Merry Christmas!

This is a picture of our 3 ft. Christmas tree, we have a small tree this year since Maggie is still a mischievous puppy...



The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...




We celebrated with Maggie on Christmas Eve since we have to drop her off on Christmas morning at Pet Paradise. She will be staying here, www.petparadiseresort.com, while we are in the mountains, we will miss her so much!




She loved all her new toys and new collar (aka bling bling)!!

Merry Christmas from Dave, Scottie and Maggie!!

Busy Month

I am sitting by this fire as I write this post, I love warm fires!!


Maggie by the fire with her Christmas collar (blurry, sorry)

We spent Thanksgiving in Gainesville then on Friday we headed to St. Pete to visit Dave's mom's family. We took Maggie and the boat along for the weekend. Dave's family lives on the water and his uncle Glenn was excited to see the "new" boat. It was fun to finally get the boat in the water after having it almost a year. Maggie didn't exactly enjoy her first boat ride but I think she will love it, eventually. Dave got her a puppy life jacket, she loves it, she prances around in it and is so proud!! We were worried she would fall in the water since Pris and Glenn's backyard is the intercostal. Fortunately she didn't fall in the intercoastal but she did fall into their pool. The first night she was playing on the pool deck with her cousins Gus (Boston Terrier) and Kayla (Pit Bull/Boxer mix) and she accidentally backed-up and ended up half way in the pool but Dave rescued her from completely falling in. It was a great weekend of family, food, football and fun!!

The following weekend we watched the Gator's win the SEC championship!! Woo hoo, can't wait for Miami!!

Today we went to my Dad's house in Lake City to celebrate Christmas early. The food was yummy as always. It was great to see everyone and all the kids!! I will post pics later...

Next weekend Dave's sister will be here with her family and a few days later it will be Christmas!!

The day after Christmas we are heading to Hiawassee, GA with the Daquila family for 5 fun days!!

When we get back we are going to head back down to St. Pete to see the rest of Dave's family and to wrap up the holidays before heading back to work in 2009.

Wow how this year has flown by, can't believe Dave and I have been married for 9 months and the new year is on it's way! Happy Holidays!!

SEC Champs

SEC Champs!!

Congrats, Gators!! Now we are BCS bound!!

GO GATORS!!

Dave's Doe

Dave got his first deer last night. It is doe season in Florida this week. Congrats, Sweetie!!




Dave and Zeke



The proud sportsman

After being "christened" by Zeke

NKOTB

Yes, that stands for New Kids on the Block. I first saw them when I was in 6th grade, 17 years ago! My mom took me to see them in Tallahassee, well I got to see them again and it was great. What a flashback!! We left Gainesville late on Sunday evening and then we got a little lost. FYI, the St. Pete Times Forum is not in St. Pete it is actually in Tampa!! I just assumed it was that big place I see every time we visit Dave's family, once we arrived I realized that we were at Tropicana Field, oops!! Anyways we turned around and made it to the concert and only missed a couple of songs. It was great!! I even made my own t-shirt!!

Front: Too Late Donnie I'm Married Now!!

Back: I loved NKOTB

Happy Halloween

Angel Maggie


Dorothy and Pirate Dave


The Gang: Sonny and Cher, Angel, Dorothy and Pirate, Pimp and Lady of the Night, Redneck

I hope everyone's Halloween is great!! No tricks but lots of treats!!

The "Gift"

**WARNING** contents may be disturbing to some people!!

So our cat Toby only likes to come inside when the weather is inclimate. He was in last Thursday night because it was raining. Dave was petting him and mentioned to Toby that he hadn't brought us any "gifts" in a while, the last time was January to be exact. Well the last gift he gave us was a baby flying squirrel that wasn't quite dead. Toby is definitely the sweetest cat I have known, he is so patient and kind. When he delivered his last gift he kindly meowed to let us know he had something for us.

