Men's Great Banquet #7 starts! :)

So the Great Banquets have started! Mike and I have been anxiously awaiting these weekends, as Dad, Sue, and Sue's mom will be going through the weekends with us. Mike and Dad went to send off tonight, of which they started thier walk to an awesome weekend. :) I really cannot wait to see how each of our guests (Mike and I sponsored the three) come home. I sincerely hope they shall come home on fire and having done some immense soul searching.


I know I've talked about these bags a lot, guess I should show what they are:

Above you will see a closer shot of the design of the bags and the second picture is the bags we'd done for the women's weekend last fall. this round, we have found rainbow colored webbing for the handles. :)

The story behind these bags is an interesting one. I went through my banquet, and while I had my FM system, my large print booklet, and any agape gifts I received at the time, after mid day on Friday, I was flustered and finally asked the Agape team for a bag of some sort to be able to carry all my gear back and forth from upstairs to downstairs and vice versa, of which I wound up with a Walmart bag. So upon coming home from the Banquet, Mike and I were trying to decide on what to do for agape for future banquets. I knew I wanted to do bags and Mike had the idea of putting the roosters on them, so the idea was born to create these bags to give to the guests of the banquets.

These bags are approximately 11 inches tall and 8 inches wide, after hemmings. We bought the quilters cotton fabric by the bolt, cut it to the height needed and hem the top edges of the bags. The fabric is then cut vertically, creating the individual bags. The design is then embroidered onto each bag. This is the longest part of making the bags. It takes about 40 minutes to embroider each bag. Then after the bag is embroidered, I then sew on the handles, which is two 12 inch long pieces of nylon webbing, that we have bought by the roll and cut and melted the ends to prevent fraying. I then sew on these handles and turn the bags inside out, sewing a zig-zag stitch down the edges of the bags. Then I go back over these edges just inside the zig-zag stitch with a straight stitch for a clean seam when the bag is turned right side out. So realistically, you could probably say it takes an hour and a half to 2 hrs to complete each bag from start to finish. Then multiply that by 150-180 bags... as each guest and each team member for the Banquet receives one.

Tonight, we sent 69 bags for the mens weekend, as it was not a full weekend. The womens weekend though IS full and we'll be doing the full 80 bags for that weekend. Currently we have 55 embroidered, leaving another 25 to embroider and all of them to sew handles on and do the sides. So you know what Im going to be working on this weekend and through the next couple of weeks before my weekend. ;)

I would like to share too, the verse and graphic that we put on the bags for the person to read, which Mike and I felt was so appropriate. :)


"Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." --Exodus 4:11-12

Mike & Kacie Weldy, IWGB 3&4


Well, it's super late and I need to get to bed. I pray that Dad and Mike have a nice "quiet" evening and looking to Him in reflection, and I will be up early in the morning for Sue to take Meaghan to preschool for me, as I begin my weekend as a single parent. ;)

Toodles!

Little bit of a back track here- Realization of having ushers and this point of my life.

Ok, so this whole thing with Ushers just flat out stinks. No two ways about it. I have my ups and downs with it, though I try my best to keep the sun shining in my face so I cannot see the shadows. It's hard at times, but I try to keep God as my focus and then I can keep looking forward as a general rule.

However, I do have to confess, I am at a point where I feel like I'm being constantly watched. Especially now that I do have Honey. Don't get me wrong, she has been one of the biggest blessings I've received in life, behind my awesome hubby, kids, and familiy, but now that she is there, there's no hiding that I have a problem seeing. The cane I could fold up and put away and no one knew, unless I bumped into something. I would take Mike's arm and since we are a couple, most didnt realize there was anything at all. But now that Honey is there beside me, doing an awesome job, she is a moving billboard to most that "I AM BLIND". Well, there is the large number of people asking first, Oh you have a guide dog in training, and then when I tell them no, I get that puzzled look. Then after an explanation, it's the response that they would never have known I had a visual problem, that I masked it so well.

That being said, so this weekend we had Mike and Meaghan's bday party. I grew up with two parents who were very much perfectionists. Ok I admit, a lot of that rubbed off on me too, though after being married to Mike for 10 yrs, it's eased off quite a bit, until we have people come over to our house for things such as bday parties. Then I go into hyper mode, wanting everything to be perfect. For a long time, I'd thought it was because of the perfectionism that has been instilled from long ago. But this last weekend, after snapping at Mike on the phone and then bawling my head off at Honey getting into the cakes, and then having a royally po'd hubby at me when he got home after having had his head snapped off. Needless to say, there were some discussions after all was gone and the kids had gone to bed for the night.

I dont know what made me come to the realization, but it became really clear that I was super stressing because I feel like I'm under a microscope right now in terms of being able to take care of my house, my kids, and so forth. I know it all sounds silly, but it bothers me. When the eye specialist told me a year ago that I shouldn't be watching kids under the age of 3, having followed 2 trips to the er and several close calls with my kids. It had planted that seed of doubt there on what my capabilities were.

Then through the year, we had a lady from the playgroup come in and clean our house several times, as I was having more and more difficulty seeing to do it. Goodness, don't ask me to clean windows. I've done that to have Mike come home and tell me there were streaks on all of them. :( So where this is all going, is that I guess I feel like people are watching me to gauge how capable I am to do the things I've always done. I want to just scream out sometimes that I'm normal and that I am able to do the things I've always done still. It frustrates me to no end when I pick up all the little pieces of a game that Alex has drug out and scattered all over the floor, to think I have it all picked up and find another piece. It makes me second guess myself a lot.

I guess I'm in that "in limbo" phase if you will. But I am fighting hard and a good part of the tears, fears, and nastiness that came out this past weekend, towards those around me was coming from the fear of being judged on how my house looks, if I'm able to clean anymore, take care of the kids, and so forth. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and I know no one would say anything to me, which I think may bother me more. I've had to have talks with Mike about this as well, to go ahead and tell me when I do miss some things, or I do get upset and mad when he's going behind me and re-doing them, me not realizing that I did miss it. I dont know how to express this in words honestly. It's not wrong of people to do this, as it's human nature, I guess it the whole thing of independence. I almost feel like I have to prove my independence at times, not just to family, but to the world in general.

A good example of this is when I was flying to NY to get Honey. While she totally meant well, the flight attendant, who was very nice and all and made sure I was aware of everything going on and such, she came and sat down in the seat next to me. She grabbed my hand and put it up to the call buttons and such, telling me where things were up over my head. I didnt have the heart to tell her that I could see, which she knew I could see a bit, but because I was using my cane, she was going off the assumption that I could not.

