Becca/Cori

This is what the kids woke up to Easter morning :) 

Mary 103/365

I put in my notice at work today, after taking a serious look at my future with the bank, finances, and school plans.  I was planning to take the summer off for an internship, but now I've made the choice not to go back.  To my surprise, the news was taken with good grace and respect. What a load off my mind!  When I got out to my car after work, I saw this sign.  I've seen it a million times, but I'd forgotten it even existed.  How appropriate that I would notice it today.

Laura, 103/365

So as an experiment, hubbie Michael and I are going to try to avoid eating meat for 30 days. This is JUST meat though: eggs and dairy are a necessity for me. I don't know how those vegans do it. I may try this for longer than 30 days...you never know. We'll see how it goes! The experiment is just to see how we feel. I don't think you get anything nutrition wise out of meat that you can't get from plant sources. I'm anemic, so I'll have to be careful to eat lots of iron-loaded foods. If its possible to get all of our protein from non-meat sources and still feel great, then the health benefits could outweigh the inconveniences! Wish me luck!

Laura - Max part II

Max Part II: (this picture perfectly captures Max the wild eyed, yellow blur. He moves too fast to be photographed most of the time.)

So, Max showed back up the afternoon of my first blog, only to disappear again the morning we were leaving for Charlotte for Easter! We were planning on taking him with us to Charlotte, but Max had other plans. So we packed the car and drove around for hours looking for him to no avail. We left word with the neighbors (we have awesome neighbors) that Max was on the loose and to call us if they spot a yellow blur.

We had no hopes of finding him this time, and as we pulled back up into our driveway we looked at each other and sighed. But as I'm getting out of the car, I spot something out of the corner of my eye...running toward us from the backyard! Not only was he in the fenced in yard, he was CLEAN! One of our lovely neighbors must have found him, bathed him, and put him back inside the fence. Nice though it was, this can't continue. We're going to have to take drastic measure to try to keep him fenced in. Thanks everyone for the tips! I'll let you know what we cook up.

Becca/Cori

    Happy Easter every bunny! 

Mary 98/365

I made chicken pot pie for dinner last night.  Super yum.

Laura, 99/365

This is Max, my problem child yellow lab.

We adopted him from a kill shelter over a year ago months after our epileptic beagle Gus died. For the first few months Max was the PERFECT DOG. Then the behavior problems started: pottying all over my rugs, breaking into the kitchen pantry, chewing or eating anything left out on a counter top or in the sink (including a George Foreman Grill...no kidding), tearing up blankets. We have tried everything. Crate training didn't work because he had a panic attack, shit all over himself, chewed through the metal cage and broke himself free. We tried keeping him in the bathroom, but he chewed through the water line going to the toilet, flooded the house and then smashed through the window to jump two stories into the back yard. By the way, he destroyed our heating unit during this little stint because the flooded water went through the vents and into the gas heater, rusting out some part that basically can't be replaced. We suffered through the whole winter without a heater because we're too poor to replace a $5000 unit. We tried keeping him outside but he manages to get out of the fence and runs wild through the neighborhood. We babygate him into the laundry room now - where our other dog is crated - but he still manages to get out of that and get into his usual amount of trouble. I had a birthday party for a friend of mine in the history department, and when we made an impromptu trip to the grocery store to get some mixers, and Max got out of the babygates (two put together, one on top of the other), ate the WHOLE birthday cake a friend made, a dozen cookies, homemade queso and tortilla chips, and a tub of Munchies. I was horrified.

So in sum, we've just been dealing with it because he's our dog. He's a real sweet dog, but he's becoming a bigger problem by the day. He never got out of the fence before when we were home, but lately he's been hopping the fence even when we're there! This has happened at least three times in the last week, and it happened AGAIN this morning before I went to campus. He usually makes his way home, but it drives me nuts while he's gone because I'm terrified he'll get hit by a car.

And so, here we are this morning, and Max is sitll missing. After driving around for hours, it seems like he's got some good hiding places, and I'm at a loss about what to do with him.

Phyllis 96/365

My jackass brother-in-law had the balls to call here last night.

Of course though, he didn't have the balls to follow through.

He called & hung up twice.

Loser.

Mary 94/365

This morning's project: reorganize the kitchen.  I can never find anything in my cabinets anymore.  This afternoon I'll try to teach Clint where everything goes.  :) 

Phyllis 93/365

My all-time favorite shoes.