The Lamp Shade Effect

Many of you know our Daisy Dog had to go under the knife to have one of her mammary glands removed due to a large tumor that was found in it. She also got spayed at the same time. Luckily it was done in one incision.

The surgery went well and we brought her home later Friday afternoon. She was so happy to see us even though she spent the better part of Friday being "out of it" due to the anesthesia. The biopsy itself was sent off to the pathologist to find out if there is cancer. We hope to know the results of that very soon.

Most of you know that when a dog has surgery they get the lucky opportunity to wear what I call a "lamp shade" around their necks. This keeps them from licking, itching, chewing the wound site so that it has a chance to heal.



Daisy's incision is 3 inches long with several stitches. She has been in quite a bit of pain. She has to wear this lamp shade until she goes back for a check up in a week. We also have to make sure she does not climb up and down any stairs and we have to keep her as still and quiet as possible. She also has pain pills and antibiotics we have to give her twice a day.

I feel so bad for her. This lamp shade thing must be so irritating for any dog. But I think it has to be doubly so for a dog like daisy, who is a dachshund. Who's little legs are so short. To walk normally she would be dragging this lamp shade along the floor and it gets caught and causes her to choke a bit. So for her to get used to walking with it she has had to learn to hold her head up high.



The other bad thing is she cannot drink or eat by herself. I have to put her food and water in little bowls and hold it up for her to drink or eat out of.

She is miserable. Not with just the pain and discomfort of the surgery, but because of this stupid thing she has to wear around her neck. She hates it. You can see how much she likes it by the look in her eyes you might see in some of these pictures.

Not only does she bump into things as she walks by or turns corners, she cannot burrow herself up into her blanket like she normally likes to do. We also had our own little snow shoveler this morning. It snowed today (ugh!) and when she had to go potty outside, her little lamp shade would scoop up the snow as she walked and her poor little face would become covered in the cold snow. It was a funny site to see, and I tried not to laugh because I am sure she didn't like it, but I just couldn't help myself.

On the positive side of things for her.... she gets spoiled (more so than she already is). She gets held while going up and down the stairs. She gets to be hand fed. She gets to lay around all day and be lazier than she normally is. She gets to whine and her people will come running to help her from being too uncomfortable.

Through all this, she has been such a good girl. She is such a loving dog. She is worth every penny we spent to get this taken care of. I would do just about anything for my sweet girl!

We wish her a very speedy recovery and good results from the biopsy so she can get back to the cute, energetic, fun loving dog she normally is.

Daisy Annabella

Our precious 5-1/2 year old dog Daisy (mini dachshund) has to have surgery tomorrow. She has a tumor in one of her mammory glands. We are just hoping it's not cancerous. She also has to get spayed (so much for breeding her). She is going to be one unhappy and sore doggy for a while.

As with all veterinary fee's.... this surgery is very expensive and its one we have had to save up for and have put off as long as we dare. The tumor itself has gotten larger over the past few weeks and so this has become top priority for us. She is definately worth it. If any of you has ever had the opportunity to meet her, you will understand why. She has the cutest most loving personality. She is one of our kids and we love her very much.

Wish her and us luck! I will update you in another post once we find out the results.

Lucky Lady and Her Ramblings of a Great Week!

Last Monday (March 9th) Bill and I celebrated 1 year of meeting each other. He had to take a couple days off work for other reasons which also allowed us to spend some much needed time together. We were going to go out of town for the day but the weather was yucky so we stayed close to home.

Bill took me out to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Then he surprised me with a shopping spree at Fashion Bug.... and get this ladies.... he picked out several outfits for me that I absolutely love. He has really good taste. AND I KNOW THIS IS RARE FOR A MAN/HUSBAND. He spoils me! Lucky Lady!

Afterwards we had tickets to an IMAX Theater but had some time to kill before we needed to be there. So we decided to browse through Gardner Village. I hadn't been there in a few years so it was really nice! After the IMAX movie we went to The Mayan for dinner. He had never been there so that was a treat for him.

