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Puppy Loving

Posted on February 27, 2017 by auburnchick

Saturday was simply glorious around these parts.

The sun was shining, and the temperature got up to 78 degrees.

I cannot remember February ever being this warm before.

I spent some time in the back yard loving on the dogs.

Pele loves the sun.

He was very cooperative when I started taking selfies.

Gosh, but I love this guy.  He’s our oldest now; every day with him is a gift.

Pele may be the oldest, but Molly is the one in charge.

I ordered a new collar for her from Kelli, a high school friend who has an Etsy store that specializes in dog collars and leashes.  Her work is top-notch, let me tell you.

This is the third collar I’ve purchased from Kelli.  They are so strong and stylish too!  Molly didn’t mind posing for me in the yard…

Alas, but I didn’t take any photos with Gambit!  Shocker, I know, but he did get loved on…just not photographed.

Ha!

This weekend’s weather provided a tantalizing whiff of spring, which is right around the corner.

Filed under: Pets | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Weekending, the Auburnchick Way

Posted on November 7, 2016 by auburnchick

How I love, love, love my weekends.

Seriously, though.

I honestly cannot remember what I did on Friday night.  My school’s football team had an away game, so I stayed home and relaxed.

I may have gone to bed early.  In fact, I remember that I did…right in the middle of watching my DVR’d episode of The Blacklist.

I’d worked super-duper hard all week, and I was just worn out.

Saturday, I wasn’t feeling very well, so I stayed in my pajamas and hung out in front of the TV all day.

I do love college football season!!

I got out the stockings I’d knit over a year ago along with the fabric I’d had cut this past summer and proceeded to add liners.

The Mr. and I stressed over our beloved Auburn Tigers, but they pulled out the win, so we were exceptionally happy the rest of the day.

Later that evening, I whipped up a batch of Detoxinista’s Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal Cups.

Although mine turned out a little gummy on the bottoms, the flavor was divine!  I made a double batch and am sharing them with my friend at school.

I ate the first one while reading up on the next Beachbody program I’m going to start soon.

It’s a three-month program that I may do twice.  My plan?  Beast abs by bikini season.

On Sunday, the Mr. and I attended church.  Getting up was a lot easier after the extra hour of sleep we got from setting our clocks back.

I know a lot of people don’t like it getting dark earlier, but when you wake up at o’dark 30, seeing daylight makes it a little easier.

After church, we ran a few errands (more on those in a later post) and headed home.

I found a few minutes to indulge in a few selfies with the fur babies.  They are just so danged cute, and the day was incredible!

A nap attack hit me hard that afternoon, and I crashed for a couple of hours before getting up to make a pot of black bean soup.  The Mr. grilled out while I cleaned up the kitchen.

After watching a couple of television shows, I called it a night.

Weekends always seem to go by so quickly, don’t they?!

The good thing about this one is that it led into a four-day work week because of Veteran’s Day this Friday.

Silver linings, folks, silver linings.

Filed under: empty nest | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Looking Out My Window

Posted on July 5, 2016 by auburnchick

I’ve been having a bit of fun with the new camera lens I bought for Rooster’s graduation.

I’ve discovered that I can stand inside my house and snap some pretty good photos of visitors.

No, I’m not that nosy neighbor peeking out of my curtains.

heehee

I’m talking about looking out of my back window to my yard.

I saw this little one shortly after my summer vacation started.

A couple of days later, I saw what may or may not have been a different winged friend.

This guy or gal, as the case may have been, found a little snack before flying off to a new perch.

A couple of weeks later, I noticed Gambit staring out my French door.  He was sitting extremely still, concentrating on one thing…

He was quite pitiful.  He loves to run after squirrels.  They always beat him to the trees, but the fun is in the chase.

I wouldn’t let him out because I wanted to snap some pictures.

I’m a mean fur mom that way.

This guy found a little something for dinner.

He scampered around looking for more.

Something piqued his interest…

This is probably my favorite photo of him…

When I was finished, I quietly opened the door.

The squirrel won the race again.

Filed under: Pets | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Empty Nesting – A Visual Storybook

Posted on June 28, 2016 by auburnchick

Now that I’m blogging again, I’m going through photos I’ve uploaded to Flickr to see what stuff I need to catch you up on.

