I'm here I'm here!

Sorry for the lack of posts, it's amazing how an 8 pound being can be so darn time consuming! We are surviving though, and the little miss is up to a whopping 8 pounds, 2 ounces...she's gaining pretty slowly, but gaining nonetheless. She is sleeping ok at night, she is a very good little alarm clock, going off consistently at 3 hour intervals, but the doctor assured me she would start sleeping better in a week or two when her tummy gets a bit bigger. She is 1 month old today and I can't believe how fast the time has gone! I have been able to get out and about though, Mr. Pit babysat last weekend and allowed me to get a mani/pedi, and since she loves the car I have been able to meet people for lunch and errands, so that has been great as well!

I do of course have another reason for this post...as this might be the CUTEST thing I have EVER heard of, and I am SO sad that I don't live in this town in Florida...I think I would go EVERY week for sure! Little Pup would hate that I came home smelling of other dogs every week but there is NOTHING like playing with a puppy!!

Here is the scoop, at the Southeast Guide Dog school, the puppies are let go to play with the public for a few hours every day. This is so that the puppies can interact with people of all ages, abilities, tones of voices and everything else that makes every person different. The puppies have to be able to work with anyone they are assigned to, and the more comfortable they are with all different kinds of people from the start, the better.

You can show up every morning at 9am and they let all the dogs out to play with whomever is there. You can snuggle them, play with them, walk them around, whatever you want, they encourage all kinds of interaction. HOW cool is that? You can read the article HERE ...seriously SO adorable!!!

Anyways, that's about all that's going on, I'll do my best to do a Furry Friday post tomorrow but I have to go out to the mall and we are going to dinner at the club (it's lobster night, yum!!) I'll try though :)

I hope all is well with everyone, and here's a gratuitous baby picture just for fun :)



Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Pit

I'm here, I promise!

Hi all,
sorry for the delay in this post. The weekend was a whirlwind with guests in and out, lots of errands run, lawn clean up, Christmas light installation and that whole bit, and it's already Wednesday!

Thanksgiving was great even though I couldn't find ANY of my serving utensils...(still!) but we used large spoons and other industrial size equipment we had (a la the grill set!) and got everything safely on to plates and into bellies. The turkey was amazing, Mr. Pit and his mom have this amazing recipe that makes the turkey SO good it makes you want to have it once a week, not once a year! The leftovers are to die for as well and we made some spectacular turkey sandwiches over the weekend.

This week has been pretty quiet, but it's getting busier by the day. M and I are going out to dinner tomorrow night and then I have BF C's bridesmaids dinner party on Saturday, so I'll be a busy girl that day!

Lil' Pup has a private training lesson on Saturday to help him get over his dog fear/aggression and we are hoping for positive results. He's an absolute LOVE around people, kids, babies, etc, but when it comes to dogs that are his size or bigger, it's not good. The trainer thinks he was in the kennel for too long and not socialized enough as a puppy (how could he have been, he was in the rescue from when he was born!) and so, now we're going to try to fix it and make him not so aggressive and mean to other dogs. Little dogs are fine, my in-laws mini poodle and him get along just great and he completely ignores the chihuahua next door which is fine with us. So, we're not expecting a miracle, but this trainer could be worth her weight in gold if she can teach us how to teach him to calm the heck down and just sniff and wag his tail like everyone else! It also makes me really wish we got him as a pup, but, we rescued him when we could and that's all we can ask for.

Then, the big news for Saturday is that we are getting our Christmas tree! All the decorations are down from the attic and in the waiting area for the tree to make its grand entrance. We found a new tree place too that we're going to check out and if that is too expensive we'll go back to Lowe's where we have had great luck in the past.

Other than that all is well. Little Pit checked out well last week at his/her appointment and I am feeling great! We get our next ultrasound next Friday and I can't wait.

Hope you all are having great weeks!

xoxo
Mrs. Pit

Lil Pup

I just wanted to share a photo from yesterday...this is Lil' Pup looking out the window at the bunny on the front lawn...this staring contest lasted about a half hour before he gave up to take a nap with us on the couch. Lucky for bunny we didn't let him out!

p.s, that is the library scene from Baby Boom on the TV, love it!

Lion Fail

I just saw this on Fail Blog...poor puppy! Someone thinks he should be a lion instead of a dog!

A new adventure

Afternoon Pit Fans! This fall weather certainly has me running at peak strength as it's too chilly to be lazy and too gorgeous to be sitting at home while you could be outside enjoying the changing leaves, crisp air and my favorite 4 legged friend :)

The past two days have been filled with "if...then" statements pertaining to the new developments on the "Project: New Company" front, and I promise to let you know when we are up and running.

