Flooring in the 'Bury

Stayed in the southernmost house today to work on the flooring, and, if I don't say so myself, kicked butt. Got lots done (the hardest parts of the whole project actually, where all three rooms come together and meld into one...very...long...row....that all has to fit together. I won't say that there wasn't some blue language and frustration, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with my progress today.

Convinced Richard to take the night off from Smyrna also; he didn't sleep much last night and since I have all the power tools in my car (we won't leave anything in the house until we're living there since the robbery), he was kind of forced to take the night off, which is a good thing. A little reading and rest will do him good.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a busy day; Smyrna in the a.m. for some insulation work, then pick up my father-in-law for his follow-up appointment at the doctor (I'm counting on all good news!). After that, I'll pick up Anthony at home and head to Milford; we start our next pre-puppy class tomorrow night at 6 p.m. We've got five new families taking classes to get pups; that will run for two hours, and then we'll have class right after at 8 p.m. Wednesday the bathtub refinisher guy is coming to schedule our master bath reglaze, then Mom and I will motor over to BJ's for a little retail therapy. Then I'll meet Richard in Smyrna for a few hours of work.

I'm praying this rain will end soon; it's starting to affect my mood. So gray and drizzly and cold! I actually contemplated putting the heat on today. But I resisted. This is why you need a gas fireplace...perfect for days like this.

On an interesting note, I took our truck to the dump today to get rid of garbage. We only have first and second gear in it now. I just shook my head. For now, we'll just use it for trash hauling. Very slow trips to the dump LOL.

Calling tomorrow to schedule the move of the Pod...finally feeling like this adventure will be ending at some point....getting excited about finally having Smyrna feeling like a home instead of a stick frame structure. But we're probably going to be staying there for a good while, and we want to make it a home for us. We may never leave it (we both HATE moving)...we've met a lot of the neighbors and we like them...so far, it's been a huge improvement over our neighborhood in Salisbury. Much less unfriendly...although the way it's been in Salisbury lately, everyone is just afraid to come out of their houses.

Going to try and get some sleep now, it's almost 1 a.m. and I need to be up early. Good night!

October 2nd Already!

Time is going by so very fast and it makes me wish I required no sleep. Well, actually it's one o'clock in the morning, and I'm sitting here listening to Richard snore (yes, I'm jealous) and sleep is evading me. Thinking about all that there is to do in the upcoming weeks.

Today I finished removing all the old insulation from the new house, and am about 2/3rds of the way done replacing it. I've gone through about 5 cans of that Great Stuff, the insulation that comes in a can...love that stuff. I'm hitting every nook and cranny and hole and suspected hole...I told Richard that I was trying to make the house "tighter than a duck's behind"...I'm aspiring to an extremely low energy bill. We've replaced the heating system, are replacing the windows and I'm hanging new insulation. As far as I'm concerned, we shouldn't even have to turn on the heat or the a/c. The drywall guys will be coming on the 11th, which is perfect, as I'm leaving for New York on the 14th. After the drywall is done, the tub, sink and toilet can go into the bathroom, and as far as we're concerned, we can move in. Woo-hoo! (And, hopefully, by then the survey will have been done which will mean the town can issue our permit which will mean the fence will be installed!)

The dogs have been helping out as much as they can. As far as I can tell, Anthony is the supervisor. All the responsibility must be wearing him out. Mookie is our "nervous-Woody-Allen" dog, who constantly watches the neighborhood for any signs of neighbors.



Maggie and Roger moved in last weekend; yesterday is the day that we actually moved OUR stuff to the pod in the driveway (which will get picked up this week and moved to Smyrna); Richard and I are now in the guest room, and they have moved their stuff (and the cats) to the master bedroom. The dogs are thoroughly confused, poor things. They don't know which end is up, why we go on such long car trips to a house that has no rooms....why Mommy cries at the drop of a hat....then laughs hysterically, lol. (Not really, but maybe just a little bit.)

We've had two days of sun, and I've heard a nasty rumor that we're going to get rain again this week for FOUR WHOLE DAYS. I'm going to somehow have to get the Smyrna grass cut before the rain starts tomorrow, and leave a note for Mag and Rog to please mow the grass here. All summer no rain, and now we're getting two weeks' worth. Sigh.

