Have you ever had one of these days...

...or weeks? So Seven, our oldest, jumped off of the bed (which is ridiculously high) and did something to her neck or back. The vet thinks it's something the left side of her neck radiating down her left leg. Whatever it is she squeals/screams if you even look at her funny. Poor girl. But hopefully she is on the mend. Then Preacher. We found out today that he has lymphoma. It was devastating at first, but we are adjusting to it and realizing that we have options. We are meeting the oncologist on Tuesday. Then I woke up this morning with some kind of hideous pain in my right shoulder blade. Off to the people dr. this time. I swear, my little family of two people, 12 dogs, and two cats is just a train wreck. However, we knew before that we had terrific friends and family - but all of these goings-on have just reconfirmed that no one, NO ONE, could ask for better friends and family than we have.

Oh, and that's a picture of The Business Man doing some sort of bizarre thing with his face. But it's how I have felt the last two days so it seemed appropriate.

It's like Candy!

I absolutely adore making these little gems! And I always want more and more. A big bowl full of them is like candy to me. They are simple little sterling charms filled with resin and herbs:

Purple has Spearmint for peace and happiness
Red has Cloves for love and protection
Yellow is Cumin for prosperity and good luck
Aqua Basil for love and wealth
Olive green has Fenugreek Seed for wisdom
and there are many, many more...

well wishes, please.

My big man is feeling kinda poopy. We took him in to see our vet this morning and it seems his liver is being squirrely. Hopefully it's just a bit of an infection. But he could use all the thoughts and well wishes he can get!

Tom and I adopted Preacher from Great Dane Rescue 10 years ago this month! He was a skinny 10 month old - old man already. I swear he was just as lazy then as he is now. Anyway, we just love him to absolute bits. So send your hugs and kisses - I'll happily pass them along!

Our revolving door...

Can you stand how cute this dog is? Can you even imagine that he was like minutes from being euthanized? Don't get me wrong, I think our local shelter is great, they do what they can - it's the people that dump the dogs there that make me crazy. Anyway, I got an e-mail about these two from the shelter rescue coordinator with a deadline of 4pm that day. Around 3:30 I had Tom convinced we should go meet them. I shot off an e-mail to the shelter to hold on to them!

My mom and I went down to the shelter to meet them on Saturday. There was tons of interest in lots of the dogs down there - but none on these two. They had been owner surrendered to the shelter. Dropped in a night drop box. The little shaggy thing is a boy and the little miniature fox is a little girl and they could not be sweeter. And let me tell you - a bath went a long way with these two.

So, with Scribble, Captain, and Tenille, our last round of fosters, all adopted into loving homes - we were able to go pick up these two. They don't have names yet - we're still working on that. Feel free to send any suggestions our way. They should be posted on the Blue Dog Rescue site by tomorrow morning! Check 'em out!

Tom's B-day! Whoop Whoop!

Saturday is my sweet husbands birthday. We have been married almost 10 years (October!) and I am anxiously awaiting the next 50! He is everything to me. He is my webmaster, my Yahtzee competitor, my champion, my own personal comedian/shrink/masseuse all rolled into one, my confidant, my in-the-pool-hip hop partner, my upper when I am down, my cohort in all dog craziness, the love of my life, my rock, my everything. Happy Birthday my love.

To all the dogs I've loved before...

I'm not the only one who is over the moon for my dogs. Recently my friend Jyl asked me to make her a necklace for all the dogs she has loved in her life. This was so right up my alley. I used a combination of sterling, brass, and copper and several different patinas. I just love the reds you can get out of copper - perfect for a heart. The only problem is that now I want one for me!

Trunk Show time again!

Metalsgirl

The mighty fine folks over at The Ginger Man have started this awesome new artist series on the last Saturday of every month. So, tomorrow, Saturday the 30th is it! I'll be there from 3-7pm sharing the space with other two other Fantastic Austin artists! Come by and say Hi!

The fabulous Christine Terrell of adaptive reuse

The perfect gift for ANYONE Jake the Dot

So, meet up with us at The Ginger Man on Lavaca between 3rd and 4th. We'll be there Saturday May 30th from 3pm to 7pm. Did I mention they have like 80 some-odd beers on tap? Yummy!

Summertime and the livin' is easy.

Well, I don't know about easy. It's sure not as simple as the days before graduating from high school. Lazy summers with the hardest decision being whose house were you going to lay out at that day. Ahhhh, sleep til noon, hang out with friends, and go to bed sometime before sunrise. I had it good. Now I do have to work through the summers but that's okay. I do love my job so that makes it "easy". These earrings are my new favorite summer time accessory! They are so light weight - you don't even know you are wearing anything - I wish I could find clothes like that - we've already seen highs in the upper 90's and it's still May! Uggg. Oh, and the bright, fun, cheerful colors...Love them!

Makes me giggle.

When I started making these bottle cap charms my one stipulation was that I wasn't going to put just anybody in them. It had to be people that I liked for some reason or another. I'm not gonna make a bunch of oh, I don't know, Ben Stiller, just because they might sell. Or whoever, Justin Timberlake. So maybe my "people" aren't flying off of the "so-to-speak" shelf, but they get a lot of giggles. And it sure is fun to have people ask "uh, is that Isaac from The Love Boat?" And I happily say, "Why yes, yes it is!". Oh, and another favorite - "Is that Bob Barker?" to which I reply, "Uh, yeh, what better to put on your spayed or neutered dogs collar??"

Whoo Hoo!

I am a show off. I am not afraid to toot my own horn. Shoot, I spent a lot of years in school to do what I do - and now I make a living at it! That's pretty cool. But to get aknowledged by your peers and community on top of that - I'd say that's worthy of a horn toot!

So I think it's super cool that I made Rare Magazine's 2009 "Rarest of them All" issue! I was blown away, totally flattered, grateful, and proud. Thanks ya'll!

Wish me luck!

So I have finally gotten up the nerve to apply for a booth at ACL. If you don't know what ACL is - it's a HUGE music festival here in Austin. It's big I am telling you. Bands like Beastie Boys, Pearl Jam, and Dave Matthews are playing this year. Previous years Van Morrison, Tom Petty, Beck, John Mayer, etc. It's big. It's a three day festival that attracts roughly 65,000 people. Yes, I mean three zeros. 65,000 people! I've been a little a-scared to apply in the past. That's a heck of a lot of inventory and the booth fee is, ahem, steep. But this year my friend Liz of the super fabulous Bolsa Bonita suggested we share a booth. Now that's a great way to ease into it. Still intimidating but much easier for my brain to deal with. So, wish me luck!

My new Cupcake

Just thought I would show off my new tattoo. I got this cute cupcake last Saturday and I LOVE it! The fabulous Stacey Martin did the work for me and I am amazed by her...I kinda want to eat this cupcake!

Happy Mother's Day

This is me with three of my favorite people in the whole world. My mom, my grandmother, and my great grandmother. Today, on Mother's Day, I can't help but think about them. Of course I am thinking about my mom. I was fortunate enough to spend the majority of the day with her. But I lost my grandmother when I was 11 and my great grandmother when I was 14. But even having lived more than half of my life with out them they still have an enormous influence on my life and how I choose to live it. They all, including my mom, are strong, brave women. I hope that some of that is in my genes.

My grandmother is my greatest hero. She was the kind of human being that I strive to be. She faced obstacles in her life that could have destroyed some people. But she chose the path of grace, hope, and kindness. In the most difficult times I never heard her complain. I have fabulous memories of my time with her...my favorite being lying in bed at night watching the Odd Couple and The Carol Burnett Show and laughing together. She was in a wheel chair with MS, completely paralyzed for most of my life - but she still had a regal, graceful quality about her that I find amazing now.

My great grandmother is one of the greatest loves of my life. Not a single day goes by that I don't miss her and wish, sometimes irrationally, that she was here with me. Even though we had a 70-some odd age difference I felt like she understood me like no one else. I felt like she was my greatest champion, I still feel that way. Some days I would give nearly anything for one more minute with her.

My mom is quite possibly the best mom ever. She lost her father when she was only five years old and then had to care for her mother (my grandmother) when she was diagnosed with MS when my mom was very young. As a single mother she did EVERYTHING to make the right choices for me. Looking back I can see that it must have been painfully difficult - but she never let me know. As a child I never knew how poor we were, and it's not that she spoiled me with things. She just never let me see her worry, she let me be a kid. She never talked badly about my father after their divorce (I will be grateful to her for that for my whole life). She protected me, she gave me morals and manners, she was a wonderful role model, and she loved me. And now, as adults, we are so close. We laugh all the time. And I tell her all of the time how grateful I am for the sacrifices she made for me, for the choices she made for our lives.

I was a crazy lucky kid.

My Aunt Millie.

I lost my aunt yesterday. And tonight, right now, I am typing this lying in her bed. We left this morning for the eight hour drive to New Mexico. Family was already here when we arrived. It was so strange walking into her house expecting her to appear around every corner. I feel so strange. I haven't lost anyone in several years and I don't remember this feeling. It's not the sad part, I know that feeling, I can interpret that feeling. It's this odd space where everything feels like she should be here. I am surrounded by her things, food that she bought still fills the fridge, her car is in the drive way, I am staring across the room at her hairspray on the dresser. I keep having these moments where tears spring to my eyes and that sadness lump fills my throat, but for the most part I have this odd, I don't understand death, feeling. I guess it just doesn't feel permanent yet.

I love this photo of her. Her high school graduation photo I think. She looks beautiful. She was a grandmother type for me. My cousin Chris and I could do no wrong. We would run like banshees through the house, chase her dog, screaming all the way I am sure. My Uncle Clyde would yell at us, but not Aunt Millie. She would feed us anything we wanted. I remember driving here with a friend when I was in college. I brought my laundry from the dorm and she washed it all. She asked what we wanted to eat. Onion rings. She made THE best onion rings. And of course she made them.

As we age we transition from one phase of life to the next with out a lot of knowledge of it happening. Aside from things like graduations we just go from child to adult fairly seamlessly. But losing Aunt Millie feels like I am having to let go of my last grasp on my childhood. The Christmas dinners around her table with my great grandmother, my grandmother, my great aunts and uncles and cousins, the hot summers sitting on the patio listening to the adults "visit", the laughter and the story telling, the traditions that only belonged to my family and to me...I had a wonderful childhood and a wonderful family.

Two more...

So, I told you that when we went to the shelter last week we picked out the little white chihuahua AND two little dachshund mixes. Well, here they are. Their "due out" day was today so we went down to the shelter and picked them up. They really are precious. The little boy (the one with the shelter identifying paint on his head) is very out going. And the little girl is shy at first and then in your lap giving kisses upon kisses after about one and a half minutes.

Now we are working on names for them. I was thinking Muskrat Susie and Muskrat Sam, but Tom's not convinced. We have to decide quick because they've gotta go up on the Blue Dog Rescue web site on Monday! And hopefully there will be videos of them as well. Seriously, how cute would the video be set to Captain and Tennille! Oooooo, maybe we should just name them Captain and Tenille!?!?!? Oh dear...

Oh and by the way, the little white chihuahua is officially named Scribble!