Mean people, morons and the power of outraged internet users

some serial killer in the making named Kenny Glenn made a video of himself abusing a cat named Dusty. Actually he made a couple of them. Then being a moron as well as mean he posted them to you.tube. After all he was sure everyone else would think they were as funny as he did. He wanted attention and he got it.

It came in the form of outraged internet users tracking him down, posting his information and turning him in. I don't know how hard he was hitting Dusty, but it's obvious that Dusty is scared and oddly meek. He has the look of an animal with no way to defend itself. I'm guessing he is declawed because my cats would have shredded the attacker's hands before the abuse reached the point it did with Dusty. Now I will agree that every day many pets suffer horrific abuse and this is mild by comparison. For me the scariest part here is how these two boys thought this was funny. It's funny to hurt and terrify something small and helpless. What they will do as they reach adult hood scares me even more.

Their behavior pisses me off but the fact that I can't find any mention of it on cnn.com or msnbc.com pisses me off more. A zillion articles on nonsense like Lindsy Lohan or Paris Hilton, but not a lot on animal abuse over all & no articles on this incident that I could find. Russia Today managed to cover it, so did small papers across the US and at least one in Europe. Crap like this needs to be made public. It can't be ignored and swept away to some secret places. We need to look at the darkness in our society so that we can keep it from taking over.

"One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a child is to kill or torture an animal and get away with it". ~ Margaret Mead

What if Kenny had gotten away with it? Do you want him living next to your pets and children? I'm glad that enough people on the net were outraged enough to do something instead of looking the other way.

I pulled this post for a couple of hours because I felt the need to verify that it wasn't a hoax. Everything I could find did point to it being real - so now it's back up. Here's a link to a news station's coverage of the cat's status on march 3.

http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?s=9941020

Banners

WRBL donated all of the old Westport banners for me to turn into totes for my recycled bag project. I was inspired by the ones at City Market. Now I am going to beg radio stations for theirs too. UMKC too. If you know anyone who goes through a lot of non-reusable banners - let me know and I'll see if they'll donate them.

On the recycled bag project - 8 track tapes. Good stuff. The tape has an almost velvety feel and is pretty cool. Did a small one yesterday, working on a larger one today. And Bumblefish said I could have all of the old rice bags too. They go through a lot of rice. they are paper bags, but I'm going to laminate the interesting parts and turn them into bags & a few journals. The journals will use the less interesting (blank) parts as paper on the inside.

Totes Not Trash!

Hwy 71 S

I'm going to video it to show you an updated version of the mess that is HWY 71S, just north of the Bannister exit. it is IMPOSSIBLE to avoid the potholes. These pictures are from Google Street View. Use the arrows to go up and down this section of highway. Everywhere you see black patch is now a hole. The patch doesn't last longer than one rain and they don't often get around to filling it back in. I'm going to have to waste gas and time going around this stretch. I can't afford any more tire damage from it.


View Larger Map

2 years and Kara is still missing.

CNN has a story on Kara Kopetsky. I won't go into all the reasons I think Belton PD fucked this up again. I'm just glad to see that she's not been totally forgotten.

Link to the story

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/28/grace.coldcase.kopetsky/index.html

Someone knows something and I hope that her parents get answers some day.

funny

I wasted part of today looking at bad album covers. There is some funny stuff out there. Google it, I dare ya! This one was my favorite.

Farmer's Market

I decided to visit the city market this morning and open the store a bit late. It was a good morning in spite of the iffy weather. Crowds were out and there was lots of yummy stuff to be had. Shatto milk makes cheese curds!!!!!! I love cheese curds. They aren't in the stores yet, but I got some at the market. Very very good.

Got some sheep milk cheese from Green Dirt Farms and of course honey from Bob & Liz. If you've never had their honey you are missing out. I never thought there was a difference in honey until I tried theirs.

The fruits and veggies are starting to look good. I didn't get there early enough for Asparagus - but I will next week.

Another cool thing is that the market managers have recycled all of their old banners into shopping totes! They look great and it's a great use for something that might have been trash otherwise. At $10 they're a good price too.

