Winter Solstice 2014

Hello Everyone,

Today is the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year and the longest night.

When I was younger I loved summer, but, since I have gotten older and have been married to the man of my dreams...I have fallen in love with winter. I love the beauty of it, how peaceful it is when the snow is falling and when you just look out and see snow on the tree branches and bushes. I love our long walks together in the snow and how I walked on my first frozen river with him. 

I love bundling up in warm coats, hats, scarves and gloves. I call E my "nature boy", he loves the outdoors and is an amazing skier. He taught me to ski when he came back from Iraq and we have so much fun when we go. Then, I love coming in, sitting by the fireplace, having some hot cocoa and just seeing the beauty from our windows. I also love watching the wildlife in our back and front yards.

I love watching Holly in the snow. E will throw snowballs at her to catch and when she bites into them it is the cutest thing or how she follows him around outside with the snow blower. I watch her walk in the path/maze that E shovels for her in the backyard and she is just so content. I think she likes the crunching of the snow under her paws and wearing the coats I sew for her.

Have a wonderful week!! Bundle up!!

Happy Birthday Holly!!

Happy 8th Birthday Holly!!!  We love you so very much!! You have given us so much happiness and so much love!! We treasure you so very much!! You grew up too quick, but, we always see the puppy in you.

 

The first night (February 13th) we brought you home (date on picture was wrong),

Our first walk in Fairfax park in Virginia in your cute little coat.

You still make this cute puppy face (definitely wrong date on that picture LOL)!

Protecting your brother Patch.

You are always so good about modeling when Mommy sews you a new coat.

Always with a smile on your face!

You are always happy with your Daddy at home and helping him in the yard!

Love,
Daddy and Mommy ♥

Polka Dot Coat For Holly and Germany

Hello Everyone,

We are anticipating another snow storm here in northern NY, so, I decided to make Holly another coat. I used See and Sew #B5275 again. She was not a happy camper sitting in the snow and slowly sinking down into it.

Source: See and Sew

E and I came across this adorable polka dot fabric. I used the same pattern I used for the other coats here and here. When we put it on her, we couldn't stop giggling because she looked so stinkin' cute. At this point, she was ready to go back inside the house, because dinner was being served soon...she is such a Military pup.

I am going to use the same fabric to make a neck pillow for our upcoming trip to Europe. I'm going to make E a neck pillow, a cover for his recording studio board and a bag for Holly's food and toys. We will be posting there soon and we are so excited. This is my first trip to Europe and it is going to be such a wonderful adventure!!

I am linking up with these parties, Remodelaholic, More the Merrier and TCB.

Have a wonderful evening!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hello Everyone,

Happy Valentine's Day!! Yesterday, we celebrated our 10 year anniversary of E proposing to me. It is such a special day for us. We always talk about that day and how he was so nervous. I had suggested we go out for dinner a day before Valentine's Day to avoid the crowds (which we didn't LOL). He secretly planned everything out with the restaurant beforehand and when he excused himself to leave the table...ladies he got down on BOTH knees. It was so loud in the restaurant and I heard ladies at the surrounding tables go "OMG he's proposing!!" I knew what he was doing, but, I couldn't hear what he wa saying. When I read his lips say "Will You Marry Me?" I immediately said "YES!!". After the shock wore off I asked E to write down on a piece of paper what he said (I still have that piece of paper). 

Also, yesterday we celebrated our 7 year anniversary of having our amazing dog Holly. It has been an absolute joy having her in our lives. She gives us so much love and affection.

Have a wonderful day!! Keep your eye out for cupid.

Happy Birthday Holly!!!

Happy 6th Birthday Holly!!!  We love you so very much!!



 

Love,
Daddy & Mommy ♥

I've been featured!!

Hello Everyone,


I just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to Justine from Sew Country Chick who has featured Another Coat for Holly on Sew & Tell Saturday May 5. Make sure you stop by her blog to see what she's up to.


Have a wonderful day!



P.S. Let's go NY Rangers!!!

Another Coat for Holly

Hello Everyone,

I completed another coat for Holly, since its still cold up here. She is so good about wearing the coats I make her. I used See and Sew #B5275 again, it was used on this coat.

We are patiently waiting for the warmer weather. We did have a few warm days and flowers and trees are already in bloom.

I am linking up with these parties and TCB.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Holly's First Coat

Hello Everyone,

I finally finished sewing Holly's coat and love how it came out. It was a very simple pattern and can't wait to make another one for her. I used See and Sew #B5275. Its perfect for the weather up here in Canada.

Source: See and Sew

E and I came across this adorable fabric. She looks amazing in red and I love the little paw prints everywhere. When we put it on her, we couldn't stop giggling because she looked so cute.

Let me know what you think. I am linking up to these parties and this party.

Have a great evening!!

Unfortunately...things don't work out

Hello Everyone,

I am going to keep this short and sweet. Unfortunately, we had to surrender Lily to PAWS Humane Society yesterday. She was a very sweet and loving dog, but, she was constantly nipping and coming after Holly. We also noticed at times she would show her aggression towards E and myself. We believe that Lily didn't have her mother or father around to teach her right from wrong. We asked the vet at Auburn if this was possible and they agreed. Thankfully, PAWS has foster parents that help with behavioral issues and I know that Lily will find a wonderful home. This was such a hard decision for E and I. We did fall in love with her and wanted to make her part of our family, but, it just wasn't meant to be.

