Ready for a LOAD?

Starting tomorrow, I am taking on the most ambitious project that I have done since the Library of Memories class. I am taking on Lain Ehmann's Layout A Day, (LOAD), challenge. This will be my first time doing this challenge. But I am excited to be productive and get a bunch of layouts done. I'm also hoping to meet more fellow scrapbookers around the world to share in this amazing hobby. Wish me luck!

Update On Diego

We spoke to vet yesterday and he suggested we put Diego on prednisone therapy. It's fairly inexpensive and may cause a short remission. So we started him on that today. He was feeling so much better yesterday. Really acting like his old self. Gnawing on his favorite bones, playing keep away and eating very heartily. But today, the diarrhea is back and he acts a bit run down. I don't think his bone agreed with him. So his favorite bones will have to go bye bye for now.  We'll see how this goes. The prednisone could cause his appetite to go up and he will need to drink more. And he may pant more. He's been doing a lot of that anyway lately. But all of that we can handle.  We are also going to be giving him 2 fish oil capsules a day to boost his immune system and a Pepcid AC a day so he won't develop ulcers from the prednisone. Poor thing. We give him his medicines with a hand full of cheerios. He loves that, so he doesn't mind.

Bad news . . . .

The vet called us last night and gave us the worst news possible. Diego has canine lymphoma. And he has the most aggressive kind. He says he will probably only live another month. We are devastated. We could have him go through chemotherapy, but that would cost around $2000 & there would be no guarantees how much longer he would live. Possibly it would give him another year. Otherwise, there isn't much we can do but love him up while he's still with us. The girls took it fairly well. Hayley seems to be the most affected. But as much of an animal lover as she is, it's not surprising. He spends most of his time with Hannah, since she cannot fall asleep without him by her side. Hayley is feeling guilty about "not spending more time with him" too. But like Ryan said, at least we know he'll be leaving us, so we can spend the quality time with him that we may have otherwise took for granted. This is just too hard! At 4 years and a half years old he's just too young. Keep us in your thoughts.

Diego

Our beloved chocolate lab Diego has not been feeling well. It started out with a case of diarrhea starting on Friday and by Sunday night he was so lethargic it was really worrying us. We got him into the vet on Monday & during the exam, the vet found several swollen lymph nodes. His stomach problem is colitis, which may or may not be related to the lymph nodes. He did a biopsy of one of the nodes to see if it is lymphoma. We're really sad about this being a possibility. We should know by the end of the week. He is feeling better today. He's still not 100%, but it's a big improvement to what he was like on Sunday. We are cooking him rice with boiled chicken for the next couple of days. He really goes to town on that. He's getting the royal treatment. He's worth it. He's such a good dog.

C.S.I.

The girls were official C.S.I. yesterday. Well, not the C.S.I. you are probably thinking of. They were Critter Scene Investigators. Rio Salado Park had a 2 hour class for kids yesterday that involved setting up scenes where there was animal activity and they had to figure out by the clues left behind what happened. One scene was where a mountain lion came upon a javelina at a stream and took it away to have lunch. The clues were blood on the rocks, scratch marks and tracks left in the dirt, and javelina hair left at the critter scene.

The second scene was where a hawk swooped down and retrieved a pigeon for his lunch. There were pigeon feathers everywhere and a feather left behind by the hawk. The girls had a wonderful time and it was very interesting and informative. It was put on by the Phoenix Park Rangers. At one point we came upon some scat, (aka animal poop), and the biologist giving the talk said you could tell what animal it was from sometimes by the texture, smell, and taste. Yes, taste. He plopped a piece of it in his mouth. Everyone gasped! Turns out it was some kind of candy! It was hilarious! At the end, they had little cupcake cups full of various "scat" that the kids tried to match to an animal. By the way, it all was edible. Tootsie rolls, brown sugar covered cheetos, a Baby Ruth . . . You get the picture.Very clever and fun!

And another highlight is they got to pull apart an owl pellet to discover the tiny bones of a rodent. Love these kind of programs. It got us outdoors and into nature. And taught us a bunch of interesting things along the way!

Beautiful day at the Phoenix Zoo

What a beautiful day today was. The girls were out of school for a testing break today, so we decided to take a  trip to the Phoenix Zoo. It was pretty busy because of all the school field trips going on. But we still saw most of it and had a great time. I took my camera and swore I wouldn't take many photos. This is because I have 100's of zoo photos already. But I couldn't help myself. So many plants and flowers were blooming, and the animals were extra peppy. This was one of the first times in all the years we've had yearly passes to the zoo that the bears were active and within sight. So I was glad I did take the camera, and I didn't go too overboard. Hayley really enjoyed snapping photos with the digital camera she received for Christmas. She's getting pretty good at composing her photos. I'm so proud of her. Hopefully we'll get back to the zoo before the heat comes officially. If not, they have a great water area for the kids. They can suit up in their bathing suits, and I'll bring a misting bottle and a big glass of ice tea, and we'll be good to go!

Scrapbooking Goodness

I've had a scrapbooking block for the last week or two. So I've been organizing supplies and going through them, and surfing favorite scrapbookers blogs. I was inspired by a layout by Noell Hyman that used several photos on a two page layout. This slumber party layout is my take on her design.

Field day fun!

