Random September Fun {2013}

For the most part, September was a pretty decent month for us!

That, of course, changed near the end of the month when we had to say

good bye to our sweet Rascal Girl (see HERE) - we had a few very hard weeks

after that happened, but before that hard time we were able to have a little fun.

This first picture is of Nate 'in action' at his job as he was exhibiting nothing but patience

while he was helping this sweet older lady figure out her TYPEWRITER problems!

The second picture is of the shelf that I put together for our upstairs bathroom!!

I found the following recipe for Soy-Peanut Noodles on Pinterest and we LOVED it

so much that we have now made it a couple if times! It was super delish!!

(To see the recipe, click HERE - you won't be sad that you did, I promise!)

The Club hosted the 'Winemaker's Dinner' at Del Rio Vineyards - 

which was absolutely GORGEOUS! I took a whole bunch of pics of the

Vineyards and posted them HERE if you want to take a look!

This picture is of me & my friend Renee - who is the Special Events Queen!

My job is going super fantastically! I actually look forward to going to work in the morning!

This first picture is one that I snapped to send to my sisters as I as going to lunch with some

of the work ladies! The second is a picture that I posted on Instagram the day that this

wonderful collection of poetry was donated to the Club! I am now the 'funny poem' lady to some of 

the Kiddos - they love it when I bring the book down and read to them out of it!!

(Although I guarantee that I love it more ;)

We had a very small harvest from our poor 'garden' this year - the few tomatoes,

cucumbers, green onions, peas and raspberries that we had were delicious!!

We tried out another local Thai Restaurant and fell in love with their homemade

Coconut Ice Cream - their Chicken Satay wasn't bad either!!

I went to a day long Social Media Class for the Club in which I took really pretty notes

and found out my pen was leaking simultaneously! I enjoyed the Class and it made me

nostalgic for days sitting in the Family Life Building at USU! I have also been tasked with

re-designing the Website for the Club - here are the very first, premature rough ideas!

We made a super delicious Tomato, Spinach & Artichoke Pizza and kept warm with Dutch Bros!

Nate worked his first overnight to oversee the floor 're-do' - it was a long night for both of us!

I went on a Field Trip to Raptor Creek Farms (the Community Food Bank Farm) with some

of the Club Kids! They had a great time learning about harvesting peppers and how to take care

of gardens! We got rained on through our visit - but that doesn't stop people here in Oregon!

Talia & I decided to make Sugar Cookies one night (I was reminiscing about how we used

to decorate Halloween Cookies every year with Nate's family and that I was missing that

tradition)! We decided to get over ambitious and make them for everyone at work! We had a great

time but quickly realized that we got in over our heads - so we had to recruit Nate to help us

finish them up (he really did have fun - he's just being silly in this picture)!

My co-worker got married near the end of the month so we got dressed up and 

went to the VERY Country Wedding! It was a great time and Nate even danced with me a little ;)

 

As you can see - aside from the heartbreak of losing our Rascal,
September was a pretty good month!

We love you and miss you, sweet girl!

We're All Ducks Here

Last month I was invited to go to a University of Oregon Ducks {Football} Game by my boss, Diann.

While my first instinct was to tell her 'no thank you,' I have been at the Club long enough to know that

'We're All Mostly Ducks Here' (at the Club) and that these games are super fun! 

I also know that Diann is a HUGE Ducks Fan (a season ticket holder) and that her invitations

to these games are not given lightly! In an effort to get to know her better and to 

see what these games are all about I accepted her invitation, purchased a Ducks shirt and hat

and slept restlessly and excitedly before the big day!

We drove up to Eugene while she gave me a lesson on Duck etiquette (high five your neighbors

after a touch down, sing along with 'Shout' when it is played over the loudspeaker, do your best

to lend to the 'noise meter' when the other team is kicking off and eating a stadium hot dog - I did all 

but eat the hot dog - that one I wouldn't give in to)!

She took me on a tour of 'The Center' and around the tailgating area, we ran into Fred & Jeff (who we also work with at the Club) and then we got settled in for the game! The Ducks were playing the Tennessee Volunteers and apparently it was supposed to be a big game (we slaughtered them in the end, but there was a lot of excitement in the air)!

I MAY have had a little camera envy ...

The 'Shout' experience was a lot of fun! The movie 'Animal House' was filmed at U of O so the song is played at every game and the fans know exactly what to do when it comes on!

U of O fun fact: Nike is a HUGE sponsor of University of Oregon - ALL of the turf

on the U of O Campus (Football, Soccer, etc. is made up of recycled Nike shoes - not grass)!

Overall, I had a WONDERFUL time! I told Diann that Nate is going to be her biggest
fan because she may have just made Football a little more fun for me - and it's safe to say
that I'm officially a Duck Fan! It did help that I had our camera with me and in addition to
enjoying the game I was able to get in some fun shots - but I'll be completely honest
and admit that there were times when I was so involved in what was going on that
I forgot to take pictures!! Shocking - because if you know me AT ALL,
you'd think that I was abducted by Aliens and swapped out with someone else!!

 

It has been about a month since I went to this game and I still look back on it fondly!
I have been more tolerant of Nate watching football (in fact, today was 'Football Day')
and I'm trying really hard to learn to like the game so that Nate & I can enjoy them together!

