Vacuuming Is Torture

Well, out of all the household duties the thing I hate doing the most is vacuuming. I don’t mind dusting, doing laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, but I just hate vacuuming. It’s a horrible task and so Andy does it for me because he is such a great guy. I am not sure why I hate vacuuming so much but as I think about it I am going to attribute it to my childhood. When I was a kid I always had chores like most little kids and one of my chores was to vacuum once a week. Now my mom had one of those Kirby vacuum cleaners that weighed like 50 pounds. It was so heavy to a little girl like me. I had to haul that heavy sucking machine out and push it around the house on a weekly basis. I felt like this was torture and I grew up absolutely hating to vacuum. I haven’t vacuumed in about a year, thanks to Andy, until tonight. We recently got a Dyson vacuum for animal hair, thanks to Andy’s mom, and after seeing Andy use it and how amazing this vacuum cleaner is I decided to give it a try tonight. I mean this thing looked light weight and easy to use. I found that pushing it around the house was nowhere near as heavy as the Kirby vacuum cleaner that made me despise vacuuming so I was thrilled. This puppy has suction power too. I got to the bathrooms and it sucked up the bathroom curtain many times like it’s nobody’s business. It also kept sucking up the toilet paper. I was getting frustrated, but decided not to quit. I then couldn’t figure out how to get the hose out to get behind the toilets, so I called Andy for assistance. After many jokes and him laughing at me he showed me how to use the hose. I must say it’s a great vacuum cleaner; however, it didn’t help me get over my hatred of vacuuming like I’d hoped it would have. So, I think I will continue to let Andy vacuum while I do the rest of the house cleaning.

Long Holiday Weekend Has Been Great

Well, sorry I haven’t written for a while as I have been quite busy. First I was working a lot so by the time I got home I was too tired to blog and now my parents are in town so I have been spending a lot of time with them. We have been hanging out by the pool, playing corn hole, grilling out and yesterday we spent some time in Bisbee and Tombstone, AZ. We grilled out on Monday night with the Seifert’s and that was fun. We were all outside after dinner talking and watching TV when I came inside and found Madison sitting with a bunch of bananas on the floor. She had a great time with the bananas as a few of them were pulled open and she was eating them. When my parents come to visit they always go grocery shopping and I warn them not to put food anywhere near the edge of the counter otherwise it’s going to be taken by the dogs. Somehow the bananas were a little too close to the edge and Madison got a hold of them. Of course she had a blast.

Bisbee and Tombstone are small towns in southeast Arizona, pretty close to the border. Bisbee is a really neat historical town built on the side of mountains and it’s considered a ghost town. It was filled with galleries and many neat little shops that we checked out. It’s a must see if you ever visit AZ. Tombstone is a tourist trap and they bank off the Wild West. There is a street that apparently Hollywood has used to film their western movies, so of course this town plays off of that to get visitors there. This street is also the street where the famous shootout happened at OK Corral. They had tons of crap shopping, and by crap shopping I mean the small trinkets and dust collectors like shot glasses, t-shirts, etc. I wasn’t a fan of Tombstone, but then again I don’t like that cheesy tourist crap shopping either. So, I would vote a no for Tombstone and a yes for Bisbee. However they are only like five miles apart from each other.

My parents are still here and they will be leaving on Friday. I took off work yesterday and today to spend some time with them. I am not sure what we are up to today, but I think my parents are going horseback riding tomorrow when I head back to work since I really don’t want to do that. I have enjoyed my five day holiday week and I am not ready to head back to work tomorrow, but of course I will. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend too.

Jimmy Buffet Recap

On Thursday we went to the Jimmy Buffet concert at Cricket Pavilion with our friends. Let me say that if you have never experienced a Buffet concert you are definitely missing out. It is filled with great people watching, crazy times and good music; that is if you remember it the next day. I went to my first Buffet concert about five years ago with Andy at Alpine Valley and I had so much fun that I have been going every year that he comes to town. I must say though that the Buffet concert in AZ definitely does not beat the Buffet concert in WI. Alpine Valley is usually on a Saturday and is an all day crazy event, while the AZ concert is typically on a weekday and they don’t open the gates to the parking lot until 4pm or 5pm, so it limits the amount of tailgating you can do prior to the concert and you have to deal with the reality of work the next day. Plus it’s typically 100 degrees outside at the AZ Buffet concerts and tailgating when it’s that hot out in a parking lot gets pretty friggin’ hot. Our friends picked us up at 4:30 and we headed to Cricket with the car packed full of food, beverages and of course corn hole. Our corn hole game has the Badger W on it so every time people walked by our parking spot they had to ask where in WI we are from, and that got old fast. Our friend Amber decided not to wait for people to ask the WI question and so she sat in her chair just announcing to everyone that walked by “They are from Madison.” It was too funny. We had friends there that became friends with people who arrived in their RV so they had a potty on board. That is key to these concerts, either arrive with your own port-o or become friends with people who brought a giant RV. The talk for next year’s event is to rent an RV for the day and therefore there are no potty worries for the women. The hot and sweaty concert started about 8pm so we headed inside. Our friends took their seats and we proceeded to our cheap lawn seats where it was a million degrees because people were packed in the lawn like sardines. Our friends said the seats next to them were empty and they smuggled us into the seating section, and we danced away to the tunes of Jimmy Buffet. We are very thankful to our designated driver, Amber, for getting us home safe and sound. Until next year Jimmy!

