I want my Phoebe back, Phoebe back,Phoebe back!!

Two days ago Bella chewed up my Alfani 'Phoebe' wedges!! Its been super hot for the past few days, with that and me spending additional time watering the lawn, I guess Bella was more stressed than usual. On top of that, I came home on Wednesday and did not take her out immediately... and when I found her sitting on the stairs waiting for me, I noticed she was not alone! In her paws she was holding one of my favorite pair of shoes. All chewed up and destroyed....

These were the only sorta heals I could wear for an entire day, without complaining. And any one who knows me would know what a great deal it is!

To add insult to injury, these seem to be out of style. The only pair on sale is a brown one on ebay!

I want mine back :(
(Anyways.. I did order these given that they were only pair available on the internet.)

Distressed furniture

I just love love love the look of a good distressed furniture. And its not just the look of it, but its also the fact that you get to do all these creative things to it like painting, staining and sanding, and the piece comes out looking perfectly aged, as if it is telling you a story..

Its like going through someones dusty attic!! Well, not many people will say that they like to do that, but I have always been fascinated by it. You climb this mysterious staircase that no one usually uses, and you open up boxes and find black and white pictures and old, dusty artifacts that were probably touched by someone many many years ago....  almost like making a connection through time.. it fascinates me to the point of giving me goosebumps!

But, alas!!! I still haven't been able to make myself distress anything. Well it was my plan with Dresser1. But when I was done, I liked its color so much, that I just decided to keep it.

Well, not true.. I did sand down a tiny corner on the top and applied some dark glaze on one of the shelves... But, the color was not coming off as cleanly as in others' cases and the glaze was not very apparent because of the darker color I chose... So I just ended up painting over it and just stenciling..

But one day.. 

Lawn!!

Now that I am in gardening and stuff and looking forward to having a little grass seed put in my front yard, I stumbled upon this ad I had seen a few years ago... One gotta love it. Enjoy!

Sunday

I feel that a lazy Sunday is an essential thing for ones mental health. And, I am happy to say that yesterday was just that!
Initially I was supposed to go for my niece's second sixth birthday party. But by the time I got back from a walk, I knew I wouldn't be able to make it. For one, it was already 10:00 and the party was supposed to start at 11:00 and the place is over an hour away.
And I was still to take a bath... after giving Bella a bath... And boy did she need one after running through a brook after a bird she was chasing near the dog park that I only take her to on days I plan on giving her a bath. Well, that was Saturday night. But I was doing chores all day and was really tired and lazy, and Bella had dried off and the dirt had fallen off by the time we got home.. and I thought I would have time in the next morning for the bath, which neither her, nor I enjoy very much.

Anyways, so it was pretty clear that I will have to either give up going for the party, that I was really looking forward to as I thought I would get a chance to see my niece in the dress I made for her, or I can give Bella her bath and finish up the rest of my chores. After debating for a few minutes, I decided to pass on the party.. I will get other chances to see my niece in the dress, but skipping on the bath would mean it will not happen for another week!

So, I gave Bella her bath and surprisingly she did not put up as much fight as she usually does. She decided to lounge on the porch while she dried up.

In the mean time, I decided to proceed with my other project, sanding down the sewing machine cabinet. It turned out to be a much much longer project than I had expected and took rest of the morning and most of the afternoon.

  During this time Bella kept on going in and out of the house, looking at the squirrels, sunbathing on the porch,

 

or cooling off on the floor inside!

As soon as I moved at this house I had put up a few bird feeders, and have been working on ways to keep squirrels off of them.

 In between my breaks, I took a few pictures of my bird feeder.
We got visits from Mr. and Mrs. cardinal,
Cardinal male always feeds cardinal females.. isn't that cute!

 some sparrows,

 a nuthatch...

 and ofcourse squirrels. Nothing so far has kept these buggers away!

  At 5:30, after I was done with the sanding, we took a walk to the nearest Starbucks. I had green tea frappe, ummm.. Yum! with egg salad sandwich and raspberry cake, on the outside patio, while Bella sat next to me waiting for the bread crust.. Love these summer days!!!

Then we bought some top soil, Marigold flowers and seeds for lettuce and mixed burpees  from home depot!

Finally, we ended the perfect Sunday by taking another short walk at around 9:00pm!

Why Bella shouldn't be by herself

This for everyone who thinks Bella should run free at home while I am at work. I crate her because....

Luckily this was only a chord of a lamp base I purchased to make a bird bath out of. Can you even imagine what it would be like if she is free during the 8 hours I am out of the house and gets into all the power chords around the house... never even mind the open walls that are not even closed yet!

While I was at it I thought I should a share the colorful fried rice I made last night.. Yum!!!! :)

Bella

I kind of forgot to mention the most important change in my last post. That was Bella! A sweet little 6 month old beagle mix I got from Sterling shelter a week before Thanks Giving and a three weeks after we closed on the house!

 This is how I met her. Alone, a little sad, but quiet and very excited when I entered the kennel at Sterling shelter.

How could I say no to this face?

Well, I did not actually go that day over there to get a pet. Though I had visited them in the past and thought a lot about it. And every one who knows me, knows how badly I have wanted a dog ever since I was a kid.. Well, but that day I was just supposed to volunteer. More like window shop I should say. I had checked out the available pets on their website, and had not even noticed her. The one I had noticed was another 6 month old puppy, supposedly another beagle mix. But when I saw him, he was big for a 6 month old and I kind of was just looking into the other cages when I noticed her. The volunteer asked me if I wanted to go in the kennel, and I did... and then I left with her!

