Three Things Thursday: Good News!

Since I've done more than my share of complaining over the last year of tough luck, things seem to be looking up. Let's hope this post doesn't jinx that ;)

I thought I would write, for Three Things Thursday, about three *good* things that have happened recently. In the spirit of being more positive. And it's October--my very favorite month--so I'm probably going to be in a pretty good mood all month!

So, here goes... three things that have made me smile recently.

1. Paying off the house.

Tomorrow, we are going to write the final payment for our house! We *finally* got the insurance check from the Jeep (it only took six weeks--eye roll--but I'm not going to complain because it's finally here and the amount is more than what I was even hoping).

It's going to feel amazing to get the house paid off. And since we've been paying $1300 a month between the house payment and Jeep payment, that's an extra $1300 a month we won't be paying anymore. My plan is to have it automatically transferred to our savings account, so we can build that back up after wiping it out last year on unexpected expenses.

Jerry is still browsing for a truck, but he's not in a rush anymore since Eli bought his own car. If I need to use the Edge (what Jerry drives now) then I can either drive Jerry to work or I can use it before he goes to work. It hasn't been a big issue thus far, so hopefully we'll get used to it.

Anyway, I'm just excited to not have ANY debt. We paid off the credit cards in 2018 and haven't carried a balance since; and now we won't have any other loans to pay. Unfortunately, we need a new dishwasher and we're going to look at them this weekend; but we can use some of the insurance money to buy that.

2. Jeanie, my sister, adopted another special needs basset hound.

I've written a lot about my sister through the years, and it's clear how much she loves basset hounds. She doesn't have children, but her dogs are treated like such (better, even, haha). She and Shawn (her husband) are the BEST dog-parents and her dogs are so lucky that they wound up with them!

They've had Bentley for a long time now (I can't remember his age, but it's up there). A little over a year ago, Walter joined the family. He is a senior basset as well, and he has a heart condition. Jeanie and Shawn wanted him to spend the rest of his days happy and healthy, despite his special needs. (I can't even tell you how spoiled he is now!)

And a couple of days ago, they welcomed Sophie into their home. Her story is SO sweet. Here is what Jeanie wrote on Facebook:

"Sophie is an 8 year old special needs senior from the Guardian Angel Basset Rescue.  It seems she was a dumped puppy mill dog that was used for breeding. Once she came into the rescue, she needed a hernia repair, a tummy tuck, a cyst removal, her rotted/poor teeth removed and treatment for heart worm 😢.  But GABR made sure she received all the necessary medical treatments.

Then, because she is such a sweet hound who has endured so much, they named her the 2023 Queen of the Basset Hound waddle parade! (Walter didn’t want just any Basset girlfriend… he wanted the best). And we were lucky enough to be the ones to adopt her!!! Just like with Walter and Bentley, we plan to let her live out her best life with us ❤️❤️❤️."

Sophie being crowned queen

Jeanie said Sophie also has a heart murmur and eye issues, needing medications for both. Her hair is very thin, likely from malnutrition, so she has to take supplements for that also. They are also going to get her a winter coat because her fur isn’t thick enough to keep her warm.

Doesn't that break your heart? But she is the luckiest dog to be able to go live in the upper peninsula at "Jeanie's Dog Park" (Jeanie and Shawn have a cabin on a large piece of property up there that they recently moved to permanently). We let Joey "vacation" there in the summer of 2022 as well as this past summer, and I loved seeing pictures of his adventures. I even felt bad making him come home, haha.

Jeanie said Sophie is doing really well so far! I love this picture of the three dogs on the bed.

3. Well, I'm going to stop at two. I was hoping to come up with a third as I wrote this post, but I can't think of anything I haven't already written about. Besides, these two "good things" are pretty big! (I'm sure something will come to me tomorrow and I'll wonder why I didn't think of it sooner, but my mind is blank right now.)