Tutoring + focus on the good + my baby’s birthday!

The most important thing that I need you to know – it is Lulu’s birthday today!!!! My baby is 6! I can’t believe it. I spent WAY too long last night reminiscing over her baby pictures. I am SO thankful that I’ve always taken a ton of pictures. I mean, look at this precious puppy Lu in a dress with her monkey?? I can’t.

Okay, let’s get caught up on daily stuff – Rewinding to Wednesday morning, I added two over easy eggs to my breakfast muffin. Yum. These muffins are not good cold, though. You have to heat them up and then put some butter and honey on top. So good!

I cleaned the house a little Wednesday. I’m not teaching any classes this summer, so I have picked up a couple of tutoring gigs. I’m excited to work with some kiddos again! I am also going to help with some painting at schools in the area. I haven’t found a full time job that I love yet, so I’m still looking.

Lunch on Wednesday was the chicken burrito bowl mixture on top of spinach and crunched up tortilla chips. It was delicious.

Jake worked from 7PM on Tuesday night until 11PM Wednesday. I was already asleep when he got home. He had to be back at work at 7AM on Thursday, so he’s pretty worn out. He amazes me every single day. He never complains and he works so hard. This is the weather he was working in…for new readers, Jake is a journeyman lineman, so he works in all kinds of weather, no matter what. He’s incredible, so are all the other lineman out there working their tails off so people have power. 

I think Rhea was really missing her Dad Wednesday night. She was extra snuggly.

Trying to do abs on the floor is pretty difficult.

THIS dinner is awesome. Plus, hardly any clean-up! Win-win. It’s broccoli, potatoes, and apple chicken sausage. I think one pan meals are my favorite.

I let Rhea sleep on our floor until Jake got home. She started on the bed to cuddle, but that didn’t last long. She cracks me up. She sleeps in her kennel every night, so I think she was confused why she was in our room with me and Lu. 

She LOVES to hold hands. Lu hates when someone touches her paws, so I hold Rhea’s any chance I get. 

I headed out for some solo miles Thursday morning. I meant to get up at 4:30, but I must’ve turned my alarm off. Rhea started barking a little before 6, so I got up with her so Jake could get some much needed sleep. I made him breakfast when he got up a little after 6, saw him off to work, then hit the pavement for some miles. I have a training plan written out, but I am kind of going by feel right now. I felt like running some faster miles yesterday, so that’s what I did. I have a trail marathon in September, so I’ve got some time to build again. It’ll be my first trail marathon, so I have zero expectations regarding a finishing time. I think as long as I’m hitting my weekly mileage goals, I’ll be ready. We will see how this goes, but so far, I’m enjoying it.

I felt really good every mile of this run. When I stopped at the end, I recovered really quickly, so I’m taking that as a good sign – I think I’m recovered from my marathon in April. Now if I can just get my ankle back to 100%, I’ll be good to go! 

I took the girls on a mile walk after my run, then had breakfast.

After breakfast, I met with one of the boys I might tutor this summer, then I came home for lunch.

I spent the afternoon doing ALL kinds of fun things…liiiiike, picking up poop and mowing the yard. ; ) Our new yard is bigger than our old one and we have a push mower, so mowing takes a little longer now. It was my first time mowing the whole yard by myself, so we will see what Jake thinks of my work. I just didn’t want him to have to deal with the yard this weekend. Plus, it’s our anniversary on Sunday, so I want to spend ALL weekend together celebrating! There’s no time for yard work. 

