Toadfrogs and Elephants

We got our new foster dog today. He is a 30 pound, 6 (or maybe 8 ) month old puppy. I couldn’t believe how much he looks like Madison. Jack is on the left and Madison is on the right.

After a while of calling him “puppy”, I picked the name Jack. Jack and Madison had quite a romp in the backyard. I think Madison likes having a dog that will finally play with her. Our neighbor’s dog even jumped the fence to join in the fun. In the few short hours he has been with us, Jack has had a bath, learned that Wade is the boss, and had an accident inside. Let the housetraining begin.

Good thing he’s adorable.

All of the Wii bowling has made me want to go bowling for real. Wade and I had dinner at Michelle and Nate’s and then we all went bowling. This is the first time I have been bowling in a smoke free environment – how nice! Michelle also had the great idea of reserving a lane, which I didn’t know was possible. We would always go on the weekend and have to wait. Halfway through our three games, it became Extreme Bowling – black lights, fog, loud music, etc. We had several injuries – a couple bruised thumbs, a sore ankle – but we all had a good time. I used to bowl every week and I realized how much I miss it.

Happy Birthday Stephanie!

I woke up early to put one last coat of paint on the trim for the back door to find that the trim was still wet from yesterday. Darn the cold weather. I spent most of the day in Greenville with Michelle. We ate lunch, went to the library for a talk on Alzheimer’s, and then did some shopping. I arrived home as Wade was walking out the door to get dinner (we always cook or do take-out on Valentine’s Day). I got to the living room and found a roaring fire and candles everywhere – perfect for relaxing and reading on the couch. Wade and I had dinner and exchanged gifts. Then we worked on the backdrop for the next sermon series at church (this has been eating all of our free time lately).

I have always recycled and tried to at least be environmentally conscious. My latest thought is simply to reduce what needs to be recycled, such as shopping bags. When buying at the mall, I simply tell the people I already have a bag or can reuse one I used to carry in a return. At the grocery store, I like to check myself out so that I can use fewer bags. At Home Depot, I often just carry the item and the receipt without a bag. A lot of sales people have issues with this. I have had people insist that I need to put the item from their store in a bag even if that bag is going inside another bag (Dillard’s). Today I was at Lowe’s and bought a replacement water filter for our fridge. It is a small item and would easily fit in my purse. As I was checking out, I told the woman I didn’t need a bag. She insists and shows me that she even has a small bag. A small one is no better than a big one, but she obviously missed my whole point.

Today was one big social hour. I talked to Michelle on the phone for a couple of hours. She and her husband are looking for houses and I was stressing how nice the Anderson area is. I managed to squeeze some painting and laundry into my day before we left the house for bible study. But bible study turned out to be dinner at Brixx. We had only four people (two couples) and there was a mix up with the DVD. In the end, we decided to just have dinner and spend time talking. Daniel and Wade must live on the same random planet because they just start a crazy conversation and keep feeding off of each other. It makes for a lot of laughs.

My favorite line of the night: The waitress asked Wade if he wanted Parmesan cheese on his cheese and pepperoni pizza. He told her, “No Thanks. I am allergic to cheese.” She just smiled and walked away. We all looked at each other and laughed – she definitely didn’t get the joke.

The Wrights’ had invited Wade and I over for lunch and we gladly accepted. We were told to expect chili and instead we had Kentucky Fried Chicken (one of our favorites). We heard all about their trip to Ethiopia – now I’m jealous and want to go. Wade and Jim had planned to talk about the dining room table they are going to build, but that will have to wait till next time. We were there quite a while, but were interested in other topics!

Mom and I woke up early and were at Hobby Lobby when they opened. We picked up the last few things we needed and put them in place before heading to the airport. I waited with mom till she boarded and about that time Wade landed. I wasn’t sure if Wade would like everything we did to the house, but his only complaint was the new pillows on the couch.

I spent the rest of the day asleep – or four hours of it anyway. Mom wore me out!

My Mom and I had a great visit. Wade was in Orlando for the week so Mom and I would leave the house at 9 am and not get home for another twelve hours. We found antique stores, junk stores, rug stores, knick knack stores, and a mall. Below is the finished product. Mom even helped me use almost every single piece of furniture, knick knack, lamp, and picture frame I own.

My favorite – the living room. We used Meme’s old steamer trunk, Aunt Viola’s Desk, and Aunt Viola’s knick knacks. We bought the small table between the two chairs and the antique dumbbells (which are hidden behind Wade’s twizzlers).

My sunroom. We added stuff to the mantle and knick knacks to the bookshelves.

Our bedroom. In the first picture, we used replica metal ceiling tiles over the bed. Too bad we couldn’t find old ones.

We moved a bunch of pictures around on the walls and added old pictures of Meme and Papaw to the bookshelves.

The dresser has a new lamp and we bought an old Victorian letter box to hold my makeup and jewelry.