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Photo Book

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Photo books are the perfect gift for any occasion.

I have not been sleeping well. I am off for a week using my vacation time that will expire if I don't use it by December (stupidest policy I have ever heard of) and can't seem to get on a "normal" sleeping schedule, so I took nyquil last night. I was desperate. Also, the weather has been beautiful so we slept with the windows open.
At 4 in the morning Vic starts growling and barking. I thought I heard something out in the living room or maybe outside our bedroom window. With a nyquil slur I asked Danny if he heard something. I think he responded then went out to the kitchen. There very well could have been a madman in our house, but I fell back asleep. (Fact: We have 4 correctional facilities within 2 miles of our house).
Danny comes into the bedroom, "Karen! Where's the camera?! There's a BOAR in our backyard!" I stagger out to look out the backdoor window. Nothing. And Danny couldn't seem to get a picture of this boar that he states is "the size of a cow." (Fact: I don't believe this statement). After all the excitement I fell right back asleep to the glow of Danny's smartphone googling "boars in florida."
This morning our trashcan was knocked over and rummaged through, Danny did find a couple of tracks in our yard, and Vic went crazy smelling every blade of grass.
No matter how he figured it, Danny will not be able to shoot this boar with his shotgun if it ever returns. Our neighbors live too close and it wouldn't fit in our freezer anyway.

Yesterday if you shut your eyes real tight and focused real hard you could almost believe it feels like fall here in Daytona. Danny grilled burgers, we sat outside inhaling the meaty smoke, listening to music, and enjoying some Oktoberfest beers. Such a perfect night.

Good Times

Last night Kristine and I went to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros play in Orlando. It was one to the best concerts I have ever been to. It was so fun and uplifting and happy. They played for a full hour and a half and you could tell the band was loving every minute of it. If they are playing anywhere near you go see them! You will not be disappointed.
Thanks again, Kristine, for the invite!

Update

The kitten found a home...a guy Danny goes to school with. She left us yesterday and we really don't miss her or the litter box. Yes, she had been sleeping inside.

Danny's most recent heavily researched purchase

During our last camping trip we encountered some very heavy winds that tore our old tent to shreds. Duct tape got us through that trip but it has been retired. Danny found this one online for a great price. It only took 1 month to be delivered from Oregon. We thought someone might actually be backpacking it across the country to us and they would show up at our doorstep sweaty and breathless with our tent in their hands, but it turned out to be a UPS guy instead. We are planning a possible camping trip to Key West in November depending on my work schedule. 

Our tent's first adventure...the backyard.

Look what I did!

Danny and I found this end table at Goodwill for $5.99. It was very scratched up, but sturdy.

I used a liquid deglosser/cleaner then painted it with some leftover sample paint I had from when I painted the condo. I wanted to change the drawer pulls out, but haven't found any that fit the existing holes. Painting was ambitious enough, I have no desire to fill and drill holes.

Suckers

Last night I was called off of work (too many people scheduled, stupid management), so Danny and I took Vic for a walk at 10pm. Vic took off into the brush and something small and white was bouncing toward Vic.
"Danny! Pull him back! Its coming toward him! What is it?!"
Of course Danny had a flashlight and revealed it was a kitten. It was meowing like crazy and kept rubbing up on Vic. We had a conversation. Do we keep it or leave it. Danny carried her home. We fed her and gave her water and she slept outside. "We'll take her the humane society in the morning."  We both hoped she would just be gone in the morning. She wasn't.
This morning the Humane society said she is too small and they would euthanize her tomorrow. Crap. They will take her in 2 weeks when she has gained more weight and can be spayed and adopted. Crap. Oh, and she has tape worms that can't be treated until she is bigger. Crap.

New plan. She will remain outside, we will offer her to anyone who breathes, she will go to the Humane society in two weeks or 2 pounds, whichever comes first. 

We got a rug...our lives are sooo exciting.

Danny and I were going to the grocery store. I looked up and saw that we were in a different part of town than where we shop and pulling into Homegoods. I was confused. Danny said he wanted  to go look at rugs. What? Actually he had taken the wrong exit and was going to try to play it off, but we did find a rug for the living room.

I made laundry detergent

I followed these directions...
Make Your Own Laundry Detergent! It's Easy! Save BIG & Have Fresh, Clean Laundry! | Busy-at-Home
This blogger figured it costs 20¼¢ per jug of detergent (which is 75 loads)!
I didn't take pictures because it turned out exactly like the directions. It was kind of a pain to grate and boil the soap, but still only took me less than an hour.
Done a couple of loads and I think it is working.

Enjoying our vacation days

Yesterday Danny and I visited a Pioneer Settlement in Barberville. We pass it on the way home to Gainesville and I've been wanting to visit. It was a rainy Wednesday afternoon and we were the only people there. It is a collection of old florida buildings and antiques. There was an old high school, a post office, a wood shop, a blacksmith shop, a fire depot, a train depot, a tiny farm with goats, chickens, peococks, and mean snapping geese. Pretty cool old stuff.

Then we made a stop at this place...I'm not even sure what to call it...stand? store? They sell random pottery and huge animals. It was just so weird we had to stop and look around and at least snap a pic.

