Doming Block Madness!

I love to hammer!

Here is the first thing I did with my new tools.
Punched circles with my new circle punch set, domed the circles with my new doming block and die set, textured the surface using a doming die in my vice and hammered, punched the hole to hang them with my new metal handpunch, and tumbled them in my tumbler until they sparkled!

Ahhh tools!

Rowena

Something is on my mind.

Rowena is a great girl who used to post in a jewelry forum that I frequent.
She no longer does so. Why?
Well, she started a bead exchange over a year ago, that completely haulted last June. No one has seen or heard from her beads since June.
I don't blame her one bit for not ever visiting the forum again.

I feel doubly awful since I was the next on the list to receive them...I have not received them.

This was supposed to be a fun way to get rid of beads that you would never use and take some that you would. A give and take box of beads that was circling the globe. A brilliant idea, and it failed. Last June the beads arrived at its ultimate location. No more word, no more excitement. I am just so sorry that Rowena put a ton of beads up for slaughter and she has nothing to show for it.

I don't know why I am posting this here, I guess I want some sympathy for Rowena.
I started a thread in the forum for people to send me their beads to send to her, she deserves it, I have her address, and I am not likely to give it out.

Civil suit. Why you ask?

What happened to Christmas spirit?
This most bejeweled homestead on the Jamaica Way has become somewhat of a nuisance.
As soon as it gets dark enough for the lights to come on, there are traffic jams in front of this house...traffic jams that are causing neighbors to ask that the homeowner request police detail to deal with the traffic.
Gorgeous, and over the top if you ask me.





These are my drive-by pictures. We didn't stop, just slowed down with the rest of the traffic, hence the blurry photos.
Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Even though I am sick and hacking up every disgusting color of mucus imaginable, I managed to have a sweet Christmas.

We went to Kathy and Matt's house for Christmas Eve.
They put out an Italian buffet feast consisting of various cured meats, cheeses, olives, squid, bread, anchovies, meatballs, sausages, gnocchi, and a host of other delicious condiments and lots of wine.

Christmas day (today) we went to Jeff and Denise's house for turkey, ham, and the regular accompaniments. This was nice, but there were so many kids around yelling and screaming and jumping off the walls, we had to cut it short. I really didn't feel very good today. This plague that I have has been lingering to the point where I don't know if I will ever be rid of it.

Scott and I both got some really great gifts. Yay for gifts.

I have to gush on just a few. I got a dapping block and die set, a punch set, and 1/8" letter stamps with numbers, a file set, and a hand metal punch tool with different size punches, a gift certificate to Lady Grace where they will measure me for a custom brazier (scary, but exciting), a crock pot and recipe book, two pairs of jammies, a sweet little green sequined zipper pouch, the latest Dresden Dolls cd, the first Gorillaz cd, a holder for my ipod, a really cool book on metalsmithing from Carles Codina, and a pair of the pinkest, fluffiest, coziest, cushiest, slipper socks I have ever had the pleasure of putting on my tired dogs.

Merry Christmas!!

Some pictures

Here is my little man, Jack.

Jack was so incredibly proud of the twig collection he scored in the yard, he begged me to take a picture. He is a ham!

I did say 'Ham'..."watch me cartwheel!!!"

How could anyone resist this face?

Georgia and Tucker.

I think I see 'beauty queen' written all over this pose.

Skittles in the bear chair.

"I wanna be in pictures!"

"Actually, I just want to be nekkid"

"Mississippi, y'all!"

Even Skittles likes to munch on pig ears.

Tucker's turn on the bear chair. Yummy turtle, *slobber,slobber*.

Keeping a 'heiny' on Georgia takes a bit of creative ingenuity. She would much rather be 'heiny-less'. Notice the one shoe on the wrong foot, shoes are Georgia's forte. She is going to be a fashion designer.

There is no way I could leave out a pic of Jack on his bike. He was so concerned that I didn't take enough pictures of him riding it. He is a good bike rider, he almost doesn't even need the training wheels...almost.

Ahh, my little peeps. I miss them so much!

Mississippi

I am finally back home from my trip to the armpit of america.
No offense to Marsha, her home is like a mansion compared to her surroundings. This is the land that time forgot.
Southern Mississippi is truly a sight to behold. There are a scant few proud homesteads and the rest of the community is just broken down and forgotten. I meant to get a photo of an abandoned gas station we drove by daily on the way to take Jack to school. The posted gas prices made me want to stop for gas, but the pumps were long gone and the station ghostly. $1.45 or so for gas, I can't remember the exact amount, but that is close. So how long has this gas station been abandoned? Well, how long ago were gas prices in the $1.45 range?

I already miss Marsha, Jack and Georgia as if they were my own family. We had a truly bonding experience and I will always remember it fondly. Poor little Jack and his broken arm still disturbs me to no end. I have spoken to him 3 times today, once at JFK on my 2 hour layover and twice at home. The two times at home he needed to speak to Scott, too. So cute!

Jack being a good big brother to Georgia...


More pictures tomorrow.

JACK!

I was minding my own business finishing up a pendant in Marsha's studio/office when I heard the first of many shrill screams coming out of a terrified mother.

Jack broke his arm tonight.

I don't know what he was doing, don't know how it happened, but it looked like a clean break right above his wrist. It looked like he had two wrists actually.
I am sitting here patiently awaiting word of when they will be home. Georgia was a dear tonight, I think she knows something is happening. She quite possibly saw it happen.

Just as we were scrambling in a state of confused horror, Marsha's mom pulled up in the driveway. The three of them went off to the hospital in Poplarville. I got word a bit later that they would have to be ambulanced to the hospital in Hadisburg (I'll have to come back with the proper spelling). Now I am waiting on more word...please word, come!

I had to re-schedule my flight home because of a snow storm, turned out both my flights were cancelled. I am now scheduled to fly home tomorrow at 7:10am which means I need to get on the road by 4am.
I guess that's better than breaking an arm.
Poor Jack!

I'll have to write about the rest of my trip later. I have lots of great pictures.

CoinStar, what fun!

Every time Scott and I go to the supermarket, we have to walk by a CoinStar machine. We witness people dumping their change in and getting a slip for their time and effort. It looks sort of fun from afar.

We tried to take the plunge last night, bringing 2 nut jars worth of pennies, and a larger jar with all sorts of pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters, guitar picks and various other coin sized objects. We waited and waited while the person using the machine had some serious issues. The thing was jammed twice while we waited, finally we decided to take our haul back to the car and just go shopping.

Tonight we went back to the CoinStar machine. We waited while a young couple disposed of some change (almost $100 worth) and then it was our turn.
This was the dirtiest way to handle money. You have to dump your coins in a hopper and gently keep nudging the coins into the receptacle. Half the coins are being counted and half of the coins are coming out of the CoinStar poop shoot. I had to keep scooping the rejected coins up and toss them back into the hopper. Totally gross. My hands were so black, greasy, germy, and slimy after this.

