If Only….
If only I could teach her to put them BACK in the box. Seriously, this is getting ridiculous.
Out of control even. Spice has pulled just about every toy out of the box. This morning, I saw her standing in the box to get to the ones on the bottom. She never used to pull toys out like this in Auburn. What is with her?
Are you wondering if there are any toys left???
Yep, just a few, but mostly balls. I guess she doesn’t want to play with the balls.
And in other Spice news….last night Tom put the pups to bed. We were laying in bed, discussing for the umpteenth time where our IPODS might be, and I got up to check the closet. I turned around and saw a dark lump on the floor near my bed. It was Spice!! I looked around for Lola, but she wasn’t up there. I asked, and Tom didn’t actually check to make sure both dogs were in the room before he closed the door. So Spice, very stealithly, climb the stairs, avoided Ticky-Toes in the kitchen, didn’t jingle her dog tags and came into the bedroom. So we left her. I don’t think she moved all night long – she must have been too afraid we’d throw her out. And I totally would have, but if I’d gone back downstairs the temptation to check the luggage under the house for those IPODS would have been too great. It’s all about me, people.
Home Photos – Installment #4, the Family Room
As you go down the stairs to the family room, there are two doors on your left. The first is the laundry room. Use your imagination. The second door is the bathroom. This is what the bathroom looks like 50% of the time….
And this is what the bathroom looks like the other 50% of the time…
I made the mistake of purchasing bath mats that didn’t have a rubber sticky back, and the dogs get vicious and the placement is toast. Oh well.
This is a view of the living room area from near the stairs….
And then if I walk over to the window, here we are looking at the couch….
Very nice, eh? Note that I didn’t bother to straighten cushions or fold blankets. If I did that, you would doubt that room was really mine! The door behind the couch leads to the storage area. It’s about 3.5 feet tall and the entire middle level – kitchen, dinette and living room. Maybe one day you’ll see a picture of all the boxes I have stored under there. It’s like kindling.
Ok, and here is Tom’s new pride and joy, his Precious. He’s borders on obnoxiously proud of it…..
I don’t know the dimensions off hand, but it is pretty cool, and big. He sprung for the automated kind, so it goes up and down by remote. We got the projector attached to the ceiling and then snaked all the wires through the walls. He’s also purchased two more speakers so we have 7.1 surround sound, and the first time we were watching it, a mosquito buzzed by and we flinched. That’s pretty slick. I guess if you’re going to be housebound for six months of the year, there are worse ways to occupy yourself.
Here is a picture of our new coffee table….
The side table by my chair matches, as does this new decorative table….
And that’s the house. I think we’re getting there. It’s definitely feeling homey, but you know Tom – he’s in project mode to get stuff done. He found a used garage door opener, so this week he’s going to put that in for his Chevelle. We got the granite and back-splash in, so I’ll have to get pictures of that and update you. It’s coming together!
Our Living Room Furniture
The other day I noticed that Spice wasn’t sleeping in the office with me as I was working. Lola was in her new preferred spot, spread across my lap keeping me toast, but Spice wasn’t on the lower floor. I started up the stairs and I saw her. I had to turn around to get my camera and luckily, she stayed put.
Spice loves the new chair. It was made for her.
In case you can’t tell, she has moved the back pillow away and is laying against the back of the chair, half on the now moved pillow, with her paws on the arm rest.
Here’s a better view. We were wondering what in the world the dogs were doing to move the pillow. We’d come home to find the pillow in the middle of the chair and knew, due to it’s size, that Spice was somehow involved, but frankly, this was something I had not pictured.
Lola decided that this was far more comfortably looking than my bony lap, so she joined Spice.
I wandered off to eat lunch and when I was through and ready to return to work, the dogs were still racked out.
Over the weekend, Tom caught Spice on the chair and reprimanded her, but I’m not sure how that’s going to work in the long run. And is it fair? Lola has free run of almost every piece of non-sleeping furniture in the house, isn’t it only fair that Spice gets a piece of her own. And with that statement, I’m now responsible for keeping all the Spice fur off the chair. Hope my vacuum is up to the challenge.
Home Photos – Installment #3, The View
So you could see from the interior shots that we have “waterfront property”. Here is a photo at dusk….
Here a photo taken a few days later. Note that Tom decided to become the sole provider for all the neighborhood birds.
Oh, and we have a firepit. I don’t see how this is a good thing because it will encourage me to eat smores, and frankly, I’m nearing 30, I don’t know if I can handle that on a regular basis.
So that’s the view.
Could someone give me a paw, please?
Lola has Squirrel. How will Squirrel fare today? Will he get slimy or is he in for much worse?
