Another week.

It's crazy how fast this summer is going by!! It doesn't help that I've been seeing a lot more Halloween beads being ordered from my web shop the last couple weeks. (Yes, Halloween. Already. I do love the colors in Halloween stuff though so I don't mind it.)  

Mostly everything is put back to rights from the lightening strike. (Was that LAST weekend? Good god it feels like a MONTH ago already.) New grass is being grown to get rid of the dirt runway in my lawn, we've started purchasing some new flowers and plants to replace the big bushes that were pulled out near my front door, and all the smoke damaged clothes are off being handled by a service that specializes in that type of thing. Insurance paid for everything right away so....WHEW. No worries there. (Thank you, Safeco Insurance. You were, dare I say it, quite amazing to deal with?)

Hey! Do you want a free pattern?

I finished up my Dandy Dreams and, in the spirit in which it was given to me (thank you, Maggee!), if you'd like to stitch it too I will be happy to send it along to the first person who asks. I stitched this up with no mods in the colors, on a.......I believe it was 36ct fabric? Loved it, aside from blurry issues with my eye sight, that seems to be affecting everything I do lately. (Not sure if I 'suddenly' need bifocals or what. Does that come on you real quick like? I'm off to the eye doctors in a couple weeks at any rate because it's really annoying. It seems a little better when wearing glasses vs. contacts so I'm just sticking to glasses when doing my handwork stuff.)

I've been meaning to get to finishing up another WIP project so I went digging in my storage ottoman (where things go to die) and came up with this........

You know what? I kinda hate this project so there doesn't seem any point in finishing it, to be honest. BYE BYE, FISHIES. (insert 'swim with da fishes' joke here)

Like: the pattern, the colors. Dislike: the linen, linen, linen

I feel like the stitch count is too big for such a simple pattern. It needs to be done over one or over two on a much finer linen, like a 40ct. It's hard to tell in such a random picture but the fish are just too.......BIG. Don't like. Moving on.

I started something else but it needs more work before it has a TA-DA!!! moment. :)

If you ever wondered (which I'm sure NO ONE has) where my interest in handwork type things come from, I offer the above towels as evidence that it came from my mother. She did those last month for me. All freehand and her own pattern. She doesn't care for cross-stitch because it's too 'structured' but she can embroider the hell out of most anything. (Thanks, Mom!)

My wee little kitties-to-be are getting bigger and are *almost* big enough to take home with us. They are being weaned this week so we're almost there. :)

Busy busy busy as a bee.

Catching up to orders again after getting behind a bit last week with the 'no power' thing= NO FUN AT ALL. Quite frankly, I'm a little mentally tired of making beads after going non stop on them now for a full week without a break. One more long work session and I'm caught-the-hell-up so weeeeeeeeeeeee!! 

Because of that and all the mess of last week we didn't get to go to the Fair all weekend long like usual but we whooped it up Fair-style Saturday night. 

 I never ever get tired of yakking with and petting the sheepykins in the sheep barn and oogling at all the crazy chicken breeds, especially this 'headless' poufy, rock star wonder:

Crazy, right? Poor thing couldn't see a THING.

I could post, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, about a gazillion more cow, bunny, steer pulling, kart racing, crazy food pictures but I don't want to bore y'all. My love for the Fair knows NO BOUNDS but I fear I'm in a lonely group. lol

So tomorrow is a day off. Where I get to take my poor ailing Nitwit to the vet one last time and see if the doctor can talk me into not putting her down. :(

Guys, I can't put up with the peeing around the house any more. :(

I never thought I would be one of 'those' people who would do something like this but it's been going on since last December or so and she's had multiple blood tests, xrays, special foods, two rounds of expensive medicine, new litter box set-ups, etc. to the tune of almost $1,000 now and NOTHING has helped. NOTHING. There hasn't been a single bit of progress with her peeing on throw rugs, any bit of clothing you leave hanging around (including laundry) and chairs. (Hell, sometimes it's just straight up on the bathroom floor.)

She's 15 and is obviously suffering from some sort of medical issue (always tired, drinks too much water, somewhat dodgy liver/kidney numbers) but it continues to evade diagnosis and now I'm just...........done. She's jumping up on things now to pee on them so literally nothing is safe and I don't know what else to do. Every vet visit is another $200 because of the testing and I can't do it anymore. (Between her and Mooshie's gimpy tail, this year has been a huge money drain, vet bill wise. It makes me a little nauseous to think about it actually.) I feel horrible about it but she's had a long life and she's clearly been feeling dumpy for at least 10 months now. He might have one last 'miracle cure' tomorrow but I'm not holding my breathe. *sigh*

(Note: she still uses the litter boxes just fine in addition to this. It's like she drinks a gallon of water some days - but not always - and then can't tell when she needs to go so she just goes on the first fabric thing she sees. But when she's having a feel-good day, she makes it to the litter box just fine. There just aren't many 'feel good' days left anymore though as the months go on.)