I glanced at the station next to the machine with the Purrell antibacterial goop and wondered what kind of person could go through all this nastiness and then be sated by some alcohol lotion? I couldn't touch anything on my personal person and headed straight to the loo with my arms far from my body, where I washed my hands 3 times before I felt my skin again.

That was so disgusting.
I prefer to roll my coins the old fashioned way in the comfort of my home where I have access to soap and water anytime I need it.

Mississippi here I come.

I am finally going to visit with Marsha.
I had planned this trip a couple of months ago, but then Perry got gravely ill and I had to postpone.

I leave on Saturday, Dec 8th and come home on Thursday, Dec 13th late night.

So here I am looking at all the stuff I need to take with me. I am imagining that we will have a few good days to work on some jewelry together, and the rest of the time we can both yell at the kids and the dog. I am practicing my loud voice.

11.27.2007 10:39pm

11.27.2007 10:39pm

Few things could cause me to be more irritated than some events that happened today.

My morning was good. The first job of the day was virtually uneventful unless I count the totally useless meeting that I attended which kept me late at work. I will not get into it fully, but I will say a marketing plan for 2008 turned out to be a chat fest about new software we should try…a total waste of time.

After I left the office, I headed to the frame shop, hoping to get some work done and get Julie out of the weeds, and I ended up spending a fair amount of time trying to discipline a completely out of control dog. I love dogs (I love, love, love dogs!), I don’t mind training them, but everyone around me just ignored the bad behavior, making this one of the most irritating situations I have been in for quite some time. This dog barked a full 5 hours that I was there (less when I started to try to discipline him), and everyone just ignored it, including his owner. As I sit here now, I can say with complete assuredness that this dog’s behavior could have easily rivaled a screaming, temper-tantrumed 3 year old.

When I got to the shop, I was so hungry I had to get some lunch, and I made a mistake. I had a chicken Caesar salad that did not agree with me to the point of cold sweats, nausea, and green/pale face. I would have been better off not eating at all. I thought it may have been mild food poisoning, but it could have been homemade Caesar dressing with raw egg. I cannot eat egg. Mustn’t eat egg.

So, now I sit here in front of this useless laptop, trying to get a connection to the ‘inter-web’. I am using all my self control not to whip this piece of metal across the room and out the window. In fact, if it was summertime out there right now, I just might have entertained that idea a bit more. I just hate the cold so much that I would like to keep the windows intact.

Thanks to Microsoft Word, I have the ability to write about my irritation while it is still fresh in my mind, and fresh at my fingers. I will now attempt to get on the internet once again for the 40th time tonight so I may post this babble. Wish me luck.

Update: I could not get on the internet after three long drawn-out attempts. I will have to post this tomorrow, if in fact I can get some kind of connection then. For now, I suppose I can just go up to the bathroom and stare at the hole in the tiles on the back side of the shower.

Update #2: Make that 4 long drawn-out attempts.

Update #3: As you can see, I finally acheived a connection. I don't expect it to last for long.

The Squeeze is on.

Today, we had a plumber in to look at our bathroom leak that has been a thorn in our side for the past month or so.
Showers recently consisted of Scott preparing the rear end of the fixtures with a 'vitamin water' bottle outfitted with a funnel to catch the drip (inside the wall). The drip was not always a drip, sometimes it was a stream.

After three tub re-caulking jobs dutifully undertaken by Scott, we realized we needed a real plumber to fix this.

Turned out we needed a new valve. The valve in place was horribly corroded, getting worse every day (every shower). Could the financial squeeze get worse after all the money we have already spent to help Perry? Yes, it could, and it did.

$1,084 worse. And a brand new hole in the bathroom wall.



I think I will make all my christmas presents this year.

Suzanne, I am thinking of you all day tomorrow! I love you!

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

I plan on spending the day making jewelry for the Big Holiday Sale on Saturday at the gallery.

Scott is working, and the family we usually go to celebrate thanksgiving with is off on a cruise somewhere. I am actually relieved to have the day to myself. I think I will sleep late and wake up and make jewelry in my jammies.

I do have a meal planned.
We are having Roasted Chicken with thyme, lemon and garlic. Accompanying that chicken will be roasted carrots, potatoes, onions and more garlic. Yummmm!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Perry

I picked up Perry's remains on friday.

I asked a fellow etsy seller if she could make an urn for Perry, and this is what she made.

When I found the listing, I wasn't expecting the personalization, I love the 'Perry' tag. I love EarthElements shop.

My little scavenger

There are times when I forget Perry is gone.
Mostly when I wake up and go sleepily to let him out, or when I make a loud noise like dropping something heavy and cringe and go look to see where he is. He didn't like loud noises.
But no times do I miss him more than when I am cooking.
He was always underfoot waiting for something to drop...especially spinach.
That silly dog tripped me up so much when I was cooking that I don't know what to do with all the space I have now.

Perry: a Retrospective, Part 2

Perry was a very sketchy dog, not very trusting at first, and always shaking.
He shook from the minute we picked him out, to the second he made peace with this world.
His entire life, start to finish, shook.

The shaking was constant through all of his 11 years. I will never know if this was because of something that happened in his life, or just because.

He was very afraid of some things when we first got him.
Brooms for one. The first time I picked a broom up in his presence, he cowered and I put the broom away.

He wouldn't go into the basement for the first 2 years he lived with us, in fact, he would stay far away from the open door for a while.

One thing that really upsets me is the fact that Perry cowered at the sight of Scott's gun when he took it out of it's holster (which he does on an almost daily basis). The first time, we both thought, "why should a dog be that afraid of a gun". We started thinking that a dog afraid of a gun must have had some horrible incident with one, one which is burned into his little doggy memory. This never repaired itself. He was always afraid of guns. I feel so terrible that I couldn't quell his fear of guns.

Ultimately, he did start going into the basement, and stopped being afraid of brooms. The gun thing, he never got over.

He never stopped shaking either. I secretly called him 'Shakes McGee'. Ok, not so secretly. I don't know how many people ever heard me call him that, but he knew I was talking about him when he heard me say it.

Ok, so the shaking was not all that bad. We called it the 'stripper dance', he was very good at it. He was prescribed some medication for his shaking years and years ago, to calm him down... I gave it to him once. He was not a pill popping dog, he prefered to be natural. The one and only time I gave him 'that medication' he acted drunk and surley, I felt horrible. He never had it again.

Happy shakey dog. vs. cold surley drunk dog. I chose happy.

'Shakes McGee' yep, that's my 'P'.

To be Continued...

Perry: a Retrospective

We adopted Perry on September 2, 1996 when he was approximately 8 months old.
I say approximately because Scott and I are Perry's 4th owners, so we never did get a proper history for him. We never knew his true breed, his true birthday, or what horrible things happened to him before we finally met.

