Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Dr. Wily through the years

Looks like we may be able to bring Dr. Wily home sometime tomorrow. There is more to the story since I last blogged, maybe I will post that later. For now I will just say that the past several days have been a whirlwind and I have felt very lost. Some might find it pathetic or think I am exaggerating, but I have never loved an animal this much before and I was not ready to let him go. The doctors have done everything that needs to be done at this point and he is recovering beautifully. We love him so much. We visited with him today and he was so happy to see us; seeing him so happy almost made me forget how awful the last few days have been.

Since he's still not home tonight, I thought I'd look through some of his photos. Here are some photos of Dr. Wily through the years.

wokeupagain



licky



IMG_0080

n25505836_33641673_8582

92606 009


IMG_4251

IMG_7398



Dr. Wily and Bob

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Dr. Wily

Dr. Wily has been at the ERvet since Friday night. This is his second night there..I miss him so much.

He has been acting strange since we moved this summer, but we were giving him time to get used to his new surroundings. He has seemed okay lately, I know he has been stressed out because of the move. We switched him from dry food to wet food a few weeks ago, because we wanted to make sure he was hydrated enough. I don't think he likes the way the water here tastes (we moved from city to county), and to be honest I noticed it tasted different too.

So yesterday after work Daniel and I went to a jewelry show here in RVA, and when we got home I noticed Dr. Wily was acting strange. He was meowing/whining a lot but it wasn't because he was hungry..when we fed him he just turned his nose up at the food. He didn't want to drink anything and he just laid around looking weird..

He was breathing weird too, and his stomach was twitching. I looked at his litter box (which was just cleaned the day before), and noticed he hadn't been urinating..so immediately I put two and two together and realized he must have been blocked somehow.

A little googling led me to find out he probably had a urinary blockage. Daniel took him to the ER vet in carytown and they said that was the problem. He had to get a catheter so they could flush out his tract and relieve his bladder. Poor kitty.

They also did xrays and discovered he had bladder stones. They gave him some treatment for that and did more flushing out and said that they think the stones are actually crystals so they were flushing more of those out today and giving him plenty of fluids to keep him fully hydrated. He turned his nose up at their food because it smelled weird to him..plus he is in an unfamiliar place.

They called us again after they did more xrays and said it looks like the stones are breaking down (or are just a bunch of crystals), so they were working on all of that to get him back to normal.

We went by today to visit him. I was really upset (and have been since last night). Knowing that he is in pain just breaks my heart..but the vet said that he has been really well behaved and was just the nicest cat they have seen lately. They said usually buff cats like that are mean and nasty, but DW was really fun and nice. So that made me feel better (and I am sure they say that to everyone)..but he is in good hands. We spent some time with him and I gave him a little kitty toy (a little stuffed cat that we got him a long time ago), and he immediately was purring and seemed really happy (he could probably smell home on it). He has a cone on his head so he doesn't mess with the catheter and stuff, and he looked a little uncomfortable but I can imagine any of us would be in that situation..I am also sure he probably feels a lot more comfortable now than he did last night.

The vets said that they thought we caught it really early and they were glad we brought him in when we did. I read online that some people wait too long and the toxins end up taking their cat's life..so sad.

We just called to get another update and they said he is doing well, they are syringe feeding him because he won't eat on his own (but can you blame him..). They are gonna call us in the morning for another update, but if anything changes they will call before then. I am relieved that he is okay and that he doesn't need surgery at this point..before they thought that might need to be done but later said it's not necessary since his stones are breaking down into crystals and he is able to pass them. They said his urine production is looking good too.

I feel so sad having him there in the hospital but I know he is in the best place he can be right now because they are making him better. He might be able to come home tomorrow but we shall see..I just want him to get better so he can be healthy and happy back at home. We rescued him when he was a kitten, (he's 5 years old now), so we've had him since before we got engaged & married. He's become our family..it's been the three of us for 5 years now. He is a big part of our life..I don't want to think about how things would be without him. He's too young for that to happen.

<3

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

What I'm Loving..

This week I am loving..



Brothers All Natural Apple Crisps (and other fruit crisps).
These apple crisps are soo good. I normally am not a fan of freeze dried fruit, but these are 100% natural and have no added ingredients. They are only fruit. The apple slices are my favorite, but the strawberry crisps are really good too.




I got some mums from Home Depot the other week, and they are sitting on our steps at home. They greet us in the morning and at night..they are so pretty. I bought some orange ones and some burgundy ones.


IMG_7760

Our kitty Dr. Wily being cute...he is a lot of fun. Just look at him, how can you not like him??


Concert Grand Piano (1)

My husband's original origami designs. He designed this baby grand piano, it even has a music stand on it. The piano is one piece of paper (the bench is obviously 1 piece as well). Stay tuned for his origami book of original designs..hopefully coming in 2011.


