Blossom Finds a Sense of Humor

Blossom is getting a lot more playful she seems to be getting the idea that we are playing with her, not trying to upset her. If you scrunch your fingers across the couch like a spider, she swats at your fingers and paws at your hand. Then she'll roll a little bit, so you can rub her belly. It's pretty cute how she does that. Of course, she sits and watches Barney messing around with us and I think she is pretty smart, she's put it all together pretty quickly. She also went and jumped into the bed this evening for the first time. She watched Barney go in there to snooze and a few minutes later she did the same. She definitely learns from example really quick. A smart and resourceful girl to have made it through the puppy mills. She seems happy here.

I expected to have tomorrow off from work, but for some reason they need me for the entire day. That really bums me out as The Boyfiend is in town for the day and we had plans to do stuff together. But oh well, that's what happens when you are indispensable. I think I should have myself cloned and send me to work for myself. That way, I would actually get a day off when I sign up for one by being able to send myself to work.
On an entirely different note, I traced the pinup girl with hairbrush onto the hankie this evening and I am going to start on that shortly. It's small enough that I think I can put it in a zip-loc and bring it to work, that way if I get a few minutes on break to do something other then get fresh coffee or go to a restroom, I got something to do. At least I would be getting something done that I had planned to do on my imaginary day off that I almost got to enjoy.

Ready, Set, Embroider!

Tomorrow I have an early shift, so I am going to try and get to bed at a reasonable hour. I ended up going to JoAnn's and looking at embroidery floss and such. I got a multi-pack, filled with an assortment of colors. I decided that I am going to do one of the pinup girl patterns from Needlecrafter. I was thinkning on doing the infamous pinup girl with lipstick, but decided in the end to do the girl with hairbrush as a first, get-my-feet-wet project. I found an old hankie that I am going to give it a try on. Later, I will try on some pillowcases, but for now, it's a start.

Not Much Of A Day

But I did manage to finish painting my new craft room. I still will have to do all the trim, but I don't think that will take all that long, it's only where the walls meet the floor. I give it about an hour tops. We didn't even have an actual supper last night, just kind of snacked a bit and called it good. The Gnomes are doing good, no problems with them.
Lately, I have been surfing Craftster for embroidered or crewel work. I don't know why this has me so intrigued right now, but it does. maybe because I am thinking about how to decorate my new space and the fact there is going to be a bedroom nook that it has me thinng of jazzing up some pillow cases and small table cloths. We shall see what comes of it all.

A Day Of Rest, Sorta

I had yesterday and today off, as yesterday was Barney's surgery and today was just in case something went wrong with him. Nothing did go wrong and Barney is doing fine, but one can never be sure with little dogs how they are going to recover.
I ended upspending most of the the day working upstairs, trying to get that room cleaned up and finish painting. Well, I ain't gonna make it. I still got to do one little area, kind of an alcove for lack of a better description. Also, there is still plenty of junk in the room and I have just been working around it. I ended up taking a break from painting to rearrange some of the stuff so I can start moving the junk out of that room. I reorganized an area on the landing at the top of the stairs and started putting all the Christmas decoations in that spot. It isn't much, but it's a start. I am also slowing tunneling my way into the smaller room and will start working on that too. I managed to get most of the clothes bagged up and put in the closet, so at least all the clothes will be in one area. It's kind of depressing to me that it got that messy, but at least I am trying to take back control and that does make me feel a little better about the whole mess.

The Day Of..

Well Barney made it through dental surgery with flying colors. He had 5 teeth removed, but still have some left. He did really well and seems to be just sleepy for the most part. he had a little chicken again for supper, as he had to have something to eat and also, his antibiotics need to be taken with food. so, he didn't have a great appetite, but he ate enough to make me happy.
Thye Bro came over for dinner this evening, so we had like a mini Thanksgiving. Roast chicken, stuffing, corn and gravy. It was a nice hearty meal. We ended up just sitting around and watching a movie. He left a little while ago. I was planning on going to the Spa with him, but we were both too tired to stay up for that. Otherwise, it was an uneventful evening with Barney resting comfortably. Blossom seemed to know something was up as she kept sniffing his head, but he didn't seem to mind at all and liked the attention.

