pitterpat

Matthew and Ms Yuki came for a visit this last Saturday, which is always nice. Yuki is on strict bedrest due to her recent back re-injury, and she’s not too happy about it. Matt brought his bike down and went for a short ride so I took Yuki outside for a few photos. She has gotten pretty used to using the doggy door that the Bennets wonderfully donated from their dog Anna’s belongings. Whenever she goes outside with any of us we have her use that door instead of coming through the regular people entrance. Once through the door Yuki goes bounding onto the grass looking back with hope in her eyes at me that we will play ball and it breaks my heart.

A few weeks back when Matt and I took her into the vet because she was unable to bring her back legs up and get into a standing position I never expected to hear the him say she should have a sedentary lifestyle from here on out. Xrays of her back showed her discs to be in different states of chaos. Several discs up towards her neck area are fusing together, a result of the trauma she suffered from her being hit by the truck. Almost all the other discs have little to no space in between, are full of degeneration and bone spurs. As a result the vet said he was amazed that she even recovered and could walk after her amputation. Yet despite all this Ms Yuki has a happy heart. She shows such love and enthusiasm when she enters our house which of course makes us happy. Keeping her down will be another story. How do you ask a young puppy, because she still is that, barely 3, to live like a 15 year old dog? We love you Ms Yuki, thank you for bringing such joy to our lives. You are a blessing and a treasure.

38 years ago today my Aunt and Uncle’s house was abustle with preparations for our wedding. My mom Ruth, was helping my Aunt Lucy and Grandmother Eleanor with finalizing everything related to decorations and seating while my father George, was more than likely enjoying the company of my Uncle Jim. Something borrowed, something blue was taken care of. Jerry arrived at the house in Whittier and got busy washing the car in the open courtyard. My older brother Richard was there, but he arrived closer to the actual wedding ceremony. My younger brother Dan was trying to stay out of mom and Lucy’s way. Sadly enough Jerry’s family could not attend, something I know touches his heart and mine to this day. The ceremony would take place in front of the brick fireplace, yellow and white mums on either side of the hearth. A small table was set up off to the side of the room, the sheet cake and tierd cake placed on it, gifts stacked on the floor next to the table. Jerry’s friend Greg from college, was asked to be the photographer, Patty’s cousin Mags was the Matron of Honor, Jerry’s friend Jim the Best Man. It wasn’t until the time came for the ceremony to begin that I began to become very nervous. I’ve never been comfortable being in front of a crowd, and even though these were my relatives I was still shaking in my sandals. And then we were saying our vows, I was looking in his eyes and I was calm. My best friend and I were commiting to each other forever, for better or worse, in sickness and in health. Little did we know the road we would travel to get to where we are today, the struggles, sorrows, and joy we would face. We were so young, and naive. Yet looking back, yes, sweetheart I would do it again. Just give me a minute to see if I can still fit into that dress…..

Earlier last year with the help of a good friend I repainted our master bedroom and retreat. At the time we had our bed in the retreat area and my craft and computer desk were in the actual bedroom area. Waking up every morning to my craft/computer work space staring me in the eye, especially if I hadn’t picked everything up was beginning to drive my soul to distraction. Jerry reluctantly agreed to move our bed back into the actual bedroom area and my computer into the retreat area. As well, I moved my crafting area into the guest room so that it is now a combined guest/craft room. I love having all my crafts in one place and away from the place where I rest my head and soul at night. In this first photo you can see the retreat area where my computer desk is. The patio doors going out to our backyard are on the right with the door leading to the hallway and the rest of the house to the left by the mirror hanging on the wall.

As you can see the retreat area is just off the master bedroom and now where my computer desk is situated. The words “sleep dream inspire” on the archway were a rub on I bought at Lowe’s.

In the retreat area the window looks out to our narrow side yard. The yellow painted chest was my sister Dee’s as a child. I hand painted and left her signature written in red ink on the inside! The chair is a treasured keepsake; it was my grandmothers, handed down to my mom and then to me.

From the viewpoint of the bed you can see the vaulted ceilings in our bedroom. The patio door to the backyard is on the left, the master bath and hallway to the right. The area above the closets screams for a big screen TV. Let’s not get greedy!

Looking towards the master bathroom and down the hallway out towards the rest of the house.

As you enter the master bedroom from the hallway you see the patio doors leading out to the backyard.

