While Walking My Dogs

Twelve Today

Posted on March 13, 2014 by gracieed

Woody turns 12 today. In honor of his special day, I thought I would tell you the 12 Reasons I Love Woody.

1. He loves to walk. In fact, in the last couple of weeks, I’ve been adding some running to my morning walk and he is loving it. This guy loves to run.

2. He loves/tolerates Ellie. They’re great pals even though he still doesn’t quite understand why I brought her home.

3. He makes me laugh. He has the best facial expressions and serious comic timing.

4. He lets me put silly headbands on him and loves his sweater in the winter.

5. He is a very gentle boy, a true love-bug.

6. He has one blue eye. It’s his signature.

7. He howls a doggie opera at the sound of an ice-cream truck.

8. He loves to cuddle under the covers at the end of the bed on my side.

9. He is my own personal alarm clock. I can count on being woken between 5:15am and 6am every day. Good thing I’m a morning person.

10. He woo-woo’s when he’s playing ball and can play for hours.

11. I can take him anywhere.

12. Loves a long nap in the sunshine. Often when I can’t find him, he’ll be stretched out soaking up the rays.

We do love him and am so glad he came to stay with us. Happy Birthday Woody!!!!

“Hey Woody. I know what mom got you for your birthday and I’ll tell you if you’ll share with me.”

Posted in Dogs, Project Life | Tagged Dogs, project life | Leave a comment

If you knew me, you’d know that I’m a person that really likes things in order. Themes make me giddy and anything you can put in a list fills me with a great calm. That being said, there are days where the orderliness of life becomes a bit mundane and frankly mind-numbing.

I have been experiencing a bit of that lately, so I decided to inject some ‘randomeness’ into my life. I discovered that online you can find websites that will randomly generate just about anything. I originally started looking because of an idea I have brewing that I’ll share in a few weeks, but soon discovered that generating random stuff it quite a phenomenon.

I happen to love words, so I used this random-verb generator to give me ten verbs that I then used to describe my life at the current moment. Granted these are only significant to me and quite possibly boring to you, but it’s a great way to get my creativity flowing.

Here’s my list:

Listening to the birds chirping. An incredibly relaxing sound.
Wishing there were more hours in the day.
Knitting up a square for orphans in South Africa.
Closing in on completing a series of blog posts.
Hoping I can get through my ‘ToDo’ List this week.
Living with two cute doggies and one awesome husband.
Switching the route that I walk the dogs. Just for some variety.
Discovering the ways God wants me to serve others.
Wondering if I’ll ever be done with laundry.
Turning up the volume during the 2^nd movement of Beethoven’s 7^th Symphony.

I was amazed that the word ‘knitting’ showed up in the list. Kind of like the random-verb generator knows me. Huh!

It’s a great exercise to force me to be present and think about the moment I’m in. I have lots that I’m going to be sharing in the coming days and wanted to ease myself back into your ‘blog-reading’ lives with this post.

Give it a whirl and leave a comment with some of your randomly generated words.

We’re not surprised the word ‘knitting’ came up. We are flabbergasted that ‘dog’, ‘walk’, ‘treat’, ‘kibble’, ‘bone’ weren’t on the list. We think you need to find a better random-word generator.

Oh and while we’re on the subject, we’d love a treat.

Posted in Creative Randomness, Dogs | Tagged Creative Randomness, Dogs | Leave a comment

Merry Valentine

Posted on February 6, 2014 by gracieed

What?? Have you lost your mind, Grace? “Merry” Valentine??? What’s going on???

Funny you should ask.

This past November my grandpa (who is 94 and lives in England) fell and ended up in the hospital for a month. Following that he spent a week or so in rehab and then was able to move back home with a lot of help. He recovered from all of his injuries; he’s just burdened with the pesky aging process. Man, getting old is not for wimps!!

