Today

Today was rough and it ended with an emergency trip to the vet.

Chloe is going to be fine. She's had a cough and it's been triggering her to get sick. This evening when I got home, she threw up blood, and I rushed her in to her vet. Her vet thinks that she just broke a blood vessel.
She's on some antibiotics and everything else seems to be fine, so thank goodness for that!

They did some x-rays and her vet found something that she can't quite identify...so she's going to have a radiologist take a look at it tomorrow. I asked if maybe it was a tumor, but thankfully she doesn't think it is. She said if anything it's just her little intestine doing some acrobatics. Let's just hope she's right!

Oh, my little dog. She's been to the vet more times in the past 6 months than she has in her whole 4 years of life. I wonder if the vet would start taking paintings as a form of payment? ;)

My Sweet Girl

Originally uploaded by michele_maule

about 4 weeks ago I noticed a weird bump on my Chloe. I kept my eye on it thinking it might go away.

It did so I chalked it up to a bug bite.

It came back, went away, and came back again. Not sure what it was, and having very little money for the vet, I didn't know what to do...

Well, it got to a point where I just didn't want to ignore it anymore. I took her in and lo and behold it tested positive for a mast cell tumor.

Ugh. I felt sick. I felt like I should have done something sooner. I felt like if anything happened I would never forgive myself.

The vet informed me that it's common in Boston Terriers and that it would definitely need to be removed.

She gave me some info on the growth, but I'm pretty sure it freaked me out more than it gave me any reassurance. The first line on the second page stated, "Mast cell tumors are notoriously invasive and difficult to treat."

WTF does that even mean?!

There was no way in hell I was going to let some stupid tumor make her sick, or take her from me.

Needless to say, I've been beside myself for the past week. I think general panic and freaking out are better terms, actually.

I couldn't let anything happen to my girl. She's only 4 for crissakes! Right?! I'm aware that pets die but I was no way prepared for anything like that, yet.

I talked to just about anyone who would listen to my situation and I consulted with many dog owners, especially those who also have Bostons.

The general consensus is that many dogs get them and many survive just fine. I also talked briefly to the vet and she assured me that there was a very slim chance that the tumor was more than just a skin growth...

So, fast forward to today, the day of her surgery. I don't think I slept for more than 3 hours. I kept thinking about how much this little dog has changed so much of who I am.

as someone who deals with anxiety and depression, she has brought me so much joy and happiness. She has taught me not to take life so seriously in certain moments. She makes me laugh out loud almost every day.

The vet called me a couple of hours ago to inform me that her surgery went well and that she was just waking up.

I felt like I could breathe for the first time in a week. It's going to take a few days to get the test results back in regards to the spread of the tumor, but the doctor feels like she was able to extract it very well.

She informed me that Chloe will have to be very quiet with limited activity for 2 weeks. I have no clue how I am supposed to keep a Boston Terrier "quiet" for 2 weeks, but at this point I am so happy that she got through the surgery I don't even care.

There, that's all I have to say about this. I can pick her up in a few hours and I will be so very happy to see her little face.

New Work.

New work!

In my shop!

Check it out!

I'm going to be posting lots of new work over the next week or so, so please check back in.
I'll also be adding more things to my sale section in my Etsy shop too!

Chloe, on the other hand, will be napping, like she usually does.
I went to fold my laundry this afternoon and walked in on this....

Silly puppy....

New Camera!

Yay!

I finally purchased a new camera.
It's a Canon S90 and I really like it. It's small, but it has a manual focus, and the color is really great.

I spent my day in the studio and I think I'm almost done with both projects. I'm so excited about this. :)

I started to work on some new things for my Etsy shop today as well.

It's late and Chloe and I are beat.
Hope you all are having a wonderful week so far.

Thought I Left it Behind...

I thought I had left wintery, snowy, days in Pontiac!

It snowed today. about 3". I'm just really happy I didn't have to drive in it.
I was at my studio when it started, and I knew Portland would loose it's mind at the mere sight of snow flakes, so I left as soon as I could. Good thing I did too. I was right. Portland totally lost it's mind...

Cars were stuck, people were skidding, and all hell completely broke loose. They were referring to it as the Snowpocalypse on Twitter. It snowed 3" peeps. Not 3'. haha. It's kind of funny...especially after living in Michigan for 2 years....

Chloe wasn't all too happy with it either. I promised her no more snow when we moved to Portland. Sorry Chloe Bean...

