Random thought

I had a total craving for toast and butter last night. I haven't had butter on my toast in years. I had two slices and it was delicious.

Getting nervous about this experiment!

it's kind of like a diet..and i hate dieting (but who doesn't?) i enjoy eating healthy a lot of the time, but of course i have some days where i want some fried food or chocolate. this is going to be a strict "diet" on money. but heck, we all need restrictions once in a while, right?

i'm nervous and excited and the potential i'm going to learn this coming up month. i remember being laid off and having no money. that was intensely scary, but i was really happy. seriously. it was so freeing not spending money. i had hardly any debt and i only bought what i needed to survive. gas and food. it was great!! so i'm hoping getting back into that mindset will help me. ok, so now my excitement is taking over my nervousness. if one has ever been on a diet and has been successful, it's a feeling of empowerment. "i can do this, i'm doing so great, i'm sticking with it" and i think that this is what i'm going to feel like during the next 30 days. it's gonna be hard to begin with, but resisting temptation and saving money will feel even better. hopefully by the end of the month i can throw a big chunk of money on my debt or use that to get christmas presents.

one thing i'm debating and i need some suggestions. so i had a hair cut appt for last week that i had to cancel since i had to work. is that now going to come out of this $150 budget? i mean, really it was intended for last paycheck and was set 8 weeks in advance and i unfortunately had to cancel it. so what do you think? should i count it out of this budget? if so, i can't get it cut for another 4 weeks..and it's already been eight.. ugh. decisions, decisions...

anyway, i'm ready to go. this is going to be an interesting ride! wish me luck.

October on $150

inspired by small notebook's no spend month, one estate sale/thrift store loving girl with three rescued animals goes on a mission to see if she can only spend $150 in october. what will she discover? can she survive? what will the $150 cover?

• food--more specifically groceries, takeaways, and restaurants. also animal food and any treats


• gas for my honda


• household necessities--let's count toliet paper, cleaning supplies, light bulbs, batteries, etc.


• entertainment--theatre tickets, book stores, etc.


• clothing--this should be easy. i hardly ever buy clothes.

what won't this cover?

• rent


• utilities


• bills (credit card, insurance)


• savings


• charity

the boyfriend always says i'm frivolous. i'm really not. but i do like to go to thrift stores and i hardly ever spend $50 or more on something. but the little stuff adds up quick. i'm hoping to be able to stretch this month's paychecks to be able to donate more to charity and to put more on my credit card debt.

tomorrow is day one which could prove to be difficult since i don't get paid till thursday, but i think i can go one day without spending. i'm going to compile a list of cheap, yummy meals that i can prepare at home to lower my costs. luckily i have a freezer loaded with chili and ratatouille so that will last me a while (if i don't get bored of it! oh well). i do know i'm going out to lunch with my coworkers on thursday so that will cut into my spending already. i'm also going to take a lot of my dvds and other items and put them on craigslist to add to our travel fund. the bonus of this month is that i have a $50 target gift card if things prove sketchy or in case of emergencies, but i'm going to see if i can do without. i'm going to put my debit cards away (ahh) and not use them this month. if the family at small notebook can do it. so can i.

Clearing the clutter..one thing (or bag!) at a time

after reading numerous blogs (the majority of them under my Sites to Visit list) i've been inspired to clear out more clutter. i completely organized my linen closet, cleaned out under my sink and got it all organized, and organized my two junk drawers. i loaded all of it up into a brown paper bag and destined it for freecycle. it had been sitting on my floor for a few days and finally, i put it up on freecycle and less than five minutes, i got an email. so now it's sitting outside my door waiting for its new home. :)

i need to go back through my closet again because it's getting crowded. i packed up all of my things at boyfriend's house and brought it back to mine which made my head spin. ahh. no room. so i'm either craigslisting it or goodwilling it. (no, we're doing fine, not breaking up! i'm just never over there, we're always at mine) hopefully that will bring in a little income and keep the house organized.

i guess we're not having our internet outage today, so i'm going to be plotting my new $150/month "diet". wish me luck!!

