Calendar Poodle SAL

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Busy

Good Morning friends! It is hot here. I wanted to thank you for such kind, caring comments, emails and prayers. Mabel continues to make tiny, little improvements. She can take 5 or 6 steps at a time. She still needs support to go to the bathroom outside, but no more having to go on towels inside. She is acting more like "our girl". She barks at the mail lady, wags her tail, chews her bones and "speaks" for treats. I have begun decreasing her steroid. The doctor is making no promises. He feels she will recover from this, but not walk "normal". Picture a sway to the hind quarters. We are just taking it day by day. We are grateful to God for each day with her. We know she could become paralyzed at anytime in the future. We pray that is not for a very, very long time. If ever.
Wet dog got a bath.
Dry and fluffy dog got his first haircut from me. It turned out pretty good, I guess. I need to look into buying a longer blade or comb. I would like to keep a bit more length on him for a fluffier look. He is hard to clip. He is all bones!

These dwarf chocolate irises smell just like milk chocolate. ♥
The garden is as done as it is going to be for the party really. I may pull a few more weeds today. So glad the flowers are blooming.
These two pictures of Mabel and Henry were taken a few days ago(before his haircut) in the garden.

Well off to finally finish up that linen curtain for the bathroom. I wanted to embroider a poodle motif along the top. No time before the graduation party to get that done. I will unsew it  after the party, so I can embroider it with a nice vintage poodle. ;)

Lots of little things to be done. Lots of cleaning to do. Bring on the percocet! Oh, which reminds me. I did have that second test shot. It was very painful to receive. It has given me lingering pain. Counting down the days (which would be 12 now) until I receive the radio frequency nerve ablation. I am soooo praying for pain relief. Feel free to join me in that!

Have a fantastic day my friends. Thank you for stopping by. Thank you for your comments too!

Running around like a chicken with my head cut off and praying,
Vickie

Sunday, May 26, 2013

The Joyous News and The Horrid News

Good Morning friends! I hope you are well? I have prayed for you this morning. I am so thankful for you my faithful friends. I know my stitching has been almost nonexistent for a month now. Thanks for still caring and stopping by. Your comments make me happy. Life has been an emotional roller coaster lately. Let us start with the happy shall we?

Jacob has graduated! =) Yesterday at the Pius XI Fieldhouse, 194 students graduated. Jacob with high honors from the National Honor Society. It was wonderful. I cried. We are so very proud of him. It is hard to believe he is now a Marquette University Freshman! I am so happy he is still living at home.

This will be a crazy week of continued cleaning and preparing the home for the party we will have for him with family on next Sunday.

On Tuesday I will be receiving the second test shot in my facet joint. I expect the same things as the last time. Relief for hours after the injection, but then heightened pain due to the strenuous activities they want me to do to "test" the injection results. If this is"positive" again, then I will get the radio frequency nerve burning done in two more weeks.

On to the Horrid. Mabel took a turn for the worse 4 days ago. She woke up in the morning unable to walk. We took her into the vet. Of course our "regular" vet had off a few days, so we saw another nice vet. She took x-rays, and poor, sweet Mabel now has 6 herniated discs total. The two new ones are pinching the nerves, causing the pain and immobility. The vet gave her a super steroid injection and gave us very, very strong pain pills for her. I have continued on with her other medications as well.

She has improved very slightly every day. She can take one or two steps. The largest problem is that she cannot void normally. She really, really holds it. We have her laying on towels in the kitchen mostly. 

We did speak with our vet on Friday. We have an appt. with him on Tuesday. He will evaluate her and be honest with us. We will not keep her if she can only remain normal from the waist forward. He did say he has seen dogs as bad as Mabel and worse, who are paralyzed, walk again pain-free. We are hoping and praying for that. What she needs right now is time. Time for the steroids to do their anti-inflammatory thing. That is what it took for the other suffering dogs he has treated.

This has been so extremely difficult. We do not want to rush her euthanasia. We love her very much. We can give it some time. We are controlling the pain for her. She wags her tail for us. Loves her treats. Perks her ears up when she hears those treats in the kitchen. How very difficult. How very saddening to end a precious little life. We will though, if that is what the vet advises.