I guess it's just hard to define to people when to help and when not to. I know I had always tried to help people and I do very much appreciate the help that comes from people in many ways. But there are times that the help that comes, just rattles my cage and can be almost humiliating. But how do you tell people that and not hurt thier feelings for trying to help? It feels like being between a rock and a hard spot a lot. Thankfully my family has been really good at offering help, and asking what help we need. Mike and I have also become a lot better at expressing what help we need, instead of trying to do it all on our own. We do feel guilty though and worry about over-extending our requests for help, which goodness seems to be needed in bursts as opposed to a thing here and a thing there. So up front now, Thank you to all, who are reading this, for all that you do for us!

Ok I guess I'm rambling, but I guess I came to the realization that I feel on the spot and was stressing over it, and taking it out on those around me. Ok something to work on for the future right?

Night all!

Been a super busy day here... Started off the morning with a trip to the vet....

Last night as we were loading up to head to the GB meeting, I was taking care of a potty break and gave Honey over to Mike to put in the van. He put her in alright... he accidently shut about the last 3 inches of her tail in the sliding van door. OUCH!!! Poor baby yelped and was whimpering. She jumped out and came running to me. I petted her and tried to calm her down. Which she did pretty well. Then I had to ask her to get back in, which she didnt want to, but did nervously.

We called the vet's office and they said the only thing they could tell us was to go to the animal hospital, which we werent going to do that as she wasn't acting like she was in that much pain and while there was some swelling, it wasnt like it was crooked or anything, being obviously broken. She was also wagging it and so forth, so that was a good sign. But we did schedule an appt for this morning to get her checked out. At the meeting, she was up and down, up and down, as I know she was in a lot of pain. I took the harness off of her and pretty much just let her be so she could try to get comfy. She did really well and after a couple of hours, she finally started to really settle down and wasnt acting like it was hurting anymore. So we came home and just let her rest.

Took her to the appt this morning and the vet said it may have cracked one of the bones in there, but the tail is still warm and since it's curving up, she's wagging it, and she does have feeling it it, she should be fine. Said to watch it for the next few days to make sure it doesnt go cold or turn colors, but he didnt think we'd have any problems. He said she is in some pain, so gave us some rimidyl (sp?), an aspirin like pain-killer, to help ease that. Asked if I needed to be cautious of using her on the meds and he was like no, it's not a narcotic or anything, so shouldnt affect her performance as my guide.

So then I walked over to the eye dr's office, around the corner, as Mike had dropped me off and taken Meaghan to school. Mike was there for his annual eye appt at 9. We then went and took a look at sprint phones, the Mogul, which is a smart phone. Something we are looking into, since Mike is needing a new phone. His is about shot and pretty worn out. We were looking at doing smart phones, in which we can dock to the pc and sync all of our calendars together, instead of trying to keep all of our paper calendars updated. Mike's boss had recommened the Mogul, because it is a touch pad and has many options to enlarge the fonts and backgrounds. So we wanted to take a look at it to see if it'd possibly work for me. Mike also did research on it and it is top of the line for working with hearing aids and T coils, so I shouldnt have any problems hearing on it. Depending on how the tax return comes back will determine if we can do the phones along with very much wanting to take the kids to Disney this coming July. (another post coming soon on that)

Then I had my annual eye exam for glasses at 11am, then Alex had his first eye exam at 11:30. His vision is perfect at 20/20 and I picked out new glasses. Then we went to Steak and Shake for lunch and then at 1:20 I had an appt with our family dr, as I've got these stupid sores/blisters back in my mouth again, along with a slight fever, ears hurting, throat sore and so forth. So did that and she gave me the Mary's magic wash and diflucan again since that worked last time. So we got home and Alex is down for a nap.

Mike just took off to go get Meaghan and she has her annual eye exam at 3pm. After that, he'll come home and we'll do dinner and he'll take off up to work for the evening. He has tomorrow off, which he'll go to the bank and get the deal with Alex's savings CD taken care of and then at 1pm he'll go to the church to help out with set up for GB. Then tomorrow night, Dad and Mike leave for the weekend for banquet. Then my long weekend starts with the kids on my own. ;)

Ok think Im going to try for a short nap before katie gets home...

Ok, so she's a guide dog, but she still a DOG....

If you'll take a look at Meaghan's cake, you'll see the end of it is cut off... Honey had helped herself to BOTH birthday cakes just before the birthday party on Sunday. *sigh* We've caught her several times putting her paws up on the countertop and getting to food thats been left there. She will only do it if I leave her loose and am not in the room. I talked with Bob about it before he left and his best suggestion was just that we have to be aware of where she is all the time and stay on top of her. Which I know, and made me all the more aggravated at this incident. I'd kept the cakes up on the washer and dryer overnight to keep them safe from both kids AND dog. So the morning of the party, I was running around, like a crazy woman trying to get things done and stressing already.

Urrggghhh, I set up the island with the cakes and went and took a shower. I almost put her in the bathroom with me, but she'd left things alone all morning and was asleep on her blanket whenI went to get in the shower. I swear, I wasnt in there 15 minutes and I ran out towel around me, gut telling me to go look. Sure enough, she'd been eating on them. I just cried... It'd been a long week/day anyway. I grabbed her by the collar and took her to the bathroom with me as I knew Dad was on his way over soon, so I could finish getting some clothes on. I then started to cut off the part where she'd gotten into, thankfully mostly just on one end on Meaghan's cake and just one part on Mike's cherry cake. Dad arrived and finished cleaning it up as I finished getting myself ready. I was just in tears and everyone came in and knew what'd happened and Mike didnt even have to say the "I told you so" that I knew was coming, since he'd asked me before he left with the kids if the stuff would be ok there and leaving her loose. Several people thought it was pretty funny, others were eh about it. I just had to let it go as there wasn't a darn thing I could do about it. The party went pretty good though, and the kids all had a good time.

