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Jessie Update

So sorry it's been so long! I thought I would update you on Jessie's x-rays. Thanks to the wonderful and loving family I have Jessie was able to get in right away and get x-rays done on her leg. What the vet found was calcium buildup around the joint in other words.... arthritis just as suspected. This was fabulous news because she doesn't need surgery to fix anything. On the downside there is really nothing that can be done for arthritis other than to just manage the pain. The cold weather aggravates the arthritis so that is why she had been limping so much. So, now she is on a pain medication as she needs it. It helps her so much! She also has a self heating mat for her doggie-door doghouse (We have a dog door in our kitchen that leads to the fenced in backyard. The dogs walk out the dog door into an attached dog house then walk through another dog door to get outside. It really keeps out the drafts in the house!). The mat warms up from the dog's body heat. She lays in the dog house a lot when I work in the kitchen so this mat is great for giving her a bit of cushion and keeping her leg warm.

Jessie loves to get in a good run when she can.

Now that that worry is taken care of, all of our effort can be put into waiting for this awful snow to clear up so we can get back to our long walks in the field. We do get out occasionally but I try to limit Jessie's time running in the snow so her leg doesn't get aggravated. Winter has led to many a boring days for my pups but I try to throw the ball as much as possible throughout the day =)

Casey LOVES snow! She starts out diving head first then takes a good bite!

Winter's pretty but we're ready for summer!

"Jessie's X-Ray Fund"

What can I say about my dog Jessie....she has issues! I guess it is a dog thing, okay it is definitely a lab thing, to get nuts over a tennis ball. Jessie will play fetch with you until she drops. Even when you're done throwing the ball she keeps dropping it at your feet waiting for you to to throw it again. I did teach her "Last time then lay down." which works quite a bit of the time, as long as we don't have company. I guess company gets her all excited and she feels chasing the ball is a good way to release some of that excitement.

We have a ton of tennis balls. You can't walk into a room in my house without coming across at least one. A couple years ago I even bought her a lot of 100 tennis balls on Ebay. We dumped them all out at once in the living room and she went around and picked each and every one up at least once. The excitement in her face was priceless.

When Jessie chases the ball she plays hard, especially outside. She runs fast and hard and she slides on her back legs to come to a stop at the ball. A few years ago she did this and sprained one of her back legs. It has since developed arthritis. I don't really play much ball with her outside anymore because she just plays too hard. When someone comes over I tell them not to throw it outside for her more than 1 or 2 times, but she always keeps bringing the ball back and dropping it for them to throw and of course they throw it. The thing is she doesn't care if her arthritis makes her leg hurt as long as she can chase the ball. All that doggie adrenaline makes her forget the soreness until later.

Now with the winter at full force here and the bitterly cold weather Jessie's arthritis is acting up. Our vet wants to  take some x-rays and make sure she didn't re-injure it. Of course x-rays are super expensive so that is what this post is really all about.

I love my dogs more than I can express. They are so selfless, they are always there to comfort and be there for you no matter what. And I do my best to give them the most loving home I can. They are so spoiled! I don't know how many nights I've slept so uncomfortable in my bed so they both have comfy cozy spots (and that can be tricky with one human and 2 yellow labs, one at 70 pounds and the other at 82!). You know you spoil your dogs when you make a special trip to the meat market for them and have a big bag of bones in your freezer!

In this difficult and tough economy things are tight, especially with the upcoming holidays, but I'm working on a way to earn the extra money needed for Jessie's x-rays. I know I've posted about my Pet Trading Cards. They are a great way to show off your adorable, cuddly pets, who I consider to be part of the family. Starting today all the proceeds from my Pet Card sales go directly into "Jessie's X-ray Fund". The cards are $2.00 each or 12 for $20.00 plus $2.00 shipping. Here you can read more about my Pet Trading Cards. If you are interested in having your favorite pet photos made into trading cards please send me an email. They make wonderful keepsakes and are a great way to show off your wonderful furry family members!

I will also have several auctions on Ebay this month in which all the money earned will go into the fund as well. I will post a link to these auctions shortly.

Super Slurper!

I've always known Jessie has a super long tongue but after going through the pictures I took of her on our walk today I think it must be the longest doggie tongue ever! I mean she must be super uncomfortable when she has her mouth shut!