At the pound, he was the quietest one in the room. He just sat there and looked at us while all the dogs in the other kennels were barking hysterically to be picked. He had a stupid look on his face, and he was panting.

I asked to see him, and they opened the gate. I got down on my knees and pet him while he quietly took the love. He was easily the cutest doggy in the room. Right then I needed him. We looked at other dogs, but I kept thinking of the quiet one. I told Scott I wanted that one. He agreed.

Perry's name was not always Perry. He probably had a few names before his last. When we adopted him, his name was something that had been shortened to Peli, I think it was Italian.

Scott and I were so pleased to have adopted a dog that we felt the need to take him to our friend Kevin's new house to visit on the way home. Perry was trying to climb in the front seat, and would not stop looking out the front windshield. Scott was trying to drive, and getting really perturbed. Forgetting the name of this new dog in his backseat, Scott yelled "Perry! Back!" And Perry listened, and so he was named.

To be Continued...

Trader Joe's

I just recently re-discovered Trader Joe's.
Well, I never really discovered Trader Joe's, but have shopped there a few times over the years, but their markets are too far out of my way to be a regular stop.
Not anymore.
Thanks to my new job in Needham, I get to drive by a Trader Joe's 4 days a week.

I am very pleased so far with the quick meal solutions I have found there.
Tonight we had tamales for dinner from the frozen section. They were great!
A few days ago we tried the marinated Mahi-mahi, delicious.

Today, we also tried an Irish Cheddar with porter. Very daunting looking cheese, but fantastic.

So many different cheeses to try, I think I'll get a new one every week.

Ok, so not only does Trader Joe's have easy, interesting, good for you foods, but they are also inexpensive. Tonights meal of tamales and black beans totaled approximately $5.20...for the two of us! That's half the price of any fast food, and way better!

Picking up the pieces

Well, I haven't as of yet.
Pieces are still everywhere, probably will be until we are ready to pick them up.

Scott and I did have a few good laughs tonight thanks to Suzanne's comment on the previous post.

'Zaipoopish' was a favorite toy of Perry's which he ripped apart, but loved so much that he knew the name. He would pick this toy out of a dozen if I called for it.
It was a ridiculous looking multi colored humanish form with rope hair. Very sturdy, and lasted a long time. I named it after a crazy Tom Waits song called 'Kommienezuspadt', it seemed to fit. I looked through all my pictures, and sadly I have no picture of Zaipoopish. He will just remain in my memory, and Suzanne's apparently. I have no idea how to embed a song on this blog, if I did, you would hear the strangest song ever.

That along with the terrifying 'at times' tuck and run, Perry was truly a character. Scott reminisced tonight about a time that Erik was over and Perry was in a rare form of 'tuck and run'. The most exciting, terrifying type running around you can imagine. He actually tucked his butt under himself and ran around at high speed. This particular evening, Erik was sitting on the couch and Perry was in such high gear, he actually ran 'around' Erik. Yes, up the couch, around the back of the couch (where Erik was sitting), and down the other side. Erik is lucky to have his life.

Thank you Suzanne, this is what we should be focusing on now. The happiness, the good times, the tuck and runs. Zaipoopish!

Perry is still here

I hear his barking when I come home.
I hear his collar jangling when I open a snack.
I hear his toenails clicking on the hardwood floor when the house is silent.
I hear him walking up the stairs when I am in bed.

I woke up this morning at 5am sobbing.
I miss him so much. So much. There are no words.

11/06/2007

Perry passed very peacefully this afternoon at approximately 5:15pm.
He is chasing squirrels up in heaven now. Hopefully eating a lot, and not getting sprayed by skunks.

I will miss him more than anything in the whole world.

For nobody but myself, please look away.

******The title is intended to discourage anyone who is easily upset, especially at work. I read this again before posting, and I blubbered once again. Blubbering seems to be something I am very good at right now.******

I have been breaking out in full blown breath gasping tears tonight, most of the night. It began with Suzanne's sobbing while we drove off with her P-love, and never stopped. I am just a mess. Not your fault Suzanne, in fact, I am so sorry. I love him, too.

This is Perry's last night, and for him it is not proving to be a good one.
He has been having mucus diarrhea all night, a couple of times at J&S's house and 3 times so far at home, and most recently vomiting which is what sent me into such a state of blubbering. Thankfully, all occured outside.

After the vomit episode, I forced a nausea pill into his mouth and got it down. I had decided earlier that I was not going to give him any more pills, but after the vomiting, I thought he may be better off with this one in him. I hope it makes the night easier for him.

My baby is so sick, he is going to heaven tomorrow and I can't stop crying.

I will probably not sleep at all. I am staying downstairs on the couch where I can be close to him.

My face is hot and red and blotchy, nose raw, and my eye sockets are twice the normal size, but I digress. This isn't about me.

Thanks for not reading this.

Sweet Sweet P

I really don't know how to say this.
I have started this post a few times and deleted the attempts.

Perry will be going to sleep for the last time tomorrow. We have an appointment for euthanasia tommorrow at 5pm.

He spent today visiting with people he loves, getting lots of petting and loving, and some car rides with his head out the window.

Tomorrow I will spend the day with him, maybe take a short walk, squeeze him until he can't stand me anymore. I love him to pieces.

His body has given up, his intestines are liquifying, he's been on a super quick downslide.
We have done all we can do. I love you Perry!

Demon Days

My ipod is broken. I have to take it to an apple shop very soon, since I don't have a warrenty on it and it was purchased at the beginning of December (Sweet gift from hubby). It decided all by itself that I only need music coming out of the left earpod. Yeah, I checked three different headphones with it...it is the ipod, not the earpods.

Anyway, I was listening to some of my favorite music on the laptop with my ipod earpods (which sound great, btw, out of both ears) tonight, and I realized that Demon Days is an album that I associate with taking Perry for a walk. We like the progression, the beats and the cadence...good dog walking album, if I may say so myself. It gives big steps and a swift walk.

I just want to remember this. Perry loves the Gorillaz.

Perry update

Perry has completely lost any interest in eating. He is not feeling well at all. I am trying to keep my cool, chalking it up to friday's very aggressive treatment. He still has interest in food, just no interest in eating.
This afternoon I came home to an accident in the kitchen, a small one since he hasn't eaten much in the last few days. After I cleaned that up, I had to force feed him his pills. Something I only recently started to do since he stopped taking pills in food. I hate doing that. I have to pry his mouth open, get my whole hand in there, place the pill as far to the back as I can, and then close his mouth and keep his head up until he swallows. The strange thing is, I do this with two hands, so I am not holding him there, he just stays there all by himself. I am wondering if he is losing his fight. I wish he could speak. We shared a hug filled, petting, and crying time today. He knows I love him, he doesn't leave my side these days.

