Monday, December 29, 2014

Gift from The RottRovers

Hello Good peeps and pups of Blogville! Macy Blue here! I want to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas. I was kinda busy...nursing my swine flu Granny, nursing my "swine throat" Momma and dancing over at my pal Dory's rocking birthday party! This gal has been BUSY!

But I wanted to show you the pressie my auntie RottRover and the rottens got me. Here I am modeling it by the pool:



It's a gorgeous blue kerchief embroidered with my name and a beautiful paw heart!!! 


My Auntie had Millie and Walter's mom make it just for me!!! She sells her goodies on Etsy at Cindy's Thread Craft.

I just love it!!!

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Last Christmas

I've been thinking a lot about last Christmases this week... I guess because the previous two were my very last with two of the dearest souls in my life.

I didn't realize that last Christmas would be Mabel's last. I didn't even take pictures of her opening the tennie ball and cookies I'm certain she got.  We had such a quiet and laid back Christmas...just the two of us. Mabel was clearly not into any toys any more but her inner labradork still loved "tennie balls."

The only photo I took anywhere near Christmas was this shot of Mabel and Sue greeting one another with a kiss the day after Christmas... Hank is in the background...his last Christmas too.

I was so relaxed and happy... I don't know what would have been different had I known.

The Christmas of 2012 was the last with my sister.  This is my sister's last Christmas tree. My brother in law and I struggled to get it up and get the ornaments just right to please my perfectionist sister. In the end, she got out of her sick bed in the middle of the night and rearranged everything to her liking just in time for Christmas Eve.

I didn't take pictures of my sister...she looked too frail and I might would have had to admit it was our last Christmas, even though some part of me certainly knew.

This Christmas, my 91 year old mom joined Macy and I for the holiday. Macy's first Christmas ever apparently... 


She clearly had no idea what gifts were...


Or what to do with them... 


I had to open it for her... Then, she was a happy girl! 


Mother brought swine flu with her...coughed everywhere and got me sick two days before surgery... Yes my second shoulder surgery date...and still no surgery! Macy just loved on us both.


We took a two plus hour hike on Christmas Day...Macy has spotted her Otto and her auntie RottRover here.

This Christmas was pretty nice... But I keep having that nagging feeling…like there something I should be paying attention to...just in case it's another last Christmas.



Tuesday, December 09, 2014

The First Day

I was cleaning out my phone's camera to keep the gods in the icloud happy when I ran across the first two photos of Macy Blue. I wished I had kept the photo of her from online...but it disappeared before I thought of it. I never thought I would share these...they are horrible photos. But last night, I was hiking with Sue and her mom and we were watching Macy eat grass in the about forty yards away.

My hiking buddy said, "She so cute! She's so LITTLE!"

I nodded my agreement and my friend added, "It's a good thing they didn't have a height chart in the cells at Doggy Jail, or you might would've left her there!" 

It's true. I didn't want a dog this small. She was standing on her hind legs beckoning me over and when I stepped toward her, she dropped to the ground. And I stopped in my tracks! OH! She's so small!!! Do I want a dog that small???

She jumped back up to see what was keeping me and I just knew - I want HER!


It's been a lovely five months getting to know this baby...her quirks, her fears, her unjustified confidence leading the pack down a trail. The song she sings at 2 am. Her passion need for coffee and kale. Her joy at having friends and sudden jealousy when I pet her friends. Her growing fondness for certain humans...

She looks so different from that first day with staples in her neck and wounds on her ear. Her coat was dull and gray and blowing out by the handful.  Now, she's shiny and beautiful. Her coat and skin are so healthy. She's loving her long walks and good food and scraps from my plate. 

We've come a long way since that first day. What fun it is to be seeing my world through new eyes again!

Friday, December 05, 2014

Mom's Trunk is Open

Hello Good peeps and pups of Blogville. Macy Blue here!

Mom asked me to tell you about some trunk thingy over on Facebook... I think she's hoping to get rid of the 87 billion gazillion beads that live with us...I've tried to eat a few, but that's only made mom watch me poop! They aren't that tasty so I don't get why anybody would want them... I'm just gonna copy Mom's post from her stupid bead blog. Check it out if you can... You don't have to be a Facebook member to LOOK...but to comment you do. (Mom says you can email her if you see something you like!)  Otherwise, I hope you all are having a fabulous December!

