New boy in town

It's funny how some dogs will pose for the camera and others avoid it like a rabies vaccine. Jack is of the latter. It doesn't help, I suppose, that he's only 8 months old and very pupppy, but he just didn't like the silver thing pointing at him...and making noise, too? unh, uh. He played me. He'd pose and just when I went to push the button, he'd move. I could see the trickery in his eyes. Silly boy.

Jack is a sweety. I wish I had his carefree personality. He's so not stressed about things, not fearful at all and always looking for some fun. He loves to follow me around and know what I'm doing. He jumps about 5' high, you'd think he was on a spring board. And he scales furniture and human bodies like the best of circus acts. The back of my sofa is about 3" wide with wood making up an inch and a half of it and he walks it better than a gymnast on a balance beam. He's super agile and a lot of fun to watch whether he's playing by himself, engaging my Hanzie, or getting yelled at by my 15 year old Weezie. He would be perfect for agility training -- if you can get him to focus. We're working on the sit/wait before being served his meals and he picked it up pretty quickly. What's great about him compared to others I've taught this is that he actually waits without trying to sneak in as if I'm not watching. He sits there and looks around like "la, la, la...I'd like this food but I'll wait until she says to eat." Hopefully, someone will fall in love and have to have him and will train him and maybe even do some agility work with him. He definitely needs things to do.

It's tough this year for the rescues and shelters. A lot of people are surrendering their dogs because they have to move from their homes into places that won't accept dogs. It's summer, which is always a little difficult because people are vacationing and don't want to get a dog then leave it in a kennel while on vacation. Plus, the economy. People can't afford to keep their dogs due to financial loss. It's all very sad. So, we foster moms and dads are having to keep them with us for a bit longer than what might be usual. (Oh, Jack likes to lick your legs, as he was just licking my ankle. He apparently doesn't remember that I don't like that! LOL) The downside of keeping them for long periods is that they get bonded to the humans and the home life and possibly think they are in their new home. Thankfully, I have found that once the new owner puts the leash on him or her and walks out the door with them, they know they are really going to where they will be forever. Well, we all hope anyway... Never know what the future will bring.

Recycling/Revamping

I picked up this dresser, which isn't of the best quality, from a young woman selling stuff before a move.

I knew that when I went to see it, it wasn't really what I was looking for but I felt she could use the money, so I took it anyway. It's been in my garage for a couple weeks taking up space and the place that I wanted it still doesn't have a dresser, so I figured I'd clean it up and use it temporarily until I find what I'm really looking for. This, of course, might take forever because low dressers are either too wide, not my taste, or too expensive....but I have faith that the perfect one will come knocking on my door.

Today, I will put the second coat of paint. Yesterday was nice because I could be outside sanding and painting, but today is so much more humid and it looks like rain so it may take a bit longer than I want for the paint/glaze mix to dry. Yes, I'm feeling a little impatient now that I've made the decision to work with this piece!

Well, there's much more than just painting to do today so I should tally-ho!!

Have a great Sunday!!

It's been too long

I know, it's been over a month...I just couldn't get here. I had been boring myself so I thought you might be bored, too. (you know, you two that read this ;-0) oh, maybe I've lost you... ahhhhhh, what to do what to do.

So here I am back again, I hope for awhile. I've been collecting and dreaming and designing and planning. I've also been gardening and gardening and gardening and working and procrastinating.

