Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Pines!
My Mom and Dad live here. They call it The Pines because of LOTS of pine trees on the property...enough for plenty of Christmas trees. The land belonged to Mom's Uncle for decades...I think somewhere near 60 years. I'll double check. Mom and Dad bought it in 2001ish...I think. Oh geez. They tore down the old dilapidated house and re-built a pre-fabricated home about 800 feet from the road. The same road that is shared with Amish buggies and horses. Yup, it's that far out in the country.
Getting there...
...is half the fun. 12 miles, 67 turns, 20 minutes and a speed limit of 50 but I do 45!
The old house sat right under that big tree.
Front yard. See a few trees on the left next to the drive way? There are foundation stones next to them from the old barn...so in a way, you drive "through" the barn on your way to the house!
Back yard. The 5 walnut trees in the middle were a 4H project for Mom's cousin. So...that makes them about 55 years old.
Getting there...
...is half the fun. 12 miles, 67 turns, 20 minutes and a speed limit of 50 but I do 45!
The old house sat right under that big tree.
Front yard. See a few trees on the left next to the drive way? There are foundation stones next to them from the old barn...so in a way, you drive "through" the barn on your way to the house!
Back yard. The 5 walnut trees in the middle were a 4H project for Mom's cousin. So...that makes them about 55 years old.
Grammie and Grandpa's house
No one has lived here for almost 2 years, but magically it has a better garden and greener grass than most yards in our 'hood. How? Garden Gnomes I tell ya. Grammie and Grandpa bought this house in 1973 and it is the house I have the most memories in. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Summer vacation, hanging out in the wood shop (garage) to 'help' Grandpa, throwing frisbees over the roof, climbing the tree next to the garage...but it's long gone.. There are so many memories here, I am sure the house has a soul. My folks bought it last summer and I'm glad they rescued it from the "rough" real estate market of Morgan County, Ohio.
Front of the house
Patio and deck that Grandpa built years ago
Grandpa's billboard on his own garage door
Sidewalk from wood shop to house. See those double doors? They lead into the kitchen, Grandpa built the kitchen too. : )
And Grammie and Grandpa used to stand on the top step and wave goodbye. They were amazing.
Ok. I'm done reminiscing. The next post is happy!
Front of the house
Patio and deck that Grandpa built years ago
Grandpa's billboard on his own garage door
Sidewalk from wood shop to house. See those double doors? They lead into the kitchen, Grandpa built the kitchen too. : )
And Grammie and Grandpa used to stand on the top step and wave goodbye. They were amazing.
Ok. I'm done reminiscing. The next post is happy!
Rescue Run
On May 24th, the Ohio Schwartz Family completed the Rescue Run. It's a 5K walk/ run through downtown Columbus...with about 1,000 dogs and their Humans. The money benefits homeless pets in Franklin County, and if you know us then you know how we feel about that! The walk started at 10 and as soon as we rounded the first corner we realized just how slow it was going to be. Lots of BIG dogs, strollers, people. It was fun! It was a beautiful sunny morning filled with lots of rescue stories and grateful people! You might not believe it, but it was a very moving experience. As usual, Raven cleaned the teeth of every male dog that came across her path..it's just what she does. About half way through the race we noticed Raven was lagging and she seemed wiped out. We talked about just walking back to the 4 R DOGGY mobile, but she heard us and she picked up the pace lickity split. We finished after 70 minutes...I know, super slow. But we had to let her take some pit stops and she also stop at water bowls to refill.
Before:
Just after the start:
Last chance for a photo op:
After:
Before:
Just after the start:
Last chance for a photo op:
After:
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Spring cleaning my computer
I found this gem of a photograph. I took this the day we moved in. I told him to "Be dramatic" I guess he heard "Play dead".
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Andrew's car accident (NOT his fault!)
Andrew had a green light and someone pulled out from a gas station on his right so they could make a left turn to go to the light Andrew had just gone through. He was in the left lane, the HUGE van on his right was blocking his view and a woman pulled out in front of him and >boom<.
He bent her left front tire and smooshed her driver's door. But he hit the brakes hard and fast enough that his car did a nose dive and avoided hitting the other driver directly. His airbags went off and he has gnarly burn on his arms from that small explosion. We think his left hand hit the windshield cause it's cracked in the upper left corner, but that could just be from getting squished on impact. Andrew was (Thankfully) wearing his seatbelt. If he wasn't, his head would have hit the windshield and I'd be sitting in the hospital with him right now. But fortunately, my husband is brilliant and always buckles up and his injuries are minor. He's sore and achy and that's to be expected. The other driver's husband said that she should not be driving because of her mental state. Yay. Thanks for giving her the car keys yesterday! We're impressed that the headlights are OK and they still work, however the car won't even start so the headlights are useless. Insurance adjusters are on the way to the Body Shop where Hoto now resides. I know the pics are hard to see, but the license plate fell off, along with a decorative grill under the front bumper. Front bumper is dented and scratched but all 4 doors still work!
