been a while

So it has been a while since I've really posted and kept up with my blog, but now its back. If you haven't heard, Amanda and I are expecting our first child, due Jan 25, 2011!! We are very excited. She is about 11 weeks now and the baby is the size of a lime. It is fun to compare the baby to fruit as it gives you a good idea of the size. It is also exiciting that she is just starting to slightly show and before we know it we will have a new baby boy or girl....of course i am hoping for the blue blanket but i would very happy with the pink blanket as well.

So in preperation for the baby, operation office/nursery conversion is starting. I have begun clearing out the basement room to create the office, we need to:

-clear it out
-rip out MORE green carpet
-choose paint colors
-paint
-build built in desk
-re-carpet room
-move stuff in
-rewire room

then phase 2 will begin and that will consist of converting the current office into the nursery!!


so check back for more updates and photos as the work progresses!!

until next time....

Relay for Life

American Cancer Society Relay For Life

I am taking part in an American Cancer Society Relay For Life this year. Whether it is through a friend, family member, the neighbor down the street, or our own personal experience, we have all been touched by cancer in some way. No matter who the person is, or how close they are to you, cancer is a very scary word. This year, cancer hit very close to home for me as my grandfather and mother-in-law were both diagnosed with cancer. I am participating in this event in honor of my grandparents, Ray and Marion. A few years ago my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, and she is a Survivor. More recently, my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer. He overcame it, beat it and is also in the recovery and healing phase. He is a strong survivor and has never let anything get him down. Also, as some of you may know, Amanda's mother was diagnosed with lung cancer a few months back. She was diagnosed and within weeks had surgery to remove the cancer and now is in the recovery stage. She has had a strong attitude and bright spirit throughout this hard time. Amanda decided to start a Relay for Life team to honor her and help raise money for cancer research so that others can have the same great experience she has had. So that is the reason for our team name, Ruthie's Rockstars! I also have had many other family and friends affected by cancer and I am doing this for them. I understand that times are tough right now and donations can be hard to come by. I am asking if you are able to, to make a donation to our team in any amount. We will be "relaying" June 11-12 in Franklin Mass. There will be more than 230 Relays happening throughout New England this year, and more than 5,000 across the U.S., each uniting communities against a common enemy: cancer. Amanda, myself, our friends, and family will be cheering the cancer survivors who kick off the event by taking the first lap around the track. Then, everyone else will join in and the goal is to keep at least one member of our team on the track all night. Lighting the way will be hundreds of luminarias - lighted bags bearing the names of loved ones who have faced a cancer diagnosis. Relay is a time of reflection, a time to celebrate survivorship, and a time to pledge to take some kind of action to fight a disease that roughly 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will be diagnosed with in their lifetimes. It might be a pledge to wear sunscreen, quit smoking, volunteer with the American Cancer Society to drive patients to and from treatment, or remind a loved one to get their annual mammogram. As a Relay participant, I am committed to raising as much money as I can to help ensure that the American Cancer Society continues to meet the demand for its programs and services for cancer patients and their caregivers help finding clinical trials and affordable health insurance, temporary lodging during treatment far from home, summer camps for children and teens with cancer, and much more. I am proud to be part of Relay, can you tell? And I'm hoping you find the cause as worthy as I do. If so, please take just a few minutes to make a donation on my personal Web page. I would be so appreciative. Thank you! Sean Matthews Click here to visit my personal page. If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY10NE?px=14317090&pg=personal&fr_id=23347&fl=en_US&et=7lCiAbn0mLTgKoXlh0F0LA..&s_tafId=444199 Click here to view the team page for Ruthie's Rockstars If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY10NE?team_id=661513&pg=team&fr_id=23347&fl=en_US&et=uJSEo-Cefqb120ryvaXT0w..&s_tafId=444199 This message has been sent by a friend who thought you would be interested in information about the American Cancer Society's special events. If you no longer wish to receive emails messages sent from your friends, family members or colleagues on the subject of the American Cancer Society's special events, please click here or paste this URL into your browser: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TellFriendOpt?action=optout&toe=a103ffc4ed26640f1b854cdfa1a2f0fac157793613dbaef5

Joslin Fishing Derby

Got SKUNKED!! No fish, but great fun, last weekend I embarked on my first fishing derby and we caught nothing but bait. We had a great time as Team Basshole did have one of the best snowman (snowgirl) made by the one the only Ciarra, the Ice Princess. I was out there with Rob, amandas Bro, Tom, Amanda's dad and Ciarra our niece.

