlier post). I have always known that I love these women immensely, but I was once again reminded how truly deep our friendship runs. We were recently all together which is a rare occurance considering our hometowns span across the country, and unfortunatley, it was for the worst situation any of us could have imagined. For circumstances that are much too complicated to explain, we found ourselves caring for two nameless cats during our time together. We quickly decided to name them Brie and Trace after our friends Brie and Trace that were the last of our friends to arrive. The first morning we woke up to 5 piles of cat puke around the house. At first, we thought that it was because we had left a bag of Doritos open the night before and were fairly certain that the cats had gotten into them. However, we soon realized that these cats just puke a lot and I mean A LOT! For the remainder of our stay, we took turns cleaning up the cat puke. A few nights later, Kirstin's son Henry got a stomach bug and started puking. I wish you could have seen the way my group of friends jumped into action. Within minutes we were drawing a bath for Henry, sopping up vomit, scrubbing sheets, finding towels, wetting washcloths, feeling for fevers, washing laundry, finding clean jammies, and anything else we could think of to help. Kirstin bathed Henry and sat down in bed holding him in her arms, comforting him, and rocking him back to sleep.

And there we gathered in a dimly lit room that, well, smelled like puke. We sang to Henry about toothbrushes (one of his favorite things) and even made up a fun song about words that we spell not tell. As Henry drifted into sleep, we sat and talked about things we had never needed to discuss until now - unthinkable and unbearably painful things. We were definitely on unchartered ground. We cried, we talked, we held hands, we squeezed, we listened, we supported, we worried, we encouraged, and we laughed. I just remember thinking how grateful and lucky I was to have these friends. I have had many friends and roommates in my life and this group could have very easily drifted apart like so many others. For whatever reason we never did. Now I know that we needed to be together and close for our friend in that puke filled room. We all needed friendship that was strong and deep at that moment. It was an incredibly emotional reminder that they would be there - no matter what, and a renewal of my committment to them that I would also be there for them - no matter what. I know that our friend, that needed us in that moment, felt comforted just by our presence and I am so grateful that we were all in that room together.

So, here I sit recovering from the stomach bug thinking about my friends and missing them tremendously. I'm not being crass or insensitive, I swear. If you knew my friends, you would know that they will like that I thought of them as I was puking -- really, they will. I hope that they will also like that I managed to write a touching post about puke and the powers of our friendship. They are the best friends in the world and I hope they all know how grateful I am for each and everyone of them.

Weather vs. The thing living under the house - Round Two

2010-12-18T09:40:00.000-05:00

Let's just say I'm 0-2.

Weather vs. The thing living under the house - Round One

2010-12-07T17:59:00.004-05:00

I knew something was amiss. My first clue was when the dogs started spending hours at night running from heating vent to heating vent sniffing and barking. That can't be good. When I put my ear up to the vent, I could definitely hear some rustling coming from under the house. The next morning Beano and I thoroughly investigated all entry points into the crawl space. Nothing seemed out of place and Beano didn't pick up any scents until.......

My second clue that something was wrong was when I opened the door to our crawl space and found fresh poop. Ewwwww! Beano definitely reacted to something and started pulling on her leash. I dragged her away and hit the computer for some intense googling, I decided that it was either an opposum or a racoon.

Luckily, my friend had recently borrowed this trap from work to try and catch an armadillo in her yard. She didn't have much luck and was happy to hand it over.

I set the trap and used a little Fancy Feast as bait. I checked the trap the next morning at it looked like this - nada.

I checked the trap the next day and it looked like this. In case you can't tell, the door is closed and the can of Fancy Feast is bone dry, and there isn't an animal inside - doh! That little bugger owes me $0.65!

I'll try again. This time I jerry-rigged a box that could be secured with a wire to the back of the trap. This way, the animal would have to go all the way to the back of the trap (hopefully springing the lever that closes the door.

I put the yummy Salmon in gravy flavored kitty food in the box.

Then, I fastened it to the very back of the trap.

Beano sat and guarded the bait until I was ready to take the trap back outside. Hopefully, round two will go a little bit better. I'm still not sure if I trapped something and it got out or if the door shut while it was exiting the trap?? Stay tuned ......

