Kali Our 5 Foster 2011

Kali is a spunky, female lab/poodle mix. She is a huge sweetheart and has fallen in love with Richard. Where ever he is she has to be. She along with 5 other puppies (6 in total 3 have forever homes) came from a bad situation. Someone decided it would be a good idea to get their 9 month old lab/poodle pregnant and then let her lose. I lady found her brought her in and 10 days later she has six puppies. The mom dog had no idea how to care for the puppies it was very sad. At 7 weeks old the lady who took them in could no longer care for them finicaly well thats 6 dogs plus the mom its a lot to handle. She contacted us and asked if we could take them and find forever homes for them. The day and a half they were up on facebook the shelter who was going to take them in had homes for 3/6 of the puppies which was just wonderful. I ended up with the other 3 of course by my own choice, but who can say no to 3 7week old puppies lol.

Kali is the biggest sucky of all three of them, she is the smallest with the smallest feet. She also has the look of wire hair but it is super soft. She is not out trained and we are working on it just taking a bit of time because of their age. She knows to sit for a cookie, she loves to sleep with us in our bed and she has never made a mess in our bed, now we are up at 3-4 to take Dexter out so they do their business then as well. Kali is eating solid dog food although she would rather eat out of everyone else dish than her own lol. She is smart and cute. She loves to play out side she runs around and jumps and chases things. She just went in for her second de-worming and her first set of shots.  She weighs about 12LBS. She loves to give lots and lots of kisses!

Exam Week!!

Oh man am I glad thats over lol Medical terminology was kicking my butt this term and lucky me I passed it just barly but I did it, I am not sure how, but I am just glad I passed it. Exams where not that bad this term I only had two and the last one was a breeze! It was nice to end the week feeling good about my last exam. I can't wait for my final marks to come.

Learning how to study for terminology only took me all semister but I finally learned how to. Its crazy to go from deans honor list both terms last year to just barely passing one of my courses I am not used to that. I am used to be the straight A student it was not easy to deal with and very upsetting I am hoping that now I understand how I need to study that I will do better next term seeing as I have two terminology classes lol.

Santa Parade 2011

Well it has come and gone and of course I was too busy to blog about it lol. Friendly Giants walked in the Sarnia Santa Parade this year and it was so much fun, everyone brought their foster dogs and there were even a couple past adopters that came out to walk with us. Everyone along the way petted all the dogs and the dogs seemed to love all the attention. Dexter did awesome this was his first big event he loved all the kids long the way and was pretty sure they needed to share their candy canes lol. I am happy to say his first offical kid test he passed with flying colours lol.

I am hoping with us in the parade it got more of our name out there in this area then before, we are in great need of more foster homes!

I was way over dressed and sweating my butt off lol

Owen Update 2nd Birthday

A lot has been happening with Owen and with everything going on I have not had a chance to update my blog about him. He has started potty training and loves it! He loves his big boy underwear. He is in the 85%til according to his doctor, and he is way above average for speach and motor skills. He is 32 pounds and is 35 inches tall. Owen was a Monkey for Halloween lol pictures to come! He loved trick or treating and even went up to the doors and trick or treat, and thank you when he revived candy. His adoptive family got him 2 hockey nets and some more mini sticks and he loves it, he can't get enough of hockey!
Instead of a Birthday for Owen this year they did a birthday weekend they had two parties for him one on Saturday with friends and one on Sunday with family where he loved his cake. Pictures to come.
He opened the first door on his first advent calendar and well hes excited about the chocolate lol.
 He is doing awesome. We were supposed to have a visit this weekend, but with me being sick I didn't want to risk giving it to him, or his adoptive parents.

Dexter our fourth foster Nov 2011

Dexter is a 4 month old lap mix puppy. He weighs about 25lbs. So far he knows sit, and lay down we are working on other commands. He is very well behaved and mannered for a puppy. Dexter loves to give kisses and cuddles. He seems to be fully housed trained. At this point we let him out every hour because he has not learned the bells on the door yet. He is great in the car! He traveled from Ottawa to Sarnia which is about a 9 hour drive. He slept most of the way, other than when he needed to go to pee. He is great with other dogs he came from Ottawa where he was with 10 other dogs, and he is now in foster a home in Sarnia with a dog. Dexter is not cat or children tested yet. We will be doing this soon. He is fairly quite seems to only bark when he is playing with his foster brother or when someone’s at the door. Dexter is learning leash skills he does pull, but that’s just because he is so excited. He is a very happy go lucky puppy, seems to just be happy to be alive! He is very tall, but slender and has huge feet. Dexter loves toys, and bones. Dexter has no food/toy aggression and doesn’t resource guard. His energy level is mid-high which is normal for a puppy his age. Dexter’s forever family will need to be able to provide him with the direction that all young pups need. He is very smart and a fast learner, picking up things by watching his foster brother. Dexter seems to do okay when left alone with his foster brother without being crated; however, being a puppy he will get into things and has a thing for his foster moms socks! Dexter has not shown the “normal” lab traits of nervous chewing of objects. Lol hes not a fan of the vacuum or the carpet cleaner. He has discovered my crocheting basket lol and is pretty sure he needs to pull all of the balls of yarn out every time I turn around. He loves his daily walks normally about an hour with his foster brother and is not pulling nearly as much as he first did. He listens very well when I tell him its time to come inside from going to the bathroom he is the first to come into the house.
Update: Nov 24, 2011: Dexter knows sit very well now, kinda knows stay, has great recall in the backyard, walking on leash is getting much better. We are working on meeting strange dogs on our walks (needs a bit of work). He loves cuddles and has to be right with you all the time :) He sleeps either in our bed with us on the floor next to our bed. He has not messed in the house since he had a bout of the runs. He is going to the vet tomorrow to get all his shots!

