Our Family is Growing!

And no...we're not having one of those baby things ;-). Not any time soon anyway. Remember the puppy I posted about last week? My daddy caught her! He found her yesterday and my mom took her to the vet today.

Meet Bailey.

I sat down with the calendar today and figured out she's just over 6 weeks old. A little younger than I was thinking originally. Her mom was still pregnant with her when my family left for Florida and she wasn't when they got back. We decided to pick right in the middle for her birthday. February 26.

I love her markings! I love white dogs with patches around their eyes :-) She hasn't had much human interaction at all but she's doing really well so far! I've been bugging my mom & dad for updates & they've been very patient with me :-) I'll tell you a little bit about her. She has huge feet, she seems to like her crate, she does not like to ride in the car (she cried all the way to the vet & back...I hope she gets over that before she rides to MD!), she doesn't mind her collar at all, she cried to go out to the bathroom this morning and hasn't had an accident inside yet (to my knowledge)...but my dad spends a lot of time outside with her, so I'm sure that helps. During her vet visit we found out she had a lot of worms (we knew she would...luckily that's an easy fix) and she has a hernia. We'll get it repaired when we get her spayed. Other than that she's a healthy 9.2 lb puppy :-)

My parents are coming to spend Easter with us and they'll be bringing Bailey then. We're both very excited and we can't wait for her to come home! We've been gathering all the things we'll need for her and we need to start puppy proofing the apartment. We have a few things we still need to get but we have just about everything. I got some of the bitter spray stuff today. I've heard it works great as a chewing deterrent. I was a little curious so I decided to taste it. NOT a good idea. It was SUPER bitter. It took forever to get the taste out of my mouth! Even a chocolate chip cookie didn't help :-/ Hopefully it will help save my couch.

House Updates...No Disappointments This Time :-)

I mentioned that we've had a slight change in direction concerning the house hunt. From the beginning we've been focused on whether we wanted a town home or single family home. We've changed our mind a few times. There are things we like about each of them. We were also set on the fact that we would not pay as much for a town home as a single family. Earlier this week we saw a duplex that we both LOVE. It has the same floor plan as the single family home we liked that sold. There are a few minor differences that make me actually like it better. One of the big ones being that there is a half bath on the main floor. Anyway...we're considering putting an offer in on it! Today we're going to look at a few more to see if we have a change of heart. We don't want to rush into anything but we don't want this house to slip away like the other one. We've looked at a lot of houses now and we know what we're looking for. This house has it all :-) I didn't take any pictures. I'll post some from the listing if we end up moving forward.

We've also finally officially decided on our agent. Nice big check.

We've decided on our lender and we got pre-approved. We're all ready to make an offer :-)

I DO!

The main reason we went home last weekend was for a friend's wedding. Traci and I were friends through high school and she was my freshman roomie. She transferred to App State after freshman year. I've missed her a ton but we've tried to keep in touch. I've only met Jason once while we were having dinner during Thanksgiving break one year. They are really great together and I couldn't be happier for them.

Her wedding was this past Saturday. The ceremony was beautiful, of course I cried. The reception was a ton of fun. They had a photo booth and we actually got some great pictures. I didn't know that Josh had put them in his pants pockets and I washed them :-/ We saw several people we haven't seen in a LONG time & it was great to catch up.

Jennifer & Joseph. We hope to make it back home for their wedding in July.

The beautiful bride & I.

The ladies...Me, Jen & Traci.

Hubby, Me & Traci. We had so much fun freshman year :-) Great memories

Traci's mom. Josh didn't tell me my eyes were closed but I still love the pic. I haven't seen her since freshman year of college! It's been way to long. This is a great woman :-) I'm pretty sure her dress is the same one my mom wore for my wedding but a different color.

