Viva Le Entrepreneurship!

Well, it's official: I now own my own business! Now I don't own the company, but it's essentially a franchise and it's MINE! I have decided to do independent sales for a jewelry company called Park Lane. They are the country's #1 party planning jewelry sales company. I have fallen in love with the jewelry and I have such a passion for it and a belief in it. I'm so excited! I'm already 80% of the way towards making my first sales goal! If you want to place an order or just check out the jewelry, you can go to www.myparklane.com/caitlinmiller orders are of course appreciated, and if you have any questions you can email me at mrscaitiemiller@aol.com or call me at 801-647-7776. I love hearing from people about this! There's also a special going on right now where you can save hundreds of dollars off your order and even get jewelry for free! Gimme a call and I'll explain how it works!

I'm also having a lauch show on friday, May 7th at 7:00 pm. It's a great opportunity to bring your mom with you and buy her a lovely gift for Mother's Day! And remember we also have men's jewelry as well! Give me a call and I'll tell you all about it!

Awesome day

Yesterday was an awesome day. I had so much fun! First, Spencer and I went to church and got to hear a sermon from Pastor Jim, since Pastor Terry was still stuck in Europe because of the volcano. It was nice to hear Pastor Jim speak. He's kind of excitable, but in a different way than Terry, so it made it fun. After church Spencer and I went home and we had some bread that was starting to mold so we went out to feed it to the chickens. I love the chickens so much; they're so fun. If they know you have food they will follow you around the yard like a little herd. They even followed me up onto the deck. Then I went to collect eggs and there were some eggs that were hot to the touch they were so fresh! It was such a cool experience. Then I made dinner. I decided to try a new recipe. I made almond-crusted halibut with a buerre blanc sauce. It was tasty. I mean, of course it would be tasty, the sauce was comprised entirely of white wine, butter and cream. After dinner I decided to take Bowser for a walk. He behaved himself so well on the leash! I was impressed. It was a great day.

Bowser's Namesake

This weekend Spencer and I were walking around Sugarhouse and we passed one of those Play N Trade stores. We might not have a lot of money in the budget for entertainment right now, but we felt compelled to go in. When we did we discovered that not only did they have an original NES but a bunch of games for it. We got the NES, the original Metroid, and the ORIGINAL Super Mario Bros (with Duck Hunt) for $50. It was a pretty great deal we thought. So we get home and we're playing Mario Bros and at the end of the first world, the boss you fight is a freakin-sweet 8-bit Bowser!

So I yell across the house "Mom, get in here!" and she comes running in. I explain to her that this is the original Bowser after whom we named the dog. He's a big tough guy that causes a lot of collateral damage, but he's not necessarily evil, just misunderstood. So she's looking at the two Bowsers (mine doesn't breathe fire though, thank God) and she says "Ok, I get why you wanted to name him Bowser. It's perfect for him!" And it's true. I'm glad I named him Boswer cause it fits him perfectly!

Bowser

Ok so since Bowser is the newest member of the family and quite the character, I decided to do a post about him. He has such a great little personality and I just want to share some of his quirks.




He refuses to set his butt down on anything that's not soft. if we tell him to sit, he'll seek out a rug or bed or laundry pile and THEN he'll sit. He loves sleeping on our recliner, but since he can't get up on his own, he'll ask. Kind of. He'll stand in front of the chair and growl at it until someone comes and lifts him up onto it. When he's finished with his nap, he'll growl at the floor til someone comes to put him down.




He enjoys going to the dog park but when we take him he's KINDA interested in the other dogs (particularly dogs with flat faces, he seems to relate to them) but he's much more interested in the people. We can't leave until he goes up to every person there and has them pet him at least once.



He doesn't sit back on his haunches. He sits with his back legs sticking through his front legs, like a person would sit. And because we taught him to sit before we feed him, whenever he's hungry he'll come sit right in front of you. And we taught him to high-five (which is just adorable) so if he wants a treat he'll come and start pawing at you, like "I'm doing a trick; where's my treat!"




When he was smaller he used to be able to fit under the couch. He can't anymore of course, but he still tries. All he can get under there now is his head and that's getting so fat as it is that it probably won't last for long.




