This message is not approved by Lucy. Nope. Not one bit.

Much to Lucy's surprise the other night, she went to climb in her bed (shes been doing that a lot on her own since we moved. I think the kids just wear her out, and when she's had enough, she goes to bed,) and there was a small child in there!

Jonah is the youngest of Stephen's nephews that live with us.

Jonah is a funny kid. He loves the dogs but isn't quite old enough to take on some of the responsibilities with helping with the dogs that his older siblings have...he tends to let go of the leash when they pull and was caught giving them extra scoops of kibbles one evening because "they were more hungry," which I can't really fault him with, because Oscar acts like he's starving 99% of the time, even when he's just eaten!)
Anyway...here's Jonah in the crate. It's not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last!
I'm very proud of Lucy for maintaining herself and not getting bitchy or bitey! She's come a long way in the two years that I've had her! She used to be so nasty and possessive about her blankets or her babies...this time she just went in there, saw that a small child had occupied her space, and turned around and vacated the premises. So proud of my girl!

Truth...

Although in all fairness, I kinda started out as a grumpy YOUNG firefighter/EMT...

Throwin' it WAAAY back!

I was 19 in this picture.
I was in college for my paramedic degree.
I ate, slept and breathed the fire department.
Not saying that there aren't times when I miss it...but in 13 years, my priorities have changed so much.
Fire and Rescue will always be my first love...but I'm so ready for this career change and to get back to school!

Snow dogs!

 Oscar was born in Iowa and spent half of his life in Chicago.
Lucy was born somewhere? And has lived in West Virginia and then northern Virginia with me for most of her life.
One would think that Chicago dog would be more adapt to the snow. Nope. No way. No how.
Osc HATES snow. He still goes outside to do his business, but does it as SOON as he steps out the door, even if that means going on the porch or on the bottom step with two legs on the ground and his back legs still firmly planted on the step.
Lucy LOVES snow. She goes out and sniffs it and eats big mouthfuls of it, rolls around, makes a high mess of herself. She gives no fucks but refuses to pee outside if it rains.
Crazy snow dogs. Who would have thought?

Life lately...

Itching for new ink...

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is what any smart man in America does.
With four kiddos and two dogs in the house, I'm fortunate enough that my valentine let me sleep in until 11 (after we got up and gave the heard their valentines bags to read/play with/eat candy for breakfast and generally be a tiny bit quieter than normal)

Yup...

Moving day...

I told ya'll that there were changes coming down the pipe for February. 

I wasn't kidding.

With the support of my family and friends and amazing boyfriend, I made the choice to get the hell out of the situation I was in with some pretty selfish, loud, obnoxious, ridiculous room mates from hell and do what was best for ME for a change.

I've moved five times in four years, and the weather has been extreme during every one of them...either snow or blazing heat. This time was no different. Although it wasn't actually snowing, there was still almost two feet of snow on most of the driveway and it was *just* warm enough to turn everything into mud and mess. 

I didn't care though. I can honestly say that this was the EASIEST move by far. Not physically, that's for sure. I helped Steven move each and every piece of furniture out if my home, and carried half of the house to and from the moving truck, but emotionally and mentally, this move was easy.

It was an EASY decision to move. It was a happy move. I knew I was moving to be in a happier place and to accomplish big things (school in the fall, new job, be with the man I love, etc.) 

I've only ever lived with a boyfriend (and a husband at one point...) a few times in my life and each time during the moving process, we have nearly killed each other or gotten into a knock down, drag out fight over something from being frustrated and/or sheer exhaustion. 

Not this time, and that's part of the reason that I know this is the right decision for myself and my dogs and my future. 

Even if Steven DID manage to drop every single pair of my clean underwear into the mud/snow...we had a good laugh about it and moved on.

Onward and upward. I'm so excited about the good things to come and Oscar and Lucy are so so so very happy here and so is their momma 😉

16 in 2016

I'm a HUGE list maker...

Last year I did 10 on Tuesdays, or maybe it was Thursday's...either way, thought I'd switch it up a bit and do random lists of 16 things through out this year. 

Today will be the first.

16 things occupying my brain while I should be asleep right now.

1. HUGE snow storm coming this way apparently. Boss man closed the office for the next few days. I'm totally ok with that. Normally I would be pissed about missing/not getting paid for hours. But I'm beyond that right now. I've already been in one pretty bad accident on my way home from work on back roads and that was only rain! Don't want to find out what happens in snow!

