SWINE FLU or MONO-PIGGLY-OSIS...you decide

1 is the lonliest number?! I think not!!!

Today's blog is kinda cheating. I didn't write it. But, I did read it and I feel it is a great article. I often get so busy that I don't seem to have a moment to myself. That is the one thing I complain about to my husband-no "me time"! I think every mother out there can relate to that!!! Husband, children, pets, housework, laundry, schoolwork, home improvement, yard work....etc, etc. I sometimes feel selfish for even wanting alone time. I think, "How selfish you are! You have the family that you always dreamed of and now you want to be by yourself for a couple of minutes/hours/days!!! Perhaps you don't deserve your family you bi-atch!!!" (As you can see, I am quite harsh during conversations with myself! :)

But this article says you NEED alone time. Since it is in print, I feel like it is actually giving me permission....no, REQUIRING that I start finding some down time for myself. So, for all of you out there who feel like me; you don't have a moment to yourself/you sometimes want a moment to yourself. Read this short article, pretend it is taking longer to read than it is, and carve out an extra 5 minutes to be by yourself today! I think we might all be better for it!!! Enjoy!!!


Do you spend enough time alone? - Healthy Living on Shine

Tell me: What "Ham" I to do about Swine Flu?!

I must admit this whole swine flu pandemic has me more than just a little concerned. (Also I'm a little bewildered as to why a musical group *TheWHO* is monitoring this pandemic so closely....LOL! ) Sorry, stupid joke. That's what I do when I'm nervous, joke...lame jokes I might add. My alarm ratcheted up a notch or two, when I heard that they closed down an elementary school not too far away from us. Seems they have 2 confirmed cases of the stuff. How concerned are we to be about it at this point? How contagious is it? Should we go into seclusion?!





So,to help deal with my fear... I'm honoring (dishonoring?! The WHO, by stealing/borrowing/plagiarising the chorus to their song. I reworded it a little. Ahem....





WHO ARE YOU?





Whoooo warns you:

SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU!

The porker's gotta go!


Whooooo warns you:

SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU!

This pandemic really blows!


Whoooo warns you:

LEVEL 3! SWINE FLU!

"6" is as high as it goes!



Well, whooo warns you:

SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU!

Did mad cow send you?!?! SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU!



I really gotta know..

WTF to do! SWINE FLU!

Should we all lay low?! SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU!



Please go away!

SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU!

We do not want to play! SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU!



This whole fricken chicken:

SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU!

SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU!



Repeat to infinitiy and beyond...... :)

SWINE FLU! SWINE FLUUUUUU!

Science Made Fun!!!

I always found Science beyond dull when I was in school. I wanted to find a way to make Science more interesting for my boys. Thanks to Insect Lore, here is a science experiment that everyone will find fun: We ordered this Butterfly Pavilion kit several years ago.This is what the pavilion looks like:We ordered our kit through Amazon.com. They gave us a coupon to send off for free butterfly larvae. I later found out you can order directly from Insectlore.com That is when I found out that Insect Lore is not just about butterflies. Oh no sir! They have ladybug kits, frog kits, plant life kits, ants, crabs, etc.

A couple of weeks ago, to celebrate the arrival of spring, I ordered our annual celebratory butterfly larvae. They arrived today:

The little caterpillars arrive in these sterile, sealed cups-complete with food. In seven to ten days, they will finish eating all their food and form cocoons (chrysalids). Then we transfer them into the Pavilion....and wait. After these cute caterpillars become butterflies, we will let them loose in our garden. It's a hands on way to learn about science and nature; yet, cleverly disguised in a cloak of fun !!! Trust me, you don't get this kind of interest and excitement from a textbook! But don't take my word for it, let's ask the boys shall we?

Guys, what do you think?

Boys?

Mission Accomplished!!! Obviously, they find Science fascinating! Check back in with us this fall when we learn about tadpoles/frogs with our frog kit! They find it ribbiting....I mean riveting as well!!!

