August 2012 (part one)

Let me actually start in the last week of July. It's all a little blurry now, but that's the week that Molley (my almost 12 year old Cocker Spaniel) started getting sick. Before I go any further, i am sorry if the details are boring. I just want to remember this month, or maybe forget it to an extent. I am a googler, so I googled her symptoms and read that I should take her food away for 24 hours and limit her water to see if the vomiting stopped. I think this was on Friday. On Saturday(July 28th) we went to Troy for a baby shower for Riggs Kelly that happened to be at Dr. Doug Hawkins' house who is a veterinarian in Troy. I talked to him about Molley and he sent me home with some medicine for her. This medicine worked for a few hours, but she was still getting sick.



(here is Molley begging for her food when I had to take it up for 24 hours)
This continued until Monday and I took her to her vet in Monroeville. Dr. Grider did an x-ray and saw that Molley's intestines were inflamed and he gave her medicine for this an nausea and I brought her home that night. I gave her the medicine and she ate a few small pieces of hot dog. After that, she wouldn't eat anything!!! Nothing!!! I tried cheese, I tried sandwich meat, everything I could think of to feed her. Mom was cooking chicken and rice for Molley, and she wouldn't eat. She seemed to want the food, however when she started chewing the food she would drop it back on the floor. This went on until Friday and I took her back to Dr. Grider. he was getting very concerned at this point due to the amount of weight she was loosing(she was down to 15.3lbs). The only thing we were able to get her to eat that week was ice cream. Dr. Grider was concerned that she may have Addison's disease or worse cancer, so he suggested that I take her to the Emergency Care Unit at Auburn University's small animal clinic. Daniel, Mom and I jumped in the car and made it to Auburn just before the 3pm cut off time. We had to get her there before 3pm or they would have to keep her all weekend to do the needed test on Monday. To say I was a basket case would be an understatement. I cried all the way to Auburn and just held on to Molley. The ER doctors were so kind and understanding while they evaluated Molley's case. They asked us to leave her with them for an hour or so to run test and do blood work. They passed Molley's case on to an resident doctor named Dr. Ashley Durrance. While Molley was having her test run we drove over to Opelika to buy Daniel a new pair of golf shoes. It wasn't long before Dr. Durrance called and said Molley has a severe case of Pancreatitis and would need a few days of treatments and a new low fat diet to get her back to normal. We had two options. We could take Molley home and give her the medicines there or leave her in Auburn and they could give her the medicines through an IV as well as fluids and nutrition. Knowing that she hadn't eaten in almost a week, I opted to let her stay in Auburn where she could get the nutrition and medicine and 24 hour care. We went back by the clinic to visit her before we left town. While we were there, Dr. Durrance wanted to go over somethings with us that they found during an ultrasound of Molley's abdomen. There was the obvious irritation to her pancreas, a slightly enlarged lymph node near her pancreas and a thickened portion of her stomach that really seemed to concern the doctors. Dr. Durrance asked that we bring Molley back after a month for them to recheck this finding. Honestly, as we left that night I didn't think much at all about the finding with her stomach. I was convinced it was just pancreatitis and she would be all good on Sunday. Saturday I had one sad pitiful puppy on my hands. Shula missed Molley as much as the rest of us did.



On Sunday Daniel's Mom and Melissa drove me to Auburn to get Molley, it was time to go home and get all this behind us.




We left Auburn with new medicine, new dog food, and a sleepy Molley.
Sidenote: Molley was on Prednisone for the inflammation in her intestines which made the pancreatitis hurt worse. She had to be weened off of this so she still felt bad when we came home.
When we got home we were giving Molley anti-nausea medication, an appetite stimulant, Tagamet and the prednisone. The nurses were able to get her to eat two whole cans of her dog food while in ICU at Auburn. Things were looking great!!
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Who Wants Free Fabric??? I DO, I DO!!!

Who doesn't love something for free? What about free fabric? New fabric always seems to inspire me into new projects. Warehouse Fabrics is having a fabric giveaway and giving you a chance to win a $50 gift card for fabric. Check them out!!

Click HERE

4th of July...Celebrating Supermen

In honor of the 4th of July, I want to take the time to remember and do something special for the Servicemen, Supermen, in our families. Daniel and I grew up with grandfathers who both served in WWII, Daniel's grandfather, for the Army, in Germany, and mine on a Naval ship off the coast of Africa. My Dad also served in the Army National Guard. Having these men in our lives brings special meaning to the Fourth of July and a special place in our hearts for all who serve our country. To say "Thank you" would be an understatement, but, THANK YOU!!! To all the men and women who serve in our military and the families of those men and women who sacrifice just as much.

