family of dogs New Four Legged Friends and Nostalgia

My bro with his dog, my sister with Rusty and my mom back there with Fuzzy who is trying to keep up in her older age

Yesterday I went out to a beautiful house by the ocean that is filled with life in many forms. My purpose there? To meet a family of six: four four-legged friends, a winged family member and a two-legged individual. I’ll be doing some petsitting for them and wanted to meet everyone and make sure that it would be a good match. It absolutely was. I already feel like I fit in with the family, a second caretaker to help out as needed but also a new friend. I’m sure there were many reasons that it was the right match but what really resonated with me was the uncanny resemblance that the two dogs of the family bear to the two dogs that I left behind when I moved here to the city 6 years ago.

First, why I petsit

rusty dog New Four Legged Friends and Nostalgia

Rusty, my Little Man

I’ve probably mentioned here a few times that I petsit on occasion. (I know that on my crochet blog I’ve shared photos of Betty, the cockapoo I watch, when I’ve crocheted clothing for her during my stays at her house.) I petsit in part for extra cash but that’s not the main reason that I do it. The real reason is because I really miss having pets in my life. I grew up in a family that always had more than one furry friend in the house at a time. I carried on that tradition myself when I moved out of my parents’ home, taking our young puppy Fuzzy and a newborn pup Rusty to my new home across town.

When I moved to San Francisco, there was just no way that I could bring them along. They were used to having huge yards with lots of space to roam. It wouldn’t have been fair to put them into an apartment even if I could find an apartment that would take me, my roommate and the two dogs and still be affordable for me as a young freelancer. So they stayed behind with Mom and Dad and I visit a few times a year.

fuzzy guilty look New Four Legged Friends and NostalgiaFuzzy with her “I didn’t do anything” look

Moving here was the first time that I didn’t have pets to care for. It was sad and lonely in some ways and really liberating in other ways. I hadn’t realized how much care and attention pets need until I didn’t have them anymore. It provided a great opportunity to really focus on myself and my needs and that has been beneficial. Now that I’ve done that for awhile, I’d like the responsibility of a pet again. (What I really want is a Shiba Inu puppy, after having fallen in love with one my brother was petsitting a few years ago.) But the apartment I am in (which I love for many reasons) doesn’t allow pets so that’s going to have to wait until I move again.

And that’s why I petsit. I get to enjoy the joy and responsibility and companionship of a few good furry friends again. And having learned how much of a responsibility a pet is, I am also happy that I am able to give someone else the chance to get away and focus on themselves now and then while knowing that their pets are in good hands.

Now, about Rusty and Fuzzy

We had a lot of dogs in my childhood, including Playful who was our wonderful Australian Shepherd that we had for the entirety of my childhood. But Rusty and Fuzzy were special because they were mine, not the family’s. I didn’t realize until I had them what unique personalities pets have and what an interesting dynamic can develop between two pets in the same family. There had always been the five of us humans in the house plus a couple of dogs and some cats and some other creatures and I was a kid the entire time so I didn’t really see any relationships that might have developed. The dogs were our friends, but I didn’t really think about their personalities much. Rusty and Fuzzy changed that, in part because I was alone with the two of them and in part because they had such intense, defined, curious personalities.

fuzzy puppy New Four Legged Friends and Nostalgia

Fuzzy as a puppy

Fuzzy was my smart dog (despite her silly name which I have to blame on being young when we named her). She’s a big black lab/ chow mix with cute white paws and an intelligence that was usually fascinating and sometimes annoying. Annoying like the time when I realized that the reason Rusty was so skinny was because Fuzzy had figured out how to drag his dish and hers to the same spot and surround them both with her arms so that he couldn’t eat. Annoying like the long period of time when I kept trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with her leg only to eventually realize that she was faking a limp to get sympathy and special treatment. I kid you not. She even did something similar recently, at fifteen years of age. My mom and sister took the family’s other dog for a walk and Fuzzy isn’t in any shape to go anymore so she moped around the house while they got ready, acting bedraggled and huffing and puffing and on the verge of death. Then while they were gone she managed to sneak into my sister’s backpack and steal some food that she found in there, happily munching away at it with no breathing problems in sight when they returned. That’s my dog.

