Thanksgiving gobbles!

Wishing you all a wonderful thanksgiving!  We are our parents' houses for the weekend celebrating with our 2 families. We are truly thankful to be so blessed.  It is a wonderful feeling knowing that we are so fortunate to have not one, but two sets of supportive, encouraging, all around amazing families!

Leaving you with two thanksgiving comics :)  One is especially for my sister's humor 

(betcha can't guess which one)!

Five Star Puppy!

Laney officially passed her Star Puppy Test last night!!

Below are the puppy's STEPS To Success according to the AKC

S ocialization
T raining
A ctivity
R esponsibility 

PUPPY BEHAVIORS:
7. Free of aggression toward people during at least 6 weeks of class
8. Free of aggression toward other puppies in class
9. Tolerates collar or body harness of owner’s choice
10. Owner can hug or hold puppy (depending on size)
11. Puppy allows owner to take away a treat or toy

PRE-CANINE GOOD CITIZEN^® TEST BEHAVIORS:
12. Allows (in any position) petting by a person other than the owner
13. Grooming-Allows owner handling and brief exam (ears, feet)
14. Walks on a Leash-Follows owner on lead in a straight line (15 steps)
15. Walks by other people-Walks on leash past other people 5-ft away
16. Sits on command-Owner may use a food lure
17. Down on command-Owner may use a food lure
18. Comes to owner from 5-ft when name is called
19. Reaction to Distractions-distractions are presented 15-ft away
20. Stay on leash with another person (owner walks 10 steps and returns) 

We have had Laney enrolled in a puppy class for 8 weeks now... she has progressed with flying colors :)  We are so proud of her!  In the short 8 classes she has learned many new tricks, learned to socialize with large & small dogs and even learned her "bugle" howl! Bow wow wow... 

She is very excited for the extra large bone we bought to congratulate her :)

Wicked Weekends!

So much for an uneventful weekend full of R & R.. as dreamt about on Saturday morning.

Our weekend started off lovely... we went to our good friend Jennifer's house for a pampered chef party on Saturday morning,  got breakfast afterwards  ran out to take care of a few errands.  Our intentions were to come home... pack up our lingering Halloween decorations (I KNOW! Laney Gore Fest was almost a month ago) & watch football the rest of the day.  

Our neighbor's birthday party was planned for Saturday night & we decided if we had had enough laziness for one day we would walk next door & celebrate with them.

About 3 o'clock I changed the plans drastically!  We spent the rest of the evening in the E.R. having multiple test run.  I collapsed while hugging my hub on Saturday afternoon (luckily god has amazing timing & I had someone to catch my fall).  After waking confused &in a panic we decided we would head to Rex to make sure all was well!  Following a CT scan, Chest X-rays, an EKG, & lots of blood work it was determined that I was going to live :) Hooray!  

Below was the typical scene in the ER... 

We spent Sunday following the DR's orders & laid low.  We actually ended up getting to cuddle with our nephews most of the day (this was the best medicine possible :).  

Back at it on this Manic Monday Morning....  trying to accomplish as much as I can before the Thanksgiving holidays.

It's Football Time In TENNESSEE!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  We plan to spend our day today cleaning house, packing up Halloween, unpacking Christmas, and watching some VOLUNTEER FOOTBALL!  I have been looking forward to Saturday since the beginning of the week...
off to take advantage of a little R & R and time with my wonderful family.


Laney May is ready to cheer our Vols to Victory... are you?

GOOOOOOOO VOLS!!!

Show Us Your Life.. Pets Version!

Today, Kelly's Korner... one of my favorite blogs is hosting "Show us your life- pets version".  I can't pass up the opportunity to share with you our constant glimmer of sunshine (but before I do that... I have to show you my first true love).  Growing up, my parents always allowed me to have a pet (which always ended up being 2 cats)... Oh how I adored our many kitty cats!  My sister has suffered with allergies and asthma her whole life so our pets were always outside animals that got the priveledge of sleeping indoors at night.  Just recently we lost our last set of kitty cats to old age.

Having outdoor pets was always somewhat of a challenge to me.  I never felt like I could play with or love them enough because they were always running in the wilderness (not to mention came home stinky, smelly, & covered in dirt from there daily adventures).

When I went to college at the University of Tennessee I was determined to get a "furry friend" that could be an inside pet.  I wanted someone to accompany me on the long road trips home & keep me company when I was lonely at school.  My husband (boyfriend at the time) thought the best pet for me would be a ferret!

One summer day we drove to Kathy Rd. in Morganton, NC to a rescue shelter and picked up what would become the love of my life!  Fender was his name.  He was a malnourished, one and half year old sable ferret that needed lots of love and attention & that was exactly what he got.

For the next 7 years our family had many experiences with Fender.  He traveled along with us on all our vacations, he met all our new nieces and nephews & taught them to care for pets, Fender was the best blessing I could have ever asked for.  In times of need when our family's future was very uncertain... Fender was ALWAYS there!  Over a year ago Fender was diagnosed with Isulinoma Cancer and was given little time to live.  I was devastated!  For the next year fender thrived with a little help from his Cancer medicines and lived out a very LONG, HEALTHY LIFE.  The lord took our little Fender in March of this year.

I don't know if I will ever reach the point that I can resist tearing up
at the thought of not ever getting to love on my lil' Fen again....

I do know though that someday we will meet again over the rainbow!  

Recently,  with lots of encouragement, My husband agreed to let us get a new pet!

Let me introduce you to our Little Pocket Beagle Laney May.  Laney is now 6 months of age & 8lbs. and more than likely almost full grown.  We picked Laney up on July 27th, 2009 at the Delta Airlines counter at RDU.  Laney was delivered to us from Anderton's Little Beagles in Alabama.  She was a beautiful little 2lb. bundle of joy!  We instantly fell in love with her.  We pray that Laney will be a HAPPY & HEALTHY little beagle for years to come & we have the opportunity to celebrate many good times with her!

Never to long to start again!

I am beginning to feel like after our W.R. visit to Seattle last year the Laney's moved there!
We are only missing a few things~
the character of the charming artsy city, coffee stands on every block, the market with fresh seafood & crafts, the bliss of being in the wee tops of the mountains & seeing Mt. Rainier in the background, the danish vibe that stole my heart the minute we stepped off the plane & rain!
O wait .... we didn't move & we aren't missing the rain!
It has been raining here in the capital city of Raleigh for probably 3 weeks straight.
Does constant rain put a damper on your day?





It sure does mine... let me list a few of the ways:
Laney, the precious little one seen above hates the rain :)... So much so, that she refuses to walk in the rain. Another thing that really gripes me about the rain is the mile walk I do daily from my car to my office... cobble stone, cute pumps & rain DON'T MIX. The torn ligament in my foot, I never gave my body a chance to heal in high school reminds me the rain's coming & sends torturous pains through my foot each time it rains. and the list could go on.....


With this list of ranting I should mention that I am thankful god gives us rain...
On occasion that is!


SO today it is a "RAINY Thursday", several months after I posted the first post to this blog & decided it was time to add another entry :). But what was there to write about... we have been inside for days because of the rain. I have done more laundry than I ever wish to do in a weeks time, watched more TV than my eyes can handle & caught up with the 1000 blogs I didn't read while on our RAINY beach vacation last week.


So to end this post... I will leave you with how I plan to spend my daily prayer time...
praying for a little SUNSHINE in all of this RAIN!