Last year, Dan and I started a tradition of putting up the Christmas tree together, while listening to Christmas music and drinking wine, and then sleeping next to the tree on an air bed. :) Cheesy and corny, yes.....but we're hopeless romantics, you know. :)
This year was no different. We got home from Olivia's birthday party, and dug out the decorations. We put the tree up, while watching the end of the Ravens and Steelers game, and listening to some Christmas tunes from Dan's extensive collection of Christmas CDs. (Seriously.) I even enjoyed some wine from the Honeymoon Trail Winery in Niagara Falls. (This was a bottle that Dan and I were saving for a milestone anniversary, however, it accidentially got opened by a guest last week.....so it was still in the fridge.) It was a port wine, so Dan had some Pinot Grigio, and some kind of German beer instead. We blew up the air mattress, and settled in for the night....... but about 3:30 a.m., we realized that we weren't on the air mattress anymore....we were on the hardwood floor. Evidentially the air mattress had somehow started leaking air..... and deflated. So, we got up and went to bed. Our actual bed. :) We had good intentions.... and we were both so exhausted from the weekend, that we didn't really care.
The tree looks great, we had an awesome time putting it up! It's safe to say that I'm now officially in the Christmas spirit. :)
P.S. The cats don't know what to think. Stay tuned for details. :)
Monday, November 30, 2009
Christmas Tree!!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Moment of Thankfulness
I actually took a moment this week to sit down and outline the things in my life that I am, indeed, thankful for. :) And here is the compiled list.
1. God has given me the greatest friends and family that anyone could ever ask for. Seriously.
2. My husband is everything to me. He is my best friend, my support system, my sounding board and sometimes my drinking buddy. I am lucky beyond belief to have as great a man in my life as him.
3. I still have all three of my grandmothers. I was lucky enough to get to spend 24, 25 and 26 years with my grandfathers. Some of my best memories from childhood were spent with the three of them.
4. Although sometimes it is tough, I also have a wonderful step-son, who, even though he doesn’t always act it, he loves me very much. I love him back.
5. I have a fun and exciting job, which sometimes is challenging, but during such a rough economic time, I am very lucky to have a job, period. Let alone one that is as great as mine.
6. Our house! I’m excited for our first Christmas in the new house this year, and have been tempted to get out the Christmas decorations for a month now. I vowed to wait until after Thanksgiving.
7. My past. I went through a lot of crap to get where I am today, but it made me who I am, made me stronger, and I learned a lot from my (and others’) mistakes.
8. Diet Mountain Dew. It’s the only thing that gets me going in the morning sometimes.
9. My nieces and nephew, Olivia, Gage and Savannah. I hope that they always call me “Titi”, and are never too big to give me kisses.
10. Vacation early next year! Dan and I need a long weekend to ourselves. No phones, no people, and nothing to do but lay on the beach and drink frozen cocktails.
11. Our veterans. I have an immeasurable amount of respect and honor for them for fighting for our freedom. I could go on and on and on, naming them here…..but I’ll be bound to miss someone, so I’ll just extend a big “THANK YOU” to all of them. You know who you are.
12. Kudos M & M 100 Calorie granola bars. They make their way into the cart of the Passageways employee who shops for the office every week. And I love him for it. J Thanks, Steven!
13. Did I mention that I am very thankful for my cute husband?
14. White Elephant Gift Exchanges. Every single year, I strive to have the dumbest present there. Last year, what Dan and I thought was a retarded gift, was actually fought over at my work Christmas party. I guess I’ll have to go stupider this year.
15. My paper man. While my paper box was broken (compliments of Elizabeth plowing over our mailbox and post), he put my paper by the front door so it wouldn’t get wet. Except for that one time…..
16. My Dad’s ability to fix anything. (See #15.) He’s done a number of things for us over the past couple of years, including siding our house, installing new countertops, fixing mailboxes, you name it. Oh, among other wonderful things that he can do: Be a wonderful dad and grandpa, provide for his family, pick out great perfume for his daughters, support his children, and drink Maker’s Mark.
17. My Mom. She’s okay, too. J My mom is one of the closest people in my life. I don’t know what I would do without talking to her nearly every day, even if we don’t have anything to say. She’s been there for me through thick and thin, even when I’m sure she wasn’t entirely proud to be. It is no question that my mother loves me more than anyone else in the world. (Although Dan says he loves me equal to her.)
18. My sister. She’s the mommy of my niece and nephew. She lets me buy Colts attire for her 3 year old daughter. She’s also a pretty damned good sister, and I’m sad that they moved away. L If you’re reading this, E, thank you for everything you’ve done for me all my life. I probably can’t ever repay you, but I hope that I can someday show you how truly special you are to me, and how much I love you.
