From our house to yours, we wish everyone a

Happy New Year!

May this year be very Happy, Healthy, Safe & a Prosperous one!

Many Blessings to all!

Mike, Mary, Lady & Coco

2 Days After & Thank you's!

Hard to believe Christmas has come and past just as fast as it came! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I know I had wanted to post, but with grand kids around I found that very hard to do! We haven't even gotten pictures taken like we had planned yet, but their going back and forth between grandparents too. Here are a couple shots I was able to get of Kalee when she would stand still for me... this girl is hell on wheels!!
This was Christmas Day and then I got this one this morning in the outfit I made her, just fits, so next time I must make bigger.
Of course Lady had to check it out too...lol Christmas evening found me and the kids doing this
Think they did pretty good. Tj had the white icing, Kalee had the little balls and Gram ma got to do the green icing...lol We still have a gingerbread house and gingerbread men yet if there is time.
Here is a shot of our oldest son, Tim

Sure is great that he's here, I do miss this kid, but he's having fun being here and helping Mike put all the new parts on the GTO. We did get all the parts we need. Even said once the engine is ready he'll be here to help with that too. We just found out we have 1 month more to wait roughly.
We had a very nice Christmas and it was a kid and doggie Christmas! Also pop-pop too if you want to count all the car parts that have been coming in the last month...lol So we've had a great time, noisy time and I will need a doggie shrink by the time Monday come around! My girls were spoiled by Santa though, with the gifts they got and boy do they love em!!! I found these neat Doggie Donut beds, had bought one thinking Lady wouldn't use it...HA, was I wrong, went out yesterday to get another:) so now they both have one.

Here are some of the toys they got

Unfortunately our poor Coco has spent most of her time here

under dads desk. She growls at the site of Kalee when she comes down in the morning. Since this picture I took their old white doggie bed and put in under there so she's off the floor. She has some time out and about when the kids go to visit Krista's family. I know it will be a while after they leave before she settles down, especially with noises.


Now for Thank yous!! I'm still Thanking Nancy for my R.A.K gift. Yes I decided she needed to be recognized for that. I'm so grateful and can't wait till the house is back to normal so I can get out my winder and go for it!! Thank yous go next to Chan for the cute doggie paw bookmark! (pic borrowed from her ravelry project page) I love it and its really cute!! Next Thank you goes to Anita for the pretty scents and bath balls! She made Smelly Jellies Scent Jars and Snowball bath balls, they really are cute and the scents will come out after the kids leave. :) but they do smell wonderful!!
My last Thank you goes to my brother, Bobby! Been a long time since we've exchanged gifts, but things are working out good for him now and when he saw this he knew he had to get it for me. Knowing its my nickname and I do collect them...isn't she beautiful?

I think she's absolutely gorgeous and even though I don't think he knows of my blog, I still say, Thank you Bobby, she's just so gorgeous!! And she's fiber optic which I didn't know until I unwrapped her from all the cardboard. I just love her!!
I also want to say Thank you to all who stop by here and read even though I haven't been too regular as of late. I do hope this year will be lots better, I just need to change my attitude and quit with the pity party..lol I hope to catch up on all your blogs here soon and be the friend I use to be and usually am. So on that note I will go, pressing my luck for this time to do this, need to finish up some cooking.
I hope you all have a very Safe, Happy and Healthy New Year!! Be good to yourselves and I'll see you next year!

Snowy DoT

Snow, Snow, Snow...Oh what doggie fun yesterday when Vegas got snow. My girls went right outside after we got home yesterday, though Coco was cautious, Lady went to check out the white stuff. Surprisingly Coco did venture out, she really had to pee..lol The girls like to lick at the snow/slush on the patio, no running around which kinda surprised me some, but they did venture in it and didn't mind it too much. Though Lady liked it more. Really wish we could've gotten a shot of her trying to bite at it while it was falling from the sky..lol she had Mike laughing :) Just too funny when she does that..she liked to do that to rain too...silly girl. Lady took a liking to Robs tiny snowman he made and she licked the eyes off of it...lol Here she is kinda blocking it so you really can't see it and I didn't send that pic to work.

Of course Coco stood on the patio to watch, she wasn't sure what Rob was doing with the handful of snow..lol She is our wimpy one when it comes to wet stuff. Rob was trying to get the girls to do there usual run around and get rid of some energy they stored up sleeping all day, but didn't work, they wanted to sniff the snow.

