Our Baby Girl (puppy)!!!

I'm in the middle of cooking dinner right now, but Mark just found this and I can't not post it right now....

Our sweet baby puppy!!!!

You can go to this link and zoom in closer to see her better. She's SO CUTE OMG.

Cleaning: A Theory

There's an ice cream truck driving through our apartment complex, playing its happy little song. I'm not going to get any, but it's just been that kind of day all day - that kind of week, really :)

This whole "we need to act like adults" thing is really working for me. As much as I grump grump grumped about making a chore list and slaved over a budget book and cleaned the oven, etc., it makes me feel better all over. Mark has been out of town this weekend, but I haven't moped around like I typically do when he's gone. It's like once the cleaning/organizing switch has turned over, there's no stopping me. Case in point: the night before last, after Mark left, I finished vacuuming, did laundry, worked on the budget book, baked a quiche, washed all the quiche-baking dishes, took out all the trash, cleaned the actual trash can, and then moved on to cleaning the inside of the microwave! Admittedly, all those things needed to happen - and badly. But I'm not one to just do that... in fact, the microwave looked so bad before that I can't wait for Mark to come home and ask me why I bought a new one. It is that much better now.

Here's the issue that I always run into, and am going to try extremely hard to avoid this time though: I can't keep it up. There's a cartoon that Elissa posted on my facebook wall, and when I read it, I thought to myself "How the HECK do they know me that well???"

See Exhibit A:
Hyperbole and a Half: This is Why I'll Never Be an Adult

So, right. This is me, exactly. And it's a problem. But THIS time, I'm absolutely determined to be better, and not lay down and die. I don't know why I do this. I have proven to myself over and over and over again that I am literally a better, happier person when my crap is together and my house is clean and I'm on my game. I am a significantly MORE mopey, unhappy person when I lay around and do nothing but surf the lovely interwebs all the livelong day. This fact ALONE should be enough motivation to continue to do what I'm doing. So what's the problem?

I'm going to have to change my mentality about cleaning.

See, I feel like there are two kinds of people in this world. (Or maybe three.)

1) People who clean when things are dirty.
2) People who clean to keep things from GETTING dirty.
3) People who never clean at all.

Now, I do not fall into that third category (even though some of my family members/friends might argue differently ... I really don't, I promise.) That first category? That's me. I go about my merry way, la de dah, I'll clean later, I'll clean tomorrow, I'll clean in a week, I'll clean next month when Aunt Mildred comes to visit. Etc, etc. So the mess piles and piles and piles until I'm tripping and hippity hopping through my mess of a bedroom trying to get out the door. Until my heart sinks to even think of where to BEGIN with the washing of the dishes. Until I have to scrape soap scum off the floor of my shower with a spatula. And then I go insane, go on a mad cleaning frenzy for like 3 days in a row, do nothing else, and totally wear myself "slap out" as they say down here in the South. And then it's clean, and I repeat the cycle.

I want to be person #2. The person who does PREVENTATIVE cleaning.

I thought of this the other night, while I was scrubbing at the microwave for a good, solid 15 minutes. (I almost took a before picture to post for you guys, and then thought better of it. Cause that crap is embarrassing.) I don't know why this has just occurred to me .... it is not an original idea. In fact, I do believe my mother has probably been trying to teach me this for all of my days.

So, knowing this, how does one learn the art of preventative cleaning?? I have my little loathsome chore list that is turning out to be not quite so loathsome after all, considering I'm so much happier in my clean little house. But on my chore list, it says "Clean bathrooms." The bathrooms don't look dirty!! Why should I clean them if they don't look dirty?? This is my dilemma. It's like the Scrubbing Bubbles version of the classic "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality. But significantly less true, I think...

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how to go about changing this mindset? How does one learn preventative cleaning??

Impatience

Well, phase 1 of puppy-proofing is nearly complete. I've been going through the house, deep-cleaning each room, and then the plan is just to continue our chore list, and that should keep our house looking tidy and clean and neat. (Which will be a challenge for this clutter-bug, but I want to make it happen...) On today's agenda is more laundry (it never ends!), deep-cleaning the shower, vacuuming downstairs, and mopping the floors. I want to get everything accomplished before this weekend, because Mark will be gone on a mystery retreat with his little brother's youth group. I wish I could go!!

In other news, I went to PetSmart yesterday, mainly to get Mrs. Norris some new, healthier kitty food. This is what I ended up getting:

Have any of you used this kind of food before (cat or dog?) I read so many reviews yesterday that I had nightmares about cat and dog food last night. Pretty much, I think it just depends on the animal as far as the reaction to this food. I do believe that it has good, quality ingredients, and it's more affordable than the comparable Wellness food, so we'll see. I may have to try some different kinds before finding one that will work, so I guess we'll just have to see... but feedback, if anybody has any on Blue Buffalo brand, would be greatly appreciated! I feel like such a bad kitty momma for feeding her such junk all these years :( No wonder she's fat ... I just hope she hasn't developed diabetes or something like that...

