Wordless Wednesday

City Dog Wash

Since Alex was actually off today (shocking I know!!) we decided to try something new! Rather than taking Simon to the groomers (which is $45 bucks) we thought we would try taking BOTH boys to City Dog Wash and do it ourselves! We always wash Ryder ourselves because he is fairly easy and doesn't require any trimming etc. Simon, on the other hand, needs his feet clipped, nails, ears and all over trimmed up. We have done it at home a few times and it takes a long time and it's pretty messy! I found this place online and it was great!

They have stainless steel wash tubs, which are great because NO bending and NO bachaches from washing dogs! They provide different shampoos, conditioners, towels, aprons etc. They also have a drying station that you can use that provides: clippers, a dryer, brushes, ear cleaner etc. It was $10 per dog to wash them and it was $5 to use the drying station.  It took us about an hour and $25 to do both boys. They didn't enjoy it, butttttt mom and dad kind of liked it! Plus there are other benefits like: No separation anxiety, bonding experience, a fraction of the cost of grooming, THEY clean up the mess, no bending over the tub and no clogged drains at home! 

This was Ryder's first time being blow dried, so the sound of the dryer scared him. They provided a handy little thing to help block out the sound and it really helped. He looks silly, but that's okay it helped us get the job done.

 Hahahahaha Simon loves this can't you tell?!?

A very cute boy! Allllll finished!

Still not sure about this whole "mom and dad grooming him thing!"

Anddddd we were COVERED in hair once we were finished.....lol

Oh and a few battle wounds as well..... :o)

Project 25!

I decided a few months ago that I would buy Alex 25 gifts for his 25th birthday! Sounds great right?!? 
Let me tell you it was TOUGH! By the time I had 8 or 9 gifts I wanted to be done! It's hard to find 25 USEFUL gifts and not crap! It took me about 2 months, but I did it. 25 truly unique gifts that he will LOVE and I mean LOVE!!! It was a little pricey, but I did it over a period of time so I searched out sales and ended up getting FABULOUS deals on everything. I figured... Hey! It was less expensive than what he spent on MY 25th birthday.... Sheeesh him buying me earrings!!
Katie came to town on Wednesday and I just had to put her to work! We laid them all out and wrapped each one of them and then numbered them in a strategic way, so the suspense would build with each gift!
Ohhh he is going to have a blast! But for now he just gets to look at them until the 6th of April! 

Only 8 more days.....
 

(....and never again will I buy ANYONE one gift for each year they are old on their birthday unless they are under the age of FIVE!) :o) 

Yes! 

There ARE 25 wrapped packaged in there! It was soooo tempting not to throw all of them into a big box and wrap only one! 

Heeeheeeee

Fired Up!

What in the world is a mother (or father or anyone) thinking when they are driving down the street in their car smoking a cigarette with ONE window cracked and two babies in the backseat???
Are you kidding me?
That's disgusting... poor babies have no choice, but to breathe in the smokey air. :o(
There should be a law against it. I keep seeing this and finally had to say something about it!
It's not going to change it, but it makes me feel better getting it out there!

Ugh....

I'm obsessed!

Special K Smoothie:

4 large strawberries
1/2 cup of skim milk
1 ripe banana
5 ice cubes
1 tbsp. Special-K cereal

In a blender combine it all until it’s yummy smooth!

From This....

                                                                       {August 2009}

To This....

                                                                     {March 2010}

They grow up way too fast and it brings tears to my eyes....

Ridiculous I know...

One BIG Stick

We don't live close to a dog park anymore, so we just use the HUGE empty lot across the street from our house. Ryder likes to find sticks to run around with and today he found a big one...

Wordless Wednesday

Thankful. Period.

Remember this blog...

We'll I landed a summer job! I am going to be teaching summer school in the Vancouver School District. I will be working July 12-August 5th- Monday-Thursday 8am-1pm. I will also have a few training/meeting days between now and then. I am very excited! I am hoping that this will help me better get my foot into the door for a full time teaching position for next school year! Financially this is a HUGE opportunity and all the weight has been lifted off my shoulders! I am blessed! 

