Thursday, August 31, 2017

I Made A DIY Wedding Beach Sign. And, I Liked It.


Towards the end of last month, I received a Facebook message from someone who has purchased our DIY Dog Mom Projects in the past. She lives about 20 minutes away but has always had her orders shipped. I've never met her in person. Anyway, she's getting married in early September. Beach wedding. She had come across a picture of a sign she wanted for her wedding. She wasn't able to make it herself. That's where I came in. She wanted to know if I could make the piece for her.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

The Moms Of Human Kids Aren't The Only Ones Celebrating Back To School Day


This is the third year I've posted Lobo's back to school photo. This year, he wanted to pick out his own outfit. Fine. He chose a fleece hoodie with a bright pumpkin print, UGG style boots, and the winter pom-pom Gotcha Day hat I crocheted him back in January. In addition, all he wanted for props was the Back to School sign and his little pull bag filled with biscuits.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

I'm In A Blissful Peanut Butter Goldenrod Kisses Salt Water Taffy Coma


I was sitting at my desk in the home office when Lisa arrived home from work yesterday. Since getting her promotion back in June, her time of arrival varies. That's fine. It gives me a little more time to work on blogging stuff and get dinner ready. When she arrived home from work, I made my way to the kitchen to greet her and give the kids their second round of afternoon snacks. On my way to the kitchen table to sit down, Lisa pulled out a white paper bag from her insulated lunch cooler. I stopped dead in my tracks. Inhaled. Froze.

Monday, August 28, 2017

Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Look What I Did!


In July of 2015, I created this blog. I didn't make it public until a year later. Just a few short days after creating this blog, I published a post titled, 'Power Tools And Dancing Don't Mix Well.' The post described the day that Lisa and I converted our home office into a combination home-office-second-living room. Our Grammy had passed away just 2 weeks prior and we had inherited her rocking love seat. The home office is one of the biggest room in our home. It was totally doable. Once everything was in place, we instantly fell in love with our new room.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Maintaining Balance In Our Bodacious Dog Mom Life: Part 6. The Conclusion. You Can't Please Everyone. Don't Bother Trying.


This is my last blog column about how we've restored and maintained balance in our home. Prior to starting this 6 part series, I had no plans on how I was going to present it. There was no chronological order. I didn't draft an outline. I was uncertain if I could come up with enough to fill 6 blog columns on this topic. I gave it a whirl. I just wrote. And wrote. And wrote. It flowed.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Maintaining Balance In Our Bodacious Dog Mom Life Part 5: The Road Travels Both Ways


So far, my series on how we've restored and maintained balance in our bodacious Dog Mom life has revolved around Bodacious Biscuit life, our work life, events, and the evolution and growing pains we've encountered since launching Bodacious Biscuit Love in 2013. This time around, the focus is going to be in those other areas. The bits and pieces that have nothing to do with Bodacious Biscuit Love.

Friday, August 25, 2017

Maintaining Balance In Our Bodacious Dog Mom Life Part 4: Don't Stray From What's Within Your Means


This year alone, I've seen quite a few rescues, both local and out of state, having to shut their doors. The primary reason was funding. Not only did their funds dry up, but they were in debt. They had outstanding bills to pay at veterinary clinics, trainers, etc. Despite their fundraising efforts and GoFundMe campaigns, the money wasn't coming in fast enough to cover the costs and pay off their debt.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Maintaining Balance In Our Bodacious Dog Mom Life Part 3: Stop Focusing On Popularity


Shortly over 10 years ago, I started my career with a privately owned online deal site. Less than a year after becoming an independent contractor, the company was sold to a major media company. I stayed on board until 2012 when the original owner of the deal site bought it back from the media company. A week before that happened, I was hired by another company. I gave my notice and transitioned. Since then, in addition to working for this company, I've been an independent contractor for several well-known entrepreneurs.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Maintaining Balance In Our Bodacious Dog Mom Life Part 2: It's Okay To Say No.


Both 2014 and 2015 were our busiest years with Bodacious Biscuit Love. It was also a time when we had the greatest amount of exposure. People knew us. They loved us. I was continuously getting messages and emails about fundraising events and opportunities to get our name out there. We had people from out of state reach out to us with biscuit requests for their rescue pups or a local animal organization they supported or volunteered for. And, much to our surprise, a local business owner who had recently won Cupcake Wars wrote to us asking if we'd like to set up a display at their bakery. Our biscuits also made it to the Villalobos Rescue Center where a few of the pups were treated to our fresh baked yummies.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Maintaining Balance In Our Bodacious Dog Mom Life Part 1: Like With Most Everything, There Needs To Be Balance


One of the biggest lessons I've learned from being a work at home Dog Mom and running Bodacious Biscuit Love is there has to be a sense of balance across the charts. To this day, at times, I continue to struggle because our life is always evolving. Changing. Our family has gotten bigger. Lisa was promoted to Assistant Department Manager in late Spring. My work life and focus has shifted. Our life in the here and now isn't the same as it was a year ago. I'm sure our life a year from now won't be the same as it is today.

