This is becoming a Molly blog

I had to share this miracle,
which Dawn and I saw with our own eyes
and still can't believe what we saw:

Video of Molly and Oliver playing!

Molly and Oliver have been playing in the backyard and have now brought it inside. Molly, who's the biggest grouch this side of California, is playing like a puppy. I love that she has rediscovered her youth. She had such a hard life before we found her, so it's wonderful to see her continuing to bloom.

Thank you, Oliver, even though you're a handful and a pain in the patootie to Winnie, you have brought so much joy to our family.

Doggers

My crafting buddies. I love it when they hang out with me in my craft studio. It was so funny. Monday they were laying in their own beds, and the next time I looked over they had switched places! Such silly goofers.

They both love Dawn's new Christmassy blanket Valerie surprised her with. It's very, very soft.

One ear up!

I asked Molly if she wanted a sweater because she was snuggled up around my pillows in a little ball.

I brought out the heart sweater, held it up and asked her again. She got up and walked over to me, like, yes, mama, put it on me!

Winnie, My Grandogger, Trying Out Molly's Bed

 Wut.

See? I fit!

Pillows!

 The many ways Molly enjoys pillows

And Winnie, too!

But Clover prefers Grandma's comfy rocking chair

Stamping, Crocheting and Doggies In The Window

Dawn surprised me with new Julie Nutting stamps! I stamped and stamped and then cut out a few. I can't wait to see what they'll wear.

I'm still purging stuff from my craft room and came across some things I haven't seen in years. I crocheted this collar and can't believe I used to do such delicate work.

Molly and Clover at our front window (Winnie is usually there, too). Sure makes it difficult to go anywhere.

Meet my Molly! She was wondering about across the street, so we scooped her up, looked for her home, then brought her to ours. We stopped by the animal shelter so they could put her up on their Web site where her picture stayed for 30 days. On July 3, 2014, she officially became ours! She was in heat when we found her and had all the signs of having had puppies. And she's estimated to be only a year and a half!

Molly was spayed today, and when I went to pay the bill, I was told SHE WAS PREGNANT! I broke down and cried right there on the spot. I'm so sad she had to go through the pain of an extra difficult surgery and all that goes with it. She could barely move without crying out, like a cat, wide-mouthed, but silently because her throat was sore from the breathing tube. But we managed, after much coaxing and fussing, to get her up and walking for a little bit.

I'm so angry her previous owners didn't care enough to protect her.

But she's ours now, safe and sound, and that's what matters most.

A Card and A Tug-O-War

I made a birthday card for my daughter's co-worker. Since I don't know her I didn't have anything to go on as to what she likes, but I think this will do. I ran the butterfly piece through my die cutter with an embossing folder to get this background. There are a myriad of colors my camera doesn't pick up. I sprayed it with various shades of Color Shine spritz and rubbed on a couple of different colors of iridescent inks.The rainbow ribbon is perfect, it has a little bit of all of the colors. The little banner was hand-cut and I added a "happy day" sentiment sticker to it.

The inside has another hand-made banner with a strip of floral Washi tape I thought was pretty. The "happy birthday to you" sentiment is a sticker. Although it looks shiny here, it actually blends very well with the card stock.

Here's Winnie and Dixie having a Win-Dixie tug-o-war! As cute as this is, Winnie was an unwilling participant, she was just trying to hang on to her toy elephant. But Dixie didn't know that and had lots of fun anyway.

This Flu Thing & Other Stuff

My family has been sick with this flu thing for a couple of weeks now. We've had enough, already! My creative juices have been dry as a bone. All I've felt like doing is laying around. The last few days, I've been able to watch some TV and read, but before that, I just felt like a blob. We're on antibiotics, and I'm just now starting to feel them working. Yay!

It was weird. Last Sunday I felt good. I woke up, took a shower and did all sorts of housework and even cooked for the family. After that the crafting bug hit me, but then the next few days I felt like crap again. Today there's light, though, I felt good today and I'm praying it'll continue from here on out.

