Dancing Baby

Oh man, the leg! The leg kills me!

It's about 5 minutes long but this is my favorite Beyonce video! (Technically, it's the only Beyonce video I've seen.)

Almost a Week

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted. Busy, busy.

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Reggi has another cancerous lump that will be removed soon. She's had a cough for about a week, plus several lumps so we took her to the vet Tuesday. I was 100% convinced we were going to be told some really bad, as in terminal, news. I think I was so shocked that the vet brought up chemotherapy last time (just in general terms, he wasn't recommending it now), so this was my way of preparing myself.

You know I love the bejesus out of that little dog - we all do. But I sort of felt I'd made peace with the notion that she will die before me. We've given her the best possible life she could have. She loves us and we love her. I wouldn't do anything differently (except not feed her scraps and treats when she was little - though she's lost weight recently - another reason I was worried, though we've all been exercising more.) Anyway.

I'm not sure if I mentioned our vet sent Reggi's information to Cornell University a couple of months ago, who for $50 will do up a report with recommendations, prognosis, etc. The result came back that this is really still a surgical case, meaning keep removing lumps and once we have had 10 lumps removed, then it's time to talk other options. This will be Reggi's 4th cancerous lump. Or mass cells as the vet calls them - he rarely uses the C word.

I really wanted either Steve or Simon to go with me to take Reggi on Tuesday. I figured I was so strung out at that point that I was likely to burst into tears whether it was good news or bad and I needed someone to actually listen to what the vet was saying. Steve went with me. I've been teary for a week, cried in the car on the way home from work to pick up Reggi, sobbed at home while talking to Simon about it and then teared up again in the vets office before he came into the room. (So much for making peace.) I was pretty proud of myself for keeping my shit together while the vet was with us but Steve said my eyes were pretty red. Nothing the vet hasn't seen before. I love our vet.

So yeah, I was a little over-prepared. The cough is just a cough - we're giving her Robitussin DM. Only 1 out of 4 of the current lumps is cancerous and it's tiny. While we were waiting for the vet to come in, I kept finding more lumps, which he needle biopsied. At one point he leaned into Reggi and said, "Kid, tell your mom to stop finding these lumps!"

I told Dr. Hines that I feel like a hypochondriac about Reggi. Not about myself ever, just Reggi.

Which brings me to today's offering from Urban Dictionary:

September 24: cyberchondriac

Someone who spends their time searching medical websites for diseases they convince themselves they actually have

Similiar to a hyperchondriac

'Then I went on this website and found out that I actually have diabetes AND chronic fatigue!'

'Dude...you're a cyberchondriac'

I can't remember if this was from Urban Dictionary or somewhere else, but another term I like to use is Dr. Google. As in, "Look at this weird rash. Dr. Google thinks it's poison ivy."

So anyway, Reggi's fine. I'm fine. I'm busily on track for the big show at Letchworth the 2nd weekend in October. The day job is going great - I'm getting to do the parts of my job I really enjoy. Life is good.

Pimp Your Laptop

Makes me wish I had a Mac. See this (only $14) and more from Vinylville.

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Now that we've finished watching all 7 seasons of 24 courtesy of Netflix, we're watching Season 2 of Dexter. We must have caught Season 1 on some other channel last year because we've never had Showtime. I said to Steve this one of those shows that if you read the premise on paper, you would never imagine how it could work. But it does.

They also have one of the best openings, right up there with Mad Men.

And can I please tell you how happy we are that Sons of Anarchy has started their new season?? I'm so glad that TV seasons are all over the place these days, not strictly Sept - May like they used to be in the old days.

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The NYS auditor is gone for a few days. It's pretty painful in that she's very young and I have the feeling she's going "by the book" in requesting lots of information, rather than just random samples that the seasoned pros request. Yesterday was so incredibly boring I was actually feeling depressed by the end of the day. Auditor overload I guess. And it's only been two days.

But today is Friday, which can't help but be a good day.

And I've been on fire with new designs. I'll have two new cards to post this weekend - going to get them into my Esty shop first. I have to finish setting up one in the Groove - just did the test stitch of a quarter of the design last night. Hope to get that done before work this morning so I can stitch it up on my lunch hour.

Life is good. (Except for the auditor parts.) :-)

Yulia Brodskaya

See more of Yulia Brodskaya's outstanding work here. Blows my mind!

I found her through a new-to-me-blog, Epheriell Designs.

The always lovely and talented Willa sent me the link to the quilling - thank you so much, Willa!!

On the way home from the craft show Saturday, I stopped at DiBella's to pick up subs for dinner. When I came out of the restaurant, there was a red Prius parked right next to my red Prius. I laughed out loud. If the person who parked their car next to mine did that to make me smile, it worked! I almost put a note on their car, "Thanks for the smile!". Wish I had.

I was thinking the other day that next month, Gretchen and I will have had our Priuses 1 year. That seems weird to me because off the top of my head, it feels like it's been 4 months or so. It's still my 'new car'.

