I'm Exasperated.

Caution: This post includes much ranting and several uses of the word "poop" in all it's various past and present forms. You've been warned.


Why does my dog keep pooping in my house?!?! I love her. I love her to bits and pieces but this has to stop or I am going to have an aneurism. All day she does well. ALL DAY! It's the evenings where everything goes to...well...poop. And it's always upstairs. (However, now that I've said this, she's going to prove me wrong.)
The only things I can think of are A) She smells all the other animal smells on our old carpet and gets confused. Or 2) She is so bell trained that when she is upstairs and there is no bell she has no idea how to tell us what she needs to do. Or I suppose C) is a combination of both. She's not a barker so it's not like she'll whine or bark when she needs to go. And there is no warning. She'll be playing or standing there and BAM! Poop.
I'm going to buy a new bell and put it upstairs to see if that works. Past that, I don't know what else to do. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd greatly appreciate it. And to set the record straight, we let her out ALL THE TIME. EVERY TIME she rings her bell we take her out. About 80% of the time she goes. The other 20 she spends eating bugs and sniffing around. She'd do it all night if we'd let her. We've even spent evenings where we'll take her out 10-15 times in an hour and within 5 minutes of her being in the house, she'll poop. It is so frustrating. And this has happened on more than one occasion. We have tried box training her. (And you can't rub her nose in it because any aggression does more harm than good since she was a once abused puppy) I am constantly on guard to make sure she isn't having accidents... I don't know what to do anymore. And I understand it's old carpet and it's going sooner than later but I don't want this to happen to the new carpet once it comes!
Again, any suggestions would be helpful. And if you can do better than google, you're my hero. Ma, what would Cesar say???

HELP!!!

Thanks. Sorry for the rant... I just got out of the shower to my dog in her box and my husband upset. I had to ask the masses... Thanks everyone.

Oh and one more thing, if you do comment, which I understand some people have been having trouble doing, make sure you pick an account you'd like to post from (Like google for example) as well as type in the security code it gives you. (Those are the squiggly letters you have to type in the box)
And behalf of Kylie, thanks. The box is no fun...

This isn't actually of tonight. This was the other night right before I shut off the lights before bed. This is an old pillow of mine that I was going to throw out but decided to give to Kylie at the last minute so she'd have something soft. (It is also the ONLY bed she currently hasn't shredded...let see if that lasts.)

Oops.

I tried to fix the videos and A) it takes too long and 2) it switches the order. That's why the first post is the most current. Forget it. You can just use your imagination and from now on, I'll post correctly.

Our First Post!!

This is our first official post! I don't know about you, but I'm excited!
Well it's official! We are home owners! On Friday Aug. 12th, we closed on our new house in De Soto Missouri. (For those who are new to our little family, Lucas finally got a teaching position out here, so here we are.) Though I am sad to leave all my family, friends, and Woodfield, ;) I am excited for our new adventure out on our own in a new state! Luke is super excited as well. In fact, today is his first official day of school with actual students in the classroom! He looked so handsome this morning all gussied up and ready for school. I am so proud of him! He is going to be an AMAZING teacher. :)

Lots of work ahead!

I've got my Dunkin Donuts... We can move now!

On our way!! (That's Luke in front in theh U-haul!)

Now for a week in review: (A quick review-kinda)
Once we officially got our closing DATE, we started packing. (I will explain why "date" is in caps later.) I thought we only had clothes to pack since my parents were amazing enough to let us stay with them for a couple months (3 to be exact) however, I did not take into account all the junk I had at my parents house from before we got married. I had a LOT of crap. On Tuesday we got our rental truck and were on the road by 9:15-ish Wednesday morning. We knew our closing date was Friday, but Luke had to be back for teacher trainings Thursday. (This was one of many commutes for Luke in the past few weeks, poor guy) As we were driving here on Wednesday, with all our belongings in tow to the hotel, our realtor called me to check in and told me that although we had a closing DATE, we didn't have a TIME or LOCATION for the closing...needless to say, there was slight panic on my part looking at the truck in front of me with our lives in it. (It wasn't until later that Chuck, our realtor, confided in me that he and his wife were going to open their house to us because he was slightly panicked we weren't going to close as well! Haha!) In the end, everything worked out just fine. We closed at 11am on Friday Aug. 12th! (Side note, anyone who ever worked at KinderCare with me knows how illegible my signature is. However, when I take my time, I have a nice signature. Well I figured a home closing deserved a good signature but since it's been awhile, I spelled my name wrong. No kidding. I signed Cristen Janisch instead of Cristen Overton. Boy did I feel stupid! HAHA!)

