Sadness in Our Home

Our Opi passed away this morning. We weren't expecting it so there is much sadness here. Here's a look at happier days with him.




For more about Opi and his sister Nellie Belle, you can see their blog here.

Kids in Their Christmas Sweaters

Opi and Nellie Belle wish you a merry Christmas.

Little Opi's Christmas Sweater

I finished Opi's Christmas sweater last night. I pondered for a while on what to embellish it with and ended up making a Christmas tree out of a plain ol' triangle and decorating it with buttons for ornaments. The white "fuzzy" yarn is a "shedder." It's made by Bernat and I got it at Walmart specifically for the Chis' Christmas sweaters so it's a bit disappointing that little bits of fluff end up everywhere when I touch the sweaters/yarn. For inspiration, I used this pattern. I "winged" the Christmas tree. I'm looking forward to dressing up Opi for Christmas. Poor little guy has allergies and has to wear a shirt all the time otherwise he'll scratch his skin raw so he's used to wearing clothes unlike our Nellie Belle.

That's it for now folks! Have a great week....

I'm Doing a CAL--Making Something for My Babies :)

The other day, I told you about an upcoming CAL to crochet summer hats for your K9 children. Sara of Posh Pooch Designs has put the day 1 instructions out. Today is pretty simple and all you'll need is your measuring tape. My Opi cooperated for this and his little head is 10". I tried to chase Nellie Belle down but she's not cooperating so I'll have to wait until later when she's less suspicious of me. I think I'm going to enjoy this CAL. I'm trying to figure out what embellishments to use on these hats though. I'll figure something out. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's creations.

Here's a couple pictures of my "kids."

Nellie Belle

Opi

My "kids" aren't going to be happy with me after today. Starting tomorrow, they're going on a diet of allergen-free dog food. They both get allergies, Opi pretty bad sometimes, so we're taking them off all goodies and the special Sunday dinners (canned food) and after 6 weeks, we'll reintroduce things one at a time to see if we can figure out what triggers the allergies. They're not going to like it...

Did You Ever Crochet Something Goofy?

I am currently working on a project that is a bit off the beaten track for me. I just wanted to make something fun so I am. I'm not going to spoil it and tell you what it is but I'll let you know that I had to crochet 30 round motifs as part of it. I think I have about a 1/2 hour or so of actual crocheting left then there is the loathed assembly and weaving in of the fearsome ends. I hope to have this project finished in a day or 2 and then I'll do the grand reveal;-).

Had a nice Valentine Day. It was son #1's usual day to do laundry but he made brownies while he was here too. Son #2 came over on his dinner break at work and had his meal here. DH gave me a stash of chocolate--a heart full of peanut butter cups and an assortment of other chocolate. We had pizza from one of our favorite places--Papa Murphy's. For those of you who don't know about Papa Murphy's, you buy a pizza from them but then you have to bake it at home. They assemble the pizza as you watch. Our favorite is loaded with all the meats, pineapple and extra cheese. It is so Yummy!

Much to my little girl's distress, I dressed her up in honor of the holiday but she ran right to her dad to be undressed.

Later on, both "kids" cuddled up with their dad in the recliner amid a pile of throws--

Take care everyone...

Babies Went to the Vet

The kids went to the vet today. They had to have a checkup and get some of their shots. It is amazing to see our diva--Nellie Belle--become a timid and scared little girl when she is usually a rambunctious alpha dog. Opi was his usual calm self. Here's my kids:

Opi with his dad

Opi's shirt had "attitude"

Nellie Belle

My husband gets a kick out of me dressing the "kids" up to see the vet. I told him that it was like when I was a kid and my mom would make sure we were all cleaned up to see the doctor and that our underwear didn't have holes in them lol!

Hope y'all are having a great week...

Opi Is in Photo Contest

Kodak is having a photo contest on Facebook. If you could, I'd appreciate it if you would vote for my Opi. Here's the page http://apps.facebook.com/holiday-pets/entries

I asked for help from my crochetville friends but it was kicked off the board. I don't know how many times I have voted for contests other members were in and I almost feel "picked on" over this. Sigh...

Happy Birthday Ray!!!

Today is dh's birthday.  He's 4 1/2 years younger than me--sshhh don't tell anyone!  Here he is coming home from work today and Opi and Nellie Belle are greeting him with balloons. I made him a cake and brought home some KFC--one of his favorites. I told him that we'd go this weekend and he should pick out something for himself. I never know what to get him. I said he should get whatever he wanted as long as it didn't have wheels because he's been talking about Camaros, Harleys and Ford 4x4s.  Men and male menopause geez... ;)

Hope y'all are having a great day too.  Hugs...

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Missing "Daddy"

My fur babies have been driving me up a tree!  Nellie Belle and Opi are missing their daddy.  DH went on a trip for work last Wednesday and the "kids" have been barking all night at every little creaking noise that the house makes!  Needless to say, I haven't been getting much sleep.  Nellie B's usual habit is to go to the front door  about 5 minutes before dh gets home from work.  Nellie gets a sad look on her face like she's depressed or something when he doesn't come home.  The "kids" have their evening routine interrupted too--there's no daddy to cuddle in the recliner with! Mom isn't much of a recliner person but I've been making an effort to give them some cuddle time there.  I've been missing him too but I know that he'll be back on Friday but they don't understand that.  I let Nellie B. listen to the phone when I talk to him everyday and that perks her up for a bit.  I'm going to put some pics in here and then I'll go spend some quality time with the "babies".  

