If she weren't so cute...

Last night I was getting Corryn to sleep. She was laying in my lap, looked up at me and said with the sweetest little sleepy voice
"Momma nose"
W: "Momma nose" (because if you don't repeat what she says she says it again. Over and over and over.)
C: "Momma eyes"
W: "Momma eyes"
C: "Momma booger"

She's home!

Peaches came home today. A friend picked her up for me since I haven't been able to take care of getting my car licensure stuff taken care of yet. She looks good, still a little wobbly from the medicine she's on, but doing well. She's sticking pretty close to me, much to Dillon's chagrin since she'd like her close to her. Turns out it was something she ate out of the compost bin. We had been messing around with it, looking at the worms and compost. You know, homeschooling kind of stuff. She ate some that made it out of the bin- no more than a couple of bites, but that's all it took. She started having tremors within a half hour of doing so that progressed to full blown grand mal seizures. But since we got her to the vet's pretty quickly and got her taken care of, all seems to be pretty well now. She's going to be on anti-seizure meds for a month or so, but should be able to wean off.

So I'm feeling better. Now I just need my car title to arrive from NH so I can take care of getting IN plates.



Oh, and here's a couple of picture from my class:

I can't even think tonight

Let's see.... I started my photography class I've been waiting for for a year. It is awesome. I love it! I'm learning a ton. I even got the "opportunity" to get in some extra practice after my computer erased all the photos on my camera card.

It was 82 degrees today. We found a robin's nest with 3 beautiful little blue eggs in it. In our backyard, no less!


But we spent the afternoon at the vet's office, then the vetrinary ICU with our very sick dog. She suddenly started having severe seizures this afternoon with no apparent cause. I love this dog dearly and have spent the afternoon crying. She's still in the ICU and doing better, but we can't find a cause. Most all the obvious things are ruled out.

I got pulled over on Wednesday, didn't have my driver's license with me and had expired plates. I now can't drive anywhere until I change the plates, which I can't do until we find the title, which we can't find. A duplicate is on the way from NH. Thank goodness Dave was available to take the poor dog to the vet today.

Corryn didn't nap today. So, I'm exhausted and a little numb tonight. Yay for a Magic Schoolbus movie to keep Dillon occupied at the moment. I need sleep.

Hanging out

Ah, the exciting life we lead- sitting here on a Saturday night, listening to the pouring rain out. The rain that is going to turn into snow tomorrow. Dave and Dillon are playing a board game- or at least some version of it. Corryn's asleep and I'm taking care of very important computer business (haha). Really, it's good, especially in light of all the recent should-we-stay-or-should-we-go turmoil.

The job still seems to be going in a positive direction. We're thinking we're going to buy the house we're renting. I feel really conflicted about it now- 'cause you know it would be too easy to not feel conflicted about something. It's a nice house, but it just isn't our dream. I want to look out and see trees. Instead, I look out and see houses and concrete and cars. The area is ugly- lots of railroad tracks, big industrial plants. But, from a financial standpoint, it's truly a gift to be able to stay here, finish paying off bills (oh, those painfully large bills), and save for the dream house. And given how difficult the transition has been for Dillon, it just doesn't feel like the right thing to do to discombobulate her world all over again by packing everything up.

Maybe 3 more years of being here and we can have a sizable chunk of money for the dream house. The girls will be old enough to handle moving to a new house a little better. Some land, woods, a place for a real garden. A place without pink carpet since between the old house and this one we'll have had 8 years of it by then!

I'm going to make the best of it and grow a little container garden in the meantime. And oh yeah, on Monday, finally get to start the online photography class I've been waiting a year for. I am super excited about it!

So overall feeling a little more settled, though settling is a slow process for me. New Hampshire was a hard place to live up to, I have to admit.

The view from the upstairs back of the house-

Yay for vacations

We relaxed, we got a chance to talk about the whole job situation, and now we're feeling a little better about things. The sum of it all is that the job has a great deal positive going for it, as does the city. There are some major negatives to the job, but they are unlikely to be permanent. Dave agrees that he desperately needs to put some stress management in place and stop relying on home to be a stress-free place. He has made some big changes to his schedule arrangement that should decrease his hours. He had some really positive meetings upon his return.

So, all things considered, we are feeling more solidly positive about being here. Spring seems to be here, things are turning green, we're getting outside more. I'm follwing up on some of the people we've met and exchanged contact information with to try to get together.

So, we're getting there.

Birthday party

We had Dillon's birthday party at the barn where she (and I!) take lessons. It was the week after her birthday and in spite of less than nice weather we had a really good time. So good we're thinking of doing it again, just without birthday cake :)

It was a small group, which is my kind of birthday party. There were 2 ponies and one regular sized horse for everyone-including any interested adults- to ride. There were also older kids there that lead the party guests around on the horses. We bought pizza for everyone, then cake after the riding was over. Even the kids that were a bit apprehensive had a ball.

Pictures are a bit dark- that little point and shoot flash just doesn't reach far, but enjoy!

More agonizing

Just a quick update. Things continue to be up, then down, then up and down again. Still working too many hours with some really great aspects to the job, but some major not great aspects to the job. 6 months into this and it's still so up in the air. Don't get too settled, we may not stay. Help Dillon get adjusted, then pick up and start all over again. Therapy seems to be helping her some, though it's slow going at best. Seems like no matter what we decide, someone's going to be unhappy.

Much worrying, try as I might not to. Thank goodness for an upcoming vacation. A break from the worry would help.