My Heart Is Broken

Our sweet little girl Sophie went to heaven Wednesday night.  She was stricken suddenly with something we felt she would not recover from.  She was 3 weeks away from her 18th birthday.  We were blessed to have such a precious little girl for all these years.  My heart is broken right now.


                                                           

One Proud Momma!

September 7, 2012 My oldest son Brian was promoted to Sergeant of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Dept.  He's been a Deputy for 17 years...11 of them have been with the K-9 unit.  Earlier this year he was promoted to detective of the theft division.  It was a big change from going to work with his K-9 partner every night.  Now that he has promoted to Sergeant his assignment is the main jail.  He spent two years in the jail when he first was hired.  When you promote you have to go back to jail! lol  

Deputy Jason Ramos was telling a little about Brian and his career with the Sheriff's Dept.   The man in the middle is "THE SHERIFF" and on the right is my son.  He was nervous! lol

My daughter in law and my granddaughters after pinning on his badge.  

My youngest son Darrell (also a Deputy) and Brian.

Brian and his family.  Poor Lily (in the blue) had an eye infection and was having trouble keeping her eye open for the pictures.

Brian and his proud Papa!

Brian and his proud Momma!  

We took Brian to lunch after the ceremony to celebrate.  While enjoying our lunch a gentleman on his way out stopped and shook Brian's hand and said "thank you".  He had no idea we were celebrating he just wanted to say thanks!  I was so touched by that!  :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy 17th Birthday Sophie!

On August 3, 1995 a precious little Shih Tzu was born and seven weeks later she would become our little Sophie!  She was full of energy and was very very naughty.  She untied everyone's shoes, pulled on our pant legs when we walked among many other naughty things.  When her puppy stage passed we were blessed with the sweetest and most loving little girl we have cherished for the last 17 years.  Last year was very rough for her but she did give up and we didn't give up on her.  Happy 17th Birthday my "Precious Punkin Girl" Daddy and I love you!

This was Sophie's first day in her new home!

September 22, 1995

Have a wonderful day!

My Trip To New York! Part One

Well after waiting which seemed like forever we finally made it to New York.  We were supposed to go the beginning of February but it was postponed till May.  We had tickets for two of the three shows Barry was doing at Radio City Music Hall.  NewYork is so fascinating I would go there even if Barry wasn't performing!  Honest I would!  We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel in Times Square.  The hotel was just okay but the location was great!  

Times Square

First time riding the subway!

I can take it off my bucket list now!  

We went to see the Sept. 11 Memorial.  Since my Mike works for United we felt it was something we should see.  I had a lump  in my throat the whole time I was there.  So very sad! 

United Airlines flight 93

Remember Mark Bingham and Todd Beamer...our heros in the sky.

There are two pools representing the twin towers.  

The new tower under construction.

The survivor tree from 9/11.  Here is the link to story about this amazing tree.  http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20101222/downtown/911-survivor-tree-spreads-its-branches-over-world-trade-center-once-again

Enjoy the rest of your day!  I'll be back tomorrow with more.

A Few New Pretties!

Just wanted to share a few of my new pretties!  

Love how these plates turned out!

Pretty felt desserts!

Thank you again for all your sweet comments about Sophie.  She continues to do well! 

Have a great day!

Another Update On Sophie!

Two weeks ago when I last posted I told you Sophie was going to the Vet for a recheck.  Well, she went and her doctor was very concerned that she hadn't recovered from the vestibular disease after 2 weeks.  Her head was still tilted which worried him.  He said she could very well have a brain tumor!  Yikes...that was the worst news ever!  He said the only way we would know for sure is with an MRI.  There is no way we are willing or considering putting her through something like that.  All it would do is tell yes or no but it wouldn't cure anything. He agreed with us but still had to give us our options.  I love my vet but I just knew in my heart this is not what she has.  I'm with her everyday so I know how she is behaves!  I've done a lot of reading since then about vestibular disease and brain tumors in dogs.  The brain tumors create symtoms very much the same as vestibular disease.  My Vet told me if she did have a brain tumor then she might very well start having seizures. :(   Sophie has not had any seizures thank goodness!  Some of the stories I read about vestibular disease said their dogs took anywhere from 5 months to a year before the head tilt went away.  In some cases it never went away but they lived a comfortable life.  

Being the fighter that my little girl is she has continued to improve!  She finally started eating her dry dog food without having baby food mixed in it since September when she got pancreatitis!  Oh happy day!  Her head barely has a tilt anymore and she doesn't lose her balance like she did. We take it one day at a time and are just thankful she is not suffering or in any pain.  My mommy instinct tells me she just needed a little extra time to recover.  

Resting after her grooming appointment.  Getting pretty is very tiring!  

Thank you again for all your kind words!

Have a great weekend!

Update On Sophie!