The kick in the pants that I needed

So, bored as usual at work, i found this article on msn. One of the blogs it highlights is Small Notebook and one of the experiments the author and her family conducted in July. It was No Spend Month and basically what this family of three did was put away their debit card and live off of $250 cash for the entire month to cover groceries, gas, clothing, household necessities, and entertainment. Sound easy? or not? Could you do it?

I was fascinated when I watched Jon and Kate Plus 8 today and she was telling the viewers that for 10 people, they spend about $150 on groceries a week. WHAT? Really? $15/person per week. I think I spend that much money on fruit for 3 days. To me, that is incredible. And as any avid viewer of the show knows, her kids do not live on Mac and Cheese, she is very pro-organic, healthy food. Anyway, I think this article is what I really need to get my spending habits under control.

But how much should one person and 3 animals budget? Do I include dog and cat food and litter in that equation? Hmm. I don't know. Our internet is going to be out of commission for a few hours tomorrow and since we rely on it for our jobs, I'll have a LOT of free time to get it figured out. I think $100 for one person isn't enough for gas and groceries. Do you? What do you think is appropriate? $150 if I add the cat and dog food into that? I think so. Tomorrow I should have a rough outline to get started. And since Tuesday is the 1st, what a better way to jump start it, eh? :) Perfect timing.

Well, time for me to get on home to my beautiful girls. I hope you all had a blessed weekend! I had a blast and took a day trip with the girls and BF. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Best,
LL

A little blonde humor for your afternoon

Friday my coworker and I went to Walgreens because she needed a few things. We're looking in the clearance section and I jokingly said,

• Me: "Hey, A. You need a breast pump?"
• A, very seriously, "No. I think they're big enough."
• Me: "Ummm. It's to pump MILK. Not to enlarge your boobs."
• A: "Oooh."

Lucy Mouse is complete!

Thank you so much Anna! She turned out exactly how I envisioned her. I can't wait for Amanda to receive her! :) What do you all think? Isn't Lucy Mouse the best? If you want your own custom mouse, please check out Anna's etsy shop, TheHouseOfMouse.

Like a 12 year-old girl at a Jonas Brothers concert

Seriously I hope he doesn't get mad at me for swiping this photo off of his blog, but how could I not? Isn't he totally cute?!

OMG, Eddie emailed me. *girlish giggle* Yes, they were two short sentences, but I think we made a connection. *sigh* I think I'm going to be him for Halloween.

hello!

From: Eddie Ross
You may not know this sender. Mark as safe Mark as unsafe
Sent: Tue 9/23/08 8:59 PM
To: ****@hotmail.com

I love it in amber too!!!Eddie

LOL!!!
From: Eddie Ross
You may not know this sender. Mark as safe Mark as unsafe
Sent: Tue 9/23/08 9:00 PM
To: *****@hotmail.com

You are so sweet! have a great week!Eddie

***Seriously, CANNOT wait for Top Design tonight!! Team Eddie!!! :)***

Mint.com: How did I not know about this?

anyone who knows me well knows that i love payday specifically to pay bills. nothing gets me going like paying down my debt. seriously, i have an excel spreadsheet that outlines my debt, notebooks where i write down everything.. it's like an obsession. i just love knowing how much money i have and how much debt i owe..and then watching the $$ go down (on the debt side!!! not in my account!)

there was a really great post on apartment therapy today How To: Get Real About Needless Spending. well, a few individuals commented on mint.com to track one's spending.. i immediately went to check it out. from the mint.com about page you can find out more about this FREE site that uploads your accounts from checking and savings to credit cards and investments; it tracks your spending and let's you know where one's money is going (categories like utilities, food, gas, shopping, etc.). it even shows your spending habits compare with the average american, compares this months with previous months...i could go on and on about the cool features that this site offers.

it's like the shameless grandmother that points her witchy-poo finger in your face and says, "you spent HOW MUCH on that?" yeah. it's shaming, but it's a huge wake up call to me and where exactly all my money is going. i think this tool is really going to maximize my awareness and i'm really exciting about using it on a daily basis.

the only problem i found thus far is that it said i had a $50/month grocery budget and a $20/month gas budget. really? $20/month for gas?! i can't even fill up my tiny honda civic for that...granted i don't use a lot of gas and fill up about once every two weeks but $20/month? really? i need to find out where they come up with the numbers on that one.

