Monday, July 26, 2010

Yes, we're crazy!

What did we do this weekend? Went out and got another dog!!!! Please welcome the newest White family member, Ernie! He's a 1 yr old Boston Terrier mix. Why, you ask? Well, dad loves Eby, but she has, as he says "the personality of a cat." Soooo, little ole me said, "We could get another dog if you want, one to be more yours." Little Eby must have had female owners before, because she gravitates towards me a little more, although she likes dad. Anyway, in less than a week we had another dog. We looked Thursday night online at the County Shelter's website and saw a couple cuties. I mean all those dogs just tug at your heart. Anyway, Friday afternoon, during the middle of a band of weather from Tropical Depression Bonnie, we walked into the shelter "to look." Well there were really only 2 dogs we liked that would fit the size needs of our apartment. And Ernie won out. We are waiting to see what his personality will be like. For now he is very timid. The shelter said they think he was mistreated because of his super submissive personality. He has not barked even once since being with us. Or even whined. He just licks his nose, the air, or us constantly and wags his little tail. Poor guy. I'm glad we could give him a home. Momma is holding back on her lovin' a little so that he'll gravitate towards dad. And this little guy is such a lover, I think they'll be 2 peas in a pod.
Princess Eby, however, was not so pleased with our decision. She is definitely mourning the loss of her monarchy. Her reactions range from growling to apathy to purposeful disinterest. She is definitely trying to cling to mom more. But her attitude has been improving daily and I hope she'll come to love him as a buddy. He is so go-with-the-flow he would love any person or dog. They were kenneled together Sunday and nothing happened. They shared the same doggy bed for awhile at night. But they don't voluntarily snuggle up yet.
Then we discovered- poor Ernie is terrified of a leash. When you put one on him he drops to the ground like a wet noodle. He'll be dragged rather than walk. This is slowly improving and we hope he can join the fam for walks in a week or so. He's also very unsure about eating. Never have I seen a dog (unless it was sick) that wouldn't eat. He'll eat a few bites and then be done. Poor guy just feels terribly insecure still I think.
Ms. Eby is at the vet as we speak getting her lady parts out. Mr. Ernie got his out Saturday morning at the shelter. For a lot cheaper too! I highly recommend adopting from the shelter. Alas, Eby was a stray who never made it there, so no discount shots and spays for her.
Having 2 dogs in the house really does make us feel more like a family. Especially with this baby-repurposed-for-dog item:


We had to pull Ernie the whole time since he wouldn't walk, but Eby still got her exercise by running alongside us for about a 1/2 mile. We get friendly waves and questions from everyone who sees them. They're not lazy, really. We make them run for a bit first. But they could never go as fast and as long as we can on our bikes. So this way they still get to come with us. Their weight also amps up the cardio and strength factor in our rides. And most of all it's just ridiculously cute!

So yes, we got crazy this weekend! We'll see how it goes!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Back home

So I realized I haven't posted for a whole week! This week really doesn't have anything interesting to report. John just got his car back Thursday night and we finally sojourned back to our house just last night. Let me tell you- packing up then unpacking all our stuff from those 2 weeks, not the most fun. Especially since it took a few hours for the temp in our house to drop below 80. (We left the AC off while we were gone.) Anyway, it's done now. Thankfully able to cook again once we restock the kitchen. Our food bill for this month is quite high! Eatin healthy aint cheap! But, worth it. unfortunately I did not lose any weight this week :( Possibly a 1/2 pound, depending on where I stand on the scale :) Lol.
I am really glad to be back to our house.
I did get some good shopping in this weekend! Got shoes for my bridesmaid's dress for only $7.50! Score!
Then got 3 dresses from Ross for a total of $42! 2 really cute sundresses and one beautiful navy satin cocktail dress for the rehearsal dinner. Then I nabbed another t-shirt dress and shirt from Goodwill. Then I got these lovelies at another local thrift store: Unworn and only $5! Comfy, sunny color. I pretty much love them!

Next week poor Eby goes under the knife, to lose her girly parts :( Poor baby. Then I get a filling sometime soon. Fun times :)

John moment: Last night as we were cleaning up dinner, John said, "Babe I'm so glad that we didn't have to go through a whole year of smiling and saying 'It's good (when it tastes awful)'." He had seasoned and grilled hamburgers on the George Foreman and I had made oven fries. It really was quite tasty.
John and I are both grateful to come from families who cooked and learning from both osmosis and direct teaching. And perhaps a genetic knack for it. I mean, I'm no Betty Crocker, but very rarely do I make something inedible. Not since I was a kid I think. Give me a recipe, and I'm willing to give it a go.

Ttfn friends!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Wrap up

So, we officially "finished" the 21-day induction. But we've decided to keep on it for awhile, since we didn't follow it to the letter with the craziness of youth conference (didn't do near the exercising we were supposed to).
The weights are: John lost 12 lbs!!!!! Yay for my awesome hubby!
                         Sarah lost 4 lbs. Definitely not as exciting as John, but I'll take it.
Oh men and their metabolisms! Pthhhh! Anyway, we plan to do measurements in a week,
But I promised myself I wouldn't be discouraged if it was only 2 or 3 pounds, so I won't be.

