Happy Birthday Bear!

Since we don't have children yet. I have to spoil and talk about our dog, Bear. Saturday was Bear's 5th birthday. I know it is crazy to keep up with that stuff, but he is our child for now.
Saturday, I gave Bear a bath and let him come in the house and stay for a while. He is starting to not like staying in long. He gets really restless and gives you puppy dog eyes to go back outside. Poor Chris took a beating laying in the floor with him.
Here are a couple of pictures of Bear over the last 5 years. Some of them you may have seen before, so just stick with me.

This was taken this weekend on his birthday!

He was barking at the garbage can.

He loves chewing on sticks.

Such a cute puppy!

Marshall County Christmas Coalition

This year my place of employment is raising money for the Marshall County Christmas Coalition. They asked if I would like to do the shopping. OF COURSE!! So when we get our names and list I will be doing some great shopping. A couple of individuals have offered their help, in which I will probably ask for along the way
This is such a great cause. I have done Angel Trees before and I got so much more out of buying for someone else that worrying about what I want for Christmas. Especially since most of it is buying for children. You can also buy for parents or guardians.You can find out more about Christmas Coalition here.

Talladega Race

Friday evening I went down to Talladega Super Speedway and spent a couple of hours with some family and friends. They have season passes at their camping spots, so they try and go when they can. They also have some friends from Canada that they meet and go to the race with. I enjoy going and just hanging out more than the race itself. After we ate we rode around the camp site for a little bit, it is nothing like it used to be. It used to be loud screaming and just crazy, now there is less racket. There were not a lot of people out, not sure but I believe the freezing weather had something to do with it. Here is a blurry picture of their camp fire.

Here is a picture I took going down of the sunset over the Coosa River.

Not much happening

Things have been slow around our house this last week. Not much going on.
Chris' parents came down Saturday to bring some tools and to look at our porches. We have in mind to remove our current porches and rebuild them. They are not in good shape anymore and really need to be replaced. It also might help the house to sell. We just need to find the time to do it. With the weather getting cooler we might have to wait until Spring to start.
I have been digging up more of those crazy and stinky mushrooms. Yesterday I dug up about 10 after getting home and about hurling.
We had a baby shower at work for a lady. It was held at Jefferson's in Albertville. We played two games: baby charades and then had to guess how big mom to be was. Needless to say I won both!!! I love charades so it was easy when I had to act out like I was giving birth. My friend Kim was the doctor and I was laying on the table with my feet in the air. We didn't have to act long as everyone was laughing so hard. We both got the prize for that game. I believe that if you are going to make a fool of yourself you might as well go big!

What I feel....

“There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout:

This is me d*** it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel, love the way I love! I am a whole complex package. Take me... or leave me. Accept me - or walk away! Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don't fit your idea of who I should be and don't try to change me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.

When you are strong enough to love yourself 100%, good and bad - you will be amazed at the opportunities that life presents you.”

--Stacey Charter

I really don't want to get into the whole ordeal, but I will say a little.

Lately (past year) I have been an emotional roller coaster. Up, down, around, up, down and around. It is all emotional and no I am NOT Bipolar. To be honest I don't like it. I don't like roller coasters anyway, so go figure. I don't like being all happy for awhile and then something happen and I am down for a few days. It is crappy! I am a happy, free will, go with the flow type of person. I would say very laid back. It has fit me for the past 30 years and I don't see why it should change.
I love the quote above and have always been the type of person to say..."if you don't like me, sorry...this is who God made me." I don't try to please anyone but God, and that is a daily struggle.

The last part of the quote...."When you are strong...." really doesn't concern me. I love myself and have accepted that this is who I am. The part of the quote that concerns me is the top part of it.

Introducing...Ace

Ace is our neighbors cat. I think, he isn't ours so we really don't know who he belongs to, but anyway he stays around our house some.

When I go out to water our Mums he stays with me. He follows me as I water them. When I go inside to get more water he will sit at the front door and meow. I really miss having a cat, but not the allergies they cause.

Chris said it would be nice to have a cat around the house, to keep mice out. As long as it would stay off the cars. Guess what I found this morning....cat prints on the car!

Stinkhorn Mushrooms

Well our snake eggs are not snake eggs. They are Stinkhorn mushrooms. I wrote about them here.

Friday evening when I got home I saw this weird thing sticking out of the mulch bed, so in my curious nature, I go over to check it out. I get a stick and start poking around and it moves!! So I  freak out and call my mom, because Chris is at work at this time. I go and get a hoe and start moving these white things, stilling thinking they are snake eggs. I found 22. At this point I was saying, "Oh my gosh mom there are 22 of them." She tells me to get in the house and call Chris and let him know. Now I am worried we have an infestation of snakes.
I told her that I was going to check these things out online and see what snake eggs really look like. I get online and start looking, they look nothing like snake eggs. So I start reading some forums and people were saying they had the same things in their yards and they were calling them Stinkhorn Mushrooms. They have an awful smell! According to what I read, the black part contains spores and that is what causes the horrible smell. Flies can carry the spores and multiply the mushrooms. That is just great!
I sent Chris a message and told him what I found. We looked up how to remove them and are in the process of getting rid of them. We plan on removing the mulch and replacing it with pea gravel.

Sunday morning I looked out to see about them and there were four more. Three were coming out of the mulch and one was coming out of its shell. So I get a shovel and fill a Walmart bag full of them.

Here is a picture of what they look like once they have come out of their shells.

He Loves The Sun

Bear loves to sleep in the sun. The last couple of days have been around 70 degrees outside and he loves it.
I sent this picture to Chris while he was at work. Of course Bear has to have his rope close by. If you can't see it, it is at his back end.

One more picture I want to share is a picture of a snake's egg. Most of them had string like things attached to them. Not sure what they are???? We had a rat snake to lay 12 or so eggs in our front mulch bed. Chris killed the snake a few days before we found them.