Puppy Love, err.. obsession.

As a matter of fact, it is not an obsession. I actually can hardly stand having those cute little peeing fur balls in my house. I do prefer the older, potty trained, don't wake me up in the middle of the night or early in the morning type fosters. My life has become a little obsessed with the rescue side of things. I have taken the administrator position for Gateway Pet Guardians, the rescue I have fostered for the past couple of years. It's fun. I love the marketing side of it. We are working toward raising enough money to purchase a facility for Gateway. You can read more about our adventure here. Don't worry, I will still be posting here on my blog, about the jewelry and other life's adventures, but I am spreading myself a little thin here lately.

Oh Sherman, You Devil

So, you think that just because you put this sweater on me I am going to be cute, sweet and good? You are so wrong, lady. I am still going to chew on the brand new door stop in your brand new kitchen. And I am still going to pee on everything, including this new cute sweater, that is if I don't chew it off first. Cute I might be, but never good!

Happy Endings!

Do you remember this pup? There were two of them, Uno, now Lulu & Dos, now Daisy. Lulu was adopted to a family who was also in the process of adopting a baby. I was not aware that they were adopting the baby, and it turned out that adopting a puppy and a baby at the same time proved to be a little much for one family. So, Uno found herself back in our home on Monday. She had spent a good portion of the last 10 months in a kennel, because the family did not have time for her. This neglect turned Lulu from a cute puppy with a lot of potential to a one year old dog who is scared of strangers. She is still cute though. Don't worry. The story gets better. I decided to email the woman who adopted Lulu's sister, just to see what her sister's temperament is like. Turns out that the family who adopted Lulu's sister, wanted to adopt Lulu too. I love happy endings. Isn't that just so sweet. Now the two sisters are together again, the Sullivan family has a new addition to it. Lulu already loosened up with all of the attention and wonderful neighborhood kiddos running around. It just makes me so happy.

Here is another one of the pieces I made last week...dedicated to the Sullivan family because they are saints! Flowers for them!

I want a Pony.

I really do want a pony. I want lots of ponies. The beginnings of the rescue are consuming me...in a good way. I feel like I am back in school, learning so much about nonprofits and how to fund a project like this. The best part about it is that I will be offering metalsmithing classes once we get our facility up and running. I cannot wait to start rescuing animals and to start teaching. I cannot imagine any three things I would love to be more involved with on a daily basis; kids, animals and art. What more can you ask for. I have really found my calling. Now we just need to get it up and running. We are accepting donations finally at the Creative Rescue blog. Ain't too proud to plead, baby. We will get this up and running within the next year. Stay posted!

I leave you with the cuteness.

Here I am!

Steve watched the animals while I was gone. In order of the drawing: Frankie, Xena, Herman, Clarence and Floyd. Steve is a saint.
I think toward the end, he was running out of patience. This card was waiting for me when I got home. Notice Clarence jumping the fence in the background, and the puddle on the floor from the puppy. I laughed for about an hour looking at this card. Funniest husband ever.
The weekend in Orland Park was not quite so funny. We arrived on Friday night and set up our tents. Apparently there was a storm the next morning that I slept straight through. When we got there on Saturday morning my tent was all discombobulated . I walked inside to find nothing but my plastic tables and glass on the ground. The joints on my Showoff tent had been duct taped together where they had snapped from it falling. I held back my tears to find a volunteer, thinking that I was just going to pack up and go hang out with my friend Amy who lives in Chicago. This could not have happened at a better show! The volunteers saved everything except one cabinet and my tent. They loaned me a tent. All and all it was a fun show to do and the folks of Orland Park are a great people. Plus, I still got to hang out with my wonderful friend Amy. I also got to meet her lovely son Jonah. He is so cute!

Oh, but the weekend is not over. After the show on Sunday we packed up to drive home, got on the road around 6 p.m. and headed for home. About an hour into the trip the van quit working in a town called Gardner, IL. Never heard of it? Me neither. That's because there is a gas station there. That's it. No motel, no cab service, no tow company. It took us 2.5 hours to finally track down a tow truck that could come get us and bring us to the nearest civilization about 15 miles away. Turned out that the transmission broke in the van. Pretty much not worth repairing. I won't go into the gory details of that situation, but let's just say that poor Heather and Ben left their van to live in Dwight, IL. Ben drove the 4 hours to come retrieve us from Dwight. We sat in the same and only restaurant in Dwight for 5 hours. Ate breakfast and lunch there. Stared at each other. Laughed at the situation. There may have been a few tears too. It was quite the fiasco. It was so nice to be home on Monday, only to leave for Sheboygan on Friday.

