Daily Junk: See ya Later

Just sharing another entry into my journal. I made this page because we found awesome homes for 3 of the dogs we rescued and on this particular day we said goodbye to them. It was a bittersweet moment and I am seriously missing them! I have always considered animals as part of my family, and no matter what you tell yourself about getting close to an animal, no matter how much you try to hold back, it will never happen. These guys are awesome dogs and will make wonderful pets to the families they went too but I do miss them so much!

For this page I used an 8x8 sheet of decorative paper and because the page was larger than 8x8 I edged the outside with black duct tape. On the top and bottom I used some polka dot trim and on the sides I used matching buttons to embellish and break up the harsh black. I later found a cute little saying from a magazine and I cut it out and paper clipped it to the page. In the center of the page I created a small flip book, and embellished it with a bone that I drew & cut out and some alphabet stickers. On the inside flap of the flip book I wrote a little about saying goodbye and I intend on putting a photo of each of the dogs on their own page (when I get ink for my printer, or print them at the store! LOL) Until then they remain blank. On the last page of the book I just stamped the date and a little message that I wrote out. That's pretty much the gist of it :)

Showing the first page of flip book & my journaling.

The last page of the flip book, and my journaling. 

Thanks for taking a peek! 

My Crochet Buddy & new creations....

Lucky is my new crochet buddy! LOL. He sits and guards my yarn ball for me while I work on my projects and hubby snapped this picture today. He's just too cute! We have gotten so attached to one another in just a few weeks! He follows me around like a shadow and when I come home he dances with excitement to see me. I'm sooo glad that he finally came to me and that we were happy to doctor him up, clean him, and give him the love and attention that he totally deserves! He's such a wonderful addition to my family, and I couldn't imagine him not being here now. Its so weird how attached to an animal you can get, and how loyal they really are. I just had to share this adorable picture. Now on to the crafty goodness.. hee hee!

Last night I completed and listed this new addition to my shop. Its a crocheted reusable swiffer pad! Those refills from the store are so pricey and annoying. They hardly last any time, especially with kids or pets! So I made this reusable pad that is 100% durable, and washable. A simple solution to help save the environment and the wallet! Just slip it on, clean your floors like usual and when you are finished pull it off and pop it in your wash. Easy Peasy! The grooves crocheted in these pads are great for picking up dirt and grim, so you're sure to come out with super clean floors! If you're interested in purchasing please visit my shop.

I also created this crocheted bookmark, kind of as a mistake lol. I was teaching a ustream class on simple crochet for beginners and the pieces I created in the class created this super cute bookmark! It was pretty ironic actually. I taught how to crochet simple stitches for the swatch and then I taught how to crochet a simple flower. When the class was over I had the two pieces left and thought 'heck why not' and just attached them together with a cute button and wa-lah! I love the color combo, don't you? One of my favorites! I will be posting this bookmark for sale in my shop this evening as well for anyone interested. And you can check out the class by clicking here!

As always thanks so much for taking a peek! Have a great night! 

Hiking & Weight loss update....

Me and my furball Lucky have been going hiking the last few days, since the weather has been nice. He follows me around and I genuinely enjoy his company. Not that I don't enjoy the other furballs and their company but Honey has to be on a leash, and the other one's do not walk with me and stick around. They tend to run off and do their own things. Lucky stays by my side and is so relaxed. He's not as hyper like the rest of them are. Anyway... I did a video of us taking a walk where we usually do. We typically walk in our yard and then up and down our insanely steep driveway a few times. Trust me, its a work out lol. I've lost 13 lbs to date and I have 52 lbs to lose to reach my initial goal. I have a ticker at the bottom of this page that I plain on updating often. I hope that by summer's end I can reach my initial goal, and then I will set a new goal after that. I just hope to weather cooperates with me. It rains here so much I feel like we live in Forks, Washington! LOL!

So I just wanted to share that little update, and also the vid that I posted on youtube about it....




