The 25th Hour ~karenjcardoza.com~

Happy 2nd Birthday,  baby girls!!

Chloe Rae

Little Miss Sugar Pie

NaBloPoMo 8

Yesterday I mentioned that I had something on my mind and today it all came to fruition. My friends who have Bella and Chloe’s parents initially kept one of the puppies from Chloe’s litter. Due to work changes in their lives they felt that they couldn’t give her enough attention so they asked me if I would mind taking her to be with her sisters. Little Miss Sugar came home today and so far so good!  She’s so tiny and pretty much stuck close to me today but there was no major issue when I brought her home. Here are some pictures from our first day together.

I’m posting early today because I’ve got a busy pre-game day ahead.  I already did my shopping and had a very successful trip. I bought lots of things on sale at Shaws and used coupons (turning over a new leaf!) and ended up with some OYNO (On Your Next Order) coupons for next time totaling $33.50!

I’m getting ready to start cooking for tomorrow’s tailgate in a little bit and then we’re going out tonight for sushi at my favorite spot, Ten Prime Steak and Sushi.  But right now, I’m going to spend some time with the girls and give some extra snuggles to my little one, Chloe who is one year old today. <3

5 days old!

11 days old

Homecoming: Christmas Day

Birthday Girl!

I’ve always wanted to be a stay at home mom which is  no secret to anyone. I am lucky that I can at least be home on holidays, school vacations and all summer though,  but it doesn’t change the fact that my very first and only career choice would be  “mom” if we could afford it.

It was great to wake up this morning and not have to go to work.  I LOVE being home. I love keeping a home and doing all things domestic. I love being able to exercise every day without getting up so very early. I love spending time with my family and snuggling with my dogs. These are things about me that,  if you know me at all, you already know.

Today has been  a great day so far… (I’ve yet to start on that dreaded assessment project for work though). I got up and headed straight to the gym then came home, had coffee, checked my email then headed out to vote and run errands. When I got home, I did my floors and dusted, did some laundry and put away the fall stuff that’s more Halloweeny and brought out the Thanksgiving things.

I’ve had iTunes open and playing all day so I’m catching up on some podcasts. (Since my ipod won’t sync I have a 30g video iPod full of podcasts that I’ve already listened to with no way to remove them and add anything else so I can only listen via my laptop now.) I’ve been popping on and off all day to check twitter, my email,  and feeds. I’m enjoying a nice mug of pumpkin spice tea and made some treats for the kids.

I’ll be up late tonight following the election results but for now, I’m enjoying a bonus day off from work and loving every minute of it.

Spring is sprung but it felt like summer today! I took the girls on a nice long walk in woods, finished Merle’s Door which I’ve been trying to do all week, and read two shorties, Aquamarine, and Good Dog. Stay. this afternoon.

I’ve got a load on the line and all of my windows open. Just a taste of what’s to come… ahhhhhh, how I love summer! Al and Jake went out into the bay with the boat today and reported that it was just perfect out there as well.

Word is, tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous too! Overall, this has been one of the nicest April vacations we’ve had in a long time. I’ve gotten to take the girls out quite a bit and it’s nice to shed the sweaters!

The weather is still cold and dreary but I’m spending my day in the most perfect way…

New England is in the midst of a huge rainstorm and my front yard is like a swamp. The storm cloud is overhead but not just outside. Sometimes I’m just in a funk… I call it the Funk Fog rolling in. I’m in the midst of a storm right now. Just too many things to do to catch up with in work, and the day to day grind is getting to me. (Note to self: Don’t fall down the stairs and get a back injury that puts you out of work for 6 weeks and still have to get the dreaded Alternate Assessment done on time.) I’ve got lots on my mind, feeling fat, and it’s raining… At least Chloe doesn’t mind the storm..

Early Sunday morning and the dogs are playing while I wait for the coffee to brew. Vacation week went by really fast (as they always do) and it was a good one save for one thing. I was going to post midweek but started to write it then had to leave to give Jake a ride. So, the draft sat there but I decided to delete it because it was extremely negative and re-reading it only dragged me down. Of course, it was about how I was feeling at that point, due to the Assessment. I’m not going to get into it here but let’s just say it was the low-point of my week.

Other than that, it was a good week and I did get to accomplish a lot of what I set out to do.

• I exercised most days and while an hour walking on the treadmill was long and boring it’s what I need to do since running is out. (I’ll be jumping on for the Long, Slow, Burn after this post and my morning cuppa.) I’ve begun lifting weights again (gently… don’t want to re-injure my back) and doing some deep yoga stretching after my walk which is loosening things up nicely. Scott would be proud.

• One of my goals was to get rid of the pee-pee pads and be diligent about taking Chloe out so as not give her the opportunity to have any accidents in the house. While the weather was not the most cooperative and I made lots of trips outside in the rain at the beginning of the week and icy snow at the end, she’s getting the concept that it’s not OK to pee in the house. I haven’t cleaned a puddle all week, and while she’s not ready yet to “tell me”when she’s got to go out, if I keep a close eye on her, I can catch her sniffing and head her off at the pass.

• I did manage to get some reading in, and although I didn’t finish any books, I put a dent in my magazine pile and made progress in The Freedom Writer’s Diary. I also started A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and will be joining in with the rest of the Oprah Book Clubbers for the online seminar beginning on March 3rd. For my final day of vacation, I would love to just lounge out and read, read, read!

• Jake’s wrestling season has come to an end, so by mommycab duties will now be reduced greatly. It’s time to start heading out with him to practice driving since he’s gotten his permit but has been so busy and hasn’t had a chance to get behind the wheel yet.

• Managed to do a closet purge and got rids of lots of things that just don’t fit or I don’t wear anymore. Nice to have room in there! I need to hit up the cabinets this week as well.

Yesterday, I attended NewBCamp in Providence. It was the first un-conference that was geared towards the real beginner. It was a small group but was manageable since most folks were starting from the ground up. I ended up being a mentor in one of the sessions and explained blogging and podcasting and helped someone set up her first blog. Many of the people there were brand new to computing and used it for email and the occasional google search only, so I give them a lot of credit for coming out to learn something that was completely foreign to them and for trying to understand the online world of their children and grandchildren. (Photos tagged Newbcamp are here.)

After it was over, we headed to AS220 where Matthew Ebel played for 90 minutes. As always he put on a great show and gained quite a few new fans along the way. All of the women that I walked back to the car with had never heard him before and raved about his music and stage presence the whole way. I have a feeling that more than one Beer and Coffee and Goodbye Planet Earth CD are being played today for the first time. Here are some great shots by Chris Penn. (I was trying to embed one here but Flickr is not cooperating for me on this computer.. can’t see any embed links.)

Got lots I want to squeeze in to this final day but for now… more coffee!

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