Amanda's Birthday and News of News

So, last Wednesday I’m going to Wal-Mart. I’m driving down this street:

And I blink. And suddenly, it looks like this:

Pretty intense, huh? Shocking?

Okay, so I might be stretching the truth a little bit. Or, a lot. In fact, those pictures aren’t of the same road. Or even pictures from this state. They came from here (www.ayearinthepark.com, www.bangla2000.com). But that pretty accurately sums up the feeling Steve and I got around here. One day, everything was just green. It’s really kind of neat because we were told by everyone around here that nothing would green up until May but really, by early April, everything was green. The best way I can describe it is by saying that what you see starting to come out in Wisconsin in April starts to come out here in March. All the plants and trees and stuff bloom about two months earlier (and last longer). It’s definitely been one of the nicest things about being down here…although I do believe we could have enjoyed this even more if we’d had a yard to enjoy it in. I digress…

In other news, my mom and dad came to visit for my birthday (Thanks Mom and Dad) and we had fun on a trip to Williamsburg. Williamsburg is a neat little town, with a walking street full of “olde tyme” shops and restaurants and a bunch of old governmental buildings that you can see.

You can pay to go in but we had fun just enjoying walking around in the 82 degrees and sunshine. Here’s a pic of me and my mom that day:

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a great pic with my dad. However, Steve snapped one of us looking at my scabs on my knees (from the aforementioned fall) and I got one of him doing the “gorilla” in some bamboo (how appropriate).

And, of course, we saw some old buildings:

Wait, what’s that last one. ;) Anyway, we also bought some candy. Really, we were getting a gift for our friends Jessica, Dave and Sherry who watched Reggie for us while we were away but we also bought some for us. I got a chocolate covered s’more and, let me tell you, it was heavenly. I will definitely make a point of getting another the next time I am there although this time I will eat the treat in 4 sittings instead of one. It is quite a bit of candy.

I also got a multitude of gifts from my dear family. Some candy from my sister that came with an hilarious card that, if I knew how to do video, I would have made a video of. It was one of those musical cards but it was about chocolate. Ah, I can’t describe the hilarity. And my mom and pop got me a book and some shirts and BANANAGRAMS (It’s bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S). Steve and I have taken to trying to use the letters to make all long words (over 8 letters). We have not yet succeeded. And Steve got me an aluminum water bottle, some socks, the first Harry Potter book (which I didn’t have – I KNOW – because I had loaned it out in high school and never gotten it back), and my favorite gift of all….Cornelius R. Plant.

He’s so handsome! And, NASA says he’s good at keeping your air clean so, yay Cornelius.

The whole weekend was a hoot. I love having visitors and entertaining and I’m getting revved up for Steve’s parents to come out in May.

Steve and I also spent a recent weekend in Washington DC visiting my dear friends Jane and James and Lucy who are moving there in due time. I will be very excited to have someone so dear to my heart so close to my person when Jane-O moves there! Can’t wait! But, more on that trip in it’s own post.

We also practiced ourselves some hardcore natural family planning yesterday by way of babysitting for 12, yes 12, children under the age of 7. You heard me.

Steve’s co-worker, who’s lawn we mow, got us a gig babysitting some kiddos during her Family Resource Group meeting. That’s a meeting for spouses of military people to get together for friendship and discussion and support. Our job was to keep their kids busy in another room while the moms talked. And Steve, being the novice that he is, mistakenly brought out play-doh which ended up all over the floor and all mixed together. But, it was his first time and I can forgive him. At least we didn’t have to change any diapers.

In job hunting news, I had two interview this week (both went well but both were part-time or limited term positions) and I have two next week (both for full-time, benefited positions without a set end date so if you pray, PLEASE pray for me. I will be so, so, so excited to have a job!

In apartment news, our fire alarm went off today and as Reggie absolutely did not like the noise of the alarm, we went outside. And a good thing too because not only did the alarm scare Reggie, it scared the poo out of him…twice. And, two fire trucks showed up in response to the alarm so we know it was a legitimate call. I think that is the first time I’ve actually had to leave my apartment in response to a fire alarm. All in all, an interesting and eye-opening experience. What did I take with me when I left my apartment? My keys, my dog, and a poop bag. At least I’ve got my priorities straight.

