A Hard Week

Blogging so soon? I know what's up with that?

Lots to talk about, or maybe not much. Either way, I wanted to write it down.

We've had a tough week. Wednesday was an especially sad day for us, because we had to say good bye to our wonderful dog, Holly.

When we bought our house in March 2009, Scott and I decided that we had plenty of room in our home and hearts to bring a dog into our lives. At that time, my sister-in-law's living situation had changed and she and her three kids moved in with Scott's mom and stepdad. They brought with them their golden retriever, Holly. Holly was rescued from a "breeder" when she was 6 years old. She was the sweetest dog I had ever known. When she was rescued my mother-in-law had taken her in. When my sister-in-law and family moved into a large farmhouse, Holly went to live with them. When they had to move in with her parent's there were three adults and three children all living under a small roof and not a lot of room for Holly.

Scott and I talked with his sister about us taking Holly for her retirement years. Holly was 11 when we brought her home. A couple of things about Holly, she never barked or whined, she didn't really like going for rides in the car, but tolerated them. She loved attention from everyone. She was an aging Golden, so she had all the problems that go with that, a cyst in her eyelid and arthritis in her hips. No matter what, she just wanted to be close to us. Scott would say she was my dog, because she would follow me around the house. If I was in the living room, she would hang out there, if I was at the computer she would sit behind my chair on the rug. We ended up getting her two dog beds, so we could move them around the house as needed.

As happens with all dogs as they age (Holly turned 14 in December,) we started to see her having problems moving around and getting up. In the past couple of months the started to decline more and more, until in the past couple of weeks, we've had to pretty much pick her hind end up to help her stand. It was the toughest decision I have ever had to make, but Holly eyes communicated to me that she was tired and at peace.

I stayed home Wednesday to make the arrangements, I wasn't in any shape to be driving anyway. Scott went to work for a couple of hours, but came home to say goodbye with me. She went peacefully, and we stayed with her for quite a while. We thanked her the time she spent with us and told her how fortunate we were to be her humans for her retirement years. She was the sweetest, most loving pup we had ever met.

We will miss our Holly, we were lucky to have such a wonderful pup to spend time with.

One Year Later

I can't believe it's been a year since I last blogged. I was hoping to be much better at keeping up with it. Maybe this will be a new beginning.

Just over a year ago, on March 16, 2011, I had Gastric Bypass surgery. My last blog was a couple of weeks after and I had lost about 36 pounds. I am pleased to report that just over a year later, I have lost 140 pounds, gone from a size 24 to a size 10, and have more energy than I know what to do with. I've met all my goals, hiked the Ledge Trail on Douglas Mountain, got into a bathing suit in front of my good friends and a number of small goals within the year. Oh yeah, and I am now the happy owner of a Coach purse. Somethng I never would have done for myself, but Scott agreed it would be a reward after I had lost 120 pounds.

With all the changes to my body, Scott and I also made some life decisions. It is recommended that after gastric bypass surgery you wait approximately 2 years before getting pregnant. That would mean that both Scott and I would be in our 40's before we would be able to have children. We decided that we are at a point in our lives that we didn't want to become parents and Scott took himself out of the gene pool. In some ways it's selfish of us not to want to give our parent's grandchildren. But, If we don't want to be parents it wouldn't be a good thing to have them just for that reason. Other couples with children keep telling us that we would be missing so much, but honestly I don't want to be a parent and we have no regrets. We didn't make this decision on a whim, it's something that we have talked about for a couple of years.

In other news, I have discovered LTC's!! But more about that at another time!

Has it really been 9 months???

