School is out for Summer..lots of stuff going on

The summer didn't start out the best. We had to send our oldest pug, Pudgie, age 15+ to the Bridge three weeks ago. It really is a blessing that any dog can survive to that age, but it is still hard to make the trip to the vet that one last time. Ken took ole' Pudge in. This was the first time he did this and I knew it took a lot for him to do this. In all honesty, Pudgie was his girl, so for her final voyage, she would want to be with her daddy. (She wasn't always that crazy about me anyway)! We did receive her ashes back and she is resting with Zoe and Leo. I still haven't sprinkled their ashes in the flower garden. Until that time, they will all remain in their boxes.

I survived my first year as a school counselor! What a learning experience elementary school is, but I must say I love it! This is the first summer that I am not working or going to school. I think I will find plenty to stay busy with. I have a big list of summer reading (thanks to our local public library).

We have also done a lot of work on the house. We had California Closets come in and convert the dogs room to a "closet" of sorts. I love it! It has given us some much needed space, since that was a huge issue with me. We now have shoe bins, hanging space, drawers and even a jewlery drawer. One of my favorite things is the double bagger for all of the laundry. No more dirty laundry sitting in the laundry basket on the floor. We also had shelves added and a two foot bar for hanging clothing in the laundry area. I call it an area since it is a second floor laundry in the bathroom behind double doors. Space is very, very limited and the designer was able to really utilize this space so now nothing fall on my head and I have a place for towels! :) It really doesn't take much to make me happy! LOL We also had new carpet put in last weekend. We still had builders carpet installed upstairs so this was a much needed improvement. The inside of the house will be repainted, including ceilings, later in July.

Last weekend I went to dinner and a movie with a friend from school. We saw "Sex and the City". I had never seen the series before, but I loved the movie! It was a great movie to see for that girls night out!

Other than the above and the sweltering heat, there isn't much more going on!

Oprah's puppymill show - In memory of Zoe

It was all over the "dog" world that Oprah was doing a show in puppymills. All of us who are active in rescue were overjoyed and anxiously awaited the show which aired on April 4th. I was so moved, that I had to watch it twice and each time I shed a new bunch of tears. All of the video footage shown is exactly what we in rescue deal with on a daily basis, especially my friends who live in southern/central Ohio and actually visit the auctions on Amish farms in central/northern Ohio. I have been invited on several occasions to journey to "Amish country" to go to the auctions in hopes of purchasing dogs. I have always declined because I am not sure I could handle it. In all, we have been loved by three puppymill girls. Our first, Zoe, ventured to the Rainbow Bridge in August of 2007. What was seen on Oprah is exactly what we saw and dealt with in Zoe. She had the collar embedded in her neck. the swollen breasts with tumors along with a huge scar from being burned from a heat lamp. things that were not seen on Oprah was how some dogs come to you with bones that have been broken and never healed properly such as our Sweet Zoe.

We had Zoe for almost 7 years and she died a the age of 14.5. No one believed she would have survived as long with all of her medical problems, but she showed us what a survivor puppy mill girls can be.

RIP Zoe and I'll meet you at the Bridge.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!! Since today is Easter Sunday, we visited with family (in-laws). We ate at the The Palm, which is located at the Hilton/Netherland Hotel in downtown Cincinnati. They have a HUGE buffet which is wonderful! Needless to say, Ken and I pigged out. We were certainly aiming to get our money's worth! Jared is back up for the week again after a week long spring break. He drove up yesterday and we ventured to Kenwood Towne Center in Cincinnati. Before that, we ate at Dewey's Pizza, a Cincinnati original. It was fantastic and gave us just the right amount of "pep" to go shopping. Ken left work right after we arrived and met me at Macy's. We had not heard from Jared for 1.5 hours when he finally called. He certainly found enough stores to fill the time in! We left soon after since we had dinner plans with friends.

Jared stayed home, but we had dinner at The Knotty Pine, a little "hole in the wall" place in Kentucky. It has a slanted floor so you have to be careful of you feel like you are falling over! It has wonderful food and a great atmosphere since it sits right on the river.

I have a short work week this week and begin my spring break on Friday! I am so excited an feel that it is time for a much needed break.

