Up until a week ago our family consisted of: Me, my husband Ian, our son Phoenix, our cat Whiskers and our dog Kitara. We were happy, our hearts were full, the animals thrived but I suppose something was missing (little did I know). I love visiting my friend Jessica for so many reasons (we laugh/cry/make cards/bitch about husbands, lol) but another reason I love her house is her preference for weiner…

DOGS!! Dachshunds, to be more specific! I didn’t know how much I loved those little wiener dogs until I was around Jess’s dogs for a weekend. Her one dog, Otis, stole my heart and I became “known” in our little There She Goes family as a wiener-lover. Ahhh… So be it… Harmless fun until Meredith (who does a lot of behind-the-scenes work at TSG) started to send me links to dog rescues with Dachshunds. Well isn’t that perfect!! I talked it over with hubby and we decided that we had room in our hearts/house for a dog that needs a leg-up..

Enter Best Friends Animal Society. One look at the “Chiweenie” named Cabernet and I was a goner.


If you don’t know Best Friends, they’re an amazing organization. They have rescued every kind of animal imaginable and take good care of them until someone takes them to their “forever home.” They are based in Utah, but they will fly your pet to you and all you have to pay for is the charge for the cargo. We picked her up a week ago and she is settling in wonderfully!



So yes, she’s a Chiweenie, which is a Chihuahua/Dachshund cross. I had all kinds of nightmares before picking her up that she would be more CHI than WEENIE, but she has a very lovely temperament. She’s up-beat like a puppy should be, but she’s not yappy, or mean, or aggressive, she’s just a sweet little girl!
I made a layout featuring her and have shared it on the TSG Blog. Please stop by there to see the full page. And PLEASE, if you’re at all curious about Best Friends Animal Society click the link and peruse all of the poor animals that need a loving home!

It’s getting close to our 2-year anniversary. It feels like it’s been longer, is that bad? It’s just that we haven’t had an easy road (I didn’t expect it to be), but I thought by now my husband would have a teaching position of some sort, but he’s still on-call (a substitute teacher..) and he doesn’t work a lot. That paired with debt and moving and dealing with a son with ADHD there have been a lot of challenges thrown our way and I consider ourselves relatively successful at this marriage “thing.” So far…

Every time Ian and I hit some sort of milestone I think Oh yah, it’s our (insert memorable moment here) and that reminds me, I need to work on my wedding scrapbook. I have no idea how many photos I am supposed to scrapbook, (I have close to 600) but I only have about 10-12 layouts done and that’s not NEAR enough. I really should try to put some multiple-photo layouts together, eh?

For this layout I used some Technique Tuesday papers from their Perspectives line. They’re not your typical wedding colours, but they just so happened to coordinate beautifully with my photos.

I had a lot of fun using my Silhouette digital cutter to cut out a bunch of shapes. I also intentionally designed the layout so I could do the sewing technique you see above (a line of objects sewn down the middle).. I’ve wanted to try that for a while now.

So.. Happy Anniversary Ian! and to the rest of you:

Hi there! I hope everyone is doing well. This is always a weird time as spring turns to summer and even if you don’t have kids there are some real palpable changes that occur and it takes a little getting used to… At least, that’s how it is in my world. This summer brings a huge change and it’s been a real surprise as to how I’ve handled it. My parents made the decision about two years ago to leave the province and retire to a farm in the middle-of-nowhere Saskatchewan. I am bitter and sad for many reasons, but mostly because they are my son’s only grandparents. They aren’t the most involved grandparents in the world, but they’re all my son has and now their relationship will go from thin to nothing. They say they will visit all the time but I know better… YES, I am being melodramatic, but I know a lot of retired people. You think you will have all the time in the world but it doesn’t work that way: retired people are always busy!!!! I would always have to call them and ask them if Phoenix could come and sleep over, what’s that going to be like now? “Hey, you haven’t called in 4 months, just wondering if you want to know what Phoenix is up to?” I don’t know… It’s going to be weird, that’s all I know.
The last time I’ll pull into the driveway:

The lasts of a lot of things. It hit me as I was walking from empty room to empty room that I would never again have a Christmas or birthday or random family dinner at “The Parents” and I just started bawling. Like, the ugly cry. I think it will be okay, but this summer is going to be a summer of change.
 

Today I am sharing a project and a yummy recipe! I was responsible for providing my son's class with desert on Friday for his classroom Hallowe'en lunch, so I decided to dress up some plain ol' Rice Crispy Squares and make them awesome!!

Phoenix and I saw some cute cards at a local craft store and the images were paper quilled.. He was pretty impressed, so I said I would show him how to do it. (I only know the BASICS, trust me...) I let him do all of the rolling and pinching, and I helped with the gluing.. Here's what we did:

I've been a busy little bee packaging up a bunch of my stash to sell at Clipper Street's humongous garage sale!

