Erica has an ambitious month lined up.

I have four shows coming up in November and December. I haven't done any of these shows before so I'm not sure how it'll go but I am eager to find out. I've been sewing new pillows and getting my booth displays ready all weekend. I hope you can make it out to one (or all, if you really want to be a doll) of the shows to check out what I have. As always, if you have a custom order, bring it out because I'll have my sewing machine with me. And, if one of your pillows needs a little more stuffing, I will re-fluff and stuff for just $1.

Here's a little bit of detail on each show:
    (to further encourage you to come and to help you decide which show to attend)

TRIUMPH FAMILY WORSHIP CRAFT FAIR
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2015     9AM-4PM
       This is a small show at a local church. I don't expect too many vendors. It'll most likely have your usual craft show fare: jewelry, knitted items, baby items, soaps and candles. If you're looking for something extraordinary, I would go to one of my other shows later in the month.
       The reason why I chose to be a part of this show is because of the event organizers. I was contacted on Facebook by one of the ladies who is running the show. We talked a bit and she seemed really nice. The booth rent was within my budget so I signed up. A couple of weeks later, I received a complete vendor packet. It outlined the show's itinerary, do's and don'ts, and all other general information you could think of. I knew months before the show exactly what time I needed to be there for set up, what I needed to bring and even what would be served for lunch (soups & stews). I am not a spontaneous person so having all this information in advance was great customer service in my mind.

This show is having a silent auction to benefit the church and all vendors were asked to donate at least a $10 value item. Here is mine.

PUTNAM CITY WEST HIGH SCHOOL "WEST FEST"
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14, 2015     10AM-4PM
        I didn't attend PC West but I'm supporting the cause anyway. LOL One of the show organizers handed me a flier at The Summer Show and I decided immediately to give it a try (I think I was just really excited to be at a show and wanted to do more). But now, the more I think about it, the more I think I should have chosen another show to do on this weekend... but it's too late now >.>
       I've heard mixed reviews regarding this show. The last one they put on was in the spring. I heard the actual event, "West Fest," was great. There were lots of games for children, outdoor grilling, signs advertising the outdoor festival everywhere but the craft show part that was inside didn't get too much traffic because everyone was outside enjoying the family activities. So, I'm telling you now... there is a craft show that is indoors. After you have fun in the bouncy castles and face painting, come on in and look around at all the local vendors and shopping.
       The only thing I must tell you now is that I am only selling totes at this show. No Pillows. I will have my sewing machine but I'm not bringing any cotton so if you want a custom order, I'll have to sew you a tote. Or I can take your order and deliver it to you at a later date.

This show is having a silent auction to benefit the school and all vendors were asked to donate at least a $25 value item with a sign explaining their shop. Here is mine.

EARLYWINE PARK YMCA CRAFT AND VENDOR FAIR

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 21, 2015     9AM-3PM

       One of the first vendors I ever met (back at the Indie Trunk Show) told me that I have to do this show. She said that she and her husband get more sales at this show than any other one they do. She said it's a small show but all the vendors are great and the YMCA does a great job hosting it. She advised me to try to get in this show each year but it is juried (yikes, competition!) so I decided that I needed to apply in May. The show isn't until November so I applied entirely too early and just freaked myself out when the YMCA didn't contact me right away. As I was finalizing my holiday show schedule, I got an email stating that I was accepted. YAY!

       I have walked the track at the Earlywine YMCA a couple of times so I think it's great that I'm able to be a part of their show and give back to the community. All of our booth fee went back into financing YMCA programs. 

THE CROWN CENTER HOLIDAY HANDMADE SHOW

SATURDAY DECEMBER 12, 2015     9AM-4PM

       This show also came highly recommended. Two of my fellow vendors at Indie Trunk Show singled this one out as one of their favorite shows. It, too, is a juried show. And it's a handmade show. That should mean no direct sales (Jamberry, Avon, Origami Owl, etc.) and no boutique. Pretty much, this is my dream show on paper. (^_^) If you're looking for an actual craft show, this is the one for you. And its right around Christmastime.  Here is a list of vendors thus far:

I wish they listed shop/business names instead of our actual names but this was a post for other vendors and not the public so I guess names make sense. 

