My Week Went to the Dogs

From Tuesday last to Tuesday (today), I was part of a pet-sitting team for my niece's pets. She and her four children and Hubby had a brief respite from the snow and cold, spending the week in sunny Florida. Of course, the pups had to stay home.

I played the night nurse part of the team and a neighbor, Shannon, was the day nurse. I got to sleep with them - yay. I use the word "sleep" lightly. Today they woke me up at 4 am. Yesterday, it was 2:45 am. Most days were 6:30 ish and there was even an 8:30 am thrown in (I don't know where that came from but I wish there were more of them)

My doggie nephews are Labradoodles. One ivory and the other black. Benny (Bentley) and Jett by name.

Note: Elton John wrote a song called "Benny the Jet". Found that out while looking through a music book of his songs which was on the piano in the music room at their house. I was so totally distracted while doing my job that I neglected to get a picture of them while I was pet sitting. So I "googled" Labradoodles and found a couple of pics that, I think, even their family would think was them.

These are large dogs. I would guess about 32" tall, about 38" long, very furry. When they jump on your bed, you know it. And they don't just jump up, they "paw" you to consciousness along with some whining. This was my alarm clock every day.


After I got them fed and exercised and used up enough time so that they wouldn't have to be alone too long until the day nurse came, I would leave for the day. Then return after supper and spend the night with them again.

When one leaves them alone in the house, one sequesters them in the laundry room which has a sliding door which they can open and escape. I did not know that. So, after having incarcerated them safely one day, they helped themselves to freedom and ate the baby niece's puppet theater (which was under her crib) and had a bedroom slipper for dessert. The foul evidence of this escapade is waiting on the kitchen counter for the Mom and Dad to see upon their return tonight.

They did neglect to tell me that after closing the laundry room door, they secure it with one of those "hook and eye" type locks. They probably thought I knew about this extra precaution. I did learn that lesson the hard way.

From this experience, I also learned that I DO NOT WANT A PET OF ANY TYPE, and having TWO (dos, due, zwei) dogs is akin to having roughly a dozen two year old toddlers.

PROMOTION - ENDORSE - RECOMMEND

I'm a member of the Christian Artists Street Team on etsy. castteam for short. One of the things I think the castteam does best is to be cheerleaders for the other team members.

We have several weekly events that ALL team members may take part in.

We'll start with the weekend. On Friday evenings, the HELP ONE ANOTHER event kicks off. It lasts all weekend. The instructions for participating are on the thread. Go to the castteam homepage > look for discussions > look for HELP ONE ANOTHER > read instructions. In this event you'll enter an item from your shop that you would like to see the views increase. Your item will be promoted by the other participants. They'll use Face Book, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Pintrest. They'll "favorite" the item and add it to treasuries, etc.

You should make a note of the number of views this item has as you enter it then compare it against the view count on Sunday night, when the event is closed.

As this event is coming to a close, another one is starting up. This one begins on Saturday evening. It's called the "treasury event". This week we are working on treasury event #34. Two shops are randomly chosen from among those who have previously made treasuries for the treasury event. Below, you'll see the treasury I made for this event. The idea is to create a treasury/treasuries  featuring those two shops selected. Again, the treasuries are promoted in as many places as possible. Looking for the the thread? Again, go to the castteam homepage - look under "discussions" for treasury event # .......... (most recent date)

The castteam does have a Face Book page.  https://www.facebook.com/castteametsy?ref=hl
This page can be used for promotion.

On Wednesday's of each week, the castteam has a "blog blitz". The thread is actually opened on Tuesday evening so that bloggers can begin to post their blogs on this thread. If you have a blog, by all means, join in. Find it the same way, always being sure to post yours in THIS weeks thread. If your blog gets posted in a long past thread, it may not get noticed by any readers. This thread stays open for a couple days.

In the treasury below, the links are clickable.

If you are a castteam member, you belong to an awesome team where you'll receive tons of support.

'"Orange is the happiest color".......Frank Sinatra' by sammysgrammy

Treasury Event #34 starring :http://www.etsy.com/shop/seikashophttp://www.etsy.com/shop/LeahBelovedfeaturing half castteam shops and half etsyland shops

Felted Fairy Elephant, Ayana seikashop $32.00	Tangerine Valentine stretch ... LeahBeloved $5.75	Cloud Pillow - Nursery Decor... bunbunbabydesi... $25.00	Felted Wool Flower Hair Clip... SesameSeedDesi... $8.00
Orange Crush Pin Cushion, Pi... bethbader $12.00	MarveLes CRAZY DAISY Quilt T... marveles $175.00	FLASH SALE Vanilla Macarons ... LeBonbonLA $18.00	Suspenders and Bowtie Set Bo... MeandMatilda $45.99
Convertible Infinity Dress K... PinkGingerBout... $69.99	ACEO Original ATC City Urban... Aloquin $9.00	Personalized Chevron Umbrell... ThreeLindys $25.00	I Forgot Card Gray Elephant ... TheOrangeWindm... $4.00
handmade plush orange fox, O... sleepyking $28.00	Vintage Postage Stamp Solder... metrocottage $21.50	Hot Pink and Orange Paper Ga... FabulouslyHome... $10.00	Orange Hammock, Handwoven Ni... veronicacolind... $80.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Recycling - Upcycling - Reusing - Repurposing

My castteam-mate, NaNa, from NaNa Things blogged this week about how anxious she is for springtime so she can go "hunting" without coats, boots, gloves, etc. Where she's free to dig, dig, dig in relative freedom. Here's her blog.

http://www.musingsofavintagejunkie.blogspot.com/2013/02/anxious-for-hunt.html

I even have a special purse I bring along with me when I go on this type of outing. It's a tiny little thing, flat, cross body. It fits my license, a couple dollars, a credit card, even a pen and tiny notebook - plus has a clip for my keys. It doesn't dangle behind me like my big black purse, whacking everything in a 3 foot radius. It stays right up close to my body.

The "hunting" of which I speak is:  hunting for good, sale-able vintage wares. NaNa sells hers in her vintage etsy shop.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/NanNasThings

I generally re-purpose estate sale finds..

We've both been to the same Volunteers of America shop in the past few days. Read about what she bought, on her blog.

I bought a men's dress shirt. I wanted to re-purpose it into the back part of a pillow cover. The buttons on the shirt make a convenient slot to slide the pillow in and out for laundering purposes.The front of this pillow is also an up-cycled textile. This one was rescued at an estate sale, where often times one will find all the household linens spread out on a bed in one of the bedrooms. When I come upon a scene like this and there's all kinds of crochet work, embroidery, and lace, I almost begin swooning, I am so overcome. I am tossing linen into my reusable bag with wild abandon.

Once home with my haul, it all gets examined to determine how to launder it. I love hanging it out of doors to dry. Another reason why we want winter to be over and done with.

The front of my pillow cover is one end of what was once called a dresser scarf. Both ends of this glorious piece of linen were embroidered with a colorful bowl of flowers. Many artful stitches were used in it's execution. I so respect the skill of these embroiderers, crocheters, and needle-workers of old and am sad that their labors of love are often are so unappreciated - I just have to rescue them before they languish  in a landfill.

Since the original articles are no longer in fashion, I re-design them into something that is in fashion. And, voila !! The treasured heirloom has a new life.