Losing Trust
Since we moved here on account of Mike’s job, it has required us to go through about a million and a half people for each step in the process. First, there was the person who held all of the information about the job but who didn’t post it when she said she would (over and over again). There have been HR people who promised us things they didn’t deliver on. There have been managers who are unresponsive. There was the promotion Mike was promised, oh, LAST NOVEMBER that those in charge dragged their feet on and haven’t responded to inquiries on the subject. There were the people in charge of getting our visa paperwork that had us running around for months to get everything in order, only to then say that we apparently WOULDN’T be getting visas. Instead, we’d be entering the country under a military agreement called “SOFA Status.”
Except…we still don’t have SOFA status. In fact, in a couple of weeks, we will officially be in this country illegally if the paperwork is not in order by that time. We’re trying to get the company to make some “suggestions” for what we might do if our legal status expires before our paperwork is in order. I’m really hoping that their answer isn’t “it’ll be fiiiine” but my hopes aren’t really that high.
And then we tried to purchase a car. Two people who were hired to help us relocate told us that we could purchase a car in this country and it would take a few extra steps, but it was possible. A day before we were supposed to purchase a car, it turned out that we wouldn’t be allowed to get insurance on the car (after at LEAST 6 or 7 emails confirming we could get insurance and two months of discussing it). A week later, they found an insurance company that WOULD insure us. So in order to pay for the car in cash, we cashed in some of our stocks and investments and spent weeks transferring the money into cash, incurring regular fees along the way for ATM transactions and whatnot.
So we found a car. We paid in cash for the car. We were supposed to pick it up a few days later. Mike returned his rental car, took a taxi to the dealership, and lo and behold, there was a problem. We can’t buy a car!! Shocker. So Mike was without a car and had no way of getting back home. The dealership lent him a car while we got other arrangements together.
There have been SO many fails on SO many people’s parts during this whole process. We cashed in thousands and thousands of dollars of our investments, incurred fees converting it to Euros in cash. We lost money on a deal that never should have happened in the first place. That money could still be sitting in an account, accruing money for our future children instead. Somewhere along the way, SOMEONE should have told us that no, it isn’t possible to buy a car. That we HAVE to rent even though it’s more expensive than purchasing.
We still don’t have all of our items from home, either. Our big items like our beds and our christmas tree aren’t here. We’ve been told for weeks that it would be “soon.” We’re trying to schedule the delivery for this week since we’re going out of town next week. I can’t imagine what people do if they buy an unfurnished place and wait for their furniture for months before it arrives.
At the risk of sounding dramatic, we just don’t trust people anymore. We just don’t. We don’t trust that anyone will do what they say they will. We don’t trust that people who assure us of something they “know” actually know anything at all. We don’t trust that people who are paid to help us will help us at all.
I had no idea when we took this job that I would lose faith in so much of humanity. We’ve always been prepared to the extreme…sending 3 or 4 confirmation emails to people on things just to be sure the status hasn’t changed, that we will be good to go. The fact that so many emails have gone back and forth telling us false information or misleading information is so, so disheartening.
I don’t trust that we’ll be “just fiiiine” if our legal status here expires before our paperwork is ready. I don’t think it’s fair of anyone to ask us to be here illegally because someone else didn’t do their job properly. In fact, I think it’s…um…illegal for someone to ask that of us. Personally, I’d rather spend Christmas back at home instead of in a Spanish jail cell if we’re caught.
It’s sad that an experience like this that was supposed to be fun and exciting has made us so much more cautious of everything and everyone. It’s sad that people who have our lives in their hands have misled us on numerous occasions. It’s sad that we used to want to travel and live abroad beyond our time here in Spain, but now we have to seriously, seriously reconsider that dream.
Life Ruiner
Last night, I got a very interesting/funny comment on my wedding blog, Bride Junk, from a vendor we had considered for our wedding. We visited this winery in the fall of 09, and I wrote my comprehensive review of wineries in the NJ/PA area in January of 10.
(This is just an excerpt from the lengthy response found here. I can’t help but laugh at the desperation/bad spelling)
I’m sorry to hear that you thought our wines were so ‘terrible’ that it ruined your plans for hosting a wedding. May I ask what wines you tried? Valenzano Winery produces a wide variety of wines for ALL tastes. If you are a California Cabernet drinker you obviously arent going to enjoy our Shamong Red. [...] If you were offered the appropriate style of wine and you still thought it was ‘terrible’, it is typically appropriate to list what you didnt like about the wine rather than throw generalized and generic insults that really dont explain the wines. All of our wines are certified and approved as ‘quality’ and lack any flaws. Professionals and scientist certify this for us.
