Doggies enjoy Christmas too!

Tonight:

Our Christmas Tree

Hello Deer!

Last night when we got home from town, we pulled the whole way up the drive and were backing into the garage and this doe stayed there licking the salt block the whole time! Usually they all run, I guess she was really hungry. :) I turned the flash off on the camera I carried in my purse and so dh's headlights are all the light I had. I can't believe she hung out the whole time.

Family room pics and dogs

Our basement is a partial basement and so it is one big family room you walk into. Little by little it is becoming our cozy little space to relax.

Before Picture

After:

The ellyptical is pushed back enough in this nook that you can't even see it if you are just relaxing on the couch.

Pepper:

Mia:

And I think they like each other in this pic:

:)

Idaho

I know Cheryl includes at the end of her blogs her praises and prayers. Since she is unable to do so, I thought I send out one on mine, for her. They only have power to three of the rooms in their house, likely caused by a huge storm last night where lightening probably hit and fried some things. So no internet, no tv.

So prayers and thoughts going to Idaho that they get the problem solved fast. You know that when they are getting entertainment out of me sending texts, that things are boring! ;) hehe.

No really though, hoping it all gets solved. Power company says things are good on their end, so not sure what that could mean for them.

Arrangements

We have a wedding to attend in Michigan. I made the arrangements today so that I would have everything taken care of. This is for a buddy of dh's from work. Just another devoted post to showing how much I love to spend money in this state!

Plane Tickets=328
Hotel=357
Kenneling of Dogs=152
Total=837

On the plus side of things, I went to the MVA and there is no fee for them to issue me something stating I really am a female and not a male as my license states. I just have to take my birth certificate in.

Can I get some Zzzzzz's?

I really want to go to sleep. I Really really do. However, I can't because I keep coughing. WHEN am I going to feel better. I'm coughing so much that dh is probably awake from it and I'm not even in the same room. This is beyond frustrating. Who wants to be awake at 2am? Not me unless there is something to do and unfortunately I browsed online all dang evening so nothing left for me to do.

I watched a movie earlier. PS, I love you. It was okay. I had read the book. The book is better. I don't like the guy that played her husband in the movie. Nor do I like the 'possible love interest Daniel'. But either way, it was on my list of movies to see and so I did.

Ok that pretty much sums up things to date. HA.

Birthday Wishes

Just a special blog post to wish Cheryl a Happy Birthday!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Sick AGAIN...

I've decided the state of MD must surely be cursed, because this is the THIRD time I've been sick, and I've only lived here for ummm 3 months. Let's see...The second week of April I was sick for a couple weeks with bad allergies. The end of June I was sick for THREE weeks with even worse allergies. And NOW I'm sick with what appears to be the flu/cold. Yesterday my body ached so terribly, I was miserable. I tried to muddle through it thinking of all the people that have worse off sickness than me. But ugh! Thank goodness I was off work yesterday, I would not have made it that is for sure. Today I woke up feeling a lot better, thanks to some comtrex cold meds. I just have the green snotty nose now. eeek ewww and more yuck.

I wasn't even hungry yesterday and dh even wanted to go for Chinese. I said NO to chinese. UGH! I've been robbed of my happy food by this dang cold, this state!!!!!!

So...is there a better state I should look into relocating too, because I am not happy with MD right now. It is cursed in the sick department and the state sucks all the money out of me too hence previous posts. HA!

The original family

before Mia came along, this is what it was. haha. We couldn't get her to sit still in this picture (Taken when we were back in PA a few weeks ago). DH needs to smile more!

For good measure...this is one of Mia in the backyard a week after we moved in. She loves it obviously:

I'm made of money

Well Pepper still has a UTI. They are sending her pee away to 'grow the bacteria' in it and see what they can use to kill it. I swear, only my dog would have to have the bacteria in their pee grown... Once they figure that out, then they will know what medicine will kill it that we can put her on. They sent her home with a different medicine so we will see if this helps at all. Fingers crossed. The UTI has cost us to date: 500 and some dollars. HA! I like putting in how much stuff cost, because it seems since I moved to MD, it is sucking the $$ right out of me. So just humor me and let me continue to do it.

Pepper doesn't seem to be in any pain with the UTI, she just randomly pees when she is laying down sometimes. We have blocked her access to all furniture. I know it's not her fault she can't help it, I just hope she gets better.

Pretty much that is all that is going on.

Shout out Happy Birthday to my bff in Florida, Heather! Happy Birthday!

oh deer! and other events from today

so As I was typing my last blog post, I see 4 deer run through my front yard!!!! YAY!!! I hurry up and grab the camera but really can't get many decent pics from where I'm at but I wanted SOMETHING on camera. So this is what I got:

Then I zoomed in and cropped this one to see better:

so four dear ole' deer were hanging out for a little bit with me. :)

On to other pressing issues from the day besides the dentist.