Winnie Loves Bandit

Our Trip to the Vet

Jared and I ventured to the vet yesterday with Bandit and Max. Did I mention that Bandit was in the hospital for most of last week? Well, he decided to lunch on two nylon kneehighs (which I just found out today was actually a pair of really nice tights..he just chewed them off to the ankles. Imagine my surprise when I went to put them on and they had no feet!) so he visited Dr. Angel for four days. He is doing great, back to his ole' thieving self. He ate two Clorox wet wipes (used) on Saturday. I can hardly keep up with him! So, due to this, we had to take Bandit in for a recheck and Max in for his eye (yet another doggie tale). I've worked with Bandit on the basics (come, roll over, sit, lie down), but he isn't good on a leash. I know this and I always anticipate the worse, but this took the cake. Since he isn't good on a leash, I keep a tight grip on him. He hardly had any slack since I was forcing him to my side (in an attempt to heel..yeah right!). I barely turned around to see if Jared was behind me and even though that doggie didn't have much room to lunge forward, he knew he had enough room to jump upwards! We were walking past a huge truck and the driver had his window rolled down with his arm hanging out. Before I knew it, Banit was face level trying to give this poor guy a slobbery kiss! I was horrified. I ended up running into him in the waiting room when we left and I appologized profusely and he said he was just worried about Bandit scratching his truck. I had never even thought of that! Thank goodness that didn't happen.

I thought I'd attach a picture of Bandit and Winnie. These were taken last summer. Winnie is our blind pug who adores Bandit (I guess someone has to! haha) and he adores her just as much. It is truly puppy love!

Do We LOVE Blizzards? (I'm not talking Dairy Queen!)

Above are pics of the "blizzard warning" we have been experiencing since last night. I took these at 4:00 p.m. and the snow has finally stopped. The news said it would end around this time, but who knew they could actually be right?! Now for the hard part...digging out of this mess. As you can see, our street has not been plowed yet. When I was trying to take pictures, I stepped into a snow drift and didn't realize it would hit above me knees! Yes, it was cold!

What have we been doing today? Well, nothing! Ken has been working on taxes all day (I got up at 7 to feed the dogs and he was slaving away). I washed some towels, made some chili, and goofed off around here. So much for adventure. Jared (poor guy) has been braving this with us. I am itching to get out (as I am sure he is), but that is a no go. I am hoping we can at least travel down the road tomorrow! ha.

Now the big question is if we will have school on Monday. From the looks of things, I am guessing "NO" since the temps will not get above freezing until Tuesday.

Storm of the Season

We are under a blizzard warning and the snow just keeps on coming! The snow started this morning, with 2 - 3 inches by 4:00. By the end of Tomorrow (Saturday), we are expected to have 12 - 15 inches! It is unreal with spring only two weeks away! I just took the pictures above, but you can see how windy it is here by how blurry they are!

I was invited to attend the Kentucky Teaching and Learning Conference in Louisville this week and sadly, we had to leave early due to the forecast. I have never seen so many teachers in one place milling around! It was so much fun and the seminars were fantastic.

Bandit has been ill and has been in the hospital since Tuesday. Unfortunately, Bandit is a fitting name. He is a thief of great proportions. By the end of this illness, Bandy threw up two nylon kneehighs and one men's dress sock. The socks were only worth about $10, but getting him healthy will be much, much more. I am wondering if he learned his lesson, but I am thinking that more than likely he has not. Anyway, I am glad he is home!

I Love Lucy!!!!

No, I am not talking about the popular sitcom, but our foster pug LUCY! Lucy came to us from a local shelter on Halloween. She was brought in as a stray with her fawn brother (Lucy is a black pug). They were claimed, however, her owner could only afford to spring her younger brother so Lucy had to stay at the shelter. This was Lucy's lucky day! She had a terrible hernia, which she has had almost all of her six years. When surgery was performed, my vet (Dr. Angel) found that her entire uterus has fallen through a 1" opening in her muscle lining. While she was not in any pain, this certainly could have killed her at any time. She is fine now and is one of the sweetest girls ever! Her only fault is that she likes to dig..I am not sure where she is wanting to dig to, but if she can find a soft spot she is out under our fence in a flash. She has only done this twice and both times our neighbor has found her either sitting on our porch or sitting by the car. I have to keep a watchful eye on her. Both times she dug out in only a few minutes. She is a huge love pug and wants to be your constant companion which I think is why she digs. She also gets along with all of the other pups and doesn't cause an ounce of problems. She is the PERFECT pug!

Another Snow Day and Dedra saw my Blog!

We had another snow day today! We dismissed school early by one hour yesterday due to snow/sleet/ice. By the time I left school, the roads were getting pretty slick. Ken even got home right after me, so I was relieved that he didn't get stuck on the interstate. I don 't think I mentioned that we traded in Ken's SUV for a Camry. This is the first sedan he has owned for quite a while. I have my Highlander (thank goodness). We have to have something to tote the pups around in! ha. I wasn't sure how this new car would handle on the icy roads, but all was ok. My cousin didn't didn't come in from Morehead due to weather. I was really glad because the only thing he would have accomplished was sitting on the interstate. Tax season is on full swing so my DH conked out around 7:30 p.m. which gave me some quiet time to read the newest of "Dog Fancy".