Some pics of Hoto (the name of the car!) post accident. ***WARNING*** There is ONE pic of Andrew's cut on his hand, the cut looks like a black line, not too bad, just wanted to give you a heads up. It's near the bottom.
The excitement never ends in this house!
He bent her left front tire and smooshed her driver's door. But he hit the brakes hard and fast enough that his car did a nose dive and avoided hitting the other driver directly. His airbags went off and he has gnarly burn on his arms from that small explosion. We think his left hand hit the windshield cause it's cracked in the upper left corner, but that could just be from getting squished on impact. Andrew was (Thankfully) wearing his seatbelt. If he wasn't, his head would have hit the windshield and I'd be sitting in the hospital with him right now. But fortunately, my husband is brilliant and always buckles up and his injuries are minor. He's sore and achy and that's to be expected. The other driver's husband said that she should not be driving because of her mental state. Yay. Thanks for giving her the car keys yesterday! We're impressed that the headlights are OK and they still work, however the car won't even start so the headlights are useless. Insurance adjusters are on the way to the Body Shop where Hoto now resides. I know the pics are hard to see, but the license plate fell off, along with a decorative grill under the front bumper. Front bumper is dented and scratched but all 4 doors still work!
Some pics of Hoto (the name of the car!) post accident. ***WARNING*** There is ONE pic of Andrew's cut on his hand, the cut looks like a black line, not too bad, just wanted to give you a heads up. It's near the bottom.
The excitement never ends in this house!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Anniversary Trees
They're here! These autumn blaze maples will grow about 20-30 more feet to reach their full grown height of 40-50 feet. Three feet of growth a year = lots of dense shade in our backyard and a nice screen from the horse farm (which we love) in case the farm ever sells to a builder. The root balls weigh about 600 lbs a piece and it was amazing to watch these lovely things get placed in the yard. Originally, we thought these trees were 12-15 feet tall, but the 2 delivery men said "Oh, no, 20 feet easily!" YIKES!
Special thanks to HubbyRoo for digging the holes and to Mother Nature for filling them with trees!
Oops...sorry it's sideways.
Special thanks to HubbyRoo for digging the holes and to Mother Nature for filling them with trees!
Oops...sorry it's sideways.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Trust me on this one.
I may have insomnia, plus a snoring hubby and a dog in the bed that's dreaming, AKA kicking me...C'mon, you know how awesome Raven is! Back on track.
My friend Dawn in NZ read a book. She knows what I hard time I have dealing with death and dying, so she recommended this book to me. I bought it. I read it (Ok, I have 50 pages left). My message is simple. If you can read, and you've seen, spoken to, or thought about a human at least once in your life, read Elsewhere. I am sad to be near the end of the book, I always hate finishing a good book, I feel like I won't get to 'visit' with the characters again. Anyway, I loved it. Go buy it!
Trust me.
Oh! I ordered mine from Barnes & Noble, it took about a week to get to the store.
UPDATE: May 18,2008: I finished it last night and my rating stands at 4.5 stars out of 5. My only gripe is that I wish it was longer, like maybe twice as long? Dawn, you know what I mean!
My friend Dawn in NZ read a book. She knows what I hard time I have dealing with death and dying, so she recommended this book to me. I bought it. I read it (Ok, I have 50 pages left). My message is simple. If you can read, and you've seen, spoken to, or thought about a human at least once in your life, read Elsewhere. I am sad to be near the end of the book, I always hate finishing a good book, I feel like I won't get to 'visit' with the characters again. Anyway, I loved it. Go buy it!
Trust me.
Oh! I ordered mine from Barnes & Noble, it took about a week to get to the store.
UPDATE: May 18,2008: I finished it last night and my rating stands at 4.5 stars out of 5. My only gripe is that I wish it was longer, like maybe twice as long? Dawn, you know what I mean!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Better get comfy, it's going to be a long ride.
Sonica, the foster cat. This is one of 3 photos I have of her. The other 2 look just like this. She has not stopped running since she woke up from this nap. She is about 11 months old and she's 7 lbs of pure muscle and insanity. Her meow is loud and obnoxious and it always sounds like she's yelling "NOW!" She's a cutie though with her tigery stripes and leopardy spots. Maybe she's part leopard. Sheesh!
