Puppies!

Is this just the best? Patty and Rose rescued two little Chinese Crested Powder Puff puppy sisters and brought them to their Forever Home. Patty drove to Dayton, OH, yesterday to pick them up and brought them home. I was lucky enough to get to go over today and play with them and take pictures and spoil them with a few treats. They sure enough need a good grooming - they will be going to see Lori and Todd as soon as it can be arranged - but how sweet they are. I can't wait to take some pictures of them all cleaned up and 'purty'. They are still very shy and not sure where they are or why they are there but they are beginning to feel like they might belong there with Patty, Rose, Tootie, and Crumpet. Their names, so far, are Dodger and Yet-to-be-Named. Patty and Rose are in the process of painting their living room before new carpet is laid but they took a few minutes off for play and pictures!
Dodger:

Yet-to-be-Named:

Sisters.... Yet-to-be-Named on the left, Dodger on the right.

A beautiful picture of Dodger....she looks so calm, cool, and collected here. That is so not the reality!

Here Dodger, Here Yet-to-be-Named.....come get a treat!

Dodger thinks new Mom scratches her ears just right.

Meanwhile, Yet-to-be-Named is snuggled up to new Mom Rose and thinks that is a pretty good place to be, too.

Crumpet isn't quite sure what just invaded his domain. He is used to being the King. Now what? Crumpet - you know we love you best!

Tootie isn't quite sure what this will mean for her, either. She is certain that she does not want anything to interfere with her usual share of pets and lap-sitting.

There will be more later!

Wishing safe travels for my family and friends who are on the road this Thanksgiving

Rocky & Mini have given their wish lists to Santa (aka Uncle Todd, Casper's Dad) and want you to know they are ready to receive any hugs and pets you might wish to bestow upon them! Oh - and any 'treats' would be appreciated. Especially now that Uncle Todd has placed them on diets! It is true, however, that Rocky can barely sausage his plump self through the doggie door now.

And Bubba the Bird is hiding under some paper....waiting to jump out and surprise someone! He will be 17 years old in March and has been quite the jokester all of that time! Some of Cecily's belly scratches are on his wish list!

Intergalactic Bead Show....

Peggy, Laura, and I took a road trip to Cincinnati to visit the Intergalactic Bead Show, have lunch, and then do a little shopping at Jungle Jim's.

Rikki was there to see us off. You may remember Rikki - the bead needle eating kitty cat that lived! Peggy has told the tail and even has the evidence - triple bagged.


You were one lucky cat, Rikki!

No pictures of the show itself but, wouldn't you know, Laura won a door prize! A very fine lampworked bead. The very first one called. The announcer was a little surprised that Peggy and I ran up there and took pictures. I wonder if my SiL can make those! A picture of the lucky winner!

And now a picture of her win - thanks to Peggy's photography talents! Yes, I was trying to steal it but with no luck.

Perusing our purchases over lunch....



Peggy modeling some very fine beads she had purchased - the tiny little ones. Can't wait to see the completed piece. If I am lucky she will let me post a picture of it here.


Then off to Jungle Jim's


And Laura adds her picture in the potty to those of Peggy, Vicki, and I!

So we celebrated....we really should have taken that lady up on her offer to take a picture of all 3 of us in the potty!

We got a lot of good things to eat and drink and then headed back to Indy where Rikki welcomed us home - pretty much in the same spot where we left her. I wonder if she was wondering if had purchased any needles for her.


Such a good idea, Peggy. Thank you for organizing these trips. We missed you, Vicki. I hoope some of the rest of you can join us next time!

Beady-Eyed Bunch!

Thank you, Bonani! Below are some of the pictures Bonani sent me of two new stitches she learned from kits. I wish I could remember where she said she got the kits - I would like to learn the one with the pearls. The spiral stitch looks perfect and I am tickled Bonani has gotten the knack of teaching herself new stitches! It's not easy to puzzle through a new pattern, is it? But it sure keeps you moving right along.

BTW - I learned something new - Bonani sent these pictures to me through Skype. And I actually managed to find them in my files about about 30 minutes of looking. But I will get quicker. I wasn't sure how they would post here but I think it does well.