Starting to coordinate our trip south for Christmas...it's looking like it's just going to be Richard, Anthony and I. Roger is going to have to work up until Christmas eve night; Max is not going to be able to take time from the new job. Very mixed emotions about all of this, but this trip is so important to my Mom and Dad. We've had one Christmas together in the last 12 years....and I miss them so very much. I know they love Florida, but I absolutely hate them being so far away. This year has been a rough one healthwise for my mom, and it's looking like my dad's crohn's disease is starting to flare again. 2011 just might be his year for surgery again. Sigh. If I could just be many places at one time, things would just be easier....

Fall evenings have finally arrived, and I get up every morning, joyfully shivering in the cold morning air....been waiting for this all summer. I actually put on a sweatshirt for a little while last week....

On a wonderful note, our Delmarva GEB region had our second graduate; Hawkeye graduated from the Heeling Autism Program on Thursday. His raisers, Sandy and Mike Calloway and their children attended, as did Barbara and Randy. Barb said that there weren't enough tissues in the whole kleenex factory for Sandy. What a wonderful/terrible day for them...but seeing Hawkeye with his new partner made it all worthwhile.




Anthony attended yet another community gathering at the Carlisle Fire Department in Milford; it was the beginning of Fire Prevention Week, and also the day before the big race in Dover. Patty and I accompanied Anthony, but nobody really paid any attention to us...only to the dog (which is the way we like it). We had lots of fun going through the fire house, and they had an actual Nascar driving simulator there, so we of course had to take a few spins around the track. All I'll say is that I'm keeping my day job.

It was a nice day with nice people....always good to meet people in the community.

We also got to go up to New Castle to Richard's office; Anthony was a perfect office dog. Unfortunately, no work was done when Richard took him on a tour of the plant.

It's been a hard couple of months for all of us; Richard looks so tired all the time, we're both a little on edge. But we knew going in that we'd go through this. We knew at the beginning that it was going to be hard to get this done, and it would be hard not to snipe at each other at times...but we're still a team; he's still my best friend and I'm his. We're starting to talk about the "after" time...when we can go back to sharing the crossword puzzle on Sunday, watching the football games together (right now we usually can catch the Sunday night game; we turn it on and promptly fall asleep about two minutes later). This will be a finished project, and we will be all the better for it. We're hoping for a two to three year time period before we will sell the Salisbury house, and then we'll have a nice house in Smyrna, no mortgage, no debt, (no worries?)...and maybe even a late model car for each of us.

The dogs, of course, will still have about 2.5 thousand toys.

Insomnia.

Been forever since I've updated...and I've kind of been putting it off because it has been such a long time....kind of like going to confession when I was young. At some points, I'd think that I'd just be in there most of the day, so it was easier to not go.

However, my niece Katie has a blog, and she uses bullet points to say what she wants to say. I'm totally going to steal her idea; it doesn't seem so daunting that way.

• I've got a bit of insomnia tonight, which is odd. I was so tired when I got home from Smyrna, I thought I'd be asleep within minutes. That was about four hours ago. Sigh.
• We're moving along on the Smyrna house, albeit not as fast as we'd like. For about a week, it was kind of like peeling an onion. Take up one piece of wood, and we'd find that underneath it needed fixing. It just makes everything take that much longer.
• We've had the truck for about 2 weeks now, and the other day it started making a noise I've never heard in a car before. With a sense of foreboding, I took it in to Daves. Continuing it's reputation, the truck now needs a new transmission for $2800. We're trying to decide whether or not it's stupid to keep throwing good money after bad. It's Murphy's Law, this being a time we REALLY need a truck. Oh well, we'll figure something out.
  
• While I'm typing this, the Real Housewives of DC is on; these people are awful and making me mad just by being on the tv. I loved the housewives of Orange County, New Jersey and even Atlanta. These people are just....stupid.
  
• Mr. Anthony is now 84 pounds; a very large boy. He's become a little bit sensitive lately; we were in Lowes in Dover yesterday, and they had an animated halloween witch on display. It scared him (it was motion activated) and he started to bark at it. So we're going to stop there again tomorrow, and each day that we go by. He's also being challenged by dog distraction....only a few months to go now, and I don't want to send him without addressing both of these things. Other than that, he's a big giant joy in my life who still makes me laugh today as much as he did when he was a puppy.
• Richard is settling in with the new job, and this week he finally sounded like he was happy about it; up until now, he's been struggling with trying to catch up after the (TMI) move, learning to do everything a different way, and assimilate to being "upper management". We went and had lunch with him this week (Anthony and I) and Richard was pleased as punch.
• Everybody has new jobs (except me, LOL) and I'll fill you in on them next time. It's all so good. Lots to tell, but I'm getting sleepy and I'm going to take advantage of it!
  

