My Sweet Hemma Died August 14, 2008

I miss my dog so much. She was such a good dog and had so many little quirks. For example, she would start barking every time Hubby would open a bottle of wine. She would also bark anytime I yelled at the kids or if anyone said "spanking hind" or started to count. She would also bark if you said, "Is it Timmy? Did he fall into the well?" She also liked it when we said, "Chosen one...I'm coming." Very silly dog.

She would always follow me around the house and when my hand was dangling, she would get under it and start to get under my hand to get petted. She was so sweet and would let the kids play with her. Remember the picture of her with the New Year's hat? She would put up with all kinds of things like that. She also loved to play tricks and enjoyed amusing us.

She was such a sweet dog. I still look for her and miss her so much. She was only about 12 years old...

I'm Baaack!!

Yeah, I know it's been awhile since I wrote anything here. Things have been crazy (no surprise there).

Anyway, I've been having an interesting experience selling some of our home school curricula on e-bay. It's been fun and a great way to make money.

Right now, the beautiful Hemma is not doing well and she might have to be put down within a week if she doesn't improve. She is paralyzed and cannot move her hind legs. She also seems to be in some pain, but she mostly looks like her entire lower half of her body is numb. We've tried so many different treatments and all that is left now is surgery; however, we really don't think that would be a good idea because she's so old and might not make it through that.

Also, I also just found out that I had bronchitis. I've been having trouble breathing and some pain in my chest for a few months now but I just would push it aside thinking that it was just my asthma acting up. It wasn't until a couple of nights ago when I woke up gasping for breath unable to breathe that I decided to see the doctor. She gave me an antibiotic, a breathing treatment and a cortisone shot. It's really nice to be able to breathe and not have it hurt.

Well, gotta go now. I'll try to write more here again.

Thy Feet Are Cold

Okay, I have to write about this. The kids and I begin our school day with a Rosary. Also, I'm known for feeling cold all the time. The kids laugh at me all the time because I walk around the house with my "I'm freezing" jacket on and hat on my head. Sometimes I'm so cold that I even have to wear winter gloves and jump around doing jumping jacks and running in place to warm up. Well, the other day we were sitting on the sofa in the living room praying the Rosary. Googie was in one side of me (to keep me warm) and Bubba was sitting next to me on the other side. Bubba kept putting his cold feet really close to me, and I kept telling him (over and over) to not put his feet next to me because they were cold. It got to where he just kept doing it and finally, as I was praying the Lord's Prayer I started: "Our Father, Who art in Heaven. Hallowed be thy name. " Then pushing Bubba's feet from me I said, "Thy feet are cold." Boy we coudn't stop laughing for at least 10 minutes. Ever since, when we sit down to pray the Rosary, Googie starts laughing uncontrollably.

Happy New Year and Other Belated Greetings

Here is Hemma wishing everyone a happy new year. She's such a party dog.

Anyways, I haven't posted since Thanksgiving because, as everyone knows, the holiday season is a crazy time of year.

Junior's Eagle Scout Court of Honor turned out really nice. We had around 50 persons there including Junior's great-grandfather, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandmother, grandfather and countless friends and fellow scouts. It was a wonderful day. After the ceremony we had a nice reception and spent some time with everyone that had attended the ceremony. In addition, I was able to put together a really nice scrapbook with pictures of him as a tiger, wolf, bear, webelos and scout; pictures of his Eagle Scout project; and all the commendation letters he received from various politicians and community leaders. He even received letters from the president, vice president, and the archbishop.

Next,we had a Festivus party for Bubba's birthday. We had a nice group of people over and we ate a non-holiday comfort food for the meal. We also had the traditional Festivus fruitcake that we all admired but did not eat, as tradition dictates. And we cannot forget the Festivus pole. Everyone had a chance to hold the Festivus pole while airing their grievances. Everyone's grievance was some form of "I don't like people who whine." Finally, the Festivus celebration ended with the feats of strengths and the pinning of the host (Bubba) to the ground.

Of course, the day after Festivus was Christmas Eve which we spent at grandma's house and we had our annual gift exchange. As part of the gift exchange we had a "white elephant" gift exchange with a prize awarded to the funniest gift. The winner was Junior with a bag of Five (Arby's) Roast Beef Sandwiches.

On Christmas Day we began the day with Mass and later came back to open our Christmas presents. It really was a nice day. We then had a Christmas dinner with grandma coming to spend the afternoon and evening with us.

Not too long after that, my sister came to visit with my niece and we had a really nice time just hanging out and relaxing. For New Year's Eve, we drank champagne, set off fireworks and watched the ball drop in times square.

Today we finished putting away our Christmas decorations.