I WANT, I WANT, I WANT..

.. I NEED, I NEED, I NEED.

I would like to speak to all these whiny, demanding, self-centered people's mothers and ask them what the hell they were thinking when the taught (or not taught in this case) their children manners!!!!

Do you know how far a simple please can go?

Lucky,

I'm so, so sorry puppy :(

When Daddy brought you to a new place today, it wasn't because he wanted to. But Daddy says you couldn't be with us anymore. It's not your fault, and you're not in trouble! You are the best puppy ever and I could never, ever replace you Lucky love. We just couldn't have you getting us in trouble anymore :(

Maybe I still don't understand it, but I know it's probably for the best. Soon somebody's going to come look at you and they're going to know that you are the perfect puppy for them! They're going to have a big, big fenced in yard where you can run around free all you want! There won't be any other dogs around to make you feel nervous or defensive. Maybe they'll even have kids for you to play with. I know how much you love playing with kids :)

I know that you'll be scared for awhile, but remember how fast you warmed up to us? Someone is going to bring you home to love, I just know it. I bet they'll buy you a new teddy bear too! Sorry I wasn't able to get you one before you had to leave :(

Please don't be sad Lucky, I love you so much. And I'm so, so sorry.

Love forever,

Mommy.

Brrrr

Our furnace broke a couple weeks ago. (Okay, it may have only been one week ago, but it feels like much longer!) Anyways, it only stays lit for like an hour. Then we have to go back downstairs and manually light it with a lighter. It's really annoying. I get to go to bed warm, but wake up just freezing! 

Me and Joe have it figured out so that who ever gets up first in the morning will turn the heat back on for when the other person wakes up :) so that's nice!

Well, seeing as how it was FREEZING outside today (December weather minus the snow?) I was not looking forward to coming home to a equally as FREEZING house. I made up a plan in my head on the way home. Brilliant!

Usually I get home and let the puppies outside right away. Tonight I wanted to get the furnace lit first so that while I was outside with the puppies the house would maybe warm up a little first. (now that I think about it, how warm could the house have gotten in a minute and a half?? not the point though!) So I get in the house and run up the stairs, turn the heat switch on and then run downstairs to light it quick before it shuts off.. ONLY to find that I left the freakin' lighter upstairs! So I run back upstairs, grab the lighter and light the stupid thing.

Poor dogs were still in their kennel barking their fool heads off the whole time.

They were probably wondering what had their mama running around like a crazy person!

On another note.. I was driving home last night and saw that the snowmobile markers are up! That makes me excited for snow :) .. but not the cold. I'm so indecisive! 

WHEN will you learn?!

I love everyone one of Joe's friends to death, they're pretty much my best friends too.. which is why things like this upset me so much!!

One of Joe's friends got his second DUI tonight.

It's really hard for me to feel sympathy for this guy. I don't know how many times I've had to say "honey, just stay at our house tonight.. you don't need to be driving". Usually, it works. Unfortunately tonight we were at the bar and it was a little harder to stop him.

Well of course he gets pulled over about 1.5 miles from the bar.

2nd DUI = jail time???

I just don't understand!!!!!!

I know that Joe used to drink a lot back before we met, and honestly he doesn't drink that much anymore. But Joe's the only one of the guys who's settled down and doesn't drink much anymore. This said person (I don't really feel like naming names) goes to the bar almost every night, not just to drink.. but to get drunk.

Why can't he learn?! :( :(

And THEN.. we go to pick up his truck after we leave the bar so it doesn't get towed from Roberts, and run in to his parents. Of course they're upset, this is their child that we're talking about. But his Dad had the nerve to blame us for him leaving the bar drunk. (I don't mean us as in me.. but as in the other guys of course.)

"I know it's no one but *****'s fault.. but can't you guys stop him from leaving?" dad says.

Now I feel bad for Joe, because I know how hard he tries to stop his friend from driving drunk, whether it's from our house OR the bar. But I also know that his dad is just upset with his son.

I guess I just want this person to feel happiness and love, without the help of a case of beer. :(

Dear Husband,

I fear I will soon go blind from having to stare at the "CHECK ENGINE SOON" light on my car.