So excited he is such a good baby! I hope he finds a forever home soon, and he is going to be a big boy!

Ottawa (First Visit)

I went to Ottawa for my first time ever on Oct 11, 2011. The drive wasn't that bad, the weather turned out really nice for driving which made me very happy I was not looking forward to snow. I hate driving in the snow. I didn't get to see as much of the sites as I would have liked to being a history buff and all, but what I did get to see was breath taking. I have yet to see a more beautiful city. I got to see Parliament hill, two malls lol the cat hotel and the canal. Our first night we didn't stay in Ottawa, we had Hammy with us and it was hard to find a place at 1am that allowed dogs and was not $200.00 a night. So I called a million places well pulled over to the of the road there was only one place that had a room that allowed dogs, well that’s a story and a half. We get there, it looks shadier then shady, there is a sign on the door that says be back in 5 mins so we wait 20 min and no one comes I call the number on the door, the man who answer the phone tells me "Christine" is down the bar, bar tending go on down and see her and she will set you up with a room. So I do what the man on the phone says. I get into this bar (guess I didn't read the sign outside) it’s a "gentlemen’s club" oh man I'm thinking what have I gotten myself into, okay it can't be that bad, eyes on the floor try and find bar tender by the way she looks like a 50 year old hooker when I do find her. She takes me back up to the motel counter and rents me a "room" no ID required. She takes me down to the "room" and well I would have rather slept in the car, but I have paid for it so I guess I am sticking it out. She says to me "Oh I guess you will want to check out in the morning well ummmmm just leave the key on the table and close the door" At this point I am so grossed out, I don’t want to touch anything the room is gross the lady was gross and my skin is crawling. Well I look around which takes I donno me stand in one spot and looking from side to side this is what I see: A bed, a table, a chair, a cabinet that at one point had a TV in it, now has a bar fridge with moldy meat in it, a hole in the wall that is blocked by this cabinet, a bathroom with one towel. The bed has a fitted bottom sheet and a top blanket two pillows without pillow cases. I say okay one night I can do this just "man up" Lucky me I have Jer and Hammy with me lol. There is one outlet in the whole room and it is in the bathroom we set up the laptop so we can watch vampire diaries. All of a sudden as 2am fighting starts in the hallway Hammy is losing it, and it lasts until 5am. At 7 am with no sleep and there is no way I am showering here or touching anything else for that matter we pack up and leave. Oh did I mention that when I pulled the top blanket back the fitted sheet was covered in mold needless to say I slept in all my clothes (well there was no heat anyway) on top of the blanket and cuddle up to Hammy, with Jers back against mine to try and keep me somewhat warm. The next morning Jer tells me as we are leaving what that place is really used for and I thought I was going to be sick :(
We take Hammy to Kim's house who is the founder of Friendly Giants Dog Rescue where I get to meet Brett who is her partner, what a very kind man he was. I introduced Hammy to him and stayed for a few mins to meet their pack. I didn't stay long I wanted to explore and the longer I stayed the harder it was to leave Hammy.
We spent a few hours exploring Ottawa then I got to go and visit Dogs At Camp Ottawa which is the coolest things in the whole world! What it is, is a "free roam" doggy day care the dogs get to spend all day outside with each other and 2 employees, at feeding times they all eat in the giant barn and when it comes to bed time they all move into the barn for the night. Its super cool they also hold two spots for foster dogs for Friendly Giants. I would love to have one of those places down here, but full of fosters! The ladies there are very nice and it was great to see all the campers that they had that day.
We found an ecno lodge, and it was a dream compared to what we slept in the night before. The first thing I did when I got there was shower lol. 
We had dinner at Don Cherry’s which is one of my fav places to eat and we no longer have one in Sarnia.
I watched the Toronto Hockey Game, we had heat lol and each got our own beds. And I slept like a baby compared to that other place.
Sunday morning we went back to Kim’s and we spent the day with Kim and Brett and their wonderful pack. At that time they had 12 foster dogs.
We talked about which doggy I was going to be bringing back with me lol by the end of it I was taking Rocky, Todd, Dexter, and Diego lol too bad I only had my little red car!
I was sad to leave Hammy behind I didn't like the idea of not being able to be there while he had to see the vet about his mass. He is such an awesome little guy and I just wanted to keep him at home with me.
We ended up bringing Dexter a 4 month old black lab puppy home with us.
We drove straight home from Ottawa and I was more than tired when I got home. We did the introductions with Dexter and Ace which went very well which at the time I was grateful for as it was like 2am lol.

ALL in ALL minus the first motel I had a wonderful time in a very beautiful city and I can't wait to go back and see more of it!

Muhammad "Hammy" Update!

