The other day while Melinda and I were outside gardening we could smell something and to be frank it was disgusting. After looking around we quickly realized the smell was dog crap from our neighbors’ yard. They have two full size dogs that crap in the yard and I think if they clean the mess up once a week that would be a miracle.

I see stores online that sell things like safety posters and sign posts so it got me thinking maybe they sell a sign that reads “This is a dog crap free zone” or “If your dog craps clean up ASAP so I don’t have to smell”. Better yet maybe a few biohazard signs would be more appropriate and would get the neighbor thinking and it might force them to clean their yard and be a decent neighbor. The crazy thing is our neighbors grown son and pregnant girlfriend live there also so I see no reason why crap sits in the yard for weeks.

I am not sure why people are so gross and live the way they do. I understand that dogs need to go to the bathroom but cleaning up after them daily or every other day would be nice. That is the kind of person I am but I guess not everyone is considerate which to me seems so weird considering we live right next door to each other. If that was my yard I would totally be embarrassed.

How are your neighbors?  Do you get along with them?

Melinda and I have been blogging for about three years now which seems like an eternity in the blogging world. Our blog has gone through numerous changes and well as our views, opinions and what we talk about but the one thing that hasn’t changed is my obsession with our web site statistics. I check these daily and have for the last year or so. I think I am checking hoping that our stats magically double or triple but so far no such luck.

I feel like our blog has grown over the last few years but I would still like to reach more people if possible. I would also like to make more money if possible and wonder if a content management system or marketing automation software would help grow our blog if used properly. There are so many tips and tricks that people use to get followers, status and even money. I know our blog has only scratched the surface of the blogosphere but right now we are at a stand still until we figure out what way we want to go next. My ultimate goal would be to generate enough income from our blog that Melinda and I wouldn’t need to work traditional jobs but so far I haven’t figured out a way to make that happen but I am not giving up hope.

Why do you blog? What is your ultimate goal from blogging?

On Saturday I needed to take my back bike tire to the shop to the have the rim replaced because while riding a spoke popped and destroyed the rim. Good thing this was deemed defective and I received a new rim for free.

While pulling up to the bike shop Melinda and Sabreena saw a furniture store and said we should go browse. So off they went to the furniture store while I went to drop off my rim to get fixed. After I dropped off my rim I headed down to the furniture store to see what the ladies were doing and to my surprise they were looking at sectional sofas and queen sized sleigh beds. Funny thing here is we just got a new sofa and bed about three months ago so not sure why they were looking at sectional sofas or beds. I will admit that Melinda and I have wanted a sectional for 8 years but we just can’t find one that will fit right and we both can’t seem to agree on color and style. Sabreena mentioned that she really wanted a new bed and likes the sleigh beds but I am just not sure this style of bed would fit into her room even though the bed was really pretty.

While there I figured I would look at recliners since everyone else was looking at furniture for themselves and because that is the next piece of furniture that I would really like to get. I think I found the perfect recliner, it was super comfortable to sit on and it had a five zone massager and it was heated. I instantly felt like I was in heaven until I looked at the price and saw it was $1,200. WOW! Not that I wouldn’t pay $1,200 for a quality chair that I knew would last me a long time but the price really threw me off.

So after looking through the store for about an hour we left empty handed and we didn’t put a deposit down on anything which I guess means we aren’t getting anything. At least not right now we aren’t but I do what that recliner.

What is your price limit on furniture? Am I crazy to get a $1,200 recliner? You can be honest I can handle it. I hope. LOL.

Melinda and I have been blogging for about three years now and Melinda is currently on her second laptop soon to be third. Her first laptop had a problem with the screen that Dell was never able to fix so after some complaining they sent her a brand new replacement laptop back in October 2009. About three months ago Melinda knocked her laptop off the side of the couch and broke the plastic on the screen’s hinge and now wires are exposed. Funny thing is Melinda always yells at me for leaving my laptop on the arm of the sofa and she is the one who knocked hers off. LOL. Also, for the record I am still on my first laptop so HA!

So right now Melinda and I have been looking at laptops, netbooks and tablet pc’s trying to figure out which item would be a good replacement for her laptop. In my opinion I like the tablet pc’s because they are small and very portable. The one downside to a table pc is price. They are just as expensive if not more expensive then a new laptop plus a lot of them you need a data plan. The other hurdle is figuring out what tablet pc to buy since there must be 20 different ones on the market currently.  So, needless to say we have a lot of research to do to figure out what is going to best suit her. 

We have also talked about looking at the HP laser printers and seeing if this would be a good replacement for our current photo printer.  We tend to print a lot of stuff but typically not a lot of photos.  This would be a luxury right now because our main focus is on finding Melinda a replacement for her laptop but she needs something that is spill proof, bullet proof and unbreakable. LOL.  Wonder if they make a laptop that have these qualities.  I doubt it so she is just going to need to be careful this time.

When we moved into our house last July Shaun finally got a TV in his room which he had been asking for about a year or so. Letting Shaun have his own TV didn’t seem so far fetched considering Sabreena had her own TV since she was five. Needless to say Shaun was pumped when he found out he was going to have his own TV.

What is funny is he is rocking out an old (about 10 yrs old) 27 inch tube TV and yes people tube TV’s do still exist. Currently I am trying to find a new corner tv stand for his room. He has a TV stand now but it is kind of shaky and not that great plus the way he watches TV I needed to put it on an angle so he could watch it so I was thinking maybe a corner TV stand is the way to go.

I have been searching the web and stores in search of cheap TV stands and corner TV stands hoping to find something that would not only be functional but look nice in his room. The one reason I like searching the web versus going to the store is that I am able to filter products by category and look at specific TV stands in hopes of find just the right one. The crazy thing is Shaun is only eight so you think I would be ok with any TV stand but nope not me. I want to make sure he has something that is functional and definitely inexpensive but I do want it to look nice considering we have spent time on each of the kids’ rooms making them look nice. Don’t worry though folks I won’t be buying a $500 stands for Shaun’s $50 TV, LOL. Maybe I should buy him a funky TV stand with built in speakers so he can rock out while watching TV and playing Wii, LOL. I am sure Melinda would love that, NOT!

Do your kids have their own TV? If so, at what age did they get their own TV?

A few months back we did an entire living room makeover and got a lot of new furniture but the one thing we didn’t get was a recliner. I can remember when I first moved in with Melinda and bringing my precious recliner with me, that recliner was my pride and joy and by far the nicest piece of furniture I owned at the time. We kept that recliner until it pretty much fell apart and haven’t gotten a new one since.

One of the biggest reasons we haven’t gotten a new recliner is space. The last place we lived had zero room for me to get a nice recliner but our current house does have enough space but we currently have two leather chairs taking up the space where my recliner would go.

When we went to buy our current sofa I looked at reclining sofas and leather recliners and saw a few nice recliners that I would like to have in our house. One of the biggest hurdles is deciding which leather chair to get rid of. One is a beat up black leather chair that I got from my best friend and is the most comfortable chair to sit in and the other one is a red leather chair I bought Melinda on a whim a while back because she wanted a red chair to break up the furniture color in the room. Melinda and I tried to get rid of a chair a while back but just could agree on which one so we kept them both. So that is my dilemma and until we can decide what chair must go my man cave recliner will never happen. Maybe one day we will be able to make that decision but currently we don’t seem to be in a huge rush which I guess right now is fine.

Do you have a nice recliner in your home? Does your husband have a recliner that he calls his?