Sparky

So I decided last weekend to go for dog round 2. I brought Sparky home on Saturday and scheduled his visit to the vet for Monday. I did my best to not get attached before the vet visit, at the time his name was Kobe. He checked out good at the vet, so I gave him his name.

Sparky and Jinkies are probably doing as well as can be expected. Today is my first full day at home with the both of them and they have been "playing" nice. They've gotten within 6 feet of each other without any yowling or growling. I think there is hope that they can occupy the same room in the future.

Sparky does well with me, but hesitates/barks his head off at strangers (or is it just men?). Hopefully Tom will come visit every once and while and help this a bit.

Here's a little video of Sparky. Right now, he's either sleeping or following me around, so it's hard to get a good shot of him. I'm sure once he's acclimated better, I'll be able to get some better shots.

Sparky's stats: 3 years old, 22ish pounds, dachshund/yellow lab mix, likes to chase balls, likes rawhide strips, crate trained, barks when scared, and is quite cute and loveable. His first nickname is Senor Destructo because he annihilated a canvas toy with a squeaker in less than 10 minutes, stuffing was everywhere. Next up is trying to find a durable rubber toy with a squeaker.

Web Cast... DONE!

I'm so happy that the web cast went fairly smooth today. I feel such relief that it's over and done with. The video should be posted by Tuesday morning for people to replay. The winners have already been posted on www.CaseRocks.com

For those of you that have let me vent and talk about this project, I truly appreciate the ear and the encouragement. This project was quite the undertaking, but a very good learning experience. I don't know why I'm amazed or surprised by the "all hands on deck" mentality in the office... because I know I have great coworkers, but we all came together again to knock this project out. I'm very proud to have them as my coworkers and friends.

I've been enjoying my first evening without having a web cast to-do list hanging over my head. I was watching tv over dinner and saw a mini infomercial for Microsmores. You gotta check this out. I was in awe that this invention is actually needed by anyone.www.microsmores.com

Cookies, cookies, and more cookies!

I spent Saturday at Stephanie's house making cookies with the gals, Jenny and Amanda. We had a bit of help from the kids. One being Taylor as seen below with Steph.
I'm not quite sure which round of dishes washing Jenny is starting here. I do know that Amanda was stepping in to help stir the triple batch of Spritz cookies I was making.
If we all weren't so busy making cookies, we would have had many more photos to share.
1. The huge table of ingredients for us to utilize.
2. The sugar cookie decoration line.
3. Photos documenting the mishaps (melted spoons, non-sticky dough, unmelting chocolate, and exploded cookies hitting the floor)
4. The cleanup crew (Reggie did a great job spit shining the floor where we dropped things... oh to have a dog again would be nice)
5. More photos of the happy bakers and the finished products (Spritz, Swedish almond butter cookies, English Toffee, Snickerdoodles, Peanut butter kiss cookies, Scotcheroos, White chocolate covered pretzyls, lemon cranberry cookies, sugar cookies, and those chocolate ones I don't remember the name of)

It was a great day! I can't wait til next year, but Jenny did have a good idea to make cookies for every holiday. Who knows... maybe we'll have a Christmas in July next year!

Time Flies When You're Not Home

Wow, that's pretty sad... over two weeks without a post. I guess it didn't help that I've been here, there, and everywhere in between.

It started out with a fun trip down to St. Louis to visit, Joyce, Brian, and John. It seemed like almost a year since I had seen them and it was great to catch up.

Then Thanksgiving rolled around and I think I spent more time at my parents' house and in stores than at my own house. I should have taken a little time out to relax, but I did get quite a bit accomplished in that time, plus, as always, it was great to see the family.

Shortly after Thanksgiving I lived in Dunlap for 3 days as a single mother of two kids. Quite a different routine, but I couldn't have asked for things to go any better. The one bummer was not getting to bring Jinkies with me. He was so confused when I'd come home from work at lunch and then not come back until the next day. He is quite pleased to have is warm human back... helps cut down on the time sleeping with your face covered for warmth.
Work has been quite chaotic and exhausting lately and I don't see that changing until the live web cast we're planning happens on the 14th. Another great learning experience, but on top of everything else, very stressful.

I've enjoyed this weekend and taking the time to do the things that I want to do. Somehow an impromptu game night even happened. I wrapped Christmas presents and toted those over to my parents' house and I even dropped off a car load of stuff to Good Will. I puttered out this afternoon, so I only got half way through organizing my house. I'm hoping to keep at it and do a little bit each night this week. We shall see how that goes.