And then there was one

Today I lost of friend of 12 years. A friend who had been by my side when I was a single girl living by myself, when it was just us. A friend who needed my help during his eplectic seizures and relied on me to help him with his medication. A friend who let me cry on his shoulder when I was down and a friend that made me laugh even when I didn't want to - when I didn't know how badly I needed to. A friend who just wanted to be with me, to sit with me, to touch me. A friend who looked at me like no other on this planet and a friend who can never be replaced.

This friend was my dog Maxx, an Australian Cattle Dog, also known as a Blue Heeler who I adopted from the SPCA 12 years ago at the age of 2. A dog who spent 3 weeks in one shelter before he was transferred to a second shelter and spent another 2 weeks until my mum discovered him there waiting for me. And after his Grand Mal seizure 10 years ago ( caused by the epilepsy), I didn't think he would be able to continue for too many years, but he defied the odds and remained loyal to the end - perhaps even hanging on just for me. But over the last couple weeks, after his surgery which revealed a cancerous tumour on his rump, other issues began to arise, including rapid weight loss and back pain. X-rays confirmed additional factors that forced me, with the support of JP and the vet, to make the fateful decision.

And so today, my other dog Jazz and I will continue where Maxx left off.

Rest in Peace my friend, Rest in Peace

1994 - 2008

Let the swapping begin

I joined the "Tea Towel Tour 3" swap on Craftster. For the uninitiated, you sign up for the swap, and then an organizer puts the participants into groups of 5 or 6 (for this swap anyway). Then you take a tea towel that you want embroidered and you embroider your pattern on it and send it to the next person on the list. You have 1 week to complete the embroidery and send it on. When you receive the next person's tea towel, you read their comments and preferences, and then embroider on their towel and then mail it on. This continues until you receive your own tea towel back with 5 other embroideries.

It's fun because I get to be part of other people's items and other people are part of mine. When this is done, I will have embroideries on my tea towel from Edmonton, Oakland-California, Kansas, Nacogdoches-Texas, etc. I will get to see how others embroider, what stitches/techniques they chose, what colours and what patterns - how they interpreted my preferences from what I attached to my towel, and perhaps my blog.

Here is how the tea towel will leave my house:

Normally I don't show photos of my embroidery until I've ironed it, but since it's going to be hitting the mail, I'm not going to bother with the iron.

I will show you what I've added to other's towels each week, and in 5 weeks I will be able to post my towel.

Doesn't this swap sound interesting?

Homemaker Madness

Whew! I'm on fire!

Well, it's not as dramatic as that but it makes me feel better to say it that way.

What have I been doing? Well, after getting some fitness equipment on the weekend, JP and I rearranged our living room, and bought a corner TV stand which was to house the video games, my stereo and other electronics. We had a lovely evening putting together the TV stand but when the dust cleared, my stereo didn't fit inside. No way. No how. See, that's why I told him not to buy one with out me - because I knew the measurements... oh well, it was nice of him to buy it and lug it home, etc.

I really enjoy music and will miss having it in my living room, so I'll need to figure out if I buy a new smaller compact system or what I can do with my big old unit which has a dual tape deck and floor speakers. Yah, it's older but it still sounds great. It still has the New Westminster Police Department sticker on it when it was stolen from my apartment (with about $5000 worth of other items - and I was young and didn't think about buying insurance) and recovered - sadly the only thing that was recovered.... I would have liked to have my Cannondale Mountain Bike returned, but she never came back to me, and I never really rode a mountain bike after that.

So aside from all that, I've been working on crossing off things from my to-do list, and making dinners (like bleu cheese burgers last night) and doing the laundry and ironing and cleaning. Plus I've been trying to get out for a 20-40 minute fast walk with Jazz every day and then hit the exercise equipment. The worst/best is the ab machine. I didn't even know my abs were that high in my chest and that deep in my torso, wowza! It really feels like a good work out when my abs are screaming at me. I'm also working on my entry for the "Tea Towel Tour 3" on Craftster and I'm making a couple of gifts.

I'm sorry I didn't get to see the lunar eclipse last night, I ran around my house and just couldn't find it - maybe I was looking at the exact time it was dark. Did you see it? Was it good? It sure was a nice clear night for it.

