April 2017 | Maui - spring break!

Over spring break I went with some girlfriends to Maui! I brought my under water camera - here are the best pics:

More pics to come :)

Janurary 2017 | 6 month house progress

Since we have had seven snow days, and I realized today that I have been moved into the house for six months (in two days,) I thought it would be interesting to see how much it has changed! Though we didn't really move in till the start of October since the floors were being re-done, a LOT has changed! And a lot more is on the to do list.  But we have made great progress!

KITCHEN

I have basically done nothing here - but I have plans! New floor, new cabinets, I am almost convinced to get new appliances- coming Spring 2017! :)

LAUNDRY ROOM

We totally re-did this room, which I love now. I can't wait to do the kitchen now. White everything... light wood... *sigh*

BATHROOM

We did A LOT of work in the bathroom right when we moved in. That was like a 'phase 1' - there are definitely plans in the works for new flooring in here. I do like the flooring that is there now BUT it doesn't fit with the house and that drives me crazy every time I go in there. It feels too modern for the house.

Luckily, the bathroom is pretty small so I don't feel bad about forking out some more money to change it to something that will go with the house better. I already know exactly what I want! :) Hoping that will be an (early! :) ) summer project.

LIVING ROOM

We painted the walls, ceiling and the carpet was all ripped up and floor re done (it wasn't stained, that is the natural color, which I love!).  I played around with the furniture arrangement, and initially just moved the table in for Thanksgiving, but we both really like it so it has stayed! I also am really feeling the Christmas lights, which I don't think I will me taking down anytime soon.

It feels so much more cozy now. We also just recently moved Nella's crate into the living room from the kitchen (we thought it would be warmer), and I want to build one of those cute pinterest covers for it or something. It's kind of an eyesore.

Bedroom One

This is actually the larger room, but since it's at the front of the house we decided to make it the TV/ quilt / study room instead of the bedroom. I think it was a good idea. The house is only 800 sq feet but neither of the rooms seem small, which is nice.

This actually has become my favorite room! Though there is some work to do. Those exposed cables. I can't look away... I need to problem solve that asap.

Bedroom Two

Our room. Basic bedroom status. IDK why the plants are looking at little sad right now. I blame the weather. 

Bonus! Hallway!

I want to get a really cool light for this hallway (the single bulb is creepy, right?) but I have yet to commit to one. 

And that's it! Can't wait to see what it looks like after the summer!! 

NELLA IV | update!

How cute is this picture of Nella Bella Bean?

Nella gets her nails cut a few times a week (every day if we can remember) and she doesn't seem to mind at all, knock on wood. We also brush her teeth, which she accepts but is less thrilled with... I think / hope because she is teething?

Anyway - how cute are they together? She is the cutest!

House | new laundry room!

When we moved in, our laundry room looked like this:

It certainly was not awful, and I was excited to have a laundry room at all, but it was also not functional AT ALL.

The bottom cabinets would not open on the left, due to the placement of the washing machine and the cabinets were impossible to really store anything as they were a really odd shape and all different sizes. No picture, but just trust me that it was a HOT MESS of crap everywhere and something needed to be done for my sanity!

To start with, we took down the cabinets, which were held up by FOUR screws. I swear. That was easy enough. The bottom were the same way, they whole removal took like five minutes.

Next, I painted the entire room white, which didn't take long at all, and re-painted the trim around the window. 

Then, I  (ahem...Caleb...) installed "shelves" - 8 ft long boards cut down to size.

This was the most tedious part, trying to get them level, and of course the wall isn't straight but while it's not perfect, it's beautiful! 

We moved the washer and dryer back in and:

ta do! 

hello, beautiful laundry room. 

SUCH an improvement and now a functional space that we can actually use. 

The biggest problem is that now my kitchen is the sore thumb of the house, and I reallllyyyyy am wanting to re-do it sooner, rather then later. 

Again, it's not AWFUL, either. But it's not super functional, and well, let's just say.... it's days are numbered. 

01-2017

What a cold and miserable winter we have had ... UGH. I wish I could say I have been super productive or something - but I have really just been marathoning Pretty Little Liars (5 seasons x 21 episodes a season...)

But I did just print this picture in a 16 x 20 to hang in our living room! I love it so much, I figured I would share it again.

We are having a 1/2 birthday party for Nella in March, so hopefully we will get an equally cute picture at her party then to print in giant size- but maybe not of her in the air, as that is prrrrobably not allowed :) Maybe a 1/2 birthday sounds crazy but since we will only have her for 2 years, we will only have her for one "full birthday" so we figured, why not! 

