If you haven't been to Precious Moments in Carthage you really need to go when you are in the area. Their website is good but doesn't show you the true beauty of the place. I took my friend Jessica to see it for the first time. I really wanted her to like it and was worried. Once she saw the chapel she saw why I love them. I collect Precious Moments in every way imaginable. I cross stitch them, collect every type of figurine, I just LOVE them!!! Here are some pictures to tempt you to go and see them!!!!

These are the stained glass windows that show the beatitudes.

This is one of the groups of figurines that is in the display case in the chapel.

This is the ceiling....

One of the walls in the chapel

I could have put the picture I took of the wall in the chapel but I don't want to spoil the fun of seeing it. I love this place and I have the cross stitch patterns to do the windows, the murals on the wall, all that stuff. I have tons of the figurines and get a couple a year. If anyone is looking for a last minute Christmas gift you now have been reminded of one of my favorite things!!!

Oh yeah, I really want to start building my nativity scene soooooo...... Just Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus would be wonderful!!!

finals week

This week has been finals week as well as the first real snow of the winter. So Monday night my final was cancelled.... I was hoping that the same result would happen on Tuesday. No such luck. I drove to BA and found the campus to be one solid sheet of ice. But I was there and I was going to take my finals!!! So I too, two finals in two hours ( a record time for me!!! ) and headed home. I drove much slower than normal and got home in a decent time. I am glad that I am done with finals for the next 3 1/2 weeks. I am going to read, read, read and stitch, stitch, stitch.... The first book I am going to read is "Twilight". Lets see how it goes.....

Nutcracker

Matt's little sister was in the production of "The Nutcracker" that was put on. She was a baby angel and she was precious!!! Here are a couple pics...

Thought some might laugh at this...

You must have taken great pains, sir; you could not naturally been so very stupid.
Samuel Johnson
English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 - 1784)

I know that we have al had days that we have thought this. Maybe not in such a "nice" way, but we have al thought it!!!

Labby friends

Roxy has a best friend and his name is Yogi. They have so much fun running around, playing and just being normal labs!!! After playing hard for a couple of hours they got quiet. And quiet isn't the best thing if you know how they are!!! I walked around to see what trouble they have gotten into. This is what I see....

They wore themselves out! they were laying together sleeping. This is a rare look at what a lab can look like! When the two of them get together we don't see this side of him very often!!!

Santa Claws

I saw that Santa Claws was coming to Petsmart!!! The girls HAD to go. Sasha went last year and I love the picture. Plus it goes for a good cause, $5.00 goes to a local shelter. So I decided that I would pay for both of the girls to have their pictures taken. So we go and I am taking both of the girls by myself.... It was quite interesting. Roxy has never been to Petsmart so the smells were too exciting for her. She never pulls on the leash but she did today. They were so excited to see everything, until Sasha saw Santa Claws. She started shaking and was totally freaked out. This is my girl who loves everyone was scared of Santa Claws!!! Roxy went first and was wonderful. Sasha was shaking uncontrollably. They did get a couple of good shots and the pictures turned out wonderful!

These turned out good and Roxy is always smiling in pictures! And Sasha's turned out good, especially since she was shaking like a leaf! This will be a yearly deal to help the shelters but it is also great for the girls. It is amazing how much Sasha has changed! If there is a Petsmart near you go and take those furbabies and have their picture taken. It helps the shelter and you get a picture of your baby!!!

Our Redneck Tree

My normal routine is to put up my tree the afternoon of Thanksgiving (if not before), but with M being sick I was nice and didn't put him through the torture of the lights and music and all that stuff that I do when I am decorating. So I finally got to put it up today!!!

Here it is!!!!

Yes it is a redneck christmas tree. I have red/white bobbers, red and green shot gun shells and deer antlers on the tree. My next thing to buy will be little bass fish lights for the tree. My tree topper is a deer named "John Deer". The tag has a "poem" that goes like this...

John Deer

Hunting his relatives started this fight,

finding a Winchester may set it right.

So don't mess with John Deer,

'cause this buck stops here!

Now it's man season so stay out of sight!

So here is my tree topper!!!

Our stockings are camo and the girls have stockings that are camo too. What can I say, we are a bunch of rednecks!!! But the most important thing is the girls in front of the tree. Roxy has a friend over named Yogi and they had been playing so I couldn't get Roxy to sit but they love the tree - a little too much!!! The tree skirt I bought off ebay last year from a shelter that had a store and the proceeds helped their shelter. I love christmas and I really love my redneck christmas tree!!!

Only 25 more days 'til christmas!!!!

Schnauzer love

This is my baby Sasha who I have fell in absolute love with.

This is her half-sister, Lola. She comes over and visits and stays with me every couple of weeks. I love her sooooo much and would love to have another white furbaby. Matt says that two is enough but I am thinking that another little one would even the odds out with Roxy!!!

Boomer Sooner!!!!

