Dottie's First Easter

Technically this was Dottie's second Easter, but since we adopted her in July of 2010, it was her first Easter as part of our family.

The day started bright and early...sometime in the 6 o'clock hour. It was a little too early for us humans, so I pulled Dottie into bed with me. A dangerous move, I know, but it totally worked.

After a while we decided to go ahead and get out of bed, get dressed and travel to my parent's house. Dottie loves it there because there are lots of people to pester and a big grassy backyard to romp in.

She can also do this...

Take that Uncle Bruno! I'm tired from all the playing and I'm taking over your bed! Then I'm going to run around while the kids try to find Easter eggs.

Really, Dottie still does plenty of puppy things. She still nippy, but she's growing up and John and I can tell. We even took down her crate and started letting her sleep in her own bed at night. Sniff...sniff. My baby's all grown up. Ha! But then she'll do something naughty and we realize she's not quite there yet. Oh, and as you can see she's feeling all better again. Yay!

Dottie's Home

She's home and resting. Dottie will need to take it easy for a while, but thankfully recovering.

I can't wait to go home from work and pet her soft pretty head.

Sniff Sniff

After a wonderful weekend marking John's return home...things have turned sad. Dottie is in the animal hospital overnight.

Last night we noticed Dottie was walking with an arched back and not using her rear right leg much. After sleeping and resting it didn't seem to be getting better...so John took her to the vet.

After doing a few tests....

Good News: Doesn't appear to be a broken leg, slipped disc, or pulled muscle.

Bad News: They think it is nerve damage from the medication she took for the giardia.

Can you feel our frustration? I think she can fully recover, but what do we do if the giardia is still not gone?

At least John, Dottie and I had 24 hours of bliss together. We bought and hung curtains in the living room, stocked up on supplies and food for our house guests (Hi Andrew and Yuri, we're excited for you to come), had a nice meal, etc.

Home Again

Today John returns after an entire month away from Dottie and I. Its been a long month, but in many it was also easier than when he was gone for a week.

Let's start with Dottie...

Dottie has been battling parasites the entire month. She woke me up in the middle of the night vomiting three times. We've gone to the vet with bloody stools. I've figured out a way to feed her really bitter tasting pills, and a way to force cherry flavored antibiotics down her throat. She's woken up early more times than she's slept in.

But she also learned how to walk on a leash better thanks to her new Easy Walk harness. She also only had one accident in the entire month. (It was while I was at work.) She also started doing tricks for her medicine thanks to the invention of pill pockets. I think John's going to be surprised with how mature Dottie has become.

I also did a lot of knitting.

I finished a short-sleeved cardigan for Kristin's birthday.

...a short-sleeved sweater for myself (that I then gave away to my aunt Jennifer)

...I've been working away on the Mata Hari sweater

...and lastly started a new spring weight cardigan.

Dottie and I also started our garden for this year. So far we have arugula, kale, two types of tomato, green peppers...

and strawberries and cucumbers.

Tomatoes are for John. Cucumbers for me. Everything else is something we both enjoy. I'm just hoping I get a few of the strawberries this year. John's such a berry loving freak and I don't think I got a single berry last year. 

Next time he goes away I'll try to learn a synonym for the word 'also'. 

Crazy Day!

Today has been crazy at work.

First.. the CEO of Starbucks was here (through an outside rental). We served everyone at the event Peets coffee. I find this highly amusing.

Its also the day of the school's gala. Outside my office there has been a constant stream of craziness. General hallways are now filled with formal dining tables for the dinner. Employees are about to loose their minds. 'The Tap floor isn't set up yet!' 'We need more practice rooms' 'Lunch...what's lunch?'

I'm just trying to stay in my own little corner and carry on.

I did steal away a little sunshine too. It was way quieter on the plaza than in my office.

And tonight Birthday dinner with Kristin. Yes!

Dottie and Her Little Friends

This post may not be for the faint of heart...

You see Dottie's little friends are not so much friends as they are foes. Today she finishes her 6th or 7th treatment for Giardia in less than a year.

We are incredible frustrated.

Those suckers are kicking our butt and I'm fed up with it.

Dottie has been such a joy in our lives and this has been by far the greatest hurtle.

We wash all linens in the house.
We mop the floors and vacuum.
We wash her.
We feed her the medication.
We stopped taking her to the dog park.
We wipe her butt every time she goes to the bathroom.
We started feeding her vegetables, olive oil, yogurt, and immunity booster in hopes of bolstering her digestive tract.
We bleach all her toys and bowls.

So fingers crossed that this is the last time she needs to be treated for this. Otherwise I'm going to have to resort to the holistic treatments my boss recommended.

And I'm going to go crazy on the vets office.

But look at how cute she is! She's even turned into a VERY well behaved walker since I got her an Easy Walk harness. Magical.

My first Test Knit: Momo

I recently dipped my hand into the world of test knitting. I got an unreleased pattern then knit the pattern for the designer to make sure there were no errors and the end product turned out correct. Some people are compensated for doing this, but when testing for a small designer you usually use yarn from your own stash and get the pattern for free. Its pretty cool to see the process. Most designers have already knit the piece up in one size and just need to make sure the grading was correct for all the other sizes. So for the most part you're checking for math errors and typos.

Enter Momo...

Pattern: Momo (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino in Pink Panther
Yardage: 738 yards
Timeline: February 19th to March 11th

The testing process was fairly smooth. Terri Kruse has already written a few patterns so the formatting was great. Really just a couple typos were found between all the testers.

Its a totally cute sweater. Elbow length sleeves, square neckline, and cable pattern down the front. The yarn is yummy. 50% wool 50% silk this thing is SOFT! But...its just not for me. I like my pullover sweaters to be fitted and have some structure. One thing I didn't get from the designer's pictures, was the way the underarm fits. Kind of low for my preference. This is partly my fault, since I haven't used this type of yarn before, I had no idea it would stretch as much as it does. Really I think the sweater is just better suited to wear with jeans and maybe over a t-shirt or long sleeved shirt rather than with a skirt and heels.

So...if anyone wants this beauty...its yours. Its sized for a 35' bust, but I think it could fit up to a 38' bust and maybe larger. Its about 14 inches long from the underarm and I found it plenty long enough to go over the top of pants. It has slight waist shaping, but nothing dramatic (also an issue for me...I need more waist shaping). So if your interested leave me your contact information and we'll sort out the details.