defenseless

I generally consider myself to be a person of good self-control. Of all the virtues I struggle to possess, self-control seems to come more easily than the rest. I'm excellent at holding my tongue, going the speed limit, and delaying gratification. I live on a budget like a champ and have never put more on a credit card than I currently had cash to pay off. I don't say this to brag-- I say it to demonstrate that I really do think I have a measure of self-control.


But God help me when I walk into a pet store.


All that discipline flies out the window. Or it's checked at the door, right next to the adorable kitties positioned next to the Humane Society donation box. Wherever it goes, it's not with me anymore. I fall off the self-control wagon.


Why must they make so many wonderful things for pets? Why, oh why? Why is everything so darn cute? Why does every single product seem like it would really and truly make Lola a better, happier, more obedient dog, while also making her fur shiny and her breath fresh? Why? Why do I fall for every marketing ploy in the book? I am surely the person the people in the pet-product-advertising industry have in mind when they create junk...and it works. Those people are good.


Anyway...with all that said, what began as a quick trip to Kroger this morning turned into (yet another) hour-long extravaganza in Pet Supplies Plus. What can I say, I'm just doing my part to get the economy going again. You're welcome.


But Lola's collar really was getting too small, so she was due for a new one. Her last one was purple and I loved how girly she looked. All her previous collars had been green (like her leash) or black and at the dog park people would always call her a "him". Come on...look at that beauty. She is all girl. With the purple collar, 90% of people chose the correct pronoun. And the other 10% are just stupid. So this time I decided to make her gender even more apparent by going with the pink polka-dot collar. It's totally adorable.

Who could say "no" to that adorable face? The new collar also matches her pink-heart rabies tag and name tag. She really likes when all her accessories coordinate. The other thing I got was something that will hopefully help us with walking her on a leash. She still pulls a lot, and 300 Dog Whisperer episodes later, we still aren't having consistent success with US being the walk-leaders. I've seen a lot of people with labs using these leads, so hopefully it will work for us too.

It comes with a DVD, too!! How exciting. Anyway, so our weekend is off to a solid (though self-control-less) start. My parents called this morning to see if we were busy today, which we're not, so they're coming up for a quick visit! So we're going to run back out to Statham to show them what heaven on earth looks like...haha. Enjoy your Saturday!