I'm a believer......are you?

I believe that things happen for a reason sometimes.  And that sometimes things are just meant to be.....because they are so perfect.

Of course, you all know the amazing story of meeting my husband.  There were just so many stars that needed to align to make that perfect moment when we met. 

Today we finally got another dog.  It's been 3 1/2 years coming......and I was finally ready to welcome another little tail wagger into our family.  Paul's been dropping not so subtle hints lately that maybe we should get another dog.  Then finally 3 days ago the serious discussions began.

I miss my little Toby......he was the best dog in the world.  I felt guilty getting another dog to take his place.  But then I realized there is no dog to take his place, but we could take another dog out of a shelter and give it lots of love and a good home.

So Sunday we drove around looking for pet adoptions, but no luck in finding our dog.

We spent Sunday night and Monday night searching the internet for all the available dogs in Houston.....and let me tell you there was a ton of them. 

We decided that on Tuesday, we would just go to the County Shelter and see what they had.  If it wasn't the perfect dog.....then we'd just go to another shelter.

However, little did we realize that we would find THREE dogs that we thought we could fall in love with.  All 3 were Cairn Terrier mixes (I can't believe we picked all the same breed, especially when I thought we would end up with another Shih Tzu).

We ended up taking this little 2 month old girl.

It was such a hard decision for us and we're still not entirely convinced that we're not going to go back and snatch up one of those other dogs too.  Breaks our heart to think of what will be their fate if they don't get adopted.

After a quick stop at the pet store, we brought our new little girl.  She is quickly becoming comfortable and loves her new toys and bed.

She finally has tired out and decided that she wants to keep a close eye on me and has curled up in my stacks of laundry right behind me. 

She isn't scoring many brownie points with the cat yet.  Misty didn't exactly like getting chased across the yard by a dog who was in HER house.  But I'm hoping they'll become fast friends.

It's so nice to have a little companion around the house with me again.  We miss you Toby Gainor!

 

Okay.....well here is where the deja vu stuff comes in.  Aaron's best friend's fiancé (Jessica) is an avid follower of dog rescue groups and knew we were looking for a dog.  She gets this post on her facebook page last night:

 

 

It's OUR LITTLE DOG.  She couldn't believe it when I texted her today with a picture of our new dog and it was the same dog.

Looks like this little cutie is really meant to be a part of the Gainor family!

The things he tells me in the dark

I think the best time of the day is those last few minutes at night when you are laying in bed and getting ready to go to sleep.  We turn out the lights and then some nights we'll just lay there to plan, reminisce, and dream.

Last night's dark conversation included keeping each other motivated about the employee drought at Pizza Zone.  We just reinforced to each other that it was only for a limited time and pretty soon we'll be back to being fully trained and staffed and be able to take off again.

We talked about our house.  We're having a hard time deciding right now if we want to do a full remodel and put in a pool or if we should just fix it up, rent it out, and go buy another house with a pool.  We are thinking about a 1-story house since we are now getting a little older and running up and down stairs all the time just isn't that fun.  Decisions.  Decisions.

We also talked about getting a dog.  This has been a hard one for me.  I loved our last little dog so much and to me he was the most perfect dog in the world and I just haven't been ready to have another one.  I saw so many dogs last night while I was delivering.....and it put just a teeny tiny little idea in me that maybe we're ready to have a dog again.  Paul has been mentioning lately about how he'd like a dog.......maybe it's time.  We'll keep you posted on that one.

And lastly, we talked about how short handed we are today.  So instead of sitting here wasting time.....I need to get some things done around here before I head to PZ.

See ya!

What's been happening in our boring life?

Actually, our life is pretty full with work.......but when we get off at night, we still have managed to throw a little fun in there.

Here's what we've been doing:

We've been exchanging selfies with my sister......sharing all the details of what we are doing at the moment.

We happened to be enjoying Bloody Mary's and Modelo's that evening

 

And listening to Pigs on the Wall!

I also finally got to burn the candle that Shay got me for Christmas that has a piece of jewelry in the wax and you have to burn it down to get it.

So not only has my house been smelling wonderful........I got to be excited about what my prize was!

Turned out to be a beautiful necklace......thanks Shay!

 It's also BORING Pizza Zone insurance renewal time.......that means a ton of forms to fill out and a bunch of boring numbers to figure out......yuck!

However, for ONCE in my life I was smart and saved all the stuff I've worked hard on the last two years.......so I could look back and make my life easier.   YAY ME!

We got to enjoy seeing Bob Seger on Valentine's night with the FREE tickets I won on the radio.  However, Paul worked up until the very last minute we had to leave and we thought we were going to be late.  Thank goodness there was an opening band and we didn't miss a thing.

And then we've had the opportunity to just go out and enjoy some music and some time together.  I am so lucky to have this guy!

After this picture, we headed off to meet some friends at another bar and there is pictures of me participating in the musical entertainment at that location.  However, I am not posting pictures of me competing in the sexiest girl in the bar contest or me laying on the floor kicking my legs as I was requested to do......those pictures will NEVER be published any where!

 

I. Am. Exhausted.

I'm too old for this.

Work my butt off all day long 9-10 hours doing PZ work at home or running around.

