Three (and a half) Months at Home!

{So when we got Dolly, the original thought was to blog at one month home, two months, three months, 6, 9, one year, etc. As well as her (made up) birthday.

Well, its post #3 and I have failed. 

Life has been a tad busy (like normal) and posting kept getting pushed lower and lower on my seemingly never-ending task list.

So now I have a moment to breathe, and plan to update.}

We have not officially weighed her, but Mom and Dad were commenting about how she has gained weight since she's been home.

Muscle weight, though. not fat.

I never realized how scrawny she was when we brought her home.

She is still eating, but not with the same urgency as the first few weeks.

She is also staying outside instead of in the crate while we are at work.

(Please, dog-in-crate-advocates, don't attack!)

Dolly is well taken care of outside. 

She has her food and water, a cool place to relax under the deck, and Chad comes home every day during lunch to check on her.

We were apprehensive about leaving her out, but the neighbors are home all day and would notify us if anything was wrong.

More importantly, she is the happiest of campers being able to play and run and watch squirrels as she pleases.

Also notable this month, Dolly survived her first tornado at home...

All 50+ pounds of her may have been cowering and shaking in my lap, but whatever. She made it.

One funny thing we realized just this past week is that when she is in trouble, she gets in the bathtub.

This really makes no sense, but we know she did something bad, like "unfolding" a whole stack of clothes, when she gets in the tub and puts her head down.

We were talking about it last night, and I think I've figured out why.

She knows that it makes me VERY happy when she doesn't put up a fuss at bathtime (she gets bathed weekly in the tub) and she gets lots of "good girl" encouragement and a nice belly rub out of the deal. 

So naturally, when she is in trouble, she wants to get back in our good graces as soon as possible, even if it means the "dreaded" bath time.

(well, either that or she had no other place to run away to!)

Happy 3 months home sweet puppy, we love you!

Family Night at the Ballpark

My mom's boss paid for tickets for all of our families to go see the Cards take on the Phillies!

Thanks Dr. Cangas!

Landon stood nicely, quietly, and respectfully during the national anthem. His Mommy and Daddy are raising him right!

Emmett enjoyed being at the game!

Random photo of the park

Sometimes throwing ice cubes at your brother is more exciting than actually watching the game!

(because we can't just take a nice normal photo!)

It was hot and muggy until the sun went down, but all in all it was a great night for baseball! (even though the Cards lost!)

How Does the Garden Grow?

Wow. I compared the photos of the past garden post with this one and I am thrilled!

The changes since the last post:

Check out those cucumbers! One should be ready by this weekend. (The last photo of this plant was when I had just staked it and hoped to train it to grow upwards. As you can see, it worked!

I always knew zucchini were hardy plants, but holy cow! Look at those leaves! (as compared to my hand)

There are also two VERY promising baby zucchinis growing. My hope if for them to be ready in the next two weeks.

These pickling cucumbers are almost too cute to pick! (Almost. I anticipate them being ready next week!)

The top plant is sweet potato; a late addition to this years growing list.

The bottom is the watermelon that I had just added at the time of the last post. It has easily doubled in size!

Remember the freshly-staked tomato plants from last garden post? You know, these little guys?

Look at them now!!

Turning 23

I celebrated in the best way possible... Surrounded by family! 

Here We Grow...in May!

The garden is in full bloom! So much that I had to stake the tomatoes this weekend...

One of many zucchini buds...

Teaching the cucumbers to climb!

I can't wait to see how big these sunflowers get!

The pumpkin and watermelon finally went  in the garden this week after being started in pots!

The tomatoes are growing! (Is that baby tomato not the cutest thing?!)

Not pictured: sweet potato plants and new blueberry and raspberry bushes. 

No interior work on the house this month, we've been busy outside!

Minimalism In May: Wrapping it up!

Our minimalist month is over on Friday, so I think it’s time to reflect and see what worked and what didn’t.

What worked:

·         I spent less time running errands.

·         We stayed under the grocery budget! (The eating out budget is another story!)

·         I had what I needed to cook/clean when I needed it.

·         I was more thorough making my shopping list because I knew I wouldn’t be making short trips to the store.

·         I didn’t have to spend time doing price-comparisons between the stores/ check the sale ads every week.

What didn’t work:

·         Due to many things coming up, we blew our eating out budget. Totally blew it.

(we were planning on going out for anniversary and then an extra cheap meal for “Pinterest meal fails” {Yes, that’s what Chad calls them} but we went out 2 extra times. Oops. Whatever. Life is short, right?

·         We over-purchased at the beginning of the month “so that we could make it through the month”. Next time, aka next month, we will just do without/improvise if we run out.

·         I saw that we had “room in the budget” so I took advantage of that and stocked up on a good K-cup sale. It was a good deal, and we still stayed under, but we would have been even more under if I wouldn’t have noticed the sale.

·         We spent money on two things not in the budget out of “necessity”. I use the quotes because we may have needed the weed eater, but I definitely didn’t need to go get my hair done (although I needed relaxation and it helped!)

This month:

·         We will still do one main trip to the big 4 stores (Sam’s Club, Walmart, Aldi, and Shop n Save)

·         I will also be making a small Trader Joe’s run. I try to only go every other month for the few things we use from there, but it’s now the second month and time to go again.

·         We have stuff left over from last month’s trips so I don’t need to buy (or buy as much) of several things!

·         I will be picking produce with better longevity (possibly canned/frozen/etc.) so that I won’t need to go for that.

·         I also had to make special trips for presents, and usually more time in the store means more money spent, so I will be trying to plan ahead for gifts as well as things for home use.

So, here we go again! I am hoping that a month from now I will have put together the most effective, simple, and frugal plan for this area of home life.

Wish me luck! 

One Weekend, Two Graduates.

One Weekend...

+

562.4 miles...

+

2 graduations...

+

1 graduation open house...

=

One busy weekend!