Life as usual has been a little hectic lately. I had to work two Saturday's in a row which has thrown me off schedule. I haven't been riding in three weeks! Last weekend, I took a break and flew up to Wisconsin to see the family. I arrived in Milwaukee just in time to catch a fish fry at the American Legion Post with my Aunt Lene, Uncle Larry and his sister Jeanette. After that we swung by Giggles comedy club in Germantown where my cousins Donnie, Mark and his wife Jeannie plus my Uncle Dick had caught some laughs.

Saturday morning I stopped off at Uncle Dick's to look at my Aunt Helen's jewelry and we took some pictures out on the lawn. Then I sped off to see my friend's Steph and Liana. Steph just opened her own design studio and we stopped by to see it in the process of getting ripped out and having new stuff put in. It's really going to be awesome. So - if you know anyone in the Milwaukee area that is looking to have some design work on their house down, look up Steph in Elm Grove. After that, we stopped at a local diner for breakfast and catching up on each others lives.

Saturday afternoon I hit the road to drive to Appleton and see my sister and Mom. My mom's friend Nancy (aka Nanny) is staying with them for a little while til she finds a place of her own. Saturday night we went out to dinner and then played Yahtzee and poker dice.

On Sunday, we headed to Shawano to see my cousin Karla play Marty in a production of Grease. My Aunt Joan, Uncle Bill and cousin Jill and her husband Justin were all there. It was pretty funny because in one part, Karla says she got a kimono from her Marine Freddy in Okinawa. I had to chuckle because Doug really did send me a kimono from Okinawa!

After the show, we did a brief stop at my Uncle Kenny and Aunt Bonnie's house. Uncle Kenny had Karla's cat Kasey out. It was a total surpise because he looks like a bigger version of Lilliputian and he even has the same harness and leash as her!

On the way out of town, we stopped for pizza and then it was back to Appleton and bed. Monday morning I got up early and drove back to Milwaukee to catch my flight to DC.

While I was in WI, Doug had school and hung out with some of our neighbors. I will really miss this neighborhood when we have to move again.

Now it's Thursday and I stayed home because somehow, I have a cold in the middle of summer! How'd that happen?

Lilliputian has been keeping me company. I can't believe how quickly she is growing. She is teething and loosing all her baby teeth. She's also started being a naughty little kitty. She knows she isn't supposed to be on tables but she keeps doing it even when Doug and I put her back on the ground. She knows she's being naughty too because she gives us that look and if we can't reach her fast enough, she jumps off the table before we get there. Good thing she is cute :)  That's all for now - I'm headed back to bed.

Doug had to work Tuesday - the 4th of July. So, I baked cookies and bought lemonade for the Marines that were manning the stations for OCS. After dropping off the goods, Doug and I were able to stop for a quick lunch on base.

 

After that, I was in search of a dehumidifier. Finally found one at the Home Depot in Woodbridge. After that, I was off to Ikea where I picked up some wooden hangers (i think they have the best) and some new cushions for the chairs in the kitchen.

 

Doug had school on Friday and Saturday. It was rough getting back into the swing of thing after having a few weeks off. However, being in school seems to have re-energized Doug. I didn't get to go riding Saturday morning because I had to work. We are moving into production this weekend and we had some last minute testing to do. So, most of the team was in the test lab. I'm so very fortunate to work with such a dedicated, knowledgable and awesome team. Jay and Jenn stayed an extra day (there are several team mates that are consultants and so commute every week) to help out with the testing. Unni came in after moving to his new apartment (Unni moved from CA for this position) while John and Paula also gave up their Saturdays to hang out in the lab and test. We didn't get out of there til around 7:00pm.

 

After that Doug and I headed to Old Town for dinner at O'Connell's. We had been there for breakfast, lunch and drinks but never dinner. I have to say - they do have amazing food! Doug had one of the best steaks he has had in a long time while I had the bass that was grilled to perfection with the most amazing citrus sauce to accompany. We missed the fireworks (it was the town of Alexandria's birthday) but we did manage to stop off at one of our favorite book stores.

 

Sunday, we went out for breakfast and stopped off at Petco. Since Gulliver died, I've been stopping in just to see the cats and dogs they have there on the weekend. Various shelter groups come in and one of the organizatons is called Last Chance. They basically rescue animals from kill shelters and try to place them in forever homes. Well, today, Doug absolutely fell in love with one of the kittens. She is about three months old and a gray and tan tabby. Before I knew what happened, we had a cat! We then proceeded to buy out the store - we have all sorts of dog things, but no kitten things so, shopping we went. She is absolutely adorable and a total lover. She is also very vocal and very persistant. I think that is why Doug liked her so much right from the start. When we went by her cage, she would not stop meowing - almost as if to say - pick me, pick me! I want to go home with you and I won't be quiet til you do. So we did. We also got her a little harness and leash. I took her outside earlier today and she would do okay but not very good about walking on the side walk. She was more into wandering and when she would get to the end of her leash and I wouldn't let her go further - she howled! We'll see how the leash thing goes. When I was a child, I had two cats that I used to walk around the block so I know it can be done. :)

