Chicken Bruschetta Pasta

I just realized it has been forever since I've posted any food! I have still been cooking, but I haven't been experimenting as much. I've mostly been cooking reliable dinners I know we like that I can throw together quickly. I saw something like this on the menu at TGIFridays. I wanted to try it sometime, but I didn't want it then. I decided to throw my own version together. It was easy and delicious! 

Chicken Bruschetta Pasta
- 1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 T Olive Oil
- 1 T Minced Garlic
- 1 t salt
- 1 t pepper
- 1 T Dried Oregano
- 1 T Dried Basil
- 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Pasta (I used thin spaghetti this time)
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- Fresh Basil (for garnish)

Mix 1/2 cup of Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil. Season with Minced Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Basil and Oregano. Marinate chicken for a few hours. I put mine in the refrigerator overnight, but a few hours is probably just fine. Bake in oven at 350 until done.

Cook pasta, add the can of diced tomatoes and toss with Balsamic Glaze.

Balsamic Glaze

- 1 cup Balsamic Vinegar

- 2 T Sugar

Combine, bring to a simmer and reduce. I probably let mine reduce to about 75%, but it's a matter of preference

(Disclaimer...this stuff is strong. Your whole kitchen will smell like vinegar)

Bruschetta
- Roma Tomatoes
- Fresh Basil
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Olive Oil
- Minced Garlic

I don't really measure anything when I make my Bruschetta. I just throw everything together and season to taste. It's best after it's been refrigerated for a few hours, this way all the flavors have time to blend together.

Bruschetta is great for all sorts of things. It's amazing on a hamburger with mozzarella cheese!

I served this with grilled zucchini...YUM!

Bailey's Progress Report

Sunday, we decided to take Bailey to the park again. We've been wanting to do this for a while now, but something always comes up. The last time we took her, she was still a little scared of other dogs. She's long past that stage now. She goes crazy and wants to play with every dog we see! We made the mistake of walking her with her regular collar Friday evening. We saw a beautiful Pit/Great Dane mix named Leo. He was such a calm boy and Bailey was just going crazy trying to play with him. She pulled SO bad! This is the main reason we wanted to take her to the park, so we could practice walking her around strange dogs. She did really well overall. We were able to get her to sit as dogs passed her (most of the time). Of course, she was very excited when we first got there, but it didn't take her too long to calm down. We let her get close to the water but she didn't have any interest in going in. I think this will take a little bit of time.

Potty Training

Just as I said last week that she was doing so well in this are, Bailey made me eat my words. I was so excited she had gone well over a week without an accident (almost 2 weeks)! Then...she peed on the kitchen floor. She has her own, very discreet way of telling us she needs to go out. Now, she sits at the top of the stairs, and just looks at us until we look back and realize she needs to go. I really think when she goes in the house now, she does it because she's mad about something or she just doesn't want to stop playing to go out? We walked her (twice) before we went into puppy class this week and she peed on her blanket when we had her sit. Josh took her outside and she didn't finish. I have no idea what that was all about. This means she went outside 3 times within an hour and didn't use the bathroom outside...but she peed inside! It's so frustrating, especially when she was doing SO well. 

Training

This week in puppy class, we did a practice graduation. For graduation, the dogs have to come (off leash and with distractions), heel, sit and stay for a minute and lay down and stay for 3 minutes. For the stay exercises, they're allowed to break 2 times and still graduate. A break is doing anything other than what they're supposed to be doing (including sitting when they're supposed to lay down or laying down when they're supposed to be sitting). If they go through all of this without any breaks or corrections, they get an "excellent". If they break once, they get a "good", if they break twice, they pass, if they break more than that or don't fulfill all the other requirements, they fail. Bailey got an excellent on everything except her down/stay. About halfway through her stay, I decided I wanted to sit on the floor. When she heard me sit down, she decided she wanted to sit too. She still would have passed....but I'll have to remember not to do that at graduation. Her real graduation would be this coming Monday. Since that is July 4th, it has been pushed back to the Thursday class. This is good and bad. It's good because we get a few extra days to practice. It's bad because there will be dogs she's never met in the Thursday class and I'm worried she'll be too excited. I think she'll do fine, but I'm still paranoid. We'll just keep practicing :-)

Bailey's Victims

This has not been a great week in this area...but it's mostly our fault. Bailey's gate has been installed for a few weeks now. We haven't put the locks on it yet. We've just been putting something against the other side of it to keep her from pushing on it. Well...she's getting stronger and she got into the State Room Monday. This room currently has a TON of boxes with all sorts of things in it, bags of shoes, furniture and random things we just haven't unpacked yet. I was scared to look once I noticed she had found a way in. There were at least 5 pair of shoes she had access to, but I didn't find a single tooth mark in any of them. She did tear up warranty information for Josh's drill and she messed up a pair of my fuzzy socks. The loose strings she tore out can just be cut off and I can wear them again.

