Dilemma

So Rene and I have this dilemma..... our wonderful dog, Ash, has some issues. Now, he is a rescue dog and we have no idea what his past was like but we do know he was covered in fleas when rescued and had no fur on his hind side/tail. Since then there have been some other things which have occurred. About a month after we had him he bit me, he broke the skin and it wasn't too major. However, this happened totally unprovoked. I was lifting him up just as I had done for the past month, but this time something just snapped. Since then he's bit the vet (which was done upon fear and the vet said not to worry) but he's also bit Rene when Rene didn't give Ash his treat quick enough. And then tonight I was playing with him as I've done forever... Rene had just finished playing with him and then Ash came over to me. We were just playing and then SNAP, he bit me. This time he got me on the arm and there are 4-5 puncture points. I lifted my arm while Ash was "attached" and so the puncture wounds dragged down my arm. Now, the dilemma --- what do we do with Ash now?? We don't/can't trust him. We can't have him around anyone else. We love him.... But what should we do? Is the best thing to put him down? We've tried to love him, we've taken him to training and nothing has worked so far. It just hurts me, I wonder what Ash must have gone through with his previous owners that made him this way. It's not his fault, but now he has to be punished.... It breaks my heart.

Our New Love

The other week Rene and I had some friends over to our home and I had the pleasure of cooking up some yummy food. I wish I would've taken some pictures, but oh well. Anyways, for dessert I had planned on making Truffles and chocolate covered strawberries however, my ganache just wasn't working for me and so the truffles never happened. But, I was able to use that ganache for the strawberries. And lucky for me, the strawberries were DeLIce!! I know they aren't in season but man these were the sweetest strawberries I've ever ate. Needless to say they were a huge hit and since then I've bought 4 more pints and we've been eating them like crazy!! (but I have been taking them to others as surprise packages ^_^)

Hello from Alaska!

Rene and I have been having a wonderful vacation here in Alaska for the last week. Not only have our families been trying to get us back home to AK but Mother Nature as well. You see, from the moment we arrived till about two days ago it's been snowing constantly. We've had about 1.5-2 ft of snow and it's so beautiful!! It is quite enticing.... We've had so much fun seeing all of our family and friends.... we've also been able to eat at most of the places we missed and loved :) Our schedule has been busy and so there really hasn't been any time for me to blog and this is going to be short as we still have things to do before our flight out tomorrow morning.

It's been forever

Sorry about the lack of blogging for the last month, things have been CrAZy. I was sick for like 2.5 weeks, found out I had a sinus infection and bronchitis. I still have a cough, but so much better than before. I could barely walk from my bed to the bathroom... it was bad. :( Poor Rene starved, the guys at work commented on how he'd lost weight. LOL Anyways, after being sick we had a wonderful visit from our friends Spencer Fischback and Anya Wiezerbecki. They stayed with us for 2 days and it was a blast. It was nice having more people to play games with, Rene and I love playing games together but it's so much better with more people. Spencer and Anya had impeccable timing as well, they arrived just as I was gaining my strength back. I was so happy I was able to play hostess, I cooked up a storm! And speaking of cooking..... So I've had this credit card since I was in college and every time you purchase something you gain points. I've never redeemed those points and so recently Rene and I were looking online at the items we could get. I found something I really wanted, but I was torn because I wanted the item to be for Rene and I. Well, I ended up getting what I wanted. :) Our previous non-stick pots were getting really dingy and were scrapped up on the bottom (we got them from a friend like this), but they've worked well for us. I'd been really wanting a new set forever but I could never rationalize the purchase. So when I saw these, I was super excited. I got my own set of lime green Rachael Ray pots and pans!!!!! The only downer was they arrived just after I got sick, I was so anxious to get cooking! :) But here they are....

