The New Man In My Life....

Introducing Jacques Francois Costeau!

I call him "Frankie" for short.  He is a 29lb French Bulldog and was a rescue dog.  I have always wanted a French Bulldog but didn't want to buy one from a breeder.  So, I told my friend that if a French Bulldog ever came up for adoption to give me a call.  However, they are very rarely up for adoption with rescue groups so it wasn't until four years later I got an email from her saying "check him out!"  That was on Friday February 8th.  On Saturday February 9th Frankie came home!  It happened very fast, but luckily I have a great sister who helped me out and brought some stuff with her like a collar and leash.  He has his first V-E-T appointment today and hopefully the Doc will say everything looks good.  The poor guy was neutered on Friday, then flown on a plane from Kansas to Omaha, NE, and then left at some strange lady's place (who was mean because she made him go out and potty in the rain).  The little guy had a rough weekend.  To top it off, Frankie has ear mites :(   I am super excited to open my home to this little guy and can't wait for the fun adventures that lie ahead!

A trip to Kansas

I have been friends with a group of girls since we were in grade school.  We still get together for supper club almost every month.  However, it has been a while since it was just us girls (minus the husbands and kids!).  So when a member of the group moved to Kansas we decided to take a trip for the weekend and visit her.  Needless to say we drank way too much, ate way too much, and laughed way way too much :)

Belated Merry Christmas

My mom had major surgery on her ankle this October and was still restricted to no weight bearing at Christmas time.  So instead of trusting her daughter to pick out a Christmas tree she decided we would go low key and so this is what we got for a tree....

So even though we had one of the smallest trees we got one of the biggest presents.....my sister and her husband are pregnant with their first!!!  So that means I need to get t-shirt #10!  I should explain, last year our theme for Christmas was "pajamas".  I should explain some more, every Christmas we chose a theme and then you have to buy presents related to that theme.  We have done "as seen on TV", "make your gift" and many more.  So I bought everybody pajama pants and then had special t-shirts made that had numbers on the back along with the person's name.  Their number corresponds to the order in which the entered the family.  So my Dad is #1, Mom is #2, Danielle (oldest sibling) is #3 and so on down the line until the latest person to join the family was my nephew, Mackson, who is #9.  So now I need to get baby Kleber a t-shirt with the #10!

This last picture I included just because I thought it was cute :)   It is of my Dad wearing my nephew's hat...

The Mayor

.....of Rubeville.  It all started with my friend Ryan calling a customer a rube.  It has since grown into a crazy fictitious town with me being the Mayor and I am not proud to say, "we are adding residents on a regular basis!"

In college, I worked at a sporting goods store in the mall with Ryan Fitch.  As you can imagine we came across a wide spectrum of people :)   One day Ryan said "that guy is such a rube" (don't worry, it was not to his face, the customer had already left).  I did have to look up the word and for some reason I thought it was such a funny word.  So anytime we had a customer who was an idiot we called them a rube.  I am not really sure how we developed it from there but we started giving these people "jobs" in Rubeville.

For example:
A kid that came into the store to buy a pair of shoes ended up being given a job.  He was a Senior at Rubeville's high school and played trombone for the marching band.

Sometimes a person was given a job because of something they did (temporary rubeness).

For example:
A gal I used to teach with kept coming to school and talking about how much she hated her new lotion because it was so gummy and didn't really get absorbed into the skin.  Well, come to find out she had bought a body wash instead of body lotion!  So, she is now the owner of Bath and Body works in Rubeville.

Some of the people who have been given jobs in Rubeville know it and get a kick out of it.  There are others who I have met in passing and do not know about it. Whether a person knows about it or not, I mean no harm.  It's just a way to put a funny spin on stupid stuff.

When I started this blog my sister told me she was so excited because she thought I would be telling all of the stories of how people came to have jobs in Rubeville.  Please know, I do plan on telling those stories as well as adding some general stuff too.  I am kind of sad because I don't remember some of the stories from earlier years and back in college, but I will try my best and share them with you as well as keeping you up to date with new ones as well!

So, to get to Rubeville...... head South on I-768, take the 170 exit and turn East.  Keep going East until you get to the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe The Blue Ox and then take a left!

If you would like, stop and take a picture with the infamous duo :)

The Two Cutest Boys Ever!

I believe the two cutest boys ever are my nephews, Samson and Mackson.  I consider myself very lucky to be their Aunt!

Mack

Sam (at his Christmas program...he had already disposed of the tie he was wearing..ha ha) 

Recently, I was reminded how fast they are growing up.  Sam is in the first grade and I am always amazed at how fast he learns things.  He ran his first race, the Jingle Bell Run, and got 8th overall!  He went deer hunting with his Dad (my brother) this year.  He loves spiders and bugs.  He is very creative and has a wonderful imagination!  I can't wait for Mack to start school and watch him learn and grow too!

CHEDDAR IS ALWAYS BETTER

Cheddar is always better...right?!  Well this Cheddar is!  Cheddar is the boxer that my sister is currently being a foster mom for and he is available for adoption.  He is the sweetest most lovable dog.  I got the chance to hang out with him the other day and he did not bark once the whole time.  He is still a puppy but rather tame for being one, unless you have a toy in your hand :)  I keep thinking I should adopt him and then I think "no, I am not ready yet" but then I think "he is sooooo loveable and would be a good apartment dog because he doesn't bark at all" and then I think "no, you don't have the time to devote to him that he deserves" and then I think "why am I having a conversation with myself?"   ha ha

Jingle Bell Run 2012

Saturday December 1st was the 2nd Annual Jingle Bell Run.  My sister, Danielle, and I started this event last year as a way to fund raise money for the school I teach at (Health Systems Academy) and to increase publicity for her place of work (Athlete's Training Center).  The first year was complete craziness!  There were a lot of times through out the process I wanted to say "I give up!"  However, I am very glad I didn't!  This year went much, much smoother and I believe it is going to continue to be an awesome event :)

Most of the volunteers were students at the Academy and I was very grateful for their help that day!