Gardening Update

For those of you wondering how my little garden experiment is working out, "Lettuce" see shall we:

I see salad in our future!

And for dessert I believe we will be serving up strawberries:

Okay, so far it's only 1 strawberry that we will have to split 4 ways. Still,... yeah!!! The berries are growing!!!

I believe we will have plenty of squash to go around:

Look at all these little buds n blooms underneath even:

How exciting!!!

And lets not forget the maters:

Notice how I put them right next to the "salad." So they will know what their purpose in life is :)



I'm getting good results so far don't you think?:

From mators to tators...Somebody absolutely wonderful, and generous took pity on my poor soul and sent me seed potatoes! Can you believe it?! I got my spuds after all! Kiki you are too sweet to ever be au gratin...I mean forgotten :) I am beyond thrilled! Look! It isn't too late to start seed potatoes. Grumpella is full of fertilizer I think. They are growing up a storm. I have to get out later today and cover them up with more dirt. According to the bag directions, I can keep growing these babies thru-out October if I plant them in shifts.( I guess the bags stay warmer than ground soil or something.) So I planted two seed potatoes and saved two more to plant here again in a couple of weeks.

There will be no potato famine on my watch! No way, No how, No sir!

I'm beyond giddy with this gardening venture so far! I'll keep you posted as these beauties progress! My family is excited too... "lettuce" just say: Tators and mators and squash....they make us so "berry" happy!!!

Lost in Translation

Are any of you bilingual? What languages do you speak? I wish I were bilingual. I really need to work on that. I could learn a second language I am sure if I REALLY, REALLY tried hard. Maybe that whole Rosetta Stone set I keep seeing advertised on television. Now I just need to carve out some down time in my schedule. LOL!





Some languages just sound cool to me. Like French, very romantic. I think you could say just about anything in French and it would sound wonderful. You could say "Stacy, I think your stupidity is only rivaled by your ugliness in it's intensity!" I swear I would melt to mush just from the mere sound of my name being mentioned in a sentence. Honest.





Another language I love is Spanish. I especially love to listen to men speaking Spanish with each other. It sounds so fun! I haven't a clue of what they are saying; but, they always end almost every conversation with belly laughs. It reminds me of when my Dad and his brothers get together. They start teasing each other, poking fun, and then do the whole gut busting laughter. Fond memories!





I took Spanish in High School. Can't say as I walked away from the experience learning a thing. (Although I did acquire a fondness for the music! Love it!) I have managed to learn a few words thanks to "Dora the Explorer." But alas , it has still left me ill equipped to deal with the real world. I can say please/thank you, can recite the names of colors, and I can yell "jump" if I see a large snowball rolling down a hill towards someone....but I seriously doubt that the situation will ever arise where I can use utilize my knowledge. "Salto! It's a grande blanco bolo!" Sometimes, I think a little knowledge does more harm than good. I probably got the words out of order. Instead of "Jump! its a large snowball." I probably said, "Jump! If you're a ball of large snow."



Which leads me to my case in point. The other day, George and David conversed in Spanish with each other while they installed the floors in the bedroom. Sometimes you could tell that George was asking for David to grab a tool or cut a board. Short one or two word requests by George. Followed by "Si' " from David. For the most part, they conversed back and forth with each other easily. I tried to pick up a few words as I came back and forth offering drinks and admiring their workmanship.



I kept hearing them randomly repeat the words "Senora." "Casa" and "Guapo." over and over again throughout the day. Now I know those three words. Lady, house and handsome. At least I think guapo is handsome and bonita is pretty. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Unless guapo still means pretty but if a man says it it's "guapo" and if a girl says it, you say "bonita." See, there's a big void in my knowledge. Which leads me to a severe disadvantage.



I don't know who they were talking about. They could have been talking about anyone or any house. Perhaps it wasn't about me or my house at all. But I am convinced that they either thought my house was pretty.... Or...,that I am as big as a house; but would make a very handsome man! Alas, with my insecurity about my looks; I'm convinced it is the latter. I do have freakishly large man hands after all. And my shoulders are waaaay to broad for a girl! Let's face it, I'm a "Feo grande senor casa!"...A big ugly man house!

