For mom it was the gold beads, for me it's the ribbon

I've not been able to get the tree to look right this year, something about how the ribbon is hanging. I tried buying more ribbon, draping it differently, etc -- I just can't get it to work. Today was my third and final try. I popped Nutcracker in the cd player, dragged a chair over from the dining room, took the ribbons off, and set to work getting them just right.

Whenever we would finish putting ornaments on the tree at my house growing up it would be time for mom to put on THE BEADS. We were never to touch the beads, no less hang them on the tree. Mom used to tell us the really old ones were real gold. As they would break through the years, some got replaced with plastic beads, but the original ones that were left were always saved for the very top. She would meticulously go around the tree, on her tippy toes on a chair, draping the beads so they were just to her liking. I never understood what the big deal was with the beads -- they're just BEADS, slap them on there and be done with it. Until I got my own tree.

This is our fourth Christmas with it being just the two of us in Lexington. We LOVE going out to the farm every year to pick our tree -- the same big black lab, Oscar, greets us at the end of the drive, and the man who owns the farm remembers us and what kind of tree we got last year. We always get a nice tall fir, something that will touch our 8' ceiling. Pete hangs the lights, we both hang the ornaments, and I finish the tree by adding ribbon. Last year's tree was PERFECT! Last year's Christmas was perfect -- Audrey had just gotten married, we had just seen the Rockettes in NYC, life couldn't be better.

I wasn't sure we would get a tree this year at all. I was campaigning to skip Christmas -- it sort of worked, we're going to St. Lucia, right? But over Thanksgiving my Grandma told me I WOULD get a tree and told us we WOULD decorate it because that is what my mom would have wanted. So we went to our tree farm. We got our tree; a nice, tall, fat Frasier Fir, and took it home to decorate. We put on the lights and the ornaments. Then I tried adding the ribbon. It didn't look right, but I left it until this week because I was pushing all Christmas things to the back of my mind until after finals. Saturday afternoon I messed with the ribbons, still no good. Flash forward to this afternoon. Sugar plum fairies were dancing on the cd and I re-draped the last ribbon, climbed off the chair and looked at the tree. It was beautiful. And I couldn't stop crying.

I know why mom hung the beads, she was the only one who get them just right. She was the only one who could do a lot of things just right. My ribbon is still a little off -- but that's okay. Christmas is off this year -- and will be for quite a while I suspect. I think of my mom everyday and I miss her everyday, but it is especially hard right now.

So, for Grandma, here's our (slightly off but beautiful just the same) Christmas Tree:

Our Gimpy Girl

We're not sure how, but Hannah hurt herself tonight. I was sitting at the dining room table addressing our Christmas cards, and Pete was in his office doing the same thing with his cards for his clients. Hannah and Fiona were in the office with Pete when all of a sudden Hannah lets out two long, sharp wails!! I jumped up from the table and ran to the office to see what was up -- Hannah and Fi were just walking out of the room, and she yelped again. Neither Pete nor I could see anything, so we had Hannah walk down the hall toward me. That's when we saw that she was bleeding!! Somehow our little Hannah severed the claw on her back right paw!! Poor girl!
She must have cut it outside this afternoon, then snagged it on the rug in Pete's office.

We called her into the bathroom so she would be on easier-to-clean floor to investigate -- once she was calm Pete left to go buy some supplies because we are horribly lacking in the first-aid supplies department. Pete returned with my 'tools':
We cleaned the wound, then I cut the claw the rest of the way off, applied Nik Stop, wrapped it in gauze, taped it, then we wrapped her whole paw with an ace bandage. She looks so cute!! (and sad)
I took a little video to try to show how funny she looks walking on it (please ignore Christmas Card central on the table in the background)

I should be studying...

