Daisy tries to make a run for it!

Sometimes I think that Daisy may not be the brightest bulb in the box (like when she stretches and rolls off the couch, repeatedly). Other times I think she may be pretty smart. Adam and I were watching the Colts game (even though the game didn't matter, we were just excited to be able to watch). Daisy wanted to go out, we took her out multiple times and she didn't need to go to the bathroom, she just wanted to go outside and play so we ignored her pleas. She then decided that she would just let herself out.

I am impressed that she is smart enough to figure out that turning the handle opens the door. Luckily for us, we don't have a lever door knob and she can't quite reach the deadbolt.

Oh the weather outside is frightful.....just kidding!

The weather is delightful! Adam and I can get use to Christmas in Mississippi. We decided to take pictures to show everyone how warm it was today (the day after Christmas). We took Daisy on a 6 mile walk in the morning and in the afternoon we went outside to play fetch. Here are some pictures:

This is what I wore while outside playing catch.


It was sunny today so the sun is in my eyes, hence the squinting, but Daisy looks really cute.

My parents in Seattle are shoveling snow off their driveway. It has been unseasonably snowy in Seattle, so much so that my mom says that people's roofs have collapsed due to the weight of the snow. I'll try to send a little warmth their way.

Merry Christmas from Daisy

Adam and I had a wonderful Christmas with the two of us and Daisy. We had some friends that were suppose to come over but all of the three kids got the flu so it was just the two of us and all that turkey to eat. Daisy was more than happy to volunteer to help.

We did the Ralston family tradition and watched A Christmas Story repeatedly (we especially love it since it takes place in Indiana) and ate way too much! We really didn't give each other presents since our gift to each other is going to Miami for the Orange Bowl.

Daisy got a present from Adam's mom...reindeer antlers! She was surprising good about wearing them but I think it was because she was too focused on how to get some turkey to care what we dressed her in. Thanks for the gift Anne!!

Here is Daisy wearing her antlers....I think she is a very cute reindeer.

Happy Holidays!!

Adam and I are spending Christmas in Mississippi. We miss spending time with our friends and family, but given that the Midwest is preparing for snow and we're in the 70's today with the windows open...we're feeling alright.

There isn't much news to report down here. Hopefully everyone got our Christmas card, it was very difficult to get a picture of the dog looking at the camera and to prove it, here are just a couple of out-takes:

I'm not sure what she's looking at
Adam even looks goofy in this one

Adam and Daisy are two peas and a pod. Daisy just has a special place in her heart for her daddy. For example, if I throw her ball, she'll fetch it and bring it back to Adam. When she wants to play, she ALWAYS brings her toy to Adam first and it is only after he doesn't play that she brings the toy to me. I say I'm just a poor pups daddy.

Here is a picture of Daisy (wearing a Colts bandana....you can't really tell but she is) watching Adam play video games. Notice Daisy is on the couch and Adam is on the floor...rough life this dog has:)

Today we took Daisy on a walk in the park. If we don't walk her, then she has a lot of energy and we can't get things done. We took her on a walk to wear her out so she'll sleep while we clean. The plan worked a little too well because it succeed in wearing out Daisy and Adam.

Like father like puppy. I'm happy that he finally has a buddy to share his interests with.

This first picture is taken with me standing over them, that's why it looks weird.

You know you're in the south when.......

I was looking up the library hours online today (I have to return a book on CD and they don't allow those to go in the after hours drop box) and I happened to notice the holidays that the library is closed. They included your standard Christmas, New Years, etc. I also noticed that they are closed on Robert E. Lee day! I have no idea when Robert E. Lee day is, but apparently I will not be able to go to the library that day.

You know you're in the south when things are closed on Robert E. Lee day!

Much to update

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog so I'll try to catch everyone up.

First, Alcorn State lost their last game of the season against their biggest rival, Jackson State. They lost by 5 points and had a chance to win at the end but fell short. My co-worker and her 4 year old son came to the game and now he thinks that every football game on tv is the game he was at.

Even though the Braves were unable to pull through, the good news is that Adam was able to spend Thanksgiving at home with his family for the first time since he was in high school. We drove to Indianapolis with another coach who was heading up to Detroit. We took Daisy with us and she was perfect the entire trip up (I can't say the same for the returning trip back). We signed her up for doggie day camp since we were leaving around 3 and we wanted her to be nice and tired for the trip and it worked. She slept most of the way and was pretty quiet the entire time and just chilled in her crate. It was definitely worth the $20 cost of doggie day camp.

Thanksgiving was a busy day for us, we got up early and went to West Lafayette to have breakfast with Grandma Shorter and some of Adam's uncle. Grandma was very excited to see Adam and he had a good time with her.

Adam and I with Grandma Shorter

After breakfast with Grandma, we went back to Indianapolis to Adam's dad's house for our first Thanksgiving of the day. Adam's brother, Fritz, and his wife and kids also came to Indianapolis for Thanksgiving! They are so fun to hang out with and are probably going to be taller than me this time next year (at 5, 3 and 1), they are Shorters after all. One of the highlights of Thanksgiving, other than the yummy food and spending time with family, was that Olivia got to climb her first tree in her Grandpa Fred's front yard.

Olivia climbs her first tree

After Thanksgiving dinner at Adam's dad's house, it was time to move on to second Thanksgiving at Adam's mom's house. We brought Daisy with us and she loved playing with the kids! She had a good time chasing them and playing ball. Olivia didn't like touching the slobbery tennis ball to throw it, but she still took it from me every time I handed it to her to throw. Mason learned Daisy's name in about a minute and a half and called her "daisy dog". I tried for awhile to get him to say "Aunt Michelle" but he never did. I see where I rank on his list of important things...right behind the dog and football.

While we were there, we also went to the neighborhood playground where Mason practiced his football skills. It was a Purdue football, I tried to tell him that it was a bad football but he still wanted to play with it. I guess he'll learn with time:)

Mason works on his 3 step drop


Luke, as usual, was very amusing. Here is a picture of him flexing his muscles, he is also doing his "tough guy face".


