The Horse Hair Bracelet Lady was Right!

That would be Angela! :-) She told me I needed "The Furminator" and asked if I had one, I didn't know what the heck she was talking about, she explained it was the best shedding tool ever! So, I said a have a shedding blade that works pretty good, and she said it wasn't good enough!

So a couple of days later in the mail was "The Furminator". I made and help Angela with her websites and she spoils me. *G*


So anxious to use it, I get Lego outside.....and I have to say it works much better than a shedding rake. I got a ton of hair off her, and lots less the next day. And her coat is really really soft. She's always had a nice shiney coat, but its nicer!

But I wanted to see how it worked on a long hair dog. So Lisa, the next door movie going neighbor lady, has a Brittney Spaniel Maggie and I sent it home with her yesterday.

Maggie before


She said it worked great and she is off to buy "The Fuminator"!

Maggie after

(Okay thats not Maggie, that's one of those Mexican hairless dogs, I don't have an after picture. No worries, Maggie still has hair.)

I didn't want to recommend it till I knew it worked on longer haired dogs! It does! It's great! It does seem to cut down on the hair!

Speaking of Maggie, she is about to get a little sister. This weekend Maggie and family are going to check out some puppies. They are five weeks old!



Okay, I did ask if could go with! I'm officially a Puppy Whore!

M

"Indulge your imagination in every possible flight."

A long time ago, in a place far far away... well, it was a year ago August right outside of Niagara Fall in New York. I went to visit a jewelers that I have been working with for a couple of years now with Claire's Ring.

Claire's Ring
is a ring, a friend (Hi Janice) and I wanted to have made from a favorite book. We got permission from the author, and started on a labor of love. I found a jeweler who I really liked their Celtic jewelry they made and they agreed to take it on. One year and hundreds of rings later, I finally got to meet Marie, who I was talking to on the phone and in emails for over a year.

I also met Reg, who is the owner, and they gave me this really cool cuff bracelet based on the ring design to say "thanks".



I began to tell him how there are so many people out that love books, and there is nothing made especially for us, with the exception of bookmarks and a piece of jewelery here and there. Reg said, "If you put some things together, I'll make them and we can sell it." Sounded good to me.

So I drew some designs up, and added some things they had already made. I asked permission from my favorite author and one of the nicest people around (even before she gave permission *g*)Diana Gabaldon to make the jewelry mentioned in her series, and even the cool cuff bracelet.

So here is the first piece of jewelry I have ever designed. They are little bracelets to put quotes from favorite books on. Right now there are two.

From Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice"
Indulge your imagination in every possible flight.

From Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre"
Make my happiness - I will make yours



I thought they turned out really cute!

Right now I'm in the process of making graphics, a website and getting prices from the jeweler for a few pieces we're ready to sell now.

Here's my logo I made...


Hopefully it will all be done and uploaded in a couple of weeks!

M
...who is always amazed when she does spellcheck and doesn't find something!

Just in case you are wondering....

...which side I am on this video explains it. :-)


It's a bit bland but it will answer your questions. It's the first time I've seen anyone in this campaign discuss womens issues in such depth. It's long, it's a half hour but it discusses health care, flex time, equal pay for women, securing pensions for everyone in detail.



Also taxes for seniors, no taxes for seniors making under $50,000. One of the reasons I wanted to post this is it explains about Social Security and privatizing it. I am so against this for the simple reason that people cannot manage a credit card, how the heck they going to manage the funds for their future, especially with the market the way it has been the last couple of days. Not only would the gov't have to bail out companies they would have to bail individuals that can't handle money.

If you knew my mom and her story...social security saved her. That is all the income she had, if it had been privatized all those years ago, she would of had nothing. Because she worked as a waitress and every quarter she earned was used to provide for her children. She didn't have a savings account till she left my father at age 42. When she died at age 71 she had 2000 in her account, and around a $700 monthly social security check, thats it, and she was thankful for it. Thank God my dad died early otherwise her monthly SS check would of been hundreds a month lower. You see it's based on your income, as a waitress my mom made $1.25 an hour.

