HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

I am convinced that when they neuter a Dachshund, a metal slinky is inserted into their belly. Well, the dachshund is probably born with it. When they have the surgery, the vet just unties it so it can reach full capacity. Why do I think this? We have two dachshunds. They are not very big at around fifteen pounds each. However, the two of them can take up an entire queen sized bed. They have somehow learned how to sleep exactly perpendicular to each other, with legs completely stretched as well. At first, we had one dog and a double bed.  The reason we don’t have three dogs, is that we surely would have to just get a king sized bed.  As you can imagine, there is big indentation in the bed that has worn down, as we only have a sliver of the mattress to sleep on.

After camping recently with these new fangled sleeping bags that have memory foam in them, I think we should consider a memory foam mattresses, as it was the most restful sleep I had in quite some time.  I read on the website that mattresses have a “new car smell.” Of course, I mean new matress smell.  My boys will probably want to roll on it like they like to do with any new sheets that come into the house.

Maybe there is a king sized bed and a third dog in our future. Or a king sized mattress because of having to fit a third dog on the bed.  I will have to ask my husband about both before he drinks his morning tomorrow. That way, the memory of a sore back from the mattress is fresh in his mind.

“Beware of the NINJA!”

That was the sign that we should have somewhere on our driveway in big letters to warn the 4-7 year old Trick-Or-Treaters.

My brother, sister, and I spent many holidays volunteering at events.  Afterall, my dad was known as the “Chief Beggar.”  The nickname was given to him half affectionately by his friends, as he was the activities director, then an executive later on, for a nonprofit. Halloween, however, tended to be all about creativity and the hoarding of candy and brought out our worst natures.

I noticed that every year the trick-or-treaters would get bigger and bigger.  Either they REALLY had indulged on the prior Halloween, or they were seventeen year olds who couldn’t bring themselves to give it up.  My parents were a good sport about giving out the candy to someone of any age, but not if they went “as themselves.”

My brother realized he was a little old for it, so he relegated himself with finding some fabric to put around his head, and grabbing a broomstick to create a ninja costume that took all of ten minutes of effort.   He would climb the tree in the front yard and would lay in wait until people came to the door, and then he would jump down at them!

Of course, in the ensuing years, he had to be careful.   The original ninja accessories were too small after a growth spurt, and he couldn’t “fill in” with colored bandannas that were around the house as someone would think he was trying to be a gang member for Halloween.

Nowadays, there are a lot of Teen Halloween Costumes costumes geared towards people like my brother sort of fell through the cracks of being too old for the masks with the elastic in the back, and the big commitment some of the expensive adult costumes were at the time.   I admit that I myself are looking at the teen sizing because as a more petite framed person, some of the adult sizes I swim in!

I don’t get a chance to go roam the stores very much, and rely on websites and blog feeds to get some of my “around the house” inspiration for home decorating ideas sometimes.   Many times paint color is what is emphasized for a quick fix, but between the “spanish lace” texture on the walls and the vaulted ceiling in my office, painting the rooms seems like a nightmare, or at least an epic saga.

Mylifetime has a gallery of budget decorating ideas, and as I was poking around, it reminded me of a few I have forgotten. Sometimes, I make my fabric decisions based on the black dog hair I tend to contend with, even with regular vacuuming. There was the suggestion to change your bedding to be monotone so that you can easily change the decor with accessories. At first I thought it was a cop out, but I think in the past I hadn’t taken the concept far enough. In otherwords, I put together sheets that sort of matched, but not really. This time I think I am going to buy all white sheets. That way, if I need to, I can bleach them. We have this one set of patterned sheets that I am going to recycle and make window treatments of in the office. This kind of repurposing I can get into.

When we got married, we decided to include our dachshunds in our wedding.  Alex was the “Best Dog,” and Ollie, who we had just adopted several months before was “Best Puppy.”   You wouldn’t believe how difficult it was to find tuxedos or bowties for them.   They weren’t really “necessary” but we thought it would be cute if they were “dressed up.” At left, is a photo of them unwinding, loosening up their cumberbunds and kicking back after the ceremony!

I recently found some really cute pet costumes at BuyCostumes.com.  I wish we would have known about them back then, as the sizing is really friendly to dogs like mine.   I did a spot check, and it seems on many of the full costumes, the difference between each size is about 3″ in the chest.  In otherwords, you wouldn’t go from chihuahua to American Bulldog size when you went one size up.

