...have Sunday dinner at our place.

I got this crazy idea to have my husband's military buddies that live in bachelor quarters over for Sunday dinner. I think it was the biggest dinner we've hosted so far. I didn't realize what I was getting myself into. We fed 7 hungry Marines and two wives (myself and another). How did we do it?

Here's what we ate:

baked onion dip with crackers
5lb rump roast
lots of slow cooked veggies
apple/walnut salad
dinner rolls

In addition, we had a patriotic cake for dessert.


How did we fit everyone in our tiny apartment?

We put the leaf in the table and set up the card table in front of the couch. Where did the coffee table go? It was stashed in our bedroom. We also borrowed some chairs from the neighbors. (Thanks, again B family!)


One couple couldn't make it, so we ended up scooting the "kids table" next to the dining table so we could pass things around easier.


Lucy had fun too. She got lots of "treats" as things fell on the floor when we cooked. She made some new friends who were willing to pet her and play tug for a while. And she was pretty good about staying out of the food on the tables. You can see she eyed those crackers (and everything else)!

It was a fun Sunday dinner--well worth the effort. I might just be crazy enough to do it again...in a few months. ;)

...give away!

And the custom blog background goes to...

Congrats, Sam!

...reveal!

Okay. The picture was a flower...so you all are right.

The original picture does not give away what type of flower it is.

This angle reveals that the flower is a thistle.

Yep. All my excitement is over a big old overgrown patch of weeds. They are pretty, though! Lucy was sure patient with me as I took several shots. You can almost see her say,
"Mom, let's go! I'm hot!"

...guess.

What is this?

The answer is coming soon, but you all are free to speculate.

...need a chocolate fix!

When I was growing up, we called these flowers "Black Eyed Susans."

I think the center of this one looks a lot like a chocolate truffle.

Maybe I just need a chocolate fix!

PS: The give away is still on--see the "...celebrate!" post bellow.

...celebrate!

Happy blog anniversary to me!

This is my 100th post!

I can't believe a year has gone by. I decided to make a list of my 10 favorite posts (in random order) to help celebrate. I listed the number of comments out to the side. As it turns out, my favorites seem to be the ones that several of you commented on. Thanks for reading and commenting. As a reward, I am doing a give away. I will design a blog background for one lucky commenter. Here's the deal: comment on this post that you want to be picked for a custom background. You can give me a reason you should be picked. "Me! Me! Pick me!" will do but flattery is also acceptable. If I don't get any interesting reasons why you should be picked, then I will just pick at random. I will give you a week to do so. Then, next Tuesday I will select the a winner from the comments and create a blog background just for you!

...share the good news minute. (5)

...have sprinter! (4)

...cry uncle! (5)

...rock a polyester mini! (6)

...screenprint. (5)

...brag about my hubby. (8)

...catch a fallen star! (5)

...investigate! (7)

...let Lucy speak. (1)

...show! (7)

...feed the fish!

This might just waste oodles of time, but I added a gadget to my blog that is way fun...and goes with the background. Make sure you move the mouse over the fish "tank." The fish will follow the cursor because they are hungry fish. When you click the mouse in the tank, you leave food for the fish to eat. So, go ahead. Feed the fish!

By the way, tune in tomorrow to see how I celebrate my 100th post and blog anniversary!

...get Lucy...Lucy! Lulu! Lalu! Come back, Lucy!!!

You can tell by the gloves on the table that I took this a few months ago. I've been waiting on a good time to use this photo. Lucy likes to hide under the table when she's been bad or is feeling a bit insecure.

Well, Lucy got in trouble this week. I was trying her off leash at a local elementary school since there are no off leash parks anywhere near us. It started out okay. Lucy ran, retrieved, and sniffed out the whole area.

Things took a turn towards disobedience when she discovered the break in the fence. I called her back, but there was no stopping the Lucinator!* She was on the trail of something. I could tell that much by the way I could see her bob and weave thru the pasture on the other side of the fence. By the time I had scaled the fence and made my way thru the knee high grass, she was wagging her tail while she held something in her mouth. My thought was, "Oh, dear! What has she killed?"

As I approached, she dropped her prize for me to inspect. I stood there gazing at softball sized turtle shell covered in slobber. The turtle was inside and no doubt in the shock of it's tiny little life! I wasn't sure that it would ever come out again.

I lured my hound back to the schoolyard with her prey. It was back on the leash for Miss. Lucy! I didn't have the heart to scold her more after she had just done what hunting instincts told her too. However, we won't be headed back to this spot for leash free fun.

By the way, the turtle walked off after a while. So, I guess it wasn't too traumatized from the whole experience.






*Lucinator, Lulu, Ludu, Lalu, and Lucifur are nicknames that Lucy has gotten from time to time. Another Lucy-ism is that we say we are "Lucified" after we find Lucy's hair on our clothes. So, Lucy's fur is where the Lucifur nickname comes in. As onery as she can get, we don't call her Lucifer.

...dye.

I am finally happy with the color I dyed my hair. I've gone thru several boxes. Some were okay, others were bad...wash it 1,000,000 times with Head and Shoulders bad! And now I've finally found the color closest to my original hair color. It looks good with my skin coloring. My gray is covered well. Yes!

Now, I think I need one of those I.D. tags/bracelets. You know, the ones you wear if you have a medical condition or are extremely allergic to stuff. I need one with my hair color on it. That way if I'm ever stuck in a coma for months, they will know what color to dye my hair after the gray starts growing back in. Ha-ha!

Wait! You guys do love me enough to make sure my hair is the right color if I'm in a long-term coma, right?!

...share.

She said "yes!" I'm excited that I can post my new blog background with the beta that was photographed by Rebecca Weeks. You can check out her original photo at http://www.flickr.com/photos/marinegirl/3583250848/. She has this photo licensed through Creative Commons. Under the license, folks like me can use her work for non-commercial use if we get her permission. As part of the agreement, the new image I created works the same way. I am putting it under the same license. So, here is the official little do-dad that says this blog background is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License:


By the way, here is the image without the beta in case you missed the background from yesterday:


I think it looks much better with the beta. What does everyone think?

Thanks for sharing, Becks!

...get permission.

I am hoping to get permission to use someone's photo as part of my blog background. So, I've emailed them about the photo I want to use with links to my photobucket album and this blog. That way they can take a look at how I want to use it. I hope they say "yes." Then, you all can see a new background for summer. If not, I'll delete what I used out of the background. It will be a bit boring without the collaboration, but who else will know?!

..."walk" Lucy on a nature trail.

Today Lucy and I went walking on a nature trail. The view of the marshland was beautiful. We even spotted a few great blue herons. One landed just below us--like twenty feet away. But it saw us and flew away in about two seconds! I had to use zoom in to get it from a distance later.


Lucy had fun walking the trail. Here she is ready to go (pulling on her harness). It was difficult to get a good picture of her on the trail. Most of the time, she was trying to take off faster and faster along the trail. Well, you can get an idea of what it looks like to "walk" Lucy down the trail in the last shot.