Father's Day Post

So I'm going to get a little personal for a second...

This is my daddy..

Harold Charles Larkin. He was born in 1924, and lived a long and happy life to the age of 86. He was in World War 2, raised two families, built the house that I grew up in, and never stopped enjoying life.

When people find out how old my dad was, they're almost always surprised. Growing up, people always thought I was his granddaughter. When I was little, my dad would take me places, and people would say "oh, how cute..is this your granddaughter?" and he would always start laughing, and correct them "Nope. She's my daughter." *cue awkward glances* I didn't realize it was weird. Once the neighbor boy told everyone in school that I didn't have a father. I yelled at him for saying it, but thinking back on it, I guess it was just an honest mistake. 

Growing up with a much older father was definitely a unique experience, and while I probably missed out on certain aspects of a typical father-child relationship, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Everyone who met my daddy loved him. He was such a young soul, that you almost forgot his real age...and he seriously knew everyone. We couldn't go anywhere without him running into someone he knew.

I'm an old soul, and for that I blame him. We used to listen to old records, and watch The Lawrence Welk Show. Because of him I'm familiar with old comedians like Red Skelton,  and all of Bob Hope's "Road to.." movies. Not to mention the fact that my dad's idea of a bedtime lullaby was this Irish drinking song which he would sing to me every night when I was little.

He was definitely a unique person, and I miss him more and more every day. It definitely makes me sad to think about the fact that my children will never get to meet him. But let me tell you..he was a great dad...and he raised his kids to be great people, and great parents themselves.

Me, and all my brothers

Even though I know that my brothers all miss him more than anything today, they all have reason to celebrate on this day. They're all either fathers themselves, or they will be fathers someday. Some of them are even grandfathers. So no matter what, this will be their day. As the only girl, it's hard for me to enjoy this day. I don't have my father with me anymore, nor will I ever be a father. So no matter how much I celebrate the other fathers in my life (brothers, uncles etc,) Father's Day will always be more of a burden than anything for me. 

But with that thought aside, I really do want to wish the sincerest Happy Father's Day to my brothers. They really are great dads, just like our daddy was, and they deserve to be celebrated today.

A few things that I love..

1. I love reconnecting with old friends. I got a message today from someone that I was really close with in college, but haven't been in touch with in a couple of years...and it really kind of made my day.

2. I love making other people happy.

Back Story:
There's an older couple who stay at our hotel quite frequently. They called a couple of days ago to let us know that they were coming this evening, and while I was on the phone with them, they mentioned to me that they were actually getting married today. Now they're really the nicest people, so I figured we should probably do something special for them since it's their wedding day and all.

So I made them a little gift basket to give them at check in. (Note: this act was slightly selfish, as I am constantly trying to find excuses to do anything wedding related)

(ignore all the stuff on the counter behind it)

(In case you're wondering why there's a dog bone, it's because they have an adorable little, extremely well behaved dog that just follows them everywhere they go)

But whether the act was selfish or not, it made them smile. So mission accomplished.

3, 4, and 5.

THIS

hahahaha my new phone case. Let me explain.

I've already mentioned my weird obsession with phone cases...and considering the number of cats I have, I'm sure you can figure out that I love them too...but the third thing that I have a secret love for...animal puns. hahah I literally laugh every time..no matter how stupid..I just can't help it. I mean seriously now..try not to laugh.

aaahahahaha it never gets old!

And now something I don't love: Slicing open my baby toe. yeah. That just happened. I was going to post a picture, but it's far too gruesome

P.S. Shout out to my cyber stalkers. You know who you are ;)

Valentine Gift DIY

So let's start with a disclaimer...
You may not know this about me, but in almost every circumstance, no matter what, I always do something wrong. Usually not horribly wrong...just slightly wrong, in a way that makes people shake their heads and feel a little sorry for me.

As an example:
This is a lovely rose that someone at work gave me for Valentine's day.

Here is that same rose after I set it on my dashboard and my heater fried it.

Not a completely horrible mistake...just a little tragic...and a perfect example of how I mess up everything a little bit.

So with that disclaimer in mind, here is a tutorial on the (slightly cheesy) Valentine's day gift that I made for my boyfriend.

52 Things I Love About You

Step 1: Start with an ordinary deck of cards.

Step 2: Using a hole punch, punch two holes in each card. (They're going to fit together like a book)

Step 3: Using some fancy edged scissors, I cut out little squares to be glued to the front of each card.

Step 4: Write one thing that you love about the other person on each paper. (52 things, as there are 52 cards obviously)

Make sure you mix it up. Some of the things I wrote were serious, some were silly, and some of them were even inside jokes that would just sound completely ridiculous to everyone else. You can print these off of the computer if you want, but I chose to hand write them because it's a little more personal...also I'm lazy, and my printer is all the way downstairs.

