Sookie Stackhouse Book Series

I discovered this series quite by accident. I was at the library and managed to check out the 8th book in the series - From Dead to Worse. This is another series about vampires. They are true vampires so don't expect to find any Edwards in this series. A co-worker received the first 7 books for Christmas so I was able to read them all in order. The 9th book will be out in May. All the books have the word Dead in the title. I love Sookie's character. She is telepathic and is hired by the vampires for her special talent or as she refers to it her "disability". These are books purely for entertainment. This series inspired HBO's True Blood series. I do caution they are not 100 percent clean cut books but I've been told they are cleaner then the TV series. I tend to trust people when they warn me against a certain TV show or movie. Most people know what a prude I am. Anywho check them out if you are looking for a fun, light hearted, fast paced story.

Something Just Ain't Right...

As Sully discovered when he went into the backyard this evening. Something sent him into guard dog mode. He was not a happy camper. My dog was actually barking - A LOT. This is not normal Sully behavior. So I went outside to investigate. I thought for sure I would find the kids next door either throwing rocks into the yard again or spraying water into the yard. Instead this is what I found. That's right folks a blanket hanging over the wall. This must be some evil blanket the way Sully was reacting. It totally made me laugh. This oh so dangerous, threatening blanket was causing my rottie to have an absolute fit. Sully sure does keep me laughing. It is never a dull moment around here.

Fun in the Backyard

Sully has discovered a new toy in the backyard. I thought he was eating branches off the tree. I discovered over the weekend that is was not the branches but roots from the tree. How did he find the roots you ask? He dug up the lawn next to the tree. Once he found the root he chewed it apart and then proceeded to pull it up across the yard. This is the whole he dug.

This is the end of the root.

I know it is hard to tell in the picture but this is how far he pulled to root across the yard. Luckily you can not tell in the lawn where you pulled.

Honestly have you ever heard of a dog eating and pulling roots out of the ground. I have a strange dog! Guess its off to Home Depot this weekend to buy some dirt.

Sully's New Toy

Sully gets a new toy whenever he has to go to the vet. This is the toy he got Saturday. He loves it and more importantly he has not destroyed it yet. Hopefully it will last at least a week.

Sully Weighs In

Mr. Sully went to the vet on Saturday. He now weighs...

79.1 lbs

My little guy is getting so big!

New Appliances

I had a new dishwasher and over the range microwave installed on Saturday. I love the way they look. I can't say I love the way they work because I have not had a chance to use either one yet. I decided to slowly start switching all my kitchen appliances over to stainless steel. What I failed to consider was how much Sully would like to lick the front of the dishwasher. It is going to be impossible to keep clean. But here they are.

Sully's smoking??

Sully was chewing on a treat a couple nights ago and it looked like he had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. I thought it was pretty funny looking and just had to share.

I love this face!

Just had to share this hilariuos picture. Clearly my dog does not like getting his picture taken - which is evident by the look on his face in this picture, but I love taking them. Poor guy just has to suffer through it.

When the Universe throws a bump in your path - learn to jump.

Don't you hate it when thing don't go the way you planned? Friday I had big plans for work. I was going to work on the performance appraisals I have to have completed, approved and given by March 13. My parents came into town Thursday night and my mother was not feeling well. My mother woke up Friday morning needing to go to Urgent Care. My father had a doctors appointment he could not miss. So I needed to take my mother to Urgent Care. I called work to let them know that I would be in a late. My mother and I were at Urgent Care when it opened at 8:00 am and then on our way to the pharmacy by 9:00 am. I am thinking this is great - I should be to work by 10:30 am latest. I should have remembered what they say about counting your chickens before they hatch... We are coming out of the store from dropping off my mom's prescriptions and my front driver side tire is flat (but not completely). I can see the large head of what I thought was a nail at the time in my tire. I carefully and slowly drive to the closest gas station to put air in my tire. Then I take my mother home before heading to Discount Tire. I finally make it to Discount Tire without my tire going flat again. They ended up pulling out a bolt ( am still trying to figure out how/where I picked that up). By the time they were done with fixing my tire I would not have gotten to work until 1-1:30ish and I would have had to leave at 2:00 for an off-sight meeting. So I managed to only make it to the meeting that day. Looking back I am grateful that things worked out the way they did because if I had not taken my mother to Urgent Care then I would have either been on the freeway (in rush hour traffic) or downtown in the parking garage when the tire finally went flat. I learned that sometimes it is best not to question the universe.

Sullysitting or not...

Background - my parents were in town this weekend. My mother put 2 bananas on the center of my kitchen island thinking that Sully would not be able to reach them.

Saturday morning my father was in the family room on the computer with Sully. I assumed he would be paying attention to Sully. Well you know what they say about assuming... So while my father was NOT paying attention to Sully - Sully managed to get the 2 bananas off the kitchen island. Then he proceeded to lay down directly behind my father and eat both bananas. My father had NO IDEA what was going on until I asked why there were banana peels on the ground. The smell did not alert him or the fact that Sully was being too quiet. Unfortunately I had to immediately put Sully in his crate for the rest of the day (the eating incident happened at 8:00 am). I was so worried that when I finally got home that evening (around 6:00 pm) I would have a mess to clean up. But luckily Sully did not have an accident in his crate. So the moral of the story is Grandpas might be great at watching grandchildren but they are not so great at watching 11 month old rottie puppies.

If anyone was wondering Sully must have really liked the bananas. Other then the peels, there was not a trace left of the bananas on the floor.

HUGE!!!

Sully is just huge. The proof is in this picture. I am actually pretty impressed that I got the picture. He was trying to get a bug on the outside of the door.

