Missy had her haircut..

We braved the cold to take Missy in for her haircut.. we made sure we brought her little knitted sweater with us so that she would be warm afterwards.. at first she was a little miffed at us but now she's much better... Here's a before and after picture and a picture taken of her with her boyfriend Lovett who lives just down the street..








There's a story that goes with Missy and Lovett.. When we first got Missy, when we took her for a walk down the road, she'd growl at Lovett when he would come out to greet us. Lovett is so friendly and has been in love with Missy from first sight. I don't know all the detail of Missy before we got her but I don't think that she was socialized much with other dogs... she's usually very passive with other dogs on their property (don't let them come near HER property tho'..lol).. but with Lovett she wouldn't tolerate him, even on his property and she's growl at him and generally be a bitch... lol... But eventually she would put up with his smelling her and inviting her to play with an aloof indifference while Lovett would be all happy, bouncing love dog..

Gradually she got that she even would give him a tail wag and an occasionally a bark hello. Now I think that she's in love with him too.. she runs to greet him and races with him around the clay track where we walk (Lovett's owner has a clay track where they exercise their race horses).. It's so good to see Missy finally know how to play with another dog. So when we finally get back to see him she'll be able to show off her new haircut. Lovett will fall in love all over again...

Working on another product for my store

I have the angel wings and now the foxes in the store at Renderosity and I can put one more thing in there as well so I decided that I would do up some wolves. I'm going to have a total of 10 wolf figures like this one attached and I was trying to decide between $8.00 and $10.00 per pack and decided to split the difference and charge $9.00... I've had some good response on them so far where I showed them in a group I belong to.. So if I can make some extra pocket change then that would be great..

Got a haircut...

I picked today, the coldest day of the winter so far to get a haircut. My hair had gotten really long and since I have a short neck I find that shorter hair suits me better... also my hair is painfully fine so any kind of sweeping, french braid type hairstyle lays so flat against my head that it looks like my hair is painted on.. not a good look. Since my back/hip has been bothering me for so long I have lost interest in dying my hair to cover the grey so I had been letting it grow out. So all the artificial color is now gone and I gotta admit that there isn't THAT much grey ... just a little bit on my left bangs and the temple on that side (odd I know but then again I'm odd) so I don't see a need to dye my hair in the near future.. maybe I'll give that up for a while..

And we have an appointment to get our little poodle, Missy's hair cut tomorrow.. we're taking her little winter jacket with us because it's supposed to be another bitterly cold day tomorrow with a wind chill factor of -40 degrees celcius... brrrr... but she's getting matted and so we decided to invest in a clip and a shampoo tomorrow for her.. As she's getting older she minds going to the groomer more than she did when she was a bit younger... we all get grouchy when we get older...

Well I now have a storefront at Renderosity

This is so exciting.. just click the link and you can see my store (as of this moment I only have one item in there but hope to have the second in there soon)... my store front ... they have a half a million customers so hopefully I can make bunches of sales..

Continuing with the commerce news..

I also have a huge package of the angel wings in both light and dark colors that I'm putting in the renderosity store.. if they pass testing I'll end up with my own store in there and I'll post the link to that if and when that happens.. here's some promo pictures for that combined set..








Here's a picture I made using the midnight pink wings.. click on it and the other pictures to get the full effect..

OK.. more on my commerce ....

I have the foxes at one store.. the link is here ..

I also have come up with some angel wings.. they went up in the store yesterday and the link for them is here ... They are angel wings that are in psd format and what, you may ask can you do with them?.. well this... for one (see below) .. lol.. The wings went in the store last night and I heard that there was a sale of one set already.. I also did some dark wings that will be in the store as well in the next day or so...

First off my MRI

I got word that I go in for my MRI the 2nd of February and I have to go back to the specialist on the 20th of February. So I'm moving forward with this at least. But that's not saying there is anything that the doctor can do for me. We'll have to wait and see.

Tried going for a tiny little walk yesterday.. only a 5 minute one but it's better than nothing as they say.

Well another year has started and I have begun the new year being put off work for a month by my doctor (guess she got tired of me going in and blubbering all over her examining table). I finally got in to see the specialist and he thinks it's more in my back than my hip.. maybe a pinched nerve.. he will know more once I get the MRI done. So I'm waiting impatiently for my letter from the hospital telling me when I can go in and have it done. Since I've been off and take the Demerol I feel a lot better, in fact sometimes I think that I should be able to go back to work.. but then I have a morning like this morning and my back and hip are giving me grief again... so what can I say.. life sucks sometimes.. but it could be worse..