Here's Opi, moping in his "tent"

Nellie Belle says--"Can't find Daddy anywhere!"

I've had plenty of crochet time but I'm not finishing anything because I've been flitting between 3 different projects.  In a few more days things will get back to normal.  I've been wondering what I used to do when dh was in the Navy and deploying all the time then I remember that I had human kids at home that kept me really busy.  The 3 of us at home now need to get lives or something. ;)  Y'all have a great week!

Barney Finally Gets a New Bed

Our little chis--Opi and Nellie Belle have 3 beds between the 2 of them not to mention all sorts of little blankies/mats/rugs that I have crocheted for them to snooze on. For Christmas, Santa brought Barney her own big girl bed. Opi staked a claim to it right off the bat. Today, for the 1st time, Barney was able to take a nap in her own big girl bed.  Hey, you can check out my chis blog if you want to.  Hope you enjoy. Hugs....

Barney Napping in New "Big Girl" Bed

 

Opi, the Bed Thief!

 

Hmmm, Maybe Opi Was Giving Paybacks!

A Crocheted Mat for My Fur-Babies

Hi everyone!  Here is my latest crochet project.  It is a crocheted mat for my fur-babies for resting on the cold floor.  I made it out of 3 strands of ww yarn.  Two strands were from an assortment of scrap colors and one strand was black ww yarn.  I used a Q-hook to crochet it.  The 1st and last rows were single crochet and the remainder of the rows were half-double crochet.  The edging I made by doing a round of single crochet.  The 2nd row of the edging I did by crocheting triple crochet-chain 1-single crochet in one single crochet then skip one then do repetitions of  triple crochet-chain one-single crochet up to the corners.  For the corners, I did double crochet-chain 1-double crochet.  As you can see in the following pictures my chis--Nellie Belle and especially Opi like it.

Hugs to all...Sharon

I'm Slow so Sue Me lol...Here's Halloween Pics

Here's a few pictures of Halloween at our house.  My daughter-in-law is the little devil and my son is the handsome fellow with her.  You can see ggranddaughter and granddaughter. Ray and ggranddaughter posed with the giant tomato.  The dogs also dressed up so that they wouldn't be caught nekkid by other trick-or-treaters! Hope you received more treats than tricks...

"Chocolate Mint" RR Afghan Finished at Last!

At last I finally finished this afghan. It is wider than my 6'1" husband is tall! I wanted to use up some yarn I had been hoarding and I did use almost all but a little ball of the green, but I do have enough brown and tan to make several pairs of slippers. It is really hard for me to judge how much yarn I need so I often over-buy. I bought the tan specifically for this project but I think it looks better with 3 colors instead of 2 anyway. I have a cute picture of one of my chis posing on it but he wanted that picture posted on his blog so you'll have to go there to see it lol! Hugs to all...

Some of My "Kids"

My son Justin, being the good guy, came over this weekend to help clear fallen tree branches from his Omi's (Oma--German for grandmother) yard. My sweet ggranddaughter came with him. When they were holding the little chis, I just had to group them together for a photo-op! I love how this picture turned out. I really have a handsome son don't I? He doesn't think he's even a little cute but I think he's gorgeous! I may be a little prejudiced but I don't really think so in this case. Hope all my friends and family enjoy it.
I'm finishing up a scarf to color-coordinate with my new hat. Stay tuned for a picture of it. :)
Take care and lots of hugs to you all...

Xmas Present for Son #2 Crocheted

My son told me that all he wanted for Christmas this year was for me to crochet him a red scarf. I made him one with black accents on it. I used this pattern with the fringe added to it. Adding fringe was a way to not have to weave in all those ends. The hat was from this pattern that can be purchased or may be free if you are a member of the the site. Hat's a little large and I hope it fits him ok. It took less than a full skein of the black yarn and less than a full skein of the red yarn to make both of these items. As you can see, my little boy Opi had to be in the middle of things. He's my little sweetie! Hugs to all...

Halloween 2008 at Our House

On Halloween evening, I put Nellie Belle in the family room with a kiddy gate in the doorway to keep her contained. She's a bit ADHD if you know what I mean. But she made the "Great Escape" anyway!

I'm sorry Mommy; I didn't mean to break the gate!

Opi got all dressed up for the event and was loved and petted by many as we sat on the front porch handing out candy to all the ghosts, goblins and princesses!

Opi was really worn out after the evening's excitement so he "crashed" on one of my crochet projects afterwards!

Hope you've enjoyed the pictures today. Hugs to all...

07-14-2008 My Goofy Little Opi

Recently, Opi has been having problems with dermatitis. He has been cranky and we've been trying all sorts of recommended treatments to soothe it and calm him down. The other day, he stood in front of our chimenea just yapping his little head off. My MIL picked him up and put him inside of it. Opi loved it! It was full of old ashes and sand but Opi didn't care. He just laid down and relaxed. What a goofy little fur baby!

Entry for June 11, 2007

Entry for June 11, 2007

This is my "main man." His name is Opi. He loves everyone (once he gets to know you). Unlike his sister Nellie Belle, Opi can go outside with me without a leash. He doesn't run, just stays close by. For some reason his ears don't stand up--they're kind of "slicked back." Opi used to be slim and trim until he had his "vasectomy." Then he ballooned out and he received a new nick-name--Chunky Monkey. He's a mama's boy although if his daddy has food, then he will temporarily become Daddy's Little Man. (Originally posted on my Yahoo 360 blog)