I know you say it's not a big deal, you ran in through the computer and it's not hurting my car to run it like that.. but really, it's annoying me.

You have time to go hunting and drink beer at the bar for a week straight.. don't you have time to fix my poor, broken car?

Oh, and while you're in there.. change my oil please? :)

I LOVE YOU,
your wife.

Proud Wife :)

My husband

the hunter :)

Last night we got to have fresh, fresh venison for dinner!! It was delicious. :)

Joe got his first deer about 2 minutes into opener, so I was quite proud of him!

My 21st!

Pheasant hunting.

A perfect Sunday.. :)

My idea of a perfect Sunday..

*sleeping in

*Chinese in bed

*watching the Vikes

:) :)

Nope, wouldn't change a thing about it.

3 DAYS!!

Holy crap, I can't believe I haven't blogged about this yet...

IT'S ONLY 3 MORE DAYS UNTIL MY 21ST BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! :):):)

all I have to say is.. it's about freakin' time!!

Where's all the excitement?

I've been feeling pretty down lately, can't really pinpoint why this is though. I guess that part of it comes down to being so dang bored all the time. Now believe me, I am not looking for sympathy. I know that there are many things that I could do to keep myself busy!! (like *cough* working out *cough*)

My biggest thing right now is.. money $$. We have no trouble paying our mortgage each month (thank god) and our bills are paid in full, on time each month. But we never have any extra money. We haven't been able to buy groceries for well over a month. It's not like we're starving or anything. I'm grateful that my husband is an avid hunter (except for this year apparently.) because I know we'll always have meat. It's frustrating not being able to just go out and buy groceries whenever we need anything though.

I know that there are a lot of people who are suffering much, much worse than I am.. and I really am thankful for everything that I have. But this is part of why I've been feeling down, so that's why I shared.

I mentioned me getting another job to Joseph, and he totally nixed the idea. He claims he doesn't see me enough as it is now. Which, I admit.. he's right :( And it's not going to get better any time soon.. with winter right around the corner and Joe having to plow and be on call 24/7, it usually makes for a long winter for us. BUT on the bright side.. lots of plowing = lots of extra $$$. Pray for snow, people!! :)

Our goal is to be free of debt (minus the house, of course) by May 1st! We'll for sure pay off Joe's truck and then hopefully most of our credit cards with our tax return. Yay, for an extra $8,000 back!!

THEN, I think we'll be ready for a baby! Pretty exciting, huh? :)

Well, that's all I have time for on a Friday morning. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Just a little boring.

Sometimes I feel like I lead the most boring life ever. Not that I'm not happy with my life right now! Just bored sometimes. Me and Joe are working on it though :)

Anyways, I thought I'd share my weekend!

Friday both Joe and I got done with work around 4:00. I thought that he was coming home right after, but he ended up going over to Jake's house for awhile. (Jake's been down in Plattville and school, so we haven't seen him since he left home in August!) Since the boys all had plans to drink themselves silly (do they ever do anything else?) I decided to go and hang out with my fabulous best friend, Kurt :) It's been way too long since we've actually hung out.. so it was very nice! I came home around 11:00 and got a terrible, terrible headache so I went right to bed.. and sadly still woke up with the headache Saturday morning :(

Saturday I spent most of the morning in bed watching Bones until my headache went away, then I got up and took a shower. The boys were going to finally kill the neon! I don't even know if I should begin the story of the neon.. :/ Oh well, what else am I gona write about.. right?!

The neon was originally Doug's. (Keith's brother) He messed up the passenger door and thought it needed some major engine work, and he didn't want to deal with it anymore. That's when my lovely husband purchased the car for $200. Joe fixed up the door and put in a new altenator and drove the car for about a year, maybe a little longer. Joe is constantly buying and selling cars though, so when he found a better car he sold the neon to Dylan for a case of beer. Dylan pretty much beat the car to shit and they decided that they would just finish it off out at the sandpit. They took it off jumps and drove it right into the sandpit multiple times. Joe dropped a rotten pumpkin on it. And then another good one that shattered the windshield! The poor car, you should have seen it!! When they finally blew the motor, they all took out their guns and shot it. It was pretty fun to watch :)

Well, anyways.. that's the story of the neon for the most part. So that's what I did Saturday afternoon! Then me and Joe went to get dinner in New Richmond. (DQ, we're pretty fancy) Then we headed back to Roberts to help celebrate Cody's 21st at L&M's for a little bit. Poor Joe's tummy felt sick from his burger at DQ, so we called it a night pretty early.

