goings on - monday 11/09/09

ran Grace to the vet this morning. fully expected a Lyme's disease diagnosis, but instead found out that Gracie had fractured one of her toenails and was in quite a lot of pain. poor little bugger. the nail was hidden under her fur, so when we were palpating her paw, we weren't really see it under all the fur. she's on meds and is to take it easy for a few days.

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So tomorrow is Tucker's birthday. for those of you who don't know, Tucker is special needs. He was a victim of medical malpractice at the age of 16 months old and due to negligence was left severely brain injured. it is difficult to talk about, so i often skim over it as if telling a story that happened to someone else, not me. i try not to let this tragedy dictate my life and work hard to find peace with the hand i have been dealt. so my sweet boy is turning 20 tomorrow and i wanted to give him a gift that had meaning and purpose. i thought long and hard and discussed my idea with Dillon (my younger son), who whole heartedly approved my idea. tucker is classified as cortically blind, which is a yet another side affect of a brain injury. so he does not see well. but his auditory skills are absolutely amazing. so my idea was to give him some little birds who make enough noise and chatter to amuse and delight him, but not enough to overwhelm him after awhile. dillon and i picked out these 2 zebra finches and will be picking them up tomorrow while tuck is in school. i let dillon name them, so i chose to call them "Gambit and Rogue" after some X-men characters.

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in other news, this BEAUTIFUL ring arrived in the mail today. it was from my friend, Barbe St. John. We both realized that each of us had an article in the Dec. issue of Belle Amoire Jewelry, so we emailed each other our article proofs and i just adored the ring she made. sure looks pretty on my hand! i am quite lucky to have such thoughtful and generous friends.
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books, jewelry and classes

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here is my book from Judy's class this past weekend. i didn't get any of the inside pages done. i just played with my cover. my thought was to make it look really old, but also as if it was falling apart and somone tried to repair it with some handmade stitching, etc. on the inside and the side panel, i used this wonderful old upholstery fabric picked up at the flea market. it has these beautiful birds on it. and it is quite fragile and frays easily, which was a plus for my book! i also used as a signature an old men's leather toiletry bag that i had deconstructed.

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(click on photo for an enlarged view)
and look at this yummy necklace! Barbe St. John and i did a necklace swap with each other when we met up for dinner in San Fran last week. i just love it. everyone is quite taken with it (strangers and friends alike!) thanks so much Barbe. i sure wish i could get that girl on a plane to visit me! (hint hint)

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In other news, i'm planning some classes for Nov. and early Dec. when i finally get a break in my schedule. you can read about it on my other blog, Jersey Jypsies.