Comments....

If there is one thing about the inmates of Squiggeeland is that we appreciate being relaxed and happy.....we also value any input or comment...we try to be upbeat and not offend , keeping the Squiggee experience pleasant and up-beat....

so when we have to moderate the comment portion of this blog , because of off color comments in the form of attaching porno images......people ,this blog is about needlepoint and dogs and my strange experiences , just living and working in a studio painting needlepoint.....I could see if I designed hooker underwear, or some other x-rated product.....it is a free country...but saying that I should not have to police my blog comments for inappropriate material....it makes you want to wash your hands constantly, I am a very free thinker and accept differences in people and there views ...but I am also a lady and know there is a time and place...decorum...respect

two things that seem to have fallen by the wayside of life......just because you can ...think... should you ????....

anyway, I have reinstated the moderation on comments , so no one has to be exposed to any of this off color behavior......It really gets up my nose, that I am forced to censor........

but sometimes you just have to say enough....

If you will notice little Squiggee had to take a time out to relax and reflect...it is very stressful for her some days...

Monday.....enough said!

I was taking some pictures the other day and took one of my little Squiggee-Buns.....who will be 10 in November.....we are all getting older...and Squiggee and I seem to be graying at an alarming rate....I will be 60 in July and for the first time I am less than thrilled at the age thing...

for some really strange reason, 60 to me sounds old...it is hard to wrap my mind around such an advanced age....especially when it seems like I was just 30 a little while age...but like Squiggee, I too have let my natural hair color appear.....the up side of my silver hair is that now I don't need a model for my Witchy Woos...the down side it makes my mind come to terms with my approaching 60 thingy.......the solution...wear a hat 24-7...or just give all the mirrors away...

vainity doesn't seem to be the problem, because face it by the time you are 60 , you have come to the realization that your cutie days are over...you just try and make the best of things and not try to turn back the clock with too much make-up or leather mini skirts...lol...

every few years I raid my closet and do a clean out....what is no longer needed, what doesn't fit since time tends to shift the sand , and what would just be silly on a woman of your age even if it does fit.....this actually helps, because you are no longer reminded of what is no longer an option.... it probably gives the charity you donated it too a giggle....

I have always been on the tailored side, ruffles and too many fu fusss have never been my thing......now that my waist that was small when young has spread , I try and dress without tucking in my shirts...that area is off limits to the viewing public....you just try to make the best of what you have...

we are lucky...poor Squiggee is just in the buff....how scary would life be if we were in the buff in public....parts of my body remind me of a candle that has been in direct sunlight too long.....lol....

just be glad we wear clothes, and frankly past a certain age ..the more clothes the better...just my own personal belief....

I am actually very lucky to have a husband that still finds me pretty...I know he is full of shit, but I like it......

thought of the day..." feeling old....get older friends"..this might prove hard....for some reason everyone you meet these days is younger!...lol....

p.s. Omar also thinks Squiggee is hot!

p.p.s. Mr. Squiggee has a new Squiggee design on his blog......

Sometimes Mother Just Doesn't Get It Right !

Yesterday the long awaited package from some pet online store arrived...delayed by the snow and the mess the snow has made of our mail service.....anyway, I opened the box and unwrapped my great find...an all in one fleece sweat- workout thingy for Omar....It took me hours on line to find what I was looking for...something to keep him warm outside in the interim of getting him his dog coat...after all he is growing a such a rate , I wanted to wait till he was at least a year before investing in a coat..they are very expensive , but a good one will last the life of the dog....

our first dog Woofie loved his gray sweat suit and in real bad cold snow days wood wear it under his coat..like back-up warmth..............well like children all dogs have their likes,dislikes and trauma points...Omar was fine , till i put his back legs in the suit, then he went stiff and acted like he was in a vice....outside he wouldn't move ...so after chasing him down when he came inside, and removing the offending garment..he literally sulked the whole morning...bad Mom!....

so I got my good child..Squiggee and put the sweat-suit on her for fit, granted they are a different shape but, where Omar is tall and long...Squiggee is short and plump...anyway it fit Squiggee and she went into her zone ...where she is warm and cozy and in a trance...so she now has another outfit for the outdoors when it is cold and snowy......by the time you return anything , and don't get a refund on your mailing, and after all my efforts seems like a waste of time....so Omar won't be having any garment that deals with his back legs...and I am right back to square one.....he has already outgrown his new tee shirt........ Spring is coming so maybe I will just let him wear Squiggee's coat ,which is too big, but he tolerates...... sadly...if we had children, this is the kind of mother I would be......Omar needs a new collar and harness.....God it is all too much for me right now after the sweat-suit debacle....
FYI...as you can see no pictures of Omar in the sweat-suit, it was all to traumatic!!!

