A NEW PUPPY!

We celebrated Easter and the beginning of Spring by bringing a new four-legged member into our family.


We already have a great dog, Sidney. She is a 12 year old Australian Shepherd/Blue Heeler that J and I adopted from the Denver Dumb Friends League in December of 1998. She is a wonderful dog, well behaved and quiet.  However, being 12, she is getting older and slower. She doesn't like to play fetch as much and she is tired a lot.

We decided that with our new house we should have a new puppy. We have been looking online at different shelters and mulling over what kind of dog to adopt. We found a few that we fell in love with their pictures but the timing was never right. Then, last week, I stumbled across the website for LifeLine Puppy Rescue. There were 47 puppies up for adoption. J and I found 2 we were in love with. They looked smart and were adorable. The rescue center was only open on Saturdays and Sundays for adoptions.

We decided we would get up first thing Saturday morning and go pick a puppy. We didn't tell the boys, we wanted it to be a surprise.  We started out the morning by getting coffee/cocoa from Caribou Coffee. It was a great treat. Then we went to PetSmart to get a collar and leash for the surprise. The boys didn't catch on, they thought we were just getting new items for Sidney. Then we headed east. The boys thought we were immediately going to Grammy and Grandpa's because Uncle Jason and cousins Jerrick and Joshua were flying in from CA for a week. When we took an unfamiliar turn they were sitting in the backseat begging to know where we were going. When we arrived, there was a line of cars 15-20 cars long. I thought we were never going to get the puppy we wanted. Pretty soon the gates opened and the cars filed in. People parked and then got in line at a rope. When that rope dropped people were running to the kennels and as soon as they saw the one they wanted hands were waving in the air.

I got to the kennel of the puppy that was 1st on our list and raised my hand, I pointed her out to the boys and the man standing next to me very politely informed me he was there first and she was the one he wanted. I sadly conceded. And then in the next kennel I saw her, our #2 choice. A volunteer at the shelter came over and asked which one we wanted. She took the puppy out of the kennel and handed her to me and my heart melted. This was definitely our new family member. She didn't whine or cry or growl or try to jump. She just put her paws on my shoulders and looked at me. And then J held her and his heart melted to.

And the rest is history. She keeps us up at night because she doesn't care for her crate very much, but that is okay. She is a great dog. She loves the boys and she gets along with Sid just fine. She hasn't had any accidents in the house yet. She comes when we whistle. She loves to cuddle and she is so adorable.

Meet Lectra. A 10 week old Red Heeler Mix.  

I can't wait until Friday. When all 6 of us get to go to our new house and start our new life. A new puppy, a new house, a new beginning.

The Next Chapter in our Life

Apparently the moving bug has been the water in my family.  3 of the 4 sisters are in the process of purchasing a home within 90 days of each other.

J and I have been through this process before and we got in over our heads. So here we are, 9 years later, and we are starting over. After 5 years of renting and getting our finances under control we are ready to take the plunge again.

We only looked at 10 houses and #10 was THE House.


While we went into the house with a set criteria of wants and needs we found we had to compromise on a couple of points.

1. I said that I HAD to have a big beautiful bathtub in the master bathroom. Sadly, there isn't a bathtub in the master at all. In fact, it's just a plain jane shower stall with a shower curtain. But BONUS, it does have radiant heat under the slate floor. And there is room to remodel a bit and add a tub later.
2. We wanted a Great Room, with the kitchen, dining and family rooms all open to each other.  We got this, but it isn't huge. Its a modestly sized space, but we will make it work. We have a wood burning fireplace to keep it warm and cozy in the winter. And we have vaulted ceilings tall enough for my super duper huge Christmas Tree we have been moving around for 5 years without a place big enough to put it up (Thanks honey, I appreciate your cooperation and understanding). I am thinking of it as less space to clean and fewer places to accumulate junk.
3. 3 bedrooms was a MUST. The boys are far enough apart in age that need their own rooms. We got 3 bedrooms, but they are not luxurious or huge, Evan's room doesn't even has doors on the closet. But I have plans to make them cozy and fun and functional. Again, I'm going with the mentality that its less to keep clean and less room for junk
4. We really wanted a basement. We wanted storage and room to expand. Our new house has a garden level basement but it is going to be the Master Retreat as the boys' rooms are are the main floor. This is definitely not what I had in mind for our room but the idea is growing on me. And another BONUS, the house comes with a sauna :)

 I find myself a little surprised at the home we chose. It is on a busier street than I had originally wanted, it is older than I thought I wanted, its smaller than I what I had planned on, yet I LOVE it. I can't wait to paint the walls and put new flooring in and make curtains and plant flowers and bushes and meet our new neighbors. I find myself dreaming about arranging the furniture and bbq's in the summer on our 3-tier deck. We are talking about adding a new puppy to our family and I can't wait.  No more worrying about when a lease expires. No more living with someone else's design choices. We have a place our children can call home until they graduate from high school. We can paint the walls whatever colors they want and they can choose their own curtains.I am so happy to turn the page and begin this new chapter of our lives.

