Can I Interest You in a Little Fine Dining or at Least the Furniture to Do So?

Remember back in May when I informed you I lost my dining room set when B took my offhand comment super seriously? Well, just as I thought we would never have a place to store our once a year dishes and platters, it was B to the rescue once again.

As this set is so amazing, I have almost forgiven B for forcing me to relocate things into our way too small kitchen.  Almost.  This is Jacobian furniture which, from what I understand from GTS*, is the form furniture took during the Renaissance in England. Yes, our furniture is THAT old. Or based on ideas that old. Whatever.

This picture doesn't do the size justice, but B informed me that he didn't want to take a straight
on picture because then he would be in it through the mirror. So camera shy, that one.

This is our buffet. B may or may not have broke it immediately upon trying to move it.
It has super heavy drawers and is awesome.

This is the china cabinet.  It is also awesome and now holds all of our glasses.  It also is a haven for cats trying to escape dogs.  

You can see the carved detail in the chair and buffet. This is my favorite shot.
Good job B!

Closer shot of the cabinet.

Up close to the buffet.

This set is ever way huger than it looks because there is a leaf. And by a leaf I mean the top of the table lifts up and goes between two extenders. The whole top of the table is a leaf. One day I am going to make B do that again and put all of the chairs we got with it to show you just how regal this set really looks.

I actually like the table with all 6 chairs around it, but it makes it kind of crowded and one chair may or may not be in the midst of repair as well.  

We got this set for a very reasonable price.  Thereafter, my friend whom I stole the trash chair from got a very similar site at an even better price. I might hate her now. The jury is still out on that one.

Also, you will notice the glass on top of every piece. The set did not come like that. B brilliantly stole the idea from our neighbor. With three cats with three sets of back claws and the never ending desire to launch off of our furniture with said claws, the furniture is grateful for B's idea, as am I.

It's the little things.

   




*Google That Shit, or in this case, Googling That Shit

Four for the Fourth for You

The girls and boys wanted to show you their patriotic side this Fourth of July. This post is so late because it took me that long to get their d@$& pictures!

Mooch is last because he was the hardest. He had no less than 12 takes.  I envisioned the cats would sit nicely and stare at the camera. Clearly, I was delusional.

If you are wondering who that cat in the middle is, stay tuned.

For now, I sign off to either the sound of fireworks or gun shots. At this point I am unsure.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

 

From Our House to Yours...

Whether you are playing:

 Or lounging:

Have a safe and relaxing Memorial Day.

 

Memorializing Mutts This Holiday Weekend

Remember that last fall holiday weekend, Labor Day, when our trip to the cottage was almost deterred by B finding a dog, Gus to be exact? I was thinking about that this weekend, another long one, but minus the trip to the cottage. I realized I had not told you about B's latest find.

A couple of months ago, I got the call. You know the one. "I found a dog." This time it was early morning and I was at the office. I immediately started searching the ads for missing dogs matching the description B gave me without any luck.

The dog got the usual - grooming and a vet check. B said the pup was roughed up. He looked like a pit bull and his ears were tore up, there were scars on his face, he was super skinny and there was some issue going on with his tail. Then B said he thought of his friend's family whose dog had recently passed. He was going to have her bring her kids to meet the dog. Everyone at the vet raved about the pup and how sweet he was. I swear, only the sweet ones find B! 

By the time I got off work, the dog now known as Dempsey was happily ensconced in his new home. I admittedly was a bit nervous about the unknown dog and how he would react to the environment. Seems he fit right in. His new home is full of people. There are people and kids coming and going left and right. All of them stopped to love him and tell him how gorgeous he was. I visited him and found out for myself just how beautiful, sweet and happy he was, despite all that he might have gone through. 

The first few weeks were rough. Dempsey has powerful jaws and did not like his crate too much so he just helped himself out of it. They never did get one that could hold him. Luckily, the only thing he did outside of the crate was use the bathroom. Disgusting? Yes. Fixable? Definitely. At least he didn't chew things. 

