Just another Sunday - NOT

We slept a little late this AM, and once everyone had had morning pees, and poops, and breakfast, and the little one had had his meds, we all headed upstairs. I was going to start beading, but that was over 4 hours ago, and here I still sit on the computer. You guys know how that goes.

Somehow, the little dog and I made it upstairs before Bailey. The little one, who I have re-named Gumball, because I didn't like Gumbo as a name for him, decided he wanted to sit on the bed, and tried unsuccessfully to jump up there - he had no chance, even in perfect health, to make it, IMO, but he keeps surprising me everyday with his improvements. But I lifted him up, and he ran up towards the pillows, and settled right in.

Bailey soon bounded upstairs (he had been thoroughly checking the kitchen floor for any spillage Gumball might have left, and then thoroughly cleaning it up for me, which takes awhile, because Gumball makes a big mess for a little dog!)

And in case you can't tell from this picture, one of these dogs is happy, and one is giving his very best pout! How DARE I share my bed with another dog.

As it turns out, they were both basically sitting in my way, so I eased onto my spot, and just shifted Gumball a few inches to the right, and Bailey moved himself to the end of the bed, out of my way.

Gumball saw where Bailey had gone, and I think I may have accidentally elbowed Gumball, and he hopped up and headed down to the end of the bed near Bailey. And in case you can't tell, Bailey is now REALLY unhappy. But they both stayed there for a couple of hours, until I decided we might as well take a pee break.

When we came back inside, Gumball, who is now pretty enthusiastically bounding up the stairs, headed straight for Bailey's super-deluxe lambswool bed behind the chair (pay NO attention to all the dog hair and the scuffs on the wall - that is Bailey's interior decorating style) - and he is still there, napping.

He spends a lot of time napping -after all, he is 105 years old in human years!

But all Bailey noticed was MY empty bed, so he hopped right up with his Baby, and chilled out. For awhile - then I accidentally touched him with my foot, which is a big no-no, so he jumped down to get into his bed, and discovered the interloper!

He gave it a little thought, and then headed over to this bed - which used to be his bed before I upgraded to the deluxe.

I hauled it upstairs this morning for Gumball, but Gumball had bigger ideas - and went deluxe.

So this is another patented pouty face from Bailey.

And now Bailey is up and growling at me because he wants to get in his own special bed, and it is occupied. But he is so sweet and so docile that he would never tried to evict Gumball! But he really wants ME to take care of it!

Ooops!

About a week ago, while trying to put the car in the garage after arriving home from work, I slightly miscalculated, and got a smidge too close to the right side of the garage, and this was the result.


Tore off the whole frame on the right, and bent the weather stripping.

I drive a pretty wide SUV, and I even have to fold in the side mirrors to have any hope of getting the car in the garage in the first place, but have never actually miscalculated.

I was fine until the right rear wheel entered - it seems that the fender over the right rear wheel well sticks out about 2 inches more than the rest of the car (does that make sense? - I'm saying the car is about 4 inches wider over the rear wheels - 2 inches on each side) - and when the rear wheel well fender hit the garage wall, I quickly stopped, and backed up, and re-centered the car, and pulled on in.


It was dark at the time, and I couldn't really inspect the car for damage, but since the garage door wouldn't close, I had to go over and fiddle with the structural damage to the garage so that I could get the damn door to close.

I had to break off a small piece of wood, and manipulate the weather stripping, and then the door went up and down without any problem - fortunately, the garage door track was not involved in the little "incident".

And the next day, I inspected the car, and other than a paint scrape over the wheel well, there isn't even a scratch on the car.

So I called a repair company, and explained what had happened, and told the guy that Monday was my only day off, and asked for an appointment the following Monday (Dec 21) - and the guy refused to give me an appointment. He said, "Just call me first thing Monday morning, and I'll come on by and take care of it".

I had no prior dealings with this "company", but this IS the South after all, and things tend to be pretty laid back, so I agreed.

And I called him first thing Monday morning, and got his voice mail, and left a message.

And 2 hours later, I gave up, and called HouseDoctors, simply based on their ad in the Yellow Pages. The owner's wife said that the owner was on a job at the time, but could come by the house around 3:30 to "take a look".

And he arrived at exactly 3:30, and gave me a professional, written estimate, but naturally couldn't do the job right then, because he didn't have the materials, and it would be dark soon anyway. I told him that Mondays are my only available day, but that I would be out of town for the holidays the following Monday - and then I sort of jokingly asked if he'd consider doing the job on Christmas Eve, since I would be off work that day.

And he said, "No problem - I have a guy who can do it that day."

So we set 11 AM as the time, and the guy showed up at 10:50 AM this morning, and by 12:30 PM the job was done and I was back in my jammies, chillin' with some cappuccino and watching TV.

So I am really, really thrilled with HouseDoctors - and thanks, Scott! Great Job!

Bailey and I are going to just generally laze around the house for a couple of days, and then on Saturday we are driving up to the mountains to stay with Kathy and her pups (oh yeah, and her husband, too - Hi, John!) - and we are really hoping to find some snow when we get there.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Oh yeah - some of you have asked: my little injection was somewhat successful last week - it relieved all of my arm pain, and reduced my neck pain by maybe 40%. The pain management doctor called me yesterday for an update, and wanted me to come in this Monday for a second shot, but since I'll be out of town, we have to put it off until the following Monday. I'm still having a good bit of neck pain - and he says we'll see how the next injection does, but we may be looking at some surgery in the new year...

