OMG!!!!!!

OMG!!!!!! NO FRIGGIN' WAY!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!

For the VERY FIRST TIME IN MY ADULT LIFE, I have found a pair of blue jeans that fit!!!

BLUE CULT 28 X 33

#1. I'm 5'6", but I guess I'm out of proportion to other women my height since my legs are two inches too long for average length pants and two inches too short for talls. I have spent my ENTIRE LIFE fighting this; I hated back-to-school shopping because I had to try on a hundred pairs of pants, none of which ever fit, and mom or Mema ultimately had to hem for me.





#2. While I like jeans with a low-to-medium rise (I can't stand jeans/pants that come up to my belly button and squeeze me to death when I sit). Fortunately low-to-medium rises are "in" right now. However, I absolutely HATE the "in" styles of jeans that have been available for the last several years. I absolutely do not like flare-legged jeans and I don't even like bootcut jeans (which is the most commonly available style of jean which is stupid considering boots are NOT the most commonly worn women's shoes!).



#3. While I am thin enough to pull off the skinny/cigarette-legged jeans that are the rage this season, those are just not my style.



So... by complete fluke, I ordered size 28 and 30 Blue Cult jeans from Overstock.com (they were out of 29s). I had no idea what size was going to fit and I can return whichever (or both) doesn't fit.



I simply cannot believe the 28s fit--and actually, they have just enough give that a 27 would have fit without me having to hitch them up ever so often.

StuidoG $1 stamps!

Everytime I'm in Michael's or Joann's I like to dig through their bargin bins and see what kind of cute StudioG stamps they have. The other day, I started talking to a woman at Joann's while we were pawing through the box of of $1 stamps. She told me CraftWarehouse also has them. I wasn't going to go until that lady pounced on a set of spider stamps I HAD to have (and of course, that was the last one Joann's had).


So... WOW! CraftWarehouse has MORE stamps than Joann's and Michael's combined--not just in sheer number, but also in the number of designs!!! I picked up several of the Halloween acrylic and wood-black sets (including the spider set that lady at Joann's beat me to!).

I posted a comment on a forum about liking these stamps sets--because the designs are cute and the fact that they're cheap! OF COURSE... someone had to offer a negative opinion about the quality and what a waste of money they are and, get this, "they turn yellow after you use them." What the hell? Who cares what color the turn? Can you ink 'em up and stamp with 'em? You bet.

Oh, yeah... and this is my favorite: "Stampin' Up! stamps are made from the highest-quality rubber with deeply etched images. They are an investment that will last forever." Huh? Is that a joke? An INVESTMENT?????


Here's the deal: I have spent a small fortune on SU! stamps (I have two rolling carts FULL of them). I'm not sure what the average cost of a set of stamps is? $30? Anyway, the majority of what I've bought is still sitting, uncut, in their pretty little plastic boxes. And those that I HAVE cut apart and stamped with, I've only used a handful of times. So, when it comes down to it, I'd rather spend $1 on a set of stamps that, ewwwww... turn yellow after I use them a couple of times, and if I NEVER use them, then I'm only out a buck!


All that said, I found an online stamp store that's going out of business. I bought the entire "Bohemian" collection for $12! Pretty much the designs all look the same, but this is a collection that's been out since August, and nobody around here has them.

Northridge Media subscription complaint saga continues...

Okay... In a nutshell: my credit card was incorrectly charged THREE times by Northridge Media. (See my previous post for all of the details).

On 09/21/09, I called and asked to speak with a manager because I had a customer complaint. I was forwarded to Nik Bruce who listened to my problem, told me they had a computer "glitch" that caused the problem, and that he would credit my account on Thursday 09/24/09 for the $44.95 charge from May 11, and the $39.95 charge from September 12.

Well... on FRIDAY 09/25/09, the $39.95 charge was credited (NOT the day he said, but at least it got done). Still haven't heard a word about the $44.95 charge from May.

So... I called back again today, and asked for Nik Bruce... again... And once again... he didn't even apologize for what was going on.

You know, I've worked in retail, and I DON'T agree that the "customer is always right." However I DO believe in great customer service, and THEY (Northridge Media) TOTALLY SUCK! This is THEIR problem, and I have every right to be totally pissed off that they basically STOLE money from me, and I'm having to beg to get it back. In this case, the customer (me!) IS right. With that said, though, I very calmly told him I was pissed off, but I didn't yell and scream at him like I felt.

So... I tell this Nik Bruce guy that I'm STILL waiting for the $44.95 refund from May. And his response? "I didn't know we were supposed to credit your account for that charge." Which is a load of crap; he was fully aware of it when we spoke a couple of weeks ago.

He goes through this whole rigamarole of checking my account, and he lets me know the $44.95 charge in May was for a renewal charge for Simply Handmade. I'm not sure why he didn't tell me that when I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago, and that does explain why the charges are different. And I DID have a 6-month subscription for Simply Handmade, but it expired with the June/July issue (and I know that because that's the issue my baby bib was published in). So why would they charge me in May to renew a subscription that didn't end until July? And, if they charged me because of some oversight and have never bothered to credit my account as they should have then why haven't I been receiving "Simply Handmade" since they charged me for it???

Because. They. Are. Full. Of. Crap.

And, here's the real kicker. He asked me if I just wanted a credit to the same credit card I used to place the order. What an ass. He told me when I spoke with him in September that he was going to "personally make sure" that my credit card number was removed entirely from their database so that I would no longer be enrolled in their Platinum Subscriber Program. Obviously, that didn't happen, but the card expires at the end of the year so they can't use it anyway.

Shesh! Just had to get that off my chest, too!

Cards Magazine Complaint!

Sorry... This is a really long rant... Gotta get it off my chest!

Left me first say this: Except for the price, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my subscription to Cards magazine (or idea book or whatever you want to call it).

There was a subscription special when I first subscribed to it last year. If I subscribed to 12 months of Cards, I could get 6 months of another one of their publications for free. I think the name of the one I chose was called Paper Trends (I received four issues and then they changed the name to Simply Handmade).

About a month before my subscription ran out, I got a message from Nik Bruce that said my subscription was about to expire, but not to worry because I was enrolled in their Platinum Renewal Plan which means my credit card will automatically be charged for another year. I DID NOT agree to be enrolled in their Platinum Subscriber Program. They did NOT bury any information about it in fine print that I failed to read. I called and placed my order on the stinkin' phone, and the woman who took my subscription information (whom I now know is Janice) didn't say a word about their stupid Subscriber Program!!!

Anyway... I called Northridge Media and spoke with Nik Bruce (the guy who'd sent the renewal e-mail). I told him it was time to renew my subscription, but I saw online that they were offering the same deal as when I first subscribed--6 months free with a paid 12-month subscription, and I'd like to get that same deal with my renewal. He said that was definitely do-able. He told me about each of their other publications, and I chose Scrapbook Trends for my free subscription. Before we hung up, I specifically asked him if I still needed to respond to the e-mail he'd sent, and he told me no that it was all taken care of on his end.

So... My April credit card statement comes in, and guess what? There were TWO $84.95 charges for the Cards subscription (one on the 9th and one on the 10th).

So... I called them the next day. Like an idiot, I didn't write down the girl's name I spoke with. She told me that it "takes awhile" to get a refund, and could she offer me six additional months for free. I told her no, I really wasn't interested in that; that I'd really like my money back. So, she ups the ante: what about twelve extra months? Of course, I had to say yes. I also asked that my name be removed from their auto-renewal program because I didn't want something like this to happen again. The note on my credit card statement says "free 3rd year instead of refund--2012."

Then, imagine my surprise when my May credit card statement comes in and there is a charge on 05/11/09 for $44.95 for Scrapbook Trends! WHHHHAAAAATTT???

So... I called them again. This time, I spoke with Janice, and I told her that I'd been charged for a 6-month subscription that was supposed to be free. She took down all of my information and told me they would take care of it.

Fast foward a couple of months... On August 24, I was busily reconciling our credit card statements in QuickBooks when I suddenly realized I'd never seen the credit for Scrapbook Trends come through. I dug out my May statement and called them back. Spoke with Janice again this time. She said something about that being a gift subscription I'd purchased. Uh... NO IT WASN'T! Anyway, she dug around for awhile, and then found my name on some kind of refund list they have, but she assured me it would be taken care of.

Then... GET A LOAD OF THIS!!! August 28, I got an e-mail from Nik Bruce that my Scrapbook Trends subscription was expiring--but not to worry because I was enrolled in their Platinum Subscriber Program! Is this a JOKE???

This time, I thought "you know, last time I called, the wires got crossed somehow, and that's why they charged me twice; so this time, I'll respond to the e-mail and that will fix everything."

My immediate response (also on August 28): ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT RENEW!!!

Whew! That's taken care of. Right?

My September 13th American Express bill comes in... You have GOT to be kidding me!!! There was a $39.95 charge on 09/12/09 for Scrapbook Trends.

