Cookbook Giveaway!

  Welcome to my very first giveaway! 

Buddy, My Black Lab

My posts lately seem to be about my pets.   We have two labs who normally stay outside, but when it's cold, they come inside.  One is a female blonde lab named Murphy.  The other is Buddy, a male black lab.  Both of them have been full of energy, loved us to death and if we so much as drove down the road for 10 minutes they'd greet us as though we'd been gone for months.

Wednesday night, I called Buddy inside and it took several times before he came around to the back of the house.  He was walking very slowly and acting rather strange.  He got inside and immediately I noticed he was wobbling and nout the normal Buddy.  He had no energy, and finally, his back legs collapsed.  He wouldn't get up off the floor and just looked at us with his sad eyes as though he was begging us to do something.  We thought perhaps he'd been poisoned somehow but decided to wait and see if he got better.  (Buddy is rather old.)  He fell several times when trying to get up off the floor.

He appeared to get some better, but was still moving slowly and had a hard time walking.  Last night, he got up and his back legs collapsed again and literally did the splits.  I decided to look online to see if I could find a diagnosis that might tell us what was wrong.  It appears he has arthritis in his hips.  One suggestion was to fix a place for him to sleep that was soft instead of a rug on a tiled or wood floor.  I got my sleeping bag out, folded it and he was able to finally get to it and lie down.   Shortly after, he needed to go outside so he managed to get up, walk over to my chair and that's when his legs collapsed again.  I managed to help him get outside and do his business.  Once we got back inside, he immediately laid down and wouldn't get up.

We don't know what to do.  We do not want Buddy in pain and certainly cannot afford a vet bill.    What in the world do we do about Buddy?  All he does is lay on the floor and sleep when he can, so I know he is in pain.

Has anyone experienced this with their pet?  HELP.  The thought of losing Buddy just kills us and I've laid on the floor with him and cried, not knowing how to help.  I don't want my sweet Buddy's life to be miserable.  We'd all be lost without him as would Murphy.  They have always been together.  My two shih tzus even love Buddy and Murphy.

If you have any insight, please share with me.

Blogging - Ideas and Wondering What To Do With My Blog

How was your day?  Mine was rather busy doing laundry and cleaning.  Changed the bed linens today and I love crawling into freshly washed sheets after I have shaved my legs.  It's a simple pleasure of mine.  Do other women like that too?  Maybe I'm just weird in that respect.

I'm still trying to figure out what direction I want to take this blog.  There are opportunities in blogging and I'd like to explore them.  I'm just a normal, simple person.  There are blogs with giveaways to increase traffic to the sites and I'm considering that.  Eventually, I would like to make a little money with the blog but I'm not quite sure how to do it.

I'm trying to find a group on Facebook that I can connect with.  I want it to be interesting and something I can promote that people will actually look forward to reading; people I don't personally know.  Do you seasoned bloggers have suggestions?  I'd love to have your comments.

I'd love to have an online boutique of unique things.  That would require having suppliers, going to markets and reaching an audience that would shop there.  I have no clue how to approach this.  I've been researching so we'll see what happens.  If I had a boutique, I would want to have prices that wouldn't be out of range for the majority of people.   Just thinking out "loud".

Feel free to email suggestions to me.  The email address to use is:  bloggingnana@gmail.com or just post ideas or suggestions in the comment section.

For now, I'm ready to crawl into bed.  My eyes just want to close and I need sleep.

Sweet dreams and...

Be safe~!

Hair Color

In years past I had my hair professionally colored/highlighted and loved the results.   It got so expensive, I started using hair color products from Sally's or the drug store.  Well, the "do it yourself colors"  do NOT get rid of all the gray.  It may appear to be gone for a day or two, but after one shampoo, there they are, glistening brightly as usual.  I'm about fed up with it and am tempted to just let it all go gray.  If there's a particular brand that you know really works, please enlighten me (no pun intended).

I'm going to call it a day and go to bed.  Sweet dreams.

Just Rambling Again

First of all, I'm happy the Giants won the super bowl.  I was born and raised in Mississippi, Eli Manning went to Ole Miss and that's all that was necessary to get me pulling for the Giants!  Hubby and I watched the game.  This is only the second or third time that we've watched the super bowl without one or both of our sons here.  It still feels strange, but after having Andrew since Thursday it was rather quiet until late in the fourth quarter and by then we were both yelling and clapping. 

