Perry is afraid of sports

Poor Perry gets frantically insecure when loud sports are on the television. I say insecure, but what I really mean is insane.

Scott is watching a UFC fight on tv, and Perry is cowering at my feet in the kitchen.

I briefly sat next to Scott to watch a little of the fight, and this poor dog circled the coffee table trying to gain purchase underneath our feet. Circling the table, getting pushed, circling more, getting yelled at... This results in Scott yelling at Perry to get "OUT" which only makes Perry's insecurities worse. It also tends to put Scott in a bad mood, which makes Perry even more irritating (P only likes happiness). When he gets yelled at in such a way, he ends up with his head down trying to find a happy, quiet, safe place.

I ultimately had to move my body to the kitchen, which forced the dog that lives by my feet to follow me. I don't understand this behaviour, but I should be used to it by now, because this is how he has been since we took him home 11 years ago.

Poor, poor sketchy dog.

Here is a picture of P thoroughly relaxing...see? He does relax sometimes...sometimes. Yeah, his insecurities are not physical ones, just mental ones. How sexy is he?

Can't Sleep

I don't know why I can't sleep tonight, but here I am awake and surfing the internet.
I checked all my usual haunts, and my etsy store...I even bought something on etsy tonight.

I bought a watercolor 4x6 card from my good friend Meilan from Vancouver. A card with a thistle painting on it, by Meilan's Mom. Thanks Mei!

If Scott wasn't sleeping right now, I would be hammering something or other. That is what I seem to be doing on my off hours these days. I made a couple of pairs of earrings tonight, but the sun is my best light for pictures, so I will have to photo them when the sun comes up....yeah, I know I won't be seeing the sun come up. It's too late for me. I will make my second attempt at sleeping now.
Thanks for listening.

Using Scraps

I looked at my ever growing silver scrap pile today for some inspiration.
I know that is a stretch, but you never know when something will hit you.
I bought an ounce of 3/4" sterling discs about 2 months ago and haven't really even looked at them since, until I started going through the scraps. So I used the discs as bases for these two abstract pendants/charms.

This one started as a panda face, but the ears wouldn't fuse on, so I soldered a dunce hat on instead. I guess I was angry with it, so I decided it needed the dunce hat to go sit in the corner. It is about 1 3/16" from top of hat to bottom of disc.

This one is truly abstract. I don't even know what it looks like other than maybe some kind of chinese or japanese symbol. Just writing this gives me tons of ideas now...hmmmm. This one is approximately 1" from top to bottom.

Both pieces are fused silver. Both have been highly textured, hammered and oxidized.

The End

Grandma Anna died friday morning, August 17, 2007.
Aspiration pneumonia did her in.

I am an asshole, because I am so ambivalent to this news. Actually, I am not ambivalent, I am unaffected.

People keep saying "I'm so sorry" and I keep hearing myself say "don't be".
Grandma Anna was evil. Evil to her dying breath.
There is an entire ward at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center sighing releif.

Tomorrow is her wake and funeral. A short 2 hour wake, then a service, then to the graveyard. We will all go out to chinese food after.

We're Home

We have been home now for a couple of days.
The trip to Vegas was truly an experience I will not soon forget. We have already been talking about getting a group of people together for the next trip. We had a great time alone, but I think having friends/family around would be even better. The last two days my feet hurt (never go on vacation with new shoes) but that didn't stop us from walking many, many miles.

We finally did catch the Mirage volcano eruption. I think because it was cancelled the first time we tried to watch it, I ultimately found it to be less than climactic. It lasted a whole 2 minutes.

Thursday we went to the pool to kill some time, and I had a long island iced tea with nothing in my stomach, I do not recommend this. Scott had a strawberry daquiri. Then we went to lunch at Bill's Gambling Hall, it was just okay.
We had dinner that night at Isla in TI, I had salmon over a cole slaw and tomato salad (excellent!) Scott had roast pork loin (also excellent). We wasted a bit of time gambling at the video poker again, and then turned in early.

