Christmas...part two

Life is certainly difficult with a "Modern, Blended Family". In our case two of my husbands three sons live in Ohio and we see them occasionally between Sept and July each year. Last year Christmas for "The Boys" happened closer to Valentines Day than Christmas.
This year we get to celebrate Christmas and New Years all on the same day! We are anxiously waiting for their arrival. Emily loves her brother Charlie and will bring people who visit the house over to his picture and say "See, See, Charlie" and thanfully Charlie loves her right back! Merry Christmas, part two, to all of the modern families out there! Hope Santa's second run is as good as his first!

A dog got swine flu....

As I was reading the headlines this morning I noticed one story that struck pretty close to home. An elderly dog (13 years old) on Long Island has swine flu. The story was light on details about how the dog aquired the bug and whether it can pass from canine to human or vise versa.
As a mother to a micro-preemie this is particuarly alarming.....I have three dogs and a few other furry critters. Do I now have to worry about them getting Emily sick? Emily has been vaccinated with the H1N1, however the vaccine was recalled because it wasn't strong enough!!!

Merry Christmas to all....

It's the Holiday Season.....

That silly little song from years past has been playing through my head the past several days.....Typically, I love the Holidays. This year I'm not feeling the joy and celebratory atmosphere.

Emily turned two at the beginning of this month and is maturing daily. Now if only she'd grow!! She has to be one of the only two year olds still in a rear-facing car seat! She is talking in mostly clear sentences now and is becoming the little Diva we all knew was there while she was in the NICU.

While Em has been growing up she has also developed a love for the four-legged critters in our house. Her favorite is Rufus with Tyler taking up a close second. Ru, does not realize that he is 60+ pounds and tends to knock her over in his joy to see her.

Tyler usually steers clear of her unless she has food in her hands! This is evident by the picture that accompanied this post. Tyler is downright grumpy to have this little girl and her musical chair in "HIS ROOM" near "HIS BED"....aka the computer room and the futon!

Merry Christmas to all.....and here's to a fantastic 2010!

November is here...are you ready?

Well, November is upon us and I totally feel like the year is slipping away from me.

My 15 year High School reunion is coming up in a few weeks and it has me thinking where did the time go? I can still vividly remember being in High School, going on Band trips, writing term papers and the general day to day things too. Now I have a step-son in High School!!! Damn but I'm aging, and I have the grey hair to prove that!!

Charlie passed his driver's permit test this week and I now know how my parents felt when I took my test! Scared to death! I keep remembering the flying litter box and the "How do I give the dogs water?" incidents and can't help but think that the world is not ready for him to be behind the wheel of anything, let alone a car!! BTW>>>>said car is still sitting in my back yard in pieces. He has 4 months until he's 16 and ALOT of work to finish!!! See the pictures for proof. We have pieces and parts scattered all over the place and Charlie is still talking like he's going to have a car when he gets his license!! Santa may bring presents, but I don't think he works miracles!!

Happy Halloween!!!

I'm going to teach a class!

Several months ago I was asked to make a wedding cake for a couple at my church. Once the pastor's wife saw the cake I think she realized I had some crafty talents. I made an off-hand comment about wishing I could make my living doing the things I loved.....at that point I was making new bags each week in hopes of selling them. Doris said something along the lines of "you'll have to pray for it." I took her advice and started asking how to use my talents to gift others.

The solution wasn't in making cakes or handbags.....it was in quilts and the ladies of my church. While I will not be paid in a monetary sense I will be rewarded....The class is going to be incorporated into an outreach campaign "Connections". The plan is to invite the public to our classes as a way to introduce the community to our little church.

We are going to learn together. I am going to teach a class on howmake this beautiful quilt! I am so excited.

September 1 2009 is fast approaching....

Happy third anniversary!! My love.

Thank You SP....

