My Mother

Haha, I just got the funniest call ever!/still on the phone. It went "Stephanie, this is your mother, I just wanted to let you know that there are going to be poisionoius snakes where you are going (Georgia). You are not going to be happy there! Snakes crawling into your bed. While you're walking in your grass they'll come bite you! I'm telling you, you guys need to move back home! You're dad and I went out house shopping, there are homes for you here! You're going to be so far away, nobody is going to be by you, you won't have money to come home ever. You have two dogs, they are going to go crazy, you can't fly them home. You know no one is dying here, you're not getting an inheritance!!" ----"You guys are going to be fighting and won't last. I'm serious you ugys will be in a debt, you wont' last! You're going to have such a rough road to go, you'll be so far away from everybody. You're only 300 miles away now and think of how often you see us now. And then you're going to have my hillbilly grandchildren and they'll be calling me saying grandMA. You know, dad says there are poisinoius snakes, I can't imagine you wanting to be by snakes. You konw they hang out in trees, they'll be hanging down, do you want a snake to bite you? They're going to hang in the trees or in the grass and bite you. You're going to be too far away from everybody, you're going to have a hard time. You're going to be in the middle of nowhere."
And to top it off, they have Clayton at my house with them conning him out of Georgia!!!!
My dad "you're going to be by these houses that haven't had paint on them in 50 years with couches in their front porches" (haha, not much different than parts of Toledo, haha).

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! http://www.foundingfathers.info/American-flag/ Clayton is back in good ol' Illinois because he has a meeting with Richardson Electronics tomorrow about the position they are offering him...uhhh, I don't really want to move back home...so say a prayer that California or Georgia come through!!

Anyway, I kicked it off by going to work...13 days in a row by the end of the week. I just can't get away from there can I? Oh well, I don't mind! When I got out of work I scrurried to Kroger to pick up a dessert to take to the Wiley's house. I found red, white, and blue cupcakes with sprinkles (I knew that this was something Dylan who is 4 would enjoy). So I got home and made the batter and went to grab my cupcake pan and to my surprise (or is it really) it was gone! My roommate who moved out must have taken it thinking it was hers (because she accidently took my 2 circle cake pans also, which I got back) UGHHH!! So I had to use my GYNORMOUS cupcake pans. Needless to say, they looked plump. I decorated them with frosting and sprinkles, packed them up in my cake saver, and sped to Danielle's. By the time I got there, the heat had beat me and made the frosting totally melt. Ohhh they looked so unappetizing! Oh well, Dylan's favorite part was the frosting! Thank goodness!

Besides my bad food, Danielle was sick in bed with none other than food poisioning!! Yuck!! I felt so bad for her! So the kids, Dylan and Max, Michael (their dad), Poppy...Michael's Dad, and Megen (Michael's sister) hung out. We had a great time. It is so great to have such wonderful friends who invited my into their home and made me feel so welcome (like they always do!) Anyway, Dylan and Max are the cutest and funniest kids ever. Granted they are only 4 and not even 1...but I have so much fun with them! They keep me young at my old age of 22! Hehe!!

Michael made these amazing ribs, asparagus, and sweet potatos (the 1st time in my life I have liked sweet potatos, probably because it was like as natural as possible...no marshmallows, 1o0 lbs of butter, and walnuts...gross!). I have made a declaration today that from now on when Clayton makes ribs he MUST use Danielle's mom's recipe because they were just so great!

Now I am laying in bed wanting nothing to do with the huge mess I made while packing stuff up earlier before work! Do I have any takers on wantng to come clean my apartment?!? NO? I didn't think so! :-) Oh well, it will still be there in the morning, no rush!

Furniture - worthy of a post

Livng in Toledo, Ohio for the past 4 years has opened my eyes a lot. I haven't really changed that much, but have adopted many new passions in life. One being antique furniture. Why? Because Toledo has a historal section called the Old West End (where I'm going to be living for 6 weeks!!! --Can't wait!!) The Old West End is the largest neighborhood of late Victorian, Edwardian, and Arts & Crafts homes east of the Mississippi. The houses are just amazing! I have never seen anything like them (and I have traveled to almost all 50 states). I have always dreamed of living in a plantation home (so I guess that's 1 good reason for hoping to move to Georgia) but living here in one of these houses would do! (if we could just eliminate the people who don't contribute anything good!) Anyway, Clayton and I have decided that we want to decorate our house (someday) with all antique furniture that has a story behind each piece.

