Michael & Liz are Bloggable

So tomorrow is the new year and once again I am making a long list of resolutions that I am going to try to accomplish in 2009. It's going to suck but it's going to make me a better person.

I have tried to get Liz to make a few and she has resisted. I secretly think that she has made it her goal to run the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati on May 3rd, but she hasn't said that... also she's going to read this blog entry so it will no longer be a secret. That's a pretty good rule of thumb when posting to a blog, never post a secret.

So here are my New Year's Resolutions in the order of their importance to me:

1. Sell something(anything) I make out of wood. This is a very general resolution and it should be a very easy one at that. This December, like last December 2007, I have gotten very motivated with making things out of wood in the garage. I've made 2 copies of my present for my Secret Santa (one copy to be sold), I've made a few crosses, and a couple other things that I will post about after the new year. My car has been sitting in the driveway because of it and while I hate having to walk outside to get to my car, I think I am going to keep it there and make woodworking a full time hobby for myself. It can't just be a hobby though, it has to be somewhat profitable to make it worthwhile in my opinion. Wood is pretty expensive so I figure I can make things, keep myself busy, continue learning, and make some money in the meantime to make up for the loss of buying wood. I also am going to be keeping track of the amount of money that I spend on my wood working projects, to see if I can turn a profit. So far I've spent $175, and based on my calculations, I could probably make about $130 to $150 if I sold whatever I have left over (after making the Secret Santa present and the shelf for Liz). That's not too shabby. So I will keep everyone up to date on my progress... My eventual goal is to buy new tools with whatever profit I pull in (if I ever pull a profit).

2. Run 1000 miles (again). This was my resolution from 2007 and I didn't fail miserably, but I certainly didn't achieve it. I did this with John and we really motivated each other well. We got to around 600 miles in July and then by the time I ran the marathon on November 4th of that year, I was at 800. I was far too burnt out to keep going for the 1000, so I quit. This year will be different though. I am running the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati on May 3rd, and if I stick to my current training schedule until then, I will have run 484 miles by that point. I am pretty sure I will do another marathon in the Fall as well so the 1000 miles should be well within reach.

Side Note: If I were to leave our house and run a 1000 miles West, I'd make it to the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Also, along the same lines of this goal of running 1000 miles, is losing weight in order to achieve it. I haven't gained a whole lot of weight that I'm trying to lose, but one goal I have always had in the back of my mind is achieving a sub 4 hour marathon. It's right at a 9 minutes per mile pace for the 26 miles, and I've been able to do it for 20 miles before, but never the full 26. I think in order to get there, I need to be about 20 pounds lighter. So along with running, I am doing my best to shed some pounds. I'm not making it a resolution though, I guess just an addendum to the 1000 miles resolution. One way I'm motivating myself is competing against the people on the show of the Biggest Loser (it starts January 6th, watch it, it rocks). If you are wondering "How?!?!" then let me know and I'll share, but it's too lame to post on the blog (at least for now anyway).

3. Do not eat a combo meal anywhere. I've realized that combo meals are the devil. They force you to get a large portion of food when you really don't want that much and then when you get it, you feel guilty not eating it all so you pound it down anyway. This year, no combo meals. I haven't had a burger at a fast food restaurant since last February, but I have given in on chicken so I still have Wendy's and Chick-fil-a every once in a while. Also since in 2008, I didn't have any soda, I don't want to be getting combo meals and then just get back into the routine of getting Coke every time... so hopefully this will prevent me from doing that.

I'm excited because I think these 3 goals are achievable... if there is any progress to post on along the way, I will.

So as I said last year, I take New Year's Resolutions seriously. Before I declare what our resolutions for 2009 will be, I thought I would put out an end of the year update on how our resolutions for 2008 went.

Liz:
1. To go as long as possible without drinking a carbonated beverage. Liz successfully accomplished this goal and set a new record for herself. This year she has not had a soda yet. It doesn't seem like this was very difficult for her. She never really had a desire to break on this goal.

2. There are two goals in this resolution because they go hand in hand. One is to not gain any weight and the other is to go to the gym AT LEAST twice a week. She accomplished half of this goal as she did not gain any weight this year. But her goal of going to the gym at least twice a week ended around the end of January. Her new job really ruined this resolution because she wasn't leaving work until 5:30 and that's just too late to go to the gym and then come home and have a time to do anything until she has to go to bed again. I'd have to say she succeeded on her second resolution because the reason for the gym was to not gain weight, but she didn't gain any way so it didn't matter.

Michael:
1. My first goal is the same as Liz's first goal, not to drink any sodas. This was really difficult for me because I LOVE soda, but I can honestly say I succeeded on this goal. There were many times where I was going to break. I think we relied a little too heavily on lemonade and hi-c because that's the only other thing served at restaurants that isn't water or soda. I am really looking forward to a Coke at the stroke of midnight on January 1st.

2. To build at least 4 wood projects this year. I'll be honest, I completely forgot about all my other resolutions after the first one, but believe it or not I have accomplished this goal. I built the shelf for Liz for Christmas, I made a cross for my Secret Santa this year, and then I made two more things and I am not revealing what those are until I am done with them. One of them is for my Secret Santa and the other one I am going to sell (they are identical). My resolutions for next year really revolve around my wood working so you'll hear more about this.

3. Teach Daisy 4 new tricks. This one I completely failed at. The reason is we got Gryffin, I blame it on the second dog. So I guess you could say, Daisy is dumber because of Gryffin.

4. The last resolution is to finish the projects that I started or intended to start around the house. They include finishing the deck, finishing the bead board around the blue bedroom upstairs and putting up peg board in the garage for better organization. I finished 2 out of the 3 projects. I have already blogged about the bead board in the bedroom and the finished deck, but I never got around to organizing the garage. If I was to make an excuse, it would be our budgeting, we just never set any money aside to do this, and getting peg board is expensive.

I will blog in a few days about what our resolutions for 2009 will be, needless to say I am very excited about them.

Merry Christmas to everyone... We are enjoying a relaxing day. This morning I made pancakes for us and now Liz's Dad and I relaxing and watching some TV and Liz's Mom and her are going to town in the kitchen cooking dinner. Her goal this year is to make dinner from scratch. I will do my best to take pictures of everything and blog about that later.

