I Finally Won Something!

Well, not really me. This cutie face won "The Cutest Pet Contest" on a great blog called Furrytwang! He won his own T Shirt. We picked out the one that says Spoiled Rotten. Which he is of coarse! They also have a website with some great southern based T shirts. Stop by if you have a chance, it is a really cute site with many different types of shirts and sayings. You can also follow Furrytwang on Twitter. Thank you Jodi for the great prize and a picture of Reese in his shirt will be on the way when his shirt gets here!

This is Reese. He is a 10 yrs old Border Collie/Dalmatian mix who acts like he is about 2. We picked him up at the local pound when he was about 1. He was jumping so high in the pen and was a crazy man but there was good reason for it. He was so full of love but no one wanted to love him. He was found wondering the street and brought to the pound when he was a few months old. He was then adopted 2 times and brought back to the pound both times. He was taken in the 1st time and returned after a week because he was to hyper and the second time he was returned for the same reason but after about 3 weeks. Yes, he was hyper!! Jumping all over, running like a mad man but I think if I was locked up for that long I would have been doing the same.

While at the pound I took him out to the pen to see what he was like. He was a doll. You could see in his face that all he wanted was to be loved and to love you. He was jumping all over me and was trying to lick me to death. You really need to watch that tongue...it always wants to lick! There was no way I could walk away without him! He has turned out to be such a great dog! He was and is trained very easily and quickly. He is so smart (must be the Border Collie in him) I trained him to lay down near the table when we eat. He won't even lift his head until we are done. He will not lay under the table (I HATE that). He can sit, stay, roll over, paw, lay down, speak and best of all smile! Yes he really does smile. He lifts up his upper lip and shows his teeth but if you can see him do it his whole face gets into it just like when we do a real big smile. I am trying to get a picture of it but it happens so quick I can't get a good pic. Reese is also a great dog with kids. He doesn't care what is done to him. This dog has a heart of gold! I remember when Thomas was a few months old and he was lying on the floor and Reese can into the room and tried to step over Thomas. Well, at that moment Thomas decided he was going to roll and Reese caught Thomas's arm with his back foot. Thomas started crying and Reese took off and went and crouched by the door with his head down and wouldn't look at me. I saw the whole thing so I know he was being gentle and trying to step over Thomas, he never meant to hurt him. I felt so bad for Reese that I went over to him and spoke to him like he was human. I told him I know he was trying to be careful and that he didn't do anything wrong. He then gave me a kiss and was much better. Can you tell how much I love this dog?

He is the best dog you could ever ask for and there will never be a replacement for him.

The one flaw about Reese....NEVER let him off his run!!! We can't fence in our yard due to all the rock in our yard so we have him on a 100ft run. If he gets off his run....we get in the car to go fetch him. He is a white streak running down the road...LOL! I swear he has some greyhound in him. He is super fast. He hasn't calmed or slowed down at all since we got him. He still loves his long walks by the water, but hates to swim. We take him to my neighbors who has a large fenced in yard and he plays with their 2 black labs.

So to those families that let this love of a dog go....Eat your hearts out!! You missed out on the best dog you could have ever owned!

This is Reese playing with his grouchy sister, Sasha. As you can see she puts Reese in his place when needed and she will go after any dog that doesn't belong in our yard. Can we say Ornery. She is about 14 and we rescued her too. She was about to be put down when she was about 5 because her owner didn't want her anymore so we took her in. She is a typical female dog...no pun intended..LOL! She is an old girl set in her ways and has gotten bitchier the older she has gotten. We love her no less but she does need an attitude adjustment...LOL!!!

Reese with his Christmas bandanna on.

We love all our animals just the same and we couldn't ask for a happier household of 2 dogs and 3 cats, a bird, a 50 gallon fish tank and our chickens and of coarse my boys!

Next Stop...Catfluff!

Please stop by and check out another great shop at Artfire!

Catfluff makes such wonder items.

you will find recycled items, pillows and great totes!

Great Giveaway and Helping All In One

A good friend of mine, Franni of Sunny Days Embroidery, has brought it to my attention that a very close friend of hers is in need of some help from her fellow artisans.

Her DH is having heart surgery and needs to come up with $25,000 for the copay! Isn't that just crazy!!

Anyways,

Joann of A Pieceful Afternoon is having a giveaway of this gorgeous "Grandmother's Garden" quilt.

You can find all the details at Joann's blog and learn a little more of what is going on.