With all of the moving stuff around my apartment I have taken out my dresser and have put the one I got from my friend Danielle (I talked about it in my last post). It is serioulsy this old, unique, and beautiful piece of furniture. I am just so thrilled because it goes so great with my bed which is a four post bed and has a beautiful headboard and footboard and carvings on the posts. The picture to the left is one of the designs on the dresser and the picture on the right is the design on my bed posts. Don't they go great together?!?
Thanks a million to my friend Danielle and the great garage sale Clayton and I bought my queen sized bed at for $25!!!!

UGHHH!! ....I hate moving

So after pushing around a 250lb man in a 56lb wheelchair through a cemetery
(in grass mind you) and then to a family reunion at Wildwood Park (ummm last time I checked I didn't see this apart of the job description. Oh that's right...it's not!!! The family of this man is from out of town and they are rolling in the dough (not sure if that's how you spell money 'dough' but whatever!! I don't care at this point...my brain is roasting)...anyway, yeah they're rolling in dough and have a tendency to be a little bossy) --thank goodness my boss took me out to Max and Erma's after!! ---anyway, after all of that I finally got home around 5:15pm after being gone since 9:20 this morning, I decided to take advantage of the fact that Clayton and the dogs are home in Illinois this weekend...so it was perfect timing for me to start packing like a Nazi. I was rearranging stuff, getting stuff ready for the garage sale, or getting it ready to give to people. And yes, I am getting rid of EVERYTHING!!! I am barely keeping anything. I want it all gone so I don't have to clean anymore.
I swear it is so dang hot in this apartment I have been sweating bullets since starting. But on the positive side, I probably lost 5lbs. So my tip of the day...Don't' accumulate stuff!!! You'll regret it later, or when you move!!
...but on a totally positive note, the family I babysit for (Danielle...I mentioned her in my last post) had this really cool old fashion/antique mahogany dresser for sale at her last garage sale which I got and I finally (about a month later) put it in my room and it matches stellar with my bed!! oh I'm excited!!

What a day! I worked at the nursing home(Kingston Care Center: http://www.kingstonhealthcare.com) from 8-4pm then went tanning quickly (because I do NOT have any time to sit and relax outside!!!) and then went to babysit for the cutest and funnies kids ever.

(p.s. that picture was taken on fashion day--I dressed up as an 80's aerobic instructor, HOT STUFF!!)

My old folk friends...are just so adorable yet deviant. I was setting up for Bingo today (a Saturday afternoon tradition...that must NEVER be broken, under penalty of death), and the little old ladies are chatting as if they "really really" knew each other. The one lady was talking about her daughter and the other was talking about her son. Well the lady with the son was saying that "everybody" knows the other ladies daughter, because she gets around and blah blah...ummm sooo hilarious!! These ladies are in the upper 80's and 90's. I was almost peeing my pants laughing so hard. I couldn't believe my ears.

Also while playing Bingo one of the players couldn't really hear the numbers that I was calling so she kept saying "what?", "repeat that?", "G 1?" and a different player was getting so mad!!! She started yelling at the one player every single time she said "huh?" Oh my gosh, it was so funny but it also put me in a weird position!! Because how the heck do you tell a 85 year old that she can't get mad that someone her own age can't hear!!! Plain and simple...you gotta love the elderly!! :-)

On a totally different note, (back to the younger generations!!) this family I babysit for has like honestly the most AWESOME house in the world! It's apart of the historical Old West End in Toledo, Ohio and is absoutley humongous!!! (it's for sale too... http://daniellewiley.com/house/...if only we were staying in Ohio!!!) Anyway, Danielle (the mom) is way awesome and offered for me to live on their 3rd floor for the rest of the summer (because I can't sign a lease for 5-6 weeks and Clayton will be gone in who knows where with a job -- hopefully *fingers crossed). I just couldn't believe it!! This family totally rocks and is sooo beyond nice!!! Yeah Wiley's, I love you guys!!! :-)