We rec'd our SP exchange gifts yesterday and what a lovely collection of "Basset Crap" it was! My very favorite was the blue metal magnet shaped like a basset hound! Very cool and locally made in NM,near our SP Judy along with Abbey and Pumpkin. Tyler, Ru and Hunny do love their treats and Emily's reaction to her book was priceless. Thank You for being a wonderful SP!
Our box went out but due to a "Rufus mis-hap" I had to re-make a good portion of the goodied inside! I left the box (about to be shipped) in our van which had the sliding door open. Didn't even think that Ru would climb up there to grab it. Usually Rufus waits for a lift into the van because his legs are weak. Apparently that was not the case when there's treats involved. Our SP's package was strewn over the lawn in shreds. Just imagine this.....me on my way to the post office and I see a tattered goody bag and the super pretty gift for our SP covered in mud!!!! Off to the basement I go to begin cutting blocks and sewing new SP gifties. I guess this all part of being owned by basset hounds. I love them but they can frustrate you to no end at times!!

Bassets 0, Bunnies 1

I have neglected my blog for quite some time and I feel terrible about it.
The hounds have enjoyed their summer, even if it has been a rainy one. Tyler and Hunny have discovered the bunnies that live in our yard and will spend hours trying to get them. Thankfully the bunnies are smarter than they are!
We have two wood piles in the back where the bunnies have made their homes. Tyler and Hunny know this and will shove their snouts in as far as they can go. While the noses are hidden the bunnies make their ways over to the second woodpile and make sure the dogs can see them just before they scoot inside! Tyler takes off to the other side of the yard, Hunny follows, bunnies go back to the other location. This takes place for hours and I get such a kick out of watching it.
I jsut wish I had some pictures or video of this crazy event! More to come when I can snap some stealthy pictures!

It's Secret Pawtner Time!!!

We love Secret Pawtner time here in the Cruse household. The hounds get some treats, the kitties usually get something too! Best of all I get to add to my "BassetCrap" collection!

This year we're going to surprise our pawtner with some zany clues rather than the usual hints about their hometown and distance between us.

Our pawtner is relatively close to us this year and she is going to get a beautiful hand crafted gift this year.

That's all for now.....Enjoy the Exchange Droolers!

Where does the time go????

I have been strangely absent for quite a while. I guess we just had more things to attend to than time to do it.

In the time I have been gone, I have accepted a part-time job which I am sure I will love. No pressure, no stress and working for a lady I genuinely like.

Emily has made leaps in the last two months! She's walking, almost talking and into everything.

For my basset loving friends out there, the hounds have been active too! We went to Mid-Atlantic Bassets Trout Parade in Livingston Manor, NY. It was flat out one of the best events I have attended. Although, Mr Rufus did suffer from heatstroke. Talk about scary for a basset mom and her elderly basset hound. Rufus is doing just fine now and is back to his old routine of lounging in the sunny backyard.

A huge thanks to Suzanne Fitch for caring so much for this hound! I don't know what I would do without him.

...that doggy in the window

So, I found a new fabric and sewing store recently. One that has thousands of bolts of quilting fabric in every style imaginable. My first purchase was a panel of a couple of cute doggies in a window. The colors are a little dark but it was so cute I had to buy it. Check it out and tell me what you think! Plus there's something special on the back for all basset lovers!

Help us raise money for March of Dimes

Emily and I along with my mother in law, Rosemarie, and Katie and Andrew are walking on May 16 to raise money for March of Dimes. You can see that their work is valuable and lifesaving by looking at the two pictures above. One this weekend at Gramma's house and the other on the day after Emily was born! Visit this link to donate.....http://www.marchforbabies.org/Emily_Brenda

Help Emily and I raise money to prevent premature births. As many of you know Emily was born at 26 weeks and 1lb 11oz and benefited from the March of Dimes. We want to give back for all of their lifesaving research.

