HELP: Technology Is Ruining Our Lives

My blog post today is a little different from my usual hilarity and wit (yes, I find myself to be amusing). I’ve been thinking lately about how technology has taken over our lives, for the better in some ways, and not for the better in others. Of all things, Sophie has made me aware of how much time I’ve been spending on my phone. She literally and intentionally knocked my phone out of my hand the other day with her nose because I wasn’t giving her my full attention. She was trying to cuddle with me and I had my arm under her with my phone in my hand, raised so I could see it, giving her half-assed pets on her belly, and she wasn’t having it. She knocked my phone between my bed and the dresser and started licking my face. She’s an asshole but she’s totally right.

See that mess behind her on the floor? She created it and then came to give me this look 🙄. 

Newton’s third law of motion states, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Granted, I know we’re not talking about inertia and physics but stay with me here. For every pro to technology, there is an equal, but opposite, con. I have several examples of this. My first example is this, I can go anywhere by myself because I have the security of feeling like someone (ie. Help) is always just a call away. Ex. I flew alone to Charlotte, NC to meet my friend, Michelle, so that we could take a flight to Mexico together, something I would have NEVER done before. However, I also don’t talk to the people around me because I have a phone to keep me company. Even if I’m not talking on it (using my voice), I can text, I can scroll social media, I can play games, I can read a book, I can do 50 other things besides socialize. Do you know what that makes me? Someone with who has difficulty communicating with other people. It makes me feel anxious and insecure when confronted with situations where I need to speak. 

Example number two: technology makes it easier than ever to get things done. As a matter of fact, there are jobs that rely solely on the use of a computer. My main job, the one that helps pay the bills for now, is pretty dependent on the internet. I am also able to buy things that I need (and don’t need) and have them shipped right to my door. That means I don’t have to go to Wal-Mart, a place where I should be banned from going on the weekend because it induces road rage with my shopping cart and decreases my tolerance for the human race. Also, technology made it possible for me to earn a Bachelor’s degree, something I wouldn’t have been able to do while working a full-time job, had I been required to attend a brick and mortar school. These are all great things. On the flip side, I am a sucker for a Zulily sale, free shipping, or a 50% off discount code. Do I really NEED another pair of sandals just because they’re covered in pretty rhinestones and only cost $17.99 (today only!)? If it’s 10 pm and I’ve had a bad day, it’s likely I’ll think so. We work to make the money so that we can buy the things but do we really need more things? If you haven’t heard, we are relocating our office (not by choice, but let’s not talk about that) and if it’s one thing I’ve realized lately between the office move, my in-laws moving, and sorting and marking things for a yard sale, it’s that we have way too much STUFF. And what’s the point of all this stuff? Honestly? Stuff can’t make you happy. I’ve never been one to be overly attached to things. Sometimes I’ll have a sentimental attachment to something but I’m usually fine with giving things away, especially if someone else could use it. The point I’m trying to make here about technology though is that I wouldn’t.even.know. about this STUFF for sale if it wasn’t popping up in my newsfeed, which is exactly how google and facebook like it! Ever noticed that you looked at something on your computer and now it’s in your FB newsfeed? That’s not a coincidence. That’s marketing at it’s finest and it’s brilliant, to be honest. Companies make millions of dollars a year by doing it. I wonder what STUFF they all spend their money on. 

