Easter(ish) 2012

    Well, Easter has come and gone, and we have yet to celebrate with my family. Our family is cool like that. Half of all holidays are celebrated on a different day. I believe this is because it was hard to always get the family together. Also, growing up, we always split the holidays with the each set of grandparents. We hardly ever did both families on the same day. Even though my mom's parents only lived about 30 minutes away, they thought it was just too hard to fit everything in one day. It amounted to rushing, and not being able to enjoy the time spent with family. Even though this sometimes meant celebrating Christmas a weekend before or after, we always made it feel like that holiday.
    The 21st my parents are coming to spend the night to take care of Bandit while Eric and I are in Rockford for a wedding that I am in. Then the next day we will come back to our apartment and we will all have Easter. Really excited that my mom will have the dinner ready by the time we get home!
    This past Sunday, the real Easter, we went to church, and then went to EW's parent's house for Easter brunch and then dinner. The food was great, as was the company. Of course the only pictures that I got were of the little munchkins. I didn't even get a picture of EW and me. The kids had a little egg hunt, and everyone ate candy. Overall, the weather was pretty good for Easter. It wasn't raining or snowing, so that is always a big plus. I remember many an Easter that we couldn't go outside because it was raining or too cold. Having good weather just makes it that much better!

 Bubbles!

 Perfect Bubbles require Concentration!



Benny liked the trucks...

Change of Topic:
       If you don't know what Pinterest is, you have to try it! It's the most amazing website for everything from home decor, recipes, fashion, crafts, and just anything that you like! I have many boards from cute pictures, baby gear I will have to have, to yummy looking food. If I see something that I think I could do, then I get right to it.  I found this really cool way to change an old frame to a cute 'white erase board'. It is pretty simple, and I'm even thinking of selling them through my store, Bits of Brina. The link will take you to my FB page, and you can also get to my Etsy store from there also.
    Here are the Before and After pictures:

 Goodwill frame w/ glass.

Elegant white-erase board!

    When looking for a frame, I made sure it was wood so that I could sand it. I found some scrapbook paper that I liked, and then picked the spray paint. I went with a glossy black. This project was super easy! I don't have a dry-erase marker, so I couldn't write my grocery list yet, but it will get up there asap. If you would like one of these, and don't want to go through the hassle of doing it yourself, leave a comment with your e-mail, or contact me through FB. I really liked making it, and I can't wait to make more!

-Brina

Never as Planned

    Things have been a bit crazy around here. Not that it isn't always, but more so than usual in the past week or so. As I mentioned in my last post, Bandit tore her ACL and needed to be on bed rest. A month has now passed, and she went in this past Monday to see how it was going. We were told she just needed rest, and that it might heal, but I guess it's more critical than we thought. The vets that have seen her (2 now) both agree it's not IF she will need surgery, but WHEN. Lovely. I spent a good 30 minutes talking about our options, and what can be done to prolong the surgery as long as possible. We decided on complete bed rest, again, and see what happens.
    In case you are not familiar with dogs/dog surgery, this surgery will be very expensive and intense. Not every vet does it, and most are done at places like UofI or Purdue. If you don't know me, I take the health of the ones I love very seriously. I really wanted to get another opinion from a vet I know and trust. Also, I thought it might be cheaper down there. Up here they said upwards of 3,500. I decided to call my parent's vet in Indiana. She helped my parents' cat through an eye ulcer that was pretty serious, and Binky came out ok.
    I left her a message and she got back to me that night. She totally understood and answered all my questions. Without seeing Bandit, she tried to give her best advice: keep her down as much as possible, keep up the benadryl, the joint supplements, and get stairs for everything. She also agrees that Bandit will need surgery at some point. Purdue is cheaper, but we would need to be referred, so we plan to make a trip down there to see what she thinks.
    This brings me to the fact that we were planning to go to Georgia during the summer to see my Grandma who moved down there this past November to live with my Aunt and cousin. We were very excited because we really didn't know if I was going to get some time off, but it seemed to be working out...until we found out Bandit needed surgery. This was definitely a game changer, since the surgery could cost up to $2,500. YIKES! Unfortunately we have already bought tickets to see the Braves vs. Yankees (so if anyone wants 4 family pack tickets, let me know!). I was really upset a few days ago, but now I am thinking we will hopefully just have to postpone our trip until this fall.
    We are not even a week into 'complete rest' and it's not going very restfully. Bandit is a terrier, she loves to run and play no matter what I do. She has a leash on at all times, and I try to help her onto/off the furniture as much as I can. The only thing that is really worrying me, beside the surgery is that once the hurt one is fixed, she will be using the other leg more, and it is at a higher risk to tear also. Surgery is not a cure all, so really it's a crap shoot. Just because she gets it done, it could make the other one tear, or even tear the fixed leg again!

On to a different topic:
   I have been thinking hard about if I want to apply to teaching jobs for this fall. I'm about 98% sure that I won't be. There are a few reasons of why I came to this conclusion: I have been out of the classroom for awhile. I don't even know if I want to work for a public school, and even if I did find a job, I would most likely get pink slipped my first year anyway, with no guarantee that I would get hired back. Also, I really like where I am at now. It's a stable job, and I love going everyday. I don't want to call it work, because they say you shouldn't 'work' but have a 'passion' for what you do. I think I have a passion for working with 2/3 year olds, yet I'm not sure I want to do it forever. It's the wandering soul I have in me. In the long run, I really see myself getting a masters. In what, I'm not sure yet, but psychology is looking good. I love understanding how the brain works, and why people do the things they do. Or maybe even sociology or anthropology. I have a huge interest in any medical field, and love reading about new medical techniques, advances, or setbacks in all of the categories. My teaching assistant is a nursing major, and she is always telling me I should have been a nurse or doctor. Ha! But what's funny is, that if I get interested in something, I will want to find all the information I can about it. I have a hunger for knowledge, and I think that's why I wanted to be a teacher. Who knows what I will be when I grow up.....I might just end up being a mommy ;)

-Brina