Sunday we went over to my grandparents for my Aunt Melinda's birthday. It's been so long since everyone's been over to my Grandma & Grandpa's.. it was fun! My grandma makes an amazingggggg bonnie butter cake.. that was probably my favorite part of the day :) lol. After we left their house, we stopped at Blockbuster because I've been dying to watch Dukes of Hazzard for SO LONG! I finally had to rent it :) It was just as wonderful as I was expecting. Now if only I could find my copy that I know I have somewhere.. hmmm. Then I can watch it all I want!

Yep.. that was my weekend. :) Now it's Monday.. yay.

I want.

3:23 am

Little known facts:
It is 3:23 in the morning.
Me & Joe both can't sleep.
This makes Joe verrrry crabby.
(me, not so much)
Thank goodness for Facebook!
:)

Happy Halloween :)

Is it 5:00 yet?

For some reason, this day is just dragging on. It doesn't help that it's super slow today & I don't have anything to do to make the time pass faster :( Usually I have something to look forward to on Wednesdays, but this something (someone) hasn't come in yet, lol.

Tonight my family is going to come over to carve pumpkins :) I'm excited for that!! I think it might be a little tricky trying to fit 6 people & 6 pumpkins into one area in our house, but we'll try to make it work! Usually we do it over at my parents house because they have the garage heated, so there's lots of space for us to work! But Kory & Monica (his girlfriend) wanted to come over to our house, so I was okay with that! Plus the puppies will like having company :)

Only 1 hour & 2 minutes.. (that's quite a lie because I know I won't get out right at 5:00. but a girl can dream!)

Blogworthy

I had the whole day off today, so I decided to go have lunch w/ my wonderful husband at work :) Really, there's nothing better than sitting on dirty, greasy old lawn chairs in a dirty, greasy old shop w/ my dirty, greasy husband! (I swear that wasn't sarcastic at all!!) lol anyways, we had a very nice lunch together. I got a great big hug from Robbie, who 2 seconds after we hugged, told me that he was covered in goose poop (cooooool)

Then after lunch I went and shopped around a little in Stillwater. When I was at Target I realized I had a craving for one of their pretzels (I know I just had lunch, but it's my day off and I can do what I want!) so I stopped in the food court and bought a cheddar pretzel. But then I walked past the cold case and I saw this deeeeelicious looking fruit & yogurt parfait. Yep, I bought that too. Then decided I needed something to drink and bought a mango smoothie. Don't worry, I was thinking that I was a pig too but I just didn't care! I've never had a better pretzel OR fruit & yogurt parfait. They were so good!!!

That's pretty much all I wanted to say :)

Joe says..

"I almost put chapstick under my arms this morning."

Sometimes this kid just makes me laugh. :)

I wonder if he would have noticed right away, or just gone ahead w/ the second armpit when he was finished with the first?

Dear Max,

I sure do wish that the 2 acre lot that we purchased with you in mind was enough to keep your little legs happy. Please try to stay in our yard, I think that the neighbors might get sick of you peeing on their shed every day.

I love you little weiner,
Mommy.

