Sunday, May 22, 2011

Is This Your Bird?

"Blue Boy"


If this is your bird, you better claim him soon. We're working on naming him.

Last week this little guy flew up to our neighbors at the UPS Store at the corner of Westgate Blvd and William Cannon last Friday. It was like he was looking for help. Since we already have a bird, they came to us for advice. We gave them food for a few days, put signs up around the neighborhood, I posted him on Craigslist and Pet Harbor and I filed a lost pet report with the city. So far, we had an offer to adopt him, but no word from the owner.

A couple of days later the neighbors gave him to us because they were getting too attached. We were close to asking the person who offered to adopt to pick him up, but Katie has convinced Aaron to take him in.

This is one last shot at finding the owner before we name him. The neighbor dubbed him "Blue Boy." I've been pushing for Geoffrey Peterson.

Comment here if he's yours.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Twice More Without Feeling (and My Weekend at Shiloh's)

Shiloh waits for her family


I feel like this sometimes.

About a week and a half ago, I House/Dog/Lizard sat for Aaron's family. You've met Spiny before. This is Shiloh. She spent most of Friday and a good portion of the rest of the weekend just like this, looking out the window, presumably waiting for her family to come home.

Shiloh is a good little dog. She rarely barks, she won't chew on your shoes and she's housebroken. As long as she stays away from other dogs, she's very well behaved. Shiloh just wants to be loved. She greets just about everyone that comes into the house, hoping that they will pet her. Once she establishes that someone is a friend, she follows them all over the house.

Shiloh doesn't like to be alone for long periods of time, especially at night. So that's why I spent the night there. I felt bad because she stayed up late with me the first night. I didn't realize that she wouldn't go sleep in her doggy bed until I went to the bedroom with her. In fact, she wouldn't even walk into the bedroom unless I walked in first, (Fortunately, she napped on the couch while I was in the living room, so she got some sleep in.)


Shiloh


By the second day, she was spending less time looking through the window. But she really perked up when Katie and Aaron dropped by.


Shiloh


Katie knew where Shiloh's clothes were, so we played dress up. There are three different knit and crochet items in this picture. Mom made the light blue dog sweater that Shiloh is wearing. She engineered it herself based on a store-bought sweater Shiloh already had. Later, Mom told me that she saw a bunch of knitting patterns online for basically the same sweater. She reinvented the wheel with this one. I'm still impressed.

In the shoe box, there's a Shiloh-sized purple scarf that Aaron's Mom knit. And the blue thing just outside of the box is a little neckerchief that Katie crocheted.


Aaron and Shiloh


Shiloh makes me want to get a dog when I move to my next apartment. I could benefit from daily walks and waking up to a happy face and wagging tail. I've never been a dog person. When I was little I was terrified of them. I'm much better about dogs now that I'm older. Still, I don't know how I'd handle living with one. I'd need a dog as sweet and well behaved as Shiloh, and I suspect dogs like her are hard to find. 

Having fun with Shiloh was a nice distraction from all my pain problems. My procedure a couple of weeks ago went pretty well. The good news is that I'm confident that the Supraorbital Nerve is the problem. There was a very distinct heavy feeling where there is normally tingly pain.

The bad news is that it didn't last. Some tingling was back by the time I was in the car to go home. Two days later, it was back to normal, if not worse. Now it seems like my supraorbital nerve is back to its usual tingly state.

I finally had my follow up visit last week. We're doing this whole thing two more times, in hopes that the steroid will build up in the nerve. My next procedure is tomorrow. I'm up way too late blogging about this. It's hard to sleep, wondering how much relief I'll get and how long it will last. And I can't wait for more trigger point injections. Those worked really well on my back and shoulder for about a week and a half.

Through all this, I'll be staring out the window like Shiloh, waiting for a permanent solution.

At least I've met my deductible.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

FO: Baby Surprise Jacket

FO: Baby Surprise Jacket

I actually finished my Baby Surprise Jacket almost a month ago, but I had trouble finding a model, then I was just busy blogging about other stuff. I don't see any babies on a regular basis these days. So I made do with this stuffed gorilla that I found on stuffed in a closet.


FO: Baby Surprise Jacket

He's no Poncho Pig. But Poncho Pig is living in storage right now, and even if he was here, his arms don't move away from his body. In fact, they don't move at all.


FO: Baby Surprise Jacket

I used US Size 2 needles and Baby Bee Sweet Delight yarn in "Crayons Ombre" (115). I found the buttons with Mom's sewing stuff. I hope I placed them correctly. It looks like they're making the jacket gap in this picture.


FO: Baby Surprise Jacket
Elizabeth Zimmerman recommends putting button holes on both sides and sewing buttons on the proper side depending on the gender of the baby once the baby is born. Since I will probably donate this to charity, I sewed them on the right side. Today it's more acceptable for women to wear buttons on the right side rather than it is for men to wear buttons on the left side.


FO: Baby Surprise Jacket
Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. I'm accepting suggestions for where to donate it. It's about the size a one-year old would wear. (According to Elizabeth Zimmerman, that's what you get when you knit a five stitches per inch gauge.)


FO: Baby Surprise Jacket
If you haven't made your own Baby Surprise Jacket yet, you can buy the pattern here. It's essentially a garter stitch rectangle that folds into a cardigan. It's easy and baffling at same time. It will blow your mind.


FO: Baby Surprise Jacket

All my Baby Surprise Jacket pictures are here, and all my Baby Surprise Jacket blog entries are here.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Crochet WIN!

epic win photos - Crochet WIN
see more Hacked IRL - Truth in Sarcasm


Fun Fact of the Day: When I was in middle school, they put up a large chain link fence around the school with razor wire on top. A few years ago, they closed down the school. The building is now home to The Ann Richards School for Young Women. They took down the razor wire. I haven't set foot on the campus since the Ann Richards School opened, but I'm positive it's much happier place.