This is Roxy’s guilty look. As you might guess, I see this look often.

Why just this morning as I sat and ate my cereal and checked my email I noticed there was no hound under my feet. I got up and looked around, that’s when I knew she found trouble. When I went up stairs to our bedroom, there she was in the middle of a huge pile of shredded trash. With this same look in her eyes. As if that wasn’t enough, as I cleaned up her mess she ran down stairs and finished my breakfast. I made her sit right in front of me as I yelled and gave her a good talking to. The whole time, this is the look that was on her face, guilt.

I’ve been to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit some reatives and I have to say that it’s one of the most beautiful places to visit in the country. I couldn’t think of a nicer vacation spot to take a family. Or if you are looking for a great place to get away from it all and relax with your family or even just I nice trip for a change of seanery? Well, Raleigh, North Carolina is the place!  I recomend that you register for a free getaway of your own! You wont be sorry. Just take a look at all the fun things you can do during your Free Raleigh Giveaway!

-One night accommodations for two at the Courtyard by Marriott Raleigh Crabtree Valley
-$25 gift certificate to Bloomsbury Bistro
-Free VIP admission for two to Rum Runners
-2 tickets to the North Carolina Theatre
-2 tickets to the N.C. Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism
-2 tickets to Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences

You wont want to miss out on the NC Shakespeare Festival while you are there. That alone is worth registering for this fabulous Fall getaway. The theatre experience in Raleigh is enough to take your breath away. You can’t miss this show!

While you’re in Raleigh, make sure you take advantage of the wonderful outdoor recreation the city has to offer. There are over over 60 miles of trails and greenways, two nature preserves, gardens, 20 public golf courses, six scenic lakes and even an art park. You can even head outdoors for movies and concerts by moonlight. It’s a fantastic way to spend time with your family or a weekend alone with your significant other.

When Roxy was a puppy her belly was solid pink and now less then two years old she has dozens of freckles.
Cute freckles.

I have been trying to walk Roxy as often as I can in the evenings and it seems to be helping. It’s been a lot of fun for my eight year old daughter as well.

Really, they both have been sleeping better and longer. I plan to keep this up as long as the weather will let me!

With my husband just getting his small business off the ground, I can tell you how important aSmall Business Credit Line can be. There is an unbelievable amount of things you need just to get a business started. From paper, business cards and about a dozen other office supplies. The hardest part of needing all of these items is that they all cost money. Money you may be making later but supplies you need now.  EZUnsecured.com can help you with all of that. They use such an Easy Process, that is Fast Funding and such a Great Service for any small business ready to get off their feet and start moving forward.

Roxy waiting for momma to come to bed.

As I walked by the bed putting away laundry, Roxy laid still giving me the eye.
Like she was thinking, come on mom, lay down would ya.

Roxy has been barking for over an hour. Nonstop loud deep barking, in the house or out side. I can’t get her to stop. I sure hope my neighbors can handle this because I can’t handle it in the house with a baby.

Looking to party this weekend or how about any time soon? How does hosting a Purple Party sound ? A Purple Party is a party to help build awareness of World Alzheimer’s Day (September 21st). So you are not just host any fun party, you are hosting a “socially responsible” party and helping to make a huge difference on the lives of millions that are affected with this devastating disease. Just by hosting a party for World Alzheimer’s Day you will be helping to drive awareness and raise donations. Because every body loves a party and almost everyone knows someone who has been affected by Alzheimer’s disease. You can even throw your party in honor of the friends and family members, current and future, who will directly benefit from their generous donation.

Planning your World Alzheimer’s Day Purple Party can be fun, easy and rewarding. You can even register your Purple Party on actionalz.org and that will allow you to create your own page for their party, send an email reminder to your guests – it even allows guests to make donations on line if they are unable to attend. As if that is not enough to motivate you, all donations in the month of September will be matched dollar-for-dollar by The Harrah’s Foundation.

I took Roxy for a fast four block walk last night before bed. I think it helped. She fell asleep earlier but still held her own in the barking department. Man is she loud when she gets going, and wild, running all over the house.
My plan is to try and get up early enough a couple days a week during the work week and do the same thing before leaving her all day. Maybe then she wont seem so filled with energy at night.

Gerry and I have been way too busy lately and Roxy is feeling a bit neglected. I think she is letting it out with sound!
The last two evenings and nights she has barked for at least an hour at a time, a good two or three times each day. And let me tell you, my girl has a loud, deep bark! She is not fooling around. She wants us home and that’s all there is to it. Good thing things are starting to slow down. I am planning on extra long walks all next week with her. I hope that does the trick.