As it turns out Hammy is one very sick baby :( I had him for 4 weeks before I took him to Ottawa to Friendly Giants Dog Rescue founder Kim's house. He has to see a specialist, have a hole drilled in his head a biopsy taken of the mass that is right before his brain in his sinus cavity. I hated leaving him at Ki's place. I know he in the best hands, but I hated knowing that I wouldn't be able to be there for him while he goes through all of this. It would be way different if he was going to a forever home. They are going to do the testing and see whats going on with him and then decide weather or not he will be able to be adopted. He is as sweet as pie aside from his medical problems. He loves to cuddle and be right with you at all times. He even started to give me hammy kisses (Which I miss very much) He was quite unless someone came to the door, we were working on some commands, and had gotten down gentle :). He still had food aggression with Ace when he left, but not nearly as bad as at the start!
On the drive to Ottawa I had my friend Jeremy come along for the trip and he fell in love with Hammy and wanted to adopt him. Hammy did awesome in the car even though it was an 8 hour drive! Kim says hes doing well at her place and that he will be going to vet on Thurs.
If it turns out he has to be put to sleep then I will be making another trip up to Ottawa ASAP to be there with him. If it turns out that he is going to be fine I have requested that he comes back into my care until he gets adopted!

The green circle is where the mass is :(

Muhammad Oct 16, 2011

Muhammad is our third foster dog, they say third time's a charm I wonder whats gonna happen with our fourth is it going to start over? Anyway Muhammad was abandoned by his owners. He was taken to the Ashtabula animal shelter in Ohio. I am not sure how long he was there for but due to the fact that they only have room for about 80 dogs and they had 160 he and the other two dogs he came to Canada with where due to be put to sleep on Friday. Muhammad arrived here by transport thanks to Chris on Sunday afternoon. Muhammad is a 2-3 year old Bull Mastiff/Shar Pei, he is a male newly neutered. He weighs in at only 56LBS which is way to small for him you can see every bone in his body and it is very sad, but working on fattening him up lol. So far I knew he knows sit, sit pretty, and shake. He has some food/water aggression with Ace, but I am hoping that once he knows that the food is always going to be here he will get better. We had a few dog fights yesterday but today we have only had one. Muhammad and Ace are adjusting okay with each other. They were actually playing together today out in the yard it was nice to see Muhammad playing. He has the tail end of Kennel cough and sleeps a lot right now, but once its completely out of his system I hope he has more energy. We have only walked twice, but on those walks he dose okay only pulls a little bit with a normal collar, he is a squirrel chaser and tries to chase any that he sees. I crated him last night and he did just fine. He took to Ace's crate as soon as he got here (Ace never uses it) so as long as Muhammad feels safe in it then he can come and go as he wishes, other than at night until I am sure that there will be no more fighting between them I do not want to risk either one getting hurt. He has a touch of separation anxiety, but not nearly as bad as Ace's used to be. He just whines for a few mins after he is left alone. He is very friendly and loves people. We are still are seeing how is with things such as seeing how he is going to be with kids, and other commands that he knows, I am going to take my time with this so I can make sure that hes getting better and that he is settling without pushing him too much. He has so many wrinkles on his head and face its awesome I can't wait to see if he gets more all over the place as he fills out. We have not tried to bath him yet or taken him to the groomers and will not until his incision has healed from being neutered. He is super sweet and I can't wait to see how his personality grows as he gets more settled. I will blog again once he has gained more weight and is more settled. Please email Friendly Giants for adoption inquires!

Harley euthanized Oct 13, 2011

I am very heart broken and angry right now. I know I shouldn't blog when I am this big of a mess, but I need to get my feelings out, I know I should be careful about what I say because I might hurt someones feelings yeah well these animals have feelings as well. They can't speak words but they speak volumes in body language. Today I had to take Harley in to be euthanized I have never had to take an animal to do that. It was like he knew, he didn't want to get out of the car when we got to the vets office. I am heart broken because a sweet, loving, big ol baby lost his life today. I am angry because it was at human hands that he became the way he was. I heard on the radio today that an 84 year old women bit a 14 year old boy because he was tormenting her, maybe we should have her euthanized. Wait no we can't do that because of human rights. Harley has not bitten anyone but because a human taught him to guard and he did this very very well he had to be euthanized just in case he bit someone. When will we start to realize that animals have/need rights to. They are not disposable, they do not need to be taught to guard, just like us they will protect the ones they love. People wonder why some of us in the rescue world don't like many other people, well its because we have seen what people can and do do to animals. I know I haven't seen much compared to some of the other rescuers within Friendly Giants.  Having to have one dog euthanized is nothing compared to what they seen on a daily basis. I did everything I could do for Harley and I would have kept him, but there was a great chance that he would bite someone and then worse things could have happened to him and I couldn't live with that nor could I let him live his daily life muzzled that is not fair to such a beautiful animal.
Tonight my bed will be cold because he will not be curled up next to me and my heart missing a little piece because it is at rest with Harley!