Monday, August 21, 2017

Happy 5 Year Gotcha Day To Our Sweet Coco Bug


We celebrated Coco's 5 Year Gotcha Day Today. I can't believe it's been 5 years already! I remember the day we adopted him as if it were yesterday. He's come such a long way since joining our family. To this day, I still get teary eyed when I think about how he spent the first year of his life and the situation he was in after being surrendered.

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Lisa's Last 40-Something Birthday Celebration Was Awesome!


I didn't publish a blog column yesterday. It's rare that I miss a day, but I have a valid excuse. Yesterday we celebrated Lisa's Last 40-Something Birthday. We invited about 15 friends who have become family and enjoyed scrumptious food, great conversation, an abundance of laughs, adult beverages, and a pit fire. I'll admit, I was nervous about hosting this party after our huge backyard anniversary party. Yesterday's party almost didn't happen for a few reasons.

Friday, August 18, 2017

Lobo And Lisa's Dinner Conversation


Out of all of our kids, Lobo is the most vocal. To be expected. He only has one hind leg. His single hind leg doesn't have full mobility due to an untreated injury prior to his rescue. Lobo is unable to go up and down the stairs or jump on the furniture or bed. He's not able to take long walks. His legs tire easily. Lobo has a vocal noise in various ranges for things he wants or needs. For example, if he wants to be on the sofa, he'll sit beside of the sofa and make a certain noise. If there's a chew bone on the bed that he wants, there's a noise he makes for that too.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

What Happens When Your Kids Aren't On The Gift-Giving List?


I got a very interesting message the other day from a Dog Mom I've corresponded with over the years. I replied back shortly after reading the message. We went back and forth for about an hour. At first, she seemed a little embarrassed to be addressing the issue at hand, but when she found out that we were sort of in the same boat, she relaxed. It was the first time I've ever been asked for advice on this subject matter.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

The 6 Things We Do Before Leaving Our Home


The other day I came across a Facebook post that sent shivers up my spine. It was posted by someone I personally know from many years ago. She's a Dog Mom. The post described what had happened earlier in the day. She ran a few errands and got her grocery shopping done for the week. She had been gone for a little over 2 hours. When she returned home, the first thing she heard was the smoke alarms going off. She rushed inside and was greeted by a light haze of smoke. After calling 911, she grabbed her fur-kids and waited outside.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Random Rant: Never Forget Where You Started. Your Roots Keep You Grounded.


Many moons ago, an acquaintance of mine (I'll call her Flo) baked dozens of cookies in her home several times a week. In the early morning hours, she'd bake a variety of flavors. Flo's cookies were packaged very similar to how we bag up our human cookies for events and bake sales. Once the cookies were bagged up, Flo would fill the 4-6 wicker baskets sitting on the table. Then she headed out the door to deliver the cookies to various homeless shelters and soup kitchens in the city.

Monday, August 14, 2017

13 Things To Remember When Hosting A Yard Sale


Last month, the weekend before our big backyard anniversary party, Lisa and I had a yard sale. It wasn't a Bodacious Yard & Bake Sale. We didn't have a Bodacious Biscuit Love table or offer our homemade dog treats or baked goods for the humans. In fact, after our last Bodacious Yard & Bake Sale in October of 2015, we swore we'd never have another yard sale again. It's too stressful for the kids and the work in the weeks prior and the day of was too much for the both of us alone. Our decision to have a yard sale last month was to clear out the basement so Lisa could move forth with renovating part of the basement into a woodshop.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

After Years Of Searching, We Finally Found A Vintage Chair For Our Kids


I've been wanting a decorative vintage chair for quite some time now. Not necessarily for decoration. Certainly not for Lisa and I to sit on. For. The. Kids. That's right. The kids. I had a certain style in mind. I've searched high and low at every yard sale, flea market, antique store, country store, and garage sale we've been to. Over the past few years, we have seen at least a dozen vintage chairs that fit my style criteria, but the chairs were either too worn, needed a new upholstery job, smelled like mold and mildew or cigarette smoke. Or, they were too expensive.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Today, We Celebrated Lisa's 49th Birthday!


Happy Birthday to my incredible wife! What a fantastic day! This morning we escaped for a few hours. We enjoyed pastry and coffee in our vehicle while searching for treasures at yard sales and flea markets. At one of the yard sales, we stumbled on an item that I am super excited about. I've searched high and low. I've spotted about a dozen over the past few years during our yard sale, garage sale and flea market excursions, but they've either been in poor shape or overpriced.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Back To Life. Back To Reality. Almost...


