Dearest Sue,
Your new house looks just perfect for you and Mike and I know you'll have it fixed up as you want it and feeling like home in no time. I spent many weeks in NC when my brother-in-law was stationed at Ft. Bragg and loved it there. Since I usually drove down, I was able to see much of the State and it's so pretty. I hope you will both be very happy there.
Things have been so busy here! I had about three weeks of peace and quiet after Chica was given the all-clear from her mass cell removal before the next crisis moved in. On April 22nd the bed bug sniffing Beagles returned and just our luck, the apartment above us has them. To prevent the spread, they are treating all the surrounding apartments. I don't know if any of your families have ever delt with this, but what a headache! I have become an expert at hiding things over the years and I had to clean everything out from under the bed and the dressers and all my other "spots". The only place I could pile it all is the spot we had Bailey's crate in, so I took it down and she hasn't gotten into a single thing she's not supposed to! She's such a good girl and not a single accident! Since they're coming THREE times, every other Tuesday, I just left it all in a heap. No sense putting it back only to take it out again...and again...Tomorrow is our last visit from Buffalo Exterminating and I will be glad to put this all behind me. Since they go through our drawers, every Monday I put all my unmentionables in a garbage bag in my trunk-those I do unpack, though. On Tuesdays, I put all the dog beds and toys in yard bags and stack them in the kitchen. All their bowls and treats go in the fridge. Because we have to be out for four hours, I pick up a gallon of water and we've been going to Emery Park-the kids love it. The first time I took a vacation day because there wasn't enough notice to make arrangements for Curley. No daycare will take a deaf dog. They didn't get to us until 3:30 in the afternoon, so it was a total waste of a day. When they returned on the 14th, I put the girls in daycare and a friend watched Curley for me, but once again, they didn't get to us until 3:00, so tomorrow I'm taking a late lunch and an hour of personal time and I'll be home by 2:40. It just seemed like a waste to spend $50 on daycare, inconvience a friend and still have to spend 3 hours at the park. And when I finally get home at 7:00, I have three loads of laundry to do because they treat all your bedding, then put them in yellow bags to be washed in hot water and dried at the highest temperature for at least an hour. They are exhausting days and tomorrow is set to be the worst as I fly to Burlington, VT for a conference early Wednesday morning. I am looking foward to going, though. It's the cutest little college town. I'm going to bring my camera gear with me because it's right on the St. Lawrence Seaway and since the conference doesn't start until Noon on Thursday, I have plenty of time to go play.
Today is Bailey's first birthday and I can't believe it! She's still the tiniest little thing and everyone just loves her! As you can tell from the photos, she's very attached to Chica. My girls are rarely without each other. And, much to our enjoyment, Chica doesn't seem to mind her bossy little shadow! She brings much laughter and love to our lives, Sue, and no matter how many times we say "Thank you", it will never be enough to express how grateful we are for her! She loves to cuddle when she's tired and insists on a game of fetch every night after dinner. We go for three walks a day and as long as we don't run into any skateboarders, they are usually the most peaceful times of our day. She is a living, breathing alarm clock who somehow knows when it's 5:30, which is when I'm up during the week, but not when it's Saturdays and Sundays...If I take her out, she'll let me go back to sleep until the alarm goes off for Alex at 6:30, but that's the latest I've been able to get her to sleep in. She wants to be with all of us, so she spends her evenings running back and forth between me in the kitchen and her Dad napping on the couch. She's the first one to go to bed at night, but only by a few seconds and so she can get first pick on the bed. We don't know what we'd do without her!
That's about all the news from here. Happy 1st birthday to Bailey Glory, Bentley and their 5 brothers and sisters. We wish them all many more!
I couldn't pick my favorite photos of her, so I'm sorry I'm sending so many. She's just toooooo cute!
All Our Love,
Sarah
PS-I would love your new address so I can send you Christmas cards and such, if you would like to send it to me.