So this past December, my mom and I spent a month with him first trying to make living at home work, but finally, at his request, we found him a beautiful care home to move to. We were able to move him in on New Year’s Day and spend a good week getting him settled. Needless to say we had no time for Christmas festivities and quite frankly wasn’t really in the mood. Our focus was elsewhere.

I returned home to an un-decorated house (some would say I was lucky) except for the skeleton of our wall-tree. While I don’t, for a minute, regret spending Christmas and New Year’s helping to care for my grandpa, I did miss my own traditions.

So this year will be different. I decided to leave the tree up and I’ve decorated it for Valentine’s. Actually it will be up for the month of February. As I thought about the absurdity of my plan, it occurred to me that spending an entire month thinking about LOVE is completely consistent with Christmas. God sent his greatest gift of Love at Christmas.

I rummaged through my Christmas decorations and pulled out all the red, pink and gold ornaments, strung white twinkly lights and found a gorgeous sequined heart at Michael’s. I crocheted some mini hearts with this pattern (I plan to do a few more) and found miscellaneous Valentine decorations to place on the tree. I still have work to do, but this is the tree so far.

I think I’m going to like this new tradition.

Want to know how we spell Love?

D-O-G.

Posted in Crochet, Decorating, Homemade, Uncategorized, Valentine, Yarn | Tagged crochet, Decorating, homemade, Valentine, yarn | Leave a comment

A New Year

Posted on January 21, 2014 by gracieed

Since we’re almost to the end of January, you’re going to think I’m weird for posting my 2014 goals. Actually I’m approaching the whole ‘goals for the year’ thing a little differently this year. I LOVED 2013! It was full of huge accomplishments, milestones, friends and family occasions, travel, lots of dogs and everyday life. It also had its share of challenges, stress and ‘stop you in your tracks’ situations. But then whose life doesn’t have all of that? I ended the year feeling very grateful for my life and the lessons I learned and eager to see what’s in store for 2014.

Before I started dreaming about the new year, I reviewed my (somewhat lofty) goals from the previous year. I’d like to think that along with the challenges of 2013 I gained some wisdom and I wanted to make sure I mixed in a good dose of wisdom and reality when coming up with my 2014 goals.

So this was my goals list for 2013. Let’s see how I did.

1. Run/walk the 2013 Honolulu Marathon with Mike. Done.
2. Read more. Did this, but there’s never enough time to read all you want to read.
3. Blog everyday. Not exactly. Well not at all.
4. Paint kitchen cabinets. Still need to do this.
5. Make jean quilts for couch. Cut up all our old jeans and am ready to start piecing.
6. Keep up with daily chores. I did better than the previous year, but need to continue to work on this.
7. Organize craft room. Huge progress, but not completed.
8. Continue to not eat wheat and reduce sugar. Fell off this wagon a few times, but still managed to lose 35 pounds.
9. Celebrate our 25th anniversary all year. Done.
10. Gift giving plan. Gave gifts, but never with a definitive plan. Not sure what I was thinking with this goal.
11. Read the Bible through in a year. Read the Bible daily, but not in its entirety.
12. Grow “A Thoughtful Paws”. Added 8 new clients.
13. Document my days – Project Life, CaptureYour365, Nieces & Nephews. Finished Project Life, did not take a picture everyday and collected 6 months worth of questions/answers from my nieces and nephews.
14. Complete two paper crafting classes. Finished Art Class with Wilna Furstenberg.
15. Knitting projects – Knit-a-square, shawls, hats, scarves, sweater. Finished a scarf and worked on squares. Not a stellar knitting year.
16. Yard – finish retaining wall and brick patio. Half-way finished with wall and yet to start patio.
17. Grow my Etsy shop. Added a few items, but need a plan.
18. Eat 95% of our meals at home. Didn’t do too badly, but need to constantly work on this.

Overall I’m pleased with the results, but can definitely see that I was more successful in areas where I had a plan. I also struggle with the concept of planning too much for the amount of time I have.

So what does 2014 look like? Very similar with a few adjustments (like specifics).