As everyone has seen in previous posts (if not, check out the Dec 2007/Jan 2008 blog archives) that Luke loves to dance no matter the music or surroundings. Luke spilled water on his shirt at some point during the day so he took it off. I'm not sure why he took his pants off other than the fact that he's a 3 year old. He is wearing his spiderman underwear because when you feel the need to dance it doesn't matter what you're wearing. Olivia also makes a cameo in and out of the video. Note that he stops dancing in the middle and makes a face because the music stopped while the DJ was talking, but luckily the music comes back.

My personal favorite part of the video is the end, where he decides that he's tired of me recording him so he shuts the door on me! Josh, Adam's best friend, and his wife Emily came over and Luke took Emily to dance with him in that room....at 3 he's already a ladies man!

We were also able to visit some friends during our trip. We saw Jennifer and Nate Saxe and their little girl, Annabel and Jessica and Matt Recupito and their little boy Joshua. Andy and Jen Stone came over, but they have no little one unless you count Andy:) Annabel and Joshua were really cute together. Joshua especially enjoyed playing with Annabel's ball shooter toy (I'm sure that's the actual technical name of it)

Annabel and Joshua

We also went down to Cincinnati to watch the Cincinnati Bearcats clinch the Big East Championship title outright. Since West Virginia had lost to Pitt the previous day, they knew they would get a share of the title and go to the BCS but why share when you can win your last game and have it all to yourself? Adam got to be on the sidelines and was very proud to watch the Bearcats win. Here is a picture of the Big East Championship trophy. Now they are just waiting to hear if they go to the Orange Bowl or the Sugar Bowl.

I think I got it all. That was exhausting!

Sleep? What's that??

Adam and I begin our Monday very sleep-deprived courtesy of Daisy. When she was a little puppy she would wake us up to let her out to potty twice a night, now she just wakes up at 3/4am and is done sleeping. I actually liked it better when she got up a couple times a night because after she went potty she went back to sleep. Now she just cries and cries until we give-in and give-up. We would put her crate in another room to teach her that when she cries she won't get let out, but since we live in an apartment there are neighbors to consider.

Last night at about 8pm she was sleeping and Adam and I kept waking her up because we wanted her to sleep when we slept. She was getting mad and kept trying to hide from us. She went behind the couch to try and sleep but we still kept bothering her. She tried to hide under the bed but we found her and pulled her out. It was actually kind of funny watching her get frustrated by us bothering her when she wanted to sleep.....a little payback!

Other than tormenting our puppy, Adam has been busy with work and I've been working and looking for Christmas presents. There is an outlet mall (we'll a handful of outlet stores is more accurate) with some children's clothing stores. I have managed to find some cute outfits for our nephews! I'm trying to be good because I usually go overboard when buying for them because little kids clothes are so cute!!! Alcorn lost last week (booo!) and have their last game this weekend against their biggest rival, Jackson State. Be sure to cheer on the Braves!!

Another visitor from up north!

Adam had a bye week this week so his dad flew down to see some of the civil war sites in the city. For those of you who don't know, we live in Vicksburg Mississippi which was the location of an important civil war battle. The city is on the Mississippi river and was important because whomever had control of the city could control movement on the Mississippi river. The city also sits on cliffs above the river which gave the controlling side a great vantage point of oncoming boats. The north ended up winning the battle and now the battle grounds are a national park.

Adam spent a semester teaching American history to 8th graders and is a big history fan. He has been holding out going to the battlegrounds so he could go with his dad. We had beautiful weather and walked 3 miles around one section of the battlegrounds and drove around the rest (it is too long and too hilly to walk, although some people do so). Mainly the park consists of markers of various camps, casualties, trench lines, etc.

We also took Daisy with us and she loved walking around the park (Daisy simply enjoys being outside). She is starting to loose her baby teeth and her adult teeth are coming in nicely. Adam was playing around with her and decided to put her in a bag like Paris Hilton, she was a good sport and didn't struggle or whine!

That's hot!

Adam and his dad at the USS Cairo, a Union ship that was sunk in the Mississippi River with an electronic detonator.

Adam and his dad by one of the many monument remembering the troops from Indiana that fought in the battle.

Adam and his dad walking up to one of the monuments remembering soldiers from Illinois that fought in the battle.

After a day of sightseeing we went to the sports bar in town to watch the Cincinnati Bearcats play West Virginia. It was on ESPNU which we don't get, so we headed to the bar. Overall it was a great game, the Bearcats played well until the last 1:11. Pretty much everything went West Virginia's way. They were able to score a TD with a two point conversation, recover the on sides kick, get into field goal range and kick a 52 yard field goal to send the game to OT. Luckily the Bearcats pulled out a win in OT and are now the #22 ranked team in the country.

I hate close game with Adam's teams. It's a more stressful experience when you're watching a team in which you know the players and when you are married to or are friends with the coaches versus just watching your favorite team. I hope Alcorn State can pull out a win next week. It's always a happier time when your team wins. Go Braves!!

Happy Halloween...a little late

For Halloween, we did dress Daisy up, but she didn't like wearing her costume so it didn't stay on her too long. She was a witch (I got the costume for a total of $2 at Target). She wore it just long enough for us to take a couple of pictures.

We didn't get as many trick-or-treaters as we had anticipated so we had a lot of leftover candy that Adam took to the office.....it was all gone before lunch.

Last weekend's game was the last home game of the year so it was Senior Day. On Senior Day, all the Senior football players stand on the field with their parents and get recognized for their years of dedication to the football team. One of Adam's players is from Hawaii and his parents couldn't come so Adam and I stood in for them. I was waiting on the sidelines to go out on the field with the other parents when one of them asked me what jersey number my son wore. I told her I was a coach's wife and I was filling in for a player whose parents couldn't make it. I was a little bummed that someone thought I looked old enough to have a son who is a senior in college.

