Cate's First Day of Ballet

These photos warm my heart! My friend, Megan, and I met at the gym when we were both pregnant. Three years later, our girls started ballet together. They see each other several times each week at the gym, so it was so cute to watch them gravitate toward each other like magnets during class. I can't believe my little baby is starting ballet!! ♥  My how the time flies. :-)

 

 

Beautiful Day

I'm waiting for Conrad to come home, while reflecting on this wonderful day. 

I took the girls with me to the gym -I did 12 pull-ups in a row & broke up the rest to get 30 in all together- yay!  We then stopped home for lunch & so I could shower before going to the library.  Books in tow,  I took them to "The Cupcake Shop."  It was kind of funny.  I wanted to surprise them with the cupcakes, but I got lost getting there.  Fortunately they were too absorbed in their books to notice hee-hee.  I found a parking spot, then Bronwen & Ava said, "Oh, I bet we're going to the cupcake shop.  Mom, are we?"  I said, "You'll see."  We got out of the car & walked toward it.  Ava, "Yep, I knew it!"  Then I tricked them by walking straight past the building (it's in downtown Renton).  Bronwen, "Oh!  I guess not!"  Then I abrubtly turned back around & said, "Just kidding!  We are!"  We ate & I had coffee while the girls read more books.  We got home & took Charlie on his "long" walk -a 2 mile loop around the neighborhood.  He was prancing with joy to be able to go on such a long walk (It's just been too darn cold to go walking around the neighborhood LOL!).

I cooked a great chicken from a cookbook I got from the library.  Brownies are baking in the oven.  I finished a glass of wine.  My honey is home.  Life is wonderful. :-)

The Day We Got Charlie, by Bronwen

When we first got our dog I was so excited! We had been looking on Craig's list the day before. We saw an Australian Shepherd.  It's name was Red,but we re-named it Charlie Bear Douglas.  He was 9 weeks. We had to drive all the way to Yakima! When we got there we saw their car.  It was silver and small. When the lady got out Charlie was in her arms. He was really cute! The lady said he might need a potty break.


We bought him over to some grass, but he didn't go. My mom said leave him with dad maybe he'll go
with him. So we went into Fred Meyer to see if we could find Charlie a collar. When we went back
outside we asked dad did he go. He said no. So we went into the car and started to drive home.
Charlie was looking out the window. A few hours later Charlie started to whimper so we pulled
over at a gas station. Sure enough Charlie went.


When we got home we all went outside and played with Charlie for the rest of the day.
Now Charlie is 7 months!

Benefits~

I'm not sure what the statistics are on how many Americans go without health/dental coverage.  I don't know how much it'll cost to have universal health care, or where the money will come from.  All I can say is that if universal coverage means we have to pay a little more in taxes each month, I'll take it.

When Conrad was laid off from T-mobile our biggest concern wasn't him finding a job, it was health care.  Fortunately T-mobile was very generous with their separation packages, & one of the benefits was extended coverage for a month.  Then Conrad got the job at Bellevue Mercerdes (with benefits), so we breathed a sigh of relief.  For a little bit....  Although Mercedes offered insurance, there was a 90-day wait period from the hire date for it to be effective.  Our choices: 1) Pay $1,000/mo on our own; 2) Chance going without coverage until January 1st, when we'd have insurance.  We chose the latter & here's why. 

We didn't have an infant anymore (as a parent, you know how often babies need to go to the doctor), we figured that if someone got sick or even minorly injured, it would still be less expensive to pay out of pocket versus the premium.  We hedged our bets & we won, albeit I had to reschedule dental cleanings until January & we paid out of pocket for some chiropractic visits.

Today, I was so thankful we had insurance again.  As luck would have it, I got pink-eye, Conrad could barely sleep for the past two nights because of a bulging disc, & all three girls had their cleanings.  I don't even want to know what the cost would have been had we had to pay for everything out of pocket.

Our insurance still is great, but it is incredibly expense ($760/mo -this is with Mercedes helping).  Almost $1,000 comes out of our pocket.  I know people bitch & moan about Obamacare, but I'd love to see how they'd feel about it if they had to come up with that money each month or pay even more out-of-pocket.  Interestingly enough, the number one cause of bankruptcy is due to medical bills.

Anyway, from personal experience, I just think it's sad that people don't get treated when they're hurting or for preventative care because of the cost alone.  I'm glad things are changing.

Charlie's Clever Trick

Charlie is one clever pup.  He learned how to fetch in 5 minutes (literally), the girls taught him how to "sit" in less than an hour, he doesn't destroy the house, he was housetrained in less than a week.  Which brings me to his new trick.

 

For the past few days, Charlie has been going to the back porch door like every hour.  Of course when he comes back in we give him a treat.  Until yesterday.  Suddenly I was like, "What the heck is going on that he wants to go outside every single second?"  Actually, I was just annoyed because I had to get up every single second to let him out, then back in.  Then I realized what it was.  He just wanted to go out so he could come back in to get a treat.  I literally laughed out loud!

 

Charlie, we've got your number LOL! :-)