And for some reason, I'm just not that excited about things on the internet these days. Have you noticed that too, or is it just me?

Well, time to get to work....

Are you a lover of dogs?

If so, you should check out Very Pink's blog - today's post in particular. Her basenji's are wonderful photo subjects. I especially like this comment that was left on her post "a house without dogs is not a home - just a cleaner house". Amen.

What a chump I am

Back on February 1st, Big Girl Feet left a comment on my blog saying she gave me the "You Make My Day Award". However, amongst my cold and tonsil issues and a whole bunch of other excuses, I neglected to comment on it.

What a chump am I! What kind of person forgets to acknowledge the receipt of an award? I think the next award someone will give me will be a big, fat, wet raspberry!

If you are still reading this chump's blog, you can read all the nice things she said about me here, but I don't blame you if you stopped reading already. And Cynthia, I am so sorry. I am giving all 10 of my awards back to you because you make many of my days!

~~~~~

People in Vancouver, enjoy the sunshine and the 10 degree weather today - at least we have a little something for this day since it's not a holiday for us - unlike the American's who get President's Day and some Canadian provinces which get Family Day.

Sofa King Gone

When I moved out for the last time in my early twenties, I took my bedroom furniture which included my twin bed that I'd had through my childhood. But one day a metal spring broke and popped through the mattress. When I told my dad about it, he said I could no longer sleep on that mattress and was afraid I'd get stabbed by another rogue spring so my parents offered to help me purchase a new bed.

Being immensely practical and falling for the girlhood fairytale of meeting a boy, getting married and having kids in my early twenties, I opted for a futon sofa bed. I thought that boys always had good beds and so when I met that dream boy, my futon could be used as a sofa. However, the fairytale didn't quite happen that way and one day around the age of 26 or 27, I was with my mom at an estate auction and saw a lovely 1930's carved, wood-inlaid bedroom suite available for bidding. We won the auction and my parents looked after delivering the new furniture and a new double mattress to me. Since I only had a love seat in my living room, I used that futon as a sofa and that continued for way too many years.

Recently, the sofa bed was in our living room and during the week, JP used it to sort all his office papers and on the weekends the kid would sleep on it. But this weekend, we were given the opportunity to receive some free home exercise equipment. JP rented a cargo van and we picked up these pieces and decided that while we had the van, we'd donate the futon to the Salvation Army to free up space we so desperately need in our house.

And so ends an era. I am now officially an adult. As far as I know, my friends and family had all ditched their futons before they turned 30. (I've always said I was a late bloomer.) And, being a sentimentalist, as soon as we started to drive away from the Salvation Army I felt a bit sad that I had to say goodbye to a piece of furniture that has been at 2 apartments, 1 basement suite and 2 houses with me. Maybe I'll go visit it this week, or maybe I should just never think of it again - we all have to grow up and move on at some point don't we? Don't we?

Valentines Gifts

This is what I received from my hubby for Valentines:

Perfume and chocolate - what's not to love about that?

But wait, there's more. I also received this adorable red leather and cherry purse - the cherry fabric is behind clear vinyl which I love. Welcome spring!

Happy Valentines!

Happy Valentines dear readers. Thank you so much for reading my blog and leaving wonderfully supportive and encouraging comments - I love that!

Wishing you all a good day!

~~~~~

BTW, the above heart was crocheted using this pattern, and then I chain stitched my words. Yes, there is still time to make one, it took me less than an hour.

A funny thing happened....

So I went for that walk yesterday, it's about a 3km route, but about 4 blocks from home I started to feel funny. I felt like my left side and my right side weren't connected. I felt like I was walking funny. The sensations didn't make any sense. If there had been somewhere to sit down I would have, but I stopped a couple of times and otherwise decided that it would be best to get home asap. About 3 blocks from home, JP drove by me, and I told him that I didn't feel well and I thought blood sugar might low. He suggested I talk off my polar fleece because I looked very hot (not in a good way!) I wanted to get home as quickly as possible, but I just couldn't move any faster! I felt a bit better knowing that JP wouldn't be that far away - and I always carry my cell phone when I walk with the dogs.

