Sweet 16!

A perfect season... which could only be more perfect if we take the Superbowl by storm as well!

It's great to be a Boston girl! Go Pats!

Goodbye Sweet JJ

We just got home from doing a belated Christmas with my family in Gloucester to find out the sad, sad news.... Our kid's cousin Jasper passed over the Rainbow Bridge today. Jasper was the most sweetest, kindest, gentlest, loving Rottweiler I've ever known and he's going to be greatly missed. He'd had a couple of bad seizures and taken some spills, but the big guy hung in there to spend Christmas with all of us. Although he could barely get around without falling, I've never seen him so incredible happy to see us when we walked in to Matt's Mom's on Christmas Eve. Although seeing him in that state brought tears to my eyes, at the same time seeing the immense joy he got from us leaning down to give scratchies & lovings was absolutely wonderful... and I will never forget the biggest doggy kisses in the world!! The one he gave me as we said goodbye Christmas Eve night went up and down my whole face... Goodbye Sweet JJ, you showed us all lots of love in your 10 1/2 short years here and to say we will miss you dearly is surely an understatement...

Dear Sweet Eddie...

Heavy hearts today as I've just learned about the tragic passing of my dear friend Jenn's beloved Eddie. Please keep the family and Eddie in your thoughts and prayers, as he crossed over the Rainbow Bridge yesterday. I hope Jenn doesn't mind, but I wanted to copy and paste part of her email here for all my fellow doggy parents to read and keep in mind. This is very, very scary... and so tragic.

Jenn's own words, edited for blog...

On Christmas night around 9:00, I gave him a 'special treat' and within 45 minutes he was acting weird & sick. We chalked it up to him just getting a tummy ache from it and it not agreeing with him. Turns out, it caused massive bloat and then his stomach twisted, otherwise known as "canine torsion'. He was completely fine until I gave him that and then boom! a sick dog he was. At 6:30 am he made this moan and we knew it had to be more than stomach upset. Off to the vet we went. They did xrays and found that his stomach had 'turned' but not twisted, and said we got there just in the nick if time. They drained his stomach and all this gunk came out including chunks of the treat--which by the way was supposedly 100%natural, digestible, wholesome etc.. and it was from Trader Joes, made in the USA. The vet said we were not totally out of the woods, but thought he would be ok, he just needed to be observed for 24 hours because once a dog has bloat, their stomachs can twist. So....off to the emergency clinic in we went. They took him in and did more xrays, and found that on the ride there his stomach did in fact twist. Our options came down to emergency surgery with only a 5% chance of success and most likely a re-occurrence of torsion again, along with a long rehabilitation and other problems associated with it. So, we did the most painful thing and had to put him to sleep. Oh my God....it seriously was one of the worst days of my life. Big breed dogs are particularly prone to this. Some signs are lethargy, lots of drool, or laying with front paws drawn inward. There are many things that can cause it and our vet seems to think that there was something in this treat. He also said that since the symptoms mimic just stomach upset most often dogs will die right in their homes because owners are unaware. scary. Also, you might want to feel your dog's abdomen and belly area now, so that if anything like this happens you'll be able to notice any bloat for comparison. Heres a link so you can read about it-- if I had only know about this bloat stuff before.

Also, for those interested in what the treat was, Jenn said it was a beef stick, NOT rawhide. A 100% natural, digestible treat that was twisted and kind of looked like a pigs ear does. They contacted Trader Joes and the maker of the treat. Trader Joes in Tynsgsboro, MA said they went out and pulled them from the shelf, so hopefully the manager really did pull them.

My heart aches for Jenn and her family... and for dear sweet Eddie. He will surely be missed, but I can only take comfort in hoping that he found his sweet little sister Shanie waiting for him when he crossed the Rainbow Bridge...

Yappy Thursday!

Happy Doggy Thursday! I found this image awhile back and had it saved for "future use." I guess today is as good as any... so in honor of DOT and the chaos of the season...

Now for some more proof that sometimes, she even knits... and sometimes even - gasp! - ends up with a finished object or two! Here's the mitts for blogless friend Kathy... made with some beautiful Classic Worsted Tapestry from Universal Yarns (you can get some at A Knitter's Garden!). The shades of blues and greys are gorgeous in person (much better than these photos) and the yarn was wonderful to work with. She actually text me on Christmas day to tell me that I forgot the fingers! lol

I'll be back later with some doggy photos in the snow, Christmas pictures, etc... maybe even some more FO's! For now, here's our new little girl on Christmas day in CT with her first ever Christmas present (which she must share with her siblings)...

