December 2016 – Page 2 – Not Content to Crawl

Visiting My Uncle

Posted onDecember 12, 2016

Friday we decided to celebrate Joe getting a job by going out to lunch at Lonestar Steakhouse. On the expressway I pulled up their website to check the menu and that’s when we learned they are no longer open for lunch. Doh! We then decided to check out Texas Roadhouse instead but when I pulled up their website it was the same story – they don’t open until 4 pm. Clearly the lunch crowd must not be what it used to be with all these places opening for dinner only. I wonder whether our local Lonestar would have stayed in business had they changed their hours years ago. Anyway, we ended up at The Pit Ribhouse in our old neighborhood which was good as always. We can always get steak another time.

After lunch we headed over to my uncle’s house as previously arranged and were there for about two hours. It’s been many years since we’ve been to his place so he has a whole new group of animals verses last time. His late wife worked at a shelter so they’ve always had their own small zoo. His house is on a huge lot complete with a barn (with a horse). He used to have two but one passed away earlier this year. He also has a parrot who has the whole loft to herself, four dogs (a pit bull, pit/Shephard mix, mastiff, and a Pomeranian chihuahua mix) in the main level of the house and three cats, a cockatiel, two finches, and an African Grey parrot in the basement. He also had a squirrel but he passed away recently.

The amount of animals he has would overwhelm the hell out of me, not to mention he is a self-confessed hoarder so even though his house is pretty big it felt crowded which made me feel anxious. I’m glad I’ve reached the point where I’d rather spend money on experiences than just stuff. That’s not to say I don’t buy anything, but the number of knicknacks in that house was off the charts. If you need multiple curio cabinets to hold it then for me it’s too much. Some people love collecting things, however, and as long as they’re happy that’s all that matters but for me personally I couldn’t do it. I’m trying to get rid of some of our possessions as it is.

Anywho, before we took off my uncle gave us some outfits for the puppy. At some point I will torture her by making her wear them.

Once we got home and checked on the puppy we ran back out to run some errands. We ended up at Dairy Queen so I could use my BOGO Blizzard coupon. I got the peppermint Oreo which is awesome! I’ve been nursing it ever since so essentially I’ve gotten four desserts out of one large Blizzard. We also tried the new Mexican place next door to DQ. Their cheese enchiladas with green sauce are very good but it irked me that they only way to get them was by ordering the $11.99 dinner. Since I don’t care for refried beans and could do without the rice it’s like I paid $4 per enchilada. So even though the food was good and the guy who took care of us was very nice I can’t say we’d go there again.

Great News

Posted onDecember 10, 2016December 11, 2016

I’ll just come right out and say it – Joe got a job! We are both so happy and relieved.

The past nine months have been stressful, probably more so for me than him since I’m the worrier. Luckily with the help of unemployment, cutting back on our expenses, and the marketplace insurance, we didn’t end up having to withdraw too much from our savings to cover expenses and I’m very thankful for that.

I did our finances the other day and even without contributing much to retirement this year the balance has still increased, just not as much as it would have had Joe not lost his job. The new place has a 401k but no match since it’s a newer company, but it’s still better than nothing so we’ll take it. There’s a lot of potential for him to rise through the ranks if he so chooses so we’re focusing on the positive.

Since he starts on Monday we’re going to try and enjoy our last extended weekend together. Also starting Tuesday I will be taking a full hour lunch at work (as opposed to the half hour I’ve been taking) so I can run home to feed and walk the puppy. I’m not exactly thrilled with the gas that will waste, plus the rushing around, but short of me quitting there’s not many options. Maybe it will be a welcome break in the day. We shall see.
Oh, and in true Nicole fashion, take a guess what I decided to splurge on at Target after receiving the good news? Cuddl Duds and leg warmers. LOL! I probably would have gotten them regardless since I live in them in the winter but now I won’t feel guilty about spending the money (plus they were on sale).

Monday Madness

Posted onDecember 6, 2016

Yesterday was the puppy’s first vet visit. We brought along all the paperwork L had given us on her and because puppy had reacted to her 8 week distemper vaccination, the vet didn’t want to do one at 10 weeks. Instead we’ll do that one at 12 weeks and she will give her meds beforehand to reduce the chance of a reaction. In addition, we went over her general health, got a bunch of info, and had all of our questions answered. Total cost was only $60 and half of that was a fecal test to check for worms (which came up negative). It’s nice because the regular vet visit is only $32 which is half of what it costs to take the rats in, plus this place is literally 5 minutes away.

After dropping the puppy off at home we went to Savers where I actually found a few things.

Pictured above: a black sweater hoodie ($3), a Calvin Klein merino wool sweatshirt ($5), and two comfy pairs of fleece pajama pants which were only $2.50 each.

We hit Costco for lunch, samples, and a few things on our list, plus some comfy socks not on my list (but definitely wanted).

Finally we stopped at Petsmart where they had holiday toys on sale so we got a few for the puppy’s stocking plus a few other items including a coat which she did not like. She refused to walk outside with it on. She just sat there until I took it off. LOL

Puppy Update

Posted onDecember 2, 2016

Life with a puppy has been interesting. And by that I mean fun and frustrating. She’s currently 10 weeks old and potty training has had its ups and downs. She has peed on the carpet several times and even though she has gone to the door to let us know she has to potty, she’s not consistent about it yet. This morning she peed and pooped in her crate even though I had taken her outside where she had peed just an hour before.

The first week was the worst simply because it felt like we had no free time to do ANYTHING and the house was cluttered and dirty. Once we cleaned up a bit we both felt better.

Now things are in a better routine. She usually wakes us up once in the night to go potty. She sleeps in a crate downstairs and I bought a $17 V-Tech baby monitor so we can hear when she needs to go out. We didn’t want to keep her in the bedroom for now since at first Joe seemed to be having an allergic reaction to her. He has gotten better since then but I’ve noticed after handling her I develop a bit of a cough. It might be to the overly scented shampoo I purchased, however. I didn’t realize it was baby powder scented! It is really strong too!

The good news is other than the $150 we gave the woman we adopted her from, and some canned food, pretty much everything else we’ve purchased for her has been on Amazon where we have/had credit, so there were minimal out of pocket costs. In addition to the carrier and crate we got these cute food bowls.

We also bought a large exercise pen which connects to the crate. We put that up in the kitchen when we have to go out for longer than an hour. She barks a little at first but then calms down and goes into her crate to nap. We are using the webcam that was in the rat room to monitor her and I leave The Cure playing softly to soothe her.

Overall I’d say this experience has been both rewarding yet something I wouldn’t want to repeat. It’s cool that we have a hand in shaping her behavior since we got her so young but it’s a lot of work! I turned to Joe last night when we were trying to watch tv and she wouldn’t stop barking in her crate and said, “Yep, my decision not to have kids was the right one. At least with her this should be over in six months”.

But I still love her so much. Look how adorable she is! At some point we’ll figure out her name. I told Joe people on Facebook are getting frustrated that we haven’t chosen one but hell, parents get nine months to choose a name, we should get at least a couple of weeks.