I decided that pretty much all of my pictures are ones that depict the early stages of an empty nester.

It’s not an easy transition…the house too quiet.  But I’m choosing not to wallow in my sadness…at least not too often…and embrace this new phase in my life.

The Mr. and I have had a lot of time to reconnect.  You can often find us out and about at local restaurants.  Some of our favorites are those that are on the water.

Eating dinner with the backdrop of the sun setting against the water is simply breathtaking.

These photos are unfiltered, y’all.

My days are spent loving on my fur babies.

Gambit is ours until Rooster takes him to his first duty station.

Being home means taking care of the house.  One of my sprinkler zones quit working, so I had to call in an expert.  This local husband and wife team did a great job diagnosing the problem and fixing what wound up being a broken valve for a minimal charge.

There is, of course, my daily workout time.  Sometimes, I run errands afterward (I think that’s my bathing suit peeking out underneath…maybe I went to the pool afterward?).

Empty nesting means cooking whatever I want without a whole lot of repercussions…except when a recipe fails in a major way…

Um…yeah.  Those were supposed to be vegan brownie muffins.  The batter tasted great.  Apparently either the baking soda or baking powder (whichever I used…can’t remember now) had an issue.

Ahem.

Now that I’m an empty nester, I get redo’s without anyone getting mad (I’d take the mad now any day just to have my babies home, though).

I can make such things as Red Lentil and Rice Loaf (and it actually tastes delicious)…something that nobody else will touch and that my children are probably pretty glad I waited to cook until they’d moved out…

There’s midday TV…War Eagle!

There’s homemade salad dressings with small tossed salads on the plastic plates that my boy left behind from his year at Auburn.

There’s uninterrupted reading…

And shopping trips to soothe my heart when I’m having a rough day and missing my children…

 

I can often be found staying up late at night watching Agents of Shield while knitting…

There are Saturday poolside dates with the hubby…

Or trips to the beach…

Where I engage in more uninterrupted reading (unless it’s to reminisce over years gone by when I see cute toddlers testing the water for the first time…sigh)…

And post-sun dinners out…

I am such a blessed gal.  By God’s grace, I’ve raised children who are self-sufficient citizens.  After pouring so much time and energy into making sure they arrived safely into adulthood (again by God’s grace) I’m at the point in my life where I can slow down a little…at least until school starts back up…recharge my batteries…and just be.

This empty nesting thing is bittersweet, indeed, but I take joy in my children’s accomplishments…in their independence…and I will continue to follow this latest turn in the road I call life.

Filed under: children, empty nest, Vegan | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Sunday Shenanigans

Posted on April 25, 2016 by auburnchick

Oh Sunday, how wonderful art thou.

After a morning of church and lunch, I sat outside and read for a few minutes while the dogs sunned themselves.

That book, by the way, is the fourth in the Lunar Chronicles series, one that I have been hooked on since a student insisted that I read it (I originally owned the first two but then bought the rest of them).  Sooooo good!!!

Gambit tried to catch a lizard.  These critters, along with squirrels, torment my fur baby.

It didn’t take long until the dogs were ready to go in.  Talk about spoiled rotten!

The Mr. and I put together the table that is a part of a new patio set…one he’d ordered a week or two ago from Walmart.  I’m in love with this set!

The Mr. went grocery shopping and came home with some special treats for the dogs.  During Saturday’s phone call with Chicky, she’d told us about these, so the Mr. went hunting for them.

They have peanut butter in them and are frozen.  They pop right out of plastic containers.  All of our dogs went nuts for them!!!

Rooster’s girl came to the house late-afternoon, and we ran out to check out a wedding venue.  It’s one that Chicky’s high school friend got married at…on the water and so lovely…but nobody was there to talk to us about specifics, so “N” will have to go back another day.

Meanwhile, the Mr. was grilling hamburgers, and I’d put potatoes in the oven to roast.  Dinner and the company were a wonderful combination.

