Things I've learned this summer, in no particular order:

1. If you promise your sister the gift of a wedding album, you'll scrapbook day and night to make sure it's perfect in time to be hand-delivered. Even if you can't blog pictures because she's private like that. And you have nothing else to blog about. But, you'll be totally ok with that. :)
2. She'll be ok with the album being three years late if you make it worth it. And it was so worth it. Seriously? If I had made this book when I promised it to her? It would have contained gems like these:

1. There's nothing that can replace time with family.
   
2. A flatulent dog is a poor bedfellow.
3. Eating the tasty morsels your niece and nephew drop from their high chairs will make a dog flatulent.
4. If anyone ever asks you if you want to go to a restaurant-slash-pub and the only way to get there is by boat? The answer is a resounding yes.
5. Likewise with an offer to see Doc Walker or George Canyon at a music festival.
   
6. You'll develop a serious case of blog-envy as you read other people's blogs and dream about all of the fun projects they're doing. Your comments on said projects will become less and less creative with each new post you read.
   
7. Summer vacation will always feel like it flew by.
   

It's not you, it's me.

Hey...so....yeah...we need to talk.

Look, I know that we haven't seen each other in a month. It's just that I've been so busy! Things were really hectic at work, and I've just got so much to do.

I mean, really, between the end of the school year and working on all of the projects at home that I've neglected, I just don't have the time or the energy for this kind of commitment right now.

So, could we, like, take a break?

No, no no! It's not permanent! I mean, it would just be for the summer. And maybe the beginning of September, until school gets going.

No, no, of course I still think you're pretty! Wait, no, slow down...it's not because you were experiencing technical difficulties that one time when I actually had a chance to post. No, it's not. It's not.

It's just that there is so much else out there in the world calling my name right now. The birds are shining, and the sun is singing, and- err, well something like that. And anyway, it wouldn't hurt you to get some sun too, you know.

Oh, don't be like that. I know that blogs can't get any sun. You have to admit though, you are getting a little bit of sun right now since I'm typing on the deck.

I am not cheeky!

Ok, ok, wait, come back. I was just teasing.

It's not like we'll have much to discuss, though. I mean, I lost the camera, and these are the best pictures I can take with my iPhone:See what I mean?

Ok, so maybe they're not so bad. But not good enough for thrice-weekly blog updates, either.

No, "thrice" is not pretentious. Now you're just being mean.

Ok, how about a compromise? If you'll agree to be civil about this, I'll promise to hit you up for a 2am bloggy-call from time to time? Deal?

No, I don't think you're "that kind" of blog. It was just an idea. How about a few afternoon-sit-down-with-a-cup-of-coffee chats, instead?

Ok...really? You're sure you're cool with this?

Phew.

Life is good.

So, it's been two weeks since I last posted, and while on the one hand, I missed it, on the other hand, I was a little happy for the break. It's the end of the semester, and the work doesn't stop when you're trying to help 120 students move on to the next level. We've also got this new responsibility with two dogs instead of one. And in the last two weeks, I feel like I've met some pretty significant challenges, and come out all the better for it.

In fact, today I was offered a permanent teaching contract at my school.

And now, things are finally starting to wind down. So what I'm trying to say is, life is good.

My design team project is late, unfortunately, but will be finished tonight.

But, since I wanted to post a little somethin' tonight for y'all, here's a project I completed a few weeks ago.
Yup. Life is good.

Friendy stuff.

This here's a layout about friendship.


See the dude in the picture? Known him since elementary. It was our shared birthday. His sister and his wife are also in the pic. The weird ghosty-thing is my little sister.

I love these peeps.

And in the true spirit of friendship, I thought about from friend Jennifer from Scrapping Daze while I was making this friendy-layout.

See that layering? Totally Jen-inspired. You rock, my friend.

It's made with my April Paper Poppy kit. They rock, too.

Can you feel the love?

Gettin' dangerous.

So at the crop the other weekend, I busted out the April Paper Poppy kit.

I thought these bright colours matched the lights on the stage in the photos. I mounted them on black to give them some street cred.

I cut that title with a deep-cut blade for the Cricut. It's not your average sissy blade. It's a bad-ass mean blade with tattoos and a motorcycle. I cut the chipboard, then the paper letters, then grunged them up, and then added some glossy accents. But not sissy-glossy. Glossy-like-a-new-Harley gossy

But then I thought, you know what this layout needs? Some flourishes.

But not those pretty, girly flourishes. Ohhh, no. I'm talkin'......Distress Stickle flourishes, dude. Made with Stickles that didn't even come with the kit. They're kick ass.

That's right. I said it.

I even used sketch 83 from Creative Scrappers. That's like, old skool.

Oh, yeah. I live dangerously.

Don't get too close my friends.

The best part of the crop.

So, it's true. I think I may have found the most awesome dog ever. That's right. Pretty much freaking ever.

Don't get me wrong. I love Molly. Adore her, really. But if you aren't already in her club, membership of which is determined by Molly and Molly alone, then she can be a collosal jerk. Luckily I'm in the club, but she's not always interested in granting membership to my friends. Or the neighbours. Or the pizza guy. Or pretty much anyone she doesn't already know.

When we got to the crop on Friday afternoon, there she was. Big, gorgeous, sniffing around, and scratching at the door to get in. Naturally, everyone thought she was a neighbourhood dog, but you have to understand that this neighbourhood is, essentially, in the bush (that's “forest” or “woods” for any non-Canadians), and so the pool of potential awesome-dog owners is relatively limited.