The Day Before

Tomorrow morning is Barney's dental surgery appointment. We already know from the consultation that he will lose quite a few teeth. he already had his bloodwork done, so we know he is good to go. We are just very worried, as it's very hard on a small dogs system to be put under for anything.
Tonight, The Gnomes had a special meal, all kind of goodies, including roasted chicken. I thought it would be best if barney had a big meal, since he can only have water after 9 pm. I know he won't feel like eating very much after tomorrow for a few days.

Work, Work and More Work

I am so looking forward to having a few days off. I have been working on organizing my house a little bit better and doing some cleaning. But, it's really hard to do when you work part or most of the day. I will be so happy when it reaches Thursday and I have a full day off to get some projects done, start to finish. It is such a burn to get half way done with something and have to walk away instead of finishing it up and being done with it. Now I know how the Egyptians felt when they were building The Pyramids.

Mission Impossible

I spent i don't know how much time, looking for the instruction booklet to one of my sewing machines. I may just give up and pay for a new one. It would be a copy, not an original, but that's better then nothing. I really feel that I need to oil the machine before I do much more sewing with it. I think it's going to set me back about 15 bucks, but it's better then paying for a new machine because I ran it without being oiled properly.

Heavy Thoughts

I watched the movie Constantine this evening. A very interesting movie, I must say. I would like to see another movie, like a part two or some sort of followup. It would go a long way to explain what's going on in the World today. Sometimes I really wonder how long this can go on. We are using fossil fuels like there is no tomorrow, and tomorrow is just around the corner. i am not sure what got me on such a heavy thought patterns this evening, but I would guess it was the movie. Although this is something I have been pondering for a long time. The President says we are on the verge of an energy breakthrough. God, I hope so.

Just Plain Cold

I Can't say that today was a stellar day. it was horribly cold outside. At one point we marveled that the sun had come out and it really warmed up. when we got home and checked out the temperature, it was a mere 3 degrees below zero.
The big outing of the day was a trip to JoAnn's for the Presidents Day Sale. I got a kit that had a small cutting mat and a rotary cutter, among a few other useless little things. I also got a small Omnigrid ruler that is see-thru.
The Boyfiend had to take off for work today. We managed to have a steak dinner before he left. That was a nice evening.
The Gnomes have not enjoyed the cold snap one bit. They look at me like I must be crazy expecting them to go outside. I think they're right.

Freezerburn

It finally stopped snowing around midnight last night. I did get a call shortly after 10 pm to come in and work today. So much for all my plans of housecleaning. Oh well, you gotta be a team player. The windchill was horrific today. I fueled up just before I had my lunchbreak. When I got home for lunch, I checked the weather and it was 12 degrees with a windchill of 6 below zero. No wonder I thought my teeth were going to shatter when I was fueling up. As I type this now, it's 6 below zero with a windchill of 28 degrees below zero. I can't tell you how much that stinks to go outside right now. I will have to take the Gnomes out for one last time and they are going to hate me for it.
The Boyfiend made it into town around noon today, so he just beat the worst of it before it got super cold outside. He is not home for long, though, as he has to leave again tomorrow. Maybe next weekend we will have a Valentines Day dinner. It just wasn't in the stars to work out this weekend. I didn't get him the spatula yet, as I didn't want to go out in this weather to do any shopping. He got me a beautiful heart shaped pendant with mother of pearl, diamonds and rubies or garnets. It's quite lovely, I just need to get a thicker chain before I wear it out, the chain is a little to thin for my taste and I would be in fear of it breaking and losing the pendant. It was a really nice surprise and something I will always treasure.

