Basset Hound Picnic

Today was the Helping Hands Basset Hound Rescue's Family Picnic. They had all sorts of fun events that Annie didnt want to participate in, but we did watch and enjoy.



The biggest hit of the day was the Snasage Toss, which surprisingly Annie didnt participate in either, she was too busy just walking around.







There was a costume contest which only a few dressed up, got a picture of "Harley Dog" and his crew. There was also basset musical chairs, which was pretty funny, basically the parent couldnt sit down until the basset sat down first. But the basset that won only won because he sat down and wouldnt get back up, so he was blocking the pathway and the game had to end :)





Annie had all sorts of fun as you can tell by the pictures, Jaska even had a good time surrounding by bassets. They were exhausted on the way home and slept the entire trip.

Pecan Update

So I said in my blog from earlier today that I probably kept about 75 pecans and threw away 75 more. I am not very good at guessing quantities evidently because as I washed them off I went ahead and counted them and had 198 sitting on my kitchen counter. So that means I probably threw away close to 200 and still have a ton in my front yard!!!

The Puppies

I wanted to post some new pictures of the puppies for everyone. I tried to get them to sit down together but had no luck. They really arent puppies anymore, but I will keep calling them that anyway. If you look closely at Annie's face you will see she has all sorts of gray hairs, she is becoming a grumpy little old lady. Tomorrow we are going to a basset hound rescue picnic (we are bringing jaska along as well), so I will have some pics of that which should be pretty funny.

Backyard Adventures

Ian and I have been to finally pay attention to our huge backyard and have discovered some neat little treasures.

Ian found a bright green lizard hanging out on our deck and managed to get a few pics before it ran away. We have also seen some really big black lizard thats probably 6 inches long that I guess hides in the slits in our brick, but I saw him just chillin on our deck, I tried to grab the camera because he was impressive, but he was gone when I turned around. But below are pics of "ian's lizard"





Today I went pecan hunting in our yard. Our neighbor has a huge pecan tree that extends into our front and backyard. I went out to fill a hole jaska had made trying to get the kitty next door and discovered there were tons of pecans. I tried to pick up as many as I could find (but gave up after about 45 minutes since I could have kept going for hours). I threw away any that had large cracks in them (afraid the bugs got in) and kept all the nice ones to sample and keep for mom. I probably have about 75 and probably threw away about 75 and I would guess there are probably another 50 or so still in the front yard. I am gonna go pecan hunting every weekend to try and keep them from getting out of control as summer approches.

Grand Hyatt San Antonio

I got to help attempt to open the new Grand Hyatt San Antonio last week, they were supposed to open over 3 weeks ago, were behind (as usual) but they are the headquarters for the Final 4, so had to open up over the weekend, so they called in everyone they could for help. I went to help for 2 days, each day being about 26 hours of working (manual labor) and 4 hours of riding on a bus. Needless to say it was a long few days, luckily I had off the next 3 days or I dont think I would have made it. We spent 2 days cleaning up a hotel that was still a construction zone (yes, it was pretty pointless) but it was fun to get away from the office and experience a hotel opening. I have heard many horror stories but didnt quite believe them, well let me tell you, after only 2 days, I will never open a hotel :)

The fun thing is that a large group of helpers managed to get bronchitis, and not realize it was that bad because everyones throat hurt and was itchy, but we all thought it was just the dust we inhaled for 2 days (or more). Luckily I was ONLY just sick for 5 days, but that still wasnt fun. I spent all day on Ians birthday and our 3 day weekend (which we never get) alseep or grumpy because I felt like crap.

Anyway, I thought I would attach some pictures of the hotel, when it is done it will be beautiful, but right now people are sleeping in rooms without bathroom sinks and constructions workers all over the hotel. We got to wear hard hats, too bad we didnt have a camera, we looked pretty stupid, but we had fun.

So enjoy the pictures and take my word for it, if you ever end up working for a hotel, make sure it is open before you get hired on, and never volunteer to help open it, unless of course you are crazy!!

Trip Home

I got to spend 10 whole days in IN with the familly during Sara & Eric's Spring Break at the beginning of the month. It was great, I wish I could go home more often, but they should be down in the summer some time. Lisa also came home from DC for a few of the days, so we were all together again. We of course took pictures to show everyone. I am not including captions, I think everyone can pretty much figure out who the picture is of, but if you need a hint, its either me, lisa, sara, eric, mom, dave (or kari the dog)




i do need to explain this one, she made my facebook picture a ducks ass and a seagull, so i was getting her back for that

House Picks

I know its been awhile since we moved in, I took a few pics. We are hoping to get some more furniture in April and will have more pics then.


our cute doggie hooks - annie has a blue one


our perfect miniblinds - amazingly they all fit!!


our utility room, i dont have enough to even fill the shelves


our freakin awesome washer & dryer, i love them!!


ians desk on his side of the loft


my super cool bright teal desk and white chair from ikea - on my side of the loft

Almost Closing Time!!

