Holiday cheer

Well, Thanksgiving came and went.
Now we can check Christmas off that list of holidays crammed in at the end of the year. 

Christmas Cheer

Every Christmas Eve, the family I have living near me gets together for a little party.  Always there, are my two sisters (Steph, in red; Renee, the tall silver one), Steph's fiance (they got engaged just Christmas Eve morning!!), Auntie Donna (the 'flapper', there), Donna's hubby, and my hubby.  This year our brother was going to join us, since he is nearby and we all recently reconnected (sadly, it took the death of our father, this Spring, but doesn't that seem to happen a lot with adult siblings?).  Unfortunately, he has been going through some of his own things, and wasn't up for a party.  I get it, I do, but it was sad that he didn't make it.
Each year, we rotate the venue between me, Steph, and Donna (since Renee lives in a tiny cottage on Donna's property, the three of us are the only ones with 'homes').  This year was to be my turn again, but Steph and her guy just bought a house this Spring and wanted to host.  Fine by me...way less work!
It was great fun...lots of laughing and eating.  Steph made a delicious dinner of beef roast, stuffing, roasted root veggies, green beans, sauteed cabbage, and some meatless 'meatballs' for the veg-heads.  I brought rolls, and Renee had a cheese plate for before dinner...to go with the deviled eggs and other pre-meal snacks.  Lots of cookies followed dinner, too.
We had a Yankee swap...handmade gifts only, this year! 

Now we're on to New Year's Eve.  Another new year is right around the corner.  Another year gone by without a real vacation, but lots of work and working out.
We're treating ourselves to a trip to Bermuda for New Year's Eve.  It was to be mild and 70's...getting away from this cold 40 degree rain we keep getting here on the East Coast.  Instead, the weather is getting worse there...colder and rainier.  That's fine...we just need to get away from phones, computers, and work.
Two more days of work, a night in Boston, and an early flight out Sunday morning and we'll be on our way to relaxationland.

Christmas Day, we set out for our usual tradition of a movie and Chinese food (Hubby being raised Jewish, and me being raised to drive 2 hours to spend an awkward day of sitting in the corner while the men in my dad's family 'passionately discussed' nothing in particular).  The theater was packed.  Each year it gets more so.  But the movie was AWESOME!
We saw Django Unchained.

My favorite part of the movie!
(source: ranker.com)

I like most of Quentin Tarantino's movies.  But I absolutely fell in love with Christoph Waltz's character in this movie.

And, after the movie at the, in my opinion, over-crowded theater, we had to have dinner at our second choice (the Thai place we like) because the Chinese restaurant we like was too crowded.  I never thought I'd hear these words, but Hubby is thinking we need a new Christmas tradition, since ours is no longer 'ours'.  I am amazed at the crowds compared to the dozen or so others we saw the first year he dragged me out to a Christmas Day movie!  I can only assume families are getting increasingly tired of spending time together on Christmas?

No matter...January is coming.  More importantly, December 30 is coming, and I get to go away for a few days.  No getting up at 3 a.m. for 5 days!  I'm hoping it will recharge me, not only at my every day paycheck-providing job, but also in the studio.  I'm giving myself this year to make my final decision on my Etsy site: to continue or shut down.  We shall see how the new year treats me.

OH, and in other news...
For anyone following my other blog (barracudadiaries.blogspot.com) where I am attempting to restore an old 1967 Plymouth Barracuda, I had a kind of cool thing happen.  In the grand scheme of things, it's really nothing, but I got pretty excited about it.  I have a twitter account for that blog and facebook page, like I do for this blog.  Well, the twitter is brand new.  As of a few days, I had just a few tweets and no followers.  I'm still trying to get some traffic.  But the fun thing was my first follower.  My only follower as of now.  Gas Monkey Garage!

(source: discovery channel (UK))

I know...it's not like they know me personally or even really care about who I am or what I'm about.  But, I've been watching their show, Fast 'n Loud, since I found it on the Discovery Channel.  They crack me up and they fix cars!  So, I have my classic car and I watch this show and now they are my one follower on twitter.  It just makes me happy, that's all.

Well, on that note, I'd like to wish everyone a super fabulous new year!

So easily distracted

I thought I'd do some etsy shopping today.  There was one thing in particular that I kept checking out on my phone yesterday, decided I'd go ahead and buy it today, but it is gone.  But, just that little set back had me searching again for a gift for our family gift swap on Christmas Eve.  The only real problem is that I tend to just find lots of stuff that I want!
Never anything I need...just fun stuff that I would totally buy if I had unlimited funds.

Like these awesome shoes that I want simply because they remind me of a pair my grandma used to have.  We used them when we played around the house.  I'm not sure where I'd wear them in my life now, but they are gorgeous!

