These pictures spoke to me and I hope they help you too as we all go forth into a fresh new week. I particularly like the first one, I'm really hoping to work on some more closing of the gap again soon.
Monday, November 13, 2017
Motivation Monday - Only You Can
Happy Monday, everyone. My week has started off with a bang and I hope yours does too (but only if it's a good bang). As always, I have many irons in the fire and some big studio news coming soon. This week will be c-r-a-z-y with our last vendor show of the year (the Holiday show) coming up on Saturday. So I will be in crazy laser town with my "day job", at least until that is over - and probably until Christmas. Ah, life in retail.
These pictures spoke to me and I hope they help you too as we all go forth into a fresh new week. I particularly like the first one, I'm really hoping to work on some more closing of the gap again soon.
These pictures spoke to me and I hope they help you too as we all go forth into a fresh new week. I particularly like the first one, I'm really hoping to work on some more closing of the gap again soon.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Stitching The Days Away
First and foremost, Max is still with us. He's gone from being given a sudden prognosis of only a couple of days, to still here almost a month later. He's still happy, still smiling, still likes cheese. However, we know the tumors are still there, still growing. We are still very much in limbo, it's a hard place to stay for very long.
I've been seeing a counselor to work though a bunch of things, mainly goal setting and trying to get out of my own way (a never ending battle). Last week we talked about Max. I told her I am just exhausted. I feel like I have nothing left to give. She talked about "caretaker fatigue" and stressed how important it is to remember self care in these situations. She described what's going on as hospice care for a family member. I thought that was a good way to put it.
Much like last summer, the previous time I found myself on "Max watch", I've been primarily filling the hours with cross stitching.
Early last month I posted about a couple of 22 count cross-stitch projects that I had started. They are both done now, as a result of spending a few more weeks on Max watch.
The first one mentioned was another set of panels for an Arabian costume.
Here they are, all done:
Last time I'd posted about them, I had only started on the first side panel, to re-acclimate my eyes to working in the smaller scale. This was so that I could move on to the saddle pad down below. Once that was done, I circled back and finished the rest of the panels.
Next up was my very first 22 count saddle pad. It was a commission, made to be a miniature version of a real saddle pad. I felt that 22 count was the best way to capture the details in the full size version.
I think it turned out well:
I numbered it as 22 in the Stitched In Japan series. I think that is actually skipping a few numbers (I believe I had left off in the mid teens...) but I thought it would be appropriate to dub this one "22".
Right before I popped it in the mail, I held up Native Son for a quick modeling session. It's tradition, after all.
Once I finished up the pad and the costume panels, I decided to press on with another set of costume panels. Actually, I had drawn up the patterns for a few more sets already.
Two years ago (ugh, really??) I made my first few batches of tassels. At the time I had NO idea what I'd use them for, but I'd decided to dip some sort of toe into Arabian costume making and thought that's where I'd start. The colors I'd randomly chosen ended up looking good together and I figured they'd end up in a project... someday.
One of the patterns I'd drawn up recently had yellow and brown in it, the other color was red. I played around with the pattern, added a bit of green, found a red floss in my stash that compliments the other three colors, and away we go!
This one is actually going to be Classic scale! I sized my measurements roughly for the Classic Arab mare. The base color of the halter, collar, and trim will be the brown (since I have the most of that color on hand). I haven't decided if I'll make red tassels or just use the red as an accent color somehow. Oh, I added a tiny bit of black to the pattern as well, since the original tassels are all tied with black.
I have quite a log jam at the panels stage for costuming. That's what I'm having the most fun with now and so I figure I may as well keep cranking them out.
And watching Max
 |
| Jeff and his puppy, last week at the beach |
I've been seeing a counselor to work though a bunch of things, mainly goal setting and trying to get out of my own way (a never ending battle). Last week we talked about Max. I told her I am just exhausted. I feel like I have nothing left to give. She talked about "caretaker fatigue" and stressed how important it is to remember self care in these situations. She described what's going on as hospice care for a family member. I thought that was a good way to put it.
Much like last summer, the previous time I found myself on "Max watch", I've been primarily filling the hours with cross stitching.
