The Sectional Saga

For those of you who know us well enough to keep contact with us weekly, we have a drama unfolding before us over the past 3 weeks or so. A year or two ago, we had some very generous friends who gave us a nice couch and matching love seat for our rental place. Through a random series of events, the pieces were separated for a year, then magically reunited with us again when we bought our home. We loved them where we lived before but I've gotten somewhat of a wanting-to-make-it-my-own-taste bug and so we set out to buy new ones (okay, not new, used-remember who I am after all). So I started searching Craigslist (if you know my sister, she will be hopefully be writing her Craigslist escapades some day). Seriously, you can find ANYTHING there. So, I had searched it every couple days to see if something caught my eye. It took awhile to find what I wanted. Consider me a champagne-taste-on-a-beer-budget gal. So, I find this great leather sectional. 100% leather with recliners. It was a steal so I asked my sweet husband to go look at it because there was a conference at church I had to do sitting for... I really wanted it and I didn't want anyone else to swipe it. So I sent him. He looked at it and he liked it <> It was very "man-cave-y" and I am very light-and-airy- shabby-sheik-like. Not two seconds after it was being carried in the front door, my stomach knotted up and I realized it was a horrible mistake. It has cupholders. I refused to sit on it for a couple days, choosing to sit on a hard wooden chair instead. I was embarrassed to have people over. I can't host Christmas like this (yes please eat anywhere you want to - you can even let the kids play with that Christmas candle on it...). When my sitter and our tutoring students came over I demanded they avert their eyes from it. I was sad about it. To make matters worse, some kind of horrible animal hair (don't make me guess the species) starting falling out from underneath in clumps. CLUMPS! So I told my husband that I would not really be happy until I sold it again and got something else more traditional. He was very understanding though he likes the couch still. So I reposted it on Craigslist a couple weeks ago. I had a couple people try to send me a money order and scam or trade but no real buyers. I decided it was time to post it again today. I had two people fighting over it! One lady tried to talk me down $100 so I was playing to two off each other. So, finally, there is a guy on his way now wanting to pay the full price. Now, lets see if he shows - then I can go and spend a ridiculous amount of money trying to get something I want this time. We will probably be sitting on a rocking chair and patio chairs in the mean time.

*There will be no pictures in this post to protect the innocent eyes of my readers*

So.... who wants to sell me their blue couch and love seat? Preferably leather. Thanks.

A few random things in picture form

At the Fair!

Hello there Bloggies! I was informed via email that my email was a bit too...hmm, honest (not quite the word that was used..). So I decided to post a few things that happened with our family over the last month in picture form. No more bleeding heart posts for awhile, I guess!

Enjoy!
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Our Sunday School at church threw an "80's Rad Roller Skate Party" and I was priviledged to be able to help plan it. It was.... RAD!

Me and my friend Laura

Note the awesome pink legwarmers. I couldn't find a banana clip or a BeDazzler..

Rock me Amadeus

Every rose has it's thorn

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We went to the Great State Fair of Texas. We each had the obligatory Fletchers Corny Dog. All except the high maintenance wanna-be-vegetarian kid. She had fries..

Elsie. :-)

So apparently, there isn't a picture of the oldest kid eating a corny dog here. Probably because she had a chicken fried steak sandwich... So it wasn't only the high-maintenance one that didn't have a corny dog.

'Till next year Big Tex!

The zoo exploded on my house!

Did you like that title? It really did.

Yesterday we had nothing to do. I spent most of the afternoon with the windows and doors open enjoying the beautiful weather. I thought "We need to be out enjoying this somewhere". The park is overrated and kinda boring for a 12 year old so, since we have passes, we went to the Dallas Zoo. We walked through the front gate and I spotted a groundskeeper viciously ripping beautiful (have you ever seen the plants there? Beautiful!) plants out of the ground and throwing them on a truck bed. I thought to myself "Surely he is moving those to another bed... They are too nice to throw out." I was too chicken to ask him.

So we went about our way. All the kids went to the butterfly area and made a "metamorphosis" model of a butterfly. We looked and petted the goats. We relaxed, though I was still thinking about those poor, innocent, beautiful plants.

We headed back for the front gate after an hour or so and that same groundskeeper guy was, yet again, ripping out poor defenseless plants. I gathered up the gumption. I asked "Hey, are you throwing those away?". He said "yeah, they are going to compost." I looked down at the entire flat trailer chock full of gorgeous plants and couldn't resist myself - if you know me well, you can predict that I asked if I could have them. I was sure to ask if he'd get into trouble. He was adamant that he wouldn't. He even gave me a huge trash bag to take them home in! These are the kind of moments in life I am thankful for a double stroller. I am sure we got lots of glares... I don't care. I am thrifty and I am proud, okay?

I came home and scrambled to find a home for each plant. This is the best I could do with these two trees. I wish I knew what they were called. I wish even more that I had grabbed three more. They look really nice in my empty front flower bed (it's empty because it has an eave over it and gets no rain water). The pink shades in the leaves look awesome with my pink glass in the front door.

This one was just a cute little plant I threw in the bag last, I have no idea what it is either but it sure is cute!
This is a Croton. Actually, it is three. I just ran out of pots to put them in so I put them together. I have a Croton that I have had for several years but it looks nowhere near as nice as this one. Mine is very spindly and green (less red and yellow - the colors come with more sunlight exposure). I try to put it outside but it has been an indoor plant for so long that it wilts outside. This one will stay in more sun, hopefully, if it lives. I really have no idea how any of them will do. They were ripped out of the ground senselessly anyway.
This one is my favorite. The guy said it is a wrinkled croton. I have always wanted one of these. I used to drool and covet these at the zoo. Now I have one of my very own. It is also 2 together in the bucket and it is the healthiest of all the plants I brought home.

I love that I had the guts to ask. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! My only regret is not grabbing more!

The Puppy Chronicles

We had a dog named Trisha a few years ago. She was very sweet. She was an older girl of about 8 or 9 years old. She had sensitive skin and fleas like nobody's business and it cost a fortune to groom her. Once we brought the youngest baby home from the hospital, we realized that we didn't have time, money or the patience that sweet Trisha deserved. I hoped I made the right decision about surrendering her. The truth is she was probably put down due to her age. I cried for days. We said we were done with pets.

A few weeks ago we doggy sat for some friends. Apple and Canela the dogs fit in very well to our new yard/house/homeschooling schedule. We could probably have gone forever without having another house pet had it not been for them. We decided we wanted one of our own again. This time, however, we decided to go the puppy route instead of the older dog route for several reasons. So... without further ado...

Here's Johnny (as in Cash)!

Johnny is more Dachsund (like his father) of he and his brother. He is a true dapple dachsund which means he is the only kind of dachsund that can have blue eyes (so says Google)! He has short little legs which prevent him from going up and down stairs and it a very sensitive and sweet lap dog. I (the Mrs.) picked him. He was not our first pick of the litter though...

Here's Crosby (as in Bing)!

Crosby was the first one to catch our eye. He is the only kind in his litter like him. He resembles his mother maltese with his long hair unlike all 4 of his dachsund looking littermates. You might even say he looked switched at birth! He IS able to go up and down stairs because he has longer legs than Johnny. He is a looker and a friendly guy. He is more of an independent type and he likes to sleep beside you instead of on your lap. He does not like car rides. He is the epitome of the adorable, fluffy puppy you want to hold and play with.

These two sweet dogs are doing a marvelous job housebreaking (we still have challenges at times - I am super thankful for 100% hard surfaced living and traffic spaces) and they sleep in their crates all night. They takes lots of naps and love to play outside! I consider them a fabulous edition to our family.