I hope you  have a happy weekend friends. Sorry for the depressing talk. I just wanted you to know what is happening here. We are hoping. We are praying.♥

Praying,
Vickie

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

An R.A.K. For Me!

Good Morning friends! I hope you are well. I prayed for you this morning. =) I was so very blessed to receive a gift from Michelle all the way over in England.
Henry wanted to see what this was all about.
Look at that DMC floss. I have never, ever seen scented floss!! It is toffee scented and a color that reminds me of  Henry. =)   ooOoo! Such wonderful gold needles. And a wonderful pink fabric for me. I have a very, very large collection of pink fabrics friends. I have plans to make a pink charm quilt.♥
I took the pictures of the gifts on top of Jacob's graduation gown, since the nice golden yellow of the gown matches the gifts. Little Henry decided to hop on top! ♥

Thank you so much Michelle for thinking of me. What a kind, good friend you are. I love my gifts. =)
Lastly friends, I wanted to show you this picture. I took this yesterday while on the computer. This is little Henry sleeping on my lap while I am reading your posts. This is how it is every day. =) Just too, too precious. He is my little shadow.

On the not so cute side, Mabel continues to be in pain. Her progress is slow. Her meds continue. We are praying for our sweet girl.♥

Sewing and praying,
Vickie

Monday, May 20, 2013

Now We Need A Few Henry Magnets

Good Morning friends! We are having hot weather now. It was in the 90's yesterday and it will be again today. I have been planting and getting yard work done here and there when possible.

I did have that first test shot a week ago. It was considered a "positive" result. The injection is anesthetic, which gives a lovely numbing effect. Problem is that I was then required to go home and do strenuous activities for 6 hours!! Yes, that's right! I was supposed to do hard work that would normally flare up my pain good, for 6 hours. =( Well, I was naughty alright. I did a lot of yard work. I pulled dandelions for over one hour straight. I stooped over to pull them. A very, very bad position for anyone really, but it really brings on the pain for me. Well, guess what happens after the 6 hours?! Uh-huh, yup, the pain comes big time. I could only have gotten 10 minutes done without the shot. I got quite a bit of yard work done, but at a price. And the fun part is, I get to do another test injection in one week. =( Insurance requires two positive results before approving the radio frequency burning of the nerves.

Thank you so much for all of your positive thoughts, well wishes and prayers. I appreciate it so much. I could literally feel you thinking of me. I absolutely knew you were praying for me. I felt it!!

So, I should have sewn up a new curtain for the bathroom. I should have finished off my latest secret stitch. I was positively itching to stitch a Henry magnet. So I did!
I used this freebie. I had to change it up a bit actually. I changed all the colors. That was a problem. Henry turns out to be a difficult color to match. A cross stitch book from the library has an apricot poodle literally the orange color of an apricot. So I went to JoAnn and went through the entire collection of DMC and found one floss color. I needed more. I like some depth. So I took a trip to the LNS and brought home Anchor flosses that work pretty well. To get a good match for his hair color, I took snips from his ear, head and tail. Then I taped them to a notecard and labelled them. ;) Why guess? Poodle hair grows back fast!
I stitched this over one using DMC and Anchor flosses on 28 ct light blue evenweave. I decided to experiment. Do you tweed your flosses? Well I purchased a few apricot and tan flosses for "Henry stitching". To get really good color for him, I planned to tweed the tan with an apricot color for the main body. How do you do that while stitching over one? I did not want him to be a nice tan with light orange ears. For his body, not his head, I stitched  the first leg of each cross for the entire body in an apricot. Then I came back with the tan and finished all the crosses. It turned out nice actually. I don't know if people do this. I just decided to give it a try. Never heard of it done this way, but if I like it, then all is well with the world right?!? =)

So two days ago sweet Mabel started with her disc pain again. We caught it right away, so she is doing better already. I do know this is from her running around the yard for days with Henry. She ran for about 2 minutes at a time. Obviously that is even too much for her. It causes that pain to flare right up. Last week they played a bit in the house. I do not think that causes her issues. It is the full out running. She also went for a walk with Madeleine two hours before her problems began. The vet told us to walk her 3 or 4 times a week, slowly working up to almost 20 minutes. I do not ever see that happening. Madeleine took her for 10. That is the longest she ever took her. She had been taking them together for 5, then 7 minutes.