Hmm…looks like she’s in full on attack mode….
Uh-oh, she’s abandoned Squirrel? Why? Has she got something in her mouth?
Why, yes, yes she does. She has a tiny Squirrel paw in her mouth. Look at the intensity in her eyes. That’s her prize….
As a side note, Lola has learned to hoard her toys, just like Spice does. I’m so proud.
For the record, Squirrel is still alive. Good thing he doesn’t actually need those paws.
Home Photos – Installment #2, The Upper Floor
As you come up the stairs, the first room on the left is a full bath….
Isn’t this a cool picture? This one looked the worst STOC, but it cleaned up really well and I got the cool reflection. The rest of today’s pictures suck, especially in comparison to this one. Also, it’s more difficult to take pictures of rooms than one might think.
Anyway, I used the stuff from our old bathroom. I really like this striped curtain. We’ll get a new countertop in here next week.
The first bedroom is on the right…
Gack! Hide this picture from Tom! Lola’s on the bed!
Hey, I was just responding to Andrea’s request. Anyway, how ghetto is it that I’m using a full-size mattress on a queen bed frame? It wasn’t nearly so noticable in the tiny Auburn bedroom. Maybe I should see if someone on Craig’s list wants to trade. But, that requires more work and until I get actual confirmation that a COUPLE is going to come visit, I’m not changing out the beds.
Here is the view from the other side of the room….
So I finally get a chance to put my lady doll back up. I realize this room is ultra girly at this point, but I don’t care. I refrained from purchasing the pink Hollywood bath collection at BB&B so I’m entitled.
The next room is another guest room….
Want to know a secret? That green blanket is for a queen, or maybe a king. There is like 2 feet of it tucked under the bed by the wall.
The cardboard box in the corner is the valance and curtains for the master. Last box to be opened. I supossed it’s too much to hope that our missing ipods are in that box?
The other side of this room….
Isn’t this cute? Halfway to being a nursery already. I come upstairs to sit in this chair when I’m chatting on the phone, and I have a view of the main floor so I can keep half an eye on things.
And behold, the master bedroom….
Thank goodness we got the other nightstand – this room is still plenty big. It would have been tight/impossible to get a chest in here though. It feels a little bare to me though, even without my valance.
Here is the dresser with view of the bathroom…
Yeah, not much to say about this one.
On to the closet….
I know it looks like it’s all my clothes, but it’s not true. Tom’s are on the left, mine straight ahead, and we share the right for long things – his dress pants, my dresses.
Ok, so Lola has a thing about closets. She really likes them. Maybe she likes the cave-like feeling of being surrounded by dark things. When she was a puppy, she used to hang out in my apartment closet and she would try to squeeze herself into the master closet in Auburn. What she does in there I won’t say, but most of you probably know. It involves the dirty clothes. Anyway, this closet has a pocket door and we’re kinda lazy about using it, but I’m really trying hard. Well, I’ve locked Lola in there twice already. AND SHE DOESN’T MIND! That’s the problem. For all her separation anxiety, she’s happy as a clam in a dark closet, alone, until she’s done molesting the laundry, and then its 10 minutes later and Spice is staring at me and I’m hearing the distant sounds of squeaks. I rescue her to find all the dirty cloths strewn about on the floor.
Lastly, the master bath. This is the color of the shower curtain. You’ll have to trust me that it looks so nice with the bedspread. The color is the exact one of the stripe….
The master bath is actually kinda small, so a picture was hard. But I know ya’ll are smart people – imagine a sink and toilet next to the shower and bam! That’s the bath.
So there you go. Tomorrow….something else. Probably the view. Hang on to your hats, it’s getting exciting!
Home Photos – Installment #1, The Main Floor
Responding to popular request…pictures of our house. For full accuracy, I encourage you to come and visit
The view as you walk through the front door.
The living room is to the right and the closet to the left…well, duh. If you turn around….
You see the front door. We, and by we I mean Tom, just got it up yesterday so we’ll have to get some finishing pieces. The old door was solid and it’s amazing how this little window has really brightened the area already. There’s a narrow window next to the door. The door on the left is the door to the garage. That was the color of nearly the entire house when we moved in. As you can tell, it’s not really an offensive color, but it was just overwhelming is such a large space. My soul is now at peace with the new lighter colors, which seems WHITE in most of these photos but trust me, is an off-white in the tan family.
The seal cabinet is between the two and since the back of the cabinet is mirrored, it too helps reflect the light from the slider across the room.
One benefit to having the two doors side-by-side like this – when the dogs attack the front door at the sound of the doorbell, it’s super easy to open the garage door and tell them to “KILL” and then lock them in there!
