One of the worst fights that my husband and I have ever had involved a window. Unfortunately, the beautiful picture window that came with the older house that we bought needed to be replaced, and my husband and his brother replaced it with abolute junk, as far as windows go.

This was completely unnecessary. Just look at what else is available! I love the double glazing done by Central Scotland Joinery. Just look at their work!

If we had had work like this done when we replaced the window, we would have saved ourselves a lot of grief. As it is, we took a house and actually devalued the property, instead of adding to the property value! If anything like this ever comes up again, I’m going with someone who can do quality work.

It seems like half the women I know are getting pregnant. It makes me wonder if there is something in the water or something. At any rate, I’ve noticed that maternity clothes can either be super-cute or horrifically ugly. Here’s an example of one of the super-cute ones!

The awesome thing about maternity clothes from Kiki’s Fashions is that they are so much less expensive than the maternity clothes (the dowdy ones) you’ll find in mall boutiques. Not only are the styles current, but you can easily find maternity clothes that fit the season on their site.

I wish they’d been around when I was pregnant with either of my sons. At that time, the clothes I found were awful! I had a couple of things that were both affordable and tolerable, and it seems like I wore those two outfits almost every day! With affordable prices, though, a person could actually have a wardrobe while pregnant. How cool is that?

Here’s a little bonus. You can get an additional 20 percent off if you use the code “blogfriends” at checkout!

I’ve always dreamed of having an organic garden. You just save so much on food once you learn how to garden in a way where you don’t have the critters eating up everything you plant. It also helps encourage you to eat a healthier diet, and I certainly need that!  At my new house, we have a lovely yard, but what we soon discovered was that during the spring and summer, when the trees leap out, what we don’t have is a lot of sunlight. I have to say that I was disappointed not to be able to go ahead and plant a full-fledged garden and really get into this organic gardening lifestyle. Square foot gardening is especially appealing.

All has not been lost, though. We’ve been able to do a bit of organic gardening on our front porch, of all places. We are growing herbs right now, but we’ve figured out that next summer we can go ahead and at least add some tomatos to the mix. It is really wonderful to have fresh, chemical-free herbs at our disposal at dinnertime. We’ll just walk outside and grab a bunch of cilantro to chop up and put on tacos, or some oregano for spaghetti sauce or simply putting some basil leaves on a sandwich for a bit of extra flavor.

The frustrating thing, though, is when the bugs get into your plants and end up eating more of them than you do. That’s when you’re thankful there are products that can knock out 40 different kinds of the critters, like Safer Brand Bug Patrol, for example. That particular product is compliant for use in organic gardens, so if you like to sell your plants, you can still label them as organic. Of course, with the amount of produce I am producing, I don’t think I’m going to have a stand at our local farmer’s market anytime soon. But I have some really yummy spaghetti sauce!

We got a new dog from the shelter. This was prompted by yet another person checking out our house in a way that meant no good.

Wile E., so named because he looks like a coyote, is a German Shepard and Blue Heeler mix. He is a sneaky piece of work, but we already love him! Greg is already dreading having to get him “fixed.” I think guys identify with all that way too much, don’t you?

So now, instead of posting a sign that says, “Beware of Dog”, we can post one that says, “Beware of DogS.” Although, I’m wondering if Wile E. and he destructive ways won’t end up costing me more than a burglary. At least he’s cute.

Sage got both a wart AND a mole removed today, poor guy. First the mole was sliced off and stitched up, then the wart was burned off with that frozen stuff, whatsitcalled… It seems like every time the little dude goes to the doctor they are standing at the ready with needles and whatnot.

This is the second time we’ve dealt with warts. Perhaps this time, it’ll stay gone!

School finally let out, and already I’ve spent an ridiculous sum of money at our local hobby store. I’m using this summer to work on my artistic skills, including painting and sculpting. Learning these skills is not going to come cheap, I’m afraid! At any rate, I’ve already made a really cute kitty stuffy, and have cut out many more–yea for mad mass production skillz!

Sage is getting into this as well. He’s really enjoying working with acrylics. His uncle made him a wooden sword at the shop, and he painted it really cool.

Sage is also taking art classes at the rec center–perhaps he’ll end up teaching me something! That, and cursive classes. I just can’t believe they don’t teach that in school anymore. Ridiculous.

Speaking of school, I am sooo not missing it.