Even more Scotties

You can tell it was a stay in the house day yesterday. Chris was busy setting up his new television. Our old set went to my brother Jerry who stopped by yesterday & hauled the big monster over to his house. Chris has been wanting a new television for awhile, and it wasn't until he was in the hospital that I got the flu over Christmas (DAY mind you) and sat long hours staring at the television. I noticed a little blue blob in the corner of the display. Then I realized what Chris had been trying to tell me about the set. It is fine for just casual watching, but for someone like him who really enjoys being entertained & has an eye for any blemish on a picture...he did need a new television. Plus, he has been through the wringer with his illness & the two months in and out of the hospital...so I decided he needed a new set. He bought it Thursday afternoon and has been in heaven since setting it up, getting the Internet connections to work with it, fine tuning the picture and rearranging all those cables connecting it to this and that, and oh my my head hurts thinking about all that. He finally has most of it put together & tomorrow on my day off, we'll probably try out the 3-D.

So last night he was working on getting the Blue Ray to work so he pulled out a favorite Disney movie-Lady and the Tramp. As it was playing along, I looked & saw that both Frodo and Arwen were running frantically around the set looking for those dogs that were barking. Both tried to stretch their necks around the back to see where that barking was coming from. Finally, Arwen got tired & just sat down to watch the television. I don't know if she enjoyed the clear new picture, but I did.


And Fiona...what did she think about all of this hub bub with a new television? That's right? Ho-Hum...where is my treat. This is an adorable shot of her in her favorite position, but this time I caught her with her head resting on her paw.

Gloomy weekend

Today is just another typical winter day in Central Ohio. Or in other words: gray, gloomy, cold, wet. I think Seattle gets more sunshine than we do. We've had enough snow this Winter already, but at least we've missed the big snow storms that have been pounding the East coast. Still, I can't wait to feel some warm Sun on my face and that doesn't mean while I'm sitting in the front room looking out at the white cold stuff on the ground. People on Facebook are talking about going to Tucson for the big bead show...wahhh...I wanna go, but it is impossible as someone has to stick around working and making the world safe for those who are having lots of fun in the Sun in Arizona.

I've changed my rotation on weekends so that I can go to all the fun things I'm planning this year without having to beg and swap weekends with my coworkers. So I've worked two weekends in a row...I should be old hat at this considering how many weekends I worked last year in a row, but I miss seeing my family and getting to do things normal folks do who have weekends off. How many years until I can retire????

Well, I thought I'd post some gloomy Ohio winter pictures taken from my back window. The snow has been packed down with doggie tracks all over. By the way, they hate the snow too especially since I got them all groomed, and they are nekkid (ie, no skirts or furnishing).



This is Frodo checking out the back making sure there has been no squirrels or rabbits roaming around since his last check. With his new haircut (oops, don't say that word out loud or else he'll take off & hide under the bed), you can really see his brindle coat. I can't believe that he is going to be 8 years old in May, but he's still a little pain at times. He loves being out as long as possible making me put on a coat & "escorting" him back inside.



Fiona has the perfect thing to do in Ohio in the Winter...she takes a nap on the big leather chair. She's decided this is HER CHAIR! You have to ask her permission to sit in it...well, she wishes.


And here she is dreaming away twitching and snorting in her sleep. She's probably remembering the days when she could chase the rabbits...and catch the rabbits! She was our mighty hunter before she lost her vision. I'm looking at this picture of her sleeping, and I can still see the little puppy girl we got 11 years ago. My sweet Fiona.

Grandma's Birthday

Wednesday was my Grandmother's 97th birthday. Yes, that's right. I said she is 97 years old! My sister decided to have a 9+7=Sweet Sixteen party for Grandma at her home. She cooked like a maniac and had all kinds of delicious foods that were Grandma's favorites. Many of our family made it to spend the evening eating, laughing and eating cake. My sister even had a game of remembering...we tied! I remembered that Grandma added applesauce to her mincemeat turnover recipe.



