Family Fun on the Fourth

This past weekend, Adam and I had an amazing time with family and spending time in our little Delaware. It's too bad the weekend is over already, but another one is almost here again!!

~Thursday~
Today I worked all day, my normal schedule. After work, we went to our usual - El Vaquero. We finally realized that this may be a problem because as soon as we sat down the cheese dip was delivered right to us. And, our server "Tequila-for-the-lady" guy, knew our entire order. Oops! Maybe we eat there too much! :)

~Friday~
Super early Friday morning I had a doctor's appointment. After that, I ran some errands and came home and got some photography work done. Finally, it was time to head out for a half-day of work (I tell ya, I was up EARLY!). After work I made dinner. Then, for our usual dessert, we headed out to Ollie's. This time I tried the Mint Fudge. I have to admit, I wasn't much of a fan. I couldn't finish the cone. After we ate, there seemed to be a lot of hubub going around downtown, so we walked around. There was live music and a sidewalk chalk art contest. There were a few really amazing ones. Then we walked past the Strand Theater, where I had wanted to see "Super 8." Turns out it was starting right then, so on the spur of the moment we decided to see it. And, of course I had to have popcorn!! The movie was not what I expected. I thought it was a cross between "Goonies"/"War of the Worlds"/"The Knowing"/"Transformers"/"Lovely Bones." I didn't care for it, really.

~Saturday~
I had to work in the morning. It was SUPER slow. I saw one student, aside from helping at a new student workshop. It went by pretty quickly. After work, I came home and did some photography work. Adam FINALLY got his car back, $2000 and 3 days later (and keep in mind that was with a 20% discount!). Let's hope his AC works for at least a year before it breaks again.

Adam and I did some yard work in the afternoon. Adam mowed and I trimmed back all the out-of-control bushes. It looks much more groomed now!! I'm not sure what else we did until evening. But, for dinner we tried a new restaurant (new to us) in downtown Delaware - Chandra's Bistro. It's Chinese, Korean, and sushi. We did not get sushi, but I had amazing pot stickers!! After dinner we walked to The Patio downtown where they had a live band Adam wanted to see - The Divide. We sat on the edge of the fountain to watch, and let me tell you. It was the most entertaining thing I've seen in a while. The people watching was unbelievable. Words cannot even do it justice. I'll just say that all in one scene there was a one-legged baby hopping around playing air guitar and trying to dive into a 6-foot concrete hole head-first, two girls sitting on one guy's lap making out (then another guy tries to join in), a "Jessica Simpson" girl wearing the most unflattering short/jumper outfit/one-piece dancing around, many bra-less "cougars" flaunting their stuff for the college boys, and old man thrusting his hips while dancing in his pleated khaki pants and straw hat. Delaware is THE BEST! We were in tears laughing so hard. I think we were being punk'd.

Once the scene died down that night we came home and watched "Black Swan." We both suprisingly really liked the movie. It was bizarre, but I really liked it.

~Sunday~
Mom and Dad came up in the afternoon to visit for the holiday. Once they got here, we decided to go out for lunch to Buns. It was shockingly not terrible! I had the clam basket. After lunch, the guys watched a bit of the Reds vs. Indians game on TV. Then, Allison met up with us and Dad, Adam, Allie, and I went golfing at Hidden Valley in Delaware; it's a Par 3 course. The best part was riding in the cart! The breeze while riding felt soooooo good!


At first I was doing terrible. Then I started using the 3 Wood club and was nailing every drive. Occasionally, I would have the best drive of the four of us. But, I can't putt to save my life, so that's where it kills me. I do have my pink golf glove, though. So, I at least look like a pro! :)




Here's Allison trying to chip it over the water hazard. She and I got in trouble a lot for talking and taking pics while Adam or Dad were taking their shots. Apparently, golfers think they need silence to play well, unlike EVERY other sport where fans are chanting and yelling. I think they just need something to blame when they have a bad shot!!


After golf, we all cleaned up and headed to German Village for Schmidt's for dinner. So yummy! We got some giant cream puffs to-go!
After Schmidt's we had a campfire in the backyard and played "Pass the Popcorn." I won, of course! We came inside and made s'mores in the microwave because no one wanted to go inside to get the ingredients and bring them outside. Haha! Finally, after a long day it was bedtime.