Thursday night Toby fell asleep next to me. Around 6am Friday morning I was awoken to Maggie's whines which usually means she needs to go out. I also heard the sound of Toby's nails kneading the carpet. If you don't know cats that is something they do, I never knew until I met Toby. Anyways, I thought Maggie was just whining because Toby was on the floor with her and sometimes she gets excited when he is around. I was going to pick him up and put him on the bed to calm Maggie and when I peered over the bed I saw Toby but there was something else there as well... I turned on the lights to find a baby squirrel, this time dead. Toby had gotten us another "gift." I immediately woke Dave, since he requested the "gift" I figured he could thank Toby and dispose of it as well. That night was very rainy and windy so Dave and I think the squirrel was knocked out of a tree and that is how Toby retrieved him. I know this is very hard to believe but it is the complete truth. Such a random coincidence, or does Toby really understand English? If only he could talk...

Happy Birthday, Dave!!

I am so sad I didn't post yesterday! Happy Birthday, Dave!! Dave worked during the day then we went to Deb and Bernie's house for dinner. Thanks for such a great meal!! Tonight we are having an early Halloween party since it is a bye-week for the Gators and to celebrate Dave's birthday. Gotta finish cleaning and getting ready!! I will post pictures soon. Have a great weekend!

Noisy Neighbor

I have just arrived home from work, 6:30pm. I decide to take Maggie out on the back deck since she has been cooped up in her kennel all day. I am checking my email on my laptop enjoying a peaceful and cool October night when our neighbor’s daughter decides to start screaming bloody murder. Everyone seems to be a nuisance her brothers, their friends, the entire world!! Screeching, screaming, screeching!!! I tell you it is some of the worst sounds I have heard from a child!! Where is her mother???

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for her!

On a side note her name is Montana and the other neighbor’s kid is named Hannah. They are quite good friends so every time we see them playing or they come to visit Maggie we say it’s Hannah Montana!!

The many names of Maggie Mae...

Maggie

Mags

Wags

Magger

Magger Wagger

Maggie Waggie

Waggie Maggie

Wag-A-Muffin

Wags to Riches

Big Girl

Biggers (short for big girl)

(One of her favorite toys, Go McCain/Palin!!)

Leanne and Drew's Wedding

Congratulations, Leanne and Drew!!
Yesterday was the big day and we had a blast.
Best wishes, we love you!!!

July 2008

Well we had a very busy July. We spent lots of time with our families and friends. The beginning of the month we celebrated Forth of July with my mom, Tom, Leanne and Drew. It was a fun afternoon with great food: boiled peanuts, Texas caviar, Dave's smoked ribs and other traditional cookout foods.

The next weekend we worked on stuffing and mailing Leanne and Drew's wedding invitations followed by their engagement party the following week. I pickled okra, more to come on that.

I went to Orlando and Hollywood, Fl for a girls weekend. The weekend started on a Thursday night in Orlando, we celebrated Traci's birthday over dinner at PF Changs. The next day we headed to Hollywood, FL to stay at the Westin Diplomat. My friend Gina is an accountant for Starwood and we got a great hot rate at the Westin. The weather was very warm and free of rain for the 2 days we were there, awesome!! We also visited the Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. (The place where Anna Nicole Smith passed away.) We returned to Orlando on Sunday afternoon.

During that weekend, Dave's sister Pam flew in with her daughters to visit with us and the family for the week. On Monday I met Dave, my sister-in-law, nieces, and in-laws at Seaworld. We enjoyed Seaworld from 10am till 10pm, what a fun day. The following day we visited Aquatica, Seaworld's water park, it is very new and it was very crowded, but it was a good time!! On Wednesday, we celebrated Emma's 5th birthday at our house. Dave's mother and grandmother drove up from St. Pete and the entire Daquila family was there to celebrate as well. We wrapped the week up with more Daquila family time and lots of food. The week went by so fast, we enjoyed spending time with everyone!!

Hospitality House at Seaworld= Free Beer

Shamu Show at Night

Journey to Atlantis Ride

Emma's Birthday

Emma, Natalee and Maggie

Dave and Pam with Grandparents

Ponte Vedra Beach

Here are a few pics from our weekend at Ponte Vedra Beach. We got to spend a family weekend together thanks to Nana and Jack. They rented a house for a week but due to some of our busy schedules we could only enjoy a couple days, but it was great!!

Thanks, Nana and Jack!!

Back on the Wagon

Caffeine that is, not alcohol. I gave caffeine up for a week and I couldn't take it any longer. I thought to myself, could I really give up caffeine for the rest of my life? It is very doubtful, so I thought why put myself through the misery now. Besides I only have 1 cup of coffee in the morning and at the most only 1 other caffeinated beverage a day. Everything in moderation, right? As a good American I have to do my part to keep Starbucks in business...