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I did something shocking this past weekend. I did not buy Springsteen tickets for his November show in Buffalo (an hour away). I decided it was not meant to be because:

1. Tickets went on sale while I was at the craft show.
2. The show is on a Sunday night.
3. The show is on a night where I will have done a 3-day craft show until 5:00 that day.
4. Expensive tickets are not in my budget right now.

Still. Bummer! I've been listening to Magic in my car a lot lately to make up for it. :-(

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Here's a word you haven't heard me mention in a while: auditor. We start a New York Sales Tax audit this morning. We were audited by the state a few years ago so of course that puts you on their watch list for a while. Last time was fairly painless. The guy came to the office every once in a while to review stuff but so much can be done electronically, it's not the process it once was.

We're still undergoing the Illinois sales tax audit but that guy hasn't been around for a while.

Welcome to one of the least fulfilling parts of my job.

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Let's end on a happy note, though. This is one of the numerous pieces I stitched at the craft show last Saturday.

Lone Star

The craft show this past Saturday was remarkably unsuccessful. I did it partly as a favor, figuring I'd make more money than I would staying home. That turned out to be true but not by much. It was drizzly most of the day which didn't help. I decided early on the day was not going to be about sales, but instead about opportunity. So I envisioned unknown opportunities coming to me instead. And 3 did! So we'll see how those pan out in the future.

I'll continue to sell my stuff in the museum gift shop but I won't be doing any more "shows" there. Rule 'em in, rule 'em out, right?

And next year I'm going to apply to the Clothesline Art Festival (also this weekend), Rochester's longest running art & craft show (53 years). I'm ready.

One of the nice things to happen to me Saturday was meeting a new vendor friend. We've actually met before, she was one of my first customers, but we got to know each other better Saturday because Lord knows we had time to kill.

She ordered a 5" square framed Lone Star Quilt for her husband to give her for Christmas. She wants one in navy, green and white. I usually make that quilt using the rubber stamp seen above. I stamp it multiple times, cut it apart and reassemble.

But I decided to see if I could design it with my Groove software. I did! It took forever and a day but I learned a bit and got quite proficient at some bits I'd learned previously. Now that I see it scanned up close, I see some slight inaccuracies, possibly in just the way I glued it together. But that's just my test cut, so tweaking is expected.

That block is 3" square so I'll reduce it significantly and add some stitching. (The parts I drew with black pen above, to separate the blocks, will likely be replaced with stitching.) I've envisioned myself making paper quilts of all type for years and now I know I can do it.

Blue Flowers

Someone just added this 2006 card of mine as a favorite on Flickr a few minutes ago as I was looking for something to post here today. Do you know how fast I could make this today with my blazin' hot new KNK Groove??

I say that as I sit here eating breakfast, blogging away, cutting out 19 ladybug backs at a clip. Bang, zoom, done.

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I've had some issues with deep pockets in my gums over the years - had bone grafts done a bunch of years ago. So I have my teeth cleaned 4 times a year between my regular dentist and my periodontist so we can make sure everything remains in good shape. Yesterday my favorite hygienist, Tracy, did some deep scaling - cleaning below the gum line. She told me I could have it done with or without Novocaine. I chose without. I had some hesitation in the beginning but decided to tough it out and I'm glad I did. She and I usually chat while she works, as best as one can chat during a cleaning, that is. But yesterday I listened to my iPod, closed my eyes and zoned out. I'm so glad I did. I hate getting Novocaine shots and I hate the after-effects. My gums were a little sore a few hours later so I took an Advil and I'm good as new this morning.

Why did I think you'd find that interesting? I have no idea. Just wanted to brag about the lack of Novocaine I guess. ::: grunts, pounds chest :::

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In yesterday's comments, Leslie asked about the status of my Etsy shop. Good freakin' question. The status is it's embarrassing. So much for my 2009 goal for having 200 items in it at all times. I also swore that anytime I posted something new in this blog, I'd have it for sale in the shop. I even decided to forgo photographing each item and would just scan them from different angles where possible because it takes much less time.

I've been eyeing 1000 Markets a little bit, thinking I might want a change. Except I'd be in the same boat there - not able to keep it as fully stocked as I'd like. Etsy isn't the problem, it's me. I've considered closing the Etsy shop altogether to take that off my plate, but I really like having an online store. And I do get occasional sales, when I have product in there, that is.

I'm open to any advice or experience that anyone else has had, though I think the solution to my problem is Just Do It.

Saturday - September 12, 10:00-4:00

Valentown Museum

Family Heritage Fall Festival

7370 Valentown Square

Victor, NY 14564

With Sympathy

One of our employees and his wife lost their baby over the weekend. She was due next month. It's so sad, I can hardly bear to think about it. This card is for all of us to sign today.

These two designs are by Erica Fortgens that I stitched way back when. That dark color is a dark teal. I tried to adjust it once scanned but I wasn't very successful.

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Saturday - September 12, 10:00-4:00

Valentown Museum

Family Heritage Fall Festival

7370 Valentown Square

Victor, NY 14564

Ladybug

This little lady took a ridiculously long time to make it through Research & Development here at Pine Tree Designs. I mean, the ladybug is just a series of circles, for cryin' outloud. But it was my first design experience on the Groove that wasn't a symmetrical circle for stitching. Lots of learning going on here.

