Thomas

My little buddy passed yesterday.  I miss him already and I'm inconsolable, but I know it was the right thing to do.  Rest in peace, my darling Thomas.  You will always be in my heart.  November 15, 1998 - March 6, 2013

Thomas with his best pal, Max, who passed a few years ago.

Thanksgiving

Birthday fish

Wearing my dog tags

His last few minutes

The vet made this for us

His grave.  My husband put two small limbs from our saplings on his grave - Thomas loved crispy leaves.

DIY Family Established Sign for Door

I've seen a lot of wreaths on Pinterest and I've been attracted to many of them.  I wanted one with a more personal touch and my parents had this "family established" sign on their door, indicating their anniversary - so I used this as inspiration.  So, with no real idea of what I wanted to do in mind, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby.

I've always loved those open-backed frames at Hobby Lobby.  I think their actual purpose is to frame a canvas painting or print, but I decided to base my project around one of these.  My choice was a narrow barnwood frame.

I ended up leaving with the frame, a foam board, some burlap fabric, some chipboard letters and numbers, a small bundle of artificial flowers (the same design that I used as aisle markers at my wedding), grapevine wire, and a wreath hanger.

Materials Used
Open backed frame (I used barnwood)
Foam Board
Burlap fabric
Chipboard letters and numbers
1 bundle of artificial flowers
Staple gun & staples
Hot glue gun & hot glue sticks
Ruler
Grapevine wire or twine or string or whatever method you prefer for hanging
Wreath hanger (mine is a copper magnetic hanger)

Directions
1.  Cut the foam board to fit the open back frame.  My frame was 18x11 so these would be your dimensions.  Cut it a little bit smaller as you are going to wrap the foam board with fabric.
2.  Wrap the burlap fabric around the foam board.  I used 2 layers of fabric so you couldn't see as much white in the background.  Secure the fabric to the foam board using your staple gun.  Do this around the edges, as the frame will hide the staples.
3.  Find the letters and numbers that you want to use.  I chose "The Clanton Family Est. Oct. 2, 2010" for mine.  I would recommend using a ruler to line up the letters so they do not look crooked (like mine).  Once you have the letter and numbers you want, glue the letters using your hot glue gun.
4.  Fit the foam board into the frame.  On mine, the foam board was large enough that it fit snug inside the frame without need to glue or staple.
5.  Hot glue the flowers onto the frame in whatever pattern you find pleasing.
6.  Staple the grapevine wire to the frame.
7.  Hang and enjoy!

I made the grapevine wire long enough so I can hang a wreath above it at Christmastime :)

 And of course, Thor helped :)

Introduction

I'm starting to get into DIY projects so I thought I would try this blogging thing out as a way to keep track of them.

My name is Rachel, I'm 25 years old, a Christian, have been married since October 2010, in school for biology, in the Air National Guard, and am addicted to Pinterest!  I love cats and dogs and would have tons of them if I had the room and my husband wouldn't think that I'm insane (more than likely too late for that).  I currently have 3 dogs and a cat.  

This is a "pretty" picture of me, taken by Vania of the famous Simply Bloom Photography (before they were so famous) back in 2008 when my hair was shorter...

...and this is a "normal" picture of me, taken at the Warrior Dash in Tennessee last year.

This is my husband, Dustin.  We met in 2003 at his father's Muffler Shop while we were in high school and dated briefly.  We began seeing each other again in 2009 and were married in 2010.  

This is our cat Thomas.  He started out as my family's cat when he was adopted from a local shelter in 1999.  He slept with me at night, followed me around the house wherever I went, and would respond to the sound of my voice.  Naturally, he came with me when I moved from my parents' house.  He is going to be 14 this year.  He has some health issues, but he is still holding on strong!  He hates other cats, but loves dogs (lucky for us).

These are our dogs:  Peanut (Beagle/Boston Terrier mix we adopted in 2010), Lieutenant Aldo Raine or Aldo (Lab/German Shepherd/Husky mix we adopted in 2010), and Thor (German Shepherd we adopted in 2011).  

Aldo was first.  We adopted him from one of Dustin's friends, whose dog got it on with another dog and a bunch of unexpected puppies came along.  Aldo's mother was a black lab and his father was a half German Shepherd/ half Husky mix.  He was meant to be a companion for my dog (now my parents' dog), Cindy Lou Who.  

Baby Aldo, the day we brought him home in 2010 (picture taken at my parents' house).

My husband (fiance at the time) and I attempting to pose with Cindy and Aldo back in 2010, while out hiking.  The building behind us is where we were married later that year.

Cindy was a dog my friends and I found on the side of the road, almost eaten up completely by worms and was hours away from starvation.  My parents promised to watch her while I was away with the military for 6 months shortly after I took her in.  When I moved in with Dustin, Cindy was too sad without my dad and her new companion, Baloo (my dad's dog).  

Cindy Lou Who (Doberman Pinscher/ Boxer/Bulldog mix found in 2008)

Anyway, we always believed that two dogs are better than one because we can play with them, but another dog can really rough-house with them.  Plus, I like for them to have a companion when my husband and I are gone during the day.  After I made the decision to let my parents keep Cindy, we decided we needed another dog for Aldo to play with.  We were both big fans of big dogs so we did a little searching on petfinder and came across a puppy that was supposed to be a Great Dane/Mastiff mix (I'm also a big Scooby-Doo fan).  We named him Peanut because we thought it would be hilarious to have a 200 pound dog named Peanut.

Day of adoption with Peanut.

Boy were we surprised when he turned out to only be 35 pounds!  I'm so glad we have Peanut - he is my little buddy!  At first he had some issues and my husband and I suspected that he had been neglected or abused previously.  He had actually been adopted and returned by another family because he was deemed too mean.  Happily, with lots of patience and love, he will now crawl in our laps and demand attention while he licks our faces.  He is a sweetie.

Then there's Thor.  He was a happy accident (like me!).  My mother-in-law was in the market for a cat so we went with her to a local kill-shelter to help her find one.  I wanted to look at the dogs JUST to look.  Then, I saw Thor.  I grew up with German Shepherds and I just fell in love with this dog (whose name was Murphy).  My husband asked the shelter about him and they said that he had an owner already lined up to pick him up later that day.  I was happy for him and felt a bit of relief that I didn't have to beg my husband for another dog.  

The weekend passed and I couldn't get this dog out of my head, so my mother and I went by to see if that beautiful dog was still there and he was!  The man that had adopted him a few days before returned him because he couldn't keep him inside of his fence!  I called my husband and begged him for the dog.  It went something like this:

"Dustin, oh please please please can I have this dog!!??  I'll never ask for another thing ever in my life, pleeeeeeease!"

"Sigh, ok.  Bring him home."

Thor, in front of our Christmas tree in 2011.

Poor Thor was 65 pounds skinny when we brought him home, but now he is about 100 pounds and healthy!  Originally, he was named "Killer" and was surrendered to the shelter by his previous owner.  The shelter suspected that he lived in a dirt hole in the backyard and was severely abused.  He is the sweetest dog you could ever meet!

That's it for now!  I will bore you all with more later!