Broken Heart

The same day that I found out my bid on the house went through was the day that I ended up with a stray dog jumping into my car. These pictures break my heart. They were the pictures I took of her before I took her to animal care and control which I will NEVER ever do again! She was lovely and would have been a perfect pet for someone but unfortunately they have a policy at Animal Care and Control about not adopting out any kind of pit bulls. Also they only have to keep them for about 5 days before they euthanize them so she was put to sleep instead of having a home found for her. I'm really upset about it because I even put wrote on the paperwork that I would have been more than happy to pay to adopt her if her owners were not found. They however did nothing to contact me and when I called back about her was when I found out she was already gone. Please, just read this post and realize how important it is to take care of your pets--spay and neuter them! Keep their tags and collars on them--she didn't have anything! Microchip if you have a dog that wanders! And if you are interested in getting a new pet please consider doing something good for yourself and the world by taking in a stray--from the newspaper, from Animal Care and Control, from the Humane Shelter, from a neighbor who can't keep their pet, from whoever--but realize that dogs who are free are often just as great if not better than pure breeds that you pay a ton for!

I called her Zara--I loved her for the short time she was in my life!
I wish I could have saved her and if I had known what was in store
for her I would have tried harder!

Here are some pictures of my dog--
he was a free dog and he is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time!
I love him and would definitely recommend strays to anyone!

He's a great, fuzzy, little snuggler!

Please take care of your pets!

Or Gussy will bark at you!

Random Art Bits

These are some random bits of arts and crafts that I've done over the last couple of months. I just like sharing them, hopefully someone enjoys looking at them. :o)

This was for an encouragement swap on swap-bot.com.

These were some fun postcards that I recently made from
discarded books, paint chips, and stickers!
Cheap, easy, and fun to do!

This was one of the ATCs that I did recently. I love it!!!
I want to make some more with buttons for myself!
This one really cracks me up though!

Art Journal Pages

I signed up to take an online art journal class. It was pretty fun, but honestly I wasn't able to keep up with everyone because things have been kind of weird the last couple of months, but I was going to share a few of my pages. I would like to say though that I was definitely trying to follow the instructor too much and not following myself enough, so honestly out of the pages that I did, these are the ones that I felt were the most "me."

Big News!

So it finally is happening! I bought a house!
It's in an addition, but the back yard faces a field, so that makes it feel a bit more secluded.

This is the first of two full bathrooms!!!
(That yellow spot on the floor isn't there in real life--only in the pictures!)

This is the kitchen with the Jenn-air stove which needs repairs.
The kitchen feels really small to me, but I'm going to live with it for awhile and then maybe do some remodeling in the future. When I save up some money!
Oh, and that's Cliff the inspector--he told me the house needs some maintenance, but overall it's not that bad! Woohoo!

Um, that's my dog Gussy checking out the carpet by the back door. He's just making sure the house is dog approved--apparently it was since before we left he was rubbing on the carpet!
(Of course he is a dog and he rubs in bird poo in the yard too!)

This is our newest family portrait!
That's my mom, my dog, and myself in front of the fireplace!
The walls in the living area are currently cranberry--that will be changed soon enough!

Only a couple more weeks until we get the keys and start working on the place and moving things in. Thank goodness for family and friends because without them I would be in so much trouble! Now keep your eyes open for a washer and dryer combo and a new dinning room table!

Funniest thing that happened today!

Today at work a routine customer came to the desk and told me he doesn't get to see me very often but he was glad to see me today. Then he smiled and showed me his few teeth that still are intact and told me "When I see you, I think of a stuffed cabbage." This made me laugh and I said I'm not sure if that's good or bad, he said it was good and told me, "Have a good day beautiful, I mean that!" It was so funny! I guess this is what I look like to him:

I've been feeling really bad about myself lately, very unwanted, unsupported, and unloved... but now I just feel like a big stuffed cabbage!!! Gotta go somewhere and try this dish, maybe it will turn my life around! (Although the kind gentlemen is not my type--because of the age and bad oral health--I do appreciate that he said something nice although slightly unwarranted, but still not too sleazy... I don't think unless of course "stuffed cabbage" is a metaphor for something I don't know about....)

Last year...

Last year I decided to try to challenge myself to cook 52 new recipes during the year--they could be things I had eaten before, but the recipe had to be something that I hadn't tried yet. I'm a recipe addict by the way--I work at the library so I'm constantly looking at cookbooks and other things trying to find something tastey and fun to try for dinner or dessert. So basically the idea was to try some of those recipes that I copy and hoard in my house. And I did it! Over the last weekend I ended up making the last of my 52 recipes, and here they are in no particular order:
Focaccia and Dipping Oil, Oat Bread, Black Bean Tortilla Bake, Pina Colada Cheesecake, Crepes, Random Casserole--not good!, Peanut Butter Valentines Day Chex Mix (which is super yummy and I think I need to make some really really soon!), Sugar Cookies from a jar--and the icing to go with it, Beer Bread, Fried Rice, Coleslaw, Margarita Frozen Dessert (definitely a good one too), Taco Casserole, Peach and Raspberry Pie, Tex Mex Lasagna, Papa Johns Pizza Crust (Cheryl loves this), Lasagna rolls, Crispy Orechiette with Broccoli Pine nuts and Garlic, Zucchini "crab" cakes, Sweet Potato fries, Crab cakes with stovetop stuffing, Sesame Noodles, Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo, Couscous with yogurt dressing, Peach Cupcakes, Raspberry Buttercream Icing (my first attempt at buttercream, it wasn't very good either), Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings, Penne pasta with Spinach and Ham, Sue Schoppman's Pie Crust, Homemade Apple Pie filling, Cheesy Chicken and Biscuits, Apple Dumplings, Layered Enchilada Bake, Cheesy Turkey and Rice Burrito, Pumpkin Pie, Crockpot Thanksgiving Turkey, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Sweet Potato Casserole, Mom's Chicken and Noodles from Scratch, Mini Spice Cake Tarts (super yummy!), Apple Pear Crumble Pie (also a favorite now!), Bruschetta Chicken Bake, Creamy Pasta with Peas, Oatmeal Scottchie Pan Cookies, Apple Swirl Bundt Cake, Cream Cheese Cookies, Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake, Lasagna, Spice Cookies, Chicken Crockpot Curry, Velvetta Taco Pie, Pineapple Upside Down Cake (which has been the best thing ever in my mind! I love coming home to it at the end of the day!).

I'm actually pretty proud of myself for just setting a goal and sticking to it! It was a lot of fun!
What to challenge myself to in 2009? Well I didn't decide to do this until the end of January, so I figure I'll give myself about a month before I start the challenge, whatever that may be....

Best Wishes!

Boxer Puppy for Christmas and a few other dogs too!

This is my cousin's boxer puppy!
He's so cute!
Lets call him Steve!!!!

Look Steve has his own puppy teething ring!!!
You are too cute Steve!!!

Gussy found a girlfriend!
That's Maggie his favorite Puppy friend!
Um... and Blue no longer has ears...
actually he is no longer living at my house because he had to
move on to greener pastures after his stuffing was systematically removed by two crazy dogs!

This picture just makes me smile!

Enjoy the New Year Holiday and see you in 2009!
Best Wishes!