Which leads me to today's lesson. THIS is what happens when you eavesdrop on a conversation! Especially when you don't understand the language! Perhaps you really don't want to hear what is being said, and it is none of your business! But I must say, Thank you George and David! I have never been insulted and had it sound so pretty before!!! :)

Older than Dirt and Slower than Molasses!!!

In honor of my birthday,(who knew I'd still be alive and kicking at this age ?!) I have composed a little birthday poem....in true Stacy D Briefing style. Hope it will bring a smile to everyone's face who also is contending with this thing we call...AGING gracefully. (ugh!) And in case my dear, sweet, younger, lovely, perfect in every single way, talented sister whom I love dearly reads today's posting... Ahem....PLEASE, PLEASE pay special attention to the poem's last line....VERY IMPORTANT. Just keeping it real. :) (snicker, snort, giggle)


Older than dirt.
Slower than molasses.
No get up and go.
And soon I'll need glasses.

Must stand on my head
to make my body look perky.
And what happened to my neck?!
I look like a damn turkey!!!

Aged 365 days overnight.
Look at me...what a freaken sight!
But it's my day; Yep,... think I'll savor it.
Relishing the fact...that I'm STILL Dad's FAVORITE! :P

Square Root Hoedown

Here at the ol' homestead we are not only knee deep in dog urine. (see previous posts.) We are up to our eyeballs in mathematics.

Math is my least favorite subject to teach. Should come as no shocker, it was also my least favorite subject when I was in school as well. I don't see the relevance in a lot of it.

This week we are doing square roots. They want us to figure out the square root 3 spaces past the decimal point. Which means in square root terms, you have to add 6 zeros after the decimal point. Calculate. Divide. Figure out answer. Check your work. A tedious process to say the least.

I'm thinking of combining this exercise with square dancing and drinking to make it a little more tolerable.

Ahemmm.....

You grab two zeros and doe see doe.
Bring them zeros down below.
Now multiply the numbers times themselves,
Put your answer up on the square root shelf (the top of the division box)

We got more spaces yet to go
A mindnumbing exercise I know.
Down a shot of tequila and a beer chaser,
Don't worry about mistakes son...
That's why we have an eraser!!!

See we learn, we exercise and we keep our sanity. I'm thinking I'm on to something here. The square root hoedown! Yeahaw!

Sorry, I really haven't been drinking....yet. But can I get a "holla" from any of you who thinks math is tedious, dull and mind numbing?

Well gotta put on my dancing boots and head back to the dance. Have a great day everyone!

HARLOW UPDATE

Isn't it amazing how you find yourself doing and writing about things you would have NEVER imagined yourself doing in a million years?!

I said before that I had never imagined myself diapering a dog....well been there/done that. I guess theoretically the diapering thing would work on a normal size dog. Those little pad inserts they supply you with, well lets just say they don't quite cut it. I even tried inserting actual overnight diapers to see if it could handle the job. Nope. Everytime she lays down to sleep-it's like the 100 year flood.


We are now on day13 of cleaning up urine. 13 straight days from afore mentioned dog. 13 days with no improvement. We started her on estrogen. Vet said we should have noticed improvement by now. But, she has never treated a dog this large before for this ailment. So today we tripled her dosage. The game plan is to see if she responds after 4 straight days of mega doses of estrogen. I'm guessing with that much estrogen she will be smarter, even more nurturing, grow eyes in the back of her head, and able to multi-task with the best of them :) I'm also HOPING that the problem goes away. If not, we are on to more testing.

We're no stranger to tests. ( In fact, Harlow now carries a #2 pencil with her whenever we go to the vet in case she has to take yet another test. :) But it seems we have now entered a serious testing zone. Like "SAT" kind of testing. We've pretty much ruled out everything but kidneys at this point. Kidneys are a very serious thing. Tests we don't want to take. So here's to girl power! Here's to hoping that mega estrogen will act like testosterone and kick some ass on the urine leakage!