I woke up at 7am, dilligent as ever...that on my day off I would be productive! I wanted to get the MVA (motor vehicle association) early so that I could finally get our registrations from PA to MD plates.

I got there around 9am (they open at 8:30). They messed with all the paperwork and then they could not find the title on dh's jeep. UGH! When I had called...they couldn't find the title on my jeep (although they did finally find both had been sent by our lien holder). So the roles were reversed in person.) We had been waiting for our lienholder to get the titles to them. We had the inspections done a couple weeks ago. It is just a big process. So anyways that took up some time and I was going nutty. However they did find the title and all that so happily that is taken care of.

700.00 later and we now have two vehicles registered in MD with MD plates.

Can this state suck any more money out of me since I moved!? Probably so.

Stripped of my crown

So today was the big appointment to get the crown on my tooth and I'd officially be able to say I had a 'crown' and waahlaa that must mean I'm a princess.

Imagine my utter surprise when I was stripped of my crown before the process even started!!!!!

I sat in the dreaded dentist chair and the dentist came in with my x-rays from the root canal specialist and their own x-ray. The dentist proceeded to tell me that I could not get my crown today because I needed my wisdom tooth removed first. *enter shock petrified face here*

I looked at the dentist and I literally said 'you're kidding right?' and she said 'no the crown is not able to go on until that tooth is removed that it is impacting the tooth that needs the crown. WAAAAAAAAAH.

They sent me in for a panaramic x-ray and when that was done the dentist said 'isn't that pretty' and I was looking at my mouth and all the teeth and ummm I saw nothing pretty about it.

So the dentist says what they can do today is take the temporary filling out and put a more permanement one in. I explained to this dentist that I have no dental insurance and can anything wait until November when I would. She said dental insurance would help tremendously with the crown and that I could wait for November for that. The wisdom tooth however needed to go.

Booohoo. I said I needed a price and she said they would check on it for me. (I'm very money concious)

Then I asked about being knocked out. She told me they do not knock you out. Double waaaah. That it is just a local anethsia. I told her 'I'm definately going to die then'. (I do not handle these things well).

The dentist that will do the wisdom tooth came in to talk to me and poke and prod at it and he told me that right not it has to come out and that there could be a possibility with how fragile the tooth already is that it is impacting (the one with the root canal), that it is possible that when he is extracting it and the pressure is being applied that my tooth that I had my root canal on may break. OH GEE, ISN'T THAT DANDY. I spent 1550.00 to have a dang root canal and now the freaking tooth might break during an extraction of the wisdom tooth.

So she proceeds the do the filling and all that stuff and after she is done a few minutes later she comes back and says 'Dr. Alvani (the dentist that does the wisdom teeth) said he could take out the wisdom tooth now since you are already numb. I looked at her and my exact words were 'hell no'. and I got up out of the chair and she helped me to the reception desk.

#1. I didn't even feel THAT numb and they want to take out a wisdom tooth...I DON'T THINK SO. They better give me about 5 more shots....

#2. I didn't even know how much it was going to cost.

#3. I came in for a crown and I go out with a wisdom tooth pulled...I DON'T THINK SO.

#4. I needed time to think this over.

I told them #4. That I needed time to think this over and digest this information.

I really think they think I'm crazy there.

So $350.00 later, I have a permanent post in my tooth, no crown and I need a wisdom tooth. $350.00 more and I can have my wisdom tooth out.

Total cost to date for related dentistry work for one tooth: 2104.00 (this includes the cost for two consulations.)

Total cost after wisdom tooth is extracted: 2454.00

Total cost if tooth breaks during wisdom teeth pulling: priceless.

Pray for a Cure

One Year later.

Love you gram.

Sweet People

Today I served a table of two, their total bill was $29.00. When they paid, they put the cash in the book and told me they didn't need any change. They left me a $40.00 tip. How sweet is that? A few weeks back, I had waited on a totally different couple...and they left me a 40$ tip as well!! They told me to fill my tank up with gas. It makes me smile to think of how generous they were and willing to share, especially with the way prices have gone up lately.

I had lunch at my mom's restaurant the other day, she paid the bill and I only left her $10 tip. hehe. I better go to tipping school after what these people left.

On other sweet people notes, everyone back home commented on how skinny I was looking and how I had lost weight since moving. I'm pretty sure this is from serving. My BIL's girlfriend told me she used to wear a pedometer back in her days of serving and she would average 10-15miles a shift!!! I am going to start wearing one now, it has peeked my interest. I am down 10lbs and this is the only thing I can think it could be as I haven't been to the gym since I moved.