one day... all babies will be born healthy
today... too many moms and families know the heartbreak of having a baby born fighting to survive
I've joined March for Babies because the March of Dimes champions the needs of moms and babies in our community and across the nation. The money we raise for March for Babies will help:
- support all-important research offering preventions and solutions for babies born too soon or with birth defects
- educate women on things they can do to increase their chances of having a healthy baby
- provide comfort and information to families with a newborn in intensive care
- push for newborn screening and health insurance for all pregnant women and children
Please help by donating today!
It's easy, safe and secure - just click to make your donation.
The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality

Little Boy Lost....part two

Last night around 6 we discovered that someone, has again, opened our gates and let the dogs out. Our neighbor, Staci, called us to let us know she had just put Rufus back in the yard. This is the third time in two months someone has done this to my dogs, excluding the hubby accident from a month ago. Tyler, of course, was the lone missing dog. We started our usual patrol of the neighborhood. Chuck in the car, myself with the two munchkins on foot.

This time I called the police and reported it, even though I was low on information. I just hope that somehow the culprit sees how devastating this can be to a dog owner. I had such a helpless feeling while Tyler was missing. I talked to anyone out on their porches soaking in the warm evening. No one has seen him. All of his usual spots had no Tyler. We cruised the neighborhood and further for almost three hours. Just past 9pm our neighbor, Ernie, brought our boy home.

Ernie found Tyler about 3 blocks away in someone's fenced in yard with two little yappers. I'm hoping that she didn't plan to keep him and was just waiting for the morning to call the number on his tags. I guess I will never know, but I am very thanful that Ernie joined in the search this time around. Tyler has returned to his futon and is lounging again as only a Basset Hound can do.

Busy Busy....

It's been a few weeks since I took some time to post....In that time I've had quite a few very attractive contract job opportunities presented to me. I'm at the point where working is something I want and need to do again. The last 5 months have been fantastic with my munchkin, Emily, but I need adult contact again!

I've also been busy on the crafty side too....I've made a new bag and I'm getting complements on it where ever I go. I'm working out ways to make this one dog-themed too for my dog lover friends. I've got two orders already! I've also put some of my projects up on the internet craft fair I spoke about a few weeks ago.

Got Shorts??

Over the weekend I had a crafty "ah hah" moment....seeing a lot of younger women in the malls and out and about with silly words written across their butts got me thinking. If the young and hip do it, why can't the heading towards middle aged do it too? So I made these! I wrote "Basset Rule" across the butt of a very cute pair of shorts. Please give me your opinions! I know I will wear a pair once the warm weather gets here to stay!

I also made them in a plain grey sweatshirt type material and I'm debating about where to write on them since I seriously doubt my husband , or another guy, will wear shorts with something on the butt!

I'll be posting these to the Daily Drool and selling them for donations to Mid-Atlantic Basset Hound Rescue.

Baby Emily, Kitties ,Tyler and Rufus

As many of you are aware, we have a young daughter who has recently discovered that we have funny looking dogs living with us. She will catch sight of one of them, grin, and point to them babbling in that year old baby talk we all love.

Emily loves their ears and is always reaching out to touch them. I usually cringe, because those ears drag on the ground and get in their food, water, etc....The dogs love Emily because she is typically covered with food or other yummy things (at least to them) and are constantly licking her face. I have to say that they are extremely gentle with her, which amazes me because they are so big!! Tyler weighs about 60 pounds and Ru is probably close to 70 pounds. Tyler is more aware of Emily than Ru is and he's always checking where she is in the house.

Emily's favorite resident in the house is my ancient cat, Devil Cat.

Devil is one of those cats who hates just about everyone. She tolerates Emily and all of the fur pulling, ear digging and tail chewing Emily can dish out with a calm expression. I think to myself, this is not the Devil Cat I know and love.....she's usually pretty quick to whip out the nails and dig in.

It's been a while.....

So, first off I was cruising Craigslist this past weekend and stumbled upon a really unique idea. It's basically a craft show without the crowds.....an internet based craft fair looking to market themselves and find new talent. I had been thinking of buying a site from GoDaddy to post pictures of some of my projects and maybe make a few bucks with them. Turns out these ladies are doing just that but they're collaborating and sharing costs.