I would just like to give a yell out to that wonderful Oklahoma Sooner team that beat Oklahoma State last night. I know that my friends Matt and Sarah were watching it. I had people over and we had chili and chocolate cake and the yummy stuff. I have a feeling that Matt was yelling just as much as we were.

Boomer Sooner Boomer Sooner Boomer Sooner

So now the waiting comes on the BCS polls and seeing what happens in the standings. I think that since OU was able to beat their opponets soundly at home and away they should be ranked high but all the OU fans out their knows that the inevitable could happen -- OU getting knocked out of their rightful place again.... We will wait and see....

First Snow????

Is is hunting season and I am having a hard time finding time to hunt and it is driving me crazy. Between my full time job, my part time job during the day, school and just keeping up with everything I don't have time. My weekends are spend with homework, working Saturday morning and just trying to keep a decently clean house. So I made the hard decision to not go this morning, even though Ralph shot a huge buck yesterday. I was sleeping and got a text from Matt, who is up in his tree stand - "it is snowing". I get all excited, jump out of bed (scaring the girls), and run outside to see. This is what I see.

A light dusting over the car. A little on the ground but not enough to talk of. By this time last year we had a couple of inches of the ground. But I don't want to have the after effects of the ice storm, no electricity for 9 days, freezing in my house with my baby girl. But this is the first "SNOW" of the winter so enjoy!!!!

Texas Delight

8oz. cool whip
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup powder sugar
1 box instant pudding
graham cracker crust

In a bowl mix powder sugar and cream cheese. When smooth, add in cool whip. Mix till smooth. pour 1/2 of mixture on crust and spread evenly. Mix pudding, pour on top of mixture on crust. Chill for about ten minutes. Then add rest of cream cheese mixture to top of pudding. Chill and serve.

Cajun Shrimp and Rice

Ingredients 1 28-ounce can tomatoes, undrained and cut up
1 14-ounce can chicken broth
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green sweet pepper
1 6- to 6-1/4-ounce package long grain and wild rice mix
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic (2 cloves)
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 pound cooked, peeled, and deveined shrimp
Bottled hot pepper sauce (optional)

Directions
1. In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker combine undrained tomatoes,chicken broth, onion, sweet pepper, rice mix with seasoning packet,the water, garlic, and Cajun seasoning.
2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heatsetting for 3 to 3-1/2 hours.
3. If using low-heat setting, turn slow cooker to high-heat setting.
Stir shrimp into rice mixture. Cover and cook for 15 minutes more. If desired, pass hot pepper sauce.

Recipe Makes 6 servings.

Falling and digging....

On Sunday night we were in bed and it was about 3 in the morning. We built the king size bed so that all four of us could sleep in it. Roxy always sleeps at the end of the bed. Right on my feet. Where she can keep me warm. Especially my feet. It is wonderful. We were in bed and I had kinda woke up when the satellite reset itself. All of a sudden there is no weight on my feet....and then something hits the floor. After a little bit I hear Roxy shake her head, her ears flopping. She had fallen off of the bed when she was rolling over!!!!! I giggled like crazy once I realized she was okay and Matt was too. All day I was giggling when I would think about it.

Lately the girls have been coming inside and smelling like dead something. I have been wondering what they have been finding. Tuesday was Veterans day and I wasn't working. I let the girls out for a while since it was such a nice day. I walk out to call them in and Sasha comes running towards me with something in her mouth. The nice girl that she is she dropped it out in the grass and ran on up to the house...You guessed it -- smelling like dead something. I put both of the girls inside and walked out to see what she had dropped. I was looking at it and wandered if they had ripped something apart. Then I see the little tail on the back. I grabbed the tail and picked it up. It was a mole. We have been having issues since we moved in with them digging up the yard. It am absolutely okay with the girls taking care of our problem, as long as they quit coming in smelling horrible!!!! Apparently they like to dig the stuff up, and I am okay with them catching the quick little boogers, I just wish they would quit playing with them for days after!!!

Things to practice before getting a new puppy

Having two wonderful furbabies I found this absolutely hilarious! It is the truth but I wouldn't give them up for anything!!!

If you're going to get a new puppy, there are some things you could do to practice before the little one arrives:

Pour cold apple juice on the carpet in several places and walk around barefoot in the dark.

Wear a sock to work that has had the toes shredded by a blender.

Immediately upon waking, stand outside in the rain and dark saying, “Be a good puppy, go potty now -hurry up - come on, lets go!”

Cover all your best suits with dog hair. Dark suits must use whitehair, and light suits must use dark hair.

Also float some hair in your first cup of coffee in the morning.

Play catch with a wet slimy tennis ball.

Run out in the snow in your bare feet in the middle of the night to close the gate.

Tip over a basket of clean laundry, scatter clothing all over the floor.

Leave your underwear on the living room floor, because that’s where the dog will drag it anyway. (Especially when you have company.)

Jump out of your chair shortly before the end of your favorite TV program and run to the door shouting, “No no! Do that OUTSIDE!” Miss the end of the program.

Put chocolate pudding on the carpet in the morning, and don’t try to clean it up until you return from work that evening.

