February 2015

Wow, what a month. February has come and gone and we've headed into March already. I know it's a short month, but it really did fly by. The biggest thing was the loss of my sweet, smart, silly Baylee Girl. It seems that most everything this month centered around her health, her passing and our grief. But there were a couple other things that happened this month, joyful things, like Valentine's Day, and Mom's Birthday.  So here is our Auchmoody February 2015 (Days 32 through 59), in a nutshell:

1.  Super Bowl Sunday...Seahawks vs Patriots in Super Bowl 49. Unfortunately the Seahawks lost the game 28-24. But we had a good time over at mom's watching the game and stuffing our faces!
2. Leftovers from Super Bowl. Back over to Mom's for dinner tonight...Rob's beautifully stacked plate of nachos.
3.  Tonight's full moon captured on my way to Mom's to pick up the girls.
4.  A Baylee 'selfie' on our ride home, with her 'feets up' on the console in the car.
5.  Picked up each of the girls a Valentine's cookie tonight at the vet.
6.  Tom's badging ceremony was held today. He had Emily and Alyssa remove his BC's badge, while Trina pinned his new chief badge on him.
7.  Rob hogging the bed and the covers...and sleeping on his face...when I got home tonight.
8.  Finally decorated the house for Valentine's Day yesterday. Put out these three girls (all with heart themes or accessories) on a shelf...still love my Precious Moments.
9.  Baylee started throwing up today, she won't eat and can't keep water down.  She finally settled in and got comfy on her little bed for the night.
10. Our last night together, me and my girl. We slept together in the living room, me on the couch and her in her bed from Grammy's house.
11. One of the saddest days I've know...putting my sweet girl to rest today. Just like that, she's gone. After work I pulled up in Mom's driveway to find her flying her 'Baylee' flag...it's so heartbreaking.
12. Waking up this morning to an empty bed...poor Lucy...poor us.
13. With Rob working tomorrow we were going to celebrate Valentine's Day tonight. With the week we had, we 'agreed' (or so I thought) we would just order a pizza and have a cuddle and call it good. But when I got home, there were flowers, chocolates and a beautiful card waiting for me. He's a good Valentine!
14. Even though we celebrated last night, after church Rob said we needed to at least go out for a Valentine dinner. Thinking there wouldn't be a restaurant in town we could actually get into, he suggested our favorite Thai place.  It was great, we did get right in and had a lovely date night.
15. Today was Lu and my first day home together, just the two of us...and we were both pretty sad without our Baylee. She snuggled up next to me on the couch, chin on my knee.  Thank goodness for little Lu.
16. President's Day...a day off for me. I headed out pretty late to the grocery store to do our weekly shopping, and came home with a rare treat...Henry Weinhard's soda...Orange Cream...Yum!
17. We received a mug bouquet of little roses today from Dr. Chuck and his staff in sympathy for our loss of Baylee. We also got a card from Craig and Wendy...people are so thoughtful.
18. Ash Wednesday today. On Busted Halo they have a 'picture a day' prompt for Lent, and today's was #showusyourash. So I took a pick of my ashy smudge...although I did not post mine anywhere!!
19. I picked up dinner for us tonight at Graze - a Latronka for Rob and a Bahn Mi for, well...Me! This is really one of my favorite places, and I miss our office being close to it.
20. I was having a little cuddle with Lu tonight and she fell asleep on my shoulder. Sweet snoring girl.
21. Today was Mom's birthday, and also Ladies Who Lunch. We all gathered at Frost Me Sweet and Billie gave each of us one of these little jars of honey. She had purchased a bunch, and ended up making it into a craft project to give to each of us.
22. We finished celebrating Mom's birthday today. I made up some cherry chip cupcakes with cherry almond cream cheese frosting.  Then I headed over to her house and made a big pot of potato soup and some cheesy bread for dinner. She opened a couple more presents...and Lucy helped!
23. It's that delicious Auchmoody dinner again. Steak, baked potatoes and spinach. It was so yummy, the only thing that could have made it better was if the steaks had been grilled on a BBQ.
24. Silly Lu, back in her clothes pile again...where she starts almost every night.
25.  We were notified last night that we had a fraudulent charge on our checking account, so they immediately canceled my debit card. Here I am on my second trip into Gesa today, trying to straighten things out.
26. Rob picked up Baylee's ashes today. I was surprised to also see her blankie. I thought we would never see it again...now I just want to wrap myself in it. They also did a little clay imprint of her paw.
27. Another meatless Friday. This time I picked up Casa Mia. I've been craving their Pizza Sole for awhile now. I added a shrimp salad for each of us, and boy, did it really hit the spot!
28. I baked off the clay imprint of Baylee's paw today. I was surprised when I took it out of the packaging that they had stamped her name in it already.  More tears...really missing my girl.