~Monday - Happy Fourth of July!~
Monday I slept way in. I couldn't get moving in the morning. Dad brought us donuts. The guys decided that they wanted to play golf again. So, they went and Mom and I decided to start a project. We were watching a "Hoarders" marathon and I started to want to organize. So, I've had a giant pile of garage sale stuff for three years now, and really don't want to have another garage sale this late in the year. So, I decided I want to donate it, because really, I'll get almost as much on a tax write-off as I would in cash. Plus, everything will be gone, not just 10% of it, and it won't take as much work. So, Mom and I brought up a TON of boxes from the basement and went through EVERY item, wrote it down, and staged it for pictures. We are donating 194 pieces of clothing!!

Here is our final donation pile, yet there is still about that same amount in the basement, already gone through for the garage sale. We would just need to itemize, sort, and photograph it. Plus, I have 10 times that much that needs gone through and gotten rid of.

The guys returned from golf, and we got lunch at Cracker Barrel. Momma's Pancake breakfast was amazing!!!! I ate like it had been weeks since I'd seen food. :)

After lunch we finished our organizing and Allie met up with us again. Then, we headed to downtown Delaware for the symphony and fireworks. First, we parked near Ollie's and I redeemed myself with a Salted Caramel Ginger Snap ice cream. We walked over to Ohio Weslyan University's Lawn for the symphony concert.


We ate a small dinner there, I just had popcorn and curly fries - really healthy, I know.This year, they played music from "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Phantom of the Opera," and "Ghostbusters," as well as the classic patriotic stuff. The hearse from Ghostbusters made an appearance, along with the classic cannon firing during the "1812 Overture."

The symphony started and ended a half hour earlier than usual, which gave us plenty of time to walk over for fireworks to find a prime viewing location. We got to do sparklers and put on our glow bracelets. The fireworks were awesome! The grand finale is always ridiculous and lasts forever. I love it!

We were all exhausted when we got back. We watched a little "Golden Girls" then went to bed. We had to work in the morning!!

~Tuesday~
Today I taught the Freshman Seminar in the morning. Teaching this quarter is going to be so easy-peasy. Then, I met up with Marilyn for lunch at Panera. I hadn't seen her in months, so it was good to catch up. She baked us this amazing apple cinnamon bread! Mmmmm... SO good. Then, I was telling her about our big Goodwill donation, so she said she'd go with me to the store to price the items we were donating. So, we had fun and spent about an hour walking around and looking at things. It's amazing what you'll find. I was shocked at how clean the store was and how many Lexus's there were in the parking lot!! After we looked around we asked the cashier about donations and she gave us a brochure with ALL the estimated prices on it!! Haha! Oh well, it was fun to look! So, I came home and calculated everything. It seems like we'll have about $800 worth of donation.

I was really productive after I got home. I e-mailed and called some clients. I edited the wedding photos for a few hours. I completed my sales tax return (without any problem this time!!!). I got my Wedding Wire website all ready to go. I made dinner. I watered the yard and flowers. I caught up on some magazines. I watched the "Golden Girls." It was a good day.

~Wednesday~
Today I have another big to-do list to work on, but I'm already behind. I couldn't get out of bed when I wanted, so that's why I got a bad start on it. I've done some laundry (which is waiting on my attention right now) and I've written this post. Now I need to get ready, run some errands, and then tutor at the speech lab from 1pm-5pm. There will hardly be any students, so I may spend that time grading and reading Us Weekly. Work is hard. :)

Parties and Family Time

It's so hard to keep up to speed with my blog when I'm so busy every day! However, now that summer is here, I feel like I will be more relaxed and caught-up (work-wise and chores-wise). This will be a pretty laid-back, relaxing week. Adam is taking his online class for work tonight, so this will give me a chance to catch up.

~Wednesday~
One last shot from Tators' birthday... we made him a little "10" out of his Pupperonis. He was so cute and patient while I tried to get a clear shot with my point and shoot camera. ~Thursday~
Another normal Advising day for me. As I was driving home from work and talking to Adam (as I always do) I realized it was Thursday, which means it's his normal golf night, which means it's El Vaquero night! He agreed and we went to El Vaq for dinner. This is always a nice treat after a late night at work.

~Friday~
This morning Tators had a vet check-up appointment. I was eager to hear what the vet had to say about his condition. We were there forever until she came in. We found that he has gained back 3.5 lbs that he lost when he was first diagnosed (good sign!). Our vet is not one to be overly optimistic or excited or happy about progress. But, today she seemed a bit more chipper and said if she didn't know better about his diagnosis, she would think he was a healthy dog!! None of his lymph nodes were swollen, either. His broken tooth was not bothered. She ran blood work, and called me later that evening. Everything came back normal - no changes since they last did blood work!! What a great sign and a relief! She wants us to be "cautiously optimistic" though, because things could change at any point in time, and I'm aware of that, but want to just enjoy every minute now that he feels well. I had to work in the afternoon on Friday.

