Lest we forget....you only turn 19 once

It was brought to my attention this week that I didn't blog about Lindsay's birthday. 

Feelings were hurt. Tears were shed. Things were thrown. 

Ok, I might be exaggerating. 

Honestly, her birthday was on Saturday and I don't blog on the weekends. When Monday came around I was still in Ozzie's health crisis-land. 

So, this is all about the birthday girl herself.

In the early days, she had terrible table manners. She's improved somewhat.

Did you know that Lindsay at one time was in a street gang? Thankfully I was able to get her into a program and she saw the pros of not being a thug. That was a tough year. 

But it went downhill from there....she joined a cheer gang;

It was short lived though, she didn't care for the outfits. 

And before I knew it, she fell in love with dance and then she leapt over the sun. 

We celebrated her 19th year with a family dinner cooked by someone other than I. 

 It's so nice to have all my people in one place at the same time to celebrate!!!

Wishing my baby a fabulous year full of adventure and no arrests. 

XOXO

The Chronicles of Ozzie

If Cat's have nine lives, Ozzie has about 13.

He's recovered from his eye surgery just fine. We went in for a recheck on Christmas eve morning and all was good. The ophthalmologist hooked us up with an appointment to an oncologist to see what we can do {easily and without chemo} to help control the possibly spreading cancer that was detected in his third eyelid.

Moving on.....right?

Well Christmas morning he was all out of sorts. 

Anxious. Out of it. Could not rest/lay down. No appetite. 

The Coach and I figured this was his last day. 

The day after Christmas he was just sleeping for the most part. No appetite.

Out of the blue my regular vets office called me. It was the 'fill-in' vet checking in on Ozzie. Apparently he'd just received the pathology report from the ophthalmologist. 

{Ozzie's regular vet was away on vacation} 

I told him how he was behaving and he said to bring him in that day.

The fill-in vet told us after listening to his heart that he thought Ozzie was having major heart problems. He sent us directly to the emergency pet cardiologist.

After many tests, the specialist confirmed that Ozzie was in congestive heart failure BUT that we'd got him there soon enough to rectify the issue.

We left him there overnight; they gave him all the necessary meds via an IV. 

He's home. He's eating. He's wagging his nub. He's again taken up residence on the leather sectional. 

*sigh* 

I'm so thankful that the vet called me to ask how he was doing....we were on a "wait and see" mode this time, and in hindsight, that was not going to be a good thing. 

Divine intervention?

Karma?

The dog Gods smiling down on Ozzie?

Eventually I'll share with you how fabulous our Christmas was aside from that little miracle up there.
I hope you're all happy and healthy wagging your nubs too. 

XOXO

Got Expressions? We do.

Merry Christmas from the distracted ones.

And from the posers.

Lets not forget the hipsters...

or the dog ninga and his muse. 

And from the WHOLE Busy Bee fama-lama-ding-dong.

I kinda wish I could share with you MY expression when I was asked this week if I qualified for a SENIOR DISCOUNT. 
But who wants to see me giving the finger?
No one, that's who.
Christmas was almost ruined....luckily, I got over it in about 16 hours.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Thank you for your friendship. 

XOXOXOXO

Willy Nilly Friday-It's almost the big day!

1)

I read on Pinterest regarding forced bulbs (paper whites). 

Well, if you know me, I'm all about forcing my opinion things. 

Next time, I'll up the amount of bulb forcing so I can up the amount of my game. 

2)

 Who is ready for Cookies?

And by cookies, I'm talking about candles.
I keep {tasty} candles in our cookie jar...gets the sugar starved kids every time!

3)

Look who was able to shed his lampshade cone! He's looking as handsome as ever.

We received the pathology report from the Dr; not good, we'll discuss later.  

Right now he's a happy camper!

4)

I might just put out a plate of tomatoes for Santa!

5)
Our kitchen pig gets it!

Linking up with Tanya and friends today. 

Have a lovely weekend!