Later on that evening, Adam and I went to a bar in one of the casinos and I got stopped at the door by the security guard who needed to see my ID, I handed it to him and he was fine with it but he didn't ask for Adam's ID. I asked him if he needed to see Adam's ID and he said "no, he looks old enough." To this I replied that Adam is actually 2 years younger than me so thanks!

In the course of a day I went from looking like I had a 21 year old son to looking like I could be dating a 21 year old.

Below is a funny video of Daisy. Adam and I are playing Wii and she is intrigued my Adam moving the hand around on the video game....I think it's funny.

Pumpkin Time

This week Adam and I carved our first ever pumpkin. Even though we have been married for 2 Halloweens, between grad school and football season we just never got the chance to carve on. We also never got a lot of Trick-or-Treaters but we think that will change this year since kids knock on our door on a regular basis to play with Daisy. So we decided to get a pumpkin.

When we were kids, my dad would have us draw what we wanted our pumpkin faces to look like and then he would draw it on the pumpkin and carve it. Adam and I aren't that creative so I bought some stencils and we (and by "we" I mean Adam) traced the stencil and carved the design.

Here is Adam working on his masterpiece.

Here is our pumpkin design in candlelight. They are 4 ghosts.

The Alcorn State Braves lost this week against Texas Southern. It was a tough loss because they lost by 1 point and the game-winning 45 yard field goal went wide left. Already everyone is busy preparing for the next game against Alabama State.

One piece of good news is that Adam will be able to spend Thanksgiving with his family for the first time in 8 years!!! Alcorn ends their season the weekend before Thanksgiving and when Adam played and coached at Cincinnati, their season went into December, so he hasn't spent Thanksgiving with his family since high school. They past few years, my family has come and spent Thanksgiving with us (he usually puts in half a day on Thanksgiving so he comes home for dinner) but he is excited to actually go back to Indianapolis for the holiday. I am excited to go back and do some shopping in a real city!

The Ralstons come to town

Since banks were closed for Columbus day last Monday, my parents decided to come to good 'ol Mississippi to visit. My dad is working at Washington Mutual (which was recently acquired by JP Morgan Chase) so he has been working hard on converting computer systems and is working from home in Indianapolis for a few weeks (my parents live most of the year in Seattle). The best part about the trip was that they brought egg rolls!! I haven't had good Chinese food since I moved to Mississippi and I am tired of fried southern food.

Adam and I came up with the top 3 reason I think they came to visit:

3) Daddy needed to get away from work
2) To see Adam and I of course
1) To see Daisy

I can't blame them, she is really cute and she LOVED having them visit and all the attention they gave her. While they were here, we drove to Natchez to see Antebellum homes which is what the city is known for. There are some in the town we live in but most of them were burned during the Civil War. We didn't go inside any of them since we decided to take Daisy with us, so we only went on a walking tour around. Here are a couple of pictures:

A view of the bridge crossing the Mississippi River at sunset with Louisiana on the other side



My mom and dad with the "grandpuppy" Daisy. The Mississippi River in the background.

On our way back from Natchez we listened to Adam's game on the radio. It was a little stressful for a little bit but the Braves pulled through in the end with a victory over Mississippi Valley State! They play Alabama A&M next week so hopefully they can get a winning streak started!

Back from New Mexico!

We are back from New Mexico. We actually stayed in El Paso, TX but went back and forth between El Paso and Las Cruces, NM. First of all, that area of the country has beautiful scenery with the mountains and desert. Below are a couple of pictures from the trip.

The first one is in Las Cruces outside of the football stadium. In the picture is Madison, one of the coaches little girl, with the mountains in the background.

This is on the bus as we were driving between El Paso and Las Cruces.

As most of you know, Alcorn State did not win the game (bummer) but I had a good time. The first day we went shopping to this "historic" shopping plaza in Las Cruces. None of us wanted to get off the bus because it did not look very appealing from the outside, but once we were in the shops it was very charming and had a lot of interesting things. We then went to a mall and I got a Halloween costume. It's a surprise, but I will tell you that I had it narrowed down between 2 costumes, the one I got and Snow White. A few of the coaches kids were with me and I asked them which one they thought would be best and they said I was too old to be Snow White because Snow White is a young costume.....ouch. Okay, I guess I won't be Snow White!

While we were in New Mexico, Daisy was being boarded at the Vet and while she was there she got her 12 week shots and a skin scrape (to make sure the dips killed all of her mange) so needless to say she was VERY happy when I picked her up. Daisy is now a little over 3 months and is growing so fast! Here is a recent photo. By the way, she loves fetching her tennis ball. I could never get my last dog to fetch but Daisy seems to like fetching.

Adam's team plays Mississippi Valley State this Saturday. This is the first game that actually counts in their conference rankings to it's an important game. Mississippi Valley State is in a part of Mississippi known as "the Delta" it is also known for 2 things: it is the poorest area in Mississippi (it's low-lying land that gets flooded when the Mississippi overflows), and it is also where Jerry Rice played his college football. Hiopefully the Braves can come away with a win!

A chip off the old block

In the previous post I forgot to write about the morning that Adam and Daisy spend alone together on Saturday. I left early Saturday morning to play tennis with some new friends (yeah, I made friends!) so it was just Adam and Daisy. Adam was watching College Game Day on ESPN that morning and said that Daisy was watching with him and every time he changed the channel she would bark, then when he changed it back to ESPN she would stop. He is so proud that his puppy is a football fan.

I actually think it's because she loves balls (get your minds out of the gutter) especially her rubber football squeaker toy.

Things you don't see up north

Well, Adam's team had a heartbreaking loss yesterday against Southern University. They led the entire game except the last minute and a half (the most important time to lead). It was a close game, but in the end the Braves couldn't hold on. I did hear many Southern fans say that Alcorn is much improved over last year and put up a great fight (I'm not sure what the final score was last year). The boys are now focusing on getting ready for next week's game against New Mexico State. I will be flying to New Mexico for the game and I'm sure I will have lots to report.

