Toadfrogs and Elephants

Wade and I decided to tackle another project this weekend – lighting. Both the basement and his shop need quite a bit of work to be what we want. Due to a late start, we decided to do the basement today and save the rest for tomorrow.

This is a picture of the basement before we moved in – it came with the shelves and furniture you see:

With the help of a friend, we moved out all of the old furniture and put in new shelves. You can see I am a packrat and keep a lot of boxes and packing supplies. The only thing that still bothered me about the basement was the lighting. There was a light in the stairway that could be turned on at the top of the stairs. Then there was a light switch on the ceiling as you come down the stairs for the front of the basement. Then there was a pull chain to turn on the light in the back of the basement. I wanted it all on a single switch at the top of stairs. Wade suggested we even add some new lighting. It didn’t take too long and now I have a bright basement. We even took out all of the old wiring – that is nasty stuff.

I made the decision recently to join the American Brittany Rescue Organization. They have the cutest pictures of displaced dogs online. They also desperately need foster homes for dogs. From the website, I understand that they are only in foster homes from 2-6 weeks. I thought, “I can do that!” Plus I can see how Madison does with another dog in the house – for down the road when we might get a second dog. Wade seemed agreeable with the understanding that all the work would fall to me.

I turned in an application and got a phone call the same night. The coordinator for South Carolina had a dog in Anderson she wanted me to check out. I was to go to the shelter and determine if the dog was a mix or pure bred. Sadly, the group only handles pure breds. I told her I had a Brittany but I wasn’t sure I could determine a mix from a pure bred. She said that Brittany’s can not have black noses and either have a nub of a tail or a feathered tail.

I haven’t been in an animal shelter for a long time. They stink! We couldn’t find the dog in the main section so the lady took me into the back. She warned me before entering, but there are 6-10 dogs in each tiny dogrun with no food or water. It was heartbreaking. The dog at the shelter did have a black nose and didn’t have the right tail, but he was so cute. I hated to leave him!

August is our birthday month. My dad begins it all with his birthday on August 15th. Then my sister’s is August 16th. Wade’s dad then has one on August 17th. Happy Birthday to all.

Happy Birthday Jerry!

Wade came home from work today wanting to do something. He suggested dinner, a movie, going to Greenville, etc. Evidently I was thinking too slowly because he pulled out his phone and called Kendall and James, our friends in Greenville. He left a message for them saying we were headed their way and taking them out to dinner. They called back and said they were interested which is good because we were already on the interestate. Dinner was at a sushi restaurant in downtown Greenville. I’m sure you are thinking, “Wade ate sushi”? In fact he did. This particular restaurant had some interesting types of sushi – including fried chicken sushi. We all know how Wade likes anything fried. After dinner we tried two ice cream places, which were both closed, before going to the grocery and eating ice cream at their house. A nice random evening.

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Way back in April, my dad and Laura gave me the promise of a new washing machine for my birthday. Due to one thing or another (mostly studying for my test), I haven’t picked one out before now. However, Wade did some research and we had brand a washing machine and matching dryer delivered today. In the long term plans for the house, we will have a separate laundry room and a counter top will be built over the washer/dryer. For now, I am just glad the washing machine doesn’t groan and beep and shake all over the place.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Sally has made herself scarce lately, but she appeared today. Sally has a bad habit of making people uncomfortable. She stands too close to me and invades my personal space. Whenever we have a conversation, I feel like she is too intense. She stands extremely close, hangs on every word, and stares at me for the duration of the conversation. It is extremely unnerving and I feel the need to ramble.

Wade and I slept in this morning – what a luxury. The cruise was awesome, but there were no late mornings and lots of late nights. I spent most of the day unpacking, relaxing with a book in the sun, and cleaning. The good news is Delta called with Wade’s bag. They should be delivering it tonight, but it is close to midnight so I’m not sure if that will happen.

We discovered Madison has fleas. She must be front-line resistant. I put the medicine on every month and she still seems to get fleas once a year – yuck.

Wade and I also picked up paint samples today. My next project is painting the living room. The living room has my yellow sunroom on one side and a soon to be red dining room on the other. We are thinking maybe green or a light yellow. With our track record, it could be a couple of those before we pick the right one!

Wade and I did get up on time at 3:30 am – ouch! There was a mean man behind the check-in counter. He informed me the self-service checkin screens weren’t for use, but he only accepted boarding passes at his window – you couldn’t check in with him. I walked around the corner to another kiosk and then he was willing to help me – Moron!

We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of line for security at the Juneau airport. We thought all liquids and gels had been removed from our carry-ons, but we later discovered both Wade and Judy had chap-stick and lotion.

All was well until we landed in Atlanta and discovered our bags had not. I guess the airlines have been swamped with all the extra baggage people are checking. There were piles of luggage all over the airport, but we couldn’t find ours. We did wait the couple of hours for the second flight from Seattle in the hopes that our luggage would be on that plane. My two bags were but Wade’s were not. The nice lady at Delta informed me that his would be delivered to our house as soon as it was found.

We stopped for dinner at Waffle House and then went home to see our dog and sleep in our own bed. Good night all.