sweet Savannah Belle

sweet Savannah Belle, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

Today I had to do one of the hardest things I have ever done.
I had to let her go.

Savannah started her downward spiral last week, with sneezing, of all things.
The vet examined her, and although some of her numbers weren't great, she should be ok. We just needed to get her to drink and eat.
All weekend long, I carried her around like a baby, trying to coax her into taking a small drink her or a nosh there. She was very content to be held (which is so unlike her). The really crazy part was she wanted to be outside all the time. Never in 14 years did she enjoy being outside. This weekend she must have spent 10+ hours out in the sun, checking out the pond or swinging in the hammock.
Yesterday I took her in. It was obvious she needed more help than I could give. She needed fluids. There was a sinus infection (!). There was hope that if the doctor could regulate her kidneys, her toxicity numbers would drop and she would be fine.
All hope left this morning, when she developed signs of nerve damage due to her diabetes, and lost the ability to control her bodily functions. After talking with the doc, I had every intention of bringing her home, for one last day in the sun. Give us a chance to say goodbye in familiar surroundings.
When I arrived I knew it wasn't meant to be. And that is the hardest decision to make.
I am heartbroken. But I know I did the right thing. And I held her until she was gone, even though I was scared and upset.
WE will always love you, Savannah.

a little of this...

I hope everyone out in cyberspace had a nice, relaxing holiday weekend.

I  found myself either doing absolutely nothing or working my butt off on a chosen task at hand. Funny how that works. I think I was born without a regulator gene-one that let's you work just the right amount and quit without feeling guilt. Also missing is my time management gene. So true.

ANYWAY it was a lovely weekend at Chez Treiber. We did the requisite family bonding over yard work and bike riding (my rear still hurts) and in general had a good time.

Auto humor, provided by my husband. Dirt provided by Bushel Mart.

As you can see, we played in the dirt a lot. After careful consideration (i.e. 30 seconds) we decided it would be better to get a load of dirt than buy 500+ bags at Home Depot and lug them all home. My body is grateful for the decision, but we still have a huge pile of dirt to distribute around the yard, and Bart tends to get impatient about big piles of stuff.

And because we are gluttons for punishment, we moved and replanted a bunch of stuff in the garden, so even though we did accomplish a lot, it looks like we did nothing more than play with dirt. We may not be be winning any landscape awards, but damn if my garden doesn't look good.

Also did a lot of plant shopping. It was a good weekend in Northville for plant lovers-the Farmer's Market back to back with a plant sale for 2 days. Got some awesome heirloom tomatoes that I am hoping will knock my socks off, and some fun annuals. Most are planted, a few are trying to find their home still.

When we weren't slaving in the garden, we did fun stuff, like play cards, ride bikes (Did I mention my arse?), swim (the kids), sit in the hammock (me), watch Deadliest Catch endlessly, and go to the drive in to see Speed Racer. Fun was had by all.

Em & Ev cozying up to Uncle Greg at the drive in

I even felt a little sorry for them all as they went to school and work today.Only a little bit though.

Gettin' her girl on

Gettin' her girl on, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

Climbing 40 feet into the air, connected by a harness, some carabiners and rope would be out of lots of people's comfort zone. I know it was out of mine!
But watching Emma conquer the high ropes challenge at camp was amazing. She was scared. It was wickedly windy. And she did it anyway.
Never at any time did I not feel she was safe. Never did I consider not letting her try.
She rocked my world!

they be illin'

seems as if those around me have all been stricken by the plague this week.

Emma called me yesterday morn after an hour of school to tell me that she felt 'jittery and weird' and needed to come home.We talked about what she had for breakfast and determined that a granola bar & cinnamon toast crunch=too much sugar first thing in the morning. She drank some milk, ate a sandwich, and was generally fine the rest of the day. At home.

Bart had a wisdom tooth removed today and is home thru Monday. Bart rarely gets sick, so taking care of him is always a treat (he's not a good patient). He's not supposed to be left alone for 24 hours, or drive or do anything much at all. So he's out mowing the lawn. You try telling him he can't. I dare ya.

Evan has a severe case of the crabbies. Nothing that a few hours of sleep won't cure, but to Evan sleep is like torture. He hasn't learned the transformative properties of the nap yet.

