This Post is About The Dog

I figured I'd make it simple for you folks who don't care about my dog.

I'm becoming one of those Instagrammers who posts pictures of their dogs 24/7.. but dawwww isn't she cute?! She's pondering her little doggie existence. 

First I wanted to share with you my Petsmart Grooming experience. I'd give it a 9/10 purely because I hate numbers and nothing ever gets a 10. 

Price: Reasonable I paid $46 for a 60 pound short haired dog. Prices vary for size, hair length and add on packages.

Product: I purchased the hound package along with the "Brett Michaels Rockin Top Dog Package" Not because I have an affinity for Brett Michaels, simply because the cologne spray that comes with it is heavenly..

Service: I went to the Suffolk/Harbor View (Virginia) PetsMart in hopes that the higher income clientele would have encouraged them to hire more upstanding individuals. My groomer was Brie. She was fantastic. Buttercup took to her quickly and calmly went with her. When I picked Buttercup up, her tail was wagging and she ran straight for me. 

When you pick up your dog PetsMart gives you a report of all of the services the dog received as well as commentary and suggestions from the groomer.

Some comments Brie made we had been aware (dry skin) of but something she brought to our attention was Buttercup's right ear. She has a severe over production of wax, which lead the groomer to believe she may have a yeast infection.

Well you guys know, we're moving in a week. There is no way we can afford a vet bill right now. We have plans to take her Monday the 23rd. I made Andy promise.

So I had to go online and find some home remedies that could possibly ebb the spread of the possible yeast infection so that Buttercup wouldn't be in even worse shape on Monday due to our negligence. 

A few things I found: 

 

Garlic can be used as an antiseptic. Soak a fresh clove of garlic in olive oil overnight. In the morning, apply a few drops of the olive oil to the inside of the affected ear. Do this twice a day for at least a week.

Vitamin E Oil-  Use a syringe to place a few drops inside the ear for pain relief. (Break open a Vitamin E capsule)

Vitamin C- A daily vitamin C supplement in a dog's food can help to calm  the inflammation in the ear canal. Although one should always check with your vet before administering vitamins to your 

dog, because Vitamin C is water soluble, and any extra will simply come out in her urine, 

I researched the proper dosage for her weight (500mg/day) and have watched her daily to see the results. I suggest speaking to the vet though, many vitamins are fat soluble and can hurt the dog if they are taking too much.

Vinegar- Vinegar is acidic, so it efficiently battles the buildup of yeast bacteria in the ear. You can use Apple Cider Vinegar or White, it doesn't matter. First you clean out your dog's ears with the ear wash you can find at any local pets store. Afterward, wipe out any extra moisture with a tissue. Make a mixture of half water/half vinegar and soak a cotton swap to gently apply to the inside of the dog's ear. 

Buttercup loathes it. She runs the other way if I sit on the couch and call her to me. Heh. Poor kid.. between the Flea medication/Peppermint extravaganza and this... she'll be scarred for a while. It's a big deal to me to keep this under control until we can get her to a vet. I'm hoping the vet won't scold me. 

She's laying on the couch next to Andy while he does his piles of German homework and hasn't shown any signs of pain or discomfort as of yet. 

Well folks....

 I have been up since 4 am.. and I think it's about time for some shut eye...

but first.... dawwwww... 

Long Time No Share Lots of Personal Information on the Internet..

The dogs are walked.

Augie is fascinated by his Baby Einstein movie in his bouncy seat.

Haddie is still at her Daddy's house. 

Who knew that having a 4 year old out of daycare could be so exhausting? 

If any mom's want to set up a play date before we leave... I will fall over trying to get there.

Laundry is started and folded.

Dishes are done. 

Hopefully now I can sit down and catch everybody up.

Some information I have learned recently:

*Do not Use Quicken Loans as a mortgage lender

*No matter how much you prepare for something, 

educate yourself and organize your life, home 

purchases have too many variables, they will never

be simple.

*I have an incredibly high tolerance for stress.

No nervous breakdown as of yet.

When we first called Quicken Loans the day we made an offer on our home, Nigel Levy (yes I'm calling him out. I don't like the man much) told us that Andy's alimony would not be counted against him when buying the home because he and his ex-wife had agreed to end it as soon as she moved in with her fiancé (co-habitation=no alimony), which would be 2-3 months. No big deal. 

We made an offer. We paid the earnest money deposit. We asked for a VA inspection as soon as possible because we wanted to know that everything was going to be fine with the home. We got it. We paid $400. The inspection came back great. Three simple fixes... windows had to be scraped and painted, some power washing, and the door to the crawl space had to be replaced...

No more than $1000 worth of work if the seller paid someone to do everything. We are perfectly willing to accept a counter offer for slightly more to compensate for that. The appraisal came back at 58k which means if we purchased the home we would have 8k in equity to make aesthetic changes. 

We got the email back around 9pm, Monday. I cried I was so happy.

Andy put in his two weeks last Friday. He accepted a job in Greensboro making what he's making now but he will be driving 2 hours less per day for his commute. I am so excited to establish something tighter with his boys. Everything was going so good. 

The underwriters for Quicken called us 2 days ago. The home that Andy's name is still on is going into foreclosure and they wanted to know what he had to say about it. He had a divorce decree that relieved him of all responsibility. In that divorce decree, was an alimony statement. They told us that we have to have legal proof of the ending of alimony by closing for them to give us the house. 

I feel.... cheated. We have been nothing but honest about our financial situation with these people. We made life decisions based on their word. We're uprooting our family September 21st and moving in with Andy's parents with Haddie and Augie until we can straighten this whole mess out. 

