The Happenings

Sorry for being gone so long!

Just want to fill you in on the happenings...

We've been traveling back and forth to MI

on the weekends.

We're packing up the house here in MI.

We have a POD in our driveway which is now half full.

We bought a Bagster for all of our junk.

I hope the POD will be full next Saturday,

I hope the house will be EMPTY next Saturday.

Then...

I can call the rug and hardwood floor cleaners

and our realtor to put the place up for lease.

We hear they lease fast,

will that be our luck?

One could hope!

Our daughter is almost totally moved out.

They are slow moving on the process.

We will probably end up having to help them

get the stuff out, so we can proceed.

I know they're busy too,

but I'm on a tight schedule!

We have had many people over for quotes for...

painting the exterior and taking care of the yard and gardens.

We found some amazing deals!

If you live in the metro-Detroit area,

DTE gives you $40 for every working fridge

that you have them haul away.

We will be getting a check for $80.

That's all the house news.

In other news...

Spring is taking it's sweet old time

making a real appearance in MI and Chicago.

I hope to take a Ballet Barre class this week.

We have a new puppy (yes we are crazy right now).

The puppy's name is Fannie Mae.

Here she is...

She is a very good puppy.

Black lab/Yellow Lab mix.

The vet said she is the Einstein of puppies.

She is 9 weeks old and can

sit, lay down, come and walk on a leash perfectly.

Emma is starting to love her.

Here she is...

Love that face!!!

We are taking a weekend off from our house to

go visit the hubs sister in Memphis, TN.

We leave in 10 days!!!

I cannot wait to feel warm sunshine!

Hubs sister just adopted a Golden Retriever,

2 years old named Gypsy.

She was in a rescue and so was Fannie Mae.

They can swap Foster Care stories.

That's all the news! Hope you're all doing well!

Hugs!

Kim





Time For a Spring Bag!

Hello!

Well, it's official...

it has been the 2nd snowiest February

in Chicago history.

Of course it is...

because I moved here!

Sooo tired of the snow!

Now we are keeping our fingers crossed

that the snowstorm forming, for Thursday,

heads SOUTH of us!!!

Playing with Polyvore though,

has helped me think about

what to do with my wardrobe this spring.

Here is a clutch bag that I thought

would go well with some of the things I

currently own...

It's very light weight.

Made out of linen and lined with a satin material.

It's large enough to tuck in a cell phone,

a small wallet and lipstick.

I dressed it up a bit with some vintage buttons.

Very much me!

It took a little bit to do because I hid the stitches

between the layers of linen and satin.

So the inside is still pretty! : )

Here is Emma...

she's looking at me with the face that says...

"Are you done yet Mom? I wanna cuddle on the couch now, pwease."

Who can resist this face and a gloomy day?

Not me!

Have a wonderful day!!!
 I'll be cuddling on the couch with ha very content bully!

Hugs!

Kim

Cuteness Break!

Today, Emma met Santa for the first time!

The Illinois English Bulldog Rescue sponsored photos with Santa

at Zoey's Eatz and Treatz in Willowbrook.

She had so much fun getting lots of bully love and scratches!

We have decided to apply to become foster parents to bullies starting next month.

I'm very excited to possibly be helping out bullies in need!

Have a great day!

I'm off to Target, we forgot our tree stand and tree skirt back in MI.

Hugs!

Kim

I Won!!!

Morning!!!

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Chicago Pet Show.

I wanted to meet the folks at the Illinois English Bulldog Rescue.

We had fun meeting Louis, a rescue waiting for his furever home

and chatting with his foster mom.

Before we left the booth,

I bought some raffle tickets.

I thought I was just supporting the organization

but I actually won one of the prizes...

A Skagen watch, valued at $95!!!

I was so surprised!

Thank you IEBR!!!

Emma sends bully kisses!

We cannot wait to move permanently to Illinois.

When we finally get a house,

we want to be foster bully parents!

Have a great day!!!

Hugs!

Kim

There's No Place Like Home

We went back to Michigan to finish some end of the season yard work. We sure miss being home and really miss living in our house. We know it's time to get it ready to go back on the market and to think about buying a home in Illinois. Please pray for the housing market to continue to improve in Michigan so we can put it back up as soon as possible. Right now we're looking at putting it up in a year. It sounds like a long time but it will go pretty quick while we do a couple things to make the house attractive to buyers. We will paint the outside, touch up the inside, change a couple of light fixtures and clean up the back landscaping. Quite a bit to do to pass the time. Here are some photos from the weekend...

