I need to add another part to the pet series because...

We've added to the family!!  That's right, we're crazy pet people.  Animals once again outnumber people at the Lowe house.  Though we haven't reached our high of 5 at once, we are bursting at the seams over here.

So, without further ado, please meet Landry!  He is a brown and white piebald English bulldog puppy.  He is my parents' dog Emmett's half brother.  We just have really fallen in love with Emmett (especially Alli) and Ryan has always loved English bulldogs.  So we contacted the breeder and she had this little guy available.  Isn't he adorable?  Look forward to more info about him in part 4 of the Lowe Down pet series.

 

New Year's Resolution Check-Up

What an unusual time for yours truly to be posting, no?  That's right, it's 11AM on a Sunday.  I got the inspiration and I decided to run with it.  This time is odd for me because usually, we're at church on Sunday mornings and usually I post late at night.  But since I have been in Columbus, OH since Thursday afternoon, we decided to stay in this morning.  And instead of cleaning, which I was in the middle of when inspiration struck, I am going to blog for a minute.

Three weeks into the New Year, it's finally time for New Year's Resolution Review!  I'm going to try to post my progress on my New Year's resolutions here to assist in motivating me to keep them up.

Here they are, in no specific order:

• Savings - Ryan and I have never really had financial issues, but we've never really gotten ahead with regard to savings and monitoring our spending.  We just always made sure outflow < inflow.  So we are currently working diligently to curb our spending.  We each get $150 in cash at the beginning of the month for general merriment, personal eating out, etc.  I think this is going to help tremendously because we tend to nickel and dime ourselves to death with $10 lunches here and $100 shoes there.  Okay, maybe the  last one is more me than Ryan.  But you get the idea.  We also are on a bit of a budget, and let me tell you, that is NOT fun!
• Fingernails - I am not kind to my fingernails.  I don't bite them, but I definitely pick at them, especially the cuticles.  They just never look very presentable.  So I am making a conscious effort to not pick them and keep them nice.  Painting them helps me to not pick, so I am keeping a fun shade on them.  This means I have to repaint them, file them, trim them, and trim my cuticles at least once a week.  Three weeks in, I can tell you - I've noticed a HUGE difference.  And I am having lots of fun spending my discretionary money on colors like purple and silver!
• Weight Loss - The classic resolution.  I did this last year and lost about 10 lbs.  It was great!  I've put about 7 of that back on, so I'm planning to lose another 10 by sometime in the spring.  Already, I have lost 2!  I'm going to the gym 3x a week and working out with videos at home 2 times a week.  I'm also counting calories using the Lose It! app on my iPhone.  I like it a lot because it helps me really think about what I eat and how much I eat.
• Blog More - I'm going to try to blog 2-3 times per week.  Period.  You let me know how I do on that one.

Okay, I have to get back to house cleaning before Ryan gets back from the grocery store and wonders what I have been up to!

Meet the Pets: The Lola Edition

And now is time for part 1 of a 3 part series here on the Lowe Down.  [Edit - Now a four part series. We gluttons for punishment have added to the farm. See pics of the new member here.]   My entire life, pets have been very important to my family.  They are almost like children around here, so I'm going to introduce you to them one blog at a time.  First up, the pet we've had the longest:  Miss Lola Jo Kitaen Lowe.  That's "Ki-tain", as in Tawny Kitaen, the girl that rolls on the hood of the cars in the Whitesnake video.  I don't have a good reason why, that's just her name.

We adopted Lola as a six week old kitten from the Humane Society of Pulaski County.  At the time, we had 2 outside dogs (Callie and McGwire) and I was jonesing for a pet in the house.  Alli was...maybe 18 months?  I think.  I just asked Ryan and he agreed with me, but he usually agrees with me so that's not really a good confirmation.  We'll roll with it though.  That would mean we got her in early summer 2006, and that sounds about right.

Lola was the tiniest kitten in the cage with the HUGEST ears you've ever seen.  We used to call her Bat Cat.  Take a look:

Isn't she just the cutest?  Not long after we got her, I was home alone and couldn't find her anywhere.  I tore the house up for three hours, made Ryan leave work, got hysterical, and then found her asleep between the pillows on our bed as he walked in the door.  He was not that happy about it.  But she was so tiny!!  Here she is playing with Alli:

The intent with the entire cat acquisition, so I told my wary husband, was to have an inside animal that was "Alli's" for her to love.  But, because people and animals are just naturally drawn to my inner beauty and calm, Lola rejected our original plan for her (as is Lola's nature) and chose me.  I can't say I tried too hard to stop her either.  She follows me everywhere, sits in my lap, and only snuggles with me.  And I like it that way. 