rusty pup New Four Legged Friends and Nostalgia

Rusty as a puppy

Rusty was my little cutie pie. He was adorable and lovable and fun. As he grew older, I called him my Little Man, because he got this regal older man look and yet somehow retained this little puppy attitude at the same time. I loved Rusty but there’s no nice way of putting it … he was dumb. Dopey is the word I usually use because he had these huge paws that he never quite grew into so he was a bit gangly. But not the brightest crayon in the box. Fuzzy would always figure out how to do things and he would always follow along after her, often not in the smartest way. Like how Fuzzy learned how to hook her paw’s nail into the screen door and open it so that she could come in and out from the front yard and Rusty eventually, after a long time, figured out that he could also get in that way but only by running full force into the door and butting it with his hard head so that it would spring open and he could dash in before it closed again. Ah, Rusty. It was a good thing, sometimes, that he was as dumb as he was. That dog could jump higher than any circus dog and if he had been any brighter then he might have figured out that if he moved up and over, instead of just up, he could easily jump the small fence that kept them in the yard. Luckily, he was never quite bright enough to get that idea and Fuzzy’s hip problems meant that she couldn’t do it to show him.

rusty New Four Legged Friends and Nostalgia

Oh Rusty. All of our girl dogs were spayed but Rusty was never neutered. He was forever trying to get into Fuzzy’s pants and she never let him. So he was super excited in his old age when my brother’s two girl dogs moved in for awhile. He immediately began trying to get some action. Sadly, my wonderful dumb little dog, did not know that the girl’s head is not what he was supposed to be aiming for.

The dynamic between them was always fun to see. Rusty brought out the fun side of Fuzzy. I don’t think that she would have been nearly so playful if it had just been me and her that moved out together, especially as she got older and the pain in her body got worse. But Rusty endlessly demanded that she play with him. And she did, until she’d get tired of his antics and warn him away and he’d get that “aw shucks” look and wander off until it was time to persistently return to get her attention again.

Rusty died last year, suddenly, without warning. I was shocked. Although in a way I’m kind of happy for him because if there’s any good way to go then it’s running around happily to the very moment when you suddenly aren’t anymore. I’ve been surprised that Fuzzy hasn’t succumbed to the same fate. As they got older, I always wondered how one would live without the other. She’s hanging in there, doing her own thing.

Old Memories, New Dogs

my dogs New Four Legged Friends and Nostalgia

From the scrapbook: Fuzzy half-shaved after a surgery and Rusty ready to play

I think about Rusty and Fuzzy every now and then but I hadn’t thought about them this deeply until yesterday when I met these new dogs. They aren’t quite the same breed, but they are so similar to Rusty and Fuzzy in so many ways. The girl is a larger, black dog with white paws (like Fuzzy has) and hip problems (like Fuzzy has) and a loving face (like Fuzzy) and a smart mind (like Fuzzy). The boy is a smaller brown dog (like Rusty) with an adorable face that is half pup/ half old man (like Rusty) and this great lap dog attitude (like Rusty) but maybe not the smartest cupcake in the batch (aw, like Rusty). The boy could probably run and play endlessly but is held back a little bit by the girl’s handicaps; the girl benefits from pushing herself a little bit to keep up with the boy and get extra joy out of life.

Of course, there are differences between these dogs and my dogs, since each pet is unique and each set of animal dynamics is unique. Rusty was always my jealous dog. For all thirteen years of his life I couldn’t have a single moment with Fuzzy without Rusty coming in and sticking his nose in my face and his paw on my hand. I’ve only just met these new dogs so it’s hard to tell but I think if either of the two is jealous in this pair it’s the girl and it’s more because she sees the boy as “her baby” than because she needs the human attention desperately herself.

dogs and bone New Four Legged Friends and Nostalgia

Fuzzy hogging a huge bone, circa 1999

And I’m sure that they have little quirks of their own that I’ll see as time goes on that are different from my dogs’ little quirks. Like how most people wouldn’t know that Fuzzy, my huge independent dog who rarely wanted me for much, would cower right on top of me in bed anytime there was a thunderstorm. It didn’t matter how old she got, how many storms she’d seen or how large of a space there was on the bed … she would run in, dig her way under the blanket and be right up on top of me until the storm ended. Recently we realized that her hearing is really going because there was a storm in Tucson and she didn’t notice.

