One fish, Two fish.... you know the rest

I have been prodded.

My friend with the baby – (that is how she will be known until another friend has a baby) – told me in very direct terms yesterday that I need to blog again, it has been TOO long!

So, although it is really hard to write anything that has nothing to do with the work I am doing – I am going to try.

We now have fish. I would post a picture, but I don’t have one yet. I will work on that – maybe.

Ronnie had like 3 fish when we got married, but they just recently moved into our house. Actually, one of the three he had when we got married passed away prior to moving in with the new family. So, then we went and got two snails, (cause I didn’t want to have to clean!) and moved the two old fish into our home. Where our old TVs used to sit. (remember those were broken last year. Both. Of. Them.) So, now we have the fish tank sitting on the TV stand.

Two days later, one of the fish died.

Ronnie said that those types of fish are community fish, so we had to go get new fish.

We didn’t get just one new fish.

We got 5.

So, we then had 6 fish and 2 snails.

Then the two snails died.

Then another fish died.

Now, here we are, with the 5 fish, A rock vacuum, (the new addition to my appliance list), slime coating, antibiotics, etc. etc.

While they are fun to watch, I sometimes find myself asking… why? I mean, even the fun of watching them gets old after about 3 minutes… they don’t do tricks, don’t play fetch, don’t bark to warn us of strange things in the area…. Etc. etc.

Anyway, there – the new post is 100% devoted to fish.

I am still in the campaign – still alive and all that jazz. It’s fun – interesting – frustrating – exciting – and basically a roller coaster every day. I am sure I will have TONS of stories to tell when its all over with. But for today – I will just say – YEA for the fish…. They are the calmest (most calm? Not sure about my grammar there) part of my life right now.

Its Friday!

Good morning - on this rainy Friday morning in Southern VA. It really made me want to stay in bed - and rest - and do nothing most of the day. Join me in my morning for a moment....

I am laying in bed - Ronnie just left for work - The heat has just turned off and it is completely SILENT in my little house other than the pleasing sound of rain softly hitting the roof and windows in the house.

Then - there is a LOUD BANG on the front door. It hits and then scrapes down the door. I jump up in the bed wondering if I should move. I am quiet for a minute thinking "it was probably nothing - I probably just drifted off in my sleep."

Then...

BANG.... SCRAPE.... BANG...

My heart is RACING.

Is someone really trying to break in this house? This tiny brick house?

Where does Ronnie keep the gun? Should I get the gun? Would I be able to use the gun if I did get it out? Maybe I would do better with a knife.... I know where that is. If I used the knife I would pass out. Will I pass out anyway? Why would anyone want to break in my house? This doesn't make sense...

No sound. Nothing else..... my heart begins to rest.

BANG - SLLLLIIIIDDDEEE... BANG!

the door sounds like it is about to break down! The problem I am having is that the storm door doesn't lock. WHy are they still banging against a door that doesn't lock? They should at least be banging on the wood door by now!

I sneak out of the bed - to the front door - without the gun OR the knife? (No one said I was that brilliant). If I unlock it to open it - I will be exposed... AND I am still in my PJS. I know - I will look out the window.

As I pull the shades back - SLAM!!! Something hits the window! OH MY WORD!!! My heart is IN my throat now.

Then - - I see my perpetrator....

My little dog. Throwing her toys against the door. She has these rubber toys - made out of recyclyed tires or something like that - and a rope with knots on the end... she is taking turns holding them in her mouth and throwing them against the door. As I opened the shades, she was letting go of the rope which hit the window right in front of my face.

So - now I am awake - I should be doing something productive - but I figured I needed to blog this to keep someone entertained this morning.

I need more coffee.

Weekend extravaganza

It was Friday afternoon, mom had just called to say that Jon was going to be online in about 10 minutes, and I had at least a 20 minute drive to get home. Ronnie and I had a planned "home date" since we are paying off debt right now and trying to save money - and well, we needed to stop by the dump to empty the junk from the week.... ahem.... month.... into the dumpster. So, in the mad rush hurry I jumped out of the car, threw open the back door and started shoveling junk out of the car into the dumpster. We were both running like crazy! We were in a hurry not only to get home to talk to Jon on SKYPE - but to get ready for our romantic movie night! We pulled away from the dump, successfully making my car smell better immediately! We were about 4 miles away from the dumpster when the thought crossed my mind.

I wonder if mom will call my cell phone when Jon gets online?.... Hmmmm.... where is my cell phone??

"Ronnie, can you call my cell and see if it fell in the floorboard?"

Ring once, ring twice... hmmm... that is ok, it vibrates the first few rings anyway

Ring 3 times, Ring 4 times..... "Hey, this is Julia, I am sorry I missed your call, Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible!"

WHERE IS MY PHONE!

Quick U-turn in the road, going back to the dump... "I am sure it just fell out of my lap onto the ground, maybe no one else has driven up to the dump since we left."

When we pulled up, there was a HUGE Tahoe sitting where my car had been, Oh no, my phone is probably crushed!

"Ronnie, call my phone again." Now we are walking outside of the car, looking around everywhere on the ground. WHOA IT STINKS!!!

"I hear it!!!" what?? is it coming from inside the dumpster?? Oh my word!

Ronnie shoved me out of the way (well, ok, he kindly stopped me from digging in the trash myself) The gentleman in the Tahoe made some crack about wondering what that noise was when he heard it the first time. Under the half eaten sandwich, three bags of trash, and some plant that had been dumped out - there it was, my cute little phone. Laying there ringing like there was no problem.

How did I throw my phone in the dumpster?? Who knows.... regardless, I owed him bigtime - Ronnie doesn't like germs. He comes from a family that doesn't like germs. (I think it is his only child status that is impacting him still.)

He, being the wonderful, protective man that he is - then cleaned my phone for me with the clorox wipe, and proceeded to cook dinner while I talked to my brother, mom and dad, (and watched my sister and niece) online for a while.

The rest of the weekend was still quite adventurous - but not nearly as bad as dumpster diving for my little cell phone.