How Today Looked & My 100th Post!!

I was trying out my new camera today, and this is what I ended up with! Not much, but just be happy you get to see something! Plus is my 100th post so I wanted to give you something special!

My First Book Review!

So here it goes... I am going to review the books I read after I am done with them from now on! My inspiration: this book, it was so good I want to share it with the world!! It is in no way professional, and it is purely my opinion.

Marley & Me by John Grogan

I know I already said this, but I LOVE this book. It is so good. John Grogan is such a good writer, very entertaining and easy to read. It is a the true story of the author's dog, Marley, a hyperactive, nerotic and very large golden Labrador Retriever and their life with him. It is heartwarming and funny. It might make your cry, but it will definately make you laugh. It left me wanting to read more stories from this Grogan, since he is so good at telling them!! If you are still not convinced, this should do it: Even Terry thought this was a really good book, and he hates.... I mean very much dislikes dogs.

Europe Shopping!!!

Today Sean, Joel, Eric and I went shopping for our trip. We had lots of fun! We left at around 9:30 and made it in good time to Eric's checkup with his surgeon at 11:50. Then we ate at the food court and shopped at the mall. We all bought some new cd's there and looked for pants. Then we went to old Navy when I got my pants and two new tops and Korey's birthday present. Then Eric and I went to Best Buy and bought our AWESOME new digital camera! It is so sleek and nice. It take pictures really nice too! Then we went to SportsChek and eric got some pants and a shirt and the other boys got some stuff. Then we went to MEC and I got a new sweater and a daypack and some other supplies. Joel bought really nice backpack and shoes and a bunch of other stuff. I think we are pretty much ready to go now! I want to start packing right now!!. I actually already got a bunch of stuff ready!! haha, I am such a nerd!

WE still need a place for Maeve!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP US!!! SHE IS A GREAT DOG! YOU WILL HAVE SO MUCH FUN WITH HER!!

Life Lessons

Don't wear your wedding rings when making pie crust. No matter how careful you are, you will not be happy about the cleaning job later!

I Love/Hate Fall!!

I love fall because there are no bugs, it is nice cool weather, perfect for a walk, and it is GORGEOUS! For the last week and a half or so I am always so excited when I get home to drive down our drivway. It looks soooo pretty. It is such bright yellows, with some oranges mixed in , along with the left over green! I also love the smell of aging leaves. Brings back good memories of when I was little, raking leaves and jumping in them, and trick or treating on Halloween!

I hate fall because it means summer is over and winter (blah!) is coming.

These are some pictures I took of our driveway today. I really don't think they do justice to how nice the driveway really is. Maybe it is my photograpy.

Enter This!

I just entered Stacey's very first giveaway contest, a nursing braclet from Amy May, and you should too! If you don't need it for yourself, give it as a gift!! Plus when you go there you can look at pictures of her completely adorble new baby girl!

Please Help Me!!

It's true....we need help. We are leaving for Europe on Oct 10 and we need a place for our wonderful Irish Setter Maeve for that time.

She is awesome. She is great with kids and other animals. She is very gentle. There are times when she can get hyper, but she will still listen to sit, lay down and come. She loves going for walks and loves to run. She only barks if she is outside and night and is scared. She rarely barks inside. She is generally a very quiet dog. She is very easy going and she loves people. The only thing is she is scared of new people. You would have to be patient and gentle with her, or else she will not trust you and she will try to run away. She is not aggressivly scared of people. I have never seen her be aggressive. She just needs a place that will love her, hug her, give her belly rubs, give her lots of treats and give her attention.

We are looking for one of three things:

Ideal: Someone to come live in our house and take care of Maeve and the cat. The cat is easy. He lives outside and all you will have to give him is food. If you are interested in living here, you will only have to pay for your utilities you use (phone, internet if you want, half of hydro).

Good: Someone to take Maeve to their place for 3 months. Then we would also need another person to feed that cat.

Last Resort: Someone to come to our house and feed Maeve and the cat once or twice daily. I really don't want to do this. I hate to leave her without real human contact for three months. She would be miserable. She doesn't come to people she doesn't know, and she wouldn't come to someone that only stopped by for a few minutes)

If anyone is interested in doing any of this, please please please let me know! We only have 20 days left and we need a plan. Thanks so much for your time. Also if you know someone, anyone that you think would be interested. Also let me know.