I wanted to post a picture of one of my gifts to Liz. I made her a shelf for her cookbooks. She is in a constant battle with the kitchen for space and where to put things, so I figured a shelf for her cookbooks would free up a lot of space for her. Turns out the gift was a hit. Here are a few pictures:




Also, my other gift to Liz was a little unconventional... it's a long story but I got her extra large men's sweat pants from Old Navy. Check it out:

Boy do I not feel like bloggin, which is the reason why I haven't blogged in forever. But I realize it's crappy to say that I will blog all about our trip to Vegas and then not blog at all...

Well as you heard from Liz's brief post, internet was 10 dollars a day in Vegas and I was going to spend the 10 bucks once just to blog once but I figured, no, I went there to do my best not to spend money and I'm going to stick to it darn it. I think we ended up spending about $250 from the Saturday to the Thursday. I also say "we" like Liz had anything to do with that, but it was really my food and our drinks that we were spending money on.

Just a brief conclusion after the trip: Liz's brother Scott put it best, Vegas is awesome for the first 2 or 3 days, but then you just want to go home. It was awesome seeing the hotels and all the fancy casinos and the attractions that the hotels had to offer but after a couple days, it starts to disgust you. Just to name a few things: the porno cards that are being handed out, the constant barrage of shops and entertainment, and the ding ding ding ding sounds you hear constantly. But I won't dwell on the negatives. Like I said, it was awesome for the first few days but I think had I left Monday or Tuesday, I would have been completely satisfied.

The rest of the post is going to be my award ceremony. There are some awards to give out for the best and worst of Vegas.

Worst Hotel: There is no doubt it's Circus Circus. The place is a dump and should be bankrupt in 10 years. I went there and it was EMPTY. The ceilings are 7 to 8 feet tall in the lobby and the "amusement park" they advertise doesn't look all that inviting. And I saw no clowns.

Worst Attraction: The show at Treasure Island. We were expecting it to be interesting, funny, and entertaining. Let me set the stage for you. There are two ships at war in front of the hotel. One ship is run by women in bikinis and the other is run by men who can't seem to find their shirts. That introduction alone lost our attention but I think the line that caused Liz and I to turn to each other and say "you wanna leave to beat the crowds" was when the captain of the men's ship said "We came to take your booty". The only cool thing about the show was seeing the fireworks from our hotel room, other than that it was definitely a big waste of time.

Most Disappointing Hotel: MGM Grand. What is there other than a couple Lions and an indoor stadium for boxing? Oh right, a casino. That's not enough for me. I was expecting this place to be awesome, and it was one boxing ring and a couple lions shy of being just any other hotel/casino. To top it off, they keep the doors to the arena locked, so I didn't even get to see the inside. boooo!

Most Disappointing Attraction: The Mirage Volcanoes because it wasn't there, it was under construction. That was enough for us not to go visit The Mirage and it's a close second to worst hotel for not having their main attraction available.

Biggest Awe Factor: The inside of the Luxor. If anyone knows anything about Vegas it's that the Luxor is a pyramid, but who knew that it was hollow inside?!? You can see all the way to the top! That was a big "awe factor" when we found that out.

Biggest Gross Factor: Eating healthy was almost impossible so one day I sucked it up and had a chicken sandwich at McDonalds (which for anyone who is counting was my first trip to McDonalds since February). I'm the kind of person waiting at the counter, counting the clock until it rings 11AM so they'd serve me lunch and not the grossness that is breakfast. Well I got my "right out of the oven" chicken sandwich, and the breading was soft and wet and as I was eating it, it was squishing off the sides of the sandwich and I ended up throwing 3/4 of it away after giving it my best effort. The value meal cost me 8 dollars too. Gross. I am officially never going to McDonalds again. The experience was enough to ruin it forever. I can feel a tingle in my throat as I think about it.

Best Meal: Hands down the 10AM wings I had at the sports bar inside the Palazzo. Why 10AM, cuz football starts early on the west coast and boy do I LOVE that. This bar had stadium style seating all over the place but instead of seats, they were leather couches. Instead of tables, they were leather ottomans that doubled as foot stools. There were also 70 plasmas around the bar that were all on swivels so no matter what game you wanted to watch, if you get there early, you can turn the TV toward you, tell your waitress your TV number and your game is on lickety split. I think the Bengals knew I was rooting for them hard in a really sweet place, cuz they didn't lose that day... they did their best and tied.

Worst Meal: See McDonalds above.... but if I can't use the same thing twice, then it would be the $7 bud light I got at the first restaurant we sat down at on Saturday Night. It was a nice "Welcome to Las Vegas wake up call".

Funniest Thing To See: The lions in the MGM Grand were pretty hilarious. This doesn't improve the MGM Grand in anyway because just having lions doesn't make the hotel awesome, but the trainers were treating the lions like they were pet cats or dogs. They were throwing balls around the room and the lions were chasing them and slapping at them and pouncing on them. The trainers were throwing bones at them and the lions would catch it and basically bite the bones to shreds. It was funny to watch lions act like that.

Coolest Attraction: Hands down the rollercoaster on top of New York New York. If it wasn't so expensive I would have ridden that thing 10 times, but $30 wasn't worth a couple minutes of awesomeness to Liz and I... at least not on this trip.

Best Attraction: Is there really any attraction that can compete with the Bellagio Fountains? We could have stood there all night long to watch the fountains. And every song was different. There was only one time where I heard the same song twice, but fortunately that song is awesome ("My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion) ... that's right, I just said that. But standing there with Liz in front of the fountains, is close to one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done in my life. It's just so amazing. I wanted time to stand still.

Best Hotel: This is a tie between the hotel we stayed in and the hotel I wanted to stay in. The Palazzo and the Bellagio. We were thrilled with the Palazzo and it was a fantastic room with 3 plasma TV's, a glassed in shower, remote control curtains, and a section couch in the living room. But I think next time we go, it will be in different circumstances where we will stay where we want (Bellagio) and do what we want (ride the rollercoasters). Hopefully it's everything I think it will be.

To everyone anxiously awaiting an update from Las Vegas-

Everything is expensive in Vegas...including internet! Michael decided not to spend the $9.95 a day at the hotel to give you his updates, so you'll just have to wait until Wednesday night.

As for me, I have to get back to work!

So most everyone knows we are going to Las Vegas this weekend. For anyone who didn't know, Liz's company has a conference there and she has to work from Sunday through Thursday. So I am tagging along and going to be an ultra-tourist while we are there. We are flying out on Saturday and I will be back Wednesday night and Liz will be back Thursday night.