The main reason this all came to past was that Holly has an injured knee that we are trying to mend so she doesn't need surgery and we need to take care of her. On Monday, we took Holly to the vet at Auburn University to have her knee checked out. We were so relieved to here that at the moment she doesn't need surgery. She had pulled her ACL either in the house or out in the backyard. We think because of the the finish on the wood floors here and the major contributor was the Blue Buffalo dog food. The story behind that goes...E ran out to Petsmart to pick up Holly's food about 6 months ago. We always use Eukanuba Lab, but, there was a recall. A Blue Buffalo rep approached him and told him how great the food was and how healthy it was. Well, in two weeks time Holly packed on over 20 pounds. This is what caused the pull in her knee. Our vet put Holly on diet dog food and we got her down to a very healthy weight. She is now 68 pounds and the Auburn vet would like her to be at 64 pounds. We learned that Blue Buffalo is a very high protein food and should be given to very active dogs (ie. Military and K9 working dogs). Especially, with this Georgia heat Holly is not that active and we would never subject her to the water with the alligators in it.

We do miss Lily's sweet face and big heart, the way she would run around the house, how angelic she looked while she slept either on my lap or in my arms, and how she loved the way E rubbed her ears. E and I are having such a hard time with this and we miss her.

A Great Weekend

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Valentine's Day and weekend. E and I are having a wonderful long weekend. On Friday, we throughly enjoyed watching the opening ceremonies for the Vancover Olympics and we had a beautiful snowfall here in Southern GA.

We got 6 inches and since we are missing our Northern NY weather...for one day it made us feel like we were home. We took Holly out for a nice walk and playtime in the snow.

On Saturday we celebrated the 6 year anniversary of E proposing to me. It is such a special day for us and we always talk about that day and how he was so nervous. I had suggested we go out for dinner a day before Valentine's Day to avoid the crowds (which we didn't LOL). He secretly planned everything out with the restaurant beforehand and when he excused himself to leave the table...ladies he got down on BOTH knees. It was so loud in the restaurant and I heard ladies at the surrounding tables go "OMG he's proposing!!" I knew what he was doing, but, I couldn't hear the words. When I read his lips say "Will You Marry Me?" I immediately said "YES!!". After the shock wore off I asked E to write down on a piece of paper what he said. LOL I still have that paper and it was such a romantic and beautiful proposal. Yesterday, E brought me beautiful red roses to celebrate.

Also, we are celebrating our 3 year anniversay of having our amazing dog Holly. It has been an absolute joy having her in our lives. She gives us so much love and affection and she is such a great sister to Patch. He is an older little guy/kitty, but, has taking such a shine to her. Its so great to see them interact with one another.

Have a great evening!! Go USA!!!

Update on Holly

Holly is doing well and have been back to her old self...happy, loving, peppy and playful. The vet gave her a clean bill of health. The antibiotics worked beautifully and we are just relieved that it was just a cut on her paw pad and nothing else.

Holly would like to thank everyone for your well wishes and prayers.

Our dog Holly

Today we took our yellow Lab Holly to the vet. She has been limping and favoring her paw since Thursday and at the time we said we would watch it for a day or two and if there was no change we would take her to the vet. I was able to schedule the appointment for today (thank goodness). The doctor checked it, said it was swollen and administered Lidacaine. The way she yelped just broke our hearts. Of course I started to cry, but, at the same time praising her, telling her that she was a good girl and that we loved her. E with his torn rotator cuff is lifting her onto the table with his good arm and holding her down. I know he is in pain for himself, feeling her pain too, but, he is also praising her and telling her he loved her. The doctor said that it was an infection. Holly was prescribed to oral antibiotics that work together and a topical antibiotic. We take her back next week so the doctor can take a look at it.

Holly is such an amazing dog. She is full of so much love, so smart, funny, full of life, so obedient and just loves to play. When she sleeps, she looks like she did when we brought her home when she was 3 months old. We so treasure her and she is spoiled and deserves to be spoiled. She has her therapeutic beds from LL Bean with her name embroidered on both of them.

I will keep you posted on her progress after her visit next week. Have a great day.

Injuries

Its been an interesting week here. E's torn hamstring is still healing and last night he was rearranging our basement and thinks he did some serious damage to his rotator cuff. So, he will be going to sick call on Monday. I hope it is not torn, if it is, he will need surgery. Feel better Sweetie!!

During the week Holly (our yellow Lab) must have caught her nail on something and got herself a little cut on her paw out in the backyard. Our poor furry baby now has a limp and if she continues to do so I will take her to the Vet on Monday. It breaks my heart to see my honey and our baby in pain.

Our backyard is horrible and not at all how E would like it. He is from upstate NY and loves a beautiful, lush, green lawn. Its basically dirt with weeds growing out of it. We have been trying to repair it, but, hopefully the management company here on post will lay new sod when they put in our cement patio...whenever that will be. Oh and did I mention that when it rains it pours in our basement...that is why we need the cement patio. The water has no where to go and seeps in through the walls of the basement. Thank goodness we have a kayak.

I hurt my knee during a Boot Camp fitness class here on post. E thinks I strained my ACL and MCL during one of our drills or sprints. So, I missed 2 sessions this past week and will miss the last 2 sessions next week. So, now I will have to ease up on my workouts and wait for this to heal.

So, here we are the 3 amigos...with some kind of gimp. Of course, the crafting bug is calling to me and I had to answer. We picked up this adorable unfinished mission doorway entry table. I painted it this beautiful red color today and will spray lacquer on it tomorrow. I guess tomorrow will be a crafting/laundry day. I have to finish my Christmas cards too. I will post pics of those when I finish.

Have a great weekend!!