There's a party in our chimney ...

And only squirrels are invited.

So as most of you already know, we have had quite the run-in with squirrels since moving into our house. The squirrels have always liked to sit in the tree or on the roof tourmenting our dogs.

Then the squirrels found a way to get into the attic. That resulted in it making its way into our garage and Roxy, who loathes squirrels, acting as our rodent exterminator.

Fast forward a couple months and another squirrel finds its way into our attic. Well just repeat the previous scenario but in our back yard this time. Roxy is earning her suppers around here, and Mack on her heels helping any way he can.

Then, again, lets go forward a few more months to a couple weeks ago. This time things played out a little different. Instead of going into our attic, the squirrel decides to fall down the chimney and get stuck on top of the flue. This leads to Roxy freaking out and trying to get into the fire place ... running inside and outside to the fireplace chute.

We are assuming at some point it found its way out, but Roxy wasn't satisfied. After listening to Roxy sniff at the chute for hours on end, I decided to open the chute to show her there is nothing in it ... well I went back inside to return a few minutes later to this:

She dug her way into the chute and wedged herself in as deep as she could go ... absolutely covered in sut.

After hosing her and the patio down, I thought we were done with the squirrel issues. Boy was I wrong. A day or two later, I hear strange noises in the chimney again, and this time its loud and clear. Well this little squirrels buddy was on the roof making lots of noise. But no noise was louder than when that squirrel fell down the chimney itself and a squirrel fight broke out on top of our flue. I was home alone, and positive that these things were going to fall through into the house.

As soon as Brian gets home, the noises stop, but I am positive that they are still in there so we think that we can open the flue with a plastic bag under it and catch the squirrels...well nothing falls through and we haven't heard the noise since. Finally...our squirrel issue is over.

Until today ... when I start smelling something funny. Could it be? No...the squirrel couldn't have died in there could it? Hopefully Brian is in a good mood when he gets home today because he will be playing chimney investigator.

... to be continued

"The hills are alive ...

... with the sound of music!"

At least any hill that I drive over is because, ladies and gentlemen, I have a stereo in my car again! I know, I know, its amazing isn't it? After our car got broken into on Nov. 5 2008 I have been driving in silence, well silence or me singing (which I don't wish on anyone to have to endure.) I decided that it is about time that I purchase a new face plate for the stereo since that is all that they stole. So I stopped by Car Toys where they told me the model number of my stereo and tried to sell me a replacement face plate for $110+tax. I told them thanks, but that I would have to talk to my husband first (always a great excuse to get out of sale pressure), took the model number and left.

I came home, got on the good ol' Google machine and found a face plate for $15 on Craigslist from a person just 20 miles away. Being my first purchase from Craigslist, I made Brian come with me to pick it up. We hopped in the car for one last drive sans music and in less than an hour my James Blunt CD was released from the CD player after a year of confinement and I was programming my favorite stations into my new-used fancy 1997 Pioneer face plate.

You are jealous, aren't you?

State Fair of Texas

Brian and I made a point to visit the State Fair of Texas this year since we hadn't been before. I had gone to the fair for work purposes 2 years ago, but never got to just enjoy the fair. We are glad that we went, because we had a great time.

Our first stop was the dog show. They had all kinds of dogs doing all kinds of tricks, diving into pools, catching frisbies and racing over hurdles. There was even a dog that did a handstand on its front legs in the palm of the trainer's hand, then proceeded to walk on its two front legs across the arena. It was pretty humorous.

After the show, we wandered around for a while, looking at all the crazy deep fried foods and food on sticks. We definitely got a little of each. Brian tried a famous Fletcher's Corny Dog (which he didn't rave about) and then we tried deep fried jalapeno poppers (delicious), a deep fried latte (disappointing...it wasn't deep fried) and deep fried cheesecake (amazing).

We tried to get deep fried cookie dough, but I guess Oprah had the same idea because she was at the food stand filming for her show that they were shooting at the fair the next day. We couldn't even see the counter so after trying to catch a glimpse of her, we cut our losses and went on without it. Next time around I think the cookie dough will be a must, as well as deep fried guacamole or queso.

And no, we didn't just eat the whole time. We wandered through the car show, livestock barn and the kid's petting zoo. We were definitely a couple of big kids in the petting zoo trying to get up-close and personal with the giraffe, ostrich, zebra and Brian's favorite the Joey/baby kangaroo ... as well as tons of other cool animals.

We even took a private tour of the Cotton Bowl. It was pretty neat to hear the history and get access to all the private locations like the press box, locker rooms and down on the field.

It was definitely a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

A month of birthdays!

September was a busy birthday month in our family. My mom Corina, Brian's Mom Jan and psuedo Brother-in-Law Joe all celebrated their birthdays last month. While we were in town we decided to all go to dinner to celebrate this occasion at, if I do say so myself, the most delicious Italian restaurant I have been to in a very long time. So Happy Birthday Moms and Joey! Hope this next year brings even more joy than the last. Love you all!

A great trip to the Northwest

Brian and I took a trip up to the Northwest ... Tacoma Wash. to be exact ... for a business/pleasure trip this past weekend. And what a weekend it was. Brian had some business to take care of while I got to play with the family and friends. We stayed at my mom's house and Brian's parents came over and stayed with us as well. It was a full house but the more the merrier in our family.

We couldn't have asked for a better weekend either. The weather was perfect, but I was a little sad that the leaves weren't changing colors yet. We had a bon fire (at Rick's request), we got Janice to ride the horse (sort of) and Kendall ran around entertaining us all day every day.

I had the chance to visit my beautifully pregnant best friend Ashley, even if it was just for lunch. It's crazy how a few minutes with someone makes you miss them ten times more.

Our flight up to Washington. Brian helped pass the time by reading his new book.

Kendall loves feeding the ponies.

Jan had to take a moment to lecture the horse. He kept trying to eat her jeans.


... and Brian can always find a moment to strike a pose ...

What a ham! She wouldn't stop posing for the camera.

Goodbye Seattle! Hope to see you again soon.

Happy October!

It's the first of October and what better way to welcome the month than with a crazy hail/rain/wind/lightning/thunderstorm. Gotta love the crazy weather here. It was great all day then out of nowhere a storm comes flying through town, and leaves blue skies and a rainbow in its wake. So weird.

Dear House,

I would really appreciate it if you quit changing shapes and sizes! As soon as the weather changes you feel the need to swell or shrink. I would rather not have to body-slam the back door to get it to close because one of these times I am going to go straight through the glass. I enjoy the rain but obviously it is causing you to bloat and making our lives more difficult. When its hot you shrink, when its humid you swell ... will it ever be win-win with you? I'd appreciate some cooperation.

Sincerely,
Your homeowners

(For those of you who don't know ... the soil in Texas is clay and absolutely ridiculous. The slightest change in weather wreaks havic on the foundation and makes it do very crazy things. When it's hot, you have to water the foundation to keep it from shrinking, but when it gets too much water it swells and changes the shape of the door frames and such.)