If you didnt like our wines, than your dislike is ‘subjective’ and it would be great if you could be more specific such as ‘the merlot was too high in acidic acid” or the vidal is ‘lakes necessarily tannns’, etc… This is much more helpful to us and your readers, and certainly less more insulting. [...]
Thanks for your help and congratulations on your wedding!
Now, the only reason this winery would bother with this response is if they feared my review would impact business, right? Well, “Valenzano Winery Wedding” in a google search turns up my little post as the #4 result. Oops.
I have to admit: I wasn’t trying to be diplomatic at all. I said the wines were “terrible” and I stand by that. I vividly remember trying every. single. wine. they offered and turning to Mike with an “uh, no” face. The wines in this area simply aren’t that good. I have nothing against them for their business…I just choose not to purchase it, drink it, and I chose not to have my wedding there for that reason. It might not be an eloquent reason, but that was my reason for not having our wedding there. Even they have to admit that their $15 merlot is not the best quality we could have gotten for that price, right?
The wine aside, It got me thinking about the amount of reviews I gave as a wedding blogger & I wonder how my reviews have affected the businesses that (we considered) were sub-par. We had extremely high standards when planning our wedding, we had a unique vision, and we weren’t going to settle for a place that didn’t have the organization skills to carry out what we wanted. We wanted something special for our guests, and our pickiness paid off: Ladder 15 was the best possible venue and staff that we could have found. Ever.
To this day, if David Sturno googles himself, he’ll see my scathing review of the treatment he gave us when we were ready to book our wedding at R2L. In fact, I’m the #1 google hit. Part of me feels bad until I remember the condescending, shit-eating smirk he gave me when I mentioned to him that I was a blogger and would be happy to give R2L glowing reviews if we could have our wedding there.
I don’t feel bad for using whatever power I have as a blogger to push businesses to achieve higher quality. I think this is the world we live in right now, and I’m not out writing false reviews. I’m giving my honest opinion on each business as I see it. Could they be worded more diplomatically? Yes. Should I remove them for that reason? No. They’re true to my experiences.
It does remind me that perhaps I should use these powers for good, too. I should give credit to the businesses who are doing a great job, and I think I’ve tried to do that with Ladder 15 and Tria, both quality Philly businesses that are incredibly close to my heart.
So what do you think? Would you use your blogging powers for good and/or evil? If you’ve written bad reviews in the past, do you feel bad about it later, or are you happy you did it?
“Everything Happens for a Reason”
Are you a believer of this? Many people are. I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard this over my own life: my mother is a big believer in this statement.
I don’t believe it. One bit. I completely understand why someone might say this to a friend or loved one during a tough time: they want you to feel hope, like you aren’t alone, that things will work out in your favor in the end, and many times they just don’t know what else to say. I get that. I always understand where the statement comes from, and usually it comes from a good place where the believer just wants you to feel better.
I still don’t buy it. In order to buy into it, I’d have to believe in a cosmic universe that I have no control over, that things will happen to me but it will be for some bigger purpose. Or, if you choose to believe, you’re on the side of a God who controls the intricacies and interactions in our lives, therefore has a path or larger plan for us.
Here’s what I believe: Life doesn’t always rule in my favor. Sometimes it does. Whether it does or it doesn’t, I am the one with the control on how I handle the situation and how I move forward with my life. There is no puppeteer hanging over me, deciding what will befall me and how I might emerge from the situation.
It is almost always true that we learn things from difficult and near-impossible situations, and the way that we as human beings are designed to overcome adversity is amazing. You could say that “X happened to you so you could learn Y lesson” but I personally believe in giving credit where credit is due: if someone learns a lesson or gets a better opportunity after an unusually hard time, it’s usually because that person worked for it, chose not to give up, and didn’t let themselves believe that a larger power would do everything for them. I respect that. Everyone should respect that & not pawn the credit off to the universe’s “reason.”
Again, I know that some people deeply believe in “Everything Happens for a Reason,” so I usually don’t make a deal of it when people say it to me. It irks me sometimes though, because I believe that our true characters show up at the times of greatest strife: whether or not I pull myself out of a difficult situation is on me, not on anyone or anything else.