19. The delivery man from Roth Flowers. He is a little old man who brings flowers to me occasionally. He’s so happy to be brightening someone’s day. And he, along with the flowers are certain to make my day, no matter how bad it is.
20. I have a very blessed life. God has given me things that I don’t deserve. He has blessed me in ways that I should sometimes be shameful of. I have the best husband in the world, wonderful family, exceptional group of friends, good job, food on the table, bills are paid, and I don’t have a worry in the world. Thank you, Jesus, for taking care of me. I suppose I’m not grateful enough sometimes. This Thanksgiving, I will take a moment to appreciate more, complain about less, and enjoy what I have.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Love you much!
Sarah
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
And they say they don't like each other.....
Dan snapped this picture last night as the cats were laying together on the couch. They were "spooning"...... Freeney had his arms all wrapped around Fergie....and they were sleeping. Too cute! And to think that they HATED each other for at least a week. It appears they've gotten over that.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Their New Favorite Spot
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Happy Veteran's Day
Happy Veteran's Day! Wanted to take a quick moment to thank all of the veterans, active-duty, and retired military men and women out there for their service. Remember all those who are serving and who have served in the past to protect us and our rights and freedoms in this great country. Today and every day, we honor and respect you and thank you for your dedication and service. Take a moment today to hug and thank a veteran. (I did.....my hubby got a big hug this morning before I left for work!)
P.S. This picture is a photo that I took while visiting Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 2007. It is the flag that is displayed on the actual memorial in the water. I've always liked this picture..... so I thought I would share. :)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Freeney n' Fergie
It's been a million years since I've put up any posts on here. Quite honestly, when we moved, and things got busy, I just got sidetracked, and didn't really have time. I kept putting it off, intending to post a big huge update...... but now the update has gotten so huge that I don't have time. So, I'll just move forward from here, and I guess you all don't get to know what we've been up to lately. :) Ha! Just kidding.....I'm sure most of you are in touch, or have recieved an update, complete with pictures, in your email box.
I've got tons of pictures to download (hopefully I'll get it done today), of Fall Soiree, Football, Pumpkin Patch with the kiddos, Jay's Surprise 40th party, etc. But for now, I just HAD to post some cuties of the cats, though......
As you're aware, we got another kitten a couple of months ago. Dan named her. Fergie. (Haha) She looks EXACTLY like Freeney. This morning, when I was going through pictures, I saw a bunch of pictures of Freeney when he was a kitten, and they look identical. She is going to look JUST like him when she gets to be his size...... which won't be long. I'm not sure how we're going to be able to tell them apart. :)
When we first brought her home, they absolutely HATED each other...... but they grew to love one another. Matter of fact, Dan took Fergie to the clinic this weekend and spayed and declawed her.....she was just gone overnight. And Freeney was LOST. He walked around aimlessly crying, looking for her, and then when he came to the conclusion that she wasn't there anymore, became REALLY clingy. :) (Stop laughing......I don't have kids, you know. So I have resorted to treating my cats like they are children.) Ha! Anyway, here's some recent pictures.
Her favorite spot to sit in the car. Between Dan's feet.
Or on Dan's lap.
The size difference...... This was taken right after we got her. Freeney is so much bigger than her! She's grown though, so it doesn't look like such a drastic difference now.
It wasn't long before they were cuddling up together on the couch in the sunroom, their favorite place in the house......
And they've each claimed a chair in the dining room, next to the window.....where they spend most of the day napping. :) 
Monday, September 14, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Coming soon......
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Look what I found....
Monday, July 13, 2009
Cuterebra - Gross (Cool) Case of the Week
Anyone ever heard about when a fly lays an egg under the surface of your skin, and a maggot grows underneath the skin? There was once a case of this on the discovery channel where a woman had a huge maggot growing into the side of her head. This pooch had one growing under his cheek. Pretty graphic pictures, but kinda' cool. At least we think so. :)
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Ole Freens.....
Well, Freeney is causing havoc again.....
When we moved into the new house, he just didn't seem to be adjusting well to the move. At all. He was pretty much spastic, and was all over the place, knocking things over and jumping on things, etc. We could tolerate the jumping and being spastic part....but the ONE thing that we were NOT willing to tolerate was him tearing up our new house. Hey, it's a new house, right? And it's really nice. I wasn't really fired up about having scratches everywhere. His new thing that he found to do, (note: he has never done before) was to jump up on the door frames as if he was going to crawl up to the ceiling. Of course, he doesn't have front claws, so his efforts weren't very successful. However, he DOES have back claws.....so upon finding a place to gorge them into the wood, he would then slide down the trim, leaving cat claw marks all the way down our trim. Yeah. No. Not happening. So, upon realizing that he's done it to two or three doors, he promptly went to the clinic to have his back claws removed as well.
