My Girls!

They love hanging out together!

Modern Day Gnomes.

I'm not a huge fan of gnomes, in general, but if I was going to get one, it would be a hip one like these.

No Couch For Us :(

My couch won't fit around the corner. Two hours of trying and it just wasn't happening :(

We Moved. Again.

I will explain it all later when I am actually at a computer,  but the short version is, Briony and I moved into our own apartment yesterday.  Tonight is the first night we are sleeping here though.
We had our first dinner together... Pizza! Which is even cooler because she hates pizza.  But not the kind I get :)
We got air mattresses and when u told Bearette it w time for bed she got in it instead of her bed.  Hmm is not really big enough for both of us....

Poor Bearette!

When we first started talking about moving Briony's things, she brought little loads like this.

Then when I showed up to get the rest,  I brought Bearette with me. She was not impressed by the sheer amount of STUFF Briony and Cale brought out and left on the curb for me to cram in the car. And we were trying to do it on my lunch break. We got it all in, though!

More Stink Bugs!

I was going to set him free outside, but Briony caught him first and put him in the toilet.

Cale's 15th Birthday.

Briony and I picked up Cale Saturday afternoon and took him to dinner. He had chosen Burger King as his “anything you want for dinner” meal. We encouraged him to go to Burger Xtreme, a relatively new burger joint boasting bottomless homemade fries. Since he is a relative bottomless pitt, I thought it would be perfect. He very much enjoyed it, but he ended up eating less than Briony and I.

We went back home and he opened his presents. Briony got him a book and I got him some British sweets and video games, and I pre-ordered him a copy of The Hobbit DVD. There were some Christmas and Birthday presents from Aunt Margaret as well, as well, some more video games. I told him I would take him shopping for some clothes with the rest of his allotment, as I could not bring myself to get him nothing but games.

Briony took him in the bedroom while I prepared the surprise. We had planned it all out last week, and made it that morning, an Army man cake. Devils Food (chocolate) cake with triple chocolate icing with mini chocolate chips in it. We made it two levels, and had sandbags and a tower built out of chocolate chip cookie dough candies. We sprayed the “ground” green with icing spray, and positioned our two teams of Army men in strategic positions. It was an awesome cake!

(Funny fact: the next day Briony stopped by their house to get some things, and the cake was in Cale's room. It had been eaten some, but the figures had been moved around, so at least he was enjoying it!)

We were all too full to actually eat any cake at this point, so we went to the Wyo to watch The Hobbit. He had seen it several times in the theatre already and wanted to go. I had only seen a blurry screener DVD copy that I had downloaded, so I was looking forward to it. Briony did not want to see it, but afterwards said she enjoyed it more the second time.

Cowboy Dating?

I have only been on Facebook a couple of times since I moved. Everytime I do log on I get ads like this one. Apparently there are a lot of cowboys that need dates.

Chinese Takeaway.

I went to a Chinese place that was recommended to me tonight. I ordered sweet and sour chicken and egg rolls. When it came out she said she gave me some free soup, which I thought that was nice. When I got home I realized that there was no sweet and sour sauce so I called and they said I could come back and get some. It was not far and when I got there they had it ready for me and gave me a takeaway container and told me to help myself to anything on the buffet So that I could see if I wanted to get that next time I came. I got several things that I would not normally have tried because it was free. They were so very nice I will definitely go back there again.

If you are in Laramie, I recommend the Hong Kong buffet between Murdoch's and Aarons on Grand Avenue. I now have so much food it will last me at least 3 meals, which is a heck of a bargain.

Addendum: it actually ended up being four meals.

Fish Fingers And Custard.

For dinner I fixed some fish fingers and custard a la Doctor Who. I only dipped one in the custard to try it. It was not gross but after the one I used the malt vinegar for the rest.

Real Snow

We got our first real snow today since we moved. It was over eight inches when I got off and continued for a long while longer. I took some photos of the conditions when I was at stop lights on the way to the gym an then home. Bearette and I took a nice long walk with Bearette wearing her new booties. She did very well except when she fell into deep snow or tripped over her feet and fell face forward.

My Girls

The Non Blizzard And Family Dinner

The Blizzard that the news kept talking about for the last two days happened. Only it was about an inch (in the deep spots). We still put Bearette's booties on so she could try it in the snow. She peed on the sidewalk and then was ready to come back inside. We gave her lots of treats to reward her, though.
Family Dinner tonight, and it was mostly leftovers since I'd made so much chicken for Friday night, but I made extra side items, and there was plenty of dessert left over. I actually didn't care for it, so I didn't have any, but the children liked it well enough.

My Sofa!