WIB open house

Today was the Women In Business Open House at the Elks club in Norwood.
We didn't have a very good turn out, but I managed to do okay. Actually I did quite well considering I didn't expect to sell anything. I sold two necklaces, two bracelets and two pairs of earrings. I consider that a success. I also gave out a lot of cards and spoke to a lot of people who were interested in my stuff.
One woman I met runs a walking house tour in Norwood every year around christmas time, she asked me if I would be willing to give her some jewelry items for her to sell at the end of the tour. Last year their were over 140 people, this year she expects 150-200 people. I am totally IN. She relies on ticket sales, so she wants no compensation for selling my (or anyone elses) stuff. How could I turn this down? I can't. I think the walk/sale is on December 8th this year. I have to re-check that date, but I figure I have about 1 month to get my shit together for it.

Now we wait and see.

We are home from the oncology center.
Perry behaved very good for this treatment, another iv one. This one took 10 minutes to administer as opposed to the usual couple of minutes. He needed a shot to combat nausea, as this treatment is known to cause dogs to vomit. There was no vomiting, thank the lucky stars.

There was, however, diarrhea on the ride to the treatment. Yeah, you heard that right. IN MY CAR! Thankfully only on the blanket. I could have killed us both trying to keep him away from that side of the backseat while I was driving. I was almost in tears.
After the treatment, Jessica gave us another blanket for the backseat, thanks Jess.
He just slept most of the ride home.

So, we need to make an appointment with our regular vet to get bloodwork done next friday. No oncology visit next week. We are now on the every two weeks plan, for the time being.

Thursday

Another Perry post.

Perry is not doing so well today.
He hardly ate, I had a hard time getting his meds into him. He spit out deli ham! Unbelieveable.

I woke up this morning to diarrhea again in the kitchen (good thing we confine him at night these days) but this diarrhea was unlike the norm. This was very mucussy (is that a word?). It was like thick brown stinky spit. Much different from other messes I have had to clean up. Yes, more bad news. Sorry.

Tomorrow after work, I take him to the NEVOG for his 5th chemo treatment which will be the most aggressive one yet. I am trying to be optomistic. He is done with the weekly treatments, so now it will be once every two weeks for a while. If we see no improvement in the next two weeks from tomorrows treatment, well, you know. I hate to say it.

Shitty Tuesday

Perry has had a couple of hard days with the eating and diarrhea.
I woke up this morning to a liquidy mess on the kitchen floor.
Last night he wouldn't eat until I started hand feeding him.
I am so depressed.
The highs and lows are really killing me.
We have changed his diarrhea medication a few times, and nothing seems to be working. We have never gained control of it, we may never.

I called the oncologist, he said that friday's chemo treatment will be a super strong one. Very aggressive drugs, the most aggressive so far. If there is no improvement after this next treatment, Scott and I have decided to stop the chemo. I am not convinced that it is doing anything at all at this point. I will still keep my fingers crossed for fridays treatment, but I am afraid that it may be his last.

All this sounds so bad, and it is, especially since Perry is still not acting like a sick dog. This is what kills us. He just looks skinny, won't eat, and has no stool to speak of, only brown watery diarrhea.

I wish I had something positive to say. Sorry for the bad news.

World Series Champions 2007 The Boston Red Sox

I am not a huge sports fan, but I have been watching this series and the games that they won to make this possible.
I am so proud of the Sox. They won fair and square. They are a great team even if I don't understand all the stats that are thrown around.

Yay for the champions, the 2007 Boston Red Sox.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game, does this mean I am a sports fan? I love the Sox!

Fancy Earrings

Aquamarine and labradorite



Turquoise



Garnet, ruby and carnelian

Simple Bracelets

I made so many earrings and bracelets yesterday, that I thought I would finally make a jewelry post with some new items.

I found these awesome stones at my LBS when I went in to purchase some gold wire. I try not to impulse buy at bead stores because I could go broke quickly, but I just had to have these!



I am in love with this stone!
I made this bracelet for myself with my favorite bead from the strand...although I love them all!

I also made two similarly styled bracelets with a couple of lampwork beads my friend Liz sent me ages ago. I never knew what to do with them before, because they stand on their own so nicely. I love these beads, too! It's hard to believe that these were just 'practice' beads, she is so talented.


Here is another of the green vein jasper, I listed this one on etsy.


I also made a bunch more bracelets, and a bunch of earrings. I will post some of the earrings in a while. I am gearing up for my small show with the WIB gals. Open house on November 4th. I will have a lot of new stuff to show and hopefully sell.

Friday

Perry's appointment today went well.
He had another IV treatment and didn't fight much this time. I think he knows it is helping him. He gave Jessica some loving afterwards and she gave him treats. He knows the drill now.
He slept almost the whole car ride home. When we got home, he ate. Yay!

Red Sox

The Red Sox won the first game in the World Series against the Colorado Rockies.

Good game, although I am not sure they won because of how great they played as how bad the Rockies played. The Rockies had a really bad game, they actually let 5 runs score in just because of balls in ONE (5th) inning! Geez. That is pretty bad.
Josh Beckett was unbelievable tho.

The Rockies got their asses handed to them. Seriously!

13 to 1! Congratulations Red Sox!!!!

I am happy, and tired.

Perry continues to do great this week.
I was getting worried there over the weekend and into monday, but now I have a hungry fiesty dog that doesn't want to sit still. He is rubbing for hugs, wants to chase things outside, and keeps going back to his bowl. I am super happy about that.
At the moment he is nudging my arm to pet him, it makes it hard to type!

I worked this morning for Jake, went to the police station to get fingerprinted for work, went back to work, did some work, then came home. I was super tired, so I took a nap. Then I went to work at the Gallery and got home at about 9:45pm. Welcome to the real world, Nancy. This is really cutting into my crafty time.
I have to do it all over tomorrow, although I will not get home so late.
The good thing about this situation is that I can come home between jobs for a while and spend some time with Perry. He took a nap with me today on the (Scott, look away!) BED. Hahaa!

Perry's feeling better.

Perry has been feeling better today.

He had such a lousy weekend and monday was no better.

Today on the other hand has been completely different. He was actually eating dry food. He was still hungry after I fed him his wet food that I thought I would just put some dry in it and see what happens. I couldn't believe my eyes when he ate some. He hasn't touched dry food in ages, unless it is someone elses food (Raven). This is a very interesting turn of events.

Let's see how he is tomorrow. Another day like today, and he just might put on another pound before his next oncology visit.

Red Sox Won the ALCS!

I won't be seeing Scott tonight.

I am happy, but poor Scott is working and won't be coming home until the streets are cleared.

I on the other hand am going to bed right now. I plan on getting a good nights sleep.

Congratulations to the Red Sox!!!!

Pictures, not that great since it is late.

I took some pics of P tonight.

Here he is in all his glory!

Here is Perry frolicking at Raven's house tonight. He actually ran around for a bit.

He wants Suzannes attention...He is soooo cute!

At home, he sits and waits for 'something'.

He is such a good boy. He just wants to please. I love him so much! Don't mind the mess behind him. Pretend you didn't see that.

