Wow, Happy Mail Day

Today my mail lady had to make several trips from the car to my door!!

I received two wonderful packages from my Secret Santa in The Secret Santa Swap that Sue aka the Colorado Lady is hosting! Thank you so much Secret Santa! I love everything especially the cute dachshund ornament!! I will post pictures soon!!!


Allison from Sew Many Girls was my partner in Amy's Merry Christmas swap! I received my package from her today too! Oh my so many prim goodies! I can't wait to decorate my main Christmas tree now! We usually wait till the weekend before Christmas and sometimes even Christmas eve to decorate our main tree! She sent me lots of prim goodies!

I am busy baking, making homemade treats, crafts, and gifts for the holidays! My fur babies are so excited for Santa Paws to arrive this year!! We had them special Christmas outfits and Christmas jammies made by a local owned pet clothes store called Cozy Petz! OMG!!They are so flippin cute!! Bella has had her Christmas theme jammies on since Thursday afternoon and will not let me take them off of her! They are made out of the famous fleece dachshund theme blankets found at Walmart this year and trimmed in red fleece!! She is adorable in them!! She is so cold nature that she loves to wear clothes or she is really a DIVA and wants to be dressed at all times! Either way she loves her jammies. She has many pairs but these seem to be her favorites so far!

I promise to post pics soon.

Merry Christmas!
Hugs,
Lynn

My dachshund and pet theme tree!

I love Christmas! Everything about it!!! Except the shopping, grumpy people, and those that try to steal the true meaning and joy of Christmas! I believe in giving, just not on December 25! All year long! Anyway back to the fun!

I started a dachshund theme Christmas tree after my first Christmas season spent working at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, North Carolina! Christmas is a special time at Baptist hospital! In the Brenner's Children's Hospital especially. Each unit has their own theme of trees. I saw a dog theme tree my first year there working as a Registered Respiratory Therapist! So, that sent me on the path of collecting dachshund ornaments for my tree. Well, my daughter informed me that she has cats as pets, so a few cat ornaments are added. One year we found an adorable Chow Chow ornament that looked exactly like a Chow Chow we had when the kids were toddlers. So, in Lebo's memory there is now an ornament that looks just like him near the top branch on the tree. We have lost 2 more doxies that we loved very much since I started decorating the tree so I enjoy seeing their ornaments even if it does bring a tear or two running down my cheek! I try to find a new ornament each year to add. Sometimes that is harder than user, Dachshund things sell out fast when they hit the retail market!!! Looks, like the companies would make more!!! LOL Enjoy these pictures and have a wonderful weekend!

I plan to do more decorating, make Christmas cards with my daughter, do lots of Christmas crafts, watch Christmas movies, and listen to Christmas music!
Hugs,
Lynn

For Trade

I purchased  this a few years back! I ordered it from a TV infomercial while I was in the hospital for my fourth back surgery! I have no ideal why I ordered it because I had a Cricut machine at home! I blame it on pain, not sleeping, and good IV pain meds while in the hospital, funny thing, and true story! It was delivered in December and it was put out in my craft room and the 3rd and 4th back surgeries didn't go so well, two surgeries 4 months apart, cutting into the same area of my back again, and not doing well with the surgeries themselves, I didn't find the unopened package until spring of the next year! I called the company and it was too late to send it back! It has sat in that box in the corner for my craft room for 4 years. So, if you think you would like to use it, want it, and would be willing to trade something I might like or use. Just let me know! It is new still in the packaging and inside the box it was shipped to me in!
I will be cleaning out and DE cluttering my craft room and I will be listing more items for sale or trade! It is time to do this and let someone else enjoy stuff that I have bought cause I thought I had to have it and then never used it!
Please keep me in your prayers!
Hugs,
Lynn