No Apologies

You would think that with everything that has been going on in our lives, I'd have a lot to talk about. I truly do. But finding the time/energy/thought processes to do it is something else entirely. Tonight, I skipped baby puppy class to just ingest meds and chill out with the three dogs. Been alone since around 3 p.m. after Mrs. Maggie Roof stopped by to get our suitcases to use for their honeymoon cruise. She and I talked about the "letdown" that both of us are feeling after the wedding. There's lots for me to do around here, but I'm truly missing the wedding planning. :) It was a beautiful wedding, a beautiful party; it was just over so truly fast.

First and foremost, I'll talk about what didn't happen that day...my parents were not there. They called on eight days before, and said they couldn't come; my mom, who has been having constant pain, is scheduled for hip replacement surgery in mid-June. We all figured she'd medicate herself and come here and then go back home for surgery. Unfortunately, her body had other ideas.

They tried every way possible to get here. She can't fly on a plane. She can't sit in the car for all those hours from Florida to Maryland. She's tried every drug; they all made her loopy, but none took away the pain. Her heart hurt, our hearts hurt. She was trying to convey to me that if there was any way possible, she would be there. This wasn't something she had to explain. This is her only granddaughter, and if she could have been there, she would have been there. I immediately went into "joke" mode, to try and make her laugh, make her feel better. Didn't work. We both cried. Over the next few days, I tried to talk with them every day, to let them know what was going on, what we were doing. I wanted to include them, all the while wondering if I was making it worse by telling them everything. Sigh. It was ultimately a no win situation. We forged on; I tried calling every day, even if it was just for a minute.

I immediately regretted my decision to not hire a videographer. When I told Barbara what had happened, she immediately offered her and Randy's services to tape everything for us; she said that they had done it a bunch of times for family and friends. I was torn. These were my guests, and now I'm asking them to work? But I said yes anyway, in spite of my hesitation. I'm glad I did. These are two wonderful wonderful friends.

The wedding went off almost without a hitch. Richard, Roger and I got to the Civic Center early to set up the tables with table numbers, candles, etc. We found that instead of 19 tables of 6, 7 or 8, there were 20 tables of 6. Eeeeeeek. I had a mini-panic (because I didn't have COMPLETE CONTROL over the seating arrangement and couldn't micro-manage it to death). But in reality, the problem was fixed in about 30 minutes. I then rushed to the hair salon to get my hair done...I give it about a 75 out of 100. I would have liked it less pouffy, and probably should have had more hairspray (the wind tousled it immediately). Ah well, hindsight is always 20/20. RUSHED home from there, stopping to get Leah some nail polish remover, and ran upstairs to get dressed. It was starting to get hot, which I knew was going to wreck my hair (what a shock...and which is why I wished it was a winter wedding lol). Limo arrived early....it was actually a bus with a disco ceiling. The limo had broken down and they sent this instead, which was absolutely fine.

Got to the church and found the bridal party, who immediately offered me a Smirnoff Ice. Tempting, but I hadn't eaten a thing all day, and I didn't think it would be wise to imbibe. Headed back to the front of the church, and started seeing everyone. I was so emotional....so many people came from so very far away. Tears. Stop. Tears. Stop. Tears. Stop. Thank goodness I had grabbed one of Richard's hankies from the drawer before we left the house. It was awesome...I stood there and greeted people and listened to them tell me how beautiful I looked. I'm actually thinking of putting the dress back on next Sunday and standing at the back of the church. I liked the compliments. :)

Kevin walked me down the aisle to my seat; at that point, Martha and I stood to go up to the alter to light the candles that would be used later to light the unity candle. She was nervous, and we clasped hands and walked that LONG walk up to the top of the alter (it wasn't really long, just seemed that way in heels). We lit the candles, and turned and walked back towards our seats.

Now this part we had planned beforehand, but didnt' tell anybody. When we got back to our pews, we faced the front of the church, then turned towards each other, and high fived.

