the little engine that could

this morning, on the way to work (i have a new job... another story for another post), the double arms at a railroad crossing came down to let a single engine cross the road. while my first instinct was to be annoyed, i quickly became enraptured as i watched the engineer lean out the window and slowly guide the engine to the other side of the road. it was as if i had been transported back to my childhood. after the engine had passed and i was speeding down the road again, i reflected that i watched my husband and his buddies in the military with the same sense of awe with which i had just watched the engineer. why? because my parents had instilled those feelings in me as a child: people in the military and people like the train engineer were my heroes. and then i wondered, do kids today feel the same way? do parents still read stories and show them pictures that put these professions on pedestals? what about people today who hate the military? what caused their hate? the media? was it a bad experience? a family member or mentor's influence? is there something that would change their opinion? there are extremely bright and brave men and women fighting, and sometimes dying, in a war right now so we americans can continue to live our comfortable and safe lives. these men and women in uniform deserve our respect and gratitude, whether we agree with why we are at war or not. if you see a military hero this week, please do something to show them that you care... say thank you, buy them a cafe latte or a beer, or even a smile will do.

learning my lesson

ask any of my friends and they'll tell you that i'm late for just about everything.
last week, i am ashamed to admit that my tendency to be late even embarrassed my hubby. you see, there was a pretty important, formal ceremony on base that i decided to go watch. on my way there (i was still about 20 minutes away from base, and about 22 minutes out from the ceremony), my hubby called to see if i was just about there. um, no. he said that most of the other guests were already there and seated. i tried to drive a little faster, but there was too much traffic and i began to get a little panicked. i even prayed that God would have a good parking space waiting for me so i could run into the ceremony on time. i found a good parking space, but silly me, when planning my very tight schedule, i didn't account for the time to walk from the car to the building. at this point, i thought about how ridiculous it was that i was cutting it so close and even considered getting back in the car and going home.
just outside the building, there was a group of guys in their dress uniforms waiting for people like me. 3 of them escorted me inside, but it was too late. the ceremony had already started and everyone was standing at attention while they brought in the flags. once everyone sat down (there were a couple hundred people in the audience), one of the guys escorted me to a seat... only, he walked past the guest section and put me right smack dab in the middle of the guys and gals in their dress uniforms. what was he thinking? i totally stood out like a sore thumb in my red dress... and felt like an idiot. i tried to sink into my chair and hide, but it was a no go. the guy sitting next to me had the people in front of him tap my hubby on the shoulder, who then turned around and saw me sitting there and then my sweet guy got out of his chair and came and sat next to me. i apologized and he told me that it was okay, but i still felt horrible.
so now, i'm really making an effort to be early - not just on time - for things. i have to be realistic about how long it takes to get ready and to travel places and even how long it takes to walk from the car to wherever i'm going. once upon a time, i was fanatical about being early for everything, i even timed myself and to see how long it took to get everywhere. i've decided that it's time to get back to being a nerd about being early.

doggy days

it's been a rough couple of days for our house. you see, bozeman somehow swallowed a little piece of wood and on it's way back out of his stomach, it scratched his throat. this caused him to cough like an ex-smoker, because he thought something was still in his throat and he was diligently trying to get it out. after a couple of days of this, i took him to the vet and yep, his throat was scratched and had a little bit of an infection. after a shot of anti-inflammatory and some antibiotic pills, he was good to go. on our way home from the vet, i decided that bozeman needed a bath. only, i didn't want to dirty up our guest bathroom, nor did i want to have tons of towels to launder after washing and drying him. luckily, there is a place near us that lets you use their facilities to wash and dry your dog for a small fee. bozeman loved his bath and especially the hair dryer at this place, because it blows out freezing cold air instead of hot air like my hair dryer does. i now had a fresh, medicated dog on my hands who was badly in need of a nap. while he napped, i was very productive around the house and even planned a cool dinner with our leftover chicken: fried rice (the hubby helped cook it and it was SO good. i am definitely going to make this dish again!).
okay, fast forward to after the dog finished napping and needed to go outside again. we went for what was supposed to be a short walk, but ran into one of our friends and her labrador and we ended up walking with them for awhile. on the way back home from our walk, bozeman was hot and tired and decided to lay down in some tall grass beside this gravel road. i encouraged him to get up, and when he did, he kept sitting back down to bite at his tail. i finally went back to investigate why he was biting so much and, i kid you not, his entire rear end and back legs were COVERED with fire ants. i started swatting at them with my hands and trying to get them out of his fur, but they were stuck and biting my hands. thankfully, there was a pond up ahead and so bozeman and i ran for it as fast as we could and i had him jump in and swim around for a little while. that killed most of the fire ants, but once we got home, my hubby and i had to bathe him and then pick out all of the dead ants from bozeman's fur since they stick so well to his long, golden locks.
now... i need to stop procrastinating and go for a run, then clean our bathrooms and start working on the chocolate cake that i'm making with the pioneer woman's recipe. we are having one of my hubby's college buddies over for dinner tonight and i'm going to make one of our favorite dishes: sockeye salmon.

