Found…

Young male blue Doberman.  Found 1.5.10 in West Carrollton, Ohio.

Where are my people?

 Call or email with description to claim.

~

P.S. While I’m absolutely 100% sure that this little guy’s people are out there looking for him, and I promised myself I wouldn’t, I’ve fallen in love.  He is absolutely without a doubt the dopiest dog I’ve ever seen!

January Goals

2010 brings a new format to my goal-making.  My priority for the next few months is our House Project List.  So, for the next few months my goals will be 80% home improvement, 10% 101 in 1001, and 10% other.

~

1. Find and buy a dress I can wear in the winter. (#42)

2. Read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

3. Apply KILZ paint primer to stains on dining room, guest bedroom, office, and living room walls.

4. Paint downstairs ceilings & office ceiling (white semi-gloss).

5. Clean grout around bathtub.

6. Re-seal grout around bathtub.

7. Paint upstairs ceiling repair.

8. Move old water softener, hot water heater, and dryer out of basement & discard.

9. Purchase and install blinds on front door.

10. Look for a new refrigerator.

‘The Plan’ for The First Half of 2010

For us, the first half of 2010 is going to be all about house projects.  Mucho house projects!

The plan, thus far:

Install 8 new windows upstairs

Install railing in stairway

Install new basement accordion door

Install light fixtures (3) upstairs

Install blinds on front door

Install blinds on upstairs windows (after new windows are installed)

Replace a couple of boards around the barn

Install drywall over left corner of fireplace

Tile back porch

Install smoke detectors

Install cover plates on all outlets & switches

 ~

Apply KILZ paint primer to stains on dining room, guest bedroom, and living room walls

Paint dining room, living room, guest bedroom, office (beige flat)

Paint downstairs ceilings & office ceiling (white semi-gloss)

Paint upstairs window frames white (after new windows are installed)

Paint back porch

Paint over nail holes

~ 

Caulk behind kitchen counter, cracks above fireplace, and in bathroom

Fix/replace baseboard in bathroom

Fix chair rail in bathroom

Clean grout around bathtub (use Zout or….?)

Re-seal grout around bathtub

Re-caulk around bathtub

Fix kitchen ceiling

Paint upstairs ceiling repair

Fix loose bricks on chimney

Burn brush pile @ manure pile

Move dirt pile & sand pile

Move old water softener, hot water heater, and dryer out of basement & discard

Winterize garden and side bed

De-clutter office & basement

Lime-Away bathroom fixtures

Clean up gardens

~

Clean up loose carpet threads in living room, guest bedroom, and dining room

Clean and polish upstairs wood floors

Replace burner pans on stove

Complete edge stones around front bed

Add mulch in front bed

Power wash siding

Suspend® basement in spring

 

Let the mess–err, fun–begin!

December Goals: Recap

As expected, the total number of days in December, measured in “actual time”, was 15.  Yes, I swear to you, December is half as long as other months.  The good news is that January and February generally run about 35 and 40 days, respectively.

~

1. Finish knitting project before Christmas.  Partially - I worked on it and now have until next weekend to finish.

2. Winterize my garden and flower beds.  Partially – They’re cleaned up, but the ground froze before I could completely winterize everything.  I’m just waiting for a thaw so I can finish up. 

3. Complete 5 items on our home improvement “to do” list.  Done – We de-cluttered our office and basement (a huge project, really), cleaned bathroom fixtures, painted over nail holes, installed clover plates on outlets/switches, and installed smoke detectors.

4. Finish reading Dune.  Not happening – I just can’t get into this book, which frustrates me because I really, really wanted to like it.

5. Move more sand into the arena.  No – due to the aforementioned frozen ground.  Stupid Ohio winters! 

6. Give blood.  Done – First week in December. 

7. Write and send Christmas letters & Christmas cards.  Done – Sort of.  I ended up consolidating this into an e-letter.

8. Make cool, fun, interesting plans for New Year’s Eve…and send 2009 out in style!  Partially – We made fun plans to hang out with friends, but ended up getting lazy and staying home on the couch instead.  Which, by the way, I was totally OK with.

9. Come up with a super cool, super unique New Year’s resolution.  Done – Although I didn’t come up with anything super unique.

Twenty-Ten

In 2010 I resolve to:

~Apply to graduate school(s) or take pre-req classes in preparation for applying to grad school.

~Paint my downstairs.

~Attend continuing education seminar(s).

~Read lots of good books.

~Go on vacation to Bald Head Island, NC.

~Visit Jenn in Chicago.

~Lose 15 lbs.

~Become more organized about holidays and birthdays, including mailing or emailing all birthday cards on time or early and planning holiday itineraries at least 6 weeks in advance.

A Decade Ago…

On December 31st, 1999, I was:

~16 years old and a junior at Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio

~5′10″ and 115 lbs.

~Suffering from a bad haircut

~The biggest klutz you ever met

~Taller than all the girls and 90% of the boys at my school

~Trying to adjust to wearing glasses

~Not allowed to wear makeup or shorts…though it didn’t mean I never did!

~Getting my driver’s license

~On our high school newspaper staff and track team

~Very religous and preparing to join the Catholic Church

~Probably trying too hard…at just about everything

~An admitted brown noser/teacher’s pet

~Absolutely certain that my best friend and I would be besties forever

~Flying for the first time…and flew home from NC in a hurricane

~Spending plenty of time daydreaming about my first kiss, which had yet to happen (and wouldn’t for another 2 years)

~Only slightly worried about Y2K

~

What were YOU doing 10 years ago?

Best Christmas Present Ever

I got this:

Bald Head Island, NC

(OK, so I didn’t get the island for Christmas, just an amazing vacation there in August.)