I know that "urine" this with me. So I'll update you again on Monday.

Up to my knees in laundry. Up to my eyeballs in schoolwork which must be completed. In over my head/beside myself on day 11 of "urinating dog dilemma." UGH!!!

One might think... "Eye" "Knee'd" to have my "head" examined. Or perhaps ... "Urine" way too deep. :)

I'll post again in a day or two after I get caught up on everything scholastic and domestic. Hopefully by then the dog's meds will be working as well.

Thankful for the soothing sanctuary I have to retire to every night. :) Chat with everyone in a few days!

Best wishes to all!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter today! On this Easter, I'd like to share with you a photo I took awhile back. This little church was built in the 1800's. I can just imagine people traveling from the country to arrive here in their wagons. A real "Little House on the Prairie" image. They still have services here every Sunday. Although I've never been inside of it, I imagine it to be quite quaint. Anyway, the simplicity of the building's architecture appeals to me. Hope you enjoy it too. Now, for those of you who have the twisted, wacky sense of humor(or might be in need of a belly laugh today)....Ima Jo King sends her Easter Greetings to you as well....

Happy Easter! May it be filled with love and laugther!!!

The Big Reveal

The flooring is down. We are so thrilled with the results! We chose a vintage looking/distressed maple flooring with a 5" plank and a lot of color variation. I think it is beautiful!











We had contemplated installing the wood floors ourselves. They are glued down. We thought, hmmmm...maybe we could do this. Just rip up the carpet, put down glue and lay floor right? Sooooo glad we didn't install them ourselves. I watched the crew- they did alot of things we wouldn't have even thought of doing. In this instance, leaving it to the professionals was money well spent. A great job done right the first time. But don't take my word for it, take a gander:























Do you like? See all the different shades of color? Notice all the distressing? ( I really like that part. Takes the pressure off keeping them new looking. ;) Now here is the floor with the new baseboards down:

Magnifique!! Bellissimo! Stupendo!!

I want to thank everyone for all your tips, advice, suggestions, input...(whatever you want to call it.) It helped us tremendously!!! In the end we went with a darker wood (thanks Kiki) sleighbed (thanks Jen/Kiki) that is elevated really high off the ground (thanks Carsick and Kiki) See, it was like you were all right there shopping with us!!! Wouldn't THAT have been fun?!!! And now, after much waiting... I give you... (drum roll please).... The Marital Bed:

The Feet-

The side of the headboard:

The side of the footboard:

The inset of the headboard:

The outside of the footboard:

We've never exchanged gifts on our Anniversary. And I don't know what year is what for exchanging wood/metal/leather/etc. But I think we've got it all covered here. After almost 15 years of marriage, we think this was the perfect anniversary present to each other for years past and (hopefully) many years to come.. A great investment in this twisted little game we call marriage! Speaking of marriage...We both love the way this bed "marries" the masculine and feminine qualities that we both like. It has all the elegant scrollwork, the nailhead trim, the dark leather. A perfect compliment to our ying/yang. (LOL...that didn't sound right at ALL!!! ;) And my absolute favorite part.........it's massive!!!

To give you an idea of the size- Blue eyes is almost 5' tall. I LOVE the look of massive, oversized furniture. I think it makes a statement...a presence in the room if you will And most importantly...It makes you feel like Lily Tomlin sitting upon her rocking chair. Hee Hee Hee!!!(Any one else remember that?) It takes quite a leap to get on it... But I too now love sleeping high off the ground!






We are beyond thrilled with the results! We envision many wonderful nights here...." And that's the twroof....Plaauuubbbbthhhh!"

( Sorry, the Lily Tomlin impersonation loses a little in translation when done on the computer. ;P)

Thanks again for all your suggestions and tips on helping us choose the now infamous marital bed! Let's all get together and go shopping again real soon...and next time, we'll leave the boys at home. ;)

Tuesday Night's Activities Revealed

As I hinted at yesterday, there was a lot of screwing going on in the master bedroom Tuesday night. Actually, Ricardo did all the screwing. I just spent all evening down on my hands and knees. (Oh if I had a dime for every time I have uttered that sentence....LOL! Just joking. ;)Feeling a few "twingies " in certain spots today. But, I think it is worth it!!! No pain no gain! And now for the photos and surprise.....

