Ninja Morning Dog
Duke, has turned into, what I affectionately call, Ninja morning dog. At first it started out as just morning dog but recently he has stepped up his game and we added Ninja to his new title. Duke is definitely a morning dog as soon as the sun is out, or as soon as he has deemed it morning Ninja morning dog is up and pacing around the bed waiting for the first signs of life. As soon as you toss, turn, roll over or breath loudly he takes that as his invitation to join you and with the stealthiness of a 70lb dog who thinks he weighs 25lbs he jumps on the bed and straddles his victim licking frantically at air, hands, feet, faces, knees or elbows, whatever gets in the way until he is satisfied that he has sufficiently welcomed you into the new day. Then he finds a cozy spot on the bed to lay waiting until you to get out of bed. Then he is in hot pursuit flinging himself from the bed with gusto and a look on his face that screams "READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!" My new alarm clock is annoying but really cute!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
So it is time for a new post and unfortunately our lives haven't gotten any more interesting. Mike today said "It is like you live in Spokane and I live in my car." It is sad but true. There is a light at the end of the tunnel hopefully by May he won't need to commute nearly as much. This week my friend Nicole came to town to visit her sister Courtney and we all went shopping and had a day on the town with their boys, Eli and Peyton. Then this weekend. Mike and I went to dinner with some of his coworkers at a place called Europa. Great food, good atmosphere. If you are in Spokane and want a great place to eat I would highly recommend it.
Today, we tried a new church out. I won't use names to protect the innocent. It was truly a lovely church, the message was good but everything else was very Catholic. A lot of liturgy. We also should have taken the automatic doors as a sign that this wasn't the church for us. We walked through the automatic opening doors and found ourselves staring at the backs of silver and shiny heads and instantly knew we were going to be in fellowship with our grandparents friends. There is nothing wrong with this, but Mike and I are looking for a social outlet where we can meet people that are in the same place in life. When we looked through the bulletin to find the titles of their small groups were things like "Empty Nester's," and "Investment club," confirmation that we should keep looking stared us in the face. We decided if we ever try a church with automatic doors, no offense, but we will probably turn around and head back to the car.
Today, we tried a new church out. I won't use names to protect the innocent. It was truly a lovely church, the message was good but everything else was very Catholic. A lot of liturgy. We also should have taken the automatic doors as a sign that this wasn't the church for us. We walked through the automatic opening doors and found ourselves staring at the backs of silver and shiny heads and instantly knew we were going to be in fellowship with our grandparents friends. There is nothing wrong with this, but Mike and I are looking for a social outlet where we can meet people that are in the same place in life. When we looked through the bulletin to find the titles of their small groups were things like "Empty Nester's," and "Investment club," confirmation that we should keep looking stared us in the face. We decided if we ever try a church with automatic doors, no offense, but we will probably turn around and head back to the car.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Another week...
Outside of the excitement of the ink on the carpet, which came out for the most part but I am still finding spots, this week has been just another week. I can't believe how quickly the month is flying by. I went down and stayed with Mike at our friends in Moscow. Vic and Sharon are very gracious to let Mike, and occasionally me, stay with them to help cut Mike's commute down. He has had others offer their homes too and it means a lot to us. We spent most of the weekend around the house. Mike was really motivated to paint but I haven't quite decided what I want to paint and what color so I asked if we could hold off for a little while. Mike ended up watching a lot of football, I read a book, David went out with friends and worked and then last night we all played scrabble and then I buy ( a card game). We had a good time.
I think every appliance and gadget in our home has taken a que from the vacuum and decided to give up. The printer died this week as well. It was getting kind of old I guess. The electric mixer smells like smoke every time I turn it on. Then the washer and dryer seem to be on their way out too. The dryer now takes 2 runs to dry anything and that is if you put in a really small load. The washer doesn't seem to be cleaning clothes they come out smelling like we left the load in overnight when we didn't. It isn't a good sign. I really don't want to foot the bill for a new washer and dryer. I can handle a printer no problem in fact buying a new printer was kind of fun. The problem with the washer dryer is that I want to buy the super duper cool front load set. I want the one in red but it's really spendy. Mike wants to salvage what we have and make it work for as long as possible. I have to agree but they are between 10 - 12 years old and I can't imagine them lasting for much longer given their symptoms.