       I'm really super excited about this show. I expect a good variety of vendors and a lot of quality made items. It's a larger show than the one at Triumph Family Worship and PC West. If you could only choose one show to attend, I would recommend this one or the YMCA show. I will have both pillows and totes (unless I sell out at West Fest) at these two. I will only be bringing pillows to the Triumph Family Worship show.  I wish I found some shows that were in north OKC but driving to south OKC and Moore for a show isn't bad. I will have feedback on each show after they are complete. I look forward to seeing you!

TTYL... I have work to do!

RagsReborn loves custom orders!

It's never too early to start thinking about Christmas gifts. I've said this before and I'll say it again... please consider shopping local when you're buying your holiday presents. There are so many unique artists in our great state of Oklahoma. I've met a stationery designer, candle & jewelry makers, woodworkers, a glass etcher, clothing designers, etc. Oklahoma crafters make up a wonderful community and we'll all love it if you showed us your support. <3

I'll be selling at a craft show each weekend in November (11/7- Triumph Family Worship, 11/14- PC West, 11/21- Earlywine YMCA & 12/12- The Crown Center). And there are so many more shows that I'm not a part of but I will be visiting as a shopper. (I plan to either hand-make or purchase locally for each of my Christmas gifts this year.) If you can't make it to shop in person, all of the vendors have an Etsy or Facebook page.

One goal that I have for RagsReborn is to specialize in custom orders. I love purchasing shirts to sew into pillows but getting your old shirts and ideas is so much more fun. I can sew pillows & totes from any of your old t-shirts. Or, if you have an idea of what you want, I can purchase the fabric and sew your ideal pillow. Let's brainstorm!

Below are some samples of pillows that I have done. If you are interested in placing an order, please contact me either via Facebook message or email ragsreborngifts@gmail.com

I can stencil with paint or cloth lettering to personalize your pillows. I can also do trim and other flourishes (buttons, patches, ribbon, etc). I work with a variety of fabric types. I made the pillows below as pet pillows...because dogs need love, too. I've done orders for baby showers, wedding gifts and just plain home decor.

One for puppy Athena & one for a friend of mine's dog.

I price depending on size and how much detail you would like on the pillow. I can do pillows in almost any shape & size. I'm open for price discussions and I love trades. If you also craft, I will probably just do a swap instead of actually charging you cash monies. 

 Wedding gift with lace and stencil lettering.

Wedding gift with buttons and stencil lettering. 

 Baby shower gift: small blocks with stencil lettering. Heart was done free-hand.

 A friend requested a pillow and I knew he liked the Juggernaut so I did a free-hand mask.

 This was a coworker's son-in-law's shirt that I sewed into a large pillow for her new grand-baby. 

 A coworker gave me one of her daughter's old high school shirts so I could make a pillow to pass down to her granddaughter. Old shirts from parents or grandparents make great gifts for the younger generation!

Multicolored patch pillow with painted stenciling. 

If you want to see more pictures, I have updates and photo albums on my Facebook page and Instagram. If you've purchased from me on Etsy, please leave a review. Good or bad, I want to hear it all. I want your feedback so I can keep improving. Happy shopping!! :)

Erica is baaaaaack!!

Erica & Wes' belated honeymoon road trip, part 1 -
       INTRODUCTION & CONCLUSION aka the short version.
(...for those of you who don't have time for the in between details. This will be long enough anyway.)

We finally have wedding bands!! 

They both arrived just in the nick of time, too. I got mine the Tuesday before our trip and Wes' came in that Thursday (we left on Saturday).

We survived our 12 day road trip. \(^_^)/ We drove across 5 states, totaled 3,000 miles and I drove all but about 8 hours of it.  **applause please** This is quite impressive since I've never driven further than Dallas, TX before embarking on this trip. And because I hate driving. LOL Driving 8 1/2 hours straight from one state to another is horrible. I had a wonderful vacation over all but Wes and I agreed that we're flying on our next trip.