Aren't they pretty?!! I love them so much. There are still a few I haven't used yet, but that'll change within the next few days. :)

On another note, it's CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!! Wahoo! I am so excited, I love this time of year. You start with Thanksgiving (my most favorite meal... turkey, mashed taters, gravy, pie..) and then move right into Christmas the next day. This time of year is the only time when people are nicer to one another, where you'll see people being nice to strangers. It just feels like there's love in the air.... corny, I know. In keeping with tradition, Rene and I put up our tree the day after thanksgiving. I also decorated a little around the house - putting up lights and garland on the railings and in the living room. On Saturday we put up our icicle lights outside. It was the first time we've ever done that. It's not exactly the way we'd like to do it, but being on a budget we wont be buying anything till maybe next year. The lights were given to us by my parents years ago, they are wonderful but I'm just hoping I can find more just like them. It seems like the newer icicle lights are all closer together but we'll see. Anyways, take a look at our holiday decor.
The outside lights, it's not a great pic but the best one I got. You can also see our tree in the window and the rain drops. :)
The living room.... the garland is only on the entertainment center and the long wall of windows. We enjoy the lighting though, very soft.
The stair railings and part of the living room.

And last, but surely not least is our tree. I love all the lights. :) I thought about getting a pic of the tree during the day but I don't know, it just doesn't have the same feel. One thing I really love about our tree, which you cannot see, is all the personal ornaments. Rene and I decided at the beginning that we'd begin a tradition where we'd buy each other an ornament every year and after some time they'd be the only ornaments on the tree. We also try to get ornaments from different places we visit. It's so much fun when we dig out our ornaments and revisit the personal ones we've got one another. It just brings back the wonderful memories. :)

Lastly, Rene and I are getting ready for our trip home to Alaska! We leave in just 8 short days. We are both so excited, we have one week there and are going to be super busy. Every day is planned out and there will barely any time for relaxing. It's going to be so wonderful to see my mountains, family and friends!

A Recap, a long one at that :)

I know it's been quite a while since our last post but things have been pretty busy. Yes, there are only two of us and we live a boring life but man has time flown by. Just the other day we were trying to figure out when I went to Washington and could not believe that was only a little over a month ago. It seems like forever since I was there. And then to think that August was only two months ago.... wow. Rene thinks it's because of his training but I told him how times flown by for myself as well, we've just had so many things going on.

To give you an idea, this was probably the MOST frustrating day ever!! The Monday before last Rene and I had a few errands to run. We began at 9:30am by dropping Ash (our pup) off to be groomed and then on to Rene's eye appointment. When we arrived at the eye doctors they didn't have Rene scheduled so they said they could 'squeeze us in.' We interpreted that as they'd get us in asap. 1.5 hours later, Rene was finally seen by the doctor. Not once did the receptionists tell us how long our wait was, ask us if we needed anything, or communicate with us at all. We were soooo frustrated!! After an hour we didn't want to just go since we'd been there for so long, but the funny thing is. Our pup's appointment was supposed to be 3 hours and he was done before Rene was. But it doesn't stop there, we picked up Ash and found out his ear was infected and his belly/legs were pretty pink/red (he had a lot of hair and got shaved down). We still had a lot of errands so we decided to do those before taking Ash to the vet. We had lunch, got some papers notarized, and went to Costco. By the time we got home it was around 4:30pm. We went straight to the vets and was there till just about 7:30pm!!! We were gone waaaayyyy too long and spent too much money. That one day felt like a week alone.

In our last post we carved our first pumpkin for Halloween. I guess we were a little too anxious because our pumpkin died. :( It got all moldy and gross and started to get slumpy so we went out and bought a new pumpkin this past Monday. The weather's been pretty warm so we waited till tonight to carve it (or rather, I carved it). Here's a pic of the new one.

This one is not as cool as our first one, but it's not bad. I like the spooky house and tree limb more than the moon, but whatever. Next year, I want to do one totally free hand... I had to practice some this year and get my own technique going. :D Happy Halloween everyone!!!!

For some BIG news.... last night Rene decided to take on a huge project, the downstairs bathroom!! It may not sound too daunting, but it was. This bathroom has been only for boys since we moved in. It wouldn't flush toilet paper, it just wouldn't. Rene tried to snake it a few times but it never worked (a snake is the tool plumbers use to fix a clogged toilet, you can get your own for just a few bucks) . So last night Rene took apart the toilet. I wish I had pictures but I was in the kitchen baking cookies for his work during the entire process. Anyways, he took everything apart, there was water all over the place but after a few times 'snaking' the pipes he found the blockage..... a child's toy cell phone. It was beyond nasty!! It was covered in brown gunk. (I will not go into details) Rene was supposed to throw the thing out with the trash today but I guess he didn't so I have a pic for you.

