Happy New Year

Update

Miss Rox is on the mend. She is feeling much more energetic (read obnoxious) and is slowly gaining the sparkle in her eyes and shine on her coat back. She is up to3 one cup servings of dog food a day. She still doesn't think that is right but WAY better than 3T of mac and cheese...lol. One side effect of her illness is that now when I sit down to Mac and Cheese, she thinks it should be for her. We go back in on the 9th to check her blood counts.

Poor lil puppy

If you are wondering what this is a picture of, it is breakfast for a full sized Great Dane. This is ONE soft scrambled egg.

Why would one give a full sized Great Dane ONE soft scrambled egg.. because the vet said that is all she can have or 3 tablespoons of macaroni and cheese.

Why would the vet say this........

BECAUSE:

This sweet innocent looking full sized Great Dane

decided to go walk about and managed to get into someones supply of rat poison. She was a

little lethargic on Saturday when i got home from work, off her feed Sun and Mon but seemed better Tuesday, yeah, Merry Christmas to me. Well I got home form work Tuesday night and let them outside, she seemed ok, actually ran and played a bit. After I let them back in, Rox had a big dinner and I went to bed. I woke up to two pools of blood (with urine) on the living room floor, 2 piles of hard dry dog turds and a LARGE pile of undigested slimy dog food puke. Needless to say, I rushed Rox to the vet. She had dropped 6 pounds in 5 days, her coat was dull, eyes glassy, gums pale and just ADR. The vet looked her over, took some blood and her red count was FAR below normal. A normal dogs red count is between 12-18, Roxi's is 6.2 Her white count is thru the roof, off the scale. He ran some more tests, thinking it might be a tick born disease (that i cant remember the name of), she was negative for that, heartworm and limes disease. She is bleeding when she pees because her blood is soooo thin it is seeping thru her organ walls, which if left untreated will cause her to bleed to death internally. She was give a does of Vitamin K and some Antibiotics (for the elevated white count) and I was given her new diet till she is past the risk of bleeding to death.

Now, you might ask how a sick, bleeding to death dog feels about ONE soft scrambled egg, well I will be calling the vet tomorrow to see if she can have more, I fear for my life, she is looking at me like I might be dinner....lol.

All in all, I am just thrilled she will live and make a full recovery, God willing and the creek don't rise.

Please keep Rox in your thoughts. AND keep your rat poison up.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from my lil corner of Texas to the rest of y'all

The Circus

On the way down to Abilene to meet lil man's dad, we (my mother, my lil man and I) played various car games. The one I am going to write about is "I am went to the circus and I saw......" If you don't know how it is played, in alphabetical order each person adds something they saw at the circus after reciting the previous additions. Here is our circus....

I went to the circus and I saw:
An alligator
A bare back rider
Some clowns
A dressed up dog
An elephant
A fighting Horse
A grizzly bear
A hippopotamus
An Igloo
A juggler
A koala bear
A lion
A monkey
A nightingale
An opossum
A 'possum
A quarantined Lynx
A red robin
A st-st-stuttering cow
A titmouse
An umbrella cockatoo
A very hairy ape
A water buffalo
That Antelope thing in Africa that starts with X
A Yak
and
A Zebra

As you can tell, lil man must be mine and i must be my mother's since apparently none of us went to a normal circus...lol

A country idea

The following is a conversation between lil man and I.

"Mom, do you know what they should use for Taxi's in the country?"

"What bubba"

"Tractors......and they should call them Traxi's"


Gotta love the thought processes of an 8 y/o. I sure do love him

Gift Wrapping Lil Man Style

Today my mom picked up lil man from school and took him Christmas shopping for the people he wanted to buy for. He has been saving money so he would be able to buy gifts too. (sweet isn't he?) I love my mother for that (among many other things). I have been shopping with kids, not always an easy thing. So after much decision making (lil man weighs each decision with his $$ very carefully) he was done. Everyone bough for and ready to go. When they got to my house i stayed in the kitchen so they could wrap in private. After the gifts i couldn't see were done (wonder who they were for :D ) i was allowed back in the room and i got to help. Lil man was in charge of tape. You would have thought we were asking him to move the empire state building....lol. The amount of grumbling about the amount of work he had to do was truly funny. I cant wait till next year when he has to wrap all his own....lol

Tougher than tough

*****Disclaimer: This is NOT a sweet happily-ever after story*****

Today my lil man did me proud. After a day of shopping in Amarillo, we made it back to our lil town, picked up the lil man from school and headed my mom's home. As we opened the doors to get out of the car, mom' neighbor pulled up and got out to talk to us. She asked my lil man to head inside for a few. When he was out of earshot she advised us that Maggie Mae (the stray dogs that have taken up residence on the land my mother's house is on) and Zena (the yard dog in the adjacent business) had gone walk about and found themselves at the FFA/4H Project Animal Barn and in fine dog fashion, dispatched some young child's show calf/steer. Charges were being pressed on the owner of the one dog but since Maggie Mae do not have owners there would be no charges for them. While Maggie Mae do not belong to anyone, Mae has adopted my lil man. For those that aren't familiar with Mae click here and read about her. She loved lil man soooo much, he was the only one to get near her. She would give him her belly, bath him in kisses and follow him around the yard.

