Little Girls At Play

Who says Chihuahuas aren't real dogs. Here, Molly and her half sister, Pixie, show how a rough and tumble wrestling match should be done.

You want a piece of me?! Bring it on!

Pixie gets things started with a throat nip on Molly but Molly retaliates with a foot punch to Pixie's face. Poof!

Sticking to her neck nipping strategy, Pixie leaves herself wide open for a full body pounce from Molly.

What? We were just playing, Mom. (Molly on left - weighing in at 1.8lbs. Pixie on right - weighing in at 3.1 lbs.) Both live to wrestle another day.

Meanwhile..... Graci serves as passive spectator and...

...Joey nibbles diligently on a braided chew...kanga style.

My Mr. Fix It

Bryan took time out of his very hectic 'renovate the stupid basement' schedule to hang the drapes and light fixture in my library. "Thanks Honey, You Da Best Ever!" Looks awesome!

Brutal Climate

On Sunday, Dec 13, the power went out in my son's apartment. He txt me the news and I suggested he break out the candles and enjoy a nice cuddle with his new wife, Sarah. A few minutes later, Bryan informed me that the power had been out for some time and it wasn't just Logan and Sarah's apt. A large portion of Sherwood Park was in darkness. Apparently, a power pole had ceased to remain vertical. Then, Mandy informed me that after a Christmas shopping spree with her children, it had been decided that she and her son would return home while her daughter and friend remained at the mall to finish up. Mandy had scarcely finished a cup of tea when she received a startling call from her daughter, "Mom, can you come get us? The mall is in darkness and people are stealing from the shops and running around like crazy." Mandy reported less than desirable behavior from the motorists when encountering the stalled traffic lights on her way to get the girls. Thankfully, they all returned home safely. What a day in our little hamlet!

This brutal cold snap reminds me of when we moved to our acreage 4 yrs ago. The boiler blew during sub zero temperatures. Our employees could not withstand the frosty basement office so were not asked to come to work. We shut everything down. It would be two weeks before we could get the new unit it. The old one had given up the ghost, so to speak.

I recall climbing into bed with my husband and the piles of covers taking forever to offer any warmth. We had to bring all the dogs into bed with us as they were whimpering in protest to the cold. They offered additional heat and were happy to lay against us in mutual desperation. We would eventually fall asleep but it was restless and the space heaters threw our heating bill through the roof! Our bill was in excess of $1,000.00. Our oldest son stayed at his girlfriend's house in their spare room. Logan and Sharayah were piled high in their respective beds with layer upon layer of blankets. Sharayah wore her winter coat and two pair of sweat pants with her father's sweat pants on top of those! Three pair of socks for everyone.

As I lay shivering under those covers, waiting for collective human/canine body heat to build, I thought of the pioneers. No heat other than that offered by a constantly tended fireplace and perhaps a bed warmer if they were lucky. They used to warm stones on the hearth and then put them in the bed. I hear fire was a constant threat.

In short, I'm glad everyone got their power on before too long. I can't help thinking of many homeless people out in the cold during this weather. My thoughts and prayers are with them. Tuck your family in and stay safe and sound. Perhaps we all could check our local city regarding donations of gently used winter coats for those in need.

Better Late Than Never...

I cannot believe how long it takes to finish a basement! Honesty! Of course, it's going to take longer when you do all the work yourself (ie-Bryan) with absolutely no help and...you still have to work your regular job to pay the bills. Amazing any progress is made at all. We are getting closer, though. Lately, Bryan has completed the finish coat on absolutely all the walls and trim. A very big job. He had to give another coat of the 'old violin' ( a drk brwn) on the 2 feature walls due to a shedding roller leaving lint in the paint. Urgh! Tomorrow is painting the storage room floor. I know,...I know. Does that really need to be done? Answer: "yes" Especially when the only person willing to do the work is a perfectionist. Gotta love him. This next week will be about seating the new toilet and vanity. He's also going to install all the light fixtures. Carpet will be ordered as well as cupboards. These last two items won't arrive until after Christmas, but that's ok. I think Bryan could do with a bit of a break.

Bryan is taking time to have a bit of fun, I'm happy to report. He's contacted Blake and they got together to jam this past Friday afternoon. He was so happy when he came home. I am thrilled he's found an outlet for his musical creativity. They are going to put something together and start doing some gigs. It will be very good for him.

Sadly, I did not finish my novel during the NaNoWriMo. I got to a little over 15,000 words. That's not even half way! Oh, well... it is far more than I had a month ago. Why didn't I finish? I was on such a roll, after all. Elsie found herself facing amputation of her leg due to gangrene and needed rides to dr's, etc. She's had the surgery, thankfully. Everything went well and they are now looking to send her to a rehab facility until she learns to get along without her limb. She's doing very well, though. She hops farther and farther every day, she can no sleep without constant pain/spasms waking her and without the pain, she is a different person. There were many other real-life interruptions along the way that can duly serve as legitimate excuses but the bottom line is, I became overwhelmed by everything piling up and allowed myself to be distracted. I am making progress is getting things sorted out and back on track.

Pack Rules Inc. has seen some progress as well (one of the real-life distractions from my novel). The ad came out in the Sherwood Park yellow pages and I was very happy with it. I got in touch with Lynn (the website lady who owns "On Course Solutions") as Linda informed me that she was getting ever more frustrated with her little dog, Springer and suggested we may be able to work a contra deal. We did and Springer is already a very different dog and we've only completed the assessment and session 1. The solution to his barking at the door was the quickest yet and I am actually very fond of Springer. I am looking forward to Lynn accepting my offer to take him home with me to board him when she takes her girls for holiday.