(source: 9LivesVintageWears)

And, our upcoming trip has my mind wandering even more when I'm browsing!

I love this!

(source:Gracie Designs)

This is super cool, but it's also a definite 'unlimited funds' kind of want:

(source: The Steam Emporium)

And after all of this, still no idea what to do about our gift swap!  We have a $20 limit, and it has to be handmade...we may make it ourselves or buy handmade.  The biggest struggle I have is trying to find something for everyone wrapped up in one gift.  But, it just doesn't have to be that way...I'm always making things harder for myself.  There are few things out there that will be 'the perfect gift' for everyone in our little group of 8 totally different personalities!  I'm slowly coming to grips with that. 

Or, maybe I just make something edible!



A beautiful Thanksgiving Day

At this moment, I'm thankful for this beautiful day. I got to go for an early run this morning!

This year marks our 12 wedding anniversary.  Tomorrow is the official date, but we always use our day off for Thanksgiving to celebrate, since it was actually Thanksgiving day when we got hitched.  This year is also the first year in several years that I actually have the whole day off.  Having left my job at the animal hospital when my dad's health started to decline so rapidly, I don't have the type of job that requires me to work when the business is closed.  Even better, I volunteered to do an 'overnight' shift Friday/Saturday.  That means, I got out of work yesterday at noon, have today off, and don't have to be to work until 9 PM on Friday! 
Today's agenda, now that I got my run out of the way, includes tearing into one of my piping hot cinnamon rolls, walk to the beach and pick up our freshly baked bread at the bakery, then some Detroit Lions football and beer, followed by massive amounts of turkey and whatnot.  OH, and probably my regularly scheduled workout...just to make sure I can handle all the food and beer!

I have been trying to make time to make my snowflakes, too...

I want to get some up at the bakery; but, also get some up in my Etsy shop this year.  I'm just not sure I'm gonna make it!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday spent with the people you love and are thankful for (or not, like us...we'll be alone, the way we like our thanksgiving/anniversary).

the long and the short of it

Craft fairs are a weird thing for me.  I only usually go if someone else I know is planning on going so that I at least know I will have someone to chat with.  In my experience, that's pretty much all I end up doing.  There's a small sale here and there, but I am in awe of the people who are able to use craft fairs as supplemental income.
Let me also state that I took ONE photo of my booth, as reference mostly, I had been instructed once to send a picture of a past fair set up when I applied to a holiday fair several years ago...you never know when you'll need proof.  For some reason, my computer (that I already hate because of how loud the hard drive is and how slow it is to do ANYTHING) won't recognize the files.  So i can see my latest pics on my camera, but not on my computer...which is not helpful at all.  Technology and me...we are not friends.  Never have been, and I fear never will be.

Which makes me sad, since I would love to some day be able to, at least, make some part time money online.  I get nervous when I fire up the ol' laptop to check my etsy site, just to end up sitting for 30 minutes waiting for the darn thing to stop creaking!  I suppose my troubles could be solved with a bigger budget, but that's just not happening right now.

So, I have no pictures from the fair.  The first day was so cold near the end that I didn't want to go back for the second day.  I had sold a few things to friends who came to support me and local artists, but only one snowflake to a stranger.  Same thing next day...friends showed up, lots of people lingered, and even came back for a second look, but nothing major.  One of the ladies who runs the fair apparently does all her Christmas shopping at the fair.  She bought my last 8 snowflakes!
That means, back to work on those! Last year, I never got them up on my Etsy shop, because they all sold at the bakery.  This year, I was planning on bringing leftover fair flakes to the bakery and making a bunch for etsy.  Now I'll be making snowflakes non-stop for the next two weeks!

Now I'm considering a couple other fairs this winter, to see if I can snag a few more holiday sales.  But that means more time off work, so we'll see.

Falmouth Artisan Fair

My oh my, where does the time go!?  I feel like I have been more busy since leaving my job at the vet, than I did working two jobs!
I had decided months ago to participate in an art/craft fair at the farm where my sister works.  It is finally happening this weekend, and I feel greatly under-prepared.  I mean, I have my displays made and a general idea of how to work my 4 foot table, but I didn't get nearly as much product made as i was hoping.  I am also nervous, having sold only a couple items on line this year (one was a custom order).  I did, however, have a surge of friends at work buying stuff.  All sparking from a gift I made a friend!
At any rate, I've been working away at trying to get stuff together that I think will be a good representation of my work...in real life.

Three new earring designs...they make me think of little hard candies!

My new favorite necklace...I'm loving the combo of paper pendant and metal chain.

These tiny trees are spin-offs of a larger, pink version I made for my friend who just finished her chemo/radiation.

