Another long week (and it's only Wednesday)

It's already been a long week and it's only Wednesday. :P 

Our water heater has been leaking. We were going to take advantage of 18 month no interest special financing through Home Depot to purchase the new water heater and have them install it. So I went through the Home Depot website to book the free consultation. Their website says that they send someone out who comes out and takes a look at what we currently have and makes sure the water heater we've picked out will work...then gives us a quote. Well...we had "Jim" from Plumbco call us and said he didn't need to look come out and look...we just buy the water heater and he picks it up and installs it...then we pay Home Depot $900 for the labor. I ordered the water heater online and put Plumbco as the party picking it up. He was supposed to come out on Wednesday. Well...Jim ended up texting Johnny and said he wasn't licensed in Derby. Um...WTF? I had to provide our address when I set up the free consultation, so I guess they don't pass the address on to the contractor? Oh...and Jim from Plumbco is also the only contractor that Home Depot uses. When I called Home Depot's in-home service department, they said they would "try" to find a local contractor who can service our area and "if" they find someone, they'd call us in 24-48 hours. Are they going to call if they don't find someone? Of course not. So I said never mind and just had them cancel and refund the order. So now we're starting all over finding someone to replace our water heater. We were only using Home Depot for the special financing, but I have a credit card that has no interest for the next year now...so we'll just use that and find a local plumber. I found one on Facebook that has a lot of good reviews, so Johnny is going to call him. Hopefully it'll work out...I hate trying to find contractors for home repairs. I haven't been a fan of several we've used so far (like the guy who replaced two sides of our fence). 

Ugh. It's always something! 

That's true for work, too. I did finally get the replacement part for my Romeo cutter. I've also not been pleased with the 11x17 vinyl sticker paper that I'd been using for sticker sheets. There has been an issue with the adhesive separating and spots where it doesn't cut through very well. Getting a new blade and a new mat didn't solve anything. And the batch of paper that I'd used at the beginning of August was so much worse. It basically wasn't cutting the stickers at all. I tried increasing the pressure, slowing it down...it either wouldn't cut through or it would cut all the way through (which doesn't work for a sticker sheet). And it had to be the paper...because my letter-sized pages from a different brand cut just fine with the same settings, blade, and mat. And of course I didn't realize the problem until I had a customer contact me about it. I've sent out three replacements and then provided a refund for one customer because a replacement wouldn't arrive in time before school started. When I started using the 11x17 sticker vinyl so I can print four sticker sheets per page, Koala was the only brand that had that size. They only sold it in packs of 30 and there was a "digital label" watermark on the back of the page...which I covered up with my own text logo printed all over the back. Now I am using the Uinkit 11x17 pages that I can order in quantities of 100 or 200...plus it doesn't have anything printed on the back. And most importantly...it cuts so much better on my Romeo. 

Oh and speaking of work issues...I had a crappy "customer" today. I say "customer" because I'd canceled her order. I have free standard shipping for my sticker and magnet orders because I use Etsy's letter mail labels which allows me to send orders using metered mail prices (currently $.78 for 1oz). However, Etsy's shipping process doesn't allow sellers to send merchandise via letter to US territories and APO/FPO addresses. Etsy won't even let us print the label...we can only choose package shipping. This particular customer had ordered two 2" stickers to be sent to Puerto Rico. Her order total was only $6.50 and my cost to ship a package via Ground Advantage to Puerto Rico would have been $8.40 (because USPS recently decided to start charging lightweight packages the same as a 1lb package when shipped to what they consider to be rural zip codes). So, I sent her a message and explained that since her order was less than the cost of shipping, I canceled her order and said that if she wanted to repurchase the order, she could upgrade to Ground Advantage shipping so I could send the order to her. I also have this statement in every single one of my Etsy listings: "Because of the way Etsy shipping is set up, US Territories and APO/FPO addresses will require being shipped as a package. If the package shipping rate is not automatically applied to your order, I may have to create a custom listing for you to be able to pay the postage for the order. If you don’t want to pay the postage, I can cancel the order for you instead." (Side note: I've since changed the wording to say that the order will be canceled instead of creating a custom listing because I ran into complications with that, too). 

When I sent her the message, I mistakenly said USPS wouldn't allow me to send merchandise as a letter to PR when I meant Etsy wouldn't allow it...just like I state in my listing description. Well, she jumped on the "USPS" part and accused me of trying to blame USPS instead of my "business decision" not to offer free shipping to PR like other businesses in the continental US that she's gotten free shipping from. She said she, "would have appreciated having that explained clearly rather than having it presented simply as a USPS restriction," and, "Thank you for canceling the order. I'm happy to take my business elsewhere." Uh...with her attitude...yeah, I'm also glad for her to take her business elsewhere! I've covered the cost of package shipping to Puerto Rico multiple times in the past when the order total was more than the cost of shipping...but I'm not going to pay more for shipping than the total amount of the order. Especially when the explanation she wanted was already available to her before she ever made the purchase. While it's extremely common for customers not to read listing descriptions...it's still not my fault. I provide the information and that's really all I can do. 

So anyway...I responded and apologized for saying USPS wouldn't allow it when I meant Etsy doesn't allow it, copied and pasted my listing description which explains that Etsy doesn't allow it, and explained the fact that her order total was $6.50 and the cost to ship it would've been $8.40. Her only response was, "Puerto Ricans are not gullible. Please educate yourself," and then pasted a ChatGPT link to Postal Explorer and blocked me. Um...I worked for USPS for 3 years (and Johnny still works for them and has for more than 25 years now) so I'm fairly certain I'm more "educated" about USPS than she is. :P And considering I'd already said that I hadn't meant to say USPS in the first place...I'm assuming she didn't even read my response.

But...luckily she's only the fourth rude customer I've had in the last 5 years. I have a section on one of my many work-related spreadsheets which lists "problem customers" with their name, address, and the reason why they were a problem. I believe two of them with large orders were trying to scam me for a refund (because they were pissed off about going through Etsy's Purchase Protection Program to get a refund for an order they claim wasn't delivered instead of me refunding them directly...even though my policies clearly state I only provide replacements, not refunds) and a guy who ordered a 3 inch sticker and was pissed that it wasn't bigger than 3 inches (which honestly makes me laugh...because of course it's a guy who doesn't know how big 3 inches is). :P 

Overall my customers are wonderful. Even when I've made mistakes or there has been issues with a product, nearly all of them are very gracious about my apology and correcting the problem. I've had a few who were rightfully upset about an issue, and I have a lot of patience for their response...because I was the one who caused the problem (versus something like shipping issues that I can't control). Some days my brain seems to work less than others. Gotta love perimenopause and chronic health issues. :P 

I've also noticed my eyesight seems to be causing more issues lately, too. I need to make another eye appointment. It's been a year since my last appointment, and I think I'm going to have to end up getting bifocals this year. Because of the amount of correction that has to be done for me to be able to see far away...my glasses start to affect being able to see close up. Plus I'm getting older and my eyes are already slower to adjust from seeing far away to close up. I also need to have them check my optic nerve. I've been having pulsating tinnitus which I really just assumed was high blood pressure, but since I have hEDS and a family member that has already had to deal with intracranial hypertension...I figure I should probably rule that out. 