January 2015

I'm doing things a little different this year. I was quite neglectful in keeping up on blogging and scrapbooking in 2014 (But I plan to keep plugging away at it...keep an eye out for 2014 backlog updates as we move through 2015!!).  But just like always, a new year brings a new start.  With the purchase of my new iPhone last fall, I am now able to take (tons of) pictures with it, edit right from my phone, and use apps like this Project 365 to help track them.

I decided I don't really need to do both, blog everyday, and then scrapbook the photos, and also post scrapbook layouts...that's doubling my work.  So instead, I will just track each pic during the month in an app with a brief description.  Then at the beginning of the following month I will print the photos for scrapbooking, and use the features of one of the apps to do something like this one...a recap calendar.

I know the pictures are rather small, but I think you can get the gist of what they represent, and along with the quick, down and dirty recap below, here is our Auchmoody January 2015 (Day 1 through 31) in a nutshell:

1 - Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
2 - Date night with the hubby to see Interstellar with Matthew McConaughey.
3 - The pups having cuddle time on the bed.
4 - Woke up to a little dusting of snow! Didn't last long though...warmed up and the wind blew it away.
5 - Jody brought in a beautiful rosary straight from the Vatican, that she picked up for me on her travels with Morgan to Italy and France.
6 - Home sick all day with the flu. Captured this sunset...beautiful end to a yucky day.
7 - A picture snapped from a video the girls sent to Grammy. Home sick with Mom again today, they were missing their Grammy and wanted to tell her so.
8 - The Origami Owl Valentine flyers arrived today.
9 - The girls were laying just outside the bathroom door as I was getting ready this morning...as if to say, 'We are not staying home one more day, take us to Grammy's house!'
10 - Christmas finally came down today, all that remains are a few gifts to find space for.
11 - The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord...and the last day of the Christmas Season. All will be put away until next year.
12 - Uh oh...our dishwasher is on the fritz. Up early this morning to hand wash dishes...yuck!
13 - Our new batch of coffee pods arrived for our Nespresso machine at work...a Christmas-slash-parting gift from Grant to the office staff. My new favorite is the caramel.
14 - Organizing and prep work on Project Life 2014 to take on my scrapbooking weekend.
15 - A silly text between Mom and I that makes little sense.
16 - The Jeep packed up and bulging at the seems for Trina and I's scrapbooking adventure...do the two of us girls know how to pack a car!
17 - The scenery outside our windows as we scrap...with huge, fluffy snowflakes coming down.
18 - The six of us ladies who scrapped this weekend. It was a small group this time, just two sets of sisters and Trina and I.
19 - Our first Papa Murphy's pizza experience, and I'd say we liked it! This is all that remains of two pizzas and a dessert pizza!
20 - Dinner at Bangkok with the hubby...such pretty appetizer plates of butterflies and salad rolls.
21 - Valentine's Day is coming. Bought this dish the other day at Hobby Lobby, and filled it today with conversation hearts for my office.
22 - Going old school...a quick winter meal of grilled cheese, tomato soup and milk!
23 - Baylee has started feeling under the weather again. She loves having a cuddle on the bed though, especially in the backs of daddy's knees, as close as she can get.
24 - Because she's not feeling well, it seems kind of difficult for Baylee to curl up in her bed, so I made her this makeshift bed out of an old comforter with a sheet over it. Now she looks so comfortable all stretched out.
25 - Hung our Christmas gift from Craig and Wendy today in our prayer area. It's a cross made from repurposed wine barrels.
26 - Yay! My first Studio Calico Project Life kit arrived. They had a $10 intro offer I couldn't pass up, so I'll be getting one of these at the start of each month.
27 - Oooops...Rob was being silly and mooned me while putting on his pj's. Unfortunately it was the only picture I took this day, so with a little editing of a heart of his moon...we're good.
28 - We have had grey skies for weeks! Today I was wishing for some freshly squeezed sunshine! This is one of the new decorations purchased at Hobby Lobby last week for my newly updated grey and yellow guest room.
29 - Ah, today. A bad day. Baylee had more blood work and x-rays, and we have been told she has a tumor on her liver. It's hard to believe this sweet girl is so sick.
30 - My girl so cute, giving me one of her looks. We're having as many cuddles as we can now.
31 - Another cuddling night with the girls, this time with a look from Lu...or is that the stink eye??

