Nobody loves my quite like my dog does.

I wonder how many seething arguments this song will cause in America.  I laughed pretty hard when I first heard it, but I can only imagine how many wives will want to slug their husbands over it.  :)

Enjoy!

Missing Dog? Not quite.

Sometimes I question our ability to raise a child.

Last night I locked my dog in the bathroom, then wandered the neighborhood in the dark looking for him because I thought he was lost.  We'd left the door open for a few minutes to air out the apartment & then couldn't find him.  I notified all my neighbors & the apartment complex & even went so far as to put a Missing Dog post on Facebook before I found him.

I'm still not sure how long he was in the bathroom for... maybe an hour?  He never barked or whined... even when I was calling his name.

Then Josh & I were both doing work on our laptops for about an hour.  When I finally looked up, the house looked kind of smoky.  Sure enough... there was a candle on the bar in our kitchen & it was burning the piece of wall overhang that was about 18 inches above it!  It wasn't an actual fire, just a smoke stain on my white wall...  I think the magic eraser will take care of it.

But really?  We're both functioning adults... yet we can't manage simple tasks...  a baby may just do us in!

And so it begins...

We look like we've done a lot more to our nursery than we actually have.  Truth is, we have done 3 things:

1) Got rid of the bed.

2) Spent 15 minutes at a consignment store & bought a crib, mattress, bedding set, and chest of drawers

3) Put the crib together (okay, Josh went solo on this one) because we had an actual baby we were taking care of that needed to sleep in there!

But hey- it looks like we've done a ton!  Truth is, we're not keeping this bedding set.  It came with the crib.  At first we thought we might keep it, but the more I look at it, the less I want to have a pink & brown room.  I was going for more orange, green, blue, yellow, and a touch of pink--- and this bedding set just isn't going to work.  In fact, we're probably not going to get a traditional bedding set at all.

That's not the point of this post.  The point is the problem we're going to have to deal with in about 5 months!  Check out these shots-- all taken within about 30 seconds of each other.  Pay attention to the activities going on with the animals.  In every picture, there is at least 1 animal underneath the crib, or on his/her way out from under the crib.

Look closely-- it's not just that black blur-- look on the left side of the crib at the little bottom going underneath!

Ahh- the cat bolts from under the crib, dashes out of the room, then comes back to taunt Jigsaw, who is still under the crib!

Yes... it will be quite interesting!  It wouldn't be such a huge problem if Jigsaw fit better under the crib. When he walks underneath it, he bumps up the mattress, and then the entire crib comes off the ground when he gets out from under it.

I don't think crib skirts are for this family!

My dog likes to dress up.

Our dogs love to play in our laundry piles on laundry day, which is fine, since we're about to wash them anyway.  But the other day, Jigsaw decided to dress up.  If I didn't know better, I swear he did it to get a laugh out of me, because he acted as if everything was perfectly normal... and even let me run, grab my camera, and walked to where lighting was bright enough to take a picture.

Is he... was he... posing for me?

I love that my dog & I have the same sense of humor.  :)

Little Bites

Sometimes there are little things that crack me up, but aren't enough to make a blog post, so I've been collecting them & wanted to share a few with you from the last week.  Little bits of my life, and all of these happen to be related to the baby:

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Josh: I love hearing you eat... it means our baby is getting nourishment.

Me: I'm eating Skittles, babe.

Josh: (sigh)


Me: It's like fruit.

Josh: (snort)


*To be clear, I wasn't chomping with my mouth open.  We were curled up in bed & after an obscene amount of morning sickness, I found some Skittles in my purse.*

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My cat thinks vomiting is a team sport.  She seriously comes & cheers me on, which is actually kind of nice, since Josh is curled up in the fetal position on the other side of the house singing loudly so he can't hear me... because then he would be joining in on this team sport himself.

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While having a conversation about finding out the sex of our baby, a convo between our friend & her 9 (?) year old daughter, Madisen, who is sooo excited about our little one & was hoping for twins!

Madisen: Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?

Me: Nope, a couple more months.