As for Daisy, she is getting much better with her food aggression, we have both been working with her and she hasn't growled or snapped when we got near her food or took a treat away in over a week. We'll keep working with her, but she seems to be learning quickly. Daisy's "friends" have now started knocking on my door to see if Daisy can play....nobody has asked if I would like to come out and play.

Now it is time to report "Things you see in Mississippi that you don't see up north", I know everyone is excited (Janice, be ready you may encounter some of the following soon).

First up is an armadillo. I've heard of them, I've seen pictures, but I have never seen one in person....until now. I was walking down the street from the stadium to the Head Football Coach's house on campus when I see an armadillo. Never in the first 29 years of my life have I ever walked down the street and saw an armadillo. I actually think this one might be dead, but still I have never seen an armadillo even a dead one.

Next, everyone has been to a football game at some level and they all have marching band performances at half-time. In the south, they have marching band routines as well, but down here the routines are FAR different than they are up north. As this video demonstrates, it is necessary that the band stretch before their routine to prevent injury. Not really the case up north.

Now, you may be wondering what their routine entails that requires stretching. Well, the video below is just a sample of what goes on. The people up front with the hats are the Drum Majors, which (at least at Indiana and Cincinnati) stand on the ladders and direct the band....and that's it. The Drum Majors down here have a lot more responsibility as you can see.

Random updates

Well there is not much new to report here down south. I do have a funny quote courtesy of Adam last Saturday. He had Saturday off since their game was Thursday:

Adam: "Today is Saturday, right?"
Michelle: "Yes"
Adam: "Then why the *bleep* am I watching Bridget Jones' Diary when football is on?!"

He had the remote so it's not like it was my fault. I think he just wasn't used to having a day off when football is on tv.....so that is what I did the rest of the day.

I am going to New Mexico next week. Adam's team plays New Mexico State and that trip is the wives trip. If he had stayed at Cincinnati, the Hawaii trip is the wives trip, but I get to go to New Mexico so that's a sweet deal. Daisy will be boarded at the Vet and will not be happy about that especially since she'll be getting her 12 week shots while she's there. Daisy is growing up so fast! She was only 3lbs when we got her and now she's over 8lbs! My little girl is growing up

Here is a picture of her with her favorite person...Adam.

Here is the video I promised in a previous post. It's Daisy taking on the door stop....they are enemies. I had to remove all the door stops, but this one is in the study where she isn't allowed normally. I'm lucky she's here as my guard dog.

MEN!?!

Do you ever wonder what men are thinking sometimes? Adam came home early today (since they played yesterday they have extra time to prepare for the next game) and was there when I was feeding Daisy. Based on her age and her projected size when she's full grown, she gets 1 cup of puppy chow a day. I feed her twice a day, therefore, she gets 1/2 cup each feeding. I usually feed her, but sometimes Adam does and he was watching me feed her today and he says "are you giving her too much?" I told him "no", she gets 1/2 cup at each feeding and the measuring cup (which is in her food bin) is a 1/2 measuring cup. It turns out, he thought she was suppose to get 1/2 of the cup that was in her food bin....thus, he was only been feeding her 1/4 cup of chow each time he feeds her.

Apparently when we have children I will need to leave very detailed directions....complete with picture diagrams.

A Victory!!

Last night Adam's football team had their first victory of the season against Arkansas Pine Bluff. The final score was 13-3. Adam thought his team should have been able to run the ball better than they did, but was happy for the victory. I was in Jackson and didn't arrive at the game until the 3rd quarter. I did see the kicker kick a field goal to put them up by two scores (fyi: their kicker is from Kokomo Indiana, so Adam is not the only Hoosier on the team).

Their next game is against Southern University on Sept. 27th which will be another tough game but hopefully they will be able to pull through. Daisy has declared war on the door stops in our apartment and we have removed all of them except the one in the study since she's not allowed in there but I let her in since I'm in here on the computer and she is going nuts! I'll post a video on my next post. It's amazing what will keep a puppy entertained! Anyone have any idea why dogs are so picky about where the use the bathroom. I spend several minutes with Daisy walking around so she can find just the right spot. No matter where she choose to go, I have to pick it up so why is one patch of grass better? Also, why does she always want to go out when the Colts are in the red zone??

Daisy's Mom

My good friend Jennifer wrote on her blog that since having her beautiful baby girl Annabel, that she has a new identity: Annabel's mom. I have come to find that to be true of me, I am Daisy's mom. It should be no shock that kids like puppies and there are a lot of kids in our neighborhood. Daisy plays with them everyday, she chases them around, they play ball with her, etc. This is great for me because Daisy gets exercise, I don't have to do the running, and she socializes.

When we go out walking it's always "there's Daisy", "can Daisy play ball with us", "can Daisy play". You could offer them a million dollars and they probably couldn't tell you my name. Even Adam clarifies himself to our neighbors as "Daisy's daddy". The pro is that she has made it easier to meet new people, too bad they are all children and the elderly (one elderly lady has a Pomeranian that Daisy plays with).

Daisy has done well with her house breaking and doesn't chew a lot, but she's really bad with biting and has recently shown food agression. I'm hoping she will grow out of the biting (puppies like to bite because they are cutting teeth) once her adult teeth come in, but we are still working on teaching her that play time and petting will stop when she does that. I'm handing the food agression by hand feeding her and putting my hand in her food dish as I do so to teach her that it is a good thing to have people around while she eats. This has seemed to help. The Vet says she is too little for obedience school so it's still all me. My last dog, Madison, was never food agressive (my dog before her, Ginger was) but she chewed A LOT as a puppy.

It's finally cool in Mississippi!!

I don't know if it's cool because of Ike, but it's finally cool in Mississippi!! I have my windows open and took Daisy for a really long walk. I used to love walking my dog, but it is so hot and humid here that it isn't really enjoyable. It is about 75 today and no humidity. I never thought I would be this excited about the weather but I am! I'm sure Adam is as well since he has to practice outside.