After work I went to the grocery for some ingredients. Once Adam got home from work (late), we went to Ollie's for ice cream because we were worried they would close if we waited until after dinner. So, we made it in a pouring down rain storm. It seemed like a hurricane came out of nowhere. We stayed inside to eat our "Graham Cracker Station" ice cream - awesome, by the way - and lucky we did. A BIG branch fell out of Ollie's tree right near their sidewalk when a wall of rain came through. We then headed home, hoping the rain would clear so we could grill out. When we got home, we saw a big full-arc rainbow!! I haven't seen one in years! The rain ended, and we grilled sausage shish kabob. Then, Adam helped me make Mom's special recipe Buckeye candies for Allie's graduation party. It took hours, and I had a little incident with the chocolate (I always have some snafu with this recipe!) but it all worked out.
After the Buckeyes were ready, we cleaned up and settled down to watch "127 Hours." I thought it was an interesting movie, but a little graphic/gross towards the end.

~Saturday~
Saturday morning we got up early to pack and head to Miamisburg for the rest of the weekend. On the way, I finished my book on tape "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan." When we got there, we helped clean, cook, and decorate. I was in charge of streamers, confetti, the gift table, and the diploma display. Then, guests started arriving and it was crowded, loud, and fun. Here are some highlights of the evening.

Adam's family - Walt, Adam, Jim, Polly, and Sherry.
My grandmothers - Nan and Grandma. Aunt Eileen flirting with my hubby.
Aunt Eileen taking a "nap" with my hubby. Aren't they comedians!?
My little Godson, Oliver. I finally got a little smile from him.
Adam and Parker are good buddies.
Beth, Chris, Sophie, and Keegan.
Allie with her aunts Rita and Mary.
Nancy and TyTy.
Our family, after the party.
~Sunday~
Sunday, I slept in a bit while my parents were at church and Adam went for a hike with his Dad for Father's Day. Allie and I got up and ran to the grocery for items for our Father's Day brunch. Mom made her awesome french toast, I made some cinnamon sugar butter, bacon, bacon-egg-cheese omelettes, and hash brown patties. Everything tasted delicious! I'm sure Adam and his Dad were starved after their 7 mile hike!

Then we visited Pa for Father's Day and chatted for a while. Finally, we went to visit Grandpa and have pizza dinner since Barb was heading back to Colorado this week. We played "Pass the Popcorn" with Diane, Kelly, Andy, and Allie. Then, Adam and I headed back to Delaware.

~Monday~
This morning I had to get up early to pick Adam up from the auto shop. He dropped off his car to have the AC fixed and his 130,000 mile tune-up. It didn't bother me too much to get up so early and get my day going. I then worked all day. It's the first day of rush week before Summer Quarter and already the students are getting a little crazy. The majority of them lost their financial aid due to poor grades, but they somehow think this is someone else's fault other than their own...?

This afternoon, Adam heard from the auto shop. His AC repair (mind you, we paid about $800 for AC repair about 6 months ago) would cost $1700 minimum because his compressor went out!! We said "No, thanks" and he took the car home. But, now it sounds like they've mis-aligned his wheels, so he needs to head back. I will be making calls around tomorrow to see if we can get this fixed for a cheaper rate. However, I'd just as soon buy a new car! :)

Watching the "Golden Girls" now (GG Fans, think "Wowie-wow-wow-wow!"/"Dance!" and Mammy Watkins/"The Theme from Bonanza" episodes), and I plan to do a little magazine reading tonight. I get to sleep in tomorrow! No alarm necessary! Woohoo! :)

Happy 10th Birthday Tators!!

Today is a very big milestone. Tators turns 10 years old! And, yesterday, he has survived 10 weeks after his diagnosis. It was like - I thought he'd live to be 13 or 14, then the news of his cancer made us think he'd live another few weeks. Now, 10 weeks later seems like an eternity! We are so grateful he made it this far. I really hoped and prayed that he would. And, we'll keep taking it one day at a time. Today I had a photo session with a new client in Delaware and their family. Then, I had my last tutoring session with Dustin. Right before I left to do those things, though, I noticed Tyson was licking a lot and had blood dripping from his nose. He was acting really weird - so I was worried about the poor guy! When I came home, he was recovered and ready to party! So, I have NO idea what that little bout was. But, I'm glad it's over. The boys got to put on their birthday 'dannas this morning and I hung our Happy Birthday sign. When Adam got home we took Tyson's birthday pics in the yard.

