Day of Spiders

It seems I can never just come across one spider. Oh no, they have to come in multiples.

So tonight is garbage night. Usually I don't take the garbage out until after I get home from dance practice so it's dark out. I usually question if any spiders might be hiding on the handles or something, but up until now, I've been lucky and not accidentally grabbed a spider in the dark.

So I start bringing the bags of garbage and recycling out. First I bring the recycling, and I'd left a newspaper on the top of the recycling bin having planning on keeping it. So I grab the newspaper and toss it on top of the garbage bin so I can dump all the recycling in the recycling bin. Then I go back inside and grab the garbage bag to bring out. Since I put the newspaper on top of the garbage bin, it was now in the way. I decided to just recycle it since the bag was all wet. Just as I grab the plastic bag, a huge gray spider crawls out from underneath it. I let out some sort of shriek and take my shoe off to smash it. Gross. And yeah, there were spider webs all over the handles. I went inside to grab some paper towel to wipe it all off.

After having a spider encounter like that, I tend to get a little paranoid and feel like there's a spider on me or near me or I'm walking through spider webs or something. I guess at this point that's understandable, right? With the whole spiders coming in multiples business.

Anywho, I went about doing dishes and cleaning in my house the rest of the evening. Leonard kept acting weird all night, which also causes me to think there must be a bug or something. After cleaning I was going to sit down and do some stuff on the computer, but shortly after sitting, Leonard was running back and forth being weird again, so I thought maybe he needed to go outside. I asked him and he got all excited, so I get up off the couch, and just as I'm about to take a step forward, I see a spider about a foot away from my face (a foot too close in my opinion). I killed that one dead too.

That's all for tonight, but I'm hoping they aren't coming in a group of three tonight!

A Busy Sunday

I intended to write sooner. I really did! I don't know what happened. Sorry. Can you forgive me?

My weekend has been pretty busy. Friday night was bowling, yesterday I went to the Edina Art Fair (see photos below of some of the awesome stuff that was there) with my mom, and today I did a bunch of stuff around the house. I actually woke up early this morning so I ate and got ready and headed out to do some errands. I didn't anticipate being gone long, so I decided to let Leonard stay out of his kennel.

Typically Leonard stays in his kennel when I'm gone, but on occasion I'll close the door to the bathroom and my bedroom and stick a dog gate in the door to the kitchen and let Leonard roam free. I'd say half of the time it works out ok and he doesn't leave me any gifts, but the other half of the time I'm picking up poop.

Today when I got home, I went to the front of the house and peaked through the windows trying to see where Leonard was and what he was doing. He gets really upset when I leave so I was curious if he calmed down and laid on the couch or something. I saw him standing in the dining room, seemingly behaving. I walk around to the back door, and when I step in to the kitchen, there is a loaf of bread on the floor, bag ripped open, and a third of the loaf missing. Apparently Leonard jumped over the gate and helped himself to a little snack. And then jumped back over the gate to the side he was supposed to be on before I got back!

Little Leonard can be such a stinker! It's hard to be mad at him though when he's so excited to see you! I was more concerned that the loaf of bread was an old one that I was going to take to feed the ducks--hopefully it wasn't moldy!

One of the things I bought while out on errands was this Hyper Pet Pooch Post for Leonard so he could be outside while I'm mowing, gardening, etc. So far it seems to work pretty well. I had a heck of a time getting the thing in the ground. After mowing, I put my new hammock together. It took all of five minutes maybe. This is the view Leonard and I had for a good 40 minutes or so. :)

Hello! My name is...Amanda!

Hello world! Allow me to introduce myself and explain what it is I'm doing here. My name is Amanda, I'm 26, almost 27, and a first time homeowner. I'm slightly a OCD, perfectionist, dog owner, do-it-yourselfer, crafter, photographer, save the Earth enthusiast, bargain hunter (also read as: cheap), gardener-to-be, single woman on the dating scene, thrift shopper, collector, sporadic health nut, who is terrified of spiders (and even more so of centipedes).

Hmm. Yes, I think that about sums me up. ;)

Now what am I doing here? Well that's simple. From time to time I go in to work with stories for my co-workers involving my dog, spiders, or experiences in being a first time homeowner. I guess they are entertaining stories because one of my co-workers suggested I write a book with all of them. I find writing a blog a little easier. So here I am! And as you can guess, here you will find stories/entries with a varieties of topics ranging from first time homeownership (helloooo! can you say "clueless"?!), to my attempts at cooking, trying things on Pinterest, my dog, spiders, dating, changing my oil, etc. Basically, anything I experience in this thing we call "adulthood" is fair game.

I have a few projects coming up that I'll try to remember to take pictures for. In the meantime, I will try recount some of my past experiences and write an entry for each one (there aren't THAT many, don't panic!) later on. For now I'll keep you in suspense!

Peace and love,
Amanda