FURminator

Ryan and I adopted Jack at the beginning of the January. We considered adopting for a while, but convinced ourselves that we wanted to wait. Low and behold, we met Jack unexpectedly on a routine trip to PetCo. He stole our hearts that Sunday afternoon, and we picked him up a week later.

Meet Jack!

Jack is a lab mix, who appears to be almost all black lab and…something else. Although we’re not sure what else he has in his genetic make-up, one thing is for sure… whatever it is, combined with lab, creates the world’s most shedding dog. I kid you not. You may think your dog sheds a lot…please, feel free to come over and check out our place anytime!

I was completely aware that labs do shed a lot. My whole extended family up in Ohio either owns a lab, or has owned (several) labs, so I know from experience. Besides, Brutus, our sweet terrier mix, sheds, too, so no big deal. We were used to our clothing, furniture, etc. being covered in Brutus hair, so a little Jack hair wouldn’t matter, or so we thought. Turns out a “little” Jack hair is more like a TON of Jack hair…and it goes a long way.

The last two months or so that we’ve had him, I’ve sort of come up with a motto that I tell myself each day. “Dog hair, don’t care!” Come to think of it, more specifically, I should say, “Jack hair, don’t care!” When I look around and see everything covered in Jack hair, I try to remind myself of what a sweet boy he is, what he adds to our little family and how much we love him (despite the hair). That saying pops up in my head every time. I love Jack, so I can’t care about the shedding...

Well, last week I noticed little chunks of his hair around our apartment. He was shedding EVEN MORE than usual, which I would have guessed was impossible. We paid the vet a little visit to ensure that he didn’t have any skin problems leading to the excessive shedding. Thankfully, everything was okay. The simple answer to the problem- he’s shedding his undercoat to prepare for warmer weather.

Fabulous.

The vet recommended a product called FURminator, which is pet shampoo and conditioner made to help reduce shedding. Ryan and I went to PetCo to purchase this wonderful product, and made big weekend plans to bathe Jack. At home. In our tub. BIG MISTAKE. Turns out the FURminator product actually works, and it works well! Below are some pictures of some of the hair that consumed our bathtub. Please note that the pictures only show a small portion of the Jack fur that came off during his bath. A large portion of it made it down the drain before clogging it.

A small portion of Jack hair that we were able to keep from going down the drain.

Gross, I know. If only you could have felt how heavy this bowl was.

After A LOT of cleaning, and half of a (large) bottle of Draino, our bathtub is operational again.

We learned to never, ever attempt to bathe Jack again. From now on he’ll be visiting our local Pet Boutique for his baths, whether it’s the season for him to shed his undercoat or not. We would much rather spend the money to have someone else go through the misery.

The Search Continues...

The last time I updated you about our house hunt, we were going to see a house (Dover Ave) a second time to see if we really wanted to put an offer in. After seeing it a second time, this time with family members in tow, we decided to make an offer. Our real estate agent informed us that an offer has just been put on the house, so we would be competing. We're always up for a little friendly competition, so we submitted our offer to the owner and gave them 48 hours to respond. They didn't need the whole 48 hours to let us know that they counter offered to the other offer they received... We're out, simply put.

At first I was almost relieved to hear that they went with the other offer. That may sound strange, but I was so nervous about it that I could hardly sleep for a couple of nights, and it was hard to focus at work. That house, and all the work it needed, consumed my thoughts. Plus, it was our first offer on our first home- that's enough to take my breath away for at least 30 seconds. I can't imagine how I would've responded had they accepted the offer!

After the feeling of relief set-in, I started to become a little disappointed. Mixed-emotions are pretty typical for me, as for just about every girl I know, so there's no surprise there. I was relieved that we didn't get it because the thought of the work to do and just buying a home was overwhelming, but then I was disappointed that we didn't get it because we really did love it. It would have been a great first home, despite all the work it needed. It would have been a great long-term home. Dare I say, it would have been a great family home...one day! None of that matters anymore because the Dover Ave house will not be ours. We're okay with that though. We know that it just means it wasn't met to be.