Holiday Letter

One of my goals for this month and my 101 in 1001 was to write a Christmas Letter.  It’s done (yes, it’s late–it’s going out as an e-letter this year), so here it is:

Happy New Year from Our House to Yours!

Dear Family & Friends,

We hope this finds you in the best of health and enjoying the holiday season!  As we look forward to the New Year and reflect on 2009, we thought it would be nice to let friends and family know what’s been going on in our world. 

On May 19^th, we celebrated our 2^nd wedding anniversary by visiting The Wilds, a 10,000 acre wildlife conservation center in Cumberland, Ohio.  Besides that it was FREEZING COLD and—of course—we chose the open air tour bus to see the animals better, we had a great time.  In August, we spent a week on Bald Head Island, NC with Tim’s parents, brother, and sister-in-law.  It was an absolute blast (despite the millions—literally—of stinging jellyfish) and we dream about a repeat trip.  On our way home from NC, we took a detour through Richmond, VA to visit a long lost friend of Alverna’s.  It was a VERY happy reunion and the guys got acquainted in the way grown men prefer: playing video games.     

Tim has become quite the handyman this year.  He replaced our hot water heater after our old one went kaput in the middle of the winter (brrr!) and, at the same time, he installed the almost brand new, high end water softener system we were generously gifted with.  The combination of the two new systems has made a huge difference in our ultra-hard well water situation.  Tim also built a new door for our chicken house, built porch steps, and installed a tile floor in our formerly carpeted kitchen.  (Seriously, who carpets a kitchen!?)  He also worked on his golf game, but unfortunately the weather prevented him from showing off his mad skills at the Bugh Family Reunion.  Instead, we mingled with the rest of the family on the Inn’s porch and generally goofed off.

Alverna has now been working at Twin Maples Veterinary Hospital as a veterinary assistant for a year.  Although it doesn’t offer her a career path, she enjoys the work and the people, feels blessed to have a job during these tough economic times, and LOVES the shorter commute.  Alverna’s also been trying to keep up a regular reading habit, and in the process has been bitten by the Twilight bug.  (Well, she IS in the over 25 demographic after all.)  Other books she’s found especially enjoyable this year are The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan (in fact, she still can’t stop talking about it) and the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris.  Alverna also keeps a blog (www.AlvernaH.wordpress.com), which keeps her writing, if on an admittedly irregular basis.  

Life on the farm continues.  The horses are ornery as ever and the dogs love their yard just as much as always.  Karli (the Border collie mutt) managed to get her paws on a squirrel.  We’re still not sure if she caught it herself or found it already dead.  Of course, she’s convinced that she caught it herself and is about to catch another at any moment.  Kori (the Pembroke Welsh Corgi) has decided that our new horse farm neighbors across the street have four-legged aliens which must be watched (and barked at) at all times.  In June, our meager flock of 3 hens was joined by a brood of baby chicks which arrived in the mail all the way from Webster City, Iowa.  The “baby” hens are now laying eggs along with the “big” girls, which means we collect upwards of 6 eggs a day.  (Anyone need some eggs!?)  Tim was instrumental in the garden expansion project we undertook this year.  We were able to enjoy fresh fruits & veggies for most of the summer and are fortunate enough to have some veggies in the freezer to eat over the winter.  The highlight of our garden was our first watermelon EVER!  Tim waited SO long for it to ripen, but it was worth the wait. 

Basically, life is very, very good.  As we look ahead to 2010, we wish you a healthy and prosperous New Year!

Happy Holidays,

Alverna & Tim

Thursday’s Thoughts

Today I soaked a kitty’s sore paw at work.  As I was doing so, said kitty looked at me with the most disgusted, incredulous, pitiful expression. 

His eyes screamed, “Hey, IDIOT, don’t you know that felines DON’T DO WATER!?!?  This stuff is wet and icky and everything that I spend my life avoiding.  You are a horrible person.” at me. 

I felt really bad…until he started doing back flips while attempting to snag me with his back talons.

~

Also, I had an awful, horrible migraine today.  I wanted to curl up in a ball and wake up in next week. 

What did I do?  Clocked in at 7:30am, clocked out at 7:21pm. 

Some days it would be nice to be weak. 

~

In other news, I’m officially at the beginning of a four-day weekend.  Heck yeah!

Oh happy happy Monday

Apparently this is not my week.  All my klutziness, all my aches and pains, all my pre-holiday grouchiness…they’re coming out to play this week.   And by ”this week”, I mean Saturday, Sunday, and Monday=the week thus far. 

Have I ever mentioned that I’m a born klutz?  Yeah, it seems to be coming out with a vengeance this week.  Let’s see…for example, on Saturday I was in Victoria’s Secret doing a little Christmas shopping.  I opened (OPENED, not squeezed) a bottle of lotion…and the next thing I knew, my (black)  pea coat was covered in (white) lotion.  All over the whole front of my coat. 

Then, at dinner, I somehow managed to knock the “Parmesan Cheese” sign INTO the parmesan cheese at the salad bar.  Smooth, let me tell you.

Yesterday, I scraped half my pinky knuckle off…in the chicken house, no less.  I mean, I keep my chicken house in a cleanly manner and all…but, they’re still birds.  And birds are not cleanly.  Today, my pinky is most unhappy with me.

Today–Monday, which should be my day off, but instead I worked 7:30am-7:30pm for a coworker who is in Vegas–I dumped an entire surgical pack on the floor.  Guess what?  The sound of steel instruments clattering to the floor is pretty hard to hide.  Ugh.

End rant.