Category Archives: Dogs

A little weekend update . . .

Kitchen update soon, promise.  First here’s a little update . . .

Sophie got a Thunder Shirt . . .

And learned how to pose for camera.

Shenanigan became a chameleon as I tried to photograph our little tree/plant that I’ve named “Jazz Hands”.  (He may have been a little upset with me by his annual vet visit followed by a nail clipping that morning).

Earth Day recycling of all the random things that have a plug at Rex (Recycling Extravaganza).  Although it was a little un-earth friendly because they made us all queue up and drive through to the different drop off stations . . . . I’m not complaining because we had been stockpiling some broken appliances for a while (two humidifiers, a hair dryer and straightening iron) along with so many outdated technology components.

And after playing back-to-back gigs Friday and Saturday night, JT snagged a new guitar off Craigslist . . .

That’s a hard-working lumberjack.  (Please help me convince him to get the paisley pick-up covers.  It would make that guitar pretty B.A.)

Not bad for two days off work.  There’s more, like some projects around the house (kitchen!) but those are coming soon — I PROMISE!

Pillows (Really? Pillows? Yes, pillows)

I haven’t been around in my digital form lately, tending the blog.  Maybe because it’s because I’ve been too busy sewing pillows.  Well, yes and other things that are too boring to go into here.  So.  Pillows.

My straight line sewing skills continue to develop . . . At this point I think I’ve mastered the envelope back pillow.  I had some peace sign fabric I bought on a whim at Anatols hanging around my craft room.  Paired with some tweed-y fabric I picked up a Garden Ridge that at one point was destined for a project chair in the basement, I turned out a trio of “peace, man” pillows.

(There are two of the 20×20 peace pillows, they just don’t both fit in the rocker.  And if it don’t fit in the rocker, it don’t make it into the picture!)

Another pillow project was the test pillows for the white canvas I want to use for the Danish Daybed Sofas.  (That are still in the garage — and the foam that I was considering reusing STILL stinks to high heaven.  I don’t know that these CoMo owners did to it to make it hold on to such an aroma . . . ).  The idea for these pillows is to have Shenanigan lay on them a whole lot, to see how they weather such doggy abuse.  I’m sure he will be happy to comply.   But I also thought if I was going to the trouble of making some pillows, I ought to make them a little more interesting than just plain white canvas.  

So I drew a connected chevron pattern on them with black permanent fabric marker.  I was considering strategically coloring in some of the shapes but wasn’t able to decide on color/placement/yada yada yada so I finally just sewed  ’em up.

They’re real classy — I only bought one yard of the test fabric, so they don’t really close all the way without the help of some safety pins. . . .

Let the testing begin!

Shenanigan was the first volunteer . . . . then Sophie hopped up there too . . .

She doesn’t have this compulsion to be on TOP of the pillows like Shenanigan does though, she’s content to just be near them  . . .

That was where I left them this morning and it’s probably where they are right now.  It’s a dog’s life all right!

Oh the ways the internet can amuse

One of the nice things about using WordPress for this little ol’ blog is that it tells you all the search terms people use to find you. 

 Things like “dog manicure”

and  “help my husband has a guitar addiction!”

(Yes those are all guitars that have come or gone or still reside in our house within the last three months.)

The most popular are “lab corgi mix” (that’s Shenanigan – and really he is the most ridiculous dog)

For instance, while lounging on the sofa the other night, we look over to see little Shenanigan hanging out on and behind the new pillow I made (crochet!).  That long little nose always needs a pillow to hold it up. 

Or, a different day, he needed the crochet pillow for his front end and another pillow for his back end.  Sophie declined all pillows for the comfort of flat out snoozing on her side . . .

So.  Lots of dog pics.

You internet users has also searched for us via “music room floor plan” or “music room layout”:

Do you have a music room in your house?  I’d love to see it.  What about a lab/corgi?  I love those too (along with all other mutts and dogs in general).  Do you give your lab/corgi doggy manicures?  Or do you have a husband with an affinity for buying, keeping and selling guitars?  Let’s chat.  We might have a lot in common.

