growing pains

Just a dog post. No crafting to report just yet, just framing and hanging pictures and trying to finish settling in so we can finally have friends over. I'll probably post a few house pictures later this week.

Greg started work a few weeks ago and so Moose has to be left alone each day for the first time in his life really. Since he's over 130 lbs. it's hard to remember he's a puppy sometimes, especially just a 9 month old one. In the first two weeks of leaving him in our bedroom this is the damage he managed to do. We sort of forgot that he is just about the right age to begin the phase where dogs chew everything in sight when left alone. I think we thought he was going to skip that one. But clearly he intends to have his fun.











So, you remember that we just bought this house and just finished refinishing the floors and painting every single wall, right? Yeah. . . really great timing for the puppy teething thing huh? That last pic is of a new door stopper - Moose managed to pull it out of the wall three times in the first week. Here he is playing at the scene of the crime. All this stuff sucks of course, but we just consider it part of the package. Besides the bed the other stuff is fixable, and we've wanted to get a platform bed for years anyway. We went through this with Bella, and now that we know he's going through this we'll just up his exercise and find more ways to occupy him while we're gone, and sooner or later he'll grow out of it. So he's more than worth it, I just hope we don't see any bigger holes in the wall before we're in the clear!

Cacti love

I've always loved cacti (and succulents to be fair). When we drove across the country to California years ago my main goal was to see those huge iconic treelike cacti in the southwest in person (Greg's was to see snakes). I've only recently begun to be less bitter about the fact that not a single cactus was spotted during the entire 3,000 mile drive. This weekend I planted this little potted cacti/succulent garden to use as a table centerpiece.







I've also been meaning to introduce our new pet. . .



This shows better perspective of how freakin big he is.

Update: If anyone knows what kind of spider this is I'd love to know. . .

still crafty after all these months

The house is coming along at it's own pace, looking great if I do say so myself, but I am starting to have so many craft projects building up they'll take me 10 years to get to. I still haven't set up my workspace yet and it's been killing me. So last night I cleared off a few inches of my table and plowed through boxes looking for a few supplies to make covered light switch plates. Two with fabric and one with a printed photo; I love them and plan to make more.







I glued felt to the backs to cover all the rough edges. It felt so damn good to be crafting again, I have missed it so.

pretty Mori Point

Pepper has taken to being our very own gargoyle (albeit a cute and furry one) at the new house, and can often be found sitting sphinx-like up on the front fence next to the gate. The dogs have both taken to laying or sitting on the stoop right outside the front door seemingly guarding the house. Last night when I walked through the living room I caught Moose and Pepper in their respective positions except Pepper was facing the house and they both seemed to be in a trance staring at one another. I am sure Pepper was teasing Moose to see how long the big oaf could sit still before leaping down the stairs and running to fence in yet another failed attempt to "catch" the cat. See a bigger version here.



A few weeks ago after moving in we decided to check out a little trail our neighbors had told us about that starts right by our house. Since we're on the coastal side of Hwy. 1 we knew logically the ocean had to be right behind our house, but we're surrounded by hills and so we can't actually see it. Turns out you can step out our door and be on your own beach in about 8 minutes, taking a lovely trail to get there that's part of a Golden Gate Recreational Park Area called Mori Point. Last night we took Moose out for a quick walk before it got dark and I brought my camera. We didn't get down to the beach, we were running around on the trails too long, so I'll have to take more photos on our next walk, but we are so estatic to have this gorgeous area almost all to ourselves right in our backyard.





looking back to the little group of houses that is our neighborhood

I have no ears

My mom and I went to the Sonoma County Fair on Saturday. See more photos here. I want a farm in the country. Of course I've always wanted to live on enough land that I could have at least a small group of animals but the dream gets a little suppressed now and then when I am really enjoying city life. It's back in full force though after seeing all the 4-H livestock pavilions at the fair.