Wish I would've got pics later that evening, but it was just too dark as it snow the rest of the night so even the back patio part was covered. Only about not quite and inch, but it was great to watch it coming down. Driving home yesterday kinda felt like we were in a snow globe, just beautiful. It was pretty when it started laying on trees but it was funny to see Palm trees with snow on them..lol We are all just glad we got some on our side of town and actually we got a little more then work here, This morning we still had some snow on the ground, here at work its gone except right up against the back wall of the parking lot.

Well, have to get to my work now, me and the girls hope you all have a fantastic DoT day!!!

Be Safe!!

R.A.K. Christmas & Snow!

Oh my gosh we've had some surprises here lately starting with a Christmas party Monday night. After coming home I was surprised with a box for me from a very dear friend! After opening I didn't know whether to smile or cry. I can't tell you how much that meant to me! You see I have been wanting to make this Comfi Cardi but things just haven't gone very well in the last few months so this package really brightened the light at the end of this dark tunnel I've been in lately. This is a great RAK Christmas Gift! Thank you so very much!!

This yarn is gorgeous isn't it? Its Alpaca Silk in Amethyst. Very pretty and won't come out of the wrapper until I can work with it! I can't wait, actually have something to look forward to in the New Year and possibly my first New Year project!!

To add to surprises, at the Christmas party I had admired the centerpieces the guys made. It was the 2 guys we bowl with on Tuesday night, Mikey & Jim. They made their own centerpieces for their party and Mikey brought one to bowling Tuesday night for me! I have to take a pic of that yet, but its really pretty. I've been busy trying to finish up the gift for co-workers and I"m still doing those. Mainly working on one special one for our Controller gal, she's a sweetheart and kinda the daughter I never had :) I also have been trying to finish up some boxes that I make out of plastic canvas to hold my fudge..quick and pretty little gifts.

This one is the second one I made and will be given tomorrow. The other one I did in the variegated Christmas colors but didn't get a pic, finished it the night I had to take it. For Mikey and Jim in fact. Just a little Thank you to them.

To top all of this off, Vegas has snow!! Yep, you heard right, we got SNOW, that wet white stuff that looks absolutely gorgeous. almost felt like we were in a snow globe. I've been wishing, hoping and praying for snow. Been too long since we've seen it. It started snowing this afternoon and has and is still snowing. Its mixes with rain every so often so we have sleet too, but we have about an inch little less at our house. I'm sure there is more on the west side of town. All afternoon there's been excitement of the snow and I have that song that Bing Crosby sings with the 2 gals and other guy in Holiday Inn..the song Snow, Snow, Snow in the train scene...don't know the name of it but Mike played it once we got home. Anyways, here is how it looked when we got home from work tonight.

Pretty isn't it? Well it is to us, but we don't get it much..lol Really makes it feel more like Christmas, so I'm considering it an early Christmas wish gift.

Well I have to mail myself some doggie pic's.. was that ever funny watching them out in this stuff, but you'll have to wait til I get it posted tomorrow, gotta hit the hay so I get up in the morning...

Happy DoT!

Happy Dog Days to everyone!
I can't believe its been a week already, gosh time is flying by just way too fast! Think there's anyway we can slow it down some? Well, it was just a thought.. lol
I decided and well the girls sniffed them out too, to give them their Christmas rawhide's. Lady took off with the Snowman one

and Coco took off with the Reindeer one. They really enjoyed these alot so to my pal, again Thank you! You were a big hit!!

Afraid my girls really haven't been to good of girls here lately. Can you see the suck up trying to be nice with daddy? lol She laid there for quite a while too, being good as gold...lol. Anyone know where I can get devil horns...that would be more like these two lately. Oh well, we'll make it through, they probably just sense it from us. We are not ready for Christmas, speaking of I need to get off and get to some projects...running out of time quick and my pain in the butts are bugging me to go out..lol Now I know why they are so dangcute, little buggers they are...

You all have a great day, I'll try to catch up again sooner, I really have a couple things I need to get done asap!!

DoT Holiday Swap Continued

Oh my gosh, the doorbell just rang and Lady & Coco received another package! The girls went nuts!
Oh my gosh, more of the same, but yet some different and I took a pic, but need to finish eating while its hot so will post the pics in a bit....
I do know to say Thank you to Snuffs! Many woofs to you!!

