Oh Looky It's Lexie

This pretty girl has interesting color due to poor breeding. I liken her coloring to a very light caramel although she looks like a salt and pepper in the pictures. She has light brown eyes that will steal your heart. She is sweet, a little shy and a love. I am working on leash training and confidence building with her. 

We recently got 8 dogs in from Maine. Not spayed, not neutered. I got Rufus and Lexie, and she is in heat (of course) and so is one of the other females. They came from a backyard breeder that had 17 dogs of different breeds and 7 horses, she was breeding them all. She seemed to have cared for them in an emotional sense but they were not clean, they had fleas and there were no records of vetting... Animal rescuers in Maine intervened, a friend through a friend thing, when her life turned upside down. They got the animals out of there as quickly as possible and called us about the Schnauzers. The sad part of this is that when she gets back on her feet again, the cycle may start again, I hope that it doesn't. The positive thing of it is that all the dogs seem to be of good temperament. 

I will tell you more about Rufus when he lets me take a picture of him and I can include it in his story.

Gifted Revamped Wallet

As I roamed around doing Christmas shopping, I happened upon a cute wallet that was perfect for R's 15 year old daughter. She had mentioned awhile back that she wanted a wallet and lately she's been into elephants and giraffes, and teal is a favorite color, so this was a win win win.

There was a problem in that it showed signs of use by being marked up with pen on the front tab and the back panel. The front flap had erasure marks on it where someone tried to remove the pen but they removed the dye instead. This is probably why it ended up at Goodwill. Physically it was in good shape. I should have taken a before picture but didn't think of it until I was done with the 'clean up.'

I really wanted to be able to give it to her because I knew she would love it. So I did what any crafty girl with paints would do...I painted it. I mixed a green for the tab and a teal that was similar to the one that existed, for the body, but brightened it a bit. I then added some pearlescent white and a little gel medium. I painted all the  leather parts that were not part of the main pictorial image with two thin coats. Voila! Magic! Almost like new with a little broken in feel to it. The leather remained supple and I was one happy gifter. The giftee was pretty thrilled, too.

Wishing You Peace and Joy...

My Job Is Done

Presents are wrapped and under the tree and in a pile for "to Grandma's house we go."

The little nut in the photo is looking for the gift of me rubbing her belly.

See Ya Harley

Harley had visitors today. As soon as Michael sat down Harley was right there by his side. He's a little turd...wanted nothing to do with me from that moment forward. I've seen it before, I can't take it personally. He knew what they were here for...HIM!! and he was making sure that they meant it. 

Harley will now reside in New Hampshire with two dads and a cutie girl Schnauzer named Abby. He will go camping on the weekends in the summer, apparently to a sort of 'dog sanctuary' camping area of 100 acres, people and their dogs. He'll be in heaven. This couple doesn't care about his ability to use his vocal cords, Abby is vocal, too, and they don't mind it at all. Abby goes everywhere with them, and now Harley will enjoy the same, which I know he will be thrilled with. 

It was so funny, it was a few minutes before leaving and Harley kept running to the door as if to say, "hey guys! let's go!!" His mind was made up and he was outta here!

He was here for 4+  months, I thought for sure I'd be teary when he left, but he was so ready to go, how could I have any sadness? He'll do great and be so thrilled to get the spoiling he feels he deserves. 

A Morning Message from Olive (formerly Tink)

What a nice surprise to open my email and find this little nugget sent me a picture and a message about how warm and cozy she is. OK, you're right, SHE didn't 'cuz she doesn't know how to set the timer for the camera so her mom had to do it. But she sent the note (yes, I taught her well on how to use the computer to send me a note every once in awhile, and she was a fast learner.)

She had her little friends join her for the photo. How cute is she??

I miss that girl.

Funny LOL Auto Corrects

I laughed so hard, out loud, tears streaming down my face...the dogs came running to see what was wrong. Oh my gosh, how hysterical.

http://damnyouautocorrect.com/13603/the-25-funniest-autocorrects-of-dyacs-first-year/

Happy Living Room Walls

Hey Cindi!! you silly girl, it's late, but they are here...

I went around once completely painting the design, brush washing the background and inside the leaves after drawing out the lines. It wasn't bright enough, so some more mixing of colors was done to change them a bit and around I went again. Oh, it took about 40 hours total and that doesn't include the base coat as I started with the blue that was there. I only did three walls, the fourth wall has a bookcase on it and I wasn't in the mood to take all the books off to move it out of the way. Eventually, when I create a new bookshelf system, that wall will be painted with the color wash background and the dots. Not much of the wall will really show, as it is a dividing wall the intention is for a bookcase to take up most of it.

I painted the board that's the back of the wood rack to match the walls.

The walls were this blue.... 

(this picture is from a few years back when the room was transitioning)

Then the outlines....

The top photo shows the correct color combination. It was hard getting some good color in the pictures.

I freshened up all the trim with a nice white I found I like from Sherwinn Williams. My front window sills show signs of dogs excited to see what's outside. Instead of trying to smooth out the scratches I decided to look at them as the signatures of those that had taken temporary residence with me. 

Now, onto window treatments and hanging things on the walls. I'm still contemplating the whole sofa thing. ugh. 

Coffee Table-Scape

This set up changed every once in awhile when new colors were being mixed for the walls, but essentially, this is what it has looked like for about a month and a half. What I thought would be a 'quick weekend' of work, wasn't so, and I wasn't about to pick all this up each day (there's more you don't even see.) It was a few hours here, a few hours there, and a lot of hours in between that had to be put toward life and couldn't be put toward art on the walls.

I am happy to say that the coffee table now looks like it's supposed to, the wood pile is where it's supposed to be against the wall and not against the bookshelves, the sofa is pushed back to where it belongs. Other miscellaneous 'stuff' that has gathered has been picked up and my mind is remarkably clearer. The walls are done!! I'll show you tomorrow when I can get in some good pictures.