Things That Make Me Feel Good*

( not in any special order )

*Snuggling on the couch w/ all 3 puppies and husband. in front of the fireplace :) :)
*Having your friend call "just to check up on you" because he knew you had a really rotten night the night before.
*Getting a very sweet email from your husband right when you get to work.
*When your lovliest friend brings your "daughter" to see you at work, just because! :)
*Almond Joy's. (even if it's CHEATING!)
*Getting your first Caramel Apple Spice of the season at Starbucks. maannyyyyy more to come I'm sure!
*Fuzzy socks.
*My husband. My husband. My husband. <3

That's all I got for now. It's hard to think of good things when you're head is pounding hard enough to be heard by bystanders. I tried though :)

Modifications

I feel like I haven't had anything to blog about lately. Or maybe I have.. I just don't think it seems blog-worthy? I don't know.
Anyways, me and Joseph had a very lazy weekend, but we ended up getting lots done around my house! I have so many freakin' pictures and stuff, but I hate hanging them on the wall (apparently I suck at it) so I've just been putting off doing it. Well Joe has been bugging me to clean the entry way and while I was doing that I found all the pictures and stuff that had been up in the apartment. I decided to take a stab at making my house pretty then :)

I found the shelves for the little book case, so I finally organized our movies!

I changed a lightbulb that had been out since I put up the light when we moved in, lol

I organized my little corner shelf AND hung up 2 pictures!

I hung up my 2 little chefs :) I love those little chefs.

Ahh, and this is my new favorite thing! I got it at Kohl's yesterday. The candles are pumpkin spice, carmel pecan and sugar cookie. They smell sooo good.

I'm aware that it doesn't look like much, but I feel good about it :)

Hello snow.

Aside from the fact that it's only October 12th.. I think that the first (and second) snow is always beautiful :)

Flippin' out.

WHY is it that everytime I am smart enough to use an umbrella... It's always too windy to use a freakin' umbrella. Seriously, can't they make those things more durable. I don't need it flippin' inside out on me everytime it's the slightest bit windy. Gr.

rain, rain go away. :(

Exercise for the day?.. week?.. month?

Okay people, I think it's safe to say that I'm not the most "in-shape" person. But really, I didn't think I was thatttt bad.

Well let me tell you that pushing 4 kids.. (okay, okay 3 kids & 5 stuffed animals) in this was pretty much hell on my body, lol. But the kids liked it so I guess it was worth it :)

Thank heaven for good wine and a bubble bath tonight :)

Bling Bling

Last Thursday I somehow broke my wedding ring.. don't really know how. I totally bent one of the prongs that holds my center diamond in place. Joe made me take the ring off so I didn't lose the diamond (of course this made sense, but it made me sad to not be able to wear it) So Friday I left work early (can you believe it?!) and me and Joe dropped our rings off at Shane Co. We had to go the whole weekend without our rings! It was really weird. I'm not a jewlery type person, so I didn't have any other rings I could put on that finger just for the time being either. Anyways, I went to pick up the rings last night after work, and it's just amazing how shiny and beautiful they are! They sure got dirty after a year. I know this is kind of a stupid blog, but I'm awfully excited about my "new" bling :) :) that's all!

Seriously?

Could today be going any slower.

I don't even have anything to look forward to tonight.. but seriously, I feel like I've been here for 12 hours already! (I haven't.. I've only been here 7 hours.)

2 MORE HOURS!!!!!!!!

I might lose my mind.

Meet.. Frank :)

Joe walks in from work last night carrying a little white box. He tells me to open it and see what's inside.
Okay people, this is your evil husband who loves playing tricks on you.. are you going to open the box?! NO.
Well, he assures me it's nothing that will hurt me, so I slowly start to pick up the box and open it.. at which point he yells out.. BE CAREFUL!
What the hell, I didn't want to open it now!
So I made him open it for me verrrry carefully.

Guess what was in there?!

It was Frank :)

Frank is a little baby snapping turtle and he is oh so cute!
The landscaping boys at Joe's work were out mowing yesterday and said they saw tons of the little critters running around. They must have just hatched or something. So Tony scooped up a couple and Joe brought one home for me. Isn't he darling? :)

Just What I Needed.

It's been one of those days where I just need chocolate. (This was also my dinner last night)

I had 2 Dove Chocolate squares and I really liked the messages on the inside so I thought I would share :)

* Steal 5 minutes for yourself today.
* Take time out for a catnap.

Both sound amazing right now.


At least someone's looking out for me.
Thanks Dove chocolate! :)

Dang.

Yesterday I got a new shirt from Maurice's. Surprise, surprise right? Ha.

