January is Ending, Mouse in the House, and Slobber Ball video

I have really been missing my blogging! Too much going on these past weeks.

In the interest of studying I need to accomplish today, I will just post some highlights.

There has been snuggling. Lots of it.

Nim has not had enough exercise (which means neither have I). We have been driving each other nuts. On Wednesday we had some time to kill in Carnation and went to Tolt MacDonald Park. He was just the devil to walk.

Since our leash walking skills are marginal on a good day, they are terrible on a bad one. Not enough exercise and stimulation for the dog and not enough patience in the human = bad leash walking day.

So. I put him on the suspension bridge.

That always slows them down.

Yesterday (Friday) morning I woke up to a mouse situation. In January. We are having some strange warm weather.

I had too much work to do and couldn't really address the mouse until the evening. Emile stayed up all day maintaining vigil so I knew where it was at all times. He didn't even try to eat Nim's breakfast. Leela on the other hand slept all day and took charge of the situation that night.

Leela was the first one to catch the mouse. I don't know why my cats can't seem to kill anymore, but somehow Leela dropped the mouse and then Emile got it. Then Nim chased Emile with the mouse and Emile growled so deeply that Nim ran off to hide. The entire time the mouse just hangs there so you assume it is dead. It is not.

Finally Emile dropped the mouse, and it still wasn't dead so kept running back and forth around one barrier with Emile on one side and me on the other. Emile would pounce, I would pounce, Emile would pounce, I would pounce, and then finally I caught the darn thing...that didn't seem even remotely dead and released it outside. I am sure it will be back.

Everyone got Bonito flakes for their killing efforts and as an apology on my part for taking their mouse.

Getting back to our weird weather.

It was so nice on Friday that it was warm enough for me to work outside while Nim did some chewing. If he is willingly laying his delicate Doberman body on the grass in January, that tells you it was actually "warm."

I leave you on this Saturday with a very short YouTube of Nim and his Slobber Ball. He can squeak it for literally hours and amazingly I just tune it out. However with me filming he won't barely do it!

Nim and Slobber Ball

(PS. The show in the background is "Helix," a show that I don't even know where to begin to talk about. It is probably a good thing I don't have time to blog every day or you would probably have to listen to me talking about it. Which reminds me, I should look into season 2.)

2015 Puyallup Dog Show Cluster - in which I "NQ'd". Again.

So originally I was going to pass REG and then in celebration do all three days at the Puyallup Dog Show Cluster.

Clearly passing REG didn't happen, so I decided 1 day at the show would be sufficient. And darn it, we didn't even qualify.

Poor Nim. Stuck with me.

At least there was some quality people and dog watching for Nim. Monday was the lightest day for this particular three day show. I actually didn't mind the venue, but if they don't allow mixed/all-American breeds in their obedience next year I won't be there.

As you might remember my mom's application was denied because Mini-Aussies are not a recognized breed. Fair enough for conformation, but unacceptable in obedience. Any team that puts in the hard work for obedience and wants to compete should be allowed to.

The Rally Obedience ring was the far ring in the upstairs of a large building. For some dogs, the biggest downside with the venue is that it is upstairs. It is great to be away from the conformation rings but to get your dogs outside you have to go up and down stairs that apparently most dogs pee on. Nim was so highly offended he could hardly figure out where to walk and not step in it.

My friend's dog was also not a fan of the floor which you can actually feel vibration and movement on. I could see where some dogs would have nothing to do with that.

And how did we not qualify? Well, like most issues with dogs, the mistake was a human one. Nim did beautiful. He was responsive, engaged, and when he did get distracted he was easy to bring back. I on the other hand marched right past a sign on the course. Failure to do a sign = Not Qualifying run.

Sigh. At this rate we will get our traditional obedience titles and UKC rally titles before we ever finally finish our AKC Rally Novice.

The judge was great. She even let me know right at the end of the run that Nim had done well, but I missed a sign. Compared to my last NQ I didn't take it bad at all. It was a great day and I got to watch a lot of dogs I know do very well.

In other news. Three months later Leela has decided she likes the electric blanket and when she is on it no one else can be on there.

Except maybe her puppy. I have no idea what he was dreaming about in this photo.

The week is almost over!

Friday

Phew. Friday. Bless dogs...they always make it better. Have a great weekend all!

Flooding

 You have probably noticed no more Mystery Quilt updates. I didn't get much done on it since January 1.  This is going to be the year long Mystery Quilt I think. :)

Our area got a lot of rain followed by a lot of flooding. Last night was just miserable. I didn't sleep very well because it was just such a loud storm. The Snoqualmie Valley area hasn't fared too well and the rivers should be cresting after midnight.

