Welcome our newest member of the family...

Sadie came home today! She is a doll and is already making a name for herself. She's a chewer and a player, and can be a bit of a bully with Dudley at times... but she's learning! Needless to say, Oliver isn't happy... he's being very protective of his house and James. Anytime Sadie comes near James, he goes nuts! It's kind of funny really.

So, let the chaos begin!

Sadie and Daddy

Sadie checking out her new home

This picture describes perfectly Oliver's feelings about the past week... in Oliver talk: "I HATE you right now."

On the bright side however, I think Oliver has taken on a bit of a protective role with little Dudley. I may actually venture to say he's warming up to him... knock on wood.




Another little bit of good news... Clary just e-mailed me and our photo book is in the mail!!! Woo-hoo!

Just Curious...

Blogging is a whole new thing to me. I'm getting the hang of it, but there is one thing that has been bugging me for weeks! I LURVE when I get comments on my posts - it makes me feel loved! But a lot of times people ask questions about posts in their comments which, obviously, deserve answering. My question is, how do I answer it? Do I reply with a comment on my own blog? That seems a little, um... weird to me. Is there some sort of etiquette rule for this? I should ask Emily Post. She knows everything.

This is my random thought for the day...

Phew...

What a weekend. It was absolutely crazy! Between Dudley and Dad, we've been running everywhere. Dudley has been doing great though. He slept with Oliver and I in my bed last night and did great. Potty training is going, well... slow. But we went to the vet tonight and found out that he has a little Bronchitis. It's contagious, so hopefully Oliver doesn't catch it. We had to get an antibiotic for him.

Dad, on the other hand went back in the hospital yesterday. He almost passed out again yesterday and we recorded his heart on a little device they gave us. The device showed that his heart didn't beat for nearly 4 seconds. Wow. Hearing that was a little scary. After every test under the sun, they couldn't come up with anything that could be causing it and narrowed it down to an electrical misfiring in his heart. So, he got a pacemaker today. Honestly, I'm relieved. I was so afraid it would be something worse! Just say a prayer for us as Dad won't be working for another week. With Christmas coming around, finances are going to be tight! But, hey, God always provides.

In my down time today while waiting for Dad during surgery, I got started on a couple of things for the wedding. I made a couple of "prototypes" that will need a little adjusting, but it's a start!
And, since I have a hard time making a post without including a picture, I'll share a couple of them...

I'd like to get some nice frames for these signs and hang them with ribbon from the doors...

Sign for the Bride's room at the church (I think I'm going to change the colors...)

Sign for the Groom's room at the church

Cover for the programs - the colors will need adjusting, but you get the idea.

Modeled after these...

Favor cards for the reception

I'm also starting my search for a company to print my digital scrapbook... any suggestions are welcome!

Hair trial

Deanna did my hair for Rob's company Christmas party/trial run for the wedding today. I really love it! There are a couple of things we are going to change.... It will be a little higher and not as far out in the back and it will also be "cleaner." I'm very excited! I also did my make up. I'm not sure if I will do my own or have it done... but, I wanted to at least look okay for the pictures!

Our house is up!

We stopped by the house today. Last time I saw it (which was Monday...) there was only a floor. So, I was in for a bit of a shock when we drive up and see this:

This is me standing in the kitchen!

Our front door!

Our windows!

It's going so fast!!! But, it look fantastic!

And, while I'm on here, I had to share a couple of adorable pictures of Dudley...

I just realized...

I'm getting married in 6 months!!! Yay! I had to change it on my "About Me" paragraph. That's pretty exciting. Now, I'm going to bed.

He's Home!

Dudley came home yesterday! Nothing like being jerked back into puppyhood! Oliver was, and still is, a little jealous that I brought home another dog.... but he's warming up to him quite nicely. Little Dudley is settling in nicely as well! We've already started the rigorous process of potty training and, if I should say so myself, he's doing quite well. I'm so excited to have him home, and at the same time I'm exhausted! So, with that, I leave you with a family scrapbook page featuring our newest member, Dudley:



Oh, and by the way, I should have some great pictures of the house tomorrow! I haven't gotten out to see it in a few days (they didn't do anything because of the weather, anyway). But, in a matter of two days, they almost have it under roof. AAAHHHH!!! It's going so fast! Pictures to come tomorrow!

