One sick kittie kid

I've been on a rather lengthy hiatus. Lack of motivation was a partial factor. A sick kittie kid was another. It's been a rough month emotionally for myself and Pat. Squeaker, my beloved kittie son of 9 years has fallen ill. He's lost half his body weight and the vet believes that he's in full renal failure. I spent all last week bawling my eyes out. The thought of losing one of my babies is just breaking my heart. Squeak spent 3 miserable days at the vet hooking up to an IV. After the vet said there was nothing they could really do I decided to bring him home to be more comfortable. She said he had stopped eating so it probably wouldn't be long before I had to bring him back to be put down.

So what does the little stinker do when I get him home...walks right out of his carrier and starts eating the food I put down for him. He's going to the bathroom fairly normally now and drinking good and I caught him 2 days ago tossing his toy mouse around like he was a kitten.

All in all he sure isn't acting like a kittie on his way out. The vet is a wee bit stumped. We've decided to just keep an eye on him and keep him on antibiotics and see what happens. I'm trying not to get my hopes up just in case he does a 180 but it's hard not to when he looks like he did before he got sick...minus several pounds.

THE STINKER



Other than that drama nothing is new. Still plugging away at my Etsy shop. I've made a few more sales which is very encouraging. I have a bunch of new stuff to put up in the shop...it's just a matter of finding the time to do so. I'm on six days this week at work so there's not much free time at the moment. I'll probably just get a couple things up at a time throughout the week.

on that note...guess I better get started...

Okay...time to recap what I've been up to lately...other than being a lazy ass at this page...pfft...

It's actually been a rather strange week...there has been 5 deaths that I know of in the past several days. No one that was close to me, but still some have affected me emotionally. Most notably was the tragic suicide of a friend's sister. I didn't know her sister personally, but just seeing the heartbreak it's caused her is enough to affect anyone with a heart. It makes me think of my own sister, still battling cancer, and how I could potentially loose her has well. Truly something I hope I never have to deal with. Another was a regular at the diner. A sweet older lady who passed quite suddenly. She had medical problems but it was still quite a shock. Yet another...and this one made me sad oddly enough, was one of the town drunks...I'm going to miss seeing him parked out on the bench across from the tattoo shop. He was one of the many that we wanted to make into a series of Cobleskill trading cards...the weirdos in this town are too fabulous not to share with each other. Anyway...long story short...a very strange week. Left me feeling "off" for lack of a better word.

On a more positive note...my chest piece if FINALLY complete...



that was a four month headache for Pat and I and now it's done and over and I never have to do it again..well...minus a few small touch ups that Pat insists on doing where the ink came out...excuse the horrible cropping job...it was midnight and photoshop was being a real bitch...

I've been working on a few projects as well...just random things...a patchwork scarf to use up a bunch of yarn scraps, as well as a decoupage job on my night stand shelf. It was so drab and boring that it needed a makeover. My sewing table, which is rarely used for sewing, is absolutely trashed at the moment.



Which means the bedroom floor is trashed as well with all my jewelry and random scatterings strewn about. Pat hasn't said anything, but I can see his eye ball twitching. Poor dear. I drive him bonkers. He retaliates well though with endless bouts of rambling on fly fishing and the various species of trout in the Schoharie Creek. Evil evil man...

Well..not that evil..he bought me a wonderful book for Valentines Day. It's called "The Book Of Botanical Prints" and is chock full of beautiful lithographs from the 1600's. I bought him a mint condition vintage straight razor. We're such a romantic couple :P I even made him marshmallows...I think we are officially both addicted to them and my require a twelve step in the future.

On a final note...my mom has surprised me twice in the past few weeks. She stopped by last week with a gift for me.



A doll she made...most appropriately named "Splat" I was so happy to have something that she actually made. And then she surprised me yet again with the little gingham doll on the right. That is a genuine Lolly Doll by Fisher Price from the mid-seventies. I had one ever since I was a baby and sadly she was lost when I left Arizona and my ex threw most of my belongings away...grrrr...I was really heartbroken that she was gone...

My mother being the bestest mom in the world completed her very first purchase on Ebay and bought me another. I was so touched I cried. And Pat has discovered that I tuck both Splat and Lolly, along with Mr. Pig, in at night along side the bed...and he has given me a "look"

whatever...i'm not the one who decided it was a good idea to spray paint wooded lures INSIDE THE HOUSE...

grrrr

I've totally been neglecting my blog as of late...I've been neglecting most things in my life actually, other than my animals and Pat, of course. But I've just felt thoroughly disgusted with life in general lately. Work absolutely sucks...there is so much political bullshit that goes on in that little diner it's unbelievable. I've never worked somewhere where there is SO MUCH cattiness. The backstabbing is unreal. It really makes you discouraged to even get out of bed knowing that you have to in and deal with it every day. Waiting tables is bad enough, but it can be fun if your coworkers make it so. But I just feel emotionally drained by the time I get home from all the tension that I experience there. It's just getting worse too.

Which leaves me desiring new employment. Which is a problem living in upstate NY where it's rural and work is few and far between unless you want to commute (which I do not) And I'm fed up with the usual jobs open to me. Either food service or retail. Bleh...I'm at the point in my life where I feel I should be going somewhere rather than stuck in a dead end job. I don't have a college degree...I dropped out 3 times, mostly for financial reasons, and now I don't even want to go back to complete what I was studying. And I'm to the point where the thought of sitting in class with individuals 10 years younger than me just makes me want to gag. I'm so over the whole "college experience". I was over it before I ever took my first course. I've considered online degrees...but what to take...I'm completely apathetic to life at this point. Nothing seems to hold my interest.