Our daughter put our pumpkins out and added my fall wreath.

One of my most favorite landscape ornaments.

This is the first year that our Fire Bushes got berries. Very cute!

Little Miss Emma loves coming home so she can run without a leash, sniff around and explore. Here she is laying on her favorite hill in the yard. This is a family favorite hill. She's so happy at home. She has no freedom in our apartment. She can't run free or do much in our tiny place. At the house she can run up and down the stairs and down the long hallway. We cannot wait to get a new home so we all feel less squished. We know things could be worse but it has been 3 and half years now. Wow, that's hard to believe!

Hope you're enjoying your Monday!

Hugs!

Kim

We Have Matching Flowers

Morning!!! THANK YOU for hanging in there while I fried my brain cells, lol! I decided to challenge myself and prove to myself that I could learn how to work on my blog...ALL.BY.MYSELF! Although, not completely professional looking like a lot the great blogs out there...I am pretty proud of myself, if I do say so myself. So...over on the right, you will see my new blog button, Facebook page (Won't you LIKE me today?) and a Twitter Feed. Now the next challenge is to learn to link up to some of the fun parties around blogland. 

When I took breaks, to let my brain cells cool off, I did have some fun. Yesterday, I spent the whole morning and most of the afternoon at IKEA! I met a friend there, yep, I have a new Illinois friend. She use to be my SIL's neighbor in Collierville, TN. We had a great time! I came home with lots of ideas for the apartment and for my future new home...just how far in the future is all dependent of MI's housing market...SIGH! But it could be worse.

I, also, made Emma and I matching twisted flowers. When I bought some dishtowels, they came wrapped in a long piece of white twill tape. There was enough there to make a flower for Emma's collar and for my headband. These were the first flowers that I've made. I think they turned out really nice...

Emma modeling hers.

I was having a bad hair day so mine is hanging out in this little pitcher.

Hope you're all having a wonderful day...I am off to mail Michelle's giveaway win (sorry Michelle, I kept forgetting to bring it with me) and back to IKEA for some more magazine holders. I bought 4 yesterday but I needed 6 for my shelf.

Hugs!!

Kim

Emma Says the Winner is...

According to Random.org....number 3...Michelle Whitlow of Me and My Scraps!!! Congratulations!!! Here is watch she wins..

A pair of pink gloves, a Breast Cancer Awareness key chain, a Breast Cancer Awareness bracelet from Coldwater Creek and an orange scarf from my stash of goodies to wear with the yo-yo pin if she chooses! Hope you enjoy your prize, Michelle!!!

Hope everyone enjoys their Monday! Thanks to all who entered the giveaway!!!

Hugs!

Kim

My Patio and a Little Emma Love

Hello! I wanted to show you my Chicago patio. It is very small and the cement was green with moss so I decided it was time to make it over and add a little square footage to our spring/summer/fall living space. I found this cute wicker chair/table set and indoor/outdoor rug at Target. I wish I had a before picture to go with my after but my hubby started the makeover before I came to visit. I bought some hanging baskets and they are now up and I plan to get a new potted flower to put where the shown hanging basket now sits. I am so happy with the makeover. I now leave the patio door open and Emma loves to be able to walk out there whenever she pleases. Hubby put up a baby gate so she can't escape. I will be sad when winter arrives and I lose this pretty space until spring. Enjoy the photos and Emma love!

Emma loves sitting in the chairs. She's sending you bully kisses...see her tongue? LOL!

(Click to enlarge)

One more of Emma with a cuter look on her face.

The complete set. Love it.

Ok, back to laundry and packing! Enjoy your day!

Hugs!

Kim

Emma's Stylin'

Morning!!! I found the cutest blog and etsy that has the cutest dog collars ever...

crazyforcollars.etsy.com is the etsy

and

Suzanne's Crazy for Collars is the blog.

~~~~~

I thought Emma had stopped growing but I was wrong, so when she outgrew her collar I went on the hunt for cute collars. I love these sites and I really love the collars.

Emma says, "Cheese."

(Click to enlarge for a better view of the collar)

This collar has the cutest daisy print and polka dot bow. Perfect spring time collar for her!

~~~~~

Turquoise seems to be my color this upcoming season...stop by tomorrow to see more turquoise! I promise you will be loving turquoise too!!!

Have a great day!!!

Hugs!