1. Run/walk two half marathons with Mike. The Parkway Half in April and the Urban Cow in October.
2. Read more . Finish the Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs.
3. Blog regularly. Unless I have a theme, I’m not going to pressure myself to blog everyday. I want consistency.
4. Paint kitchen cabinets. Start in the spring when it’s warmer.
5. Make jean quilts for couch. Move cut pieces into my craftroom.
6. Keep up with daily chores. Set up appointments with myself for specific chores.
7. Organize craft room. In 6 months be ready to blog about completed, usable craftroom.
8. Continue to not eat grains and sugar. I was diagnosed with diabetes at the end of 2013 and eating like this helps me to manage my blood sugar without insulin. Great motivator.
9. Read the Bible everyday.
10. Plan and execute a referral program for “A Thoughtful Paws”.
11. Document my days – Project Life and Journal 52.
12. Complete two paper crafting classes. Art Class 2 with Wilna Furstenberg and One Little Word with Ali Edwards.
13. Knitting project –Alisa’s sweater.
14. Yard – finish retaining wall and brick patio. Setup small vegetable garden.
15. Plan to grow my Etsy shop.
16. Eat 95% of our meals at home.
17. Finish losing all the weight I need to reach my goal. See goal #1 and #8.
18. Send out handmade cards at least once a week.
19. Learn 3 new things. Don’t know what yet, but want to be on the lookout.

How’s your 2014 shaping up?

We have goals. They involve walking, eating, sleeping, eating, playing ball, eating, snuggling, eating. I think you get the idea.

Posted in Accountability, Backyard, Books, Cleaning, Dogs, Exercise, Gardening, Goals, Journal 52, Knitting, Paper Crafting, Project Life, Scrapbooking, Wheat-free, Yarn | Tagged accountability, backyard, books, Cleaning, Dogs, exercise, Gardening, goals, journal 52, knitting, Organization, paper crafting, project life, scrapbooking, Wheat-free, yarn | Leave a comment

While I was gone…

Posted on January 15, 2014 by gracieed

Hello everyone. I know I’ve been gone a while, but there are reasons. My last post was on March 11 of last year all about Woody’s 11th birthday. Despite my absence from the blogosphere, it’s been a very full ten months marked with highs and lows and everything in between.

My health was the major reason for my sporadic posting and then, quite frankly, life just got in the way. Symptoms that were eventually diagnosed as a severely underactive thyroid created a bit a havoc in my life, but thankfully were brought under control with medicine. By the end of summer I began to feel normal, but at the beginning of December I was declared diabetic and had to start insulin. My doc believes it was due in large part to the gel sugar shots I was using during our marathon training. Because of my medical history, I’ve always been at-risk for diabetes, but those energy gels just put me over the edge. I’ve radically changed my diet and hope to be weaned off of the insulin soon. It is an understatement to say that I’m not a fan of needles.

So what has the last ten months looked like. It in a nutshell, I…

completed the 2013 Honolulu Marathon on December 8

completed the 2013 Urban Cow Half Marathon on October 6

trained for marathon and half-marathon

went on my annual trip with my mom to see my grandpa in England in September

connected with my aunt and uncle from Australia who happened to be in England at the same time. We last saw each other 30 years ago.

went back to England with my mom for a month in December because my grandpa fell and needed to be moved into care

celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in July

dog sat for and walked 30 dogs (not all at the same time)

helped teach a craft class at my church

went to Hawaii

went to Tahoe

celebrated Ellie’s 8th birthday on December 23rd. (I celebrated on my own in England and took her on a reeaallyy long walk when I got home)

helped do the crafts at our church’s Easter faire

lost 35 pounds

went to Los Angeles to see my nephew graduate from high school

finished my Project Life album for 2013

achieved Gold Status on my Starbuck’s card

celebrated many birthdays

Even with all the health challenges, I can look back on these months and say how incredibly blessed I’ve been. I plan to start posting again with renewed enthusiasm and hopefully minimal hiccups.