I never enter them in costume contests, partly because I procrastinate, but partly because the selection at the pet stores is very hit or miss. The website has so many cute choices for Halloween costumes.  For the “rollers” like Ollie, they have simple costumes that attach with a collar, or are a collar and hat combo that stay on pretty easily if they decide to wiggle in the grass.  There are also full costumes that are really compatible with what’s popular in human costumes, so your dog could be the Joker from the Dark Knight (as opposed to the Cesar Romero version), or Batman himself (in either classic tights or “Dark Knight”), and the people could go as Batgirl and Robin.  I just love this site!

I have seen the Yoda costumes for dogs and thought they were really funny. It probably would work better on Ollie because he has longer legs.  They have adult Princess Leia, Luke, and Han Solo costumes so we would be all set if we wanted to do a “group costume.”    Ollie might not have it on for long, but it would make for an awesome picture to put on a card!

From time to time, I have talked about saving money, debt consolidation, and fiscal responsibility on this blog. It may seem out of left field coming from a volunteer oriented blog, but it is more relavant than you realize. Many people often tend to think with their hearts rather than their heads when it comes to some financial decisions, and you need to make sure that things are stable in the long run. Going out on a limb is sometimes required, but then you find there is just nothing left emotionally or financially.

Sure, there are disasters we can’t plan for. Even in our current situation, I really think that are better ways to consolidate debt and just plain save more for a rainy day.   Last week, I called up our credit card company and asked them for a lower rate. They actually gave it to us! It proves to me that it does not hurt to ask. Even if you have a high balance, but are generally paying on time, they may just budge even just 1-5% it can make a big difference towards reducing your monthly payment. If you continue to make the payment you always made, it just means you are getting a chance to pay more principle. The credit card can go back to true emergencies only.  Or, another way to look at that is the $30 a month we reduced our credt card payment by, we have $30 that we can donate or save.

If you can’t come close to making any of your payments, but can afford at least 2.5% of your credit bills, credit counseling may be more the route to go.   Get help BEFORE you need help so when either disaster strikes, or you have other unforeseen changes, it does not put you under!

It has been a crazy time: hurricanes that make me worry about my friends and make some rescue efforts that make things extra critical, I have a friend who has been going through a rough patch who I am worried about,  and I haven’t been feeling so hot.

It is Wednesday, but I have a big case of the Mondays. It may not be Monday, but philosophically it is. I can already tell that this aptly sums up the week to come:

When there is a hound on the dining room table who scientifically and physiologically shouldn’t be able to be up there, and you are barely have a reaction, other than to scratch his ears, then you know you are already too far gone.  The Mondays have hit you, and you are too fried already to even panic about weather or worry how you are going to get a pregnant dog on an eleven hour car ride to not have her puppies before she gets to the rescue. Okay, most people don’t worry about the latter, but you get the idea.

Happy Monday “Plus Two” everybody.  Or maybe that’s what “hump day” is…

The money situation at home has caused me to be very frugal. My wardrobe has a lot of vintage clothing in it, and a few pairs of jeans that I have worn forever, but sometimes you just have to buy a new top. Mostly because things eventually wear out, but its also the easiest way to make everything else you are wearing look new or different (even if it is not).

I try to stay away from cheap clothing because somethings are cheap for a reason. Instead, I try to buy a shirt or two marked down at outlets, etc, but am really watching the labels at the Discount Clothing and off-season stores. Most of the clothing is made in China.  Boycotting Chinese products have been part of a major rallying cry lately. I am not one to jump on the bandwagon of things quickly, but I am trying my best to follow suit because it makes sense to me.

I found the Heavenly Couture clothing site out of a recommendation. All of their clothing is made in North America, and by selling on the web, I would imagine they cut out the middleman, so their prices are low. That leaves more money to pay bills with or save the world with. The styles are modern, and the price point makes it easy to try a look without investing very much. Just make sure you look at the size chart, as these are proportioned for juniors, rather than petite or misses.

They have girlie dresses and basic tops, but you can also promote your love of being frugal and love of recycling with the shirt above. Right now you can get an extra 10% in honor of Back to School shopping.