Anyway... I called again this morning and talked with Nik Bruce (renewals manager). I went through the big long spiel above. He found my account and told me there are "glitches" of some sort where cancelations to their automatic renewals program don't get flagged in their database (or something like that). Anyway, he said he would take care of the refunds, but they couldn't do it until Thursday because there were so many people in front of me they needed to take care of!!! What the crap? How long's the friggin' line??? I've been waiting on a refund since MAY!!!

WOW!!! I can't believe I haven't written in such a long time!

Where did August go...???!!! Well... for that matter, where did OVER HALF OF THIS DING-DANG YEAR go???!!!

I'm still in the SewConnected quilting group on Flickr. I have been a good little girl and gotten all of my monthly required blocks finished and sent back to their homes within the first week or two of the month. Well... not August... Part of it is because I've felt time-challenged (though I don't really know what I've done???), part of it is because I've been lazy and the other part of it is because the fabrics didn't even arrive until August 8th.

The blocks for August are very, very simple blocks-in-blocks blocks, but I just couldn't get up the gumption to work on them until today. I drew out the squares in CorelDraw then had to sit down and calculate how wide each strip needed to be to make up the size squares I'd drawn out. I AM NOT good a calculating anything!!!

Anyway, I was going to do 12.5" squares, but she didn't send fabric long enough for me to work with that size. Instead, I'm doing 9.5" and 6.5" ones.

AND... I've already received my September fabric: a fat quarter of white Kona cotton. We're supposed to use our own scraps of fabric to make tiny houses in the center of a 15.5" block. The houses can't be smaller than 3x3.5" or larger than 4x4.5. Dangit! Another something I'm going to have to calculate!!!

Truman Update

Poor Truman continues to have seizures about every 7-10 days despite being on the highest therapeutic level of Phenobarbital he can be on without it being toxic to him. We'd delayed putting him on KBr because #1. twice we've screwed up and not given him his afternoon pills, and he's had a seizure the next day (we wanted to try for a month to see if he'd still have seizures if we didn't screw up) and #2. KBr is about $40/month and I'm sure potential adopters (the very few who are kind enough to overlook his age and the fact that he has seizures) will be turned off that they'll have to spend that much money to take care of him. Anyway, his seizures keep happening even though we've been giving him his pills consistently. So, yesterday, I asked the vet to go ahead and prescribe the KBr.

Anyway... Truman's teeth are truly rotten, and should have been taken care of when we first got him in May, but the vet didn't want to do the dental until we got his seizures more under control--which doesn't seem to be happening--but she decided his teeth were bad enough that he needed to go ahead and have them taken care of.

I took him yesterday. Turns out, he was missing eight teeth already, and she had to remove 9 more rotten ones. He does have a couple with stitches, but most of those teeth pretty much just fell out on their own; she doesn't know how they were hanging on.

While he was there, I asked her to check out his right eye. Twice, at the dog park, he's bumped into other dogs. We thought it was funny first, however, after I got to thinking about it, I started to wonder if he was having problems seeing. The vet his other foster mom took him to had noted "eye is clear and responsive, but right pupil is larger than left." Well, his right pupil no longer responds to light and after she got him to sleep so she could examine his eye better, she found out he doesn't even have a retina anymore.

Oh, Truman... you break my heart...

Oh Mema... I will always love you.

09/26/1913 to 07/31/2009

JacquieG's July SewConnected Block

I finally finished JacquieG's July SewConnected quilt block. This was BY FAR the most difficult block I've made for this group. And, it wasn't that it was THAT difficult, but it really, really made me stretch to figure out how to do it.

I wish I'd added more of the aqua color blocks.

IgPost.com

Hmmm...

You know what I ABSOLUTELY HATE!??? I HATE posting something on a message board and then feeling like I have to JUSTIFY what I've written or write "IMHO" to prevent being visciously ATTACKED by those who think they know better then I do about whatever it is I'm writing about.

I've always thought alot of the members on IgPost.com are entirely too opinionated and so I read the topics, but I usually don't post responses.

I had to laugh yesterday when I saw someone had written: "...before someone chews my butt off this is just my opinion..."

I think there needs to be a new acronym: DCMBO: Don't Chew My Butt Off!

July SewConnected Block

I'm totally freaking out about this month's SewConnected block.

#1. This is JacquieG's month, and she is the very JacquieG from Tallgrass Prairie Studio (BTW, I always have to look up how to spell "prairie") who does some of the MOST OUTSTANDING work I've ever seen and therefore am completely intimidated by her. Here's her blog: http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/

#2. She wants us to make a block that is inspired by a drawing her son made for her which is very Frank Lloyd Wright-esque. I'm trying to get my head around this, but I guess THINKING about it just isn't cutting it (ha! ha!)... I need to go start cutting some test fabric and see if I can figure out what I'm doing...?

Here's the SewConnected Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sewconnected/

My New Car (YAY!)

Okay... the LLBean Subaru Outback that we bought in 2001 with 189,000 miles on it finally bit the dust. I've been nervously holding my breath every time I drove it for the last month. I wouldn't start in the Walmart parking lot three weeks ago. And two weeks ago--at a busy stoplight--it started to chug and buck and shake before totally sputtering to death. Not good.

BUT... Brian wanted to do all this research before we bought another one, and he spent three weekends buying different New Car Price Reports and assessing how much we could get for the trade-in and blah, blah, blah. Finally, he decided he had it all figured out, and we went to the car dealership armed with his folder of information and a calculator.

We test drove a really, really nice Outback that was the prettiest color: seacrest green. However it was a 6 cylinder (like I even know what that means). Consumer Reports says that the 4 cylinder, turbo engine has the same power as the 6 cylinder, is cheaper and gets better gas mileage. But they didn't have any of those on the lot.

So, the dealership had to order it for us. Unfortunately, the 6 cylinder that we looked at is a top-of-the-line car, and those come in exclusive colors, seacrest green being one of them. We couldn't get that color in the 4 cylinder. I had to pick out another color, and I wasn't real thrilled with any of my choices. I half-heartedly picked out blue and silver. However, when we picked it up, I decided it looks really nice.

Here's the car. It now has 32 miles on it!

Fate of the baby ducks...

The Fish and Wildlife guy called me back yesterday morning. He told me to take the baby ducks to the nearest water source and pitch 'em in! Well... he didn't actually say "pitch" but "release" them--which translates to "pitch" in my book since I think that is a TOTALLY uncaring/unconcerned/thoughtless way to handle the situation. Probably most people would say not to interfere with Mother Nature of survival of the fittest or what ever, but I'm too sympathetic (or maybe the naysayers would say "pathetic" instead?). The closest water source is the canal that runs beside the exercise path in front of our subdivsion (which, by the way, is right beside a four-lane, 50 MPH road so besides starving to death or drowning, they could have gotten run over).

I didn't know how to get down the the water because there's a steep bank down to it. I e-mailed Brian to see if he would help me when he got home last night.

Meanwhile, I was going to a movie with Judy yesterday afternoon and since I'm still driving the clunker around, I asked for her cell phone number (because if I broke down, I was going to call her to come pick me up). Anyway, she had a friend who once found a seagull with a broken wing (I'll bet Fish and Wildlife would have told her to wring it's little neck and pitch it in the trash!). The friend found a bird rescue group to take care of it. So Judy called her friend and got numbers for me to call!

I got in touch with a woman named Laurel, and she told me to drop the ducks off at her office and she would take care of them. YAY!!! Whew! I didn't want them to die, but I didn't want to take care of them either!

Mini Art Quilt for RyverChyld

RyverChyld received the art quilt that I sent her so I can finally post photos of it!

I was so afraid that RyverChyld would be disappointed in it, but she posted photos of it in the gallery, and wrote some really nice things about it. It IS cute; it's just not up to the standards of her quilting!

#1. This is the first art quilt I've ever made. It really sparked my imagination, and I can't wait to make more!
#2. Quilting is NOT my strong point. I really need to work on that!
#3. This is the first time I've sewn the binding on. I usually flip it over and stitch it down by hand. I saw a really cool Elmer's glue trick on the internet, and I tried it to tack down the binding on the backside so the stitches would catch it from the front. Worked like a dream!
#4. Speaking of glue... I used glue stick to tack down the rick-rack around the border. Also worked like a dream!
#5. I had NO idea how to add hanging tabs on the back. I kind of winged it (and it shows!!!). RyverChyld's quilt to me has perfect hanging tabs--a real "ah ha!" moment for me. Now I know how to do them!
#6. This was FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

Completed ABC ATC set!

I've been participating in an ABC ATC swap on Craftster.org for a year or more. The alphabet just finished. I am sooo happy with my set. Here they are:

Quack, Quack, Quack!!!

Four little ducks went out one day,
Over the hill and far away.
Mother Duck said,"Quack, quack, quack, quack!"
But just three little ducks came quacking back!