We had our second "one-on-one" training session for the Mac. They showed us how to make websites and Blogs. It is the easiest thing ever! Once I am more familiar with the Mac I may change my blog site, but until then I am using this. I am hoping Rachel can advise me on how to pretty up my site. I am not happy at all with all of the Blue! Considering that I know nothing about this, I am just pleased it is working. But I want something pretty! LOL

I just started Stephen Kings newest novel, "Duma Key". So far, it is very good. I'll let everyone know!

Update on Max

Max injured his eye last year, I believe rough housing with Bandit, our biggest elkie at 65 pounds. Anyway, ever since this time, we have had to keep a close watch on his eye since the ulcer was so huge. I noticed Wednesday evening that he had a reddish tint at the bottom of his iris. I couldn't always see it depending on the lighting. I did take him in to the vet on Saturday and back today for a checkup. His eye is healing well, but he still needs antibiotics and eye drops daily. Yeah!

The weekend

We had our first "one-to-one" at the apple store. The tech guy showed us (or me rather!) how how to start blogs, download pictures and webpages. It seems very easy, but you never know. We dropped off Ken's laptop along with the new computer to have them "Migrated" with the P.C.

Ken and I ventured to the Ballet last night. First, we met friends at Morton's and left fully satisfied with our dinner. It was fantastic (as usual). They have the most awesome chocolate dessert served with melted Godiva chocolate in the center so it is like a mini volcano. I really enjoyed the Ballet! I mean, who doesn't like "Romeo and Juliet"? Ken enjoyed it somewhat, even though he said "this isn't my favorite form of art." We stayed at the Hilton downtown and my girlfriends son's let the dogs out. It was so funny because her oldest one (age 22) called and couldn't figure out which black pug had the "diaper" (a.k.a. belly band). I told him out of the three black pugs, there was only one male and that was Max! :) They were no worse for the wear when we got home this morning.

We decided to venture to Lex-Vegas for a few hours. Ken had a terrible craving for Mr. Gatti's, which much to our disappointment is not available up here. We went to the mall and than traveled home in the rain. It was in the 60's today and we have heard will snow tomorrow, so who knows what is going to happen weather wise.

We do have Monday off for President's day and than, maybe, we'll actually have school this week!

Is this Blog actually working???

After only a two day work week, I am off for a long weekend (a much needed rest I might add). Today is Valentines Day and it is mine and Ken's 13th! Yes, I know we've only been married 3.5 years, but we've been together an awfully long time! We are staying in tonight..northern Kentucky will be a mad house this evening and attempting to get into any eatery will prove to be a challenge. Instead, we ordered Papa Murphy's, our now favorite take-and-bake pizza place. Yum. We landed free tickets to the Cincinnati Ballett this Saturday for "Romeo and Juliet". We are meeting my friend(s) (who happen to be my principal and maybe assistant principal) at Morton's downton at 6:00 then we will hit the program at 8:00. Morton's is having a wonderful special and we are taking full advantage of it! One of my favorites is their chocolate volcano dessert with melted Godiva chocolate in center. Can you say "Heavenly"? Ken and I are staying at the Westin that night..he says he needs a much needed break from the dogs. ha!

My cousin, Jared, is going to be living with us starting in March for 8 weeks so he can finish his clinical round through Morehead. Can he survive in this house? That is the BIG question.

I just finished reading "The Appeal" and it was very good. I am getting ready to start James Patterson's newest publication. It is hard to keep up with all of his new books, but I love each and every one of them. We have a fantastic library here and I am saving a pretty penny by reserving books on line.

Pudgy is feeling oh so creaky in the mornings with this cold weather. She is 14.5 and is still hateful and full of spunk. I was advised to try some "paw wax" to help with slippage on our formica floors and I just rubbed some on her paws and I cannot believe the difference. Is this the answer that I have been seeking?

I am still trying to master this entire BLOG thing and my BLOG does not look as appealing as my dear friend, Biscuit's, my I am trying. We just purchased a new computer ( a Mac of all things) this past weekend and we are taking courses at the Apple store to learn how to use it. There is a program on the computer that will make Blog's and websites for you and is said to be very easy. I am anxious to see how this is done since I can hardly master this concept.

Happy Valentine's Day!