This has been a long post, so I’ll sign off for now, but not before Woody and Ellie say a few words.

Ellie: “You know what this means Woody? More posing for pictures.”

Woody: “Yes, Ellie, but it also means more treats to get us to pose for pictures.”

Ellie: “You’re so clever Woody.”

Woody: “Yep.”

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Eleven today

Posted on March 13, 2013 by gracieed

Woody turns 11 today. I am shocked at how much time has passed because it feels like just yesterday that I brought him home.

It was 2005 and I was volunteering at the Sacramento SPCA as a dog walker. Actually I had just received permission to start walking dogs solo and the day came when I was able to choose which dogs I wanted to walk. I was a bit nervous, but also excited at the same time. This was around September and a few months previously I had lost my first dog, Sugar, and two days before my solo walk I had to put down our other dog, Little Bit. Not a great time in our house. Being around the shelter dogs helped, but the silence in our home was deafening.

Anyway, I began my volunteer shift with several great dogs, some that had clearly never been trained to walk on a lease and others that wanted to run more than walk. I spent 5 hours that day walking off my grief and came to my final walk of the day: Woody. He was the most gentle dog I had met that day, completely trained (pre-programmed as I tell people) and I couldn’t believe that anyone would want to give this guy up. He obeyed every command, walked right beside me, was completely handsome to look at and sported one brown eye and one blue eye. We spent a good hour together and when the time came to kennel him, I watched him go into his space and curl up on his pillow.

I went straight from there to call Mike and let him know that I found our next dog. The SPCA requires that all members of a household including other pets come to meet prospective dogs, so Mike left work to meet Woody. Two hours later, Woody was home curled up on our couch and he’s been there ever since.

I came to find out why he had been surrendered. He had a bit of a problem being left alone. Up until Ellie came to live with us (about 5 months), Woody was with me 24/7. Thankfully he was incredibly well trained and I could take him to work with me or leave him in the car. He’s improved greatly over the past seven years, has endured the trials of a puppy in our house, loves to give kisses, play ball for hours, go on long walks, spend an afternoon chewing on a good bone, puts up with Ellie’s antics, does the best “woowoo” sound when he’s happy, howls a doggie opera when he hears the sound of an ice-cream truck and loves to curl up under the covers at the end of the bed on my side on winter nights.

He’s a dear boy and I’m so glad he came to stay with us. Happy Birthday Woody!!!!

“Hey Woody. Do you think I could have a piece of your birthday cake?”

Posted in Dogs, Project Life, Uncategorized | Tagged Dogs, project life | Leave a comment

Loving the Sunshine

Posted on March 2, 2013 by gracieed

At the beginning of the year, I started texting all my nieces and nephews (7 in all) a question every day. It’s been a fun exercise that connects me with all of them every single day, and it also gives me some insight into their lives. They range in ages from 8 to 24 and have been awesome at responding to my sometimes goofy questions. I’m keeping track of their answers and haven’t decided yet what format I’m going to use to display them. That will come later.

I told you that story as a segue to the subject of today’s post. On Feb 22, I asked them, “What is your favorite season: Winter, spring, summer or fall?” The answers were mostly spring and summer with one winter, but it started me thinking about which season is my favorite. It’s really hard to decide.

I was thinking about this the other day while walking Woody and Ellie. The daffodils were out and the sun was shining and I was thinking that I love Spring the most. But do I love it the most because it’s a refreshing change from the cold of Winter or because I love flowers? Do I love Fall because it’s a reprieve from the heat of the Summer? Do I like something only because of how it compares to something else? These are some of the questions I ask while waiting for Woody to sniff the eleventy-billionth blade of grass.

I think I decided I love all the seasons for different reasons. Certainly Spring and Summer are loved because of the warmth of the sun, the new growth of flowers and vegetables, flip-flops and sunhats. And with Fall and Winter, I welcome the crisp, cool evenings, the smell of wood burning in the air, hot chocolate, snuggling with my doggies and listening to the sound of rain on the roof.