This was the LAST garage sale in July and it was FUN! It inspired me to let go of a lot of my un-used goodies.

The funny thing about it, is I'm working in the store and can't man my own table, so Ian (my hubby) is actually doing it! I hope he does ok, and doesn't scare too many ladies away!! (Just kidding Ian!) I am thankful I have such a supportive husband. Not everyone would brave throngs of women like this. I hope he comes out unscathed!

I have made little packs of coordinating paper with embellishments to sell, a bunch of stamps, about 70 of my cards that I've made over the past2 months, and other various things (you know how it is...). So if you're in the 'hood, come on down to Clipper Street and say hi to me/Ian!!

My "job" with SRM Stickers is to feature cards, primarily, but when I'm scrapbooking (and I'm REALLY trying to do it more) they are so handy to throw onto a layout..

Here's my darling little girl, my sweet baby, my precious beauty:


Yah, that's right! My dog, Kitara. I really do love her SO much, and I have all of these awesome GIRL stickers, so why not use them for my dog layouts????? The sticker set is called "Everyday Girl" and there are tonnes of words and phrases to use on cards or layouts...

I used a couple of stickers from sticker sentiments "Love" as well as some random products.. (October Afternoon papers, OLD prima flower, OLD clear letters and heart shape...)

Email me, or comment on this post with your email, and I'll send you that set so you can get started digi-stamping right away!!

This is a Christmas of new traditions for our little family. We are departing from the usual Christmas dinner with my family and opting for a less stressful, less "DRAMA" -filled holiday that includes activities we have all opted to do, including:

• Ice skating on Christmas Eve (we did that today and it was GREAT!)
  
• Dinner with Ian's family on Christmas Eve
• Uncle Ryan sleeping over and opening presents with us
• Going to the movies (we're thinking Avatar) after presents and breakfast
• A small Christmas dinner that includes the following:
• Turkey BREAST (I brined it... yummy!)
  
• Mashed Potatoes (with cream cheese)
• Broccolini with a smoked gouda cheese sauce
• Kraft dinner (Phoenix's choice!!!)
• Apple Crisp and Ice Cream for dessert
•  Go to Uncle Marks after dinner for some good hangin' out

And that's it for this year! I am so excited to not have the stress of my family weigh heavily on my heart. It's time I make my holidays the best they can be, and I truly think this will be the best Christmas yet!


Thankyou dear blog readers for a wonderful year. I have really enjoyed this past year of creating and blogging about the many changes in my life this past year. On New Years I am preparing a post of my top 10 favourite cards from 2009.. If there are any particular cards that were your favourite I would love to hear from you! I would love to send one contributor an RAK (I don't send enough happy mail...) for your trouble..

So Merry Christmas to you all. I wish you all a happy, peaceful, and FUN Christmas day!

Tobi

Here are some favourite moments from the last two days in preperation for my second favourite holiday (after Christmas, ofcourse!).

Right now I can hear firecrackers being set off by teenagers at the elementary school across the street as two humungous bowls of Phoenix's candy sit in front of me on the counter...staring.. taunting.... must look away....

At left is one part of my neighbour's Haunted House extravaganza!! It's very cool to live right beside a local Hallowe'en destination. It helped all of us get in the mood! 

 So if you didn't know, I like to cook. I like it alot. When I watch TV I watch the Food Network, and that's it besides Friends episodes! I love experimenting with ingredients, and building up my repertoire of cooking techniques and styles. I recently decided that I would not be spending Thanksgiving with my family, but instead would host dinner at my house and invite my in-laws. It was a big undertaking for me because I've never cooked a turkey! Was I out of my mind??? YES! But it's all good. Here are some photos of the day:






I ordered a canvas from Photo-canvas a week ago and I was so impressed with the service I just had to tell you in a blog post!!
The company is in England, and don't let the prices scare you. I compared the prices, and including shipping, they're CHEAPER! Wow, right? I got a 16x20 canvas, and on their website including shipping it would be 75 pounds, which works out to $122. Well I looked up a Canadian website that provides the same service, and they sell them for $123 + $25 shipping. Here's the best part: it shipped in 2 days! Well, actually, that's not the best part, the best part is that Ian and I got this amazing canvas and we will enjoy it daily for the rest of our lives. I am so grateful! Thank you Photo-Canvas!!


So thankyou for letting me share my first Thanksgiving and I hope all of you Canadians out there had a special day like we did!! And to all of you Americans: good luck with your turkeys! Now I understand why the day is so stressful for the cooks!! It's great to see everyone chow down though, isn't it??