Ms. Crafty Galore

One of the many things I've been up to since going on a short-term internet/LJ detox (I can't REALLY give it up and why would I want to?) is that I've been gardening -- square foot gardening. I'm hooked on growing things!






It's also been really fun to meet the people in my neighborhood who stop by while I'm out working in the garden to see what I'm up to. Overwhelming response is "that's so cool!" I've also infected my super awesome neighbor thenextcentury, and she started her own garden right next to mine! We are garden pals. It's great and so much fun to see the progress in our little gardens. And thanks to her awesomeness and being in the media biz -- OUR GARDENS WERE ON TV THIS WEEK!!! NBC came out to film them while I was out of town with my boyfriend, fenriss, and ericrowe playing with all of the crazy-awesome weirdos and hippies at Playa Del Fuego so I didn't get to join her on TV, but MY GARDEN DID!!!!!

Here's the video:


or the link if the embedding didn't work for you. ;)

I found a scent! Me, the perfume-disliking, very-picky-about-smells gal has found a perfect scent for my chemistry, and I'm totally tickled by the description from the web site (the emphasis is mine):

Bask in euphoria. Vibrantly sheer, bright, and luminous with lotus blossom, waterlily, amber and sheer sandalwood. Domestic.

Fragrance type: floral
Top notes: lotus blossom, rose
Middle notes: lily of the valley, waterlily
Low notes: sandalwood, blonde wood, amber



I'm choosing to infer "prone to spontaneous pie baking" from the term domestic above, instead of "made in the States"...

(This post brought to you by a cute-underthingies shopping trip last night with peregrin8 and perusing the perfumes at Victoria's Secret while she was in the dressing room.)

OMG! I SMELL SO F***ING DELICIOUS!!!

After so much sadness the past couple of weeks, a weekend out in nature at one of my favorite cabins was just what I needed! We had a wonderful 3-day weekend out in Little Orleans, MD. There was much wildlife watching, porch sitting, poi spinning, hiking, relaxing, reading, enjoying yummy food and enjoying the great company in such a lovely place. I love this cute little cabin so much!



The only downside besides the weekend being over and we had to come home: I got these crazy insect bites on my right elbow. (I was tasty and delicious to Nature this weekend it seems.) It was probably a spider that bit me, but the red bull's eye and inflammation around the bite location was concerning enough that my doctor is running a Lyme's disease test. Silly bitey Nature.

I'm so sorry not to have the time to respond to everyone individually, but I'm very thankful for all of the kind words you have sent to me about my Doyle kitty.

Thank you!

My Little Man in Black is coming home tonight!!!!

Doyle isn't doing so well today. ( Read more... )

Starting my morning or taking an afternoon break with a steaming cup of deliciously aromatic Earl Grey tea makes me think of two people:

Jean-Luc Picard
My favorite Psychology Professor



It's-a-small-world note: I bought peaches from a vendor at Clarendon Farmer's Market last night, and it turns out that their orchard is in My Professor's PA town and that the young guy working the register is a Sociology student at the university where he teaches. PA, 1.75 hours away!

I spent about 2 hours visiting with Mr. Doyle last night, and he's doing better! He was less lethargic, more vocal and super snuggly. And he ate 1/2 a can of stinky tuna cat food for me!!!! He hadn't shown any interest in food earlier that day, the vet nurse remarked, and we were both delighted to see him chowing down. That boy is going to have to eat a lot of food, get lots of calories into his system, to reverse his liver disease and stay as healthy as possible during chemo. No more diet food for this former tubby kitty -- those calories are his friend now.

I haven't heard an update yet this morning, hopefully Doyle was able to keep down the food, but if he had a good night last night...HE GETS TO COME HOME TODAY!

My little man in black is still in the ICU and will spend another night there tonight. He is still having a tough time keeping food down, but after the chemo injection today, we should know within 24 hours if Doyle's system is responding positively (or as positively as possible) to the treatment. I'm going to head back over there tonight with a delivery of his favorite stinky cat food, Trader Joe's Tuna for Cats. We'll also get to spend as much cuddling time together as we like.

If all goes well, Mr. Doyle might get to come home tomorrow.

I've talked to the Oncologist. Doyle is keeping down food and is looking to be a relatively good candidate for chemotherapy. His lymphoma tumors are not extensive, especially large or obstructing his intestines (even though it is in his small intestine), and the doctor feels that treating his cancer offers a fairly good chance of letting him live longer along with good quality of life during treatment. The lymphoma has caused his liver disease, and hopefully with moving forward to treat the cancer, the liver condition can be reversed.

