Collins and the onion...

Since we have a home, we're really trying to make use of the yard we so deeply desired to have when we purchased it. This year we're doing a vegetable garden. and fingers crossed; I'll let you know how it goes. Along with the garden we have started a compost. The husband built me a handy compost bin and he's very proud of himself. I am too.

In the kitchen I have a small glass bowl off to the side and that is where we keep our kitchen compost material. Its pretty cool to see the salad you just didn't eat in time and the bags from your morning tea to be "recycled" instead of going into the scented plastic trash bag and into a landfill. So every day or so I take the bowl of asparagus ends, avocado skin, paper towels, tea bags, egg shells, etc. out to my neat little compost bin that I know won't provide the "Black Gold" soil its is so famous for... for another year to 18 months. Black Gold is worth the wait, especially for vegetable gardens.


Today I was taking the bowl out and it was windy. A paper towel and a large piece of onion skin flew from the bowl. I put the bowl ontop of the compost bin and turned to get the lost compost material. Where the hell was it? It was in my dog Collins' mouth of course. Everything droped, left, or even in your hand, he thinks is his. I quickly called him over and grabbed the onion and paper from his mouth because he can't eat that! Dogs are not supposed to eat onions!

Off to run errands we went after stopping at the corner of 32nd and Zuni at Gallop Cafe for lunch/fuel for the standard weekend supply run. After a tasty lunch, we get back in the car and give the pup a little biscuit from the jar they keep inside. Holy Shit Collins! What happened to your FACE?!

Collins met an onion....

He could have been stung by a bee? A spider bite? But really...? The Onion? Geoffrey and I assume the onion is to blame but wow, he's looking pretty puffy around his nose and the saggy cheek skin that dogs have. Gross material to begin with but when its blown up with inflammation, its even worse! Have you ever seen hitch? That was Collins today but in dog version. Poor puppy!

Then we were on a mission. Call the vet, vet closed, talk to emergency pet service people, learn a visit is $100 to start, decide we need benadryl, find and purchase benadryl, find and purchase treats to administer said benadryl, hope this works! Poor puppy!

Cheers

Today. Yep.

Husband and I at Billy's Inn after a long day...

Live what you love

Spring from the drivers seat ~ taken yesterday

I've carried the saying One Love. One Life. around in my pocket for many years now. At least 10 years. My sister got this tattooed on her writsts in Tibeten and I felt totally robbed when I found out! Funny how we think we can coin things as our own, when really if we love it so much, then share the love!

I found this website and encourage you to click around, take a peak, I love the saying most of all so I'm going to make a print out of it for one of my walls, like the one below. This is what "one love, one life" means to me, it means to live what you love, appreciate the journey, and don't take this life for granted!

Live what you love 

Bob and Melinda Blanchard are bestselling authors and successful entrepreneurs who are passionately committed to a simple but profound belief: We are all entitled to live a life we love... They say "it all began when we decided to follow our dreams and live what we love" & "Little threads make big patterns." & "If you want it, make it." & "Trust it or adjust it."

Doesn't it annoy you when people make it sound that simple? It annoys me because it really is that simple yet there always seems to be something in the way, or something you've got to "take care of" or wait for or worry about before just diving right in and following your dreams and doing ALL the things that truly make you happy, the things you just LOVE. I feel like I'm teetering on the cusp of some discovery. I've had this feeling before and have followed my instincts and the outcome was beautiful! Even the baby steps count so take some now and then be proud of yourself for doing so because the best thing about all of this is;

you can start, where you are!

DINKS!

Easter is right around the corner and I want to do something new this year. Geoffrey and I have had different but fun holidays together, meaning with just him and I, we can make it as exciting or simple or off the wall as we want. We don't have any family in the state or within several states of us in fact. So what shall these DINKs (dual income no kids) do for our first Easter as a married couple?

Let me think... what did we do last year for Easter? AH, yes, I had my bachelorette party that weekend and my sister was in town! (I actually had to search my gmail for "Easter", I honestly couldn't remember) We went to the Keystone Lodge and Spa for massages on Easter Sunday. That was a crazy weekend and definately not the traditional Easter! If any of you fellow DINKs or DEWKs (dually employeed with kids) have suggestions of something to do this Easter Sunday, please leave some suggestions!

The year before that, the (then) fiancé and I took a picnic to Cheeseman park. Being from Florida I MUST, MUST, MUST wear a dress on Easter Sunday. It's just not right otherwise! So that year I wore my dress... as well as a scarf.... and hat... and jeans under my dress. Most likely I looked like a bag lady instead of a sunny Easter Sunday girl but I DID wear my dress! I win Colorado! And so it goes this year as well, I'm sure :)

So on the topic of DINKs, I'm not sure why people think that DINKs are so much more well off. I mean, dual income no kids does sound pretty simple but the truth of the matter is we're probably trying to be more responsible now that ever before. Paying off debt, saving up money, skimping on weekly groceries and cutting back on daily bottles wine in order to go out to dinner sometimes or pay a vet bill, using our "spare" spending money to fix up the house. All at the same time, of course. DINKS are often the target of marketing efforts for luxury items such as expensive cars and vacations and boy do I resent that... We share one car, good ole CoCo (an 04 Toyota corolla with a big dent and newly cracked windshield) and the only "expensive" vacation we've taken was our honeymoon... in Mexico.
I'm ready to give up my DINK status but not to convert to DEWK status. How about MSAHDW? Mommy stays at home, daddy works! Sounds good to me and what's so wrong with the good ole days anyway?