Example number three: It is easier than ever to stay connected to people you don’t see. You can see what your old colleague from your first job made for dinner tonight. You can see pics of your third cousin’s baby. You can know what your ex’s new wife’s mother wore to her sister’s birthday party if you fall down a rabbit hole far enough. With that being said, the amount of time you spend stalking your crush, or your ex, or your high school bully, is the same amount of time that you’re not spending with your kid (two or four legged), with your spouse, with your aging parents, with your friends, or just with yourself. Do you really care about the things you spend time reading? Would your attention be better spent showing your child how to learn to a new skill? Or talking to your mom (I sure wish I could)? Or getting puppy kisses? Or giving yourself a pedicure? Or a thousand other things that make you feel good, rather than comparing yourself to someone’s highlight reel? You know that person who’s life looks perfect on social media has struggles, too, right? She/he isn’t the perfect mom/dad, she/he doesn’t have a perfect body, they don’t have a perfect life. There’s no such thing. Social media sure makes it look like these things are possible, but let me tell ya, friend, it’s not true. If there’s one thing about me that’s true, it’s that I’m a straight shooter. I struggle to sugarcoat anything, to the point of fault sometimes. Some people really like that about me and some probably don’t. Here’s another thing about me, I don’t care about those people’s opinions, sorry, not sorry. When my mom was first diagnosed with cancer and started treatment, she decided to get a wig before her hair all fell out. She planned to go with her (now, my) friend, Linda, but told me she also wanted me to go because, “I know you’ll be honest about what looks good.” Yep. Anyway, all that just to establish my credibility and say that I don’t say things just to say them. I believe what I say so you should believe me, too. 

Example number four: I am never in need of something to do. I can find endless craft ideas on Pinterest. I can read a new book with the click of a button. I can text anyone in my contacts or messenger. I can watch funny dog videos. I can make a new yoga routine. I can do a thousand other things on my computer/phone. Do you know what I can’t do anymore? I can’t be bored. Ever. I CONSTANTLY feel as though I have to be doing something. Like, all the time. I don’t know how to relax. And when I’m sick and can’t move off the couch? Worst days of my life. Seriously. Ask Philip how whiny I am when I can’t get shit done. It’s ridiculous and pathetic. I find myself even hopping on FB for the small amount of time that I have to wait in a check-out line (assuming they don’t have self-checkouts. Ain’t nobody got time for that).  Or pharmacy line, but come on, the one at Walmart can last for days! 😩 I’m pretty sure I should be able to stand in line for five minutes without needing to know whose kid went to the park that day or how many loads of laundry someone completed. 

Example five: I can find information on literally ANY subject known to man on the world wide web. Information and knowledge are now more accessible than ever before. It’s also easier than ever to find information to support any narrative you would like to. Do you think DoTerra essential oils are better than Young Living oils or vice versa? You can find information to support that. Want nutrition advice? Everyone’s an expert. Need to know how to get your kid to stop peeing on the floor? Just ask 97 of your closest friends on social media and they’ll all tell you the best way. The problem with all of this free information is that it can be hard to know what’s credible and true. It can also cause people to pick a side on issues that are important to them without having all the facts and just believing whatever news story the media decides to deem important on any given day. We won’t talk politics here for several reasons (here are two: 1: I’m not gonna change your mind and you’re not gonna change mine so there’s no point, and 2: I’m so effing tired of hearing about politics) but just remember that we’re always at the mercy of our news source. Just because you read something on the internet does not make it true. We need to care about each other and stop letting matters tear us apart. 

Example six: I can use my phone to turn on/off my lights, air conditioner, heater, fan, etc. I can also lock/unlock my back door. These are all perks of having a tech-loving husband. Come to think of it, I don’t have a con to this one. Okay, maybe the fact that when the electric goes out and comes back on, every single light in the house is then on until I turn them off, which is really fun to wake up to 🙄. But that’s a small price to pay for laziness. Bad example. 

Example seven: There’s no perk to this one, only a con. The rates of anxiety and depression are on the rise. How is it that we live in a society where we are “connected” to people 24/7, yet we feel depressed, characterized by feelings of loneliness, sadness, loss of interests, etc.? My belief is that it’s because we are “connected” digitally but not in reality. The best things in life are experiences. The best experiences happen with other people. We work to make money and use money to buy things. Things can’t make us happy. If you’re lucky enough to live until you’re old, what will you regret? It certainly won’t be not having stalked someone’s Facebook page enough or missing that Big Bang Theory rerun (or whatever show you’ve seen a thousand times). The whole point of my entire post is to be mindful of how you’re spending your time, and more importantly, how you’re NOT spending your time. Live a life of quality, not quantity. No one (well, the vast majority in this country) needs more stuff. We need love. We need friendship. We need relationships. We need each other. That’s what matters. 