So far though, it looks like I am going to buy only 1 of the 2 components I think I will need for this venture due to costs...but I am ok with it, as I know I need to start slow and don't want to spend a lot of money on things I am not sure I need right now.

Onto other more interesting news:
1) The boots FINALLY arrived. They are gorgeous. They fit perfectly. But...I am not sure I love them as much as I do on the model in the catalog that served as inspiration. That model was 5'10", way skinnier than me and in a way cuter outfit. When I tried them on last night with the outfit I had always planned on wearing with them, they just looked 'off'. The skirt was too long and since they have little to no heel, it made me look squat instead of lithe. I kept the outfit on and put on boots with a 3" heel and I instantly 'lost' 10 lbs an felt like I should have. So now I wonder, what on earth do I wear the no-heeled boots with?

Is it true that wearing your boots on the outside of your jeans trend has gone by the way side? What is the point of a knee high boot if you can't even see them under pants? Someone PLEASE tell me what to wear with them? They are SO tough and awesome looking, but they do me NO good if I can't wear them with anything!!

2) I am no longer selling ANYTHING on eBay. Ever. I sold one item and sold it specifically since I was duped myself on the size. It said "size 10" which is my size, only to rip the tags off, put it on and realize that I don't normally buy 1/2 sleeved-belly shirts. I had bought a kids size 10. So, I sold it on eBay as such and got a nasty email (well, 3 nasty emails) from the person that bought it that said she couldn't see how a 10 year old would ever wear it. Listen lady, NOT my problem. If you don't know what size or style your kid likes, that is NOT my problem. There were 2 pictures up there of the item, and if you has asked any questions of it I would have been happy to answer any and all. Idiot.
I apologize if I come off a bit harsh, but come on, you paid $10 for this shirt, what do you want, Gucci?

3) I am done ranting, just in case you wanted to know.

4) My boss is gone for the next two weeks starting on Friday. Holla! Not that I won't have a ton of work to do while he is gone, because I am actually certain that my work load will increase, however, he won't be here to bug me every 2 minutes, so I might actually be able to get things done. Sweet. (I also plan on using some of this time to work on "Project:New Company" but only on the sly. )

5) yeah, I don't have a 5, I just wanted to round out the list to make it look like I have lots of things to say. I plan on leaving in 5 minutes to catch the early train anyway and spend the evening with Mr Pit and Lil' Pup discussing oil prices and all that fun house stuff.

Have a great afternoon!!

Stainless Steel Appliances and the Misguided Masses

Watching my one of my favorite shows last night (House Hunters on HGTV) I was again astounded at the reasons people give for not liking a house, and in the end use to justify NOT buying the otherwise perfectly nice affordable home. Paint colors can be changed, rugs re-done, just about anything non-structural can happen in a matter of days or weeks prior to move in. People, these items should NOT be a deal breaker!

But, here's the most annoying thing about these shows, and since I'm IN the construction industry, I especially get to be annoyed.

Stainless steel appliances are NOT better than other appliances.

Behind that shiny facade is the same freaking machine as you had before, only now its harder to clean! Have you ever gotten finger prints from a toddler or a nose mark from a dog on a stainless steel anything? If not, try it and good luck making your dishwasher look like new. EVERY time you clean the stainless steel surface you put minuscule scratches into it and then from far away you can see the little circular scrub marks no matter how lightly you scrub or with which fancy towel the sales people sold you on that 'won't hurt the surface' HA! You got duped. You got talked into a mid-range appliance for a high-range price for nothing else than a shiny front.

They are all the rage now, and you don't see any 'renovated' home without them...but seriously, take a quick look at ANY online appliance store (Sears, Lowe's, even Costco) and the stainless steel version of every appliance is $100-$300 higher than its same sister model in black or white.

If you think that you HAVE to have stainless steel when you move into your new home, think again about the maintenance of the front (you want it to look shiny all the time?, don't touch it!) and the fact that you are paying that much more for what it looks like as opposed to how it runs. Ever had a refrigerator punk out on you in the middle of summer? NOT FUN. Check consumers reports and buy the best brand with the best reliability you can and if it happens to come in stainless steel and you can afford it, good for you. If not, buy it in black and it will still look like a bad-ass kitchen.

That's the daily morning rant for you all. I have a busy day in front of me with a big project due today at work. So enjoy the sunny weather on the East Coast and think twice before buying stainless steel appliances.

Oprah, Puppy Mills and People Magazine

Puppy Mills suck.

The fact that they are not completely illegal is astounding to me.

For those of you not familiar with what a 'puppy mill' is, a brief explanation is simple and sickening.