Thank you so much for your well wishes for my little Sophie.  I wanted to let you know she has improved a lot.  All I can say is she one little fighter specially at her age.  She is going to the vet today for a recheck and I'm sure her doctor will be surprised to see how much better she is.  Her appetite has improved too and she is not leaning to the right side like she was.  I'm still keeping her confined to the den so she has no chance of slipping again on the floor.  I think she is getting used to it.  Occasionally she peeks through the gate which of course makes me want to cry. :(   It's not like you can explain it's for their own good.  

Have a great day!

Boy When It Rains It Pours!

I haven't had much time to spend blogging lately.  My little girl Sophie has had one health issue after another.  A couple of weeks ago she hurt the disc in her back when she slipped on the floor getting out of her new bed.  I never really thought this through when we tore out all of our carpet a couple of years ago.  It is very hard on a little girl who is almost 17 yrs. old to not have carpeting.  While she was healing from her back injury all of a sudden she started acting strange.  She was very weak and leaning to one side.  Of course I freaked out and automatically thought she had a stroke.  Well, thank goodness it wasn't a stroke but something called Old Dog Vestibular Disease.  Basically it is an inner ear infection which gives you the symptoms of a stroke.  Actually my husband had an inner ear infection and spent 3 days in the hospital being tested for a stroke.  Since she hurt her back she has had to stay gated in our den.  I borrowed the area rug from my living room so she doesn't have to walk on the slippery floor.  It is so hard to see your pet look so sad. :(  We've been hand feeding her to get her to eat.  Today has been a much better day for her since she got this a week ago.  She goes back to see the doctor Tuesday so I'm keeping my fingers crossed she continues to improve.  

Have a great weekend everyone!  It was 72 here today...loving this weather!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

A Slight Change In Plans!

Hope you are all having a great weekend.  I was supposed to be in New York right now but unfortunately it was cancelled at the last minute.  We were going to see Barry Manilow (shocking isn't it? lol) perform at Radio City Music Hall.  He has been recovering from extensive hip surgery he had on December 12.  His recovery has been slower than originally thought.  A surgery that was supposed to take 2 1/2 hours turned into 7 hours.  The poor guy has been rehearsing for the show with a walker and a wheel chair and his nurses at hand.  The shows have been rescheduled for the end of of April.  You know I'll be there!

Thought I would share a few pieces of china I recently got.  Royal Albert has a new pattern and of course I couldn't resist!  It's a pink version of Old Country Roses.

Aren't they pretty?  Macys.com has them on sale right now.

I just had to share this with you.  I made this yesterday morning from a recipe I found on Pinterest! I recently discovered Pinterest but that's another story! lol It was so easy and so yummy!

Enjoy the rest of your day! I hope you had your volume turned up.  In honor of Valentine's Day I added Moonlight Serenade to my playlist by you know who!  :)  Such a romantic song!

I Have A New Look!

Pretty soon will be two years since I started my blog so I thought it might be time to change the look.  Debbi from CGB Designs (you know her as Marionberry Cottage) did the design for me.  What do you think?  

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.  I'll be busy packing for my trip to New York!

I've been such a bad blogger lately!

Besides wishing you all a Happy New Year my last post was the cruise I went on in October.  I said I was going to come back and post the second cruise we went on but I never made it back.  :(   

After the 7 day cruise on the Allure Of The Seas we went on a 4 day cruise called Malt Shop Memories.  It was so much fun!  It happened to be my birthday which made it even more fun. I was in music heaven listening to all these groups from the 50's and 60's.  Here's a few of the pictures from the cruise.

Little Anthony boarding the ship with the rest of us normal people!

John Stamos performed with The Beach Boys...he's sooo cute!

Everywhere you went there was music!

Chubby Checker and his wife

My birthday itinerary...it was also PromNight.

Yummy birthday cake we shared with the people at our table.

Elvis was everywhere!

I even saw him at the airport when we were flying home!   

Little Anthony and The Imperials were the highlight of the cruise.  He has more energy than any 71 year old I've ever seen!

I could have sat there forever listening to them!  

Mike and I stayed up till 2am decorating our door for the contest.  We didn't win but it was fun anyway!

It was fun coming to our room each night to something cute waiting for us!  I had to hurry and take the pictures because Mike would sometimes sit on them! lol

We had a wonderful time but it was so hard leaving our little Sophie that long specially with her being so sick.  She is doing really really well and we are so thankful to our wonderful Vet for the care they gave her while she was there.  When we couldn't communicate with our cell phone we emailed back and forth which really helped.  They open at 7am and Mike and I were sitting in their parking lot at 6:50. lol  Our Vet came in early that morning just so he could be there when we picked her up.  How sweet is that?  Of course I cried when I saw her.  :(  

Wishing you all a wonderful week!