Waiting for Santa...

Every year, our town has a tree lighting ceremony followed by Santa arriving on a firetruck with sirens blaring. Loud noises and crowds are a great experience for our Seeing Eye puppies so I invited our puppy club to join in the holiday festivities because the tree lighting is less than three blocks from our home.
Although Harley is no longer a Seeing Eye puppy, he came along to the tree lighting. He did not like the sirens that came blaring along with Santa so he found a friendly lap to climb up on for some reassurance.

Since the tree lighting was so close to our home, I invited the puppy club over for a potluck dessert. One of our puppy club members said I was "gracious" for having everyone (and dogs!) over. I asked if "gracious" was the same as "nuts" because that's what my husband said I was.

There were 7 club dogs plus Harley making for a nice "pack of dogs" in our home. It was fun! All the puppies were very well behaved. No food was stolen and amazingly not a single accident either -- excellent considering most of the dogs were less than 12 months old. Of course, all the people enjoyed the desserts too!

That weekend, we heard sirens blaring meaning that Santa was making his rounds through the neighborhood. We had never heard of this tradition until we moved here -- every year Santa comes around behind a blaring firetruck. I think he stops to give candy to children but alas, nothing for the dogs :-(. I took Quail outside and we waited patiently for Santa to come driving by.

Harley and Quail's presents are all wrapped and waiting for Christmas morning! Merry Christmas!

An Invitation to see Ava

Mixed in with Christmas cards was a letter from The Seeing Eye inviting us to come see Ava at her Town Walk. This is what I call her graduation and this will probably be the last time we get to see our little pup. Ava is the fourth Seeing Eye puppy we've raised and it looks like she may become our fourth dog guide too.

Ava returned to The Seeing Eye at the end of August and she entered into training shortly after passing her medical tests. After we see her at her Town Walk, she will hopefully be matched with a blind person pretty quickly. She'll train with her person for a few weeks before going to her new home and new job as an official Seeing Eye Dog.

It's bittersweet to raise these puppies. We want them to succeed yet we wouldn't be so disappointed if they came back to us either. I'll really miss Ava -- she was very affectionate and a real sweetie. We raised her at a time in my life when I needed her just as much as she needed me. I'll miss her dearly.

Let's Make a Cake

I'll bake banana bread, cranberry bread, etc... but I'm not really one to bake a cake. Maybe because I'm really not a cake person unless it is a raspberry chocolate ganache cake from Wegman's -- yum yum!

But a cake out of diapers -- well, that's more my speed because now it is a craft thing. My youngest sister had the idea to make a diaper cake for my middle sister's baby shower. We looked up ideas online and in the end, kind of just did our own thing mostly because we didn't want to roll up diapers and use a ton of rubberbands. The base of the cake was rolls of toilet paper. And then we used lots and lots of diapers, baby toys, baby lotions, etc... Everything was held in place with ribbon, tape and office binder clips. We didn't want anything to be permanent.

I've been spending a lot of time knitting and knitting and knitting for my upcoming niece or nephew and all the little knit things came in handy as cake decorations. I was told by one of my friends that I had to make upcoming n/n a "woobie" which I found out was a little animal sewn onto the center of a tiny blanket that a toddler can drag around and drool on. So I searched for something and found a cute octopus to knit (patern Socktopus on ravelry.com). I attached the octopus to a little circle blanket and my little octopus woobie even had Finding Nemo blanket binding on it. It made for a very cute cake topper.

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Quail and Friends meet some horses...

It's great for our Seeing Eye pups to meet all sorts of critters. Since our puppy club is in a more suburban part of New Jersey, most of our club pups never get to meet horses so we arranged a club outing to visit the barn where Ed's sister keeps her horses.

None of our pups were afraid of the horses and vice versa -- the puppies were so curious and very well behaved around the horses.

We spent a lot of time talking about puppies and horses. Afterwards, we went out for lunch at Applebees -- and yes, our puppies went inside with us. Lunch for the people, nothing for the pups and they were very well behaved there too!


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If she can do it, then so can I !!!

