Camp Huston Creations

After all the fun and craziness we had at the Camp Huston Scrapbooking retreat last year, it was a no brainer that I would be attending this year.  Oh man, I looked forward to 3 full days of scrappin' all year!  This year played out similarly to last year with a few differences -- 1. Colleen and I arrived on Thursday afternoon instead of Friday, 2. our friend Katie from our highschool days decided to come this year, 3. Colleen and I met Gina and Katie in Monroe Friday morning for breakfast and last minute supply shopping at Ben Franklin, and 4. our group of scrappers were in a different area than last year -- more cozy and closer to our bedrooms -- not that there was an abundance of sleep happening between the four of us!

Here are my creations from this year:

Happy Dog

Sleepy Lil' Furball

Yard Dog

Blue Ball

Prisoner of Love

Spuzz

Sunshine

He's My Boy

Making Friends

He's My Little Bear

Watch Dog

Peanut Butter

Crazy Pants

Garden

Spring

Cabin Fever

Home Sweet Home

Rest In Peace

My Frizz

Goodbye Old Friend

I can't believe how many pages I finished!  Already excited for next year!!  Thanks for a fun weekend ladies!!

Ten Things..... "Finally a blog post" edition!!

1. You could say I'm behind on a few things.  This blog being one of those things I'm behind on.  I'm not really sure what is in store for this blog -- it seems like the amount of time between posts is stretching longer and longer and longer.  It is not that I do not want to blog anymore -- I guess I just need to light a fire under my lazy blog post writing ass.  Other fires that need to be lit?  I'm 3 months behind on my One Little Word project!!  I need to finish September, October, and November -- it's the push to the finish folks!  But you know what?  I'm really excited to finish up my One Little Word for 2011, so I can start on One Little Word 2012!  Yes, you heard that right, I'm going to sign up for the project again in 2012, and I couldn't be happier about it.  I am 99% certain I have my word for 2012 picked out too!!

2.  I must destroy the NFL by this time next year.  The NFL is destroying my Thanksgivings, so therefore, I must destroy the NFL.  I'm still working out the kinks in my diabolical plan.  I may also have to take down college football while I'm working on the NFL. And you know what else grinded my Thanksgiving 2011 gears?  The fricking National Dog Show!  They didn't even show the Bassett Hound OR the Shih Tzu!!!  They glossed right over them, as if they didn't exist!  And what is with those dog handlers and their crazy power suits? And the Best in Show judge was wearing an evening gown!  It's all so confusing!

3. So...... this happened on Halloween:

You're welcome.

4. I'm making a list of goals for my 35th year of life called "34 for 35".  It will be a list of 34 goals that I'll be working on during the year I turn 35.  I got the idea from Elsie Larson of A Beautiful Mess.  Elsie's blog is one that I follow regularly -- lots of fun DIY projects and funky fashion and photography ideas.  I may not accomplish all the goals, but I think it will be great to write down and have some goals to focus on in 2012.  Plus, I get to make a list -- and lord knows, I love making lists.  I run circles around a list!

5.  The beautiful and talented Kim Hayes of Kim Hayes Photography came over in late July and took some photos of Spuzz and Frank.  They turned out awesome!!  I feel so grateful that she was able to capture some pictures of Frank, because he passed away just a few weeks later.  Here are a couple of my favorites of Spuzz and Frank:

I used most of the photos Kim took during my big scrapbooking weekend at Camp Huston in early November.  Longer post on that weekend later :)

6.  My new favorite television show is The League.  Gina, Casey, and Kim have all been telling me that I need to be watching this show for like a year now.  I finally got in to it a few weeks ago when Casey and Kim came over one afternoon and Casey forced me to sit and watch an episode with them.  Best 30 minutes I've spent watching television in a long time.  Favorite character?  Taco.  With Rafi a close second..... "I'm gonna stab you..... offline...... with a real knife."  Total wild card!