Step 5: Glue one paper to the front of each card. 

(This is the step where my disclaimer comes in)

Take a good look at the photo. Can you see where I went wrong?

Yes. That's right. I glued the papers on upside down. Normally there's no up or down side to cards...but there is if you've already punched the holes in them...and books are supposed to be read with the pages going from left to right. 

So in this case I only noticed after I had already glued together an entire suit, and the glue was too dry to pull the papers off without ripping the cards...so I just went with it. Brandon knows me well enough, he should expect that any gift made by me will have something wrong with it. 

And anyway, in some countries books are read with the pages going from right to left (she said to make herself feel like less of a failure)

Step 6: So after gluing on all of the "reasons I love you" just take some book rings and hook all of the cards together. You can do the cards in order or randomly it doesn't matter.

I used the Jokers for the front and back covers. 

So there you have it.

Other than the slight mishap with the book turning out backwards, I don't think it turned out too bad as a last minute gift. 

I didn't even have to spend any money on it.

The End

P.S. Maybe some day I'll keep my word and actually catch up on that photo challenge (honestly though, don't hold your breath)

Road trip

I know I haven't posted in about a week, but there's good reason for that. I went on a road trip with my boyfriend, and one of our friends up to the mountains to visit my brother, and my cousins. (Our friend conveniently lives in that area as well) I left late afternoon on Friday, and just got back last night. It was a lot of driving, but I had fun. So as usual, let me see if I can just sum it up, as opposed to going on and on.

Friday: Drove for 6 hours. Planned on stopping half way at a Chinese restaurant that I love going to every time I'm in that area. Missed my exit. No Chinese food :(
Stayed the night at a friend's house about an hour and a half away from my cousin's so that he could spend some time with his family.

Saturday: Left my boyfriend and friend to have some guy time and enjoy their Saturday hockey game. (my boyfriend was not happy with the results of the game) Drove to my cousin's house where my brother, cousins and I went into town and enjoyed a nice pizza. Stayed the night at their house. Played cards, ate snacks, and had some good old fashioned family time.

Sunday: Drove back to my friend's house to pick the two of them up. Returned to my cousin's house to pick him up. Drove an hour to my brother's girlfriend's college. (an all girl school much to the delight of my friend.) Officially met my brother's girlfriend, and had a really lovely lunch at a tiny little diner called Manory's. If you're ever in Troy, make sure you eat there. The staff is incredibly nice, and very interactive. (plus the food is good.) All together a very enjoyable meal. We then went back to the dorm lounge and played cards. We stayed the night at my friend's grandpa's house, where we spent the whole night playing pool in his basement/man cave.

Monday: Drove home. Didn't miss my exit this time. Drove to the Chinese restaurant. Found out that it's out of business. No Chinese food :(
When we got back home though, my boyfriend took me out for Chinese at a different place. He's sweet.

So that was my weekend. I didn't take very many photos over the weekend, but here are a couple from my trip.

Mountains. Not the best photo as it was taken from my car window.

My very musical cousin playing his guitar for me

My brother's crazy cat. Her name is Demon, and her eyes always look like this.

My cousin is a Cat-whisperer.

Official Introductions

So I told you Riley's story, but other than in my first post I never mentioned my other pets. So let me start with the mama. Chloe

I know it's the same photo as before, but Chloe is not very photogenic.

Chloe was found in the city as an abandoned, (barely a year old) yet still very friendly kitty. She's a long-haired calico,  and is seriously the sweetest and most beautiful cat you'll ever see. She was found by my boyfriend's family, who unfortunately were not able to keep her. Being the sucker for sweet animals that I am, I offered to take her. She was small, and cuddly, and I could afford one cat. No problem.

What secret was Chloe keeping from us? (I'm sure you can all guess.)

She was pregnant. 

We figured it out pretty quickly, so at least we were able to prepare for it. So here are the 5 beautiful results of Chloe's one wild night in the city.

This is little lion (Officially named Rocko by his new family) He's a beautiful, long-haired white kitten who loves climbing up jackets that are hanging on chairs, and has had a very distinct crying face since he was tiny (as seen below)

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Next, we have "The white one" who turned into "The Orange One" He's a scaredy cat, though he's finally starting to warm up to cuddling. 

Check out his cute little tiger stripes.

***

Now we have the twins

This one is Chubby. AKA Riley's BFF (and occasional pillow) 

Chubby loves to sleep. In those rare moments when he's awake, he spends his time playing with Riley, shredding tissues, and trying to eat me in my sleep.

This guy is called Little Racoon or Crazy Eyes for short. He loves to nibble on toes and run around like a crazy person.