Check them out here..... http://www.willkarecreations.com/

Little Boy Lost....

So yesterday was a beautiful day here in the great northeast.....the dogs spent most of the day outside sunning themselves and barking at anyone who happened to walk by.

Tyler usually takes the steps to the back garage, Hunny gets the steps leading to the back gate and Ru usually lays in front of the front garage door.

I'm recovering from surgery and thought I'd take a nap somewhere around 2 yesterday afternoon, my husband was out on the quad on a friend's property. I left the pooches outside because they were all snoozing and looked to be enjoying themselves. Mistake number one. Mistake two was not replacing the lock on the front gate.

I got up somewhere around 3:30 in the afternoon to use the bathroom and as I usually do I looked out the window to see what's going on. Well, to my surprise I see Rufus' red and white backside in the trash cans out front. That's not right! They can't get to the can if the gates are closed. I abort the mission to the bathroom and run downstairs to check the gates. They were wide open! Rufus didn't stray far, he only made it to the front sidewalk near the trash cans. Hunny never left the yard.....that leaves Tyler. He, of course, is no where to be found. I put Hunny and Ru in the house, run up the stairs and get Emily up from her nap and into a stroller.

I call my parents to help in the rescue mission and call my husband's friend (he left his cell phone home on the charger) to tell him about the escape.

I am cruising up and down the streets near the house checking out all of his usual places to sniff. No Tyler. I go back home to check the answering machine to see if anyone found him. No messages. I'm getting a little upset now. I try to call the police dept, but where I live it's kind of a silly set up. The police dept in Jermyn doesn't really have a phone number. We have what's called a Communications Center that covers most of Lackawanna County. I get an answering machine not a person who can patch me through to Jermyn Police. Usually I can get a message to them that Tyler's missing again and if they find him they will put him in the car and bring him home.

My parents arrive and start cruising around too, no luck. My husband arrives home and he's out searching too. I'm walking the neighborhood praying out loud asking the Lord to bring Tyler back to us safely. My hubby passes me going in a direction that Tyler doesn't usually travel when he gets out. Thankfully he did because he found Tyler coming around the side of the house about a mile away on the main drag in Mayfield. Thankfully he was retuned to us again.

Bassets being bassets.....

Well, now that Mr Rufus has fully recovered from his brush with death I do believe he decided to give mom a scare.

One day last week a dead bird showed up on the back porch. All of the dogs seemed to be ignoring it until Rufus decided to eat the dead bird. My step-son David came running around the side of the house yelling "Ru ate something", my husband chimes in "He ate the bird, well he ate part of the thing",YUK! I cleaned up what remained and threw it in the trash. Fast forward to today....Rufus is guarding something in the yard and I walk over to him. What does he have? Another dead bird!!! I'd love to know where they're finding them in February in the great northeast! Are my lazy, crazy bassets secret bird dogs?? The only thing they chase is the neighbor's cat, Magic, who is smart enough to know that he needs to stay outside the fence or be slobbered to death.

Once I go to get the poop scoop to remove the bird, all three of them followed me from the scene of the crime to the front gate. Tyler and Ru then decide that it's time to play "cat" and stretch like there's nothing going on! Hunny, walks away. I guess I ruined their fun for the afternoon.....

Sadly we must let them go.....

My husband and I came to sad conclusions yesterday....we have to sell our cars (well two of the six anyway). I hate to part with them but the economy is killing this particular household along with so many others. We are selling the beloved Subaru and Dodge Dakota to save us $700 a month in payments and another $125 in insurance. I posted the Subaru on Craigslist this morning and a friend of my husband is going to buy the truck.

I am not totally happy about the prospect of driving the mom-mobile "M I N I" Van as one of my former co-workers used to say but it is paid for and cheap to insure! We are currently looking for another truck for me to knock around in that's cheap enough to pay cash for. I'm hoping for a Chevy Silverado this time around.