Day 48

Alright, I'm kind of cheating here.  I already shared a photo of my Valentine's flowers on Friday, but I had to take a picture again. These are probably the prettiest roses I've ever had. They all opened up so beautifully, and the colors were just gorgeous...in fact this photo doesn't do them justice. I just thought they were lovely, and wanted to remember them this way, so I snapped another photo. With this pic, I think Valentine's Day 2014 has been brought to a close.

Day 45

Happy St. Valentine's Day! I had a great day, and was a bit spoiled I must say. I received a delivery at work from Shari's Berries...two dozen roses, one dozen of their gourmet dipped 'fancy' strawberries, and a lovely message from my Valentine (he did goooood!).  Boy are those berries delicious...so juicy, and yummy.  Of course the white chocolate dipped ones are my favorite.

I also received a bit of pampering, as I happen to have an appointment to get my hair done today.  So, again thanks to Traci, I'm looking fabulous again. Or at the very least, my roots are gone!!

I picked Mom up after work. She was insisting on a little Valentine's gift for me as well...the gift of sight. Sounds funny, and it kind of is. It seems she has grown tired of looking at my glasses on my face, mainly because they are six years old, and rather crooked (or my face is, who knows?!?). So she took me to Costco and I picked out new frames, and ordered up a new pair of glasses.  I'm sure I'll share a picture after I pick them up in a week. Then, after Costco Mom took Rob and I to dinner...Rob was actually at work, but we got him a to-go order, so no matter how you look at it, Valentine's dinner was on Mom...she's an awful good Valentine to have!

Like I said...spoiled...more than I deserve.  I am truly blessed.  I sure hope your Valentine's Day was as good as mine!!

Day 44

Today at work was Valentine Snack Day.  I swear, we ladies need very little excuse to have a Snack Day!  We started talking among ourselves, and realized several of us had intended to bring a treat for Valentine's Day. But then we also realized a bulk of us in the office are going to be off tomorrow...some with Fridays off, some with Valentine plans. So we made today, Valentine's Day Eve, snack day instead.

April stopped at the bakery and brought in a variety of goodies. Shauna made pink Rice Krispie Treats cut out into heart shapes. Billie made cut out heart sugar cookies with cream cheese frosting.  And, I made these devil's food cake pops.  We were in sugar overload most of the day!! All the treats were delicious, and a great way to celebrate our 'love' for each other!

Day 43

Last night Rob and I shared our Valentine cookie that we got from Ms. Kennedy. I have to say...it was so delicious. That Cheryl, she makes a buttery and delicious sugar cookie! It was so good in fact, we were left wanting more.

Tonight I had to swing into Yokes for a couple things, so I grabbed these frosted sugar cookies. You know, they're the ones that you can find all year round in the bakery of just about every grocery store. They looked so good, but sadly they just don't come anywhere close to that cookie from Cheryl's. Oh well, they're something sweet on hand when the mood strikes.

Day 38

We have just a little bit of a winter wonderland.  After last night's snow, we finally have a blanket of white...and blue skies...for now. They say more snow is on the way, tonight and/or tomorrow. I snapped this pic of our house on the way into work this morning...everything just looked so pristine, and pretty.

And, when Rob got home tonight and brought in the mail, there was a small padded envelope addressed to him and I. Inside...a little Happy Valentine's Day box with a frosted heart sugar cookie inside from Cheryl's. I had already guessed, but the note inside confirmed it, it was a Valentine wish from my very favorite girl, Miss Kennedy. She is such a sweetie pie!

