A scare and a reward

Before I get to the scare, here's the status of my dress (M6032). I've inched my way through spending about an hour a night after work. The pattern downsizing and adjustments are done and it's nearly all the way cut out.

I decided NOT to cut on the cross grain to take advantage of the border because there's not much stretch that way. Instead, I'm cutting the border off and will sew it back on at the hem. A little more work, but this way I get the stretch where I want/need it and I can decide on final length at the end. A good trade-off for extra steps.

The scare was last night around midnight, right as I was getting ready for bed. I went to round up the dogs for a pee outside before bed (the dogs, people, not me!) and found Chili laid out flat on the area rug in the family room and not really moving. Now, if you knew Chili, you'd know that him laying on the floor instead of a sofa or a bed is strange enough, and that was an immediate flashing red light to me. And upon further inspection he was lethargic, not using his back legs at all, and was very twitchy and jittery. Gulp!

After a rush to the emergency vet (thankfully only 2 miles away), we still don't know exactly what was wrong but the vet's best guess was that he ingested some sort of animal or chemical neuro toxin, and to quote her, "was tripping his brains out." Poor baby. I elected to let them inject fluids under his skin (think Jack Russell Camel hump)  in an effort to dilute whatever it was and for me to take him back home instead of leaving him for observation.

We got back home around 1:30 a.m. and I stayed up with him for a couple more hours. I had emailed work and let them know the story and that I'd be in late. I woke up around 6 a.m. and he had moved spots on the bed, which was a good sign. When I woke up for good around 9 a.m. he was back to normal. Whew! I made into work around 10:45 a.m., so not too late.

That little guy sure knows how to give me a heart attack! No more psychedelic mushrooms for him.;-)

Now for the "reward." Well, at least that's my justification after a hard month of moving and unpacking and then the trippy dog adventure last night. You KNOW what this box means, right??? It's the first one to me at this address, and I fear not even close to the last. I'm sure Zappos is relieved that I'm back in business. :-) I may be on a fabric semi-diet, but shoes? Never!

Here's what I got. I'm giving the no-hose and self-tanner a go and I need some shoes that feel OK without hose. (Which reminds me, where can I get those "toe hose" thingies and do they really stay put in closed shoes?)

I thought I'd only be keeping one pair, but I love them both. And these below were on sale for $47, so how could I even think about sending them back? That's right, I can't. Plus, with that cushy platform, they are as comfortable as wearing flats.

Of course, I really need some new black heeled sandals too ...