July Recap

Happy Tuesday. Hope you are still enjoying summer where you are. It continues to be hot here with very little rain. The sunflowers have gone crazy though. We only planted them once but each year now they continue to come back and multiply. We have so many this year we call it sunflower forest. We love it though and the birds do to.

Today is also the 12th anniversary of when I started this blog. A lot has happened during that time both good and bad. I don't get to post as much as I planned to when I first started but am happy that I have still been able to keep it going this long even if nobody reads it. I especially like looking back at everything that has happened and hopefully have helped others in some way by sharing my life here too. Today is also my sisters birthday as well.

Hello July

I made this piece on my Ipad Pro using Procreate. Inspiration from Pinterest.

July started out with the journey to find a new dog. Even though it had not been long since Lily's passing I knew there was another dog out there that needed me and I needed it. The journey to find and get that dog was not easy. I was looking everyday without much luck. We met 3 different dogs but all of them had some sort of issue that prevented us from getting them. I was getting very discouraged but finally found her at The Denver Animal Shelter thanks to Tracey Schneider Pliskin  She is the one who helped us find Indie too. Unfortunately the universe was making it hard for me again though. I was all ready to adopt her and bring her home when I found out that Rich had to be there to meet her first. I put a hold on her but they said he only had until 5:30 to get there He was in meetings all afternoon though and was running late so I called to tell them he was on his way and might be a little late. I talked to someone named Bridget who said he could have until 6 to get there. I thought everything was going to be fine but he walked in at 5:33 and they told him he was too late and would not let him see her. They said they had no records saying that the person I spoke to on the phone said he could be late but the person I spoke to on the phone says they did. They even have a name and reference number. I just didn't understand it and was in tears It just was not right. They said I had until 12:30 the next day for him to see her so we just had to wait until then. Thankfully he was able to make it over there in between meetings and see her. He was in the room for less then 5 mins and she was fine with him. They didn't even watch. It was ridiculous but we gave them what they wanted and I was able to adopt her.  I just don't understand why things always have to be so hard but thankfully it worked out in the end. She was the happiness I was looking for and I think Lily sent her to me. I know there will never be another Lily but they do have a lot of similarities. We were also told that she was in the shelter twice prior to this which is very hard to believe. They said she was brought in as a stray the first time and the second time it was because of too much barking. When we got her out of there she didn't bark once. We even took her to Pets mart after we got there and she was quiet the whole time, I think she was just waiting for us. She does bark a bit to much sometimes but nothing we can't handle. Indie loves her too and they get along great. Emilia took this photo of her at the shelter the day we met her. You see how happy she was. When I picked her up she just snuggled her head on my shoulder and I knew she was the one. 

Meet Zoey. We had a hard time coming up with her name but finally decided on Zoey because it means life and she is definitely full of that. I took the video below after we got her home. You can see she fit right in.

Before we left I got a call from the vets office that took care of Lily telling me her remains were ready to be picked up so we went and got them on the way home. It was a really odd feeling to be adopting a new dog and picking those up but I also found some comfort in having her remains back at the same time. I also received this of her paw which I had made at the same time which I love and will cherish forever.

A few days after we got her I made this piece in honor of all dogs. This quote is something Cesar Milan says all the time and I agree,  Dog is Love! I followed a tutorial from Holly Pixels for the Love and flourishes. You can see  here on You tube

 Things in our Etsy shop were okay. We got a custom order from a return buyer for her twins second birthday. The theme was Elmo. We normally don't do copyright characters but did it for this buyer. We love how everything came out. Hope she did too.

I also made this piece for the July Floral's and Praise For His Glory Challenge on Instagram. I was only able to complete one week because of everything going on. I am really happy with how it turned out though. I got the inspiration for the wreath from Crystal Whittens Book.

Emilia and I visited a new farmers market and made this dish with fresh broccoli that we bought there and substituted  gluten free pasta. My favorite brand it Tinkyada  It was really good.

Unfortunately my happiness didn't last long. On July 28th my life would change and not for the better. My father fell on my parents driveway and my mother also fell trying to help him. My father had fallen many times before but this time it really took it out of him. My mother also got a concussion in the process and was already dealing with memory issues so this just made that worse. They were not able to go to their usual hospital because of the head injury and that is where the nightmare began. I thought things were bad when my mother had sepsis and Lily had cancer but this does not even compare. I will share more about it next month. Until then I hope the rest of your summer is a good one and I will be back with more to share then.