A belated and huge Thank you

Hello everyone,
Long time no blogging LOL which means I lost my password, had to find one that blogger would take LOL Crazy!
I joined in Amy's of Bubble Bee Lane Fall Swap! My partner was Francine from Primitive Stars blog! I sent my package and then worried for weeks that it took to get to her!! I got a thing in my mail saying my package hadn't been delivered because I wasn't home. So, I signed the card and placed it back in my mail box. Well, I waited, waited, and waited some more!! Then I finally called the Newton NC post office and asked if my package was there. It wasn't! So I thought oh no they sent it back. I waited all morning the next day sitting on the porch so I would see the mail lady arrive. Well, I met her at my mail box and asked her about the package and she said oh, I left it at the Conover, NC post office!! Why would she do that when my mail comes from the Newton NC post office. So, I called the Conover PO and sure enough the package was there!!! I am having issues and blogger will not let me upload the pictures!!!! But, oh my did I get a great package! Francine sent me two cute canvas pumpkins, a wonderful country prim tart warmer, apple tarts, a cute Halloween ornament tag, and the cutest little prim sunflowers! See even included a package of treats for the furbabies! I opened them and gave them some and made the mistake of leaving the box of goodies on a table in the living room. Hubby and I left later that evening to run errands. Sarge and the girls helped themselves to all the treats while we were out!!! LOL Sarge is the climber so I am sure he got up on the table and got the treats out of the box!!!! I am sure he shared with the girls!!! They all looked guilty when we got back that night! They are such little stinkers!
I am proud to say that I am no longer on massive dosages of pain meds!! I hurt but I am enjoy life again!!!!I take the muscle relaxers and 800mg of ibuprofen!! No more of the drugged induced sleeps that used to consume my life! I just got tired of taking them and paying the outrages charges that the pain clinic drs charge to get my meds refilled for 3 months at a time!!!! I have also learned that the dr didn't do the nerve block stimulator trial correctly and charged me and my insurance of 15,000.00 for a procedure that took place in a drs office not a hospital!!! He only inserted one lead and there was to be two leads inserted! So, I am looking into what I can do. I get my records from the pain clinic and the surgeon tomorrow. I was shocked when I got the bills he sent into my insurance company!!!!
Amy thanks for hosting an awesome swap and Francine thank you so much for the wonderful goodies! I hope you enjoyed the fall items I sent you as much as I enjoyed the goodies from you! I will try the pictures tomorrow. I have not posted since Feb so blogger is giving me a fit!! I am not the brightest when it comes to uploading stuff anyways!!!
I have already started decorating for Christmas! I am looking for a set of ice skates for my front porch!! If anyone has some they want to get rid of let me know!
Hugs,
LYnn

Hanging in there

Hi,
Thank you for all the prayers and sweet messages left for us. We are trying to stop
crying but it is hard too. We do ok for a while  and then we will hold onto each
other and just sob. Bella, Sarge, and Cocoa know something isn't quite right and
they all run to us when we are crying and want to be held close to us. Having them
with us is a blessing but the furbabies have always been a blessing to our family.
Pebbles was a super sweet girl, but she was also the Alpha of the pack too. She was
a mess too, when she would get mad usually when she smelled another dog or
animal had been in our yard, the hair down the middle of her back would stand up.
Dachshunds are also called badger hounds and came from Germany. They were bred
to go into the holes and flush the badgers out. Pebbles took her heritage seriously!!LOl
The pictures above are from Christmas 2010! Yes, that is my sweet hubby who dresses
as Santa to take Christmas pictures with our furbabies and our grandfurbabies! We bought
the costume because when Baby was alive she didn't like strangers so I couldn't take
her to Petsmart to get her picture made with Santa. Problem solved by my sweet
hubby who would gladly do this for his furbabies each Christmas!

Pebbles we love you and miss you so much! We know you are so much better of
now that you can run and play but there is a part of us that will always want you to be
with us! We will see you again some day!

With great sorrow

 

Pebbles Nicole Spencer

 

January 30, 1999

 