What a good boy! I have many more pictures, but I can't post them all here. Or can I....

Sunday. More of the same.

Perry's not been feeling so great.
He hasn't really eaten much the last couple of days. I will call the oncologist in the morning and chit chat about that.

Today, we took a car ride to visit with Raven, Suzanne and Jape.

Perry is ALWAYS up for a car ride. He was playful at first when we got there, but when he wanted to leave, it was definately apparent to me. We left after a little more than an hour.
When we got home, I tried to feed him again. He ate a little bit, but was not that interested to finish it. He did get some treats at Raven's house, so I know he got 'some' food today.

He is still looking pretty good, and still spunky when he wants to be. I am rooting for him big time!

In other news, Scott is working forced overtime tonight at the Red Sox game against the Indians at Fenway park, this is the crucial 7th game in the ALCS series. I hope they win, but that would mean that Scott may not come home until the crack of dawn, so I am also oddly torn. Maybe they will let him go in late tomorrow morning.

Lastly, I am taking Perry to work with me tomorrow. There will not be so many distractions as on saturday since I work alone on monday.

Saturday night update

Perry ate some dinner, he is finally feeling a bit better.

While we are on the subject of updates, Marsha had her surgery on friday.
Total thyroid removal. She is doing good, considering one half of her thyroid was the size of a pear. :0
I spoke with her yesterday after her operation and again today, at the hospital. I also spoke with Jimmy (at the house) and heard him yelling at Jack while he was on the phone with me. I had to laugh at him for that. He is not used to being the sole caregiver.
She is spending another night in the hospital, she will get some much needed rest, even if she doesn't look at it that way.

Good day, lousy night.

Friday was Scott and my 16th wedding anniversary, and we celebrated by taking Perry for his 3rd chemotherapy treatment together.

We thought he was getting a treatment, however, it was just a check-up with blood tests and a talk with the oncologist. Things went well. We were given Perry's third treatment to administer at home this morning. This treatment consisted of 4 pills of a very toxic nature, and two diuretic pills. The four pills were to be given (wearing surgical gloves) in the morning along with one diuretic, and then lots of drinking water and peeing. The second diuretic I will give to Perry tomorrow morning.

I took Perry to work with me today following the chemo pills, he was fine all day. He drank a lot and peed a lot as he was supposed to. He met a lot of people and got a lot of petting. He also slept by the back door and soaked in the sun, I think he liked that, but now I am thinking that maybe it was just a bit too much for him.

Tonight he is not doing so well. I think he is nauseous because he didn't touch his food. He has been laying low, too. Not up for anything really.
This is the first noticeable discomfort that Perry has experienced with his chemotherapy treatments. This treatment was not supposed to have any side effects, except the drinking and peeing.

I hope he perks up tomorrow. I hate to see him uncomfortable.
He did have a great day, tho. Tonight, not so much.

Ladybugs!

Today I came home from work to a swarm of ladybugs on my front porch. They were everywhere. This happens sometimes this time of year, but today it was just incredible. If this happens again tomorrow I really need to get a picture.
I let Perry out the back door, and they were flying all around back there, too. Three came in and stayed on the screen, but I was able to scoot them out.

Perry remains hungry from the drugs, I can't sate him at all, poor thing.
He has his third treatment tomorrow afternoon. They will just administer some pills tomorrow, so no IV thankfully. He continues to feel good, is feisty, hungry, and in excellent spirits. I witnessed his bowel movement this afternoon, and it was actual poop this time. I hope this is the end of the constant diarrhea.

New Job

I started my new job today working for Jake as his assistant.
I think it is going to be very interesting. I will learn the world of finance. It will be like learning a foreign language. Some things started to make sense, but I can tell that this is a learn as you go situation. Jake can talk finance until the cows come home, it is his passion, I will learn a lot from him.

I was hoping for some extra cash taking this job, but now it will partially fund Perry's chemo treatments. So, there is some good timing for us. Nothing like getting a second job just before you need it.
Between the gallery and Jake, I may just hit 40 hours a week. Imagine that! Scott is thrilled, as I imagined he would be.

This would not feel right without giving a Perry update, so here it is...He feels great! He is frolicking and eating. His poops still are not what they should be, but I am still hopeful. I promised him I would take him for a walk tomorrow, I hope he doesn't peter out quickly like he did the other day. I may just walk him around close to home so when he is ready to go in, we aren't still 10 minutes from the door.

The good continues...

Perry had his second chemotherapy treatment this afternoon. He did well considering the technician (Jessica), a helper, and I had to hold him down muzzled and yelping because this treatment meant a catheter in his leg. Perry has foot issues for those of you who don't know. He obviously knew we were holding him down to help him, because in the end he gave up and let the peeps do with him what they would, and we did.

He got three injections into the catheter in his leg. Each subsequent one was easier for Jessica to administer. When the treatment was over (a matter of minutes) the muzzle came off, and he was jumping for some love from Jessica...he knows, she gives him treats!
He was a bit lethargic on the ride home, but all in all came through with flying colors! We even went to visit friends (Jape and Suzanne) and he chased a cat (Marvin), played a little with his friend Raven, and stole one of Ravens toys and ran around the house with it, repeatedly. He is doing remarkable. I am so happy.

Another happy incident...Jape gave Scott got some tips on restoring his computer which has not been working for the last two or so months. He has tried various fix it discs to no avail. I was thinking he got a fatal virus from some evil website, but after about an hour of restoring, it seems to be working. He lost everything on it, but he has internet access once again, so he is happy. The computer also seems to be much swifter, I don't know why, maybe it was bogged down, but now it seems speedy quick.

Scott is happy, Perry is happy, so I am happy. Yay for another good day!

A good day

Perry's behaviour has improved 100%.
I can't believe the shift in mood, appetite, even appearance.
The prednisone was supposed to give him back his appetite, but it has literally made him ravenous. It has taken a ton of willpower not to overfeed him today.
I love to see him eating!
His poops have seemed to firm up too.

We took a short 25 minute walk today, I think that was about 10 minutes too long for him. He started trying to walk up the walkways of all the blue houses after 15 minutes, thankfully we were already headed back home anyway.

Tomorrow afternoon we have his second chemotherapy treatment.

Perry eats!

I think the prednisone is doing its trick.
Perry ate this morning, a chicken breast and some broccoli.
Then tonight I cooked him up some hamburger meat and mixed in some sweet potato baby food, he ate that too.
It's so good to see him eating. He also ate a bunch of milkbone biscuits throughout the day.
Hopefully this will be the end of his drastic weight loss. He may even put on a pound or ten!
Yay for steroids.

And this is the 5th anniversary of my two great friends Jape and Suzanne...
Happy anniversary J and S!!!

It's a good day!

Chemotherapy

We have decided to start Perry on Chemotherapy.

