Wowser.....October 1st Already!!

Hi there everyone. How are you all doing?!?! October 1st....my, how time flies. Sure glad August and September are gone, gone, gone!! Those were tuff months for me. JP was getting less hours at work, now we are reaping what has been sewn. 

Kylie was sick and we (or I) thought we would lose her. But she bounced back, she always bounces back. Vet did blood tests, and x-rays. ($400) They say, she may have cancer because they found a mass. She is not in pain the Vet says, so, we will just try and make her happy, with all her favorite things. She had a couple of seizures, but no more since the last one. I have been giving her hamburger and rice and she gobbles that up. Snubs her nose at Freshpet and Beniful….oh but hamburger and eggs..."two please" she says!! We will just go day to day with her. She gets around pretty good, is going blind and hard of hearing, but her sniffer still works good. So hard to watch a doggie go down-hill, but this little dog is a fighter and just happens to want to hang around a little bit longer. I have a picture of her at the end of this blog.

So following are some cards I made at Betty's. This seems to be my only outlet for now. The month of September I did not even touch making cards except for at Betty's.....not sure what is wrong. I need to get into the swing of things again. Hopefully, October will be a bit better for me. Card wise. Plus, I have a month to make cards for Hospice with the next meeting being November 2nd.

The end of this month I will be going to a Stamp Reveal party that I am involved with....someone sends me 6 images in 6 months and I do the same and we make cards from that image sent and cards from the image received...it's fun, but I am behind on that also. One more image to send, which I will do tonight.

I love the saying of the first card, "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a Butterfly" Betty had the saying and butterflies stamped and embossed already. We colored them in, sponged and stamped the dots. Cut out the butterflies so you could see the black background and added sequins and speckles.

Let's see....if I can remember  how this card was made above. We used copic markers to color in the can, flowers and pots. The background was those stamped dots and sponged ink, the beige was copic marker, then we layered the papers and added the bow.

This next card was pretty and very simple. A circle cut out then sponged in the blue, from dark to light. Stamped the flowers and saying and embossed. The dragon fly is a die-cut. Guess you could use a butterfly if there are no dragonflies in your stash.

This last card is a tree with the leaves and 'Thinking of you" around the border of the tree and truck. The truck colored with copic markers and cut out. Easy-Peasy if you have the car and tree. So many times we make cards and I would like to make more.....but alas, I don't have the stamps to make the card at home. Bummers!

So here is a picture of Kylie going to the vet for her x-rays...we were just leaving the driveway and I thought I better take a few pictures, before I forgot. She looks pretty perky here. I had to take her in at 8:30am and leave her there till we came to pick her up at 2:00pm for the consultation. So yeah, I was kind of nervous to hear what they would say. It was soooo quiet in the house, I do believe it's the dogs and cats that make a house a home. Don't you think?!?!?!?

Well time to close here, I hope I am more diligent in blogging this month....guess I experienced a few days of depression where I did nothing cause things around me seemed to be caving in. I got tired of seeing Kylie sick and JP dealing with his arm pains and sore feet. God knows I need a vacation, but there was no place to run to.

Hockey is starting, so if you don't see me around, I will be watching Hockey or football....Go Blackhawks and Go Packers!!! Hockey my number one passion then football. I understand Hockey better then I do football....and hockey is so much faster and when there is a check....it can be crushing. One guy got hit so bad last night they are not sure the guy hitting the other will even be playing or will be suspended. Have not heard on the guy that got hurt yet.

Well time to close here, JP will be leaving for work at 3:45pm and work 4 hours, if he takes his full 4 hours....time will tell!

I have to keep looking up, as I always tell my readers, better days are coming and I am still waiting for that too!!! Cheers ~ Louise

Kylie Wants Some Too

Hi there everyone....how you all doing??? I have been kind of quiet this past week. Working on taxes and getting all "those papers" organized. Who said, "with computers, we will go paperless??" I think someone was dreaming probably....hahahaha!

So, I am taking a night off from papers.....do you know, I have papers from all the way back to 2004 and older (those may be down stairs). I guess it is time to have all those papers shredded. Our bank does shredding, so as soon as I go through all those papers  pulling staples and paper clips off, should have a couple of bags.

Seven years is all I have to keep some stuff. I have "a list of things to save and how long." It looks like Bank reconciliations, Bank statements, duplicate deposit slips, ins. policies (expired) are less then 5 years. 7 years for accident reports, contracts, mortgages, notes and leases, expired. 7 years for stock and bond certificates (cancelled) and withholding tax statements.

Papers to keep permanently - checks (cancelled for important payments i.e. taxes, purchases of property, special contracts, etc. and those checks should be filed with the important papers pertaining to those payments. Contracts, mortgages, notes and leases (expired and still in effect). Insurance records, current accident reports and claims. Property appraisals and property records and tax returns and worksheets. Hope that helps someone...it does me.

So today I made this for JP's lunch. Three layers of French toast with bacon and fruit on each layer,  then topped with yogurt. Looks pretty good....huh?

See Kylie in the corner.....she is barking for a taste or a pieces of Daddy's lunch. She'll bark and bark till she gets a bite. I finally have to say, "that's enough Kylie" and she stops barking.

Here's another shot of that delicious three layered French toast, fruit and strawberry shortcake.

Barking, barking, barking. Kylie is 14 years old now. She has her days where she feels good, and days when she does not. I have changed her diet and give her less people food and "Beneful" and more "Freshpet". She also gets "Milk bones" and "Special Cuts" as treats. It all seems to be working. 

Just another shot of JP's lunch and Kylie barking.

So today, I started my Dr. Atkins diet again. Cutting out carbs (or just not eating as much) for about a month. The last time I did this diet was last July and lost 10 lbs. and have managed to keep those 10lbs off. My A1c was at a good number too. So I thought I would do it again. As my Blood test is in April....would be nice to have lost another 10-15 lbs. 

It is a high protein and low carb diet. Eggs and bacon or sausage in the morning. Salads for lunch and meats and vegies for dinner and not too much snacking in between meals. It's pretty doable for me and when I see the scale start moving down, I 'll get very motivated to keep going. I have 3 Dr. Atkin books for lot's of recipes and Walmart has Dr. Atkins bars and meals in the freezer dept. So I usually pick up a couple for breakfast or dinner.

I will let you know how things go the rest of this month and the beginning of March. Have to go now, it's getting late and I have to get JP's dinner ready. Pork chops, mashed potatoes and bean casserole and his left over lunch, French toast and fruit.

Have a good evening and keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise