I Love Snow!

Brinkley is very happy here.

 

Update From Ohio

I finally had some days at home.  We moved into our new house on August 15.  I left for work on August 16.  From August 16 to September 20 I was home very few days.  On September 20 I woke up at home and then spent 10 consecutive days there.  This allowed me to accomplish A LOT.  I am excited to announce that we are ready for visitors!  Please book your flights and get to Ohio as soon as possible.  We would love to have you.  Betty (a friend of our family) and her sister Jackie were our first visitors.  It was actually nice to have them come the day before I was scheduled to leave again because it gave me a deadline for cleaning the house.  I had been working upwards of 12 hours per day painting and unpacking, but I had not swept the floor since move-in day.  I know that it’s a no-brainer, but sweeping the floor can make all the difference in the world in making your house feel like a home.  It’s just so hard to do when so much of the floor is covered with boxes.  Here is a picture of our first formal visitors:

 

Here are some befores and afters that will update you on our progress: (You can see original state of house here.)

Living Room

Dining Room/Office (We split the room with bookshelves.)

Gym (We are laying real foam gym flooring.)

Walking into our bedroom

Inside bedroom

 

Also, it’s Fall here!  My perfect day is 80 degrees with a cool breeze.  Yesterday was exactly 80 degrees and there was a cool breeze blowing.  The trees are turning, and it was beautiful!  I was in Dallas last weekend getting very depressed because it was in the eighties there.  I had been in Ohio for 10 days of cold and rainy weather.  I was terrified that I wasn’t going to get my beautiful 80 degree Fall days.  I have been singing with joy since I woke up at home on Friday to a perfect day.  The first picture below is a view from our backdoor.  The following are pics from the park we take Brinkley to. 

    

     

  

Then, Brinkley made some friends.  Kids love her, and thankfully she also loves them.

 

On an even more personal note, Jason is doing great in school.  He loves it, and I love hearing him talk about it.  We are really enjoying living here.  It is quaint and quiet and everyone is especially friendly.  We are looking for a church.  Today we tried the First Baptist Church.  I’m still working a lot, which is great.  I leave again Wednesday.  Lastly, we found someone to love our animals when we are gone.  A guy named Chad takes Brinkley and keeps the cats fed.  It’s great.  We do miss our friends though.  This weekend was OU/TX weekend.  While our friends watched the game from Dallas we watched the game on the couch with pizza.

Oh, and last fun thing.  I created a  feeding station using a bookshelf and a couple of identical mats.  I love it!

One of Life’s Lessons

Recently Brinkley learned one of life’s toughest lessons. 

CATS ALWAYS GET WHAT THEY WANT!

We tried to explain this to her when she first became part of our family,

but I’m not sure she ever fully understood it until yesterday. 

You see, several months ago I made Brinkley a bed.  She had been through countless store bought beds because as it turns out, the only thing they were good for was ripping them apart and eating the stuffing.  So, with all the brilliance I possess, I decided to make her one that didn’t have any stuffing.  I bought a really soft baby blanket and cut a slit in the back of it.  I then cut a twin sized $10 “memory foam” mattress into fourths.  I cut the four pieces to fit snuggly inside the blanket and then I stuffed them in and smoothed them out.  Voila, a doggie bed big enough for 65 lbs to comfortably sprawl across.  I didn’t even sew the slit in the back.  I just threw it on the floor and she was instantly in dog heaven. (This is the project part.)

    

That was until recently, when this started happening.

I felt so bad for Brinkley that I got out an old dog bed that had been given to us.  I sprayed Febreze on it and used a lint roller to get off all the old hair.  I thought I would see if I could coax Bub to start sleeping on the smaller dog bed.  It’s the exact same type of material and everything.  The only difference is that it is made with stuffing and it’s made for a 10lb dog. 

This is what has happened.

     

   

I wish we could help, but we gave up our bed years ago.  This is just one of those things in life that we all have to learn to deal with…

CATS ALWAYS GET WHAT THEY WANT!

Me and my faithful companion…

…went to the duck pond yesterday.  It was her first experience with ducks.  When we first walked to the water’s edge I made her sit.  She was visibly trembling with excitement.  I have never seen her so desperate to jump into a body of water, and If we had been the only ones at the park I totally would have let her.  Here are some pics of our outing. 

P.S.   I’m not kidding you when I say that I am falling head over heels for this town.  It is a magical place!

  

 

 

  Wait!  Where are they going?

  Distracted for a second.

Then, back to attention.

It was an awesome outing.

Here are a few more things I love about Bartlesville…

They have the COOLEST car wash.  The cheapest wash is only $4.  It’s the kind where you get on a track, put your car in neutral, and then let the machines do the rest.  Then, you pull out and you get free vacuums.  Now, this is not first free vacuum place I have ever seen, but it is the first car vacuum I have EVER seen that is actually made to fit between your car seats and the console! 

How amazing is that!

 

And then there are the amazing sunrises…

This one is from the air…

And finally, this is me at the movies.  I have my hoodie on, a sweater over my lap and a diet coke in my hand. I went to see Dinner for Schmucks.  It was a perfect afternoon.

Oh yeah, and this is a clip that’s on the bulletin board in Dawn’s office.  (She is our office manager.)