Day 2 of Geocaching

We had a great day today.  We got up kind of early because the hikers next door were outside and Zed was barking/growling at them, then Esa wanted to go out to see them.  Dan took the kids for their morning walk and I got ready.  While Dan was taking his shower, I went over to the office and checked out their continental breakfast.   Not what either one of us were expecting:

  
Seriously?  Little Debbie snack cakes?  You can't go to Food Lion and get bagels?  So we stopped at Exxon across the street and got some prepackaged muffins - definitely better than the Little Debbie snacks.

We then headed to Lexington to the Visitor's Center.  They had a travel bug hotel in the center, so Dan signed the log.  We then went to Woods Creek Trail.

We didn't have any luck with the first cache, but found 5 other ones.  Dan even went back to the first one to see if he could find it again.  Woods Creek was a great trail.  As the name suggests, there's a creek and obviously, it was hot because Esa got in the water!  She shocked both of us.

We walked a good 2.5 miles.  At the end, we headed towards the car and both of us had a mini-heart attack - we couldn't see the car.  Seriously, we were probably 500 feet away and couldn't see the car.  I didn't see it until I got to the edge of the parking lot.  It was pulled in so far that the 2 cars beside it, hid it. 

Then it was back to the hotel where me and the kids hung out while Daddy-o continued with the geocaching.  We took a little nap (ok, I took the littl nap and the kids took a big nap and are still tired).

Dan came back after his 500th find (his goal by his birthday) and then we ordered dinner for delivery.  YUMMY!  We got food from Original Italian Restaurant. Dan got the sausage and peppers dinner (spaghetti, salad and bread) and I got a side salad and a small stromboli which wasn't that small!  OMG - it was wonderful!

We are going to go get ice cream at the trailer that is next to the hotel in a few.  Tomorrow, we'll just be heading home and maybe stopping along the way to get a cache or two, but since Dan got his 500th find, he's cool with just heading home.

Geocaching Weekend and Birthday

Hubby's birthday is Monday, and since he's obsessed with geocaching, we are on a mini vacation in Lexington, VA to do some geocaching.
We stopped in Strasburg, VA on the way down to get a geocoin that celebrates Stasburg's 250th anniversary.  The first stop was at the Stasburg Museum and by the 2nd stop, we had a feeling the multicache was the same as the walking tour.  Luckily, we had picked up the brochure that was at the 1st stop.  By the 5th stop (out of 11), we were all hot and we could tell Esa had enough.  So we cheated a little and went right to the 10th stop (on the walking tour), but it wasn't the 10th stop on the multicache!  After a little bit, we figured we'd go to the 9th stop (on the walking tour) to see if that had any of the answers.  Sure enough, it did! 

We ended up at the Stasburg Hotel and Dan went in and said the magic words "Is Mrs. Murphy cooking today?" and got the geocoin.

We then stopped at McDonald's and got some lunch and came down to Buena Vista to our lovely Budget Inn room - I'm actually surprised on how nice it is.  It has a large separate kitchenette, which give us plenty of room with the pups and it's been recently remodeled.  The kitchen and bath are both updated.

Once we got settled (around 6 pm), I ran out to Food Lion and got some stuff for supper.

One little surprise to both of us - I had bought a little lavender sachet to put on Zed's collar to help calm him down in the car and it seemed to work!  We were both really surpised.

Wordless Wednesday - Zed before & after

BEFORE - bald spots all over his belly (May 20, 2010):

AFTER (May 25, 2011):

Meet Me on Monday

 

Questions:

1. What is your favorite bagel flavor?     Plain - although I try my best to get whole wheat.2. If you had an extra $100 right now, what would you spend it on?     Well, probably the mortgage.  I'm focused on getting extra money to the mortgage right now.3. What is the last thing that you felt guilt about doing?     Eating a whole pound of pasta.  Seriously - but it was good!4. Soft serve ice cream or hand dipped?     Any ice cream is good ice cream5. Are you allergic to anything?

