Bev's Antiquing, Schlepping, Schlogging, & Writing Blog Schlog: Tchotchkaholics Unite

Bev's Antiquing, Schlepping, Schlogging, & Writing Blog Schlog: Tchotchkaholics Unite: " Do you love antiques and collectibles? Do you shop yard sales, tag sales and scour the newspaper for anything that may be ol..."

Tchotchkaholics Unite

 Do you love antiques and collectibles? Do you shop yard sales, tag sales and scour the newspaper for anything that may be older then you are? Do you fill drawers, closets, places and spaces under your bed and/or in corners where only dust bunnies may lurk? Does your family or those who love you dearly tell you when you proudly display your purchase, "Oh . . . that's a cute piece of crap."  Then, you my friend are a Tchotchke lover and most likely a Tchtchkaholic. Fear not . . . Come out of the closet (with) me and join one of the few places in the world where people like you and I can be free at last! You are not weird just because you have an obsession to buying what you love and few people in your inner circle appreciate. A Tchotchkaholic is someone who needs to join a group, such as; http://iantiqueonline.ning.com/ . . . You'll be a much better person for it!

Happy New Year to All My Friends and Family

I for one, am glad to see the fading of this year and welcome 2011 in, although I will most likely be asleep when the clock strikes midnight. I have done my reflecting, made promises to myself, and hope that the fates will be kinder and more forgiving to all of us. We will encounter life and death, sorrow and joy, good and bad, right and wrong. We will make mistakes and we will have success, but what I wish most for you is peace and love throughout this coming new year.
Happy 2011 to All!

Yorkie Puppies in Training

I am utterly and hopelessly in love . What to do . . . oh what to do?  My babies get cuter and cuter every day and each one is developing a personality. It sometimes seems as if they are trying to out do each other in capturing my attention. The minute I scrunch down and try to evaporate myself into their pen, the puppies converge on me and we intertwine. I am inundated with wet tongues and puppy breath.

They are trying to bark - funny little sounds that sound like a whoopee cushion on its last legs. And poor mommy Zoie - even though they are now on real puppy food, mom is still a desirable resource. She is so tiny and the puppies so big, Zoie can only stand up or sit to accommodated the crowd. This is hysterical to watch because the boy puppies lie on their back and roll back and forth, while the girl puppies are more sedate.

What is so amazing to watch is how their individual personalities are taking shape as well as their physical attributes. Their hair is growing fuzzier, sprouting in spurs, and they exude love. Its no wonder that I am hooked. Bring on the King-sized bed!

On Collecting Tchotchkes (which also rhymes with Yorkies)

Being possessed by a Yorkie is one of Life's impeccable joys!

-  by author unknown but most likely a  Tchotchkaholic

Mrs Santa Zoie 

Puppy Tchotchke

The other day while bending over the Yorkie puppy digs soon after feeding them their first real food, I saw several perfectly formed pieces of tiny poop. I turned to my husband and said, "Oh, Bud, look how cute their little poopie is!"

His comment was, "You're obsessed. You get excited about anything."

It is totally true - I am possessed and obsessed, partly because I am a confessed Tchotchkaholic. Since a Tchotchkaholic is addicted to collecting Tchotchkes (yes, it is also true that some crude people think of Tchotchkes as a "piece of crap"), and since the Yorkie does not take up much space in one's home, owners have a tendency to "stock up" on them (Yorkies no poop, okay so maybe . . .?)

Reindeer Daddy Zack

Tchotchke Yorkie Love Puppies

Even the Kennel Club book on Yorkshire Terriers offers, "It is very common for Yorkie enthusiasts to adopt two, three or even a dozen more Yorkies. The love and companionship that a single Yorkie can bring to an owner is multiplied and compounded daily with a whole collection of blue and tan babies."

Bring on the Tchotchke Yorkie Love Puppies!

The Day After Christmas and other Ghost Stories

The process of restoring an old building is endless; it's like - oh - what can go wrong next? We were eating our traditional Christmas Eve fondues when suddenly the electricity went off. The music stopped, the heater died and the refrigerator stopped humming. Thankfully we had candles and Sterno and could continue with dinner. We've been without electricity before on holidays so I have to take such emergencies in stride (more or less), because of prior experiences. We have had stoves stop working, sewer backing up, ice stoppage on roof tops, and plaster ceilings caving in.

Last year, my husband fell of the roof and so we spent the day after Christmas in the emergency room, which turned out to be a blessing. As we were we leaving, his Doctor stopped us and said – “No, you are not alright.” It turned out the C-scan showed a mass in his sinuses and he had to have an operation that saved his life. 

