Giving back to end 2017

During the year, we do our best to donate and give money to charities we believe in and donate blood, but we have never done a community give back.

Today we went to one of my client’s location to help put together backs for the homeless. The bags were going to the VFW and then the Women’s Shelter.

Holly, the owner of MpowerD, who put this together, has been doing this for 25 years and the last 4 years have been in memory of her brother.

It was a great time.

When your day doesn't go as planned, Karma comes back for forgiveness

I tell you what - when your day doesn't start well, it continues to not go well, but you never know, Karma might come back for forgiveness.

I did not sleep well on Wednesday night.  My alarm was to go off at 5:30 AM for networking, but I was woken by Theo having to go out at 4:30 AM.  At least he is such a good dog to let me know when he needs to go out.

Meetings for the morning didn't go as planned.  No biggy, just go with the flow and ended up getting more done in the office than I thought.

My "hockey game" schedule was screwed up because usually the games start at 7 pm and we need to head out by like 5.  Last night's game didn't start until 7:30 so we needed to head out around 5:30.  I was ready to head out at 5 and then remembered, we still had time.

5:30 and we were on our way to the hockey game in DC when the tire light came on in Dan's car.  We were probably about 10 miles from home. He pulled over on the toll road (dangerous at night), and Dan thought he saw something in the tire (ended up being a rock), so we went to the nearest gas station to check the air/add air if needed.

The pressure on all 4 tires (which we just purchased in October from Hogan & Son) were all good, but weren't sure about making it to DC, so looked up the nearest "Goodyear" on the map since we purchased them on our Goodyear credit card. Thinking if something is wrong with the tire, it's covered under Goodyear.

Started driving and lo and behold, it was the Herndon location of Hogan and Sons! When we were getting closer, I was starting to wonder if it was going to be their location or not, but really wasn't sure at all.

We arrived there at 6:40 PM.  Dan was hoping they could plug the tire (still thinking there was something in the tire), and we would be on our way. Mel, the employee working, was hesitant at first because they still had work to do AND it was close to closing, plus he had never seen us before.  He said that we could leave the car and definitely work on it tomorrow. The whole time I'm thinking, well, there goes the game.  Too late to sell them too.

He did take the time to do a visual inspection and as soon as he asked when was the last time we had service and Dan said it was at Hogan and Son in Leesburg, he pulled the car in.  He thought that it might have been the core of the valve stem on one of the tires and changed that. It still didn't fix the light, so said that all of the the tires were ok and good to drive on.  He believed that all 4 tire sensors went and gave us an estimate.  

I asked what we owed, and he did not charge us anything.  He did ask for an online review.  I guess they had have a bad manager previously and they are trying to change their perception. As soon as he started helping us out, I thought about sending them something from SendOutCards.

We got out of there by 7:30 PM and only missed the 1st period of the game. 

When we got to the arena, we got our food and we were standing outside of our section since there was only about 5 minutes left in the period.  We weren't even standing there for that long, when some guy came up to us and said, "Would you like our tickets?  We are leaving.  They are right at the glass."  I'm like, "Are you serious?  You just made our day.  We were late getting here because of car troubles." We walked over to the section and decided to wait until the period ended.  After the flood of people coming up, we went down to the seats.  Yup - right at the glass. 

We settled in, and the next thing you know, this guy said, "You're in my seat."  Both of us were thinking, "Oh shit. We've been duped. Nope. He just meant we needed to be over one because the seats weren't numbered right.  I tried to chit chat with him throughout the game, but he was more interested in talking to the photographer who was in the aisle.  He was cool though when he did talk to me.

We made it on (national) TV.

I forgot how much I liked the seats at the glass.  We used to have seats there a couple of years ago.  Dan, on the other hand, would rather be up a ways to see the whole ice.

The car is at the Leesburg location today for a thorough inspection, and we are hoping that it's not all 4 sensors!  However, more than likely, it's better to changed all 4 sensors because then next thing you know, the next one will go. Since I know the manager (from my networking group), I texted him this morning and even though he's on vacation, he gave them a heads up that we were coming up.