And speaking of pets ... we're getting rather impatient to find out which baby puppy we'll be taking home! The litter was made up of 3 chocolate females, 2 tri-color females, and 1 tri-color little boy. When we visited, there was 1 chocolate female and the little boy left, and we chose the baby girl. However, people had just picked out which coloring and gender they wanted, not the puppy specifically. Because we were the third person in line for a chocolate female, we'll get the one that the other two puppy parents don't pick ... so it's just a waiting game. The breeders are supposed to post individual pictures on their website, but they haven't done it yet, and Mark and I have been checking about every hour or two when we're awake. We're just so excited! And, we think we've decided on a name, but I'm not going to reveal that until we get the puppy (or at least find out which one we're getting.)

While I was at Petsmart, I checked out all the cute puppy stuff. Here are some things I want for our sweet baby girl...

I think we're going to transition her to this food once we bring her home ... we'll see how it goes. Once again, if anybody has used Buffalo Blue products, I'd really appreciate a review!

I'm loving one of these two bowls ... we want probably stainless steel/metal so our puppy won't chew through her food bowl, and there aren't that many girly-looking ceramic ones that I've found.

I'm loving these collars and leashes - I like the polka-dot patterned one best. Mark begrudgingly agreed to it, mainly because it wasn't completely pink and way bright, I think. Pretty adorable.

Mark is pretty opposed to puppy clothes all the way around, but I can't help thinking these are adorable ... there was also a bright green cable-knit sweater that I'm probably going to HAVE to have :)

We're going to crate-train our puppy so it will have a place of its own, and a safe place to sleep, but the crate will be upstairs, so I want a little dog bed to go downstairs. I like this one - it matches our brown and cream/beige decor, and the cover is removable for easy washing.

So many cute things for our sweet puppy! I can't wait to get her :) (All images found at Petsmart.com)

Deep cleaning, and some pictures (finally)!

This is the third morning in a row that I've woken up before 6. At least today I made it till 5:30 rather than 5... And two out of those three mornings, I've been woken up not of my own volition, but by this little dear climbing on my side table:

I don't know what I'm going to do with her... Actually, I do know one thing. I'm going to put her on a diet. Because she is getting very very very fat... I've been doing research about pet foods, and I was horrified to realize what she's been eating. Basically the equivalent of McDonald's ... no wonder she's fat. So we're switching to better (more expensive, boo) pet food. Anyway, the kitty and I had a little iPhone photo shoot the other day...

Her favorite place to sit is on my knees. She's not the biggest fan of being held like a baby ... right after I took that picture, she wiggled out of my arms. She really is a pretty kitty, she just needs to lose, oh, about 3 pounds...

Also, because I've been such a bad blogger lately and haven't posted any pictures of my exciting things lately, I decided to give you all a sneak peek before I get my pictures printed...

Here's our fence that we built last Monday (which I actually had a dream about last night - the maintenance people weren't very happy with us for building it, and I'm not quite sure why...)

It looks pretty darn good, I think...

And here is my dresser!! Let me see if I can find you a picture of what we started with...

It's a pretty bad picture, but this is in our first apartment. The dresser is that white ugliness with the crooked handles... It was a handed-down hand-me-down, as is a lot of the furniture in our house...

And here is the finished product, which I LOVE, am SO proud of, and looks FANTASTIC in our room and with our bedding and other furniture...

TADA!!!

I love it :) 

We still don't have a puppy picture yet, but I do promise that you guys will see it when I get one :) Currently, I am deep cleaning/puppy-proofing my house, otherwise known as being-a-grown-up... Yesterday, I cleaned the kitchen (INCLUDING the inside of the oven, but that's a whole different story...) and then headed upstairs to start my systematic Go-Through-The-House-and-Deep-Clean-Everything Project. My thought process here: we're bringing a little six-week-old puppy home in three weeks, and I want everything to be spotless and the floor to be as clean and tidy as it can get, so there are less things for sweet puppy to get into. Case in point: I vacuumed underneath our bed for the first time in, oh, I don't know, ever. So far, the bedroom is complete, and the bathroom is half done (I still have to scrub the shower tomorrow), and the office is about half done. This is also the beginning of the Chore List Initiative, which I caved and did the other day. As much as I hate them, I am thrilled with the prospect of always having a clean house. (I've also been inspired by Hoarders on A&E which I've been watching on Netflix ... I never ever ever ever want my house to look like that. Ugh. *shudder*)

Now, the story of the oven ... so, I said the other day that it was smoking and I didn't get to make lasagna, right? Well yesterday I deep cleaned it pretty well. We don't have a clean setting on our oven, so you have to just use elbow grease, and my favorite cleaning product, Bar Keeper's Friend. I cleaned everything but the very back, which I couldn't reach because of the oven door, and part of the top. Turned it on, left it on for about 10 or 15 minutes, and it started smoking. Again. So there's definitely something wrong with it. I called about 10 am yesterday, and the maintenance people were tied up with other issues. Apparently they were tied up all day, because they never came (even after I called again...) So we cooked lasagna at Andy and Suzie's house last night... Hopefully they will come today, because I can't survive for very long without an oven.