There are no words... oh wait I think I have a few

 Alex and I are very lucky in many ways. We are particularly lucky in the sense that we have great jobs that provide great health insurance. Unfortunately, that is most likely going to change with the passing the Universal Health Care bill. There is no doubt that the health care system in the country has problems that need to be fixed, but there is no way that this is the answer. I have never been without health care (thank God) but even if I was I would not support this bill. If I were to not have health insurance  

I STILL didn't want this to pass. If I didn't have insurance and elected not to purchase it then I would have to pay a tax to NOT have it. I have not heard of anything less constitutional in my life. I don't like the idea of the government telling me I HAVE to buy something. I actually LIKE my health insurance and I want to keep it, but the only way possible for me to do that would be me paying additional taxes to keep the insurance that we work hard to have. How is that fair?!?
Luckily, it will be 2-4 years before this plan goes into effect, but the downside to that is the tax increases will begin now so that it can be funded. REALLY?!? Do we (a hard-working middle class family) really have the extra money laying around, so that we can pay MORE taxes? I don't think so. No doubt that health insurance is expensive and something should be done about it- this is not the answer.
Somewhere along the line people got the idea that health care is a RIGHT and not a PRIVILEGE! When did health insurance become a human right........oh wait it's NOT! It IS a privilege to have health insurance and people forget that and think that they are entitled to it.  

 I saw the number somewhere... I think it's something like 32 million Americans do not have health insurance. Some people don't want it (so what? That is their choice) and some cannot afford it. I think it should be more affordable- no doubt. Butttt just because they do not have health insurance doesn't mean anything. They can still go to the doctor when they are sick and still go to the hospital when they need it. There is something call the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. They ARE covered! Sure the bill may be expensive, but if you take the services then you need to pay for them. The hospitals WILL work with you. I get big bills for things too and you know what? We budget, save and do what we can to pay for it.

The government runs Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare now and look at all the problems there are with those three. There is a TINY population that use those three programs and the government has it all screwed up. If people with Medicare and Social Security can't get in to see doctors in a timely fashion how will the rest of us?

Not only those things - BUT, it will cost our country TRILLIONS of dollars of which we don't have. So, my children and grandchildren will pay for this to their GRAVE!

Get this... I want a new car ( I have it all picked out) but we don't have the cash for a new car soooooo I DON'T get a new car until I have the money for it! Bottom line this country does NOT have the funds to support such a system!

Why do all these people have this sense of entitlement?!? They want everything for nothing! If you receive a service you should pay for it! I have bills.... YOU have bills. I get that. Why should I have to pay extra taxes to pay for somebody else? That makes ZERO sense to me.

I ask this... why do people from Canada (who has a system such as the one I oppose) come to THIS country to get seen by specialists in a timely fashion where in Canada they have to wait MONTHS to be seen. Doctors and specialists have to be APPROVED by the government. Are you kidding me?!? YOU want the government to approve what doctors you can see? I don't know about you, but I'd like to choose whatever damn doctor I want! 

I think we ALL really want the same thing.... AFFORDABLE health care! We just can't agree in a way to get there.  Let's break this HUGE bill into several different sections and vote on each section! What's the matter with that? I don't think people will pre-existing conditions should be denied health insurance. Let's pass a bill so that can't happen anymore. This should be about helping those who do not have health insurance to get it. Not to make the rest of us pay for it for them or for the rest of us to not have the freedom to have out own plans. This is really sad... 

A Lovely Vancouver Sunset

Spring is HERE!

Finally, finally, finally spring is here! I am loving the nice weather that we're having! Alex and I finally got a chance to get out in the yard and clean it up! I needed to pull up a few plants that did not survive the winter, so I bought some new ones and added some beauty-bark.  This marks our second spring/summer in the new house. We have officially lived here a year now!

Here is the finished product... Enjoy!

Chelsea Handler at Keller

Alex and I saw Chelsea Handler last night at the Keller Auditorium in Portland. I was very excited to go see her live (Alex was too!) The Chelsea Lately show is a favorite in the Schiltz household. BEST late night television show hands down! When tickets went on sale I was planning on buying them, but the price was so expensive I held off and I debated it. By the time I decided we did want to go I went back and the show was 100% sold out! I was bummed, but..... the demand was so high they added a second show! They were very expensive still, but it was fun and got us out of the house! The first show was at 8pm and ours was at 10:30pm. Alex and I made a date night out of it!
We decided to go walk the waterfront before heading to dinner at Lapellah. We had a nice dinner and then headed over to Keller. We got there at 9:15PM (thinking at 10'ish we could get in) and little did we know what one drama after another would happen and the doors didn't open until 11:15'ish for us! We stood in line outside for 2 hours!!! Finally, we got in and went to our seats. But not before snagging my copy of the book (read below!) Honestly, our seats were not that great. I could have saved us a bit of money and bought balcony seats and we probably would have had a better view!

{Guy Brennan opened the show}

 {Here She Is....}

 I wish I would have held off on reading the book prior to her show because a lot (90% atleast) of the material was from the book. It's all okay though because it is still funnier in person. The show was a solid 2 hours and I was happy about that (it was pretty spendy, so I hoped we'd get a show long show out of it.) It was a good night! We didn't get home until after 2AM! It ran pretty late. But we had a blast.... and I got to MEET her! She was totally sweet!

