Twister hs passed on

Today (Sept 24, 2011) Twister was put to sleep. It is a very sad day, he was my little baby. I feel guilty that I could not take him myself but I said my good byes before he left and our roommate Len took him for us. He stayed with him and said it was quick and painless. Twister will be going for cremation and his ashes will be sent back here, my plan is to put them next to grandma's ashes. It was not an easy decision, but it was time. The peeing had started years ago and we did everything we could to help him and it just wouldn't stop and it changed from a couple times a month to 4-5 times a day. The vet said he was in pain. I wish there was more I could have done for him. I am going to greatly miss sleeping with him every night and his kisses and cuddles, and just him being here. He was my cuddle bug. Today has not been an easy day with Ruffles going to her forever home which is happy yet sad, and with Twister gone. I have been a bit of a basket case.

I greatly miss Twister but now he is in no more pain, there will be no dogs bugging him and he will be at peace.

Ruffles ADOPTED

Today (Sept 24, 2011) Ruffles was picked up by her new foster family. I sent them on their way with food for two days all measured out in baggies, cookies, and the new leash and collar that we got for her. The family that picked her up were wonderful they have three kids and Ruffles took to them right away they held her leash and just walked around with them it was cool to see how much she enjoyed them. I am very sad to see her go we didn't have her here long but she is such a doll I am going to miss and I think Ace is too hes been really moppy since she left. I hope she does well in her new home and I can't wait until our next foster baby comes.
When she left here she weight 35 lbs which means in the short time she was here she gained 5 lbs which I am very happy about. Her and Ace spent her last day here playing outside all day while I did homework outside with them. I am glad that it was such a nice day that they could enjoy their time together!
 For each dog/puppy that comes into our care I am getting and ID TAG done with their name and our address on it and once they leave for their forever home I am going to put them into a box as a keepsake memory of each wonderful baby we helped along its way!
This picture is from today:

Memory Box Blanket

I finished the first blanket for the memory boxes on Tuesday I have been just so busy I have not had the time to blog about it. The pattern I used was out an old crochet world magazine. It is a simple small pattern and the border I got out of my crocheted border book. I am excited to have the first one finished and can't wait to do more. I also pulled two other small baby blankets out of a tote one is yellow and one is green I can not remember what patterns I used for them. Got some different shades of green and yellow I am going to use so I am not using the same colours over and over again. Also I think I am going to stick with the simple pattern and just do a fancy border for each one, but I am not sure yet

RUFFLES (our first Foster)

Ruffles like most rescues has a sad story to ago along with her. I will start with her sad story and move onto the good stuff.

Ruffles was from a drug house.  The people there decided to breed their standard poodle with their mastiff.  They had a litter of 8 puppies and sold all of them for what we assume was drug money.  The only puppy left was Ruffles.  They were going to drown her since they could not sell her, so FGDR went to get her. 

Now on to the good stuff :) As of tonight she Weighs 30LBS, She is 4 Months old. She is very very skinny and needs to put on some weight poor thing. She is very pretty her pictures do not do her justice. To be honest when I first saw her pictures on the website well I was pretty sure she needed a good grooming which if you ask me she does and will be having one this weekend. We got her home while Ace was still at the office visiting with Rylee and Sadie. She got to explore the back yard, and doggy pool without Ace here to bother her. As soon as Ace got here and came into the back yard they were playing and having a blast running and doing well dog things. After about 30 mins of play I brought them in to have dinner which she gobbled down, but only after she seen Ace was eating and not playing without her. The foster family who had her before that will not be fostering anymore had kids and cats and she said Ruffles did very well with them. She didn't make a single sound until she was here for about 3 hours and then we got to hear her voice :) I was starting to worry lol. She loves treats but is grabby. She needs puppy training and someone with the patients to take the time and work with her. I have started tonight working on being gentle when taking treats. Whoever choices to love this wonderful puppy will have to keep in mind she is just that a puppy! When she came in the house she found the cows foot and the meaty bones right away and loved them. She was fed table food from the last foster home and we will be working on getting rid of that habit while she is here. I hope that she finds her forever home soon as she deserves so much love. It is raining out tonight so there will be no walk but we will walk a few times tomorrow and see how that goes.