It got a laugh. (Oh, I live for the laugh, don't I?) I think it calmed her down a bit, and we both grinned from ear to ear.

The bridal party came in, all looking so handsome and beautiful. I actually was thinking "this is really happening". The flowers, red roses and white tulips, were in beautiful contrast to the bridesmaid's black dresses. The ushers had red rose boutonnieres to match.

Then Richard and Maggie appeared at the back of the church. Pachabel's Canon in D started to play (Maggie didn't want the bridal march). I saw her and her father, and immediately started crying. I choked it down, looked at Martha, and she started crying. We kind of did this back and forth crying thing; I'd get under control, and she'd start; she'd get under control, and I'd start.

Maggie looked so so beautiful. So, so happy. Richard's eyes were shining. Maggie was beaming.

The ceremony was over so quickly. I just wanted to sit there all day and watch these two people declare their love to each other and to God and to all of us for the rest of the day....I didn't want it to end. But it did. They marched back down the aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Roger Roof. Our hearts wanted to burst with happiness.

It was a beautiful beautiful wedding.

Tomorrow, I'll write about the reception. :)

Oh Blogger, How I've Missed Thee

I know that it's still February, and it's winter. But it's just so cold! I'm tired of the snow. I want it to be warmer (but not hot)...I want I want I want. Sorry, just had to get that out of my system.

Much happening in our lives; Biggest news? Richard has accepted a promotion with Testing Machines; he's going from blue collar to white collar, which means that his travelling will be greatly reduced. He's going to have an office that he'll have to report to every day, and a title, and minions and the like. He's also going to have to relocate. Me too. We're moving!

This was all part of the plan for the future, just not the immediate future. TMI will be opening its' doors in New Castle, DE in April, 2010. Richard's contract that he's signed stipulates that he must live within one hour of New Castle. Whoa!!! Timing is everything, right? So maybe I shouldn't wish for spring so soon. We have Maggie's wedding, and now we have a move to plan; we have a house to sell, we have a house to buy. I guess that's why I've been waking up at night in sheer panic...how are we going to get this all done?

We started looking at property, and at house plans. Diane sent me a plan that we both fell in love with; it's very open, it's on one floor, and it's perfect (except for some minor adjustments for the Christmas Tree closet). We looked for land in Milford, Harrington, Dover, Farmington....there's plenty of land available.

But wait. We've got to sell this house first. Uh oh, it's time to finish all those projects! It's time to get rid of all our crap! It's time to pull our hair out!

It's a bad time to give up cursing for Lent. :)

There's a foreclosure house in Debbie and Christian's neighborhood, and while looking for property, I happened across it...and it's way out of our price range. But it led me down another path...why don't we wait to build? Why don't we get something small, and very cheap, and live there for a few years until the market picks up? We can rent this house to the kids, buy a foreclosure house for as little as possible, live beneath our means for a few years, sell this house when we can get our price, and then use that money to build our new house, sell the little house, and move in with (hopefully) no mortgage and no debt (or as little as possible). I've been listening to Dave Ramsey in the afternoons, and reading his books; he says "if you live like no one else, you can live like no one else". He advocates no credit, cash only, eat rice and beans (figuratively) to save money, drive an old car, and sleep easy at night. Our foreclosure house plan fits right into that scenario.

We're actually hoping to see one of the houses listed this weekend. It's in Hartly, DE, way out in the boonies. It's going to go to auction at a minimum $68,000 bid; we drove by, and it's a little manufactured home, with a big boat, and a big camper in the front of it (no wonder they couldn't pay their mortgage) and a HUGE satellite dish in the front, which made us laugh. Detached three-car garage, one acre of property. Needs lots of love.

I'm so excited at the prospect of all this. It's about a 180 degree turn from how it's been recently...always acquiring stuff, things, spending on this and that. Richard and I have lamented about how we miss the simpler way of life; how it was when we were younger. I think we're both ready for this change. Scared to death, but ready :).

Verklempt

The sun shone today and provided central Florida with warmth; most of the "ghosts" were gone today. After a cool start, we hit the high 60's, almost 70 degrees. It was divine. I'm really starting to think that I did bring them this cold snap...it's leaving almost at the same time I do.

