Try expaining this...

Every time we walk Lily we give her a treat for doing her business. Savannah loves to walk Lily, but she isn't quite strong enough to walk her (Lily could pull me down if took off). So to prevent a crying fit by Savannah for me not letting her walk Lily Savannah's job is the treat at the end. Today, (due to only being able to use the back door as our entrance/exit- read post below) I had Savannah wait inside while I took Lily on the grass next to the patio. When I came back in half the treat was gone. I thought Savannah hid it somewhere, but the thought quickly passed. I needed to get Savannah to school so I picked her up and made our way out the back door. When I dropped off Savannah she did her normal moment of tear shed. Ms. Monette picked her up to greet her and she said, "Hi Savannah, wow, (awkward pause) your breath kind of smells like dog food". Then Savannah proudly opened her hand to show Ms. Monette the crumbs of Lily's left over bacon strip dog food and shouts, "Treat!".

Yeah, try explaining that one to a teacher.

So Gross

NOTE: This post is not for the weak stomach!

Back story: We live in a condo complex but it is all divided up into units of 4 condo to a small lobby. The three other units in our lobby are all single women in their 60-70s. The unit right across from our door is a renter. Usually we all keep to ourselves, but for the past year I have been becoming increasingly concerned about the renter across from us. It started with a bad odor coming from her door when she opened it, then a bad odor coming from her garage (which is right next to mine), then during the summer there was an increase of flies around her door, then I saw (through our peep hole) the inside of her unit and realized she is a true Hoarder. Boxes are stacked all over the place and it is full of trash. I reported this to the HOA since it is a health and fire code issue. Her landlord got a letter requesting him to look into it, but he just called her and she said it was all fine. That was the end of him looking into it.

Today: Well, we haven't seen the women in weeks. I (sadly) thought she might have died, but it turns out that she has been home sick. While Brian was home changing from work to school stuff he saw the fire department and the paramedics in the lobby. The women called 911. However she was too nervous about the fire department coming into her unit and calling the health department about her hoarding that she crawled outside of her unit, locked her door and sat on the stairs waiting for the paramedics. THIS IS THE GROSS PART- She had an infection in her leg that she didn't take care of until it was unbearable. By the time the paramedics arrived her leg was swollen to the max from a bad infection. The leg was so engorged that they needed to open the leg right there in the lobby- they were afraid it was going to burst during transport. So, they cut it to release the pressure, but it ended up bursting during the cutting. When I got home (only about 30 minutes after they all left) I opened the door and was so disgusted by the smell that I vomited a little. When I looked back in I saw blood and puss on the walls, the floor, the mat and the stairs. To make it even worse they think she wet and dirtied her pants when they cut her leg open and got it all over the stairs.

I can't believe the paramedics and fire department just left the lobby that way without telling anyone. I immediately called the HOA. They called the Health Department who then called the hospital to find out what type of infection she had. She had STAPH, but the worse type. This is why the puss smelled horrific. So, they brought out a bio hazard team to clean up. When I met them when they arrived they were pretty shocked. They said that they were called too late to do an normal clean up and now needed to remove everything. They ripped out the carpet and bleached everything!

Moral of the story... WE NEED TO MOVE!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

My Aunt LOVES to decorate for Christmas- her whole house is taken down and replaced by Christmas decorations. A couple weeks ago she had surgery and we were able to spend a bunch of time at her house. Savannah loves Trees and was really interested in the train that goes around the tree.

My Mom drove in and stayed with Auntie for 3 days and Savannah I came by to take advantage of the good cooking! Auntie's recovery from the surgery was difficult, but she is doing better now.

So Clean

It's been 6 months since my promotion (Chief Development Officer), but I have just found the time to finally put my new office together and get organized. It was so bad before- my files were just stacked everywhere, boxes were full of supplies, papers in piles and I had, what felt like a million, folders to go through. I finally gave in and started organizing when I couldn't find a pen ANYWHERE in my office.

The sad part is when my boss came into my office he looked around and said, "Kelly, I am really proud of you." The sad part is my boss NEVER says anything like that to me. Seriously?!? I felt like such a dork!

Well, there's still one pile left, but I am hiding it so it's not visible :)

Blog Catch Up- Lake Chelan 2010

This past August we went with the ENTIRE Rogers Family to Lake Chelan, Washington. It was the best weather ever and Savannah loved being with her cousins. Brian went earlier to go fishing with all the guys, and then Savannah and I flew out. The first night we got there we drove all the way to Yakima. I then had a TRUE all-nighter and finished a paper on Feminist Standpoint Theory and Capitalism (which I ended up getting an A!). My wonderful Brother- and Sister-in-law let me take over their office.

Highlights of the trip- Tony came, I finished that 30-page feminist paper, Jayce celebrated a 2nd birthday, Riley celebrated a 3rd birthday and Mel made this incredible cake, we went to see a movie at Ruby's Theater, and MEL found out that she was pregnant! It was so fun because she found out on Riley's actual birthday!

Savannah was able to spend quality time with everyone, but we loved playing with Grandma. Jane is a pre-school teacher and you can see how much she loves all children. I enjoy watching Jane look at all the details- like look at each one of Savannah's toes and oooo's over them.

Jane made some type of rolls that Savannah just couldn't get enough of.

Of course, Mickey Mouse was there too.

On the way to Chelan is a SUPER AMAZING town called Leavenworth. It is like Santa's Village. My favorite store in the WHOLE world is there, called Kris Kringl.

Then we ate some German food and got full on pickles!

We stand at The Grand View and shared a two-bedroom room with Mel and Russ- who are awesome roommates.

PIZZA!

The Chelan Museum- Aron always takes the kids and plays the scavenger hunt.

We did a painting activity with the kids one day when it was a little cloudy. Kaylee is such a good artist.

Aunt Lisa loves holding and playing with all the babies.






Savannah and Riley playing with their sunglasses.

These picture were after a bath. Since I didn't have Savannah's normal hooded towel I wrapped one around her head. Brian and I thought it was funny since she looked like a nun.

NOTE: There were 21 people there, but it's hard to believe from photos. I tend to take a million pictures of Savannah. For more check out my sister-in-laws blog post about Lake Chelan http://melrusstanner.blogspot.com/2010/09/chelan-2010.html.

Halloween

For Halloween this year we went to Las Vegas for Aron's Annual Halloween Party. If you recall last year Brian was Michael Phelps, but this year he took it to a new level.

Yes, Brian is wearing a women's Big Bird costume, I am FLO the Progressive insurance girl and Savannah is the cutest Monkey ever! Savannah loved dancing to the music and fell in love with this random guest at the party dressed up as a bumble bee. When she walked in Savannah run over to her and gave her a big huge.

I was in North Carolina for business and flew into Las Vegas to meet Brian and Savannah. When we got to Aron's there was two surprises... Stephanie (my sister-in-law) and her 1-month old baby boy Jayden. I was shocked and excited they were in Vegas. It took a white to process all of it, but it so incredible. I held Jayden for hours. What a doll.

On our way back to Orange County on Halloween we stopped at the outlets to use the bathroom and saw that all the store were doing trick or treating. So we put Savannah's costume on went to about dozen stores. Savannah looked like she was really enjoying it so we rushed home just in time to stop at my Aunt's neighborhood to do some trick or treating. It was really fun since my Aunt's neighborhood goes all out for decorating.