Dandelions:
When I was a weee Mandy, my Grandfather nicknamed me Dandelion. Well, nicknames are generally shorter than a persons real name, but he was Grandpa. So who cared? After he passed away in August 2006, dandelions had a whole new meaning for me. They are not just a weed. They are simple flowers who struggle every spring to prepare for the next generation. I happen to see the beauty in this and so do a few of my friends. This photo and photo collage were anniversary gifts from Erin in Maryland. I LOVE IT!
Andrew, me, and Cal Ripken Jr. on May 6th, 2008. He signed our book with "To Amanda and Andrew, Happy Second Anniversary! - Cal Ripken Jr." He was great, he's tall, and I look unusually wide (and red??) between my husband and a Baltimore icon. Or do I? Be careful with your answer! Oh, I'm 5'9", Andrew is 6'2", and Cal is 6'4". I felt short!
End of a tornado-warning filled Mother's Day. The sky was 100 different colors of black and grey and it was ugly. The clouds looked like they could rumble into a storm at any moment and the sun barely poked through.
And finally, Andrew played fetch with Raven tonight. I don't know who won, but look at those flowers on the left of this picture! Knockout roses, spirea, and marigolds await me and my green thumbs!
Sonica, the foster cat. This is one of 3 photos I have of her. The other 2 look just like this. She has not stopped running since she woke up from this nap. She is about 11 months old and she's 7 lbs of pure muscle and insanity. Her meow is loud and obnoxious and it always sounds like she's yelling "NOW!" She's a cutie though with her tigery stripes and leopardy spots. Maybe she's part leopard. Sheesh!
Dandelions:
When I was a weee Mandy, my Grandfather nicknamed me Dandelion. Well, nicknames are generally shorter than a persons real name, but he was Grandpa. So who cared? After he passed away in August 2006, dandelions had a whole new meaning for me. They are not just a weed. They are simple flowers who struggle every spring to prepare for the next generation. I happen to see the beauty in this and so do a few of my friends. This photo and photo collage were anniversary gifts from Erin in Maryland. I LOVE IT!
Andrew, me, and Cal Ripken Jr. on May 6th, 2008. He signed our book with "To Amanda and Andrew, Happy Second Anniversary! - Cal Ripken Jr." He was great, he's tall, and I look unusually wide (and red??) between my husband and a Baltimore icon. Or do I? Be careful with your answer! Oh, I'm 5'9", Andrew is 6'2", and Cal is 6'4". I felt short!
End of a tornado-warning filled Mother's Day. The sky was 100 different colors of black and grey and it was ugly. The clouds looked like they could rumble into a storm at any moment and the sun barely poked through.
And finally, Andrew played fetch with Raven tonight. I don't know who won, but look at those flowers on the left of this picture! Knockout roses, spirea, and marigolds await me and my green thumbs!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Exciting Mother's Day Surprise!
No, we are not expecting a RooBaby.
Since we couldn't be with our real Moms today due to sky high gas prices and the miles between us, we celebrated with Mother Nature herself. She threw herself one heck of a party...
We had a tornado touch down about 10 miles north of us, and another one a few miles north-west. The tornado sirens went off at about 1:10 this afternoon, Andrew and I herded 4 cats and Raven to the basement. Well, 2 cats at least. Buster and the foster kitty decided to weather the storm behind our couch. We hung out in the basement for about an hour with the weather radio. It's amazing how many radio stations will continue regular programming when a tornado is in the area. Geeeez! After getting the "all clear" from the NWS, we went grocery shopping and so did the rest of Columbus.
Since we couldn't be with our real Moms today due to sky high gas prices and the miles between us, we celebrated with Mother Nature herself. She threw herself one heck of a party...
We had a tornado touch down about 10 miles north of us, and another one a few miles north-west. The tornado sirens went off at about 1:10 this afternoon, Andrew and I herded 4 cats and Raven to the basement. Well, 2 cats at least. Buster and the foster kitty decided to weather the storm behind our couch. We hung out in the basement for about an hour with the weather radio. It's amazing how many radio stations will continue regular programming when a tornado is in the area. Geeeez! After getting the "all clear" from the NWS, we went grocery shopping and so did the rest of Columbus.
Friday, May 9, 2008
A cornucopia
I have no real blog worthy news, only tidbits of stuff to share, and I feel the best way to share is with a list. I love making lists.
~ Work is wonderful. My bosses are sweet, and they're good at delivering constructive critisism. Not that I need any, cause I'm perfect.
~ Andrew feels better, almost kidney stone free! He feels like his kidneys are his business. I say not when you wake me up at 5:00 in the morning screaming out in agony. Then they are everyone's business. Including our friend across the street who offered to sit with me in the ER.
