Not really breaking the rule

This post was originally scheduled for Wednesday the 26th but due to a glitch it never went live. Now the title is pretty much off but at least I have a post for today.

I have a big rule about not pulling out Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving but it's different when I'm making them then the rule is slightly altered.

With that being said I actually did a wee craft the other day. It actually took me a couple days since I don't get much time to sit and work on things.

I cut and rolled all the paper pieces the one day.

The next day I put it all together.

A little bit of paper, a wood craft stick and a little star and you've got yourself a tree. The only thing I forgot to do was drill a hole to put a string through for hanging.

Happy Thanksgiving

To all my U.S. friends I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving. For my friends in other parts of the world, I wish you a day filled with happiness.

I'll be heading off to work this morning but I leave you with these thoughts.

Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow. ~Edward Sandford Martin

A THANKSGIVING DINNER

by Maude M. Grant 

Take a turkey, stuff it fat,

Some of this and some of that.

Get some turnips, peel them well.

Cook a big squash in its shell. 

Now potatoes, big and white,

Mash till they are soft and light.

Cranberries, so tart and sweet,

With the turkey we must eat. 

Pickles-yes-and then, oh my!

For a dessert a pumpkin pie,

Golden brown and spicy sweet.

What a fine Thanksgiving treat!

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

What I did with my day off

Oh what FUN I had yesterday. In case you missed it there was a bit of sarcasm in that first sentence.  It was rainy and gloomy and the kind of day I would have liked to have stayed in bed all morning.

But there was a bathroom that needed cleaned and there was a little fur ball that needed to go to the vet. Gibbs was due for a shot plus he also has been scratching at his ears a lot. As you'll see in his health report card he's got an ear infection in both ears. She asked if he had had a bath and gotten water in his ears which he hasn't so not sure how he got the infection but he's got drops now and hopefully the itching will stop soon.

I know I shouldn't compare but I have to say when I took Duke to the vet he was always so good, never made a fuss, never cried or even yelped when he got a shot. Now Gibbs on the other hand is major drama king.  This next picture was taken after we got home as proof that the vet did not murder him.

You would have though he was being brutally attacked when the poor girl tried to take his temperature. More crying and yelping followed when they were checking his ears and one last scream when he got the shot.
If that wasn't enough once we got home, heaven forbid anyone should so much as touch the spot where he got his shot. He retold the entire story of the torture he endured. Oh please, I'm the one who should have been crying since I had to pay the bill.

Looking back

Taking a look back....

One year ago around this time I was doing some crocheting and sewing

This year I haven't been doing any crafting.

Two years ago around this time Duke and I were snuggled in on the couch reading a good book

This year I do all my reading on the kindle and Gibbs can't sit still long enough to share a book. He does however like to chew the pages.

I've got a new schedule at work so I'm a little off right now. I'm working on Sundays and have Mondays off. This is going to take some getting used to

Shuffle off to Buffalo

Anyone up for a road trip?

We can snag a snow plow and head to Buffalo

I bet your wondering why I would want to do something like that when I hate snow so much.  Am I right?

Well I certainly wouldn't be going to see the snow.

You see yesterday was pay day. Can I just say that pay day doesn't hold the same charm when there isn't a check that I can take to the bank. Why no check? They're stuck in Buffalo. It could be a long wait.

Artist

We bought a play yard for Gibbs to keep him confined while we're at work. He's got all the comforts of home in there. He has a little bed, toys, food, water and a pee pad. It's worked quite well.

Don't give me that look. Yes, you do have to go in the play yard when I go to work.

Do you know what Gibbs has to say about that? He says he may have to go in there but it doesn't mean he has to stay in there.

He's a regular little escape artist. Tuesday I came home, walked in the door and imagine my surprise when he came running up to greet me. I assumed that I didn't latch the door on it well enough.  Wednesday same thing, I open the door and there he is. I check the door on the play yard and it's still closed.
I put him back in and watched and waited. He jumped, he barked, he whined. Then he jumped once more and climbed right on out of there. The play yard is maybe a little over 2 feet high. Now that doesn't sound very high but he's not very big.

Time for plan B

Time to play

While the cold winds were blowing and Gibbs was snuggling on the couch with Wade I had a chance to play with some new textures from Shadowhouse Creations.

I took this picture from last year

added a few textures and ended up with this

It's been quite a while since I've played with pictures like this. I had fun.

We knew it would come

Living in Northwestern Pennsylvania one thing that can not be avoided is snow. Whether you love it or hate it makes no difference. The white stuff is inevitable.
It descended upon us last week.

It can be a rough time of year for some. I'm just happy that I'm not a little guy who has to trudge through it trying to find the perfect spot.

He doesn't seem to mind it much. Me, I don't like standing out there while he does his thing.