I was driving around town today and passed by a house with live chickens in their front yard. I was thinking "I need to start bringing my camera with me where ever I go because people aren't going to believe me". Really, where am I living that people keep chickens in their yard. It wasn't even a farm, it was a regular house...with chickens.

Tough week for my favorite football teams

It was a tough week for my favorite football teams. Adam's team lost a tough game against Grambling State. He was disappointed but hope to bounce back next week. They have a tough game against a D-1 team, Troy State. Cincinnati also lost to Oklahoma. I was hoping to watch the game on ABC, but instead I had to watch the 'Ol Miss game. Finally, the Colts lost their first game of the season against the Bears:( Luckily the Hoosiers won so all was not lost!

Daisy has been getting into football season as well! She can out run any defensive back, unless they have treats in their pockets!

We have thought about changing Daisy's name to "Money Pit" because there seems to be a different issue every week (thankfully they're minor problems) that she needs treatment for. We adopted her from the local humane society and when we adopted Daisy, she had some fleas which was taken care of with some drops. Well, the fleas she had carried tapeworm larvae, so she then got tapeworm which only required 1 pill to take care off. After that Adam and I noticed that she was loosing fur in patches around her paws and had some crust developing on 1 ear. I again took her back to the vet where he said the crust was mange and that the treatment is a dip once a week for 4 weeks, and that the hair loss on her paws is a fungus. Both of which she likely caught at the shelter since it can take a couple of weeks for symptoms to develop. The treatment for the fungus is these drops I put on her everyday for a week. The hard part is that it takes 10 minutes to dry, it's not easy to keep a dog from licking its paws for 10 minutes after you've put medicine all over it! Tomorrow she goes back for another dip and a second round of shots! We are lucky though, that these are all minor and very treatable conditions and nothing more serious.

I forgot to post these videos from Adam's first game of the season. These are two videos of the marching band...yes, the marching band. The marching bands here at the Historically Black colleges, like Alcorn, are nothing like any of the marching bands I've seen before. I didn't video their opening number, but it was even more crazy than the ones I did get. Here they are below, keep in mind that the people in the yellow uniforms are the Drum Majors, which up north, stand on podiums and direct the band.

There is another video that isn't loading right so I'll add it on a later post.

A couple of the coaches Adam works with came over for dinner last night and to watch the Colts game. It was fun having people over and Daisy was very excited to have new people around. When we first got her, she was scared of people. If people were walking towards us, she would try to run the other direction. We took a week to focus on socializing her with people and other dog and it was worth the effort because now she LOVES people. We have never had people over to the apartment so I wasn't sure how she would react to that, but she was loved having extra people around to pet her. Both Dino and Zach, the coaches, have dogs of their own so they were good first guests for Daisy.

Football and Hurricanes

Adam had his first game of the season last Saturday and his father flew down for the game. I think his dad was a little surprised on the heat and humidity down here! It's hot! Adam's dad, Fred, proved very handy at the pre-game cookout by manning the grill and helping fix the air conditioning (very essential down here). Daisy came to the cookout and was a big hit among the kids (who knew...kids like puppies!)

Adam's team played Southeast Louisiana and the had a couple of chances to win the game, the final score was 34-28 but Adam's team committed a couple of turnover and the other team was able to score 2 touchdowns off those turnovers. They are suppose to play at Grambling State next week. We were waiting to see if the game goes as plan since Grambling was part of the evacuation area of Louisiana.

That brings me to Gustav. We live over 3 hours from the coast, but everyone around here said they got a lot of wind and rain from Katrina and lost power for a nearly a week in some areas. I went to both the grocery stores in town to purchase items for the cookout and it was the most insane scene. I have never gone to a store and seen shelves cleared off, especially in the bottled water area. The checkout lines wove around the store, Managers were up there checking people out.

Then I was wondering if I should be more concerned than I was. The city we live on is on the Mississippi River, but the city sits on cliffs above the river so flooding isn't a major concern (this is why it was such an important city to control during the civil war because you controlled passage on the Mississippi River and you were high up to shoot down enemy boats). I figured maybe they know more than me so I stocked up on items that we would eat anyways such as granola bars, just in case. Now that it looks like Gustav went more towards Texas, we haven't gotten hardly any rain or wind I guess I was prepared for nothing. I guess it's always best to be prepared since you don't really know where the hurricanes are going to go.

Babies and Puppies

Now, we don't have any babies, but I think there are some definite similarities between babies and puppies. I was thinking about one in particular today. Daisy has been pretty good at housebreaking, for the most part now she sits by the door and cries when she needs to go out. We had just been letting her go outside without a leash because she would stay close. As she is getting older she is wondering further away. Today I decided that when she goes out to potty she needs to be on a leash from now on. She hates her leash, she struggles to try and get out of it or she just lays down on the ground. She is stubborn and would refuse to potty with the leash on even though I knew she had to go. I was trying to win the battle of wills and not let her off the leash to potty, but eventually I just got too hot in the 90 degree sun and gave in and let her off to potty. Current score, Michelle: 0, Daisy: 1.

The reason this made me think of babies is because I love Daisy, and she brings joy to Adam and I , but while we were outside and she was being stubborn she drove me nuts. Isn't that just like kids? You love them, but sometimes they drive you completely insane! We are going to try again later when it's cooler outside. Another similarity is that I greatly enjoy it when she takes naps because that means I can get stuff done. Although one big difference between babies and puppies is that you are likely to get your baby taken away if you put them in a crate while you go to the gym.

Another picture of Daisy, wondering what I'm doing instead of playing with her.

Daisy just woke up from sleeping in her dog bed. The dog bed will be her permanent bed once she's fully housebroken (right now she sleeps in her crate most of the time)

Below are two videos of Daisy and her treats. There is one treat in particular that causes her to go nuts. It's just a regular Milkbone dog biscuit but there's always some fanfare when she gets one. She eats the other treats I give her normally so I don't know why the milkbones cause a show. Maybe they are laced with narcotics or something. Once time she barked at it and stalked and pounced it like a lion stalking a gazelle. Naturally by the time I got my camera she had stopped and I took these videos on future attempts.