These are the Days

Today has be pretty rough on me.

I don't want to go into details...but it's been hard.

So I got to thinking. These are the days that must happen in order for me to appreciate those days that are amazing and wonderful.

So, I went for a run, gave myself a mini facial, and now I'm going to take my Chloe Baloney for a walk. I'm feeling a lot better, and I'm thinking tomorrow is going to be a great day.

Hope everyone is having a good day :)

Here

I've been spending a great deal of time alone the last couple of days.
It's been good. It's been hard, but it's been good.

I did manage to get to my studio this week, but all I did was read and clean.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. No where really. I just felt like writing something.

The rain has started here in Portland, and I'm not planning on seeing the sun anytime soon. although, when it does come out, it's such a nice little present.

I have another month and a half of working at my job full time. I'm looking forward to spending more time in my studio and with friends. I didn't think working full time would have such an effect on my work. I guess I forgot how tired I am after working all day. Most nights I just want a quiet room with a good book.

Oh well. It's almost over. Things will be back to "normal" soon enough.
Hope everyone had a great week and hope everyone has a good weekend!

ps. I've officially had Chloe for two years this week, so I thought I would share her baby pictures today :)

Summer Monday

It actually doesn't really feel like summer today. More life Fall. That's okay with me. The heat was getting to be a bit much.

I had a good weekend. I went out on Friday, and saw some old friends.
Saturday we headed to Silverton, Oregon to hang out with my friends Angie and Nicole. They live next door to each other, on kind of a farm. Nicole runs a bug farm, where she provides bugs for pet stores, and television shows. You know, those television shows where they get people to eat bugs for money? Most likely those bugs came from Nicole's farm :) It's true.

She also has chickens, turkeys, goats, and peacocks. Chloe escaped from us and got to chase after a chicken. She had a lot of fun.

Then yesterday we went to a friend's birthday get together in Peninsula Park. Good times. I'm happy to be back home. Very happy.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos this weekend...but here are some Chloe pictures I've been meaning to post.

Hope everyone had a good weekend too!

Chloe Baloney!

So yesterday I got a really nice surprise from Wendy of 2 Dog Studio!
She sent me a couple of prints of this painting that she had done of my dog Chloe :D

This makes the fourth piece of art that has been painted of her.
The third one I got at the beginning of the week from Brian Rubenacker!
Michael ordered it for me as a surprise :)

So we added two more pieces of Chloe art to our Chloe art collection. Trish Grantham painted one for me last year, and Leigh Jackson sent one to me in December.

I want to get them all framed and hang them above her kennel when we move back to Portland.
My little girl is so popular, and she doesn't even know it :)

Hope everyone is having a good Thursday!
I will be posting my secret blog dealy tomorrow!

Fast Forward Please

Time, please fast forward until you reach May. Thanks.

It's still February and it doesn't seem like it's ever going to end.
Blerg.

I had a good weekend.
Not much work got done, but I spent several hours painting today, so hopefully it made up for it.
We took Chloe to the Boston Terrier meet up and came to the conclusion that she just doesn't do well in a room full of crazy Bostons. Hehe. She got sick, and we had to leave a bit early. Oh well.
There's a photo of her where she looks pretty frightened. But who can blame her? Bostons can be pretty intense, and she is pretty mellow compared to them.

We also went to see the movie Coraline which was pretty good. The little girl, Coraline, moves from Pontiac, Michigan to Ashland, Oregon...I thought that was really amusing.

In other news I'm officially on the Poppy Talk Affordable Art site!
So far I haven't really noticed any change in views or sales, so we shall see.

Well, I hope you all are having a good Monday!

Happy Valentines Day!

Tomorrow is Valentines Day!
yay!

I spent the day making cupcakes for Michael and for the BT Meetup this weekend.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day :D
I will be spending my afternoon in room full of mushy faced Boston Terriers.
Yes, the Metro Detroit Boston Terrier Meetup group is getting together
tomorrow, so that we can get all our BTs together and to help out the
Midwest Boston Terrier rescue.

I just made the big mistake of checking out that site and I am totally in love with Gem...
*sigh*

Anyway, I also love going to those meet ups because it totally wears Chloe out :)
She has been doing so much better at meetups! I am so proud of her.
Many of you already know that Chloe had a lot of vomiting issues around other dogs, and she is also really shy. She is still a bit shy, but I think I can safely say that the vomiting has gone away! Yay!