First her spiral - very well done:

Next, a very nice new stitch - I would like to try it with smaller pearls or other rounds....maybe some 4mm beads that I got from Bead Angels in Broad Ripple. And I might use 14 seed beads around them instead of 11's. Maybe turquoise 4mm rounds with silver seeds. Maybe. I hope Bonani remembers to send me the pattern! (hint, hint)
I asked her to try it as a choker and it looks terrific. Looks like you get to teach a new stitch, Bonani!

Skype is just the coolest - I grabbed this screen shot off of skype when Bonani tried the necklace on as a choker.

Welcome Jasper!

Those of you at Landmark will remember Jasper's father,Steve, who transferred to Lytle when our IT was sent off shore. I thought these were some remarkable pictures and am very happy Steve gave me permission to post them. How sweet! I think Jasper is one very lucky little boy to join Steve and his wife Charity and big sister Daphne. Steve also adopted one of our Aloe plants that we grew in the window at work - but I don't think that was as big an event as Jasper arriving - except to the aloe. I remember being allowed to carry my little brother into the house in August 1965 so I found the picture and scanned it. Daphne - I added a message to you below.




Jasper and big sister Daphne!

Linda and little brother Dan 45 years ago. Daphne, I wish for you that your little brother turns out to be as wonderful a person as my little brother. He is full of character, patience, and honesty and I am so very thankful that I get to spend time with him and my SiL Tammy. One of Little Brother's best accomplishments was convincing Tammy to marry him and brought her here to Indiana....from California...where there is no snow...and no ice to slide down when you are trying to back out of the driveway...but that's another story. I will have to warn you, Daphne, that little brothers can be awfully noisy as they grow up but it becomes more tolerable as time goes on. Annoying his Big Sister is apparently part of being a Little Brother!


My warmest wishes for the best to Steve, Charity, Daphne, and Jasper!

For the Beady-Eyed Bunch

I finally finished another chain using the tri-stitch that I used on the bronze bead chains. I stayed with the idea of making an adjustable chain but I used a bead that was shaped very differently, though, and I think it came out OK - I picked these up at the beadshow in Cincinnati last August with Peggy and Vicki. I've tried to get a picture of the loose beads as well. It was very difficult to get a clear picture of the entire chain for some reason. I tried in various lights and days then decided just to go with what I have. I am also knotting some pearls and if there is a more boring stitch than the tri-stitch then knotting pearls is it!

Working at home is good

As I was walking to work I saw Rocky contemplating a nap in the sun on the nice soft blankets. Does it get any better than that?

More for the Beady-Eyed Bunch

My SiL admired the chain I made for the turquoise leaf.
So, of course, I just had to make her one, too! I made it adjustable so she could add 2 more inches if she wished. It took quite some time to figure out how to create the loops so that they had some design to them but I think I managed to do it.







It turned out to be pretty easy - I made a loop as usual and went around again and added a layer of peyote stitch. I used 19 beads to make the loops so that I could start the next look at center top of the previous loop.







To end the tri-stitch on both ends I used the last tri-stitch and filled in with extra beads to make it look like the good old daisy chain!

Beady-Eyed Bunch!

I drove up to Indy on Thursday to hang with the original Beady-Eyed Bunch. It was good to talk 'bead' with those who were there - Peggy, Vicki, Bonani, and Laura. I had the chance to take some pictures of Vicki and Bonani's work and Laura and I took pictures of each other. I sure do miss being able to get together and have a lunchtime bead-in once a week!

Ahhhh - just like old times! We missed you, Madeline! I just had to hug everyone! And we all know how much Vicki loves her hugs!
Now on to the pictures --- Vicki first (since Bonani was late - some kind of excuse about working or something. Sheesh. She still doesn't have her priorities straight!). Vicki has been a busy lady:

Very nicely done, Vicki!

So - why the ladybug? Well, we found it on the floor and thought it should be on the flower. Go figure. It was a good final resting place for the little lady bug. We wondered how it got on the 12th floor of a downtown highrise building that doesn't have windows that open. Then shrugged and decided to make sure her travels would be documented. It is actually not part of Vicki's pendent.
I wasn't able to get a good picture of Vicki's bird cage piece - it is the photographer's fault - it is a very interesting necklace. Good work!