Tuesday ended up being a pretty nice day and so we decided to take a drive up North. We were going to head up through Logan and Logan canyon towards Bear Lake and possibly rent a snowmobile and/or play in the snow a bit. The roads were pretty good until we got halfway up the canyon and the roads started to become snow/ice packed. So we decided to turn around and head back to Logan. We stopped at a restuarant on Main Street called the Coppermill and enjoyed a nice lunch and then continued our drive back home. Even though we didn't get to do what we had set out to do, the drive was beautiful and enjoyable, the company was fantastic.

On Wednesday I woke up with a Migraine and an earache wich got increasingly worse throughout the day. Bill ended up doing an ear candle on me which helped to relieve some of the pressure. We decided it was possible that the drive up the canyon yesterday caused the pressure and my ears may have never popped or adjusted to it. I ended up not being able to work today and just plain felt crummy. Bill went to work that night.

I felt better on Thursday and worked most of the day. I love my job and the flexibility it provides me. It allows me to work around Bill's schedule which is crazy most of the time. It was also Bowling night for me! I bowled some pretty good games, well over my average and a good series so I was a happy camper! Due to a slow week at work, Bill did not work again today.

I worked until lunchtime on Friday and then we drove Shellise down to Scipio to meet her dad so she could spend the weekend in Cedar City. We got back early evening and again... Bill did not have to work. Now we get a little worried about the slow week. However, because the last 3-4 weeks was very heavy work weeks and over 3000 miles driven each week, we didn't feel too bad for him having to be home a few days. We might not feel so good when we see the paycheck!

The weather has been fantastic. Saturday was beautiful and after I worked we went for a walk along the Jordan River. That was really nice. It felt so good to have the sun beating down on us and seeing the vibrant blue skies and feeling that Spring is just around the corner.

Sunday was another Beautiful day. After church we went on another long walk enjoying the sun and warm temperatures and later that night we picked up Shellise.

Today we went up to Brighton Ski Resort for a morning of Snowboarding... again in the beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures. I worked for a while this evening and Bill is driving to Beaver and back tonight.

I really enjoyed the past week and all the time we got to spend together. I feel so lucky to have a wonderful husband and best friend. It's hard to get back in a normal routine after the week we had. I think I got spoiled this past week. Not only by my husband but by the warm Spring-Like temperatures. I am so ready for Spring and Summer! I know it's not likely that we won't have anymore snow or winter weather, but a Lady can hope can't she?

Happy St. Patricks Day to all of you. "May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be at your back". I hope you all are as lucky as I feel I have been.

General Conference 2009

This was written by my Brother, Jay Alldredge. I found it interesting and informative and wanted to share with all of you.

Around 50,000 gay protesters for conference. No joke! below is what Utah Police are preparing for.

"Gay Protesters to Disrupt General Conference.I was speaking with a good friend today who's dad works for the Salt Lake City Police Department. My friend asked him how things were going for him at work and he said that he'd been putting in extra hours doing riot control training. He asked what on earth were they doing that for, and he told him that the entire police force was going through an additional 10 hours of mandatory riot control training because the city is bracing for an influx of 10,000 to 200,000 Gay protesters that want to disrupt this coming General Conference.

I asked how does your dad know how many people will be showing up. He said that the protest permits had already been applied for and that the police in doing a little intelligence gathering off of the groups websites, found out that they are "strenuously striving" to get as many people there as possible. The 200,000 number is the goal that they want to have on Conference weekend.

But what really worries the police are that the gay protest groups have aligned themselves with a couple of anarchist groups who make it their goal in life to cause as much trouble as possible. These are the groups that show up at protests and you have anarchists running through the streets throwing bricks, Molotov Coctails and what not, breaking windows, burning cars and businesses, and attacking innocent citizens and by standers. Their only goal is to provoke a reaction from the police and the citizenry.