Johnny and I talk a lot about our medical issues...and I think my approach really bothers him. He's very much a "do everything reasonable to save me" kind of person. On the flip side, I'm very much a "I've had a good run, I'm going to die of something" kind of person. If treatment is more uncomfortable than my daily life already is...I'd honestly have to really consider whether I want to deal with it. I've even started rethinking having the hysterectomy and adhesiolysis surgery. I do think my quality of life would improve overall with the surgery...but I just keep thinking back to my last abdominal surgery and how hard the recovery was...UGH. At any rate, I won't be making that decision until after the first of the year. If I do decide to have the surgery, I'd want to do it in February when I'm the slowest with work. I also need to get in for a mammogram...since I'm supposed to have them every 6-12 months (I have a history of fibroadenomas since I was 17) and I haven't had one since 2018. I still have the one they've already checked out and I've paid attention and it hasn't really had any dramatic changes, so I just haven't worried about it much. But I did develop a new one in the last year, so I figure I'll go ahead and have it checked out. 

Well...I wanna get some more stuff done before I go to bed...so that's enough rambling for now. :)

Busy August so far!

I've been super busy with work lately! At least this year I kind of expected it. Last year I had a huge influx of orders for the back-to-school season. Between the custom stickers in my CandiMakerStickers shop and the custom name label sticker sheets in my CandiMakerPlanners shop (in addition to my regular orders), July and August were my best months of 2025 for both numbers of orders and revenue.

This year, I had nine less orders in July 2026 compared to July 2025, but my revenue was almost $300 higher in July 2026. And for the first seven days of August, I've had nine more orders and $214 more in revenue this year than I did during the same time period last year. 

One thing that made a difference this year is that in July I added tear-off notepads to the products I offer...and I got two large orders for them earlier this week. As I'm writing this...I'm in my office printing 56 notepads that will go out on Monday. One order was for 41 of my notebook paper design notepads personalized with teacher names and then another order for 15 of my notepads personalized with names in "signature" fonts that they ordered with magnets on the back. I'm very thankful for the large orders! :) A lot of my sales are single-product orders, so I like to encourage larger orders with buy-more-save-more discount codes.  

I'll be finished with all the notepads tomorrow...then I'll spend Sunday printing and cutting the rest of my regular sticker, magnet, and sticker sheet orders. And then I package all the orders before I go to bed so they're picked up by USPS on Monday. 

I think adding new products periodically has helped my growth each year. The first year, I was mostly focused on creating new sticker designs. But after I decided to offer the option of magnets for each of my sticker designs during my second year, I saw a large increase in orders and revenue. Since then, I've tried to add new products each year. I have several new product ideas floating around in my head right now...but I haven't worked on new designs of existing products for several months, so I'll probably use any free time I have to focus on that through the end of the year. February and April are usually pretty slow months for me, so I'll probably hold off on any new products until then. 

One thing I've noticed while I've been spending a lot more time in my office (at one time, anyway) is that this chair is UNCOMFORTABLE. My elbow hurts, my knees and hips hurt, my back hurts...everything hurts. :P So I finally decided to go ahead and get a new office chair. Having hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, I really need something that's versatile. I looked at a lot of different kinds of chairs, but I settled on this one from Walmart. I really hope it helps. 

I also decided to try some compression products...the JellieBody and Korform shorts. So many people in the hEDS community have talked about them helping with pain, stability, and dysautonomia...so since I've had such a successful summer with work, I decided to finally order them. My back, hips, and knees have really been bothering me lately (in addition to my neck, but they probably won't help with that). Johnny and I did get some new pillows, though. He saw an article that talked about these pillows so I decided why not...couldn't be any worse than the old pillows that we've been using for, like, a decade. There were mixed reviews, but I was hopeful...and so far we've not been disappointed! I've been having a lot less neck pain. I had to remove some of the stuffing, but it's a lot more supportive for my neck and head. So I'm pretty happy about that. 

And since I've been having such a good July and start to August...I splurged and got something that's pretty much just cosmetic for my desk. :P My desk is 18 years old and the desktop is definitely showing it's age. My binding machine also caused a pretty big scratch before I realized it had a sharp spot on the bottom. So...I was looking for a desk mat that would cover the desktop...but the sizing was pretty limiting. I actually ended up finding this mouse pad that works pretty perfectly. It doesn't go across the whole desktop, but it definitely covers the part that shows the most wear. 

I did take a bit of a break from work last weekend to celebrate my husband's birthday! It's the 29th anniversary of Johnny's 29th birthday. ;) We had dinner at Village Inn with Aubry (and Danny), Ashlyn, mom, and my grandparents. Then we came home to put our leftovers in the fridge and let the dogs out to pee before going over to my grandparents' house to play Flip 7 with my mom and grandparents. It was the first time Johnny and I had played...and we had a lot of fun. :)

Well...I finally finished the first order of notepads, so I think I'm going to head to bed so I can get started again early tomorrow on the second notepad order. I hope everyone has a good weekend! :) 

**post contains Amazon affiliate links

What a mess!

So...my Epson ET-16650 has been having some issues. It still prints my stickers and sticker sheets beautifully, but the rollers seem to be having some issues with auto duplexing and recognizing that there is paper in the lower two cassettes unless they're full. I've opened it up multiple times and tried cleaning the rollers and everything...but it's still having issues. But the only things I've been having issues with are when I'm printing my packaging inserts and packing slips...so I don't want to replace the entire printer when it's still printing my actual products without any problems. 

I decided I would go ahead and get a cheaper printer for regular office printing. Since I don't need it to be pigment, I was looking at the regular Epson Ecotank printers. They had a "certified renew" Epson ET-3853 which was the cheapest ($179)...so I went ahead and got that one. It arrived yesterday and it was HORRIBLE. The very first print...there were black smudges all over the page. These weren't smears like the ink I printed hadn't dried or the paper was curled and it hit the printhead or anything. It honestly looked like someone took the paper and stepped on it with their dirty shoe. Just random smudges. I did paper guide cleaning, printhead cleaning, print quality adjustment, printhead alignment...all of it. I even cleaned the rollers off with a cotton swab as explained in the user manual which helped a bit until I had to do another printhead cleaning because there were missing spots in the nozzle check pattern...then it all came right back. I spent HOURS trying to get this damn printer to not make shitty prints to no avail. And I tried to print auto duplex (since that was one of the main reasons for getting a new printer) and the back of the page shifted while printing every time. I was so excited...just to waste the day on a defective printer. 

