Michael & Liz are Bloggable

*I realize Daisy looks like an alien, but she has perfected the "flash blink". She times it right EVERY time.

On Thursday, Dewey came over for a two week sleepover and the puppies are loving it. You would think 3 dogs are harder than 2 but it's really not much different at all. They get along really well, we have the backyard so we don't have to take them out on the leash very often(except for walks), and Dewey is not a destructive dog so when we leave he is free to roam the sweet room and kitchen.

Daisy and Gryffin realize they are outmatched during play time but they love chasing him around. He's also super gentle with them when they wrestle. Yesterday he was basically letting Daisy chew on his neck, much like she does to Gryffin during an even match, as he rolled around on the ground. I don't think there are a lot of dogs that would let her do that. He's also ridiculously smart and will do his commands like "sit", "lay down" and "drop it" without hesitation. I don't know if he knew how to do this beforehand either, but he has picked up the "sit" and "ok" commands right before we feed the dogs. Before those commands, D&G would attack the food before we let go of it. Having all 3 dogs siting there waiting for us to say "OK!" to eat, is super cute.

The only complaint I can make about Dewey is that he can let out some of the most vicious SBD farts. I mean he puts me to shame with some of those bad boys. I think that's a boy dog thing though cuz Gryffin is really bad about that too.

So it's a two week sleepover and when I say sleepover, I mean it. There are times at night when I'll lean over and D or G are snuggled up into Dewey. It's so nice not to have to worry about them getting along. Like Liz and I always say, they're "best fwends".

A while ago, I came up with the phrase, the "you're awesome letter". What is it you ask? It is the confirmation from a bank or loan that you have paid off a debt. You have worked so hard to get rid of a debt and made so many payments and unfortunately, have sent so much money, you deserve a letter from that company saying "Hey! You're Awesome! Job Well Done! Not everyone pays off a loan ahead of time!"

I have never received a "you're awesome letter" because when we paid off our furniture (bed) loan, Rooms To Go never let us know. They just kept on going, business as usual, but instead of sending us billing statements, they just... stopped sending us billing statements. The punks.

So needless to say, when we paid off our car early in March, we were super excited to get that letter. A whole 2 years and 3 months early to be exact. I mean, they had no choice but to tell us we're awesome, they had to send us our title! So, at last, it arrived almost one month after our last payment. Here it is:


You probably can't read it, here's the gist:

Dear Michael & Liz,

You're awesome for paying off your car. Here's the proof. You're awesome.

Yours truly awesome,

BB&T

I must add one more note. We took better pictures than the one above. But when I went to go make this post, I realized that every single photo we took contained specific information about our vehicle that I did not want out on the internets. So this photo, with my face covered up and the letter somewhat blurry, gets the job done. When is your next "you're awesome letter"? Ours should come around November. Woo hoo!

I think I just made a bunch of people gasp. No! Not us! The bird in our birdhouse has laid a few eggs. I still am not 100% sure it's a bluebird, but the eggs are blue so that's probably right. Check out the picture:

As you can see, I don't feel like typing much today...

It seems like lately I haven't focused on one priority but instead have been trying to tackle a bunch all at once. My life is like an ice cream store's flavor of the week... today I'll be woodworking and tomorrow I'll be reviewing movies. It's tiring and annoying. To be honest, I like being busy, but I don't like doing pointless activities. That's why I quit indoor soccer. I can run on my own, save 60 dollars every 2 months, and be just as happy.

It's inevitable that my list will continue to grow because I always find things I enjoy to do, but it's time to nip one in the bud. Just like I predicted, I'm not going to review movies on the blog anymore. I had a revelation this weekend. I don't watch movies because I enjoy giving my opinion, I enjoy movies because I love being entrenched in a story for a couple hours. They're entertaining. There are few things I enjoy more than watching a great movie. During my movie reviewing stint, I actually started putting off watching movies because I didn't want to review any. How's that for a bad side effect!?!?