However, since she ate so much cake, she didnt want her dinner that night, along with all the excitement but I did leave it down and she ate it a little later. She did her routine normally yesterday morning when she got up, and did her normal routine of #2 at 5-5:30 after I'd waited for her trying to get her to eat. She didnt eat her food again last night at her usual dinner time, but came back and did a little later. Anyway, at 7:30, she kept going to the doors, so I took her out and she pee'd. I asked her to get busy again and she came back up to the curb, and since she'd just done #2 the last time I'd taken her out, I took her word for it and didnt push the issue. Well, as we were getting the kids ready for bed, at 8pm, she was panting, pacing back and forth kept coming up to us and acting like she wanted to go out. But since I'd just been out with her, I told her to wait, and was going to take her out after I got the kids down. We thought she was wanting to go out and play, which I admit, I've been so busy the last few days, I hadn't gotten out with her each day as I usually try to do. Well, she pooped on the floor. You could tell she was really upset about it and had her tail between her legs and knew better. We cleaned it up and didnt make a big deal out of it, as she was trying to tell us she needed to go.

Well this morning, we got up and she wouldnt get out of her bed. I mean she stayed put even though everyone else was up and moving around. I was beginning to get worried that something was wrong, as it was totally not her. We did get up a little late this morning, but I usually take her out after everyone else goes out the door, so it wasn't late for her. I got people moving quickly and actually was early for taking her out, and found she'd pooped by the door. So I'm sure it's because of the cake and she's not used to feeling like she has to go that bad/that much. I cleaned it up and didnt correct her or anything, but then took her out.

I hope that was the last of it and we've not had anymore problems so far today. Maybe she'll learn to leave the food alone! HA!

Taxes: UGH! Why do they have to be such a pain!

So we've tried to be the dutiful people that you should and file your taxes and report all your earnings as you should. Well, we get a letter from the IRS saying that earnings were not reported on our return as should have been. You can imagine the panic that ensued...

After some research, we found out that three things were "wrong"-

1. Alex's savings CD had been set up incorrectly. ~ We'd taken the money from Great Grandmother to the bank and set up a savings CD with it for the start of his college fund. With the girls, the cd was set up as the child's cd and Mike put on the cd as the custodian. This is what we'd requested for Alex's cd as well, but until we received this letter, we didn't realize it'd been done differently. The cd was set up in Mike's name and as a joint with Alex on the account as well. So when tax time came, the interest reported was tied to Mike's SSN, thus by the IRS should have been reported by us.

2. Mike had some stock options that he exercised to help pay for my Hearing Aids in 2006. The hearing aids were $5k, so with the help of some family and friends, along with what we were able to get from the stock options and our own funding, we were blessed and able to buy the better ones and I thank the Lord every day for them!

However, when we exercised the stock options, we "bought" them at a set price allotted to Mike and then sold them at the current market price, which was more, so we made some income off of the sale. Apparently on our return, the earnings were reported, but the IRS requires a separate form to show the details of that sale and that was was mistakenly not completed by the tax preparer. So according to the IRS, we made X amount of money since they didnt take into account the amount of what we paid for the stocks. So they said we owed a good chunk of change for that income.

3. Then because of the said X amount of income we received (according to the IRS) that then bumped us into the next tax bracket, thus changing the amount of the % of medical deductions we were then allowed to take, so there was an amount there that was "owed" as a result.

So after digging through the files, researching all the stuff, we took our letter and the paperwork to the tax preparer to review and find out where to go from here. We met with the boss and he explained that the earnings from the stock options was reported, but because the Schedule D form wasn't there, that is why it came up. They are sending in the amendment and corrections with the schedule D as needed and we shouldnt owe anything more there. Then for Alex's savings cd, there is an accounting term that he called it, but we can respond back that the account is indeed Alex's account and not ours, even if Mike's name is on it. So we are going to do that, and at worst if the IRS wants to fight it, we may owe a whole $11 for that. Much more doable than the amount they were wanting us to pay though! And since the Stock stuff should be resolved, the medical stuff should disappear and stay what it was as we'd reported it.

Gosh you talk about making someone about have a heart attack! LOL! At least we know now what to look for and that we need to make sure the interest on Alex's cd is taken care of for our 2007 taxes, which we are to go have done next week. ;)

Alex's ENT appt

Alex has had 13 sinus/ear/bronchial/upper respiratory infections in 2 years- since Jan. 2006 & 3 months of age. :( So we finally got the go ahead to take him to an ENT and we went to see Dr. Scott Phillips:

http://www.hnsaonline.com/SEP.html

Dr. Phillips took a look at Alex and said that his nasal passages looks like a child that has allergies. He said though that since he's still under 3, that he isn't really wanting to do allergy testing yet, because while they may have an allergy, it may not show up yet on the testing, simply because they haven't been exposed to it enough to show the results as being allergic to that item. So he wants to wait yet on that, but he did offer trying the nasal spray, Nasonex, for a month and then come back in. He wants to see if that gives some improvement and if it keeps him sinus problem free, and he said then the next step would be removal of his adenoids and possibly tubes at the same time. He said that the adenoids are enlarged and may be blocking the eustachian tubes from draining, thus making him so prone to the infections.

So we are to use the Nasonex on him and we will go back on the morning of March 13th for a follow up. :)

The last week or so in a nutshell

Ok, things have just been insane around here... Took Alex to the ENT, had Great Banquet meetings, received a letter from the IRS that our '06 tax return was wrong (YIKES), been working still on Great Banquet bags, had two birthday parties to take Katie to this last weekend, and then had Meaghan and Mike's birthday party on Sunday. Throw church in there as well. :)

I'll share later about Honey's part with the birthday party as well, as it's time to take her out for a break and Mike is almost home for the evening.

Here's some pictures of the birthday party

Last Wednesday

Wednesday's game plan....

Bob came at 9am and we were to go to Chuck E Cheese and Jump N Play. Mike was at home for the third day in a row to watch Alex, from my eye appt on Monday, the sitter being sick on Tuesday, and now Alex was full blown sick and we didnt have a sitter that would take him while sick, can't blame them too!

Alex had thrown up several times all over his room during the night and somehow didn't wake any of us up. Honey didnt stir, he didn't come get us, nor did he wake either of his sisters. Poor baby, we found him asleep on the floor curled up in a ball. :( So Mike took the day off, to do a few things around the house and take care of Alex.

Bob and I went out and did a quick walk around the neighborhood to burn off some steam and then we took off for Walmart and the play places. We headed to Walmart first, and had a little bit of resistance from the greeters there. Once Bob explained he was from the school and showed the greeter that the harness was inscribed with the schools name and location, with reluctance, the greeters waved us on. Bob showed me how to pull a shopping cart behind me and Honey guiding. Then we walked through the store and up and down the food aisles, more to give Honey the exposure to it, which she'll remember if we go back. Quite a few looks were interesting, as wpeople were suprrised to see a dog in the food section.

