So glad it's Friday

This has been a long, stressful and unfortunate week.  I am so looking forward to the weekend and a fresh start to a new week.  I have an unpleasant sickness, I probably caught from one of my adorable sixth graders.  Hope I can shake it this weekend. Max is adapting and doing well.  Although he still fears humans, including us.  The vet said it would take a while since he lived the first five months of his life with little human contact.  We will just have to be patient.  Have a great weekend!

Clearance Puppy

As you all know, Scott and I have a weekend routine where we go to the mall, get a coffee at Seattle's Best and walk a couple times around for exercise.  (Yes we are that elderly couple walking laps around the mall early on Saturday mornings)

Well this weekend as we entered the pet shop as we usually do, we witnessed a sad, nervous dog who had been at the pet shop for over three months and discounted numerous times.  We went home and neither one of us could get the sad dog out of our minds.  So we went back to the pet shop and asked to take the clearance puppy home.

When we came home a different side of this discounted sad puppy came out as he ran, teased and played with Sparky and Millie.  He still runs to hide or walks backwards to avoid Scott, Sean and I as he fears human contact.  Scott has been giving him love all day but I'm sure it will take some time.

The pet store had called him scruffy and even though he is a bit scruffy we did not want to give him a complex with such a name so we struggled all day and came up with Max.  By the way Max is a Yorkshire Terrier mixed with a Bichon Frise.  I guess Max is the kind of dog that needs frequent walks, so he will fit right in with us!

Another reason to say goodbye to soda

I have been trying so hard to give up soda and I have reduced my intake to about one soda (made with real sugar) every other day.  Lately I have been drinking the Heritage Dr. Pepper, Yum!

Today I was watching the morning news and someone from the University of Colorado Hospital was on discussing how a study they conducted showed those who drank two or more sodas a week were more than two times more likely to get pancreatic cancer than those who did not drink soda.  The person emphasized that it did not matter what kind of sweetener was used artificial, high fructose corn syrup or real sugar.  Since pancreatic cancer sounds pretty painful (remember Patrick Swayze) and the proof has already been established on how soda (or anything sugary) contributes to Type 2 Diabetes, I know how important it is to eliminate soda from my family's diet.  Sorry Sean :(

Read the article

Happy Valentine's Day

 Just two hours earlier, there was a dark gray sky with snow falling and now it is so bright you really need your shades!

Woke up to a dark gloomy snowy Valentine's Day and thought, was this predicted?  The weather is so unpredictable, you never know if a February day will be sunny and 65 degrees, or an ice cold -5 degrees with two feet of snow?  As a mother my first thought as I saw the snow coming down was "I better wake up Sean so he can get to work on time".  I made Sean a french toast breakfast at 10 am while the snow fell and he got ready to be at work by noon.  Well by the time Sean left, there was not a cloud in the sky, the sun was shining and the snow melting away, rushing into the gutters and down the drains.  That is Colorado for you!  Love it!!  Hope everyone is enjoying their Valentine's day with their sweeties.  Hugs and kisses to all my family.

Snow day? Not a chance.....

Finally we are getting some snow.  Nothing spectacular, just enough to interrupt the day.  Funny thing is Whitney is living in Nashville where almost any snow on the ground results in a snow day.  I think she has had at least four snow days this school year.  As for us, I think we have had about five or six snow days in the three years we have lived in Colorado!  One thing I can say about living here, is the main roads and freeways are cleaned up almost as quickly as the snow falls.  Gotta get those skiers and snowboarders to the ski trails safely, I suppose.  As we near the end of our third winter, we have yet to drive into the mountains during the winter months.  And we even bought Sean a snowboard and all the gear back in 2007!  Someone needs to come out here and go snowboarding with Sean.  Warning....I hear it is pretty expensive (one reason we haven't gone yet).

Yesterday morning I woke up and found this squirrel on our deck looking into the back door (maybe he knew the snow was coming?).  By the time I grabbed my camera he changed his mind and hurried away.

April or May?

FYI.....Southwest has the best fare sale right now.  Most flight in April and May between Phoenix and Denver are only $30 each way!  And there is not a fee for bags.  Only catch is the sale ends this Thursday.