Gouge the leg of the dinning room table several times with a screwdriver -it’s going to get chewed on anyway.

And last but far from least….Take a warm and cuddly blanket out of the dryer and immediately wrap it around yourself.This is the feeling you will get when your puppy falls asleep on your lap.

Salsa!!!!

Jalapenos - 1/2 a sink full!!!
Habaneros!!!
A full sink of habaneros!!!!

I have a friend who loves to grow things and experiments with fertilizing them. He brought me 3 or so bags of tomatoes that I froze to have tomatoes for salsa. I have habaneros frozen and was planning on using them. I was discussing this with him and the next day I get what you see above, a 1/2 sink full of jalapenos and and full sink of habaneros!!!! I am going to dehydrate some of the peppers and am wanting to try and find a pickling recipe for some of them. So I am so excited that I think that I am going to try and make some salsa today. I know that it isn't the normal time to make salsa but it is fairly cool today and will be nice to leave the door open and can some salsa!!! If I get it done I will try and post a picture of it!!!!

Janice's Salsa

10 cups of tomatoes chopped and peeled

2 cups chopped bell peppers (approx. 3)

1 red bell pepper

2 cups jalapenos chopped

2 cups onions chopped

1 tsp. garlic salt

2 cans 15 oz. tomato paste

3/4 white vinegar

2-3 hot peppers

1-2 pkgs Ball's hot salsa mix.

Stir together good. Bring to a boil slowly in non-aluminum pan. Simmer for about 40 minutes to 1 hour. Stir frequently. Put in hot jars and then water bath for 15 minutes to seal.

7 pints

Hint: I use a food processor to chop everything up and I am really bad about not measuring good. So if you are like me, have extra jars ready to keep pouring into!!!! Also if I don't have the salsa mix I add all sorts of seasonings from the pantry. Garlic salt, salt, pepper, season salt and anything else that sounds good!!!

The girls when I come in or when I am on the computer

As I am doing homework, blogging, or any other computer stuff this is what I see.....

Sasha HAS to lay beside me and listens to the whir of the computer and the tapping of the keys on the key board. You would be suprised at what you will do to accomadate your babies. I may be absolutely uncomfortable but as long as she is it is okay!!!!

Roxy is to my left and is watching TV. Both of my girls love to watch TV with us. Football (OU of course!!!), "House", Will Smith movies, and anything with action.

This is what happens when I am having to stay on the computer and write papers. Actually this is what I see after about 10 minutes of sitting. She is the most laid back lab I have ever seen.

This is what I see at night when I come in the door sometimes. She knows that she isn't supposed to be on the back but it is the "most comfortable spot"....

These are my babies!!! These are the pictures that I love the most, when they sit still and look at me with those gorgeous expressions.

We now have a king size bed. Roxy hasn't ever slept with us since there wasn't any room on the bed. Now I have Sasha cuddled up between me and Matt. Then Roxy figured out that it bigger and wanted to join the party. So I now have Roxy laying at my feet. This will be nice when it gets colder, since I will have a built in foot warmer, but it makes it hard right now to stretch. I wouldn't change it for the world though!!!

The tournament pics

Here is the picture of the new lower unit. Doesn't look like it shoulda cost that much huh????

This was their second day weight!!!

My gorgeous husband getting their slip from the weigh in.

The guy in the yellow is Phil, Matt's fishing partner.

Give some respect!!!!

I was working at NEO today and was helping with the tail gate party. When Lisa and I were through we went to watch the football game. At the first they oplayed the national anthem like they do everytime and I did what I do everytime, stand with my hand on my heart and think about the sacrifice that was made for us to live in this great country. Matt and I are patriotic and no matter what your political affiliation you should support those who have stood and been standing up for us.

As I amd standing there I hear something and glance to the left and see a woman talking on her cell phone in the middle of the national anthem. I was soooo irritated and absolutely ticked off at this woman. So doesn't repect our country or the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to let us be free.

I don't mean to go on a rant but no matter what your political affiliation or what your thoughts on the war you need to still give respect to the flag and respect to those who have given us the freedons they have. So the next time that you see the flag, hear the national anthem, or see one of our service men or women , give them the respect they deserve.

May 10th 2008 -- DARE Fishing Tournament

Okay, so most of you knew that Matt and I fish a lot. We had a tournament this weekend that benefitted DARE in Bartlesville! (Had fun Jon!!!!). So here is the story of our weekend...