I'm back with the photo and you can see that we have another red rope and Snowman rope.
Snuffs, Lady & Coco love those Log Bone bites :) Double woofs on the treats! I know that they are happy about the straight rawhide's too, we are out of those.
I did however beat Lady to the scarf and hat on the snowman rope...lol save myself from having to pick up threads later, I took it off :) The girls are very happy campers at the moment.
Thanks again Snuffs!! Hope you have a very Woofy Christmas and great Woofy New Year!

Special Doggie Post!-DoT Holiday Swap

Wow, Thank you to "whomever" was our Dogs Holiday Ornament Swap pal!
The girls got this

great surprise in yesterdays mail and I was able to get pictures before having to leave to go bowling.

This was what was inside, all the way from the UK. (Thank You to Partner unknown)

I quickly opened their sausages to give me time to get their toys unwrapped and tags off. Given the choice of toys first was Lady. She sniffed them both and decided to try the red rope first, so off and running to the living room she went.

Finally Coco was done her sausage and came to see what else there was, but she decided she wanted what Lady had... so of course Lady came to grab the rope Snowman

and as you can see Coco swiftly moved in to grab the red rope...lol You have to understand with Coco, whatever Lady has, Coco wants and she's usually gets it. She will fight Lady for it, meaning she will bug her to death until Lady just decides to let her have it or tug at it until she gets it...lol

They loved the sausages and their toys (as you can see)!! The cute Snowman rawhide ornament is too cute for them to fight over so it will go on the top of our tree when we get it and be put on when the girls are not around so they don't know its there..lol

I will tell you, Lady had the scarf off the snowman within 15 minutes...I never thought to take the hat off (though I think it was sewn on) cause when we finally got home there was a trail of brown thread (use to be snowman hat) mixed with a trail of tissue pieces..We guess Coco wanted to join in, (mommy forgetting to shut the bathroom door), the bathroom is Lady's safe place and Coco loves to get into the bathroom trash for tissues. I'm guessing Lady was laying behind the toilet again and Coco followed her.

Anyways....To our Swap Pal, Lady says Arue, rur rur rue (she's a talker not a barker) and Coco says woof woof woof woof, translation to both is "THANK YOU very much!!!"

As above mention, we have no idea who our pal was, no name on the package, just an address that we don't recognize. There was no note so I hope whomever she/he is they get to stop by and read this. I also Thank you very much!!! It was a nice surprise at the end of a long day and not knowing what we'd be coming home to..the girls have been somewhat naughty lately...lol Though yesterday they were good girls...well up until we left.

Well now I have to get on the ball and get my pal's swap out, one more thing to pick up!

Hope you all have a great weekend!! Later..............

Project Update & DoT

Happy DoT to everyone!! Thanks for coming by!

I'll start with the DoT post first since it is their day, though not much new with the girls other than Coco's biting when they chase each other...lol

We'll be going to the vet on Friday, Lady needs her shots and Coco is going to get under her ears checked. I'm hoping its just her matted fur, but we'll get it checked out. Both will get nail trimmed too while we're there. I don't have too many new pic's of the girls, seems they are either running or laying around. I think mostly staying out our way as we're still fooling with the train stuff, but Mike & Rob have been working on the bridge so I'm hoping it won't be too much longer.

Coco has been real good lately getting up on the recliners and sofa. Seems my chair is her favorite spot! But this is the only new shot I got this week of them when Lady got down and Coco moved in...

I was shocked when I loudly said "STAY" and Lady froze:) I also wanted to post the pic I use as my ravitar on ravelry. Its my favorite until we take the one were planning.

I think Coco looks so cute with the Santa hat instead of the reindeer ears and Lady didn't mind the reindeer ears at all. I also use this as my wallpaper at work too.

So now we'll move onto some crocheting that I've been doing. A co-worker had brought this in to see if I could make one for her, so I brought it home over the Thanksgiving weekend...

this kept me pretty much busy the whole weekend, but this is what I took back Monday to work..

you can see hers up in the left corner kinda folded up. Only thing different is the one I did is alittle longer in the neckline "v" part. I did make the tie part too but didn't get it put on till after the picture. She loved it and was excited about it being done already and I even got a hug! It was an easy project once I figure out how many stitches were in the opening. After doing this I thought I'd try a shawl again. I've always been wanting to make a shawl, but never could find one I truly understood how to do...well just so happened one of my groups on Ravelry posted one for our CAL project for Dec/Jan. Am I ecstatic too, I am doing this shawl just fine, no problems yet, (knock on wood) and it actually is looking like the pictures. Here's what I have so far, though I've only picked it up twice...

I am so glad as I was really starting to get a complex about doing shawls..lol I have to put it aside for now as I have so much I "wanted" to crochet or sew for gifts and haven't gotten anything done yet. I will give you all the details when its alot further or you'll see up in my projects page on ravelry. I also have made more Candy Cane Covers..

Just need to put bows on these and their done. I've been scouting out patterns and making a list so when I go looking for everything I need, I have it...lol Gosh I've never been so behind, I haven't even gotten any bought gifts yet and I'm the one who is usually done by now, gosh I hope I'm not the loony out on Christmas Eve doing shopping..lol

I know there are few other things I've done, but for the life of me, not sure what..lol brain has just been in high gear and on go, go, go! I am going to go though, hopefully get some projects started, I need to do a few Christmas cards too for an exchange.

Hope you all have a great Thursday!! Make it a great one!!

DoT Thanksgiving!

The girls and family wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving with many blessings! May it be a safe one for all.

As for our post, Happy DoT to all! Make sure you stop by the DoT blog to visit all the other doggies too.

Today we have some cute pics that took just a little doing to get, but I want to tell you that these girls were absolutely fantastic sports!! Though their expressions may tell you different, they really were good and got lots of treats just cause! I couldn't wait to post these as we did this Sunday and I've been chomping at the bit since...their just too cute and perfect to help start the season.

May I present "Reindeer Lady"

and "Reindeer Coco" They don't look to happy huh, lol. Coco was fine if she was near Lady and I think Lady was happy that she wasn't the only one being picked on..lol, they settled some to co-operate....then we were lucky enough to get this one...

Angel she is not, but then neither is Coco..lol I was really surprised at how long they stayed for this one, but they were well rewarded for their co-operation! Going through a time with Lady agian getting into things and acting wierd, but we are well and doing good.

Going to cut this short, finish up some little stuff and try to go stalk my DoT Ornament Swap pals blog :) She probably wonders if she has a pal...lol

Again have a Happy and safe Thanksgiving!! Don't eat too much turkey, gotta save room for pie! :)

Bookworm Award-Page 56

I was tagged by Mindy this fun award called Bookworm Award or Page 56.

Here are the rules:
Open the closest book to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment.Turn to page 56....Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following there.Then pass this lovely little award on to five other people.......

Well, glad I have a book with that many pages close to me..usually its a crochet magazine but the way I've been lately I happen to have an inspirational book called "Angel Inside" by Chris Widener near me so here it goes...
5th sentence:
He started to move over to the place where the artist was working.

2 to 5 sentences more:
Tom followed.
When they reached the workbench, the young artist picked up one of the large chisels and positioned it carefully.
Then, with one swift blow, he brought the hammer down and took off a large piece of the marble.
"What will this be when you are finished with it?" the old man asked.
"I am hoping it becomes a lion," the artist said.

Well, there you have it, now I'm suppose to tag 5 others, but really I've been so behind I couldn't tell you who already has this award or not, SO, if you would like to, please join in and let me know. It is interesting to see what is written.

DoT

Sorry I'm a bit late, forgot to take pic off camera and email it to myself. Anyways, here they are, both wanting moms set but you won't see who won, (I can't find where the pic got too), well here was the big switch..lol It started out with Coco in my seat, then you can see both...

Of course when I walked away, Coco got down and Lady made her way up..lol Silly pups!

Well, gotta run, bowling time. I'll be back tomorrow night to get things caught up..have a tag to post plus get my swap button put up.

Hope everyones day went well and hope the evening goes great!! Later.........

Almost Ready to Board!

Gosh, its been so long since I've posted regularly, except for the couple doggie post I try to get done in time, I forget where to start..lol

I'm glad to say that its almost Boarding time for the Polar Express. Guys still need to finish up the bridge yet, but all the village is done..here's the proof...just cause I know blogger won't put them side by side, I'll say that this first pic with mountain is the corner left side of fireplace..train go through the mountain and will come out onto the bridge section which isn't done yet...lol

Then we have across the fireplace, which the train will run behind..

Then we have the last corner on right side of fireplace..

My son, Rob say this corner needs more tree's..lol I laugh cause the word "tree's" is a giggling word at our place lately and if you don't tell him, I will say I'm likely to agree with him, as it definitely looks alot barer compare to the other parts. :) but Mums the word..