After N left, the Mr. and I sat outside, on our new chairs, and enjoyed a few minutes in the rare cool of an early spring evening.  The only thing that would have made this better would have been to have Chicky and Rooster with us.  Ah…empty nest syndrome…you are a beast still to be tamed.  The Moscato helped a little.

It’s hard to believe that it’s already Monday!  Time certainly flies when you’re having a good time!

I hope you had as fantastic of a weekend as I did!

Filed under: Pets | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

How We are Coping

Posted on April 12, 2016 by auburnchick

Dear Rooster,

While you’re off learning how to wear camo and keep your face clean-shaven, we’re just over here, counting down the days until we get to see you again.

We still have a longgggggggg way to go.

The waiting is exhausting.

If you need us, we’ll just be chillin’…in between letter writing…you know, like sleeping, which is something you’re probably not doing a lot of these days.

We love you and are praying for you, even while we snooze our days away.  Honestly, sleeping helps pass the time until we can be reunited with our boy wonder.

Love,

Mama, Pele, Molly, and Gambit

Filed under: children, Pets | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Someone’s Ready for Auburn Football

Posted on August 5, 2015 by auburnchick

Look who’s ready for some Auburn football…

Don’t you just love the collar that Gambit is sporting?

I saw it on my friend’s Instagram feed.  Kelli and I went to high school together, and she married a guy in my class (she graduated the year after we did).  I remember her being artsy back then, so it didn’t surprise me when I discovered that she has an Etsy store, KM Designs, where she specializes in themed dog collars but has a variety of other hand-crafted items as well.

As soon as I saw the Auburn collar, I knew I had to splurge.  Gambit is Rooster’s dog, and Rooster is fond of wearing bow ties.  In fact, it’s the thing in Auburn right now.

I had some questions regarding which collar size to get, and Kelli immediately responded to my messages…within the same hour…on the weekend!  Needless to say, my order went in the same day!

The collar is very well made.  Kelli did a great job!  The collar is good quality; the clasp snaps together tightly.

Gambit seems pleased with all of the extra attention he’s getting.

Oh, and if you’re looking for hand-made jewelry, check out Madelyn’s Etsy store, The Frilly Fox.  She’s Kelli’s daughter and equally beautiful and talented!  I ordered my mom this necklace for Mother’s Day.  Delivery was super fast, and the hand-stamped necklace is so pretty!

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

Mondays Be Like

Posted on April 20, 2015 by auburnchick

The looks I get as I head out the door on Monday mornings…

Is it Friday yet?

Filed under: Pets, Teaching | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

Sundays are for…

Posted on April 19, 2015 by auburnchick

After a morning spent at church with a follow-up of lunch with friends, a typical Sunday afternoon in Chez Auburnchick looks like this…

And this…

Thank you, DVR!

And this…

What does your day look like?

Filed under: Pets | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

A Sweater for Gambit

Posted on February 23, 2014 by auburnchick

As you know, I’m a member of a Harry Potter Knit/Crochet forum on Ravelry.  It’s a fun way to craft items and compete against others for points.

One of the fun Ravelry traditions involves a spinoff of the Olympics.  Ravelry’s version is called Ravellenics.  The more items you knit that fit in various categories, the more medals you earn.

I challenged myself by setting a goal of knitting three projects worth a total of 750 yards to get maximum Quidditch points for the Harry Potter forum and Ravellenics medals for that section of Ravelry.

The first project was my pair of socks, which I blogged about a few days ago.

My second project was a sweater for Gambit.  He was in desperate need because all he had was a Christmas sweater, which fits him perfectly, and a Disney one that isn’t really the correct size.

I found a free pattern on Ravelry, took some of Gambit’s measurements (that was real interesting, let me tell you), and got to work.

I used size 5 needles and Caron Simply Soft yarn.

We had several fitting sessions, and being the easy-going dog that he is, he acquiesced my requests…

My gauge swatch lied to me, and when I checked while working on the sweater, I noticed that I was getting more stitches per inch.  I had to adjust a bit but didn’t start over.

I wound up finishing the sweater Saturday afternoon.  It fits fairly well, but when I make another one, I’ll make the belly a lot longer and keep the back wider when I begin the shaping.

He seems to like it though!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Filed under: Knitting, Pets | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

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