Stick a Fork in him....

Mr Buck is DONE! I am thrilled to say the least. I seriously thought this one would never get there. It did and I am happy and can now move on.

I had a wonderful day with my oldest daughter Jess. She came over recipe book and groceries in hand and once again cooked me a fabulous lunch! She made a dish called Campanelle with creamy Tomato-Clam Sauce from a Pampered Chef recipe book called 29 Minutes to Dinner, it was yummy! I loved the light Vodka Sauce and had never heard of campanelle noodles. Like Jess said, she really liked the trumpet shaped noodles because they really held onto the sauce. She is right. This dish also had buttery bread crumbs on top. Doesn't it look like something off of a cooking show in the picture I took? YUMMY! Thank you again Jess! I sure hope this gets to be a habit! Isn't she cute still in her hat to cover her bed-head!

I wont be starting my December project yet...have to wait for my Dupioni Silk to come in the mail first! Hows that for a teaser Lynn and Carol?? That's all you are getting for now! Hugs everyone.

PS. Maddux starts a whole new protocol today on Meds to see if we can lick these fevers. Cross your fingers for him (and me too) I pray it works for my little pei-by.

Nothing But Blue Skies.....

For this buck! He is really winding down and I am thankful for that! I am really happy with how the sky turned out. I wanted it to be simple, but pretty, and didn't want the sky to take away from the main focal point of the buck. I think I succeeded. I like the look of the straight lines and clouds. I wasn't sure where I would go with the Sky but it really went where the beads wanted to go and this is the result. As I have heard, listen and the beads will do the talking. They sure did! I am hoping to finish this page and move on to the next one. I am going to do something completely different than my other pieces. Its kind of exciting, yet scary at the same time! Take care of yourselves!

PS. For those who have asked, Maddux ran yet another fever last night. Not as high as some of the others, but it went to 105.8 which is high enough to keep me awake all night. I am functioning on about 2 hours of sleep right now! Its just like having another child to take care of. He is such a sweet boy though, I have to do what I can to help him.

Mr Buck has progressed!!

I know, I know, it's been WAAAY to long since my last update. Life has seriously gotten in the way of my creativity. After I finished with all my special orders, I had to do what I had planned on for Christmas, which was making an ornament for all my kids, their spouses and my Grandbaby too! I finally finished finished with them, finished my shopping today and all I need to do now is wrap. yes, that's W*R*A*P not R*A*P. I am not quite THAT talented...lol. We are expecting 4-6" of snow tomorrow night and another 4-7" Wednesday night! Yikes! We have about 1 foot on the ground already. Don't get me wrong, I think snow is beautiful, but i am thankful I am not the one to have to shovel or snow blow it! Poor hubby. I think he will survive though.

Here is my update picture of Mr Buck. He was tossed to the side last month to give me time to work on various other pieces. I did find some time to work on him a bit Sunday while we watched football (Go Giants) I had such a nice relaxing time doing so. I had forgotten how relaxing it really is! I have Decembers piece all worked out in my head. I am really going to be stretching the creative process this time. I will boldly go where I have never gone before....and no, i am not writing an episode of Star Trek either! I want to learn some new techniques and i am really excited about this piece as i will be learning lots! Of course, I will finish poor neglected Mr Buck first. I am quite happy with how he is turning out!

Please add Pam T to your prayer list if you haven't already. She is going through some tough times right now and can use all the support she can get. Thinking of you Pam!

Tracey where have you been?

RIGHT HERE! I did not disappear. I did not drop off the face of the earth either. I have been hit hard with special orders for Christmas this year. Its a good thing money wise, but not so good time wise. Here is what I have been working on. Add another 15 pins and 6 ornaments to this picture and you will have what I have done so far! I guess my specialty so to speak is dog pins. Most of the patterns are my own, some are not. I have several others I make. All stitched in peyote stitch which is very time consuming. I once did an order of 50 Chow Chow pins for a dog show! I have also done 75 Shar Pei pins at one point! The hard part is making a pattern in the little over an inch wide space that actually LOOKS like the breed its supposed to look like! Not an easy feat for sure.