***Editor's note – the English Lesson Edition: Please notice that these are potential “owners of awesome dogs”, and not “awesome owners of dogs”, as indicated by the hyphenated phrase. This is called a “compound modifier” which connects two words which describe the third. (Consider the case of the “red wine glass” versus the “red-wine glass”. Without the hyphen, we don't know if it's the wine or the glass which is red.) This is essential in a case such as this, as you will soon come to realise that these owners may, in fact, be very un-awesome.

Friday evening, one of the organizers got quite a fright when she opened the door and two huge eyes were staring back at her. By the time a left a couple of hourse later, she was still there, and even seemed to be trying to get me to follow her into the bush as I walked to my car. I assumed she wanted to play, so I told her to go home (in my friendliest dog-talking voice, I assure you!) and headed on my tired-and-merry way.

By Saturday, she was still hanging around, and we were starting to worry. Turns out she was hungry, as evidenced by the speed with which she scarfed down an apple she was offered on Saturday afternoon. This prompted a canvasing of the woodsy neighbourhood, which turned out to be futile.

So, what do we do now with a very huge, very hungry, and very lost dog? Well, one of the ladies called her mom who brought out a bag of dogfood, someone put out a bowl of water, someone else named her Maggie, and at the end of the night, I decided to take her home.

As I walked out of the building, I said, “Maggie, let's go home,” and I swear to you, she trotted off and stopped right in front of my car. Like she knew.

You should have seen Cliff's face when I picked him and his friend up with a giant dog in the back seat. He'd had a little to drink, and I didn't tell him she was coming. The reaction was a pleasant one, but it was something to the effect of, “Holy *$^%, Cliff, there's a monster dog in your backseat!”

So we took her home. Molly was an arse. But Maggie just lapped up the attention and slept soundly on the living room floor.

Sunday morning, I took her to Petland, because the poor thing needed a collar and leash if she was going to be staying for any length of time. They helped me to fit her, and checked her for a microchip, to no avail. The Petland people, like us, couldn't believe that such a beautiful, obedient, and well-cared for dog could actually be a stray.

And yet, it seems like she is. We've exhausted every avenue, including knocking on doors, advertising on Kijiji and on the radio, contacting the SPCA, local animal shelter, and both city and county animal control, and sending a mass email to co-workers. We're going to try an ad in the paper, but otherwise, all we can do is wait and enjoy her company while we have her.

I spent most of this week with some students in the city at a competition, but I understand that Maggie's was living it up at home, taking car rides and going to the dog park, which are two of her favourite activities. I was so excited to get home and get in on the fun.

She and Cliff have really bonded, and honestly, it's been so good for Molly to have her around. Molly's had to figure out that she's not the king of the castle, as she once believed, and she's actually become more obedient in the last week. Yesterday, we were able to take the two of them for a walk without any incidents at all, and to be honest, I teared up right there in the park. I love Molly to pieces, but her behaviour has been so troubling in the past that I was overwhelmed at how good they were together.

It really feels like we were meant to find Maggie.

So, to sum up, she knows commands, is obedient, is very gentle, and doesn't try to eat the pizza guy. She really is the best freaking dog ever.

So, here are some questions for you.

a) What's your hunch – was she abandoned, or did she run away?

b) Farm dog or house dog?

c) How long is long enough to hang on to a stray dog before she's “yours” to make a suggestion about?

Thank you for reading such a long post about Maggie. My hope is that someone might either recognize her or have some good advice about the care of stray dogs. Please rest assured that we will not take her to a “kill” shelter. At this point, all signs point to keeping her if her owners don't turn up...but we think we need wait at least another week.

I can't wait for this week to be over. :)

Long time no blog.

So it's been ages, right? Eaons. Millenia have passed. Glaciers have melted. Fish have grown legs and started to walk on land. Cliff's grown a long beard and I've seen body parts head south since I last posted.

In summary, I haven't posted in a while.

Do I have a good reason, you ask? Well, my faithful bloggy companions, it is a combination of reasons that have resulted in such an extensive hiatus.

Now, before I discuss it, here are a couple of projects I meant to post about last week.

You know. Before Mother's Day actually happened.

Incidentally, the cards arrived late, too. Shock and dismay.

I had fun with these, though. I made them at the crop I attended a couple of weeks ago. “Joy! Rapture!” said I, upon returning home from a most pleasant and productive weekend. “I shall have blogging subjects for a fortnight!”

However, said fortnight was spent catching up at work from a weekend spent at said crop. I love my scrappy weekends, but when you're a teacher, it just means that you're putting work off that will still need to be done.

So, there's that.

And then Cliff got sick. As in, sore-throat, aching, ready-to-collapse, holding-yourself-up-with-a-wall, waking-up-in-a-ditch-with-no-pants-and-a-new-tattoo sick. All of which is true except that last bit. Suffice to say, he needed attention that could not be shared with my usual habit of chasing bloggy squirrels.

Then last weekend, another crop, this time a last-ditch effort to get in some scrapping time before the summer comes.. “Self,” said I, “you must surely attend this crop or risk losing your scrappyness for months. How vexing that should be.” So I went.

Now, this post is going to get super long (oh, how I have missed you!), so I shall share with you the most exciting part of that crop tomorrow.

But here's a hint.

And that only brings us to last weekend, my friends. I shall post again tomorrow about the capital times I've had since then.