Road Trip

I don't know when I'll have time to return emails since I have to work and just got home so I figured I'd just do a quick blog update for everyone to see (even though only three people read it, hahahha).

Anyways we made it to PA and back. We had like 36hrs to do everything. hahahaha!!! We got to my brothers Tuesday night around 11pm. We stayed up and talked with him and my sis-n-law. Then we went to bed, woke up about 8am on Thursday morning, got ready to go, headed into Monroeville which took a little over an hour. Went to his grandma's, met with Mike's mom and gram and brothers girlfriend. Had a very nice lunch and chatted and caught up. We took the dogs with us so they wouldn't wreck my brothers house. hehe. They were kept in the basement while we all hung out upstairs. It was raining so we couldn't picnic outside. We ate there and caught up for a couple hours. Headed back to my brothers, where we met my parents, aunt, uncle, grandpa (who was in from TX) and dawn and Brad got there a little later. We ate again, hehehe. We stayed with them until about 5:30/6 and then headed to Indiana, pa where we used to live and went to the firemans convention/carnival and saw lots of our old friends. We got back to my brothers around 11pm last night. We were tired, went to bed, woke up this morning, went to my mom's restaurant and had a quick breakfast/lunch with my grandpa/aunt/uncle and my dad was there for a little too, and made my mom wait on us. ;) Was there for about 45minutes and then we headed out. Went back to my brothers to clean up our mess, vaccum up some dog hair, get things ready, wear Mia out playing ball, and then headed towards MD. Stopped in Indiana to see a friend real quick on way out for about 20minutes. Then hit the road. We stopped at the vet on the way to get Mia a kennel shot cause it is super cheap here than to do it in MD vet. Got back to MD around 6:30pm and unloaded and swept and shampooed the jeep.

Here are a couple pictures of the doggies:

Pepper rested her head on the suitcase for a lot of the trip home haha!:

Mia thinks she is queen of the highway and prefers to have her head out the window sizing up all the vehicles coming past, if she likes ya, she lets you pass....if she doesn't she literally bites her chumps at you as you come past. It is hilarious. She bites at passing cars...only my dog would do that haha!:




Mia finally decides it's okay to take a break for awhile:

Are we there yet??????:

Nice to Mice

A friend once told me: 'Nice to mice will only get you more mice'.

Turns out, she should have skipped the gig on being a meterologist and worked for the exterminator.

We had the bug people out today. By the time the guy left, I felt like I had creepy crawlies crawling all over me (he showed me lots of things around the outside perimter of the house. Ewww. When I got home from work I started a master cleaning program. Seriously, I just felt like I had to do something. Ick and eww. I mean, I didn't even really want to sleep here I felt like, I just want them to come and spray and do their thing. Gosh, why didn't I call them sooner. I don't feel like our house is a pig sty, but I also felt like there was more I could do to keep things feeling 'clean'. I'm a procrastinator ya know, so there is always something to do.

Anyways, the price was right and hopefully with their mice extermination efforts and their spray of the house...and we are gonna get on the quarterly plan for the spray...it should prove effective and we will be bug free inside!

I was impressed with the guy that came to do the inspection today. He owned the company, he was easy to talk to, was very knowlegeable with all the questions I had. He was very thorough, he was more thorough than the dang guy that did the home inspection! The bug guy went the whole way through our crawl space in the attic. I was impressed. I had a horribly mean prank thought when he was crawling around in the crawl space. Since you access it from a closet and need a ladder to get up in there....he was up there crawling around and I was like 'I should take the ladder and move it, so he's stuck up there. How awfully mean of me. But ya know, I had to do something while I was waiting for him to look around. I had to keep entertained. Of course I did not do that though. hehe.

I also at one point thought I should ask him if anyone was living up there, cause I had read online not too long ago where some homeless woman was living in the attic space above this dude's closet and he didn't even realize it for like a year. Boy, bet the bug guy would have been bugging out by the time he left, had I really did these things.

Okay, enough about the bugs.

:)

What's that smell?

Stinky....stinky....

Oh wait, that is the dirty laundry that I haven't been able to do for a few days! My work clothes never smell good after being in the restaurant all day, so it is best to wash them ASAP. However with the laundry room getting its overhaul, I had to wait. I expressed to dh how important it was that the washer and dryer be available when I got home from work tonight....as I wil have NO clean uniforms left.... bet you think I'm gonna say that he wasn't done and I couldn't wash clothes? ;) WRONG!!! He had it all ready to go! He had even did some laundry already! So I got my darks in the dryer now, and my whites in the wash. I'm hoping the electric doesn't go out so I can get the whites dryed too! (having a storm).