The way he will respond to this treatment remains to be seen.
He had his first injection today, Elspar (L'asparaginase), he did well and we should not see any type of side effect with this drug.
He is also on prednisone therapy, and will still be taking his metronidazole to treat his diarrhea.

We are starting this with the knowledge that he may be on this treatment for the rest of his life. If this treatment does not seem to be working after 3 weeks, we will stop and just try to keep him comfortable until his quality of life suffers.

The oncologist gave the treatment 30-40% that the cancer will go into remission for 8 - 12 months. We should see signs that it is working within 2 or 3 weeks, if it is working, we will continue, if not we won't.
Simple as that.

Perry may look skinny, but he is super strong and playful. He is not acting sick except for the weight loss and diarrhea. These were strong factors in our final decision. He has very good quality of life at the moment, so if we can keep that going, I think it is worth it.

We will be tightening our pursestrings as this is very expensive, we have already spent $2000 on diagnosing this ($700 at the vet over the last month, $1300 at the hospital), and we spent another $300 today for his first treatment. Subsequent treatments will be between $200-300.

Let's hope it works!

Oncology appointment tomorrow

Scott and I are taking Perry to the New England Veterinary Oncology Group (NEVOG) tomorrow for a 12:45pm appointment.

Dr. Philibert will meet with us and discuss Perry's options.
I have to pick up his x-rays and ultrasounds at TuftsVETS because they could not be faxed (they faxed all his other records), but that is a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.

Perry ate a bit tonight, some boiled hamburger meat mixed in with a jar of sweet potato baby food. I fed him half of it earlier, and he ate it up willingly. I just tried to give him some more tonight, and he only picked at it. I got him to take his metronidazole this morning in a piece of deli turkey breast. I have another dose to try to get him to eat this evening, I will try the turkey again, hopefully with success.

So tomorrow will be very enlightening for us, we will decide what measures we will take for his healthcare and well being.

I just want to keep him comfortable at this point, and if I can give him a few good months, I will do what I can.

My sweet P.

Marsha and her thyroids

I was supposed to be heading to Mississippi in just over 5 hours.
My flight was at 6am.

Needless to say, I had to cancel my flight. With Perry being so sick, and Scott and I not knowing exactly how we will treat or maintain his terminal illness until we speak to an oncologist, I had to postpone my trip.

I feel horrible, but I had to choose what's best for my family, and this was it.

Marsha postponed her operation until October 19th, she is having her overgrown thyroids out. I know that ultimately this will make her feel better, but the fact that she has no solid help really leaves me feeling shitty. I really wanted to help with the kids, the cooking, the yelling...etc. I love her kids, they are great monsters.

This leaves me feeling a bit empty as I sit here with my sick dog and try to make sense of all this crappy timing. People say that things happen for a reason, but right now I wonder what could be a good reason for all this bad timing?

Lymphoma

Perry's tests came back 'no question' intestinal (GI) lymphoma.

The prognosis for this type of lymphoma is 2 weeks to 3 months if left untreated after diagnosis, using prednisone therapy. It sounds like a treatment, but it isn't.

Another road we can take would be chemotherapy. Hopefully pushing his lymphoma into remission. We are seriously considering this route, although there are no guarantees.

I have just spent over 1/2 hour writing these short sentences and erasing and writing again. I started to debate here all by myself, and to see the words in print here makes me erase it. I cannot explain why we are considering chemotherapy at the moment, but we will be consulting an oncologist hopefully tomorrow and I will have more answers.

I just want Perry to be as comfortable as he can be.

My Littlest P-love

Scott and I went to visit Perry at the hospital early this evening.
He was happy to see us, got a lot of petting and loving and a couple of walks around the grassy parts of the parking lot.

He has not eaten anything since sunday. He is getting fluids through a catheter IV in his arm. He had a bout of diarrhea this afternoon about 1/2 hour before I called to see if we could visit him...poor littlest P-love.

We are waiting on a test of his lymph nodes to come back tomorrow afternoon. I am hoping for the best, expecting the worst.

Perry

Perry was admitted this afternoon at TuftsVETS hospital.

Hopefully I will hear something of his condition by tomorrow.

A small Success!

Perry got his meds down tonight with Provolone cheese.

It was touch and go for a few minutes, but in the end he swallowed them down, albeit a little apprehensively.

So, how can a dog who used to love any kind of cheese determine the difference between provolone and cheddar? I have no idea.

It boggles the mind actually.

Tomorrow is our visit at the specialist hospital...stay tuned.

P-Love...again

Today was a really hard food day.

I tried to feed him this morning, and he wanted nothing do to with anything I tried to give him...including a can of Mighty Dog. So I guess he has lost interest in the most loved junk food for dogs now. He still had interest in treats, especially the crunchy kind. Scott tossed him a few rice crackers, and he was all over those, but it is hard to hide a pill in a rice cracker.

I tried to get him to take his medication with cheese once again, and between the two pills he caught on to me. He took the first pill in cheese, but the second one was not as successful at all. He never did get that second one in him, even after many attempts to fool him with various things. The cheese, some bread, a peanut butter treat, he was on to us. I have another dose of the two medications to try to get into him tonight, I don't know how I will do that. More importantly, I don't know what good these meds are doing in the first place.

The Mighty Dog stayed in his bowl untouched all day. I threw that away tonight, and cooked him up a chicken breast, some broccoli, and mixed in some basmati rice from a couple of days ago. He actually ate. Not the whole thing, but all the chicken anyway.

We are going to TuftsVETS tomorrow, so maybe they will give him some fluids. I fear he is getting dehydrated from all the diarrhea, and even tho he didn't vomit today, the last two days he did, so that can't be good either.

I am sick just thinking about all this. At this point I am just thinking of this blog as good documentation on his food intake and diarrhea expultion.

Perry, what else is there to talk about?

I just took him out to 'go' and witnessed watery diarrhea once again.
Kathy called me today, and although she may not know it, she scared the hell out of me. She has had sick dogs in the past, and has two pugs with various health problems right now. So, she encouraged me to look into other options for Perry. I was thinking that his vet is doing all he can, but since the diarrhea won't stop, and the last two mornings there was also vomiting involved, I better get him some different help.

I called TuftsVETS today to see about an internal specialist. None are on duty on the weekend, so I will take him there monday after work.

I will call my vet on monday morning, and hopefully have him call them and send Perry's records so they can expect him.

Perry has not gotten any better, and I fear he is getting worse.

I cried alot yesterday, and a little today. I need him to get better, or at least gain some control over this.

Perry ate a can of Mighty Dog

Since the vet said that eating a twinkie is better than not eating at all, I fed P-love a can of Mighty Dog tonight. He likes it cause it is smelly.
This wasn't before I tried everything else, including baby food (a suggestion from the vet's nurse). He has lost interest in anything that I cook for him. I wonder how long before he loses interest in the Mighty Dog.

A bit of reference here for anyone who doesn't know Perry, here is a pic of him on July 14th, 2006. He looked similar to this at the beginning of this summer.