I blame the troubles on our ghosts, but I am also thankful for them because they have revealed information that we ‘needed to know and heed.’ Like at 2:30 AM this morning. I woke up suddenly with the urge to check on the puppies. I turned on the light in the room and looked down into their digs and counted - only four puppy heads. I looked under blankets and everywhere but no fifth puppy. Then I heard a cry - she was under the able and had evidently climbed out of the pen. We had left a side lower so that Zoie can climb in and out with ease. It's time to raise the sides again.

One cannot live in an old home without the energy of the past still viable. I tend to call the home my family and I live in, a building because my antique shop is below, and our family residence above. Where I once had apartments, I now have one huge space with flowing rooms, though there is a separate entrance for a potential second apartment should I want to “let” the space. But the entire space we call our home keeps evolving the longer we live here. My Christmas present this year was my new kitchen – all custom because of the space and designed by myself and my husband with a great deal of frustration on both our parts.

The process all started before Thanksgiving (the building of the kitchen, not the planning) and ended on Christmas Eve. The building of the kitchen and you could say the Yorkie Puppies (rather birthing), all five of which arrived on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving are the reason why I am falling in love with our home, and in finding comfort in all its unique spaces.

My brother Bill came up often during the upstairs construction phase and helped my husband. I will be forever grateful for Bill’s help and time. I don’t think Bud could have done the work himself. All in all, the upstairs is 2400 sq ft, as is the downstairs. The last of the renovation left on the building is a huge back room which I hope to turn into a writers’ workshop and studio, but we must wait to rebuild our finances. I'm hoping before the end of the summer.  

There are, however, many other reasons why I love this place I call home. My family is spread out everywhere – My daughter Dana and her beautiful family; my step-daughter Rae and her beautiful Family; my older brother Ken and his family, my little brother Hank and his awesome family, and all my friends spread from one end of the world to the other. However, I can connect to you through Facebook and computers and the technology that the Internet provides.  

But yesterday, I received a phone call from my uncle Roy (who I have not seen or spoken to in years), who I have always adored, and I also spoke to my father, my stepmother, and much of my family.

This all leads me to a headline in my local newspaper – the Winston-Salem Journal; "The World is Changing; The First Baby Boomers Turn 65 this Year," and right below a smaller headline and story, "The Ten Signs of Alzheimers."

There is no cure for Alzheimers and we can' t turn the clock back on aging. Maybe this is why computers came into being. We who can, who have computers, can use our computer’s memory in a way which we may store our past and re-live life, over and over again - both the good and the bad and keep our brains functioning and alive (baring any power outage that is).

Merry Christmas from the Puppies . . . What a day!

At 10:00 this morning (Christmas Eve) which also happens to be Bevie II's 20th Birthday, Kristen tells me the puppies have worms. Zoie has been having really awful poo and farting the past few days. I thought maybe it was her diet and held back on some of the extra goodies, but when Kristen made the announcement, I called the Vet. I'm glad that I did.

"Best to bring them all in," he said. So we collected the babies and Zoie in mass and left.

Yep - worms, including mom and all were treated. The Vet also said the babies were cute and healthy and to bring everybody back in two weeks for another treatment. He also said it is time to start weaning - mix Baby puppy food with rice cereal and water to form a mushy consistency. Put on a plate and let puppies at it because they like to play with their food. He cautioned not to leave the food on the floor for longer then thirty minutes. It took the five guys and girls all of ten!

They loved it!

What fun to watch!

Yorkie Puppies

Biker Zack , , , the Yorkshire Terrior

In two more days the puppies will be four weeks old. and this coincides  with Christmas Eve so this week is momentous. Within any given day, the changes in their ability and agility changes. For instance tonight, we had mega kissing and mega nipping. The boys and girls wanted human touch and reveled in this process. There was no growling from Daddy Zack's gate or from Mom Zoies's;  just sniffing and licking. So we'll see?.

Puppies New Digs

My bathroom is mine again. No more parade of humans wanting to see the puppies as they have a new home which includes sleeping area, potty area, play area, and a feeding area (though this changes at the whim of mommy Zoie). It took my husband the better part of the day to construct it and then de-construct it because the sides were not high enough to keep [the puppies] inside.

Both Zoie and Zack are jumpers, so the babies will most likely be jumpers. They climb over each other, on top of each other and mom, and on and off their bed and into their food bowls, which they are curious about. The bowls are empty now, but in a few days I will be starting them on a special puppy food, though Zoie will still be nursing.