I also want to say that I am praying for all those who have been dealing with the terrible tornado's and storms this season! You are all in our thoughts and prayers. And I also want to say to my friends who have been dealing with loss in their families, I'm also keeping you in our prayers as well! God bless you all!

Lucky

Meet Lucky!

This little fellow is the newest rescue and addition to our family. He has been living in our woods behind the house and for weeks he would come around to visit with our other dogs but as soon as he saw or heard a human he would run away, scared for his life. We left out food for him and I never gave up trying to urge him to me. In a way Tim thought I was insane and was concerned for my safety. He was worried that the dog could be rabid or be too scared/nervous and turn on me.... but I never want to think of the negative when it comes to animals and I always give them the benefit of the doubt. Foolish, maybe... but I can't help it! A few days ago, Tim was leaving for work and the dog was sunning on our front porch, but this time instead of high tailing it to the woods he stayed shivering in fear. It was odd to both of us that he didn't run away like he normally does. We slowly approached him and I showed him that I was friendly and gained his trust so that he would come to me instead of me going to him. I think thats a lot of peoples mistakes when it comes to wild or stray animals. You can't forcefully approach a scared animal and pin it in a corner then expect it to remain calm. If you were trapped in a corner and scared for your life how would you react? Wouldn't you be defensive and fight for your life? I know that I would! Thats typically how animals react as well. Once he did come to me, I then let him smell me and then I slowly pet him on his head. Tim had to leave for work and he told me later that he knew seeing me with the dog when he was driving away that he would come home to a new roomie lol. Once Tim did leave I sat on the porch with the dog for several minutes just petting his head and then eventually he crawled into my lap and curled up. That was all it took for me really! I knew then that he was just scared, harmless, hungry and sort of "waving the white flag" to ask for help. He was sooo thin, and had pretty deep scarring on his ears and feet from injuries he must have gotten in the woods. I can only imagine what the poor guy has lived through!!! I immediately brought him in and bathed him, then I gave him wormer medicine as well as frontline to make sure he was pest free. Then I fed him a nice big bowl of food. Once he ate, he curled up on the couch and he's been my shadow ever since LOL! He's such a sweetheart and catches on soo quickly. Tim suggested that we call him Lucky and I agreed that it was a very suitable name for his situation and everything. I guess I'm a sucker guys, and its a really good thing that we have a big yard and lots of running room!! LOL. If I never have a child of my own, one things for certain, I will always have my furbabies!

Lucky sunning on the porch 

What a Ham- 3 Words Wednesday

Check it Out!

Its a linky party over at Real Life Reslers! 

Each Wednesday, link up with a photo--BUT--the catch is you can only have 3 words to describe your picture!! No more, no less. 

Here's Mine: 

WHAT A HAM!!!! 

Please Vote for PeeWee!

We entered our pup PeeWee into a Cutest Pet contest through our local newspaper, voting is open from today until the 23rd of February. Each person can vote up to 5 times per day... so if you would please vote for our little man. We would love to win *lol*

Zoey's Home!!!!

Prayer really does work! Sunday morning Tim woke up and as usual every morning walked the dogs to the door to let them out. When he opened the door, Zoey was sitting there waiting to be let in... just a waggin' her tail! He scooped her up and brought her running into the bedroom where I was still snoozing, and said "Look who was waiting to come in." I opened up one eye and as soon as I saw her I literally jumped up and screamed with joy! She jumped out of his arms and jumped in my lap... Once she had enough of my squeezing and loving... she ran straight to the food. LOL. It was such a great moment... I have never been more relieved! I have no clue where she went or what she has been through, but thankfully she was just dirty, cold and hungry. I gave her a nice bath, and she ate all she wanted and now she's my happy little Zoe Zoe again! I really wish you could talk to dog's or read their minds because I really want to know what she went through those two nights of being lost. Thanks everyone for your support and prayers! 

With Love,

Andrea

Zoey....