Cashing in on my online income!

It's that time of the year when I cash out on all of my online accounts.  There were a couple that I didn't have enough to cash out on (Swagbucks, Ibotta, and CheckOut51), and one I decided to wait for another 500 points to then cash out.

Anyway, here's what I got!

Mypoints
$10 Walmart gift certificate
$10 Walmart gift certificate
$10 Kohl's gift certificate
$10 Kohl's gift certificate

Recyclebank
$10 off $50 coupon at Harris Teeter

SavingStar
$32.27 cash to Paypal account

Upside
$65.36
I also need to go shopping at a gas station convenient store by the end of the year - I have $29.87 in credit to use....Now, what to get at a convenient store!

Interested in earning from free money or stuff?  Check out my Online Income page and join as many programs as you want - they are all FREE!

Our Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve day is full of cooking, an early dinner, and opening presents.

We always start out day with making knots and zeppole (or at least what we call zeppole).  Our fryer was done last year. We got it as a wedding gift (I think), so it was like 20 years old.  It was getting so hot and the temperature gauge did not work.

Early this year, we purchased an air fryer.  It works ok with certain things - like French fries and a couple of recipes that are made for it, but today, we really wanted it to work for knots and zeppole.

We had two fails.

The first was using gluten free flour for the knots.  It did NOT work well two fold.  First the flour isn’t the same consistency as regular flour when it comes to making the dough for the knots.  It took awhile to be able to make knots.  Next fail was the air fryer.  It didn’t work at all.  I put little balls of dough in it to try it out and put the time to the same as doughnuts.  They were cooked, but it tasted bland.  It tasted a little better with the cinnamon-sugar on it, but still didn’t taste the same.

So to the back up plan.  Old school oil heated up in a pan.  Then they came out a little better.  They cooked better, browned, and then added the cinnamon-sugar.  Success.

The rest of dinner went well - the zeppole went well, the spaghetti and the oranges.

Presents went well.  Theo has a wonderful first Christmas.  He loved all of his presents - 3 toys and a bunch of treats.

Dan got candy and 2 TV seasons of a show he wanted - Ash vs Evil Dead, plus I got him some Star Wars sleepwear. He got me a Shar-Pei book that I wanted and a window cling that says I love my Shar-Pei, along with a bracelet, a scarf/wrap and some candy canes, fruit and peanuts.

Tomorrow will be cinnamon rolls for breakfast and Chinese for lunch!

When you trust someone to watch your dog....

About 6 years ago, we dropped off Esa and Zed for a two night overnight stay at Howl of a Good Time while Dan and I went to an outside concert.

The location was recommended by our neighbor because they took their dog there.  We didn’t just drop them off, we researched and visited before dropping them off.

It was uneventful (except for Esa not wanting to get in the car to leave). Zed did fine with the big dogs and we were told that he stayed most of the time with the person who was overseeing everything.

I do remember a couple of months later, our neighbor told us that another neighbor took their puppy there and it was killed by another dog who was there.  I don’t know if the dog was the owner’s dog or a boarder.

Anyway, we were shocked to see a press release this weekend that the owner was charged with animal cruelty because a small dog was injured and the location owner did not take it to the vet in time.  The dog later died.

This is so sad, because this is the guy’s (and I’m sure other people who work with him) livelihood.  He seemed like a very nice guy, but obviously one (major) mistake and he is paying.

20 years later, and still know how to skate!

For the first time in about 20 years, Dan and I went ice skating.  One of my friends, Kobby, has been asking about going since about July and we FINALLY went today.

I wasn’t sure how I would do.  I figured it would come back and sure enough it did - at least the basics - keeping my balance, basic stopping, strides.  But let me say this, my feet HURT! And I am a little sore.

Since Dan and I did so well, he mentioned about going again, so hopefully, we will.