It has really made us realize how bad Mabel's pain can be. Dogs just don't realize they need to avoid all aggravating activities. We will have to stop her always now. It is sad. Henry is 3. Mabel is 4. She wants to play. They are so happy frolicking in the yard together. It just cannot be. We want her to live. The vet has told us that one of these flare ups some day will be the paralyzing one.

Well, here is a happy picture for you of the two of them. ♥
You can see what the last year of being on and off of steroids and restricted activity has done to our sweet girl. Now to be fair, Mabel is on the big side of toy poodle to start with. And she has that hereditary "poodle barrel chest". Henry is a tiny toy poodle. He is 4 lbs. She is now 14 lbs. The vet warned us. He said he does not have one dog or cat on the steroid that does not gain weight. It is the trade off for keeping them alive.
Well friends, I want to stitch, I do! I can't though. Jacob graduates this Saturday. I simply must prepare our home for the future graduation party. Next project is sewing a linen curtain for the bathroom.

Sewing and praying,
Vickie

Monday, May 13, 2013

I Am Nervous

Good Morning friends! Hello to new friends! I hope you all are doing well. I have not lost my desire to stitch, I just do NOT have time lately. I did just make myself this stadium cushion. I used this tutorial.
Jacob's graduation is coming up quickly and it is in the fieldhouse. We will have to sit on bleachers. I thought this might help me. I know it will for other events also. The cotton twill tape you see is the strap sewn in.

I am nervous. Well, truth be told, I am scared. I am having a Facet Joint Injection tomorrow from the pain specialist. This pain doctor actually saw me 8 years ago. He did different injections on me back then. Things have changed in the 9 years since I fell. So I am willing to try this. I will be sedated. I will lay on my stomach and there will be an xray beneath me to help guide the doctor in the correct placement. This will be in my lower back. The joint is located on the back of my spine. This will be diagnostic. He is going to inject a numbing medicine. Depending on the relief or reduction of pain I get, we will or won't do this again in two weeks. If we get good results again in two more weeks, we will do radio frequency nerve burning.

At my last appointment with him he asked me if I would like to be without pain for 3 months. I almost cried. Yes! Yes! He told me that he has had people have 3 months pain relief. He has also had patients tell him they are pain free for 2 and 3 years!! I just have NOT allowed myself to go there. I have been in constant pain for 9 years. Any pain relief without narcotics would be a gigantic blessing.

8 years ago a different doctor tried this first diagnostic test and the pain relief only lasted hours. He told me on that same day, that I am not a candidate for the nerve burning. I DID cry then. This doctor told me things change. They do things differently now also. He pretty much said I have nothing to lose by trying this.

So dear friends, would you pray for me? Please pray that if it be God's will, this first diagnostic injection will go well and we can proceed to the next injection in two weeks. I am in tears right now. I just am so worked up over the actual injection. It hurts and it scares me too. It will be worth it all if I can be "normal" again.

Thank you for your friendship. It means so much to me to have such caring friends in my life. God bless you all. He has blessed me with you!!!

I still cannot make time for stitching. I am working on Graduation Party decorations.

Praying,
Vickie

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Happy Mother's Day!


For all my bloggie, momma friends out there: A Happy, Blessed Mother's Day to you!


Friday, May 10, 2013

An RAK For Me! =)

Good Morning friends! It is rainy and cold here today. So I will show you a garden picture from two days ago.
I love this garden girl. She is living in my secret garden. It is somewhat hidden away in the corner. It is only 2 ft. x 4 ft. So far only the fritillaries, or checkered lilies are up.
 I received an RAK from Donna yesterday. Wow! What a surprise. What a great lady! Check this out.
Donna is living in Germany with her husband and Clarice for a few years. She picked up some goodies for me from quite a few different shops in Germany. The chocolates and Gummi Bears will be shared with the family believe it or not. ;) Do you see the Duck Bones for Mabel and Henry? (Not real duck bones. Duck meat.)