Dog Days

You may have noticed from the radio silence that things are crazy over here.  Or maybe your own life is crazy too so you totally get it and don’t really have time to read my boring blog posts about which wall I painted today, which I totally get.  At any rate, things are so crazy over here that I think both JT and I feel like we’re running around with our hair on fire most days.  Not pretty and scorched hair definitely doesn’t smell good.

You know who isn’t running around with their hair on fire?

These two.

Yep monkeys.  This is Sophie assuming the “Long Legs” position.  Also “Crazy Bat-wing Ears”.

Guess who thinks our new(-ish) bed belongs to him? 

Shenanigan.

Day after day, we find him laying in JT’s spot.  World’s largest dog bed.

Shenanigan ends up being photographed the most because he does the weirdest things.  His little lab/corgi body is so weird with his long long body and short short legs.  Sometimes, he hugs his pillows with those little legs.

Sometimes, he uses his pillow to cushion his feet only . . . .

And then Sophie uses him for a pillow and the world makes sense again . . .

I have my fingers crossed that I will have some design/home related updates next week.  I’m having some girlfriends over for a “Stitch and Bitch” craft day so I’m going to have some projects to share!  Have a great rest of your week.  (It’s going to fly by, especially if you’re running really fast because you hair’s on fire!)

Who’s Ready for the Weekend?

(Warning – Gratuitous dog pictures ahead.)

Sophie’s ready for the weekend!  She got a manicure (pedicure? pawdicure?) the other day.

We were relaxing on the sofa and she had her feet stretched out and placed on my leg just so — so, I decided to paint her little toes. (Yes, I do realize this is an extreme sign I need a life.  Help.)

Shenanigan on the other hand, couldn’t care less.  He has a new pillow donated from his grandma.  It is one of those long body pillows, which shows just how long little Shenanigan really is, because he takes up almost every last inch . . .

What contentment.  What relaxation.  Have a great weekend everyone!  Party it up like Sophie and relax like Shenanigan.

Feels like Monday . . .

JT and I took a little “staycation” day yesterday.  Being neither government employees or educators, it was not a work holiday but rather our personal holiday from work.

Really, I kind of needed a couple of days of recovery and rest following a Saturday “Ikea-or-bust” road runner trip. 

There’s more info on what I picked up at Bolingbrook to come (see the new home for Little Walter on top?) . . . some of it is making it’s way into the kitchen, which is slowly making it’s way to blue . . .

It kind of looks like a Smurf was murdered in there right now.

One little project I did tackle was some “T” hooks gifted to us (once again — did I mention they give good gifts?) from JT’s brother and sister-in-law.  I had them hanging around for a while in their original orange . . . .

And then got all “crafty” on them and went for two shades of blue . . .

It didn’t really do it for me, I wanted something simpler and cleaner so I undid my blue handiwork and painted them with the Sherwin Williams Shoji White instead.

Much better and now Sophie and Shenanigan’s leashes are always on the ready.  Pretty much just like Sophie and Shenanigan themselves whenever we put on our running shoes and grab a plastic bag . . . “The shoes and the bags!  They mean business!”  (My very poor  memory of a Patton Oswalt stand-up about the dog figuring out it’s going for a walk)

Snow Day Sewing

Last year we had a big snow day and inspired by Anna at Door Sixteen, I started on dog sweaters for Sophie and Shenanigan.  Because, you know, it’s natural for dogs to want to wear sweaters when it snows . . . .

I had picked out two 100% wool sweaters at Goodwill a long, long time ago.  I remember the pickins’ were suprisingly slim — I was kind of hoping for a Cosby-esque sweater for Shenanigan but those were all blends.  The reason for the 100% wool is Step #2 — I felted them.  It was simple, I just washed the two sweaters in as hot water as my washer would supply and dryed them at high heat as well.  Twice.  The result was little doll (and dog) sized sweaters.  Since they are felted, you can now cut them up without any unraveling at the edges. 

