My poor baby!

Well, Mugsy made it through his surgery fine. He tore the cruciate ligament in his right knee. Everything is fixed, but I feel terrible putting the little guy through all this. I had to drop him off at 8am yesterday, his surgery was at 11am and he had to spend the night at the vet's office last night. I think he was happy to see us when we picked him up today, but he's on pain meds, so he's a little out of it. He's doing ok though, resting. I am going to post some pictures, so if you are really squeamish, you probably don't want to see them. They aren't that bad, I just don't want to be the cause of any fainting or vomiting.

Pre surgery, hanging out on Kyle's new blanket:

He doesn't like the flash on the camera, so he won't look when I take pics of him anymore:

A closer shot of the knee. They shaved like a quarter of his body, so the haircut is going to look weird for a while...:

Kyle does actually work...

So, the past couple of months have been a little devoid of any kind of update on Kyle, besides the buying of a house. So, I thought I would take a minute to give a little update on his job. He's in the 14th airlift squadron here (there are 4 flying squadrons, the 14th being on of them). Since we arrived, he has been in a "mission readiness program" where they do a lot of stuff, including a sim and 2 flights. He has completed that program and is set to go on his dollar "ride" next Monday (barring any schedule changes). I put ride in quotes there because it implies a flight. No my friends, he will be gone on a 10 day trip. They will fly to Germany and then fly cargo in and out of the theatres (Iraq or Afghanistan, I have no idea). He has an actual job for the squadron too, but he won't really start that until after he gets back from his trip. Anyway, thats about it, I just thought I would let you know that, yes, Kyle works, and he has been flying some.

On another note, our puppy is undergoing surgery to repair his knee at the moment. He's going to be in a cast for a little bit, and then I don't really know. They are going to fill me in on all that tomorrow when I pick him up (yes, he has to spend the night) :(. I will post some pics of the little guy tomorrow after I pick him up.

Finally!!

Ok, so I said that it was going to happen. And, after a few [gentle] nudges from some of you ;), here are some pictures of our house. Now, you must know that I was trying to wait until we finished doing some things and accessorizing, but I am just going to post before and after pictures once we start checking those things off the list. So here is (most) of the house:

Entry way looking into the living room

Living room

Another view of the living room

Kitchen

Kitchen and breakfast room

Dining room

More dining room

Guest bath

Guest room

Guest bed again

Master bedroom

Master again

Master bath (there are sinks to the left)

Closet

Another view of the closet so you could see where I was standing (I was right next to Kyle's flight suit)

And just to keep you coming back, here are some of the things that are going to be happening: we are getting new counter tops, the kitchen and dining room are getting painted (and the china is going into the china cabinet), and I will be accessorizing and hanging pictures.

That's it. Hope you enjoyed! :)

I have been tagged...

I've been tagged by Rachel. Here are the rules (be prepared, I am going to break them):

Link the Person who Tagged you.

Mention rules on your blog.

Tell about 6 quirks of yours.

Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.

Leave a comment to let them know.

1. I am pretty weird about sheets. I love crisp sheets. Seriously. I iron and starch my sheets (and that's about the only thing I iron). Along with that, I love my sheets to be very firmly tucked in. Kyle does not, so he doesn't get to use the sheet; he sleeps with a blanket on top of the sheet. (Don't worry, he's ok with it).

2. Chewing noises (and slurping/gulping) drive me crazy! I try to chew as quietly as possible and have to leave the room if someone is snacking on chips or something.

3. I like to dust things with pledge. It makes the whole room feel clean.

4. I like my furniture to match. For example: All of my bedroom pieces are from the same collection. My couch, chair and future loveseat are from the same collection. I know that seems narrow minded, and I can pick coordinating pieces that don't necessarily match and would look really nice. It just bugs me when my stuff doesn't match.

5. I don't like my ears touched. Especially when you are getting your hair cut after they shampoo you and bend your ears back to dry behind them. It makes me want to jump out of the chair. I hate that.

6. I hate the sound of silverware clanging/teeth scraping on silverware. It makes me cringe worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.

So I am going to divert from the rules. I am not going to tag anyone, but if you see this and would like to do it, feel free to say I tagged you.

Since I am not tagging people, I will post some more of my quirks and will have Kyle post some of his later:

- Kyle and I both hate finger prints on stuff; so much so we did not get stainless steel appliances simply because they show fingerprints like none other.

- After I vacuum, I walk on the edges of the carpet by the walls to not get foot prints on the vacuum lines (this doesn't last long, but you know...).

- I was an accounting major, but I hate dealing with our finances. I guess I don't mind seeing other people's money, I just really hate dealing with ours. I wish it would take care of itself, but alas, it will not.