Spring is in the air, houses are going up for sale left and right, and our perfect house is somewhere out there! The search continues...

Mary Kay Andrews

As a child I loved to read. In elementary school I read all sorts of books, including every single Baby-Sitter Club book. At one point, I thought I was cool if I was reading really thick books, like Wuthering Heights, which I didn’t even understand. The point is I liked to read as a kid, whether it was a cheesy book from a series or a novel I couldn’t even comprehend. I thought I was cool because I was into reading.

When I was in 5^th grade, my teacher introduced me to a book called Number the Stars. It was about a young Jewish girl who didn’t look like the rest of her family. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and looked more like the accepted Aryan race. Her family decided to let her live with their neighbors so her life would be spared by the Nazis. She would easily pass as their child since she looked more like them, and nothing like her dark eyed, dark hair, Jewish parents. That book deeply intrigued me, so I went on to read The Diary of Anne Frank, I Have Lived a Thousand Years, and many, many other books related to the Holocaust and World War II. In fact, that is ALL I read about, unless I had to read something specific for school. There are few other books that I really enjoyed besides my Holocaust related books.

Sometime between the end of middle school and high school I lost just about all interest in books. For the most part, I didn’t have the time (or make the time) to read. Soccer and my social life pretty much consumed all my time. It was seldom that I found the time to pick up a book, but when I did, it was always, of course, a WWII or Holocaust related book. This non-reading period continued into college, again, because I didn’t really have the time to read. It wasn’t until I graduated from college that I developed a love for reading again…and all thanks to one author…

I was introduced to Mark Kay Andrews (her novels, at least) by my dear step-mother, Julia. We were in a hospital waiting room while my dad was having surgery, and I ran out of magazines to read. Julia, an avid reader, brought an extra book. She gave it to me and said, “I think you’ll enjoy this since you’ve spent a lot of time in Savannah. The novel is set in Savannah, and it’s just a fun, quirky book. It’s got all those things- mystery, suspense, love- that women love to read about.” I took it, reluctantly, thinking, I don’t typically read the books that ‘typical women’ read, but why not.

Savannah Blues was the title, and after reading one chapter I was hooked. I literally could not put the book down. Ryan came to the hospital when he got off of work. He saw me reading, and his first response was, “Really! Since when do you read?” I read the book in a few days’ time, only to go to Barnes and Noble and purchase the next book in the series, Savannah Breeze. Just as good, if not better, than Savannah Blues. The sequel to the first two, Blue Christmas, had to be special ordered because they usually only carry it around the Holidays. I was sad to finish the three because I wanted them to continue… I wasn’t ready to give up the characters. Mary Kay Andrews has four other books, thank goodness, but it didn’t take long for me to read all of those! Each one of them is equally pleasing- drawing me in to the point where I really don’t want to finish them because I don’t want them to end. It may sound silly, but I often continue to think about the characters once I’m done reading the book- wondering what if this happened?, what if that happened?, what if it ended like this?, etc.

I’ve shared my Mary Kay Andrews book with all the women I work with and some of my girlfriends. Everyone that reads them enjoys them just as much as I do. I recommend them to everyone! Please go buy her books. They are worth every penny and then some!

I recently went to her website just to check in and see if there is anything new. I checked out the “contact” section, and found that you can email her- the message really goes to her- and she’ll try to reply. I sent her a quick message about how much I love her novels and how I’ve shared them with so many people that equally enjoy them. SHE WROTE BACK to let me know how much she appreciated my kind words, and most importantly, to tell me she’s working on another book that will be out June 7^th!!  To say I was excited is an understatement- my calendar is marked! Oh, and it gets better… Her upcoming novel is a sequel to Blue Christmas, so my favorite characters will be back!

If you’re in need of a good book, please look up Mary Kay Andrews. I suggest starting with Savannah Blues, then Savannah Breeze, then Blue Christmas, but those are the only three you need to read in order. The other four are individual novels that are separate stories with different characters. It’s almost time to lay by the pool on the weekends…don’t go without one of her books!

