wordless wednesday

corgi + water

Last year I bought a kiddie pool for Ginger after I learned that she liked splashing in the creek during a hike:

The pool didn't go over quite so well though.  This is how Todd tried to lure her in - with a carrot.

Outsmarted by the dog once again.

kitchen: phase 1: shiny new appliances

When we moved into our new (to us) home, the only urgent change we needed to make to the kitchen was purchasing new appliances.  There was no fridge and the GE Spacemaker Cooking Center was ancient.  The kitchen already had a fairly new stainless steel dishwasher so we thought we'd go for broke and buy every HGTV House Hunter's #1 request: all stainless steel appliances.

Tony at Sears, who reminded me of my grandpa if he had come from New Jersey, hooked us up with a Samsung convection range, microwave hood and french-door fridge (with my preference: no ice in the door because it takes up too much room and isn't it easy enough to get ice from the freezer?)  I never knew Samsung made kitchen appliances, but apparently, they have a good reputation.  Everything has been working great since we had them installed three months ago.

There is one (kinda big) issue I have with these new appliances.  I'm just not really digging the stainless steel!  I worry too much about wrecking the finish when I open the fridge with my messy hands from cooking.  I wipe off every little water splash that hits it.  And polishing it is a royal pain because the bright light from the wall of windows it faces makes every little streak show.  In short, I'm too...meticulous (to put it nicely) for stainless steel.  I miss the easy clean-ability with white appliances.  But the stainless steel ones are quite pretty.

I can't wait until we get that other item coveted by House Hunters everywhere (granite countertops) to see what new hang-ups I'll have then.

he's climbin' in my garden, he's snatchin' my mint up

Keep outta my mint, you guys!  I need my mojitos!

the origins of ginger

I'm not sure exactly when my husband started getting doggie fever, but he got serious about it in the summer of 2008.  He had done his breed research and decided that a corgi was the perfect dog for us.  I think he literally wasted hours at work reading all the rescue corgi bios and staring at their cute mugs.  Now, when I was growing up, my family never owned a dog and I was actually a tiny bit afraid of them.  Todd finally wore me down and we filled out an application with the Corgi Rescue League in Georgia (we were living in South Carolina at the time.)  I was definitely on-board with adopting a rescue since #1 -  I was truly afraid of having to house break a dog and #2 - it just felt good to be saving a little life.

We had been warned that it could take quite a while to find a good match so that meant I would have more time to mentally prepare myself for a new member of our family.  Well, wouldn't you know, they found us a match right away and wanted us to meet - see if we'd all hit it off.  This got me completely flustered but really excited too.  So, in August, we drove an hour to meet Jody the rescue lady and Rita the corgi.  Jody named her Rita because she was found wandering the streets in Henry County and for some reason Henrietta got shortened to Rita.  She was a very calm dog - exactly what we hoped for.  After our brief meet-and-greet with this shy petite red-and-white corgi, we went our separate ways and waited for Rita to get spayed and ready for us.

Well, it turns out that she had already been spayed.  Makes you wonder about her back story.  She was obviously well taken care of and well behaved.  How did she end up loose?  Did she just sneak out of her owners' yard?  Did somebody abandon her because they were moving or getting too old?  We'll just never know (unless she starts talking one day, which I wouldn't put it past her.  She's a smart little pup.)

So while we waited for September 6, 2008 to roll around (the date we were to pick her up for good),  we kicked around some names.  Rita just didn't fit.  Penny and Ginger were at the top of the list, and ultimately, Ginger (and I) won.  Hey, Todd was getting his dog, I should at least get to name her.

We picked Ginger up at the rest stop near I-85 Georgia exit 60 on that sunny Saturday morning, drove home and had an inaugural brushing on the back deck.  And then Ginger truly secured a place in our hearts by watching the Ohio State football game with us.  It's been great adventure ever since!

Ginger was so skinny!

Hamming it up already.

Ears are always down when she charges you for a friendly greeting. Aerodynamic = fast!

From the beginning, she would paw you to get your attention.

Go Bucks!

bargains & boredom

I heart Kohl's.  I especially heart the clearance rack at Kohl's.  Today I snatched up a hurricane candle holder for $6.80.  And I love that they show you the "retail" price ($39.99) so it makes you feel even more fabulous about your bargain...even though everything is always on sale at Kohl's (except sports bras for some reason.)  I filled the hurricane with corks, a pumpkin spice candle and a mini jelly jar under the candle to lift it up a bit.  Now I feel like putting out the rest of my autumn decorations.  I heart autumn too.  I'll just pretend it's autumn inside while my new tomato plants wilt in the 108 degree ridiculousness outside.

 
Ginger wasn't as impressed with my successful shopping trip.  And she gets awfully bored when it's just me puttering around the house.  Here she is waiting for something to happen.

 
And then!  She hears a noise! Someone at the door?!

 But alas, it was nothing.  Back to waiting for Todd to come home from work.  Seriously.  When I come home from somewhere, why don't I get the same kind of illustrious greeting that he gets?

yard mini-makeover

The yard got a professional face lift earlier this week.  It needed it despite our, thus-far, weak attempts to tame it.  I find it just a tad bit taxing to do yard work when it's already pushing 100 degrees at 8am.  I whine A LOT about sweating and the sun burning my pasty-white skin and my husband taunts me with words like "I think we should keep going" and "what do you say we just finish the whole yard?" (But then he quits after *only* 2 hours of work and I rejoice.) 

We won't be planting anything new until the spring when we'll have time to figure out what actually needs to go.  It's just so difficult to picture the yard without all the 20-year-old shrubs.  Will it look too sparse?  How many new plants should we get?  And what kind of plants don't need any maintenance whatsoever?  That would be the perfect yard.

Here is the most significant before-and-after.  I think it looks so much better with that one giant shrub removed, don't you?

And here's the agave that had fallen over due to root rot, perhaps.  It was sad to see it go because it was the best thing in the yard, but it does have lots of pups around it (yes, that's what the baby agave plants are called.)  I want to dig up some of the pups and distribute them to other spots in the yard...once I actually buy a shovel.  Although, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get the pups out from amongst that cactus on the left.  Cactus needles and my skin tend to gravitate towards each other.

And here's a few shots of my first cactus flower!  The pic on the right was taken the day after the flower opened up.  I was disappointed that it didn't open back up.  I guess the cactus's bloom is a one-night only special.  Weird and beautiful.

puppy eyes

Can we go back to the dog park tomorrow? Pretty please?

the great kitchen remodel

This is our first home renovation project - never did much to our first home other than paint.  But this home is much older than our first place and the kitchen has gots to go!  I'm super excited to design the new space, but I'll have to remember to keep my wish list in check.  I think the name of the game here is easing on into home reno, not building my dream kitchen yet.  Here's what it looked like when we first moved in, in June (and after a gazillion dollar Walmart run.)

Be sure to take in the lovely mauve mini-blinds and the circa-1988 range because they didn't last long.

It did have two ovens though...

on holiday

A few pics from our Labor Day/anniversary weekend getaway to Prescott, AZ