Then have to go into PZ and work my butt off for 4 hours.

Get home between 9-10pm too exhausted to do anything. 

Too exhausted to make dinner (and it's too late).

Too exhausted to eat.

Too exhausted to even sleep.

Somehow I'm supposed to fit in all the necessary household things that need done.  Like, clean the kitchen, do the laundry, pay the bills, go grocery shopping.

It's not working out very well.

This is my prayer that 5 good candidates walk in the door this weekend and we can hire some people to help us. 

I. Am. Exhausted.

Bonus Episode: Pictures from Orlando!

I had so many pictures from Orlando and apparently they didn't all get unloaded from the camera onto the computer.......so this is just going to be some extra pictures from our adventures at Universal Studios.

 This is my selfie attempt.  My arms are too short.....my hubby is better at it and doesn't make it look like we are taking one!  (I also need to figure out how to hide the fat neck in these pictures!)

 You have no idea how happy I am to see this picture.  This man was NEVER interested in pictures and now I find him taking them when we go on trips!

 We happened to see a parade while at Universal.  Those always make you happy!

This was inside the newest Harry Potter ride.  It's totally amazing how they made you feel like you were inside a bank lobby with real Gringots.  It's also nice when people in line are willing to take your picture for you!

 Seriously, this felt so real life in here!

 The castle in Hogwarts where the other Harry Potter ride was........it was so awesome!

The station to take the Harry Potter train!

We had a wonderful 1 1/2 days here.......although we both proclaimed it will be more fun to bring our grandchildren.   Hurry up kids........give us some grandkids to take on vacation!

Relieving stress from my mind.....by remembering Orlando!

Just got the call that the new assistant we hired 3 months ago was a "no call....no show" today.  That wouldn't be so bad, except we just lost another shift manager to pregnancy.  We also tried to hire someone and they haven't called us back.  I'm hoping that all of this doesn't mean we are going to be majorly shorthanded again.......but it's not looking good.  (of course, all of this happens just at the point where I thought everything was going to be great again and we would get to take off on vacations).

So......I'm just going to try and relieve all these thoughts on my brain and start catching up on my traveling posts again.

We are now going to update this blog with our trip to Orlando in December 2014.

This trip was not planned.  We had unexpectedly received a call just before Thanksgiving that Paul's little brother had passed away.  We were headed to Orlando to make all the burial arrangements and get a couple of vacation days squeezed in there that we didn't think we would get.

We left bright and early on Saturday morning, December 6th headed for Orlando.

Our hotel was right across the street from Universal Studios, because our plan was to celebrate our birthday's with a trip to Universal. 

We got to the hotel around 1pm and decided to head towards that direction, since we didn't have any other plans scheduled for that day.

After spending 3-4 hours there and finally getting some lunch (at an overpriced crappy food place in Universal), we headed back to the hotel to clean up and get prepared for the evening's entertainment.

The original plan was to go have dinner with a friend of Paul's from a long time ago.  However, his friend cancelled on us.....so we headed to the restaurant for some food and music.

The restaurant was located in Winter Park (a short drive from the hotel).  However, the place was full and we had to be seated outside away from the music.  We weren't really feeling it.....so after one drink we left.

We spent the rest of the evening driving around awhile re-living Paul's memories of Florida.  We finally ended up at a Walgreens next to the hotel and bought some beer and pretzels.  That was our dinner.  We didn't care.  We were tired.

The next day began with the MOST AWESOME free hotel breakfast I have ever had.  They had a good selection of eggs, French toast, cereals, breads, bacon, and juice.....we filled ourselves up so we didn't have to eat that high priced food at Universal.  Our plan was to spend the entire day there (and yes we did!)

We love the Minions!  In fact, this was our most favorite ride!

I need to teach my husband how to take a picture.  I was kissing this guy because he was holding beer!  But do you see any beer in this picture?  No you see some weirdo kissing a fake guy!

Paul always loves taking pictures with fellow pizza makers!

Too bad it's not a Pizza Zone!

Betty couldn't resist the urge to take a picture with this handsome hunk!

  I had to tell her that he was mine and to back off!

 

I found Scooby and Shaggy!

Some of you may not know that Paul is a BIG HUGE GIGANTIC fan of Dr. Seuss.  He loves Universal because there is a whole land dedicated to the famous Dr.

Of course the big attraction was all the Harry Potter stuff. 

 

And yes we are being geeky and taking selfies of us wearing our 3D glasses on the Despicable Me ride  (this was our favorite ride!)

 

We also discovered the deliciousness of Butter Beer.

 

So after a grueling 8 hours walking around Universal and riding everything that we could (without getting dizzy or sick).....we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the night.

 

The plan was to have pizza for dinner and to head to a local bar that was going to have a bunch of live bands.

 

The pizza dinner ended up being the Mellow Mushroom near where Paul started his career as a pizza maker.  The pizza was good (but they are never better than ours). 

 

Unfortunately the bar where we headed to was not actually the kind of place we are accustomed to going.  It was really more like a biker bar with heavy metal music.  Not our scene....so we left.

 

It was close to 10pm anyways....so we headed back to the hotel to drink some beer.....yeah!