in the life of a dog

This is our sweet Boxador (Boxer/Labrador), Dirk. He is a whopping nine months and still growing! It was literally like having a child for many months. He ate EVERYTHING including shoes, shoe molding, couch legs, baskets, etc. You name it and his teeth were probably on it! We also had the luxury of getting up several times in the night to take him out to potty train. Then when Brandon finally thought it was time to put him outside, I had to train him on the electrical fence.  :(  He has been quite the handful the past couple of months, but he has finally started to "mature". He is a lot less hyper and more lovable than before! He is still potty trained, and he doesn't chew on everything. He has also learned to sit, speak, give you howdy, and lay down! He is such a sweet dog now, and I couldn't be happier!! Even if our yard still looks like a tornado has came through and blown blankets everywhere!

p.s. Dirk drags them around the yard to lay on them. It's kind of cute when you think about it!

Here is a recap of our months with this crazy mutt.

The day Brandon brought this little guy home. He was just too cute to pass up!

Told you he chewed on EVERYTHING!!

Oh, the puppy years.

At the park

Don't let Brandon fool you. He secretly loves this dog! :)

He's such a good boy!

While we were inside, we got flocked by a group of flamingos. This was the closet Dirk came to them for two days. This was his "No way am I getting close to those things!"

He still thinks he's a lap dog.

Reuse Part 1

As most, Brandon and I are on a budget. We can't just up and buy a new table or dresser when we want to. Most of the things in our house have been used, given to us because someone else didn't want it, or was in the house. I like change in my scenery so I change around things in our home often. I do throw a lot of things away because I cannot stand clutter! BUT I recycle, so don't worry.  Just as I am ultimate "throw-awayer"; I am also the ultimate "re-user"!

Here are a few things that I have managed to find a new use for!!

Just a hallway table?

Nope. It's an antique sewing machine! It was Aunt Alma's. Someone had cut the electrical chord, but I couldn't just throw it away. It's a Singer!

Just a bedside table?

Nope. This is another antique sewing machine! This one somewhat works.

Just an antique suitcase? Nope. I bought it at Goodwill. I have used it in many travels, but now it stores extra blankets and resides in my living room!

Speaking of change... I changed the blog again! I know, I know. I should just leave it, but like I said, "I love a change of scenery!" Here's a picture of beautiful scenery.

Beautiful sunset in front of our house.

p.s. I added more pictures of our house to Our Humble Abode. Go check it out!!

DIY- Book Chandelier

I often stroll Anthropologie for inspiration. My ideal job would be an Interactive Art Director there and work on the displays they are famously known for! Instead, I try to figure out how I can recreate the things they make! A little over a year ago, I spotted this great book chandelier they had hanging in the store. I immediately went up to scope it out!! So... if you ever see someone stalking Anthropologie and checking out the decor of the store more than the clothes, then it might be me. :)

What you need:

• three different size embroidery hoops- I used the wooden ones. They are cheaper!
• Old books
• Twine
• lamp kit from a hardware store or gut a lamp from the Goodwill
• Hot Glue
• Scissors or something more heavy duty, but I didn't have anything.
• Eye hook for hanging

Rip off the book cover. Cut one inch stripes from one side through the spine to the other side.

I employed a helper for the day! It was a good thing because just the books I cut caused a blister that later turned into a scar. :(

I temporarily hung mine from this coat rack to help work with the length. Cut 4 two and a half foot pieces of twine. Tie them to the hoop like so, and join them together up top. Lay the book backings over the embroidery hoop.

Cut 4 more strings of twine. These don't need to be as long. Attach the strings to the second hoop and then to the top hoop. I had to play with the length to get it where I wanted it.

Cut off your excess twine. Repeat with third hoop. Next, I added a drop of hot glue to each strip to make sure they were secured in place.

I placed the lamp kit inside the hoops at the level I wanted. I attached the four top twine strings to the cord. I first tied them in knots around the cord, then I wrapped the rest around it (twine looks better then electrical cord, in my opinion) then glued it into place.

Lastly, get a wonderful husband and father-in-law to hand it where you want it. Unfortunately, they had to climb up into our attic to find out where the ceiling joists were to drill through. Use an eye hook to screw into place. I also wrapped twine all the up and around the eye hook and glued it. Plug in an electrical outlet!! 

It gives off just enough ambiance to light the hallway at night!!

 

 

 

 

diy- antique date bottles

When I was collecting things for our wedding decor, I came across these old medicine bottles. I instantly fell in love. Any antique store I went in to, I was guaranteed to come out with some of these!

I had seen them before with metal letters attached to them. This got my wheels turning. I decided to create one with our wedding date on it, and display it somewhere at our reception. Lets just say... I could not find any small metal numbers ANYWHERE!! I even went to home improvement stores to scout out their house/mailbox numbers! So, where did I turn?? Hobby Lobby, of course! There I found some scrapbook numbers that we just the right size, but not the right color. Good thing that was an easy fix!

Materials

• scrapbook letters and numbers
• antique medicine bottles 
• ink pads
• super glue

Everything you need minus the super glue.

Ink pad. I choose the fourth color down. It was an antique bronze color.

Position them on the bottles and glue them down!

They were used at our sweetheart table.

If you look closely, you can see them holding babies breath behind my bouquet.

love will hold us together

The truth is, life isn't always pretty. It has it's ups, and it has it's downs. And we can all agree that is much easier to see clearly when life is going great, but what about when it's not? When we find ourselves in situations we never thought we be, what then?

We begin to doubt.

We doubt God. We doubt ourselves. We even doubt our friends.

I know many people right now struggling with these very situations, and I just want them to know that I will be my brother's keeper.

This is the first day of the rest of your life. Cause even in the dark, we can still see the light. It's gonna be all right.