Youth conference week was awesome, powerful and exhausting.
 Here's one pic from it, we got some major positive press in our local newspaper:

 That's John on the far right wearing the forward facing ballcap. He's a little blocked by my awesome friend Katie that helped him baptize. I had to work :(

Thursday John's car died, and we've been too busy and tired to deal with it. So for now we're still at my mom's so he can just walk to work. Yesterday we tried to jump it. Nothing. But John noted his battery cable connections were really corroded, so he was going to try changing the battery Monday, his day off. We've already been planning to take his car to the shop for some other things, so we thought no big deal.
Until... a friend texted us late Sunday night saying that they had been by the church to pickup there care and saw that John's car window was smashed in!!!!! Oh no! So we went right over and this is what we saw:





Poor car :(










They used a brick (was still in the car) to break the window. The only thing missing was an older model GPS.








So then we had to call the cops and the whole shabang. They dusted it for prints but couldn't find anything readable. The blessing in disguise with all of this- John's battery being dead. Otherwise I'm certain the car itself would be missing. I don't think they broke in just for an old TomTom.

So today John replaced the battery and it started right up. He cleaned up enough glass to drive it over to the repair shop. We await the estimate. Yikes. But, we have peace since this amazing man Dave taught us to prepare for such things.

I slept quite a bit this weekend, but as usual I did not want to greet Monday morning. But, thankful to be gainfully employed ;)

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Busy weekend

So, I did accomplish transferring our lives to my mom's currently vacant house. We will stay until this Friday probably. Or if John has his way until Sunday :) I did have to make one trip to our house to get all the stuff I forgot on the first trip, which was hurried and accomplished  in about an hour and 15 minutes. This is not a lot of time to pack up 2 people with special dietary needs and a dog :) The weekend was spent in a daze of trips to the church sprinkled in with running errands, visiting my first dog and bathing him, seeing fireworks, swimming and a lot of cable. I am still really glad we don't have cable. I find sitting in the house watching TV to be rather depressing. And even with my mom's dish cable which has a bazillion channels, I can still hardly find anything to watch. It's either A: inappropriate B: doesn't interest me or C: not in English :)
My husband has been really busy with our youth conference that started last night (the reason for our temporary move to my mom's, since it's a block from our church). I have missed him being around, especially since this was a 3-day weekend. I did get to have him Sunday afternoon. But I have realized, I can be really jealous for him. The Lord is working on teaching me that it's ok for me to love John fiercely, but I don't need to ever put him in front of Jesus. This is a very hard lesson to learn; to be thankful for the time you're given but to still leave that time or person in God's hands. I honestly don't know what I would do if something happened to John. Not that I have any reason to think something will, but even just the fleeting thought of it can bring me to tears.
John did spend some of Sunday afternoon doing this:

Aren't they cute? It was hard for me to wake him up, but I did really want to go swimming :)

I've also been feeling a lot like Suzie homemaker lately. Sometimes that's not the best feeling, but the Lord also reminds me to be thankful for the opportunity to learn to be a servant and to be a good keeper of my home and husband. I've been preparing for almost a week for these coming 4 days, pre-selecting outfits, ironing them, cooking a lasagna and chicken and pork chops (John made chili). Menu planning, grocery shopping, leaving the bathroom sink clean and the bed made, packing all our stuff and then unpacking it. Plating food and labeling it for quick access. Washing dishes (mom doesn't have a dishwasher) and killing cockroaches. I feel like rather than my badge for the conference saying "Media Team" it ought to say "Personal Assistant to John White" since I often get calls of "I forgot this, can you bring me that, I'm not going to make it to dinner..." :-) The week of conference always seems to be crisis mode. Always last minute changes, technical difficulties etc... :)
But, I can take pride when my husband is well-fed and dressed in clean, pressed clothes. :) If I wasn't doing this in addition to my 40-hr regular job, it would be somewhat of a cinch. But alas, I join millions of other working women who make it happen :)
Last night i put my grammar/spelling gifts to work and fixed the typos in the PowerPoints of our worship songs. Tonight I will check this list before it makes it to the screens :) Then I sat with John in the TV room. I would loathe having this job all conference, sitting in that room about 7 hrs a day, constantly watching camera angles and changing the shots for recording. Not fun. I hope and pray, (really, I did pray) that John will be able to come out into the actual service and do some ministry. It's hard for me because I know deep in his heart he would like to get a break sometimes and get in on the "action" rather than always sitting behind some kind of monitor. I have asked, now it's up to the Lord to make it happen.
Well this post was filled with a lot of randomosity (made-up word), but that's not unusual I think.
Wednesday night marks the finish of our 21 day induction to the new eating plan. Since I won't be with my scale, I'll have to wait to weigh-in until I go back home :( But I'll be sure to let y'all know.

John moment: I was putting away our stuff in my mom's house to get us settled in for the coming week. John did something he does quite frequently while I'm doing some chore like cooking or laundry. He grabbed me and squeezed me and starting dancing around doing his "attack" dance as I like to call it. (It's crazy and kinda feels like you're being accosted.) I was laughing but he always does it for like a couple minutes, with me squirming to get free after about 30 seconds. This time I was hanging clothes and still had a hanger in my hand. I said "Babe, I have an agenda." Quick as lightning he responded, "What are you, a liberal?" Lol. It caught me just right. I laughed so hard. :)