Since I'm at home with time on my hands I've been designing some 2d items and getting them ready for market.. besides the foxes (which are in one small online store already) I have designed and am getting packaged up some angel wings.. I'll post the promo picture here once I have it all done up. I'm going to put them in a huge online store for 2d and 3d items called Renderosity. May only make a few dollars on them but I should be able to support my creative addiction with what I can make... lol..

Below is a picture that I created with some of my 3d items I purchased or won.. Pretty well all of the items, the character textures and morphs, the hair and the clothing I got from winning on line competitions so lately I've not had to buy too much for my Daz or Poser addiction..

In the last month or so I've won a half a dozen competions with the total prize amount in the hundreds of dollars in product.. too bad it isn't cold hard cash.. but at least it's saved me from spending lots of the cold hard stuff..

I have ventured into the land of commerce...

As per my last post, I have a new toy and I've been drawing foxes with it.. I got enough done, zipped them up, put a readme file with them and am going to sell them to the 2d world.. here are the promo pictures for them..

Merry Christmas to Me!!

Christmas is coming and it's that time of year when Ron and I get something for ourselves for our Christmas present. We don't buy for each other, we just buy something for ourselves that we want and call it a present.. lol.. works for us.

So we were in Future Shop and I spied a Wacom Bamboo Fun Digital Drawing Tablet and I knew that was my present. They had two sizes, a 4x6 and an 8x5 and I decided to go with the larger one. That particular one was $200 + after taxes and I'm in love.. lol.. here's a picture I drew with the tablet, my first of many I'm sure... it's from a tutorial I purchased a couple of months ago doing this with a computer mouse is hard if not impossible but was mundo easy with the drawing tablet. I know that I have a lonnnngg way to got to really perfect this but I'm quite proud of my first attempt.

Got the Animal Dilated Eye Look Goin' on...

I was in for my annual visit with the ophthalmologist today so I can't look directly at the screen right now.. lol.. He reminded me that it's been 17 + years since I was diagnosed with diabetes and so far (knock on wood) my eyes have not changed since the first photos that were taken way back then.. so that's good. I always take the day off for this particular treatment because I'm not able to drive afterward and working on the computer is out of the question also I tend to get a migraine from the strain of trying to get my dilated eyes to focus. So I'm off today and will be doing some sewing which is easier on the eyes.

I didn't put at tree up this year. It seems a waste because we always go to Amherst for Xmas eve and day and we are living in the country so we don't tend to get company way out here especially this time of year when the roads start to slicken up with snow and ice. Also with my sore hip it seemed like too much of an effort this year.

Ron found an unpleasant visitor snuggled up to him in bed the other night.. a RAT!!!! He flung it off the bed but the time he got the light turned on and got armed with a stick it was gone.. but the next day he caught one in the kitchen but again he wasn't able to find something to kill it with before it took off into the livingroom. He went into town and got all kinds of traps, an ugly looking one that we have to be sure that the cat and dog don't have access to and a sticky trap. Behind our kitchen stove was a hole chewed in the wall where the rat got out so he put the traps there to catch the rat and it turned out the sticky one was the one that did the trick. He "disposed" of it without me being there to see and I'm sure glad he's here because I'm afraid the rat or rats would have free rein of the place. He said that rats are really vicious when they're cornered... *shudder*. He had caught three mice before this rat and we used humane traps to catch and release them but the rat went DOWN.. We also got some of those sonic devices to hopefully prevent more mice or rats from coming into the house.. ahhh the joys of living in the country.

Well, I'm gonna start whining so if you don't wanna see it I would suggest you close this message (and it ain't a pretty sight so I don't blame you)..

As many of you know I have a problem with my hip, right leg and back because of sciatica. Well, I have been going to see a chiropractor because physiotherapy wasn't working and for a while it was working great.. now.. not so much..

Lately I'm in a lot of pain again, I find it hard to concentrate and I'm getting really bad headaches and my neck is constantly aching. Yesterday when I went back to the chiropractor he said that my right leg is starting to lose it's strength again and he checked out me neck and it turns out my neck is also out of alignment. I feel on the verge of tears most days and the depression is starting to set in again because I can't see an end in sight.

