Two Dogs and One Cat FOR SALE!

Ain't that the truth?

Last week, the cat puked on the bed. So at 9:00 at night I had to wash the comforter, sheets and mattress pad. And the comforter is so big it won't fit in the washing machine and I don't want to pay for dry cleaning (this is the THIRD time he has puked on the bed) so I wash it by hand in the bathtub and then hang it up in the shower to dry. Oy. Why must he always throw up on the bed?! He never even sleeps on the bed. He's hardly up there at all. Except when he feels the need to get sick.

Not two days later, we come home and one of the dogs has peed in the hallway, on the carpet. Argggh. We've been leaving the dogs inside every day this summer since it is 107 outside. They are (usually) very good about staying off of all carpet in the house. This has been the rule for years. But I guess when they have to go to the bathroom they just can't go on any of the tile. That would make too much sense. They have to go on the CARPET. Ahhhhh!

THEN. Later that same week, we come home from work and I walk in the house and smell something. Uh oh. I was for real too scared to look. I made Mark walk around the house and find the source of the smell. Yeah. Dog poop, on the carpet, in our bedroom.

The animals are trying to run me out. I keep telling them, "you're lucky you're cute." Or YOU would be out of here!

Sunday Fun Day and Two Special Pups Turn Ten

I've spent some serious time this morning cleaning out my closet(s) and attempting to clear some space in them so I can actually see my clothes. I have waaaay too much stuff. And not because I shop a lot (although I do kind of shop a lot) but because I am so bad about parting with clothes. I always think I might still wear something, even if I haven't worn in in the past four years. But I did manage to fill up two large shopping bags full of clothes to donate. I sorted out the still nice/not so old/in good condition clothes from the very worn/faded/super out of date stuff, and I'm going to try my hand at some buy-back stores later today. If I walk away with 20 bucks in my pocket, I will be happy!

While I've been digging through closets, Mark did indeed start the retiling project this weekend. We (I mean HE) are ripping out the linoleum in the two bathrooms and laundry room, and today he is going to start laying the tile in the laundry room. So our washer and dryer are currently in the entry way to the house, so I guess I won't have to worry about laundry for a few days!

Today our two labs, Maggie and Jordan, turn TEN years old! We took them swimming at the lake early this morning (before it got TOO hot!), then Mark gave them both baths so they could be fresh and clean for their big day. Still on the agenda for this afternoon is a trip to Petsmart to pick out some new birthday toys, and I think I'll either make them some sort of dog friendly treat (oatmeal cookies?) or else just give them a big scoop of peanut butter tonight.

I don't have too many pictures on my computer right now, but here's a shot of the Birthday Girls and their two cousins (Finn and Stella the German Shepherds) earlier this summer. They are sitting up on hay bales at my parent's house! Happy Birthday Maggie and Jordan! You are seventy years old today. Old Ladies.

Cousin dogs!

Just for fun: Laura, Kristen and me in San Antonio a couple weeks ago.

All Work... and Some Play

Operation: Get the House Ready to Sell is well under way up in McKinney. We bought a new fridge about a month ago, which quickly gave our kitchen a whole new look. I was thinking that we would for sure have to put in new counter tops, but really, once that big, beautiful, shiny new fridge showed up, I don't even notice the laminate counters anymore! Next up on the To Do List was paint the exterior of the house. This was a chore I was more than happy to let Mark take over.


I took this picture while lounging on a lawn chair, sipping a cold drink and pretending I was sitting by the pool. And watching the painting occur. It was brutal, let me tell ya.

But it's not all work for the hubs. Don't feel too sorry for him. The very next day he was looking like this, as we were walking up to an actual pool.


The margaritas tasted good :)

OCD

My in-laws are visiting this weekend, so we've been working on the house and getting things cleaned up every evening after work. Mark has been painting the guest bathroom, replacing the hardware, mowing the lawn and even doing the laundry (I got Husband of the Year on my hands, friends.) Me on the other hand, I'm doing this, which is obviously a very important activity:

Before:

After:
Color coordinating my book shelf of course! A top priority. But I am pretty proud of our guest room, which is ready and waiting for ANY guests that come our way (hint, hint). I snagged a new coverlet at TJ Max this weekend and I feel like it really completed the room.