This one, she seems to think eating a treat and dancing around go hand-in-hand.

This one she sort of does the barking and stalking thing I was talking about but not for as long as she did the other time.

Daddy's little girl

We've had Daisy for a little less than a week, but it has already become apparent that she is a daddy's girl. Even though I spend the most time with her, feed her, train her, and am even the one to adopted her (with Adam's schedule he couldn't make it to any of the shelters while they were open) but still she is a big daddy fan. When Adam comes home, she runs to the door with her tail wagging all over the place. When we watch tv, she always wants to sit by his feet and today Adam was in the study (with the door shut) working on a paper and Daisy stood outside the door and cried until I let her in to see Adam. Adam picked her up and she started licking him and wagging her tail again. Last night she even slept in one of Adam's shoes while we watched the Olympics and waited for him to come home.

He had to leave to go to the office and when he left, she ran to the door, jumped up against it and started crying. She is definitely daddy's little girl!

Here is a picture of Daisy sleeping with her favorite chew toy, bunny (we're really creative with names). I thought she looked so cute sleeping with him.

Adam's new guard dog

Adam has trained Daisy to be his Bud Light guard dog. It's nice to know that he has his priorities!
Actually, Daisy is being crate-trained and you're not suppose to put them in too large of a crate or else they'll make their mess in a corner and sleep in another corner so it defeats the purpose of the crate. I didn't want to buy a crate now and then another one when she got bigger so I put an empty box in there to make the space smaller....it just happens to be a Bud Light box. Now Adam calls her his Bud Light guard dog.

And puppy makes 3!!

Adam and I had been wanting to get a puppy for a long time but with his schedule and me working full time and attending grad school part-time we never had the time for one. Well now that I'm finished with school and have time to spare, we decided to get one.

Her name is Daisy (I just thought it was a cute name). She is 6 weeks old and we got her from a shelter in town. She part Jack Russell Terrier and part Beagle they told me, honestly she doesn't look like either breed and the vet agreed. She had a sibling that looked a lot like a beagle and her mom was at the shelter also and looked like a terrier so maybe she is. Either way she is super cute! She's not very good at standing still for photos yet so I will post more later.

She seems to be a quick learner as far as house-breaking goes so hopefully she'll keep it up.

Daisy wonders what her mommy is doing right now.

Addition to previous post

I told Adam the story that I wrote about in the previous post about house slippers. He said his players wear their slippers out all the time also. I asked him if he asked them why, and he said they said it's comfortable. Again, I have to say, is it that much harder and less comfortable than throwing on a pair of flip flops??

Slippers at the grocery store

I was at the grocery store today because I stopped at the liquor store to buy beer and liquor stores in Mississippi don't sell beer and grocery stores in Mississippi sell beer but not wine! I just want a one stop shop for all my alcohol needs. Is that too much to ask? I'm digressing from the original point of my story. Today I went to the grocery store (Kroger, not Piggly Wiggly..Ski!) and there is a guy shopping in the store wearing house slippers. I know what you're thinking....you're thinking "hey Michelle, this is probably just one weird guy, there are weird guys in every state and isn't necessarily a representation of the Mississippi population". I know you're thinking that because I thought that the FIRST time I saw someone shopping in the grocery store wearing slippers! Yes, I have lived here for 5 weeks and have seen more than one person shopping in the grocery store wearing house slippers. Seriously, how hard is it to take off your slippers and throw on a pair of flip flops when you go out?

Football scrimmage

I went to the football scrimmage yesterday. I have been to MANY scrimmages in my time from Adam being a player, a graduate assistant, to a coach. I have no doubt that there are many more scrimmages in my future, but I have to be honest: I don't really like them. Don't get me wrong, I greatly enjoy the actual games but scrimmages don't interest me. It is amazing to me how school like Ohio State and Florida have 60,000 people attend their spring scrimmage games.

I think the reason it's boring to me is that: 1. There is no winner, the team is just playing each other 2. The players are working hard but they're not going 100% because it's not an actual game 3. There clock is set up funny and I don't understand it (there were 24 periods?) 4. I don't know enough about the specific details of football (along with 98% of the football-loving population...no matter what they think) to know how anybody is really doing 4. It is HOT in Mississippi in August and standing outside in the heat sweating is not fun. Don't worry, I'll be pumped for the games!

Can I also tell you, that as I am sweating and using a battery powered fan that all the Mississippi natives were saying that it was a nice day for scrimmage because it was such a cool day?? To me if the temperature is in the 90s it is NOT "cool". I guess it's all relative because when I was here for spring break in March and it was in the 60's it was really cold to everyone here but I didn't think it was really that cold at all.

Olympic Junkie

I love the Olympics! On my list of things to do in my lifetime is to attend the Olympic games. I love everything about the Olympics, the spirit of the Olympics as well as the competition. So far today I have watched: women's basketball, women's soccer, women's volleyball, women's sabre (fencing), men's badminton, men's cycling road race, and women's sculls (rowing). I watched a little bit of handball but that wasn't as interesting as the other sports that were on. I've been flipping between channels to pick the best events.

My favorite part of the Olympics is the parade of nations partly because I like to see what people from the smaller countries that I haven't heard of look like, and because I like to see their outfits. Adam is totally trained. I was making general tso's chicken for him to take to lunch the next day so I was going back and forth between the TV and the kitchen and Adam was watching the parade of nations and when a nation with interesting outfits came out he would call me to come in and see. The hard part is avoiding the results, with the time delay Saturday's events have already happened. I want to watch the competitions and enjoy them so I'm avoiding anything that will give away results....so nobody call and tell me!