Can you imagine this going on while Church members are standing in line waiting to enter the Conference Center? His dad further said that the Salt Lake Police in discussing what happened in California with the police there were informed of some of the inflammatory tactics that the gay protesters used down there including ripping up Book of Mormons, having people parade around wearing only temple garments or wearing them in combination with typical homosexual drag queen clothing, WOW WHAT A SIGHT.

Anyways, the police are planning on canceling all leave to have every officer on hand for the conference, and depending on how many people start showing up and call in the Utah National Guard. Unless something unforeseen happens this is shaping up to be a major event for the police, the Church, and all major news broadcasters."

I would plan on staying home to AVOID the confrontation, no need to push the issue.

Give Away! Let it be your Lucky Day!

I saw this on my Sister In Law, Tiffany's, blog and just had to do it. The first 3 people to comment on this post will get something made by me! My choice--but just for you. I am so excited because I love to make things and I love giving gifts.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year.
4. You will have no clue what it is going to be.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.


The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me you did, will win a marvelous homemade gift by me! Let the games begin!! Oh, and I have to be able to contact you with mailing information!!! I promise it will be something good!Good Luck to all!

Thoughts and Thanks

To all my friends and family THANK YOU for your advice regarding my last post about my son. I have given it much thought and prayer and have decided to let it go for now and just be the best mom I can be to him when he is in my home, and love him regardless of what he does. To fight him will be to have him hate and resent me for years to come.

I am reminded of that quote..."If you love something set it free. If it comes back it is yours forever. If it doesn't, it was never meant to be.

The last part doesn't completely apply to a person that is indeed your child because I have to believe he was definately meant to be. To me it means that I have to have great courage and a strong faith to believe that Jessie will someday see that maybe his choices haven't been the best and maybe he will see that I am there for him and love him no matter what and he will want that in his every day life.

So to all of you who posted comments with your advice, I appreciate you so much for your thoughts and your caring words. Thanks for being such great friends.

Teenage concerns or lack of parenting?

Most of the time I only write posts that are positive. But since this is a way that I can also journalize my life, I decided that I have to write and post the bad along with the good. So this isn't one on the lighter side.

Most of you know that my son Jessie is living with his Dad, my ex-husband, in Cedar City. He has been since July against my wishes and better judgement. But I had no choice. I was told it was in "his best interest" that he live in Cedar City with his dad. It has been really tough on me.

Now I don't intend this to be in any way "Ex bashing", but you must get an idea of what I am talking about in order to understand my concerns. You see, my ex-husband does not have the same value system that I have and the same value system that I have raised our kids to have. His parenting skills are totally opposite of mine. This is extremely difficult especially since Jessie has been getting into a lot of trouble lately.

My dear sweet boy is not the same boy he was when he lived under my roof. Since he has lived with his dad he has stopped attending church, scouts, and young mens. He is failing most of his classes. He has had in-school suspensions. He has gotten himself involved with the "Skater" crowd and, therefore, dresses as such. From skinny jeans that are tight in the legs but still hang down below his rear end, to long hair, and now to ear piercings. None of this I approve of. And this doesn't even count the disrespectful attitude he has towards me, Shellise and other family members when he is visiting.

Now this may all be about him being a teenager and trying to fit in with the crowd. But I feel he is lacking structure and discipline, and of course mothering. His dad's way of disciplining is by "having a talk with him". There are no consequences for his actions. His dad does not see that there is a problem. So while it may be a teenage thing, I see it as also being lack of parenting.

I do not see that it has been "in his best interest" to live with his Dad in Cedar City. But Jessie refuses to come back and live with me. And to get this reversed, I will have to take it through the court system.

Needless to say, I am heartbroken. I feel it is totally out of my control. That I am being forced to watch my son make choices that will lead him down a path that will not end up being very happy for any of us in the future. I worry about him constantly. It hurts so much to see how much he has changed in a short amount of time.

I don't know what to do. I hate the position that I am in. Do I continue to let things be as they are and hope for the best, or do I take this back through the court system and fight him, and his Dad, and force him to come back?

If any of you have any advice or suggestions, I would appreciate hearing from you.