I feel a little bent out of shape...



...I had to drink my coffee with milk this morning. My creamer was bad. And I tried the creamer first to check if it was still good. So I had to drink milky coffee to get rid of the sour creamer taste in my mouth. It's been that kind of week.

From Chicago...An appropriate picture for the day.

Because she's like our baby, here are some more pics of Dixie girl...

I'm a lazy bird dog...

Borrowing my neighbor Aidan's chair...

What are you lookin' at, Mom?

As close as I'm getting to that crazy Maddie dog...

Can you see me now?

We're having fun. Maddie has been so, so good with the pup. She looks worried when Dixie whines in her kennel, but she doesn't yet like her enough to let her play with her toys! She growls a bit at Dixie when she tries to steal her toys from her, but so far she hasn't been too harsh at all. Dixie likes to chase Maddie around, but she's not even close to fast enough yet! It's pretty amusing, especially when she hits the hardwood and her long back legs go out from under her! Unfortunately, Will has to leave on a trip tomorrow, so the pup will be home alone during the days. My sweet neighbor is going to come let her out in the middle of the day so she won't be crossing her legs when I get home from work! I won't only blog about the dog from now on, but I will post pictures and such periodically because we have family that wants to see our new addition!

Here she is!

Meet Dixie.





We're very tired after a long, crazy day of travel yesterday, but we're so glad to finally have our pup!

Rain, rain, go away...Please don't follow us to another state!





So, it rained our first day in Chicago, but we had fun anyway. We walked around, window shopped, browsed through a few, and had lunch. Then we napped (since we had to leave our house at 3:30 in the morning). We had dinner at a bar/restaurant right by our hotel (so we didn't get soaked - no umbrellas!). Good food, good conversation, and GREAT service. It was funny how we both immediately noticed how nice our server was, when really she wasn't going above and beyond her job description. It was just such a change from the rudeness we have experienced in WA. All in all, it was a great first day. We're off to museums today, with a little Navy Pier thrown in along the way (if we can fit it in between the pizza, steaks and Chicago style hot dogs we're wanting to try...). Tomorrow is our last day here. We'll probably hit Michigan Ave. in the morning, then we're heading to a White Sox game. They're playing the Yankees and it's not supposed to rain. Oh, and we can try the hot dogs there if we don't run into a street vendor between now and then!




I'm sure you're thinking, "What a sweet man to sit with his back to the TV so that he can have a nice evening of dinner and drinks with his wife, EVEN THOUGH playoffs are on."




Notice that said wife is sitting across from said sweet husband, and what's behind her? Yep, a mirrored wall. No basketball was missed!

More work outside...

...This weekend we put some sod in our yard. For some reason, which we have never really solidified, the builders in our neighborhood leave a strip around the backyard with no grass - basically like an 18 inch deep flower bed bordering the entire back yard. Weird. It would take TONS of plants to fill it and make it look even somewhat presentable, and then there would be so much weeding to be done. I have wanted to put in sod along the edge to just make the whole thing yard, but I had no idea what sod cost and figured it would be expensive. On a whim (mostly because I'm tired of Maddie tracking in dirt, and I know it will only get worse with two dogs), I called the sod farm just down the street to get a quote. To fill in all of our edge (minus where we planted a few trees and shrubs) and to add some sod to edge of the patio we built last year was going to cost...$45.38. Not bad! We picked up the sod on Saturday morning, took about two hours to lay it all down, cut it, water it, and admire our work. Our yard is looking a little yellow compared to the new grass, but we're hoping fertilizer and watering will help that out. Not a bad result for half a day's work.



In other news, my husband is a soccer player. This is not in the realm of his usual athletic activities - golf, basketball on Sunday nights, the occasional racquetball game. Nonetheless, he is helping his squadron's team to a base championship game, and it's really kinda fun to watch. I didn't take pictures at the last game (which was cold but not wet) but here's a few from the previous game. You can see where I sat to watch. Hey, I'm supportive, but not crazy.

Here's a pic of our new pup! We'll get her after our trip to Chicago. She's seven weeks old now, so she'll be a little over nine when we get her. We originally didn't get a pup from this litter, but we got a call yesterday that a family had to back out of their deposit and we were next in line for a female!



This other picture is of her dad. She'll have the same coloring when she gets older. I think she's just precious, and I'm excited to have another puppy in the house! Will is thrilled to finally have his bird dog. Of course, I'll post more pictures once she actually joins the family.



Oh, and as of this moment, she doesn't have a name. I'll let you know that as soon as I know it!