********AT THIS VERY MOMENT, DOZENS OF BEADS ARE EITHER IN MY KILN OR THE KITCHEN SINK WAITING TO BE CLEANED OF BEAD RELEASE! THERE WILL BE PICS FORTHCOMING THIS WEEK ~ THANK YOU********
This month disappeared on me. Todd was gone for a week in Orlando for a work conference. While he was gone, I got sick with a nasty stomach bug (boo! hiss!) that made me lose ten pounds over two days. It was an effective weight loss method (yay, because it has stayed off over the last two weeks!), but not really how I wanted to do it. Oh well, I'll take the jump start into being better about getting to the gym more often so I can fit into my clothes better. Remember those 200+ cookies I baked in December? They went to my hips. So, so wrong.
Work has been nuts...back to having a healthy sprinkling of late nights working outages. Just thankful it's not like this all the time. Todd was gone again last week for tennis sectionals (where the state championship winning teams play each other) in Mobile, Alabama. I brought Dylan home last Friday while Todd was gone.
Then the girl child got sick this week with a stomach bug that had her throwing up all night (my poor baby!) and us changing out her sheets repeatedly. So lots of stuff going on. Hoping February treats us better healthwise, workwise AND finding more time on the torch!
Meet Dylan. Doesn't he look happy? This is driving home for the first time with a pit stop at Petsmart to pick up a collar that fit him, as well as a name tag with my cell # on it.

I know I had shown you Chance before....we were contemplating naming him Samson or Wilson or a handful of other pretty cool names (thank you to all of you for weighing in with your favorite names!). But then Todd met Chance, who acted a complete spaz (who could blame the sweet boy? he had been penned up in a 4x10ft space for well over a week due to kennel cough and no exercise time). Todd teased that with Chance's jumping, he would knock our piano over.

So Dylan was brought out next and all this sweet boy wanted to do was to sit by our feet and be petted. Dylan didn't jump or dance. He just sat. Very patiently. Waiting to be petted and told how beautiful he was. Dylan wasn't a name we had contemplated, but all four of us liked the name chosen by the rescue and agreed to keep it. After living with us for a week, I think he knows his name now. :)
Dylan weighed in at 68 pounds, which is about 40 pounds underweight. We are feeding him four times a day, instead of two with extra helpings of puppy food thrown in to fatten him up. During his first week with us, he has gained six pounds. He has also started the beginner training class at Petsmart with me on Tuesday nights. And is learning that going up the stairs is not scary (many rescue dogs are scared of doorways and stairs).
Friday was day 8 with us and that was the first day he ventured upstairs on his own (as opposed to me carrying his stubborn/scared self up all the stairs to go to bed each night) and visited Todd over a dozen times throughout the day. He is learning to stay out of the kitchen when we are eating meals and that he must show his manners and sit first before his food bowl will be put down in front of him.
Dylan is a super sweet boy. He is quiet and unassuming; content to sleep most of the day in any cool spot he can find (in front of the fireplace in the family room or out on the back porch). He and Maggie get along well together. She is having fun joining our little 5 minute training sessions throughout the day and is learning with Dylan how to "Watch Me" as I hold a treat in front of my face. We are so glad we found Dylan and look forward to many wonderful years ahead of us with him in our family!
This month disappeared on me. Todd was gone for a week in Orlando for a work conference. While he was gone, I got sick with a nasty stomach bug (boo! hiss!) that made me lose ten pounds over two days. It was an effective weight loss method (yay, because it has stayed off over the last two weeks!), but not really how I wanted to do it. Oh well, I'll take the jump start into being better about getting to the gym more often so I can fit into my clothes better. Remember those 200+ cookies I baked in December? They went to my hips. So, so wrong.
Work has been nuts...back to having a healthy sprinkling of late nights working outages. Just thankful it's not like this all the time. Todd was gone again last week for tennis sectionals (where the state championship winning teams play each other) in Mobile, Alabama. I brought Dylan home last Friday while Todd was gone.
Then the girl child got sick this week with a stomach bug that had her throwing up all night (my poor baby!) and us changing out her sheets repeatedly. So lots of stuff going on. Hoping February treats us better healthwise, workwise AND finding more time on the torch!
Meet Dylan. Doesn't he look happy? This is driving home for the first time with a pit stop at Petsmart to pick up a collar that fit him, as well as a name tag with my cell # on it.
I know I had shown you Chance before....we were contemplating naming him Samson or Wilson or a handful of other pretty cool names (thank you to all of you for weighing in with your favorite names!). But then Todd met Chance, who acted a complete spaz (who could blame the sweet boy? he had been penned up in a 4x10ft space for well over a week due to kennel cough and no exercise time). Todd teased that with Chance's jumping, he would knock our piano over.
So Dylan was brought out next and all this sweet boy wanted to do was to sit by our feet and be petted. Dylan didn't jump or dance. He just sat. Very patiently. Waiting to be petted and told how beautiful he was. Dylan wasn't a name we had contemplated, but all four of us liked the name chosen by the rescue and agreed to keep it. After living with us for a week, I think he knows his name now. :)

Friday was day 8 with us and that was the first day he ventured upstairs on his own (as opposed to me carrying his stubborn/scared self up all the stairs to go to bed each night) and visited Todd over a dozen times throughout the day. He is learning to stay out of the kitchen when we are eating meals and that he must show his manners and sit first before his food bowl will be put down in front of him.
Dylan is a super sweet boy. He is quiet and unassuming; content to sleep most of the day in any cool spot he can find (in front of the fireplace in the family room or out on the back porch). He and Maggie get along well together. She is having fun joining our little 5 minute training sessions throughout the day and is learning with Dylan how to "Watch Me" as I hold a treat in front of my face. We are so glad we found Dylan and look forward to many wonderful years ahead of us with him in our family!