Now that Zoie and puppies are out of my bedroom too, we are starting to alternate who gets to sleep in the big bed at night and Zack is happy again. Tonight we are going to ease Zack and Zoie back together (Zoie  hasn't wanted him to see the puppies yet), but the Vet said it would be alright once the puppies could stand, bark and have teeth. Their bark is more like a purr and the cutest sound, and their teeth are coming in like little razors.  

Yorkie Puppies Potty Trained at Three Weeks

Yes, it is true and really amazing to watch. I should know, I have a ring-sized seat.

Let me explain because location is everything.

Zoie decided that she wanted to have her liter in my huge bathroom. During the weeks prior to the birth of said puppies, she had tried to dig a virtual hole in my bedroom floor. It was obvious that she nixed out the rest of the house and for a while, I thought that she was going to have the puppies in my bed, rather on my pillow, or my husband’s.

So, I made her a corner near the TV which she loves to watch; then set her bed, papers, towels, potty pads, and all the accoutrements needed for a spoiled Yorkie about to give birth. By the last two weeks of Zoie’s  pregnancy, she could no longer climb on to my bed so she took to the new location and her new cozy bed fine; but, she still hunted and dug.

The night before the births, I had a brain idea moment, and moved a cupboard from the bathroom and my husband made a box of sorts to fit – next to the empty space by the toilet – hence – why I get a ring sized seat to watch the puppies. The problem I have now is that EVERYONE wants to use my bathroom, even strangers who come to my shop, like today. A man claimed his car had broken down and AAA was on its way but it would be at least an hour --- could he please use my Yorkie bathroom? The fact that he said Yorkie bathroom was a dead giveaway - only those who read my blog, know where the puppies are.

“No.” I told him.

So back to Yorkie Puppies Potty Trained at Three Weeks – amazing but true story. The puppies have been slithering for more then a week, then sitting up, and waddling on all four legs, which is much like watching a human baby take its first steps. Babies though wear diapers, puppies don’t.

Not to gross anyone out, but puppy moms take care of their broods elimination needs – all of them; which, it becomes advisable not to kiss your puppie’s mother’s mouth. As the pups have gotten older – they are now seeking out the area away from their cuddly sleeping space and relieving themselves when necessary.

The key word is seek – the puppies actually seek out the area – said puppy training potty pad – and use it for what it was invented for! Is this not amazing or what? (or possibly do I and others set (sit) a good example? Sadly though, the puppies are growing and with so many humans and pups in my bathroom, it's beginning to be cramped.

So tomorrow Mommy and gang will be moving to their new digs in a much larger area next to the kitchen. They will have a separate play area, eating area, and sleeping area along with actual chairs where the humans can sit, or even lay on the floor and play with the puppies in comfort. 

Bethania, NC, History, and the Making of Legends

Legends grow on antiques the way moss grows on trees. As a family heirloom is passed from one generation to the next, its history takes on added flourishes. A spinning wheel made in 1820 becomes the spinning wheel brought over on the Mayflower. A bed of 1840 becomes a bed George Washington slept in. Here in Bethania, we have a house proudly displayed as the “The Cornwallis House” because the General made the home into his headquarters during a brief stay in Bethania as he was preparing to head south and escape from General Greene’s American troops. 

The English did indeed encamp throughout Bethania; both inside homes, backyards as we know then today. In fact everywhere in Bethania, including outlying fields – the town's residents fed the enemies; watered them, and admonished more then 3000 soldiers to behave themselves --- or else. (the stills would run dry and the bad boy would spend time in the tavern cellar on the corner of today’s Loesch/Lash and Main Street, a dank and dark place which often substituted for a jail. 

One of my favorite Bethania stories is that of the young Captain, George Hauser who happened to be in the tavern one night at the same time Tory troops were. Hauser's father, whose name also happened to be George was the tavern’s proprietor. The Hauser family settled in North Carolina along the Yadkin River in the 1740s. They were friends, even inter-married with Squire Boone and the Morgan Bryant families. By the early 1750s, North Carolina was still a predominately wild and untamed frontier. Religious beliefs as well as British control of the land ignited flames of uprising. The Moravians, although the oldest protestant religion in the world, were a small religious sect even by today's standards, yet this religious sect held great power - in establishing religious order and in monetary support from English peers who were of high birth right and welded power. The Hauser family held different beliefs even though their joining the Moravians meant they were to become conscientious objectors – meaning they did not bear arms. Of course the Hauser family did, as did the other original non-Moravian families who became part of the experimental Bethania settlement did.

Young George Hauser was a peer and friend of Daniel Boone. Then there was a man by the name of Matthew Brookes, a man with connections and wealth, and who played a bold roll in establishing American freedom.

