Adventures of the Patrick family!: Patrick grooming service

Okay, I am pretty sure it has been since college that I have developed a slightly OCD personality. When something is on my mind (a goal/plan/idea/project/etc) , I slightly obsess about it! It's funny to me b/c I can be laid back about things that a lot of people care about, but then that OCD (as Ryan calls it) kicks in and I am fanatically writing down plans, making excel spreadsheets, cleaning the house, etc. :) (Just clarifying - I don't actually have OCD -just exaggerating a bit!) My current focus is on our budget. Now, I have never been a budget person, so this is all new to me and I am trying to figure out how to plan - and learning as I go. The main reason for this is that I HATE debt - I think it is a 4 letter word. It is a pet peeve of mine to have credit card debt and it just sits there and weighs on my shoulders and drives me crazy until we pay it off. If we ever get any, I would prefer to have it paid off that month. I think I have secretly always been like this. My dad would always give us $2 bills and $100 bills growing up for birthdays/Christmas/trips and I would always end up stashing a $100 bill away in case I needed it for later on. I guess it was my early savings plan - to make sure I always had something to fall back on in case something unexpectedly popped up! So, baby #2 was a little surprise for us that we had not been saving for. We have money in savings - but, I would prefer to save up the amount it will cost for the hospital (it is expensive to have a baby!) and to fully decorate the baby's nursery, before actually spending the money. I even did a pie chart this past weekend while obsessing to show Ryan and he laughed at the nerd I am!

Anyway - I went out on Tuesday to run some errands with Ali and we swung by Pet Smart to buy some clippers (razor type device that barbers use to cut men's hair - just clarifying b/c when I think of clippers - the picture of scissors comes to mind!). Over the last month or two (not really sure how long it's been), our little Baxter has turned into a lion with thick, bushy hair and apparently no eyes (also covered by the hair). I dropped him a piece of food the other night that he would typically devour, but he was so blind, he didn't even know it had fallen. It was sad! We used to get him groomed pretty regularly, but a few months before Ali came into this world, the groomers kind of yelled at me and told me in their own words that we need to teach him who's boss b/c Baxter had pretty much attacked the groomer. With the pregnancy hormones in full gear, I started tearing up (I felt like a teacher had just told me my beloved child was the bad kid in class!) and it has been a struggle to get me to go back there since! I completely dread it! Baxter was my first baby (Ryan surprised me with him for our first married Christmas - but then, two months later, we found out we were pregnant!) and I adore him - but, for those of you that don't know him, he can be slightly mentally unstable and can be a complete nutjob! He also has this vicious side that comes out when he has a good treat that someone tries to take - or, apparently, when someone tries to cut his hair - especially around his face. He turns into a rabid dog! It's actually a little scary!

So, last haircut, we decided to switch it up a bit and take him to the vet to get groomed - hoping they would be understanding of his craziness and would know what to do! Turns out, he was such a madman that they actually had to PUT HIM TO SLEEP to cut his hair. Yes, that's right, knock him out b/c he was so bad! It was a little embarrassing! And, that cost $50 to put him under and $50 to wake him up - before the charges of the actual grooming! A little expensive to get a 10 pound dog (if even) a haircut every month.

So, last night Ryan and I brought out the clippers and started our own grooming of the little man. He did NOT like the clippers and kept trying to bite/attack them, so we ended up just using the shears that came in the grooming package and cutting chunks of hair one by one. A little over an hour later (and enough hair on the ground to form another dog), he now looks like a homeless dog with a few long strands and an uneven cut, but at least he can see. I was dying laughing last night so I had to post some pictures, although I don't think they really show what was done! I wish I had taken a picture of the mound of hair! He looks a little funny, but it is a work in progress and it saved us a good $150 bucks to go into our savings! :)

The hairy monster.... (with no eyes!)