The last time I went to Las Vegas I was probably 12 years old. I have been there twice but Las Vegas to a 12 year old is not the same as Las Vegas to a 27 year old. A hotel is just a hotel to a 12 year old... but I think I will appreciate the beauty a lot more at my age.

Every time I have said to someone that I am going to Las Vegas they give me a nudge and say "NICE! You gonna gamble??! Liz has to work??!? Then what are you going to do?!?" Well that gave me a brilliant idea. Throw the "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" mantra out the window and I have declared this trip to be named "What happens in Vegas, goes on the Blog". There are some other mantra's I thought of using for naming this trip. Here are some examples:

Vegas on a Budget
Vegas without the Gambling
Vegas the Non-Creepy Guy Way
Vegas as Cheap as Possible
Fun Minus Craziness Minus Gambling = Our Vegas Trip

I used the word cheap and on a budget there. Since Liz is going for work, her company is paying for her flight, hotel and most travel expenses as well as food. So basically she is taking a free trip for work and I am going to be bumming off of her. Back in July I volunteered to fly to NY with the Belarussian kids to help them get on their flight to Kiev. My flight got cancelled and I ended up with a free flight. Not so free when you have to pay $150 to change the plans, but I am using that for the trip to Vegas. That means so far this trip has cost us a whopping total of $150. I am going to try and continuet that theme while we are there. I hear it's tough to do.

I may gamble at penny slot machines or dime blackjack or something cheap, but I am not about to gamble $50 away and laugh like it was fun and enjoyable. That's just not me.

So every day I am going to be blogging about what I did that day, with pictures and everything. Hopefully it should be awesome. I hope to have a TON of stories but at the very least I should be able to see some really cool hotels. I am mostly excited about seeing the classics like The Mirage, Treasure Island, Circus Circus, and Excalibur. I also can't wait to tour the hotels that have been built since I went there. That includes The Luxor, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, and I'm sure many many others.

So look for daily blog posts. We are super excited about the trip!!

I finished the deck this weekend... and the reason I say kinda is because I still have a few things left to do but I don't feel like waiting for those things to post this message. I still have to to put caps on the top of the posts, then power wash and stain the deck, and also install some reinforcing wood underneath the deck between the joists. But all those things won't happen for a little while because it's getting cold and it'll have to be put into the budget. Also a task for next summer is to install lattice below the deck and plant bushes around it. This will upset the dogs because they love running under the deck... but they can deal.

Here is a picture of what the deck looked like before (you're supposed to say "eewww ugly ewwww"). The paint was chipping, the railing was rotting, and you can't see it from this far away but the balusters weren't spaced evenly or leveled. And yes those are concrete stones in the yard, I have no idea what the previous owner was thinking. Needless to say the concrete is gone.



So here is a time line of the deck after the point where I flipped the floor boards (or replaced some floor boards) and started installing the railings:

Then the connectors or whatever they are called. I have not touched the stairs yet because that is the hardest part and I didn't feel like dealing with it yet:

I look like a bum, but at least I'm a tired bum:

Here's a zoom in of the sweetness:

Balusters in:

If you guessed the tennis racket you were right. There are two wasps nests around our house that I have been battling with. One day while working on the deck, and this is no exaggeration, I sent 11 wasps tumbling to their death in the yard... in fact I was 12 for 12 on swings (one wasp got the racket twice). I'm glad I was perfect on swings because otherwise I'm sure it would have been a lot more difficult of a match each time. Liz wasn't really enjoying hearing about the body count either... "HUN, THAT'S 7 WASPS TODAY! Can you believe that?!?!"... "yeah... great."

Not much of a transition here... here the posts and connectors are installed already, there is still one more post to go though in the middle of the stairs:


"dawdy, we cawn't sees any mawrs."


And... done... the difference between the last deck picture and this one is the middle post on the stairs, the balusters on the stairs, and the hand railing all the way around the deck. Check out the master piece:


Ta da!

Overall I am very pleased with the work and at the beginning I was very nervous about the stability of the railing but it turns out it's really solid. The only thing easy about it is once I figured out how to do something... it was monotonous to do it 87 times... like balusters. The hardest part? There's a slew of hardness about this project:

• Fitting the hand railings and connectors into and around the posts was difficult. They were very tricky cuts to make.
  
• The stairs was difficult because of all the angle cuts involved. I have no miter saw so you can imagine the difficulty in that.
  
• Measurements never work out... No matter how many times you measure, you're inevitably off by a small space here or there you'll notice it forever.
  

I am super excited to have our deck back and not have wood sitting on it. Hopefully we can enjoy the deck for years to come and it holds up to the test of time.

I started writing a political post tonight but decided to hold it back because I promised not to post political anymore. Instead I wanted to update everyone on the puppies.

Gryffin's pappiloma virus is just about gone. When I posted last, he basically had 3 large pappilomas on the right side of his mouth. They have all but disappeared. In the span of about a week, they started bleeding, they shredded apart, and started deflating in size. Now they are down to little tiny sores that continue to look better and better every day. He is still sensitive about us touching his mouth but I think that's more of a reaction from the past than anything else. It's tough to take a picture of them but we did our best tonight. Here is the best shot:

You can see the one near the front of his mouth and then two small bumps near the back. Soooo close to being gone. The other symptom of watering eyes has also disappeared. He gets a lot less poogies (snot in his eyes) these days. We are so thrilled about it. This means they will let him stay in the kennel over New Years when we go to Atlanta.

Doggy Freedom: Our old routine was when we came downstairs in the morning, Liz and I would each take a crate downstairs and they would stay in crates while we were at work. Then at night when going to bed, we'd carry both crates upstairs so they could sleep in our room in their crates. One day we just decided to start leaving them out of their crates to see how they do. We know they got along with each other but we don't know what havoc it might wreak on our couch or furniture. They have been awesome to say the least. They don't tear things up, and most of the time when I come home, I can go to the couch and feel around, and I will be able to tell where each of them was sleeping. That's all they do during the day is sleep so we like to let them be more comfortable by staying on the couch rather than crates.

We made a mistake last Saturday when we left a foam ball under the coffee table. This is the gloriousness Liz came home to:

Lesson learned on that one.

Last thing, we went to PetSmart the other day to get some dog food and we got Daisy and Gryffin a treat that we thought would be more funny than anything, but they are doing their best to tackle it... here's a picture:

Whenever they finish the bone I'll let you all know.