Blast of was to be at 6 or safe light so our alarm was set for 3:30. This was a huge feat considering we didn't get to bed till after midnight 'cause we HAD to go to the monster trucks. (It was worth the late night though!!!) We got up, got everything in the boat, fed and took care of both of the girls and kenneled them and headed for the lake. We get there in plenty of time and I get out of the truck to go check in and get our number. I normally help him get the boat ready to unload but since I was getting the number he did it all by his self. I jump in the boat and we get it unloaded and I am waiting for Matt on the outside of one of the docks. We look in the floor board and there was water. It was wet with dew when we left but not with water in the floor boards!!!! so we trailer the boat back up and Matt takes the plug out and puts it in. We unload the boat for the second time and start out towards the mouth of Echo Bay. We hear the numbers called 24, 25, 26, 27, 28...We notice, yet once again that there is water in the floor board AGAIN... So....we hear our number called, number 30, and we drive back to Martin's and trailer the boat and have the bilge pump going. Matt looks and he had put the plug back into the same hole!!! So this time we take out to go and fish. All the other boats have blasted off already ( I missed another blast off this year, maybe next year!!) so we take off. We get to the other side of the lake and fish. Caught one first thing that measured and kept fishing. We kept moving around so the trolling motor was being pulled up and put back down. About 4 hours into it Matt was pulling the trolling motor up and busted the plastic prop off the trolling motor.... So we felt and heard vibrations for the next 5 hours. Then as we were leaving and coming back and the wind had picked up and the water was rough. About two minutes into the bouncing across the lake I felt a sharp pain in my right thigh. Well one of the lures that I was using was this gorgeous crank bait. 20 minutes later we pull into a cove that has the beautiful huge homes that are on Shangri-La's golf course. The types of houses that have windows that are as big as my house.... The people are rolling in the money and like everything just so. I look at Matt and ask him if we can pull the crank bait out of my leg. He starts freaking out, "why didn't you tell me?". Oh yeah, I can see us in the middle of the lake bobbing up and down trying to get that out.. I Don't Think So!!!! so we start looking. The only way that it can be looked at good is for me to pull my capri's down to my knees. so everyone by Shangri-La's golf course got to see that I was wearing pink underwear. So after looking we decided to push it on through since it was buried deep, past the barb. so each of the hooks had to be cut lose to get to the one single hook. So laying on the deck of the boat Matt took a pair of needle nose pliers and cut the hooks and the main part off them grabbed onto the single hook and pushed it through. Hurt like hell.... But it kinda felt like getting one of my tattoos....So we continued fishing and didn't catch anything but had one heck of a day!!! Maybe we will weigh in more that one fish next time....

June 25, 2008 -- OKC Redhawks Trip

Matt and I have been driving to work to save money on gas so yesterday morning (Tuesday) I started up the car and it sounded like a partial back fire so I turned the car off and looked at Matt and said "What was that?". He thought that maybe it had backfired, so we left. I pulled out of the driveway and my battery light comes on.... So when I get to the stop sign I turn the car off and back on, thinking it was a fluke thing.... It came back on. So we are thinking altenator or battery. After 2 1/2 hours Matt calls me and tells me that we broke the belt to the altenator, which was a better fix. So he fixed it no big deal... It was about $11.00... So we leave to go to the game and ten miles north of Stroud on the Turner turnpike my car start vibrating and is making just a loud noise. We pull over and my front passenger tire is bulging out, basically blown. So we pulled the front tire off, pulled the back tire off, put it on the front and put the donut on the back. So we drove on the OKC and watched the Redhawks play (they won 4-3 in the 12th!!!!) and had a blast. It was dollar hotdog night so we got hotdogs and a HUGE Budlight. After the day we had been having it was SOOOOOO good. So we left about 9, made it home by 1, got passed all the time. (The being passed was torture for me!!!!!!!) So we made it home and our wedding gift to each other is two tires a piece!!! Whooo Hoooo!!!!

Potato Soup

So in Oklahoma it is getting cooler and I wanted to make potato soup. Here is my recipe.

2 lbs of potatoes
1 1/2 cup carrots
1 can chicken broth

Cook until these are tender.
Remove from heat and add.

2 cups sour cream
2 cans cream of celery soup
1/2 cup chopped onions
4-8 oz. chunked Velveeta cheese
2 tbsp butter
salt & pepper to taste
1 quart milk

Return to low heat and simmer 20-30 minutes until cheese melts-for a thinner broth add more milk. Now I use evaporated milk most of the time to make it just a bit richer.

It was soooooo good. we had people in and out of the house eating tonight. I always cook more than it calls for. I think this time I cooked 6 lbs of potatoes and I always cook for an army so we will have some for lunch tomorrow!!!

For some absolutely AMAZING recipes look here at my friend Sara's blog. I just wish I could cook like her!!! She also keeps teaching me stuff about blogging!!! Thank you so much Sara!!!!

Squeeze your boobies!!!!

I changed my layout to pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month. So I don't know how many of you know some of my past but at 32 my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was just 2 at that time. She fought for four years and lost her battle Feb '88. Since then I have lost my grandmother and my aunt, both on my mom's side. When Matt and I got married (the first time LOL) my aunt was fighting breast cancer and doing some experimental treatments. Almost one month to the date after my wedding she passed away. My mother and aunt were both nurses. They knew what to look for. There had been no family history before my mother of having breast cancer. I always knew that it was something that I would have to deal with but had kinda put it on a back burner. At 21 I basically had to face the fact that I needed to think somewhat about my own mortality. I had just lost my aunt to the same thing that I lost my mother to and decided to not be another statistic. So I do mammograms every year now as a part of my yearly check up. even though it would be cheaper for the insurance to pay for all this and find it early, they refuse to but the cost is worth it.