We have baby gates up around the house so Quail doesn't have full run of the house -- she basically has the living room, kitchen and crop room (my workshop space). So it's a little disconcerting to walk around the 3 rooms and not see her anywhere -- why would I ever think to look on the back of the sofa? Well, Quail was resting very comfortably there -- I guess she thinks if Olivia is allowed up there then she is too. Of course Olivia is a lot lighter AND she's not going to be a Seeing Eye Cat.

A Belated Boo

It seems like once Halloween hit, I was swamped with my sister's baby shower stuff so I haven't been able to blog in awhile. I'm finally getting caught up...at least for now. Hopefully I won't be so swamped with Christmas stuff :-)

So of course we had to take our pups Trick or Treating, or rather, for a walk in costume. Harley went as a bad boy dog in his Harley Davidson denim jacket (of course) and a "bad dog" bandanna. We actually bought Harley this denim jacket back when we had him as a puppy so we're glad he came back to us so he could wear it again!

Quail went in her purple witch costume looking as cute as ever. And while we were out and about, we ran into George, the Great Dane cowboy.

Harley and Quail had a great Halloween. No candy but plenty of milk bones from Robyn at the travel agency :-)

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A Postcard from Ava

We've been waiting (im)patiently for word from Ava and we finally received a postcard.

Here's what she had to say...

Hi everyone!

I am having a great time here at The Seeing Eye! Rivi says that I am doing well in training. She has taught me a lot of things like how to stop at curbs, not bump into people on the sidewalks and even how to cross the street safely. This is a great job! I have made some great friends too - including my brother Avanti - he is in my string. We all get along really well. I hope to see you at my town walk.

Love, your puppy Ava
& Rivi too

It's Sock Season!!!

Okay, I don't love all the cold rainy days but I do love that is colder. Cold weather means I can wear my handknit socks!

All summer long most of them sat in this basket in our closet just waiting to be worn. I did wear some of the cotton blends and bamboo blends but summer is just too warm for wool socks no matter how much I love them. Most of my socks are knit of wool so I guess it is the perfect excuse to buy more summery-weather yarn for warm weather socks! (As if I really need an excuse to buy more sock yarn...)

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Harley's a Good Dog

There are two floor cushions in our living room. Most of the time, Harley is on one and Quail is on another.


But sometimes Quail insists on being near Harley -- most times he is very tolerant and puts up with her invasion of his personal space.


Sometimes we think he even enjoys it :-)


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Who needs an expensive cat bed...

...when a box top will do?



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A blog entry worthy of 26.2 miles

This past weekend I headed down to Maryland to cheer my youngest sister and her friends in the Marine Corps Marathon. A lot of people ask me if the Marine Corps Marathon is also 26.2 miles -- ALL marathons are 26.2 miles!







Our first stop after the starting line was just a little past the Mile 10 marker.


It's always interesting to see the costumes. I think my fave had to be Captain America -- I hope I have my comic book hero right :-)


We made a quick run to Dunkin' Donuts for food, warmth and a bathroom before heading to Mile 16.


The hot dog runners must have been feeling, well, hot...












Next year the marathon is on Halloween -- I think it is the same day as the NYC marathon too! I'm trying to talk Yvette into running again -- I'll cheer her on in costume -- it'll be fun :-)

Images created using StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 software and Delight Diva Predesigned Pages. These pages are from my marathon storybook.

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Go Terps!

One of my sisters gave us this Terrapins blanket (Go Maryland!) and Quail kind of adopted it. It's her favorite blanket to lie on which is great because it sits next to the kitchen table -- when we sit down to eat, she is supposed to lie down by the table like a good Seeing Eye puppy. Harley and Quail have been very cute and Harley lets Quail cuddle up next to him.

Although right now as I write this entry, Quail is lying on a floor cushion in the living room and Harley is on the Terps blanket -- go figure!

Martha Martha Martha...

What a fun day! It started out with me waking up at 3:30 am in a panic over what to wear and being nervous about oversleeping! JY and her mom arrived at 6 am and off we went to NYC to see the filming of the Martha Stewart Show. JY had tickets and she invited me along.


