Showing posts with label Paws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paws. Show all posts

Friday, July 6, 2012

Treats for the Paws

By golly I'm excited.

While on Pinterest one night, I came across an awesome photo of little homemade ice cream treats for dogs.  It linked me to this awesome site for Bunny Roo Beagle.  Credit where credit is due!

Bunny Roo Beagle, my dogs love you!

So last night with ingredients in hand . . .



I set out to create some fabulous summer treats for my dogs, Samantha, Buzz, Charlie and Lola.  


 Aren't they fabulous!  Well the pups thought they were.  I made mine a little smaller, because I have a small audience.

And I got sixteen paws up . . .


 The picky one even LOVED it (that's Buzz top left).  Charlie barked for more (literally will have to catch the You Tube Video for that scene).  Samantha was her usual sweet stuff.

And Lola, well she stole the show . . . literally.  Show ends as Lola steals the treat.

She's never been much for sharing! 


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Into My Heart

I came home from work today, and as I entered my bedroom my precious pup, Samantha, was there to greet me.  I noticed a tremendously deep indentation in my pillows, and I went over and pressed my hand on it.  It was warm.  It occurred to me that while I was away, she went to the spot where she could be closest to me while I was away.

She didn't go to my husband's side of the bed.

She didn't go to the end, side, or middle of the bed.

She went to the spot that was mine.

Samantha . . . "You have carved your way into my heart."

A card inspired by "my baby girl."




Supplies:

Cardstock - Bazzill; Pattern Paper - Crate Paper and Three Bugs in a Rug; Ribbon - Creative Impressions - Die Cut - Quickutz; Ink: Stampin Up; Stamps - Unity - Pearls - Kaiser

Monday, March 19, 2012

Trendy, Indeed

I saw a cute challenge . . . wanted to try it, and yet knew I would likely miss the deadline. However, I had a new product I wanted to try, so I went to work regardless.

The inspiration was super cute . . . I posted it further below. I wanted to make a doghouse version and use my new Trendy Tape purchased from my LSS, New England Scrapbook Co. in Canton.

Check out that Trendy Tape!


Here is where I got the inspiration:




Cute on the inside as well . . .


And it comes in loads of cool colors . . . including Disney!

Trendy, indeed!

Cardstock - Bazzill
Stamps - Inky Antics
Die Cut - Sizzix Doghouse
Inks - Stazon Black and Stampin' Up Marker
Embellies - Queen & Company Trendy Tape
Ribbon - The Twinery

Saturday, November 5, 2011

146 Hours of Education and the Story of a Tree

I had 146 hours of education over the last couple of days.  It was education without power.  It was scary.  It was interesting.  It was trying.  It was stressful.  It was also calm.

Winter Storm Alfred dumped some heavy wet snow here in New England.  It began last Saturday, October 29th, and while the weather forecasters were predicting power outages, I don't think we really thought it would be this bad.

The problems . . . HEAVY WET SNOW + TREES WITH LEAVES = DAMAGE

We were not finished with Fall here in New England.  And it was not a light fluffy snow.  It was big flakes of wet snow.  The kind that look absolutely magical from your window . . . like Christmas.  The kind that usually last for a few minutes before turning to the little teenie flakes that look so pretty when they land on your mitten and you examine their shape.  No, these were the ones that land on you and stick so that you are completely soaked when you get inside.

So the leaves were covered with this heavy stuff, and the branches were weighed down.  By the time I arrived home from work on Saturday, we had no power.  As I exited my car, I could just hear cracking noises in the wooded areas.  It was eerie.  Cracking, and then snow falling from limbs.  Cracking, and then limbs falling.  Limbs taking out other limbs.

I got into the house while still light . . . no power . . . and as daylight turned to darkness it became an entire night of listening to noises outside.  As we tried to sleep in the night and would hear loud noises.  We would go to the windows and look with our flashlights.  One such flashlight adventure at around 4:00 a.m. showed a really sad sight.  One of our back yard trees, which surprisingly had no leaves left on it, had completely split about 10 feet up from the ground.  Half had fallen in one direction, skimming the side of the house and just missing our fence.  The other half fell in the other direction.