I love the city market. I may make it a habit to open at 12:30 on Saturday's so I can get down there and get my market fix.

Guy in the picture is Orlando. He plays the pan flute in a way that I can actually stand to listen to it! No small feat.

Been there, wanted to do that...but

A woman was arrested for pulling over and making her kids ages 10 & 12 get out of the car, then driving off and leaving them. 

so many parents are horrified that she was arrested.  After all, we've all wanted to do it.  I've pulled t he car over more than once.  Not to toss them out, but refusing to drive one inch further until they quit bickering.  Maybe what she did wouldn't have been so bad IF

1.  they were not 3 miles from home - long walk in the dark .  And from the video I saw of the area it's not a place for children to be wandering alone.  It's not crime central, but it was heavily trafficked, but the kind of traffic where you don't pay attention to anyone else.  Someone could have snatched those kids.

2.  they were together.  The older daughter ran after the car and was allowed back in.  The 10 year old was left on her own - watching her mom drive away with her sister.   

3.  She didn't have the nerve to go home and report the 10 year old as missing.  WTF?!?!??!  She knew exactly where that child was left.  Not missing.  ABANDONED.

So many people say that her arrest is too harsh.  I say it was justified.  I have 4 kids.  I know what riding in the car with them is like.  I know how hard it is when they just won't shut up.  I also would not put them in danger like that.  The mom was probably stressed and a victim of abuse, had a bad day...whatever the bullshit reason is.   I think she is a selfish, thoughtless bitch who deserves the punishment she will hopefully get.

Gonna need some chew things

Got Fergie and Puppy some frisbees to play with.  Fergie chewed the up.  She doesn't chew on things that aren't hers and we gave them to her - so they were fair game.  She's a good dog and doesn't chew on our stuff, but she obviously wants to chew.  I'll get her some chew things this week. Things a bit sturdier than a plastic frisbee.  

Before the frisbees got eaten they were not much success.  Both dogs raced after them and then gave us funny looks before racing back without the frisbee.  Stinky is smaller than the frisbee, so he didn't ge to play.  It's a litterbox week for him anyway.  he doesn't like the mud and it's muddy outside, so he wont' go.  He will use the cats' litterbox, so that's what he does when it's icky outside.  I don't want to imagine the horror if the big dogs tried to use the litterbox!  They don't mind the mud - although I wish I had a better way to clean feet off before coming back inside.

close up of the Qualatex bag

I like this one a lot.  At first glance it looks like it was made from bubble gum wrappers.  

Some New Bags

Training

Yesterday we got Fergie to walk on a leash without flipping out.   Saved me from having surgery.  :-) I thought she was going to pull my arm out of the socket yesterday.  Tommy worked with her and go her to calm down and accept that the leash wasn't going to hurt her.  She's had big changes, so even little things are big to her right now.  It's not like she's never been on a leash before, but she had to get comfortable with us first I guess.

The biggest thing we're working on is food invasiveness.  She's not food aggressive by any means, but she does like to get CLOSE to your food while you're eating it.  I prefer my food without dog slobber, so we're working on getting her to stay a reasonable distance away unless invited to come and share.  The second biggest thing is to not stand up and put paws on people unless invited.  It's cool for her to do that with Tommy or another big person, but I don't want her to do it to everyone.  Some people get freaked out by big dogs when they do that.  She's sweet and loving, so we're trying to gently retrain her about this.  She's just sharing love, but not everyone is going to be comfortable with it.  Using the word hugs,so that when she's told to give hugs she'll know it's ok and hopefully she wont' do it other times.

For the most part she's doing well.  She's adjusted to the new foods well and is a lot less burpy.  I think I only heard her burp once yesterday.  The other dogs are taking well to the food too.  A little expensive, but worth it since they don't pig out on it and it seems to last longer.

That's the progress so far.

Feeding my dogs part 2

I went to City Pets today because I am out of dog food.  I'm doing my best to make good on my promise (to myself) of supporting local businesses and besides - it's close to the shop.  I was happy to find that it's not overpriced.  At least not for the stuff I was buying.  Dan says all the dog food I buy is over priced, but he also thinks it's healthy to live off of Ramen noodles 3 meals a day.  