~ Raven met a frog today. She barked and howled and waited for him to croak his reply. Sadly, upon further inspection we could see that he had already croaked. Poor little green buddy met his fate on a street called Peridot. RIP Peri. (Ok, so I named a dead frog after the street he died on) So what.
~ I'm reading the coolest book: Elsewhere. It's about life after death (purly fictional, of course) and I can't wait to put my jammies on and read some more.
~ I need to buy milk.
~ I need to post a picture of the Cal Ripken Jr. booksigning. I will, I promise. The one photo we took with him, I look ridonkerous. How is it that I became twice as wide as I really am when I was standing between to men over 6'2"? I look short and wobbly. And red in the face cause there were over 200 people in the store. Ugh. My skin and hair do not like the heat.
That's all I got tonight. I will try to post pictures over the weekend.
: D
~ Work is wonderful. My bosses are sweet, and they're good at delivering constructive critisism. Not that I need any, cause I'm perfect.
~ Andrew feels better, almost kidney stone free! He feels like his kidneys are his business. I say not when you wake me up at 5:00 in the morning screaming out in agony. Then they are everyone's business. Including our friend across the street who offered to sit with me in the ER.
~ Raven met a frog today. She barked and howled and waited for him to croak his reply. Sadly, upon further inspection we could see that he had already croaked. Poor little green buddy met his fate on a street called Peridot. RIP Peri. (Ok, so I named a dead frog after the street he died on) So what.
~ I'm reading the coolest book: Elsewhere. It's about life after death (purly fictional, of course) and I can't wait to put my jammies on and read some more.
~ I need to buy milk.
~ I need to post a picture of the Cal Ripken Jr. booksigning. I will, I promise. The one photo we took with him, I look ridonkerous. How is it that I became twice as wide as I really am when I was standing between to men over 6'2"? I look short and wobbly. And red in the face cause there were over 200 people in the store. Ugh. My skin and hair do not like the heat.
That's all I got tonight. I will try to post pictures over the weekend.
: D
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
No animal testing!
A great friend in Maryland knows about my life-long love for bunnies. She brought this Staples ad to my attention and it's too good not to go on here, so here she is:
Alllllll BY Myselllllllf, Don't wanna beeeeeee......
Andrew is full of Percocet and he's sleeping through our anniversary while I fold his underwear. I keep telling myself it's OK cause if he weren't sick, he'd still be at work and he wouldn't be home till almost 5:00 anyway. But oh, it's gorgeous outside, as it always is on May 6th, and we're missing it! At least we'll get to meet Cal Ripken Jr. tonight at a book signing. Hubba-Roo had better be awake for that!
Monday, May 5, 2008
A new rock!
Andrew is the best husband ever. For our 2 year anniversary, he got me a brand new gem to add to my collection. It's about 2mm across and it's his kidney stone. No pictures will be posted as I do not have the stomach for that. We began our anniversary eve in the ER at 6:00 this morning. Fun fun. I'm wiped out. I'll explain later, I just wanted this memorable event to be dated as 5/5/08 on the bloggy.
G'night! (Yes, I am going to bed before 9pm, it's been that kind of day for us.)
PS, for real, we did buy 2 new trees for our yard, those are photo worthy. I'll post pics when they're delivered later this week. That's the real anniversary gift this year. : )
G'night! (Yes, I am going to bed before 9pm, it's been that kind of day for us.)
PS, for real, we did buy 2 new trees for our yard, those are photo worthy. I'll post pics when they're delivered later this week. That's the real anniversary gift this year. : )
Friday, May 2, 2008
Late night ramblings.
What do you do when your husband falls asleep at 8:30 on a Friday night? I mean, it was still daylight here for almost another hour! Well, Raven, Peyton and I had some much deserved quality time, and I rediscovered my love for this: It makes me feel like I'm 7 years old again. It's an instant mood lifter for me. (Not that my life needs lifting, I'm only sayin')
Bath and Body Works Cherry Blossom. I can't get enough and I think I know why. It smells a lot like the Avon sunscreen Mom smeared on all 3 of us at the pool when we were little. My memories associated with this scent are days of diving into the deep end and summers of sun-warmed sandals. Ahh, summer. How I love the, even if my naturally curly frizz-prone hair does not!
Happy weekend, we're due for some bad storms in the morning, I hope we won't need to crack into the Tornado Box. Eeeek!
Bath and Body Works Cherry Blossom. I can't get enough and I think I know why. It smells a lot like the Avon sunscreen Mom smeared on all 3 of us at the pool when we were little. My memories associated with this scent are days of diving into the deep end and summers of sun-warmed sandals. Ahh, summer. How I love the, even if my naturally curly frizz-prone hair does not!
Happy weekend, we're due for some bad storms in the morning, I hope we won't need to crack into the Tornado Box. Eeeek!
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