scaring the hubby

sometimes, i like to catch my husband off guard. okay, i like to do it a lot of times. he's such a tough guy and it takes a lot to make him flinch. luckily, i think i have him figured out pretty well and know just what to say to get his goat. the most common scare tactic is to talk about how we are going to one day have 12 children. i especially like to say this one in front of other people. when one of my hubby's family members recently asked how many children we wanted, i answered, "twelve," without skipping a beat. i then immediately turned and looked at my husband's face before busting out laughing. see, i know that there is NO way that i can possibly go through 12 pregnancies or labor & deliveries, and even though i love children, there is no way that i could control 12 kids at once. i just love to tease my hubby. and boy does the thought of having 12 kids scare him. yesterday afternoon, i went to a baby shower for a close friend of mine. when i came home, the hubby asked how it went. i spared him most of the details, but then i grabbed him by the shoulders so that he had to look straight into my eyes and i told him that i wanted to have children right now (again, i was only kidding... we have both agreed to wait a couple of years before going down that road) and he quickly tried to run away from me. he's so adorable. oh, and sometimes i like to tease him by asking him to pick up some girly items from the store (something i would never seriously ask him to do unless i was absolutely desperate).

hardware and a quick dog story

several months ago, while my husband was deployed and i was working, our dog got bored and ate a hole in the wall. i tried to patch it once, but the dog ate right back through the plaster and ripped some more paper off of the wallboard. he is over that stage in his life now and knows that if he wants to continue to live, he will not eat any more wall, but the evidence is still right there in our entry way. yesterday, i told my hubby that i was going to the hardware store to get the supplies to fix the hole. he informed me that he would really like to be the one to fix the hole, but that i could get the supplies. that sounded good to me.
yesterday also happened to be the day that i had promised to bring lunch for my hubby's department at work. i decided to wear a dress to look cute for my handsome man, but while dressing myself, i failed to think about the fact that i was planning on going to the hardware store after lunch. oh well! anyhow, so i got to the hardware store and as i was perusing the many types of spackle and patching supplies, i decided that i needed advice on which product was best. an older male employee rounded the corner and i asked if he could tell me which was best. he advised me and then as he was walking off, he turned back around and said something about how he doesn't usually compliment female customers. huh? i thought he was about to compliment me on my bravery and confidence in coming into the store to get the supplies and repair some giant hole in my home all by myself (i never told him that my hubby was actually the one who was doing the fixing), so i probed and asked what he meant. seriously, i was getting puffed up, waiting to hear how cool it is that a woman wasn't afraid to do some hard work around the house, but i was disappointed when he went into this spiel about how he lived in new york before and has seen some beautiful women and that i was beautiful, blah blah blah. my bubble was burst. he was just another dirty old man. oh well.
oh, and a semi-funny story that i forgot to tell the other day. our dog, bozeman, has several doggy friends around the neighborhood. one of his friends just got a new puppy-sister this week and she is so adorable! bozeman was laying in the grass, letting her climb all over him, when her brother (and bozeman's buddy) came over to bozeman, lifted his leg and peed all over bozeman's chest! i couldn't believe what i was seeing, and almost wanted to laugh, because bozeman had the biggest smile all over his face like his friend had just given him the coolest gift. well, guess what? i gave bozeman the gift of the bath as quickly as i possibly could. ick.
guess what else? today, i turn 27 years old! yikes!

i almost forgot!

i almost forgot to tell you guys what my amazing husband gave me for my anniversary present! first, he gave me this beautiful necklace with a single saltwater pearl on it and then he gave me a set of pearl earrings to match. they are totally my style, too. i was so excited and am having fun showing them off to everyone.

here's a side view that kind of shows the jewelry:

let's pack up and move to california

the hubby and i just (just meaning friday evening) got back from a long vacation... and we need another already =) we drove out to visit my parents for a day and to leave the dog with them while we headed out to california to visit the in-laws and to celebrate our 1st anniversary as a married couple. i've been out to cali several times with my hubby, but this time, i just really loved it and told him that i would mind living there one day (my mom would kill me if she knew i said that). i mean, who wouldn't love to live there? the weather was beautiful and sunny without a hint of humidity. when we went to the monterey/carmel area for our anniversary, the temperature was in the 60's and i went for two of the most amazing runs along the coast on this great biking/walking trail that they have there. we stayed at this great place called the seven gables inn with an amazing view of the ocean right from our room. it would rock to live on the coast like that!

here are some pictures of our great trip!

windmills

the running trail

point lobos near big sur


the hubby playing with our dog, bozeman