Not all of us can donate but we can all show some love! Do what you can to help out. Post on your blog, tell a friend, twitter it etc, whatever way you see fit. Also, please, stop by Joanns blog and leave a comment just letting her know that you are thinking and or praying for her and her family. Every little bit helps!

Thanks for taking the time! I know our blogging community is close and you will all do what you can!

The Crazy Train Is On The Move Again!

Our next stop on the Artfire Crazy Train is to a great shop named CreativeCoveJewelryDesign. Not only does this shop have some wonderful items that are very reasonably priced but is run by a very friendly and sweet women!!

Please make sure you stop by her blog if you have a chance too!!

Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day, I would like to talk about ways that I try to be green. I would also love to hear how you are green!! Maybe we can learn from each other :) I am not the "greenest" person out there but I try to do my part.

To start, I had my local utility company come to my home and run an energy efficiency test. They locked down my home and tested to see where air was seeping out of which windows and plugged up any holes in the attic and crawlspace that air may be getting out. They also changed all of the light bulbs to energy efficient light bulbs and this was all done for FREE!!! If this is something that you would like more information on please feel free to contact me or check with your local utility company to see if they have this kind of program. I didn't know that this program existed until I spoke with someone who had it done. Not like they are going to advertise it since it costs them money but not me!! LOL! But it is a great program to take advantage of if your utility company offers it.

I also do my part in recycling plastic, glass, tin and newspapers. Every week our recycling bin goes out full with our trash.

Speaking of trash...I think my biggest "green" project is my compost pile. I started composting full time last year. I have a little bit of an advantage with having chickens. I use all the pine shavings I have in the chicken coop with the poop of coarse! Chicken manure is one of the best compost you can get. It just takes longer to compost then other manures due to the high amounts of ammonia in the droppings. I have 2 empty coffee cans on my kitchen counter...one for the chickens and the other for the compost pile. Not very many food scraps make it into our trash due to my little system. The compost can get anything that is not meat or food that will rot and attract rodent or nothing that has seeds. The girls get just about everything else.

The pictures below are of my compost pile from last year. It sat all winter and this is what it turned out like

When I left this pile at the end of the fall it was well up over the top of this black plastic "compost holder". I got this plastic from my town hall. I didn't know they offered this either until I saw someone walking out with one! There are so many little hidden secrets out there

This is a close up of what it broke down to. You can still see the shavings but the deeper you go the blacker the new "soil" gets

If you look on the right hand side of this photo you will see a longer piece of something...it kind of looks out of place...I think that is a piece of a corn husk. I did learn that corn cob doesn't break down like I would have liked it to.

These are my 3 raised beds that Mark built for me last year. I live on a rock ledge so there isn't much digging that can take place in my yard. Raised beds are supposed to be the best way to garden. They aren't expensive to make unless you go with top material of coarse but we always find a less expensive way to make things. We will try to make something before we buy it!

This is Ash in the compost pile. The girls love pecking around in it. When it gets warm out, there are all sorts of bugs and worms in it and the girls go crazy. When I find worms in the garden I feed a few to the girls and the rest go into the compost! The best thing for compost is a bit of moisture, different materials and WORMS!!

I just started a new pile when I cleaned out the coop and I have already spread the old pile into my raised beds to get the soil going. I cannot plant veggies until around mid May. Mother's Day is the rule of thumb for us up here in CT. I am nothing close to a expert gardener but I do try and LOVE trying!

Hmmm? I just thought that maybe I will write a little more on composting and take pictures of my new compost pile so you can see how it breaks down and how to do one. You don't need a big pile...you can make a small pile in one of the lawn and garden brown leaf bags..yep, really! it works! If you have children it is great to start even a small one so they learn there is another way to dispose of food and the reward of healthier plants later is a great one. I know Thomas loves taking the coffee can out to empty it. Sometimes he will notice it is full and take it out himself. This year he will learn what all that hard work has done for our garden. He gets very involved in gardening and it makes me happy to know that he would be able to feed himself, if necessary, when he is older. Hopefully it will stick with him and he will teach the same thing to his children.

Oh!! I can't forget to mention that I try to remember my reusable grocery bags every time I go shopping too!

I apologize for the long post but I feel as being green is very important and I feel as though we should all take pride in trying our best to be as green as we can!!

I would love to hear what you do to be green! Please share!

Silver River Jewelry

If you love jewelry and shinny items then you will love this shop on Artfire. Silver River Jewelry has a wide variety of items for everyones liking and budget. You will find beaded items to metalwork to wire wrapped items. She carries everything from rings to pendants to belt buckles and bracelets. Silver River work is amazing!! Stop in and see for yourself...you won't be disappointed, trust me!! :)

Here are just a few of my favorite items from this shop. I know you will find something you will like in this shop. Please stop by and have a look ;)

Also feel free to stop by her blog to say hello!