(This is our master bedroom....emptied out.-well except for sweet Jodi girl. She was too tired to move unassisted.)

Now.....Notice anything different?
I'll give you a little time to scroll up and down....

Okay, besides the dog missing....notice that baseboards and carpet are also MIA? (That was my jobs-hence the whole on the knees thing.)

And here is where all the screwing came into play-

Our floorboards were only nailed down. This made for some "give" in the subfloor as well as some squeaking noise. So we placed screws throughout the sub flooring every few inches to keep this from reoccurring.

What is going on you ask? Where's the bed? Well a funny thing happened while we were waiting on the bed to be in stock. Actually, it wasn't funny at all. But it's so us-which makes it kinda funny.

To give you a feel for the story, let me recap the "back story." Jodi had her "episode" last Thursday night. After that, I couldn't go back to sleep. Spent Friday on hands and knees crouched by dog bawling my eyes out thinking my dog was dying. Then cried from relief when I found out she wasn't. Eyes swollen. Sore.

Spent Friday night downstairs sleeping on the couch since she couldn't walk. Didn't want her to be alone or frightened. Couch-not so comfy. Time spent in fetal position. Sleep was intermittent. So now we have two nights with not much sleep.

Then Harlow's bladder problem came back...ugh! Leak so large it went all the way thru the doggy bed and then seeped into the carpet. I'm talking HUGE puddle upstairs in master bedroom. HUGE!!! Not pretty.

Wife AGAIN on hands and knees. (Seems I'm spending waaaay too much time in this position.) This time scrubbing up dog urine. Wife once again weeping. This time from frustration, lack of sleep, you name it. It must have been one pathetic scene for husband to witness. So Ricardo to the rescue. He suggests we crate up the dogs for a little while and go look for new flooring. WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! No he assures me. He thinks I need to stand erect (insert snickering here) and get out of the house for a little while. Thinks fresh urine free air will do me some good. FLOORING? REALLY?

You can imagine my surprise. I've been BEGGING for wood flooring upstairs for the past 5 years. Conversations usually go something like this:

ME: I WANT WOOD.... I NEED WOOD. ...WOOD would make my life soooo much easier and more enjoyable.

RICARDO: I got your wood baby!

ME: Baby! I'm serious!!!

RICARDO: Baby! So am I!!!

This is the same exact conversation we have had EVERY time the word wood has been mentioned during the last 5 years. EVERY TIME!!! So you can see my confusion and amazement that we are actually going out to look at flooring.

Long story short. We found wood flooring for the bedroom that we both love. HOO-RAY!!!! And while we were out, we stopped by another furniture store that was right next door. While we were there, we found the same exact bed that was backordered elsewhere. AND THEN... we looked to the right...and found a bed that we both liked EVEN BETTER! One we both instantly loved. THE PERFECT MARITAL BED!!! So Thursday we are getting new flooring for the bedroom and Friday we are getting our marital bed delivered. Which means that Friday night will be spent in the marital bed, with new easy maintainence, beautiful WOOD floors underneath. Now, I'd like to say that this will finally put an end to the amount of time I find myself down on my knees.....but I have a feeling it won't. Have a feeling I'll be in this position and many others, (wearing my boots) and "thanking" dear, sweet, wonderful, husband Ricardo for a long, long time. I'll spare you those photos!!! ;)...... But if you want to see the new room photos, check back on Friday! ;)

In the meantime, We're ALL camped out in the media room. The boys think this looks like so much fun, that they have gotten out their sleeping bags and have been joining us in our "camping experience." Who needs Yosemite National Park?! LOL!