Of course, being around people has it’s downfall, too. I just talked about weekends at Walmart. There’s nothing fun about that. EVER. Life’s all about balance 😉. 

Travel Tales: NYC bus trip

There’s nothing like going on vacation that gets me to clean my house really good. Well, except knowing we will be having company. As if the bathtub needs to be scrubbed and the kitchen floor needs to be mopped while we’re away. It adds more stress to my planning and packing but I hate coming home to a messy house! 

This past weekend we took a bus trip with 54 other people to New York City! We left Friday morning at 10 am, spent Friday and Saturday nights, and then traveled all day Sunday to get home. 

I had to drop the girls off before 8 am on Friday and we didn’t leave the house until 9 so I had to come back without them. Being at home without your dog is weird and I don’t care for it. 

You know what else I don't care for? People being unable to follow directions and be on time. That's all I'm going to say about that. When you're in a large crowd, there's always someone who has to be the center of attention. Don't be that person. I contemplated buying sedatives for everyone on board but I wasn't sure if they sold them at a gas station. Roofy smoothies all around! (I'm kidding, if anyone needs that clarification.) Can you vote people off of a bus? If not, the bus people should definitely rethink that policy. People started freaking out because a bee got on the bus so someone killed it. It was a carpenter bee that most likely didn’t have a stinger. Only males do, which are the ones most likely to approach people. The females have stingers but will typically only sting if handled. He said, “DIE! DIE! DIE!” as he stomped it and while I know he was just being dramatic, I couldn't help but find him pathetic for killing an insect that couldn’t even defend itself 😒. Oh, and, the bus was FREEZING. We stopped at a gas station and I spent 6.99 on a blanket and it’s the best investment I’ve ever made in my life. Okay, all my complaining is done. Glad I got that all out🤪. 

We stopped at the Flight 93 National Memorial. It was the sight of the crash of American Airlines flight 93 that crashed on September 11, 2001. The passengers and crew thwarted an attack on Washington DC by terrorists who hijacked the plane. They pulled together and caused the terrorist pilot to take the plane down on an abandoned coal mine field in Shanksville, PA. A boulder in the field marks the point of impact and the trees behind are the final resting place of the 44 passengers. It’s a very solemn memorial and pays tribute to those brave people very nicely. 

We got to our hotel around 10 pm. We stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott in Herald Square, which is right across the street from the famous Macy's, one of the world’s largest department stores. You've heard NYC be called the city that never sleeps? It's true. I bought a shirt at H&M at 11 pm, in person. I've only ever shopped for clothes that late online. We didn't do much our first night because, well, it was late, we didn't know where anything was, and we weren't sure if it was safe to be out at night (totally is, although EVERYONE comes out at night. It's 10 times more crowded than in the daytime). 

We could see the Empire State Building from our room 

I was excited because I slept until I woke up on my own on Saturday, and while it was weird not having a Sophie kiss at 6 am, I enjoyed the extra sleep. We decided to start uptown at Central Park so we set out on our walk and were asked for money from a homeless man within the first five minutes. We told him (honestly) that we didn’t have any cash and he replied, “You white people, you rich, can’t help out a homeless vet.”  You feel bad but insulted at the same time. We came to Bryant Park first, which is a cute little space where you can enjoy a bit of nature with the tall shade trees and charge your phone at the same time. Win win.

We came to Times Square next and got there just as some people who were gathered started yelling and marching and we weren't sure what they were saying, only that it had something to do with Jesus.

If you’re easily offended by partial nudity, scroll quickly past my next photo. 

Three women wearing thongs and body paint and The Naked Cowboy are there for you to get your picture taken with, for a fee. I heard it was $5 but I didn’t care to get one 🙄. 