As a petsitter, I obviously won’t know nearly as much about these new pets as I knew about mine living with them day in and day out. But I can tell that they have these wonderful personalities and it will be so fun to learn more about them and watch them grow and get to be a small part of their lives. I look forward to it all.

(And by the way, the family also has a beautiful bird and two gorgeous cats. I won’t go into all that right now but let me say that I’ve never met a Burmese cat before and I am now sold on the idea that if I ever get a cat again it’s going to be a Burmese! Oh and the human in their family is wonderful and warm, too.)

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My April in Photos

01 May 2012

april My April in Photos

  1. Healthy eats
  2. Ikebana display in Japantown
  3. Won a cute crochet hat from a giveawy
  4. Joined Virgin Air’s wine club
  5. Hosted a huge blog giveaway
  6. Easter at Dolores Park
  7. Shopping in the Hiahgt
  8. Birthday celebrations
  9. Classic Car Show
  10. My bro visited
  11. California Academy of Sciences
  12. Bagel sandwiches
  13. Crochet pillow
  14. Bought myself bright yellow flowers
  15. Researched wearable art
  16. Wore my new yellow dress a lot
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Lovely Birthday

15 Apr 2012

birthday play Lovely Birthday

I’ve spent multiple days doing things to celebrate my birthday with the wonderful people in my life. It’s been very special and very fun.

A Day with My Best Friend

titanic Lovely BirthdayTitanic

I spent all of Thursday with my best friend. We went to the first showing of Titanic in 3D. I’m sure I’ve mentioned here before that I love basically every single movie in 3D. I love the way that different things pop out at you and appear in depth on the screen. I never tire of it. Of course Titanic is a cheesy silly movie but that’s kind of what’s wonderful about it and I loved it. Then we went and got lunch at:

thai food Lovely Birthday

And then we got drinks (Irish coffee for me) at:

gold dust lounge Lovely Birthday

Night on the Town

birthday dessert Lovely Birthday

On my actual birthday night a group of us went out and got dinner at Le Colonial. It’s a beautiful French Vietnamese restaurant where we did a prix fixe menu. I got a soup of English peas, spearmint and lemon-pepper creme fraiche, chicken two ways for my entree and we all got warm apple beignet for dessert.

maple and vine play Lovely Birthday

Then we went and saw a 1950s themed play at ATC called Maple and Vine. It was good although we missed the first bit of it because we were running late from dinner.

good friends Lovely Birthday

I have never been late to a play before. I’m almost never late for anything. But I was having such a good time having great conversation with my friends at dinner that I didn’t mind.

redwood room Lovely Birthday

Then we went and got a drink at the Redwood Room

And after that three of us went dancing at Badlands in The Castro which I hadn’t been to in forever. I got picked up and thrown in the air, became part of a dance circle and enjoyed the theatricality of the people dancing at the club.

Day Outside

classic cars photo Lovely Birthday

My ex and I have side-by-side birthdays. This is the first year in five years that we aren’t together but we’re trying to be friends and we decided to get together for our birthdays. We had a really nice time at a classic car show, got crab sandwiches at a place I love near me and hung out watching TV. It was lovely. After that I caught up on phone calls with my family.

I feel really lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. I have people I can talk to, people I can laugh with, people for hugs, people who are really sweet to me.