Two adults+Two elderly adults+Two kids under 5+2 dogs+2 dogs= Oh. MY. God.

His parents are being insanely cool about it. 

We got our U-haul from Colonial Heights,VA for $305 for the initial rental. .40/mile over 261 miles which is what it takes to get from Colonial Heights to High Point. With a 20 foot truck rental, we were given a 10 x15ft storage unit for free. After the first month it will be 100/month which means we will be looking for something to rent in Greensboro as a back up. We found a 3 br town house for more than twice what we would be paying for the mortgage at Denny St. 

I'm heartbroken. 

I'm overwhelmed. 

I'm confused. 

I'm tired. Augie got up at 4 am. 

What on earth do you do when you put all of your eggs in one basket and some douche bag decides to come step on them? Make some french toast and pray they haven't stepped in dog poop recently.

Speaking of dog poop. I promised a blog about Buttercup's health issues and what I've been doing to combat them until we can get her to a vet.. I'll have to do that tomorrow. 

We have a date to talk to the Underwriter from Quicken today. He offered us an FHA loan with more down at closing but we've been budgeting for the VA so we're unsure that we can afford it. Andy is going to make it a three-way call and if he decides to be nice about things, I have plans to give the man a piece of my mind. If Evil Underwriter is unwilling to discuss it, I will file a formal complaint with the company. 

I have a big mouth, but I'm usually all bark and no bite. Not in this case. We have made promises to sellers. To back out because we can't get the financing gives others cause to question our integrity.

 I do not appreciate that in the least. 

I'll keep you posted.

"I Don't Want No Corn.."

                                                       I officially got dog last Thursday.

Augie with Buttercup :)

  She's 5 years old. Her mom is a lab/rot mix and her dad was a hound.

60 pound Hound= Stinky

My parents have had a rabbit beagle(Hound) named Max for 10 years and it has been my mother's personal plight to fight his stink. Knowing this, and having the sensitive nose that I do, I went in search of stink prevention.

I found a few websites that mention not bathing them more than once a week but the main issue mentioned was diet. No wheat no corn no soy.  So I went to Walmart and picked up Rachael Rae's super duper healthy doggie food for 15 bucks. It had a pretty package :)

All of the suggestion sites say to READ THE LABEL. (Click there to read it yourself) I'm glad I did.
It was the same basic ingredients as Beneful, Old Roy, etc. Specifically soy and "Corn Gluten Meal"

After reading a few more labels, I resentfully ventured over to Petsmart to purchase the flea and tick medicine and find us the Filet Minion of dog food.

Before you label me, I say resentfully because I've never been one to purchase Buffalo meat for my pets. I don't believe in giving them only table scraps but I figured the cheap food was good enough. I mean, Andy likes ramen.

After 30 minutes of asking questions, reading labels and weighing prices, I quickly grabbed a bag of this before I could change my mind:

The results have been positive. She still smells like dog... but comparatively, she smells like a better smelling dog. Also, for other hound owners fighting the good fight: we used some Q-tips and cleaned her ears thoroughly, this helped A LOT!

Flea and Tick medication. In the name of all that is holy, that is expensive. I spent $50 on the K-9 Advantage for Large Breed dogs. This is a 4 pack. Our dogs don't usually get ticks but our yard is a veritable flea extravaganza so we decided that this would be satisfactory. I don't know about you but $300 a year is too much to spend on Flea and tick control. I decided to give the dogs the chemical treatment every other month and find a less expensive method to supplement during the extra month. I found this recipe:

8oz. Apple Cider Vinegar
4oz. Warm water
1/2 tbsp Salt
1/2 tbsp Baking Soda

Mix dry first, then wet. Baking soda will react a little. Shake and spray all over animal.

I bought everything on this list for around 5$.
MASSIVE baking soda :2$- Walmart
AC Vinegar: 1.50$- Walmart
Bottle: 1$ -Dollar Tree
Salt: .50$ Walmart



I haven't been able to stand the smell of vinegar since I was pregnant with my daughter. This is one of the main reasons I tend to use the toxic stuff to do things like clean house.. Since the toxic stuff is a lot more than $5 in this case, I had to come up with something.

My sister-in-law is the queen of all things natural. When I have questions, I seek her wisdom. I should probably come bearing gifts so she doesn't get sick of me and my questions, but she's extraordinary sweet. I needed to know where to find something potent enough to mask the smell of Vinegar. Heidi suggested Trader Joe's Tea Tree Oil. This is next on my list of things to try because Walmart just so happened to have Peppermint extract for about 1$ per ounce. I got the larger bottle and doubled the recipe. After adding the entire bottle of peppermint extract, Buttercup smelt like Violet Beauregard on a Wintergreen kick as opposed to rotten pickles.



I sprayed her yesterday and I haven't seen her scratch since. I have yet to subject Millie, our 15 year old Minpin mutt, to such torture. She already hates me enough for bringing a new dog home. I think I will soon though, because today she actually brought herself to snuggle on the couch with Haddie and Buttercup. Well that is, as long as Buttercup knew her place.... at the other end of the couch.

Our soon to be new home has a large fenced in back yard that I'm looking forward to letting the dogs run around in. I hate tying up Buttercup but she's so big she can't just run loose. We take her on long walks every night before bed.

Tonight I am taking her to Petsmart in Harbor View to be groomed before we spend the weekend at Andy's parents house. Click the link for different care packages. I think the prices are very reasonable.

We'll be spending time with the boys and finalizing everything with his new job. So far, moving is still scheduled for the weekend of the 20th. The appraisal has been ordered. Everyone cross their fingers.