And a great big Hello to everyone who is still reading, since I've been missing for quite some time now :)

Must Have

Swoon. I am in love with this turquoise kitchen hutch. Please, please let no one buy it until I can convince the hubs that this is exactly what our kitchen needs. Can't you just see the bright red mixer perched there on its counter top?

And how about this little gem in the front entry way? Yes, I think I must have it.

Merry Christmas to Us!

Santa came early this year! With the wedding consuming all our finances here lately, Mark and I had already decided we were going to keep this Christmas to a bare minimum. I'd started to get creative and was hunting for the best bargains that would stay within our $50 each budget. That is, until I mentioned (ever so casually) to Mark a couple weeks ago that maybe we should buy a new TV as our Christmas gift to each other and take advantage of all the Post-Thanksgiving sales and great financing offers out there. We both have older than old televisions that were nothing fancy and pretty clunky and had been dreaming about a new flat screen for some time now. I'd been saying for at least a year that when we got engaged, I'd buy us a new TV (yes, a total bribe.. I know!), but once we actually did, we couldn't stand to spend the money when it could go towards the wedding.

But. Saving every penny for wedding stuff gets really old. So I just threw out the idea, that we could buy one now and split the payments for the next several months, to see what he thought about it.

To say he ran with this idea is a bit of an understatement. For the next fourteen days straight he read about TV's online, compared prices, shopped around, read reviews and talked to the experts. This weekend we decided to blow a bit of our wedding fund and headed out to Best Buy and came home with this little guy:



Annnnnd, now we are back to saving up for the wedding, all day, every day. Scout's honor. In fact, I'm asking Santa for chair rentals and pinspot lighting this year. But we all need a break sometime, right? And you can bet I'll be watching plenty of "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway" on the new tube.

Extreme Makeover: Company's Coming Edition.

This week has been pretty hectic, as we prepare for our Engagement Party this weekend, and for the many, many friends we have coming in town for the occasion. There's nothing like fifteen of your closest friends coming to stay the weekend to really make you spruce things up around the house! I realized that Mark has really only been using about one third of his house - his room, bathroom, living room and kitchen. The two guest rooms, guest bathroom, dining room and second living area have been sadly neglected. He has a roommate in one of the extra bedrooms, but the other one is just shut up with a bare mattress and a dresser in it, never touched unless someone actually is going to sleepover, in which case he puts his old high school bedding on the bed. Booooring.

We finally finished painting the kitchen last week, and then I brought up my (much nicer than Mark's) desk and set up his computer in one corner of it. The old desk? Off to Goodwill! Or, just the garbage. It's pretty bad. Next we tackled the guestroom. We painted it and even sanded and repainted the baseboards. I hit up Ikea, where for a whopping $35 I got a comforter, duvet set and new sheets. Ten bucks at Stein Mart for a bed skirt and the pillows from my couch at my place finished off the bed. When I officially move in, I'll bring my bed frame for it as well. I snagged some stuff from around Mark's house for a few decorative touches, and we've got a guest room!

Next up, hallway. Sounds boring, but we really wanted to use a burnt orange in the house somewhere, but couldn't bear to paint an entire bedroom that color, and the great room/kitchen-living areas-dining room are all pretty open, so any wall in that section of the house would be visible from everywhere, and would have to match everything. So we painted the little hallway that goes off to the two guest rooms and second bathroom an almost-UT burnt orange. I LOVE it. You can just see it peeping out from the main part of the house, and it looks fabulous.

So now we're down to the guest bath. I went to stare at the 3,000 paint swatches at Home Depot last night (sans Mark - he told me he trusted me to pick out ANY color) and came back with a sample of a nice golden tan. Harvest Wheat I think it was called. I put some up on the wall and we both agreed it looks good enough! So that's the last of the rooms we need to paint before Friday. Whew! So far all the colors we've picked are warm, earthy tones and I am just loving how they are all coming together. I can see myself living in this house.. it feels like it's transforming into our home. Mark commented as we labored over all the paint this week, "we're making this house a home." It's amazing what a little color on the walls and some strategic rearranging can do!