Here is Perry two days ago.


My P does not seem to be getting better at all.
I speak to the vet often, give updates, get advice, we are all stumped. More tests, and vet appointments are what I look forward to these days, along with a good cry.
This dog would eat anything, and now he is like an anorexic model. Only anorexic models probably do not have chronic diarrhea.

Another Perry post

I got Perry to take his pills tonight with provolone cheese.
His doses earlier I gave him wrapped in american cheese slices.
Both times he was skeptical of my intentions in feeding him cheese, and tried to chew and spit them out at first, but got them down in the end.

He ate the leftover gourmet meal I cooked for him tonight after I mixed in Scott and my leftover fish from dinner. And he is taking treats of dried beef liver very willingly.

Tonight I fed him a can of mighty dog that I had on hand from earlier this summer when he stopped eating his food. I was mixing it in with his dry to get him to eat and it was working for a short time. This time, I just let him have the can alone, and he scarfed it up. A small bit of food, but it is encouraging.

I took him out to 'go' and witnessed another blast of diarrhea. Liquidy brown fluid. I hope these new medications help him.

At least he is drinking water. I am going to call the vet in the morning to see if I can give him some kind of sports drink like gatorade, or if there is an electrolite drink for dogs on the market that I can give him. This diarrhea has got to stop, it is killing me just witnessing his distress.

Perry

We just got home from the vet.

I am now awaiting labwork from yet another stool sample.
I should hear something about that tomorrow.

Perry could have Inflammatory Bowel Disease, although I don't think that a diagnosis for this can be given without exploratory surgery (they would have to biopsy a section of his intestine), we will try to treat it as this for now, and see if things improve.

He is on two meds now, a 15 day supply of Sucralfate 1gm twice a day(which he had been on for a few days already), and a 7 day supply of Metronidazole 250mg twice a day.

He has lost yet another pound since his last visit. I tried to feed him his gourmet meal freshly cooked of chicken, rice, and broccoli when we got home from the vet. He sniffed at it and walked away.

This is killing me. I want him to eat!

His diarrhea was so bad this weekend, it was just brown liquid, nothing more. It has firmed up just a tad since then, but it is still worse than when we started this whole ordeal.

I am exhaused, stressed out and worried beyond rational thinking.

Noxious fumes

Perry has been attempting to gas us out of our home.
I am convinced of this.

He is letting loose the most noxious, vile, unearthly smells you can ever hope to survive.

I wonder if the CDC should get involved.

I hope this is temporary.

It's closing time for the cottage

The time has finally come.

Actually, it snuck up on us.

Scott and I will make the drive up to PEI tomorrow after I get home from work to close up the cottage for the winter. This will be a first for us. We have closed the cottage a whole bunch of times before, but it has always been after being up there for 2 weeks.

This time we are driving up just to close.
I am dreading this, I am not happy.

Perry, along with his pooping problems and the steam cleaner, are staying with Jape and Suzanne. He hasn't had an accident in the last two days, so our fingers are crossed that he won't have another.

I am going to have to get some serious sleep tonight, and possibly a small nap after work tomorrow. I really hate feeling like a zombie, but for this trip, I feel it may be inevitable. We will try to get this done as quickly as possible. Ghaa!

Mom's Surprise 70th

My sisters and I planned a surprise birthday party for my mom. The surprise was last night, and it was a total success. I couldn't have hoped for a better turn out.

I have neglected to post any plans on here previously in case mom checked out my blog...which she never does, but you never know. I have told her to check it from time to time in the past.

Anyhoo, the night turned out fabulously even after my almost meltdown. I had spent the last two days not sure that the lodge would remember that I had rented the space. I made the deposit approximately a month previous, and checked the place out. It looked good, I was feeling good. Then a couple of days before the party, I tried to call to confirm, and left a message, no one got back to me.
I then called early on the day of, and left a message, and no one got back to me...
I then was forced to call George Parrelli while he was at work at the Pleasant cafe bartending (he is a member of the lodge, a true old timer) and he gave me Andy's home phone number. I called Andy's home, spoke with his wife, and she put my mind at ease.

So, all went off without a hitch. I am pleased with the results. Mom got lots of gifts from people she loves, and was totally surprised.

Here are some pics...
A photo of what you saw as you walked in.

A matted invitation ready for signatures, along side the present table...

The birthday girl greeting her friends and family, here she is greeting my Aunt Elena


The birthday girl (in the center wearing a tiara). She was so surprised. This pic is after she had calmed down and greeted everyone. She is relaxing watching the juggler show.

Peter Panic the juggler/commedian. He did a great job, we had a lot of fun.

Peter almost rolled over Maria. She is okay...heehee.

Everyone had a great time, including Dolly the birthday girl.
I just got off the phone with her tonight. 1 hour 21 minutes 46 seconds. She is clearly still beaming. Happy birthday mom!

Sick Dog? I've had enough!

Perry is becoming as much of an embarrassment as my broken zipper.

This dog is still sick, but not acting like it (unless you count the endless diarrhea). I am at my wits end!

Scott and I woke up once again to a treat of loose stool in the book room this morning. This may garner a sympathetic reaction to readers of all ages, but our bedroom door was open and there was no whining, scratching, yelping, or general "I need to go out" type behaviour. In fact, I was in half sleep most of the night and morning, and heard nothing...NOTHING!

This leads me to believe that either Perry has totally lost his ability to hold any type of stool with no modesty, or that he thinks it is okay now to just shit in the same spot whenever he feels the urge. I say the same spot, because it has been the SAME SPOT for the last 3 accidents, and I use the term 'accident' loosely.

I am extremely thankful to my friends J and S for allowing us to hold on to their ultra powerful carpet steam cleaner, since it has been in use for the last week and a half. Thanks J and S!

So tonight, I fed Perry for the last time at 6pm, hoping to limit his 'need' in the morning.
I still await the results from the loose stool sample I brought to the vet on monday. He is acting very energetic and eats his food quickly. He is not acting like a sick dog at all. He still looks skinny, has not gained any weight, and Scott observed this morning that his last 'mistake' smelled like fresh dog food. A little disturbing, but we can only wait and see.

Scott covered the offending spot to 'shit on' with newspaper before he went to bed. I am hoping that either Perry gets confused by that and wakes us to go out, or he just fucking shits on the paper!

So J and S, are you ready to watch P next week? Ha!

No one's got my back.

I just changed for bed.

While undressing, I noticed that the rear zipper on the skirt I was wearing was all the way down.
The only thing keeping my skirt from falling down was the catch at the top.
How embarrassing.
I've been showing a little slice of my aqua blue undies all day long(or at least since the zipper fell down).

I am now in a state of self-conscious distress.
Thanks for reading.

Alien Amoeba Pendant

So, the pseudopods are more round in this version, but all I could think of was an amoeba when I look at this. So maybe this is what an alien amoeba looks like...who knows?