7. Another thing from television that I can't get enough of:



8.  I did a little home improvement project a few weeks ago.  The overhead light in my bedroom has bothered me since the day I moved in to my house over a year ago.  The light was also combined with a fan that was definitely great during the two weeks of balmy weather we had this summer, but totally annoying because the only way I could turn on the light was with a remote control.  Plus, like two months ago the whole jacked up contraption quit working and I had no light in my bedroom for a few months.  My parents came to visit and they helped me replace the light.

Before:

After:

I'm pleased with the difference.  Best part?  I don't have to use a remote to turn on my bedroom light.  Pretty effin' sweet!!

9.  Kim and I saw Breaking Dawn Part 1 in the theater a few weeks ago.  Loved it!  Can't wait for Part 2 a year from now!  Anyone want to see it again?  I'm game.

10.  I *really* need some new blogs to follow!!  Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.  I have grown bored of the 10+ blogs that I look at a few times a week.  Have you fallen in love with a blog lately?  I want to know about it!  Or do you have a long-time favorite blog you look at multiple times each week?  I want to know about that one too!  

Can I catch a break ?!?!

As some of you know, I spent my vacation in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area last week.  Although it was fun to see a new town and get out of Seattle for a few days, I missed my little Spuzz ball while I was gone.  It was his first trip to a kennel.  I knew there was a possibility he could get stressed out being away from home, in a new and strange environment, but it never really crossed my mind that he might actually catch something while he was there.  Enter kennel cough.  Ugh.

Remember a year or so back when I had the great idea of starting a new, recurring blog segment called "You Know What Really Grinds My Gears?"  a la Peter Griffin from Family Guy?  And it lasted, uh, like, oh, one post (not surprising, sometimes I have a difficult time with follow through in my personal life, especially with the blog). Well, I'd like to change this blog post title to the aforementioned grinding of gears.  Seriously!!  Can I catch a break on the sick animal front here folks?  Thank you, my 5 readers, for sticking with me this last year because it has been a tough one as far as my pets are concerned, and I've written about it in depth.  I thought I was done with that part of my life for awhile.  I thought I was done with vet visits other than the annual check up and vaccination schedule.  Nope, I had to go on vacation and send my sweet lil' Spuzz to the hoosegow*, leaving him alone in a warehouse full of barking dogs.  Leaving him alone to contemplate his fate.  "Where did she go?", "Is she coming back?", "Is this my new home?", "Why can't I get some goddamn shut-eye in this frickin' joint!?!", "Quit coughing on me Baxter!", and "No I will not make-out with you Maddie!"  Pretty soon the stress wore his lil' immune system down and he caught kennel cough.

So anyway, I'm a little irritated, to say the least.  I know, I know, things in life could be a lot worse, I understand this.  But sick animals have been my reality for the past year and I'm ready to put it behind me.  Don't get me wrong, Spuzz could have caught kennel cough anywhere (groomers, dog park, greeting another dog, etc.), but it just so happens that he started showing signs of it literally the day after he came home from the kennel.  Coincidence?  Not really.  And I feel terrible that he is not feeling well.  We were up at 3am this morning to him coughing so hard he was gagging then eventually throwing up.  He couldn't breathe without wheezing.  He looked so incredibly miserable.  His usual appetite was gone.  So I decided to take him to the emergency vet at 6:30am because I didn't want to wait any longer for my scheduled vet appointment at 10am.  I know, paranoid animal lover over here.  Well, I didn't know for sure he had kennel cough, that was just what was suspected.  And when your dog is wheezing, vomiting, and looks like shit?  That's when the emergency vet is a good idea.

We were home by 10:30am with a confirmation of kennel cough.  He doesn't have a temperature, his lungs sound great, and his oxygen saturation levels are where they are supposed to be.  Meaning he is breathing fine, and getting enough oxygen circulated to all his wee vital organs.  I was sent home with some antibiotics in case it is bacterial, and some cough suppressants so he can get some rest.  He fell asleep immediately when we got home for an hour or so, and did me a solid by eating an entire can of his wet food.  Yay!!  I was worried he wasn't going to eat and it would be difficult for me to give him his pills.  After the struggle I had giving Frank his pills this past year, I am not ready for another pill battle with Spuzzers.

