July - August Catch Up - Part 3

Sketch 306 at Scrapbook Challenges can be found here



The Great (Pumpkin) Fun Run


Samantha last year at the 5K race she ran.

Cardstock: Purple and Leapfrog Bazzill
PP: Echo Park Happy Halloween Jack-o-Lantern, Karen Foster Spooktaclar Purple Ghost, and Making Memories 'Dem Bones.
Embellishments: Bakers Twine, Basic Grey Bling Pumpkin and Distress Ink in Black Soot
Letters: October Afternoon

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I had a 2 week up check up on August 3rd from my surgery.  So another day spent out of town. And the beginning of a very busy weekend.



We took my mom to see Cirque Du Soleil on Saturday August 4th.  She loved it!  Our seats were great but I have a feeling that all the seats were great.  I think all of it was her favorite.  My favorite was the guys on the wheels of death


Courtesy of Twin Cities Daily Planet

Sunday August 5th, we went to College Station to see Amber and Kyle.  They just moved into their apartment and I got to see their new bundle of joy - Victor



All was going well with Cosmo.  We had a recheck on Monday August 6th and yes he was in Kidney Failure but the new blood work showed that it was still no where near what clinic #1 said it was.  So we were going along, doing what we had to do and all was well.  Deception I tell you...Deception. 

When I left for work on Wednesday August 8th, Cosmo was normal.  Normal!  I come home and he is breathing fast and shallow.  I give him his meds and wait.  It was a rough night.  Yes, there are emergency clinics but there is no way that I can afford the emergency clinics since we are on the Dave Ramsey plan and Cosmo has already cost us the majority of our emergency fund.   So Thursday morning, Cosmo went back to the vet and this is the picture that Samantha sent to me of him in the oxygen cage:



He was home Thursday night....apparently he can't come off of one of his meds and he had too much "play" time with Betty the Sheep.  Betty and Betha the other girlfriend is now put up.  Wish us luck :)
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Sketch 307 is now up at Scrapbook Challenges and can be found here



She's My Ride


This is my bike, her name is Betty.  No relation to Cosmo's Betty that he enjoy's "playtime" with (the girls named her - not my choice and they say it like a sheep would bah so its not so bad)  My Betty is named after my grandma who was strong, she was the backbone of the family and she kept everyone going.  I plan on riding the MS 150 next year.  The Lone Star MS 150 is a 150 mile bike ride from Houston to Austin that benefits Muscular Sclerosis.  I am going to ride for a friends partner.  She has agreed to sign my bandana.

Yes, I know I am overweight.  I am so out of shape it isn't funny.  I have a bad back.  I am 40 and haven't done anything that required athletic skills since high school.  There is a long list of excuses that I can come up with.  Its time to stop the excuses and do something.  If I don't, I will always be as I am now: overweight, out of shape, bad back, 40+, and lazy.  In the words of Ashley Sullenger...I can do hard things.  My hard thing pales in comparison as hers but I know I can do this.  I have to do this for me.  I have to do this to help others.  This will be the hardest thing I have ever done but I am determined to do it.  I will be updating as we go along and I start training.  I have an appointment for my steroid shot in my back so see I have already started :)

Cardstock: White and Silver Bazzill Bling
PP: SEI Bridgeport- Pavillion, Scenic Route Laurel- Baywood Lane and Studio Calico Classis Calico-Numerical.
Embellishments: Making Memories Defined, Deja Views Vellum Saying, Maya Road Chipboard Arrow, Acrylic Paint, Frosted Lace Stickles, MME Nostalgia Brad, Pink Paislee Prairie Hill Button, Die Cut Butterflies, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist-Seven Seas, Kaisercraft Droplets, Tim Holtz Ink in Black Soot, Glossy Accents and a Silver Zig Pen.
Letters: Autumn Leaves and Doodlebug Rub-On Letters, Jilliebean Soup Letters and Thickers in Lullaby.

July Catch Up - Part 2

This is sketch #304 for Scrapbook Challenges and can be found here



Thanksgiving Dinner:


Last year for Thanksgiving, I decided that since we weren't all going to be home to eat that we were going to Luby's.  No cooking and no clean up = awesome!  Yes, I felt guilty for not cooking afterwards and I missed the leftovers too.

I used the July 2012 Nostalgic Kit found here.  I added bling leaves and circle embellie, metallic ribbon and brads from my stash.  The letters are Carolee's Tiny Chocolate and Thickers.

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Shortly after the "eye", my oldest dog had to go to the vet for coughing.  I was told he had Congestive Heart Failure.  I came home with three medications for him.  Two were heart medications and the other was a diuretic.  He responded well and started gaining weight.  So I went ahead with my "vacation".  He went to stay with his "Aunt Simona" while Newman and Toots-E went to "Aunt Tana's)  I didn't think anything about it.  My vacation consisted of a planned surgery - so no real vacation for me... I came back a week later to a dog who had lost weight and just didn't look right.  Now I only leave my "children" with people that I trust and I trust Simona with my entire heart.  She like me, is a Vet Tech.  She would never do anything to hurt my dog just like I would never do anything to Slinky which is her dachshund that I watch when she goes on vacation.