Snow, Snow and More Snow

We got snow alright...It didn't start snowing until shorty before I started work, of course. Luckily, I didn't have to go far out of town. I just worked locally for a change. Usually I end up going on a 20 mile voyage to some backroad somewhere. Dispatch did their best to get everyone in as quick as possible, i think a lot of drivers ended their day around an hour early, and were greatful for that too. I have tomrrow off from work, technically, but I am sure that before the night is over I will get "The Call". I am sure that someone will get snowed in and not be able to dig their way out by tomorrow morning. When I got home from work, I had about 7 inches of snow in the driveway with a couple of areas that had drifted to between 2 to 3 feet deep. But, fortunate for me, the plow hadn't gone by and packed the end of the driveway so it only took me about 45 minutes to dig my way in. Tomorrow, the windchill is supposed to be well below zero with the windchills. that is reallly depressing to me. There is no way the busses can keep up with those kind of temperatures. I won't freeze, but I will be keeping my coat on, that's for sure.

Hawk -Eyed Maltie

Work went alright this morning, nothing out of the ordinary. Afterwards, I picked up Barney and we went to the vet to get his bloodwork done. It was still kind of early, so a little later I went to McD's and got a plain double cheeseburger for The Gnomes to share. I wanted to give Barney a treat for being so good at the vet. I don't think Blossom had ever had anything like that before. She watched me like a hawk after that, like I was going to pull another cheeseburger out of my pocket and hand it to her. She scarfed her half of the burger down like it was Manna for Heaven. I can't say I blame her, that dog food really is stinky. But, back to reality, The Gnomes need a balanced diet and treats are nice once in a while.

Well, The Bro stopped by briefly. He was in town for about two hours, one of which was spent visiting with me. We ended up getting some KFC for supper, he checked his email and then took off, back to his motel about an hour away from here. He will probably be spending a few days here next week, so we will get to visit some more and go sit in the spa and relax. Tomorrow might be very interesting at work, as we are under a Winter Storm Watch, expecting 7 inches of snow and 25 mph winds. I really hope not, I hate the snow.

No Snow is Good

We were supposed to get 2 inches of snow today, but luckily, this didn't happen. I had a busy day though, anyhow. I was really glad when the day ended, I was pretty tired by the time it was 4pm. I did end up going out buy The Boyfiend a box of chocolates in a heart shaped box and a card. I am also going to buy him a spatula. I know, not very romantic, but hey, it's a really nice spatula.
I didn't get to do any knitting today, I really didn't get to sit around much. I wasn't hurried, but just steady.
After work is when I went shopping. There was a magazine at Shopko that looked kind of neat. It was about sewing stuff for your home. I am tempted to go back and get it, but I want to get the spatula first and that was at Walmart. There was some fabric that I liked on clearance at JoAnn's too, so I'll just have to see how the dollars pan out tomorrow. But for now, I am thinking about going to bed early tonight, as I have a very early day tomorrow and also Barney has to go in for his bloodwork.

The Ole Switcheroo

So much for my day off tomorrow. Originally, I was supposed to have the day off. Then, I was asked to work for 3 hours in the afternoon. I really was the only one available to do it, so asked, is a relative concept. Now, they need me to work tomorrow morning for an entire 8 hour shift. it's not too bad, really. I would rather work the whole day and be done at 4pm, then work just for a few hours and be done at 4pm. Also, I was supposed to bring Barney in for some bloodwork tomorrow in the morning, but I was able to switch that to Wednesday morning. I hope that this isn't the start of a flu epidemic at work. I also had to put in a request for time off for the end of next week, as that is when Barney will be going in for some dental work. that's why he needs blood work done this week. He will probably end up having his few remaining teeth removed, so it is going to be a major medical procedure.