We Did It..

10 Weeks of fostering...
10 Weeks of love...
10 Weeks of joy...
10 Weeks of wondering where this is all leading too... because my heart was certainly given in!

The cutest little red haired girl from the South has officially joined our family! Sometimes, they find us... and that is exactly what this wonderful little girl did. We might be eating more ramen noodles and pb&j, but she is so worth it... Merry Christmas!

On a Roll... 15 and 0!

Woo hoo... we may've seen a losing Bruins game on Saturday afternoon in Beantown, but at least we've got our Pats (via TV, sitting on a warm couch, wrapping gifts...)!!! A nice Christmas present... 15 and 0!

Things That Make You Say Hmm..

Rescuer's Answering Machine Message

Hello, You have reached 123-4567, Tender Hearts Rescue. Due to the high volume of calls we have been receiving, please listen closely to the following options and choose the one that best describes you or your situation:

Press 1 if you think we are veterinarians and want free medical advice.

Press 2 if you know we are a rescue organization but want to save money and have us give you free, untrained medical advice anyway.

Press 3 if you make $200,000 a year but still want us to pay to spay the "stray" in your yard (house).

Press 4 if you have a 10-year-old dog and your 15-year-old son has suddenly become allergic and you need to find the dog a new home right away.

Press 5 if you have three dogs, had a baby and want to get rid of your dogs because you are the only person in the world to have a baby and dogs at the same time.

Press 6 if your dog is sick and needs a vet but you need the money for your vacation.

Press 7 if you just got a brand new puppy and your old dog is having problems adjusting so you want to get rid of the old one right away.

Press 8 if your little puppy has grown up and is no longer small and cute and you want to trade it in for a new model.

Press 9 if you are elderly and want to adopt a cute puppy who is not active and is going to outlive you.

Press 10 if your relative has died and you don't want to care for their elderly dog because it doesn't fit your lifestyle.

Press 11 if you are moving today and need to immediately place your 150 pound, 8-year-old, unneutured, aggressive dog.

Press 12 if you want an unpaid volunteer to come to your home today and pick up the dog you no longer want.

Press 13 if you have been feeding and caring for a "stray" for the last three years, are moving and suddenly determine it's not your dog.

Press 14 if you are calling at 6 a.m. to make sure you wake me up before I have to go to work so you can drop a dog off on your way to work.

Press 15 to leave us an anonymous garbled message, letting us know you have left a dog in our yard in the middle of January, which is in fact, better than just leaving the dog with no message.

Press 16 if you are going to get angry because we are not going to take your dog that you have had for fifteen years, because it is not our responsibility.

Press 17 if you are going to threaten to take your ten year old dog to be euthanized because we can't get to your house in the next hour.

Press 18 if you're going to get angry because the volunteers had the audacity to go on vacation and leave the animals in care of one trusted volunteer who is not authorized to take your personal pet.

Press 19 if you want one of our perfectly trained, housebroken, kid and cat friendly purebred tiny dogs that we have an abundance of.

Press 20 if you want us to take your dog that has a slight aggression problem, i.e. has only bitten a few people and killed your neighbor's cats.

Press 21 if you have already called once and been told we don't take personal surrenders but thought you would get a different person this time with a different answer.

Press 22 if you want us to use space that would go to a stray to board your personal dog while you are on vacation, free of charge, of course.

Press 23 if it is Christmas Eve or Easter morning and you want me to deliver an eight week old puppy to your house by 6:30 am before your kids wake up.

Press 24 if you have bought your children a duckling, chick or baby bunny for Easter and it is now Christmas and no longer cute.

Press 25 if you want us to take your female dog who has already had ten litters, but we can't spay her because she is pregnant again and it is against your religion.

Press 26 if you're lying to make one of our newer volunteers feel bad and take your personal pet off your hands.

Press 27 if your cat is biting and not using the litter box because it is declawed, but are not willing to accept the responsibility that the cat's behavior is altered because of your nice furniture.

Press 28 if your two year old male dog is marking all over your house but you just haven't gotten around to having him neutered.

Press 29 if you previously had an outdoor only dog and are calling because she is suddenly pregnant.

Press 30 if you have done "everything" to housebreak your dog and have had no success but you don't want to crate the dog because it is cruel.

Press 31 if you didn't listen to the message asking for an evening phone number and you left your work number when all volunteers are also working and you are angry because no one called you back.

Press 32 if you need a puppy immediately and cannot wait because today is your daughter's birthday and you forgot when she was born.

Press 33 if your dog's coat doesn't match your new furniture and you need a different color or breed.

Press 34 if your new love doesn't like your dog and you are too stupid to get rid of the new friend (who will dump you in the next month anyway) instead of the dog.

Press 35 if you went through all these 'presses' and didn't hear enough. This press will connect you to the sounds of tears being shed by one of our volunteers who is holding a discarded old dog while the vet mercifully frees him from the grief of missing his family.

Author Unknown

When will this white crap end?

Seriously now... c'mon with it! What the hell??!! After we got dumped on several times in the past 2 weeks, its now been snowing continuously since about 4:45 pm yesterday... and its now 4:00 pm today... 24 friggin hours! At least its not coming down as fast and furious as last Thursday's storm, but still. Enough already! Especially for those of us who have to drive in it, trying hard as hell to avoid the 101 idiots who don't know how to drive in it.

I spent my day delivering resident holiday gifts in this crazy mess... oh the joys! Thankfully I have 4WD, otherwise I wouldn't have made it. It was just a ducky day... Seriously, I even have proof...

I ran in to those cuties in one of the parking lots. Don't ask what the heck 2 ducks were doing in New Hampshire in the winter, in the middle of a snow storm, in an apartment complex parking lot... but it was the perfect way to sum up my "just ducky" crap of a day! I would have much rather been home doing this...

My drive home pretty much sucked. I passed several cars off the side of the highway and then was almost slid into 3 times - once by some stupid idiot dumb chick who was too busy talking on her cell phone to slow down normally at a red light and instead ending up sliding and fortunately landed to the right and didn't hit me... all the while, still continuing her cell phone conversation! Did I mention all the idiots out driving today? Anyway, I've taken lots of cute pics of the dogs in the snow today, but will post later as I'm too lazy to get them off the camera right now.

Now, since today is actually Thursday... I must say please excuse last night's ramblings mistaken "dogs on thursday" post... I guess it wasn't actually Thursday yet, huh? Perhaps that means the week has already been much too long.... and it was really some wishful thinking?

Since today is Dogs on Thursday, I'll share with you Dottie's photo with Santa! Her Mom took her and brother Jack to see Santa... aren't they just darling?

It's so wonderful to hear from my foster's families... it really means the world to me to open up an email or card and see a picture or hear how they're doing!

As promised, still playing blog catch up... and wanted to actually show some proof that I really do knit sometimes! Some Christmas knitting...

A pair of Fetching for a friend... they've

since been finished & mailed off!

A pair of Fetching for my niece,

still have to complete mitt #2...

A neck scarf, with no one in particular in mind...

not yet finished, so it may not be a Christmas gift...

Nathaniel's hat... Jenn asked me to

make a larger size of the same hat

I made for her cutie last year...

I've since gotten much further on it and it's probably a night on the couch away from being finished. Here's Nate modeling the original hat from Fall 2006.

Ok, I'm officially going to retire to the couch now... and yes, its still snowing!

Happy 1st Birthday...

... dear sweet baby girl Sophie!

I am very late in posting these pics, but since it is Dogs on Thursday, finally... here are Sophie's 1st birthday pics!!!!

There was, of course, a cake from Woof It Down...

She was afraid of the evil plastic box the cake came in and actually hid from the cake for a bit...

She was much happier when we ditched the evil box...

After cake, there was a birthday toy to play with...

Sophie also got her first taste of snow around her birthday time and her first reaction looked like this...

That's they "um... what the hell is this white crap? I am not going out there!" However, since we've been dumped on by the damn white stuff on what seems to be a daily basis gotten more snow in the month of December than we did all last winter... well, Sophie has not only adapted quite nicely, she actually loves it now!!! She runs and romps like nobodys business! Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to get any pictures since, so instead I'll share these of the other children ...

Here's Lola... "SNOW... Mommy, SNOW... let me out... Mommy, SNOW... Snow mommy... must go out...MOMMY... did you see the snow??!!"

Teutul... "Someone say snow??? Snow?? MUST. ZIP. IN. IT."

Zeus... "Is it my turn yet??? OK, so when ya

gonna throw me some snow balls???"

As I type, there's more of that wretched white stuff falling. Matt's broken the snow blower twice in the past week... and he needs to come home tonight to fix it again before being able to clean up this batch of crap. Our mailbox got taken out by the idiot plow driver knocked off again... a White Christmas is always nice, but this is getting ridiculous!

Its Beginning to Look alot Like Christmas...

I'm playing a little catch up with blog posts this week (translation... I finally downloaded pics off the camera!), so please bear with me....

On December 1 & 2, A Knitter's Garden held its annual Holiday Fair... at which I had quite a few of my own knit creations on sale, as well as homemade doggy cookies that I spent weeks 2 days baking and trying to keep my own kids' paws off of! Here's a photo recap of the festive time...

Photos of the fair part, which was held in the dining room.

My Mom made one of her beautiful

teddy bears for the sale...

Now some photos of the shop itself, which now encompasses 2 rooms. For those who aren't familiar with Joanne's wonderful shop, A Knitter's Garden is located inside of her lovely home making for a very cozy, relaxed and welcoming shop. Stop by, browse, pull up a chair, chat and knit... come by on a Wednesday evening for guild and Joanne will surely have tea waiting!

LOOK! Stitch Markers by Lapdog Creations are now

available... and get this, I'm right next to the

basket of Seacoast Handpainted Yarns!

You are also sure to hear find the shop's official greeters Luke & Angus.

Mr. Luke reminds me a lot of my Zeus when he was a pup... "airplane ears" and all!

And cute little Angus...

Stay tuned for more catching up pics later this week... maybe even some actual knitting!

14 and 0 baby!

NICE GAME yesterday, huh? Snow, sleet, wind and Mangini's Jets could not stop our Pats... we're officially 14 and 0 now!

Forgotten Dog's Christmas

Forgotten Dog's Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds
With no thought of the dog filling their head.
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap
Knew he was cold but didn't care about that.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter!
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Figuring the dog was free of his chain and into the trash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear
But Santa Claus - with eyes full of tears

He un-chained the dog, once so lively and quick.
Last year's Christmas present, now painfully thin and sick.
More rapid than eagles he called the dog's name
And the dog ran to him, despite all his pain."

Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONNER and BLITZEN!
To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
Let's find this dog a home where he'll be loved by all.

I knew in an instant there would be no gifts this year
For Santa Claus had made one thing quite clear.
The gift of a dog is not just for one season.
We had gotten the pup for all the wrong reasons.
In our haste to think of the kids a gift
There was one important thing that we missed.

A dog should be family, and cared for the same
You don't give a gift, then put it on a chain.
And I heard him exclaim as he rode out of sight
"You weren't given a gift! You were given a LIFE!"

Author Unknown

In the hast of the season, please do think before you act on adding a new family member to your household. Too many kittens and puppies are bought at this time of year, only to end up on a chain, abandonned or worse......... Thank you to Chan for emailing this to me today. Please pass it along... spread the word!

And The Emmy Goes To...

Updated with prizes & pics on Dec 14th - Oh wait... wrong show! However I am pleased to finally announce the winners of Lapdog Creations first ever contest!!!! I apologize for the delay, however my hellish life got in the way... please do forgive me! Drumroll please...

And the winners are:
1st place - Becky at Becky Knits Too who adopted the cutest little puppy I've seen in a long time! Liza Jane is part Brittney Terrier and part Boston Terrier. Who could resist this cute face?!?!
Becky wins 2 skeins of King Tut 100% cotton, a bag of The Goodlife Recipe dog cookies and a rubber football dog toy.


2nd place - Angie at Dipsy Doodle who rescued Bill & Till in November. See her post with the cuties here!
Angie wins 2 skeins of Knit Picks Shine Worsted and 1 skein of Track from Dark Horse Yarns.

3rd place - Michelle at InsanKnitty who made a donation to my ASPCA fundraising goals.
Michelle wins 1 skein of Wool in the Woods, a Rachael Hale mousepad calendar and a rope dog toy.

Special Doggy Prize goes to Mr. Mugsy at Knit Tea!
Mugsy wins a bag of Nutri Dent bones and a rubber ball.

Special Humanitarian Prize goes to The Princess aka Krystal who made a generous donation to my ASPCA fundraising goals and donated the doggy prizes for my contest winners!
Krystal wins 2 skeins of Berroco Hip Hop!

Congratulations to all winners and THANK YOU to all of you who entered! Please keep adopting, rescuing, fostering, donating, knitting snuggles and whatever else it is you can do to help animals in need - remember, we are their voice! Please feel free to donate to my ASPCA fundraising goals - the banner is still at the top and I'm still hoping to reach that $1,000!