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I work at Kingston Care Center (nursing home) as a Recreational Therapist. I love the residents more than anything! They are just absoutley so much fun. One day we were having "Spa Day" and one of the ladies in for physical rehab was looking through some cooking magazines and we were commenting on how many receipes required rhubarb. I told her that I loved rhubarb and that Clayton's mom makes an amazing Stawberry Rhubarb pie! She told me that her husband grows rhubarb in their garden and that she would have him bring me in some...a few days later he finds me and has a grocery bag busting at the seams with rhubarb! There was absoutley no way I could ever use that in one season so I decided to freeze some of it.
Anyway, I made a couple Strawberry Rhubarb pies (and gave one to the lady and her husband) and made one for Clayton and I. Well, Clayton had to run out one day and left the dogs at home (now mind you, we have to lock the refrigerator with leases so that Harley can't open it and pick out a snack for the day...which he does almost every day!!!! grrr) To make a long story short, Clayton got home and found the pie dish on the floor and most of the pie eaten...so Harley got to enjoy our pie rather than us...isn't he spoiled rotten!!!!! It's just so hard to be mad at him because he's just so gosh darn handsome!!!

Wedding Registeries - Lesson Learned

Clayton and I registered for our wedding about 1 1/2 months ago probably (yes, we're a little behind in the whole "wedding" stuff...we don't really want to focus sooo much on the "wedding", rather, we like to spend time on each other! Hence, being behind). Anyway, since our registeries are listed online I seriously check them religiously every day to see if anything was bought. Man, am I a brat or what?!?!?

So, Clayton and I were out shopping today and stopped by Bed Bath & Beyond (one of our places of registry) and of course, me trying to be slick decided that I wanted to buy one of the items on the list...a picture frame! Why did I choose the frame? Hmm...because it's listed at the top of our registry and I would just feel so good seeing "FULFILLED" where that item was.

So I bought the frame and when I finally got a chance to go online and check the registry ther was no "fulfilled"...why? because stupid me bought the wrong frame!!!! HAHA, so disapppointing. BUT I guess that's the lesson I should learn for being so selfish and bratty!!!

My Loverboy

Clayton Michael Bruce...ahh the love of my life.

Our wedding is set for December 17, 2006 in Illinois.
This is the link to our wedding webpage: http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=3263539200395053
Make sure to sign the guestbook! :-)

Popeye The Sailor Man!

Dinner last night was delicious! I made a spinach bacon pie! Yumm! (even Clayton loved it and he doesn't even like spinach!)
Since we're moving, we're trying not to buy too many groceries. So I was looking around the kitchen and found these ingredients and combined!
The ingredients...
-2 pkgs of frozen spinach (thaw and drain)
-1 15 oz container of ricotta cheese
-as much bacon as you would like (I used 3/4 pkg and cooked it in the microwave and then put it in my chopper that made really small pieces)
-a dash of lemon pepper
-a dash of parsley
-1 pkg of already made pie crusts that you roll out.
--mix all ingredients
--put into pie shell and cover with top pie shell
--bake at 375 for about 35 minutes or until light brown on top)
ENJOY!

California vs. Georgia

Clayton is currently in California interviewing for a company. If he gets the job I'll be so happy for him...and I suppose I will be fine living there. However, for some reason I'm just a little sketchy and I'm not really sure why. I think mostly because it's not a very "homey" place to live and I'm worried about the dogs having their own space to run wild!!! (which as I mentioned before, I promote!!) I think I have some sort of preconception of California being way ridicliously liberal, which is fine, whatever floats your boat. But in some ways I'm pretty conservative, so I'm not sure how living there would be.

Anyway, today the phone rang at home and it was a gentleman named Ernie (a recruiter who has been working with Clayton on a position in Georgia). Now, for some reason, Georgia seems way more appealing to me! I know I'm crazy! Who the heck wouldn't want to go to California?!?! What's everyones opinion? Where would you rather live? California or Georgia?
--California = San Leandro...right by Oakland and across the bay from San Francisco.
--Georgia = Dublin...in the middle of Atlanta and Savanna.