I've always loved weddings but they're so much more exciting since I've been married. It's so much different now because I know how they feel. Of course I knew before that the bride & groom were happy and excited on their wedding day. It just means so much more now. I know it's the happiest moment of each of their lives to that point. I remember the feeling I had the day I married Josh and there's nothing that can compare to that. I get so excited when someone I love gets to feel that way :-)

I didn't take any pictures during the ceremony so I borrowed one from their photographer's blog. We were actually very close to using the same photographers for our wedding!

My love & I :-) One of the better self portraits I've taken of us. My arms are short so I'm not good at these.

Puppies!

A while back I posted about us getting a puppy when we get our house. Last week I found a potential breeder. They're in VA. The mom & dad are both beautiful dogs. They're not going to be breeding until the fall and the puppies will be available in January. We were planning to go meet the mom in May on the way home from Raleigh.

This is the mom. I usually don't care for brindles but there's something about her that I like :-)

This is the dad. Gorgeous :-)

As you may have realized by now, our plans change quite often...

My dad lives in the country & there's a stray dog he's been feeding for a while. My niece has named her "Pretty Baby". She was pregnant and had the puppies around the time we were on vacation (that makes them 5-6 weeks old right now). While I was at my dad's, she came by for lunch with 2 of her puppies. As soon as I saw this one in the picture I fell in love with it. We're not quite sure what it's mixed with. We know the mom has Pit in her & I'm guessing she has a little Lab in her too. My dad said he's seen a male around that's probably mostly Pit. I don't know if it's a boy or girl. The only human contact the puppy has had is when it got just close enough for me to pick it up. It started squeeling so I put it down. I didn't know how the mom would react. As soon as I put it down it took off with the mom. Josh was on his way to the car to get his camera so this is all we got.

I still love American Bulldogs & we plan to get one someday. I just can't bring myself to spend a LOT of money on a dog when I can save this one. As you know, Pits have a bad reputation. They're actually great dogs when they're raised properly. I grew up with one and my dad has one now that we've had since I was in high school. I've had lots of dogs, several pure bred & several mixed. Those two Pits are by far the best dogs I've ever had (definitely not the best puppies, they chewed everything...but absolutely the best dogs). Anyway, they have horrible reputations because of what so many people raise & breed them to do. In the area my dad lives in, this poor dog doesn't stand a chance. If it cowers & won't fight, it will just be used as bait. Getting hit by a car is probably one of the better things that could happen to this puppy. I just can't let that happen if I can help it.

We were going to bring the puppy home with us Sunday. We were not prepared at all so we picked up the essentials. My dad wasn't able to find where she had the puppies so he said he would keep it for me until we came home again (in May). I was disappointed but relieved. I was excited & ready to bring the puppy home but we are definitely not prepared yet. We've been spending a lot of time looking at houses so we're not home much. There are 1000 reasons we're not ready. I talked to my dad today & he still hasn't been able to find them. He said he would try to bring it to us the weekend of Easter if he's able to find it. My mom gave us a crate & said she would take it to the vet to get it checked & vaccinated when my dad finds it. Hopefully my dad will be able to find it soon so it can get used to the crate & people. I'll keep you posted :-)

Comfort Food

One of my favorite things about going home is the food. I eat at my favorite places every time I get a chance. Cookout is one I HAVE to get to while we're in NC. I've been craving a banana pudding milkshake FOREVER and I was so excited to finally get one :-) I did realize that I would go through pregnancy without having access to these. I don't know how I'll handle it. I'll have to figure out how to make these & teach Josh :-)

Of course I couldn't go to Cookout without getting some BBQ!

I apologize for the huge bite...I'll blame that on Josh ;-). After riding in the car for...I guess about 4 1/2 hours at this point, taking pictures of half eaten food is pretty entertaining. Notice the onion ring on the BBQ sandwich. Try it next time you make it to Cookout. You won't regret it. BTW...if you haven't been to Cookout, you're really missing out. They have SO many milkshake flavors it's insane. Somehow, on the way home I was able to resist a 99 cent Cheerwine shake from Cookout. Of course I wish I would have tried it now, but at the time I just wanted to stay on 95 & get home.

