Contrariwise ramblings

Last Halloween, before most people even knew about Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie, Emma went trick or treating as the Mad Hatter, a la Johnny Depp:

Definitely not.

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I think that I need a new feature in my blog: Mooshu Monday! Mooshu is our brand new yorkie / maltese mix puppy - and we've had him for about a week.

Isn't he a cutie!

He has his own toys and loves to play with them. Our other dog, Indy, who is a 55 lb black lab mix, has her own toys too, and it's funny how neither dog will play with the other's toys.

We tried to give Mooshu a tennis ball to play with but it was so huge that he couldn't do anything with it. (Plus Indy seemed to think it belonged to her, so off she went with it.)

But while I was shopping, I found these cute miniature versions of tennis balls that are about an inch and a half wide. Just his size! He can pick them up and carry them in his mouth. He loves chasing them and playing fetch.

He had his first vet visit yesterday, and weighed in at a whopping 1.4 pounds! And from the photo below, it's all in his bottom!
(Look at those cute little puppy 'tocks! All fluff!)

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...unabashedly show photos of your new puppy.

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The weather has been gorgeous. It's the type of weather that inspires you to go outside and start working on the garden.

And as I was looking over my backyard, I realized it's certainly time to start cleaning up. The old dried vegetation from last fall needs to be pulled or trimmed. New bushes and flowers need to be planted. Perennials needs to be split.

And the ducks taking over our swimming pool are telling me that it's time to think about draining that pool cover.

The water is deep enough for them to go deep sea diving for god-knows-what that's been growing in the pool cover since last October. (And I'm sure that the ducks have been contributing to the flora and fauna by....well... you know what they do.)

Yes, the ducks look happy and they're probably investigating potential nesting areas near this wonderful new habitat they've discovered.

As I'm watching them, all of a sudden I see a face looking up at me from under the pool cover!

WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!

I've never seen anything like that before! It looks like it might be the size of a rottweiler! And how long has it been there??!!! And why is it looking at the ducks with possible evil intensions??!!

As quickly as I spied it, it quickly hid out of sight. And over the next several hours I kept a lookout, trying to see it again.

Finally it peered out a bit more and I got a better shot of it:

What the.....???

Then, it ventured all the way out:

This has got to be a....groundhog???!!! And it's FREAKIN' ENORMOUS!!! Probably about the size of a baby hippopotamus.

I'm guessing the groundhog's been hibernating here all winter! After it got scared by it's shadow on February 2nd, it went back under my pool cover and didn't come out till the weather turned warmer. Which is now.

Grrrrr. I'm taking this as personally as the grounds' keeper in Caddy Shack. It's definitely going to be me against the groundhog.

I go and get a screwdriver to unscrew the metal covering around the pool and see what foul things have been happening underneath over the winter.

Just as I go to open the cover, it suddenly dawns on me that the groundhog might have a nest and THERE MAY BE BABY GROUNDHOGS!

I might be brave enough to try to chase an animal the size of a Hummer H2 out of my pool, but I'm certainly not brave enough to face a mom and her babies.

It's time to call in the pros.

Animal control is coming tomorrow to trap the little varmint and take him or her far, far away.

I'll give you an update on what happens.

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(And then you won't worry about missing the rest of this story!)

This treat is not only delicious, but it's healthy as well!

Things You'll Need

• 6 oz of milk or dark Chocolate
• Chocolate Mini Eggs or malted milk eggs or Jelly Beans
  
• 5 Large Shredded Wheat Bars

1. Pull apart the shredded wheat with your fingers

   
   

2. Pour chocolate chips into a microwave-proof container and zap them till they melt
   
   
   
3. Pour the melted chocolate over the shredded wheat and mix
   

   

4. Form into bird nest shapes. (Oops. Forgot to take a pic. We were too excited about getting to the next step. So instead, here's a picture of our dog cleaning up the results of our nest-forming activities.)
   
   
5. Decorate chocolate nests with careful placement of candy eggs.
   
   
6. Decorate some more
   
   
   
7. Enjoy. The shredded wheat is healthy but remember there's a lot of chocolate too.
   

So watch out for that post-sugar rush crash!

My daughter, Emma, is 13. She's been doing gymnastics for about 5 yrs and has been competing for the past 4. At this point, she practises about 21 hours a week.

