Moving, Moving and Moving

Oh my gosh it's been a busy past couple of weeks!! Chris has moved into his own apartment...He and a friend from work have taken the big rental plunge together. It's a nice apartment complex on a golf course..neither play golf..but next summer I can see them both hanging out at the pool and checking the views out (and I'm not talking about the golf course!). So here is a pic. of the view from their front window. It's really pretty and across the 'pond' is the club house.

So...after the announcement from Chris that he was moving out things sorta snowballed. It became necessary to find Lance and Nathan an apartment. Thankfully I found one right a way and I have to pat myself on the back!!! I love this little place! To me it's 'homey' and I do mean that in the old fashioned way. It's in a quite area of Bentonville and the security can't be beat since it adjoins the Walmart general office's property. Nathan took pics but hasn't sent them to me yet. But I did take a few pics of the necessities of a bachelor life and a pic of them on the phone trying to get their internet hooked up! Okay these pics are at the top of the page....my laptop has decided to go stupid...or...maybe it's the operator....

So anyway, we have a HUGE storage unit in Rogers that is holding the household items/furniture that we couldn't get moved all at one time to Mtn. Home or situated with the boys. So we'll go through it a little at a time and then rent a moving truck and bring it home. Plus we have to get our house ready for it! Which involves repairs and moving my mother's things up to her house....slowly but surely.

Okay, gotta get around and take our beautiful Shasta to the vet!!! I think she'll finally get her first shots today!!!! I can't wait to see how much weight she's gained and for Dr. Robbie to see how well she's doing! She is so spoiled!!!

Finally some Good News!

It's time for some good news.....I haven't blogged about the latest additions to our family because it's been so hard. Bailey (our Bassett) and Buster (our Boston Terrier) gave us 14 precious babies on July 27. One didn't survive delivery. Bailey had a really difficult life before we adopted her last October, we can only imagine what she indured. So because of her past she wanted nothing to do with her little ones. She gave birth and that was that....thankfully I had two extra hands with my mom! Between the two of us we took the majority of the pups out of the sac and cut the cord and tied it off....and then went to feeding every two hours! Plus hubby helped with the feedings. When I fed by myself it took almost 2 hours to get all 13 fed...I'd get done just to start all over again. A lot of sleepless nights. Well.....it appears that the Good Lord has some Angels who really needed some precious puppies. Over 5 weeks we lost all but one puppy, Shasta. I went through so many pairs of contacts with all the tears....the puppies started developing hip issues and I feel that many were underdeveloped. So when only Shasta was left I took her to the vet that day...mom and I couldn't figure out what was wrong...neither of us are inexperienced with raising puppies and we knew we were doing everything right...but there had to be something we were missing. Thankfully we took Shasta in when we did...because she had so many issues she wouldn't have survived..but it was also comforting to find out that we had done everything we could to save the other 13...it was simply a no win situation from the beginning due to the fact of such a large litter and no immune system from their mother. The pain is still there from loosing all my little babies. When I took Shasta in Dr. Robbie was not very positive on our chances of even saving Shasta. She is most deffinitely a special needs baby or 'baby in a bubble'. She has absolutely NO immune system. Plus mommy passed on worms and a really horrible parasite to her through the womb. Her stool sample was horrible 10 days ago. Robbie gave her a 50/50 chance of survival and that was very generous. Well, today she went to see Dr. Robbie and she has gone from 1.8 pds to 2.3 pds!!!!!! in just 10 days and her stool sample was perfect!!!! So we have made it through a week and a half with flying colors!!! We take it one day at a time and then celebrate each week! She won't go back for 3 weeks (unless I feel she needs to) and then we'll evaluate and she'll possibly be ready for her first shots. She's going to be approximately 2 months behind other puppies on getting shots and such. Dr. Robbie was very impressed with 'mommies' meal concoctions for her!!! Only the best for my baby! So above is a picture of Shasta several weeks ago....and above that one is a picture of Liberty born about 2.5 weeks before Shasta and her siblings. Liberty is Shasta's best friend....and Shasta likes nothing more than beating the crap out of her! Liberty isn't much bigger than Shasta so their relationship works out good and Dr. Robbie said it was fine....she needs the stimulation and activity. Shasta also has a skull problem...when she first saw the Dr. he was real apprehensive about this issue. It's the same as newborns having a soft spot on their head..only Shasta's will probably never grow together completely. So that means that parasites can get in through her skin into her skull and also we have to be careful with blows to her head because there's no protection. But Dr. Robbie was surprised that the split has gotten smaller in the past 10 days...something he didn't expect! So we're hopeful....but careful. Shasta has her play crib in the family room and loves to play with her mama Bailey and Aunt Sadie through the mesh....Liberty has also figured it's safer to play with Shasta through the mesh also..I thinks he gets tired of being beat up by a 7 week old puppy!!! I thought my days of mixing formula and buying baby food was past....well, I guess not! But if it keeps our Shasta healthy then it's worth it. Shasta has such a sweet spirit, even when she's growling and barking! Each time she's gone to the vet she's made new friends and made an impression on the other patients and their human parents....and her Dr. thinks she's adorable!!!! And as a special needs puppy mom...it's great to have a vet who you've gone to school with from kindergarten and can renew a friendship with! Thank you Dr. Robbie....who would have thought that bratty boy would turn into my hero!

The View From My Window!

Yes! I get to see this site every afternoon! We have several deer that come up to our back door to check on us and have their evening meal. The little one still has her/his spots!! It's soooo cute! Sometimes they pay a morning visit as well but mainly keep to their afternoon/evening schedule. I'll stand at the window and wave to them. Behind our home is the fields of clover that we planted for my horses. I'm so glad the clover keeps coming up and these lovelies can enjoy it.