I thought it would be cute to take a picture of her with these socks on...she thought we were playing. It was cute but they were big and they fell off when she walked.

She also decided to chew on our rug Sunday. The rug was already messed up. When we first moved in the house, I decided I would throw it in the washer before I put it on our new floors. This was a horrible idea...the washer ate a chunk out of one of the corners. Bailey decided she would give it a try too. she didn't cause any real damage...all that was previously done. She just pulled a string I was able to cut off. She still got in trouble though. Here's the evidence. 

I'm going to blame this on her teething, because she's done so well in the past.

Random
Bailey has always enjoyed drinking water from random places. We have to watch her because she'll drink out of random puddles and thing. When she was shorter, I caught her trying to get to the toilet water, but she was way too small. Now she's getting big enough to get to it. I keep the bathroom doors shut to make sure :-) Any time we go to water the garden, she gets SO excited about the water hose. Earlier this week we let her play in the water a little bit. She was so excited. She'll stick her whole head in the water with no problem. I don't get it because she still doesn't care for baths. I have a hand shower so it's pretty much the same thing, except it's warm water so it has to feel better (she drinks that too...haha). She doesn't even like to go in the master bathroom. That's where I wash her, cut her nails and brush her teeth, so I guess she associates it with grooming. This morning, I was getting ready and she ran up the stairs, super excited and ran in the bathroom. She stayed in there for a few minutes and I played with her a little. All of the sudden, she started to back out slowly. It was like she had just realized where she was. It was hilarious. She just sat outside the bathroom door, wagging her tail, waiting for me to come out. She's so darn cute!

Back Yard Progress

This past weekend was a VERY busy weekend for us. We have really been wanting to finish working on our patio. We have removed a ton of weeds, but there are still a lot. There are some very stubborn weeds growing between the pavers that are really hard to get up. They're kind of like Dandelions, but with no flowers. You have to get the roots, or they'll come right back. We don't want to spray any weed killer in that area because Bailey walks on it all the time and she likes to chew on the weeds. I hate the weeds, but it's definitely not worth making her sick. 

Anyway...to get the patio in order, we needed to:

- Dig up all the Hostas to thin them out (CHECK)

- Get rid of some of the Hostas (CHECK)

- Dig up the random trees/shrubs, get rid of the unwanted ones (CHECK)

- Till up the area surrounding the patio (CHECK)

- Put all plants back in place (CHECK)

- Level the dirt

- Put a border in place (Purchased...not installed)

- Mulch (Purchased...waiting to level dirt and put border up)

- Install water hose mount (Purchased supplies...just haven't done it yet)

We completed the bulk of what we wanted to do. It already looks a lot better, but it still looks like a big mess. I would LOVE to re-do the patio completely, but it just wouldn't make sense. We plan on building out deck next Spring/Summer. When we do that, we'll pour a concrete footing where the patio is now. It would be expensive and completely pointless. So...while I don't love the pavers we have now, they're better than nothing and they're certainly fine for just one summer. 

Digging the plants up, tilling the dirt, and getting the plants back down didn't take quite as long  as we thought it would. We threw out a ton of weeds and such. We filled up an entire 5 gallon bucket with rocks (on top of the ones we found when we were planting our garden). We had to pull up a lot of the black landscaping cloth. I did not enjoy doing this at all. All the plants were grown into it, along with weeds, grass and moss. 

We compared all the borders at Lowe's and we finally decided to use bricks. We decided against that plain black border. We saw some fake brick border that looked OK but it was expensive. That made us think of using real bricks. They look better and they're less than half the price. Well...they're not easy. That's why they're still sitting on our patio. I tried putting some of them down while Josh was cooking dinner on the grill but I was having such a hard time. If I got them straight, they weren't level and if I got them level, they weren't straight. I think we got about 6 in the ground before we quit for dinner. We decided to rest a little so we didn't go back to work on it after dinner. 