I really planned to be back before now but I kept putting it off. I think it's because I lack even what seems to be simple blog knowledge that I put it off instead of adding it to my list of things to figure out. I'm also pretty annoyed that my internet connectivity is compromised and no one can tell me why. I was on the phone with Apple thinking it might have something to do with my computer or better yet, the new version of Safari, which I downloaded and then proceeded to be pissed off by it's bells and whistles that others seem to like (so I am told by the Apple customer service rep Joseline -- who was very very nice, I might add.) Then I talked to Jeff at AT&T and he tried to figure some things out (and gave me a break on my monthly bill next month because I've been dealing with this issue for months and spoke to both Apple and AT&T a couple months ago.) Jeff couldn't help and transferred to the guy that could help with wireless and the Mac. He was somewhat helpful, we went through a few of the same things as with Jeff and then tried some new things. All my numbers show that I should not be having any issues....Well, it got to where things seem to have been working better (faster loading, no 'can't connect' messages) and this guy was quick with his "OK, it's fixed" I said, "Whoa! let me a try a few things before we hang up." I was feeling like he was in too much of a hurry to get off the line with me. Things seemed to have been better so we hung up. A few minutes later -- guess what? -- yup! the same problems. It does seem to be a little less but it's still very much there. I haven't called them again because I really haven't had the time to be dealing with this. I had been on the phone with these people for about 3 hours!! 3 hours to figure out not much of anything! Frustrating.

Foster Dogs

Well, Rudy my foster dog went to his new home in the Boston area.

What a wonderful couple that adopted him. Real people, very real...and pleasant to be around. He'll have a wonderful life with them. He was here for about 10 weeks, which is a long time to have a foster here. I adopted out two others in between...Max...

and Sasha...

and now I have Jack. What a character he is. He's an 8 month old Schnauzer/terrier mix. So cute and funny and loving.

HOLY CRAP!

I entered a give-away on the Skull-A-Day blog...and I won! I couldn't believe it. I've entered a few different ones on different blogs, usually, the requirement is to leave a comment and then on a certain day they do a random drawing. Well, I forgot all about it and the drawing was on July 7. I checked my blog email today (yeah, I know...) anyway, there was an email saying I was the winner. I actually looked at the subject line twice and the date because I thought for some reason someone might be pulling my leg. I was so surprised that I won. I got me a WisSkullsin T-shirt by Josh Rickin. Sooooo cool!! Very exciting.

A card -- A drawing

A young friend was having a cyst removed on her cheek so I made her a portrait card to let her know that I was thinking of her. She's a strong and self-confident girl, but at the age of 14 I think one is a little self-conscious of any scars on the face...shit, any age for a woman! My note inside was to remind her that scars on our skin are just a map of our experiences.

The drawing is on vellum laid over graph paper and sewn together with a zig-zag stitch. I took a piece of card stock and glued a layer of krinkled tissue paper over it and then glued the image on top of that. She liked it. This is a girl that started making stuffies after I gave her a couple as gifts. Here's one she made for me out of a camouflage shirt because I wear cammie's and like the cammy pattern...I love it!

Well, I do have lots more fun stuff to share and will hopefully be quicker at getting posts done sooner.

12pm eastern time...nighty night.

Tag, you're it

Haven't been around much, been getting ready for a tag sale tomorrow. I've been cleaning out a lot of stuff and it feels good to have it gone from my house, lots of vintage and antique items -- hopefully it will all be gone from my friend's house tomorrow. He's such a good egg, let's me store it all until the big day. I'll be up very early to set up....coffee will definitely be on the agenda. I still have to put some things in my car to bring with me. I know when I get home I'll find other things that should have gone...hey! what's a girl to do. 

I've got my eye on a couple pieces of art on etsy, we'll see how much dinero I pull in, I may just have to reward myself with a gift!

Happiness is...

Finally figuring out how to get a Flickr widget on my blog! Techno savvy I am not. One day I'll figure out how to set my posts page up so that I don't have to change it each time...it'll automatically go into the type face I want. That's for another day.

10:47 pm and I should have been in bed over an hour ago....Sleep well.

