Nitty's home and resting...........

She had her surgery this morning and the one thing I felt good about was the fact that because she gets monthly allergy shots she knows everyone there and they know her.  In fact, whenever we go in they say hello to her first and then I get "Oh, hi Miss Licher"...too funny.  She is the social butterfly of the family.  She gets so excited when she sees all of them....although that might change after today.  She was happy to see me and definitely wanted to go home!  The vet said when she went in it looked "clean" and that hopefully it was just an infected mammary gland or cysts.  The biopsy will be done...I forgot to ask when but I'm just so happy she's back home and hopefully is comfortable.  I was fortunate also to have a ramp for her to climb to get in and out of my SUV.  I got it when my Abby girl started getting older and it was getting hard for her to jump that high.
She's got antibiotics to take again but we got it to the point last time where she was practically swallowing them right away as she knew a treat was coming as soon as she did.  At first I had to stuff them down her throat but she's a smart girl and knew if she swallowed I wouldn't stick my hand down her throat!  I didn't raise any dummies! LOL! (BTW...if you are a first time reader of my blog, Nitty is my Rottweiler.)
After I dropped her off I went to Walmart as it is fairly close by.  I got some "supplies" for the Valentine's Day projects............oh, and did I  mention a couple books? 

Can you guess which projects I'll be making with these?  The bookmark is cross stitch fabric.  If I like it I will make my own bookmarks but it was only $2.50 so I thought I would give it a try.  And since I won't be getting a Kindle any time soon I broke down and got myself some books I spotted the other day and passed by.
  I am a book fanatic lover so I had to get The Book Thief .  It is now a movie but I always read the book first.

and look at this interesting book by Nora Roberts........
I don't read many of hers but this is about Ireland and an Irish family so I couldn't resist!  It is book #1 of The Cousins O'Dwyer Trilogy.

These are both larger paperbacks that I found at Walmart.

 I'm also joining Friday Night With Friends.   I know, I said I wasn't going to join anything or make any commitments but this is only the first Friday of the month (I've already missed the first one) and I need to get some serious sewing done......sew so, hopefully Friday nights will be my nights to sew and then once a month I can show my progress.  I am hoping I will get more sewing done this way as the projects are stacking up in the sewing arena.  You can check out this group here and see what they're up to...LOTS!  It doesn't have to be sewing either...anything is fine. 
I hope you have a great Friday evening.  I'll be sewing and watching Hallmark's new series and playing "hover mother" to Nitty all weekend.  Happy Trails!

More things from the heart..............

More eye candy from Pinterest "pinners"!  I love these mason jars and these might be my pick for home decoration this year...what do you think?


 The felted hearts are both from Purl Soho

 The ones below have little pockets where you could tuck in a bag of tea or some lip gloss....something small.  Candy or those message hearts.  I'm going with the tea myself.  The puffy ones would look nice as ornaments on a Valentine tree with some pink, white and red lights!  Oh yeah!  You know me and lights...the more the better!

 Now these hearts are more meaningful.  These were done by some children whose mother let them string a heart each time they did something kind for someone else.....I thought that was a wonderful way to teach them the meaning of the day and also to speed up their kindness AND the decorating! LOL!  

 I love this vintage valentine wreath....I want to make this if my printer ink holds out

 Oh, Helen Philipps made the heart below with with all her cute embellishments and a sweet little paper sewn gift package.

 These are a hoot!  And I saw the sticks for them at Walmart today in all different colors and designs.  I think they're by Wilton...at least that's the section they were in.  Too cute!

 Last but not least I found this wonderful site through Melody over at House on the Side of the Hill
 It is The Little Stitcher and she has some beautiful cross stitch kits and several free patterns also.  What I love about her site and her patterns are they are small!  Thus, the name, The Little Stitcher
.But beyond that, there's a history and story to each of her needle artistry projects.  I am definitely going to be patronizing this amazing woman who puts words to the pictures and feelings to the handwork.  Here are a few of her free patterns.  Lovely little items that would make lovely gifts any time of year.

Melody stitched this one with just the words and the cup of tea and then slipped a bag of tea inside....take a look over on her website to see how cute hers turned out....she used different colors and it is just precious.

These could be used for any number of applications but if you use them please stop by and thank her.

Well, I need to wrap up my choices by tomorrow.....have you picked anything out?  Please share with me what you are doing to celebrate Valentine's Day.
  Happy Trails......."til we meet again".

Nitty is having surgery, pondering projects and staying busy

Yesterday I took Nitty back to the vet as her nipple is still seeping and she's still scratching and licking it.  She finished her antibiotics last week so I was worried as to what he would say and it was the "S" word.  I keep praying it will heal and she will too.  Maybe a miracle by Friday?  I've lost 2 dogs and a horse that went into surgery and never came out so I'm a little nervous around doctors/vets etc.  Plus, the cost after an already expensive month.  But I would do anything for the Nit girl and this way there will be a biopsy and we'll  know if it's cancer or not.  He still doesn't think it is and I'm praying it isn't also but I've had 2 Rottweilers that have had cancer and died from it so it's 50/50.
Please say a prayer for her if you can find it in your heart and busy schedule.