Day 30

OK, so I'm not going to say much about this.  I'm sure if I did it would not be politically correct in any way. But really? Even our Valentine candy has to come in a Spanish version? Are ya freakin' kidding me?

Enough said...

Day 45

This is what I woke up to this morning - a vase full of colorful daisies, and a beautiful card from MY Valentine!

Rob and I had agreed (I thought) that we were just doing cards.  With us having church tonight, and trying to eat better and cut out sweets, and starting our observance of Lent yesterday, it just seemed to leave very little to the imagination of what to do in the way of a 'traditional' Valentine's Day.  We agreed to to put it on hold, and do dinner and a movie or something this weekend.

I have to admit though, the flowers were a nice touch and very thoughtful, and I loved how sneaky he was in getting them.  There are not a lot of hiding places in our house, so when I asked how he had managed to pull it off, he said he had got them yesterday, and hid them in the shower of the spare bathroom overnight!  Clever fella, my Valentine!!

Happy Valentine's Day to you and your special Valentine! XOXO

Day 24

A little over a week ago, I blogged about putting out my Valentine's Day decorations.  And, I've already shared one of them with you, one of my Precious Moments. 

Here is another favorite that I know I did not share last year...my LOVE blocks.  I have these blocks from Terry's Village for almost all occasions, and so of course I have them for Valentine's Day too.

A cute little bear, with heart shaped balloons sitting atop the stair step blocks...ahhh...LOVE!

Day 13

Today is officially the last day of the Christmas Season.  It is a feast day, celebrating the Baptism of Our Lord - the day Christ himself was baptized.

For us, that meant after church the final Christmas decorations - the Christmas tree, the outdoor decorations and the Nativity - all came down, putting an end to Christmas Season 2012 at our house. 

And since it is now only one month away, it also meant the Valentine's Day decorations could come out...Yay!  I just love the pinks, the reds, the hearts...love, love, love!

Day 45

It's Valentine's Day!!

February 14th, the day we set aside to celebrate love, although I have traditionally said that it is a holiday that I, myself do not celebrate. Well, not this year. This year I was excited to do something, albeit rather small, in the name of LOVE.

Even though Rob and I had our Valentine's Date Night on Sunday, I just wanted to do a little something today. So, in addition to the cake I made last night, I put together a little basket with a couple of his favorite things...some beef jerky, a six pack of energy drinks and a few chocolates. They say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right??

So this was our festive kitchen island this morning; a basket of goodies for Rob, the cake...really for the two of us, and flowers, cards and cupcakes for Mom.

Oh, and you can see there are some sandwich 'cookies' I made last night. I just took two graham crackers and sandwiched left over frosting between them. That's an old school trick my mom used to do all the time. Didn't everyone's mom do that??

Well, Happy Valentine's Day 2012 everyone. I wish you all a day of love and a day of caring!

Day 44

♪ ♫ Sweets for my sweet, sugar for my honey ♫ ♪

Whew...what a long day! After work, I stopped by the store to pick up a couple last minute Valentine gifts, grabbed the girls and then headed home. I quickly got the heart shaped cake and two cupcakes in the oven. I managed to make dinner, do a few chores, and get the cake and cupcakes frosted just before Rob got home from work.

Although the cake was finished, I told him he had to wait until tomorrow to cut himself a slice...until it is actually Valentine's Day! The two cupcakes I made will be delivered to Mom in the morning.

I can't wait until tomorrow, I'm looking forward to a big bite of that Cherry Chip goodness myself!!

Day 43

Today was a great day.

Rob and I decided to sleep in this morning, and opted out of church. It really was some much needed rest for both of us. Once our lazy bones were up and moving, I made breakfast for us...setting off the smoke detectors for the very first time! Boy, who knew bacon could be that crispy?!?

Then we decided that we would have our Valentine's Date Night. Because Rob will be working late on Valentine's Day, we decided we should make the most of his one and only day off.

