niebean

Thirty Rocks!

2011-08-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my Birthday, and unfortunately, it was one of those big "something - 0" birthdays. Up until now, it's kind of freaked me out and I was pretty sure I was going to go with the 29 and holding response whenever somebody asks me how old I am.... But honestly, I had such a great birthday that I'm pretty psyched about putting another decade behind me and moving on to the next ;)

So my wonderful husband had a trip planned for my birthday, a surprise trip - I was pretty excited, but as I was out walking one lunch hour I noticed the Colonial Theater was going to be having a show called "Bakin with the Boss" starring Buddy Valastro - The Cake Boss. . .one my birthday! So I called Roger up and asked if his plans were firm for my Birthday, and he asked why, I told him I didn't want to ruin my surprise but the the Cake Boss was going to be in Pittsfield and I thought it would be a lot of fun to go to the show. Turns out, he had planned to take me to Hoboken to Carlo's bakery for my birthday ;-) What are the odds? So instead of driving all the way to Hoboken, we took a short trip to Pittsfield to see the boss. And I even got a cupcake and happy birthday from the Boss - thanks to my husband who volunteered to be part of a demo on cupcake decorating - and decorated the best cupcake of the night (sorry Buddy. . .).

Never in my wildest dreams. . .

2011-03-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

. . .did I ever think this would happen. But it has and I might as well accept it and the consequences of what you will now think of me. When we first got Olympia, I'll admit - we fell in love with the sweet little puff ball, but I swore up and down she'd never look like one of those "silly poodles". Then she got her first haircut, which is always hard when your puppy transforms into a dog with a simple haircut, but the poodle face suited her, and the flared legs were stylish . . .but now 3 years later I've decided she really is quite cute as a poodle and I did the unthinkable and actually asked Roger to cut her like a "silly poodle" with the result being really quite cute:

I was so happy with the result that I painted her nails - yes I felt crazy the whole time, but she was so patient and I imagine enjoyed the pampering.

So in conclusion - I admit freely that I love my prissy poodle and I probably need to get out more with the girls ;)

Dolce Dental

2011-02-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

Yes, to my many concerned fans, I am still alive. . .and kicking! In the last month, I went from Employed, to Unemployed (for about a week), to Self-Employed. . .Not to play favorites or anything, but I think that last one is my favorite member of the ployed family. . .I think.

On January 19th, Dolce Dental officially opened for business - and I've been busy ever since. But, thanks to a massive amount of snow, I'm at home with a bit of unassigned time to share this fun news with you :)

I purchased an existing practice from another Dentist - with some really wonderful patient's that I've enjoyed meeting a look forward to being their Dentist for many years - anyway, I'm slowly updating some areas.

Started with the waiting room:

These very cool treatment rooms with the retro chairs (they aren't really retro if those are the originals, are they) will not be replaced, just reupholstered soon.

The sterilization room will remain orange for the time being:)

The dogs will visit, but the charts are (again slowly) being transitioned to digital - by my whole super team of techies!

I hope you enjoyed your tour of Dolce Dental - we love to see you smile, so when can I schedule your appointment?

Special thanks to Dr. Aimee for sharing all her time and and knowledge to help me get started.

2010 wrap up

2011-01-08T09:33:00.000-08:00

New Year already? I haven't even finished with last years updates? In my defense I've been a little preoccupied with my next post, but for this post we'll wrap up 2010

The much anticipated wedding of Emilia and her american boy (my brother Sean) finally occured on November 20th, so we got a fun trip to Utah and a nice visit with family (for some reason we didn't take a lot of photos, so the credit for all of these including the movie goes to their wonderful photographer http://tracyandersonphoto.com/tracy.jsp) .

I thought their sealing at the Draper Temple was absolutely beautiful, and I just think they are the cutest couple, I'm so glad Emilia joined our family:)

Just before we left for Utah our last little puppy, "Sally" left for her forever home, it was nice having a little extra time with her - we were concerned about placing her with a family because she seemed to be quite the handful, but it seems she met her match and will be a great addition to this family.

Molly and Nieca

We've also been in contact with several of our puppies' new families, and it really is fun to see them grow, and rewarding to see just how loved they are :)

Mommy and Molly

Roger trying to hold Molly

Molly wants to be a lap dog

3 doodles and poodle

Herc and Molly

And finally, just in time for the new year. . .snow :)

Harvest Celebration

2010-10-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to watch the cranberry harvest ever since we lived on the south shore near all the cranberry bogs.

But somehow I always managed to miss it by thinking of it either a month too soon, or a week too late...This year, was just right (thanks to friends that are on top of things and invited us along :)

It was a fun little festival, we learned about dry, and wet harvesting...saw about a billion displaced spiders..and built our own "bog in cup" which we are hoping will grow and break our streak of killing everything we try to grow :(

The berries are really mesmerizing swirling on the water.

In other news - thanks to our epic failure of a pumpking patch, we made a stop along the Mohawk trail on a recent leaf peeping excursion and picked up a bunch of ugly pumpkins, I guess we will be having our annual pumpking carving party after all. . .

A few signs Summer is fading. . .

2010-09-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

The Hydrangea's blooms are all gone. . .

The Pumpkin Patch has turned out no pumpkins, but turned into this. . .

You've stopped caring so much about the brown spots in the lawn, and are just glad when the fighting stops...

These. . .

Have Turned into these. . . .

And are off to their new homes in only a few days :(

I've also heard, it gets cooler, there's less daylight and prettier leaves, and a little bittersweet.

Grass to Tree Tops

2010-08-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

Puppies are growing fast and cute, here are a few highlights from their first adventures outside in the grass...

While the puppies are still at the grass stage, the people in our home (we're outnumbered 10-2 and were recently informed that we are crazy), had our first tree top adventure - we went Zip Lining in the Berkshires. . .It was a gorgeous day to be flying through the canopy (as our guide said, 35 mph is fast enough to get a ticket in a school zone), and a view of the Mohawk trail we've never seen. Definitely recommend the experience, not so much the less than flattering photos :)

Tooth Cake

2010-08-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

For my birthday this year Roger built me a cake - clearly somebody has been watching too much Cake Boss...

