It's cheaper than new knees

We ordered Lil' Jon a pet ramp so he could access our high bed. He likes to lay up there and he jumps to get on and off, which isn't good for his knees. Sometimes he'll let us help him, but not typically. So we shopped around and finally decided on this ramp.

It's easier than keeping him off the bed and even though it's expensive, it's still cheaper and less painful than surgery. It seems pretty sturdy and it's customized with the wood and carpet color of our choice, but it takes FOREVER to get it in the mail.

Lil' Jon turned 3-years-old this past February so he's still young, but the ramp will continue to keep him healthy. Hopefully he'll use it. Our plan is to line it with treats the first few times to encourage him to walk up and down it to get on the bed.

Not exactly a Farmer's Market

We were up and out of the house by 10 a.m. this morning -- no small feat when you consider we didn't get up until 8 a.m., then I had to blow dry my hair and get Lauren ready. We aren't usually out of the house until lunch time on weekends.

However, today we were headed to "Market Days on Broadway" a farmer's market, which sets up in downtown Columbus each Saturday during the summer. We had never been and when I saw it in the paper I thought it might be fun. So we were off.

Let's just say it was NOT what I expected. It was only one block, and it was mostly homemade baked goods and trinkets -- not the fruits and veggies I was hoping for. Bummer.

So since we were already planning to have grilled chicken salads for dinner, our next stop was the produce section of Walmart. Not quite the same as homegrown, but at least they had plenty to choose from.

We did find a cute shop called Brothers' General Store while we were downtown. They make their own fudge and ice cream and they sell all kinds of unique items. It kinda reminded me of a Cracker Barrel gift shop. So we bought some chocolate/peanut butter fudge, which we'll enjoy tonight after our Walmart salads. It looks just like the fudge factory fudge so we'll see.

Finally!

I finally figured out how to send e-mail notifications to let people know when I've updated this Web page. If you would like to unsubscribe just let me know, but keep in mind that we are fabulously interesting people so think about what you might be missing before you make any hasty decisions.

Okay, now I'm going to bed...see, how else would you know I was going to bed unless you were subscribed to my blog??

'night!

Sorry it's been so long

Well we're home from the beach after 16 wonderful days of awesome weather in Florida. We got back into town late last Friday, so late in fact that we didn't even unpack. We came in and went to sleep. We have to travel at night now if we are going to be in the car longer than 2 hours because Lauren won't tolerate it any longer. So, like vampires and the military, we travel under the cover of darkness. She will however, watch a Baby Einstein DVD for a little while so we listened to "Day on the Farm" set on a repeat loop for a good hour or so. At least Lauren entertained us a little by singing along with the "Farmer in the Dell." She likes the "E-I-E-I-O" part, but she sings "E-I-E-I-E-I" -- it's too cute.

We came back Friday even though the water was crystal clear because we knew we'd need the weekend to organize and recuperate before we headed back to work on Monday. It's a good thing too because we needed it. Saturday Patrick cut the grass and Lauren and I caught up on all of the "So You Think You Can Dance" episodes that were recorded on the DVR while we were gone. Have I mentioned this is the best show ever???

Tomorrow is Friday, which means I've survived my first week back to work since the vacation and boy, has it been a long week! Since I'm the only speechwriter in the office they tend to back up while I'm away, even though I told everyone I would be gone the whole first half of July. That apparently didn't stop the 60ish e-mails I found in my in-box Monday morning, many of which requesting speeches in the not so distant future.

I've been avoiding updating this blog since I got home because I spend all day at my computer at work and I didn't want to spend time on it at night. However, I felt like it was time for an update. However, it is Thursday night, which means it's vote off night on "So You Think You Can Dance" so I must keep this brief. They're down to eight dancers and all are awesome so I'm not sure who's going home tonight, but before I go I must post pictures of Lauren's newest trick...

Yes, that would be my daughter climbing on the coffee table.

And yes, that would be her finding new ways to torment my poor candle. AAAGGGHHH!

Sand and dogs and lobsters OH MY!

We're on day three of our vacation and we're having a blast. Lauren isn't too sure about the waves on the beach but she loves the sand...it's delicious. She likes to play for awhile then take a nap in her tent.

After a day at the beach we spent last night at the dog track -- very classy I know. We left Lauren at home with mom and dad and we were off to the races. We didn't win, but we had fun. Overall I spent $22 and I won $2.80 so I came home in the red. Patrick spent $22 and he won $8.60.

The best part of the night was the "you catch 'em, we cook 'em Lobster tank. It was one of those toy claw machines, but with live lobsters. Of course we had to try it.

Here are a few more shots from our evening of gambling...

Even though we didn't win we had fun. Today we're hitting the pool and then going out to dinner.

Almost Beach Time!

I didn't get to post last night because I was packing for the trip. I've just about got everything packed or at least in neat piles throughout the house ready to be packed. Today I'll get off work around 3:30 p.m., pick up Lauren, feed and bathe her while Patrick loads the car, eat a sandwich and get on the road. We plan to leave about 6 p.m. so Lauren will sleep. During the daytime she can handle a two to three hour trip, but longer car rides need to be taken at night.

There is NOTHING going on at work today, which is why I have time to post this blog. Today is a training holiday for the Soldiers so the building is quiet and there was ample parking this morning. They usually let us civilians off early on training holidays so it's an easy day to work and it saves my vacation time, especially since we have to leave under the cover of darkness anyway.

So here I sit. Bored as hell. Thursdays are usually pretty busy because on top of our day-to-day activities, everyone in the office proofs the Fort Benning newspaper for errors and typos before it goes to press. It come out every Friday so Thursdays are deadline days. However, I was done reading at 10 a.m. this morning. Urgh! Is it lunchtime yet???

A Trip Through Time and Patrick's Bday

My day started bright and early at the 50th anniversary celebration of Fort Benning's Martin Army Community Hospital. I wrote the general's speech, so I went to go see what parts he used. He used most of it so the day started off well. I then spent the rest of the day going through the PAO archives.

Our building is about to get a much needed renovation so we'll be moving our office soon and we need to get rid of anything we can that way we don't have to move it. One of the first things to go is old files so that's what I did all day. It was fun! Every morning someone in our office goes through the paper and clips out all Fort Benning stories to keep on file. Well our filing cabinets date back 10 years so it was time to purge the unnecessary files.

I kept anything having to do with non-combat related deaths because we may get media inquiries about them in the future. I also kept "historic" stuff, such as the first few news reports from 2005 when the decision to move the Armor School from Fort Knox to Fort Benning was made. Finally, I kept things I may need for my speech files. Other than that, it all got tossed. I got through one filing cabinet and the recycle bin, which was empty, is now more than half full and I still have three cabinets to go.

Tomorrow is Patrick's birthday and since we'll be leaving Thursday night I decided to go ahead and get him a cake tonight. Instead of the traditional "Patrick ice cream birthday cake" I went with a cookie cake this year. I got him a funny card and Lauren made him one of her own -- complete with coordinating envelope. He got his present a few months ago, his laptop and we'll go out to dinner at the beach to celebrate, so in essence, his birthday will last a week.