These are pictures of all of our stuff that barely fit in the truck that Ben drove up. I don't think we could have fit another dime in there.

Heather hating on her van. no longer her van at this point.

Me stuffed in the extended cab, ready for my four hour trip home!
I don't want to talk about Sheboygan. Let's just say that I am considering not traveling out of state for shows anymore. The good news is that we figured out a way for my tent and all of my supplies to fit in my car. Steve does not have to sell blue thunder, and I get to keep my 40 mpg Yaris. Yippee!

Herman found a home! He was adopted by the sweetest couple near St. Louis. I hope he does silly things like this for them. He is going to be so happy there. He just jumped right in their car, ready for his new perma-home.
The new blog for our rescue has begun. It will document our journey in starting our own rescue and art education center. Click the link below to read more about us.

Pointless Picture

This is the chair I was supposed to be sitting in to take a picture of myself wearing the necklace below.
I call this necklace Teach & Grow. You can put your own meaning behind it.

I am getting ready to go out to the Jefferson County Animal Control to take photos of a cute 8 year old German Wired Haired Pointer. Trying to get a specific rescue to take the poor guy. He just looks so miserable. I will post pictures of him when I get home. He is probably going to be euthanized tomorrow if someone does not rescue. It is the same for all of the animals there. Always in danger of being put down. It is so sad. And people put their animals in this position. There are so many owner surrenders to this place where they know their dog or cat will be killed. I just don't get it. I will show you this cutie when I get home.

Fling, Flang, Flung

Flang is not a conjugation of fling.
I just flung toothpaste in my eye. There was no one else to tell about it besides the dogs, and it burns really bad. I flushed with water, so I think I will be ok. I used to wear contacts, and had to use eye drops all of the time. One time in high school before the Switch dance (is that what it was called?...girl invites boy), I accidentally put ear drops in one eye. Only one eye, trust me. It hurt so bad. My ma wanted to take me to the emergency room, but I just HAD to go to my dance. My aunt Colleen had made this cute, sparkly, gold dress, and I could not pass up the chance to wear it. So, I flushed and danced the night away. What all this has to do with that cute lady bug up there, I have no idea. I was just in my garden and there she was. I thought she was pretty, so I ran in and got the camera. I set the camera on the patio table after I was finished and then turned the sprinkler on. Almost lost another camera. If you remember, Steve jumped in the ocean with our camera on our honeymoon.

You're scaring me a little bit, little puppy, please don't kill me.

Oh, wait, I'm bigger than you.

Actually that was Frankie yawning. But, she is a little scared of the puppy. As are all of the big dogs. They don't get it. I try to tell them that they were all once little pups, but they don't believe me.

I took Xena: Warrior Princess to the vet to investigate a few problems. The sores on her foot and tail are from her sitting in her own feces for an unthinkable amount of time. Who leaves a puppy sitting in her own feces long enough for it to eat through her skin? This is a prime example of why I need to start the animal rescue people education camp I spoke about in this blog entry. Not only do a ton of animals need saving, but a TON of people need some teaching as well. I thought I would document the process of beginning the rescue camp in this blog. Eventually I will start an entire new blog devoted to the camp, but for now, events should be far enough in between that I will talk about it here. Currently, I am reading this very exciting book. It would be quite the snore if I was not so excited about doing this. As soon as I get through this, we will begin writing our articles, file to incorporate, and then file as a 501(C)(3), tax exempt charity. Woo! I think I got all that right. I am still learning. I have been looking for land too. LOTS of land. We are going to have to raise the money to purchase the land, so it may be a little bit of time, but I know we have our first donors. I am looking at 150 acres in Marthasville. I would prefer to do it somewhere a little more touristy, like Ste. Genevieve, but land is quite a bit more out there. If you have any suggestions where I can find 150 or more acres, near St. Louis, please let me know.