Even me, the news junkie learned two things new: McCain wants to tax your health care, meaning the services you receive, in my case since I had outpatient surgery, it was easily over $12,000 last year with surgery, meds and Dr.s visits, and this is nothing compared to some I know. So don't get cancer or have major surgery because that would easily add $100,000 for you to be taxed on. I also didn't realize that McCain wants to get rid of companies buying group insurance for their employees and that employees would get a tax credit and pay for their own. I know people who pay for their own health care, it's expensive and it sucks, and there isn't a tax credit in the world that would cover it! Universal health care scares a lot of people, but what people don't realize is that your employer will still be providing your health care if you are that lucky now. It's for the waitresses, the part-timers, children, the small businesses that can't afford health care for their employees. Private insurance will still be there.

One of the things that piss me off about elections, is that people vote for the candidate with the personality they like and not the issues, at least 30% of the population votes this way. You're picking a president people, not a friend. I have quite a few friends, a lot than I can relate to, do I want them as president......no f'in way! Sorry guys there isn't one of you I want to be president, or myself for that matter. Gives me the heebies just thinkin' about it.

I'm an issues person, and I also vote for who will make a better world for my children and my future grand children.(Oh man, I'm getting old!) You know were doing okay, and my life is most likely half over, I'm using my vote for my children.

Here's a site to see where you stand with what candidate on the issues...
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139 I hope it sides with the candidate you have chosen, otherwise you have a lot of work to do.

I'm fully aware I can't change anyone's mind on which way you will vote. But I want people to vote knowing what issues they aren't voting for as well as for, and take responsibility for that vote.

All I really want to say is educate yourself! I know you all don't like watching news all day, but there are things you should do because you have the privilege in this country to vote, and that is to educate yourself on the issues and candidates. Don't pick a candidate on little tidbits or sound bites of campaign crap. If you see something hokey, go to snopes.com or factcheck.org and that will clear things up for ya.

So next time you are on the net, go to a news site that brings together articles from all media, print and video, and in a non-partisan way. I like politico.com for that. Just don't watch one biased cable news station, flip the channel. I cannot stress enough to watch the debates and see who knows their stuff, don't vote because the person running is someone you want to have a beer with. That's how the last president was elected, and proof is in the pudding...or ale for that matter.

I once again turned the comments off for this post, because I know if you are committed to your candidate I can't change your mind, just like you can't change mine. :-) Just asking you to make an educated vote!

Phew, I had to get that all off my chest!

Truer Words Have Never Been Spoken!

Yep, you read it right, "Hand over the chocolate and nobody will get hurt."

I was thumbing through a magazine and saw a little ad for Wall Words in the back, went online and browsed. I've been looking for something to put on this blank spot on my soffet (sp?) for a while. Yes, Gretchen there is a blank spot on one of my walls. :-)

If you watch Devine Design on HGTV, she uses these decals quite a bit. Take a look at the website they have some really cool & fun ideas! Every phrase imaginable, or you can make your own.

http://www.wallwords.com/

As far as price, with an online coupon and shipping this phrase was about 30 dollars.

It was pretty easy to put on the wall, and looks just great, clean and neat. Hardest part of the whole process is centering it.

That's all she wrote...or decaled.

M

How do you say "sucks" in German?

Let's say it was used in the sentence "The Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest sucks." or "Never have I seen another festival that sucks as much as the Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest.", or maybe in question form,"Truly is there an Ocktoberfest in all of America that sucks as much as the Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest?"

Ian was home for Labor Day weekend, in which he took some time both Saturday and Sunday for some labor of his own, he worked. We think he came home to visit with the dogs though, it was ruff on us.

So Sunday we decided to go to the Indy Ocktoberfest for dinner, it was held at the State Fair grounds, so we thought it might be pretty good. We have since decided that everything we attend at the State Fair grounds usually sucks.

So 6 bucks a head to get in, and we had four bratwurst and two Pepsi's for a total of $26.00, add that to the $24.00 to entry fee, and we were there a whopping 30 minutes, spent $50.00. Yes we saw all of the Indianapolis Ocktoberfest is 20 minutes, it took us ten minutes to eat.

We thought there would be a German music stage. There was but the lady was singing a Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin song, I can't remember which.


(Brian hanging out with Dean & Frank)

Then there was another music stage and that band was singing an Elvis song.

(Okay, Elvis is lederhosen is just wrong!)

For the life of Brian and I, we can't understand why people diss Disney food all the time for being too expensive. Brian usually says, "They have never eaten at an airport.", but I'm guessing his new reply will be "They have never eaten at the Indianapolis Ocktoberfest."

So we get into the little shuttle to take us to our car, and I say to the boys, "How do you say 'sucks' in German?" It seems in Ian's five years of German and Collin's one year "sucks" was never used or taught. I guess that's a good thing.

Okay so let's go to an online translator and put in the sentence:

"The Indianapolis German Ocktoberfest sucks!"

Appearantly there isn't a word for "sucks" in German, since this is the translation that popped up.

"Die Indianapolis Deutsch Ocktoberfest sucks!"

Okay, or we can translate that to:

"Die Indianapolis German Octoberfest, it sucks!"

So we stop at Dairy Queen on the way home, for the incredible value of $11.13 we enjoy three medium Blizzards and one chocolate covered waffle bowl turtle sundae! All is right with the world.

Auf Wiedersehen!

M

I hate to tell you this but...

Lola took up smoking! And the way those eyes look, me thinks it's those funny cigarettes too!



Send your smoke-free puppy vibes!
M

Mass, Meatballs and Merrells

Bunches of ya have heard about me talk about Fr. Bill, I just adore this man. He's pictured in a another blog post below. He is now 84 and still living life to the fullest and best of all appreciates my sense of humor. :-) He has a niece in the next town over so when he comes for family events he stays at my house because I have less dogs. The niece has five which is too many....I have two.

So I clean like crazy so he doesn't think I'm a pig, and put him in my foo foo girl guest bedroom and hope he doesn't take too close of a look of the "Bad Sunshine Sue" quilt and find the stipper. Something I just can't explain but just love and it still brings a smile to face whenever I see it. :-) Here's a link on it that explains it all and it's well worth it!

M&M's Bad Sunshine Sue Quilt

He didn't think he would make it back home in time for a mass, so we had a little morning mass here at home. I was a bit nervous about it, mass at home, in my house, it was a bit strange to me, so I asked my neighbor to come over for a little support. I didn't know she would have to do the reading, I owe her one. :-) Peace be with you neighbor!

Fr. Bill knows I'm not the best Catholic, and he asked me what Mass Day it is? I said......I don't know what I said, St. Michelle maybe? It turns out it was St. Pius X Mass Day, which is the church we belonged to in Granger...it's where I took my Catholic classes, became Catholic and met Fr. Bill...I thought it was pretty neat.

Back to the Moore Mass. So Fr. Bill gets his "Mass in a Box", "Mass to Go", "Mini-Mass" ....I could go on and on, but won't,and we sit down at the kitchen table, light a candle and have a little mass. He has some wine in a Dasani water bottle. It's funny when you are not in a church with 300 people how you forget what the responses are that you have repeated thousands of times. We were a bit nervous....we sort of mumbled stuff or just forgot it in general. I had printed out the creed before hand, thankfully we didn't do that part.

It was very pleasant and a nice way to start the day. When he was done, I said, "Is this where we get up before you and run out the doors before you?" I hate when people leave mass before the Priest does. I don't know if they realize that this is incredibly rude, it's similar to getting up at the dinner table and leaving when dinner isn't even finished. One priest told me too..."we know everyone that leaves early!" :-)

Then I spent an hour on the phone with my bestest friend in the whole wide world...what's her name?
(Wishing I had a goofy picture of the woman.)

Then Lisa and I went to lunch at the Macaroni Grill, I had half a meatball (oooooooh that's where the meatball comes in) sandwich and a cup of Chicken Toscana soup, which is my all time favorite restaurant soup.

Got home.... first time Lola has been left for 2 hours by herself...she did beautiful, didn't touch one thing. We don't crate train, nothing against it, just it's been easier with me at home and the other dog as an example for the puppy. She's is growing like crazy, shes 26 pounds of love! The other week I discovered her nose is shaped like a heart!

Then got home and the UPS man came to the door with my new winter boots! Now the last winter boots I bought is when we lived in Vermont and went to an outlet mall in Kittery, Maine.....so 1988! LOL

If you have ever had a pair of Merrell shoes, they are the most comfortable things and spoil you rotten for anything else. So I saw these Merrell snow boots last winter and wanted them, but would never win the bid. I wouldn't go over 65.00, they retail for 140.00. So then these popped up last week for a "Buy it Now" and I did .... 50.00. They are just the cutest things and with my boot purchasing record should last me till 2028!!!!

They came, they are perfect.....love them! I love Ebay!
(sekret message to Janie- you need these boots!)

That's my day so far.
M

The Long Goodbye....

It's 1989 you have a baby boy, and you think he's going to be a baby forever...



But he grows a bit, and starts to pick up your bad habits.


but he clings to something from his baby years and you think "I might not have to put a brick on his head after all."


Then the birthdays start to come faster...


And the blond hair starts to get darker...


And longer...



The next thing you know, you are filling your pockets with Kleenex while Dad packs the van with college things...you know like a TV and a XBox...
(Brian always pays homage to brother-in-law Will)

Then you leave him in a dorm room not even the size of your sun room with his roommate Pat(left) and another bud Max(right) to begin the next phase of his life.


You get to your car, and you haven't used one Kleenex, you are just so happy he has this opportunity you never had, has his friends around, got the good grades and got it done,then there's the thought of "How is he going to sleep with his head inches from the ceiling?" and that other small incentive that you really don't want to embarrass him in front of his friends by crying.

It's not till you sit at the computer putting together a blog post of your saying goodbye to your little boy that you need to take the Kleenex from your pocket, and realize you didn't put quite enough in there.

M

Two...two... two websites in one post!

Sue Wilkenson the wonderful lady that did the acrylics of Lego and Montana, and the graphites (there's one to the left) of the boys when they were wee ones, has a new website....made by moi! :-) Always fun to put your own dog and kids in the graphics! *grin*





Here's her site,take a look at her portfolio she is just incredible!

The Art of Surprise

The other site I wanted to share is The Pioneer Woman Blog, this woman has a great sense of humor, great recipes with pictures, and she's a wonderful photographer who shares all her tricks! She was just about to move to downtown Chicago when she met and married a rancher in Oklahoma. She is now a stay at home mom in the middle of nowhere missing Starbucks.

The Pioneer Woman

Not the Pioneer Woman,
M

It's All in a Name!

All our labs have been from AKC breeders, you pay a lot more, but their hips, eyes, now elbows are "certified", meaning they haven't been bred with a dog that isn't certified, in labradors that means certified no bad hips, eyes and elbows. So let's say I buy a pet store dog (i.e. puppy mill) or one advertised for around 250.00 in the Sunday paper, there's a good chance that those dogs will cost you a fortune later in vet bills and will be very very hyper!

We like English labs, they are calmer, stockier, big chest, with a bigger head, compared to a field/hunting lab which their coats are oily,bodies are leaner, smaller heads and usually a bit hyper.

All that to say once you get a AKC labrador you can register it with the AKC. You don't have to but we do just for a silly little certificate with your dogs AKC name. For example:

Lieber


My dad had a dog named Lieber, and I thought it was the cutest German name, so I always knew my first dog would be named that. Lieber's AKC name was "Das Lieber Hund"

Montana


was "ManChuno's Future Promises" the breeders named him, since he was already a year when we got him. He was suppose to be a stud dog hence the "future promises" instead he was a lazy dog who was perfectly comfortable with no pink crayon duties what so ever. Although he did have a crush on the old Brittney Spaniel next door Maggie. We are thinking Maggie was a cougar! :-)

Lego


She is named after Lego's because that's all the kids ever played with when we got her. So the man who invented Lego's name was Legot. Lego's AKC name was "Wegot Legot" So you moms and dads know exactly who to curse when you step on a Lego in bare feet.....Legot!

Which brings us to Lola!


Lola's name just came to me one day in the car, there was no rhyme or reason to it. The kids didn't like it, so we tried for another name but just couldn't find one we all liked. We wanted to name her either after Montana or a German name, so we looked at cities in the state of Montana and didn't care for any, and all the other German names besides Lieber sounded too harsh. I did like Gretel though. So Lola it is, with her full AKC name being... "Miss Lola M" The "M" is for Montana, we really wanted Montana in there somehow when we found out Lola was born the day Montana died.

I just updated Lola's picture page if you want to take a peek HERE!

Hmmmmm wonder what my AKC name would be, I'm thinking...

Ms. Poopie Picker Upper for the rest of her Lifer!

or just.......

M