Doggy Day Care #1

Hubby and I have been thinking about getting a dog but neither of us have ever really owned a pet. We've known people who get all excited and prepare for a puppy only to break down and give it away weeks later. I was afraid we might do that too because we have absolutely no clue how to handle pets. How do we make the call then? With a trial run!

Today, I am doggy-sitting for some friends of ours and it is the first time in my life that I have been left alone with a dog for more than 2-3 hours. I have to admit--when I woke up this morning, I was very apprehensive about it. I am a bit of a neat freak and I cannot abide dirt, germs, or messes. The very thought of my custom Ethan Allen sofa legs getting chewed up is enough to make me break out in a cold sweat. However, this was the best opportunity for a puppy trial run (with a well-trained puppy to boot), so we jumped at the opportunity.

The first thing I did after getting her was to take her out for a walk/run. I wanted her to walk next to me but I also felt bad for preventing her from nosing around so I wavered between staying firm or letting her wander. I did a bit of both, but I'm still not sure what is the best thing to do. She also started getting antsy so I broke out in a jog to get some of her energy out. I think that helped but I got winded before she did. I had a bit of trouble wiping her paws down coming in and she was also kind of sassy with me, so I took her to the backyard and played catch with her for a while. I also used treats to reinforce my authority and by the time she came in, I was able to teach her "Paw.", which means lifting her paws and letting me wipe them down with a warm, soapy, towel. She's such a smart dog! She really understood what I wanted from her! She got lots of doggy treats for that :)

All in all...it's much better and easier that I expected it to be. She's been napping under my desk for about an hour now and I won't need to walk/feed her until 3pm. I've really fallen in love with this friendly breed--she's smart and noble, pretty and friendly, fluffy, and hypoallergenic. Although she nipped/bit my hand a few times when I was feeding her, it didn't break skin. It was more my fault, I needed to calm her down before feeding her and not hold out my treat with my fingertips. We'll see how things go over the next few days :) If she's still as lovable, I might need to get a Samoyed after all!

Downsizing

One of my favorite design bloggers recently announced that she is downsizing from her current large family home and moving to a much cheaper and smaller home. It's not because they're hurting for money, on the contrary, they both have professional jobs and make enough to live well with a 15 year mortgage left on their lovely house. They're downsizing because they actually want to pay off their house in 4-5 years and live absolutely, completely debt-free.

It really got me thinking about how lovely it would be to also be completely debt-free. I want it more than I want a big house or a designer handbag or a fancy car. I never really count mortgage debt as debt until now but now I see all the possibilities of being completely debt-free! So what is our plan? I love to plan. This is our plan.

Neither of us have ever had consumer debt. However, I still have student loans and we have our house mortgage. We'll do our best to pay off my student loans in 2-3 years and then we'll both combine our efforts to pay off the mortgage. Imagine how liberating it'd be to never pay mortgage again! We could save up, quit our jobs, and travel abroad for a year. Then we can come back home, find jobs again, and save up for our next adventure.

The traveling abroad idea is from another design blog that I read--the family of 8 (yes, 8. They are Mormon) relocated from Denver to Normandy for a year. They have portable jobs and they're just renting in France rather than Denver at the same rate of rent. The kids are attending the village school and it sounds like an amazing experience for the family. Obviously this will take a lot of planning because we'll still need jobs while abroad for income to survive during that time--but it's just an example of how free one's live can be without the anvil of debt dragging one down.

Someday soon...if we continue doing what we're doing...we can get there.