I've had THREE Epson Ecotank printers...an ET-16650 that I'd converted to sublimation (my sister has that now since I'm not doing sublimation anymore), an ET-5800 that I'd purchased from Epson's refurbished eBay store (that my mom is now using), and another Epson ET-16650 that I have been using for almost three years to print my stickers and sticker sheets. All three of them worked perfectly right out of the box including the refurbished ET-5800. I'd get another ET-5800-series printer if they weren't so dang expensive ($600-800) especially considering it's just for office printing and not products. 

The Epson store customer service line you have to call for returns (because, unfortunately, you can't just do it online) is only open from 7am-4pm PST...which means they close at 2pm my time. The first time I called was at 12:14pm. I explain the issue...and they say that I have to go through tech support to be approved for a return label and refund. So they transfer me and I explain every single thing I've already done. She wanted me to go through it all again...uh, no. I've already followed EVERY troubleshooting step and packaged the damn thing back up last night. So she just goes with it and says that she'll send me an email with the reference number...never got an email. So at 12:39pm I call the return number back. They said that they see no record of tech authorizing the return and they don't know why she would send an email anyway...so I'm transferred and have to explain ALL the things I already did AGAIN. This time I get a ticket/reference number saying it's a hardware failure and told that I have to call the return line back again. So now I call the return number again at 12:58pm. I give the guy the reference number I was given...and he says that there is no mention of a hardware failure, only troubleshooting. So I am transferred AGAIN and have to explain ALL the things I did AGAIN. She assured me that the hardware failure was now attached to the reference number and tried to transfer me back to the return number, but it wouldn't work so I had to call the return number again. FINALLY when I call back at 1:13pm I end up with an email for a return label. Now I just have to get it dropped off for FedEx. UGH. SO frustrating. 

So...I decided to go a different route. We had an Epson Workforce printer before I started my business. It worked fine for awhile, but we didn't print very often and it just went downhill after a few years. It was also a cartridge printer and went through cartridges pretty quick. That's why I originally wasn't going to get another Workforce printer...but I don't want to spend a lot of money on a printer just for my office stuff. So I decided to reexamine the Workforce printers. And after the headache dealing with Epson, I decided I didn't want to go through them directly. I actually found a pretty nice option at our local Walmart that could be delivered same day. Ideally I wanted a printer that could handle auto duplexing cardstock and even better if it had two dedicated paper trays so I could have one for plain paper and another for cardstock like I've had in my ET-16650. The Workforce Pro WF-4833 is actually a lot like my old ET-5800. The only thing it doesn't have that I would've liked is a rear feed paper tray...but that's a pretty minor thing. And, of course, I wish it was a tank printer instead of cartridges. But since the printer is only $129, getting cartridges aren't that bad at this point. 

I got the WF-4833 all set up...and it worked beautifully right out of the box. I printed my double-sided cards that are printed on cardstock...and it had no problem auto duplexing the cardstock from the paper cassette. It does print quite a bit lighter than my ET-16650...but I don't know how much changing I'll do because I don't want to use more of the ink than I really have to on things that a lot of my customers probably throw away anyway. And we'll see how long the cartridges last. But so far I'm pleased with my purchase. :) 

And...I'm really running out of desk space for all my stuff...especially with the new printer. So I found a cheap desk on Amazon that I think will work well for my small office. I'm going to move Johnny's old desk (the one my Romeo has been on) over next to the armoire where the hutch (more like a bookcase) that goes on top of that desk already is. On the hutch I just have my cookbooks, art and writing books, and then all the stuff from our wedding displayed on it. I used to have all my planners and everyone's yearbooks and stuff on it too, but I took all those downstairs when preparing for one of the storms that they were saying would basically take out our town (it barely stormed at all, of course). I decided to go ahead and just leave them in the basement instead of bringing them downstairs every time there might be a tornado warning. 

Anyway...the new desk I got should fit where Johnny's old desk had been. If it all works out, it should fit my new printer, the Romeo, and my Cricut on the new desk. Then I can move a few random things (like my paper cutter) onto Johnny's old desk. Right now it's just sitting on the end of my desk and I have to keep moving it to use it or when I need more space on my desk. I'm really excited to be making a little better use of the space in my small office. :) I'm all caught up on orders and my desk is supposed to be delivered on Saturday...so I'm going to use the next few days to clean up and rearrange in my office. That way I'll be all ready to put the desk together and move it to its new home. :)

We also got a new desk for Johnny to use for work. He's been using his mom's art desk that's set up in a corner of our bedroom. It has a slightly slanted top which really isn't suitable to use as a computer desk. So it's definitely time we got him an upgrade to something that has much more of an "office" feel to it. I found a perfect corner desk that I think he will love. It's supposed to be delivered on Friday, so I'll put it together when it arrives and then he can get it all set up the way he wants over the weekend so he can have a fresh start to his work week on Monday. :) 

Right now I'm waiting for the new season of Virgin River to start. The new episodes are supposed to drop on Netflix at 2am...so I'm going to wait up for it. I'm only going to watch the first episode tonight...I'll finish the rest tomorrow. Season 6 ended on a cliffhanger...the very last scene is Jack walking into the twins' bedroom at Charmaine's (after Charmaine was a no-show at the wedding and no one could get a hold of her) and he has a shocked look on his face after he opens the door...and that's it. That's where they ended it. I just want to know what the hell he saw! :P lol. 

And that's about all that's going on around here. I lead a super exciting life. ;) 

Valentine's Day!

Johnny and I are pretty low-key when it comes to holidays. We like to spend quality time together...eating dinner and watching tv shows or movies with each other. I love our nice, comfortable life together. We don't have any drama, there's no fighting...everyday is just...contentment...and I really appreciate that. 

I did splurge a little bit this year. I've been seeing commercials for edible arrangements for years and always thought that it would be neat thing to do for Johnny. He really likes fruit and flowers aren't very "manly" so a fruit bouquet just seemed like it'd be perfect. I ordered an arrangement that had some pineapple hearts, strawberries, and chocolate covered strawberries with a valentines day balloon. I wanted something that didn't have everything covered in chocolate, because I knew he'd want to share it with the puppies. 

I ordered it around 1am on February 13th for valentines day delivery on Saturday. It arrived shortly before 2pm and came in a case in an insulated bag. The balloon was tied to the handles on the bag...and Bozley immediately hated it. :P He ran to the hallway and started barking at it. Then when I was finally able to get him to sit on the couch next to me, he kept shaking really bad. I ended up putting the balloon in my office, and then Johnny opened the bag. I was surprised to find two vases in there...I'd only ordered one and it didn't say anything about it including two of them. Johnny loved it...and the doggies liked getting half a piece of a pineapple heart. ;) Since Johnny liked it so well, I'm going to get another one for his birthday that has a wider variety of fruits. I would have gotten it this time, but it had birthday balloons with it. :P 

Ashlyn came over Saturday afternoon to do laundry (tons of laundry!) and I did her taxes while she was here. She brought Neko with her and he seemed to enjoy seeing Johnny. It took him awhile, but he was also playing with Nova a little bit. She'd lay on the floor and let him jump on her. It was cute. 