Jed - The Stray Dog

JED (the doggie with spots looking at the camera)
About 2 months ago our little neighbor boy said that a dog had followed him home from Mr. Freeze (the BEST icecream place EVER which just so happens to be located right across the street from our apartment). So to make a long story short, we took him in. Well he's been with us ever since. I found this quote and I think it sums up our situation perfectly.

"Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these."

When I was at work today (Kingston Care Center in Sylvania, OH - nursing home) I was speaking with one of the Deacons that come in and visit with the residents. We go to talking about dogs and somehow came to Jed. Being scarcastic I was telling him that he wanted to own Jed. Well a few minutes later he comes back after a phone call to his wife and they want to see how Jed interacts with the dogs they already have!!! Ohhh, I am so excited! Clayton and I can't keep him because if we move to California the only apartment that we have found so far that allows BIG dogs will only let you have 2!! Which causes a problem. So needless to say, I'm thrilled and hope that all works out and Jed will be on his best behavior while meeting the Deacon's doggies!!

These shoes are "UTTERLY" amazing!!

Today Clayton and I went to the mall to get him a haircut since he is flying to San Francisco tomorrow for a job interview (ahh!! wish him luck!) While at the mall, of course we had to browse the stores. There was a shoe store going out of business so naturally we went in to check out the sales. Clayton found this pair of shoes that are REAL cowhide...with the fur still on! I fell in love with them! There are so unique and awesome! We ended up buyng them and ahh, this made my day! (I also got a super cute pair of crocheted shoes with ribbon laced in them for $6.30!! you can't beat that!!)

Dog Crazy (my 4 legged kids)

Growing up my family had two toy poodle's that were 5 and 7 pounds, so naturally I was always super scared of big dogs...Until the day that Clayton and I were driving to his apartment and we saw a sign in a yard that read " PUPPIES FOR SALE, AKC". I had no clue what the heck a Weimaraner was, nor how to say it. I called the number listed on the sign and talked with a gentleman named Ernie. He told me that Weimaraners are big dogs, short hair so they don't really shed (which honestly was my selling point because I HATE hair!!!!), and that they have bright blue eyes and are just adorable!
Clayton and I decided to stop by and check out the puppies. We were there for over an hour googly eyeing the puppies. Oh my gosh, I can't even explain how cute they were! Immediately I knew I just NEEDED to have one. But Clayton (being the reasonable, more level headed person in our relationship) said they cost $500 and we don't have that kind of money laying around. Well...Of course, with my sweet talking I convinced Clayton that we would make it work (haha, funny, he paid for all of Harley).
There were two puppies left out of 12, the runt which was a silver girl, and Harley, my big, beautiful blue, knobby legged baby.
We brought Harley home on his 6th week birthday and I am telling you, it has been quite the experience with this kid...But I wouldn't trade him for the world!! http://www.akc.org/breeds/weimaraner/index.cfm
-----
Almost a year later, we decided that we wanted to have another puppy. Clayton did a lot of research on what breeds would mix well with a high energy, "separation fear" (literally diagnosed by the vet) Weim. My only stipulation in the search was "no shedding!" In the end we came across the Boxer breed. They seemed to be so much like the Weims with only physical appearance as their differences. We ended up finding a litter back in Illinois (where we're both from) and I went to go look at them and fell in love with our fawn and white colored baby girl Bella Rose. She was the 2nd to last pick also...It's was a sign :-) http://www.akc.org/breeds/boxer/index.cfm

The two dogs (I hate to say dogs, because really they are my furry children that think they are humans) get along GREAT!! Oh my gosh, they are the best friends. They never fight or get upset at each other and they feed off of each other's craziness (which I totally love and encourage). They are just simply perfect together. Clayton and I couldn't be happier.

Why RUPUNZIL?

OK, by now some of you may be asking yourselves why the heck do I refer to myself as RUPUNZIL? Well, it goes back to 6th grade when I was really good friends with Megan Glen and Brad Jerdee. To make a long story short, we decided to have "code names"for writing letters in class, so if a teacher ever found them they woudln't know who wrote it! (genius thinking of course). I had SUPER long hair (yeah it definetly went past my butt...because my mom wouldn't let me cut it!!!) all of the way up until my freshman year of high school. Anyway, because my hair was soooo long my code name became RUPUNZIL. Incredibly interesting, huh?