he's gone...

Sweet Sullivan

6.26.2002 - 3.25.2009

My perfect Southern gentleman... I will love you forever.

treats and toys that give back

Harry Barker has introduced new treats and a new toy to benefit the therapy dog programs at the Medical University of South Carolina as well as the MUSC Children's Hospital program for medically fragile children. If you read this blog regularly, you know that my dog Mona Mae and I are Delta Society Pet Partners and members of Prescription Paws... so this is a cause very close to my heart. Plus, wouldn't Miss Mona Mae (who's practically perfect in every way) look so cute with her little therapy dog purse below? I think perhaps the Easter Bunny might have to bring her one.

dog in a garden

Image via Shelter

Pretty dog, pretty garden... How much do I wish my yard looked like this? What they DON'T tell you is that this is the "Before" shot. In the "After" picture, this lovely Golden Retriever has dug up the boxwood, run through (and crushed) that beautiful lavender, and used the teak bench as a giant chew stick. I do have dreams of my front yard looking like this some day, but my backyard will continue to be the dogs' domain.

puppy projects

I was a busy little bee this weekend... lots and lots to do. But I'm really happy that I was able to check off a lot of my little projects I had been meaning to get accomplished. A couple of these were quick and easy craft projects that I thought some of you guys might be interested in.

I purchased one of the handprint kits from a local crafts store and made an impression of sweet Sully's paw... a couple of hints if you decide to try this one - 1) let the plaster set up a little longer than the directions advise and 2) trim any fur around the pad in order to get a cleaner impression. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but I was very happy with how the paw print turned out. I'm going to attach a ribbon to the back and hang it on the wall somewhere.

I also crafted this little pillow that features Sully's silhouette on the front. I took the photo below, enlarged it to the size I wanted, and then cut out Sully's shape. I then just pinned it to a piece of felt, cut around, and TA-DA... a little mini-Sully silhouette. I chose to hand-stitch him onto chocolate brown wool, sewed the two pillow pieces together on a machine, stuffed with a pillow and was all done! I'm SO happy with how it looks!

Other non-dog-related projects accomplished this weekend include new pillows for the sofa (I have NO idea why the seat cushions look to be a completely different color than the rest of the sofa because it's NOT that way in real life), AND creating a homemade magnetic chalkboard to fit an old frame I had (um, PS - it's quite possible my French on the new chalkboard below makes NO SENSE AT ALL since I have no idea how to speak French). See? Told ya I was busy...

the five dog rule

Image via Absolutely Beautiful Things

Let me fill you in on something I've learned... I call it "The Five Dog Rule": Upon learning that a person has five dogs, 98% of the population will immediately consider said person to be strange/crazy/off their rocker.

Case in point: Struck up a good conversation with reasonably cute (and tall... I'm 5'10" so this is an important fact) guy sans wedding ring in line at the grocery store last night. He then notices I'm buying, like, every package of canadian bacon in the store (it's one of the only things I can get my sick dog Sully to eat). He asks... I explain... and then one thing leads to another and before I know it, I've told him I have five dogs. Result: conversation over. Oh well.