 

Then Doug was off to work and so was I - Doug has new candidates checking in this weekend and I still had some left over testing to do. Now I'm done and the new kitty and I are waiting for Doug to come back home. She is all over the house exploring like mad. She is the cutest thing and so expressive and affectionate. I think we are very lucky to have her. Doug is searching for a name - we want to learn more of her personality before naming her. Right now as I'm typing this - she is hanging out on the sofa right behind my neck. Sort of peering over my shoulder as if to supervise my blogging... :) and purring like crazy.

 

The weather has been pretty nice around here lately so hopefully we will grill out tonight. Hope everyone is well!

I had some problems with our wireless last week – so this is a week late –

The past week was rough. Our basement got wet. As you may have heard, it has been raining like crazy around here. We thought we were fine last Sunday night because the sump pump was going all night. Monday morning, one of our neighbors came over asking how she could tell if the sump pump worked. I offered to show her ours and when I got to the bottom step of the lower level, the carpet was wet! Our sump pump was working however. I ended up going to our neigbor on our right and they told me to check the bathtub - sure enough, the water had come up through the bath tub drain, over flowed and leaked into part of the basement. Monday night, we stayed up and watched and sure enough, up came the water and we started the bucket brigade. Unfortunately, the damage was already done. Trying to find anyone to come deal with it proved impossible as everyone is having the same experience. For our neighbors whose sump pumps went out, it's even worse. Plus, the neighborhood across Hwy 1 from us, some of their houses have been condemned. So, we really can't complain too much. Doug came home early Wednesday (after I got the call from USAA stating that we were not covered for such an incident) and ripped the padding out, and put spacers between the carpet and concrete floor.

 

Friday night, Doug and I tried a restaurant in Crystal City. Yuck! Not such a great place. It smelled funny (possibly because they had a basement full of water?) and the food was just okay. Sometimes that happens though - you try something new and it isn't that spectacular. Othertimes, you hit the jackpot.

 

Saturday morning, Doug had to work and I went to my riding lesson. I had Ace this weekend. Ace is quite stubborn and doesn't get along well with other horses. We were working on cantering again and I had to use the crop on Ace. I tried three times without the crop to no avail but with the crop, he was good. It takes balance and a lot of strength in your thighs, lower legs and core body. King, the horse I had the weekend before and absolutely loved, tore his eye lid so he is out of commission for a little while so he can heal. I've asked Joan at the stables if I can take two classes a week and they are looking for an open slot for me. If I could, I'd go riding every day of the week and twice on Sundays :)

 

Saturday afternoon was pretty lazy - Doug hasn't gotten much sleep lately so he tried to catch up. Saturday evening, we went out to dinner and then Sunday, we went to work on house stuff. While mostly - we did take a little detour Sunday morning to stop and play with the cats at PetCo. We have been toying with the idea of getting a cat instead of a dog. We saw two little sisters that were so inquisitive. Little climbers too. Then we saw three brothers that were just a riot! They were chasing each other in their shared cage and dunking each other into their water bowl. It was the most entertaining thing. Doug spent the majority of the day putting together his new grill. Yes, I  Bethany, of the charcoal grill life, purchased a GAS grill for my husband. He really likes it though. While Doug worked on the grill, I worked on the laundry, bill paying and house cleaning. Nothing exciting. We wanted to use the new gas grill for dinner but it started pouring rain again. We stopped off at Lowe's to pick up some gas for the grill and while there, picked up some fans for the basement to get the air circulating. The carpet has been drying out slowly. After Lowe's, we tried a Mexican restaurant on Hwy1. I had Mexican pork chops - I'd never heard of such a thing. They were quite good. However, that dinner in combination with the beer I had, put the 3 lbs I had lost during the last week, right back on. C'est la vie. While we were at the restuarant, the power went out three times! Another thunderstorm had started. On the way back home, we saw a lot of downed tree limbs that the wind had snapped off. Back at home, I did some more laundry and we reviewed petfinder.com looking at the various animals looking for homes. Doug started looking for houses to rent in South Carolina. We are thinking of maybe renting a house down there for a week in January. We haven't been on vacation just the two of us in quite some time.

 

Now it is Monday and Doug is at work. I have the day off and am still working on the house this morning but then I'll go run errands in the afternoon. It's nice to have a day off every once in awhile during the week. Tomorrow I will go into work to get caught up a little. We are coming down the home stretch of my project and I will be so glad when it's over. However, it will then be time to move on to the next project...