It's a Dog's Life: Mutt's Day 2015

Last Friday (July 31st) was Mutt's Day!  As doggy-mommy to two rescue dogs, Kiva & Tootie, I planned on doing a full day-in-the-life photo post about them.  But alas I didn't have time on Friday.  Instead of the day-in-the-life idea, Lamar and I took them on a nice long walk Sabbath afternoon.  After the walk we sat in the backyard enjoying the breeze.  Kiva laid in the grass cooling off and Tootie rolled around in the dirt :)

This is my first photo-story of the 3-6 I want to do for my 30 Before 30 list.  I had a lot of fun shooting it.

My Furry Friend Tag

(Because... why not?)

A while ago I saw Claire, from HeyClaire on YouTube, do the My Furry Friend Tag about her cat Bruce and of course this was my response, "Yes!!! A perfectly reasonable opportunity to write about my dogs!!"  Buuut who really needs an excuse, right? ;-)

There are 9 questions in this tag and there will also be a slighly obscene amount of doggy photos in this post... Just a heads up ^.^  Anywho, let's get it!

1. What's you pet's name?
My pets are named Kiva Antionette and Tootie Lashay.  I have a thing about names.  I want names that have meaning.  Kiva is a Hebrew name that means protected.  I decided go with that name because a few months before I got Kiva, I had a whippet mix named Yanis (gift of God) for a couple days.  Unfortuanately, it turned out that Yanis had parvo and only lasted a few verrrrry sad days before he passed.  So needless to say, I was nervous that my next dog would have some ailment or another and I wanted her to be 'protected'.  Yep. That's the story.  Oh, and my best friend named her Antionette because she wanted to call her Toni for short... She's never called her Toni.

 Tootie on the other hand was named by her first owner and yeah... Tootie Lashay...  Early on, I wanted to change her name, but Lamar told me not to because he started calling her 'Toot a la poo' or something like that, lol.  So Tootie she is and shall stay.

2. What kind of pet and what breed?
They're both dogs... but I think you may have figured that out already...

Kiva is a beagle/jack russell mix.  Tootie is a chihuahua/rat terrier mix... maybe.  If you're good at calling dog breeds... let me know what you think she is :)

3. How long have you had your pet?
I have had Kiva for maybe 5 years and Toot for 3-ish.  I'm terrible at keeping track of these things *shrug*

4. How did you get your pet?
I adopted Kiva from the pound in Huntsville.

Tootie's gotcha story is my favorite ^.^  Basically, I was dog-sitting for a coworker while she was moving into a new apartment.  She was only suppose to be with me for a couple weeks, but as it unfortunately happens sometimes, the girl never came back for her.  I called her when Toot chewed up ALL my high heels and she promised to come get her at the end of the week... I have still not heard from her.  Good thing she left Tootie with me, because she could've easily ended up a stray or a pound puppy.

5. How old is your pet?
Here is another one of those questions that I'm not really sure about... Since I adopted Kiva I'm not sure how old she is really.  I'd say she is roughly 6ish.  Tootie is probably going on 4 maybe... I could be totally wrong tho. Meh...

 

6. What are some quirky things about your pet's personality?
These two dogs are so full of quirks its crazy!  Kiva use to have super bad separation anxiety when I first got her and now whenever I come home she cries and runs around to find something to hold in her mouth like a pacifier.  She also will push your hand up and down her belly if you stop rubbing her.  Very bossy...  Kiva is suuuper guilty... like all the time, whether she's done something or not.  If you ask her if she's sorry she makes the most pitiful looking sad face ever! It makes it really hard not to laugh when she actually gets in trouble.  She also likes to snuggle with whatever yarn ball I'm currently using.

Tootie is a grimlin.  She LOVES cave-like spaces.  Under the bed, behind the clothes in the closet, under tables, under chairs, down almost under the car seat.  She has even tried to get down by the pedals in the car.  Tryna kill us all... sigh.  She also likes feet.  She will lay next to your foot and cuddle it like a wierdo :)  She also likes to get up on Lamar's shoulder when he's driving and look out the window.  I'm always a little nervous that she's gonna fall out.

