the 3rd anniversary is traditionally the leather anniversary... maybe you could take Mia to a do-it-yourself belt making thing and then tell us about it?

(my original suggestion was to go to see leather being made, but that seemed like it might frighten Mia, so I changed my mind)

Sorry I haven't commented in awhile! i've been a blog slacker for like a month now, but I do still visit :) Can't resist mia & her adorable faces & pictures that u take & stuff that u write about. Sorry about yesterday & the whine fest, seems as though u handled it well, food could be a good alternative to yelling at mia all day!! hope things are going well in the cactus fish household :) good luck with the tarp issue!

We were on a super-tight budget and a leak in the bathroom meant that the entire floor had to be replaced. I used peel-and-stick vinyl strips that look like hardwood flooring--they even have texture. Surprisingly, they look really good. I mean, if you get down on your hands and knees and inspect it you can see that it's fake, but just walking over it it looks nice. You guys could do it, and covered mostly with a rug it'd look even better, and it would not be to difficult to cover/remove later. I got mine at Lowes for a decent price.

Has mia been to Build a Bear. She definately needs to go there and how about Friday?

We had the same problem in our house (except the dog was the one who peed) and put down big vinyl "granite" squares from Lowes. It looks pretty darned good and it's super easy to keep clean. I've heard the vinyl "wood" strips are cool but we couldn't find them here. If you do go the vinyl route, just be sure to get the squares or the strips and not the sheet vinyl. Good luck!

I'm going through the same thing here with the puppies. They chew on everything, and I will need to paint and get a couple of new carpets.
Sorry for the dog comparison, but babies and puppies really do have so much in common!

Mmm I'll take some Teddy Grahams.

no thanks on the goldfish. i have birthday cake waiting for me.

I have two great cats that REALLY need a home, you want one?

i love teddy grahams.

anderson actually makes some decent, vinyl tile

Take up the old carpet and padding, clean the concrete really well, then use those 12x12 vinyl peel & stick tiles. You can actually get two colors and do a checkerboard pattern, or just do all one color. We re-did my father's bathroom floor with these several years ago and they still look super. They're easy to use, and can be cut with a utility knife or heavy scissors. They're very affordable too.

I haven't seen the vinyl "wood" strips, but that does sound like a neat idea too.

Listen, I know I'm always sounding so, "Oh my god me too, and Madeline does that too! blah blah blah" and you're probably all like "It's not all about you, JuJuBee, christ" but seriously, our girls must be hitting these phases at the exact same time b/c Maddie wakes up whining and goes to sleep whining. She whines ALL.DAY.LONG. She whines about everything and anything and I am just about ready to twist my head off and throw it out a window so I can stop hearing the whining. Also with the food...I eat to avoid packing and my food seems to all be some sort of a cracker in a box. I had to stop buying bricks of cheese to put on the crackers because it was getting out of hand...much like my comment here. Sorry.

what a liar I am.
Anderson doesn't make vinyl tile. I meant dupont and laminate

Armstrong makes vinyl tiles. And you can mix and match to make a funky pattern. Kind of like Flor carpet tiles. Plus, you can design your own pattern using their cool online widget-thingy.

I say more Elmo. Anything is better than whining. 30 minutes a day of TV is not enough right now. Dont you know you have to brainwash her and turn her brain to mush? You sure dont have this mothering thing down yet. Geez.

Um, I also ate everything in all of the land yesterday because Lady was a whiny mess and Sweetie had a VERY late meeting which meant I got all of the whiny mess.

As for the vinyl flooring, go for it? If it looks awful you can ditch it, but at least it's a temporary solution.

it was because of you that i didn't eat cookies yesterday...does this mean that i can today?? :)

do you have goldfish snackmix? if not, i'll just take the goldfish. oh, and some cookies, please?

We did that with vinyl tiles that stick down. Same reason, coincidentally.