Took Dad to the hospital early; Mom had a doctor's appointment early afternoon. We had a quiet day, doing house stuff, trying to accomplish everything we wanted to accomplish at the beginning of this visit. Walked the dogs. Had lunch. Mom went out to the backyard and surveyed the frost damage. I took that opportunity to take my camera, and get some nice photos of Augie; spent some time doing puppy massage on him. He ate it up, laying in his yard, his mom there, all the mulch he could munch on (and nobody saying no), and his "sister" there giving him a massage. It was a good and peaceful time with him.

Mom's doctor visit went well; he checked her Coumadin level, and it looked very good. I loved this doctor, who I had the opportunity to meet while she was in the hospital. This is my parents' GP, the "good" Dr. Reynolds, as one of the surgeons referred to him. He is a doctor who will not schedule more patients than he can see in a day; he actually spends time with each patient. He seems to have very old-fashioned values that you don't see in the medical field too much these days....almost worth moving south to find such an unusual M.D. :)

Picked up Dad then and went back home. Dad put Augie in the back of the car, and I took my bag of very stinky, very tasty dog treats and as many tissues I could stuff in my purse.

Dad couldn't come into the room. He looked so torn as we went in. We had a few minutes with Augie, and then the doctor and two of the vet techs came in. It was a five tissue farewell; it was also such a blessing to see all of these people feeling as we did. They were all crying right along with us. We were all down on the floor, and it happened so very peacefully. He truly just went to sleep, with his head in my mom's hands. She was the last person he saw, and he went over the bridge surrounded by people that loved him. Watching all that happened today, I felt sure of what I said to Mom and Dad, that it had been his time. As sad as we all were, when we finally left the room, I saw my dad hug my mom so tight. He took her hand, and then he took my hand, and we walked out together.

Getting back to the house, we all appeared to have been run over by some kind of truck...even Cassie. She was unusually quiet. We ordered a pizza, and surprisingly, ate it all up. We then sat together, looked for funny things on television (settled on two old Seinfelds) and all went to bed early. I've finished packing, and can just enjoy a bowl of cereal and coffee before it's time to leave for the (1) doctor and (2) airport.

It's been a long ten days; not the trip we had all planned (the plan? two hours in the surgery center and home); but I'm so thankful that I was here for everything. Dad said before "oh no, we're going to have to cook and clean ourselves". Ha! I baked more than I cooked (not that there's anything wrong with that), and my cleaning skills are less than stellar. But I'm ready to get home to my house, my family and my pups. I'm ready to get back to my life; it's been suspended since the middle of December with Maggie's graduation coinciding with Mom and Dad's visit and going straight through until now. Been a great break.

It's a new year, with new things happening. A wedding :). Max starts training for the fire department on the 28th. Richard's company will be moving to Delaware perhaps by the middle of spring. We have a new class starting pre-puppy classes, four pups are ready to head back to New York, and Mr. Anthony is going for his jacket in the next few weeks.

Godspeed, Augie Doggie.

Onward and upward, people.

Hard Decisions

When my dad picked me up at the airport last Tuesday, we had a good hour to talk on the way home. We talked about lots of things, the upcoming surgery, the past "house flood", the new carpets, new toilets, new ceiling in the garage.

Also Augie. He asked me to just look, and to tell them what I thought about how Augie was doing. I guess to have an "outsiders" look at him. I think that our hearts and minds can be clouded by love, especially when it comes to our animals. I told him that I would, and I would keep my own feelings out of it (good luck, right?)

I spent all Thursday and Friday with Augie, as Mom and Dad were at the hospital all day, both days. All the rest of the days, I walked him, I let him out and in, I took him to the woods for short walks in the afternoons. He had bad days, and better days; but honestly, he had no good days. Poor Augie doesn't live anymore. He sleeps, he eats. He goes outside, and has a terrible time going back up the stairs. I told my mom what I thought yesterday, and she said that she'd call the vet next week and go in a speak with her; ask her if she thought it was time to say good-bye.

This morning, she had to call the vet to get more painkillers for him...I listened to her speaking to these wonderful people at the vet, and all of a sudden she was saying that she thought it was time, she wanted to bring him in. She broke down on the phone, and my mom doesn't ever do that. She's private, and kept apologizing for crying. All of this made me start crying (you all know I have NO problem with tears in public, and am very demonstrative of such)...Augie's been around for so very long, 13 years.