I am sending energy out to the elk to come and stand in my yard. There was this pitiful photo on the news of the elk standing chest deep in flood water. I don't even want to think about the animals that aren't going to survive this. They can come be on the mountain next to me...but first they have to get here which considering we have three substantial river forks in this area is no small task. Everything is flooded right now.

Today I reschedule my REG exam that was coming up for January 19th. I am not ready and I was starting to get so anxious about it I couldn't even study properly. 

I reschedule into February, and if I have to I will move again. With the Gleim CPA review course I bought you get a "Personal Counselor." I never thought I would use that feature but I have used it more than once. 

You actually get to call and talk to a real person and she has always been incredibly helpful for me. After talking with her today and getting ideas for a better study plan I went ahead and rescheduled the exam. 

I really don't want to fail it again. I am always trying to rush all 4 sections so I can have them done this year, but that plan really won't work if I can't even pass one of the sections!
 

2015 Mystery Quilt - Step 3

Step 3 produced three more strip sets.

This has been an interesting process. I am tired and it is late and I really don't have a block or anything to show yet. I think step 4 will simply take too long for me to do tonight, so I might have to call it a night.

This quilt would have been a real challenge with true scraps. I have been lucky I have had a lot of full fat quarters this time because some of these cuts are quite large! I REALLY want to see how this will all come together!

Strip set D deals with my wild card fabric 3:

Strip set E:

Strip set F:

Ugh! I want to sew more. I am not sure what I am going to do tomorrow. This was supposed to be a one day only project because of all the studying I need to get done. I guess I will decide more tomorrow. I have such a fabric mess right now too, I can't really leave things laid out like this for weeks.

2015 Mystery Quilt - Fabric, Step 1, Step 2

Wow. This is my most disorganized project ever! But I am having fun so that is all that counts.

Using the original pattern page I had to select 5 different fabric categories. Normally I have done this part days ago. This time I started last night and finished today.

As you will see later, fabric 1 changed slightly, but still a brown:

Fabric 2:

Fabric 3 was my most problematic category and probably my biggest concern. I have noticed a lack of purples in my stash. Probably because I always use it:

Fabric 4:

Fabric 5:

Nim sleeping on electric blanket, oblivious to mess:

This has been a very unsatisfactory project for the cats. They have tried galloping across. But I am so behind and having to cut as I sew so there is not many pieces for them to scatter. Emile took this opportunity to finally get a hold of the comfort pet snuggle that was supposed to be for the cats but Nim has refused to give up.

You can microwave this little guy. Nim loves him. Emile has been trying to steal it for days.

First Steps resulted in strip set A. My lighting is terrible. The fabric looks better together in person than in this photo:

Second Steps resulted in strip sets B & C. You can see I ended up using a slightly different brown for fabric 1 in strip set B:

Strip set C is the biggest wildcard. It involves fabric 3 and had I not just needed to make a decision I am not sure I would have gone with the collection I did. Should be interesting to see if this works or not.

Nim got sick of cooking on the electric blanket and moved to a corner. He pretty much hasn't left the bed as I have been sewing. Since nothing was pre-cut I am cutting and sewing as I go. I want to see a little more assembly before I call it a night. Not to mention. I have a giant mess right now.

Happy New Years! No Mystery Quilt...Yet

Hello! So no fabric in this post. Two reasons:

1. I am behind and really don't have much to show.
2. My friend is working on the mystery quilt too so I don't put photos in the blog unless I make it clear in the title so I don't spoil the surprise...but she is ahead of me anyway. :)

It wasn't pretty, but we did hike this morning. Nim was just naughty and I was dragging a bit. The trail was very icy which was hard on the humans. Nim was playful and didn't want to look at me. He just wanted to bite the snow. 

My friend was laughing at us because she knows I put all these hours into obedience and you don't see a hint of it on the trail.

He also kept spraying her special Seahawks hat which his spit. It tends to sail right over me but hit whatever poor victim is hiking with me. It is a good thing she loves him.

I did finally make him sit so he would stop biting the snow. Then he pouted probably because his rear was cold.

Hopefully sewing updates later!

Edit! Damn. For like a week I have been meaning to add a link for this particular dog's fundraiser:
Sassy

I don't know why, this one sort of struck me and I wanted to make sure others saw it. I actually heard about the dog on another blog I follow. I think she is fostering Sassy. I don't actually know her, but I am always impressed with her because she is a revolving door of cat and dog fosters. I would like to a. be good enough to actually foster and let them go, and b. be set up for it.