Letter # 7

Dear Rascal,

It has been several days since I have written anything, but please be assured that I haven't stopped thinking about you. I've had a couple of dreams about you over the last several days and I always wake up missing you.

Your daddy and I picked up your ashes last Saturday. When we went to the Vet's Office we weren't sure how we were going to feel. It was really hard to walk back in there knowing that the last time that we were there was the last time that we saw you. I didn't begin to cry, though, until they pulled out the tin that your ashes are in. It is so, so small, just like you were. I didn't expect it to be the same weight that you were (I don't know why, that was silly of me) and when I picked it up I was startled at how much 'like you' it felt. I will admit that I hugged it and I felt comfort in knowing that a part of you was coming home with us again.

We went to Joanne's and picked out some orange and white polka dot ribbon to tie around the tin and we printed up our favorite picture of you so that we could set them on the piano next to one another. I dried one of the flowers that my co-workers gave to me and put it in the frame with your picture - their kindness over the last few weeks has been amazing and they understand just how much we miss you!

Tonight I am changing the living room around - if you were here you'd be laying at my feet every time I try to rest for a minute, or when I just talked to your daddy on the phone you would have tried to climb into my lap. Even as I type this I'm sitting on the floor and I keep expecting for you to climb up and lay on my lap/hand/arm/chest/laptop (wherever you could squeeze in).

It is definitely safe to say that you are missed so very much and that even though you might not be here 'forcing' your way on to my lap, your spirit is most definitely here!  We talk about you every single day and we are so grateful that we have so many wonderful memories of you.

Love you, baby!
Mommy (and daddy too)

This is our favorite picture of you. I took it earlier this year when I was attempting to sew a skirt. I had laid the pattern out on the floor to cut and you thought it would be fun to sit right on the edge of it - exactly where I was going to cut. Yep ... you definitely lived up to your name!

Letter # 6

Dear Rascal,

I want to begin this letter by telling you that you don't have to worry about me. I miss you and I will always wish that you were here with us, but my realization last night that you will be with me wherever I go has helped me in so many ways.  My letters to you after this one may be few and far between, but please, please, please don't think that it means that I'm not missing you or that I'm not thinking about you. There is no doubt that I will have more things to say to you, and as they come to me I will write to you again. We've still got one big hill left to climb in this battle of acceptance, but until that day comes I am focusing on being positive and on the happy things in my life.

There is something that I feel I need to bring up, however; your daddy and I are wondering if you had a secret boyfriend here in Oregon. Every day when we walk outside there is a sweet little Tabby cat sitting outside our front window. I recognize this cat and have seen it around since we have moved here, but I get the distinct feeling that it is looking for you. It sits there and looks at the window and seems like it's just waiting for you to appear. I want so badly to talk to it and tell it that you are an angel kitty now, but it won't let us get anywhere near it. Perhaps you had a more entertaining life when we were at work than we were aware of!

Dear sweet Rascal, I hope that you know just how much we love you and how much we miss you. We are so happy that you were in our lives for so long and we will never, ever forget how much joy you brought to us. You will always live on in our hearts and in our memories and our life will never be the same without you.

With love,
Mommy

This video is the most playful footage that we have of you - I wish that Smartphones would have been invented years and years ago so that we could have captured you playing as a kitty!

Letter # 5 ...

Dear Rascal,

Tonight has been a better night. Your daddy is working again and I'm home alone, and even though it is lonely and hard, I knew what to expect when I got home and I was ready for it. I even finally brought myself to clean up after you tonight. Last Friday, when daddy and I got home from the Vet's office we quickly went through the house and cleared away all of the obvious stuff because we knew that every time we looked at the broken pieces of our hearts would become shattered.

Tonight I was sweeping and mopping in the downstairs bathroom and hallway and there were spots on the floor from your water bowl ... spots that were there because several days before you had put your little paw in your water bowl and tried moving it around the floor ... I watched you do it and I remember smiling smugly because in all the years that we had you, it was only after we moved to Oregon that we found a logical solution to keeping your water bowl in place - we may have gotten used to running into it at night and spilling it all the time, but that didn't mean we enjoyed doing it. I always wondered what your reasoning and fascination was with moving your water bowl - was it simply to check for water? To see if it moved? Or was it some deeper way to prove to us just how stubborn you could be? Don't let me forget to inquire about that next time we see you ... I couldn't read your mind here but perhaps in Heaven that will be different ...

It was hard for me to push the mop over that spot. It was some of the last physical proof that you were ever in our home ... I cried for a few minutes as I was holding the mop in the hallway and then I had the realization that even though I was mopping up your water spots off the floor, I wasn't removing them or you from my heart.  Just because I can't see them on the floor any more doesn't mean that I will forget that they were ever there, or that I will forget that you were ever here - I can guarantee you that will never happen. I dried my tears and I cleaned the spot, and after it dried I went back to look at it. The spot was gone, but you were not, and that is exactly what I needed to know in that moment.

You will always be in my heart. I know that you are at peace and I know that there is a special place in Heaven for souls who brought joy, love, comfort and snuggles to others - and that is definitely what you brought to our family.

Feeling grateful for you,
Mommy

You are a funny girl. I was working on the floor one day and you came and laid behind me on the couch. Before I knew it, you had your head on my shoulder and had fallen asleep. Luckily my phone was close by so that I could get these pictures to send to daddy. Thank you for bringing me so many smiles and picture perfect moments.