My Once Upon a Time...

Dear 16-year old Nadine, It's me, twice as old as you and hopefully twice as wise!  If I think about my future daughter being just like you, I smile and cringe at the same time. We had some fun times (maybe a little too much fun), but sometimes I wish somebody had given me this advice when I was as innocent (yeah right) and naive as you are.  - Do not ride your bicycle at 3am by yourself through the middle of the woods! Are you crazy? Has nobody ever warned you about rapists and killers? What are you thinking?  Let me just tell you, it won't help you to have a small can of hairspray ready to go in your hands... if someone wants to knock you of your bike, they will! Stop being so cheap and spend your hard-earned money on a taxi or make that loser boyfriend of yours ride home with you. You should count your blessings that nothing has ever happened to you!  - Speaking of loser boyfriends, don't waste another minute crying about that idiot you think you're...

Last week we bought a house. Three days later we lost it.  I found said house a few months ago and loved it right away. Unfortunately it was already under contract, but even though, I kept looking for it, in the hopes that it came back on the market. I was so excited when it did. We scheduled a showing right away, got our finances in order, applied for a loan, made an offer, got a counteroffer, went a few days back and forth with the sellers and they finally accepted our offer after about 5 days of being on this emotional roller coaster.  Katie's grandma always tells us not to get emotionally attached when looking at houses, but that is easier said than done.  So when we received the signed contract from the sellers accepting our counter, we were over the moon. We told everyone we knew, we set up an appointment with a realtor to sell our current home and actually started packing boxes. I still can't believe how naive we were. When we went to the home inspection...

With Zuma's Epilepsy, I've never really felt comfortable leaving him alone at home. I was always wondering if he was okay, always worrying, always anxious to get home. Obviously there is no way I can be with him at all times (someone has to be part of bringing home the bacon to afford all of his vet bills...haha), so we did the next best thing: We got a security camera!  It's amazing! It only cost $80 and we can now watch him wherever we are by accessing it through the internet or Katie's phone. Not only that, but it has night vision and we can hear everything that's going on at our house and even speak to the dogs if need to.  We usually lock one dog in the kitchen with access to the dog door and the other one in the living room with access to the rest of the house. At lunch time, we swap them. So when Zuma was MIA for like an hour the other day, I started to call him over the camera and sure enough, he came inside to see what's up! I love our new toy!...