I am so disappointed in myself that I haven't finished my November project. Mr Buck sits looking forlorn at me while I work on pins! I have 3 more Yorkshire terrier pins and 6 ornaments and then I am all caught up and can finish him. Wish me luck! I have to say I am missing the relaxation of doing embroidery. Its a bit less relaxing working from a word chart or a pattern.

Maddux continues to get better everyday. His spirits are high, he is spunky, happy and eating and drinking well. He is chewing on a pig ear right now, having a blast!

Mr Buck, will you ever be done?

I am feeling like I will never finish this page! I dont know why, but I am not enjoying it like I did the other pages. I just feel kind of blah about the whole thing! I have been so busy making sure Maddux is ok and doing everything for him, filling last minute Christmas orders with various people and worrying about Thanksgiving, the Wedding etc that I just cant get into this project. Maybe after Thursday huh? I miss looking at everyone else's progress and making comments on them too. Just to darn busy right now! Gotta slow down and take care of myself too.

Hubby is deer hunting for the weekend. He will be home tomorrow in about enough time to eat and leave for work. He works a strange shift, 2pm-11pm. Makes it hard to get anything done. BUT, at least he is working! The GM plant is closing here in another month. I feel so bad for those people. Then we all have to worry about losing our pensions and medical coverage if General Motors goes bankrupt. Lets pray that doesn't happen! Geez, some good news would be nice for a change! Thanks for stopping by. You will know when this page is done because it will be a happy day for me! You will probably hear my woo-hoos wherever you live. I just hope hubby doesn't come home with a real buck or doe. He would be upset with me if he knew I was saying that, but its how I feel!

Maddux

Just a quick update on Maddux. We got his culture results back today (finally) and he has 2 serious infections. He has Strep B which is a nasty infection that can cause Toxic Shock Syndrome, Sepsis (blood poisoning) and the Flesh Eating Virus. He also has Staph infection. We have him on Ciprofloxin now 1000mg twice a day. We still don't have the sensitivity results back from the culture so we don't know if this is the correct antibiotic or not yet. I should hear either Sunday or Monday. The cipro seems to be holding the infections where they are, so that's good news I guess. Still no appetite to speak of, but Bubba is drinking well, so that's something! He is hanging in there for me. Poor baby! He tolerates the daily scrub-down of the sores he has which has got to be extremely painful for him. We have to leave the antibacterial shampoo on his skin for 15 minutes which seems like an eternity. I just talk to him and rub his cute little face and he listens to every word I say. Such an angel! I wish you could all know him, he is so special. He makes even people that don't like dogs fall in love with him. If you are a dog lover, you would adore him. I will update Mr Buck later today! Hes coming along, winding down! YAY!

Mr Buck Update!

Here is my latest update for my November Bead Journal Project! I will be so happy when he is done, it seems like I have been working on this page for months now! I am pretty happy with how it is progressing. I wish now that I hadn't done the pine trees. It seems to me that they are just kind of plopped in there with no rhyme or reason. I think my favorite part has to be the birch trees. For not having a clue what I was doing, I think they turned out kind of nice! I really like the texture and color of them. Its hard to tell in the photo, but I actually used 4 different shades of gold/yellow. This is a definite learning process.

My original plan was to do 2 pages for this month. That's not gonna happen! My youngest daughter Courtney has decided to get married with only about 3 weeks notice! Her boyfriend Brandon is supposed to be deployed in January, so they decided to do this before he leaves. Between that and Thanksgiving, I will be lucky to get Novembers page done! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day! The weekends just fly dont they? My daughter Jess and her husband Mike are coming over tonight to play some cards or watch a movie, so I am looking forward to that. Jess is a RN and works 3rd shift, so time with her is precious. Wish me luck on Mike and I kicking Jessisca and Chucks butts in Euchre! Its on Jess!!