2. I need to replace my phone chargers. All of them. Every single one I have seems to be circling the drain.

3. BIG changes coming down the pipe in the next two weeks as far as work, school, living arrangements. I don't want to jinx anything, so I'll just say, please...prayers. Good juju. Whatever it is that you believe in, send them my way.

4. I need to go to the landfill. My screened in porch is slowly starting to look like said landfill!

5. Steven. like whoa.

6. I want to paint. Most of my painting stuff is at my moms right now. I also don't need to be painting right now, I need to be sleeping.

7. Need to set an alarm for the am so that I can decide if I'm packing these dogs up and heading to my parents house or Stevens place for the storm. I'm pretty terrified I'll end up stuck out here in the sticks with no power. Ughhh.

8. I haven't seen my nephews in almost two weeks. Need to get on that like white on rice. If I stay in town for said snow storm, I may end up over there because they have a generator...but my dogs are a problem there :/

9. Steven and I are going to the beach at the end of February for a conference. I'm pretty excited. I've been to Virginia beach probably 100 times in my life, but still excited. Some actual time off away from everything with someone I care about and who cares about me and likes to have fun! (Last beach trip was fun, because of the kids. And gioia. That's pretty much it.)

10. I don't drink milk. Only use it for cooking and eating cereal. But I felt a strong urge to buy some last night because everyone else in the DMV was out there buying bread and milk and toilet paper. 

11. I will never live with a room mate again. Except my "permanent roommate," as Steven says...meaning my husband or future husband or life partner or whatever. But never ever ever ever am I sharing a house with people I don't like. Ugh.

12. I have a cold. NyQuil is amazing. 

13. Next holiday coming is the dreaded Valentine's Day. Might not be so bad this year. Even if we do nothing or exchange nothing but a card, I know he will make it special. He always finds a way.

14. I loved Chicago snow, but hated that I had to drive in it. The whole time I lived there, we were only closed once for snow, and that was because it was almost 40 inches in one day. That would close Virginia down for a month.

15. I have a song in my head on repeat since like Monday. Wrecking ball by Eric Church. 

16. Hoping this is a good

Lucy-fur

Just in case anyone wondered why her middle name is fur!!!!

Fat man in a litttttttttle coat!

For real! This pic was taken in 2011 ish when we still lived in Chicago.
My little man is slim and trim now and the vet is very happy with his weight. It wasn't easy, but I had to do it for his safety. I need this guy around for at least 15 more years!

Yay for midnight internet shopping!

I'm not a good sleeper. I never have been. But one night it finally paid off. I found this SUPER cute Doxie chalkboard on Zulily.com and I'm so in love with it...even if all I ever do it write notes to myself on it 😉

Living with dachshunds...

Beach trip

because of my iPad issues, I never got around to posting about our annual vacation with our best friends and their little ones (the nephews.)

We visited Carolina Beach in North Carolina for the week of July 4 and it was a blast. We had tons of fun in our private salt water pool, made and ate good meals, collected sea shells, some of us got new tattoos (not Jason or Jackson, I promise!) checked out the aquarium, shopped a little bit in Wilmington, went to the Wilmington children's museum...etc.

This trip was a real eye opener for me in the way that I was living my life. I realized that I was unhappy in my own home and decided it was time to change that. While I never look back and regret my past, because it shapes who I am as a person, there are always things that I wish I didn't have to endure...and breakups are always one of those things. In the end, you know it's better, but it's hard as hell to get through. Anyway. I realized that needed to happen while at the beach. Time for me time, time to put myself first, etc.

Here are a few beach favorites 😍

painting classes

I know that I have posted before about the painting classes that I have been taking, but these are really different.
There is a local place here in culpeper that does monthly "Paint your Pet," classes.
I've had so much fun learning new techniques from the instructors there and painting some awesome pics of my babies!

Adjusting to our new life!

If you had read previous posts, you already know that Oscar, Lucy, and I moved into a little cabin type home out in the country in August.
These two have been momma's little rock stars and have helped me keep it together through the worst of times!
It did take some adjustment for them to have ONLY me around, to learn to walk/run on hard wood floors, etc, but they are doing great...and honestly, so am I!!

Pictures! Yay!

It took me forever. But I finally figured out how to post pics from my iPad to blogger! So excited. It's been a long time and a lot has happened in the last six months, so hang in there with me as I try and catch up on things!
Here's the most recent of the fur babies in their skull sweaters from Auntie Hannah and Uncle Joshie for Christmas!