Musings on a Blah Day

This has been a very blah day.

It has been raining for almost 48 hours. Steady, and fairly hard. I really wish it was snow, instead - Bailey and I could have really had a good time today in the snow!

But nothing but rain.

For about 2 minutes last night, around 1 AM, it was really weird - there was suddenly a weird, really loud sound, like horses galloping on the roof of the house, and it took me 2-3 seconds to realize it was hail. Big hail.

I ran downstairs to take a look - and the hail wasn't those white chunks of ice I'm used to seeing when it hails - they were these jagged, absolutely clear crystals, about 1/4 to 3/4 inch wide - like it was raining ice cubes. No wind. Just a couple of minutes of this hail, and then back to the rain.

A few weeks ago, I hired a professional organizer to help me de-clutter my house. I have accumulated a bunch of stuff in the past 20 years, and was just too overwhelmed to tackle it myself.

So she has been coming once a week, and we tackle one room at a time - but we can't even finish one room on its alloted day, so I have ended up spending all day Sunday getting the scheduled room decluttered enough for us to tackle on Monday - and then most of Monday night and Tuesday night finishing up.

And I am tired of it.

We have thrown a lot of stuff away, and donated a lot to the Salvation Army, but we have found a lot of stuff, basically brand new (most, sadly, still with tags on it) - that is in perfectly good condition, so we have been piling it up to sell on Craig's list.

So I started photographing it yesterday after work, and then spent a good 7 hours today taking pictures, and have still not photographed all of it. So far, I have downloaded about 750 photos - so I need to go in and clean up the pics, and start posting.

I am beyond overwhelmed by all this, and the 2 days of rain haven't helped - I just feel all mopey - just like poor Bailey does.


I had to wash the comforter this morning, because he threw up on it, again - I still haven't quite wized up to his evil ways. It takes almost all day to accomplish this - it takes about 45 minutes in the washer, but then 4-5 hours in the dryer - and I don't want Bailey on the unprotected bed linens (that's a little too much dog hair, even for me) - so he has to be banned from the bedroom whenever I wash the comforter.

So he gets all mopey about that.

And I was down in the bonus room doing the pics, and he doesn't like the bonus room, so he elected to go outside and lie down in the middle of the yard, in the pouring rain, for hours.

Ahh - the smell of wet dog!

He would only come in if I bribed him with treats, and then he wanted right back out again.

But once I gave up on the pictures for today, and put the comforter back on the bed, he has joined me in the bedroom, with his cute little rain-induced faux-hawk.

And I never really notice how gray he is getting, 'til I see a photo like this.

Did I mention - the smell of wet dog?

So, I need to go start photoshopping.

See you in a month or so.
:(

Happy Birthday!

Bailey is 9 years old today!

He is planning to take it easy today.

Happy Birthday to my friend Steve, too!

This and That

I'm kind of bummed this morning. I have been working off and on for about 4 weeks on a peyote bracelet with a large focal centerpiece bead, and got about 12 rows worked past the focal bead last night, and decided that I hate the way the bracelet looks. That's a lot of work, folks! I'm talking single-drop peyote! I'm going to take it to work tomorrow and get some other opinions (I work at a bead store), and maybe they'll be able to talk me out of ripping it apart, but I am this close to ripping the whole thing out and scrapping it.

This is the newest addition to my Etsy shop. I actually made it one morning this week while I was at work - I know, isn't that sick! Can you imagine anything more fun that being a jewelry designer and working in a bead store! This bracelet is absolutely gorgeous; it just sparkles on the wrist!
Crystal Dreams Bracelet

I found a great tutorial for a wire-wrapped ring on the internet, and I had this perfect bead in my bead stash, so I sat down last Monday with the tutorial, the bead, and my wire, and started playing. I practiced a few (5, maybe?) times with craft wire, and then moved on to the sterling.

It turned out pretty well (on the second attempt), but it is certainly not ready for prime time! I am taking another wire-wrapping class in a couple of weeks, and will run this one by the instructor. I think I may just need to move to a bigger gauge of wire, but before I waste anymore sterling, I am going to get some guidance!

I got really comfy in bed one night last week, watching Netflix DVDs late into the night, after I finally logged off Etsy. Bailey can hear me unplug the laptop from anywhere in the house, and knows that is the signal for snuggle time. He got a little carried away that night, though, as I sunk deeper and deeper into the pillows, and he spooned deeper and deeper into me. I was already on the edge of the bed when all this started! After a few hours I had to get up to pee, and threw the covers over him, and he didn't even budge. Some people say I am too indulgent of my baby; some say he is spoiled. I say there is a word for those people: CRAZY.

Let's Meet Bailey

Bailey is my 8 year old golden retriever, and my (almost) silent partner. He gets quite vocal if there are squirrels in view, dogs barking on TV, or people walking by on the street outside the front door. He also issues throaty growls when he wants to go outside. Not in a mean way - in an "I have needs, too, way." Otherwise, he is a perfect gentleman, and the best dog in the whole world.


Sometimes he just cracks me up. Last week, he plucked this almost-empty popcorn bag out of the trashcan when I wasn't watching, and proceeded to get it stuck on his head. I couldn't grab the camera fast enough to capture that moment, but 30 seconds later he jumped on the bed with the bag, and went to town!

He is incredibly sweet and smart, and now has his own blog: http://bailey-the-goldenretriever.blogspot.com/ so pay him a visit over there, where he promises to be a better blogger than I am!