SHOPPED AND DROPPED

Not a very artful photo, but this is what I got today when I went to Corpus. Not a lot to show for how long I was there. I left the house around 9:30am and got home around 5:30pm. Not that bad, really, but I wore myself out. Most of what I bought is fabric for doll making and maybe for a quilt block I will be doing. Also a little paper mache box to be the base for my Little Red Riding Hood pincushion doll. And I found two little garden gnomes that attach to flower pots, and a cowboy frog that I'll give to Zach and Mathieu this weekend. The socks are for Shabree, Ashlyn and Alyson (and two pairs for me), for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Easter. I guess the rest could be filed under 'miscellaneous'. But remarkably, I came home without a single magazine and did not set foot in Barnes and Noble! I did get a few non-perishible groceries, and 4 boxes of individually packaged bags of fish crackers for the religious education students. Yeah, when I do breakfast for them, it's not yummy, homemade tacos like Mr. and Mrs. A. make, it's prepackaged, store-bought all the way.
This is what I won on an eBay auction last night - two vintage doll dresses. I love the dress on the left, especially. I went to Codi's in Corpus today, and looked at everything they had - a LOT - but miraculously came out of the store empty handed. They had quite a few dolls, but none of them were anything that I really wanted...and no vintage doll clothes of the sizes I need. I was tempted by a drum. I have wanted a bodhran for quite a while. But this looked like a combination of a Native American drum and a bodhran. The price was right, but I passed it up anyway.

SOUTH TEXAS TRAILRIDERS

This photo was taken yesterday morning on the street beside our house. I heard the music truck, blasting Tejano music, and realized it was the trailriders heading from Corpus Christi to San Antonio as they do each year, so ran out with my camera....ever mindful that without a photo, I can't post to my blog. ;) Since there is major construction on the highway, they had to detour on the residential street. They were going at a pretty good clip, so I missed the picturesque chuck wagon, and more interesting shots and only got a shot of some of the riders about midway in the 'trail'.
Mass and classes went well this morning. I still had one teacher out sick, but had a little more notice than last time, so got a substitute easily. There sure were a lot of kids absent though. Breakfast was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Anzualda - potato, egg and sausage tacos on homemade tortillas. They were really good. Even the skinny little girls had seconds...thirds...fourths.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

Just what I need, another obsession. At least my obsessions don't happen all at once, thankfully. One comes, another leaves...and my committment to letterboxing has been waning for quite a while. The object of my obsession is Little Red Riding Hood. Yes, all artwork, crafting, collecting and research will now be aimed at all things LRRH. I am in desperate need of vintage McCall's pattern #7045 - the one with the little red riding hood cape, so I can make capes for my two youngest granddaughters. I have been scouring the net for LRRH print fabric, as well. I found two kinds so far. I'm thinking cape lining and a quilt. And I joined a vintage cloth doll reproduction group, committed to the upcoming challange (pincushion dolls), and am planning a - you guessed it - LRRH pincushion doll. Having naturally decided on my specific doll first, I have spent much of the day trying to research documentation to support the idea that there actually WAS a LRRH pincushion doll during yesteryear. The best I can come up with is that there are vintage half-dolls that look vaguely like a grown-up version of LRRH. Whether any were actually affixed into pincushions is undetermined, historically. I say yes. So I will rely heavily on the 'interpretation' loophole in the challange guidelines.

NOTHING SPECIAL TODAY...

So I guess I'll talk about yesterday. The photo is just several of the deco booklets I have made lately. I intended to blog last night, but was just too sleepy by the time I got around to it.

Garrett had come over the night before to ask Chuck if he could the next day off. He and Lyndon were going to the Aerosmith and Lenny Kravitz concert in San Antonio, and he wouldn't be home early enough to leave if he didn't get the day off. He was really glad Chuck didn't give him a hard time over it, so I asked him if he could come over and fix some bad places in the backyard fence, so I could let Coconut back there to run around, without sitting out there with her. He was very amiable about it, so I also asked him if he'd come over and help me get some of the huge piles of Stewart's computer components, books, magazines, electronic stuff, etc. out of the computer room. He agreed to that too! :) So yesterday morning, he came over early and got the fence cobbled together better, and then did a lot toward moving stuff from the computer room. After he left, I handled some of the lighter boxes, and moved my stuff around, trying to make room for an art/craft area in there.
Garrett moved the table from Shabree's room in, then I later moved my rolling paper cart. Now I have to work on trying to find space for the small bookshelf and that plastic chest of drawers. Or, really, just get rid of it, and find something else to hold the stuff in there. A tall bookshelf might be ideal, but there isn't room for one. As it is, the small bookshelf is having to go under the light switch. Maybe I could just go through the drawers, weed out a little, and put it all in plastic containers, which I could stack...

Zachary and I ate dinner at Taqueria Jalisco yesterday evening, then went to see Hoodwinked at the movies. It was okay. But Little Red's hood was really appealing. I might see if I can find a pattern to make some for Ashlyn and Alyson.

Then I stayed up late to watch the movie, Big Mama's House, on tv. I hadn't seen it before, and with all the commercials lately for Big Mama's House II, I was curious. It was funny, but I don't know if I'll go see the new one at the theater. THEN I watched Project Runway. Although it was good, I could hardly stay awake by then. One of the designers I liked (Zulema) got eliminated. Her dress didn't fit the inspiration photo that she took. The only thing I saw in common was the color. And for an inspiration to create a certain dress, why take a photo of another dress? At least the woman (Kara?) who made the 'traffic stripe' dress, had the concept, even though her dress was a zero.

THREE WEEKS UNTIL VALENTINE'S DAY

Today, I did next to nothing. I slept in until 9, surprised that the dogs let me sleep that late. I took care of the absolute necessities, did a couple of very small things I'd been procrastinating with and cooked dinner. That was about it.

Yesterday I took Coconut back to the vet for more shots and to get her heartworm tablets. She sure didn't want to go! Her heart was pounding and she ran to the back of the van when we got there, because she did NOT want to go in.

While she was there, I went to Walmart, Goodwill and Dollar General. Among more mundane things, I was looking for Valentine socks and t-shirts for my three granddaughters, but no one had them. I also was looking for some kind of kitschy valentine vase or planter, but didn't really expect to find one. I should check at The Artisan's Mall, I guess. I didn't think of that yesterday either. I had been ogling them on eBay - the actual vintage ones, but they are going for more than I want to pay.

Still no arborvitae trees at Walmart, although they have citrus, palm and other kinds that I didn't look at. There were lots of blooming bedding plants too...and even some orchids. They did have a variety of bushes, that I’m considering buying, but I'd still want the arborvitaes too. I didn't find anything very interesting in my shopping yesterday. You can see what I ended up with above. I am going to make a large valentine for Zachary and Mathieu that makes use of the names of the candy bars, as part of the message, glued onto a heart-shaped backing. I still have some more to buy though.

I got some art done last night too. In fact I stayed up until 3:30a.m. with it, which probably explains why I got so little done today.

FINALLY FINISHED MY PONCHO

We just got home from Mass and classes, and I immediately changed into my flannel pj pants and a t-shirt. Ahhhhh....comfort! It's a GOOD thing! ;) Speaking of good things, I stayed up very late/early last night/this morning finishing my Martha Stewart poncho. I started it in Nov. I think it was, but got side-tracked. And I got hung up on the different, complicated (to me) edging. Finally, I just decided to disregard that part of the pattern and do a regular scalloped edging, so that's what I did last night, and then got the collar done too. I was afraid if I didn't get on it soon, it would be spring already. Leaving for church, I thought it might get a little warm, but after classes, I was really glad to have it. It is still cold and drizzley, but the temperature sure dropped more while classes were going on. Brrr! The forecast for today is for a high in the 60's and a low in the 40's.

I have no plans today, other than the internet, a nap, the tv (Part 1 of Bleak House is on PBS tonight), taking care of some religious education department preparation and paperwork, and hopefully some artwork. That's it!

COLD AND DRIZZLEY

Just yesterday it was in the 80's, but it's cold (low 60's) and drizzley today. I can't complain though, we are in desperate need of the rain. But with the drizzle, it hasn't been enough to measure, I don't think. More like mist than drizzle.

The only news for today is that I kept Mathieu for 3-4 hours while Amy and Reagan were sheering the Zachary's goats. We played Cootie, drew pictures, ate popcorn and drank chocolate milk (he did, anyway), watched an animal show on tv and played with Coconut.

I should have taken a photo of Mathieu with the Cootie game, but didn't think of it. But I do have a photo from last night with Carl and Coconut laying on their new 'bedspread'. I guess that will be tonight's picture.

I had two teachers call, cancelling for classes tomorrow. One has her mother in the hospital and the other has some kind of virus or respiratory stuff where she can hardly talk. The only remaining teacher has two daughters who substitute as needed, but their phone isn't working, so I can't check in advance to see if they are available. Her dad is my assistant, but as it turns out, he must have had his phone number changed, since he isnt in the book any more. So... I guess we'll be combining two classes in the morning and using a video. I just went through some more of my videos, to move some of them to my office which I am now calling the resource room. I plan to change the sign on the door as soon as I get a chance. Now I need to preview some of those videos and pick one that will work for pre-kindergarteners through 2nd graders, and see if I can come up with a craft or activity that fits in with it...and then hope at least one of the substitutes is available on very short notice in the morning. It's getting kind of unwieldy combining classes now that we have more students. Next year, I may see if we can split off one or two age groups into separate classes. We have two classrooms now that are being used for other things, but I think we could take them back. I'd also need to get two more teachers, but I think it could be done. That would be more difficult than getting the classrooms back, though. And, of course, the whole thing would depend on next year's enrollment which we won't know until next year.

GOOD LUCK AT GOODWILL

This is what I found at the Goodwill Store today...two wooden painted Mexican bowls. I think they were a little over-priced at $5.99 each, but I really liked them, so thought they were worth it. Also, underneath them in the photo, is a flannel, quilted pillow sham. I love plaids, flannel and quilt patterns, so got this for Carl and Coconut's computer room pillow/bed.
Lydia and I had lunch today at The Chisholm Trail. Before she got there, I talked to Ralph, Vickie, Dorothy, Hollis, Kyle, Candice, Mike and Father Stephen. It was Hollis's 84th birthday. He and Dot also celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary earlier this month.
After lunch, I went to Beeville to the bank, Goodwill and the newspaper office. When I saw those bowls, I was really glad I had stopped in Goodwill. I was getting kind of discouraged, not finding anything 'good' there in a while. There was also a shadow box, which I almost got. Maybe I'll go back tomorrow and get it. It would be a good base for an art assemblege...or another shadow box to keep more of my rubberstamps in. On second thought, I think I'll pass it by. I just donated three shadow boxes to the last parish rummage sale.
At the newspaper office I got colored copies of my recent artwork printed onto cardstock. I nearly always make a copy of my stuff to keep before sending things off. When I haven't, I've regretted it. I get too attached to it. But it sure is a pain to delay mailing until I get the copies done.
Then back to Skidmore, where I got the mail and went to the parish office to make some copies for one of the teachers for Sunday, and then left them in her classroom.
Chuck got home from work early and went to the supermarket. Amy and Reagan went out to dinner to celebrate Amy's birthday, which was yesterday. So Chuck is 'babysitting' by letting Zach and Mat spend the night over at the cabin.

TEN DOGS A-LEAPING...

I finally got some art work done last night that actually looks like my artwork. And I painted the 8 pieces (and revised 2 that I had done previously) in a relatively short amount of time. I was so tired of not being able to paint easily like I used to just a few months ago. If I ever stop, it just takes me forever to get back to where I was. So I got my things out and decided to just paint a big face, which I figured would be the one thing that I could make work...thinking that part of my problem is I had all these subjects that I had to, or needed to paint, that I just didn't feel moved to paint, just now...and the more subjects or themes that I was obligated to do, and felt like I was falling behind on, the less time (no time, actually) I wanted to 'waste' painting something not on my 'to do' list. Anyway, when I had my paints there, and a big gessoed blank space in front of me, suddenly the 10 (4"x6") dogs I needed to do, lept off the brush. Thank goodness! I only sign up for art exchanges that I am really interested in, but then I tend to get a little overcommitted and they start closing in on me.

Reagan called tonight when I was getting ready to start dinner, and wanted me to come over and babysit Zachary (10) and Mathieu (3). They got a call that Amy's grandfather had been admitted to the hospital, and were going to go up and see what was going on. It turned out he will only be there overnight, thankfully. When they came home, Teeny, Amy's grandmother, came to spend the night, so she wouldn't have to be alone. The boys were good. They had already had baths and were eating spaghetti when I got there. They went to bed not long afterwards...Mathieu to sleep and Zachary to read Lonesome Dove. His teacher said he tested at a college sophomore reading level.

RAIN!!! and MINI RANT

Look at that rain falling! It fell hard for about 5 minutes. It's a rare enough sight lately that I took a photo. ;)

I watched 20/20 the other night when they had 'Stupid in America'. It was appalling to say the least. http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338

I have been ranting for years about how the workforce is getting stupider all the time. Today when I was in Beeville, I went to Church's Chicken and ordered a box of chicken and 8 jalapeno poppers. When it was time to pay the $11.12 total, I gave her a twenty dollar bill and a dollar twelve in change. While I had been waiting for her to come to the window, I wondered if it would be superfluous to point out to whoever came to take my money, that it WAS a twenty dollar bill and a dollar twelve in change. Would it be insulting to their intelligence? I am not a 'tough customer', nor a rude one. I decided that I would gently point it out, which I did, as if I was noting it to myself as I gave it to her. I got my change and she had shortchanged me a dollar. When she came back with my chicken, I still had my change and my sales slip in my hand. I told her what I had given her, and she made it right, apologizing, to which I cheerfully said, "No problem". By the time I was across town, I looked and saw that she had charged me for the 8 pc. poppers, but given me the four piece. Sigh... And when I got home, and looked at the chicken, she had given me two more pieces than the size I had ordered and paid for. Good grief. Is there any hope?

And another thing, I am not a stingy person, but it kind of bugs me when people assume I don't want my change and just keep it without thought. I like to at least have the option. Since before Christmas when there have been so many people selling newspapers on the streets, I have been buying from them, rather than at stores I am in anyway, where it is more convenient. I figured that if they were selling newspapers on the street, that they probably really needed the money. So, I pass up buying a newpaper in the store, and wait until I am driving along, and see one of the vendors, stop my car, have my money in hand and try not to hold up traffic. For the first few times, I had the right change. Then I only had dollars for awhile. Only ONE newspaper person half-heartedly asked if I wanted my change. (She stood there and said, "Ummm...do you want your change or....???") I told her no, and drove on. By this time, I was surprised she asked, even if it WAS half-hearted. But all the others just take the money, and go back to looking for their next customer. I still buy from the street-side vendors, but if I have the right change, I use it, if not, I just take the...what? - shabby?, low-class?, disrespectful?, lack of personal pride?, entitlement-minded? treatment. It's odd to me...On the other hand, if that's all I've got to rant about, then I guess I'm pretty lucky.

SMOOTH SUNDAY

Mass and classes went very well this morning. The junior high students are really excited about the Diocesan Junior High Youth Spectacular. We got the information packet this week, and they are really looking forward to it, although it is not until late March. They are already making concrete plans for the group poster they need to bring for display. I took close-up photos of each of them this morning, since they decided they wanted to add their photos on the poster. I'll have to get more photos next week of those who were absent today, and also of the ones who go to the Wednesday night class. They really had some good ideas, and there are some good artists in the group. And ALL of them have lots of creative ideas for it. In fact, the whole program went well this morning across the board - few absences in any of the grades, teachers borrowing good books from the resource center to put into use with their students, very smooth sailing despite the absence (and hasty substitution) of one teacher and also my assistant, plus two interruptions during my class. There were no major problems... No one set the kitchen on fire this week. ;)

I wore my blue shawl that I crocheted a few months back, for the second time, today. I really need to finish my red Martha Stewart poncho that I started right after this shawl. Soon it will be too hot to wear it. The body of the poncho is done, but I am having trouble with the directions for the scalloped edging. I think I will just skip those directions and make the scallops from another method. Then I have to do the neck/'collar' part. Hopefully that will not be as difficult as the edging turned out to be.

After Mass, Zach and I went to Papa's to get something to eat. Chuck usually gets us tacos after Mass, and then they are waiting for us when we get home, but he didn't ask us what kind we wanted this morning, so I didn't think he was going to get them. Mass is over at 10, and by then it is a little late when he goes to get tacos. They usually don't have many varieties left by then. So when Zach and I left the classrooms after 11, and went to Papa's, I got a hamburger (which I ended up splitting with Chuck, since I forgot all about getting him anything. *blush*), and Zach got homemade beef jerky and a black cherry vanilla Coke. After we got comfortable and ate, we played Yahtzee, and both made shockingly bad scores. What gives?! We could throw nothing but 2 pairs time after time. Our scorecards were mostly zeros.

Since having quite a few late nights and bouts of insomnia this past week, I managed to take a long late afternoon nap, thankfully. I dreamed one of my lately frequent 'finding my way in long, crossing, turning corridors' dreams, and also one about the electricity going out room by room in our house. Mother was living here too, and she told me not to try to get things working again by unplugging and re-plugging various things back in, or it would cause a fire. And also, I was talking to Chuck and a few of his friends/co-workers through the bedroom window, and one said thanks for keeping his young son for the day while he was at work. I was aggravated that mother had agreed to this, since we had no electricity, but went into the kitchen to find them and help keep up with the toddler in the dark. LOL! I also dreamed something about talking to my across the street neighbor...and can't remember the rest. I know I dreamed about the plugging and unplugging part of the dream because my computer connection keeps goofing up and I have to unplug and re-plug the modem, and restart the computer almost daily...an aggravation.

Anyway, Chuck got groceries this afternoon and grilled steaks for dinner. They were really good. He usually does the cooking once or twice over the weekends.

SLUMBER PARTY AND FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Zachary is spending the night as he does every Saturday. This time, he brought his sleeping bag, which Carl and Coconut were happy to share with him. Chuck had been asleep on the couch, while Zachary and I watched the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on ESPN. I just read the news a little while ago that the Olympic Committee made the decision to place Michelle Kwan on the team too, with conditions. She'll have to be fully recovered from her injuries to be able to keep that place. That decision bumped Emily Hughes to alternate. I didn't think her performance tonight was that smooth, even without her bad fall. She wasn't as graceful as some of the others, although strong and confident in her moves. I think the commitee made a good decision. Of course, Sasha Cohen is my absolute favorite, and I am thrilled, although not the least bit surprised that she made the team.

B IS FOR BEE, BALLOON, BALERINA, BOBBY PIN, BROWN, BLACK AND BLUE

These are two 4"x6" pieces I did for the alphabet zap page swap, so far. It's the front of one, and the back of another. The backs are all the same. This is the first front I have done, and I don't like it, but so far haven't come up with anything better. It is supposed to be collaged, at least to some degree. I'd be better off painting something.

Lydia and I had lunch today at The Chisholm Trail. We hadn't been able to get there on a Friday for the all-you-can-eat catfish in quite a while. After lunch, I went to Beeville - pharmacy, supermarket and Goodwill. I also drove by Walmart to see if they had gotten any spring plants in yet. They did, but not arborvitae trees like I need. I also drove through McDonald's to get a coke and see what the Happy Meal toy is, since today was the day it changed again....mini Sega games and plain beany bears - Blah! According to the website, they will have Strawberry Shortcake doll items beginning on the 20th. At Goodwill I got a book for Shabree and some patterned printer paper. Oh, and I went by the tax office, to put two used printer ink cartridges in their recycle box. Then I hurried back to Skidmore, to get some copies before Lydia left, and then worked in my office for awhile...and remembered that I had forgotten to go to the bank. Oh, well....

ARTFUL SHOPPING

This is Mathieu today at the Asian Buffet, where we had lunch. He could have made a meal of broccoli and chicken by itself.
I had insomnia last night, and it was after 3:30 or 4 when I finally fell asleep. I had my alarm set for 7, so I'd have plenty of time to get ready, before Amy, Mathieu and I left for Corpus Christi. But I was finally sleeping soundly by then, and apparently turned off my alarm, then woke up at 8 and had to rush to get ready. We left later than we planned to, but had a pretty good day of it, anyway. Actually, our shopping day was pretty streamlined. We only made 6 stops counting the Asian Buffet. Since we finished so early, we considered stopping by a couple of other stores, but were tired, and keeping in mind we'd be having to deal with an active 3 year old, skipped the extras.
Among other things, I came home with some of my favorite artsy magazines (Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, Somerset Studio, Cloth-Paper-Scissors and Legacy), 97 pieces of acid-free/lignin-free patterned art paper (mostly retro), and walnut ink, all of which made me very happy. Too bad I was too tired to do anything with it tonight.

ART IN PROGRESS

Here are some postcards-in-progress I am working on for a 'Happy New Year 2006 - Year of the Dog' swap. I'll need to get 10 of them done. So far, I am pretty clueless as to how I will finish these, and make the other 7. But it felt good to finally get the paints out again, and play with them. I get so rusty if I don't keep at it. I also made some serendipity type background paper, which I may or may not use, for a zap page swap.

DUST, UH, I MEAN ORBS...

I haven't been keeping up with my blog very well lately, so even though there is nothing interesting to write about, I decided to put up yet another dog photo and write something... This photo was taken today. Gee, look at all that dust in the photo...um, I mean orbs. Yeah, that's what I mean. It couldn't possibly be dust that the dogs are stirring up from the carpet. Not in MY house! No, never! LOL! Coconut is back to her old self again, attacking Carl and wrestling several times a day.
Yesterday was the day Lydia and I were supposed to have lunch together. She had called and said that she was ready to go, and that people were there taking down the church Christmas decorations, but she was leaving anyway. When I walked into Chisholm, there was a large table with Lydia, Mary, Eva, Annie and Loretta, all saying "Surprise!!" LOL! They said Lydia tried to sneak off without them, but they caught her. We had a good time, but I had had a miserable night, and woke up with major sinus trouble. After lunch I went on to Beeville and got some stuff done, but came home and laid around and then went to bed, I felt so awful. I thought I'd be just as bad today, but surprisingly, I've been fine today except for sinus congestion.
I just can't get with it to do more art work lately. Not in quite a while actually. I have joined several more swaps, so I will get things done this month, but I had planned on doing some more paintings for eBay, hoping that art gallery in Atlanta will pick up some more of them.
I've gotten back into eBay shopping again. I got a book, The Decorated Page by Gwen Diehn, a few days ago, and am waiting for the books, Little, Big by John Crowley, Artists Journals and Sketchbooks by Lynn Perrella and 15 Regina vacuum cleaner bags...which may explain my 'orbs'. I have discovered that Stewart's vacuum cleaner works well and is a breeze to use, while mine works well, but kills my back. However, the last bag is full, and Walmart didn't have the right replacements. Sooo, I am trying to wait until the ones I won come in. From the looks of things I might ought to just use my vacuum a.s.a.p.

COVERED DISH DINNER

Bishop Carmody visited our parish today and celebrated Mass with Father Sebastian. Zach and Eddie served. At the end of the Mass, I welcomed the bishop on behalf of everyone in the parish, thanked him for coming, and invited everyone to the covered dish dinner, later. Also I announced that children's religious education classes were resuming today, and that the students would be served breakfast after Mass in the classroom building. Only that almost didn't happen. I was surprised when I got to the breakfast room that there was no breakfast there yet. We waited a couple of minutes, and then I went looking for Annie and/or Frances who were supposed to be providing breakfast that morning. I met Annie coming with two gallons of juice, and also two of the students coming with 3 cans of juice. Annie informed me that the oven in the hall had caught on fire during Mass, and burned the wall! The pizzas she and Frances had were cinders. But fortunately, another woman had gotten the dates mixed up and thought it was the day she had volunteered to bring breakfast, so the kids got breakfast after all - sausage and biscuits. I told Domingo the other day, that we should probably get rid of the big industrial kitchen appliances in the hall, since they are so old, and are always giving us trouble, and they are almost impossible to repair. I think we should just go with regular kitchen appliances (doubled) since they are cheaper and repairable. Less hassle all the way around.

I woke up with a horrible headache that I'd had all night. It was making me kind of queasy, so I had decided that I wouldn't go back for the covered dish dinner in the afternoon. But during religious education classes, the headache finally went away, and I got to feeling okay, so I went to the corner store and got some boxes of Velveeta shells and cheese. Lame, I know, but kids do always like mac and cheese. Chuck didn't go back, but Zach and I did. And that's when I took the photo of him and Father Sebastian sitting across from me. Notice the stack of cookies on Zach's dessert plate. That was after he finished eating dessert and was taking those home.

COCONUT IS BETTER! :)

I called earlier
than usual this morning and Dr. Gremmel said that she was still feeling bad, but looked better than the day before, but I couldn't pin her down to exactly HOW she seemed better than previously. I didn't quite believe it. Then I called again this afternoon before heading up to visit her, and got another vet, Dr. Warren, who said about the same thing. When I got there and went back to the cages, my pup tart really
WAS looking better! :) She was obviously happy to see me, got up and wiggled around a little bit and was ready to get out of the cage for me to hold her. Dr. Warren looked in and noticed that she had eaten about half of her food. It probably wasn't much, but she had eaten on her own, thankfully. She didn't have the IV back, either. Dr. Warren took her bowl away and brought her another one with about a tablespoon and a half of fresh food. But Coconut did not want to even get close to it. She (Dr. Warren) said Coconut would be coming home tomorrow. So - I hope that's right and she continues to improve and doesn't have any more throwing up or diarrhea. She still felt bad, though, because she was droopy, had very little energy, and was more than happy to go back in her cage and lay down, again.
I want to thank you all for your concern, thoughts and prayers. It really means a lot
to me! Oh, and in case you missed it, I wrote more about Coconut's illness earlier today in the comments under last night's blog entry.

BACK TO BLOGGING

I finally made an official start with decluttering. Of course, it's just barely a start, because you can see that these boxes are empty or almost so.
I did get all the Christmas decorations taken down, and today I got everything packed back in boxes and put back into the attic. Oops! I was just going to say that for ONCE, I didn't forget anything, but I just now remembered that the red and green crocheted table topper is still on the table. Oh, well. Sometimes it is stored with the Christmas decorations and sometimes it is stored with the tablecloths and things.

I haven't been blogging lately for a few reasons.

1. There is really nothing much happening. But then, I have blathered on about nothing plenty of times before.

2. I really want to have a photo with each entry, and there has been nothing much to photograph.

But most of all,

3. I have been very sad and upset about Coconut being so sick. She has been at the veterinary hospital since Monday, and we don't know if she is going to make it or not. I visited her today, and she is the worst she has been so far. Actually, she was seemingly 'fine' when she was admitted Monday, and then really bouncey and happy, feeling great, when I visited her on Tuesay. Wednesday, I was waiting for service men and repairmen all day, so didn't get to go visit her. When I called though, they said she was feeling bad. Today when I went she didn't have her IV in, though, because it came 'loose' and had been leaking water under her skin for quite a while. The vets (all three of them) had terribly dire predictions at first, but now seem strangely optimistic. But I have had a very bad feeling about this from the first.

A NEW YEAR

A new year began today, and I feel like I am still in a holding pattern, not able to get started with it. Chuck is still home, although I think he goes back to work on the 3rd. Shabree is still here. She will be returning to Austin either tomorrow or Tuesday. I am glad they are here, but I can't get much done until things are back to 'normal'. Zachary has been spending a lot of nights here, and with two kids around they are dragging stuff out of cabinets, boxes and closets at an alarming rate. I desperately need to get serious about decluttering. I know I say that all the time, but this time I really mean it. I need some alone time while I still feel enough energy and motivation to do it.
Last night, we were over at Reagan and Amy's for dinner and visiting. They had invited a few friends over, and we had fun, but Shabree and I came home early, since she was grumpy and non-cooperative. Chuck was grumpy and non-cooperative too, so he turned in very early - even before dinner - at the cabin. At home I thought I'd never get Shabree in bed for the night. She was mad and argumentative. Sheesh! Happy $^@(*@() New Year!
This morning, we all went to Mass, and tonight Zach came over to spend the night again. I cooked black-eyed peas with the rest of the Christmas ham, and Chuck barbecued fajitas and pork strips. He bought supermarket deli potato salad (ugh!) and beans, too, and banana split ice cream for dessert.While I was taking a nap, he shot this photo of Coconut and Carl.
I heard from Stewart yesterday. He's fine, but extremely busy, with very long days, for the past few weeks. He said that he did the coordinating and paperwork for getting that Florida teen out of Baghdad. He was not at all happy with him. He also gave photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair a ride from one place to another.