I am happy to say, it has been a few months now and B reports that Dempsey has gained much needed weight, is housebroken, does well on a leash and his tail seems to be doing better (he was chewing on it instead of the furniture I think). The family loves him and I am sure he shows them he loves them right back. We will count that as another successful rescue by B. Way to go, B!

Hopefully B will get us updated pictures soon!

All Through the House...Not a Creature Was Stirring...

It has been a while, so I have been informed. My time flies when you are too busy to talk about what you are doing. Now it is Christmas and almost the New Year. Maybe I will catch you up through pictures. Let's start today:

Presents I received in a forum swap

A Christmas Story wrapping paper! How cool is that?

Great gifts from the swap!!

And then there was peace.

We had a great Christmas, spending the moring with my in-laws and nephew (and the dogs) and the afternoon with my parents and the dogs. I am not sure when these girls will ever recover.  Christmas hangover indeed.

Merry Christmas,
Peace and Love,


 

Why Yes, We Still Do Own That Other Dog a/k/a Why Haven't I Updated About Nevada?

Parenting fail.  I remember constantly posting about Jersey. Well, that is probably an exaggeration, but I know I posted more than I do about Nevada. Heck, I don't even take that many pictures of her.  Not sure if it is because I am lazy or she is not. Man this dog moves around.

So anyway, here were are just two months after rescuing a undernourished and very dirty Nevada from a home in a rough area and she is doing great.  She doesn't even look like the same dog sometimes. It could be that now her ears stick straight up:

I kind of miss the folded over ears, but I have convinced myself that her ears are up because she is happy.  Yes, that is her standing on the arm of the couch. No manners that one.  She eats a lot and LOVES to eat.  I know all dogs love feeding time, even Jersey will cock her head to the side and book when you say "food." This dog though? She jumps in the air (by the way she can jump straight up in the air without even launching off of anything), she does leaps, her tail goes crazy, she runs in circles. It is quite insane.  However, she has filled out now. Up to 44 pounds:

Know what else? She pees a LOT.  And she wasn't potty trained either. We forgot how much puppies pee and then this one was 100 x that amount. I swear I took her outside about three times in 45 minutes.  She has somewhat gotten the hang of it even though there are some mistakes made occasionally:

She is constantly on the move, usually chasing Jersey, riding Jersey, biting Jersey's foot, gnawing Jersey's face...you get the picture. She does have a small warrior scar from when Jersey had enough.  They are still friends.  This is a rare moment that she was still:

Then she eventually just konks out near me or on me.  For the first week she slept fitfully. She would moan and groan and I was very concerned. That has since passed and aside from the occasional snoring (seriously), she sleeps rather well and with us.  Sometimes I wake up with Jersey entangled with my legs under the cover and Nevada laying lengthwise under my arm. At that moment, even though my entire body aches, I think "this is heaven."

Now, she and Jersey are like sisters. They have fun, they get annoyed with each other (mostly Jersey to Nevada), they sleep all over each other and are almost always by each other's side.  Nevada has definitely changed our lives.  Like it was in Jersey's case, it is for the better.

Thanks for finding us Little Baby Bada.  We love you!

From Jersey to Nevada and No Points In Between: The Tale of the Woeful Dog That Stole Our Hearts

It happened last Wednesday as I was sitting in my office.  Taking a glance at Facebook, I saw a post from a girl I went to high school with.  She posted a picture of a dog that she found on her porch when she opened her door.

The first thing that struck me was how much it looked like Jersey. The second thing was that it had a rope around its neck that looks like it was chewed.  The third, and saddest, thing was that I could see all of its ribs.  My heart broke and then grew three times its size like in The Grinch.

My friend's friends all discouraged her from finding the owner since the pup was so neglected and encouraged her to keep it since it made its way to her home. She said it was very loving and playful. Also, it never left her porch even when she had to leave to pick up her kids.  She also found that it was immediately protectful of her house.

However, she could not keep it.

I quickly emailed the picture to B and he told me that we could take it before it would go back to its owner.  His heart had grown as well.

