New Accessories for Rufus

The trouble is, yesterday I reassured the vet that Rufus wouldn't bother the spot on his foot. Or maybe it was because he heard me talking about the surgery. For whatever reason, Rufus decided he should try to chew the spot off his paw. I walked in on him standing over a bloody spot on the carpet. Nice. After I panicked a tiny bit, I called the vet and they thought the best thing to do for now was to put the cone on his head and a sock on his foot, and keep an eye on it. He'd better get used to the cone, he'll probably be wearing it until October.

Rough Summer for Rufus

First, Rufus had the fly bite that took most of the summer to heal. Then, on Saturday I noticed he had a small, very painful bump on the bottom of his foot. I took him to the vet yesterday and decided to have the growth removed on Monday the 11th. They'll send it in to see what kind of growth it is.

The Post Office supports Troops!

Yesterday I finally got the things I was going to send to Dave together. He forgot a couple of things when he was home, so I got those together. Throw in a couple more goodies, and off to the Post Office I went. The Rosemount Postmaster asked me if I knew that I could get boxes for soldiers for FREE... I did not! Isn't that nice?

Today I'm going back to my friendly neighborhood Post Office to send Dave's laptop, which was home getting repaired. I'm cringing because it's going to be expensive with the insurance I'll put on it. Ah well, it will be worth it. I've missed being able to instant message with him.

Hambly Transparencies

Minda made some marvelous store samples for Too using some Hambly Transparencies. I wasn't nearly as creative, but I just loved how this page turned out.
((Chie, what was this place called?))

Dave went back to the doctor and got a clean bill of health. They're going to keep him on Prilosec for a while.

Cards for Soldiers

I've been working on some cards for the Cards for Soldiers program. I'm working on round 8, Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving. Here's the first bunch that I've made:

I'm not a card maker. I would much rather go to Hallmark, actually. But I'm enjoying this project.

I talked to Dave yesterday and found out that he had spent a couple nights in the hospital with severe chest and stomach pain. He's doing better now, they gave him some medicine and ran some tests to try to figure out what happened. Keep him in your thoughts.

Day Three - We did it!

Sunday morning we went back to camp, had breakfast, stretched and started walking. It was a good day. We had some blisters and soreness, but the day went by surprisingly fast. Before we knew it, we were on Crocus Hill looking at the Capitol.
We got to the holding area and were able to rest for about an hour before closing ceremonies. The Twin Cities 3-Day has raised over six million dollars for breast cancer research so far this year.

End of Day One, and Day Two

Yesterday, after lunch, Mom's knee became very painful. She has an ACL insufficiency and walks with a brace. It was questionable whether she could walk in the 3-Day, but her doctor said she could go for it. After 16 miles, her knee said otherwise.

Karlene's hip was bothering her as well, so they decided to take the bus back to camp. I had gotten a very large blister on my heel (same as last year) which is pretty painful. I was still able to keep walking, but I wanted to stay with my team. So we got on the bus. When we got back to camp, Mom called her orthopedist. After talking it over, we came to the conclusion that the best thing would be to rest Saturday, and see if Sunday was possible.

Thankfully, when Mom woke up this morning, all of her knee pain was gone. We spent today resting and stretching. Tomorrow morning, we'll head back to the route.

Sorry I missed you, Minda! Thanks for coming out.

Lunchtime, day one

We've gone 11.1 miles so far today and are stopping for a lunch break.
Things are going well.

Nothing but Trouble

Since Karlene and I are doing the 3-Day walk this weekend, we needed to arrange dogsitters for Missy, Rufus and Moose. So we started calling around. Plan after plan fell through. So-and-so is out of town. So-and-so can take one dog, but not two (and certainly not all three!)

I didn't want to call a kennel, because first of all, I think they're awfully expensive, and second, I don't think Rufus would do well in a kennel. He's too much of a mama's boy.

Finally, last night, Karlene's grandma stepped in. She's going to come and let them out and feed them. Whew! Thanks Grandma Verlene!

Not on the Menu: New Basic Grey

We got Gypsy and Lilykate at Too today. And you know, I looked at it and found I didn't need it. It's very nice, but it's not my taste. Which is good because I had been in paper overload earlier... too many choices to appreciate them all, not enough money to go nuts and buy without careful choices. Let's just say... it's no Signature Suite. I had appeased my appetite for paper earlier, and I was happy to find I was satisfied.
However--
On closer inspection, four of the Lilykate patterns are especially "Japan in Springtime". Which is one of my upcoming albums. So, I did get those four. Burp.