Last Friday my car-nut hubby purchased another fixer, this time a Ford Ranger that is bright yellow. Up until 4 or 5 years ago I would have loved having a yellow anything and would have jumped on it. Now, it's just something else cluttering up my yard. Chuck started taking it apart, rather finished what the previous owner didn't. Now it's off to another junkyard to find parts! Yippee!

Mom? I can quilt too, right?

While making my latest handbag project, Tyler decided he would "help". He managed to get himself wrapped up with the fusible interfacing.

The bag is kind of a patchwork bucket style bag with dog themed fabrics and a very soft flannel lining. My husband suggested I sell this one ebay because to him it looked great and he thought other people would like one too! I usually make one of each project to donate to Basset Hound rescue and the others I make I attempt to sell myself.

Fins Up

It's that time of the year again.....Jimmy Buffett's concert tickets went on sale today. Like any faithful Parrothead I logged into my ticketmaster account early (around 945 am) and refreshed the page every few minutes until 10am. 10:01 arrives, no link to buy tickets. What the F$%*. Wait a few, refresh again. No tickets link. Refresh again. No tickets link. I tried this routine until about 10:35 this morning and still no tickets. I decide to check Ebay, no tickets there either. It must be a consiracy by the scalpers. By the time the link opens at who knows when I'm sure I can depend on the tickets being sold out.....

I guess there's alway hope for Bristow, Va or MSG later in the year. Those sale dates haven't been released yet.

To help everyone get in the mood for Jimmy.....I'm posting a few pictures that only Basset loving Parrotheads can appreciate! FINS UP!!

Parts, parts and more parts!

Well...the restoration of our classic Mustang is well underway now!

Last week Chuck cut away all of the old rotting floorboards and is now prepping the car for the new ones! Those arrived today from Mustangs Unlimited. We all hear horror stories about horrible Customer Service. That is absolutely not the case with this company. They know their products and have fantastic prices to boot! Parts were ordered on Saturday afternoon and arrived today.

Just another project....

Unemployment has it's advantages....I have had more time that I know what to do with and I've been busy! I've made at least 3 bags like the one I posted last week, each slightly different. I also love quilting, there's something very comforting about it for me. It's what I do when I need to think or work out frustrations.

I'm a hoarder of fabics and other crafty type things. I figured I'd use this space to show off some more of my 'work'.

This is a dog-themed quilt that I made not too long ago. I'm compulsive when it comes to making things to support dog rescue.

My husband was laid off for two weeks, he went back to work today. Thankfully.

Emily and I surely loved having him home, when we saw him. He has spent a lot of time disassembling the Mustang and we now have stacks of pieces spread around the garage. I can see the "project" part of Project Car now. This car that looked so great for being almost 45 years old is actually full of rust, bondo and a good portion of it's original parts. We posted some of the parts he didn't want to deal with repairing on Craigslist. Others like the trunk and hood we're keeping! The engine and transmission are also keepers thankfully. We'll be adding power disc brakes and possibly rack and pinion steering once the body is complete.

We've made a couple critical decisions regarding the look of the car when it's complete. We've decided to bring it as close to it's original look as possible. For you Mustang people out there. It's a R Ivy Green paint and D8 interior. More to come I am sure!!

On the hound front of our world.....Rufus is enjoying all of the work on the car because he gets to snooze in front of the stove in the garage while Chuck takes the car apart!

Tyler on the other hand is now afraid to even approach the garage because the car has no exhaust and he's afraid of the noise it makes now. Poor Ty, he's afraid of so many things he has a hard time functioning in a noisy world. We have to put him in the basement with a happy pill when thunder storms or fireworks are expected.

Look what I made!!

With Ru's mounting veterinary bills and my unemployment I decided to start making things to try to offset some of the costs. This weekend I made a quilted bag with a basset hound applique on the front pocket.

I'm thinking $20 a piece for a bag like this one......If you want me please get in touch.

