Our Family is One Larger

Last week, our family grew by one. We adopted an adorable 9 month old Lab/Redbone Coon Hound mix. He is absolutely adorable. Shelby, as we've named him, has some serious magical powers. His main power is being able to turn me into a Jewish mother. Seriously. Right now I believe he is God's gift to me. He is the smartest dog ever....and Good Lord, look at that face! Most handsome boy ever!

(Not so) Little known fact: Alan and I are crazy about animals. Shelby's addition to our family now makes it a menagerie. We now own: 1 dog, 1 cat, 2 rats, 2 guinea pigs, and we also feed and care for 2 stray cats. And did you know our home is only about 800 square feet? Shelby makes it 36 feet walking around those 800 square feet. Good thing we have a big very spacious backyard that Shelby really seems to enjoy.

I've been on the lookout for a pretend engagement ring lately. Sounds silly, right? Yea...it kind of is. But, working retail, I have strange men ask me if I'm single and wanna date...while they're busy stealing. No....really. That's the type of men coming my way. And I am more than happy with my man, and don't expect a real engagement ring anytime soon. So, I've been looking for a ring to wear while at work. Of course, I was more interested in rings that are MUCH cuter than plain, fake engagement rings. Although I really don't like rings, I think these from verameat are so adorable.

Not a ring, but a necklace...of a Hatchet Wielding Centaur Pirate, of course!
And here, we obviously have a hippopotamus shark monster eating a woman.

Hardware 'O Plenty

We've been slowly working on making shelving for the kitchen out of old palette wood, recycled and then planed down to smooth, workable wood. The shelving needs to sit on top of corbels (the pretty triangle looking things) of course, and I have not been able to find any that are my style at local hardware stores. We recently went to Oklahoma City's fantastic Architectural Antique and Dead People's Stuff Store (that's actually the real name, folks) to look for antique corbels, but found none that suited me. Anthropologie has some that are perfect. Well, perfect, besides about 3 times the price I would like to pay for them. I need 9 of them, so paying more than $10 a piece is lookin' a bit high for me. But look at these corbels...I'm planning on checking in on them occasionally and looking for sales.

They've also got some AMAZING knobs that I am seriously considering spending about 14 paychecks on. I need them. Oh... right... and these house numbers as well. Here, Anthropologie...just take my entire savings.

I Miss the Internet!!!

Before we moved into the house, we decided to wait to have the internet and cable hooked up for awhile, thinking that it would help us stay focused on getting things finished. Turns out the joke was on us. Now when we get home from work, we are simply too exhausted and we make the mistake of sitting down our very comfy couch and falling into each other. Then we get little to nothing done. Even without the distractions of television and internet, we are fairly useless in the evening. ...and my blog is suffering because of the lack on internet. But, things could be worse. We got the washing machine hooked up today, so I can finally do a load of laundry without having to drive 40 miles to my mother's house. That is seriously exciting for me! I have always liked doing laundry, and having the capability to do so without travel expenses/time added in is very nice! Everything is coming together, slowly but surely.

30 Things Before I'm 30

The last year has gone impossibly fast. And I'm sure the year to come will go just as fast as this last one has. Do you realize that it is almost September? In 2 months I will be 24. And with time going by as quickly as it has, the next 6 years will zoom by as well. So, I have started one of those Lists. Not a Bucket List, per say. Honestly, I don't even like to say "Bucket List." I don't like the way it sounds coming out of my mouth. It is a strange combination of words, in my opinion. But anyway. I have started a list. To finish before I am 30. I think that if I cap it before....say....death...I may actually do them. And do them in a timely manner. So, here it is. The list of 30 Things Before I'm 30.

1) Take a road trip on Rt. 66

2) Go to a farmer's market/flea market

3) Spend a Christmas in New Mexico

4) Visit different places of worship: Buddhist temple, muslim mosque, jewish synagogue, etc.

5) Drink nothing but water for a whole month

6) Complete “Couch to 5K”

7) Fast once a month for a year

8) Make a time capsule

9) Do an herbal detox for two weeks

10) Take a dance class

11) Get a massage

12) Learn basic sign language

13) Read at least 3 banned books a year

14) Learn all 50 states, their capitols, and where they are on a map (I used to know this!)

15) Read 10 of Time Magazine’s top 100 books

16) Watch 10 “Independent Spirit Award” best documentaries, winners or nominees

17) Watch 10 “Independent Spirit Award” best films, winners or nominees

18) Watch 10 of IMDB’s top 250 movies

19) Acquire 10 of my childhood favorite movies

20) Hit the road and travel wherever it takes me for a weekend

21) Treat myself to a weekend at a B&B

22) Write a cookbook of my favorite recipes

23) Create and use a master grocery list

24) Have a candlelit dinner

25) Make a completed family tree

26) For every item I complete, put 100 dollars into savings

27) Put up a clothesline

28) Make my own organic cleaning supplies

29) Get a henna tattoo

30) Ride in a hot air balloon