Flashback to about 1994 when our kids, who were early elementary school (perhaps around 1st and 3rd grade) found what they thought was a weed growing in the middle of the front yard.  Mama tree is our very favorite tree out front, and she had sprouted a baby tree.  We told them it was a baby tree, and that we would have to pull it out because it was not growing in a good place and would likely die. So my girls dug up that little one-foot baby tree and moved it to the back yard.  They put it in our fenced in half of the yard.  They thought our dogs Angel and Ashley would enjoy sitting under the tree in the summer. 

We kind of laughed.  We never thought that little thing would survive, and my husband said he would wait a few weeks and remove it.  But we mowed the grass around it for years.  We dealt with how stupid it looked in the middle of the fenced in yard until it became a real tree.  Flash forward to the summer of 2011 and it is the tall tree in the backyard that our dogs Lola and Charlie enjoy sitting under in the summer.  (Lola and Charlie are the two "paws" that have not yet been introduced on my blog).



Our tree will be gone later today or tomorrow.  Our newly purchased chain saw will be taking her down completely.  So sad!

So . . . what have I learned in 146 hours:

1) Trees break!  It's a sad, scary noise that they make.  It is a little heartbreaking too . . . even for the ones that don't have sentimental value.

2) If you have to drive 70 miles to fill your tank with gas, you will be down about a quarter tank when you get back home.  

3) Friends and neighbors help each other in situations like these.  People's true colors really come through loud and clear in these situations.   

4) You can make things on a grill that look horrible, but taste pretty good in dim light.  And you can eat really burned stuff without getting sick, even if the aftertaste doesn't go away for a few hours.  

5) Your situation may be bad, but it could always be worse.  A friend of mine had power come back on in her home, and a fire started, gutting their in-law apartment and causing damage to the main house.  It sent her husband to the hospital and scattered her pets so they were hard to find.  They are in a hotel and will eventually have a happy ending.  It will just take longer. 

6) Dogs and cats are nice to have around when you don't have power.  They are also warm.

7) My husband was a great guy on Days 1 through 3 when he was not working due to the power outage at work, but once he went back to work, we discovered that we are on opposite ends of the communication spectrum.  Emotions were a little high these last few days.  I will now blame work for all of our communication problems.  However . . . HOWEVER . . . the chainsaw that I immediately purchased via my work computer on Monday morning (because I figured by the time we found an open store with power, every chain saw would be gone) which he thought was a bad idea . . . admittedly became a good one by Friday when he went to buy supplies to get it running.  Five points for me in the Game of Matrimony! 

8)   Hand puppet shapes on the wall can be fun.  However, they don't hold my attention and the flashlight kind of scares my dog, Samantha.

9) You can, indeed, wear certain articles of clothing for multiple days . . . the ones that people don't notice. 

10) AM talk radio isn't too bad when it is the only show in town and it is your lifeline to what's going on! 

I could go on and on for hours.  Going to bed early and getting up early isn't so bad.  I can miss my television shows and not die.  Feet do eventually warm up with the right amount of blankets and dogs strategically placed on the bed.  Blah, blah, blah!

Creatively . . . I was useless.  There was not one iota of creativity in me.  My energy went to working 11-12 hour days and surviving the elements at home. 

It was 146 hours of education.  It was 146 hours of reality check.  And as I type this, I notice that my house has a certain hum to it when there is power.  It is a hum that kinds of says "Home!"

Friday, October 28, 2011

Something About Lucy

You've met Samantha.

You've met Jennyanydots.

You've met Buzz

It is time to meet another of my 4-legged roomates . . . Lucy.  There is something about Lucy! 


Lucy was named after Lucille Ball . . . my daughter was (and still is) a huge fan back in 2003 when Lucy came to stay.  She was just 3 weeks old after being rescued from an underground pipe.  She was rescued with two siblings before her feral mama relocated the rest of the litter.  She was one sick little kitten, loaded with parasites, had a horrible respiratory infection and an even worse eye infection.  Had she not been rescued, she likely would have not lasted much longer. 