So send some positive vibes Spuzz's way, okay?  He could really use it.  And I could also use some positive vibe-age.  I'll quit being cranky about the whole thing soon.  As soon as he's close to being back to normal, I'll forget what my heart felt like as I looked at his miserable little post-coughing-fit-and-vomit-wheezing like a 90 year old man with emphysema-face.  Keeping my fingers crossed that he is on the mend, and he'll be back to his cheerful self in a week or so.
*did not know hoosegow was spelled that way, thought it was like hoozkow, learn something new every day!             

We did the Puyallup!!

When I was a wee little squirt, I remember having an absolute blast at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe.  Rides, animals, more rides, games, food, crafts, etc.  Admittedly, I haven't been to any type of Fair in over a decade, so you can imagine how pumped I was at the thought of going to the Puyallup Fair -- for the first time ever!!  Yeah, I've lived 34 years in this great state and have never been to the Puyallup Fair.  Mostly because I try to stay north of the King County line at all costs.  Unless, of course, it involves booze!! 

Puyallup Effin' Fair peeps!! Woot!!

Casey, Kim, and I set a date to do the Puyallup about a month ago, so I had a full month to charge myself up about how awesome it was going to be.  Forgetting that I'm not between the ages of 6 and 16.  And I don't need to buy a tractor, fireplace, or hot tub.  So by the morning of our Puyallup Fair departure date, Kim and I were busting at the seams with excitement!!  I think Casey is just humoring us in that photo.  I'd show you the other photo they took while I was in the bathroom before we left Seattle, but it involves a bare butt --

Photo courtesy of the internet

It was kind of like the Coppertone girl, but with Casey playing the part of the little girl, and Spuzz playing the part of the small dog tugging on the bathing suit bottoms.  But my picture does not include Spuzz or bathing trunks.  Anyway, we were *really* *freakin'* *excited* to get our Fair on!!  I was mostly looking forward to seeing all the animals -- pigs, horses, dogs, animals from around the world -- I had visions of it being a Noah's Ark of sorts.  Like an episode of National Geographic.  Complete with Morgan Freeman narrating the entire day in my head.  If Mr. Freeman is unavailable, I'd settle for Oprah.  Or Anderson Cooper.  

It seemed like it took us FOREVER to get there -- seriously, is Puyallup like 2 hours away? Well, it isn't 2 hours away, but when you've been chomping at the bit to chomp down on a corn dog, anything more than 5 miles seems like an eternity.  We arrived and were inside the Fair at like 10:30am.  It was at this time that we decided to have breakfast.  Kim went for a scone, and Casey and I went for a delicious corn dog -- or "Krusty Pup" as they are called in P. Fair speak.  And then, bellies full, we were off to explore the fair!!

Wee wee wee all the way home

We spent most of our time in the animal barns, the craft pavillion, and working up a nice sweat out in the overcast 80 degree muggy NW weather.  We checked out the dog barn first, and saw many teenage girls wearing power suits and getting ready to show their dogs in the Fair dog show.  I didn't get any good shots of the dogs.  So off we went to the pig barn!!  Who doesn't love a piglet?  And if one piglet is good, a pile of piglets is better!!  And a pile of sleeping piglets is best!! 

BLT's anyone?

Then piglets grow up and look like this.  Holy smokes, pigs get large!!  This little lady was tipping the scales at like 400 pounds.  Too many trips to the fried butter stand.  Unfortunately, there weren't too many pigs out for people to look at, they were supposedly moving animals around in the barns, so they were low on pigs.  So we checked out some of the other animals.  Photo montage!!!



