I can't believe how fast the summer is whizzing by! It's already July 13 and I've barely been updating my blog, not to mention I haven't had a beach day yet!
I feel as though I've grown up A LOT through out the past week, probably because I made some "adult" purchases.
Number one was a water dispenser. Our apartment building is around 100 years old and I'm sure the water pipes haven't been updated in...quite a while. Instead of buying cases of water bottles which isn't environmentally friendly, we picked up a dispenser last week.
Cold water all summer!
Another interesting purchase I made off of Amazon was a...baby gate! No, I'm not planning anything drastic... We have graduated Oliver from X-pen to having the entire dining room while we're at work. We grabbed a wooden stretchy gate from Canadian Tire for the kitchen doorway, but the living room doorway is 51" wide which was problematic for gating. Most gates only stretch to 36". The bigger gates are easily $100+, not an amount we intended to spend.
Fortunately, I was able to find an Evenflo extra-wide gate for only $36 on Amazon! It was can span maximum 60" and doesn't need to be fixed to the door frame...It works by pressure mounting. I can see how this might be less suitable if a child was hanging off of it, but it works well for a puppy.
And yes, that is our massive Mr. Cat inspecting the barrier.
We also made a big purchase...physically and financially. Our queen sized bed has been a problem for a while. Because we made so many moves in the past four years, I'm sure the mattress sustained some serious wear-and-tear from being shoved and pulled and squished into small travelling vehicles. We realized earlier this week that the large hump in the middle of the mattress (impossible to avoid even when the mattress is rotated) isn't going away.
(Pillow top mattresses suck. I remember when I was a teenager flipping my mattress over and over every couple months in order to allow the coils to settle back down into the other side. It felt like a new mattress each time! )
Anyway, we went all out and purchased a KING sized mattress and box-spring for a very reasonable price at a mattress outlet store on Barton St. Pocket coil, pillow top (boo!) and with a mattress protector and it was extremely affordable compared to big mattress companies such as Sleep Country.
I'm getting more excited as we wait for it to be shipped in an delivered!
In the meantime, here are a few pics from this month so far!
Oliver is getting bigger before our eyes.
Watching ships past under the lift bridge
A beautiful new plant Matt bought (and potted!) for me
Our superintendent has a massive and beautiful garden at the front of the building
Licorice and Oliver retreated under some ivy to pant and cool down on a walk
I do have more photos but that's all for now!
I hope your summer is going well and you are enjoying the sunshine and long days :)
Peace
I'm not even sure if "busyness" is a legitimate word, but it's the only term I can use to describe how things have been for me lately. The main reason for this is the fact that the dear BF and I decided that we needed to get another dog.
Actually, it wasn't quite that way...
On his birthday last week, for fun we went to visit a tiny little litter of cockapoos. We played with them for a while, talked to the man selling them, got some knowledge, picked the one we liked the most, decided to wait until the end of June, drove home.
For the rest of the day we agonized over whether we had made the right choice or not. Words we kept bandying around were "we have to wait for the right time", although we both agreed that there was no such thing as a "right time" when it came to getting a puppy. It is always going to be challenging, no matter when you get one or the circumstances surrounding it.
We flipped a coin multiple times, talked, prayed, waited, thought...called back the man that night and when he didn't pick up, left a message. We had already picked and named the puppy we wanted (incidentally, the runt of the litter), so we agreed that if he was gone, we wouldn't get another puppy for a while.
We waited overnight. The BF was saddened as the time passed. "I guess he's been sold", he kept saying. The seller had warned us that the puppies go extremely fast.
The next morning it rained and the BF stayed home from work...construction in the rain is a no-go. At ten in the morning we got a phone call from the seller saying, "I'm sorry I missed your call last night. The little guy is still here if you're interested."
We were both still in bed and we jumped out of bed, threw on our clothes and drove like crazy to the house. A little while later we returned home with "Oliver", our precocious new handful.
He may look cute, but don't be fooled...he IS cute! He's also chewy and nippy (puppy teething) and chases the poor cats around, hounding them constantly. I can already tell that I have my work cut out for me.
Licorice has been patient! He has also growled warnings when the puppy has been excitable or nippy. Eventually, as Oliver gets older, I'm sure they will get along more. Right now the age difference is VERY noticeable.
Sometimes they're okay though.
I've already been working on "dominating" Oliver. I read up A LOT on puppies and the alpha male (or female, in my case) and one technique I've picked up is holding him in the air and growling at him until he goes limp in my hands. I know that sounds strange (and it probably looks strange when I do it!), but it definitely works.
I'm very determined not to have a yappy little dog under our feet. The BF and I force him to walk behind us, even on long walks with Licorice. We try not to carry him much and I'm still struggling with the nipping/biting thing. My gut tells me a huge part of it is puppyhood, but I want to be careful that it doesn't carry on past there.
Fortunately, Oliver is extremely intelligent...smarter than Licorice. We had in crate trained in five days. He's pee pad trained and we're slowly trying to move him toward peeing only outside. He does walks very well and he was playing fetch with me earlier this week.