I found this excerpt from an article that explains a little more what I'm saying.

~done being DINKS~

The Newlywed Nine?...

Happy Monday! Geoffrey and I have been married for 9 months today! Every 22nd is something special for us, even if the husband laughs about it at first. (I celebrate all kinds of things: our monthly anniversaries, as well as the anniversary of our first date, as well as our ACTUAL anniversary... so he laughs) We're saving money so we don't have much extra for spending but I think I can scrounge up some funds for a dinner out tonight. Where shall we go? I say sushi (of course) or maybe Billy's Inn for some fish tacos? Yes, that might work nicely and would be appropriate since we went to Mexico for our honeymoon. Tequilla!

Now onto this newlywed nine topic. I never did experience the "freshman 15" in college but as I sit here and reflect on the past 9 months of our new marriage, the haunting fact that I have experienced the "newlywed 9" is prevalant. I didn't try to lose much weight for the wedding, just to tone up and look healthy, and most of all, look like MYSELF on my wedding day (not some overly stressed and dieted unrealistic version of my daily self). That being said, I definitely didn't expect to get all squishy after the wedding was over either. I started cooking more, winter came, blah blah, and I felt blah blah. So on this anniversary of being married for 9 months, I am thankful for my new husband, the end of winter, welcoming spring, and am committed to getting this newlywed 9 to leave once and for all! So maybe a nice couples yoga session before dinner tonight :)

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away. ~Dinah Craik

Sundays

It might not be the beachy, rum filled days at reggae Sunday, but its still reggae in our own way. Denver stylie. Today we woke and went for a nice long walk to the park with the lake. We're still not sure of the name. Either Rocky Mountain Lake Park or the park by Lakeside or Berkley park, the locals in our area seem to call the string of those few parks by the same name and none of us know which is which.

Collins is almost 8 months old. He's a pill. He's about 42 pounds and can easily knock me off balance if he decides to give me a good tug, either to chase geese, eat goose poop, or chase small screaming children. Geoffrey can strong arm him better than I, but he's no less stressed by our English Springer Spaniel and his unbounding enthusiasm. One day, we hope and pray, he will be older and more tired.  :) Or maybe this is just GREAT practice for bebes!

With a springer puppy, there is no real stress free time. They are really awesome dogs but have a quirky high energy level so from day to day it is hard to tell what will "work" to give him what he needs. Some days he sleeps. Some days he freaks. Every day he gets a good hike , has a full back yard and doggie door at his dispense, has several things to tug and squeak, and happily chews through a rawhide treat. We met a dude named Joel at our park across the street, who had a 2 1/2 year old springer, a girl named "Tally Ho" or something. We threw the ball and Frisbee with our two crazy dogs and each time, Tally would kill it, beating Collins to the ball. He was busy watching her go, I think... just like his dad.


After all that "fun" we decided to put Collins in his kennel and go to BRUNCH. If you don't know us well, here's a hint, we love Sunday brunch! There are some killer restaurants in our area that do a beautiful brunch as well as bottomless mimosas. I got crab cakes eggs benedict, eggs poached hard (muy importante) and this is the first time I will tell you but not the last, that I love hot sauce! A product of my pops and St. Augustine dattle peppers, undoubtedly. SUNDAY FUNDAY! Like I said, not reggae Sunday on a floating dock in Florida, but we soak up the sun in Colorado where mimosas flow like H2O and every little thing, it gonna be ahright!


We sit down and I happen to notice how or table looks different than the others. Geoffrey notices as well. The husband sees me and quickly grabs the flowers from the table next to us, competing our pretty brunch setting. He does this with candles as well, because he knows how much the little things mean to me. He would probably phrase it more like "particular" but that is ok. I may be a little particular but in a lovely way :)

Encouraging Spring

The thing about blogging for me, so far, is that I think I over think. Yes, I do think so. This blog is different though, I don't care who reads it or if I have some typos. I'm creating a space where I can put some ideas down and a place to tinker with thoughts.


I began following the blog NieNie Dialogues. Her story is simply amazing. Google it. Stephanie inspires me to say the least and I think many of us followers are being a little more thoughtful, a little more grateful, and contemplative. 


So here I sit, encouraging growth and spring. Winters take it out of me and each year I give myself a big pat on the back for every February I survive. February is one of the hardest months for me living in Denver. Two months after Christmas and the holidays but still two more months before any real promise of warmth returning.


March is then like a slow awakening from a hibernation that instead of living you rested, has left you restLESS and achy. And so I buy seeds. Bird seeds, garden seeds. And then I plant them and spread them and try to sow them. I filled the empty bird feeder and Collins thinks the seeds are for him. Weird dog. 


The wooden feeder looks aged and dry from hanging in the barren tree and being blasted by snow, then sun, then snow, then sun all winter. It takes the birds a little while to find it. In fact, the first time I hung it they didn't come for two weeks! The husband saw me and my pouty face and thinks to throw a few handfuls of seeds onto the roof of the garage. The birds heard them and my yard was full in two hours with happy, round, and fat little birdies :)  I smile and thank him.