     Erythromycin - I get hives.  Daily allergies are to molds and a little bit to trees and grass.

Yard Sale and Great Strides Walk

What a busy weekend!

Yesterday was the community yard sale.  Tons of stuff to get rid of, but only made $51.75.  Better than nothing - I never expect to make much on yard sales.  I just want to make something and then donate everything else.  I am starting my online sales again.  We'll see how that goes.  I kept whatever I think I can sell online (books, music, video, "old" stuff).

Today was the Great Strides walk.  We went to the Leesburg, VA walk instead of the Elliott City, MD since the Ehrie's are now in California.  Fundraising went well.  Dan raised $325 and I raised $400.

I am very sore right now and was tired on the walk, but it is so worth it.  I kept thinking about Grace and everything she goes through everyday to stay healthy.  Esa and Zed did great on the walk.  It was a little humid so Esa was panting alot.  We had to stop several times for water.  This was her first long walk since being diagnosed with Lyme disease, so I'm sure she was tired because of that too.  On the way back, we tired to find 3 geocaches, but Dan only found one.  When we stopped, Esa laid down and was so tired, I was able to let go of her leash without fear of her taking off.  She even saw a squirrel and didn't move! 

We stopped at Roy Rogers and grabbed lunch to bring home and then Dan went to work.  The pups and I took about a 2 hour nap (and the pups have been napping more too).  So much for the other things I wanted to do today (grocery store, drop off recycling, drop off donations)!  I've spend the rest of the day updating my online sales on Amazon.

I did talk to my nephew - he's coming down the first weekend in June on his way back from NC.  Woohoo!  Perfect timing too - there's a concert I want to go to that weekend!

What we got in the mail (May 15 - 21

• Free magazines from MyCokeRewards.com
• GetGlue stickers

Reflecting

Last week I started to import my MySpace blog entries here and yesterday I imported my hotcouponworld.com blog entries.  WOW!  I've come far with the saving money!  I originally started this blog to record my shopping savings, replacing the hotcouponworld.com blog.  This has grown into just a blog to cover our lives since it's such a pain keeping everything separate.

Here's an update for the hotcouponworld blog entries:
I was looking at the money goals for 2008.  We are out of debt except for the mortgage.  I think paying off all of the credit cards, car loan & student loans was accomplished in 2009.

I've come a long way with saving money with coupons, using them to the best advantage.  We have a small stockpile of items.  Mostly of items don't expire (health & beauty, dog toys).  I'm happy with it.  I don't like it when I have to throw away food, so I keep the perishable items to a minimum.  We don't eat in (together) as much as we used to, so most perishable items are eaten within the week or two.

I've gotten "greener".  I recycle & reuse what I can - whether that means not using disposable items or donating items instead of throwing away.

One thing I haven't really done much of is online selling.  It was a lot of work, but it's was always nice when I sold something.  I did start "trading" on paperbackswap, dvdswap and cdswap so instead of spending money, I'm getting rid of something I don't want and get something I do want.

Wordless Wednesday

Taken this morning - Esa is sound asleep.

Meet Me on Monday

 1. Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?
     Smooth

2. What is your favorite color Rose?
     Red
3. Do you remove your shoes when you walk into your home?
     Yes, originally it was because of it being a new house & keeping it clean, but now with 2 dogs, it's for comfort.

4. What is your favorite season?
     Spring - because of the flowers blooming, the time change, and most importantly, my birthday!

5. Approximately how many hours a day do you spend blogging?
     Not a lot.  Less than an hour if I do blog in a day.

What We Got in the Mail (May 8 - 14)

• Trial subscription to Living (FYI - I have been trying to cancel this trial forever and they keep sending me invoices & magazines!)
• Entertainment Weekly from Mycokerewards.com
• Woman's Day from ????
• Carefree sample and coupon

Bouncing Back!

So happy to report that Esa is feeling much better.  She is almost back to herself.  We can tell that she's not 100% because she acts tired at the end of the walk or she lays around some.