How to Tell a Boy Yorkie from a Girl Yorkie

Puppy in Bowl

Having mastered the art of the weight scale and weighing small wiggly puppies I eased into a system for weighing them, which is to do the biggest first, then work my way down to the smallest. I had the puppies names down pat - Mizzy, a girl, is the biggest and Aggie, a girl, the littlest, which meant Lizzy is right in the middle. Then there is Macky who is bigger then Chewie, who is the smallest boy.

This past week has been one of daily developments. All puppies have their eyes opened, are sitting up, and are almost up on all four legs. But a few nights ago, after realizing that I couldn't put the puppies back into the crate because of re-weighing the same pup over again, the puppies began to move around their pen like speeding bullets. I needed reinforcements. "Kristen, Help!" I screamed. "Here hold Lizzy, while I weigh Macky."

"Mom, that's a boy puppy."

Yes, dear, I know Macky is a boy."

"No, mom, you said you were handing me Lizzy. This is Macky. Lizzy is in the bowl."

"What do you mean?"  I took the puppy back. umm  - perhaps it wasn't a belly button.

My daughter was kind enough to point out my mistake and then suggested that I either needed new eye glasses or a lesson in sex education. 

Hmmm I thought, so this is why the puppies weight changed from one day to the next. 

Bev's Antiquing, Schlepping, Schlogging, & Writing Blog Schlog: In Defense of Being a Tchotchkaholic or why I am n...

Bev's Antiquing, Schlepping, Schlogging, & Writing Blog Schlog: In Defense of Being a Tchotchkaholic or why I am n...: "The 12 Step Program for Tchotchkaholics 1. We admit that we are powerless over Tchotchkes —that our lives have become unmanageable due to..."

In Defense of Being a Tchotchkaholic or why I am not a Piece of Crap

The 12 Step Program for Tchotchkaholics

1. We admit that we are powerless over Tchotchkes —that our lives have become unmanageable due to our treasured Tchotchkes image being called objects that are really . . .  Crap. Pure, unadulterated crap.

2.  We believe that there is a power greater than ourselves which allows Tchotchkes to restore us to sanity.

3. We have therefore made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to this power as it is not us who are insane, but the rest of the world.

4. We have made a searching and fearless inventory of our Tchotchkes.

5. We have admitted to ourselves, and to other human beings that one can never have enough Tchotchkes.

6. We are entirely ready to stand up and be accounted for and to show the world our Tchotchkes.

7. We humbly ask our friends and family to understand this is not a shortcoming but is saving the destiny of something that may be destined for the trash pile.

8. We have made a list of all persons who would be harmed by this, and are willing to make amends to them all by buying more Tchotchkes.

9. We will make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others because there is no such thing as "anything you put away in a closet so no one will ever know you bought such a thing is a Tchotchke , or, "There can be, in the meaning of the word, an element of owner’s shame, or, a Tchotchke in Yiddish,  "may refer to a person who is a misfit, a nobody, a slut, an ineffectual person."

.

10. We will continue to take personal inventory of our  Tchotchkes and when we feel we are missing something that will bring joy to our collection, we will promptly admit it, and immediately head for the nearest antique mall.

11.  We will seek mediation by our conscious contact with others who understand our need to amass Tchotchkes by keeping in mind that we, or one of our heirs could wake up one day and be a multimillionaire because of finding our hoard of Tchotchkes.

12.  Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we will carry this message to Tchotchkaholics everywhere in the world and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Bev's Antiquing, Schlepping, Schlogging, & Writing Blog Schlog: Life, Breast Cancer, Dying, Elizabeth Edwards, and...

Bev's Antiquing, Schlepping, Schlogging, & Writing Blog Schlog: Life, Breast Cancer, Dying, Elizabeth Edwards, and...: "I am sadden by a death of a woman that I don't know except for her public image and tha I knew Elizabeth Edwards was fighting cancer and oth..."

Life, Breast Cancer, Dying, Elizabeth Edwards, and I Want a Cure

I am sadden by a death of a woman that I don't know except for her public image and tha I knew Elizabeth Edwards was fighting cancer and other damage of sorts created by her husband, John Edwards' scandal. When someone of such high profile dies of a disease targeted at women, we, women, or at least I, wonder why we can fly to the moon, cross the continent in brief hours, clean up oil spills that costs the world population billions of dollars, raise taxes, spend this money to bail out banks and automobile dealers and then spend even billions more on a fruitless war against known enemies we have isolated; but we can't fight the war on breast cancer even when the genes that mutates into cancer has already been isolated.

Rarely does the mutant gene attack males, but I venture to say if the gene did, there would be a cure.

My mother died of breast cancer, and my grand mother of cervical cancer.

