A lot has happened since last August when I posted. We went on a fantastic road trip, and completed another quarter at WWU. It was Jason's last academic quarter, and he started student teaching at Whatcom Middle School in January. It was also an exciting quarter for me, since we found out I was pregnant! It wasn't necessarily unplanned, we just didn't expect it to happen within two weeks. Oh well, it's not our timing, but it will be great!
We're due July 23, 2008. I've been chronicling the pregnancy on http://www.babysites.com/sites/liarsandfrogs/ in case you're interested. It's just an easy place to blog, and it's set up for kids. Someday I might move back to blogger, but for now I'm on the babysite. We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet, we should know in the next month or so. So that's pretty much it for now!
Much Love,
Merrilee and Jason +1
Friday, February 15, 2008
Friday, August 3, 2007
Goodbye Dear Friend
When I was in sixth grade, we were finally living in a house with a fenced yard. I wanted a dog. Mom said if I kept my room clean for two weeks, then we could get one. That was so hard for me... I hated cleaning my room. It never seemed important. It took me months, but I finally did it. On the two week mark, Mom took me to the pound and said "No big dogs, no black dogs."
We looked and looked through the dogs, and there was a medium sized scrawny dull brown dog, that was the only dog with any life in his eyes. He was the one I wanted. Mom was skeptical, so she said maybe, and came back the next day and watched him for a while. He was so full of life and energy, she agreed, and in a few days, we had ourselves a new dog.
In my sixth grade sense of humor, I decided that Guess would be the perfect name. If someone asked me what my dog's name would be, hilarity was sure to ensue. Initially Mom was going to call him "Gus" in defiance, but then she realized you had to guess what he was... Black Lab? Whippet? We didn't even know exactly how old he was. Around a year old, give or take a few months. So Guess it was.
We got him home, and realized he was malnourished, and started giving him multi-vitamins in peanut butter. Within a few months, he had gained 20 pounds, and lost all his hair... and it grew back a glossy black. We had what Mom and said we couldn't have, a big black dog.
But he was a blessing in disguise. You'll never meet a more patient dog. We would dress him up and humiliate him, and he loved the attention. A small child would be curious, so he would get down low to the ground so he wouldn't intimidate him. At first he loved getting out and running around the neighborhood. Someone once called the pound when we couldn't get him back right away. The lady who came said he was the first dog to chase her to where he belonged. He just wanted to play! Once we took him camping. After that, he never ran away. I don't know what happened, but suddenly he had an invisible leash, linking him to us.
That leash not only lashed him to us, but us to him. An invisible bond was formed. He didn't play favorites, he loved us all equally (except men in hats, those he did not care for, and made that known). But the night my dad left, obedient Guess, who never slept on beds (and couches only when he thought we were asleep and not watching), climbed up onto Mom's bed and kept her company. He stayed there until he could no longer get onto the bed. And then he slept on the floor next to her. And when he couldn't climb the stairs anymore, he slept at the foot of the stairs. As close to her as he could possibly be.
He had his fair share of medical problems, from seizures, to an invisible spot that kept him in an E-Collar for years, to progressive arthritis. And he never complained. He was always just so happy. As he got older and older, more medical problems arose. But it was never a question, he never seemed in pain, and he couldn't bear to leave us, and we couldn't bear to let him go.
Finally this week, it could no longer be helped. Even with medication, he was having a harder and harder time getting around. For a large dog, 12 or 13 years old is a pretty long time to live. Mom finally had him put to sleep last night.
The time had come, but he is already missed. We knew it was coming, but somehow it's hard to be completely prepared for these things.
Goodbye sweet Guess. You were my first dog, and I loved you dearly.
We looked and looked through the dogs, and there was a medium sized scrawny dull brown dog, that was the only dog with any life in his eyes. He was the one I wanted. Mom was skeptical, so she said maybe, and came back the next day and watched him for a while. He was so full of life and energy, she agreed, and in a few days, we had ourselves a new dog.
In my sixth grade sense of humor, I decided that Guess would be the perfect name. If someone asked me what my dog's name would be, hilarity was sure to ensue. Initially Mom was going to call him "Gus" in defiance, but then she realized you had to guess what he was... Black Lab? Whippet? We didn't even know exactly how old he was. Around a year old, give or take a few months. So Guess it was.
We got him home, and realized he was malnourished, and started giving him multi-vitamins in peanut butter. Within a few months, he had gained 20 pounds, and lost all his hair... and it grew back a glossy black. We had what Mom and said we couldn't have, a big black dog.