Anyway, Luke had to be back at school for more meetings so Chuck (bless his heart) and I came back to the house to start cleaning before the truck was unloaded. My parents and sister were on their way to help as well. And this is where the fun starts...
~ The air conditioning didn't work. We knew this was going to be the case as all 3 inspections made a note of the blower on the furnace wasn't working and the unit needed to be replaced. So we had money set aside for a new furnace. Needless to say, it was HOT in this place. Chuck and I lost at least 100lbs! (Ok I'm being slightly dramatic, but it was holy hot in here!)
~ The hot water was out. So no air and we're drenched in sweat, then we don't have hot water to shower at the end of the day. I was not a happy panda to say the least.
~ Bugs. Bugs EVERYWHERE. Yes, I get that it was a vacant house, but holy cow. Everywhere I looked there was a Granddaddy Longlegs. Blugh!!
~ No appliances. I knew this coming in, but what pain in the butt!

Now for the positive!
~Turns out, we had AC all along. Oops. I finally got ahold of Steve, the AC/heating guy (super nice!) and he asked where my breaker was. I showed him, he hit a switch, and I heard a Whirrrrrrrr.... I asked "Um... what's that??" I had a feeling I knew the answer. He answered "Oh! That's your AC!". So it worked the whole time. Someone along the way turned off the breaker and that was it. 3 different inspectors/inspections and no one caught it. $60 later, my water softener, AC and peace of mind were restored! (Hey, $60 is a hell of a lot better than $4000 for a new furnace!) And Steve is one of my neighbors and so so nice! When I told Chuck we had AC the whole time, needless to say,  his response was...um... colorful. I won't post it for my mother's sake. But we both had a good laugh.


~We also had hot water after all! Thankfully, Luke, along with Aaron Young I believe,  figured that out later that night on Friday so we had nice showers before we got into our nice clean bed! Phew!
~Exterminator came on Tuesday to fix any unwanted house guests! Best. Day. Ever. Thank God! The only bugs we are seeing now are dead ones. Best way to see bugs. :)
~ Appliances were delivered Monday and they are pretty!! I made tacos last night and for whatever reason, they tasted extra yummy! New appliances will do that to food, you know. Who knows, after this, I just might enjoy cooking! (Maybe) ;)

The flowers above the stove are where the microwave is supposed to live. Luke has to tear out that black piece before he can install the micro...which is currently living in my living room. The flowers are there cause it was ugly. Now it's pretty. I win. (Though I must say the guys installing the stove were pretty confused until I explained they weren't installing the micro and the flowers were temporary. HA!

And last but not least, we got a puppy yesterday!! Her name is Kylie and she is the cutest little thing you'd ever meet in your life! She is a shelter dog from Canines in Crisis who was fostered by an amazing woman, Kaylyn! She took such good care of our little Kylie that I am so SO thankful to her! I'll post more about our little baby later. I think this first new post was long enough for now!


So for those who stuck with me till the end, congrats! I'm sure the posts will be smaller in the future but for the first one, there was a lot of catching up to do! Comments are always welcome as well as requests on info regarding anything!


Thanks for reading about our little family!


Love, hugs and squishes!
The Overtons!! (All 3 of us!)

Our new little love!

Kylie!!

And I said, "I don't mind her sitting on the couch, but I don't want dogs in our bed." Well... that was quick....

People are Reading! How Excting!

Hi everyone!
So my friend Jamie told me more about how my blog-thingy works...how cool! People do read it! (Not that I didn't believe you, but I've had almost 340 hits to my little goofy blog! Fun!!)