Bella and her siblings

Apparently all her siblings were already adopted and she was a little sad because she was the last one there. Lucky for me! :)

Ofcourse, being a dog parent was a whole new experience. Never having had a dog even in the extended family, I was  as petrified as I guess she was. The volunteer at the shelter asked me to just put her in the back seat and drive home. Well, Bella had her own plans. She wanted to sit in my lap! So I decided to get out the car and go back to shelter office for advice.. which was about 100 meters away from where I was parked. We got out of the car, but Bella did not want to go in the same direction! After trying to pull her for 15 minutes, another volunteer came out and helped me open up the crate I had purchased and we finally drove home.
We got home, but Bella did not want to go inside. I decided I would tie her to the back porch, go inside the house and then bring her inside. Simple plan, right? Well, I get to the front door, and Bella is right there behind me. She had somehow managed to get free and did want to be left alone. Thank God, she did not run away. But she was shivering and I was sad and afraid and worried if I had done the right thing! After another 20 minuted and a few tears later,I called my friend Tess, an animal lover and owner of 4 dogs, 6 chickens, one parrot, one finch and one turtle. She came geared with her dog parenthood and a blanket from her dog, picked the damn dog up and brought her inside and stayed with us for another hour and a half till we both calmed down.. Thank God for Tess!!!!

 I spent the next few nights with very little sleep, only to learn afterwards that unlike what the volunteer had said, 6 month old dogs do not need to go out every few hours and they do sleep through the night. After a trip to Petsmart to beg one of their dog trainers, Devon, to start a training class for her, I also learnt that she can go for a full work day without going out and I do not need to come home in my lunch break!

Now about 6 months later, we both are quiet settled in. She is the sweetest and friendliest dog I have ever seen. She loves people and dogs no matter what. She is a cuddle bug! She will sleep in your lap for hours if you let her.

You can see my crazy blue carpeted floor and the new laminate floors we finally laid down.

She is great with kids. She does not react even when my niece decides that she is going to ride Bella or pull her by the tail.

Natasha and Bella

 Yesterday was Bella's st birthday! And even though she decided she was not going to not sleep throughout the night and keep me up with her and I started the day by yelling at her for going back to sleep, she still waited patiently on the stairs for me to get ready to take her out. After beginner and intermediate training at Petsmart she understands sit, down, touch and paw and plays dead when you shoot her and say "Bang"! She even comes once in a while when called, though her Beagle hound roots make her ignore you  mostly when outside. But when I am home, and sitting by myself and she brings me one of her toys, it makes even the rainy New England weather feel a little brighter!

Enjoying her birthday afternoon at Waggerz Lounge.

2012

So the dreaded 2012 is here! So much has changed since I wrote last time! Well, I was told when I was about 16 that most of my life things will happen when I turn 33... I did not believe it that time, but it almost happened like clockwork. Now, whether it was that that fortune teller was a good one, or it was a power of suggestion, I do not know. But it did happen. It happened all in 2011!

I did graduate.

I got a new car. A brand spanking new Toyota Prius 2011. And I love it.  It being hybrid, is not the best for the steep hills around my house and the Worcester winters, but I won't change a thing about it. I have used it as a truck through my recent moves and put over 13K miles in year.

I got my dog.. the one I always wanted!

 and I bought a condo!

So that makes me think that my stars must be shining extra bright last year!

But given my luck, it was not supposed to go smooth! J and I ended up putting an offer the house the weekend of Irene. Even the realtor had to cancel on us in the morning of the showing. But we did end up liking this condo along with another and wrote up the offers the same day. We got this house for the first offer put in, only to learn later as to why. Our closing got pushed forward by a month. Our flooring got delivered even before we closed on the house. We ended up doing no work in the 10 days J had come to Mass as we did not close on the house till the day after he went back. Since I had already given a notice at my previous rental place, we moved in the house even before we closed, on the night most of western Mass had no electricity because of the second severe storm of the season. We found severe leakage in the walls which had most probably been going on for 3 years and had caused severe damage to the walls and the second floor sub floors!

We still pulled through and finished laying down the beautiful cornfield laminate flooring in the master bedroom and living room through the next 3 months and numerous visits by J. By February 2012 though, the constant exhaustion, lack of any break and the site of water damage took over and we just ended up paying someone to finish partial work. We had to replace some of the studs in the upper bathroom walls as well!

So now, after over 7 months and a few thousand dollars later, we have floors throughout the house. These look beautiful and seem to be holding up quiet well! The puppy has developed attachment to us and demands lot of hugs when I see her every night and when J sees her every now and then! The mold in the walls is treated and we are waiting for the walls to be closed. The newly installed shower fixtures might need some more attention in terms of water proofing, however, the new fixtures look terrific! We painted all the kitchen cabinets white and the original bronze hardware looks great with that and opens up the kitchen! I also painted the bathroom vanities white and the bathroom vinyl tops gray. We have new peal and stick bath floors we well and I love the new look! And finally yesterday, J installed all the closet doors, put away all the tools back in the laundry room, cut a back for the accent buffet table in the kitchen I have been working on and fixed the slides on the same! Love him for that. And we did all this while making a pretty garden in the little front yard that I have!

So what remains?
1. Putting back the heater side plates
2. Closing up the walls
3. Correcting the bath fixture error
4. Painting the walls
5. Finishing the stairs
6. Finishing the accent buffet, fixing the last drawer on it or selling it off to recover as much cost as I can and starting over on that.
7. Finishing the TV cabinet project
8. (According to J) removing the sag in the floor that the last installer left behind.

Close.. we are close! I hope J moves back to Mass soon!