On our drive home the Monday after the marathon, we were driving down I-85 when all of a sudden a rock flies up from a truck on the highway and hits our windshield. I love how when I tell this story, EVERYONE's response is "Well you shouldn't have been tailgating." At which point I declare "I wasn't tailgating, it was dumb luck."

I believe it was a 3 or 4 lane highway at the time and we were going through Richmond. I was in the second lane over from the left and a truck was passing me in the far left lane. Stupid trucks. It gets about 30 or 40 yards ahead of me, a considerable distance. There were cars in front of me and cars behind it, so it's not like I was the only car on the road. All of a sudden from his lane, a rock comes flying across ours, and hits our windshield. I want to say it was about the size of a golf ball. You ever see something and take a picture of it in your head. Yeah, the picture in my head is golf ball size. It barely clips our windshield, hits the side metal that is holding the windshield in place and of course flies off.

The windshield dent is about a quarter in size and there were 4 cracks going off on either side. Liz was sleeping at the time so it was certailny a sudden awakening. We pulled off to check the damage and it looked manageable to me... manageable meaning I am not stopping in Richmond for this. As we go along we start seeing two cracks get bigger. Liz measures them and basically watches them grow about an inch per 20 miles. By the time we get home their almost a foot long.

Needless to say we got the windshield replaced for a pretty $400 penny. Insurance covers the damage but our deductible isn't low enough so... oh well. Here are some pictures of the damage:

I am putting this post on our main blog because I feel like this isn't just normal running talk. This information is stuff people would actually want to hear about because I finished the goal I was training for.

Before I start writing, you can check out all the pictures on the picture album linked above.

Last weekend we went to Washington D.C. for the Marine Corp Marathon. We had an awesome day in downtown D.C on Friday. We tried to do as much touristy stuff as possible because we realized there probably wasn't much time anywhere else in the weekend. We didn't realize how spread out everything was. They talk about how all the monuments are together and you can walk from one to the other but boy does it wear you out, especially when your goal is to remain somewhat lazy before running a marathon. We had to have walked a good 4 or 5 miles that day which doesn't sound like a lot but it was.

That night we headed to the Brody's house (Mike and Ashley) to stay with them for the weekend. In July they just had their first child, a baby girl named Sophia. For anyone who doesn't know, Mike and I were roommates for a semester in college and they were both in Liz and my fraternity when we pledged. We have remained good friends ever since. We spent all day there on Saturday catching up on their lives and spending time with their sweet girl. She is so curious and wide-eyed all the time. She doesn't cry much but only when the time is right (hunger or exhaustion). I think staying with them put a couple very separate emotions in both Liz and I:

1. It will be amazing to have children. Having known both Mike and Ashley for 6 years now as a couple without children, it's awesome to see this little girl that they have created. I can't really grasp the feeling we'll have when we have our own child but we both agree it's something to look forward to. It also got us thinking about what we'd name our children (granted it's a while away) so that was fun too.
2. Thank goodness for the sleeplessness training Daisy and Gryffin have put us through. A dog having diarrhea for 3 or 4 days straight probably doesn't compare at all but we feel like we got a good mini-crash course in having to wake up a few hours every night during that time. I don't know how they go about their lives with almost no full night sleeps but I have a ton of respect for them. Hopefully we can be just as patient and loving.

On Sunday morning we woke up at 5AM and took the metro into D.C for the race. We were a little stupid on the planning part and arrived at 6:15 for an 8 AM race. It was 45 degrees and we were just standing in the dark and cold in one of the corral areas.

I ran the race with Brandon Embery a friend from college who is also in our fraternity. It was really nice to run with him because we were both on the same page when it came to pace and speed. A steady 4 hour marathon pace was what we started out as and we kept with that up to about the 20 mile mark.

I always do this in marathons and I don't know why. I'll start out fantastic... I'll get to about mile 15 and still feel fantastic... but very quickly after that I will decline and by around mile 20 or 22 my muscles will start spasming and completely give out. This time around that spasming didn't occur until mile 24 so I guess there is something to be said for that. I was on a great pace to beat my best time (4:20). At mile 21, my time was 3:20 so all I had to do was run 5 miles in one hour, which for me is beyond easy compared to what I normally do. So with the spasming muscles my pace slowed to 15 minutes per mile and I finished the race in 4 hours and 32 minutes. That's directly between my two other marathons. Incidently Brandon left me around mile 20 and finished the race in 4:19, he is a beast.

I am pleased with my results but am not satisfied enough. I have decided I am going to run the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati in May. I am far too determined to beat the 4 hour mark and I truly believe I can do it. Between now and then to prepare, I am going to keep up a running regimen but not quite as intense as a training program. I am also going to lift weights in my legs and arms and get as strong as possible and I am hoping to lose about 15 pounds by then. If I don't lose weight, a sub 4 hour marathon is not possible. I can do it. I know I can.

Sunday we spent most of the rest of the day watching football of course and then we made the drive back on Monday. You'll read about the drive home in the next post.

I swear I will post about the marathon trip sometime soon but times are busy busy busy.

Tonight for Halloween I am putting on my Chad Johnson Bengals Jersey... you must be thinking "oh so you're dressing up as a Bengals player"... no I am not, I am going to be a Pathetic Loser for Halloween, capital P capital L.

And one more thing, just had a funny conversation with Liz, she is in the other room reading and I am sitting in the kitchen, so we can't see each other right now:

Me: Hey I'm changing a player on your fantasy team for the weekend.
Liz: My team is fine, who are you changing?!?!
Me: Believe me, you want to make this change.
Liz: We play each other, how do I know I can trust you?
Me: I'm putting in a player who is projected to get 17 points and taking out a player who is projected to get 7 points.
Liz: What are the players?
Me: Matt Forte and Dominic Rhodes.
Liz: Ok... fine.
Me: Forte is playing the worst team in the NFL, he'll do well.
Liz: He's playing the Bengals?
Me: NO!! DETROIT!! HEEEEEYYY!!!

She's right though... Detroit/Cincinnati, it'd be a toss up on who's worse.

