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Santa Paws

What a great way to start off the holidays!  We had the opportunity for the 2nd year in a row to do the photography for a fundraiser for The Ark Animal Shelter & we couldn't be more pleased.

Disclaimer1:  I am by no definition, no matter how loosely based, a photographer.  Like many people, I just like shooting pics & wish i knew more.  But unlike some, I've learned, I'm willing to bypass the Automatic setting on my camera in favor of the Manual setting & do my best & take my chances!  So with that, here are a few samplings from our work fun last night!

Disclaimer1:  This post is photo heavy & full of cuteness!

Let's start with the woman who started it all, Miss Donna & the rest of the Sarver clan.

Of course we had to pose for our own photo as well!

By far our funniest customers were these 2 Macaws.  They were a riot & completely out of control!

As the macaws proved, it wasn't all about dogs, we had quite a few cats this year & these 2 were just the best buds!

We had so many people that obviously loved their pets, be no one made as clear as this gentleman did.  He has so much love for his friend & it shows!

 A return couple from last year's event, and man had this lab grown!

Lucy (we may have that name wrong) we such a sweetie!  With her "I'm blind" sweater, she had us all at woof!

There were so many rescue dogs with happy endings.  We could not possibly post all of them.  This husky youngster was the perfect model.  One shot & we were done!  What a lucky human he has!

 Another return from last year...Miss Sally.  My god this girl is perfection!  If her mom would look away for just a minute, I would have gladly brought her home.  They are both so lucky to have one another.

 And we could not post these adopted pets without including a couple of the honored guests who are still looking for a home.  Macey (pointer beagle mix) and Leo (standard poodle).  It is a wonder they made it out of the shoot.  I was gonna take Macey & Tisha was gonna take Leo.  They are looking for forever homes & you COULD NOT go wrong with them. They were both so sweet & gentle!  I'm still trying to figure out how i can trick Nacho into Macey!

Last, but not least, the crew that made it all possible.  So much work in so little time!  In 3 hours we managed to raise $2000+ for The Ark.  A job well done!

One Final Note:  We were happy to raise every penny that we could, but you know it's never enough.  If you find you have the room in your home for a pet, please find the room in your heart to adopt!

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Early Batch

you won't usually see this

for at least another month.  but we were so excited & grateful to be done with Cookie's radiation treatments that we just couldn't resist making a batch for the VCA staff.  of course, the minute a couple co-workers found out, i had to promise to bring some in.
for those who've never experienced this treat, they are called Pizzelles and Nacho makes them every Christmas.  they are D-Lish!
although the ingredients are pretty basic (sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, vanilla extract), as we've learned, there is some sort of trick to it because they seem to come out different every year!  Nacho has tweaked the recipes multiple times (one year even trying to do a healthy version YUCK), but we think this batch is by far the best!
you can use an electric Pizzelle maker (like we do) or the old ones you held over a stove - no thanks!

you can see the batter in the picture above, lower left corner.  it's rather thick - thicker than cake batter but not as thick as peanut butter.  just put a dollop on each pattern

close the lid & let it sit for 1 minute & you've got yourself warm soft Pizzelles.  Nacho lays ours out to cool & harden, but you can roll them up into cannolo & fill them with creme or ice cream.  speaking of ice cream, most people say they remind them of a waffle cone & that's about right.
we've seen traditional recipes call for Anise, but neither one of us care for that so we just leave it out.  and this year i sprang for some expensive type vanilla & i think it was worth it.  you can really taste it.
so while we did save some for ourselves, the bulk of them (7 dozen to be exact) went to VCA to thank them for all they've done for Cookie.

and i'd say they were worth every penny!

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What Time is It?

Anyone besides me remember this?  OMG i played this tape until it burned through.  ohhh the 80's!
but what i'm talking about is when you take a map of your downhill adventure this past summer

combine it with an old stretch canvas commemorative photo from the local farm hockey team

add a little of this

a kit from a local craft store....and what do you end up with?  well, i didn't end up with exactly what i set out to do for my Pinterest Challenge, but, in the end, that turned out to be kind of the fun of it!

my inspiration came from Young House Love's DIY art project

Source: younghouselove.com via DeNacho on Pinterest

My plan was to paint over the hockey print. yep i said that right & painted over it - and Nacho did not freak out about it.  i started out by using ordinary white house primer that i already had & then discovered that white spray primer was just as good & faster - and i had that too!

next i was supposed to recycle more paints that i had to create something similar to the YHL art, but got stuck when i didn't have multiple colors that worked well together.  i really didn't want to buy MORE paint since we have only about 30 cans in the garage.  

that's when i came up with the idea to use a map.  i'd seen maps used in a variety of decorative projects.  so i guess, technically, i hit on two Pinspirations!
the tough part was getting the map wrinkle free, which, of course i didn't accomplish but i really have to embrace getting something done instead of doing it perfectly!