For now, I’m really delighted with the hints of Spring (it’s not officially Spring yet), the coolish, sunny days, the bright yellow daffodils, and the birds singing. Everything’s starting to wake up!

What’s your favorite season?

“We don’t have a favorite season. For us it’s always WALKIN’ season!”

(The sun was shining in Woody’s eyes and he just wouldn’t open them.)

Posted in Dogs, Uncategorized | Tagged Dogs | 2 Comments

Project Life – Going Digi

Posted on February 23, 2013 by gracieed

Back in January, I wrote about my experiences with the Project Life system of documenting your life. I identified what I believed where the things I did that resulted in an annual album that only included 2 months and about how I over-complicated the process. I also wrote about my resolve to pick up where I left off and come up with solutions to keep up with this.

And I have, but there’s been a bit of a fly in the ointment: the actual photos and printing them.

The CVS Pharmacy that I use has a policy that you have to order $5 worth of photo printing or else they charge you a $1.50 surcharge. If I only need 7 pictures during a week (about $1.40), it’s not very cost effective to print every week. I’m not pleased with the quality of photo that comes out of my printer and I think the cost is a bit prohibitive. Also, at the moment, it would be helpful if I didn’t find extra ways to spend money :-). My idea of using a sticky note as a place holder until I amassed enough photos to print at CVS just isn’t working. And this little fly threatened to squash all my enthusiasm. Doesn’t take much, huh?

BUT, I was listening to yet another podcast, this time from the DigiShow where the whole show was dedicated to talking about Digital Project Life. Funnily enough I already had the digital Project Life core kit that matched my paper kit, so I was really interested in what they had to say. I’m not completely sold on the whole idea of a digital Project Life, mostly because I love the touch and feel of paper, photos and all the bits and pieces I like to include on the page. On the other hand, I’m not actually making all that happen and I’m missing out on documenting my life in the process. So I listened to what the panelists had to say and midway through the discussion, one of the gals mentioned that she designs her pages in the 12X12 size, but then has them printed as 8X8 pages. The pages have the same look of the pocketed pages of Project Life, they’re just printed as one sheet. This really intrigued me, especially because at Persnickety Prints (an online printer) you can print at 8X8 for $1. That seems like a lot for a page, but I know by the time I’m done with a paper page, I would be spending way more that $1 per page. And Persnickety Prints has sales throughout the year, so I could save up my pages and wait to print during a sale.

So everyday, when I sit down to my computer, I open up my Project Life page for the week in Adobe Photoshop Elements, drop in the pictures I want to remember for the day, journal my thoughts, add a few digital embellishments and hit ‘Save’. So far this has been working for me, both cost-wise and actual follow-thru wise. Here’s an example of my work.

I love tweaking my do-overs!

“Mom, this will be great for those times when Ellie does something silly or cute and you want to write about it quickly and easily. Oh, wait, I don’t think you have disk space for all that!!”

Posted in Accountability, Paper Crafting, Project Life, Saving Money, Scrapbooking | Tagged accountability, paper crafting, project life, saving money, scrapbooking | Leave a comment

Right now, I’m reading…

Posted on February 22, 2013 by gracieed

Next to dogs, books are one of my most favorite things. I wrote yesterday about my new library experience and even posted this picture of a pile of library books.

So what’s in this pile o’ books?

From the top:

1. What Do Dogs Know? by Stanley Coren. If I was to judge the depth of dog’s knowledge by the length and size of this book, I’d say there’s not much to the canine brain, but I know better. This is a fun collection of stories about all kinds of dogs in all kinds of experiences. A quick read that leaves me wanting to know more and more.

2. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. I haven’t started this one yet, but it’s been recommended to me by several people. Stay tuned.

