Help! Need some tips!

Well, we made it!

Mr. B graduated.

He has begun {and loves} his new job.

We are all moved into our new apartment, but still unpacking because we have to much junk wonderful items that need to find a place.

We just got internet set up yesterday.

I haven't blogged or read blogs in like a week.

How I made it through, I don't even know.

I still have too much to do to even be thinking about doing such things.

But, y'all {I have never said/used that phrase before and I know it's weird because I am not from the south, but it's a lot easier than spelling "you all". Okay, maybe not a lot easier, but it is easier. So I thought I would give it a try and see how it felt. Personally, it felt good- I liked it. Now, I know at this point it would have been easier just to write "you all", but thought some explanation would be needed for future reference.} are so good at giving advice so please send some more my way.

We have one problem.

Smoker smell is hovering everywhere.

The landlord painted the walls.

They steam cleaned the carpets.

We washed the carpets.

There is new flooring in the kitchen.

The living room is wood.

The bedrooms are carpet.

I have tried febreeze, yankee candle, good air, odor genie...

It's still lingering.

Not as strong, but it's there.

Any tips??

We might rent a huge air purifier thing, it's $40 for the day, will that work??

Please, help!

The place is great and slowly coming together and looking pretty,

but this smoke smell is not enjoyable.

Thank you!!

Roxie Take Two

We found a new puppy.

She was born April 15.

She looks just like the other pup we were supposed to get.

That's her on the bottom laying on her back.

The new breeder is a million times better.

We are bummed we have to wait another month.

We pick her up June 10.

I hope time flies.

She's really cute.

I feel weird calling her Roxie.

We never met the other puppy, but had some pictures and referred to her as Roxie.

We like that name so we are using it again.

Even though we never really got to use it in the first place so it's not really again.

Regardless, it feels like it's again.

I hope in a few days it will feel normal.

I also made a dog bed that says Roxie, so there is really no other choice.

We are excited and pray for no complications this time around.

Thanks for all your kind comments, it meant a lot to us.

38 days and counting.

A little busy

We are a little busy the next few days.

Please excuse the MIA, we have some kind of important business to take care of.

Mr. B graduates and the move to NH begins,

nothing major.

Not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything major!

I know, that was like a 4th grade joke.

Please pray for safe travels!

Have a great weekend!!

Sweet Pot-enis

I apologize, I realize this is slightly inappropriate, but I could not resist.

Last night we met Smelly Sr. for dinner at Longhorns.

This is what my sweet potato looked like.

I had to laugh by myself because I didn't want to get Mr.B's attention and

make an immature scene.

This.is.funny.

So I decided to be sly, take a picture and make an immature scene on my blog instead.

Surely you will all laugh with me, right??

My first thought when I saw this, may or may not have been, this will be great blog post, actually it may have been the second thought because the first was oh my goodness, is this a joke, why isn't anyone else noticing this, where is the Candid Camera Crew {except that doesn't exist anymore}?

I think our waitress may have noticed,

I sort of felt that mutual connection of immaturity with her

over the potato that looked like a twig and berries.

It's these little silly things in life that, in the normal world go unnoticed, but to the blogger make the day complete.

I still laugh when I think about it.

Call me a perv, but this sweet pot-enis is hilarious.

{Yes, I made up that name all by myself}.

Happy Friday!!

The Game

The past few weeks Papa G had us searching for a new truck for him.

This resulted in having to play "the game".

I hate this game.

You know what I am talking about, the whole used car game.

All of the ridiculous rules:

Don't act like you like the car.

Don't say that you like the car.

Don't smile at the car.

or the salesman.

Don't show any emotion.

Don't give him too many details.

Don't let him know you saw it online and were interested.

Don't tell the truth right away.

Don't look at any other cars.

Don't try to negotiate right away.

Be firm.

Be prepared to walk away if they say no.

Don't have too much hope they will change their minds.

Don't act like you are so disappointed and would actually pay more than what you originally said because you love the car and it's perfect.

They can't know that.

Don't point.

Don't blink.

Don't breathe.

You know this game?

Hate this game.

Let me give you some background information on the history between Mr. B and I and car shopping. Last summer we traded in my 2 door car for a newer 4 door car. We barely negotiated, we barely checked all the features of the car. It was an 08, 4 doors, real low miles and drove nice. We bought it. We drive off the lot with it, get on the highway....no cruise control. No big deal we are only driving to FL and back. It's only an 08 why would we expect it to have power everything, Aux port to play iPod and have cruise control?? Apparently having cruise would just put it over the limit. Also, just discovered it doesn't have power mirrors either. So, uhh, clearly we aren't exactly the best contestants for this game, but we were just getting married and this was our first big buy and you live and you learn.

So we needed a truck to help us with the move and my dad was ready to buy a truck so it was a win-win.

He thought it was great to get a truck in Florida that way it hadn't been through the winters.

Only problem is he is in NH.

Therefore the car shopping was up to us.

Let me remind you, I hate this game.

Papa G is real good at it. It can be embarrassing at times because, to me, he just looks rude.

But hey, "it's all part of the game".

This version of the game was a little different.

We weren't the buyers.

Can they know this bit of information or is it top secret?

Can they know it was for him up in NH and not for us in FL?

No.

In this game sometimes you need to bluff.

The plan was:

Tell them your dad from NH is buying you a truck. Don't tell them you're moving. They can't know that the truck is going to NH and not staying in FL because they might try and scam you. If they know you are taking it far away, something could be wrong with it and they won't tell you because it's really inconvenient to take it back to them so they don't care.

Lots of overanalyzing.

Which I typically do with about everything.

But this game is not my forte.

Plan seems easy, right?

We go to car dealership #1.

Under pressure, we forgot about the plan.

New plan is we {Mr. B & I} are looking to buy a truck.

