A rare sight...

In the olden days, that is, before Ed and I got married, Autumn and Asbury always slept in the bed with me. Not so much since Fox came into their life.

Imagine Ed's surprise when he came home today from taking the dogs out to find this:

The rare part is the cat in the bed. I sleep often. :)

As promised...

Home

I'm also going to put the video in the sidebar of the blog.

Ewwww...

Football-flavored sodas for sale

Celebrating Copeland's Life...

The memorial service was beautiful. Incredibly sad, but beautiful. After the service, I introduced myself to Copeland's parents and asked her mom if I could give her a hug. I told her the hug was from me and all the "blog people" who'd posted they wished they could hug her.

I also met Copeland's maternal grandparents. Copeland's grandfather told me the family's blog has had in excess of 300,000 hits from more than 60 countries and all 50 states. The Farley's story has made a HUGE impact on so many people.

Copeland's mom plans to post a video they showed at the service, as well as part of the service itself, at their site in the next few days. I'll post the link for those who are interested.

In spite of the extreme sadness that necessitated it, we had a good trip. I took some pictures and will post them in a day or two.

No up!

Ed and I are driving to Brentwood, Tenn., today for Copeland Farley's memorial service. When the alarm went off at 5:30 a.m., I groaned, said "No up!" -- my traditional way of complaining about the freakishly EARLY hour my alarm goes off most mornings.

Then I remembered Copeland's family. Suddenly my having to get up so early didn't seem like such a big deal.

Curves Ticker

As part of my "Go to Curves or Bust" campaign, I have created an exercise ticker that you can see at the top of this page. Hopefully, it will help me stay on track. The Curves plan is to work out 3 times a week (which works out to 12 or 13 times a month).

Help keep me accountable, kids. I need to improve on my measly 5 workouts in September.

(Hi, Pam, if you stopped by!)

A real drip!

A few days ago, my friend Heather bemoaned the fact that every time she goes into the ladies room at our new office at least one of the faucets is dripping. I now find myself shutting off dripping faucets, too.

I was probably guilty of letting the faucets drip, too, before I was "shown the light." But it's amazing how much water is wasted by one dripping faucet... and how easy it is to rectify the situation once you know it's happening: in our case one needs only to push the faucet handle a little harder.

As for me, if I leave faucets running, *I'm*" the one who feels like a real drip.

Copeland Farley

Copeland Fair Farley died yesterday. Click here to read about her extraordinary life.

It's remarkable that a stranger can touch thousands of other strangers as much as Copeland and her family has. I am changed in ways I may not fully understand for a long time.

God bless Conor, Boothe, Sellers and all those who love her and mourn Copeland's death.

Flat Stanley!

I feel sorry for those of you who don't know about Flat Stanley, for he is COOL and has lots of adventures.

In fact, courtesy of a friend at Curves (yes, I went today), Flat Stanley is going on an adventure to Kentucky with Ed and me next week, as we go to Mammoth Cave and then to homecoming at my college.

I can't wait! (I'm almost as excited about Flat Stanley as I am about anything else related to the trip.)

Flat Stanley ROCKS!

Forgive me, "Curves"ers...

...It has been 19 days since my last workout.

Between work craziness, illness, and general "don't want to go"-ness, it had been awhile. As in September 5. This was my third workout of the month. Something tells me I'm not going to get to the recommended 12 workouts between now and Saturday.

This is where you, my readers, along with my husband, come in. Lurkers are invited, too.

The spouse-unit has offered a bribe... I mean an incentive. He'll let me drive the CR-V if I go to Curves after work. Now, some days I'll just have to suck it up and go even without the CR-V. Whatev.

I'm also going to put a Curves-O-Meter on my blog, showing how many workouts I've done each month. Feel free to call, e-mail, harangue, if you see too much "gappage" between workouts.

Thank you for your support. :)

Toby the Snorebarian

Before I married, I often said that Toby's freakishly loud snoring was a way to prepare me for my future husband's snoring.

Now I'm married and know that no man could possibly snore as loudly as does Toby. (Actually, I don't know that for sure, as Ed is the only person to whom I've been married. But Ed doesn't snore loudly, and if I said anything to the contrary, I would be the one in the dog house. Ha ha.)

