A Dog's Life

Last weekend we went to our annual flyball (and other dog sports) party. With the dogs of course!

Dog sports girls* gone wild!

Dog sports girls gone wild!

Queue, the typical adolescent male. You are seeing correctly. He is indeed doing pelvic thrusts on my sweet innocent little Karma..!

Kebabs for dinner, tasty!

Then we self entertained with hours and hours of karaoke. Hours. We left at 3 am. Did I mention hours of karaoke?

It was a fun day for all. And it was especially a fun day if you were a dog. Everyone was pooped (yep I just made a poo pun).

Thanks again Helen and Jim for a great time and being terrific hosts!

*except for Porter of course. He couldn't resist giving Donna some love, she's the wildest one of the bunch.

Common Threads

I'm always posting pics of the pooches naked, so I thought I would show them with their new threads (courtesy of Kea and Chibi):

It's apparent that the shirts fit, but do you think it suits them? Do they need to be reversed? Both are interchangeable?

Dishing out the Dishwasher

I have been thankful for this dishwasher. I have been very thankful for this dishwasher. And here is when it was installed:

Hooking up the electrical wires for, well, power:

Hooking up the drain pipe to the disposer to well, dispose:

Then plug in the power cable.

Then roll it into place.

And then submit energy efficient rebate, arrange an inspection for model verification, and then done!

Truthfully, the most difficult part was the inspection appointment...

Hang Up

After 9 months of living here, we decided to get some window blinds. Yeah, we are that slow. Fortunately our place is pretty private so we were in no hurry. Unfortunately, the sun light shining through makes it hot.

We already put curtains up over the 2 biggest light sources in our house, so we decided to do the rest in the living room as well:


I ordered these bamboo blinds on clearance from Home Depot. I chose these for the neutral color, texture and casual feel. This house isn't fancy so these seemed to be the way to go.

I overmounted them outside the windows because it would be a lot easier to do, and we do intend on replacing the windows someday (so I didn't want to invest in window treatments that are somewhat temporary). I hung 2 blinds side by side because otherwise it would have to be custom ordered and that spells b-l-i-n-g.

These aren't the most private blinds, but it hasn't been an issue for us. And they block out a fair amount of sun. And makes our place look more cozy and a little more lived in.

Have you taken your sweet little time with a particular home project? Even if it's as simple as window blinds as my case?

Tortilla frisbee

This is what happens when you play frisbee indoors with a tortilla:

Score? Goal? Touchdown?

Decan

Last year we were excited to win this decanter at a raffle, because we never win anything. But there were 2 problems we've encountered with it over time: it's hard to wash, and it never dries inside.

So here's my solution:

It's now a make shift vase. Just go outside, snip a stem of Agapanthus and you have yourself a casual floral centerpiece. If you want to get fancy, add river rocks, pebbles or glass marbles.

On the Receiving End

My dad recently went on a trip to China. He had a great time, saw wonderful things, took lots of photos, and got me some gifts (you are never too old to receive fun packages):


2 shirts, a bag of peanut/tea candy (not sure what I think of that flavor combination yet), a beaded bracelet, a pearl bracelet, and a pearl pendant. He bought the pearls from an area reknowned for their pearls. He was told that the same company is getting a special chocolate pearl ready as a gift for President Obama's visit in November.

On the inside of the yellow shirt there was a little poem (which I've never seen before):

Love Blooms
Just Like a Magic Plower
Comes to Life

That's right, Magic Plower.

I'm off to search all my clothes for hidden poems and messages. Meanwhile, I'm going to put this one on and see what happens to me...

Stacked and Stoked

Last week I went to Goodwill to drop off some various items (nothing my friends would want, I know you're reading). I ended up coming out with not 1, but 2 cake stands (for $5 total, yum). And I already have 1 at home. And hardly eat cake. Do I have a problem?


I stacked them to put them away and discovered that they look like a tiered tray. Then I took all the fruit out of a big bowl we had lying around, and put it on my new stand and ta-da, I had a centerpiece.

Looks like my slight addiction is good for cakes and fruit. Maybe even fruitcake.

If you've got cheap, easy, or accidental centerpieces, I want to see and hear about them!

Breaking the Seal

Our master bathroom was poorly constructed by the PO (previous owners). That will be our next mission, but for now we are enjoying not having any major projects (or major expenses that go along with it).

There are too many things wrong with that bathroom to list, but for starters the tub and shower doors were poorly installed and therefore has caused water damage. That fact alone worries me, but what worries me even more is not stopping it before it can be repaired, and I don't want to be contributing to the cause.

So I removed the old caulking along the tub, which was very much not serving its purpose (and collecting nasty black mold). It wasn't applied correctly, or evenly, or even in the areas that badly needed it. I've learned the hard way that caulking removal is NOT fun. I've come to the precise conclusion that removing any kind of adhesive is not easy.

