Ginger's 1st Christmas!

Today is Ginger's 1st Christmas and even though my immediate family had decided to conserve money and skip the gift-giving this year and instead just get together and enjoy each other's company I had to get the pups a little something! I bought 2 identical wish-bone shaped Nylabones that are made for chewing and teeth cleaning (not edibles) that I found for only 4 bucks each! I also bought two plush squeaky toys (one for each pup)...one was a squawking mallard duck and one was a high pitched squeaky squirrel. The girls were crazy excited when I got out their new toys...I gave them the bones first and waited an hour or so before giving them the stuffed toys so they could have time to chew before we played! They played for hours...but we'll see how long that "newness" lasts! Sadly it rained almost all day so most of our playtime happened in the house but they didn't seem to mind much. Then around 3pm the sky cleared up somewhat so I strapped on some Rollerblades and harnessed up the girls so that we could all get outta the house and get some exercise! I bladed and they pulled and ran for a solid hour and by the time we got home believe it or not they still wanted to play! I threw the ball for them for another 20 minutes or so in the backyard then fed them dinner, took a quick shower, and then left for my mom's house for our Christmas dinner and mom's birthday mini-celebration. I don't know what got into everybody but I don't think the 5 of us (me, mom, Wayne, Sherry & Matt) have laughed so hard in a long time...seriously an innocent bystander would've thought we were drinking and we weren't! It was a very fun night and yet it was a simple get together. Merry Christmas everyone...and Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Saved a Dog...on a Rainy Day!!!

So it's two days before Christmas and Leah and I had taken Baylie, Ginger, and Dakota to the dog park and in the beginning it was a bit cloudy and a tad windy but after an hour it started to get misty...then sprinkly...and after another 30 minutes or so everybody was cold and wet so we'd decided to call it a day. As we were leaving it began raining enough the windshield wipers became necessary. I was stopped at the light at Olive Drive and Fruitvale when Baylie barked in my ear. I realized she was barking at a beautiful big yellow male Labrador who was running across Olive drive through traffic. Luckily for him, he came running up to my car when he heard the bark. I hit my hazard lights and jumped out of the car. He had a collar but no tag, but there was a little piece of yellow plastic on the ring that looked like the same color my girls have that is for their microchip tag number! Anyways, he was nice to me and let me pet him with tail wagging and a smile on his face so I opened the back of my car and put him in! I just assumed in this nasty weather he was sure to get hit when someone couldn't stop in time with the wet roads! I then drove strait to the Coffee Road Animal Hospital (because it was the closest vet I could think of). I walked in and asked if they could scan him to see if he had a microchip and at first they couldn't find anything...but I insisted they try again because it looked like he used to have the yellow tag and sure enough, a number popped up! The desk clerk contacted the pet watch number to see if he was registered and got a contact number. We got ahold of the owner and she said her and her son were out of town! Luckily her husband had to work and hadn't left yet, but didn't get off work until 3 pm (currently it was almost 1 pm). Long story short, I gave the wife my name and number and told her I'd take the dog home with me and await her husband's call...I almost forgot to ask her the dog's name (figured that would be important considering I inherited a third dog for the next two hours). Once we got home we played ball in the back yard while we waited...Ginger really liked "Drake-o" (spelling?)...Baylie didn't mind him as long as he didn't sniff her hind-side! The funniest part was that he had clearly NEVER used a doggie door before...we had to show him how to get outside! So, the story had a happy ending...his owner came and picked him up from my house just after 3 as his wife said he would...he was very thankful and Drake-o had so much fun playing with the girls that we had to convince him to go home!

Almost as good as new!!!

