Baby Sprinkle/ Cooper Update

Cooper Up Date:
Little Cooper came through his surgery just fine.  They had to really cut into his cheek to get all the tumor.  He was wagging his tail when we picked him up at the Vet.  Nothing seems to phase this little guy.  Just happy no matter what is happening with him.  He was back to playing with my daughters dogs and eating that same night.  So now we just wait for the pathology to come back in a week to 10 days.  Hoping and praying for good news on that report.

As you can see he has quite the scar to talk about!!!!  We told him it gives him character and he is still our little handsome man!

Just a happy camper.  He seems to take everything in stride.  Thanks for your well wishes for this handsome sweet guy.

Wooooo Hoooo Closing Tomorrow on the New Nest!!!!!!

We are closing tomorrow on the new house.  We will not take possession of the new place for another month.  We had to give the sellers  30 days after closing to rent back and move out.  While we wait to move into our new nest where I can unleash my decor happy and share, I thought I would share some creative things I am making for my daughters up coming  Baby Sprinkle.

Apparently when you throw a baby shower for the second child it is called a Baby Sprinkle.  Ahhh the new things I learn everyday!

My daughter Jen is having our second granddaughter at the end of June.  Her first baby and the love of our lives is Abby.  Abby will be 6 years old this May.  So we are so excited to know she will be a big sister to a new baby sister in June.

Abby's new sister's name will be Charlotte Grace and we cannot wait to meet her.

My younger daughter Kim and I are planning a "Baby Sprinkle" for Jen on May 14th.

Here are some of the things we are making for the up coming shower.

I took child size garden boots and spray painted them pink.  I added faux pink flowers and tied off with pink Ribbon and Its a girl tags.  I added a pink baby shower umbrella with the boots.  These will be the center pieces for each table at the Baby Sprinkle.

One of my daughter's favorite lip balm is the eos strawberry sorbet flavor.  So I wanted to make favors with something that I knew my daughter loved and would want to share with each of the guests.

I found the pink strawberry sorbet eos lip balms.

I found these cute baby sprinkle cards on Easy with the hole in the center for the eos balls to fit.  Such a cute idea.

For another sweet favor I found these cute Ready to Pop favor boxes.  Garrett's Pop Corn is a popular Chicago treat and one of my daugher's favorites.  So we will be putting Garrett's Chicago Pop corn together in these cute boxes for another take home favor.

YUM!!!!

For some shower prizes I took two bloom bowl covers.  Have you seen these?  They replace using cling wrap on your bowls and serving pieces.  You can micro wave with these and store left overs.  They are so cute and saves on using a lot of plastic wrap.

I tied off the cute little kitchen towel and bloom covers into a paper tray I found at Michaels.  I loved that I found the cute kitchen towel to tie in the shower/sprinkle theme.

Another cute prize are these Godiva candy dishes with Godiva truffles.  I tied them off and added a Starbucks gift card to each one.

Nothing is better than good Godiva chocolates and Starbucks.

 I am waiting patiently for the new nest to be ours so I can share some of the new decor transformation ideas with all of you.  It was fun to post something sweet and fun today on the upcoming Baby Sprinkle and all the fun ideas we are doing to make this Baby Sprinkle special.

Seriously!!!! after this past year with all the crazy it will be fun to get into the new house and start to post on the decor transformations.
I cannot wait to share that with all of you.

  I cannot wait to get in to this place and transform it into our new Cottage Home.

Have a great day and thank you for stopping by.

Kris

:)

Good Thoughts and Prayers Appreciated

As most of you know we adopted little Cooper a week ago.  

This sweet little bundle of joy.  We took him to our Vet to have him checked over.  With Cooper being a rescue dog we did not have any history on him except that he was tethered outdoors  24/7 and he was 7 years old.  So after our Vet gave him a through exam she found a tumor on his face that she did not like how it looked.  So tomorrow this little guy will be having it surgically removed.  We are hoping it is not anything bad.  The Vet did take some sample fluid out of the tumor and looked at it under a slide.  She said she did see come concerning cells so we will see what pathology says once it is removed and sent in.
So please remember little Cooper in your thoughts and prayers as you go about your day tomorrow.

The other issue they found with this guy is he had broken all his teeth in the front of his mouth and the back teeth were not looking very good either.  So after we see what will happen with the tumor surgery tomorrow we will then tackle his teeth.

Poor guy with them having him on a chain the Vet said he probably was chewing on the chain and that is what broke most of his teeth.  He also probably did not have a healthy  diet.  The Vet felt pretty good she could save his back teeth that he uses to eat.  So far he has been eating his wet and dry dog food mixture.

We love this little guy so much and even with all these things going on he does not seem bothered by anything.  Just loves to be loved.

Little Cooper might have to get some Doggie Dentures like these!