I'm sorry this has gotten so lengthy (AND it's probably boring, so that's two strikes, but oh well...) If you've made it to the end, I salute you :) Happy Thursday!

I haz a happy :)

Lots of happy-s.

(And one sad. But we'll get to that later.)

First! Project: Dresser is complete, and looks fantastic! Unfortunately my film is used up and I need more, my digital camera is dead, and my iPhone just isn't doing it justice. Pictures later. Just take my word for it... it looks really awesome!

Dos! My Chore List is complete, and fairly do-able I think. Also, a budget has been made! (This was another topic in our epic "We need to be adults" discussion...) I feel more adult-like already. And Mark was quite thrilled with me this morning when he woke up to find the Chore List already made... now if only I could get caught up!

Thirdly! We went to see the puppies tonight - and both those sweet babies were still unavailable!! Sooo ... we put down a deposit for the remaining chocolate female. We'll know exactly which of the three chocolate females we'll be getting within a week or so, and they're supposed to post new photos of the puppies sometime in the next day or two. (Mark and I were so excited about the puppies and their insanely abounding cuteness that we didn't even THINK about taking a picture of them!) We're pretty thrilled about this new addition to our household, and it might be puppy city up in here pretty soon. We get our sweet baby girl in just 3 weeks, when she'll be six weeks old. I am SO excited :)

(I almost forgot about the sad - I had grand plans to follow our budget, and cook after we got home from seeing the puppies tonight. It was already late (8:30 when we got home), so I threw the lasagna together pretty fast and turned on the oven ... which then started smoking everywhere. So we called Andy and Suzy, and asked them if we could use their kitchen. They said yes, we drove over there, and then couldn't find the key. We were both hungry and grumpy and said not-nice things, and came home and ordered pizza. I'm hoping my lasagna will keep in the fridge okay until tomorrow, when hopefully they'll fix the oven...)

And on that note, I'm going to go read my Bible and go to bed.

Sweet dreams, blogland!

5:30, I'm awake!

I don't know why I woke up so early with no alarm this morning.

Oh wait, yes I do - it was my crazy cat. She likes to get on my bedside table and knock everything off of it when she thinks it's time for me to wake up. How sweet of her...

Anyway, I need to get up and get moving anyway... lots to do.

Mark and I had a talk last night about how we need to be more like grown-ups. You know, more responsible and everything. Which includes a clean house.

Now, I don't want you to think that I never clean, because I do. But both Mark and I are pretty cluttered, messy people, and the mess sort of stays. So he said that we both need a daily chore list. Which I immediately bristled at, because I. HATE. CHORE. LISTS. I don't know why I detest them so - maybe because of some issues I had with some roommates in the past, maybe because I'm stubborn and don't like to be told what to do every day (even by a list), I don't know. But I loathe the very thought of them. (Which is so silly, I know...) So Mark decided that I should make said list, using some strange adoption analogy that I never did understand. So today, among other things, I have to make us a chore list... great.

And now, more fun things to talk about:

Dresser: We're nearly finished! We ended up painting it, which was TOTALLY the right decision, and now it's a solid, not shabby, lovely smooth brown color, kind of the color of chocolate cake batter or melted milk chocolate. With my sweet hardware, it's going to look amazing - just one more coat of paint today, and we're done!

Puppy: I got an email from the breeders last night saying that there were only 2 puppies left, and there had been interest in those two. We're going to visit them tonight before we make a decision - Mark really wants to meet the parents of this litter and play with them before we decide for sure. I think that's a good idea - we want to be informed puppy shoppers. But I am seriously hoping that no one puts deposits down on BOTH of them today before we go - I would be so sad :(

And that's pretty much it around here lately. I promise that there will be some pictures of stuff soon - I know this old blog has gotten sort of boring as of late. Sorry for that!

Painting and puppies

Sorry for the long-ish hiatus ... I worked extra, and on Thursday had a generally mope-y day full of lounging in my bed, eating hummus, and watching movies on Netflix.

But today, I'm going to be productive! (Which means that I should probably get up at some point...)

I have instructions from my dear hubby to go buy a quart of paint today so we can hopefully fix our poor dresser. It's looking more shabby than chic, and shabby chic is not the look I was going for in the first place. So we're going to try re-sanding, and just painting over the thing in a dark chocolate brown. I hope and pray this works, because I am SO. OVER. THIS. PROJECT. Building a fence was way easier...

Also today, I have to clean my pigsty of a room. It's ridiculous, honestly...

And tomorrow, I am so excited - we're going to go see those sweet puppies we're looking at! Hopefully we'll be able to put down a deposit, and secure one of the little dears. It looks like we're getting a tri-color little girl beagle ... I'll post pictures when I get them! I talked to one of the breeders (who is actually the distant cousin of one of my co-workers ... small world, right?!), and she said the puppies are getting all fat and roly-poly and adorable, so I'm SO excited to see them :) Can't wait!!

Also tomorrow: another CSA box :) This time it will have peaches, snap beans, sweet potatoes, and some more lettuce. I'm so glad there are still peaches available ... those were honestly the best peaches I've ever had in my entire life. Yum!

Hope everyone has a lovely Monday!