Hipster Dog Blanket

I'm in the process of upcycling a huge pile of old t shirts we had lying around. For some reason, I have a hard time tossing my beloved band t shirts, or the tie dyed shirts that I've made.

I'm working on a big project, a t shirt quilt for my nephew, but I had some scraps lying around, and decided to make a blanket for our always shivering chihuahua.

Dog blanket made of recycled t  shirts, as modeled by my cat.

Now maybe he'll quit trying to sleep on my head at night. Probably not, but maybe.

Not to be outdone, the cat has a new blankie to go inside her tent.

Spoiled cat on a granny square blanket.

I'd like to make a blanket for our big dog, but I'd have to make it out of Kevlar or stainless steel. She eats everything...

The dogs, mauling the cat's tent.

What a Week!

It's been an interesting week around here.
Monday night, my husband was helping his brother move when a porcelain sink broke, and badly cut his leg. He ended up having to get quite a few stitches, and missing two days of work, which is virtually unheard of.
Tuesday morning, I was doing a little rearranging when I accidentally dropped a little file cabinet on my bare foot, resulting in much pain and bruising, but mercifully, no broken bones that I can discern.
Tuesday night, V wasn't feeling well, and I found myself doing that most motherly of gestures, trying to catch vomit in my hand, so it wouldn't mess up the carpet. (Failure, by the way. I had to drag out the old Bissell, and clean the carpet.)
By Wednesday, we'd clearly lost our minds, because all the idle talk lately about maybe getting a puppy ultimately resulted in this:

Meet Cupcake.

I forgot what an undertaking it is to potty train a puppy. (Our other dog is 12 years old, and though we love her, she's pretty much like an old piece of furniture these days. She eats, potties, and otherwise just lies around decoratively.) L, the lone dissenter refuses to call the puppy by her name, instead calling her "Stripey".
Today, we went as a family for yearly eye exams. We did school (in the form of a workbook,) in the waiting room.
We've done school in bits and pieces this week. We're starting a month long unit on transportation.
I'm hoping next week is slightly less eventful, and we can back to our regularly scheduled programming around here. Thanks for hanging in there. :)

The tale of the regifted cat...

We found a new home for Boots the cat shortly after baby V was born. We have an ancient dog, and two high needs kids, and we realized we just didn't have enough time or energy to devote to him. He needed lots of attention, as he was a little wild, and still not totally comfortable with people.

(Now before you think I'm an animal hater, I should clarify that I'm not. I've always loved animals, and even briefly worked as a supervisor at a teeny county animal shelter, before my son was born. My plate is just too full right now, and I have no desire to take on the additional responsibility of another pet. And we all know mom usually gets to do all the work, right?)

So anyway, Boots went to live with a coworker of my husband, who loves cats and has several, and it seemed like a good deal all around. We found a presumably good home for the cat, and we were off the hook, so to speak.

The other day the coworker informed my husband that she was going to be moving, and couldn't take the cat, and did we want to take him back? My husband didn't want to say no, since he knows all too well what happens to most cats that end up at the shelter. (We were both pretty traumatized by that aspect of my shelter experience.) So he said we'd take him back.

Last night, C picked up the cat (now named Toby,) and we were mortified to see that he is COVERED in fleas, and painfully skinny. Argh. We gave him a bath, combed him with a flea comb, and banished him to the garage for a couple of days until the Capstar I ordered from Amazon gets here. He's currently hiding in some junk in the garage, understandably put out about his bath late last night.

You know that saying about how if you love someone, you should let them go, and if they come back, it's meant to be? I guess this means we have to keep the cat, huh? He is pretty cute, and a lot more tame this time around...

L is ecstatic.

I'll try to get a picture of him, as soon as he comes out of hiding.