I really want to post pictures of our progress so far, but I think I'll wait to reveal until it's a little closer to finished. I'll share a few random pictures from the day to hold you over though :-)

This is what Bailey did for the majority of the day. She wasn't allowed out with us because A) We didn't want her to get hurt and B) She definitely would have gotten in the way. 

These are just some of the Hostas we dug up. We dug up 7 total, and we split a few of them. They are HEAVY. I gave away a few others and just had the people dig up the ones I didn't want (thank you Craigslist)!

This is Josh tilling up the dirt. It didn't take him nearly as long as I thought it would and I think he kind of enjoyed it :-)

We were both completely exhausted after spending literally all day working outside Saturday. We decided to take Sunday off. We got up and went to a new church. This one is our favorite one yet :-) They were having a "BBQ" cookout for young married couples later in the afternoon. We were interested in going because we don't have any married, or even engaged, friends that live near us. We had a few things we needed to pick up from Target and we had about 45 minutes before it started, so we decided to do that then go back to the cookout. We stayed in Target way too long. We picked up a lot of things we needed for the house, including this! I absolutely love my Dyson, but it isn't exactly great for spot cleaning on the stairs. It's great for vacuuming the floors, and it does a great job cleaning the stairs, but it is a pain to lug around on the stairs. I saw a little Dyson hand vac on display and I decided I had to have it. It was easy to maneuver, just like my Dyson ball. I couldn't find a price for it though. I figured it was just a hand vac, so it couldn't be too expensive. Come to find out, it's actually a stick vacuum that can also be a hand vac. At $300, I hardly consider it affordable for a hand vac. I wouldn't even use the stick vac function so it was definitely not a practical purchase for us. So...obviously, we decided on the $40 Shark. So far, I love it. It's great for a quick clean up of the stairs and vacuuming up random Bailey hairs. I think by the time it was all said and done, we were in Target almost an hour and a half, so we never made it back to church. We did leave with lots of new cleaning supplies for the house though. I got a new duster, some microfiber cloths, a container for Bailey's food, a new dry erase board (for meal planning) and other random things I think I'm crazy for getting so excited over. Since we went to Target to pick up literally 3 items, I'm banning myself from there for a few weeks.

Bailey's Progress Report

Bailey will be 4 months on Sunday. I just can't believe how fast she's growing. I looked at pictures of when we first got her and she's SO much bigger already! She drives me crazy sometimes but I don't know what I would do without her...my house would be too quiet quite. She is hilarious when we bring her in from her afternoon walk. This is usually her longest walk and she's just so excited that we're home for the day. She will grab a toy, run around the couch, under our feet, around the dining table, in the kitchen around the island and back into the living room. She does this about 4 or 5 times straight, full force. I just stare at her and laugh the whole time. She only stops when she drops her toy, she picks it up then she's back at it. She has always done this...not every day, but most days. She used to take a nap after the chaos. Now she just lays near us and chews her toy or play fetch. She doesn't take as many naps during the week, but I think that's because she naps a lot while we're at work. 

Bailey LOVES this bone. In the mornings right after she wakes up and in the evenings once we get home, she does this...

It's so darn cute! If you talk to her, she'll usually do it for a few minutes straight.

Potty Training

She hasn't had any accidents in over a week! She does still sprinkle a little when we come home, but she should grow out of this. We usually don't talk to her or pet her until we get her outside and she's had a chance to potty. Josh did pet her and talk to her when he came home from basketball Wednesday night, and she got a little too excited. We've been much better about sticking to a regular walking/watering schedule so I'm sure this has helped a lot.