Well...mom and I are first time re-upholsterers and I have to say we did a pretty darn good job!!! Unless you REALLY inspect it, or knew how bad it looked after Ginger ate it for a mid-day snack...you'd never even notice it is a patchwork masterpiece! It took approximately 3 weekends in a row to hand stitch each section of the couch...pushing a 4 inch needle through folds of fabric limited the number of hours per day mom's hands could take the punishment. I bought "pleather" from the fabric store, all the foam, needles and thread and thanks to "Black Friday" I got a pretty good deal and repaired the couch for under 60 dollars!!! The crappy part was that it isn't as strong as leather so sometimes the staples or stitches would rip out so it took a lot of careful consideration on how to go about the stitching process. The dumbest thing that happened during the process was me stapling in a lit flashlight! You see...I'd taken off the felt that covers the underside of the couch to do some mending from the inside and couldn't see well so I propped up a flashlight inside. I got the job done and it looked so good I got excited and then re-stapled on the felt and screwed on the feet and flipped the couch upright. A few minutes later mom was in a tight spot and needed extra light to see and then it hit me...UH...the damn flashlight is stapled INSIDE the couch! Ooops! :) Anyways, after that slight blonde moment setback we made quick progress, had some ingenious ideas for spray glue and staples to accompany the stitching and we're done! It is surely good enough to last until Ginger is out of the puppy stage and I save up enough buy new couches someday! Enjoy the Before and After!!! (Thanks again Mom! This couldn't have been done without you!!!)

Benadryl...Never Leave Home Without It!!!

So the other day I was watching a pre-recorded DVR session of that new show "The Doctors" and they were doing a special on what every person should always carry in their medicine cabinet and/or purses especially if they have loved ones with known allergies. The spoke about various cold medicines, thermometers, pain and fever reducers, allergy meds, bandages, gauze etc. Then for people with severe allergies they said you should invest in an epi-pen. Anyways, this show came on TV just a few weeks late for me but it made me remember my scary event! It was the Thursday after Thanksgiving I believe, and I got home around 5:30 and noticed that when the girls came in the house Ginger looked "different, tired, or even old...her eyes just weren't right!" I just wrote it off and assumed she'd been asleep and had just woken up when I got home. So, I fed the girls dinner and started making mine when I heard Ginger rubbing her side down the entire hallway and then she went out to the futon and was burring her face in the pillows and when I got her attention and saw her face I was HORRIFIED! In the matter of less than 5 minutes she had broken out in a crazy allergic reaction and I could literally watch new bumps pop up on her face, head, and along her rib cage! I could tell she was terribly uncomfortable and itchy...but the part that really scared me was that her poor nose was swelling up so much I was worried about her breathing! Ginger is a pup that hardly ever pants even when running and she was clearly breathing out of her mouth already! With the time (almost 6 pm) I knew my only option was the outrageously expensive emergency vet if I couldn't get the reaction to stop! I'd used the last of the children's Benadryl back during her spay surgery infection...so I threw both girls in the car and jammed to the Rite-Aid on the corner! Ran in and bought the Children's Fast Melt Benadryl times two boxes just in case! I got to the register and ended up in "Chatty-Cathy's" line who makes it her duty to talk as much as a manicurist!!! I'm on the phone with my mom at the time talking loud and frantic enough for the dumb woman to hear about me "needing to get the meds to her before she can't breathe" and she STILL had the nerve to tell me about the survey on my receipt that could result in winning a cash prize! I could have cared less at the time...I just needed to help Ginger before I had to pay an arm, leg, and foot at the ER Vet! I had already done the research about the milligram dosage for dogs and knew it was approx. 1 mg per pound of body weight and each of the Fast Melts were 12mg so I gave her 3 to stay on the safe side...and within about half and hour her facial swelling started to go down and within the hour the bumps on her ribs finally went away. The worst part is...I have absolutely no idea what set off the reaction in the first place! I scoured the back yard and even checked with the neighbors on both sides to ask if they had any bug sprayers or something come that was out of the ordinary...and nothing??? So I now keep stock of Benadryl in my medicine cabinet and in my purse in case it happens again when I'm away from home! (PS...not to worry, the pictures were taken AFTER the Benadryl was given to her)...and still the poor thing looked like one of those big green bumpy pickles (without the green part).