House Hunt

I owe everyone an update on the house hunt, as promised. Our first venture out into the world of for sale signs was February 26. We didn't expect to find and fall in love with a house our first time out...or did we?

We had our eye on a particular old, charming ranch in one of our favorite areas. Its curb appeal and huge yard really caught our eye. Not to mention, it was walking distane to the park in which we take the dogs every weekend. The inside was updated nicely, and from pictures we really thought it might be THE house. It was on the top of our list to see the first time out, and I was so anxious about it. Walking around inside the house and trying to imagine ourselves there was a complettely different experience than I expected...it didn't feel right. It was sort of sad in a way because we had this built up expectation for that cute little house. To say it failed our expectations might be an understatement. In the end, we were relieved to scratch that one off the list and move on with the hunt. The three others we looked at that day aren't even worth mentioning.



This is the Wills Rd. house that we thought we would love. Although it's off the list, I thought I'd share it with you.

Our second time out was another flop. Just more houses to cross off the list. I didn't expect this process to be wasy, but I did expect we would like more than we do. I guess you could say we're picky, but buying a house is a BIG deal. We want what we want, and we won't settle for less. Yes, we realize there will be some compromises along the way, but we certainly won't make any huge sacrifices.

Last Sunday we went out on our third venture. We only went to see one house that Ryan and I have been eying for a couple weeks now. I felt the same anxious anticipation that I had when we went to see the Wills Rd. house. Everyone knows the saying "the third time is the charm." Would that hold true for us int his situation?... It just might!

We went to look at this big (to us), beautiful, charming, white Victorian looking house on Dover Ave. It's in a neighborhood and area that we LOVE. It's one of those older, well established neighborhoods. You know, the ones with houses that have huge yards, with kids that ride their bikes through the streets and play games in each others' front yards, and couples that walk their dog(s) together hand in hand and wave to everyone they pass. It's even more than we were looking for in our first home, but that's the best part... We could grow into the house, and potentially be there for a very long time!

There are several pros to the house, but we've also made a list of cons, which every house is going to have. We originally hoped to find a house that was a bit more "move-in ready" than Dover Ave is. However, the more we think about that fact, the more we like the idea of not buying a house that's already "perfect." Dover Ave needs some TLC, which would allow us to really make it our own. It's got a lot of character as is, but it's somewhat of a blank slate. Ryan and I like the idea of making it our own and growing into it. We're both pretty handy, and we enjoy weekend projects, so it may be fun for us to take on this project.

Our real estate agent is working to get more details on the house this week. He's working to find out how much negotiation room there is because they're asking too much, especially considering the amount of work that needs to be done. Based on his research, we'll decide if we want to make an offer! In the mean time, we're trying not to get too excited about it because we have to be prepared to walk away if they won't budge on their asking price. Some things just aren't meant to be, and we have to keep that in mind.

I'll end on a positive note... a picture of what COULD be our first home. It's certainly too early to tell, but it's a definite contender for now!

A Moment of Thanks

"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation."
-- Brian Tracy

As I was getting gas this morning, I couldn't help but take a few moments to think about how lucky we are.

Ryan drives a big, lifted truck that gets horrible gas mileage...and he doesn't have a short commute. I have an SUV, which isn't great with gas, but my commute is only a few miles to and from work. There are several times I've stopped to think, or said aloud to Ryan, "Do you realize how lucky we are? We are so blessed to be able to fill our tanks with gas when needed."

But seriously... With the recent rise in gas prices, it's even more appropriate to talk about. I got tears in my eyes thinking about it this morning. So many people can only afford to put a few dollars of gas in their car at a time, if that. I am so fortunate to be able to spend the more than $60 to fill up. Ryan's truck costs a small fortune to fill up these days, but we can do it without feeling the financial strain that so many people are feeling now more than ever.

These days I have so much to be thankful for, and I just wanted to take a moment to share it with you!

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."
-- Oprah Winfrey