Well, the puppies are now 6 weeks old and almost ready to leave the nest.  We are going to keep the little girl, Calypso.  We still have one for sale, so wish us luck on finding a home for him!  See new pictures by going HERE.

Most of us have heard stories where someone checked the Unclaimed Property website for their state and discovered a lost family fortune! I’ve only heard the extravogant stories where enormous amounts of money from great-great-uncles or something were left in a will for some remote relative. However, the reality is that you could have unclaimed property from simple things like a lost paycheck from a former employer or a long-forgotten safety deposit box.

To proove that it can happen to anyone, about 4 months ago, my parents received a postcard from the Missouri State Treasurers office informing me that I have unclaimed property. The postcard instructed me to go to the Missouri Unclaimed property website, find my claim, and print out a form that I was to have notarized and mail back in to the state. The website informs you if the unclaimed property value is less than or greater than $50. Mine said greater than $50!

There was no indication where this unclaimed property originated from, but I was anxious to get it! So I mailed in the form, and forgot about it. Last friday I got a check for a cool $1000!!! However, there was still no mention where this money came from! I called the treasurer’s office and left a message stating who I was and that I would like to know where this money came from. I just checked my messages this morning and found out that it was indeed a lost paycheck from a company I worked for during an internship during college. So now I know where the money came from, but I still don’t know how it was possible that I did not receive the paycheck since I received my compensation via direct deposit to my bank account! However, it doesn’t matter to me because I am a $1000 richer than I was and I feel like it was free money!

So if you live in Missouri, click the link above and find out if you have free money waiting for you!! If you don’t live in Missouri, then hurry up and Google for ‘<your state name> unclaimed property’!

My mom and dad, Justin and I all packed up in my parents’ Jeep and went on a 10 day camping trip in South Dakota from May 26-June 4 this year. We stayed in Sioux Falls for a night, then took a trip across the state where we visited Wall Drug, the Corn Palace and the Badlands. We spent 6 nights in Custer State Park, and we visited Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, the Petrified Forest, Hot Springs, and Justin and I went on a couple of hikes. On our way home, we drove to Fort Laramie in Wyoming, saw the Oregon Trail, and then drove through Nebraska where we stayed 2 nights at Lake McConoughy. We had an incredible time and took lots of pictures! All of the South Dakota pictures are in our gallery. We are still working on getting our Wyoming and Nebraska pictures up. Enjoy browsing through them!

I am absolutely LOVING my new job! Every morning I get up and look forward to going to work. I never expected to enjoy it so much. It is a pleasure to work with my coworker and supervisors, and the owners are just as laid back and easy going as I could ask for.

Also, my diet is going along wonderfully. I weighed in this morning at T - 24 pounds! just 9 more pounds to reach my goal! I went clothes shopping the other day and had a great time fitting into a smaller size!

I have a new job, everyone, and I start Wednesday! As of Wednesday, I’ll be working at the Saint Louis Equestrian Center. I’m a little nervous, because it’s full time (which I haven’t done in a long time) and I am also really out of shape. These first 2 weeks are going to be killer, but well worth it! Wish me luck!

Last weekend was exciting for us! Saturday we went to Home Depot and bought topsoil and mulch (and some special soil for a tree), rented a truck, took it over to the nursery and bought a white flowering dogwood. We got the dogwood planted, much of the topsoil worked into the flowerbeds and we reseeded and fertilized the back yard before it got dark on us. Saturday night it rained a little, which was great for our new grass seed. Sunday we got up and finished working in the topsoil and then mulched the flower beds. We got done right before it rained Sunday morning, and we were only 2 bags short on mulch. The rain we got yesterday was perfect — light, steady, and no wind. It was just enough to moisten the backyard and help the seeds get a good contact with the soil. We decided to wait a few weeks before we plant any bushes or flowers so the beds have some time to settle. It won’t be long and our house will look like a home! We should have pictures up tonight or tomorrow.

We started the landscaping on our yard today. We are putting in a little “retaining wall” in front of the house. It’s probably around 6 inches high, and we’re just using it to hold the mulch in and make things look cleaner. It will also be easier to weed-eat around the flower garden. We are also going to put up a little retaining wall around our imaginary dogwood tree (which we hope to plant this weekend). The walls should be finished today, and this weekend we’ll hopefully get some dirt and maybe mulch to fill in the bed. It won’t be long before we have some beautiful flowers growing! Keep checking back to the gallery for updated pictures.