These are just pictures I shot today, but after going through my doggie photo files I don't have many pictures of Jessie where her tongue isn't hanging out.

This is not a great quality photo (sorry for the blurriness) but I do think it showcases the length of Jessie's tongue well.

Even when she is laying soaking up the sun her tongue is out.

Here you can see not only is her tongue long but it is also quite wide. This makes it ideal for slurping!

Jessie has no problem posing for the camera, especially if you have something in you hand that you are preparing to throw.

I guess she isn't picky about which side of her mouth her tongue hangs out of.

I love this shot! Her tongue looks huge here, how does it fit in her mouth??

Profile tongue shot.

What a dork! She is such a weirdo, maybe that is why she is a perfect match for the Parkers =o)

Casey on the other hand has a perfectly proportioned tongue for her mouth. She too is a weirdo but in so many different ways....she fits in well around here, too!

On a side note: We couldn't have a more beautiful November day! The 8th of November in Michigan and it is sunny with a bright blue sky and almost 60 degrees F! What a great day for a walk.

Movie Review and Some Fall Pics

Okay, I have always been obsessed with cartoons. Maybe that is why I love to draw. Even as an adult I still watch cartoons and animated movies. I never pass up the opportunity to watch the Flintstones or Looney Tunes on Boomerang. And you can be sure to find Nemo, Wall-E or a Disney classic playing at my house at least once a week. I enjoy the Pixar style animation but am still a hardcore hand drawn Disney fan, Robin Hood and Sword in the Stone being my favorites. But coming in a very close third on my list of animated flicks is Toy Story. From the first time I saw it I was hooked. The first Toy Story was released when I was a teen (and yes I know this will be embarrassing) and I had (and still have) a Toy Story bedspread, the Buzz Lightyear action figure, Slinky Dog, Mr. Potato Head and a Bucket-O-Soldiers. One of my dogs was also named after my now favorite Toy Story character, Jessie. Let's just say I love Toy Story.

Well, last night I watched Toy Story 3. It was great, it stayed right in flow with the first two films, never missed a beat. The characters all had the same lovable charm and were very comical. I must say this one had a very intense ending, I found myself very nervous and anxious to see how it would end. It was very emotional. A lot of movie critics talked about the movie having a darker feel than the previous two but I don't think it was more sinister than the disturbed neighbor boy, Sid, of Toy Story 1. All in all I was very happy with it. Disney/Pixar didn't disappoint and did a brilliant job once again.

Also on my movie watch list this week was Letters to Juliet. Very much a chick flick. I really enjoyed it. It was a bit predictable but what romantic comedy isn't? The main characters were easily likable and I especially enjoyed Vanessa Redgrave's performance which was warm and so caring. Definitely a must see if you're a romantic comedy fan.

*****

We've been taking a lot of very long walks the past couple weeks. With rifle hunting season coming up soon I want to get my dogs out in the field and woods as much as I can before we are limited just to our back yard. While I don't hunt I know there are hunters all around our property and I'm taking no chances. Something happens to some hunters (not the ones I know, who are very cautious) when they are out with their loaded weapons. I just don't trust that someone might get trigger happy and shoot before they realize what they are shooting at. So from November 15 until after the first of January our doggie walks are confined to the closeness of our house.

With all these long walks we've been able to soak up all the bright and brilliant colors that fall has brought our way. This fall, which is my favorite season for the above reason,  has been wonderful, not to warm or cold for the most part. We did have a week of 80-ish weather which is not at all unusual for Michigan. With all the beautiful colors came fall portraits of my doggies and my nephews. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to capture their photos with all the bright leaves and the giant pumpkin from our garden.

My two crazy pups out in the woods. 

Here's Jessie. I wish she wouldn't have had a mouthful of dirt of this picture, she was mole digging. But I do love the colors behind her.

Here she is with the gorgeous blue and green backdrop. Too bad as I clicked she moved forward. I guess she wanted her close up to be really close.

Casey is sometimes a little less cooperative or rather distracted when we're out in the woods. She's not very likely to sit and pose for you like Jessie does. Here she was completely distracted and fascinated with the falling leaves. She just laid down and watched as they floated down from the trees.

This is a shot of her running through the field. I was so happy we went out before noon and caught the morning sun.