  Meanwhile, in order to keep my mind off of it and not worry about something that hopefully will not even come to pass.....I went on the internet searching for Valentine's Day projects.  Nothing can get a girl's mind off her troubles more than a little "shopping around" on the internet.  I shop for inspiration which is pretty much free unless there are supplies involved.  Here's what I've found so far.....

A sweet (pun intended) label for some treat bags for the grands........

and some treats to put in those bags........

of course there must be cards........

some decorations for the house

Not sure I have time to make this into anything this year but I love these squares with the different colored hearts so this will be my Valentine's gift to me...a little sweet for the sweet. LOL!  The pattern for this is on Ravelry and in my "favs".  My Ravelry id is Saminar.

 these look quick to stitch up for a little gift............ 

 If you're interested in any of these projects and more please check out my Pinterest account.  I checked these out to ensure there were directions as many are "dead ends".  Please give credit to the creators of these treasures.....I'm only leading you to them.  I need to figure out how to put a button/widget on here for Pinterest and Ravelry.  If anyone knows please share.  My id is Saminar or Sandra Licher....either one should get you there.  Most of my ideas here are for things that are lightweight and will ship easily but if your "valentines" are close by then you have more options.  I'll be posting more and let you know when I pick my final projects by the end of this week.  Please let me know if you're going to make any of these.  The day of love (and kindness, which should be every day IMHO) is a month from today!  We must all get busy spreading the LOVE! 

Happy Trails...........

Ready? Set? Go!!!!

     Here's a list of all the holidays for 2014 in the U.S.  This year I'm going to be ready.  Since I make everything from scratch (mostly) I need HUGE lead times....plus I'm a slug.  Tune in tomorrow to see what I'm planning on making for Valentine's Day. Yes, I'm skipping Mr. Lincoln and the groundhog unless someone has some ideas out there for them?  But I'm thinking Valentine's Day is the next one to start "baking and making" for.  See you tomorrow!

Maybe we should start a MAL (make along) group so we can help each other be prepared this year.  I am still finishing up Christmas and birthdays from last month!  I know...sad but true.  In my defense, I did not plan to make everything until the last few months before Christmas but this year will be the same different!  I swear!  So please join me as I share projects, ideas, recipes and my own personal progress for a very Handmade 2014.  

Until then............Happy Trails!

 

The most common (Federal) holidays of the United States (USA) in 2014 are listed below.

Date		Holiday	Number of days to go
January 1	Wednesday	New Year's Day 2014	215
January 20	Monday	Martin Luther King Day 2014	234
January 24	Friday	Belly Laugh Day 2014	238
February 2	Sunday	Groundhog Day 2014	247
February 12	Wednesday	Lincoln's Birthday 2014	257
February 14	Friday	Valentine's Day 2014	259
February 17	Monday	Presidents Day and Washington's Birthday 2014	262
March 4	Tuesday	Mardi Gras Carnival (New Orleans) 2014	277
March 9	Sunday	Daylight Saving (Start) 2014	282
March 17	Monday	St. Patrick's Day 2014	290
April 1	Tuesday	April Fool's Day 2014	305
April 18	Friday	Good Friday 2014	322
April 20	Sunday	Easter 2014	324
April 21	Monday	Easter Monday 2014	325
April 22	Tuesday	Earth Day 2014	326
May 5	Monday	Cinco de Mayo 2014	339
May 11	Sunday	Mother's Day 2014	345
May 17	Saturday	Armed Forces Day 2014	351
May 26	Monday	Memorial Day 2014	360
June 8	Sunday	Pentecost 2014	373
June 9	Monday	Pentecost Monday 2014	374
June 14	Saturday	Flag Day 2014	379
June 15	Sunday	Father's Day 2014	380
July 4	Friday	Independence Day 2014	399
July 27	Sunday	Parents' Day 2014	422
September 1	Monday	Labor Day 2014	458
September 7	Sunday	Grandparents' Day 2014	464
September 11	Thursday	Patriot Day or September 11th 2014	468
September 16	Tuesday	Stepfamily Day 2014	473
September 17	Wednesday	Citizenship Day 2014	474
September 26	Friday	Native American Day 2014	483
October 13	Monday	Columbus Day 2014	500
October 16	Thursday	Boss's Day 2014	503
October 18	Saturday	Sweetest Day 2014	505
October 31	Friday	Halloween 2014	518
November 2	Sunday	Daylight Saving (End) 2014	520
November 11	Tuesday	Veterans' Day 2014	529
November 27	Thursday	Thanksgiving 2014	545
November 28	Friday	Black Friday 2014	546
December 1	Monday	Cyber Monday 2014	549
December 7	Sunday	Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2014	555
December 25	Thursday	Christmas Day 2014	573
December 31	Wednesday	New Year's Eve 2014	579

2013 Holidays

2015 Holidays

2014 Calendar

31.368

2014 Calendar

87.152

2014 Month calendar

6.918

See more holidays in other years, click on one of the links below or view the 2014 calendar. 

2013 Holidays   •   2014 Holidays   •   2015 Holidays   •   2016 Holidays

See also the 2014 Calendar.