Mr. B tried to play the game.

I hid and give him looks because it is ridiculous, we are losing the truck and we can be a little more flexible and honest than that.

I receive dirty looks back and "just wait, this is part of the plan".

The plan backfired.

This guy was not impressed with us at all.

He tells us he has nothing else for us.

We walk away.

As we were leaving the lot we found one that he didn't mention to us.

This plan failed big time because apparently he thought we looked to young to be able to afford these trucks.

This assumption would totally be right, if we were actually the ones buying it.

We go back in and tell him, Papa G is buying the truck for us.

It was night and day difference in his attitude.

Still no success, he wouldn't budge on the price.

So we walk away.

Lame game.

Lesson learned: Important to mention Papa G is buying the truck.

Car dealership #2:

The salesman is a nice guy.

Forget about Papa G's plan and told him the truth that the truck is for my dad.

Bad idea.

Sales guy doesn't want to sell to us because what if Papa G doesn't like it or finds something wrong with it that we didn't notice.

I assure him that he trusts us, I am taking and sending him video and it is fine.

Sales guy is still unsure, but nice and willing to help us regardless.

But he doesn't budge much on price.

We walk away from the most beautiful truck.

Hate this game.

Lesson learned: Don't say it is for Papa G.

Car dealership #3:

Go with Papa G's plan.

Papa G is buying us a truck.

Appear very spoiled.

We found a truck we loved, it was perfect.

We find out it's listed out of his price range, I call Papa G ready to me the mediator for negotiation.

Huge failure.

In the salesman's eyes I am sure the situation went something like,

"Ugh, Daddy won't pay anymore than than x amount of money",

therefore he is thinking, sorry daddy won't buy you this nice of a truck spoiled little bratts, your loss not mine.

Why, oh why would he want to negotiate the price when in reality it looks like we are looking out of what daddy wants to pay for his princess??

Horrible horrible plan.

Too awkward to change our story.

We walk out.

Lost a great truck.

Despise this game.

Lesson learned: Don't say Papa G is buying you a truck.

Car dealership #4:

Papa G calls ahead, informs them of the real plan.

Perfection.

Minus the fact that the salesman had ride in the back seat with us during the test drive repeating over and over how nice the truck is.

Thank you. We are aware. Thank you for the privacy.

Minus the fact that when we brought it to the mechanic down the street to make sure the dealership was honest the salesman had to come with us.

Minus the fact that the salesman was hovering around the mechanics, continued telling us it was a great truck and was driving me nuts.

It all worked out in the end.

After lots of trial and error, lots of traveling, lots of gas, lots of test driving, it was a success.

A beautiful truck, a good deal, lessons learned and a win-win situation.

Papa G is much better at this game. Even when it's over the phone.

He is a salesman after all. So it's kind of expected.

Practice makes perfect, I guess.

I still hate this game.

Why can't everyone just be honest and upfront?

Why can't the cars be priced accurately, you just say you want to spend x amount of dollars, show me what you have. Boom. Done. Thanks. Bye.

But it's not. So we live, learn and eventually drive off with a car knowing you most likely got screwed somehow, but hope that, for the most part, it was the right decision.

Sad

Yesterday we found out that Roxie has a large heart murmur and most likely isn't going to make it. The breeder didn't feel comfortable giving her to us in that condition. We are thankful we found out before getting her and that the breeder notified us and gave us our deposit back, but we are really sad.

We have too many exciting things going on in the next few days to let this ruin our week, so we are trying to remain optimistic and we are on the search for a new Roxie! We have found two others we are looking at and if those don't work out then we will have to wait for a new litter...meaning we would have to wait another two months. Not cool.

Everything happens for a reason, we will try to remain hopeful and know that God has a better pup picked out for us...somewhere.

Top 2 Tuesday: Summer Favs

It's Tuesday already! We move in 6 days. Eeeek! Today's topic over at the undomestic momma is top two favorite things about summer. Well this is just impossible to pick two things because nothing's sweeter than summertiiiiiiime {American Honey by Lady Antebellum- if you haven't heard it or love it. find it. listen to it. love it}

I love so much about summer. I can already taste it with the weather already pushing the 90s and the sun setting around 8:30 here in Florida. This summer will be different than our other summers though because Mr. B will have a real job and we have a million bills to be paid and things to get done, but all the more motivation to make the most of our weekends.

1. Ogunquit Beach, Maine

Our favorite beach. It is gorgeous, is perfect when it's low tide, has the perfect path to walk along the coast, good restaurants and lots of little shops.

{We had our engagement pictures taken there too}

2. Camping with the family.

We have a family campground- love those summer nights with s'mores, the fire, games and talking.

[Yes, I am wearing a hat that says "Bride", I got it for $1 at Target. I am that cool}

3. Mr. B's parents' lakehouse in Laconia.

They have a beautiful place on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Love the boat rides and especially the tanning bed on the boat.

Sometimes enjoy jet skiing with Mr. B, but not when he goes crazy. I get really scared will we will tip, the jet ski will fall on top of us and drown us {have you noticed yet that I'm a hard core optimist?}

This isn't their boat, but it looks similar to this one and that's not us on the boat, but I am pretty confident we look just as cool.

{credit}

4. Sundresses

So much better than the ever so classy picking the shorts out of the inner thigh every time you take a step routine.

Love love love wearing sundresses sporting a nice tan and very little makeup-- summer perfection.

5. Country music

I listen to country music year round, but I associate it more with summer.

Love me some Rascal Flats Summer Nights, Kenny's No Shoes, No Shirt, No problem, Zach Brown Band Toes and of course Lady A's new one I mentioned and we will throw in Blake Shelton's Hillbilly Bone because it's just plain fun.

If only it was officially summer now.

What are YOUR favorite things about summer??