The trunk show on Facebook is open for business!!! There are ten 10 TEN shopping categories! OMG!


 You will find handmade glass bead jewelry featuring my necklaces:



and bracelets!



There is a category just for earrings ready to go:



And for earring pairs if you want to make your own...or have me make some for you!



There is a gift section that contains platters:




Bead pens



Wine toppers


and Purse charms!



For beads, I have a focals section:




A lampwork sets section:



An orphans and weirdos section:


All Christmas and Hanukkah beads are 20% off!





All Halloween Beads are 30 % off!!!



And finally, a section of commercially made necklaces with a handmade feel... I keep these in stock in case I'm at a show that doesn't appreciate fine jewelry or if my table looks a little thin!





There's something for everyone! I hope you'll come take a look. OH! And there's prizes!!! There are prizes for shopping and prizes for helping me spread the word about my sale!!! 


Here's a reminder of how to shop on Facebook:



 






Monday, December 01, 2014

Hello Old Friend!

It's been so very long since our creek had a little water in it. It seems like Mabel's funeral was the last creek day. Poor Macy has no idea of the joys of a wet creek bed! So we were overjoyed when we woke up to rain yesterday... and predictions of 3 - 5" tonight!

By 3, we were itching to be outside and the RottRover and Otto met us at the levy. But when we got to the end of the levy...there was no creek! We hiked upstream to find her. She was growing a couple of feet a minute! Soggy from the hike, our friends left us but I needed more!


I have to back up a bit and tell you Macy Blue was most hesitant to leave the porch in the rain...but came willingly when she saw I was walking around to the car.  Once she saw her auntie and Otto Rotto...she hiked like a wet pro! She had a blast 'splorin' in the rain.


After our pals left, Macy and I wandered over to Dirty Creek to check on the flood. She was rather cautious with the fast moving water...which I was pleased with. We checked on the ducks and a few a homeless camps and made our way back across the valley floor to the main creek.

I was soaked to the core by this point... and my lens was covered with mist. It just felt glorious to have rain drops on my face and in my hair. Macy seemed to enjoy it too!


When we returned, the river still wasn't flowing at the end of the levy, but I could hear her coming.  I hiked in the river bed until I found her, hiding behind some bamboo, already making her music.



Each time she filled a new low spot in the river with a great amount of noise and hullabaloo, Macy would run over to that spot and sniff to see what was causing such a commotion. I don't remember if Mabel ever did that when the creek was filling... she often sat and watched...waiting for a 'cuzzi hole I guess. But for Macy, it's all new and fascinating.




Macy and I walked the river down, cheering her on, to the end of the levy.



The old girl was magnificent...returning to her former glory! I don't know if she's here for a visit or here to stay for while...but she was missed!


We parted ways at the end of the levy with promises to visit her again as she continued downstream on her journey.  "We're so happy to see you old friend! I pray you stick around for a bit... I've got a pup that needs to learn to love you!"


And there she goes!



Sunday, November 30, 2014

It All Comes to a Grinding Halt

Well, I had expected life to come to grinding halt tomorrow...when I was supposed to have surgery on my torn labrum in my shoulder. Instead, it went into some kind of limbo halt on Friday.  Black Friday was an ocean day for us... a last chance to run and breathe and play before surgery and Christmas and company.

These photos of Macy Blue - bringing three running dogs and three trotting humans to a complete halt feel a lot like my life right now!  But sometimes, distractions happen!


Yes, you can be trotting along having fun - or frantically cleaning your artsy fartsy house before you won't be able to - when something distracts you. Or your doctor. 

 When that happens, there's nothing you can do but go with it! Good friends can't really help much. They have to stand back and let you do what you gotta do!

Even if it takes a while... 


A long while. Sometimes, you just have to wait... and wait. 


And maybe even wait some more... My doc has his reasons for cancelling and I understand. And we just couldn't reschedule over a holiday weekend...sigh.

I haven't been reading blogs...so sorry. Housecleaning is exhausting with one overworked good arm and one painfully decorative arm! And the time change still has me loopy...wanting bed at 7 pm and up at 3! I imagine we'll catch up after surgery...whenever that is!


