Success!

I don't know that I've ever posted about a specific product on the blog. Well, at least one that is good. I can't remember.

Today, that is changing because I have to stop and let everyone know the success we're having with a new dog food.

Blue Buffalo Dog Food.

This dog food has given our sweet Lilly a 180 degree turnaround.

This story is long and boring so I'll give you the abridged version.

• Lilly has severe food allergies (what else would you expect from the world's most high-maintenance dog?)
• We discovered this a few years ago
• She would itch non-stop (and make me crazy. Literally crazy.)
• We paid a small fortune on "tests" (that really didn't tell us too much.)
• She's allergic to protein (wha????)
• Put her on Hill's Prescription Diet Salmon and Potato (yum)
• Fast forward about three years
• Learned that she's not supposed to be on this food for an "extended period" from a trusty website (eek!!)
• Switched to this new food (after dropping a cool $65 on the old stuff just days before.)
• Not only has she COMPLETELY stopped itching, but she is excited, silky smooth and madly in love with this new food.

The pads on her feet are no longer pink. She no longer wakes up itching or biting. It's a brand new day for her! (And us, let's be serious.)

Blue has a ton of different varieties of food. They all contain great quality ingredients. We bought the Fish and Sweet Potato one for allergies. It's still a premium food so the cost is still there, but it's about $20 cheaper than Hills which is about $65 for the 17 lb bag. We can all tell a huge difference in her and it has only been a week.

I want to thank Laura from Dog Grooming Plus (Lilly's groomer) and Mike and Rose from Bow Wow Beach for helping open our eyes about dog food. Laura and her daughter Wanda have been in Port St. Joe a really long time and have had their successful grooming shop for quite some time. Mike and Rose have just recently opened Bow Wow Beach. It's a really, really cute store for pets (ok, dogs and cats, but who walks a cat on a leash?) I love the store and wish them great success in Port St. Joe. I highly encourage you to support them.

If you'd like to research the dog food you're currently feeding your furry family member, click here.

Seats and Springs

If the combination of the two words in the title doesn't mean anything to you it's probably because you aren't as gifted as I am in the plumbing world.

If you know me at all, you know that I have always been intrigued and captivated by the plumbing industry. You know, with all the pipe and fittings and ummm, check valves (???) and water. It makes perfect sense why I'm such a great fit.

I have a faucet on my kitchen sink (gasp, no????). I don't like it very much. But I think it was pretty expensive so I'm not inclined to replace it. Not to mention it matches all my kitchen hardware (brushed nickel.) It's the kind of faucet that the faucet is actually the sprayer.

Have I mentioned that I hate it?

Anyway, a few days ago, it started dripping. Annoying. So, I looked at it and thought, "well, something is clearly wrong with this faucet." (brilliant, no?) So I unscrewed the part where the water comes out. I tightened a couple screws, cleaned a rubber ring thing and put it all back together.

All for it to drip worse.

We basically decided that a new faucet was going to be in the future for us, except there was another one we wanted - I personally wanted the one that you could just touch and it turns on except they're like $450 which is insane. After consulting with my resident contractor, you apparently can't just drill new holes into a sink.

Weird.

Which meant that we were going to have to basically buy the same faucet.

BUT THEN.

BUT THEN......

My inner plumber thought it would be wise to consult with my resident Children's Ministry Coordinator / Women's Ministry Coordinator / Plumbing Company Office Manager friend Sarah who immediately suggested I replace the "seats and springs."

Hmmmmm, interesting theory, go on, go on.

She told me that it was an easy and the most inexpensive fix. I told her that while that sounded nice, I wasn't sure I knew what she was talking about (unless I used my mutant powers and became a plumber, but I only do that in emergencies - obviously.) She told me that she would be happy to give me a tutorial.

Score!

I drive over to Mize Plumbing Service and Supply, Inc. and there she is with a test faucet.

Except the faucet was brand new and still in the packaging.

