Murphy's Makeover

Before:



After:



I guess I must become resigned to paying more for his haircuts than I do my own. The vet's groomer is as pricey as any of the foo-foo doggy salons, but at least she actually did what I asked her to do. His long coat is no longer dragging on the ground, his feet are nicely trimmed, I can actually tell he had a haircut.

I also found the perfect print for the blank wall in my office:


I found it on AllPosters.com. It's by George Vernon Stokes - never heard of him, but he certainly captured a perfect Yorkie image, and the dog in the picture looks remarkably like Murphy in his naturally scruffy state. It's on the "as soon as I have money again" list, but not very high on the list, it'll wait. Because yesterday I tried to broil something in my 20 year old kitchen range, and found the top heating element is no longer heating. That leaves one stove burner really functional, a couple more work when they feel like it, and the oven is now kaput. Maybe it could be fixed if parts are still available, but at this point putting new heating elements into a stove that is destined for the scrapyard anyway doesn't seem worth it. I can get by without it. I'm glad I invested in my fancy little Delonghi toaster oven last year, I think I'll be cooking dinner in it for a while as well as grilling outside, until I can go forward with the kitchen remodeling which is desperately needed anyway. The ancient stove and dishwasher both need to go, and the cheap formica kitchen cabinets are going to become white wood, and I may even pop for a Corian countertop - since the space is small, I could afford it (one of the advantages of a dinky little house, I suppose). So much to do, so little time and money. At least now I have a timeline - I need to get that done before Thanksgiving, or there will be no turkey at this house.

I really did plan to knit last night, but ended up on the phone all evening - Boychild was packing and loading the U-Haul all night and was understandably stressed, so I had to talk him down off the moving crazies a few times. He's uncannily like his father in so many ways, my husband was the same way whenever we had to make one of our many high tech gypsy moves.

So after I send some email I owe, I'm going to take my coffee and go sit on the couch and work on the red Sitcom Chic. I have two days of meetings in an overly air-conditioned room the week after next - I wonder if I can get it done by then? At this rate, fat chance....