My coworkers got us a "just married" sign for my car. I accidentally rolled down the windows and lost it on our second day. My bad >.> 

"Why a road trip?", you ask. Well, I've always flown to and from my vacation destinations. I've never done a road trip before. Okay, I take it back...we drove to a few places here and there when I was growing up but I hated it. My mom, dad, two aunts and two cousins (that is 7 people in a 5 passenger car...good thing we were all small) piled into my dad's car and drove straight to wherever we were going--usually Lake Murray or Houston, TX--with no stops. No potty breaks. No snacks. No sightseeing. No whining. When Wes and I were talking about honeymoon ideas, I decided I wanted a real road trip. One that was the exact opposite of the trips I took when I was younger. I wanted stops at random interesting locales. I wanted to take my time and not have a destination timeline. I'm not sure if Wes was 100% on board but he didn't object so I decided that's what we were going to do. I mean, who would want to vacation in Aruba when you can spend two weeks in a car? Hahaha...

My coworkers gifted me with an awesome road trip goodie cooler the day before I left. We only got through about half of the snacks.

I had a few destinations planned out (mostly friends and family I wanted to see) and Wes was my navigator. With my car serviced, cleaned and filled with snacks- thanks, Elizabeth, Rachel, Tashara, Brendon & Audra--we set off. We were on the road from Saturday October 3rd until Wednesday October 14th.

   
We drove out of Oklahoma (there were no interesting stops) and into Texas. Somewhere in Texas, I stopped in a "trading post" aka touristy rest stop + gift shop and got some Minnetonka moccasins. We also missed a turn and accidentally drove through the town of Anson, TX. That was one of my favorite stops. We barely stopped (only at the Dairy Queen to use the restroom) but it was the cutest town to accidentally get lost in. The speed limit was only 30mph so I got to take in the sights. They had quaint homes along the street, a park, town hall and some old fashioned looking restaurants. They also had all the expected small town shops: a bakery, pharmacy, general store and church. It was like driving through Pleasantville (remember that movie with Toby Maguire & Reese Witherspoon?) I wish we could have stopped to explore but it was our first day out and we wanted to get to New Mexico before dark. If it was around dinner time, I would have insisted that we eat at the Anson Diner.

Out of Texas and into New Mexico... and straight into monsoon season. We got into New Mexico pretty late at night and it was raining solid sheets of water. Living in Oklahoma my entire life, I was accustomed to driving through rain. I was not accustomed to driving through streets that had no drainage systems. Seriously, zero storm drains on the streets. All of the roads immediately flooded. You know how on the news they tell you to not drive through water if you can't see how deep it is? That was like every intersection. There was flooding everywhere and I couldn't tell if it was just a foot deep or 6ft deep. Getting into New Mexico that first night was the worst part of driving the entire trip! Luckily, we made it to Carlsbad, NM without any trouble (just one stressed out Erica :/ )

We spent the next day in White's City, NM exploring the Carlsbad Caverns. I will blog about that experience in full next week. (I took tons of pictures!) There was an Apache Trading Post that had cherry cider but they were closed when we drove by :( Literally, every place was closed on Sunday. I feel like the only good part of New Mexico was the handwritten thank you note our hotel left for us when we checked in.

I took a picture of my car in almost all of our destinations. I started to forget to toward the end of our trip.

Out of New Mexico and into Arizona... but not before passing through El Paso. That was another stressful drive. I'm not sure if any of you have driven through El Paso, TX but it is terrible. The speed limit changed from anywhere between 45mph to 65mph every 3-4 miles. I was constantly either speeding or being run off the road. And there were cops EVERYWHERE. I was waiting to get pulled over but we made it with zero speeding tickets : ) After passing through border control, we were safely in Arizona. We stopped in Arizona to see my cousin, Sieu, and his family. We also went to Arizona Mills (the mall I go to every year when I visit) and IKEA. Wes & I got some good home decorating and furniture ideas. I picked up some candles for my mom and drooled over a sewing machine. Then Arizona was done and we were off to Nevada!

I didn't consider that we'd be driving through mountain and desert for a majority of this trip so my options for interesting touristy stops was very slim. Most of our stops were at gas stations for potty breaks. Nevertheless, I got to take in gorgeous scenery and drive through a few mountain ranges--I don't remember which ones. I do remember that the Guadalupe Mountains were really pretty. I wish I would have pulled over for pictures but I will just have to keep the images of the mountains in my memory instead of on my camera roll.

