Puppy Sitting and Projects

Saturday morning, Jordan dropped off Toby for a day so that I could puppysit while he and Callie were away all day.  They adopted Toby as a tiny, 3-pound pup that Callie rescued from the middle of a very busy street.

While undernourished as a "street dog", he quickly acclimated to the good life and thrived once given the chance.  Toby is now a 6 month old, 21 pound bundle of energy.   Like most puppies, he would love nothing better than for other dogs to romp and play with him.  

Emmi, on the other hand, is kind of a grumpy old lady with regard to energetic puppies.
She is not at all entertained by their running and jumping and nipping at her and she quickly bares her teeth and snarls if they get too close.  I quickly figured out that it was best to keep the two separated by a little distance

and in fact, they both did best when there was glass between them.

In the meantime, I made time to complete a couple of projects that I'd left hanging.  A cup of hot chocolate, my sewing machine and the Hallmark movie channel make for a perfect Saturday while Ron is away.

I finally was able to complete curtains for Callie and Jordan's bedroom (sorry no pictures yet) and repair a shirt for Callie.  I bought a simple black maternity top for her and had planned to have it monogrammed, however, it got caught up in their machine and tore a tiny hole in it instead.   Not wanting it to go to waste, I used a scrap of yellow chevron fabric and a piece of vintage embroidered ribbon to cover the spot.   (it looks a little "wonky" in this iPhone photo, but doesn't in real life)

Good as new!

Another project that I tackled was the February prompt for my One Little Word class.   In addition to creating a page to record reflections from each month, I developed actions I want to focus on in this upcoming year.

Last but not least, I decided it wasn't too late to add a few simple, festive Valentine touches to our living room.   I used gold and silver chenille stems to craft a heart garland to hang on the fireplace

and added a few individual hearts to the mantel itself.

GROW . . .

As part of my focus on GROWING this year, I have chosen to once again participate in Ali Edwards' "One Little Word" class.  Each month, we are given prompts to help us keep our word in the forefront of our minds and to live out more fully.  In the past, I found it to be really helpful and think it will be again this year.  The prompts are different from the last time I took the class and I'm already enjoying it.  One of the parts of "growing" for me is to be less concerned about what others think and to feel more confident in my own thoughts and direction.  That includes feeling more confident about how I approach this process and being willing to share my thoughts with others (there is even a Facebook group where we share our pages).   I tend to be quite private in some areas, and that is not likely to change drastically, but baby steps, right?!?!?   So here are my pages for January--my thoughts and intentions:

Take a Risk

On my way through Vivan yesterday, I glanced at the old library building and noticed these amazing doors. (there's another one just like it on the other side)

Making a quick trip around the block to back-track, I got out and took a few pictures.


People driving by gave me some curious looks as I carried my camera up to the vacant building, but hey, that's what my "word" this year is all about, right?

Word Of the Year

I've been inspired by the posts of Ali Edwards and Lisa Leonard to choose a word for the new year that has the potential to make an impact on your life. Ali states that "The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word - this is YOUR word. One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities." Of course, the process doesn't end with choosing a word. It really requires some sort of action to be effective, whether it be a way to put the word into action or an action to keep the word in the forefront of your mind. Actually, it might require both of these for me.

So my word for this year-----RISK. For me, that's a really scary word, but one that keeps appearing in my thoughts and one that I think will help me to continue to grow, physically, spiritually and mentally.

Now that I've blogged about it, I have some degree of accountability to take action. So here goes--- ---printed and posted on the prayer board above my computer.