Cubbie time in Squiggeeland !

This is what happens when you have to share your cubbies...these are strange little dog beds that I bought for Squiggee...she loved the first so much I had to get second for the studio....now that she has a baby brother...Omar, we have had to put the two in the living room and will have to find something else for the studio....Omar and Squiggee use these two beds as their staging area....they play, nap and drag toys in them...Omar loves to dive in and flip around all by himself like he is wrestling another dog......all of Squiggee's toys have become Omar's too...but for the small rubber soccer ball, that Squiggee and her Dad have to play a game at night...for this, I have to hold Omar , so he doesn't interfere....he wants to do everything Squiggee does..eat and sleep with Squiggee ..he is stalking her....

she has warmed to him with each day and the growls and snarls are less and less....Squiggee has never had a playmate the same size before to roll around with....I have taken to serving their dinner on a big oval platter with the food spread around the rim...it works well...they eat at the same pace and seem to enjoy it...two dishes were out of the question...Omar would end up eating out of Squiggee's dish...they really need a troth.....

I use to think we found just by sheer accident found crazy dogs...I now fear they come into our house as normal and run amuck when they live with us...it rubs off...

they are fun to watch and Squiggee seems to be enjoying it all........meanwhile , Omar is in the process of going pee and poo outside , this confuses him , when he comes in so we have had some puppy accidents...all in all he is doing great...and growing so fast...

Will the Real Squiggee Bark ! Or Stand-Up

For the record....Squiggee..aka..the Squig, Squiggee-Buns..or any other combo...is a dog.....and Also the CEO of my Needlepoint line of very quirky canvases....my name is not Squiggee...and my husband ,that some affectionately call Mr. Squiggee..is Ken..although he gets great pleasure out of being referred as Mr. Squiggee( men can be strange at times)....it is a running joke that we all work for the Dog!....although if she could talk , I am sure we would....

She is a registered Boston Terrier , and her official name is

Miss Squiggee-Buns Hendrix....she is short for a Boston, the runt of a litter , and not show worthy according to her specs..too short and not the right amount of white markings...she is a little brindle(flecked with brown in her fur in a certain light...very desirable in Boston circles)...she is a wonderful dog...smart and stubborn, and a joy to have in the studio..all our dogs are raised in the painting studio, because that is where I am for the most part in the daytime...they have destroyed paint tubes ,brushes, and canvas as puppies...Squiggee even managed to eat a scotch tape dispenser..a small one , but it created great anxiety at the time...

Squiggee came from a breeder in West Virginia...way down in the country, you could almost hear the banjos in the trees playing...her parents were two huge Bostons, both show dogs..her father was a brindle and her mother was called Bittzy.....they were truly beautiful in that way Bostons are..not the conventional pretty ..in fact Squiggee was such an ugly pup..we had to rethink her name...driving back with this puppy , she made us think of a character on the old show called Lavern & Shirley...the Squiggee character had big bulging eyes and black slick backed hair and he was short!!!...we added the BUNS...so she would seem more girlie...as Squiggee matured and she grew into her head size and her ears uncurled she became better looking...the more you love them, the better looking they get.....we have always had mixed breeds before and cute comes to mind , our first being a double for Benji....so Squiggee was a shock at first sight...neither my husband or myself had ever seen a Boston or pup in person before we met Squiggee for the first time...just pictures in our dog books...it is an uncommon breed out here in Rural PA...everything here is a mixed breed or Shepard and something..lol..