Harley Oct3, 2011

Harley

Will be doing Harley's assessment so this will be updated almost daily! I this point we know that he is a 6 year old male who is fixed, he is a big old baby lol. He is mellow and is happy just laying around. He loves to be outside and prefers it to being inside. He has his rabies shots but will need a booster in 4 weeks. His story is a sad one but not the worst. From what we can tell he lived most of his life at a trailer park tied to the trailer. His family moved from the trailer park and left him tied to a tree. Animal control was contacted and he was removed and taken to Blue Cross Animal Hospital here in Sarnia in hopes he would find a home. He has been there for a month. He is in good health, no fleas, no arthritis, good teeth and gums, He had a hot spot right above his tail but it has been taken care of. He has a deep bark startled me the first time I heard it. He is fine with out puppy Ace but because of the age difference Ace wants to play to he does wants nothing to do with it lol. so far he is showing no aggression to people or Ace. I think he would be better off with no dogs at all. I picture him as a grumpy old man lol. As of yet hes not aggressive towards people however he will bark at men when they come in the door. Once he goes to the vet for his booster I think his back end needs looked at he doesn't seem to be walking right. I am taking him to the groomers on Sat (Petsmart) because he needs grooming really really bad. He is treat, food, and bone aggressive with Ace. I took away all the bones and I feed them in separate rooms as ace went to sniff Harley while he was eating and he bit him in the eye. He listens awesome once I say something he stops what he is doing. We are working on the walking I think he just forgets how big he is lol. Even with the pulling while walking I say something and he stops pulling. He knows sit, stay, shake, lay down. It is fun to see him get excited because it doesn't happen often. I think he might be older than what they told us. He is happiest just laying as close me as possible and dosen't leave my side. It took a full day to convince him that it was okay to come into the house and I just got him to come lay on the bed with me. He is a guard barker. He seems to prefer women over men. My roommate is taking him tomorrow to meet his kids just to see what he is like with them I am sure he will be just fine. I can stick my hands in his food dish and he don't care. Harley dose not get along with children he will not let them within a few feet without growling. He hates cats he will chase them no matter who he has to tow to get the cat, bikes he lunges at and random people on the street. He can not handle loud noises such as construction or chip bags opening. A guy walked up on the street today to say how nice looking a dog Harley was and Harley went at him teeth, growl and all.
We are working on some of his issues. Harley's true breed is Illyrian sheepdog. He is a poster boy for this breed looks wise!!!

Twister hs passed on

Today (Sept 24, 2011) Twister was put to sleep. It is a very sad day, he was my little baby. I feel guilty that I could not take him myself but I said my good byes before he left and our roommate Len took him for us. He stayed with him and said it was quick and painless. Twister will be going for cremation and his ashes will be sent back here, my plan is to put them next to grandma's ashes. It was not an easy decision, but it was time. The peeing had started years ago and we did everything we could to help him and it just wouldn't stop and it changed from a couple times a month to 4-5 times a day. The vet said he was in pain. I wish there was more I could have done for him. I am going to greatly miss sleeping with him every night and his kisses and cuddles, and just him being here. He was my cuddle bug. Today has not been an easy day with Ruffles going to her forever home which is happy yet sad, and with Twister gone. I have been a bit of a basket case.

I greatly miss Twister but now he is in no more pain, there will be no dogs bugging him and he will be at peace.

Ruffles ADOPTED

Today (Sept 24, 2011) Ruffles was picked up by her new foster family. I sent them on their way with food for two days all measured out in baggies, cookies, and the new leash and collar that we got for her. The family that picked her up were wonderful they have three kids and Ruffles took to them right away they held her leash and just walked around with them it was cool to see how much she enjoyed them. I am very sad to see her go we didn't have her here long but she is such a doll I am going to miss and I think Ace is too hes been really moppy since she left. I hope she does well in her new home and I can't wait until our next foster baby comes.
When she left here she weight 35 lbs which means in the short time she was here she gained 5 lbs which I am very happy about. Her and Ace spent her last day here playing outside all day while I did homework outside with them. I am glad that it was such a nice day that they could enjoy their time together!
 For each dog/puppy that comes into our care I am getting and ID TAG done with their name and our address on it and once they leave for their forever home I am going to put them into a box as a keepsake memory of each wonderful baby we helped along its way!
This picture is from today:

Memory Box Blanket

I finished the first blanket for the memory boxes on Tuesday I have been just so busy I have not had the time to blog about it. The pattern I used was out an old crochet world magazine. It is a simple small pattern and the border I got out of my crocheted border book. I am excited to have the first one finished and can't wait to do more. I also pulled two other small baby blankets out of a tote one is yellow and one is green I can not remember what patterns I used for them. Got some different shades of green and yellow I am going to use so I am not using the same colours over and over again. Also I think I am going to stick with the simple pattern and just do a fancy border for each one, but I am not sure yet

RUFFLES (our first Foster)

Ruffles like most rescues has a sad story to ago along with her. I will start with her sad story and move onto the good stuff.

Ruffles was from a drug house.  The people there decided to breed their standard poodle with their mastiff.  They had a litter of 8 puppies and sold all of them for what we assume was drug money.  The only puppy left was Ruffles.  They were going to drown her since they could not sell her, so FGDR went to get her. 

Now on to the good stuff :) As of tonight she Weighs 30LBS, She is 4 Months old. She is very very skinny and needs to put on some weight poor thing. She is very pretty her pictures do not do her justice. To be honest when I first saw her pictures on the website well I was pretty sure she needed a good grooming which if you ask me she does and will be having one this weekend. We got her home while Ace was still at the office visiting with Rylee and Sadie. She got to explore the back yard, and doggy pool without Ace here to bother her. As soon as Ace got here and came into the back yard they were playing and having a blast running and doing well dog things. After about 30 mins of play I brought them in to have dinner which she gobbled down, but only after she seen Ace was eating and not playing without her. The foster family who had her before that will not be fostering anymore had kids and cats and she said Ruffles did very well with them. She didn't make a single sound until she was here for about 3 hours and then we got to hear her voice :) I was starting to worry lol. She loves treats but is grabby. She needs puppy training and someone with the patients to take the time and work with her. I have started tonight working on being gentle when taking treats. Whoever choices to love this wonderful puppy will have to keep in mind she is just that a puppy! When she came in the house she found the cows foot and the meaty bones right away and loved them. She was fed table food from the last foster home and we will be working on getting rid of that habit while she is here. I hope that she finds her forever home soon as she deserves so much love. It is raining out tonight so there will be no walk but we will walk a few times tomorrow and see how that goes.