We got a new puppy! We got her Saturday, February 11, 2006. She was born on Wednesday, December 7, 2005 (that makes her about 10 1/2 weeks old today). She is a rat terrier, and is as cute as can be! I took her to the vet on Monday, and she has a clean bill of health and weighed 3lb, 6oz. I can tell she’s already grown since then, though. She loves to play with her toys (loves chewing on everything she can get her mouth on) and chase Kat. She and Kat are really cute together. Storm will pounce on Kat and grab a clump of fur, and then Kat will turn around and chase her. Then, Kat will turn back around and get Storm to chase him again! It is really cute to watch those two interact.

As for our dalmation, Jake…he hates puppies. We are having to teach Jake some tolerance. He is okay as long as Storm leaves him alone, but he growls a lot when she comes near. We try to keep Storm away from Jake for the most part, and we scold Jake a little when he starts giving more than a little “warning growl.”

It is difficult to manage dividing our time between a rambunctious puppy and 2 relatively calm adult animals. I think we’re figuring it out, though.

We are trying to teach Storm how to ring a bell anytime she needs to go out as part of her housebreaking. Wish us luck on that!

There are pics in the gallery. Enjoy!

<p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #faffff">Our luggage came in on Monday and Thursday.? The first suitcase was delivered without incident.? The second suitcase, however…we had 2 bottles of rum and a pretty (empty) wine bottle when we LEFT Miami…none of which were in the suitcase when it arrived to our house Thursday (not to mention our clothes were wet and smelled like alcohol).? There were also small fragments of shattered glass in the bag, so we figure that one or both of the bottles of rum broke at some point during the ordeal, and they took out all of the bottles.? Ah, well. I need to find where there is a dry cleaners in this area, anyway.? </font></p><p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #faffff">Also, I have uploaded the pictures to the internet!? Feel free to browse through them and leave comments as you like.? Just click on the &quot;Gallery&quot; link in the upper right corner of this page.</font></p><p><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #faffff">In the words of our cruise director, &quot;Ciao for now!&quot;</font></p>

