My Two Pitties: April 2013

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: THE THREE AMIGOS

Monday, April 15, 2013

SOPHIE GIRL

As I mentioned in this post, my friend is moving here this week from Colorado and bringing her dog, Sophie. She is a lab/great dane mix, about 2 1/2, which makes her a laid back girl so my fingers are really crossed that she gets along well with Kaya & Norman. Since there is no way for them to meet ahead of time, we'll just have to wait and see.

My friend only got her a few months ago when she found her loose in her neighborhood. She brought her home and called the number on her tag. The owner actually told her he didn't even want her anymore. His daughter got the dog and moved away so he's just been taking care of her, but doesn't want to keep her if he doesn't have to. So my friend agreed to keep her. She said she is a sweet dog but nervous around new dogs. She has been living with her sisters 2 big dogs and they get along well after a bit of a rocky start. Luckily, Kaya and Norman have a pretty good way with nervous dogs and seem to know when to give others their space. And they are happy to share when it comes to their toys, chews and space so hopefully she is too! We are also not sure how she will be with a kitty, but she is calm and trainable so I think it should be okay.

My friend brings her to work with her and she loves to just hang out.

My friends' co-worker giving her an awkward cuddle whether she likes it or not...

Though they've shared their house with another dog before, this is the first time Kaya and Norman will live with another person in the house and I'm sure they will be over the moon about that. They were beside themselves the times we've vacationed with family at my parents' house in Tahoe. My concern is actually that I will have to work on their level of excitement overbearing friendliness.

Though it can be a big responsibility to take care of dogs on your own, you also have complete control of house rules and excitement levels. So it's going to be an adjustment for me and the dogs. My biggest pet peeve is dogs getting people food, even if it's dropped on the floor, so that is my one major rule that I with throw a major fit if broken. I love being able to leave my piping hot dinner plate on the coffee table and not thinking twice about it. Not to mention using my over-sized lapdog as a place to rest my popcorn bowl without her even opening an eyelid. But my friend is considerate and eager to make sure her dog knows what's expected of her, so I have the feeling everything is going to be a-okay.

Sophie girl.

TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN'

Well...I've been light on the blog posts lately for a good reason. My good friend is moving here this week from Colorado and so I've been on the hunt for a new house for us to live in. I've been diligently looking for months and have yet to find something. To make matters more complicated, I have been looking at sale houses and rentals. My parents have agreed to put a down payment on a house for us to pay the mortgage on which is insanely exciting. Unfortunately, we couldn't have picked a worse time to do it. The economy is on the up and everyone else wants to buy now too without much on the market. Houses are going for way, way over asking prices and it's a complete guessing game knowing what to offer. In addition, Oakland is tricky. It is mostly large, very expensive houses in the hills or houses in bad neighborhoods closer to the water. There are few areas with nice small homes at the bottom of the hills, but they tend to have tiny lots and sometimes no yard at all:( And they are by no means cheap.

A few "spacious" yards:/

A cute house in a bad area...ya, those bars on the windows come with the house!

A couple weeks ago, I found this house that I've nicked-named "the dream house". It has a huge yard and giant windows that lead out to a deck with an incredible view. I felt optimistic about our chances of buying it because it needs some updating, it is only a 2 bed 1 bath and is not in the fanciest neighborhood but when I went to the open house on Sunday, cars were lined up all the way down the street:(

"The Dream House"

The rental market is even worse. I've viewed countless houses and filled out several applications. A couple places I had to decide against because they were in areas I just wouldn't feel safe in, another we had to turn down because we just couldn't get over how 70s it was(and it wasn't even cheap!), with a few others our application was rejected and there was one perfect house that we actually were actually about to sign on, but in the end we just couldn't see how we could swing the cost. The owner has since decided to sell it instead! Also for more than we can afford... After one open house, his house went into closing...for well over the asking price.

Why yes, that is glitter in the popcorn ceiling. I hope you like retro!