Kim

One Last Halloween Post

Hello!!! This is a first for me...here is picture of me on my blog! Emma and I sort of look like a garden, I'm a flower and she is a pumpkin. She LOVED Halloween and standing on the porch while the kids came up for candy. She even had her picture taken by a new fan! When it was all over she ran away when I wanted to take her costume off...can't say that I blame her, it was freezing and it was probably a nice warm coat to her!

Hope you all had a great weekend!!! OH...guess what we bought today??? A prelit Christmas tree...bring on the holidays!

Hugs!
Kim

A Little Bit of Emma

Hi everyone!!! It's a very gloomy day here today but here's a bit of sunshine...

She lights up our lives, our little Emma. She was the runt of the litter and is still on the small size although she is 50 pounds. Emma is now 10 1/2 months old and she's still sooo good! She never really did the bad puppy stuff. Emma LOVES everyone and LOVES to play with her sister kitties.

Sorry for the tilty photo...I took it from the bottom of the steps and couldn't see the screen real well. Hope she brings light to your day!

Hugs!
Kim

9 Months on 9-09-09

Morning! I should have posted this yesterday BUT look who turned 9 months old on 9-09-09! EMMA!!! She is the sweetest puppy still and she weighs in at 45 pounds now!

Here's Emma being silly while I try to take her picture! She was trying to jump at the camera. She was sitting so nice with me watching the Detroit Tigers.

Here she is in her Tiger jersey! We are in the pennant race and currently first place in our whatever you call it! LOL! The lingo of baseball still catches me up...but we are 5 1/2 games ahead of Minnesota right now. GO TIGERS!!!!

Not all too much going on here...I am "trying" to be crafty but little Miss Emma will have nothing of it unless she's asleep. She really is like having a 3 year old child! LOL!

Hope all is well with all of you!!! WELCOME to all my new followers!!! Have a great day one and all!!!

Hugs!

Kim

Catching Up

Hello! Yep, I'm still around. I've been having blogger block or just plain old lack of motivation! Let me catch you up a bit...

This is Emma over Memorial Weekend. She got so pooped out up north, she slept most of the next day! Yesterday, she got spayed. She's doing really, really well. She's my happy go-lucky baby girl!

A shot of Cocoa and Emma. Cocoa is 5 1/2 months post-op and still here! She was only expected to be here until around February 2009! We are very happy to still have her with us, Emma is too!

Our garden has been planted! The plants are all starting to get going. Unfortunately, we had frost this morning! It's June 5th...seriously what's up with the frost??? BUT it appears all plants survived!

Some pretty alliums (I believe) from my mom's garden in Caseville, MI.

A very pretty view over Comerica Park. That was a pretty sunset!

A view of Downtown Detroit. I hope the economy improves for us all! GM is very important to our area!

I will take more photos this weekend so you can see how the garden has grown! I always hope to feel crafty soon! I'm in such a craft/blog funk! Does this happen to you???

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Hugs! I've missed you!

Kim

Seriously MOM!

Emma: Seriously Mom, I'd much rather lick the lens or chew on the strap of your camera then pose for pictures for your silly blog! But I told her everyone in blogland would probably like an Emma fix so she reluctantly posed for you all!

Emma: This is as pretty of a sit you're gonna get out of me!

Emma: AGAIN!?! Are you serious, one wasn't enough?

Emma: Now you want me to lay here and stay??? Geez! *Rolls eyes*

Emma: How many more???? Are we almost done here?

Me: I PROMISE this is the last one Emma!

Emma: Ok, mom.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Enjoy! Remember our past and present troops! God bless our troops!

Kim

Graduation

Hello! The graduation was so nice! The day was a mix of sun and clouds, breezy and cool. The ceremony wasn't too long and it went very well. The college up the road, Oakland University, opted for no hand shaking because of the Swine Flu virus...safety precautions I guess. Rochester College did shake hands with the students which I was glad about. I have a few inside shots, no family pics, call me old fashioned but I am still not 100% comfortable posting pictures of our family. I don't know why that is but here is what I have...

This was a very pretty window inside the church, Rochester Church of Christ.

I could only find a rain cloud on my picture editing program to cover her name. I don't have a sophisticated system. It was not a rainy/gloomy event...a really good one actually...see...she graduated with the highest honors...less than 10% did! Her degree is a major in Science with the emphasis on education. She is now a teacher with a 90 day letter awaiting her state certification in the mail. She starts grad school on Monday already!

