April Improvements!

Slowly but surely, we are making the house "ours".

I painted my craft room:

We tilled the garden...BY HAND! (no picture of that, we were too busy!)

We also did some yard work. 

It's amazing how its more enjoyable when it's your own yard and not your parents forcing you to help!

I think we filled up 3 1/2 bags of dead leaves and cuttings in one hour!

Chad also built and put up a hanging bar above the dryer for clothes:

And Chad built shelves for my garden shed:

Seedlings were started for the garden as well!

Easter Photos

Brotherly love?

Family photo!

Favorite picture from today!

Dolly's First Easter

1 Month Home Photos

I got out the camera today to take a few photos of Dolly

(and to learn a little more about how to use the camera)

She's surprisingly photogenic!

Sitting in her favorite spot in the yard.

She knows the "sit" command very well!

Pretty girl

Playing with the ball. This is something new she has discovered in the past week and a half!

Sitting with her first toy! We got this for her on the day we adopted her and it is VERY well loved!

(This is my attempt at being artistic and getting a photo from one of the trees in the yard)

One Month Home!

Dolly has been home exactly one month today!

In the past month she has:

• ... learned 3 commands (sit, lay, and shake)
• ... had only 2 accidents in the house (both of which were in the past week)
• ... still not figured out how to sit still for pictures
• ... had 5 baths (and is starting to warm up to them a little more)
• ... torn up 3 socks and countless dryer sheets (without eating them!)
• ... chewed up 4 shoes
• ... met both sets of "grandparents" and both "cousins"
• ... gone to Bella and Gramps' house once 
• ... taken 2 car rides
• and last but most definitely not least, she has given and received countless hugs and kisses, and has never stopped wagging her little bob tail!

She loves snuggle time with Chad! 

Thank you again to 4 Paws 4 Rescue in Fenton, MO for giving us our Dolly-girl!

1000 Gifts....(And Being a Big Loser...)

...AND I WAS THE BIGGEST LADY LOSER!

Now, most people don't cheer about being a loser, but when it comes to weight, its TOTALLY worth cheering about.

Much more than the cash, the richness has come from setting a goal and meeting it!

So what changes now?

Not too much.

I definitely don't intend to gain back the weight.

What will change is the focus from weight loss to full-body heath.

How?

Well, I joined a gym so that I can start gaining muscle.

I intend to stick with smarter food choices, portions, and snack times.

I am setting my plans in order to get outside more with the garden.

And possibly the most important, I am working through a challenge from this book:



We are doing a Bible Study on this book, the premise of it being to learn "Euchristeo" which basically means living thankfully.

The tag line from the book is "A dare to live fully, right where you are."

And if you know me, you know that this is

I am a very "project oriented" type.

If I don't have some big event/project/whatever to work on, I drive myself crazy.

If I don't have something big to be scrambling around for, I feel bored with life.

In reading the book, I'm forced to ask myself the hard questions...

Why do I feel the impulsive need to be busy?

Why do I always feel like I need a "project" to work on.

Am I so busy being "busy" day to day that I forget...

...to be thankful?

...to stop and enjoy the small blessings that are passing so fast?

...to just sit back and maybe, rest?

As I have been kicking these thoughts around in my mind, it seems I am not the only one.

Friend and fellow blogger Hayley has some things to say about this too in one of her latest posts.

So, moving forward, how will life look?

Will I struggle through it?

Most likely.

Will it be worth it?

Absolutely.

(As of today I am at number 49 out of the author's challenge to list 1,000 things we are thankful for.)