Well this new shirt was on clearance so I got it for only $10. I was pretty excited. And also really looking forward to wearing it today.

But then I woke up feeling extremely bloated. And very crampy.

But I still wore the shirt.

Now I'm thinking dang.. really wish I would have just worn a big comfy shirt with my old too-big-for-me-pants. No such luck :(

Bring on the dark!!!!

Since it gets dark at 8:00 now.. does that mean it's bedtime at 8:00??

..I think so :)

Monday Blues. :(

I think that most will agree with me that conversation is the key to any relationship. Whether it be a personal.. oooor work related. And when I say that conversation is the key.. I do not mean that you should follow me around all day and tell me how I'm supposed to be doing things, or what is considered to be the "right way". I've been doing this for a year and a half. I KNOW HOW THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DONE!!!!!!! If you think I'm doing something wrong, then feel free to tell me, please! (though I know I'm not) When I come to work I leave my 3 dogs at home.. I do not need another following me around at work all day. Let me do my shit. Get out of my way. Please.

Thanks,
from 2 people. (feel free to add if you'd like MT.)

Vino in the Valley

My sweet, sweet husband.. bless his heart.. gave me a 20 minute timeframe to blog. Got to love the man. We've been spending every waking.. & sleeping.. second with each other. He said he's been missing the rocket though so he'd take it out for a spin while I blogged. :) When we started planning out our vacation time together, he told me there was a place he wanted to take me for dinner, but it was only open on Thursdays & Saturdays. So he said we would have our special anniversary dinner on Thursday instead of Monday. He wouldn't tell me anything about it. His one clue to me was that it was in Wisconsin. I guess if I would have really thought about it I could have maybe guessed it, but still not really. Anyways, he ended up taking me to Vino in the Vally down by Ellsworth. It had to be in Wisconsin, because I can only drink with him in Wisconsin. (only 65 more days.. *sigh*) The place was just gorgeous! I definitely recommend it to everyone! It's a little pricey, but I swear it's worth every penny. The food was sooo good, and we polished off a bottle of great wine with ease. (plus bought 2 more for home) I got a dozen beautiful red roses, and a card that made me cry right in the middle of dinner. It was a perfect evening spent with the man I love more than anything in the world!!

Tuesday & Wednesday!

Evening folks :)

Tuesday morning we woke up and went to Cady Cheese because we needed more swiss cheese. If you ask Joe, swiss cheese is pretty much a essential thing to have in our house. So after that, we went home through Spring Valley and stopped at the Red Barn for lunch. It was quite yummy :) Then we came home and started packing stuff up for our little camping trip! We decided that we could take Lucky, but not the little puppies. We weren't sure if there'd be many people camping on the island and didn't want to have to control 3 crazy puppies. So we dropped Max & Kylee off at my parents :) We hung out there for a little while. I went swimming in their pool. Seeing as how it was 90 degrees it was kind of hard to pass up, lol. Anyways, after we were done there we launched the boat at Ferry's and headed for a little cruise. Joe showed me some new islands just north of the Stillwater  bridge, and they looked really nice and quiet so we decided to camp there instead :) We got out of the boat and started getting stuff set up when  a boat drove by and caused some waves. Joe had Lucky on her leash and Lucky just freaked and starting attacking the waves! It was the funniest thing I have ever seen! Here this whole time we've had her I thought she hated water! Once she got used to it, we played fetch in the water for over an hour. We almost had to tie her up to keep her out of the water once it started getting dark, cuz we knew she'd never dry off completely before bed. We hung out by the fire until about 1:o0 then I think we went to bed. It was very nice and relaxing being all by ourselves. We had a lot of nice talks :) It's not very often me and Joe get to sit down and talk about things. We both enjoyed ourselves! In the morning we packed it up, picked up the puppies and came home to a warm shower & season of The OC! Later we went over to Joe's moms for dinner.. Carbone's.. yummmm! Now we're gona lay in bed some more. We may sound really, really lazy.. but I swear I am LOVING my vacation! :) :) :)

Day 2!