The layers are Red Velvet Cake with a cheesecake filling and Cream Cheese Frosting.

The nice thing about a tooth cake, as opposed to a regular birthday cake is you're less likely to forget to brush after eating ;)

We celebrated our Birthday's with dinner at one of our favorite spots the Tavern on the Hill . . .

Thanks for dinner Mom and Dad!

Second Litter

2010-08-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

Born July 29th at approximately 6:55 - 9:45 am, 6 girls and 2 boys. All mostly cream in coloring with slight variations in nose and paw pad colors - just not enough variation, making distinguishing them one from another rather difficult (no those aren't colored birthmarks, and no, the spots didn't even last a day, thanks to the ever so attentive mama licks) so names will have to wait for open eyes and developing personality quirks ;) I guess it's somehow right that Olympia's second litter is double the size of her first. . .unfortunately, after just recently editing the photos of the "Fab Four" I've decided that the second litter is going to need to have at least half as many photos. . .isn't that the standard for seconds anyway?

Olympia has proven to be such good momma that we figured the best thing we could do to help was to leave her to it for a couple hours while we went out boating on the river. . . ...as you can see it was the right decision, a beautiful day to be out on the river and fun time, especially since we no longer need to buy a boat ;) Thanks Dr. Ali, Sincerely your new boat squatters

Olympia +8

2010-07-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

Give or take - well, not so much take. . . I count 8 skulls - plus two questionable. Not really sure what else to say here. . .anybody want a puppy!?!

Littleville Lake

2010-06-19T15:10:00.001-07:00

The dogs graduated from their kayaking 101 course and we decided it was time for a real test, so we headed out to Littleville Lake, which is only a short drive and a beautiful spot for teaching one's dogs to stay in their boat. . .they were absolutely wonderful the entire trip.

Olympia decided she didn't want to be a part of this photo op. . .so I decided it was time for our next course, how to effectively use your paddle :)

Come on and get in the boat. . .

2010-06-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

. . .Dogs. Come on and get in the boat dogs, dogs. . .(my tribute to strong bad). You may have noticed our dogs are a bit spoiled, recently they received their very own kayak - the intent being that when we go kayaking, they can come along. No, we don't expect them to paddle or eskimo roll (until they get more practice anyway). . .just sit in the boat when we go kayaking. At first they were intrigued, we practiced sitting in the yard, and the command "boat." Then we moved on to getting in the boat while it is in the river - this is when they became less than interested in the boat, and also a bit less obedient - "you expect me to get into that wobbly thing, and then not jump right out? I'd much rather sniff that dead fish over there, maybe even roll in it if you don't mind." Unfortunately, there were no videographers present for that adventure, so this is their second time "kayaking." They almost seemed comfortable this time, now if they can just master the dismount ;)

Balloons and Tutu's. . .

2010-05-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

If you're one of my brothers you're probably thinking, sounds like me last birthday party, but no this isn't about you guys. These are words that strike fear in the heart of the average dog, but not Olympia, when Hercules runs away tail drooping from a balloon, she's there to protect him.

I realize that this video next needs a soundtrack, so just humm the tune to the YALE fight song in your head, that's what I always do, but instead of Boola, boola - the words are Poodle, poodle.

I've said it before, I never used to be a fan of froo froo poodles, but I actually love this little dog, and the hours of entertainment she provides.

Marzipan, Marzipan!

2010-03-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

So, last week I got to return to Young Women's for the evening, I will not mention how long it has been since I was in Young Women's as a young woman, but it's been longer than I like to think. . .anyway, I was there to teach them how to make and decorate Marzipan fruit. That must mean I'm an expert, so if they ever have an america's next marzipan artist, or marzipan idol sign me up (really, forget I said that, don't you dare!) I had a lot of fun, what a fun group of girls - almost as fun as the one's I grew up with ;)

The pineapple was my favorite :)

Cake Wrecks

2010-03-14T18:37:00.000-07:00

So a few months back we discovered this awesome website, cakewrecks.blogspot.com (much thanks to courtney;), we were thrilled to find out that the author had a stop on her book signing tour within driving distance and decided to attend, the store (to remain unnamed) did not plan well for the popularity of this site/author and we arrived just a minute late and had to cram between shelves to sneak a peek at her, but laughed til we cried, got our book signed and ate a dinosaur cake. . .(cake Rex, get it, ha ha...ha!?!). Anyway, I mention this now, months after the fact because this weekend we decided to create our own cake wreck. . .that's not quite the decision we made, we actually decided we were going to make a wicked awesome cake replica of the Salt Lake Temple for our ward's dessert auction to raise money for the YW girl's camp. Unfortunately, we were very busy with puppies in the morning, and while professionals (a-la Ultimate Cake Off) can build 6 feet tall, ornate cakes in just 1 day. . .we found we cannot build a 1 foot tall cake in 6 hours . . .we did however have fun trying and probably won't let this failure stop us from trying again next year - however, if we fail next year - the YW are getting Dunkin Donuts!

Had we finished in time, we probably would have entered it as Dr. Seuss' Salt Lake Temple ;)

End of Days Prediction

2010-03-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

With the recent acceleration of natural disasters, it's been hard to keep from thinking of the impending end of the world as we know it. . .it's coming faster than you might think, in fact, I predict that it will occur March 13th. . .aren't you glad I'm giving you a little warning here? I know it's hard to imagine, but on that day we will be in a world where there are no longer six rambunctious puppies living in my modest two bedroom house. . .there will be only two :(

Got ya! For a minute there you actually believed you were going to get an update from somebody other than the crazy puppy lady. . .wow, were you ever wrong, I feel bad for you, maybe these puppy clips will help you feel better :)

It's been a truly wonderful experience having these little growers amongst us, we will miss them terribly, but it's really time, 6 puppies is too much!!!

A lot of growing

2010-02-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how much growing puppies do in such a short amount of time, they are walking, and running, wrestling and barking, eating solid foods, paper trained, and cuddly and. . .I'm just going to post pictures now so I can go snuggle puppies that will be gone in a month bound for their new homes...(Artemis already has a wonderful home awaiting her, and we're pretty excited that we'll still get to see her as she grows! But now we have to call her Mia Bella ;)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Puppy Pile

2010-01-21T16:30:00.000-08:00

The puppies have had an eventful first week.