Perfect house, too expensive:( The yard is incredible!

Adding to the trickiness is that my friend has a dog too. Being that she lives so far, our dogs have never met and so it will be a whole extra adjustment! I do think it will be much harder on her dog, than Kaya and Norman though. Of course, this is a major pitfall when looking for rentals. Hi, I have 3 large dogs and a cat, can I rent your house? I haven't run into any breed issues while renting, though Kaya and Norman are passably mutts, but the size and amount of dogs has been an issue in some cases. Some people have said no problem to the dogs, but no to the cat!

How can anyone say no to this trio??

So along with excitement, I'm also feeling a lot of stress! But I can't wait 'til Kaya and Norman have a decent backyard to play in, multiple rooms to enjoy and more people and dog company on a daily basis. And for myself, I am really looking forward to off street parking, a dishwasher and a washer/dryer in the house, not mention a bedroom separate from the living room...woohoo! In the meantime...it looks like there will be 2 people, 3 big dogs and 1 little kitty crammed into my studio apartment:/

Hey, we've managed to cram in here before...

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

THROWBACK THURSDAY: NORMAN'S GLAMOR SHOTS

He may look worried, but he's really just tired after a long day at the Pet Expo last year:)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: GREEN DOGS

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

MOTLIE'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!!

Motlie turned 1 last week and so we had to go on a special birthday hike. Kaylie came too and she just turned 7! We were having so much fun that I actually forgot to take pictures during the hike but at the end we made our best attempt to take a group shot of the dogs in their party hats. We were hoping to get a good one to send off to my brother who just started boot camp for the Navy, but it looks like he'll have to make do with bloopers. I would think there is nothing like seeing a photo of dogs in birthday hats to lighten your mood after having your ass kicked all day, haha.

Not ready for their hats yet.

FML.

Why the f*%$ am I sitting here in this hat when those 2 are still running around?

Attempting to get it together:/

The birthday girls:)

Uh...can we give up now?

Kaya said this is how the cool kids are doing it.

K guys, pawty's over. I see somethin' I needs to chase.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

SWIMMING AND COUSINS AND TENNIS BALLS...OH MY!

Well...unfortunately my blog resembles that of a tumbleweed blowing down a deserted road lately. I've been busy house-hunting and along with work, the dogs, an unexpected trip to new york and family in town, there's been no extra time! Well, ok...I have made time to watch The Walking Dead and New Girl, but my internet time had been consumed by house-hunting. I'll go into that in another post. But one more change that's been going on is that my little brother (ok...he is not so little, but he is younger) has joined the Navy and he left for boot camp on Monday! We took a final hike on Saturday at a nearby lake and the dogs of course had a blast. Motlie's little wiener dog sister, Kaylie came along too!

Fast as fast can be, you can't catch me...

I gots to follow da rules (this time)...

Come'on Norman...it's not worth da twouble...

But Kaya's doing it...

K...I twied to tell him...

I threw the ball in the rocks and she couldn't find it...I think the water masked the scent:(

Scavenger hunt...

By some miracle, Norman found it...he was so proud!

And then Kaya took it back...

Norman was feeling the Easter spirit...

One last swim (for Kaya)...

Motserella...ready to roll out...

And Norman nearly rolled down this hill...

New buddies...

And sistas...

Lastly, I asked my brother to get Motlie to do her wave. It is so darn cute. Kaya and Norman can sorta wave, but not like Motts:)

Luckily, the dogs didn't have to say their goodbyes yet because my brother's girlfriend will be in town for at least another 6 months while he is in training. We will still get together regularly so the dogs can have their crazy time. Then sadly, they will all be off to where-ever he is stationed. Naturally, I am bummed that they won't be around anymore(the dogs and the humans), but I am really proud of my brother and I just look forward to their return! It will be so weird to see the dogs' reactions when they re-unite after 4 years!

Maybe it'll look just like this again...