I don't know how many people know about this, but over the last month, Gryffin has had a bit of a problem. In mid-September, he developed these bumps on his lips. Oddly enough it is only on one side of his mouth but they are on the top and bottom. They are somewhat large and there are only about 5 or 6 of them but they look like mini-cauliflowers. We looked them up and they were almost identical to a description we found online of something called Canine Viral Papilloma. From what we understand, it's something that is common in puppies or dogs with deficient immune systems, and since Gryffin is only 10 months old, that fits. It says that they last between a couple weeks to several months. So up until this week we just let him deal with them and figured they'd go away.

Well as of this week, they havent "gone away", in fact none of them have gotten smaller but then again, none of them have gotten bigger. I guess I'll post a picture of them.

Gryffin with his mouth closed:

Gryffin with his lip up:

So this week Liz and I have been talking and we felt a little irresponsible about how we have approached Gryffin's bumps. They look terrible. They look like little cancerous tumors. But we found pictures online that look like what he has, and we found descriptions online that sound like what he has. We didn't want to pay $50 for the Vet to tell us what we already know. But we sucked it up, and on Thursday I took him to the Vet to find out what they thought. What does Gryffin have? Canine Viral Papilloma. Fantastic. So it is a big relief to know exactly what's going on and we feel better about our responsibilities as his parents.

Back when we first got Gryffin, Daisy had these 3 extremely small white bumps in her mouth and we figured they were really small cold sores that dogs get. They also disappeared in a matter of a week or two. The Vet said that's probably how Gryffin got the bumps in his mouth and seeing as he is young and we just got him from a rescue, his immune system was bad enough that he was vulnerable to getting it. Every dog gets the bumps in different ways, it just depends on the dog. Daisy's were tiny and white, and Gryffins are huge cauliflowers and are black.

For anyone who is going to see him in the next couple months, here are a few facts to quell your fears:

• To be infected, the dog needs to have a deficient immune system or be a young puppy.
  
• There is no treatment other than time and the development of the dog, they go away on their own.
  
• Humans can't get it.
  
• Typically, it takes 1 to 5 months for papillomas to disappear.
  

We think Gryffin knows he's not 100% healthy. He looks at us in the most depressing "love me anyway" type look. Daisy has been super sweet to him too. We'll often times catch her just lying next to him licking his lips and nibbling the papillomas trying to get rid of them. The Vet told us to keep massaging them to force his immune system to address them. I will keep everyone up to date on when they disappear.

I recently promised myself that I wouldn't post or comment on anything else political... ever. So while this post does have to do with politics, it's less controversial and I felt OK to post about.

I was having a conversation with John(and most of the people who read this blog would remember him as one of my groomsmen) at work today and this part of it was just too hilarious not to post here because the topic has been on my mind so often lately. If it doesn't make sense why his nickname is Mathis Jackson, don't worry about it, it's a long story. Here's the short convo:

Mathis Jackson: yeah...and it also has that horrible side effect we're seeing now
Mathis Jackson: BILL 17432: Resolution to give tax breaks to convicted felons
...
...
Amendment 791462: Funding for soldiers shall increase by $100

Mathis Jackson: Candidate bob: i vote no
Mathis Jackson: later, candidate frank: "CANDIDATE BOB VOTED TO DENY FUNDING FOR OUR TROOPS!"
Me: haha!!!
Me: can i put that on the blog?
Mathis Jackson: haha, sure
Me: awesome
Me: im still laughing
Me: that's a perfect example of how assanine advertising is too

This brings me to the topic that's been on my mind. Anyone who hears a political advertisement and actually believes what is being said, is truly being duped. Never before have I been so informed (and by informed I mean I can usually give a brief overview of the plans of both major candidates when it comes to most issues and I am by no means claiming to be an expert) and the advertising lately has just made me sick. The conversation above is a perfect example of why you should not pay attention to advertising when it comes to politics. The goal of a politician is to win no matter what it takes and that's why politics make me sick. It's never about the truth so never assume you're hearing any.

Today I had to run 20 miles for my training, you can read about it on my running blog. But what I am posting here about has more to do with this blog than that one. It is the amazingness that is Liz. That's not a word, as the red squiggly lines are telling me, but it should be, and Webster should use her face as the definition.

20 miles is not an easy run for anyone. 20 miles is not an easy bike ride for anyone either. Today during my run, Liz strapped on a backpack and rode our bike along with me as I did my 20 miles. I say "our" because, she rides it more than I do. At one point she joked and said "you know, you should really get a bike." There are so many reasons why having her there is helpful, that it is the downright truth that I could not have finished the run without her.

First of all, in her backpack was several Gatorades and a bunch of energy gels for me to use while I run. Every few miles she would break away, and set up a mini water station for me as I ran by. She'd hold out my Gatorade and then hand me some gel to fuel up. After a few swigs and some light stretching, I'd take off, she'd pack up our stuff and head back down the trail after me. That help during a 20 mile run is immeasurable. Why couldn't I have finished the run without her? It is a well known fact that your body needs some sort of replacement for your fluids and energy. I am no science guy, but I've been told that your "wall" that you hit is at about 8 miles without any kind of sustanance. After 8 miles, your muscles start to get fatigued from nothing else other than the lack of nurishment. Of course you can keep going but it's nowhere near as easy. Without her by my side on the run, I am 100% certain I would not have been able to run the 20 miles. I'm convinced of it.

A 20 mile bike ride is not easy, especially when you are biking at the speed of 10 minutes per mile. That's crazy slow for a biker and adds to the difficulty level. She didn't complain about it for one second. There were times when I would say "how are you?" and she would say "my butt hurts from this seat, but other than that, i'm good". She kept trucking along without a complaint. That's amazing to me. Even when I started walking at the end, she got off her bike (see... now I say "her" =P ) and walked along with me. If there was a hill, she'd ride to the top and wait for me with Gatorade in hand. So awesome.

Anyone who has run with me, knows I'm a talker. I won't talk your ear off and I hope it's not obnoxious to those I have run with, but I don't necessarily enjoy completely silent runs. Whether it is to chat about our childhood bike experiences or just to talk about how I'm doing with my heart rate and how my legs feel, it is so wonderful to have her there to just chat with. That's 3 hours of bonding and probably more talking than any date we've ever had.

The constant moral support is immensely helpful. When I started walking at mile 17 and negotiating when I was going to run and when I was going to walk, she gave me challenges like "I'm sure you can make it to that street up there". But it's not only during the difficult stretches but also during the good stretches. Saying things like "you don't look tired, how do your legs feel?" It's just nice to have her there for reinforcement.