Her mom: What do you think it'll be, Madisen?

Madisen: Well, since you're only having one, I think it's either going to be a boy or a girl.

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"I'm pretty sure you're allergic to being pregnant."  -Carlyn

Quarter of a century.

I've just always wanted to say that.  "I'm a quarter of a century old."

And as of 6 something this morning, I was!

So happy birthday to me.  I feel like 25 is no longer a kid.  Josh & I were always 'THE young couple.'  That token couple in every crowd that was way younger than everyone else.  Well, those days are gone!  Not only are we not that young anymore, but people our age are married, some are having kids... life is moving on!

A few random facts about me on my birthday:

1) I was born on Friday the 13th... the same day & year as the Olsen twins.

2) I was the first girl after my parents had 3 boys.  My parents didn't find out I was a girl until the day I was born.  The church wanted to throw them a shower beforehand, but they resisted.  After finding out I was a girl, the church insisted on throwing them a shower.  Therefore, I was actually at my own baby shower.

3) My dad had just bought a new SLR camera before I was born.  That, mixed with the fact that I was the first girl resulted in me having more photos of my childhood than any of my other siblings... almost combined (there are 4 other siblings)!  Maybe that's where my love for cameras began?

4) I lived in the same house from the time I was born until the time I got married.  The only exception was my college dorm room which, let's face it, I barely stayed in.

5) I was not one for college.  I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so took all the basic courses first.  Finally, I chose a double major & graduated a semester early.  College life was not my game.  I was ready for marriage and settling down to a real job to make money & pay bills.

6) I remember seeing cloth diapers when I was little and loving how cute those little diaper pins were.  I've always secretly wanted to cloth diaper, and we're going to try it on this little one!  Thank goodness they've come a long way since the days of those diaper pins!

7) People told us that if we waited until we were 'ready' to have kids, we'd never have them.  Not so.  We planned & then waited until we were ready.  And guess what?  We're not 60!

8) I always said I wanted to get married as a teenager.  At 17, I realized how dumb of a goal that was.  That same year I also met Josh Fowler.  I was 19 when we got married.

9) I have some sort of 'touching OCD' that makes me want to make things I touch even.  If I touch it with my right hand, I generally have to with my left as well, with the same amount of pressure applied.  If I touch a certain texture with one hand, I have to touch it with the other, too.  It's not too bad- I can overcome it if I have to, but my husband sure gets a fun kick out of it!

10) The only dog that has ever been 'mine' is Jigsaw.  He was born when I was in 8th grade & I still have him.  He's such a fabulous little guy!

Kitteh.

I'm not a 'cat person' per se, but I do love my particular cat.  It's because she's awesome and puts up with a tons of stupid stuff that Josh & I make her do.  She also does all the really cute cat stuff like lick her paw and rub her face with it to clean herself.  It's adorable.

But she's not an outside cat.  Now that we live on the 2nd floor, though, we let her hang out on the porch every now and then.  She loves it.  Totally acts like she's the queen of the jungle and the porch is her kingdom.

Surveying her subjects.

So the other day, the lighting was gorgeous and I closed the door so she was forced to be my photography subject.  She was sort of okay with it, but still acted like a teenager that was being inconvenienced by her parents.

"Look at me... I'm posing perfectly with a pinecone... are we done yet?"

"Okay... this is dumb now."

I want a giraffe!

Josh sat me down the other day and told me what he thinks our next pet should be.  I laughed before he even told me because we already have 3 pets in a 900 square foot apartment.

"Just hear me out."

"Okay."

"A giraffe."

"Okay.  I don't think it would fit."

Then he showed me this website for Sokoblovsky Farms.  Let me tell you... Petite Lap Giraffes are the cutest thing in the entire world!

Too bad they're not real.  I mean, I would totally dig having one of these cuties curled up at the foot of my bed, and I wouldn't even mind the recommended weekly bubble bath.

Pretty please, can I pretty please have one?  I would take it on walks all the time.  All. the. time.  Who wouldn't want to show off their pet giraffe?

A day at the 'rents.