Then we let him open his gifts from us (canned hungies and two bags of Pupperonis). We took a video of the gift-opening. Then, he and Brutus split the canned hungies and we put a candle in the food and sang to him. Adam took a video and we had Tyson "blow" out his candle, but the video looks just perfect! Here is a clip of him "singing" along with us and blowing out his candle. It's my first time posting a video, so let's hope it works! It should play on Windows Media Player.

After the boys ate, we took Tators and Brutus on his birthday hike. We just went to the abandoned park area across the road from our neighborhood. It was super exciting for them, because it involved a car ride and new smells. This is how we have to load Tators into the car anymore. His posture always makes me laugh!

Birthday Party

Wednesday was Adam's 29th birthday. I spent the morning before work cleaning the house and wrapping his gifts. By the time he was home from work, we were ready to celebrate. I had set the mood with Christmas music, candles, and all the holiday lights. I gave him all of his gifts first which included a DVD, CD, running shirt, Reds book, guitar calendar, Bengals ornament, and Bengals work gloves, among other things.

After gifts we headed out to Applebee's for dinner. And for dessert, of course we got the Maple Butter Blondie. And, my mission this weekend is to re-create the Blondie for my family. We'll see how that goes. I got a hold of the "secret" recipe. I'll also be making Kate's delicious breakfast casserole for the first time. Yum! And, I'll be making caramel puff corn for family and the neighbors. I've got a lot of baking to do.

After dinner, we had just enough time to go to Alum Creek's Fantasy of Lights. We enjoyed the light structures that I'm sure I blogged about last year - Santa giving a reindeer a shot up the butt while a "naughty" female reindeer nurse checks his heartbeat... or maybe the bungee jumping reindeer that splats into the ground. Very classic... It is quite enjoyable.

We spent some time driving around the fancy neighborhoods nearby, looking at lights... picking out our future homes. :) Then we headed home. I stayed up late working on an order for a client and Adam did what he looked forward to most - playing guitar and video games.

So was our night... tonight, it's clean up time. We have company coming up this weekend again. Right now I'm taking a break while Adam hangs our new goodies from the Lakeside Collection catalog. I got two vintage signs for our bedroom. One image is made of cloth (in a wooden frame) and says, "Kindness matters." The other is all wooden and says, "Grow old with me, the best is yet to be." I also have a "Live, Laugh, Love" frame that I FINALLY printed pictures for. Now our bedroom is more country and cozy than before. Okay, back to work for me now!

Home for the Holiday

I'm sad that the long holiday weekend has come to an end. I spent the past 4 days at my parents' house with family and friends. I thought I would have tons of free time, but we were busy every minute!

Wednesday night after work I picked up Allie at OSU and we headed home to Dayton, arguing over David (Archuleta) vs. David (Cook) CDs the whole way home. Cookie won out of course! We got home just in time for Chumps' Trivia Night. We were joined by my aunt and uncle and his brother, both of my parents, sister, and hubby. Out of all 8 of us, we could not win a round! We had fun anyway though.

Thursday morning we were up before the sun for the Turkey Trot. It was my 14th year straight participating. This year I was strictly walking the 8K race. I was joined by my parents, and for the first time, Nate, Maria, Brian, and Kelly. The girls and I walked together just ahead of my parents and Adam and the other boys ran. It was a lot of fun! I actually felt strong for the first 4.5 miles. My training paid off!


After Turkey Trotting, we showered and headed to my Aunt Rita's and Uncle Bob's house for lunch. Pumpkin pie was delicious (thanks Mom!).
We played the new global version of Monopoly - the credit card version. I just wanted to be banker! Then I was quickly bored of it once I had swiped a few credit cards. :)Next, it was off to my Aunt Karyn's and Uncle Todd's house for dinner. Food was again delicious, but I was more than stuffed at this point. I was very happy to see my little cousin Parker, what a cutie! I didn't think to pull out my camera, but he was so funny to hear his animal sounds and his "pleases" and "thank yous". Overall, it was a very fun day, but I was exhausted and overstuffed.

Friday we kept with tradition and had creamed turkey at my Grandma's and Grandpa's house for lunch. Then we put up their Christmas tree and decorated it. After lunch, we headed off to our other tradition - craft shopping at Hara Arena. Kelly joined my family, aunts, and me. I bought a few gift items, and a bracelet and ornament for myself. After shopping, we learned of a deal that we couldn't pass up. A certain someone we knew could get us a Dyson Animal Vacuum for dirt cheap. We had been in the market to buy a new vacuum, but could not fathom paying $580 for a vacuum cleaner. As we considered buying the Dyson, the deal kept getting better and better. In the end, we scored this beauty for $167 brand new!! What a ridiculous deal!! Thanks Bri Bri!