anyway, please, if you're like me and am money obsessed or even just want to track your habits, check it out and sign up. :)

Oprah and Eddie

my day today was successful...and why was it successful? i found new blogs to add to my daily read list. because i have all this time to kill at work, duh. ;) these are courtesy of apartment therapy, of course.



so first off we'll start with living oprah. a woman who decides to take oprah's word as gospel. seriously. she's watching the show, subscribing to the magazine, and following what she says to the letter. oprah says buy this book. she buys the book. she says, go watch this movie and drink margaritas. she goes out and watches the movie and drinks margaritas. wow. really? ok. i think it's an interesting concept. basically it's an experiment to find out if her life is benefited and/or enhanced by oprah's advice. she's chronicling her experiences through her blog and is even keeping track of how much she is spending in the process. i haven't gotten through all the months yet, obviously i'm nine months behind but you know.. i'm working on it.

next we move on to eddie ross. ahh. eddie. if you don't watch top design, well, you won't get it. eddie is one of the contestants on bravo's top design reality show (think project runway but with interior design). he's one of my very favorite designers, who works for martha stewart, and just has amazing vision for a lot of items. (and doesn't he look totally hot in his vests and bow ties? yes eddie, please continue to wear them!!)

anyway, on his blog he showcases a lot of the finds he gets at various flea markets and thrift stores. he has a fantastic way of seeing something that is ugly and turning it into something beautiful. really, if you get the chance, check it out. he is a really good source for inspiration and there's even an ask eddie section.. have fun! :)

are you freakin' kidding me?!

after looking at this fabulous home in apartment therapy's home tours, i fell in love with this coffee table:

so I'm thinking, YES, i must have this coffee table. i've been dreaming of it just making my room look much better than it is now. i'm thinking, yeah, i'll save the cash and buy this beautiful piece. after checking out craigslist today, what do i find???

yeah. it's my coffee table. and it's $100. yup. $100. how super is that and how much does it suck that i can't buy it? yeah, this budget thing is tight and it sucks. and i want this coffee table.

Etsy feature: TheHouseOfMouse

My BFF Amanda's birthday was last week and I was trying to find something super cute and super original to get her for her present. We are both I Love Lucy addicts (to say the least) and so as I was on Etsy and found this shop called TheHouseOfMouse, run by Anna Greaves out of The Netherlands.

I couldn't stop giggling in my cubicle at the little mice she makes. I was making all my coworkers come check them out. They're fantastically made and so very detailed, I love the attention she gives these little mice. Also, she packages them up in little red boxes with certificates. Can't say enough about this shop! :)

My faves? Executioner Mouse, Groucho Marx Mouse, Hannibal Lecter Mouse, Van Gogh Mouse, Edward Scissorpaws Mouse.. ok, so I could go on forever.. but seriously these little mice are too cute.

Anyway, I asked Anna if she would make me a Lucy mouse for Amanda. :) And of course, she was more than happy to oblige and very excited to make this new mouse. And I'm excited for it to be done and Amanda to receive her. :)

Thanks so much Anna!

hippos...yeah, i know.

this pic will haunt me for the rest of my days.

so i'm at my psych eval and the doc asks me if i have any fears. i stifle a little laugh and say, yeah, actually i do. it's hippos.

i know, it's weird. everyone asks me, why are you afraid of hippos? well duh! if you're ever out on the amazon and you're in your little canoe minding your own business, these giant disgusting, hateful, greasy-looking creatures with short stubby legs, beady eyes, and tiny little ears are going to come out of the water and eat you! they don't even care! they'll bite your boat into two pieces and totally gobble you in one bite!

sure, it's irrational. i'm not stupid. and really, when will i ever be in the amazon, right? well, my family are huge disney fanatics. yes, my family belongs to the disney vacation club. and one of our favorite parks, the one we always hit first is the animal kingdom. :) yeah, we love it there..anyway. so we always go on the safari ride and guess who ALWAYS gets stuck on the side where the hippos have their habitat? yeah. that's right. me. all the time. and what do i do? i freak out. and everyone laughs. and it's not funny.

hippos are just damn scary. end of story.

