In Memory of Jim

I just got the news that Jim Meeks lost his battle with cancer early this morning. He's been fighting it for over a year. My heart, prayers, and love go out to his family. We have lost a wonderful man and those who have come in contact with him have been blessed and changed for the good.

I worked with Jim at a doctors office, he was a Physicians Assistant. I'm glad I got to know him and his family. He will be missed.

This family picture was taken right before he began his chemotherapy. Jim and his wife, kids, kid's spouses, and grandchildren.

Jim and his wife Patty on Mother's day 2008.

Laugh till you cry

I love my dogs. There are plenty of times I can just watch them and stay entertained. This weekend Maggie had me laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. The other day Clint and I jumped over our back fence to go see our neighbor, plus they were putting up a trampoline. Clint tossed Sally over, poor thing the grass was taller than her so she was lost until Lexi (our neighbor's 7yr old daughter) started calling her and rescued her from the forest. Then Clint jumps over and so I pick up Maggie and get her to the top of the fence and she jumps down. Well apparently when Clint and I left one time Maggie figured out that if she stood in the flower pots she could put her head and front paws over the top of the fence just enough to see what was going on behind the house, Lexi caught her doing this. We have since moved the pots away from the fence but now we are just hoping she doesn't figure out she can jump on the shed roof and jump over the fence that way.
Clint is going to build us a larger shed, 12 ft by 16ft. We went to Lowe's to check out supplies and and had the dogs with us. Sally stayed in the cab of the truck and Maggie got hooked onto her leash in the bed of the truck. We came back out to the truck just a few minutes later to find Maggie had jumped out of the truck, of course not on the side where the leash is long enough for her to touch the ground though. She had her back paws on the ground but had to stretch in order to get her front paws on the ground. She was giving herself a good neck stretch but it was so funny. She was quite hesitant to get back in the bed of the truck but at least she has now learned her lesson not to jump out.

On Sunday Clint and I rode our bikes to the care center to visit his grandma. I had Sally in a backpack and Clint put Maggie on a leash. Well apparently at one point Maggie ran on one side of the fence while Clint was headed for the other. Luckily he dropped the leash. Then he called for her to come to him and she did...she just was on the other side of the fence and just stared at him. Then on the way home I rode in front and Maggie just ran after me so that Clint just coasted the whole way home. That dog loves to run. I could hear her panting behind me and would speed up so that she didn't get tangled up with me. When we got to our street I turned down it and happened to look back. Maggie and Clint were far enough behind that Maggie decided she needed to take the short cut and cut across the lawn. I could see what she was about to do and Clint did too so he rode out into the middle of the street to keep her from pulling him over the curb. That gave me a good laugh.

Maggie has also learned how to open the back door to let herself inside if we don't lock it. I'll get some video of Maggie opening the door. She gets her paw very perfectly on the knob and pushes it down. Maggie also turned on the faucet in the back too. We came home to a mini flood in our backyard. We went and got a faucet cover and not just the foam one cause we knew that would be a goner in two seconds, but we spent a couple extra bucks and got a hard plastic one. Well that lasted a day and I found it ripped to shreds all over the backyard. I'm sure she ate some of it too. We'll have to do some internet searching for dog proof faucet covers, cause that is not something we can find here in a store, at least not Maggie proof ones. Any suggestions or ideas, I will gladly take them.

Here are some more random pictures. That rooster just lives in the yard at Clint's work. He makes angry noises when ever you get too close, I'm not a huge fan of him but I do think it is funny that his work has a rooster. Then, those are my new shoes a got a few weeks ago. I like them cause they have green and blue monkeys on them. They were 40% off, otherwise I would not have liked them that much, but I liked them enough to get them for 40% off.

Then that first picture is Sally with her old "boyfriend". She loved that dang wiener dog, it sang "Hot Stuff" and it's tail had a bell on it and it wiggled it ears and tail when it sang. It's was an after Valentine's Day sale item. Sally has an odd liking for humping stuffed animals. Well, it's might just be that she is scratching her lower belly, but it sure looks like humping. She dragged that dang wiener dog all around the house with her, I think it has been her favorite thing so far. Too bad Maggie finally got the better of it and ripped it to pieces.

