A day of thrifting!

Since moving to Portsmouth in September, I've only gone to Savers a couple of times.

But since I only just started working, I haven't had any money to shop until now!

And its a real shame; last week there were some grrrreat items I soooo wanted to buy but just couldn't. Boo, hiss.

Anyway, I went today and was a little disappointed in the housewares section - I have a specific list of things I'm looking for, and had no luck today. I did, however, find a pair of jeans (that I have already in another color; in short length!) for $4.99, a North Face undershirt for $5.99, and an Eastern Mountain Sports quarter-zip pullover for $7.99!

 

 

Feeling dissatisfied with my lack of finds for our house, I decided to do a quick iPhone search to see if there is a Goodwill in Portsmouth. Luckily, I found one just a few minutes away! It was really cluttered and kinda dusty, but there was a lot of good stuff and pretty decent prices!!

 

I found this huge, ceramic bowl made in Portugal for only $5.99! I've been looking for a nice bowl to keep our fruits and veggies in for a while now.

 

 

But I think my best find of the day was this BRAND NEW 2-gallon fishtank for $3.99!!!!

 

 

It was in its original box, with all the parts - an under-gravel filtration system, a pump and airstones, and a hood with a light. The lightbulb doesn't work, but that's easy enough to replace. I've been wanting to get a fish for a while now, so this was a really lucky find!

I went to the pet store right away and spent quite a long time trying to pick just the right fish.

 

You can't tell in this picture, but his sides are actually kind of silvery-teal in the light.

 

 

What should we name him??

Morning sunbathing time

Some scenes from my morning:

Cosmo sunbathing on my bed

"Laaaaazy Daisy" as she's known around here ;) 

Pretty turquoise fingernails 

And Duffy, who desperately needs a bath.

I'm a bad dog-mama. 

I spent my morning doing the homework that I've been putting off for the past week.

I need to be on campus to do my lab that's due tomorrow, but...I decided to just do it tomorrow so I could be lazy at home today. I am seriously the world's worst (best?) procrastinator!

Now I'm eating homemade lentil & cabbage soup (yum!) and beer bread. Beer bread is possibly one of my very most favorite things to cook. Its so easy and delicious!! The loaf is almost gone, so maybe I'll make a new loaf tonight and share a recipe??

Cosmo kitty loves water.

How adorable is my cat Cosmo? She loves water. She literally sits in the sink all day, just waiting for someone to come along and turn on the faucet. She even sleeps in the sink sometimes.

Oh, and you know how I had all kinds of stuff to do today?

I've decided to procrastinate until tomorrow.

All hail Monday.

In the sunlight

Sleepyheads

♥

King of the Christmas Tree

Yeah, that's right. Move along.

So, the past week has been....interesting.

It was finals week...

and...

my car died.

Like, officially. Forever. I have to buy a new car. :(

Everyone who knows me knows that I loved my car a whole lot.... it was my first car, and it was a part of me for the past 8 years....so, needless to say, I'm sad. But. Its a little exciting to turn over a new chapter in my life....and pick out a new(old) car! Of course, I'm broke, so I need something C H E A P.... but it helps that my daddy is a retired master mechanic, so I'm looking for a nice fixer-upper.

Its amazing how much we take mobility for granted..... all I can say is, thank goodness this happened when it did - I only had 1 final exam left! If this had happened in the middle of the semester? I would have been in BIG trouble.... I commute about 40 minutes to school every day, plus I have to pick 3 kids up from school every day and take them back to their house. I wouldn't have been able to get to/from school, OR babysit, so I'd have no money. So... the universe was watching out for me!

Speaking of finals week....I'm officially D O N E !!! That means that I am *unofficially* a college graduate....but I'm not saying its official until grades are posted on Wednesday.... then its official. ;)

You'd think I'd be really, really excited, but.... I'm not. I knew I wouldn't be. For me, this is just another step along the way.... I won't feel satisfied until I get my Ph.D probably.... which is pretty ridiculous, because I know that a Bachelor's degree is still pretty cool....but.....I'm weird, and probably slightly neurotic. Plus, now that I don't have a bajillion things to do for school, I have absolutely no idea what I should be doing right now. Haha! This always happens to me....it takes me about 3 weeks to wind-down and not feel like I'm supposed to be doing homework or going to class...not being in school is actually more stressful for me than being in school! By the time I get calmed down, the semester will be about to start again, so... I'll be ok. ;)

Ok, now that you all know how nutty I am, I'll stop rambling.

Happy Friday!!!

Chase has been itching like crazy lately, so bad that sometimes he scratches himself until he bleeds. Poor little guy. So I took him to the vet this morning to get him all fixed-up. I came home with a veritable goodie-bag of medicines, including Frontline flea treatments for all my dogs, a vitamin & oil supplement, a special shampoo, and a steroid injection. Goodness gracious. All-in-all, I ended up spending close to $200 in, like, 20 minutes. But, he's worth it!

On the way home, I stopped at the park where Sabrina and I ride bikes, and walked Chase around once. It was so windy outside! It finally feels like Fall!