But she is getting better.  She's running around the back yard, up and down the stairs inside, getting in her play stance, and most importantly, bringing her "pinkie" to me to fill it with treats.

So glad she's feeling better.

An Outing with One and a Doctor's Visit with the Other

My weekend didn't really go as planned.  I was supposed to have a scrapbooking weekend away, but it was cancelled on Wednesday due to plumbing issues at the house.  I guess it was meant to be since Esa wasn't feeling well (see below) and I had plenty of stuff to do around the house anyway.  Friday was just cleaning and organizing the house (hopefully for the community yardsale this Saturday). 
Zed's Big OutingSaturday, we went to the Pet Fiesta at Reston Town Center with Zed.  We were going to take Esa, but knew it probably wouldn't go well with her not feeling well.  This was Zed's first big outing.  He had a blast - smelling all the different butts and hanging out with Momma & Daddy-o.  He was so excited, he didn't eat any of the free treats given to him.  We then went to Baron Cameron Park to do some geocaching.  We found one, but gave up at the 2nd one since it was right around where the kids were playing soccer.  Zed was exhausted on the way home.  We didn't even need his harness for him to stay in the back seat.

We then decided it was time to find out what was wrong with Esa.

Sick Puppy

So last Thursday, Esa acted REALLY tired and Dan and I thought it was just because she went to daycare on Wednesday.  Usually she is tired that night and next day, plus it had been about 3 weeks since she last went.  But she was not getting any energy back.  Saturday, we took her to the emergency vet (first time ever for her). 


Pre-doctor visit

You know she's not feeling good when she's somewhere she has never been before, lays down and is almost asleep.  Luckily, we had a vet who had experience with lyme disease cases and was pretty sure without the test it was lyme disease (we did do a test though).

Esa was good with the doctor touching her.  They took her in the back to get blood, which didn't go well.  We heard her yelping.  The next thing you know, the vet and 2 techs come back in the room and say "we came back for help.  Can you put a muzzle on her?"  Without hesitation, I said no.  Then the one tech asked about a cone.  Dan and I were able to get the cone on her, but as soon as we took our hands away, she pushed it off with her paw.

They then took her in the back to sedate her.  They told us to go to the waiting room, but within 5 minutes brought us back to the examining room to sit with Esa while the sedation took effect.  Well - she fought it the whole way.  They finally took her in the back again to get the blood and then brought her back out to us in the waiting room.   Below is the picture of her after being sedated, while we were waiting for the results.



sedated, but not giving in

The vet finally came out and said that they got just enough blood for testing and the test was positive, so she'd be put on antibotics. 

Even when we got home, Esa was still fighting the sedation.  We got the first dose of antibotics in her and got her to eat.  I tried taking off the bandage, but she was not having it.  She was growling at me and showing her teeth.  She just had enough of the poking and proding.  I did finally get it off while she was busy eating and she had this "oh, it's off" look on her face.

Sunday morning, we could already see a turnaround.  She was her normal whiny self.  She woke me up because I heard her whine downstairs (attention whine, not pain whine).  By Sunday night she wanted to play some.  This morning, she is doing so much better.  She was running around in the backyard and ran upstairs to wake Daddy-o up.

So, it looks like the antibotics are doing their job and she is on the med.  She will be on the meds for at least 3 weeks.  We will then see if she has another flairup.  It all comes down to that.  How often the flairups happen.  Wish us luck! 

What We Got in the Mail (May 1 - 7)

• Entertainment Magazine from MyCokeRewards.com
• Lucky Magazine from ????

Concerts, Car Rentals, Geocaching, Happy (re)Birthday Zed, & Happy Adoption Day Esa!!

The last week has been crazy with the car in the shop (mechanics and then body shop).  Monday evening, we finally picked up the Jeep from Goodyear.  $1,200 later, the jeep drove great, but I only got to drive it home and then to the body shop on Tuesday!

