Whoo boy - a busy 10 days !

A week and a half ago, I headed to New Brunswick for my niece's wedding. As a lucky coincidence, our friends from Toronto were also planning a visit home at the same time and volunteered to pick me up on the way through Montreal ! Yay, a one way ticket saved.

The wedding was wonderful, the bride radiant and the groom never stopped smiling ! They are young and in love and I wish them all the best.

One of the high points of the wedding was, unbeknownst to any of us, my niece called my Mom's nursing home and made all the arrangements necessary for Mom to attend the wedding. Wow - she hasn't been outside in a whole year ! This would be quite an undertaking - how much would be too much for her ? Well, they got her all dolled up - made arrangements for 2 tentative pickups for the Handi-Bus depending on how she was doing through the day and as you can see, she arrived in great spirits ! There was a bunch of us all waving and smiling at her and she just started laughing.

Wow, what a difference from when I last saw her in the spring - my sister said she's been very animated and chattering and happy for a couple of months now. Mom did very well sitting through the service, 20 minutes wasn't too long for her. Afterwards, though, there was 3 hours before supper. The hall where the reception was held is attached to a mall with a very bright atrium set up perfectly to sit and chat and people watch. A few of us sat with her and the 3 hours passed pretty easily. After supper (and 6 hours !) after she arrived it was time for the Handi-bus to come back to pick her up. She had such a good day - it was wonderful to have her there.

Here are a few shots of the bride & groom - I don't take great pics but the first one is my favorite.



Once I got home on Sunday, the fur she was a flyin'...

Otherwise known as, a a 10lb pom playing tug with a 3lb yorkie - believe me it's a fairer game than you might think. At least til Skippy shakes, then the yorkie doesn't stand a chance LOL
Hmm, did I forget to mention we're babysitting the Toronto dogs ? Yeah, AND DSIL's pom, Charlie, as well. A group shot - can you pick out all 6 ? A cookie bribe was the only way to get them in the same place at the same time.
Clockwise from top left - Sophia, Kelawney (lord knows if I spelled THAT right !), Alex, Lester, Skippy & Charlie

This morning the Torontonians all went home, dogs and people and Charlie's mommy called about 1/2 hour ago. DH will take him home shortly. In the meantime, this is what our day looks like LOL

This was a filler post - I do have a couple items to post (dress & socks) but have to admit I just haven't got to taking pics and posting. Soon.

An unexpected day

This is not the post I expected to put up today.

See this pic ? Aren't they just soooo angelic ? HA!

That creature in front was the whole focus of my day today. As a hint, she's had 4 baths today - tell you anything ? Last night we went to bed and Alex just would not settle, she roamed, and whined and whined and whined and whined and whi...oh, sorry, where was I?... By 2:30am, neither DH or I had had many zzz's and I was aggravated to say the least. I went downstairs with both dogs and we had a 45 minute or so catnap then Alex decided she wanted to go out. No fuss, just one bark at the door.

I let her out, she did her thing AND THEN my little chihuahua went on point (she would have put our friend's german shorthaired pointer to shame LOL) I wasn't quick enough, the whole upcoming episode only took about 10 seconds I think...she raced, barking like crazy, to the bush about 30 feet away with Skippy in hot pursuit - by the time I saw the skunk it was too late, the smell hit me and I panicked and chased them both in the house (duh - in my defense it was my first experience with a spraying skunk). Skippy somehow managed to be out of shooting range and was fine but ALEX ! OMG the stench and I'd just let her in the HOUSE ! Thank goodness we don't have carpeting, only a couple of small mats.

Having NO idea what to do with this extremely stinky situation, I figured I'd better get her in the sink - soaped her up with her regular shampoo 3 times and it seemed to help. All but the top of her head. I'm so paranoid about getting anything in her eyes or ears, I didn't do a very thorough job. In hindsight, that was probably where she got blasted so I wouldn't have gotten much better results anyway.

DH went back to bed to see what sleep he could get before the alarm went off. He went to work, I stayed home. First order of business check online for 'what to do' information. Armed with many suggestions I headed to Walmart, peroxide, baking soda, bleach, candles, pet odour spray, you name it...if it was going to mask that smell, I bought it - I was in no mood to be picky :-)

So, today at any given point in time, every door and window in the house was open, candles were burning, the pet spray was sprayed on dog, fabric furniture, clothes and throughout the house, vinegar and water then water and spices were simmering on the stove.

I tried it all - if anyone is interested - none of it really worked except the pet spray. I sprayed my clothes, knitting tote bags (the in progress socks were in a tote, in another tote, in a plastic bag - no smell ! but yes, I would have sprayed the balls of yarn if I'd had to) and purse and hung them out on the clothesline - once the spray was dry, they were all skunk free.

Nope actually, I'm fibbing, her last bath was this evening in a peroxide, baking sode, dishwashing soap mixture and I'm still waiting to see if it worked.

The house? well, it's better, we'll be able to sleep - I think (hope) but certainly not skunk free. Apparently, from everything I looked up, it'll be 2-3 weeks before it's all gone. Oh, joy. I'm thrilled.

One good thing - with all those necessary baths I'm glad it was only one dog and the short haired one at that.

A day off work and absolutely nothing accomplished. My computer is in the sewing room and so I got nothing done...Alex was NOT spending the day laying in my little room filled with fabric.

Next post = sewing (maybe tomorrow, I've been working on the pics for this post since Saturday)

Dogs on Thursday

There's nowhere to sit in my house - The dogs have overrun the place !!!

Skippy, my fluffball Pom is at the bottom of the pic.
Alex, my Chi is just above him.

Next, we have Sophia Rachel and Lester Jerome (oh yes, their real names !)

Apparently, Alexandra and Skippy are very boring names or so we've been told by the owners of Miss Sophie and Lester. Their last dog was called Bertram Aloysius Dog - I kid you not. He was part Chihuahua, part Jack Russell and an absolute sweeheart.



Soph and Lester are Alex's full siblings from the previous litter, they're 7 months older than her.
They live in Toronto with their humans who happen to be on a 12 day cruise at the moment. We're babysitting - does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture? a cruise, ... or babysitting ? hmmm

Anyway, they have been with us now for 2 weeks and on Saturday we will all pile in the van to take them back home. I'm sure they will be glad to see their owners and I know our friends will be very happy to have them back home. We, on the other hand, are going to miss them !

Skippy & Alex

Depth perception is misleading. When Sophie's next to the laundry basket, the basket is taller.

Lester never looked up from his chewie - not once.

Okay - Tote pics

Apparently I wasn't going to get away without specific pics of the totes - Marjie asked.

So here are a couple:

With my little darling, Alex and the bag I used as a sample - I LOVE this bag ! :-)
She was not much impressed at first, I think she was afraid I was going to put her IN one ! LOL


Then, she heard a car 'Is Daddy home ?' - I lost all of her attention !



And just so my little boy doesn't feel left out here's one with both of them. Angelic looking, aren't they ? Hmmm, they're up to something. Don't let that cute blonde thing Skippy has going for him fool you, his nickname is TAZ ! LOL :-)