New toys & a little Doodling Fun

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

We have written in the past about our SimpliSafe security system. It is still working well for us but we do have great WiFi in the house and good Verizon access in our area. Others haven't been as lucky.

One of our friends from Ecuador, who have also moved back to the states, posted a link to WyzeCam, a company offering stand-alone motion sensor cameras. We read about them, researched their history and since they were offering the cameras at 50% off, we ordered three. We planned on one for the front porch, one for the garage and one for the shed.


Easy to set up, great picture quality, night vision, motion sensing and so much more! We have the app on both our phones and both our iPads as well as our laptops.

Click image for original article.
[Another good review to read]
We were out and about the other day and because the porch one was still in the foyer, pointing at the dog crate (we planned to put the front porch camera inside a decorative bird house), we got to checking on the dogs.


We liked the capability so much for when we are out, we ordered a fourth one for the front porch and got it set up today. (Note: we ordered a 32GB Class 10 micro-SD card for each camera giving us additional video storage) We had fun grabbing some snapshots as we watched videos.

RELATED POSTS:
Now for a few fun pics of the #2doods! We had a couple inches of snow (and bitter cold) last week. They loved it, no matter how cold it was outside. Both ended up with snow faces and enjoyed licking them off each other. LOL!


Do we HAVE to come in?
Frozen ball they brought inside!
Relaxed at play
Yes, Cooper still assumes his inkblot/pretzel mode!
Have I grown much? L: 4 months R: 9 months
One parting thought....I read today that Golden Retrievers continue to grow until 14-18 months and Standard Poodles up to 2 years! Yikes!!

Ciao for now!

Jan 13 2018: Enjoy the Simple Things

Saturday, January 13, 2018

“Simplicity is an exact medium between too little and too much.”
 Sir Joshua Reynolds

Till next month...

Bargains, Busy-ness & More Cowbell!

Friday, January 12, 2018

I get a great email newsletter with bargains from all over the Internet. I've bought coffee from Bon-Ton, linens from Macy's, found great deals on clothes at Kohl's and even our rain barrel. It's called Brad's Deals. I don't visit the website much, too many temptations, but I am downloading the free app.

Our latest bargain was a 5 qt KitchenAid Tilt-head Stand Mixer. Stu had been salivating over them since we got the house - this was a price we couldn't resist. $175 with free shipping. I ordered around noon, it was shipped the same day and arrived two days later! Now that is service....


Our course we then had to order a couple more things - like a stainless steel bowl, fitted cover and grinder attachment. We discovered a good sale at Everything Kitchens and got free shipping there, too.

A couple weeks ago, a neighbor from down the street came by. They are the folks building on the lot across from us and needed our written permission for the power company to come on our property to install a new transformer and put in their service. Today was the first time we saw them...the 2Doods were very interested in watching. No barks, not even the two times one of the workers came to the door about unlocking the gate into the pasture. So good!



The 2Doods are doing great, loving the warmer weather (that is disappearing tomorrow) and just generally being goofs. Cooper still likes to bark at our neighbors (still not sure why he didn't bark at the power company workers) and often refuses to come when called (when busy barking). Stu can often get him with a whistle. Me? I can't whistle. LOL!

So I had a thought the other day. When we unpacked the things we had in storage, I found a big cowbell like this one on Amazon.


I have no idea why I bought it or why I saved it back in 2007 when I sold everything (and I saved it again when I downsized the half dozen totes at my daughter's house by half). But save it I did. It's been sitting on our lazy-susan on the kitchen island, more for looks.

Anyway, I had the bright idea to try using it to call the dogs because it's LOUD. Well, it worked. We are still rewarding them with a treat and lots of praise but so far so good. Who knew our dogs would come to the sound of a cowbell? LOL!

Stu is headed over Knoxville way in the morning. There is a car and motorcycle show he wants to attend. Originally he was driving over on Saturday and meeting our friend Earl for breakfast, then going to the show and coming back late Saturday. With some nasty winter weather moving in tomorrow with ice and snow accumulation, he's going earlier and spending the night at our friends.

I'll stay home and WRITE - I started off great guns on Wednesday but slowed down on Thursday. Keeping my fingers crossed I can meet my deadline.

One final note, if you've never read Lost and Found (the prequel) or Home Again, now is a good time to try them. Lost and Found is FREE and Home Again is reduced to only $1.99 from Jan 12th-15th. Oh, and tell your friends!!



Ciao for now!

My Word of the Year: Simplicity

Wednesday, January 10, 2018


Some of us on Facebook were challenged to find and share a word for 2018. The word I chose was  SIMPLICITY. On the 13th of each month, in honor of my birthday, I will post a reminder about my word. I hope you enjoy...


Till next month...

A little more of this and that....

Sunday, January 7, 2018

January rolled in with a lot of COLD temperatures, we even put a space heater in the RV to keep the washing machine from freezing (heat strip in A/C unit was running 24/7). The house is staying good but we did have to turn on the auxiliary heating since we have a heat pump. It was finally warmer today but we have freezing rain forecast for tonight. The good news is temps in the upper 40's-low 50's this week. Yay!

Murphy is still growing by leaps and bounds, weighing almost as much as Cooper and getting almost as tall. Turning six months old meant.....NEUTER TIME. He did just fine but wasn't a fan of the inflatable collar of shame.


It lasted less than 24 hours before his accomplice, Cooper, chewed off the velcro fastener. Fortunately, Murphy left things pretty much alone same as Cooper had several months ago. Cooper was on a roll, though, we crated him when we took Cooper to the vet and then later, picked him up. We stopped at Subway for sandwiches and while I was inside (Stu was outside in the car, keeping it warm for sleepy Murphy) Stu got a phone call from SimpliSafe, our security alarm folks. Seems like our motion sensor went off....oh, and if you have your volume on, you can hear the beeping (that was the alarm) and Cooper banging the bells hanging on the back door, asking out. LOL!



Yup, in my haste, I forgot to clip the bolt snap hook on so he couldn't manipulate the slide locks on the crate. When we got home, he was out and waiting for us. The top slide lock on the crate was still closed, the bottom one was unlatched and the bottom edge of the crate was bent inward. I still can't believe he slipped through that narrow space! Needless to say...we now remember to clip the bolt snap on every time we crate them (or one of them).

With the cold weather, Stu has been trapped indoors a lot, too cold to work in the garage or shed. So the pups have enjoyed getting some extra loving....whether being petted or brushed. Here are a couple of examples.




Of course the #2doods don't mind the cold temps, we have to watch how long they are outside and call them back in. They play and play and play...then they sleep, sleep and sleep. Oh, and you can also see the new pillows that I got in an after Christmas sale to add a little more color to the living room. It looked so drab when the few decorations (including holiday pillows) were put away.



By the way, Cooper still has bear paws! Compare the size of his paw with his nose!!


I won't be blogging much for the next month. We are cruising later this month, doing a two week back-to-back and we are driving both directions, to and from Tampa. AND, I have to have Paradise Drift written, edited and off to typo hunters and beta readers before then. Eeek!

Oh, and just an FYI. My short story, Lost and Found, will be free on Jan 12-15. It's the prequel to my only romance novel, Home Again, which will be discount priced at $1.99 on the same dates. If you haven't read them, hope you will give them a try. If you have, I hope you will tell your friends!



Ciao for now!

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