Here it is after my hard scraping labor:

Here's the best way I've found to remove old caulking:

1. Caulking softener - Screw being green. Sometimes chemicals can be your friends.
2. Caulking remover - Because they make tools for everything. For good reason.
3. Elbow grease - lots of it.
   

After laboring through the removal process, I learned that I don't want to repeat it. Ever. So until we tackle repairing the entire bathroom, I put down a temporary (ie. easier) solution: tub and wall sealer trim:

I'm off to shower with water fully contained to the tub...

Handling with non-Kid Gloves

Ever since I took a motorcycle safety riding course last year, I've been on the hunt for motorcycle riding gloves. Not just any pair of gloves, but a pair that would provide the necessary protection (synthetic or leather) and covers the wrist. And that fit (not as easy as you'd think). And aren't a million dollars (ie. over $25).

Recently I tried on a pair while wandering Cycle Gear, waiting for a salesperson to look for the appropriate brake pads. And they happen to fit!

And then I looked at the price tag:

Hallelujah, it was my lucky day!

Had any awesome scores lately? (And by scores I mean bargains. Get your mind out of the gutter)

Caught in the Act

Our dogs have the option of sleeping on our bed with us every night.

Karma takes full of advantage of this, falling asleep at our feet to slowly squirm her way up to our pillows as morning arrives so she can stick her tongue inside every orifice of our face the moment we are close to awaking.

Rylie on the other hand, can't be bothered. At all. So usually begins sleeping under our bed or curled up in her own on the floor. If I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom or get a drink of water, she is nowhere to be found. She wanders in the middle of the night and returns back in the morning, as if not to offend us. It's her little secret.

Where does she wander to? Well our guest room at the end of the hallway (where the door is usually closed, the door to our room is usually left open), where she doesn't have to share a human bed with any humans. Or fellow canines.

On our recent trip where we stayed with family, we slept with our door closed. Karma slept on the bed with us as usual and Rylie either slept under the bed or in her crate. Or so I thought:

Busted!
Totally enjoying that well-made king-size bed, all to herself.

I have no idea how this happened. Has she developed nocturnal opposable thumbs? And if she can open doors, why can't she close them?

Where do your dogs spend the night? Do they have unique sleeping habits of their own?

Ice Ice Baby!

We've finally installed the water line to the ice maker in the freezer. We now can enjoy non-lukewarm drinks at a moment's notice! Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Obtain sufficient length of piping (copper, plastic, or braided metal).

I do not suggest plastic because it is not as durable and could burst. No way I'm letting that happen to our new flooring and cabinets. We went with braided metal due to its flexibility and the need to run it around our U-shaped kitchen.

Step 2: Gather various plumbing tools (wrench, teflon tape).

Step 3: Hook up the aforementioned piping to water source, using aforementioned tools.

Step 4: Run piping underneath cabinets until you reach the back of your fridge.

We haven't installed our toe kick yet, but if it's there you'll have to remove it. We also had to daisy chain 2 lines to get the proper length. We also missed going behind one of the cabinet feet. Ignore that.

Step 5: Turn on your ice maker. Wait a few hours. Make a nice cold cocktail and enjoy! (We like Cape Codders ourselves, they're quite refreshing)

Bar Hopping

I've been too busy enjoying our granite counters to post about them. But eventually I will.

In the meantime, here's Chibi at the bar:

Doing her best Stevie Wonder impression:

Oh yeah, how's that slab of rock feel on your body Cheebs?

After spending a couple grand on the stuff, humans shouldn't be the only species to enjoy it. This is why we have dogs. Especially small ones. Particularly if they are on loan.

The Gap

When you install cabinets that are stock instead of custom, you save a bundle. But you also get some small gaps, like ours below:


We intended to fill this 3" gap with a filler strip that matches the burgundy color of the cabinet doors (the frames shown above are maple). But we fortunately discovered the pull out spice shelf from Rev-A-Shelf (ordered from Home Depot) that would fit perfectly.

We ripped a filler strip to go in the front and purchased and installed an additional pull handle and took care of that gap for good:


I created spice labels and slapped those on for a nice consistent look (I'm so particular with certain things). I love that when you pull out the rack you can see all the spices clearly (with those most used on the bottom 2 racks). So we transformed 3" of completely dead space to an extremely functional one.


It was a little pricey but so worth it. Especially with a small kitchen, you have to utilize as much space as wisely as possible. And creatively.

We were pretty darn lucky to hit the jack pot with this product. But we're also simple beings, so that doesn't say much. Have you encountered a situation with a home project where you were as (or more) fortuitous?