Wishing you a...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This time of year, I have to stop and think of all the blessings in my life. My family, my husband, my dogs, my friends and just living this life! Even though I have some rather severe back and neck issues, I still am in relatively good health compared to a lot of people out there. I am thankful for that! This year I have added 2 son in laws AND a grand baby to my family. I love how our family continues to grow. The circle of life goes on! I hope everyone out there has many things to be thankful for. I want to thank all of you, too! Have a wonderful day, enjoy whatever it is you do. Huge Hugs to you all!
PS. Maddux is doing pretty well considering what he has gone through. He has a long way to go, but he is better. Thanks everyone.

Mr Buck, will you ever be done?

I am feeling like I will never finish this page! I dont know why, but I am not enjoying it like I did the other pages. I just feel kind of blah about the whole thing! I have been so busy making sure Maddux is ok and doing everything for him, filling last minute Christmas orders with various people and worrying about Thanksgiving, the Wedding etc that I just cant get into this project. Maybe after Thursday huh? I miss looking at everyone else's progress and making comments on them too. Just to darn busy right now! Gotta slow down and take care of myself too.

Hubby is deer hunting for the weekend. He will be home tomorrow in about enough time to eat and leave for work. He works a strange shift, 2pm-11pm. Makes it hard to get anything done. BUT, at least he is working! The GM plant is closing here in another month. I feel so bad for those people. Then we all have to worry about losing our pensions and medical coverage if General Motors goes bankrupt. Lets pray that doesn't happen! Geez, some good news would be nice for a change! Thanks for stopping by. You will know when this page is done because it will be a happy day for me! You will probably hear my woo-hoos wherever you live. I just hope hubby doesn't come home with a real buck or doe. He would be upset with me if he knew I was saying that, but its how I feel!

Maddux

Just a quick update on Maddux. We got his culture results back today (finally) and he has 2 serious infections. He has Strep B which is a nasty infection that can cause Toxic Shock Syndrome, Sepsis (blood poisoning) and the Flesh Eating Virus. He also has Staph infection. We have him on Ciprofloxin now 1000mg twice a day. We still don't have the sensitivity results back from the culture so we don't know if this is the correct antibiotic or not yet. I should hear either Sunday or Monday. The cipro seems to be holding the infections where they are, so that's good news I guess. Still no appetite to speak of, but Bubba is drinking well, so that's something! He is hanging in there for me. Poor baby! He tolerates the daily scrub-down of the sores he has which has got to be extremely painful for him. We have to leave the antibacterial shampoo on his skin for 15 minutes which seems like an eternity. I just talk to him and rub his cute little face and he listens to every word I say. Such an angel! I wish you could all know him, he is so special. He makes even people that don't like dogs fall in love with him. If you are a dog lover, you would adore him. I will update Mr Buck later today! Hes coming along, winding down! YAY!

My Butterfly

Well, she is mine, but not made by me. She was made by Lynn of beading heart art who is one of the most talented and sharing people I have had the privilege of coming across in the bead world. I commented on several of her butterflies on her blog and told her if she would ever make a chocolate and blue combination, I might have to come and tackle her for it. I didn't have to tackle her, she made one and sent it to me. Can you believe my good fortune? I thought I really like her bead work until I actually owned a piece of it. Now I know I LOVE it! This is truly a gift and at a much needed time for me too. Bless you and thank you so much Lynn. Your generosity and friendship means more to me than you could ever know.

Maddux update: not much more to report. We are still waiting to hear the culture report to see if he is on the right medication for this infection. The NY specialist had many suggestions for my Vet and they are working together to try to figure out the correct protocol for Maddux. She informed me about the rareness and seriousness of this illness. Its not like I don't already know since I am the one taking care of him. She made it all sound so grim. I hope we can prove her wrong.