Training

Bailey did SO good in her puppy class this week. We practiced Sit/Stay, Down/Stay, Come and Heel. She did way better than all of the other dogs with "Come". She did great with Sit/Stay. Sometimes she will lay, but she's gotten much better about that. We were practicing at home earlier in the week. I told her to sit and stay then went to fold a sheet. I got carried away and folded the whole load of sheets. It took me at least 5 minutes before I realized I hadn't released her yet. She sat the whole time, with no breaks! I was so proud of her. You can throw her toys or treats in front of her and she will stay. I know this takes a lot of concentration for her to do so I'm very proud of her. If another dog walks by, she may or may not stay, but we're working on that :-). She did OK with Down/Stay. The floor is concrete and was very cold. She didn't like it. I got her blanket out of the car for her to lay on and she did MUCH better then. She's showing a LOT of improvement with Play Dead! It's like one day, she just understood what she was supposed to do. She knows what the command means now, but she doesn't always follow through...it's like she forgets sometimes. Then sometimes she just blanks out and stares at you. It's funny most of the time, but it can be frustrating.

Other Random Progress

I haven't really posted much about her baths previously. She behaves well when we wash her, but she gets scared sometimes. She whines but she stays put. At least she doesn't go crazy. I know she'll get used to it eventually. I also want her to get used to the blow dryer so I can dry her off quickly in the winter time. She was terrified the first time I used it on her. She still doesn't like it, but she's getting so much better. I used to have to hold her in my lap the whole time. Now I can just have her sit and (sometimes) she will stay, but she still whines a little. She's also getting a little better about having her teeth brushed. 

We've decided to change her food. We just started transitioning yesterday. We still have about half a bag of her old food, so we'll do a slower than normal transition so we can use all of the old food up. She seems to like the new food, but she definitely realizes something is different. I personally think it stinks and smells like fish food. Josh says it smells like dog food. He thinks I'm crazy. I think he's crazy. It doesn't matter though...it's better for her. I don't have to eat it, so I don't care what it smells like.

Teething

Bailey's teething is still going strong. It doesn't seem to bother her much though. She doesn't whine or seem to be in pain. She definitely has a high pain threshold. She doesn't flinch when she gets vaccinations. She shows no signs of pain while teething even though her gums bleed. I accidentally stepped on her foot earlier this week (with shoes on) and she didn't make a peep. She just looked at me like, "Watch where you're going woman!"

Bailey's Victims

Some of Bailey's favorite toys need some TLC. The hedgehog, which she's had since she has been home, has it's first major tear. It's on a seam and it will be easy for me to fix. They ladybug has the same sort of tear, and just like the hedgehod, it no longer makes the noise it's supposed to make. I took the noise maker out of the ladybug via the hole Bailey made for me and now I know why those toys don't make noise very long. The noise maker is a bag! Of course it's not going to last long when you have a puppy constantly chewing on it!

The raccoon's tail is hanging on by about 2 or 3 threads, but it will also be easy to fix. The puppy...well, that's another story. I think it's time for it to go to the toy graveyard. I hate to throw it away, because she loves it so much! I think it's really time to let go this time though. 

Today when we came home today, we found this...so I think that makes 3 or 4 things that she's ruined. Still a little better than I expected when I got her. Of course, this was my fault for leaving it within her reach all day. At least I bought the cup on sale :-/

My Copco up. I loved it. The red band was in many more pieces that got swept up. She literally ate half the straw :-/ I sat it just within her reach this morning and I walked out the door without it. Bailey was glad. I was not.

Bigger and Better Things

Last Sunday, our lease ended on our first home together. I had been looking forward to getting out of there for quite some time. I couldn't wait to own our home, to have extra space, to have a dedicated guest room and office, to have a yard, to get rid of those horribly textured wall, to have a standard sized washer and dryer, to have room for more than one person in the kitchen, the list goes on and on. I was tired of going to the apartment to pick up a few more boxes after work. We decided to make the move gradual...the exact opposite of how we moved last year. I can't really say it made it any easier. I was tired of cleaning the apartment I knew I would never use again. I definitely did not enjoy priming the walls back. 

When the time came, I was a little sad. That was our first home together. It was small and we were cramped when we had guests over, but it was ours. We had a lot of great times there. It took a quarter of the time to clean and we never lost Bailey. I'll miss it at times. I actually don't have many pictures of our time there. I'm trying to get better about taking pictures. I always regret not having them. Anyway...here are just a few of the memories we've had in our first little apartment. I STILL can't find the moving in pictures I took. I'm assuming they're on a memory card I lost. 

 Trying to pick out paint colors for the accent walls.

 Choosing absolutely horrible colors the first time around.