We met some great guys from the IceShanty website and enjoyed some DELICIOUS Clam Chowder made by Lisa

The derby was to benefit Camp Joslin, a camp for kids with diabetes. So in the end it was fun and for the kids, they gave away tons of great prizes, Grampa Tom won 4 tickets to the Worcester Sharks!! so i guess we did catch 4 sharks out there!!

BANNERS

Great banners, check out this website http://www.esigns.com/ I can design something for you or if you want you can design it on there website. I ordered a 2ft x 4ft banner, full color and looks great!!! Check them out for a great deal, again i can design it or you can have them do it for you.

Ice Fishing

Been a while since I've posted. Winter is here and that mean ice fishing season too. I've slowly become more involved and fishing more frequently!!! Caught 40 + fish with rob, tom and ciarra on saturday!!check out facebook for some great pics.

Snow

Winter has begun, and that means snow. I love the snow, i love to watch it fall I love to shovel and use the snowthrower, I love to ski in it and play in it, i just love the snow.....but one thing I don't like is the cold air that comes along with it. I have always dreamed of having snow in a warmer climate without it melting. wouldnt that be great!!!!

Fenway is getting used tot he snow, seeing as though i have to shovel him out spots to play and go to the bathroom, he is enjoying it, the snow is about 12 inches deep, he is about 6-10 inches tall, you do the math, he's a short guy.

He had a fun Hanukkah, got some new toys, some treats and even got to play with bailey. We had a nice hanukkah too, spent some time at my parents with latkes and candles.

Went to Rob and Lisa's for an extended family christmas, Fenway got to play with Oliver and Mark & lauras new dog, Hercules the hot dog, another long dog friend.

So now its almost Christmas, quiet at work, everyone is off shopping and worrying about what cookies to bring to the holiday party. I thought, what a better time to take a moment and write in this trusty ole blog of mine. If you get bored of this, jump on over to Craigs page and read about some boston sports over at 4sportboston.com

Speaking of boston sports, the Bruins are playing at Fenway next week on Jan 1 for the Winter Classic. Tickets for that game were impossible to get and/or extremely expensive. So I bought a few raffle tickets to win some to benefit Travis Roy's foundation. The raffle was oringally to be pulled Nov 1...delayed to Dec 1.....delayed to Dec 18.....which brings us to to the final dealy of Dec 22....TODAY....I still have hope that I may win these tickets. It would be AWESOME....although we would have to cancel our plans we already made with friends.

And speaking of the winter classic.....this is one thing that is crazy, the city of boston gives 3000 free tickets to families in the city to skate on the ice, a once ina lifetime oppurtunity....and people are out there selling them on ebay/craigslist for thousands of dollars......thats insane....where is the fun in that!?!?!?!?!




So in the end, I'd like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season....Happy Hanukkah...Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!!!!

SNOW????!!!???

SO as I said in my last post.....snow...was a different story. Now earlier last week we had a very brief little snow squall where we woke up and had some snow dusting in the yard....not soo bad for October...i mean it does get chilly sometimes..... but Sunday was something totally different.

If any of you watched the patriots game on sunday you know what I am talking about.
The picture to the left was taken by a random FB friend, and i stole it for blogging purposes. As you can see, the grass is white and the grounds crew were shoveling off the lines and had piles and piles of snow on the sidelines.

Now this is something you would expect in ...say January or even March, NOT OCTOBER!!!! (side note....I am not hating on snow, i love snow, just not this early)

At our house it snowed all afternoon, it covered the ground but didn't have the chance to stick around for morning. We took Fenway out in it and he wasn't quite sure what to think of the huge flakes that were falling from the sky.

Now this week the weather is gettin back to normal, mid 60s right where it should be for the fall.....but i heard a forecast for rain again saturday.....ENOUGH WITH THE RAIN on the WEEKENDS!!!!! this whole year of weather has been crap. give us a break!!! We work all week and want to enjoy our weekends with nice weather.


well thats my weather rant for the day.

Been a while

So it's been awhile since my last post. Many things to touch upon to bring yall up to speed

Fenway......He is growing up so fast. Last I wrote about him he was getting the snip, he is all healed and ready to party. He is up to a whole 10 lbs and that's about as big as he will get. I recently built him a ramp so that he can join us on the couch and he's learned fast how to go up and down on his own.

AS you can see in the picture below, he experienced his first snowfall this past weekend in OCTOBER....(NOW THATS A HOLE DIFFERENT STORY). He wasn't quite sure how to react to it, but I don't think he likes the coat that much. Keeps him warm, but he hasn't figured it out yet.