<p>We are back from our cruise and what a cruise it was!!? </p><p>On Saturday, January 7, 2006, we flew to Miami with Justin's parents and stayed the night at a Marriott Hotel down there.? That night, we went to a Cuban restaurant (La Rosa), and that was a treat!? None of us had ever had Cuban food before, and it was not what we expected.? I would almost describe it as &quot;sweet.&quot;? Not only was the food great and the service outstanding, but there was entertainment, too!? There was a pianist that was absolutely phenomenal!? Someone could talk to her while she was playing, and she could take one hand off the keyboard to talk or write or whatever and you'd never know it unless you saw her do it!? Brilliant talent!</p><p>After La Rosa, we drove down to South Beach just to have a look-see.? There were a lot of expensive cars and old buildings, but that was about it.? Nothing very spectacular, in my opinion.</p><p>Sunday came and we all headed to the Cruise Ship.? Although we boarded around 1:30,?we set sail around 5pm on <a title="Carnival Victory" href="http://www.carnival.com/Ship_Detail.aspx?shipCode=VI" target="_blank">Carnival Victory</a>.? Sunday night we discovered that we would be treated like royalty all week when it came to the amount and types of food we were served at dinner.? I'm talking 3 course meals — shrimp, lobster, steak, speciality starters, things I can't pronounce, caviar, brie cheese, smoked salmon, baked Alaska, sinful desserts, etc.? They rolled you out of the dining room each evening!? The service was spectacular, too.? The waiters learned our names and?our preferences fairly quickly, they laughed and joked with us, they were courteous…just very enjoyable to be around (and not one was American)!</p><p>Sunday night we watched our first show.? It was pretty entertaining - it was informational, and the cruise director, Dana, was very funny and energetic.? They also had the &quot;Victory Dancers&quot; and &quot;Victory Orchestra&quot; that performed throughout the week.? The dancers were good, but they were crowd pleasers, which isn't really my thing.? I really enjoyed the &quot;orchestra,&quot; which was more of a jazz band than an actual orchestra.? There were two Vegas-style shows throughout the week, and while the dancers were great at what they did and I appreciate their talent, still not my thing.?</p><p>Monday and most of Tuesday we spent the time familiarizing ourselves with the ship, going to various activities, shows and comedians, an art auction and?the casino.? I believe it was Monday when we went to an informational about how to play some of the casino games.? After the talk, we all got $5 vouchers to play at one of the tables.? Justin lost at roulette, but I ended up winning $15 and then joined a $20 slot tournament (I lost).? That was the extent of our gambling on board.</p><p>It was also pretty windy and the seas were far from calm.? We had 20 knot+ winds and 7-12 foot waves.? So much for stabilizers on the boat — although, due to the rocking of the boat, it was kind of fun trying to guess who was drunk and who was sober!? Monday I thought the rocking was pretty humorous…Tuesday, though…it was getting old.? It was also a bit disconcerting to see so many?vomit bags hanging by the elevators…</p><p>Tuesday night around 5pm, we landed in <a title="San Juan, Puerto Rico" href="http://www.carnival.com/Port_Of_Call.aspx?portCode=SJU&itinCode=ECE&embkCode=MIA&durDays=7" target="_blank">San Juan, Puerto Rico</a>.? We took the <a title="City and Shopping Tour" href="http://www.carnival.com/ShoreExcursionDetails.aspx?portcode=SJU&excursionname=San+Juan+City+%26+Shopping+Tour&excursioncode=427008" target="_blank">City and Shopping Tour</a>, which was a disappointment for all of us.? Our driver took us around the city first, and then took us to the?San Crist?bal fort.? That sounds great, but by the time we got to the fort, it was almost closing time (darkness was setting in), and we weren't allowed to walk around much — not at all on the walls, which should have been the highlight of the tour.? Nonetheless, the fort was pretty neat — I just wish we could have seen more of it.? After our tour, we did some shopping and then found a place to have a drink.? Once we were rested, Justin and I took a walk along a sidewalk next to the City Wall.? It was a very nice walk — the trees along the sidewalk were covered in lights and there was a nice fountain at the end.?</p><p>Wednesday morning, we landed in <a title="St. Maarten, NA" href="http://www.carnival.com/Port_Of_Call.aspx?portCode=SXM&itinCode=ECE&embkCode=MIA&durDays=7" target="_blank">St. Maarten, NA</a>,?my favorite part of the trip.? Here, we did <a title="Discover Scuba" href="http://www.carnival.com/ShoreExcursionDetails.aspx?portcode=SXM&excursionname=Discover+Scuba&excursioncode=433004" target="_blank">Discover Scuba</a>?– neither of us had ever been scuba diving.? This was an awesome experience for me!? We took a boat over to where there were a couple of shipwrecks, got a brief instruction, and then followed our instructor in groups of four 25-30 feet below the surface.? It was amazing!? It took a bit to get used to breathing right, but it was incredible!? Unfortunately, because of the recent wind and rain the visibility was only 8-10 feet, but for beginner scuba divers like us, we didn't care!? We had a great time here!</p><p>Thursday morning we had to pass through immigration before we left the ship to go into <a title="St. Thomas, USVI" href="http://www.carnival.com/Port_Of_Call.aspx?portCode=STT&itinCode=ECE&embkCode=MIA&durDays=7" target="_blank">St. Thomas, USVI</a>.? Here, we went on the <a title="Ultimate Island Experience" href="http://www.carnival.com/ShoreExcursionDetails.aspx?portcode=STT&excursionname=Ultimate+Island+Experience&excursioncode=434025" target="_blank">Ultimate Island Experience</a>.? This was both incredible and disappointing.? We spent 2 hours at Magens Bay, which was <em>beautiful!? </em>We even saw a bride getting her pictures made there.? The sea was clear, calm and warm, and it really wasn't too crowded.? There wasn't even a hotel in sight.? That was the best part of the day.? After Magens Bay, we went to Blackbeard's Castle, which was a let-down.? All that was left was a tower, and then there were some old homes to explore, which didn't interest us a whole lot.? There were quite?a few statues of historical pirates, and the descriptions were pretty entertaining.? After visiting the &quot;castle&quot; and shopping downtown, we headed back to the boat.</p><p>Friday and Saturday we spent on the boat at sea.? We enjoyed the sun, played bridge with Justin's parents, attended a few shows and another art auction,?and just plain ol' relaxed.</p><p>All in all, the cruise was really nice.? It was a great vacation to warmer weather in the middle of winter.? Unfortunately, I blinked and it was over.</p><p>Sunday came.? Time to go home.? We got off the boat, headed to the airport, got in line, checked in our luggage, etc.? Then we waited…and waited…then heard, &quot;flight 5011 to Ft. Myers?has been delayed because of servicing on board.&quot;? As it was, we only had a 1/2 hour layover in Ft. Myers, so any delay would make us miss our connecting flight to St. Louis.? We ended up switching flights, so we went through Washington, D.C. instead (which, we've been wanting to go there anyway, right?).? Not only did we get home 4 hours later than expected, but our luggage never left Miami.? I'm assuming they got the message to take it off the airplane to Ft. Myers, but never got it onto the plane to D.C…At least we're home and not on our way to the cruise, right?? Hopefully we'll have it delivered sometime today or tomorrow.</p><p>I should have lots of pictures posted today, so visit our gallery and see what we saw on the cruise!</p>