It was late by the time Ashlyn left, so we decided to just have leftover cheesy chicken chili for dinner Saturday night. Then tonight we had Hibachi Boy for our valentines day dinner. :) We also finished watching Fool Me Once on Netflix. We watched an episode during dinner Friday night and then watched a couple more episodes in the bedroom. And then tonight we watched the last three episodes during/after dinner. We thought it was a pretty good show. Then on Thursday Season 3 of Night Agent will be on Netflix, so we'll watch that until our other shows come back from hiatus. 

Work has slowed for February, but I'm still doing better than February 2025. Last year, from February 1st through the 15th I had 37 orders...this year I already have 50 orders. So I'm hoping the momentum keeps up for the rest of the month. :) 

On that note...I have some new sticker sheets that I want to work on a little bit before I go to bed. Goodnight!

Living Room!

Since I've already done a Kitchen post and my Office post, I thought I'd go ahead and do a living room one, since we've finished getting new stuff for now. We were really excited to redo the living room because it was mostly just a hodge-podge of furniture that we had before...the couch I'd gotten from my (now ex)brother-in-law, a tv-stand that had been in his family for years, and an octagon coffee table that the multiple dogs in the house before I moved in had chewed up on the bottom. Now it feels like the room is more "on purpose" rather than just thrown together. 

We first started working on the living room in 2020. We removed the carpet and installed this LVP (in Cherry) flooring. We really love the look...except that the planks tend to come apart on the ends, so we're not really a fan of that. But...it's good enough for now. 

At that time, we also bought these black grates for the floor vents. We thought they went well with the black scroll items that we have. It started with the Spectrum Diversified mail and key holder that I had in my apartment back in 2011. It's kind of like this one, except mine is taller with three slots for mail instead of one. 

My sister bought us this large floor rug and we bought the small rug for inside the front door (they don't have the small rug available by itself anymore). And then we bought these back-out curtains for energy efficiency with these sheers and this scarf valance to add some more color to the room. We hung them on these curtain rods (continuing the black scroll look). 

Oh and we also have two of these gates...one at the stairs and one at the hallway to keep the dogs contained. I got the one for the stairs shortly after I moved in...because previously it had just been a regular baby gate kinda leaned up against the half wall by the stairs and it was so loud every time it would inevitably fall. And then when we got Boz, we bought the gate for the hallway since Johnny was working from home (our bedroom has double doors that just push open, so the doors alone wouldn't keep him out). 

In 2021, I decided to paint the living room, kitchen, and dining room. We used Sherwin Williams paint and used Accessible Beige for the main walls and Green Onyx for the accent wall. We really love how the colors turned out. 

Our first big purchase was our LG 4k TV (kind of like this one but the 65" model) in January 2021. We were having issues with our previous tv and we were able to put our Christmas money toward the new one. And in 2022, we purchased an air purifier. It was actually the Winix HR900 but they've discontinued that model. It's a lot like this one they have now, though. We really like it...it's amazing how much dust, dirt, and hair it captures from the air. 

Then we didn't really purchase anything else for the living room until October 2025 when we needed to replace the couch. We bought this modular sectional (purchased on Wayfair) in October 2025. We're loving it so far. I like that it's modular so we can arrange the pieces however we want to fit the space. The only "complaint" I have is that the ottoman doesn't have storage, but that's really no big deal. A lot of the reviews complained that it's too firm, but I think it's perfect. They also mention that the dark gray color has a blue tint, but it looks fine with our decor. We also have these waterproof couch covers to protect the couch a bit more and these waterproof pet blankets that we cover the couch with at night (to prevent the cats from destroying the couch while we're sleeping). 

The couch also came with six 12" pillows...three that are the color of the couch and three that are blue and white. The blue and white ones don't really go with our decor, but we use the others. We also have these apricot brown covers on 24" throw pillows, as well as two 18" pillows and two burgundy covers to go with them. Johnny really loves the colors and how well they go with our color scheme. I guess I just have a gift for matching colors. And interestingly enough...Bozley really blends in to the apricot brown covers. ;) LOL.

We have this lift-top coffee table which we love so much. It's perfect for eating dinner and working on my laptop. I liked that we were able to decide which direction for the large portion of the table so that it matches where Johnny and I sit on the couch to eat dinner. There's also some storage and the bottom shelf is a perfect place to put my laptop when we're eating. 

Since we were getting a coffee table, the only other piece of furniture in the living room left to replace was the tv stand. We were pretty picky about the coffee table we wanted, and we were just as picky trying to pick out a tv stand that would go well with the new coffee table. We also had a lot of preferences which narrowed the choices down a lot. We wanted a black one with a fireplace heater (and Johnny wanted to be able to change the colors and brightness), wide enough to fit the space we put it in, and doors for the front shelves (but not high gloss...which a LOT of them were). We finally found this one that checked all our boxes. We really love it so much...it looks great and it fits the space perfectly (it's 70" wide and the space is 72"). Johnny also really liked that it has an LED color-changing light strip that goes along the inside of the top. The fireplace heater looks pretty realistic with the wood logs (it also came with crystals, but we didn't want to use those) and has several different colors it can be changed to.  

Now the only thing we have left to get is a new ceiling fan! :) 

*post contains Amazon affiliate links

Online Labels Review

I'm so disappointed. Now that I have my new printer, I can print larger. Circut now has print then cut capability for 11x17 pages so I was excited about making larger sticker sheets (there's a full-page hack but it's time-consuming and with tiny stickers there's less margin for error). Ever since, I've been looking for some sticker paper or printable vinyl sticker paper that is 11x17 in size. All I found were between $1 and $2 per page. My current matte waterproof vinyl is less than 25 cents per page...so paying at least 4 times the price for only double the space...it's not a very economical option. So I was thrilled when I found 11x17 sticker paper from Online Labels. I'd seen people talking about OL forever and liking their sticker paper (although usually it's about their weatherproof paper) so I had high hopes. I bought a package of 100 pages of the 11x17 paper and was excited to try it out. And...now I'm returning it. :P 

After printing and cutting 12 pages...they're all going in the trash. My Cricut keeps wanting to kiss-cut the pages too deep (I have it on the lowest pressure setting possible)...so I already have to mess around with the blade and the depth (raising the housing before I clamp it down) for my sticker sheets. But regardless of the cut, the pages curl horribly when I remove them from the light-grip mat. The brand of matte waterproof vinyl that I currently use for my sticker sheets don't do that on the same mat...so I know it's not the mat. I'm just so disappointed. :( 

I also realized that their "no-hassle guarantee" policy for returns is completely different than their actual policy for returns. The no-hassle guarantee says, "If you're not completely satisfied with your order or the product differs from what you need, you can return the item to us within 60 days for a full refund." However, if you go into your order and start a return...it isn't a full refund if you're not returning a full, unused package. How would someone know if they're not satisfied if they haven't used the product? When I went through my account to start a return, it wanted to deduct the number of pages I'd used. And I was well within the "60 days" as I ordered it on the 15th and it was delivered on the 19th. Then when I went to their return policy under their FAQ, it says, "Ask our customer service representatives about our convenient return option. With this type of return, we'll send you a prepaid return shipping label. When we process your refund, you will receive your money back minus the cost of shipping." Again, that's not the FULL REFUND described in the "no-hassle guarantee." 