The new and improved craft/guest room. We have a full sized-full height blow up mattress that we place in this room for guests. I made the scalloped toile curtains, the design is of children playing outdoors and one of my favorite pieces of fabric. The adorable face pillow is on loan from gf Beth and hard to give back to her! The beads on the wire silhouette frame are from Disneyland !!!!

The wicker seat is vintage and something I found at a garage sale for $20.00 It has a lot of room and currently stores blankets. And Yes Virginia there is a Santa Claus and that is a christmas tree in the corner which holds all my Tinkerbell ornaments. Jason’s trophy from high school track sits beside the vintage dolls, not sure how he feels about that

So I’m all excited about adding Skype to my new laptop because it has a video camera. Got it done. Then, and I don’t care if those of you out there don’t believe this next part is true or not, but I no sooner get comfortable on our recliner, turn on the big TV and turn on my laptop then I see our good friend Ron in Georgia requesting a Skype phone chat. And all I did was bring up the internet! Honest. Ask Jerry. The same thing happened to him when he tried it. Of course I could decline, but then Ron would just call me back. Of course I could select “voice only” with no video. But then Ron would have a thousand questions. So sitting there on the couch in my pj’s with robe, hair a mess, no makeup I accept the phone from Ron from Georgia. And he starts in with “you called me”, haha! We had a splendid conversation with Jerry joining in, and ultimately figured out that yes my new computer is possessed! Jerry exersized that demon out of later in the day and now I can once again use my new laptop with no fear of it ringing up who knows who on my calling list while I’m not looking my best. Or can I?

Being young (Yuki turns 3 in July 2010) and playing hard with her girlfriends Koosh and Queenie is just a part of who Ms Yuki is. Watching her play brings a sense of her she is in full view, her love of life shines bright because she is full of life. Combine Yuki’s love of life and play with the damage her body took from being traumatically hit last year and the end result is she has suffered a relapse.

As of last night Yuki is unable to come to a standing position or support herself once helped to a standing position. Yuki’s hind feet are once again curling under, an indicator her vet has said is a clear sign her spine is involved. An emergency veterinary appointment this morning with Yuki’s father Matt, and I, showed us what was going on. Her vet took several xray’s today of her spine and the results were not good. The xrays of her spine show her disks full of calcifiation, spurs, fusion, & deterioration. The vet was suprised she has been able walk following her accident, amputation, & rehibilition. It appears she probably injured herself by just living a dog’s life. The vet did say that Yuki is not a candidate for surgery as there is too much damage. Instead the focus is on rest coupled with steriods. Yuki will be confined to a crate for 3 weeks, allowed only to leave to use the big outdoors as her bathroom! He is hopeful that within that time frame the swelling will go down and she will be able to walk again. So, after a stop at our local pet store, The PetStop to buy a crate, Matt has taken her home with him to begin the recouperation process. My heart goes out to both of them as once again they are faced with the struggles of Yuki’s injuries. Jerry and I love them very much and will be there for them if needed.

We had a quiet Christmas this year, with the exception of a wonderful visit from Jerry’s niece Kathleen from Japan. Those photos will follow this post when time allows. Jason stayed in Northern California, Matt came down for Christmas morning with Yuki and we traveled to San Diego to visit my family for their traditional Christmas day dinner feast.

Even though Jason wasn’t here I always hang his stocking. These stockings were made by my family, my grandma Eleanor Wight and other family members and I treasure them. My stocking is the oldest and in need of some repair. The stocking hanging on the right is Yuki’s. Love that girl! You can see her Christmas card photo that her dad took on the mantel.

Matt brought his new bike down for a ride before we headed down to family in San Diego. He’s become quite the bicycle buff, a great sport!

This is the story of Anna King, the beloved pet of some very dear friends of ours, Jill, Steve, Patrick and Alex. It is a condensed version mind you, but if you will linger a moment at each of the photos I am sure you will start to feel the love between this family and their dog that lasted for about 14 years.

Anna King’s mother was Jill, a school teacher and mother of 2 boys, Patrick and Alex, and wife to Steve. Bringing a girl into the family fold was a welcome addition. Anna was well aware she was the only daughter too, she was a smart cookie you see!

Anna loved birthday’s, in fact she loved any occassion where food would be in abundance and the possibility of her getting a handout was a sure thing. She also loved to be in the middle of the action. Anna wasn’t shy about coming up to you while you were in the process of opening a package and start sniffing it, in hopes of figuring out what it was. She was truly interested and figured she had just as much right to be in the middle of the party as the next person! In this photo she is checking out her youngest brother, Alex’s packages.

