My Day

So I'm not even sure where to begin with my day. This whole week has been a whirlwind really. Of fur, of poop, and oh, by the way, 300lbs of dog. So it occurs to me that yesterday was the day Nola was due for her flea stuff. You know, that completely disgusting liquid you squirt on the back of their neck. Of course I forgot about it because I was out getting that ridiculously-expensive-piece-of-foam-strip and sheets, etc...

So, I wake up and after everyone had eaten their breakfast, had pooped (twice for some), and was settled, I grabbed the packet of liquid and headed into the bedroom with Nola. The bedroom is the only room in the house to have light in the mornings so it's where all of our getting ready magic happens. Nola had to get ready for the day too and that included flea stuff.

I opened the foil pack first. She hears this and tries to dart under the bed. I catch her and swoop her on top of the bed (it will be easier if she's not on the ground since I'm still only half awake). She starts shaking. Great. What's new... this is so typical, I lie there for a minute and enjoy the snuggling. As I'm trying to figure out how to do this without her panicking (again), I wrap my entire body around her. I first tossed my right leg over her back then slowly curled up on top of her. She realized at that point what was going on and started flailing about. Right. Stop! As I reach for the tube that is now out of the apparently scary foil pack she tosses her head up and it hits my chin.

.

As my chin is bumped it has forced my top lip into my teeth and I've bitten my lip. Thanks Nola. I could feel it swelling but really thought nothing of it. Her flea stuff had been applied and she was now enjoying apple treats.

.

Then I hear something coming from the sunroom. Roxy's crate. I open the crate door and see dog + black chunks. She's eaten her water bowl. Fabulous! Get dog out, clean crate, put dog back in, throw away plastic chunks, head to shower.

After showering and dressing and readying for the day, I hear another noise from the sunroom. Roxy is now throwing up pieces of water bowl that she ingested. Why am I surprised? Grab the vomit rag, baby wipes, and carpet cleaner. Clean the dog, clean the crate, clean the floor.

Head back into the bedroom to finish getting ready, lip is really swollen and red. Run to the kitchen, grab ice. As I'm standing there drying my hair sucking on this ice cube, Nola decides she needs the ice. Jumping dog at my mouth. Why is this so difficult?

I'm ready to go now.

Did I mention that it's been raining all day?

In the car, I check my lip; it's black. "Yes, I did get beat up, thanks for asking."

Finally able to relax at work (who says that?!) I start what feels like should be the end of a day.

You'd think the day would be over right? I headed home around noon thirty and started poop duty (or should it be doody?). One at a time (in the rain) we went outside. Everyone pooped, highlight of my day!!! Sad. Back inside I decided to make mini pizza for lunch. Bagels, check. Sauce, check. Cheese, got that too. Put those in the toaster oven and got water for each dog. Timer dinged, ran to get food, heard Roxy growling... crap, the cat. Burn hand trying to get food out before it burned, dashed to get cat away from dog crate.

Scarf down the food, call sister in Cayman Islands to see if she can come home sooner (now?). "Sorry, see you tomorrow." It was worth a shot. Driving back to work in the pouring rain I realize my finger hurt, must have cut it, feels like a big paper cut. Don't see anything on it. Decide it's my imagination or a weird nerve thing going on.

Back at my desk I remeber, oh yeah, I burned it. Sigh.

It's only 2:30. If anyone would like to doggy sit two cute little adorable puppies, call me! They come with crates, toys, and food. You'll have to get your own water dish.

Challenge Update

Why haven't I posted about the challenge? Well... let's see, Monday: great. Tuesday: Great. Wednesday: it all went down hill. See, I realized that Britt and Ben would be staying with me Friday night when they returned from the Cayman Islands and my guest room was a mess. (Read: DISASTER!) I didn't have time last weekend to get the ridiculously-expensive-piece-of-foam-strip that you put in between two twin beds to make a king sized bed, so I did that yesterday.

Well...then it occurred to me that I didn't have king sized sheets. Yep, went to Linens 'N Things and bought a set for $22.00 on top of my $14.99 ridiculously-expensive-piece-of-foam-strip. So.... safe to say, challenge is corrupt. It was a nice thought. And did I mention that I bought a Hershey bar at the grocery store? I needed a little pick-me-up after I realized I'd broken the rules.