Step 3 involved butchering the sweaters and terrifying the dogs while chasing them around and trying to fit these pieces together.  I jazzed Shenenigan’s sweater up by adding a hoodie component made out of a Snuggie he had destroyed. Sophie’s has a fold-down collar/neck.    And then it was spring and there was no need for dog sweaters.

Fast forward to more than a year later and St. Louis received another brief but pretty snowfall last night.  The dogs hadn’t yet been able to wear their snow day sweaters because I had never finished them – they didn’t have belly bands or any fastening system.  (The story of all my craft projects – half baked.)  I garnered some inpiration from Young House Love’s “Dude Get On That Already” challenge and last night I whipped out the sewing machine, attached the belly band and sewed on some velcro.  Project complete.  They’re kind of a mess but I don’t really care – they’re done!  Neither does Sophie, she loves hers and Shenanigan just kind of tolerates it.  It makes him look like a hobbit, poor guy.  But he bravely wore it out into the snow.

PS – I promise this blog hasn’t gone to the dogs.  I have a few little house projects to share and JT has some guitar news as well so we’ll get around to posting those up too.  Those little furry faces are just so hard to resist . . . .

Weekends are for Thrifting, right?

JT and I hit up the Green Shag Market this weekend.  After seeing it on Mister Modtomic’s blog and realizing it was a mere 2.3 miles from my house, there was no resisting.  With an open span of time on Saturday I could have spent on all of my 50 ongoing projects, I couldn’t ignore the siren call of a new and unexplored antique mall so gosh-darn close by. 

And it was worth it . . . .

There have been many-a-time that I have browsed through aisle after aisle of an antique mall (junk mall in my mind) and come away with nothing that just needed to come home with me.  This weekend I found two things — an amazingly non-smelly Pendleton wool blanket and a vinyl ottoman I’m pretty sure my grandparents owned at some point in the 70s.

What with it being a bone chilling 10 degrees out, a wool blanket seemed like a no-brainer.  I loved the colors and pattern and then I saw the little blue tag.

See, you don’t have to go to Target for designer names.  And it was $30 less than a nearly identical one I found on eBay. 

Shenanigan quickly proved himself the world’s best circus dog by trying out the ottoman.  I think because of his short little stubby legs, he likes to have a higher vantage point and gets up on everything.  We even find him laying across the top of the sofa sometimes like a 55 pound tabby cat.

I had been eyeing all the knitted poufs that seem to be all the rage now (see this one at cb2) and considering trying to maybe D.I.Y. one of those so I’m glad we stumbled upon this ottoman instead.  I don’t really have time to finish all the current D.I.Y. projects I have going on, let alone start a new one.  For now both thrifty picks have found their way into the music room but at this house, things move around . . . a lot!

We had some friends over for brunch on Sunday (yay New Year’s resolution in action!) and one of our friends said “Where do you FIND all this stuff?”  It was interesting to step back and look at our house through the eyes of others.  While JT and I are thoroughly enmeshed in a world of thrift and vintage, not everyone shops that way.  I like to think of it as being environmentally conscious and trying not to buy something new when a used version exists that might find its way into the landfill. 

Underneath it all, I think I nurture a strange pride at being able to pull together inexpensive items and make our home feel warm and inviting and not cheap.  There’s also the thrill of the hunt.  It’s fun (for me) to “pick”.    (I must clarify though, I’m a mid-level scavenger.  I’m willing to pay a little more to people who have already done some of the digging and leg work for me.)  And so while it may seem strange to some people, I still find it a compliment when people marvel at all the miscellaneous items in our home.  We’ll call it eclectic and everybody wins.

Update: After I published this, I realized it was our 100th post.  Since gratuitous pet pictures are our thing, I thought I would add one of Shenanigan the circus dog giving me a low five as a small congratulations on #100.

 

Sophie and Shenanigan, famous on the inter-webs

Guys, I have achieved a life long dream. 

Sophie and Shenanigan (and JT a little bit too) were included in Desire to Inspire’s weekly “Pets on Furniture”.  See the post here.