Once upon a time I went back to my parents house to visit.  Actually, it was a few weeks ago.  Anywho, we're driving home from church and my dad called my brother.  He was already at my parent's house and had rode his horse there.

Okay, so that sounds slightly odd, but not totally, right?  Well, my parents live close to the top of a mountain.  And this horse wasn't used to having someone ride it.  What would be a 5 minute drive in a car was a 45 minute excursion with this horse.  I won't call it a ride because he didn't actually ride it the whole way.  He was teaching it and getting it used to riding so that his daughter can ride it.

And of course Rylie had to ride on it.

And since Rylie & I matched and I'm halfway terrified of horses, everyone thought it would be a good idea for me to get on it.  If only they had video of me trying to mount the horse.  It could be a YouTube sensation-- I'm not very talented and I'm fairly certain I nearly tipped the horse on her side.

And since Rylie and I are wearing matching shirts, we had to get a shot together.

Fun fact:  I did not actually ride the horse. Just sat on it long enough to take a picture and then I bailed.  Like I said, I'm halfway terrified of them!

Rylie... not so much... she loved the thing.  Here you can hear her sweet voice:

But when she got tired of riding the horse she just moved on to pinching the dog & playing the banjo with her Paw.

And in case you're actually still reading at this point, here's one of her climbing the stairs... too cute!

From Patrick to Merle.

So March is one of my favorite months!  Did you know that?

It is!  Why?  Because it has one of my favorite holidays in it... St. Patrick's Day!  I love that day for several reasons:

I love green.  I have brown eyes and brownish/reddish hair.  Green was made for people like me!

I like the name Patrick.  It's a good, solid name that no one can make fun of.  It's not an 'old' name or a 'young' name.  It's good.  And if that's not reason enough: Patrick Dempsey.  Yes, please!

It's Jigsaw's birthday!  Jigsaw has been my dog since I was in the 8th grade.  He is an absolutely awesome dog, and this year he'll be 11 on St. Patty's Day.  I kind of don't want it to be his birthday because I don't want him to get older!  Bonus: Jigsaw has red hair and he was born on an Irish holiday!

C'mon-- any dog that lets me do this to him is awesome!

I'm part Irish.  So even though I know pretty much nothing about that part of my heritage, it's a little nostalgic because my dad has always told me I'm Scotch-Irish.  

In celebration of one of my favorite months (a close second to June), I also added a favorite quote to my header for the month.  I might just keep it there forever.  It's from Merle Haggard, talking about his songwriting and he said "really the only thing I'm qualified to write about is myself."  I think that fits this blog pretty well.

The Big Three!

A few days ago I was visiting a friend's blog and noticed that she was celebrating her blog's anniversary.  I thought to myself, Self? I wonder when your anniversary is?

I bet you're on to me by now, but today is my three year blogaversary!

Happy Birthday, Occasional Genius!!

In honor of that, and because a lot of my friends have started blogging, I thought I'd share a bit about this blog's past, what brought it to where it is today, and where I plan to take it in the future.

Original post found here.

This blog didn't start 3 years ago with it's first post.  It started on OpenDiary.com as a weight loss journal because, let's face it, writing on the computer was way more fun than writing in an actual diary. That was in high school (circa fall 2001)?

In 2004, the newest and coolest way to have an internet diary, which was quickly being referred to as a 'weblog,' was on Xanga.com.  Oh boy, Xanga not only let you choose the color of your font and background, like Open Diary, but they would let you put annoying flashy things in your background!  So in all my neon-flashy glory, I had a Xanga site.  And I kept it up regularly through the beginning of 2010.

But those blogs were all private to the people that really knew me.  It was my safe haven where I could write what I really wanted and it didn't have to be politically correct or nice.  Through Xanga I made several friends who I still keep up with.  Remember Sheyenne?  I met her during that time.

Then 3 years ago I decided to go public.  I had just graduated college and wanted to write for no particular reason.  So I did.

And over the years, my writing came and went with random frequency.