Nella IV | month two

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

It's hard to believe that we have had Nella with us for two months! It feels like we have had her forever. I admit, I was nervous about how well Scout would accept her into our family, and how the added stress of training and having a puppy would be for Caleb and me. The puppy horror stories freaked me out - destroyed shoes, non-stop barking, peeing in the house... I knew things like that would drive me crazy! But we have been lucky and Nella has been a fairly easy puppy (so far, fingers crossed she stays that way! Knock on wood!). She continues to sleep thru the night, loves her kennel, has yet to even nibble on pair of shoes (or anything else she shouldn't be), I think I have heard her bark like maybe five times total (we have to teach her to 'speak' ...not sure how that will go!),  and is pretty much totally house trained.

Scout and Nella continue to get along well, and while Nella certainly some added work to our lives, she is also fun to be around. She is very smart and catches on to things quickly, and we learned a lot with her in puppy kindergarten (which she finished up with this month)! One interesting thing is that prior to getting Nella, we were told she would quickly learn that when her cape was on she was working, and when it was off she was not. I thought that idea was weird - how would a dog understand that difference? But this month it became obvious that Nella clearly understands that when he vest is on, she needs to be on her best behavior! She is night and day different when she is working, and when she isn't - it is so adorable!

I don't want to downplay the work of having a puppy but really it has been quite easy and a really fun experience so far. Nella started losing some of her teeth this month, and is a serial toy killer (as I like to call her), but her destroying all her Christmas toys in 2 days was really the hardest thing for me this month. I was pretty annoyed that some of the 'extra tough' toys I got her lasted less then a day - but we have found some that she can't destroy so we will just stick with those from now on! 

Really the most notable things- 
*Nella is great at fetch! She will run, get something and then 'drop' it, it's adorable
*Her 'wait' is getting longer and longer
*We practice 'here' when she plays with Scout (her biggest distraction) and she has been rocking disengaging and coming to play with us lately!
*She knows that she isn't allowed in our room and will sit by the door instead of coming in. (Prior to getting Nella we decided that our room would be only Scout's space so we never let her in there)
*Nella loves Kongs! They are such a great distraction for her, I love them too! :)
*Working tires Nella out. Which means she always needs a nap when we are doing being out... it's pretty cute, we can always count on her passing out when we get home from a trip out with her.

*as always, all options are my own*

Nella IV | month one

Have you met the newest member of our family yet? 

But she's just not a new pet, because we are: 

!!! Kinda crazy, right?! 

Meet Nella! She came to us on November 3rd, which means we have had her one month! 

My hope is to write a post each month to track her time with us, which should be around 20 months. So I figured I would first answer some questions that we get about her frequently, since we have gotten quite a few questions about the process. Plus that cute face! Can you even resist?! 

To start with- we got Nella at exactly 8 weeks old, and we will have her until August of 2018. Then she will go to "college" or advanced puppy training in California. Hopefully, she will do well and will become a service animal for a person with disabilities. If she does not meet the standards (they are of course very strict so it's very possible she will not - anything from a medical issue to even if she just doesn't wan't to work, she would be not move on in training), we will have the option of adopting Nella, or possibly have the option of recommending an adoptive family of someone that knew her as a puppy. (This is one of the first questions I asked, as it was really important to me that she would go to a great home no matter what- and the waiting list for adopting change of career dogs is so long, it's actually closed! So no matter what Nella will never go without a home that will adore her!)

Starting the week after we got her (seriously, 4 days after) we started taking her to puppy classes, and will continue to do so. By the time we turn her in, we will have to teach her a quite a few commands but nothing specialized, she will learn those in college! One month in, and Nella has already been to 6 puppy classes and is doing great! We also have to crate train her, which has been a total breeze. She loves her crate, goes in on her own when tired to nap, and has no problem spending a few hours durring the day there (when we walk Scout or if we go out) and has slept thru the night (9pm- 5:30am) since the first night we got her! That was our happiest surprise, since many people told us to prepare for night time potty breaks, but she never needed them!

What about Scout?

Nella and Scout get along great. We've made sure to keep Scout's routine the same, and she has been fine. We don't let Nella in our room, and she isn't allowed on furniture so Scout can always get "away" if she needs a break, but we try and be really aware of that as well. Scout is an adult, and doesn't want to spend 24/7 with a puppy - totally understandable. However, they are quite happy playing together from time to time and get along amazingly well. 

Lastly, I thought I would address the one question that we get asked the most, all the time in fact. Which is how hard it will be for us to turn her in in 20 months. It's hard when people ask how we could possibly "give her up" - but what I like to say is this. I am a high school teacher. I spend years with students, teaching them, caring about them, and ultimately, at the end of our time together, I hug them and tell them I love them, and say good bye and good luck - and that's what I want for them. And that's what I want for Nella. We are not "giving her up" - just passing her on to the next phase of her exciting life, where hopefully she will achieve great things. 

In future months I'm sure I will just post cute pictures, but hopefully this answered some questions people may have about what we are doing! If you have other questions, please let me know :)

**Everything is my own experience and does not necessarily reflect the views of CCI. All opinions are my own, etc.**