Crazy dogs.

Day Off

My boss is spending the week in Hawaii with his wife, as a graduation present for her finishing Nurse Practitioner school. Since he is gone that means I don't work except whatever shifts I can get covering for people. Well, today I did not have to work. I got the house cleaned, loads of laundry done, went to lunch with Clint's parents and aunt and uncle, visited grandma in the care center, cleaned my car, and bathed the dogs. I had a pretty productive day. While cleaning my car I found the clippers that Clint's mom had bought to shave their cat, when it was still alive. Clint had found them laying around their house and decided we needed them at our house. They got as far as getting placed in my car and have been there for over a month now. I have never had much desire to groom Sally because even when I just brush her she acts like I am breaking her legs. We've had her for two years and I have bathed and brushed her every week and she just gets worse. I always make sure I tip the groomer good. It seriously took two people to hold her down once just to clip her nails. Anyways, for whatever reason I decided to take the clippers and shave her lower belly. She will not let me brush her underside so I like how the groomer just shaves her lower belly bald. I attempted to do that and then suddenly got the crazy idea that I would groom her myself. Well, I did it and after giving her about 5 treats she will finally come to me and not run away mad. It took forever cause she is so wiggly and just horrible. Will I ever do it again...I seriously think it is worth the $40 to pay someone to do it. Do I regret doing it...well she does not look too bad, so I can live with my choice.



There is an after picture of Sally and a picture of my trash can with all the fur I vacuumed up. It's enough to make a little Sally puppy. I don't think I'm going to be changing careers anytime soon. I'll stick with people and just loving my pets. Someone else can torture them next time.

Happy Easter!

I tried really hard to get all my Easter cards out, but missed getting out about half of them. Clint's grandma ended up in the hospital and that consumed our lives, so the cards went on the back burner. Instead, I am going to just share them on my blog. I was really proud of them too. I used my mother-in-laws Cricut to cut out the dog. I found a card that I really liked and tried to copy it, hated it, and came up with this idea instead. I am finding that the longer and longer I make cards the more time it takes me. The quick throw together cards just aren't cutting it anymore. I know the people I send them too really appreciate them, so it is all worth it.

I finally got the pictures of my painted master bathroom. Sorry the one is sideways, but I am honestly too lazy today to turn it. I love the blue, it's so calming. I was trying to match the light blue in the rug but also match the blue in our bed spread. I think Clint is finally is coming around to the color, he didn't want me to the paint the bathroom, but I let him hang the deer head so we can just call it even now.

Hope everyone had a happy Easter!!!

April Fools

I know I'm really dishing out the post right now, but I'm putting off all my phone calls I have to make for work, plus I actually have something to post right now. I played, what I believe to be, one of the best April Fools joke. I wasn't even planning on doing anything to my boss, but the perfect idea came to me when I got through with my lunch. I've determined that the only reason I could think of such a joke is because I grew up with four brothers and have become a nurse. I went back to our lab and had a small vial of my bood drawn. While my boss was doing notes in his office, I got myself prepared. I put a some blood under my nose, like it was coming out, and some in my hand. I then walked to his office and fake tripped through the door.

Dr. Olsen: "Are you okay?"
Nicole: look at my bloody hand, "I think I need a Kleenex."

Dr. Olsen: "Yeah you do. What happened."

Nicole: "I guess I tripped on myself....or just had a vial of blood drawn."

Dr. Olsen went and sat at his desk, but when I walked back in there he laughed at me and told me that was "yucky", he's got 3 kids under the age of 8.

I had a little bit left and then decided to get our head nurse, Peggy. It was the end of the day and there were about 4 other people besides Peggy standing around. I got myself all done up again and made the best fake trip infront of her desk.

Peggy jumps up, "Can I get some help here? Lets get her into this room."