My Zoe Zoe

Today was a normal day until our dog Zoey didn't come home. You see we live on a hill in the woods. So every single morning when I wake up (usually around 8:30 or 9) I let the pooches out to do their business, run, frolic, what ever... They always spend about an hour outside, running in the woods, exploring and what have you, then they come home -always together. Today didn't happen that way. For what ever reason they decided to stay outside in the snow longer. Sadie was laying on the porch and decided she wanted to come inside at around 1 pm, but there was no Zoey in sight. I thought for sure that she would turn up eventually because she can't be too far away from her partner in crime for very long. I waited and waited, walked around the yard yelling for her, whistling, and she never showed. When the sun went down, the temperature dropped very quickly, and the snow on the ground didn't help matters. I began to panic. My throat is killing me tonight from yelling and whistling for her. At around 8, I called my husband at work and he started to worry as well. He called me about every half hour wondering if she had made it home yet. Still no Zoey. I would have been happy to hike up in the woods for her, but #1 I live on the side of a mountain... #2 there's a ton of snow on the ground and #3 I'm honestly too afraid. At 11 my husband told me he was coming home. He drove 2 hours home from work to help me search for Zoey. He took Sadie with him and they both went hiking in the woods at 1 am. He went as far as he possibly could, until he started hearing growling and he said he felt like something was watching & surrounding him. No doubt the coyote pack that has decided to take up residence here, or the black bear that we've noticed a few times. Nonetheless it freaked him out and he didnt want to chance it because he had no weapon to protect himself. So he headed back home. There was no trace of Zoey. He couldnt find any of her tracks, there was no blood or anything as a sign of a struggle... there was nothing. It is hunting season, and our woods are teaming w/ the prize... so Tim is considering that maybe one of the hunters found her and took her home. I feel if that were the case they would have called us though, because she does have a tag with her name and our number. And of course, we've not heard anything from anyone. Tonight there's nothing more we can do, besides worry about poor Zoey and pray that she's ok. Tomorrow morning the search begans a new... I am praying we find her, but honestly the chances are slim to none because a. the forest goes on and on here and she could be anywhere by now if she got lost. and b. if someone did take her, they would have called, if not they honestly had no intentions and we will probably never see her again.

This is the saddest night for me, because I love Zoey sooo much. I helped our dog Honey give birth to Zoey. I literally held her in my hands when she took her first breath. She's my ZoeZoe and I miss her soooo much already. I don't know what I'm going to do....

With Love,

Andrea

Meet Albert....

Meet Albert the Betta Fish =) My hubby got him for me last weekend. He's such a pretty orange isnt he? He's goes perfectly in our Gator Room. Thats right, we have a Gator room. Not for alligators folks, but we are Florida Gators fans here and so we have a room decorated in orange & blue to show off our Gator pride =) His aquarium has a blue bottom and top and I even found orange and blue stones for the bottom of his aquarium! He's not a very skittish fish to be honest. Normally they swim away from you if you tap the glass etc. But Albert just stares at you LOL. If only fish could talk, I wonder what he would be saying to me. I can only imagine that its not nice! LMAO!

I bet you're wondering why his name is Albert??? Well.... FU's mascots name is Albert E. Gator =) Haha!

So not only have you gotten to meet my perty fish, but you learned a Florida fun fact! HA! Have a great day!



Later Gators,

Help us name our puppy

As I've mentioned before Honey had 3 puppies about 6 weeks ago :) Its time to find them good homes but we decided that we are going to keep this little girl. Isnt she cute? (I know the pic isnt the greatest =( ) I hope to get better pics of her soon. I made a poll on the left -> of names that I found & thought of that I am considering... Please take a sec to vote on the names you think are the cutest & most suitable for this little gal. Also comment here if you think of a different name for her that I havent listed & I'll add it to the poll. Thanks!