I told Mom and Dad that I wanted them to do it while I was here; they have always been there for me, and I'd like to be there for them this time. My dad didn't understand at first, and kind of second-guessed doing this, but after a few minutes, realized that it was the right thing to do. I remember that feeling when it got to be the time to take Roxy for that final vet appointment; it was a panic-filled feeling, thinking that there had to be something else we could do instead of this.

My eyes are filling as I'm even thinking about doing this tomorrow. We all know it's the right thing at the right time. But it's just so damned hard.

Beautiful Day in Florida...almost 56 degrees today!

It actually was a really beautiful day, sunny, crisp and a bit chilly. Nothing wrong with that.

Mom is coming along slowly; she's walking more than I thought she would at this point, which is great. She's leaning more on tylenol than the pain medication, and really is only taking the tylenol at night. Dad and I took down all the Christmas decorations outside, and got all the blanket "ghosts" off the plants.

Mom and Dad head off to bed around 8, so I'm sitting here watching The Office, and laughing all by myself. I love this show.

It's been a rather slow day around here, so I had to keep myself occupied. :)

From Balmy Florida....24 degrees and falling....

Oh my. It's so cold :) I actually feel for these poor people down here, so unused to the cold weather. Their bodies are acclimated to much more temperate weather. I actually saw snow flurries last night. If you are here on vacation, you picked a very bad week. On the way back from the airport, we saw someone water skiing; I figured it was a vacationer who was determined to get a little water skiing in....in a wetsuit.

Mr. Murphy has followed me here...and brought his law with him. Wednesday morning, my mom shakes me awake around 6:30 a.m. She had been bitten by a tick the previous week, and woke up to find a red ring around the bite mark. She had remembered that Max had had the same thing happen to him, and wanted to know if it looked the same to me. It did, albeit much smaller than Max's....much earlier noticed, I think. We all had the same thought at the same time. "Is this going to screw up the surgery?" I voiced my opinion that I didn't think that it would affect it; inwardly, I wasn't so sure. Off they went to the "doc in the box".

They returned a few hours later, with a prescription for penicillin, and a green light on the surgery.

Thursday comes, and off they go, first thing in the morning. Hours passed; around 9 a.m. Cassie and I set out on a long walk. We walked all the way to town, and down to Lake Dora. It was kind of nice; downtown was deserted (too cold for anyone to be walking the streets), and it was pretty much me, Cassie, the loons and an egret that was perched on the trunk of someone's car. We walked for awhile, and got back at 11:30 a.m. Spoke to my dad, and the surgery on my mom's ankle and knee had been a success; however, after the surgery, her heart went into atrial fibrillation. They took her from the surgery center over to the emergency room at the hospital, hooked her up to monitors, and said that they might keep her overnight for observation. They put her on coumadin, and started watching her. Unfortunately, it's a pretty small hospital, and they were filled...no beds. She and my dad were in the emergency room until almost 11 pm. STRESSFUL, to say the least. But she finally got a room. At this point, everyone is just concentrating on her heart...she was in a bit of pain in her ankle, but not too bad, she said.

Saturday morning, I went with my dad to the hospital early, and got to meet the osteo surgeon, and then her regular doctor, who informed us that my mom would be coming home that day. Hooray! It was 11:15 a.m. when we got the news. Figured it would take awhile to get out of there. "Awhile" is not quite the word. The hospital is small, and being Saturday, had a skeleton staff. We actually wheeled her out of there at 4:45 p.m. It was a long day for all, but the result was worth the wait. :) Bonus...the Jets won their playoff game last night. Yes!

Today was routine; some housework (vacuuming, laundry, dusting), taking care of the patient with my dad, headed into town to see what's new in Mt. Dora (I could have spent more time down there, but may head back before I go home), walking the dogs in the woods, and then back to lay on my mom's bed with her, and watch movies (We Were Soldiers and Gladiator), with my dad keeping us apprised of the score on the game.

Tomorrow we schedule doctor visits for the surgeon, the cardiologist and the regular doctor.

I miss home; the hubby and the kids. Two days away is kind of like running away to vacation, not being responsible for anything that you usually do at home. When day three came, I was really missing Maryland. Today Richard told me that it was kind of boring around there without me. I really did think that he was going to enjoy the peace and quiet....maybe he just misses Anthony.

Speaking of Anthony, he doesn't really miss us at all. Debbie is watching him, and she sent this picture today. Looks like Ink has replaced us in Anthonys heart... :) Miss that little guy.