This has been the phrase of the week. I'm taking a break right now (as I have been all night pretty much, talking to my brother on the phone, ordering everyone's Christmas gifts online, writing a new blog, etc). Tomorrow afternoon is my last final - Anatomy & Physiology of Speech @ 1pm. Hopefully I'll do pretty well on it and have 4 As for this semester. I managed to get an A in Neuroscience (thank God for the curve!), and, despite pretty much a disastrous score on my Audiology final I held on to my A in the class (I really don't know what happened, I thought I did better than the grade on my final suggests - but have already requested to see my test to see where I went wrong). I get my ABRs, OAEs, and ARs confused (along with about a bajillion-other hearing-related acronyms). My phonetics final was fun -- I love that class! On the test we had to write a paragraph in IPA with diacritic marks and phrasing and I wrote the verse to "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" (complete w/lisping) - hopefully Dr. Deem was amused.

Thank goodness the Co-op is close by -- otherwise we might not have eaten this week as I have seriously fallen of the wagon as head chef and chief grocery shopper of our household. Tomorrow night we're going to see the Nutcracker at the Opera House, and Saturday (hopefully) we're joining friends for a holiday dinner at Holly Hill Inn. I just have to make it through tomorrow!

Fiona DID bark last night -- but not as loudly or for as long. Her barks were more like long whines as if to say, "when I made noise last night you let me out...please, please let me out again."

I don't know if we'll post a picture of our tree this year -- I can't find a good topper and our tree is fatter than last years so I need more ribbon to go aroud it. Since today was my first day to go shop for decorations (when I should have been studying) - many stores were already down to slim pickings. Maybe Saturday I'll make the trek out to Hobby Lobby -- they usually don't let me down as far as holiday decorating goes.

Just had to take a break to see what Fiona was in to -- why, of all the trash cans she could raid, does she manage to open the door to the laundry room and get the one full of LINT and DOG HAIR?!?!

Oh well, better get back to the books.

Oh My GOSH Fiona was trying to get us to throw her out into the street last night!!!! I have four finals this week and was lucky enough to have only scheduled at 8am. THIS MORNING. We had our normal nighttime routine last night -- a little later than usual because Pete was running through my Audiology flashcards with me: Ask the dogs if they're ready for bed, dogs scurry off toward their crates, we go get some kibbles, give kibs to the dogs, latch the crate doors, go down the hall to our room to get ready for bed -- you get the picture.

Well last night went all as planned, until about 30 seconds after we climbed under the covers FIONA STARTS BARKING HER HEAD OFF!!! After about 15 minutes Pete gets up to see if she needs to go out -- he lets her out, she goes, he puts her back to bed. Ten minutes goes by and she starts up again, by this time I am trying earplugs....Pete gets up AGAIN and lets them out of their crates -- I think he gave Fi some food this time (we were all about the negative reinforcement last night). This time when he put her back to be he made her wear her gentle leader which usually works for settling her down. Ten more minutes of silence....you see where this is going....
After about TWO HOURS of nonstop barking Pete goes to sleep on the on the sofa so the dogs can be out of their crates and just sleep in the living room with him. Everything seems okay for maybe 5 minutes until JOSIE starts wigging out in our bedroom! She was going CRAZY with this roll-ball scratch thing she has until I had to get it up and take it away. After I took it away she decides she's going to scratch on the bedroom door to be let out. I figure the dogs have settled so I open the door a crack to let her out and crawl back under the covers. In a flash of a second there is a giant black lab on my head! (Poor Hannah, she had nothing to do with all this barking and waking up in the middle of the night -- but when presented with a fresh cat and/or a warm human in bed, she's going to pursue) I can't really remember what happened next (it was around 1:30am after all) but it involved me carrying Josie to the bedroom door only to meet Pete, who was trying to wrangle the two dogs away from our bedroom. It somehow resolved itself and I got about 5 1/2 hours of sleep -- poor Pete got about 5 -- and apparently the dogs slept ON TOP of him on the sofa!
So that was our night -- my final is over, I did fine, I only have one more to go (Friday at 1pm). If Fiona barks tonight we're not getting up for anything. I just wanted to share our trauma and point out how wonderfully thoughtful Pete was to try to give me some pre-test ZZZs.