So...they gave me a return label and I'm returning the paper in the same product packaging AND box that it was sent to me in. The customer service rep in chat said that I'd be getting a full refund...but the email with the return mailing label stated the refund amount did not include the original price of shipping. 

It's totally fine for companies to have a return policy that doesn't include refunding of the shipping price or that the customer has to pay for their own shipping label to return. However, it's NOT okay for a company to say they have a FULL refund if it's not actually a FULL refund. And considering I had to go back and forth with the representative on chat in order to get the "one-time courtesy" of a full refund...it's definitely NOT a "no-hassle" moneyback guarantee. On their website they talk about their no-hassle moneyback guarantee that's supposed to be more convenient and instill buyer confidence...but then their actual return policy is the same as everyone else's. So honestly, I'm not sure that I'll ever order anything from their website again based on that fact alone. I don't appreciate misleading information. 

This is why I shop on Amazon...which truly has no hassle returns. I don't have to find a box for the item at all...I just use the barcode that Amazon gives me and show it at either the UPS store or Kohls (depending on which one I choose) and then that's it. I'm usually refunded to my Amazon account within a few hours of that barcode being scanned...and then I turn around and buy something else from Amazon. I feel comfortable buying things on Amazon because I know that 99.9% of the time I'm going to have an easy solution to any problem I might have. 

The weekend is almost over?!

I'm sad that the weekend is almost over. Johnny declined overtime today so I slept in a little bit and then had a fairly relaxing day. I did get a little bit done here and there but I've just kinda been in a funk. I think it's the prednisone. I've been on it several times in the past but it's been awhile and I always forget how it makes me feel until I take it again. The first couple days on the high dose I have a lot of energy which makes it hard to sleep. But it does increase my heartrate quite a bit which I notice a lot in the evenings...which also makes it hard to sleep. I just feel kinda jittery and lightheaded. I noticed it more today so that's probably why I wasn't really in the mood to do much. I cleaned up a little bit in the office and worked on organizing my new graphics into folders but that's about it. And Johnny replaced some of the weather-stripping on our front door. It's been needing it for awhile so I'm glad we got that out of the way.

Tomorrow I want to start going through the bags of old clothes we have and sort them into plastic bins that I got for Christmas so we can put them out in the garage to get them out of the way until we (hopefully) have our garage sale in May-ish when they have the citywide garage sales around here. We had a huge multi-family garage sale with my mom, sister, Johnny's mom, and my stepdaughter in 2014 but we haven't had one since. We keep adding to our piles of "garage sale stuff" and our basement is a complete disaster with everything that we plan to get rid of just kinda strewn about down there. I literally have to climb over stuff to get from one end of the basement to the other. :P And a lot of that is just bags of clothes that the girls have piled down there as they go through their stuff. 

I need to go through my closet too and pack up all the clothes that I've outgrown. It's so weird...because I'd basically been wearing the same clothes that I'd had since high school 20 years ago because I was the same size from the age of 14 on. It was super convenient, of course, because I rarely needed to buy new clothes...I would wear them until they literally wore out. I never fluctuated outside of the 95-105lbs range (except while pregnant) until I was about 33 years old and I had to start taking a new medication for migraines. It caused a whole lot of issues...but it definitely controlled my hemiplegic migraines (basically a migraine that causes one side of your body to be temporarily weak, numb, and/or paralyzed). I used to get them more frequently, but I've only had two since I started taking the medication in 2013. And I'm sure getting older hasn't helped, either. I told Johnny the other day that we should have a funeral for my metabolism. LOL. 

We also got our new air purifiers set up. Johnny has been talking about wanting one for awhile now. We received money from my grandparents in addition to our Christmas presents so we spent quite a bit of time researching them and I was really sold on the Winix HR900. Originally we were going to get one for the bedroom first and then see how it works but the HR900 seemed too big for the bedroom and we thought it would be even more beneficial in the living room...especially since it was rated for a much larger room than our bedroom. We ordered the HR900 on Amazon and got it all set up. We were really impressed with it. So then we decided to go ahead and get one of the smaller Winix models for the bedroom. We went with the Winix A231 and we've been happy with it as well. The HR900 is super quiet so we don't have any problem hearing the TV or anything. The A231 runs just a bit louder...but that works out because I really need white noise to sleep and it's perfect for that. One thing I've noticed is that every time we'd open the front door and the sun would shine through and show all the dust and dog hair and whatever else was floating around...but now you can't see much at all. We usually just keep them on the auto setting. There's a light on each of them that show the air quality as either blue (good), yellow (fair), and red (poor)...and the fan speeds up more for each one until it goes back to blue. The HR900 actually has five stages of filtration. The "Ultimate Pet" pre-filters need to be changed at least once a month...but it's only like $20 for 12 of them. Then it has a fine mesh pre-filter that is washable and doesn't have to be replaced. Then the carbon filter is also washable but need to be replaced about once a year as does the True HEPA filter. They're sold as a set for about $60. The unit alerts you when the filters need to be replaced.I'm sure the more they have to filter out of the air, the more frequently you have to change them. So we'll see how long they last. Oh and both models have "Plasmawave" setting but we don't really use that. The A231 is round and has 4 stages of filtration (it just doesn't' have the Ultimate Pet pre-filter like the HR900). So far I'm pleased with our purchases. :) (Disclaimer: this was not a compensated review...we purchased these items). 

And now I'm gonna get back to organizing my graphics while I'm still awake. :)

New Adventure!

It's been awhile since I've posted. But...I've been pretty busy! I am super excited about a new opportunity that is coming to fruition. It's something that I've been thinking about for a long time...but now I'm finally starting to make it real. :) I'm not ready to divulge all of the details yet...but hopefully I'll be all set up soon :) My plan this weekend is to reorganize the office to convert it into my new workspace. Johnny is very excited about this new adventure as well. It really makes a huge difference when your partner supports your ideas and is just as excited as you are. :) 

At the end of last month, I mentioned a great website called Creative Fabrica (referral link) where I've found so many cool fonts and graphics to download. I saw on Facebook that they were having a special trial where you could get the unlimited subscription for 30 days for just $1. However, they also have a lot free fonts and graphics as well. I've always liked handwritten and calligraphy fonts...like this pretty font called Wintersoul. There are SO MANY free fonts and graphics for all your crafting needs, but you can also pay for the subscription or buy the artwork individually, too. There are over 60k premium fonts to choose from, not to mention the millions of graphics to choose from. I could spend (and have spent) hours finding SO MUCH stuff that I like! You should definitely check it out. They can be used for both personal and commercial use, for Windows or Mac, and there are instructions for installation. It's one of my favorite sites for fonts and graphics. :) 

And on that note...I should get back to cleaning and organizing the office. I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

All the kitchen stuff!