One thing I am going to miss when the season changes and the snow is here is spending time out side in the back yard with Roxy. I think she is at her happiest when we hang out side with her. She loves to chance the ball and for us to just be out in her element. In fact I am thinking of investing in some new outdoor furniture for next year. First on my list, is a new chaise lounger. Perfect to kick back and read in with Roxy at my feet. I can just see how nice it will be. Cedarstore.com is a great web site to shop for such a chair and any other outdoor furniture you could want. Don’t miss out on their free shipping, which is a huge bonus that not many web sites offer.

Roxy will do anything to get a hold of a dryer sheet. I don’t know what it is about them that drives her so crazy but she loves to chew and rib them to shreds. If she is sound asleep in another room, I swear she can hear one float to the floor and beat me to it before I even have the chance to pick it up.

Because some times it’s all about the ears,

and some times it’s all about the nose,

While walking Roxy around our block early Sunday morning we made our usual stop at a parking lot corner that is covered in high grass and weeds. Most of the time Roxy sticks her nose in there and pulls out a candy wrapper or a pop bottle. This time she started walking away with some thing paper like hanging out of her mouth before I noticed it was a ten dollar bill. Way to go girl! I walked her back but she came out empty mouthed. Ten bucks, not too shabby. I guess Roxy is buying her own treats this week.

Any guesses what happened here?

It’s no secret that I like to spoil my pooch. I have so much fun buying new things for Roxy. With me being so busy with work, taking care of the house and kids I tend to do most of my shopping online. ShopWiki is a great place to find hundreds of items for any pet. Even if you are a cat! 

Because it’s so easy to shop on line, Roxy has an ever growing amount of toys. Lately we have been keeping them in a corner of our dinning room but I am thinking it’s time to get her a toy box of her own.  Of course I can’t order a toy box with out ordering her a few new toys to add to it. Being a hound, she could never have too many critters to hunt.

ShopWiki is even a great web site to compare dog food and treats. I don’t know about you but I can never seem to buy enough of those, so finding the best deals is important to me.

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Since we moved it to the living room our cat is getting pretty attached to Roxy’s bed. Lately she doesn’t even run away when Roxy barks at her to get off. I think she even let out a couple of hisses. Maybe she is staking her spot. This might get interesting.

The weather has been so nice and cool that I have been walking Roxy as much as I can. Today when I came home from work, she ran right to her leash. How could I say no? We walked around two blocks and then went to the park. We have at least a dozen dogs on our block that have also been out enjoying this weather.  It’s so sweet to see them all play together. Mine seems to be the popular girl in the bunch. Every one loves Roxy.

With Gerry starting his own small construction and finishing business from home I told him we needed to shop around and compare some of the small business phone systems that are available. Then we can use that dedicated number on all of his new business cards, flyer’s and his web site. That way we also don’t have the kids answering calls from his customers. I also believe we can write off some of the bill on his taxes this year.
Packet8 Internet Phone Service offers a nice package that I think would work out great for us as we get his business going from home.
The plan I am looking at is their Business 2000,
The Business 2000 calling plan is a VoIP telephone service that includes a single direct-inbound-dial line with a basic business feature set that includes voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling, find me/follow-me, simultaneous ring, call forwarding, 7 digit local dialing and more. Business 2000 calling plans include 2000 outbound/inbound PSTN minutes.
With us both planning on keeping our full time jobs for at least another year, this sounds like the perfect plan to help our business get off the ground.

Packet8 Internet Phone Service also offers a wide range of other plans. They even have plans to help you lower your already monthly bill. Residential plans or Business plans, they have a plan for you.

I don’t think Roxy understands what I am trying to do every time I go to make the bed.

I just took a very interesting test online it was at Live In The Two: Test For Success. It’s a test that scores you on several different categories such as passion, risk, discipline, optimism and interpersonal skills. The results will give you a guide to self improvement. Do you have what it takes to live in the top two percent? Find out by taking this test. It only takes about five minutes to complete and your results will be emailed to you for your review. Best of all, the test is free and gives you insight on how to better yourself and set yourself up to succeed in life. You can even get a personal, customized curriculum to guide you to becoming a high achiever! You can’t go wrong with something like this. It’s fun, easy, insightful and did I mention it’s free? Even if you don’t have some of the skills it takes to make it to the top two percent, the skills can be learned. Why would you turn down a chance at self improvement” title="self improvement “>self improvement and bettering your situation? Even if you believe that you are happy and successful now, try some of the suggestions that can help make your life even better. The results give you the direction you need to move forward!

... for all the nice emails. You guys rawk !