Wedding Announcement

FYI- Our wedding announcement will be in the Gainesville Sun this Sunday in the Daybreak section. Finally, yay!!

Sparky

RIP

1991-2008

Blueberry Pie

I am fortunate enough to work for a doctor who's patients LOVE him (and his staff). On any given week we have patients who bring us cakes, pastries, peanut brittle, fresh veggies and fruit. They even bring him homemade moonshine!! This past week the blueberry man came with tons of blueberries. I fell in love with him last year. I made around a half dozen blueberry pies last year between Easter and Mother's Day. Dave and I did not consume all of them, but let me say it is one of his favorite desserts. Before last year I had never made a blueberry pie and I have definitely perfected the recipe. The below recipe is a combination of many, making it my own!

Disclaimer: I am more of a Sandra Lee type of cook 1/4 pre-made + 3/4 homemade= semi-homemade. That means I don't make my own pie crusts. Sorry, maybe one day. For the meantime, enjoy!!

Filling:
3 Cups of Fresh Blueberries
3 Tablespoons of Corn Starch
3 Tablespoons of Water
1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice
½ Cup of Sugar
¼ Teaspoon of Cinnamon

Topping:
½ stick of softened butter
½ cup of sugar
½ cup of all purpose flour

Mix all filling ingredients together and pour into frozen pre-made deep dish pie crust. For topping, mix ingredients together with a fork to make a crumble topping. Sprinkle over pie. I wrap just the crust in foil or if you have one of those fancy metal crust rings you can use that. Bake at 350 degrees for 45min to 1 hr., or until topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. YUMMY!!

School 101

So I made it through my first semester and received good grades as well...
A&P 1: A
Nutrition: A
Medical Terminology: B
Chemistry: B

I am now taking Microbiology during Summer A which is only 6 weeks long, that means class every day and lab twice a week. After that I will have 2 months off from school for the remainder of the summer. I am applying for SFCC nursing school for the Fall, I should know in mid July if I get in, if not I will apply next spring for UF's nursing program. I will keep you all updated!! I hope all is well, can you believe it practically Summer already?

White is Bad, Dark is Good...

We took Maggie to the vet today for her 3 week check-up from the day we were told she had a 50/50 chance. The vet was very impressed at how well Maggie was doing. Her lungs sounded much better, unlike 2 weeks ago when she said "well she isn't any worse." The vet gave us lots of praise for taking such good care of Maggie she said without all of the breathing treatments and couppage she wouldn't have been as well. We were told we could stop the breathing treatments and couppage, yippee for me!! We are keeping her on doxycycline for 2 more weeks then "calling it a day" as the vet put it. You can see in her x-rays below, her lungs are much better. Normal lungs appear black on x-rays, as you can see below, before Maggie's lungs were almost completely white, they are now much darker. So white is bad and dark is good. Her lungs are almost completely clear, she may have scarring that will last her lifetime but that shouldn't be a problem since we won't be entering her into any races. She has tons of energy and enjoys getting into trouble. We are happy that she has finally received a clean bill of health!! YAY!!


Before

B

After


Before



After

African Violets

Well my mother-in-law left her african violets in our care when she moved. Needless to say they are barely surviving and one is completely gone. They were placed in a window that is very close to the ground and Maggie loves being outside so she is constantly looking out the windows. In her quest for the outdoors she discovered the african violets. She completely destroyed one so we are down to 2 and they are now out of Maggie's reach. Maybe we can keep them alive On another note, my okra plants are still alive and growing, not producing any crop yet but I am still hopeful.

We visited the vet again this past Thursday and she said "Well she is not getting worse" in her lingo that means her new antibiotics are working and she is getting better. We can tell she is better. She no longer has weeping eyes or a runny nose and she is full of energy. When Dave picked her at Petsmart he liked her because she was a lazy dog, just what he wanted, little did he know he was picking the sick lethargic dog who is now very active. She has gained 4 pounds in 3 weeks. She is pretty much leash trained. Now we just have to master the potty training...





Oops!!



Someone is in trouble!!


There's the violet




Sorry!!