I am always pleased with the finished product, but I feel the internet makes it hard for people to see the real excitement of how strong these paper pieces really are!  I'm hoping by being out there, and promoting myself a bit, that I may get more online traffic.  I do have plans to peddle my wares to local shops this spring, if I have success this weekend.

My little packaging station.

 I also, since it's pretty clear around here that people are beginning to think about holiday shopping and wintry decorations, I have been a snowflake making factory when my fingers start fumbling with the tiny strips of paper I use for my jewelry.



I was able to sell these at my friends' bakery last winter and they did really well.  They're a lot of fun to make...and they keep my hands busy, and away from the cookie jar!

Well, last week was our Hurricane Sandy, but yesterday and especially today, we are getting a lot more rain and, I think, heavier winds.  We lost power again yesterday evening, too.  I'm sure they are closing all or our Cape beaches, as I type this.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and I hope I can get back to blogging once I'm not working around the clock!

My poor little one.

Clearly I have been busy, as most everyone else in the world...it can be the only reason I would neglect my blog for so long, right!? 
Well, of course, that is the main reason.
Summer, with my new schedule, just doesn't lend itself to much blogging.  I used to have 3 days when I could get up early and blog...my day off, and the two days I worked at the vet and didn't have to be in until 7 a.m.  Now, I have two days off, but since I am up at 3 a.m. the other 5 days, I've actually found myself sleeping in a bit, and not getting that time to blog, before heading off to do my chores and errands for the day.

As we've all come to realize, here in my blog world, I have become a master of excuses...but, I'm comfortable enough with that, that I find no need to apologize for it.

I had big plans to have a bunch of new stuff ready to sell at the craft/artisan fair I'll be going to early November.  Yet I have some how managed to make it to (nearly) mid-September without getting into my 'comfortable cushion' zone.  And now my in-laws are in town.  So, we will be spending a lot of time with them.  They would let me do my thing, but it's just two weeks we see them, so unless I feel an unrelenting urge, they will get the free time we have.

Today is actually a busy day for me, though, so I think I will take the day to myself.
Here's why:

Our little baby had a rough Labor Day weekend.

Saturday, when I got home from work, I noticed Moxie's right eye was looking a little filmy.  By the time I got home Sunday, she looked like she had a cataract.  She had a tiny mass on her bottom eyelid that we asked the Dr. about last time she had her check-up.  He said that they could remove it if, cosmetically speaking, we wanted to.  He said the only issue would be if it seemed to bother her, which it didn't.  We decided that, at her age, we would just have it removed when I decided to have her teeth cleaned so that she would only have to have anesthesia once. 

Except things never go as planned, do they?

After the long weekend, and then when I got home from work on Tuesday to see there was no improvement in her eye and that she didn't really want to open it much, I called to get her in Wednesday morning.

It was pretty nerve-wracking to hear the doctor say things like 'refer you to an opthemologist' (who was booked for at least 2 weeks!  And, 'the stain looks weird'.

Basically, he stained her eye to see why it was so filmy.  When he did that, you could see a green (from the stain) ring on her little eyeball.  That was the ulcer, probably caused by irritation from that tiny mass.  The problem he was having was the way the stain was forming.  It looked to him like perhaps the ulcer was already healing.  But more likely, it was because of how deep the ulcer was into the eye. He explained that if it got too deep, it would cause the inner liquid part to get sucked out.  I mean, without being too graphic, I'm sure you can figure out what would happen...it's just like any other liquid filled object with a pinhole in it!

He told us we could wait and try to see the ophthamologist in a couple weeks or he could schedule surgery for the next morning to remove the mass and see if we needed to to the more intense 'flap' surgery (I can't for the life of me remember what he called it!).  'Closer to $1000 range, if we do that,' he added. 

Well, she's our baby...we're not going to say no!  Having worked there, I knew the surgeon was highly skilled.  I knew they wouldn't do anything that didn't need to be done.  And I figured I could get a break if I needed it.

Decisions made, we got some antibiotic eye drops for her.  But that's not all!  This is where my love and awe of biology really hit a high note!  They drew some blood from her.  Then, they spun it down to separate the serum.  Then, they handed it to me in an eye dropper bottle.  'What do I do with this??'

Give her 1-2 drops in her eye, twice a day!  Is that crazy??  I have been putting part of her blood back into her eye to help it heal!  Science...biology...it's so damn fascinating to me!

 

So we took our little girl home for the night...loved her as much as we could before Hubs had to bring her in on his way to work the next morning.

By noon, I got a text that she was out of surgery, and doing fine.  They removed the mass, but just did a procedure on the cornea where they sort of rough up the edges of the ulcer to make it easier for new cells to form and heal.