Chase sure did like the big pumpkin. He kept giving it kisses.

It was so warm out this day that we got rid of the jacket. I think the striped shirt worked out perfect and of course he had to have the owl, which I think has become his favorite toy here.

These pictures of Chase were taken the first week of fall so the weather was still summerish! I love the colors, especially the brightness of the green grass.

Parker on the other had could have cared less about the pumpkin. I was lucky to get this shot of him when we first went outside. He sat real good for about 2 seconds (just long enough for me to push the button) then he was off to climb the porch steps.

You have to be quick any more to get a picture of this kid, he is on the move!

These were taken later in the afternoon so the sun was nice and golden.

So far, fall has yet to disappoint me. Wonderful weather and adorable doggies and babies, what more could you ask for?! Oh, maybe a beautiful healthy baby girl that will soon be forced to have her picture taken thousands of times. Yup, I have a niece due to arrive the end of the month and we are all super excited!  Chase is getting a little sister soon!

Enjoy fall, it doesn't last very long!

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Welcome back Me!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. It has been pretty crazy the last couple months. But I'm getting back into the swing of things.

Here are a couple invitations that I've done. The first one was for my nephew, Parker's first birthday party. He loves dogs, sometimes I think he believes he is a dog, especially when he carries his socks around in his mouth like Casey. His party theme was dogs of course and everything shared the theme from the invitations to the decorations to the cake to Parker's shirt! My sister decorated the cake using peppermint patties and Junior Mints for the paw prints which I thought was ingenious!

I wanted to make his invitation unique and stick with the dog theme so I made single fold paw prints out of cream/tan card stock. I used different patterned paper for the fronts so they all coordinated but no two invitations were the same. A narrow strip was added at the top of the patterned paper to look like a dog collar and I added an "I (heart) Dogs" license tag. The bone on the front reads "Parker's turning 1!!". All of the party information was printed on circles on the inside. I think they turned out cute!

The party turned out great and Parker really had a blast. He devoured his entire mini cake (he got a quick little hose off in the tub after that!)

These invitations I made for my sister-in-laws second baby shower. I decided to throw her small shower since she is having a girl this time! The theme for the party is pastel polka dots, very girly. I again wanted to do something different and went with a double folded package type invitation.

I added different patterned paper to the front of the flaps and on the back. There is a purple plaid "button" tab attached to the top flap and secured to the bottom with white iridescent ribbon that threads through two small holes. The ribbon isn't tied or bowed that way the recipient just has to lift up on the "button" tab to open and the ribbon just slides through easily. There is also matching ribbon wrapped around the top flap. It worked out really nice.

On the inside I printed all the party information in different classical and fancy fonts. I used pink and purple for the fonts. I added a heart or a flower circle embellishment on the iridescent ribbon as well as a "hosted by" circle embellishment on the bottom.

Here's what the finished invitation looks like.

I LOVE this polka dot paper! It was my favorite pattern. All the patterned paper that I used coordinated and I ended up using 5 different patterns. I love mixing things up!

Mixing up the font and the colors is also a great way of having a unique yet stylish look.

I'm working on some favor boxes that I plan to fill with bath salts and some other decorations. We're keeping the shower simple but elegant. Pictures will come afterwards =) It should be a fun day with close friends and family to celebrate the little girl coming our way in November!

I know my dog is obsessed with tennis balls. And I know that she is obsessed with loud noises like gunshots and fireworks. I know that she is obsessed with digging for moles....okay my dog has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder! Yesterday Jessie found a new obsession....the sprinkler!

She decided to ATTACK it!

Maybe get a drink, too.

And if she wasn't already wet enough, she decided to take a few laps through it.

She was SOAKED!

The neighbor dog was curious about all the commotion. (She's a bit intimidating, big doggie!) She also spotted Casey and me sitting under a tree.

GRRR neighbor dog!

Oh, that's right you can't go past your hidden fence!

(Casey and Jessie long to play with the neighbor dogs, but they always run away from my sweet pups who really do just want to play!)

After about 15 minutes of playing in the water I finally coaxed Jessie into the house. When she likes doing something she LIKES doing something! Casey on the other hand did NOT like the sprinkler. She walked around it once, got wet, freaked out and didn't go back. Glad I don't have two dogs with OCD!