On occassion the wild animal in Anna King became unleased, and unable to control herself Anna would attack, rip and tear the wrapping paper and work herself into a frenzy as seen here in this still footage photo of Anna King The Beast! Note the wild red eyes!

As mentioned earlier Anna was all about food, and if it was a handout that was even better. She was not too proud to stand directly beside you at the diinner table and stare you straight in the eye. Leave a piece of pie unattended as our son Matt did once and Anna would walk up to it and inhale it faster than you could say “Anna, don’t….”! Yes, this only daughter of Steve and Jill’s had an appetite like a son!

Anna could also be cute, and do cute things. One of those was in true girl fashion. She liked to lay down beside her food and eat. I’m sure if she had a chaise lounge that would have suited her just fine too. Nothing was too good for this girl!

Over the years Steve and Jill had family photos taken with Patrick, Alex and Anna. Anna wasn’t always so sure about being in these photos. Sometimes she’d be real patient, other times not so much.

It could take several tries before they would end up with a decent photo that they could send out with the Christmas cards.

At least Anna kept it fun and entertaining. In this photo our son Matt is taking the photo for Steve and Jill and I am capturing what went down. As you can see from just this one photo Anna wasn’t having anything to do with it at one point!

This is the family portrait used for this year, 2009, sent out with their Christmas cards. Anna’s last year with the family.

You will be missed dear friend. We hope you are with Grandma Bennet now, and enjoying a good visit. It was a real pleasure knowing you. We are certainly better for it, and hope you realize how much you meant to us. See you later girl. Love you.

For the last several years Jerry and I have been celebrating his birthday with our good friend Karen and her hubby Terry, because Karen and Jerry are the same age and their birthday are 2 days apart. It only seems natural to include our long time friend Jill & Steve, whom we’ve celebrated holidays and our children’s birthdays & special achievements together since our kids were wee little ones.
ps…the photo does not do justice to my fairly new painted kitchen and tv room. the colors are not this harsh, instead they are a softer green and aqua.

This year we dined at Lucille’s, and our son Matt joined us. The food was plentiful and delicious. You may wonder why I didn’t use photoshop on this particular photo to correct Terry’s eyes. In actuality I did. He just occassionaly gets a wee bit of the pirate in him that even a fancy program can’t fix!

We came home to extend the birthday celebration a bit longer with a cake and presents. Cake toppers are kind of Terry and my department. This year for Karen we found a small Belle figure, and for Jerry I brought out of his own personal archives Ken, the street fighter character from a Nintendo game. After cake and ice cream, we opened gifts, which ended up including a couple of awesome blu-ray discs for Jerry. Steve and Jill gave Jerry one on the coral reefs so we all settled in and were awed not only by the quality of blu-ray HD but also by the new TV that we have! The movie was good too!

Earlier in the day Matt came down with his new bike and Yuki. We have some wonderful trails out here that make for great bike riding and Matt was able to get in a good 1/2 hour bike ride before we headed out to eat.

While this photograph turned out a bit blurry I still had to post it to show Ms Yuki sitting by grandpa. She came and did this on her own, she’s slowly warming up to him and it’s wonderful to see. We always love having Matt and Yuki down for a visit.

For Jerry’s 59th (eeekkk!!!) birthday he wanted to go to one of his favorite places; Fuddruckers in Lake Forest. And since we had a coupon for a free burger it was a done deal.

We go there often enough that everyone knows us, Holden, the manager always comes around and likes to chat, and Patricia is such a sweetheart. They are very good to us and their hamburgers and buns are the best in town.

After we ate we went into the back room where once a month they set up a stage for open mike night, which they do once a month. It ’s fun to watch the “young” talent, there was a pretty good turnout last night. Either Patricia or Holden told the announcer there was a birthday boy in the house and everyone sang Jerry a happy birthday, then Patricia brought him out a brownie. Talk about pampered and spoiled. Yes, it’s not a stretch to say that Patricia has a soft spot for my hubby! And I can see why, he’s very special. Happy Birthday sweetheart!

Target never ceases to surprise me with their clever new products, and sometimes they are even free as in this case. Hanging on the security bars as you enter the store one stormy day a week or so ago, were these neat umbrella bags to place your soggy umbrella in. Keeps your cart dry and you happy. Love it!