So then we took off and went to Jump N Play first, which wasn't all that busy and there wasn't a whole lot there. So we went on to Chuck E Cheese and this time there was maybe a few more kids, but the majority of them were sitting down eating for a birthday party. So we walked through the games and around the couple of places that there was kids at, and Honey was her calm and relaxed self. She actually was kind of pulling me in the directions I'd had her go the day before and after about 15 minutes she was looking at me with those big brown eyes asking why the heck we were walking in circles again. So she was DONE with that! LOL! So we headed out of there and Bob asked about going to the Library instead, since we'd passed it on our way from Walmart to Jump N Play.

So we get to the library and head on in. I ask if we are just going to walk around as we'd been doing most of the day and I immediately thought to go to the Junior dept, since that is where I'd be going with the kids and they have the play area/likelihood of kids being there. JACKPOT!!! :D We walk in and there was actually more kids here than there was at either of the other two places! LOL! The big stuffed animals they had there were also all strewn out and about so it was good practice too for Honey to guide me around those. The little ones too, you could hear the squeals of delight and "Mommy!!!! Look! A doggy!!!" So we did really well to come to the library and I hadn't even thought of it. So we walked the aisles and back and forth through the kids, stuffed animals and around the books on the floor.

Then after a bit, Bob came over and said there was a young lady that would like to talk with me about Honey. So we went over to meet her and I put Honey in the down/stay. It was just one of those things that in our house we like to call a "Godcidence" as this young girl, probably 11-12, had three books in her arms. They were Assistance Dogs, Canine Companions, and Hearing Dogs. She explained that she was homeschooled and doing a project and report on assistance dogs of all kinds. She had been through the entire library and hadn't been able to find much at all, other than the three books she had in her hands. She was standing there at the desk, checking out her books and we came walking in. She said she was giddy with excitement and was like "OOHHH, OHHH, gotta talk to them!!!!" So she approached Bob and asked very politely if she could talk with us about guide dogs. So she asked a few questions and Bob explained the process of the puppies going to raisers at about 8 weeks through about 13-14 months. Then that the dogs come in for formal training, and then there is the matching process to the new handlers-to-be. He also gave her his email and phone number, telling her that if she'd call, he'd be happy to talk with her more as well as send her some literature from the school about the programs as well. I also gave her my name, email, and phone number if she wanted to do another "interview" if you will or needed more information.

She was busting at the seams and very happy with her new found source, and we then headed off to go back to the house. On the way out, the girl's sister brought their mom over to meet us before we left and the mom was VERY appreciative and said thanks for taking the time to talk with her girls. :) Bob and I got out to the car and was like Wow! That was just too cool! LOL!

So we came back to the house and took a break for lunch. I put Alex down for a nap and Mike went over to the nursing home to fill out the paperwork to put his mom on Medicaid. She's finally used up all her finances to qualify, so that is in and we'll be completing that as soon as it comes back in. That is the last major thing we'll have to do with her, other than when the time comes to take care of will stuff. :( We did find out thankfully that in IN, you can change the ownerships of all life insurance policies and it is exempt from the 7 year rule of what is considered assets. So we had gotten that taken care of and we will still have the life insurance policies on her, not having go through and forfeit all of those, cashing them in. YAY!

Bob came back by after lunch and we did another walk around the neighborhood and partially into the next neighborhood, working the pine tree again. I kind of cut things a little short as I was really in a lot of pain in my hips from all the walking. It really suprised me that I was, since I did fine at the school for 10 days doing all the walking there. The only differences I can figure out was I was wearing a different pair of shoes with another pr of socks and Bob mentioned that walking on snow is entirely different than not. Where in NY we were lucky and didn't have any snow there. So we wrapped things up and we talked a little more about working with Honey on the alarm clock, which I need to get started on.

He said goodbye and I had Katie and Alex on my own that evening, as Mike went up and did some work. Meaghan spent the evening at Grandma and Grandpa's, but when they brought her home, you could tell she wasn't feeling well at all. She wound up waking up after Mike got home, complaining her tummy hurt. We gave her some tums and sent her back to bed. She got up the next morning and was really stuffed up and not feeling well.

Ok so Im doing an awful job of keeping up on this right now...

Life has been getting the better of me lately, being busy with sick kids, lots of committments and so forth, so going to update with quick and dirty versions to get caught up. LOL!

Last Tuesday-

Bob Weiss, the director of the training program at GDF came out to do the in home training with us. He came Tuesday morning and we talked about the various things I wanted to cover and walks to do and so forth. We discussed working at Chuck E Cheese, going to the nursing home, walking with the wagon, and the really tough intersection/dirt pile that I have to cross in order to get to the library/store/anything else.

So we started off by going to the intersection first. Once there, Bob was like wow, what a doozie. Basically the only way I can navigate the intersection is to cross the street, turn and walk in the street facing traffic and get around the corner as quickly as I can, and then get up on the grass and then make my cross over the other street if I'm going that way. Bob said to NOT bring the kids through there until that was taken care of and that I should call the city and really stress how important it was that this was taken care of as quickly as possible for my safety.

So we did the walk, and thankfully with it being during the day it wasn't super busy, so we crossed over, then crossed over Tilden and walked on up to the license branch for practice. I did learn the proper way to do parking lot crossing, which we hadn't covered in class. We went in and practiced going in and getting in line, then we came on back out and headed back to the house and talked for a few minutes and decided to drive down to Chuck E Cheese and give that a try, in hopes of finding something that had lots of kids and lots of noise with all the games and such.

We took off and we got there shortly after 11 and there wasn't hardly anyone there. Maybe 3-4 moms and about 6-8 kids. But this worked out well anyway, as it wasn't overload for Honey, as at first the lights and noises were really distracting to her. She worked, but her head was moving all over the place, assessing everything, whether or not it was safe and so forth. We walked back and forth, in and out of the games, and tried to migrate to where the kids were playing so she'd have the exposure to that. She really was intent on watching and assessing whether or not it was safe to walk under the tunnels with the kids crawling and thumping through those. We stopped often with lots of praise for a really good job and she calmed down as time went on. We were there probably for a good hour, and we decided to come back on Wednesday to see if there would be more kids around and how she did with the noises and such. So we drove back to the house and broke for lunch.