 Fixing the horrible colors

 Choosing the right color for our dining room accent wall the first time (and having crappy lighting for a year)

 Having our first married Christmas

 Getting our first puppy. This is her at 2 months...she's almost 4 months now and about 3 times that size!

 Priming back that pretty red wall that plain primer white

Us the day we turned in our keys. Hubby carried me out just the way he carried me in :-)

Bye bye apt 636. It was great while it lasted.

50 Questions That Will Free Your mind

These questions have no right or wrong answers.

Because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer.

1.How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

 I think I would be 25. Right now, I'm at the point in my life where I hoped I would be when I was 25.

2.Which is worse, failing or never trying?

 Definitely never trying. If you try and fail, you know what you did wrong and you learn from it. If you never try, you will learn nothing and you will always wonder what could have been.

3.If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?

We do the things we don't like because we're chasing after something we don't have. I think we're all guilty of this to some extent. We think if we work the job we hate for long enough, we'll eventually be able to afford to do those other things we like. In reality, we should just appreciate what we have and do what we can within our means. I'm working on this :-)

4.When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
Absolutely. I'm a talker. Haha.

5.What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
Corruption. It's all over. Politics, individuals. I just wish people would do what is right, not what gets them ahead.

6.If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
The kind where I get to play with puppies and sea turtles every day.

7.Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
At the moment, probably settling for what I'm doing, but I'm working on that :-)

8.If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
I would work less and play more. 

9.To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
Well, I've been given choices, and I've made decisions. I would say maybe about 50%.

10.Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
Doing the right things.

11.You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire. They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?
Tell them they're talking about my friend, then tell them why they're wrong. 

12.If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
Take chances.

13.Would you break the law to save a loved one?

Absolutely, without thinking twice.

14.Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
Hmmm...nope, I don't think so.

15.What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
Hmmm. I sometimes use my GPS even when I know where I'm going. I like to see if I can beat my estimated arrival time. I'm not sure if that's very unique though.

16.How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
Because we don't all want the same things.

17.What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?
Own a hedgehog. Money and my puppy.

18.Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
Nope. I don't think so.

19.If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
Well, I'm very happy where I am now so I don't want to. But if I had to choose somewhere else I guess NC because that's where I want to end up (just later). As far as another country, Australia (if the cost of living were only lower :-/ ) because it's the most beautiful place I've ever been. I would love to share that with Josh.

20.Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
Sometimes. Nope, not at all.

21.Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
A joyful simpleton for sure.

22.Why are you, you?

Because my experiences have shaped me to be who I am today.

23.Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
Not always, but I am now, except for keeping in touch. I suck at that.

24.Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
Losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you. You can still be good friends with people who live far away. And one day, they might come back :-) If you grow apart from someone who is near, I feel like you're less likely to have the relationship you used to have.

25.What are you most grateful for?
My amazing family and friends.

26.Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
At this point in my life, lose all my old ones. The moment I lose someone in my immediate family, this answer would change.

27.Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
Sure, or you can at least think you know. Sometimes that's enough.

28.Has your greatest fear ever come true?
No

29.Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
Nope, and of course it doesn't.

30.What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
Probably riding horses with my dad on the weekend. It was "our" time and nothing else mattered.

31.At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
Now. I'm happier than I've ever been.

32.If not now, then when?
When I'm ready.

33.If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
Pride?

34.Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation 

ever?
Best conversation, No, I tend to think of that word literally. Strong connection, yes.

35.Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
Because there's no compromise.

36.Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
Yes.

37.If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
I don't think so. I think I would work part time.

38.Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
More work that I enjoy.

39.Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
No. Today I finished the preparation for the hubby and I to turn our keys in to our first place together (lease ends tomorrow). It was very different. Bittersweet. 

40.When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
Never.

41.If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
Our immediate family with my husband.

42.Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
Absolutely not. I'm married to a man who already thinks I'm extremely attractive and I definitely don't want to be famous.

43.What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
A heartbeat and a soul.

44.When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
As soon as you know it's right.

45.If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
Because no one enjoys failure.

46.What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
Not sensor myself about sensitive subjects.

47.When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
The last time I had a stuffy nose.

48.What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
My life, absolutely. I'm enjoying every moment of it and trying to make the best out of every situation.

49.In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day 

before that?
No. As time goes by, days start to blend together unless something significant happens. I have no idea what I was doing 5 years ago today. 