In other news, Emma went for her check-up yesterday, yep our vet is open on Sundays! She is now a whopping 29.2 pounds and it does appear she is allergic to grass. They gave us a spray for her feet and special shampoo. Luckily, the allergy doesn't bother her any.

That's all from here...I still need to get a photo of the pumpkins. Have a wonderful day!!!!

Hugs!

Kim

Testing 1...2...3...Testing

Edited: I tried getting this to go on the bottom of the page, but no such luck.

Magnolia in the backyard...can you see the raindrops on the petals? This was taken through the window and the screen! This one you cannot click to enlarge but the others you can.

Hello from the rain-soaked land of eastern lower Michigan! We are suppose to get another inch of rain today...I think we may float away!

I am testing my new camera today. I've been wanting one of my own for a very long time. I have had 2 hand me down digitals and now I own my very own. I saw one at Costco and I really like it so far. I've only been able to take some inside shots but I think they're pretty good, better than my old camera. This camera is the Canon PowerShot SX200IS... Now I hope I can take some good shots at the graduation : ) 2 more days!

I brought my Gerbera Daisy inside because it has been darn chilly!

Here's a face you know and love! I know I love that mug and her toofies!


AWWW could she be any more innocent!?!

Sorry this is short...just a test...I have bunches to do before Saturday!

Have a wonderful night!!

Hugs!

Kim

The First 2009 Pumpkin Update

Hello! Here we go...the first pumpkin update of the season! Saturday we decided to buy some of our vegetable plants. They sell out quickly at our favorite nurseries. Here are the pumpkin seedlings, you should see how much bigger they are already!

I bought a pretty Gerbera Daisy for me : ) Wanted the patio to have something pretty for the graduation party this weekend. It's suppose to only be 60 degrees but it is suppose to be sunny too. Maybe some people will want to be outside.

Next up we have the girls! Emma is hard to capture in photo, she really wants to see what the camera is up close and is almost always trying to get it. But, here she is sitting with the hubs...


And here's the old girl, Cocoa! She is 4 months post-op from her cancer surgery and 2 months past her given prognosis of passing on. She had other plans! I hope she sticks around for a long time but I do know that most dogs die within the year of this diagnosis (cancer of the blood vessel walls). I'm just glad she has beat the odds so far!

Tomorrow, I will be getting real busy with the graduation party prep. I hope you are all having a great week!

Hugs!

Kim

Emma Fix

Hello! I thought I'd give you all an Emma fix! LOL! She seems to be pretty popular! She sure is with us! She is soooo sweet! She is potty trained and has slept through the night 3 of 4 nights, woohoo! I took these pics a couple of weeks ago and I think she's bigger already. She's quite heavy for me to pick up. Her baby teeth have been coming out and her new ones don't look all too crooked : ) Some bulldogs get pretty crooked teeth. We think she is allergic to the grass though. On the weekends she spends lots of time outside with the hubby and every time she gets a rash. During the week she usually just goes in and out...no rashes. When I take her for her last shots, I am going to ask the vet. Well...here she is...

This was a favorite toy while she was doing the most of her teething.

My SIL sent her this pink piggy for Easter. She love her!

I am so excited that warmer weather is on the way for the weekend! It is sooo chilly and gloomy here...ugh!

Hope you all have a great day!

Hugs!

Kim

A Little Spring Decorating

Morning! Sorry I've been gone so long! Emma is still keeping me busy. She is getting easier to take care of and she can now sleep 4 hours straight at night. I read some info on bulldog puppies and they need to go potty a lot! So we go out a lot!

Here she is! She's 13 weeks old now.

~~~~~

I've been trying to do a little stamping and a little decorating. The other day I worked on some Birdie Swap things and decided to make something for our Chicago apartment too. Here it is...

A little frame from Michael's $1 and I stamped this birdie from Friends 24-7 (Stampin' Up!) on some watercolor paper using the Black Classic Stamp Pad (Stampin' Up!). I really like it!

It looks so pretty on the mantle with the bottles that my daughter's bf gave me for Christmas.

~~~~~

Yesterday, I went to have my hair cut and colored : ) and while I was out I thought I'd stop at Marshall's. I'm glad I did! I found this cute little hanging bottle and hanging egg.

Oh so pretty!

Another view. I do plan on taking pictures when the weather warms up for this frame.

~~~~~

Not a whole lot on the agenda today. I hope you all have a great day!!!

Hugs!

Kim