Catch Up Time

Today, The Boyfiend had to take off for work. We spent some time getting his stuff together to go. I didn't have much time to do anything else. I am hoping that tomorrow at work I have some time to work on the dobby hat that I am knitting. I guess that i will have to post some pictures of my finished projects, since this is called The Yarn Files. I have actually finished two hats that I haven't posted about. One is the Kitty hat, and the other is a hat for The Boyfiend. I have yet to start on the sweater for Blossom, but it's kind of late in the year to be messing with that. I really should be making her a raincoat. I think in the yarn department, I will be working on stuff that would sell at a craft show. It seems early to be thinking that way, but I will have to make a lot of things to sell to make it worth the cost of renting a table at a show. I will probably make a bunch of scarves as they are easy, but I also will try and make some hats as I got many compliments on the hats that I wore throughout the winter.
lately, I have been trying to do Spring Cleaning, for lack of a better term. I really need to have my own craft room, it's just too much of a mess having this stuff in our living room. It's hard to find what I need, but mostly it's just a mess to have to hide all the time. So, that is taking most of my free time for now.

Showing Some Life

Blossom is really starting to show some life. She does funny things, like zooming around the kitchen when we come back into the house from going outside. She really does love to chew on rawhides chewies, despite her lack of teeth. she has a really cute little personality, if she would just let go. It will take some time, though, we realize this. She is comfortable, that is for sure. She has no problems snoozing wherever we put her. Barney likes her, the other day he must of boosted her butt up onto the couch, as she was up there sitting with Barney when we got home. She also got it figured out that if she sees the Screaming Gnome run to somewhere, she should follow him. She is a quick study for being a deaf little dog.

Once Again...

Once again, not much done. I worked in the morning, came home, The Boyfiend got back into town. He made us some great steak sandwiches for lunch. I ended up taking a nap for a few hours this afternoon, which I really needed. I don't know why I am so run down lately, but I am. The fun thing is that we had a Taco Night. That means we make taco's from scratch, kind of a build it yourself taco buffet. I really love when we have taco's. It's funny though, that the guacamole stuff that we buy contains very little actual guacamole. I still like it, but I think it should be called Tasty Green Stuff, or something like that. Barney was kind of hanging around the table, but there really wasn't anything there for him. We did give the Gnomes each a little taste of steak leftover from our lunch sandwiches, so they were happy.
I started cleaning up my sewing machine, as I need it to make some Little Gnome outfits. It's almost Springtime, and my knitting and crocheting will be winding down a little for the Summer. I will still be making some stuff, I am seriously thinking of trying to sell some stuff at the local craft shows next Autumn. If I could make enough money to offset the Christmas costs, that would be great.

Slow Days are a Good Thing

I had a pretty easy day today. I didn't have to work until 4 pm, so I ended up bumming around with my brother. I got back a few hours before my shift and we ended up eating leftover porkchops for a late lunch. I did the work thing and was in the spa by 10:35 pm.
While I was riding around with The Bro, I did get a few more rows done on a hat I am working on. It was posted on the Internet, with some sort of mistake, as far as I can tell. I got that hashed out and I started working on it a few days ago. I have been using it as a work project and not meshing with it at home, so it's been going pretty slow. I originally found the pattern on craftster, with a link to the blog it was posted at. But once I started working on it, I realized there was a problem and posted it again on craftster. The responses were that it indeed had an error and I wasn't losing my mind. So, I just used the pattern as a guideline and I am doing my own thing to some extend.

Chops for Supper

Today was a pretty easy day at work. Meaning, everything went according to schedule and I was running on time. After work, I got started on making a porkchop dinner, as I had invited The Bro over in the evening. I ended up making almost like a casserole of porkchops, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy over the whole thing, baked in the oven. We started off with a salad and had mixed veggies and biscuits along with dinner. It was a great meal and it was nice that we had a salad first, because that really cuts down how much you pig out. We both need to loose some weight, so that was a good thing. After that, we went back to his motel and sat in the spa fro a while and then I went home, I was really tired. I read a little and now, I am going to bed. I am just exhausted and really need some serious sleepytime.

