Making a Break For It

I would like to introduce you to my kids, Cooper and Derby.

Cooper is the grey dog in the red life-jacket, Derby is the brown dog in the green life-jacket.  This is them on our boat.  Oh yeah, they hate the water.  They can swim, but hate the water (the life-jackets make it easier to drag them back in the boat).  I could tell you tons of funny stories about them on the boat, but today's story is not about the boat.

Every day for two weeks now, we leave the dogs in our hotel room and go to work at our office a mile away.  We check on them several times a day, and even take them up to the office occasionally.  They have been doing pretty good with this arrangement.

Have I mentioned that Cooper has serious separation anxiety?  He has gone to some pretty crazy lengths to be with us (jumping through windows, breaking off metal kennel doors, I will elaborate more another day).

Well today I left them in the hotel in the morning and they did just fine.  My husband and I came back to the hotel for lunch and let the dogs out for a while.  We then put them back in the hotel room and went back to work.  Not five minutes after we got to the office, we got a phone call from the hotel.  Our dogs were running through the halls of the hotel!  WHAT!!!  Cooper had figured out how to open the door and let himself and Derby out.  Luckily, my husband's uncle was at the hotel and went up and got them and put them in his room with him.

I knew this day was coming.  Cooper has done this before.  He watches what we do and how things work, and then repeats them when we are not around.  When we lived in Shreveport we went to the pool at our apartment complex and left Cooper in the apartment.  A little while later I saw him frantically running around the fence of the pool looking for us, and our apartment door was wide open.  He had figured out how to spin the deadbolt and then open the door.  I though it was a fluke, and left him again, and not five minutes later he was out again.  At that apartment we had bite marks in the door lock because Cooper knew he had to do something with the lock first to open the door.  He is too smart for his own good.

Now we will have to find a new way to keep them contained.  Any ideas?

One more cute picture of my babies (don't ask me what they are doing).

What's In a Name

So why the Traveling JCP?

Well, if you know me at all, then you know that I spend all my free time in the car.  My husband and I have clocked so many hours in the car, I have lost track.  I tried to add it all up one time and stopped counting after it was adding up to weeks.  Our idea of a road trip is a little skewed now, 16 hours is a long trip, 7 hours is not too bad, 3 hours is like going across town, 1 hour is like going to the store, literally.  Our weekend plans routinely include at least a three hour trip in the car.

Because of all of this travel, you do not want to see the inside of our car.  I am so embarrassed when we have to give someone a ride.  Between the dog hair, dirt and spilled coffee, our car needs a bath. . . and another air freshener. . . and a full time maid .  My mom will be riding in the car this weekend, so I have 3 days to get the car looking and smelling better.

As for the JCP, that is and was my nickname since high school.  It stands for Johnson County Princess.  And while I don't often call myself a princess, the name kind of fits.  I grew in the suburbs of Kansas City in pretty much utopia.  My husband says I grew up in a bubble (also kind of true).  Everything I ever needed was within a five mile radius of my house or less, and I rarely left that radius.  When I went to college, my golf coach found out about the nickname and called me it all the time.

I guess people would call me a princess because I really don't like getting dirty, I don't camp, I know nothing about farming, or cows, I don't hunt, and probably never will.  If all that makes me a princess, it is alright with me.  I have learned to embrace the nickname JCP, and I think it's kind of funny.

So now you know why I am the Traveling JCP.

Welcome

As you can see, I decided to start a blog.  A place I can jot down some of my thoughts and observations.  I have wanted to start a blog for some time now, and have finally got around to doing it.  My friends, Marcie and Laura, have amazing blogs that I have been addicted to for a while now.  I have even been known to "stalk" their blogs to see if a new post has been made.  I hope that my blog can be as entertaining to others, as their blog has been to me.

A little about me:  I am 30 years old, and just recently got married this June.  My husband and I work in the oil and gas industry and recently started our own land services company after we got married.  A month before we got married, we both quit our jobs to start our business.  Let me tell you, you get a lot of strange looks when you tell a room full of women at your bridal shower that you both quit your jobs and don't really have a plan for what you are going to do next.  Hopefully being our own bosses will mean a little less travel.  In the last four years we have lived in 5 cities, 4 states, and I am not even going to try and count the number of addresses we have had.  We are currently "living" in a hotel in Pratt, KS, but are also closing on a house next week.  We also have two furry kids, Cooper and Derby, that make all that travel all the more interesting.

My life is never dull, but that is what I love.  I hope you enjoy my blog, and keeping up with my life on the road.