Even my Etsy shop has left me fed up and uninterested. I find it hard to update it or want to work on any craft projects..even for my own benefit. I'm to a point where I feel a mid-life crisis coming on...but it's about 15 years too early. I'm already covered in tattoos and i can't afford a Porsche...so where does that leave me??? Some serious self-reflection is in order...I wish I had at least one friend here that I could sit down with a cup of coffee and talk to. Mine are all across the country on the west coast...it makes for a lonely winter.

My apologies for the pity party...

Bettie Page dies at 85

The death of a celebrity never really affects me all that much. I never knew them personally, so it's just sort of a weird surreal feeling more than anything. But the death of Bettie Page deeply saddens me. She was such a revolutionary cultural icon. I feel like a HUGE piece of our recent history has just been lost. I don't know if Bettie ever really understood her immense impact on so many lives and the sexual revolution of her time. I do though, and I'm really going to miss knowing that she was still around, living her secluded life.

She passed away Thursday, December 11 2008.

Miss Page...we will all miss you.





If you want a really really good biography of her, read "The Real Bettie Page:The Truth About the Queen of the Pinups" by Richard Foster. It's a beautiful, raw look at Bettie's life.

Two new hats and stuff...

I mentioned awhile back that my sister was battling cancer. She had her last treatment a few weeks ago and managed to not loose her hair. They have to wait to run tests to
see if it worked because she's had some nasty illness. So...pending on how the tests pan out she may have to have more treatments...where she still could loose her hair...so LONG story short...I made her a hat for Christmas...She's always bitching that I never knit her anything...so hopefully she'll like it.





(ok...i admit i was too lazy to right this pic...)

It has cute little vintage buttons on it...and of course it had to be pink...because that's the only color she believes in.

I made the pattern up as I went along so my first attempt came out to small. This one is going to Pat's niece for Christmas.



Other than these 2 items, I haven't had much time for creative things. Work had gotten in the way quite a bit, and I've been so tired lately that a lot of free time has been eaten up by sleeping. I do have several projects in the works, such as an up-cycled vintage jewelry box and an alarm clock. They're almost done....just need a few last minute touches. Hopefully my next post will have some completed pics of them...*fingers crossed*

'Tis The Season

I'm not really sure what I want to say about my opinions of the Holidays. I don't really care for Christmas. I'm not christian, therefore I do not celebrate the religious aspect of it. And as I've gotten older I really don't see the sense in attempting to buy gifts for everyone you know at one time and for one single day. Somehow the specialness of receiving a gift that you already know is coming to you seems to be diminished somehow. A lot of people even already know what they are receiving, having made a shopping list (cleverly deemed a "Christmas list") which states exactly what they want. I see nothing special in that. There's no surprise.
I find buying or making a gift for someone and giving it to them at a totally random, unexpected time holds so much more meaning. They had no idea it was coming, and the look of total shock on their face is so priceless. It holds so much more meaning to me. That person was singled out among everyone and thought of in a personal way. It's very special.
Mind you, everything I've mentioned so far is my opinion alone. I see nothing wrong with gift giving at the holidays, I just don't understand the whole concept of it all. But what I'm about to speak of, I hope all of you share my opinion...and if you don't then I highly suggest you seek some sort of council, because you are one fucked up individual.
What I speak of is a man making an honest living working retail. A man who had the unfortunate luck to be scheduled to work on Black Friday. A man who was TRAMPLED TO DEATH buy a bunch of so called human beings trying to save a few measly bucks. What is wrong with this picture? I thought the holidays were supposed to be about kindness and the spirit of giving. Not acting like a bunch of jackals on a feeding frenzy. NO toy or dvd is worth killing a man. Those people who literally ran this man over to go shopping have his blood on their hands. And no one has owned up to this horrible act. They get to go home and have their little holiday parties and open their presents while this man's family is left heartbroken.
There was a full on brawl at our Walmart yesterday over a piece of merchandise. I don't get it. Is it REALLY that necessary to assault another person over a gift? What the hell? The holidays have become so ugly and materialistic and warped and it's just getting worse every year. I used to work retail, and you learn way too much about human nature around the holidays. I watched an 80 year old woman snatch a toy out of a kid's hands and run off with it because it was the last one. It's amazing how nasty people can be at a time where kindness is supposed to shine through. It makes me sick. These people who find an inanimate object more important than a human life are seriously fucked up and need some serious help. And to them I give the royal finger.
To all of you who see how wrong this all is and really do give your heart out at the holidays, I wish you a lovely holiday season.

Cheers

So behind....crap...

I hate it when almost a month goes by without me posting anything. I feel so overwhelmed by the time I finally sit down to write. I feel there is so much to cover...I mean..what a month so far. Between juggling my time with my job and craft projects to the most amazing presidential election in perhaps history...

I've got a few projects lined up and will hopefully have them done within the next week or so. One completed I'll have pics up and get them into the shop. And speaking of the shop...I had my first official sale today!!!! I know it's such a small feat. Especially when I see some amazing individuals who have thousands of sales on Etsy. But I feel really really accomplished nonetheless. This chronic back pain I suffer from, along with the depression makes even little tasks seem very daunting and difficult to complete. So to have actually gotten the ball rolling on my Etsy shop and now starting to make some sales...I feel so good about it.

Pat and I just spent a lovely 2 days in Mystic CT. What a quaint, darling little town. We did some shopping and ate some awesome seafood and took pictures of lots of boats and the water. The aquarium was so much fun too. I got to hold a star fish and pet the sting rays. Anything to do with animals and I'm the happiest kid in the world. Pat and I have been together for 2 years next month and this was our first get away together...so it was special for us. Just time to ourselves with no interruptions.

All and all...it's been a good few weeks. And I'm going to make a hardest effort to post a few times a week here at least. I swear my fingers are not crossed.