But he was a blessing in disguise. You'll never meet a more patient dog. We would dress him up and humiliate him, and he loved the attention. A small child would be curious, so he would get down low to the ground so he wouldn't intimidate him. At first he loved getting out and running around the neighborhood. Someone once called the pound when we couldn't get him back right away. The lady who came said he was the first dog to chase her to where he belonged. He just wanted to play! Once we took him camping. After that, he never ran away. I don't know what happened, but suddenly he had an invisible leash, linking him to us.
That leash not only lashed him to us, but us to him. An invisible bond was formed. He didn't play favorites, he loved us all equally (except men in hats, those he did not care for, and made that known). But the night my dad left, obedient Guess, who never slept on beds (and couches only when he thought we were asleep and not watching), climbed up onto Mom's bed and kept her company. He stayed there until he could no longer get onto the bed. And then he slept on the floor next to her. And when he couldn't climb the stairs anymore, he slept at the foot of the stairs. As close to her as he could possibly be.
He had his fair share of medical problems, from seizures, to an invisible spot that kept him in an E-Collar for years, to progressive arthritis. And he never complained. He was always just so happy. As he got older and older, more medical problems arose. But it was never a question, he never seemed in pain, and he couldn't bear to leave us, and we couldn't bear to let him go.
Finally this week, it could no longer be helped. Even with medication, he was having a harder and harder time getting around. For a large dog, 12 or 13 years old is a pretty long time to live. Mom finally had him put to sleep last night.
The time had come, but he is already missed. We knew it was coming, but somehow it's hard to be completely prepared for these things.
Goodbye sweet Guess. You were my first dog, and I loved you dearly.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
I <3 Trivia Night
Our team won at Trivia night last night! Wheeee! There were 23 teams, and we came out first. It's a dollar buy in, and second place gets their dollars back, and we kept the rest. It ended up being $11 each plus some change. It was so much fun!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
I lied
So earlier today, I posted that I wouldn't be posting much as the road trip approaches. I lied. This morning I had a meeting with Jack, and on the way there, I almost hit a baby deer. I saw the mom walking across the road, and I slowed down. Just as I was about to pass her, the baby jumped out and ran in front of me. Luckily I was able to stop in time. But I confused the baby, and it wound around the road for a bit, so I couldn't pass it. It eventually got off the road and I was able to get to my meeting.
After the meeting, as I was leaving Jack's house, I was confronted with this:
That's right. A peacock. He was offended that I wanted to pass him, and ruffled his feathers at me before letting me go.
Interesting day, I'd say.
After the meeting, as I was leaving Jack's house, I was confronted with this:
That's right. A peacock. He was offended that I wanted to pass him, and ruffled his feathers at me before letting me go.
Interesting day, I'd say.
Neglect
I'm afraid this blog will be neglected for a bit as we gear up for our road trip. Even mundane things that I would usually post here have something to do with the road trip!
I'm still working with Jack on his book. This are going really well, and we're hoping to have it printed in the next week or so.
We're going out to lunch with Grandpa, Grandma, and my Mom on Sunday. I need to give mom her carpet cleaner back, and she's putting me on her costco card so that we can get snacks for the trip.
I'm keeping super busy between the stuff for Jack, working at Kohl's and getting ready for the road trip. Jason's really looking forward to having a vacation, he's so tired of work he's even ready to go back to school! Silly boy.
<3 M
I'm still working with Jack on his book. This are going really well, and we're hoping to have it printed in the next week or so.
We're going out to lunch with Grandpa, Grandma, and my Mom on Sunday. I need to give mom her carpet cleaner back, and she's putting me on her costco card so that we can get snacks for the trip.
I'm keeping super busy between the stuff for Jack, working at Kohl's and getting ready for the road trip. Jason's really looking forward to having a vacation, he's so tired of work he's even ready to go back to school! Silly boy.
<3 M
Sunday, July 15, 2007
GAH!
So Jason's car will now start... but it might not stop...
We'll be buying break pads today, and Jason's boss kindly offered to help him install them. The rear pads are down to below 5%, and if they go much further, the calipers will have to be replaced too. We knew they needed to be done, but they never squeeked. Then made this scary crunching noise, which we paid to find out what it was, but then they never squeeked after that either, so we just forgot about them. We're just not good car people I think.
My echo drives beautifully now though!
We'll be buying break pads today, and Jason's boss kindly offered to help him install them. The rear pads are down to below 5%, and if they go much further, the calipers will have to be replaced too. We knew they needed to be done, but they never squeeked. Then made this scary crunching noise, which we paid to find out what it was, but then they never squeeked after that either, so we just forgot about them. We're just not good car people I think.
My echo drives beautifully now though!
Friday, July 13, 2007
One more thing!
We got our financial aid info back for next year, and we both got about $9,000 in grants. Yay! But we'll still be taking some loans on top of that, since Jason will be student teaching and not working at all for 5-6 months. But still, more than last year!
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