Little Baby Lucy . . . just 4 weeks old.
Since coming here to live with us in 2003, let's just say it has been interesting.  She pulled the usual kitten shenanigans on our dogs . . . diving from high places, swatting butts from under furniture and doing karate moves on her hind end to their faces. 

Lucy (a little over a year old) trying to get new puppy Lola to play!

She peskily picked a fight with our older cat, Jennyanydots, just one too many times and had a tiny sliver of her lower eyelid sliced by an angry older kitty claw.  A visit to the vet determined it could not be repaired (without a micro-surgeon) and that her tear duct had been damaged.  The result is a cat who always seems to have an eye infection . . . but does not.  The amount of times visitors have said, "Oh, you should have that checked out by a vet." as we re-tell the story and watch them cringe when they hear of her lower eyelid mishap. 

Lucy grew up to be a friendly little girl who could hold her own with our dogs. 

 

But in the last few years things have changed a bit.  Poor little Lucy stopped cleaning herself and we noticed she had a growth on her tongue.  So she had some surgery to remove it, and things have not been the same since.  It took a long time for her to trust us, and she took to hanging out in the basement a great deal.  She also chooses to "selectively" clean herself.  She cleans her top half, but her bottom half has gone to hell!  We often refer to her as "dirty kitty."  She has nice white front paws, and really dingy gray back ones.  She smells like basement!  But we put up with "dirty kitty", and I often sing the "Smelly Cat" song to her (from "Friends").  She seems to enjoy that . . . but she does not enjoy the occasional bath forced upon her.

Check out my crazy blinky eye, my dingy not-so-white belly, and my fabulous posture when sitting. 

And there is not much we can do to improve her tongue issue!  She is literally missing a part of it after the surgery . . . proven by the day I attempted to snap a photo and caught this lovely shot. 


I think she was trying to send me a message. 

She's a dirty little thing, but she's our dirty little thing! 

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Meet "Buzz" Lightyear . . . the "Paws" that came with Accessories

What can be said about this little guy?


This little boy puppy came into the world as a little tiny guy.  He is Samantha's brother (you met Sam, she was the first paw). His mom was a Shih Tsu; his dad was a Chihuahua.  Samantha came to live with us, and he went to live with some other people (kind of how Snoopy went to live with Charlie Brown, and Spike went somewhere else).  They named him Buzz Lightyear. 

And so it was that a year and a half later those other people said, "Hey . . . would you watch our dog while we go on vacation?"  And so we did.  But we soon learned that his little guy was NOT a people person.  He also was NOT a dog person.  In fact, the only creatures in our house that he remotely identified with was our cats.  This little guy had clearly gotten his dad's Chihuahua frame, weighing about nine pounds (his sister weighed in at 16-18 pounds, and clearly got mom's Shih Tsu frame).  You couldn't touch him.  You couldn't hold him.  If he was sitting in his little dog bed (and he was always sitting in his little dog bed), you couldn't put your hand over the edge of the dog bed.  It was as though there was an invisible wall, and if your hand penetrated it, he would lash out at you.  We would tell Samantha, "That's your little brother."  She was not impressed. 

When the people came back from vacation and took their little dog, the saddest person in the house was the man of the house . . . the guy who didn't want anymore animals in the house.  He fell in love with that dysfunctional little dog.  He asked me to try and get the dog back.  Everyone thought the dog was likely mistreated, as he appeared to have been abused.  I did nothing.  And then a few days later, the people said . . . "Hey, did you like him?  Do you want him."  And that's how Buzz came to be a Bonczek.

When Buzz came to stay "for keeps," he came with a bed, a collar, a blanket, lots of toys, a leash, some food and some treats.  The joke was that he was the only pet we got that came with his own accessories. 

Truth be told, the little guy had problems.  BIG problems.  He clearly thought he was a cat, and our vet insisted he showed signs of abuse.  If you raised your hand, he flinched.  He would yelp if you brushed past him.  He didn't want to socialize, except with the cats.  He didn't want to be touched.  He didn't want to move (too much).  He just wanted to hide under blankets in a crate until it was time to eat, take care of his business, or give a kitty a little head butt.  In order to force him to socialize, we took away the one thing that he loved . . . his crate.  It was like his little man cave, and if he was going to become a member of the family, it had to go!  It took this dog nearly two years to move outside of the kitchen/family room area under his own power.  If you held him, he would spring off of you like a flea. 

