Fresh Wave

I do contract work for a company called Fresh Wave, based out of Barrington, IL. They manufacture all natural odor neutralizing products for every aspect of your life: home, office, school, gym, car, boat, pets, the list is endless. The products are chemical free as well as environmentally safe and eliminate odors at the source by breaking apart the odor molecules rather than just masking them with another fragrance. And the best part is, they work. These products are a God send in this house, especially when you live with a cat that doesn't always like to use the litter box. He prefers a softer toilet (who wouldn't?) like beds or couch pillows and as a result sometimes our home doesn't always smell so...well, you know, Fresh! But now, we have at least one form of a Fresh Wave product in every room of our house to keep those odors away. And I'm ever so grateful they recently added a laundry and cleaning additive to the mix that eliminates the toughest odors (say for example, cat pee) even after one wash cycle. This has saved us a ton of money on sheets and pillow cases.

With the fires last week (which are still burning in the canyons in Orange County) the smell of smoke and ash was unavoidable no matter where you went. Anytime we'd let Wrigley out the smell would waft in through the door so our house ended up smelling like the inside of a smoldering chimney. I put some Fresh Wave gels out and would use the spray so much that I got a sore trigger finger from pumping on that thing so many times a day! I didn't want to light any candles because God forbid those catch on fire, there are no fire trucks in our vicinity since close to 2000 firefighters are still in the canyon! So I did what I could to keep the smoke smell at bay but inevitably, as soon as the door would open to the outside, the smell would permeate into the house. Not only that, Wrigley would come back smelling like a bar fly, even if he was out for a minute. He got "Fresh-Waved" on a daily basis and he didn't seem to mind. I tried to spray Chum but that didn't go over very well. Any chance Fresh Wave will ever make band-aids? Just a thought.

So yesterday I got a box in the mail from my friends at Fresh Wave filled with more wonderful products. I really appreciate them thinking of me and taking the time to ship off my box of goodies. Thanks so much. You guys are awesome.

If anyone here is affected by the smoke smell I strongly recommend these products. You can find them at Whole Foods, Ace Hardware, Wild Birds Unlimited and many other retailers close by. Check their website above for a store nearest you.

Wrigley says, "Thanks Fresh Wave! I smell good! And friends, check out the Stinky Pet line. You can smell good too!"

All I wanted was a new bath mat...

I opened my big mouth and told Tom that I wanted to change the color schema in our downstairs bathroom and that sent him into a tail spin of redecorating ideas. He says, "Hold off on that for a second. I have a better idea. I'll just redo the floors!" Now I know where this is going. I beg. I plead! I say, "Please please please! Can we wait to do this until after the new year? I don't want our bathroom to be out of commission for MONTHS especially with your busy season coming up. You'll have no time for this!" He's sort of half listening, half nodding as he sizes up the bathroom. Then he heads into the garage and comes back with his jumbo powered tape measure. I knew that instant this battle was lost.

So now we have no floor, no toilet and soon no sink or vanity. His idea of redoing the floor has spawned a total demolition of the bathroom.









And if you're wondering where the toilet went, it now sits in between our two cars in the garage. And EVERY day Tom says to me, "Don't hit the toilet when you pull into the garage." Perhaps if I start to defecate in it, he may pick up the pace on this project.


Not sure why but this reminds me of a time years ago when Tom decided to redo our kitchen floors and when they were finished he decided they didn't match our existing appliances so we had to get all new ones. We shopped together and he saw this refrigerator. I said, "Tom, that fridge is HUGE. It's not going to fit." He said that's malarkey and it will fit just fine. So we bought it and when it arrived...It didn't fit.


Tom had to saw off inches of the cabinet above and smush that monstrosity in place. Good thing we moved far away. There is NO WAY that fridge is ever coming out of that house.

Pumpkin Face Mask

It's pumpkin season and I'm sure after Halloween many of us will have lots of excess 'kins lying around. What to do with them? Well if you haven't carved them all up how about making a natural, moisturizing face mask? The ingredients in pumpkin will benefit all skin types, even sun damaged or sensitive skin. I found this simple recipe online for a soothing, healing, sweet smellin' mask that will leave your skin soft and glowing. And don't worry, you won't turn orange.


Pumpkin Pie Face Mask

Ingredients
2 teaspoons cooked or canned pumpkin, pureed
one-half teaspoon honey (humectant, regenerative) one-quarter teaspoon milk (or soymilk)

Optional Ingredients
For Dry Skin one-quarter teaspoon heavy whipping cream (moisturizing; alpha hydroxy acid)
-or-
one-half teaspoon brown sugar (exfoliates, moisturizes, alpha hydroxyl acid)

For Oily Skin
one-quarter teaspoon apple cider (tonic action promotes skin circulation; alpha hydroxyl acid; regulates pH).
-or-
one-quarter teaspoon cranberry juice (high in antioxidants critically important to the utilization of essential fatty acids to maintain balanced, nourished skin.

Directions
Combine the ingredients for your facemask. Mix gently and apply to your face avoiding the eye area. Rest and relax for 10-15 minutes while your pumpkin pie facemask gently exfoliates, nourishes and conditions your face. Rinse with warm water and apply the appropriate moisturizer for your skin type.

Spooky Brownies

Aren't they cute? I made these for a Halloween party and they were a big hit! Just make a batch of your favorite chocolate brownies and cut them into different sized ghosts and ghouls. Allow them to cool then frost them white and use black icing for the faces. You could also make pumpkin brownines using orange frosting or even bats or witch hats without frosting. So many possibilities. Have fun!