In the end, no one claimed the dog, no service would come get the dog, and I got an urgent message from my friend asking me to come get it. And so I did.  I drove to a rather rough part of the city to pick up a dog I knew nothing about.  She was laying on the porch when I got there.

She immediately jumped up, wagged her tail and ran over to me.  We coaxed her in the car and off we went.

Driving home was a trip.  This was not a trained dog and she tried to climb behind me, on me, in front of me, and spent a hell of a long time licking my face.

Once we got home, I made her a bed in the garage as we needed to get her to the vet before she could come into the house.  She was so loving and playful and grateful. I fed her a bit and you could tell she was starving which hurt my heart even more.  B texted me often with updates as he was working that night.  He requested I send him a picture to see what she really looked like, but it was hard since she was constantly climbing on me. Finally, exhausted she laid down for a moment and I captured one:

She immediately became protective of our house barking when strange voices were around, but generally quiet after that. When B came home that night, she ran up to him, tail wagging and full of kisses.

The next day she went to the vet and got a clean bill of health and some shots.  She is about 6-8 months old and about 10 lbs underweight.  She weighed in at a light 32.5 lbs. The vet thought she was a shepherd boxer mix, but who knows.  After that trip, B introduced her to Jersey and that was two of the happiest dogs I have ever seen.

She has since made her way into the house and is making herself right at home.

Although she has not been trained, she is very loving and learns rather quickly.  Mostly.  B and I have had to put on our puppy training hats.  It seems like such a long time ago I had to make sure to let a puppy out every couple of hours to prevent accidents.  However, she sleeps through the night with no accidents and mostly leaves the cats alone.  She is a keeper.

In keeping with tradition, we named her after the street on which she was found, Nevada. Technically it was not the exact street, but one right close by.  The thought was we could call her Neve for short, but it turns out we typically use her full name. I think she is starting to figure it out.

As of yesterday, she was up to 37 pounds and her coat is looking better. She has a lot of energy for a dog that was so lacking and we think she is a great addition to our family.

Welcome home, Nevada.

Twas The Fourth Day After Christmas and Still I Did Not Move

You would think that with 10 days off of work, I would have so much more time to blog, to be more productive.  Nope.  This is pretty much me:

Can you even spot me in that pile of blankets and dog? All I want to do is sleep, read other people's blogs and play Diner Dash on the new iPad. Yes, I have a new iPad. By "I", I mean "we". By "we" I mean B. He gives it to me occasionally to use. Never mind that the cats and dogs bought it for me and the tag even said "Mom."  Never mind that I screamed like a little girl when I opened it and smiled widely to the cheering crowd of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law.  We know who this really belongs to, I am just the occasional borrower.

Anyway, I thought maybe I could share highlights from the holidays and some pictures too.  

Before Christmas, we went on our annual holiday trip to eat dinner, walk fast and see Santa.  That trip ended when the glass blowers proudly proclaimed they were going to stick something in the glory hole. That proved too much for me and the family who all laughed like the 12 year olds B accused us of being right before he joined in.  The 7 year old standing nearby was not amused. Give him five or six years.

On Christmas Eve we all gathered at my sister-in-law's house for a family dinner.  We went back there the next morning.  We should have stayed the night except we had to bring Jersey who had so much fun, her tongue grew big:

My nephew got an Escalade from Santa and proceeded to drive off into the neighborhood in it. B took these awesome paparazzi shots from the back door.  They are seriously about a block or so away.  These photos were taken with the new camera that the dog and cats got B.  I wonder where these animals get their funds?

Then we were off to my family's house for Christmas dinner. We made my brother pose with Jersey in his arms again. I don't know why her head is so big:

For a comparison, this is them last year:

Then B decided to take pictures of our tree with the new camera:

And the house:

And the neighborhood:

And that is the end of this Christmas story. Except for the presents. There were some cool ones, including three new bobbles, but I want to do an updated bobble post one day so I will leave it until then.

How was your holidays?  Are you on vacation? If so, how the hell do you motivate yourself?

Signing off from the couch,