After realizing a couple weeks back that we have never been to the movies together, I knew that's what I wanted to do. With a little discussion, we chose the new Denzel Washington movie. When the movie let out, we talked about what to do for dinner, and I reminded him I had a gift card to Bonefish Grill, where he had never been. So we headed that way, and ended up getting in with no wait, and having a nice dinner.

It really did turn out to be a great day spent together. We finally saw a movie after seven months, and had our first dinner out just the two of us since he moved here. It was a great way to celebrate our very first Valentine's Day. ♥♥♥

Day 37

My inspiration is waining a bit again. I seem to be at a loss for some kind of new or exciting photo subject, so I took a look at the Capture Your 365 Inspiration list for February again, and today's prompt was With a Heart On It. Seems pretty fitting being February and all.

I looked around my house at all of my Valentine decorations I love so much, and decided to snap a picture of this little ceramic gift-bag-shaped dish. I have always loved it's pastel pink and bright raspberry color combo...and it certainly has a heart on it, a cute little striped one.

Tonight after work I stopped by Target for a few coupon special items, one of which being the Dove Dark Chocolate and Cherry Swirl Valentine's Heart Promises that now fill this little candy bag. I doubt they'll make it to Valentines Day!

Day 29

February, 1985. I remember it like it was yesterday. Literally. I can't even wrap my mind around the fact that it has been 27 years.

This past summer, I spent some time cleaning out my garage. One of the things I found was a Valentine card and this enclosed note sent to me by my dad. I was actually shocked to discover it, I had no idea I had held on to it all these years. But what a treasure it was to find. It's so funny how something so simple can take on so much more meaning and become so valuable after someone has passed.

It was the year my dad was working away in California, and I really do remember it vividly, for several reasons.

First, the outside envelope was addressed to Trica. I had recently dropped the PA from my name and shortened it to Tricia, but dad just couldn't quite lock on to the idea or the spelling, and from that point forward, Trica (pronounced Trick-ah) was born.

Secondly, I remember receiving the envelope and it was the first time I had ever seen 'Hand Cancel', and it had to be explained to me. My dad had bought me a pair of earrings, ironically with my name (Tricia) on them, and had enclosed them in the envelope and wanted to be sure they were handled with care.

And lastly, I got a card from my dad. Not from my mom and dad...which you always knew was mom out shopping and signing for them both. Not that there was anything wrong with that, it's just that this meant Dad did it all on his own. And he took a few minutes to jot down a note.

I was thinking of him and missing him terribly again today, and thought of this card and note. At the time, 27 years ago, it was just a card, and just a simple note, but now it's something I cherish that provides just a little bit of comfort on days like today.

Day 26

Valentines Day is still a couple weeks away, but my decorations have been out for awhile now. I get so excited to turn that corner, so to speak, after the holidays...you know, after you've brought in the New Year, have put the tree and all the trimmings away, and get to head into a fresh new Spring.

And as part of that, in spite of myself, I love Valentines Day. I love the pinks and reds, the hearts...and...the candy. I have already eaten an entire bag of Conversation Hearts!

That's why I love this decoration of little wood Conversation Hearts, so at least when the real ones are gone...I still have these adorning the wall!

Happy Valentine's Day

So today is Valentine's Day...again. I laughingly refer to this day as another holiday I don't celebrate, along with Hanukkah and Kwanza...just not my thing.

I do however, enjoy the symbolism of the day in spite of myself. I mean who doesn't love pink and red, roses and hearts, and of course, chocolate? It's also the first holiday after 'the Holidays', so it always feels like a fresh start and enjoyably carries a hint of spring just around the corner.

So to all those I love, Happy Valentine's Day! Whether today marks a day of celebration for you, or just another Monday...I hope you enjoy the day.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is coming up quickly, and so far I only have two cards done. These are the two cards I made for my nieces Rachel and Kendra. I needed to get them done because they have the farthest to travel...all the way to Texas.

There are a couple other Valentine's pending in my head - I just have to get them made before I loose the ideas! So, hopefully there are more pics to come...

Happy Valentines Day!

Here are a couple cards I tried to quickly put together today. Hours later I am finally done...good thing Valentines Day is all day long :)

I wish you all Hugs and Kisses on this Valentines Day!

xoxoxoxo