Wanting (for a while now): Bullet planters

Sigh. So many wonderful things about these bullet planters. I want them all.

Wanda the Honda

I found this article in the CNN Living section. Yes, I was there again. :)

It's this sweet story about a woman and the attachment she had to her car, Wanda the Honda. She bought it 13 years ago and talks about her experiences with it, the road trips she made with it, the first time she got a job and packing it to the brim with her belongings, etc. She eventually gave it to charity and started crying as it was towed away.

It makes me think of my car. It's a Honda too..a little red Honda Civic, but not a hatchback. I bought it in 2000 when I was a high school senior. My first car was a 91 Ford Probe and while it was a blast to drive, I fell out of love with it within a year and told my dad I wanted a new car. So he kept his eye out, we went to various car dealerships and I didn't find anything I liked until my dad called me and said, "I found a car, meet me at the Blue Springs Saturn dealership." So I drove the 45 mins and there she was. Love at first sight. My beautiful red 1995 Honda Civic. Two doors, black interior, sun roof. Yup, she was mine and I was going to drive her home.

So I waited for my dad and stood guard around "my" car. A couple and their young daughter were walking around looking, but I made sure they didn't get near my new baby. My dad shows up, does some negotiations, I test drive her and yes, she's mine!

To this day, eight years later, I still love her. Yes, her paint may be not so red, her interior may smell a little like cats and dogs. It may be a little dirty, and oh yes, the A/C has been broken for over a year. But that's okay. I love her. Despite my family's requests to get a new car. "Find something more reliable." I refuse. She has taken me from my senior year to my first year at college. Those long trips between my dorm parking and my parents driveway. She was there the day I was married and took us to Kansas City to our hotel room. She took me through five years in England. She's seen the English countryside, Stonehenge, and various other attractions. She has been to Dallas and drove me to my new home in Tucson. She helped move me to my new home, my first house in which I live by myself. She has been with me as I was laid off and the various jobs that I've had since I've been here. And yes, she will take me to Phoenix as I finally start my career in the Criminal Justice field.

I see her sitting in my driveway and I smile. The comfort of her, the smell of her. She has been there for eight years and hasn't given up on me. So do I think it's silly about the author getting tears in her eyes as Wanda is being towed away? Heck no.. because as much as I don't want to admit it, that lump in my throat and tears in my eyes as I'm writing this are proof that my Honda has a special place in my heart too.

it's friday. yay!

ok, i had the day off yesterday since i work on saturday and had to go to my psychological evaluation to determine whether or not i'm too crazy for my new position. it went well, thank you (and no i'm not psycho, thank you) and she said she will get the report off in a week in a half. ugh. oh well. that will give BF more time down on the border before i head off to the academy.

yay! it's friday, despite the fact i have to work tomorrow, it was nice to have the day off yesterday to just chill with the girls and pretty much do nothing. i like to reserve that for the weekends...so i'm really active on sat and sun getting the house organized and cleaned. guess i should have made up for the fact i work on sat and did some housework yesterday. oops. oh well!!

i hope you all have a great weekend full of sunshine, it's beautiful down here so maybe we can get out on sat evening and do something!! :)

Wanting: Tater pots!!!

Thanks Apartment Therapy for this post. I love love love these. :) Definitely want the Oregano one, but will eventually get all three. Too cute!

i guess i should tell my mom about this...

my my my...i guess quilted northern is putting out a 3-ply toilet tissue now. toilet paper researchers (tee hee) have created this quilted goodness in order to market this new product to women 45 and up who, get this, "...view their bathroom as a "sanctuary for quality time." ha. seriously, that's what the article says.

nothing says "quality time" like sitting on my toilet thinking, wow, i'm glad i got this 3-ply toilet paper. my bathroom is such a sanctuary.
*yes, if you are as shocked as i am that this is news.. well then, umm... we're shocked.

image via apartment therapy

are you freakin' kidding me?

got call from BF. apparently he and his boss got a job down by the border...3 1/2 hours away from tucson. he's going to have to move there for 2 MONTHS and work 7 days a week. guess what? i'm going to be going to the academy soon. wtf am i supposed to do with my dogs? i'm going to be in phoenix for two weeks and am able to come home for the weekends. can i seriously consider boarding my dogs for 5 days, bring them home for 2 and then do it over again? crap. i'm stuck and don't know what to do.