 

 

7. What does your relationship with your pet mean to you?
There is something about coming home and having super excited dogs jumping up and down like you're the best person in the world!  Kiva is very sensitive and will come lay next to me if I'm sad or crying. Tootie just makes me laugh a lot.

8. What are your favorite past times with your pet?
Dog parking & cuddles mostly.  I use to take Kiva hiking when we lived in Alabama and that was fun.  I need to find somewhere down here to take these pups a-gallivantin'.

9. What are the nicknames you call your pet?
Kiva-diva, Keevee, Kivanator, Stinker, Pretty girl.
Tootie-bootie, Tootles, Toots boots, Grimlin, Little one.

If you have pets, you should do this too. It was fun answering the questions and thinking back over the years of having these two pups.  Now for more pictures!  Huzzah!
 

official blanket testers

any crochet thing laid out is automatically her spot

cuddle-bug extraordinaire

this is how grimlins sleep lol

Not So Blue Monday #18

Today's Good Things

• Absolutely loving my outfit: I've been calling it the vintage inspired librarian. I wore a cream pleated collared blouse, an orange cardigan, a below-the-knee black/white hounds-tooth pencil skirt, orange opaque tights, and tall black boots.  I really enjoyed my look today, which is something that doesn't happen often.  I forgot to snap a full outfit picture, oops! :)

• Running into a crochet friend at the craft store on my lunch break.  Yes, I went to buy yarn on my lunch break.  I'm serious about this crafty business ^.^
  
• More lemon mint tea with milk... I'm addicted... *shrug* no.shame.
  
• Working a new tartan pattern.
  
  
• Morning walks with the pups even though they almost made me late for work o.O
  
  
• Lovely sunsets on my way home.
  

Umm I think that's it.  I really want to stay up and work on this tartan some more, but I have to be to work at 8am tomorrow.  So I'm gonna put my hook to rest for now, take the dogs out, and then go on to bed.  I hope you had a good Monday!

~Peace ^.^

Ps... Look at this little cuddler! She really can't help but to sleep on my crocheting... I'd be annoyed if it wasn't so darn cute!

What Day is It?! lol

[Not So Blue Monday #14]
[Tuesday Favorites #8] 
Good evening.

Let me take a moment to explain this post. I started writing this yesterday morning at work, but stopped because Photobucket was having issues and whatnot.  I mean it was down for the entire day and I didn't want to do the post without the pictures.  So here it is, my Tuesday Favorites of my Not So Blue Monday on a Wednesday... (phew...) Let's get on into it, shall we?

Monday was a wonderful extra day off and I was so so so grateful for it.  I didn't do as much crafting as I planned to, but I was productive in other ways.

Let's see... I did a good bit of cleaning and rearranging in my bedroom. It's still "under construction" because I have a bookcase to move and lots of laundry to put away and clothes to sort out for thrift donation and carpets to vaccuum... etc.  This list makes me feel like I should be home instead of in this office.

In the midst of moving... I basically flip-flopped my bed and dresser.

Wow... looking at this picture I must say there is a lot of stuff in my room... I have a lot of stuff... It really is time to fill bags for donation.

Anyway, I made my bed with a new sheet set and the pillow cases I snagged from my mom the last time I went home. It's all flowery and makes me smile.

Love the floral motifs and the colors are great ^.^

I straightened up my dresser top and framed more pictures. I love having framed photos around. I want to have a photo wall one day. You know, the ones with shots of family vacations and milestones framed in the staircase or something like that :)  I'd like that...

I just realized how blurry this picture is... sorry.

I'm thinking about doing a photo shoot of just my dresser top... once it's all finished. That would be fun and a challenge to photograph my photographs in interesting ways.  Woot! Future project!