We prefer Kinder Eggs

We were shopping and saw the US version of Kinder Eggs, called Kinder Joy.  Due to the toy inside the candy, they are not available in the US, but we figured they would taste the same.  NOPE.  Not even the same candy.

It was still fun to put the toy together.

Painted Rocks

I have heard about rock painting for a while and on our way to Canada in August, we found a couple and Dan kept saying “You should start painting rocks.” What? You want me to take on another hobby?  

When we were in Canada, my friend Suzanne was asking me all about the painted rocks.  So when I saw that there was going to be a Mandala rock painting in Frederick, Maryland, I told Dan that I wanted to go and he immediately said, “You should ask Suzanne to go.” So we went to the class!

We had a great time at a place called AR Workshop. I dind’t even know this placed exsisted and there is one right down the road from us.  They do different craft workshops.   The place is really cool and is a franchise.  Which would be really cool to own.

We had a great time learning how to do Mandala rocks. It is easy to do - we used pencils ✏️ (the eraser side), skewers, and the handle side of a paint brush. 

I stuck with the blues while Suzanne used all different colors. I really like it, so may eventually do it.

The funny thing is, the teacher was in her 20s, and didn’t know anything about The Kindness Rocks Project, and we had to tell her all about it.

A night out, and a trip to the doctor

I finally went to the doctor today and got some antibiotics.  I also had a strep test done, but that was negative.  I was wiped out afterwards, but feel a little better now.

Last night I went to the soft opening of Naughty Girl Donuts in Sterling.  It was fun and I got a gift bag and purchased a couple of donuts for Dan and a cupcake for me.

I saw a couple of people that I knew and met up with one of my BNI family members.

I signed up for rock painting class on Sunday.  I’ve been wanting to try it, and a friend signed up making it show up in my Facebook feed, so decided I’d go.  I’m looking forward to it since it’ll give me a chance to try it without spending too much to try it out.

The last Italian class

So for the last 10 weeks, I have been taking an adult Italian class.  I was worried about taking it because the last time I tried to take Italian, the teacher was so ahead of me and everyone else already knew Spanish, so I was way out of my league.

I’m happy to say it was totally different this time!  I feel that I have started to learn some (but need to learn a lot more), and enjoyed the class.

We had a little party today with everyone bringing in something.  It was a great way to end the class.

I plan on taking the next level if it is offered through the county school. Otherwise, I’ll be asking the teacher to be my tutor.  I’m almost panicked about going to Italy and not being able to speak the lnguage/not understanding anything.

There’s still time to study.....

Lazy Sunday

Actually, not a lazy Sunday since we got some thing around the house.  Dan finished up the holiday decorations outside and I finished decorating the tree.

I haven’t felt too well - obviously the sore throat was sinuses because now I am coughing and nauseous from the coughing.  I’m not sleeping well because I’ll be asleep and all of the sudden I start coughing.

I was able to have a little photo shoot with Theo in front of the Christmas tree.🎄  So that was fun.  I can’t get over how well he does with putting stuff on (a bow, and a Santa suit).  Esa never liked to put on stuff.  She was ok with the collars, but that was it.

Catching up again....

Man, I’ve been terrible at trying to get this blog thing going again! So here I am, trying to catch up again. I now have a keyboard for my iPad so hopefully, I’ll be a little better.

Today and yesterday have been lazy days.  Yesterday, I felt sick with a sore throat (that’s been around since Tuesday), so just did some online shopping. Today, we went out to lunch and to Walgreens and then started with the holiday decorations.

Thanksgiving, Dan’s family came over (his mom, and her husband Harry, and his sister Donna and her husband Bill). It was the first meeting between Donna, Bill and Theo.  Theo did so well with everything - the cooking, the people, the food sitting around, etc.

Before everyone came over, we watch the National Dog Show presented by Purina on TV.  Of course, I was looking fo the Shar Pei - I was shocked to see that the handler was the breeder that I know!

What about those crazy thoughts of extremely changing your lifestyle?