I called D to tell him about my mishap with the challenge. His response, "Oh, well I had a coffee on Tuesday." WHAT?! Yeah... nice. Thanks for telling me on TUESDAY... After I so politely refused a homemade (HOMEMADE) cookie from the most awesome baker at our office.

Awesome baker: "Cookie?"
Me: "Can't, thanks."
Awesome baker: "Really, are you okay?"
Me: "Yeah, D and I are doing a $1/day challenge and we also can't have sugar."
Awesome baker: "Hm, well are you suuuuurrre, I made them last night..."
Me: "Uhuh... come find me next week, bring fudge."

So, yeah. I turned down only the BEST cookies ever and he had COFFEE?! Crap. It made me want to go find a coke. I'll wait. I do have some self control.

What we did realize with this little mini challenge though, is that we really didn't need to spend much money. I did buy some crackers for $.60 on Monday because I had a headache from the beastly puppies and needed something to take a giant 800mg ibuprofen with... otherwise, I spent no money.

We decided that we'll do a real challenge sometime in January and we'll limit ourselves to spending $10 at the grocery store on food for the week. Or something like that. It may change. Who knows...

My day

Did I mention that my house has been overtaken by two large beasts? My sister is on her honeymoon so I have doggy daycare til Friday. Whew. These are the most high maintenance dogs ever! Titan poops six (6!) times a day, Roxy has pooped in the house twice because she's used to being walked 15-20 minutes before she poops (which I don't do, sorry for having other things going on), and neither of them know what it means to settle down.

My sweet Nola on the other hand poops three times a day and has the smallest, perfectly shaped poop pieces, cuddles, plays on her own, and is quiet. Always. Roxy brought me a nightlight yesterday. She'd been chewing on it. Great.

Titan has destroyed two toys, luckily they were his own. I hid Nola's. I know him well. They bark if they hear anything and it's so loud that my head has been throbbing for the last three hours. These two beasts are also used to going out to poop (yep, again, that makes time #7 for Titan) sometime in between the hours of 2:00 and 4:00 AM. That also does not happen at my house. Thankfully they have been wonderful in their crates at night, and they smell good because I gave them a bath yesterday. They are great dogs but when you're used to one, it's not quite a walk in the park.

***(One really great thing I've learned having Titan here is that because he was Nola's first buddy ever (aside from her littermates of course), she isn't food aggressive with him! They've actually shared licking a spoon and a bowl together! This is a HUGE thing!!!)

What I wanted to sit on the couch and enjoy tonight:

But that didn't happen because of Roxy's incessant barking (She's baby gated in the kitchen in case she poops on the floor again, and because Nola had had enough of her barking and was starting to become agitated. Not a good thing.).

The giant has been relatively good tonight (so far).

Meanwhile, poor Nola took refuge.

Dinner was homemade macaroni, Mmm...

Are you stretched?

It's Christmastime, a time of year that most people associate with giving. I'll be posting some alternative giving ideas all month to keep you on your toes and to stretch that dollar as far as possible!

I've mentioned Compassion International a few times but I don't think I've really discussed my involvement with them. Over the past fourteen years (yep, it's really been THAT long!) I've been sponsoring children. I've sponsored with various organizations (World Vision, Christian Children's Fund, Children, Inc., Children International, and some other small ones) but, Compassion is the one I've stuck with all of these years (my friend Elizabeth introduced me to them). I currently sponsor several children with Compassion and one with World Vision (because I've sponsored her since they were only $15/month!). I can tell you all sorts of positive things about each org and I can tell you some things that I like best about each. When it comes down to it though, Compassion is the organization that wins in all levels. Their commitment to the children and families with whom they work, their donors, and their integrity is far and beyond other organizations.

While I love each of "my" children, I'm closest to Hilda and Clara Mae. Hilda is from Guatemala and Clara Mae is from the Philippines. I've sponsored them about four years. I also write to a child named Princy from India. She has another sponsor but they are unable to write to her so I do that part. I've been writing to her since 2003 and have received over 50 letters from her! Hilda, Clara Mae, and Princy are my best writers and always ask lots of questions. Clara Mae recently wrote to me by herself for the first time. It was really funny because she said something about how she imagined my face when I read that it was her writing the letter. I thought it was so sweet!