Now what is so important about this birthday besides she made it ninety seven years is that last Tuesday, Grandma woke up in her bedroom to two masked gunmen robbing her. Pointing a flashlight and gun in her face, they tried to get her to go down to her basement. She refused as she told me that she knew if they took her down there, she'd would probably never come back up. So they forced her back onto her bed & told her that if she moved, they'd kill her. They ransacked her house looking for money, jewelry,drugs, and guns. The cowards even took the small vial of medicine she uses for her glaucoma. She was so shook up after that & luckily a neighbor saw the lights on in her house early that morning & rushed over knowing my Grandmother never gets up that early. They neighbor then called my brother & the family rushed down to help her. Grandma has been living by herself all this time, but she finally realized that it is not safe for her to be alone anymore as now she has become a target for these cowardly criminals. My cousin from Arkansas is going to come up and move in with her to make sure she is safe. Grandma's arm was injured as the gunman ripped the skin off her arm. She had to have the Doctor's Superglue it in place and has had to have it dressed and monitored for infection. She's doing well now, but it just brings to point that our world has made it unsafe for our elderly to live peacefully and safely in their own homes. Grandma found out that she was one of 5 targets from her neighborhood who were robbed & attacked. One elderly gentleman down the street was beaten up and in the hospital. What is wrong with this world??? Why are these offensive cowardly men and women targeting and attacking our elders? Easy money is the answer, but still what a shameful label we now must have to our world. Grandma will be kept safe, and we already promised her that her 100th birthday will be spent at Chucky Cheese. (okay I shuddered at this, but my sisters and nieces thought this would be a blast...I'd rather jump out of the airplane, but that is my idea).

New Jewelry

My resolution for 2011 was to get back into beading jewelry. I'm going to Bead and Button in June immersing myself into 6 days of beading and metalworking bliss. I'm also taking classes next month at 1 Stop with Janice Berkibile doing more metalworking. I'm still doing dolls, but I decided to put most of that on the back burner this year except AFIC. I'm going to take a sculpting class with Susie at Artistic Figures in Cloth.

Previously I showed a picture of Napali Mist deconstructed. Well, I'm still in the process of taking that and making one to two necklaces from it. But this is something I made last year, but didn't have time to post it. I called it Napali Maiden. I'd bought this carved bead many years ago when I first started to bead. I think I got it down in Cincinnati at one of the booths. I loved it and never could figure out how to use it in a design. When we got back from Kauai in September, I keep revisiting this color palette from some of the pictures Chris took, so one day I just sat down with the beads I'd purchased at the Puget Bead Sound Festival in July. I loved using the piece of stone I bought and those colors just made it zing, but something was missing. I searched through all my boxes and draws until SHE just jumped out at me. I sat her next to the necklace I was constructing and there it was. So here in Napoli Maiden:





I'm thinking of entering this piece with something else in the Ohio Designer Craftsman's Best of 2011. I noticed that there were some jewelry last year, but nothing with as much complexity of bead weaving. So, I'm going to take my chances and enter this. Oh and YES! I need much better pictures for this. Chris is doing better so hopefully next week the Sun will cooperate & we can get some pictures to send with the entry form.

Later this week...one necklace from Napali Mist...it is almost done. I just have to tweak it a little as I finally got it to lay right.

Scotties and more Scotties

Last week was catching up with all kinds of things after the past two months of Chris' illness & hospitalization. One of the things I hadn't done while he was sick was to groom all three Scotties. I looked at them and realized that I just didn't have the time or the energy to bath and groom all three extremely fuzzy dogs. SO....I called my Vet and made arrangements to have all three cleaned up. Fiona hadn't been professional groomed since she was 18 months old and we were trying to decided if she could possibly be a show dog. She loved when Kim Lindsey stripped her making her red coat just blaze, but unfortunately Fi also didn't like being the center of attention at dog shows tucking her tail between her legs and ears flat to her head, so she wasn't made to do that. Arwen and Frodo have only been groomed by me, so it was a big old surprise for them to have someone else do it. I used the groomer at my vet, Worthingon Woods Animal Hospital. They all look great!




Arwen & Frodo were done Monday. Frodo had to have an aspirate of a growth on his shoulder (benign...benign...benign!). Oh, Fiona enjoyed the day without Ar & Fro. She was in doggie spa sleeping in the middle of the room, roaming around without anyone growling at her. She was in heaven. Then Tuesday Fiona had to have all her vaccines as my Vet put them on hold until her Diabetes was a little more control. Then Fiona got groomed on Wednesday. Wow...three cleaned groomed Scotties in three days! A record.


So now to get my new garage door opener installed today. Yeah! Seems that everything want to break all at once. I also know Chris is feeling better after his ordeal. He wanted to go to the Sony Style store over at Easton to look at new televisions!

Finally good news!

Three wonderful things happened today which after these past two months have made me see that things have turned for Chris & I. First off, Chris signed himself out of Select Specialty hospital because he felt he'd had enough with some of the nursing care being not up to pare. He said some of the nurses & staff were helpful, but all in all it was like being in one of those nightmare hospital you see in the Stephen King movies. Today started with the Doctor telling him the insurance wouldn't pay for treatment after Friday. Chris started to think and realized he couldn't stay there that long with this one nurse treating him so badly. So he called me & I went to get him. The Doctor then came in trying to talk him into staying until Friday & he was determined to go home. The she pulled one sly little ploy saying well the insurance probably wouldn't pay for any of this stay if he left against medical advice. I was sitting there listening to this, so I immediately got on the phone & guess what...not true! I believe they were trying to bully him into staying for the extra two days of billing that the insurance initially authorized. Then they said they couldn't remove the NG tube...okay, I told them I'd take him to ER or pull the thing out myself. Finally, finally he signed papers, listen to their spill about leaving against their advice & he was FREE! He said it was the best feeling in the world. He came home & had to sit on the floor right as we walked in the door to get some very intense canine "nursing".

