Bronx.

I have hardly had anytime to update - 2 weeks ago my husband and I got a puppy. My husband has wanted a dog as long as I've known him, while I am a 'cat lady'. I could live my entire life never owning a dog and be perfectly happy. We had 2 dogs and 2 cats growing up and I liked them fine, but I've just always liked cats more. My husband likes bigger breeds, particularly German Shepherds and Huskies, while I like smaller breeds, especially Pomeranians. Since I already have three cats, it was his turn to get an animal he wanted. We had contemplated it in the past, but we already had the max allowable pets at our apartment complex, and secondly, we didn't think it was fair to have a huge dog in a 900 square foot apartment. After we bought a house, it became possible to get a dog, but we wanted to wait until after the holidays so we could go home without worrying about a dog.

So for the past two months I have been scouring the classifieds and pet finder for a puppy. Normally I wouldn't mind adopting an adult dog, but with the cats, I wanted a puppy. We did find one Husky puppy for adoption in the next town over, but after doing some research, these dogs just really aren't good with cats, often killing them, so that was a no go. So I decided to try to find a German Shepherd. These dogs are impossible to adopt as puppies - they get adopted so fast. So buying one was our only option. I found some in Phoenix (3 hours away), but they were crazy expensive since they were AKC registered, something I really could care less about. I'm not breeding my animal, so why pay for a piece of paper. I finally found some pups in Tucson (1 hour away) and showed my husband immediately - and he liked them. They weren't papered, as the mother dog was not papered, but they were fully blooded Germans and that's what we wanted.

I called the owners and decided to drive up that day (Feb 11). The puppies were perfect - they were 10 weeks, had their shots, and had the black & brown markings we wanted. My husband took about 30 minutes picking out the perfect puppy and finally settled on one. We already knew we wanted to name him Bronx after my husbands hometown in NY. He was shy and scared the first day, but is already a great dog! He sleeps in his crate with no problem, the past three days he has not had an accident in the house. The only time he will have one is if we're gone for more than 2 hours (in his crate), but when we're home he goes and waits by the back door. He loves to play - he caught onto fetch after day one of being with us. He is still a little curious about the cats, but is learning to leave them alone. Leash training is a little more difficult, but he is getting better. And he just loves my husband, follows him around whenever he is home.

It's a lot of work, but I love him so much already and I think he will be a great dog!

Money $aver.

I LOVE saving money. One of my biggest areas of not totally watching how much I spend is at the grocery store. I am always in search of a great deal and use coupons frequently - but my problem lies within the fact that I buy more than we need, averaging about $170 every two weeks on groceries.

The other day I was in search of coupons on the internet when I came across this blog - The Krazy Coupon Lady, and I'm telling you, this blog is filled with deals. My favorite part of the site is the grocery store match-up, where she posts advertised sales from leading chains with coupons she finds either online or in the paper, and tells you how much you're saving, etc. I shop at Fry's (which is also known as Kroger and Smith's, among other names) and today I sat down, looked at the match-up, printed coupons, and *gasp* - planned 14 meals for the next two weeks and made a list. So instead of my over buying and overspending, I spent $117. That's nearly a $60 savings, which if you break it down, is $63.50 a week. What I saved is a whole week of groceries.

She also posts match-ups for CVS, Target, and Walgreens. I've learned that I don't need to buy all my things from one place. Before I went grocery shopping, I hit up Target and used coupons I had to buy things they had on sale - cat litter and dish washer tablets. The tablets were on sale for $3.99 and I had a $1 off coupon that was mailed to me from here the Home Made Simple website. Every few months they will mail out a coupon book full with coupons for cleaning products.

One of the things I've learned since moving out to AZ where everything is more expensive - never buy anything that isn't on sale or you don't have a coupon for. It really saves you money in the long run. Another great thing about Fry's? For every $100 you spend, you get $.10 off gasoline. So I make sure I use that too.

Anyway, I was just really excited about my savings and since my husband seemed not so interested, I thought I'd blog about it. Have a great day!!