Kim and Jo of Desire to Inspire cull the interwebs and pull together great inspirational images but my favorite part is definitely every Monday when they do “Pets on Furniture”.  As an animal lover AND a furniture lover, it doesn’t get much better.

Speaking of furniture, we have news . . . .

Working for the Weekend

Most of you guys know, but both JT and I are full-time workers.  Really most people are full-time workers but there are a lot of bloggers out there who are not 8-to-5 office types so I thought I would say it.  We’re 8-to-5 office types.  And lately for both of us the office stuff has been a little hectic.  So after an 8-to-5 or 7-to-5 or 7-to-7, neither of us really want to come home and do a lot of little stuff around the house.  So we don’t 

But when the weekend rolls around, there’s so many free hours to work on all those little (and big) projects that go unnoticed during the week.  And small steps keep getting made.  I’m sorry if these little things are a little boring or tedious, but for us, it’s all we got right now.  At some point, I’d like to have some amazing *ta-da* before and after pictures.  But right now we’re kind of in the middle of everything and just taking baby steps to get on through.

So here’s this last weekend’s progress.

Wait, that doesn’t look like progress, that looks like laziness.  We actually took the dogs to Francis Park (a gem in South City) and ran them around so they were pretty bushed.  It wore us down too but when there’s nice weather and some sunshine, you gotta get out. (And projects gotta wait.  Them’s the breaks).  But for those of you with very discerning eyes, you may notice that I did paint the vent cover on the back wall that was driving me bananas.  Small thing, but it helps it blend away more now that it matches the wall color.  (It would be even more hidden but I took down the peperonia plant to water it and left it on the windowsill to get a little sun for the day.)

The other little thing I did was some spray paint fun.  We have had this nice large ice bucket for some time. (I think I got it as a college graduation present from my aunt and uncle?  Like I said, long time.)  In our first apartment, the baby blue made sense.  Now I wanted to make in our more sapphire/teal blue to give the kitchen a little color (and a little more storage.)

That before picture of the kitchen make me shudder and that was only a few weeks ago.  It feels so much different in there now!  I started out with the same spray paint I used on my “T” collection a little bit ago here.  But it ran out and a spray paint hunt ensued.  I visited Home Depot AND Lowe’s and neither had an exact match.  So I ended up having to start over with a Valspar can I got at Lowe’s.  The color had more blue and a little less green than the previous can, so I had to re-coat and re-coat.  And my little Rustoleum attachment spray handle didn’t work on the Valspar can either.  Boo.  I ended up Smurfing myself a little by getting some blue back-spray on my hand.  But it was worth it (although this next picture is a little underwhelming – the color is so much nicer in real life . . . .)

Now we have a nice out-of-the-way place for all our oils and vinegars that we buy in bulk.  JT and I cook a lot and from scratch too so our kitchen gets pretty heavy use.  I’m thinking on the upcoming IKEA trip (how many times can I mention this trip before it happens?  I think I’m up to 6.) I will get a little plant stand on wheels to put under the bucket and make it a little more useful so it can just roll out from under the buffet.    I also did my “I hate cords” trick and taped the microwave cord and it’s extension cord to the back of the buffet.  Cords be-gone!

We also had a visitor who bought one of our Craigslist items.  One down, one to go.  Now we’re left with this . . .

Just a little microwave cart waiting for a new home.  I moved Little Walter (the tree) over to this spot — he’s sick!!!  I had purchased and photographed him a few weeks before I got around to posting about him and now he’s not doing so good!  I’m hoping by moving him away from the exterior wall, he will stay a little warmer and spruce back up. I also watered him a little more but I have anxiety about over-watering and thus drowning my plants.  I set him up on the milk crate for now because a) I kind of like the height and am using it as a placeholder and b) I’m kind of nervous Shenanigan will lift his little stubby leg on Little Walter so I wanted to get him used to having a big plant near his level. 

 Any other ideas on what to do for poor Little Walter?  I was holding off on re-potting him until after the IKEA trip (#7!!) but I may have to bite the bullet and do it now. 

Have a great week everyone — it’s 8:08 now and I have some office craziness to attend to!