My Puppy is Acting Like a Puppy

Remember that cute, little fluffy pup I brought home on July 7? Me neither. I literally have to look at pictures to remember how little he was! It's funny to think how much my life is different now that I have a "baby". Things I can add to my resume:

• Amateur Dog Whisperer
• Typical Worrisome Mom

This morning I brought Caliber in from his kennel and noticed a red spot on the inside of his back leg.  I got a good look at it and saw a thin, red ring with pink shading inside. Oh no. Ringworm. I called the vet and took him in.

The doctor held a black light up to the spot to see if it glowed under it. If it glows, it's a good indication that it is indeed ringworm. It did not glow. :) Whew! She told me that ringworm in dogs is actually more scaley and typically on their face. It's most often picked up by cats who are infected. He was wrestling with another puppy at the dog park, and it could've been a bruise from that. I had no idea a bruise could look like human ringworm, but, I am so glad it does! It could also be a bug bite. Either are likely.

While we there, we also checked to see if his second testicle descended, and it did! Finally! If it didn't by six months, it means it probably will never drop, and he'd need surgery to remove it. If it stays up in him, then he's more likely to develop the cancers that are associated with that area. We also weighed him... My 15-weeks-old German Shepherd is 37.6 pounds of puppy love. Woof!

I haven't noticed any of his teeth missing yet, but he should start losing them soon. In the meantime, my monster has been doing some cliche puppy things I could do without.

So far he's eaten 1.5 rolls of Cottonelle Clean Care toilet paper right off the dispenser.


And he thought eating and scratching the wall next to the electrical outlet would be a great snack.


I still love my little guy. He does me proud most of the time. Today he got into the car all by himself instead of putting his front paws up and waiting for further assistance. He conquered the couch a few weeks back too. His next big obstacle is stairs. The only ones we have are down to our basement (which you access through the garage), so he isn't around them to practice. Last weekend at my dad's house he went upstairs by himself, and then was stuck. It took him a few minutes, but with patience and encouragement he came down all by himself. When I go down to the basement at home, though, he just waits anxiously and lets out a few barks until I return. Those stairs are scary--I'll give him that. No light, and they're not even heights. So they suck for us humans, too!

New York City

I want to visit New York City, but not today's New York City. I want to visit NYC in the 1930s. When it was cool to play trumpets and saxophones, because you can hear the soul of the music through them. When telephone numbers had exchange names, like WEllington 3-1247. When TV would have dead air--on purpose. When people danced for fun, not because they are drunk. When people walked to school uphill both ways with no shoes in the snow. When people traveled by train, and decorated their luggage with stickers. When drug stores sold sundaes. When girls wore dresses and boys were suits. When roads were bumpy, not with blacktop patches, but with cobblestone (I don't know what roads were made out of in the 30s, but in my mind it's cobblestone).

Why New York? I don't know. Maybe city life in the 1930s was the same in all the big towns, but I feel like fast-paced New York is the right city to be in during this era. After all, it's where Lucille Ball was.

DIY Kitchen Art

So I was dying to put up something fun on our white kitchen walls. To kill some dead space when we first moved in, I threw up our coffee clock and my calendar on some nails that were left by the previous tenants. While I was wondering around on Pinterest, I stumbled upon this cute giraffe DIY art. Then I realized that I could do the same thing, but make it kitchen-themed! Hooray! To be honest, I didn't really read her tutorial. All I read was "silhouette" and I took it from there!

So I Googled "kitchen silhouettes" and found some free clipart that I downloaded. I decided to stick with the things we love most--coffee and wine. I enlarged the images in Publisher, and printed out just the outline (to save ink). Then I went to Wal-Mart and bought 4 cheap 8X10 frames and scrap book paper.

I taped my silhouette cut outs onto the patterned scrapbook paper I wanted to use, and cut out the shape. Then I taped the cutout to my backing paper (the silver is foil paper) and threw it in the frame! Simple! The hardest part was hanging them. I hate measuring and figuring it all out. So I sorta randomly hung one and then made Michael do the rest :) He's not the biggest of fan of them--he finds them "kinda plain". But, I like that their simplicity.

I'm sorry for the poor quality photos, I had to use my phone. The camera cord is somewhere in the abyss of my basement... It was impossible to not get reflections in the glass, or the foil paper!

Making Tacos is Hard

To save a few bucks, Mike and I have been buying 5lbs of hamburger and separating it into one 1lb bag and two 2lb bags to freeze for about a month now. The other night we decided on tacos for dinner, so I took out the bag of hamburger from the fridge and dumped it in the frying pan. Mike was trying to get Caliber to take his pill, which wasn't going well for him. I started to think, "Geez, this is a lot of hamburger for this pan... Maybe it's just because it's still in big chunks." Then Mike goes, "HONEY! That's TWO pounds!"

Darnit.

After Michael and I bickered about, "Didn't that look like a lot of meat for the pan?!" "Yes, I was just thinking that..." I removed the pan from the hot burner to prevent any more cooking, and grab a new Ziploc Freezer Bag. I was just about to scoop some hamburger back in the bag when I realized I set it on top of the hot burner I just moved the pan from.

Good Lord.

And now Michael thinks I'll never get that off. Really? You're challenging my cleaning skills? Please.

Before I began scouring it, I simply peeled it off. Yup--that easy! No damage done! There were a few smaller pieces I couldn't get off, so I just used my dish sponge. Voila! So if you ever melt plastic on your stove top, there's an easy cleaning solution!