sandbox serendipity

dottie

today we said goodbye to our beloved dottie. she was a member of our family for 13 years. we rescued her in '96 and maria named her 'dorothy' (dottie for short). her name was the first and only word samuel said for a long time (da-wee). as much as we are hurting, we know it was the best decision. poor mugsy is confused..., they have been partners in crime for 12 years. we always teased she was a misfit dalmation with few spots, none on one side of her body & she lost most of her tail to a car when she was younger. but when she looked at you with those kohl rimmed deep brown eyes you forgot your troubles.

the most amazing moment of the day was as we all walked out of the vet's office, holding each other and crying, outside was a young dalmation on a leash...jumping and playing with its owner. a lightly spotted one, like dottie....it was so surreal

rest in peace my sweet girl

my favorite christmas tree

i love the part of peanuts' christmas special with the sad little tree that just needs some love. when i saw they were actually selling charlie brown christmas trees for $20+ i knew i had to make one.

two paint sticks, cut the curved portion off and drill/punch a hole in the center of each one. i used a hand drill and made the hole bigger with a hole punch tool. either staple or glue the sticks together, lining up the holes. (staple from the bottom) i used an evergreen floral pick, you need one that is sparse with bare wrapped wire as the stem and not the garland type that is green all over. bend the bottom wire (you may need to trim it first) and insert it into the holes in the base. wire a small red ornament onto the top branch and bend the whole branch over as if the ornament is pulling it down. finish up with a small blue fabric scrap or towel for linus' blankie (i used a washcloth to look like a fuzzy blanket)