Heavy topic for a random Tuesday? My wheels started turning when I read this Tweet by Tony Parsons, ReTweeted by Piers Morgan:
Nothing like a good Twitter prompt 
Which side of this do you fall on? What do you believe & why?
It Isn’t For Everyone
Overall, I’ve been getting very enthusiastic responses when I tell people that I’m moving to Spain with my husband. The first question out of people’s mouths is usually “why” we’re moving there, followed quickly by the question, “What will YOU do?”
I respond to this by saying, “Well, I won’t have a work visa, so I won’t be allowed to work while I’m there.” Yeah…right…like I’m SO SAD that I won’t be able to work while I’m living in a beautiful country that’s famous for wines, cured meats, and delicious cheeses.
Then I go on about how I want to learn the language and immerse myself in the culture, and generally soak it all in. Because really…isn’t that what I SHOULD do while I have this opportunity?
And wouldn’t you know it, some people just want to be negative and doubtful and crap all over my parade. I’ve been most surprised by the people who react with an edge of condescension.
“I’d go crazy if I didn’t have anything to do all day.”
“You’re gonna be so bored, you’ll want to come home after two weeks.”
“You don’t know the language?? Good luck living there, then”
“You’re gonna be lonely as hell.”
And my personal favorite…
“You must not be very close to your parents”
Seriously?? Seriously??? You don’t even KNOW me and you’re psychoanalyzing my relationship with my parents? Just because you’d be too scared to try to live abroad in another country doesn’t mean that I am. I’ve always been a very independent person, and I’m confident that I’ll be okay during this move.
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. I went to college in Philadelphia without knowing another soul out here. I took an internship in Los Angeles and didn’t know anyone there either. After school, I moved to Southern New Jersey and didn’t see my friends or family super often, but it was all okay because we made it work. That’s just what you do when you’re far from family and friends…you miss them, and you try to stay in touch with them, and you’re sad when you can’t see them, but you live your life.
Being an independent person doesn’t mean that I value my relationships any less, it just means that I’m not going to miss out on any opportunities just because I’ll be away from the people I love. I have a wonderful relationship with my parents, and they are very supportive of Mike and me making decisions that are right for us. They are happy to see us lead independent, happy, fulfilling lives…isn’t that what parents raise us to do in the first place?
And I know that a lot of the nay-sayers are probably just a little jealous or something, but I also know that this kind of move isn’t for everyone. Some people really do need to be physically close to their family and friends in order to lead their happiest lives. In an ideal world, I would love to pack up an entourage of people and bring them to Spain with us, but since it isn’t possible, we’ll just make it work in other ways. I probably will be lonely sometimes, and I’ll miss my parents and my friends…of COURSE I will. But I’ll also probably have the time of my life exploring and learning new things about a new culture.
So I won’t rip on you for living 10 miles away from family if you don’t rip on us for moving out of the country with our lonely little selves, Capishe? You live the life that’s right for you, I’ll do the same, and we can swap stories and experiences and live vicariously through each other when we meet up again. How does that sound?
</End Rant>
Ready, Set…Wait
Ready for another Spain update?
Yesterday we were informed of some pretty unfortunate news. We are definitely still going to Spain, but Mike’s start date has been pushed back to October 15th.
Ughhhhhh.
There are quite a few reasons why this is frustrating and irritating, but more than that, this situation is really hurting our family. We planned on an August 1 move date, therefore I put in notice with my company a few weeks ago so we’d have plenty of time to get ready for the move. At the time, we didn’t know there was a possibility of the job being pushed back.
I asked my boss if I could stay at my job through the end of June at least, but unfortunately, the company is eliminating my position altogether now and they are only allowing me to work through the end of this week. Awesome.
Now I have four months of unemployment staring me in the face before Mike’s larger salary kicks in. It’s scary. We took the Spain job because we’d be making more money off of Mike’s salary during this contract than we currently make on our combined salaries. This was supposed to improve our financial security, not destroy it.
So I’m bitter and upset at the ways of the world at the moment, though I know we won’t starve and this cut back is only temporary. Still, it sucks. It really really sucks.
And I know I’m at risk of sounding obnoxious, but I’m not used to being a penny pincher. I wouldn’t say that I spend ridiculous amounts of money, but I’ve never really thought twice about whether or not I could afford to go out to dinner or buy a bottle of wine, a new dress, etc. So this will be a lifestyle change for me. I know that we won’t die and that we’ll be just fine in the long run, but this kind of change is scary and unpleasant, no matter how “fine” we’ll be.