I LOVE watching the tiny house shows and following all of the people who live in RVs online.  I almost named this entry "This Wild Idea," but there is already a blog out there by that name.

I just think about the FREEDOM to travel and see everything that is out there. Of course, this is our plan when we retire, but what about NOW?

It's A LOT of downsizing, but what a freedom from STUFF - less cleaning and maintenance of things.

Oh and let's not forget about following the minimalists out there online. I saw an interview with a girl who said, minimalism is your definition.  Still, it's hard to get rid of stuff that you have accumulated.  ESPECIALLY if there are two of you. 

You both bring that baggage of stuff and your mindset has to be the same.  I have a lot of stuff that wasn't mine, but was inherited.  THAT is hard to get rid of - because of the sentimental  reasons.  I even have a hard time of getting rid of worn out toys of Esa and Zed's because of the memories. 

I DO take pictures of the things before getting rid of them - because of the memories.  Which leads me to scrapbooking - so many projects to record those memories!

I digress - Back to living small - Let's not forget - I've NEVER lived in an RV.  Just played in one at our neighbors and I did sleep in one when I was 5 with our family when we visited my aunt and uncle in Florida.

In the meantime, I guess make a plan to downsize so when the time comes, it will be mostly done.  Now - how is that going to work?  How do I make a gameplan for that?

*note - our plan when we retire is to have an RV, but have a house too (at the beach).  

What if you did live your life like the gurus say?

So I think it was last year, I started reading Living like Oprah. I started it towards the end of vacation and never finished it.  Yesterday, I went to a seminar about picturing the life you want, have a dream book, meditate to reach those goals, have a dream book, etc.

I was thinking today, what if you did do all of those things that gurus say to do?  Is there enough time in the day?  Think about it
Sleep - 8 hours
Work - 8 hours (and let’s now forget lunch time and your commute)
Work out - 20 minutes
Meals - 1 hour 30 minutes ( you know, you are supposed to eat slow)
There’s almost 18 hours

And then you are supposed to work on yourself
Reading - 30 minutes
Journaling - 30 minutes
Mediating - 30 minutes
There’s 19.5 hours

Let’s not forget the dog
Walk dog - 40 minutes

Oh I forgot preparing dinner - that’s at least 30 minutes.

Then there’s preparing for the next day - 30 minutes

There”s about 22 hours and that’s just off the top of my head!

Long story short, definitely need to figure out what works for you. I like my 8(or even more) hours of sleep  (including a nap). I enjoy walking the dog for more than 40 minutes a day. I WISH I could read more and journal more. I have a hard enough time with doing it let alone 30 minutes!

So, what do I choose dto do? I just it just depends on how I feel. Right now, I feel like it’s time for bed.

Theo's first Halloweeen

Every year, it seems like we get more and more kids.  We are on a PRIME street/neighborhood.  This year, we bought a whole (reusable) grocery bag FULL of candy - so probably like 20 bags of candy (and only spent like $25 because of coupons).

We always bring the pups out - along with their outfits.  Esa had collars and then Z had costumes and a Halloween sweater.  They always did well.  They loved seeing everyone and of course, didn't want to be left inside.

2 of Esa's collars

Theo's bandana - we picked this up at Barktoberfest

We really weren't sure how Theo would do, but definitely knew we needed to keep training him on meeting people and not reacting.

Dan held him the whole night and I handed out candy.  Theo did pretty well unless there were just so many kids/people that he was just overwhelmed.  Or the kids were running. Overall, I thought he did well especially since it was all so new to him. 

Can I have some candy? How about a treat?

He got some pets and was good with those people.  Although, sometimes he did jump at them (and bark/growl) as they were moving away from him - that was only a couple of times.

The teenagers were the ones that came up and petted him.  One teenage guy even came over and said, I just want to pet your dog.

Obviously, we tired him out last night because this morning, I woke up before him and it still took him a few minutes to get out of the chair and go outside.  Then he came back in and laid back down.