The first time that we declawed him, it was because of a lot of the same reasons, but it was our couch and comforter at the old house. He didn't do so well with it. His declaw sites all came open, he chewed on his feet, and he ended up having to wear his bandages for a LONG time, and it didn't heal all that well. (I blamed the veterinarian.) We thought that perhaps he was too young. Well, the same thing happened THIS time.
I went to pick him up at the clinic last night (where he has been for a week now), and when I picked him up out of his cage (with his e-collar on), it was covered in blood, and all of the declaw sites were open with bone showing. He sat there for the whole day shaking and chewing at his feet, and even managed to get them around the front of a 12 inch e-collar. So, to sleep he went again, (of course temporarily) and this time, Dan actually put STITCHES in his feet.....two or three per site. So, now Freeney has stitches in ALL of his back toes, pink bandages on them, and is staying at the clinic longer now. What a pain. Why does our cat have to be a troublemaker? Nothing is easy with this guy. Here are some pictures:
I think he was a little ticked off about his injection here in this picture.
One foot down, one to go......
All finished, with his pink bandages. And yes, those are all of his nails sitting there next to him.
With his little e-collar on. That he somehow managed to get his feet around to chew on them. Crazy cat. Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Happy Father's Day, Dan!
A recent picture of Dan and Trevor on the golf course.......Father's Day Weekend
Happy Belated Father's Day to all the Dads out there! I had a great time with my family on Father's Day. We ended up going to my parents house at the lake, and then visited with Dan's family in the evening.....it was a wonderful day. I am truly blessed for all the great Dads in my life, including my own, and Trevor's Dad. :) It's also a remembrance of my three grandfathers, who are all gone now, and what great men they all were, and how they were so special to a lot of people.
Anyways, we had a great time on the lake. Here are some pictures from the day:
Dan, Trevor and I on the boat.....
Gager Man with his Grandma Zartman. (Brent's mom!) He's such a happy baby!
Elizabeth, Olivia and Dan swimming. Olivia couldn't wait to get in the water, and although I thought it was kinda' chilly initially, she kept insisting that I "jump off backwards in the water!" Of course, I did. Anything for her!
And I managed to jump in backwards without getting my hair wet! :) Elizabeth, Olivia and I.
Trevor
Olivia LOVES to jump off the side of the boat. She jumps off into the water. Most of the time, going under water, and coming up with a mouth and nose full. But she doesn't care. She gets right back up there and does it again. She's a brave little snot for only being 2 years old. :)
And she swims all around, too.....even with no one holding onto her. :)
She was pooped after all that swimming. Olivia with my sister, Elizabeth, on the boat ride back in to the house.
Trevor again. He loves the lake, too.
The kiddos in the kiddie pool. Savannah, Gage and Olivia. Savannah kept dumping water on Gage's head. It was hilarious! :) Plane Ride......
Trevor has a keen interest in flying. Always has. When he was much younger, he lived in Florida with his mom, and Dan flew him back to Indiana one or two times per month, and he was flying alone when he was very small. (Seriously. Like 4 years old.)
A good friend of ours is a pilot, and has a plane himself......and offered to take Trevor up for a ride sometime. He picked him up last week and took him around. They flew over Benton County to see the windmills......
Trevor couldn't wait for Dan and I to get home from work so he could tell us all about the ride, what happened (yes, we got a play-by-play) and everything that he saw. He even got to fly the plane a little by himself! It was great......
Derek took some pictures, and sent them to us. Here are just a few:
Is it just me or does this kid look like his Dad?
In the photos, the windmills don't really look all that large....but when you compare them to the things on the ground, (ie: houses, trucks, cars, etc.) they're enormous! Pretty impressive.....
Trevor and Dr. Sharvelle. Thank you, Derek, for taking him. He'll remember it forever, and had a great time!
More windmills.....We're back..... :-)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Disappeared......
SO, Dan and I have disappeared here recently. Everyone keeps asking where we went, and when we're going to surface again. Let me explain:
While I won't get into the particulars, for Dan's job, we were being forced to relocate somewhere, oh, say, 25 miles away. We weren't sure what we were going to do, but took a chance and put our house up for rent. We had some "lookers", (well, they were lookers.....they weren't even a consideration of people to rent to, for us, but they THOUGHT we were considering them) but weren't doing anything too quickly. THEN, a perfect renter came along. Middle aged doctor coming to work at Purdue, needed housing for a year minimum, more than able and willing to pay what we were asking, and sweet as can be. (Dan would tell you that she is a "hot brazilian", but note that this did not factor in our decision to rent to her.) She loved the house, and wanted to rent it. The catch? She needed to move in by July 1. She starts work at Purdue on the 20th of July, and would like to move from Ohio, settle in, and get acclimated in enough time. Okay. We can't turn her down, so we agreed.
