I'm Melissa, 25, a newlywed, a pretend homemaker and the mother to a wonderfully square shaped beagle. We also have a cat, but she's just our cat.... not like our beagle son . Yes, we sound crazy, but we don't care.

We're also in the middle of cheaply (and sanely, might I add) trying to do a rental renovation. It's really a made up term, but it means that we're trying to make improvements on a house we're renting. Yes, we realize that normal people don't do this, but we're planning on staying here for a while, have ridiculously cheap rent, and a landlord who has given us the a-okay to do it. We plan to buy a house in the next year or so, but we're waiting for my husband to graduate and for me to start my bachelor's degree.