Its almost time for us to close on our new house!! We close at 9am on Friday, and we move at 9am on Saturday, Im sooo excited. I'll email everyone with our new address, so stay tuned.

House Pictures

So we took some pictures of the house, they are kinda boring since it is just a bunch of empty rooms, but if you want to check them out feel free.

Go to: www.flickr.com/photos/mimilach

I will post more once we actually move in and get things situated.

We got a house!!!

We purchased a house today!! I am soooo happy. We will close on Jan 18th, so really pretty soon. We only have a picture of the outside and the floorplan, but they are below. We are gonna take some pictures on Saturday of the inside :) Its a brand new, 2 story, 3 bedroom, 2.5 baths, 1898 sq ft home. It has a formal dining room, living room, game room (loft), 2 car garage and pretty silestone countertops (so no boring laminate). Its got a huge fenced in backyard (for the puppies) with a super cute little wooden deck. Again, you will see more pictures soon!!

Sad News

Some of you might know this already, but Papi passed away on Friday, December 7th. Mama and Mom were by his side, and he went peacefully with no pain. I just got back from Indiana today, we had a memorial service on Monday at Meeks Mortuary in Munice. There is still a tough road ahead as everyone, but especially Mama, tries to cope with everything. They were married 59 years, so she just doesnt know anything without Papi. I just wanted to let everyone know the news and that we appreicate your past and current prayers.

No Broken Bones

So, I am very happy, I did not break my knee cap!! I did ice my knee last night and wrap it like Lisa told me to do, which really did help, it feels so much better today, but I still went to the doctor anyway. Based on its appearance and the swelling they really were concerned I broke my knee cap. So they sent me next door for xrays (very handy to have that next door), and it turns out nothing was broken.
I guess I aggravated or something a sack of fluid behind my knee cap (which is causing all the swelling) and I have a pretty deep contusion on my knee, but nothing that wont fix itself over time. I was told to take motrin 3 times a day, ice it daily, wrap it nightly, and just take it easy for about 10 days for it to heal. But I am sooo happy nothing broke, I really didnt want to deal with that :)

ouch

After living in a 3rd floor apartment for over 4 months I finally fell down the stairs!! I normally change out of my work clothes and heels before taking the dogs out, but yesterday I wanted to catch the beginning of bones, so I figured I would just change afterwards. Well, I was being careful on the stairs since I was in big heels and a large open cuff on my pants, so I was really caught off guard when it happened. Jaska was walking next to me (annie was ahead on her retractable leash), and Jaska's paw got caught in the cuff of my pants as I was in the middle of a step, so my foot came out of my shoe, I feel to my knees, and then skidded (on my knees) down 7 or 8 hard concrete block stairs - all the while trying to stop myself but making sure I didnt let go of either dog - who were both a little freaked out by the comotion and needed to go, so they just kept pulling me down the stairs faster!!
So, I will have some nice bruisers on my legs and feet, have some cuts on my feet and hands, and have a very swollen left knee, so Ive been hobbling around the office today. Im gonna see how it feels tomorrow and possibly get to the doctor in the morning before work. Hopefully its just swollen and bruised (the bruise is starting to really come out), my only concern is it was swollen minutes after the fall, which evidently is not a good sign, but I am staying positive because I walk a lot and walk on a lot of stairs all the time. If I go to the doctor and have news Ill update you, otherwise assume I got lucky and its nothing big!!

nothing new

Not too much to report on - just been busy and boring stuff like that. I am feeling all better so that has been nice, Jaksa finally got the tumor removed from her leg and everything went great with that as well. For 2 days she was really calm and didnt make any noise, I was lovin it, but she quickly went back to her normal self.
Work has been busy, I had 2 weddings last weekend plus we had a group of 1000 people, so needless to say it was not a fun day, but we pulled through and both weddings had a blast and didnt notice how busy were were. I also booked a large wedding for February and with their revenue (60K+) I was able to meet my quota with 3 more months to go, so I should be getting a nice bonus check at the first of the year.
The bonus check will be nice because we can use it to buy furniture for our new house. We still havent found anything but we are gonna go and try to see a new one either today or tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed. Either way, the prices just keep dropping so we should be able to get a good price, perhaps even a much nicer home than we figured but down in our budget.
Otherwise we are just counting down to thanksgiving and when Lisa comes to visit - only 34 more days till she arrives!!!

more wierd stuff

So I thought maybe I was finally out of the woods, my eye was better and my jaw & ear pain and swelling was gone. Aside from not being to sleep due to the steriods all was good (plus even though I wasnt sleeping I didnt mind because I am wide awake). Well, this morning I discovered I had broken out in hives, so my guess was I was allergic to the steriods (since it is the new medicine). I took my antibiotic like I was supposed to (as I have been doing for 8 or so days) and waited until I called the doctor before taking the steriod. To only find out I am having a delayed reaction to the antibiotic, and the steriods were actually helping the past few days, by trying to keep the reaction at bay. So I was told to stop the antibiotics (I only had a few left so it worked out well), to keep taking the steriods, to take claritin during the day (so I would stay awake at work) and take benadryl tonight when I get home to help calm the hives (that stuff knocks me out, so I know I will sleep tonight). If they do not improve by tomorrow I have to go back to the doctor.
I am trying to be hopeful this is the last of my issues, but Im not banking anything on it. The only good thing is the hives could be worse than they are, and now I know I am no longer just allergic to penicillin, but also sulfa based antiobiotics :)
On another note, a nice looking house just came on the market in a good location at a crazy low price for its location and size, so I am waiting to hear if our realtor thinks we should look at it. All the homes just keep getting reduced in price, so I think we should be able to get a good deal by the time we find one we like!!