Ewww, I know... Rene was using my towel for something (I didn't want to know what for) but I told him to just toss it. I don't want to use it after this. Anyways, after all that work, I was not about to clean up his mess so Rene put everything back together and then mopped up. :) He's such a great husband! I was very impressed with his skills though, he figured it all out on his own! What a man!!! :)

Fall Time

I've been meaning to take some pictures of the beautiful fall colors for a while now but every time I remembered to do so it would be rainy or just a nasty day, then on the clear days I would forget my camera. Anyways, yesterday I remembered to grab my camera so here's a sample of what we see. This tree in particular is one I love, the leaves change colors at different times... it's just pretty :) Yesterday was a beautiful day. It was in the low 60's with a slight breeze so after Rene got off work we really wanted to go out and do something. We looked up some stuff on the internet and found out a lot of people were celebrating fall. One orchard in particular, Beasley's Orchard, had a fall festival with lot's of different activities for kids, food to eat, and a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. We decided that would be fun so we headed out. When we arrived at the orchard, I was super excited because this was the first time I've seen apple trees! (slightly pathetic, I know) It was a lot of fun. We enjoyed ourselves and could really see how it'd be even better with little ones around. But oh, this was the first time I've seen a pumpkin patch too!!! And no, I did NOT grow up in the city.... we just didn't have apple trees and pumpkins.

Above was a pumpkin surrounded by some dried grass. Below we have this weird plant... It was connected to the pumpkin's somehow so I wanted to take pics of it. When I started I realized there was also this little lady bug :) Isn't she/he cute?!!

Then this is just the same thing, but a little bit of an artsy pic.

Now, as much as we (I) wanted to pick out a fresh pumpkin, they were just too expensive so we went to WalMart and bought one there. Today, we decided to go ahead and carve it. Rene worked hard at cutting out the top so he could rip out the guts. I then scrapped out the inside as he separated his precious pumpkin seeds from the innards. And as for the carving, I did about 99% of it cause Rene cannot be doing little tasks like that where he has to hold a tool for too long since he has (what we assume is a) little carpel tunnel. But, I didn't mind. This is our first carving together, and the first one I've done myself :)

Drum roll please....... ta daa!!! Our completed pumpkin!! Happy Halloween everyone :)

Halloween fun

I came upon this website and just had to play around with it. This is Rene, my neices (Jess, Mac and Katie) and I. If you haven't checked out this site, you need to!!

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11 weeks & 1 day

Okay, so I know it's been a while since there's been an update on here, but I've been pretty busy and not knowing what to write about. It's been the same old around here... Rene working, me looking for work and hanging out with our dog. Before I went to Washington, Rene and I went the Indianapolis Zoo for the first time. It's something we've been wanting to do since we got here (we love zoos!). Here are some of the pics from our visit (and yes, I know there are a lot... like I said, we like zoos)
Here's Rene petting a SHARK!!! I know, cool, huh?!! They were so awesome. The skin feels like the softest velvet.... I could've petted them ALL day. :)

Then there was this walrus who just decided to stand up in his tank. There were two more walrus' swimming around him but he was just hanging out standing up. We've never seen a walrus do that!

This was cool.... I love turtles and here was this HUGE desert turtle. This pic doesn't depict just how big he was but believe you me, he was enormous!

So on the zoos 'calendar' you can visit certain animals during feeding time and even pay to feed them. They were charging $1 for a piece of sweet potato to feed the giraffe, but we decided it was cool enough to just be standing so close to them and watching others do it. Now, if we had little kids with us we most likely would have paid, but it was just us so no reason. But still, super neat to be so close. Oh, and their tongues.... they really are black and SUPER long.

The elephant show... Neither Rene nor I have ever seen one before and it was fun to see this huge guy do tricks.

This is one thing I've been waiting to see... the Botanical/Butterfly gardens! Anyone who knows me knows I love butterflies. I was getting so frustrated though when they wouldn't stay still for just a couple seconds for me to get a picture!! They just kept fluttering all around me and teasing me. :( However, I did get this one of an older moth (I think).