***

And last but not least,

This is Alien Head also nicknamed Grumpy Pants. He's the runt, and he's still very much a momma's boy. All he wants to do is cuddle with Chloe (who I think secretly hates him a little) He also has a weird obsession with tails. He loves snuggling into momma's tail, chasing his brother's tails, pouncing on Riley's wagging tail, and when no other tail is available he settles for attacking his own. 

***

So those are all of my little men. Anyone happen to want to take one home?

Happy is...

"THREE GRAND ESSENTIALS 

TO HAPPINESS IN LIFE

are something to do,

something to love, and

something to hope for."

- Joseph Addison

Read this quote today on bellaMUMMA She always posts such inspirations!

My Confession

I'm kind of, a little bit, completely obsessed with weddings.

My dream career is to be a wedding planner. It’s a little embarrassing, but I’ve literally planned hundreds of make-believe weddings. I have folders and websites on my computer, books on my shelves, and dreams in my head. I probably have a wedding planned for every type of person.

No seriously, it's a problem.

I also watch a lot of wedding shows on TV. Four Weddings, David Tutera, Say Yes to the Dress, even Bridezillas. 

In watching all of these shows, as well as watching the world around me I get to see a lot of different examples of love. The way people interact with each other is actually something that I actively pay attention to in my every day life. Sadly though, a lot of these examples aren't as beautiful as fairy tales make love out to be.

 It’s surprising to me how some people allow themselves to be treated by people that “love” them. I see it in the relationships of my friends, and co-workers. People go out looking for someone to care for them, but then too often allow themselves to get hurt in the name of “love."

Love is a beautiful thing that everyone deserves. 

Everyone. 

I think that's something that people too often forget. Sometimes you just need to be patient. 

...and once everyone finds the amazing love that they deserve, they should all call me and let me plan their weddings ;)

Getting to know Riley

This is Riley

My beautiful, Chocolate Lab, Greyhound mix. She's awkward.

You see, Riley has a little bit of brain damage. It's not her fault. She's sweet as could be. Let me start from the beginning.

This is Riley's mother.

Her real name was Lady, but we called her Panther, because she would slink around in the tall grass like a wild cat.


Panther was the sweetest dog you'll ever meet. She belonged to a neighbor of the vacant house that my family owns.

About once or twice a month each summer, my mother and I, (and occasionally visiting friends) go out to the house to mow the lawn, and make sure everything is in order, and that no one has disturbed the property. This is where we first met Panther. We were surprised by how friendly she was, and how comfortable she was coming right up to us. She would sneak up slowly and silently and suddenly she would just be standing right next to you as if she 'd been there the whole time. We were in love right away. such a beautiful and sweet visitor. She seemed to really be attached to us as well. Once she even tried to climb in to my friends car while we were getting ready to leave.

So you can imagine how horrified we were the first time her owner sped by in his big wheel pick up truck and screamed out the window for her to "GET HOME NOW!" followed by a string of exceptionally rude words.
How could anyone yell at such an adorable and loving creature?
We were very concerned. My brother and I were convinced that they beat her, and starved her. But we had no proof. Other than all the yelling and screaming, we never saw her owner interact with her at all. When her owner would drive by, she would shrink low to the ground, and flinch, but she wasn't afraid of other people. She was a little on the small side, but she wasn't starved looking. she looked like an appropriate weight for a dog of her breed and size.

One day in early September, we went to the house and Panther was there. She looked awful. We realized that she had given birth. We had never even realized she was pregnant. She had been starved so much that she hadn't shown at all. Now that she was no longer carrying her babies we could see all of her bones.
My mother marched right over the neighbor's and demanded that they let us take her home with us where she would be treated right. They shrugged, and told us that they thought she'd had some puppies somewhere outside, and we should probably find the babies and take them as well.
We found them shivering in the dirt, under a trailer in the yard. There were 8 of them.

We took them all home, and set Panther up with a very good shelter that would care for her and her puppies until they were old enough to leave her. we would have loved to keep her, but unfortunately she had been raised practically wild. she had hunted for all of her food, and my mom lives right next door to a small farm. Unless we tied Panther up, she would have killed all of their chickens, and rabbits. Panther was a free spirit. she wouldn't have been happy tied up.
So Panther, and all of the puppies were adopted out to very good and loving homes, and of course, I kept one of the puppies myself. Riley.

Riley's a little over 2 years now, and she is just as sweet and loving as her mother. Having been starved before birth and only fed what garbage her mother could rummage up however, left her brain a little under-developed, and her tummy with very specific dietary needs (Kibbles and Bits. No premier dog food for this pup.)

She's awkward. She tries so hard to be friends with everyone/everything she meets. Most of the time she tries too hard. Other animals find her annoying (most people do to) But once you get to know her, you realize that her heart is in the right place, and all she really wants to do is show you how much she loves you.

This is Riley as a puppy. Look how fast her little tail is going!