Coming into Central Park is funny because you like literally come to a point where there are skyscrapers right behind you and massive trees in front of you.

Leaving Central Park  

People do whatever they want there. There were lots of sunbathers laying out on their towels in a field, many people walking their doggos (that I wanted to pet), people racing mini sailboats in a pond, people paddling around rowboats, people running, horses pulling carriages, and several 

bikes—normal bikes, 2 person bikes, bikes you power with your arms instead of your legs. It is very much a tourist attraction though, people were trying to give us “information” at every entrance. When someone says “Hey guys” you know they’re trying to sell you something. We just said, "No, thanks" and they left us alone.

Zoom in for sunbathers. 

Mini sailboats racing 

Horse drawn carriage

Action shot, as captioned by Phil

We walked around the park for quite some time and then decided to get lunch. We had to get some NY pizza so we found a little place called Bella Vita on the way back to our hotel. There were ten thousand people there and no seats so we got it to go. One slice is about equal to half of a medium pizza. We walked back toward our room and stopped at Bryant park to eat. I guess I looked like a local carrying that pizza box because I got asked for directions. Luckily, the street sign was directly in front of me so I was able to tell her the correct way to go and seem like I knew what I was talking about 😂. 

Afterwards we decided to take the subway downtown because we had already been walking for about 4 hours at that point. Getting a Metro card is easy and finding the right train was pretty simple on the way down. It took about 7 minutes to get to the 9/11 Memorial. We saw the One World Trade Center and it's height is simply amazing. The endless pools with the names of those who lost their lives on 9/11/01 engraved on the edges are beautiful. We walked toward the ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty from a distance and got ice cream cones that cost $8 each 😳. The line for the ferry to go see the statue up close was ridiculously long and they pack hundreds of people on it. That didn’t seem like a fun thing to do so we got some beer instead. As we were sitting, enjoying our drinks, we noticed an old couple going around offering to draw caricatures. The woman was holding a huge poster that had several creative drawings of celebrities on it. We called the lady over and she didn’t speak much English but when asked “How much?” she said,

“Five dollars. Two minutes.” We said, “Okay,” and she asked, “Together?” and we

said, “Yes.”  A few minutes later he came over to draw our picture and she collected money from the previous customers. He sat down on his folding chair and pointed to Philip and motioned for him to

cock his head. He looked up and down, drawing, and pointed to his mouth once and gave a big smile to instruct Philip to do the same. He isn’t very good at holding a fake smile but we were pretty amused by the whole thing. He drew “me” and then moved onto the next victims..err, I mean customers (there’s some foreshadowing for you). The lady came back over and took our picture and put it into a cardboard frame and slipped it into a plastic sleeve. She then showed Philip the back of the poster, where the prices were located. One person is five dollars and two people is fifteen. I’m not sure how that math adds up but we were like, “Whatever,” and he gave her a twenty, figuring there wouldn’t be any change because we know how these things work. However, she then pointed to the right of that list of prices where it states, “With frame-$40.” Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah. Ummmm, no. Philip said to her, “I don’t want the frame. You can take it out,” to which she replied, “No frame, no good.” So he countered, “I’m not going to

pay you $40 for this picture. I didn’t ask for a frame. You can take it out and keep the frame.” She said, “No frame, no good. Smear.” He said, “I don’t care. I’m not giving you anymore money,” and laid the picture beside him on the bench. She pushed the picture toward him and walked away. We’re all for

supporting people in their craft but COME ON! That’s a scam if I’ve ever seen one. I really wanted to go warn the next people, who were having their kids' picture drawn and would most likely just pay them $40. I think there must have been an altercation with the people before us too because she came over while he was drawing he asked her a question in their language and, without knowing what that language is or what he said, I am 99% sure it was, “How much did they pay you?” The pic is posted below. Let me know if you think it is worthy of $40….