3. Herbal Dog Care by Randy Kidd, D.V.M., Ph.D. I must confess, I thought this book was about making herbal shampoo for dogs. I should read the book descriptions better. Instead it’s a comprehensive guide to complete herbal health care of your dog written by a veterinarian. And I love it! I will always take my dogs to the vet if needed, but it’s nice to arm myself with a bit of information.

4. The Pawprints of History by Stanley Coren. This book is all about dogs who have played significant roles in the lives of many historical figures. I just started, but already I know it will be a book I won’t be able to put down.

5. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. I know I’m revealing my inner nerd with this book, but I love to read about science. This book has it all: geology, chemistry, paleontology, astronomy and particle physics all presented in a way a non-science person like me can understand.

6. It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh. In my ongoing effort to be more efficient, I picked up this book. Apparently it’s an ‘easy plan for living a richer life with less stuff’. We’ll see.

7. 168 hours – You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam. This is an excellent book. I’m a third of the way through and already I’m convinced that I do have enough time for the projects I want to accomplish and that I waste more time than I’m willing to admit.

8. The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker by Wendy Smedley and Aby Garvey. I recently heard Aby Garvey interviewed in a podcast and was inspired to get her book. They cover everything from developing a philosophy of how you scrapbook that should eventually inform your organization to storage ideas and workspace solutions.

9. 175 Fresh Card Ideas by Kimber McGray. I spotted this book while I was pulling the Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker off the shelf. A little inspiration every now and then is a good thing.

What are you reading at the moment?

“Will you be reading any books with recipes for dog treats?”

Posted in Books, DeCluttering, Dogs, Education, Organization, Paper Crafting, Saving Money, Scrapbooking, Uncategorized | Tagged books, decluttering, Dogs, education, Organization, paper crafting, saving money, scrapbooking | 1 Comment

My new favorite thing

Posted on February 21, 2013 by gracieed

Want to know what my new favorite thing is? It’s the library!

Now I know the library isn’t a new thing and as a kid I certainly used it a lot, but not as an adult. I remember taking a cooking class at our local library, spending many hours researching for papers and checking out tons of mystery books to devour. In college, the library was my favorite place to be. We had several on our campus, some brand new with all the bells and whistles, but some really old with rooms of books that made you feel like you were in the catacombs. Libraries are so quiet and peaceful and full of more knowledge than anyone person could consume in a lifetime.

Why I haven’t taken advantage of our library as an adult is a bit of a mystery. No real reason, I just haven’t, until now. Armed with my cool lime-green library card, I’ve been spending some quality time reacquainting myself with the atmosphere, the services and most importantly, the books.

A lot has changed since I was ten. Most everything is automated and computerized. Our branch has a self-checkout system using barcodes. The best feature is that you can go online, find the book you want and ‘request it’. Even if the book is not at your local branch, they will retrieve it from another branch and let you know via email when it’s ready to pick up. Requires patience, but I can’t tell you how excited I get when I receive those emails. You can also renew your books online from the comfort of your own home. I only live a half mile from my local branch, but it’s nice that I don’t have to venture very far to renew my books.

Another handy service is e-books, specifically e-books for the Kindle. You’re able to download the e-book and ‘borrow’ them in the same manner you would ‘borrow’ a paper book. So cool!

I went through my Amazon book wish list and started searching for those books in the library catalog. I found a few and started ‘requesting’ like crazy. The system tells you how many people have requested this book before you and gives you an idea of how long you’ll have to wait. Pretty handy.

“I hope this reading thing isn’t going to get in the way of our playtime.”

Posted in Books, Education, Saving Money, Uncategorized | Tagged books, education, saving money | 1 Comment

While Walking My Dogs

Twelve Today

Creative Randomness

Merry Valentine

A New Year

While I was gone…

Eleven today

Loving the Sunshine

Project Life – Going Digi

Right now, I’m reading…

My new favorite thing

Sign up to receive my blog posts via email.

i’m grace edwards

My ETSY Shoppe

Recent Posts

Follow me on Instagram.

Tags

Blogroll

Archives