Tumbleweeds

Let me introduce you to Sandy. 



Sandy is our sweet Pembroke Welsh Corgi.  She is the second Corgi I have owned so I knew what I was getting into.  Specifically, hair.  Lots and lots of hair.  So much hair that frequency of vacuuming does not cut down on the dog hair tumbleweeds that drift through my house.  Enter the defurminator.



The defurminator is a shedding tool.  We live in southeast NC so we don't have to worry about pulling out too much of her undercoat.  She is left with more than enough hair, but the defurminator cuts down on the hair that breaks loose in the house.  It is a process that we have to do every week.



Sandy fortunately tolerates the whole process very well.  She actually enjoys it for the first few minutes.
Then she tries to run away!


At the end of the day we are left with a happy dog!



and hairy pants!

Signs of Spring

We all have little things that make us feel like spring is really here.  It might be flowers blooming, warming temperatures, seasonal allergies, or something completely different.  One of my favorite signs of spring is the annual plant sale at our local arboretum.  The Master Gardener program has an enormous plant sale with a large variety of plants.  There are some good deals to be found and the plants are high quality.  The picture below is a small sampling of what I will be planting this weekend!




As you look as these plants, I ask you to pay respects because at least 50% of them will not make it.  I am a notorious plant killer.  Everything my parents touch grows, but I did not inherit that gene.  My husband is learning to grow more plants and therefore is beginning to save them from my curse.  What is your favorite, hard to kill plant?  Does it grow in the southeast?  Let me know, I would love to lose my plant killer rep!

Pack Rats, Procrastinators and Comic Books

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I come from a long line of pack rats.  We are good at it.  We can justify why we NEED to keep things.  You never know when you might NEED that whatchamacallit.  Problem is, if we need the whatchamacallit, we probably wouldn't be able to find it, and would go out and buy a new and improved whatchamacallit, then we would need to save the old whatchamacallit because they don't make them like that anymore.  (I wasn't kidding when I said I was good at this) 

So I am a pack rat and a procrastinator.  I have gotten my house in better shape, but my guest room and my garage are haunting me.  Molly Gold, of www.gomominc.com would cry if she saw these rooms.  I know that I need to work on them, but then the procrastinator kicks in.  Do you want to know the best way to procrastinate dealing with your junk?  Deal with another person's junk!!!  Yesterday, instead of taking care of my own house, I went to help at my parents' house.  I am going to help them finish sorting through all of my late Grandmother's things.  It is a monumental task because she saved EVERYTHING!  I found bank statements from 1950.  1950. not a typo friends.  

Which leads me to my great discovery! COMIC BOOKS!  I found some amazing comic books from the 1940's and 1950's.  Incredible stuff, from Red Ryder to Vault of Horror!  Frankly, the covers of the Vault of Horror comics were pretty scary!  Today, between other computer activities I am checking to see if these comic books are worth anything.   My parents have agreed to sell them if they are! Hallelujah! Progress!  Even if they are only worth $5.00 it's better than putting them in recycling!  So I am making a dent at their house, now if I can motivate myself in my own house!  Any great ideas?