The Boonies and Back

Today was a rather long day at work. It entails picking up a half dozen or so of our eldery clients and driving them all over town to run their errands. It can really get to be a lot of stops. Also, they don't live in town, but out in The Boonies. So, it's about 45 minutes just to go get them and 45 minutes to get back into Civilization. The roads out That-A-Way left a lot to be desired. They were pretty bad this morning and on the return trip they hadn't improved at all. I was busting through some snowdrifts across the road. I am just glad that my day ended when it did, much longer and I would of been driving in the dark.
The Boyfiend is at home for the day, but since I was at work for most of it and he has some other family plans involving the bowling alley for the evening, it's going to be a short visit. I can't bowl, as I have two bad shoulders, but besides that, they allow smoking and I just got over my coughing spell that lasted 2 months and don't want to tempt Fate.
The Gnomes seemed to have a good day when I was at work. They aren't cuddling up together all that often during the day, but they are definitely getting along. They will cuddle in the evening on the couch when I am home from work, as long as I lift Blossom up onto the couch as she can't make the jump like Barney can. I'm not sure if they see each other as anything but a heat source. Whatever the case, they trust each other enough to sleep so that's a good thing.

Cleaning Day

I was able to finish up a bunch of projects around the house today. I still have some more work to do in the bedroom, but I am happy with what I got done. I didn't have time to do much of anything else today. My brother stopped by for a little while, but he will be out of town until Wednesday. We did make plans to get together and rent movies on Wednesday evening. I just have to figure out what I am going to prepare us for supper. He ends up eating microwave food most of the week as there is a microwave in his motel room. So, I want to make something really substantial, like meatloaf or a roast. Other then that, I didn't have too exciting of a day, just cleaning and cleaning some more.

Sunday Nappies and Not Much Else

It's not snowing anymore, but the wind is really whipping things around out there. I went out for a few things at the grocery store. Dogfood, bagels, and a bag of salad. I also got some Tipperdogs, which is another name for cheap hotdogs that we give to the mooching neighbor dog. I also went to Goodwill, but really didn't get much. Bias tape in two different colors was the extent of my shopping. Their prices are getting a little to high for my taste. They used to be a place that I went to all the time, but in the last few years I have not bought much there because of the prices. I can go to St. Vinnies and get the same stuff for about half the price.
The Gnomes and I ended up napping through the Superbowl, I really could of cared less about the two teams. I wanted to get more done around the house, but I have been really fatigued lately and a nap was right up my alley. I have tomorrow off from work, so I hope I have a burst of energy and get a bunch of stuff done around here.

Crafting Area Blues

I did go out and do a little shopping today at St. Vinnies. I bought some coats and other clothing that show a lot of promise as material for tiny doggie outerwear. I don't think I will have a chance to do any sewing this weekend, as I am doing stuff around the house. Sunday evening, I may be able to get a little sewing done, but as it is, there are several sweaters lying around and the polarfleece vest I cut out the other day for them to wear. With the turn in the weather, I am not as worried about making Blossom a raincoat as I was yesterday. I wish it was still a priority, as I really hate the snow and would rather have rain anyday.
The weather turned suddenly nasty today. It must be about 15 degrees out there with the windchill. It's around 24 otherwise. I had to go out and shovel the driveway, there was about 5 inches of snow with drifts of about a foot in some spots. It was good exercise, but there are other things I would of liked to do. I don't think the Gnomes have spent more then two minutes at a time outside, they were so not impressed with the wind. I doubt that they could see much of anything down at their level with the snow swirling around.
I have spent most of the day just trying to do a little straightening up around here, as I decided it's time that I get a craft room going so I can work on all these projects. I am tired of using the living room floor as a table. I end up not finishing anything because it's so frustrating not having a proper area to work in. So, hopefully within the next week, I can get my craft stuff in a new home instead of crammed under the coffee table.