I'll post the last wall once they get the bridge done cause that other wall and corner is where the train gets into the elf part of Polar Express. Got to say we have alot crammed into just the two wall, but considering its a lot lower so you can see it a whole lot better, we had to downsize to just 2 walls instead of the three it use to be. I do wish we could find more elves though, but that will just be something we'll keep buying when we see them. I know Mike will be doing a video tape and I'm sure he'll put it into a U-tube type form, so if I can figure out how to put that in blogger, I'll definitely share our Polar Express! Now you see why I've been so Christmasy lately!

Now that the major part of all this is done, (my part) I might get some crocheting done. I've gotten a couple items done though. I did 2 more Market bags
This yellow one was for Nancy and this other one which we're not sure what the exact color is, so we call it mauvey. Kind of a mauvey brownish color, but it worked up pretty. I've been doing more candy cane covers and finished up another swap. Now I just have my Doggie Secret Swap which I'm excited about. My girls love mail...lol

Well I have some hot cocoa waiting on me, just thought I post a quick few pictures of what we've been up too lately.

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!!

DoT-Whos' Got Daddy's Seat Now?

Hello finally! I can't believe the hard time I've been having with blogger lately but we're here now and got the pic off the camera. Thank you for waiting!

Happy DoT to everyone! I' really excited about the DoT Ornament Swap and can't wait to see who we get to spoil!

Well we have been having some doggie testings lately. It's usually Lady on the furniture, but Coco showed she can do it too!
She was right in dad's chair as soon as he got up from it..lol
She wouldn't move to let him sit back down either, so of course Lady, (our new protector), had to come see what was going on. Its been rather funny to see the way they interact with each other lately. Coco is not afraid to show she can handle any size dog and she goes for the legs or whatever fur moves by her, usually its Lady's hair in her mouth from catching her tail as she's running by. Lady in return goes for the neck...not hard and I don't think their hurting each other, but I try and stop it as I don't want it turning into a fight between the two. So we're constantly saying , "no biting Coco".
I thought I had a pic of the two on the sofa, but remember I couldn't get up to get the camera or else they would've moved. So it just the one pic for this post. Hopefully soon we'll have more as we're almost done with the mess in the living room so our doggie pics won't have Christmas boxes all over the background..lol.
Speaking of Christmas, we have our village scene all set, now just have the tree scene to finish up. Our little elf hat candy cane lights came in, so hopefully by the end of this weekend, that will be done. I'll post pic when its finished and I'll try to figure out the video posting as Mike always records it.
Well, off to take care of a few things. Hope you al have a great weekend and I'll be back over the weekend with project pics and swap pic too.

Pictures as Promised

Boy, it sure feels good to be home and know I have a few days to just chill out! Its been a long week but, its been a productive week too in between bowling and working. I joined a Ravelry swap in my Sew Obsessed group and we had a pin cushion swap. I thought, "no problem, how hard can it be to make a pin cushion?" Well, I sure found out different, especially for not sewing since last year about this time..lol, it actually took me a while to get it to work out right or at least descent enough to send to someone I didn't know, after all sometime first impressions stick. Luckily my pal loved everything I sent and it also cheered her up a bit. Whew...so here are the pin cushions I made and one has a crocheted bottom.

Here's the overall package I sent. I really had fun with in this and also found some cute button head pins to add in last minute. We're gonna have another pincushion swap around January so that will give me some time to do the one I was hoping to do. Hopefully I'll be able to work out all the kinks.

Then their was some crocheting too. I joined in a Friendship Exchange in one of my yahoo groups. I made my pal a Neck Warmer.

I don't have pic's of the other items I sent along, but I think she really liked it as I sent a bunch of new Plastic Canvas booklets that I know I'll never get to.

The neck warmer is a Lisa Gentry pattern and was part of a Crochet-a-long. She also shared her Holiday Ornaments pattern. Couldn't decide which to make first but, then did decide on the Angel of course :) I dressed it up a bit with the beads. Think she came out pretty. Figured since I've been in the Christmas Spirit, I would start some other projects when I came across this Victorian Candy cane pattern on Ravelry.

I never thought these would be so easy to make..honest it was less then 10 minutes to make these covers. I have 3 of the Aran Gold, but only this one had the ribbon on it.

Sorry still no pics of the doggies yet, but I hope to have some for next weeks DoT post. The girls have been great with all the chaos going on, but the train stuff is almost done with shelf set up. I've been playing with the girls to keep them out of the way and of course spoiling with treats and also crocheting when I can get it in there. Speaking of which I need to get back too. I think Saturday is going to be a busy train set up day!

Hope all have a great weekend! Make it a good one!