Life is Good.

My Funny Valentines

My children evoke many emotions from me. Sometimes they make me sad, sometimes I get angry, most of the time they make me feel like I'm overflowing with love and pride and sometimes they just make me laugh. 

A, being 10, is past the really innocent, funny stage. He likes to repeat jokes he hears, bodily functions are hilarious to him and he detests being teased right now. Al's humor mirrors his father's in many ways as he is very dry. He spends most of his time spouting facts that he has read or heard. He likes to amaze me with his vast knowledge of useless facts. He has rightfully earned the nickname "Crap-Chef" (CC for short) because he is constantly making up things that he believe to be true but are obviously pulled out of thin air. We call him this in a loving manner and it makes him laugh to hear us say, "Yeah right CC".

E, on the other hand, is a complete cut-up.  His naive and adorable view of the world makes the most basic of conversations turn to giggles. In fact, he says such funny things I would like to find a way to make a list on my Blog that I can add to chronicle his humor. E's imaginary friend is his brain. He has daily adventures with this friend. He does lots of interesting things with his brain, including watching movies, traveling and playing.  He loves to tell stories about what he and his brain did today. This weekend he had me doubled over in laughter. Anyone that knows me and family is well aware that we have more than our fair share of accidents. We run into things, fall down, get random rashes and cuts and bruises. This being said, when out of the blue E calls me from his room..."Momma.... I have polka dots on my hand, 2 brown ones and 1 red one!"  My mind begins to think about what could cause something like this..did we eat something new? No.  Did we switch any soaps? No. Did he play somewhere new? No. So, I said, "Well come here so I can see".  His "polka dots" turned out to be freckles; freckles he has had his entire life that for some reason he just discovered this weekend.  When he came into the family room I showed him that I have freckles all over my arms and face and J showed him that he is also covered in them. He then got the giggles and was just amazed that we all had polka dots.

We spent the weekend as a family. It was fantastic. We went swimming at the Broomfield Rec on Saturday. A brought his good friend and they went down the water slides more times than I could count. E enjoyed the "Kid Hot Tub" and going down the slides with J and me. He also spent a lot of time in the Lazy River and also in the lap pool with an over-sized kick-board channeling his inner fish.

This weekend, spending quality time with my family, was a much needed reality check.  No matter how stressful work gets, how wrapped up I can become in cleaning or organizing or obsessing over ridiculous things, I have to remember that I already have the important things in life. I have a job; in this economy I am truly blessed to be gainfully employed. I have my health. And most importantly, I have a family that loves me. There is nothing better than the giggles of my own children as they splash and play and remind me just how lucky I really am.

Choosing a Title

When I made up my mind that I wanted to blog I never realized how much pressure I would feel for choosing a title for it.  Then I began to pay attention to what other blogs were called and how clever the names seemed to be and I froze. Would I be able to come up with something catchy and fun? Did I want my name in the title? I had many ideas come to mind. A few of them I loved but found that they were already taken. So after some contemplating and self reflection I came up with "I Pick Me".  This stems from a number of things, but mostly something I have learned over the last few months of my life: That before I can be happy with anything else in my life, whether it be my children, spouse, parents, siblings, extended family, friends, job, hobbies, and anything else, I have to be happy with me. I have to learn to accept me for who I am. Flaws, talents, bad habits, scars and all, I have to accept ME. Therefore, I decided that the best way to declare to myself and the world that I am to that point is to say it. I PICK ME. I pick myself to decide how I feel, how I react, how I dress, style my hair, wear my makeup, what I eat, who I befriend, who I avoid and who I love. I no longer need to worry how others see me, because if I love myself and have confidence and pride I will be a much happier person for myself and in turn for the rest of the world.

So there you have it. If you were curious as to what spurred the title of my blog, now you know.

Sarah

And in the beginning...

There was me.

I decided to see what this crazy thing called Blogging is all about. And since I love to talk, I thought that I might enjoy blogging as well.

I hope to use this as a place to organize my thoughts and ideas, to post pictures to share with family and friends, and to assist me in my never ending journey to find me.