We went to something at church last weekend called "Married Life Live", where they talk about things you can do to strengthen your marriage. The message was basically, what can you do to nurture the relationship and the romance by listening to your partners needs and reacting to it without being asked. There are tons of things that can apply to that message, but as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing more nurturing than the support she showed me today. She knows these runs are heavy on my mind and nerve-racking to tackle and did everything she could to help me out. I didn't beg her to come with me, she did it because she knew I needed it.

Today, Liz is the one who's bloggable.

I should just create a tag in our blog called "Finances" and file this post under it, because finances are becoming a theme with me and the blog lately. Personal Financing has become a passion of mine. Maybe not an obsession quite yet, but passion makes it sound a little more light-hearted. Because of that, Dave Ramsey is my hero and I'll tell you why.

Back in March when we visited Scott and Hillary in Colorado, they introduced us to this guy on the radio. People call in with their financial problems, some much more horrendous than others, and Dave talks them through what they should do. My philosophy when it comes to the radio is that if you aren't singing, you aren't entertaining. I can't listen to NPR or anything on AM and I really don't know why. So while it was good to listen to him while we were there, I didn't actively hunt for his Raleigh-equivalent radio station when we got back.

Then in May when we went to Arkansas, as a groomsmen gift for being in Annie and Jacob's wedding, Jacob got me 2 of Dave Ramsey's books and 2 videos as well. I immediately dove right in because the subject and author intrigued me. I've been hooked ever since. I've read both books twice and I wish he wrote 20 more. I went to the library to find out too.

Then this past weekend I made an amazing discovery. He has a TV show. How did I not know this?!?! Maybe it's because I don't watch news programs on TV. For anyone who is awesome, it's on Fox Business Network at 8PM and 12AM (DirecTV channel 359(I don't think I know anyone who has DirecTV other than Matt and Meg, so that was a plug for them(Matt) to watch it)). The show is awesome. A lot of times he has themes like last night was the "small business questions" and those aren't as interesting because I don't have a small business and I certainly am not a stay at home mother who is looking for a business venture to help the family. But the program is just like the radio program. It's amazing the situations people get themselves into but it's even more awesome the way Dave puts them on a plan to fixing the issues. A lot of the times though, he can't do anything other than throwing up his hands and saying "you need more income, get another job, learn a new skill, get off your butt and work as hard as you can". Those are for the people who call in with a 15K a year job and asking why they have 30K in credit card bills.

Why is he my hero? Dave is smart, always calm, cool and collected and just a flat out nice guy. He never responds as if the people who are calling are the problem, no matter how crappy the situation is. He always says "you've been engaged in dumb situations" but he never calls people dumb. I also really love getting the feedback from the show that no matter what situation Liz and I ever have financially, there is always someone who has it worse. There has been a few times this week when I just looked at Liz and said "we've got it good", because... well... just watch one episode and you'll find out why.

In what ways do I think Dave is wrong? In his "Total Money Makeover" plan he says you should stop all 401K contributions and take out all other saving except for the 401K and $1,000 and pay off debt. In following his plan, we are not doing this. I think it would be a very dumb thing during this time of the stock market to stop 401K contributions, and he said so in his show today. He also recommends this no matter what your company matches on your plan. He's assuming that the motivation of getting more money is more valuable than what you'd get during the company match. I disagree, I'd rather just leave my contributions where they are which is why I've ignored that part of the plan. I'm pretty much following his plan acting like we have no savings and what we get after taxes and savings is all we have to live on.

So for the last week, I have thoroughly enjoyed his show and I hope I don't get tired of it like I got tired of the one-week-wonder in my life called Ninja Warrior. It was an amazing Japanese TV program where people would go through obstacle courses and wipe out miserably. We watched it during pretty much every minute of free time we had that week and it was awesome. It soon got repetitive and stupid.

Notice how in the title I said "my" and not "our". So while I love the show, it isn't Liz's favorite. So every now and then I have to suppress my love of watching The Dave Ramsey show and maybe that will be enough to sustain my interest for more than a week.

*DISCLAIMER*: If I violated some sort of copyright by putting the book picture there, I apologize. Dave Ramsey wrote it, not me. The book is awesome. He is awesome. Please don't sue me.

Here it is Saturday morning and I am awake and blogging at 7AM. What did we do last night? We were up until 2 AM with friends just hanging out and talking. Why am I awake? The dogs barely sleep at night, so how can I? Liz sleeps through everything and I can't blame her, if I could, I would too. I can't even recall how it feels to sleep past 9. I think since we got Daisy, I've done that just once. Which reminds me, we have now had Daisy one full year. I took her to the vet this week and she's as healthy as a horse... or dog.

So what's going on around here? I think the biggest thing is the deck railings. Here is the progress so far:




It might look like the posts are not level but I have made some adjustments and they are all as close to level as I can get them... I don't know if those adjustments were before or after these pictures though. So the things left to do are putting a post in the far right corner near the house and putting the two (or three) posts on the stairs. Then comes the 2x4 connections where you can see the notches, then ballisters, then railings and post caps. Unfortunately, even that won't complete the deck because I still want to put lattice around the bottom and then plant bushes around the deck.

What else is going on around here? Kidstuf started last Sunday and my first performance is tomorrow. I honestly have to say, the production is awfully heavy with a full dose of me. I am in 3 scenes and I think there are only 4 or 5. It should be a lot of fun as long as I can remember my lines and don't get nevous.

Liz is spending more time at choir these days because they are practicing for the Christmas Cantata. It's the reason she joined the choir so I'm sure she is enjoying it.

The Fall soccer season started up a couple weeks ago. I'm sorry to say I am not as thrilled about it as a should be. It is getting in the way of running and for some reason I just don't have the same excitement as previous years. So far Liz and my co-rec team is 2-1 and my men's team is 2-0-1. We always battle with one other team in the league and we tied this week 0-0.

I didn't feel like writing a lot today so I will end the post with some cute pictures.

I have decided that October is my favorite month of the year. Fall is turning to winter, the hot air that might have lingered during September is gone and all you get is the first feeling of cool temperatures. It is the month right before all the holidays start. It is filled from beginning to end with Football. Baseball and it's inclusion of the miserable Reds comes to an end. It also hosts my favorite holiday, Halloween.