Immediate diarrhea cramping ensues.

She demonstrates the replacement process of the seats and springs, put the faucet back together again and said, "ok, your turn."

Me (under my breath): "Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name......"

But - SUCCESS! I did it!

Granted I struggled a little bit with cross threading the main component (which apparently is a bad thing,) but ended up pretty successful with Sarah ending the tutorial with this phrase:

"We'll just let some of the guys fix this when they need it."

Hmmmmm, ok. So, I take all my purchased supplies ($2.99) and a borrowed allen wrench and off I go.

After choir, I came home and followed the steps EXACTLY as was demonstrated to me yesterday and hands to heaven, I now have a faucet that I hate, but doesn't drip one single ounce.....or CC....or some other small measurement of water.

I am plumber hear me roar!!!

Shout out to Miss Mize!!!!

In Certain Circles I Could Be Shot for Saying This...

There are a few things I need to say.

And I'm doing it in my blog because if I lived in a larger city and actually said these things out loud I could run the risk of getting shot.

1) (I'm sorry America.)

I do not / cannot understand the infatuation with Beyonce. I'm sorry. I can't. Furthermore, I do not think she is a good singer. I actually think she is a bad singer. She sounds like a random, higher-quality church singer with a moderately-wide vibrato who can't figure out when to belt and not belt. Why does everything have to be screaming? I do not consider her to be a musical visionary, true artist or whatever other name celebrities like to throw around when referring to other celebrities. For me, she's always going to be the girl that sang the song with the line....

"Do you pay my bills, do you pay my telephone bill, do you pay my automobile?"

Artist? I think not.

That Grammy performance was so awkward too. What was with all the GI Joe's? And what was with her writhing around on the stage?

Oh wait, she's a visionary!

When I think about songs that have majorly impacted or changed our culture, I think about a lot of older songs. Songs like "Imagine," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "We Are the World," (LOL), stuff like that. I don't think about "Single Ladies." It's like the music industry is run by the mob and Jay-Z is the Godfather.

Whatever. I can't stand Beyonce. Sue me.

2) Taylor Swift, you had the biggest album of 2009. Is it really hard to believe you're winning awards?? Enough with the "surprised" stammering and deer in the headlights look.

3) I CANNOT SEE one more woman layer a turtleneck and tights underneath a summer dress. It's not clever, it's not being a "fashion plate," it's not even cute. Please stop before I have to gouge my eyes out.

4) I would rather eat a sand sandwich than a deconstructed Big Mac in a tortilla. Just sayin'.

5) Haiti, the celebrity crisis de jour. Can we stop all the publicity around celebrities who even say the word Haiti? There's a lot of people helping Haiti, many of whom will go unnoticed. But noooooooo, not our good friends the celebrities.

****Sidebar****

At what point in your celebrity do you become a political and cultural expert? I'm just curious. It seems like you have to be in a movie with George Clooney. Then all of a sudden you have all these opinions on politics and what country we should aid and from where you should adopt children.

****Sidebar over****

6) I think Lady Gaga is a freak with daddy issues.

7) I think Smokey Robinson should give up the ghost. Dude, your career ended a while ago for a reason.

8) I think if you want to see some real musical talent, you look at the artists who are doing it because they love it, not because they want to get rich from it. Look at the Christian artists of our day. There are some folks out there that could sing the pants off anyone who performed on the Grammys last night. Also, look at people like the Dave Matthew's Band.

(Sarah just wet herself.)

While I do not personally enjoy the DMB "style," they are absolute musical geniuses.

9) I would like to hit the missionaries who were arrested in Haiti. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?????? "no one will notice (and surely not arrest us) if we attempt to smuggle 33 kids across the border." IDIOTS!

sorta like, "No officer, I don't use these prescription drugs hidden in my suitcase. I'm giving them to my grandmother who can't afford them and she really needs them. It's the right thing to do."

And go to jail for.

10) Michael Jackson is dead.

Get.

Over.

It.