At eleven years old, he can be a bossy little guy (to some of us).  He does as he pleases for the most part.  He enjoys an occasional car ride (loves to look out the window).  He will come to you for a little ear scratching.  He will climb on you to deliver a few quick licks.


Buzz loves to play with his toy, Bobo.  There have been many Bobo's that Buzz has loved to death.  In fact, if you look at the photo above, Buzz is sitting next to his Christmas Bobo (brand spanking new on December 25, 2009), while his former Bobo sits on top of a book titled, "Loved to Death."  If you look closely, you can still make out the smiling teeth on his old pink Bobo atop the book.  The book is about dog toys that have been loved to death by their owners.  Hmmm . . . how appropriate. 

In the photo below, you see Buzz with Christmas Bobo again . . . it's just that Christmas Bobo has become a bit of a shell of his former self.  He still has his head . . . and there is a new Bobo (a larger yellow one) waiting for it's turn to be loved to death.   


He's still a little odd, but we tell him all the time . . . "Buzz, your a real dog now."


And he believes it!  He believes almost everything we say.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Meet Jennyanydots . . . another of the "Paws"

So here is another one of the many "paws" that I scrap . . . Jennyanydots.  


Her name comes from the musical, CATS.  It was the summer that my oldest daughter, Tracy, was going into 5th grade.  She was spending her summer doing youth theater, playing the role of Jennyanydots in CATS.  Her sister wanted a new kitten, and a friend had called to say she had a number of feral kittens, and that she had caught one for us.  It was a fitting name, as the lyrics go . . .

        When the day's hustle and bustle is done
        Then the gumbie cat's work is but hardly begun
        And when all the family's in bed and asleep
        She tucks up her skirts to the basement to creep


And then there is . . .

        I have a gumbie cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots
        Her equal would be hard to find, she likes the warm and sunny spots
        All day she sits beside the hearth or on the bed or on my hat
        She sits and sits and sits and sits--and that's what makes a gumbie cat
        That's what makes a gumbie cat

Of course, what other name would we choose?  Although, truth be told, until we knew for sure that Jennyanydots was a Jennyanydots, a quick vet check-up could have easily made her . . . or perhaps I mean "him" a Mister Mistoffelees. 

My daughter is 25 years old, which makes Jennyanydots quite the senior citizen of the household at 15 years old.  She has always been an absolute sweet girl, and that has not changed.  She has just a squeak of a meow now . . . still likes warm sunny spots . . . and still sits and sits and sits!  On those late nights when I am working on some pages or cards, she will venture into my craft room and sit on any box or pile that she can . . . and that is precisely what she is doing in the photo above.  Always under my left elbow . . . she sits and sits and sits . . .

That's apparently what makes a gumbie cat!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Meet One of the Paws

I have this blog called Paws to Scrap . . . because I love to scrapbook my pets.  But I rarely post pictures of my pet layouts these days, and lately I rarely scrapbook my own photos.  I'm in this sort of "card challenge mode."

So I decided that it is ridiculous that I never post my pets on the blog, I don't know why because they are so much a part of my life (enough so that I included the word "paws" in my blog title).  I will introduce my little four-legged friends one at a time, starting with my bestie . . . Samantha.  

Meet Samantha!

Samantha is a cross between a shih tsu and a chihuahua.  She came to our family as my daughter's birthday present back in December of 1999, but she ended up as my bestie.  That's just how it worked out.  She is so smart and personable, and as my husband says, "She believes everything you say."  It's true, she really does. 

So hard to think of my little "baby girl" as 11 years old.  Here is a layout that I created a camping trip we took a few years back.  She enjoyed the trip . . . we shared a sleeping bag up in Maine!  I think she would rather have been home (in fact, she was a little stressed as we started out the journey in the car).

Still need to finish my journaling on this one.  She truly does color my world!