Happy Thanks-Blogville Day!

Hi everyone! It’s Millie & Walter here. We just want to take some time here to thank all of our friends in Blogville for being so loving and supportive to all of us through the years. Our mom told us all about how supportive you were to our Angel sister Nina during her last year of life.

Nina: March 1998 – September 2012

Your love and caring helped our pawrents through some tough times during Nina’s last months and it sure helped to have Blogville by their side.

We are also thankful for the warm welcome we each received when we moved into our forever home and also became citizens of the magical world of Blogville. How else could we ever meet so many great pets and their pawrents and take virtual trips to Paris with our friends?

Enjoying a leisurely walk along the river Seine.

We have lots of fun, and love sharing our adventures and life with all of you. Our mom wants to give a special thanks to everyone for the crossed paws, prayers, and vibes coming her way. Her recent doctor visit didn’t give her any reason for her problems but ruled out some more possibilities. She now has some new medication to hopefully make her feel better.

Happy Thanks-Blogville Day

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends in the United States and Happy Thanks-Blogville Day to everyone!

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Snuggles on Sunday

Hi everyone! It’s Millie & Walter here. Today we are joining our friends at The Poupounette with a Sunday Snuggle post (we hope they have one today too).

We only have one picture but it is how nap time goes for us every day.

A Charlie Sandwich

This is what we like to call a Charlie Sandwich. A slice of Millie on the left, a slice of Walter on the right and some Charlie meat in the middle. BOL! Our daddy usually gets in bed first and we always sandwich him with our bodies. He loves it and falls fast asleep in this position. He was so sound asleep that he didn’t even know mom snapped this picture with a flash!

We hope all of you have a very Snuggly Sunday. Our mom could use a little POTP for tomorrow as she has her follow up appointment with the neurologist and should get the results from her biopsy.

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Hooking on Hump Day – Halloween Costumes for Millie & Walter

Hi everyone it’s Cindy here. I know it’s been a couple weeks since my last post so I thought I would start with a little health update. If you missed out on what is going on you can check out my previous post to learn about my surgery. I am recovering well and had my stitches out this past Monday. I’m now cleared to drive although the nerve discomfort (from the surgery) makes walking painful so I have only ventured out when absolutely necessary. I see the neurologist this coming Monday and expect to get the results from my biopsy. Please keep all the Power of the Paw and Good Thoughts coming so that hopefully I can get some relief soon.

Okay now on to the reason for this post. If you remember I crocheted Millie & Walter costumes for this past Halloween.

Walter & Millie as
Stan Marsh & Wendy Testaburger

Of course they were thrilled with their sweaters and hats as you can see above (really what dog is?) but they indulged me enough to get a picture. When I set out to make the sweaters I searched the internet for a pattern but couldn’t find one that was exactly what I wanted. I finally decided to use this dog sweater pattern I found on the Lion Brand site as a guide and started out creating my pieces. I used the pattern to determine the dimensions of the back piece and the chest piece and just used single crochet.

Walter’s Sweater
Large back piece on right and chest piece on left

I decided to add buttons to the pattern instead of trying to squeeze their legs into the holes if I had sewn the sweater completely closed. Millie & Walter are both very good about not fidgeting and let me put them on and button them up easily. My two pups both weigh 50 pounds but are built slightly differently. Walter has a larger chest and after sewing together the back and chest pieces as described in the pattern it didn’t fit. I made the chest piece bigger and it still didn’t fit across Walter’s chest so I added a few rows at the neck line to give him some more room. You can see the extra rows, that go crosswise in the picture below, at the top of the triangle where the leg hole is.

Chest piece with button eyelets

I liked the idea of these fairly simple costumes for this year since I was really just creating basic sweaters. Neither Millie or Walter have had the need for a sweater to keep warm while outside but this way we will have them if needed.

Millie’s sweater

For the neck I made a ribbed collar by using a technique I learned from making baby booties. To complete the sweaters I covered buttons to match the sweaters.

Covered buttons

I found a few patterns for covered buttons online and improvised from them based on the weight of the yarn I was using and the size of my buttons. I have a large collection of buttons and figured instead of buying buttons to match the yarn I would just cover what I had and use them. I was able to pull out of my button stash enough buttons of the same size for both sweaters. To close the sweaters I created chain stitch eyelets.

Walter’s Stan Marsh hat

The hats were also a bit of improvisation. For Walter’s hat I started with the pattern from the Stan Marsh Amigurumi I made. When it got to the ear holes I just created the holes with some chain stitches. I fit the spacing for the holes by marking them to where Walter’s ears actually fit on the hat.