 

I made these two sympathy cards for a friend, one commissioned by her. It's for the family of someone she was in contact with on a daily basis via the telephone through her workplace, he died very suddenly. I left it blank so she could write something personal.

The other card was for her. She has lost several of her dogs recently, most recent was Bear. Each of her dogs are her babies, and she takes each loss very hard. I've made three of these since I've known her. When you adopt older dogs it is something you come to expect, but it always comes too soon.

Speaking of adopting, we welcomed this adorable little girl into our home today. She's going to be Deni's, but you know how those things go. So far she's getting along with Clover and Winnie, they played a lot and all are tuckered out. This weekend is a test drive to see if she likes us. I'll update on how this goes at a later date.

Gibbs

Gibbs is home.

Winnie

Winnie, another of my grandoggers, is missing Gibbs. Part of our morning routine is that she’d come into my room and lay down to the left of me, Gibbs on my right. Then I’d sing them their own little ditty (don’t judge me), and when I was done they’d reach over me, meeting in the middle. And kiss. This morning Winnie jumped on my bed and kept looking over at Gibbs’ spot. I sang to her, but she just couldn’t seem to muster any enthusiasm.

 

When I fixed her breakfast she wouldn’t eat at first. She kept walking around the kitchen and then went over and sat near Gibbs’ bed we keep by the sliding glass door. (We kept beds all over the house for him because of his old arthritic bones.) It took her awhile, but she finally ate.

I keep telling her Gibbs is all gone, making the hand motions we do when we give them treats and they’re all gone. I don’t know what else to do but to acknowledge that I understand she’s looking for her buddy.

Gibbs

 

Gone, very peacefully, is my shadow. No more following me around every single time I take a step. No more peeking into the bathroom to make sure I haven’t gone anywhere in the last five seconds. No more good morning pawing to get me out of bed and into the kitchen. Gone is the boy who revealed to us that, yes, your other two dogs (part of our family a few years before Gibbs joined us), do indeed know how to howl, duh.

Gibbs was a rescue who came from an abusive home who in return rescued us. Thanking Gibbs for the unconditional love he gave us and for being my constant companion when I didn’t even know I needed one.

 Rest in peace, Gibbers, we love you.

Gibbs

Hey, Gibbs, ya have a little somethin' on your mouth.

Patches

Well, as if yesterday’s news about Gibbs (my daughter's dog but my baby boy) wasn’t sad enough; we just got home from putting Patches to sleep. :-(

We inherited Patches from a friend who passed away a few years ago, and she quickly became enamored with my husband and he with her. She was his baby. A rescue, she lived a long (about 18 years), happy life and left this world very peacefully. We’ll miss her silly sneezes, her insistent talking about how we should give her a treat NOW, and her adorable fluffy ears. Rest in peace, Punkin’ Patchy.

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UPDATE 11-28-2011: We brought Patches home today

Winnie Rose

My grand-dogger...how can my day be anything but awesome when I wake up to this?

My daughter leaves for work quite early, so Winnie joins me after she leaves and snuggles down right beside me, usually burrowing amongst my piles of pillows. I never know which end of her I'll see when I open my eyes, but there she is, waggin' that tail, ready for some morning lovin'. Sometimes she'll stare me awake, get real close to my face and pounce at first blink. Most times, though, she's right there with me, zonkin' zees.

Part of our morning routine includes a song, of sorts, and I swear that dog waits for it cause she gets all excited after I'm done.

"Winnie the pooh, Winnie the pooh, silly-willie-nillie-ol' puppy dawwwwwg, you."

I know, it doesn't rhyme, but we don't care! She just knows the next thing coming is "Winnie ROSE! With the cute little NOSE!" then it's belly rubbin' time!

Even as I write this she's splayed out on my bed, belly-side up...most definitely queen of my king-sized bed.