Before driving into Las Vegas, we stopped at a bridge over the Hoover Dam. We got to walk over the dam and we walked out of Nevada & back into Arizona (then turned around and walked back into Nevada. LOL).
       Las Vegas was a lot of fun. Besides the usual Las Vegas Strip tourist stuff, we got re-married by a spunky Elvis impersonator. And we gorged ourselves on Korean BBQ when we met my uncle for lunch. My uncle is only in his fifties and he still gets around just fine but he had a stroke a few years ago. He was having a hard time getting out of my car (we dropped him off at an Asian grocery store where his wife was meeting him after lunch). I stopped in front of the store & put my emergency lights on. My uncle started to get out and the car behind us honked their horn at us. Ummm...excuse me...first off, you don't honk at an elderly man with a cane and secondly, you don't honk at a Ngo. My uncle turned around, glared at the guy behind us (first an angry look then an "oh watch me" look) and proceeded to take his sweet time getting out of the car. Wes & I laughed. And I wished for myself that I can be that sassy at 50 years old.
       I think both Wes and myself were too grownup to truly enjoy Las Vegas as they portray it on television. We only drank in moderation and didn't gamble our life savings away.  But for me, that isn't what I wanted to do anyway. I will have an entire blog post devoted to Las Vegas activities but for now, I will just leave you with a picture of me and David Copperfield, who is still dreamy at 59 years old.

We spent four days and three nights in Las Vegas and were both ready to leave. We did everything we had on the list and didn't feel like exploring anymore. It was entirely too hot. I really wanted this evil eye bracelet from the Cosmopolitan but oh well. I suppose I can always order it online if I really wanted to. We drove back to Arizona to see another cousin & her family (Trevor and Andrew!!) and then to lunch with an old friend. Details and pictures of our Arizona ventures will be posted on later blogs, if you're interested. It'll mostly be pictures of me and my cousin's kids & dog and then pictures of me and Christine. Because family.

Then out of Arizona and back through New Mexico, Texas and back home. We had to drive through the scary city of Holbrook, AZ. It was an old paleontology site so all of their town decorations were old run-down life-size ceramic dinosaurs. The entire city was old, drab and unwelcoming. I wanted some pictures of the dinosaurs but not enough to actually get out of my car. All the gas stations had signs proclaiming "no free restrooms." We finally went into a Dairy Queen and Wes asked about the signs. The teen at the register said they needed to have those signs to prevent the homeless population from ruining their restrooms. There were zero homeless people on the streets when we drove through so either the homeless are all invisible ghosts or the town of Holbrook just hates people. I vote the latter. On our way out through New Mexico, there were signs on the highway advising drivers to not pick up hitchhikers because the Federal prison was nearby. Then we saw a few hitchhikers. We both had a good laugh about that. I wanted a picture but decided against it. And, no we didn't help anyone escape prison. LOL

The later half of the trip wasn't as fun as the beginning because we both started to get sick. And I started the monthly dread. (x_x) Between cramps and a sore throat, I was just ready to get home. That was the only time I couldn't do all the driving. I had to pass the wheel off to Wes as I laid in a painful ball. But, it wasn't all bad. We did stop in Albuquerque, NM and spend a day at Old Town. I really enjoyed Old Town and will be writing about it on a separate blog. I paid for an hour of parking but spent two hours walking through the plaza and looking in its unique gift shops. I would have wandered more but I started to worry for my car. Wes decided he wanted a souvenir kachina doll but he was too picky to find one he liked. Nothing else noteworthy really happened on the way home. Oh, we did stop in Cline's Corner. Wes and his family used to stop there on road trips in his youth so we made a stop for nostalgia's sake.

I will blog more about each of our Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada stops later. I have so many pictures (SO.MANY.PICTURES.) and stories I want to tell you! I love to journal and I'm pretty long winded so be prepared. LOL Overall, it was a wonderful honeymoon vacation. I'm glad we drove it and I loved all the extra stops we got to make. Our vow renewal ceremony in Las Vegas was my favorite part. Elvis was hilarious and I can't wait to get our pictures back. It was amazing getting to see my family along the way and catch up with old friends. But...like I said earlier, we'll definitely be flying to our next vacation. Driving for 8+ hours really put its toll on my old bones. And I've rediscovered why I usually don't go into gas station bathrooms. I have a crazy month of craft shows coming up so travel blogs might be put on hold. But yay for craft shows, right?!!?! (^.^) CRAFT SHOWS! TRAVELING! RAGSREBORN! Sometimes, the Universe is pretty swell.