February 24, 2013



Hello,

In loving memory of our sweet, precious furbaby Pebbles.
Pebbles fought a long and hard battle. She was stubborn to the end. She did things on her terms
and we just went along for the ride. She was one of the sweetest dachshunds ever. When she was born on January 30, 1999, she wasn't the cutest puppy ever. She was born with a black raccoon like mask. A lady that I worked with had made an agreement to purchase a female if Baby gave birth to one and she wanted to name her Pebbles, so she asked if we would call the girl puppy by the name of Pebbles if Baby had a girl. Well, Baby only had a litter of 2 puppies, one boy and girl. So right away the puppies were named Pebbles and Bam Bam. The were wonderful puppies and Baby was
a great little Mama. When they were six weeks old , we took them to the vet to get there first set of shots and to be wormed. The day came for Pebbles to go to her new home. My hubby brought both
puppies to my work that day so Pebbles could go with her new Mommy and to see if anyone would be interested in the super cute Bam Bam. Well, the lady decided to take Bam Bam instead and we brought Pebbles back home. The kids talked me into not running another ad advertising a female dachshund puppy for sale. We did not tell my husband this and when we would ask if anyone had called about buying the puppy we would look at each other and say."No not yet "' Well, about this
time my husband got really sick and was out of work for almost two weeks. Each day he was home with the furbabies all day, the medicine he was taking made him sleep alot and he would take Pebbles
and let her sleep with him. By this time Pebbles was almost 3 months old and hubby had grown very attached to Pebbles and she became attached to him. Dachshunds make wonderful family dogs, but they do choose their human, Pebbles made her chose and it was my husband. Today, I have seen the man that I have loved since I was 15 years old shed buckets of tears and watch him cradle Pebbles in his arms and telling her it was ok, to go to sleep and rest. I have never seen a dog fight like she did, it was like she had such a great and wonderful life and she didn't want to leave. She took her last breath a 5:24 pm this afternoon. She was buried with her blankie, her favorite bones, and three of her most favorite toys. ,

I want to thank all of the ladies who have sent me comments about Pebbles and prayed for us. I want to ask you please to continue to pray for us, especially my hubbie. Like  I said earlier, Pebbles was his girl, he is taking this very hard, in his mind he knows that she is better off now, no pain, and she is running all over Rainbow Ridge with her furMommy and her furDaddy, but in his heart he wishes she was still here. She slept on the pillows behinds his head for over 14 years, and she snored and would get the most comfortable spot even if it meant that his head and neck were in a crazy way and he would wake up with a sore and stiff neck!

Bella is very nervous. She tried to get into the bassinet with Pebbles and we would not let her. Several years ago, we let Bella have a second litter of puppies. The puppies came early and we were all at work. When my husband got home that day, he found Bella with one puppy who had already passed away. He called me and I left work several hours  early but it took me over a hour to get home from work in Winston Salem. He called our daughter who was also at work and she left work early to come home and help Bella. After several more hours another puppy was born, but unfortunately, he also died a few weeks later. I had to wash everything that could possibly have his scent on it because Bella searched the house for him for days. It got so bad that we had to take her to the vet and the vet gave her nerve pills. So, no way we could let Bella see or smell Pebbles. She could  not handle it.

I know that God has a purpose in everything we do. He knew that Pebbles would be bothered by many health issues ahead and that was why she needed to stay with us. Pebbles had back surgery in July of 2005 and had to stay at the emergency vet hospital for over 2 weeks with a bill that was just a little over 3,000.00 and then in September of 2008 she had to have surgery for bladder stones that was 1,000.00. We have been told by friends and family that we were crazy and stupid to spend that much money on a dog and if she was their dog they would have had her put to sleep. We always tell people well Thank God you do not have pets!! We have a sign that says we love our dogs more than we like some humans.

Thank you for letting me share a few stories about Pebbles and the our furbabies with you. Our furbabies are all loved very much!!! We will continue to grieve and mourn the loss of Pebbles. One day we will be able to think about her and talk about her without crying or I hope we can. I still  can not talk about my Baby girl who passed away on December 4, 2010 without crying!
Hugs,
Lynn

Yeah, Pebbles is mobile again!!

Hello girls,
Well after some much needed sleep and our Pebbles eating and sleeping last night. Today dawned with bright sunlight. Hubby got her into her wheelchair. I grabbed a hand full of roasted chicken that hubby made a special trip to two different grocery stores to find one last night. I started in the living room right in front of the fire place. I would sit a piece of chicken a few inches from Pebbles and she would walk to get it. Then again and again and again, till she had walked the length of the living room. out the door, onto the porch and to the end of the porch!! I was so proud of her!! Tears were streaming down our faces. For the first time since Monday, I think she is going to be ok. She will never be the same again, but she can move now and that makes us all happy. Thank God for the wonderful man that invented this wheelchair and makes is available for handicapped pets. Thank you again for all the good thoughts and prayers.
Hugs,
Lynn

yeah, Pebbles finally slept and ate!!!!