Now I feel pressure. :O

Not why I'm blogging today. I'm blogging because I have a couple more picture of my new living room to show. I was a little embarrassed at my lack of pictures from last post so this morning when I sent new ones to mom, I thought I'd come up here and post them for all to see. :) Again, the house is coming along little by little. In fact, we have people from Lowes coming today to give us a carpet estimate! Thank God. I will also try to take a couple pictures of upstairs as well to show the new lack of boxes. Since there aren't many 'before pics', you'll have to just trust me that we've come a LONG way. The loft was the place we threw all the unpacked boxes that were  not pressing....most are now gone!! What's left is mainly boxes of books we can't put on the shelves we don't currently have. HUGE improvement! (Also, the box of toys at the other end of the loft...I take care of our friend's little girl here at the house one day a week and she needs something to do. No, we are not hiding children from anyone. Sorry to disappoint...Marzullos...) ;)

And since I am name dropping, Lynne, apparently there IS a way for you to be notified when I do new posts. (And not just when I call you out on Facebook) I have to set it up somehow. So anyone who signs up as a follower will get the updates. For those of you who are signed up as followers who do not want to receive an update email, I'm sorry... I don't know if I can pick and choose... I'm still learning this new fancy thing.

One more thing before I post pictures. This is Homecoming week for the schools! So Luke has to dress up for the different days. (Except yesterday because he was at 'All District' with the high school kids and he'd look a little odd dressed as a nerd...) And he slipped out so quietly this morning that I don't know what he dressed as today. Twin day? Maybe? I know he told me. There was 'Nerd Day', 'Twin Day', 'Sports Day' and 'Spirit Day'? I can't remember the last two. Anyway, it's a fun week! The homecoming game is this Friday. Go Dragons!
I'm excited because tonight (and I should be doing some of it now) I am going to the school to help Luke decorate his classroom. Because they just redid the classroom, they just finished putting up the bulletin boards and smart and white boards so we can finally make it fun and classroom-like! I LOVE decorating classrooms! (With the excepting of contact paper.... I HATE contact paper...) And I have so much stuff left over from KinderCare that we don't even need to buy anything! Even better!

Man, even when I try to be short I ramble...ADHD... sorry. ;)

Have a fabulous day and I'll get to posting the pictures!

My new rug! I LOVE this rug! (And Kylie of course!)

My purple wall next to my tan wall! So pretty!

View from the loft - left corner.

This is the 'office' side of the loft. It's a mess right now because this is my current project.

This will eventually be our library/reading area. My papasan chair will go here as well as short, long bookshelves. Luke will either get a recliner or some other comfy chair for himself. I cannot wait to see how it looks!

This is the other side of the loft. Eventually this will be closed off and made into another room. About 3 days ago this entire area was boxes and bins. Gone. Phew!

This video is just for fun. Remember, this is the dog that was returned for being "too calm and cat-like". Oy.

Also, turns out I downloaded all the past videos wrong! That's why no one could see them! I'll go back and redo them. So if you'd like to check them out, they should be fixed shortly.

I've Been Neglectul.

So it's been more than a couple weeks... Oops. Hi everyone.

I'd like to say I've been so busy that I haven't been able to get to the blog. In actuality, I've just kinda forgotten. (And our internet goes in and out all the time. LOVE living in the country!) :/
Truth be told, I started writing this particular blog about a week or more ago but am just now finishing it and adding to it. I suck. Whatever.

I'll start with the updates first:
Lucas~ He's doing really really well. He really likes his job. In fact, a couple weeks ago he commented on just how much he enjoys going into work every morning. (Even if it means leaving the house at 6:45-6:50am each morning.)He said that no matter what, he could never stop doing what he's doing. He can never see himself doing anything else. (Insert "I told you so" here.)  That, to me, makes all of this worth it. Everyday gets a little bit easier. (His 7th grade girls are kicking butt right now during practices!! Way to go, girls!)
He's also been hard at work with home improvement projects. I can't remember if I've said this before or not, but I've been doing really well at taking the 'after' pictures...not so much the 'before'. So I do have some pictures of Luke's handy work - after the fact. He's cleared out so much of the back yard, you can actually see the lake now! It's coming along, slowly but surely. :) There are just a couple more patches of brush that need to be clipped away and we should be able to see everything just fine.We also decided to hire a painter... so the first floor is now 100% painted! (Well... if you don't count the bathrooms. We decided not to bother since eventually we are tearing them OUT!)
And between all the running around he does at school all day and all the projects he's going at home, he's lost 17lbs since we've been here! He looks great, is feeling great and I cannot be prouder of him! I've been to a couple of performances he's conducted and it's been so much fun seeing Luke in action. I cannot wait for the first concert!
Also, on Labor Day, the high school concert choir got the chance to perform at the Cardinals/Brewers game. They sang America the Beautiful right before the game. Not only did they sound fantastic but they were on Fox Sports! Usually they don't tape the pregame stuff but I guess this time they did! Aaron is trying to get a copy of the recording. I"ll keep everyone posted! :)

