Valley Animal Haven Animal Shelter Volunteer Appreciation

February 15, 2016January 23, 20165 Comments

Ahhh! A day off from school here is in the U.S.! Teachers always treasure these days! So do the kids!

My preschoolers still talk about the day ‘the other Miss Pam’, from Valley Animal Haven Shelter came to school and brought a dog and cat to visit. They loved being able to donate food and other items to the shelter. A couple of weeks ago, Pam, the director and our friend, had a Volunteer Appreciation Open House, so of course, our whole family was there!

I took care of the decorating, since that’s what I love to do! I drew the design on the chalkboard above and made the banner below from dog scrapbook paper. Lauren and I had gone to the 99 cent store for tablecloths and found these awesome pawprint balloons!

Remember the burlap pieces we stamped with pawprints? Here they are decorating the food tables. This is the ‘sweets’ table.

Yummy! The cookies on the bottom are some of my favorite!

There were also chips and dips, and fruit and veggie trays.

The sign-in table was full of paw-prints!

Aren’t these beautiful! Love all these bright colors on a dreary day! These were given to some of the volunteers who had donated more than 300 hours of time in the past year!

Each volunteer also received one of these special pins with a wonderful thank you!

There was also a drawing for door prizes. Haley won the sign ‘You Had Me At Woof” and Steve won the ornament.

Pawprints and kisses!

Here is one cutie, Hannah, to say hello and thank you! She even dressed up for the occasion!

Here is the whole group. There are many more volunteers out there too, but these are the ones who came for this special occasion. Pam is the 6th one from the left in the royal blue shirt.

This was an incredible year for Valley Animal Haven. There were so many special people and businesses who gave time and donations to give the shelter a great first year. There were portable buildings, kennels, food, pet supplies, a trailer and many more items donated. There were several grants awarded to the shelter and even a money award for a contest that was entered. The most important part was the adoptions and saving the animals. There were 385 cats and dogs (and 2 rabbits) placed in ‘fur’ever homes in 2015! It is so amazing and such a wonderful thing Pam and all the volunteers are doing for animals! We are so blessed as a family to be part of such a great and amazing organization.

Halloween Wooden Cat Box

October 15, 2015October 15, 20158 Comments

Hey everyone! Fall is in full swing and Halloween is almost here.

And what is something that goes with Halloween besides witches hats, pumpkins, and ghosts? Well…black cats of course!

Do you remember when mom and I went to Home Depot a few weeks ago and made wooden boxes? She shaped hers like a pumpkin and I shaped mine like a cat. Guess what? I finished mine! Here it is!

So I painted the cat black and painted the front of the box in chalkboard. I added the word BOO for the season of Halloween.

I also added flowers and a red bow to make the cat more festive and more like a cat.

I love how this turned out! It turned out cute and I am able to change it for the different seasons. I can’t wait to see what I make the next time I do a Home Depot project…which is tonight!

Corner News-October 9, 2015

October 9, 2015October 8, 201510 Comments

Welcome to Corner News! There is always fun stuff to share with you all on Friday!

Remember these frames I showed you a looong time ago?

I finally got the project done! Aren’t they so cute!

Yes, I actually got each of the animals to put their paw in the ink and then onto the paper!

Even the cats!

Last week, my friend Pam, from Valley Animal Haven, came to visit my kids at the preschool. She brought Phoebe and Mandy in to meet the kids.The kids donated a whole stack of pet food, cat litter and other items for the shelter. It was a great community service project for them.

I’ve also been working on cleaning out some of my stuff. I’ve gone through my clothes and now have done my jewelry. Here is one of my jewelry boxes, but I have a few different place I keep my jewelry.

Here is the new look, for some of my jewelry. Haley used to have this mirror in her room, but took it down. In my house, things like this find a new life in another part of the house!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Meet the Furry Ones!

February 19, 2015February 19, 2015Leave a comment

Hi everyone! This past weekend I was busy working on some home improvements I hope to share on a future blog, so I didn’t have time to do something crafty for today. I finally decided today would be a good day to meet the rest of my family-the furry ones anyways! They are a big part of our lives and very spoiled! So first up: Esmerelda (Ezzy for short).

Enchanting Ezzy

The name comes from Disney’s Hunchback from Notre Dame .We figured she had lived a gypsy life. We adopted her from our local SPCA about 8 years ago and aren’t sure about her sordid past. We know she is about 8-9 years old, she was brought to the SPCA as a stray in somebody’s trunk, and she doesn’t particularly like men, although she has mellowed some in her older age. She is VERY protective of our home and especially us girls. She doesn’t like anybody coming in her personal bubble, which is about a mile wide space.

Love this girl!

She hogs the bed and she stares us down when we have food. We are not sure of her breed, but she looks very much like this one, a Lancashire Heeler. Ezzy has a short tail and other color markings, but this is pretty close.

Lancashire Heeler

Next up is Chica. She is a princess and a Chihuahua/Terrier mix.

Princess Chica

She came to us from a friend who was looking to find her a new home. My girls have been very involved in a 4-H Dog Care program, so we were looking for a second pup to train.. She is approximately 13 years old now, so she is my little old lady. She is very loving and sweet. She loves her treats and waits every morning for me to go to work so she can have her bone. Her favorite spot is in front of the wall heater in our hallway, so she can be cozy and warm.This is how we usually see her!

Sleeping Beauty

Her eyesight is not the best anymore and I am not so sure about her hearing either. I think it may be selective!

Last, but not least, is Scamp. He is just as his name implies. He is about 8 years old and he came from my niece, who couldn’t have him at her new place. He is a Shih-tzu/Poodle/Schnauzer mix, we think?.

Scamper Doodles

He is always looking for attention and is not always the smartest dog on the block. He wakes up in a new world every day! But he does love everyone, except maybe the cats. He likes to terrorize those! We haven’t had Scamp very long, just a little over a year.

Beach day

Next up, the cats.

This voluptuous lady is Kenya. We got Kenya from another friend back in 2009 when she was just itty-bitty.

Fat Cat

Not sure what happened! She is huge! Kenya is her own personality. She is usually not very friendly, except when you lay down in bed. Then suddenly she is on top of you and your best friend! She is very beautiful, with great markings and gorgeous green eyes.

Evil Eyes

Too bad her personality doesn’t usually match!

Kiara is the baby of the family. We have had her for 3 years and she is so much fun and so crazy! She also has beautiful calico markings. She was soooo cute!

Sooo Cute!

She loves water! and HAS to be in the bathroom with my daughter Haley when she takes a shower. She loves sitting in windows and watching the world go by. She love to steal our ponytail holders and I find them everywhere! We call them her ‘hairys’. She likes to terrorize the dogs next door too. She will sit on the fence and totally ignore them while they go crazy.