It’s an unfortunate circumstance, and one we couldn’t have predicted, but I’m trying to stay positive. I know that there is an end date to this tighter time period, which is more assurance than many others have, so I’m grateful for that. This situation will probably encourage me to make better financial choices–which sounds great and mature, but really all I want to do is throw a tantrum about the whole thing.
Many people have asked if I’ll try to find a part-time job, and I might, but Mike and I are still discussing the possibility. We might just tough it out & try to get by without it since the summer will probably go by quickly and I wouldn’t be able to stay long enough for a job to want to hire me anyway. Plus, if we’d like to visit family this summer, I probably wouldn’t be allowed any time off with a new job unless it’s very very flexible.
It’ll be a work in progress. Or, I guess I should say that I’LL be a work in progress while I try to navigate these new unemployed waters. I think I’ll make a list of all the things that I’ll want to do this summer to make the best of the situation, so hopefully that will make me feel better. Maybe it’ll even feel like an adventure…who knows. I do know that while I’m unemployed, I’ll try to blog every weekday so I at least get into a comfortable routine. Lucky you guys, right?
Have you been unemployed before? What are your biggest tips for dealing with less money and extra time during unemployment?
Man Cave Madness
Mike and I watch a lot of HGTV, mostly House Hunters and House Hunters International since those are the shows on during the time slots we’re able to watch weekday evenings. One thing we’re both super peeved about is all of this discussion on how the man of the house needs a “Man Cave.”
I’m always reminded of the “Man’s Kitchen” episode of Home Improvement when I think of man caves. Can you hear the grunting too, or is it just me?
Don’t get me wrong, I think that everyone needs a little space sometimes to breathe and enjoy their hobbies and interests in solitude, but why is this trend leaning only toward men’s need for a “Man Cave?” I’ve never once heard a woman say “If this new house doesn’t have a craft room/reading nook/reflection space for ME and ME only, it’s a dealbreaker.” I also haven’t seen women look in horror at their husbands when they suggest using a large space of their home for their man cave instead of as a playroom/family space for their children, as I probably would.
But while we don’t have children, we’re still very put-off by this presumptuous and rude mentality–aren’t we equals in our relationship? Would Mike need an entire room to escape from me during our time together after work and on the weekends? Maybe it’s just him–he doesn’t like to play video games and he’s not one to sit in front of the TV all day for sports games, so a man cave for him just seems silly and wasteful.
Then again, if he did prize video games and sports and had a need for a man cave instead of a love for wine, gardening, cooking, and spending time with me and the dogs, we might not have been right for each other in the first place.
So here’s what I’m asking…Am I the only one who is disgusted by the thought of a man cave? Would you feel comfortable with your husband/significant other having a room with its sole purpose being to escape from you and the family to do “man things?” Or do I have it wrong? Is it a part of a healthy relationship to have that space away from each other? What do you think?
Husbandless Week in Review
Okay. At the beginning of the week, I made all sorts of predictions on what I’ll probably be doing this week while Mike has been gone. Let’s see just how I put my time to use:
1. Yes, I sang. I also whistled a lot. I don’t think the neighbors can hear me, but Mike said that they might be able to after he read my post about how much I sing. Whatevs, the dogs LOVE to hear me sing, so that’s all that matters.
2. Dinners: Okay, I was even worse than I thought I’d be.
- Monday: Chips and Salsa for dinner, haagen daz bananas foster ice cream for dessert.
- Tuesday: Chips and Salsa for dinner
- Wednesday: I had run out of salsa, so I put taco sauce in some melted velveeta and ate it with chips. Yeeeeahh. Don’t worry, I’m judging me too. Oh, and I had more bananas foster ice cream.
- Thursday: I ate a box of quarter-sized crab cakes (I think there were 9) that were supposed to be appetizers for a party. And then I ate mustard out of a bottle until I started to feel sick. And then I made a shameful dessert, which leads me to…
3. Yes, I did end up making something that I wouldn’t have made if Mike had been home. I was so close to going the week without doing this, but yesterday, this recipe popped up in my reader:
Aaand I needed it. I had all of the ingredients, and I needed it. But instead of making a whole batch I quartered the recipe and just made it on a plate (because, let’s be honest, the pan I would have used was already occupied).