So it's time to condense my hobbies. I love woodworking, I love working out/running, I love training Daisy and Gryffin. I think that's about all I can handle. Of course I will continue to watch movies, but that's not as much a hobby as much as it is something I enjoy doing at my leisure. That actually might be the definition of a hobby... but I wouldn't consider movie watching one of mine. And there is always housework and yardwork but you can never ignore those. So what's my plan of attack with these three hobbies?

Woodworking:

I have decided that next year I am going to enter the birdhouse competition that Liz and I went to. It was awesome but there were some birdhouses that were just not very good. I found myself walking around saying "well jeez, I can do that!" So that's the ultimate goal a year from now. How to get there?

I need a workbench, there are no if and or buts about it. I can't do anything in the garage without a workbench. I also can't really do woodworking without taking the coffee table out to the garage as a workbench. So I've decided to start working on building a new coffee table. No more delaying, I gotta do it. Once I finish a coffee table, I am going to take the wood from the current table and make it into a workbench. I think that's a pretty good plan, but can I follow through? I can't help but try....

Working Out/Running:

Hurting my calf 3 weeks ago was a blessing in disguise. Actually, I'd be willing to bet to a lot of people, it was such a disguise that it never looked like I was hurt at all. The only time the pain occurred was when I ran for longer than 15 minutes. So except for the times I'm actually running, I look like I'm fine. We will find out for sure tomorrow when I go out for a 6 mile run.

During my down time, I pledged to workout with the Biggest Loser workout videos at 6AM every day for a week. For the people looking for an update, I accomplished it. Every day, 6AM, me, the dogs, and Bob Harper. The only day I didn't do it was Saturday because come on, it's Saturday. I didn't continue the trend of waking up early but I did wake up a monster. No I'm not that buff yet, but I love workout videos now. There is something about the convenience of not leaving the house but still getting a good workout.

Right at the same time, Justin (gravitywins) started the P90X program and was raving about how good it hurt. With my new found workout video obsession, I had to try it. So last night Liz and I started our first P90X workout with chest and back. It was tough and exhausting but we made it through. We're completely hooked. It's a 13 week program and we couldn't be more excited about it. Liz actually said today: "I look forward to the other half of my body hurting tonight :)". We'll see if we continue with the program until July like we should. My biggest problem will be in what I eat as opposed to sticking to the workouts, so I'm hoping my obsession moves to making better food choices.

Those who know me must be saying "OK... so what about running?" Well... I'm not going to give up on that and I still plan on accomplishing my 1000 mile goal for the year but it will not be my main concentration. I am going to continue to train for the marathon in May by running several times a week but once the race is over, I am going to exclusively concentrate on the P90X workout plan.

I must be sounding like a hypocrite making this blog title "Rotating Priorities" and then putting myself through multiple workout and training plans. I'll admit, it is hypocritical, but I'd rather aim for a high workout goal and miss it then aim low and hit it every time. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, and you miss 100% of the putts you leave short. So bring it on.

Training Daisy & Gryffin:
Gryffin is ridiculous. I have trained him so well that every single time I have a treat in my hand now, he'll roll over onto his back without a command. He also no longer responds to sit, lay down or my "Pwhew!" shooting command. He just rolls over regardless. So we need to work on correcting that.

Honestly my biggest problem, is the fact that we have two dogs. For example, I can't train Gryffin unless Liz and I are both free because if I put Daisy in another room, she whines wondering why she's secluded and Gryffin also gets distracted. If I leave Daisy in the room with Gryffin and I, she thinks it's unfair that he gets all the treats so I have to reward her for doing nothing. It's a wonderful problem to have though, they are so awesome.

I don't think it will take long to correct Gryffin's confusion though, he's a smart boy. What is next on the agenda to teach Gryffin? Obviously "roll over" is next. I also want to teach him "rock"(the 21st century version of "gimme a paw") and due to the popularity from our friends, "touch the stove". (Basically we want to teach him something utterly pointless that has no application and makes no sense at all... "touch the stove" won).

