"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.

The Good the Bad and the.... What in the Heck?

Looked at a few houses today and decided to make an offer.

Before I tell you about the one we chose, I have to tell you about the ones we didn't.... because where's the fun in getting the good stuff first? 

So we saw the two homes in High Point. The first I already showed you, the second.... looked like this:

  

Check out that wallpaper. Circa 1950

Cute right?? It's a foreclosure. 70k downtown High Point... Cute neighborhood. Then we saw this:

That's right folks. It says DO NOT ENTER. Talk about a selling deterrent.  At 70k we felt that with the work that was going to be needed, it wasn't a good investment. If we had about 50k extra, it would have been great. 

Our realtor is from Winston. She is GREAT. Viola player for the Greensboro symphony. Totally eclectic. Totally cute. If you like suits... Maureen Michels is not for you. I like genuine people that are a little bit messy.. and she's perfect. A artsy dreamer with a realistic side. I think those make the best realtors. If you're moving to the Winston area shoot her an email at mmichels77@gmail.com or call her at 336-577-9245. 

Maureen knows the Winston area well and drove us around showing us home in some more "up and coming" neighborhoods. This usually means, semi ghetto with low crime. A few other homes in the area have usually been purchased by upper middle class families with vision. One home was in progress. A man was remodeling it with the intention of eventually selling. 70k with 3 bedrooms, adorable crown moulding.... but it's not finished yet. Sad face.

Finally Sink Street. A home we found on Realtor.com  4 bedrooms. 1 bath upstairs, one in the basement. The basement had a large workshop, a laundry room and bath with shower as well as what could be turned into a small loft-style apartment. 

  

(Left to right: "Apartment space" Bathroom and Laundry Room)

The bedrooms were huge and storage was everywhere. Complete with real wood paneling, the "den" had a build in desk and gas logs. Built in's everywhere. Andy.. was in love. 

Best part? The basement. Worst part? The neighborhood. Section 8 housing two homes down and across the street. The home directly across the street was currently housing approximately 10 people. Essentially? Sketchy-town. 

So? What did we decide? 

We saw 507 Derry St.  this morning at 9am. It was love at first analysis. 

Three bedrooms technically. There is a possibility for a fourth. Built in 1910. 

                        

(Left to Right: Upstairs bath with access to very large attic space, Upstairs BR, Massive Laundry Room)

(Left to Right: Fenced in backyard w/shed, Large kitchen--all that you see with that ugly floor is kitchen. It's much deeper than it looks, Staircase <3)

(Left to Right: Cary.. praying we buy the house... in the Living Room complete with built in and double sided fireplace, Dining room aka the other side of the double sided fireplace. Also with built-in. Can you say double sided gas logs?)

A bit of a story is tied to this house. We called John McCormick (Seller's Realtor- Great guy- See link for contact info if you'd like it) last week with the intention of seeing the home. He told the seller but there was a tenant inside and we couldn't get more images until Friday. John called me Thursday confirming an appointment for this morning and made mention that there had already been an offer. The seller is an investor with the desire for a family to purchase the home, not another investor. Because we had scheduled an appointment, the seller decided to hold off on accepting any offers until after we had seen it. That immediately gave me some serious respect for the man. 

It worked in his favor. We decided not to lowball him. The house is in great condition. HVAC is seven years old and the roof is two years old. Electrical work is up code. New plumbing. Bathrooms have been totally redone. 

Listing price is 49,900. We offered 49k and asked that he pay half of closing costs. 

His realtor believes that he will accept so essentially, we're waiting on the VA inspectors to tell us they will give us a loan for the house. We made a note that if the repairs required by the VA weren't too substantial, we would consider a counter offer that considered the cost of the repairs.

Ok. Now it's time for a nap.

Exploration

We tend to find houses on Cherry street. For example: Moldy Jonestown House. two floors and a basement that includes small one bedroom apartment. When walked in the front door Sunday morning, after throwing our kids in the car with packages of Pop-tarts and water bottles, we were pleasantly surprised to see something completely different than 413 Cherry which I blogged about on my Facebook. 

The walls were artfully painted a myriad of oranges, yellows, greens overlapping one another. This caused me to exhale the breath I had been holding. I wish I'd held it. "Finally.." I thought. Until I got upstairs. Behind a peeling piece of the hideous wallpaper starting at the stairwell and making it's way throughout the entirety of the upstairs hallway... I saw tiny black speckles.  At my persistence, Andy peeled it back a bit more to reveal even more speckles. That pit in my stomach started coming back.. but it was just a little mold upstairs right? Old wall paper? Something? Not so my dear friends. 

The children enjoy running throughout each house we visit and "claiming" bedrooms and in this case, clearing out any cobwebs. (yessssss....) Moments after Andy and I began to descend the stairs, Cole came running towards us telling us to come to the basement. Augie spit up all over my shirt,  Andy pulled out his flashlight and away we went. 

There was a small wet spot and minor mold build up near the water heater which I assume has a small leak.. but nothing major. After a few moments of the children talking very loudly we forcefully suggested they to go back upstairs and "explore" the back yard. The house is on almost an acre up on a cliff with a pretty decent view of the mountains while also overlooking Jonestown and Elkin. The back yard was over grown but we figured they didn't mind. As we analyzed the mold situation, we heard shouts from outside which, if you're a parent you know is never a good thing. In this case it was. The kids had found an entrance at the back of the house to a small one bedroom basement apartment. Complete with bathroom, kitchen and a hideous pile of white nasty mold in the center of the living room carpet. I immediately screeched, "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!!" and mentally began my plans to dunk each child in a vat of antibacterial hand sanitizer. Andy began ushering the kids out of the basement and we both began calculating the cost of such repairs. 

His parents are getting older and Andy and I are assuming that soon we'll have need for extra space for them to stay with us. The idea of an apartment on the bottom floor with a concrete porch and space for a ramp to easily be build was appealing. I soon learned how unappealing the reality actually was. I spoke to the next door neighbor, a polite gentleman with salt and pepper hair and a local from his accent. He told me that his best friend had rented the downstairs apartment from the previous owner and it had severe issues with water leakage (no kidding!) and possibly some electrical issues. I did some research on our way to see another house (not even worth posting about) and asked a few questions on Facebook and it was decided. This house wasn't going to work for us. Even at 39k.... the cost of repairs would be significantly beyond our budget. NEXT!

Stone Mountain State Park... Approximately 15-20 minutes from Jonestown, NC.