Kisses!

These two pictures are from when Lamar and I went to Delaware for my bestsisterfriend's wedding. The day before we left we went down to Rehoboth beach. It was a really fun trip within a trip. We took lots of jumping pictures in the waves... trying to get a perfect one. Of course I got soaked up to my waist by a huge wave that I wasn't prepared for, lol. I'll have to find those pictures and post a few.

Lastly, I went thrifting on Monday. Thrift Mart had a 50% off everything sale for Labor Day. My roommate & her friend went early-ish in the day and ended up standing in the line for like an hour... When I went in the evening, it was like a regular Monday night at the thrift store. That was nice.

I found a few really good pieces & now cannot wait for fall to get its butt here so I can wear them! Check it out.

Thrift Mart Haul-age! I only spent $20 and change. Yay me!

Ok. I picked up some frames, because most of the empty frames i already had were 5x7 instead of 4x6 standard size.  The two slacks are UH-MAZE-ING!  The picture doesn't do them justice.  The grey pair is wool and the brown one has a thin orange/tan window pane pattern on them. They both fit wonderfully and scream "wear me on a fall day drinking chai tea outside at 5 Point Books!!!" lol. I can't wait until it's cool enough to wear them ^.^

The tops are also cool. Top row: green cotton button down, pink & teal scoopneck tee shirts, batik/ethnic print collar shirt.  Bottom row: navy blue silk button down, textured silk sleeveless, cream silk/viscose cardigan.  I am such a fan of silk shirts.  I started wearing them this summer and I'm always on the lookout for them in thrift stores.  I like that they're so light on my skin and stay cool when it's hot out.  Although I'm not sure how that's going to translate in the fall and winter.

Alright, this has gotten long enough! I hope you all have enjoyed your weeks thus far, and I'm excited to be coming down to another weekend.

Goodnight!

The 100th Post!!!

It's the One Hundreth post on APT-203!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay! I hope you like the dancing doggy ^.^ It's making me smile.

On to the yarny-goodness!  Monday night I finished my second striped scarf. It's a tri-color with 3 even stripes. I really like how the colors work together. I mean I wouldn't have chosen the bright green for this scarf if I was picking colors free hand.  (Yay for the Fall2012 colors- again!) But it looks totally great ^.^

Granny Stripe Scarf Pattern 2

Close up

I'm currently working on the third scarf which will be 2 colors.  I have really been on a serious crochet kick lately. I guess I shouldn't call it a "kick" but more like under the influence of serious motivation. I mean, if I want to get my yarn & hook when I get home and get to work making my things and it's not "work"- that can't be bad... It actually feels good to have patterns and colors popping around in my head while I'm at work during the day then get home and make the ideas real. Too bad I can't crochet at work... oh well.

Here is the beginning of the next scarf.

Hello wormy looking crochet :)

Well, I suppose that's all for this special What's on my hook Wednesday/100th post post... chuckle. I'm going to work a few more rows on this scarf before going to sleep. Thanks for reading ^.^

Oh! One more thing- Kiva & Toot got new collars today. So of course I took a picture like the good Doggy Mommy I am :)

I love how this picture shows their personalities perfectly. Kiva is the calm attentive one & Toot is the blur of vibrating energy.

Not So Blue Monday #13: Puppy Love

Hi ^.^

I hope you had a great Monday. I was evidently quite tuckered out from a day full of office work because I came home and promptly passed out for an hour... Much to the dismay of my pups who need to be fed...

Anywho, not a lot happened today not-so-blue-wise, but I did take my dogs to Petco to get groomed and after one escape attempt by Kiva and a whole lot of barking from Toot, they finally got handed over.  After work, I came to pick them up and was surprised with this:

Yes, that is red nail polish with yellow polka-dots! How cute!  Finally, Kiva has been "girly-fied"!!! People always think she's a boy. So now she's a fancy pants girl :) lol. I got a real good laugh out of her paw-dicure. 

