My Once Upon a Time...

Kristin over at More than Words nominated my little blog for the Liebster Award! I was so excited when I found out. I love connecting with other bloggers and it's always nice to know that someone besides my family reads my blog! :) Thank you so much Kristin! For those of you who have never heard of the Liebster Award, it’s basically an awesome way  for small bloggers to give recognition to other small bloggers (with 200 followers or less) for the contributions they make to the blogosphere . Here are the rules:  - Thank the Liebster Blog presenter who nominated you and link back to their blog. - Post 11 facts about yourself, answering the 11 questions you were asked and create 11 questions for your nominees. - Nominate 11 blogs who you feel deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been chosen. - Display the Liebster Award logo. - No tag backs meaning you can’t just re nominate the person who nominated you. ...

We've had an old picture frame in our garage for the last 4 years. It never had glass, but I liked the frame and thought we could make a mirror out of it eventually. Of course that never happened and the frame was just laughing in my face each time I pulled into the garage. It finally came to me that I should make it a chalkboard instead, which was one of the easiest projects ever.  I wish I took a "before" picture, but I forgot. It was super easy. I went to Home Depot to have them cut a wooden board for me and painted it with Chalkboard paint after I primed it. I did one coat of primer and two coats of chalkboard paint. I was thinking about priming the frame as well, but got too lazy and simply spray painted one coat over the existing finish, which worked great.  I love it! Wir hatten für die letzten 4 Jahre einen alten Bilderrahmen in unserer Garage. Er hatte nie Glas, aber ich mochte den Rahmen und dachte, wir könnten irgendwann einen Spiegel darau...

These past few weeks have been a shit-show at our house. My mom always said that bad things happen in threes, but it seems more like Katie and I both got hit with three things each. It all started with Zuma’s seizure and the resulting vet bill. Thank God for Care Credit Card. If you don’t have it, you need to get it! It’s a credit card that can only be used for medical bills (vet bills and dental bills included), and you don’t pay any interest for 6-12 months, depending on where you use it. There are no fees whatsoever. It has been a life saver for us so many times already. I always tell Katie that we shouldn’t pay it off too fast, because each time we do, something else happens. :) Anyway, shortly after, our air conditioner broke. Let me just tell you, when it’s 118 degrees, you need your a/c. Ironically we just had it serviced a month before and even got a new thermostat installed. Luckily, a family friend who owns an a/c company walked us through some things we should try and it ...

We used to call Katie's parents backyard "Dogpark Smith".  Zuma and Cosie would go crazy, every time we would ask them if they wanted to go to Dogpark Smith. It truly was a paradise for them. 3 acres to run around like crazy fools, play in the fountains, swim in the pool and Cosie just loved to chase bunnies.  Unfortunately, Katie's parents sold the house a couple of months ago and the dogs had to say goodbye. We recorded their last moments on video: Wir haben den Garten von Katie's Eltern "Dogpark Smith" genannt. Jedesmal, wenn wir Zuma und Cosie gefragt haben, ob sie nach Dogpark Smith wollten, haben sie sich immer wie verrueckt gefreut.  Es war wirklich ein Paradies für sie. Drei Hektar um wie bekloppt herumzurennen, im Brunnen zu spielen, im Pool zu schwimmen und Cosie hat es geliebt, die Hasen auf dem Grundstueck zu jagen. Leider haben die Eltern von Katie das Haus vor ein paar Monaten verkauft und die Hunde mussten sich von ihrem P...

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you probably know that our dog Zuma was diagnosed with epilepsy in December of 2011 . I mentioned a few weeks ago that he had another mini seizure while we were on vacation, his first one in 1.5 years. The doctors told us back in 2011, that epilepsy can't be cured and that he will probably have a seizure every 1-2 months. I remember being on edge for weeks, just waiting for the next seizure to come, but eventually we stopped worrying and just kept giving him his Pheno pill every 12 hours. Our vet was surprised as well, that Zuma had been seizure free for such a long time, and when we brought him in after his mini-seizure in May, everything seemed great and we were supposed to keep doing what we've been doing. Tuesday morning, at 5:45am, I shot out of bed because something was off. We've been locking Zuma in our room at night to make sure we hear him if he has a seizure, and I'm so glad that after such a long time, ...