I want this poster

I need to get this poster for my math classroom! It's too funny! (Well, at least for us math nerds...).

A couple more pages...

Just wanted to share a couple more digi-scrapbook pages I made tonight. Enjoy!

Coming Back Down

I haven't posted in a couple of days... I just feel like I have nothing to write about! I'm still on my way down from this incessant flow of stress and stuff to do that I feel at a loss as to what I should be doing with my time. This is a good thing! I'm still feeling the effects of the stress though. I'm tired and get cranky easily. Hopefully I'll be in a better mood!

I also neglected to post about my dad. He went back in the hospital on Friday because he formed a blood clot in his left arm that goes from his wrist to his elbow from the IV. Yeah, we were all slightly upset. So he's been there since trying to get that cleared up. They still don't know for sure why he fainted, but right now we're more concerned about the blood clot. It isn't in a major vein/artery but it still worries me!

Oh, and another thing... we're getting another puppy! Okay, this is not necessarily the ideal thing, but, what can I say? Dad got a little upset that I got Dudley without really getting his permission first... (oops!) and after he got over being upset, he decided he wanted a dog. He's wanted one since Sam (our Chocolate lab) died in 2005, but I got Oliver and we just pushed it off. We said we wouldn't get another dog until I moved out. Well, plans change, and now dad is getting a dog that will stay here after I move out with Rob, Oliver, and Dudley. Phew! She is a little Bloodhound (well, if you consider 20 lbs. at 6 weeks little) and her name will be either Sadie or Maddie. He's super excited, and we're all just along for the ride! Ahhh, the joys of my house! No worries though, we love to pamper our pets!!!

Here's a picture...


Our little Dudders comes home on Wednesday! The little darling above will be home next week!

Ahhh... leaving you with thoughts of adorable babies!

Dudley!

I got to meet Dudley today!! He is so precious! I will now share tons of pictures...









He comes home on Wednesday! Yay!

Rob's New Toy

Rob got a new toy this week. It's a Wacom Digital Art Tablet. It uses programs on the computer and special pens to create hand drawn or "painted" art on your computer.

When he first mentioned it, I was like, "What? What are you going to do with that?" Well, ultimately he would like to sell his work on a website for a little extra money. So I said okay. Besides he was using his reward from Reuter's for being the top tech support team member in the country (I know! I'm so proud of him!).

Well, his new toy came, and I've lost him to it for the past few days. Today, however, he revealed his first piece of art. It's not finished yet, but, um... WOW!!! I'm so impressed.

Check it out, this is "Valley of the Sun" By Rob Lutostanski

Small disclaimer: This image is copyrighted. Please do not copy it or use it with out my or Rob's consent. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of it, let me know. And we'll discuss what we can do.

It's official...

I, Stephanie, am addicted to digital scrapbooking.

Check out the new page I made tonight! It doesn't take very long at all! No glue, no scissors! Just me and my mouse hanging out on Photoshop for an hour or two and, "VOILA!" A scrapbook page! And best of all, if I mess up the undo button is always waiting there for me!

Check it out!

My first page:

In my boredom today waiting for classes to start, I made my first digital scrapbook page. I'm hoping to dedicate this book to Oliver and new little Dudley when he comes home. I'm so happy and so excited about how well it turned out!!


I'm still pretty new at this and have been trying to stick to free papers and digital scrapbooking kits. This one came from Shabby Princess. I may break down and buy a dog one though!

What do you think?

Update:

Dad is home and doing fine. They ran a bunch of tests and couldn't find anything wrong. We are thinking it may be a new medication he started taking a little while ago. He's going to the doctor tomorrow though to get more information.

Everyone say a prayer please.

Mom called and said they had to take my dad to the emergency room this morning. Mom said she came into the computer room and Dad had his head on the desk and was unresponsive. She called an ambulance and they came. They said all his vitals were fine, blood sugar, blood pressure, all fine. Please pray that this isn't anything serious and he gets home soon!

I'm Finished!

It's 12:48 AM and I just finished all of my homework for school. Well, not all of it, but the rest is nothing. I'm going to take a shower and go to bed.

Peace.