Well as anyone familiar with rural living in an area primarily devoted to livestock knows, livestock killers must be destroyed. After talking with neighbor and the dogs were identified by a witness, I went in the house and explained to little man what had happened. I explained the consequence of the dogs actions. He tried sooo hard to be brave but a his eyes filled up and a few tears fell. I hugged him and talked to him. He knew that is was something that had to be done. After he got himself together, we talked of it some more and he said he would catch Mae. It would be easier on her to have someone she trusted get her. Heavy hearted but with steel will, he went out side, sat in chair and Mae came over, he petted her, talked to her and loved her. Then i took out a leash and when i approached Mae ran (nothing unusual there). I gave lil man the leash, he put it in his pocket and loved on her some more. When he tried to put the leash on her she bolted. She has never worn a collar or leash. She got up under the house and hid. Lil man was patient and just talked softly. Finally Mae come out. Lil man got the leash on her and she ran, he held on (and has the scraped up hand to prove it). The neighbor came in and helped lil man.

Possession of Maggie (easy to catch) and Mae was turned over to the responsible persons and all 3 dogs were taken out of view and quickly, yet humanly destroyed.

I can say with out hesitation that the pride i felt has no measure. My pride and joy, my lil man, my son......showed maturity beyond his 8 years and put the comfort and feelings of another living creature front and center.

He is my hero.

For Mom

O Christmas Tree

Last night my son and I put up the Christmas tree. As i was watching him place the beautiful blue and silver ornaments (hey what can i say, i am a Dallas Cowboys fan, yes even after last nights humiliating defeat) on our tiny 4 footer, i was taken back to when i was a child and got to help decorate our families tree. Every year we would go scour the tree lot (our local High School sold trees) for the biggest, prettiest, fullest, greenest, well you get the idea, 10ft+ tree we could find. It was usually between 10-12 feet tall. After much shoving, tugging and trimming (not quite as bad as National Lampoons Christmas Vacation) the tree was centered and it's best side facing forward. Then would come the box after box after box of ornaments. These ornaments spanned generations, there were some my grandma made as a child, some her parents brought over from Italy when they immigrated here, some my father and uncles made and some all of us grandchildren made. It was truly a family tree. (I had the 7ft tree with the blue and silver ornaments in my room, what can i say, i was spoiled...lol) I can only hope that some time in my life, i will be in a place to share that with my lil man.

Merry Christmas everyone

Sleigh Bells

One of my favorite sounds of Chrsitmas is the sound of Sleigh Bells. Much to many of my teacher's dismay, at Christmas time i would put bells EVERYWHERE. I laced them on to my shoes, tied them in my hair, put them on my back pack, adorned my jackets with them, even tied them to my antenna on my car. I think that while most people were looking forward to the holiday break because of Christmas, the teacher were just happy to get away from the sounds of my bells....lol

Tag Ur It

Ok, i got tagged by Megnificent, who by very virtue of tagging me, helped relieve me of my slacker status.



The tag rules are:

1) Link the person who tagged you.

2) Post the rules on your blog.

3) Share 7 facts about yourself.

4) Tag 7 random people and include links to their blogs.

5) Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.



1~I have to eat all of one thing before i can go to the next. This includes eating all of one kind of veggie out of the mixed veggies at a time.

2~When i get nervous or upset, i stutter. it is a result of a fall i took from a horse.

3~My favorite dessert is Tiramisu (if made correctly)

4~I do not use condiments

5~My hair never grows longer than mid way down my back

6~I like warm flat soda

7~When i was a baby, i had naturally curly hair, it is now stick striaght



Ok, now for the 7 people. I am going to pick truely random people.



itrtilisfny
A Lucid Spoonful
Circle of 13
Civil Disobedience

Bmw Mistress

Vinny's Blog

The Jingoist

I hope all the new people i tagged will play.

A Holiday Staple

This is a holiday must have for me. Every single holiday this dish graced my grandma's table and it just doesnt feel like the holidays without it.

I have included a reciepe but it is really very simple, equal parts of all the ingredients, mix and chill.

Ingredients:
1 can mandarin oranges, drained

1 can pineapple chunks, drained

1 cup miniature marshmallows

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup sour cream

Can you keep a secret?