Tidbits from my Tuesday

After a year and countless dollars spent at our old vet, we tried a new vet on today. May I just say, the old vet was NOT happy that we switched. For being so nice while we went there- he was a real turd when I explained why we were leaving.

I called personally to say that we were switching. Thought it would be the most honorable and straight forward way to approach it. Explained that we were not unhappy with him, we just wanted to get a second opinion and new ideas on how to best approach this tricky bladder situation. It's been ongoing for over a year. We have spent waaaaay too much money and not seen permanent results. Asked that he please forward/fax over our records.

Vet was very argumentative. Didn't send over records. New vet had to call and personally request them herself. And THEN they didn't send over all/any of the x-rays. Nice. Very professional. How about a heaping helping of grow the F*%# up!!!

So that is why we couldn't get Harlow into the new vet until Tuesday afternoon. But at last she was seen. They did an ultrasound (which looked good.) There was also a urine test and a urine culture procured. We are awaiting test results. Should know by Friday. New vet VERY intellegent. VERY helpful. REALLY liked our first visit. Hoping it is something simple. She seems to think it is either a bladder infection that didn't get completely cleared up-and came back stronger, or a weak bladder due to hormones/lack of hormones from her spaying. So we might do anitbiotics or estrogen supplements depending on the test results. Nice to have a fresh perspective on an old problem. Here's to hoping that the piddle problem is almost behind us...hee hee hee. Piddle. Behind. I ... CRACK a joke....:) Excuse me while I endulge in juvenile humor for a moment.

Along that same train of thought...(juvenile humor)..."whoo whoo" (train whistle :)....may I just say that there will be A LOT of screwing going on in the master bedroom tonight. ALLLLLOT! We may be screwing for hours and hours. Hope we have the stamina it takes. Pictures will be posted on Wednesday p.m. If I'm not too tired from all the above mentioned screwing.... HEE HEE HEE! Can't wait to share....

Doggy Dress-Up

I can't believe it has come to this. Never in a million years imagined I would be diapering a dog. And if I did imagine it....well....hmmmm....I guess I would have imagined it would be on some dainty little lap dog perhaps. NOT on this...















It's almost like watching an episode of Sesame Street...."One of these dogs is kinda different. One of these dogs just isn't the same. Can you tell me which of these dogs is different? Come on now and play my game...."

As you can tell, Harlow is none too excited about playing "dress up." In fact, she's really pretty embarrassed by the whole situation. Poor dear! She can't help that she has no control over her bladder right now. Until we get the situation under control this is a necessity.

We truly understand how she feels. We don't want her to develop a complex. We are a family. We love each other. When one of us is down, we must all rally around. So the girls did just that. They gallantly showed their support for Harlow's predicament the best way they knew how. With the old "if you can't beat 'em...join 'em" adage.

Jodi, although still ill, showed her support by donning a festive hat accessory:

Thank you sweet beautiful girl for your help. You are the Grand Dam of hats! And a great show of support!

Not to be outdone, Miss Ella also donned the hat to show that one size fits all.

Well....kinda....

So next she tried on the festive two toned collar with jingle bells.

Ah yes, this fits quite nicely. Nothing shows sisterly love and support like a little velvet and bells!

See Harlow, dress up CAN be fun. Why, EVERY ONE who is ANY ONE is doing it! Are you feeling better yet?

I think the girl's plan worked splendidly! After awhile, Harlow started to unwind. De stress. She appears to have relaxed a little....Don't you think?

Thanks girls for your show of support! It really helped Harlow feel less self conscious. Why in no time at all, she was wearing her doggy diaper AND the festive collar. No big deal. No complex. No pointing fingers and laughing.

In fact, we found that if you accessorize ENOUGH...you don't even notice the diaper!

We love you Harlow! We promise we're doing all we can to get you feeling better again soon. Until then...You're not only our Beautiful Diaper Diva....You're the best dressed Mastiff in the entire zip code!!!