Also, to everyone that is following along, Maddux continues to do very well. You would never know how sick he was such a short time ago! I am hoping his medications are working to keep his kidneys from failing! I know he is still sick, but its hard to believe right now. I am enjoying every minute I have with him, because we just dont know how long he will have. Keep us in your prayers!

Mr Buck can eat!

Well as you can see, Mr Buck can now eat. His crops are filling in nicely. I cant believe I didn't think they looked like crops before. they sure do now. At least to me anyway! I am really undecided on how to proceed with the sky though. Just cant picture how i want it to look. I still have to fill in more trees and fields first. Seems like my beaders block has lifted (for now) so maybe something will pop into my head on of these sleepless nights. I do know I want to continue with the fields to the right of the buck. I am still trying to figure out what color I want to do the antlers in. It will all come together, I know it will. Sometimes I just have something click in my head and I know exactly what I want to do. Other times, its a slow process, I do some work, don't like it and tear it out!

This afternoon I get to watch Kileigh for an hour while her Mom gets her eyes checked. That should be fun. I love playing with her! Makes me feel like a kid again. Well, maybe not a kid! Maybe a Mom instead of a Grandmother! I still don't feel old enough to be a grandma!

Hope every ones week is going well. I wish you all happiness and creativity!

Mr Bucks Progress Report

Well here he is, a little more done! I haven't had as much time as I would like to work on Mr Buck. I think I am ok with where it is going now. I think I need to give the process more time and not form an opinion so quickly. I need to have enough done to where I can actually form an honest opinion. I am learning that patience is not one of my strong points where my beads are concerned. I want it to be perfect and I don't think that's possible. I pick on my daughter Jess for wanting all her ducks in a row, maybe I need to tell myself the same thing. Sometimes the ducks just want to fly, not always be in a row!

I finally got my hair done today (highlights, low lights and cut) so I feel a bit more human. With Maddux being sick and my Hairdresser sick too, its been about 8 weeks since I got it done. I usually go every 5 weeks so I was looking a bit shabby. Tonight I have a candlelight mass where Hospice will read the names of every one of their patients that died in 2008. As many of you know, my Father passed away in January of this year. Just a couple weeks before Kileigh was born. I am dreading and looking forward to it both at the same time. It will be good to see everyone, but I am sure my emotions will be running high too. I miss him every day. Courtney and Kileigh are going with me. Jess has to work.

Thanks everyone who looks here for their feedback and support. It really means a lot to me. I love looking at everyone else's blogs and try to leave comments there as well. The support among BJP people is amazing!

Mr Buck (hit a brick wall)

I did not drop off the face of the earth! I have had something strange happen to me. I believe its called Beaders Block? I have heard of people having trouble working on certain pieces. I myself, have never had that happen...until now! I just do not know where i am going with this page. It seems like in my head, I know exactly what I want to do, what I want it to look like. Then comes the hard part, actually doing it and being happy with the results. The other night I had a vision pop into my head about doing something in the background that would look like crops in the field. What I ended up with, looks like a road with a strip of grass down the middle. So I stopped, put it away hoping it would look better today. NOPE! Maybe its because I have done so little of it and need to keep going with it. I just don't know. What pointers do any of you have about how you get yourself motivated when you hit the brick wall? Do you think it will look like crops if I keep going? Should I just tear it out and start over? HELP!!!!

PS. Maddux is doing pretty well. Not eating the best yet, but drinking and having little spurts of energy here and there! He made it throught this bout, lets hope its a long time before another fever hits. I dont think he could take much more after the severity of this episode. Thanks for all your care and concern.

Mr Buck and Mr Maddux!

Well lucky you! A double update. Maddux seems to have turned the corner so to speak. He drank on his own for the second time in 6 days. I know that doesn't sound like much, but to me it is! He has a little spunk in his step today. Even begged a little for some people food! I pray this is a good sign, I think it is! Lets hope he continues to improve and gets back to the little man I love. Thank you everyone for your prayers and well wishes. Its nice to know so many people care. You don't think he is a wee bit spoiled looking at this picture do you? NAH!