After I mowed, I had a snack of carrots of peanut butter. This happened…

This is why you should always have two containers of peanut butter in your home…

Okay, now the good stuff! My angel baby. Lu was born 6 years ago. SIX! I found her on eBay Pet Classifieds. No joke. I didn’t even know that was a thing. But it is. She was $100. The best money I have ever spent! This little girls has been my best friend for 6 years now. She has the best personality and loves hard. She is VERY sassy and will let you know if you’ve pissed her off. She was the best little sister to our Aspen, and has become the best big sister to Rhea. Her favorite person in the entire world is my Dad – I am a very close second. And I’m okay with that. He spoils her even more than I do. When my parents watch Lu, my Dad sleeps in a recliner with her so she doesn’t have to sleep in her kennel. SPOILED. But, she deserves it. And you can bet that she will be spoiled today! I was emotional about this birthday of hers and I don’t know why. None of her other birthdays made me feel this way. Maybe it’s partly due to us losing Aspen this year – that was really freaking hard. It’s still hard. I don’t know, but what I do know – I love this pup and am so thankful for her! I have a ton of pictures, some will have captions and some won’t. Toward the middle, I share what was probably the hardest 3 days of my life – Lu’s lungs were bleeding and we t
hought we were going to lose her. It was terrible. But, she’s strong and she survived! So, it’s time to celebrate this little fur monster! 

Look at these baby Lu pictures. I just can’t. The one on the right was the morning after I got her. There was a bad thunder storm and she was (and still is) terrified of thunder. She woke me up around 3AM crying, so I cuddled with her until the storm stopped. I had to be at school about the time the storm quite and Lu fell asleep again. She was so cute and sweet, I wasn’t even upset that I was so tired.

She was so tiny! Lu also loved cucumbers? No clue. She’s very healthy. Her favorite treats are carrots and bananas. 

She still sleeps with her head shoved into things like this. 

She destroys most toys. The right is her first haircut! I cried when I dropped her off because I didn’t like to leave her places. Not joking. Yes, I’m a sap. I can’t even imagine how I’ll be when we have kids. People tell me it’s different, but I’m not entirely convinced. I love Lu A LOT. 

Lu LOVES snow. This is her first experience with snow. 

This was some of the worst days of my life…Lu got into some rat poison my parents’ dog, Molly, threw up in my front yard. Lu’s lungs were bleeding and it was coming out of her nostrils. It was terrible. You can see some of the blood in the picture on the right. It makes me want to cry looking at these. The vet didn’t think she’d survive. I actually threw a major fit at the first vet office I took Lu to because they weren’t doing anything for her. They were just WATCHING her. She couldn’t breathe! I was pissed. I took her from that office to another, where they immediately put her in an oxygen tank. They reassured me I had done the right thing. I’m glad I did. Lu had to go between the emergency vet, where she could be monitored overnight, and my regular vet. She stayed in the oxygen tank and had two plasma transfusions. She made a full recovery! I think she was gone from me for three days, but I got to see her each time I transferred her from the overnight vet to our regular one. It was such a hard time. Leaving her each time was awful. I cried every single time. I get choked up just thinking about it. She’s definitely my baby. She’s one tough cookie!

All healed up and being ornery. 

Lu had the best big sister in Aspen. They really were best friends. When Jake and I first started dating, both of our girls were jealous of each other. After about a week, they realized the other one wasn’t going anywhere, so they gave up on being jealous and grew to love each other. They did EVERYTHING together. 

On the left: Lu is the ultimate adventure dog. She LOVES water. This creek had a strong current – Lu would jump into the current, let it carry her down the river, swim out, and run back to us to do it all again. I had a million mini heart attacks while she did this, but Jake reassured me that she’d be fine. She did that for HOURS. 

On the right: When our friends, Scottie and Brandi, lived with us, they brought their fur babies. These four were quite the pack. Sweet Boulder, the handsome dude on the left, passed away a few weeks ago due to kidney failure. It was so hard saying goodbye to him, but I know Aspen was ecstatic when he got to Heaven. They’re probably driving everyone crazy up there trying to play fetch 24/7. <3 Dogs are the best. 

Yes, our friend Dan is playing tug-of-war with Lu and one of her toys. HA! 

Lu LOVES Eskimo kisses and running. She has done 6 miles with me before! 

Lu turned out to be a wonderful big sister, too! She and Rhea are inseparable. 

Lu has the best bed head. 

Sweet Lulu Girl, I hope your day is the BEST! You make my life (and your Dad’s) so wonderful. <3 

I’m off to spoil my fur baby all day! 

Happy Friday Eve, friends!