@$!#%*$@!...a$$hole...Dog

...just swiped an entire block of cheddar cheese off the kitchen counter and ran all over the house with it in his mouth. I SCREAMED and shouted out all of his commands: STOP, DROP, LEAVE IT, but the son of a b!tch (both literally and figuratively) kept running away from me. I finally cornered him in the kitchen and pulled out the slimy, foamy orange glob of muck. It was wedged so far back in his mouth I was scared it was going to get stuck and he'd choke. He got quite a scolding after that.

Here he is taking refuge in Chumley's bear and a few of his favorite comfort toys after my psychotic rant. He knows he was VERY naughty.


(I'm not really sure what that drippy goo is on the little side wall. I just noticed it after I enlarged the photo. Guess I should clean more often.)

Happy Halloweek!

Yes I know it says HalloweeK and not HalloweeN. That's because I've decided this is Halloween-Week! So each day I'll post something related to Halloween, be it a recipe, a spooky story or a scary movie recommendation. Ok maybe I won't do this the whole week, just until Wednesday. So for today I'll just post this pic of Tom and I from a Halloween bash on Saturday night. We went as Warriors (who consumed one too many cocktails out of cute little pumpkin cups)


And here's a pic of our battle swords that we stuck in our front yard upon returning home from the party around 3:30am. And yes, they are still there and it's now Monday afternoon. My sword is off to the top left. Can you see it? (It's not as big as Tom's of course.)

The Brothers Golden

Wrigs had a play date with his brother Casey last week so I had to post some pics. They love each other soooo much and play very well together although Wrigley does not like to share when it comes to toys, food, water, Chumley, Chumley's bear, me, Tom, etc.

Here are the boys greeting each other...


Greeting quickly turns into play...


Then Casey discovered Mr. Chum and in no time there was a stand off at the doggy gate...


Wrigley says, "Let's ditch my feline brother and play some more!" And off they went running around the house playing tug of war with Wrigley's stuffed duck, Mallory...


After a while the boys needed a rest so it was a perfect opportunity to snap a photo while they were settling...


Rest time didn't last long with these two. Casey rooted round in Wrigley's toy basket and pulled out Wrigley's rubber chicken and another tug of war battle was fought, Wrigley taking the prize.


I also have video to share that I'll upload at some point so stay tuned dog lovers!

He's learning from Chumley...

I got Wrigs this foot chew toy and within minutes all 4 toes were gone. He was completely obsessive-compulsive about it too. The moment he grabbed the foot out of my hand he ran over to his dog ottoman and maniacally ripped apart each toe, starting with the little toe, then working his way across. He left the big toe hanging by a thread. He spit out all the bits of toe (thankfully he doesn't swallow them) and then proceeded to throw the mangled foot into the air and catch it several times. It was as though he was celebrating. What a savage beast.

we don't mean any disrespect but...

Tom returned from a business trip this afternoon and I was getting him up to speed on the events of this past week. Ellen was pre-empted (AGAIN!!) by fire news so we watched that instead. After a few stories from the reporters seen here, Tom says, "What the hell is this, the senior network?"
He's got a point.

Party!

Finally...Here are some pics from our bash last weekend. And I ask you, what makes a party fun???

Is it party hats and champagne?



A BIG surprise??







Two kinds of cake?


Dancing?














CRAZY dancing??





A Party Dog?









Piano Playing?

Dancing with the Party Dog?






Handstands?

Yeah, I think all of those things make a party fun but none of this would be possible without....

FUN FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!! (and a big assed dog)




Oh, and this is for you Dougy...

No school

Back in the midwest we'd get snow days. Here, we get "Poor Air Quality Associated with the Wildfire" days.

I hope this doesn't lead to the black lung.

Still blazin' in OC

The Santiago Canyon fire is still not under control. It doesn't appear to be threatening as many homes but now the winds have shifted and it's made it's way into the beautiful landscape of the Cleveland National Forest. I seriously think my olfactory senses are forever dulled from 4 days of constant smoke inhalation. There are now bigger chunks of white ash that have rained down in our yard and I went to look at some of them and realized they once were pieces of paper, possibly even photographs. It's incomprehensible to watch as someone's memories are now just bits of ash floating into the sky blanketing the earth like new fallen snow. I don't know how one recovers from such a loss. And I know that if you escaped with your lives and pets then in the big scheme of things, that is all that matters. But to lose EVERYTHING else you've ever touched in this world, has got to leave you feeling so lost, so empty. Almost like a part of your identity is also floating away.

I guess you have no choice but to rebuild, start anew, adopt a simple and clutter free lifestyle. In a way it might be liberating to some degree, no longer a prisoner to all your "stuff". It's just too bad that decision had to be made without anyone's consent. And to know that these fires here in Orange county were deliberately set? I think that's the part that is most upsetting. It would still be devastating regardless if Mother Nature was the cause for this but when there is proof that some son of a bitch intentionally started these fires and this entire scenario could have been avoided? How do you accept that and move on? Or God willing, how do you forgive? I respect and admire those who can feel compassion in their hearts for people who are capable of committing such crimes, but to be honest, I'm not one of them.

Sweety

I love you.

ASPCA

This ad just came on TV and now, the tears are flowing...



Damn it's been a rough week around here. I must blog about something uplifting. Ok cute Wrigley pics coming soon!!!

What does the end of the world look like?

Blogger's acting all squirrely when I post lots of pics so you'll have to click on the background of the pics that aren't showing up in order to view them. These are pics from LA to San Diego from this week.