City pets didn't carry solid gold dog foods, but they did have one called Taste of the Wild that I decided to try.  I chose Pacific Stream Canine Formula this time but may give one of the other ones a try.  They all seem to be grain free.  That's a big plus.  I don't know that Fergie has issues with grains, but she does burp a lot.  Given my history with Zelda, grains and bloat - gas is scary to me.  I'm going to see if I can find a food that reduces Fergie's tendency to get gassy.  

Pay What you Want

Belvidere Elementary School 15010 White Ave, Grandview   is having a Pay what you want garage sale to raise money for field trips.  You get to decide what you think is a fair price and the money goes to the kids.  Pretty sweet deal.  The sale starts Saturday morning and is in the gym rain or shine!

My dog family

This is Stinky. He's about a billion years old. I keep him in a coat or t-shirt all of the time because he scratches obsessively. The clothes keep him from scratching his skin off.

Puppy is Bessie's dog. We didn't plan on keeping him, so we only called him puppy. By the time we realized how bonded he was with Bessie he thought his name was Puppy. So now it is.

The rest are of Fergie. She was NOT in a picture mood and only once sat up for me to see her face full on. she wanted to lay there and ignore me, so she mostly did. Her muzzle is still a bit red from the slobbering during the car trip, but it's starting to fade. I'll try for better shots this afternoon.

So many posts in my brain

So little time spent typing them.

So here goes.

I love the Habitat for Humanity's RE-store!!! It allows people like me (broke people) to manage home repairs and still pay the mortgage. Tuesday around 4pm I get a call from my younger son. At the end of the conversation he says (very casually) "Oh you know the toilet's broken don't you?" Of course I didn't know. It was fine when I left the house and I haven't been home since. How the @#$@ would I know it was broken??? I ask for details and apparently some time during the day he had dropped a ceramic pot (also broken) onto the toilet and cracked the bowl in half. I'm a middle aged woman with occasional bladder problems. His message is looming as a big problem for me. Thankfully he called in time for me to get to the RE-store and even more thankfully I was able to replace the toilet for $35. Did I mention that I LOVE THE HABITAT FOR HUMANITY'S RE-STORE? And it's even kind of a cool looking toilet. As far as that goes anyway.

That was Tuesday. yesterday was Fergie day. We picked her up around 7pm. She's a love bug. Very very sweet and as soon as I get her leash trained she will join me at the shop on slower days. There will be a picture in the window that says if she's in the shop. Just in case you are afraid of big dogs, or in case you want to stop in and meet her.

The vet said benadryl. It so did not work. Took quite a while to get her into the car. She knew something was wrong and was having no part in it. Finally she had to be carried into the car. Being stressed and a slobbery breed she then slobbered a LOT. Tommy looked like he had taken a shower in dog spit. (serves him right for breaking the toilet) As the ride progressed she got better and calmer. We stopped by Grandview McDonald's and got her a plain burger (sans bun) which she loved. So now the car's not so bad. There was meat involved. Then we get home. She doesn't know where she is and the car's not so bad, so she won't get out. It took another 15 min to get her out of the car. it's very hard to make a great dane do anything they don't want to do. Next she gets to meet Puppy who is Bessie's dog. That goes well. Panda (cat) comes up and decides it's time to snuggle. That freaked her out a bit. But not as much as the stairs. Her 1st family lived in a ranch style house. I have a split level and Fergie doesn't know what a stair case is and why I want her to go up it. Eventually Dan carried her up. Good thing she's small for a dane. Fergie comes in and meets the other animals. Stinky (ancient zombie-pom) is excited. He has a thing for big dogs. Always thought he was going to get lucky with Zelda even though he is smaller than all of our cats. Bless his poor determined heart. He just kept trying. Paul (my daughter's cat I am watching for a few weeks) is interested. She's an attention whore and loves any person or animal who will pet or lick her. Zcat was not happy. On the best of days Zcat is psycho with other animals. She can be flat out nuts most of the time and goes from purring to hissing for no apparent reason. Meeting a new dog does not make for a good day in Z's view. Hissing and swatting ensued. Zelda knew to leave Z alone. She was the only animal who could push Zelda away from the food dish. Fergie is smart, I don't think it will take time for her to learn.