The Uniform

2010-12-06T17:50:00.002-05:00

I thought y'all would like to see a picture of Chris' clinical rotation uniform. Now if that doesn't say hot, I'm not sure what does.

The Chore

2010-12-05T20:28:00.007-05:00

When we finally decided that we were moving to Athens, one of the things that I knew I would never miss about Montana was shoveling snow. I hated shoveling my car out in the mornings before work, I hated shoveling our walk, and I hated shoveling our neighbor's walk and driveway (she was elderly). I was so happy to put shoveling behind us for a bit. Well, there is something just as miserable to do in warmer climates: raking. Although we love our wooded lot, we really wonder what we were thinking each fall when the leaves start falling.

Here we have our driveway, the front yard, and the backyard. I have a feeling that I have a few blisters in my future.

Thanksgiving in the Villages

2010-11-29T20:21:00.009-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I just spent some time visiting my folks in the Villages. It is an active retirement community (think summer camp for old people) with all sorts of fun things going on. My brother and Cathy also made the trip down.

Beano and Hammy love riding around in the golf cart with grandpa.

Pickleball is always a fun way to enjoy the sunshine and to get a little exercise. It is a combination of tennis and ping pong but played with a wiffle ball.

We hit the local bowling alley for a few games of bowling. We knew we were getting old when everyone was a little sore the next day. We weren't sure if it was the Pickleball of the bowling or a combination of both.

We also spent a day outside of Tampa at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. We enjoyed a boat ride through some of the canals of Florida and didn't see any alligator. We did learn a lot about the Manatee -- unfortunately I didn't get any pictures.

Thanks mom and dad for another fun visit! Chris was home working at the hospital and had turkey dinner with his aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends in Atlanta. He will be along for our next visit later in December.

Woah - the blog got a little wonky on this post!! Chris and I are in design wars over the blog and are enjoying switching the look when the other one has kind of forgotten about it.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-28T15:03:00.002-04:00

My co-workers and I dressed up as our favorite family from Awkward Family Photos for Halloween this year. Our favorite is the Stack of Denimoes. I know we don't have the ocean view behind us, but I think we came close. We also came up with some other amazing poses.

We have a very strict NO JEANS policy in our office, but our boss was a good sport about it. We surprised her so she couldn't ruin our sneaky plan. We posted all of our photos on our office door for the students to enjoy before their fall break tomorrow.

AAAAHHHHH CHOOOOO

2010-09-22T15:55:00.002-04:00

I am at home sick today, but surrounded by the best care team a girl could ask for.

Ellijay River Vineyards (Part 1)

2010-09-16T15:25:00.062-04:00

My uncle Marijn (above left, and at right) recently bought some land near Ellijay, Georgia and is priming it to be a vineyard (and eventually a winery!), with his first planting set for next spring. I went up there with him and my other uncle, Big Chris (above right), yesterday for my first visit to the beautiful 20 acre plot bordered by a bend of the Ellijay River (1200 feet worth!). It's a gorgeous spot, with a big sunny, wide-open flat, wrapped on two sides by the tree-lined Ellijay. Marijn says it's about a twenty minute tube float from one corner of the property to the other (I couldn't do any fact-checking yesterday because the river was too low!). At the back of the river-rimmed prairie, Marijn's land steps up to a partially wooded plateau, where the barn is currently being built. We spent the morning exploring the land and the river, and imagining the future of Ellijay River Vineyards.

After lunch we hopped across the street for 18 holes at the Whitepath Golf Club. What a sweet little course! We were practically the only ones out there (on a Wednesday afternoon, granted), and the Georgia mountains made for some really steep, dramatic tee-offs - and for some pretty bad golf by me. Marijn and Big Chris shot well enough though, I suppose. After golf we headed deeper into the country to check out a used John Deere that Marijn's thinking about buying. Here are some pictures from our Men's Day Out...

The view from one corner of the property (the river's to the right, the plateau's to the left).

This will be the foundation for the barn soon.

Big Chris, seen from the riverbed.

Big Chris tees off.

Marijn's approach shot.

Marijn takes her for a test drive.

The guy selling the tractor had these two nutty Blue Heelers. They loved the tractor!

Cute Picture...

2010-09-10T12:06:00.004-04:00

...of Hammy.