STANKY

Hi. I'm Sadie. I'm going for the title of World's Best Skunkerator.
I added another spraying to my record tonight. Awesome.

LAUGHING

We had an Internet technician come to our house a few days ago. When the man arrived, Aaron told the dogs to sit. And they did! Instead of bouncing off the walls, crotch-sniffing and panting in crazy circles, they both sat, very ladylike. The technician commented on what good, pretty dogs they were.

Then, right as Aaron was saying thank you, Scoop let one rip.

THREE OH!

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Thirty years ago today
the world was changed in a special way.
You were born to shine your flashlight
and help others in the dark of night.

You came along to play practical jokes
and bring out the laughter in regular folks.
Your sweet smile appeared to spread joy and cheer.
Your aim was perfected to bring home a deer.

Some doggies now have a very great home
because you were born to feed them Ham bones.
And all the neglected junk in the subdivision
gets to be treasure because of your vision.

My husband was born, 'though I didn't know it.
But I know now and I'm thankful for it.
I think I'm the luckiest girl around,
'cause God made YOU the man I found.

Thirty years ago today
the world was changed in a special way.
Along came a very bright star,
That is you - the most wonderful person you are!


I love you ATB.

ATB ROCKS IT OUT AS A HELPER

A few weeks ago, one of the employees at the car wash where Aaron worked was let go. The man lives in the trailer park near the car wash, which is also near our house. Aaron would often give him a ride home from work so the man wouldn't have to ride his bike on the busy highway. Aaron would also buy him lunch occasionally. And Aaron even cleaned out his closet so he could give a bunch of his clothes to the man. I have been asking Aaron to clean out his closet for eight years.

After this man was let go, he called Aaron to find out if there was anything he could do for Aaron to earn a little money while he looked for another job. Aaron agreed to have the man come do some yard work at our house, and paid him generously for the two and a half hours of labor. I was skeptical at first. I wasn't sure I wanted this man to know where we lived. I wasn't sure I could justify paying him to do work Aaron could easily do. But I trust Aaron's judgement, and he knew this man was in need. So he came and worked hard, did a really good job, and I never had the feeling that it was a bad idea.

-------
Recently, Aaron told me he had conquered one of his fears and done something he'd never done before. He picked up a hitchhiker. Aaron ran into a man at a gas station who looked like he needed a ride, so Aaron asked him where he was going and took him there. It wasn't far, but Aaron said his own heart was pounding the whole time they were driving. They arrived at the destination and the man was very appreciative.

Aaron does stuff like this all the time. More often than I'm aware, I'm sure of it. He is a true servant. He is generous and unselfish and I love him.

LISTENING

Here I am.

DO YOU SEE THAT FIRE?

Yes, it looks very hot.

I WANT YOU TO WALK THROUGH IT.

What?! Why?

BECAUSE I HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO TEACH YOU.

By walking through fire? There has to be an easier way.

WILL YOU DO IT?

Do I have a choice?

YES.

What happens if I decide to leave this place so I don't have to walk through that fire? What if I don't want to know what you have to teach me?

I WILL ALWAYS BE HERE IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND.

What happens if I do it?

YOU WILL BE REWARDED BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS.

Will it hurt?

IT WILL BE PAINFUL, BUT I WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU.

Will you go with me?

YES. I WILL EVEN CARRY YOU WHEN IT GETS TOO HOT.

I'm scared.

I KNOW. TRUST ME. I LOVE YOU.

Okay, here I go. Are you there?

I AM.

GET OUTTA HERE

I'm sorry the grossest post ever has been the top post for so long. I truly did not intend to leave that as tops. We've been busy...

hanging with our neighbors and their cute son Ethan...


having dinner with friends...


cheering for the Longhorns...


hearing live music during lunch...


loving on the puppies...



What else? Add in ripped boots, a speeding ticket, a parade, a hero of chicken broth, a pan of chicken spaghetti, a giant stuffed bunny, several nights of wine where there is usually not wine, lounge music at the Belmont, a CPR class, sushi, public transportation workers on strike, and two bookclub meetings.

I TOLD YOU THINGS WOULD GET SERIOUS

WARNING! WARNING! THIS POST IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.
Within 24 hours, I saw three things that made me shake in my boots. No, one was not Barak Obama giving his acceptance speech.

One: A Tarantula hanging out on the ceiling of our back porch. Ask me how long I stood out there looking up at it while the possibility of it falling down from the ceiling onto my face raced through my mind. The answer would be I did not go outside at all. Aaron took this picture, because well, OF COURSE he would.