He LOVES the fire. Whenever we build a fire, it doesn't matter how hot it is, he'll sit RIGHT in front of it and just stare at it. When the fire dies and cools we'll catch him eating charcoal, which we really don't approve of. But it doesn't matter how warm the room is, if there's a fire going, he has to be there. Whenever Spencer tries to build a fire, Bowser will try to climb into the fireplace and help. It's so sweet.



Now that his adult teeth are in, he's starting to get quite the underbite! It's so cute to see his bottom teeth sticking through his lips when his mouth is closed. It's just absolutely adorable.







When I lie flat on my back, he's discovered that his chin fits perfectly into my eye socket. So he'll use my face as a chin rest.







He hates having his nails clipped. Even though we don't his quick and we don't hurt him, he still doesn't like it one bit. When we're finished, he'll go into the bedroom and sit between the open door and the wall facing the corner, and he'll pout. It's so ridiculous. It's like, "I know you didn't feel a damn thing so stop trying to play that trick. But nice try." It takes him all night to forgive us, but by morning he acts like nothing at all happened.






He likes climbing on the back of the couch to see out the window. The other day he was looking outside and just watching cars go by and Spencer said to him "You wanna go outside boy? You can't, it's glass." and he tapped on the glass. It was so funny cause as soon as Bowser realized he couldn't get through, he started growling at the window.








Oh and he loves having his belly rubbed. Whenever we have company, the first thing he does is roll over on his back so they'll rub his stomach.






He is just the funniest dog. His temperment and personality are just great for our little family. I love having and We absolutely adore him.

I guess it's time I blogged...

It's been a CRAZY couple of months! Spencer and I have been working non-stop; in general but also on this house. It's really coming along! We have all the common areas completely done; painted, curtained, decorated, everything. We're still finishing the bedroom and the office but with the bulk of the house done, we're feeling pretty good about it. Next month we'll start working on the yard. We have a whole landscape planned out and the yard is pretty torn up as it is so it's gonna be a lot of work. But when we're finished with this place, damn it's gonna look awesome! I'll be posting some pictures soon. As soon as I take them...

Bowser is doing great! He's getting so big and if it's even possible he's cuter now than when we got him. Bulldogs seem to work in reverse: the older they get, the cuter they get. We're teaching him stupid pet tricks. He can spin and high five and jump. He knows how to sit and he knows to sit by the back door and bark when he needs to go out. His housetraining is coming along great. I don't even remember the last time he had an accident in the house! He's really good about holding it until we let him out. I took him to the dog park yesterday and he had a GREAT time! He loved playing with all the other dogs and he actually loved playing with all the people more! It's so funny to watch him sleep. He rarely curls up in his bed. Usually he'll sleep with his butt in the bed and his head on the floor. He's very particular about what he lies on. He refuses to put his butt on anything that's not soft. If we tell him to sit, he'll go find a rug or a towel or a laundry pile and sit there. :)






The craziest thing happened the other day. My boss actually came to me and offerred me a promotion! This is really cool cause usually when positions become available you have to apply and interview and compete like everyone else. But my boss came to me and said this position was open and if I wanted it, it's mine. I was shocked! And, quite frankly, kind of flattered. It's not like a full step up from what I'm doing now. It's full-time hours with benefits but no retirement, and it's guaranteed for five years. And I can apply for other jobs and move in that, but at the end of that time the position won't exist anymore. I'm happy though. We'll have double coverage on our medical insurance now and I'll be getting a raise too. And it was offered to me. So I'm considering it a promotion. :)

I went to a rheumatologist awhile ago and it turns out I have something called psoriatic arthritis. It's actually an autoimmune disorder where the body things that tissue in the joints is dead and order more tissue to be produced even though there is healthy tissue there. It results in a a buildup of tissue in the joints which causes the pain, swelling and inflammation. The way they treat it is actually by prescribing and immuno-suppressant, which causes the body to stop sending those signals to the joints, but also decreases its ability to fight off infections in general. Unfortunately they can't engineer pills to only work on a specific area of the body (yet) so I have to live with it. I've been lucky so far that I haven't picked up anything too bad, but now I have a cold! Let's hope it doesn't latch on too bad!

Well Spencer and I are going to Wendover this weekend with some of our coworkers. I think we're gonna have a great time. I'm really looking forward to just kicking back for the weekend, relaxing, and maybe having a couple drinks. See you all next week!

We're Homeowners!

