That time Giselle almost ran away

Giselle and I have been spending a lot more time together this year. Matt's at work nearly every waking minute so lately it has been up to me to feed G, play with her, get on to her, and stop her from jumping on people. At times I feel like a stay-at-home mom who is the "bad guy." When Matt gets home, she runs to the door and jumps on him and smells his ear like she hasn't seen him in forever and she is so excited that he is finally home. I'm fine with it, I mean, I know who she loves more, it's okay. I just remind her that without me she'd hardly ever be fed and she'd be stuck in her kennel for twenty hours a day. Basically, I'm her lifesaver. She'll realize how great I am to her when she is older, I'm sure. You know, kind of how like now I wonder how on earth my mother didn't put me up for adoption for all the trouble I gave her. Kudos to moms everywhere for putting up with their children.

I digress.

A couple of weeks ago, I let Giselle out after dark so she could play one last time before I brought her in for the night. She loves being outside at nighttime. I'm pretty certain that she pretends she's a ninja and hunts down squirrels. About ten minutes after letting her out, I opened the back door to call her back in. I called, but I didn't see her. Not a big deal, she was playing ninja. I called again and then noticed that the gate was open. The gate. The only physical barrier to keeping Giselle in the backyard was gone. As was Giselle.

My first thought: Matt's going to divorce me.

I grabbed my keys and ran out the door. And there she was. Sitting oh so patiently by the front gate, just a-waiting to come inside. I nearly cried. I let her in and gave her a hug and then got on to her for leaving the back yard. And then I gave her a treat. I mean, she did come back and saved me from certain future alimony payments.

I thought about naming this post "How Giselle Saved My Marriage," but I thought that was too dramatic. Last thing I want right now is more drama.

Note: Matt and I will be closing on our very first home sometime in the next twelve days. We'll be moving in just over a month. My brother is getting married in a month and a half. No, I don't need no more drama. I seriously ain't got time for that.

Hi, my name is Tara and I am a bibliophile

I try not to be. I rarely buy books. I frequent the library at least once a week. I check Amazon for free ebooks every few days. I am way too active at my e-library. All in an effort to not collect heavy, expensive books that will inevitably draw dust and dog hair. Evidently, all of my efforts have been in vain. I am slowly packing up our house and wanted to start with the things that we don't use on a daily basis. One category of those things is books. I can go online for a recipe or I can check a book out of the library if my copy is in storage. Little did I know how huge of a task packing up books would be. It took several days and 17 (SEVENTEEN!!!) boxes, but I've finally gotten them all packed up.

Once Matt and I are in our "forever" home, I will buy books but until then, I have got to stop. I'll admit it, I have a problem.

A week in pictures

 Last week had  A LOT of picture worthy moments so I decided instead of just telling you about them, I'd show you the pictures I took. I know, I'm awesome like that.

First, on Sunday, I felt bad, but I baked. Baking just makes everything better. My first attempt at pretzel rolls turned out delicious.  I made 12 of them, and they were all gone by Tuesday. Granted, my tummy trouble of Monday may have played a role in their quick disappearance. And my love of bread.  I should say that this picture is on a salad plate, not a dinner plate. The pretzel rolls were not the size of frisbees. I kind of wish they had been.

On Tuesday I started working on a little something special for a baby that was expected around April 12th.  Yep, CONFETTI!!!

 On Wednesday, that sweet baby girl came. A little early, but we aren't complaining one bit.

 On Thursday, I noticed those two little cuts on Giselle's face. And then Matt told me that the neighbor texted him about our dogs chasing a raccoon around. G and I spent part of our Friday at the vet to catch her up on her rabies vaccination. She looked so sad in the pictures from that day, I decided not to post them. I mean, who likes to cry at work? Not me.

On Saturday, Mar and I went to see sweet baby girl in the hospital. She spent several days in the NICU for low blood sugar so we had to stare adoringly at her through glass. This is her gramps peering in to see her. 

 Also on Saturday, this little man made an appearance for the church's Easter egg hunt. I swear, that kid's got some crazy egg skills. He hasn't quite grasped the concept of putting the eggs in the basket, but he can sure fill his little hands with them. Happy Easter, Henry!

 On Sunday, I got an Easter present! I keep putting off having kids because then I know that they'll get the goodies and I'll be stuck trying to sneak the chocolate our of their baskets while they aren't looking. For now, it's all about me and I'm okay with it.  I have no clue what this flower/plant/thing is, but it's mine!

 This week promises to be full of more babies, finished sewing projects, AND a birthday of someone I know pretty well. I can't promise I'll post pictures from any of those things, but I might tell you about them. Until then, I'll be gorging myself on Starburst jelly beans!

The one about disappointment

Last Friday was kind of a bummer for me.  I got rejected for a job, found out some problems with the house we want to buy, and a dear friend didn't quite get the news we were hoping for about something rather important. To say the least, as I drove the two hours to my parents' house for a visit Friday night, I had some heavy thoughts.  I felt sorry for myself for about half of the drive, then decided that there are some things that are just beyond my control.

I can only give what I have.

Everything happens for a reason. I know that. Heck, I say it all the time. I just don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear that I was not meant to have the job that I applied for and hoped against hope that I would get. I don't want to hear that the house that Matt and I have picked out may not the best purchase. I don't want to hear that my 8-month pregnant friend wasn't meant to pass her dissertation boards free and clear.