So here is the deal...

OK - So I dont have an ear infection (which I kinda figured). I do have a fever, but no ear infection, my eye infection is gone (but still 4 more days of antibiotic), my glands arent swollen, but my jaw joint someone got aggravated and due to the movement got really swollen and started affecting my ears and head. So the doctor put me on steriods for 9 days (which I will still take with the antibiotics). The steriods will most likely make me irritable, nervous and will keep me awake. So I will be grumpy for 9 days!! The fever kinda threw the doctor off, but he couldnt find any other reason than my jaw, so we will see if it really solves the problem.
I go to the dentist next week so hopefully I wont have any issues there because I am not used to going to so many office visits.
But hopefully that is the end of my health problems, and I pray that these mediciations fix all these problems and that they arent really all interconnected since they are all so close to each other!!
Time will tell ...

i'm falling apart

So...The right side of my face hates me. I got the eye thing taken care of (it was an allergic reaction, not pink eye), after getting 5 days of antibiotic eye drops and pills (and 7 days of swelling) my eye is almost completely back to normal, it is still a tiny bit pink but I can wear makeup again so thats nice.
Well...now that my eye is fine my jaw or ear is mad at me. For the past 2 days my head has been hurting, yesterday I would get random moments of pain in my right ear, and my jaw was hurting pretty bad. I just figured it was my jaw acting up again and that is was affecting my ear (as it often does). Well, I woke up this morning and there is a bump (about 1 cm long) where my jaw meets my ear. And it feels like my jaw is just not in its socket, plus my ear is killing me, a few times today I've had pain in my left ear, and my overall head feels like it is going to explode. I am a little concerned that all 3 of these areas are very close to each other.
So...I am not putting it off, I have another doctors appt tomorrow at 9, they were very concered when I called about it this morning, but I couldnt get in today due to work. I really dont know what to expect tomorrow, Ian thought maybe an ear infection but what are the odds of getting one of those whenI am on antibiotics. Plus, now that my other ear is starting to hurt, plus the bump, plus the jaw pain, Im just at a loss for an explanation.
Anyway...I will let you know whats up, hopefully it will be the end of my head issues for awhile.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT!!!

I have pink eye again!!! Like last time I was really hoping it was just a stye but no, its pink eye again!! I think I might finally go to a doctor to figure out what is wrong with my poor little right eye that is always infected :( I know, wonderful news, but thats whats going on right now.
Still looking at homes, they have been dropping in price so thats nice. We are hoping they will keep dropping a little more by the time we need to purchase in about 1 month to close in November!!

Houses!!!

So - Ian and I have started the house search. We have considered new home communities a little outside of Austin and old home communities inside of Austin, and we decided to try to find an older home (but as new as we can find one) in the same section of town we are in now (which is somewhat limited but we are gonna try). Ian really wants big trees which you just cant find in brand new home construction, plus we live in a nice area of Austin.
So, we have contacted a realtor and a mortgage lady so the process has begun!! I am very excited about this, the doggies will finally have a big fenced in yard they can spend as much time in as they want and therefore leave me alone when I want to just do nothing for a little bit. Also, I have only been dealing with the 3 flights of stairs for 2 months and I am sick of them already.
We are looking to try and close on a house by the end of November, but if something happens before that is cool, and if we have to wait till after November that is ok as well, but I am hoping by November we will have a home.
We will keep you posted, and I know you are all looking forward to updating our address once again, because moving just 1 time a year is too easy, we have to move every year plus spice things up and move from state to state, from town to town, and even sometimes even more more than once a year!!!

Random Pics

So, I was going through my camera and found a few pictures I thought I would post - Enjoy!!

Ian and I at Sean and Colleen's Wedding in Chicago on 7/7/07. It was a fun time for all, and I finally got to see Ian in a tux :) But I think I prefer him in his favorite jeans and a polo!

Olive, a tiny beagle puppy we watched for a few days, harassing my dogs to the point of sheer terror and exhaustion on their point. I guess they really arent puppies anymore, they are almsot both little old ladies :)

Annie being her insanely cute, but sad, self

I am gonna try and get some pics of Austin and our apt to post too. Let me tell you, our apt is super classy, boxes everywhere and a freeway out the back window :) It really actually is pretty nice and I am enjoying it, it was just quite a jump in a different direction from the golf community we were living at - we are living the city life now!!