After lunch, Bob came back to the house and we made our way over to the nursing home, then walked back to to the entrance of the neighborhood across from it, and walked the large loop around it and back into the back side of our neighborhood. I had to do some corrections, as there was a pine tree that had outstretched branches right at head height that she was missing, so we had to re-work that a couple of times. We came back later and she was on it then, knew that she had to watch for it and took me around it that time. :) We also walked by the house where the nusiance dog lives and I have to admit, since my phone call to animal control, I haven't seen it at all, so hopefully that is taken care of! :)

We got back to the house and talked about the plans for Wednesday, and we decided that we'd try going to Chuck E Cheese again, going to Jump N Play - a play place with a bunch of jump houses, and do a few more walks. Bob took off and I then worked on housework, trying to get a few things done before Alex came home from Stacey's.

We had Great Banquet team meetings that evening, so we too the kids to Sarah's, a wonderful lady who has very graciously given her time to watch all three kids for us each week for 6 weeks while we are at the team meetings. We got home to find out that Alex had gotten sick in the car on her when she was bringing them home to put to bed. Little did we know this was going to be the start to a long week of sick kids. :(

Monday- To the Eye specialist....

To the Dr., not just the Dr. but the Eye Specialist.... Ugh, I hate going to the eye specialist, with the tests I have to have, having my eye's dialated, then of course getting the news each time that my vision has gotten x amount worse. Why do I go? I am asked this quite often too. I go for several reasons. First, so I know I'm not crazy and that I really am not seeing those things I'm tripping on and falling over when i do miss them. I also go too so that there's some sort of record of the progression of this mean disease. I also go too, as I know that there are the complications that are very common for people with Ushers Syndrome. Several being Macular edema's or fluid collecting at the back of the eyes, cataracts, and sometimes detachment of the retina. Fun, fun huh? So yeah, although I don't like the typical end result of going, it's far better to go and know that none of those other things are happening or trying to happen!

I had been going to one Dr. at Midwest Eye Institute for quite some time now. He is very versed and knowledgeable about Usher's syndrome, doing a lot of his residency work with Usher's patients. However, in the last couple of years, the appointments have gotten longer and longer and the Dr. more and more intolerable in his attitude on some things. I have a fellow Usher person that will not go to see him because he refused to take her as a patient, if he had to provide her an interpreter. That bugs me as well.

Two years ago, I was really upset with how I was inadvertantly chewed out because I'd "no showed" for my appointment. When in actuality, I'd called and cancelled the appointment, and didnt receive any notice of the first appointment. But when I showed up for the re-scheduled appointment, while they had me on the books for it, the Dr. really laid into me for not showing up for the first one. I explained that I'd called and tried to cancel it. The other thing that really put me off too, was every time I went in, I'd invariably wind up needing to have a 120 visual field test and an Electroretinalgram (ERG) along with having my eyes dilated, and retinal pictures, along with being fitted in amongst all the other patients there for the day Our appointments went to being 4-5 HOURS long each time. I was exhausted, tired, cranky, and just felt poked and prodded by the time we'd get home 6 hours later.

So after my chewing out, I insisted on having the visual field scheduled ahead of time for the next appointment last year. The Dr. was rather indignant about it and really came across of having did it in a mood of just trying to appease me and my insistance about it. So when we came in last year, as I told him, I'd lost more vision and he even looked at me funny like I wasn't being truthful. Then after the results of the visual field exam, he was like Wow, you HAVE lost some more vision. So again, I insisted on having a visual field scheduled for the next appointment, which he didn't balk at quite so much that time in light of the events that just transpired, just now he'd hired someone to do all the visual fields for him, so had to schedule with HIS person this time. So we didn't exactly leave there with a good taste the mouth yet again.

So then I had an appt scheduled for this year- for January 18th. As soon as I found out the Friday before Christmas, that I'd be leaving for NY for Honey, on Jan. 14th, I called the office and talked with his staff explaining that I needed to reschedule my appointment, as I would be out of state and unable to be there. Yeah, you see where this is going.... She said she took it off the books and that she couldn't just reschedule it, since she had to coordinate it with their tech that does the visual fields. I said that was fine, that I wasn't leaving for three weeks, but that I would be leaving on Jan. 14th. I just needed to know before then. She said she'd call back. So I wait, and wait, and wait, and wait some more. The week before I was to leave, on Wednesday, I call the office again, explaining that I was leaving the following Monday and needed to get my appt re-scheduled. The person I was talking to, was a different person and pulled up my acct on the computer. She said well, she's supposed to call you today. I said ok, you can't tell me the information now? I'm on the phone with you, long distance, now... She was like no, she's at another office, she'll have to call you.

So the original person never calls me. I say screw it, I'm changing doctors and will take care of setting up a new appt when I get home from NY. WRONG.... There is a message on the answering machine for 12:30pm, on January 14th, from the person. Ok, I'm in the air in the airplane when she called. So Mike got the message and tries calling, and again, She's at another office, you have to call her back later. Mike said screw it, we'd deal with it later, and then Mike got a post card in the mail saying that I was to show up for an appt on the 18th, the date I'd supposedly cancelled. grrrrrrrr. So Mike called and got that cancelled, and I was then determined to find a new Dr. when I got home.

So I came home, got a referral to Eye Surgeon Associates of Indiana and went yesterday for my appt. As I came in they were very helpful and politely directed me to the check in area. Very quickly, I was called back and the tech did the pre exam. We did have a little snafu as we were walking back to the exam room though. I'd commanded Honey to follow, and she was, but as we were going past this wall, there was another tech that came bopping around the end of the wall and pretty much came face to face with Honey. She jumped and absolutely shrieked. She yelled so loud that my tech jumped, I jumped, and Honey jumped sideways, jerking me away from her. Scaring the daylights out of all of us. Once we all collected ourselves, we moved on and after a few minutes, the other lady came to the exame room and apoligized profusely for scaring us so bad.

The Dr. wanted me to do the visual field before she saw me and went and did that. It was very quick, being completely computerized, taking about 15 minutes to do both eyes. Then had the exam. The Dr. was VERY nice, answered all of my questions and provided information too, making sure I knew of things that I may not have. I was REALLY pleased. :) And best of all, I was totally done and headed home right at 2 hrs after we got there! Yay! So will be going back, thats for sure.

We worked on bags and different things last night, and have to get hopping for the meeting tonight, so have to cut this short. Will try to finish up later!

Toodles!