AND THEY'RE IN MY BACK YARD!


Please explain to me how things that are completly bizarre always happen to me!

So... Mylo starts madly pawing at the door which makes all of the other dogs go running to see what he's worked up about, and then they start freaking out so I knew something was in the back yard. And what do I spot? Three little baby ducks racing it back and forth along the fence. No momma duck anywhere to be seen.

So... I found a big box in the garage and went and scooped them up. Of course they were terrified and were peeping as loud as they could. I couldn't leave them in the yard because the dogs would rip them to shreds and I couldn't just put them out the gate and leave them to fate, could I?

So... they're in the garage. I called Brian. He said feed them some bread. I called mom. She said feed them some oats. However, I looked up "how to feed a baby duck" online, and it said DO NOT feed baby ducks bread, whole grains, onions or bird seed. Instead, I can feed them fruits or vegetables that are cut up really, really small. I mushed up a cherry and shredded a baby carrot and tried to pinch up a lettuce leaf really small, but it's not that easy.

I called the local Fish and Wildlife guy, but he hasn't called me back. He'd better call soon because I don't want these silly things!!!

I'm REALLY famous! The bib's on TV!!!

Oh, my gosh!!! I can't believe what I tripped over this morning! The baby bib I designed and sewed for publication in the June/July issue of "Simply Handmade" was featured on the Simply Handmade Blog (http://northridgemedia.net/blogs/simplyhandmade/?cat=12) and as a segment on Salt Lake City's KSL Studio 5 TV station (http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=61&sid=6900661).

I'm FAMOUS! Baby Bib for June/July 2009 "Simply Handmade"

OH, WOW!!! I am so excited that the June/July issue of "Simply Handmade" came out last month. A baby bib that I designed and sewed was chosen for publication in that issue. I had to wait six (long) months to finally see it in print!

I wasn't allowed to post any pictures of it in my blog until after it was in print. Well (drum roll please!)... here it is!!!

They dedicated five pages to it: two feature pages, two pages with step-by-step directions on how to make the bib and one page with the template. That is WAAAAAYYYY cool!

The whole process was really kind of neat. I checked out their "call for submissions" website then e-mailed them a picture of the bib. The deadline came and went, and I never heard from them so I ALMOST pitched the thing in the trash. Really and truly... I don't know what stopped me from doing so.

Anyway, one day in January, I got an e-mail from Paige Evans at Northridge Media saying my bib had been selected for publication!!! I had to fill out a questionnaire with the types of products I used for the project. I also had to include all the details for how to make the bib. Then I packed it up and sent it in.

And then I waited... and waited... and waited... and six months later, I am tickled to death to find that the bib actually fits a baby (I wasn't sure since I don't have kids).

Check out my next post for even more really, really cool news about bibs!

My Book List

I have been reading like a mad woman for the last month or so. I made it through all of the books that Brian bought me for Christmas and had to buy another $100+ worth from Amazon. I only have four of those left so I'll be ordering more soon. What I do is try to pick out 4-1/2 or 5 star books on Amazon or I read the reviews for Pulitzer Prize winners (or other kinds of prize winners). I've bought a few of Oprah's books (but typically find them too depressing). And, a couple of years ago, I bought most of the Today Show book suggestions.

I looked up my order history on Overstock.com and Amazon.com, and these are the books I've read over the last couple of years:

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards: a good read with an interesting plot though it's sad

The Kite Runner by Kahlid Hussein: I put off reading this for two years because it takes place in Afghanistan, and I thought that would be too depressing. I finally picked it up, and (I hate to admit this, but...) it's a really good book. It's also very sad (WHY are they all sad?), violent, very disturbing, but worth checking out.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett: this is another one I put off reading simply for the sheer volume of the stupid thing. It's almost 1000 pages long! GREAT book! It's a real page turner. I couldn't wait to find out how that monster (Richard, I think--I forget) would meet his end! This has almost 1400 customer reviews on Amazon.com!

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Ugh. That's all I can say about this AWFUL book. I managed to trudge through it, but I was NOT impressed. It's a piece of garbage.

Foul Play by Janet Evonovich. Anything by this author is a fun, light read!

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz: 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner. This is another sad one. It is laden with Spanish phrases. I sat in front of the computer with a translator website for some of it, but for most of it I was left in the dark. That said, though, it is a really good book.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. Wonderful book. It takes place in 19-century China and is an interesting peek into the culture of China--the excrutiating practice of foot binding ("golden lillies") where a 3" foot was desired; nu shu; laotong; arranged marriages... great read!

The Road by Cormack McCarthy: OMG! What a very, very sad and freaky book. Really makes you think. Odd for sure. 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo: 2002 Pulitzer Prize winner. Enjoyable read! I'm surprised it won a Pulitzer, though, since it's just a regular ol' fiction book.

Cane River by Lalita Tademy. This is a really good book about four generations of French slaves in 1800s Lousiana. It is a piece of fiction based on the author's family. I liked that it has pictures of the real life characters. Slavery is very difficult for me to read about, but this is an excellent book.

The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living by Martin Clark. This is touted as being the "drinking man's John Grisham" and got lots of rave reviews on Amazon.com and from book critics all over the place. After reading so many sad books, I wanted something funny! Well this is a piece of crap. There is NOTHING funny about it. The plot is stupid (what is up with the "white tears" part???) and the characters drink and drive. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Total waste of money.

The Book Theif by Markus Zusak. LOVED IT!!! Okay... this book takes place in Nazi-occupied Germany (which is also hard for me to read about), but is such a wonderful book I couldn't put it down. The publisher is Knopf Books for Young Readers, and is recommended for grades 9 and up. Hmmm...??? I really don't think of this is a book for high schoolers. It's narrated by Death which is very interesting.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows: this book takes place on the channel island of Guernsey after World War II. Guernsey was a strategic location for the Germans to overtake Europe, and the island was occupied for five years with no contact with the outside world. The islanders formed a book club during that time, and the main character of the book (Juliett Ashton) travels to Geurnsey to write a book about the occupation. This is a really good book.

The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring. Great book! Hmmm... I think of the 1950s as a bunch of prudes for some reason. Maybe because my mother always tells me that the 1950s were the "perfect" times which makes me think of innocence and, well..., PRUDES! Not the case in this book; Freeda's got the mouth of a sailor and they don't go to church on Sunday! Loved it!

Some Things that Stay by Sarah Willis: five star book with 51 reviewers on Amazon.com. Another great read, but (again) it has an air of sadness: the dad is an idiot, the mom has TB, the cow gets killed, and the family is moved to every year (because the dad is an idiot). It is a really, really good book, though.

What Comes After Crazy by Sandy Kahn Shelton: Okay... this one has a quote on the cover by People that says "Plenty of laughs here." Again, after reading some many "heavy" books, I wanted a light read. I liked it, but I didn't think it was funny at all. I thought the Madame Lucille was flat out TRAGIC (why is everything SAD, SAD, SAD???) and Maz (the main character) is totally spineless. If somebody stole my kid, I would at least make SOME effort to get her back (call the police, you big idiot!!!).

Cold Rock River by J.L. Miles: This is just a great book. It's a story-within-a-story; half about slavery, half about 1960s Georgia.

Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen: it's about that bitch (!), Troo (funny I could think that about a 9-year-old, but I did!), and her sister, Sally (the narrator). Another good book. (P.S. I figured it out as soon as the bad guy was introduced!).

The Ballard of Frankie Silver by Sharon McCrumb: I got this book in the library on Johnston Island before I left. It's a good book, but (once again) SAD! It's about the first woman to be hanged in North Carolina.

The Old Fox Deceiv'd by Martha Grimes: Another one I got on JI, but didn't get around to readying for 8 years! Okay, for once, NOT SAD! It's a good little "who-done-it?" mystery.

A Traitor to Memory by Elizabeth George: Funny thing is: I read this once before, but I must have only made it partially through because I totally didn't remember the ending. It's not bad.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde: LOVED IT! LOVED IT! LOVED IT! How very, very original. The burbing, farting bookworms are just too clever. And best of all: NOT SAD!!!

The Dogs of Babel by Carlyn Parkhurst: Hmm... I read it... I'm not sure I liked it. The guy tries to teach his dog to talk--but "ruff" isn't good enough; he wants human language. I know I'm supposed to use my imgination, but I just wasn't that inspired. And, I thought the wife was a total nut-case. She made love to the husband while wearing a papier-mâché mask she made from a dead girl's face. Too damn creepy!

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende: I really enjoyed this book. It takes place during the California Gold Rush of 1849 of which I know nothing. It's a great story of an unlikely friendship. What I really want to know is how people could write letters back and forth across the country to each other, and the letters actually made it to intended recipient...??? NOT SAD!

That Quail, Robert by Margaret A. Stanger: Okay... out of all of the sad books I've read this year, this one absolutely takes the cake. Despite being a WONDERFUL book, this one made tears stream down my face.

