Groupon.com First Deal!

I wrote last week about Groupon.com, and I've been checking the site every day for a great deal to share. I found a wonderful deal for here in Louisville, KY for an optometrist. I paid $49 (normally $73) for a visit and $150 off a pair of glasses. Now, I would not consider the visit alone for $49 a good deal because there are always places like Dr. Bizer's Vision World having specials for around that, but the discount on glasses will be great. I'd say I am certainly sold on using Groupon!

You can find deals like this for your city too here. They also have a iPhone app, so you can find the deals on your phone. I love using my phone, so this is my favorite way to find the Groupon deals.

Louisville Half Off - More Amazing Deals

My husband loves eating out. If it were more economical, we would probably eat out at least four or five times a week. I know that when he gets home he'll want to go out with friends to celebrate being home and able to eat non-Army food.

So, since he'll probably be home in about a month, I have started looking at Louisville Half Off to see if they have any gift certificates for places he likes to eat. See, just as the title says, all the gift certificates are half off. So we could have a $50 dinner for the two of us for only $25! I'm not sure about you, but I think that's pretty awesome. And maybe I'll even be able to find a coupon for our dinners - wouldn't that be insane?

So If you live in Louisville - visit Louisville Half Off and get saving!

Louisville Half Off

Funny Smell That Won't Go Away?

I love fragrances. Candles and lotions, body wash, I even use Aussie hair spray because it smells good! So when a not-so-nice smell appeared in my second bedroom, I wasn't too happy. It quickly became apparent that Katy probably went potty a little on the futon mattress. Oh the joys of dog ownership!

I aired out the room and mattress for 2 days, and throughly cleaned the futon with a water and vinegar solution. The smell went away for a little while, but reappeared yesterday evening. I decided to try baking soda sprinkled on top the mattress, letting it sit for 30 minutes, scrubbing it in with a scrub brush, then vacuuming away the excess. The baking soda I vacuumed up did absorb some of the smell, so I decided to take no chances. I flipped the mattress over and sprinkled the baking soda again, but left it overnight instead of half an hour.

I am happy to report there are no more funny smells in my apartment! Just to make sure, though, I am putting a old jar with holes in the lid under the futon to absorb any other lingering odor. Thank goodness for baking soda!

Organizing, Cleaning, Unpacking and More Unpacking,

I love organizing. Isn't it great to look at a pile of stuff, then sort it all out and find a new way to store it all in a way that actually makes sense? Moving to my new apartment, I vowed that I would no longer have bags, baskets, and boxes filled with all the random stuff that would not fit other places. After the third consecutive hour of unpacking and organizing today, I sat down on the futon sitting in my extra bedroom and just sat there, admiring the fact that I had extra closet space. In my old apartment, the only reason that a closet would be that empty was if we had to empty the entire closet because we were looking for something. 

One thing we had trouble with in the last apartment was having boxes that I knew the purpose of, but my husband didn't. So when we were cleaning, my husband had no idea where things went. I am a huge fan of boxes, bins and baskets, so as I am deciding on places I am labeling them. Hopefully this will help my husband be able to find the correct place for things, but it would not hurt to have a reminder for me too! 

Well, the boxes and their labels are calling again. I have many boxes to unpack and label before I'll be satisfied with my work today. How do you keep your house organized? 

Groupon.com

I have seen ads on Facebook over and over again for Groupon.com, and I was not sure about it. It seemed gimmicky to me, and so I did not sign up. It was not until a friend told me about a great deal she got on a gym membership for more than half off with no strings attached that I joined.

The website was very simple to sign up for, you can use Facebook to login or just put your full name and email, and you're ready to go.
I only joined yesterday, but I'm already excited to see what great deals I can find. I'll let you know as soon as I find something I can't live without! Have you ever used Groupon? What deals have you taken advantage of.

Boxes, Dog Training, and Wonderful News!

I am so thrilled. I just got a call from my husband, Jonathan, who is currently in Fort Benning, GA in training with the Army. He might be home within the month! It will be so nice to be able to have him home to share our new apartment with him. It's been very difficult to have him gone, but staying busy is the best thing.
 Right now I am trying to decide how best to organize the house so that hopefully we can keep things in some semblance of order. We had almost no closet space in our old apartment- it's quite a change to now have a walk in closet, or "walking closet" as my little brother David calls it, not to mention a linen closet and laundry room, plus a second bedroom. I almost don't know what to do with so much space!

So this week I hope to go thru the kitchen and label the inside of the cabinet doors with what should go on each shelf. That way my husband can not only find things, but he will be able to put things away where they actually go! At the old apartment we were aways struggling to keep everything orderly, but that's hard when my sense of where things should go is very definite, where my husband is much more flexible. Flexibility is a really good thing, and I love that he is that way, but it was very frustrating to both of us that we could never find everything. I am very excited to think that we'll both be able to use the kitchen and be able to find everything!
I will post pictures when everything is labelled and organized.

Kong Tips for the New User

If you are thinking of using Kongs, here are some tips that I have learned the hard way or others have shared with me. Hope they help you as much as they have me!