In 2010 I decided to really take it to the next level and challenged myself to write a post everyday.  For awhile, I wrote two a day. I also was able to get BlogHer to add their ads to this site and make a little extra moola! I became syndicated, which was awesome, by writing about our money struggles in the past.

Overall, it's been a fabulous three years.  Chances are, you just started reading this blog over the past year.  On behalf of me & my dog ('cause he's put in a lot of hard work for this blog), thank you!  It's fun to hear your input and stories and I love reading your comments.  Thank you for being fabulous readers!

A look back at 2010.

Yup... you read the title... I'm doing a look back at 2010.  I went through and chose one (yes, only one!) picture from each month and even linked back to a few of the posts... enjoy!

January.

We rung in the new year with one of our dearest friends, Rebecca.  She's such a strong woman and we had a blast!  To my recollection, I fell asleep before midnight.  :(

February.

February 14th was the launch of Relate Church, which Josh and I were helping out with during their beginning stages. (excuse the crazy editing...)

March.

Rylie joined our family in March!  My brother & his wife have been married 13 years, so it was about time!

April.

In April some of our friends from Atlanta came to visit!  So much fun, and we had lunch at our favorite place in Greenville-- The Lazy Goat.

May.

2010 had many great moments... many.  But being on the Dave Ramsey TV show was definitely one of the biggest highlights! (You can view our portion here) We had been following his principles to get out of debt for 3 years and were finally able to scream We're debt free!! in front of all his viewers.  It felt great to finally be out of debt for good!

June.

You can read this story here, here, and here.  I never intended it to be a series, but it ended up going on for quite awhile. Worst part? Josh was out of town and I didn't have a car to take Max to the vet... so I had to bum rides! I was very thankful for some great friends.

July.

One Friday night Josh & I were looking forward to relaxing as Saturday would start a busy weekend.  Then my dad called and asked if we wanted to come to the Swannanoa Gathering (Part 1 & Part 2). We went, and I'm so thankful. Not only was it a blast, but now that we've moved, we won't be able to do things like that anymore. Carpe diem, eh?

August.

With August came a new job, which was exactly what I needed.  My sister also let me borrow her car for a few months, which was a major blessing!  It did have a few troubles, though... like the door handles fell off!  Thankfully, my dad was able to fix it (Josh was out of town).  But when we pulled the door apart we saw that my brother had clearly done the same thing in the past.

September.

The beginning of September brought a lot of overtime for me, which meant a lot of extra money going to savings.  The last part of September brought a lot of family time... which was fabulous!  This picture was at my parents house when they had to take everything out of their cabinets to run a water line to their new fridge... talk about a mess!  The stuff from the fridge was all in the sink and everything from the cabinets was, well, everywhere else!

October.

What a month of anticipation! Josh resigned from his day job to do music, and was almost immediately contacted by a church in Virginia. I interviewed, and was offered a permanent position at the company where I was a temp. We spent as much time enjoying life as possible, including going to my old high school football rivalry game, and enjoying fabulously free dates in downtown Greenville.

November.

All the anticipation of October came to life in November.  I had to turn down the job offer (which was a dream job) because... Josh was offered the position in Virginia!  I have to admit, it stung a little to turn it down, but we both knew that Virginia was where we needed to be. So we packed up and moved right after Thanksgiving.

December.

At the beginning of the year we were still settling into our apartment in Greenville.  And by December, we were settling in a new apartment 8 hours away.  Funny where life takes you sometimes, but we know that it's where we're supposed to be, and... for the first time... a place where we'll be settled.

Chances are, most of you starting reading this blog within the past year, since that's when I started writing exclusively on here (rather than on a private blog), started working with BlogHerwww.blogher.com, and became syndicated through BlogHer.  I sincerely appreciate your readership and hope you'll stay with me for another year on here!

Just short of a baking disaster.

It's Christmas Eve and I have something very important to ask of y'all.  Tonight around 8 or 9pm, Josh and I will be travelling (with our dogs) to see our families for Christmas day.  We can't leave sooner, and we are hoping to get there before it starts snowing (estimated to be 3am).  It's a 7.5 hour drive.