Last month I went to tulsa to Dr. Lanette Smith and got checked out even better. Lanette Smith is a breast doctor and all the nurses and office help was girls!!! I loved it. I had the consult, they did ultrasound on my right breast and told me to go over to the mammography clinic and to get an ultrasound done NOW. So I did as I was told and got a digital mammogram and then they did ultrasounds. This whole visit took about 5 hours 'cause they were working me in at the clinic for the mammogram. The whole time Matt was back at home, working and about to go crazy. After everything was over they decided to watch everything and that I was to come back and se Dr. Smith in 6 months.



So I guess the moral of this is I know October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month but it is that way every month for me. I also don't want to lose someone close to me from this. I want to be able to see my babies (when we have them) grow up, play ball, get married and have their own babies. I don't want to leave Matt to try and get through everything all on his own. And I don't want my little girl to break down while trying on wedding dresses like I did, just 'cause my mom wasn't there to help me.



Every year I get closer to 32 I am made more aware that I have to take the inicitive and take care of myself. I just want all my friends to realize the same thing. I do self exams every month around the 16th and if I need to remind everyone I will, just let me know!!! This is the link to cards that show you how to do a BSE.



So Squeeze Those Boobies!!!!

White Sasha, Ebony Stain

Well first you should read the previous post.

Okay, now that you have done that!!! Matt went to pick up the boxsprings on Friday night and I ran to Joplin to get a set of sheets and the stain that we would need for the bed. I bought two quarts of stain and set it, still in the plastic bag, on the kitchen table. Didn't think a second thing about it. I got up and went to work Saturday morning and Matt was out hunting so Roxy was in our room in her kennel and Sasha had the run of the kitchen/dining and living room. I call Matt at a little before 11:00 to make sure he had gotten home to watch the OU game and he had. I asked him what he was doing and his exact words were "Cleaning up your dogs mess". Now I should say that Sasha is a nosy dog and loves to know everything that is going on. She also loves food. So if a bowl or bag is left in reach or to where she can jump up to (like the kitchen table or the kitchen counter) she will have it on the kitchen tile floor. So I am trying to figure out what she has knocked off. -----She knocked the stain off---- Ebony stain on my cream tile floor. Only one quart opened and luckily it wasn't shook up so Matt was able to clean it up except for the grout, which looks like I have black mold growing in it!!! I was so glad that she didn't get into and spread it all around. I would have cried then. The only thing we can figure is that she had just done it. She knew she was in trouble and ran outside and stayed out there until Matt was done!!!!! So I will be scrubbing the grout on my kitchen floor one night this week. So If anyone knows any solutions besides bleach... Help!!!!

A new bed!!!

So Matt and I have been sleeping on a full size bed that has been mine for 20 years. It was bought for me after my mom passed away. The mattress was the original as was the boxsprings. It has been passed around and abused but I finally had it. After waking up with both of our backs killing us one of us would sleep on the couch and the other was on the bed. I was the one who had the couch since I was coming in late from school and then having the pneumonia and bronchitis I had to sleep upright.

When we bought the house a year ago we bought a brand new washer, dryer and dishwasher. We got them at Lowe's when they had a rebate going on and had $100 on a gift card. I found a basically brand new mattress, we were given a set of box springs and with the gift card we bought the wood for the bed. The only thing we were out was the stain!!! So we picked everything out, got it cut, stained it on Saturday, clear-coated it on Sunday morning and put it all together on Sunday evening. And we have a wonderful new king size bed!!!! Sasha is scared to jump up since it is higher but Roxy has no issue getting up. They both just laid up there with us this morning. It is remarkable how much better you feel when you have slept all night on a wonderful bed!!! The next things are two end tables and a headboard sometime..... but I am quite content with the bed right now. I get to sleep in the same room as my husband and listen to Roxy snore!!! Sasha even rested better, at 5:30 she was awake and trying to get us up to play with her but the three of us laid and ignored her until she decided to come back to bed with us!!!

On the left is the bottom board and on the right Matt is staining the top boards.
Close up of the top boards
Checking the size...
The girls helping us!!!!
It is done!!!!

Icky Sicky

So I started feeling bad about a month ago. I just wasn't feeling right. Well last Tuesday I went to the AM clinic that we have and got checked out. It only took me 4 different people telling me bout it!!! I went and was told that I had bronchitis and pneumonia and that there was asthma that was brought on by these. so I went to the pharmacy got and inhaler, antibiotics and cough syrup. So I went home and slept and then stayed home as well on Wednesday and slept. On Thursday I came in to work and promptly went home again, since I couldn't catch my breath. I did 2 breathing treatments at Lisa's house an hour apart and still didn't do any better. I went home to take a nap and about an hour later I got a knock on my door and the girls went crazy. Lisa had come to take me to the ER and they took chest x-rays and ended up changing all my medication, (except that wonderful cough syrup) and off I went again to the pharmacy. So yesterday was my first day back to work, I slept my weekend away. So now I am using her nebulizer and doing breathing treatments every 4 hours and trying to get better. I am soooo ready to be back to normal. One of my classes has suffered and I am guessing that I will have to take it again. Linguistics is a class that you have to be there to know what is going on. I have a test tonight but had to miss last week so be praying for me to do okay! If I can pass this class with a "C" I will be estatic!!! So I will have to update you on how I do!!!

