On the Subject of Dogs, Contacts, Charity and the Fugliest Sweater Ever Knit

I haven't had much time for blogging lately. We're in the middle of the inevitable end of the school year frenzy of activity. Every year we are pretty much booked solid for the last four weeks or so of school. It's exhausting but at least it's all nice busyness. :)

So I'll just sum up:

I don't talk about my kids on the blog so all I can say about them is that they are awesome!

Some other things I'm happy about:

1.I got contacts and I'm absurdly pleased. I'm convinced I'm actually better looking now that I have contacts. Maybe I'm just not as blurry? :) The only sad thing is that I can't find colored, daily wear lenses in my prescription. :( Bummer. I totally want to change my eye color everyday.

2.I got an update on my projects from Aura's House. There was a long but unavoidable delay but happily the totals have still gone up!

Aura's House update:

Ana's Project: $1419/2770 - we're over halfway there!!
Nyslin's Project: $389/550 - only $161 left to raise!!
Zoila's Project: $293/824
Joey's Project: $236/723
Lesly's Project: Completed!

Hopefully Hubby and I will have a chance this weekend to complete the quilted placemat sets and get them up in the Etsy shop. We should be able to raise enough money to finish Nyslin's project.

And I got some beautiful pictures of Ana today so I will post those ASAP. She is such a gorgeous girl!

3. My fellow sponsors (and friends!) from our sponsor group are helping me to raise money for yet another one of my sponsor children! Click on the link to see Jester's fundraising page. We have started a fundraising group using a "pay it forward" philosophy that has helped us as a group to raise funds for Special Needs and Income Generating Projects for six children so far! Jester's project is to set his mother Agnes up in a reatil clothing sales business. If she can get this business started she will be able to live with her children rather than her current situation where she has to work and live in another city. If you think you might be able to help with Jester's project that would be awesome. Any little bit helps and, like Aura's House donations, these are also tax deductible.

4. I'm also happy because I was able to make another Kiva loan! I think I have 8 going right now. And I am tickled pink that the one that has been the most successful so far has been the one I made supporting a crafts group in Bolivia. Go crafters!!

5. In non-charity related news - After much thought we decided to get Clementine and Sarah ready for summer with some pretty drastic haircuts. Here they are sporting their new looks:



Clementine had hair that a showdog would kill for. Her feathers were literally down to the ground. But it was a really big pain to keep up with because it tangled and matted very easily. She also gets the typical spaniel problem of ear infections so I thought taking away all that extra hair would help get some healthy air circulation going there.



You can't tell it from this photo but Clemmie loves her new haircut. It's like we cut off a couple of years of her age rather than her hair! She has been playful and happy and frisky like a puppy. Actually exactly the opposite of her usual self. :) Some dogs act ashamed and embarrassed when they get a drastic haircut. Not Clemmie. She gives her new look two paws up! We will be keeping her hair trim and tidy from now on.

We let Sarah keep her long ear hair. She doesn't have the same tangly type of hair as Clemmie and no ear infection problem. The rest of the fluffy hair had to go though.



Sarah always looked like a fat little muffin with all of her hair. Now she looks like a lowfat muffin. Both of the dogs are so soft and pettable now - they feel like bunny rabbits.

The verdict on the haircuts is: A+.

Sadly, there is also one item on the unhappy list:

I recently knitted the worlds ugliest sweater. I'll try to get a photo to show you (if you think you can hack it) before I frog the beast. It's pretty appalling. Not only did I knit the whole thing, but in defiance of logic I actually sewed it all together too. Shudder.

I had to cast on for a February Lady in Noro Cash Iroha and Silk Garden to try to erase the memory of the fugly sweater. It's really that bad.

Happy Birthday Yumi!

Today is Yumi's birthday. She is one year old.


For her birthday, Yumi got two special doggie biscuits and this wonderful birthday crown.



Yumi just loves her special birthday crown. She hopes your day was special too.

Happy Birthday, Yumi!

:)

Plans for Valentine's Day?

Just a bit of Valentine's Day advice from Luca the Love Doctor.

If you want to get anywhere with the ladies Luca suggests that you dress up and do your best to look spiffy.



Be on your best behavior and maybe your sweetie will let you give her a kiss!



Libby tried to follow Luca's tips...She got dressed up.



And now she's plumb tuckered out.

Happy Valentine's Day all. :)

More Fun With The E-Collar

Much to her relief Yumi doesn't have to wear her e-collar anymore. But I thought you would enjoy seeing some more funny pictures of the e-collar in action.



Here Yumi attempts to eat food while wearing the e-collar. For some reason she feels like it is best to take the food out of the bowl piece by piece and then eat each piece one at a time off the floor. This activity pre-dates the e-collar so that bit of weirdness has no excuse! With the collar on though the task was more challenging. Yumi would chase after the food with the cone clomping down over eat piece of food like a kid trapping a bug in a jar. Remember that toy from the 70's that was essentially a pair of plastic cans with strings attached so that you could walk around on the the cans? (Why was this fun? Dunno but it sure was!) That was the exact same clomping sound that Yumi made. Ahhhh - memories. :)




Here Yumi attempts to shake off the collar. I don't know how dogs can make their whole bodies shake so violently without making themselves throw up or having their eyeballs come flying out or something. Seems like it would be a handy skill to have though. :)

Yumi in the e-collar,



kept making me think of:



Marvin the Martian.



"Take me to your leader!"