Please pray for us as we travel. Josh will be very sleepy, so I'm going to try to drive most of the way, and I'm not a great night driver.  Yes, I realize this might be a pretty dumb thing to do, but it means seeing our families on Christmas day, and that means a lot to me!  I appreciate it very much!

Now, tomorrow I will be posting about several things that I've had to keep secret for the past few weeks, but I've been dying to share.  But I can't share until after our Christmas Eve services at church tonight because I don't want to ruin any surprises!

Today, though?  Today I shall share another adventure in my kitchen (it's long, so if you're in a hurry, just scan through the pictures).  If you've been around for any period of time, you know I'm not the best cook, but I went to a friend's house the other night (even though she's not a pet person) and was inspired by her insanely awesome baking skills.

  

It was amazing.  She kept her kitchen all neat and tidy and had every ingredient under the sun.

And she did it all with a smile on her face!

So I took one of her recipes that didn't look too awful hard, and decided to go for it.  I'd never heard of them, but they're called Cake Balls and seemed pretty yummy (and easy!).

First, you just make a cake according to directions.  I decided on a spice cake since it's for Christmas, but it can be done with any kind.

And then once it's baked, you let it cool for a little bit and dump it in a bowl.  :(  This is the sad part.

Then add in a tub of cream cheese icing and mix it all up!

Let it cool a little bit more, then roll it into balls.  I put them on wax paper over a cutting board so I could easily store them in the freezer for at least 2 hours... which is the next step.

 

While they're chillin' in the freezer, I got my toppings ready (and took a nap, which I highly suggest).  You can use sprinkles or whatever else... I used crushed up candy canes.

After at least two hours (or you can leave them overnight) of the cake balls being in the freezer, go ahead and start melting your chocolate for coating them in.

 

If you've ever melted chocolate before, you know how to not do it.  If you haven't, then be prepared because you will mess it up your first time.

Basically, follow the directions on the package... very closely.  On the package, it suggested to break the chocolate into pieces to help it melt faster.

So I did.  I cut them up into smaller pieces with a knife.  I also nearly cut my thumb into smaller pieces.  Don't be like me.

Luckily, it never bled, but it's really tough annoying to finish the recipe with a band-aid wrapped around your thumb, so I suggest using a knife like an adult.

So now we're to the actual dipping part.  I won't lie... this takes forever and it's super messy (especially if you're like me... which you shouldn't be).

Go ahead and turn off your stove.  I dropped a few of the cake balls in the chocolate, then fished them out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip off.  There are better utensils for this, but I don't have them.

 

Then drop them in these cute little muffin cups and sprinkle your topping over them.  Or don't.  I left some of mine as just plain chocolate.

Here's what my little system looked like.

And here is where Jigsaw stayed for the entire time.  Under my feet.  It worked well in his favor, though because...

I dropped a fork full of melted chocolate on the floor.  See all those splatters?  Melted chocolate adheres to linoleum like super glue.  It's amazing.  And dog tongues are apparently the only thing that can get it off other than hard scrubbing.

After a few seconds I made him stop and started trying to clean it up myself.  I quickly got no where, and then brought out the Swiffer, which I'm pretty sure did nothing to help the mess.  So I spent a good 5 minutes scrubbing chocolate off the floor while my chocolate on the stove was melting.

 I warned you to not be like me!

But in the end... success!  They turned out pretty cute!

This is not my worst baking disaster... I have so many more stories that led up to why I don't cook often. But I want to hear yours... what is your worst baking disaster?  Did it happen on a holiday?  That seems to be when we're in a time crunch and trying to keep the house clean all at once... and it never goes well!

Have a merry Christmas and... (shameless plug because I know you'll enjoy it) ... head out to a Christmas eve service at a church this year.  Some churches have a simple candlelight service where you look back on the year and remember what we celebrate at Christmas.  Other churches (like mine) have an all-out bash for Christmas eve.  I've been sworn to secrecy, but let me just say that it's going to be ridiculously awesome!