Malcolm

Welcoming Spring

Spring has officially arrived! So did a nor’easter here in Pittsburgh. But hey, I think there’s a saying that goes something like if you don’t like the weather in Pittsburgh, wait 15 minutes. So true.

I was able to walk Lola and Mavis in gorgeously sunny 50 degree weather earlier in the week, and today I will be pulling out my snow boots for my pet sitting jobs.

Cocker spaniel and black lab walking on grassy trail in sunshine

Walks with Lola and Mavis are so lovely due to the fact that we have a leash coupler, so I only have to use one leash! Walks with Lola and Mavis aren’t so lovely when Lola walks backwards and slips out of her harness to run away.

Our pets certainly know how to keep Jimmy and I on our toes with their antics. We spoil them anyways. We just bought Lola the harness in the above picture and Mavis chewed the handle (while Lola was wearing it!) until it was hanging on by a thread. So what did I do the other day? Bought them a chew toy.

Cocker spaniel with Petstages deerhorn chew

Mr. Malcolm over here isn’t much more well behaved than his sisters. He’s actually the instigator in our household and has quite the penchant for trying to slip out our back door (is life with us that bad that our pets want to run away?!). But we spoil him, too.

His new obsession, as I mentioned in my most recent vlog, are Friskies Pull ‘n Play treats. He goes crazy for these and runs all around the house with the treats in his mouth. I think he tries to tease Mavis and Lola!

Friskies Pull 'n Play cat treats chicken and cheese flavors

Speaking of cat treats, I have a great resource to share for any cat parents out there! Reviews.com has an awesome cat food guide that has a list of the best cat foods for 2018. The researchers that created the guide analyzed over 2,000 cat food formulas and picked their top 18 high-quality brands.

Okay, back to talking about spring. To celebrate its arrival yesterday, I decided to bake one of my favorite spring-like recipes: lemon poppy seed muffins! When I typed out poppy seed, I accidentally typed “puppy seed.” I guess I have dogs on the brain?!

Lemon poppy seed muffins

I think I’ll go enjoy one now as I watch the snow pile up outside 😉

What food reminds you most of spring?

When Mavis and Lola are Away

Jimmy and Allie will play! Or just sleep in 🙂

My parents’ gave Jimmy and I a weekend off of our pups last weekend and it was so lovely! Sometimes we just need a break, you know? I find I’m a better fur mom after I’ve had some time away from our girls every now and then.

Plus, I know they had fun at their fur grandparents’ house!

Yellow lab and cocker spaniel cuddling together on couch

Mavis cuddling on the couch with my Reggie (my parents’ lab) and my Dad.

When my dad dropped the girls off on Monday morning he sheepishly said “Yeah… we spoiled them…” and left it at that, haha. Jimmy and I are fine with them being spoiled there, since they know the Zottola house rules when they come back home!

Jimmy and I were able to have a relaxed weekend. I had a pet sitting job for a family on vacation, Jimmy worked on our bed, and we watched the Olympics. I was even able to deep clean our kitchen. Let’s just say the dirty mop water from our kitchen was dark… really dark.

Here’s the progress on our bed. I think we just need to add the wood in now?!

Industrial steel bed frame

We’re really getting close to finishing! And by “we’re,” I totally mean Jimmy. I just cheer him on and keep his belly full of apple pie and rice pudding. When it comes to picking out, painting, or staining wood, I’ll be of more help!

Here’s us watching the Olympics on the couch with Malcolm snuggled in between us! I was totally ordering house supplies (toilet paper and peanut butter… the necessities of life) from Jet on my phone when Jimmy took this picture, haha.

Couple cuddling on the couch with cat in black and white

Remember how I mentioned that we bought a new quilt in my last post? I put it on our bed and we’re loving it! I think this will be a lot easier to clean than the white duvet cover we previously had.

The picture quality isn’t great since I snapped it with my phone, but I’ll do a more detailed post when I get out my DSLR and take some better pictures 🙂

Gray and blue master bedroom with bench and turquoise and grey throw pillows and hummingbird watercolor prints

See that bench? Malcolm has completely shredded it since we got it. I spent about 20 minutes cutting little pieces of loose threads off the sides of the bench earlier this week.

We made a new rule: no more pets in the bedroom. We’ll see how it goes. We’ve been able to stay strong for two nights and the pets haven’t protested too much, thankfully!

What did you do over the weekend?

Do you have any house rules with pets?