Clemmie and Sarah

Clementine and Sarah would like to show my blog readers that they have mastered their primary function in life - keeping the dog bed warm.



Clementine says, "It's an art form. Clearly I am the greatest dog bed warmer of all time. Cats have nothing on me. Now back off will ya?"

Sarah can't be bothered to comment. The effort of lifting her head would be too taxing.

Dog Portrait

Libby wants nothing to do with Yumi and the whole E-collar business.



I love this double portrait. It's so strange, yet so revealing of the personalities. As soon as the camera comes out both of them have to charge right at it - Yumi frantically jumping and pawing and licking the air and Libby barging in and knocking her off balance every five seconds. LOL! The two of them are like chalk and cheese yet they get along quite well.

Look at how grey Libby's mask is getting. Poor old lady. :(

So Sleepy...

So very, very sleepy.



Yumi is plum tuckered out.

Luca

Luca as the Mighty Hunter, Bane of All Squirrels and other Suburban Rodent Types.



Nothing gets past a greyhound when their ears are set like that. He's a trap ready to spring. He's fast as lightning too. Many a small mammal has blessed the abundance of trees in our neighborhood!

Dogs? Yeah, We've Got 'Em...

...all sizes!



Yumi and Libby prove that David and Goliath don't have to quarrel, even with a tasty Nylabone in the vicinity! This should be a poster for world peace or something don't you think? :)

Clementine

My hubby takes wonderful pictures.

How could he fail with a beautiful model like this?



Clemmie is a favorite subject because she is completely unfazed by the camera. The other dogs often break their pose when they see the camera or when hubby gets down to eye level. They just can't resist coming to investigate. Not Clemmie. She's unflappable. Must be the English in the English Toy Spaniel. :)

The Real Yumi

This is what Yumi really looks like - when we're not messin' with her of course.



She is so sweet, so smart, so charming. I'm so very happy she came home to us. :)

More Fun With Yumi

Tired, sleepy puppy = crazy face.



LOL!

Fun With Yumi

Making Yumi have crazy hair - one of my favorite activities lately. :)



Lol!

(Hey, I'm the one who has to take her out to pee and poop ten times a day, I'm allowed to have some fun.)

:)

Portrait of Yumi as a Teeny Tiny Psychokiller

This picture makes me think of the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

"Well, that's no ordinary rabbit! That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!"

BTW - I had no idea that Killer Rabbits also roam the American South (!) and on one occasion even tried to attack President Jimmy Carter!

"We'd better not risk another frontal assault. That rabbit's dynamite."

Silly Puppy

She doesn't usually look this...crazy. LOL!

Thanks for the suggestions on the Hexagon Blanket - keep 'em coming!

Mayumi

You may have noticed the plural when I mentioned we had new additions to our family.

This is the other one.



Her name is Mayumi - Yumi for short - and she is a four and a half month old Japanese Chin.

How in the heck did we end up bringing home a puppy? Well, there is a long story behind that of course but I'll try to keep it short! Suffice it to say that, I let the kids convince me to go visit the local puppy store - about a week before we left for our vacation. We saw Yumi there but we were NOT getting another dog so we dutifully went home and supposedly that was that.

But, over that week I kept thinking about her. The kids kept talking about her. I kept remembering that we didn't NEED another dog, that I didn't want to buy a puppy store puppy etc etc. We went on vacation. I still kept thinking about her and the kids brought it up every now and then but I figured there was no way Yumi would still be at the puppy store when we came home. It just seemed really unlikely that no one would buy her in three weeks time. At some point during the vacation though I tried to get the idea out of my mind by deciding to leave it all up to the fates. Maybe if she was still at the store when we came home then she was meant to be our dog - if not then...oh well. I called the store a few days after we came home.

She was still there.

And now she is here. :)



She is super sweet, very smart and gets along great with the rest of our dog herd.
It's a different experience for us having a puppy. All of our other dogs were second hand and came to us as adults (except Luca who was an older puppy). They all needed to be house trained and learn their manners just like a puppy does (most of them had apparently never even climbed stairs!) - but still, a puppy is a whole 'nuther thing! Our dogs are all 4 years and up so the introduction of a youngster was potentially going to be a disaster - but so far we've really had no problem. After all, we did have many weeks to think about whether Yumi had a personality that could fit in and whether we could handle another dog. :)



Mayumi supposedly means "truly beautiful reason" in Japanese. The kids had said they wanted to name her "Beauty" but I really wanted to pick a Japanese name for her. We gave them a list of ones we liked and they chose the one that happened to mean "beauty".

So, more lucky good fortune and serendipitous happenings. Some things are meant to be I guess. :)

(But now we REALLY REALLY REALLY have no more room for any more dogs - or parrots for that matter. I'm serious. I mean it. Stop laughing.)

Libby's Wrinkles

Libby snuffling the grass.



One of the best things about Mastiffs is their wrinkles. It gives them such character. Libby has alot of character. :)

Have a great long weekend everyone!

Clementine

Clementine would like me to remind you that she is....

Lord of the Couch!



She also takes her title of Supreme Denizen of the Carpet Under the Computer Chair very seriously.



:)

Hubby says that Clementine is my daemon. I think he is right.

Pure Sweetness

Luca gives Sarah a kiss.

Post Script...

After my post yesterday my husband asked me why I hadn't used this picture.



Told you she sleeps like that! LOL! Libby is such a sweet old gal. :)