One World Trade Center

Endless pool

Statue of Liberty

Good beer. 

Poster they were carrying around for advertisement 

Sketching us

$40 picture. 

The bad part about commissioning a drawing of yourselves that measures probably 16”x20” when you’re several miles from your hotel room is that you then have to carry the stupid thing around with you 🙄. We started on our way back to the subway to take it to our room but wanted to see the Brooklynn Bridge and Wall St. first. I know, in the right light, and from the right angle, the bridge can be a beautiful picture. I didn’t have either so it’s not all that impressive. I was really excited to see the Charging Bull and, more importantly, the Fearless Girl statues on Wall St. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one because holy wow, there were like 60 people crowded around them! I got a good shot of the girl but didn’t get “in” to see the bull. It was nuts there.

Brooklyn Bridge

Wall St. 

Fearless Girl

The Charging Bull..kind of. 

I really enjoyed Wall St. That may have been my favorite part because I love the movie Die Hard with a Vengeance (Philip has been saying it’s my favorite movie for years and I always laughed it off but it might

really be) and the whole movie was based in NYC but a big part was on Wall St. So it was cool to see it in person. 

We wanted to go to the top of the Chrysler building to take a pic of the skyline around dusk so we headed back toward our hotel on the subway (or so we thought). It’s not difficult to figure out which train you need to be on, especially with Apple maps…however, you should make sure you know which DIRECTION the train is headed, uptown or downtown. We needed to be on a Manhattan bound train and got on a Brooklynn bound one instead. We knew something was wrong when we didn’t stop anywhere that the map said we should be going. When we got to the final stop we just sat there and a nice person on the train told us we were at the final stop and had to get off the train. She asked if we needed to go further and I told her that we needed to go back. She asked which stop we needed and then told us to go downstairs and the right train to get on. She also said that the train was “running local,” which meant nothing to me

until I googled it. That was unfortunate because that meant we were going to hit every single stop on the way back. Twenty-seven stops later we were where

we needed to be 🤦🏻‍♀️. Oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️. 

By that point I was getting hangry so we skipped the Chrysler building and walked back through Times Square to get to a place called Juniors’ for dinner. The food was good and the strawberry cheesecake was delicious! I got a pulled pork sandwich and Philip got an open-faced roast beef sandwich, which was just a huge pile of beef, on top of two slices of bread, drizzled with Au Jus. He won’t eat mushy textures so that bread was way too soggy for him. It was all that was left when he finished and I was amused that his bread

looked like cat food 😂.

Pulled pork

Roast beef

Cat food 😂

Yummy strawberry cheesecake 😋. Finger for size reference. 

We went the wrong direction when we left dinner, making for the second time we got lost. We literally looked like the tourists you see in old movies, except using a map on our phones instead of a huge paper one. It’s really not that hard to navigate once you figure it all out. The streets and avenues are sort of like a grid for most of uptown. If we spent more time there I think it wouldn’t be a problem to get where we wanted to go. Let me tell you something about crossing the street there: pay attention to the crosswalk signs 😳. At home, if you want to cross the street you push the button to change the lights but more than likely you’ll get to cross before you get a walk signal and then you just piss off all the drivers that have to wait for nothing. In NYC, if there’s no walk sign, it’s a good idea to stay on the sidewalk. There are crazy drivers. They will honk at you if they even think they’re going to step into the road but I really can’t blame them because it would be easy to hit a pedestrian with the way people dart across the street there. Save yourself and wait for the walk signal. 

At the end of the day my official step count was 35,310 which equals 15.59 miles. My previous record was 9 miles. We set it in Hawaii three years ago at a resort that was so big they had a tram that ran all over it. We didn’t take it, obviously. The AC in it was freezing and neither of us like being cold. 