By bedtime Fergie seemed to be relaxing, but she didn't sleep much. Too many new noises and smells for her to relax totally. When she finally did lay down it was on my bed. I don't care. I used to let Zelda sleep on the foot of my bed. Big difference. Although Fergie is smaller than Zelda she takes up twice as much room. Kinda like Bessie and another human being. She's little, but can fill up a king size bed leaving no room for me. Zelda curled up, Fergie stretches out. We finally worked out an arrangement where she slept by my side close to the bottom with her head on my hip. Worked pretty well until someone got up to pee. Fergie gets up to see what's going on and Puppy bounces over. He will take any spot that opens up. If someone else had it, it must be better than his spot. He also licks. Which is what woke me up. Eventually we did all settle in and get a few hours sleep.

Today Fergie really needs to go outside, but won't go down those steps. She's house broken, so she (thankfully) doesn't want to pee inside, but she is afraid of those steps. Tommy carries her down and leads her to the backyard. Everything is fine until it's time to come in. She does NOT like the leash and lays down when he gets it for going back in. After 10 min of trying he decides to go in and watch her from the window. She gets up and waits by the gate. He comes out, she sees the leash and lays down again. Eventually he got her out of the yard and up to the front door. had to push her in, but she went up the stairs on her own. From his reports the next potty trip went better.

I'm sure she will settle in well and quickly. Tomorrow I will post pictures.

What online communication has done for my son

@benasmith tweeted today about an article condemning facebook/tweeter and so on. Seems that they are making us colder and less in touch with humanity. I call BS on this one. Even if only on the basis that it's far too early to see what impact they have on overall human interaction. I do dislike the way we've become a wired society. I refuse to wear a bluetooth headset and talk to thin air. I often turn my phone off and become unreachable. It's ok to not be plugged in all the time. That's where I think the dangers of online communication come in. Some people feel the need to forget about their real life so they can have a 2nd life. They tweet all day instead of talking. Of course these same people would have been watching tv all day a few years back or reading books to escape the pressures of having a life. Escapism exists and always have. It's not social media that's the cause. It's just a tool that some people use and others misuse.

My oldest son has Asperger's. Face to face communication is not fun for him. It causes him to have severe anxiety and he avoids it when he can. Part of who he is includes the inability to read other people, so he doesn't know how to respond to them. Though the diagnosis is more common today there have been people with Aspergers around for a long time. They were the nerds who couldn't talk to girls. (it affects boys more than girls) The math geeks who didn't understand pop culture. The A/V club members who loved technology. They've always been around and they've usually been isolated. My son has a neutral expression most of the time. Kids at school interpret this as sad or depressed, occasionally as angry. This does not inspire them to talk to him. Asperger's kids often have intense focus on things that interest them. For my kid it's computer programing and trumpet. Because he is unusually talented at his instrument the band kids ignore his odd behaviors and he's formed social connections. That doesn't mean it's not still a bit scary and anxiety producing to talk with them.

It's different online. He's been able to form connections with people who share his love of programming. Because they are not in the room it's not scary and there isn't the same anxiety. For me it was odd that he would make so many online friends, but not have any close offline ones. Still, I was happy that he had friends. Then I noticed a change. He started to use facebook to connect online with people he knew face to face. Then he started to use chat for the same thing. A zillion middle school girls use chat every day, but for my son it's a huge thing. The online communication allows him to become more familiar with people. Then when he's face to face with them there is less anxiety.

I'm glad that he was born into a time that has these sorts of tools. I can't say that if there was a cure for Asperger's I would get it. I'm happy with who he is and Teddy himself has said that he doesn't want to be changed. Would he still play trumpet as well if he were not someone with Asperger's? How about programing? Would he still be as gifted? He has gifts and they did come with a price, but he's happy, so I can't tell you that the price was too high. Maybe he would be if he lived in a time and place where he didn't have access to people in a way that kept him comfortable while fulfilling his need to communicate.

