As many of you know, our local landfill has a free chemical recycling program. This is my absolutely, positively VERY best find there....EVER.
Two new puppies. 'Nuff said. Until Rhoda resumes Monday Thrifty Treasures in the spring.
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/pretty-practical-and-pure-pleasure-all-for-11-35/
Yeah, I've been a bit MIA for the last couple of weeks. It was tough helping Snickerdoodle deal with her loss...and I was at a loss. Thanks for all the sweet thoughts and prayers. We are over the first hurdle of it and she started her senior year Monday.
On to my thrifty finds. I picked up these goodies at GW a few weeks ago. The door sign is perfect for fall. The danglies were stretched out, but I grabbed a pencil and wrapped the wire around it again and they were good to go. The little herb pics went into the kitchen by the window.
I also got two big pictures that day, but since I can't figure out how to photograph them without glare so bad that you can't actually SEE the pic...I'll wait.
There is a bit of a dichotomy with my Welcome sign, then the little one by the doorbell that reads:
NO SALES
NO SURVEYS
NO PETITIONS
NO SOLICITING
NO PROSELYTIZING
NO COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT
SURVIVORS WILL BE SHOT AGAIN
THANKS YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION.
But the school fundraising, organizational soliciting season is upon us again. Our funds go to our school, church, charity and I get tired of answering the door and saying No. One of Snickerdoodle's friends freaked a little though (Honey, you've been playing over here for 3-4 years...you're okay)
And my final find. That's why the "I think" is in parens above. I've been looking for a dog for a while for me and, as usual, I found one for Cabinet Man. Again. This time though, I found one for me. Actually found a couple and am going with the 2nd one. He's an older puppy...5 months instead of 6 weeks. I think that is too young anyway to get a puppy, we prefer 10-12 weeks. Colorado law states that you cannot sell a puppy before 8 weeks. The two breeders we were talking to about puppies were adamant about 6 weeks. So when I found other dogs, I told the first ones we had talked to, "No thank you." They were great. We'd not put down a deposit and it was conditional so...no foul, no harm when we decided against them. And when someone selling puppies really is unfamiliar with the term 'alpha dog', back away.
I'm still trying to decide on a name. They call him Downy (who names a dog after a fabric softener?!) and that just Will Not Do. I have been considering Duncan (from Highlander:The Series), but I'm not sure if he is big enough to be a Duncan. Methos has been ruled out already also...bigger dog. Joe perhaps? Or Mac? I'll have to go thru the canon of the story and see. I missed out getting a female for free a few weeks ago...BUT, turns out she might be back there...the new owners had a house fire that destroyed their home and burned the father badly. He's looking at grafts for 30% of his body, so they just are not sure they can keep her. She would be great company for him as he has a lot of surgeries coming up, but being a puppy, she is also needier. So I might end up with her also :D Cabinet Man is not so sure...two dust mops running around. Since we are picking up a female cattle dog for him on Thursday, I'm not sure why he is allowed to have 2 dogs and I am not....we'll discuss that over the next few weeks I am sure.
Of course, if we get her, then it settles the names...Duncan and Amanda, Mandy for short)
The thrifty part actually comes in that I'm getting him for $100 less than she had him on the website for and $250 less than the price for her male puppies. We are getting the female cattle dog, Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird) for $50 less than he posted in the ad. Her parents are working dogs from a working ranch and he has been breeding them for years so we're happy with his knowledge...and he seems pleased that she is going to people who actually are familiar with the intelligent, weird, freakish ways of the cattle dog.
I've figured out a way to keep Caleb from killing me, by the way. http://susieqaworkinprogress.blogspot.com/2009/07/shhhhhh-he-trying-to-kill-me.html Turns out he hates the vacuum cleaner. He growls at it and darts in and snaps at it. Our female used to do the same thing. If the new puppy acts the same way, I will form the theory that all cattle dogs hate the vacuum cleaner. Now all I have to do is carry it around with me! It's a older Kirby. It weighs roughly a thousand pounds. Maybe I'll just record the noise to my phone and carry that..
it has been a very sad weekend around our home. Sweet Snickerdoodle got a phone call on Saturday night that her BFF had died unexpectedly. He lived in Hawaii and they had never met in person but, as you all know, friendship is not limited by distance, especially in this day and age. She was planning to go out there after graduation next summer and spend some time. I wish I could afford for her to go to the funeral, but that is just not available. But we'll figure out a way for her to get out there next summer if I have to sell one of the other kids ;).
Bill had Crohn's Disease. http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/crohns/ In and of itself, it is not fatal. But he had a flare-up this summer and was on several medications. The medications were masking the symptoms of a bacterial infection that was undetected until Friday. He had gone to his first two days of college, then was sick for 2 weeks. He thought he had the flu. Bill went to the doctor on Friday and that is when they found the infection. My guess is that by that time it had infiltrated his bloodstream and it caused cardiac arrest sometime later. They put him on life support and I am guessing that they disconnected it Saturday morning. As I said, those are guesses from what she has said.
Snickerdoodle is absolutely devastated. Today was her first day of school as a senior, and she couldn't enjoy it and came home at lunch. The pain in her heart and soul is visible and visceral. And we cannot do anything to make it better.
As parents, the time eventually comes when you cannot make it better with a kiss, a hug and a Happy Meal. All you can do is stand by with a box or two of tissues and open arms.You can cry with them, ache for them, but in the end all you can do is be there for them. But she is grieving, and that is good. She's grieving for the future too...for the years of friendship that were taken from them. For herself since he is no longer on the other end of the phone line or the computer.
Bill, thank you for being my daughter's dearest friend. Thank you for being a virtual shoulder for her to cry on, talk to and laugh with.Thank you for 'getting' her. Thank you for being her joyful companion the last few years, in good times and in bad. Thank you for helping her along the way. I am so sorry that we'll never get to meet you, welcome you into our home and have another kid around. You will always have a special place in her heart and memories, and you will always have a place in my heart also...just for what you gave to her.
v