After that, lunch at Tom's pizza in Deland found on urbanspoon ( we LOVE our smart phones). It was just ok, probably won't be back. But we are enjoying discovering the cool things in Deland. 

I survived

4 of the 5 days were great. The last day crapped on all my confidence and contentness with my job. I completely earned the next 6 days off the last night.

Recap of the last night: MRSA in the sputum+ coughing that sprays mucus from a trach=face shield that fogs up because I'm dying in my hot isolation gown, liquid poop from ankle to belly button almost dripping off the bed, lost count of how many tubes of blood I sent to the lab, stat chest xray, stat labs, more stat labs, call to the doctor at 2am, more liquid poop, more liquid poop again, really? more liquid poop, pleasant happy dementia, not so pleasant hostile uncooperative crying dementia, vulva wound care, vulva wound care again after a bm, very vague tube feed orders, suction the trach, clean and replace the trach? no, get respiratory therapist to clean and replace the trach, lost medications, many calls to pharmacy to find lost medications, 9 total accuchecks, and a crappy team of nurses working with me.
But, I survived and so did my patients.

I have worked 3 night shifts in a row. I am off tonight. I will work 2 more night shifts in a row.
I...might...die.

House tour

This is a much overdo tour of our new home. We moved in the last week in June and love being in a house. We both got so tired of hearing people through every wall of our apartment. It is also so nice to just let Vic our into the backyard. And we finally have space to breath. Our closets aren't packed to the brim and we each have our own space. The house was totally gutted by the owner and we are the first to rent it. Which also means we are first ones to use the toilet. Everything is new, flooring, appliances, bathtub, windows. Its so clean...I love it!

The living room...

 Working on finding a rug.

 A recent craigslist find. The plan is to paint it a gray/blue.

 The dining room....the china cabinet was found on craigslist also just before we moved. I think we are officially grown-ups now that our china is on display.

 The kitchen...

 The laundry room/pantry... Thanks Mom and Dad Browning for the shelving. The garage was converted to a laundry room, 4th bedroom (just around the corner on the right) and storage closet that opens from the front of the house.

 The bathroom...sans mushrooms.

Danny's office with sophisticated filing "system." Do not turn on the fan or it all goes to hell. 

 My studio...:)

 We are responsible for the lawn so this was yet another craigslist purchase. It was being sold for parts for $25 and my resourceful husband fixed it up and got it running. 

 The yard...

 Our new composter...really just a trashcan in the ground, but it's working great. We put out our trash about every third week because we are recycling and composting most of our trash.

The front yard...

And our neighbors are great too. One is a nurse that bakes and shares her goodies!

Camera dump

My Mom, Grandmother, Kristine, Katie, my niece Abi, and I all went to get pedicures on my visit home this weekend.

Grandma LOVED talking politics to her captive audience.

She obviously enjoyed herself.

Katie and Abi's first pedicures!

Isaac is getting so big!

So is Kaleb!

We celebrated my parent's 40th wedding anniversary April 15th. There was a nice ceremony at church then we arranged to have family pictures taken ( a complete surprise for my mom), then dinner and cake at The Great Outdoors Restaurant. I'll have the get copies of the family pics up here later. They turned out so nice.

For my birthday way back in May Danny baked me a yummy cake...

...and we went to Islands of Adventure. We got passes for the year as my gift and we have really loved having them. We go at least once a month. It's nice having the passes because we don't have to rush and can just ride a few rides then go home.

This is Julie Rose Tillson. Ben and Bonnie welcomed here back in March.

I went home this weekend to visit family, but mostly to attend Jenna's bridal shower. I'm a bridesmaid in her wedding in October. It was an afternoon tea with lots of food, family and games. Above is the bride in the middle with (left to right) Bonnie, Detra, Chrissy, and me. All bridesmaids along with her soon-to-be sister-in-laws not pictured.  Two weekends from now her bachelorette party will be at a beach house in St. Augustine...can't wait for that one!

The reason I started my trip home to Gainesville early...Welcome Elise Maegan Bennett! Taven and Colby welcomed her into the world 8/9/12 at 1:19am. 7lbs 19in.

The move. It happened the last week of June. I hate moving.

I came home to this one morning after work. The thing around Vic's neck is the cone he had to wear for 2 weeks after his eye surgery.

We had a nice visit from Mom and Dad Browning when we first moved into our new place. They brought these beautiful flowers from their garden and brought some much needed help unpacking and getting things organized in our new place.

Goodbye Kerry :( Our good friend Kerry is moving back to South Africa. We'll miss him and his crass humor.

Last weekend we took dinner and the dog to Flagler beach and enjoyed the afternoon. On the drive back home we noticed people setting up for a movie on the lawn at the Casements on the Halifax River.

It was a beautiful evening watching the movie, eating popcorn, and wrangling the dog.

Just an update. We got crabs.

 Joe's Crabs just opened up on the renovated Daytona Pier. We had time to spare so we walked on the beach and decided to have lunch and try it out. We were being adventurous. Neither one of us has ever eaten crabs from the shell. I thought it was fun and delicious. Danny thought he had to work too hard for such little meat and that the bill was ridiculous.

Also, Vic would like to say Hello to everyone.