Today was Madyson's field day. She was having a blast. Another cooler day in the neighborhood. This is surely our last cool days before the heat sets in. Enjoying every minute of it. Except for the allergies!

Field Day

It's really cooled off today which is perfect because today was field day for Hayley and Hannah at school. It's been so hot lately, that this is a wonderful change. I'm sure it's our last little cool spell until after the long hot summer. The girls really look forward to field day. It's a day that they play all day outside at school and get lots of fresh air and exercise!

This little guy is incredible and so cute!

Bad Boys, Bad Boys . . . .

No, this photo wasn't taken from one our neighborhood goings-on. No, Coen isn't in any kind of trouble with the law. Ryan and the girls went to Rio Vista to burn off some energy, and something was going on at the skate park. There were several police cars parked around the area. Coen asked Ryan to take a picture of him by the police car which was a first. He doesn't ever want his picture taken. As Ryan was getting ready to snap the photo, Coen crossed his arms and smiled. All I could think of was the TV show Cops song, "Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha gonna do?"  Hopefully this just means he admires the police and maybe someday will join the force. Hopefully, it's not a sign he will be a bad boy and be on the wrong side of the law.

Dislike of people right now!

We're not having a good week. First some idiot decided to steal two of our home security cameras right from the front of our house at 4:00 in the morning. Tip for you buddy....Next time don't look into the camera you are stealing. We got some nice photos of you and your getaway vehicle to give to the police. Second I sold a few items on Ebay, (craft related), and made a "little" money. Everything went smooth until I had one holdout on paying. I contacted Ebay regarding non payment, so they sent her a nice little note. Next thing I know, she pays, but she left negative feedback saying, "Don't want this item, shipping too high". I can't believe it! 100% feedback over 10 years with no complaints ruined in one second! My listing said, "Buyer pays actual shipping". It was $7.62 to send it parcel post, (cheapest way), to NY from AZ. Just my luck, she's only been a member of Ebay since March 2010 & bought 3 items. Guess she doesn't understand the terms. And of course Ebay is not much help. I will not do business with them again. Of course they don't care. So today.....I really dislike people!

Bird Watching on a Beautiful Spring Day

The girls, Ryan, Ron and I went to Rio Salado Park to a bird watching event yesterday. It was a beautiful day. Borderline too warm, but we'll take it. It was a really fun event. We saw some loons and other birds in the wild. It was the nature around us though that we enjoyed the most. The lovely wildflowers, hummingbirds, and dragonflies that we spotted that amazed us. They had many birds of prey there as well. We learned a bunch. The girls received flower seeds to plant and made their own treats for the birds out of bread, peanut butter and seeds. In a couple of weeks the girls will be going back for a C.S.I. animal event where they follow clues, (e.g. animal droppings, etc.), to discover habitats and other fun animal facts. We're really trying to find some unique things to do with the girls. Today's event was free, so that's even better!

Happy Birthday Striper

Yesterday was Stripers official 1st birthday. She has done well without her companions since they have moved on to animal heaven. Hayley fixed her a feast of carrots, cheerios, raisins & an animal cracker. We went outside & sang Happy Birthday to her while she munched on her treats. She is fun...and she is loved.

Happy Easter!

Our loving little Hayley once again made us smile. Always thinking about the other person and how she can brighten their day. She prepared this for the Easter bunny and whispered to Papa before she left for her mom's, "Don't forget to put out our present for the Easter bunny". So cute. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter.

So true???

Hi I'm Debbie, and I'm a paper hoarder . . . . .

When did I become a paper hoarder? That is what I've been asking myself this week over and over. You see I am doing a major purge of my scrapbook supplies. I was listening to a podcast called the Paperclipping Roundtable by Noell and Izzy Hyman on the topic of why people do not scrap. They talked about the excess of product and how you can get overwhelmed by the mounds of scrapbook product you have accumulated. Wow were they right. I have too much patterned paper, and too many stickers. And when I looked at all of the product that I felt I could live without, I felt a bit sick. All that money wasted on impulse buys. I was buying product and never having the time to use it. Now it doesn't inspire me, or it has gone out of style. I really try to think of ways to repurpose it, but no matter which way you look at it, I have too much scrapbook stuff. I have put a few listing on ebay, but I don't expect to get much for it. I just hope someone else can enjoy it. I will give some of the nicer things to family, and then I'm going to look into a charity or organization that may be able to use some of it. Noell Hyman on their latest podcast mentioned that local Social Workers may be interested for their foster home children. I guess they have a project that the kids do that involves paper crafting and making a book about themselves. She's suppose to get some info on it and post it on the Paperclipping blog. Anyhoo, from now on I vow to be more mindful in my spending. In fact, I do not see a need to shop for scrapbook supplies for quite some time. I will try to only get the basics when needed. That being, adhesive and....well... adhesive. I will not go into a hobby store for awhile unless I need something. Need, not want! On another related topic, before my purging went down, I went by a scrapbook store that I frequented quite often. And they were gone. This economy is really hard on the small business owners. It's really too bad because they had such a lovely store. So lovely in fact that I did a lot of impulse buying there! O.K., now I regress! Everyone have a lovely Easter. The girls are with their mother this weekend. So no Easter Bunny in our parts this year. Happy Easter!