Origami tree

In the past, we have made several origami trees for a silent auction benefiting a charity back home. All of the trees we made sold for a lot of money, and it all went to a good cause. They were lots of fun to make, and I'd like to get back into it again. I wonder if anyone in the RVA area does anything similar..


Wedding roses

Since I brought up origami again, I have to share this awesome picture that shows most of our completed work for our origami wedding roses (a couple things are not in the group photo). Love.

It would be really neat if there was some sort of origami group locally that we could join..


In other news, Daniel is starting to teach piano. He has one student already and I am so excited for him. I know he will be an awesome teacher and I am looking forward to him being able to do this.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Origami Rose Balls

Here's a tutorial of my Origami Rose Balls:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrsorigami/sets/72157624978170350/


The link will take to you my photostream on flickr, and each photo in that set has step-by-step instructions.

IMG_7971

Easy peasy!

The Plan

http://harlembedandbreakfast.com/index.html

AWESOME

so it looks like we'll be making a reservation here..this is the breakdown of our plan:

leave late thursday night, arrive early friday morning in chinatown (take the bus, it's $80 round trip for both of us together).

spend friday morning/afternoon making our way through chinatown, times square, etc. i know there will be a lot to see/take in, so we'll just take our time.

no real shopping but take note of places to shop at in the future. nothing wrong with browsing though, but no real shopping on this trip. it's not that kind of trip.

check in at the b&b, leave our stuff there (we will each have a backpack so we don't have a ton of junk with us, it's just a weekend trip). dinner, broadway?


then we'll have all day saturday to do whatever in the city-maybe see the bronx zoo? the brooklyn bridge? natural history museum, ground zero, coney island, statue of liberty, tiffany's (just because), empire state building, central park, etc etc etc. take the metro every where. ride in at least 1 taxi, even if it's just a short trip. take the ferry. some of this stuff can be squeezed in on friday too if we happen to pass it on the way to the b&b. there's so much stuff that is a must-see that i don't want to miss all of the other little jewels..so it'll be a lot of random doing-whatever-we-want-to-dos.

then we'll be heading back sunday night, so anything we can't squeeze in on saturday we'll have to do before we leave on sunday.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

New york city?


lovers of ny i think..?




New York city for our anniversary?

We'd have to leave thursday night/friday morning (11/11-11/12)..and come back on sunday (11/14)

Can it be done?

Should we drive ourselves there (drive to hotel, pay for parking, etc), or take a bus/fly?

$76 a person to leave Richmond by greyhound thursday night and arrive in NY early friday morning..and to leave NY sunday afternoon to arrive back in RVA that night. (it's $38 each way per person) So that's a total of $152 for transportation to & from.

it'd be close to $360 for the 2 of us to fly there and back (through airtran), AND we'd still have less time there.

the bus looks like the better way to go..even with flying we'd still be traveling just as long, and it'd be such a hassle to go through security and all of that just for a little weekend trip. i also like the times that the bus gives us.

if we drive ourselves, we'd be going through a lot of tolls, using a lot of gas, sitting in a lot of traffic, possibly getting lost or angry or stressed out..yeah. not how we want to spend our weekend.

since i have a midterm on our actual anniversary (for one of those "fun" classes i am taking..and there's no way to reschedule that test), i'll be able to force myself to study more while we are on the bus traveling. driving myself, i wouldn't be able to, and i get too drowsy while flying so that's not an option there either.

daniel's been to nyc a few times, but i have never been and always wanted to go. now is our chance..?



Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Holiday Card time..

It's time to start thinking about our holiday cards..I have several holiday stamp sets and plan to use them this year to make our holiday card. I want to send the same card out to everybody this year. I do have some boxed holiday cards that are pretty cute, and I'll use those as back ups I guess, but I do want to make all of my cards this year.

A friend and I are planning on getting together sometime soon to spend a day making our cards. I want to be prepared ahead of time..so I have been brainstorming ideas and looking online for inspiration.

The splitcoast stampers website has galleries where you can look up a brand and stamp set to see cards made with that set..I have found some really beautiful cards on there.

Look at these amazing cards:

This one by Julie:



http://stampsandtaxes.blogspot.com/2008/11/peaceful-wish.html

This one by Di:



http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1042451?&cat=14660&perpage=96&thumbsonly=0

Vera's lovely card:


http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1567283?&cat=14634

another one by Julie:



http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1165139?&cat=10730

Lauraly made this one:



http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/693619?&cat=10730

This is by Kris:



http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1538550?&cat=17475

Aren't they all just lovely? I am in awe over them. I want to make a gorgeous card this year.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Bathroom storage

Since we no longer have a bathroom closet (but now have a linen closet in the hallway), we have lost some space in our bathroom. I recently bought this piece to help with that:



It's perfect for extra towels to have handy, and also for holding baskets that hold items we need on hand every day that don't fit under the sink. Now things that belong under the sink can actually go under the sink, and we've got plenty of storage space on this stacking unit to hold all of our extra stuff (that we don't really want under the sink). I was thinking it might be cool to put canvas drawers on each shelf that holds items, instead of baskets..we shall see.