We should have known that she had a talent for gymnastics right from the start. When she was still a toddler, Emma used to like to sneak out of her crib and play in her room when she should have been sleeping. I remember trying to catch her out of her bed. I would tiptoe into her room, trying to sneak up on her, but she she would always hear me and make a run for her crib, grab the rails, and do a flip over the rails onto her mattress!

It was really jaw-dropping.

This year she qualified to compete at our state gymnastics tournament, which was last weekend.

In gymnastics competitions, there are 4 events. And everyone has a favorite.

1. Vault. (If your daughters like running full force at a stationary object, this is the event for her.)


2. Bars. (If she likes peeling off pieces of skin from blisters the size of quarters off her hands, and getting blisters on top of her blisters, then this is the event for her.)


3. Beam. (If she likes falling off a 4 inch wide piece of wood - or worse, onto it - while doing flips and jumps, then this has got to be the event for her.)


4. Floor. (If she likes to parade around in a leotard getting wedgies, doing dorky choreography, and falling on her butt, face, and pride, then this is definitely the event for her!!! )

Emma likes them all. And the past weekend she won a gold medal for her beam routine, placed in all events, and came in 5th in her age group!

Now her proud mom has to share. Here's a short video of Emma doing her beam and floor routine from the meet:

Isn't she wonderful!

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I am so seriously swamped with work, family, and with orders from Etsy, that I have barely any time to do anything. Not even post much on my blog.

So, instead, here's a picture of my dog:

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And he's planning to be on the sidelines during the Indianapolis Colts versus New England Patriots game on Sunday, eating lots of Halloween candy.


Lots and LOTS of Halloween candy.







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Contrariwise Jewelry is now a proud member of Metalsmiths in Action: http://metalsmithsinaction.webs.com/index.htm

OK, let me get off the topic of jewelry and change the subject.

Last month I went on a business trip to Rome. (Yeah, I know. Life is hard.)

It meant that I'd be away for a full week and my kids were really not happy about me leaving. They whined and kept asking me why they couldn't go with me. This was repeated, again and again, each time the trip was mentioned.

The night before I was to leave, I pulled my suitcase out of the basement and started packing. Emma, my youngest, decided that she had to help me pack. (Remember, help is a relative word when used by a mother.)

She suggested that she could easily fit in the suitcase and join me in Rome, but I declined her kind offer.

It was sad leaving, but I really had to go. But when I got to my hotel room in Rome, I opened my suitcase and I had a big laugh. Emma must have snuck her stuffed animal, Mooch, in there when I wasn't looking to keep me company.

I decided right then and there that Mooch would have to join me when I went sightseeing. And that's what he did. So here you have it: picture of Mooch taking in the sights of Rome.


Mooch, speechless at the sheer size and grandeur of the Vatican:
(At the Vatican, we also visited the art museums and the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos there. )


Mooch, gazing at the massive obelisk in St Peter's Square:

While there, we discussed how this was one of the intregral scenes of Dan Brown's novel, "Angels and Demons". And we both adamently agreed that it was a better book than "The DaVinci Code".


Mooch, in awe of the Colliseum:



Both sides of it!




Mooch, just after he tossed three coins in the fountain:
One legend says that if you toss 3 coins over your left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain, you'll get 3 wishes. I wonder what Mooch wished for? I know I was wishing for some gelato. Yum.



Mooch, basking in the glory that was once the Roman Forum:




Mooch, showing no fear at the Bocca Della Verita, also known as the Mouth of Truth. It's said that if you put your hand into its mouth and tell a lie, the mouth will shut.



Obviously, Mooch had a lot at stake:

All in all, Mooch had a great time in Rome but was happy to get home. Emma was glad to have him back and enjoyed hearing about his trip and seeing all his photos.

He was great company and may just become my permanent traveling companion!



BTW, Mooch was made by Uppity Woman's Designs. You can find her shop here.
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Yes, you may have noticed that I have not posted in AGES. You may have thought that something happened, and you would be right if you guessed that.

Once I stopped posting it was so hard to start again. Partly guilt, partly depression, partly inertia.

I did miss this blog though and I think I finally feel up to starting again.

First step: go back to where I left off and tell you what happened. So here we go.

I was flying to Barcelona to train a large group of people during a business meeting. But after the meeting, I had planned a few days of sightseeing and shopping with friends.

