We have a problem

Time to talk about those unexpected expenses.
 No one likes to admit that they have a problem or their child is bad. Well my children are my pets and one isn't the perfect angel I would wish he would be. I have a hard time telling people that, I want people to think I have everything under control. A lot of his issues do stem from the 6 months we didn't own him, the crucial time to train, socialize and break bad behaviors. We're having a hard time because of this, but we can't blame everything on that even though I wish we could. 

Makoa and Enna, like I've said before, aren't stranger lovers. Makoa will become fearful of new people if fast moves or actions occur and the fear triggers nipping. Don't think you cant come to our house anymore because of this, he doesn't bite and nip everything and anything, it's more when he's startled. This has caused me great worry, I want this to stop but I didn't know what to do.
We heard of a training facility that's by far more knowledgeable than Petsmart from a friend/ex co-worker. I gave them a call and explained our issues. John was not convinced. He was angry that the trainer wanted us to bring Enna and that she wasn't going to focus on just this one problem. I tried to explain that she wanted to see how they interact with each other and with us and help with all problems. He also wasn't happy that it wasn't going to be in our home first. It was cheaper going to their facility (not much though, still $75 an hour) first and the trainer said that she could help us find ways to break Makoa's bad habits. I never fully convinced him that it was a good idea, but he agreed to come with me anyway.

I called two weeks ago and the only slot the trainer had open was 2 PM on the 27th of August, so I got John to only work a half day and asked for the same.
After arguing with each other on the way down there, we did learn a few things to help Makoa and ease some of our issues but all in all I dont feel like it was worth the $75 and I know if I dont feel it John definitely doesn't. We did maybe 5 minutes of actual training, the rest was asking questions and telling us what we needed to work on.
I was impressed though that the trainer had researched our breed and knew how to handle them. It wasn't the Petsmart thing of them telling us that we didn't/don't socialize them enough and we need to force them on people, it was "I'll put my hand out, they sniff, they get a treat and that's that". I loved that she said, "Don't force them to do it, they dont like people, it's their nature. They can be civil with people and that's all we ask. They don't need to be in a stranger's lap at all times to be good dogs." I FINALLY had someone understand my dogs! It was such a nice feeling.

Getting John to tell me his true feelings about the whole experience will never happen, that's just they way John is, but I know he's not totally sold on the facility. I would like to have one at home session ($90, yikes) and I would like to do some of the classes they offer (cheaper, but not by much). I feel like they have something to offer and actually going to a class to train will be better than this one on one thing we had. That is if I can get John to agree.

So there you have it. My life isn't perfect, my dogs aren't perfect and my marriage isn't perfect, but I guess that's life. I'll except all my imperfections and try to fix the things I can.

Toy love

Last Saturday John found a stuffed elephant that he wanted to buy Makoa. Knowing that dog, I knew he'd have it destroyed  in a matter of hours so I told John that if he wanted to buy it he'd have to clean up the stuffing.
This is what our family room has looked like the past couple of days.

Makoa had the sound box ripped out in a matter of minutes and the trunk torn open by the first hour. He's the biggest toy lover I've ever seen! I think it's because as a young pup he didn't have many, if any, toys. From the start of the day to the end he usually has a toy in his mouth.
This is how much he loves toys:

This use to be a frog at one point in time. Now all that's left is his poor, little head. Makoa and Enna will still carry it around so I just can't bring myself to throw it away. This is the 3rd frog that has joined the toy pack, soon he'll have to replaced with #4.

I'm sure Mr. Elephant will look like Mr. Frog in just a matter of days.

p.s. Are you tired of hearing about my pets? Well that sucks, guess you should read another blog.

That darn cat

This is what I came home to last night:

What a goose, just hanging with the water bottles I guess.

This is where Sophi decided to hang out the rest of the night: (please excuse the dust, remember we're remodeling that room)

She must like blu-rays as much as we do, too bad she kept turning it on and off.

Bread

I love having home-made bread, but didn't make it very often because I hated the process of mixing the dough. I inherited an old Bosch Mixer over the weekend, it's a lot like a Kitchen Aide but more compact.

Mine looks a lot like this, but it's older. The mixer arm can be moved down so that it's parallel with the stand...does that make sense? It also came with the mixing tools in the picture, two mixing bowls, a blender attachment, slicer/shredder attachments, a citrus juicer, and a meat grinder. Not sure when or why I'd use a meat grinder but I have one!

Because of this wonderful mixer I'm making bread like there's no tomorrow! I just throw all the ingredients in and let the bread hook mixer do all the work. Sunday I made French bread that we used for our French bread pizza and yesterday I made Italian Cheese bread for dinner (and my breakfast) today.

Here's the Italian Cheese bread recipe since it's too delicious not to share and I've made it a lot. The words in parenthesis are how I change the recipe to meet my needs.

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
3 cups warm water
3 tablespoons shortening
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
(1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
(I usually divide the recipe in half to only make one loaf)

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the shortening, sugar, salt and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add the cheeses, garlic powder and onion powder. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Do not let rise. (When I'm not in a hurry I let the bread rise for an hour, it's not as dense and doesn't take as long to bake) Divide in half; shape into two loaves. Place in two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans. Do no let rise. (again I let it rise if I'm not in a hurry) Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown (I've found that if I didn't rise the bread it takes more like 40 minutes to completely bake, 30 if I did rise it). Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Once the cheese bread is gone, which I expect to be by tomorrow at the most, I'm going to make some rolls. Then maybe I'll be brave and make a sour dough starter for my favorite bread of all time. :) I'm loving this mixer!

Need a place to stay?

We now have a bed in our guest bedroom. Finally!! Now John's brother will have a place to sleep when he house sits.

We got a queen size mattress set from my Grandma's house so we moved our set down to the guest room.
I know the room looks sad, white and empty but it looks better now than it did a few days ago. It was full of home remodeling crap that had to be relocated.

We have plans to remodel the room but the family room needs to be finished first. I'm bored of the family room, no more design planning just work so I'm already planning the guest room. I bought curtains already and have my favorite bed sets saved on my Amazon wish list :)

perfume bottles

I have a collection (can it be a collection with only two?) I have started a collection of glass Egyptian style perfume bottles. My grandma had one, I had always admired it and wanted one of my own. John's family bought me a really pretty one for my birthday and I bought this one off of etsy.com for $3.

I'm not going to go crazy with the bottles since I don't like clutter or multiple things that I have to dust, but I think a few pieces that I find through out the years would be nice.

Me wantie!

Esty.com has become an addiction for me. I surf through the site for hours just seeing what homemade goodies they have, luckily I have been able to be good and not buy anything (except for a perfume bottle that was only $8 so I just had to have it) but I don't know if I can resist the urge not to buy this stuff!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Jrisco?ref=seller_info hand paints ceramics and they're so cute. I'm pretty sure I need this teapot/teacup but with sunflowers painted on it.

This teapot is also very cute (I like the flower one more) and she'll paint whatever letter you want on it. I don't even freaking drink tea, but I need one!

I'm also pretty sure I need these pet food and water bowls. They're dishwasher safe so they're better than what I have for the dogs now and Sophi broke her food bowl so she's eating out of Tupperware now.

I also want to order this cute Christmas ornament for someone special.

Now do you need one of these cute things too? I'm pretty sure you do!

p.s. My mother in law and I should be starting up an Esty shop soon to sell some of her embroidery, should be pretty fun.