I see the specialist in two weeks time and if he tells me there is nothing they can do for me I'll have a big time pity party and you are all invited. I know there are other people in here that are suffering with chronic pain and some worse than me and I don't know how you cope day to day.. I know mine isn't life threatening like some in here who have coped amazingly well with what life has thrown at them.. But we are, after all, pretty self absorbed creatures and most times can't see beyond our little world of self indulgence, so I am wallowing for a while.

Most days I feel like a failure because I have been missing a lot of work again because of the pain. I can't take anti-inflammatories because I am allergic to them and so mostly I've been trying to cope without the aid of drug treatments. So if I'm quiet at times you will know what it's about..

If I didn't have my poser/3d creating to do and shut real life out I don't know what I'd do.. mostly I just want to crawl in a hole and hybernate most days...

So the whining is over for today.. thank you for listening/reading and you may go back to your regularly scheduled programming.. Kathryn

another day ... another pound...

They say you're not supposed to lose weight too fast but since this is only for two weeks, and I imagine some of it will come back once I start eating dairy, wheat and meats again, I'm not too worried.. I'm down to 178.6 this morning so that's three and a half pounds off in as many days.. I'm almost ashamed to admit that once I put my mind to losing weight my body just naturally loses without too much effort..

I got some corn flakes for my breakfast and so far so good.. I'm going to cook up a bunch of brown rice and vegetables today and portion them out and make up some lunches or dinners with them.. and along with the chili from the other day I should be able to make meals without having to worry about trying to come up with ideas for a week or so any way. I also have a big salad all prepared but I find I really don't care for salad in the colder months.. I like warm food that will stick to the old ribs... that's from when we were kids and would have to walk to school in the winter.. had to have a belly full of warm food to keep you going.. lol

My big goal is to get as much weight as possible off my body so that it will hopefully relieve my hip and possibly avoid having surgery... also if I get walking (shut up David.. I knew you were right all the time.. just didn't want to admit it!).. then the muscles will build up and make the hip more stable.. We can all dream..

Plus my doctor will be happy because my diabetes is improving already (and you gotta keep your doctors happy right... doesn't matter if I'm happy... phhhhtttt)... yeah... as if...

I've started a cleansing...

I've decided to do a 2 week cleansing. I'm not going the pop a pill route but decided to do it by eliminating certain foods from my diet. In doing so I should rid my body of certain foods that are known to cause the body to overwork to process them.

For these two weeks there will be no meats, no sugar, no wheat and no dairy. I know, what does that leave?.. Well, not a lot, but I can hack it for the next two weeks and then I'm back on the weight watchers again. I had gained back almost half of what I took off (at least it wasn't all back on : / ).. but I was feeling just worn out and tired all the time. So I was back up to 182 from the 170 or so that I was at before the dreaded "hip incident!!". But considering it's been almost a year with no exercise and eating to find comfort when I was suffereing it wasn't too bad.

So as far as what I can eat, I got some vanilla soya milk to replace the dairy, some soya faux hamburger and lots and lots of different types of beans to replace the meat, some corn flour bread and some rice pasta to replace the wheat. On top of that I am eating lots of fruit and vegetables plus rice and potatoes so lots and lots of fiber!!!! I thought that I'd be full of gas and bloated because of all the fiber and beans but so far so good. And I've lost 3 pounds so far and it's been only three days. I can live with this for two weeks and I must admit the chili I made yesterday with kidney beans and black beans was to die for... mmmm.. and it sticks to the ribs.
I wouln't want to become a vegetarian or something but I must admit since I've been without those foods my mind is a lot clearer and I do have more energy. Will keep you posted on how I do.

The front porch changed

As you can see by this picture the front porch is all closed in which should save us some heating bills this winter as well because it should break down on air leaks.. *if you click on the picture you can see the enlarged picture.. *

The outside finished.. or almost...

I'm not sure which way this is going to display but here are three pics of the house.. the first one shows the old cedar shingles which should be beautiful but instead, because they were improperly installed look like crap.. and the second picture shows the house with just part of the house done.. and the third shows it in it's final stages (for the outside at least) showing the faux board and batten style.. ain't it purty.. ????

Getting near the end...