Now my update:
As I mentioned before, we hired a painter. Bless my mother-in-law's heart, she came out for the Labor Day weekend and went with  me to pick out paint. Together we painted the wall between the counter and the cabinets in the kitchen as well as did all the trim around the first half of the first floor. When she left on Wednesday, my job was to finish painting. Well.... Anyone who knows me on any lever knows that while I have very good intentions... painting has never been one of my strong suits. I finished the front door and the spot in the kitchen that needed a second coat but that was about it. I looked at those cans of paint and thought, 'You can do this. Get up and paint!'. Never happened. So after calling around, I found a really nice guy for a really nice price. Done and done. 3 days later my bedroom, kitchen, living room and staircase was all painted. However, I am so very grateful to my mother-in-law for all her help! I couldn't have picked out my colors or started to paint without her! (THANKS!!)
So I will have to post the picture I have of what's been done. All the 'afters'.

The house seems to be coming along though... we have some guys coming out in the next couple days to give us an estimate for carpet in the basement and we power cleaned today so most of our boxes are all put away! It's finally starting to feel like a home and not just a never-ending project. Yea!

Next step, finding a car for Luke. This one car thing is a pain in the BUTT!!!

And now for my Kylie update. Cause I know that's really why you're reading this...;)
She's fine. She gets a little bit better every day. (I'm not even going to comment on accidents in the house cause every time I do, she has another one. Let's just leave it at that.)
She cracks us up all the time and we truly love her. :)
Now for the pictures! Thanks for reading and I promise, I will try to get better about posting.
G'night!

I'm getting so big! I'm 29lbs!

Our bedroom! We still have to do two more stripes on the outside of the border... we told the painter we'd do it ourselves as I can't decide what color yet.

Not only is my kitchen purple (or Symphony, as it's called) but I now have a microwave!! Thanks, Luke!)

Yeah....We are changing the color ASAP. It looks like a grape. Trial and error...this was an error.

I have a before picture!! (And yes, I made the curtains!)

That's David the painter...yes, he's 7ft tall!  And no, he's not standing on anything. And I guess I only have a partial 'after' picture. I have to take another one with the whole wall done.

Our first Cards/Cubs game. I had to support Chicago! (They won too!) (For the record, I also bought the same shirt for the Cardinals too...Clearly I am a SUPER diehard baseball fan...)

It's Hot.

107 degrees, to be exact. I cannot take the heat here. I don't know if I'll ever get acclimated. I'll melt first.

That was my soapbox. It's been a couple days and nothing much has changed. Luke is doing well at school. Everyday gets a little better. His 7th graders are great - especially his girls. The 8th graders... they are a work in progress. But again, everyday gets a little better than the last. :) Also, De Soto High School had their first home game for football and Luke conducted the choir for the game. Pretty cool! (And when we left at 4th quarter, the score was 43-7...De Soto was up. I'm going to assume they won. Go Dragons!)

I'm ok. Starting to miss home...really miss home. It's nice out here and the people I've met have been great but I still miss home. I'm sure it takes time... it's only been, what? 3 weeks? All in time. 

Kylie is good... still having accidents but it's getting better. We love her just the same and she's doing something new and funny all the time. In the two, almost 3 weeks we've had her, she officially has more pictures on my phone than Luke does. Oops! :)

That's all I really have. This was short and sweet today.
Oh! We are slowly but surely getting rooms "finished". (I say "finished" cause until we paint and tear down walls and put new ones up, we will never really be finished) but we are getting close. Little by little boxes are emptying and things are being put where they belong. Yesterday I finished all our toiletries (we have a LOT) and the bathroom is done! Luke is putting my desk together right now so by tomorrow, the "office" will be done! We'll get it. It's not like we are in any rush...

Oh! One more thing. I met a lady at the nail place today and made friends. (Shocking, I know) ;) Don't ask me how, but we got to talking about me making jewelry and she wanted my number so she can place a couple orders! So I officially have my first customer! So fun!

Ok really that's it now. Luke just finished my desk so I'm going to check it out and go to bed.
Thanks for reading!