Big Girl Bed

My big girl has been slowly weaned from her crate. She had just gotten a new raspberry crate bed but we decided it was time for the crate to GO! She's been doing really well hanging in the bedroom during the day with the option of either crate or my bed (she's baby gated in the bedroom). Typically she's on my bed instead of in her crate so I decided to move the crate out.

I'd gotten this bed for the boys a few years ago at Sam's so Nola needed her mark on it. I had some fleece that I'd planned to make a blanket out of but opted to use it for her bed.

The new space!

So far, so good... we'll see how the week goes. She's still a little confused but I'm hoping it will go well. And now she has toys in there too because there's extra room.

I realize I should blog this on her blog but I'm lazy so, it's here. Deal with it. :P

Nola's Crush on Milk Kirtley

Nola hasn't heard back from Teddy and I recently saw that he emailed another girl. He doesn't know what he's missing! And that's okay. Nola has had her eye on Milk Kirtley, a boy from our fellow RRUS friend. Oh that Milk is a handsome one... Look at her eyes, she's practically BEGGING him to love her back...

She can't understand why they haven't yet been able to play. She is SO intrigued by him!

Without further ado, please meet Milk. We're sure that although he was at a fun playdate with other dogs in this picture, he was surely thinking of Nola. That gorgeous pink tongue is all about some Nola.

Isn't he a beauty???

I think Milk is her #1 boy. Allyson... what do YOU think??? ;)

NOLA LOVES MILK. She's going public with her love. (Or mom is pimping her out... you decide.)

I really need this kid!

Another cute one (with three languages no less!):

Penith Kick

Happy Friday!

(PS, today is the day! ... and yes, I'm counting down the hours!)

2 DAYS!!!

TWO MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!

Potential Boyfriend???

I tried to set Nola up with a pup named Teddy! We haven't gotten a response from him yet!

What do you think? Good pair?

We think Teddy is a stud! ;)

Guest Room!

So, Kelly is doing a neat little home tour to share inspiration... I don't think I have a whole lot of inspiration in the room featured this week but I haven't had too much going on to write about so I decided to take a couple of pics and join in the fun! I'm hoping to get some ideas from everyone else to make this room a little more spunky!

I love this quilt, I ordered it on clearance from either Garnett Hill or Company Store, I don't remember which. I used it on my bed (full sized) even though it's king but later (after a foster dog ate one of the comforters on my twin beds) I push my two twin beds together to make a king. Now, I only use this bedroom when D is in town b/c it's big enough to fit us, Nola, and Luka and Finley!

Nothing fancy... this room used to be the room I put things in that didn't fit anywhere else. My condo has such little storage it's ridiculous really... My neighbors moved and gave me one of their TVs so I have a cheap little Target stand for it. The bookshelf holds all of the crafts that we sell to raise money for windows and orphans in Uganda. We participate in several markets here in town and set up shop to sell baskets, crafts, beads, and other items from Uganda. I needed a place to store things so went to Walmart and found a shelf for $30! It's nice because people can come over and "shop" if they prefer. (People I know of course!) Hope Aid has been able to raise quite a bit of money from the crafts. We're working on getting more bead necklaces to sell, can't wait! We're also working on a maternity ward project.

Can't wait to check out some other guest rooms!

Funny faces...

My all time favorite picture of her!

No idea what she was thinking here...

First time at the beach - she looked so worried!!!

Still counting down...

Nine more days!

Recent Projects

This blanket was for Timothy the cat... he had a PU (warning, graphic link) and was very, very sick. We have a special spot for Mister Timothy because Finley had to have the same surgery back in 2007.

One of the girls at work got wind of all the quilts I was making... but I haven't had time to make another so I made this for Jackson. I'm hoping to have a little more time later to make a quilt though.

Bible bag for a long time, sweet friend of mine!

This was mom's mother's day gift... she spent the summer in Japan last year and when I saw this fabric I knew it'd be perfect for her bag!

This peacock fabric is one of my new favorites!!! I ordered it with a friend in mind, knowing she'd want a bag when she saw the bigger ones. :) I was very tempted to keep it for myself but I think I have enough for another... I LOVED the way it turned out! The colors are amazing and I love it with the stripes!