To view her adoption information or to will out an application please visit http://www.friendlygiantsdogrescue.com/

Friendly Giants- Approved to Foster

I know this is a little late but better than never I guess. Well we got the email stating that we have been approved to foster for Friendly Giants just as soon as our fence went up and we had that completed Monday which was a ton of fun for three people who had never build a fence before and about a million trips to home depot lol. Well we got full approval on Tuesday morning which was a very good thing because we got a call Tuesday afternoon to pick up a rescue from a foster home that was no longer going to foster dogs, and was asked to pick her up today which is Wednesday. I am super excited about being approved, and can not wait to get our first foster dog.

Baby Blankets for Memory Boxes

A high school friend Amanda has started a program to create memory boxes at the hospital for moms who lose a child. These boxes are a very special wonderful idea and I am very honored to be able to make the baby blankets for these boxes. It is a very sad reason for these boxes to have to made, but at the same time its something special for the moms/dads to take home with them. I did not "lose" so to speak my son; however, leaving the hospital without him in my arms was one the hardest things I have had to do, so in a way I understand their grief. The staff at the hospital here in Sarnia when I had my son had no idea how to deal with adoption even the hospital social worker I had to teach her about adoption and to me she was more curious and interested in everything that was going on than really caring about how I was feeling. I am hoping these memory boxes not only help the mothers/fathers but also help bring awareness to Amanda's cause, more understanding, and patients. I know she has said she had wonderful nurses and support at the hospital. I am hoping that all moms/dads who are unfortunate to be in the situation of loss has the support from the staff and everyone around them to slowly wade through their sea of grief.

Friendly Giants Home Visit

We had our Friendly Giants Home Visit which is the second step in the application process to become a foster home for dogs that re in need until they find loving forever homes. Our visit was moved I think three times lol because the lady who was coming had thrown her back out OUCH!!!! Once Linda and Christina came though I was so nervous, but they were very nice and easy to talk to. They took a look around the house and asked a bunch of questions most of which I can't remember because I was so scared that I was going to mess something up to ruin being approved. They a beautiful puppy with them named Presly such a sweety about 12 weeks old and waiting for his forever home, he was good at giving Ace the what for lol. I am just waiting to hear back weather or not I am approved I am hoping from the bottom of my heart that we are approved!

My 26th Birthday

This year I turned 26, we did not plan anything really special because well I am more into throwing parties for other people. We had dinner with a few friends at Hanna my new fav. restaurant, it was awesome. I didn't have time to make a cake with it being the first week of school and with my first cake class the week just didn't have enough hours and I was stress and tired. Three wonderful things happened on my birthday. While at eating dinner I was explaining to everyone that I didn't have time to make a cake and everyone was okay with that. Jeremy says he gets nothing done during the day because he gets tired just reading the list of things I do each day lol. As we were just finishing the conversation about the cake Andrew, Shannon's boyfriend walked in with an Ice cream cake with both Shannon and I's names on it (Her birthday is the day before mine). It was the sweetest thing someone has done in the longest time. Another great thing that happened was a close friend of mine Brandon who lives in Alberta happened to be down this way for another friends wedding and was able to attend my birthday dinner it was awesome to get to spend some time with him. The third and best thing that happened on my birthday was I got a card in the mail with pictures in it of my son it was the best part of my day. I can't wait to see him again!

Joe's 6 year bitrhday cake

I made Joe a simple number six cake out of cupcakes for his 6th AA birthday. In AA 1, 5, 10 ect are the big ones but I feel that each year him and my mom stay sober is a "big" year and it gave me an excuse to make another cake lol.

Its just chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting in the shape of a number six, and on each cupcake it says "Happy 6th B-day Joe"

This cake only took me a couple hours total time. It was an easy one!

My first Micheals Cake class

I love that Sarnia now has a Micheals, all we need now is a costco and I will be all set lol. My cake classes are on Tues's for 2 hours. Our first class we had to bring in plain flat cookies, by the looks of thing i was the only one who made mine from scratch and I was also the only one without a buddy, oh well next course I will have my friend Krista along to learn and be my buddy lol. In the first class she taught us a lot of techinque stuff and we did a bit of stars but it was mostly instructional this next class she said that it would be more hands on. I did learn a few new things that I didn't know before which is always nice; however, there was a lot of things I already knew I am guess as the classes progress there will be many things that I will be learning along the way. There is one thing that I was not expecting I thought that the cake kit that you have to buy would be all you need for the entire course, I was wrong, I am glad that I already have most of the tools and do not require to buy to many of the items.
Second class requires us to make a 8" layer cake and 2 different batches of buttercream icing before the class one thin and one medium.
I can not wait until my next class I did have a lot of fun!