Back in October I created a Puppy Products post that I keep updated with all the helpful things we've bought for Bozley. While I'm having to sit here and regularly refresh the queue for work files, I thought I'd make productive use of my time and create a post with all my favorite things that we have in our kitchen...and I'll update it as we get more useful things as well. We've been accumulating everything over the last few years, and I'm in love with how it's all coming together.

Please note: these reviews and suggestions were not compensated by the makers/sellers of any of these products. This post does contain affiliate links. 

The first change we made to the kitchen was actually in 2014 when we used my tax refund to replace the refrigerator with a Samsung Side-by-Side. It was a great fridge for awhile...then it became a pain in the butt. First, the ice maker kept freezing and we'd have to repeatedly thaw it out. Then...the ice maker stopped filling with water completely. Samsung's suggested fix is to replace the whole dang door for the frozen water line. Uh...no. I've found directions for replacing the water line in the freezer door, but it just seemed like more trouble than it was worth and we just bought bags of ice for several years. :P 
UPDATE: We've replaced the Samsung fridge with a Frigidaire French door refrigerator which is basically just like this one except it's stainless steel instead of white. We've loved it so much more than the side-by-side Samsung fridge. Everything is easier to get to and there is so much more room. 

We really started working on the kitchen more in March 2019 when we got our tax refund. Our dishwasher had quit working and we also decided to replace the vent hood above the stove. We bought a Samsung dishwasher and a Samsung over-the-range microwave. I've already had to replace the water inlet valve on the dishwasher, but other than that, I really like it. The dishwasher is a lot bigger than our old one and does a far better job washing the dishes than the old one did even before our old dishwasher broke. And I love the 3 adjustable racks...I can fit a LOT of dishes in there. The microwave has been great, too. I like the large size and that it has a shelf for two levels, if we need it. 

I like this part of the kitchen, although I think Johnny would rather not have anything on the counter, but I like having everything handy when I'm cooking. 

I've really liked the OXO Good Grips Pop Containers to store all our dry goods. They come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. There are also quite a few different scoops and accessories. There are also some containers in the back which have pasta in them. Next to the canisters, I have this microwave shelf to take advantage of vertical space to store my Instant Pot Viva 6qt pressure cooker and PowerXL Air Fryer Grill Combo. I tend to use my old Cooks Essentials Oval 8qt pressure cooker most often, but I keep it over on a shelf in the dining room. Same with the crockpots...they're stored away in case we need extras for holidays or something. And it's hard to see behind all the dog treat containers, but on the other side of the microwave shelf is our condiment storage...to hold all the extra condiment packets that we get from take-out/fast food places. We've since moved it over to the other side of the counter by the stove. Oh, and the screen in front is the Echo Show that we got free with one of our security cameras. We can use it to play music, videos, look up recipes or the weather, video chat, and even look at our security cameras. It's pretty handy...but it did develop a flicker after a few years.

I've always been big on small appliances. We have this toaster oven which we bought a couple years ago for the rotisserie feature (we never really used it and gave it to my sister). We have this griddle which we use a lot to cook breakfast and this four-slice toaster. We have a Copper Chef electric skillet, but ours is a 16" version which I guess is no longer available. I also have an older KitchenAid stand mixer that I got from my grandma years ago. 

My favorite spot in the kitchen is our pantry cabinet. It hooks to the hinges on the back of the garage door and we store most of our canned goods in it. On the back of it I've attached our spice racks with the large size command strips...and I absolutely love the way it turned out. I also used these spice jars for some of the spices that were in containers too large to fit in the spice rack. 

There are a lot of other organizational items that I have throughout the kitchen. I have one of these to organize our random knives in a drawer. I have three racks like these that hang over the cabinet doors. Two of them under the sink hold things like Ziploc bags and aluminum foil. Then I have a larger one that holds a cookie sheet, this kitchen scale, a small loaf pan, etc. I also got a towel rack for the cabinet under the sink. We also have a two-tier shelf like this under the kitchen sink to take advantage of vertical space. 

We got some stainless steel colored items in our kitchen that we bought to go along with our appliances. We have this spoon and lid rest on the stove. This is what we have on the wall to store some plastic bags. And I have this coffee canister for the bags of QT coffee that Johnny likes. 

I have always loved the black "scroll" look though. Back in 2003, I got a paper towel holder, a trivet kind of like this in black, and a bowl kind of like this. I've also recently gotten one of these which I use to hold a package of napkins on the table (stores more than refilling the smaller napkin holders more often).  We also got this 3-tired bowl and this wine rack (which is actually in the dining room). We have this organizer behind the sink to hold sponges, brushes, etc. We have this utensil holder except that ours has three equal sections. To go along with those, we also have some serving pieces like this chip and dip set as well as a 3-section white server with a black stand that kind of looks a little like this one except it has the "scrolls" and the three sections are all attached on the same level. 

There are a lot of handy tools that I have, too. I use this digital thermometer for when I'm cooking meat. It has a probe that you can leave in while it's cooking and you can set an alarm for whatever temperature you want to get to...so that's handy! I use this avocado tool when making guacamole. We have a Hamilton Beech can opener. I recently got this handy set which I use for hard-to-open things lids and things. We have this pasta cooker that I use to quickly heat up pasta when I don't want to deal with it on the stove. I used to use this OXO Grate & Slice to grate cheese and slice vegetables as well as this OXO Chopper to chop vegetables. I've since gotten this rotary grater/slicer which I absolutely love. I can shred an 8oz block of cheese in under a minute. I also got this chicken shredder which has been working out really well. 

I am someone who loves leftovers. I don't like wasting food, and I like being able to cook one night and then have leftovers the next day instead of cooking again. :P As such, food storage is a necessity...and it must be dishwasher-safe because I don't like washing dishes by hand and I don't like single-use containers. One of my favorites are these Rubbermaid Brilliance storage containers. I always use these for red sauces like spaghetti and chili...because they don't stain like other containers. And for big family gatherings we have with my mom, her mom, and my sister, each of us gets one of these Rubbermaid Take Along Sets to take leftovers home in. I use the largest size for dry dog and cat food storage and the rest we store in the cabinet for leftovers. I also like these Pyrex bowls with lids for storing leftovers and heating things up in the microwave. 

We also got a new rug for the kitchen that better matches the curtains and towels. The only other decorative thing on the walls (aside from the hanging picture that Johnny bought back in 2008), I hung one of my paintings above the garage door. It's the one that used to be in the living room and I think it fits the new spot perfectly. :) I really want to get back into painting more sometime. 