:(

My best friend, Amanda who lives in Oklahoma had her birthday yesterday. She is absolutely one of the strongest women I know and I absolutely love and miss her to death. I met her over in England when she was just a freshly married 18 year old. Very naive and very ignorant. We became friends when she started working with me an our friendship deepened when her then-husband (aka "jerkface") was deployed. She grew so much in those few months she evolved into this smart, capable woman. Anyway, she is now a single mom, going to school, raising her beautiful son and living on her own. Seeing how she has blossomed is INCREDIBLE to say the least. Oh, she is also the most genuine person on this Earth that I know. She would do anything for her friends.

Anyway, when we lived in England I adopted my three cats from an amazing cat shelter, Cats Protection. I was lucky to get them because they never let Americans adopt because we tend to abandon them when they are stationed elsewhere. (How awful, right?) Well, I was lucky and promised them that I would in fact bring them back to the States with me when I left, which I did. And so I had my three babies, Duke, Toddy, and Nadine.

Back to Amanda, she really wanted cats so I told her let's go to Cats Protection and I'll bring my photo album. We'll show them my cats that I got from there and maybe they'll let you adopt if they remember me. So we went and the volunteers said, "Of course we remember you, if you vouch for her and say she's a good person, we'll let her adopt." :) Amanda picked out Pickle and Edward, two year old cats. Pickle is a black and white kitty with one tooth (hehe) and Edward is big and grey with no teeth. She flew them back to the States with her when she moved and they have been her babies.

She texted me the other day that Edward was in the ER because had lost a lot of weight, he wasn't eating and he was hiding (uh oh). He was in the hospital for a few days and yesterday, on her birthday, they told her that he had taken a turn for the worse. Ends up he had triad disease; he had pancreaitits and his vessels were leaking into his tummy and all of it in the same area which was all too much. They told her the odds of treatment wouldn't work.

Well, she made the decision to put him down. She was so distraught she couldn't even go in the room with him while they did it. He was only 7 years old, "he's just a baby and I feel like I just got him." She told me crying. My heart breaks for her. I was just there one month ago with Duke. I tried to tell her to think of Edward's best interest and would he really want a feeding tube down his throat? I would never advise her to put him down, that was her call.

I think of how it was with Duke. He's 13, I've only had him for 7 years....and my best friend only had Edward for 5 years and he was only 7. I knew about Duke's illness for almost two months and had time to digest it all, to grieve, to scream, to cry, to get all my emotions out before I made the decision to put him down. He was in good spirits till he passed. He had an appetite, he was happy, he was himself. I think of myself as lucky and grateful that I had that time with him, I wish Amanda could have had that experience..I had weeks, she had hours.

Please send good thoughts her way today. It's just weird how this has happened to the both of us in just a matter of months...and I wish it hadn't happened to us at all.

umm. okay...

phone rings at work.

me: "hello"

BF: "do me a favor. look up the recipe for dry ice."

what the..?

***googling***

me: "why the heck do you want the recipe for dry ice? this looks really difficult, why don't you just buy some?"

BF: "just DO IT."

me: "uh, whatever. freak."

Thinking about: Breakfast food

..i could really go for an amazing european breakfast spread..or some good old-fashioned american i-hop or waffle house. :)

update: have pup will travel

dad put his foot down. no pups in his house. what a hater. :(

DYI: Success!

Before: Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear...

so it worked. really. grabbed the ruby and went into the bathtub to try this whole "at-home grooming thing." it wouldn't be official without the "thing"..anyway, so she looks a little pathetic because i shaved her face to get the poodle look and BF says she looks like an anteater. :( aww..poor rubbles (pronounced roobles. she wouldn't let me shave her legs so i shaved her head, her face, and her body, but no legs. seriously now she looks like the funniest looking creature. ever. i love it. i've read that grooming your dogs can create a bonding experience.. yeah, right. me in the bathtub covered in fur. juno looking at me like i'm trying to steal her soul. practice makes perfect, obviously, but i'm really excited and motivated to get this down to save a ton of money.

