Snow Days = Dog Laughing

 This is the snowfall we received yesterday. School was cancelled yesterday, today and tomorrow!

We might have three inches. It is terribly cold. Today we started at-11 with windchill. Ended the day at 20. Tomorrow is supposed to start off even colder.


Today I photographed my old girl Josie sunning in her chair.

I called her name, "Josie, come here girl! You ready to go out?"

Her answer...

Pure laughter!

Still a work in progress, Linda~

Two Years Ago...

Lucee six months

Well almost two years ago, my family adopted Lucifur...err... I mean Lucee. To call her crazy is and was an understatement. When we adopted her in February of 2012, she was six months old. She had hardly any training and no boundaries. She made me cry! No dog had ever made me cry and think I had gotten in over my head. Lucee was the first and hopefully the last dog to make me second guess adoption. We survived, though it wasn't easy and we are always managing her. She is slowly, I mean very slowly becoming the best dog she can.

During the month of April 2012 we were taking Lucee into the vet for the forth time to treat a urinary tract infection, my husband was ready to give her

Still trying my patience.

back these visit were $200 a pop. You can imagine what he said when I told him the vet wanted to do an ultrasound. Late in the month the ultrasound was done and we were given the awful news that Lucee was dying. Not the news anyone wants to get about their puppy, let alone after only a few short months from loosing another special dog. Bad breeding was how the vet put it. Lucee was in kidney failure and we were told she probably wouldn't make it to her first birthday. I went into research mode and came up with a feeding program that would hopefully take the stress  off her kidneys. The diet worked, she made it past her first birthday, in fact she's still here! She's made it to her second birthday and is about to make it to her second gotcha day with us.  It has not been without heartache. Last summer she got very sick and nothing we did worked. We were preparing to say goodbye when I decided to stop the meds and feed her even more holistically. Miracle of miracles she improved.

Lucee today.

Lucee is better, but is still in kidney failure and lymphoma has also been added to the list of her ailments, but right now she's as healthy as she's ever been. She's still jumping maybe not as high, she's still fetching though not as long and best of all she's still here! Perseverance, persistence, denial on my part and her not knowing any better and luck have kept her around. Will she make it through the year, maybe, but I only care about today. She's here today and that's what matters. Lucee, still a work in progress, just like me. Today's lesson, live for today.

You Can Go Back

Towards the end of last year I began my journey to be open to life's possibilities, by stepping out of my comfort zone of encouraging my daughters to go after their educational dreams. I finally started practicing what I was preaching. I went back to school. I really must thank my girls because if they hadn't challenged me, I probably wouldn't have checked out schools,let alone begin attending.

If more parents actually listened to their kids they might actually notice that the kid is listening to them. Both of my girls would come to me for help with writing, research and science. If I didn't know the answer then I would help them research and often times I would read their textbooks. I don't give answers instead I give hints and discuss the subject with them and almost every time they would say, "Mom, why don't you go back to school?"

I always dismissed the idea because this is their time. Not true is what my girls told me. They threw my words back at me by saying, "You always say it's never too late to try, so why not try?"

And you know what? They were right! So here I am in the middle of my second term, carrying a 4.0 and loving the all the work that comes with being a student. Though I could do without my kids calling me a nerd under their breaths. I can hear my parents wondering why I didn't get those grades way back when. Being 40 something now, I know why I didn't get those grades, it's because I had nothing to lose and I wasn't footing the bill. At 18 I had no idea what I wanted, and still I only vaguely know, well that's not completely true, but that's a story for another day.

I began my New Year a bit early, but that doesn't mean I am finished. I have quite a road to travel but at least I know that my kids are listening and now I am more in tune  with their words. I hear them and wonder of wonders, I listened. Thank you, girls!

Still a work in progress, that's me.

Open...

...that is my word for the next 365 days. I am making the promise to myself to be "OPEN" to all the possibilities that await me. I am open to stepping outside my comfort zone and mostly I want to open myself fully to those I love.

My first step is to follow through and post to this blog at least three times a week, whether through words or photograph.

Still a work in progress, that's me.