Nice ass





Cute lil' pig butt

After we saw all the animals we headed over to the craft pavillion to check out the sewing and photography exhibits.  Kim and I have caught the sewing bug since starting our beginning sewing class, so we were excited to see the sewing machines and check out some of the sewing projects.  At this point in the Fair experience, I hit a serious Fair wall.  It was muggy as hell outside, and I was beginning to realize that I don't really like the Fair.  I kinda want to become a vegetarian.  And I'm tired of looking at people.  More photo montage!!!

By this time it was only like 1pm.  We were such Fair amateurs -- 2 hours in and we already want to call it a day.  But not before clogging our arteries with fried food!! 

I had heard about deep fried oreos, so of course I had to try them.  Kim decided to go for the funnel cake, while Casey took the safe route with a plate of yakisoba with sketchy fair poultry.  I think we all regretted our decisions about 30 minutes later.  Ugh. 

The deep fried oreos were pretty much exactly like I imagined -- gooey Oreo drizzled with chocolate and feelings of shame.  I ate two of the three then decided if I wanted to leave the fair with any self esteem intact I'd throw the third one in the trash.  Still felt pretty gross as I was hunting down a bathroom to wash off my chocolate coated fingers.  Ugh.  After I found a restroom to clean up, we headed back to Seattle.  I crashed in the back of the car -- napping all the way home.

So yep, we did the Puyallup.  I'm good now.           

Inspired by this today

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Lighting a blog fire under my ass!!

If you're reading this post right now, then you're looking at my new kick-ass blog banner!!  I've been rocking that same picture of Shilshole Bay for the past 3 years -- I decided it was time for a change, and time to kick things up a notch!  I'm hoping this new blog design will light a fire under my lazy blogging ass :)

The new blog banner was created by Lucas Andrews of A Flight of Yesterdays Design.  I'll be posting a link to his website as soon as it is up and running.  In the meantime, if you would like to contact him for any graphic design work, he can be reached through his Facebook page.

So......what have I been up to since my last post over a month ago?!?  Surprisingly, I've been pretty busy!  Working a bit on my One Little Word project.  I'm also expanding my photography horizons with another online course through Big Picture Classes -- Mastering Manual Mode.  Truthfully, I've been behind the entire 8 weeks of class, but I've been printing out all the materials and my intention is to practice, practice, practice in the coming months.  I've also been going on dog park adventures with Spuzz, and watching him tear shit up around the house.  Seriously, he's a mischievious little fart!  Just now he destroyed the cord that opens and closes my living room curtains.  Luckily the curtains are on deck to be replaced because, if you've seen them you know, they resemble curtains the Golden Girls would have had in their sweet, swingin' single old lady pad in Miami.  I'm talkin' AARP up in this bitch folks.  Geri-atric!  I'll be getting rid of them as soon as I have the living room painted.  If I had to describe the color of my living room, I would tell you it looks like Eddie Bauer barfed everywhere.  Like a henley I had circa 1992.  Kind of a dark teal / forest green.  Not my style. 

I'm also taking a beginning sewing class with Kim.  It is a 4 week class at a sewing / vacuum shop in Ballard.  Each week we make a new project.  The first week we made a tote bag, and the second week we made a zippered pouch.  Check out the pouch!

I'd post a picture of the tote bag, but for some reason it didn't download on to my computer completely.  You've probably seen it on my Facebook page anyway, considering I only have like 5 readers who also happen to be on Facebook.  This week we are making a quilted placemat.  Woot!  I'll be quilting up a storm here soon!  I'll post photos!! 

Also this week?  I'm doing the Puyallup!!  I've never 'done' the Puyallup before.  I'm pretty stoked on hitting up the animal facilities.  They are having a dog show the day we are going -- so pumped!!  I'll be sure to try and capture the essence of Puyallup with some photos :) 

Pushkin
by Marjorie Kowalski Cole

The old cat sleeps
in the newly arrived sun. One more spring
has come his way
dropping a solar bath
on failing kidneys, old cat bones.
I check for the rise and fall of breath.