Yes. I know, you’re still judging me. It’s okay.
Aaand I ate half of it.
It was like, the most giant peanut butter cup in the world and it was delicious.
4. I did talk to the dogs, but really only the last two days when I started to really notice that the house was empty.
5. I read quite a bit, but instead of my super scientific book, I read Mockingjay for like, the 6th or 7th time. I’m super academic.
6. I watched just one Twilight movie, and it was Eclipse. Sorry, honey, but you’ll see that reflected on our on-demand purchase list this month.
7. I cleaned up the sink full of dishes last night, but didn’t do much else. We’ll clean this weekend, I’m sure!
So there you have it! I successfully predicted all of the ways I fall short as a human being when my husband isn’t around to keep me in check. I think I’m ready to eat a vegetable or two now.
Or, I could just go out and buy more salsa.
Have a good weekend!
Cell Phone Connection
A few days ago, as I was leaving work and on my way home, I decided to call my mother from the bluetooth feature of my car.
It’s still new, so I had to show it off.
So I pressed the little call button, practically screamed at the dashboard (because it tends to misunderstand me if I’m not screaming) “Phone. Call Mom.”
The car then said “Calling Hip-Hop.”
Huh?? Hip-Hop?
And then I remembered…I had this guy in my phone:
Yeah, I have the Sixer’s mascot in my phone. I had an event with him at my old job and took his number down to keep in contact with him that day. I never deleted him out of my phone.
So anyway, there I am, in my car trying to call Mom when I’m really trying to call Hip-Hop. A giant, creepy, muscular bunny with a doo-rag.
I immediately screamed and tried to hang up the phone. All I could think of was “why did I keep him in my phone? What possible reason would I have to call him now that I don’t work for my old company anymore?”
I hung up before he answered, so I’m glad I avoided the awkward embarrassment of telling a giant bunny that I misdialed. (Okay, he’s actually a nice, normal looking guy, but the bunny suit still creeps me out)
But that incident got me thinking…how many people do I have in my phone that I don’t call, would never call, and probably would even be inappropriate to call? The number is pretty high.
I’ve lost touch with probably 70% of the people in my phone. Another 15% are people that I should probably keep in my phone because they’re family, and the other 15% are people that I would actually call or text.
So what do I do with that 70%? Do I delete those people since neither of us call each other, or do I hang on to them “just in case” we ever reunite?
Part of me thinks “well, it’s not hurting anything to have them stored on my phone” but the other part of me wrestles with the fact that I LOVE cleaning up, tidying things and getting rid of excesses when I can. I’ve moved on from this friend, they’ve moved on from me, shouldn’t I just let it go?
Plus, there’s always facebook. That would be a much more appropriate venue to contact some of these people if a reunion ever did take place, right? And then if we become close enough later on after this miraculous reconnection, I could get their number again, right?
Right.
So I deleted about 40% of my contacts. I kept all my high school buddies and college friends even though we don’t chat over the phone–I still care about them and want to leave the door open for those relationships.
Could I go and take more away? Yeah, probably, but maybe I’ll do that in another year or two. It feels good, actually. It probably wasn’t absolutely necessary since our phones can hold a bajillion numbers and stored data, but I feel better anyway.
Do you have people you could delete off of your phone? Would you want to, or do you want to keep their numbers just in case?
Valentine’s Plans
So, okay. Valentine’s day is on the hearts and minds of pretty much everyone right now, so I thought I’d give V-day its share of blog time.
Mike and I don’t particularly like Valentine’s Day. It’s not that we don’t enjoy the spirit of the holiday where we can appreciate each other and spend time together, but when it comes to going out on Valentine’s Day, we’ve usually felt a little…ripped off.
Last year, we decided to do something super special. We’re always looking for the best of the best when it comes to restaurants, and we’re the kind of idiots who spend most of our money on the things we consume. Anyway, we thought for Valentine’s day we would go to Morimoto in Philly. Yes, that’s as in Iron Chef Morimoto–he’s on tv, he’s gotta be the best, right?
He looks pretty impressive to me. Plus, his restaurant is one of the top rated places in the city!
It’s seriously cool and hip and you totally feel like a VIP when you go.
But on Valentine’s day, guess what? All of the morons in the world want to feel like VIPs and take their significant others to Morimoto to impress them. That means that “sweetheart” menus are created, that the restaurant is booked solid, that the waiters rush you through your meal and you miss out on the actual experience that Chef Morimoto had in mind when he created the restaurant.