It's Monday

I think I will start my day off with a smallish nap or two.

I want to be well rested when the humans come home from that thing they call work. I know they're going to want to play. We need to try something besides the no no game though. That ones getting kind of old.

On a side note, a round of applause to Golden Corral as they serve free meals to past and present members of the U.S. armed forces today

Pink pig vs the soccer ball answer

So did you guess the soccer ball since it has all those teeth marks in it?

Well then you were wrong.
Pink pig is his favorite

He even likes it better than blue balloon animal

Pink pig vs the soccer ball

Care to take a guess as to which is the favorite toy?

I'll give you the answer tomorrow

Milk carton treat container tutorial...sort of

Because I love my blog readers so much and because there were a couple of you who asked I am sitting in half in my chair with Gibbs corralled behind me to bring you somewhat of a tutorial on how to make the milk carton treat containers.

You start with an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper and cut it in half so that you have 2 pieces measuring 8 1/2 x 5 1/2

Top picture: make score marks (or simply fold) the paper at  2", 4", 6" and 8"

Bottom picture: turn the paper and make score marks (or fold) the paper at 1 1/2" , 3 1/2" and then 1/4" away from the opposite end

Crease all your score lines and then on the edge that doesn't have the 1/4 fold cut out the 1/2" section of the bottom. Then on the other fold lines you will cut up 1 1/2". That will give you 4 flaps for the bottom of the milk carton.

Not sure if this will help with my less than stellar explanation but this shows the fold lines, where to cut out and where to glue.

I like to decorate them before I glue them because it's easier to do that while it's still flat. Then I glue the side and the top.  It's kind of hard to explain how to do the top but you push the front and back together and push the sides in to make it look like a milk carton. I leave the bottom open until I'm ready to fill them. Once they're filled with candy or gift you can either tape or glue the bottom.

I found that using a tacky glue works better than just plain white school glue. It dries quicker and seems to hold better. I also found that using clothespins to hold it in place helps keep everything lined up while it's drying.

All hand made items should go through some kind of quality control inspection and I've hired on a new rookies for the job.

He says it passed.

Thompson's believe it or not

I'm going to try and squeak by with this for today.

Believe it or not...

I took pictures for a tutorial on the milk carton containers but haven't gotten them ready to post yet.

Believe it or not...

I didn't post yesterday because Monday was such a killer day that I didn't have the energy to sit down and write one.

Believe it or not...

After I typed the post about how good Gibbs was over the weekend and had it scheduled for Monday morning, he left two puddles on the floor. I guess I should have kept quiet about that one :)

Believe it or not...

That's it for today.

When the cold wind blows

We won't be seeing flowers outside for what's going to feel like a VERY long time

Our view will consist of bare trees and lots of brown until the snow flies and covers it all up.

I should consider myself lucky that we haven't gotten the snow that some people have already had. I can't help whining though about how cold it's getting. Even when the sun is out there's a chill in the wind that sort of cuts right through you. The older I get the colder it feels.

On a positive note, we had a very good weekend here. Little Mr Gibbs was a very good boy. I know it's not going to last just yet but it was nice to not find puddles every time I turned around.

Hope everyone's week is getting off to a great start.

Say what?

What do you mean you can't get anything done with me running loose?

If I want to accomplish anything I have to resort to this so I know where he's at.
I don't know what I find more funny, the leash that looks huge hanging off his collar or the look on his face.

I'm going to attempt a post as soon as I can giving directions on how to make those milk carton containers I showed you yesterday.

Where's the crafts?

It's been an awful long time since I've done any crafting but I realized there was something I made before the craft show that I never showed you.

I tried to find a link to where I found these at but I finally gave up. The blog I saw them on didn't give exact measurements for how to do these and I sort of tweaked mine a bit too.

Any way. I made some milk carton treat containers. I was selling these empty with the bottoms not sealed that they could fill them themselves and either tape or glue the bottom shut.

The ones that were left over after the craft show I filled with candy and took to work to pass out to my favorite customers and to some of the employees.

These were quick and simple to make and you can get two containers out of one 81/2 x 11 sheet of paper.

If someone will let me (meaning Gibbs) I want to make some for Christmas to pass out at work and maybe even as stocking stuffers with little gifts inside

Something that caught my eye

A few weeks ago, at the craft show I was attracted to a little log cabin that was next to the building we were in. There's something about a log cabin that just pulls me in. I didn't get a whole lot of great pictures of it but there is one.

I had thought these were red shutters but I guess I was wrong. Either way it caught my eye

Something to start the week off with

So what does one do when they have taken the weekend off from blogging but did not use any of that time to prepare something for a Monday post?

They seek suitable material to borrow and this is what I found.

I hope your week is off to a great start.