Anyway, we talked about going to a comedy club but I was so tired and my legs were chafed from my shorts rubbing that we decided to skip it. The bus picked us up at 11 am on Sunday and the trip was going as planned until we were about 1:40 away from home. We got a flat tire and when the bus driver went to check it, she discovered fluid leaking from the axel. The bus company said that the bus wasn’t safe to drive so they would send a new bus, the only problem was that bus was 2 hours away 🙄. We decided to ask my very awesome friend, Kim, to come pick us up and she did because she’s the best 😁. We got home around 11 pm, three hours after our scheduled time, and I heard the second bus showed up at 10:15 to pick up everyone who had waited for it. The bus company was nice enough to buy dinner for everyone at Pizza Hut that was close to where we stopped.

Stupid tire!

We plan to visit NYC again and see some of the things we missed this time, such as a Broadway play, the Chrysler building, the New York City public library, the other islands, etc. We’ll drive ourselves and not take a bus again though, not because of the tire issue, that was unavoidable, but just because it’s faster in a car, you don’t have to listen to other people talk if you want to nap, and pee breaks can happen whenever you want and won’t take a minimum of thirty minutes. I’m glad we took the bus this time though. It was a good experience and I liked having the security of knowing there were other familiar people around if there was any trouble. We felt safe enough there that we could go on our own next time and be fine. There were police officers on every corner. I’m sure there are places you don’t want to go but sticking to the touristy spots should be okay!

Here are a few more pics of other things we saw:

The New York Times

Funny parking garage

Another shot of the Empire State Building. 

Radio City Music Hall

The only pic I got of the NYC skyline, from the window of the bus when we were leaving 

5 bajillion people walking in Times Square

NY Stock Exchange 

2 travel tips: 

1.  To keep necklaces from getting tangled when you travel, put one end through a straw and then close at the clasp. I saw this on Pinterest a while back and have done it several times. I actually forgot to do it when we left and end up with two necklaces wound together. When we were packing to leave I found an extra straw in our room so I used it to get them home. 

2. If you travel with a water bottle, clip a carabiner to it. It was nice being able to hang it from the window (and then the seat in front of me on the way back) and not have to worry about it rolling around. 

There was so much to do and so much to see and I can’t wait to go back! 

Passion for Repurpose

I’ve been saving up my pics for this post so tonight’s Passion for Repurpose is quite the treat 😉. Let’s get right to it. You all know I’m all about being “green” and recycling and saving things to use for later (some people call this hoarding *ahem* my husband *ahem* but it’s totally not. I like to call it my organized conservation effort). I’m especially partial to saving bottles or containers, particularly glass, that items come in. Philip often asks me before he throws things away because he knows I might want them, which is cute and funny to me. Sometimes I buy things BECAUSE they come in cool containers but that’s a whole other issue 😝. Anyway, the first pic I have for you tonight is a craft I made from a glass bottle of a new tea out. I don’t usually buy store bought tea (filled with sugar and preservatives) but it was pineapple flavored tea and pineapple is my FAV so I had to try it. Also, the bottle was a unique shape so…😂. I glued glass gems to it and glued the stake from a solar light that I used on another project onto the lid. The finished project is beautiful decoration for my garden 😁. I also made ones out of two different brands of salsa jars, and I made a solar light using the gems, a mason jar, and the top part of a solar stake light, and another one using a Voss water bottle and the top of a solar light. Guess how many bags of glass gems I bought when I decided I liked making these crafts…that’s, right, 593. Just kidding but it was still way too many, as is my style. 