My mother and i were driving along with lil man in the back seat and from the rear of the car i hear "Grandma, can we stop at Tractor Supply and buy mom's tool?"

I had to laugh because my mother told me a story from when i was little.

We were at my mom's mom's house and i was saying my nightly prayers, in the presence of my mom and grandma "......God bless mom, God bless, fluffy, etc etc and please dont let me tell Grandma we got her slippers for Christmas"

I guess the lil one comes by it honestly.

The gift

Ok, well as y'all know my son has some intersting coices for what he asks for for gifts. For example for his birthday he REALLY wanted a pair of rubber boots.

Well when he went to see Santa he asked for this years much desired present.
I sure hope Santa brings it. Not ofen a kid asks for this one. Wonder if the elves make em?

Ever had one of THOSE holiday seasons?

Where are you?

For my son's first Christmas, he was only 2 months old. In fine new mom fashion, i made him wear a silly outfit complete with holiday cap. He spent most of his time in the most awesome swing ever. one of the side effects of the swinging motion was that his hat was over his eyes for 84.926% of the time. While i am sure his christmas was lacking visual stimulation, it was rather amusing for us.

***Disclaimer, i was gonna put pics on here but i cant find them on the computer***

Geography 101

When i was a kid, waiting for the mailman at Christmas time was a favorite past time of mine. He was like an everyday Santa, he brought beautiful cards from the far corners of the world, packages from relatives unable to be there and every parents nightmare, THE BIG TOY BOOK.

Now, i am sure all of you taken a geography course at some point in your lives. My family from the Boston area ALWAYS sent gifts out to us in the San Francisco area.

I opened my one gift early and i received a USC Trojans Sweatshirt. Now at this age i would understand, but at the age of 10 (and geographically challenged) I was very confused. I asked my grandma why and she said cause to our family in Ma, California is California with no distinction between Northern and Southern. Well any Californian can tell you there is a HUGE difference.

I think my grandma still blames them for my move down south....lol

Merry Christmas

Waiting for December

One of the things I waited for, as a child, the most, was December. December meant Christmas lights (will be another post for another day...lol), Santa hats, Sleigh Bells and Decorations.

At my Grams house, my favorite decoration that got put up was a Gingerbread House my mother made out of plastic canvas.

***Disclaimer...this is NOT the house she made but the only one i could find a picture of, hers was WAY better***

One year my mother made these as gift for several relatives, but what made that even more special than they already were was the fact she put little touches in and on each one that corresponded with the recipient. For example, my Grams had the antlers (complete with unevenness that was there) over the fireplace. The rocking chair, the TV where the TV lived etc. Much thought and love was put into each house.

BUT WAIT....there's more. Not only was the house "built" with love. To take it one step further my Grams filled it with my all time favorite candies so when the roof was lifted to look at the optical treasure created INSIDE, there was candy too. What more could a girl want.


Thanks Mom AND Grams

Research is important

This is only kinda of a Christmas post (but it counts mom...lol)

Before you run out and get your child that pet they have been begging for, be sure to do your research. The story (that did NOT happen to me) will help illustrate my point.

If you have raised kids (or been one), and gone through the pet syndrome including toilet flush burials for dead goldfish, the story below will have you laughing out LOUD!

Overview: I had to take my son's lizard to the vet.

Here's what happened:

Just after dinner one night, my son came up to tell me there was "something wrong" with one of the two lizards he holds prisoner in his room.

"He's just lying there looking sick," he told me."I'm serious, dad, can you help?"

I put my best lizard-healer expression on my face and followed him into his bedroom. One of the little lizards was indeed lying on his back,looking stressed. I immediately knew what to do.

"Honey," I called, "come look at the lizard!"

"Oh my! gosh," my wife diagnosed after a minute."She's having babies."

"What?" my son demanded. "But their names are Bert and Ernie, Mom!"

I was equally outraged."Hey, how can that be? I thought we said we didn't want them to reproduce," I accused my wife.

"Well, what do you want me to do, post a sign in their cage?" she inquired. (I actually think she said this sarcastically!)

"No, but you were supposed to get two boys!" I reminded her, (in my most loving, calm, sweet voice, while gritting my teeth together).

"Yeah, Bert and Ernie!" my son agreed.

"Well, it's just a little hard to tell on some guys, you know," she informed me. (Again with the sarcasm,you think?)

By now the rest of the family had gathered to see what was going on.

I shrugged, deciding to make the best of it. "Kids, this is going to be a wondrous experience," I announced. "We're about to witness the miracle of birth."

"Oh, gross!" they shrieked.

"Well, isn't THAT just great! What are we going to do with a litter of tiny little lizard babies?" my wife wanted to know. (I really do think she was being snotty here, too. Don't you?)