Friday through the Weekend

Alrighty The weekend was COLD. The temps here in Indiana were doing good to make double digits this weekend. So needless to say, the weekend was all about staying indoors as much as possible. ;) We worked on housework, laundry, watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, our favorite show to watch as a family :) and we played with the kids. :)

Saturday we went to church, as we do every week. I have to mention, that it is really interesting, that the biggest question, behind "How old is she?", seems to be... "Are you training the dog to BE a guide dog?" As I was coming into the church, since we enter into the nursery entrance with the kids, one of the greeters asked me this question. I said no, she's *MY* guide dog. And I got the puzzled look which invariably turns to astonishment when I explain that while my central vision is still good *knocking on wood* that I have lost most of my peripheral vision. And as usual, it's followed by their response of "Wow, I would never have known that you have a vision problem, you get along so well with it!" I guess I did too good of a job of making up for it, as gosh, it's biting me in the butt now that I'm not able to hide it as well....

So we take the kids on in and get them to thier rooms and then head on to the sanctuary. The sermon was a good one, even though it was given by Mike Berry, the High School youth minister. Honey as usual, assumed her position laying by my chair in the aisle and immediately began to snooze. I'm going to be on the floor laughing the day she snores in church, like she does here at home! LOL! After the service, we got out very quickly, which is a new experience for us too. Usually we wait for all of the crowds to leave the sanctuary to make it easier for me to navigate out. Now that I have Honey to guide me, we leave with the crowd and are able to go and get in line to get the kids and actually get out in a pretty reasonable amount of time. We've also been finding that it doesn't take us nearly as long to get everyone checked in either. However that's helped as well in that Meaghan and Alex are now in the same Sunday school room too, as he graduated out of the toddler room. :)

After collecting the kids, we decided to do take out for dinner, hitting Taco Bell, and then after dinner, put the kids to bed and Mike worked on bags for Great Banquet, before we went to bed.

Thursday- Regroup day

Thursday- ok, what'd we do thursday??? LOL! I think it was pretty much just working on stuff around the house, catching up on emails and other things going on. There wasnt anything special to note here. :)

Other than a couple of cute pictures of Honey:

Wednesday- Day of Shopping & the Vet

Wednesday, Sue came over and picked Honey, Alex, & I up and we went to pick up the last of the family pictures up as well as take care of a couple of others that needed some attention. I have to say a brag here, as for the most part, I've been very diligent about makeing sure I brush Honey every day.

I was horrible and didn't do that with my two pet dogs we'd had, but with the immense love, devotion, and flat out laying her life on the line for me at times, I feel like it's the least I can do for Honey. So I try to make sure I take the time to brush her and to take her out in the back yard and play with her, throwing her Kong toy and just all and out playing with her. :)

Well, back to the brag.... We went to pick up the pictures and Kim, the lady that took them, she asked me, do you brush her everyday? She's BEAUTIFUL! I replied that indeed I did, or at least tried to, and she was like it really shows! It just made my heart swell with pride that my hard work is paying off and with all the compliments I get on how georgeous my dog is. :)

So after chatting for a while there, we all loaded up in the car and headed down to the next town over for some shopping. We went to Hobby Lobby to check out the new store, as neither Sue or I had been in there. Can we just say La la La la La! I haven't been able to travel through a store in that much ease in I don't know how long! Honey navigated me through all the glass shelving with nicknacks and with complete ease. Hey, shopping was even a little bit fun! :D So we looked around at the yarn and knitting stuff, as well as through the baskets for Sue. She was on the hunt for some specific baskets for some DVD storage. We didn't really find anything that fit the bill there, so we figured we'd head on over to JoAnne's, so I could pick up a piece for my sewing machine and check out thier baskets as well.

We go across the street, and I guess Im still getting used to the looks and stuff of people. I head on in through the detectors and this older woman had this look of horror/amazement that I'd just walked in with a dog. I think it finally dawned on her that Honey was a guide, but oh well, I didnt stick around to find out if she did or not. We went on our way and I got my sewing machine part and then we were in luck! Sue found a nesting set of baskets with liners that were really nice, and so we were set to go! :) We head on up to pay for them and while Sue and Alex were in line, I went ahead and walked on down to the other end of the strip mall to the Factory card outlet. I needed some stuff for Meaghan's upcoming birthday.

I head on in and Honey guided me up the aisles until I found the Disney Princess stuff. YAY! :) So we are standing there and I'm looking through the stuff and Uh OH! I hear that noise of a dog getting sick. :( Sure enough, she had gotten sick on the floor a bit. Apparently this isn't too uncommon to happen, especially if the dog is hungry and doesn't have anything in it's stomach. And of course I didn't have any paper towels with me. I was contemplating going up to the desk and asking for some paper towels, when Sue and Alex (in a cart) came up the aisle. Sue took off and got some paper towels and cleaned it up for me (THANK YOU!) and we finished picking stuff out for the party and went over to the other side of the store looking for some cards for Sue.

Now Alex is quite a personality to say the least, and right now, being two, he keeps us quite entertained and on our toes to say the least. We were standing there, as Sue was looking at the wall of cards hanging in front of her, I was lovingly scratching Honey on the chin, as she'd been in and out of the car, harness on and off, in and out of aisles and of course when she'd lay down and just as she'd get settled, I'd tell her to get up, plus she just was seeming a little off key after having gotten sick too. So was loving on her to let her know she was doing a good job. Mind you, since being home, we have talked with all three kids and particularly Alex, that while Honey has her harness on, we are NOT to pet her, that she is working. So Alex is sitting there in the cart, I'm petting/loving on Honey and next thing you know, he looks at me and in this stern voice says, "Mommy! You don't pet Honey! She has her harness on! She's Working!" So this sheepish mama, had to eat her words, told him he was right and ok, quit the petting. Grandma, on the other hand is biting her lip trying to keep from busting up laughing! So Sue found her cards and we headed on out into the blasting wind and nasty cold rain. Alex then announced he was hungry, so we headed on over to On The Border for lunch.

We went in and were seated at a booth and Honey got a much needed break and nap. :) She was nestled under our feet, as we ate yummy mexican. :) Alex had a cheese quesadilla and fries, while I had a combo meal, with a beef enchilada, a pork tamale, and a chicken empanada. all VERY yummy! I think Alex liked the chocolate covered sundae he got for dessert best. LOL! After we left from there, we headed back to the house for an hour until it was time to take Honey for her meet and greet appointment with the vet.