- I like to run. I don't know if that's a quirk or not, but I hated running in high school, but now it has evolved into something that I enjoy. I'm not very good at it, but I like it.

- I really enjoy decorating, but when it comes to accessories, I am sooo indecisive! I see so many things that I like, but I never just pick something and make it work in my house. Oh well...

Ok, I think that's enough quirks to satisfy people and to make up for not tagging anyone. Stay tuned for whenever Kyle does this...it should be fairly interesting.

A quick post with some pics

So over the past couple of weeks, it seems that this has somewhat turned into a political blog. Its not, and sometimes I just need an outlet for some of the ridiculous things that I see/hear. But, our life has pretty much turned to normalcy (or something of the sort). We successfully unpacked all of our boxes within a week of moving in, painted some walls and generally made a house feel like a home. Its not done; I have yet to hang my pictures and there is still some organizing to do, but mostly, we are enjoying our home.

Last week, my parents came into town and we had a really great time exploring the town and eating some really great food. Here are some pictures we took while we were downtown:

A really old church

A view of the battery looking out over the bay

The bay itself

The old meat market, now a museum

Fountain

We had a really great time. I will post more about our house and pictures later. I have to take our dog to the vet. Another thing that happened while my parents were here was that he injured his leg while he was playing and it looks like he will need knee surgery. So, I am off to get a second opinion.

Ok, I have to say something...

Well, what does it take to pass a bill in congress? Nope, not bi-partisan compromise or negotiations. Earmarks. Shocking! There are over $100 billion worth of earmarks in this bill. Now, I don't know about you, but the fact that those things are in there makes this seem much less 'dire' than it was made out to be. Not only that, but it absolutely infuriates me that both of our presidential candidates have blasted Washington for the reckless use of earmarks and both of them voted for this bill without raising any kind of concern for the addition of those earmarks. Moving on...

I would like to point out something very crucial to this whole issue that most people don't really like to bring up. The crux of this crisis is greed. Greed from lenders, credit card companies, and [shocker!] the American consumer. Yes, this problem is largely our own fault. People buy what they can't afford and now we have to get them out of this. I have little sympathy for people who bought a house for $400,000 and could only afford $150,000. Yes, they were in part a victim of lenders (mainly Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac) giving them these loans. But they still signed that dotted line on an adjustable rate loan for something they knew that if that rate was anything but what it was (sub-prime, which is completely unrealistic), they would not be able to make payments. There is no excuse for ignorance. Period.

Now lets move on to the corporate sector. MUCH of this has come from the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They put together these loan packages that were completely unreasonable and sold them to other banks, which is now why we have to bail them out. But don't be fooled by vagueness. We are going to buy "toxic assets" of foreign banks too. As long as they have a subsidiary operating in the US, this bill allows us to buy those assets from them. So, everyone from CitiGroup to Chinese national banks can receive funds. That bothers me a bit.

Naturally, the democrats are heralding this as a victory for their party as it was the evil republicans who got us into this mess to start off with. Lets take a small look back in time for just a moment.



Despite some clear bias in my speech, I am not really advocating one party over another (at this particular moment). I am advocating that American people pay attention to what is going on in politics all the time; not just in an election year or time of crisis. You will never get clear facts from either side during an election year. Ignorance is never an excuse.


Lets be real people, we the taxpayer will pay for this. I know, I know, our "leaders" in congress have been telling us over and over that we will not. Heck, we might even get money back. It could happen, I give them that, but I seriously doubt that. If our treasury buys these assets at book value (which may happen; there isn't a market for these things, thus no market value. But that's a little complicated and beyond the scope of my point) then not only will we not get any money back, but we will be paying more that the $700 billion that has just passed. Much of me very much opposes government once again sticking its nose where it doesn't belong, but the other part of me thinks that this has gotten so bad that we have no choice but to hope that our government can fix this; or at least get it started.

A smaller rant... (by Kyle)

I have no faith in either candidate to do anything about the economy. Both McCain and Obama have been using the same worn out talking points for months and propose ideas that don't make sense to realistic people. Our economic situation is a HUGE and a uniquely unprecedented problem and both of our potential presidents sidestep every direct question so as to continually appeal to the American public with political bobble-head nonsense and unfounded promises. These two candidates, their advisors, and spokesmen either have no ‘real’ idea about what to do or are they completely inept to communicate a pragmatic and rational plan to the public. Both situations scare me.

The supremely primary reason that I will even vote this year concerns the possible filling of two Supreme Court justice seats. And the so called “Maverick” is our best shot at preventing some kooky, dyed-in-wool liberal of legislating from the bench, for decades to come, destroying what very little decency remains in the social issues facing our country.