50.Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?
I make decisions myself, but I definitely take others into consideration when I make them.

Bailey's Progress Report

Bailey has had a pretty eventful week. Last weekend, when we had people over to help us with the house, everyone was SO busy! There was stuff all over her play areas, her toys were getting lost, Mommy and Daddy were putting things away, moving, going to Lowe's and feeding people when they should have been playing with her ALL weekend. She was not happy about this. She tried to hide a paintbrush so the painting would stop and she would be allowed back in the State Room. She tried to eat the garden so Mommy would throw her basketball for her instead of planting tomatoes...and worse of all...she peed on the floor...A few times...Right in front of me. I'm pretty sure it was because she wasn't happy about not getting all of our attention over the weekend. Each time we were downstairs, no more than 20 feet from the door she usually waits to go out at. We had also come in from outside. Nope...I was not a happy Mommy. Since then she has gotten back to her normal self, with one accident this week. She's still holding it while we're at work. We recently (yesterday) started freezing her water so she can lick on ice throughout the day. I don't know why didn't start this a lot sooner. Before, we couldn't give her too much water or she would pee several times during the day. No matter how much we gave her, she drank most of it up before we even left the house, so she didn't have water with her lunch anyway. This way, she can just lick on it when she's thirsty. She seems to enjoy it too. 

Last week we noticed just a few days after her bath, Bailey started to smell again. This isn't normal. She usually doesn't start to stink until it's almost time for her next bath. She wasn't acting any different, she just smelled different. When I washed her, I found the problem. She had earmites. Since she's been to many new places and met many new dogs recently, I don't know the source. I gave her ears a good cleaning and picked up some treatment. I started treating her ears Saturday and they're SO much better. Everything seems to be cleared up, but I'll treat them at least once more to be sure. We also found a flea on her. When I found it, I looked over her thoroughly and I didn't find any more (or eggs). She has been itching on and off since we got her. It's been hard to troubleshoot because things around her are constantly changing, especially her environment. Things are getting more regular now, so hopefully we'll figure out what's going on soon. I think we'll start with her shampoo.

So...on top of having to share attention with humans, getting ear mites and having me pour stuff in her ears and clean the gunk out on a regular basis, she's also having her teeth brushed a lot more often. She doesn't seem to hate this anymore, she just tries to chew on her toothbrush. I want her to get used to this before her permanent teeth come in and it becomes an issue. Speaking of her teeth...she's teething majorly now! I can literally tell a difference in her front teeth like day to day! 

Bailey is doing well in her puppy class. We continued to work on heel this week. She's doing SO much better with that. We worked on sit, down and stay. She did really well with all of these. She got really excited after we praised her one time and she peed on the floor. It was SO embarrassing. None of the other puppies are her size, so if they pee on the floor it's just a little bit. When Bailey pees, it's like a river! Jenna had us line up and each puppy took turns weaving in and out of the other puppies. This is the only part Bailey struggled with. She wanted to play with every puppy that walked by. We hope to take her to a park or something this weekend so we can practice on having her sit and stay when dogs are walking by. I can't wait to see how she does in next week's class. 

101 in 1001

I'm a really big list person. I make lists for everything. If you've never heard of 101 in 1001, I'll fill you in a little. Basically, you make a list of 101 present tasks you would like to accomplish in 1001 days (or 143 weeks, or 32.89 months, or 2.74 years). The tasks must be specific with a goal that is measurable and clearly defined. They should be realistic and stretching, so they should represent some amount of effort. 


Why am I doing this? I think it's a great way to keep life interesting. If I don't have tasks, or goals in mind. Life just flies by and I don't even realize it. Of course it will still fly by, but at least I'll be doing everything I can to enjoy every minute of it. This is a great way to document that! 


I started making my list for this well over a year ago. I never really kept up with it. In the end, I just threw things on the list to fill it up. I found the list not too long ago. I don't even want to do half of the things I put on there any more. For example, I was supposed to watch a bunch of classic movies. I don't remember how many, but it was a lot. I should have known better than to put this down. I usually don't care for older movies. Don't get me wrong, there are some I would like to see, but I found myself looking through Netflix, trying to find classics. I would just cringe when I saw the movie posters and things for them (yes, I'm quite shallow when it comes to movies...I appreciate the glam and technology we have today over whatever it is people see in the classics). What would you put on your list?