Their schedule has been full with getting adorably plump (eating), sleeping all day, squeaking all night and piling on top of one another.

On Day 5 they had their first outing to the vet, and returned without dewclaws.

They have pretty much doubled in size, so weighing in at about 2 lbs each, we have Artemis in the top left (also known as medium gold female with the pink nose) snuggled up to mini-Hercules, and on the right we have Apollo (on top, he's the one with the black nose) snuggled up to little Daphne (she's the darkest gold). We decided to keep the greek name thing going - although the names aren't true to mythology genealogy so don't go fact checking! Also, the names are only temporary so don't get too attached (don't get too attached, don't get too attached - I'm going to go hold a puppy and practice not getting too attached now)

Artemis, Mini, Daphne, and Apollo :)

They're Here!

2010-01-13T17:21:00.000-08:00

At approximately 3:15 I received a message at work informing me that not only was Olympia finally going into labor, but rather than getting cozy in her comfy whelping box, she had decided to burrow under the blankets on my bed to start the birthing process. . .a fact I thought would upset me more than it actually does. Unfortuantely, neither of us were able to be there for the first births (apparently, maternity leave doesn't cover pets). Fortunately, she's a natural! I made it home first, and opened the door to the sound of the cutest little cries coming from somewhere in a pile of pillows on my bed, Olympia cuddled up to baby number two (now in her own box). . .and within the next hour number three and four popped out (effortlessly for me of course :)

Olympy-Momma and the fab four are doing great, aside from being totally wiped out. . . Looks like we got one of each. . . a darkish gold boy and girl and a lightish cream boy and girl :) Now, what to call them. . .

Puppy Skeletons

2010-01-04T14:55:00.000-08:00

How many puppies do you see? This is our latest update, after anxiously waiting for Olympia to go into labor all weekend and produce some New year's puppies, and being very disappointed, we decided to visit the vet. . .again. This time an x-ray was involved. . .as for a specific date. . .Some time in the next three weeks :(

We're Expecting

2009-12-09T05:04:00.001-08:00

By "we" I mean Hercules and Olympia,

and by "expecting" - well probably the three cutest puppies you'll ever see. . .and also, much sooner than we'd originally anticipated. Olympia had a visit with the vet today to confirm and it's official she's going to be a mommy, they grow up so fast, like seven times fast. . .so in about 20 days!

In other news. . .Tree! Or rather trees, started with the Arbs, then we added a Japanese Maple, last (well hopefully the last tree we'll buy for the year) was our first ever live (really live, roots and all) Christmas tree - apparently with the economy being what it is, we were especially worried about the local tree farmers and thought we'd keep them in business this year :) It will be fun to look back and remember that the blue spruce in the back was from our first Christmas in our new home. And the Japanese Maple will always remind us of Thanksgiving with the Gallants!

Random pics of puppies in the snow ;)

(My favorite is Olympia flying over the hill)

"Cak"

2009-09-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

I love cake, I love it so much I even love shows about making cakes. . .I'm pretty sure if I wasn't a Dentist, I'd be working in a bakery (I'm pretty sure that it's a good thing I didn't find this out about myself until after I made it through dental school and started working. . .). So, when my sister asked for help making her Wedding Cake, I figured, I have plenty of experience (you see it enough times, how hard can it be), and a Roger, why not!?! So, we quickly accepted the challenge and began practicing - she wanted something very simple (still took a lot, a lot of time) square cake with Marzipan fruit and no fru fru flowers ("I like fru fru flowers"). Despite a few set backs (buttercream is yummy, but doesn't hold up well in heat . . .thank you wedding event coordinator for positioning it in the sun!) and being up all night the evening before the wedding. . .I'm pretty proud of what we accomplished ;) Everything was edible, and for never having made marzipan fruit - I just really think it was a huge success. It was what she wanted and really matched the simple elegance of the rest of the day, I'm glad we got to be so involved. Please feel free to post your praises, or place orders ;) (seriously, anyone else it's going to co$t ya!).

Inbetween all the cake baking, we had a wonderful time visiting with family and old friends - really wish we could do it more often - luckily the weather was gorgeous and we got to see the beginning of a gorgeous fall in the mountains:)

Random pictures from the wedding, cake and "fruit" making, friends from high school, family and of course fun times at the cabin.

Ended up on an early flight out of Boston, which meant leaving home at 3:30, but it was nice to see that beautiful city in the early morning light.

Good to catch up with friends from high school, wish we'd had more time together, and that I was better at keeping touch, that's kind of the reasoning behind keeping the blog going (though it's barely breathing at times)

Fruit, Fruit, and more Fruit. . .

Building her a cake ;)

TA DA!

Wedding and Family

Dumping flowers off the mantel. . .smooth, Sean!?!.

Cabin in the Fall

Fall Felling

2009-09-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

Things I love about fall in New England (the short list):

Fall Foliage, and crisp, cool days perfect for drives through Vermont and New hampshire just to see the variety of color.

Pumpkin Fudge

Halloween

Puppies running through piles of leaves

And my new favorites:
Picking concord grapes from the thirty plus year old vine in your yard, and enjoying peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches from all that "work"

Rescuing my cute (mutant spider infested) garage from killer trees. When you buy a house and property from 1889, there's bound to be some things that need to be repaired or demo'd altogether. The first on our list was to fell the dying tree branch before it fell and did some damage to our antique garage (I think our garage is as cute, if not cuter than our house, and on the inside wall the owner/builder recorded a bunch of dates including their first car, TV, oil change dates. . .kind of cool I think). I've never cut down a tree limb, I've watched my brothers attempt to knock over dead trees at our cabin. . .and I've probably seen my Dad using a chain saw. . .so, with those experiences, a craigslist chainsaw, a new 28' ladder and a handy husband, during my lunch break we cut off the offending branch with no problems. . .i know with all that build-up you were really expecting more drama to the story. . .Roger has plenty of experience in chopping down trees, so I really had nothing to be nervous about, but that didn't seem to stop the butterflies in my stomach as he climbed the ladder with that chainsaw (perhaps I watch too many episodes of america's funniest home videos or home accidents). Anyway, one thing I've become extra grateful for through this whole homeownership thing is my very capable and talented, and husband:) I've still never cut down a tree, but I'm comfortable with that remaining on my "prefer to watch from a safe distance" list.