The boys "love" it! If it weren't for Tyson, we wouldn't need a Dyson! (That rhymes!)

Kelly and I trekked all the way to Cincinnati for the vacuum (the last one in the state of Ohio it seemed). Then we met with my family again for dinner (as is tradition) at China Cottage. After dinner we met up with Adam and some friends for drinks (and chips and salsa) at Bargoes (new tradition, maybe?).


Saturday morning I tried to sleep in, passing up the Original Pancake House. I spent the day being crafty. I learned how to sew on the machine again! I was working on several projects: creating a patch to fix the hole Brutus chewed through my couch, creating two holiday dog bandannas (turned out awesome!), and creating the first Harrington Family Advent Calendar (yay!). Growing up, my sister and I always had 5-7 advent calendars that we would do throughout the month of December. My mom would put little goodies in each pouch, like quarters, chocolate, and sometimes big prizes. This year, I thought it would be special if Adam and I created our own tradition. We decided to design our own calendar and had gone to the fabric store several days ago to pick out our materials. I finished the final touches to the calendar Saturday! Here it is!I think it turned out really cute. Our plan is to divide up the days - odd for me, even for him, and we'll put small "gifts" for each other in our days. Most gifts should not cost money, but they should be something the other person will enjoy to help celebrate the holiday season. It seems we always let it pass by too quickly and forget about one another amongst all the hustle and bustle. This will make every day special. On the 25th we'll write each other a love note about our experience over the last 24 days. Cheesy? Maybe a bit! I'll let you know how it goes!!
Saturday evening, I finally finished editing all the wedding photos. Then I went to dinner at Lone Star Steak House with Adam, Kelly, Brian, Nate, and Maria. They all went to play card games (yuck!) and I went home to relax and catch up on some reading. I'd had too many nights out this week already. I need to finish reading "Marley and Me!"


Sunday was a yucky weather day. We woke up to go visit Nana in the nursing home. We took Tators with us and he was such a good boy. We stopped by to say goodbye to my grandparents and thank them for the delicious fudge and chex mix (yum!). Then we parted ways. I had a brief spur-of-the moment photo shoot with my uncle and his doggy. Then my sister and I were on our way to another photo shoot for my cousin's holiday family photos. So funny trying to get two adults, a baby, and two dogs to all sit still and smile at the same time! My little cousin Sophie is so adorable, and growing bigger!


I dropped my sister back off at OSU tonight and made it home. I've been unpacking, getting ready for Monday, watching Britney Spears' special (Britney is back, bitch!), continuing to pig out, downloading photos, and blogging. I am back to the Food Diary and fitness schedule tomorrow!


I have to admit, I'm ready to get back to my usual routine. And I'm definitely looking forward to our first day of the advent calendar tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to let everyone know how ECSTATIC I am about Halloween and Trick or Treat tonight!! One of my favorite holidays! I've been at work this morning - we all wore costumes or "ears" of some sort. Mine are Playboy bunny ears... totally not appropriate, right? It was either that or devil horns... those are floating around somewhere. And, one of our transfer colleges brought us tons of sugary goodies! I had THE BEST pumpkin and cream cheese cupcakes from Kroger - tasted just like pumpkin pie!

Tonight is our Trick or Treat and we are ready for it. We've got our little "cemetery" set up along will the skull beads, scarecrows, Frankenstein wind sock, orange and purple lights, and plenty of light-up pumpkins. Then, for the Trick or Treaters, we have the spooky Halloween music, a strobe light, and 2 black lights. The strobe light itself was a hit last year, so we outdid ourselves this year. And of course, the Tator Tots will sit in his Halloween costume on the porch. I might put him in one of his old costumes this year... he's not liking his new costume so much. Finally, I got Adam a scary clown/zombie mask to scare the older kids. I'm looking forward to it!

After Trick or Treat we have Flyball class again. Brutus needs to get back into class because his behavior is getting out of control since he hurt his elbow again. We can't exercise him, so that makes him crazy and destructive. Example: Last night we came home to find that Brutus had inched his large metal cage several feet across carpet to the couch. (Why would that idea ever cross his little pea brain?) Then he proceeded to destroy the entire arm of the couch THROUGH THE CAGE! How!??? (It only makes sense to him.) So special.... Foam everywhere! What a brat!

After Flyball, we are going to a Halloween costume party at Steph's mom's house. Should be fun! I'm looking forward to the evening and the weekend! Happy Halloween!!! Here's to hoping my couch isn't destroyed again when I get home!