How cute is this little guy? Saved from ihasahotdog dot com.

It's kind of how I felt today...for whatever-bloomin-reason, I have no idea. Got up early (8.30ish), gamed for almost two hours, showered, and headed for the Patch to hunt and gather for the week (read: grocery shop). We stopped for first breakfast at Denny's - gotta love the make-your-own-Grand Slam. Nom nom nom...

Hit up the ECE (read: Mart of Wal), and actually only wound up spending like $55! How? you might ask? There are several reasons:

1. There are only two of us

2. Dog food (for the dogs) and kitty food (for the rats) only needs to be purchased about every two weeks or so

3. About once a month, we become hoarders - buy loads of meat, frozen and canned veggies and fruits, breads, pizza; you name it, we've probably got it in the cart - and spend about $150

Unfortunately, we've noticed that Daisy (our Heinz 57 variety mutt) has been scratching... LOADS. She's got some hot spots, and we discovered they both have fleas! ACK! Two weekends ago, we sprayed the dog yard for fleas, flies, skeeters, grubs, ants, and the like (apparently, we need to do it once a week or so). So, we cleaned out the doghouse of all the remaining old straw and dirt and such.

*Note on the doghouse: it's three years old, designed and built by yours truly, painted, shingled, everything. This doghouse could have held two St. Bernards. Alas, we only have two mid-sized dogs weighing about a hundred pounds together. They love that house because the only way these two could be any closer would be if they were from the same litter.

However, when we moved some things around, we found some rotting corners where buggies were getting in behind the straw in the doghouse. Boo buggies. So we moved the doghouse. It sits on a horse barn rubber mat (so that water wouldn't collect underneath - which it didn't). Moving the mat led to the discovery of sixty-seven zillion ants! Got out the hose and sprayed them. They're dead now, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it.

Anyhoo... Mr. Realist destroyed the doghouse (it has served its purpose), and we scrambled to buy a new one. This one's insulated plastic. A bit smaller than the other one, but they both fit inside. :) $189...gone in a nanosecond.

So, we bought some flea shampoo, and gave them both outside baths. They're clean and flea-free and fluffy and smell like clean dogs. The four of us relaxed in the yard while we dried. Put Neosporin on their wounds and biospot (flea prevention) on their backs. Alas, we'll have to flea treat them twice a month and bathe them once a month just because the flies/fleas/little biting bastardos are horrid this year.

Tomorrow, I start our weight-loss challenge at work. $20, eight weeks. Every two weeks, the person who lost the most percentage based off of beginning weight wins 10% of the pot. Weeks four, six, and runner-up for eight get the same. Winner of the eight weeks gets the remaning 60%. Gonna have Kool-aid instead of high-calorie sodas. Starting over on the 30-Day Challenge in WiiActive. The last two weeks have been exhausting, and there were times I wasn't getting to bed until eleven pm anyway, let alone working out and then showering! Wish me luck and loss!

Enjoy, and Heepwah

Mrs. Dreamer