Speaking of Andrew...he was such a sweetheart this weekend.  He's always a sweetheart but from time to time, he has his little contrary moments. Ha ha  I must say that by the time his mom came to get him, I was worn out.  

I love my dogs, Giz and Tiff.  Giz has gotten old and appears to have lost bladder control.  It is driving me nuts.  I don't know what to do about it.  I may have to resort to doggie diapers because I have reached the breaking point with having to clean up after him.  Tiff was sick this weekend and pooped several times inside.  I'm glad it was on the laminate floors instead of carpet.  However, they are ruining my floors and that's making me angry.  I make sure they go outside at least once per hour.    Maybe I'll just get a big dog cage and keep them in it.  Most of the time they are just sleeping anyway.  I just never liked the idea of them being caged up, but they cannot keep ruining my floors and I'm sick and tired of having to clean up after them.

It's time to have my nails filled in and my eyebrows need to be waxed.  Maybe I can do that tomorrow. I think doing a little something for myself might be good.   My hair hasn't been cut in over a year other than one time when my DIL trimmed the ends slightly.  It needs to be trimmed and colored, but that will wait.

I could ramble more, but I'm tired so I think I'll go to bed instead.

Be safe~!

Today Is Better!

My sweet sister, Ruth, sent me a CD to listen to by someone who spoke in their church.  It was titled, The Dip.  After listening to the CD, I immediately felt better on the inside.    God knows what we need to hear and when we need to hear it.  I cannot count the number of times He has used my sister to make sure I heard what He needed me to hear.

As a side note to my previous post about Friends/Mental Illness yesterday,  I do not think I would be alive today had it not been for my belief in God and knowing that He's there for me, even when I don't go to Him when I should.  He is faithful when I'm not and that's a majority of the time, I guess.  

I don't know how people who don't believe in God survive in this world without going absolutely insane.  I really don't.  I don't cram it down their throats, but everyone that I personally know, knows that I grew up in a Christian home and that I believe in God, Heaven and Hell and my prayer is that I make it to Heaven.

I make mistakes every day.  I don't live like I know I should.  I find comfort though, knowing that God knows and hears my prayers.  It's up to me to do better and I know that.  Maybe that's part of my depression and feeling lonely.  I'll have to do something about that myself and no one can help me.

In summary, I'm thankful that my sister loves me enough to send me CDs of things she knows I need to hear.  She's a blessing to me in so many ways every single day.  I love you, Ruth.

Friends

I miss my friends.  I keep up with some of them on facebook and blogs, but I miss having them nearby.  I miss having someone to come by and visit, someone to GO visit nearby, someone to meet for lunch, someone to watch a movie with, someone to go with me to browse in antique shops - someone to do anything with.   When I worked outside the home, I was busy and was not so lonesome.  I still missed my friends, but I wasn't so lonesome.  Does that make sense?  Maybe it was because I was so tired I didn't feel like doing anything.  I think if I lived closer to my sister it would solve this lonesome feeling.  Don't get me wrong,  I love my husband, my boys, my daughter in law and my grandson, but that's just not the same.  Surely I'm not the only one who feels like this. 

At 54 years old I would have thought I'd feel like I fit in somewhere.  I don't.  I would have thought I'd have a group of friends nearby.  I don't.   My life is not what I had expected it would be at this point.  Pardon my reflections.  I'm just venting how I feel.  I know this is not an uplifting, positive post.  That's not unusual for someone who suffers from manic depression and bi-polar.  Mental illness takes its tole in so many ways.  I can understand why I don't have a group of friends here.  Who wants to be around someone who is always drepressed?    Maybe I need to find a 12 step group for depressed people.  LOL  We might become friends. 

Believe me, I'd much rather be a happy upbeat person on the inside instead of having to try to fake it on the outside.  It is exhausting.  Some days are better than others and I go from highs to lows as anyone who is manic depressed does.  I cannot imagine how it would be without my medication.  I don't think I could stand it.   

Sometimes people think people like me are just negative people.  That is so untrue.  If they only knew how badly I wish I was normal.  It's really hard to explain to someone who hasn't dealt with the illness.  I look normal on the outside and I try so hard to act normal around everyone else, but on the inside it's a different story.   I wish I knew the answer.  I wish the medications worked better.  I wish and wish.  I hope and pray.  Sometimes I can't hope anymore, sometimes I stop wishing and yes, sometimes I can't pray.  

Maybe I shouldn't have posted this, but I'm going to because this is how I'm feeling right now.  Here's hoping tomorrow will be better!