Hundreds of dogs are bred each year to produce as many puppies as possible in living conditions you wouldn't subject your worst enemy to. Sires and dams are forced to live stacked on top of each other in wire cages with no bottoms and the only time they get to come OUT of the cages is when they are being bred or giving birth. These poor animals spend the majority of thier life unable to turn around, lie down, or stand at all comfortably as their paws dig into the metal. The dogs in the bottom cages perhaps have it worst of all, as there is nothing to catch the feces from the dogs above them.

Then, when these poor dogs are deemed too old to produce any more litters, they are routinely shot and killed and buried on the farmers land.

These poor dogs NEVER see a pat on the head, a scratch on the belly, or a night on a soft rug by a warm fire. These moms get to spend only 4 weeks with thier puppies (most good breeders recommend puppies stay with thier mothers for 8 weeks or more) and the puppies go from the farm to a petstore to sit in an even MORE cramped space waiting to be bought.

Puppy Mills are rampant in parts of central Pennsylvania, and Bill Smith (creator of Main Line Animal Rescue) and Oprah have done an expose on just how horrible these living conditions are for these poor animals. Bill has made it his mission to save dogs from central PA Puppy Mills and is working with local politicians and lobbying the state to have more strict laws enforced to regulate how these animals are being treated.

As of now in the state of Pennsylvania, dogs are considered livestock and therefore can be 'disposed of' (as the farmers call it) as such. It is not illegal to shoot a dog in the head in the State of Pennsylvania. WTF? How is that possible? This is the kind of thing that gets my blood BOILING and I want to do as much as I can to get the word out so we can shut down these 'farms' until they agree to better living conditions for all the animals they house.

PLEASE read the links below, they give a lot of information on all the good work that Bill and other dog rescuers are doing and thankfully the Oprah segment (which is re-airing tomorrow!!) has done a lot to uncover this seedy underbelly of dog breeding.

This is the Main Line Animal Rescue site that will link you to the Oprah story and the feature this week in People Magazine

Owning a dog or any animal for that matter is a privilage, not a right. Treat your animal as you would any other member of the family.

Adopt a dog from a shelter, try this one I guarantee they will have the breed you want!

Don't EVER buy a pet from a pet store. You are asking for trouble with the animals health (a very large percentage of puppy mill pups have been inbred and come riddled with disease) Pet stores are KNOWN for getting thier dogs from commerical breeders as opposed to private breeders who actually KNOW what they are doing. Plus, pet store owners know that you don't want to hear that they get thier dogs from a puppy mill, so they will tell you they don't. If you MUST buy a dog from a pet store, make sure to research the store, and the breeder they claim they get thier dogs from. If it is a responsible breeder you will be able to cross check them on www.akc.org or a number of other Kennel Club websites.

Also, don't sell yourself short by saying you'll only buy a pure bred dog. Pure breds are great (I grew up with a pure bred Portuguese Water Dog) but the mutts and mixes in shelters NEED YOU! Seriously, if you need points to get you to heaven, or for your karma...rescue an animal from a shelter. They will pay you back 100 fold with thier love and thanks.

And if you think that shelters only have pit bulls and 'bully breeds' a) check out a pit, you might like them. They were the original "Nanny Dog" used specifically to take care of children in the early 1900's. b) There are NO bad dogs, only bad owners. Don't shy away from dogs at shelters because you think they are bad dogs. 99% of the time its the owners who didn't know how to care for them or just plain didn't want the responsibility once they puppies grew into dogs. Dogs that aren't adoptable won't be there in the first place.

Thats all I have to say about the subject for now, I get pretty worked up about the whole subject and the whole thing makes me sad and mad and wanting to go home and give my rescue dog a great big hug (and a new toy).

So please, check out the above links and watch Oprah tomorrow at 4!

(BTW, thats my rescue pit puppy in the pic up there. Pretty ferocious looking huh?)

Here We Go!

Welcome to The Preppy Pit Bull.

This blog is going to be my outlet for all things ME, including but not limited to:

My likes, dislikes, rants, raves, obsessions, cravings, musings, ideas and the like.

It will also be a place where you can track my budding business (mostly an idea at this point, more on that later) my profession(s) (both current and dreamed), my wish list of items to purchase for me (Coach Whitley Boots) or other people (as I would love to one day buy my husband a Red Corvette, and my Mom a greenhouse, and a number of other things) and anything else that seems relevant in my little life.

I hope to make people smile, sometimes laugh outloud, but mostly entertain those who happen upon this blog on purpose or just by chance.

By the way, our dog is a rescued pit bull, hence the name of the blog. He is the sweetest dog on the planet and he is an amazing ambassador of the breed and all it's misconceptions. If this blog does nothing else, atleast those who read it will know that all pits are not bad dogs, just unfortunate that some pits have bad owners.

Enjoy!