poop monster

The new pup, Ella-Mae, has taken on the adorable nickname of Poop Monster. It's ridiculous the amount of bathes I've given her in the past month. When Shiloh was a puppy she had her share of accidents but Ella is just amazing. She poops in her crate and then sleeps in it without a care in the world.

Danny took her to the vet this past Monday. At 15 weeks she's only 10.7 lbs. She is tiny. Shiloh was at least twice that size at that age. Another instance that makes me think the "breader" Charlie got her from lied like a dog! Danny mentioned that he thinks their may be Jack Russel in her. As I watched her bounce around the kitchen, I began to think he's right.

her ears don't flop right lol

Ella's mange is almost completely gone. She doesn't scratch herself constantly anymore, but she did develop a small staff infection from all the scratching so she's now on antibiotics. Mom and Daddy are keeping Shiloh for another week just to be on the safe side. I'll be happy when we can have both of them together. Hopefully Ella will start learning things from Shiloh -- like how to pee and poop outside and not in her crate!

my savy response to a tragedy

This morning a tragedy occurred. I dropped my new Stanley thermos and dented the cup. Thankfully I'm super smart. I went on their website and found a customer service email. The following was sent:

Dear Wonderful Stanley Customer Service Rep,

I recently received an amazing Stanley 1.1 qt thermos for Christmas from my husband. I love it. It keeps my coffee hot no matter how long it takes me to drink it all. Well today disaster struck. As I opened my car door to reach for the thermos along with my lunch box for work this morning it rolled out and hit the ground. I have seen on your website where you have tossed these bad boys from airplanes and rolled over them with trucks. Pretty amazing. I don't believe dropping it from my car to the ground should have caused so much damage to the cup. I have attached a picture for your convenience.

I woul like a replacement cup sent to:

Desiree ---------------
-----------------------
-----------------------

I know you stand behind your products 100% so I want to thank you ahead of time for your prompt attention to my dilemma.

Your faithful customer,
Desiree

I'm sure I'll have an apology letter for the inconvenience as well as a new cup an day now.

happy birthday hubs - I love how you'll always be older than me

Today is this guy's 28th birthday.

Man he's old, although totally adorable, but I'm totally ok with that. Why you ask? Because I'll always be younger. Love that. He robbed the craddle when he married this girl (not really...I'm only four years younger, but he likes to say he did all. the. time.).

The above picture was taken last year on his birthday when I got him that gun. I also got him a gun for the previous birthday. I told him this year, "no more guns for your birthday" and I actually stuck with it. Mainly because we're poor since we're buying a house, but that's beside the point.

I did get him an amazingly awesome card that references how lucky he is that he has a hot babe of a wife (the card's words, not mine) and also made him a from the box from scratch chocolate cake with chocolate icing. The fur-babies were thoughtful enough to get him cards as well.

mmm cake

he totally faked me out

then smirked when I fell for it

which annoyed me cause then I missed the for real blow out...damn his sneakiness

I totally bagged the little something idea. I just know that the little something idea was more for me than him since it involves craftiness, pictures, cuteness, and feelings. He's just not really into that kinda stuff. It's not manly like guns! I'm still gonna do the little something someday. I've even started gathering the appropriate things needed. I'll post when it's finished (and link back to this post as a reminder since I'm sure it'll be about 3 years from now).

Random thought: My 100th post is about the hubs. Seems fitting since he's a 100 in my book (way better than a 10).

i'm being totally lame

Tomorrow is the hubby's birthday and I feel like such a bad wife. Since we're in the middle of buying a house, money is tight and I didn't plan a thing. I am going to make him a chocolate cake (that I will end up eating way too much of) and I have a little something that I need to accomplish tonight.

Not sure how the little something will go down. Hubs isn't a very sentimental guy. I'll let y'all know his reaction -- which will probably be, "gee...thanks..."

we're home owners!

We had been warned that the house hunting adventure we were beginning could go by really slowly or really quickly. Well two weekends later we placed an offer on a house and it's been accepted! Our closing date is February 26th so pray that everything goes smoothly between now and then. Below are some pictures. Obviously the stuff in the pictures isn't ours.

looking at laundry room/side entrance from kitchen

looking at wall between kitchen/dining room on left and living room on right from kitchen

kitchen

kitchen/dining room

dining room/front entrance

living room with fireplace

living room and door into fourth bedroom

display shelves in wall in hallway

looking down hallway from living room

master bedroom on left

master bath

master bath

master closet

second bedroom

third bedroom

guest bath

guest bath

guest bath

looking into fourth bedroom from living room

fourth bedroom

fourth bedroom

third bath off of fourth bedroom

third bath

screened-in porch

more porch

back yard...yellow building is Danny's new workshop

pool

porch and patio

playhouse that has electricity AND cable

what's for dinner?