Feeding my dogs

I just got back from Sunfresh in Westport. They have some good looking kidney's and hearts. I used to buy cheap cuts of meat for Zelda. She had so many allergies and there were a lot of dog foods she couldn't tolerate. Of course those were the kind she loved. Just like a kid. She would have eaten junk food 24/7.

The dog food I preferred is Solid Gold It's kinda expensive, but she ate less of it, so it worked out ok. You can find a good review of all sorts of dog foods at http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ With Fergie I'll probably treat her like she has the same allergies and feed her human food / solid gold. Terry the breeder has this on his website. http://www.thevikingsworld.com/danes/health.html Of course if Fergie has her father's starch sensitivity I may have to stick to only human food. Solid gold does have potatoes in it.

Remember the days when you just gave a dog Alpo. :-)

dont' try to make it right

http://www.wbbm780.com/Teen-Robs-Dunkin--Donuts--Then-Returns-Money/4180590

The kid robbed the store - yes that was bad. Bad with a capital B.

Then because he's not the average teen horror

HE REALIZES HE CAN'T LIVE WITH WHAT HE'S DONE AND RETURNS THE $$.

Later the cops see him riding his bike and arrest him. Ok, I could see that coming. But why does his bail have to be so high. He used a BB gun, not a more lethal gun.

What are they teaching him. If you fuck up, don't try to make it right. Live with your crime and enjoy the benefits. 'Cause doing the right thing will get your ass handed to you.

family ties

the world is sometimes a small place

I knew Spyder from online - twitter etc. and it wasn't until AFTER she led me to Fergie (who will join our family this weekend if everything goes ok) that I found out our dogs are related.

I'll make a fancier version of this chart for my shop when I have time and after I've collected pictures of the dogs involved.

Things I miss

Tomorrow makes a week since my giant friend died. Still sucks. Still going to suck next week. Always going to suck. I'll eventually get to a stage where it hurts less, but it will always suck. I'm sure my family wishes I would talk about her less, but I'm not ready to do that. It makes them feel uncomfortable because they don't know exactly how to respond and I don't mean to make them feel that way. I just enjoy talking about her. I enjoyed talking about her when she was alive I need to talk about her now.

stop reading here if this sort of stuff makes you sad. I'm writing mostly for myself anyway.

Like most of the things I do I didn't really consult with anyone before I got Zelda. On the way to work that day (we had a space in the mall) I told Dan that I wanted a great dane and had decided to get one. He thought I meant in the future so he said 'ok'. I meant in a few hours.

when we picked her up she was so huge & small all at the same time. I could hold her on my lap. Her dad Wulf was the largest dog I have ever met face to face. He was sweet. For the first week I remember people saying "how old is she, about 6 months" or things like that. The looks on their faces when I said "about 9 weeks" were priceless. Even though getting her was a shock Dan fell in love right away. He even wanted her to sleep in our bed. Something I didn't. I let her sleep NEXT to our bed. At least back then I did. For the last year or so she slept on the bottom part of our bed. I'm short, it wasn't a huge problem.

I miss sleeping with her. Dan never knew this but when he wasn't home and I was by myself I used to let her stretch out in his spot. She would lay her big slobbery head on his pillow and stretch out to her full length. We took naps that way. My hand over her neck scratching her ears.

I only saw her take an aggressive stance once. She didn't bark or growl or anything, but her body language was clear. It was right after we found out that Tommy was using drugs. I had searched his room and had something, don't remember what, in my hand. Not drugs - a note or something. He was yelling, cussing and generally out of control. He was stoned at the time and was using his height to intimidate me. He's 6'2" and I'm 5'4" so he towers over me. He aggressively snatched whatever it was out of my hand nearly knocking me down the stairs. Over his shoulder I saw Zelda stand up and watch him. Her eyes never left him until he went into his room. It's hard to describe the exact stance, but I knew that if he actually hurt me or caused me to cry out she would have gone for him. Normally she loved him, but I was her person. I don't think he ever knew the danger he was in. 130lbs of leave my person alone is a force to be reckoned with. He got off drugs and the incidence has never repeated itself. In no way would I have ever wanted her to attack my son - or anyone else. Still, a part of me really appreciated that she felt protective. A stranger breaking in would have been done for. Of course it would have to have been a deaf stranger - Zelda had a huge bark. Stinky has a tiny bark, but it's loud and shrill. You need ear plugs to break into my house.

