Honey, I'm home!

I can't believe I've been gone for 9 months! Sheesh, I could have had a BABY in that time. Thank goodness I didn't...Lord knows I'm too old and way too busy for a baby. Now a grand-baby?  Maybe one of these days.

So, where did we leave off?  Oh yes, I do believe it was February.  Where oh where do I start.  Well, it's been a VERY busy year.  I'll do my best to catch up and not bore anyone to tears.

The most exciting thing that has happened all year is that my beautiful oldest daughter, known here as "Bear" got married in April.  Crazy, isn't it? I'm WAY too young to have a daughter of marrying age, right?  Hardly! Bear got married to her fiance Barry (I did NOT make that up.) and it was a lovely, perfect wedding.

We were all thrilled that everything came together beautifully. It was both exhilarating and a huge relief at the same time. 

After the wedding, we slid into a very warm summer.  Sometime in mid May, Kona managed to tear his CCL (the dog equivalent to our ACL)  He had to have knee surgery on July 9th.  Not fun, not fun at all! 

We are extremely lucky to have a huge support system, many of them coming from Kona's FaceBook page. If you are on FaceBook, be sure to like his page. He goes by Kona the Love Sponge. I may have been gone from here for a while, but I've been busy on his page just about everyday. Priorities, right?  Haha! 

Back in July I also did something that some people might have thought was a bit odd.  I shaved my head.  One of my dearest friends is battling breast cancer, and I shaved it in her honor and to share the experience with her.  My hair has pretty much grown back now, but she is still fighting, and if I had my way, I'd still be bald.  

I didn't mind the look, and it sure was easy!  It was a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat...

Kona's rehab took quite a while, but in the long run it was totally worth all the work we did with him.  He had weekly cold laser therapy sessions and underwater treadmill sessions.  We were so thankful to find a fantastic place to take him.  Here is a little bit of what he went through.

Kona wasn't the only one who surgery this summer. The Boy managed to do a heck of a job messing up his knee and also had ACL surgery...He also had a summer of physical therapy and work to get back on his feet.

As they say, if it's not one thing, it's 15 others, right?  

So now, here we are, staring the holidays in the face.  I know I've said it before, but it's amazing how the time flies. The Boy is back at school at Purdue University for his final year. It was just yesterday that he was leaving and I was a sobbing mess.  Bear is married, and Pickle, my baby, is out and about, enjoying her independence and spreading her wings. She turns 21 in less than a month. I swear I was just taking her to kindergarten...

Hubby and I celebrated out 24th anniversary in Oct.  No Halloween party this year - the wedding was enough to take care of this year.  We are kicking around the idea of another Halloween blow-out next year, but that is still to be determined.  

The dogs keep us busy - Harley will be 12 in April, Jill tunrs 10 next month, Kona turned 7 last week, and our puppy, Lucas (aka Squirt) is already 18 months old! Remember when he was just a little guy? Yup - time flies indeed. 

Well, that's it for now...a little bit of catch up. I'm sure I've forgotten a ton of stuff, I mean it has been 9 months for goodness sakes.  I'll be back soon, and I promise it won't be another 9 months.

Well, so much for that!

I had every good intention of blogging at least once a week this year.  Ha! What was I thinking?  That I might actually have time to blog?  Silly, silly me.  Here it is Feb. 1st already and I've posted exactly ONCE so far this year.

January was busy month.  I did a LOT of visits with Kona, committed to working more with Lucas (aka Squirt) on his manners (he is a work in progress) and so much more.  I visited with some old friends, had a wonderful spa day with one of my besties, surprised another of my besties for her birthday, made a quick trip to Vegas, went to a bridal fair with Bear, had lunch with a couple of different friends on different days, attended the funeral of the father of an old friend, went to a couple of dog events, saw a movie or three, fell down and nearly knocked my teeth our, worked on wedding stuff, worked some gold parties and fundraisers,went on a super cool scavenger hunt, and so much more.  No wonder I didn't get the chance to blog!

But here I am now, so no hard feelings, right?  Here are some photos from the month just to keep you in the loop.

I won a couple hundred bucks on this spin!

 Nice fat lip, huh?

 Silk flowers arrangements we made for Bear's Bridal shower.

 Hard at work and having a blast!

 I got an "UP" by Jawbone, and it monitors how much I sleep (or in my case how much I don't sleep!)

Nothing more fun than surprising someone you love!

 We got most of the invitations out!

 Hanging with Syl and Bear at a bridal fair.  Lots of good ideas, and goodies to taste and drink test!

Playing with the pups- first pool fun on the year.

 Visits and more visits!

