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.

Late Saturday Night Rambling

September, I can't believe that it is already September. I can feel the fall in the air already. It is so cold this evening, I am shivering as I post. I closed a couple of windows, but this is the season of anything goes weather, so I didn't close them all.

Last night Scott and I met Jape and Suzanne for dinner, we went to Bamboo for sushi. It was really really good. Suze and I split an order of toro...mmmmmmmm, expensive, but worth it.

Before I met them at their house (Scott was already there), I made a new ring. I struggled with the filing to make the pieces fit before soldering until I decided to just smash and solder...and it worked! Anyone interested in this particular technique that I frustratedly stumbled upon can feel free to ask, I have no secrets! I will spare the gorey details for now.

Here is the ring.

After struggling for about 1 hour trying to get the sides of the shank to fit perfectly to the circle for soldering, I gave up and just smashed the ends of the shank with a planishing hammer and soldered it to the back of the circle. Okay, non-secret revealed. There ya go.

I love this ring, I wore it all night yesterday, and most of today. I don't have it on right now, or I would be staring at it on my finger and making boku typo's.


I have tomorrow off, I plan on cleaning and straitening up the house (yeah, laugh all you want Suze and Jape) and cleaning the bathroom so I can finally have some guests over. The summer seems to have been my cleaning season off. I aspire to have people over, I really do. Ughhh!

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.