 They have had 4 each already so far!

There are some neat, old, little snaps that will be perfect for a sweet, little Bent Creek chart I have.

And now! Now for Snobby!


Isn't she great?! She is a Steiff. Donna found this at an Antik shop. Love it to bits! What a wonderful gift from such a kind, caring lady.She is now with my other poodles, on display in the china cabinet.

Thank you Donna for such a nice gift package. What a surprise! What treasure!

I have finished reading The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen. Yet another book from The Royal Spyness series. It was good.

Need to bake some chocolate chip cookies today. =) Yup, need to. I have had requests. ;) Not a problem!

Baking and Reading and Praying,
Vickie

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Oh Henry!

Good Morning friends! I hope you are doing well. I hope you are doing better than little Henry. Do you know what this means?
Yup! Yesterday he was neutered. Not an ordinary neuter either. He had one down and one up in his abdomen. Two incisions. So he gets to wear this little lampshade on his neck. ;) He also had his teeth cleaned, they were awful. He had one back molar removed. It was loose. His teeth are beautiful and white now. He has wonderful breath now too. =) He is sleeping on my lap as usual again. Kinda hard to type over this plastic E-collar around his neck though.

I took advantage of our closing JoAnn store and bought this Waverly home dec fabric and recovered our kitchen chairs. Using the staple gun jacked up my pain, thankfully just for one day.

My in-laws gave me this sweet rabbit topiary a few days ago. Funny, because Brian had bought me a moss covered poodle topiary form. I found a cute, tiny sedum called Goldenleaf Stonecrop, to cover the afro and the tail.
If only the form were skinny, it would look just like Henry. The right color and short, sweet ears. We will see how this grows.

Sorry, I have not stitched in a week. Busy doing things around the home. Must pretty it up outside and in for Jacob's upcoming graduation party with all the relatives. Have all the annuals bought and planted now. Need to keep cleaning up garden beds. It's getting there.

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi! I do so appreciate it. I am blessed to call you my friends.Take care now. Have a fabulous day in the Lord.

Reading, Planting and Praying,
Vickie

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Sewing and Gardening

Good Morning friends! Wow! We shot right up to 89º yesterday! Lovely day for gardening. I have been getting some done every day this week. Madeleine and Brian even helped a bit on Sunday. I am so glad. I just cannot garden all day long anymore at all. Take a look at my garden pals.
These two were hanging out under the trampoline for a shady rest. They continue to get along. The biggest issue is that Mabel wants Henry's food and he wants her diet food! I have to stand watch every time or they will switch!
These two sit on the back porch now. =)
I could not find the same pink pansies as last year. These are a pretty pinkish purple. I also planted the two pots in front of the garage with the Pius XI colors, since the graduation and party are not far off now for Jacob.
I am not sure if I made mention that he is officially registered at Marquette University. He will begin the nursing program in the fall. They only had room for 125 nursing students. Over 1,100 applied from around the country and world. It will be so very interesting to see how many male students there are.  It appears there will be few. Jacob received very good scholarships and grants.

Jacob just went to his Senior Prom with a friend. They had an excellent time. It is now a whirlwind of school activities. School is done before May is over. Jacob and Emerson have both begun studying for Advanced Placement course final exams. These will be difficult, but if they do well, they will receive college credits for the courses. Lots of money saved then. ;)
This is the little bed I made for Henry. Now he has two, like Mabel. He loves it. Have I mentioned I love HIM?!?
SQUEE!!
I finished the book A Skeleton In God's Closet by Paul Maier. A very good fiction book. It is twenty years old. I read it because our Pastor mentioned it. I just began The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen last night. This is one of the Royal Spyness series I very much enjoy.

No cross stitch to show at all. I must get this latest book read and back to the library so I can begin another waiting for me. =) I just love books. I love to stitch too, but sometimes new books just need to be read. ;)

Today promises to be another hot one. I may garden again, don't want to push the pain too far. I have prayed for all of you today my friends! I hope you have a glorious day!

Reading and planting,
Vickie