Saying Goodbye

Today was probably up there with one of the hardest days of my life thus far. For the past two days, Tobey needed to pee constantly. When he wasn't standing by the door for us to take him out, he was hiding in his cage because he had peed inside. Today, we decided to take him to the vet because we thought he had a bladder infection. When we got there, the vet did an X-ray and determined that he had some pretty serious stones in his bladder. If they didn't do emergency surgery, he was going to die over the weekend. The surgery cost thousands of dollars.

So, we made the very difficult decision that at this point in time, we couldn't pay for the surgery. We said goodbye to Tobey. Saying goodbye to a three year old dog that you have raised from the time he was a puppy was so incredibly difficult. He was an amazing dog and we loved him so, so much. I know nothing will ever be able to replace him. I just keep remembering him run through the door with my engagement ring tied around his neck and then Adam getting down on one knee. I thought he was going to be the dog that our kids played with someday.

I know it's going to be really hard for a while. Even coming into the apartment was really hard, but I know it was the best thing for us at the moment.

Apartment Living

For the past seven years, I have been living in an apartment of some sort. In that amount of time, I have enjoyed the benefits of apartment living (people come and fix things for free, no maintenance, my amazing roommates in college, etc.). Unfortunately, the negatives of living in an apartment outweigh the positives and over the past six months, we have had the feeling the some greater power is trying to tell us that it’s time to purchase our first house.

Currently, we live in a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment on the second floor of our building. We’ve been living there for about 18 months now. The first year was going great until Stanley moved in above us and became our very first sleep disturbance. Once per week, Stanley and his lover found it necessary to have steamy love making sessions for hours (I am NOT exaggerating, it was hours). These sessions did not take place at 10:00 PM when I was still awake and watching TV in the living room, no, these sessions happened at 3:00 AM and the creaking and screaming was loud enough to wake me up (that’s how we found his name was Stanley). No amount of banging on the ceiling with the broom would shut those two up.

When Stanley moved out, Adam and I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, we could go to sleep without being disturbed by middle of the night sexcapades. Then, the new neighbors moved in…two women, and their four children, all under the age of eight. Suddenly, it seemed like a rodeo was going on above us at all hours of the day. Jumping on beds, running laps around the living room, dropping who knows what heavy objects and children’s screeches have become a part of the ambiance in our apartment. Then, they got a puppy. A six week old, poofy, small, whiny puppy. This puppy is not a quiet puppy, it yips its head off…ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

Wednesday night, however, was the last straw. On Wednesday, I left work early with a stuffy and pounding head. After resting for most of the afternoon, I headed to bed around 9:30, hoping I would feel better in the morning. At 12:30 AM, a car alarm started going off. This happens frequently, and usually the owner of the car shuts the alarm off within five minutes or so. Not last night. The car alarm kept going and going. Finally, I called the local police station. Around 1:45 AM, the police officer showed up, ran the plate, walked up to one of the apartments, knocked on the door and the owner came out and turned off the alarm. How in the world can you be so ignorant, that you don’t notice your own car alarm going off for over an hour?

And so, it has been decided that we will save every single penny we can in an attempt to buy a house when this lease is up, because I cannot take it anymore.

One Year

Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary and we had a wonderful weekend to celebrate! For the past month or so, Adam has been planning our anniversary weekend. He managed to keep it a surprise (which is very hard to do) until Saturday morning when he told me we were going to stay for the night at an old plantation called Antrim 1844. We packed our suitcases and drove the 45 minutes our getaway.



When we got there, it was gorgeous and I thought it was really sweet that he had picked something that is so my taste. We got to our room, which was the old barn of the plantation and discovered that the bed was up in what used to be the hay loft.



After we dropped our stuff off, we headed up to the main house for afternoon tea, complete with scones and little tea sandwiches (very manly). After tea, we went back to the room, Adam lit a fire in our own fireplace and we relaxed until dinner. At 7:30, we headed back up to the main house for a six course dinner that ranks up there with some of the best food I've ever had. We sat right in front of an old fireplace and talked for two hours over dinner. At the end, we got a personalized dessert.



Yesterday we got up, ate breakfast and headed home. After visiting my sister, brother-in-law and nephew for a little while, we headed home to enjoy the rest of our anniversary. Adam grilled some steaks and I made some salad and we topped it off with the top tier of our wedding cake, which had held up amazingly well in my parent's freezer for the year.



Overall, it was a wonderful anniversary and I felt so lucky to have a husband who listens to what I like and plans a weekend full of surprises that he knows I will love. Our year as newlyweds went so quickly, but it was filled with so many wonderful memories. I can't wait to see what is in store in the next 60 years with him.