bella's first vet visit

I took Isabella to the vet today! No shots, since Aunt Stacy already had most of them done, but she is healthy and weighs in at 9.6 pounds! Everyone at the office wanted to hold her and she was a little ham. She cuddled with all the vet techs and really liked the doctor! lol ~ we'll see how she does after he gives her a shot next week.

i cant make this stuff up

don't worry, i am sparing everyone the photo, but about ten minutes ago, isabella decided to take a dump on the cold air return... thats on the floor in the hallway. so there were little stinky puppy terds in between the slats of the vent and some made it through. thankfully, my dad already showed me how to pull the cover off to clean under it, and i was able to quickly get it all. of all the places in the whole house... i dont think this has ever happened to anyone i know!

happy dogs

Rocky is adjusting very well to Isabella. The only time they seem to squabble is when one or the other tries to eat the other's food... they both do it to each other. But I have to watch them because they don't have the same type of food and also dogs can freak out when someone tries to take their food- so i have to make sure no one is biting!

Lil Rock likes to sit by the door and guard us. Sometimes he starts to doze off and I finally caught it on camera. He won't abandon post, even when he's sleepy.

nicole's lady giada isabella

all that name for this tiny pupp! its her akc name- we won't call her that at the dog park. i'm not sure what we will actually call her, but this is what i will register her name as with akc. i've been calling her Bella since I got her and it seems to fit. she certainly looks like royalty with ther little diamond collar.

pencil/pen case

I will admit that this is the dorkiest thing I have done in a while... I needed a small pen and pencil case for my school bag and the only ones I could find were big plastic kid ones. I don't like my pencils floating around the pocket in my bag because then the lead gets everywhere. So finally I found a cute little case... but it was $8.99! Granted, it came with two gel pens, but you can buy gel pens in a 12 pack at the dollar store! I decided to just make one myself. I took some scraps of fabric that my mom gave me, since it matched by tatersall Coach bag for school. I held the pencils up to the fabric to measure, cut, and pinned the layers together inside out. I actually used some of an old pillowcase to make the inside lining, to make it more durable. It was a little tricky to make the top flap, but I made a hemand pinned. Then I used my sewing machine to stitch it all up, and used stick-on velcro so the flap stays down.
I know its a little Martha Stewart of me, but this project only took about a half hour while I watched TV and it was free!!!

spolied? noooo

Here is Rocky Balboa lying on the guest bed, which he thinks is his... Do you think he will let the little bully sleep up there, too??? I've been spending lots of extra time on him this week, since he seems to sense something is up and he's being extra pathetic.

My (hopefully) final painting project

I finally finished touching up the paint in the bathroom, so here it is! It was supposed to be a soft gray, but it ended up looking like a gray-blue. Still, much better than the yellow!!! And yes, I did it all by myself! :p The mirror created some interesting reflections

off the flash on the walls...

Remember when....

Remember when Mom used to dry out basil on the dining room table and we made fun... well look what I'm doing:

it was $2 a bushel at Stem Leonards and I couldn't use all the fresh basil at once. Actually it makes my kitchen smell so good, I always want it around.

casino night

just wanted to brag... pauly took me up to mohegan just to get away for a night! we went in the hot tub, then i fell asleep, ate delicious dinner @ tuscany's... then i fell asleep ! lol i was barely awake the whole time we were there. i guess i really needed to catch up! before we left, i did win $160 on the slots, so it was very worthwhile!

ceiling is painted..,

i painted the bathroom ceiling yesterday... but i don't think ill be finishing up the walls today~
i fainted at work last night and i think i have food poisoning! ugh. i went over to tell my boss i thought something was wrong and then i woke up on the floor a few minutes later. then i spent the rest of the night in the bathroom. see, i came full circle. started the day and ended the day in the same special room. i think im ok- just think i ate something bad at work. the good news is my customers all saw me pass out- so im hoping for sympathy tips when i pick up my money later this week~ lol.

(y)awnings

to follow up with a previous post... Pauly took down the hazardous metal awnings over the doorways! and i only nagged twice. :) the tiny holes they left behind are still more aesthetically appealing than the rusted, delapidated awnings previously there!

when one door opens...

When we moved into the house, the previous owners informed us that the front door was broken and would not open from the outside. They also did not have a key to the dead bolt. Sounds fishy already. Once we moved in, I realized that the front door would in fact open from the inside and the dead bolt also wouldn't latch. Therefore, the door was always unlocked and could be opened from the inside if you pulled hard and jostled it just right.
Naively, I never tried to open it from the outside- just locked the storm door and we never used the front door. Sunday, the auto car starter locked my keys in the car and I was locked out of the house... until I decided to try to enter the front. Low and behold, the front door opens from the outside with no hesitation! The storm door was not even locked! Although it saved me from being locked out, I was horrified. I've been religiously locking the side door, even when I'm home, only to have the front door open the entire time. I also felt a little stupid for not investigating the so-called broken door.
When I told Pauly, he got mad and said he didn't have a $1,000 for a new door. I tried not to laugh and wondered what a $1,000 door might look like, and told him I could probably fix it myself in the morning.
So out with the old, bulging screws... and in with a variety of flat phillips head screws until ones fit juuust right- and the door was fixed. For free! I'm pretty excited that we do not need a new door or dead bolt. The dead bolt slides in now that there aren't mismatched, misalligned bubble head screws in the way!

guest room curtains

Thankfully, I talked to Pauly's mom before I started the curtains for the guest room. I had planned on using old sheets to make drapes, and wasn't exactly looking forward to trying to cut the sheets to the right size.
These valances were still hanging in his old room at his parents' house, so I hung them up here! The bedding is the bedding from his old room, so it all matches and saved me hours of time!

Sewing Success!

Here are the curtains I made- the first ones I've ever made by myself! I bought placemats on clearance at Target for 75 cents each and some beaded ribbon at the dollar store. Believe it or not, the thread was the most expensive part! I sewed three placemats together and then sewed the loop at the top for the curtain rod. Then I sewed the beaded trim along the bottom... take a look! :)