Quick update

I just wanted to fill in those of you who are following Maddux's story. Had another trip to the Vet this afternoon after finding several huge blisters on his tummy and flanks. He has Toxic Shock Syndrome! It was brought on by his extremely high fever Saturday night. This poor baby doesn't get a break. We had it cultured to be sure he is on the correct antibiotic for this virus. We will get preliminaries tomorrow hopefully. Throughout all of this, his little tail still wags for his mama. I stopped at McDonald's on the way home and got him a double cheeseburger. He ate the whole darn thing! His temperature is down to 101.5 which is great. Now we have to get him to get feeling better. I am doing lots of research and contacted a Vet in NY who specializes in Shar Pei Fever Syndrome. She is calling me tomorrow. I hope she can help us. If she cant, no one can! Maddux says thank you to everyone for all their prayers. He sends out big slobbery kisses to you all!
Tomorrow I will post something I got in the mail on Monday. Be prepared to have your socks blown off! I know mine were. Boy, that didnt just date me did it??
HINT: its from Lynn of beading heart art if you haven't already, you have GOT to look at her blog. This is one talented, sweet lady. Hugs to everyone!!

No Update on Mr Buck

I just plain havent had time to work on him. Once again, I have a sick dog. Saturday night after Mike and Jess left, I noticed Maddux was walking stiff legged again. That is not a good sign. Took his temperature and it was 104.1. Not horrible, but not normal either. So I pulled out the new wonder drug I got from the vet and gave him a double dose of it as I was instructed. Waited 45 min, took the temp again 105.6. It should not have risen after a double dose of the new med. SO, off we go to bed, out come the cold wet towels, 1 for him to lay on, 2 rolled up to put in his groin area, 1 rolled up to put in his arm pit area, 2 over his entire body. I also turned the fan on him. When Maddux is sick he wants to practically lay on top of me, so I am soaking wet with a fan on me too freezing my butt off! Anyway, we lay like that for another 45 min, take his temp 106.8. Now i am freaking out. this is the danger zone. I start to cry, like thats going to do any good. I am rotating the towels and re-wetting them every 15 minutes. By this time is 2am and I cant get the darn fever to break. SO, I call my poor vet at home. He tells me to give him 100 mg of rimadyl. I do and retake his temp 1/2 hour later. 105.6. Better. We continue to do the wet towels for another hour. Finally at 4am he is 104.9 and sleeping. I am not sleeping. In fact, I didnt sleep all night. I was watching him, crying and worried beyond belief. Yesterday he was ok. Ran a fever all day but nothing above 104.5. During the night last night, I was petting him and checking his belly to see if he was burning up and felt something weird. Turned on the light grabbed my flashlight and looked at him. To make a long story short, he has about 20 blisters full of infection, its that darn strep infection again (the same one that causes flesh eating virus) another middle of the night call to the vet, wake hubby up to go to Walgreens (thank god for them being open 24 hours) and Maddux is now on 1000mg of Cephalexin 2 times a day for 2 weeks. I feel so bad for him and am so worried about him and how many times his poor body can go through this. I am just hoping he can remain strong and get through this again. Wish us luck!

Mr Buck Update!

Here is my latest update for my November Bead Journal Project! I will be so happy when he is done, it seems like I have been working on this page for months now! I am pretty happy with how it is progressing. I wish now that I hadn't done the pine trees. It seems to me that they are just kind of plopped in there with no rhyme or reason. I think my favorite part has to be the birch trees. For not having a clue what I was doing, I think they turned out kind of nice! I really like the texture and color of them. Its hard to tell in the photo, but I actually used 4 different shades of gold/yellow. This is a definite learning process.

My original plan was to do 2 pages for this month. That's not gonna happen! My youngest daughter Courtney has decided to get married with only about 3 weeks notice! Her boyfriend Brandon is supposed to be deployed in January, so they decided to do this before he leaves. Between that and Thanksgiving, I will be lucky to get Novembers page done! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day! The weekends just fly dont they? My daughter Jess and her husband Mike are coming over tonight to play some cards or watch a movie, so I am looking forward to that. Jess is a RN and works 3rd shift, so time with her is precious. Wish me luck on Mike and I kicking Jessisca and Chucks butts in Euchre! Its on Jess!!

Also, to everyone that is following along, Maddux continues to do very well. You would never know how sick he was such a short time ago! I am hoping his medications are working to keep his kidneys from failing! I know he is still sick, but its hard to believe right now. I am enjoying every minute I have with him, because we just dont know how long he will have. Keep us in your prayers!

Mr Buck can eat!

