Just 7 months to go

I really wish I were better at updating this thing. But I rarely have something so deeply interesting to share that it's worth writing down and saving for later.

Neil and I booked our stay in Oahu/Maui in January. His parents are letting us use their time in their condo/timeshare on Maui and so we're taking the opportunity to visit a good friend who lives on Oahu while we're there. Since the lodgings are covered, we really only need to come up with the airfare for this 1 1/2 week stay in paradise. We are "finding" this money for the tickets by only painting the front of our house, instead of the entire exterior as originally planned. This much we can do ourselves and save the money for something more relaxing that we'll get more out of ... maybe not in the long run of course, but vacations and getaways keep you healthy. It's good for your mind and body to get out of your routine and see a beautiful tropical island in the process. I'm excited and January can't come fast enough. I think this is the first time in my life I've ever wished the winter would hurry up and get here. Plus, it's good to get in one more long vacation before the day comes when we might not be able to so easily drop everything and go. I will not take it for granted.

We've been having issues with our neighbor's two rottweilers attacking our fence and barking at us every time we step into our backyard. A few weeks ago they broke through the fence and went after our basset hound, Lola. Luckily she wasn't hurt, but it could have been much worse than it was. Regardless, we expected the neighbor to remedy the situation by fixing the broken gate on the dog run on the other side of his house. Well, he didn't. We suffered through two more weeks of annoying, frothing, barking, rabid dogs trying to kill us every time we cut the grass, pulled weeds, grilled, took out the trash, let the dogs out, walked, talked, breathed ... I got to the point where I was composing a letter in my mind to tape to his door, or at least to speak to him if I could ever catch him home. Then yesterday, just as I had made up my mind to confront him (nicely), I happened to notice they were back in the dog run. Thank the lord, we can go back to enjoying our yard again. I was dreading making it an issue since he's not a very nice guy, but thankfully my prayers were answered the way I wanted them to be.

Our new favorite TV show is True Blood. We can't stop watching it. The 2nd season just started and it's already got me riveted and antsy for the next week. It's full of violence, wit, humor, sex, satire, diversity, racism, hate, love and everything in between. Now that's some good tv.