Friday we checked out as late as possible because we would be homeless all day waiting for our late night flight. Our flight was cancelled due to poor weather in New England. We flew on standby to Washington DC, and then had a 2 hour layover and flew standby home, we lucked out because we actually made it home (4 hours late). Others didn't fare so well. I am a bit peeved because I spent the money for a direct flight, but since the cancellation was weather related there really is nothing anyone can do for that.

Anyway, we are home now, and glad to be home.
I really missed Perry.
Vegas was a blast!

Full Wednesday on the Strip

Scott and I made the absolute most of today. I don't think we could have done more.
It is now about 3:30am, we just came in from the casino, and this is going to take me about a half hour to list everything we did.

1. We walked the strip from TI to the Monte Carlo and had lunch at the Brew Pub there.

2. After lunch we walked to New York, New York and rode the Coaster...Oh My God! What a rush!

3. Walked to Excaliber and took the tram to Mandalay Bay, went to Shark Reef and spent about 2 hours there.

4. Wandered the casino at Mandalay Bay, and then took the tram back to Excalibur.

5. Walked back to New York, New York and took the footbridge over to MGM Grand.

6. Shopped the stupid tourist crappy stores in that area

7. Went to Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon and stayed for the 'Big Elvis show' Saw four Elvi singing in turn. The headlining Elvis was about 400lbs. At one point three of them sang together...very entertaining to say the least.

8. Hit every casino on the walk back to our section of the Strip. We didn't gamble in any of them, but just wandered around.

9. Stopped at The Venetian to stand on the balcony to watch the Volcano erupt from the Mirage which was ultimately cancelled due to inclement weather. Inclement weather didn't last long at all.

10. Back at our hotel, we gambled a bit on video poker and then went to the Social House for sushi. Yummmmm.

11. Walked back down the strip to Bill's to see a lounge act. The band was called Symmetry. The best part about this act was the back up dancers.

12. Walked back to TI and stopped in several casino's on the way just for kicks.

13. Settled down at the bar in TI to play some more video poker and have some drinks.

Now we are so tired, our legs are jello from all the walking. When we were asking someone directions to somewhere they said we couldn't walk there, but we did! Pooh to them!
I need sleep!
I am so tired!

There are lots more things that I can't think of at the moment that we did today, and Scott is asleep so I can't ask him to remember right now.

Tommorrow we plan on spending some time by the pool and relaxing with a huge margarita.

I took so many pictures today but I am too tired to post them. I will post them later.

Sleep...sleep...sleep.

Lions, Dolphins and Prosciutto

Today was a full day.
We went for breakfast at the coffee shop in the hotel, it totally could have been Bickford's or Denny's, nothing special. Then walked around for a while, took the walkway over Las Vegas boulevard to the Fashion Show Mall, wondered why we were there and headed back immediately. We wandered around until we decided to visit the Segfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. This was a great way to waste some time. I loved this place. I want a dolphin.

Oh! I also want a tiger!

They also had a very rare "push me pull me" I always thought these were fictional until I saw one up close.

After being in the sun for too long once again, we headed back to the hotel to do a bit of gambling and have a couple of drinks, I am down $15 total so far, Scott is down a bit more. We sat at the bar and played video poker and lasted for about an hour until we got bored and decided to go wandering again. We headed over to the Venetian again because that place is just unbelieveable.

We had dinner at Mario Batali's restaurant Enoteca San Marco. Fabulous meal. I highly recommend eating here if you can afford it. It's a $$$$ restaurant, but worth it.
The menu is made so you can have tastes of different antipasti and small meals. We had a cheese plate (fontina, gorgonzola and parmigiano reggiano)accompanied by three condiments (honey with black truffle, brandy soaked black cherries, and dried apricots with mustard/red pepper), prosciutto de parma, spinach and pancetta salad with mushrooms, and bread. Then Scott had Crispy duck & house raisins, and I had Reginette with sausage, broccoli rabe & chili. So good!

After dinner, we walked the Strip. In and out of different Casino's and shopping malls. I bought a pair of shoes. Cute Dansko sandals (Suzanne raved about them) on sale at the Walking store in the Forum Mall.

Later, we caught the pirate show outside of our hotel and then walked to Bellagio to catch the fountain show (Marsha suggested this). We HAVE to go watch this again! We didn't get the best vantage point, but it was just amazing!