Saying Hi

Not too much to report around here. Work has had me busy and I've been I've been continuing with tearing apart and replanting the garden. All the field stone in the walk toward my house had to be reset due to some puddling that I wasn't happy with, plus with the regrading of the front lawn, there was no choice. I still have to add some stones but it's looking much happier now. Now the task of figuring out what to do with the gardens near the house. I'd like to create a garden that looks good in the winter because the house looks so blah when everything is dead around it. I had my first Lupine this year, purple, I was so excited, they are so pretty. Pulled out all my Artemisia that completely took over the garden...wow that stuff spreads fast and furious! I was given a Knockout Rose Bush by a client (now friend-- Hi Jan) that I'm excited to have because it's low maintenance and blooms all season. I was also given a ground cover planting that I have no idea what the name is by a client (now friend -- Hi Aileen!) that has a pretty leaf and small purple blooms. Aileen is a very knowledgeable gardener -- she's been at it for 40 years and her gardens look so pretty. I'm soaking up all the knowledge from her that I can retain. I recently found out that Nepta is also low maintenance, so there might be some of that going in. Slowly I am learning.

Want a sweet?

I made cookies this a.m.

We always called them T.V. Snacks, I don't know if they are of another name. Very easy, cooked in a pan on the stove top. Here's the recipe:

2 sticks of butter

2 cups of sugar (I cut it to 1 1/2 this time around as they are very sweet)

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup coconut (I've often made it without this but added a little bit of oats to make up for it)

3 cups quick cook oatmeal

Put the first 4 ingredients into a 2 quart sauce pan, bring to rolling boil, boil 30 seconds.

Remove from heat, add vanilla and peanut butter, stir until melted, add coconut and oats.

Stir to mix. Drop spoonfuls of mixture on waxed sheet or foil (don't let the mixture get too cool when you do this, as it will start to be a little crumbly.)

Let cookies cool. Enjoy! Very sweet but yummy.

Busy day today, lots to do this morning and then off to a birthday cookout and it's supposed to be a beautiful 80 degree day. Yeyyyy the rain went away just in time.

Have a great weekend.

Tuesday feels like Monday

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. Thank you to all the veterans that have served, fought or lost their lives for us.  

There was some fun around here, but also some garden work...a lot of garden work, but now it's looking good and I'm ready to add some new plants. I had to tear out all the plantings near the house in order to regrade the soil, now some planning has to be done. Yesterday was so beautiful out it would have been a shame to spend much of any time indoors. Days like that just lift me up. Today is expected to be similar, but then the clouds and rain comes for 3 days...welcome to New England! 

THE DOOR

The front door is done! So much better than a big white rectangle. It makes me smile each time I look at it. 

Before

During

First coat

Final! 

Yeyyyyyy!

One project down, a million more to go. 

Bandit Boys

I've been so busy with work, house and garden that I haven't had time to be making things. I had! had! had! to make something before I went crazy. The ideas are always there wanting to make their way out, and this weekend I took a few hours and did something about it. 

Going through boxes from storage, I found 3 more that contained fabric. There was the, "oh, good, I do still have that," to the, "um, I don't like it anymore, make a pile and add it to the tag sale." So, I got it down to two boxes full instead. As I was looking at all the yummy fabrics and feeling all the ideas zipping around in my head, I put aside a buttery color, comfy, worn, soft sweatshirt -- I had a plan, exactly what that plan was I was unsure, but I knew something had to become of that fabric. When a particular fabric intuitively feels good at the time I am looking at it and touching it, a design comes to mind after a few times of thinking about it and looking at it. I actually never had an idea before in my life to make a Bandit Boy, but after walking around this fabric, an image popped into my head, and voila! Bandit Boy was born. 

Actually, two were, but the other is not quite done. Then there are two more that are cut out ready to be sewn, also. I'm hoping to be able to post their pictures in a few days. It's a busy week so keep fingers crossed for me.

Well, it's Monday morning and there's still lots to do before heading off to work. It's a little grey right now with expected temps of 60's...a good day to be inside working. It's hard when it's warm and sunny -- those days I want to be outside working, soaking up vitamin D and feeling the sun smile upon me. In New England, you have to take advantage of those types of days if you can, because you never know when it's going to be back again. 

Have a great day!!