So Lola is now 4 years old and is your very very typical cat.  This is a key point in our pet dynamic, because for those of you who know, we also have another cat who is NOT a typical cat.  But that will be part 2.  Back to Lola Jo - she's snooty, everything is on her terms, she's not very cuddly, and she sleeps a lot.  She's also kind of a chunk-a-lunk (my family calls her Queen Latifah, which is just not nice).  So why do I like her?  Do you even have to ask?  Let's review:

• She's a snob.  
• She's bossy.
• She's low maintenance.  
• She loves me best.

She sleeps on my side of the bed, only after everyone is asleep and still.  She gets up with me and sits with me while I get ready in the morning.  She stops in front of you when you are walking and rolls on her back so you can rub her belly - but don't rub too long or she'll bite.  She HATES Cash.  Like chases him down when he looks at her funny.  One time Cash stepped on Ginger (not a hard thing to do, you'll see that in part 2) and Ginger reacted badly (man, you are really going to enjoy part 2) and meowed loudly and Lola flew across the room and attached herself to Cash's face, spitting and hissing.  Poor Cash was running and shaking his head trying to get her off.  No one steps out of line with Queen Latifah around.

So now you know Lola a little better.  If you're lucky enough to meet her and then are lucky enough to get to pet her (not a given), scratch her chin.  She loves it.  But again, don't scratch too long.

I Suck at Blogging

Apparently, I am a terrible blogger.  I suspected this might be the case in the beginning, but so many of my equally busy friends did it so well, I thought it would just come naturally to me.  Fun, witty posts, roughly 3 times a week that people would enjoy.  Nope.  Nada.  I'm averaging 3 per month.  So, I must be a truly horrific blogger.

However, I will soldier on.  I can do this.  I don't have to have something funny and focused to say every time I write.  And this is supposed to be an outlet for me, not for other people, hence the limited list of people allowed to see it.  And if you're the one who gave this link away to Drew or Kyle, you owe me lunch.

So...odds and ends around casa de Lowe.

• I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping.  Miracle of miracles.  I have my mom, my pets, and my grandparents left.  And for those, it's just a matter of going to get them.  I already know what I'm getting.  It's a serious Christmas miracle.  I hate Christmas shopping.
  
• Alli just told me Rob Pattinson was her boyfriend.  Two thoughts:  Maybe time to delete pictures of him out of my phone AND I wanted to fight with her about it.  I almost said "No, that's Mama's boyfriend."  Then I realized I was arguing with a 5 year old about a celebrity.  I need counseling.  Here's the pic she liked.  

• Alli's birthday party was this weekend at Fayetteville Athletic Club.  We had 7-8 kiddos there along with their siblings.  We had some great grown-up friends too - thanks for coming, Nicole, Kerri, and Lindsey!  Our good friend Deena who works at Ricks made the cake and it was wonderful!  At the bottom are cookies Deena made for Alli to take to her class on her birthday.  I can't believe my little princess is 5!!
  

 

At the rate I'm going, I'll write again next month.  Or year.

A Scrooge No More

Until earlier this week, I had always been a Scrooge about Christmas.  Oh sure, I loved it when I was little just like the rest of you.  But for some reason, I have always preferred Thanksgiving as an adult.  I just don't like redecorating my house, shopping with crowds, spending lots of money on other people, and stressing about what to get everyone.  But some time at the beginning of this week, all of that changed.  I committed to Christmas!  Ryan showed up at our house with two 3 foot light up reindeer, Alli's eyes lit up, and that was the end of it.  We added peppermints and plan to light the whole house tomorrow.

So this weekend, I spent a  LOT of time in the frou frou Little Rock decor stores my mother and I adore - such as Silks-A-Bloom, Phoenix Interiors, Austin's, Claybourne's, and Pazzazz.  And I was bombarded with the over-the-top Christmas decorations that  I love, envy, and assumed I could never afford.  Until...I noticed they were selling everything you needed to make all of it.  And it wasn't that expensive.  So I bought some large ornaments, about $5 each, some swag, and 10 yards of the floral decor mesh and thought I'd give it a try.  Below is the end result, hanging on my mom's door.

