Friday, January 6, 2012

Celebration of life.....Sadness in death

Good morning, friends!

This morning is my Libby's 1st birthday!  But I guess, technically, she's 7....lol.  Over the past year, she's gone from this:


To this: she had to grow into her ears :p




To now this more distinguished look of a 1 year old boxer :).  Yes, she is small for a boxer.  She was the runt of the litter.  BUT, we wanted a more laid-back (is that an oxymoron in the boxer realm??) puppy, due to the fact that we have a senior boxer - Georgianna, who is 12 - that we didn't know how she would act with a puppy.  She doesn't know she's small - we call her fun sized!


She's my girl, though, even though she does enjoy daddy once in a while.  She's my little shadow.  She drives daddy nuts until I get home if he gets home before me.  She'll get in my recliner and watch out the window.  As soon as she hears my car, she runs to the door and does her boxer wiggle dance.

She does have her faults.  Her nickname is Destructo Puppy.  She has pulled all the wiring for the cable out from the house.  She digs.  Everywhere.  She has carried fence pickets around the yard and chewed them.  Any toy with stuffing, forget.   She and Georgie enjoyed some lamb chewies last night:



Maybe you can see the size difference there.  Georgianna weighs 86 pounds.  Libby weighs 50 pounds soaking wet, lol.

And, here is the rest of Lib's birthday stash, minus her chopped beef steak that she will have with dinner tonight:



Now, on the flip side of the celebration, there is a sadness for me as well.  Yesterday, a dear, dear friend passed away.  This was someone who I have never met in real life. 

12 years ago, we started our jouney owning boxer dogs.  We have had 4 in those 12 years.  Sampson, who we got as a puppy, 5 weeks old.  Dallas, who was a Hurricane Floyd rescue.  And Georgianna, who came from a rescue in Alabama and Libby, who we got from a FANTASTIC local breeder.  Libby is a little different - she's 1/2 American and 1/2 European bred, so she has a mushier face and is a little more laid back than American boxers.  Our next one will be a male, full European bred.

We had NO CLUE what we were getting into.  They are VERY high energy.  They LOVE their people and that is where they want to be ... constantly.....with their people.  They are NOT outside dogs.  They can jump 6-foot privacy fences.  They have very stinky gas.  Their feet at times smell like Fritos.  They think they are human - and have the facial expressions to proove it.  They snore....LOUDLY.  They are also very prone to cancer :(.

We didn't know what a backyard breeder was (which is apparently who we got our German Shepard Brandy from...sad, sad, thing :( ).  We didn't know what a reputable breeder was.  We didn't know it's bad to give your dogs rawhide.  We didn't know that there are good dogfoods and bad dogfoods out there.  But, all these things we learned from all these wonderful people.

Anyway, I was doing a web search for information on boxers when we decided we wanted another one.  And I came across this page :

http://boxerlife.com/

This page was run by a man named Dale Ulmer, who had owned boxers for several years.  He did home cooking and everything.  He was also the administrator of Boxer Mailing List along with Maryann Watkins. 

Over the years, I have met many wonderful people.  Shared many wonderful boxer stories.  Gotten TONS of advice.  Laughed.  Cried.  All along with peole I have never met.

Dale will be sorely missed.  Each day, he would post new pictures of his dogs with captions of them "talking".  Emily had a pension for "dandylimes".  Louis was always hiding in the shrubs and waiting to pounce.  Toby could look VERY ferocious.  Ella just wanted a forever home.  And sweet, sweet Tiger Lily was taken way too soon.

When Dallas became ill in early 2003, I started cooking for him.  It's the only way he would eat.  I used the recipe from Dale's site and renamed it "Dallas Mush".  We lost Dallas the day after Mother's Day in 2003 to a brain tumor.  In 2009, we lost Sampson to lung cancer.

Every day, these people come onto my computer via email.  Even though you never meet them, you become accustomed to them being there.  They become a part of your life.

And it's sad when it's their time.

Dale's obituary can be seen here http://www.schmidtandbartelt.com/obituaries/detail.aspx?id=4974

This morning, I sent off my donation for this :


The BML (or Boxer Mailing List) is donating this to Diane, Dale's wife.  It will have a larger base and a plaque that says that it's from the BML, without individual names.  The title of the piece is High Jinks by Danny Quest. This is what Dale lovingly took pictues of every day - his boxers enjoying life.  More sculptures can be found here http://dannyquest.com/store/information/information_id/4

Ok, this has gotten really, really long.  In closing, I'm going to share a part of the email that Maryann sent when she gave us the news that Dale had passed.  This was a piece that Maryann and Dianne shared with us and each other -

Gone From My Sight

I am standing upon the seashore.  A ship at my side, spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.  She is an object of beauty and strength.  I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says: "There, she is gone!"

"Gone where?"

Gone from my sight.  That is all.  She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her.  And just at the moment when someone at my side says: "There, she is gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: "Here she comes!"

 And that is dying.

~Henry Van Dyke

 
Sleep well, dear friend.  You will be missed.  We are sending prayers of comfort to your family in this time of sorrow.  :(
 
Dale Ulmer - 12/12/1938 to 01/05/2012

 


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

No-wordless Wednesday :(

No further progress, so no wordless pictures this week. 

Bummer.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Back to work blahs.....

I love the fact that I actually got 2 days off for the weekend!  I have been working sooooo much, it was a fantastic break.  I am looking forward to after the 19th, so that I can take a week of VACATION!  Who cares if it's winter and cold out......I just need some "me" time.

Anyhow....

I got the first half of my nephew's huge pillow done.  And started on the 2nd.  It's purple and orange


And, I went back to doing some cross stitch.  My hands are going to be in continuous claw-form from holding the knitting needles, so I figured I would take a break....



The snowflakes are supposed to be white, but I changed them to DMC 4025.  I am loving the lambswool linen.  I never thought stitching on linen would be enjoyable, but I really like it.

All that being said, I am back to the gym today.  YAY!!!!!  I have missed it.  This fat is gonna be blasted in 2012.....have a great day all!

Monday, January 2, 2012

New Years Stitch-a-thon :)

So, what did you do on new years?

Me?  I put the pork, sourkraut and potatoes in the crock pot and then I stitched alllllll day.  Thats all I did.  Mostly just knitting.  I did get the first half of a pillow I am helping Megan do for my nephew Nick.  I also did some on my cottage of the month cross stitch, but not nearly as much as I would have liked.

I really needed to go to the gym, but that will start full force tomorrow.  I HAVE to get back on my fitness track.  I want to be at my goal weight by this time next year. 

Will post pictures tomorrow.  On my way to bed now.

Here's looking forward to a FANTASTIC 2012!!!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Knitting for Dummies and my current WIP's

Ok, one more day of work left before a 3-day weekend.  I am soooo looking forward to the time off so that I can get some of this stuff done.  I want to deep-clean my house on Saturday and just sew Sunday and Monday, though I think one of those days we have to go to my mother-in-laws for homemade pizza, but that's quite alright with me!!

My cross-stitch is kinda on hold.  I'm eagerly awaiting an order from Anita's Little Stitches for the stitch-along that I joined for next year - Country Cottages.  I've been in a knitting mood lately.

So, here are my current 2 knitting projects - the flourescent green and pink will eventually be a pillow for my 2nd oldest niece.  The purple is going to be an  orange and purple pillow for my oldest nephew.  Though, for some reason, it looks royal blue in the picture.  It's actually really dark purple.  They are both being done in a popcorn stitch (knit 1, purl 1).


I also bought this today for my Nook:

Hopefully this well help me figure out some of the more complex stitches that I REALLY want to learn how to do.  It's so hard to do things left-handed in a right-handed world :(.  From what I have read so far, I really like it.  It's very straight-forward.

In my last post, I shared my new car :).  Here is the one we ended up getting for our daughter.  It's a beautiful blue.  She didn't really like yellow anyway :p.

This is at the airplane hanger we rent to use as a garage.  We don't have one at home, so hubby brings the cars here to work on them.  In the right corner, you can see the front end of the 1991 notchback foxbody that he's currently building.  Megan's car needed a new window, which came yesterday and Michael and she aer going to put it in tonight so she can start driving it.



The next few weeks here at work are going to be hell.  Seriously.  We have our upcoming SQF audit on the 19th.  Between now and then, we have 6 customer visits.  We have a Halal audit this Friday.  I am so stressed it's stupid.  So sewing and such is my only outlet.  I treasure the time I have to sew and read and just chill at home.  At least after this audit I can take some vacation time.  I haven't had a day off since May and I've worked 50-60 hours a week since April. 

I'm burnt out.

*sigh*

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

So long no post! ACK!

Hope all of you had a WONDERFUL Christmas!!!  Looking forward to a fantastic New Year, myself :)

Soooooooooooooooooooo......it's been too long since I have posted.  I'm currently working on a knitted pillow for my 2nd oldest neice who is 21 today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLISON!!).  I am still working on my mother-in-law's cross stitch.  I just ordered my Country Cottage packets for my stitch-along that I joined (SLACKER!!!).  I did thoroughly enjoy my long weekend, and am looking forward to another this weekend!!

Was Santa good to you??  He was AWESOME to me this year!  I got just about everything I wanted, other than a trip home to see my Mom and brother :(.  But, that will come this spring/summer.

Let's see - First, I got this


This is my Bumble Bee :)  It's a 1999 35th Anniversary Mustang GT.  Hubby traded his 1995 GT for it.  Well, that and some racing parts.  We were originally looking at it for our daughter, but this car was too nice for a teenager.  Funny how when you get a new car at work everyone and their dog spot wants to talk to you  and they never had anything to say to you before :p.  Some people ask "Don't you want a NEW one?"  Nope, I don't.  Hubby rebuilds them as a hobby and he can work on these blindfolded.  I'm very happy with no car payments, thankyouverymuch.

Christmas Eve, we went to my mother-in-laws where I got the following:

  • Nook Tablet and Cover
  • Gray leather gloves
  • Pocketbook organizer
  • $25.00
  • Country Dance 2 for the Wii
  • Zumba Fitness for the Wii
  • Emerald and diamond earrings
  • Basket of body lotions/soaps/gels
  • Beautiful perfume

Christmas morning, we got up and were rather lazy.  I did my Zumba game for an hour.  Took a shower, then fed the family :



For dinner, I had ham, baked macaroni, yams, green beans and bread.  Oh, and pumpkin pie.  It was all REALLY REALLY good.

Tomorrow I should have some sewing updates to share.  It's been nice to take a little break from it after finishing Mom's project (which she LOVES) and my brother liked his scarf, too, so everything was a success.