25 Random Things about Me

Its a Facebook thing... but I thought some of the rest of you might want to see this randomness too. If not, skip to the posts with pictures. ;-)

1. I collect penguins... only really cute ones and not so many that they overwhelm my house, but are randomly scattered.
2. I am the most productive and the most happy before 11 AM; my brain becomes a ball of mush after 11 PM. (This is difficult because MOST people in my life are NOT this way!)
3. To continue #2 - I have slept past 8:30 AM less than 10 times in my whole life (and when I did I was probably sick or was kept up until an ungodly hour in spite of my own wishes).
4. Being in a large group of people (even if I know all of them) is very rarely a low stress situation for me. I am much happier in small groups.
5. One of my biggest pet peeves is not being able to find something - which is happening to me a lot right now because of our move!
6. My mother (and the show Wishbone) instilled a love for terriers in me. Since I was young, I've wanted a White Highland Terrier named Duncan. (My cousin Lindsey had one named Laddie and he stole my heart.) However, I got Toby the Terrier Mutt and I'm perfectly happy!
7. The first people I want to meet when I get to heaven are my grandparents: the 3 I never really got to know (because I think they were amazing people who hold some of the secrets as to why I am who I am and where I came from) and my Grandma because I want her to meet Ryan (I think she will LOVE him).
8. I enjoy meeting new people but I like old, lifelong friends the best!
9. I love reading true stories about people - especially historical figures from the revolutionary time period and good true life experiences.
10. My favorite hymn is As Water To The Thirsty - Hymn No. 460 (read the words sometime!)
11. My favorite meal is biscuits and gravy! (yeah, I know a lot of you knew that one)
12. The person that probably understands me best in the whole world is my sister - even though we are very different!
13. I like Kawai pianos first, Yamaha second... Steinway... not so sure what the buzz is about...
14. I like Gala or Braeburn apples best.
15. Some leaders from history that I really respect are: John & Abigail Adams, Abraham Lincoln, and George H.W. Bush.
16. I love black and white pictures, especially ones with shallow depth of field and lots of contrast.
17. Since morning is my favorite time - three of my best early morning memories are: watching Grandma cook breakfast in the kitchen in Afton, doing camera experiments with Dad (I was usually holding a gray card very still or I was the subject), and playing the organ in the dark at Southern.
18. I shy away from challenges - unless I can see that nobody else is stepping up to the plate to do it, because then, no matter what I do, it will be better than nobody doing anything.
19. I LOVE pina coladas (non-alcoholic silly)
20. My favorite piece of classical music is The Moldau by Smetana (listen to it - its WONDERFUL!)
21. My favorite channels are: TV Land, Discovery, TLC, & Animal Planet. And even though I rarely watch it, my favorite TV show is House. (Also, I've been watching a lot of Its Me or the Dog since my recent acquisition of a furry friend.)
22. I like to find nice things to do for people - things that either help them or show them that I understand what they like/don't like or who they are. And I guess when people do things like that for me, it makes me feel loved too, which is probably why I like doing those things for other people.
23. If I could have any car I would get an Infiniti G35, 4 door, 6 speed manual, if they make it...
24. My ultimate dream would be to play the biggest tracker organ in the world flawlessly with a massive symphony orchestra.
25. My best buddy in the whole world is Ryan Knight and I love him so much more every day I'm married to him!

Toby's 1st haircut

Ok, ok, so I'll let you guys see his haircut... now that I've had a few days to get used to it, maybe its not so bad after all. I'm sure he likes all of the hair out of his eyes.
I know I'm like a proud parent but hey, I love this little guy!

Can you see his girly eye lashes?

My two favorite boys

Ok... enough pictures already...

Crikey!

Look what Toby and I found in the field across the street from our house!
Never thought I'd share a yard with these guys.

Rockabye Toby

This is pretty much how he goes to sleep every evening. I'd like to know what he dreams because his little legs kick and sometimes he makes noises. Have you ever heard a little dog snore? ;-)

Toby comes home

While I was out getting my driver's license on Monday - I passed by the animal shelter. I had started looking for a white highland puppy but the doors just didn't seem to opening easily, if you know what I mean. So I had prayed about it and felt like I should at least go look at the animal shelter. And here's what I found: a little stray terrier mix dog. The animal control officer told me he was under two and he seemed very sweet so I asked Ryan if we could bring him home to foster for 2 days and see how things went. Long story short - he's home to stay and we couldn't have asked for a more perfect little dog to share our lives. We named him Toby - somehow we've found ourselves calling him Mr. Tob too. Ryan wanted to call him Gramps cause of his brindled coloring. (He's sleeping on the carpet right behind me as I type this. How sweet!)

Looking pretty bedraggled and quite nervous on the 1st day. He piddled (as Ryan's Gramma says) every time we reached down to pet him. Every time either of us left the room he cried though. He also wouldn't eat for over a day until I fed him out of my hand.

All wet but much cleaner after a nice warm bath!

This is his favorite position which he assumes almost every time you pet him. He takes naps like this, lays next to you like this, and lays in my lap like this. He's a snuggler and will come get in my lap often.

Out on the prowl with Ryan

His other favorite position - right by our feet

Clean and happy!
(Sometime this week we'll get him a haircut)

We're so thankful God sent us this little bundle of love to share our home!

Saved by a wood stove, hot water, and a little dog

For those of you who don't know and are wondering if I dropped off the face of the earth this week - we were hammered with a terrible ice storm starting Monday afternoon! The power went off Tuesday around 3 PM, came back on briefly Wed. then was off until Thursday afternoon. We were also without water for awhile on Tuesday because the same tree that fell and took out the power also broke the school's water main. So needless to say - we've been trying to keep warm in very cold temperatures as well as find food to eat. It looks like a war zone around here - branches down everywhere. The ice was a solid carpet over everything which made walking and driving a little tricky. We were VERY thankful for hot showers and our wood stove - it came in handy! The temperature never dropped below 50 in the house (it was in the teens outside I think) and we got it as high as 62 in the house burning it all day.

The academy was also without power except for 2 generators - we were glad Ryan was NOT a boy's dean this week! We have been amazed at the staff's hard work to make sure the kids were fed and taken care of through all of this.


The icicles on the bird feeder lengthened as the days went by


All of the power lines were covered with ice - and this was only on the 1st day - it got much thicker than this.

Ryan went out to move his truck for fear branches would fall on it (and they would have) but he found that he couldn't see out. When he rolled down his window he had to punch the sheet of ice out too - you can see its remnants still in place.

Our decimated tree in the backyard - this picture doesn't do it justice but there are at least 4-5 major branches that broke off this tree. Imagine this and worse to every tree in the whole area. We heard snapping branches about every 5 minutes during the worst part of the storm.

Our birdhouse was the "watering hole" - we went through over 5 lbs of birdseed in 2 days.

The ice became deadly as it started to fall off the trees. Ryan wore his NY Giants hardhat when we went outside - I was not so lucky and I think a few of the pieces gave me a headache when they bounced off my noggin.


We made burgers, hot chocolate, warmed baked beans, and roasted hotdogs using this stove. We were so thankful for it!

Just to show you how powerful this stove is when heated up: I moved this candle away from the stove thinking this might happen but apparently I didn't move it far enough!

And I'll save the little dog part for the next post!