Even the pets are getting in on the action. Savannah has a runny nose & has been sneezing. Unfortunately, our CVS was fresh out of kitty Dimetapp. Do cats get colds?

And I'm off to soccer practice.

I'm on a roll now...

134/366 may.14, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

Another 30 minute Thursday layout
this week's theme:
vacation picture
hidden journaling
paper clip

my scanner of course cut the bottom of the LO off, but we're just gonna pretend that it's all there. See how easy that was?
Super simple. A few scraps of Creative Imaginations paper, a Making Memories paperclip, & Heidi Swapp letters & tape. The journaling is hidden under the photo witht he clip; the tape acts as a hinge.
My journaling is about how Ev saw a kid climb the palm tree and I knew he was gonna do it too.
For fun, I drew a picture of a palm tree on the back side of the cardstock, and then I traced over it with an embosser thing. It's sort of a de-bossed look. I then rubbed a tiny bit of chalk over the drawing with my finger, just to bring out the design. And because I haven't used all this chalk I had to have...
You know how that goes.
Another page done.

A few recent finished objects

I have about 9 projects going right now, 4 of which are on the needles.

I tend to start working something up, and then remember an occasion or find something that I really want to make for someone right now and it can't wait one more day . I am working on a beautiful sweater for Emma, and i thought "I bet Lisa would like one of those for her birthday" (which is in 7 days) so I am madly trying to finish something that I know I won't be able to finish in that amount of time...

whew it's exhausting to be crafty.

I made these pedicure socks for Carol for Mother's day, who enjoys a good pedi quite often. The minute I saw this pattern I knew I had to make her a pair. The yarn is the most delicious silk blend. It feels divine in your hand.
These are a pair of prairie boots I made for my Mom, who gets very chilly feet. They are made from a lovely kettle dyed Malabrigo yarn (it's fun just to say it!) The top folds down or you can wear them higher. They look a lot like my knit Uggs, only about $85 cheaper! If I could find something to use as an outdoor sole, I would totally make these to wear places. They are cozy and soft and oh so nice.
They have leather on the soles so she doesn't wipe out. And I used my Crop-a-dile to punch the holes, so I am still using the occasional scrapbook supply. HA!

I am also in the process of making 2 ginormous wool bags to felt down to regular bag size as scout leader gifts.

I need to grow a second set of hands, or learn how to knit in my sleep.

Novi Jaguar Tournament

Novi Jaguar Tournament, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

You win some, you lose some.
Yesterday we won and won.
4-1. 8-1.
Evan started out a little unfocused in the first game, but hey, it was 6:15 when we got up! I was a little more than a little unfocused. He scored 2 goals in the second game, and played stellar throughout. They all did. It was so great to see them win and finally play like the team we know they are.
Today's game was another matter. The team we played had won both of their games too. Winner goes to the finals, plain & simple.
Their team scored one goal and spent the rest of the game kicking the ball out of bounds. There was no passing, no skill. Our boys outplayed them a 1000% but weren't able to sink one. We go home.
They were awesome. They deserved to win.
But you lose some, and that's ok too.
They were awesome.

Guess what?

you can teach an old dog new tricks! This is my first ever all digital page!

(I actually wrote this post yesterday but blogger was not cooperating and Flickr couldn't get it to post either)

Even though I didn't officially 'take the classes' yesterday, I learned a lot from Ashley @ Polka Dot Potato about digital scrapping and how to use papers and stuff. And she has this class called 'Photox' which I came into in the middle and thought was pretty dang interesting.

Being a TA at the Mega Meet was a blast and I would do it again in a minute! And I bought something really cool which I will post a picture of later.

Evan is playing in a tournament this weekend. His first game was at 8:00 this morning, so I'm a little bleary. I need a nap.

They won. It was a great game.

Two more to go today.

I need a nap.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

job for a day

Saturday will mark the sixth month of my 'lady of leisure' status.

I still haven't decided what I want to do.

The sad truth is that I haven't spent too much time thinking about it at all.

I would like to open an Etsy store to sell handknit items

but I don't really think there is a lot of money in it.