First day of school 2011

I started my first day of school, and I am hating every minute of it already. Of course I am going to finish and do my best to get on the deans list again this year, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. On the first day back all I could think about was being at Digital Friends Inc. what was going on their was Keith okay by himself, what about mom and Joe. I know I am not the end all be all but I do a lot around there. I was also thinking about the business course and how I can't wait to start it next year and actually be doing something I am far more interested in. I hate medical terminology I am starting to get and some of it is starting to stick, its a very good thing that I love to learn no matter what I am learning lol. I know everyone is saying why not just move into business and get it over with don't bother finishing this Medical Admin course, well there are a few very good reasons for this: One I always finish what I start; Two: Kristal is still in the program and she is like my best friend and I wouldn't just leave her there; Three: It is my back up plan if things do not go as I have planned I always have something to fall back on; Four: The more tools you have in your tool box the more prepared you are for a larger variety of situations. I have learned a lot of valuable tools and I love that and I am hoping within the rest of this I can add more tools into my tool box beside school years always go by fast so as long as I keep thinking of it as tools for my tool box I should be able to get through it lol. I love school, and learning and everything else even the homework some days lol but I miss the office I am very glad that my schedule allows me to still be there two days a week!

Friendly Giants

I am a supporter of most rescues once I have done my research I do what I can to support their causes. I am an animal lover from the top of my head to the tip of toes that may not seem like much because I am short but you get the picture. Over the year I donate items the Sarnia Shelter needs, I adopt, I only shop at store that do not sell dogs and cats. I donate at every check out to support rescues, some may say they say me coming but I don't feel that way I feel that there wouldn't be a need for these places and these rescues if we as a society whole were far more responsible; however as it turns out those of us that are responsible pet owners and as a person are far and few between. We can not control the actions of others, but we can control our own and do the right thing and being just one person is not an excuse because if everyone said that nothing would get done! Okay now that my rant is over lol that was not the point of this post by the way. About a year ago I heard of this rescue called Friendly Giants I looked into it a bit at the time but not much. At ARTWALK this year I met a lady who fosters dogs with Friendly Giants and I met a wonderful St. Bernard Richard and I talked about adopting it but I decided that I wanted, no needed to do more than just adopt one animal I wanted to foster so I could help many find those forever home they deserve and give them a safe, happy place to wait until the time came for them to go to their forever families. This was not a rushed decision I looked into it, researched it, and thought about it long and hard before I sent in my application to become a foster for these "forgotten" baby's. Our home may not be huge but we have room in our home, yard, and hearts for at least one foster at a time. The process of becoming a foster is not a simple because they want people who are truly interested in it for the long haul, good or bad. It starts with sending in an application that took me two days to fill out, they go over this application and approve it then they call three of your references including your vet if they have all good things to say they set up a home visit to approve the home. This is the part that we are on right now just waiting to get an appointment to have a home a visit which I can't wait for I am very very excited! Once we have our home visit and see if we are approved or not I will blog more about. If my chance we do not get approved at the time I will still 100% support Friendly Giants and see if maybe I can fill a volunteer roll. I can't wait!

Mom's 5 year cake!

My mom's 5 year AA birthday was today. She has come so far its been amazing journey even if most of it was rough to be where we are today I wouldn't take back any of it. She has taught me more in the past 5 years than she has my entire life. We spend time together now, do things together and get along not all the time but more so than not. I made her favorite flavor of cake, and used very little icing just like she likes (she hates icing) so you can see the cake but it is supposed to be that way lol. I made all the daisy's, and Gerber Daisy's out of fondant, the cake is butterscotch and the icing is vanilla.

Matts going away cake

A friend of ours has now moved to Toronto to go to school to become a computer engineer. I am very excited for him and I know that he is going to do awesome no matter how nervous he was about leaving all his friends! Richard and I threw his going away party I made all the food and the cake for everyone, so much food lol.
I did a simple cake as the one I had planned I didn't have time to do.
I did a normal flat cake and did a butter cream transfer which by the way failed I was not impressed I will not use those instructions again! So anyway I fixed it up about an hour before the party and it turned out okay but thats about all I am going to chalk this one up to a fail cake everyone said it tasted awesome though!
The cake is supposed to an LG monitor