Oh, and I bet you anything, we were the only house that handed out dog treats for the dogs who came by too.

Furnace issues, or are they.....

So Friday, we had our furnace maintenance done.  Twice a year, we have a tech come in and check the system just to make sure it works ok, and they clean out whatever they are supposed to.

Friday (and the weekend) was a pretty warm day.  By the time the tech got here, it was like 75 in the house - yes, our house warms up like crazy with the sun. So the tech put it up way high to check it, did what they were supposed to do, and said everything was working fine.

Monday morning, I woke up and it was 63 degrees in the house while the furnace was set at 68.  I immediately called the company and set up a time for them to come out. 

A different tech came out and as soon as he opened up the closet, saw the issue - the 1st tech forgot to re-connect a hose after cleaning it out.😑 Seriously???!!!

Of course, we were just glad that nothing was wrong with the furnace.

First game of the season and scrapbooking

Last night was the first game of our 5 game pack. 

Our seats are a little down from our previous seats.  We are in the same row but in seats 7 and 8, which is a couple down from our 12 and 13 seats which were at the end of row.  Still some good seats!

The game was awful! They had played the night before, but that's not an excuse because the Panthers played the previous night too.

Dan had to work yesterday, so our schedule was a little off.  I was supposed to be a scrapbooking crop all weekend, with the evening at the game, but I ended up staying up until midnight on Friday, then Theo got sick right after Dan left (at 3 AM) and then I just decided to stay home and do some work. Which was really fine because I really wanted to get a couple of things done for CVBS (my company).

Today, I did come to the crop, but I'm working on some stuff that I just haven't been able to get around to for the business.  

It's funny, I say work, but it really doesn't feel like work - because I LIKE what I do! So - back to what I enjoy doing!

Catching up

I'm still not in the habit of blogging again.  I enjoy it, but just don't sit down and do it at the end of the day.

A week ago Saturday, we took Theo to The Blessing of the Animals Event.  We just went before the blessing and visited the Loudoun Animal Services mobile adoption since our friend Erin is the driver and then to see our friend, Holli with Compassionate Animal Communication.

Theo did will with everyone.  Everyone was all over him wanting to meet him.  Then of course I remembered I hadn't made him any business cards yet.

So today, the business cards have been made and ordered!

Now it's time to really get blogging and setting up the website!

Community yard sale today!

I always go back and forth about doing a yard sale - it's a lot of time and work and then people just want a bargain and don't want to even pay the low prices I put on things.

Today we did ok - we didn't get rid of too much, but made $31 - better than nothing.  The leftovers are being donated this week.  To Lupus, FOHA (to their upscale thrift store) and then Birthday Blessings Inc who is a friend's charity.

The things learned today -

1.  Always ask for double of what you want.
The person is going to offer less.  This happened SEVERAL times today.  I had a BRAND NEW purse that I was selling for $5 and was offered $3 a couple of times.  Come on!  Same with a brand new clock - I was asking $10 and then they offered $5.  Same with stuffed animals - I was asking $1 for a beanie baby (brand new), and they offered 2/$1.  I rather just donate and get a better tax deduction!

2.  People do not pay attention when driving around at yard sales.
I don't know how many times people drove by looking at our yard and there was either a car behind them or coming towards them.  Same with just pulling over at a moments notice.

One of our neighbors came over with their dog, Apryl - who has met Theo before, but he was in one of his moods and was growling at her.  Then he was growling at Apryl's dad too.

Don't know if it was because we were at our house and he was "protecting" it or what.

One of the things that I got rid of was a bunch of containers (shoeboxes and larger containers). I used them A LOT when I was stockpiling.  I haven't been stockpiling or couponing that much since I started my business (and that was 4 years ago!).  It became more of a chore than fun.

I still use coupons, but it's mostly online coupons that I print with MyPoints.com and using Couponmom.com for the sales on that week. Even then, there are times, when I'll do all of the work (look up the sales, match the coupons) and then not go shopping.