Oh yeah, we are willing to pay you! That should spark some interest! Pay will depend on what you do! Thanks

Day 5 and 6 - It's Over!!

It true. I am destined to fail at anything I try. I am still trying to eat healthy, but yesteday I broke down and had lemon chicken and a caramilk bar.... grr. And then today.... well there are far to many foods i shouldn;t have eaten that I ate today! I just couldn't do it. I don't have enough self control. I am amazed how much less I was eating those days thought. But I just felt soooo hungry all of the time. I am still going to try not to eat to many carbs....as I write that I am sitting here with a Pirate cookie in my mouth!

Yesterday I went to puppy classes, then we had a Youth leadership meeting at the church. It was a good meeting. We got alot done and I am really excited about the things we are going to do this year. And I am now the official treasurer/secretary of youth! We also found a great place to make a youth room... but it is secret so I can't tell you where. But it is going to be awesome!

Today we went to the bank and took out a loan (Ouch) for our traveling. We suck at saving, but this is the last big trip we will go on before we have kids, and probably not again until we don't have to take care of kids anymore. And I see it as some people get loans for boats and quads and snowmobiles and stuff..... so this is our boat or quad or snowmobile! I need to justify it somehow. And Roland showed us our credit rating, which is suprisingly good, we thought it would be horrible. And he also showed us the percentage of income going to pay off debts with this new loan and it was quite healthy as well. So we can afford it! At least now I can relax a little bit more about europe. I just need a place for my Maeve!!

Day 4 - It's Okay

Today is going good on this diet. No slip ups and no major, tummy hurting cravings! It is only 8:30, they will probably come later! So just so you guys know, this is not a weight loss diet, nor is it a diet you should stay on for long periods of time. It is supposed to get rid of a yeast overgrowth in the body, which I have lots of symptoms of. I can't wait to get back to a regular, healthy diet. But I might as well give this a try and see if it helps any of my problems. Just two weeks I am doing it for. Cause not long after that we are in Europe!

Today I helped Eric work on my horse fence. It is going really good so far. He has one small section done and is almost done the top layer of the rest of the fence! If he finishes it soon we might bring her in there for a while before we leave. So she can have some of the beautiful green grass that is in there! Maeve also came for a walk out there with me and we had lots of fun. She always came back to me. We had fun jumping and running and playing.... while Eric worked!
Then we ran all the way home!

I have so much work to do in my house still. Lots of cleaning and tidying. I feel like I am always doing that! I guess it never ends. The kitchen really needs to be worked on. It had gotten really cluttered again. I guess I should go start now!

Day 3 - Sugar Addict

So day three of my diet was not so perfect either. My stomach is starting to hurt and I just wanted some cake SOOOOOOOOOOOOO badly. I polished off a half of a large bag of baby carrots, hoping it would curb my craving... NOPE! Even after supper I wanted some cake. Luckily enought, Bryan and Kathleen had invited us over for cake and ice cream for Andrew's birthday. I knew I couldn't have any of it. But yesterday I had begged Eric to help me with this thing and he agreed. So I whined about having cake, and we decided it would be ok if I had one tiny piece, because I have been cutting back so much on everything else. So I did. It wasn't exactly a tiny piece, but I enjoyed every second of it. It was an large middle piece of a warm, iced chocolate cake. It was so good. I wanted more, but I was at least happy I had some. My sugar cravings are back now though. It is like I am going through withdrawl, it is so stupid. But at some points I just want to beg for someone to inject sugar into my veins so I can feel better. I am addicted. I am a sugar addict. I need rehab. I just need sometime for my body to realize it doesn't need to live on sugar, like it has been for so long. Right now my body is saying that it would like just one little piece of chocolate. But I know better. One little piece will not help anything.

Candida Diet: Day Two...

Meghan says I should make a diary of how I feel each day on this diet, so here I go!

Yesterday was ok, I wanted some candy really badly, but I made it through. Today was not so good. I went to a picnic and ate fried chicken and coleslaw... but that was not so bad. Then after that I had watermelon and rolacoukin ( I have NOOOOO idea how that is spelled), both of those were a no-no. ARGH. I fail at everything. But tonight I have been good. I am sick of eating baby carrots already. But I just had some eggs and salsa, which is very good. And my tummy is full and I am happy. I resisted the temtation to have carbs, mainly Ritz crackers! I don't really feel any other effects other than the sugar and carb cravings yet. I was having a some cookers block on what other food I could make that would be good for my diet, and Eric suggested Hamburger soup, without the potatoes, so now I am hopeful again. Argh.... I have hunger pains as I am smellling Eric's yummy popcorn he just made... I wonder if I can have that???

