where to begin

1. Oliver finally found a new foster home!  The rescue group did some foster dog juggling and he is now happily housed with a few older dogs.  Hopefully they'll teach him some puppy manners. 

2. Last Friday I packed up the car, secured Allie in the back, picked up my boyfriend (Pat) in Buffalo and drove out to Cleveland to spend some much needed time with my family.  Saturday morning Pat headed off to Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park to practice for an upcoming race (the US Open Downhill MTB race in New Jersey this May).  Normally I would go with him to the park but I decided to stay back and drink coffee with my mom.  Just as my mother and I were about to head out for some shopping I got a call from Pat.  He'd broken his collar bone on the jump course.  The x-rays show he snapped his clavicle near the shoulder.

I took Monday off work and drove him to a specialist that morning.  The verdict was surgery which was scheduled for Wednesday.  They gave him a pain pill prescription which Pat, of course, decided not to fill.  Why do guys do that?!  I drove out to Rochester on Tuesday for work.  Wednesday morning I woke up bright and early, coaxed the puppy back into the car, drove to Buffalo and brought Pat to the hospital.  He ended up being in the OR much longer than was expected.  He has a metal plate reattaching his clavicle to its former home at his shoulder and sutures securing the ligaments in place.  There is a chance the tip of the clavicle will die and they'll have to extract it.  In any case the plate will probably have to come out in 6 months to a year as it may start to bother him.  

I then took work off on Thursday since Pat was not allowed to be left alone the day after going under the knife.  On the car ride back to Rochester the anesthesia finally wore off and the pain set in.  The pills we got after the surgery seem to have no affect.  It's terrible to watch his face grimace as I help him sit up.

3. Allie will officially have a new home in 1 week!  A wonderful family with an 11 year old son has fallen in love with her.  I could not have found a better family!  I will definitely be spoiling her this next week.  I'm really gonna miss my little wiggle worm.

4. My sewing machine has stopped working.  I really wanted to start and finish a bag last night since I may not be able to visit the studio for a week if not longer while I take care of Pat.  Things were going well, then about 3/4 of the way through the bag the machine started to squeak and then stopped moving all together.  There's no thread bunch up, its something more internal, something which will have to go to a shop to be fixed.  I'll be finishing the bag by hand tonight.

I'm doing my best to keep the stress levels under control but I've already blown up at Pat a few times when things get to be too much.   I think its time for large amounts of yoga and tea.

Bag 4

It's almost midnight.  My normal bedtime is much closer to 10.  This bag has taken up way too much of my life and doesn't look all that great. 

I think it's time to step back and realize that I am a complete n00b at sewing and shouldn't expect miracles - something I have certainly been hoping for.  It's going to take me a while to perfect my sewing skills so I just need to keep practicing and wait for that 'aha' moment.  Damn.

In other less frustrating news I'm currently dog-sitting for my all time favorite pooch, Minnie.  She is pretty much perfect except for the fact that she will eat any other dog that crosses her path.  Because of this a good friend of mine is taking care of the puppies for the time being.  They'll be coming 'home' this Tuesday.  I can't help but feel guilty for enjoying my puppy-free days... 

Minnie trying to snooze

off to a good start.

I think an introductory post is in order. 

Hi.  I'm Jen.  I'm about to turn 23 and am pretty happy with the direction life is taking me.  I graduated last May with a Studio Arts degree and was lucky enough to find myself employed as soon as the ink on my diploma dried.  I absolutely love where I work and get along wonderfully with the people I am surrounded with on a daily basis. 

For the past 5 years I've had a mini dog-sitting business that got going when I tapped into my professors' dog community.  I am a huge animal lover so getting paid to play with someone's dog (cat, snake, rat, ferret, horse, etc) is probably the best job ever.  Getting involved in dog-sitting and watching my friend Rachael Hetzel foster the adorable Dolly has spurred me to start fostering my own dogs.  My favorite breed is the all too misunderstood pit-bull.  My first foster was a beefy 4 year old pit name Chico.  He has recently been adopted by a dog-sitting client of mine and from what I can tell he is super happy and being spoiled rotten!  Most recently I have been put in charge of the most adorable brother/sister duo, Oliver and Allie.  They take up quite a bit of my time but I'm very proud of the progression they've made in their training!  I'm hoping they get adopted by a friends, or maybe friends of friends. 

Allie with her rawhide.

Most recently I've gotten a second job as a secretary/personal assistant at a local gallery and teaching institute.  Yet another job I love and that is full of wonderful people to work with!  Things have strangely been coming together recently.  I've been going through a bit of dead period when it comes to art making.  I basically haven't made crap since my thesis show last May and its been pretty depressing.  But recently I've finally gotten the 'making' bug back and have begun to collect materials.  And just as I'm starting to convert my tiny living room into a studio a good friend of mine calls and asks if I want a space in her beautiful studio.  Hell yes!  And then a couple days later when my sewing machine starts going on the fritz another friend offers to let me borrow an absolutely gorgeous mint condition Elna machine! 

The Rochester artist community continues to amaze me.  Up until a month ago I had completely made up my mind to leave this city and go onto other things... but everything that has been happening is making me think more and more about sticking around for a bit longer and seeing how things progress.  We'll see what happens!