Of All Things…

I knew that Dallas and I might argue about certain things, but never once did I think one of those things would be over who got to be the one to put the weekly Scrubbing Bubbles Cleaning Gel in the toilet. You’ve seen the advertisement for this awesome little product, I’m sure. You press a tube onto the inside of the toilet, and it leaves a little circle of gel that lasts a week. It’s actually quite cool, and apparently there’s something fulfilling about using that little wand to leave a circle of freshness. 

Diets, Couches, and High School Musicals

Well, my new blog is coming along quite nicely. Lots of pictures of Cairns, and that’s always good. We all know that I have plenty of time to kill at work, so the blog is no trouble at all.

I’ve also started a diet. That’s not something I usually go public about, but oh well. The goal is to lose 20 pounds, and I’ve already lost between 3-4, so I’m on the right track. It’s a lot easier to do once you see your hard work paying off. 

Today Mom, Hailey, and I went yard-sailing in west Little Rock, and it was a success. I wasn’t expecting to buy a single thing, but the first place we stopped had this great couch that looked almost brand new. After we all tested it out, I decided to go ahead and buy it for a whopping $75. It’s a definite upgrade from the old black futon we use now. Poor Sparky isn’t going to know what to do now that he can’t get under the couch. At least now I won’t have to try to clean up his messes of ripped-up paper underneath it. Oh, and the couch folds out into a bed, so that’s a plus. 

After our morning of yard sales, we went to watch High School Musical 3. I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved it. I enjoyed the first two, and this one was just great. I think NPR had the best description of the movie. They said it was like cotton candy. It’s sweet, light, kids adore it, and to adults it’s slightly sickening. And that’s completely true. There were tons of little kids there, eating it up. While it is awfully teenybopper-ish, it’s still entertaining and fun for the adults that were there, also.

Tumblr Blog

I have just  created a new tumblr blog in honor of Sparky and other Cairn Terriers out there. Here’s the link:

Tender Love and Cairn

Sleep Talking

This morning I was awakened at 5:40 a.m. by Dallas. He was shaking my shoulders and he kept saying, “Dusty? Is that you, Dusty?” I was like, “Whaaaat?” Then he said “Ok, good. You’re a full status person.”

Now Dallas sleep talks quite often. It always wakes me up at the time, but by the time I’m up for good in the morning, I’ve already forgotten what he said. But this time it was close enough to the time I actual wake up that I was able to remember it. It was hilarious. Dusty is his little brother, so I guess that’s what he dreams about. As far as the “full status person,” I have no idea what that means. I do know that I laughed at him and he told me to shut up when he realized what was going on. Oh, it was funny.

Sparky, that goofy dog

 

We’re famous!!

So we still have 2 or 3 more weeks until our wedding pictures are ready, but we got a little bit of excitement this morning. I was checking our photographer’s blog, and we came across a post about us! He said that he used a picture from our wedding for a magazine ad in At Home magazine, and he posted a picture of the ad! It’s amazing! Seriously, I highly recommend Lance Johnston photographers. Lance was awesome, and I can tell the pictures are going to be awesome. He has an office in both Conway and LIttle Rock. Check him out. You won’t be disappointed. Here’s a link to the amazing Lance Johnston and his new magazine ad:

What’s New Lance Johnston

Pillow Fight

Last night Dallas and I engaged in a conversation that could have easily been from an episode of Seinfeld. This converstation lasted a good 5 minutes, and each statement was even more ridiculous than the last. The problem is that Dallas’s pillow is a little bigger than mine. I have the standard size pillow, but Dallas has a long one. It’s even too big for the pillow case, so part of his pillow is always sticking out of the case. As we were about to go to sleep, I notice, once again, something that he tries to do every single night.

Because his pillow is longer, he tries to position it to take up more of the bed. In a fair world, the bed should be split 50%, 50%. But with Dallas’s dumb pillow, he always tries to make it about 60%, 40%, with the advantage going to him. Here’s the conversation that followed my observation that he yet again tried to cheat me out of my fair share of the bed:

S: Dallas. Come on. You’re doing it again.

D: Doing what?

S: You’re taking up more than half the bed!

D: I can’t help that my pillow is longer.

S: That doesn’t give you an excuse to take up more of the bed.

D: Well, when I line up my pillow with the edge of the bed, it just goes over farther than your pillow does.