I want a cure, not for me, but for my daughters and granddaughters and all my yet to be born female progeny. I want a cure for my sisters in life, for the women I know and have not yet met. I want a cure for the memory of those who died because there was not a cure.

No one wins in a war, but everyone wins if we can find a cure.

Bev's Antiquing, Schlepping, Schlogging, & Writing Blog Schlog: Mastering the Postal Weigh Scale and Weighing Newb...

Bev's Antiquing, Schlepping, Schlogging, & Writing Blog Schlog: Mastering the Postal Weigh Scale and Weighing Newb...: "Dah . . . I should know this, allow my eyes to tell me all was well and seeing five active behinds with tales wagging like a motor running, ..."

Mastering the Postal Weigh Scale and Weighing Newborn Puppies

Dah . . . I should know this, allow my eyes to tell me all was well and seeing five active behinds with tales wagging like a motor running, inform me that my newborn puppies were, well, content. It was the scale that was at the root of my concerns. First the scale alternates between ounces/pounds and the instructions make it seem as if you could just set the object on the scale and weigh. You can't. One has to prep the scale, set the perimeters (conversion) and do a least a few tests that will tell the intellect - (ok, so I am close). So, to make a long story short, Dec 6, 2010 at 6:00 PM,  the correct weights of Zack and Zoie's puppies are as follows:
Macky (first out and boy) 11.2 oz
Mizzy   (second out girl) 13.1 ---- she is a chunky dunk
Chewie aka Chewbaca (third out boy) 9.5
Lizzy (fourth out girl) 9.0
Aggie (fifth and run) 7.7

I think I need to stop being an excessively hyper attentive puppy grand MOM.

Who Pooped on my Bed?

Yorkies are supposed to be easily trained and ideal for living in high rise apartments. So, okay, my upstairs home is only one flight up, and 2400 sq ft but it is still an apartment. And, I do operate a business below where occasionally, I do bring one of my adult Yorkies to work with me.  So, why are we in turmoil here? We have a gated and fenced area outside our back door, we have healthy adults, some who are pudgy and could use exercise, and we also have potty pads. But, no one uses them. Okay, humans excluded (they do use a regular toilet (where one can say bye-bye if needed). So - today - new mommy Zoie is doing what she is suppose to be doing, licking and cleaning each puppy individually, and stimulating each puppy to well - poo and pee. ipso facto - life. Period end of discussion. So - why did today, I find numerous little tiny remnants of - poo --- all over my bed. Did Zoie bring her pups on the bed and did the pups poop? The bed is a very high Victorian and has a nice-sized dog jumping ottoman at the foot. I know Zoie would never deliberately have an accident; however, there were strangely teenier, tiny minute little droppings on my bed spread which is in the Que to be washed, after Zoie, the puppy hotel lining, blankets, and towels. Did my Zoie begin spoiling the pups or should I be concerned about another extremely small animal who pooped on my bed?

Bev's Antiquing, Schlepping, Schlogging, & Writing Blog Schlog: Who Pooped on my Bed?

Bev's Antiquing, Schlepping, Schlogging, & Writing Blog Schlog: Who Pooped on my Bed?: "Yorkies are supposed to be easily trained and ideal for living in high rise apartments. So, okay, my upstairs home is only one flight up, an..."

Zoie and New Yorkie Puppies Nursing

Not a Fun Night for the First of December

Zoie and Puppies Day 6

Last night was a very restless night and almost 4 a.m. when I went to sleep. The reason wasn't because of Zoie and puppies, but teen daughter who decided to sneak out and take my car for a drive on a permit no less. The last time she did that was right before my return from graduation for my MFA at  Goddard College in Vermont. (At least I had a story published at All Things Girl, Everything Girl - can read it here:(An Interview with the Mother of Teenaged Girls or How My New Babemobile Came to be Dented ). 

Zack

I was not a happy camper then, and am not one now, but I'll get over it even though I finally broke down and replaced the rear tail light cover but not the dents (they are sort of a badge of surviving parenting). 


Then there was my husband who volunteered to sleep on the couch with Zach, the daddy of our new puppies because he has been crying a lot and between him and Zoie barking at each other - he couldn't sleep. The Vet recommended that we keep Zack away from Zoie and the pups for several weeks. 

Ziggy in Window

The Cats stay away any way, are content in their quarters (which is most of the house) so at least I don't need to worry about disrupting their daily routine. 

Dezzie in Bowl

Zack, though, is another story and I have been bringing him downstairs to my shop during the day just for peace - (I really didn't know that dogs could howl like that - it sounds like crying)! Any advice on taking care of a new Yorkie daddy who is extremely anxious about seeing his wife?