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My March in Photos

31 Mar 2012

I really didn’t write a lot in February did I? I did do some things, though. Here they are in photos:

march 2012 mosaic My March in Photos

  1. I took Caltrain down to San Jose
  2. Where we went to a sushi boats place (I love sushi boats)
  3. And I got a cocktail with plum wine and Sprite
  4. My sister picked me up from the airport in LA
  5. And we got breakfast together
  6. And walked around the houses near Santa Monca
  7. My siblings and I went camping at the Channel Islands
  8. I went looking around the mosaics and wall art in The Mission
  9. I enjoyed an afternoon of reading magazines at a bookstore I like
  10. I crocheted tons and tons of scrap granny squares
  11. I did some thrifting, looking mostly for vintage crochet items
  12. I walked over to a friend’s house and that too me past a great window display of white butterflies near Untion Square
  13. My mom made a hat for Betty, my friend’s dog
  14. I created a new reading corner for myself
  15. I saw some mushrooms growing wild on a street near me
  16. I made some artwork, still finishing up that piece
  17. I ordered this amazing book called Art to Wear My March in Photos that has wearable artwork including fiber art from 60 artists.
  18. Some friends and I went to the rum bar and got a drink called The Volcano that they set on fire for you
  19. We also went out to dinner at Sauce where I got a pork chop and mashed potatoes which is one of my favorite meals that I rarely get
  20. And the dessert they serve there was beautiful!
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And the winner of this:

yarn bumper sticker Bumper Sticker Giveaway Winner

Was Lise!

I’ll email you now to find out where to send your bumper stickers. Thanks so much to everyone who entered!

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My February in Photos

05 Mar 2012

A summary of my February activities through some of the photos I took.

february mosaic My February in Photos

february collage My February in Photos

  1. The park in my neighborhood
  2. Windowshopping in my area
  3. Thrift store purchases
  4. Me with a local mural
  5. I participated in a mug rug swap
  6. Rum bar with a friend
  7. Liquid nitrogen ice cream place; I got yummy fresh mint ice cream
  8. Babysat Betty for a week
  9. Tried an Italian restaurant I’d never been to (Umbria)
  10. Used a single serve coffee maker for the first time
  11. Visited Embarcadero
  12. Signs of Springtime in another park near me
  13. Created bumper stickers and bumper magnets
  14. Made a crochet scarf for donation
  15. Made crochet fingerless gloves for the first time
  16. As well as wristbands
  17. Celebrated the birthdays of two friends
  18. With a dinner and watching the Oscars
  19. Dyed my hair blonde-orange
  20. Then added in some brown
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yarn bumper sticker Yarn Lovers Bumper Sticker Giveaway!

Do you love yarn? Enter to win a bumper sticker that says Peace, Love, Yarn! It’s a gift from my current blog sponsor and a gift from me. Read a bit about it then enter to win at the bottom.

Sponsor Props: BuildASign

BASstackedsponsor Yarn Lovers Bumper Sticker Giveaway!

BuildASign Bumper Stickers is a website that you can use to order bumper stickers, magnets and a variety of other promotional materials. You can use the designs that they have as is. You can modify their designs to suit your style. Or you can start from scratch and create your own designs.

I chose option number two. I took a design that they already had and modified it. I left the “peace” and “love” part as they were. I took out the last design, added the yarn clipart and the word “yarn” and that gave me the bumper sticker that I wanted.

The whole process was really simple. For full disclosure, I was given the bumper stickers and some magnets for free in exchange for a review but that didn’t bias my opinion. I’ve ordered various promotional items online before and I found this procedure really easy compared to some other sites. I like the quality of the product and was especially thrilled with how quickly it came to my door. So I’m happy to recommend BuildASign for customer bumper stickers, magnets and other personalized items, irrelevant of whether or not I got the free items.

How to Enter to Win

I am giving away two identical bumper stickers to one lucky winner to place on a car, notebook, wherever you want to add a sticker to show off yarn-y love. All that you need to do to enter is to leave a comment on this blog post saying where you’d place your bumper stickers if you win. Make sure you leave an email address or some other way to contact you if you’re the winner.

Giveaway closes on Wednesday March 7th. Winners will be announced on the blog later that week.