Shakin' in my boots factor: 4









Two: A Opossum hanging out in a trashcan. (I'm having a really hard time typing a opossum instead of an opossum...) Aaron and I walked out of a bookstore last night and were greeted by a weasely, or I guess a opossumy little head and paws peeking out of a nearby trashcan. I squealed, which must have startled the thing because he lost his grip and fell back down into the can. So I stuck my hand in and snapped a photo.

You might know that if you click on photos, a larger version opens. The large version of this photo makes me scream out loud! Eeeeeeeeeek!

Shakin' in my boots factor: 7




Three: A Rat, a dead one. Aaron trapped the rat that was sneaking into our garage. I was thankful Aaron had disposed of the evidence before I got home yesterday so I wouldn't happen upon the scene. But after seeing the tarantula and the opossum, I could not miss the opportunity to blog about all these gross things, so I went to the garbage and took this picture.

The large version of this photo makes me throw up a little bit in my mouth. Groooosss!

Shakin' in my boots factor: 9.5 (only because it was not alive)

This is possibly the grossest post ever on this blog. I wish the pictures of the animals weren't in dark trashcans. I wish I'd been able to catch the opossum peeking out of the trashcan, because that was more funny than gross. And if I'd been able to snap a shot of the dead rodent during daylight and from an angle that didn't have its beady little eyes glaring at you.... anyway, here's a cute picture of Scoopie to make up for the gross pictures.

The larger version of this picture melts my heart. Awwwwwww.

RED + BLUE = PURPLE

NDN GIVER

In lieu of dressing up like ghosts, bobbing for apples or tricking anyone, Aaron and I decided to watch a scary movie on Halloween night to be in the spooky spirit of things. Aaron rented a scary movie and also The Hulk, which we ended up watching instead of the scary one. If you know me, you know I love campy action movies. The Hulk did not disappoint. Plus, hellooo, Edward Norton. We watched Iron Man a few weeks ago and it was also super-duper. On Friday, I was so glad we had seen Iron Man because the best part of The Hulk is literally the very last line of the whole movie - but you wouldn't know if you had not seen Iron Man. I love it and it makes me very excited. And if you don't know why, then get yourself down to the movie store and rent Iron Man and The Hulk then watch them in that order.

Saturday evening we met Rhett and Taylor at the 17th Annual Indian Powwow. It was interesting and I learned about the different costumes worn for the different dances, what the dances represent and that each Indian interprets the music uniquely. I also tried a traditional Indian food called Fry Bread. It's fried bread, like a bigger version of a Mexican sopapilla.

Aaron and Rhett sat watching seriously intent.

Meanwhile, Taylor and I sat on what we like to call 'the fun row'. We even joined the Indians during a "blanket dance" when the audience is invited to come to the floor and dance and leave a donation on a blanket for the tribe who is drumming and singing. It was very cool to walk along Indian-style in the midst of beautifully adorned dancers. The drum beat was entrancing. Okay, maybe not entrancing, but it sure was hard not to do the half-step and crouch.


Sunday morning, Aaron and I Walked for the Cure.
Aaron stopped along the route and bought me a latte at Jo's. We crossed the finish line, then took our time strolling along Town Lake to get back to the car before heading to Pluckers for some hot wings. Mmmmm, messy.

We spent the rest of the afternoon piddling around, doing errands. One of which was purchasing a rat trap! Eeeeeeeek!

Aaron has been doing some testing with peanuts and dog food and has come to the conclusion there is a rat sneaking into the garage at night. Aaron put the trap out last night, and I heard it snap while I was up at 3:30 a.m. (see next paragraph), but I did not dare go look because I was too scared. I told Aaron I'd heard it snap, but when we checked, the bait was gone, the trap was snapped, but no critter! Hmmmm, I'm sure things will get serious with the baiting and trapping tonight. Whatever it is, it doesn't know who they are messing with.

I won't go into detail about what we came home to Sunday afternoon. I'll just tell you that Scoopie kept us up all last night because she is diarreahific and needed to go outside every hour. Awesome.

SHE CALLS ME ANGIE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREA!

This was Dre when I first met her. It was easy to see from the moment we met why Bryan had instantly fallen in love with her.


And now, more lovable and beautiful!


We've had some fun adventures together, and I look forward to many more.


And a Happy Birthday to Drew, too! Andrea came with a boatload of wonderful siblings (here with her twin brother) that have grown into boatloads of wonderful kiddos!