Ron put the final panels on the house on the weekend and painted the front so we are one step closer to being finished. The house looks so much better being all one colour now. Hope the high winds and rain didn't strip the paint off of the house last night.. at least we didn't get the hurricane that the weather people were hinting at. Pictures to follow.

I've been so tired lately.. I go to bed early and wake up tired lately.. I hate getting old..

As For Our Renovations

Today we went into Home Hardware and purchased materials to do over our bathroom downstairs.


- new corner shower
- shower head for shower
- new toilet
- vanity
- vanity top
- taps for vanity

We got them on a 12 equal payments, no interest, no down payment plan. And most of the stuff was on sale. You won't be able to recognize that it's the same house once we're done of it, inside and out.

The electrician was here to put a vent in the upstairs bathroom since we have the house a lot tighter we had to have a way to get rid of the extra moisture. When they installed the vent there was a nail that fell from the area of the hole that they cut and we discovered it was a square nail. So I guess the house is around 100 years old after all. We were told by the inspector when we first bought it that he didn't think it was that old because they used square nails back then and he didn't see any when he inspected it.

We were looking at floor coverings for the bathroom and the downstairs bedroom to complete the replacement of the floors. I'll have to start a new blog just to show the whole slew of before and after pictures!!

We're considering putting a special siding around the back door to break up the look and it's going to be quite expensive but it will be from an Island manufacturer and will really add to the look of the house.

Ron's going to install a vent for the attic in the lower area because the roof got bowed because there was no venting in there.. it won't correct the bowing but hopefully will prevent it from getting any worse.

Did I mention that we installed a new vent for the dryer so that it goes out the soffit of the house? So this winter there won't be any snow in the dryer lint trap like there was last year.. phhhttt..

It's hard to keep up with all the stuff that has been done up to this point because Ron keeps doing more and more stuff.

He now has all the outside insulation done, the windows installed that we are doing this year, the tybac is on and all the taping and sealing is done.. We were getting a bit worried because we were behind our expected completion date. It's a good thing that Ron can do most of the work himself because as soon as the weather improved he was able to get right at it.

Last weekend we bought a generator for the pellet stove in case we lose power. It is heavy enough to run a few other things as well.

Just passing by

Just popping in to apologize for not being here much lately.. I've been busy and will fill you in on all my adventures a bit later.. gotta get ready for work right now.. talk amongst yourselves while I'm gone people.

This is the year of the rennovations....

We have spent mega bucks on the house this year getting it the way we want it.. we're taking pictures of the house and all of the things we have installed or fixed up and are going to create a binder showing all that we have done.. in addition to being a great remembrance book it will be a way to document the improvements we have made to the place in case we were to sell it in the future (it better be waaaay in the future because I want to enjoy the place once it's completed)...

and in no particular order... Ron did/we had someone come in and do the following...
- Ron replaced the roof.. that was more than a little dangerous!
- Ron replaced the upstairs bedroom window
- our furnace went and we had to have it replaced
- we got a new water pressure tank for the well to increase the water flow
- we got a hole dug and a sump bucket installed for the new sump pump
- Ron redid over the whole interior of the house.. or at least 90% of it by..
- installed new laminate floors through most of the house
- painted or wallpapered the interiour
- the electrician installed a new breaker box to replace the old fuse box
- we bought a new electric hot water heater to be installed in the near future
- we have a new pellet stove
- Ron replaced the dining room, kitchen, downstairs bathroom and downstairs walk-in closet windows and has one for the den to replace
- Ron's in the process of putting new insulation and siding on the house
- We put blown in insulation in the lower attic
- since we moved in we replaced the washer, dryer and just got a new fridge
- we had the electrician install a new circuit upstairs so that we can run a heater in the winter if necessary
- Ron replaced the sink in the upstairs bathroom
- Ron built a little shed for the ride on lawnmower
- Ron did work on the old garage/workshop, insulated and replaced the roof as well as put in a wooden floor over the old clay floor

I think that's everything we've done so far..

what we want to do in the future is....
- replace the bathroom window and the upstairs other bedroom window
- put in a shower downstairs
- replace the stove
- replace the dishwasher
- redo the driveway
- install a water softener system
- do something about the basement
- fix the window by the back door **done**
- redo the floors in the main bedroom downstairs and do over the new bathroom
- replace the tub and toilet in the upstairs bathroom (that may not get done).

So our "to do" list is a lot shorter than our "done" list..