Dry Clean Only

I had mentioned in an earlier post about Blossom's love of rawhide chewies. I think this picture shows that I wasn't kidding when I said there was about 15-20 different chewies to choose from. Keep in mind this is just the ones they hauled up onto the couch. There is a plethora of them laying around The Little Gnome couches on the floor. They were chewing on them for about a half hour after coming in from a potty break. A half hour seems to be the limit for being able to hold their eyelids open. Barney is crashed out a little bit out of camera shot on the armrest. Her tummy fur is growing in nicely, she was spayed on January 18th, about a week before I picked her up. Blossom really hates going outside in any sort of inclimate weather. It's been drizzling or snowing a good part of the day and she wanted nothing to do with going out in that. She has the idea though, that if she does what she needs to do, then we all go in immediately. So, we were out for about 1 minute all together. She still gave me the Evil Eye like it's my fault it's drizzling out. I will go to JoAnn Fabrics tomorrow and look for some waterproof fabric and make a little rain poncho for her. Something simple shouldn't take me too long to make. I suppose I could go really easy and make one like the fleece one I made last night out of any old thing and cover the outside with duct tape. That would give her that retro Judy Jetson look and probably look pretty cool too. I do plan on going to St. Vinnie's tomorrow before I go to JoAnn's. I was going to see if they had winter coats on sale yet to cut up into doggie duds. I will have to check for waterproof type clothing. Maybe I can find something suitable to make her some raingear. Barney only gets upset with the rain if it's a hard rain, otherwise, he seems to enjoy being out in the rain or snow. I think he would stand out there and sniff every snowflake that falls if I would let him. It's funny that he seems to be what you think of a little boy, wanting to walk through the puddles and mud. She is the little princess that wants to always being dry and clean.

Pattern Problems

I did end up frogging the hat that I had started. I haven't actually restarted the hat since I haven't heard back from the author of the pattern. The general consensus on craftster is there is an error in the pattern. Actually two errors. The first error being, the first and last stitch are selvedge stitches and not part of the pattern, just something for you to use when you seam it together. Second, the pattern as written is not divisible by a 4x4 ribbing. You will end up with the 4x4 ribbing not alternating properly once you seamed it together. There would be two knit panels next to one another. So, a person would have to add 2 stitches or substract 6 stitches to get it to work out right. I may scrap the whole idea of that hat and find a similar pattern, such as Pinky at knitty. I am not sure yet. It's not like I wasn't able to figure out the problem, but I feel like maybe Fate is saying to do a different pattern.
The House Gnomes are doing fine this evening, they are resting comfortably. I'm not sure it's possible for them to do anything other then rest comfortably, but I suppose there is an outside chance. I cut out a simple blanket style coat for them out of some of the fleece I bought. It seemes to be a good design. Although I will have to sew on some velcro and finish the edges, I was able to put it on Barney. He seemed pleased with the style and fit. I will be changing it a bit, as I really don't like having to fasten the belly straps all the way under his belly. I would rather have one long strap that fastens on the side, then two straps that fasten underneath him. Other then that, it will be a good start.

Hat Trick

This morning I slept in a little, that was nice. The Gnomes weren't ready to get up, but I rousted them out of bed anyways. They are truly amazing sleepers. When Barney first came off the chihuahua assembly line, Inspector #481 scooped him up and said "This one is great! He hasn't opened his eyes for days, what a perfect specimen of a chihuahua." The other inspectors gathered around and all they heard from Barney was a little snore.
I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon riding around with The Bro. He was checking on a few clients out in The Boonies. It was fun to do a little more talking. He then dropped me off and went on his way out of town. He will be back a bit on Friday morning, then again for a few days next week.
I started a new hat while riding around, but I will have to frog it as I think there is a typo in the pattern. Suspecting this, I only did a few rows, just enough to see if I will like the looks of the yarns I am using. I will post more about this when I contact the pattern author and find out for sure if there is an error on her part or mine. It's probably something I don't understand, being a Novice Knitter