How Many Have Your Name?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 101 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Family

My great uncle Darrel passed away last week. He was my maternal grandfather's brother. My mother, two sisters and brother were able to make it down for the funeral. It was great to see everyone again even under the sad circumstances.

Back - Aunt Diana (mom's older sister), Aunt Cindy (mom's youngest sister), Me, Mom
Front - Aunt Carma-Lee & Uncle Russel (mom's brother and his wife)

Back - My sister Sherri and me
Front - Great Aunt Blanche

I was also able to see my Great Aunt Blanche. She is 88 years old and still as ornery as ever, of course most the time it is all in good fun. I hope to be as lively as she is when I am her age! She is really doing great. She still lives on her own but her daughter is just down the street if she needs anything. She used to make the best cheese and fudge. I am so lucky to have her as my Great Aunt - she is such a great example.

My New Room - Sort Of

Today was the big paint day. The coral orangey color is out and blue is in. I had originally planned to paint my entire bedroom but once I finished the accent wall there was no reason to paint the rest. The gray I had picked out for the rest of the walls is just slightly darker then what I already had. Maybe someday I will paint the darker color (like when I plan to sell the house and move) but for now I am VERY happy with the results.

Before

After

I was a little worried about mixing the check fabric with the silk but I like the contrast. I also made the coral orangey colored pillows. I love them and they were so so easy. The headboard as it turns out is for a King size bed. But I am going to use it anyway. I like the way it sticks out on either side. I am also very happy with my garage sale night stands. They cost $10 for both. I had to paint them but it was worth it. So anyway let me know what you think of my new room - sort of.

Sully Strikes Again

Lets start with a little background. I have not put Sully in his crate at night for almost 2 weeks. He has had free run of the family room and kitchen. He has done wonderfully until this morning. Picture it - It is 5:00 am, I just crawled out of bed, I come into the family room to feed Sully and this is the first thing I see. I stand there for about 30 seconds trying to figure out what in the world Sully has gotten into this time.

I take a few steps forward and I see exactly what it is.

He actually ate part of my couch. Clearly at 10 months old Sully is not quite mature enough to be left out of his crate alone for an extended amount of time. I wonder if while eating the couch his little puppy brain ever thought it was a bad idea. I could really use the help of the pet psychic - anyone know what happened to her? Lets just say that I was not happy with Sully this morning and I was ready to give him away. But really how long can stay mad at a face like this?

He is so lucky that he is an adorable dog. My plan is to use the fabric from a pillow to fix the couch. Sully was kind enough to not destroy the trim so I will be able to use it again. It will not be perfect but at least it will be better then looking at a piece of wood.

Sully's Pillow Incident

This dog tries my patience on a daily basis. Saturday my sister Sherri came over to use my Cricut. He was not happy that we were in the craft room and not in the family room with him. So he decided to take a pillow off the couch and outside to "have a little fun". Well I should have known something was not right when I did not hear any noise coming from the family room. When Sherri was getting ready to leave Sully had something hanging from his mouth. I knew instantly what it was. I looked on the couch and no pillow. I went outside and this is what was waiting for me.

Sherri was nice enough to stick around and help me clean up the mess. It was dark, chilly and starting to sprinkle AND we had to dodge dog poop. It was not a fun experience. Sully was trying to play with the stuffing so he got put in the house. He had a look on his like - why are you keeping me in here when all the fun is out there. He is lucky he is so darn cute!

He actually tore the pillow apart at the seam - which is amazing. And I had a pillow form that was the perfect size - which is also amazing. I was able to repair the pillow in no time. Hopefully Sully learned his lesson...

This ain't your Grandma's Pressure Cooker

For those of you that have not seen them recently. They are safe and awesome! When used properly it will not explode. Everyone needs one. I use mine every week. Multiple times a week when I remember to take things out of the freezer. Unlike a Crock Pot you cannot put anything frozen in a Pressure Cooker. Don't let that scare you away. Things cook so fast you can't even believe it. I cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts in 6 minutes. Veggies cook in 3 minutes. And I have been trying things I never would have attempted to cooked before. I have made a pork loin and corned beef & cabbage. Both turned out amazing even though I had no clue what I was doing. You can even brown your meat in the pressure cooker. If you have one (you know who you are) be adventurous and use it. If you don't own one consider getting one. You won't regret it I promise.

I finally finished it!

Toni and I were driving down a dirt road one day and what do I see laying on the ground - this headboard.

We picked it up, I brought it home and there it sat in my garage for about 5 years. Well I finally decided 2009 now was the year to refinish it. So out came my mouse sander and I got to work. It took a couple days to get all the old paint off. I had originally planned to stain it ebony, but that did not work. Who knows how long it lay in the desert before I came along and rescued it. So Plan B it was - I grabbed the black paint and this is the finished project.

I love how it turned out! I can't wait to bring it into my bedroom. But before that can happen I have to paint my room. I have been trying to pick out a color for my room for about a year now so I'm not holding my breath it will be anytime soon. Although Presidents' Day is in a couple weeks maybe I will paint my room over the 3 day weekend. And Dan you can have your sawhorses back now - I bet you never thought you'd actually get them back.

Sully then and now

This is Sully at 8 weeks old. He was 8 pounds when I brought him home. I think quite possible the cutest Rotti puppy ever!

This is Sully at 9 months old - I think he is about 70 pounds now. Still the cutest Rotti puppy ever!

Sully and rocks

Sully loves, loves, loves to eat rocks. I truly don't understand this fascination. I was concerned at first that it might hurt him in someway but clearly it has not. I thought he would out grow this but he continues to eat them on a daily basis. Here is a picture of the many rocks and wood pieces I have taken away from him in the last 8 months. And yes, the baskets are full.