LaurieFenter.com

It’s been a while since I last posted. Moving 3 times in 6 months & having a new job can do that…

Anyways, our house in NH sold. It wasn’t even on the market 2 weeks! Yes, we got nickled & dimed and over all lost money, but not having to pay a mortgage on an empty house for the next couple years is worth it.

Unfortunately the buyer did not want the box of midget porn, but she did want our kayaks and brand new Temperpedic bed… SIGH…

Well, it’s over with now & we moved once again, from a temporary apartment in San Mateo, to a rental house in the San Carlos hills. We have an awesome view of San Mateo to San Jose, too. We’re still not completely settled in yet, plus there’s problems with the house like the lights, a nightly intruder I named “Ratty”, and getting Comcast to come out to our house for more than 5 minutes at a time and actually connect us to the internet, but over all we are happy here and hoping not to move ever again. Well, at least for a couple years…

View from our new house in CA

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Last February my husband & I threw a few things in a Uhaul & moved to California. We were in a hurry and left a disaster at our house in New Hampshire. A couple weeks ago I flew back to clean up the mess and put our house up for sale.

I gave away some furniture, hauled a ton of stuff to the dump, and packed up the rest. I labeled all the boxes and stacked them in the closets so the house is not too cluttered for potential buyers.

Just in case some of these potential buyers get a bit nosy and start looking at the stuff in my closets, I left this box on top…

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Walking my 2 dogs on a leash is a nightmare. They are good dogs, they listen and behave well, that is until a leash is attached to their collar. Together they weigh more than me so if there is some place they want to go, I have no choice but to be dragged along. It can be even worse when they want to go in different directions. They have jerked backwards and pulled their heads out of their collars, leaving me looking like I’m walking 2 invisible dogs. I’ve tried looping the leash around their necks and through the handle, making a sort of choke collar. They can’t get free, but they cough and gasp and pull just as hard. My letters to Cesar Millan have gone unanswered and with a road trip planned for the holidays, I was dreading having to leash up and walk the dogs.

One morning I caught an episode of Animal Planet’s It’s Me or the Dog. Victoria Stilwell was addressing this very problem and had a simple solution - a no-pull harness.

I doubted it would really work, but it was an interesting idea. It works by looping around the dogs front legs in a way that when the dog tries to pull, it feels like his front end is going up in the air. A dog doesn’t have much traction or pulling power standing on his back legs.

I found one, made by Yuppie Puppy, in Walmart for under $10 and thought I would give it a try. I put it on Max and it was like walking a totally different dog. And since Max wasn’t going crazy dragging me all around, Jake walked calmly by his side. No pulling from him either.

I have since purchased a second no-pull harness for Jake. I really can’t believe how well they work and now I look forward to taking my dogs for a walk!

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My husband & I like to redecorate and had a lot of fun with our first home. We didn’t have a lot of money to work with so most of what we did included painting, replacing fixtures, and using SkimStone to update a bathroom counter in a guest bathroom.

Here is the bathroom counter:

Before

After

Close Up

SkimStone is a decorative finish for concrete floors, walls, and counter tops. It is easy to use, but some instruction or training first is helpful.

Here’s a counter top demonstration that was on the Today Show last week. Guess what counter top is briefly shown? It’s just a before & after shot shown for a few seconds, but this was on national TV and I was quite excited!

(My counter is shown 48 seconds in.)

Note: I’ve worked for the makers of SkimStone since 1999 and was involved with this product from the beginning, including testing on the warehouse floor, through designing the first packaging, print media, and website. I also organized and promoted SkimStone at various trade shows. Maybe I am a bit biased, but I love this product!

More information about SkimStone can be found at skimstone.com.

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