Maybe enough, but I need to actually do it.

In the meantime, my friend Kim got me a job working as a teacher's assistant at the Great Lakes Mega Meet tomorrow. I'm excited-it will be fun to be around scrappers for a day again. The company I'm working for is Polka Dot Potato, a mostly digi company. Hopefully I will learn by osmosis!

I haven't stood on my feet for hours on end in 6 months, so I'm sure to be hurtin' by the time my shift is  over. But I bet the time passes quickly!

This weekend we have another soccer tourney, starting bright & early Saturday morn. There will be no sleeping in for the Mom!

There's always Monday.

Oh wait...the Whirlpool repairman is coming early MONDAY because my washer & dryer are acting up. They are 7 months old. I am annoyed.

Happy Friday in advance!

beautiful spring days

beautiful spring days, originally uploaded by dogglips2.

I have been feeling a malaise the last few days, and I'm not sure why. I'm going to hope lilac aromatherapy will be enough to snap me out of it.

I have slowly begun work around the yard. I wish I could just top off the mulch and call it a day, but I need to get more dirt and move some plants and bury the sprinkler line and and and.
My pond is still much greener than i would like. I went to a pond store on Monday and bought a chemical that is supposed to help with that. I hate to use so many chemicals, but drastic measures need to be taken. I also drained about 90% of the water out (unintentionally. I was at soccer practice) and siphoned a bunch of stuff off the bottom. The good news is that we have 2 fish! A koi and a skeeter eater. I think they have turned into their prehistoric brethern and live in the ooze at the bottom and we will never see them. Maybe the sunlight will entice them to come out. Maybe they are getting ready to evolve.

Some unauthorized animal was in the pond this morning. 2 plants were knocked over and the spout on the bubbler has gone missing. When I let Bud out this morning he was sniffing all over the flagstones, which is a dead giveaway. Duck? Bunny? Raccoon? I know we have them although I have never seen one. Whatever it is will be mighty disapointed to find no fishies.
Have a gorgeoous Wednesday!

Sunday lazies

After spending everyday this week in either the basement or a garage, I'm glad to be hanging out and doing a whole lot of nothing much. And the sun is shining. Even better!

The garage sale went pretty well. I got rid of some junk and made about $300. I would have liked to have gotten rid of more junk, but the weather was not great and we were lucky to have any business at all on Friday with as crappy as it was on & off.

The best part was just shoving it all into the garage and shutting the door. There is a project that my dad wants to tackle before we touch any of the stuff, so we get to ignore it for about 10 days.

Evan slept over at a buddy's on Friday. A friend from soccer that he hasn't hung out with before. Amazing how quiet the house is without him.

2 soccer games yesterday. 2 losses. I was so frustrated. Evan's team played great, but didn't convert it into points. Emma's team was winning 1-0. The other team tied it up, and then Emma made a terrific goal. After 3 minutes the ref decided to rescind the goal because the other coach told him she was offsides. She may have been, but if the ref didn't see it and or call it, I don't think they should take it back. The other coach continued to play the offsides game-having his girls move 6 inches so that we would draw an offsides penalty. And he would announce it. By the time the game was over I was totally pissed off. I'm still not over it, can you tell? To me, that isn't how to play the game, or a  good example for the girls. Our coach talked to the referee mentor, and she even agreed that the goal should have counted. It's just a sucky set of circumstances.

We need to buy Evan a new chain for his bike. It somehow got broken last week. He was just riding it in the driveway. It's supposed to be a nice week and I want it fixed.

Also need to go to the pond store and ask why our pond is still so green. I've been treating the water for weeks and it should be clearing up some. The duck assault appears to be over. This week we have been under bunny attack. One day I opened the back door and I saw no less than 8 white tails flying out of the yard. Which reminds me, I need to respray everything after the rain yesterday. Stupid rabbits.

Have a great Sunday!!

crazy fifth grade girls

Tonight was the mother/daughter banquet for the girl scouts...it was a pj party theme. This is our troop being wild and crazy (pretty much, normal) Emma ran around the banquet hall stealing slippers until she was purple. I think she maybe danced once. so different from when she was little. She was even a little sad, because it will be her last banquet.

good times.