Outside of the excitement of the ink on the carpet, which came out for the most part but I am still finding spots, this week has been just another week. I can't believe how quickly the month is flying by. I went down and stayed with Mike at our friends in Moscow. Vic and Sharon are very gracious to let Mike, and occasionally me, stay with them to help cut Mike's commute down. He has had others offer their homes too and it means a lot to us. We spent most of the weekend around the house. Mike was really motivated to paint but I haven't quite decided what I want to paint and what color so I asked if we could hold off for a little while. Mike ended up watching a lot of football, I read a book, David went out with friends and worked and then last night we all played scrabble and then I buy ( a card game). We had a good time.
I think every appliance and gadget in our home has taken a que from the vacuum and decided to give up. The printer died this week as well. It was getting kind of old I guess. The electric mixer smells like smoke every time I turn it on. Then the washer and dryer seem to be on their way out too. The dryer now takes 2 runs to dry anything and that is if you put in a really small load. The washer doesn't seem to be cleaning clothes they come out smelling like we left the load in overnight when we didn't. It isn't a good sign. I really don't want to foot the bill for a new washer and dryer. I can handle a printer no problem in fact buying a new printer was kind of fun. The problem with the washer dryer is that I want to buy the super duper cool front load set. I want the one in red but it's really spendy. Mike wants to salvage what we have and make it work for as long as possible. I have to agree but they are between 10 - 12 years old and I can't imagine them lasting for much longer given their symptoms.
Monday, January 08, 2007
The Merits of Hardwood
For a long time I have firmly believed in having hardwood floors. My reasons include my theory that you can never really clean a carpet, once something goes into your carpet it permanently lives there. For instance your 10 month old baby is crawling around and all of the sudden throws up on your precious carpet. For the next 10 – 15 minutes, in between coddling your young love, you work fervently to remove puke from the carpet. Of course you are able to get most of it but some is ultimately left living and breathing in your carpet. Next your young love is having his afternoon bottle and gets distracted as the dog blasts, torpedo style, through the back door with mud on his feet. Young love throws the bottle aside in hot pursuit of his furry friend and soon you realize you have mud and milk living in your carpet. Now some might say “your pour youngster has to learn to walk and crawl on hard wood how cruel.” I however say to those people with hardwood you just wipe up vomit, mop up mud and milk and they are gone forever! Ahhhh, what peace to know that my young love can safely crawl on my clean floors without encountering year old dog puke and dirt. Finally, the reason I want hardwood real bad. Duke, I love him, I love him, I love him (repeat 10 more times). Duke jumped on the counter and snatched a pen today. I might not have known if it wasn’t for the giant black spot on the top of his head and paw along with the several black spots spatter across my hallways and living room. I don’t care how wonderful my new Dyson may be. I WANT HARDWOOD!
For a long time I have firmly believed in having hardwood floors. My reasons include my theory that you can never really clean a carpet, once something goes into your carpet it permanently lives there. For instance your 10 month old baby is crawling around and all of the sudden throws up on your precious carpet. For the next 10 – 15 minutes, in between coddling your young love, you work fervently to remove puke from the carpet. Of course you are able to get most of it but some is ultimately left living and breathing in your carpet. Next your young love is having his afternoon bottle and gets distracted as the dog blasts, torpedo style, through the back door with mud on his feet. Young love throws the bottle aside in hot pursuit of his furry friend and soon you realize you have mud and milk living in your carpet. Now some might say “your pour youngster has to learn to walk and crawl on hard wood how cruel.” I however say to those people with hardwood you just wipe up vomit, mop up mud and milk and they are gone forever! Ahhhh, what peace to know that my young love can safely crawl on my clean floors without encountering year old dog puke and dirt. Finally, the reason I want hardwood real bad. Duke, I love him, I love him, I love him (repeat 10 more times). Duke jumped on the counter and snatched a pen today. I might not have known if it wasn’t for the giant black spot on the top of his head and paw along with the several black spots spatter across my hallways and living room. I don’t care how wonderful my new Dyson may be. I WANT HARDWOOD!
Sunday, January 07, 2007
New Vacuum...
Nicole so nicely asked for a new blog entry and I know that I haven't be on here lately to update. Mike and David got a computer game called "Age of Empires" for Christmas and between the two of them it can be difficult to get on the computer when I am feeling inspired. Besides that my life truly lacks any excitement, cute kids and funny events aren't a part of my daily life. I wish they were but they aren't so you will have to suffer through my vacuum cleaner story.
