Saturday, January 31, 2009

I'm in business!!!

I finally got my Etsy page set up. www.warpony.etsy.com should get you there if you want to check it out. I spent all day finishing my bit cozy things and then listing all this stuff. Tell me what you think! I can use constructive criticism, this is the first time I have ever done anything like this!



Tsu seems entirely back to normal already. Thankfully!


I still want to comment on that thing from Dr. Phil but I am just plain all tuckered out.

Don't forget, tomorrow is the drawing for the January give awayand the announcement of the winner! I will be announcing the February give away item this week, along with instructions on how to win it, and I will also be answering some Ask Pony questions in the next few days. I haven't been making weekly "Ask Pony" posts because I am not getting many questions. *hint hint*

Thursday, January 29, 2009

*update on Tsu*

He is home, medicated and tucked in to bed. He got a CT scan and all that blood work and they THINK it is a viral infection in his spinal cord (Translation: His blood work was normal and the only thing they found on his CT was enlarged lymph nodes). So they basically sent him home and said, "Sleep, keep hydrated, take ibuprofen for pain and if it gets worse get back here ASAP."


Somehow I am not finding that terribly reassuring. *sigh*

*Panic*

Tsu's dad rushed him to the emergency room at 6:30 this morning. He is being sent for a CT scan. This is not related to his digestive issues. Yesterday he was feeling a little stiff necked, then when he was microwaving his left over meatloaf his whole neck seized up and shot pain down his back. He walked around all evening like Frankenstein's monster, but thought he might have just moved wrong and it might let up.

He is on days this week for training, so he got up this morning to go to work and could barely move without his face going beet red and him almost passing out from the pain. He also said it feels like his throat is closing off. So he was going to wait until the doctors office opened to see if he could get an appointment and he said, "They might just tell me to go to the ER."

I said, "Don't wait, go to the ER. Call your folks and see if your dad can take you."

"He probably isn't up yet." he said.

"I know, but your mom is, and she hasn't left for work yet. She can get him up."

So he called and 10 minutes later his dad was on his way to pick him up.

Tsu is worried because he got bit by a barn cat a week and a half ago when it sneaked (snuck?) into the house and he caught it and tried to get it outside before the dogs got hurt by it. Everything but one small tooth mark has healed up fine but that still has him freaked out, and I'll admit it has me a little freaked out too.

Anyway, he was medicated for the pain and getting fluids, had several vials of blood drawn and some swabs and stuff taken, I think, and was waiting to get in for his CT scan when he called me to fill me in.

*totally freaking out, but pretending to hold it together*

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Note to self....

I am posting this so I remember to comment on it later. On Dr. Phil (which i do not normally watch but there is jack diddly squat on right now) there is a young couple. Married 8 months. Wife is clingy and controlling and quite frankly scares me. She made this guy sell his horses because, she says, "Horses aren't a hobby, they are a life style."


I'll comment on that tomorrow.

Cock-a-doodle DIE!!!!!

So, the rooster hates us. He hates the cats, the ponies, the rabbit, the humans... he hates his house, he hates his cage, he hates when cars go by him in the driveway. He is like a handsome little bundle of poultry anger and disgust.


It really does make him quite charming. Dangerous maybe, but to me... absolutely charming.

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This was the unfortunate fellow who we called "Elizabeth" until he was about 6 months old and started to crow. That may or may not be why he is so full of anger and hatred towards us. Another part may be because for the next 6 to 12 months we kept him in his 2x12 cage. But as he got more angry and aggressive I just decided to let him out. he would either try to kill us and we would have to knock him out in self defense or he would lighten up a little and be happier.

Well, the good news is that he is MUCH happier. He still hates us. Yes he hates us with a passion you can see on his little chicken face (I know, you wouldn't think a chicken could express emotion on it's face and yet somehow he does it really effectively), but he has backed off on the whole "I'm going to kill you, and your children, and use your bodies as a food source until you are nothing but bones" attitude.

This makes me happy because I may be the only person alive who really REALLY likes him.

Unfortunately, today I had to do something grossly unpleasant to him for his own (and our) good that completely risked our current good relationship. I had to make him safer so that when he does try to kill people he is less capable of actually accomplishing that.He has been letting me catch him without trying to put my eyes out since the last cold spell when he refused to go in his house OR let me catch him. I was worried he would die of the cold but the snot was NOT letting me help him. As soon as the weather warmed up a little he was like, "Oh, ok, now that it doesn't MATTER any more you can catch me if you want."

So after feeding the ponies and watering the rabbit and rooster I came in the house and got the dog nail trimmers and an old ratty woven rug I used to use in my dog's cage as a blanket, doubled up on my layers for padding in case he fought back, and headed into battle.

He knew something was up. He wasn't terribly thrilled, and tried to run away. I simply followed him, slowly, until he stopped and looked confused and cocked an eye at me inquisitively as if to say, "What, exactly, do you think you are DOING?"

I grabbed him by the shoulders, lifted him quickly and tucked him under my arm, took him to where I had left the woven throw rug, crouched down and tossed the rug over his head. SUCCESS!

