Dog Sitting Adventures

Meet Bella...

...and her mama Trixie.

These cuties are our adopted puppies for the week. They're technically not puppies - more like full-grown Yorkies who just happen to be little midget dogs. Seriously, as you can tell, they're just the cutest things ever (and fully grown). We've enjoyed dog sitting them since last Thursday while their true owners, my cousin Kristi and her family, are vacationing at the beach.

These little ladies are full of energy. So much so I feel guilty leaving them at home confined to our kitchen with the help of baby gates (had to borrow those too) while we're at work all day. (I told Robert today I was worried they were losing brain cells from lack of stimulation. He said I was crazy and that they were dogs.) But they have each other to horse around with and are super excited - and yappy - when we get home.

As you can tell, they like to hang around in case we drop food, but it's been only dog food for these gals all week.

And they like to cuddle and give you kisses.

They also love to fight with you in a tug of war over their toy horse and duck. They actually know those words. If Robert yells "Duck" they go crazy trying to find that toy and get all worked up and excited.


How crazy, you make ask? Check out this video:



Seriously, these dogs have been tons of fun to keep. We've found ourselves making up all sorts of nicknames for them: belles, trixalicious, trixter...you get the idea. I've also felt like a true Homewoodian with dogs to walk down the street, though I think we went a little too far for those little legs Monday night because Trixie was panting good and steady for about 15 minutes after we got back.

This experience has been quite helpful as we consider future pet ownership. My cousin actually pitched this as a chance to do a test run as a dog owner. And it's certainly been more true to life than just keep them for a day. We've experienced both the joyous (cuddling with cute puppies) and the not so joyous (waking up to yapping at 6 a.m.) aspects of dog ownership.

So is dog ownership in our future? Probably, but not until one of us is at home to actually spend time with the little guy. I think I would just feel too guilty leaving him by himself all day five days a week. My gut tells me we probably won't get a dog until our kids beg for one, and that's years away.

Speaking of kids. This whole experience has gotten me thinking we need a trial run for kids too. Anyone want to offer their children for our experiment?

Mid Summer Update

I thought it would be fun to give a summer update on the Adams, though this blog title isn't exactly accurate considering summer is almost over and I start back school in just a few weeks. (Boo!) Accuracy aside, here's a small snap shot at what's been going down at 211 Sterrett Avenue during May, June, and July.

iphones!

Yes, we got new iphones, and our lives will never be the same. Seriously. I'm not joking. Our two-year contract with Verizon ended right around the time the new iphone was released, so we couldn't have asked for a better time to make the switch. I almost got a blackberry instead and I'm so so glad I didn't. The iphone gives me all the access to email I need plus tons of other cool things. Some of my favorite apps (and I've barely even scratched the surface of app downloading): Craigsreader (for Craigslist), Pandora (great for jogging), AroundMe (yellow pages based on your location), Shazam (tells you the name of the song playing), Sherman Williams ColorSnap (gives you the Sherman Williams paint color to match any color you take a pic of), and DirectTV (to set our DVR remotely). There are some other good ones that track our gas milage, grocery shopping, etc., which I haven't even really delved into yet.

So what does having an iphone mean?

• 1) I'm the coolest I've ever been in my life. Seriously, I've never been on the front end of a fad. I've never owned an ipod, GPS system, etc., and we got these the day they were released. This is all thanks to Robert. I take zero credit.
• 2) These are technically our graduation present to ourselves, so if I don't finish grad school in December Robert will probably take mine away. Talk about motivation.
• 3) We're definitely more connected globally but slightly less socially. Sometimes we'll have the TV on but both be playing with our iphones. Or if one of us is driving the other (most times me) will be playing on the iphone instead of conversing. Did I mention they're just a little addicting? :)

Brewing

Robert and my brother Kyle are becoming quite the home brewers with the help of our friend David, the brew master extraoridaire. This summer they've started two different brews: one is a Blue Moon-ish ale that's almost ready and the second batch is similar to a New Castle. They plan to bottle the second batch this Thursday. Everyone is anxious to see how they turn out. Home brewing certainly requires patience since it takes anywhere from four to six weeks or longer to be ready to drink. We're gathering quite the collection of home brew paraphenelia and Robert's beer fridge is now officially being used as a beer fridge.

Rece Davis

If any of you get the Alabama Alumni Magazine, be on the look out for an article on ESPN anchor Rece Davis in the fall issue authored by yours truly. I was able to go back and do this freelance piece for my old employer. It really was a blast to get back into some feature writing like I did in college, but I discovered I was a little rusty and quite out of practice. Somehow I managed to nearly completely forget AP Style, and at one point in my life I practically had it memorized. I blame my dementia on using Chicago style at work and APA for grad school. Too much for one brain. I'm curious to see how the article turns out with the layout and photos. Rece was a great interview. Very fun guy who gives back tremendously to his alma mater.

Robert's classes
Robert will GRADUATE this Thursday - as in finished, done, for good. He's been so faithful to plug away at school this summer, taking classes in May, June, and July,. That roughly translates to going to school four or more nights a week for about 12 straight weeks. It's been crazy busy for him but he is almost there. I'm so proud of him. MBA - check!

My GRP
So, in other school news, I was supposed to finish my graduate research paper this summer. I had a slight setback getting IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval for my research, but it is underway now and on schedule to finish this fall. Let's just hope more people respond to my survey so I have the qualitative data I need to do the full program evaluation. What have I learned from all this? 1) It pays to start early because you never know when you might hit a snag. 2) Deleting that survey in your inbox could drastically affect some poor researcher's life (in this case, mine). So be kind and submit your opinions!

Tomato Plants

The status report here is basically not good. I've only gotten about three tomatoes off my two plants all summer, and this tiny fellow may be the best of the lot. The main issue is me. Farmer Adams is not the best at remembering to water. Oh well, there's always next year.

House Projects
More posts about this to come, but let's just say the summer off of school has given me lots of time to pursue some little projects around the house. Be on the look out for a post about my latest DIY ventures and craigslist finds.

The Bachelorette

Hands down my absolute favorite show of the summer. I'm completely addicted. I'm hoping Reid comes back for the finale night, but I'm also an Ed fan (who most viewers I've talked to despise) and would be fine with Julian picking him. At least Wes is gone and was exposed for the weasle he is!

Pleasure Reading

This summer I've gotten back into pleasure reading for the first time in years. It's been so nice to actually enjoy a book just for the fun of it. I think it's literally been the most non-academic textbook reading I've done since I started college, which was...ahmm...seven years ago. (Yikes, I'm old!) It all started with the Twilight series and then I finished Angels and Demons, which was a fabulous book. Last week I finished, The Friday Night Kniting Club, which I bought on a whim at a yard sale knowing nothing about it except the jacket cover claim to be a "Steele Magnolias set in Manhattan." It actually was really good with a surprising tragic ending which left me with uncontrolable tears streaming down my face sitting between two strangers on the plane ride back from Dever. Slightly awkward, but a great book. Next on the list: The Divinci Code and that new book by Dan Brown, The Help, and tons of others recommended by my friend and soon to be famous author Anne. Check out her blog (link at right) for great book recommendations and reviews.

Beach Trip...

We're beach bound next Saturday for a week in Destin with my family. While we're down there we'll be celebrating Robert's 27th birthday and graduation. We had this tiny two-week window between when Robert finished school and before Ryan, David, and I started back which was the only time we could schedule a family vacation, so when mom found a place in Destin available August 1 -9 we booked it right away. We're definitely counting down the days.