Early last month I posted about a couple of 22 count cross-stitch projects that I had started. They are both done now, as a result of spending a few more weeks on Max watch.
The first one mentioned was another set of panels for an Arabian costume.
Here they are, all done:
Last time I'd posted about them, I had only started on the first side panel, to re-acclimate my eyes to working in the smaller scale. This was so that I could move on to the saddle pad down below. Once that was done, I circled back and finished the rest of the panels.
Next up was my very first 22 count saddle pad. It was a commission, made to be a miniature version of a real saddle pad. I felt that 22 count was the best way to capture the details in the full size version.
I think it turned out well:
I numbered it as 22 in the Stitched In Japan series. I think that is actually skipping a few numbers (I believe I had left off in the mid teens...) but I thought it would be appropriate to dub this one "22".
Right before I popped it in the mail, I held up Native Son for a quick modeling session. It's tradition, after all.
Once I finished up the pad and the costume panels, I decided to press on with another set of costume panels. Actually, I had drawn up the patterns for a few more sets already.
Two years ago (ugh, really??) I made my first few batches of tassels. At the time I had NO idea what I'd use them for, but I'd decided to dip some sort of toe into Arabian costume making and thought that's where I'd start. The colors I'd randomly chosen ended up looking good together and I figured they'd end up in a project... someday.
One of the patterns I'd drawn up recently had yellow and brown in it, the other color was red. I played around with the pattern, added a bit of green, found a red floss in my stash that compliments the other three colors, and away we go!
This one is actually going to be Classic scale! I sized my measurements roughly for the Classic Arab mare. The base color of the halter, collar, and trim will be the brown (since I have the most of that color on hand). I haven't decided if I'll make red tassels or just use the red as an accent color somehow. Oh, I added a tiny bit of black to the pattern as well, since the original tassels are all tied with black.
I have quite a log jam at the panels stage for costuming. That's what I'm having the most fun with now and so I figure I may as well keep cranking them out.
And watching Max
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
In Limbo
Our dog, Max, is almost 14 years old. He's a Newfoundland mix, a big guy. Jeff bought him in Germany when he was a puppy; he's a real world traveler. I came into their lives about 10 years ago, so he's been my dog for a long time too.
He's been talked about here in the blog several times over the years, most notably last summer, when one of his back legs was broken. It was a long hard recovery for all of us, but the old man came out of the whole ordeal still smiling.
Day before yesterday was a normal day around here. Jeff decided to go to the beach and fly his quadcopters in the morning, he took Max with him. They came home, Jeff went to work, Max and I hung out. When Jeff got home, we noticed that Max didn't come to see him. Max was in his usual spot in the living room, appearing not to care that Jeff was home, very unlike him. We also noticed he hadn't eaten his food. He's always been a bit of a finicky eater, but lately he's been eating very well, even licking out his bowl. I thought maybe he'd gotten hot; our heating had kicked on for the first time that day.
Then we thought maybe he'd overdone it at the beach and was just tired or a little sore, that's not terribly unusual these days either. The two of us had to all but carry him upstairs to go to bed, not just give him a bit of a push up. We went to bed and later shared that we were afraid what we'd find when we woke up, neither of us slept much at all. Max was much the same in the morning, yesterday. He just wanted to lay flat on his side and would barely even lift his head. He seemed very weak, wouldn't eat anything, not even cheese. We carried him downstairs on an improvised stretcher and took him to the vet.
At the vet, they took his temperature, he had a fever. They did blood work, which came back okay. Palpating his belly, they wanted to do an ultrasound. The tech then called in the vet midway through, who looked at the screen and said, "Tumor. So many." Max is apparently riddled with tumors inside, we had no idea. The vet said he can't tell if they have spread throughout the body, but being that there are so many in the one area, he thinks it's likely. He thinks that one of them burst and that's why Max had a fever and was so sick, so suddenly.
He said that with Max's age, surgery to try and remove the tumors would not be good, we do know that. He said that he could give injections of antibiotics and steroids to treat the symptoms, we would have to bring Max back in twice a day to get those. Jeff asked if that would give us a couple of months, a couple of weeks?
