Let me introduce the gassy French Bulldog in my life. This is our little fur child when he was about three months old. He was also our first big purchase (and only) big purchase and we joke that he is more expensive than anything else in our house. We actually started saving for him when we were dating in college. It was our first big step towards planning for the future. We knew that we wanted a French Bulldog, but we also knew that they boasted a hefty price tag that we wouldn't be able to afford when the time came that we could actually purchase a dog together, hence the PUPPY FUND was born. When we started our "puppy fund" it was actually just an empty protein powder jar that we pasted puppy pictures all over and cut a hold in the lid for easier change dumpage. The way the puppy jar worked was simple, but genius all in one fell swoop. The rules were simple....

1. You were not allowed to spend any loose change as it all had to be put into the puppy jar.

2. Whenever one cashed a check, ask the teller for a role of quarters, these also had to be put into the puppy jar.

We collected puppy fun money for over three years and when it came time to take it to the bank there was always that feeling of excitement...how much was actually in there! My husband, being the brilliant financial guru that he is, would then invest the money in a CD which gained interest over the years. Skip forward to 2009, we were (still are actually) broke newly weds without an extra ten dollars to spend on a dog collar let alone a dog, and we were able to cash out our hard earned loot and buy the dog of our dreams. Plus a big perk, we still had money left over for the first year of puppy class, vet bills, and dog food. Brilliant right? At least we thought so! So now we have a little furball running around our lives making our house feel like a home. The name will have to be explained at another time, but lets just say that the name fits.

Day one of anything is scary. First day of school....terrifying, will you get lost, will you have friends will you get picked on, what if someone steals your lunch? Starting a blog feels about the same way...well except for maybe that lunch stealing part. Day one of Imagining Outside the Box will probably never go down in history, but as I have learned from reading other blogs, posts usually improve as they go....so please bear with me as I fumble my way through blog world trying to figure out all the bells and wistles! This blog is going to be a blog mutt, not necessarily dedicated to any one specific hobby or theme. This little blog is going to jump around more than Jiminy Cricket on Steroroids. I plan on blogging about a little bit of everything and hoping that my blog mutt turns out to be something someone other than my mother might be interested in reading, but if my mom is my only reader then I can live with that. (Can't I?) I am going to chronicle my life as a newlywed, teacher, writer (hopefully the kind of writer that eventually gets published, not just the kind that talks about that book that they never actually finish....sigh), do-it-yourselfer, creative dreamer, book addict, dog lover, artist, and wife. Feel free to join me on my journey. Phew day one, first post ever.....done. See that wasn't so bad was it!