Keep an Eye on Your Olive Oyl

Because Bluto is swinging by!  Almost four weeks ago I picked him up after work.  Bluto is an Australian Shepherd and I would guess about a year old.  Even though he had just been neutered when I got him he was go-go-go!  I knew he and Dash would be buds and we'd probably have to stop them from wrestling since Bluto was supposed to stay quiet for a week or two to recover from surgery (yeah, right!).

Bluto is a confident dog; not fearful at all.  But he was really stressed the first few days with us.  And I can't really blame him.  On Sunday he made the trek from Pittsfield, IL to the suburbs of Chicago.  On Monday morning he was neutered and got a few remaining vaccines and in the evening I picked him up and brought him home.  It's a lot to take in!  So even though Bluto was wanting to play with Dash and exploring the house he would.not.stop.panting.  At all.  Or sit still.  For four days.  The e-collar he was wearing was just soaking wet with drool from all the panting, so we were constantly refilling the water bowl so he wouldn't get dehydrated.

Aside from the frantic panting I could really see Bluto's potential.  He was very smart and generally well mannered (except for the thrashing when you'd try to crate or leash him - ha!), not to mention gorgeous!  By Thursday Bluto started to relax a little bit and he was doing great by Saturday.  Which worked out well for him, because he got adopted that day, just a week after arriving to us.  It also kept us out of trouble, because I think if we had Bluto for too long we would have a really hard time letting him go.  I mean come on, then we'd have matching orange/grey sets of both our cats and dogs!  That would also make fostering trickier though, so it really was for the best.

Bluto, now named Harley, has a shepherd mix doggie sister and a teenage human sister, both of whom he's going to have lots of fun playing with!

Side note: Okay, so Bluto is the name of Popeye's nemesis.  Basically Bluto has a crush on Olive Oyl, Popeye's girlfriend, and keeps trying to kidnap her.  Um, what?!  That's practically cartoon date rape!  Anyway, I was kind of surprised by it because I never noticed when I watched Popeye as a kid.  So weird!

Look out!

There's a GIANT CAT in that box!

St. Patrick's Day Snack

Dash hopes everyone enjoyed their St. Patrick's Day as much as he did with his special cookie.

 

The humans ate corned beef made the same way as last year.  Brainstorm for next year is to use sweet potatoes!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Decoration Inspiration

The other day I finally decided on a color scheme for our guest room.  Something that has plagued me since we moved in 2.5 years ago.

Anyway, I happened to find myself at Home Goods just a few days later and as I was walking around I saw some bedding that I liked.  I took a picture with my phone so I could keep it in mind.

Then I found an awesome vase that complemented the bedding.  I had to have it.  It spoke to me.  It said, "Carolyn, I am awesome.  And there is only one of me.  If you leave me, I might not be here when you return, and you might regret it forever.  Seize the moment and put me in your cart!".  So I did.

With vase in cart I made a decision.  I was going to redecorate the guest room right.now.  I scurried back to the bedding and put it in my cart.  Of course, I would want some other accessories besides the vase.  I found 2 fun picture frames and into the cart they went. 

It would be nice to have a lamp by the bed for reading.  Several trips up and down the lamp aisles later I found the perfect one, hiding behind two other lamps in a corner.  I even found some cool art to hang on the wall that goes with my idea for a collection that I've been thinking about for quite some time now.

Thomas and I decided that if I was going to go to the effort of redecorating the whole guest room, we should really put in a queen sized bed.  The twin is fine when our guests are flying solo, but often they come in pairs...kind of like clown fish...

The twin bed we have now has a ton of storage underneath it, which I am not about to give up.  I'm eyeing this storage bed from Ikea.

photos from Ikea's website

Tons of space to put stuff under the bed.  And the headboard has shelves and the top is really wide, so the cats can still have a perch to look out the window (yes, I am a crazy person who chooses furniture based on her animals' hobbies).  I might paint the whole thing brown so it will sort of match the dressers we already have in the guest room, which we plan on keeping there.  Not 100% decided on that yet though.

I'm hoping to have the room mostly done for when my parents come visit in the middle of March, and totally done by the end of the month.  So we'll see how that goes!

* * * BONUS! * * *

I also found this a-freaking-dorable cat bowl at Home Goods.  Lenny and Waldo don't really have their own water bowls, we just use some bowls from an old set of dinnerware.  I had to get this for them.  Two, actually.  I mean, come on, it looks just like them - how could I not?  And at $4 a piece it seemed like a deal to me!

Southern Comfort

Alice finally went home to her forever family on Saturday.  It was a long time coming; a delayed spay appointment and prearranged vacation meant Alice's new parents had to wait nearly a month to meet her.  They have incredible patience!

When Mike and Patty arrived at our house Alice warmed right up to them and gave out lots of her signature kisses. 

An hour or two later and the new family headed home way down south (okay, it's more like halfway down Illinois, but still quite the long haul to get a new pup!).  Mike and Patty were super nice; we know they're going to spoil Alice and that she'll have a fabulous life with them.

Being bashful about a new collar

On their way home Mike and Patty even sent me some pictures of Alice sleeping in the backseat of their Corvette (um, awesome!). 

Later on they called to say that Alice and her big (and I do mean big) sister Holly the Great Dane were getting along nicely.  And Alice is now named Savanna.

The house is a little quieter; we had Alice nearly 2 months and she and Dash wrestled nearly every waking moment of that.  We're really happy that Alice is going to have a canine companion in her forever home!  And of course we know she's going to get loved to pieces by her humans!