Once he stalked hares
across the yard, tracked down
chicken hearts with split-lentil eyes.
Fearless, disinterested, a poseur, a demideity.
He and the dog are strangers still
after years of eating side by side.

I remember times of wailing
into my couch, alone
and utterly baffled by life,
when suddenly a cat
would be sitting on my head.

Last week I pulled him snarling
from under a chair in Dr. Bacon's office,
held him while she examined his dull coat,
felt his ribs. Pressed where it hurt.
Eight pounds of fur and bone and mad as hell
but "He's certainly less anxious in your lap,"
she murmured, astonishing me.
I had no idea. Old cat, old friend,
have I reached some place inside,
added to your life
as you have to mine?

I first saw this poem on the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee website over a year ago, and it struck a cord with me then.  And now I'm drawing comfort from it this week.  I said goodbye to my sweet Frank this week.  Although he hasn't been well in over a year, and I've been preparing myself for his passing for quite awhile, I still get teary eyed as I write this.  He was my constant companion and shadow of mine around the house for the last 9 years.  We've been through so much together, and he was always by my side with a soft nuzzle to let me know he was there.  He slept by my side at night for 9 years, and I'll miss him.  He was my little guy, my Frizzle. 

One Little Word -- July

The July prompt for the One Little Word workshop has been the most 'me' prompt so far -- music!  More specifically -- a soundtrack for my word.  This month I created a personal playlist for my word.  Seeing as how I have music playing at all times while I'm at home or in my car, this prompt was a breeze for me, and super fun. 

I remember in my AP English class in highschool we were given the opportunity to either write an essay or create something for our final class project.  I created a mix tape, or soundtrack I guess, for a novel we had just read in class.  I remember thinking all the people that chose to write an 8 page essay were out of their fucking minds.  I have never liked writing essays, period.  So given the opportunity to make a mix tape as a final project vs. writing an essay about some famous important novel that I can't even remember, the choice was an easy one for me. Mix tape!!

So what I'm saying is I had a great time tackling making a playlist for my word -- heal.  The songs I selected don't literally include my word -- to me it was more about creating the playlist with songs that are important to me now, or have been important to me through my life, and songs that make me connect to my word.  After creating our soundtrack to our word, we pulled lines or quotes from each song to put on 9 canvases.

Here are my canvases:

Although I have only 9 canvases, my soundtrack has 13 songs:

1. My Sweet Lord: George Harrison
2. Given To Fly: Pearl Jam
3. Between Two Lungs: Florence & The Machine
4. Well All Right: Kid Rock
5. Fall On Me: R.E.M.
6. Get Better: Mates Of State
7. Up Up Up: Givers
8. Young Blood: The Naked and Famous
9. Fans: Kings of Leon
10. Someone Like You: Adele
11. Baby, What a Big Surprise: Chicago
12. Helena Beat: Foster the People
13. Crying, Waiting, Hoping: Karen Elson

Then I created a cover sheet for the project and burned my playlist onto a disc to include in my One Little Word notebook. 

On Twitter if I send out a tweet of something I'm listening to right then, I'll include the hashtag #nowplaying, so I put that as my cover sheet.  I put my CD in a sleeve I purchased in a DIY CD packaging kit made by Chronicle Books. 

Here are the lyrics I chose to include on my canvases:

Given To Fly: Pearl Jam
And he still gives his love, he just gives it away. The love he receives is the love that is saved. And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky. A human being that was given to FLY.

Between To Lungs: Florence & The Machine
I have this breath and I hold it tight.  And I keep it in my chest with all my might.  I pray to GOD this BREATH will last.  As it pushes past my lips as I gasp, gasp.

Well All Right: Buddy Holly via Kid Rock
We'll LIVE and LOVE with all our might

Fall On Me: R.E.M.
Buy the sky and sell the sky. And lift your arms up to the sky. And ask the sky, and ask the sky.  Fall On Me.