On the way there, I had only one layover. While I was waiting for my transatlantic flight I a got a phone call from my mother’s apartment. She lives in an assitied living facility and the staff had found her on the floor, somewhat disoriented. They had her up and she was sitting on her couch She seemed like she wasn’t in any acute danger but they wanted to send her to the hospital for an assessment.

How bad was it? I really couldn’t tell from what they told me.

I called my husband – luckily he answered – and told him the story. He rushed off to see my mother and get more details.

He didn’t think she was disoriented (not more than usual as she has some dementia). But she had told him that she had been vomiting during the night (flu???) and that there had been blood in it (effect of the warfarin / blood thinners she was on???). She really didn't think she seemed too bad but he was going to take her to the hospital and keep me updated.

What to do? I still had a chance to turn around and go home and gone home. But what if it was a false alarm and she was really OK.

At this point, my husband and I aggreed that I would continue my trip. He kept calling me with updates from the hospital up until the time I got on my 9 hour flight.

You can imagine how worried I was during the trip. I couldn't get any info until I got to Barcelona. The moment I landed I called my husband.

The update: my mother’s red blood cell count was very low and they suspected internal bleeding. She’d received 3 units of blood and she was going to have an endoscopy to see what was going on inside. And they thought she’d been in the hospital for 4-5 days.

Feeling terrible about it, I decided that I would go to business meeting but fly back as soon as my presentations were over.

I kept getting updates. They found bleeding in her stomach, which they cauterized. They also did a biopsy. After the transfusions she was feeling better. She would be discharged sooner than expected. Yay!

I spent 3 days in Barcelona, then flew back home just in time to rush from the airport to get to the hospital and take her home.

Not a good trip at all.

Since then, a lot has happened.

The biopsy came back positive and she was diagnosed with a gastric adenocarcinoma. She had to go into a nursing home for a short time after the hospitalization for rehabilitation. (She didn’t like that, let me tell you. She can be feisty!) After the bleeding stomach was cauterized, she’s felt much better. (She probably was bleeding for a long time and it was never caught.) We’ve been to an oncologist and have had all types of tests.

At 89 years of age, she’s decided that she does not want to have surgery or chemotherapy or radiation. I really don’t know how much time she has left, but she seems to be doing quite well. And she is still with us.

When I was little, my father used to tell me stories about the many places he traveled to when he fought in World War II.

Orginally part of the Polish army, he was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Siberia, was released and fought in a tank for the British forces in Africa against Rommel. He also fought in Italy and in France and who knows where else.

He saw the pyramids, the deserts, religious sites in the middle east (now Israel), famous places in Europe.

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Yes, today's my birthday.


Over the weekend, I was going through one of our photograph albums and found this tucked away. It's a birthday card I received for my 1st birthday from my godmother in England. I can't believe my mom saved it all these years!

It gave me a chuckle. I love the lipstick and the shoes on all the party goers. ButI don't think I ever read the birthday wishes on it before.

And I am certainly NOT planning to comment on that doll (at least I think it's a doll) above the piano!

(What the heck!?)

I was surfing on the internet yesterday and happened to find a site with quotes about dogs. After reading them, it made me want to rush home and give my dog a hug.

Here's a few of my favorites:

• The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue. -Anonymous
  
  
• There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face. -Ben Williams
  
  
• A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. -Josh Billings
  
  
• We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It’s the best deal man has ever made. -M. Acklam
  
  
• I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult. -Rita Rudner
  
  
• The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. -Andrew A. Rooney
  
  
• He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion. -Unknown
  
  
• Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies. -Gene Hill
  
  
• "The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. . . .He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. . . .When all other friends desert, he remains." - George G Vest
  
• The greatest love is a mother's; then a dog's; then a sweetheart's. - Polish Proverb
  
  
• No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich. -Louis Sabin
  
  
• Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made. - Roger Caras
  
• If you think dogs can’t count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them. -Phil Pastoret
  
  
• My little dog -- a heartbeat at my feet. -Edith Wharton
  
  
• A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down. -Robert Benchley
  
  
• If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. - Mark Twain
  
  
• Anybody who doesn’t know what soap tastes like never washed a dog. -Franklin P. Jones
  
• If your dog is fat, you aren’t getting enough exercise. -Unknown
  
  
• My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That’s almost $21.00 in dog money. -Joe Weinstein
  
  
• Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative." - Mordecai Siegal
  
  
• Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul — chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth! -Anne Tyler
  
  
• Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea. -Robert A. Heinlein
  
  
• Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. -Groucho Marx
  
  
• If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. -Mark Twain
  
  
• Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. -Roger Caras
  
  
• My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am. -Toby & Eileen Green

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A beautiful day! The bushes in the woods are always the first plants to show their green buds. And every year I look forward to that first time when I spy them budding. I've been watching them for weeks, hoping. And they finally did it!