Thanks for the good thoughts and best wishes for Cooper.

Have a good week.

Kris

Adoption Day

Hi Everyone.  Woooooo long day in the car but so worth it.  We left Chicago at 6:30am and got to Cincinnati at noon their time.  They are an hour ahead of us.  Here is pics of our new little member of our family.

The Foster family called him Roscoe.  They did not know his name when he was rescued from the kill shelter.  So since he does not answer to Roscoe we changed his name to Cooper.  Terry wanted to name him Cooper.  Surprisingly he comes when we call him Cooper.  Go figure!!!!

Here is Terry, myself and our granddaughter Abby picking up Cooper today.  He is just a big ball of love.
What a great little guy.  He loved all the dogs at the adoption center and everyone he came in contact with.

Cooper has taken a great liking to Terry.  I think they are forever buds!!!! He would not let Terry out of his sight.

Cooper loves everyone.  Kids, other dogs, just about everyone.  His tail never stopped wagging.

Here is Cooper on his car ride home.  He was a trooper in the car for the 5 hour drive.  We stopped a few times and he did his business and right back in the car and slept most of the drive.

He is just the best little guy ever.  We are so in love with him.  I think he rescued us more than we rescued him.

Thanks for all your sweet comments on our new family member.
We can't wait to move him into the new house with us.

My heart grew just a little bit bigger today with this new guy in our lives.


Have a wonderful week end.
Hugs,
Kris

New Addition Coming

Hi Everyone.  Terry and I are getting excited to be closing on our new home in about a month we are also excited to be adding a new addition to our family.

As a lot of you know we lost our sweet Libby about 3 weeks ago.  We have had two basset hounds during our 35 years of married life.  Libby being our last sweet girl.  Libby was was 14 and gave us such love.  We lost her suddenly to a tumor on her spleen bleeding out.  A tumor we did not know she had.  So that was a shock and such loss for us.

By a secret angel we learned of a basset hound in Cincinnati Ohio that was in need of a new home.  So they sent me the pictures and we fell deeply in love.  We filled out the adoption paper work and they called us today and told us we were picked to give this guy a new forever home.

He is 7 years old so not a puppy and is crate trained and needs a little work on the housebreaking.  The people that owned him left him tethered outdoors 24/7 so he needs to learn how to go potty outside.  The Foster angels that have him said he is getting really good at going outside.  That we will probably have to work on with him.

So we have lots of exciting things happening.  New member of our family and also a new home.

We close on the new home the middle of April and then we agreed to give the sellers up to 30 days to move out after closing.  So it may be the middle of May before we are in the new home.  This guy is with other dogs in the Foster home so I think he will get along fine with my daughters dogs where we are staying.

I have always had puppies from breeders so this is the first time we will be adopting an adult dog.  I hope with lots of love this goofy guy will fit right in with us.  The foster family said he is a big love and a very quiet dog which most basset hounds are.

So this Saturday we will be taking a road trip from Chicago to Cincinnati to pick this guy up.

I cannot wait to meet him and bring him home.  They named him Roscoe and they do not know his real name.  We are thinking of changing his name.  What do you think?  Any suggestions?  Maybe Wally, Fred!!!!!!

Have a great rest of the week.

Kris

:)

Happy Easter

I hope you all have a wonderful week end and joy filled day on Easter.  May you enjoy your family and friends that gather around the table to celebrate Easter.

We have nurses and firefighters in this family so to have everyone off on Sunday for the holiday is a nice blessing for us.  I will enjoy eating and celebrating and playing family games all together this year.

Just wanted to wish all of you a Very Happy Easter.  For those of you that do not celebrate Easter I wish you a great week end too.

I leave you with this image.  Sooooo  Sweet.

Bunny Hugs.

Kris

Heavy Heart

With a heavy heart I am posting about the passing of our sweet Libby.

Libby as most of you know that follow my blog was our 13 year old basset hound "aka photo bomber"!

Today was an ordinary day.  Libby ate her breakfast and fell asleep sunning herself in front of the sliding doors of the patio this morning.

This afternoon when she tried to get up from her doggie bed she fell over and lost all movement.

We raced her to the emergency vet and they were able to do some tests and X-rays to find out that Libby had a very large mass on her spleen that burst and she bleed out quickly.

The compassionate ER Vet was able to make her comfortable  before she expired.

So I am so grateful she did not suffer too much.

Libby was the best little dog you could ever know.  She was the heart of our family.

Terry and I are in shock and devastated this all came about so quickly.  Our hearts are broken and we miss her terribly.

We pray she is at peace.  This certainly has been a hard year for us and now with losing our sweet angel has made it even more difficult.

While this was so hard today I hold onto the blessings that come in a tragedy like this.  The whole family was together when this happened.  So we were all with Libby when she passed.