Zelda was a junk food junkie. Her favorite food was corn pops. I didn't let her have them since she didn't handle corn or sugar well, but if they were in the house she would find them. She was also smart. In all the times she bit open cans she never once bit open a can of spinach. Only soup. I would come home to find leaking soup cans with huge bite marks in them. Part of me was annoyed that she ate $20 worth of soup and made a huge mess. Part of me was impressed that she could bite them open AND tell the difference between spinach and soup.

Those are my stories for now. Probably more later. It makes me feel better to share.

The best

For the best of the worst tattoos I've seen online go here

Tattoos

Over at TKC some anon commenter douche bag made some jacked assed comment about May's Tattoos. Is saying anon commenter and douche bag redundant?

Anyway I think hers are fine and they won't be regretted in later years. These however will.

And these aren't even the not safe for work ones. Those are hysterical!

Fergie & the pupy

Long before Zelda died I planned to get a second great dane from the same breeder.  I decided yesterday that I would go through with those plans and wrote the breeder asking to be on the waiting list for next spring.  

This will be the puppy's mom  http://www.thevikingsworld.com/danes/danes512.html    

and this will be his/her dad http://www.thevikingsworld.com/danes/danes514.html   

Terry breeds very sweet dogs and he treats them like family, not commodoties.

So my mind was made up.  I was going to get a puppy next February or so.

Then Spyder emails me.

Turns out Xander's mom, Fergie,  needs a home.  I checked with Dan and the kids and if it all works out, we will take her into our family.

In the small world of things  Fergie is from the breeder I talked about earler.  That means they are blood relatives of Zelda.

Things work out in the oddest ways.  

And in the spring I will still get a puppy.

My kid is raising $$ for relay for life

She's the redheaded one.  She and her sorority are raising money to fight cancer.   Here's the link if you have $5 to spare. 

Still sad, but currently functional

I'm pretty sure this is the last picture taken of Zelda.  My sons used to blow off walking her if they could get away with it, so when I was gone from the house I would have them take pictures of her in the yard and send them to me as proof that they walked her.

Many thanks to the people who sent kind messages via comment, email, facebook & twitter.  I appreciate them very much.  And thank you so much to Spyder for coming by.  Every person who loves a breed of dog knows that their one breed is more special than all the others.  Unless you have loved one and lost it you don't understand what special dogs (insert breed here) are.  My breed is the great dane.  Spyder understands my pain because she's been there.  

Some things are hard and will be hard for a while yet.  Coming home is one of those things.  When you enter our house you are faced with two choices - up the stairs to the living room, or down the stairs to the kitchen.  Zelda used to wait on the top step, so as you came up the stairs you were face to face with her.  Unless she had been up to mischief while we were out, then she was nowhere to be found.  Yesterday when I came home I had the brief thought of "what has she been up to"  Then I remembered why she wasn't at the top of the stairs.  Another thing that's hard is not tripping over her on midnight visits to the bathroom.  It's odd what you miss and notice.  

The suddenness of it has been perhaps the most devastating.  When Bear died I knew it was coming.  He had cancer and was 13.  When Stinky dies I won't be surprised.  He's very old and kinda looks like a zombie most days.  (scaly skin, patchy fur)  But with Zelda she wasn't old or sick - she was strong with muscle and a shiny coat.  I had no time to prepare myself for what was to come.    I know now that Zelda had gotten to most of a pizza that wasn't out of her reach.  (out of her reach didn't really exist)  She must have gulped it down fast in order to eat it before getting caught.  Add to that the fact that she had a wheat allergy and you have a lot of gas building up in an animal prone to bloat.  It's going to be awhile before I can eat pizza again.

Despite the great weather I didn't end up opening on Friday.  I finished packing up the storage room and then sat down.  Dan couldn't watch the store and I was pretty much non functional.  I put a note on the door that said

My dog died

I am sad

The store is closed today.