The colors for Adam's team is purple and gold so Adam now owns more purple clothing than he has ever owned his entire life. The good thing about football season is that the equipment manager washes their clothes (less laundry for me). Every player and coach gets what is called a "loop". What they do is the put one end through their shirts, shorts and undergarments and then the strap fastens like a seat belt. Then there are two elastic bands at the end that you put your socks through and tighten. Each loop also has their locker number on it. After practice, they put their clothes on the loop and it gets washed and put in their locker for them to wear again.

Now since they wash everything at once, sometimes the colors bleed as you can see in the photos below:

Adam in his purple outfit. Do you think he looks more like Grimace from McDonalds or Barney the dinosaur?

Adam's new purple socks!! You can see the white line where the elastic band goes around the socks. He's hoping purple socks will become a new trend here in Mississippi.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I just saw a preview for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, I really liked the first one. What do you think my chances are at convincing Adam to see the sequel with me??

The official start of football season

The average person thinks that football season begins with the kickoff of the first game of the season. Football season to anyone married to, related to, or friends with a football coach or player knows that football season actually begins on the first day of fall camp. For Adam that day is today, today begins the time of the year when I become a football widow. Once camp begins, there is NO day off until the last game of the season (he may be a day off if they have a bye week). During camp they start around 6 or 7 am and end at around 10 including weekends, which is why I'm a football widow (I hardly see him at all).


I made Adam a display for his bowl rings. He has 6 rings total, 4 rings we got as a player and 2 as a coach. The rings had never been displayed together until recently because I made it for Adam for Christmas and after Christmas he left for Alcorn and took some of the rings with him. Now they are all together. There will be more rings to come so soon I will have to keep adding on to it.

New Orleans

I know we went to New Orleans a week ago but I didn't get a chance to blog about it. I also forgot to bring my camera so I have no photos to post from the trip. I had never been to Bourbon Street so I was excited to go and determined to stay out later than 10pm. Our hotel was walking distance from the French Quarter and Tuesday night Adam and I had dinner and then met up with a couple of his coaches on Bourbon Street. It was fairly tame, it was Tuesday night after all, but definately people were having a good time. The most shocking thing was probably people walking around Bourbon Street at night with their children! There are a lot of "gentlemen's clubs" with partially dressed girls inticing patron in as well as questionable photographs outside and definatley NOT a place for a 4 year old. For my blog readers who are parents (or will soon be....Ski) let me inform you that Bourbon Street is NEVER an appropriate place to bring children. If you want to party on Bourbon Street then hire a babysitter.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox now. We went to a piano bar (I like piano bars, Adam went to appease me) and we went to a bar with a live jazz band and Adam danced like a pro. I also danced with a guy old enough to be my father but don't worry he kept his distance. Adam was watching him like a hawk and his friends were picking on him for letting an old man dance with his wife. Adam is secure so it didn't bother him.

The next day I wanted to go sightseeing at some plantation houses but we couldn't do much of anything because it was pouring rain from tropical storm Dolly so we cut our trip short and headed back!

I also wanted to say that I'm going to be an Auntie!! Our good friends Allie (aka Ski) and Marc are expecting their first child....second if you count their dog Homer. This means I have a trip out to California next spring! Congrats Ski-Dawg!

On a sad note, some of you heard that one of Adam's football players passed away in a car accident last week. He was in a car with 3 other football players and they swerved to miss a deer and flipped the car, none were wearing seat belts. His name was LaDarrius Adams and he was an incoming freshman. The players and coaches are all shocked and saddened by it, and everyone is thinking about his family right now.

Life in Mississippi

The first thing I have to say about Mississippi is that it is HOT here. I've been through 90 degree weather in Indiana and Ohio but that is nothing like the 90s and humidity here. They say it will take a year for my body to adjust to the heat...I guess we'll see.

I went to the doctor with Adam today for a his annual check-up. I was sitting in the waiting room reading a book and there were about 3 other people there. A person came in and said "good morning" and everyone else in there said "good morning". I didn't say anything because where I'm from a stranger doesn't walk into a waiting room and say "hi" to everyone there if you don't know them. Well then another person came in and said "Hello" and everyone else said "hello" back. Now I'm thinking that maybe this is the norm so then the next person comes in and does the same thing so this time I say "hello" back quietly because I'm still not sure of the social norm. I'll keep you updated on what I find out.

Here are the top 3 things I've learned about living in Vicksburg, Mississippi:

3. Adam is apparently unusually big because people talk about it everywhere we go (more about that later)

2. Nothing here is more than 10 minutes away from wherever you are in the city.

1. There must be bears around because I see bear crossing signs everywhere. I have not yet seen a bear though.

Now Adam is a big guy and people commenting about it is nothing new. But he must be the biggest person they've seen in awhile because everywhere we go because are commenting about it. Here are some examples of what people have said:

"Dang man, you look like you play for the New York Giants!"

"Are you in the military? Well you must have played college sports then"

"You look like a wrestler! You look like Rick Flair's son, David Flair"

I didn't know who Rick Flair is let alone who is son is but apparently Rick Flair is a popular professional wrestler. Here is a picture of his son and I'll let you be the judge on where he looks like Adam or not:

Here is a video of our nephew Luke explaining football. I especially like his explanation of what football coaches do!

Vacation in Maine

The week of July 4th, Adam and I took a vacation to Maine. We were stayed at his dad's place there with his brother Fritz and his family and Adam's dad. Our niece and nephews were there. Olivia celebrated her 5th birthday while we were out there. Luke is 2, almost 3 years old and Mason turned 1 in May. The kids have a lot of energy but are very fun!

One day Adam, Fritz, their dad Fred, Olivia, and Luke went fishing. Olivia caught the biggest fish while Luke caught some small ones and poor Uncle Adam caught no fish. Not to be outdone by a 5 and 2 year old, Adam and his dad went fishing later after the kids left and Adam caught a 7 lb small mouth bass. He was very proud of himself.