He's going to spend another night in the hospital, and I'll be talking to the Oncologist again tomorrow morning before they begin treatment. I'm feeling apprehensive about being optimistic about chemo, but it sounds like there is a hope for remission with good quality of life for Doyle.


...Now to start baking cookies and pies for the giant bake sale I'm going to need to hold to pay for all of this...

No word from Oncology yet.

The past 6 days have been rough, and it's probably going to get much worse by this coming weekend. I'm emotionally and physically exhausted.

My wonderful kitty boy, Doyle, is sick, VERY sick. And it all seemed to happen with a downhill pace that's left me with barely a moment to catch my breath.

To make a long, emotionally difficult story shorter: Doyle and I have been to either his regular vet or the specialty vet EVERY DAY since last Thursday. The last two nights he has been in the ICU at the kitty hospital.

Two weeks ago Doyle was running around and being just as crazy and wonderful as ever and now he is a terribly sick kitty. We found out Friday night the elevated liver enzymes from Thursday's test was an indicator of cancer. And not only does poor Doyle have lymphoma, but he has Hepatic Lipidosis, Fatty Liver Disease. A year and a half ago he weighed 16 pounds -- he now weighs 12 pounds. An Oncologist is seeing him this morning, and I guess I'll have a better idea of his prognosis by lunchtime. But with cancer -- it can't really be good.

I visited with Doyle for about 2 hours last night at the hospital. The vet hoped that a familiar face might be able to help encourage him to eat. It did. He was so happy to see me, and nibbled on some kibble almost immediately. He didn't eat much though, and I could tell he was terribly weak still, even after 24 hours of steady IV fluids, anti-nausea meds, appetite stimulators and steroids. Mostly he just purred and snuggled close to me and we lay on the floor together. I brought him some of his "babies"...I hope the familiar toys will help him not be so scared when I'm not around.

My wonderful friend from PA came down for the weekend to help me with Doyle after our Corn Festival plans had to be altered. We'll go to the Corn Festival next year. I feel very lucky to have had his support and company this weekend as I navigated getting care and help for my beloved Doyle. It's so good to have people in your life who understand how important our fuzzy members of the family are.

So, now I'm waiting for the fuller picture of what will be best for Doyle. The doctors make their rounds in the morning, so I'll probably know by lunch time.



I love you, Doyle, and promise to do what's best for you.

I have my Butter Boy -- I'm ready for the 28th Annual Shippensburg Corn Festival!




...I might need the whole Butter Family eventually.

I had a blast up in Pennsylvania this past weekend! My professor pal and I went hiking at Colonel Denning State Park, and we found tons of cute mushrooms and moss for me to photograph and some blackberries and wild blueberries to munch on. Cumberland County is such a beautiful area.



...and then I jetted home on Sunday for corset-making day with heathergalaxy. We worked for about 8 hours straight, and like the magic that comes with 8 hours of highly focused attention to detail and sewing like a mad woman, a gorgeous stripy corset was born! Or built, really. I might not be a burlesque dancer, but I'm sure happy to lend my crafty talents to help create sexy costumes for my awesome friend heathergalaxy who does perform burlesque!



If you're local, check out a DC Gurly Show Burlesque Revue performance some time -- you might catch a glimpse of the stripy corset for a few minutes before it's artfully taken off. ;)

I'm so happy with the way the room turned out! Oslo likes it too. (Cooper, not so much...He's been hiding under the bed and pouting that I took his basket to storage.)

Oslo hanging out in the revamped bedroom.

I declare today Pie & Massage Tuesday! There's a freshly-baked strawberry rhubarb pie sitting in my immaculately clean apartment. I've been hibernating away from the internets, but in a good way -- after 4 straight days of purging, donating CAR LOADS of stuff to the thrift store, cleaning, reorganizing, assembling new bedroom furniture and even more cleaning...my apartment is so awesomely picture-perfect I could squee! And I think I will: SQUEEE!!!

DOUBLE SQUEE!!!

And for the triple: I have a friend coming into town tonight who has promised me to massage away my work day stress while we catch up and eat pie. See, it's Pie & Massage Tuesday!

This might become a thing, Tuesdays, pie and massage. I wouldn't object. I would quite like it in fact.

The Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day is Save 65% on "Stargate SG-1: The Complete Series Collection".

List Price: $329.98
Yesterday's Price: $239.99
Today's Discount: - $123.00
Gold Box Price: $116.99


Act quick if you'd like the set -- tomorrow the price will be back up to $239.99.