And here, I did get a picture of one getting some nectar! :)

I know those were a lot of pictures from the zoo, but really, it's nothing compared to what I have :) Other than the zoo, me going to Spokane, and Rene working not too much else is going on.... exceeeeeppt, we bought our tickets home to ALASKA!!!!!!!!! We are so excited!! Can you tell? I've been keeping a count-down in my head, 11 weeks and 1 day from today we will be in Alaska. It'll be about 1.5 years for me since I've been home and a little over 2 years for Rene. We'll be there for a week before Christmas. I wish it could be longer but it's better than nothing. I cannot wait to see my family and Rene's as well.

Oh, so a little bit of news.... our dog, Ash, bit me Wednesday night. :( A few weeks ago he snapped at Rene and we figure it's because Rene was petting too close to his behind (he's pretty sensitive about that area and his tail) so we were just like, okay - no touching his backside area. There haven't been any incidents since then till the other night. It was the day after I got back from Spokane, things were going well. We were watching some TV or something and Ash was on my chest (I was laying down). He went to sniff my phone so was half on and half off of me... I went to pick him up behind his front paws to place him back on my chest. It was something I've done tons before. So, he's back on my chest just standing there and then he snaps. Luckily, he only went for my hand. In hindsight, it could've been so much worse since my face was right there next to him. Thanks to Rene though, he threw Ash off of me so nothing else would happen and put him outside. Unfortunately for me, Ash got me pretty well.... he broke the skin with one tooth and irritated the muscles/veins in my hand. Because neither of us have ever been bitten, we went to an Urgent care place.... my hand was hurting really bad, burning/throbbing and sending sharp pains up my arm. Oh, and one of my veins had swollen up. It hurt to barely touch my hand/wrist/arm. But after an hour at the Urgent care, we finally saw a Doctor and he said everything was fine and wanted to put me on antibiotics just in case. But since the incident, I've been afraid of Ash. I know he didn't mean to hurt me and this may be some trauma thing from his past owners, but I just don't know when I can trust him. I get paranoid having him lay with me or even we play or he's in Rene's lap and too close to me. I thought he was 'closer' to me and I was just doing something I'd done tons before, but for some reason he snapped at me. :( I hate not being able to trust our little guy.... I love him but I just don't trust him anymore. We're going to look into some doggie training classes or something. I would hate for this to happen again, or goodness, someone else. Does anyone have any suggestions/tips??

M.I.W.

Missing in Washington..... I know it's been forever since I blogged but I've been in Washington these last two weeks. Rene's home in Indiana working hard while I've been with my great friend, Cambria, in Spokane having fun :) Rene's so good to let me come out here! It's been so much fun to hang out with an old friend from Alaska and just catch up, it's been about 2 years since we've been able to do this. And Cam's husband has been great to put up with me and our shenanigans.

Look what we saw!

Just a little bit ago Rene and I took Ash for a walk. The weather's been really nice, like in the late 60's early 70's, so we wanted to take a long walk. Just as soon as we got on the walking trail behind our home and went just a little way, I saw something.... it was on the side of the trail next to the woods. I leaned in and realized it was a..............SnaKe!! :) How exciting! I've never seen a snake in the wild like this and was super excited. I stood there and watched it for a little bit because the way it was just laying there with it's head not moving at all. I didn't know if it was real, but I was pretty sure. I wanted a picture of it so Rene waited there with Ash to see if the snake moved while I returned home to get my camera. Can you see the snake?? Now, I don't know if many of you know but Rene does not care for snakes. I on the other hand don't mind them and wouldn't mind having one for a pet. :) I highly doubt that will happen though. Anyways, I got my pictures of the snake but I still wanted to know if it was poisonous or not. As we've never encountered a snake we didn't look up the types of snakes here in Indiana.
However, as soon as we got home we looked this guy up. He's a Northern and Midland Water Snake. They are found everywhere in Indiana, close to water as they primarily eat small fish, frogs and salamanders. We read that these guys get confused with another type of snake that are poisonous but he is not. (I wanted to bring him home, isn't he cute?) So now Rene and I have seen our snake and most likely I'll be keeping an eye out for more. :)