Countdown to the weekend!

Oh TGIF, people! I woke up in a great mood today - it's Friday! Woot woot! I was trying to get off to work early, but of course that didn't happen. Partly because I hit snooze a few too many times, but really because our doorbell rang as I was drying my hair. What in the world? It could be one of only two people... our strange neighbor asking us to water his plants because he'll be out of town this weekend (why he never thinks to ask at a normal time, beats me), or the hub's redneck buddy Glenn coming over for some reason. Well it couldn't be the first one since we're in a total drought - no outdoor watering. It must be Glenn. What the heck does he want? Turns out it was one of the little girls down the street, with her new dog, Mango, in tow. She shows up randomly sometimes asking to play with our dogs - but usually in the evenings (and certainly not at 8:30 in the morning). My three dogs were going NUTS so I quickly shoved them out the back door so I could see what the girl wanted...

Me: Hey Courtney, what's up?

Courtney: Hey, I was coming by because my family is going to a cabin this weekend and we were going to take the dogs, but the cabin is really small and we can only take Dewie and my mom said we can't take Mango because she's not totally house-trained and it's a really nice cabin and we thought we were going to take them both, but now we're not, so I was wondering if you could watch Mango while we're gone? I'm sorry it's really late notice.

Me: Oh wow, that's fun... when are y'all leaving?

Courtney: At about 6 o'clock tonight. I'm sorry it's such late notice. My parents just changed their minds last night. I'm really not happy about the situation [that line cracked me up - she's 9].

Me: Oh well I understand, and we're in town so it should be OK.

Then she goes on to tell me all about Mango and how she plays well with others and what they do with her during the day and at night, etc, on and on for a good 15 minutes. And of course we said yes - the dog is a total cutie and we keep friends' dogs all the time (I mean, when you have 3, what's one more?). But here's the thing... why the hell did her parents send their 9 yr old daughter (at 8:30am the day they're leaving town) to go ask a neighbor if they could watch their dog over the weekend? We've never kept her before and she's never been around our dogs. I find this very strange. The hub is calling her parents today to synch up and get phone numbers and such and now we have to make sure one of us is home at 6pm to take the dog. Doable, but it involves one of us leaving work a tad early to make sure we don't get stuck in traffic. And she's lucky she caught us - we're usually gone by 8:30am. They should be thanking my snooze button and toasty electric mattress cover. But seriously is it just me or does that seem totally inappropriate to send over your 9 yr old to do your bidding? I'm not a parent yet, so I don't like to point fingers (out loud anyway), but share your thoughts please.

...Oh and just for reference, this sort of thing has happened before with this same family. Not quite on the will-you-keep-my-dog-over-the-weekend scale, but one afternoon Courtney came by and said her mother instructed her to come play in OUR backyard till she (the mom) got back from the store. OK... translation - we just got trapped into babysitting for half an hour. We were home and staying home that evening, so no biggie - but we don't have kids and our schedules are not at all predictable... many times we're not at home on weeknights. Stop dumping your kids and dogs off on us! Don't get me wrong - we love little Courtney, but seriously... they're taking advantage of the childless, dog-lovin' fools in the neighborhood.

Alright I feel better after that little rant. Now in other news... I spent half the afternoon on Horchow since they're having a killer sale! 20% off sitewide and no minimum purchase required! (Enter code DREAM at checkout.) Well I've blogged before about their monogrammed towels and how it's one of my all-time favorite gifts to give. It's my staple wedding gift but I also am getting creative with them for Christmas gifts too. Well not only is the entire site 20% off, but they are having their "event" pricing on the towels currently - so they are already marked down to their lowest price. So let's just discuss this whopping good deal for a minute...

Monogrammed Bath Towel at Horchow (with event pricing and 20% off) = $7.99
Monogrammed Bath Towel at Pottery Barn (regular price) = $24.00 + $6.00 for mono

Yes these are different towels, but I own sets of both. The PB Classic towels are definitely much thicker, heavier towels - but I personally like plush, soft, and cozy towels - and that is what the Lauren by Ralph Lauren ones at Horchow are like. I've bought these countless times and they've always turned out beautifully - they do a beautiful job with personalization and they have a ton of thread colors to choose from (much more than PB). I love creating fun color combos. Here's what I ordered today...

For my godmother who just got remarried in September (I'm always late with wedding gifts) - two hand towels in vanilla with a light brown "F" on them for their new last name. I always use the single letter for marrieds as I'm anti-married-monogram, and I LOVE the script/style they use for single letters at Horchow. So pretty! And then I'll get some fun hand soap to go along with the towels - just a little set for their powder room. I think this makes a great shower gift. They asked for no wedding gifts as they're both in their 60's, but I thought this would be a fun little treat. So the price for the two hand towels? $12.78 - BAM!

For one of my girlfriend's little 2 yr old daughter for Christmas - 5 washclothes monogrammed - all in different pastel colors with different pastel threading. So each one is different, but they all go together. I can't wait to see how they turn out!!! And it's something that is timeless - so she can use them till they fall apart. Now I must say it took some patience adding these to my basket because I had to do them one by one. I jotted down the colors and what thread colors I was pairing them up with so I could keep it straight and not duplicate any of them. I plan on rolling them up cute and securing them with a fun ribbon - oh I can't wait! Total for the 5 waschloths.... $21.96 - POW!

And for moi.... (couldn't resist!) - a couple of Christmas hand towels for our powder room... I did one in red with a light/sage green thread that reads "Ho Ho Ho" - I tried to get a little creative, I mean it doesn't have to be an actual monogram! And another one... I think the light/sage green with my monogram in red. Oh and then another one - the peony pink with my monogram in orange (for our guest bathroom upstairs. Bestest - you will get to use those when you come down in a couple of weeks!). What are some other fun Christmas words or phrases I could put on a hand towel? Can't be too long of course.

So go get you some towels while they're hot! One of my all-time favorite bargains, for sure! Do any of y'all have any staple gifts that you go back to time after time? Do tell! And of course Horchow is good for more than just monogrammed towels! They have lots of fun gifts. Here are some other cutie items I found today...

Painted hair dryers - so cute for a little girl! Kinda pricy... but hey, 20% off!

Adorable Christmas gift labels and return address labels - great price too.

Lots of fun labels for kids too - so cute!