put this in your netflix queue.
right now.
just do it.
Author: Oh Happy Daze
stripping
Now, don’t get your knickers in a twist about that title. I’m talking about stripping our pup.
Baxter is almost 6 months now and he’s beginning to look a little scruffy; don’t you agree?
Border terrier’s actually have 2 coats: a dense undercoat and a wiry, coarse outercoat.
They really shouldn’t be shaved like most dogs; instead, the outcoat needs to be hand stripped – which basically means ‘ripped out’. I was very nervous about this process when we read about it, but there are many helpful tips and videos on the interwebs. And, interestingly enough, if you don’t strip your border’s fur, he will – by rubbing against furniture and your carpet and anything else that will make him feel better.
The tub got a little messy, but it really prevents them from shedding around the house… which, as you may know, is a really big no-no in my house.
Here is a shot when Chris was halfway through
– See the difference between Baxter’s neck and back?
Obviously, we didn’t get to his head yet.
Rock on, Baxter. Rock on.
It’s the thought that counts.
So I cooked up an awesome plan for how I was going to give Chris his birthday present. Let me just start out by saying…I had the best intentions.
I had a friend from church build him a much needed workbench for the garage. I figured it was about time he had a space in our house that was just ‘his’.
I schemed up this really great plan to have the garage all cleaned out and the workbench put in its place while Chris was out of town so I could shout SURPRISE as I threw open the garage door when he returned.
My SURPRISE plans were ruined a bit when Chris came home early from one of his out of town business trips….
..and then ruined even more when I had to stay at work late the evening the carpenter was going to come over to take the measurements. I had to spill the beans and tell Chris what his present was, then ask him to re-arrange the garage a bit to make space for the guy who was coming over in, oh… 15 minutes. Well, no pain no gain, I guess. But I had that Chris had to do work for his own present.
I was so sad that my surprise plan never came to fruition, but Chris was still excited and very surprised that I thought of that as a gift. Yay me!
Less than a week later, the bench arrived… and we had to do some more rearranging in the garage.
I am completely embarrassed by the state of my garage.
Just a side note, we are preparing for a huge garage sale to benefit a missions trip to Mexico (more on that later), so that accounts for all of the ‘to-get-rid-of’ piles covering the floor.
Also in our garage? All of the unfinished furniture projects that I have going on…. like this guy! (ps. I am still open to suggestions on what to do with it)!
and yes, that is a Michael Jackson Thriller album in one of those boxes…
I know you were eye-balling it.
Thank goodness we have an attic. We keep a lot of keepsake things and holiday decorations in large rubbermaid containers up there so they stay out of the way when we don’t need them.
Here is the new work-bench.
I specifically requested the shelf underneath for added storage.
I found some plastic storage bins at a thrift store that will fit perfectly on that middle shelf and hold all sorts of things like tape, paint brushes, sandpaper, and small power tools.
The bench is also free-standing (not build-in), so we can take it to our next home when the time comes.
He’s happy, I’m happy…and now our tools are happy!
another birthday….they just keep coming around every year!
No, it’s not my birthday (yet). Chris turned 28 this past weekend.
I know, you are probably thinking we are youngins.
In my mind, I’m thinking “we are nearing 30 without any kiddos yet”!
Anyway, there was a birthday, so we got a little of the family together to celebrate.
More importantly, I attempted a cheesecake.
Yup…. THIS girl made a cheesecake….from scratch!
In fact, I made 2 – one for Chris’ birthday lunch with my family, and another to share later with our small group.
Here is the proof:
(the other cheesecake that I made didn’t even crack…. scouts honor!)
When I told Chris I wanted to make a dessert for his birthday bash, and asked him what his favorite was…for some reason I was expecting something like “a box mix of yellow cake with confetti frosting”.
Instead I got ‘apple pie’ or ‘cheesecake with strawberry topping’.
grrr, those desserts weren’t already in my itsy-bitsy repertoire of ‘can-do’ food things.
Guess I’ll have to try something new. After all, it is for the love of my life.
um, let me just say that I absolutely hate profile shots of myself, but I recently read a post from another blog (sorry, I couldn’t find the link again to give you props!) where she talked about how she is going to stop deleting the photos of herself that she doesn’t like… because then there wouldn’t be any photos of her at all.
And I find myself doing the same thing -deleting photos and being very selective about which photos I allow others to see, even my husband, because I am so self conscious about how I look.
Well, NO MORE!
_________________________________________
There is also another birthday boy in the house….
Baxter will be 6 months old this month!
In honor, I thought I’d share a few photos of our growing boy
Chris and my brother at my parent’s house.
scratching.
He’s getting so scruffy.
Time to get him stripped – I don’t want him to start looking like this.