We arrived outside the studio at 7:45 am and waited to get inside. The line was very short when we got there although it seemed like an early arrival didn't necessarily mean a front row seat.

JY said to wear bright clothes so I wore a very pretty red sweater handknit by my personal knitting enabler. Despite the bright clothes, hubby said we didn't make it on camera :-(


I was excited to go since I had never seen anything filmed before. Hubby didn't see what the fuss was about since he's "been there, done that." But at least he took the day off to care for Quail so I could go.

The set was smaller than I thought it would be but it was cozy and decorated for Halloween.


I can't remember his job title but basically he was there to keep us geeked up and psyched for the show. He also told us when to clap, when to stop clapping, etc...


JY said she couldn't smell the food cooking but I definitely could and it was making me hungry! They made bacon, egg and cheese bagel sandwiches and this really yummy looking roast chicken. We got a free cookbook -- Mad Hungry -- and at first I thought I would give it away but after seeing that chicken, I think I'm going to keep it :-) We also learned how to make eyeballs out of food -- who woulda thunk you could make an eye out of a radish and a spanish olive?

And there was a display of these automata things -- automated toys. We saw a bunch of neat ones but JY took a picture of the horse that drank water and peed. Hey, I can't make fun -- we had a moose that pooped chocolate!


We finished up our morning with lunch at Carmine's. By then it seemed like it was 6 pm when it was only 12:30! Definitely a fun day -- thank you JY for inviting me along!

Smaller than I thought...

So I was wrong. By the end of September, Quail could still squish herself under the sofa.

She also fits under other chairs in our living room.



And of course, she still fits under our bed.

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Cute but still a bad puppy!

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Two Purple Witches and a Bikini Babe

It's our annual Halloween Party at Quail's Puppy PALS club. All pups and some raisers came in costume. Quail came as a purple witch and of course, I had to match. The costume was originally Anita's but it fit Quail much better.


Quail's sister, Quote, was adorable in her itty bitty bikini.

There was no trick or treating but there was pizza -- for the people only!

Images designed using Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 software and the Limited Edition Trick or Treat Addition.

Harley and Quail

Just had to post this picture because they really are so cute :-)

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The Hunt for Free Parking...

The radio station hubby works for is moving from Astoria, Queens to Manhattan. It makes for a slightly shorter commute BUT the huge downside is the lack of parking. Right now, he has a parking lot he can park in for free. In Manhattan, there is no such thing as a free parking lot. We can't afford to pay for parking everyday so we went for a walk around his new work to see what all the parking regulations are.

Harley has been to Ed's work in Queens but never into Manhattan unless he went when he was at the Seeing Eye. Of course, Quail has never been there either. I'm not particularly fond of going into Manhattan but thought this would be a nice "family outing". And of course, a great experience for Quail.


We turned down one block where flocks of pigeons seemed to be congregating. I don't really like pigeons and since I didn't want to get pooped on, Quail and I made a run for the other end of the block while Ed (and Harley) bravely stood amongst the birds making his notes on parking.


We found a very nice park along the river. I was surprised to see how many dogs live in Manhattan. A very friendly group of German tourists just had to pet Quail and of course, Harley too.

New Yorkers may have a reputation for rushing around and ignoring you, but there is nothing like a cute little puppy to bring out the smile on anybody.


We found a nice little restaurant with outside seating where I had meatballs and Ed had macaroni and cheese. Lunch was expensive for the portion sizes but what else do you expect in Manhattan. Harley and Quail had a very nice nap while we ate.

Overall, a great day and everybody was nice and tired afterwards!

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Couch Potato

As soon as they are big enough, every single one of our pups has tried to make the couch their home. Quail still can't get onto the couch from the floor but she does stand on the floor cushions if they are nearby. And like the rest of the pups, she lies there trying to be as invisible as possible.

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Created using the Real Life predesigned digital pages...a limited edition freebie from Creative Memories -- be sure to check out the Limited Edition things before they go away!