Soon we will be moving onto the indoor projects, I mean it changed so quickly to fall weather, snow is probably right around the corner. Anyway we're trying to decide, start with new door that doesn't have a cat door, or leave them 'cuz it's just so darn cute to come home to that puppy head poking out ;)

Summer. . .

2009-08-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

Is finally here. . .and it's HOT! Maybe for most of you summer is almost over, but here in Mass it feels like it's just started with the first full week of nice, hot weather. We've actually had a very full summer with the purchase of the house - yes, we FINALLY closed (and moved - 'cuz why not make a frustrating home buying experience even better by exhausting yourself and most of your ward with a move - seriously - mega thanks to all those that helped!) August 3rd (only 14 days after the scheduled closing, which was actually the second closing, so it was really 40 days - and nights - over. . .but I'm not bitter). We're still unpacking, so it will be a while before any pictures appear - but the dogs have adjusted to their new yard and don't seem to mind sharing it with "Copper" (the previous owner was feeding this fox nearly every day - we are only seeing it sporadically because we don't leave the food out - don't want to attract the skunks - which I'm pretty sure are the towns official pet or something).

Other than the house - we spent some time at the puppy park, and the water park, and celebrated our birthdays last weekend with a trip to Ipswich, for the annual Crane Beach Sandblast Sandcastle competition.

I've been wanting to go to this event since I first met Roger and he told me about the time he participated in it with an architect. . .needless to say my hopes were high, we invited some new friends, the Tam's, and met the Johnson's there. Sounds so simple when I say it like that - what actually happened was - we didn't plan on a crowd - and arrived after a 2 hour drive to find the parking was full and the cops weren't letting cars within 3 miles of the event - they were ever so helpful though and told us to try coming back after 3. . .even after begging to at least drop off our pregnant traveller. So, Roger dropped the three of us off, and went to park planning to catch up later. . .well, about a quarter mile in we found a bus stop with a bus expected in about 15 minutes (thank you so much ipswich police force for helping the public attend an event in your city safely!), after we stopped about 20 others swarmed around, Roger caught up just in time to watch a very crowded bus fly on by. . .So, it was back to plan B - walk the three miles (did I mention it was like 90, and we'd been told it was 2.5 miles in the sun both ways. . .and probably uphill both ways, by a homeowner that refused to let us pay him to park in his driveway because he was concerned about our health going to a beach on a hot day. . .). So we made the trek, and met up with our friends who were smart and made it to the beach early enough to get parking. . .and quickly made our way to the ocean. For those of you wondering, or that may have been misinformed. . .the Atlantic Ocean is not warmer than the Pacific Ocean, especially in Ipswich. However, on this sweltering day, the frigid temperature was very welcoming:) Surely, the large crowd and the long walk were signs that the Sand Castles were going to be absolutely amazing. . .Sadly, I was a little disappointed - seems there is no longer a large cash prize to the winner, so the Masters and Professionals aren't so interested in spending their day in the heat creating beautiful sculptures of sand that will be washed away at high tide. The highlight of the day ended up being the only thing that wasn't really planned, dinner at Lanna Thai Dinner in Woburn (?) - I just know it as Mad Max's because the owner has an uncanny gift for remembering names - it had been like three years since we'd eaten there and Max remembered nearly everything he ever knew about Roger as soon as we walked in the door ;)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

On again, Off again. . .

2009-06-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

And back on again. Last weekend was kind of depressing, after our mortgage failed to be approved on time (even eafter several extensions) and the floating interest rate backfired, we decided to call the whole thing off. . .Then, after much prayer, and a convincing attorney - we decided to go ahead, and be another consumer that puts up with the BS of the mortgage industry just so we can own a home;) I'm sure after we close, and get to move into the home all the frustration will be replaced with excitement and the peace of home ownership (that's why they call it closing, right? Because there's closure, right!?!)

In other news, the dogs pulled a vanishing act the other night, that if we weren't already on emotional overload with the house purchase, sent us both over the edge. . .I'm thinking it might still be too soon for Roger, but maybe you'll get a good laugh :) I got a call at about 3:30, from a paniced husband telling me the dogs got out of the yard and he couldn't find them. He had been out in the yard with them, and they all came in, then he got a phone call (it's non-stop with these lenders always needing something, another bank statement, another extension. . .) and when he got off the phone they were nowhere to be found, he checked every room, called and called - not a woof or a bark. . .so he headed out to question neighbors, driving through other neighborhoods, nobody had seen them (and we can't take them anywhere without them getting attention, for being adorable, or crazy excited). After an hour of searching, the car stopped in the middle of the road (unrelated to searching, my car is normally capable of long drives. . .), so I left work early to help. After two hours of searching (and finding that my car needed a $$ = repair) we decided that Roger would keep looking, and I'd go back to question the neighbors (by now we were suspecting foul play. . .first of all, how could they get out of the house, there are no doggy doors, I mean poodles are smart, but they still only have paws. . .and they are spoiled, adorable dogs might mean reward right?) . So, I decided that since I was home, I'd use the facilities - when I stepped into the bathroom I saw the cutest little puppy nose peaking out of the shower. What relief! Seems someone planned to wash their paws, but got a little distracted by a phone call, and they are so well behaved inside that they didn't make a peep - just waited patiently for someone to find them.

So I realized the other day that the most recent pictures I have of the dogs, Olympia was a little powder puff, she's getting to be pretty big (okay, medium size, but big trouble - as you'll notice - that's not white lip-stick that's the bottle of white-out she had a great time with when I left her unattended for a moment - how do you all do it with kids!?!).

Hercules, I've decided is no longer a puppy, he's the little old man that likes to stare out the window all day, while olympia is quite content to sit on the couch and use her giraffe neck to peak out when she hears something interesting.

Needle in a haystack. . .