Our fur babies are members of our families and it is so hard to lose them.  They take a big chunk of our hearts when we have to say good bye.

So give your sweet fur babies an extra hug and kiss and treat today and enjoy each and every day you have with them.

Please keep Terry and I in your thoughts and prayers.  This certainly is a large loss for us.

Leap of Faith

Hi Everyone.  Oh how I have missed all of you.  Just thought I would pop in and share some news on what has been happening for us.

Monday was leap year.  Terry and I found a cute home that just went on the market so we took a "leap of faith" and decided to get off the job hunt roller coaster and buy a place near family and friends and begin to get settled.

This has been a long year with Terry searching out a new position as a fire chief .  He is  only 58 years old and wants to continue to work.  While Terry has had a great career for 34 years in the fire service  he just is not ready to let go yet.  He wants to work in the field he loves.

This past year's ride on the job hunt roller coaster with all the crazy around the fire service employment process's we decided to end the out of area hunt for a new position for Terry.   The fire chief positions have become about money, job cuts and politics and not so much about community service anymore.

The fire service is not the same as when Terry first started his career.  Like everything in life things change.

So on leap year day we took a look at this town home and the minute I walked in the door I felt like I was home.

Terry and I had a long talk and decided to let go of trying to find a job outside of Illinois away from family and friends.

We decided to put a bid in on this home and get settled and pray something in the area will then happen for employment for Terry.

This past month we have been staying with our daughter, SIL and granddaughter since we closed on our other home.  It has been so wonderful to be with family.  While I was so sad to let go my last home I am excited about starting my decor happy on a new nest soon.

We took a big leap of faith to chose family and friends at this point in our lives.  Being near my two daughters and granddaughter fills my heart.  I would have missed them so much if we had to re locate for a job.  With the new grand baby on the way  I want to be near my daughter to continue to help out with taking care of Abby and the new baby.

So while we still are in search of employment for Terry we feel blessed to be settling near our family and friends.

I put up some of the pictures of the new town home we chose.  These are from the listing so not the best pictures to do this place justice.  My camera is packed away in storage!!!!  So bear with these pictures.

It is an end unit town home so it is very quiet.  The homeowners association does not allow renters so it is all home owners.  The town homes are in a wonderful neighborhood with a mix of town homes and single family homes.  I can see a cute new front door in this home's future lol!  I will still be able to have my flowers to care for in the front and back of the town home but the nice part of town home living is the landscaping, cutting grass and snow removal is all taken care of for us.

The back area has a fairly large yard.  I will be putting out my lounge chair and lots of flowers this summer on the back deck area.

The main level has a good size living room and dining room.  I see crown molding, paint and new thicker base boards and casings around windows in this room.  It will give it a more cottage feel.  I can see my slipcovered furniture looking awesome in this room too.

I have big plans to transform this kitchen.  New butcher block counters taking down cabinets for open shelving and painting cabinets white with some awesome new hardware just for starters.  I see new 6 panel doors for this space too. My chandeliers through out this space with some neat architectural features should transform this kitchen into a lovely french cottage kitchen.
 

I see those upper cabinets coming down for open shelving and some cool architechtual things to be added.

The Master bedroom has lots of light that streams in the room.  The two bedrooms up stairs both have their own master bathroom suites.  Love that  my guest will have their own bathroom when they stay.  Some paint, crown molding and base boards and pretty window treatments along with my white and chippy pieces from my bedroom should transform this master bedroom into a nice sanctuary.

The best part about this town home is that it has a finished lower level.  This is going to be perfect for a family room and also a large office space for Terry and all his fire department antiques and collectables.  He will have his own man cave.

Yep even has a sink and full size refrigerator for him.  He won't even have to come up stairs to get a frosty beverage when watching his football and hockey games.

These are a few pictures from the MLS.  The pictures do not do this place justice.  I am just excited to be getting ready to move in and start to unleash my decor happy.  Hope to post as I begin the transformation of each of the rooms.  Hope you will enjoy coming along with me as I begin this journey to making this new nest ours.

We do not close until the 15th of April and then for the sellers to accept our contract  we had to let them have one month to stay in the home and rent back after we close.  They are hoping the will not need that time but incase they do to find a new home for themselves we agreed to do this.  So it may be a few months before I can unleash my decor happy.  Hoping they will find something quickly to buy. 

Well I have missed all of you as this part of my life has been moving forward.  I have been visiting your blogs not alway leaving a comment but I have been keeping up on all of your news.  I hope to be back to blogging on the "New Junk Chic Cottage" transformations soon.

Wish us good luck that the home inspection goes well on Thursday and we will be officially under contract to purchase this home.

Have a wonderful rest of the week.  Hugs to all of you.

Kris