Cheering Stations for the 3-Day

They've just announced the cheering stations for the Twin Cities Breast Cancer 3-Day.
Friday, Aug 18:
6.2 mile marker
9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Northview Elementary School
965 Diffley Rd.
Eagan, MN 55123

16.6 mile marker
12:30 pm - 5:15 pm
1 block South of 28th Avenue Light Rail Stop (and PolarFab)
2800 East Old Shakopee Rd.
Bloomington, MN 55425

Saturday, Aug 19:
4.2 mile marker
8:30 am - 10:30 am
Normandale Community College
9700 France Avenue South
Bloomington, MN 55431

19.5 mile marker
1:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Christ the King Church
(please park in the far south end of the lot)
8600 Fremont Avenue South
Bloomington, MN 55420

Sunday, August 20:
6.4 mile marker
8:00 am - 10:30 am
Lake Nokomis (north end walking trail)
Cedar Avenue South & East Minnehaha Parkway
Minneapolis

14.3 mile marker
10:00 am - 1:30 pm
Kowalski's Market parking lot - North side
(Walkers on North side of Summit Avenue)
1261 Grand Ave.
St Paul, MN 55105

If there is a cheering station that is convenient for you, come out and cheer! Last year, people brought noisemakers and kids had squirt guns (which felt really great). Some people even brought popsicles or candy. But you don't have to bring anything... even just being there, clapping, cheering, giving us a thumbs up is great.

Do I sound older?

Yesterday was my birthday. I remember when I was a kid how birthdays were such a milestone of maturity and always carried the thrill of new responsibilities. Hm. I don't think I've gotten any more mature, and in fact I wouldn't mind having less responsibilities. Pretty much now I just start more stories with "I remember when I was a kid...". Oh well. A couple of plans were made that fell through, so I ended up taking some paperwork to Too, and then from there I worked a few hours. Then I went out to dinner with a co-worker. That was very, very nice. Tonight I'm going out for sushi with Liz & Carol, something I've been looking forward to for weeks now.

Signature Suite and new Quickutz

Did I mention I LOVE the new Signature Suite line? I was pretty budget-conscious when picking out paper yesterday (sigh!) but I made this page tonight with it and also the new Sandcastle Quickuts die. This picture was taken one year ago Sunday. This picture of Chie is one of my favorite pictures from last year's Renaissance Festival.

My Two Cents on Journaling in Scrapbooks

Don't be afraid to go deeper.
Everyone has a different level of comfort with putting their feelings "out there". If you can write out what's in your heart and put it on a page, that's great. But if you're not comfortable with that, consider tucking journaling behind a picture or putting it in an envelope. Just try to put it somewhere. Scrapbooks are made with a lot of time and a lot of heart (And money, don't forget money). Let your heart out.

I once read a little bit of the diary my grandmother kept as a young woman. It was pretty dry, everyday stuff. But it gave me some insight to who my grandmother was as a person. Why? Because it was honest. It was what she really did, thought and felt.

This topic is on my mind thanks to Minda and to Wes Thomsen, and the thread of "whitewashing their lives". I will admit when I chronicled one year of my life, I did not chronicle the divorce I was going through, other than obliquely. What I did talk about was the secrets, pain, and the recovery. It's all in there, but you may have to look a little deeper.

Paper Lust

I stopped into Too yesterday with Jen and saw the new
My Mind's Eye paper lines. I'm in total paper lust. It's all gorgeous, but the one for me is The Signature Suite. Hmm, I think some of it would be perfect for my Michigan pictures....


Now begins the search to find the perfect album. I think I might stretch a little and go 12x12. I've been so comfortable with 8x8, but I'm happy with how my 12x12 Deployment Album is turning out, so I think I'm going to go for it.

End of Midyear Break

I dropped Dave off at the airport this morning at 6:15 (not as early as I had thought). The last two weeks just flew by. Yesterday he went fishing while I worked, and then we had dinner with his older brother, sister in law, niece and nephew. It actually was especially good to have the company, because it kept me from thinking about having to say goodbye. I really enjoyed the evening.

After I got home from the airport, I started working, but I looked at my schedule and decided to take a half-day. Then I called up Jen and she, Ian and I went to the Mall of America. We went to the Dinosaur Walk. That was actually pretty lame. The only really good thing was Ian's face when he got there and saw the dinosaurs. (What is it with little boys and dinosaurs?) Anyway, it was a good afternoon.


I miss him already... Is it April yet?

Oh, and today's rant

Why do some people seem to have no boundaries when asking about having kids? Now, I have no trouble with a pleasant inquiry. 'Do you plan on having kids?' 'Do you want to have kids soon?' - all within the bounds of polite conversation. But repeated blunt comments throughout an evening?

I know I used to be the kind of person who asked those kinds of questions too directly. But I realized I had no idea what kind of wounds I was exposing and what kind of hurt I might be causing. Sometimes it's not as simple as just wanting kids. Wanting and having are two very different things.

More Pictures

This is the last place that we stayed in Michigan, Blackstar Farms. It was absolutely gorgeous. They are a winery, inn, and have a variety of animals. It was so picturesque.


Saturday night we had friends and family over to eat some of the salmon and have a campfire. It was a good time. Baby Lucy was convinced she wanted to be bottle-fed.

Dave goes back early, early Wednesday morning. Yesterday afternoon we took the boat out to Prior Lake to go fishing. Today and hopefully tomorrow, Dave will get to do a little more fishing.

Home again!

We had a great time in Michigan. We saw beautiful places, went to wineries and went charter fishing and got six king salmon. We took a lot of pictures and I brought back a lot of things to scrapbook, to remember our trip.

On the way home

The week in Michigan was fabulous. We had a great time. I'll post some pictures tomorrow. Tonight we went as far as Eau Claire, WI, and stopped for the night at Dave's folks. It worked out well to get a chance to get to see them.