Triton Team Trail Championship

Matt has a tournament tomorrow and Sunday and is super excited about it. He is in his "game mode" and we are discussing nothing but fishing. It is what we will be living for the next two days. We have been talking about where he is going, what he needs to throw, what he should take, which poles and all that other good stuff. So I will be up tonight, seeing where they are in the take off. They are 67 of 370. Only 270 of the 370 qualified so hopefully they will finish close to the top. I hope they do 'cause they owe me a steak dinner!!! Be thinking of them and help me with the hope that they place high!!!

School is tiring!!!

So this is my 3rd week of school. Third of 16 weeks. Which leaves 13 weeks left.... I am soooo tired after the 3 weeks. Linguistics is soooo much work and English literature is too but I am loving it all! I am learning that my Wednesday nights are for relaxing at home and going to bed early.





I woke up last night with fur in my face and a wet nose pressed up against mine. Sasha was laying facing me and had her paws on my shoulders and was cuddling with her face against mine. It was soooo cute! I wanted to take a picture but couldn't really do that so you will just have to trust me on how cute it was!





We went out with a friend on Thursday night for her birthday and went casino hopping to get her birthday money (happy birthday again Jess :) ). Well Quapaw had bottomless cups on Thursday nights and I didn't have to work on Friday (vacation!!!) so Matt and I sat in the bar at Quapaw and drank. My problem was that I sat down. Not good. Not good at all. I remember why I had only gotten sick one time before this. You want to die!!!! So Friday was wasted trying to feel better. Sasha and Roxy were wonderful girls though and laid in the bathroom for me and when I was kneeling over the toilet they both were right there with the moral support!!!





Saturday we went to Branson and I stopped by my favorite winery. You should visit their website http://www.stonehillwinery.com/ . I love their wine and make a point to go as often as I can. We buy the wine by the case as well as the grape juice. They have a fake cork with a wick that you put in a wine bottle filled with lamp oil and Voila! you have a fun oil lamp! I will get a picture and put it up to show you. I love it! And you also have the memories with each bottle so it is a sentimental oil lamp! We have tons of fun and although I had to come home early the other girls stayed out until midnight shopping and making me proud!





And speaking of coming home early, Matt and I had tickets for Rodney Carrington. I would pay again to see the man!!! I laughed soooo hard and we had tons of fun!





I have gotten home on Monday and Tuesday nights at midnight so the girls have been laying on the bed until I get home and then move for me when I get home. I was doing homework and they were in the bedroom with Matt and this is what I saw.

To think that in January when we brought Roxy home we weren't sure if the girls would get along or not! They love each other and are so protective of both of us, especially me. I can be trying to do homework and have one on each side of me, having to touch me, wanting to be thisclose. and it is okay as long as I can still type! But knock on our door and they come up off the couch and are going to get you!

Well, I get to go home to tonight and take care of Matt and rest a little bit. With the pollen count up we are both having allergy junk happening and both need some TLC and comfort food I think, and some serious sleep!

Sasha, Roxy, Benedryl and Sleepless nights

Well first off, I am starting my second week of vacation and it has been super busy. I am hoping to get some more stuff that I want to do done this week!!!

I took Sasha in to have her booster shot and the vet told me that I could do her rabies at the same time after some discussing. Last year was horrible for us so let me go over it again to refresh you.

So when she was 4 months old I took her to the vet for her rabies shot. I took her at 10:30 Saturday morning. I then took her to the bank that I work at to show her off. I was going to go to Petsmart with her but she got sick 3 times at the bank. So on our way home (11:15 am) she was walking around in the front seat and shaking her head and messing with her ears alot. I pulled over to look at her and her right eye was swollen halfway shut and the other eye had started swelling. I of course turned right around and went back to the vet. She was throwing up, swelling and had bumps all over her. I went in and was upset (this is my baby) and they took her right back. They gave her a shot of Vetalog and put Tritop in her eyes for the swelling. As I was paying she was sick again so they gave her Cintrine for the vomitting. They also told me that she would be drinking lots of water and that I could give her liquid benedryl. A syringe full, which I was so worked up that I forgot to ask what size of a syringe. They also asked it she had been stung but it had been two and a half hours since she had been outside. They also said that they had never had a dog react to a rabies vaccine that they normal react to the other shots. On Thursday I was still worried. She just started eating somewhat normal again but she was still drinking lots of fluids. She was also urinating frequently which I would expect but is pooping alot, like everytime that we take her outside. It took her a couple of weeks to get over this and we had to work on the potty training again. She was well worth all the trouble but I felt bad for having to put her through it. I contacted a well know vet on the subject and then found a new vet. I spoke with him about everything and we decided to try it again with different measures and a different brand.