Always supervise your dog the first few times you give them a new chew toy of any kind, especially if you have a dog who is an aggressive chewer such as a Pitt Bulls or Rottweilers. Kongs are very durable, but no dog toy is indestructible.

Make sure to get to correct size Kong. If you are not sure about what size is good for your dog, check out the official Kong sizing chart. Don't go with a smaller size than is recommended for your dog's size and weight. They might swallow it whole, causing a possibly life threatening situation, not to mention a very expensive vet bill!

The sales lady at the Feeder's Supply gave me some great advice. She told me if you are trying to decide between two sizes, go with the larger size. They hold more food which means less work packing food inside!

If you intend to feed your dog using only Kongs, buy enough Kongs to hold 2 days worth of food. This allows you freeze one day's Kongs so you don't have to repack them every day, or multiple times a day. Buying different kids of Kongs, not just the Classic, will help keep Fido entertained. We bought 2 Activity Balls (also called Stuff-A-Balls) which are great. The normal Kongs don't take long to be emptied out, but the Activity balls filled with Kibble keep your pet playing for longer. We also like the Genius Kong, it's the Mike. The large size holds an entire day's worth of food for our dog, which is great.

After filling a Kong with too much peanut butter for my dog one day, I was left with a challenge: how to clean the sticky gooey mess out. After a little bit of Googling, I found an easy solution: a baby bottle brush. This works like a charm and it is so much easier than anything else I tried. Now, I can put peanut butter, honey, or any other stick substance without dreading having to clean it out. They are dishwasher safe, so once a week or so I put them through on the top rack.

Hope these tips help you!

Christina 

Kongs - Fad or Useful Tool?

If you own a dog, or are considering adopting one, you will probably hear about Kongs. They are rubber chew toys that come in different sizes and strengths that allow you to pick which one is best for your dog. They came highly recommended to us by our vet, but I wasn't sure how they would help us with Katy.

When we brought home our little Beagle Katy, she serious issues with confidence. We were told that she was most likely abused before she was found the pound. She had serious separation anxiety and whenever my husband and I left her alone in the house, she would bark, whine, roll her cage and tear up anything she could get a hold of. Once I came home to find her bloody where she had worked herself into such a frenzy that she destroyed the plastic base in her crate.

After my husband left for training with the Army at Ft. Benning, the symptoms only worsened. In desperation I called our vet and they recommended hiring a trainer from a company called Bark Busters, and only feeding her using the Kongs. I bought the Kongs on the way home, after all what did I have to lose, and started packing her kibble in them.

It took her a few days to really get into using the Kong, but after that she grew to love them! After 3 months of use, the Kongs I have purchased for around $8 each don't show any signs of wear and tear. I highly recommend the Classic Kongs, although we also use the Activity Balls, and Genius Kong regularly. as a chew toy and as a method of feeding your four legged friend. For an investment of less than $10 and a little creativity you can keep your pet entertained and happy for hours on end. It's well worth it to me to know that when I leave the house and put Katy in her crate, she has something fun to do to keep her happy.

For more information about stuffing your Kongs, visit the Kong Recipes Page.

Chopsticks and Baby Bottle Brushes

I believe the phrase, "Work smart, not hard." If you do things the smart way, you can move on to the fun things that much sooner. So, I am pleased that I have found two really easy ways to clean out my dog's Kongs with minimal effort. If you have a big treat stuck inside one of your Kongs that your dog cannot get it out, there is a very simple solution. Chopstiks! I use a chopstick and stick it through the small hole of the Kong and push the treat out. My father in law has a Chinese restaurant, so we always have chopsticks in the house.
I also have a problem with peanut butter and other sticky substances being stuck in the bottom of the Kong. A baby bottle brush takes care of that with no problems. Afterward I throw the Kongs in the top rack of the dishwasher and they are good as new!

Moving, Dog Care, and a Hurt Ankle

There are so many things going on this week and while I'm very excited about all of the changes, but it's going to be a lot to keep me busy.

Firstly, I am moving to a new apartment. I'm upgrading from a one bedroom, one bath with no washer and dryer to a newer apartment with two bedrooms and bathrooms, with a washer and dryer! While it means more money, having the washer and dryer alone would be worth all the effort of a move! I'm sure that my parents and friends are tired of seeing me come to their house with overflowing laundry baskets and a jug of homemade laundry soap. 

Secondly, my mother and I are in a weight loss contest, to see who can lose the most weight in a month. Our final weigh-in will be on the 23rd of this month. I have only lost 5 lbs, however I am sure that I have been gaining muscle. I started jogging with my two year old little Beagle, Katy, instead of just walking. We were walking for 15-20 minutes a day, three times a day, until I took a fall and sprained an ankle. So for the next few days I'm going to be taking it easy as much as possible and hopefully I'll keep any extra weight off during all the moving. 

Lastly, I am also babysitting a friend's one year old twins Monday through Thursday. So while packing, unpacking, organizing, and doing laundry in my new washer and dryer, I'll also be changing diapers, picking up finger foods, and wiping little noses. Oh, the joys of change!

Well, off to go do some packing!