An Ode to Betty

Dear Betty, sweet sweet Betty,

We love your curly black fur and how it ends up all over the house. You are adorable in your persistent habits to get our attention, which we happily give when you are having your "awake" time. Your wet nose to our cheeks and ragged tongue to our ankles are your loving calling cards. Which always make us smile and giggle and fall to the floor to be close to you.

You have been aging quickly this past year, something that we have been keeping an eye on since the quick passing of Twain. You sleep most of the day, rarely rousing while the house is going crazy around you. You have your snug spots by the couch, upstairs in my office, in the yellow bed in our room. We know that we can find you there pretty much anytime. Unless you are doing your flipping rolling wiggling dance downstairs. We love to watch you amble around the yard on your walk abouts. How you can smell something new even though you can no longer see it. We love your Brontosaurus Betty move because it is always delivered with love. We loved teaching you how to climb stairs and that the couch was the best place to be. We love that you always know when there are treats especially if it is a sandwich. Your nose is a force to be reckoned with dear Betty!

We have been worrying about you and trying to make each moment of the time we have together full of love and pets and small treats. Thank you for peeking out at Alex when we were at the Shelter. Thank you for opening up to us after other people had been so horrendous to you. Thank you for trusting us enough to let us love you. You, dear sweet Betty, have been Our Rambalam Black Betty, and we love you.

With Cheetos and Salami,

Your Boyles Family.

One more day

One day till I have 11 days of bliss. Where I will...

• hopefully finish the painting downstairs. I found color inspiration in a Father's Day card.
• end every day floating in the pool
• celebrate Father's Day belated with my Pops and My Mister Man at the top.
• purge my closet of the baggage that is clothing that I will never wear again even if I fit back into it.
• wake early just because I want too.
• play the Wii, making it a family event.
• teach Alex about the fine art of letter writing.
• plan a new year of scouts.
• finish a couple financial books.
• perfect fried chicken.
• use the elliptical with a smile on my face.
• hold Archie and Bella as they doggie paddle in the pool.
• finish my waking parts of the day with a G'night and a snuggle with Casey.

Doing what Needs to Be Done

Yesterday, I lolled around being bored. I followed Casey around, I played with the dogs, I zoned on the computer, I ignored many many things around me. Till Casey gave me this sage advice, When you are bored, stop and look around the room you are in, and do what needs to be done.

Well today Alex and I took that into play since Casey was prepping and Alex was spacing out on the TV. We took pictures of the rooms that we were both in and then pointed out the various things to each other about their rooms that needed to be done. Time limit was an hour. Which ended up being extended to an hour and half. :)

And we got so much done!

Alex's Playroom before.

Alex's Playroom After

Alex got alot picked up in his playroom and ended up taking out two bags of donations and a bag of trash. I was FINALLY able to vacuum and clean his ceiling fan. Yes, he still has alot of stuff, but we are slowly working on culling out the junk toys and the things he no longer plays with. Really our main struggle is the sheer amount of Legos he has.

Our Bedroom before.

Our Bedroom Before.

Our Bedroom After.

The other Done side of the room.

My cleaned out and reorganized vanity.

I tackled the mountain of clean laundry that had been waiting for days. Gathered all the random dirty piles and put them in waiting baskets. Made the bed, dusted and wiped down everything, vacuumed and cleaned the ceiling fan. And then I purged my vanity, lined it with drawer paper and wiped it all down. I still need to wash the dog beds, cycle through some laundry, and iron the curtains, but it is so much better than it was.

I have to say that I am continually amazed at how much I can SEE needs to be done when I just look. And then how much I CAN get done if I just do it. I actually have the urge to finish painting the bedroom doors, which have been waiting for 4 years. :)

Honesty

I have times when I have so much to say, but say nothing. Not a peep.
I have times when everything good and bad falls into blandness. Just a beige world.
I have times when I question the person who I am. Am I who I think I am?

I have used this blog in the past as a happy filter. Posting only what paints me and my life in rainbow colors. Now and then I slipped in some dark and grey, but I mostly showed my blog what I thought I had to show. This self censoring has distorted my reality, to the point where I think and honestly feel that all is okay even when things are crumbling around me. I have created a fake life, a fake me, and I do not like either one.

I need honesty. I need to BE honest.

I have problems.
I am a liar.
I have neglected my family.
I have ignored my promises.
I have buried my head in the sand.
I have faked it till I believed it.
I have crept so far into my own head that I ignored my body.
I need to grow up.
I am my parents child and I need to GROW from that, not wallow in it.
I need to be proud of me.

I hope that my words will come back around to rainbow paintings, that things will be bright and shiny. But mostly I hope that those words are the complete reality. I am no longer going to censor myself here.

Please bear with me as I change and do the right thing. Please bear with the dark and grey as I work towards a clearer Nicole.

Steve the Hedgehog

Alex got a hedgehog this past weekend. We had looked into a hedgehog as a pet around his birthday but decided it was just too expensive to start. But when you put out to the world that you want a hedgehog, sometimes the world gives you your wish.

Kim had a friend who needed to find a home for one of her hedgehogs, apparently Steve is not friendly with other males. So this past Saturday Steve made his way to our family with everything he needs to live.
He was a bit grumpy the first four days, not quite certain of his surroundings and all the new smells. He hisses and puffs up his quills when mad. He kind of sounds like boiling water in a tea kettle. But with the addition of this new little critter bed, he is super happy and much more calm.

He is hiding in most of this pictures because of the camera flash, tomorrow Alex and I are going to take him outside to explore in the grass before the heat of the day. Hopefully you will get to see his adorable little face. And we will hopefully get a chance to double check that Steve is not a Stephanie.