Get Better: Mates Of State
Everything's gonna get LIGHTER, even if it never gets BETTER

Up Up Up: Givers
Yeah we up up up above love. Yeah we up UP up through the clouds. Yeah we up.

Young Blood: The Naked and Famous
The bittersweet between my teeth.  Trying to find the in-betweens. Fall back in LOVE eventually.

Someone Like You: Adele
Sometimes it lasts in LOVE but sometimes it HURTS instead.

Fans: Kings of Leon
You know the RAINY days they ain't so bad when you're the KING.

Looking forward to what is in store for August!!

One Little Word -- June

The prompt for June was one of the most challenging of the workshop thus far.  It was called Creative Meditation.  We were supposed to create 9 different mini-canvases -- keeping our word in mind as we created them.  I think they were difficult for me initially because the instructor used the word "messy" in the description of the project.  As most of my close friends and family know, I do not mesh well with the word "mess"..... my mind may be a mess sometimes, but my living space and work space are not.  So when I saw the instructor's personal process video for creating her canvases -- I was worried.  I don't work with paints much in my own scrapbooking -- not because I don't think it looks cool.  I actually think it looks really cool.  But paint to me equals dirty hands, and I like clean hands.  I'm so type-A sometimes.  Anyway, long story short, I managed to get over my fear of getting my hands dirty and had a great time creating my most colorful prompt so far.

Here are a few pictures that show my 9 mini-canvases:

Admittedly, I didn't actually get that dirty creating these canvases.  I used watercolors as the background for two of them, and did a little bit of stamping on a few of them.  I purchased a few acrylic paints in lime green, purple, and turquoise, but ended up running out of canvases because I wanted to include a photo of Frank and Spuzz in the project. 

I like the way they turned out though -- they are all different bright colors, which makes me happy.  We were supposed to choose a color to use as a jumping off point for our canvases, but I knew right away I didn't want to focus on just one color.  And that is one of the cool parts about this project -- you can create whatever you want, and whatever makes you happy! 

One Little Word -- May

As you know from my post from yesterday, this week I'm featuring a series of posts to catch you all up on my One Little Word project from Big Picture Classes.  I know you guys have been waiting with baited breath for my next installment.....May!!

So, May's prompt was one of the least challenging so far.  In a word -- documentation.  We were encouraged to write down our ideas, thoughts, tasks, missions and stuff we'd like to tackle with our word this year.  Also create another cover sheet for the month. 

Cover sheet:

Hello May! Lovely to see you again......
Still using patterned paper from a kit from Freehand Scraps.  I think the star stamp is a Tim Holtz stamp - love his stamps!

And my documentation:

I'm not sure you can see in this photo what the template spaces say -- each 8.5 x 11 sheet has 5 spaces to write.  Each space is divided in to two smaller spaces. The top space says Task/Mission/Goal/Objective/Thoughts/Stuff to Tackle.  The bottom space says Comments/Observations. 

Here are a few of my written spaces:

1. Create new memories with another dog.....I fell in love with Spuzz the moment I saw him, and haven't looked back!!  So happy....
Comments: Spuzz is so different than Milo as far as energy level, he keeps me on my toes.  Looking forward to adventures!!

2. Work on educating myself on foods that are easy to digest after gallbladder removal, I would like my digestion to be more predictable.
Comments: More fresh foods!

3. Keep Frank as healthy and happy as possible. Do the best you can with his medication, and don't punish yourself if he is combative.
Comments: It is your strength that you realize Frank will not live forever -- you'll know when he is ready to go.

4. Create an outdoor space to enjoy.  So looking forward to my deck area -- a place to sit and enjoy the fresh air.
Comments: Don't forget to allow Frank to experience the wind and sun in his fur.

5. Do something active 3 to 4 times a week.  You enjoy walking, do this with Spuzz. Zumba class was fun a a great workout.
Comments: You are reminded more and more as time goes by how important your health is, you really have nothing if you don't have your health!

Those are 5 out of 8 "tasks" that I have documented so far -- maybe I'll jot down more as the year progresses.