We're Back!

We are back from our Disney trip and now I need a vacation..LOL! We did so much but that is what you do in Disney right? We had great weather and the kids did fantastic. We had only one major melt down the whole time we were gone. I thought we would have had more but Thomas did great for the 10 days we were gone. We went to one park a day in the morning and had some quiet time at the pool for a few hours every afternoon then went back out to the parks. It made for long days but the down time was well needed and deserved. I am tan and refreshed (to a point) and feel so good! It will be a few days until I am back in the groove of things but it is ok.

Bad news is that cranky day we had with Thomas...He started a cough on Wed which slowly got worse by Saturday. I took him to the doctor yesterday and the poor little guy has a double ear infection!! He never once complained about his ears! The only sign I had was when we were landing in NY he was complaining his right ear hurt and I thought it was just his ear wasn't popping on the way down. This happened all the time when he was younger, he never gave any signs of an ear infection except not sleeping. He is on meds now and should be better soon. I just feel really bad I didn't know!

I thought I would mention, that we kept the trip and getting on a plane from Thomas until we got to the airport!!!! I thought that was pretty good! LOL!

Here are just a few of the million pictures I took.

Enjoy!

This is a picture of my husband, Mark with Mark (blue Cape Cod shirt) and Thomas, along with his brother Ed and his two children Edward (black shirt) and Emily.

Here is a picture of us taken on the boardwalk. I hate pictures but at least I am tan!

Animal Kingdom. I got some great shots of the animals. We did the safari first thing in the morning and the animals were out and active. I love the photo.

NY City from the air. A perfect day to fly home.


Thomas and the Big Guy himself

Every child has to have Mickey Ears!




One pooped little boy :]

Thomas turned into a water rat while we were there.

This is him and Emily. It was great to have the cousins together on vacation. Thomas loves Emily and wouldn't do anything without her.

I have many more to share but I won't bore you too bad!

It was a wonderful vacation and it is nice to be home. Nothing beats home!!

CaterpillarPeacock

Here is another wonderful store found on Artfire!

If you like felted items then you will love CaterpillarPeacock!

She has very cute items and some are very small. You'll need to stop in and to see what I am talking about :)

Please stop by and take a look!

Lazy? Break? Vacation Mode?

How about all 3!!
Yes, I admit it! I have been very lazy this past week and no I have not been ignoring you all!!! Things have been a little crazy around here. Thomas just started T-Ball, Mark is running Track for his school team, DH has had a crazy few weeks at work and I have been busy dealing with a messed up hip! The hip is something that happened a long time ago and is now giving me problems...nothing to worry about though. I also have to admit I have shut myself down a little early...vacation mode! We are off to Walt Disney World in Florida on this coming Tuesday. I have not been to Disney since 1996 and my DH hasn't been there since before Epcot!!! I have been trying to pack everything around my 4 yr old so he doesn't figure out that we are going on vacation. Yes I know that sounds rude but you don't understand! If I told him we were going on vacation I would have no hair left. For an example, We went to get our haircut yesterday and our appointment wasn't until 4:00, I made the mistake of telling him in the morning that we were going, and from the time he got out of school at a 11:15 he was bugging me every 20 to 30 mins if it was time to go! He LOVES the women that cuts his hair! So I do not DARE tell him we are getting on a plane and going to meet Mickey Mouse!!!! I do like my hair even though it is getting some grey in it :( LOL! I have clothes piled everywhere so it looks like I am being lazy and not putting them away but they are just waiting for the suitcases to come out. I have a boxed filled with snacks and breakfast stuff to ship down to the hotel and poor Thomas thinks it is for when they go camping...he said it so I didn't lie to him..LOL! I was busy this week getting all of the running around done, getting the animals ready for the sitter, cleaning the chicken coop and getting it ready for some baby chicks!! Hopefully soon after we get back we will have a few new chicks that we are waiting to get from someone down the street. They are supposed to hatch around the 18th of April.
Again, I am sorry to be so lazy in posting but I hope you all will deal with me for a little bit longer. I need this vacation and I think I also needed a break from this crazy, but fun, online world! I will miss everyone and I will try to post some short posts and pics when we are in FL. My DH now has a laptop that his company gave to him for the trip to catch up on emails...they just don't know I will be using it more for posting and checking emails and looking in on my stores ;). Thank you for your patience and I will be back very soon! Miss you all and I hope everyone is doing good :)