Jazz didn't understand why I was walking so slow, she wanted to run, and normally I keep a pretty good pace, but I was afraid I wouldn't make it. I got home, threw everything on the floor and started in on a peanut butter granola bar. I ate a bit more and after a while I started to feel better. Whew! I guess I'd better eat a little something before I do a quick afternoon walk! That was scary!

Today I received this gorgeous card in the mail from my brother. So sweet! I just love the drawing and it included the nicest messages inside! I so do very much appreciate it. Thank you, big brother.

Also, today I signed up for a swap at Craftster. This one is called the Tea Towel Tour 3. Each person sends a tea towel (or apron, or napkin) to a person on their list and when you receive one, you embroider on it related to the theme the owner suggested and then send it to the next person. There are about 5 people in the group so you'll receive 4 different embroideries - plus your own. I'll keep you up to date on what I receive and what I send.


Right now the sun is out, and I'm going to take Jazz for a nice long walk. I hope you're having a good Wednesday.


Happy Valentine's eve.

Good things in the mail!

Yes! look at the great things that arrived in today's mail!

Notice that I already ate the chocolate! It was yum!
Thank you for the chocolate and the lovely note, BGF

- you know who you are!

And I love every issue of Craft: magazine,
it's very inspiring.

If you like making crafts, you must subscribe

Whew! Feeling Better

Well I'm feeling better now, and I can talk and eat again. I had tonsilitis and a cold and it took about 4 days for the antibiotics to kick in. Plus trying to talk with such a sore throat was exhausting, I just couldn't do anything but lay in bed - I didn't even pick up the knitting needles or a crochet hook. I've still got a bit of the cold, but I can handle that.

On Saturday night, when I was still having difficulty eating, JP brought me this little cup of vanilla pudding, including a cherry on top and the spoon through the handle, isn't that sweet?

Before I was sick, I made some cute gifts for Valentines which I mailed away last week - but I forgot to take photos of them. One was a set of crocheted coffee cozies with a white band and a red heart. I gave them to my SIL whose first thought was to wear them as wrist bands! Brilliant! I'm flattered. I also knitted some little hearts which had bead eyes on them, just for fun. I was in such a hurry to send them, I forgot to take photos.

I did take a picture of the stole I knitted for my mom, which she should receive today:

It's made with Bernat Boa in Toucan which is blue/green/mauve.

And yesterday we did some shopping and I found 2 skeins of "Jaeger Michelle with mohair" in the 99 cent bin, so I am knitting a scarf. I couldn't pass up mohair at that price! I had started on the Gossamer Shell Scarf (pg 55) from the One Skein Wonders -101 Yarn Shop Favorites but I couldn't get the pattern to work, and frogging mohair isn't that easy, so after 3 or 4 attempts, I found my old knitting stitch dictionary and made up my own pattern. This morning I went looking for corrections, and I found there was indeed a problem with the pattern instructions. Too late now - here's my progress so far:

(The colour is a pinky/mauve varigation)

How was your weekend?

Trying to get better

I still have a cold and I still have an ulcer on the side of my tongue which makes it very hard to talk, eat, drink, or swallow. Boy, we sure take our tongues for granted!

By the time I have finished work each day, I just flop on the bed and veg in front of the TV or read. I don't feel like doing much else (not even crochet!).

I thought I'd share this quote, so I don't bore you with my 'cold' stories. It's a good one to ponder:

"It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.”
~ Rene Descartes.

It's a code in ma dose

It started like any other weekday morning: got up, fed the dogs, showered and went to work, mid-morning I took my dog to the vet (see yesterday's post). I was home again around noon, had lunch and went back to work. But around 2:00pm, I started to feel funny. Like my body wanted something but it didn't know what. Like something wanted to come out of it, but it didn't know where. Then by about 3:00pm, it was confirmed. I had a cold (phew, so thankful it wasn't the flu)

I couldn't find the Daytime Cold pills, so I took a night time one and went to sit on the bed and watch TV. Daytime TV is really no fun, no fun at all. I knitted several rows on the fern leaf stole and then fell asleep for 1/2 an hour. I won't bore you with the rest of the details but by 9:00 is was a full on head cold - you know the kind where a sneeze hurts like heck! bahh.

So, that's it for me. Limited tasks are going to get done today. I feel like crap and I ache. See you in a couple of days.

