Memorial Day

Today we honor and remember

the many fallen brave

who gave their lives in war and battle

their friends and family to save.

The men were brave, the men were true,

And they believed in what soldiers do.

They fought the enemy on land and sea,

They fought for freedom, honor & liberty.

Today as we enjoy our freedom

let us never forget

The many ones who've fought and died -

the many who are fighting yet.

Let's not forget our soldiers.

Let's not forget to pray

for the men and women still strong and brave

on the battlefields today.

America...it's time to vote!!!!!!!!!

I took pictures of both countertop options in different lights. It's so hard to capture their "true" colors but here you go. Let us know what you think.

Option 1

Option 1

Option 2

Option 2

Compare - Option 2 on left and Option 1 on right

Side by side comparison

Our new bench.

ramblin' man

I have no new pictures to post but I thought I would write something anyway. Hence the title of today's blog. It is the end of my workday and I'm going to go home and change to go to the gym. It is busy this weekend due to all of the people coming up for Memorial Day Weekend. It is pretty warm today - 84 degrees as I'm writing this.

Carolyn and I had 2 closings today, well, one and she is in the middle of the second. I have been busy with that and showing some customers a few homes that they're interested in. Hopefully that is a sign of a busy selling season.

Timber and Tika are doing well. Tika is still adjusting to her new environment and hasn't quite grasped the whole potty training thing yet. We went out yesterday and bought a big folding cage for her so that she'll have a 25 square foot area to learn how to potty outside without either one of us having to worry about her wandering too far away while we're waiting for her to do her business. Let's hope it works.

I've been a little frustrated lately with a couple dozen carpenter ants crawling around in my house. I called the pest company but they won't be out until Tuesday so I sprayed the outside myself with some spray. I have also been handy doing some rudimentary landscaping as well as buying and assembling a little bench for our front porch that I bought on sale at Ace Hardware.

I'm looking forward to the kitchen being finished up. Brooke and I are having a hard time selecting the granite for our countertops. She and Carolyn narrowed to down to 2 pieces but it is hard to choose one with such a small sample piece. I keep going back and forth - one day I like the lighter one and the next I like the darker one.

I'll try to remember to post pictures of everything tomorrow so you can see what I'm talking about.........

bArKiNG bUbbLe bAtH

bath time

I took some pictures last night of the dogs getting their bath but my computer here at work won't recognize Brooke's camera, so I can't upload the pics. I'll do so at home later tonight. In the meantime, here is a picture if Tika's first bath that she got a couple weeks ago...

Belated Birthday Pictures

Well, Brooke celebrated her 26th birthday on the 7th and I thought I should finally post some pictures of it. The last one is of Brooke and her friend Tara who went out to dinner with us. Brooke's dad Frank finally met the puppy Tika and thought she was cute. When he found out how much we payed for her, he almost fell out of his chair. I told him that it was a lot of money but that the way I figure it, I don't have to get Brooke another birthday or Christmas present for the next decade. He laughed a lot at that one.

Brooke didn't find it so amusing......

Tut and Nefertiti

Just a couple pictures from our visit to the King Tut exhibit in Philly a couple weeks ago. They didn't allow any photos in the museum, so no cool pictures of his artifacts although there is a nice shot of Brooke and I looking like dorks. Good enough?

Boy Meets Girl

Well, as you've all heard by now, we got a new dog - a pomeranian named Tika (pronounced "tea-ka"). She just came home last night with Brooke, so here are some shots from last night and this morning of the kids at play.

They get along great and Timber has been a good big brother to his new sis - not picking on her too much.

Timber the Sun God-Dog

I couldn't help but take some pictures of Timber taking advantage of the warmth from the sun via our skykight. He really is a warm weather doggie.

Spring has sprung

Here are a few outside pictures of the house. Notice the absence of snow...yay!!! We've even gotten crafty and planted a few flowers in our planter box. Can anyone say "green thumb"???

feels like so long ago.....

Here are some more pictures from the cruise. It already feels like it was months ago since we were there. Ahhh, but what wonderful memories.....

Birthday girl.....

Hot off the wire....today is Brooke's 26th birthday. I'm at work right now but am only going to work a 1/2 day. I'm not sure what we'll do today but tonight we're going out to dinner with her parents. She is excited about picking up her b-day present in a couple days. She flies out to Orlando on Wednesday and will pick up her new puppy on Thursday. I'll be sure to take pictures when she returns and Timber meets his new sister/sidekick.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, you look like a monkey.....

Happy birthday Brookie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

more pictures

Well, I figured that since I haven't posted in a while, I'd try to load a lot of pictures. Most of these are from our visit to cali while Jon was home. There is also a picture of the (soon to be) newest addition to our family - Brooke's pomeranian puppy. She is 7 months old and weighs just 3.4 lbs. Brooke is going to fly to Florida to pick her up in a week and she can hardly wait. Timber will soon have a little sister & someone to play with besides me.

vacationionionion

Well, I've been back for almost a week now and with everything going on at work, it seems like the vacation was a month ago. We all had a great time and ate way too much food. We cruised the southern caribbean on Princess cruise line's "Crown Princess." The ship was only 1 year old and could handle over 3,000 passengers. I think when Jon gets back, I'll have to take him and Kate on a cruise so that Jon can get far, far away from the desert. Better to be sea sick than in the midst of a sand storm is what I always say.

We flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico then visited St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Grenada, Bonaire, and Aruba before returning to P.R. Brooke has most of the pictures on her camera, so i only posted the good ones I took on mine. The pic of Brooke standing in the water was taken in St. Thomas before we sailed to St. John's on a day sail. There is also a picture of Brooke and mom jet skiing in St. Kitts. Lastly, a group shot in the pier at St. Kitts.

I'll bring Brooke's camera to work so I can upload more pics and post them to the site. Work beckons, so I'll post again soon......

Justin

They're Baaaacccckkkkkkkk

After taking a blog-postin hiatus, I figured I should start posting again so Jon and family can keep tabs on us.The lovely Ms. Brooke has been doing well. I got her to join the gym with me yesterday so that we can get in shape for the cruise. Well, she doesn't need to but I will benefit from it. When I got home from visiting Jon, I found a crack in my windshield. I got that repaired yesterday and took some time to finish my taxes. I meet with my accountant on Sunday.

Work has been steady which is par for the course this time of year. I have some things brewing, so we'll see what happens with that. I have some pictures from the trip, so I'll post them now before I forget.

The weather here is getting more bearable. The snow is melting quick and the sun is shining more which is great as far as I'm concerned. Check out these February 14th and March 27th photos to see the difference.

I finally made my first investment. I bought into the Selected American Shares mutual fund which is really exciting. I will probably also invest in the Dodge & Cox International fund as well. I did tons of research and both got good reviews, so hopefully I will be pleased with my investments as time goes on.

I can' t think of much else to write about at the moment, so I'll go for now and talk to you later.