This time we pretreated her with Benedryl, waited 10 minutes and then gave her her rabies shot, the booster, drew some blood and did a fecal floatation to check for heartworms. she came back negative on the heartworms. Her blood work was fine. We sat in the office for 15 minutes or so and I stayed in town for another 45 just to make sure that she wasn't going to have the same reaction as last time. When I left for school at 2:30 she was fine. I have class at 4:30 and 7:20 with breaks halfway in between. I called to check on her everytime and she was doing wonderful. I left class at 10 and got home about 11:30. She was squinting at me when I walked in. I sat down on the couch and called her up to me. She jumped up and I looked at her. She was swelling around the head and neck. There were some bumps, though not as pronounced as last time. I started looking in my dog owners vetrinary handbook and it said 1 -2 mg. per lb of body weight. She weighs 13.6 lbs and I was trying to figure out the conversions since my only syringe was in mL. I decided to give her 3 mL every 5 hours. At midnight I left a message at the office of the vet. I slept on the couch with her and woke her up every couple of hours and made her get up and walk. Then at a little after 8 I called to make sure they had gotten my message. His receptionist said he normally got in at 8:20 and he would call me when he got in. At 8:20 on the dot he called and we discussed what I had done and what needed to be done now. I did the right thing by giving her the benedryl. I was giving her a weak dose and could have actually given her a full 5 mL or a single pill. We decided to give her a 25 mg pill twice a day for a couple of days. She went everywhere with me for the next two days and got super special treatment. Which meant Roxy did too!!! We decided to try a 3 year vaccine and see if it made a difference and as well as pretreating her, treating her with benedryl for up to a week after.

Roxy also got some news as well. She has been breaking out on her belly ever since we brought her home. The vet thought it was a staph infection so she was put on two rounds of antibiotics that seemed to help but she ended up breaking out again afterwards. We started watching and checking her belly every evening and after we would come in from outside. We figured out that when she would go out with us to mow that she would lay down in the grass and would start breaking out in hives and they would turn into scabs. So after making this discovery I spoke with the vet and she is on Benedryl 50 mg twice a day and seems to be doing wonderful. The breaking out doesn't seem to be happening. So hopefully this will take care of it and she won't have to go on a steriod.

I just want to let everyone know what was going on!!!! Keep my updated on everything that is going on with you!!

Sasha + Linguistics = Nope!!!!

I came home early last night for work and was looking forward to relaxing for a bit... But that didn't happen at all! I walk in and Sasha gave herself away that she had done something. I walk through the house to let Roxy out of her kennel and realized what she had done...

My book bag is a messenger type bag that can handle my books for when I have two classes a night. A normal school book bag was too small for the books, binders, pencils, pens, stapler and all that other stuff that I need. I had set it by the desk that the computer and all my school stuff is on. The one thing that I didn't do was zip it up. I got home and she had pulled my small dictionary, my big binder, my book and some dividers to put in a binder out. The binder was okay, the dividers were demolished and she decided that she didn't like linguistics any more than I do... she tore the back cover off and the last page - which are both charts that look like they are important and something that I am going to need.

I sent a message off the Roxanne (my lifesaver) and she loved the story but also said that she would make me a copy of the pages that I need. So I am going to go to Wal-mart, get some red duct tape (it will match the intact front cover), and fix my book. I have to learn to understand and like it and so does Sasha!!! So hopefully I will be able to keep my books away from her and use them for the good that they are made to teach me. And I am hoping to pass it the first time!!!

School, boat and all things controversial....

To start off, we don't have a functional boat. The lower unit is ruined so we are waiting on insurance and all that stuff to get done. We are hoping that it will hurry so we can get it back.

I started school this week. It is quite interesting... It is good though. I think I am going to enjoy my classes, just the fact of not getting home until midnight both nights, working and doing homework is always hard to juggle.

Lastly, we went floating this last weekend. I had the most fun. We are going to go again soo so maybe I can take some pictures and post them!!!

Fishing trouble

Thought I would put some pics up of the girls and Matt. They "help" him when he is practicing with his bow. They even run up with him when he is getting the arrows out of the targets. As you can see there are cows in the background and Sasha LOVES to bark at them.

Other news Matt was fishing a tournament today and something broke on the boat. We think that when he hit something it messed something big up.... so we have to hurry and get it fixed, he has a guide trip in a couple of weeks and a tournament in a month.... So I had to go to Martin's, get the boat trailer and truck and meet them to load it. It took them to get an hour and a half to get from Drowning Creek to the mouth of Duck Creek and then they had run the batteries down that power the trolling motor so GRDA pulled them on in!!! I was glad 'cause I was waiting on them. I had spent an hour trying to get a hold of the tournament director. They only listed home phone numbers, not cell phone numbers so I was trying to track down a cell phone number and then told me that they couldn't trailer the boat in, they had to send their fish in with some other contestant. They didn't get to weigh in so it was a huge waste of money and will end up costing us more but I am glad that it wasn't during a more expensive tournament!!! So five hours later we get home...and still don't know for sure what is going on with the motor.