We get to the vet's office and went back to the exam room. Honey was weighed and had her temp taken. We gave them all the paperwork to make copies of for thier records and such. She weighed in at 51.5 pounds, the vet said she looks nice and lean, a couple more pounds won't hurt her, but no more than that, she's at a really good weight right now. We picked up Sue's two papillons, who'd had thier teeth cleaned that day too and then headed up to pick up Meaghan from preschool. Since we were leaving the vet later than planned, we called Grandpa and he met Katie at the bus stop. So we get back to the house, everyone unloads and settles in for the night. The kids and I ate dinner and took it easy as Mike was doing some work for the evening.

Eeek, soooo behind! Tuesday evening

Gosh, it's been an insane week... Let's see if I can recall and go back to last Tuesday eve and update from there.

Tuesday- we had our Great Banquet team meetings. Went to that and yet again, we had bad weather, and everyone was asked to go to a certain part of the church building. Honey took it all in stride and just did great. :) She lead me up and down the stairs and really, really has given me sooooo much independence. I can't imagine not having her now.

So then we left from our meetings and took off to pick the kids up at the sitter. Got home and everyone to bed, for a big day on Wednesday.

Great Banquet Meeting day! :) part 2

So yesterday, Katie just had a rough all around. She missed her bus in the morning. ugh. I was able to call the school quickly and the bus came back around and picked her up. But we almost missed it this morning too with the clock saying we had 5 minutes until the bus was to come. So either the clock got bumped or the batteries are going dead in it. Either way, I'm changing the batteries and have adjusted the time! Hopefully we don't have a repeat tomorrow!

Alex and I had a pretty good day yesterday, as I worked on various things, paid bills and such. We still have quite a few things to get put away and clean up, as it seems it never fails that by the end of the evening there are spots everywhere that needs cleaned up. It was super foggy all day yesterday and actually still is this morning too, though not as bad. Crazy weather I tell you. It's to be up to the 50's (I think) today.

I just got the picture of Honey in her bean bag bed downloaded: Can we say SPOILED!!! LOL!



So Katie got home from school yesterday and pulls out her homework. This year, they are giving them timelines to complete stuff and trying to teach them to be self starters, which is really good. So Katie got this chapter book to read and a booklet thing that she has to complete 2 chapters, a set of questions, and another thing on this each week. But Katie is so used to everyone telling her when to do it and what, and with the addt'l fact that she didn't like doing these questions, so she's not been doing them. She comes home last night with this folder and she's 3 1/2 wks behind on this work... She proceeds to tell me that she's supposed to be working on this in reader workshop, but since her reading teacher hadn't specifically TOLD her to do it, she's been reading other books instead, because she doesn't like doing the questions.

Ok, let's just say Mike and I are NOT happy. He came home and we had a LONG talk with Katie and asked her why, even though instructions told her that by X date questions for chapters Y & Z were to be completed and so forth why she hadn't done them. You know the answer... "I don't know". Then we asked too, why she hasn't been bringing them home. Since she knows full well and even told us, that it's to be done at school and if it's not, then it's supposed to be finished at home. Well, this is the FIRST time we've seen this folder and project, which she received this project on January 9th....

So needless to say, Katie lost her priveleges to go to Grandma and Grandpa's this week and the invitation from Uncle Mike to go to the basketball game on Thursday night is in question at the moment. We are thinking she'll be able to go though, as she did make really good progress last night, getting almost through the chapter 4 questions by the time she left for school this morning. She just has 4 more chapters that are supposed to be done by tomorrow... She WILL be caught up by the weekend though. Ah the joys of parenting... LOL!

So today I need to get a few things done, updating this blog was one of them. :) We have Honey's baseline/meet and greet with the new vet appointment tomorrow afternoon. :)

So I'd better get off here and get moving! Later!

Great Banquet Meeting day! :)

Good Morning all!

We had a good weekend and WTG GIANTS!!!!! Whoo HOO!!!! That was super sweet! :) It was a really productive day Sunday, as we got all the beds stripped, re-made, and almost all the regular laundry done too. We ran the sweeper too! (Sorry, that's a feat in our house) So the house is in pretty good shape. Mike and I also went through and did our to do list of things to do for the year. Which FINALLY after 9 yrs of living here, there's not any MAJOR projects on the list! All lots of maintenance/follow up type of stuff.

So just before the big game started, I was like ok, going to go for a walk, the weather was just too nice to not do it. So I put the little ones in the wagon and had Katie pulling them behind Honey and I. Ugh, what a mistake. We had cleared our sidewalks here, but quite a few others didn't. So there was lots of black ice, and ice in general. Katie wound up falling and a big reason I wanted to go for the walk too, was the trainer had suggested to have someone pull the wagon behind me for the first time to see how Honey would do, and then work up to me pulling the wagon with the kids in it. Well, I wound up pulling the kids and Honey did great, didnt act like there was any issues at all.

However, before that happened, we encountered a loose dog. The owner was outside and the dog is loose in front of the house. He leaves the dog and goes on inside. The dog comes running up to us growling and barking, so Honey was majorly distracted. I had to get after her, all the while the dog is trying to sniff at her, so she's antsy and jumping around. Katie was still upset because she'd just fallen too. So I was trying to figure out how to get myself out of this mess with a loose dog, along with still being on ice too, compounding things. So then the owner comes back out and snaps at the dog to get back to the house. He then takes the dog inside and we go on. We made it home all in one piece thankfully!

A little bit of a shout out on loose dogs... Some information for reading from some other schools:
From The Seeing Eye website:

The Need for Dog Guide Protection
Imagine that you are blind and use a Seeing Eye dog to make your way through this world. Now imagine what it would be like for you or your dog guide to be attacked by an aggressive dog that you can hear but cannot see.

In practical terms, it could mean a temporary or permanent loss of your essential guide and beloved companion. In emotional terms, the experience would be nothing short of terrifying.
Such attacks occur all too frequently, posing a significant threat to dog guide teams. The Seeing Eye works extensively with graduates, state legislators, national consumer groups, other dog guide schools, law enforcement agencies, and animal-related organizations to prevent these ongoing incidents of attack and interference by loose or uncontrolled dogs.
Background on Dog Attacks

According to the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 4.7 million Americans suffer dog bites each year, and of those almost 800,000 are serious enough wounds that they require medical attention. The American Veterinary Medical Association and insurance company statistics report that there are over one million dog bite reports filed annually.

Some experts suggest that the trend can be traced to a combination of irresponsible dog owners and the rising popularity of large, fierce breeds, sought for protection rather than companionship. The sad truth, though, is that any dog - regardless of its breed or size - can pose a threat to the health and safety of people, or other animals, if it is allowed to roam loose or is inadequately controlled.