XOXO

Speak of the devil

Last week I mentioned how thankful I was that ONLY our a/c froze up and poured water from our ceiling during our cocktail party...it could have been worse, like if our septic tank had backed up.

Cut to yesterday.

Hey, I was only 9 days off. 

Sh*t happens.

Willy Nilly Friday-I'm back, but I'm not nearly all here.

Joining Tanya and friends for 5 willy nilly thoughts, pics or whatevers.

1) Ozzie made it though his surgery on Wednesday; thank you all for the well wishes. 

The Dr. has sent out the tumor for inspection to see how 'aggressive' it is. He's doing fine now....aside from that darn cone of shame. He takes his meds and all the flipping' drops/gels we have to deposit into his eye like a champ; I'd not be as gracious! He goes back for a check up December 24th; hopefully the cone can be removed before Santa arrives and fun can be had. 

2) Our cocktail party last weekend was a great success, even though I wasn't feeling 100%.
Everyone said it was the best party yet. Apparently everyone thought that water coming from the ceiling during the party was a bonus? {Don't people pay extra for the waterfall effect?}
Our a/c was working so hard to keep up with the open doors that it froze up and started leaking through the ceiling!
 I was just happy that our septic didn't back up as we had 40 people here!

3) Our fancy smancy tree

4) Our Janky tree. Ok, the kids call it janky-it's actually quaint!

Doesn't everyone have a scuba diving bee on their janky tree?

5) We're hosting a large holiday party tomorrow night for our company employees. {not at our home!} We're ecstatic to be doing this since we've not been able to since 2008! {gosh darn economy!} Luckily things are on the up and up and we can finally reward our hard working peeps!

Anyone else hosting or attending any parties this week?

XOXOXO

The One with the eyeball and the heart.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Ozzie was dealing with a cherry eye. My vet saw it a while ago and thought nothing of it. However, I noticed in the last few weeks that it was getting worse. 

It appeared to me that his eyes were both in the same spot (lined up together) but his left lower eyelid was drooping way down, and 'stuff' was bulging upwards from the area.

I finally said: I'm taking him to the pet ophthalmologist. I needed to know for sure if nothing could be done. 

 Sadly, he's visited the eye specialist before; he's a special kind of wonderful. 

You can see a bit of it here in the pic from a few weekends ago. 

The ophthalmologist said she suspected it was a tumor.

*sigh*

I took him the next day to his regular vet to have blood drawn, urinalysis, and a chest Xray to make sure 'nothing' had spread and that he was healthy enough to have surgery.;  he passed those tests.

Last Wednesday was TO BE surgery day.

The Coach took him to drop off for surgery...before he left though, the Eye Dr. did a quick listen to his heart and stated that she thought he has a heart murmur.
She wouldn't  perform the surgery until he visited a cardiologist.

Yes, we're still talking about our dog. 

Saturday the Coach took him to the cardiologist. (I was under the weather and prepping for a large party at our house)

He doesn't have a heart murmur. He has heart disease. An enlarged heart. Cardiomyopathy.
*sigh*

Luckily though, he can go through with the surgery now.
Tomorrow is surgery day. Again.

We're praying that removing the tumor will go smoothly and his heart will keep on doing what it's been doing.
You know, beating and loving.

In case you were worried-Ozzie is still dealing with a bit of dementia, but mostly he is happy, gleeful, joyful and sweet. Oblivious.

XOXO

My giving of Thanks recap in as few words as I can manage; and hey the PoLiCe were NOT in attendance.

So, I made three centerpieces knowing I'd need two, plus one for the kitchen. 

 By Tuesday our guest list grew from 10 to 15, we were going to have three tables of people now.

We were able to continue our Thanksgiving eve tradition of roulette. Just like the pilgrims! 

 The day of Thanksgiving our guest list had grown to 18. Luckily I have a lot of plates. And silverware. And wine. 

The pool sharks girls.

I swear to goodness that I'd told my girls a few nights before: 

"You don't know how lucky you are to have holidays WITHOUT law enforcement getting involved."