To view her adoption information or to will out an application please visit http://www.friendlygiantsdogrescue.com/

Friendly Giants- Approved to Foster

I know this is a little late but better than never I guess. Well we got the email stating that we have been approved to foster for Friendly Giants just as soon as our fence went up and we had that completed Monday which was a ton of fun for three people who had never build a fence before and about a million trips to home depot lol. Well we got full approval on Tuesday morning which was a very good thing because we got a call Tuesday afternoon to pick up a rescue from a foster home that was no longer going to foster dogs, and was asked to pick her up today which is Wednesday. I am super excited about being approved, and can not wait to get our first foster dog.

Baby Blankets for Memory Boxes

A high school friend Amanda has started a program to create memory boxes at the hospital for moms who lose a child. These boxes are a very special wonderful idea and I am very honored to be able to make the baby blankets for these boxes. It is a very sad reason for these boxes to have to made, but at the same time its something special for the moms/dads to take home with them. I did not "lose" so to speak my son; however, leaving the hospital without him in my arms was one the hardest things I have had to do, so in a way I understand their grief. The staff at the hospital here in Sarnia when I had my son had no idea how to deal with adoption even the hospital social worker I had to teach her about adoption and to me she was more curious and interested in everything that was going on than really caring about how I was feeling. I am hoping these memory boxes not only help the mothers/fathers but also help bring awareness to Amanda's cause, more understanding, and patients. I know she has said she had wonderful nurses and support at the hospital. I am hoping that all moms/dads who are unfortunate to be in the situation of loss has the support from the staff and everyone around them to slowly wade through their sea of grief.

Friendly Giants Home Visit

We had our Friendly Giants Home Visit which is the second step in the application process to become a foster home for dogs that re in need until they find loving forever homes. Our visit was moved I think three times lol because the lady who was coming had thrown her back out OUCH!!!! Once Linda and Christina came though I was so nervous, but they were very nice and easy to talk to. They took a look around the house and asked a bunch of questions most of which I can't remember because I was so scared that I was going to mess something up to ruin being approved. They a beautiful puppy with them named Presly such a sweety about 12 weeks old and waiting for his forever home, he was good at giving Ace the what for lol. I am just waiting to hear back weather or not I am approved I am hoping from the bottom of my heart that we are approved!

My 26th Birthday

This year I turned 26, we did not plan anything really special because well I am more into throwing parties for other people. We had dinner with a few friends at Hanna my new fav. restaurant, it was awesome. I didn't have time to make a cake with it being the first week of school and with my first cake class the week just didn't have enough hours and I was stress and tired. Three wonderful things happened on my birthday. While at eating dinner I was explaining to everyone that I didn't have time to make a cake and everyone was okay with that. Jeremy says he gets nothing done during the day because he gets tired just reading the list of things I do each day lol. As we were just finishing the conversation about the cake Andrew, Shannon's boyfriend walked in with an Ice cream cake with both Shannon and I's names on it (Her birthday is the day before mine). It was the sweetest thing someone has done in the longest time. Another great thing that happened was a close friend of mine Brandon who lives in Alberta happened to be down this way for another friends wedding and was able to attend my birthday dinner it was awesome to get to spend some time with him. The third and best thing that happened on my birthday was I got a card in the mail with pictures in it of my son it was the best part of my day. I can't wait to see him again!

Joe's 6 year bitrhday cake

I made Joe a simple number six cake out of cupcakes for his 6th AA birthday. In AA 1, 5, 10 ect are the big ones but I feel that each year him and my mom stay sober is a "big" year and it gave me an excuse to make another cake lol.

Its just chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting in the shape of a number six, and on each cupcake it says "Happy 6th B-day Joe"

This cake only took me a couple hours total time. It was an easy one!

My first Micheals Cake class

I love that Sarnia now has a Micheals, all we need now is a costco and I will be all set lol. My cake classes are on Tues's for 2 hours. Our first class we had to bring in plain flat cookies, by the looks of thing i was the only one who made mine from scratch and I was also the only one without a buddy, oh well next course I will have my friend Krista along to learn and be my buddy lol. In the first class she taught us a lot of techinque stuff and we did a bit of stars but it was mostly instructional this next class she said that it would be more hands on. I did learn a few new things that I didn't know before which is always nice; however, there was a lot of things I already knew I am guess as the classes progress there will be many things that I will be learning along the way. There is one thing that I was not expecting I thought that the cake kit that you have to buy would be all you need for the entire course, I was wrong, I am glad that I already have most of the tools and do not require to buy to many of the items.
Second class requires us to make a 8" layer cake and 2 different batches of buttercream icing before the class one thin and one medium.
I can not wait until my next class I did have a lot of fun!