The clock kit came from Hobby Lobby & cost me less than $7.00.  so really, if you don't count the cost of the trip this past Aug (and you can't cuz that was priceless), not only was i recycling but i saved some $$$.

oh, and the clock arms??  well, i couldn't find anything minimalist or NOT GOLD, so i just cut a couple slices from some Post-It notes i have & attached them for now!  so What Time Is It?

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Mr Meni

i can thank my sis for talking me off the ledge....for now.  and for those interested, we've had a very tough week here at Playa del Nacho!  actually, a tough month, but it all culminated last week when we took Cookie to a specialty vet hospital to find out she has a brain tumor.  you can read more about that here, but the extremely short of it is this

and the good news, for now, is we have options & will begin radiation tomorrow!  if you got 'em, cross 'em cuz we sure could use it!

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very timely

it's funny because twice this year i've started to write about things that weren't so sunshiney happy - one still sits & Drafts.  both times i've come across someone that blogged something similar.  today it was a post about Doing & Having It All.  for me, there was just as much in the comments that rang true as there was in the post itself.

i have seriously considered just stopping this little blog altogether.  i'm sporadic at best - as i found out from comments on Belinda's post so many people really are.  i think that is fueled by the eternal question "why do you blog?" and i can't really answer it.  i started out doing this as a way to keep my family up to date on what's going in our lives so far away from them.  but really, they don't visit it anymore.  i actually sat down last week & wrote my parents a letter - yes, a letter!  and included a photo in it (of Cookie getting Volunteer of the Month at the Nursing Home).  it felt so good to (1) write that letter and (2) mail it.  people just don't do that anymore.  man how my handwriting has suffered!

i don't really have anything to say, and i'm certainly not a writer on any level.  the stuff i do post about is pretty "normal", nothing exciting or mark making here!  i love my kitchen, but really, how much can you post about 1 remodel?  the whole reason i think i've never posted a Finished Product is not so much because it's not finished, nothing ever is, but because what would i really be posting about after that?

when i started this, i think i'd said i never was any good at diaries.  i cannot tell you how many of those i've had since i was a kid.  i still wonder where that little orange one with the lock ended up.  probably the only one i ever had any consistency with.  somewhere along the lines though, and i think i know where, but i'm not willing to say, i felt like i HAD to do this thing.  and i don't have to.

i wrote a post back in Feb about how i hated my job.  that's putting it nicely!  i mean i wrote about how i REALLY HATED MY #&*%@^! job!  it was not pretty.  as Belinda pointed out, sometimes you just have to type things out & never post so you can get it out of your system.  that's what i did, except i posted it.  then i deleted a few days later because a very good friend actually called me to talk about it.  she said, "i'm worried about you because that's just not you".  but it was, in that moment.  and that's why i deleted it (although we know nothing is ever deleted from the internet).  i understand this need to "keep it real" but i realized then that it doesn't mean "keeping it all out there" at least for me.  again, not that any of my family 800+ miles away even remembers this little blog, but i would never want my daddy to read that & worry about me.  it was a purge that really could have been a draft forever.  so i  have a few of those now.

i used to love the writing classes i took in high school & college, but know what i hate about them right now?  Conclusion.  i don't have one.  guess i'll have to wait & see.

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11

it's been a crazy few weeks around here & i've skipped posting anything.  honestly i thought my next post was going to be bad news about Cookie, but fortunately that is not the case.

Sept brings 2 celebrations for us:  our Anniversary & Cookie's birthday (always bittersweet without Butterz)!  this year marked 11 for both of those.  for us, it was Sept 15th and for Cookie it was Sept 22.  i'm so glad to have both of these as my life!  notice, they are not "part of" my life, but they ARE my life!  it doesn't matter how many remote controls get destroyed, how many times someone pees in the house, or how much hockey gear gets strewn all over the place, i am so happy to have Nacho & Cookie - and i won't tell you who does which!

so Nacho & i spent our day in the most fitting way, doing what we love to do!

at the time, it was a bit unseasonably chilly here so i was afraid we were done for the season.  but somebody somewhere likes us & not only did we get a little temp rise, but the water turned to perfect glass!  it will most likely be my last run of the season, but it was worth it!  the ride back home was just as nice!

this is how i like to end the season!

during all this time we were wrapped up in some pretty serious issues with Cookie.  the short of it, she was showing signs so similar to Butterz final weeks that it scared us crazy.  you are never ready to let them go, but i mean we REALLY were not ready.  suffice it to say, she has pulled through.  we don't know exactly what the cause was, other than she definitely had an infection & she is still on steroids, but we are glad to  have her back at 98.9%.  we will certainly take that.  so it was actually a pretty big deal for us to take the break we did on our anniversary & head out.  at any rate, she spent her birthday getting spoiled rotten with some relaxing beach time

and some ice cream

and she still rocks it like a 3 year old!  

we do love our Cookers!