It was Ground Hog Day!

I think the Ground Hog would have seen his shadow in my town on Saturday so I'm hoping we'll get an early spring - I'm ready for the weather to warm up and for the snow to be gone. How about you?

I worked all Saturday on our Wedding Scrapbook (yes, it's 7 months since), the photos are all in but I want to embellish it more. I started working on our main photo album, but after a 12 hour day of cutting and sticking photos, my back hurt and I was a little burned out. I'll pick it up again during the week (really I will). I've organized the scrapbook box so it's easy to dip in and out of it.

Sunday, I did some of this and some of that. Took Jazz for a walk - which semi sucked because most people didn't shovel the sidewalks and now they are covered with uneven ice! I had to wear my hiking boots. Jazz even wiped out - almost hit her chin on the ice - poor girl. Later I knitted on the fern lace stole - which only needs a couple more pattern repeats, started the heel on the 2nd sock, and went out for Japanese food. Yum, I sure do love that tuna sashimi!

Today, I took Maxx to the vet - they ran some blood tests and a urine test, and gave me antibiotics for a kidney infection. I will also have to get up in the middle of the night to let him out for the bathroom and won't be able to leave him inside for long without bathroom breaks..... poor guy, I hope he feels better soon.

I can never get a good photo of him, unless it's in the sunlight - the Red Eye feature does not work on this dog! I know he's 14, but doesn't he look tired and old? Poor old boy.
Did you know that today is National Homemade Soup Day? Good, delicious homemade soup is a work of art... and love! Show your love today...
What did you do this weekend?

Scrapbook vs. Photo Album

You know, sometimes I just don't know where the time goes. For example, what have I been doing in the last two days? Well I work for the most part and then I cleaned up 3 desk drawers, shoveled the driveway several times, played with the dogs, knitted on my socks, worked on some valentines presents, spoke to friends and family on the phone, cooked dinner last night and we went out the night before, and yesterday I worked on my scrapbook.

And speaking of scrapbooking, that's one hobby that I just can't wholly buy into. Yes, there are certainly gorgeous books; some people are very talented. But many of them have only 1 or 2 photos per page - what is the point of that? I suppose I would be fine with that if there was a big story to go with the photo, but often there isn't - just fancy paper with a title and purchase stuff stuck to the page. The books and magazines show you amazing pages with all sorts of little accessories, but they want you to buy every single little part. I treat my scrapbook more like a photo album, sometimes getting 5 or 6 pictures on the page. I have some stickers and fancy papers, but I don't have all the do-dads and die cuts, frames and brads. I don't have kids and so as I am working on it I ask myself "who will read this?". I'm not leaving a legacy. Maybe, one day, JPs son will be interested in our album, but otherwise the scrapbook is for me, my enjoyment (I have to force him to look at it). I don't think too many other people are really ever going to care enough to look at it, except maybe a family member every decade or so. So I take the time to sort the photos and add interesting pieces such as receipts and ticket stubs when I can. But I am not going to waste time and money buying every theme page and packages and packages of stickers to spruce things up.

I also found that my life doesn't seem to match many of the sticker selections. My vacations don't include Europe, back to school is irrelevant, there are no baby photos and there is never any use for sports stickers. So what does that leave me? Dogs, flowers and cocktails. Is that how my life is defined?

But I have a couple of separate albums- like one for our wedding (which I am just starting now - 7 months later). And I created one for JPs son; presently the kid doesn't care, but I hope that as he gets older he will want to see all his own photos, he does occasionally like to see his baby photos. When I was a kid, my mum gave each of us our own album which we kept in our rooms. I loved having my own book which I could add to and review whenever I wanted. JP's mum kept all the photos to herself and many of his childhood memories are locked away in her basement and on slides. Although couple months ago, his sister managed to convince thier mom to give up some photos and he received a bag of old report cards and photos. It was quite a moment to finally see what he looked like as a kid, find out how he did in school and to have some photo memories. It was for that reason that I created one for his son. I don't know if the kid's mum has made anything for him - I suspect she hasn't and so one day he will be able to take the scrapbook I've made for him to enjoy and the most important thing for him will the photos and the comments and not the other crap I glued on.

What's in your scrapbook?