Diarrhea Dog is Going Home

Sami, otherwise known as Diarrhea Dog, came for a visit this past week. You can read about Sami on this post  http://fatdogsmom.blogspot.com/2010/05/match-made-in-heaven.html.  Margaret, Sami's new mom, went to stay with my mom for a week. Sami came to stay with me and my pack of crazy dogs. Sami is adorable and very very sweet. But and this is a big but, she is not a normal dog. She was very very very very sheltered in her previous home. She was handfed and also hand watered. She will not eat or drink on her own. She wants to drink out of a glass that you hold for her, and she wants to be spoonfed. She does not know how to be a dog. She wants to be held all day, does not know how to  play with the other dogs. When she first went to live with Margaret she did not eat for over a week. Because she did not eat, she also did not poop!!! Margaret called me in a panic. I suggested trying scrambled egg sprinkled over her kibble. Well she ate the egg, but not the kibble. So Margaret started feeding her eggs only and hotdogs. Not Good!!! Her stomach got upset and that is where the diarrhea comes in. YUK YUK YUK. So Margaret quit the eggs and Sami stopped eating again. For a week and a half!!! Margaret took her to the vet, who promptly charged her $400 and told her the dog was fine, she was just spoiled and when she was hungry she would eat. Fast forward to day after vet visit. Margaret goes to stay with my Mom and Sami comes here. With her finicky picky food habits and her diarrhea. OMG. I really really do not have time with 6 dogs of my own to find out what the damn dog wants to eat and to clean up her poos.  Don't get me wrong, I adore this little dog, but I have normal dogs. They eat whatever I put in front of them, make normal dog poops, and do not expect me to handfeed them. Poor Sami, it was definately a culture shock for her. 6 dogs all trying to sniff her butt at once, and eat her food that she just stared at. I finally discovered that she will eat Purina wet food if you smash it up with a fork, and offer it to her with a spoon. Not the big spoon, that scares her, but the little teaspoon. Once she gets going, she will sometimes, eat the rest on her own. The water is a big iffy also. If you put the water in a glass and hold it for her, she will drink. You have to make sure that you don't move the glass or make any sudden movements.  Now imagine me trying to explain this to my hubs. He is home with the dogs until 1pm, as he works swing shift. His eyes glazed over before I even got to the water part. His response. There's the bowl of water and food. If she eats and drinks. ok. If not, that is her problem. I know he is right, but all I could think of all day long was, did Sami eat, did she drink, was she still going to be alive when I get home. It is not good to have a live dog delivered to you and than send back a dead dog!!!  I called hubs everyday before he left for work to see if she was upright. Well she was upright, but she had diarrhea. All over. The yard, the house, etc etc. Luckily I have wood floors. Did I mention that the dog is a long-haired chihuahua? Which means that I had to clean her doggy butt everytime she had diarrhea. Ok, call to my vet to see if I need to bring in diarrhea dog to be checked out. No, she is fine, it is the change in food. Just keep an eye on her. If the diarrhea does not go away in a couple more days than bring her in. So for the past week our family has been on diarrhea watch. Sounds like fun doesn't it. My vet was right, the diarrhea went away. She is getting nutrition because I feed her when I get home. With the small spoon, not the big spoon. She is also used to my dogs and actually acted like a normal dog last night and sniffed one of my dogs butts. It must have been a positive experience, because she tried to play with them afterwards. She is also becoming more independent. And she has become very bonded to me. Why I don't know. All I ever say to her is "eat your food, drink your water, please please please" and the ultimate "quit crapping, please please please". Diarrhea dog is going home tomorow. Believe it or not, I will miss her:)