Well, it's official! Spencer and I bought our first home! We closed last week and we've moved in, but we're still trying to unpack everything! The progess is slow going because we didn't have time to get the house ready before we moved, so we have to pull all the boxes away from one wall, paint that wall, move the boxes back, paint another wall. It's frustrating and progress is slow but it's continuous. It slowed down more when we got the puppy but we're all getting pretty well adjusted now so we've been able to get back into a routine. I'll be posting pictures as rooms are finished and everyone can have a virtual tour of our home! This first picture up here in the picture we're going to use for our Christmas card this year. We decided to take the picture in front of our fireplace cause we really like the natural rock background. And of course, Bowser had to have a little Santa hat, cause he's my Christmas present!

Bowser has been adjusting pretty well. He only cries in his crate if we're not in the room with him (like if we're leaving for work or eating dinner or something), and even then he'll only cry for a couple minutes and then fall asleep. If we're in the room with him, like when we go to bed, he doesn't cry at all. He only whines at night if he needs to go outside, and when we take him outside he does his business promptly and we can go back to bed! We do have to get up a couple times during the night to take him out, but as he gets older he'll gain more control over his functions and he'll be able to hold it til morning. I just wish it weren't so freaking cold out! That's the main problem I have with it! He loves our arm chair. LOVES it. But he's too small to get up on his own, so he'll sit in front of it and growl at it until someone comes and lifts him up. Then when he wants to get down, he growls at the floor until we let him off. He loves his kong (which we fill with peanut butter) and I got him a stuffed cow to chew on and he really enjoys that. We love having him in our little family. He has such a great personality and is so much fun to play with. He'll put ALL of his energy into playing and will just be the most energetic little thing, and then he'll just crash and nothing will wake him up. We just adore him!

New Member of the Family!

Ladies and Gentleman, if I may present to you, a one Mr. Bowser Miller!



We have a new addition to the family! His name is Bowser, and he's a 7-week-old english bulldog. He's gorgeous! I'm pretty sure God marked him just for me; there's thumbprint on his head! I've waited so long for this little boy. I've been dying since Spencer and I got married because it's the first time in my life I've ever lived without a dog. It was a very hard adjustment for me. And I've wanted an english bulldog for a long time. But good puppies are hard to come by, and generally very expensive. Natural ties rarely happen with bulldogs so you generally need artificial insemination; c-sections are almost always required, and the average litter size is about 3-4 puppies. So puppies are generally pretty expensive. Plus I insisted on getting a puppy from good lines. I don't plan on breeding or showing him, but a puppy with good breeding is going to have a better temperment, plus fewer health problems in the long run, so they'll live longer. My mom always said when I was growing up, "don't trade what you want now for what you want most." I've been dying for a puppy. But I knew that if I compromised and just got the first puppy I saw, I would end up regretting it. So I've been biding my time and waiting for the right puppy to come along. And I absolutely believe that the Holy Spirit led me to this little boy. I had had a bad day last wednesday, and for some stress relief I was on the Humane Society's website looking at adoption listings. They had some cute dogs on there but noone was jumping out at me. Now I never, EVER check KSL, because there are SO many bulldog puppy scams on there and I've already had my heart broken once. But that day, something was just compelling me to check KSL. So I got on their puppy ads and searched for english bulldogs. This gal's ad was the first one to pop up. I immediately recognized the name Dr Pew, who is the puppy's vet. Dr Pew is an AKC judge and the leading specialist on english bulldogs in the region. He is THE BEST. So I know my puppy's got a great vet and that he's well taken care of. Second, the puppy is AKC registered. He probably won't end up being show quality, but I don't mind. He has great show lines and no history of any major health problems in his family. We went down to Eagle Mountain on saturday to meet the puppy and the breeder. We also met the puppy's mom, who's name is Jazz. She's is such a lover! She didn't care that she didn't know who we were and that we were in her house, she just saw us as more people to pay attention to her! This little boy is SO laid back. He's super mellow and quiet. And he gives hugs! I picked him up and he wrapped his paws around my neck. He's so sweet! He gets so fiesty when he's playing though! He growls, then lies down and sticks his butt up in the air, and then instead of running he bounces. It's so freaking cute. And because his legs are so short, he's kinda awkward. It's so adorable! This weekend we're going to take a picture of the three of us and it will go on our Christmas cards for this year. I'm so happy to have a dog again!