There was a package at the door when we came it. It was a gift basket from a dear Scottie friend who I met many many years ago on the internet back when we owned Scottie Obsession. I was just a puddle of jelly thinking of how kind she & her Mother were to send me this.

Then there was a call from Bead & Button telling me I won on of the lottery seats for the Master's Class with Carol Wilcox Wells in June! I even got to sign up for a class with Marcia DeCoster and a metalworking class with Richard Salley.

Today is the beginning of the turning point. I made an appointment with our primary care physician Joseph Carduci so that Chris can get some kind caring medical help. We've been going to Dr. Carduci for over 25 years & he is more like a friend than our physician. I know Dr. C will help Chris get back to normal and get his life back.

I've got to go to work tonight, but this is the first time since November 2nd that I actually feel my heart lifted. My friends in Scottie, beading and doll making world have all rallied with me these past two long months keeping my spirits high and giving me hope.

Today truly is the First of the year for me & Chris Thank you all.

An New Year

Wow, I can't believe another year has come & gone. I would say good riddance to 2010, but there were some good things that happened last year. I think Chris' being so ill after his surgery has made me forget that I actually did some great things in 2010 and met wonderful people. But there were losses in 2010 too. My favorite bead store closed down, Fiona's son Forrest died, and my friend Pam's Barney died too. I almost lost Fiona this Summer due to diabetes complications, but my Vet & his staff pulled her through that. She's gained most of her weight back and is just as sassy as ever. I'm even thinking of checking out having one of her cataracts removed over at MedVet later when Chris gets home so that Fiona can have a better quality of life by seeing out of at least one eye. Speaking of Chris, he was discharged from St. Ann's Hospital and put into Select Specialty Hospital on the 1st. Select is a rehab hospital here in town. It is what use to be the old Doctor's North on Dennison Ave in Victorian Village. It is strange to go over there to visit Chris as it was 28 years ago that I did my Med Tech training at that hospital. I can't believe it has been that long. The staff & doctors at Select want to slowly get Chris built back up so he can eat & gain his strength back. I'm guessing he'll be there at least one to two weeks. All four of us here miss him so much.

I did a little deconstruction on New Year's Day. Remember my piece Napali Mist that I did for Artbeads competition a couple months ago? Well, after I finished it, I put it on, took a look at it in the mirror, and decided I did not like it at all. So I spent the whole day tearing it apart. I'm not crazy! I know I spent weeks working on it, but hey! if I'm not happy with it & won't wear it, then why keep it intact. I was successful is tearing it apart in pieces so I can reconstruction it in a more modular way. I didn't like the feel of that big breast plate just sitting there with that flimsy chain, but I like the components. So, I've been playing around fitting them together trying to find some combination that I like before I start to weave it all back together. I think there might even be two necklaces that might come out of this piece.



I got some piece back home finally. Back in October 2009, I sent two pieces that Chris & I have been working on for Art Doll Quarterly's challenge...they finally got back home on the 30th. I don't even think the magazine people unwrapped them at all as it all looked exactly like how I packaged them all up. I am disappointed as I thought they fit in well with the steampunk theme, but I guess our names aren't that out there to be published. Sometimes I feel that ADQ publishes the same people over & over again not giving new artist a chance. Just my personal opinion. Maybe some of my feelings about ADQ is because I'm changing my focus this coming year. I want to get back into my beading and jewelry making. I feel that I have so much more to explore in that arena still. Oh, I won't stop making dolls, but I feel that they are going to be taking a back seat this year as I experiment with more medias in jewelry making, take more classes in beading and metal working and finally...finally going to the big Bead and Button show in June. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I get into the Master's class.

Rachel's Dream is also going to be making it home this week. I heard from Ohio Craft Museum that the pieces for the 2010 Best of Show are back in town. I want to pick them up my next day off & take Mr. Transistor over to Chris so he'll have one of his art pieces in his room to cheer him up.



Well, off to play with my poor lonely Scotties. They miss their "Dad" so bad. Oh I miss him too! BAD! This is Frodo and Arwen wondering where all that snow went! That only means to me that it is time to clean the yard!