When you think of October, you think Halloween. I have absolutely no idea why Halloween is my favorite holiday. It makes no sense. I don't like dressing up for anything with a costume. I don't like being scared. I don't like people knocking on our front door. I don't like socializing with people I don't know, even though I already know what they are going to say: "trick or treat?" The only type of candy I like is chocolate (I can't stand suckers or chewy candy or sticky candy). And yet I still love Halloween. The only redeeming quality Halloween has is that it's an excuse for every single family in America to put up decorations that are orange and black, the two official colors of Halloween?

Orange and Black. In my humble opinion two of the most fantastic colors in the universe. It's obvious that it's because of the Bengals and Virginia Tech. But my life has been so inundated with orange that I just can't get enough of it. My favorite fruit is an orange. My favorite flavor of anything is orange. I love Sunkist. My favorite animal is a Tiger and really any wild cat, and ironically enough I am allergic to cats. Pumpkins and everything about them are awesome, except the disgusting goo inside. Everywhere you look in Cincinnati you see orange, and I love Cincinnati. So needless to say I am looking forward to September passing and October coming.



Where was I going with this post? Really I wanted to give my opinion on how the Bengals are going to do this year. If you asked me in July I would have said, "this team will surprise people, and are going to dominate like it was 2005." Unfortunately things have changed and I see a storm of injuries coming that just ruins the season. Everyone is hobbling but still playing. T.J will miss time with his hamstring issue. Chad will be lost for the season when he hurts his shoulder again. Carson will be fine but has no one to throw to. And my worst prediction of all, Chris Perry will not make it through the season before he blows his knee out once again. I think the Bengals are going to finish in the 6-10 or 7-9 range and it will be an offseason of turmoil once again. The kick in the pants is that I think Rudi will run wild in Detroit. And I think Chris Henry will get in trouble once again within the next year. What else would you expect from the Bengals?

I haven't blogged about how we did during vegetarian month. As far as finishing it, we totally did it. As far as enjoying it, I'm not so sure. Around the 20th of the month we were ready to be done with it. But I will get into why.

The positives were that we really felt like we had control of what we were eating. It got to the point where we weren't even thinking about it. We started out the month really enthusiastic and cooking some new meals but that didn't continue. We made a lot of easy meals like pasta but we were laughing about the fact that we went the whole month without having just a salad for a meal. I also can say that it was causing me to lose weight because we were more conscious of what we were eating. I have a new respect for restaurant meals that I would normally never order. Our favorite meals were without a doubt the fritatta and the mexican pizzas.

I'll honestly say that there probably weren't as many negatives than there were positives, but there were a few. I am tired of cheese. Every single meal had cheese in it. I also was getting tired of beans but we didn't eat those as much. It was inconvenient because meals with meat are much easier to put together. Our restaurant behaviors didn't really change though because we don't eat a lot of meat outside the house anyway. The meals were not as cheap as I expected them to be... food is food, it was just as, if not more, expensive than our normal months of food.

Chances are, we will do it again next year. It was a good experiment and I think we could have done a better job of eating more fruit and vegetables than we actually did. I will also put that blame solely on me, because Liz does a great job. Me, not so much.

One thing that was awesome. I gave blood on August 27th and my blood pressure was the lowest it has ever been. It was 117/71. I attribute that to all the running and the vegetarian diet.

What did we do to celebrate the end? We went to Champps bar at Southpoint and had some wings at midnight (kind of midnight, we didn't make it till midnight, but it doesn't matter). We also took advantage of the free Chick-fil-a chicken strips on the 1st and for dinner we had some bison burgers at Ted's Montanta Grill. We have really been terrible about the happy meat this week but I'm dead set on only eating chicken if I cheat at all. It will be a long time before I eat beef that doesn't come from the farm. I had a spicy chicken at Wendy's this week and lots of wings on Thursday night for the Redskins vs. Giants game. I think we are back to our routine now. I might cheat occassionally but not as often anymore.

Let's be honest, half the reason why I loved having a foosball table is because Joey and Chandler had a foosball table in their apartment on the show Friends. There... I said it... that's how far my love for Friends goes... so today it was "the end of an era. No more J-man and Chandy" (a quote from season 6 episode 2). I have sold the foosball table. It was a wonderful game during bored times but we just don't play it anymore and it takes up space that could be used for other things like a play room for Daisy and Gryffin. Liz probably wants me to say a "dining room table" but we'll see, I don't know what we'd use that for =P.

So this afternoon it's getting hauled off. I asked $650 for it and ended up selling it for $550. Not too shabby if I say so myself. It's in perfect condition and I think both parties got a fantastic deal. It was a young couple who came by to look at it. Looks like they are going use it very very often as they live with some other friends.

So it is time to say goodbye to all 26 of the devoted players. You keep on kickin'. Score one for me in the next game. I'll miss you and never forget you. Although my skills might suffer, my love for you won't. R.I.P foosball table.

This picture is unrelated to this post, it's just cute. He's a Virginia Tech fan if you couldn't tell:


This probably will not be the last post about Gryffin's love for me. Last night we're getting ready for bed and Gryffin crawls into the closet and disappears into my shirts. My shirts are long enough to barely touch the ground from that level in the closet, so he is completely buried. He then just plops down behind them and we figure it's because he isn't allowed in our bed and they smell like me. I'm already in bed and Liz, standing in the bathroom, starts cracking up laughing. She told me to go get the camera as quietly as I could so he wouldn't jump up. So I tip toed out and down the steps and into the kitchen and came back up with the camera. Liz had parted my shirts to just be able to see his face. We took some pictures, he got up and moved around, and then went back in and we snapped some more. They are too adorable.

This is the second time he got in:


And this is what Daisy was doing this whole time. Just chillin under the bed, her favorite spot:

Today has been a very lazy day... well for me at least. Liz on the other hand has been very productive, but probably not in the most productive way possible. This blog will be a little choppy because it's mostly conversation.

This morning Liz ran errands and did some housework. At noon, I started doing some work and watching the VT game and was sitting on the couch the whole time. Liz calls over from the kitchen

Liz: Hey I'm going to make a pizza for lunch, is that cool?
Michael: yeah that sounds great.

So as I'm sitting here, I hear some vegetables getting cut and Liz frying them on the stove to cook them before putting them on the pizza. Then 10 minutes later:

Liz: Oh CRAP! We have no pizza crust!
Michael: Oh no.

Liz then comes over and lies down on the couch for a minute.

Liz: what should i do?
Michael: (I had absolutely no suggestions for her) no idea.

She then hops up and comes over with a box of homemade pizza crust in her hands and reads the back.