After 4 years, dog hair, Christmas tree needles, mutilated stuffed animals, 1 apartment and 2 homes, lots of dirt, a few clogs and a lot of filter cleanings our $100 Bissell that my mom got us as a wedding gift gave up. At least we thought it had. After 2 years of dreaming and planning and researching I had decided a long time ago that I wanted a Dyson animal. Problem, the lack of $600. I hoped that it would go down in price and if you find a deal or go with a different model they are cheaper than that. When the good ole Bissell gave up on us we decided that it had given us a good run and it was time. We found that we had the money and I went into full on search mode to find my fabulous deal. Low and behold on eBay there was a refurbished Dyson Animal for $370 with S & H. Refurbished didn't scare me and I needed a vacuum, especially with the removal of mammoth tree looming over our heads. So I ordered it. Then the next day we decided we really needed to vacuum. With two dogs you can hardly wait a week and after a day or two I am itching to drag the vacuum out again. The Bissell decided it had a little more umph left and wasn't going to let the newer model take over without a good fight and it gave one last good vacuum. Now my Dyson is nestled happily in the closet after a hard days work. It wasn't able to conquer mammoth trees trail of pine needles, the shop vac had to take over, but I don't know of a vacuum cleaner that could have handled that. The tree literally took 3 good shoved to make it out the back slider. I think ever needle it had was lost in that battle. After cleaning up the pine needles with the shop vac I was able to give my Dyson it's inaugural vacuum around the house. Christmas is nicley tucked away in the garage and I love my Dyson...so far!
Notice the dirt in the canister makes a lovely accessory. :)
Friday, December 29, 2006
James Family Christmas...
Christmas highlights. Shopping with my Aunt Liz, basically we giggled our way in and out of Antique stores and home decor shops. We had a great time. Games, we played Mexican Domino's (fun) and Clue. Food...lots and lots of food, over 4 days we had ham, Portuguese soup, Roast beef, potato salad, mashed potatoes, corn, bread, spoon corn bread, beets, pork and beans, chicken, fudge, cupcakes, cookies, pie. I think I'll be working off Christmas on the treadmill for a few months to come. Presents, Mike got XM Satellite radio, an assortment of sauces, money, and toys. I got a coat, a piece of Hawaiian jewelry, a Brighton neckless and earring set and money. David was spoiled and I won't even begin to list all that he got but it mostly had to do with Rollerblades and clothes, oh and an Ipod. Duke and Jemma received a couple of big bones.
My mom and Bruce have a small dog named Icsis (spelling?). Duke and Jemma thought that they were little lap dogs too and loved her bed. Poor Icsis put up with a lot. They would follow her around in circles until she snapped at them then they would follow her just a little more to make sure that had really annoyed her, then they would go and lay down in her bed. Brats!
Overall it was a great time. We all appreciate my families hospitality. Thank you for all the wonderful Christmas cards we received. I hope you all had as pleasant a Christmas as we did.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Mansitting... Mansitting, much like babysitting, is hard work. I come home from work to find a seemingly clean house. Now that two men live in my house there is double trouble. I find the meat thermometer in the Pyrex baking dish on the counter. The same Pyrex baking dish that is to be returned to my friend, Courtney. I can only assume that the meat thermometer is clean since the kitchen counter has been cleared of all dirty dishes. A pleasant surprise. I begin my 4th round of Christmas baking, I can't find my glass measuring cups, my frustration rises as I scour the kitchen searching only to find my glass measuring cups nestled deep within the Tupperware cupboard. Now as the woman of the house I know that these glass measuring cups belong in the lower cupboard to the left of the oven and that the meat thermometer belongs in the drawer below the silverware. I look up to find the dish detergent front and center on the counter top. That too has a place to call home. Under the sink next to the dishwasher. I begin to think, how hard is it to put stuff where it belongs.
My next effort is to clean the house before leaving for one day in Moscow with my friends Vic and Sharon and 4 days with my Mom in Lewiston. I find socks stuffed behind couch cushions, sweaters on window sills and a whole array of other items in places they do not belong. I know that they probably have great reasons for all of these things but I personally would never put my sweater down in a windowsill or shove my socks deep within the couch cushions. NEVER!
Soon my men find me with smiles on their faces. Did you notice that we cleaned the kitchen? Thoughts race through my head, "Oh I noticed all right, who taught you two to clean, you didn't' even wipe all the counters down or sweep the floor. That isn't clean." Then I shake myself back to reality remember the rules of mansitting. They did try. If they hadn't the meat thermometer would be drowning in a sea of suds with the glass measuring cups, I wouldn't have dish detergent because it would still be at the store stocked neatly on a shelf instead of on my kitchen counter and I would have been mad that no one had done anything at all to help me. So I smile warmly back at them and politely and genuinely say "Thank you." Mansitting is tough work.