The formal living room….
This is the formal living room. That is a full-size sleeper sofa and side chair. Hopefully my slipcover catalog will come soon. How is it when you want a catalog to stop coming, it takes forever, but when you actually want one to come, it never gets here?
We moved the old coffee table and side table to this room and purchased an electric fireplace. It’s pretty neat. You might not be able to tell from the picture, but it’s on and glowing red. I’ll put up some pictures over the couch – I have this idea to frame some of our favorite photos but it’s not super high priority at the moment. Also, I have a valance for the curtains but am waiting until I free up an extra rod.
Now, the view looking into the kitchen…
Good thing this picture is small, or you could see all the dishes drying in my sink. 
I wash, I don’t like to dry, not when air drying is so darn time-efficient. Anyway, the kitchen. Lot’s of cabinet space, as you can see. In the bottom right corner Spice is eating. When our new countertops come next week, we’ll be extending the island out to create a bar on the long side. I was thinking of putting a small dog pillow under there because my dogs do not understand the concept of “the box” much less getting out of it. Spice’s favorite spot is directly in front of the fridge. Oh, and I ordered a trash can/recycle combo for under the sink, so I’ll be getting rid of that eyesore.
If you look closely at the above pictures, you can see the pond out the slider. I admit, I really like the pond so far. Of course, it’s not mosquito season yet and I reserve the right to modify that statement. I love how when you enter the house, or even in the kitchen, it looks like we have waterfront property, the way the back yard slopes. So cool. And on sunny days, it’s beautiful.
Next, the dining area….
This is our new kitchen table. It seats six and has a leaf. I feel so grown up. Now, I need all of you to come visit so I can test it out. We’re going to leave it in the extended position for a while. I’ll need to get some placemats soon. I think the wall with the picture needs something else. It’s a pretty big wall. We do have a tv in the kitchen. It’s kind of nice to watch the food channel while cooking, and I absolutely didn’t want it in the bedroom.
Here is a picture of the stairs….
While there is no bathroom on the main floor, that doorway at the top of the stairs on the left is a full bath. And there’s a full bath just down the stairs, second door on the left. The first door downstairs is the laundry room.
Anyway, Spice and Lola like to lay at the top of the stairs and survey the landscape. I didn’t realize how space-deprived the dogs were. They really like having more space to wander around, I catch them sleeping in all sorts of spots. For the first few days they were all over, but I think they’ve settled down to a few favorites now. One handy thing is that you can stand at the top of the steps and throw dog toys all the way down to the bottom floor where their basket lives. They still have a pile upstairs in the master bedroom, but I’m resisting purchasing another pookie basket for the upper floor.
Our carpet….
…is the color of Lola!! Do you think I should send something to the manufacturer and see if they’ll change the name of the color to Lovable Lola? Likable Lola? Lola when she’s grungy and scruffy?
SIDE NOTE: Lola needs groomed. It’s been about 9 weeks and she’s starting to get really dense. I agree with everyone that she’s adorable in this state, but the trade-off is that the longer I wait from this point out, the greater the likelihood they will have to trim her really short. And we all agree that’s not a good look on Lola. So I’m waiting until after Dad and Zoe’s visit to trim her. That will give me some time to stagger her hair appointment and mine so Tom doesn’t go into shock when he sees this month’s beauty bill.
The carpet is nice. I don’t think it’s very good quality so I can see it wearing out in 3-5 years and I tremble at the thought of the cost/moving furniture/replacing carpet ordeal we’ll have to go through. Lola, as I’ve mentioned, doesn’t find it nearly as nice as the old Berber in terms of the carpet snurfing routine.
We’ve decided to hold on replacing the linoleum on the main floor. Changing the color of the wall helped and it’s easy to clean, and there is A LOT of it, so for now we’re going to hold. And I’m perfectly ok with that.
Tomorrow – The top floor!
Meet my new cube-mate
And I didn’t think I would have an office buddy working from home.
Psstt….is it time to grab a coffee?
Spice wanders over to the window and boinks her nose against the glass to get my attention. She’ll lay outside that window for hours, even if Lola isn’t around. She takes her cube-mate duties very seriously. Now if only I could teach her clean up her wet-nose prints on the window.
Coming tomorrow, the first installment of the house pictures. And please comment on whether the pop-up issue with the photos has been resolved.
A very poor reflection on me, indeed
I have no secrets from you, my internet friends and family and I air all my dirty laundry here. As Ree says, I’m just keeping it real. So I give you this, knowing you will judge me, harshly, and I can’t say I don’t deserve it. I have never felt so embarrassed and ashamed. I keep a neat house, I put things away, I keep the garbage can from smelling and the abundance of green flora in the fridge to a minimum. My clothes are neat and my socks are white. So this, this, will haunt me forever. I can only be grateful that no one witnessed it. Well, except for now.
