Doggy Torture

The corgi, Dixie, is hilarious. She's very smart when she wants to be and she has favorite words that get her all excited. A few of these are "puppy", "ball", "cookie" and the best.. "outside".

We call our dogs puppies, even though Bear is 5 years old and Dixie is right behind him at 4. Cookies are any kind of treat or nommy goodness. Ball is ANY toy, whether it is hers, or belongs to a cat (or Tim...) and of course, outside means we're going to go OUT IN TO THE GREAT WIDE YONDER!

My favorite form of Doggy Torture is to insert any of these words into a sentence, randomly.

For example:

"Whatcha doing ball Dixie?" She looks at me, head cocked, eyes intent. She looks around for a second, then figures she misheard.

"You're such a silly outside cookie girl Dixie!" She hrrumphs, cocks her head again and begins to get excited- she KNOWS what she heard this time. She prances in place then casts around, trying to decide if running around the couch will do any good- but what does she want more? The cookie or the chance to go outside?

I tease her a few more times in this way before I deliver the final torture- "OMG DIXIE, PUPPY BALL OUTSIDE COOKIE! OUTSIDE? BALL COOKIE?" By this time, Dixie is galloping around the house like a goofball barking at the air and not sure whether to poop, die, or go blind (that's a nice little Southern saying ya'll... I'll explain the full thing in person some time.)

Usually by this time, I've laughed at her enough. I hand her a cookie and if it's been a little while since she's gone out, I will let her in to the magical outside, where she stands on the deck for a minute and looks around, then waits to be let back in.

Gotta love doggy torture!

-Kristen

5.9 Earthquake!

Oh...my....lord.

Seriously?  We don't GET earthquakes in our area.  It just doesn't happen.  We're all much more concerned about hurricanes- in fact, there is one that is projected to bother North Carolina this weekend.

Today, a 5.9 earthquake rocked Mineral, Virginia.  It was felt as far up as Toronto, Canada and it sure jiggled us here in North Carolina, Virginia's cooler and more southern cousin.

I was at work, standing in my boss's office and honestly thought it was working going on at the quarry down the road.  The glass in the windows of the building was rattling to the point I thought it was going to break. We looked at each other and then she said "Well...the books aren't falling off the shelves..."  After about a minute or so, the shaking stopped and we went on about our lives.

I can't believe that we actually FELT an earthquake and not only that- a fairly decent sized one!  A friend of mine located only 30 minutes from the epicenter said she was thrown to the ground while she tried to take pictures of her rabbits.  She said things fell around her, but luckily she and her farm animals were unhurt.

Man, who would have thought that the East Coast would have been rocked by an earthquake ever? Much less on such a beautiful day!

-Kristen

I love Kraft Foods

We recently bought some Claussen pickles.  Tim loves these things.  If it came down to saving me or the pickles in a fire...well I just hope it never comes down to him needing to choose.

These things are a little pricey though.  After all, it is a Kraft product and they are refrigerated and the economy sucks...anyway, they are a little expensive, but we both really like these pickles, so I buy them.  I'd rather spend a little more on something we'll eat all of, than to save 50 cents and throw 3/4 of the product away.  Besides, I often have a coupon to take a little of the money-hurt away.

This last jar of pickles just has not had the same great taste as usual.  It almost tasted like the cucumbers they used weren't quite ripe- they were very firm and the flavor was just off.  I looked up Claussen, found the contact information for Kraft Foods, who makes them and fired off a quick email. 

I was very polite, explaining basically what I told you- we love the pickles, but something was definitely off with this last batch.  They emailed me back the very next day apologizing that this product wasn't up to standard, explaining that it sounded like something had happened in the shipment that probably changed the temperature of the jar (ie they got warm somewhere along the way, then cold again) and let me know they'd be sending me a coupon in the mail for a free jar!  Total time invested? Under 5 minutes.

But wait- an email back from a big company that made it clear they actually read my email? Give me a second to pop my eyes back in because they seriously just bugged out.  An offer of a coupon for a free jar of a product I already buy? Awesome!

I really appreciate it when companies seem to care if their customers are happy or not. We probably go through 26 jars of pickles (or more) each year, so we're definitely good customers. I always joke with Tim we need to buy stock in Claussen Pickles- ha!

So if you get a product that is sub par, don't be afraid to contact the manufacturer.  If it's a good company that cares, they will do what they can to make it right.  After all, a coupon for a free jar of pickles is not even a drop in the bucket for Kraft, but it makes all the difference to me and how I view the company!  Not a bad trade off, I'd say.

-Kristen

Ruck March To Remember

I was blessed this morning on my commute to work to pass part of the "Ruck March to Remember".  If you haven't heard about this incredible march, you can read about it here. 

The 2,181 mile march honors those who died or were affected by the September 11th tragedy.

The march -- the brainchild of Maj. Jim Alves, the 4th Security Forces Squadron commander at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina -- began July 12 in San Antonio, with individual units selecting 140-mile legs of the journey, which will conclude Sept. 11 in New York City.