The kids enjoyed catching crabs off the dock....rather, they enjoyed watching their mom and I catch crabs. We put them in a bucket for the kids to watch for the day and then set them free after dinner. I also enjoyed shaking the bucket and watching them move around.These aren't the type of crabs you eat, they're pretty small but fun to catch and watch.

Adam, Fred, and I watched the kids for a night while their parents went out for a much deserved evening alone. They were rushed out the door so they didn't have time to get the kids ready for being left alone so Luke was upset. Luckily it was nothing that a cookie and watching football highlights couldn't take care of. He actually fell asleep after the third time of watching the highlight video.

Here are some pictures and videos of our trip:

Adam and Mason on the deck of the house

Luke is making his tough football player face. You don't want to see that rushing at you!

Adam, along with his dad and brother at Pemaquid Point

Adam and I with Olivia and Luke. We sure do look like we're ready for kids don't we?

This is one of my favorite photos from the trip. This is Adam and Olivia on the boat. I think Adam looks so sweet and cute with his niece.

Olivia is taking tennis lessons, which is great since I LOVE playing tennis. Here she is showing off some of her tennis skills. She'll be ready for Wimbledon is a couple of years.

Here is Mason having a great time with the chair. He only says a couple of words and one of them is "yee haw". You can hear him "yee hawing" and having a great time.

Another word he can say is "jump" and he loves to jump! Some of you may remember from our wedding how much Luke liked to jump around ,so I guess it's hereditary. While Mason isn't walking just yet, but he's got jumping down!

The video of Luke explaining football wouldn't load so I will post that on a later post.

Tomorrow Adam and I are going to New Orleans, or as they say down here "nawlans". He's working a one day football camp and the camp is paying for his gas and hotel as well as a stipend. We had talked about taking a couple of days to go to the coast just to relax after the move and before football starts and this seemed like a good and inexpensive way to do just that.

One a side note, I got Adam a Nintendo wii for his birthday and now he has wireless internet to hook the wii up to and has been playing non-stop. Since he doesn't play video games that often, I am not too upset. I actually enjoy playing some of the wii games. I kicked his butt in wii bowling but loss in both wii baseball and tennis. It looks like I need to practice and get better!

I will update more about the move and life in Mississippi later, but for now I am blogged out!

We are now Mississippians!

We have moved into our apartment in Mississippi! Everything is still a mess and still getting put away but it's good to live with Adam again. I should have more time to post about our trip to Maine and the move. We finally have Internet here so I feel connected to civilization!

Below is the hat that my friends Jesse and Charles said they are going to get for me by taking up a collection at the Buffet concert. I'm totally pumped to wear it around!

Countdown to the big move

Adam and I will be on a much needed vacation next week in Maine. We will be there with his brother and his family. I should have some fun videos of my nephew to share for all those Luke fans out there.

After coming back from vacation, Adam and I will begin packing up our apartment. On the Saturday the 12th he will be in Indy for his best friend Josh's bachelor party. The next day we will move down to Mississippi!

The countdown has begun!

Lots to update!

Sorry it has been awhile for posting so a I have a lot to catch up on. First of all, I am done with my MBA..all of my grades are in and I am finished (woo hoo!). We are moving to Mississippi July 13th. We are going to vacation the first week in July and the second week we will pack and Adam will be going to his best friend Josh's bachelor party and the day after that, we will be moving down south!

Now with the updating! My friend Julia P. and I went to the Women's Football 101 at Univ. of Cincinnati. It was a breast cancer research benefit so I was going to support the cause and Julia came because she knows nothing about football (at one point during the night, she asked what the Receivers do). They had an open bar and food and we even got to run out of the tunnel like the players do. We decided that we were probably the first people to run out of the tunnel while holding a glass of wine. It was a fun event and I recommend that anyone in the Cincinnati area go next year. I do have a funny story about driving there. The event started at 5:30 and we were driving there via a major interstate (I-71) and right before the exit there is a BMW parked on the shoulder and a guy standing next to it wearing a nice shirt and pants and ask we drive by I ask Julia if that guy is doing what I think he's doing. She looks and says "oh yeah, he's peeing!"

Now I fully understand that when you've got to go, you've got to go. Honestly though, you are on the side of a major interstate at rush hour! There is also a white castle right off the exit, no more than a 1 minute drive from where he was. Really who does that?

I also had a graduation/birthday cook-out at Julia's house. My sister and parents even came for it. I was also able to introduce my Cincinnati friends to the best drinking game at Indiana University: Sink the bizmark. I knew there would be enough IU people to get the game going because non-IU people think it's kind of gross (which it is, but alcohol kills germs). It was a big hit! The night before my sister and I went to dinner in Mt. Adams and went to the Pavilion for some drinks. The Pavilion was crowed but it has a lot of outdoor seating with a beautiful view overlooking Cincinnati and Kentucky. We took this picture ourselves, I look stupid but I looked even more stupid in the pictures we took after that so eventually you have to just accept that it's not going to be a photogenic night for you.

Now for Memorial Day weekend. It was awesome because not only did Adam come back for it (whoopee!) but our friends from California, Ski and Marc, came as well (double whoopee!) It was a big baby weekend for them. Annabel Saxe, Jennifer and Nate's baby, and Joshua Recupito, Jessica and Matt's baby, were there. Both babies are super cute and growing like weeds. Do you remember when you were a kid and relatives were always talking about how fast you were growing and how small you were the last time they saw you? I totally understand why they always said that, it's because it's true! The babies are already a few months old and they are growing so fast!

Jennifer and Nate had a cookout so some more of our friends came over as well. Crista and her boyfriend came and so did Andy and Jen Stone. I hadn't seen everyone in awhile so it was good to catch up on everything, especially since I'm moving so far away from everybody. Here are some photos from Memorial Weekend:

All the girls: Jessica, Crista, Me, Jennifer, Allie, and Jen

Auntie Michelle with Joshua

Annabel and Joshua show an interest in each other while Auntie Michelle and Uncle Andy look on

Annabel sleeping on her Auntie Michelle

Adam holding Annabel