Linds: "Hey, can we SHAKE it up this year?"

We giggled....my children have noooooo idea. 

And FYI....all was well and peaceful. The Po-Po did not visit us this Thanksgiving.

Let's see what happens next year. 

The bird with the girls. BTW: I was able to locate my organic/free range bird who'd spent his life doing yoga and having daily massages. AND HE WAS DELICIOUS!

Even with extra peeps we had mucho leftovers. 

Apparently we were only expecting some, but cooked for many.

Our holiday was FaBuLous....a few loved family members were missing this year and that is never fun; but we made due with total strangers sitting at the table. 

I've a crazy week ahead....wish me luck!!!

I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely AND you also missed out on the Po-Po visiting your home!

Willy Nilly Friday~Blooms, not b**bs, brainy boxer, losing time and looking for the impossible.

Joining Tanya and frieds for the willy nilly-ness of life. 


1)

The Coach and I watched the movie Million Dollar arm this week. We both gave it 2 thumbs up...such an inspiring and NICE movie based on a true story. And hey, it's a Disney production, so I didn't have to close my eyes or ears; no bloodshed and no b**bs!!!

2)

Speaking of b**bs, remember my gorgeous blooming lanai orchid? Well, that baby was soon top heavy and it busted....so now we get to enjoy it's bold purpleness on the kitchen table. Win Win.

3) 

Ozzie fell asleep while studying for his psych finals. 

Bless his little rescued heart....on top of all the health issues he's faced over the years, now he has a cherry eye. The vet said to let it be; that it really doesn't hurt him. But good lord, enough already. 

4)
Once again, I've misplaced a week. AN ENTIRE WEEK! Every year Thanksgiving comes a week earlier than I'm expecting. Darn you....you sneaky sneaky holiday!

5)
Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'm on the hunt for an organic, free range/pastured, non GMO fed turkey who's spent his life doing yoga and chanting good thoughts for the planet.

Should be easy.

The Sinking {ship} Chair

I posted a few years ago about Coach's beloved chair...and what a mess it was. 

The chair was used and abused. 

Mostly because it was shared by this little nugget and her padre'. 

 And on occasion...the felines like to use it too.

The front, the side, the back....it was all fair game for Cocoa. 

I knew the chair was on it's last legs...but I was bound and determined to make it last as long as Cocoa. 

Sadly, my determination has failed. It's become a sinking ship....and apparently, the Captain was going down with it. 

She's trying to ignore the fact that......

the ship is sinking and she is deathly afraid of the water. 

We found a new chair on Sunday and thought about it for a few days....I had to let it marinate in my brain and today I handing over the moola for it. 

You'd think Cocoa would volunteer to chip in some of her cookie fund. You'd think. 

The college girl, phamily and my phair

"You never blog about me anymore"

Lindsay stated this while she was home for a night last week. 

Me: Well, I don't see you enough to gather blogging material.

Linds: Last weekend we were together for Sorority Family weekend.

Me: I'd already forgotten about that. 

Linds: Pffft. 

Soooooo,  a few weekends ago we went to Lindsay's campus for Phi Mu family weekend. 

 As we were walking towards the family picnic I declared: 

We need to do a super selfie.

I don't even know what that means, but I think we pulled it off. 

She is absolutely in love with her sorority and her extended family. 

I'm starting to not understand her lately though; she said: We need to do a photo in front of the quat.

Me: Is the quad that big pink thing?

It's a quat Mom; short for quatrefoil. 

If you ad PH to anything it makes it more fun. At least thats the gist I'm getting from Linds. 

I was conveying to some friends the other day how much Linds loves school and sorority life...she was born to be in a sorority.

They asked me if I was in a sorority in college.

Me: I didn't go to college, I went to beauty school....that's why my hair always looks good.

And then I proceeded to laugh so hard at my joke; knowing full well it was 100% true. 

The next day I was thinking about my beauty school time and decided in my next life I'm going to
a real college....but it won't be as phfun since my hair will be a disaster.