Strawberries and Hair cuts

I've seen several photos of "spring's first flowers" on many other blogs. And while I LOVE these happy thoughts and sights of spring I'd yet to see any of my own. So far we've just had snow and snow and more snow. The snow is no where near gone but it's definitely warmed up around here. The snow is melting quite rapidly and the warmer temps leave all of use frozen Michiganders really believing that spring will actually arrive this year (we were doubtful).

Today I found the most amazing thing ever in my yard. OUR STRAWBERRIES!!!

Last year little Abe and I had our first go at food in the yard. We grew a pot of strawberries and a row of tomatoes, both of which we adored every minute of and grew completely and totally in love with. I took a big risk and left the strawberries out during the winter. I kinda sorta threw out my back moving the pot while mowing the yard one day last summer and I wasn't about to re-injure myself or injure my husband by trying to move it to the garage or the basement. This evening while little Abe and I were playing in the snow in the backyard I cleared the mulch away from my beloved berry plants and they look awesome. The very first signs of life I've seen outdoors this year are my strawberry plants! Oh I could not be more happy. It's supposed to stay pretty warm and they are apparently VERY hardy plants so hopefully I have not harmed them by clearing away the mulch.

Now that spring is officially on its way its once again time to groom the puppies. It costs us $100 to groom the two of them at the groomers. Needless to say I quite taking them to the groomers many hair cuts ago. It's totally worth it to save the money by grooming them myself but boy oh boy is it work! One dog now has her spring trim, her toe nails cut, and has been freshly bathed. One more dog to go. I left the easier one for last. Our boy Boz actually really likes being groomed. We borrowed a trimmer once to cut their hair and it was a total disaster. They were like  little doggy jumping beans the whole time. Ever since that one try I've trimmed them both with scissors. It usually takes me a week to get the two of them done. I'm on a roll this time. I got our girl all groomed in two days. Tomorrow I'll start on Bozzy boy.

Sorry about he spitty dog face.
He just came in from eating snow outside and just at a dog treat.
It certainly is not a very flattering look for him.

They are both miniature schnauzers. Bozzy is Maggie's dad. Almost hard to tell that they are the same kind of dog, right? We always cut the hair on their legs short and do a shorter beard. Last time was the first time I trimmed their beards all the way off. Now, trimming the beard all the way off leaves them looking kind of rat-ish BUT it's so much cleaner and doesn't begin to mat before the next trim so we prefer no beard. Sorry, I know, it's like schnauzer blasphemy.

Today was NO SPEND day 24 of 2015.

The strawberries survived the winter!

And the dogs are half groomed.

What a fabulous day!!!

Average daily spending for 2015: $17.59
$245.97 left to spend in March