He will start basic training next month at his favorite place....Paw Planet with Jan. He is looking forward to it, especially since it will be all dogs about his size....sorry Brutus, the bull mastiff.--------------------
Amanda and I recently celebrated our first anniversary. We first dropped Mr. Fenway off with my dad in Marshfield. He had a fun time with him and even got to the beach!!

Amanda and I went to a move at the Cinema Lux Level at Patriot Place...Great place to see a movie and have a good meal. Lots of fun!

We then spent an enjoyable weekend (sunday-Monday) on Block Island. We stayed at the Spring House Hotel. One of my customers is the owner, so it was nice to check it out. Amanda and I rented a moped and drove aroudn the entire island...in under an hour and a half....wasn't too big. We drove on every paved legal; road.

We took this picture at the end of the road, by the North Light house. Thank you to everyone for your well wishes and cards!!

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House projects....

So we have been in the house since February and I always have some sort of little project to work on. My latest endeavor is finishing the laundry room. Right now it resembles a pink insulation dungeon. I have taken down the 1 board that is currently up and purchased some new drywall to put up. With tape and mud from my dad, I will attempt at finishing and painting the room. I am looking forward to this project and making a nice place to do laundry

Also on the radar, we are looking into removing the rest of the ugly green carpet and replacing with something less ugly.

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SM DEZINES

I have revamped and recreated my graphic design website. I have been doing lots of work recently for a future club in the Providence area, looking to open in November!!!

I also have been working closely with Craig on his creation and build up of 4sportboston.com. I have been creating logos, t-shirt designs and even a guest on the weekly podcast!

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Thats about it for now.....a short recap of my life right now, more posts to come in the future!

The Snip

So Today Fenway got neutered. I felt so bad for the little guy. He didnt know what was coming, he was to be put under anestesia and when he woke up, he had an incision....down there. Poor guy. Now he is sporting a fancy new ECollar. We had the one from the vet, but he wanted no part in it so we were lucky enough to go down to Paw Planet, fenways favorite store, and picked up a better cone collar that snapped on and much easier for him.

As much as I did not want a dog about a year ago, I love this little guy. I never knew how much i could love an animal. I was so worried about him today and I was so excited to see him when I got home from work. i layed down on the floor with him and cuddled him like a baby.

We have had so much fun with him in the first few month. Our friends and fmaily love him too. Even Caleb wanted to buy him a shirt for after his surgery....and no not a doggie shirt, just a regular t-shirt.

He has learned how to go up and down the ramp I built, he does it on his own for fun.

It's bed time on night one of cone wearing, neutered dog. Not sure what this night brings, but hopefully he will sleep the night as usual and we dont have any issues.

thats all for now.

FENWAY #00

NOW BATTING, for the BOSTON RED SOX, #00, FENWAY FRANK


This was fenway practicing his Papelbon staredown:



this is Fenways most favorite place, by the back door where he can look out:

Fun with fenway

Lets start out with a funny caption from Amandas facebook.

Amanda Lacouture Matthews is @ the park with Fenway & Sean.

Yesterday at 7:16pm

Alex Kasendorf at 7:19pm July 6

not to be confused with at Fenway Park with Sean

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Yesterday we took fenway to the park and went for a walk on the trail. Ever since fenway and Bailey played together and walked together on the 4th of July, he has been walking better on the leash.

We like taking him out so he can meet other dogs and interact with other people too.



This past weekend was the 4th of JULY. As mentioned in previous posts as well as when we were doing work on the house, we had a great 4th/housewarming party!! We had about 30 friends and family gathered at our house. It was really nice to see everyone there.



More pictures of Fenway and Bailey as soon as my mom uploads them to facebook, so if you want to see them, send her a message!! :)

This is his usual nightly pose:




and a few other pics we have:








In other news, I was the recent winner of the t-shirt contest for www.4sportboston.com and appropriately wont eh FENWAY FIRE DEPARTMENT Shirt from supahfans.com

RAIN+Puppy=wet dog

So this rain has got to stop. It makes everyone miserable. Hopefully tomorrow we will have some nice weather. This will do 2 things for me, allow the grass to dry, and allow me to mow the grass. Wet grass is not something fenway likes at all. He has his little short legs which means he is right down there close to the grass. When we bring him out to "do his business" he quickly runs back to the cement walkway.....where there is no wet grass. It doesnt help that the grass is growing and I dont have the chance to mow it. We've only had a few nice days since Fenway has come to our home.

TOnite we had some fun playing with the squeeky ball. We also had a short photo shoot, which again, he thinks the camera is a toy.....not so much.