2009-04-26T05:15:00.000-07:00

So, early last thursday morning, little Olympia found herself unattended for maybe a minute. In this minute she chose to explore the unlocked craft room and the wonders of the floor "file" our term for the projects and papers strewn about. Now, I can understand her choice of the pin cushion she claimed as her new toy - she loves ripping the stuffing out of her actual toys, and pulling the pins out must have been terribly satisfying. But, how could she not notice the sharp, pointy ends , if not at first bite, at least before she managed to swallow one?

Two xrays later, and no passing of the needle in the "haystack " resulted in a not so inexpensive surgery, and we are now the proud owners of a cone head puppy pin cushion.

oh yeah, also, we are buying a home ;)

It's been too long. . .

2009-04-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

. . .since I've posted, or really done much of anything online. But, I'm ba-ack, thanks to a fantastic friend who "made" us a brilliant new computer, and delivered it to our home, and installed.

So with the seventy degree weather outside, I realize that I've delayed posting these photos from our winter photo shoot just long enough for them to seem out of season. yeah me! (Mom, if you're reading - happy mother's day ;)

We hit the jackpot with these photos - we have the most photogenic dogs, we found a great photographer willing to meet us at Bray Lake in 19 degree weather to take pictures at 7:00 in the morning on a gorgeous day (seriously, the next day was like blizzard conditions). Enjoy, but try to think warm thoughts like we were.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Mule Deer

2009-03-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

So this morning I was driving to work, surfing my favorite channels for something other than Hollywood gossip, finally settling on a station that seemed to be at then end of the chatter, they were interviewing Gary Mule Deer. . .never heard of him!?! Well where've you been, he's been a comedian for 48 years, and he's still as they say on American Idol "relevant." Considering I've had one of those weeks where I'm way over due for a good laugh, I called up Roger and suggested it might be a good date night. The price was right (FREE, plus, free food before the show), but I was a little concerned to see the audience at a college sponsored event consisted of a crowd you'd normally see if you went out to dinner around 4 o'clock. . .Fortunately, I got just what I needed out of the night, about an hour of non-stop laughing. I feel almost ready to finish the week:)

If you ever get the chance to see this guy, even if it's not free, I'd still recommend going.

Mmmm. . .Big Cookie!

2009-02-14T04:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day. Love you all! Almost as much as I love big cookies, and my sweet man that knows the simple things I love!

D@#% Yankees

2009-02-02T15:29:00.001-08:00

No, this is not actually a blog about my disdain for the Yankees. It's not even a ranting blog, I just thought it would catch your attention;)

Last weekend we took a mini-vacation to Boston to attend the Yankee Dental Congress - sounds so political, and it probably is, but mostly it was a chance for me to get most of my continuing education credits done in a weekend. Let me just say I think continuing education is way better than regular education. . .all the instructors were engaging (I can't say that about dental school, or undergrad, or much else. . .), the courses were relevant to my every day experiences (take that calculus!). My favorite course was one that I got to extract teeth from a pig mandible (most people's experience with extracted teeth amounts to having their baby teeth wiggled out with no roots left, or at least partially unconscious having your wisdom teeth out, count yourself lucky if this is you, but the roots on the average tooth are about 2 times the size of the part of the tooth you see. . .on a pig, they are about 3 times the size of a human tooth (in length)) Isn't that cool? Okay, even my assistants think I'm crazy-gross after that one.

From the first class all the way to the last (I took five courses over the three days, so the working vacation was less vacation - so glad I took Monday off to recover!) I was totally pumped to be a dentist again, ready to try new techniques, and after a few hours on the vendor floor, I was trying to figure out how to get my hands on all the cool (read $$$$) technology (mostly because it's new and shiny!). And I came home with a few freebies (colgate water bottle, that does not taste like toothpaste) and a few stacks of advertising handouts and pricing for products that I will probably end up spending an hour reading through and throwing away 99%, as well as a new favorite comedian, Frank Caliendo, (well, he didn't come home with us, but we enjoyed his show) just trbl!

The only drawback to the whole trip, in my opinion, was Hercules and Olympia couldn't come with. They got to stay with the nicest family, (thank you again Christensens) with three young girls - I'm not sure they were excited to see us when we got back - Hercules is still moping around for the little ones. . .

Back to work for me, wonder how long my newly rekindled passion for the profession will last?

Small Smiles Say the Darndest Things. . .

2009-01-18T17:36:00.000-08:00

This is one of many reasons I adore treating children, and tolerate treating adults;) This has the potential to be a recurring post. . .my current theory being that maybe I'll post more if I don't feel the pressure to post clever or original things. However, I make no promises.

One day I had a funny young man (let's say between 4-6 years old) in my chair. He seemed pretty cooperative, but since it was his first time having dental treatment beyond a cleaning, his parent requested "laughing gas" for the procedure. Shortly after the nitrous was started we knew it was working because he began lifting his arms up and down, and side to side slowly as if they were floating, and giggling a bit, but otherwise very quiet. Then, suddenly he blurted out, "I can't feel my bones!" Stiffling a laugh, I asked if that was bothering him, and he merely giggled more. Something tells me that one isn't going to avoid going to the dentist;)

Shredder and Electro-Shock Training

2009-01-18T16:11:00.000-08:00

We've had our hands, and hearts full with our new little Pia (more accurate spelling would be Pee-er, we are in Massachusetts after all).

So much trouble in one small package, she doesn't even wait until we leave the house . . .

Lucky she's cute !

Hercules couldn't be happier than when she's yapping at him, or chasing after him, or stealing a toy out of his mouth or nipping at his ears. . .and he's a big help with training her. He comes when called (until he's super excited and his little puppy brain shuts down), she follows and they both get a treat, she sees him sit and get a treat, so she sits and gets a treat. She sees him jump and get a treat, so she spastically jumps (arms one direction, head another, flipping head over heels, and landing on her feet. . .most of the time) and gets a treat, he barks when told to "speak" and she spastially jumps in the air as if she's been shocked. . .meanwhile, I'm laughing hysterically. Now if she could just master the whole bell = do your business out of the house thing then we might just keep her;)

Don't they look like sheepies with their booties on? (now before you laugh at them like the other dogs do, the boots are to protect their paws from ice, and ice melt. . .hercules had some pretty nasty slices between his pads because the snow collects and turns to sharp ice balls - and he won't stop playing in the cold and snow for anything, we only noticed because the ice melted in little red puddles:(. So call them silly, but they also keep the house a lot cleaner!