Ear hole and chin strap on Stan Marsh hat

I added an elastic strap to hold it on. Even though the elastic is a little thick you can’t really see it when it is on. It is just tight enough to keep the hat on his head without pulling the hat down too much.

A cute pink beret with a covered button on top

Millie’s hat was also improvised. I started with the same pattern for Walter’s hat but then had to figure out how to make the beret shape. I again found a few patterns on the internet and used them as a guide for the shaping. I’m really pleased with how it came out and hope she will let me put it on her again some time. I topped the hat off with another covered button.

Chin strap and ear holes for Millie’s hat

To get the hat to stay on this time I used thinner elastic that I hand sewed it as seen above.

As always I had fun creating these outfits for the pups. I used worsted weight yarn and an “I-9” (5.5mm) hook for all the pieces.

 

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Post Surgical Update

Hi everyone it’s Cindy here. Thanks so much for your good thoughts, prayers,crossed paws and vibes coming my way. Yesterday went more smoothly than I had imagined. A very big thank you to my mom for hanging out with me at the hospital all day so Charlie could entertain Millie & Walter at home. I have to give the most of the staff at Strong Memorial Hospital an A+ rating for making my day go so well. I’m only taking off a slight bit for whoever is responsible for putting these things on me because…

ECG monitor pad

last night I discovered two of them still stuck to my left side and this morning I found another one on my right side! LOL! Of course I’m just kidding since there really was no harm done. I chalk up my inability to feel them to my use of drugs to ease my pain.

My foot is wrapped with cotton and an ace bandage.

Cindy’s post surgery foot

The incision was made on the left side of my leg where they took out some muscle and nerve for testing. My skin has a bit of an Oompa Loompa color from the antiseptic stuff they use on you before the surgery. I’m at about 24 hours post surgery as I write this and doing well. I will be able to shower tomorrow with a bag on my foot and can take the wrap off on Friday.

I’m supposed to keep my foot elevated as much as possible, not walk much and take stairs only when I’m up to it so for the past day and for at least a couple more I’m holed up in our bedroom. That means that Charlie and the pups are waiting on me hand and foot.

A little to the left Walter…that’s better…thanks.

And I mean that literally! LOL!

So the only issue I have had with this whole process is that when I met with the surgeon for a pre-operative appointment he did not tell me any of the restrictions I would have post surgery. One of the main ones is that I’m not supposed to drive until he clears me and according to the receptionist at his office that won’t be at least until 2 weeks from yesterday when my follow up appointment is to get my stitches out! He also gave me no clue that I wouldn’t be able to get around my house much afterwards so it’s a good thing I don’t live alone. I guess I didn’t realize how deep they would be going and that my leg would be wrapped up so I couldn’t even put shoes on. The moral of this story is to ask more questions about how you will feel after surgery when talking to your surgeon.

Overall I’m doing as good as can be expected. I’m trying to not take the heavy drugs and have switched to just ibuprofen (which seems to be working fine). Please keep your paws crossed and the good vibes coming my way so I don’t have any complications down the road and that the doctors will be able to use the biopsy to help with the neuropathy.

I am mostly using my Kindle to read blogs since sitting in bed with the computer on my lap isn’t that comfortable so please excuse me if I don’t comment much for a few days. Millie & Walter also have their paws crossed for the many other Blogville residents both human and animal that need some good vibes coming their way. Thanks for all you have sent our way too.

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Mischief Monday – Pots in the Yard

What happens when two plumbers spend about 4 hours at your house? You end up with pots in your front yard.

The good news is that nobody can actually see this part of our yard from the road so it doesn’t look quite as hickish as it seems. Charlie will be breaking these up and putting them in the trash little by little.

We’ve lived in our house for over 24 years and when we moved in these colorful bathroom fixtures were in vogue. The problem is that over the years the seats have started to deteriorate and since they are old and such odd colors we can’t get replacements for them. The only solution was to replace them with new models.

New pedestal sink and toilet

In our powder room we also replaced the sink since the previous one matched the navy blue toilet. We figured it would look a little funny to have mismatched colors.

A plus about getting new toilets is that they use much less water than the old ones and that is good for the environment.

On another note I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m having a minor outpatient surgery today. The surgery is in the afternoon so I might not be around to read blogs all day. I’ve been having problems with peripheral neuropathy for many months and I will be having a biopsy done on my effected nerves. The hope is that the doctor will be able to prescribe new drugs that will get rid of or at least improve the neuropathy. I would appreciate all the POTP you can send my way to help calm my nerves over the procedure (and hopefully get some relief for my messed up nerves too).

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