Peggy picks me up and starts moving into one of our exam rooms and I just start laughing. She was mostly upset because no on else jumped up to help me, but they all knew what was going on. Peggy was quite impressed that I was able to get her so good, and after a few days she wasn't so mad at me anymore.

I did end up with a scrapped elbow and a bruised knee from my fake tripping, but it was worth it. I would have taken double that for the reaction. Word has spread of my joke and people who don't work with me even know about what I did. So beware of nurses who grow up with only brothers...we develop an odd sense of humor.

House

Sally has adjusted to the move just fine. She is at home as long as there is a warm pile of laundry to sleep on.

We closed on our house February 20th and moved in the next day. About two weeks later I had unpacked the last box. I had the the master bedroom, master bath, living room, dinning room, and kitchen all done and unpacked just a couple days after moving in. Me and clutter do not do well together. The house is only 5 years old and was fully landscaped, fenced, and painted. It was even painted colors that I like so I didn't have to do anything. The only room I ended up painting was the master bathroom cause I got sick of the white paint. I of course have remembered to take pictures of all the rooms except the bathroom since I have painted it. So here is a picture tour of our home. The front of the house. We don't have a garage but the driveway is big enough to add one on. Neither Clint nor I are fond of the ugly bushes, if you can even call them that, in the front yard. We are probably going to be pulling those out when it gets warmer and planting something we like better.

Living Room...and my new TV stand. One day I will have the matching book case.

View of the dinning room from the living room. The sellers sold all their appliances with the house. Our washer broke so we are using theirs, but now we have an extra dryer. I'll just give it away to anyone who wants it, but for now it is just extra space to put junk on. View of the kitchen from the dinning room. We fell in love with the flow of the house. It's not a big house but the way it is laid out makes it feel so much bigger.

Yes, I agreed for Clint to put the deer head up in our office. It's his grandpa's and it was just going to be put away in a garage. I got something out of it too though...Clint had to put his bike out in our shed. Maybe one of these days when I walk by the room the deer will quit freaking me out.

The guest bedroom, that actually had a bed in it now!!!!The guest bedroom has a bed cause we got a King bed! Come to find out after we had it a few days, it is really a California King. It's all good for me, it's so comfy and BIG!!! Now me and Clint and both the dogs all fit on the bed. Yes, next to the bed is Maggie's dog bed, but she hardly sleeps in it since she ripped up her heating pad.

I'll try to remember to take pictures of our master bathroom all painted and then hopefully get them posted before too long.

I figure it is only fair that I start a blog for me and Clint since we keep up with everyone else's life through their blogs. So here it is, a blog for all our friends and family to keep up with what we do. Our lives consist of work, our dogs, and our new house but we'll at least try to keep you up to date on that stuff.
In February Clint and I bought our first house and we love having a place of our own. The dogs, aka "our babies", have a nice fenced yard to play in all day and we don't have to worry about them running off. We have Sally, our 2 yr old Maltese, and Maggie, our 9 month old Weimariner. They are spoiled rotten but at least we can admit that. They are both our dogs, but Sally is more my dog and Maggie is more Clint's dog. Spoiled all the same.
Clint and I are both enjoying our jobs. Clint works in the oil field as a pumper. He maintains the natural gas wells. I work as a Medical Assistant for a family practice doctor. Check out my work website. They are still working on it but if you click on meet our staff you can see my picture and a picture of me and the doctor I work for. I can honestly say I love my job. www.basinclinic.com
Since our babies are our dogs, I have to just brag about the new tricks they learn. Maggie learned how to open the back door. We have to be extra careful to make sure the door is locked otherwise we will find her running around the house. We've seen her put her paw right on the door knob a push down and push open the door. Smart puppy. Sally spends her days in our front window barking at anything the comes by. She loves to tease Maggie and get her to chase her and then run under the bed, chair, etc, anything that Maggie can't fit under so that Maggie gets upset. Maggie gets her fair share of revenge on Sally though. She will sit on her, roll over on her, put her paws around her and hold her down, and various other forms of torture that the younger/big sister can do.
Hope you all enjoy the update of our life that revolves around our dogs!