UPDATE: yes, of course, now that it's daytime, Hannah and Fiona are both sacked out on their bed in the corner of the living room seemingly wondering why we kept them up all night :)

2nd UPDATE: yes, Pete and I have discussed how, someday, after the wee-est Crawford has arrived, 5 hours of sleep will seem like a day at the spa.

remember last year....

when I had the best husband ever? Well he's struck again!! We made plans last night to go on an awesome post-Christmas vacation to ST. LUCIA!!!

We're excited about starting out 2009 on such an up-note (2008, after all, has not been the best year for us) -- now I just have to make it through finals and we can celebrate Christmas and then go soak up some sun.

Lazy Hazy Saturday

Man.....today has been a great day. Nowhere important to go, no one important to see, just a day to relax with my hubby. We slept in this morning, Pete did some light cleaning while I looked over my answers for my Neuroscience take-home test that's due on Monday.
It's been cold and rainy all day -- ate taco soup for lunch, went to the YMCA to work out, and decided we wanted pizza for dinner. So we headed over to Pazzo's around 6pm, and on our way home decided to try something that could surely be a dangerous habit....

There it was, a van parked in the lot across the street from Pazzo's, advertising fresh-baked, warm cookies from 8pm till 2:30am!! How glorious!! Pete and I were as full as you are when leaving Pazzo's, but thought we might be ready for something a bit later. I got one peanut butter and one double-chocolate chunk, Pete got the chocolate-chunk and a white-chocolate macadamia nut. Our taste testers give them two thumbs up!! Crisp on the outside, warm and chewy on the inside, just the way a cookie should be.

Last weekend we were in Louisville (it seems like we're there every-other weekend) to go to Rachael's jewelry party in her darling new house (Pete obviously didn't go the jewelry party, but hung out with Rachael's husband, Sylvain). Emily and I got there an hour early to help decorate cupcakes, of course! We haven't done this in quite some time and were excited to show off our new tees from Bakerella.

We were also very lucky to have an additional cupcake cutie with us -- my sister-in-law, Audrey!!

Here's a picture of the fall-themed cupcake recipe Rachael found.....turkeys!!

Don't you just want to GOBBLE them up?!? (i am so funny and clever, i know)

About an hour after we arrived at Rachael's all the other party attendees starting arriving, so we went went down to the basement for the Premiere Jewelry Party. The premiere representative is my friend and former coworker, Stephanie -- and we all just love, love her, so we had a good time and got some great new bling just in time for the holidays!
Thursday night Pete and I went to the Junior League Holly Day Market Preview Party.
Melanie had a booth so she gave us the tickets, and I was super nervous about hobnobbing with the Lexington Elite. I shouldn't have been -- it was completely normal, and I wasn't over-dressed or under-dressed, so that's good. AND I got to wear my new black dress and premiere earrings, bracelet, and ring.
So that's what we've been up to lately. School has kept me very busy --it seems like the semester should be ending Monday with the number of projects and papers I have due. Next week I'm driving to Chicago with a group of my classmates to go to the ASHA convention, so hopefully I'll have many things to share about that when I get home. Shortly after that we're off to Florida to spend thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Prann. Busy, busy, busy!

SUPER late Halloween

Pete and I had a pretty low-key halloween -- we didn't carve a pumpkin, and our only plans were to go downtown to watch the Thriller reinactment. Our friends Emily & Emily were both dancing zombies and did a fantastic job -- so much so that they were in the paper the next day! I didn't get a good shot of them, but here are some zombies that were closer to where we were standing.

In years past we've forced Hannah to wear a costume, but since we weren't passing out candy, we didn't get her (or Fiona) a costume. We DID however, find a great little hat for Josie, our cat. (we don't have kids yet so of course we get to torture our animals with costumes). She was NOT the happiest kitty around when we put her dinosaur spikes on -- see for yourself!