So, now we have this to deal with for two weeks!

Poor thing!  She doesn't even like wearing sweaters!  Jason said she cried for an hour the first time she had it on.  So, she only has to wear it when we're not here to make sure she doesn't scratch her stitches out.  The bummer is that, with the in-laws in town, we are not home as much as we normally would be!  She doesn't even seem to notice it anyway, but if she goes to scratch her ear of neck, and then decides her eye is a little itchy, that's when we stop her.  She such a good girl, though...the hardest part is having to put some sort of eye drops in SEVEN TIMES A DAY!  They gave us a second antibiotic drop after the surgery.

Today, I'm taking her in to get more blood drawn for more serum.  Then next week some time she will have her check up to make sure things are healing properly.



I'm not sure it's clear here, but right by where that white dot is, she has a sort of 'divet' on her eye.  That is the ulcer, and it looks like she has a tiny crater on her eye.  Just below is where the mass was removed, where she had 2-3 stitches put in, and where the eye boogers are collecting these days!

 

I am hoping that one of the doctors can look and see if they think I can stop putting the e-collar on her.  Her eyeball is much clearer, but I don't know what the ulcer should look like.

 

So, that is my excuse for not hanging with the in-laws today!  I want to spend time with my ailing puppy!  Though, to be honest, she acts as if nothing has happened.  I'm a very proud dog-mom!

 



time keeps on slippin'...

This summer is flying by...I just don't know where time goes anymore.  One of my customers said, 'it's called 'getting old'!'  Damn!  I think he may have been right.

But, no matter, we have to keep on moving and doing what we're doing, right?

As I mentioned some time ago, a friend of mine has been going through some chemo treatments.  She's funny and upbeat and she's been that way since the minute I first met her when she pretended to be offended by one of my anti-child comments (she has a couple kids, but they are high school age...one just graduated, actually).  At any rate, I was inspired to make a necklace for her.  Sort of a breast cancer awareness-type idea, but without being obvious.  

The tree is the perfect symbol: strong and grounded.

I am in love with this design, too!  I like how it turned out and will probably end up making more (got lots to do for the fair in November!).

Her partner (the friend who found her and brought her into our group...I know, at a certain age, people tend not to refer to their significant other as 'boyfriend/girlfriend'...I'm not sure where they stand.)...anyway, his father is having major medical issues as well.  The two of them have been going through so much lately...it breaks your heart sometimes to think about the pain your friends have to endure.  It has been a terrible year for this circle I'm in.  I am happy it is speeding by, quite frankly!

In happier news, I got to hang with one of my sisters and my brother this weekend.  We have a strange dynamic, in that I have spent little time with most of my family despite the number of years we've been on this Earth, and not so far apart.  I truly believe that you can't force a relationship, even if there is shared blood...there has to be a reason, in my opinion.  So now, our dad's old car has brought us together, and it makes me happy to have a common bond.

More agony...I have jury duty today and I am not looking forward to it.  I don't think it's fair to make a person drive an hour to get to the courthouse!  Aren't there people who live closer who can go?!  I mean, there are two other courthouses within 20-30 minutes of me (one of which I went to last time I had jury duty)...doesn't it make more sense for me to go to one of those?  I really hate the political machine/system...perhaps I'll start with that? :) [update: I drove an hour to get there, sat for an hour and a half before the judge came in to tell us there were 3 cases possibly going to jury and that in about 45 minutes he'd let us know; and, that some of us may get chosen for the jury.  Instead, about 30 minutes later, he came back in to let us know that everyone settled and we were all free to go.  Home by 11 am!]  I lose faith in the system each time I see some of the people who could possibly be on a jury, though.  Myself included!!  There was one girl I wanted to punch out, she was so annoying!!

And...I have more friends leaving the cape.  Last night I went out for a sort of 'girl's night' to celebrate our friend's promotion and probable transfer.  And, the reason for her transfer, her girlfriend's acceptance to Simmons College.  Another co-worker is transferring to our new Foxboro store. We were trying to plan a get-together for her too, but my jury duty and another friend's wedding were major wrenches (the stupid thing, of course, being that I am already done with my civic duty for the day!) And yet another friend has left altogether to concentrate on her other TWO jobs and her family.  It is like a mass exodus from our store. 

I'm just a little overwhelmed, I guess, with so much to do all of the sudden.  All of this, plus the car restore, plus my prep for the craft fair (and my etsy shop), plus all the house repairs I will probably have to do myself, and I'm still trying to workout most days.  I know I can do it all, but days like today, where I kind of feel like it's a free day (because I was expecting to be gone most of the day) I just want to veg...and not feel guilty about it!