My second repurpose comes from the scrapes we have leftover from refinishing our hardwood floors. Two summers ago, before this blog existed, unfortunately, we discovered that the original floors in our old house were finished hardwood that had been covered up with horrendous carpet that I had fought with for ten years to keep clean. One of our previous dogs, Pretzel, spent most of her life in this house and she never fully quit peeing in the house. She would go for a week or so without doing it and then one day just pee on the carpet, always in the same area in the living room. It was infuriating and exhausting having to shampoo the carpet so often. I eventually got a Spot Bot, which works great for getting out a stain. However, it leaves noticeably clean circles on your carpet, which makes the rest of your carpet look FANTASTIC 🙄. Anyway, most of the floor was in pretty good shape but there were a few spots, where Pretzel peed all the time and around the floor vents, that needed replaced so we bought some new ones. They come in huge packs so we have quite a bit left over and I’ve been looking for a way to use it somehow. We’ve taken up the carpet in the craft room but left what’s in our bedroom, which will come up eventually. There are places that need new boards in the craft room but I swear there’s still dust on the walls from sanding the living room two years ago so I’m in no hurry to do it again. We’ll likely end up putting carpet back over it anyway. The dogs have a really hard time running around like the crazies that they are on the hardwood and tile so carpet would allow them to get their zoomies out more easily and I can’t think of a better reason to get carpet, can you? 😝

Anyway, my floor board repurpose: wine glass holders

Next up isn’t quite so re-inventive, just a reminder that sometimes it’s easier to throw out the old and get new, but a little TLC can save good items from the landfill and save you money. The lattice privacy fence that is in front of our patio, blocking onlookers from the street, has been here since we moved in. A couple of summers and windstorms ago, the front metal post actually broke off from where it was cemented in the ground. It fell completely over a while back and I zip tied it to the pole behind it that is a roof support for our carport. It didn’t look TERRIBLE right away but these last few windstorms have really wreaked havoc on it and it looked B.A.D. I couldn’t stand it anymore and we were looking for a project to do this weekend so I suggested we take it down and replace some parts of it and put it back up. Because nothing we ever do is easy, this project that I thought would be kinda quick ended up taking several hours over the course of two days to finish (and it’s actually not finished, the backs and sides of the posts need painted but you can’t see that in my pic so we’ll pretend it’s done 😄). We didn’t think the old metal posts had been cemented into the ground because they were super flimsy so I started digging and then gave it nice roundhouse kick, only to break a second pole off, making it ridiculously harder to get the bottom 2 ft of the cemented pole out of the ground. Fast forward through multiple shovel loads of dirt and many, many curse words, and we finally got the old posts out and popped the new ones in. The new one’s are 4x4x8’s, much heavier and durable than the old wimpy metal posts. We bought new moulding to go around the lattice but kept the old lattice, even though it was nasty looking. Nothing a little Dawn and Oxy Clean couldn’t handle though. It shined right up. Of course there was a problem though and that was that the new moulding was much more narrow than the old stuff so the lattice had to be sanded along every side for it to fix into it. Truth be told, a new piece of lattice costs $19.98 at Lowe’s and we would’ve needed 2 for this space but for all the aggravation, $40 probably would’ve been worth it if it had been able to fit into one of our vehicles 🙄. But it wouldn’t so now I can pretend that I kept it for the sake of not being wasteful 😝. Just kidding, you all know I wouldn’t have thrown it out, I would’ve kept (not hoarded) it for another project. Anyway, here’s the product of our blood (for real, Philip cut his finger), sweat (so much sweat), and internal tears (because there’s no crying while using power tools, it clouds your vision):

Stupid huge piece of cement that had to be hauled out 😡. 

We also moved the bricks that were in the first pic. That was the stand for our rain barrel last summer but we discovered that the gutter it was hooked to doesn’t get much water so we plan to move it to the front of the house. 

Two more to go! The next isn’t so much a “repurpose” as it serves the same purpose but now it’s pretty and I will use it for things I wouldn’t have before. I started with a plain wooden crate. My plan when I bought it was to mount it sideways on the wall of the basement bathroom to hold toilet paper, only that won’t work where I wanted to put it. Since making this discovery I’ve been looking for a purpose for this crate so I consulted the almighty Pinterest, which never fails to inspire me. To pretty it up I primed it and then used mod podge and napkins leftover from a birthday party. I added some wheels to the bottom so that it can be stored under my desk if need be and moved easily. 

