I Like Thursday: Digging Out

I lost a week, somehow.  Even now, I have another blog post half written that I just don't seem to have the time to finish.  Nuts.  But I am in a much happier place that I was last week.  Huzzah!

I was thrilled to make it to the Peterborough Snow Ball on Saturday.  (Certainly helped improve my mood.)  I made it through most of nine hours of dancing.  It was a small crowd to begin with (this was the first dance of the day), but it was packed by 4pm.  Accidentally had my camera set to black and white - so this is an artsy-fartsy shot. 

Medicating Mabel

Mabel had been losing weight very slowly over December.  Not enough to be alarming, but enough that I was watching her.  Then early in the new year, she dropped another ounce and I found blood spots on the fleece.  You know what this means....

Road Trip!

The vet is not a place that any guinea pig wants to go.  It didn't take long to confirm that Mabel has a few tiny bladder stones.

Mabel does not like her face being touched.  I've tried to get her used to having her teeth examined.  Nope.  Not cool.  So giving her meds twice a day is a challenge.  (I tried taking videos, but it looks like I'm trying to strangle her - really, I'm not!)  She also won't stay in the bowl - I've had her leap out and try to leap into the cage multiple times.  Mabel likes the taste of the medication, but she still won't take them on her own.

I Like Thursday: Buried

I had been hoping that 2019 would calm down a bit from the end of the year stress.  Not really.  We've added some new fun features!  But I have carved a little bit of time to share the good things I have experienced (even if it's a bit later than usual).

Work has been brutal, being asked to work weekends and evenings and it needs. to. stop.  However, the coworkers I deal with day-in and day-out are the best.  One guy I jokingly call my work-husband - we've been working together since '91.  He keeps me sane on the worst of days.  The rest of the team - I strive to do my best for them because they help me out whenever I need it, too.  I hope we all catch a break soon (we deserve it).

We spent a chunk of the weekend at the hospital.  Everyone is fine (and I certainly like that).  I also liked the staff we dealt with: doctors, nurses, orderlies.  They all treated us with professionalism and kindness.  It made a stressful and unexpected experience a lot more pleasant.  

Now for some fun stuff!  Don't you love finding unexpected treasure?  This week it was in the form of Christmas cookies.  I had been positive I had polished them off.  But  behold!  One last box of the good stuff.  Yum!

There Was Badness

Ah, Wedgwood.  Isn't she cute?  Look at that wonderful innocent face.  In fact, is that a smile?  Just don't look too close at that extra tuft of black (black?) fur hanging from her left whiskers.

What could that be?  It couldn't be a chunk of Mabel's fur.  That would be bad.  That would mean Wedgwood had just been caught hair-pulling.


She looks a bit more guilty in that second photo.  But Mama - Mabel was in the way.  I had to bite her.  Well, that may be true, but you didn't have to pull out the fur as well.  (The remaining mouthful of black hair had dropped to the floor by this time.)  Behavior like that gets you unwanted attention from The Mama.

I Like Thursday: Cars, Curtains, Cavies

A crazy week.  Work has been flat out, so not much fun stuff.  Still, I found a few good things to like.

It's the end of an era.  The car was supposed to be picked up last week, but the flatbed truck broke down on two separate days.  I felt a little guilty enjoying the new car with the old one sitting there forlorn, stripped of its plates.

So I ran out the door and did a happy dance when the guy arrived.  I have the tendency to do that when I'm excited.  Yeah, there's more than one service guy that thinks I'm a little nuts.

The battery had died, so he had to jump it to get it on the flatbed.

And then it just rolled away....

I Like Thursday: A New Year

I have a bunch of likes from Christmas.

Get a load of the little Calvin and Hobbes.  My nephew made them.  The detail is terrific - there's even little pads on the bottom of Hobbes' feet.  You can't see his tail - but that's great, too.  The whole thing stands about two inches tall.  He does such small, detailed work.  I know how hard it is - I'm so impressed.

The background?  Those are new llama pajama bottoms my sister gave me.  I literally squealed, jumped up and down, and tried them on over my jeans when I got them.  Llamas!  I llove them!

Tea Time Sweatshirt

I spent Sunday piecing the design on my second sweatshirt.  I picked the Grandma's Tea Party pattern.  Once again, my initial plan of attack went by the wayside once I started working on it.  I was going to piece together the teapot, cup and saucer according to the directions and omit the backing.  But as I started to cut apart the pattern, I realized there was no reason to assemble the spout in three pieces and another six for the handle.  That changed the whole approach.  The entire pot ended up being five pieces; the teacup and saucer were three.  Much more simple!

I printed the pattern on freezer paper, about 50% smaller than the original (the pot is about four inches tall, the teacup is about two inches).  I ironed the freezer paper to the fabric, folded over and tacked the raw edges, then removed the paper.  Next I machine stitched the handles, spout and lid to the body of the pot/cup, then sprayed the pieces with iron-on adhesive.  Once I figured out where to place them on the sweatshirt, I ironed them down and hand-stitched the edges.  This had only three pieces, far less than the 15 pieces to the color wheel sweatshirt.  The whole process was much faster (plus I had a feel for what I was doing).