Note: For my Crochet Concupiscence fans … I don’t have any magnets left so this is the giveaway for bumper stickers only.

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Things have been so busy here the past several weeks but it’s always important to stop and check in with yourself and others so you don’t get overwhelmed or burnt out or just plain exhausted. That’s something I learned the hard way over the years and so I’ve taken it to heart. That’s why I thought I’d just do a little check-in here today about what’s been going on and where my head’s at.

Writing, Writing, Writing

The main thing that’s taking up my time right now is that I’m trying to get my book (on the health benefits of crochet) finished by the end of the month. I started this book last summer. I did a ton of interviews in those first few months and put out a lot of content but then I had to take a couple of months away from it. I needed that distance to get a clearer picture of where it was going. So I resumed the work last month and it’s my main focus this month. I’ve decided to self-publish the book for a range of different reasons, the main one being that I think that’s where the publishing industry is going these days and that’s where I want to be. So even after I get the final draft done, there’s still going to be a lot of work to do. I can’t spend forever on the project (financially, emotionally or creatively) so I have to get it done sooner rather than later.

Writing is a funny thing. There will be days when I write the entire day and it’s great. And then there will be days when I have to practically chain myself at the computer and I still only get a few words out. It seems to have nothing to do with the current content or my enthusiasm for the project or anything else that’s obvious on the surface. It’s just the ebbs and flows of the creative mind. It’s an interesting process learning to tangle with that. On the one hand, you do sometimes have to force yourself to sit there and get the work going. And on the other hand, you also need to give respect to the fact that some days the creative bug is burrowed so deep beneath the surface that trying to get in there and dig it out would do more damage to your brain than good. Learning that balance – when to push and when to relax and be okay with nothing happening – is something I’ve been working on for what seems like my entire life. I’m getting better with it although there are definitely days when I am super impatient for that bug to make its way to the surface so I can stop scratching the itch and just write.

I will say that it really helps that almost everything else I’m writing right now is stuff that I enjoy and want to be writing, like my crochet blog. I do have a few clients that I’m still working for because bills do need to be paid but I chose them really carefully and have limited how much I’ll do. It’s tempting to take on more jobs to reduce financial strain but doing too much non-inspiring writing really saps the creative energy and makes it nearly impossible to get done the work that is at the heart of what I want to do.

But Then There’s Money

I do admit I’m in a small battle with finances right now. I mostly try to handle it as maturely as possible without giving it too much attention. I do budget and pay attention to where my money is and make sure my bills aren’t late and all that. But I’m aware that I’m not making as much as I need to be and I have to consciously keep pushing that out of my mind because if making money is the focus then the creativity gets lost and that’s when discontent with life can seep in. I definitely need to be making a certain amount to maintain a lifestyle I want and enjoy but it’s also necessary that the money is earned by doing something I enjoy so it’s this whole tricky thing to figure out. This is definitely something I’ve also gotten better at over the years but during the times when the creativity is rich but the bank account is not it’s sometimes tough to remember how to be happy with what I have.

And Some Health Things

There are a few health things going on that I need to address and since I’ve been super focused on my work I haven’t really been doing that. One simple but major one is that I need to start exercising more. I had planned to start doing a long San Francisco stairway walk once a week and it’s been three or four weeks since I started that plan and I’ve yet to do any walks. And it keeps twinging at me that I want to go back to yoga but I’ve made no effort to do that either. I tend to be a much more in-my-head person than in-my-body person for sure. I am happy to sit for hours and hours messing with the computer or writing or doodling or thinking or daydreaming or reading or whatever. It takes much more conscious effort to enjoy physical activity. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy it. I love hiking. I like yoga. I enjoy walks. But those are things that I have to tell myself to go do because, hey, remember, you like those, whereas doing sedentary creative activities comes naturally. It’s hard to justify taking the time to do those things when I have work and creative things I want to do. But it’s an area that needs balance so I need to start giving it some attention.

