12/28/18- Lucky Thirteen

December marks 13 years of dating for Bobby and I.  And November marked 12 years with our pug Chaps.  When Bobby and I were planning our wedding in 2007 (2008?), we made a wedding website, and on it we talked about our fur babies.  Hope you enjoy the pug's origin story (and haha, if we had only known what having human kids and fur kids at the same time would be like, and of course we love our "mixed" family very much)!  Here's to another 13 years!

*Bobby's Side*
Ok, let's get this straight right off the bat - Suzanna and I don't have any kids. We're not even close to ready for them.

However, we do have three amazing and wonderful dogs, but it wasn't always that way. There hasn't always been three and they haven't always been amazing or wonderful.

When Suzanna and I started dating, she had a dog. His name is Bear. Now Bear is a bear of a pomeranian. Yep, that's right one big little dog. He's nearly 30 lbs and at the top of his head he's knee high (check the photo).

After we bought the house, we started talking seriously about getting another dog. In fact, a few months before we bought the house, we had found a great "little" Bernese Mountain Dog. I grew so attached, I named her Charlie. But we never took Charlie home, and it turns out this may have been a good thing.

For nearly the entire time that we had been dating, Suzanna had been talking of a trip to Atlanta to visit her aunt and then roll up to the Carolina's to visit one of her best friends. She has always spoken very highly of all of her aunts, but she was excited to go and visit her Aunt Kay because Kay always wanted her to visit and she thought Kay would love me.

As life sometimes goes, we never managed to make that trip. Much to our extreme regrets, Kay passed away shortly before Thanksgiving of 2006. But she left behind two very special guys just for us. I'll never forget going to the airport and fetching these two scared little dogs - a pug and a shih-tzu - who had just taken a flight across country at a time that was also very hectic to them.

At first Gomez (the shih-tzu with surprisingly a very fitting name) and Chaps (the pug) struggled to adjust. They lost any house training they had gained and seemed depressed and standoffish, much as you would expect foster children to be. But after awhile, they began to accept their surroundings. They took almost instantly to Suzanna (probably because she looked so much like Kay) and eventually took to me too.

Now, despite every family's moments of frustration, the five of us have formed a wonderful tight-knit family. I would like to think that if Kay were looking in on us from time to time she'd be so happy to see how well her boys have adjusted to life here in Arizona.

*Suzanna's Side*
Haha, I think most people that know us, know that the dogs are our kids. We're not at that place in our life to have human kids.

I was totally nervous to have Bobby meet Bear because Bear doesn't like strangers. He barks and barks and barks at them, which isn't neccessarily a bad thing when you're a single girl living by yourself. Bobby wanted to see/meet Bear the first date, but I waited to do that introduction. The time came, and even though Bear barked and barked and barked, a few hours later, Bear was licking Bobby. I think after I had Bobby feed and walk Bear one day when I had to work late, that Bear was forever Bobby's dog too. I'm sure Bear enjoyed his one on one time that he had with Bobby and I, but I think Bear likes having someone to boss around (he totally tries to wrangle Chaps, kinda funny if you ask me) and be with him while we're at work.

Bobby already shared the heart breaking and heart warming story of how we got our other two dogs, but I will also never forget going to cargo wing of delta to pick up one pug and one shih-tzu, shaking, whinning, and scared in their crates. My heart melted in that one single moment. Chaps and Gomez have two distinct personalities, and we are so happy to have them as part of our family. I think Kay would be happy too. We love all 3 of our dogs very much.

12/19/18- It's a Wonderful Life (Mostly)

I was watching the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" the other day (which made me realize that I can't choose just one favorite Christmas movie, so don't ask), and that movie reminded me of everything I have to be grateful for this year and well all of my life. So without much ado, here's my list of things I'm grateful for in 2018:

