Saturday Night Crafting

Last night I spent a couple (okay, almost 4) hours making this fun wreath. I was inspired by something I saw on a blog a while back. I wish I could remember which one, but I read too many of them. I purchased a plain foam wreath and wrapped it in knitting yarn. Then I cut out felt pieces and made some paper flowers to glue onto the wreath. I did not make the solid color flowers. Those were purchased separately.



It took a lot longer than I thought it would and it didn't turn out quite like I had envisioned it, but I'm still pleased with the results. I think it would be cute to make holiday themed ones to hang throughout the year.

Happy Saturday

From my kitty that has taken to hiding on top of the cabinets. She really doesn't like the puppy!

She retreats from her hiding place by sliding down the front of the cabinets. It's really cute, but I feel so sorry for her :(

Serious Snow

Last week was exciting because we had a dusting of snow that was unexpected. Well today the snow was a tad more extreme.

Last week:




This week:


Most of it has already melted, but it was so pretty this morning. I stood outside when it was early and still pretty dark and just watched the snow fall. It was so peaceful. I'm done with it now though. Spring needs to arrive asap.

Weird Weather Week

So Monday through Wednesday it rained. A lot. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, at about 4:45, it started snowing! Now snow in Lake County isn't unheard of. We're surrounded by mountains and those can get quite snowy in the winter, but I think it's fairly unusual for us to get snow in this part of town. The snow only lasted about 20 minutes or so, but it was an unexpected and delightful surprise. Some areas of Lake County got several inches and many of the schools were closed on Thursday and Friday.


The same thing happened on Friday night, but it was later in the night and we got a little more than the first time. It was pretty much all gone by Saturday morning though. I had hopes of waking up and building a snowman, but it just didn't happen. More rain is in the forecast though so perhaps it will turn to snow again and my snowman dreams will come true.


And since I can't go an entire week without a Zulu picture, here's one of her resting in her cubby the other day.


It's Sunday so don't forget to check the other blog for our latest cooking endeavor. It's a yummy one!

I married the perfect man

During a discussion about when we should give Zulu her new dog treats (aka when we want to keep her quiet for a few minutes).

Me: Definitely during dinner.

Jake: Yeah, for sure.

Me: And during The Bachelor!

Jake: YES!!! There's what, like 8 weeks left?

Me: No, only like 2 :(

Jake: PLUS THE REUNION SPECIAL!

Yes, Jake watches The Bachelor with me. And no, I don't tie him to the sofa or threaten him with any weapons. He enjoys it. You should have seen us the other night. We were watching our recorded episode from Monday and waiting for the elimination. It was down to 2 girls. One we like and one we HATE. When it was announced that the one we hate was being eliminated we both let out the loudest screams of excitement. It scared the pets (and probably the neighbors).

I still can't get him to watch any of The Real Houswives though. He gets too stressed out by those shows.

Puppy's First Hike

Yesterday we took Zulu on her first hike! It was also our first hike in a very long time. The weather was wonderful and we had a great time. We hiked for almost two hours (that included frequent stops though because Zulu has an extremely short attention span). She was exhausted by the end of it though and her daddy had to carry her. It was ridiculously cute.

I didn't take my fancy camera with me because I was unsure of what the terrain would be like and I tend to trip a lot. It actually wasn't bad at all though and I was a little disappointed that I'd left it at home. I had my little camera with me though so we could document our outing.

Awwwww. True love. Oh yeah, speaking of love, happy Valentine's Day and 7th anniversary of our first date!

Not JUST a craft room anymore...

Remember when this was MY craft room??

Well, it's evolved into a craft/exercise/music room.

Jake's aunt and uncle gave us their old elliptical machine a few months ago. It's been a lifesaver during these winter months when the mornings have been too dark, cold, foggy, or rainy. Oh yeah, and see that thing right behind the elliptical? That's my beloved rug that belongs in the living room. I have hope that it will return to its original spot in a few more weeks once the puppy is potty trained.

And this is the music side. Too many guitar cases!!! Actually, only two of them are Jake's. The other two belong to Jake's step dad and we're trying to sell them on ebay.

This room is way too small to have 3 different functions, but we're making it work. If you want to come visit us and stay in this room then we're going to need some advance notice so we can clear out enough space for an air mattress.