First day of school 2011

I started my first day of school, and I am hating every minute of it already. Of course I am going to finish and do my best to get on the deans list again this year, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. On the first day back all I could think about was being at Digital Friends Inc. what was going on their was Keith okay by himself, what about mom and Joe. I know I am not the end all be all but I do a lot around there. I was also thinking about the business course and how I can't wait to start it next year and actually be doing something I am far more interested in. I hate medical terminology I am starting to get and some of it is starting to stick, its a very good thing that I love to learn no matter what I am learning lol. I know everyone is saying why not just move into business and get it over with don't bother finishing this Medical Admin course, well there are a few very good reasons for this: One I always finish what I start; Two: Kristal is still in the program and she is like my best friend and I wouldn't just leave her there; Three: It is my back up plan if things do not go as I have planned I always have something to fall back on; Four: The more tools you have in your tool box the more prepared you are for a larger variety of situations. I have learned a lot of valuable tools and I love that and I am hoping within the rest of this I can add more tools into my tool box beside school years always go by fast so as long as I keep thinking of it as tools for my tool box I should be able to get through it lol. I love school, and learning and everything else even the homework some days lol but I miss the office I am very glad that my schedule allows me to still be there two days a week!

Friendly Giants

I am a supporter of most rescues once I have done my research I do what I can to support their causes. I am an animal lover from the top of my head to the tip of toes that may not seem like much because I am short but you get the picture. Over the year I donate items the Sarnia Shelter needs, I adopt, I only shop at store that do not sell dogs and cats. I donate at every check out to support rescues, some may say they say me coming but I don't feel that way I feel that there wouldn't be a need for these places and these rescues if we as a society whole were far more responsible; however as it turns out those of us that are responsible pet owners and as a person are far and few between. We can not control the actions of others, but we can control our own and do the right thing and being just one person is not an excuse because if everyone said that nothing would get done! Okay now that my rant is over lol that was not the point of this post by the way. About a year ago I heard of this rescue called Friendly Giants I looked into it a bit at the time but not much. At ARTWALK this year I met a lady who fosters dogs with Friendly Giants and I met a wonderful St. Bernard Richard and I talked about adopting it but I decided that I wanted, no needed to do more than just adopt one animal I wanted to foster so I could help many find those forever home they deserve and give them a safe, happy place to wait until the time came for them to go to their forever families. This was not a rushed decision I looked into it, researched it, and thought about it long and hard before I sent in my application to become a foster for these "forgotten" baby's. Our home may not be huge but we have room in our home, yard, and hearts for at least one foster at a time. The process of becoming a foster is not a simple because they want people who are truly interested in it for the long haul, good or bad. It starts with sending in an application that took me two days to fill out, they go over this application and approve it then they call three of your references including your vet if they have all good things to say they set up a home visit to approve the home. This is the part that we are on right now just waiting to get an appointment to have a home a visit which I can't wait for I am very very excited! Once we have our home visit and see if we are approved or not I will blog more about. If my chance we do not get approved at the time I will still 100% support Friendly Giants and see if maybe I can fill a volunteer roll. I can't wait!

Mom's 5 year cake!

My mom's 5 year AA birthday was today. She has come so far its been amazing journey even if most of it was rough to be where we are today I wouldn't take back any of it. She has taught me more in the past 5 years than she has my entire life. We spend time together now, do things together and get along not all the time but more so than not. I made her favorite flavor of cake, and used very little icing just like she likes (she hates icing) so you can see the cake but it is supposed to be that way lol. I made all the daisy's, and Gerber Daisy's out of fondant, the cake is butterscotch and the icing is vanilla.

Matts going away cake

A friend of ours has now moved to Toronto to go to school to become a computer engineer. I am very excited for him and I know that he is going to do awesome no matter how nervous he was about leaving all his friends! Richard and I threw his going away party I made all the food and the cake for everyone, so much food lol.
I did a simple cake as the one I had planned I didn't have time to do.
I did a normal flat cake and did a butter cream transfer which by the way failed I was not impressed I will not use those instructions again! So anyway I fixed it up about an hour before the party and it turned out okay but thats about all I am going to chalk this one up to a fail cake everyone said it tasted awesome though!
The cake is supposed to an LG monitor 

Crochet for the needy Aug 2011

This month I was a tad late getting things finished as I crushed my left hand in a pulley system and then I fell out of the backseat of our two door car and severely sprang my left arm. Well things just have not being going great for my left arm kinda sucks; however, I ended up being able to get it finished T3's seemed to have worked wonders.
I did 4 adult scarves one being different to switch things up a bit and I got the pattern out of an old Crochet World Magazine. It is a shell scarf. I did 4 baby hats one being a different one which I got out of this months issue of Crochet World its called a little fisherman's hat. I did 4 adult hats all of them are the same this time. I am glad to have it finished and within a days I will be working Sept. Crochet for the needy. I plan to keep up doing one unique one of each from now on it makes it less boring doing the same things over and over again. With Fall approaching I will soon be sending this batch of needy items off.