Puppy Update

The puppies can see now :) They are 2 weeks and 2 days old now. They are playing a little and moving around more but havent gotten too active just yet. They are doing great. Such chunkies! LOL. I'm getting really attached to the little girl, and Tim and I are really considering keeping her. The two little guys will be up for adoption once they are old enough, at least thats the plan. I always get so attached to animals, especially puppies and kittens. I'm pretty protective of them as well so I am going to be pretty choosy when finding their new homes when the time comes. I'm just happy that they are all happy and healthy and that Honey is happy and healthy as well. She will be headed to the vet as soon as the pups are weaned to get spade. We should have done it a long time ago (especially since she is 6 years old) but we've had some tough times financially in the past, and its always hard with Tim's work schedule. Things are better though, and since Tim has his own vehicle for work, I can take her to the vet myself. So thats the plan as well. She's getting too old to have puppies, and I think 2 liters are enough.

I keep forgetting to mention the breed of the puppies, everyone keeps asking lol. Honey is a Shuh Tzu/Jack Russell Mix, and the father to these puppies name is Charlie, and he is a Jack Russell and Chihuahua mix.

Here's a picture of Honey =)

The puppies are here! =)

I woke up to a really neat surprise this morning! Honey had her puppies. She had 3, 1 girl and 2 boys. The first picture is of the little girl and the other 2 are the boys. I love their little pink noses and feet! They are too cute! We were surprised that she only had 3 because she had 5 in her last liter and she looked larger this time so we were expecting more. In a way I'm happy that she only had 3 because now I can spoil them and find really good homes for them. We are also considering keeping the little girl. This is Honey's last liter because she's 6 years old and I think 2 liter's are enough. After she's weened the pups we will be getting her spade. I'd really like to keep the girl, I've had boys and I dont think I can handle that again. In my experience male pups are super stubborn and tough to potty train. I just had to share pics of them, they are just too cute! <3

Meet Marley

Marley

This is the newest addition to our family :) Marley is one of Honey's puppies. She is 5 weeks old now. She is too adorable. Marley has 3 brothers and 1 sister all of which are the cutest little babies. I love them all but we just decided we wanted to keep Marley. I have gotten too attached to her lol. We are trying very hard to find the other puppies good loving homes and have decided that the last puppy left will be the one we keep along with Marley unless we find them all homes. I just wanted to introduce this precious little girl. She's such a sweetheart :)

Painting a tissue box...

Today I began painting a Wooden Tissue box that I found at Michaels. I've decided to paint each side for a season of the year. Then it can be turned to display the proper season as the year goes on. Today I completed Winter and Autumn, so I thought I would share. I hope that tomorrow I can work on Spring and Summer. If the other seasons turn out well then I plan on adding it to my shop. So far Autumn is my favorite of the two, but Im enjoying the bright bold colors and using the cute little girl in each scene :)

I'm exhausted to be honest. My husband has something called Diverticulitis that has been causing him to be very ill for the last week and I have been helping him to get better as best I can. Then at 11 pm on Feb. 28th our dog Honey went into labor. :) She had her first puppy at 12:04 am on March 1st. She had a total of 5 puppies. 3 males and 2 females. They are gorgeous and all healthy :) Honey is a great mom as well! I'm so in love with them already. I suppose being there the entire time she was having them and helping her along the way. Then welcoming the little babies into the world would do that to anyone. :) On top of all of that I have been really busy with Church and our revival starts next week. We also begin our spring fundraiser which includes a spaghetti dinner and easter candy sell. We make Spaghetti Dinners for the Coal miners, and we make homemade easter suckers and chocolate easter eggs every year to help raise money for our church. I think it will be lots of fun, but lots of work .lol.