We also make it a point to go to Ferguson's every time we're home. Well, every time we're home & they're not closed...which isn't very often. Anyway...

Mmmm...Fergie Burgers. I kept my slim figure by eating these through high school ;-) Maybe it's a good thing we don't live in St. Pauls anymore. Haha

We also made it to Cracker Barrel twice (we have CB up here, but it's about 40 minutes away...not worth it) and of course Zaxby's. I didn't take pictures...pictures of food got old pretty fast. Haha

House Disappointment Numero Dos

Still trying to play catch up here...

Josh and I did get a chance to look at houses before we went home for the wedding. We got to go last Wednesday, the rainiest day of the week. We still enjoyed ourselves though.

We found a house that made me forget all about favorite house #1. It didn't have the ginormous walk in pantry, but the rest of the kitchen definitely made up for it. It has a ton of cabinet space! There's even more to the left in the top picture, along with a pantry. I don't think I have enough stuff to fill them up!

The granite was amazing. I didn't take a close up picture but I absolutely loved it! Anyway, I was ready to pack my bags and move in. The yard was TINY but I kept making excused...less grass to cut, etc. haha.

As it turns out, the main road leading to this house is a traffic nightmare. I hated to let this house go because it was pretty much perfect (except the price...but there's always room for negotiation!) I know I would go insane sitting in crazy traffic trying to get to & from work every day though :-/

I'm remaining optimistic. We're meeting with a lender today to get the pre-approval process started. We have a few more documents we need to gather but he said we can just fax them to him. Hopefully this part of the home buying process will go smoothly for us. We'll be looking at more houses this week. We also have yet another possible change in direction...no, we're not leaving MD...just a slight change. I'll post with updates later :-)

Grasshopper Pie

I saw this recipe a while back on Pioneer Woman's blog. If you haven't checked her blog out yet, you're really missing out. I was in the mood for something minty & it was green so I decided to make this for St. Patrick's Day. I'm SO glad I did...although it's a little messy. I was originally going to take step by step photos. I made such a mess & I only remembered to take 2 pictures during the process. If you want step by step pictures, PW's blog has them.

I will say, unless you have a tight fitting lid for your pie dish, I don't recommend transporting it very far. I made 1 full sized pie for work & 2 mini pies for Josh and I. I just put foil over my pie dish & it leaked in the back seat. It was an absolute pain to clean up. Speaking of the mini pies. I got these mini baking dishes from the Dollar Tree! They also have them in red (I grabbed a few of those too!) & blue. I was super excited to find these so cheap. They're oven, microwave & dishwasher safe. SCORE!

Ingredients

• 16 whole Oreos
• 2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
• 24 whole Large Marshmallows (or Container Of Marshmallow Fluff)
• ⅔ cups Half-and-half
• 2 Tablespoons Creme De Menthe Liqueur (more To Taste)
• 2 Tablespoons Creme De Cacao Liqueur
• Drop Or Two Of Green Food Coloring
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• Extra Cookie Crumbs, For Sprinkling

Directions

Throw the cookies and melted butter into a food processor and pulse until the pieces are broken up & uniform. Set aside.

Heat marshmallows and half-and-half in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. As soon as it’s all melted and combined, place saucepan in a bowl of ice to cool down quickly. (Stirring occasionally will hasten this process.) Once cool, add creme de menthe and creme de cacao. Taste and add more creme de menthe if needed. Add one to two drops green food coloring (optional!)

(***I didn't put my pan in ice...it can warp your pan and I'm quite fond of mine. I just let it cool to room temperature then put it in the fridge for a while to cool...I wasn't in a hurry. You could also transfer it from the pan to a mixing bowl. I thought of doing that but I didn't want to wash the extra dish.***)

In a mixing bowl, beat whipping cream until stiff. Pour cold marshmallow mixture into the whipped cream and fold together gently.

Pour filling into crust. Sprinkle extra chocolate crumbs over the top. Place pie in the freezer and freeze until very firm, at least two hours.

Remove from freezer ten minutes or so before you want to slice and serve.