Guitar Cake

I planned on making a Guitar Cake for a lady's Birthday who happens to play Guitar and thought it would be a good idea. I was just going to use a pan; however, while in London at Michael's looking at cake stuff I found that Duff (whom I love by the way lol) made a cake set thingy that had the cut out shapes to cut the cake into the Guitar shape it also came with cake tattoos and a few other things so I bought that instead. I used it to create this cake it is awesome all the cut out shapes are reusable which is great. The cake itself turned out wonderful. The party the cake was supposed to go to ended up being canceled but I am loving the way this cake turned out. I am very impressed with the Duff products and can't wait to try out some more of them!!!! This cake took me about 6 hours total time and about 3 days real time :)

Michael's Grand Opening Sarnia

I was so excited when I found out that Michael's was finally coming to Sarnia I had hoped for years that we would get one here so I wouldn't have to go to London every time I needed something unique for cake making. We have a bulk barn and that is great and all but it's lacking the many things that Michael's offers. I was counting down the days until it was finally going to be here I watched each week as we went to puppy and advanced training the building becoming well a building rather than an empty space. I said each week for about 6 months that it was going to be opening soon. This whole week I was like a kid waiting for Christmas morning to come, I would tell anyone who would listen the exciting news of it opening soon. I got my fliers in the mail on Thursday and that made me even more excited. This morning we got up early to make sure we were one of the first to get there. I was one of the first 200 customers I got an awesome Michael's reusable bag. I walked each and every aisle to see what they all had. I only a few things time, but I did sign up for the Wilton cake decorating course one class which I have wanted to do forever. It starts Tuesday Sept. 6 and goes for four weeks I can't wait its gonna be a blast. I spent about an hour in the store is total they had so many wonderful sales, things to look at, and the staff was amazing. I can't wait to go back this week to get a few things I need for Matts going away party, but I am still going to need to go to London because Sarnia has yet to get a decent party supplies store that carries as many different items as Party Packagers. Oh well guess I can't win them all and I defiantly shop far more at Michael's than Party Packagers!

Stuff I got at Michael's

Wilton Class

Canning

So last year mom and I talked about wanting to start canning. I wasn't sure where to start so we didn't end up doing anything. The year I was at hobbyfest and a lady from Canadian Superstore was there handing out flyers to their canning class that they were going to be offering I thought this is a great chance to see what its like. At the class we learned how to make corn salsa and we all got a jar of it to bring home. After class both mom and I bought the canning starter kit which is awesome it comes with everything you need to get going. Well I came home from the class all excited about wanting to try it out. I had some blueberries that needed to be eaten so I made a batch if blueberry jam. It turned out great a bit sweet for my liking though. The next day still excited about my new hobby I made strawberry jam but used a cup less of sugar and it turned out perfect!!!! Now I just bought beets and I am going to pickle them. So far I am loving it :)

Richard's Birthday Cake

So I guess its been a while and I have a lot to catch up on lol. I am going to start with Richard's Birthday Cake. It turned out awesome everyone loved and all the DND people knew what it was. I am still unsure of what it is other than some DND God symbol. It took me 3 days total time and I got to try out some new stuff for it kinda cool. Richard picked all the flavors for it as well, he picked my homemade cinnamon icing which is his favorite, and Swiss Chocolate cake. I did all the cake work three days ahead as I like to freeze my cakes  before I ice them. I did all the fondant, icing and pulled sugar work the night before. all the fondant is free hand cut and hand painted this was my first time hand painting fondant it was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again. The pull sugar was supposed to blown sugar however I tried to blow it myself and that just didn't work I need a special pump so I just created pulled sugar ball. This was my first time making pulled sugar it was alot of fun I can't wait to do that again too. All in all the cake turned out awesome and Richard was very happy about it and I am pretty proud of it. My next cake will be for Kandice's Birthday

This is the finished cake

This is the picture I was given

Dinner Convo at our house.....

Len starts talking about how homemade corn dogs are not pogos, like all fingers are not thumbs but all thumbs are fingers and then Keith explains that the bone structures of thumb makes it not a finger in fact and then there was a wiki war and then Len says to Keith " I'll Finger you!!!" Keith says " I don't think so" Kandace say's she "wouldn't be very happy about that either" Keith says " I don't think you really feel that way about that" Kandace say "TMI" Lem says "whats TMI?" Keith explains that it means to much information. Then they start talking about weather or not Mexico is part of North American or not and Keith brings up a picture of North America which seems to include Green Land. I said Hey so now North America now includes Green Land and he said yes because its special..... Wow what a conversation night!!!! Then it went on to how the United States came to "buy" Alaska....Next time I am going to record it so much better lol

Canon Canada on the Canada Post website

So today while I browsing the Canada Post site getting ready to ship Ebay items I noticed that they have e-stores now and one of them happened to be Canon Canada. I got browsing and its kind of neat. They seem to have a little bit of everything from their printers to Artworks Oil Paintings. I think because it is tied into the Canada Post site they can offer free shipping which is handy. When I click on an item to get more details it opens a second tab which directs you to the Canon E-store with all the information for the product that I clicked on. Click the link and check it our yourself if your interested in buying Canon Products!

Camerons 24 Birthday cake 2011

I was asked to create a Batman cake for our friend Cameron's birthday I said of course I would love it and it turned out awesome everyone loved it. It took me three days total not including the a trial cakes lol. I had a hurt hand and required help with this one as it is very hard to do anything one handed. I made add on cupcakes as well!