...when I joined eBay..my user name was squiggee*buns....

so it only stands to reason...that when I started the Squiggee line on Ebay...the name was already in place...at the time I thought it was such a crazy name that no one would have it on a line of canvases and that once you hear it and get the strange spelling right you will never forget it....besides...one cannot say it without smiling..it is a happy name and the line of canvases was created to be small designs and happy like the Squig!

Now really...who would name a child Squiggee...my name is Gail Hendrix....but I am actually the artist that creates Squiggee canvases so in reality I am Squiggee...so my husband is Mr. Squiggee...

and if anyone reading this cannot tell which one in the picture is the real Squiggee...then truly it doesn't matter...lol...

here in Squiggeeland...we are all Squiggers and I do Squiggify the designs or put the Squiggee on it..see it is a fun name...our names are dull in comparison....

and it is not every Boston that has her own company...lol

all you have to do is to get the spelling right...lol

Sisters

Even though our dogs are not related by blood...they are sisters....raised by one mother, me, since they were old enough , 8 weeks, to leave their biological mothers.....and sisters they are in every sense of the word as we can relate to the dog pack.....it never amazes me how close they are, both needing to know what and where the other is at all times and what they are eating and how much attention they are getting from us.....the other day I just laughed out loud at their antics...

I was picking the the chicken off the bone, something I have done since our Boston was little, she can't eat dog food so she has always been on a diet of lean meat, rice , vitamin and oil . When our Jake died around five years ago and there was only the two left..Miss Bubbles , our Springer-lab mix and little Squiggee-buns ,our Boston. It was then that Bubbles decided she was not going to eat dog food, but eat what Squiggee was having....so the routine of cooking and boning chicken has become a staple of our life....the "girls" Bubbie & Squig, are always in attendance when I perform this ...waiting patiently for a tidbit....well the other day I was giving them little pieces as I worked...I must have missed Squiggee and a piece of chicken landed on her back......she went around in a circle trying to find the piece that got away.....and before I could reach her...her sister leaned over her, ate the piece of chicken right off her back and licked the spot clean....no fuss or mess and Squiggee acted like it was nothing.....how close is that...then the two continued to beg for another little morsel.......now, I have two sisters, and even if our life depended on it we would take a pass on this act .......maybe when we were very small , we might share an ice cream cone but only the cone , not the ice cream that dribbles down your hand....please....our dogs are simply so natural in they way they interact with each other....

no guile , no wondering what others think...they simply love the mere fact that each other is there.

Hard Living With A Diva

This morning Miss Squiggee-Buns refused to have buttered toast without a smig of plum jelly.

We here in Squiggeeland , have notice her Highness becoming a little haughty at times over the last couple of weeks...Things have been on the upswing for Squiggee since she signed her big new contract with Dream House Ventures....if that wasn't bad enough, her new distributor goes right out and gets her on the cover of Needlework Retailer. Mind you ,she keeps a copy with cover up beside her little pink cubby bed. Her sister Miss Bubbles , has been known to mutter under her breath @#6%$)(*&%$#@@!@#$ !!!!!when passing by. When the call came Monday, that her first big TNNA show in Columbus was a great success, Squiggee has been beyond snotty...yes snotty....you know how little diva's are...I was told this morning to cut my coffee time short and get back to work in the studio....after all time is money....Miss Squiggee-Buns better watch her step....she might just have to take a humble ...starting with dog food!

Squiggee's Corner !

Just for the record , not all the creative stuff that happens in Squiggeeland , takes place in the studio....The CEO, Miss Squiggee-Buns Hendrix...does not have the normal boardroom ,where a think tank meets...but rather a corner ,with her own chair ( short to the floor) for obvious comfort...because, Squiggee has sort little legs. A custom chair pad that is shaped much like a dog bed ,was ordered and a back rest pad, because Squiggee likes a closed in back while she is deep in thought....keeps the creative juices flowing, you know.....
To the left of her chair, is her custom fleece covered stairs ,so she can sit in the window and see what is up in Squiggeeland at any given moment...a must for such a creative pooch....
The hard and fast rule in Squiggeeland is that no person is allowed to sit in her chair and please a big no...no...do not put anything ,like a magazine or sweater or any object in her chair....

and ....how do we know when our fearless leader Miss Squiggee is having a deep creative moment...out comes one foot that needs it's own space...she is really cooking on all burners....