What are we going to teach Daisy next? Anything she can get her brain around. Liz thinks she's too smart for tricks, I'm entirely on the "she's too stupid" side. It doesn't matter, I'll keep trying anyway.

Today I was sitting around and was pretty bored, so I decided to start trying to teach Gryffin a trick. I eventually want him to roll over but the first step to doing that is getting him to lie down. So I got some food and just started training him. I am not joking, I spent literally 10 minutes teaching him and he already picked up on what to do. He's a little inconsistent right now because it's so new, but after a couple tries, he gets it.

We felt bad because Gryffin was getting all the treats. Daisy just doesn't pick up on tricks very quickly and she was just in the way with her begging. I promised that I would teach her the trick though, so I'll have to spend some time with her. It might be a waste because I have a feeling I'll get Gryffin sauteing scallops before Daisy is rolling over, and boy would that be handy after a tough day for both Liz and I. Daisy has this thing about being on her back, she just doesn't like it. So the training will be difficult because she squirms while she is on her back until she is back on her stomach.

Gryffin should learn "roll over" fairly quickly. Whenever he scratches his back, he squirms around on the ground, so I know he can do it. It's just a matter of time, and probably not that much.

We finally got our Nikon D80 on Friday and let me say it's a very happy household we have here. Liz went nuts this weekend but only as nuts as the darkness of a dreary rainy weekend would allow. She has played with the settings, adjusted the thingies, focused the circly object, and allowed more light to hit the stuff. Isn't that all it takes to be a photographer? I should go pro then.... maybe not. Obviously I am no camera expert but it's a boat load of fun for her either way.

About 20 minutes ago we got back inside from taking pictures in the backyard and I say "hey, im going to post some pictures on the blog". Well that didn't go over well because she is still just practicing and nothing is blog-worthy yet. Well after thumbing through close to 200 pictures, I finally got the power of attorney to post what we both feel are acceptable pictures for the blog. Check 'em out!




I've been instructed to inform everyone that the following picture is not a good one because it is so dark, but I wanted to post it anyway because of just how awesome Gryffin is.


We've got an exciting weekend coming up. A month ago Liz sent me the link to a North Carolina birdhouse competition. This was mainly because I enjoy woodworking and creating things so I want to see what people can do and maybe inspire me to make more stuff. Lately, my motivation has been low. But this also gives Liz a chance to take a bunch of pictures with her super awesome camera. So here are some words I never thought I'd say: woo hoo for the bird house competition!!

P.S. - if there is anyone in Raleigh that wants to go with us, we'll probably go Saturday and it's free. Here's the link if you're interested in going with us.

So who is occupying Fulton Bird Suite #1? It is a male Bluebird which apparently is a very common bird in Eastern North Carolina.

I am sitting here on the couch with all the shades in the room pulled up. The reason for that is it's easier to take pictures with tons of light in the room. Who knew? All of a sudden a bird hopped on to the top of the house. I just about flew off the couch, but I stayed calm because I didn't want the bird to see me. It stood there and looked around for a few minutes, then hung on to the hole on the front of the house for a few seconds and threw some stuff into the house. Obviously I have no idea what it was but it looked like he was just dropping off some goods. Then he flew off to the tree in the back. Now the bird never ACTUALLY went all the way inside but it looked like he could fit so I assume this is his house. Here is a picture of a male Bluebird. This picture looks so similar to him that it could be his twin:

How do I know it's a male? Well apparently males are darker in color and have more exaggerated colors. Females tend to have more dullish colors.

We'll be watching this guy closely, check out this link for the schedule bluebirds follow for creating young throughout the year: http://www.ncbluebird.org/html/ncbs_ncnesting.html

I will let you know if I ever see the bird hop in, but for now, that's who I think is occupying our bird house. I never thought I'd enjoy bird watching. I think the key though is bringing the birds to me, it sounds a lot less fun to go find them.