Dan & Teddy didn't approve of the note, and Susi said that while it was not professional, it was reflective of who I am generally.  I say "Hi", not "Hi, how are you?" unless I really am interested in how you are.  I could have put a note on the door that said any number of things, but the simple truth is what seemed right to me.  

On Sunday I checked the mail box for the first time since Friday and found a couple of very sweet notes from people who had come by the shop.  Not people I knew, but strangers who took the time out to say something nice.  It made me feel better about people than I often do.

As the title says, I'm still sad, but I am pretty much functional.  I'm dealing with my grief the way I deal with everything.  I make stuff.  I should be getting ready to paint this place - but I'm not going to.  I would just do an awful job of it right now.  I gave up organizing after I knocked over the 3rd box of small beads and stuff.  I just put it all away and will pay Tommy to do it later this week.  I'm going to make stuff.  Creating is how I deal with grief.  It's also how I express joy.  I find a focus & peace when I am making stuff that eludes me much of the time.  

Again thank you to everyone who took time to reach out to me.  It helped.

I am sad

I will probably be absent from the blogger/twitter/facebook world for a few days.  Or maybe I won't.  I don't know.  My mood changes ever min.

I woke up at 5 this morning to find my great dane in the final stages of bloat.  It's what killed her father and we've tried to be very careful with her.  Zelda was fine last night.  No signs at all that in a few hours she would be dying.  

It's a sunny day and I have to go to work, even though I don't feel very sunny.  I'm not opening until 2.  Just can't do it earlier.

edit - it's 1:11 now.  I just finished putting everything away (I was moving the fixtures yesterday) and have decided that I am not opening until Dan gets here to  run the place.  I 

Aldi has skin care

http://www.aldi.us/us/html/product_range/7196_ENU_HTML.htm?WT.z_src=main

It's good stuff.  As good as any more expensive product I have ever tried.

Sick Kiddo

had to close super early today because the school called and Bessie h as a fever of 102.  Now I have all sorts of guilt feelings because I didn't believe she was sick last night.  she didn't have a fever and she's ALWAYS sick around bedtime.  Some kids want another glass of water, she wants me to feel her forehead and see if she's sick.  It's a stalling thing.  Only last night it wasn't and I didn't believe her.  Now I feel guilty.  :-(

I finally have some bags ready

A few posts back I mentioned a project I am working on.   In case your scroll wheel is broken, here's the basic run down.  I need people to save me plastic bags and lots of other things.  Then I turn the stuff in to 'yarn' and crochet/knit it into something new.  Because my materials are pretty much free I am going to donate 50% of the sales to Cancer Action.  Cool group, click the link to check them out.  Here are some pictures of the items I currently have for sale. 

Large project tote made from generic red/white thank you bags.

market tote made from generic red&white thank you bags with a few wal-mart bags, price chopper bags, quick trip bags & you can see the green and yellow of some sun fresh bags.

market tote made from price chopper bags and plastic table cloths

market bag made from plastic table cloths

This little black evening purse is made from an old VHS tape of Breakfast at Tiffany's. I lined it with a black microfiber fabric.

This coin purse is made from old happy birthday balloons. 4 of them I think

Coffee sleeve made from 1 large Valentine frog balloon

Things I can recycle

plastic bags - not just shopping ones. ALL plastic bags, bread bags, the bags you get frozen burritos in, newspaper bags....and so on.

plastic that's not a bag but can be cut into strips.  The plastic wrapping around 6 & 12 packs of Ramen works pretty well.  Old drops cloths without too much paint on them.  Old table cloths

Plastic that's already in strip form.  Caution tape and things like that.

vinyl pool floats and inflatable pools.  These things always pop or get rips.  I don't mind cleaning them up a bit - but DO NOT BRING ME ANY THAT HAVE SLUGS ON THEM.  I have issues with slugs.  And spiders.  I have issues with spiders too.  

Pet food bags that are laminated on both the inside and outside.

Of course old mylar balloons.

video and cassette tapes.  8 tracks too I guess.

Rather than throw the stuff out, drop it off at the shop and I'll put it to good use.