Pebbles woke up from an almost 4 hour nap! She has eaten a bowl of roasted chicken and drinking water!! Hubby said I should get online and update all my blogland friends.
He was in tears watching her eat and drink! I tell you, I am married to an awesome man who loves our furbabies as much as I do and  does not complain about spending money on them. Some of his family{inserted evil MIK} tells him we are crazy to spend that amount of money on a dog!! Oh, just so you know, the furbabies do not like the evil MIL, doxies are such a great judge of character!!
Just keep us in your prayers! We appreciate all the kind words and prayers from my blogland friends.

to all who are getting blizzard conditions, be careful, stay warm, and stay home! We watched the Weather Channel and they say that all the Governors of the states that are being impacted have said to the residents to stay off the roads! I would love some snow though, just not 20 plus inches!


Hugs,
Lynn, Duane, Pebbles, Bella, Sarge, and of course Cocoa Puff

Update on Pebbles

Okay, did you know that furbabies can fight sleep just like human babies??? I didn't know this either until the last 48 hrs with Pebbles. She is so nervous and fidgety and has no control over her bladder at this moment, which mean keeping her on puppy pads. Ok, again, just like a human baby, Pebbles, will cry out when she has soiled her pad to be changed. This started Wednesday night. Okay, we were up every couple of hours to change her pads. During the day Thursday, I tried to keep her awake as much as possible so she would sleep last night. Well, guess what, she didn't sleep. I got up and brought her into the living room and stayed in the recliner so hubby could get some shut eye because he has to work. Ok, this is when the fighting sleep began. I have never seen a furbaby do this. She was so sleepy but would hold her head up as high as possible and if she started to nod off and the head fell down, that would wake her back up. So, we have had this situation going on for the last 26 hours.
Her wheelchair was delivered around 1pm today! Hubby put it together and got her hooked up in it and she did a little walking but got very nervous and started panting like crazy so hubby took it off and we brought her back in. We fixed her a bed on the back of the love seat in the sitting room where hubby watches TV. Well, she would nod off for a little bit and then back to fighting sleep again.

Very happy to report that she has been asleep for almost 3 hours now and is snoring nicely! She still is not eating. She is drinking plenty of water but we are hoping that since she is getting some  sleep tonight she will wake up in a better mood tomorrow and begin to eat again. We put her in the chair for another try before she finally gave up and fell asleep. She took steps and walked to me when I called her. I will confess that both hubby and I were sobbing when she walked with the wheelchair.
the company included a whine up dog in a wheelchair in with the supplies they sent. We decided that we are going to order her the other set of hind leg supports for a little more comfort. Her belly is also got like diaper rash from laying on the pads when wet, so I am treating that with destine! I know, it is crazy isn't it!!! But, I mean it, these furbabies are such a big part of our lives. I will try to get some pics of Pebbles in her wheelchair and post them tomorrow.

I also got my box of goodies from Elizabeth. Thank you so much for all of the wonderful goodies you included. I also got my 5 hearts from the swap that Debby from Cozy Blanket hosted. Thank you ladies so much. I did not make it out and about today, and not planning on going anywhere tomorrow. I am dog tired. I have been up with Pebbles so hubby could sleep and I am exhausted. Also, doing all the laundry that she is generating, going up and down the stairs many times a day, so I am aching in my lower back. But, I will promise to get them in the mail on Monday. I am so sorry and I hope you ladies will understand.