Well, I'm off to feed them dinner and then get down to the night's crochet work :)

Peace!

Crafternoon #9 - Shop Stocking

Hi there :)

Today's crafternoon consisted of me finishing one scarf for the shop and beginning another. I have some really interesting dye ideas for the second one.

Instagram of my finished scarf: stitch detail.

The idea for the second scarf is a dip/drip dye job. I plan to saturate the ends with fabric dye and then hand it so the color will soak down. With any luck I'll have an ombre effect that fades to the original white... we'll see. I'm kinda excited about this plan. There will definitely be photos of the progress.

Instagram of the beginning of scarf #2

I really want to put a lot of time into stocking the Etsy. Mainly because we've had it "open" for almost a year and it's still really... dead... for lack of a better word.  Most of our sales tend to be to friends who have asked personally for products. I mean, I want the Etsy to be successful... I have such big ideas for it.  I just have to get there.  I have to sit down and crochet until my fingers are stiff to make sure that I have product to put out there. I've got a lot to do. But lucky for me I love it.

In other artsy news, my lovely boyfriend has finished part one of his painting for his brother. He decided to do a grid gradient background and then paint the images on top of it. So he finished the last few squares last night. It looks really cool. I kinda want him to paint me one... or maybe two to hang by my bed... (psst... hint hint wink wink LMR). Anywho, here is a progress shot of his painting.

Needless to say, he's very proud of the progress. I'm proud of him too. :~)

Let's see... Roommate has been working on a cowl and it's turning out really nicely.  She's using a beautiful wine/burgundy color yarn & it's super soft.  Here's a pic I snatched from her instagram.

I'm going to call the pattern a modified granny stripe. She said she started doing the regular granny stripe, but felt the spaces were too big, so she altered it.  Gotta love crafty people taking on the spirit of Tim Gunn and makin' it work.

I think that's all for this week's crafternoon session. I'm going to get back to working on scarf #2. I have some other sewing projects in mind for these upcoming days, and I need to get on planning the yarn bombing outing.  There's lots to do here at Apt203 ^.^  Peace.

PS. This is how much my dogs care about my crafting...

Clearly, what I thought was a quilt-top layout plan, was actually a doggy wrestling ring.  Who am I to say different?? lol.

Not So Blue Monday #8

Hi there :)

This Not So Blue Monday started off with me waking up anxious, nervous, nauseous, and dragging my feet into the office.

Now how does this beginning still count as a NSB Monday? It's because this day was honestly riddled with good things. Let's count them down :)

(1)
I turned in two applications for jobs at Oakwood.  The hardest part about knowing that your current job is ending in less than a week, is trusting that God will move in His time.  I spoke to both departments with positions to be filled and hopefully one will come through for me much sooner rather than later... One is a job I can do and one with a job that I want to do...  Oh yeah, I practically burst into tears while talking with the director of the PR department where I want to work... She said it's ok and shows my passion.

(2) 
After work, Cherie & John picked me up and we all went to see the 911 Reporters downtown in the park. The concert was awesome & I got a bunch of really fun shots.

The audience

911 Reporters at Concerts in the Park

I loved how these little girls were dancing together. Kids are awesome!

(3)

I finished spinning the pink roving last evening & soaked/hung it overnight. So this evening, I plied the brown I spun with the pink. It looks nice & I discovered plying is much easier than spinning since there's no drafting :)  I'm calling it 'Strawberry Quick.'  I don't think I have enough to really make anything of substance, but it's my first handspun & plied yarn! Hurray!

(4)
Doggy cuddles... My dogs decided that I was spending too much time working on my yarn and writing, so they pulled a hostile takeover of my roving and lap.

Toot says, "Pay attention to meee! Look I can spin it too!"

This is us not caring about what you though you were doing.  Your lap is ours!

All in all, it ended up being a pleasant day despite the shaky ground it began with. I hope you had a nice Monday.