I'm feeling really exhausted so I am going to get to bed soon after I post this. Actually I've been feeling exhausted for days. Just seems there is lots going on lately. Busy busy. I had been reading a little before bed each night, but I just don't feel up to it tonight. Not to mention the book I want to start is in my jeep and it is storming. hehe. But really, I just want to close my eyes. Usually happens after a long day on my feet at work.

So here is the before picture again of the laundry room:

And then the after pic (it looks so much better in person. The tile is soooo shiny and nice.) Dh does an AWESOME job of laying tile. He is very peculiar about straight lines and such. There is a shadow across all the tile in this pic...I will have to try better in daylight. Also, the room isn't finished painted in some places, and the trim isn't up yet, and have new blinds.:Night Night.

Airing my dirty laundry

Okay, so I'll admit, the laundry room needs some work. New paint, new floor, even a new water heater, which we didn't find out until today. That is always exciting, right?! I mean come on!!!! Who doesn't want to go water heater shopping?! Who doesn't want to spend MORE money on yet something else UNEXPECTED?!! *raising hand* ME ME ME ME!!! NOT!!!

Probably we wouldn't have noticed right away that it needed replaced, except dh wanted to start work in the laundry room tonight and rip of the floor to be ready to lay tile. I had a pair of old shoes under the laundry basin for some unknown reason and when I pulled them out, the one pair was soaking wet. First we thought the water basin sink was leaking, nope...wasn't that. Then dh said the washer must be leaking, which to that I groaned so miserably. I was not ready to fork over that kinda money!! PLEASE NO! Then he deduced it must be the water heater. Sure enough when he removed the water heater to get the floor ripped up, it had been leaking underneath. The floor underneath was very icky.Glad we caught that now. Apparently the water heater is over 20 years old...according to the tag on it we found. It reads like 1980....I was born in 1981, therefore I can do the math easily on that one!!! ;)

So we ended up making the trip into town to get the water heater. Fun stuff. Try not to be jealous ya'all!

Here is the before picture of the laundry room (remarkable that I remembered to take one!):

And here is it, a work in progress a few hours later:

Root Canal Therapy

They call it root canal therapy. I see NO therapy about it. This isn't like I'm going in for a massage. Therapy just makes it sound more appealing. I'm sure that is why they tagged that on the end.

I slept in late, and did some random chores before the 'big date' at 2pm. Once I got there I read a book in the waiting room for about 15min till I was called in. Once in the room, I had a view of the lake which was pretty. But hello, when I'm laid back on a chair, the view of the lake will be gone, so that is only so soothing for so long.

I was nervous and as usual I was sarcastic and dramatic at everything they said. I warned them I might pass out from the idea of it all.

So to get started they gave me 'saftey glasses'. oh yes, they were like 'you need to wear these safety glasses and keep your eyes closed. I was like 'WTH, I have to wear safety glasses? Do I need a hard hat too?' Like seriously...SAFETY GLASSES!!!! Yah, that made me a little uneasy!

So they explained a lot to me, and then they got started. The numbing didn't bother me, although the needle to the gum/roof area did pinch. Then they did tests to make sure it was all numb and I wasn't feeling nothing. In fact, I was starting to relax because the dentist was so nice and funny. He would just say random things to make you feel at ease. Nothing that would make me burst out laughing, but just talk that calmed me down cause he was 'on my level' and not some superior dentist in my mind.

The only part that made me go 'eeeek' in my mind, was I could never tell when the 'drill bit' was going up into the canal, but when he would pull it out, I could feel how long and far up in it was and that gave me the heebie jeebies. Yikes. I get chills just thinking of that now.

However, all that being said, it took 1 1/2hrs to do and really, I never felt like time was dragging and wishing it were over. I was completely relaxed by the end and really it was no different than getting a tooth filled, it just took longer and due to horror stories and never having one before, I was nervous. Which I'm sure is normal. I could definately go through another one if it was done by him. In fact I don't know that I'd want a general dentist to do one, not with the experience I had with the specialist!

They told me I wouldn't feel pain when the numbness wore off but that I might feel a little discomfort so I do have to take some advil for a couple days. No biggie. Hopefully all is well up there.

I also do have to go back to regular dentist to have the tooth crowned, as it is a temporary filling in there now. So once I have the 'crown' on my tooth, I will officially be a princess since I'll have a real crown!!! ;)

So all in all the root canal THERAPY really wasn't that bad, and I allow them to keep that name for it now.

1550.00 dollars later, I'm home and still alive. :)