Finally, we’re not gearing up for much this weekend. It’s a beautiful day right now so I might try to get Steve to go for another bike ride. Oh, and I also have another post already written so it will be an even shorter wait this time. Until then, here is the customary picture of Reggie being absolutely adorable.

And before I go, I might say that he has been extra cute lately because he likes to sit on the porch so I often leave the door open for him to come in and go out as he pleases. But, occasionally, a bug will get in the door and Reggie will chase it and bite at it and hunt it down until it flies back out. What a good watch dog!

TTFN…Ta ta for now,

Amanda

Reggie's Birthday

Oh my!  Has it really been almost 5 weeks since I wrote on the blog last.  And here I had wild delusions of posting every other day!  Not enough happens!  But, nevertheless, let me apologize for staying away so long.  I’ve been busy having visitors, getting older, and entering into long, drawn out discussions about my job prospects with my husband…discussions which I do not intend to reiterate here but, suffice it to say, going back to school to get a degree in a career field is becoming an ever more appealing option.  I digress. 

Second, let me say many gracious thanks to all those who called, sent cards, and sent gifts for my and Reggie’s birthday.  We both had truly excellent birthdays and I will tell you about Reggie’s today and my own in the next post.  They were both quite enjoyable.

Third, let me catch up on some happenings since the last time I wrote.  You may recall that in my last post I mentioned battle wounds.  Oh yes.  Here’s the story:

One of the reasons Steve and I wanted to move south was for better weather.  (Whether or not we actually have better weather is yet to be determined as we do get an awful lot of rain but it can definitely be said that we have warmer weather.)  And, one of the biggest perks of better weather is that we can take Reggie out for runs longer into the year.  This is a perk because, when Reggie does not run, he does this:

 But when he does run, he does this:

So, out on one of these runs in the warmer weather, I tripped on some uneven cement and, though I put my hands out in front of me, my fall was not exactly cushioned.  I not only scraped both knees and my shoulder (in an attempt to tuck and roll) so that both were bloodied through no less than three layers of fabric, but I banged my forehead onto the cement and was left with a decent sized bump and bruise.  I’d like to enter into evidence items A, B, and C:

All in all, it wasn’t really that bad.  The bump was about the size of a nickel and about as tall as a mini marshmallow and, though my knees hurt for a good week whenever something touched them, they got better and only left discolored marks where the scabs where.  The bruise, however, lasted a good week and a half after the accident and made Steve paranoid that anytime we went out in public, people around us were whispering about abuse.  But, it’s no matter.  All of the evidence is now gone and/or has paled and no one is the wiser.

We also had a little incident, though I have no pictures of this one, with our boy.  One rainy Monday, Steve and I decided to stay in and do a youtube Tai Bo workout instead of a run.  Reggie got very excited during out workout and ended up jumping over the back of the futon.  Imagine a standing leap from the floor over the back of the futon and, most unfortunately, then a slide off into the coffee table.  He hit is eye (or thereabouts) and two days later it was swollen and red and leaking some sort of greenish-yellow pus.  We took him to the vet who dyed his eye green, took a picture of it, and sent me home with antibiotics as he had a scratch on his cornea.  But, the nice part was that they gave us a free follow up visit a few days later to make sure he was healing well.

Finally, we celebrated Reggie’s birthday.  What was supposed to be a cold and stormy Saturday turned out to be mildly rainy and rather warm.  So, we began our day with a run in the neighborhood and, since it was so nice out, we followed it with a walk to look at all the budding trees and flowers.  Next, we went to the pet store to pick out a toy which we subsequently took home and wrapped.  Then, we had a birthday treat...a large milkbone covered entirely in peanut butter.  We tried to stick a candle in there but it wouldn’t stay upright so we were unable to light one but we did sing, “Happy Birthday”.  Sadly, we didn’t really have anyone to celebrate with…if I had been at home, I’d have undoubtedly thrown a huge party but maybe on our next visit we can have an honorary ice cream cake.  Anyway, here are a few pictures from our boy’s birthday:

 

And, last but not least, with our new, nicer weathered home, we have been trying to spend a decent amount of time at the beach.  Here’s a few pictures of us all at the beach a while back.  Reggie was digging up dead crabs.  I have a movie of that adventure on my phone but I have yet to learn how to upload from my phone to the internet.  Hopefully I’ll have it up soon…ish.

 

Again, sorry it’s been so long.  The next post shouldn’t take so long.

Cheers,

Amanda