This is how I spent my afternoon yesterday. Most of these are really old pictures and mementos because newer ones are in scrapbooks or other frames hanging in the house. It makes me smile whenever I walk into the room.

Our Poor Baby...

So I've been complaining to everyone I know that Zulu has been having a ridiculous number of accidents inside the house and that she's been keeping us up all night since Wed or Thurs of last week. Well apparently she has a bladder infection (we think).

And now I feel like a bad mom...

Last night we were in the living room discussing her numerous accidents and Jake said "maybe she has a bladder infection." He looked up the symptoms online and she seemed to have most of them.

He took her to the vet today and they had to sedate her in order to get a urine sample. I'm a little unsure as to why this was necessary because she typically goes potty after just a few minutes of playing, but they did what they needed to do I guess. They said that in order to be 100% sure of what she has, they'd need to send a culture to be tested. That was going to be a lot of extra $$ so Jake opted to just go ahead and get the antibiotic the vet prescribed.

She didn't have a fever or any other severe symptoms so hopefully it's just a bladder infection and will clear up in a few days.

I think I might look into finding a new vet after this though. The simple procedure of sedating her and then giving her an IV was quite pricey. I really have no experience in this sort of thing so I'm not sure how much it should cost, but I feel like it was a bit extreme. Also, the office we go to has 2 or 3 different vets and I'd prefer for her to only have one. AND when Jake went to take her for her booster shots a few weeks ago he said the nurse that administered them was rude.

As I'm typing these things, it's making me realize even more that we need to find someone else! She's getting fixed and micro chipped next week. Perhaps we should do some research before that.

And here's a picture of my sedated little pup. Jake brought her to my office on their way home.

Chirp, Chirp, Chirp

As you might know, I'm pretty obsessed with our Chirp China by Lenox, even though I just pulled it out of the boxes a couple of weeks ago.

So imagine my excitement when we went to Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday in search of a new comforter and we stumbled upon this:

"Chirp" bedding from BBB

Now, I'm not usually one for having everything be matchy-matchy, but I couldn't resist this purchase. Besides, it's not like we eat dinner in bed, so I don't think there will be too much "Chirp" in the house. Also, the blues in the bedding are actually quite a bit different than the blue from our china so if you're not me, and I wasn't broadcasting it on this blog, then you might never connect the dots that they are all from the same line.

We already owned these 3 throw pillows. They fit perfectly with the new bedspread!

And since I thought I should tie in some more blue into the room, I changed out some of my wall hangings from this:


to this:

They are from the 2011 OSU program calendar that my mom gave to Jake. My grandparents gave me the 2010 one last year. He hadn't hung it up yet, so I got permission to tear out the pages for the greater good of our bedroom. One day I'd like to do an entire wall of these things. They're so fun and colorful.

Pink Phone, Favorite Toy, and Pet Pics For My Mom

Jake's phone cover broke the other day. He went to the Verizon store to get a new one, but the only color they had was pink. Most guys would try another store or wait until a new shipment came in, but not Jake. He needed a phone cover and was totally fine with a pink one. I love him for this.

This is Zulu's favorite toy. Her grandma and grandpa sent it to her a couple weeks ago. She wants to play for OSU when she grows up.

And here are your weekly Zulu pics. She's growing like a weed! She has her good days and she has her tremendously awful days, but I can never stay mad at her too long because of her adorable face. I just take my anger out on the person who purchased her without my permission ;)




We can't leave out Meow Meow (aka Sydney). She's still very upset with the puppy and with us for bringing the puppy into her world. She no longer greets us at the door when we come in and her "meows" have lessened, but she still snuggles up next to me at night so I know she still loves me.

Perfect Pesto

Okay, I swear that I'll try to keep the food posts for this blog, but I had brag about my first ever attempt at pesto making.

I've been so scared to try it, but it's just about the easiest thing in the world to make! Who knew?

Here's what I did:

1. Threw 3 cloves of garlic (only use this much if you love garlic as much as I do) and pulsed away in the food processor.
2. Threw a dash of salt in too
3. Tossed in 1 1/2 cups of basil, 3 tablespoons of pine nuts and turned on the processor until it was thick and paste like
4. Poured 1/3 cup of olive oil in as I continued to process
5. The end


It was so much better than the store brand! And basil isn't the cheapest herb on the block, but it's definitely cheaper to make this pesto than to buy it.