If you know me at all, then you know I'm not so good at the cooking thing. I once mixed up salt and sugar in a dessert*. I just made this tonight for the first time and not to brag or anything, but it's amaze-balls (the hubs agrees). Bonus - it's a weight watchers meal (if you're into that kinda thing).  


Mexican Potatoe Casserole

2 baking potatoes washed and thinly sliced 
1 lb lean ground beef (or ground turkey, chicken, venison [I used venison]) 
1 packet taco seasoning 
2 green bell peppers chopped 
1 can diced tomatoes 
1 cup low fat shredded cheese  

Preheat oven to 350 and spray 13 x 9 pan with pam  

In large skillet cook peppers and meat till meat is brown - about 8 mins  

Add tomatoes and taco seasoning and mix  

Alternate layers of potatoes and meat mixture till full  

Cover with foil and bake for 40 mins  

Uncover, top with cheese, and bake for 10 more mins

*So here's the story on the mix up:
In 10th grade we had some project to do on a country where you make some sort of food native to that country. I don't remember the country but the dish I did was a lemon-tart-pie-ish type thing. I pulled the recipe off the internets and would you know it abbreviated salt and sugar the same way...s. I concluded that the 2 cups of s. had to be salt because salt would be what makes a tart, well tart, right? Ummm WRONG. Oopsie. Well mixing up said ingredients does not make a pie look any different and since it was a pie I couldn't do a pre-taste test. All my classmates let me know just how awful it really was though.

not ready slash too lazy

Yes it's January 10th and yes my Christmas decorations are still up. While part of me just loves Christmas too much to take them down, the bigger reason is that I've just been too lazy. I told myself I would take them all down this weekend but we decided to do some house hunting instead.

The house hunting was on the positive side. Danny was on the computer till 2 am last night finding houses and plotting our plan of attack. We narrowed down our internet list to a list where we want to see the inside of the house and we got to be creepos in the process. We were peeking in windows and looking through back gates.

Fingers are crossed that the stars line up and we find "the one". Wish us luck!

so much for that resolution...

I had finally decided on the perfect New Year's Resolution for me but yesterday messed it all up. Bah!

First - the resolution:
To not worry over what I can't control. To adopt an ignorance is bliss attitude. A se la vi mantra if you will. This is a pretty hard core resolution for me since I'm famous for stressing over the unknown. A little while back I got shingles from stress and I would like to avoid going through that again.

Second - why yesterday already effed it all up:
With the economy how it is, where I work and what I do has been constantly changing. For me change is just a recipe for stress, worrying, and all around freaking out. Yesterday was another one of those days. Things are changing yet again. People are leaving, being shifted around, and my responsibilities grew yet again. A huge wave of anxiety immediately hit me and I felt out of whack the rest of the day.

After talking with my mom, today is better. We'll see how calm I can be.

you mangey mut

Danny and I ended up having to take Ella to the emergency vet this past Saturday. She had been scratching herself so much there were sores on her elbow and her skin was all red. We thought it was bad diet and really dry skin so we had changed her food and were giving her oatmeal baths but it wasn't helping.

The vet diagnosed Ella with mange! My poor baby! The worst part was that they couldn't give her anything to relieve the itching. They said our normal vet will have to treat her multiple times and they don't like to start animals on a treatment with the possibility of the normal vet using a different treatment. Danny is going to take her very first thing Monday morning so hopefully she won't be an itchy baby much longer.

More bad news -- we now have to get Ella fixed because you can't breed dogs that have mange. It's considered a genetic disorder that you don't want to pass on to her pups. That means Ella's mom and the rest of the litter all have mange. Danny tried to call the breader our friend Charlie originally got Ella from and (shocker) the number was disconnected. We're talking about a pretty shady lady here. So sad that there are people like this in the world that rather make a quick buck than consider how many animals they are putting at risk.

Until we get Ella all fixed up, Shiloh is staying with my parents so she can't catch it. I'm so thankful that they were willing to keep her.

I just want Ella to be all better and fast!