You know you feel old when...

My oldest and dearest friend, Becca, had baby #2 last week. Caleb Ryan Quinby. I get to meet him next week. I'm so excited!

You can check out picture of this precious baby and the family here.

The Egg

I am sitting here at work eating my hard boiled egg and realizing.... I love the egg! I think I have my father to thank for my love of the egg.

I remember growing up having eggs so much that they mistook my mildew allergy for an egg allergy (that's a long story for another time). But through this mishap, a family tradition evolved. Every Sunday morning.. and I mean EVERY... my dad made breakfast. Eggs ~ With turkey bacon, toast or bagel, or his special homemade homefries.

The egg creations came in all forms. Hard boiled. Over easy. Cheese and/or veggie omelet. Bagel sandwich.

I think my dad has always had a dream of being a short order cook or a B&B owner. ;)

If you were to go to my parents house, you would always find plenty of eggs in the fridge and most likely there would be a few hard boiled in there just for a quick snack/meal.

Well now my wonderful husband makes breakfast for me every morning. Yep, you guessed it.. Eggs. And he is so good at it too. yummmm.

Ya know.. there's always the chocolate egg, too :)

Fergie

Fergie got her big girl shots yesterday. Ben and I took her to the vet for her rabies vaccinations and a heartworm test.

For normal people with normal dogs, going to the vet shouldn't and usually isn't a stressful event. But I never grew up with "normal" dogs. Most of the dogs we owned were rescue dogs. And anyone whose owned a rescue dog knows they usually come with issues.

One dog we had, Mugsy, had the most issues. He was a lovable and beautiful and smart German Shepherd. But we were his 3rd home by the time he was 3. Not good for a dog who is bred to be loyal to 1 person. With lots of work and structure, he turned out pretty good.

Anywho, taking Mugsy to the vet was a 3 man job. One person had to go in first and make sure the parking lot and vet waiting area was clear of all other animals. Mugsy went BONKERS when other dogs were around. Man 2 brought Mugsy in - who was usually my mom because my mom was his #1 alpha. It was very stressful to take him anywhere!

So these experiences leave lasting impressions. When you have a psycho dog you learn things. You learn to be very aware of your surroundings before your dog is, you learn how read the dogs emotions before they can react, you learn to prevent run aways and fights. All the while you are scared to bring your dog anywhere, let them of leash with no boundaries, and leave the trash where they can get it. :)

You take these things with you with every dog. But then there's Fergie.

She is sweet, smart, happy and tries so hard to please. Even with hesitantance I let her off leash, and she stays close by. I take her in the car, and she just sits quietly until we get back. I can leave the trash out and she knows that's off limits.

And yesterday we took her to the vet. She was an angel. She loved the vet, who was WONDERFUL with her. She didn't mind the shots or the blood test or exam. She just laid down in the room and let the Dr. pet her and play with her. They exchanged kisses. It was such a great experience for all.

Honestly, I was anxious going to the vet, but I need to learn to trust Fergie. She's earned it.

Purim

HAPPY PURIM everyone! If you don't know what Purim is.. Shame on you! No, just kidding. Purim is the holiday the Jews celebrate to commemorate the story of Esther.

Esther is my favorite Bible character. I remember my first Bible was a picture Bible and I had my mom read that story over and over and over. I even remember the pictures so clearly! Esther was so beautiful.

Another memory I have of Purim is the Purim plays my Sunday School class put on every year. Now mind you my Sunday School class consisted of me, my brother- Bryan, and my cousin- Emily. Of course ever year I HAD.. I mean threw a temper tantrum HAD.. to be Esther. Which means my brother always played both King Ahasuerus and Mordecai. And poor Emily always ended up playing Haman, the bad guy. EVERY YEAR! I think maybe the last year we did it, Emily got to play Esther. I'm so sorry Emily. Looking back, I was quite a brat for doing that.

The plays were simple, but meaningful. My mom and aunt put so much work into them and trying to get the 3 of us to perform it with some historical accuracy. I remember these noise makers that every time the name Haman was mentioned, everyone Booed and made noise. So much fun to elementary school kids.

The other great thing about Purim is the hamentaschen. I guess all Jewish holidays come with some great sweets. You can't separate us Jews and our food or a reason to eat. :)

My interesting fact about the book of Esther is that the word "GOD" isn't mentioned once. But God plays an important part in the story.

My favorite verse in Esther is 4:16. It shows her faith and courage and her willingness to risk her life to save her people:

"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."

Happy Purim everyone!

Summer - Good, Wind - Bad

This week has been in the 70s so far- mostly 75! Monday was so beautiful and I actually got a little sun burn during my lunch hour. Tuesday and Today are amazing days too. Could Spring be here? I still have a feeling that Winter will strike one more nasty time before we can say Spring has taken over. But for now I must say it feels so good to be in flip-flops.

As much as I'm enjoying this amazing weather... with the Spring also comes WIND.... hard nasty loud WIND. At night it howls something awful! Unfortuately our dog is terrified of wind... i mean shaking and whining and restless. So at night time when the wind is howling she doesn't sleep, which means we don't sleep. I think the thing that frightens her the most are when the blinds rattle. When it's 70 outside, we like to sleep with the windows open, but the wind makes this tough. I'm gonna get curtains this weekend and maybe that will help.

Does anyone have a solution to this problem? Whether it's a way to train Fergie not to fear the wind and rattling blinds or a way to mute the windy noises?

Last night was a windy night and Fergie (nor Ben and I) didn't sleep. Even this morning she wouldn't come out from under the bed and she was whining something awful. So before I left for work I turned on the radio for her. She came out for a treat and actully started to relax because she couldn't hear the wind. I left the radio on when I left hoping the poor puppy would be able to relax a little while home alone. Silly puppy.