We were going to rent an apartment for 6 months or a year. I'll spare you the gory details of our apartment hunting excursion, but lets just say we decided that this wasn't for us. So we decided to buy something. We looked at a place that was just OKAY, would have been quick, and would have worked. We weren't all that fired up about it, but thought that we could live with it temporarily. Then, as we were driving around a few neighborhoods (yes, 25 miles away), we ran across another house for sale. Odd how it unfolded:
We pulled up, and I loved the house from the outside. It appeared clear that there was no one living in the house (I won't lie, the yard was a mess), so we peeked in the windows and really liked what we saw. We couldn't find it in the real estate book. So, we called the number on the sign out front. The realtor told us he was only 10 minutes away, and would meet us there if we wanted. Of course, we agreed, and he promptly showed up to let us in. Within minutes of walking into the front door.....okay, SECONDS, we both knew that this was the house for us. It's absolutely gorgeous, and we were instantly in love. An 1800 sq. ft. RANCH home, with gorgeous solid wood floors, solid cherry trim and doors, a sunroom, and an ISLAND in the kitchen. Did we mention the fireplace and the jetted jaccuzi tub in the Master bathroom? Or the his and hers closets? Yeah, it was just the house for us!
We stopped at the gas station, got 2 40 oz. Coors Lights for the road, and called the realtor with an offer before we ever got home. This was approximately 8 p.m. on Thursday. By 9 p.m. Friday, we had agreed on a price, accepted their counter offer, and the ball was rolling! It's our house! :)
We got everything with the bank, insurance, appraisal, inspection, etc., taken care of LAST WEEK (yes, that is not a typo)....LAST WEEK, and are set to move this coming Wednesday/Thursday. WOW! So, needless to say, we have been a little busy around here, packing, moving, cleaning, weeding the landscaping at the new house, you name it. So, that's why we've been gone......BUT, in one week (DAN JUST PROMISED ME ON THE PHONE TWO MINUTES AGO that this would all be over in a week....... noted.) this will all be over with, and we'll be the owners of two homes...... and starting our life together in a new place, nearer to friends and family. :)
I've included a photo below of the outside of the house. You can't begin to appreciate the beauty of the home until you see the inside. It's absolutely gorgeous, and we can't wait for everyone to come visit and see it! Let us get settled, get our new furniture and t.v. (Dan's obsession) delivered, and we'll invite everyone over for a cookout and beer. :)
Can't wait! Stay tuned for more! :)
As you can see, this picture was taken in 2004. The outside still looks the same.....but the landscaping right now is gorgeous! I couldn't ask for better! Best part? We don't have to landscape, paint, or remodel ANYTHING before moving in. The house is exactly how we like it. For now. :)
Up, up and away!!
My Nannaw, who many of you know is very close to my heart, is 94 years old. Her entire life, she has dreamed of going on a hot air balloon ride. She has always said that she wanted to do this before she died. While she is in great shape for a 94 year old, she is undoubtedly getting up there in age, so this past weekend, my mom arranged for all of us to take her on a ride. :)
We went down to Indy and rode the hot air balloon, which went up to 400 feet! It was sooooo neat, and she loved every minute of it. She is STILL talking about it, a week later! While I enjoyed it, the best part of it, for me, was seeing how happy she was, and how much SHE loved it. :) It's a memory that I will always have of her, and I couldn't be happier that we got to share that moment with her before she isn't around anymore. Here are some pictures of the day:
Note: Dan hates heights, and is afraid to fly. He did get on the balloon, with much pleading from Trevor. Without sharing the details, let's just say that it's safe to assume that he did NOT enjoy the ride as much as the rest of us. :)
Nannaw and I before the big ride. Isn't she beautiful?
Mom and Dad with all their grandbabies. Trevor, Gage and Olivia. Gage, Grandma Moss, and Elizabeth opted to stay on the ground. The rest of us went. 
Our little family, right before boarding the balloon.
The whole group (minus Trevor and I) before getting on board.... (Brent, my brother in law, Nannaw, Mom, Olivia, Dad and Dan.)
Dan and I before we took off. This was when we were still on the ground, and he was still comfortable. :) Ha!
Nannaw, Myself and Brent. I still can't believe that she is 94. I hope I look that great when I am 94 years old! 
Olivia also rode the balloon. She is 2. We thought for sure that she was going to get scared when she got up there, but instead, she kept looking down and announcing in amazement that we were "SOOOO HIGH!" She was so brave, and loved every minute of it! :) She's been telling people for a week now that she "rode really high in a big balloon"..... :)
Trevor and I up in the air. He loved the ride! :)