I can't believe I haven't updated my blog in 9 months. Some accomplishments from 2010: - Hit find 1000 with deniserows while she visited from Alaska. - Maine's Nautical Past was a hit! - Traveled Down East for our 4th Anniversary and got most of the boxes in the area. - Planned a BOTM for 2011 which I will be carving the stamp for each month. Also in 2010 I made a decision that would change my life and lifestyle. In September, I made the decision to have gastric bypass surgery. I started working with the MMC Bariatric Program in October. I completed all the requirements by January and just had to wait to hear from the surgeon to schedule the surgery. I met with the surgeon on Valentine's Day and we scheduled the surgery for March 16th. two weeks before the surgery I had to go on a special diet of 3 protein shakes and 2 Lean Cuisine meals per day. I lost ten pounds the two weeks prior to the surgery, which helps to shrink my liver and make some room for Dr. Wolf to move around. Wednesday, March 16th I checked in at Maine Medical Center and underwent Laproscopic Gastric Bypass. I had to stay one night in the hospital then was able to head home the next day. I have to say that my recovery went faster than I thought it would. The only problem I had was a pulled muscle in my stomach just to the left of my belly button. After asking the nurse about this, she said it was common, because of the way the surgeon sutures you internally. So here I am, a total of 38 pounds lost since I started the program in October and 18 pounds since the surgery 2.5 weeks ago. Now to get out there and box!!! If only the snow would stop and melt away. Today is April 1 and we got about a foot in my yard today. Great April Fool's joke. I hope to keep up with my blog this year. Especially when it come to our boxing travels. But only time will tell!

I'm Such a Weenie!

I have been on vacation for the past week and every day I went letterboxing. Sure, I did other things, but only if I could do some boxing at the same time.

Last Friday, 5/28/10, Scott and I took the day off to drive to my parent's house in Searsport, then head to Castine to plant the boxes for the 3rd Tour the Fort the next day. However, the normal 45 minute drive from Searsport to Castine turned into a 2 hour drive which took us from Searsport to Bangor/Brewer then to Bucksport and finally Castine. Why the detour? Someone left a note with a bomb threat at the top of the Penobscot Narrows bridge so it was closed down to traffic for the afternoon.

The next day, Saturday, 5/29/10, was the 3rd Annual Tour the Fort in Castine. (There were 4 forts in Castine at one time, however we are only really able to visit two of them.) 19 Boxes planted and a few event boxes, plus PT's passed around, were up for grabs for the 19 boxers who were able to make the event. We had a blast. After the event Angel Treads spent the afternoon and early evening with us. We found some of the boxes they hadn't gotten yet including a WOM, then had a great dinner out!

Sunday was race day for Scott, so we spent all morning and part of the afternoon at the Winterport Dragway. Scott had a pretty good day, but discovered that his atv had a fuel leak during his last pass. So we packed it up and headed back to my parent's house. After unloading the atv and all our gear, we decided to go after 3 boxes in Belfast that we hadn't looked for yet. Then back to the parent's for cookout and visiting with my grandmother.

Monday, no letterboxing! We drove home from Searsport and had errands to run, grocery shopping, etc.

Tuesday, we got a rental car. (I was rear-ended in Scott's car on Monday 5/24/10, and we shared rides in for the rest of that week, but going in different directions this week so the insurance ispaying for a rental until the car is fixed.) I headed to OOB, Saco, Biddeford, Kennebunk and Wells. I was able to visit with Mrs. Happy Daze for about a half hour and was able to get all the boxes I hunted for, until we had a downpour and I got too wet and cold to continue. I ended up going to bed about 5:30pm and not getting up until 7am the next morning. I was tired.

Wednesday I headed to Cape Elizabeth for a couple of LBNA boxes and an Happy Daze series I had been putting off until I was on vacation again. Forgot my bugspray!!!! So I ended up wearing a fleece sweat shirt zipped up under my neck, and I got hot! Got all the boxes in record time and headed home.

Thursday I volunteered/visited my BFF's 2nd grad classroom and helped with a special art project. That was fun! Later on, I planted a box for her as a thank you for inviting me to come. I also took the scenic route home to get a couple of single boxes, which was a nice ride.