These pictures are from our kitchen in 10/10/2021 after we painted the walls. 

UPDATE: These are a more recent (10/10/21) pictures of our kitchen after I painted the walls, took most of the stuff off the top of the cabinets, Johnny hung the new light fixtures, etc. And then I also included a picture of our dining room taken in May 2021 right after we were done painting. It shows the wine rack along with the shelves where I store my Instant Pot accessories, my other pressure cooker, the crockpots, etc. We've since gotten a smaller round kitchen table (which has two extra leaves that we use when we host Thanksgiving dinner) from my grandma. 

 

Amazon Prime Day!

I intended to make a blog post just before Amazon Prime Day with deals that I'd found, but I didn't get around to it. Then I was going to make a blog post about my second annual Amazon Prime Day purchase (last year it was two Amazon Fire Sticks) but I didn't get around to that either. I was so busy with work last week that I just made a quick post on Facebook during my break. 

But now that my Amazon Prime Day deal has been delivered and I've actually used it, I thought I'd write a review. :) Disclaimer: I bought this product myself and was not compensated for my opinions on this product. 

This year for Amazon Prime Day, I bought a new vacuum! My mom bought my sister and I (and herself) a Shark Lift-Away lightweight vacuum for Christmas about 10 years ago. They were on a deep discount and she had Kohls cash to use...so it was a great deal! I've loved my vacuum. I even used it when I owned my own cleaning business for a few years. The only bad thing about it was that the brushes constantly got clogged with hair. And this year...it finally gave up and the rollers stopped working all together. :( 

Johnny has had a Dyson vacuum since before we started dating. It's nice...but it's so heavy. And I think it's also on its last leg. So Johnny and I talked it over and decided that with the Amazon Prime Day discount, we'd go ahead and get a new vacuum. 

I decided on the Shark ZU561 Navigator Lift-Away Speed Self Cleaning Brushroll Lightweight Upright Vacuum with HEPA Filter, Red Peony. It is basically like a newer version of my old Shark Lift-Away vacuum. 

After it arrived, I took a picture of the new vacuum (on the left) next to my old vacuum. The red definitely matches the living room more than the old purple one...not that it really matters. ;) 

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My beautiful new vacuum compared to my 10 year old broken vacuum. :) I love the new one! #newtoys #sharkliftaway

A post shared by Candi Pride (@tinycandi) on Oct 16, 2020 at 10:17am PDT

This weekend I got the chance to use it. I will say...it doesn't feel as "lightweight" when I'm actually using it. Carrying it? Yes. Using it? Not so much. It does say that you can reduce the suction to make it move easier, but that seems to defeat the purpose a bit. :P I will say though that it does have pretty good suction. The floor looked great after using it in the hallway, bedroom, and the living room area rug. So far I haven't had a problem with the hair clogging, but we'll see how that continues. And as a personal preference, I also wish that the other two attachments -- the Hair Removal Multi-Tool and Wide Upholstery Tool -- could be stored on the vacuum itself. I just don't like having to store things separately. Next weekend I plan to vacuum the stairs, so we'll see how it does then. 

Had it not been discounted for Amazon Prime Day, I probably wouldn't have gotten it yet, though. But overall, I'm very pleased with the purchase for the price. :) 

Puppy Advice & Products

Bozley is FOUR months old today! It's hard to believe how tiny he was and how fast he's growing! 

I feel like we won the lottery with this boy. He is SUCH a good dog. Just the right amount of playful and silly combined with calm and sweet. He is good around kids and groups of people. He has no problem being off-leash (and actually prefers it to the leash...walking on a leash is still a work in progress). The puppy biting is also something we're still working on. :P It's really nice that Boz doesn't bark at every single sound like the chihuahuas do. And when the chihuahuas start going crazy about something, he'll just sit and watch them. He's very inquisitive. And very smart! He learned sit, shake, and down right away and was potty-trained after the first week we brought him home. I would have a dozen dogs if they were just like Boz!

He sleeps with his tongue out a lot. ;)

I started doing some research when we started talking about getting a golden retriever. And then once we brought him home, I started looking online even more for advice, products, etc. So I thought I would share some of what I found. :) I will add to this list as I find new things as well. 
Please note: these reviews and suggestions were not compensated by the makers/sellers of any of these products. 

When we brought Bozley home, he was having some skin and coat problems. His fur felt dry and he had bald patches on the back of his front legs. He was itching a lot and had even developed scabs. One of our cats had the same type of scabs when she would eat the chihuahua's food. Upon my research, I found that chicken is a common allergy in dogs...so we decided to try removing chicken from his diet and see if that would help. We switched him to Purina Pro Plan Puppy Sensitive Skin and Stomach and he no longer has any scabs or thinning, dry, and dull fur. He has had the salmon and lamb varieties. 

Grain-free foods are not recommended by our veterinarian. There is an increase in canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) -- especially in Goldens -- who are fed these formulas. We also don't do raw diet...as it is really expensive in order to do it right and provide all the vitamins and minerals that the dogs need. I know some people who swear by grain-free or raw diets...but we can still provide adequate nutrition with grain-inclusive kibble. We also do not use raised bowls for feeding. They can contribute to bloat, especially in large dogs...and bloat can cause some pretty serious health issues. We also found this really cool slow-feeding bowl/puzzle toy that Bozley really loves. It solves the problem of eating too fast, keeps him busy while we're eating, and usually he takes a nap shortly after he's finished his meal.

We also found treats for Boz that didn't have any chicken in them...and there are a LOT of treats that have some form of chicken listed as an ingredient. I also wanted to find somewhat low calorie options because we use them frequently for training. I got many different flavors but since he does have food sensitivity, I started with only one type at a time to see if there were any reactions. Once he'd had all of these without any problems, I mixed them together in one treat jar. Here are the ones we have been using so far:  

- Zuke's Puppy Naturals Lamb and Chickpea which have 3.5 kcal per treat.
- Bocce's Bakery Quack Quack Quack Duck and Blueberry which have 4 kcal per treat.
- Blue Buffalo Blue Bits Savory Salmon Recipe which have 4 kcal per treat.
- Wellness CORE Petite Treats Lamb, Apples and Cinnamon which have 4 kcal per treat.
- Fruitables Skinny Minis Pumpkin and Berry which have 3 kcal per treat. 

Bozley also really likes these treats a lot that are one of the few available at our local Walmart that don't have chicken in them. It is also the most economical choice...there are a lot of treats for less than $7. 

We also feed him fresh fruits for treats...like sliced apples, frozen berries like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries (his absolute favorite treat), and frozen bananas. He also likes carrots and sometimes green beans, but not as much as the fruits. We also got two of these things that are similar to Kong fillable products but cheaper. We've filled them with a variety of things: peanut butter (make sure there is no xylitol), Kong Easy Treat, fruit, even baby food (make sure the ingredients don't include onion or garlic). I put them in a quart-sized freezer bag, fill them with some goodies, then put them in the freezer so they'll last longer. 