A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz: I guess if you like laughing at schizophrenics then you'd think this is funny, but otherwise, IT'S SAD! There were some really good philosphical-make-you-think parts, but as a whole, I had to trudge through this book because it didn't really hold my attention.

RyverChyld's Art Quilt For Me!!!

Last week, I received the art quilt that RyverChyld made for me!!! WOW! It is really, really cool. She did lots of techniques on it: the sky is crazy-pieced with silver embroidery; the grass is made from layers of pleats; the trees are appliquéd; the corners have folded fabric roses; and "live" "laugh" "love" is embroidered across the top!

It's bigger than the one I sent her--I think she said it's 20x24. The one I made her is 14x18.

Anyway, she did some beautiful work. I hope she's not disappointed in the one I sent her. I spent alot of time on it, and I learned SOOOOOO much making it, but it looks so Plain Jane and simple compared to what I made for her. It's too late now since I already put it n the mail!

Seizures, seizures, seizures!

Seems like all I do is write about seizures, but I guess this is a good a place as any to keep track of them.

Last week was a bad week. Mylo had a seizure on Thursday--his first since April! They're always awful, but at least it didn't last very long (20 minutes or so). He's doing really well since being on potassium bromide AND his thyroid pill.

Next... Truman had two seizures on Friday--his first since June 11. That's really good for him! We thought he was over his first one because he was up and staggering around, but then he went into another one.

Actually, I was really pissed at Brian because he was in the garage smoking, drinking coffee and playing solataire on his stupid Blackberry when I woke up. I went out there to tell him good morning, and he said "Truman's on the couch recovering from a seizure." WHAT???!!! I cannot believe he left poor Truman alone to recover from a seizure! What if he'd fallen off the couch? What an IDIOT (Brian that is; not Truman). I ran back inside and cuddled Truman.

WTF???!!!

I e-mailed pictures of my new car to my mom and step-dad. I took pictures of the interior, too. And my step-dad actually said: "I don't know what you're talking about. The interior of that car is not black leather."


And the thing is... I don't think he was joking. I think he actually wanted to convince me that the interior of my car isn't black leather! WHAT? Maybe it looks a little gray in the photo, but it's not any stretch of the imagination to tell that IT'S BLACK LEATHER IF I SAY SO. I own that stinking car, so I know what color the interior is! He lives 3000 miles away and has never even seen it!!!

I'm totally hiding this post in some earlier ones so my mom won't see it (I don't think). Sorry, mom, if you read this and I know that's totally stupid to feel so disgusted, but it just rubs me the wrong way!

ANOTHER Seizure!

Yesterday, the doorbell rang. Of course, the dogs all rushed the door. Before I could get to it, I heard some flopping and skidding on the hardwood. I immediatley knew it was a seizure so I rushed into the kitchen (rather then the door). Imagine my total surprise to find STUART in mid seizure! I scooped him up and got him to the couch (screw the doorbell!) and held him while he convulsed. It didn't last long, but it was a hard one. He threw his head back and his eyeballs looked like they were going to pop out of his head. It was horrible.

I hope he doesn't start having them regularly. His last one was January 14.

I never did find out who was at the door.

Wonky Log Cabin Block

Yesterday morning, I started working on the wonky log cabin block that krommama wants for her SewConnected month. I finished it, but I'm not sure I'm all that thrilled with it. The house part looks rather junky to me, but it's finished, and I'm not re-doing it.

Rattlesnake!

Oh my goodness! Get a load of this. Sunday, I let the dogs outside and then decided to join them with my book. I slipped on my flip-flops, grabbed my book, stepped outside and a rattlesnake started slithering across the yard in front of me. Mylo had run straight out in the yard and was in mid-pee-stream when I saw it, but Annie and Stuart hadn't seen it, and had hopped right over it to get to the lounge chair on the patio. I completely panicked. I was standing right by the sliding glass door, and I should have banged on it to alert Brian, but all I could think of was getting in between the snake and the dogs because I was afraid they would see it and try to go sniff it.

So, I'm standing outside screaming BRIAN! BRIAN! at the top of my lungs, and he was camped out asleep on the couch and didn't hear me. Three of my nightmares were coming true right before my eyes: snakes (ugh!); screaming for help and nobody coming; and needing to protect the dogs and not being able to.

I finally realized screaming for help wasn't getting me anywhere so I had to leave the dogs on the lounge chair next to the snake, run around the patio and bang on window to wake Brian up. One of the neighbors happened to be outside and said yelled over the wall "what is it?" and I started screaming "RATTLESNAKE!" I don't know how he got in the gate so fast, but before Brian got outside, Glen was in the yard with a shovel. Then Brian came barreling out the house and almost stepped right on the stupid thing.

All I could think of was "I've got to get the dogs through the garage door" but it was locked. I was still afraid to leave them near the snake, but now that Glenn and Brian were dealing with it, I couldn't force myself to get any closer to rescue the dogs.

Instead, I stood all the way across the yard and hyperventilated for all of the neighbors who had peeked their heads over the brick walls to see. How embarassing.

Next time this happens, I'll be prepared. I hope I'll have enough sense to grab the dogs and rush them inside, then run around the side of the house and grab a shovel. I didn't realize Brian kept them outside next to the trash can.

Mom asked me if I would have been brave enough to kill it if I'd been by myself. You bet your sweet tootie I could have.

June SewConnected Block

June is krommomma's month for a quilt block. She wants us to use our fabric scraps to make her a block. This sounds really petty, but I don't think that is fair. I spent alot of money and time buying fabric, cutting it up, addressing the envelopes, driving to the PO and paying to ship out the fabric.

She wants a wonky log cabin house. We're only supposed to use scrap fabric, and not cut into our stash. I don't have much scrap fabric because I cut up what I had into 1.5" squares for TwiztidBlood. I'll have to dig into my stash to make her block for her.

I'm glad she posted a tutorial on how to make the block because I don't have a clue how.

Art Quilt Teaser and Z ATC update

Now that the tube project is finished, I can work on RyverChyld's art quilt and my Z ATC. I have to get the ATCs in the mail by Monday. This is the first time I haven't sent early on the ATC swap. I have my Y finished, but I'm not happy with my Z.

The art quilt is coming along slowly. The background is completely finished (and it looks really good), and I started on the appliqué pieces. I'm mostly worried about how to quilt it--like should I quilt it first and then sew on the appliqué pieces? Or should I sew on the appliqué first and then quilt around it? I want the back to look nice so I don't know which will look best. I also want to sew on some doo-dads, and I don't know when I should sew those on--before or after the quilting. I really don't want any knots to show on the back, but I don't know what it's going to look like on the back if I quilt around them. I'll just have to ponder this a little more. I'll figure it out.

Another Truman Seizure

Poor Truman. I took the dogs out yesterday afternoon, but he didn't want to go so I left him inside. 15 minutes later when we came back in, I found him staggering all around with his eyes twitching like mad. I picked him up and cuddled him for about 10 minutes while he recovered. Poor little guy I hate this for him.

Tube Project is FINISHED!

Yay! I got my big tube project finished yesterday. I hope the lab appreciates how much time it took me to finish (3 weeks--which doesn't sound like much, but it was a BIG project for me). They were quite picky in their demands for making "kits" out of them, bagging them in sets AND keeping them in numerical order in the boxes. What a pain. The tubes look great, though, so I won't be surprised if they send me to work on. I just hope that's not anytime soon because I have other things to work on.

Another Truman Update

We've had Truman for 3 weeks, and he's had 3 seizures during that time. Poor dog. I feel so sorry for him.

I got an e-mail yesterday from the Rescue Rep. July is 1/2-price month for senior and special needs dogs. I don't know how I feel about that. I know they're doing everything they can to encourage people to adopt these dogs, but Truman IS NOT a half-price dog!!! And, I wonder because he's both old AND special needs if they'll make him a quarter-price dog? That makes me sad and possessive. Do I really want to turn him over to someone who's only willing to pay half price??? That just doesn't seem right to me.

The New Vista Computer

Oh, YAY! I finally got the Vista computer out of its box on Sunday and fired it up. It took me about an hour to unplug everything on the old computer, get that one cleaned up (HOW do they get so dirty back there?) and get the new one plugged in.

Problems: the Vista computer only has 4 USB ports in the back of it (not enough); the Dimension computer had 6, and I used every one of them--but the funny thing is the only thing I KNOW that I've plugged into a USB port is the wireless mouse/tablet... I wonder what else? Also, there is no parallel port for the printer cable to plug in to; and there is no PS/2 port for the wireless keyboard I have.

We went to Office Depot for the cable, PS/2 adapter and a USB hub, but the printer cable was $34.99, the hub was $9.99 and they didn't even have the converter I needed. Since I was going to have to order that online, I just decided to order the rest of it, too. I got everything I needed for $50, and that included shipping. I'm having to use the flat/straight cheapie USB keyboard that came with the computer, but it's usable so that's okay.