Friday, headed to Cumberland, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth and New Gloucester to get some singles and a series. The find day for me! Prior to today, I had found every box I hunted for during my vacation, today made up for it! First was a library box, but the clues... didn't really tell me where to find the box. Just said to check out certain places around the library. So the plan is to go back with atvracer and check it out again. A few more single boxes a couple found and couple gone. I found one where the stamp was geocached, but there was a roll of stickers, so I took one for the logbook. Then I headed to a series! This is where the weenie comes in. I didn't find any of the boxes in this series! NONE!! To top it off, I stepped heal deep in doggy doo and didn't and had to clean that off before getting in the car. Thank goodness for napkins from Whole Foods!!! I contacted the planter and let her know that atvracer and I would be trying again tomorrow, maybe I needed an extra set of eyes. Then I told Angel Treads about it and they decided to meet us and go to find the series with us. Hey, 4 sets of eyes are better than just mine!

Saturday, Atvracer and I decided to do the 25 box series of lighthouses in Harpswell, but were going to meet AT and head to the series I didn't find the day before. Yes, I am a total weenie. I was in the right spot for all three boxes. Just took another set of eyes to find the boxes. Here's my letterboxing downfall... I can't see camouflaged pouches, I have such a hard time with them. Especially, when they are the ziploc snack-size pouches. These really are a great letterboxing tool, definitely hard for the non-lber to see. Other lber's can find them, but me? I have the hardest time, and I need some practice! So, I called the planter and left a message with her husband, that I am the weenie who couldn't find the series by myself!!! He, of course, giggled at me and said he would pass on the message.

Scott and I split up from AT, so they could do more boxes inthe area and we were headed to Harpswell for the lighthouses, which AT had already found. Once again those pouches eluded me! Scott found most of them, except we'll need to go back after 6 we couldn't find. I'll do that when my Alaskan visitor comes in August!

So, all in all a successful boxing vacation! Now I have to wait for August when deniserows comes from Alaska to attend Maine's Nautical Past, for another whole week of letterboxing!

6 Months Later

I can't believe it's been 6 months since I've blogged!!! A lot has happened in the past 6 months. We went on vacation in Bermuda (found 6 boxes there!!!) Two days after we returned from vacation, we closed on our new house!

We've heard from many that the first year as homeowners is the busiest! For us this seems to be more than true. We hate to leave, even for a whole weekend. Letterboxing has definitely taken a backseat to home ownership.

However, we are still finding time to do a little boxing here and there. We just hosted the "2nd Annual Tour the Fort" event in Stockton Springs and had a great time. Hopefully everyone else did, too! We are already planning the "3rd Annual Tour the Fort" for Castine, where there doesn't seem to be one single letterbox planted (that is unless there are some mystery boxes in the area, that I haven't figured out yet.)

We've added a new member to our family and she will soon have her own signature stamp. We've adopted an 11-year-old Golden Retriever from Scott's sister, named Holly. I've given her the trailname "Holly Hobby," like the dolls I played with while growing up. She will definitely be out on the trails with us, as well as at dog-friendly events.

Oh, and, we hit 500 boxes this past weekend. I never thought it would take this long. We thought we would get it in March while in Bermuda, but many of the boxes we searched for were missing. Thank goodness for friend's with new boxes every month.

So a new season of letterboxing is upon us here in Maine, now that the snow is gone and the bird's are out (I mean the mosquitos are out!) See you on the trails!

I WON WHAT?????

A little background... I was the Employee Campaign Manager (ECM) at my work this year for the United Way Campaign. You know, when you pledge a dollar or two a week from your paycheck to be donated to the United Way. Well, this year our pledges increased by 700% so I got to enter my name into a drawing for ECM's twice (once for being an ECM and once for the increase in pledges.)

Wouldn't you know it, they drew my name for a prize. I got a call Monday that I won a prize and I was invited to the campaign finale event. (I have to tell you, I thought going to the event was supposed to be my prize, I almost didn't go because I work until 7pm and the event started at 6pm.)

So I went to the dinner, straight from work. Nice dinner in one of the hotels in Greater Portland. They did the presentations for the business and individuals that raised a lot of money. THEN... they start presenting the prizes. I won a trip to Bermuda!!!!!

I got home with all the brochures and goodies in the travel bag they gave me, and told Scott all about it. We plan on going in March, during the week before my birthday (also known as "Princess Week.") The prize was for 3 days, 2 nights, but Scott and I are planning on purchasing another night so we can stay longer.