Thats all for now. I am so sleepy at the moment. night night :)

We lost a pet :(

In Memory of Diesel
(March 15 2007 - Jan 3 2008)

Today has been a rough day for us. For the last few days Diesel started acting off. He was gagging and coughing like crazy and lost his appetite. We tried everything we could to treat what we thought was a hair ball but nothing would work. Today I tried again to help him with it and he was in a lot worse condition. He couldn't breathe hardly at all. His gums were blue and he was drooling really badly. At one point I thought I lost him then because he started defecating uncontrollably which is a sign of death or dying. But he crawled to his normal sleeping/hiding spot and calmed himself enough and I guess kept fighting. When Tim got home from work we immediately called the local vets, of course us living in a small town and it being Saturday all of the vets close to us closed at 12. So Tim called an emergency vet in Charleston that is open 24 hours, even on holidays. They told us to bring him right in so we did. When we got there they took him back immediately and before I finished the paperwork they asked if they could do Xray's. About an hour later that asked me, Tim and Candy to come into a room and the vet, Dr. Flemming, told us that he had bad news. He showed us the Xray and said that it wasn't at all a hair ball but a disease called Feline Infectious Peritonitis. Which is fatal in all cases with no treatment or ways of preventing it. Its something that the vet said was caught by his mother most likely when he was born. Diesel had only 20% lung capacity when we got there. 1 lung was completely filled with fluid and the other was almost completely filled. He wouldn't have survived the night. Even though it wasn't something we caused or could have prevented and he was born with it. It still doesn't make us feel any better. We had no choice but to euthanize him because he was in complete agony. After we said our goodbye's we stayed in the room until the end, then we decided to bring him home and have a burial here. They wrapped him up for us safely and when we got home Tim dug him a grave and we said our goodbye's again. Diesel was Tim's best friend. He was really really attached to that cat and spoiled him unconditionally. He meant a lot to both of us because we rescued him and raised him from 4 weeks old. We wouldn't trade anything for the few months we had for him but we wish we could have spent a lifetime with him instead of this. He wasn't even a year old yet. :( Tim's taking it especially hard. I am asking everyone to keep us in your prayers please.
Because this is the 2nd cat we have lost since we have been together, and because of the way we had to lose Diesel and the disease he has which is contagious for all cats.. We have decided NOT to adopt anymore cats. Since it can be transmitted through anything Diesel was around we have decided that it would be a risk to bring any more cats here because they could catch it and then we would be doing this again which is not something we want. This was one of the hardest things we have ever been through.
I will never forget this cat, he was such a blessing in our lives. He was such a good boy full of spunk and love, and I have NEVER been around a cat as smart and loving as he was, especially for a cat born in the wild. He will be missed and I pray that one day Tim and I can be greeted by his big loud meows and kitty kisses when we finally reach those big pearly gates.

They arent dogs, they're terminators (lol)

Our dogs Honey, and Cooper LOVE to play with toys, and we try to always go and get them something special to play with when they are good (which believe me is rarely lol) Its hard to find toys for them that they dont obliterate within a few minutes. They love chewing things into little bits and pieces, so that I have to clean it all up (of course) And if it has stuffing in it, FORGET ABOUT IT! Its a gonner in seconds! Soooo Tim found a package of tennis balls that had little bells in the middle. We figured, that typically tennis balls are safe and I've never seen a dog chew a tennis ball into a million pieces so we thought it was PERFECT! Guess... What.... WRONG!

There were 3 tennis balls in the package and so there wasnt any disagreements between the two noggin heads we gave each a ball.... One of the balls was in shambles so badly that I didnt even bother to take a picture of it, I just vacuumed it up and put it to rest... that was Coopers ball. Honey's ball was almost destroyed but I got it away from her just in time to take a picture of it. I put the last new ball beside of it so you could see what it looked like before and then after the terrors got ahold of it. lol. I couldnt believe that they did this. The little bugger's could probably chew steal into tiny bits! lol.

Poor ball... it never had a chance!

Honey's New "Do"

I just had to share a pic of Honey that I took today. Over the weekend I primped Honey up by giving her a new hair cut, clipping and grooming her nails, and a nice long bath (where she ended up falling asleep during the entire experience lol) She's been so perky and prissy the last few days. I really love her new 'do' and I really think she does too! She doesnt like her picture being taken and usually turns away from the camera when I get it out... but today she decided to pose for me *lol* I tried to take a picture of Diesel (the cat) with Cooper and Honey (the dogs) but forget doing that... they are such wiggle worms *lol*