Now the woods have taken on a slight green haze. And when we got home today, we noticed that daffodils had sprung next to the birdhouse that's been sitting on our front porch all winter. As if to welcome some winged visitors!

My daughter, Emma, is 12. She's been doing gymnastics for about 4 yrs and has been competing for the past 3. At this point, she practises about 18 hours a week.

We should have known that she had a talent for gymnastics right from the start . When she was still a toddler, Emma used to like to sneak out of her crib and play in her room when she should have been sleeping. I remember trying to catch her out of her bed. I would tiptoe into her room trying to sneak up on her, but she she would always hear me and make a run for her crib, grab the rails, and do a flip over them onto her mattress!

It was really jaw-dropping.

Just the other weekend, she competed at the State gymnastics tournament.

In gymnastics competitions, there are 4 events. And everyone has a favorite.

1. Vault. (If your daughters like running full force at a stationary object, this is the event for her.)


2. Bars. (If she likes peeling off pieces of skin from blisters the size of quarters off her hands, and getting rips on her rips, then this is the event for her.)


3. Beam. (If she likes falling off a 4 inch wide piece of wood - or worse, onto it - while doing flips and jumps, then this has got to be the event for her.)


4. Floor. (If she likes to parade around in a leotard getting wedgies, doing dorky choreography, and falling on her butt, face, and pride, then this is definitely the event for her!!! )

Emma likes them all. And the past weekendk she won gold medal for her floor routine, and silver for her beam. Best of all, she got gold for All Around!

Now mom has to share. Here's a short video of Emma from the meet:



(A big thank you to my husband for the photography and editing.)

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A few days ago I wrote about the baubles I got at a recent bead show and the jewelry that they inspired. One of these was a yet unfinished necklace with a kyanite pendant flanked by sterling. (You can see how it started out,on the right.)

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...well, maybe we're a few years off. But I thought I would share some pictures from Emma's last gymnastics' meet. (BTW, Emma is 12.) This is from her floor routine:



I think I could probably do most of these moves too...except they would be quickly followed with a huge splash from our swimming pool.

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You may have noticed I haven't posted lately. On Thursday I left for Phoenix for a gymnastics meet with my 12 yr-old daughter, Emma. Every since I left, I haven't been able to access the internet - UNTIL TONIGHT! (Of course I had posts prepared ahead of time. But what good was that! If I had been offline for any longer, I was afraid I might go into DT's! )


So what's been going on?

First, I've had to postpone my Design-A-Day series. I was doing really well, creating a new design each day for about 2 weeks, but with this trip, it just became an impossibility. I get back tomorrow, but with everything going on (i.e. getting back to my 9 to 5 job, laundry, shipping out jewelry orders), I know I won't be able to begin creating until the weekend.

But, you know, I wasn't entirely happy with this Design-A-Day challenge. I really wanted to create something new and innovative each day. But with a day job and 3 kids, it's a good day if I have 1-2 hours in an evening to work on my jewelry.

I had some great ideas for necklaces and bracelets, but it takes time to actually create them. So I felt that I was short-changing myself - and creating and posting only really easy designs.

Anyway, back to our weekend in Phoenix. We had a GREAT WEEKEND! Emma came in FIRST in her age group and level at the gymnastics meet. (And I was a good mommy and took videos of all her events.)

We also did some fun things: we climbed Camelback Mountain (yes, thankfully I brought some Advil), we went to the Science Museum and saw an exhibit on artifacts from the Titanic (yes, this was awesome - when I get home I'm going to have to watch the Leonardo DiCaprio / Kate Winslet movie ), and we went shopping! And we did a really Mommy/Daughter kind of thing: we got Emma's ears pierced! (Which turned out more traumatic than I ever expected.)

Oh yeah, I have photos, which I hope to share with you later this week - along with posts on jewelry and some cool sellers on Etsy!