I know, it’s an odd title for a Frugal Friday round up post that is supposed to be about frugality. However, it feels like I should actually do a regular post about what the dog has eaten this week!
He has been much worse this week – super naughty – probably because he had the snip 10 days ago and can’t be taken for his usual crazy runs around the park with all his doggy friends.
The vet said he was only allowed 15 minutes at a time on his lead, but that didn’t last long. As he is healing nicely, we have been taking him for much longer, still on a lead though. It’s either that or there will be nothing left in the house without his teeth marks on!
Mostly we keep anything of value like shoes and bags out of his reach. However, he managed to get my scissors off the table and has pretty much chewed up every pen in the house.
Given half a chance he will still chew the woodwork on the stairs and the carpet too.
We give him lots of edible chews and toys but he really needs to expend his energy, at least we can get him on some long runs at the weekend. We have already arrange to meet some other doggie friends too. I can’t wait!
New wellies
All the dog walking in the rain had pretty much messed up my old wellies, which were cracking. I actually bought them in the charity shop for a couple of quid, and they were the most comfy boots I had ever found.
However, I had to admit defeat and treat myself to some more. No chance of finding any second hand though, since the charity shops are all closed because of lock down 2.
I had a look on eBay, and found these with 20% off. They aren’t as comfy as my old ones, but they are pretty! Hopefully they will be hard wearing too.
In the garden
The weather has been gorgeous and sunny this week. Such a relief after the relentless rain of the past month. We finally got out to do some gardening, where I found a good use for my old wellies. They have been planted up with daffodils for a nice spring display!
We cleared the greenhouse, ready for next year. There were still a surprising number of tomatoes in there, so I left them to ripen on the window sill.
I planted up several tubs of bulbs but ran out of compost. This is annoying as the garden centres are only doing click and collect, so I couldn’t just nip over and buy some. This has reminded me to get online and order some.
Escapee
Whilst we were chatting over the fence to our neighbours, Archie discovered that by jumping onto the compost heap he could then leap over their fence! He suddenly appeared behind my neighbour, Sue, looking absolutely delighted with his naughtiness, then proceeded to rampage round their garden until we caught him.
Then, a couple of days later, I opened the front door to put out the food waste and he ran through and onto the green in front of the house. We were tearing round in our PJs trying to get him to stop running into the neighbouring gardens, before eventually luring him in with some treats.
Is there no end to his mischief?
Decluttering
I have mentioned before that my youngest daughter, Izzy, who has been furloughed, has come home to join our bubble for lockdown. She hates mess and lack of organisation, so has been having fun cleaning and reorganising all of our kitchen cupboards.
This is the type of job I love to get done but rarely get time to do. Certainly not all in one go, anyway! How lovely it is to be able to see and get to exactly you want in each cupboard.
She didn’t throw much out, apart from in the herb and spices cupboard. This was rammed, and she found a ten year old pot of nutmeg. Judging by the conversation on Instagram, we all have one of those!
She also combined all of the multiples I had, so it is now all lovely and tidy.
Izzy says she is going to do every room in the house, so I hope she does it before she gets too bored!
Busy but dull
Actually, my week has been quite unexciting. I have mainly been working, gardening or cleaning it seems. Certainly, I haven’t had time to spend much money, so that’s a small silver lining. My plan was pretty much to have a no spend month, apart from Christmas presents and groceries. This is surprisingly easy to do when you can’t go anywhere!
If you are trying to save money, check out my Frugal Fran vs Spendthrift Sue post about how to stop wasting the pennies here.
I forgot to say, we are still adding to our food bank advent collection. The food banks are crying out for help and donations at the moment as they are needed now more than ever. Find out how you can join in here. You can see how our box is coming along on Instagram.
How has your week been this Frugal Friday? All suggestions for dealing with over active dogs will be gratefully received!
I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
Julia says
Had to laugh at Archie’s antics! That would make a good name for a blog – and he certainly sounds like he should have his own! What a scamp!
If Izzy runs out of organising tasks at yours, we currently have a room going spare here….!!
I’m currently drowning in stuff waiting to go to the charity shop. I used to fill my wheelie bag to drop off on the way to the supermarket, but it’s either been closed or not accepting donations for the best part of the year!
Marion says
One of the best ways to cope with a puppy that’s terrorizing your house is obedience training. Since you are in lockdown start with a good book or videos. When you can, take him to obedience school classes.
vicki says
As a retired teacher , I thought your title was going to be ‘the dog ate my homework’! I only had that excuse given once and whilst it raised a smile, it wasn’t good enough to let him (it wasn’t a girl, it rarely was) off the hook!! Dull is good! This week we have had the grass verge dug up for 4 hours from 10 pm with gallons of water flowing into our garden and blowing our electricity supply. This resulted in another hole being dug in the verge, a second in the driveway, another by our outside wall and eventually the floor being lifted inside after several days with a cable through the letterbox providing a temporary supply! While all this was going on, BT also arrived to dig up next door’s verge to find a problem which they were unable to repair and then their ‘backfill’ team came and filled in the holes. Meanwhile their permission to dig near the road has expired and next door have a water leak…… Vicki, trying to avoid the virus!
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Oh no! Sounds horrific!
Faith @MuchMore_Less says
Oh Archie! Your post did make me laugh. We need to take Otto for the snip. If it helps at all, I finally managed to do a few obedience classes between lockdowns. They really recommend using small chunks of frankfurter sausages as a reward. It’s revolutionised being able to call Otto in from the garden – we open the door, shout ‘sausage’ and he runs in, rather than having to chase him around. Good luck!
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
I buy the cocktail sausages, which also work. However, not much stops him chewing!