My sofa was delivered today!!! I had to take a long lunch, but it came earlier rather than later in the middle of the window they gave me, which was nice. It was hard leaving it and going back to work. This is my little entertainment area that I set up for us. I don't have a TV, just my laptop, but it has a great screen, so it is decent enough for us to us to watch together.
Cale ended up having a soccer game tonight, so he did not come to dinner. So we are having Family Dinner tomorrow, and tonight was girls night, but with all the food that I had already started cooking for family night. Fried chicken, mash, peas, and double chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream. He really missed out! I bet this will encourage him to keep me up to date on his schedule :)
I did make her go wash her face before getting on the couch. It has a five year warranty clean/fix/replace, but I don't want it soiled on the first day!
Last week, Briony was laying on the fold out chairs like this, and calling it my couch, so we decided to take the same position this week on the real couch. It is so nice having furniture!
I am posting from my phone, so I cannot put the photos in the rright place and I cannot change the dates for the last several days...

My View

This is my view from my desk at work. Not bad, eh?
These are the office cats, Toby and Peppy. Peppy likes to climb on my shoulders and sit. So weird.

Doggie Booties And Gym Membership. Yay!

Bearette's booties came in the mail today. It is suppose to snow this weekend, so this will give us a chance to put them on a couple of times before we have to go outside and walk in them. They are a little more work than is worth it for a quick out and back potty break, but for anything longer than that I will do my best to use them. And of course, the more we use them the easier it will be for both of us.

I tried to take a self portrait with both of us. She thought it would be better with just her. How can you argue with that cute face?

The saddest puppy face in the world. I don't know what she thought she was getting punished for, but I am pretty sure that's what she thought. Until the treats started coming. I kept putting them on the floor around the room to make her walk. In just a few minutes she'd already gotten better at walking in them. She's so smart.

Smart and not feeling well again today. We took her off of her pain medication because she got sick again on Friday. We started her on Carafate and aside from one sick up on Saturday morning she had been doing well. She started limping from being off the pain meds, but once she was all clear we were going to try a different one. And this morning, the morning after her last dose of this medicine, she got sick in the wee hours. We have now started her on acid reflux medication over the counter to see if that helps her. If she goes a week without vomiting I will try her on the new pain medicine. There is also a food at work that is for joint mobility, so I might try that as well. I feel so bad that on days like today when it got near 50 degrees, she didn't enjoy going out to walk because she hurt to do so. Getting old sucks :(

Speaking of getting old, or rather, trying not to, I joined a gym today. I had been looking at the Laramie Recreation Center. I picked up a catalog that they put out, and it seemed like a great place. Until I took a tour on Monday. Swimming is apparently their big seller. There are several pools, and there were about 5000 kids taking swim lessons, playing basketball and soccer, and generally just making a ton of noise. The weight room had a very small number of machines and was actually a hallway. The cardio equipment did not have enough machines to guarantee one during the busy time, and they closed at 9pm. Since I want to get a second job, that was just not going to work. Several girls from work use another place, and I went by there today. The outside of the building is plain, a big warehouse looking structure. The entry is just a desk and emptiness. I actually spoke to the owner, and he took me on a tour. He just bought it and is in the middle of major renovations and upgrades. There is a giant weight room, a circuit training weight room, plenty of cardio equipment, there are classes and more. I signed up immediately and having hoped that it was going to be good, I had brought my workout clothes and got started. 1 ½ miles on the elliptical and a trip around the circuit weights and I felt great! And it's open 4am to midnight 7 days a week 365 days a year. You can't really complain about those hours.

First Day A Work. Exhausted Doggy.

I started my job at Snowy Range Veterinary Clinic today. I love it there! Everyone is so nice, the clients were nice, and I have missed working with animals all these years. After dinner, I planned to go to bed early. When I went in to do that, this is what I found waiting for me. Silly girl.

Family Monopoly Dinner.

Family Dinner was on Saturday today, and the children got here super early, so we got to play a game of Monopoly while we watched several episodes of American Idol: Keith Urban. We had homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert and of course Bearette had to be right in the middle of the action. She always hangs out next to Cale when there is food around. I like to call him The Weakest Link. If food is going to get spilled, well, it's going to be Cale :)

Briony and Bearette cuddling.

Chinese Disappointment & Snacks.

For the last day of the month, I got Chinese at the place Briony recommended. I didn't like it :( I did not finish it and not only that, I did not save it for left overs. Very disappointing.

Also disappointing were my “fortunes” which were not fortunes, but statements. Both happen to be true, but that is not hardly the point.

In preparation for my new job on Monday, I have stocked up on snacks for packing my lunch. I have not had this much food in the house since I got here. It is a lot, but I wanted plenty of variety, and it should last me several weeks.