This water show is really a sight to see. This picture is when it is just getting started, my camera died so I couldn't get a picture of it when it was full on excitement. I am sad for that, but I have the memory. Incredible.
We must have walked about 10 miles today in total, Scott is now snoring once again next to me and I will be snoring soon, too.
Did I say what a fabulous time we are having here?


More tomorrow!

Road Trip

Ok, now it actually is August 14th. It is 1:50am. My computer time is incorrect.
So, I will tell you about my day...

We checked out of the hotel and met Julie and Nick this morning at Dad's house for breakfast...really just toast and coffee, and then went to the cowboy store. I bought a pair of cowboy boots. I hope to get some use out of them, but I do live on the east coast, so I don't want to look like a freak, well, yes I do actually.
Nick bought a pair, too. He also bought a shirt. Scott bought nothing.

We said our goodbyes, and headed to return the car. Got to the airport, rented another car with a slight delay, they had cars but not enough people to move them. Strange. We ended up waiting about 1/2 hour for a car that we had reserved. I was getting so peeved, I almost went to the next car rental place and asked them if they had a one way rental available, but I bit my tounge and stayed as patient as I could. We finally got a car, a very comfortable Impala and started our journey south.

The ride south was beautiful, especially the southern most part of Utah into Arizona.
Really incredible parts of the country. I am so glad we decided to drive instead of fly.


Driving through these rocks was just spectacular!

Driving through the Moapa Indian Reservation at sundown we could see the sunset over the Sheep Range mountains.

And just as the sun went down, we came around a bend, and there she was. We were running out of gas and determined not to stop for any since we pre-bought the tank. SLC to LAS on one tank of gas. We returned the car, that had been beeping at us telling us that we were low on fuel, completely empty. Ahhh the poetry of it.


We actually made great time, it only took us about 5 hours. We left at 3:30pm and got here at 8:30pm. We took a cab to the hotel, checked in, and walked around.
Here is a photo of TI from the over street walkway to the Venetian.

A very tired couple in Venice. So, so very tired and weary.

Scott has been snoring next to me for a couple of minutes already. I walked down to the casino about a half hour ago and bought a beer in the gift shop. That beer is long gone now, only the second one since we got here, we seem to be off our game. We will try to do better tomorrow. Yay for tomorrow!!

The weekend in a nutshell

August 12, 2007 10:30pm

Park City.

This weekend has been one big party for Dad.
Friday night we went to a Cowboy cookout at friends of Dad and ChaCha’s. A very eccentric rich horse breeder/construction worker who lives only a few minutes from the Weller compound. The couple built the enormous house themselves with overkill of cowboy motif including furniture and chandeliers made from recycled wood and antlers. There was one man cooking steaks on a large grill outside, and all the fixins were inside, we were too late for most of it. All we got was salad and steak. Was delicious though.

Saturday we all got pedicures, and then went to Dad’s house for the big party. Scott and I were on parking duty to make sure that no car was blocked.
Here we are playing valets...

We had fun even tho we were put to work. After about an hour of that, we went inside and mingled and had a great time. I met a lot of my Dad’s friends who I hadn’t met before, including some Mohab cowboy type people who were true cowboys. Especially Vince and his girlfriend Deb. Vince was at the Cowboy Cookout the night before. He was quite a character and an excellent guitarist. He brought his steel guitar and played slide all night.

Nick played a bunch of songs and then Vince plopped down and accompanied him, and even later, Sand (another true cowboy) pulled out his guitar and joined in.

Later, Dad's present from ChaCha arrived. We all went to his big cutting circle to watch a firedancer. This picture really isn't very good, but you get the idea. She was dancing with fire! Ha!


Sunday, Scott and I went to Park City Ski Resort and took the PayDay chairlift up to the top of the mountain. It was spectacular! Windy and sunny. The ride took ½ hour to get up to the top and another ½ hour to come down. We both got sunburns, especially on our knees and faces.
We then went back to the hotel room and changed for the nights festivities.
Julie and Nick prepared an Indian feast. About 20 of the 50 people from last night were there for the feast. Delicious but dangerous Indian food. Scott and I have been burping and farting all night (in the privacy of our hotel room).