We also plan on seeing the movie Coraline. I've heard from several people that the movie is based on a little girl who moves from Pontiac, Michigan to Portland! How funny is that??
Hopefully we'll get to go see it. Michael has a bit of a temperature today, and is not feeling well.
He seems to be feeling a little better, so we'll have to wait and see.

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend! :)

I Hate Snow

We are suppose to have a snow storm here tomorrow. The same day as the Detroit Sounds and Spirits show.

Argh.
Why can't it wait until Saturday to storm??

Oh well, I am going to wait and see what happens. Maybe it will all blow over us! :)

Anyway, today has just been a weird day.
I haven't gotten a single thing done. Well, I did make some cookies for the crossing guard, Janice, down the street. She bought Chloe the cutest stocking filled to the brim with treats and sweaters! She also bought toys for all the kids that she helps cross the street every day! What a sweet lady. So Chloe and I made her some cookies, and gave her a Christmas card :)

Speaking of Chloe...guess who has been immortalized once again? Yup! Baloney and all.
Leigh Jackson of Noisy Dog Studio painted Chloe from one of the pictures I have on my Flickr page! So cute! I think I may have found my Christmas present to myself :)

Anyway, hope everyone is having a good Thursday!! One week to go until Christmas!!

Monday!

It's Monday.

Not the most fun day. I had a 9 am dentist appointment, and a trip to the PO after.

Eh. It was okay. I wish dental work was free. I use my Care Credit card for my appointments. It has a very low interest and can only be used for medical work and some vets take it too.

I wish it was free...

Anyway, I don't want to talk about the dentist.

Um...it's almost Christmas! Holy cow! 10 days! :)

We aren't really doing anything fun. We are staying home this year because we can't afford to travel. Anywhere. It should be fun. We might go see a movie, and of course lots of food to be eaten. I'm thinking we should eat all the food that is REALLY bad for us. Mike and I eat relatively healthy, so I think we should go all out for Christmas :)

um...if you haven't checked out Paper n' Stitch yet, you really should.
I just signed myself up for another month. I really like it.
I can't really tell if it's added to my sales. Mostly because I am also signed up over at Trunkt this month too, and Etsy doesn't provide any stats as far as how people find your shop...

It's funny that a site like Flickr provides awesome stats. For free...

Anyway, I just really like the ladies who run it, and it's really easy to manage.
Also, I love the layout. It's really cute.
So check out my shop and leave a heart! Just click on the little heart up in the left hand corner.

The person who has the most hearts at the end of the month wins a free month and $150 bucks! Sweet! :)

Alright, hope everyone had a great weekend!
Chloe did. She got lots of playing and napping in. Tough life...

Thursday

It's Thursday!

What does that mean??

Nothing really.

Just another day.

So, these are the new paintings I am working on.

I've been so busy with orders the last couple of days I haven't really had time to make anything new. But, that's a good thing!

It's still cold and snowy, and Chloe is still sleeping on radiators.

Another day down, another one to go.

Great Weekend!

Yes. I had a good weekend.

It's always a good weekend when Michael takes both Saturday and Sunday off :)

Saturday we went to the Midwest Boston Terrier Meet Up.
It was really fun. All the little BTs were in costumes, running around like crazy.

We were one of the first to show up, as always, and Chloe was not terribly excited to be there.
She's so shy, and scared, she hid under the chairs for about the first 20 minutes or so...

We tried to her to come out and play, but she'd go and hid under our feet or on my lap.

She eventually got use to being there and was running around, catching the ball, and playing a little bit. One of the best parts of going to meet ups is that she literally passes out for two days. She's even a little sleepy today :)

We also met Brian and his wife and their two cute Bostons Sophie and Zoe.
They're very nice, and I'm glad we got to meet them.

We got home and carved pumpkins. Guess which one is Michael's...

Then yesterday we just hung out. Got some work done, and we watched Before Night Falls. Which is a really great, inspiring movie.

So yeah. Awesome.
Hope everyone had a good weekend too.

3 Sales Away...

From 300!

Wow. I started my Etsy shop in March of last year, but I didn't really start listing things until last October...so this month marks the one year selling anniversary for me. I think 300 is pretty damn awesome.

I use to stalk Rachel Austin and Ashely G's shops...just to see how they did things. I was totally blown away with Rachel Austin's shop, and how she reached 300+ sales. She's at 869 now...and well, Ashley G is one of Etsy's top sellers. Maybe I'll get there...someday :)

Anyway, my 300th sale will of course get their order stuffed with lots of goodies!