Welcome to the Family!

2008-12-31T11:16:00.000-08:00

Guess what we got for Christmas!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Jiminy Cricket! Not the Cricket. . .

2008-12-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

. . .the Ski Resort! That's right, I'm following a post about little - okay NO snow, with a post about skiing. It makes sense in my mind! Still no snow, but, last week there was a pretty bad ice storm in Western Mass, many homes are still without power - while I was kind of counting on the storm hitting a little closer to home (I prefer snow days, but I'll take any day off I can get:), I'm quite grateful to not be dealing with surviving the cold without the convenience of electricity. After the ice storm, my good friend Jessica had the brilliant idea of going skiing. To her credit, she will soon be leaving us to return to her family in Michigan and didn't have the luxury of time to hold out for fresh powder. Also, the original plan was to go tubing, but apparently the resorts spend their time and energy making snow for serious sports like skiing and snowboarding, not down hill tubing, sad really.

So, after checking the conditions at several New England resorts and deciding on Jiminy (far enough away that maybe they really would have some snow, but close enough to enjoy the drive both ways) we headed for the hills (I'm from Utah, I just can't call them mountains. . .can't!), bright and early (ya know, around noon), oh and after a stop at the local ski store (gotta have a coat, snow pants, gloves . . . note to self, buy snow gear in the off season, not at the last minute early in the season). Sorry readers, too many thoughts to finish to make this post coherent, if I'm too confusing, feel free to skip ahead to the pictures.

The drive there was breathtaking! I've never seen anything like it. Think glistening trees, not with snow, that's beautiful, but about an inch of ice on every trunk, branch, limb, twig, needle - it was eerie seeing the trees frozen still, looking rather wind blown on a sunny calm day, cracking under the weight of the ice.

On the mountain we enjoyed another strange view. From the top of the hill, you could see for miles, brown hills, and green grass.

With all this talk of ice, I'm sure you can imagine what the skiing was like. . .actually, it wasn't even that bad. Definitely the worst conditions I've ever skied in, and the coldest frozen lift I've ever ridden, but I only fell once, at the end of the day, I've been told it was quite graceful, and it didn't hurt, I was just laughing too hard to move.

I'm a bit timid on skis (something about flying down a hard icy slope at lightning speed frightens me. . .), so I was rather pleased that my more adventurous husband spent the whole day with me and didn't complain about how long it took us to get down the green circles;)

I recommend Jiminy if you're planning a ski trip, and it has to be in New England (come on, if you're planning a ski trip, you really should be headed to Utah!), they have yummy, spicy chicken chili, and the nicest ski rental owner or manager (since the ski shops don't carry the right sizes, that's right, real women sizes, and the shop didn't rent any, Steve, let me borrow a pair of his ski pants, on my honor to return them at the end of the day).

Also, since you're still here, I recommend short skis, so much easier to control, and when you feel out of control before you even get off the lift. . .it's reassuring to know you'll be able to get up after falling with much less struggle, and embarrassment.

First Snow

2008-12-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

I've been anxiously awaiting snow this year, for many reasons. The first reason I discovered in August, when we bought our inner tubes to float down the river one lazy afternoon (I used to call them inter tubes. . .pretty nonsensical, never been corrected. I only this year thought about it and realized what they actually are and it all makes sense). As we drifted ever so slowly, in the just slightly too chilly New England river, I realized that it was probably a once in a life time thing, and began thinking of things to do with our not so easily acquired inners ;) Tubing, not in a river, on a hill - can't wait - have to wait :( Our first snow of the season was a bit disappointing, it looked like about an inch this morning, it is all but gone as I'm writing this. At least I got to see my puppy play in the snow for the first time. . .

. . .and if I know New England, there will be plenty more snow, enough for snow sports, and tubing, and possibly a few snow days. . .and will likely last longer than my desire to have it around:)

In other news, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Made the mistake of introducing Hercules to the taste of turkey and he's becoming very curious about what's on our plates.

I got a fun new haircut - I highly recommend The Lift Salon in Easthampton, especially if you are blessed with curly hair (I've come a long way and realize that curly hair is a blessing, and not the curse I thought it was when I was in 8th grade).

The pumpkins are all but gone (a few went the way of highway 91;) and are soon to be replaced by Moose-ilini - as soon as Roger finishes the improvements:)

We picked out our beautiful Christmas tree - on the way home from the dog park in Granby, so Hercules got to help. And he got a lot of attention, as soon as we got out of the car there was a guy with his camera wanting to take pictures of him, the owner of the lot wanted to know everything about him (what breed, does he shed, temperament. . .Now I know what it feels like to work at a pet store, and the boys working at the lot were chasing him all around the trees and giving him branches to play with. . .Great, now he's got a taste of tree - no doubt he'll be sneaking into it the whole holiday.

The house smells so wonderful with fresh pine, and the ornament I won (fair and square, by stealing) at Jenn's Ornament Exchange looks perfectly at home on it's little branch.

And now I'd like to get serious for a moment. I've been thinking about this quote President Monson used in his conference address Finding Joy in the Journey, "Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily." We are in a very different place this holiday than last, better place in many many ways, but despite some of the trying times up to now everywhere we've lived so far we've been happy . . . Anyway, I'm just really thankful that God has brought us here now, and I'm really glad to have discovered this blogging thing so I can share the happy memories we're making now:)

The Great Pumpkin. . .

2008-11-12T16:08:00.000-08:00

. . .did not make it to our Halloween party, but those characters did (many of them from Batman) and most of his little gord friends did - so there were Pumpkin atrocities happening all over. . .

Hercules was a good boy and left the pumpkins alone until the day after the party. . .when he watched Roger and Benson slinging the ones that didn't survive into the road - this is when he decided he could pick them up and carry them down the stairs into the grass and start his own carving. Hercules recently learned to respond to the command "leave it" when he's messing with something he shouldn't, but he let's you know he's not happy about it. . .like the other day when told to "leave" a pumpkin he was eyeing (and teething) he very quickly turned and dropped it down the stairs before sheepishly scampering away.