Start date: 6/16/2011
End date: 3/13/2014


Italics=In progress
Bold=Complete
Red=I didn't do it

Cooking

1) Make a meal with things only from my garden (or mostly, I can use eggs, seasonings, oils, flour...those types of things...otherwise I would just have to make a salad)

2) Compile a cookbook of my favorite recipes

3) Cook lobster at home
4) Try 50 new dishes (3/50)
5) Make pasta from scratch

Entertainment 

6) Go crabbing

7) Eat at 10 new restaurants (0/10)

8) Try a new type of ethnic food

9) Try a new type of food (ingredient)

10) Go to a comedy club

11) Watch all of the Star Wars movies

12) Go to a shooting range

13) Host a Super Bowl party

14) Host a game night

15) Go to a new theme park

16) Go ice skating

17) Drive in DC

18) Go to an Oriole's game

19) Go to a horse race (preferably Preakness)

20) Go to a regular season NFL game

21) Attend at least one home and 1 away NC State football game a year

22) Attend 1 NC State basketball game a year

Financial

23) Pay off credit card debt

24) Pay off student debt

25) Start 401K/Roth IRA

26) Build our emergency fund to 3 months

27) Build our emergency fund to 6 months

28) Start meal planning again

29) Find a way to make a steady supplemental income

For Me

30) Get a massage

31) Have my house cleaned

32) Write a letter to myself to open in 5 years

33) Get a manicure and pedicure

34) Buy at least 5 new outfits that make me feel great (0/5)

35) Make a list of 100 things I love/that make me happy to put in craft room

36) Learn to change a tire (and actually change one)

37) Ride a horse again

38) Take a class on a subject that interests me (fitness, cooking or other hobby)

39) Get a new passport

40) Either sale/donate/or find another use for my wedding dress

Giving Back/Acts of Kindness

41) Donate unwanted items bi-annually  (1/5)

42) Leave a 50% tip

43) Leave a nice note in a library book for someone to find

44) Donate $5 for each incomplete task to charity

45) Send a care package to a soldier

46) Volunteer

Hobbies

47)  Re-vamp the blog...it's been the same since I started it

48) Scrapbook wedding

49) Scrapbook honeymoon

50) Build a piece of furniture

51) Re-upholster or paint/dye an old chair

52) Re-finish a piece of furniture

53) Read 50 books (2/50)
Black Heels to Tractor Wheels
Pretty Little Things

 54) Attempt to make wine/brew beer

Home

55) Update kitchen counters

56) Update kitchen cabinets

57) Make a piece of art to display in our house

58) Add something I love to every room of our house

59) Decorate guest room

60) Decorate living room

61) Find use for empty space in kitchen and utilize it

62) Install functional storage in laundry closet doors

63) Build deck

64) Fence in yard

65) Landscape front yard

66) Establish a cleaning schedule

67) Make a household binder

68) Get a safe for important things

69) Decorate master bedroom

70) Get TV for State Room

Life/Relationships

71) Start retirement or other type of savings plan for Daddy (because he will never do it himself)
72) Create a will (Josh and I)
73) Create a living will (Josh and I)
74) Get supplemental life insurance (outside work)
75) Make 10 cards to send to friends and family (0/10)
76) Take another family vacation

Marriage
77) Take a full day for us to relax together once a month (1/33)
78) Take family pictures at least once
79) Have 2 dates per month (1/66)
80) 50 random acts of kindness for Josh (1/50)
81) Not get pregnant

Mind/Body/Soul
82) Get back to my wedding day weight
83) Run 1 mile
84) Run 2 miles
85) Run a 5K
86) Complete some sort of exercise program (I'm thinking about 200 Sit-Ups)
87) Find a church
88) Answer the 50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind


Pets

89) Take Bailey swimming

90) Teach Bailey to put away toys

91) Teach Bailey to "say your prayers"

92) Teach Bailey to bring beer

93) Make and organize a file for Bailey

Travel

94) Go on a cruise

95) Take a spontaneous weekend trip (I'm a big planner...this doesn't happen to me often)

96) Tour Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail

97) Visit 5 new towns in MD

98) Visit a new state

99) Go back to NY

100) Travel outside the country (other than a cruise)


101) Make a new 101 in 1001 list