I've already done a search for letter boxes!!! There are 32 on the island!!! Now we just have to get through the holiday season!!! Woohoo!!!

Catching up!

It's been a while, over 2 months in fact! Let's see if I can catch us all up!

Labor Day weekend we boxed every single day! I took half the day off on that Friday and went boxing on my own. I pretty much stayed in Portland/Westbrook. Found a couple of boxes near downtown Portland and then went for a series in Westbrook. The next day, Scott and I finished up a series we had started a week or so prior and then found a few more boxes, all in Portland. Sunday, we headed to Cape Elizabeth to find some of the boxes that were planted for Come Fly a Kite in 2007. We had a great time, but it was very busy because of the holiday weekend. Monday, we found a few more boxes, including our 200th, between Buxton and Biddeford. Plus, Scott planted his very first series. He carved all the stamps (motor sports themed of course) and chose the place to plant it. No finders for that one yet, but hopefully there will be many next year.

A few more weekends of boxing before we started winding down Scott's drag racing season. Scott raced pretty much every weekend for 3 weeks straight. No boxing for us since the races were held both days of the weekend.

I took a week off from work (my first week0long vacation since I started my job 2 years ago.) The plan was to relax and/or box all week. I boxed all but 2 days. Mostly in and around the Portland area, but Wednesday I made a special trip to Lincoln, NH to meet up with Ellen (skier4444) and Silva Foot Family (who's real names escape me at the moment.) We did a couple of boxes right in Lincoln, then started following the Kancamagus Hwy (which is actually how I get home from Lincoln.) I had a great time with everyone there! We found quite a few boxes before we called it a day. I found a few more boxes on my way home in NH and once I got back into Maine. That Saturday, we picked up our nephew, and headed to Saco for the Mini-Golf mini meet hosted by Happy Daze and more boxing! Scott and Zach played mini-golf while I stamped into the boxes. Scott ended up getting the best score of the day and is looking forward to holding on to that title next year.

Fast forward to the weekend before Halloween. Friday night we went to the Frightnight Pre-gather event, a 50's-themed cocktail party. I had way too much to drink (ok, like a bottle and a half of wine and several jello shots.) But I had a great time, and didn't even suffer a hangover. Scott stamped in to all the adult-themed personal travelers. (The following week he carved his own adult PT.)

The next day was frightnight, whcih I had been looking forward to for weeks. Scott and I planned to dress up as Danny and Sandy from Grease. We also took Zach with us, and he decided to be a greaser, just like Uncle Scott. We ended up winning for Coolest Costume, I think because my two handsome men dressed up like cool dudes, I just tagged along. We stamped into so many event stamps, exchanged with a ton of people, and just had a great time. It was especially nice to see Scott socializing more with our new friends. (For those who don't know, Scott can be very shy around people he doesn't know, but once he is comfy around people his real personality comes out.)

After the event ended and the clean-up was done, we grabbed a quick bite and headed to the night boxing portion of the event. The three of us paired up with Happy Daze, who were actually the first letterboxers I ever met at an event and really showed me the ropes (thanks guys.) The 5 of us headed out with flashlights, headlamps, umbrellas, paper and ink! We had quite a system for stamping in and actually ended up catching up with the group ahead of us. At one point we found a great hiding place and scared a certain teenage boy, who has the same name as a north midwest state. Hey, the event was called frightnight, was it not? We got all the boxes and called it a night. What a great day!!! Kudos to Mainekokopellian and all the organizers and helpers.

The next day, while taking the "boy" home, we grabbed one more box. We tried to get this box earlier inthe spring, but it is one that is taken in for the winter and it hadn't replaced yet. Happy to get the elusive box, we took Zach home and spent the rest of the day running errands and relaxing.

We've done a couple of boxes since then, but it is getting cold and hunting season has begun again! Darn hunters, breaking into our letterboxing days.

We do have an exciting letterboxing adventure coming up, I can't wait to tell the plans. But you will have to wait until next time!! Until then...