Last one. I’ve told you before that I typically do a craft with my nieces and nephews on Fridays when I go visit them. I hadn’t taken a craft in a while because our visiting schedule has been off; they were sick, I was sick, I was out of town, etc. and when I went last week I figured they would want to play outside since it was nice. However, little miss boss, aka Kate, told me that she wanted me to bring a craft for her to do 🤦🏻‍♀️. I found a really cool idea that I thought they would like when I was searching for a Playgroup craft one day. You can make bracelets out of popsicle sticks by boiling them for 15 minutes and then bending them to fit into a glass and letting them dry overnight. They liked making them but I only had enough sticks for everyone to make one and one is never enough for Kate. She can’t display all of her creativity in one bracelet! I told her I would make more for her to do again the next time I see her. I really enjoy making crafts with the kids and I especially like when the older kids join us. Surprisingly, Coen even came out to see what we were making and the word “bracelet” didn’t scare him off, although he had one of the bigger sticks and decided to make it into a headband using a rubber band to secure it 😂. 

Onto the important stuff: Sansa & Sophie. We were getting a really big kick out of all the sitting Sophie was doing on Sansa but lately it seems as though Sansa’s spirit is broken and she very much misses being an only dog, and so we’ve started making Sophie move when we see her doing it. I may or may not snap a quick pic before I yell at her, but that’s beside the point. We’re trying to spend one on one time with them, which is good because Sophie needs to work on her training and Sansa needs and wants undivided attention. She seems a bit happier since we’ve started doing it. I hate thinking that Sansa is sad but I just have to remind myself that Sophie won’t be a pup forever and someday (hopefully) she won’t be such an attention..hog. She constantly wants someone to pay attention to her and touch her. We got back from our walk today and the humidity was terrible, everyone was sweating (those of us with sweat glands anyway, the other two were panting like crazy) and Sansa gets home and goes straight to the water bowl and then to the floor vent to soak up the cold air from the AC. Where does Sophie go? Right freaking beside her. I tried explaining how body heat works to her but she didn’t really get it. I called for her to come into the craft room and sat her on the vent in there, which she really enjoyed, however, as soon as I got up and went back into the living room, she followed me and sat by Sansa again 🙄. That dog does not like being alone. In fact, she almost ended up in the hot tub the other day because she ~had~ to see what we were doing in there. She jumped up on the edge and got her foot wet and got right back down. I guess that satisfied her curiosity because she hasn’t tried that again since 😂. She does still jump up to give kisses if she sees one of us by the edge though. Sansa, on the other hand, prefers being alone. We often wonder where she is and will find her in the cool spots: in the bathroom or in the basement. She’s miss independent but does love a good butt scratching. She’s a good girl. Sophie is a good girl, too, she’s just learning still. As I typed that I remembered that I wanted to ask you all a question: do you use proper dog pronouns? It has occurred to me before and many times recently that people just don’t seem to care if they use the correct gender pronoun for our dogs. I get that Sansa isn’t a common name so you may be on the fence about which one to use but let me clue you in on a few things. 1) She wears a purple collar and has a purple leash. Not that boy dogs CAN’T wear purple, I’ve just not seen many who do. 2) If I repeatedly say “she” and you continue to say “he,” you may have a listening problem. I’m just putting that out there. I find it amusing how many times this happens. People also often say her name wrong, they say San-ta or Sam-sa for some reason. Again, I know it’s not a normal name but it’s not hard to say. Let’s practice SAN-SA. See how easy that was? It’s from the show Game of Thrones, in case you’re wondering and don’t know where we got it. That’s the show about the blonde girl who’s the mother of dragons. It’s pretty good, you should watch it. 

Ok, this one was hilarious. I couldn’t help taking a pic. 

Alright, well, I think it’s time for bed. It’s been a long weekend. I participated in a 5k on Saturday. I had my worst time ever but I enjoyed catching up with one of my BFF’s, Kim. I like her because she has a great name 😝😉😄.

Don’t forget: yoga Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday!!!😃😃😃

Good night!