So Much New!

So again I have been blog slacking. I haven't done a decent post in a while! So here it goes... The yard sale when ok. We made like 75 bucks. It is amazing how much stuff out family has. All together I think we brought in over 1500 dollars. And there was still so much stuff left!!! I still have two puppies left, and I really need to sell them before we leave. If you know anyone that wants am adorable, playful and funny little male Chihuahua puppy, let me know. Sometimes I feel sorry for them cause they are so sweet, but they need a home where they can get more individual attention!

I have ridden Zaiyah few more times, and she is getting better everytime. The last time I did Kathleen let me borrow some longer reins, and she was much better. She also picked me up a new blanket for 45 dollars. It is great. I haven't ridden her for a week though cause it has been rainy all week, and the area is wet. Today I went to see her and groom her and I found a big cut on the back of her hoof. ARGH! This horse always gets hurt. So I cleandd it up really well and put some wound cream in it. I hope she is ok and I can ride her some more before we leave. I did buy some mew reims the other day, they have horse hair on the ends and they are black and match all my stuff. They are so pretty.

I did go riding with Meghan and Lisa and her girls last Saturday. It was lots of fun! It was a beautiful day too! I rode Lee and Kathy's horse, Gideon. He was really good. I used my saddle and realized how uncomfortable it is. Maybe it just needs to be broken in. Then I went to Meghan's house and saw her horses and she made me some food and we just hung out. It was fun.

On Monday night I went to Earl's in St. Vital with my college friends, Mandy and Gwen. It was really nice to hang out and catch up. We haven't seen eachother for over a year! I also stopped at Wal-Mart and bought Guitar Hero 2 and Singstar Pop. It was supposed to be with the yard sale money, but it ended up being a little more than that.

Today I bought some paint for my groom room/Maeve's bedroom in the porch. It is a dark pinkish colour and I really love it. It is going to go on the top and the same colour we have in the living room will go on the bottom. Then I am going to find a nice border to put between them. We wanted to put some cheap linoleum for the flooring, but linoleum is not as cheap as I thought it would be, so we are going to put laminte flooring in there. My mom had four boxes left over and we have one, it should be more than enough.

I am starting to get nervous, not excited about europe. We don't have a whole lot of money saved so I am really worried about that. I also hate to leave my dogs for so long, and we don't have a place for Maeve anymore. So here is my plea..... I need a place for three months for the sweetest dog in the world. She is GREAT with kids and other animals. She listens well. She loves going for walks and belly rubs. Her only fault is that she is very nervous around new people. She is scared of someone she doesn't know and will run away from them. She must have been hit or something because it took her forever to trust me. She is still skittish around Eric. But not at all in an agressive way. She is not at all aggressive. She just needs a place that will be patient with her. It will take time for her to warm up and trust you. She can never be hit or screamed at. I have barked commands at her and she does ok with that. She is house trained, and has pretty good house manners. We are still working on the jumping in the couch thing. She is getting better. She loves being with people she trusts. You just can't keep her after three months, cause you will want to if you take her. If you are interested, PLEASE let me know!

Today I started this anti yeast diet that Meghan has told me about. If you want to read more about it just search Candidia Diet on Google. The yeast causes alot of problems in your body, many of them are affecting me. So I thougth I might give it a try.I can only eat meat and veggies and eggs. It is really hard already. I just want some candy or chips or juice or something. ARGH! But it is only for two weeks, then I can start eating more things.

I Rode My Horse!

YES! Finally I rode Zaiyah and she is great! Today she was a bit of a brat, but probably cause my reins are too short. I love riding. I also need to get a new pad for under my saddle. Man horses are expensive! But I LOVE having one! Meghan invited me to go riding on Saturday with her and Lisa, so I think I am going to go. It will be fun!

The tickets are booked! We are leaving Oct. 10th and coming back Jan 10th. A whole three months!! It will be sad yet exciting to be away for Christmas and New Years. If anyone knows anyplace especially cool to go to during the Holidays let us know!