There are a lot of "human" foods that dogs can eat...either that contain things that are actually good for them or foods that are a good "treat" in small amounts. There are also "human" foods that dogs absolutely should not have. I like this list from the AKC which gives some explanations about what is good, not that great, or very bad for dogs. 

We also got a water dispenser. With multiple dogs and cats, I was constantly refilling the water bowl throughout the day. We were actually Christmas shopping at Walmart and found a 1-gallon water dispenser kind of like the one pictured below. It was been working out great and now I just have to refill it once a day. 

We have been using the Pet Factory brand of chew bones to satisfy chewing since last year after we brought the chihuahuas home. They're basically the only brand I could find that is sourced and made in the USA. They have various sizes and flavors. Make sure to supervise any dogs with any kind of chew bones! 

As I said above, Boz isn't a fan of walking on the leash. If we have it attached to his collar, he just bites at it the whole time and refuses to walk at all. I found this fairly inexpensive Frisco Padded Nylon No Pull Dog Harness from Chewy and it has been amazing. It's easy to put on him, seems comfy, and I can attach the leash to his back which means he no longer bites at it.
UPDATE: At 6 months old, Bozley had outgrown the harness we'd bought. I really like the brand, though, and so I found this Frisco Big Dog Harness from Chewy that has been working even better than the first harness and it's even easier to put on, I think.

I also purchased these car seat belts on Amazon to secure him while we're traveling in the car. 

We purchased this kennel for the chihuahua puppies earlier this year. We trained them by saying "kennel" while walking to the kennel and then giving them a treat while inside. The size of the particular crate that we got is 36L x 23W x 25H. When we first brought Boz home, we used it to crate train him. We would feed him in there and leave the door open for him to go in and out. All the advice I've read says that you should make it a nice, safe place for them where they have "good reasons" to go in there (like to eat) rather than just being put in there to sleep away from their family. Then at night, we would close the door and he would sleep in there. He never had any accidents at all in the kennel. 

However, at the beginning of September Boz started whining after about an hour in the kennel at night...and then started whining immediately. After three sleepless nights in a row, we gave in and let him sleep with us. Since he was already completely potty-trained, the kennel seemed less necessary than before. Since our bed is tall, we did get some pet steps so that he can get up and down from the bed more easily and not stress his joints...which is an important thing to be aware of with large breed dogs so they don't suffer pain and problems later on as they get bigger. This particular one we got will hold up to 150lbs, but they have smaller ones for dogs that won't get that big. It was pretty easy to put together and so far they've been working well! We used treats to encourage him to go up and down the stairs the day we got them and he has used them voluntarily ever since. 

At 6 months old, Bozley had really outgrown the kennel. We'd only actually used it once since September when we went to dinner at my grandparents' house. He still fits in it, but doesn't have enough room to stretch out. We still have the kennel and will probably get a bigger one at some point. But we ended up taking the Kennel down in December to get it out of the living room and put his new dog bed in the same spot. The "jumbo" size is plenty big enough for Bozley at 50lbs and he will have room to grow. We have it in the living room during the day but then take it to the bedroom at night. I think Bozley gets hot on the bed...so at night he tends to go back and forth between our bed, his bed, and the floor. 

One thing that was great through the summer was Boz's puppy pool! He loves playing in the water and it was also a convenient place to give him a bath when it was still warm enough out (especially if he'd gotten dirty while he was in the backyard). But it's so funny to watch his "zoomies" after he jumps out of the pool. I like that this puppy pool folds up easily to be stored in the garage during the winter months. 

The shampoo we bought shortly after bringing Bozley home is Healthy Breeds Oatmeal and Aloe. The oatmeal and aloe are supposed to be good for sensitive skin. I think it has been working really well! His fur is so incredibly soft after his baths and brushing. And it has a nice Pina Colada scent. :) We don't bathe him very often (just a couple times a month and/or when he gets muddy beyond his paws), and we still have plenty left after 7 months.  

As Bozley has gotten bigger, it's gotten a little more difficult to bathe him. We had been spending a lot of time and energy during the bath just trying to keep him in the bathtub. There are a few products we've found that work really well to keep him in relatively the same spot and to keep him busy. This suction cup and this grooming loop have been working great. We also got this to attach to the side of the tub that we put peanut butter on...which keeps him busy. He'll voluntarily get into the tub after we put the peanut butter in there.

We have several different kinds of brushes and combs for the cats and dogs. The first one is a comb that is supposed to be good for shedding and the second is just a regular slicker brush.

Since Bozley goes outside to do his business, there are a lot of times when he gets muddy in the backyard. I was trying to just wipe his paws when he came in, but it didn't work very well. Then I found this thing and it works so much better! Boz doesn't really love it, but he's getting used to it...and doesn't seem to mind it as much as when I was just wiping his paws off with the towel. You just fill it with water and put their feet in there. It's simple and works pretty good! 

One of Bozley's favorite toys to play with are the no-stuffing animals. He and the chihuahuas will chase it and play tug of war together. He loves the squeaker in it too (and luckily doesn't try to tear it out). We have yet to find a toy that he prefers to chew on instead of our arms though. :P We have a LOT of chew toys...just none so far that has curbed the biting. So we're still working on that! But he loves to play with toys likes these: 

Bozley also has a lot of rope toys. But, I've found from my online reading that you do need to be careful and don't let them play with them unsupervised. If there are any snags or lose threads, the dog can swallow it and it can potentially cause some major problems in his bowels. So make sure to discard them if they start falling apart. 

His newest favorite toy is one that is filled with an empty water bottle that has a squeaker cap. When the water bottle is crushed so much that it no longer squeaks, you can just replace the water bottle! Bozley loves it!  

With Johnny working from home right now, we needed a way to keep Bozley from going back there and bothering Johnny. We already had this gate that we put at the top of the stairs, but we also added one in the hallway. They work really well and I like being able to just lift the lever and walk through the gate instead of putting it up and taking it down all the time, or stepping over it. The only bad thing is that sometimes we're not paying attention and stub our toe on the bottom rail that sticks up about two inches or so. But other than that, it works out great! 

I think that's about all that I can think of at the moment. :) 

JL Kraft Marinades VoxBox from Influenster

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

 
I joined Influenster back in 2012. Every so often, I get free things to try and review. This week I got a box of marinades in a bag from JL Kraft. They are pretty handy! We tried the Smoky Mesquite marinade with steaks last night. They come as a resealable bag so you can just put the meat in the bag, put it in the fridge for awhile, and then cook it.

 
I actually cooked the steaks in the pressure cooker. It was the first time I'd made steaks that way. They turned out pretty good! And the Smokey Mesquite marinade had a really good flavor. It would taste great with chicken or pork chops, too...there was just a sale on a family pack of steaks. ;) I also made baked potatoes in the pressure cooker as well. It made a pretty yummy dinner! :)