But it is true. Everything does happen for a reason.

I have a job offer waiting for me. There are other houses for sale in the same neighborhood. J is off work for the next 18 weeks so she can focus on her dissertation for the next few days without having to worry about students or deadlines.

I'm working on remembering that when what I give isn't enough, it isn't because I didn't try hard enough (or sometimes it is) or because I am not good enough. It means that there are other plans for me. It means that what I need is not a super stressful job in an international law firm or a house with a roof that will need to be replaced or perfect friends (who needs those anyway?).

What I need is to trust that it will all work out for the best. I've got to go full force then let it go. I've got to have faith.

What a difference a professional can make

 Last April or so, Matt and I decided to fix the flower bed in the front of our house. We spent hours and hours and over a hundred bucks to make it look perfectly perfect. And it did. For about two months. Then, the weeds came and the motivation left. We didn't weed the beds, we didn't replace the flowers when they died after the season, we just didn't care. Then, in about August of 2012, our generous landlords (Matt's parents) mentioned that they were going to have the front yard landscaped. We were thrilled. From that point on, I didn't even look at the beds and consider weeding them or raking the leaves out or anything. I will admit that about the beginning of last month I started to feel ashamed of the awful state of our flower beds, but not quite up to doing anything about it. Then. About three weeks ago, the professionals were sent in. They fixed everything. Like, everything. I have pictures to prove it.

 First, well start with the brick steps. We live in a pier and beam house (like, up off the ground) so we have steps to get into the house. Ours were in awful condition. The bricks were crumbling and broken. The "wall" facing the street looked awful. Look, I'll show you:
See what I mean? Awful. See the area below the wall? Covered in leaves? That's the flower bed. I know, it's obvious. I didn't even need to tell you.

And now, it has been fixed. Behold!

Isn't that the prettiest wall you've ever seen? The dark grey parts at the top are just wet concrete. It is dry now and much lighter. You can tell that the bricks aren't all the same. The landscaper used some of the bricks that we had been using to line the flower bed. I have to say, the color variation really makes a difference.

Next up, the big picture. Okay, first, the front of the house BEFORE the landscaper came in: 

 I have to admit, the best part about this picture is the Tech flag. Ain't a whole lot of prettiness. With about three days of work. the landscaper crew (two incredibly hard workers and one supervisor), turned that unattractive mess up there into this:




























I know. You are wild with jealous. Wait until you see it after the rest of the repairs. We're going to repaint all the white trim on the exterior of the house AND deal with those leaves on the roof. By "we" I actually mean another professional. Well, Matt had better handle the leaves, but the painting will be done by a professional. And no, we're not paying for a thing! Again, thanks to the landlords...

Now I'm kind of sad to be leaving it...

2013 resolutions

It's taken me 17 days, but I've finally decided on my resolutions. Completely doable resolutions. Last year's were a bit too abstract and too numerous, but now I've got better goals.

1. Clean the kitchen every night before going to bed. Including the dishes. I want an empty sink by bedtime. I can do that, I swear.

2. Starting today, yoga everyday. I just bought some DVDs that have 10-minute routines. I can spare ten minutes.

3. Eat less, exercise more.

4. Compliment at least one person every day.

5. File mail and other documents as soon as I receive them. I currently have a "to-file" stack about a foot high. It's ridiculous. But no more!

There, five completely do-able things that will make my life (and hopefully the lives of the people around me) a little bit better. It's going to happen.

2011 Craft Recap

This year I set a crazy goal of reading 75 books. I did it, but kind of let a lot of my other hobbies fall by the wayside. My goal for 2013 is still to read, just not as much. I want to really focus on crafting. And getting our house ready to sell. And finding a new house. And being able to pay for a new house. Without ending up with no money. 

Because you really don't want to read the list of books I read, instead, I wanted to share the completed crafts I did this year that I haven't posted before. I think y'all have seen all the wreaths so here are the other things I've been up to.

Matt and I went to Mexico for our honeymoon and brought back a whole bunch of tangible memories. While trying to clean things out for the big move, I came across them and made a shadowbox display. I'm quite pleased with it.

Here's a quilt I made for Whitney for Christmas. She mentioned on Pinterest how she wanted a quilt like this, so I tried my best to make it for her. It's not big enough to cover a twin bed, but should be a good curl-up quilt. I had fun picking the patterns for this one, while still trying to use as much fabric as I could with what I already had. 

This behemoth of a quilt is now Drew's. He got it for his birthday. He has this weird obsession with polo-style shirts. You know, the knit variety. He wanted a quilt made out of the shirts that he couldn't wear anymore (like stained shirts, too small, wonky collars). I volunteered. And then went back on my crazy meds. It took months, but I did it. It fits a queen-sized bed, which it what he wanted. I think my sewing machine still hates me for it. 

And that little piece of cheer is my first completed cross-stitch. Well, my first real one. I made another small one last year for our gallery wall, but I don't really consider that one real. This one is a wedding record. The "Love Never Fails" is a little wonky because I free-handed it while listening to the last five chapters of "Life of Pi." If you've read that book (I don't know about the movie), you know why I might have been distracted. I plan to give it  as a gift, but we'll see. It may be too wonky.

There. The four projects that you might not have seen yet. I'm hoping to have a whole heck of a lot more in 2013. I know, you can hardly wait to see what I churn out.