Pool Is Open

It’s been hitting the 100 degree temperatures this past week and therefore the hot days definitely warmed up our pool to 80 degrees and it was time to jump in for the first time this year. Not only did Andy and I get in, but so did both dogs. Madison loves the pool. She likes it when you carry her to the deep end and let her go so she can swim around. She doesn’t jump in herself, but instead she paws at the water and looks at you. That is her way of letting you know she wants you to carry her in the pool. Yes, our animals are that high maintenance if you haven’t figured that out already. Izzy on the other hand got her swimming lessons on Saturday. She had fallen in the pool three times since we got her last fall and now it was warm enough for us to teach her how to swim and how to get out of the pool on her own if she falls in. We did the same swim lessons that we did with Madison last summer. Of course Izzy was shaking and did not like it, but in due time she will enjoy it just like Madison. It took Madison quite a few times of us putting her in the pool before she realized that she liked it and it cooled her off when it’s above 100 degrees outside. After three times of putting Izzy in the pool she would run when Andy would get near her. She did not want to go back in, but she has to until she can learn how to get out of the pool without any help. I don’t want to have to play lifeguard when she is out there running around the pool at full speed. Of course I took pictures of her swim lessons. Enjoy!

Andy carrying Izzy to the pool...she is frightened.

Right before Andy puts her on the baja deck...still frightened.

On the baja deck by herself. She wouldn't move from this stance.

Madison joins Izzy on the baja deck.

Time for the deep end.



And she's off...in a panic!

Captain Has Be-Headed My Flowers

When I brought my lovely tulips home from work on Friday my first thought was where to put them where the dogs can’t destroy them. After my long commute home I figured that I could put them in the bedroom on the dresser set back so the dogs can’t reach them. Once I rested the tulips on their new home I went to spend time with the lonely puppies. I returned to the bedroom some time later and I found about six tulip heads on the floor…completely cut off right under the head of the tulip. I immediately spot the perpetrator, Captain. There he was happy as can be sitting on the other end of the dresser. Of course I yelled at him and he took off. Once I got a closer look I noticed that he not only beheaded the tulips, but he also poked numerous holes in the stems of them. I was irritated, so I closed the door to keep Captain out of the bedroom for the weekend. On Saturday, I must not have closed the door all the way so it latched because in the afternoon I walked in the bedroom to find a few more tulip heads on the floor and Captain darting out of the bedroom before I could scold him. Now, I was even more irritated at the cat. Can’t we have any animals in this house that are not destructive? Once Andy got home on Sunday night I told him how I only had half of his tulips left and to keep the door closed so I could keep the flowers that I had left until they died on their own. Of course my request went in one ear and out the other because the door closing rule didn’t last long and Captain was back in the bedroom trying to get at the tulips before anyone could notice. Captain finally massacred the tulips on Monday while I was at work because Andy did not keep the door closed to the bedroom like I requested. I now have three tulips left, barely, out of the couple dozen tulips that I received only a few days ago. So much for my once a year flowers!

What A Thoughtful Guy

Andy is not Mr. Romance, but when he does put his mind to being sweet he always over exceeds and this time is no exception. We have been running a hotel this whole month with guests coming and going so Andy and I have spent zero time together and have barely had a conversation with each other because we have been so busy with our guests. Our hotel is over; however, now Andy went out of town this weekend to Chicago for a bachelor party. Since we haven’t had much quality time together he decided to be Mr. Wonderful and he gave me a sweet card telling me how much I mean to him and DVD’s to watch this weekend while he is gone. Then to top it off he sent me tulips (my favorite flower) to work on Friday. That was even a bigger surprise because for Andy to give me a card and a small gift without a holiday in sight and then to top it off by sending flowers to my work, now that was impressive. When I called to thank him he also told me about another surprise he had planned, but since I got sick it wasn’t going to happen. I had a spa day planned with my girlfriends for today and I had to cancel because I can’t get a facial while I am hacking up a storm. Andy was going to send wine and food over to our cabana poolside. How sweet is that? He said it would have gotten him bonus points with my friends; however, I doubt he needs them. As far as I know all my friends love Andy. So, girls, we could have had wine and hors d’oeurves compliments of Andy today. What a thoughtful guy!