Our dog in a nutshell.

 

Yup.

Sorry for the blurry pictures and cut off wording on bottom... I just wanted to share this before I try to fix it because it's too cute!

We love Wenda!

Tomorrow's Reveal!

I have been working on my new to me office table (which was a dinning room table).

Wenda has been keeping me company during this long process (and getting into mischief...)

She's such a cutie. ;)

Wenda's Toy

Have you ever had your dog chew up something? Shoes? Socks? Towels? Flip Flops?

We did. Wenda loves to chew. She's been doing so great until I found her chewing up my flip flop about a week ago. (AHH!)

Time to get some new toys.

We previously tried lots of toys: bones (which we have about 3 floating around the house), rubber toys, stuffed toys, tennis balls, etc. Nothing but the bones would survive longer than a week or two. For being 25 pounds of cuteness, she definitely has a strong set of jaws that loves to chew!

About a week ago I bought a StarMark Everlasting Ball for 21.99 at Petco. I thought, for so much money, I'm sure this will hold up and Wenda won't bite it into pieces.

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Wenda loved the toy I brought her home that day--she loved it so much in fact that she had it ripped apart within an hour with blue pieces everywhere! I was SO disappointed. This toy was meant for dogs under 40 lbs and I thought it was sure to last. Wenda apparently had too much fun, and has the chewing strength of a dog over 40 lbs.

I emailed the company, and told them how disappointed I was after spending $21.99. That night the marketing director emailed me offering to send me a replacement toy better suited for my dog! I was so ecstatic! It's so hard trying to figure out what to get a new dog when there are so many toys out there.

It took less than a week for the company to ship a new toy--the Everlasting Bento Ball.

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Wenda absolutely loves it! She has been playing with it since she got it on Tuesday. She has NOT chewed it to pieces nor has she demolished the toy--it's fabulous! Every night she has had a hard time parting with it for bedtime--the last two mornings it worked like a charm keeping her busy.

*Update: She has chewed a small piece off but that's it!

I really, really appreciate the replacement--that really tells me a lot about the company as a whole. To take time and listen to costumers then offer to send another toy really demonstrates a company's integrity. We will DEFINITELY be buying more treats to put into Wenda's Everlasting Bento Ball.

So if you are looking for some dog toys--totally check out StarMark's toy products here! I believe that they are a good company and is willing to listen to it's customers!

They also have a free downloads for Triple Crown's Training and Behavior Solutions.

Yes, Wenda has been tired out from her new toy and is currently passed out sleeping! :) 


*This post was just my opinions and experiences - StarMark did not pay me to write this--I just wanted to share how pleased I was! Thanks StarMark.

Walking

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Do you walk? Run? Exercise?

I'm trying to get into that healthy habit of walking each day for at least 30 minutes.

Wenda is my inspiration---actually more like my motivation. I've noticed if I walk her in the morning she seems more calm during the day, which is fabulous!!

I just mapped out my route--looks like I've been walking 1.6 miles in 30 minutes. I'm going to find a 2 mile route--and work on making it faster. ;)

I'd like to start running but I think I want to get into this habit of walking every morning first.

It's funny how during the day I think to myself, Oh man, I gotta exercise yet--oh wait! It's done already! Sweet!  That's a great feeling even though I do have to get up at 7/7:15 every morning, it's totally worth it!

Today I am working on my goals that I want to accomplish: Weight loss goals, healthy habit goals, life goals, etc. It's always good to work towards goals!!

Thought this was interesting...

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All about Wenda

Wenda is our lovely dog that we adopted Jan. 2011 from a local animal shelter. We have been really wanting a dog since we don't have any kids but we had to wait until we were home owners first. From the features she has, we believe she may be a lab/basset hound mix with maybe springer. Who knows. We love her anyways. :)

Some ask us how we got the name "Wenda".  Originally, I thought that I'd like to get a male dog and call him Waldo (Yes, I wanted to name our dog a name I'd NEVER name a kid). However, the second animal shelter we went to had two puppies that were siblings. There was an all black male and then there was... a female with white feet/chest. How unique! Seeing her for the first time, I knew that she was 'the one'! My plan of naming our dog Waldo fell through--so my husband asked Are there any female characters in the 'Where's Waldo' books? The next thing I knew I was looking it up--there sure was! Wenda is the girlfriend of Waldo who has a twin sister Wilma. I was second guessing the name after we got her. Wenda is such a weird name... but it totally fits her!

We absolutely love having Wenda even though she digs holes in our flower beds and barks at us (only us--maybe she has some anxiety?). However, her gentle nature with kids, sweet personality, and her ability to just be so dang cute melts our hearts! We're excited to see how big she'll grow.

Here's some pictures of when we first got Wenda.

Kisses in our half done kitchen. ;)

Hot Dog!

So tiny!

 

Wenda

Garden

This post was featured! Awesome! :)

My husband and I decided that we should build a small square foot garden this year. What I love about square foot gardening is that it is manageable. I'm typically the one to kill flowers and other plants (I admit to killing my hanging baskets last year--I swear it was an accident or maybe I ignored them...), so I needed something that was going to be just enough for me to handle this summer since my hubby is pretty busy.

I saw this book "All New Square Foot Gardening" and thought it was interesting. Did I read it? No, not yet. I just got the basics. I used a few websites to help me plan how to build a garden, what to plant, and what to use (refer to bottom of post for websites)

Positives/advantages about a square foot garden -
* It's healthy and organic!
* Weeding is less.
* Easy to water (and keep alive!) ;)
* Easy to reach all plants
* Uses less space - I can grow my plants up (pole beans)
* The main focus is to really focus on the few plants so they can grow well.
* No pesticides!!

We started out buying cedar boards. 6" in height, and 4 feet in length. We also bought a square pole (sorry, I'm bad with technical terms in building....) and metal sticks.

At home we had the screws and the tools to make it.

Here's the hubby made a simple box, using some great tools from my grandpa! He put reinforcement in the corners by cutting the square pole in half and attaching it. He's pretty nifty that way.

Please don't pay any attention to our messy garage.... ;)

And it finally was time to put it together in our back yard! We simply put it over the grass, pulled out all the weeds/grass, and then put our dirt/manure mix on top. Easy!

My husband also put in the pools to support the corners; it will also be used for our little fence so the bunnies don't get into anything!

Well, there you have it. How we built our little garden. More pictures to follow soon. We created a little grid for our planting. It's looks spectacular!

Apparently, Wenda doesn't like gardening too much--she just sat and watched. ;)

Special thanks to my hubby for putting your time and perfectionism into our garden! It's a perfect start in our new home!

More to come---what it looks like now and what we planted!

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Helpful Resources

Tim's Square Foot Garden
Frugal Dad
My Square Foot Garden
My Garden Guide
Country Farm Lifestyles
Vegetable Gardening Online - Free printables
Square Foot Gardening - Official

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