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Concrete Idea!

i love industrial & nothing says that to me like concrete.  i'm also a big fan of Benita Larsson over at Chez Larsson & when she posted her response to the Panduro concrete challenge, i just knew i had to do this!

it's an old post of hers, but i love the simplicity of it.  so Nacho & i set off to create our own Door Stops this past weekend. yippee!  you can see Nacho was as excited as i was as he laid out our supplies!

Nacho volunteered i made him help me cuz it involved mixing stuff & i'm just a girl so i knew i'd get it wrong. thank goodness for that! i only bought a 10lb bag of concrete mix & we ended up using all of it - we actually could have used about 2 more pounds though.

so mix it until it's like peanut butter. i would have totally got this one wrong & added too much water. i could tell he was nervous when i took over adding the water.  apparently you have to add it slower than molasses! 

 then i used plain old cooking oil to line my pan with.  i bought a simple organizing tray i found at Target. problem is i like it so much i want to reuse it in the house!

 the letters came from Michaels & i got one for all 4 of us:  Cookie, Baxter, Nacho & me!  put those in the pan backwards.  although in hindsight, because the sides of my pans are not straight up and down, i could have waited & put the letters on top & had just as cool of an effect!

 just add the concrete, holding the letters in place so they don't slide around until you have a nice layer over them.  keep packing the concrete as you go to get out any air bubbles while you work. we used the end of a trowel, but a screw driver end would work too in this container.

 keep adding until you fill it up.  i only did 2 in this container then used a different container that was sort of in use in my kitchen drawers but had a neat bubble design that i thought would look cool.  i used it for the other 2 stops.  let it dry 24 hours then just turn over the forms & let the concrete stops slide out.  i  had better luck than Benita, because my stops slid right out without breaking either of the molds.  i didn't have as much luck picking the letters out of them.  you can see in the photo below that 3 of the letters came out almost entirely in tact, but the N was not so lucky!

inspired by Benita's love for all things white, i was going to paint all of mine white, but decided to repurpose some bright paints i had in the garage - i swear we could put any paint store out of business.

so i started with a coat of outdoor primer just to make sure any colors i did looked good.

here is Baxter getting his bright blue on!

Cookie hard at work holding the bedroom door open

Nacho not really doing much of anything, just sitting there waiting for a job.  i kept mine the plain white that you see above. that's me, nothing special, just plane jane!

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a little rain must fall

yes, you could say we had a little rain this past Sunday.  i love those days!  looks like this weekend will be more of the same!

and of course we dealt with it as best we could!

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Step Up

one of the items on my list of Must-Have's was a step ladder that i could store IN the pantry so we could get to our IKEA Hacked pullouts at the top of the pantry & fridge.  both of us are only 5'5" & we cannot ask Tucker to come over every time we need the pizelle maker.  

4 of 5:  Handy Step Storage

so a LOOOOONG time ago, i found this ladder at The Container Store

but was too stubborn to buy it.  i was certain i could find something (1) local & (b) cheaper with my focus being on the former.  i also made the mistake of only concentrating on how flat the ladder could fold up & if it was shallow enough to still slide into the bottom of the pantry.  i never really focused on the height it would give me (or lack thereof) when unfolded.  so with that misguided priority in mind, i ended up buying a single step step stool from Target.

not a bad little step, but really what was i thinking?  one step?  i might as well stand on my tippies!

so i finally did an online chat with a CS rep & explained my delima & she graciously agreed to get someone to measure this thing folded up.  "it cannot exceed 23" front-2-back when collapsed or the pantry door won't shut & this MUST be stored in the kitchen or we will continue to stand on my refurb'd stools" i told her - that poor poor woman!  it came in at....drum roll.....dramatic pause.......i don't remember, but it was less than 24" hooray!  so of course i ordered right then & there...........NO!
i don't know why, i just didn't.  wait, i think i mentioned something about being indecisive?  yeah, that would be it.  so FIIINALLY i got my crap together & ordered it!  but not before online chatting 1 more time to make sure i'd made it absolutely clear that this thing HAD to be 23" or less when folded.  dear dog!  someone help me!  yet another CS rep chatted with me online & assured me he understood my question & it was definitely whatever measurement i didn't remember yet again - i have a feeling i'm flagged at their Call Center now.  so all that for this!

and i love it!  these upper cabinets by far are still one of my favorites HACKS in the remodel, second only to my wine storage.  and how did the ladder do when collapsed?  

perfect!  do we use it often?  sparingly, but the whole point of the top cabinets is for seasonal/lesser used items that had to stay - unlike the mounds of crap that never made it back into the kitchen!  but when i do want to get to it, it's not a hassel & i'm not digging stuff out.  
the only complaint i would say about this ladder is it's not easy to collapse back down.  i saw that in the comments section before i bought it & it does take me a few seconds to get it right, but it's worth it not to have to lug a step ladder through the house, watch Nacho stand on the counters, or risk some horrendous Darwinian episode from standing on those bar stools.

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