Cricket Is Ours Forever...

...unless I lose her again!!!  We've decided to keep Cricket, which of course, I knew we would. We couldn't bring her home for even a minute and then give her back. She's much too sweet.

I'm going to have to keep a close eye on her though. She's tricky. I left her home while I went to work on Wednesday. She hasn't been happy in the bathroom, so I blocked off the kitchen and left the screen door open so she'd be able to get out the dog door. I checked all the gaps under the gates to make sure she couldn't get out anywhere and when all was Puppy-proofed, I headed out for the day.

I worried a bit, mostly envisioning her being used as a chew toy by Blackberry, but I was surprised. I came home and found no dead bodies, in fact, no puppy at all. I looked everywhere--under furniture, in closets, in the trampoline pit, under bushes. But she was nowhere to be found. I couldn't believe she'd disappeared.  I started going door-to-door to the neighbors hoping that someone had seen her wandering during the afternoon and took her in, but no one had seen her.

I knocked on the last door on the street and while I was talking to Jocelyn and Bro. Webb, here she came running around the corner of the Lund's house. You can't imagine how happy and relieved I was.  Especially that she was found before the girls came home from school, because if the truth be told, I was more worried about having to face their tears than anything else.

It turned out that the side gate was actually unlatched even though I had checked it and she somehow must have squeezed through.  Little Stinker.  I have no idea how long she was wandering around. We will make sure to check and double check from now on.  Or I'll just carry her around in my pocket from now on.  :)

I honestly can't believe how much I love this little pup. After Blackberry, I thought I was so over dogs, but she is so much more my speed. Sweet, snuggly, and small.  I love BB too, but it has been a lot of work to get there.  Cricket has been easy.  I'm glad we brought her home.

Suckers!

I can't believe we got suckered into it again! Our friends the Terry's had two litters they were selling today and Taylor turned on the Persuasion Skills, promising everything in the book. I made a deal with Julie and we've got her on a trial run until Monday.

But she sure is cute! The girls are calling her Cricket or Kiki for short. She's an 8 week old purebred Shihtzu puppy and we love her already!

Blackberry is tolerating her and making sure we don't forget him by whining, barking and doing tricks. Hopefully, he'll get used to her soon.

She doesn't shed, so it looks like Scott will do okay with her too. In fact, she sneezed while he was holding her so maybe she's allergic to him! :)

Wish us luck! We're going to need it! Puppies and babies. The Lord sure makes our memories short otherwise why would we ever do any of it twice? :)

I Remember 9/11

I sat Taylor down in front of the TV to do her hair for kindergarten. The TV was on NBC from news the night before and Matt Lauer was talking about a plane hitting the 1st tower and postulating about whether it was an accident or not. I called Scott thinking he'd have the scoop on the internet but he hadn't heard anything about it and hung up to do some searching. I watched as the 2nd tower was struck and remember thinking that I just needed to stay calm and get Taylor off to school so that I could give this insanity my full attention. She left and as it became clearer that the destruction was intentional, I remember crying.

I cried as I watched the smoke column skyward and people plummet out of windows. I cried as the buildings crumbled. I cried as the emergency workers ran toward the chaos and others fled. I cried as people searched frantically for loved ones and as the wall of missing people grew. It seemed like I cried for weeks as the acts of heroism and stories of survival were documented. It seemed like I would cry forever.

But like everyone else in the country, I was also filled with an amazing sense of patriotism and love for my fellow man. I was so proud to see people stepping up to find ways to serve and help make a difference. I was inspired by my own little girl who, after learning about what had happened, went door to door asking for coins to donate to the families of the fallen. She gathered about $5.00-a fortune to a 5 year old- and we sent it to New York. It seemed like all hearts were softened and the tragedy was yielding to something great.

It makes me cry even now, eight years later, to remember the lives lost and the horror of that day, but I hope that we can all remember the camaraderie we felt and the empowerment that filled us as we realized our potential to some degree. It's easy to lose sight of that when we get bogged down in the minutia of every day life, but it's that very craziness that should remind us how lucky we are. We are alive, we are free, we are blessed. That's what I try to remember.

A Strongly Worded Letter

I just found out at work today that the Washington County School District has decided to allow students access to YouTube on school computers.  As a parent, and as a computer lab aide, I am not very happy about this.  I didn't realize this at first, but YouTube does not police their site very well and there are all kinds of inappropriate subject matter for kids to explore--all kinds of foul language, mature themes and porn to name just a few--especially if they are unsupervised for any length of time. And the way YouTube works, kids can be looking at completely innocent sites and in the sidebar these things pop-up as suggested or related content and once they've seen it, it can't be taken back.

I understand that there is also a lot of really great stuff on there and that teachers may want to show videos that correlate to lesson plans, but it is not worth risking children's innocence for the convenience of the few teachers who might use this technology.  I am planning to write an email to our district Tech Director and ask him to put YouTube back on the blocked content list.  YouTube is blocked in my home, and I certainly don't want it to be available in my kids' schools either.  If you would like to send an email too, let me know and I will send you the Tech Director's email address.

I'd also like to figure out what could be done about the LDS Church's YouTube channel.  It bothers me, and others I know, that the Church supports YouTube when they are so lax about keeping their site clean.  It seems to me that the Church certainly has the brainpower and the resources to post their videos through some alternative source that can be more carefully monitored.  I'm just saying.

Check Out My New HCG Blog!

I have been having so much fun telling everyone about HCG and my diet success that I have decided to launch a new blog: HCG Living--to answer questions, give advice, share recipes, and swap success stories!

Become a follower, or add me to your blog lists, to get updates about my HCG adventures! I have just posted Before & After pics...humiliating, yes, but worth it! I am proud of my success! This diet has truly given me my life back!

Thanks for checking it out! http://hcgliving.blogspot.com

My Mid-life Crisis

I'm finding it strange that those words even apply to me...but I guess at 39 there's no way I can deny that I'm practically MIDDLE-AGED now. So how can it be that I am still trying to decide what to do with my life? Up until now, I haven't exactly been slacking my life away--I've been raising a family, I've worked in several successful jobs, I've served successfully as PTA President and Primary President as well as countless other projects and daily activities--all things I've enjoyed and felt good about doing. But I am feeling more and more, lately, that there is an important, unknown path that I need to take.

I am not sure, but I have been thinking a lot about going back to school--either to become a teacher or a school counselor. Both of these would be a LOT of work and I don't even want to think about the cost (no Pell Grants for post-grad work)--but as I've started my new job at the Intermediate school, I walk down the halls and see the teachers with their classes and I am convinced that I would be happy doing the same thing...or maybe just that I could be doing MORE than what I am now...whatever that might be.

I don't really know why when you reach a certain point in life that you start worrying about fulfillment and unrealized potential, but I guess I'm not above the cliche. It seems to me that I have made so many plans and maybe I'm running out of time. I guess it makes you want to go out and do something crazy...just to know you can.

Anyway, I don't mean to be so maudlin! I'm basically just thinking out loud...wondering what to do...and trying to organize my thoughts. It's so hard to know what the best thing for me and my family might be. I can guarantee that I'll be praying for some insight and guidance with these possible life changing decisions. It's actually kind of exciting to think what might be around the corner...but I guess that's what makes a good midlife crisis, right?

Taylor's First Day at School

Getting organzied for the new year!

Giving sisterly advice on proper backpack packing techniques!

Looking amazing for the first day!

Little bit of a makeover for the second day! Ooops. Gotta love trampolines.