New Toy!

 Oh let me show you my new toy! Brenna got this for me for our anniversary in September as our old digital point-and-shoot will only take about 3 photos now before you have to change the batteries (which are not rechargeable and that makes me mad!). He got this one for a really great price and I have to say I am totally smitten with it :)

 Many of the photos posted on the blog recently have been taken with the new camera, it is so tiny and easy to carry with me everywhere, I take it on walks with Arwen, and even just when I go to the end of the driveway to get mail. This little guy was waiting near my front step when I came back from getting the mail a few weeks ago. The viewfinder on the back of the camera is huge, which makes for very easy picture taking (no more squinting and then having to use extra eye cream on that eye to remove all of the extra wrinkles afterwards - score!).

Here's another shot I took on the last weekend of the farmers' market in June. I love how crisp the colors are - it makes everything really pop!
Anyway, enough bragging, just had to show you all the great little camera :)
Soon I'll be showing you some new pieces of jewelry (don't think I've stopped that, I'm just catching up on some major photo-taking!). Stay tuned for new pieces!

Arwednesdays with Arwen: Farewell to Mr.Seal

It had to happen at some point. Yes, we held it off for as long as we could, maybe we even went into a bit of denial. But it was always lurking in the backs of our minds: one day, Arwen's stuffed toy seal would have to go to toy heaven. It had a long life, to be sure: it started out as a childhood toy of my own, was usurped by Gandalf as his special friend, and then usurped from him by Arwen. It survived my childhood, it survived Gandalf, but by far its hardest years were with Arwen. Having ripped the stuffing out, I stuffed it back in and sewed it. She ripped it out again, I sewed it back in again. It happened again and again (and again, I think about 5 or six times total), though I will admit to not stuffing every piece back in every time - the amounts of stuffing this seal held, I have no idea how it didn't explode on its own! Finally I left it unstuffed and Arwen actually seemed to like that best. It was a tender love-play story. She carried it everywhere. I took photo after photo of her with Mr. Seal. When I washed it, I blogged about her stressful day here. She loved that seal.
Finally, the dreaded day came.
Arwen was discovered trying to rip out the eyes and nose. It was a VERY tough day. I took it away, hoping to teach her not to do that. No good, she tried it again as soon as I gave it back to her. Finally I had no choice: I threw it away, I am sorry to say. A moment of silence if you please, for Mr. Seal. He will be remembered fondly for many years....
Poor Arwen went through seal withdrawal for almost a week, trying to go back to her crab (which also has no stuffing), or her pepper (which also has no stuffing), or her ball, or her Kong, or bones, but nothing really seemed to hold her interest and she'd constantly go back to the kitchen cupboard where the garbage is hidden, as if to say, "Mommy...I really need my toy back please".
Then one glorious day arrived...

Brennan came home with a new toy!!! It is a dino (we think), but it looks and feels sort of like Mr. Seal!! We christened it Mr. Dino. It took about a day for Arwen to overcome the shock of having a new toy (her eyes went absolutely HUGE when he showed it to her), and now, well, she goes everywhere with it! She takes it to the window with her when she wants to look outside (above), she takes it to the back door when she wants to go outside, she takes it to bed when she wants to sleep.
And she is happy :)

Arwendnesday: What Arwen Got For Christmas

Hello, it is me, Arwen the Wonder Dog here to show you more of my Christmas presents! Yesterday you saw me get to open my pressed rawhide bone, above, but now you get to see the rest of them!
Grand monna and Grand daddoo got me this squeaky orange standing toy. Mommy thinks it is hilarious, though no one else seems to think it is as funny as she does. It stands on its own two feet and is squeaky and rolls and bounces so I like it. Mommy says she is surprised I haven't destroyed it and left it a tattered mess of tiny pieces all throughout the house, but hey, mommy, I've only had it a few days and I've been pretty preoccupied with my other gifts you know!
I also got a box of some of my favorite treats. Mommy likes to make mine, but sometimes she treats me with these Wellness Wellbars. I like the peanut ones, but these are a different flavor - yogurt and apples and bananas - some of my favorite foods! I Looooove them....
Especially when mommy puts a smush (a technical treat word) of peanut butter in my Kong toy, and then seals it up with a few of those Wellbars treats!
I also got a Nylabone. Now, mommy doesn't like me chewing on plastic, but I am a VERY powerful chewer and these are the only things that last....for a bit. She even tried getting me one of those "Galileo" plastic bones...that are supposed to be indestructible...they aren't, though they did put a few good dents in mommy and daddy's nice hardwood floors (it's a good thing I'm cute, rahrooh!). Anyways, after the Galileo bone that was very expensive and was, in fact, destructible, mommy went back to the Nylabones in the hard plastic. Mommy got it in chicken flavor ("How do they make plastic taste like chicken?"..."I don't know mommy, I'm a dog!") and I alsoloooove it! Thank you mommy, daddy and grand monna and grand daddoo for my Christmas presents! Spending time with you would have been enough, but I sure am not going to lie and say I don't like presents, because I do, arooh rooh rooh!

Have a great day efurrybuddy!

and Arwen

A Stressful Day in Arwen's Life

Hi! It's me, Arwen, Meghann's wonderful perfect grown up puppy dog! I have a story for you today: When mommy was a kid, her parents gave her a stuffed baby seal toy (not a real one, don't worry!), which her cat, Gandalf, soon stole as his own special toy. When I came around, with all my wonderful doggyness, Gandalf and I stole it from each other as our favorite play toy. This went back and forth for years, until Gandalf went to the Rainbow Bridge last year, and since then, I have become incredibly attached to this seal. Mommy has tried to sew the stuffing back in it many times, but I have told her very clearly that I like it full of holes, floppy without stuffing, and DIRTY! Well, mommy got disgusted the other day and threw it in this big white machine! It started making sloshing sounds and wouldn't let my seal out for me to play with no matter how much I smelled it and tried to get on top of it!!I sniffed the top - I even tried to jump up there, but mommy wasn't fast enough with the camera....
I sniffed the side.....and then when mommy went back upstairs to fold some of the big people clothes and I stayed down right beside the washing machine, waiting. Mommy couldn't find me after a few minutes so she came back downstairs to find me giving her the evil laser eyes, wanting my seal! Please mommy, I need it!
Mommy sighed and said, "This calls for specialist equipment...."
"A big gob of peanut butter, her favorite cookies and her Kong ought to do the trick!".... and it did, but it took a while to get me upstairs....
And then FINALLY! Mommy brought a big basket of big people clothes upstairs and hidden in it was...you guessed it! My seal! We had a very happy reunion where I got to smell it, then I chewed it and now I am back to carrying it all through the house where ever I go :)
Mommy says to remember to enter her contest this month to win a pair of fancy earrings. Click HERE for the post.
Thanks for listening to my story, I hope you have a happy Wednesday!
...and Arwen too!