OK, small informational blurb about roosters. They have "Spurs". They are more like, um, razor blades with which said rooster can disembowel you if he tries.

So... I did some research (on that page above and elsewhere)and decided to just snip the tips off to blunt them some. I did that (he didn't seem to notice even though he did bleed a little but not much) then noticed that his nails were wicked as well. OK, I know I am a freak about this but I can not stand long nails on an animal. EVERYTHING around here gets nail trims. Cats, dogs, rabbit and now.... rooster. OK, so nails and spurs are trimmed and I pull back the rug to see how angry his face looks and realize that he could still seriously put my eye out with that beak. NOOOO I'm not going to chop his whole beak off, but the top of his beak was growing down over the bottom and getting a hook on it. I was wondering why he seemed to have some difficulty eating some things, and that would be why. So OFF with the over growth of that too! He just stared at me, looking quite handsome with his now nicely matched and blunted beak.

I sat him down in the snow and tossed out the stale cereal I had brought out to reward him once the bad stuff was over and he looked up at me for a second, looked at the cereal, then ignored me and ate his treat.

When i went back out later to make sure he wasn't still bleeding from where I nicked the quick on his spur he chattered at me and walked up to me and sat down in the snow by my feet!!

Amazing. I treat him like a king, spoil him rotten, and he hates me. I wrap him in a rug and chop pieces off of him and suddenly he enjoys my company.


Stupid Chicken!!


But maybe now he doesn't want me to die after all.

*sigh*

Someone, please, remind me to never give up hope.

Yesterday they had a huge conference call "meeting" for my husband's company. The big news? All lower level employees will be required to take a pay cut until June. Of course the guys in the top 10% of the pay scale for the company aren't giving up a thing.

*insert string of foul language*

I was going to rant about the details but they don't matter. It's the same crap that is going on everywhere. The point is that my dream horse was within reach and now with this? How can I justify spending the money even if I can get it together, when we just lost part of our income and things are tight to begin with?

*sobs*

Tsu keeps telling me not to give up hope. He says we can still make it work, part of why they are doing this is to fund the bonuses this spring so this should be a good sign, even if it screws us over for the next 5 months.

So I'm not giving up, but at this point it will take a miracle. The good thing is that I believe in miracles... and if I can't get my dream horse I can still get a great local horse for next to nothing to keep me happy until I CAN get my dream horse.

The problem is that I am already emotionally invested in the horse I WANT. His seller is bending over backwards to help me get him, even offering to deliver him for next to nothing.

*whine*

I'm going to go ahead and start listing Sparrow for sale as soon as I get a current measurement on him. I wanted to wait until he had more rides on him but if I can sell him now it will help. Same with the property up north, though I doubt that will sell for what I am going to ask for it.

THIS is why I try not to get too excited when things look like they are going good... if I expect it to turn out crappy I feel a lot less devastated when things go wrong. I let my self get excited and now I feel awful.

I'll snap out of it pretty quick, I am sure. And things are not hopeless. But right now I think I need to wallow in my misery for a minute or two.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Out Of My Gourd, Again!!

I finished another one yesterday. This one is done with woodburner, acrylics, paste wax, crochet string and pieces of grape vine.

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I have two more that will be "trinket box" types (in other words, a bowl with a lid, instead of just a bowl). I think both of those will be horse themed ones.

I'm really stumped on how much to ask for these things. I need to do more research.

Monday, January 26, 2009

The Divine Day.

Saturday was... amazing.

There is NEVER anything worth watching on television during the day on Saturdays. I had two books I wanted to read (one that my daughter wants to read and another that has been on my reading list for some time). It was cold outside, Tsu was sleeping because, you know, night shift and all that. So I cleared out my funky satellite dish chair (it normally holds a bean bag chair and my stability ball), tossed a few extra blankets over it, started a fire in the fireplace, grabbed my little couch pillow, my favorite blanket, two books, a hot cup of coffee and my dog and settled in for the day.


All day.


From about 9:30 am until Tsu got up around 6pm. I kept the fire going (the house smelled fan-freakin-tastic). After the first hour or so it was warm enough in there that I kicked the blanket off to one side and stretched my toes out towards the fire. Nigel curled into the curve of my arm with his head resting on my chest and I read.

And read.

And read.

At one point I stopped to go kiss my ponies on their fuzzy little noses and stock up on more fire wood. I noshed on some left overs. I made more coffee. And I just reveled in the peace and quiet and heat. No radio, no TV, no computer. Just me, my dog, a book and a fire.

You know, I think some times you need to hit your "reset" button. Reboot your psychological, emotional and physical "operating system". I think that is what happened on Saturday. You know how when you wake up and stretch your muscles really well for a split second you have that indescribable feeling where your muscles are reacting to the stretch? Well, I feel like I had a great big stretch.

My little sanctuary is actually our storage room. The dog crates are on there, boxes of stuff I have no room for in the kitchen cabinets, the cat litter boxes, my daughter's computer. Because of that I have been unable to use it and enjoy the fireplace until recently when we did some cleaning and organizing and I brought in the old chair i had forgot I had.

Here is my chair, my cat hair covered blanket, and my companion:

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And my fire:

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*sigh* It was divine.