Canine Craziness

I must say, it has been CRAZY here since I last posted on Thursday. Thursday night, sweet Jodi girl awoke in the middle of the night, stood up and crashed into the wall. She staggered across the room towards me, her body bouncing off furniture like a pinball game in play. I jumped out of bed, helped her to lay back down and stayed up with her until SHE dozed back asleep.

Friday she started tumbling down the stairs, losing balance and appearing extremely weak. She would just collapse when she tried to stand or tumble on over once she did stand. I'm freaking out thinking she has had a stroke. As if that were not bad enough, her eyes started darting back and forth in her head like she's speed reading , yet she can't focus.

I must say I was concerned the end was near. I thought the moment we were dreading was upon us. Luckily, it turns out she didn't have a stroke. Strokes are very rare in dogs it seems. What she has is something that mimics a stroke in symptoms. It's called peripheral vestibular disease. Some type of nerve swelling in the ear canals that starts for no apparant reason, esculates quickly and then disapppears in 48 hours to 3 weeks time. Sometimes it can leave them permanently off balance, etc. Most often the main difference is that owners notice that their dog has aged dramatically.

I am happy to report today that Jodi girl is already showing signs of improvement. Her balance has improved. She is able to walk again without collapsing. She still is staggering a little, but so much better. Her eyes are almost back to normal. She is eating and drinking again. May I say we are mighty relieved and thankful! And as for the aging-well we haven't noticed any difference in HER yet. But, it did shave a few years off her owners. :)

As if that were not enough, this weekend Harlow's bladder problem returned. She has been on several meds at different times to stop "leakage." Now we have full on loss in bladder control. It's not pretty. It's no small thing either in a 140 lb dog as you can imagine. So we will be going back to the vet with her to see what they recommend doing NOW.

Thinking at this point, we should just have our direct deposit sent to the vet's office instead of our bank. Ugh! It's always something isn't it?

Ima's Traveling Tales

Last week I showed you billboards from my travels. Today, I'm going to share a story that might have happened to me while I was away on business. "Ima" not saying it's a true story, "Ima" not saying I wrote it either, "Ima" just saying I think it will make you smile! Enjoy...





I was driving home from one of my business trips in Northern Arizona when I saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, I stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car.



Resuming the journey, I tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail. Then, she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to me. "What's in bag?" asked the old woman. I looked down at the brown bag and said, "It's a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband."



The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, She said: "Good trade....."

Next time you open a bottle of wine, remember this story, raise your glass high, and give a small toast to this wise woman!

Til then, remember- If you can't set a good example, be a horrible warning for others!!!

Yours truly,

Ima Jo King

And now for the beds we didn't choose...

Thank you everyone for your advice! I really appreciate it! We have chosen "The Bed." It was a tough decision. There were a lot of really pretty beds who for one reason or another didn't make the cut. I thought I would show you the 2nd, 3rd and 4th runners up....

This one here was a nice bed. We were not going to get the canopy on top (as we are ceiling fan junkies and this would interfere with our wind flow:) But it also had a lot of intricate details and scrollwork on the pillars- I thought it would collect too much dust in all the nooks and crannies. And you know how compulsive I am about that sort of stuff. :) Sorry Bed #1.
This one here I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Sadly, they sell "sets only." I would have had to buy the bed, dresser, and 1 nightstand. Don't need the dresser. And 1 nightstand? We need 2 thank you. So when you add that all up....CHA-CHING! Sorry beautiful bed #2...I'll miss you!

This bed was a big favorite of Ricardo's. But upon closer inspection it was cheaply made. Had nailhead trim that was 'glued' on...was peeling off on the showroom floor. No thanks. Can't have The Marital Bed falling apart on us! That wouldn't do at all. See ya bed #3. (But I'm keeping the kid in the photo-thank you very much! ;)

Do you want to see the bed you helped me choose? So do I!!! But this is a little "teaser." As the chosen bed is backordered for 4 weeks. So check back at the end of April for the big unveiling.....I'M SO EXCITED!!! Thanks again for all your input! You helped our decision tremendously!!! (P.S. ALL the boys thank you for putting an end to the shopping expedition! :)