Now I just have to install all of our software and move "My Documents" from the 16GB flash drive to the new computer, and we should be all set.

Art Quilt Teaser

This weekend, I'm starting the art quilt for the swap I'm in. Yesterday, I went to Joann's and bought some of their 30% off fabric (Sorry, RyverChyld--I'm not a fabric snob like some of the others in the swap who only shop at quilt stores; I don't mind shopping at Joann's for fabric).

I already know I didn't get enough because I've decided I want to add a small border. I wish I'd decided this yesterday before I went shopping, but I didn't think about it until I got home. I already know the perfect fabric for the border so I'll go back this weekend and get it.

Anyway, this quilt will be pieced, have appliqué on it and some doo-dads for embellishments. I like the design enough that I'm making one for myself, too.

Truman's Second Seizure

Yesterday I wrote about being nervous every time I heard a noise. Well, Truman had a seizure yesterday afternoon. He didn't make any noises, but he did come and stand right next to me. I was a little aggravated with him because I was doing laundry, and he was right under my feet and wouldn't move. Then, I looked at him, and he started to flip over on his side. I scooped him up and got him to the couch before he had a full-on seizure. I held him there until Brian got home with my Mexican pizza, and he could watch him.

Unfortunately, right as I finished eating, he threw up his guts--I don't know where all that food came from, but it was ALOT--and he was laying on Brian's chest (who was lying down on the couch) when it happened so Brian was covered in vomit, and it was dripping everywhere. Yuck. I had to clean up Brian and Truman because the poor dog got it all over himself. Good thing the couch is slip-covered.

After I got them cleaned up, Brian left me to take care of him while he went to the gym. He is so damn clueless it's not even funny.

Truman wanted down, and he stumbled and wandered all over the place. I was afraid he was going to fall down and hurt himself so I made him get back on the vomit couch with me and sit still. Altogether, the seizure, from start to finish, lasted around 45 minutes. Poor, poor dog. It just breaks my heart.

Seizures

Everytime I hear a funny noise, I quickly track down all of the dogs. I'm scared one of them is having a seizure, and every little bump I hear sends me running after them.

Joann's Memorial Day Sale #2

Let me tell you how screwed up I am... I DON'T NEED PATTERNED PAPER! But, I went to Joann's today to check out the box of K&Company patterned paper they have on sale for $19.99 for their Memorial Day sale. Well, guess what? They never got any of that paper. And, you think that's a sign that I definitally don't need it. Yay, I'm off the hook, right? Nooooooo.... not me! I asked if they could special order it for me. No, they can't because they have to have the number (WHICH IS STUPID--THEY SHOULD HAVE THE NUMBER SINCE IT'S IN THEIR SALE FLYER AS BEING ON SALE). So the sales lady very flippantly told me to "just" order it online. I told her the reason I didn't want to "just" order it online is because I didn't want to pay for the shipping. And she said, they have coupons for free shipping. And I said yeah, for $50 or more. Absolutely NO help at all (what's new???--their customer service is ALMOST as bad as Michael's, but not quite).

So... you may ask yourself: WHY does she continually shop at Joann's if they suck so much? Well... I ask myself that, too, and the answer is because I LOVE A GOOD SALE, and as long as I don't have to ask for help, I'm fine shopping there.

But... it gets worse; guess what I did when I got home? I fired up the computer and ordered a not one but TWO boxes of that paper plus two 8x8 pet-related paper packs to make it to $50 so I could get free shipping.

I am REALLY nutty in the head (but, I LOVE getting packages so this will be fun to get!).

Photos of all five dogs!

Here are all five dogs together. The first photo is kind of blurry, but I like it because Iggy Pop and Truman are next together, and you can see how much they look alike. The second one is a better picture, but Iggy Pop is kind of way off to the side.

Truman's Dental

So, I called to schedule Truman's much-needed dental. I asked beforehand if we needed to wait until his new dosage of phenobarbital kicked in. The receptionist had to go ask, and came back and told me, no, that was no problem, and he'd be fine. Then she told me no food after midnight, but he's allowed to have his phenobarbital pill in the morning. I asked if it was okay to give it to him with a sliver of turkey? She had to ask. Then, she came back and said "stop the presses." When the vet found out it was me calling for Truman she said NO! She didn't want him to have a dental until after June 5 so his phenobarbital will have time to work (we hope)--which is why I asked in the beginning! She's afraid he'll have a seizure while he's on the table so she'd prefer to wait. He has to have his phenobarbital levels ($75 bloodwork) checked in two weeks anyway, so I guess we can do that at the same time they do the $450-$650 dental.

Joann's Memorial Day Sale

Guess what? I totally DON'T NEED IT (!!!), but Joann's has a box of K&Company patterned papers (300 sheets) on sale for $19.99 for their Memorial Day sale (regularly $39.99). Tomorrow, bright and early, I'll be snatching up at least one box of it, and maybe two if they have different designs.

I've been meaning to go to Joann's all week, but held off because I have a 10%-off-my-total-purchase coupon, and I wanted to see what this box of paper looks like.

Truman's Vet Visit

The vet wants to have Truman's phenobarbital levels checked. I have to go back this afternoon at 3:00 to have his blood drawn. She's very concerned that he is having as many seizures as he's having.

His teeth are so covered with tarter that she can barely make out the fractured molar that he has so she definitely recommends a dental.

And, she could pop off both of his knee caps with no problems. At which point I told her to STOP! because it was making me queasy! Anyway, she recommends joint supplements to help him out because she suspects he has some arthritis in his back legs.

This poor, poor dog. I feel soooo sorry for him. He was petrified while were were there, too. I had to hold him close, and he put his head on my shoulder and clung to me for dear life.

He's in my lap sound asleep right now. I need to get up because he's making my legs go to sleep, but I hate to bother him.

Biggy Iggy Auction: Week 3

The Biggy Iggy Auction started May 3, 2009. Check it out: http://www.biggyiggyauction.com/.

Oh YAY! I forgot that this starts Week 3 of the Biggy Iggy Auction! Three sets of my cards are up for auction! The Birthday Set is up to $13.50; the Thinking of You Set is up to $14.50. The fabric IG cards haven't been bid on yet, but they've been viewed 21 times. Surely SOMEBODY will bid on them? I hope so.

My I♥MyIggy cards and the handmade scrapbook didn't make it in Weeks 4 or 5 either. Weeks 6, 7 and 8 only have a couple of things listed so far so they still need to finish posting stuff for those weeks. I hope my stuff hasn't been overlooked somehow?

The reason I remembered to check the auction was that Alice Espey sent out a nice reminder e-mail with everyone's names who have won items during the previous week and for all of the people who donated items for this week. That was really nice.

Now that I know that Alice is alive, she'd better send me an e-mail about Truman!

Another good night...

No seizures and no midnight potty trips.

However, Truman wandered in circles in the living room yesterday, barely able to control his hind legs. I picked him up and put him in my lap. He was very alert and stayed there until the other dogs started barking, and then he jumped down and took off running like nothing had happened. I don't know what was up with that? Was that another kind of seizure? Or was he just tired? Who knows? He has a vet appointment this morning so I'll have to see what they say about it.

My New Vista Computer is Here!

The new computer got here on Saturday afternoon, but the montior didn't make it. I had some running around to do this morning so I left early to be back by 10:00 (because that's what time FedEx usually shows up).

I opened the box, but I haven't even taken it out of it yet. I did measure the width of it because it looks like a shorter, squater (is that a word?) tower than the one I have now, and I wasn't sure if it would fit in the space on the desk. It is shorter, but it's only 7" wide--the same as the other computer so it'll fit just fine (the space is 10" wide).

I know that will be an all-day-long project to get that thing hooked up and all of my software installed on it. I still need to copy my "My Documents" files to the 16GB flash drive I have. I guess I'll work on that today.

Good Night's sleep and more about Truman

Well... we had a pretty good night last night. No seizures and no potty trips in the middle of the night.

I'm going to call the vet and get an appointment for Truman. I'll take all of his vet paperwork and his bottle of pills with me. I'm pretty sure they'll put him on KBr in addition to his phenobarbital. He also needs a dental and a tooth removed. I wonder if they'll recommend that since he's having so many seizures? Or, if they'll recommend waiting until the KBr kicks in?

I haven't heard back from the Rescue Rep since we got him, I don't think--or wait a minute, she might have sent me one that said something to the effect of "Yay! I'm glad you got him." But, that's been it. I sent her his pictures, the petfinder.com description, and a quick biography according to the vet paperwork. I haven't heard anything back yet! That makes me very nervous. I hope he hasn't just been dumped on us!

Oh, no.... Truman is TWELVE YEARS OLD!