Liz: oh... it requires blah-blah oil... we don't have that... I guess I'll just leave it out.
Michael: it'll probably be fine.

(btw, I say blah-blah oil because I don't remember what it was exactly and she is napping right now. it's rare and weird, I will say that.)

So she goes to work on the dough and this whole time in the kitchen, I can't see her. But I hear the kitchen-aid mixer running and the rolling pin doing it's thing... So after about 15 minutes more:

Liz: I'm waiting for the dough to rise...
Michael: cool!

So Liz walks around doing stuff upstairs and comes down and about 5 minutes later I hear:

Liz: oh crap! We have no pizza sauce!
Michael: you're kidding.
Liz: no, we have no sauce
Michael: have you checked on the cheese? ... make sure we have that.
Liz: Ugh! I'm gonna have to go to the store.
Michael: You want me to?
Liz: No, the dough has to rise anyway, I'll go.
Michael: How long is the oven set for?
Liz: The dough isn't in the oven, it's just sitting out.
Michael: Oh, I didn't know.

So Liz heads out the store and I continue my sitting. She comes back a while later and goes back to work on the pizza. She spreads the sauce and gets the pizza ready and slides it into the oven. Then I hear:

Liz: I DO HAVE BLAH-BLAH OIL! Oh man!
Michael: I'm sure it's fine without it.
Liz: This is going to be the ugliest pizza ever, just to let you know.

10 minutes later, Liz is cleaning the bowls and knives in the sink...

Liz: OOOWWWW... EEEEESSSSHHHH
Michael: (I hop up immediately) what happened??!
Liz: I cut myself on the knife, can you run and get a band-aid and neosporin?
Michael: Yeah.

So I run and get it and bring it all down and wrap it up and give the boo boo a kiss. She then walks over and opens the oven door.

Liz: uuugghh!! I burnt the pizza.
Michael: this has been a disastrous lunch.
Liz: yeah it has...

So ever since we got Gryffin we have been trying to get him to be polite and follow the rules of the house. We have a lot of rules and most of them are pretty logical. Like rule #1, no peeing in the house. You can probably guess what rule #2 is right? After watching an episode of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" last night we have also decided that yelling, screaming, or shouting is strictly prohibited in the house, however that rule won't need to enacted until we have kids because Liz and I do not yell.

Well one rule that we have is that neither of the dogs are allowed to share food. If Daisy's food is in Daisy's bowl, then only Daisy is allowed to eat it. And the same goes for Gryffin but I used Daisy's food as the example because you can probably see where this is going.

Gryffin came from a foster home where it was a free for all on the food. The foster mom left food out for the dogs 24/7 so they could eat whenever they wanted. I don't know how Gryffin didn't get to be 300 pounds because he eats like a horse. So when he came to our house and he finished his bowl, he went over and attempted to eat Daisy's food while she was still eating. We put a stop to that quickly. The problem is that whenever Daisy decides she doesn't want to finish, Gryffin will swoop in when she's done and finish it for her. But over the past 3 months he has slowly gotten better. He moves toward her bowl slower, knowing he is doing wrong. He'll eat only a little and then run away before we can scold him. Well this morning was victory for Gryffin's manners, and it was one of those mornings where Daisy does not finish her food but leaves it for later. So Liz sent me a message during the day and here is what it said:

Liz: oh Gryffin was so cute this morning
Michael: yeah?
Liz: I was making breakfast for myself, and daisy was in the living room. gryffin was just sitting next to daisy's food and being soooo good not to eat it. then eventually he just walked away
Liz: and then
Liz: when i was starting to pack up my stuff daisy finally went to go finish her food. so i waited until she was done and just sat on the coffee table until i could crate her up. and gryffin just went in his crate and laid down as if he knew i was leaving
Michael: awww that is too adorable!! good for him for having strong will power
Liz: yeah, he was too cute

I still need to work on getting him caught up on the tricks that Daisy knows... and come to think of it, practice the old tricks with Daisy so she still knows them!!

And his name is Gryffin. This picture is the result of Gryffin's actions only, we did not place him in this position.

Anyone who has been to our house and been around Gryffin, knows that he is somewhat fond of me. Ok, let's be honest, very fond of me. We often joke that Gryffin has a crush on me because he can't stand being away from me for any amount of time. If I go upstairs he either jumps over the baby gate we have set up in his way or he cries endlessly until he gets his way. We don't really understand it and most of the time it is really cute but every now and then it gets really annoying.

When we go to bed, his crate is set up next to the edge of the bed on my side so he can look up and see me at all times. If I am in bed, he is in bed. If I get up he sits up to make sure that if I am leaving the room, he can follow quickly.

When we come home to them from being away, the easiest way to get him to go out in the yard and pee, is if I go out there and make him follow me. I'll stand there long enough for him to do his business and then when I go in, he goes in. He has gotten better about being outside without one of us out there with him but he doesn't last too long.

Gryffin is still very dependent. He absolutely adores getting his belly rubbed and if you even make the slightest move to rub his belly he'll flip over for you. He is as lap doggish as it gets. He loves being in contact with us and if he naps on the couch, he prefers to snuggle against our leg. He loves to be held and carried but only at his own will, if you force it or if it's someone that he doesn't know well, he will give an innocent growl. I say innocent because he has never actually acted on it or bitten anyone, it's just a warning. So in that case you just have to put him down and let him do his own thing.

One thing that will be a perpetual problem is his stinkin' nails. He has incredibly long nails and they hurt. "Cut them then" you say? We try but his skin or cuticles or whatever you call them in the nail are naturally long, so even if you cut them as short as possible, they are still long and still hurt. No big deal, it's become somewhat endearing.

We blame his attachment to us as his paranoia that he will be given away again. When the animal rescue found him, he was curled up in box under a car port in southwest Virginia. It's assumed his owner abandoned him. Someone found him and then gave him to the animal rescue. The first foster home he stayed in had some mean dogs and picked on him and he didn't fit in. They then moved him after a month to a second foster home where he immediately bonded with the dogs there. Sunny, his foster mom, said he had some good friends in that pack and they got along wonderfully. Then we adopted him in May after a month at his second home. He has now been with us a whoppin 3 months, and the longest he's been in one place in his life. I keep telling him "we got you for keeps", "this is your forever home", "you and Daisy will be best friends forever" but I don't think it sinks in. He'll just have to see for himself because he really has become part of the family.

Too cute