The Best Mistake We Ever Made!!!

Our dog Cookie

 In my description on this blog and every other social media outlet I am on I mention my dog Cookie. I figure I am well overdue in introducing her on here since she is such a major part of my life. So here she is! She is currently eight years old and will be nine on St. Patrick's Day.

Now my hubby and I constantly refer to her as "the best mistake we ever made" and here is why. Jamie and I had gone out to dinner to Red Lobster and I ordered one of their huge lobsterita drinks (oh and I'm a light weight like a full beer in and I'm ready for bed) and I finished mine all by myself so I was quite giggly. My husband was driving us home when we somehow got to talking about puppies and the pet store (yes, I know go ahead and gasp, we both hate to admit this) in the mall. Next thing I know we are pulling a u-turn and heading for the mall. This is how we met Cookie. She was the cutest little bundle of fur and when we were playing with her she kept untying Jamie's shoe laces.

We were smitten and everybody who worked there got in line to hug her goodbye and they were all so sad but glad she was getting a good home. Ever since we have blamed our decision to buy a dog from a pet store on my lobsterita. Turns out she has been the sweetest dog we have ever known! One of her favorite things to do is have my husband pick her up and hold her on her back like a baby. She has been known to fall asleep like this. Another absolutely endearing thing she does is when you are holding her she will bury her head against your chest. It is just so sweet, one of her veterinarians was so smitten with her I was a little relieved when he gave her back to me.

I don't know what it is about dogs that is so entertaining but this little gal takes the cake! After she eats her breakfast or dinner she will often be found squirming around on her back making the kind of noises I associate with a great massage or really delicious food. It is hilarious! She also likes to get e

very single toy she has and put them in a circle (as well a dog can form a circle anyway) and then lay in the middle of them.

She likes to curl up in the crook of your legs if you are laying down on the couch

She loves so many things and I do mean LOVES! She loves her crate and often times if she isn't right with us or in her little beds (yes beds we have them all around the house because she likes to be close to us no matter what we are doing) she is in her crate. She is so easily excitable as well. She is excited every morning when we let her out of her crate to go out, she is excited every evening when we say "go to bed" and she runs into her crate (and if she thinks you weren't looking she will leave her crate and go back in making sure that you are watching) so excited for bedtime. She excitedly runs to the mailbox to sniff the pole and then when you call her back into the house she runs like the wind (sooo flippin funny to see!)

She alone has brought us so much joy and taught us that bottom line, we should all just be excited for each new day!

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :)

Home Again!

It is so good to be home!!! I got to hold my dog Cookie whom I have missed more than I thought it was possible to miss a fur baby (but let's face it she is my precious). I got to sleep in my own bed and have my favorite coffee from my Keurig machine. I got to to snuggle down into my couch that I find so comfortable. Then, reality set in as I looked around and realized there is so much freakin' work to do around this house!!!

Now mind you when I say work I don't mean cleaning. One of my good friends stayed in our home while we were away and left it cleaner than I did when we left for Ireland. What I mean is that as I look around my house I realize that I want to change everything!

This coming February we will have lived in our house for nine years and truth be told I did not bother to decorate. Even in my room where I keep all my card making stuff most of the decorations are more functional. Just this past year I started decorating my room. I also picked out a bedspread to attempt to decorate our bedroom but truth be told I don't have a clue as to what I am doing or how to do it.

This will be a guestroom but for now it was storing our stuff while our friend was living here. 

The reason I am going on about all of this is that I want to make this house our haven. I want to come into it and love everything I see, not just make do which is what I have been doing. Now I will not be making a run to Ikea, Target, Kohl's or any other store because I do not want to pick out a room that has been put together and slap it on a room in my house. I also struggle because I don't want a bunch of stuff clogging up the house and taking up space just to take it up. I like for things to be pretty and serve a purpose.

Most of this will be fixed once I can get in there and put things away (while packing things got far flung) but I am truly hoping to have a pulled together room in the end...someday :) 

I went onto Pinterest thinking that I could pin a bunch of pictures of rooms or things that I like and I would figure out what I want the house to look like, turns out I know that I like those pictures but I am pretty sure the rooms I like are completely different decorating styles. (I have even tried to take a "What is your decorating style?" quizzes and I STILL don't know what my style is!
I am doing all this "pre-work" because since we have spent the last six months in Ireland and traveling every chance we got we are not ready to do any type of remodeling to the house (most likely not for all of 2016). I figure that I can do some decorating with things we already have around the house and pick up a few things as the year goes on but nothing major. I am struggling with the feeling that I want to change so much NOW! I want blinds instead of curtains (which will be rather expensive because a lot of the windows are large not a typical size carried in most stores), drawers in my kitchen instead of cabinets that I have to crawl into the great beyond to pull things from the depths of darkness!

The materials I took to Ireland with us that now need to be unpacked and put back in their home...

Knowing that this is how things are for now and will not be changing in the near future I need to find a way to be satisfied with my home as it is. It is a great home and an excellent space and truly more than we need so I don't like that as I write this I feel as though I sound rather ungrateful and petty, but I acknowledge that and am looking to get over it. All I can think to do for now is to come up with a list of the things that I can change now or even improve upon and then concentrate on other things until it is time to do more.

Has anyone else out there ever felt this way and what did you do to deal with it? Thanks for listening and for any help you wish to give!

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :)