Foster Updates!

Happy New Year's Eve!  I'm curious to know how everyone is spending it this year.  Are you heading out on the town for a First Night celebration?  Hanging out at a friend or family house party?  Hitting the clubs?  Or, perhaps you're like us this year, getting take-out Chinese food and enjoying a relaxing evening in with our furry babies.  Whatever you are planning, be safe and enjoy!

It's the last Monday Mischief of the year, so I've decided to share a few foster updates.  After all, there's nothing better than some puppy mischief to make you smile (although they aren't puppies anymore... they're all growing up so fast)!

First up is tiny-tot Maverick (on the left), who got into the Christmas spirit along with his big brother Zac.  Doesn't Mavie look like he's making a wish to Santa?  I just adore the bow on his head.

Belle spent her first Christmas in New Mexico, where she is "wintering" with her parents and two kitty siblings.  I can't wait for Spring when they return to New England!

 

Sweet Izzy's neighbors bought her a Christmas toy which she proudly carried around all day on Christmas eve.  Don't you love that "what?!?!" look?  The second shot was titled "Izzy is one happy snow puppy" by her Mom... snow always makes the Lapdogs smile too!

The Big White Shadow (as his Mom calls him), better known as Skipper, still enjoys lounging by the wood stove on a cold New England day.  Here he is happily sharing the heat with kitty sister Amelia.

We truly love getting updates and photos of our foster babies, and I hope you enjoy seeing them as well!  We got to foster several wonderful pups in 2012, which led to meeting many new friends who gave these precious babies their forever homes.  We greatly look forward to helping many more on their way to forever homes in 2013!

Black & White Sunday - SnowDog Style

Happy Sunday!  We were dumped on treated to another 6" of snow over night.  That is in addition to the 10" or whatever it was we got earlier this week.  I think it's pretty, and the dogs love romping in it, however Matt is not amused about having to clear it.  At the very least, it has come on days that we've been able to hibernate at home and not have to travel in it... for which I'm thankful!  Here are my boys checking it out this morning...

Dear 2012.... Suck It!

Happy last Friday of 2012!  I don't know about you, but I can not wait to sayonara to 2012! Adeus, Hasta la vista, Farewell, Despedida, Adios.... Good Riddance 2012!   You've proven to be a rough year and I'm ready for positive changes ahead. 

Of course, this is also the last Fiber Arts Friday of 2012.  I've seen a few people post their awesome 2012 finished object recaps today, but I'm almost embarrassed to even think about listing mine.  Instead, I will just say that I am ready to find some quality time with my needles in 2013!  We have a few special friends who are expecting, so there will be lots of cute baby knits to come.  Stay tuned... and let's knit!

Lola arriving at the vet's this morning

Lola Update: Please scroll back to yesterday's post if you missed it.  I reluctantly dropped her off first thing this morning and only had to sit around having a little worry-freak out waiting until about 11:30.  That's when the vet tech called to let me know my baby girl was out of surgery and awake.  They did 3 more punch biopsies, all in different spots... so we've added to patchwork of shaved spots (shaved hair - a la Miley Cyrus - is in style this year, right?).  I'll be heading down to pick my groggy baby up this afternoon. 

Of course Lola's siblings are all confused once again as to why Mommy took their sister for a R-I-D-E this morning and came home without her.  They looked all around for quite some time this morning, then I said it was time for breakfast and they seemed to forget about their sister for a bit.  Once they were done, it didn't take very long for Tut to become an overly cuddly lapdog however...

 Mr. Smiley aka Teutul

Isn't he annoying adorable?  He hopes you all have a wonderful weekend and asks you to join us in telling 2012 to (in the words of the great Kathy Griffin) suck it!

Cross the Paws Again, Please?

As expected, we hadn't heard anymore from our vet over the weekend or holiday - she wasn't due back in the office until today.  We had planned to see her this afternoon for Lola's suture removal, however with the Nor'easter coming, I opted to take Lola in yesterday for that.  One of her favorite techs took her back for the removal and she saw a different vet in the practice who said her incisions were all healing just fine.  After we ran a couple of errands, it was back home to nap... after all, getting so much attention at the V-E-T's office your stitches removed is hard work!

Our amazing vet called this morning after she spoke with both the pathologist and skin specialist at the lab... All we know for sure right now is Lola's case is very rare.  They have once again said they're not seeing any cancerous cells, however they still can't 100% rule it the sterile skin dermatitis.  There is a slight chance that it could be bacterial or infectious and because of that, we need to send more samples to the lab for another test.  This means my baby girl has to be put under again and they will take a couple of punch biopsies.  I'm having a little nervous freak out (again) about putting her under (again)... so please keep those good vibes coming our way tomorrow.

As you might guess, things have been quite crazy around here lately with Lola, the holidays, the weather, and other issues that seem to pop up (i.e. Matt got rear ended before Christmas on icy roads... everyone is okay, but now we have to deal with insurance companies and getting his car repaired).  "When it rains, it pours," right?  I hope to return to our regularly scheduled blogging and reviewing soon!  The review items are really starting to pile up around here!

Side Note: For those of you who thought that fuzzy bird-like ornament I posted yesterday was cute, it really is!  I snapped that pic at a restaurant and was told they were from Pier 1.  There was also an owl, snowman and a couple others as part of a "natural" ornament collection.  Lola & I stopped at Pier 1 yesterday (on our way to the vet) in hopes of scoring a couple for our tree, but sadly, they were sold out.  I also checked the website, no luck there either.  If any of you have a Pier 1 near you and find any, we would gladly pay for them and shipping!

I'll leave you with a couple shots of Lola & Zeus from this morning and this little Nor'easter that hit us...

The Calm After (and Before) The Storm

Happy Wordless Wednesday!  We sure hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and spent some quality time with the family (both human and furry).  We are now bracing for a Nor'easter to dump some snow on us...

Merry Christmas

From our Household to Yours...

Merry Christmas



Home For The Holidays... Iams Style!

I promise you, you have not seen anything cuter this holiday season than you will right now.  Unless, of course, you've already seen this video by Iams Dog Food.  The brilliant video isn't just for our entertainment, however, it also helps to feed feed homeless pets!  That's right, every View, Like and Share through January 2, 2013 equals a meal donation for homeless pets in the Iams shelter network!  Please take the time to watch and pass , so please watch it and pass it on ASAP!



The Season's Upon Us

Because we can all use a laugh or two right about now, and because you know I love my Dropkick Murphys!  Enjoy.... "they call this Christmas where I'm from"

As The World STILL Turns

It's the end of the world as we know it.... oh wait a minute, no it's not!  HA!  But it is the end of the week... how did that happen so fast?  The past week or two have been quite a blur for me with everything going on, so please excuse the lack of reviews being posted.  Rest assured, I have some fabulous items to tell you about soon... both knitting/craft and dog related! 

Lola Update: You may have caught the drive by update on Tuesday when we were doing the happy dance.  At that time we were waiting on the dye stain test to determine if it was sterile pyrogranuloma, and planning to start prednisone treatment on Thursday.  Our vet ended up deciding to wait to get those results back before starting the prednisone, so we waited... Until she called this morning to say the lab results were on her desk and she had a call into them because they were written rather confusingly.  They reported no bacterial organisms, but asked for culture samples - which our vet is a bit baffled over since none of Lola's lumps are oozing and they had 3 full nodules, plus 2 punch samples.  They also wouldn't seem to rule out anything in their report.  We realize what Lola has is quite rare, but it's a little frustrating (to both the vet and I).  So, now we wait again before starting the prednisone (which could make Lola quite sick if it's not what the vet assumes it is and she doesn't want us to run into that over Christmas while the office is closed). The good thing is that one of our vet's own dogs has sterile pyrogranuloma, so she is quite knowledgeable about it.  Now if we can just get the lab to clarify their findings. 

Now, for some Fiber Arts Friday content.  Look at that, two weeks in a row and this week I even have finished objects!  Woot!  Now I certainly didn't get all of the planned Christmas knitting done, but I did manage a few things for some great friends...

A Misti Chunky Ribs & Ruffles Scarf for a dear friend who requested (a bit last minute, I might add!) a "grey or black scarf - not wool" for Christmas.  Upon clarification of the "not wool," it was that she didn't like "itchy." OK, well since this knitter does not make scarves with itchy wool, I knew we were good to go and I sprung into action with my favorite chunky scarf pattern and a skein of Catalina Baby Alpaca.  Don't you love when you just happen to have a yarn in your stash that matches what the recipient asked for?  The baby alpaca is uber soft and the grey color is actually darker than it appears on my screen.  I simply adore this cute scarf and with it's simple 2 row repeat, it's an easy one to work on while watching TV, in the car, etc...

I included a Starbucks gift card with the above scarf and knew I had to cast on a Gift Card-igan as soon as I saw the adorable pattern.  I will definitely be making more of these... a super quick knit that results in a pretty little cozy for a gift card.  I love that the recipient can then repurpose it to hold cards in her bag or even use it as a business card holder.  Not to mention you can make one with all those worsted scraps of yarn we all have lying around.  This one was actually made with some leftover kitchen cotton (see the next gift below)...

I had actually planned to knit a tun of cloths this year... dish and face (not that they aren't interchangeable, but you get the picture).  I had planned to do sets for a few friends and family members.... I managed to get this one Coffee Cup done and shipped off.

I plan to work on those cloths in the coming months and have gifts ready to go for birthdays and other holidays... or at least, for next Christmas! 

So in the spirit of the hurry-up-and-rush-rush-rush season upon us, I'll leave you with these words... 

A Tree, A Recovering Dog & Some Snow

Time to get Wordless once again...






Let's Get Snapping!

I'm a little late with my post today, but didn't want to miss today's Ten on Tuesday topic: 10 Favorite Things to Photograph at Christmastime.  Yup, this one is right up my ally... I'm always snapping away! 

***For those of you looking for a Lola update, It's NOT Cancer!   I will post more later this week, but we're doing the happy tail wags for NO cancer.  It's an autoimmune dermatitis, most likely sterile pyogranuloma syndrome.  We're just waiting on the final test from the lab to be sure it's the sterile variety.  I can't even begin to thank everyone for all of the good vibes and crossed paws.***

1. Dogs.  Although, yes, they are one of my favorite things to photography all the time!

2. Lights. I love playing with the focus and deciding if the lights should be in or out... and I bought one of those funky star lens filters that I need to put to good use.

3. Family & Friends.  I try to capture as many memories as I can.

4. Christmas Trees.  I love artistic shots and have fun with the trees!

 

5. Food.  Apparently I have a reputation for Instagram-ing our food lately, so I'll have to carry on the tradition over the holidays. 

6. Decorations.  Another thing I can get a little artsy with in capturing them on film.

7. Snow.  A white Christmas is a photographic Christmas!

8. Flowers.  I love to snap floral pics all year round and Christmastime presents us with some beauties.

9. Scenery.  Anything that looks Christmasy while we're out and about is bound to get snapped!

10. Handmade Gifts.  Usually is handknit items... bonus if the recipient is in the photo!

A Moment of Silence



A Little Knitting, A Biopsy and A Liver Check...

I honestly don't know where this week flew away too, but hey would you look at that... it's Friday!  I've been frantically working on some last minute Christmas knits (which means I have content for Fiber Arts Friday, yay!).  I worked on this scarf last night...

My plan is to finish it before Monday so I can get it shipped to the recipient (who actually requested a handknit scarf... squeeee!).  I made quite a bit more progress after I snapped this pic of Lola cuddling next to me last night...

That brings us to a Lola Update: One of the techs called yesterday afternoon to let me know she had done well during the biopsy surgery and woke up very quickly (another squeeee).  So quick and well, they wanted to know if I could come a couple hours earlier than planned to pick her up.  Apparently, Miss Lola was sitting up in her cage, looking around as if to ask where her Mama was and when she was going home.  I told the tech she probably really was asking where the food was!  A couple hours later, Zeus and I were off to pick up his sister and get his 3 month blood work done.  Here he is waiting patiently to have his blood drawn...

After Zeus was done, it was time for Lola's discharge appointment.  Our vet is confident she got a good sampling for the biopsy, taking 3 full nodules and 2 punch samples.  My baby girl was sent home with 4 incision areas (we go back in 2 weeks to have the sutures removed) and 3 of those cute pet med bottles (antibiotics and pain/anti-inflammatory meds). 

I keep saying I need to re-purpose these bottles or find something crafty to do with them.  After all, those tops are cute, aren't they?  Doggy Mamas, do you reuse or recycle (I admit I just recycled a box full of them a couple months ago, after saving them for "something" for so long).

So, now we await the results of the biopsy.  The tissue was sent to the same pathologist who looked at the needle biopsy slides on Wednesday morning.  Apparently, he was so baffled that he had called our vet asking to get the regular biopsy samples asap (our vets office still hadn't received that actual report as of yesterday afternoon).  I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing, but apparently we have the attention of the pathologist and he's eager to have a look...

Zeus Update: I have great news about my big guy's liver levels!  They have gone back down (insert another loud squeeee)!  They're almost as low as they were back in February, where we first learned of his elevated levels during his annual check up.  This is after nearly doubling in March, going back down in June, then back up in September.  We'll keep doing what we're doing and recheck again in 3 months...

Thank you so much to everyone who has been sending good vibes, well wishes and keeping those paws crossed for us.  We appreciate it more than you will ever know.  Lola says woof and even tried on those silly antlers for you before her surgery....