I'd forgotten all about making more ladybugs until I ran across an inventory list while cleaning my studio this weekend. All of a sudden a huge lightbulb went off when I remembered Darcy's mantra - cut away rather than glue on. So the black dots are holes allowing the black body to show through, rather than individually glued onto the red paper as I've done in the past.

I thought the stitching was going to be an outline stitch around the perimeter of the red wings but it looked too busy. That's when I realized the black space between the wings was calling out for something.

One of the things I've been most excited about getting my Groove on is the precision with which it cuts the stitching holes. When I punched holes by hand, being off even just a needle's worth could make a line look crooked. The thing is, at craft shows, quite often customers think I stitch my pieces on a machine. I imagine they'll really think that now.

Saturday - September 12, 10:00-4:00

Valentown Museum

Family Heritage Fall Festival

7370 Valentown Square

Victor, NY 14564

People of Walmart

I found this site on Dara's Facebook page. This is what our civilization has come to - cell phone surveillance. With really funny captions. Oh man.

Here's what I don't get. This is on the page where you submit photos.

Any picture submitted must have the full consent of the person(s) in the picture and the person(s) must be over the age of 18. This includes both single persons and groups.

Can you say legal disclaimer? I don't believe for a second that any one of those people consented.

It's a lot of pictures of mullets and short-shorts - and here's one wacky product I saw.

Coal Craft

Isn't this a cool necklace Gretchen gave me? It's a piece of coal about 1-3/4" in diameter, hand carved by a young man in Colombia.

The Colombian government established a workshop for boys to learn this craft so hopefully they won't have to work in unsafe mines. You can read more about on the One World Projects website.

You can see why Gretchen thought of me immediately when she saw the design. :-)

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Steve and I went on a bike ride this morning, our first in a long time. How long? Well besides being a few chins and pounds ago, it was clearly before I wore bifocals. I had to take off my sunglasses (which are prescription but not bifocal) and wear my glasses so I could see the numbers on the gear shifts and cyclocomputer. So yeah, it's been a while.

And the resulting endorphin rush was high enough to get me to put the finishing touches on the garage clean up that Simon started a few days ago. All good stuff.

Otherwise, I've caught up on a bunch of paperwork and even created a few new designs to stitch. Here's a sneak preview:

My designs keep getting stitchier & stitchier. The more stitching, the more fun to make - and less embellishment is needed so they assemble more quickly.

Outta Nowhere

My friends who are grandparents will nod knowingly when I tell this story.

A friend of Simon's has lived with us from time to time over the years and is doing so now. He has a 10 month old son who is at our house from time to time. Last night I was watching this young man feed his son and watching Simon interact so joyfully with this little tyke. It was a very in-the-moment thing for me. Look at what these video game playing, trash talking, junk food eating goofball kids I used to know have become! (I kid, they still do those things too!)

I said to them and Steve that even though I'm not this little dude's grandmother, I can see how my friends who are grandmothers go all googly-goo over their grandchildren.

"He is just so totally cu--- my voice cracked! Whoa, where did that come from?"

"Yeah," they all said, "Where did that come from?"

It surprised me as much as it did them. Had to go dab my eyes and blow my nose, I did.

I'll see if I can get a photo of the little dude and permission to post it.

Meanwhile, here's a photo I ran across as I was cleaning my studio today. The back of the photo says it was developed in 1997 which would mean Simon is 10 in the photo. I think he looks more like 5 or 6 so I'm guessing this came from a long lost roll of film I finally had developed. It was taken in the Adirondack Mountains when Steve and his daughter and Simon and I used to go visit Steve's aunt & uncle for a few days each year.

Good times.

Hot Mama

I wish my hair looked better but LOVE all the green! Thank you, Target.

This is Steve's high school photo - 1975. He asked me to scan it so he can use it for his Facebook profile. He has way less hair now. Don't we all?

Hey look what Bonnie did for me! I should have taken the time to clean up the background but I don't know how to "soften" the photo so it's not so grainy.

This photo is fun as a hoot for his Facebook profile pic for a while. But I'll have to take a decent photo sometime soon to replace it. Or maybe I'll send him to Target! (I'm sure pigs would have to fly before he'd do that.)

Up to My Knees in Pumpkins

Just when I thought I had my pumpkin strategy all laid out for 2009, my friend Darcy posts this free cutting file on her site! This is a strong contender for replacing my QuicKutz version, which I haven't cut out yet.

And cutting, I have been.

This is Team SLC at this June's Fast & Furriest Dog Walk to raise money for the Verona Street Animal Society. Besides Steve and me, there's Steve's daughter Lizz with Reggi, plus Bonnie, with whom Steve works, her husband and her mom. Their two collies walked and the little cocker spaniel has issues so he/she (can't remember) got to ride in a dog stroller. It was a picture perfect day and lots of fun. We're keeping our ears open for more dog walks, like our nearby Lollypop Farm's Barktober Fest.

Reggi wasn't smiling in the first picture but here, see? She's grinning her face off! She had lots of fun too, hanging with her peeps, human and canine.