Around The House

August Blog Challenge – Day 3

August 3, 2011

If you would like to participate in the August Blog Challenge, go visit Belinda for the daily prompts.

Day 3: Worst chores around the house?

Can anything be worse than cleaning the bathrooms? The bathrooms in my house are the one reason I wish for a cleaning lady again. I loved coming home to sparkling clean toilets and a bathroom counter and sink free of hair product residue, toothpaste and bits of hair from my husband shaving.

I can handle about any chore in the house with minimal complaining, but bathrooms are my enemy. The bathrooms in my house are always LAST on my list of to-do’s; simply because I hate scrubbing toilets and tackling the ring in the bathtub.

And hair in the shower drain? Pretty much makes my gag reflex go into hyper-mode.

Filed Under: Around The House, Blog World

To refresh your memory…

June 11, 2011

JUNE IS A WICKED, WICKED MONTH in our house.

Filed Under: Around The House, Family Matters

MUST. RESIST. THE CUTENESS.

June 8, 2011

Oh yeah… you might have been waiting to hear the rest of the story about last week’s puppy extravaganza.

Well, as I said last week, we had gone to visit this breeder because she had a female Malti-Poo for sale. We arrived at their home, and she brought out the cutest little white fluffy puppy I have ever seen. (It’s so FLUFFAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!) We loved and cuddled on her, and I was sure that THIS was the puppy we would be taking home.

But then the breeder (Louise) brought out several more puppies she had available, which included a few mini-schnauzers and a Pomeranian/Schnauzer mix that was an “oops” litter. (The male pom had escaped from his kennel, and got into the kennel with the schanuzer.. hence, it was an “oops” litter) We played with all the puppies and then told Courtney she could make the final decision on which one to take home.

Did she choose the Malti-Poo we originally went for? Um, nope.

She chose this one, the Pom/Schnauzer puppy, whom we named Mia — after Mia Hamm, Courtney’s favorite soccer player:

Mia is now about 9.5 weeks old, and weighs just a little over 3 pounds. I lovingly refer to her as our “clearance puppy”, because she was discounted due to being part of an “Oops” litter.

Louise told us she would take the puppy inside to give her a bath and trim her nails before she went home with us. We stayed out in the yard and played with the other puppies. The little Malti-Poo, which was the one I was SURE would have been Courtney’s first choice, was being so playful and following us around the yard. I picked her up, hugged her, and made the comment ‘I don’t know if I can bear to leave this one here!’

For the record, it was MY HUSBAND that first started the whole “Let’s just get them BOTH” conversation. Of course, as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Courtney was ALL. OVER. THAT. She begged and pleaded while I tried to be the level-headed one, reasoning with them that TWO PUPPIES means TWO VET BILLS, and TWO TIMES THE DOG FOOD.

I couldn’t even convince myself, because all of you know about my extreme lack of willpower. And my love for ridiculous decision-making.

Everyone, meet Gabby. She is our 13-week old Malti-Poo. We have not had her weighed yet, but she is about the same size as Mia, but ALL HAIR:

These two puppies are the best of friends, and they are wonderful companions. First, I thought we were crazy for getting two puppies, but I think things are coming along well. They are potty-training together, and they snuggle up together at night. SO CUTE!

Willpower is for the birds.

Filed Under: Around The House, Family Matters, Mah Money

Do I have the word “SUCKER” written across my forehead?

June 2, 2011

I’ve already proven time and time again– we are dog lovers. We have been fortunate enough over the years to have some pretty awesome canine family members come into our lives. Izzie and Harley left our family much too quickly, but our home is always open to adding another furry friend to the bunch. Sometimes very spontaneously.

So with our dear Izzie being gone for a little over a month, we were all feeling a little bit of the puppy fever lately. Our other dog, Bella, has been sad and just not acting the same for the last few weeks. So, on Saturday, my husband insisted that Bella needed a playmate (which translates into We all really want a new puppy! Pronto!)

I spent some time Saturday and Sunday looking through ads in the paper, looking up websites for breeders in the area, and researched a bit on what breed of dog would be best for us. I checked two of our local animal shelters to see if they (on some rare chance) had any smaller-sized female dogs that don’t shed. The girls had already stated their opinions of not wanting another Yorkie or another Jack Russell Terrier. They also wanted to be very clear that we weren’t replacing the dog we lost, just adding a new family member.

By Monday morning, I had finally settled on a breeder about an hour from us who had Malti-Poo puppies for sale. In case you need to fulfill your cuteness quota for the day, here is a pic of what a Malti-Poo (Maltese/Poodle mix) looks like:

I know, I know. CUUUUUUUUUUTE!

I called the breeder Monday morning and made an appointment to be at her house at 11:00am. She had a few other puppy breeds available, but I was most interested in the one remaining female Malti-Poo she had.

I’m going to get a little sterotypical for a bit and say that anytime we have bought a dog from a breeder, we have arrived to a house that smells like dogs, and I often have wondered whether the people spend as much time cleaning their house as they do taking care of dogs (um, they DON’T). Usually the houses are messy, and I can’t wait to leave.

This time, it was different. They lived in a nice house, it was clean, and it did NOT smell like dogs. The breeder came out of the house to greet us, and she was very nice and friendly. She has been a dog breeder for 50 years now (50 years!!!) and it was obvious that she takes great pride in her business. She brought out the Malti-Poo, and I immediately fell in love with her.

Then, because she obviously figured out we were suckers for a cute furry puppy face, she brought out some of the other breeds she had for sale.

Lord help me…

(To be continued)

Filed Under: Around The House, Family Matters, For Laughs

Extreme Makeover, and why I hate Craigslist.

May 5, 2011

All I wanted to do is furnish a child’s bedroom. It shouldn’t be that hard, right? A bed, dresser, desk, a couple lamps, maybe a cool picture or bulletin board.

It should be simple. Easy, peasy. Right?

Given the fact that I might soon be the mother of five children, I am trying to learn to be more frugal. Thrifty. Fiscally conscious.

Notice I am trying to refrain from using the word cheap.

So my mission began. I made a list of every item we expect to need eventually for a new child coming into our home. Furniture, bedding, clothing, coats, shoes, toys, books. It’s a bit overwhelming. But I’m a planner. I like to make lists, I like to be prepared for every possible scenario. So I budgeted, I planned, I ran numbers. I spreadsheeted… (is that a word?)

It totally is now.

And I realized that I needed to pull in the reins and remain steadfast in my ~~cheapness~~ frugality.

So I cleaned off the practically new dresser we’ve been storing in the basement. (FREE!)

I found a nice desk at a garage sale across the street. ($15.00)

Now what I really needed to find was a bed. Mattress, box springs, frame, headboard… so I decided to turn to Craigslist.

Oh Craigslist, why do you hafta tease me so?

So I begin my Craiglist PAR-TAY by searching for “twin bed.” I was excited when tons of listings popped up in my area.

Well, the excitement soon ended when I began clicking on the listings and seeing the pictures, and then the PRICES people were asking for these “treasures.”

This little gem is selling for $200:

Here’s another for $150:

I won’t even bother to show pictures of the other beds some people are trying to pass of as being in “great” condition. YUCK. People seem to think that because they paid a lot of money for something, that I should have to then also pay a lot for it after they’ve used it for a few years. That’s not how the world works. I posted my frustration on Twitter yesterday and Stan was quick to remind me to watch out for bedbugs when buying furniture from people I don’t know.

Like our adoption journey, I just have to throw my hands in the air, quit being such a control freak, and remember that making over this bedroom is going to be a work in progress.

Filed Under: Around The House, Mah Money, Mission: Adoption Tagged With: adoption, craigslist