Erica is going on hiatus for a while...

... because it's honeymoon time!! Wes and I got married in April but decided to wait on our honeymoon. I'm not sure why exactly but I'm sure it had to do with work (ick!), finances (double ick!) and cooler autumn weather. I don't have any fun crafts, delicious recipes or deep life lessons today. Just a bunch of pictures I stole from the Internet. Well, not exactly "stole" since I'm not claiming they're mine... so I suppose I'm only borrowing.

For our vacation, Wes & I will be taking a road trip out west.  We'll be gone a few weeks. I'll be sure to journal my experiences and take plenty of pictures so I can blog about it when I get back. In the meantime, please revisit my previous blog posts at http://ragsreborn.blogspot.com/

I can't find any pictures of cute old Asian ladies with American husbands so this will have to do.

If you've read all of my blog posts already and need something else to read, I would like to recommend "A Man Called Ove." It was the August book for my book club.  It was such a popular read that the library was completely backed up on reserves. I reserved the book in mid-June and didn't get a copy until the week after my book club meeting. LOL Once I got it, I read it in three days. It is a light read with both humor and sentiment. 

The holiday season is upon us and I would like to encourage everyone to shop locally. There are so many great artists and crafters out there who can make a much better gift than anything store-bought. Also, yours truly can make a pretty great custom order pillow. ; ) I've actually been pretty busy with custom orders lately. I will blog and post pictures after I come back from vacation. 

Here are all the shows that I will be a part of! 

       It'll be great to do ALL of your Christmas shopping locally and support vendors, artists and crafters. RagsReborn will be at the following:

Saturday, November 7th- Triumph Family Worship's Craft Fair

Saturday, November 14th- PC West Fest

Saturday, November 21st- Earlywine YMCA Craft Fair

Saturday, December 12- The Crown Center's Handmade Fair

I am unsure if I'll apply to be in any other ones this year but if I do, I will be certainly posting about them as well. It's vacation time and I'll talk to you guys in a couple of Mondays!

Erica uses an old t-shirt for something else...

...but no worries, I'm not abandoning pillows. NEVER!! (although, I am thinking about abandoning totes.) This is a project I made probably a year and a half ago. It's currently hanging in Courtney and Alex's living room, as it was part of a birthday/housewarming gift. You can tell the shirt is dated because Downtown Oklahoma City does not look like that anymore. Where is the Devon Tower? LOL I got this shirt at the first Plaza District Festival and it was my first Oklahoma shirt. I wore it all the time (before wearing shirts bragging about your state was cool) and it got old and faded. And then  it was turned into art, as all good things should be turned into instead of being thrown away. The heart is something I saw on Pinterest. I put the two together and came up with this.

Courtney with her awesome gift!

T-shirt & pushpin yarn collage tutorial:

Materials needed: canvas (a simple 8 x 11 one you can get at a craft store), t-shirt, pushpins, yarn, ribbons, hot glue, scissors, and any other decorative items (I used a bird charm and some star shaped beads.)

1. Cut the sleeves off the shirt. Then, cut out whatever part of the shirt you wish to use. I used the entire front side of my old t-shirt. Make sure the shirt is a little bigger than the size of your canvas.
2. Fold the edges of the shirt over the canvas and hot glue the edges to the back of the canvas.
3. Hot glue ribbon around the border of the shirt. Between the glue on the ribbon and the glue on the back of the canvas, the shirt should be pretty secure on the canvas.
4. Lay the pushpins upside-down in whatever size and shape heart you want. Once they are arranged in place, turn them over and push them through the canvas.
5. I'm sure you can do this with one very long piece of yarn but I opted for several smaller pieces. Take your piece of yarn and tie it to one of the pushpins. Then, pull it across from pin to pin in whatever pattern you choose. I chose no pattern at all. When you're almost to the end of the piece of yarn, tie the end to another pushpin and cut off the excess.
6. Do this until you run out of yarn. I used about 4 or 5 small pieces of yarn. I tied each one to a different pushpin and wound it from pin to pin until I ran out and had to start with a new piece of yarn.
7. Measure and cut a piece of ribbon the same size as your heart. Going from pin to pin, hot glue the ribbon to the top of each pin until your heart is lined with ribbon. This will prevent the yarn from accidentally slipping off the pushpin.
8. If you have decorative items to add, do it now. Otherwise, your are done!
9. Oh wait... one more thing... hot glue some yarn (or ribbon) to the back of the canvas so you can hang it up.