The grand finale to our Happy Halloween this year was the house all done up on All Hallow's Eve, pumpkins in place, smoke billowing across the porch, lightning thundering (Roger rigged a sound organ to some flood lights to make very realistic thunder & lightning), and the best scarecrow ever - scared more trick-or-treaters than crows though.

Also pretty scarey - evil bumble bee dog ;)

Maybe not scarey, so much as, just not happy about the whole costume thing.

Mohawk Trail

2008-10-16T04:22:00.000-07:00

We took our annual 'look at the leaves' road trip last weekend. . .or rather, spontaneous look at the leaves while the weather is cooperating road trip. The first of it's kind consisted of driving from the south shore to New Hampshire and Vermont - it was an all day thing,and we found that the peak colors were closer to the south shore anyway, and leaves all look the same dark color in the moonlight :) Almost as brilliant as testing out your sepia setting on your camera while looking at color

This year was a complete success - warm, sunny, fall weather, beautiful colors all the way along the Mohawk trail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohawk_Trail), and a few fun adventures. In Shelburne Falls,MA there is a bridge of flowers - it's a truly hideous bridge, with pretty flowers - I'm sure it's better in the spring, right? But, alas, no dogs allowed, so we walked through the cute town center instead, and bumped into Marty and Scooter - Hercules was crazy happy to play with someone just like him - looks and temperament. Also discovered a new favorite site DoodleWorld, full of the cutest puppies and dogs - well, now that Hercules is included;)

After that pit stop we drove past a pumpkin stand with some of the ugliest pumpkins I've ever seen - and I said as much. . .then we found some great photo ops, a natural bridge in North Adams (?) and Pumpkin Fudge - (the Fudge guy said we'd be back for more - he was right! But this was only the second best find of the day. . .).

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We ended our day in a pumpkin patch. . .that's right, the one with the ugly pumpkins! Paul Hicks - the owner of the pumpkin stand, invited us to pick our own - apparently we seemed honest enough not sue him if we hurt ourselves;) Hercules had so much fun frolicking through the pumpkins, i had so much fun laughing at him, and we found some of the coolest, uniquely beautiful (because that's really what ugly means) pumpkins for our upcoming Halloween party. . .
No, my camera doesn't handle action shots very well - or some still shots for that matter - hopefully, you get the idea :)

Get in the newspaper for something good. . .

2008-10-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

I recently accomplished this one, In the Pioneer Valley Health insert in the Nothampton Gazette (We're talking big time!) The article isn't about me, per se, but it is my picture in the paper!

Senior Survey

2008-10-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

So recently my friend Michelle posted on her blog about a bad hair style decision (getting a perm), and I promised her that if she didn't post an after picture, I'd post one for her (it's actually more like one that would have stopped her before trying it. . .again).

While searching for this photo I also came across our Senior Survey. When I was in high school I had a great group of friends. . .no, really wonderful, such great examples, attitudes and we had a lot of good times. When we graduated we made up this survey, with the intention of 5-10 years later seeing who made correct predictions. . .

Senior Survey
This is a survey for all senior girls in our group. We will gather the answers and 5-10 years later, we could see who made correct predictions. It will be fun, so do it.

1. Who will get married the soonest?
2. Have the most kids?
3. Move out of the country? Out of the state (after college)?
4. Buy her own car? (And finish paying back the loan)
5. Have her first kid the earliest?
6. First to become rich? Richest?
7. Travel most?
8. Most pets?
9. First to own her own house?
10. First to have a profession?
11. Get on a newspaper for something great?
12. Get on a newspaper for something bad?
13. Go on her mission?
14. Become famous? Get to be on the big screen?
15. Meet Steve Young or John Stockton?

We were right about at least one of our predictions, it is fun, it makes me laugh to think about where we were like then and how much we have grown into, and accomplished, and yet to do in life.

Tag-nabit

2008-10-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged, not sure I like being it, so I'll answer quickly. (Some of you may have noticed I haven't posted much in the last few months - but I am determined to keep this blog alive, so thanks for the jumpstart Jenn;)

Rules of the tag: go into your picture file, choose 4th file, open it, choose 4th picture, post it and explain it, tag 4 people.

Problems with the tag - unorganized picture files, most not in the picture file. . .so this is probably the 4th of the 4th of the 4th;)This picture is mostly about fashion - or its opposite, what not to wear. Note the large man,(probably inebriated man) in the horizontal stripes;) This was taken at Fenway after the first Red Sox game we went to together (well, sort of together).

Roger is pretty proud of this story, me not so much - it ended well anyway. This was Mormon night at fenway, it was a couple weeks after we'd met, but we each purchased tickets in advance, so he already committed to taking another date. . .so I went with my friend and the Bulgarians, and he went with his "date" :( After the game (and after he escorted his "date" to the train and being chased by the security because there is no re-admittance into fenway, unless you jump the turn stile and run) we met up and walked around downtown boston (I miss doing that, such a fun city) . . . Okay,since I told a semi-embarrassing story about being on a date with Roger who was also on a date with another girl. . .it's only fair that I share another potentially embarrassing photo from our walk around copley square. . .go turtle go!

Tag you're it:
Linds
Krif
Michelle
and Becky

Stink Eye

2008-08-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Be careful what you wish for. . .or rather. . .joke about. Tonight we were sitting on the couch laughing about Hercules' stupid, groggy stare with the one squinty eye (by stupid, I mean adorable), and wondering why he is always giving us the "stink eye". So, seeing our enjoyment with the fictional stink eye, God decided we'd be even more delighted with the real thing. During his nightly constitution, Hercules was investigating the empty dog house in the backyard, when he was assaulted by its new inhabitant, Pepe Le Pew! Everything now reeks of that unique odor - and we found out that Hercules' would make a pretty cute red-head.
After a couple cycles of tomato, rinse, repeat . . . always repeat . . . he's rockin' the pinkish highlights;) And thanks to peroxide,baking soda,and soap . . . To me he doth not stink . . . just wish I could say the same for the house

If you are wondering why it's been so long since my last post, it has nothing to do with being busy...it's more like traumatized...I came home from work a week (or was it two?) ago to a creature I didn't recognize - he had big brown eyes and considerably less hair! Roger decided to give Hercules' his summer hair cut. As promised, it is growing back - it was a bit of a shock, a sad, sad shock. . .but I must admit, it's nice to be able to see his big brown eyes;)

Good idea, Bad idea. . .

