Small Successes

Celebrating the little things in life that add up.

1. I got a decent amount of my back to school shopping done for Madeline this past weekend.  Thanks to the awesome 30% off coupon I had for Old Navy and the 25% off coupon I had for Children's Place, I was able to get a lot of cute stuff for Madeline at great prices.  I'm still pretty psyched about the jeans I got for Madeline  at Old Navy for $9.80.  How cool is that?  Thanks to the Overstock section of the Lands End website, I was able to order each of my girls a second winter jacket for the upcoming season.  A neighbor told me we're supposed to have an unseasonably cold winter (according to another neighbor who read the Farmers Almanac).

2. I cleaned out Ellie's dresser and closet and removed all of the clothing that I am sure will not fit this fall.  I get such a great feeling when I'm able to purge the dressers and closets.  I think it's because I know that I'll be able to pull more clothing from my packed hand me down closet in my bedroom.  I am trying so hard to get the amount of stuff in that closet reduced.  Parts of it still overflow into Bryan's closet.  Poor guy has rubber maid totes of little girl clothes lining the bottom of his closet.

3. I have been training Mr. Furkins.  I have hit a point where I can't stand that he barks like a wild thing every time someone comes to the door.  When guests come over he goes nuts and hops all over the place and usually pees the moment they come in the door.  It creates total chaos and it infuriates me beyond belief.  Bryan, who is at work most of the day, doesn't always acknowledge that Oscar is a problem since the dog will happily listen to him most of the time. (This stance gets me very upset with Bryan.)  He decided to look into getting a dog trainer that will come to our house.  After hearing that the trainer wanted $600 for three sessions and that the problems I wanted corrected were "wish list items" and would cost more and couldn't be guaranteed, I  decided that I needed to just try to train him myself.  I am now working on desensitizing the dog to the doorbell and garage door opener.  He's getting better, but I won't know for sure how successful I've been until a perfect stranger comes to the door.  My goal is to have a dog that sits quietly when the door bell rings and stays put.  I don't know how long it's going to take to make this work, but I'm hoping I can have a dog that behaves when people come to our house sometime in the next month or two.