The tough life

Today I got our of the shower to the sounds of dogs barking from several directions in the neighborhood. I ran to the backdoor to assure our dog was not adding to this racket. This is what I found... She has become quite the sun worshiper and, on most days, prefers the comfort of her chair....

Here and almost gone!

May has presented itself as a complete whirlwind in the Vancil household. Jeremy arrived home by Cinco de Mayo, as promised. We hit a few Mexican food joints and enjoyed a few hard earned margaritas. From there, we hit the ground running...

First, and most importantly, after years of looking we found

the perfect rug for our living room at Lowe's! It has changed our lives. Annie agrees. She and Jeremy gave it a trial run while catching up on bonding time after his return.

Jeremy completed his in-processing while getting construction running on

the house

again.

After ordering a dumpster, which they originally delivered BEHIND my car in the driveway, we now have a dumpster in our side driveway to handle all the siding "we" are removing from the house.

Jeremy is working on adding several layers of foam to our house and then new siding, we are hoping to have that complete before the first snow! Between work and upcoming trips Jeremy will have quite the challenge with that.

I worked hard to finish my semester of grad school before heading up to Eielson, yes we

enjoyed all 9 days together before we had to part again. After a week long inspection, mostly working night shift, I am back to town trying to get caught up on paperwork, summer travel plans, work scheduling, and getting my next semester rolling. I guess studying for my upcoming checkride should also be on that list...

We are planning a get away to Haines for our first anniversary. I can't believe it's been a year already! The time has flown by and I'm looking forward to the many years we have to come.

A little Easter

Without Jeremy here Annie and I dyed some eggs on our own. I went to church with my mom, had a nice breakfast with both sets of parents and then we had some dinner at the Vancil's. Annie was very excited about the mechanical hamster I got in the Easter hunt.

A little busy...

So I've been a little delinquent in my posting. Jeremy has been deployed for over 2 months now and between the house, work, school, family and friends I've managed to stay very busy. Somehow most of the picture for the last 2 months have been of the dog. So Annie will give a little recap of the last few months.

First, Annie is very helpful with my homework.

Next, Martha and John got a puppy so Annie and I babysit sometimes.

We had several fresh dumps of snow this spring.

I got to visit the Gastrocks in Tucson. The one sunny day we hit the zoo.

Finally, Annie is very particular about her sleeping area. This night she did not want her blanket in there...

Remembering

As I sit watching Miss America 2010 I have many thoughts passing through my head. Unfortunately, most of them are not about the paper on phonics that I am editing. Hopefully that comes out okay...

I am reminded of the first time I hung out with Jeremy's family. Mostly his mom, sister and I watched Miss America 2006 while I held 5 week old Olivia. Wow has time flown! I never would have guessed at the time that I would now be part of the family, and aunty to 4 year old Olivia.

I also thought about the girls up on that stage. I'm obviously not the pageant type. Something about grace and walking in heels. But I do have to admit it takes some guts to get up in front of that many people that are all judging you on how you take care of yourself and everything that comes out of your mouth. As hard as I try to be a good person, I think I would not fair well if I was being judged on everything that came out of my mouth.

Finally, and mostly, I thought of the strange juxtaposition of watching this contest of beauty while thinking of the people in Haiti that just suffered such tragedy. I was sitting alone on Saturday watching Miss America because of that tragedy. I am greatly missing Jeremy, but I am glad that he is doing good work flying in and out of Haiti. I guess it is the definition of the phrase "the show must go on". I am glad that as a country we can step up and provide so much aid in a time of need. I hope that as we do begin to move on that we don't forget these people and the support they will need to rebuild any semblance of a normal life. I hope that I can a balance between dwelling and forgetting, for the people of Haiti and for so many more around the world dealing with tragedy I can barely begin to imagine.

Why I should have been a dog

This is how I spend a good portion of my day

And this is how the dog spends a good portion of hers....

Enough said.

A new low to share a laugh

I don't know how many of you will find this as funny as I do, and it is definitely taking our blog to a new low. So here goes! In the military particularly, but I assume it applies to most business, people say "Poop (censored for wide viewing) rolls (flows, runs, as applies) downhill." Today I observed a "concrete example", as we would say in the "education" field, of this. As we were out for our morning walk, and I was pondering where Bald Eagles sleep, since they are not in the tree where they perch all day if we walk too early or too late. I came to an abrupt stop at the end of the leash to realize that Annie had perched herself on the side of a snowbank to do her business, looked quite precarious not sure why she chose that over the flat ground at the bottom, but that is when I realized that poop does indeed roll downhill. Since I am apparently the recipient of poop in this relationship I discovered there is no dignity to dog owning as I scurried around the bottom of the snowbank collecting the evidence of her hard work. Hopefully you are finding this amusing and not totally disgusting, oh and hope you are not trying to eat right now... Sorry if I ruined your meal!