That. Is Tom’s sock. With not one, but two big holes in it. And a third threatening to pop on the little toe. How, oh how, did it get to this point? I bought him new socks recently and when I realized he had put the unopened package in the drawer, I started systematically throwing out the bad socks and replacing them with new socks. Somehow, this one escaped my attention.
It was especially painful for me because we were setting up the speakers this afternoon, which meant a lot of scooting around on the carpet without shoes. Every time I looked over, there was the evidence of my domestic failure, wiggling in the breeze, unfettered by cotton restraint. I asked him to change his socks, but Tom knows how much this bugs me and delighted in tormenting me with the scraps of fabric formerly known as Sock.
When he’s showering, I’ll be sneaking in and stealing the dirty little bastard. If I wasn’t so unsure it would break it, I would throw the evil thing down the garbage disposal to rid it forever from my life. And I’ll be taking another look through his sock drawer to look for it’s nasty little mate.
I’m on a mission now, and I’m issuing this warning to all his clothes – You better shape up and hold up. I’m looking at you, ratty old tennis shoes and T-shirt with the fraying collar. I’m home all day long and Tom can’t protect you all the time.
The poor, deprived puppy-hood of Spice
While we were moving in, we found out that Farmington, while very small, boasts of an excellent steakhouse and we were encouraged to order the world famous T-Bone steak. So last Sunday, on what was to be our last pre-diet meal, we went to the Farmington Steak House. It’s located on Main Street, just blocks from us. We walked in and were greeted with a familiar setup – a long cafeteria like bar where you place your order, the steaks are grilled right in front of you, and then you pay, seat yourself, and proceed to stuff yourself silly.
Both Tom and I ordered the T-Bone dinner for $13.95 each. It came with a small salad, a baked potato with butter, and a slice of Texas Toast. We about had a heart attack when we realized, after our meals were ready, that they only take cash or check! Who doesn’t take credit card in this day and age? Especially at an eatary? Maybe that’s how they keep prices so low. That and they charge for every little thing – want sour cream? 25 cents. Want a take out box? 30 cents.
Our steaks were good. Not excellent, probably not better than what I could do at home, but for $13 an absolute deal. Why? Because not only did they give you the T-Bone steak, but they ALSO GAVE YOU THE STRIP that is under/attached/whatever. I don’t know my cow anatomy, but one side is called something and the other side of the cut something else. Anyway – they essentially gave you two 8-10 oz. portions. We could have easily spilt the meal because it was HUGE. Well over a pound of meat on each plate.
So we did our best to do justice, but we had a lot of steak leftover which perfect for the pups. And now I get to the point of this posting.
Monday night Tom cut up the leftovers, including the potatoes, and gave both dogs a large dinner plate each of food – when Lola clearly should get less food. Spice made quick work of her’s, but Lola was savoring, as she does. And Tom thoughtfully cut her meat into Poodle-sized bites so she would TASTE and not just inhale.
Lola was eating and eating and eating. Eventually, I looked over and she was still, slowly, making her way through the plate. She had this expression on her face like “I can do this. I will do this”. I wonder if it stopped being enjoyable. You could see her little tummy expanding right before your eyes, like how a newborn lamb’s tummy plumps up after its first feeding. When she was done, there was a distinct waddle. I bet she had a biiiggg poo the next day.
On Tuesday, when the weather was nicer, I gave them the bones to eat outside. Lola, being the Grandpup of Turini’s, knew right away what to do with her bone and ran off with it. Spice was a little confused.
It smelled delicious but she didn’t quite know how to start – that was obviously by the fact that she let hers touch the ground. Lola had her little teeth attached in a permanent manner.
Maybe she should treat it like all her other bones and chew it. But she’s not sure – and she’s looking at Lola to watch the expert.
Lola is all business. First, she is sitting for better leverage. She attacking the meat of the bone, not the actual bone itself. And she fully concentrating and engaged.
This is more like it. She’s assumed a sitting position and has stopped trying to eat the actual bone, and appears to be eating the meat.
But big-dog teeth just aren’t made to get into the tiny crevasses of the bone like Poodle teeth. Try as she might, she eventually got frustrated trying to pick off the tiny bits of flesh and tried to eat the whole thing again. And why not? It’s worked for every other bone she’s ever had. So I had to take it away. I gave it to Lola and brought Spice inside where I gave her Salmon Munchies. Surf & Turf!!