I'm still a sickie today - my throat is so scratchy and dry, and my sinuses are clogged. Ugh. At least I only have one class on each today and tomorrow...

Oh!! I almost forgot - please go have a look at my newest treasury, and click-click-click away! Leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed looking, too! My treasury is currently in the top 5, and I want it to make the front page of Etsy!!

Conehead

Sorry for my absence over he past few days - poor little Chase has taken all of my attention, as he was neutered the other day. He's recovering quite well, but he has to wear this ridiculous thing on his head and he bumps into everything. Its really very cute.

See how sad he looked! He sat like that for over a half-hour...he just looked so dejected, it was heartbreaking! I had just brought him home, and I guess he was still a little drugged... poor little guy.

Anyway, I'll be house-sitting for the next couple of days, so I'll have plenty of time to get back to regular programming!

Friday

We've been having lazy days around here...

Lazy nights (of video game-playing), too.

As you can see, Ms. Daisy has adjusted quite well to life with us redheads (and one furry prince)... she is one happy dog. She knows our morning routine now (and stands on top of me, right next to Duffy, to wake me up at about 5:50 every morning to go outside), she's getting used to apartment life (and not barking at the neighbors when they walk by outside), and she has discovered squirrels. She and Duffy get along like a house on fire, and when they start playing, watch out! This apartment is perfect for them; they can run from end-to-end without stopping (which they do, and it is quite amusing to watch). Mostly they just like to be couch-dogs, though.

We finally got my bookshelf from my parents' house at the beginning of the week, so Minky has a home now. The shelves are still a little bare; I haven't brought my books over yet. For now I'm using the bottom shelf for dog toys, haha.

I finally hung the steer skull, too. And yeah, I was watching Cool Runnings. Sweet.What else...? Umm... last night I made pizza from scratch (for the second time this week; we both love this stuff!) using the dough recipe (with a few of my own little touches) from this book. So delicious. Its half-cheese, half-tofu cheese. :D

Oh yeah, and today is my last day at work. I've been at my current store for over 2 years, but since we live in Shippensburg now, its a 45 minute drive, and that's just too far. I'm transferring to a closer store, only about 5 minutes from here, so that's great. Less gas = more money!

Happy Friday!

Do you believe in Fate?

This is what my morning- or, rather, Teddy's morning, has been like...

That's right, we are officially the proud parents of TWO dogs now! Meet Daisy. She is Duffy's daughter.

(OK, let me give you a minute to process that.....)

That's right, his daughter. About 4 years ago, in July 2005, Duffy and my mom's labrador Roxy (Duffy's wife, of course) had puppies - eleven of them!! They were so cute and funny, being half-Westie and half-Lab.... some had long legs like a labrador, some had short little stubby legs; some had wiry beards, some had smooth sleek fur. In any case, they were super-cute. My parents gave them all away, and we haven't seen any of them since.

Flash forward to now. Since Teddy and I got this apartment, and decided that we wanted to bring Duffy here to live with us (I am his mommy, after all), my dad has been sort of depressed. He loves Duffy and his feisty terrier ways soooooo much, so he decided that he wants to get a puppy.

So this past Saturday, my parents went a-looking at the dogs at one of the local Humane Societies, to see what they could see. Not finding just the right one, they were heading out the door, when lo! and behold! A couple was walking toward the shelter with a little black terrier-ish dog on a leash. They said that they had just gotten a new puppy and they no longer wanted their sweet dog Daisy. (Terrible!!)

"Oh, what breed is she?" Daddy asked.

"Why, she's half-Westie and half-Labrador" the people explained.

"Wow, what a strange coincidence!" my sister exclaimed, "we have a Westie and a Lab at home. Where did you get her?"

"Well, we got her up on South Mountain a few years ago" said the people, and with that, my family knew that Daisy was their grand-puppy, for you see, my family lives on South Mountain.

They continued their conversation and realized that Daisy was, indeed, the daughter of Duffy and Roxy, and phone numbers were exchanged. My dad told me the whole story over the phone, and asked if I thought my family should adopt her. "Of course!" I shouted, "she's part of our family!"

So my dad called the people that very evening, and went to pick Daisy up. He did so with secret hopes that Teddy and I would want to adopt Daisy ourselves, but even if we decided she wasn't the dog for us, then my parents would keep her. She is family, after all.

So I went over to their house after work Saturday, and again on Sunday, to play with Daisy and get to know her a little. She's a very sweet girl, indeed, who looks like her daddy (except for her eyes, which are pure Roxy!) and has a temperament of both Roxy and Duffy. She is, you might say, the best of both worlds!

Yesterday, I took Teddy to my parents' to meet Daisy, and...we did decide to bring her home, hurrah! The poor girl was very confused and shy though (after all, she has met so many new people and been to many different places in just a few days), so we had a relaxed evening last night. She and Duffy seem to be getting along just peachy, though. I knew that Duffy would be OK with her (he gets along fine with most dogs, he just gets a little hyper sometimes), but he has been AMAZING. Didn't get hyper at all, hasn't barked at her once. Just as good as can be. They both slept in the bed with us last night (with Duffy on Teddy's head, and Daisy right between us), and both dogs went out to go potty at 5:55 this morning. Whew. So I think this is good. Teddy and I are both home all day again today, so I think Daisy will be much calmer and less shy today. If not, I have a cabinet full of treats to pursuade her otherwise. ; )

Goodbye, Baby.