Bonani has been very busy! She has breezed through all of the beginning pieces and has done them very well. Wouldn't expect anything less of her, though:

A spiral rope - and done with many different sizes and types of beads - this is a beautiful bracelet!

Another elegant piece - beautiful colors and the stitching was perfect. It isn't easy to maintain tension on a piece that has several different sizes of beads. Good work!

Another piece, a simple netted necklace, that requires a lot of attention to tension and a verrrry long thread to keep untangled!

And, finally, the Lacey Daisy. I apologize, Bonani - I didn't get a good picture of these two bracelets and this picture just doesn't do them justice!

This is a pattern by Carol Ohl - her patterns can be found on bead-pattern.com and she seems to have a talent for providing excellent directions in a visual format that can be followed easily.

You can see more of her patterns here: http://www.bead-patterns.com/shop/shop.php?designer=Carole+Ohl

And that is all for our Thursday beading group! It was very wonderful to get to see you guys!

Love Birds

Literally....Bob was house/bird sitting for friends in Denver and.....well, it was apparently love at first sight!

A meeting of the minds. So safe, so sane, and so secure. Well, maybe not the 'sane' part!

An Update!

Lots has been going on - I will start with October 16th - the last day that my gallbladder and I shared the same space. The surgery was laparoscopic so there was an outside chance that I would get to go home the same day that it was done. And I was determined to go home, too! About an hour of surgery, an hour in the recovery room, and then about 3 hours in a bed on the surgery unit - then it was my plan to toddle out the door. The nursing staff at Bloomington Hospital were top notch and very wonderful, kind, and attentive. Not to mention they knew exactly what they were doing. The anesthesiologist was a very funny guy and the surgeon was....well... a surgeon. But he is a good old Southern Indiana boy, from Bloomington, so all was well. After I got to the floor and was infused with Dilaudid (whooee what stuff that was!) I did everything they told me I needed to do for the surgeon to release me - I ate when they said to eat, drank when they said to drink, made jokes, whatever it would take. When they told me the surgeon was on his way to see me I met him at the door! A little bent over and clutching my stomach but I had a smile on my face for sure. Little did I know at the time that it was mostly Dilaudid. But I was discharged and Patty came to pick me up. We took pictures, of course. We take pictures of everything! I had to struggle to look sick - yes, these are pictures of me trying to look sick. In about 3 hours it wouldn't be an act any more, though!

Yep - this was the best I could do. I was so happy to go home that I called Patty and got into my clothes as fast as I could. But, darn it! I wanted one picture in the hospital gown in the bed ---- this was my compromise. I was perfectly willing to get back into the hospital gown but standing up was giving me problems so I thought I'd better not try to change clothes. Alas - poor, suffering me!
Bye-bye Dilaudid! And a last picture at the nurse's station....I'm guessing it's not often that picture taking is part of the discharge process. I got tired of waiting for someone with a wheelchair to take me downstairs so I walked down to the nurse's station with the notion that I would just get on the elevator and head down to Patty's car. But was I ever happy to see Wayne and his wheelchair!

Now for the picture of my gallbladder! Being the sensitive person that I am, I decided to post a link rather than the actual picture here. Most of you are medical folks so you will probably like this picture - but for those of you who aren't, just skip this link. The surgeon was impressed with the number of stones - he brought the picture to me when he came to discharge me. Wow - I honestly thought I was being just a wimp with a little 'heartburn'. I am happy I made the right decision to have this taken out - after all, people live with a gallbladder full of stones with no problem at all but I am not one of them. When did the problems start? I think around December 2006! I thought it was GERD. Oh well! I was hoping it weighed about 30 lbs but apparently it is a small little thing to cause so much trouble.

The picture is in Photobucket - I think you will have to sign in to get to it but I am not sure. It is a nice website, and free, for people to store their blog pictures. I also carry it in my purse - just in case someone wants to see it. Unfortunately, most people have declined.

http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac239/lindalougraves/PhotoScan2.jpg