It's the last day of Lisa's vacation. Lisa scheduled this vacation a couple of weeks beforehand. It was much needed for so many reasons, some of which we had no idea about at the time. What we did know, at the time Lisa scheduled her vacation, was that a few of our neighbor friends were taking off for vacation the week she requested off. We were responsible for the house and fur-kid sitting. Two of our neighbor friends were leaving for a little over a week. Two more of our neighbor friends were leaving for three days.

Thursday, August 10, 2017

Custom Made Wedding Bandannas For Two Very Special Pup Kids


As a work at home Dog Mom, most of my socialization is done online. I've met a lot of cool people in the virtual world. I've had the opportunity to meet a few of these humans face to face, but for the most part, our relationship has evolved online. Two of these individuals are M and B.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

10 Reasons Why I'm Officially Done With The Summer Season


I'm 43 years old. For as long as I can remember, I've always loved the Summer season. I look forward to it every year. I usually get irritated when retailers replace Summer merchandise with Fall merchandise. My nerves are pinged when pumpkin-spiced-everything surfaces earlier and earlier every year. I dread the first frost or the evening when we turn the heat on for the first time in months. This year, for the first time ever, I can't wait until the Summer season ends.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

The Residual Bucket Number Three


Last month, I published a blog column titled, 'Pay Attention To What's In Bucket Number Two.'  The whole point of that blog column was to answer a question we've been asked many times over the past "almost" 4 years since launching Bodacious Biscuit Love.

Monday, August 7, 2017

We Canceled What Little Plans We Had, But I'm Determined To Make Her Vacation Memorable


Lisa is on vacation this week. It's the second time in 5 years that she's taken a full week off. We did have a few plans to pack a picnic and walk the beach, tackle some projects around the house, build a couple of DIY doggy gates for the front porches, and find a great old fashioned arcade and miniature golf course to spend a few hours at. And, of course, enjoy lots of extra time with the kids both inside and outside. However, the week before our backyard anniversary party, Lisa was diagnosed with Lyme Disease for the 2nd time this year. Early last week, she got another hit from the test results. She tested positive for Mono.

Sunday, August 6, 2017

A Few Things To Consider When Hosting A Pup Party


I was in my early 30's when I attended my first doggy birthday party. Neighbor. Friend. I had one furry kid. They had 2. All three pups got along with no issues. Often times, we opened the gate separating the two fenced in yards. Always supervised. The dogs enjoyed playtime and, during the summer months, dips in the doggy pool.

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Nothing Good Ever Comes Out Of Trying To Satisfy The Masses


Since the launch of Bodacious Biscuit Love in October of 2013, I've been careful about what I say and how I present things. I've edited my tongue more times than I care to admit. I've failed to speak up when people have stiffed us, didn't follow through, or have looked down on us for one reason or another. I didn't share things that were sensitive because I didn't want to offend anyone. I've stood there, nodded, and smiled when arrogant pup parents, the ones who think they're experts, have bragged about how well trained their furry kids are.

Friday, August 4, 2017

13 Things To Consider Before Getting A Dog


I see countless images and social posts of and about dogs that cause a flood of emotions. Abuse. Neglect. Someone's child sitting on the back of a larger breed dog. A dog sitting on the lap of someone who's smoking. Dogs chained in the backyard. Injuries. Dogs being rescued from cruelty cases. Graphic photos of the dog meat trade. Hoomans doing unthinkable acts caught on camera. The list goes on.

Thursday, August 3, 2017

How To Make A DIY Dog First Aid Kit


It's August. The Summer is still in full swing. It's the season for camping, hiking, vacations, long weekends at the lake, etc. While some opt to board their kids or hire a pet sitter, most take 'em along. What pup doesn't like a swim in a lake, an afternoon hike or, at the very least, a day spent outdoors even if it's just stretching out in the sun?

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Protect Your Pup's Paws From Hot Pavement & Other Surfaces


So far this summer, we've had 3 heat waves. During one of the days, I was outdoors, with Lobo, chatting with a friend. Lobo was curious and wanted to explore the pavement area. I was holding the leash so he was unable to do that. The grassy area was boring him. I took a few steps forward, slipped out of my flip flops, stood on the pavement for about 20 seconds, put my flip flops back on and made the decision to not allow him on the pavement.

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Run Toward What Scares You


Despite being diagnosed with Lyme Disease for the second time in a year and Mono, Lisa went to work today. This is the second time she's been bitten by a tick and tested positive for Lyme Disease in a year's time.  On the head. An inch away from almost a year ago. The medications she's taking are making her miserable and uncomfortable. Thankfully, she took her last dose of Prednisone yesterday. And, she's on vacation next week.