Hugs to all,
Lynn

Prayers Please

I really struggled with sharing this info or not and then I decided we could use all the prayers we can get. On Sunday, we celebrated our oldest furbaby, Pebbles, 14th birthday. It was a few days late she was born on Jan. 30th but that was super bowl Sunday that year and hubby wanted to do her party on super bowl Sunday. So she and the rest of the furbabies enjoyed the bite size cupcakes and various doggie treats. We watched the Super Bowl and then all went to sleep. During the day Monday, she began to limp on her back legs. She had back surgery in 2005 and they removed discs and fused her spine together. Well, by the time hubby got home around 5 pm she had lost the use of her back legs. A trip to the vet on Tuesday, confirmed our nightmare that she wouldn;t be able to use those legs anymore. They gave us the option of putting her to sleep but we said no, she isn't suffering, she just can't use her back legs anymore. So, we got online and researched and ordered her a pink mini dog wheelchair that will fit her back and back legs and she will be able to be mobile again! I hope it gets here soon. It is coming from NH so I called the company to see if I should pay the 50 for 3 days shipping or how long they thought it would take to get here with the standard shipping of 22.00. They said 3 days max so not to spend the extra money. Please say a prayer for us and me especially. I am home alone with her most of the day to around 5pm when hubby gets home. So, I have to lift and carry her outside to potty and then back in again. She is a chunkie monk at 20lbs so it is causing me some pain in my lower back and legs but I will do it till the wheelchair gets here. I just hate to see her like this. the videos and testimonials of the people who have dogs that have lost the use of their back legs all praise this wheelchair. So, we are hoping that it will help her and we are going to try to get her to loose a few pounds as she can't drag herself with her front paws because she is a little chunky. She has been thorough a lot since she was born. She had the back surgery and then the next year she had to have bladder stones removed so now she only can drink distilled water. We love our furbabies so much and it is killing us that one of them is in distress. Bella can sense that there is something wrong and she will snuggle as close as possible to Pebbles and it is the sweetest thing to see. I have not been out of the house except to take her outside since Saturday. So, I have packages to mail and hubby gets off at 11am on Fridays so I can go to the post office then to mail out my swap packages. I am so sorry that they are delayed in getting to you. I just don't feel comfortable leaving her home by herself during this time. Please keep Pebbles and our family in your prayers.

I would like to ask you to also pray for a fellow blogger. Angie from Just a lil rageddy blog is having a hard time of it. She got hurt on the job in 2011 and had back surgery. She never got any better. She is going to have to have another surgery at this end of Feb. She has also been diagnosed with other severe medical conditions. She is a single Mom to a six year old girl. She has no income except a survivor benefit from her daughter's father. That small check keeps her from getting any further aide and it barely pays the rent. She is a wonderful person, she was the first to do a swap with me when I started blogging. Linda from Parker's Paradise is having a blog sale to raise money for Angie. Debbie from Cozy Blanket has also blogged about Angie. Please help out this fellow blogger anyway you can. I can only imagine dealing with all the physical pain and emotional issues all by yourself.
Thank you ladies.
Hugs,
Lynn

Be Careful

Hello,
I thought I would share something with you. Today we received two phone calls and the caller ID
said private name, private number. The 1st call, I picked up the phone and said hello, no one answered,just a strange clicking sound, and then a busy tone. 2nd call, Hello, this is John from Windows tech support. There is something wrong with your computer. I asked how he got our number and that there was nothing wrong with our computer. If he was from Windows, he would know we have two computers in the house, he would not give me the name, address, and info for his business. I hung up on him after I asked how he got our number, and to not call us again. I did some research on the computer. Just put in the search window, someone calling from Windows. This is a scam!! They get people to fall for this and allow them entrance into their computer by following the list of things they tell you to do with your computer. They have scammed people out of 49.00 to over 500.00 dollars. Oh, the caller has a thick Indian accent,they are not calling from the US. I found out they have tried this scam in Great Britain and other countries also.Please if you get a call from these people just hang up. Pass this on, someone elderly or the really young people may fall for this an allow them to access their computers. Once allowed in the computer, they can get your personal and business info. I read that this has been reported to the FTC so hopefully they can find these people and shut them down. I have been angry and upset all evening because of this, it just irks me that people try to take advantage of other people. We try not to sign up for giveaways at the fairs and events like that so they can't have our number and we try to always ask that companies we do business with not to sell our info to other companies. It just makes me so mad!!!!!

Have a great week ahead!
Lynn

No Snow

Ahh, so sad here!! No snow, well a little did manage to stick but not even enough to cover anything!! It was so pretty while it was falling last night!! It didn't get cold enough to stick while the snow was falling. Areas east of us got anywhere from 2 to 4 inches! It was nice to see the sun come out today!
Hopefully it will dry up all the rain from the past week!!