AFTER: so pretty. tee hee

speaking of money, i'm doing really well on the whole.."i'm trying to be debt-free thing." really. whenever i'm hungry and need to get something to eat, i've been resorting to *gasp* the pantry. and i've come up with some yummy meals on the fly and concocting some pretty darn good food. i'm going to only buy things when i need them (i know, novel idea, right?) instead of impulse shopping. i'm going to resort back to my old ways that i had in england of using the envelope method that i've mentioned before. i get paid this thursday so i'm excited to get it started (although the final season of will and grace comes out on tues and will be almost all of my fun money for two weeks. crap.) but this is where the fun part comes in. prioritizing..figuring out what i want to spend my money on and the most important items. yay!

i know, i get way too excited about bill paying. what can i say? i'm a geek. :)

diy: can i handle it?

so i decided after spending $80 a MONTH on dog grooming for my pups that I'm going to give it a go myself. mind you this is the same person who thought it would be cheaper to give my husband haircuts..after one attempt, he had to shave his head. and he never let me near it again with the clippers. oops.

i went to a big box store today and bought a wahl pet clipper kit that contains the clippers, shears, and a card to send away for an instructional video for free (3-4 week wait..yeah, don't they know i'm going to try before it comes in? my dog is gonna look like a blind toddler went at her..) i figure it can't be too hard right? and for $30.. it's less than one hair cut for one dog. how hard can it be?? (famous last words).

wish me luck, i'll probably need it. i'll post some before and after shot of my victim..err..dog. i hope i don't traumatize her.

have pup will travel

so i'm really excited. a few weeks ago i purchased my airline tickets to fly back home to see my family for christmas. i will be there for eight whole days. i'm really really really giddy about it. although my sister thinks it's ok to go back to missouri to visit her in-laws and just happen to take my nephew with her. (who does she think she is?!) either way, it will be fantastic to see my family. :)

anyway i'm really debating what to do about my pups. BF said he would take care of them but the thought of leaving juno for eight days makes me really depressed. seriously. depressed. so now i'm hoping that my parents (who aren't big pet people) will allow me to bring my beloved juno while ruby stays back with home with BF. i don't know if they understand that:

1. juno is housebroken
2. she is soo well behaved
3. i'm working on her training (which is going AWESOME with her)
4. she is pretty much the best dog ever.

where as i would trust juno with my life, i wouldn't trust ruby with a tissue. lol. so i guess it's going to come down to dad. is he going to allow my little angel to come with or stay back? cross your fingers.

the american ideal: more is NOT better people

i really say that i grew up in england. i lived there from when i was barely 19 years old to 24 years old. it was such an amazing learning experience, i like to think that that is where i really learned about my true self and shaped my ideals and ethics that i have today. i guess you really can't live overseas in a different culture and environment without being impacted.

i had always been raised in pretty large homes, with a family of five, you kind of have to! i was used to a two-story house with a large basement when i lived in the midwest. and when i moved to england all i could think was, omg, these houses are way too small. i couldn't believe i was going to live in such a tiny house of 1000sqft or less. with one bathroom. and no closets.

our first house was so tiny. we had 3 bedrooms (one was a glorified closet) and absolutely no storage space besides a garage or attic. kitchen had about 3 feet of usable working counter space, if i was lucky. and no closets in any of the rooms and a tiny linen closet that was basically 2 shelves squeezed above a water heater. after our landlord (god rest his soul) passed away, we had to move. we found this amazing house way out in the country and it was bigger. 3 bedrooms (ours had a closet, yay!) and a small storage space under the stairs.

anyway, my point is.. and i'm getting there. after a while, i started enjoying my house and becoming house proud. i loved cleaning it and finding new and creative ways to organize. when you live in tiny places, you can't have a lot of stuff. well, i guess you can but then it can turn into this:


anyway. i realized (and this took years, folks) that i really enjoyed living in a small place. i mean to clean my house from top to bottom took maybe two hours and that was a really thorough cleaning. half hour to do the basics. when i moved to arizona i knew i wanted to live in a small place. and well, thanks to tucson we have amazing 1950s bungalows that are tiny. i came to the conclusion that why live in a huge house with a dining room, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, basement, etc. when it's just me and the pups (and toddy). i found the best place on craigslist (well, they found me, whole other blog) that i now reside in. it's two bedrooms, one tiny bathroom, and a very open kitchen/living area. oh, and a super sweet large backyard for the girls.