On better news the girls sat outside with us tonight. The weather has been cool in the evenings so they are able to stay out with us longer. We love to watch them play with each other. They think they are the size of the other one and have tons of fun with each other. They run around, tackling & rolling. Roxy loves the water and we have a water pan that is bigger just for her. She runs over there and sticks her face in it up to her eyes and then takes of running again. They are looking so cute!!! I love the picture of them together.

I don't know how many of you know but I have a tattoo on my foot for my mom. She passed away from breast cancer 2o years ago this year. Dave did such an awesome job on it and it is my favorite one out of my 8 that I have. As we were sitting out it looked good and I thought that I needed to show everyone a good picture of it!!!

One more week and I am back to school. I can't wait! 3 classes this semester and that means three closer to my degree. Can't wait!

Amost time for school..

So I went to go get my fingerprints scanned yesterday. There was a prisoner who wasn't happy at all about his cell. In his words it stunk, he was tired of being mistreated, this was a blankety blank blank jail, blah blah blah. It sounded to me like he had spent too much time in jail if he was able to critique it!!! But I got my prints done and ran them right to the post office so they were in the mail yesterday!!! Hopefully I will get my license soon, especially since Matt got his on Wednesday. I am sooo jealous!

So after that I ran to Broken Arrow to get my books. After 20 minutes and $300 later I have a parking permit (I was the 57th person to get one!) and books for my 3 classes. I have one book that is little bitty, like the size of a paper back and it was $74 for that sucker!!! But it will all be okay, on towards the goal.

So then I went to Hobby Lobby. That is one of the best stores in my opinion. I love to do all the crafty stuff and needed some more supplies so I was all pumped. Plus, this store is over double the size of the one in Joplin. The only down side was they were remodeling so it was kinda hard to find things, but I found all sorts of other good things too!!!

If anyone knows a little bit about miniature schnauzers they love to talk and bark. Sasha can watch you knock on something and will still bark. Roxy the lab hasn't done much barking. Before the last couple weeks I can count the times that I heard her bark on both of my hands. She has started getting more protective and let me tell you, that bark would scare the pee out of me!!! I had fallen asleep on the couch and looked comfortable so Matt left me there and both of the girls stayed in there with me. He was thirsty and walked through the living room to get to the kitchen and none of us woke up. When he opened the cabinet doors though both of the girls hit the floor and started talking - Roxy was the first one that I heard. I used to think that Roxy's size and Sasha's bark would scare someone but now it is both of their barks and Roxy's size!!! so if you come near my house that is (hopefully) what you will hear-both of my babies barking!!!

A new work week!!!

Well this week is going to be busy! I have been trying to get my concealed weapons permit for about 3 months now. We went to the class in May and then got fingerprinted, sent everything off, got my fingerprints back, went and was fingerprinted again, sent it off.... And I got them back AGAIN. So now I am going to go to Claremore to have them scanned. I was really hoping to having the permit in hand before I started back to school, but since I start in two weeks I don't think that is going to happen!!!

Speaking of school, since I am going to Claremore to get the fingerprints done, I am going to go ahead and go to Broken Arrow and get my books for school!! I am getting excited about it! I love school (even though Matt says I am crazy), I love the routine, and even though I feel like I am going crazy sometimes, I love the homework! I am taking 3 classes this semester where I normally take two and one of them is really hard!!!! I am also taking them on back-to-back nights (Mon. & Tues.). So that means two nights in a row that I won't be home before midnight. But there is a goal in mind and it will be worth it in the end!!!

Fish Bait!!!

So Matt and a couple of guys from work were going fishing. I am helping them load the boat and what do we see????

Fish bait!!! Actually they started out on the stands that the electronic fish finders go on so we were laughing that they could "find fish" or the fish would find them! We have been finding more frogs and toads around the house this year. We really have to watch the girls and make sure that they don't eat them. Roxy has already tried that and scared me to death!

I am baby-sitting a yellow lab for one of the guys tonight and it has been fun but tiring. He is much more active than our girls!!! And somewhat destructive too! But they have fun playing with him while he is here. And it will make them sleep well tonight!

first time

Well... my first blog. I am going to try and keep this up so that everyone, including those who don't have myspace can stay updated with us!!! They two babies that I mentioned are getting soooo big.. Sasha the miniature schnauzer was a year old June 24th. She weighs a whole 12 lbs!!! Roxy is a white lab and weighs 70 lbs at 9 months old!!! She is going to be huge!!!

We have just been fishing, fishing, fishing. Matt has a couple of tournaments next month that we are fishing for. I am getting ready for school and cross stitching stuff for christmas stuff. I am going to enjoy going back to school but I will miss being able to stitch as much. I am still working on my chicken scratch to make a quilt for us and that will happen soon. (let's hope!!!)