To all who are expecting really cold temps next week, stay warm!
Have a great weekend!
Hugs,
Lynn

Cross your fingers and say a prayer please!

Hi,
I've been working on decorating the house for Valentine's Day and working on some swap goodies!!
The reason for the title of today's post is SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Weather Channel said we may get 2-6 inches of the lovely snow this evening and over night!! It hasn't snowed in our area of North Carolina since the winter of 2011!! Hubby and I are like big kids when it snows. We will sit up all night and watch the flakes fall by the light of our deck! So, asking for some prayers that we will get the much needed and wanted snow!! We didn't have much of a winter last year and our area is being taken over by the dreaded stink bugs!!! I hate those bugs!! They are everywhere!!!So, I am wanting some cold weather to freeze them out!!

Have a wonderful weekend. If it snows, I will post pics!
Hugs,
Lynn, Pebbles, Bella, Sarge, and Cocoa Puff

A Special Saturday

Hi,
Hubby and I had a wonderful time yesterday! We went to the Monster Truck Jam in Greensboro, NC!! We are blessed to have 2 wonderful great-nephews! We went to see them Friday evening and just to hang out with our sweet niece and her family. Well, they started talking about going and see the Monster Trucks because the 4 year old, Jadison, loves those big trucks!  The boys begged us to go and we said are you sure and the 4 year old responded, yes, and you can ride with us there is enough room.

So, we sat off for Greensboro around 3pm. We got there and ate dinner at Stamey's BQ! It was very good BQ. Then we went over to the coliseum and went in. My nephew works for Advance Auto Parts and they were sponsoring part of the event and were handing out pit passes to get up close to the big trucks. ! Hubby took a pic of me standing beside one of the tires on the truck. It was a good 12-18 inches above my head!!!! At one time I was an even 5 foot tall, but with all the back surgeries I have shrunk some and it isn't funny, I think I am like 4 feet and 1o inches now. I have been short but dang this is getting crazy.
Anyway watching my sweet 4 year old great nephew watch the super big trucks and the expressions on his face was well worth the price of the tickets and the pain from riding and all the step climbing that I thought I wouldn't make it for a little bit! Jadison has the blondest hair and the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. He had a dirty face , so I was using baby wipes to clean it, and he has the sweetest little dimple on his chin, and I would laugh and say Jadison, you have all kinds of dirt in that sweet dimple and he would just laugh and give me hugs and kisses. Ah, pure joy, and the evening was priceless.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week. If you haven't got the flu yet, you can still get the flu shot!
Take care and hug all of your love ones tonight!
Lynn

Paying it Forward in 2013

Hello ,
I have decided to join in a project that is sweeping through blogland and on facebook too I hear.
I am joining Tammy at the Primitive Place blog on paying it forward.

I have been so  blessed since I began blogging a year or so ago to meet some of the most sweetest people in the world. I was amazed to find others that loved and collected the same things I do! Really, my online friends get me more than the friends and some of my family in the read world do!!! It always amazes me when I will have a member of my extended family tell me they have no ideal what to get me as a gift!! I tell my husband how can anyone that visits our home not have a clear ideal of what we love and collect?? Anyways back to paying it forward. I am copying and pasting from Tammy's blog so I don't mess it up!

2013 Creative Pay It Forward....

the first 5 people to comment on this post stating “they would like to Join In” will receive something from me sometime this year.

I don't know yet what it will be???

Maybe a handmade creation, or a prim candle, a vintage card, or a decorating book, ???

Just what ever comes to my mind or spirit.

I can promise that it will only be a type of item that I would want to receive myself.

There is one small rule and then one catch to this offer.

The one rule is…

This is open to USA and Canada bloggers only. Sorry but international shipping has gotten outrageous.

As for the “Catch”…

The first 5 people to request to be included must make the same offer on their blog and follow through with the giving.

*You must say you want to join in on the PIF in order for your comment to be counted.

Lets spread a little Love this year, my friends.

What do you say??

Wanna join in??

 I hope that you will join me in this!

Hugs,

Lynn

Happy New Year

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I pray and hope that 2013 will be a better year
for all of us.

Hugs,
Lynn