AND we had a GIANT preying mantis on our wall outside -- so cool!

The Cupcake Cuties reunited this weekend in Louisville at Rachael's house, so stay tuned for a post about that (and the bling-tastic jewelry party that followed)!

Weekend Update

Well, I've got a few pictures to share, so I figured it was time to post. Last weekend was our trip to Texas -- and what a trip down memory lane it was! Friday night Pete got to witness his first West Texas high school football game. The Coogs were victorious against Hereford, and I think he had a pretty good time.

(Pete makes quite the Cooper Cougar face!)

Saturday night was the 'official' reunion dinner at MCM Elegante (sounds fancy, but it's just the Embassy Suites with a new name) where we were made to wear these LOVELY tags! Pete says my face looks like I was having some sort of allergic reaction to something! (nice, huh?)

(I thought the name tags were really cute -- and showed a lot of hard work had been put into them!)

It was really great to see everyone. There wasn't much time to visit at the dinner, but luckily Doodle's parents invited everyone to come over to their house afterwards for more catch up time -- I was terrible with my camera, though! Two days in Texas and I came home with three photographs -- I was too busy chatting it up to pose, I guess! Here are two that I did get:

Ian, me, Julie, and Nick

me and Leigh Ann

I was SO glad Leigh Ann caught us just as we were leaving -- I've kept up with her life for the last little while through her blog, but it was GREAT to chat -- even if only for a few minutes!

Early Sunday morning we flew back to Kentucky and had a week that just flew by! I had a midterm in Audiology at 9am on Monday (we get our test back tomorrow morning -- fingers crossed that I did well!). Friday night Pete and I went on a 'date' to see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist -- it was really cute. Saturday we met Rachael, Sylvain, & Emily at Keeneland -- what a beautiful day to be at the races! I didn't win any of my bets, but pretty much everyone else did and we had a really good time.
We left Keeneland around 3:30pm to go home, change clothes, and head to Louisville for the evening. We were meeting Pete's sister , Audrey and her husband, Andrew to see Actors Theatre's performance of DRACULA. I'd never seen it before -- it was good -- the costumes, makeup, sound effects, etc. were really impressive. Count Dracula reminded me a little bit of Borat, but what can you do?

So that's about it from our house. We returned to choir practice this Wednesday as well and got the 'assignments' for our Christmas Program on Dec. 7th -- we're singing the Christmas Oratorio by Camille Saint-Saens -- and I'm singing the 3rd movement (eek!) So if you're in the area -- come hear us sing (Pete is featured in an octet as well) -- we have a guest bedroom! Happy Fall!

Muh, Muh, Muh MY FIONA!!

So....before all the mess with my mom last month, at the very end of August, Pete caught me with my guard way (WAY!) down....

I - probably against my better judgement - told him we could get a 2nd dog. Four days after we adopted her Melanie was having mini-pooch sessions over at Ashland, and I was her assistant. One of our clients came 30min early, so I called Pete and told him that if he and the new dog could get over there in 10min, we could have the session that opened up.

It seemed only right that Melanie should take the new dog's picture so that I could announce her to the world wide web. She has, after all, already taken pictures of me and Pete and Hannah (who will always be numero uno dog in my heart).

Without further ado --

here she is, our newest, pretty-darn cute puppy ---FIONA!!!


She's from Woodford Humane Society, and she's about 9mos old (8mos in the picture). We can't take credit for her name, that's what they called her at the shelter, but it's a good one! She weighs 40lbs now, the vet thinks she won't top out at more than 44lbs -- which is good, we'd hate for her to get bigger than the Han! We don't know what breed she is, but figure she's some kind of coon hound -- thank God, she's not a howler! We had a nice time running around Ashland, taking all sorts of pictures. Here's another one of my favorites:

(hello? Henry Clay? are you home?)

Fiona and Hannah are slowly becoming friends, but they can cause a serious ruckus in the house -- especially when I'm trying to study! WHICH I need to get back to as I have two tests tomorrow -- fingers crossed that I do well on them!! (I need to line up my letters of recommendation for grad school) Later!