1) Jack and Bobby
2) The rest of my family and my friends-- so many of you supported me and my book this year, thank you, thank you, thank you!
3) My second book, Annie Aardvark: Adding Ants, came out this year!
4) A successful Kickstarter for Annie Aardvark: Adding Ants!
5) Attended the Beth McDonald's Woman of the Year Awards (I was a nominee)!
6) Launched a new blog, STEM Spark (born out of consultation with the Crafty Chica)
7) Went to Legoland-- friends let us tag along on their vacation and our kids had a good time together (and even though I needed lots of rest and sleep and Jack was sick to his tummy, our friends were understanding about the naps required)
8) Bobby and I did a stay-cation for our anniversary, the hotel stay was part of my prize for Beth McDonald's Woman of the Year Awards
9) My mom went through some health problems, but is doing a little bit better and my dad is turning 90 in a week (and doing pretty darn good)!
10) Attended 2 great STEM conferences this year
11) Jack's 4th birthday party; so many 4 year olds, but he enjoyed it and so happy we celebrated another year of him driving us nuts!
12) Got another year with our pug
13) Won some books
14) Rode the Polar Express Train
15) Jack's 1st Dance Recital
16) Started a steroid a couple of weeks ago to help with energy, and I think it's helping some. Also started a new med that should hopefully reduce my CRP levels.
17) Having a paying job that makes a positive contribution to the world.
18) Highlights Magazine bought a story from me!
19) A happy Thanksgiving with my in-laws
20) The sunny weather in Phoenix right now
21) Reese's Peanut Butter cups (and if I'm honest, tons of other sweets too) and Tea
22) Science/math jokes and puns
23) Graphic tees and funny coffee mugs
24) Fun purchases from Target
25) USPS Click and Ship, as well as online ordering and shipping right to my door

Happy Holidays to everyone, and may your 2019 bring you many things to be grateful for!  As for me, it's a pretty decent to mildly great to wonderful (depends on my mood for the day, haha) life!  Cheers!

12/6/18- Family's Heart (For the 8th Annual Holiday Contest)

So I've always wanted to write picture book involving US Coast Guard search and rescue, since I work at a company that designed, built, and now maintains the search and rescue system, as well as a holiday/Christmas story.  Well, Susannah Hill's Eighth Annual Holiday Contest has provided me the opportunity to put both ideas into one story. The story was also inspired by true events I heard on the radio a while ago.  While listening to the sad story (it thankfully ended well), I couldn't help but feel pride for the system I work on.  People get saved by this system, ya know?  Sharking tears after hearing stories about boaters being rescued by the Coast Guard...

So, the story for this contest has to be 250 words or less, so I had to cut some boat and search and rescue details out of it. Therefore, apologies to all the sailors in the world for botching some the technicalities of sailing; I hope you at least find the story entertaining despite technical issues. 😊  There's also a theme with the contest-- it has to be about a holiday hero!  So because of my work, real life heros that come to mind are Coast Guard rescuers, and I sincerely thank them for all that they do.  Thank you! But for this contest, I wanted to add another layer of who the holiday hero, and now that I'm done explaining and rambling (I'm probably just taking you away from the story this point, d'oh), I present the actual story.  I hope you enjoy Family's Heart.

Family's Heart

“Merry Christmas! Did Santa come?” Sara asked.  Cracking a smile, Dad said, “Christmas is tomorrow.” “Oh!… Merry Christmas Eve!” Sara grinned.  “Go check on your brother for me.  I have to assist Mom with the engine,” Dad said.  Sara scampered down below.

“Nate, wake up!” Sara declared.  Nate didn’t stir.  Sara scooted closer. Jabbing him, she said, “lazy, get up!”  Nothing.  Sara bit her lip.  She poked his cheek and was met with hotness.  “Mom, Dad!  Something’s wrong with Nate!” Sara shouted.

She heard scurrying above, and in a flash her parents appeared. “Tom, he’s burning up.  And with the loss of power, we should radio for help,” Mom stressed.

Dad sprinted to the radio; Sara trailing behind.  “Mayday! It’s Family’s Heart! We need medical support!”  But Sara cut him off.  “Dad, is that water?” Sara pointed.  Dad’s face fell.  “Mayday, we’re taking on water!”  Dad said, simultaneously pushing the DSC button.

After long crackles, a voice answered, “This is the Coast Guard. We have your coordinates.”

“Sara, go tell Mom we have to abandon ship,” Dad stated, tears welling up.   Sara flew like a reindeer, grabbing all that was important.

From the deck of USS Vandergrift, the Jones watched as their home was swallowed up. “We’ve lost everything,” Dad lamented, squeezing an alert Nate (thanks to antibiotics administrated by the rescuers).  “Not everything,” Sara whispered.  She pulled out a photo. It was the Jones on Family’s Heart. Dad gasped, and Mom pulled everyone tight.  “Merry Christmas,” Sara said.