All in all, he is a fun little addition to our menagerie. We have reached capacity, though. No more animals. None. This is the last furry friend, especially while in this apartment.
If you have any puppy advice, leave it below! I love hearing ideas about puppy training. I'm now off to get a clicker from Petsmart.
Cheers.
"I promise I will love you for the rest of your life..." Yesterday Matt knelt before me on the living room floor and held out a silver Celtic knot ring, tears in each of our eyes. No, we're not engaged or getting married any time soon, but there is something heart-stirring about declaring your love for someone in a piece of jewelry, no matter what size, shape, make or cost. He slid the ring onto my finger and we hugged, cried, laughed and held each other.
Sometimes thing are really tough. Sometimes you wonder why you're doing it. Sometimes you pray for strength to keep on keeping on because you don't know what else to do. Sometimes the days seem long and the minutes stretch out into hours. Sometimes you're laughing, smiling at each, at peace and in love. Relationships are probably the most up and down, in and out, head-over-heels thing we will ever do in our lives.
I won't be the first or the last person to say it, but...it's worth it. The fighting, the crying, the anger and tension...all these things are just temporary and eventually lead into laughing and happiness. You gotta take the good with the bad, the happy with the sad.
Licorice and I went out for a 3.5k run today. We stopped at a water fountain to cool off and I am currently enjoying the heat & sweat. Nothing feels more legit than sweating during a work out. I will also be posting some photos soon of a bike I bought yesterday! We went for almost a 10k ride last night and now my bottom is very sore today. Not looking forward to going in to work in a couple hours....fee fie foe fum on my desk job!
One of my friends suggested we visit a small hidden away beach with our dogs. She picked me up and we squished our dogs together in her back seat and drove to a piece of beach front I have never visited before. The two of them ran and played together, Tyson being more adventurous and swimming out deep into the water, Licorice playing in the shallows.
Great fun was had by all.
As summer comes to a close this Friday (it's officially autumn on September 23), I ponder the past summer, all the experiences I had and memories I made, people I spent time with and people I missed...and I feel a rush of gratitude to God and the universe for all of it, including--
A fun few days of camping. The weather was wonderful, we didn't get eaten alive my mosquitoes, we picked up several items for ridiculously cheap at a Sally Ann, Licorice was fine without us, we learned that we can get along even when stuck together for several days on end and...sex in a tent. Need I say more?
Licorice's cute little quirks. As time passes, Mr. Greyhound becomes more and more outgoing and I can see his personality shining through. He carries about his stuffed animals like little babies, although tearing them apart and shaking them violently probably isn't great parenting. He enjoys his time at the dog park still, is becoming very good at recall (for those who don't know these terms--coming back to owner when called off-leash), his new dog food is agreeing with him and his coat looks great...all these things make me relieved as it's easy to get stuck with a dog that is difficult to manage. I'm already craving another grey to make a pair, but I'm scared that the next dog won't be a walk in the park as Licorice has been.
Cooking! I've just rediscovered my love for cooking, healthy and hearty meals such as stews, soups, fish...My personal fav was cornmeal breaded chicken breasts stuffed with jalapeno Havarti cheese. It's also great to save money by eating out less and I definitely feel healthier.
Farmer's Market! This is of course directly linked to cooking, but I've fallen in love with going to the farmer's market downtown and buying fresh produce! I love having veggies in the fridge that aren't frozen or canned! I probably use fresh onions every single day, especially with my favourite meal...omelets.
Omelets... I'm so grateful for omelets. They're tasty and easy to change up. I've made omelets with assorted veggies, meats, toppings...name it and we've made it! I still need to purchase an authentic omelet pan (making the flipping over easier) but I'm still loving on making omelets. Such delicious and wholesome foods :D
Matt. Well, when you get into a relationship, you inevitably tend to become a bit obsessed with the person you're with. I've been through that with Matt, am still somewhat going through it although I try not to talk about him a lot to people... so here it is in my blog which you are reading right now and can't STOP READING! Haha! I just love this man so much.
He's taught me so many things about myself and continues to grow and change with me. He's willing to sacrifice for the sake of our relationship, he cooks and cleans, he encourages me to pursue my dreams and faith... I know I've talked about him a lot on this blog (due to avoiding boring people with accolades of him) and I just can't stop! I'm so happy, so grateful, so blessed...that the first person I'm in a relationship with is someone like Matt.
Sex. Heh. Sex is awesome, especially with someone you love and who loves you back.
Bon Iver. I love him and I love his new CD "Bon Iver". Go buy it and support an artist. You will love it especially if you lean towards folk/indie music.
This is all for now! I could list many more things that I am grateful for... Instead I'll hold them inside and treasure each memory I have made this summer.
Be thankful, be blessed.
P.S. Meeting alone with my dad next week, he says just to catch up. Translation: wants to ask if I still believe in God, wants to know how I'm sinning, wants me to somehow justify my lifestyle choices to him. I refuse to participate in a debate about whether I'm a Christian or not, and I feel weird about not wanting to meet with him. Do I somehow feel guilty about my relationship choices? Well... perhaps a bit because it's so ingrained and I would like to avoid confrontation...
Ah well. Such is life in Christian circles.
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