Hurt Hand

I may or may not be able to get the needy crocheting done for Aug due to the fact I have hurt my hand. A week ago I pinned my left hand between a metal piece and a chain that is used to open a garage door. I have done muscle, Tendent and Nerve damage. I have limited feeling in two fingers and a lot of pain when I use my hand, more so now that the swelling has come down. I go see a hand specialist in London on the 10th of Aug. It sucked for the first few days I had no use of my left hand at all and now I can use it a bit more but it hurts like the devil :S...Doing things one handed was hard, now that I have some use of my left hand with the pain it causes when I use it, it is very frustrating to say the least. In the short term I have four cakes that need to be done, crocheting for the needy that needs to be done. In the longer term I have school in about 6 weeks and it requires use of both hands. I can't wait until it heals. Until then I guess I am just going to have to make due and ask (reluctantly) for help when I need it. I hate asking for help! The ER doc said its going to be about 6 months until it fully recovers and that depends on how much I allow it to rest. I hope the specialist has better news for me. Me hating to ask for help and thinking I can do everything on my own is what got me into this guess I need to learn something here!

Bayfest 2011

Every year since bayfest first started with just one weekend of music I have been attending at that age my mom would buy me tickets and that would be my passing school gift. As time passed they created  2 weekends of music one for rock and one for country. This year the rock weekend started on Wed and went to Sunday night. I am a little more than bummed that the country weekend is just two shows. I am both a rock and country fan and I enjoy seeing most shows some I could have done without, but it would be nice if they had the same amount of bands for both weekends. Most years now my sister buys my mom and I weekend passes to see the country shows and this year Trace Adkins, and Montgomery Gentry tonight I can't wait to see Trace I love his music as its not old country its what most people call Hillbilly rock and he has a lot of funny songs such as Brown Chicken Brown Cow lol. I have already seen Montgomery Gentry because my sister won a bunch of tickets and gave some to Richard and I. Richards not a huge country fan but he doesn't seem to mind the newer stuff. Montgomery Gentry puts on a wonderful show they are fun to watch. Tomorrow night is Lady Antebellum and Geroge Cannon. Lady A is a newer group I don't know much of their music but from what I have heard from them they are pretty good. I love Geroge Cannon's music. All in all it should be a blast!
This is the full line up for country weekend bayfest: Trace Adkins, Montgomery Gentry, Lady Antebellum, Rodney Atkins, George Canyon, Aaron Pritchett, Dry County and Scott Manery

Time to get out my pink cowboy hat!

Crocheted Baby Shower gift set (Blue)

I found this wonderfully easy pattern in Crochet World Magazine I love those I get one every time a new one comes out. This pattern was so simple to follow and only took me 3 days real time and about 12 hours crochet time. The set includes 1 Large bottle cover, 1 Small bottle cover, a bib, and a burp cloth. I made this set for a friend of the family who is having a little boy with in the next month. I changed the bib a little bit I did a full one side to the other attachment as I feel with a baby/child its far easier and faster just to throw it over there neck rather than having to tie it up. I did the set in blue for the main colour and blue/white for the off colour. I hope she likes it! I am going to make a bunch of these in different colours to sell on Etsy and as gift sets.

Ace's first Camping/Beach/Fishing Trip

On July 9. Richard and I decided to go camping at his parents trailer just north of Port Albert. It's a beautiful area and I love it there minus the fact it has no running water or hydro with those too things it would be my idea of a great summer escape. It was also my first time there staying over night and I was unsure how I was going to do with the out houses because I can't even handle public washrooms in restaurants let alone an outhouse. Well Ace always does awesome in the car there has never been a problem there he normally just lays down and chills until we get to where we are going so the 2.5 hour trip is nothing to him I am very grateful for this. We get to the trailer and of course because he loves to visit other people, kids, and dogs we have to keep him chained up while we are out side. He had about 100 Ft of chain to roam and do as he wished. Explored the whole trailer site including under neath the trailer lol. So many new smell for him to check out. Before dinner seeing as he was in the car for so long we took a wonderful walk around the park about an hour or so and he was so excited by all the new stuff including the snakes lol. We had dinner and walked through the trail to the Port Albert General Store to pick up worms for fishing. Ace did wonderful on the trails walked nicely and everything I was very impressed. We relaxed for a bit and Ace helped Richard chop kindling lol I am sure help is not the work Richard would have used. I am glad that we had fires in the back yard before we ever took him camping as he knew to stay away from it. We went to the Port Albert beach which happens to at the mouth of the river where we intended to fish. Ace loved the beach he tried to chase and bite the waves as they rolled in. I did not allow him off his leash as hes not always the best at coming back lol. We got to the fishing spot after walking up the beach and there was nothing to tie him to so I tied him to myself what a bad idea in hind site lol. He thought is would be a good idea to chase the worm as I cast into the water which is not where I wanted to go. I caught a bass with in about 20 mins of being there well I tend to get a bit excited when I catch a fish and this time was no different I am not sure what Ace thought it was but before I even had it on shore he decided he needed to have it lol so I almost went into the water I turn and flung the poor fish onto the shore line Ace with all his weight pulled me over and I went ass over tea kettle on the shore lol he first sniffed and licked the fish I dont think he was so sure what to do with it at first. We went to get it and he picked it up by the tail and growled at the fish lol. Richard finally got the fish out of his mouth de-hooked and back into the water I am sure it was very traumatized lol. About 30 mins after that three dogs and their owners came down to the beach thats all great and wonderful expect for they were off leash and Ace loves dogs. We didn't stay long after that. He did great sleeping in the trailer I am so happy hes not a barker lol. With the parties, and fireworks right next to our trailer he didn't even care. I can't wait to take him on his next adventure!