Sad Day

Today is a sad day.  My brother and sister-n-law's 6-year-old Boxer Sammy (short for Sampson) lost his battle with cancer.  That is sad enough.  What makes it worse is that they didn't get to say goodbye to him.

I did get to say goodbye to my furry pal (aka child) 11 years ago and it was horrible enough.  He was 12.5 years old and had lived a long, full life.  Sammy was young.

But a couple things I'm reminded of today.  First, in some ways, I need to live my life like Sammy did.  Love life.  Love people.  Forgive fast.  Play whenever possible.  Love hard.

Second, I need to remember that a dog's unconditional love is a reminder of how God loves me.  He doesn't mind when I'm in a bad mood.  He doesn't seem to notice when I don't look my best.  Whether it's been 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 days or 5 months, He's just as happy to see me.  He gazes at me with eyes of love and devotion.  He loves me without question.  He forgives me completely.  He wants nothing else than to be with me and love me.

Thanks for loving my family, Sammy.  You were such a good buddy.  You've been so brave these past few months fighting hard against the cancer.  I'm glad you're no longer feeling bad.  I hope they have plenty of string balls in doggie heaven!

A Mid-Week 20-hour Free Vacation

So I had a very nice, unexpected treat a couple weeks ago.  I needed to go to a conference for work. The location was here:

Since it was technically local, at first I was just planning on driving back and forth.  But then I got to thinking that since the times were 5-9:30 Tuesday night and 7-12 Wednesday and it was about 45 minutes away across the city, it would be great to just stay in a hotel.  Notice I said a hotel.  So I asked my boss.  He said "of course.  Just stay in THE hotel" (emphasis mine).

Here was my room:

Super comfortable bed!

I didn't have time to watch TV, but this gives you a bit of an idea of how big the room was.

This was my view out the window - the beautiful golf course!  Because I got my room at the last minutte, I was in the "East Villas".  It was a 2-3 minute walk from the main hotel.  Would have been a great opportunity for exercise had I not had a bum leg.  But they had 24/7 golf cart shuttle you could call whenever you needed!

And this was my bathroom.  Pure luxury! The shower was huge and the faucet was like a rain shower - so much water, was so wonderful!

The best part of my stay was what I wasn't allowed to take a picture of.  My boss told me I took take part of one of the "activities" offered.  Well, I had already packed my suitcase when that e-mail came in and didn't have suitable clothes for most of the activities, nor would my leg allow things like art museum or the 6th floor (JFK) museum that would have been interesting.  Alas, it was my lot to undergo a free massage!!  The firm would cover the service and I was responsible for gratuity.  I could handle that!  Well, it gets even better!  After a fantastic massage, I got up to the counter and they told me even the gratuity had been covered!!

So that is my tale of a 20-hour mid-week vacation and peek inside how (as my Dad says) "the other half lives".  It was fabulous!

Great News!

I found out today that I'm going to be an Aunt again in April 2013!  My nearly 5 year old blond curly head niece A asked Mommy and Daddy for a baby and they said yes (!!!)  I'm so excited.  This really is an answer to prayer - I didn't want her to be an only child.  As much as I adore my nieces and all the fun things you can buy for them, I'm kind of hoping for a boy this time for my Dad.  It's really important to him that the family name be continued, and my brothers are the last chance for that.  But we will be thankful and praise the Lord for whatever gender He sees fit to give us!

Yard work can be hazardous to my health!

So, purple is my favorite color, just not when it's here....

The weird thing about this is that looking at the foot/ankle you'd assume that the injury was to that area, right?  Well, not exactly.  I was watering my new plants and I tripped on the uneven flagstone.  I landed on the other side of this leg just under my knee and my upper arm.  The next day I stepped down wrong and this ankle turned.  My theory is that this lovely coloring is all the blood pooling at the bottom from all the other lovely bruising I have going on above this. Thankfully nothing is broken or sprained.  It is uncomfortable but ice and elevation help. Just proof that yard word can be hazardous to your health, especially when you're a clutz like me!!!

Weekend Warriors to the Rescue!

Here are some "before" pictures of my Garden of Despair:

Pretty much, it's former owners didn't put down landscape cloth + current owner's neglect = a mess.

Then, the Weekend Warriors arrive:

And they do what they do best.  Here are the "after" pics of the Garden of No More Despair:

Amazing, right?  What can I say.  The Weekend Warriors (aka Mom & Dad), are hard workers, perfectionists and love to garden.  We were out at a time on Saturday and Monday mornings that I usually sleep right through, but we had to start early to avoid the heat.  I pulled so many weeds Saturday that every part of me ached by Saturday night.  But now, I'm not depressed every time I come and go from the house to the carport!

After removing the problems.  Here is what we added:

Rain gauge (so I know when I can take off watering) + 2 plants + [very] little tree

Three plants, at least one had/will have purple flowers:

Add the little plant "starts" Mom and Dad brought from their plants at home.  I have affectionately named them The Stick Family.  Supposedly they have great potential.  I'm not sure they are going to survive 105* for a week and the afternoon sun every day, though.  I will do my best to keep them alive but I'm not too hopeful!

Here are some other things my parents helped me with this past weekend, in addition to the yard transformation:
Hanging of towel bars/rings.  Double towel bar took (no exaggeration) 2 hours to hang.  What can I say?  My Dad is thorough and exact. :)

Knobs on all the kitchen cabinets (brushed nickel to match curtain rod):

Hung up some pictures:

These are souveniers from my May 2011 trip to Ukraine to see the Yellow Hats:

This is an addition to my bathroom.  Love me some Anne Geddes babies!

So thankful for Mom & Dad's help with all this stuff!  Hope you had a great Labor Day!

I Support Chick-fil-a

I love Chick-fil-a.

Not just because they have great food (but they do).

I love them not just because they are a Christian company (but they are).

I spent most of my lunch hour today in this line not only because their food was worth it,

but much more importantly, I wanted to show my support for their support of "traditional" (biblical) marriage, as their president Dan Cathy made a statement about in the press (and is now subsequently of course being attacked by many groups).  If you can get to a Chick-fil-a today, show your support!!!

Look who's getting bigger...and even cuter!!!

It's been awhile since I've shown you a picture of Kaelynn.  She's now 8 months old.

 She's growing more and more beautiful red hair and has two teeth on bottom.

She "scoots" around right now and will be crawling very soon.

She and Mommy and Daddy had lots of fun on vacation.

I miss her a lot and hope we will be able to see her this fall, maybe for her first birthday.  Thanks for indulging my Auntie pride! :)