Keep on Keepin' on

Well, in case any of you have missed us, life does roll along at Casa Crawford. I had to go right back to school after getting home from my mom's service, and, while I find it hard to concentrate sometimes, it's good to keep busy.

Pete and I have had some packed weekends lately and October will be no exception. Last Saturday was Race for the Cure, which we both ran in our UK Communication Disorders tie-dyed pink shirts. Saturday night we drove to Cincinnati to have dinner with Rachael & Sylvain and Anne & Andy. Afterwards we went to Andy's [surprise] 30th Birthday Party and had a nice time. The band was awesome!

Sunday we tried to rescue our backyard from its summer of neglect -- I worked on the wisteria while Pete hacked back other weeds and pruned trees. Sunday night we drove to Louisville to have dinner with Audrey & Andrew at their house with Pete's Nana and Uncle Rick.

This weekend we're going to see Ben Folds in Louisville, and next weekend is my 10-YR HIGH SCHOOL REUNION! We weren't sure if we were going to go but at the last minute decided it might be fun. I'm excited to take Pete to a West Texas high school football game (though I hear Cooper is no good anymore now that we've been taken down a district, but that's another story).

Sorry there aren't any pictures -- I've got some great ones coming, though: we had a mini-session with Melanie at the end of August and I'll be getting the images on Friday, so stay tuned!

SALLY JEAN (PRANN) CARTER
January 24, 1950 - September11, 2008

What a Weekend!!

Well, Saturday was a first for me -- I went to my first State Fair ever!! Pete and Emily and I drove to Louisville to meet Rachael and Sylvain and head over to the Kentucky Fair Grounds. We had a great time looking at all the livestock and vegetables, mullets, and Rebel Pride (it almost seemed like we were in Arkansas again!)
No seriously, the animals were great, and produce was VERY impressive. Then we went to the FOOD COURT where we saw the funniest signs known to man.

(Emily w/her Meat Mountains)

and lastly, our favorite...

In the car on the way over I had said something about if they had Fried Snickers, we would have to try it -- so I was the first to take the plunge, and then we all did our duty. I think I can still feel it somewhere in my lower intestines.

Sunday was my 28th birthday. Pete and I sang in a quartet in church, then we went to the co-op for lunch before heading over to the Woodland Art Fair. I think we were both still tired from the fair because we didn't stay for very long. Sunday evening we went for a nice ride on our new bicycles!!! We rode for 13.3 miles all around Chevy Chase and had a good time.

After our ride we watched a little of the olympics before ordering Abuelo's takeout for dinner --yum! We had Netflixed 'Death at a Funeral' and were excited about a relaxing night spent 'in'! It was nearly 11:00pm when we remembered we hadn't eaten any of the cake Pete slaved over all afternoon! So Pete quickly put some candles in it and sang to me, and we tasted its 3-layer goodness -- two layers of chocolate cake with a middle layer of BROWNIE!! -- somebody's been watching Ace of Cakes!!

We had to go to bed right after cake time because I had to be at the Prometric Testing Center at 7:30am to take the GRE!!! It was long, and cold in the room, and I couldn't have a bottle of water with me, but I survived and scored pretty well. Whew. Hope your weekend was as adventurous!! (if you want to see ALL the state fair pics, click here)

I'm home

I spent 2 1/2 weeks in Arkansas with my parents -- and a host of other relatives I hadn't seen in years -- and I'm home again. Pete, my lifesaver of a husband, flew to Fort Smith Sunday afternoon so that, three hours later, he could get in the car with me and drive home (how did I have my car? because he drove it out two weeks ago and flew home leaving me with it - his love truly knows no bounds). We broke the drive up into two days -- one 4-hour, one 7-hour, so that it wouldn't be too taxing.
It was a hard decision to make --do i stay or leave? But mom's strength has multiplied at least 300% since I got there on the 11th and they didn't really need my help anymore. My brother Peter is currently visiting, and will stay about a week (I think). Her latest sample of spinal fluid shows the chemo she's on is working, so it's supposed to be a good report. I'm hoping to go back soon, but classes start for me on the 27th and I needed a few days at home before becoming a full-time student again. (and if I don't take the GRE in the next 3 weeks Pete will wring my neck!)
I hate that it takes so much coordination just to see my family -- an 11-hr drive or minimum 2-plane flight -- it really makes times like these hard!!!

