On my pets...

Yes, we have pets. We have a cat who is nearing 14 years old. She keeps to herself most of the time. She really isn't a bother.

In addition, we have 2 dogs. Now, Abby is an Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mix. We adopted her from the Humane Society last year in October. She is now over a year old. She is a great dog, but some people may not like dogs that much. Howie is a Bassett Hound that we rescued from the side of the street almost a year ago. I went for a walk with my MIL and the kids last February, and we found him on the side of the road, nearly dead. I brought him home, and we adopted him that week. He has been through a lot of rehab since then, but is nearly perfect now.

Both of our dogs "live" in the kitchen right now. The reason? They shed a lot and we do not want dog hair all over the house. The kitchen floor is easy to clean on a daily basis, which we do. Also, the dogs have crates they go in when we are preparing and eating food. Overall, they are a nice addition to the family.

We do plan on getting some fencing for the yard and setting up an outdoor space for the dogs to be. Currently, when we need them to be outside, they go on the front porch. That works well enough, but they do not have a lot of room to run and play in that place. We are working on this.

My point, however, is that you can have pets and still have a sanitary home. Some people say otherwise and will probably reply here that my house is a haven for germs because of our pets. Oh well. You really haven't been here lately, have you?