Well as you can see, Mr Buck can now eat. His crops are filling in nicely. I cant believe I didn't think they looked like crops before. they sure do now. At least to me anyway! I am really undecided on how to proceed with the sky though. Just cant picture how i want it to look. I still have to fill in more trees and fields first. Seems like my beaders block has lifted (for now) so maybe something will pop into my head on of these sleepless nights. I do know I want to continue with the fields to the right of the buck. I am still trying to figure out what color I want to do the antlers in. It will all come together, I know it will. Sometimes I just have something click in my head and I know exactly what I want to do. Other times, its a slow process, I do some work, don't like it and tear it out!

This afternoon I get to watch Kileigh for an hour while her Mom gets her eyes checked. That should be fun. I love playing with her! Makes me feel like a kid again. Well, maybe not a kid! Maybe a Mom instead of a Grandmother! I still don't feel old enough to be a grandma!

Hope every ones week is going well. I wish you all happiness and creativity!

Lucky? Who me?

Normally I would have to say no. BUT...Not today! I went to Pam's blog page my sweet cherry blossom where I saw she was having a little trivia contest. The winner was to receive one of her beautiful felted sheep. All I had to do was answer a question about I movie I just happened to be familiar with. Well, to make a long story short, I WON! I was the first person to answer the question. To say I am thrilled is an understatement. I got this cute little package in the mail on Saturday. I was so excited to open it, expecting to find a teenie little lamb. Well she is not teenie, shes about 6" high. The most adorable thing I have ever seen. Pam also threw in 3 of her crocheted acorns, which now have me wanting to make some. Gotta bribe my hubby to pick me up some acorn caps next time he goes hunting. Anyway, check out Pam's blog to find the tutorial on these adorable acorns. She also has beautiful bead work on her blog. She is multi-talented and also very generous! Thanks again Pam!

Look for an update on Mr Buck tomorrow! Happy Monday everyone!

Mr Bucks Progress Report

Well here he is, a little more done! I haven't had as much time as I would like to work on Mr Buck. I think I am ok with where it is going now. I think I need to give the process more time and not form an opinion so quickly. I need to have enough done to where I can actually form an honest opinion. I am learning that patience is not one of my strong points where my beads are concerned. I want it to be perfect and I don't think that's possible. I pick on my daughter Jess for wanting all her ducks in a row, maybe I need to tell myself the same thing. Sometimes the ducks just want to fly, not always be in a row!

I finally got my hair done today (highlights, low lights and cut) so I feel a bit more human. With Maddux being sick and my Hairdresser sick too, its been about 8 weeks since I got it done. I usually go every 5 weeks so I was looking a bit shabby. Tonight I have a candlelight mass where Hospice will read the names of every one of their patients that died in 2008. As many of you know, my Father passed away in January of this year. Just a couple weeks before Kileigh was born. I am dreading and looking forward to it both at the same time. It will be good to see everyone, but I am sure my emotions will be running high too. I miss him every day. Courtney and Kileigh are going with me. Jess has to work.

Thanks everyone who looks here for their feedback and support. It really means a lot to me. I love looking at everyone else's blogs and try to leave comments there as well. The support among BJP people is amazing!

Mr Buck (hit a brick wall)

I did not drop off the face of the earth! I have had something strange happen to me. I believe its called Beaders Block? I have heard of people having trouble working on certain pieces. I myself, have never had that happen...until now! I just do not know where i am going with this page. It seems like in my head, I know exactly what I want to do, what I want it to look like. Then comes the hard part, actually doing it and being happy with the results. The other night I had a vision pop into my head about doing something in the background that would look like crops in the field. What I ended up with, looks like a road with a strip of grass down the middle. So I stopped, put it away hoping it would look better today. NOPE! Maybe its because I have done so little of it and need to keep going with it. I just don't know. What pointers do any of you have about how you get yourself motivated when you hit the brick wall? Do you think it will look like crops if I keep going? Should I just tear it out and start over? HELP!!!!

PS. Maddux is doing pretty well. Not eating the best yet, but drinking and having little spurts of energy here and there! He made it throught this bout, lets hope its a long time before another fever hits. I dont think he could take much more after the severity of this episode. Thanks for all your care and concern.