I melted the balls using sterling silver scrap wire and sheet. I formed the bezed using fine sterling bezel wire and soldered the bezel and melted blobs of silver onto a backplate.

I sawed out the design, which rounds each and every sterling ball and then filed and sanded until I could file and sand no more. I think it still needs some more, but after two days on this project, I just would like it to be finished. I oxidized and polished it. I may work more on this in the coming weeks, but tommorow I will just wear it as it is. I am happy with the outcome, but it could be better.


There is a gouge in the bezel (between 9 and 10 on a clock) which will not come out, but I am fine with that if I keep this for myself.

This is quite heavy for its size, the balls are solid sterling and the backplate is 24ga. I will wear it tomorrow and see if I get any feedback on it.

Perry's Prognosis

The vet called tonight at 9:30pm. Yeah, 9:30pm.
I was so nervous all day wondering what the hell is wrong with my dog, and everytime I called the office, I was given the same mechanical statements, I would get a phone call. I didn't expect it to come so late. Scott and I were watching 'What Perez Says' when the call finally came in. As a matter of fact, Scott had just said something like "we aren't going to hear tonight" when I shushed him cause my phone was ringing.

So, the vet told me that Perry's problem is not serious, it is not something that cannot be managed or cured. His bloodwork came back good, and his urine tests, too.
His problem is that he has NO bacteria in his intestines. Or at least that's what I got out of the conversation. There was a whole lot of medical mumbo jumbo that I am too innocent to comprehend, so...

Here is my take on the prognosis...in laymans terms:

Perry has evicted the good bacteria in his system. He told 'them' to get the hell out by not eating. This has caused a whole lot of diahhrea and a bit of vomiting. The food that he has been getting down is being all curned up by his stomach acids, but when the churned food gets into his intestines where the good stuff happens, it is not being absorbed into nutrition, it is just coming out. He has not been getting any nutrition out of what little food he has been eating. So, he has been losing weight, too.

The food that I picked up at the vet is a bland, easily digestable canned food that Perry can't get enough of. He actually scratches at his bowl for more...he has never done that with any other food. He had two cans yesterday, and three today.

Unfortunately, he still has diarrhea. I expressed my concern to the vet, and was told to start mixing in some good bacteria into his food. So I will pick that up tomorrow at the vet office, along with a different type of food to feed him until the diarrhea stops.

Perry is already acting alot better and hungry, which is GREAT, and I am sure when he gets his buddies back in his system, he will be having some great sturdy girthy poops once again.

I am so relieved. I hope the bacteria treatment works.

My P-Love is ill.

I am afraid my poor P-Love is sick. Really sick.
Perry has had diarrhea bad for the last 4 days that I have noticed, and loose stools for a lot longer than that.
He has been losing weight, most noticably to me the last week or so.

He lost his appetite for his food about 2 days ago, and would only take snacks willingly.

So this morning I awoke, took a shower, and got ready for work, all while P stayed at the top of the stairs between the bedroom and bathroom doors. I walked over him about 6 times. I finished getting ready for work, walked downstairs to find about a 5 foot length of diarrhea on the carpet along with 2 small piles of vomit.

This dog does NOT make a habit of shitting in the house. He can actually hold his needs for hours and hours usually, so I knew something was wrong.

I called Julie (the shop needed to be opened), called the vet, and called Scott.
The vet accepted my plea for Perry to be seen immediately and I rushed him over.
He was examined, prodded, had blood drawn, and I was asked a million questions. His temperature was elevated, he was dehydrated (not so much so to require an iv), and his weight was 6 pounds lighter than his last visit (June).

So, until I get any blood work results, I am left with 3 scenarios. I am sure the vet wants to rule out the worst first and then focus on lesser problems.
I left the vet with my sick dog with the knowledge that we could be facing cancer, lyme disease (kidney shutdown) or a gastrointestinal disorder.
As you can imagine I am quite beside myself over this at the moment.
I was also asked to gather a urine sample to bring in, I wondered if I would be able to do this, but I was successful this evening, so it is in my fridge right now in a little test tube with rubber top that the vet gave me.

I do have some good news tho. I also left the vet with some medications and some prescription canned food. I fed Perry a half can when we returned from the vet, along with the first of his doses of meds. He gobbled up the food.
I went to work fully expecting to come home to another mess of diarrhea and vomit, and I didn't. Perry actually was hungry when I got home, so I fed him the other half can and he gobbled that up, too.

This evening he was ravenous, I fed him a whole can and he wanted more. I gave him his night meds and he seems to be doing better. Both the meds are for intestinal disorders. One actually is prescribed for ulcers, too.

So, I am beginning to be a bit optimistic. I fear the worst, but I am hoping for the best. I know dogs don't live forever, but I am not done with Perry yet!
I will bring the urine to the vet in the morning and ask about the bloodwork, I hope they have something to tell me. I will post when I hear more.

Filigree pendant and earring set

I really thought this would come out a whole lot better than it did.
I am not completely happy with this set, but I will still wear it and get some feedback, maybe someone will like it.

Filigree is something I have been thinking of trying for quite some time, and I had mastered it in my brain a long time ago. I didn't realize that my brain's idea of this design and my actual execution could be so different. I really had this all figured out, but the finished pieces are not up to par to my original idea. I will practice more and maybe someday I will have something to be proud of.

I wanted this to be totally plain, but since the outcome wasn't so perfect, I decided to texture and hammer a bit to mask the mistakes. There are a couple of joins that didn't solder, too, so don't be too judgemental, I already know they are not perfect. Enjoy.


I don't know if you can tell by the pictures or not, but the earrings are much nicer than the pendant. I will try again, and post my next attempt.
I still really like the design, but I think I can do better...yes...for sure I can do better.

Field Hockey!

My sister-in-law Denise called me earlier tonight to get some ideas on some jewelry items she could sell at consessions at hockey games her daughters were involved in.

I tried to brainstorm with her on the phone, and came up with some ideas involving making a design she made using polymer clay. Then I would take her clay design and make a mold of it. The mold would then be used to fabricate the design using precious metal clay (PMC). I am not a teacher, but I was willing to try. Anything to help my adopted-by-marriage sister.

I was thinking that I would make a mold of her original, and instruct her on how to use the PMC to create silver charms out of it. This would have been a whole lot of work for an already too busy gal as her, but that is what we ended up deciding upon...well.... I brainstormed by myself later on tonight, and came up with something that she may just like even better.



So, here is what I came up with, it involved 1/2 round wire, a hammer, a screwdriver, and pliers. This took a total of 5 minutes to complete (without adding the chain). I added the chain because I plan on giving this necklace to my jr. varsity hero Leah (#2 niece) but I think Denise could sell these pendants easily at games for some profit. I will attack her tomorrow with my newly revised idea and see what she thinks of it. I think the less time she has to work on it the better. She is a busy gal as it is.