Double Digit Followers!

Yay! I now have 10 followers :) I know this probably sounds quite pathetic, but oh well. I have to start somewhere and really appreciate the readers and commenters-especially as this deployment (and everything that goes with it) begins.

Military Monday Blog Hop

I am pretty new to blogging and always looking to find new blogs to read and learn new things. I came upon the Military Monday Blog Hop ( I know it's Tuesday.... sue me)! Check it out! I hope to find new blogs and share mine with lots of new blogging friends!

Lucky Pups

This is going to be another post about dogs-Cabbie included. If you aren't a dog person, it probably will bore you. First, I have been trying to figure out what type of toys Cabbie likes the best. At her obedience training, I have learned that I need to figure out which toys are Cabbie's favorite and make sure she only gets that when she has done something well, or right.  So far, this is what I have figured out....

Cabbie has this menagerie of toys....

All of which have been played with at one time or another. The little Christmas lion on the bottom has seen his better days, as well as the eyeless and scarfless reineer and earless purple rope monkey up near the top. However, all these relatively pricey toys run a distant second to....

Kitty's Rainbow ball 

as seen here:

and here:

I was afraid at first that she would eat it and get sick, but that hasn't happened. She loves it and takes it most places she goes :) Kitties don't mind...

Also, I found a charity that I think is doing amazing things-for animals and people. 

I first heard the story of Nubbs- the Iraqi dog that was rescued by a Marine and shipped home to live with him.  I read this story to my class each year. I struggle to keep dry eyes every time I read the story. I'm such a sap. 

Check out Nubbs and his Marine here.

I don't think Nubs's rescue had anything to do with Nowzad, but they help with dogs (and cats) in this situation.  I wanted to let those that might read my blog know about this wonderful charity.  It's called Nowzad. This wonderful organization was started by a British Royal Marine.  He befriend local dogs while he was serving in the Middle East. After seeing the way they were treated and the life they were forced to live there, he worked to get the dogs home to live with him and be his pets.  

Since he retired from the military he has created this organization with his wife to help as many dogs as possible.  These dogs are born into horrible conditions. They are often forced into fighting with other dogs as this is a common past time of locals.  Those not put in the fighting ring are left to fend for themselves and/or horribly mistreated.  

Here are some photos from their website (happy tails of rescued dogs and cats too!!). 

Aren't they just adorable!?!?

You can also find them on Facebook here. They also have videos on their website and Facebook. 

Because of this organization many of these dogs have found loving homes with Soldiers, Sailors and Marines who have befriended them during deployments.  The service men and women (from any nation, not just Great Britian-many dogs have been sent home to the US as well) contact the organization and they get the dogs to their shelter in Afghanistan. From there, they try to raise enough money, and go through all of the red tape in order to get the dog home. If you love dogs, military members, both, or neither, this is such a great organization.  I have learned there are other groups that do this same type of work, but I am familiar this one.  Anyone know of the others?

I recently submitted a "Happy Tail" to the Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter where we found Cabbie. I just wanted to share what they posted for us :) You can see it here.

Feel free to look around the site! There are some great dogs available!
Happy Monday!

New Arrival

Don't get too excited :) Although you may still be excited when you see what has arrived! I was!

Still not sure what it is?

Isn't it pretty?

I love it!

Don'y worry. I have no idea what it actually is like to use this iPad 2. You see being the sweet wife I am, I got this iPad for my dear husband. I thought when it came I'd be able to check it out and play around with the apps that come on it. 

Negative. 

It has to be synced with an iTunes account before it even turns on. 

Which would be fine because I have quite an extensive one. 

However, it is Bob's iPad (it's engraved, so there's no going back on this one). It has to be synced with HIS iTunes account.  

So, we have an iPad that has to wait to be used until I can get it to him.  Hopefully that is in about a month, but I've learned everything is subject to change-and usually does.

Don't feel too bad. In the meantime I'll look at it from afar while I use my iPhone and Macbook to make up for it :) 

Sales!

Like I mentioned before, I follow a blog written by the daughter-in-law of one of my friends. It's very cute and sometimes she gives away free stuff!! Check her out at Classically Eclectic! I wish I had even the smallest design bone in my body, but nope. Notta one.

From reading her blog I heard about Joss and Main which is a membership website that offers great deals on a WIDE variety of things for the home and beyond from great designers and vendors. Today I made my first purchase! I can't wait to get my items. I love stationary and it was difficult to choose between all of the great prints. Here are the ones I chose:

I love the stickers for the back flap! I can't wait to use them!

I also couldn't resist these:

As you can see the orange slices are currently of limited quality! There are still lime and lemon slices available as well :)

If you'd like to check out Joss and Main you can use my invite link here: 

It doesn't cost a thing and is neat to look around. You never know what you might find!

New Signature and Template!

So I did some looking around on the internet and personalized the blog a little tonight! There's a cute signature at the bottom and a new fun template.  They were both very simple to do, they just took some editing to get them just the way I wanted them! If you are interested in getting these things for your blog and aren't sure how, read on....
if you already know or aren't into it, we'll see ya next time! ☺

To add a signature (or any words you would want in a fun font)
*These look like a lot of steps but they are very short and simple. I just wanted to be thorough.*

• First things first, I went to Google to look for a website that would help me make the signature. The one I found was MyLiveSignature . 
• Click on "Click here to start"
• Choose the top option of "Using the signature creation wizard"
• Enter the text you would like to use (signature) (then click "next step")
• Next is the fun part! The website gives you 120 different options for your signature.
• Click through the choices and choose the one you like the best! (then click "next step")
• Choose your size (then click "next step")
• Click in the boxes for choosing the background color and text color then click on the color you'd like for each (then click "next step")
• Choose the slope you would like for your signature. I think mine is #5 (then click "next step")
• I chose to "use" the signature. And then copied the HTML code that was given.
• Now go back to your blog and go to settings, then formatting. Go down to where it says "Post Template" and paste the code. Make sure you save it when you are finished!
• Voila! 

Now, to get my template, I went to btemplates.com. There are TONS to choose from. If one were not so decisive as I, one may spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to find the perfect template. Thankfully that's not a problem here. (please note the heavy sarcasm)

There is also a large FAQ page to help you with embedding the code for your chosen template that can be found here.

Hope that helped anyone who might be interested! Feel free to comment if you found some you like!