Erica sews one heck of a baby shower gift.

Wicker basket toy box with soft blocks that spell baby's name.

I've written about dogs and wrote a few craft project tutorials so next in line is infertility. This isn't a "feel sorry for me because I'm an infertile b*tch" type of blog. It's actually quite the opposite. One of my best friends, Courtney, is having her first child. I've read many many articles about this... one of your friends is having a baby and you're left feeling like a failure of a woman...what to do next?!?!?  Infertility is as much of a mental disease as a physical one so there are tips from professionals on how to cope with this news and how to be a supportive friend and how to deal with your own insecurities while also being happy for your friends, so on and so forth. After reading all these blogs and other people's advice, I thought it was all rubbish. This is something I will have to deal with for the rest of my life so I'd better figure out how to do it on my own.

Courtney has been my friend for years, even in my own self pity and doubt there was no way I could possibly alienate myself from her just because her reproductive system works and mine does not (that was one of the tips: excuse yourself from pregnant situations because you are not obligated to attend baby showers and go shopping for maternity ware.) When she first announced she was pregnant, I felt an initial pain but it slowly wore off because I was genuinely happy for her. I knew she was newly married and I knew she wanted kids.

Courtney has been great throughout her pregnancy. She's treated me like all her other friends. I have not been excluded from anything just because of my infertility. She tells me all the ups and downs of her pregnancy. I empathize with her and rejoice with her. She evens asks for my advice (which I find very strange since I have never gone through this experience myself). At first, I thought we would only talk about non-pregnancy related things so it wouldn't be awkward but I was wrong and I'm glad I was. Over these past 7 months, I've learned all about little baby Ruthie. I know what her room will look like and how she will be parented.  I am so very glad to meet her soon. (^_^) Courtney says she'll refer to me as Aunt Erica. Hahaha!

One other awesome thing about Courtney is that she was still down to do regular friend stuff with me. Her life was not consumed by this new child. We have gone to our favorite sushi restaurant (even though she couldn't have any of the yummy raw rolls), she's gone RagsReborn t-shirt shopping with me and she's even invited me to the gym a few times (each time I expressed great concern over her health and told her we probably shouldn't be doing strenuous activity. But, she says exercise makes childbirth easier and we're only walking on the treadmill...stop worrying, Erica.) She's also had me over for dinner with her husband, who always offers me a beer, which I accept, but I still feel bad drinking in front of a pregnant person. 

One of the things I read was to do something useful with yourself (aka gain a hobby) so you don't have to worry about how you cannot have kids and your pregnant friends have something to look forward to that you do not have. I already have a hobby and I decided to use it for Courtney and Ruthie. A few weeks before the baby shower, I had an idea... kids like blocks--don't they?-- but blocks are hard and have sharp corners. But pillows aren't dangerous. So, why not make soft pillow blocks and make them personalized? My baby shower gift will spell RUTHIE BETH SAPP in blocks. After a few days of work (and a trip to the craft store), I have this:

The extra green ribbon is to a affix gift card I have yet to purchase. 

So, I survived my first "baby announcement struggle" as an infertile. I'm pretty proud of myself and have found my own ways to cope (I'm not discrediting all the advice I read but sometimes you just gotta do your own thing.) Courtney has been great, I have been great and now I have a top notch handmade baby shower gift. Courtney and Alex have requested diapers, a book for Ruthie's library and are registered at Babies-R-Us ... shopping will be a brand new battle but for now, I feel accomplished. The baby shower is this upcoming weekend and instead of feeling anxiety, I know I will be okay. 

This blog will be mostly pictures of Erica's new puppy.