Thankfully Rufus is back to his usual antics and is feeling much better than he had been. Again, thank you everyone for your prayers and drool.

Rufus returns home

The power of prayer (Drool) has proved itself to me again today. After a long weekend of prayer before Ru's appointment with the vet on Monday Rufus has recovered enough to return home. We have gained some precious time with our big, crazy Rufus.
Ru's blood levels returned to a more normal level yesterday and after two days of IV fluids and mega doses of steroids he has returned to his couch to snooze with his friends.
I cannot thank all of you who prayed and from the basset world, sent drool, for Rufus you will never know how much it means to one family and their dogs.

And then there were two.....

I took Rufus to the vet yesterday afternoon. He had to be admitted for IV fluids to try to bring him around. Dr J isn't quite sure yet what's going on but his suspicion is renal failure and not an Addison's crisis. We will know more about our options later today when he has another blood test to check his renal function after hydration.

Tyler is confused and followed me around last night whining as if to say, "Well, where is he?". Hunny is looking for him too but she's a little more reserved.

We've all made the awful decision to part with a beloved pet but it never gets any easier.

More hound pictures and Mr Rufus

Firstly, let me say that Ru was doing much better earlier in the week but has started to slip backward again. Rufus needs our help, strength and love right now. He sees his vet on Monday afternoon to try to figure out what's going on.

I'm adding some pictures of the hounds to my blog so that everyone can see what they look like.

The first picture is Rufus on the Lewes - Cape May ferry on our way to Boardwaddle 2008. The second is an action shot of Tyler running past the Mustang yesterday morning. He loves snow and ice and will happily jump around in it for hours if we let him.

Mustang is forgotten already.....

I'm still basking in the reality of owning a 66 Mustang, my husband has moved onto a Grand Am that needs brake lines. I guess getting the Mustang running didn't take him as long as he thought because this morning he calls from work and says, "Honey, one of the guys at work has a car for sale. A 90 something Grand Am that needs brake work. We can fix it and sell it on ebay. Its worth at least $2500." Meanwhile I'm thinking about the 6 cars we already have in our yard and garages ,where are we going to put another one?!!

Mr Ru is sick too

Poor Rufus the Goofus is sick too.....why do dogs and kids always get sick on the weekends? Ru as I've said in the past has Addison's disease and his health is always a little rocky because of it. Ru has refused food since Friday, very unlike Ru. Normally he eats everything in sight and is still looking for more. I have a call into his vet and we'll be seeing him tomorrow sometime. We're hoping he just needs a medication adjustment and he will return to normal. Droolers out there in cyberspace....do your thing! Ru needs some sent his way.

Baby Emily is sick.

My year old daughter is sick and has been since Dec 22. Emily was a micro-preemie and we're always vigilant about keeping her away from other people who may be sick because her immunity is not what it should be. We didn't succeed this time. At 13 pounds and a year old this little girl cannot afford to stop eating for more than a day or two. Please pray that our little girl returns to normal soon.

The newest toy......

Ok, so as I've said in the past my husband is a car nut. On Monday (Dec 29, 2008) we purchased a 1966 Mustang Coupe. Chuck has been outside in the crazy cold (7 degrees) just sitting in the car to hear it run for the last three days. I love him and I love Mustangs, but that is just CRAZY! As I sit here typing this he's revving the engine and probably pissing off a few neighbors too. I will not get into the neighbor situation today.....I will leave that for another time.
This has been my dream car since I was in high school and to have one sitting in my driveway is amazing to me because I never thought I would own one. Now begins the restoration or the money pit part of owning a classic! Yes the car runs and drives right now but if I know Chuck it won't be running for long. It will be in buckets, boxes and bags spread around the garage while he works on the exterior of the car.
We're now up to 6 cars on our property again and I'm sure we're breaking some rule somewhere. Maybe it's kinda like the kennel license I should have for dogs? More than 4 you need to make sure the government says it's ok???? Who knows. More to come as we being the resoration.