Oh, my gosh! I just dug through all of Truman's vet paperwork. According to Kat's vet paperwork, he is 9 years 9 months old. Really... why would you come with the number of months? If it would have been me, I would have just said 9 years old. However... I just dug through the entire stack of vet paperwork that came with him, and he was reported to be 11 years 2 months as of 11/01/08, and this age was consistantly reported throughout the paperwork all the way back to 09/01/2000 when he was reported to be 3 years old (so that makes his DOB 09/01/1997).

He's been having weekly seizures since 12/05/07, but he was reported to have seizures as far back as 06/10/04. He was on phenobarbital since 2004, but his previoius owner declined it as of 11/06/08. I don't think he was on it again until 04/08/09 when he was with Kat.

He was also reported to be 18.3 pounds in 1/11/08! He weighs 10# now--what a huge difference! There is also a notation on 07/09/08 that he has a "left carnasal slab fracture" which I take is a tooth because it was in the tooth section of the report. That was recommended to be removed, but it hasn't been because there is a hole in his mouth with a stub of a tooth hanging out of it (which makes me wonder if it hurts and that's why he's lost so much weight).

I passed all this info on to the Rescue Rep. I feel really sick in the stomach... Nine-years-old was bad enough, but WHO is going to take a 12-year-old seizure dog?

Truman's photos and petfinder description

Heeeerrrrreeee'sssss Truman! The first thing I did is bring out the camera to get some pictures of him. I took a ton, but only these 3 are any good!

He's a scrawny little thing that we need to fatten up. He's a little bigger than Iggy Pop, but he doesn't weigh as much as she does.



It is so funny how much like Iggy Pop he looks! Take a peek:


I'm going to try to get a photo of their faces side by side. Brian had his arm around Truman last night in the bed, and had I not known it was Truman, I would have sworn it was Iggy Pop instead.


He's only been here one day so we're still working out his personality and habits, but I wrote up a really good description for petfinder.com anyway. I e-mailed it to the Rescue Rep. this morning. #1. I hope she gets a move-on and posts it SOON (which is why I wrote it for her), and #2. that it's even good enough for her to want to post it since I spent alot of time writing it!

I wrote part of it from his perspective and part of it from his foster mom's (me) perspectitve.


Unfortunately he had a pretty bad seizure a 2:00 this morning. His last one was Friday so he's having them more than I thought. I'll take him to the vet next week and see what she says. Also, his teeth are awful, and he needs a dental.


The directions that came with him aren't very good. There were TWO bottles of pills from two different vets and each one had different mg of pills! The note said "1 tab AM, 1/2 tab PM". Out of which bottle???? I ended up throwing one bottle away because the pills were expired. Also, the label says 1/2 a pill twice a day; not a full pill in the morning. So, I'm assuming the full pill in the morning is the increase I heard about through the grapevine. The label also says he has to be reevaluated in 3 weeks and there are no refills. Well, there aren't enough pills for three weeks so I'm also assuming the reevalution is due soon. The note says he has seizures every 7-12 days. His note also says "1-5 min warning; 3-10 min Grand Mal; 20-50 min post." Poor, poor dog.


He also came with a thick stack of vet paperwork that I need to read.


I just feel so sorry for this little dog it's not funny.

TRUMAN!

The IG Rescue Rep. got back to me, and it's totally okay to call Truman, Truman! She said he's in the system as Truman because that's the name he had when he was surrendered. I can't believe his first foster family would try to change his name to Carlo since he was Truman for NINE YEARS! That is ridiculous!

Brian called at exactly 10:00. He had Truman and was on the way back. He said he's a smidge bigger than Iggy Pop, but he looks EXACTLY like her. That is too funny. I can tell by looking at Iggy that she's a girl because she's so girly. I can't imagine what a little boy dog looks like who looks just like her.

The Rescue Rep. (Alice) doesn't know the specifics of Truman's vet care, and that I'll have to get with his first foster mom and get all the details. She (Kat--the foster mom) should have sent all of his records with him, and I can review all that and find out what's been done to this point. Alice thinks he did have a thyroid check already, and that he hasn't been on his upped dosage of phenobarbital for that long. However, Brian said the Dahl's told him Truman had a seizure yesterday. I guess I just have to see when his next seizure is before worrying about putting him on Potassium Bromide.

Biggy Iggy Auction, Weeks 4 and 5

The Biggy Iggy Auction started May 3, 2009. Check it out: www.biggyiggyauction.com

I just checked out weeks 4 and 5 of the Biggy Iggy Auction. Neither my I♥MyIggy cards or my handmade scrapbook made it during those weeks. WHEN are they going to post them??? I can't wait to see if anybody bids on them.

The other sets of cards aren't getting that many views. It really is going to be embarassing if nobody bids on them.

Carlo/Truman

Carlo will be here by noon this afternoon. The rendevous is at 10:00 this morning in Biggs, OR. I'm not going because we don't like to leave our dogs in their crates for that long.

It took many e-mails to coordinate this trip. Two Iggy Ambassadors are bringing him. The poor dog was in foster care with Kat who is leaving on a trip today so he spent the night with Krista who is dropping him off this morning to Patti and Gaylen who are bringing him to us. I hope he's not too confused.

Too Funny!

The post I wrote yesterday about my new haircut got three hits (I know that's not that many, but I find it amusing that people are actually Googling "my new haircut").

New Haircut

Oh my gosh! I am soooo happy! I finally found someone who can cut my hair!

I haven't been pleased with how the girl who has been cutting my hair has been cutting it, but I felt kind of guilty going any place else. Then, she lost the lease on her chair and went to another salon so I figured that was the perfect opportunity to jump ship and find someplace else. Problem was, I didn't know where!

Then I heard on the radio that the spa up the street from us had a full service salon. I did not know this... So, I called and made an appointment, and I got Joe! He did a fabulous job! It's $40, but I've been miserable with my hair so I guess it's worth it. And, I don't have manicures or pedicures so I don't think paying for a good haircut is a bad way to spend money on myself.

The only thing I don't like about my new haircut is that he flipped it up when he dried it. It looks cute, but I'd rather it go straight instead. Also, he kind of made my bangs hang straight in my face, and I pulled them back with a bobby pin when I got home to get them out of the way.

Carlo will be here tomorrow...

Well... the Iggy Ambassadors came through and someone is meeting us 1/2 way between here and Portland so we can pick up Carlo. I am totally dreading him being here. I hope his seizures aren't that bad. Poor dog.

My first projects with him are pictures and a description for Petfinder.com. I can't believe he hasn't been listed yet considering he's been in foster care for 2 months now--they felt that confident that the home who wanted a special needs dog would work out for him (and it, obviously, didn't).

I hope that my dogs get along with him alright. That would suck if he made it all the way here and then got into a fight... Surely that won't be the case. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

May SewConnected block

I finished my May quilt block for the SewConnected group. I had a really hard time with this one because she wanted a 15" finished block but she didn't send all that much fabric. Another girl posted her leftovers so I thought I would, too. My block is very simple. It's a 5-1/2" center block surrounded by 32, 3" squares. It came out to exactly 15-1/2". I hope she likes it.

Oh, yeah. I had to piece together two of the little squares to even have enough litte squares to make up the block. I hope she doesn't mind that either.

Biggy Iggy Auction: Week 3

The Biggy Iggy Auction opened on May 3, 2009. Check it out: http://www.biggyiggyauction.com/.

I'm so excited. Three sets of my handmade cards made it to Week 3 of the Biggy Iggy Auction.

The set of I♥MyIggy cards and the handmade scrapbook still haven't been posted. I SO hope somebody bids on all this stuff.

"Movin' Carlo"

That was the title of the e-mail I got from the IG Rescue Rep this morning ("Movin' Carlo"). Looks like he's coming to stay with us for a little while (at least I HOPE IT'S ONLY FOR A LITTLE WHILE!). Shesh! I need another dog like I need a hole in my left temple.

I'm totally not sure what's up with his other foster mom. She flipped out when he had a bad seizure and then didn't want him and then changed her mind and DID want him and now she doesn't want him again. However, the Rescue Rep told me last month they (the foster family) thought he was only going to be a short term foster because there was a home that wanted him. Well, the home that wanted him just wanted a special needs dog in general (not just him, specifically), and there were three dogs for them to choose from.

BUT... that whole situation turned sour because the person who was supposed to do the home visit drug her feet so long that the family got a cat instead, and said "screw IG Rescue." I don't know exactly what happened in that situation, but it's very hard not to be judgemental. Finding a family who is open to a special needs dog probably doesn't happen very often, and that was truly a missed opportunity.

Anyway, Carlo (who was Truman for NINE YEARS--I can't believe they changed his name!) is having a seizure a week despite being on phenobarbitol. He may need to be put on potassium bromide, too. I guess we'll have to see when he gets here. I hate to do that if he doesn't need it because it's expensive and has to be compounded and that will just make him that much more undersirable to alot of people. At least phenobarbitol is cheap (I think).

