Tuesday, February 28, 2006

40 what?


Today is Dave's birthday!
Happy Birthday!
He is 40 today, and a little stressed about it! He keeps telling the kids that he is 28 (yeah right!) Like they are still going to fall for that one big guy!
I hope that you enjoy your day, and have many more!
B-

Monday, February 20, 2006

Have to start saying good-bye

We have come to a point of realization in the last week that there is no longer anything that we can do to help or prolong the life of our beloved family member Avalanche. It was a hard thing to take his limb and give us more time with him, and it has been wonderful in so many ways. We need him and love him and he does so much for all of us. It has given us time to really enjoy what and who he is and to make the most of his time here. But that doesn't really make this place easier. It is a very hard lesson in mortality for the kids, and Dave and I just are sick about it.
He is so beautiful even in his most trying of circumstances, and even though he needs the comforting from his pain, he absorbs our tears in his sweet fur. The lessons of appreciating what you have while you have it, are ones I hope we never forget.

It was a rough day at our house. The baby is getting worse with each day, and it looks like from the swelling in his legs that his kidneys are failing. We don't want him to be in any more pain, but it is just to hard to say good-bye. We are all really struggling with talking about it and trying to be realistic, but it hurts each of us so much.
We have been letting him out onto the deck a couple of times a day, he enjoys it so much. It is so hard to watch him try to get up to get out though and then watching him shiver after only 20 minutes out there. He used to be able to sit out on a cold day for hours when we would let him, so for him to shiver, he just isn't right.
Chloe took these pictures so she could do a drawing of him for her art class. Her drawing turned out beautifully, and I am sure that it will be a treasure for her when he is gone. It was very wise for her to use him as a study right now, I think it was a very therapeutic thing for her to do.

We took the kids to see a movie hoping that it would be a good distraction for all of us, but we saw "Eight Below" the dog sled movie that Disney put out. It was cute and had a nice story, and on any other day it would have been fine. It just made me that much more depressed. I came home and slept for 3 hours after crying. I just can't look at a big dogs liquid brown eyes and see the majesty of what Avalanche was, and that he isn't at that place any more, it is just heartbreaking.
I have been a huge 24 fan from the begining, and I am trying to watch it to get distracted, but nothing is working right now. I can't pay attention and it is just moving to fast for my brain right now. I won't be able to catchup and know what is going on in the next episode, and it is just making me grumpier.
We have the tivo going on the olympics so we can watch the mens GS and hopefully the womens super-G. The freestyle ariels are also going, and we really enjoy those, so that will be interesting.
It was a long weekend with the kids home for 4 days, but i am really glad they had that extra time with Avalanche, I hope that it was enough for them to be able to day good-bye with.
WE LOVE YOU AVALANCHE!
B-

Friday, February 17, 2006

Friday Night Blogging

How sad is it that at 9:30 on a Friday night I am home blogging!
The Olympics are on, but it is Ice Dancing (not my favorite event!) I would really like to be doing something interesting, but it just shows how you really change as you get older! What would I rather be doing? Twenty years ago it would going out dancing, or taking a long walk on a cool downtown street and people watching. A late dinner or some dessert somewhere. Now the coolest thing we get out and do is a movie, and if we are lucky before the sidewalks get rolled up in Salt Lake City, we find some dessert at the Porcupine (last seating is at 10:00.
I used to be the Tommy Burger girl with a gross chiliburger and Pogen's cookies at 2:00 in the morning! Now if I eat anything after 8:00 I might as well be spackiling it right onto my thighs and buttocks!
Anyway, had a long week, glad it is coming to an end. Tomorrow will be interesting , but not horrible as I won't have to sit in the car running my entire families rearends up and down the I-215 corridor for my entertainment value!
The hardest thing for me right now is that Avalanche is getting really bad, and I just want to cry all day, but I am trying to love him as much as possible while he is with us. I knew it would be difficult, but the reality is ugly, it isn't much longer and I am really going to miss him more than I can bear the thought of right now.
On a more positive note, I got my first design team work for Little Black Dress sent to Tina on tuesday, and I am very happy with how it all turned out. I am absolutely in love with Christina Lazar-Shulers Papers
Lazarstudiowerx
So most of the stuff I have been doing is with her paper!


These papers are so amazing! Rich and elegant, bold and artistic they need so little to just make everything look great! I have about five more layouts that are done. I was able to get home from Las Vegas and put together 8 layouts and three cards and two tags in in less than ten days.
I guess when I get a pile of mojo I gotta go with it! Thanks for the amesome mojo Christina, you rock!
B-

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Designer Dinner fun!

Rox and I had such a great time at the dinner catching up with friends we love, and making new friends who are so wonderful! I met such a fun, cute girl, she had on the cutest green wedge shoes and of course I had to compliment her on them. That cute girl ended up being Tia!
We had to take a picture in honor of the silly carrot avatar I use once a while (which apparently is memorable enough to provoke pictures like this)
Loved meeting May, she is such a sweet PEA! She, Rox and Tia were so cute together, hanging out and being cool!

Another fabulous moment for me was the Kim Mattina moment!
I just love this woman, and she is amazing! She was wearing super GLAM beaded jeans, my jacket was way over the top, so we had to have a SUPA STAH moment!

And of course there is the Specklebird! Jessie Baldwin baby, gotta love ya! So talented, crazy, fun and wise in one little body, she is the whole package! I wish I had gotten to spend more time with her, Rox and I did catch up with her at the Michael Miller booth doing her make-n-take, but next time we are in LV, she is OURS!
There were so many give aways at this dinner, and the gift bags were so heaped with amazing goodies! When we checked in we were given our goodie bags, but there were a few left over. I never win anything, but my name was actually called (by the MC Jessie!) and I won another goodie bag!
got to spend some time with the adorable Robin Werlich, we had a good run at the dessert bar during the evening! Sadly (LOL!), no pictures of our gluttony!
B-

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

I met Thena..

a year ago at CKU-M in Anaheim! It was such a treat, and she is so loved, by me and everyone else! She is the PUB Mom ya know! Well I have pics from that last meeting but seeing her at the designer dinner was just so great!


So I am not good at setting up links in my blog yet, something to work on!
But I loved how Sharon from Bluegrass Printing, Thena's publisher, was so great to share her plethora of CHA photos! Thanks Sharon, you are wonderful!

Monday, February 06, 2006

More CHA pics!

It was so great to get to meet Kelly Angard at the Memory Makers booth while she was doing her make-n-take! And lucky Rox and I, guess who else is there, YUP! Sonda! Yea us!
I have to PLUG Kell's book, it is so rockin'! She has it beautifully organized, and of course her work is such eye candy anyway! FABULOUS! So getting to hang with Kelly after doing the ATC swap was really fun!

Of course, I LOVE Sonda! She is amazing and that is that! We first got to meet at CKU-M in Anaheim, and it was such a blast! But meeting Baylee and Dwayne was so cool, awesome family! Next year a PEAs day at Disney is definitely in order, LOL!


Anyway, want to post more pics from CHA, I just have to torture Rox to get them. That is part of my evil plan, and then world domination through scrapbook brainwashing and hypnosis, hehehehe!
B-

Saturday, February 04, 2006

The first few pics from CHA in Vegas Baby!


Got to meet some AMAZING people this last week!
Have to start with my PEEPS!

I worked for Lazar StudioWerx, and they were the BEST people to share time with!
Christina is the artsy-fartsy braniac that designed the paper and stamps (which are beyond delicious!) and Terry is the Saintly Sherpa and entertaining face maker! Then there is Tina! The Little Black Dress lady who is so clever!

I learned so much from them, and they were so tolerant of me!