And of course, Gotta have a little fun with him too:


Click the pic to visit Craigs Boston Sports Blog!!






til next time........

another good day

so the excitements comes during the day when fenway "POOPS" and "PEES" he has been really good with the training. He is getting used to going outside here and is realizing he is doing something good. After he goes he runs right over for praise!! He is doing great responding to his name, the breeder started this early so that helped a ton.


Fenway has been getting used to his collar/harness and leash. he still doesnt like it but slowly he is getting used to it.

We ventured accross the street today and met some neighbors. They were very friendly and excited to see there new little neighbor. They welcomed us to the neighborhood and fenway made some more friends.

Tomorrow is fathers day and we are headed to Marshfield to see my dad and mom. They are very excited to meet fenway.

We will have more pics and videos we took today uploaded most likely either tomorrow night or monday, Amanda is out for Betsy's bachelorette and I think she has the camera.

So thats all for tonite.

FENWAY

So this evening, Amanda and I picked up our new pup from the Breeder. We have had some fun with him and now its time for him to get used to his new crate and sleep. We know it will be a long night, its a new home, no other puppy friends and new people.


We will have more pics and videos soon. Stay tuned for updates!!!

Rock garden

my latest project in the back yard

The Blog is back

Blog is back and ready for some fun. Its been a while since a real in depth blog post. I've been busy doing work around the house and amanda has been excited and "puppy proofing" the house. Yes, as seen in previous posts, we are getting a puppy on thursday, Fenway Frank, a red long haired dachshund.

In honor of his arrival, we purchased a package of Fenway frank Hot dogs. As you can see in the picture, we have his food bowl ready, a crate, baby gates and already lots of toys. More pics to come of the little guy on Thursday after we pick him up!!!

I've been kept busy on the side working on some logo designs for what is becomin the next best thing to NESN (or so Craig thinks and hopes) www.4sportboston.com I've been creating some various logos, banners and other random things for him and his Logo design contest. Some of the designs can be seen on his blog page as well as his facebook page.

Another thing that has kept me busy, my new hobby, Rock hunting. I've recently realized that, yes since I live near a quarry, we have rocks. Around the edge of the tree line, I have found out that when they built our house, and rocks they had they threw to the sides and now have been grown over throught the years. Now, the explorer in me, has found these rocks and am making it a mission to uncover as many stones as possible.

My first project with found stones was to create a stone island/mountain and incorporate my lighthouse to cover, protect and disguise the well. Looking at it now, you would never know there is a steel pipe coming out of the ground!!

I am now creating a stone garden on the side of the firepit to add some hardscaping to an area that right now seems overgrown. I will have more pics of that as the work progresses.

here are some recent pics of the house:


this was the garen when first planted, the veggies have grown alot since this pic was taken. More pics to come as things grow!!



Well thats all for now. More updates thursday or friday after Fenway has Arrived!!!

Meet fenway frank

this is the future addition to the Matthews household!! Here he is about 6 weeks old We will get him when he is about 11 weeks old!!! He is a red long hair dachsund aka: Hot dog (hence the name...fenway frank ....for all those who read this that are not from boston, those are the hot dogs served at fenway)

One neat thing about this puppy, he shares the same birthday as amanda, march 28th!!

Long time no posts - time to post

So alot has happend since the last house post. We have done many things at the house and it really is now our home. It is a place that we are very proud of and proud to say its ours.

here are some updates










More to come soon as we do more work


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Going to meet our new dog tomorrow!!!


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Check out Craigs new website www.4sportboston.com

excitement on Hartford Ave

This afternoon the little town of Uxbridge saw some excitement on Hartford ave. All of a sudden about a half hour after i got home from work i hear sirens coming up the street, mind you, in uxbridge we very rarely hear a siren, unlike fitchburg or north providence where it is part of the normal day to hear sirens allll day.

i notice cars stopped and not moving, another police car shows up and I decide to go "check the mail"....in the mean time 2 ambulances and lots of uxbridge emergency personell show up. I felt like i was in the middle of a dane cook comedy sketch, people were coming out of there houses, i did though put shoes on. In the end, I met another one of our neighbors and saw a pretty well crunched front end of a ford explorer and a mustang with the entire drivers side door and wheel crunched in, airbag deployed. I know the EMTs were helping some and ambulances took away some, hope everyone was okay!

thats all from hartford ave!

2-5

So today is my Birthday!!! 25 years.......

25 years have been great

born april 28, 1984 and since then I have shared many years of fun and excitement with many friends and family. Thank you all and I look forward to many more years!!!!!

gotta get through work today and then a fun night with the guys tonight!!