Not surprisingly, dog guide teams suffer a disproportionately larger risk from loose dogs than does the general public.

Statistics show that the vast majority of dog guide teams have experienced attacks and interference by loose or uncontrolled dogs. Even if injury does not result, unprovoked attacks and harassment on a dog guide team can make it impossible for some dog guides to continue to perform their duties and can also rob the blind handler of the ability to travel freely without being fearful of subsequent attacks.

Read more about the following related topics:
For dog owners and the general public
For animal control & police officers
For state & local lawmakers

From the link: For dog owners and the general public

How to Be a Responsible Pet Owner
Dogs provide great companionship, but owning a pet involves serious responsibilities. Making your pet a welcome part of the neighborhood benefits everyone, including those with Seeing Eye dogs.
It only takes an instant for tragedy to strike. Dog attacks and interference are largely preventable. The first step is to realize that any dog, even a family pet, is capable of causing harm if it is threatened, in pain, out of control, protecting its "territory" or deliberately/inadvertently trained to be aggressive. Obeying leash laws and keeping control of your pet go a long way toward preventing attacks against and interference with dog guide teams.
Even the neighbor's pet that runs out to "greet" the team, the family "guard" dog who menacingly growls and barks while circling the team as they pass by, or the well-meaning pet owner who brings their leashed canine over to "visit" with a Seeing Eye dog can inadvertently jeopardize the safety of the team.

You Can Help!
Share our responsible pet ownership flyer with your community!

Copies in both English and Spanish are available.
"When Your Pet Meets a Seeing Eye Dog" flyer/English

"When Your Pet Meets a Seeing Eye Dog" flyer/Spanish

* Never let your dog near a dog guide, even if your dog is leashed. Dog guides are working animals and must not be distracted from their duties.

* Report loose dogs in your neighborhood to police and animal control.

*Offer assistance to a blind handler if you witness an attack or interference. If it is your dog that causes harm, do the right thing and take responsibility.

*Obey the law and keep your dog under control at all times. Allowing dogs to run loose, using retractable leashes in populated areas, and leaving dogs tied up unattended in a public place endanger the dog guide team and your own dog.

Related Websites
American Kennel Club: Be a Responsible Dog Owner
American Veterinary Medical Association Dog Bite Prevention Campaign
Centers for Disease Control Dog Bite Prevention

So, after making it back to the house, we settled in, watched the Super Bowl game and had what we call chicken nachos for dinner. :) Our version of nachos is tortilla chips spread on a pan/cookie sheet, sprinkled with shredded mexican blend cheese, put it in the oven for 5 minutes on 350 degrees. Then while that is heating, either brown hamburger or cubed up chicken in taco seasoning. Then add a can of diced tomatoes to the meat. Spread all of this over the chips and melted cheese. Then top heavily with more of the same cheese and put back in for another 5 minutes and viola, yummy nachos! :)

to be continued....

Graduation Pictures! :)

GDF has our graduation pictures online now. :) Since I wasn't there for the whole class time, I will be missing Celebration Sunday that is tomorrow at the school. This is where the puppy walkers and sponsors come to talk with the grads and have one last time with the dogs in many cases.

So here is the link to the photos of all the class and then my grad picture. :)

http://www.guidedog.org/Progserv/Gradpage/gradpix.htm


Honey and I:



We had a good day today, having the InDBA meeting this morning and then church this evening. :) We are trucking away on these Great Banquet bags too- or I should say Mike is. He's been doing most of them so far, and just about completely done with the first weekends worth! Whoo Hoo! Then I'll set up one of the machines and start sewing the handles and sides of them here this week. :)

Ok, off to spend some quiet time with Mike. :) Night all!

Friday Evening- is it a Dog or is it another Child???

This evening was quite enjoyable, Meaghan and Alex with Daddy and I playing Candyland while Katie was at a birthday party. The afternoon however, was little crazy, as I think I really don't have a dog, I *DO* have another child...

Seriously, the 2 yr old and the dog were fighting over the same blanket- Alex is mad because Honey had HIS blanket.



And of course you can just see it right here, "I had it FIRRRSSSSTTTTT!!!!!!!" LOL!



I also forgot to share the wonderful welcome home sign the kids made for me coming home, as well as my beautiful homemade tambourine. :)





Though much to Katie's dismay, Alex pulled all the puppy stickers off the other side. *sigh* Already doing what he can to irritate his sisters.

Of to watch the rest of the movie with Mike, Night all!

Snow, snow go away - better said, Winter go away!

Ok so I'm am sooooo done with the cold and winter, ready to see the green and for spring to shed it's blooms upon us again, but the kids didnt really think so. Here's what they were doing this morning, before Katie got on the school bus, late mind you since there was a 2 hour delay this morning for school. We were indeed very fortunate that we didn't get nearly the snow up through now that they'd forcasted, but with the way it's coming down at the moment, I think we may have just been delayed in getting it! It's snowing hard, blowing almost straight sideways! ACK!

Here's Katie and Alex having fun on the sled:

Of course with Honey overseeing everything:

Well, I'd probably better get to fixing lunch, it's almost noon and haven't done hardly anything. LOL!

Ok, it's official, she has a new bed! LOL!

Yep, it's true. LOL! Mike and I were headed to bed and he had gotten in bed, and Honey came in to the bathroom where I was doing my business, came up and got a rub on the ears and then took off, which I saw her turn to the right, headed back to the other end of the house. I turn the light out and call her to Come, as I was walking into our bedroom and no answer. I call her again, though not loud, as the kids are all asleep at our end of the house too, so was trying to be quiet. Still no Honey. Mike says hmm, should you correct her for not coming? I say yeah, probably so, since she should come, and I was perplexed as she normally comes running when I command her to come.

So I take off to find her and turn the light on in the hallway, and dont see her. Turn on the light in the playroom, no Honey. I'm thinking darn where'd she go!? Turn on the kitchen light, still no dog and last place, in the living room and there she is curled up in the bean bag again. LOL! So she didn't hear me. LOL!

So I tell her to come on, she hops up and I'm like OK, I'll bring your new bed down to the bedroom. So I put it down and she curls up in the bean bag, a VERY happy camper. LOL! No, my dog isn't spoiled! LOL!

Shout out to Cay- thank you so much for the new toy! It came yesterday and she loves it! :)