well, going back to why i originally started this blog, bigger isn't always better. more rooms mean you have to buy more things to fill the room. you have more wall space to fill, it consumes more energy, and really, why do you need such a big place? what is your mortgage payment? wow. really? consumerism and debt are sucking our fellow americans dry. we are in debt up to our eyeballs in order to keep up with the joneses and it's completely unnecessary. i think now people are starting to realize that.. people are starting to cut back. and that's a good thing.

all i can say is, be aware. be aware of what you buy. recycle goods if you can. and buy SUSTAINABLE furniture that will last you decades as opposed to a few years. just reduce in general. as many people will point out, you will be happier in the long run, your head will be clearer, and you have more time to spend.

my aha moment

this morning was great. i woke up and took my two girls to the 3 mile track around a beautiful park and we started walking. oh but not before BARELY getting out of the car and she sees another dog. yes. high-pitched spongebob bark. see now what i don't understand is why she acts this way on a leash but when we're at the dog park, she's anti-social. anyone clue me in please?

anyway, so there was a dog in front of us and she is digging like crazy to get to it. i figure, what the heck, let's start jogging so she can't see it anymore. hmm. what do you know. they like the running which in turn stops the pulling..sort of..that girl can go forever. so i do short bursts of running then walking and she seems to like it.

now comes the "aha" moment. plain for you to see but you're out of the box. i'm in it. i figure that our walks aren't really doing it for her. she needs to get out and do some running or something to burn off energy. when i take her to BF's work she darts and runs forever around the yard and she and juno play. i think next paycheck, i'm getting rollerblades. :) i think this will help her exert that energy she needs to get out in the morning and i think it will be entirely beneficial.

so i call my bff this morning and i'm telling her all of this and she says, "well, she's part greyhound, right? she needs to run after things" DUH. i hadn't considered that or even had thought too much about it lately. hmm. no WONDER she wants to take off all the time. it's in her blood. so thanks amy for that "coulda had a v-8" thunk to my head.

i'm so excited now for that little experiment. i'm just worried about juno's little short legs compared to ruby's long legs.. well. i'll keep you updated. :)

hobby wanted: apply within

so i'm laying (lying..whatever) in bed last night and i grab my super cute notebook from the clearance rack at office depot.. anyway, i'm lying there, my pups eating their nighttime snack and i'm thinking about my life. what do i want to do with it? how many times have i written about how my mind goes 1000 miles an hour and i have so much going on up there.. what do i do with it?

i need a hobby. a serious hobby. i've tried scrapbooking. i'm too impatient. i tried sewing. i kept screwing up the needle. i have no drawing capabilites, yet my father is an amazing artist. so. what is a girl to do? i'm a MAJOR etsy whore. i looove etsy and am so inspired by all of the amazing jewelry, clothes, drawings, sculptures, felted wool items. i'm jealous. i have a creative mind but i just don't know what to do with it. i buy these fantastic vintage fabrics and finds and they just sit there. waiting for inspiration. maybe i should find a class to take and try a number of things before i settle. maybe when i find "the one" i'll just know.

change of topic. i was purusing the blogs today and found some great new ones. :) today i found becomingminimalist. haven't really delved into it yet but the tagline is simple: a family of four in suburban america becomes minimalist. i love reading about people who are giving up material possessions and changing their habits. it's so refreshing and inspirational. i think i just my spend the weekend going through my spare closet and finally getting this black hole organized. and by organized i mean either 1. goodwill 2. craigslist 3. mailout items to family. it's time to get the spare room in shape so i can utilize the space i do have instead of it being a catch all.

today i was proud of myself. i cleaned my desk and got rid of a bunch of items i no longer needed and were cluttering my desk. old notes, papers, extra office supplies. nothing better than a clean desk. so mini-mission accomplished. maybe i should keep going...

food and faces? way fun.

don't even know this dude, but the grumpy cookie makes me laugh. i just want to console him and say, "why are you so grumpy, cookie?" tee hee.


