all set

i have my doggie sitting arrangements all made now for the workshop i'm taking at valley ridge art studios with beryl taylor at the end of next month. a good dog sitter is sometimes hard to find! this woman has watched my dogs before. never jac, he usually comes with me, but the bed and breakfast i'm staying at does not accept pets. guinness needs jac to keep his attitude up, so this is good that they're together. i wish i could take them both with me whenever i go somewhere, but not is not usually possible. jac does travel well, and has even spent time with us at a swanky hotel at niagara falls two years ago. he's very good at the hotel. he is alert when he hears people in the hallway, but doesn't bark. my dogs and my cat are my babies. my children. they are good critters, for the most part. guinness is 10 and jac is 5. bean is 3. time flies by so fast. that's the one thing with dogs and cats - they aren't with us long enough. i lost my dyna two years ago. dyna was guinness's grandmother. you gotta love animals! they are there for you when you're down. they know when you need cheering up. they can be naughty one minute and so sweet the next.

i've been toying with my blog banner. i had to create a revised banner for my etsy shop and decided to try it on this blog. it's not as "fat" as the previous incarnation, but i do believe it works. i've got my fingers into so many pies right now. i'm learning photoshop elements and all things digital. i love this. at work i do the department intranet - it is not as creatively satisfying as all i do at home, but it's better than a lot of things i must do at work. besides, i just love writing and formating things, whether they be documents, technical manuals, or blog banners! then there's the painting, stamping, cutting (fabric and paper), glueing and all that stuff. i just love it. i hope that someday i'm able to retire some day with marc and we are able to do the things we love - me my art work and he his watches and radios. freedom to pursue one's dreams, that's the way to live. most people never get to do that, which is why i sneak it into my life now. why wait? if you don't do it now, when will you get to do it? that and i give everything i do my best. i manage a staff of 6 people at work. i try to mentor each and every one of them. give them what they need which is someone who listens to them when they need to talk about something important (that could be something that is going on at work or an important aspect of their personal life) and to remind them of the important things in life, just like i just said here. work is a critical aspect of life, but in life, it is not THE important thing. your happiness, your family, these are the important things. we must all work to get along at work and make our respective jobs easier for one another. that is the difficult part. i guess it's just the golden rule for today: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. treat each other with respect. But at the same time respect must be earned. it all comes around. its the karma thing. i'm big into karma. i believe if you do good things, good things will happen to you. it's why i love the show "my name is earl" so much. it shows real down to earth people and how they act and can act when they respect one another. i know that sounds weird. i have known people like the characters in the show. good grief, my in-laws and ex were all like that. except they weren't doing the good things. it was all about what's in it for them. enough about that. i've said before that i'm going to keep this upbeat and not a big downer for you, the reader. anyway, you can turn your life around, no matter how bad it is. you can make a difference in other peoples lives by just being nice, and respecting one another. did you do a good deed today?