Mr Buck got a little work done to him last night. His surroundings are filling in a little more now. I don't know why, but I am putting off finishing off his ears and antlers. I am not quite sure on the colors for his antlers, so maybe that is why I am putting it off. Who knows! I feel like some weight has been lifted off my shoulders too, so maybe my creative side will kick back in instead of my nurturing side. I nice balance of both would be good.

A couple people have asked me how I picked Maddux for my precious dogs name so here is how the story goes. I am a big baseball fan. I started off being a cubs fan back in the 80s. They had a rookie pitcher named Greg Maddux. I was never one to watch soap operas so when I started seeing lots of Cubs day games, I became addicted to baseball, Greg Maddux in particular. he still pitches today, although I dont get to see him much on his new team. When i got my boy, I knew I wanted to give him a sports related name so his AKC registered name became LuckyWun Cooperstown Bound (Cooperstown is the baseball hall of fame where I am confident Greg Maddux will be someday) and of course, his call name is Maddux! That's it in a nutshell. Nothing exciting, but maybe interesting for some? Have a wonderful day and lets hope my boy gets stronger everyday. Thanks again (especially Lynn and Carol) HUGS!

Mr Buck is moving along!

I am pretty happy with the way my buck is turning out. I like the way the beads resemble actual fur on the body of the deer. I have decided not to put grommets on this page. I am planning on framing him to put in the computer room - the one that has the antlers on the wall:( to remind myself of happier things. I try not to pay to much attention to the various mounts my husband has in this room. He is proud of them, they make me sad. I guess you only have the right to make decisions for yourself, do what you feel is right. I cant force my beliefs and lifestyle onto someone else. We (my hubby and I) agree to disagree on the hunting issue. I have to accept that.

So now I have the choices to make on what I am going to do with the background on this one. I think I want to do some pine trees, birch trees and maybe add in some of the oranges and reds of maple trees. I think that would be really pretty! I love all the fall colors. they make me happy.

On a personal note, I have had a very stressful weekend. Friday night my dog got sick. I took his temperature and it was 107+ off to the vet we went with an emergency call. Maddux got IV fluids under the skin. He is still sick today, but I have hopes he will get better. This illness he has is called Shar Pei Fever Syndrome and it can lead to kidney failure, so this is very scary. He is my heart dog and only 4 years old. He could use a few prayers.

A Buck or a Poodle?

Right now I am leaning towards poodle! Or maybe Boodle or Puck? Seriously though, I know I have to give it a chance, but so far this is not looking like I had imagined. I wanted it to have a textural look like the hair on a buck. Not sure this is it! I am also re-thinking the pine trees in the background as I have it drawn now. I think I may sketch in some birch trees as well to break it up a little more. That's the beauty of this medium though, you aren't committed to anything until you stitch it! Not really even then, as you always have the option of ripping it out and starting over.My poor mind is always working, especially when I should be sleeping. I wake up with ideas in my head that excite me, then have a hard time going back to sleep. Its a sickness I tell you! Of all the sicknesses there are though, I am glad so far, this is mine! Thanks for looking my friends!

Close, but no winner!

Well you were all right on one thing, it is an eye! It is actually an eye attached to a whitetail buck! That is what my page this month will feature. The reason I went with this as my subject matter is that November is a hard month for me. I am an extreme animal lover. I understand all the reasons for deer hunting. I understand that the population would explode and there would be more car-deer collisions, more crop and property damage, starving deer etc. I understand all of that, and my husband is an avid deer hunter too! What I don't understand is the pleasure people get from killing a magnificent animal. My husband relives his kills and gets this look in his eyes that I only see when he talks deer hunting/killing. He becomes obsessed! He watches these shows about deer hunting and I just cringe. The narrator on the show says "Isn't this a beautiful buck" and I want to yell NO, its not beautiful anymore, its DEAD! It is one thing my husband and I don't see eye-to-eye on. So, for this page i am celebrating all the beautiful live bucks and doe out there! Sorry if I have offended anyone on my view on deer hunting. Its just my opinion!