Pretty awesome, huh?  The wreath itself was half off at Hobby Lobby.  I wound the decor mesh through it, added the ornaments, made the bow, and voila!  They sell these wreaths for $250-300, and I made this one for just under $100.  Not half bad!  So of course I went back and spent another hundred, because one is never enough, and made this little beauty:

I don't think that one is quite done, but it's close.  It will hang on the window behind the reindeer.  And I still have enough leftover to do garland over our fireplace!  I am so excited to get back home and finish decorating!  More pics to come, I hope, if the fireplace turns out as well as the wreaths!

The Hizzle Dizzle

Drumroll, please!  The master bathroom is officially painted!  Oh, sure, I have a touchup or two to do on the ceiling.  And yes, I need to order new artwork.  Just three pieces though.  And I eternally question what one is to do with a tiny frosted window next to a toilet.  But maybe, just maybe, by the end of this week, I will declare it officially done.

Aren't you proud of me?  Just a few days after I griped about myself, I semi-finished a project!  And I made Ryan patch the wall where he put a hole in it hanging new cabinets in our laundry room, so as soon as he sands that, I can paint it too.  AND I painted over the stripes of sample paint in the living room and the guest bedroom.  I have a love-hate relationship with our living room color.  It's a spectacular teal with red and gold accents.

So I go back and forth with repainting this room a more toned down version of the teal about every other month or so, but then realize that I love it as is as soon as I try to pick out a new color.  Also, I regularly toy with changing up our master bedroom.  I find it to be a bit masculine and dark for me.

So I think that will be the next project - a complete overhaul.  I don't even know what I am considering in that room.  Sometimes, I think baby blue and deep purple, and others I think a more green and blue scheme.  I think I'll have to wait for that right inspiration to hit me.  Also, we're planning to darken the guest bedroom as soon as I find the right green.  The last green I tested turned a putrid puke color in the sunlight, so back to the drawing board.  Here it is right now (that's Ginger on the bed, it's her favorite spot):

I think that's the room that looks the most incomplete.  It needs curtains, another lamp, and some more wall art.  And could probably use a bigger nicer bed, but who wants to spend money on a guest bed?  So we'll probably darken the whole thing, once I find the right green, get some curtains, and call it a day.

So those are my current musings on my house.  By the time I get it just about perfect, I think it will probably be time to move again.  Oh well...that's the fun, right?

Unfinished Projects

I am officially one of those people.  Yes, I have unfinished projects.  It horrifies me to even type it, but it's true.  I used to scoff at people whose remodeling, repair, and small project list went unchecked for months on end.  I was so smug.  How could they stand half-painted rooms, missing moldings, and art propped up against the wall for more than ten minutes?  Once I started on a project, I obsessed until the project was done.  I threw myself in wholeheartedly, despite the toll it took on my sleep, job performance, family life, or, most importantly, TV watching. 

But here I sit, in a living room that has a few teal stripes on it (considering a new LR color for some reason), a few unpainted moldings (untouched since Ryan finished the hardwood floors a few months ago).  My master bedroom only has one coat of paint on the ceiling.  It's been like that since Ryan got home from Iraq.  Ryan got home from Iraq 11 months ago.  And last week, I got a wild hair and repainted the master bathroom.  But I've only done one coat.  It covered relatively well, thanks to the new Behr Ultra paint with primer in it.  So I'm trying to convince myself that a slight bit of hot pink shining through an othwewise sage green wall will be all the rage any day now.

Why can I not finished projects these days?  I am going to blame part of this on my husband.  Mostly, because I don't want to accept the responsibility and because he doesn't read my blog much.  But he is not a project person.  He would much rather watch DVR'd Jeopardy and play Farmville than spend an hour painting a bathroom.  I don't blame him much, but I do wish he would step up and take charge of at least some of the unfinished projects.  You can't tell me he's sad to see the pink bathroom go.  He should at least stick the paint brush in my hand when I say "I think I am going to go reread Twilight again."  I had no trouble finishing projects when he wasn't here, and it wasn't for lack of things to do, was it?

Okay, okay.  Clearly this is not all his fault.  I generally take on more than I can handle and then take a few weeks off.  Or months.  I think the root cause of this situation is football season.  By Thanksgiving, I will have seen the Hogs play in 9 games this year.  That is a lot.  So here's hoping, after the holidays I get my rear in gear.  Or that pink/green streaked bathrooms get popular.

I can check one thing off my unfinished project list, for another few weeks anyway:  Blog updated.