 If he were only as well behaved as he looks.  Haha!

Enjoying an evening out (doing a super fun scavenger hunt) and enjoying a walking tour of our lovely city. 

"I saw this person today"

My photo prompt for today is "I saw this person today."  Kona and I were actually out and about quite a bit today doing therapy visits, but we aren't really able to share photos that are taken with most of the patients (privacy issues and all). 

I was able to snap this one though, of our new friend, Randolph.  He is a new Rec. Therapist at the VA and was learning the ropes of escorting us along our visit.

One of the patients we visited today told me that Kona reminded him of "Falcor" from the movie "Never Ending Story."  It had been YEARS since I'd seen that movie, but I instantly knew exactly what he was referring too. I made this little comparison. 

What do you think?

"Busy" indeed!

Today's photo-a-day challenge prompt is the word "busy" which seems incredibly appropriate considering I've been too busy to post since last Friday!  I have been keeping up with my photo challenge though, just not posting here. 

I've been so busy, in fact, that is completely slipped my mind that last month, on the 6th, was my 5 year Blog-iversary!  WOW! How did that come up so quick?  Yup, just as I was posting about being a SLACKER, I hit the 5 year mark. Kinda crazy, right?

So, let's see, where were we...okie dokie, we'll play a little catch-up on the prompts for the last couple of days. 

Saturday's prompt was "view from your bed" - you can see here the view out my bedroom window...dog toys anyone?

Sunday's prompt was "water" - I couldn't decide which of these I like better - so I cheated and posted them both. 



Monday's prompt was "alone"


Tuesday's prompt was "your favorite color" - here is what I posted, with a little explanation. Photo-a-day challenge, prompt for today was "your favorite color." On most days I would probably answer this with a post of something pink or purple (they tie in my book) but today the colors that ring "favorite" to me are the colors of our country's flag.

 As I mentioned, today's prompt was "busy" - I have so many to choose from...Today Kona and I participated in a heath fair. We were there for about 4 hours, and we were very busy.

 He's over all of this picture taking stuff...bring on the petting!

Ah, much better.

 Holding hands with random women? That's my boy...

 Enjoying the company of some other terrific teams.

Yesterday we were at the VA Hospital for a Volunteer luncheon.  We received a special pin in recognition of our 500+ hours of volunteering there over the last couple of years. It was very cool!

 Such.A.Ham.

 

On Monday we were at the VA for our normal Monday visit. Sometimes Kona likes to stop and smell the roses...or in this case, the ivy.  

My boy is always happy after his therapy visits. I think he smiles as much as the people we visit!

So that's it for tonight...busy enough for you?  Whew! Tomorrow's prompt is "hello" - I wonder what the day, and the prompt will bring.

April 5 - Good Stuff all day

The prompt for the photo-a-day challenge today was 'something good'...so I knew today just had to be a good day. 

I was right.

Pickle and I started the day with a trip to the swap meet.  She was looking for few little things and we thought it would be fun to cruise around there for a while.  Kona thought so too.  He'd never been before, and really enjoyed himself.  

The funny thing about walking around down there (about 15 miles from where we live) was that Kona (not me) was recognized not once, but twice by people we've visited.  It was pretty cool. He is practically a little celebrity around some of these parts, and he is SUCH a ham. Along with being recognized, we were stopped about 15 times by people just wanting to pet him. Needless to say he SOAKED up the attention...that's my boy, good ol Kona "the Love Sponge."

It was a busy morning for us...the swap meet, visiting with a hospice patient, lunch out with a friend, and then home to change and get ready for the VA.  

I had a brand new team joining us at the VA today, along with a couple of others that are partially thru their supervised visits so I decided to leave Kona at home. I would be plenty busy just observing the other teams, and Kona was ready for a break.

The visit at the VA was, as normal, a big hit.  We had 6 teams and the patients, families, and staff just LOVE the dog days. I bet you'd smile if you saw this group walking down the hall too!

 These two cocker spaniels are just dolls!  They are named "Flirt" and "Little Miss Independence" aka "Indy" - and although they are not related, they almost look like twins.  They are nearly done with their supervised visits and will soon be certified with my Love on a Leash Chapter.  

 This is one of our Visit Captains and a long time friend/Love on a Leash member - Linda and her beautiful girl Happy.  You've never met a more gentle dog than Happy. She is such a beauty, loves to greet the nurses as well as the patients. 

 To top off a nice day full of good things - dogs, friends, therapy visits, etc...we went to our favorite soul food place - Bonnie Jean's Soul Food Cafe. This, my friends, is my official entry for my "something good" photo. Believe me, it was beyond good!