I've had a rough few weeks so I think it's time for a "fluff piece." And what better to lighten the mood than a puppy? Here is the story of me and Wes' new love...lil baby Athena pup. <3

Around some time in June, I decided I wanted a second dog. Sadie is great but two dogs are better than one. I talked Wes into it and we started our search. We wanted a puppy (under one year old), female, 30lb maximum once full grown and from the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter. That's where I got Kensington from and I feel like that's the best place to truly rescue an animal.
       We went to a few adoption fairs--saw one dog I was going to get but I didn't have cash (who doesn't use a Square reader nowadays?) & then saw another at a second event but there was some weird stuff going on with the volunteers that prevented us from getting it,
              visited the pound (none met our qualifications),
                           and almost got a dog from a coworker of mine (which, I know isn't the pound but that's where the dog could have gone if no one had adopted it). Nothing worked out. The Universe was against us and it was like infertility all over again but I wanted a puppy instead of a baby.

A coworker of mine's cousin works at the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter and gave us updates as soon as puppies became available. I also checked their website weekly to see if any dogs that were brought in met our qualifications. It took us two months but we finally got one. And she was worth waiting for... meet Athena! She is a two-month-old Border Collie Australian Shepherd mix, which just happen to be Wes' two favorite breeds of dog.

Athena Zucchini Kirtley adopted August 20th, 2015

She has had a whirlwind of a life thus far...

I adopted her on my lunch break and dropped her off with Alan and his dog, Sonja. (There are two incredibly cute videos of Athena playing with her, they're on my Facebook.) Sonja was her baby sitter for the day and then Wes picked her up after work to go on her very first shopping trip.

She got a pretty purple collar and some yummy puppy food. 

After shopping, Athena got to meet big sister, Sadie! Sadie still doesn't particularly like cuddling together but she shares her bed and toys with Athena and they love to run around and play. Sometimes playing entirely too rough, though *rolls eyes*.

Sadie's first encounter with her new baby sister.

That was just the first night home. The next couple of days would hold more adventures. She had her initial vet visit on Friday and then my mom's birthday party on Saturday. Athena was one happy little girl.

Car ride home from our very first vet visit.

Then like all good things, it all came to an end. Athena had pretty severe pneumonia. She didn't show any signs of it and the vet didn't catch it during our visit. Sunday morning, Athena was having a fitful sleep. She was coughing and hacking, her little nose was running like a faucet and she refused to move. Wes decided it was time to go to the emergency vet. 

At the ER with pneumonia symptoms. 

She was immediately put on fluids and her chest scans didn't look too great. She definitely had pneumonia and possibly distemper (we later found out that test was negative). She stayed at the emergency vet for the next three days while slowly improving. The following Tuesday, we picked her up, paid our ridiculously large bill and were sent home with medicine. She was still a little sickly but, luckily, she is a fighter and she's happier & healthier than ever now. 

She's learned how to both break down and crawl over the baby gate.

Athena is one smart cookie. She knows where her food and treats are located, she's played with all her toys and has learned how to hoist herself onto the couch (which until that point was Sadie's only safe hiding spot.) She hasn't completely mastered potty training or walking on a leash, yet, but she is a pro at busting out of the baby gated bedroom.  LOL She can hold it while she's in her kennel for a few hours. Her favorite pastime is pestering Sadie. It's good that Sadie has a playmate now because she seems younger and happier, too. Athena is very curious and always mimics Sadie and tries to get into whatever Wes & I are doing, especially if our activity involves food. Oh the joys of owning a puppy.

She also loves climbing on things...like Wes. LOL She is a handful but also incredibly adorable. The perfect puppy. She'd probably win awards for being the best puppy ever if we entered her into a contest. Wes intends to teach her tricks when she's older so we might look into agility training and competitions. But that's much much later. Right now she's just enjoying life as a mischievous little brat.

So there it is- the newest member of the family. Sorry this wasn't a recipe or craft tutorial but who doesn't like pictures of puppies? Am I right? My day job is slowly killing me and I have no energy to do anything after work so I have no creativity. Blogging is hard. Crafting is hard. Please buy pillows from RagsReborn so I can take my soul back from Delta Dental. Hahahaha... okay, I'm only half joking. Maybe. But...switching to a serious note... my upcoming schedule of shows:

November 7th- Triumph Family Worship's Craft Fair

November 14th- PC West Fest

December 12- The Crown Center's Handmade Fair

I will be writing about, posting pictures and advertising each of these shows on my social media sites so stay tuned! The rest of the year should prove a busy time for RagsReborn :D

Good night from the pups and have a wonderful rest of your week!!