Anyhoo, this video doesn't do it justice, but it will give you an idea. By the way, I took 9 videos of Toby snoring last night within the span of a few minutes. He kept snoring louder, so I kept taking videos. This is the last -- and the loudest -- video I took.

This is for "The Birds"

Ed and I were watching a television recording of "The Birds" this evening which "cut out" three minutes before the end. I've never seen it and Ed was nine years old when the movie came out and hasn't seen it since then. (He is SO OLD!) So we don't know it ends. We'll look it up tomorrow, but for now we're headed to bed.

The fair... and the GOATS!

Last night, Ed and I went to the fair. We did the typical things: watched people (the kids were my favorite), rode the Ferris wheel and the carousel. I rode a slightly "spinny" ride that Ed was afraid would make him too dizzy. (I'm at the far left of the frame.)



We ate carnival food.



Then, just before we left, we found the baby goats. I was in such bliss. I had no idea goats were so adorable.



I asked Ed today what his favorite part of the fair was and he said it was probably me and the baby goats. I think the last photo pretty much says it all.

Drat!

If you see it, you'll eat it...

I really hoped this wasn't true...

Things to do while up in the night

I woke up at 3:45 a.m. I hadn't taken some of my medicine, which didn't help, but also had symptoms of a raging bladder infection. We're off to the doctor in a little while to check that out. Ugh...

So what do two humans, two canines, and two felines do when awakened in the middle of the night? Take a bath? Check. Whine about feeling bad? Check. Take medicine to feel better? Check.

Also...

Toby stayed in the bed for quite a while.

But Fox came downstairs to check on me.

I ate yogurt.

Then Asbury ate yogurt.

The dogs and Ed went for and came back from a walk.

Then Fox and Ed played. Toby barked, just to have something to do.

After playing and barking, the dogs sat quietly for a treat.

Then Ed looked for a treat... I mean a snack.

Anything look good?

Mushrooms anyone? (He finally settled on some peanut butter. Not on the mushrooms, thankfully.)

The middle of the night is a great time to take a self-portrait.

Meanwhile, Autumn begged for an early breakfast...

Fox got a belly rub.

Toby wondered if it was o.k. to get back into the bed.

It was o.k., so into the bed he was put.

5:17 a.m.: back to bed, only 8 minutes before we generally get up on work days.

Thankfully, we were both able to go back to sleep, and stayed in bed until after 9 a.m. Hopefully, we'll all sleep better tonight.

Oh my!

I loved "Little Miss Sunshine," but this is embarrassing!

Late

I didn't get to my desk until 6:32 this morning.

I feel so late.

In what kind of sick world does a person get to work at 6:32 a.m. and feel "late"?

Thankfully, it's my Friday. We're going to the fair tonight, and I plan to sleep all day tomorrow. Ahhhhh...

Americans drink themselves fat

A heart murmur is never a good thing, but 15 years ago my being diagnosed with one caused me to largely stop drinking soft drinks (caffiene+heart murmur=uncomfortable).

Nutritionists: Soda making Americans drink themselves fat

It turns out that "empty" calories are not created equal.

Handsome boys

Fox and Toby went to the vet to be groomed today. Toby got a haircut. Fox did not. :) He did get a bath, however. Toby looks like a different dog when he is groomed. We know this will happen, but it surprises us every time. Below is a picture of Toby and Fox a few weeks ago.

You will note that Fox looks the same except for a "freshened up" bandana. :)

6:28 a.m.

6:28 a.m. is very early. Especially when you're already at work. And you didn't get up until 5:30 a.m., and you have a 35ish-minute drive to work.

Now, it's 7:01 a.m. Thirty-three minutes down, 9 hours, 59 minutes to go, except I'll likely work late tonight. That means I have... oh, never mind. It's going to be a long day. Enough said.

I gave blood (the after-work update)

Several of the other donors were impressed with how fast I gave my pint... about 7 minutes. It's odd. The last time I gave blood, they really had to coax it out of me.

Of course, now I'm a pint short of blood on one of the busiest days of my work year.

(Thanks to a coworker who took the picture of me "in the act," and to another coworker who forwarded it to me. I am such a nerd, reading my "post-donation instructions.")

Goodbye, green Honda

This afternoon, we took Ed's old car to Carmax, where they say, "We'll Buy Your Car Even If You Don't Buy Ours!"