The other possibly more pressing issue is that I think something is going on with my thyroid/ metabolism/ anemia … I am tired A LOT (and before you say that exercising more would help with that – I know, but at the same time, you need to have at least a little energy to exercise and some days I literally have NONE). In the past I’ve had mild anemia. And low thyroid runs in my family. I know that two years ago, my thyroid tested in the low range of normal so it’s something I have to watch. However, I’ve been holding off on actually going to the doctor until I try a few things to get some more information. I’ve started taking iron supplements again. I’m making sure to stay hydrated better than I was before. I’m definitely eating right (which I’d been mostly doing for awhile, though). I’m getting the rest I need. And partially I’m waiting to see if anything changes as my body regulates to its own hormone production since I stopped taking birth control pills five or six weeks ago. Actually, that’s one of the reasons I started thinking anemia may be the problem again since I’m starting to have regular periods again (on the pill it was only once every 3-4 months). So I’m gathering information and taking notes and then I’ll go to the doctor in a month or so if things haven’t improved. Or at least that’s the plan at this point.

On Dating

I don’t feel like getting too far into this at this point but thought I’d make a note that I’ve come to the conclusion that perhaps I’m just not ready to date yet. Last summer saw the end of a four and a half year relationship that I didn’t really want to end. I was thinking the past couple of months that I was ready to date and had started exploring my options. I went out at a couple times and made a few other plans that fell through. And all it did was make me not want to date. In being really honest with myself, I can see that there’s nothing wrong with the dates or the men but that I’m probably just not ready to go there despite wanting to be ready. So I’ll give it more time I guess.

And Some Other Things

I haven’t gotten too far into my plan to watch classic romance movies this month. I super loved Breakfast at Tiffany’s but haven’t found a single other movie I want to watch. Any suggestions? It’s gotta be available streaming on Netflix or Hulu.

My brother and sister and I pooled our thoughts and resources and got my mom the gift of a Mystery Theater Dinner for Valentine’s Day. It was fun to coordinate with them. I have been to mystery theater once before and it’s a silly good time. I actually went because I was hired as a marketing person. I was too young and inexperienced to actually do it and I quit almost immediately. As a youngster I was much better at talking my way into jobs than actually going to them. But as part of my interview I had to see the show so that’s why I’ve been and like I said it’s silly fun.

I’m reading more again. I had stopped reading a lot for awhile but lately I’ve been getting sucked into a variety of different books. I just finished reading The Man in the Gray Flannel Skirt. I’ll review it more in depth here in a day or two but just wanted to say that I adored it.

And that’s all for now folks …

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Corner View!

08 Feb 2012

I just recently discovered a weekly photo blog linky that I want to be a part of it. It’s called Corner View and it’s hosted over at FuoriBorgo.

This week the theme is “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”.

Here are the photos I’ve chosen:

Something Old

rusty dog Corner View!

Rusty, my old dog. RIP Rusty!

Something New

new crochet dress Corner View!

My newest crochet dress

Something Borrowed

shoes Corner View!

My sister’s shoes which I borrowed for about a year before I returned them icon smile Corner View!

Something Blue

blue egg Corner View!

I kind of love coloring Easter Eggs.

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My January in Photos

06 Feb 2012

january My January in Photosjanuary 2 My January in Photos

  1. 365 Ways to Wear Crochet Project
  2. Snacking with My Sister
  3. Contemporary Jewish Museum
  4. St. Patrick’s Church
  5. Bring It On The Musical
  6. My Life with Marilyn
  7. Playland at the Beach Display at Conseravtory of Flowers
  8. Horse Races at Golden Gate Fields
  9. Vegas
  10. Cirque du Soleil Sculpture Display
  11. Aquarium at Mandalay Bay
  12. Pinball Museum
  13. At the Park on a Sunny Day
  14. Crocheting Granny Squares
  15. Funny Breakfast
  16. Restaurant with my Best Friend
  17. Shopping at the Japanese Supermarket
  18. Hiking Matt Davis – Steep Ravine Trail
  19. In Japantown
  20. My Fave Shoes
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