Yesterday morning we woke up and I didn't feel good at all and decided we weren't ready to get up yet, so we laid in bed for another couples hours watching The OC :) then we got up and Joe asked me what I wanted for breakfast, and I said.. PERKINS! So we went to Perkins and it was just delicious :) After breakfast (and pie) we headed out to Woodbury to go to Best Buy. I had $65 to spend there, and we needed the 4th season of OC so that seemed like a good place to go! It didn't so much seem like a good place to go when we walked out with $500 worth of Best Buy stuff. :/ We bought a new TV for our bedroom! There's not really a way to rearrange our room so that I don't have to lay on my side to see the TV. I have a really bad shoulder, so I never want to watch TV in bed.. but Joe always does. So he said we could buy a new TV! It's nice having a little flat screen right across from our bed :) That's pretty much where we spent the rest of the day too, lol. I started getting restless around 7:30 though, so we went in to Hudson to get some ice cream and shop at Walmart for a little bit. I had to buy batteries for the kick-ass cooler I got my sweet husband :) We spent the whole day being pretty lazy because I felt like shit, but it was still lovely. Thursday is the day we're going out for our special anniversary dinner. (something about the place he really wanted to take me not being open on Monday.) so I'll be looking forward to that!! Today I think we're going to go to Cady Cheese with my parents :)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Today was me and Joe's 1 year anniversary. It's crazy to think how fast this first year has flown by. It was nothing short of amazing though. Joe is my best friend, and I really can't imagine my life without him. He has made the last 5 years of my life incredible. I love you so much honey!

DAY ONE :) :)

Not going to lie.. it feels amazing to know that I don't have to go to work for 7 more days! Yesterday I had to work until 2:o0, then I went home and me and Joe went to Walmart so he could buy some ammo for his pellet guns, so he can "shoot those little gopher bastards finally". His words, not mine! Then we ate at the Chinese place in NR (Joe's favorite, I think it's disgusting, lol) We got home and laid on the couch watching The OC for a couple hours, then decided that we had wayyy too much cardboard waiting to be burned. So we had ourselves a little fire :) Then came back in, watched some more OC, and went to bed :) It was a very relaxing evening.

I woke up this morning around 9:o0 and did some stuff around the house. I knew Joe wouldn't be up for like 2 more hours, so I did some cleaning & laundry. Finally Joe woke up and we took a shower and got ready to go to the STATE FAIR! yay, I've been waiting so long!!!!! We were only there for like 2 hours, but I swear it felt like 20 lol. We were kind of on a budget, but we still got to get everything we wanted too! There were cheese curds, root beer, giant pickles, mini donuts, pork chops, bacon.. probably some more too, but I'm still too full to think about food! Anyways, we're home now and getting ready to relax on the couch again :) Tomorrow is our actual anniversary and I still don't think we've actually decided what we're going to do! I'll let you guys know tomorrow though :)

Me & the loverrr*

The one decent picture I have of me and my Lucky girl :)

STATE FAIR!!

In the pig barn.. my favorite spot :)

Almost time to leave :(

We always cheat & park at Joe's dads work, which is about a mile away from the fairground. To get there we have to cross a railroad track. The 5 years that we've gone, we've NEVER come across a train. Well, this time we did :) 

To my Benny,

I am so excited for you to start kindergarten at your new school! You're going to make so many new friends and have lots of fun! :) Thank you for letting me spend your last day at Suzy's with you. And thank you for inviting me to your special dinner at Olive Garden. I'm going to miss you so much!

I love you, Ben.

-Nikki

(you're "big sister")

I'm just sayin'..

I'm kinda liking the fact that my jeans are fitting just a little looser these days.

:) 

oh, and 2 more days until my vacation!

Is it Saturday yet?

4 more days until my vacation . yes, I am counting.
there is nothing I want more right now..

than to have 9 days off of work. 9 DAYS.. sounds heavenly, don't it? :)

I just wanted to say..

HAPPY, HAPPY MONDAY!!!!!

(I'm trying oh so hard to be upbeat here folks. Really all I would like to do is scream)

I sincerely hope that every one has a pleasant Monday. :)