Monday, November 17, 2014

She Who Must Be Punished

After those Debbie Downer posts...how about a happy?? Yes I know it's about canine damage...but I actually see this as sweet!

Macy's biggest quirk is this:



Yes, she eats my glasses...well, more like chews them up and spits them out! I always make sure I find all the pieces parts. Although in the beginning, I was feeding her lots of soft bread when I couldn't find all the parts in the grass.

She does this to the glasses I hide in the sofa. (I'm of the age where they are a sudden necessity and they are "hidden" in every room of the house!) But she curls up on the sofa when I leave and hunts for them. So now I leave them in the chair next to the sofa. We haven't had an episode for weeks until I went out to torch and make beads and carelessly left them on the sofa because I was home.

I know she does this because of anxiety at being left and the glasses smell like me. I must be punished for leaving her all alone in a big house with many dogs beds and sofas with warm blankets, right?

The other night, the bestie called and wanted me to join her on a shopping trip to a new witchy shop - they have the best pure oils for fragrance that those of us with perfume sensitivities can actually tolerate. Macy Blue and I were finishing a hike so we went straight to the bestie's house. I had to go to the bathroom so I ran inside while the bestie got settled in my car with her travel beverages.

She reported that Macy cried the entire time I was in the house! Even though her auntie was offering pets and scritches, Macy only wanted me. Now, Miss Mabel Lou would have milked scritches out of any available human! But not my little Blue girl! She wants her momma!

And as for the 10 pair of glasses that have died a toothsome death since June... I have a common prescription and I buy them at the dollar store...four pair at a time!

Saturday, November 15, 2014

If Not for Bad Luck

You know, I stole a line from Velvet several years ago (2009)...summing up a year as "spectacular for its suckitude."And I've labeled nearly every year since as such.  It has been a bloody horrible run of suckitude!
  • 2009 - Economic downturn and financial woes, Station Fire, loss of our trails in the rains that followed.  I posted on the very same day that I longed for better days. 
  • 2010 - a spider nearly killed me and a 23 year friendship bit the dust and the pain still reverberates -  even though I know I'm better off without someone who simply doesn't value me and is so comfortable lying. 
  • 2011 - My dear sister started her third and final battle with cancer. 
  • 2012 - More trips back home to be with my sister. By the holidays, we knew her battle was almost over. 
  • 2013 - My sister passed and I spent the year adjusting to her loss...still am really. I got mad at myself just the other day for not calling her in so long! 
  • 2014 - Mabel died way too quickly.  Torn labrum and impending surgery on my shoulder. A new career teaching... I don't love it  but I don't hate it any more - most days.  Oh, and a fire! Or two! 

I've already told you about the local bakery that burned. I can't tell you loss I felt...from losing a selling venue to no where for a quick outing with friends.  As I've watched the building sitting there all burnt and sad, I've thought a lot about the loss from a fire. But that didn't mean I wanted to experience it first hand...


Almost two weeks ago, the tenants that live in my townhouse - my first home of my own - called to tell me it was on fire! We think it started in their dryer... clean your lint filters people! Luckily, it was confined to the garage.

And to add insult to injury, neither of us have insurance. I had to make some rough choices back in '09... health insurance or my interior townhouse policy. I chose health knowing it was a  calculated gamble. My homeowner's association has an exterior policy that will return the home to four walls and a roof. The rest is up to me. But I'm on the hook for the ginormous deductible... about 1/3 of my last year's below poverty wages!  OY! Some part of me is so scared, I don't know what to do. And some part of me knows there is nothing to do...yet.


I just know that I am fed up with negative. I'm tired of dealing with BS. Negative people exhaust me (and I have one I must talk to every single day). I am going to focus on the positive if it kills me! Oddly enough the things I have to pay for in my own unit were on my to-do list anyway: the water heater was old, the laundry cabinets were saggy, the patio door didn't close. The only extra is a garage door opener. Not too bad...







Maybe this gets my perpetually late renters out of my house. Maybe this is about shutting one door to open another. Maybe it's to teach me to never gamble with insurance.  I don't know... but I will rise from these ashes!