Ten minutes before I took this photo, we didn't think Carmax's motto possible, because Ed couldn't get the car to start. (I'd like to think Ed's big grins always are because of my stunning beauty -- hee hee -- but in this case, if his feelings mirrored mine, it's relief that the car finally started.)

The car also started for the folks at Carmax (phew!). So with business complete, we said goodbye to the Honda and went on our way.

Goodbye, green Honda. You served Ed well.

Hungry kitty

The most recent object of Autumn kitty's affection is the sealed bag of cat food.

The fact that she has a full automatic feeder from which she can still get food any time she wants is beside the point, apparently. Maybe it tastes better directly from the bag?




(Pay no attention to the goofy Rebecca giggle at the end. I forgot I was still recording. Oopsie.)

Friday night

Our dear friend Sam is sick. He "just" has a bad virus, but it has been bad with a capital "b." As in, he's been to the doctor's office three or four times and to the ER once. This week.

I talked with Sam's mom on my way home from work. I offered to come over so they could get out for a little while. Essentially, I walked in the door (after an almost two-hour commute) and told Ed we were going and to get in the car. What a good husband he is to put up me things like this.

The poor baby is so stuffed up. Feeding him a bottle is a bit of a challenge because he can't breathe and suck at the same time. So he drinks his bottles sitting up with many breathing breaks. And burping breaks.

After two poopy diapers, a little Pedialyte, his bottle, and a little "smiley time," he got fussy. Into his swing he went, and after a few minutes of being serenaded by his swing set's classical music, he fell asleep. And started snoring. Ed, meanwhile, watched a show about butchers on The History Channel's show called "Modern Marvels." I don't know which is a more effective pacifier: the swing for Sam or The History Channel (or Discovery Channel) for Ed. :)



Mom and Dad are still out, and Sam's still asleep. And snoring. I'm glad to have seen Sam... and glad his parents got to go out for a bit.

Doors at our new office

Apparently, some of us are having trouble adjusting to having to use a card key to enter our office suite.

I found this note taped to one of the doors this afternoon. :)

The healthy-eating post of the day

I haven't read it yet, but wanted to get it blogged...

5 nutritious habits of the planet's healthiest countries

First morning...

This morning was the first this season in which I was so warm and cozy that it took me almost 20 minutes to get up after the alarm went off.

I also was so "tired and sleepy." This may have had something to do with it, but I don't think so. ;)

Is it time for bed yet?

I thought this article was interesting...

Parents, non-parents compete for time off

A new bed

It's hard to see in this picture, but Toby is resting on his new orthopedic dog bed. Ed put the bed in Toby's crate earlier today and left the crate's door open.

Toby loves pillows, dog beds (especially ones that feel like pillows), etc., but he's not really a "crate dog."

He generally goes happily into his crate when we go out, but I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen him "hang out" there.

I guess he REALLY likes this bed. :)

Office Space

We went to our new office today (Sunday) to make sure the phone and computers work (they do, thanks to our outstanding IT department) and to unpack essentials, so we can hit the ground running tomorrow morning.

When I started this job, my cubicle was all set up for me, and I've made almost no changes. In my new space, I have to decide where to put the contents of my 11 boxes. Except for my "active" files, I haven't a clue. I was completely overwhelmed.

Therefore, I did the minimum: I unpacked my "to do" lists, a few pens, the previously mentioned active files, and a couple of other items. The rest I'll try to deal with this week.

As for the space itself, I think I'll enjoy it. The commute likely will be complete hell, but it's only for nine months, or a year, or 14 months, depending on all the wacky delays renovations bring. The bright side of the long commute is I'll have more time to listen to my books on CD. Books on CD make almost anything better.

Babysitting Sam

This was the first time we'd seen Sam since he was dedicated on Father's Day. And the first time Sam's daddy got to try out our new camera. :)

Ed feeding a baby solid food for the first time: "I think I can; I think I can..."

YUM -- unknown type of pureed fruit. (He also ate pureed sweet potato. The baby, not Ed.)

Hi! :)

We thought he was just playing, but he was actually "taking care of business."

Ed doesn't "do" dirty diapers.

The coast clear, Ed comes back to play with Sam.

My favorite picture of the day.

Sam needs almost as many naps each day as I do. Being a baby, however, he gets to take them.

We had a nice time with Sam. Maybe we'll get to visit with his parents one day soon. :)