Yesterday was my meeting with Lynn to move forward on the development of my website. WOW! There is sooooooo much to do! EEEEKKK! It will be all I can do to get all the articles and forms written for it. And I don't want it to go on for ages, just sitting because I can't find time to write my articles. Oh, well....ever onward.

I completed the boxer puppy, George and am working with Phil and Katie (old Packleader clients that got ripped off by Jody). Their shepherd, Alexie, is extremely anxious but making phenomenal progress. Katie and Phil are completely devoted to her rehabilitation. Their little sheltie, Sasha, is picking things up very quickly and having her behavior tweaked along the way, successfully.

Sharayah went for her allergy tests which, at the very least, got us the answers to what she is actually allergic to. No more guessing. Pollen - big time. Soy, house dust, cats, dogs, and a few others that I can't remember off hand. Now she knows what her options are for treatment, she can feel like she's got a handle on the situation. "No more lying in the grass" as she put it.

All in all....a good month, productive...even though not in all the areas I would have chosen. Tomorrow is another day with so much potential for progress. I am ever thankful for today. Each is a precious gift of time and I plan to respect that gift more than I have lately.

Stormy November

Well, I really did not think I would fall off the face of the earth - blog wise - on the 10th. "LIFE" kicked into high gear and I've been spinning plates for more days than I can count. I love to blog and have missed it terribly. I will hit the highlights and, perhaps, write more deatail regarding certain events in future as they are revisited.

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month): This has been an exciting event this month and I am currently sitting t 23,220 words. This is not quite half way, which is a disappointment, but I will continue until I am finished. At this point, my immediate goal is to strive to get as close to 50,000 words as I can possibly manage. All in all, it will be 'that' many words more than I had before :]

We're trying to wrap up the construction in the basement. We've decided to convert it to a rental suite. We are nearly down to 2 people in the house and neither of us feel like moving or navigating the real estate market during this market so... it just seems to make sense. We have set a deadline for ourselves as it has been dragging on and on. Difficult to get it finished when Bryan can only work on it during 'off-hrs'. He's done a fabulous job! It looks so good.

We moved the office from the bsmnt up to the bonus rm. This entailed a much needed deep cleaning of the bonus room, relocating furniture (sore muscles the next day), hauling the office desk up two flights of stairs and placing it, setting up the new computer, hooking up all the printers, modems, blah-blah-blah, re organizing all the files into different drawer configurations (are you tired yet? lol) and answering phones and booking all the while. Then...(did you think I was finished?) Call telus to reassign phone #s (yes we have cat 5 - oops - no, we only have cat 3. Off to purchase a cordless for the home # phone). Call Shaw to hook up the splitter, yes we could have done it ourselves but the signal often drops in a couple days so may as well just have them out to ensure signal strength. Continue organizing - continue answering phone - continue booking. Call a computer tech that knows Macs as well as PCs (NOT an easy task! Still looking for one that doesn't cost nearly $100/hr.)

(NO...I AM NOT POSTING A PIC OF GANGREENE - SERIOUSLY DISGUSTING)

Mom needs ride to wound clinic - gangrenous wound on her ankle - amputation recommended. Mom is horrified. Mom needs ride to vascular surgeon for 2nd consult - amputation recommended - sooner rather than later. Mom is coming to terms with her situation. Mom needs ride to Good Samaritan Continuing Care Facility for tour. Mom says rooms are too small. Mom calls,... surgery set for Monday, Nov 23rd @ 1:30pm. Fever strikes Thursday night, ride in ambulance to hospital. Surgery still scheduled for Monday. Fear of infection makes mom anxious to have the amputation.

AND ALL THE WHILE, I STILL......

Write - harvest Farmville write - scavenge neighboring islands - write - harvest - write - feed fish - write- write - harvest - harvest...

Organize files in anticipation of Dec yellow pages ad for Pack Rules. Need to gather/produce info for website.

Draw names for Christmas gifts. Fun. No idea what to include on my list of 5 things desired for Christmas. I need time and, last I hear, minutes were non-transferable in this life time.

Well, that's enough of all my chaotic life occurrences for the 20 days of November. I'm very interested to see how the last 10 days plays out.

Thanks to my good friends and family for all their support and, not to be forgotten, my dogs. They keep me laughing and I"m ever so grateful for the cuddles! They keep me focused and present.

Day 9 - NaNoWriMo

11,981 words (3,018 of which were written tonight). This is a very good thing as I was beginning to panic about my dilemma. True, it's 1:00am, but I figure if I don't get to 18,000 words by the end of this week, I'm gonna be behind the eight ball in a big way.

Panic grabbed hold of my feet and they hauled me outta the house faster than lightening on a dry summer night. I didn’t rightly know where they was taking me and I didn’t rightly care. I could feel the air hitting my tears as I ran but it did little to cool me. It takes a whole lot more than fast feet and a decent wind too blow away shame. (Excerpt from "Butterflies In The Rain")

You

When I found myself without a mother - again - you were there.

When I hid in the closet at Grandma's because the cousins were too loud and I felt lost - you were there.

When lights and horror were flicked on in the early morning hours - you were there.

When she wouldn't believe anything I said - you were there.

When I wasn't asked to the prom - you were there.

When everyone doubted my marriage - you were there.

When my child lay dull and listless in my arms, too weary to cry - you were there.

When I made the bad decision - you were there.

When I doubted - you were there.

When I could do nothing but stand - you were there.

When the children grew away - you were there.

When I reflect on the past - look toward what is to come - you are here - with me - always with me - and I thank you for being my constant in this life.