So yeah, I know it's been a while.....Time just gets away some times. Terry is loving it here although he's fed up with his schedule and no one wants to change it to make it any easier. He changed it but then was told that it can't be done that way for one reason or another....mainly BS! I am enjoying the move also. It's nice being back close to family and attending family events like my nephew's birthday party and the emergency call that he was in the hospital!! He's fine now...had to have his appendix removed. It was nice not having to worry miles away...I could worry close by in the surgical waiting room.

The draw back has been the amount of work that needs to be done on our new home. Oh my goodness!! Our To Do list has doubled and naturally the cost has tripled. Putting off getting these estimates for the repairs...we'll just deal with as it comes. If we didn't have bad luck we'd have no luck at all!

So my dear Bloggie, I will try to do better and keep you updated more often. But right now I have to get ready to take Shasta to the vet....I've lost 13 of her siblings...just can't take the chance of more heartbreak....have to do everything I can to keep her safe.

Last Day

Well today is the last day of work out of the Bentonville office for hubby. Not sure how sad he is to be leaving here. I know he's going to miss a lot of his customers and many of the guys he works with...however, the big boss here will not be missed! So as he was saying good bye to everyone I spent most of the day in the Drs. office trying to get my blood pressure down. It did it's little spike thing and decided to impress the Dr. with a whopping 200/153!!! So Doc hit it with all sorts of combinations of pills and finally after 2 hours brought it down to an almost reasonable level and then sent me home feeling totally wiped out. So then I slept most of the afternoon with Bailey beside me and Sadie and Buster at my feet. So more drugs to take and instructions from Doc! Darn I forgot to get that note from him saying all I could do is sit and supervise with all this moving going on! Not sure when we will head over to MH to get started on getting the house ready for us to at least live in...thankfully we can still move in before fixing the things that need to be fixed. I still have to go grocery shopping for the boy so they won't starve. Okay, getting off so I can go pick up all those prescriptions and get something for supper together.

Reality is Depressing

Yeah, I knew it was coming soon and I really, really thought I was ready...but now I'm not so sure. I've spent all week here in MH helping my mom sell and take some of her stuff up to her home and I've been okay. But tonight hubby gave me the date of July 6 as the day he has to be in Batesville...OMG...I'm NOT ready! I want my dogs, cats and birds here with me!!!! And I just don't see how we can bring them over yet when everything is in such a disorder...ceiling has to be replaced painting done and we don't even have a bed to sleep in yet. I think this is only second to the overwhelming feeling I had when we moved back to AR from GA and left Lance and Chris there in GA. I really could just sit down and cry... So if you come by please bring kleenex!! So anyone involved in this ordeal reading this I'm sorry...I'm not out to hurt feelings...this is my own battle with myself. I am happy to be moving close to family I just have to wrap my head around everything else going on and deal with everything that needs to be done. I don't think it's odd for me to be feeling overwhelmed at a time like this. I'm going to miss my boys even though I can visit them a lot....they won't be with me daily...even though it's a bit much at times. I'm a mother hen who doesn't like my chicks out of the nest...and yes I do remember how old they are. But they're my babies...

Life Happens

Just when you think you have a plan LIFE HAPPENS! As mentioned before we have a plan set up to 'eventually' move back to Mtn. Home. It's a year to year and ahalf plan that will/would work out great for us!! It's all set up, even on paper..it looks so good! Then LIFE HAPPENS..hubby was offered a transfer starting basically immediately...or at least within the next 2 weeks. Uhhhhhh.... They're re-routing and wanting to get rid of the current tech on this route and have offered it to my hubby. There is so much to do to our new home...and we thought we had so much time! If we wait the position may not ever come available again...so do we have a choice. Is this a God Wink? My mother who storms Heaven daily.....she says she hasn't been praying that we move soon...she's been praying that we move at the right time......I might need to add that in the past her prayers have proven to have great strength! She must have a lot of pull with someone! At least we won't be pulling up with a moving truck...it will still be a gradual move and we will have a lot of time to get our stuff there....it's just the stress of having two households! WOW..and do I need to mention the stress on the boys??? Is live ever easy????

Date Night

I know we should do it more often but it just seems we don't get the chance but this weekend hubby and I had 'date night'. I'm so stingy a movie was not included! Our date nights are usually a little unconventional...we started the evening out at Lowes...yes, Lowes and then we headed to Home Depot!!! Oh it was wonderful!! So then we went to Carraba's. We'd never been there and had wanted to try it. It was very good...high prices for what you get but good. Then we headed to Borders to browse the books. I found the neated 'Home Journal'!!! It has divided areas and each area comes with pages to hold those fly away things like paint samples! and there's measurement pages for laying out rooms!! It's just what I need for the home project we're tackling!! Plus the cashier gave me about 35% off my purchase!!! I love my Borders card! Then we were off to Barnes & Noble...not such a great experience. I'd never been in this store since we moved here and I doubt I'll be heading back anytime soon. It looked like a homeless shelter! People were laying in the aisles! Spread out all over the furniture and was totally discusting! Plus the workers were just plain rude and unavailable. The books weren't neatly placed on the shelves like they are at Borders. And then you have to purchase their card to get a 10% savings...I Don't Think So!!! I believe this was my first and last visit to Barnes & Noble. I'll stick with Borders where people are friendly, it dosen't look like a homeless shelter and I can find the books I'm looking for easily and don't have to step over bodies to get to the books!