It's a 6-tier chrome tower shelf, sold for $29.99 at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.

Time to re-do the bedroom

This is the bed we have; a queen sized Sorum bed by Ikea. This is one of the few photos I could find online of it (from an old catalog):



(definitely not new!)

And we have these pieces in the bedroom as well:



Now..I was thinking of staining the bed and the dresser with a dark brown stain, to make everything match. When I originally bought the bed and dresser (both from Ikea), I purposely got them in plain wood so I could stain them later if I wanted to change 'em up. Looks like it's about time..

I have never had an issue with either pieces of furniture. I think a good staining and some new drawer liners for the dresser will be awesome. The bed will look completely different as well, and I was thinking of making some headboard cushions for it. The photo from the catalog has cushions on it, but our headboard doesn't. It'll be a nice change. Could get a nice fabric in a coordinating color to make as the cushions, and then use velcro to attach them to the headboard.

We also have some canvas-like window panels on each of the windows. I'm thinking we should paint the walls in the bedroom since we can't do anything about the carpet. It's new carpet but I really miss our hardwood floors from the last place.

What's under the cart?

Remember that cart I picked up for free a few weeks ago?

Here is a sneak peak of what's hiding under it:

IMG_7886

It holds my big jar of cookie cutters (which I slimmed down so they would all fit in the jar), my cake carrier, my tupperware veggie tray, and other bulky/odd items that don't really have a proper place in the kitchen cabinets. Yay for saving space! And even better, since we now have our little bar shelf, we don't have to use this for an extra table. I can use the top of it when I am baking, instead, if I need more space.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

This weekend's projects..

Turning my old letter tray into a jewelery display board.

Printing my own vintage richmond subway sign and framing it.

origami rose ball ornaments/pomanders. yes, i am.

photos to come!

still trying to figure out the canvas photo thing..i have the paper but our printer doesn't agree with it..more to come on that.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Photos from the farmers' markets



Last Saturday, Anna, David, & I went to some of the different markets around town. It was so much fun!

Here are some photos that David took while we were out & about:

I want one of these..one booth was selling these vintage subway signs..I have always wanted one and now I can get one. With RVA places on it, which makes it even better! <3




Veggies..


Sunflowers


More sunflowers..Anna bought some of these!


Peppers..


Eggplants..so cute!


Tiny little tomatoes


Virginia Grown!


Various flower shots..








We also stopped by the Westhampton Bakery and got some goodies there. Didn't buy any of these little guys but they were cute!


Then we paid a visit to DeLuca Gelato..it was delish! All in all was a pretty nice day.

What I'm Loving..

Today I'm loving my grandparents, and Daniel's grandparents.



Last night I was taking random photos around home and took some photos of the frame shelf I have. We used these photos on our memory mantle at our wedding. Only Daniel's grandmothers were at our wedding, so it was nice to have the photos there to remind us of those who could not be with us.

My maternal grandparents:




My paternal grandparents:



Daniel's maternal grandparents:



Daniel's paternal grandparents:



These photos are all very touching to me and looking at them makes me really happy. Without these 8 wonderful beautiful people, neither Daniel nor myself would be here today. Thanks be with all of them and I hope they know that they never leave my thoughts.

DIY Bar Shelf

We wanted a pub table or a bar type of table to go on this one wall in the nook area before you get to the kitchen (since we don't have a dining room anymore :( ). I looked every single place I could possibly think of and find in the greater Richmond area, and nothing I found satisfied me. I even checked craigslist, stopped by a few yard/garage sales, and nothing.

Then, after a long day of hunting by myself, Daniel and I decided to go to Home Depot together. For some reason I thought they would have what I was looking for. I naturally walked back to where their shelf supplies are, and we instantly decided to make our own bar shelf.

All we did was purchase the shelf piece (in espresso wood), and then 2 brackets to support it to the wall. We also purchased the bar stools from Target (which I love because they match our coffee table perfectly). I can proudly say I assembled the stools myself, while Daniel hung up the shelf.

Now we have more seating room, and a table to actually eat at!



It might seem a little small for some, but it's plenty big enough for us & what we need it for. It is just the two of us, so we're good.

On the wall above it, I hung my family photo frame. I am missing a couple of people in the frame but I will add them as time goes on.

Also, I found this cute little desk at the thrift for a couple of bucks. I decided to paint it the same color as my pyrex cabinet..I am still not done painting it (as you can see), but I think it's simply adorable. I have a couple of old wooden sewing drawers I may stick in the drawer area, and it can hold our mail and stuff like that. Cute!




And, I got these cute Fire King gingham milkglass mugs..a quarter a piece. I may go with this theme for our kitchen..they match my apron perfectly!