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
~George Cooper

Time to go Dark (for a bit at least)

So my mom's cancer has returned. It's in her spine this time (CNS Lymphoma) -- the prognosis isn't good. I'm going to go be with her for the next little while, don't know when I'll come home. Please know that any kind thoughts are more than appreciated.

Guess where we're taking Hannah next week!

Uptown Hounds -- a new place in town with a 'pooches only' pool! Now we don't have to wait until Labor Day weekend for our pooch to plunge!

New favorite website

It's gonna be hard to top Bakerella and Decor8, but this site I found today just might do it! I'm already trying to work up an occasion that merits the tiramisu cake, yum!

Insert *blush* here

Melanie blogged on us yesterday! Sweet Melanie, thank you for saying such nice things. :)

Happy Anniversary

Three years ago we said "I do" -- best decision ever.

Love you, Pete!

I don't think anyone else remembers this

because I've checked everyone else's blogs today -- but, I graduated high school Ten Years Ago tonight -- on Eric Vicker's 18th Birthday. We were the last class to graduate from the civic center, all the following classes got to go to Murray(?) Coliseum -- and the smell of cow urine from when the Rodeo was in the same place as our 525 seats is still in my memory. I can't remember who I sat next to -- I wasn't in the top 25 so I was with the rest of the class alphabetically, but there was something about the choir kids - we had to get up and sing "To Thee CHS" - so I might have been next to Molly (I swear if you got concert choir together tomorrow and blew a whistle we'd be able to line up in alphabetical order in under 60 seconds). Anyway, here are two pictures I scanned -- enjoy!

me, mom, & dad

me, Mike, Doodle, Ranae

Derby Day Festivities

Before I get to the fun of yesterday, I have to mention that I ran for 60 minutes tonight!! I've never run more than 45 before - but that is NOTHING compared to what my sister-in-law Jenni did this morning -- she ran her first half-marathon! Way to go Jenni! 13.1 miles in 1:58:32 - that is so AWESOME!

Of course, the Cupcake Cuties were the official dessert sponsor of Rachael's Derby Party - we arrived at her house early to make Mint Julep Cupcakes (with bourbon in the batter and frosting! yipes!) We were really pleased with the end result.


Everyone else arrived a few hours before the derby to play the mini-derby Rachael had set up in her back yard. It was so much fun! I haven't laughed so hard in ages! Being the good school teacher that she is, Rachael had a scoreboard all ready to go, with start and finish lines marked by cones, and all kinds of fun little games planned. There was a three-legged race, a hula-hoop race, wheelbarrow race, etc. The funniest event of the afternoon was the dizzy bat race - you may remember this from Field Day in elementary school -- run to the bat, spin around 10 times with your forehead on the bat, run back to the start -- well, I am now sporting a small cut on my forehead from trying to run after spinning - I fell flat on my face right away! Pete was the best entertainment of the afternoon with his running/falling/running to win the dizzy bat race.



After it was all said and done, Emily won, Pete placed, and just about everyone else tied for show (except me - I was barely on the board, also reminiscent of elementary school, oh well). We were definitely all ready for food after that, so Sylvain fired up the grill and we ate and got ready to watch the derby. I drew Big Brown in our betting pool -- so I won $50! Yay!
After dinner and the Derby it was still nice outside so we played a round of croquet before going home. Rachael and Sylvain and Ann came over later and we played Wii MarioKart until we could barely hold our heads up. What a great day!