see famous look-a-like faces

man my butt is falling asleep.

yup. i'm at work. go figure. i'm sitting here after having to get here at 7:30. why am i complaining? wasn't supposed to be here til 11. i hate the first days of school. lol. so my day is going to be 12 1/2 hours. boo. trying to avoid buying numerous things while blog and net surfing. what am i in the market for today? dog tags. like i.d. tags for my pups. ruby was originally named phoenix (you know, the phoenix rises out of the ashes) but after having juno and phoenix..just sounded like i was naming all my dogs after cities..(yes, i know juneau is spelled j-u-n-e-a-u). anyway, ruby fits her better anyway.

had successful weekend. woke up saturday and took juno to a new groomers. i.love.them. the building is seriously MAYBE 600 sqft. it's a cute little brick building and it's called abracadabra. she used to go to a big box store to get groomed. but she's traumatized. seriously. she will completely resist when i take her in there and pee all over the place. so i vowed never again to take her there. plus i'm supporting small business, right? anyway, took her in and they were blown away by her cuteness. she was really shy with them and being her little 21lb box of protectiveness but she came back beautiful. :)

they were very compassionate and listened to what i wanted. they said she did very well except they think she might be a little "tramautized" (their word, not mine) from her nail clipping experience at big box store so they decided not to do anything until next time so her experience would be positive. :) although when she saw me they said that was the most emotion they saw all day, she loves her mommy. ahh. i.love.her.

anyway, while juno had her spa day i decided to make it a rubbles/mommy day. took her to the dog park where she was very anti-social, walked around a bit, and then petco to get more clickers (workin on the clicker training!). nice to have a little one-on-one with the grover.

i definitely need to get out and do something this weekend. i'm sick of sitting around doing nothing. just got an email from peta about a protest going on in front of a pet store that sells dogs. it's all the way in scottsdale (1 1/2 hrs away) so i may go for a few hours. i don't know. i need to get more active fo sho.

dogs dogs dogs. woof.

my name is LL and yes, i love my dogs. whomever said dogs were a precursor to kids, boy were they not lying! i had no idea until i adopted juno in january. that's right, i was 25 with my first dog. ever. turned out to be a smart move. she really is the coolest dog on this earth. funny, sweet, loving, smart, protective. yes, i could go on about her forever. and i do sometimes. but that's ok. i hate hearing about people's kids. no offense. but i'm more of a dog person. and if you can talk about your kids, i can talk about mine. :)

yes. my dog's wear clothes. but only if they're super cute and super cheap. anyway, my other dog ruby is long and lanky but a tiny 10 3/4lbs so sometimes she gets cold. so of course she has to wear a sweater. right? :)

my coworker continuously tells me. "dogs are not people." i call him bitter. hehe. of COURSE dogs are people. well, toddler brains in little furry bodies that love 100% of the time. they're better than people, dammit. right? right.

it's funny how my life revolves around them. took them on a three-mile walk last night. had their morning walk today. scheduled juno's "spa day" at a new groomers. ran to petsmart on lunch break to pick up nighttime snacks (greenies, ruby gets "teenie" and juno gets "petite". hehe. teenie greenies.), training treats (for the positive reinforcement training i'm working on), and treat bag holder. yes. roll your eyes. i am one of those suckers that buys that stuff. can't help it. i'm a sucker for my dogs. cat food for toddy and $58 later. i was out the door. *ouch*

i think it stems from having cats my whole life and you can't buy them anything cool. ever. and besides, ever try putting clothes on a cat? give a cat a bath? yeah. not pretty is it?

i don't know where i'm going with this, but i guess the thought of going home and having them great me at the door with their tails wagging all excited to see me makes me excited. and now it makes me want to go home. seeing ruby and juno get excited when we're working on training and then seeing it pay off. that's a great reward. i think living alone too makes it easier. cats are wonderful but now that my duke is gone, if i didn't have my girls, i would be miserable. and sad. but the girls keep me distracted so that i don't think about duke being gone. and buying them treats, shirts, things here and there. just makes me smile cuz it makes them happy.

and really look at this face. isn't that the cutest dog ever? yeah. i thought so.