So tomorrow we are on our way to Las Vegas. We go back to Dad’s house for breakfast, and then Julie and Nick will take Scott and I to a cowboy clothing store. They went there yesterday, and Julie got a cool pair of cowboy boots, and Nick got a shirt. I may get some cowboy boots. Scott wants to get some cowboy shirts and possibly some boots, too. Then we return our car at the Salt Lake City airport, only to rent another car for the 5 ½ hour or so trek to Las Vegas. This should be an adventure.

Plane ride 8/10/07

August 10,2007

Day one: at the moment we are traveling at 487 miles per hour and an altitude of 38265 ft.

We departed logan at just after 7am and now I think it is about 10:30 or so with the time change.



Here we are on the flight to Long Beach just to get on another plane to fly to SLC.
We are above New Mexico right now, the northwest corner. I really love Jet Blue.
I've been staring at the tiny tv screen in front of me on the channel that has the google map.

Scott watched 28 weeks later while I tried to sleep while listening to my ipod.
Unfortunately there was a screaming baby for a while pounding on the back of my seat.
A couple of times there I really wanted to turn around and give them the evil eye, but I know how babies get
With the ear popping and noise. I think I managed to get a few winks in.
Nick just got us a coffee (they have Dunkin Donut's coffee on the flight, my favorite) Thanks Nick!

2 More Sleeps!

It is right down to the wire.

I have one day left to get things done before we leave. Thursday is it. If it doesn't happen thursday, it's not going to happen until I get back. Too bad for me, because I had big plans. 'Had'. I think I have given up. That is horrible, I shouldn't say that. Oh well.

So the plans for tomorrow are to clean the bathroom (there's nothing worse than coming home to a dirty bathroom), pick up a little, pack a lot, take Perry over to Raven's house (his home for the next 9 nights), and possibly somewhere in between those things go to work and finish up odds and ends (we will be closed for the next week). This last task may be the first task if I get a call in the morning from Julie.

Don't get me wrong, I am not sad to go, I just wish I managed my time a bit better in these final days until departure. I actually can't wait to get to Park City, get settled in the hotel room and go out and explore.

My Dad's birthday party (70th) is on Saturday, and then on Sunday Julie and Nick are cooking an Indian feast. Monday, we return the rental car and immediatley rent another to make the drive down to Las Vegas. Oh! That reminds me of another thing I have to do...check out the little dusty towns we will be traveling through on the internet, so we can find places to stop.
Mmmmm...dusty little towns...mmmmm

Norwood Cable Access

We taped the show about Custom Art Framing and Gallery today for the show on Norwood Cable called "Let's Talk Business".

It was a stressful morning awaiting the inevitable, but once it got going it was just fine. The producers arrived just before noon. Two nice young men, Rob and Ryan. Very friendly and down to earth. They made us feel like this was going to be easy peasy, and it actually was a lot less stressful once the whole thing got started.

Well, I didn't actually have to do anything but work in the background while Julie was being interviewed by Jeanne Babel.
Julie was a bit nervous at first, but after the initial segments were filmed she really got comfortable and ultimately did a great job.
During these segments, I was diligently sewing buttons onto a piece of matboard in the background. The (very loose) plan was to attach the buttons while the shoot was going on, but not finish. Then after, they would come over and do a close up of the last button being sewn, and voila! Thing is, I was so nervous for Julie that I worked so fast and had to dilly dally the last few minutes so I wouldn't finish too early. I think it all pulled together nicely in the end tho.

After the interview, Jeanne Babel left, and one of the producers/cameraman had Julie go around the shop to different walls of artwork and talk briefly about the art. This is when she really got into it and started to feel comfortable. I was extremely proud of her.

I am sure that this won't be the only show Julie will do. I know there are subjects that she would have liked to address that didn't come up or she couldn't find the words at the time. Heck, after the whole thing was done, she wished she could do it all over again. She did a great job!

I can't wait to see the finished edit of the show. I will supposedly get a copy of it. Then I can see what glorious eye candy I was in the background.

Oh, and I did remember to wear some make-up.

7 More Sleeps

Till Utah!

Next friday at this time I should be situated in my hotel room at the Yarrow with a King sized bed and spacious room. Mmmmmmmm.