Wandering Aimlessly

1 internet search (non-professional diagnosis for the win!) +
2 trips to the appliance store (thanks, Jim's Appliances!) +
3 repair amateurs (Go Team Kate/Gen/Steve!) +
4 hours (give or take) +
$46 in parts (I can only imagine what a repairman would've cost) =

One Fixed Washing Machine. YAY! I'm still proud of us. :D

Also accomplished in the Weekend of Productivity:
* Bedroom chandelier raised so certain people no longer run into it with their face.
* New bed frame purchased, painted, and put together.
* Bedroom rearranged.

See?

I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but the bed is almost waist-high, and I have long legs. Also, pretend those pictures are centered. They were once, and will be again.

There were also trips to the grocery store made, meals cooked, shopping accomplished, movies watched, dogs exercised, and fun had. A successful Labor Day weekend if I do say so myself!

Posted by kate at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is Chloe's first birthday! It was November 19, 2008 when the very first posting on Take Me Home Rescue's website went up about a four-month-old timid little puppy they'd just found. It's been a long road between then and now! She's been with us just over three months, and I couldn't be happier. She's such a sweet, fun, loving puppy! Happy birthday, Chloe!

Posted by kate at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Found this and thought I'd play along!

* Post 12 pictures you currently have on your hard drive that you think are self-expressive.
* NO CAPTIONS! It must be like we're speaking with images and we have to interpret your visual language just like we have to interpret your words.
* They must ALREADY be on your hard drive - no googling or flickr!
* You do NOT have to answer any questions about any of your pictures if you don't want to. You can make them as mysterious as you like. Or you can explain them away as much as you like.

Posted by kate at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, Chloe made a friend! Of the canine variety! She was finally able to properly meet Emma, the boxer next door. At first, Chloe was a little timid and she really didn't know what to make of Emma's energetic lunging and pouncing. It wasn't long before she tried it out for herself, and pretty soon they were tearing around the yard, tugging their respective people around by the leash, and the tails were wagging wildly. It was pretty fantastic!

I'm pretty sure now that Chloe's well on her way to becoming a normal dog. LOOK OUT, WORLD!

Posted by kate at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Aside from not doing well when left unsupervised out of her crate for any length of time (I'll spare the details), Chloe's improving in leaps and bounds. Today we took our first walk *outside* the complex. There was a point not too long ago that we couldn't get her around the corner 50 feet from our door. Over the weekend, she was frolicking in the little field closest to our condo! Prancing and running and rolling and it was ADORABLE. *g*

My mom emailed me specifically to ask for Chloe pictures, so here, have a few:

Passed out on the couch, she cracked her eyes open for the camera. Sleepy Chloe.

Taken today after our walk. Happy Chloe! (Um, next up, Grumpy, Dopey, and Sneezy. Maybe.)

Posted by kate at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was my day off work, but we were a little short-staffed, so I went in for half a day. I left at 1:00, came home and had lunch, and then went back -- with the dog. I think she needs to meet people and experience new places.

She did really well! She didn't know how to get into the back of my car, but once she was there, I think she enjoyed the ride. She actually seemed excited to be out in the parking lot at the office, and she *almost* came off as not scared at all inside with my coworkers. (I'm going to ignore the fact that she started to poop on the floor--woops!)

The tail has been wagging so much lately. I think she's becoming a normal dog. I'm so proud of her! :D

A few more pictures below, because I couldn't resist that FACE. :)

Continue reading "More Chloe-Pup" »

Posted by kate at 09:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today has been all about Chloe, even if she's oblivious to it. After hauling her out of her crate--she does NOT want to come out, but once she's out, she's fine--I spent the entire day parked on the couch while she dozed on her blanket on the floor in front of me. I tried to get her up and out of the house for a little bit, so we went out onto the front lawn, but a scary woman with her scary pigtailed toddler walked by aaaaaaall the way at the far end of the sidewalk, and that was the end of that. Back into the house we went.

We did work on "come" and some mat training, and just being comfortable outside, so it was a relatively productive day.

Monet has ventured down to the bottom of the stairs where the baby gate is a few times. Once, she came all the way into the living room, but as soon as she remembered there was a puppy there, she turned right around and fled back upstairs. I think she'll come around soonish.

For Mom, because the ears are from her:

Posted by kate at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, we have a dog!

The trainer brought Chloe over at about 5:30, and we did some mat training and some exploring of the kitchen, living room, and yard just outside the front door. She did extremely well, much better than I expected her to!

We've pretty much just been hanging out. We had our first accident, which I didn't notice until I slipped in it. Ew. Let's hope that was the end of that. Ha. Monet was getting curious, lurking on the stairs, so I brought her down and introduced them. Even that went pretty well! Chloe's now sleeping in her crate*, and she's SO CUTE OMG!

Excuse me while I be a proud mommy. *g*

*I have to say, I never imagined I'd have a crate for my dog. It always seemed like doggie jail! I guess with a shy-to-the-extreme pup, it's her Safe Place. She obviously likes being in it, so we'll see how that goes.

Posted by kate at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had a major geek moment at work this week. A work geek moment, which I never, ever thought would happen. But! A customer came in to deposit some cash she'd found in her house after her husband passed away, and she had a $500 bill. That she was just going to deposit! LIKE THAT!! I had never seen a $500 bill. I knew they'd once existed, sure, but I kind of figured they were extinct like the dinosaurs. (I had lunch at Subway, and they have a sign posted saying they won't even take bills over $20 anymore!)

Anyway, this was a 1928 $500 bill in pretty good condition with verbiage on it saying it's redeemable for gold. I googled it and found three 1928 $500 bills for sale on ebay; one was going for $3,750 and the other two were a set, going for $39,500. I MEAN. !!!! She was going to deposit it. For $500. That piece of paper is worth anywhere for a couple thousand to a couple dozen thousand dollars! Holy cow. (She ended up keeping it, by the way.)

It was totally the most exciting thing to happen at work since probably the day we accidentally tripped the alarms and the smokin' hot practically-SWAT team showed up.

PRETTY COOL, HUH? *g*

Posted by kate at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since I'm catching up on the last several weeks, March 29th was the Los Angeles Supernatural Convention. Last year, I went to the whole weekend and it ended up being kind of stressy. This year, I decided to only go to Sunday's panels to hear Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, both of them together, and Misha Collins speak. It was a lot of fun, totally stress-free, and I'm glad I did it this way. It was part of my Taking Advantage of Living in LA thing.

(Click for the whole set of pictures)

Posted by kate at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)