"A couple of days," was the reply.
Jeff decided to have the injections done and take Max back home, to say goodbye. He took a couple of vacation days from work to stay home with him.
Yesterday, after that first vet visit, Max didn't show much of a change, we let him rest. We had all decided that if he wasn't showing any improvement by tomorrow (today) then it would be time to let him go. We were trying to prepare for that. Later yesterday, he started to perk up a bit. For the evening vet visit, he was laying upright in the car, instead of flat on his side. He seemed much more aware and interested in his surroundings. Last night he got up on his own again and walked around the house a little bit. He also ate for the first time since all of this started, scarfing up a can of prescription high calorie canned food that the vet gave us to try and get something in him.
This morning, he had some trouble going down the stairs (sort of normal off and on lately anyway), but he was able to get around on his own mostly and seemed to be his old self again. For this morning's visit, he was sitting up in the car when the vet came out.
When he went into the clinic to let them know we were there, Jeff told the vet how much improvement there had been and he said they seemed skeptical.
Until they came out and saw him sitting up in the car, looking around like nothing was wrong.
It was a huge difference from 24 hours before, when he seemed to be on death's door. They took his temperature again and seemed surprised that his fever was gone. The vet was careful to stress that nothing has really changed inside, as far as with all of the tumors - they are still there. However, he gave the okay for us to switch to pills for the medications, no more needles twice a day - Max only had to do that for the one day anyway.
Now we... aren't sure what to feel. We went from thinking that we would be saying goodbye to him today to him being back to his old self, but knowing that the clock is still ticking. We just have no idea how much time is left. The vet clearly wasn't optimistic to begin with, but Max has surprised us all - again.
It's hard to feel in limbo. I suppose none of us ever really know how much time we have with our pets (or any of our loved ones), but this is new to me... To go from thinking that we were going to have to suddenly, unexpectedly, make that horrible decision, to 24 hours later it all seeming like a bad dream and now things are "normal" again...?
I'm not really sure how to feel. I'm grateful that he is doing better and I hope we will have even more time with him, but I'm trying not to be too happy, this could be very temporary. We just don't know.
He's been talked about here in the blog several times over the years, most notably last summer, when one of his back legs was broken. It was a long hard recovery for all of us, but the old man came out of the whole ordeal still smiling.
Day before yesterday was a normal day around here. Jeff decided to go to the beach and fly his quadcopters in the morning, he took Max with him. They came home, Jeff went to work, Max and I hung out. When Jeff got home, we noticed that Max didn't come to see him. Max was in his usual spot in the living room, appearing not to care that Jeff was home, very unlike him. We also noticed he hadn't eaten his food. He's always been a bit of a finicky eater, but lately he's been eating very well, even licking out his bowl. I thought maybe he'd gotten hot; our heating had kicked on for the first time that day.
Then we thought maybe he'd overdone it at the beach and was just tired or a little sore, that's not terribly unusual these days either. The two of us had to all but carry him upstairs to go to bed, not just give him a bit of a push up. We went to bed and later shared that we were afraid what we'd find when we woke up, neither of us slept much at all. Max was much the same in the morning, yesterday. He just wanted to lay flat on his side and would barely even lift his head. He seemed very weak, wouldn't eat anything, not even cheese. We carried him downstairs on an improvised stretcher and took him to the vet.
At the vet, they took his temperature, he had a fever. They did blood work, which came back okay. Palpating his belly, they wanted to do an ultrasound. The tech then called in the vet midway through, who looked at the screen and said, "Tumor. So many." Max is apparently riddled with tumors inside, we had no idea. The vet said he can't tell if they have spread throughout the body, but being that there are so many in the one area, he thinks it's likely. He thinks that one of them burst and that's why Max had a fever and was so sick, so suddenly.
He said that with Max's age, surgery to try and remove the tumors would not be good, we do know that. He said that he could give injections of antibiotics and steroids to treat the symptoms, we would have to bring Max back in twice a day to get those. Jeff asked if that would give us a couple of months, a couple of weeks?
"A couple of days," was the reply.
Jeff decided to have the injections done and take Max back home, to say goodbye. He took a couple of vacation days from work to stay home with him.
Yesterday, after that first vet visit, Max didn't show much of a change, we let him rest. We had all decided that if he wasn't showing any improvement by tomorrow (today) then it would be time to let him go. We were trying to prepare for that. Later yesterday, he started to perk up a bit. For the evening vet visit, he was laying upright in the car, instead of flat on his side. He seemed much more aware and interested in his surroundings. Last night he got up on his own again and walked around the house a little bit. He also ate for the first time since all of this started, scarfing up a can of prescription high calorie canned food that the vet gave us to try and get something in him.
This morning, he had some trouble going down the stairs (sort of normal off and on lately anyway), but he was able to get around on his own mostly and seemed to be his old self again. For this morning's visit, he was sitting up in the car when the vet came out.
When he went into the clinic to let them know we were there, Jeff told the vet how much improvement there had been and he said they seemed skeptical.
Until they came out and saw him sitting up in the car, looking around like nothing was wrong.
 |
| Waiting and watching for Jeff to come out with the vet |
It was a huge difference from 24 hours before, when he seemed to be on death's door. They took his temperature again and seemed surprised that his fever was gone. The vet was careful to stress that nothing has really changed inside, as far as with all of the tumors - they are still there. However, he gave the okay for us to switch to pills for the medications, no more needles twice a day - Max only had to do that for the one day anyway.
Now we... aren't sure what to feel. We went from thinking that we would be saying goodbye to him today to him being back to his old self, but knowing that the clock is still ticking. We just have no idea how much time is left. The vet clearly wasn't optimistic to begin with, but Max has surprised us all - again.
It's hard to feel in limbo. I suppose none of us ever really know how much time we have with our pets (or any of our loved ones), but this is new to me... To go from thinking that we were going to have to suddenly, unexpectedly, make that horrible decision, to 24 hours later it all seeming like a bad dream and now things are "normal" again...?
I'm not really sure how to feel. I'm grateful that he is doing better and I hope we will have even more time with him, but I'm trying not to be too happy, this could be very temporary. We just don't know.
Monday, October 16, 2017
Motivation Monday - Be A Legend
Happy Monday! After a week of adventures out and about - traveling, hiking, taking in the beautiful fall colors, seeing horses, and making big future plans - I am all charged up and ready to (really) get to work!
As always, I hope these help and I hope you have a great week!
As always, I hope these help and I hope you have a great week!
Friday, October 13, 2017
Friday Funnies - Cool With It
This week has been a whirlwind. I've been on not one, not two, but THREE adventures that I intend to blog about. However, so far I haven't been able to stop adventuring, or working our business's recent rush of... business to blog about them. I hope to remedy that this coming week... after I have another adventure - this weekend. Whew!
Anyhow, I hope these give a chuckle or two. This edition is a blend of horses, introverts, chips and salsa, and cats... always cats.
Happy Friday!
Anyhow, I hope these give a chuckle or two. This edition is a blend of horses, introverts, chips and salsa, and cats... always cats.
Happy Friday!
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Quick Post: Travel Tuesday Preview
We are at the end of what was a 4 day weekend for Jeff and we did some adventuring during that time. I had planned to do a full travel Tuesday post with some of the pictures, but our help was requested to assist in baking a BUNCH of cupcakes at a friend's house for a function tomorrow. It's now 1am here and I didn't get my planned travel post done. I'm hopeful that I might be able to get it posted tomorrow, still technically Tuesday for my U.S. readers. If not, then on Wednesday. ;)
For now, here's a quick preview. We rode up into the mountains and saw some stunning fall colors.
For now, here's a quick preview. We rode up into the mountains and saw some stunning fall colors.
Monday, October 9, 2017
Motivation Monday - One Day Closer
Happy Monday! I came up with a bunch of pictures to share this time around. I've got big plans for the week ahead and I know I can certainly use the boost from these. I hope they help you too. As always, I hope you have a great week and are able to get closer to your goals. You can do it!
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