My New Found Talent

I've always loved scrapbooking, the way it looks, the idea of keeping your memories in a way that tells a story. I tried scrapbooking and, quite frankly, was bad at it. I was so afraid of making a mistake and the money I was losing if I did, that it wasn't worth it. Until...

I discovered my blog and decorating it. I've taken the ideas from Julia, Suzanne, and the Shabby Princess and discovered my new talent. Using the papers form the Shabby Princess, I made the title picture of my blog. This was my first real attempt at Photoshop and my first real attempt at "virtual scrapbooking." But it makes total sense! I'm great with computers! I'm marrying a computer geek! I love scrapbooking! Why not scrapbook on the computer? Eureka!!!

So, I made my second piece of scrapbooking art - the next title picture for my blog to celebrate the new year and am quite proud of it. I was going to wait until it was time to put it on my blog for the big reveal, but I'm impatient and pretty proud of it, so I'm showing it early. Now don't get your hopes too high, it's not that great, but I'm happy with it!


Here it is!



I really like it! Now I really can't wait until I have more time on my hands to try it out with some of my pictures. After tomorrow!!! I'll surely be posting some of my creations!

Now, I'm off to do homework. I'm really gonna do it. I have to resist the internet. Must do it. It's my last one!!! Okay, I'm going. Have a great evening everyone!

I'm Worried...

So, I'm very excited about getting Dudley. I can't wait to meet him and I know I'm going to love him to death. But now that I know we're getting him, I'm really starting to worry about Oliver...

He's my baby! My first born, if you will and I am so afraid that he won't get along with Dudley or he'll get all mad at me when I first bring him home. Obviously, Dudley will get a lot of attention,

1. Because he's a puppy and will need to be housebroken, trained, etc.

2. Because he's new

My biggest reason for getting a second dog is for Oliver to have a friend and now I'm worried that Oliver won't like Dudley. I've never had more than one dog before and so I don't know really how to handle it. I'll be sure to give Oliver plenty of attention, but I am so sensitive about it! I get all upset everyday about the fact that Oliver always wants to go to sleep in my mom and dad's bed at night instead of mine.

Mom says it's because he likes me to come and get him and that he sleeps in my bed all day long, but still!! He's MY baby!!

Someone ease my mind a bit please!


On a lighter note, today is my last day of Art Methods. I turn in a project for that class tonight, a project for math tomorrow, have my last Reading class and my last Math class tomorrow and hopefully will get my Social Studies project done in time for tomorrow. Then a History of Film class next Thursday, and I'm DONE!!!! WOO-HOO!!!

Also, Jocelyn comes home two weeks! Yay! We miss you!

We've been approved!!!

They have approved us to get Dudley!!! Woo-hoo!!! I'm sooooo excited! He should come home the week before Christmas, I believe and then comes the fun! Here's a couple more pictures from the website:




And, of course, I can't neglect my first baby...

Yo.

Sitting Pretty.

Just Keep Typing, Just Keep Typing

This is what keeps going through my head at the present time. I'm finishing up my projects for the end of the semester and I keep picturing Dory from Finding Nemo



Saying "Just keep typing, just keep typing" instead of, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming."

I'm almost there... I'm so ready.

Our newest adventure...

Rob and I have set out on another adventure. We are on a quest to find a friend for our beloved Oliver.


When we move into our new house Oliver will be coming with us. We are very excited about this and worried, all at the same time. Oliver is so used to always having people around and never being alone. When we move, he's going to find himself alone a lot more than he is used to. I'm very afraid he will get lonely and depressed. So, I'm looking into getting a friend for him. I found an adorable Dachshund puppy named Dudley, that I hope will make a great friend for him! We'll see how our search goes and hopefully ease my mind a bit about taking Oliver out of his current environment.

Here's a picture of Dudley:

Isn't he absolutely adorable? And I love his name!!! I'm not sure how much I'm looking forward to puppy hood again, but I'm sure it will be fine!

Rock Out!!!

Is it sad at all that me, Rob, Andy, and Ashley spent our entire Friday evening playing Rock Band on the XBOX 360?

No, it's great fun, actually. You should try it someday....

Leaving you with thoughts of someday making it big:




And our Mini-Rocker: