heavenly and potato

On the best names ever front ... Our new next door neighbors have named their rescue puppy, Potato - best doggie name ever in my book. Potato has an older rescued doggie mate named Moose. Thoughts of Potato and Moose make me happy this Monday.

We went out to breakfast yesterday and took our Missy along for her very first visit to a restaurant. She was a bit apprehensive, unsure of what she was supposed to do and all the goings on but finally laid down. The place we ate also makes doggie biscuits for their furry clientele and I do believe I heard Missy say that it was a very good biscuit and she'd like to come again.

While we were driving around my husband was telling me about his new bunch of students. One little girl is named Heavenly, how great is that?! I love that her parents looked upon their precious baby girl and found Heavenly to be the most fitting of names. 

The biggest smiles are sometimes found in the little moments that make up life.

Happy Monday!

who am I to be blind? pretending not to see their needs?

ETA: For some weird reason unbeknownst to this computer-know-nothing, the video I've linked to is not visible on an iPad - here's the link to the you tube page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IoFKzxGE9Y

("With all of the negativity and violence going on in the world right now, I felt the need to do this video. I worked extremely hard on this song and changed a lot to make it my own. My goal is to bring attention to the viola and hopefully inspire other kids to learn an instrument since many schools in America have removed it out of their curriculum. It would really mean the world to me if you all could please share this with your loved ones. I wish we lived in a world where everyone could just love each other instead of fighting one another. One day we will get to that point in life where we can finally live in peace. We all just need to "make a change." I have always loved the message in this song and tried to deliver the meaning to the best of my ability with my viola. I truly believe that if we really want to make the world a better place, it starts with the "Man in the Mirror." I hope you enjoy my cover." Jeremy Green, published on Aug 23, 2014)

Man in the Mirror

I'm gonna make a change
For once in my life
It's gonna feel real good
Gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right

As I, turn up the collar on
My favorite winter coat
This wind is blowing my mind
I see the kids in the streets
With not enough to eat
Who am I to be blind?
Pretending not to see their needs

A summer's disregard, a broken bottle top
And one man's soul ( and a one man's soul)
They follow each other on the wind ya' know
'Cause they got nowhere to go
That's why I want you to know

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

I've been a victim of a selfish kind of love
It's time that I realize
That there are some with no home, not a nickel to loan
Could it be really mean, pretending that they're not alone?

A willow deeply scarred, somebody's broken heart
And a washed-out dream
They follow the pattern of the wind ya' see
'Cause they got no place to be
That's why I'm starting with me

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

~ written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett
for Michael Jackson

miss gracie has a baby

When we adopted George and Gracie from the rescue we were told that Gracie had many litters - that she was a puppy factory. Makes me so sad. Gracie missed out on all the fun in a doggies life - she was busy being a good mommy, over and over.

She's always been quiet and perhaps even more so after losing her lifetime companion, Georgie, last year.

But something's afoot over here. The past few months she's started to come out of her shell and become Miss Personality. She asks for rubby-doo's all the time, she wiggles all over when we wake up or come home to her, she wags her tail like a windshield wiper on high, from side to side.

She was never interested in more than a couple ball tosses at a time and she wasn't interested in stuffed toys at all. So it came as a huge surprise when she trotted into the den one night last week all happy, with a mushroom softie in her mouth a friend had made me.  (It had fallen off the shelf in my craft room and I had gotten distracted and completely forgotten to pick it up.)

So I decided she needed a "baby" of her own - that's what we called all of the sheep wool animals for our other Golden's. Golden's love to carry things in their mouths and we'd ask them "Where's your baby?" and they'd all go get them --- except for George and Gracie, who had such sad lives.

We went to two pet stores over the weekend and everything was too small or had multiple squeakies or ugly material, etc... I apparently have a demanding eye when it comes to doggie toys LOL.

I did find this one group of over sized softies that were natural colored and barnyard animals - I've always liked the sheep wool toys - and besides the pig and goat, there was a third one ... I think it's a sheep??? It's the size of a Golden puppy.

I laid it down on Missy's bed and after sniffing it all over, she very gingerly, laid down face to face with it.  And then yesterday I stood it up on her bed and she came over and sniffed it all over again AND licked it!!!

again ... heartbreak

The news is saying that another journalist has been beheaded by ISIS in Iraq, Steven Sotloff of Time Magazine. Overwhelming sadness and despair. Words fail. How to process the ugliness of the human soul? How to live in a world gone mad? 

All I know to do is be kind and pray for an end to this insanity. 

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
~ The Dalai Lama

Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

~ unknown, circa 1915

a spooky swap for all seasons

I received the most deliciously devilishly spooky package from my partner Debbie, of Kitten Creates in today's mail. It was so much fun participating in Linda's A Swap For All Seasons --- I could kick myself from here to China for not doing so earlier.

I opened the outer mailer and inside was this mailer with Halloween images stamped all over it. And then I opened it up and my gosh, what spilled out --- stuff kept coming and coming. See what I mean? Holy Toledo!!!  Thank you so much Debbie for this Halloween extravaganza!

Debbie made me this great card and tag - front

card inside and tag back


and look at this coffin load hahahhaha
of creepy crafty supplies!!!











Thank you thank you thank you Debbie,
I'm going to have so much fun playing with all of this!

summer afternoon

Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; 

to me those have always been the two 

most beautiful words in the English language.

~ Henry James 

How I loved the summer when I was little! Playing outside in the delicious sun all day long. Swimming pools, bicycles, roller skates, beaches, ping pong, hiking in the canyon, spinning around until I dropped with dizziness, playing tag, skipping - remember how much fun skipping was?! Coming inside only for a quick dinner, hopefully that included corn on the cob and watermelon. And then back outside again until dusk with my best friends forever.

The days of summer are waning. Hold on tight. Don't rush them.
Giggle and eat corn on the cob and maybe even do some skipping.

Wishing you all a lovely long holiday weekend!

it's national doggie day!

(Dog of the Blog :: Missy poochie pie oggie doggie)

It's National Doggie Day today so give your boo boo doggie a big kiss and a tummy rub and an ear scratch and have a nice game of ball, followed by a biscuit and a nappie!

and what I made my partner for ASFAS

As my mom used to say, "sorry for chewing my cabbage twice", but I thought I'd share about the first half of my very first outing as a participant in Linda's A Swap For All Seasons. (So sorry this is repetitive - I like to keep this online record of what I've made for myself as a kind of diary and also to share with you guys.)

I was given Deb, of Garage Sale Gal as my "recipient" of a handmade Halloween card and tag and also orange destash items.

I knew that Deb likes vintage things.  I found two vintage photos in my mom's family photo album and thought they'd be fun to use for witches on my card and tag.  I had fun looking through my things for orange crafty supplies for Deb.

(Sorry! I thought I got okay photos but now I see they're pretty sad. ARGH! Deb has posted and you can see more on her blog.)

Thanks for bearing with me on what must seem like the hundredth post about this swap LOL!

I don't really have another thing to post because this has been "the summer that wasn't"! With my back injury and subsequent eye trauma, I haven't done a thing except watch TV and movies, read, (doing this swap was the one fun thing) ... that's about it. BORED OUT OF MY MIND.

Oh! I lied! We did go out to eat a few times recently and a couple of weeks ago we went and saw the Hal Roach Studio exhibit (Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, Little Rascals) at the Hollywood Museum. Tiny exhibit but lots of fun. Again sorry, terrible awful pathetic photos from my phone ...

I had to go back to the eye doctor again last Thursday for increased light flashes in my eye again --- she said no PT for at least another month to be safe, maybe two.  Woe is me. 

Everything seems to involve my bending my head up and down, big NO NO --- she said to think of my eye as a snow globe when shaken --- I can't do my embroidery, or rug hooking or even sort the dreaded filing or carry on with my reorganization and purging plan. WAH!

the broom has landed

I had the fun of joining in Linda's A Swap For All Seasons for the very first time this month. We were to make a Halloween card and tag for our partner and also include some orange goodies for them as well.

I had a great time making my card and tag for Deb, of Garage Sale Gal and finding some fun orange things in my stash for her.

(I just heard from Deb that she's received her package so it's okay if I babble a wee bit and give a teeny tiny sneak peek of the extras before she posts about it.)

Happy early Halloween! 

heartsick

Heartbroken beyond words to hear about the execution death of journalist James Foley. 

So weary of the utter madness and arrogance of human beings.

All I know is that violence is never ever the answer. 

And I suspect that love always is. I sure can't think of an alternative.

So humbled by the grace and eloquence of James Foley's parents on the news. They said their son just wanted to help, to shine a light ...

In the memory of James Foley and all those men and women who are our eyes and ears and bear witness, more often than not to the worst in we human beings, in order to make our world a better place. I am profoundly grateful.

in the meantime

whinnnneeeee!  My eye doctor had to cancel my appointment on Monday, she ran into complications during a surgery and had to reschedule. (The poor patient ACK! Not the words one wants to hear, huh?!!!)

I was able to see her on Wednesday and the good news is she said my eye is improving - the bad news is that I'm not there yet and I have to be careful for another month or two, it may take that long to quiet down.

WAH!  So frustrating. To say the least.

And it gets even more frustrating ... I returned to PT on Thursday and the rest of the day and through Friday, I experienced more flashes of light in my eye. So I cancelled my hair appointment for this morning since my hairdresser shakes my head around a lot and I don't want to risk another retinal tear or worse. I've got quite the skunk line going. I'd been thinking about stopping dying my hair but this is a real shock to the system, unsettling to see all the gray. Woe is me.

Sure will be happy when I get to the other side of this. 

In the meantime, things are getting decidedly spooky over here. I'm working on some ghoulish goodness - I'm having so much fun playing with all things orange and black for my partner in A Swap For All Seasons.


Wishing you a happy weekend!

a swap for all seasons

It's been forever since I've blogged consistently and I find myself at a loss about what to post?? The more time that passes, the harder it is to think of something ... hmmmm ...

My back is a bit better but sadly I lost ground, having had to discontinue my PT until my eye settles down. WAH! I have an appointment with my eye doctor on Monday, fingers crossed I can resume my PT next week. 

I signed up to participate in something really fun - A Swap For All Seasons. This is my very first time. I've enjoyed peeking in at all the fun goings on for quite a while. I decided to dive in for the current one since it's a Halloween swap. Fun fun fun.

While puttering around the house doing housework, my little gray cells are off some place spooky and all a buzz over creating a Halloween card and tag for my partner and also gathering some fun "destash" stuff in orange. 

Also in exciting news, well sort of, I got a new computer. FAST FAST FAST! But ... I'm having such a learning curve ay yi yi. I wanted to add the swap button to my blog post and I can't figure out how to do it - it won't do it the old way. ARGH

(I just did a preview of my post to proof read and my default font wasn't there, what the hoohah is that all about?! sheesh. It kept my font choice for my blog titles but not for my actual blog text. GRRRRR)

(Okay, SUCCESS with my font ... whew)

I'll continue to blunder along over here, hopefully I will solve the mystery and able to add the graphic for the swap soon. 


OH! I think I figured out how to grab the button WOOHOO ... it's the little victories in life, huh, LOL.

Hope you're well and have a Happy Hump Day!

pffbt and phooey I say

(yes, still making use of my mugging photos from the 70's LOL!)

oh good grief. they say when it rains, it pours ... I think they forgot to include the hurricane force winds and the up to your chinny chin chin flood waters. sheesh.

I began physical therapy a couple weeks ago - have gone four times so far. It's been very distressing and depressing to find out how weak and out of shape I am. 

I cancelled my appointment for today though because, now - my right eye has gone wonky. I had a retinal tear and had to have laser repair done on it a few years/some years back ... middle age brain can't remember what year.

Two weeks ago I began having those dreaded confetti floaters again - my eye doctor was away on vacation and I had to see the doctor she referred for her time away (who was very nice). He said everything looked fine but to watch out for more floaters, light flashes, loss of sight - the usual drill.

So this Monday I had a few flashes of light and they were still with me Tuesday morning - thankfully my doctor had returned from her vacation in Istanbul (having had a fantastic time, except for a bout of food poisoning - saying that she and her family had heeded all but one of Rick Steves' recommendations for while sojourning in Turkey - hence the family wide stomach malaise) and I saw her yesterday afternoon.  She said my retina looked fine at that time but to watch for any changes.

She said my back trauma could be the cause of my current eye disturbance! Like I whip lashed my eyeball and did the hokey pokey with it and shook it all around. Wow! Who knew?!

So I'm over here enjoying (well, not so much) my own personal light show in my eyeball - crossing all appendages that nothing else happens with it in the next four weeks.

Miss you all! Hope you've been enjoying your summer, with no aches or pains or general body falling apart business!

a trip to the ER

(source)

Had the hubby take me to Emergency on Saturday morning ... my back was even worse, no sign of improvement. Thankfully there was only one other person in the waiting room, yippie! I was so afraid I'd wait for hours, in pain. Still it was two and a half hours before I got to go home WAH! I was so miserable.

Anyway, prognosis = back strain. Had xray taken and given pain meds. Doctor says recovery time varies, averages about a week. Only the merest wisp of a hairs improvement, so frustrated. 

So tired of sitting and laying around ... whineeeeeeeeeeeeeeee


Happy week to everyone! Don't pick up any boxes that are too heavy for you or climb on ladders and pick up heavy boxes, like this complete nincompoop!!! 

OUCH and a bit of blabbering

Throwback Thursday - late 70's ...
Having fun at the pool - look at the size of those glasses!!!

argh. I had this grand plan of simplifying my life and getting rid of stuff and I was really making head way. But boy, did I ever over do it! I strained my back and now it hurts to move. OUCH! whimper whimper whimper

Yesterday I had fun working on my family genealogy on Ancestry.com, iPads are a wonderful thing for those unable to get up off the couch due to their labors hahaha ... I am hoping to get some letters written to relatives today, in the pursuit of more info and familial connection. I found letters from a distant family member (written around 1990) to my mother, who was interested in researching our shared ancestors too. Fingers crossed he's still alive please please please, he'd be in his 80's now.

And since I'm out of commission over here, while I'm resting, I'm also house cleaning my computer life and doing some "UN-Pinterest-ing" ... I had Followed every board of so many pinner's, ay yi yi ... so now unfollowing boards I have no interest in. This may be quite a project LOL!

Wish I had a book I was excited about to read - read anything good lately? I need a page turner! I am reading a good book but it's HUGE and I feel my interest waning ... I have a hard time hanging in there with long books these days. Missing the days of reading paperbacks at the beach or by the pool during the summer. 

It feels like summer over here already ... warm days and hubby's summer break quickly approaching. 

Hope this finds you all well and happy!