{totally blury...I'm bummed}

I got Chelsea's newest book Chelsea, Chelsea Bang Bang  the day it came out earlier this month and I loved it! It's her third and final  book (BOO!)  but indeed she went out with a BANG! I learned at the show that you had to buy your book THERE to get it autographed! I bought (and read mine already), so me being the sucker that I am I bought ANOTHER copy (this time for twice as much as I did online the first time) so I could meet Chelsea and have it signed. She was really sweet. I talked to her for a minute and she signed my book. I love her!

{My Book}

{The Wristband I Had To Have To Stay After To Meet Her & My Autographed Copy!}

My home away from home is...

 

...the athletic club in the pool! 

I was doing a variety of different workouts and classes, but I am just loving the pool. I take 2 or 3 water classes a week and the other 3 or 4 days that I am there I am also in the pool just swimming laps. Lap after lap after lap. My stamina is low and I am weak, but I am working on it. For lap swimming I usually have the place to myself and it's great. I am not sure how great of a workout it actually is, but man do I love it. I top off my workout with a stint in the sauna followed by the hot tub!

Ahhhhhhh so relaxing and peaceful.

Where's My Phone???

Alex and I do not own a house phone, we just use our cell phones. In the past year since moving into a larger house I keep having this problem... I lose my freaking cell phone!!! I will search every bedroom, the bathrooms, my car, my purse everywhere. Finally, on get on Facebook chat and start asking people to call me so I can hear it ring and I pray to God that it is not on silent! If nobody is on chat I leave posts on their wall or I start emailing people. Desperate I know. If you are reading this you may be one of those people that I've asked to call me have sometimes 10 times in a row until I can actually find it! So THANK YOU!
In the last few weeks I discovered a website called www.wheresmycellphone.com and it has saved my butt two times already! I hope to not have to track anybody down any longer for help with my phone!

*Here's to NOT misplacing my cell phone any more!* 

Word(y) Wednesday

I took the boys to the dog park the other afternoon and I was super bothered by the fact that a few people that actually were SCARED of Ryder! SCARED...?!? Huh? He's a puppy! An 8 month old puppy.
Yes, look into his face.... you see a pitbull. I get that. I also see lab. He is a mix. He is my baby and he is a sweet boy. What is there to be sacred of? You think he's going to attack you?
He was playing with his toy and would NOT  let go. He likes his toys- what puppy doesn't?!? Some lady made a comment about his "dangerous pitbull jaw."  She also asked if we had kids and when I said no she said that anyone who has a pitbull of any sort and has a kid is irresponsible. *rolling eyes* I should have told her I had 5 kids and Ryder sleeps with all of them every night!  ;o)

Ugh... It's really annoying!!!

Buh- Bye!

GOODBYE FLEECE SHEETS!

I decided that it was time to take the fleece sheets off the bed and move back to cotton ones!

I personally LOVE fleece sheets, but Alex, on the other hand, compares them to "sleeping in an Ugg boot!"

Goodbye Fleece Sheets! 

See ya next November!

5,000 DOLLARS?!?

HA!
We decided that we wanted to have a deck built in our back yard. Having a deck would be the only way for us to get some outdoor space that we can actually use! If you've ever seen our backyard you know that our yard is on the SIDE of our house not right out the back door.  We have a small concrete patio just as you walk outside and then some grass.  We really need a deck to give us a solid surface that we can use to entertain.
I started by finding a place on-line and called them to come and give us an estimate.
Soooooo they did! For a composite deck (much better than regular wood and less maintenance) totaling 231 square feet they wanted $5,000 DOLLARS!?! And that was SALE pricing that they were offering because of the home show.  That $5,000 quote was 30-40% off the REGULAR price! HOLY COW!  I really can't believe it - 231 feet is really a small deck... no ralings.... no steps.  Just a simple deck.
Needless to say we will be building our own deck later this spring.... 

Simon's 2nd Birthday

Today was Simon's 2nd birthday! 

Alex and I (okay it was 99% me) thought we should have a little birthday party for Simon. He got to wear his favorite shirt, he got a few presents and a birthday cake! 

He loved it!

(And we did too!)

Needs a Summer Job!

.... Any Ideas? Suggestions?

Last year we had the luxury of a healthy savings and I was able to stay home all summer... take care of the dogs.... and cook, clean and bake!
This year although financially we're better off- we've had large bills (two car repairs, owing taxes, a new water heater, doctor bills etc.) and we just haven't gotten to build that savings up like we did last year.

I want to work a few days a week. Last summer I started looking in May and never found a thing. So this year I thought I would start looking now!

Good thing school is not out until June 22nd!