Our Grandfathers

 Cody A. Crawford

Lieutenant Colonel U.S. Army

 Thomas A. Black

Petty Officer First Class U.S. Navy

Daddy

 Kenneth M. Smith

Specialist Fourth Class U.S. Army National Guard

Charlie Daniels says it beautifully...enjoy!

Our Nieces...lately

These two girlies are so much fun. Have you ever seen such Cuteness???

Shula's new best friend, Lincy.

Mrs. Ginger and Melissa came to Chestnut for an afternoon visit and they brought Lincy with them. I've never seen Shula with a child and wasn't sure how she would behave. Shula and Lincy both loved each other. Lincy loved a dog that would lay still and Shula loved that Lincy would pet her constantly. 

Shula teaching Lincy to shake.

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Charley Kate in her favorite colors

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Lincy's First Birthday

We had a family dinner at the Old School House restaurant in Troy, AL for Lincy's birthday. Everyone was there to celebrate. 

Lincy was not interested in her cake at all, she wanted to drink from the sippy cup with a straw.

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Tally's first beach trip

May 20th was Tom's 30th birthday, so we all went to the beach to celebrate. It was Charley Kate's first trip to the beach and first time in the sand. 

She loved the water.

Nanny with Tally

"My Daddy is How Old?"

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Weekend with Hoot N Nanny

They have the best toys.

Working in the tractor with Hoot.

Lovin some websites

I thought I would share a few of my new favorite websites.

When Daniel has to work weekends or nights, I spend my time reading or working on Pinterest projects. There is a great website out there called Goodreads that lets you connect with friends and share book reviews and what you are reading now. "Bookselves" are used to organize your books and share with friends. There is a "Read," "to-read," and "Currently Reading" shelf on the profile to organize books. Currently I am reading the Harry Potter series. I know, I'm a little late but I own and LOVE all the movies and thought I needed to see what I was missing in the books. There are a few small details that aren't in the movies that the books cover. Here is a link to my Goodreads profile if your a reader and want to join in the fun.



Then there is Pinterest...Oh how I love thee Pinterest. I have posted several projects in the past that I saw on Pinterest and made at home. Items like burp cloths for expecting friends, shoes for new babies and ear-bud holder for iPhone headphones. My "Sewing Ideas" board is HUGE!!! Stay tuned for more project posts, I have several in the works. If you haven't already, check it out. If your looking for home decor ideas, style ideas, jewelry, recipes, or holiday decorations, Pinterest has it.

Let me know if you are on either site, I'd love to follow you and share ideas.




 

Chestnut Golf Cart

Daniel has been looking for the perfect golf cart for driving through the woods at our house. For months he's searched Craig's list for exactly what he wanted. Nothing was ever available or the price wasn't right. On Saturday we decided we would give the "old Samurai" a try. We knew it had been sitting up and would need some work to get it going again but that's ok, we were prepared for a little work. On Sunday Mom, Dad and I went to see of we could at least get it to Chestnut to have nearby so we could do the work needed. To our surprise, the little guy started up with only a new battery. After a little elbow grease and "adjusting" by Dad, it was ready to go. We actually drove it to Chestnut and then all over the property at home. Check it out!!

Before the cleaning. We took out the nasty carpet and the ratty old tire cover. I think it needs a new paint job (Mrs Deedie;-)) and an Auburn tire cover. Here is what I was thinking:



Daniel said "No" to my painting idea (Sorry Mrs Deedie).  I thought flowers on the hood would be great. I guess they don't go well in the woods and they would stand out just a little bit. Maybe a camo pattern will be better. BOO!

The hood strap is awesome, huh?


Still cleaning the windows.
This is going to be a fun adventure.

Pinterest

I'm not sure if you are familiar with Pinterest or not, but it seems to be filling up my time lately. I can't seem to stop pinning sewing and cooking ideas to my "boards." In the last few weeks we have had two dinners from Pinterest and I've made several projects from my "boards" as well. Both items are for friends or my sister-in-law who are expecting children. Here's the first

Burp Cloths


Here's the link to the tutorial I followed. It Rocked!

Here's how mine turned out.



One "fancy" and one "casual." I went with the more casual since I didn't know at the time that that my brother and sis-in-law are having a girl.

Project #2

A Nursing Cover



Here's the link for this tutorial. Great as well.

And the one Mom and I made:




There are many more projects in waiting. I can't wait to get started. Mama came over to help me on the first major project, the nursing cover. I had lots of questions and she was a HUGE help. Ive done very little sewing before now and she had lots of great tips and tricks.

Since the nursing cover went well I made a second one on my own and shoes for Tally.