Tiny project

Couldn't let the weekend pass without any projects! :) I had some scraps left over from looong ago projects so I decided to do something with them. Voila!

Of course now I'm hooked on making these so tomorrow I'm off to Target to pick up some kitchen towels to have on hand for when I feel the need to make something. Actually, these would be neat gifts too. Hmm.... ;)

Rock Band!

This guy has Rock Band... (we love Rock Band!)
We also love to ROCK. IT. OUT. Actually, we had a birthday bash for our friend last night.

This guy tries to live up to his son's mad guitar skill... he's not too bad ;)

Nola was all about it...

I went home with a headache from trying to read the words on the screen...

This was either Jimmy Eat World or a song about a wolf, or possibly Spirit in the Sky.

Nola loves playing with her "Uncle" Luke... she ended up leaving her signature Uncle Luke battle scar just under his eye. Sigh. She's such a tough girl.

More friends...

We had the door open the other day and in typical Nola fashion she lying in front of the door on look out. She'll normally bark if a person or car goes by that she doesn't know so when I looked up and saw her tail wagging I wasn't sure what to think. A few minutes later I took her out to potty and saw the cutest little bunny run from our door! He'd been right there! No wonder she was so excited! He sat on the sidewalk for a while but we scared him away as we were walking. I'm sure he'll be back... bunnies like our backyard.

While we were walking, we also saw this guy. He typically visits early in the morning so it was a little odd to see him late in the afternoon.

Countdown!

13 days til D comes!!!

Faith

When God leads you to the
edge of a cliff, trust Him fully and let go. One of two things will
happen; He will either catch you when you fall or He will teach you to
fly.

Our new friends...

Sometimes their names are Jack and Hanna, but today we called them Hazel and Phinneous.

We hope they'll stay!

Do Something Tom's

Last night as I was briefly watching television, I saw a commercial for AT&T Wireless. They featured one of the head guys from Tom's Shoes. The point of the commercial was that because Tom's provides shoes to children in need around the world, they needed a reliable network... "with more bars in more places." This commercial reminded me of a direct mailing I received several years ago from Save the Children. In the envelope was a photo of a child's foot with a guinea worm crawling out. It was a horribly graphic image and one that has stayed with me up to now. Tom's makes canvas shoes and sells them for around $44; for each pair they sell, they also provide a pair to a child in need. So really, it's like $22 per pair. Not bad. I encourage everyone to check out their site.

I've not bought a pair of Tom's yet, but perhaps this summer I'll find some! They're introducing new styles/prints in a couple of weeks. I spoke to them on the phone last week since the styles I liked online were sold out in my size.

People right here in our own communities need shoes too. I recently finished reading Same Kind of Different As Me. Wow. It was an AMAZING book. It's about two men, Ron Hall, a multimillion dollar art dealer, and Denver Moore, a former slave. Set in the 60's, this book is a true account of how two men's lives became intertwined through one woman. It is one of the most inspiration books I've read ever and it's easily on my top 5 list! The authors speak at events around the country and help raise money for homeless shelters.

We may not have the guinea worm here in the states, but that doesn't mean our residents don't deserve shoes too. This week for Do Something Monday, I'm going to see what groups are signed up to volunteer at our shelter and try to help during the next rotation. I'm also going to stalk the Tom's site to see when their new shoes are available. What are you going to do?

Dog Day at the Commons

Canine Crawl - 09 - finally! This event was supposed to have been last month but it was cancelled due to rain. We had a great day yesterday -- I helped my sister since she set up MAGDRL's booth this year. She volunteers for the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League and has been fostering dogs for a while... one of her former fosters, Raleigh, came to visit!

Britt and Titan get things started!

Raleigh! He had is eye removed due to severe glaucoma, but at 21-weeks old, he's as normal as normal puppy can be!

Noah, one of L and K's dogs... I love this picture, it's the poster pic that danes are great with young children!!

Samson and Raleigh, Samson's people are interested in adopting from MAGDRL. He won the biggest dog contest!

Nola and Titan sniff out the wagon of puppies, apparently there were six more and no, we didn't bring one home!

Shop Local

This is WAY cool. Some of my most favorites spots are small, local, yet trendy shoppes and restaurants. We have quite a few in my city and I'm sure you do too! Read this and show some support!