Sometimes I wish I could gild everything around me and make all aspects of life shiny and wonderful. 

My life is good, REALLY GOOD, but there have been hard things in the past and there are hard things now that I can do nothing about . . . other than trust.  Trust in a God who cares about my feelings of sadness, even when that sadness is caused by a sweet little dog named Snoopy Girl.  More later . . .

Do you like artichokes?  I do.  I like to eat them but I also like to have them on display in my kitchen.  I think they are delightful to look at!

I’ve seen some lovely faux artichokes in stores like Pottery Barn but, OH MY GOODNESS they are expensive!  Too expensive for me to justify buying them for myself.  Now before you go saying that I don’t value myself enough (I’ve heard that) I will tell you that I do believe in treating myself from time-to-time with key home decor pieces that I truly love.  Especially if it something that I know will always have special meaning to me.  My (early) birthday present this year is like that but since it isn’t my birthday yet I can’t share.

These plastic artichokes aren’t in the category of family heirloom, and they weren’t very inexpensive.  They weren’t up to PB standards but they looked okay and I used them last year . . . buried toward the bottom of a Fall arrangement.  This year I decided to brighten them up a bit with gold paint.

I used this paint from Michael’s (purchased with my 40% off coupon) but any gold paint would do.

A few swipes of the paint brush and here you have it!

Gilded Artichokes!

I think they add a nice touch to my wooden bowl of Fall veggies and nuts.

Here I’ve tucked one into another Fall display.

I love how they catch the light!

Draws your eye right in doesn’t it?

Scene stealer!!!

I’m glad that gold is back “in” as I never really stopped decorating with it.  I’m glad too that gold and silver can be used together in home decor.  I’m definitely doing a lot of that in my new home.

So back to our little Snoopy Girl.  She has been failing for a long time.  We thought we would lose her on the 4th of July but she rallied.  We didn’t know how she would handle the cross country trip but she did great.

In the past few weeks Snoopy hasn’t wanted to leave Mr. OTN’s side when he is at home.  We bought her a bed of her own that we put on his side of the bed.  When he is gone she often goes upstairs to sleep on her bed rather than stay with me.  We think the thought of him makes her feel safe.

Snoopy has been off her feed for a few days so I’ve been hand feeding her . . . but she is eating very little.  She is very unstable on her legs and she’s lost a lot of muscle due to a medical condition that she’s being treated for.  This morning we had to carry her downstairs and outside.  She just stood on the grass looking confused. Since Mr. OTN had to go to work I brought her bed downstairs and laid it near me.  She isn’t doing very well today.

The Vet said that with this condition, a tumor on her pituitary, there could be “sudden death”.  Or she may rally once again and surprise us all.  She is almost seventeen years old so either way, we know we won’t have her around much longer.  So today . . .  we are going to spoil her with special treats and lots of good “scritches” behind the ears.

Blessings,