Porkchop-O'Malley-BabyKitty Woodlief passed away on Sunday, while I was out of town. Nobody knows what happened. My dad found him in the yard when he was leaving for work Monday morning. He said Porky looked like he just laid down and died; there was no blood, and he wasn't near the road. I just hope he wasn't in pain. Daddy buried him in the woods near our house.

It still hasn't really sunk in. I keep expecting to find him sleeping at my feet, or that he'll come looking for me in the yard like he used to do, calling out with his deep "meooooow??" to find out where Iwas.

He was the cutest little googly-eyed baby ever.

He turned into the sweetest, most lovable cat-dog ever.And when he grew up, he was the biggest, most lovable, huggable galumph I've ever snuggled with.
When Tootsie came along, he became Uncle Porkchop, a responsibility he accepted with open paws.

Farewell, Porkchop. We all love you.

Fuzzy Lovin'

She made a bed in my shopping bag.

And seriously. Tell me that's not the cutest thing ever. I dare you.

Of course, I think these are the only instances of the kitten's existence thus far that she didn't have her claws embedded in someone's back/hair/leg/etc.

She has her moments.

Porky, on the other hand, is the most mellow, lovable fellow anyone could ever hope for. I think he sees himself as her Mama Cat....

Appalachian Trail Scout

aka, Duffy.

I was bored today. I so looked forward to having the day off today, that I just couldn't decide what to do. So I sat around, bored out of my mind, until around 2:00 today. Then I decided it was time to return to the forest. Its been a while since I went for a walk, and since Chris is at work today (and Chris is my woods-walking partner), I decided Duffy should serve as my trail scout. The only problem is that Duffy gets very car-sick...... every time he gets in a car. For that reason, Duffy has only ever been on 'field trips' a very few times, and certainly not in the past 2 or 3 years.

So anyway, there's a little park and a summer camp just down the road from my house about a mile or two. I honestly think the last time I went there was about 12 or 13 years ago, even though I drive by it on my way to work EVERY SINGLE DAY. I'm very silly. So I thought that since that park is close to my house, maybe Duffy wouldn't have time to get very car sick; and we could enjoy the woods there. I didn't even realize the Appalachian Trail crosses through the park!

I am very fortunate, because I happen to live literally right off of the Appalachian Trail. Honestly, the trail passes within like 1/2 mile of my very house! It crosses the street that I live on. I guess it actually cuts right across the mountain I live on (and I live right at the tippy-top of it). So we went on our merry way; Duffy didn't get sick at all, and here's what we did:

Can you see the roof of one of the camp buildings across the street, in the top left ?

The mouth of the trail is tucked into a corner of the park, with only a tiny sign to mark it. The opening of the trail is wide and made of broken pieces of slate rock, but as soon as you get into the woods, the trail narrows and is mostly dirt and some gravel.

We walked a little ways and I spotted a little 'campsite' of sorts off the trail. There wasn't a shelter, only a fire circle and some leftover fire wood.

And there was this one tall mushroom, growing all alone next to the fire circle.

Trees sheltered us from the sun...

...but they let in enough light for tiny flowers to grow.

Soon we came to this rickety-looking foot bridge. Duffy wasn't so sure about this one, so I carried him across.

On the other side of the bridge was a little clearing....

...and a trail shelter! This is the first one I've ever seen, so I was pretty excited. Can you imagine sleeping in one of these? I'm not sure if I could......

Duffy found the creek, with a sandy little 'beach', down the hill from the shelter. Of course, he just had to test the water....

You can't see them in the picture, but Duffy is actually watching some small fish in the water. They were probably about the size of my hand...I'm guessing they were probably baby trout.

I spied something red out of the corner of my eye....a wild raspberry bush!

Did I eat some? Of course.

Duffy didn't want any, though.

Just look how huge the bush was! And it was growing right over the sandy beach.

Another flash of red, and I noticed these enormous flowers in the brush. I don't know what they are, but they look almost tropical! There were beautiful black-and-blue swallowtail butterflies fluttering all around them, and then.......

....I heard a loud buzzing noise whizzing by my head! A hummingbird! Can you see her?

Look closer......closer.....

Ok, its hard to see. Here's a zoom view:

So that's what I did today. It was really nice, and kind of made me feel like maybe I'd like to try walking some (read: a TINY portion) of the Appalachian Trail. Definitely only the parts that are very close to my house. Like, maybe spend one night on the trail. And that's it. Now I just have to convince Chris that it would be fun...well, he did say recently that he'd like to take a weekend trip sometime soon. Does hiking count? Hmmmm........

Now, I'm just waiting for him to get home from work so we can go out and so something this evening..... to the mall, perhaps? Starbucks again? Borders, perchance? We shall see!