Kitchen

Ohmygosh I can't believe I haven't blogged since March!! I have so much catching up to do, but right now I'm looking for some opinions for my kitchen. Never mind my awful pics. lol Here are pics of the new color red, white cabinets and the new off white floor. The back splash is black and white tiles, painted over a few years ago from blue with gloss paint and sealer. You can see in the adjoining living room, that we are remodeling there also and that the walls are gold. I am going to go about 2-3 shades darker with the gold. I would like to coordinate the 2 rooms to kind of go together. Any ideas for the window treatment and chair covers? I love plaids and stripes, love to mix and match those. How much of the gold should I bring into the kitchen without overdoing it?? Any ideas would be helpful! Also, I put up a pic of the new bed Rick made us. Isn't he talented?? He has made other furniture for us and I will get those pics ups some time. Thanks!

Rosalie!

Heres little Rosalie! We adopted a 6 month old samoyed from Playing Again Sams here in WI. She is just the sweetest little thing! Very sweet, a bit shy right now, and likes to give kisses. We picked her up in Appleton where she was being fostered by Andrea. The two other dogs with her belong to Andrea. They are actually relatives of our Chilly! The bigger one, Teddy, looked so much like Chilly, I just couldn't believe it! The little one, Chloe, her grandma was actually Chilly's mom.
We named her Rosalie after a character in Twilight. I know, we are groupies. :) We are so happy to have her here. Snowy is a little grumpy, but the 2 of them are actually side by side right now, chewing bones. Its a very satisfying picture. :) I'll post more pics later.

http://clothclaydolls.ning.com/

Anna's Chair

I got my pics backwards. This is a party favor box Jennifer wants to have on the tables at the wedding. It has a hinge for the lid and the little flowers are raised. We want to add something to it, like some kind of little place mat for it to sit on or something attached on top. Any ideas from my creative friends?? This is the chair I made for my sister-in-law Anna's first baby. I hope she likes it! Its adapted to the chair from a pattern by Shirley Wilson of Ladybug Studios. It was fun to make.

Winter!

Here is the last picture I have of Chilly, on Christmas morning. It's one of my favorites. This is Snowy on Christmas morning. "This is my pile of destroyed Christmas wrappings. Do not attempt to take them away from me"!

Vanessa and I getting ready to walk the dogs. Its about 3 weeks before Christmas

Rick and I, dressed for dog walking in Wisconsin.

All bundled up, ready to go! We get to feel like Randy, the little brother in "A Christmas Story". "I can't put my arms downnnnnnn!!"

Chilly Becker 1/25/01-12/26/08

On the day after Christmas, we had to put our 7 year old samoyed, Chilly, to sleep. He had developed a lung condition over the past few months that accelerated 2 weeks before Christmas. We consulted with a surgeon in Illinois, but the surgery was unbelievably expensive and there was no guarantee the surgery would be successful. He was starting to struggle to breathe, so on Dec. 26th we made the agonizing decision to let him go.
Chilly was such a sweet, loving boy. Always happy to see anyone, ready to give kisses. Barking at the moon was a favorite past time, along with playing in the snow, stealing socks, greeting people on our walks, licking feet, and sleeping beside Samantha's bed at night. He was a big, beautiful samoyed whose parents were award winning show dogs. He got us instead of awards glory, but I don't think he minded. :) Chilly and his buddy Snowy. Snowy is a bit lost without him.

An absolutely adorable pup!

Look at that mug! This is him at 6 weeks old. When we saw the size of his paws, we knew he was going to be huge!

Good-bye Chilly. We will love and miss you every day.

Christmas Stuff

Here is our Chilly, taking a snoozer near the tree. The tree that still is not decorated other than lights. :) A few years ago, we started to collect the Department 56 Dickens Village series. Rick built a table with 2 tiers. I made all the brick work to look just like the ones Dept. 56 sells, along with roads, ponds, and even a snow hill. We have lots of fun collecting and setting it up every year. It's one of my favorite things at Christmas.