Never A Good Time

There is never a good time for things in the house to break down, especially now! Right now we are both unemployed, and of course now is the time our shower floor decided to let water leak down through our kitchen ceiling!
So today we had a contractor that was recommended to us by our friends (who had the same problem with their shower) take a look at it. It turns out that our shower pan needs replacing and we need to have part of our kitchen ceiling replaced due to water damage. We are going to have to have our shower floor gutted out for the repair and have our shower floor retiled.
The shower retiling would not be a big deal, but since the bathroom tile was custom made for the previous owner, it cannot be matched. Most of our bathroom is tiled, including the walls, with the custom made unmatchable tile. Basically just having the shower repaired is going to cause us to have the whole bathroom retiled so it goes all together! Then we found out that our insurance won't cover it! Our insurance compant said it was "preventable" and replacing a shower pan is considered to be "regular shower maintenance". Also, our policy does not cover water damage unless it's "catastrophic". I guess if one of us would have fallen through the shower floor while showering then we would have been covered!
We spent the day dealing with the contractor, insurance adjuster, and picking out the new tile for our bathroom.
We're not looking forward to having our kitchen and bathroom torn up or having to spend the money for it(couldn't have come at a worse time!).
I just keep thinking how nice it will look when it's all done, and it will add value to our house whenever we do decide to sell it, so at least there are some positives to it. But again, never a good time!

"Grandma-isms"

  It seems like ever since my grandma passed away last January, I find myself repeating some things she used to say to my brother and I when we were little. 
  When I cook and it seems like it takes "forever" for a pot of water to boil I find myself saying "a watched pot never boils", my grandma bestowed this wise observation on me when I was just learning to cook.  For the most part it definitely feels true.
  Our 2 pugs are "our children".  Our youngest pug Lilly (she's 3 years old), besided she wanted to play instead of go to bed at around 11pm last night.  My husband had to work this morning so he went ahead and went to bed.  With my husband and other pug in bed, that left me with Lilly.  Lilly decided to run circles around the first floor of our house while i chased her in hopes of tiring her out.  Yeah right!  Lilly then raced into the kitchen and quickly started to kick her bowl into the oven, making a loud "BANG" sound , meaning she had worked up an appetite now!  I gave her just a few kibble to satisfy her (this usually works, then she goes to sleep).  Well my plan didn't work this time.  It was now just after 12 a.m. and she was demanding to go outside, we don't have a fenced in yard, so this means of course that I have to walk her outside.   Lilly does her "business", I bring her in.  I picked her up and sat her on my lap for a little bit (which usually calms her down), no luck.  She jumped off my lap and started yet another race around the house complaete with and occasional toy tossing.  Now, we were looking at 2 a.m and thats when my grandma's wisdom again came into mind.  I looked into Lilly's face and told her "I love you, but I don't love your ways".
   "I love you but I don't love your ways" was always used by my grandma when my brother or I (usually my brother) got into some kind of mischief.
  It amazes me how much impact just one person can have on your life and how things can get repeated through the generatiions.

P.S  Lilly did finally calm down just after 2 a.m.

Lilly's day at the park

I thought I would take advantage of our mid 70's blue sky, very sunny morning, by taking our pug Lilly to the local dog park! I put a red harness and leash on a very excited Lilly, gathered up a bottle of water for her (she gets thirsty at the park). I thought I might get some cool shots of Lilly soaking up the sun, so I grabbed the digital camera, checked the camera batteries which looked good to go, Lilly jumped into the car and away we went! The park wasn't busy, only one other dog there (perfect!). Lilly excitedly jumps out of car when I open the door, and we quickly head up the path to the dog park gate. All of a sudden what was once an excited Lilly, changes to one that doesn't want to go through the gate! I had "shoo" her through the gate. We finally get through the gate and the other dog (a big tan Boxer puppy)walks up to Lilly and gives her the obligatory doggy "hello" "butt sniff" greeting! The greeting made Lilly's eyes as big as saucers! I just had to laugh! Lilly wasn't scared, she was looking at the other dog like "who are you?!" Lilly was calm, but I thought the look on her face was comical! I started to talk to the other dog's owner and felt a tightening feeling around my lower legs. I looked down and realized that both Lilly and the other dog had been following each other around me, and I was wrapped up so tightly with two leashes that I almost fell over! I started laughing, I just couldn't move an inch! I was quickly "rescued" by the other people and able to move!
Finally a third dog came in, a smaller dog, who ran up to also "greet" Lilly, and for one brief, very cute moment they were nose to nose. I really wanted to capture the "nose to nose" moment so with camera in hand I hurried to snap a shot, only to find out the camera batteries died! Oh no!! Not now!!! Of all times!!
The next thing I now, I look up and the smaller dog, which is about 1/2 the size of Lilly, is up on Lilly's back trying to "hump" her!! OMG!! The smaller dog (named Oscar)'s owner quickly got the dog off Lilly's back, and Lilly ran over to me and stood between my feet. I moved away from Lilly (I don't want her to be really clingy with me all the time). I think she was "plotting her revenge" against the smaller dog "Oscar". Lilly sat and waited until Oscar went to the water bowls near the fence to take a drink. Once oscar started to drink, Lilly walked over and "flipped" the water bowl over while Oscar was drinking out of it! This poor little dog had water all over his head! Lilly then proudly trotted back to me as if she was saying "Ha,ha! Look what I did!" After that Oscar left her alone, so I guess it worked! Everyone who witnessed it was laughing!
a few minutes later we headed home, and now I have a seriously tired, worn out, sleeping Lilly, who is curled up next to her sister Lacy! How sweet!