The Rescue Rep told me that she doesn't even have him listed yet because she was pretty sure he was in the bag with that adopting family. That means I get to write up a little blurb about his personality and get some pictures to post for petfinder.com. I'm pretty good at that. I've already got a good idea about what some of it should say, but I'll have to meet him and find out what his personality is like before I actually sit down and type anything out. She said that sometimes, the harder luck the case, the more adopters actually come crawling out of the woodwork. Let's just hope and pray that is that the case with him!

Oh dear... Truman/Carlo...

Just got an e-mail to see if we'll take 9-year-old seizure dog, Carlo (AKA Truman). Brian said yes, but he's not the one who's going to be here to take care of the dog. I told the rescue rep that I was very reluctantly saying "yes", but that I'm afraid at his age and with special needs he'll never be placed.

Mini art quilt

My new mini art quilt partner filled out a great questionnaire. I can't wait to get started on a quilt for her! I already have an idea of something she may like. I also know what size I want to make it. I'll check my fabric stash, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to go shopping for more. Here's a teaser: I know I need white-on-white and maybe some pink since that's her favorite color (not sure about that yet).

Joann's doesn't have a sale on their quilting fabric for this ad so I'll probably wait for it to go on sale if I can't find anything in my stash that will work.

I'm worried about the actual quilting part of it. I quilted my cherry tree mini quilt with an all-over meandering design that looked pretty good, but that's the only quilt I've ever quilted, and I'm not confident I can do it again! I would absolute HATE to mess up all my hard work with crappy quilting! I need to make a practice sandwich and practice, practice, practice. Maybe I can do some echo quilting? I'm just not sure?

Easy Transfer Cable or not? Geek Squad help or not?

So the new Vista computer is going to get here this week or next week, and I don't have a clue how to EASILY transfer my documents and settings from this computer onto the new one... I read about an Easy Transfer cable, but it gets a very solid 3-stars. There are the exact same number of people who rate it 5 stars because it works perfectly as there are who rate it 1 star because it won't work at all.

I just spent $35 on a 16GB flash drive. I know all of my My Documents files will fit on that, but is that a good enough way to move all of my documents over to the new computer? I'll still need to move over my Internet Explorer Favorites and my Outlook contacts, but I already read how to do that. But is that good enough? And if not, why not?

I guess what I'll do is keep both computers running for a week or so before retiring this one to the garage. That way if I find something else that I need off of it then it'll be easy to retrieve it. (That is IF this one can survive for that long).

Also... what to do about this computer and the one in the garage? Do I take them both to Geek Squad. I want the hard drive on the one in the garage erased. Only problem is that I'm not sure I have the right XP re-install CD (I found one, but I think it's for this computer--I'll just have to find out). I called about having the hard drive wiped out and it's $129 which is pretty steep considering there's "KillDrive" software "out there" for free. I just don't know how to go about re-installing the disks, though, once it's wiped clean. So I guess $129 is a fair price when it comes to idiots like me.

And, then, how much should I pay to have this piece o' crap worked on? I checked out their fee schedule, and it can get expensive pretty quickly: a diagnostic is $69; a check-up is $99 (what's the difference???). Oh! I just found what I need: "The Diagnostic and Repair" which will fix any operating system issues such as blue screens; that's $199. Ouch!

Bailey 828 at Camp Wolfgang

Chris had to put Boo Boo to sleep last week, and now he's "in the market for" a dog. There's a dog he heard about (an 8-month-old Border Collie) that he's waiting for a return phone call about, but... YOU KNOW how good I am at dog shopping, right!? So I couldn't resist rooting around Petfinder.com until I found some good leads.

This is totally my personal opinion, but Chris, you don't NEED a puppy--they're too high energy and they have a tendency to chew things up until their adult teeth come in. So... I eliminated puppies from my search. I also seached for medium-sized builds and I searched specifically for "housebroken" in their descriptions. I only found a handful.

One of the ones I found is a SPECTACULAR black German shepherd named Bailey. Bailey's description didn't say she was houstrained, but she was listed as special needs (and I'm such a sucker, I had to see why--it's because she only has 3 legs). She is BEAUTIFUL, and I couldn't resist not showing him the picture of her.

Anyway, Chris, made contact over the weekend with two of the dogs that I'd e-mailed to him. Bailey's contact called him back this morning, and directed him to Camp Wolfgang in Ennis, TX. He was out doing some running around and asked if I'd call to find out the status of her so I did. She's been there for 4-1/2 years. She's considered undesirable #1 because she's black and #2 because she only has 3 legs. Can you imagine? That is EXACTLY what makes her priceless in my book!

Bailey does really well with calm kids and loves to be brushed and have her belly rubbed, BUT... she is a dominate female so she probably won't get along with Penny, the local alpha female. So that won't work. She's also depressed and needs to be exercised to help her lose weight (which he can't do).

I called Chris back, and he asked me if she was housebroken, and I'd forgotten to ask so he called back. He's very disappointed, but is convinced Bailey and Penny won't get along with each other so that won't work. However, the lady told him of another dog, Tyson, who IS housebroken and does well with all other dogs. Chris asked me to call her back again and get e-mailed pictures of Tyson. So, I called back, and she told me there were two other dogs she thought of that might work for him: Harriet and LaCoda. LaCoda is only 2 and is very hyperactive so he may not work out since Chris just had knee surgery, but she'll show him all three dogs (Tyson, Harriet and Lacoda) when he comes out for a visit on Wednedsay.

The application free is $300. Can you believe that? For a FULL BLOODED GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG! The Human Society wants $250 for the dogs they're adopting. I'm not knocking that at all because everyone knows I think animal rescue is a very worthy cause; I just can't believe you can get a pure-bred dog for as little as a mutt dog..

Craftster.org Mini Art Quilt swap

Oh, yay! We got our mini art quilt swap partners last night! How exciting! My partner filled out a GREAT questionnaire, and I have a TWO really good ideas about something I can make for her without even having to do any stalking.

I am NERVOUS, though, because she's an intermediate/advanced quilter. I wrote that I am an intermediate (?) quilter because of the number of quilts I've finished (however, none of them was particularly challenging so maybe I should have said "advanced beginner" instead?). Anyway, traditional quilting and art quilts are two totally different things so maybe we'll all be on the same playing field.

Since I love to blog about what I do during the week, it's going to be particularly difficult on me to keep silent about what I'm doing with this project. The send date is July 10th so I've got a l-o-n-g time to be silent! Shesh! Can I last that long?

Happy Mother's Day cards!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom and Rose!!!

Brian mailed their cards last Saturday which I thought was WAY too early; however, mom's didn't get there until Friday (I was expecting them to arrive on Wednesday so I'm surprised it took that long!). I don't know if Rose got hers or not because she doesn't seem to be talking to us anymore.

The card I made for my mom is based off of a card made by Katie Anderson in Cards magazine. The nitty gritty of that one: I used some K&Company patterned paper; American Crafts ribbon; my cuttlebug "Stylized Flowers" embossing folder; a Prima flower; and a Jesse James button. All of the cardstock is from PaperAccents.

I really like the one I made for Rose, too. The flowers are from Oriental Trading Company. I usually doubt the quality of anything I buy from them, but in this case, the flowers are really nice! The patterned paper is from K&Company and the brad is also from OTC. The card base is Die Cuts with a View. I really don't like the DCWV cardstock because it has the white center and when you fold it the white shows through. I had to lightly sand the edges to make the white at the fold look like it was supposed to be there.

Here are the cards:

CorelDraw X4

Hmmm... now I'm a little nervous about upgrading to CorelDraw X4. I read a couple of bad reviews on Amazon.com. I wasn't familiar with the functions the people were complaining about, but I wonder if there will be malfunctioning aspects that I DO use that won't work? That will stink.

I'm mostly worried about the printing interface because I want to MAKE SURE I can print to the laser. I hope that's not impacted in a bad way.

More new software books

I just ordered The Missing Manual for Windows Vista because I got on the Polaroid My Memories Suite website to see if it is Vista compatible, and it says "yes, as long as it's run in Administrator mode" (now what in the heck does that mean???!!!). That book is about 850 pages thick so there must be ALOT of new stuff with Vista.

While I was ordering books, I also got a how-to book for CorelDraw X4. I can't remember the name of it, but X4 books seem to be very rare, and I had to spend $30+ to get it. I am VERY proficient in version 12, but I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff that I don't know since I'm self-taught (all by punching buttons like mad until I quasi-figured out what to do).

Doesn't it figure that I've bought all these books for Adobe CS2 and Dreamweaver 8, and I won't be using those anymore because of my new Vista computer. I guess I can donate them to the library. I'm glad I bought them used and didn't spend too much money on them.

Shesh! Me and all my software books! I'm totally running out of bookshelf space!

Craftster.org Mini Art Quilt Swap

Well... I did it! I signed up for the mini art quilt swap. I'm excited and nervous all rolled into one since I'm not so confident about my crafting skills. The send date is July 10th so I've got plenty of time to work on it, I think (and I'll probably do TWO at the same time so I can keep one myself).