The biggest issue we ran into was that basement floors always crack. Vinyl floors show every tiny ridge and/or crack. So, when we pulled up our carpet and saw the crack, (then spent time filling it) we found that the floor not only showed the crack, but the tiles wouldn't stick to the ground in that area. We ended up putting two large rugs in the room over the tiles, but the next-to-the-wall pieces came up too. Also? Very cold in the winter.

So um... I guess I don't recommend it! :) We ended up carpeting right over the top of those tiles with an inexpensive berber carpet from Lowe's. That's what we should have done to begin with since we ended up adding that cost anyway.

I'm not into goldfish. To airy.

A video address to the blogosphere of YOU. And Mia. :)

The flooring would be great! I have three kitty fur babies and they peed on a section of the xtra bedroom carpet. It is impossible to get it out so I cut a section put peel and stick down...put the metal edging around the carpet area to sorta "box in" the tile! PRESTO...IT IS FABULOUS!! I put the litter box on it and have had no problems since!! Mia NEEDS a fur-baby!

hmmm, if the 3rd anniversary is leather, I say go get yourself a new, designer handbag.

Happy Blogaversary just a bit early.

Cas
And eating all day occassionally is a good thing.

I'm so lucky that I hate Goldfish!

Oh, man, the whining makes me eat too. I have been known to give a time out then head right to the candy closet. Which is why I now have 30 lbs to lose. *sigh*

Oh yeah -- I think the vinyl makes great sense for your basement.

I wouldn't judge the vinyl. Even the fanciest, finished basement is still a basement. No need to break the bank.

Oh, and have you tried Mr. Clean Magic Eraser for the wall cleaning endeavors? Magic is not an overstatement.

I think the vinyl would be fine -- it's in the basement, and covered mostly with carpet.

that's totally what ALWAYS happens when you go on a diet. Don't diet. It totally makes you overeat and gain weight. Trust me!!! Just exercise more and make good choices most of the time.

Trust me, I'm not one to give advice -- I'm not exactly skinny. I just know dieting very well!

It's my 1-year blogaversary. I haven't even mentioned it!

No ideas for a blogaversary, but....if you need a product to remove the cat urine I found something that might work if you are interested. My furbabydog had diabetes and could never make it out to potty. The smell was driving me nuts and I tried everything. I was ready to rip the carpet out when I did one last internet search and found a wonderful product. I know I sound like a spammer. If you want the link to the product, let me know.

The only reason I would encourage you to stay far far away from vinyl/laminate is that our house came with it in the kitchen and it's annoying because it peels up eventually and it also sucks up every piece of dirt and grime and there's almost no way to clean it. You can strip it down but it will never be the same. Just my two cents. :)

Try Nature's Miracle first, to get rid of the pee. If you've already tried that and still think it smells, get a blacklight (where, I have no idea. Find someone who smokes pot and borrow theirs) and put the light over the carpet. If you can 'see' spots then pitch the carpet and do the vinyl.

But I'm in animal rescue, plus I was a vet tech. Nature's Miracle totally works. I had a cat in kidney failure and he peed on everything--plus we're renting so I freaked! But that stuff got rid of every last trace.

Good luck, and congrats on getting another kitty! Adopting is the best!

Whining, fighting, stress...it's all soothed a bit with good snacks.

If you guys are going to get a cat, can I give you one of mine? I'm completely serious. We have three (through no fault of ours) and it is too too many. You could even pick which one. There's the crotchety older Queen Bee with Talons of Dhoom who hates her tummy rubbed, the very cute and affectionate one who pees everywhere, or the sweet laid back one who loves her tummy rubbed, lets you clip her claws with fingernail clippers, pees in the litter box, and who's only fault is she loves to go outside and will try to escape to roll around in the grass at every opportunity.

What's that? You want Queen Bee AND the Pee-er? WONDERFUL! What? Oh, you'd rather have the good one? Well, that'll work too :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazymokes/sets/1693897/

(the good one = black and white)