When I do have multiple coupons for items and they are on sale, I do stock up, NOTHING like I used to do.  I think some of it is because we are eating a little better - less processed/boxed foods. Still, when I do have a major shopping spree, I do save majorly - like 60% savings.

OH! We had a really good "dining" and "shopping" experience today.  We went to Chipotle - the one we always go to and it was CLEAN - like they were on top of cleaning as soon as the customer was gone, and the floor was swept.  I could tell that the manager was at the register because she gave excellent customer service -saying the extra comments, etc. I said something to her before we left - that we hadn't seen this place this clean in a long time.  I asked if she was new and she said she wasn't but I don't think we have ever seen her.

Then we went to CVS for water. The cashier was AWESOME. Chit chatting and asking if we needed help and making a joke "getting some water uh?" (because we got 4 cases).

Tell you what we were both in a good mood when we got home - just because it was a memorable dining and shopping experience.

Theo is my protector

Mama had a scare this morning on the walk.  We were walking the path and as we were coming up to an alley way, a loose dog (blond lab) came running up to Theo.  Then another loose dog (black lab). 

By that Theo was growling and I was freaking out and couldn't tell but thought the black lab was attacking/Theo was attacking.  I was just screaming and saying, get the black one because the wife was getting the blond lab who wasn't doing anything.

Everyone was fine, the owners, who I think I have met before, were nice.  They apologized and you can tell they are responsible and understanding owners.  

We stood there and chatted awhile.  They understood, of course, Theo was going to growl when two dogs coming running up - he was trying to protect me. 

Mentally, we (both Dan and I) need to get over the fact that we know he was in a dog fight before at the shelter.  Because of that, we are guarded when we introduce him to other dogs AND we think that is why he growls at other dogs.

Anyway, hopefully, we'll be able to introduce the dogs another time when both are on leashes.

Friends of Homeless Animals fundraiser Barktoberfest

Today was a fun day.  We went to Barktoberfest which is FOHA's (Friends of Homeless Animals) yearly fundraiser.

Theo did GREAT!  He loved all of the attention - from the volunteers and from strangers who just wanted to meet him.

                

              

He was great with all of the other dogs around and was exhausted by the time we got home.

With Spartacus, another FOHA Alumni
who was at the rescue for a quite a while.  

We got a lot of freebies from the vendors and purchased a gift basket that FOHA had for purchase.

The best part was that we got to hear his story.  We met the person who originally picked him up from Southern Virginia.  She said that she thought he was an owner surrender.

The other story we got to hear was when he was surrendered from the adopter who had him for 2 months.  He was dropped off at Dog University for training. He ended up reacting to the situation and acting aggressive towards the trainer.  The trainer ended up telling the adopters that he should be returned to the rescue.  FOHA came and got him back.  The volunteer said that the trainer had been using a animal control pole like this to get him in the crate at night and to lead him around.  She told us that when they went to pick him up, they could hear him growling and the trainer pulling him down the stairway to him.  She said that as soon as Theo saw her and Jack, the volunteer who we met and still keep in touch with, Theo recognized them and his body relaxed.

The adopters have put a bad review on Yelp! saying that FOHA doesn't let adopters know of the history of the animal.  SO NOT TRUE! We read the surrender papers and how he was "aggressive" towards others.  ANY dog is going to become aggressive when put into an unfamiliar situation and with a stranger.  PLUS - Shar Peis are known for challenging, independent, stubborn, and LOYAL.  What kind of trainer doesn't know the KNOWN personalities of a breed?

I will say this - we SAW that personality in Theo during his first few days.  He challenged us to see who was in charge/whether he could trust us.  We saw such a change in him within the first month.

Theo is an AWESOME dog.  He has fit into our lives and we are so happy to have him in our lives. We love him A LOT and was meant to be with us.  It makes me so sad that he had to go through what he went through.  I'm so glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  What if the adopter didn't take him back to the FOHA?  What if they had just put him down?  It's amazing how good he is considering what he's gone through.