Life with a puppy- Month 3

Its hard to believe we have been in our house for over 3 months now, and by default that means we have had Miss Eleanore for the same amount of time.

Needless to say, she has grown a lot! 

We still have no idea how big she will get, but she is a good size now so I'm hoping she won't get too much larger. But if she does...well, I guess we are in for more energetic excitement. 

Ellie has a fascination with Atticus, who still doesn't like her and hisses anytime she tries to get near him. But they will occasionally sit in the same room. A few times, I have watched their interaction. Ellie will lay down across the room and slowly try to inch forward closer to him. The problem is, she is a puppy and not so sneaky or graceful. 

Licking toes is still her favorite thing ever. And we still hate it. There's going to have to be some compromise there...

A few weekends ago we took her out to Lindsey and Jared's property to play with Finn, and we let Ellie off the leash for the first time. Other than finding every bit of mud and grossness, she did come back when called and did very well! So I guess she does know her name and likes us enough to come back to us :) 

With the coming of fall, a lot is coming up and a lot is going on currently. It's overwhelming sometimes. I don't think I could tell you the next free weekend I have with all of the things that are going on! (Granted, most of that is by choice, and thus, my fault)

General life happenings: 

Micah- is back in school. Bring on the homework! 

Kim- Gets exhausted THINKING about life right now. 

I'm currently learning Italian and training for my second half marathon (November 13th is the goal..) and...I wasn't going to mention the half marathon training because I'm not sure that my old injuries are completely healed up and I'm not sure I'll be physically able to run the race. Last week's "long run" was 6.3 miles, and this week is just starting so I'm not sure how it will go. My 5 miles last night seemed to go well..

I have 9 weeks till the race day and I don't have to register until October 1st. So..I've got time to decide. Though I might not be able to do the race, I AM training, so why not just share that? 

By the same token, (The its-happening-so-why-not token), I feel like I should also share..I have a POTENTIALLY very exciting announcement. 

I have wanted to write a book since I was a little girl, just have never really gotten around to doing anything about it or wanted to figure out what to write about. Well, over the past several months, I have been writing. And writing. What started as a hopeful magazine article has turned into a full length book! 

 I have started the process of looking for a publisher. Up until...well, today, actually, I had been working with Christian Faith Publishing. But, I got the breakdown of the startup costs...$3400 out of pocket for me to pay.

Now, what you get with that is probably totally worth the money since that includes an editor, someone to typeset the book, a team to design your book art, AND they set you up in print and Ebook form and can market your book for purchase on platforms like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, as well as Kindle, Nook, and Apple. Basically, once your manuscript is accepted, they do the rest.

BUT! for this newlywed girl, whose husband is going back to school full time and we are paying tuition without any student loans, and a new mortgage....$3400 can't happen right now. So, I'm exploring some other publishers and trying to figure out some options! Who knows how long I will pursue it, or if a book will ever come out with my name as the author. This is a whole new world for me, so naturally, it's a little bit intimidating. But you know what? I'm already proud of myself for even trying. 

So on top of those things, I also have some projects going (If you know me, you know my craftiness must be used constantly...and we haven't done anything with our house yet as far as painting, or getting the basement set up to be an amazing man-cave/workout area). BUT atleast we have all of our boxes unpacked! ....oh wait..we don't. 🤔🙄😏

Oh, and I'm still working full time too (naturally). My husband can vouch for me: there have been days (2 last week) that I have gone to bed after my run and slept for 10-13 hours. I'm exhausted, and NOT ready for fall. I mean, I'm ready for the fall weather..and the fall colors, and sweatshirts and all that jazz, but I'm not ready for all the craziness that will last until the end of the year.  

Other recent happenings: 

My family had their first family reunion! 

Photo 1: My mother, Me, and Micah

Photo 2: my mother and ALL of her siblings (this never happens) 

We went to the zoo and rode the train around to play Pokemon :) I had never ridden the train before so that was a new experience for me! 

AND: we are getting ready to start our "dates around the world", where I make traditional meals from 12 of our pre-chosen countries and Micah and I (and sometimes Noah, if he wants to) spend the hour together having that meal in our kitchen. First up is Egypt! Hoping that I can get that together sometime next week...we'll see. I've got Egypt, Germany, and Ireland put together so far. 

Isn't life fun? If we didn't jam pack it and overload ourselves, we wouldn't get to experience the things we do. 

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I have to remind myself of that a lot.. especially going into the last third of the year and planning three roadtrips, our attendance of weddings, finding time to go on dates together, and trying to be a good daughter, wife, friend, cousin, and aunt. Not to mention we have several potlucks in our future that I have to make new recipes for (I love having excuses to make new delicious things!) ..I love food. :)

Let's end with this:  Here's a photo of Atticus tenderly loving his green plastic ball that my mom got for him. 

And stay tuned, as the holidays fast approach us, this means Holiday photos of Atticus! I can tell you that he has a magnificent Halloween costume :) and if I can find it (we have moved twice since last year's photo) he also has a fun Christmas one, pictured below.  I'm also sure, the way he takes selfies with me, the holiday season will be filled with more of THIS. 

 

We may have to try Ellie's cooperation with festive photos this year as well. Too bad she and Atticus wouldn't both be in the same picture together..they won't get that close to each other. Maybe one day...