I was driving to work when I saw flashing lights up ahead, barely crawling towards me.  As I and the cars around me slowed, we saw them- airmen in fatigues, carrying packs and a flag walking stoically down the road, a line of cars queuing  up behind them, two police cars forming an honor guard around them.  It was a sight I was absolutely unprepared for as I rushed to work, the GPS telling me I would make it on time, but only barely.

I raised my hand- we southerners don't generally wave, we toss a hand up in greeting.  One of the soldiers, the one closest to me, met my eyes and raised his hand as well- then I was past him.

I cried halfway to work.

I don't use this word lightly, but I feel blessed to have passed these soldiers as they honor the men and women who feel in the September 11th attacks.  I wish that every step of the way there could be people honoring them, throwing confetti and cheering as they volunteer to walk in the summer heat, packs on their backs, to a place they could drive to in mere hours.

Instead, they walk to remember and to honor. 

I hope I can remember those few moments forever.  Right now it's as crystal clear in my mind as a photograph.  I don't know why it has affected me the way it has, but it is truly a moment of Grace on a hectic Monday morning.

-Kristen

 

Busy day yesterday!

What an incredibly busy day Saturday was!

It started out EARLY.  We're talking 5:30am early, as I got up and showered before the "Run Wild" 5k at the local zoo. Start time was 7:30am, but we had to get up early because it was almost an hour's drive out to the zoo.

I get there and after a completely frustrating and not-helpful "conversation" with a surly worker, I find out I have to register in a totally different spot that no one knows about.  JOY.  I get registered, meet up with Michelle and her daughter, then off we go!

We did pretty well, we took it easy (I am highly out of shape and was wearing my knock off shape ups because it's SUMMER AND I DO NOT LIKE SOCKS).  We finished the 5k in under an hour, which I consider to be awesome.

From there, it was straight to a city approximately two hours away with 13 bunnies and Tim, where I met up with a friend, Joni, and we hung out for a while (in between the rabbits leaving here and there).  Then it was off to pick up...

Are you ready?

Meet River! Our AKC Golden Retriever puppy. :).  We ended up 20 minutes late to our appointment to meet with the last bunny owner, but she was very understanding.  Sorry Katie!

We finally arrived home, where my belated birthday gift had arrived- 3lbs of foreign currency!  Yes, yet another worthless hobby of mine is collecting coins.  This is my first foray in to foreign money- I do it just for the pleasure of seeing what the coins look like.

After that was a fantastic dinner of Joni-zones (recipe forthcoming) and an exciting night full of puppy-neediness and being very tired. 

Overall- AWESOME day!

The Pets have fleas- joy.

The pets have fleas. I know this, because as I innocently sat in the floor playing on the computer and watching tv (I'm a multi-tasker), one jumped on me. Guh-ross.

I grabbed it and promptly threw it in the toilet to drown. I HATE fleas. Has anyone else noticed how hard these stupid things are to kill? You can't smash them, they get right back up and flip you off before they hop on about their business.

I grabbed our vials of flea medication (one for the cats, one for the dogs) and dosed everyone but Boo. I ran out :(.

I guess it's time to jump on eBay and buy some more medication.

-Kristen

The Light Switcher Off-er

I'm quite sure I drive Tim insane.

As some of you know, I'm way in to couponing and saving money. They are just two of my many talents and hobbies (along with my modesty).

Recently, I begin thinking of even MORE ways I can shave pennies off our bills. Yes, pennies.

I realized that one thing I often do is leave lights on in an area, rather than just in the room I am in. I'm a lights nazi. I will admit it. I despise leaving lights on in any part of the house I'm not currently using and over the years, I've beaten that in to Tim as well- "We don't leave lights on in the kitchen if we aren't in the kitchen!"

However, I caught myself using three different lights while getting ready in the mornings because of the weird way our house is set up.

In the bathroom, there are two lights. One controls half of the bathroom, over the double sinks. One controls the obnoxiously loud fan and the light above the toilet and the tub. I was using both of these. Then, when Tim got up, I would turn on the light in the bedroom so I could get out my clothing for the day- not to mention the light in the walk-in closet. So I guess I really used four lights, but the closet was a quick flip on and off, so it hardly counts.

I digress. This happens a lot.

Anyway, what was the point of leaving all those lights on? Now, I only turn on the light over the sink (or if it's really dark, the light over the tub). Most of the time, the light over the sink gives off plenty of light in the toliet/tub area, I don't have to listen to the insane buzz of the most obnoxious fan ever and I'm not running two lights to light the same area.

Next, I'm breaking myself of the habit of leaving the bedroom light on. I'm in the bathroom drying my hair- why do I really need the light on in the bedroom? Likewise, if I walk in there, it's a quick flip to turn off the bathroom light and turn on the bedroom light. (light light light. light. light light).

Anyway, the point of all this is- even though I thought I was doing really well with turning off the lights to save money and electricity, there is always room for improvement!

-Kristen