S: But you can’t just assume that you get to line your pillow up with the edge of the bed. Of course that would give you more room. The fair thing is to let your pillow hang off the bed a little bit, so that we both have equally proportionate shares of the bed.

D: Well I’m just compensating for the fact that your legs are always on my side of the bed, and I barely have any room for my feet at the bottom of the bed.

S: You’re making that up so you can have an excuse to use your whole pillow on the bed.

D: Whatever, I just can’t help that my pillow is bigger.

Etc, etc.

This went on for a good five minutes before we both realized that this wasn’t an episode of Seinfeld. I can’t remember who won the conversation, but it was probably me. At least this wasn’t as bad as the time that I woke up to find myself completely covered with a pillow. Dallas likes to sleep with a pillow next to his side, and drape an arm over it. I guess he just forgot that I was there, because sure enough, I woke up and didn’t know what was going on. Thanks, hubby.

Married Life

Typically, I get home around 5:30 every evening. Dallas is always either at work or at school, that time, so I am lucky enough to come home to find little remnants of Dallas that he has left throughout the day. Without fail, this is what I find almost everyday:

• A wet towel piled on the back of the couch.
• A dirty glass with either juice in it, or some sort of smoothie made from the Magic Bullet. Or an almost empty Diet Dr. Pepper can, with enough left to cause a problem if Sparky gets up there and starts to investigate.
• Dishes in the sink that have not been rinsed out. Just to let you know, dirty, wet food in the sink absolutely grosses me out to the max. If it’s too bad, I’d rather throw out a tupperware container, rather than wash it out and use it again. It’s just one of those things. I nearly throw up.
• Beard hair in the bathroom sink.
• Dirty clothes on the bathroom floor, often laying on the ground RIGHT NEXT to the hamper. I can’t even begin to understand that one.
• If Sparky and Dallas have been running around together during the day on one of Dallas’s breaks, I’ll also come home to find numerous black socks strewn across the floor, and Sparky’s food bowl will also be hidden somewhere in the living room. On unlucky days, there will also be one of my bras under the couch, because Sparky has quite an obsession with bras. It’s weird.

These are just a few things. Granted, it’s not that bad, and it’s not every single thing, every single day. But it’s at least one thing every day. I’m training him, though. He is getting  very good about the dishes situation, because he knows that I just can’t handle wet, bloated food in the sink drain. Oh geez, I’m getting sick just thinking about it.

The good things about married life far outweigh the little annoying things, however. I’m not going to make a list because that would be too long, but one of my favorite things is in the mornings after I’m ready, and Sparky is running around, I’ll put Sparky up on the bed with Dallas. He’ll bounce along and make his way toward Dallas’s head, where he will attack him with licks and tail-wags and snuggles. Sparky loves it, and it’s pretty hilarious to watch. It’s also nice to have a handyman around when I need to hang up curtain rods or pictures, or when a really awesome, newly purchased lamp needs to be put together. And ya know, Dallas cooks a lot better than I do, so there’s that.

Stay tuned for more tales of Dallas’s housebreaking.

A grainy picture of Sparky from my BlackBerry:

So, I’m married.

I sure am. I’m married. And for all the worry about the weather that day, it sure turned out fabulous. I literally could not have asked for more perfect weather. It wasn’t hot, and it wasn’t windy. The sun was shining, and the ceremony ended just as the sun was headed toward the horizon. Lance Johnston got some great pictures of Dallas and I walking down a row of the orchard, into the sunset. He showed us some of the pictures he took, and they looked absolutely amazing. I can’t wait until they’re all ready to go, and I get a big ol’ wedding album.

The honeymoon in Forks, Washington was just great. The weather was cool and misty, and it was beautiful up there. Of course, one morning I had to take the time to go around the town and take pictures of Bella’s house, Edward’s house, Dr. Cullen’s parking spot at the hospital, and head to the chamber of commerce and take a picture with the “Vampires Thrive in Forks” banner. Dallas was a good sport about it. He kept asking me about Twilight, and by the end of the honeymoon, I had told him pretty much the whole thing.

So now we’re back, and I’m really happy because I no longer have to plan a wedding. Now I get to hang out with my husband and my puppy all the time.

Oh, I also have a new twitter account. You can find it here: www.twitter.com/shannajones