I am still working on my paintings today. Not a lot of new news there. I did paint the skirt and the shoes in the one painting, and I am rally pleased with them. I'm thinking that I will post them on Etsy, next week. I am really curious as to how people will respond to them. I am not really sure what kind of price to put on them. They will definitely be priced above what I normally price my paintings at. Pricing is so weird to me sometimes...a year on Etsy and I still don't know how to price my work...
Anyway, look for them in my shop next week :)

Someone bought one of my typewriter illustrations yesterday, and he sent me a link to a portable typewriter forum! How cool. He sent me his blog/website too, and he has an amazing collection of typewriters...very cool.

Lets see...what else is new in my world...not too much...oh!
There is going to be another Boston Terrier meet up in a few weeks, and I think it's a Halloween themed one!! Eeeee!!!! BT's in costumes?! I'm going to take a million pictures...and post them all here. :)

Alright, back to work. Hope everyone is having a good Thursday.

Treasury!

Ah!

I got a treasury! Ok, so I have never done a treasury before because they are almost impossible to get. Unless you sit on it all day, and really, who has time for that? But last night I happened to open Treasury West and it was at 223 lists (it has to fall below 222) and there was only 15 minutes until it opened again. So I sat...and the elusive little treasury box popped up!

So I made a Boston Terrier Treasury. All things Boston :)
You can see it here.

I think I have found a new addiction...

On another note...
If you live in the Portland area, notably the N. Portland area
please keep an eye out for a little 2 year old, all black, pug named Morning. My former co-worker has lost her dog...she ran away June 30th and was last seen in Peninsula Park...

Morning is a sweet little pug, who likes to bark, and is missing her collar.
I hope, and I now my co-worker and her partner hope, she comes home really soon.

Come home Morning!! Casey and Cat miss you terribly!!

I Did It!

Weeeeee!!

I made my first successful screen print last night!

Now, I just need to make some more.
I'd really like to put this image on the back of a hoodie :) In the lower left hand corner. I am thinking about turning this into a three color print...and the words "I have a crush on you." In French...in the cursive typewriter font that my typewriter makes...I so have a crush on these little typewriters...

I think hoodies have to be one of my most favorite articles of clothing. Along with Jack Purcell's. I just don't feel like myself without those two articles of clothing...

Here is a picture of the tree in out back yard. I am predicting that it stays like that for at least another week before our landlord decides to do something about it. We called him and told him about it, and he told us to call the power company...so we did...and the power company told us that they were unavailable at this time, and that they would call US back...yeah...

I thought I would throw in some pictures of Chloe today too! I know Buddy really likes seeing them. So here she is moments after chasing a squirrel up a tree. Then the squirrel sat in the tree teasing here for a good 10 minutes. Poor Chloe :)

The Internets Are Back!!

Yay!!

I am connected to the world again.
Thank God.

It got to the point that we were trying to get a connection by sticking our computers out windows...but it's back, and the router is in OUR apartment! So now, when I lose internet, I don't have to wait for my neighbors to get home and re-connect it.

So the last few days have been interesting. Our neighbor had to go out of town, so we have been dog sitting his dachshund, Georgia. It's been a lot of fun, and now I want another dog :)

I have been making a lot of work. Which is good.

We received our screen printing equipment yesterday! We tried to get some screens prepped last night, but we put too much of the emulsion on...so we are going to start over tonight. I know that this is going to be a learning experience, so I am trying not to get my hopes up too much about our first few attempts. Silk screening has a learning curve that can be really difficult, but I am determined to figure it out.

I am sure there will be updates :)

Anyway, I need to get some work done today, so that I have time to work on the screens tonight.
It's good to be back!

Almost Ready...

I have been working and working and working some more and I am almost ready to reveal all my new paintings!!!

I have 9 new ones for my Fresh Pot show, and I have 5 news for my Etsy shop!!

That's 14 new paintings!!

Exclamation marks!!!!!!

I don't have an exact day of the reveal, but I am thinking that it is either going to be Sunday, or Monday. So check back.

Oh! Only four days until V A C A T I O N!
Here is a picture of Trinks and I at Disneyland last year.
No Disneyland this time...but that's ok.

Chloe is doing better. Thanks everyone for all the support!
It's been greatly appreciated.

All right. I have a take home test that needs to be done.
Happy Friday!!!
Exclamation marks!!!