While you are reading this, I am enjoying a weekend away in fabulous Victoria, BC. I am off once again on a writers’ retreat- something I very much need if I’m going to accomplish my ambitious writing goals for the year.

But just because I’m not at home doesn’t mean I can’t share with you some great blog posts from this last week. Just know that anything written after noon on Thursday isn’t going to make the cut, since I’ll be writing fiction on Saturday, and prepping for the trip Friday morning before we hit the road.

 

Third Annual Pet Blogger Challenge from Amy at GoPetFriendly.com’s blog Take Paws. Amy is one of the originators of the challenge, so it’s extra fun to see what she has to say each year.

 

Oldies by Goodies: Welcome to the Happy Homeowner from The Happy Homeowner. If you want to get to know a pet blogger, this is the week- read their pet blogger challenge entry. But we don’t have anything like that in personal finance blogs. There are occasional memes that go around, but nothing annual. However, the Happy Homeowner decided to oblige those wanting to get to know her this week, anyway.

 

Adventures in Human Puppy Watching from Bunny at Tales and Tails.  Next week, we’ll have our own adventure in babysitting when we host a 4 year old overnight (not her first overnight with us). I loved reading about how it went when Bunny, blueberry, Kuster and Morgan had their chance to spend the night with Goldilocks.

 

He Said, She Said: Expensive Hobby or Male Bonding? from Planting Our Pennies. C and I definitely have our different hobbies. For him, it’s spending money on video games, both ones he can play now and ones he hopes to play someday (Kickstarter). But my hobbies are actually probably more expensive, considering I’m in Victoria, BC this weekend on a writers’ retreat. But what would you do if you didn’t like one of your significant other’s hobbies? Especially when it costs money?

 

Miracles Do Happen: Thor is Alive from Kenzo the Hovawart and Viva. Kenzo is my window to animal issues outside North America. Breed bans exist in some countries, including bans that apply even if your dog only looks like a banned breed. In this small miracle, the owner of a mixed breed dog in Denmark gets more time to fight his case in court before the police put down his pet.

 

Two New Savings Hacks for 2013 from Frugal Portland. We’re actually going to be babysitting because the toddler’s parents will be in Portland, but that’s not either here nor there (or perhaps it’s both). As the new year starts, everyone starts talking about ways to be more financially responsible or save more money. I know my facebook feed has been filled with the save $1 week one of the year, save $2 week 2….save $52 week 52 thing. I actually think it would work better if people did it in the opposite direction, so it was most difficult when they had the most motivation. But anyway, read here to find two keys to saving more in the new year that you actually have a chance of following through on.

 

Don’t Wait for One Perfect Day With Your Dog from Pamela at Something Wagging This Way Comes. I am a huge fan of Jon Katz’s books, and I know a lot of people really latched onto the idea of creating a perfect day for their dog as it nears the end of it’s life. It’s a great idea. An even better idea? Pamela’s of making perfect days happen now, and more than once. Because a perfect day with your dog isn’t just great for your dog, it’s great for you, too.

 

My Best Financial Advice – Take Control from Andrea at So Over This. Andrea started as a personal finance blogger, writing So Over Debt, but once she got out of debt and moved on, she realized that she didn’t want to limit herself to personal finance, so she re-branded and now writes about her life in general. However, when she does write a personal finance post, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be fabulous.

 

I joined the Pet Blogger Challenge blog hop as the 54^th blog on the list. I decided that the way to find my “new to me” pet blog this week would be to go the blogger who joined at half my number- so the 27^th blog on the list, and I think that was rather fortuitous. Two Greyhound Town is a blog about two Greyhounds (you’re surprised, right?) as they travel around the US in an RV.

Why is this fortuitous? Because the founders of the Pet Blogger Challenge are Take Paws from GoPetFriendly.com, which is about traveling around the US in an RV with 2 dogs, and Tales and Tails, which is very much about their 2 Greyhounds (and 2 Shepherds, but Bunny, the Greyhound, is much more likely to take over the keyboard).

This is Two Greyhound Town’s first time participating in the challenge, which means it’s a great way to get to know the blog.

 

And maybe it’s the week of fortuitous, or at least coincidental. The new to me personal finance blog this week is Wealth Note. And the most recent post (as of my writing this on Thursday) is called Smart Investors Read: The Future of Apple. Considering I just started my year long investigation of investing, and Apple was one of the companies I considered (though did not fake invest in due to the cost of their stock). But also, look at the picture that does with the post- it’s a dog, pooping an Apple. How perfect for me is that?