The food was good–we had a 10 course tasting menu, and our bill ended up just shy of $500 after we added in a few drinks. The food was not $500 good. It just wasn’t. We left still feeling hungry and dissatisfied. After 10 courses! We’ve had better meals for much less than that in equally awesome settings. (if you’re interested, Elements Restaurant in Princeton, NJ was one of those places–the 9 course chef’s tasting menu was one of the best meals of our lives.)
Overall, that’s the feeling I get when we go out on Valentine’s day. Everyone else is out too! Everyone else wants a special night out, but what happens is that restaurants mass produce their food in preparation for their overbooked night, things aren’t as fresh or well executed because there are simply too many patrons to serve. And so to get to all of those patrons, the waiters shuffle you in, throw the food at you, and then kick you out so your table can be filled again.
So we’re not going out this Valentine’s day. We’ll celebrate Valentine’s day some other night when we can take it slow and enjoy each others’ company without being crammed in with a million other lovers. We haven’t figured out what we’ll do yet, but I can assure you we won’t be spending $500 bucks again.
Do you like Valentine’s Day? Will you be celebrating on the 14th or some other day?
Dog Problems
This song has nothing to do with dogs, but I’ve been thinking of it this morning while I’ve been fighting fatigue/anger/frustration with our dogs:
Here’s the main problem: Our dogs poop and pee in their crates. It goes against nature for them to do this, so it’s been a very difficult habit to break. We’ve had our dogs for a little over 2 years now and they use our house as their bathroom whenever they have to go. Zoe is worse than Wrigley, but there you go. That’s our biggest issue.
When we adopted them, they had been through the ringer–born in a puppy mill, taken to a too-full pet store, then dropped off at a shelter, then taken to a foster home with a rescue lady. They had health issues and were dangerously small for their age of 4 months when we brought them home.
So that’s the biggest contributing factor to the issue–when it was essential for them to learn the behavior to not go in their bedding area, they never learned. 2 years later, Mike and I are fed up with coming home and cleaning up shit on a nearly daily basis. I come home at lunch every day to give them a break, but Zoe has pooped up to three times a day in her crate no matter how long or short a time she is in her crate. If left out of their crates, she’ll still go into her crate to poop if she has to go.
So on Saturday, we had a trainer come. Finally. We figured we’d try it, even though we know that it’s an extremely difficult case. Phil Guida from Canine Dimensions came, and sat with us for an hour, making ALL kinds of suggestions to help them break the habit.
We’re supposed to feed them once a day now, and we’re slowly switching their food from Blue Buffalo to Life’s Abundance. It’s pricey and available through web ordering only, but we thought we’d try it. It’s supposed to have even less fillers than Blue Buffalo so they’ll poop less often a day. (Currently they’re at like, 4 times a day. It’s ridic.)
We also got them new crates. We went from this for both dogs:
To this:
Originally, we separated them and put them on either side of the couch in the kitchen. Having never been apart before, they freaked. out. There was crying and barking and scrambling and biting and chewing and Zoe was trembling uncontrollably. We couldn’t sleep. It sucked. We’re usually champion sleepers, but this issue with the dogs has been escalating so much that we’ve barely slept for the past week.
BUT…so far they haven’t pooped or peed in their crates. It’s only been two days, so I’m not overly wishful right now, but so far it’s been helpful. Now, if only they could sleep.
I emailed Phil today to see what we could do about Zoe chewing on the plastic and causing an uproar. He suggested putting a nylabone in her crate (we’ll have to find a super heavy duty one since she’s broken them to pieces before) and shaking a can with coins in it if she starts eating her crate again. That way, we don’t have to sit on the kitchen floor at 3am until she calms down like we did last night.
Seriously, we’re trying so hard here. We love our dogs, but Zoe especially is just so difficult to deal with. I don’t want to clean up dog poop in the house for the rest of their lives and I don’t want them to hurt themselves in their crates. It’s such a tough situation, and I hope that things will improve soon.
This was a super long post, but the background was kinda necessary to the story. If they weren’t so damned cute, they’d be in trouble:
Cross your fingers for us! Think positive, poop-free, plastic-eating-free thoughts for us! I’ll keep you updated on this situation.
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I'm Mandy!
I'm also Mrs. Socks on Weddingbee!