YMCA Website

The EO of the YMCA where I used to work got back to me and told me he'd like the website to look like the Danville website. That's a very, very simple (looking) website so maybe this is definitely a design that I can emulate.

New Dell Inspiron computer is on the way...

So yesterday I broke down and bought a new PC because this one that I'm working with now keeps blowing up with the dreaded blue screen. I've tried all of the fixes Microsoft suggests, and none of them has fixed my problem. And, despite keeping the computer cleaned up and defragged and up-to-date with SpyBot and Norton Anti-Virus, it just keeps getting slower and slower and slower. And, it locks up all the time. Sadly, it's just reached it's expiration date--afterall, it is 4 years old, and isn't that about as long as a computer seems to last?

Anway, what I'd like to do is take this computer to Geek Squad and see if they can fix it for me and then I can put this computer in the garage to run the laser with, and I can take the garage computer and have Geek Squad clean it off so I can donate it to a school or church (or to my older brother).

So, back to the computer buying part: I bought a Dell, and it comes with Microsoft Vista. After I made the purchase, they sent me an e-mail confirming all of the specs I ordered, and guess what it says: "While a 64-bit operating system allows your system to contain more memory and run faster, it may not be compatible with older software programs and accessories. To learn more or check if your software programs are compatible click here." Nice (I mean crap)... I did not know this...

Thankfully, Quickbooks Pro2008 is compatible, but Dreamweaver 8 and CorelDraw 12 aren't. I don't know about EQ6 or Polaroid My Memories, and I don't remember what other types of software I have to load? I HAVE TO HAVE CorelDraw no matter what because that's what I use to run the laser. So, today, I had to spend $180 on the upgrade to X4. I contacted tech support (via chat) and the guy let me know I can go directly from 12 to X4 without having to go through X3 (thank goodness!).

I also contacted the YMCA to let them know Dreamweaver 8 isn't going to work anymore and I'm going to be stuck until July when they can order me that new software suite I want. The EO is going to contact TechSoup and see if they'll waive the limit considering my computer blew up. I wonder what they'll say??? I guess it doesn't hurt to ask.

All of this means, too, that none of the how-to books for PSCS2 and Dreamweaver 8 that I've ordered will be any good considering I'm having to upgrade and get new stuff--I'll need newer books now for sure. And so I'm also thankful that I've only bought used books and didn't spend that much on them.

I told the EO that I can still read the older books and while I won't have hands-on training at least I'll know what I'm doing in theory.

My new (used) Dreamweaver books are here!

How exciting! My used Dreamweaver books got here yesterday. They were shipped media mail from VA so I wasn't expecting them until next week (or later), but it only took a week. I got Dreamweaver 8: Design and Construction and Dreamweaver 8: The Missing Manual. The second one is HUGE!

I started on the first one last night because I don't have the vaguest idea of how to design a website. I've already learned the difference between a static website and a dynamic one. The book suggests a static website for a first attempt because they're easier to create, however, I know the YMCA wants a dynamic one because they have log-ins and shopping carts. I SO hope this is something I'm going to be able to do!

Yesterday, I also bought 2 more used Photoshop books (and I haven't even made it all the way through my One on One book yet!). One of them is Photoshop CS2 for the Web--4-1/2 stars on Amazon (new on Amazon for $37.11; but I got used from BookBrothers1 for $8.24). The other is Adobe Photoshop CS2 Studio Techniques--5 stars on Amazon ($6.96 vs. $37.53--I am REALLY liking used books!).

Craftster.org mini art quilt swap

There's a new mini art quilt swap on Craftster.org that I'm debating on joining in on. The deadline is May 13 and the send date is July 10 so there's plenty of crafting time, I'm just not so sure of my artistic capabilities. I've never made an art quilt before, but it, like Photoshop, has been on my New Year's Resolution list for the last two years. I just worry that the themes I know I can execute won't match my partner's interests.

I have several more days to decide...

2009 Biggy Iggy Auction

The 2009 Biggy Iggy Auction opened, May 3, 2009: http://www.biggyiggyauction.com/

None of my donations made it during the first 3 weeks, and the auction goes for 8 weeks this time so I may have a l-o-n-g time to wait before I make that scrapbook I'm so excited about (that is if someone bids on it--please, please, please!).

I've been getting tons of Biggy Iggy Auction hits on both my blogs (the birthday card entry is the #1 Google result when I search for "biggy iggy auction") so I updated each blog entry (and my Flickr photos) with the date the auction opened and the website. Maybe that helps a little bit and will drive people to the website.

Photoshop One-on-One Training

So, I've been plugging my way through the lessons in the Photoshop One-on-One book. I'm enjoying myself EXCEPT for the fact that I am just following along with everything he's telling me to do with no real clue HOW he came up with the numbers he's telling me to poke in! I guess he figured it out all by trial and error, however, there's SOOOOO much to learn, I don't think I'll ever figure it all out!

He gives explanations on why we're doing a specific step, too, but I totally don't understand half of what I'm reading. And, I know none of this is sticking because I can only get a handful of the questions right on the tests at the ends of the chapters (and thank goodness they're multiple choice or I wouldn't be able to answer them at all!).

Yesterday, I did a lesson on the "Paint, Edit and Heal" tools. If my pictures suck, they just suck. I don't think I have the patience to do much editing (and that includes any of the color balance corrections or highlights, midtones and shadows corrections from Lessons 2 and 3). And, I don't have any old photographs to resore so I doubt I'll use any of the new tools I learned yesterday. However, I had a GREAT time working on the exercise. We had to take a scratched up photo of an old man and remove the scratches and heal some of his age spots. He had a gnarly old eye (I actually think it was missing) and we got to use his OTHER eye to make him a new one. I e-mailed the before and after pictures to my brother and he thought it was pretty cool that I did all that.

Greyhound Garden Statue

I am SOOO excited! I've been looking for a greyhound garden statue to go outside our front door. I found several online, but I didn't want to pay around $500 to get one!

Well... I found the PERFECT one on abetterabode.com. It's called "Greyhound on a Pillow" (see first picture below) and I LOVE it. It was $99 (which I don't mind paying). Only problem is: it's discontinued!!!



So... back to the drawing board... Well, I found another one that I like (though not as well as the first one). I found it on eBay from a dealer called Statue King. They're located in Ohio and make the statues as they're ordered so it'll take a couple or three weeks for it to arrive. It was $65 with $45 shipping. It's big, too, 30" tall by 9" wide by 12" deep, and weighs 35 pounds. I think it will look perfect by the front door with some pots of ivy going down the steps! Can't wait for it to get here!

Oriental Trading Company Brads

I had a $20 off coupon to use with Oriental Trading Company so I thought I'd buy some mini brads. So I did. And they got here. And BOY am I disappointed in myself! I'd already bought these EXACT SAME BRADS before (and I was disappointed in them then, so why did I go out and buy MORE just like the ones I already despised?)!

The OTC brads are VERY cheap (I guess you get what you pay for, huh?). The head is flat and rather wavy around the borders rather than having a prominent "cap" like quality brads have. Here's a photo (the OTC brad with the flat head is in the front, and a Making Memories brad with a nicely-formed cap is in the background):

The photo doesn't look like it's THAT bad, but it really is. And, here's a photograph from their website. The brads in the picture have very nice heads (which is why I bought them to begin with)--but these in the picture are NOTHING like the flimsy brads I got.

Website for the YMCA

Yesterday, the executive director of the YMCA where I used to work e-mailed me and asked me if I would barter with them. They'll buy Adobe Creative Suite 4 for me to use if I'll design and maintain a website for them. You bet I will--even though I don't have a clue HOW to make a website! I'm totally drooling over that software.

The only problem is that they can't order the CS4 until July because they've already bought their alotment of non-profit software. So, in the meantime, they have a spare copy of an older version of Dreamweaver that I can use to work on the website. I asked what version it is so I can buy a how-to book. It's Dreamweaver 8. I guess version 9 is when Adobe "took over" from Macromedia and made it part of CS3. So, version 8 is not THAT old, but still... it's not that new, either!

I checked out Amazon.com for books, and they are still available. I found two that I wanted, but they're $30 each, and I don't want to pay that much for old software when I'll just need to buy another book for CS4 when it arrives!

So, I bought Dreamweaver 8: The Missing Manual (4-1/2 stars) and Dreamweaver 8: Design and Construction (5 stars) from a used bookstore called Auriga Distribution. The first book was $2.71; the second book was $13.85. With shipping, it was $25--MUCH better than $60 for new books. Really, who cares if they're used books? Not me!

Anyway, the ED e-mailed me some examples of YMCA websites he likes and a couple of those he hates. I just hope I can design something cool that he'll like!

I need to get a move-on on learning Photoshop because I know there are some cool buttons and text/graphics I can use on website pages.