I was obviously too nice when we went into Goodyear (or they were upset that I was using coupons).  I asked the manager for a "special discount" for the "pain & suffering" and he said "I don't know what you're talking about".  This was the manager!  They (him and the other guys at the service desk) said you'd be surprised how often the accidents happen in their parking lot.  Hence, they weren't going to give me anything special.  When we left there (actually starting as soon as I got the call they had an accident), I kept thinking, I don't know where else we could take the cars for service that is close.  Such a pain.

Car Remtal
Anyway, Tuesday, it was up to the body shop to drop off the Jeep and pick up the rental.  I got a black 2009 Chevy Equinox LS.  I had a choice of getting a Santa Fe, but wanted to check out the Equinox since we looked at that when we got the Jeep.  It was ok - definitely glad we didn't get it.

It was nice to get to "try out" a different car, but it messed up our routine - we couldn't take Esa to daycare because of the rental (no pets allowed or $200 detail fee).  Monday, I had to take Dan's car to work and he was stuck at home, having to make stops to drop off the Jeep and pick up the Jeep, etc.  Just a pain.

The body shop was awesome. The Geico representative was wonderful, the Enterprise rep was wonderful and the manager at the body shop was great.  The body shop manager chatted with me about the Caps when I dropped off the car and when he called me to pick up the car.  I was impressed with Geico.  They called to keep me up to date on the status and to make sure I was ok with the work.

Concerts
Monday night, we went to Jaxx to see Saliva.  I have been wanting to see the FOREVER!  There was maybe about 50 people there (I was shocked about that), but they put on an awesome show.    My only complaint was the lighting for the show.  They had spotlights that went out into the crowd (which is kind of cool since they could see us, but in my opinion, we couldn't see the band that well.  Every once in awhile there would be spotlight on the lead singer.

Geocaching
Saturday, we had a family geocaching day.  We went to Keep Loudoun Beautiful & Elizabeth Mills Waterfront Park. I realized it had been raining, but didn't really think about the muddy trails.  I should have used my hiking boots, but only had my sneakers.  They worked fine.  It wouldn't have mattered because Dan had his hiking boots on and he was just as muddy and slipped as much as I did!  The first geocache was by an old iron bridge and when we started on the trail again, found out that the ground wasn't as solid as it looked.  As soon as we stepped, we slid & slid alot.  Obviously, the water was up high earlier in the week.  We continued down the path, but then it disappeared into the water.  The only way was up and the incline was crazy steep.  So steep, I let Zed go and kind of crawled up the hill.  We finally got back on the trail.  Then ran into a down tree that covered the trail.  Luckily, the hill we had to climb this time wasn't as steep.  The next set back was a flooded part of the trail.  We were able to get around it pretty easily, just a little backtracking and walking through mud.  We had a couple of small streams to cross, but those weren't that hard.  We finally got to a dead end.  The trail was flooded and the only other way across was walking across a tree.  Of course, the pups weren't going to do that.  By that time, we all were tired and there were other people around to go fishing. 



The trip back wasn't as eventful.  We were able to find a different, higher trail that was much easier.  However, when we got to the mud section by the old bridge. We both slipped all over.  I actually fell to my knees.  Something that was so cute was on the way back, I picked Zed up to take him over the small streams and he started paddling in midair.

Happy (re)Birthday, Zed!
May 2 was the 1st anniversary of Zed becoming a Wentz.  I can't believe it's been a year.

Happy Adoption Day, Esa!
Four years ago today, we brought Esa home.  It seems so long ago.  She has grown so much.

Meet Me on Monday

1. What is your favorite kind of muffin?

     Blueberry


2. What was the first car you ever owned?
     1974 Chevy Laguna (looked just like this too - thanks to my brother for passing it on)

3. Which TV Show were you sad to see end?
     My Own Worst Enemy

4. What is your lucky number?
     3 - I'm the 3rd child, born in the 3rd month of the year and the rest of my birthday is also divisable by 3.

5. Pretzels or Potato Chips?
     Potato Chips