2008-08-02T07:47:00.000-07:00

One of my all time favorite cartoons as a kid (okay, teenager. . .adult?) was Animaniacs. They used to have a segment called "Good idea, Bad idea"

Here's my addition to the list

Good idea - Teaching your dog to ring a bell when he needs to go outside.

Bad idea - Teaching your puppy to ring a bell when he WANTS to go outside.

Doggie Paddling

2008-07-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

We went swimming in the Connecticut River this weekend. . .all three of us this time. Roger and I went a few weeks ago - Hercules, being a puppy (and big old chicken) pretty much refused to get in - so aside from the few times Roger picked him up and plopped him in the frigid water he anxiously ran along the shore jumping and barking at us.

This time he found some hidden courage and waded in all by himself. Well, right behind us.

Perhaps it was all the other 'older' dogs hanging around - he didn't want to embarrass himself. . .either way, we were pretty proud of him;) In fact I was pretty proud of myself - mucky water, and too many History Channel specials on Lake Monsters almost got the better of me.

Herc-toria's Secret

2008-07-09T17:50:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days I've been substitute dentisting in Springfield, it's a much busier office than my Holey Molar Holyoke office, but they've been open a few years longer. Anyway, I've been coming home pretty exhausted after working there and a bit moody from the longer than normal commute. So, when Roger greeted me with, "Don't be mad, but. . ." I was ready to snap (beginning with , who are you calling butt?). . .until he finished with "the dog was kind of stinky, so I sprayed him with a little bit of your perfume. Okay, a lot, doesn't he smell good? I really like that scent." Hilarious. I was tickled by this, mostly because I needed to laugh, or cry, but also it struck me as a nice, albeit strange compliment. Normally, he says things like," I prefer you without make-up or perfume." So for him to admit he likes my perfume, it's kind of nice. Even if it's because it's just a step above stinky dog ;)

Fluffy

2008-07-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hercules had his first real bath after we had him for 10 days. .. it’s not because we’re neglectful, he had a small hernia operation before we brought him home and he had resorbable stitches.

We gave him sponge baths (by "we" I mean Roger of course – thank you sweetie), which he seemed relaxed enough during. Seems he doesn’t approve of the bath by immersion concept. Since the experience he’s developed a bit of animosity for Roger. Which I secretly (not so secretly) enjoy.
I thought our puppy was soft before,
but maybe Roger threw in some fabric softener just for kicks, because now he is luxuriously soft and dare I say, Fluffy. . .which in my brain is, unfortunately, synonymous with chubby (and all of it's synonyms).
As a child I was told I should tell others,

“I’m not fat, I’m fluffy. . .”

If my current weight loss regimen doesn't work,

I may need to resurrect this defense. . .

Puppyness. . .and suicidal squirrels

2008-06-24T04:24:00.000-07:00

Roger and I have been "in the market" for a puppy for a while now - probably since we met. Since our move in January, to a place with a decent back yard, we've been obsessively visiting the local pet stores. Two weeks ago our hard work paid off ('cuz staring at, and playing with adorable attention starved creatures is hard work. . .well, leaving them at the store is!), we found our little (not so little) doodle, Hercules. He's a Goldendoodle (mutt), and he's like the best pet ever. He's ggot the softest non-shedding curly blonde hair ever and a playful-without-being-hyper-and-yappy temperament. He's three months old, and a bit afraid of stairs - which just makes him all the more adorable. It might seem cruel, but I just laugh and laugh watching him stumble up and down the stairs (he's getting a little better with practice).

The topic of cruelty to animals reminds me of another thing that made me laugh hysterically. One afternoon I was on meter maid duty while Roger and several elders helped a sister in our ward move - it was a nice day and a beautidul neighborhood, so I was enjoying the moment outside (not lifiting heavy objects up and down steep stairways) when all of a sudden I see a squirrel plummeting out of a tree right before me. He landed in the middle of the street with a thump. He (yes that was definitely a male maneuver) laid there for a full minute, then stumbled up, shook it off and ran back up the tree to sit in a much lower branch. Roger came out to see me laughing uncontrollably, and I think that was his first clue that I might not be quite as compassionate as he thought. In my defense, I didn't push the squirrel out of the tree; it was just sheer luck! It was more the randomness that caught me. . .like this thought. . .and now you know all about my dark sense of humor;)

Anyway, I don't like to see my puppy get hurt, and he frequently bumps his head on our knees, or runs too fast around the butcher block in the kitchen and skids into the fridge, or jumps off loading docks that are taller than his leash is long. I hurts my heart more than his head. . .but I am easily entertained watching his slightly awkward puppy movement. Just look at that face, with that big black nose, floppy ears, and soft eyes - how can you not adore him!?!

Nieca the Stalker

2008-06-19T17:06:00.000-07:00

I had a reputation in high school for being a stalker and psycho killer, something involving a freezer and maybe a clever. . .or something like that . . . I can't remember exactly how it started - maybe Julie does, she was after all my arch-rival of sorts;) (I know we calle a truce years ago, but sometimes when I hear a strange noise at night or have that creep feeling of being followed, I can't help but be reminded of her. . .and a little suspicious).

Recently, I discovered the blogs of a few of my great friends from high school (some of them willingly gave me the address. . .Kristen, what were you thinking? The rest of you have google and boredom to thank). The glimpse into their current lives has proved to be more of a temtation than I can fight, the stalker in me is back! I check in daily (sometimes more, even if it's five times a day I'm only going to admit to daily). I can only handle being a stalker for so long, today it escalated to harrassment. So, I guess this is a warning for Julie to watch out! Everyone else, consider it a sincere compliment - I miss you and it's really wonderful to see you and your families grow, and feel almost a part of your lives again, not so much like I'm on a whole different planet - kinda like being in high school again, only wicked better ;) I think it's the next best thing to a visit, which several of you still owe me - you know who you are!