We peered at the patient. After much struggling, what looked like a tiny foot would appear briefly, vanishing a scant second later.

"We don't appear to be making much progress," I noted.

"It's breech," my wife whispered, horrified.

"Do something, Dad!" my son urged.

"Okay, okay." Squeamishly , I reached in and grabbed the foot when it next appeared, giving it a gentle tug. It disappeared. I tried several more times with the same results.

"Should I call 911," my eldest daughter wanted to know. "Maybe they could talk us through the trauma."(You see a pattern here with the females in my house?)

"Let's get Ernie to the vet," I said grimly.

We drove to the vet with my son holding the cage in his lap. "Breathe, Ernie, breathe," he urged.

"I don't think lizards do Lamaze," his mother noted to him. (Women can be so cruel to their own young. I mean what she does to me is one thing, but this boy is of her womb, for God's sake.)

The Vet took Ernie back to the examining room and peered at the little animal through a magnifying glass.

"What do you think, Doc, a C-section?" I suggested scientifically.

"Oh, very interesting," he murmured. "Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, may I speak to you privately for a moment?"

I gulped, nodding for my son to step outside."Is Ernie going to be okay?" my wife asked.

"Oh, perfectly," the Vet assured us. "This lizard is not in labor. In fact, that isn't EVER going to happen... Ernie is a boy. You see, Ernie is a young male. And occasionally, as they come into maturity, like most male species, they um....um....masturbate. Just the way he did, lying on his back." He blushed, glancing at my wife. "Well, you know what I'm saying, Mr. Cameron."

We were silent, absorbing this.

"So Ernie's just...just... excited," my wife offered.

"Exactly," the vet replied, relieved that we understood.

More silence.

Then my vicious, cruel wife started to giggle. And giggle. And then even laugh loudly.

"What's so funny?" I demanded, knowing, but not believing that the woman I married would commit the upcoming affront to my flawless manliness.

Tears were now running down her face.

Laughing "It's just...that...I'm picturing you pulling on its...its...teeny little..." she gasped for more air to bellow in laughter once more.

"That's enough," I warned.

We thanked the Vet and hurriedly bundled the lizards and our son back into the car. He was glad everything was going to be okay.

"I know Ernie's really thankful for what you've done, Dad," he told me.

"Oh, you have NO idea," Closed mouth, my wife agreed, collapsing with laughter.

2 - Lizards - $140...
1 - Cage - $50...
Trip to the Vet - $30...

Memory of your husband pulling on a lizard's winkie...PRICELESS!

Moral of the story - finish biology class - lizards lay eggs



Merry Christmas Everyone

School of Hard Knocks

Ok, I was tagged by my mother..thanks mom..lol

Rules: Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It's more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one class from the person who tagged you that you'd also like to take. Tag five.

I had to think a while about this but here we go. Mom is already offering one i would like/need

Survival Cooking: Nope, no bugs or odd crunchy things (hopefully). I'm just talking about everyday cooking. No one should learn, at the age of 18, that if you let spaghetti cook long enough, it will get fuzzy. This course would just cover the 5 things that most families eat ALL the time. There are restaurants for everything else.

so, now onto my classes:

Dr. DoLittle 101: No need for a degree in veterinary medicine here. This class is to teach the art of animal interaction. One should never lay on the ground and make prey noises and be surprised when the dog rips your face off. It seems that many people have forgotten how to approach or interact with animals and since they dont know, their children dont know.

911 101: After working as a dispatcher i REALLY wish this course was offered. To call into the EMERGENCY operator because you want to know if it is safe to drive from Amarillo to Tulia during the Tornado Watch is NOT acceptable. Nor is calling into report you are unhappy with the quality of the ILLEGAL drugs you just purchased.

Letting Go, It will be ok: No, this class will not help you get a psychology degree, but it will help you get rid of some of the clutter in your home. As a currently struggling self proclaimed pack rat, this course will offer techniques for classifying what one really needs to keep and what one merely keeps out of obligation or in my case the inability to let go.

Welfare for Dummies: This course is offered to those who CHOOSE welfare as their employer. This course will teach the true purpose of the welfare system. Please, sign up for this course if you breed for a higher check, use your food stamps for smokes or sell them for drug money or offer your WIC checks on CL(Craigs List for those that dont know) for ANYTHING other than the foods they are intended for.

Now....lets see who my victims, opps, choices, will be:

Pioneer Woman
RobCop
Megnificent
Jenny of MamaDrama

Cant wait to read y'alls answers

Gift Giving

On this the 1st day of December i was given a gift from someone near and dear to me. Which got me thinking about gifts from Christmas' past. I think the nubmer one worst gift i have ever received was a Chia Pet head. It was truely hideous and gave me nightmares for years.....lol