I'll write a post about each child later... If you've ever thought about sponsoring a child, do it! (Want to read about other people's experience with Compassion?) Don't wait until you have more money, it will never be the "right" time. Do it when you feel you're lead to do so (like, now!). :) And spare yourself the homework, I've already done it! Although, do be sure to research whatever organization you choose as there are a lot of things to consider. Email me if you wish! (By the way, most organizations have photos of children waiting for a sponsor and you can search for a child by age, country, gender, birth date, orphan status, HIV/AIDS affected status, and more!)

So if you think you're stretched on money, think about others in our world. As I'm completing day 1 of the challenge (I'll post about that separately), I've been reminded of how stretched I think I feel sometimes, when in reality, I know nothing of what it is really like to be stretched financially.

Comfort

My co-worker's house burned down today. House fires happen every day and are a very sad and scary thing. Today, this touched me personally. While working at Red Cross several years ago, part of our jobs was to assist people whose homes had been burned. We provided them with a place to stay, food, clothing, and medical needs as necessary. We also helped arrange other assistance for them. When I learned this morning that Joyce's house was burning, I immediately wrote a check. This afternoon, I found myself humming the song "I will lift you up" (I don't remember what the song is called but it's really pretty!), so I decided to search for some scripture to send to Joyce. Here's what I found:

John 6.35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Psalm 46:1-2 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea.

Psalm 31:24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord.

Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

John 14:1-3 Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

Psalm 22:19 But you, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

Psalm 29:11 The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

Philippians 4:7 The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your heart and mind.

Psalm 56:11 In God I have put my trust, I will not be afraid.

Isaiah 41:10 Do not fear, for I am with you...for I am your God.

Isaiah 40:29 He gives strength to those who are weary.

John 14:27 My peace I give to you.

I'm copying everything here because I think these are great passages to read for comfort and you never know when you'll be in need. Today I pray for Joyce and her family. They lost all of their material belongings. I can't even begin to imagine what that must be like. Thankfully, no one was home during the fire so they are all safe. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

Challenge!

I've talked about it long enough... it's finally time! Tomorrow, we start THE GREAT ESCAPE: Keep in Simple Challenge!!! Here's the deal... me and the Caveman will be living on $1/day for a week. Beginning Monday, December 8th through Sunday, December 14th.

Here are the rules:

-Prior weekend grocery spending can be no more than $20.
-Gas, tolls, and regular monthly bills that are due, not included.
-$1/day can be just that or can be $3 one day and $4 for the remaining days.
-No coffee, soft drinks, or refined sugar allowed.

This probably doesn't sound so bad, and it may not be, but we're going to try a much more difficult challenge of $1/day in the next month or so that will be just that, $1/day. Mostly it will be food since neither of us are able to ride our bikes to work. This is a prep challenge to see how we can do. The idea is to familiarize ourselves with what the rest of the world faces each day. Since more people than not live on less than $1/day, we're going to put ourselves in the higher income bracket and assume we do indeed have $1/day. We'll be posting updates about how it's going so be sure to check back in with us! Caveman has some sort of training and an interview (yay!) this week so he may be a boring blogger but I'll get updates and post from him!

Join us! It should be a fun and sorta easy way to get in the habit of frugal living!

Christmas Tree!

My tree is finally done! I had to go out and buy new lights because *someone* (mom!) borrows a strand every year and I was down to only two strands. It's a small tree but it still needs lights! I also have a Charlie Brown tree by the front door. It was a pity purchase because it was the saddest little tree... at $8 I thought it would be cute with lights, so it's on the porch.

(I have *no* idea what is on TV and I make no comment about the basket full of Nola toys by the fireplace, which was on by the way, not sure why you can't see the flames. Oh well. It was a nice scene!)

Hope everyone has their tree up and decorated! Christmas will be here in no time!

(By the way, if you look very closely you'll see a blue sweater ornament that has fallen down, kudos if you saw it before I pointed it out! It's fixed now...)