It has been forever

I know it has been forever since I last updated (a whole month! How did that happen?)

Well, much has been happening here!

1. We had a fantastic time in Vegas. We played the slots, went to a show, walked the strip, ate some amazing food and did some major shopping. I felt like we did a bit of everything worth doing in Vegas. Of course, the best part was hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law. It is so hard to get time with just them when the whole clan gets together for holidays. OR maybe the best part was winning my money back on the slots. It is quite a rush to hit a bonus that earns you back all $40 you had spent. Too, too fun!

2. My dog has recently tried to kill me twice and then she attempted suicide. Four days ago, I came home and she was already outside in the backyard. In her excitment to see me she got her paw tangled in the school keys hanging around my neck. She bellowed at me and as she tried to pull away she took me to the ground. My knees got bruised and scraped and I'm all achy. The very next day, the stupid dog did it again. She took me down and my sore knees got another beating. The following day, she moved from attempted murder to attempted suicide. It was 11:30 at night and I'm thinking of going to bed when I watched the dog stick her head into an open cupboard and eat something. It took me about 15 seconds to realize that what she ate was a brick of mouse poison. I called the emergency vet and they said I should bring her in. So by 11:40, the dog and I were in the car heading to the vet. She was thrilled and I muttered a lot. We were there until 1:45 while they induced vomiting in the dog and then fed her charcoal. The vet laughed at how enthusiastically the dog ate the charcoal but I figured the dog's lack of digestive discretion is what got us there in the first place!

3. I got my car back after it had been gone for a month and through two different mechanics. It eventually returned to me cured but after a month I was sure I would be very poor. Fortunately the time was just them trying to figure out the problem but the actual part was cheap. The first mechanic decided not to charge me anything (I love him) and the second mechanic charged me just over $300. Yippee!

4. This past weekend, the weather was so nice, we decided to put up our Christmas lights. I know it is ridiculously early but last year we had snow by October 22 and it didn't go away until late March. I couldn't talk anyone up on the roof with the snow last winter so I never did get any lights on the house. This year, with it being +17 on a Sunday in mid-October it seemed too ideal to pass up. I love Christmas and I'm so excited that the lights are up.

5. Yesterday, I got dirt surrounding the house. It cost almost $900 and I'm not sure it is going to make a huge difference but I feel better knowing at least I've done something. The slope around the house now angles away rather than toward the house so I have hopes that this spring we won't spend two weeks vaccuming away the spring run-off.

6. We bought Colby guitar lessons for his birthday and so far he has been to four lessons. The first lesson I went in with him and it went fairly smoothly. The second lesson, S went and she decided not to hover and left them alone. According to Colby things went fine. The next lesson, I stayed in the waiting room and from what I heard the instructor played a lot of music and Colby did not. He told me later that he didn't do much because his hand and his leg hurt. I asked him what he did to hurt himself and he said nothing. He then tried to convince me that drums or even the piano would be easier then guitar. S took him last week and we had decided that she would go in with him so he couldn't pull that kind of stunt again. Colby actually asked her in the car if she was coming into the room and so she asked if he wanted her to. He was quite adamant that he didn't. She made an agreement with him that if he did everything the instructor asked then she wouldn't come in. After the lesson, she asked the instructor if Colby had cooperated and she was told that Colby refused to play guitar and instead asked to play drums. The instructor allowed this to happen. Colby said he didn't want to follow the rhythm so he just played like crazy. Needless to say, we are not happy. S called the school and talked to the women in charge and so now Colby has a new instructor and we'll be going in to the lessons with him. Dang manipulative, cute six year old.

That is it from here I think. Maybe I'll update again a bit sooner then a month from now!