Memories of my Father

This Fathers Day, will be three months to the day that my father passed away. My life turned upside down on March 20th, 2010 at 12:30pm. That is when my father left this earth and went to be with my brother, his parents and brothers and sisters that passed before him. This past week I have been overcome with a multitude of memories. I find myself tearful, joyful and breathless all at once. Tearful for my loss, joyful for the years we had, and breathless as I contemplate my life without my father. I have so many memories. My father was a happy, joyful man who absolutely loved life. He was over the top, spoke his mind always and often, honest, hardworking, quick to anger, but quicker to forgive, opinionated, generous, clumsy, and sweet. His nickname for me was Scooter. Everyone who has been special to me, I call Scooter. Always have, always will. When I was little he would take me with him to the Military Base we were stationed at. I would help him in the office, filing etc. He used to paint my nails and toes and make cakes with me. He even set my hair with pink foam rollers. My mom always teased him that he was really the mother. He would just smile. He went with me to pick out my first prom dress for my 8th grade dance. It was baby blue with a big white portrait collar. He told me I was beautiful. When I moved out to my first apartment, he came over almost everyday to check on me and wash my dishes LOL. He supported me through heartbreak (divorce, death of twin boys), and celebrated in joyous times (birth of my beautiful daughter). He was honest with me and told me when he was dissapointed, but was never harsh or judgemental. He made me laugh every single day. He had some crazy sayings that I find myself using all the time. My favorites are "call me anything you want, just don't call me late to dinner", and "if you sit on a rock you will get piles". Not sure what the heck the second one means, but it makes me giggle and gets some really strange looks when I use it. He loved his family above anything and would defend them to anyone and anything. He never ever met a stranger. I mean he talked to everyone. He knew absolutely nothing about politics, but acted like he knew everything. Hubs says I am the exact same way. He could be brutally honest, but was devastated if he hurt your feelings. He taught me to work hard, keep your nose clean, love your family and friends, be kind to all, and laugh every single day. He is a hard act to follow. Happy Father's Day Daddy. I love and miss you more than you can imagine. I will cry on Sunday, but I promise to laugh also. Because that's what you would have done.

Till we meet again:)

Prior Lives

I have joined the Prior Lives Party for this month http://priorlives.blogspot.com/2010/06/prior-lives-party-4.html. What fun!!! One of my favorite repurposed items is the old iron gate that I turned into a pot rack. I just love the old green paint on it. It is plenty big enough to hold my pots and pans, colanders, baskets, etc. The funny thing is that I HATE to cook. I really truly do. But I love my kitchen. It is my favorite room in my house. It has a wonderful 1950 Wedgewood stove, is filled with great vintage treasures and is my favorite color. Red.  I have also included a pic of an old trunk I turned into a coffee table. I had hubs put wheels on the bottom, so I could move it around easily. See the funny little magazine rack on the side of it. I made that with my own two little hands. I walked right out to our huge firewood pile in the backyard and pulled out those pieces of wood. Than I nailed them together and screwed them onto the trunk. Every couple of months, I have to renail the bottom back together, because the weight of my magazines. I am not a very good carpenter. Than there is my carousel horse that had a prior life as a "Wonder Horse". Remember those??? Well now instead of a little kid bouncing on it, it lives in between my kitchen and diningroom. It always makes me smile:) Finally I finish with the vintage pinball machine. Or at least part of one. Found this at a swapmeet for $10. It called to me. That might be because it was red and yellow, my two favorite colors. Or that it had a bull on it. I love farm animals. It is now funky wall art in my diningroom. :)

YMCA and too much wine

Several times a year I get together with my train buddies (we all take metrolink to work) and have a wild party. I had forgotten about this party, until my friend emailed me the link to it today. The video brought it all back to me. EEK!!! We had a blast. Hubs and I brought along our 10 CD collection of 70's music. Can you say Disco till you drop!! LOL Well this is what happens when you have a bit too much Sangria, turn on 70's music and get a bunch of 50+ year olds together in one room. I am the chubby one with the black and orange top, short hair and glasses. I also do not know how to do the YMCA arms. Hubs gave me a lesson after the fact. Oh well, I had fun anyway:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01fmHGk3A6A

My Crazy Home

I am an avid collector of anything and everything. If it is old, junky, chippy or can be repurposed, than that is even better. I have been known to stop in the middle of the street and once even on a major highway to pick up a treasure. My daughter loves to tell the story of when we held her upside down by her ankles so she could grab this cute little white pitcher out of a dumpster. She says she should have turned us into Child Protective Services!!! Hey she made it this far so I must have done something right.  Anyway I decided to take some pics of my crazy home and its many treasures and put them into a slideshow. Laugh, giggle, roll your eyes, and have some fun:)

http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e236/chunkymama/My%20Home/?albumview=slideshow

Rednesday at Fat Dogs Mom

Well I am participating in my first Rednesday at It's a Very Cherry World.  Hope I did that right. I am new to this. Red is my favorite color, so I figured this would be right up my alley. Red makes me smile.  At times I have even been red.  There was the time I walked into the men's room at Marshall's by mistake. Or the time that one of my chiwi's would not come inside after an early morning wee wee break. What made me decide that I should go after him with nothing but a towel wrapped around me? Well I had just gotten out of the shower, so I guess that is why I only had on a towel. The red part comes in when while chasing the damn dog, I tripped, fell down and subsequently lost my towel. Would not have been so bad, except that our paper gets delivered right about that time. And he uses his headlights to see into our yard to throw it over the fence!!  Personally I think that qualified me for at least the senior discount on my subscription. Well here goes, hope you enjoyed some of my red treasures:)