Taken when we left the vet:


Over the next week Cosmo got continually worse.  To the point that I knew deep down that he was in kidney failure.  So back to the vet he went.  It was kidney failure that he was in and the picture that was painted for me was a bleak one.  I asked for fluids for him and was going to bring him home so everyone could spend some time with him to say goodbye.  You could look at him and see that he did not feel good at all.  I was getting "the look" from his as well.  The next morning, I didn't want to get out of bed because I knew what I had to do that day and I wasn't looking forward to it at all.  Finally I drug myself out of bed 15 minutes before I was supposed to leave for work and he was up.  I mean UP.  He jumped from the bed and ran the long way through the living room to the back door, went potty and was ready to be let back in.  He was back to his almost normal self.  I was like....What the????  So I did what any mommy would do.  We went for a 2nd opinion.

This was him at the vet for his 2nd opinion:


He wanted to play with the other dogs!

So we get in the room, I gave the history and the meds he was on.  They ran blood work and 3 other things...it came back almost completely different from the 1st clinic.  I was peeved by this time.  I almost put my dog down because they were wrong.  I am seriously leaning to they got him mixed up.  They almost had to because the Kidney values do not change that much over night and with a 100cc of fluids.  So we got a new plan, dropped some meds and picked up new ones and had an appointment for a re-check in a week.

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By this time it was time for Sketch 305 from Scrapbook Challenges found here



Hitting the Slopes


Cardstock: Vanilla Cream by Bazzill
PP: Making Memories Animal Crackers Jack Ric Rac, Scenic Route from my stash
Embellisments: Snowflakes cut from Diamond Bazzill Bling, Felt Snowflakes, Bling and Its Sew Cute Snowflakes. Maya Road Tag.  Distress ink in Black Soot.
Letters: October Afternoon Letters in Kraft and Thickers in Sprinkles

Playing catch up

Warning: This will be a lengthy post for me.  So grab a beverage and get comfy.

July in a nutshell was crazy for me.  Absolutely crazy.  It all started out normal, happy and fun and then July 10th hit and it was all downhill from there.  Samantha, my youngest works in a Veterinary Clinic and she was bit in the face.  The dog was a repeat offender and the owner did not let them know that he was a biter.  He got her left eyebrow, eyelid and in front of her ear.  After getting the phone call I thought I would never get..."Carla?"  "Yes"  "This is ...., we are taking Samantha to the emergency room, she got bit"  "Where?"  (meaning where was she bit and which emergency room they were going to since the clinic is in between both of the ones available) followed by "how bad?" and then silence from the girl on the phone for what seemed an eternity finally they came back with which one and I told her I was on my way.  Now I work in a call center with 10 other women in the room.  I stood up and said out loud, "Samantha was bit and is going to the ER, I am leaving" turned off my screen, grabbed my purse and ran for the door.  I called my husband first, then her dad and finally my mom because I was on the verge of losing it.  My drive is normally 20 minutes in good traffic, I made it to the hospital in 10 minutes.  The hospital was more concerned with the history of the dog (who was not up to date on his shots after all - go figure...) and they knew they could not help her so we were referred to an eye surgeon.  They couldn't get us in until noon, by this time its 10am.  So we go and sit in his office once she is released from the hospital.  Finally we get in and she gets 3 sutures in her eyebrow and the surgeon stopped counting at 12 in her eyelid.  She was a .5mm away from losing the flap of skin on her lid.  She apparently squinched really hard when he got her.

Click the pics if you want to see them of before and after.  If you don't want to see them just skip over.

Now for those who think I am horrible, Samantha posted this all over her FB so she is more than okay with them out there.

This was my FB update after the shock of the day wore off:

"If your dog bites when he meets people at the vet...tell them when you go in. Don't keep that info to yourself-its a need to know. There is no shame or embarrassment about it, no judgement and it will save a lot of money and heartache later if something does happen. How would you feel if it was your child bit in the face because someone didn't speak up?

We were just told that it will take a month to heal completely and she was very lucky she didn't lose an eye or part of her face all because someone didn't say the dog bites even though he already had a bite case against him."

So the stitches are out now and you can see the scar in her eyebrow which she loves (right now) because it makes her look "tough".  We will see how much she loves it when she gets older.  On her eyelid, she has a faint pink scar that you can't see until she closes her eye.  She still has pain when she touches her lid and I haven't seen her in make-up since that day for this reason.  Hopefully that will change over time.

**Tune in tomorrow for part 2 of my July experiences.  I hope I didn't creep you out too much.  But I think I handled it very well seeing as how I am not a eye person at all...they make me sick when having to deal with them.  Mommy instincts kicked in and I dealt with it like a pro.